#the gag is there is no right or wrong choice when you’re fighting to live

[hoaxton]

something something Vander’s decision to become the lanes version of a model minority to keep his kids safe can be read as “the wrong” choice much like Silco’s decision to antagonize and raise tensions to give his daughter a chance at freedom can

[teenandbeyond]

Ichigo Kurosaki x Reader

This is an old one-shot I wrote, just brought it here.

🍓Day Out🍓(Bleach)

Warnings: None

Ichigo’s been weirdly busy lately, but today you got to spend time with him...you did not expect to see a ninja-warrior fight a monster on your way home though.

☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

“[Name] do we really have to do this?”

You scoff as you flip a page in his book, mumbling about it being the wrong page, “I don’t, but Ichigo, you do realize how behind you’ve been in class right?”

He scowled as he read over the page, writing what was useful, the obedient strawberry. “It’s not that bad.”

“Asano passed our test with a higher score than you.” He snapped his head over to you in shock, “What?! Really?! When did we have a test?”

You blinked, you had done the test three days ago, you got back your scores that afternoon, “Point proven. You need to study.”

Ichigo gave an uncharacteristic pout, “Fine.”

You smiled, “How about this? If you get five questions right, I’ll make your lunch tomorrow. If you can answer ten questions right at the end of this we’ll go to the arcade together. Your choice.”

“I’ll go for ten. I wanna hang out with you,” his eyes never left the notebook.

You felt a little giddy inside.

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

“That’s ten right?”

“Um...yeah actually. You answered them quick, you were really determined to be right, huh?” You asked with a sweat-drop.

He grunted a little as he sat up from your table, walking off to his bag by your door, he muttered to himself, “I was determined to spend time with you.”

You don’t think you were supposed to hear that, but, it made you feel warm...no, it had to be the heater...in June.

“Hey, [Name], didn’t you say we were going to the arcade?”

You hurry to clean up the space and follow him out of your living room area.

“Sorry, let’s go!”

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

Ichigo blinked in disbelief, “D-did you just win?”

You couldn’t help but be a little smug.

“Of course, Ichigo, because I play better than you.”

He got an irk mark, “No, you don’t! If we played something else, I’d totally kick your butt!”

You smiled, but you knew he wouldn’t, “Okay. Sure.”

“That sounded so insincere!”

Next, you both played a shooting game, you messed with him a little in the beginning, making him think he had a chance, but no, he lost.

P@cM@n, he lost that to you, too, and you made a new high score.

That dancing game, he underestimated your quick feet, he lost that game horribly.

“My butt hasn’t been kicked yet, Ichi. I’m starting to think you’re just that bad at games,” you grinned.

He tsked, “I’m not bad at games, you’re just a beast at them.”

Your teasing grin got as wide as a Cheshire cat’s, “Wow, a compliment from the Ichigo Kurosaki. I must really be cool then.”

“Can we go?”

“Embarrassed about losing for two hours, despite me giving you chances to try again, and again?”

“No! Never!”

You gather all of your tickets, “Mhm. Let's go get prizes.”

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

Ichigo’s eyes widened in awe at the giant plushie you held, “How many tickets was that?! 5,000?!”

“Over 9,000. I had, like, 20,000 tickets so I had some left over to get other things. I got a cute strawberry plushie for you in a bag I got from the claw machine.”

“I only had 3,000. How’d you manage to get that much?!”

You looked at him like that was the most obvious question ever, “Well, I’m better at playing games than you. Obviously.”

“Hey-” your phone interrupted him.

You flipped open your phone, checking the text, “I got a text from Orihime, she said something about inviting us over for dinner...hrn.”

Both your faces paled at the thought.

“We’re not going,” Ichigo gagged.

“Ichigo!” you smacked his arm around your giant plushie, “Don’t be rude!”

“But, I don’t want food poisoning!”

“I’ll just...help her...and...secretly fix all her dishes to make them edible.”

“Deal.”

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

“Um...Kurosaki...[Last Name]...did you two go on a date?”

You both turned pink after you processed the question, subconsciously scooting away from each other on the floor. Suddenly you were too close.

“W-what made you ask that weird question?!” Ichigo scowled.

She shyly looked away, the tips of her fingers touching, “Well, you have plushies and things, and...you both are together alone...”

“It’s not a date Inoue. You know we’re just friends,” you willed down your warm face. Why were you flustered at this? It’s not like you would like to go on a date with Ichigo, right?

“Oh,” she smiled, “Well, I’m gonna go make dinner-”

“I’ll help you!” you hurried out, you would.

“[Last Name] you’re a guest, you don’t--”

“I do! I mean--Um, I insist...I can’t let a young woman cook for so many people on her own...”

That was a terrible excuse.

“[Last Name]...we’re the same age...And...there’s only three...”

Ichigo snickered at your demise.

“Just--Just come on!”

You glared at the orange-haired teen as you helped Orihime in the kitchen.

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡. .｡.:*☆

“My food tastes different...” Orihime furrowed her brows in thought.

You and Ichigo stiffened, did she find out?

“Is it...good?” You tested.

She nodded, “Yeah, really good! That means I’m getting better!”

You kind of felt bad, but your taste buds felt amazing, you’d just give her cooking lessons sometime.

You glanced at Ichigo who ate like he hadn’t eaten for days.

“Oh, Kurosaki! How have you been doing with the Hollows--”

“Orihime,” he warned.

You tilted your head, “Hollows? What does that mean? Is it like, a code? Or a--”

“Don’t worry about it.”

You just sighed, did this have to do with why you haven’t seen him as much anymore? He seems more secretive now, always leaving class, falling asleep, suddenly fainting, most of the time it’s around your new classmate, Rukia Kuchiki. Is that Kuchiki girl his secret girlfriend or something?

Why did that make you feel cold? You should be glad for him, he needs someone who cares for him, better than you can.

“[Name] when we get done, I’ll walk you home.”

You smiled, but it wasn’t as genuine as the rest of the day, “Alright.”

☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆☆*: .｡.  .｡.:*☆

You walked back and opted for silence, Ichigo didn’t keep secrets from you, and you know he’s been hiding something for a while. You respect his privacy, so you haven’t asked, but..you wonder if he doesn’t trust you anymore.

He’s always been a bit strange, spacing off for a moment, sometimes muttering to himself on a walk home from school but you didn’t care, he was still Ichigo, you loved...liked those things about your friend because it made him, himself.

Suddenly, he paused.

“Ichigo?”

He snapped his head over to you like he’d forgotten you were there.

“[Name], hurry home.”

“What? Why-?”

You cut yourself off with wide eyes as you saw an awful-looking creature a few feet away.

“Ichi...go...what is that?”

“You can see it?”

“Can’t miss it! It’s, thirty friggin’ feet tall!” you exclaimed in fear.

“Back up.”

You did so with no question.

“Eh?!”

Next thing you know Ichigo became some Ninja-Warrior-- in your words-- and fought the monster.

“What the hell?! What the hell?!”

That’s all you could say.

It seemed it took him longer than he was expecting, but after a few minutes, he killed it.

He rushed back over to you, “Oi! You okay?”

You stumbled back, pointing a finger at him, “You--You’re some--some Ninja-Warrior?!”

He sighed, moving his blade after noticing you nervously had your eyes on it, “Substitute Soul Reaper, technically.”

You scoffed, “Oh, that’s so much better, you’re a bringer of death.”

“You’re mad.”

“At you taking forever to tell me? Yeah. The monster thing was scary, but I’m just confused with you more than anything.”

“I probably shouldn’t, but...I’ll explain...I could...see ghosts for as long as I can remember.”

“Well, that’s explained a lot about you.”

He sweatdropped, “You’re not...startled by that?”

You crossed your arms, “Ichi. I just saw a horse-loch ness monster-thing. So no, you seeing ghosts doesn’t startle me, apparently, I can see them too.”

He explained Rukia, which for some strange reason, you were relieved they weren’t dating, he told you how he became a Soul Reaper, which made you hit him after learning he stabbed himself. He explained Hollows and whatever else he knew.

“You’ve gone through a lot. Have you ever talked to anyone about it? How you feel?”

“I don’t have the time to talk about that.”

“Well,” you smiled at him, “You’ve talked to me about things before, now that I know this, you can talk to me about this too.”

“Yeah-”

“Hey, Ichigo! You killed the Hollow but I still feel high spiritual pressure other than yours. What going on?”

You turned around to see Rukia, also in the same get-up.

“Yeah, I thought I felt it too. Maybe there’s residue?”

“That’s not-”

“So am I just a tree or something?”

Rukia did a double-take, “Wait, you can see me?”

You raised a brow, “Kuchiki, I’m looking into your eyeballs. What do you think?”

Her brows furrowed, “Wait...”

Suddenly she was in your personal space, your brow stayed in its place.

“That intense spiritual pressure...it’s leaking from you.”

“Huh?”

She backed up, a little out of breath, “It fluctuates every few seconds. It could have been because you were with Ichigo for a long period of time, whatever you had locked up, it started to release around him.”

“Um...” you scratched your head.

“Let’s go!” she walked away expecting you to follow.

“What? Where?”

“Well, we need to hide that or else you’ll die, we’re going to Urahara’s shop.”

Ichigo groaned at the name.

While you on the other hand, “Die?!”

“Well, yes, those erm..monsters will keep coming after you like that.”

You caught up to Rukia, “I know what Hollows are.”

....

She deadpanned, “Ichigo told you everything, didn’t he?”

“Mhm.”

“Well, it’s looking like you might be more involved in this so...I won’t worry about wiping your memory as long as you can keep it to yourself,” Rukia sighed.

“Wiping--Nevermind, yeah, I can, I’m better than Ichigo at that too.”

“Hey!” he growled from next to you.

“I suppose, I welcome you to this world, [Name] [Last Name]. It’s not pretty.”

“I figured after that Hollow I saw,” you told her in a serious tone.

“Good.”

You turned to your friend, “Hey, Ichigo.”

He glanced over with a hm.

“Thanks. You may not be better than me at games, school, secrets, dat-”

“What’s your point?” he asked with an irk mark.

You gave a bright smile, “But you’re the best at keeping me safe.”

His face turned pink, he looked away, “Yeah, yeah.”

[waitimcomingtoo]

Peppermint

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Synopsis: when you wear peppermint chapstick, you discover Peter hates peppermint

Masterlist

It started as an ordinary day.

You saw Peter and Ned in the dining hall between classes and went to join them like you normally did.

“Hi.” Peter smiled up at you from his seat when he saw you approaching.

“Hi, Petey.” You wrapped your arms around his shoulders before moving to kiss him. He craned his neck to kiss you back but pulled away sooner than usually.

It only went downhill from there.

You looked at him curiously and sat down, wondering why he stopped kissing you so fast.

“Oh.” He grimaced as he puckered his lips.

“What?” You looked between him and Ned, hoping someone had answers.

“You’ve made a bold choice today.” Peter nodded as he wiped his mouth off on the back of his hand.

“What?” You laughed in surprised.

“A lot of bold flavors going on.” He continued, taking out a napkin to wipe his mouth.

“What is he talking about?” You asked Ned when Peter gave you no answers.

“Oh, I see.” Ned realized. “Is your chapstick spearmint?”

“No, I think it’s-“

“Peppermint.” Peter cut you off with a sour face. “It’s peppermint.”

“Am I missing something?” Your eyes shifted between the boys, still extremely confused.

“Peter hates peppermint.” Ned told you.

“You do?” You laughed and looked at your boyfriend. “Why?”

“It’s so gross. Oh my God, it’s still on me.” Peter gagged as he wiped his lips again.

“What is your problem?” You raised an eyebrow at his odd behavior. “You don’t want to be minty fresh?”

“Thats not minty fresh. That’s disgusting.” He shook his head and rubbed his face. “Ew, my hands smell like it now.”

“How did I not know you hate peppermint?” You sat back in your chair as you wondered out loud. “Is this why you threw up my my gingerbread house party last year?”

“Yes.” Peter answered. “And I guess I never told you because I assumed you would know I hate the most putrid smell on earth.”

“Peppermint is not putrid.” You laughed again, still not taking this seriously. “It’s sweet and minty.”

“No.” Peter shook his head repeatedly. “Evil spawn.”

“No, not evil spawn.” You insisted. “It’s a nice scent.”

“Princess, you know I hate to disagree with you, but I’m pretty sure Satan keeps a an diffuser with peppermint essential oil on at all times in hell.” Peter told you as he squeezed your hand.

“Now you’re just being dramatic.” You teased. “It’s just chapstick.”

You leaned in to kiss him again and he put his hand on your face to push you away.

“No. I can’t.” He gagged. “It’s too gross.”

You stared at him with a dropped jaw, not believing he just pushed you away. You realized that this wasn’t a joke to him and he actually hated peppermint.

“Fine.” You shrugged. “Then I just won’t kiss you today.”

Peter said nothing to this and instead nodded, as if he agreed. You raised an eyebrow, expecting him to object like he usually did if you said you weren’t going to kiss him. Peter was a very affection person, so you often teased him by threatening to withhold affection. You looked at Ned to see if he was seeing what you were seeing, and Ned looked scared.

“Oh No.” He gulped. “This isn’t good.”

“Peter!” You softly hit his arm, making him jump.

“What?” He asked.

“You’re supposed to protest!” You told him. “I’m your girlfriend and I just told you I’m not gonna kiss you.”

“And I’m being a good boyfriend and supporting your idea.” He smiled sweetly at you and rubbed your back. You scoffed and looked at Ned for help, but he offered none.

“School is the only place we can kiss each other anytime we want.” You reminded him. “You know Avengers are still banned from dating at the tower. Are you seriously not going to kiss me because of my chapstick?”

“It’s not because of your chapstick.” Peter told you. “It’s because of the scent of your chapstick.”

“Are you sure this is how you want to play this?” You asked Peter, giving him a chance to change his mind.

“Um…yes?” He said weakly, now worried about your sudden mood change.

“Fine.” You shrugged and stood up. “Then I’ll see you at the tower.”

“You’re not eating with us?” He asked, giving you puppy dog eyes.

“No.” You gave him a tight smile. “Clearly and me and my lips are not welcome here.”

You turned on your heel and walked away, leaving Peter and Ned alone.

“Bye!” Peter called after you. “I love you!”

“That went well for you.” Ned chuckled once you were out of sight.

“You don’t think she’s actually mad at me, is she?” Peter wondered.

“No.” MJ said, making Peter and Ned jump. “She’s not mad at you. She’s upset that you didn’t want to kiss her.”

“How long have you been listening?” Ned asked as he looked up at her.

“Since Ned said Senora Chavez had a nice ass.” MJ stated as she sat down next to Ned. “Listen, I know Y/n better than anyone-“

“Uh, I disagree.” Peter cut in. “Hi, Y/n’s boyfriends, nice to meet you.”

“Cute.” MJ deadpanned. “Best friend trumps boyfriend. Everyone knows that.”

“That’s not true.” Peter snorted. “Is it?”

“No.” Ned answered. “But I also don’t know.”

“What I’m trying to say is, you won’t win this.” MJ continued. “You have to get over your little peppermint tantrum or she won’t kiss you. Simple as that.”

“She can kiss me as long as she’s not wearing peppermint chapstick.” Peter shrugged, not seeing anything wrong with what had happened.

“She’s not gonna stop wearing peppermint chapstick, dummy.” MJ flicked him on the side of the head. “You just started a fight.”

“What? That wasn’t a fight.” Peter insisted.

“It’s a silent fight.” MJ explained. “She’s not gonna say anything about it and wait for you to apologize. If you don’t, then it becomes a real fight.”

“Apologize for what? For hating the worst smell in the world?” Peter scoffed.

“For being a diva and calling her gross.” MJ said like it was obvious.

“I didn’t call her gross.” Peter corrected. “I called her choices gross.”

“And that’s where you fucked up.” MJ made a face. “It’s fine if you don’t want my help, but you’re gonna lose your girlfriend over it.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Peter laughed in dismissal. “I am not going to lose Y/n over something as meaningless as peppermint chapstick.”

“See for yourself.” MJ shrugged and got up. “Later losers.”

Peter sat in silence for a moment as he thought about what MJ had said. You did seem upset when you left, so MJ might be right.

“You don’t think…” Peter began, and Ned knew where it was going.

“No.” Ned assured him. “But also I don’t know.”

“I’m sure we’re fine.” Peter said to convince himself. “It’s just chapstick.”

“Yeah.” Ned agreed. “Unless it’s not.”

“Yeah.” Peter worried. “Unless it’s not.”

~

Peter couldn’t keep the interaction off his mind all day. He could barely focus in the lab later that day when Tony had to take of you writing down chemical reactions he needed in a future experiment. If you were mad, you didn’t let on. But you also didn’t give Peter the impression that everything was fine. After ten minutes of writing in silence, he poked you with his pen.

“Psst.” He whispered.

“What?” You whispered back.

“You look pretty today.” Peter smiled softly at you.

“Oh yeah?” You tilted your head. “Then kiss me.”

Peter’s face fell, cheeky smile long gone.

“I can’t.” He whispered again.

“And why’s that?” You stopped writing to give him your full attention. Peter looked up as he thought of a good enough lie to tell you.

“I’m waiting for marriage.” He answered finally, making you nod your head.

“Were you waiting for marriage when we had sex last week?” You kept your tone neutral.

“I temporarily stopped waiting and I have now resumed.” He corrected himself.

“You’re an imbecile.” You spoke at full volume now, earning a glance from Tony.

“I hate peppermint!” Peter whined. “It’s gross!”

“Dumb and Dumber.” Tony called to you. “Is everything okay over there?”

“Yes, sir.” Peter calmed down. “Sorry, sir.”

“You’re gonna be sorry.” You laughed humorlessly as you started writing again.

“Princess.” Peter softened his voice and stroked your hair. “Just take it off and we can go back to normal.”

“I don’t want to take it off.” You shrugged. “In fact, I think I need some more.”

“Don’t.” Peter deadpanned as you reached into your pocket and took out your chapstick. You smiled sweetly at him before generously lathering the chapstick on your lips.

“Ew!” Peter began to dry heave and got out of his chair. “I’m gonna barf.”

“All right. That’s enough.” Tony sighed and stopped working. “Peter, hit the showers or something. I need you out of here.”

“Gladly.” Peter said as he glared at you.

“Gladly?” You raised an eyebrow. “And you said I was bold?”

“Y/n. You too. Out now.” Tony commanded so you gathered your things. You started putting on chapstick again, maintaining eye contact with Peter as you did it. He gagged before clutched your stomach while pinching his nose. You blew him a minty kiss before walking out of the lab with Peter following behind you.

“Are you happy now? Are you pleased as punch, Parker?” You spat as he continued walking. “Mr. Stark probably thinks we’re crazy now. Or even better, he’s gonna figure out that we’re together.”

Peter ignored you and kept walking, not wanting to talk when he was angry.

“You know what?” You continued. “He’s probably right. Since only crazy people would hate the luscious, beautiful smell of peppermint.”

Peter suddenly turned around and grabbed you, rubbing his hands over your lips to wipe off the chapstick.

“How dare you?” You gasped. “You ghoul!”

“You’re the ghoul!” He shouted back. “Peppermint is a sin!”

Steve and Nat, who were sitting in the living room and watching this unfold, exchanged a look.

“It is not!” You shouted. “You’re just being dramatic!”

“I can’t help it.” He shrugged. “This calls for drama. I hate it so much.”

“How much?” You asked as you slathered it on again. “How much do you hate it?”

“Please.” He covered his mouth and gagged. “I’m gonna be sick.”

“You need to get over this. It’s just a flavor.” You insisted.

“Demon flavor.” He shot back, hunched over with his hands in his knees and coughing.

“This is super weird, right?” Steve whispered to Nat.

“Yeah.” She nodded as she watched the scene in front of her with a disgusted look. “I think we should go.”

You watched Steve and Nat leave the room, feeling embarrassed with the strange looks they gave you. No one actually knew you and Peter were together, so you could only imagine what they were thinking. You looked back at Peter and saw that he was still gagging, bringing you to a decision.

“Fine, Peter.” You sighed and rubbed your mouth on the back of your hand. “I wiped it off. Are you okay?”

You crouched beside him and rubbed his back, worried he was actually going to puke. He slowly stood up and blew out a breath before nodding.

“Yeah. I’m sorry.” He frowned at you. “I didn’t mean to raise my voice at you.”

“I’m sorry too.” You said as you rubbed his shoulders. “We shouldn’t be yelling at each other in the hallway. Someone’s either gonna realize we’re dating or think we’re unstable.”

“Yeah. We do look a bit ridiculous.” He laughed shyly as he looked around.

“Yeah.” You chuckled as wrapped your arms around his neck. “And I’m sorry about the chapstick. I didn’t know you didn’t like it.”

“It’s my fault.” He insisted. “I should have told you. And I definitely shouldn’t have gotten that upset.”

“Maybe not.” You agreed. “But I should not have taunted you after I knew you hated it. That was mean.”

“Just a little.” He pinched his fingers together. “Are we okay now?”

“We’re okay. I love you, Petey.” You rubbed your thumb over his cheek, happy to have resolved it.

“I love you too, princess.” He smiled before leaning in to kiss you. Before your lips could touch, he sharply pulled away.

“Oh no.” He said gravely.

“What?”

“I smell it.” He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to freak out.

“It?” You wondered.

“Your chapstick.” He admitted, making your groan. “I can smell it from here.”

“I wiped it off.” You whined, pulling your arms away from him.

“The smell.” He gagged. “It lingered. I cant kiss you. I’m sorry.”

“Are you serious?” You out your hands on your hips and stared at him.

“Yes.” He answered. “I’m sorry. Can we make up but not kiss?”

“You’re not gonna kiss me because of a lingering smell of peppermint?” You said as more than a statement than a question.

“This is true, yes.” Peter nodded.

“Then I’ll see you later, Parker.” You shook your head and walked away from him. Peter sighed sadly as he watched you walk away, knowing that wasn’t how he wanted to end things.

“What was that about?” Sam asked as he wandered into the hallway. He overhead the fight from the kitchen and arrived in time to watch you leaving.

“Um.” Peter thought of a way to explain what just happened. “We had a little fight.”

“About what?” He pressed.

“Y/n is wearing peppermint chapstick today.” Peter answered honestly.

“And that concerns you because…?” Sam questioned.

“I don’t like the scent of peppermint.” Peter scoffed. “Does that make me a monster?”

“So what?” Sam snorted. “It’s not like you’re kissing her.”

Peter turned his face to the side so Sam wouldn’t see his inability to keep a secret.

“Hm.” Peter nodded stiffly. “Yes. It is not like I am kissing her. That was be absurd.”

“Right.” Sam said skeptically. “Because Avengers aren’t allowed to date each other. You know that, right?”

“I know.” Peter nodded too many times. “We’re not dating. I just hate peppermint.”

“For arguments sake, let’s say you were dating.” Sam began. “Because everyone knows that you are but no one cares enough to report you.”

“What?” Peter forced a laugh. “That’s ridiculous. We’re not dating.”

“Yeah. And I’m white.” Sam humored him. “If you were dating and fighting over the flavor of her chapstick, I’d give you one piece of advice.”

“What’s that?” Peter asked.

“Get over it and go kiss your girlfriend.” Sam sighed. “It’s just a flavor, but she’s not just a girl. Don’t risk a good thing over a bad scent.”

“Wow.” Peter soaked it in. “That’s pretty good advice. Thanks Sam. I always thought you didn’t like me.”

“I don’t.” Sam told him. “But I like Y/n. And I don’t want to live in this tower while you two are going through a messy breakup. So make up or shut up. Your choice.”

“Okay.” Peter nodded confidently. “I know what I have to do.”

~

Peter went back to his room and began to brainstorm ways to make it up to you. Before he could put his plans into motion, he heard a knock at his door.

“Come in”. He called from his bed.

“Hey, Petey.” You spoke timidly as you opened his door. You weren’t sure if he was mad at you or not, and he was wondering the same thing about you.

“Hey, princess.” Peter smiled softly. “It’s nice to see you. I’m glad you came to see me.”

“I missed you.” You smiled back as you sat on his bed. “Whatcha doing?”

“Just taking my daily vitamins.” Peter said as he laid his gummies out. You furrowed your eyebrows and moved his hand to see what his vitamins looked like.

“These are fruit snacks.” You told him as you held up a bright orange gummy.

“I’m so fragile right now.” Peter whispered before downing his fruit snacks in one go. You chuckled a little at your boyfriends antics and scooted closer to him.

“Talk to me about it.” You said as you rubbed his arm.

“I feel as though our relationship is not in mint condition.” Peter said without looking up at you. You caught on to his pun and let out a groan.

“Peter.”

“I’m sorry.” He smiled weakly. “You look beautiful.”

“What are you doing?” You asked skeptically.

“Giving you a compli-mint.” He fed you another pun.

“You don’t have to do this.” You assured him. “I caved. I’m wearing cherry chapstick.”

“You are?” His eyes lit up.

“Yeah. I threw the other one out.” You shrugged. “I don’t even like the smell of it. It was just the first one I grabbed this morning.”

“You don’t like the smell either?”

“It’s a little harsh on my nose.” You scrunched your nose. “Plus, it burns my lips.”

“You know what this means, don’t you?” Peter smiled wickedly.

“What does this mean?” You laughed.

“We are mint to be.” He said with a cheeky smile.

“Stop.” You whined. “The fight is over. No more puns.”

“Okay, I’ll stop.” He held up his hands. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. And I’m sorry I wouldn’t kiss you all day.”

“I’m sorry I yelled too.” You frowned and cupped his chin. “You can make up for it by kissing me now.”

Peter nodded happily and leaned in to kiss you, giving you a real kiss this time. He pulled away and kept his lips puckered, realizing he was tricked.

“You’re wearing peppermint chapstick.” He said matter of factly.

“Yep.” You smiled. “And you didn’t die, vomit, or burst into flames.”

“Hm.” Peter realized you were right. “It stings my lips a little. I kinda like it.”

“See? It’s not that bad.”

“Oh, it’s bad.” Peter corrected. “It’s just not as bad as I thought. Maybe I was a little too dramatic.”

“Maybe?” You teased.

“Fine.” Peter agreed. “But you knew I was dramatic before you started dating me. If anything, this is all your fault.”

“Why don’t we blame this on the entire concept of peppermint of call it a night?” You suggested and you laid down on his bed. Peter laid down beside you and wrapped his arm around you, still rubbing his lips together.

“You know what, princess? That sounds like a great idea.”

Tag List 🏷

@awesomebooklover17 @thebookwormlife @imanativeofswlondondahling @weirdr-artiest @serendipitous-amor @dummiesshort

@foreverxholland @lavender-writer​ @michaela072796​ @whatareyouhidingpeter​ @takenbyheartstrings @ultrunning​ @imyourliquor-youremypoison​ @andreasworlsboring101 @waiting-to-be-myself​ @letsloveimagines​ @peterparkoure @a-villain-vying-for-attention​ @justcallmehitgirl​ @jackiehollanderr @tiny-friggin-human @mara-twins​ @iamaunicorn4704​ @maryjanee23 @geeksareunique​ @emmamarshmellow​ @unbelievableholland​ @flixndchill @sovereignparker​ @thisisthebiplace​ @spideydobrik​ @every-marveler-ever @undiadeestos​ @caelestii-e​ @eridanuswave​ @itscaminow​ @fiantomartell @solarxmoonchild​ @canyouevencauseicant​ @illwritetomorrow​ @thehappygrungelife @saysomethingspiderman​ @smilexcaptainx​ @quaksonhehe @kelieah​ @kickingn-ames​ @seasidecrowbar​ @lovelessdagger​ @love-sick-blues @electraheart-3174​ @unbelievableholland​ @yourtypicalhotmess @spideyanakin​ @horanxholland​ @thesuitelifeofafangirl​  @marshxx @heyheycharlatte​ @nooneinvitedfascistbarbie​ @tomshufflepuff​ @cookiemonstermusic258

@maybemona @alexxcorona113​ @lethal-wisdom​ @xo-spidey​ @big-galaxy-chaos @pandaxnienke​ @theincredibledeadlyviper​  @thestylestour  @officialsimppage @mrvelscaptains​ @peterbenjiparker​ @itsemohours @okkulta @parkerlovebot @jungkxxkk​ @friendlyneighborhood-mendes @whatthefuckimbisexual @olixerwxxd​ @starkbrain​ @creatorofthegalaxy @f-hollands @ilovefrogs1000​ @itstaskeen​ @itmatteredatthetime @wrendermeuseless @amazinggracy​ @iprobablyshipit91 @magicalxdaydream @whereismytelephone @theonly1outof-a-billion​ @leilanixx @namoreno @bi-lmg @dracoswhore007 @tomhollandloml​ @avengers-hamiltrash @sunshinepeterparkr @gh0stgurl​ @so-very-asleep @veryholland @white-wolf1940 @spideycheles​ @firwproof​ @fanficaddict13125 @pinklxmonade @thebestqueenoftheworld @nowayhomeparker​ @willowestelle @imobsessedzs @spideyspeaches @bookfrog242​ @hihiweezing @mathletemadison @chipot-lol @mackenziejanine @dhtomholland @peterstommy @insomniac-nerd-posts-things @prancerrparkerr @aayaissaa @loudthoughts-softspoken @starknik22​ @hallecarey1

[hotwings0203]

Thinking thots about bully/teasing bakugo and kirishima who gang up on you 24/7

Tw: noncon, bullying

Kiri would be the middleman, trying to act as your savior (even tho he acts just as bad as bakugo sometimes) and bakugo would ofc be the instigator at all times

They constantly harass you, sometimes kiri will playfully snatch up your homework which you were so diligently working on and hold it behind his back, just so you can lunge your arms around his middle and try to grasp it behind him. But it’s too late, he’s already dropped the paper and grabbed your wrists so you’re trapped with your arms around him. Bakugo sees the opportunity to cop a feel, snickering when you squeal and thrash against kiri’s bulky body (much to kiris delight ofc)

“Come on bakugo, don’t tease her so much. Look at how nervous you’re making the poor thing!”

“Shut the hell up shitty hair, if she really hated this she’d call for help.”

But something tells you they wouldn’t give you a chance even if you wanted to call out, based on the way they bare their fangs at you and tighten their hold on your body.

If they feel like you’re ignoring them and not giving them the attention they want, you’ll soon feel erasers bounced off your head from the back of the class, and various catcalls. When you whip your head around to glare at them, you’re met with an innocent smile from the redhead and a disgusting leer from the hothead.

“The fuck are you looking at princess? See something you like?”

“Don’t be so harsh on her man. But hey, Y/N, if you’ve already got your attention on us, could you come over here for a sec? We need some help on this assignment.”

You can’t say no after seeing Bakugo’s hand glow a fiery orange under the table, his show of quirk scaring you into scuttling over to their table.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out they’re not really struggling at all on the assignment, bakugo especially. Kiri was the only one who had legitimate questions, but you knew bakugo could always help him without your presence.

They pressure you into coming to their dorms later in the evening to aid their studies, giving half assed excuses for the choice of time with grunts of “we have trainings the afternoon, wouldn’t expect your weak ass to understand,” followed by an arm swat from Kiri.

You make it into their dorm, wishing they had picked a library instead (that idea was shut down when kirishima sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and gave you puppy eyes, whining about how he can’t focus in public settings)

The boys have cleaned up nicely, surprisingly. It takes no time to settle down onto their couch and opening up your projects, going over the problems they concocted. It almost seems too perfect, both are shockingly mute in their usual abuse, even though they sit a little too close for comfort. You brush it off in favor of focusing on explaining various formulas that even bakugo himself doesn’t quite understand.

But your ease is short lived when you feel two pairs of hands wandering up to your thighs.

You try to subtly push kiri’s big hands away from the juncture of your legs, but he merely activates his quirk and grips your skin tighter.

Abruptly trying to stand up fails too, as bakugo yanks your arm towards himself, causing you to stumble and fall back against his heavy chest. His own meaty fingers trail down the valley of your shirt, pulling down your V-neck shirt. You cry out for them to stop, that you want to go home, but you’re silenced when a hand claps over your mouth so hard that you’re sure you’ll have bruises the next day.

Your hands flail around, trying to hit whatever they come in contact with but are promptly seized as well.

You can feel kiri grab your chin with his hardened hands, and he yanks your head to look at him

He doesn’t have puppy dog eyes anymore. Bakugo chuckles as he hears your muffled whimpers, the rumbling of his chest vibrating against your back.

“We’ve tried being nice and patient with you babe, okay? You were the one who came here at your own will, so don’t try and fight us now. Be a good girl for me and bakugo, and I promise we’ll make you feel good.”

Nice? Coming at your own will? They truly were crazy, you thought as you felt the jagged edges of the hardened hand make small cuts and scraped against your jaw.

To prove his point, bakugo activated his quirk to heat up at the same time kirishima went halfway hard on his hand. You wail against your makeshift gag, but refuse to fight back any further, opting for their mercy instead.

They get the idea, and they deactivate their quirks in favor of striking various parts of your body, hands creeping in and out of your clothes, dipping into tight crevices across your figure.

“Well look at that. What’s wrong slut, don’t wanna fight your big, bad bullies anymore? That’s cute. I’m honestly not surprised a weak little fuck like you gave up so easily, I’m almost disappointed in how predictable you are.”

He removes his hand and starts to rub the undersides of your tits, relishing at how soft they are.

“Please, please don’t-I have to...to meet up with Mina and Jirou later! They’re gonna wonder where I am!” You make up some bullshit excuse as a last resort to salvation, but your heart drops as their ministrations merely gain aggression.

“Yeah? At this time of the night? Wow, I knew you were weak but after helping us with all that schoolwork I wouldn’t have suspected you’re brain dead also. Better luck next time with a more believable excuse, little bitch.” You yelp as the blond ducks his head down and sinks his teeth into your neck.

“We’ll just have to show you that you belong here, with and under us. Your friends can wait until later...unless you think they’re more important than us?” Kiri glares at you from between your legs.

You meekly shake your head, and he lets out a happy hum as he rips off your pants.

At least you had the right mind to not mention hanging out with other boys, too.

[narutogwriting]

If requests are open, then: Gaara has chosen a bride, but during their engagement she refuses to capitulate to Suna’s council and their desires to have her on their side instead of Gaara’s. So, in order to break trust/break them apart (the details are obvs your choice), a councilman or two sends a shinobi to sexually assault her.

Fortunately, Gaara discovers the man in time to save you.

With this prompt, could you write something for it? Hurt/confort, lemons (jfc tumblr just knock it off with the gag order already), dark/horror, your choice!

PRECIOUS

Pairing: Gaara x Reader

CW: Attempted sexual assault, light NSFW

Length:  4.6k+

A/N: I absolutely hate how this came out, but I hope it works for you and is what you were expecting!

You know that feeling you have when you’re younger? You have the adults in your life. They always seem to know exactly what to say, what to do. And you never truly have to worry, because if you don’t have the answer, there’s always someone that does.

Right and wrong. It’s all so black and white, and you’re lucky because the adults in your life always make the upstanding choices.

At least, that’s what you think. 

And then you grow up. Little by little, you become older and wise enough to realize the more you think you know, the less you do.

And maybe it’s something big or something small when you first start to lose your faith in those in authority. But there’s always a moment when it clicks; the people in authority know no more than you do, they’re not morally honorable at all. They just have the power.

You’d been a ninja your whole life, but as you got older, you opted to step into a more political role for your village. You’d been around long enough to see how corrupt the ninja system was as a whole, and you had wanted to change it from the inside out.

You thought you’d already had your moment, multiple moments, even, that showed you just how amoral and deceitful the powers that be were.

You had no idea how bad they truly could get.

“So, I hope you understand what we’re asking. Your compliance is… let’s just say, in your best interest.”

Silence ensued. Sunagakure, like the other villages, had a system of checks and balances. Gaara was the Kazekage, leader of the village, but that didn’t mean he had this all consuming power. The Suna Council consisted of twelve members, all in place to make sure the Kazekage is doing what they should and that all decisions were made in the villages best interest.

The council and the Kazekage were supposed to be working together for the village, to make things, better, to help the people. The council was supposed to be supporting the Kazekage as the leader.

So, in a way, you almost couldn’t believe they would ask you this. Only almost. . The Sand Village had never had a reputation of being above reproach. Why, it was just a few years ago when they had partnered with the Sound Village to overthrow the Leaf Village, killing the Hokage in the process. Gaara had only been a child then, but the Suna Council that had agreed with the plot then was the same council that now demanded you betray your husband to be.

They wanted you in their ranks. The direction that Gaara was ready to lead Suna in wasn’t a direction the elders were ready for it to go.

It was new and completely different from anything they’d seen before. But Gaara was insistent that Suna was going to enter an era of peace and perseverance. They would be a village that would fight for the good of the world, not solely their own interests. Suna as a village would no longer be number one. People would be.

And so they expected you to play a secret agent for them. They would give you orders, and then, as Gaara’s wife to be, you would manipulate him into their desires, make him think they were his own. You would play him as if he were a puppet on your strings.

Maybe it was because you had been a diplomat before moving to the Sand for Gaara. They thought because you were a politician, that you would understand their requests and be bought off so easily. It was the very reason you’d taken the position; the way village politics worked needed to change.

The twelve council members stared at you steadily and expectantly. They expected your concurrence, couldn’t imagine that there would be any thought of going against their wishes. They’d gone so long getting exactly what they wanted.

All good things must come to an end. 

There were a couple ways you could have played this. Agreed and then told Gaara what they’d asked. That they were demanding for you to work Gaara behind the scenes and manipulate him to their will. You could have agreed, even. Accepted their offers of power and betrayed your betrothed.

You had endless options, but you would take none of them.

Gaara was the love of your life, going to be your husband, and you would present as a strong front. You would let there be no question of where your loyalty was.

Pushing back your chair, you stood, smacking your hands down on the tables, a sudden, loud move that made the old hags jolt. You bit back a satisfied smirk; good. You wanted to scare them, let them know *exactly where they stood with you.

“How dare you?” You demanded from them, meeting each member’s eye slowly and purposefully, wanting them to understand just how badly they had screwed up by trying to turn you against Gaara.

“I don’t know how things worked back in your days, but Gaara becoming Kazekage has reigned in a new era of peace and restitution for the Sand. Things will no longer be the way you allowed it to for so long, full of evil and sneakiness and cowardice. You’re going to learn soon enough; Suna has no more need for the ways of the old world.” You pushed off the table, scowling in disgust.

“How dare you call yourselves leaders while you attempt to turn the Kazekage’s betrothed into a traitor.” Lips pursed, you looked over them all one more time, doing nothing to hide the contempt in your gaze. “The Kazekage is not going to be pleased when he hears about this.”

With that, you turned on your heel, stomping out of the room, letting the door slam closed behind you.

Out of the room now, away from their gaze, you leaned against the other side of the door, feeling the way your heart raced erratically. You couldn’t believe you’d talked like that to the Suna Council. 

You’d never been meek, really. Confrontation just wasn’t your favorite thing, and besides this, you respected your elders and village leaders greatly, not discounting their wisdom or experience just because of different times. You’d even admired the council up until this moment. 

But no amount of reverence or admiration would ever surpass what you felt for Gaara. You loved him more than anything or anyone, and you would always be on his side no matter what. There was nothing and no one that could make you falter or second guess being by his side.

Heading back to your apartment, you wished not for the first time you shared it with Gaara. You and Gaara didn’t live together yet; he wasn’t exactly traditional, but he wanted to keep up the appearance of it. He didn’t want to move in together until the two of you were officially married, and that day was coming up soon. You could wait just a little longer until you got to wake up to his face every morning.

Nothing sounded more blissful.

It had been a diplomacy mission that had brought you from your home in Iwagakure to Suna for the very first time. 

Love at first sight wasn’t necessarily something you believed in, but the first time you laid eyes on Gaara, you knew there was something special in him. You’d heard the stories and the rumors your whole life, the demonic reincarnation of the one tailed beast that killed everything in his path to the reformed and revered youngest Kage in history.

Gaara had been nothing like you expected.

He had the kindest eyes you’d ever seen. At a young seventeen years old, his eyes held stories of a hundred lifetimes. He was quiet, observant. He took in everything and everyone around him, considering their every move and word before responding himself. When he spoke, it was with a shared respect and understanding of those who he was addressing.

You’d bowed respectfully when you met, addressing him, of course, as Kazekage. When you’d straightened, his eyes on you had you blushing; you felt bare under his gaze.

A week. You were only in Suna one week, and that was all it took for you to fall for Gaara. From the first late night the two of you spent negotiating and discussing the particulars of the alliance between your villages, you got to know Gaara more than you’d ever imagined you would.

And Gaara was just as sprung. From your easy smile to the quickness of your thoughts to the passion in which you spoke, he’d never met anyone like you.

You were a marvel to Gaara, and he didn’t let you leave without letting you know.

You were surprised in all honesty. You hadn’t been able to read whether or not he was as interested in you as you were in him, but either way, you wouldn’t have expected a person like Gaara to be so forward.

He was modest and reverent the night before you were to go back to your village when he told you he’d like you to return soon. He left no room for you to wonder what he meant, instantly letting you know that it was because he was enamoured with you, and he had every intention in pursuing you romantically if you would let him. 

Of course you would.

It was one and a half years of dating before you’d opted to give up your position in your village to move to the Sand. Gaara didn’t ask you to, never would have dreamed of making you choose between him and your job, but it was the obvious choice to you.

You loved Gaara irrevocably, and he was Kazekage. He couldn’t leave his village, so you would go to him.

It was only a year after that when Gaara asked you to marry him in a way that was so him. It was quiet and private and romantic as hell.

He’d asked you to go with him for a quiet walk to the green house, just about the only place in Suna that had any plants. It was both of your favorite places, so of course you agreed.

When you’d arrived, the green house was alight with fairy lights strung from every corner. Petals from various flowers littered the floor walkway down to an arc of ivy that definitely hadn’t been there before.

Looking at Gaara, your mouth hung agape in disbelief and confusion. He gave you a soft smile, taking your hand and leading you down the walkway. By the time you got to the ivory arc, you had tears overflowing. 

“Yes!” You were crying before he even got down on one knee.

Gaara had tried to shoosh you with a small laugh, but you weren’t having it, throwing your arms around him and peppering him with kisses before he could get a word in.

“You have to let me ask you. I have a speech.” He tried to tell you, but gave up as you continued to kiss him, laughing and kissing you back. He pulled a rock carved in the shape of a heart. Lifting the lid, it revealed the beautiful ring he had made for you.

He had to hold you still so he could slip the ring on your finger before kissing your hand.

“I love you,” He told you, those intense green eyes gazing into yours.

~

Your wedding was still a ways away, but you and Gaara were clearly in love. Why the council genuinely thought you would go along with their demands were beyond you. You’d given up politics for love without a second thought.

Shaking your head, you were relieved when your front door came into view. The first thing you wanted to do leaving your meeting was to go straight to Gaara, but he was gone for the next week on his own diplomacy meeting.

You sighed as you got into bed. Whenever he was home, the council was going to be in for a world of hurt. You could only imagine how livid and betrayed Gaara would geel.

~

The next few days went by without incident, though that did make you feel just a bit nervous. You expected to be called in for some sort of meeting again, to be talked to, at least sent a message. 

But there was nothing. All was peaceful and quiet.

The time passes slowly and uneventfully. You did paperwork and spent time with some friends. That night, you settled into bed with a cup of tea and a book, wishing Gaara was beside you. He’d be gone for a few more days still. 

So you opted for just a relaxing night in by yourself. You usually went to sleep early-ish, but that night, you were up well past your usual bedtime, emerged in the fantasy world in between the pages you were reading.

It was because you were awake that you heard a noise from your living room. It was small, barely there, but you’d heard it. It sounded like someone had bumped into something, maybe your living room table, and had been quick to steady it.

You froze, listening carefully for any more sound, but nothing came. You had almost convinced yourself that you imagined the whole thing, but every one of your senses was on high alert. Carefully, slowly, you crept out of your bed, grabbing the kunai you kept under your pillow just in case.

You held your breath, not wanting to risk even making a sound, as you tiptoed towards your bedroom door. Ear pressed to the cool wood, you listened.

Silence met you, but you weren’t convinced. Years as a Shinobi had taught you to trust your gut. Something was off; you could feel it.

Decided to go on the offensive, you turned the door handle and threw open the door, quickly barreling through the opening. You caught the intruder dead in their tracks. He was dressed in all black, everything covered besides his dark eyes.

You were in such shock at there actually being someone there, you froze for a split second. The intruder took that second to attack, lunging at you.

He smashed into you, knocking both of you to the floor, and that’s when your instincts kicked in. As soon as your back hit the floor, you were rolling, throwing your legs over your head and then you were on your feet, sending a kick into the man’s abdomen.

The man let out a gasp as the air was knocked from him. Wasting no time, you sprinted to your front door, ready to flee and call for help.

You weren’t prepared for another intruder waiting at the otherside of the door. The second you opened it, locking eyes with him, his fist lashed out before you could even react.

Pain was all you felt before the world went black. 

~ 

The world came into view slowly. As your vision cleared, you realized you were in your own bedroom. When you tried to move, you were alarmed to find that your arms and legs were both bound. Your attempt at a scream was muffled by the gag in your mouth. 

“Heh, we’ve been waiting for you to wake up.” Your head jerked to see the intruder that you had kicked looming over you. “You’re lucky you got that kick in when you did, but I’m gonna have to pay you back for that one.”

He drew his hand back before smacking it across your face. You gave a muffled cry as the left side of your face stung in pain. 

“Stop fucking around,” hissed the other man. “We have orders. Get to it.”

You looked up between the two, scared and confused. What kind of orders? 

The first man chuckled with a smirk that looked more like a sneer. “Oh, I’m gonna enjoy this…” He mused as he pulled out a kunai. He moved toward you slowly, deliberately, letting the fear creep from your neck down your spine.

You shook your head, jerking this way and that, but the second intruder pinned you to the bed by your shoulders. “Better stay still, bitch.” He hissed at her. “We got a job to do here. This’ll teach you to defy the village council. By the time we’re done with you, you won’t think twice about doing what they say.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, your night shirt was fisted by the first man before he ripped the kunai through it. 

Your face burned hot with embarrassment and shame as the remains of your top were shredded, leaving you bare. You could feel their eyes looming over you, taking in every part of your skin.

“Even your fiancé ain’t gonna want you when we’re done.” You heard snickered, but by this point you’d screwed your eyes shut, not wanting to see them looking at you like you were a piece of meat.

Shuffling made your eyes peak back open to see the first man fumbling with the buttons of his pants. 

“Oh yeah, I’m gonna enjoy this.”

He shoved his boxers down, revealing himself as he palmed his length to hardness.

You began thrashing again with renewed vigor despite the hands still pinning your shoulders down. Somehow, you managed to free yourself from the second man's grasp, rolling off the bed and attempting clumsily to push yourself to your feet.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Your ankles were grabbed and unceremoniously, you were dragged kicking back to the man. In moments he had your own pants discarded before he was looming over you.

Everything about him was revolting you. His smell, his heavy body to those cold dead eyes. In one last desperate attempt, you headbutted him as hard as you could, feeling your forehead smash into his nose.

Warm blood spurted out, splashing over you as he let out a mangled scream. “You bitch! I’ll kill you!”

Spots flashed before your vision as his fist connected with your cheek, leaving you disoriented and drowning in pain.

“I’ve had enough of this,” the second man hissed, shoving the first one off of you. “I’ll take care of this.”

He pinned you with his entire body as you felt him shuffling for his pants once more.

You weren’t sure when you’d started crying, but the tears were flowing, drenching your cheeks as your stomach turned sickly. You screwed your eyes shut, willing your mind to go anywhere else but here.

There was nothing else to do but resign yourself to your fate. You couldn’t fight back or scream for help. All you could do was pray it would be over quickly. 

You were still waiting when the weight of his body suddenly lifted off of yours, and you heard the most horrifying scream. Your blood went cold at the sound, causing your eyes to shoot open.

Sobs began to wrack your body as it shook with relief so great it overwhelmed you. Gaara! He was here!

And you’d never seen him look so angry before. 

His eyes were wide and crazed, the vessels looking like they would pop at any second. The men were screaming, pleading, but Gaara couldn’t hear them pass the blood rushing in his ears. Teeth bared, he was growling, the sound menacing and maniacal.

In this moment you understood something in a way you never had before: Gaara was a force to be feared.

“Please! Please, we’re sorry!” “No! Don’t!”

“Sand Coffin.” 

The men let out one last strangled scream before they were silenced permanently. Blood splattered everywhere, pouring down like rain. It streamed down over you and everything else in your room. 

Gaara was panting hard, still looking more wild than you’d ever seen him. His eyes were locked on the sand that was seeping red with blood. 

A small whimper from you brought him back. His eyes quickly flickered to you, and it was like you could see his soul returning to his body.

He was by your side in a second, kneeling next to you and pulling you to him. He gently removed the gag from your mouth and removed the bind from your wrists and ankles.

He didn’t know what to say, didn’t have the words. He just held you while you weeped into his chest, wrapped in a blanket and finally feeling safe in his arms. 

It took you a while to calm down. The adrenaline had left your body, leaving you only with the weight of what had almost happened. The fear and shock left you trembling, ripping sobs from your throat.

“I’m here…” He kept repeating. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

Once you were able to finally relax, Gaara packed you a bag and took you to his home. You would never need to go back to your home with those traumatic memories, he decided. To hell with tradition or social conventions. He would move you into his home first thing the next morning.

At Gaara’s home, he ran a bath for the two of you filled with bubbles. He took a warm wash cloth, gently wiping the blood from your body. He massaged the blood back to the areas you’d been binded and iced the bruises on your face, any traces of the manic man from earlier gone. All that was left was the serene Gaara you knew and loved.

Gaara didn’t press you to talk or tell him anything the whole while, only made sure you were attended to and cared for.

It was later on once the two of you were in bed with Gaara holding you close to him that you filled him in on what had happened: the Suna Council attempts to get you to turn against Gaara and manipulate him to their purpose. What those men had said before they’d attempted to… you couldn’t even say the word.

Gaara took it all in silently, but you could feel his grip on you tighten just slightly as you spoke. He was livid; you could see it in his eyes, though it was much more subdued than before. “I’m so sorry this happened to you,” he finally spoke, his words heavy and choked.

“If you weren’t marrying me…” He stopped, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “I’m sending out word first thing to the four other villages. We’ll have the members disbanded and imprisoned before the week ends.” He assured you with a conviction and sternness you’d only seen in meetings before. 

Nodding, you pulled him closer to you. “I never thought I’d see you again…” You told him. “I was so scared… I thought…” You shook your head. “You saved me. You’re always there.”

“Always,” Gaara said, kissing your head. 

He didn’t know whether to chalk it all up to luck or intuition that he’d come home early. He had just missed you so terribly, it was like he suddenly couldn’t stand to be away from you for another moment. He’d cut his diplomacy trip early and hurried back, getting to you in just the nick of time.

“I don’t wanna talk about it anymore…” You murmured, looking up at him. “I just wanna forget about it, just for tonight…” With that, you reached up to press your lips to his.

Gaara hesitated only for a moment before kissing you back. He’d missed you so much, and if this was what was going to make you feel better, well, who was he to deny you? In a moment, you were up on top of him, straddling his lap as you kissed him more forcefully, almost desperately.

Gaara’s arms went around you, fingers digging into your hips as he held you against him. He let one hand slide up your back into your hair, tangling his fingers in the strands. Slowly, your lips slid down, moving over his jaw down to his neck, peppering every area you could reach with kisses.

Your name left Gaara’s mouth, a low, needy whine. It sent a jolt through your body, and you began to grind yourself into his lap. You could feel Gaara’s grip tighten in your hair even more as he slowly began to harden underneath you.

Your fingers began to pull at the hem of his shirt desperately. You needed something to ground you. You needed Gaara.

He let you pull the shirt off of him, discarding it to the side before he was on you again.

He flipped you over so you were on your back as he attached his own lips to your neck, attacking the skin, marking you as his. You were moaning and trembling under his touch, begging him for more as his hands wandered your body.

“Gaara,” You groaned out as his fingers fumbled with the waistband of your pants. “No foreplay. I want you now.”

You could hear Gaara stifle his groan at your words before your pants were unceremoniously yanked down. His lips pressed harshly back to yours, all tongue and teeth. Gaara had put aside his own feelings earlier for yours, but now they were pouring out of him.

His anger at the council. His bloodthirst for those men. His fear for what almost had happened to you; you could taste it all in the kiss. Gaara needed you to ground him just as much as you needed him to ground you.

One moment you were kissing and the next your clothes were in a pile, and he was inside of you, hands pinning down your hips as he rutted into you desperately. Your nails scratched down his back, you tried to moan or cry out, but all your sounds were swallowed by his lips.

You were breathless, dizzy as his hips pounded into yours, never breaking the kiss. His pelvic bone caught your clit with every movement and it wasn’t long before you were gushing around him, but he didn’t slow his moments. He pulled your legs up, locking them around his waist. “More,” He was mumbling against your lips. “More.” When it was over, you cumming around his cock countless times before he finally found his own release, spilling inside of you endlessly, he pulled you into his side, holding you closer than he had in some time.

“I’ve never seen you like that before.” The image played in your mind, Gaara’s eyes wild and burning, the flames of anger behind them.

Gaara tensed slightly, but you placed your hand on his chest, calming him as you gazed up at him. You weren’t afraid of him. You were only… intrigued by this side of him you’d never experienced.

“I use to crave blood.” He told you. “I know you have heard the stories. My whole life, I was told I was a monster. I thought I was one. My sole purpose was to kill everyone around me so I could survive.”

His hand was rigid on your shoulder as he spoke, but you held his gaze unwavering. You accepted Gaara. Every part of him. 

“But now, I know my true purpose.” His stare was steady, sure. “Ever since I’ve become Kazekage. My purpose has been to protect those precious to me, those who need someone to protect them. I no longer crave violence or blood. But I will not let anyone, no matter who they are, hurt someone I love…” He pulled you even closer, placing a kiss on the top of your head. 

“I never would have dreamed I would have someone precious to me, or someone who I am precious to. But now that I have you, I’m never going to let you go.”

[alwaysmarveling]

Three Strikes, You’re Out

Pairing: Yelena Belova x reader

Warnings: Black Widow spoilers, use of guns, and killing (and therefore death)

Word Count: 5.6k

A/N: Sorry for not posting anything in a while! I realize from the warnings that it sounds like angst, but I swear this is overall fluff :)

Yelena saved your life. Not once, not twice, but three times. And not in the “watch out, there’s a car!” way or the “let me save you from the bad guy coming to kill you” way. Yelena had saved your life in the “Y/N, you’re forgetting something” way and the “no, Y/N, you cannot do that” way.

---

“L/N, the person of the hour, I see…” You choked down the rising bile as Dreykov dragged a fingertip down your cheek. You refused to make eye contact with the man, firstly out of hatred and secondly because you knew that if you did, you would shiver. You hadn’t made that mistake since you were 8.

A sign of weakness, they called it. Utter, worthless, garbage, they yelled at you as they beat you in front of the others, being so ungrateful to the only man willing to give you any purpose in life. You took it like a champ, not flinching once. You learned not to do that from the girl who had gotten beaten before you.

“And have you figured out why you might be so special today, my little one?” Not gagging took so much more effort once he introduced the pet name, but you forced yourself to keep looking ahead, keep staring at the faint cracks in the dull wall ahead of you.

“No, sir.” You wished more than anything that he could be talking to one of the other girls in line with you. But here you were, with the man you hated most in the world staring you in the eye, his hand resting gently under your cheek.

“Hmm, respectful, this one,” he cooed to Madame B, as if you wouldn’t have been punished had you not addressed him properly. “Well, L/N, you see that man over there?” As if he had orchestrated the whole thing, a man was immediately dragged into the room, his whines muffled by the burlap sack over his head. The footsteps of the older girls who had brought him in were barely audible, making the man and Dreykov the only things you could hear in the large hall.

“Today is the day you kill. And he, my darling, is your victim.” Dreykov waited for a reaction from you and sighed when he got nothing. “No words, L/N?”

“Wh- where is he from?” The second you opened your mouth, you were expecting punishment—how could you be so stupid as to stutter—but it didn’t come for the reason you thought it would.

“You do not question my orders!” You barely heard his yells above the pain that erupted in your jaw, but your feet didn’t even move an inch. Further pain would come if you were stupid enough to do that. Dreykov quickly gripped your chin in between his grubby fingers. His face now centimeters from your own, he opened his mouth again. “Listen to me, little girl, it does not matter where he comes from. If I am gracious enough to grant you with a task like this, you will do it with no question. If you’d like to respond, it better be a ‘thank you’ or a ‘yes, sir.’ Am I understood?” But he didn’t give you a chance to answer, shoving your face to the left and pressing a gun into your hands. “Now. Let’s go. You’ve got an audience.”

Dreykov stepped back to stand next to Madame B, who watched you like a hawk. You already knew what she was thinking. She must’ve recommended you for this, told Dreykov you were ready for the next step. This was supposed to be a moment of pride for the both of you, but you were just embarrassing yourself and her. She’d probably take it out on you later.

The man had stopped struggling since he’d been brought in, probably realizing that there was no way out of this. At least they’d left the burlap sack over his head. But the second you started walking towards him, begging your hands to stop trembling so you could make the shot—and it had to be a perfect one—he started thrashing in his confines, screaming, begging, and pleading for his life.

“No, please! Please, you don’t want to do this! I have a family! I have a wife! And my kids, they-”

“Kill him now, L/N. I am not very patient.” It’s just like training, Y/N, focus, you told yourself as you focused in on the man’s head. Even though it moved, continuing to whip from side to side, your hands were no longer shaky as you brought them up to aim. Your heart was beating faster than it ever had before. The other girls were at least ten feet away from you, but with how hard it was pounding, you wouldn’t be surprised if they were able to see the rapid rise and fall of your chest. You wanted to apologize, untie the man and set him free, let him go back to his family… but Dreykov was waiting. So your eyes narrowed, your diaphragm relaxed, and your finger pressed down on the trigger. Twice. Once to the head, once to the heart. 

Just like that, he was gone. His pleading stopped. His breathing ceased, and his head lolled to the side.

Just like that, you had killed a man.

You had little time to think as Dreykov approached you, clapping his hands slowly. The slow, steady rhythm disgusted you. The dark red stain growing on the burlap sack made you sick. You needed out.

“Congratulations, Y/N. I expect great things from you.” He squeezed your shoulder before sweeping out of the room.

“Y/N.” You whirled around at the sound of Madame B’s voice, stern but gentler than Dreykov’s. “Take the body outside. Yelena,” Madame B called the name of the girl closest to the door. “Help her. I expect you to both be spotless when you return. Make it quick, girls.”

By the time you finally brought yourself to look back at the man, the blonde was already on her knees working on the ties around his ankles. You’d never talked to her before. It wasn’t like girls really made friends here, but she was in your class. And she was the best in your class. But the two of you had never interacted with each other beyond a sweeping glance over each other’s faces before moving on to the next girl. You’d never even partnered together for fight training. 

But you didn’t have time to worry about Yelena; your focus was on pushing yourself to get closer to the man. If you got there fast enough, maybe you’d make it in time to hear his last breath, to say sorry. But you were devastated to find that you were a few minutes too late, your hope making you as naive as a toddler. Instead, as your fingers fumbled with the rope around his wrist, you felt a wet drop land on your hand. You looked down expecting to be repulsed by the blood, but the drop was crystalline, clear. A tear. But, with no more ties to support the man’s body, the corpse fell into your arms, and you were forced to focus on helping Yelena support the dead weight.

You and Yelena brought the body out of the room, taking it around the back to where it would be dealt with as you slept that night. Neither of you said a word the whole time. Your hands shook, and you were certain Yelena could see it as the torso of the man shakily rose and fell, never quite matching the stilted rhythm of your steps. You dropped the body, but Yelena replaced your empty hands with her own as she silently led you to a bathroom. The faucet handles squeaked as you turned them. Your stare into the mirror was as empty as your earlier gaze at the wall, but still, something was missing.

There was no more determination, no more strength. And whatever scrap of innocence you had managed to maintain up until this point was gone. You were no longer a girl, not even a woman. You were a monster.

But your hands were clean. Yes, a long study of your hands told you that all of the man’s blood was gone, washed down the drain. But the begging? The completely desperate pleading of a man who knew he had no other choice, that even sobbing for his life was practically hopeless?

You reached again for the bar of soap, pressing it into your skin. Your nails dug into the backs of your palms, a last-ditch effort to somehow cleanse the inside of you. If you went just a little harder, you’d make yourself bleed. But that would be good, yes, that would be good because the soap could mix with your blood and-

“Y/N.” Yelena reached for your hands and pulled them apart. Your right hand was still clenched around the soap, not letting it go even though it was begging to slip through your grip. “Stop.”

You turned to her, your eyes wide. She’d done it before you. The first of your year to do it. Madame B swelled with pride when she had taken the shot. But she was fine. Yelena was standing in front of you, her hands dried long before, her knees were stable. How’d she do it?

“You’ll be okay,” she murmured.

“H- how are you…?” You couldn’t finish, but she knew what you were saying anyway.

“The pain only makes us stronger, I think. You’ll be okay.” You nodded slowly, allowing Yelena to take the soap from you and shut the faucet once all the bubbles left your skin. You moved to leave the bathroom and return to the hall, where you would have to return to training as if nothing had happened. A firm hand pulling on your elbow stopped you.

“Y/N, you’re forgetting something.” Yelena turned the faucet back on and wet her thumb before brushing it along your cheek. “There. Spotless.” You couldn’t see what she had wiped off until you noticed the red staining her skin. Oh.

“Yelena, his voice…” The blonde rinsed off her thumb and shut off the sink before turning back to you.

“The pain only makes us stronger,” she repeated, giving your shoulders a firm squeeze.

“The pain only makes us stronger,” you whispered. Your voice betrayed you, though, cracking on the last word as if it knew something was wrong.

The man stopped begging when the bullet entered his brain. But his voice would never stop. No, it would forever live on with you. It would forever haunt you.

---

“I don’t understand why we have to do this.”

“Because if we don’t, we’ll die.”

“So what? What if we do?” The blonde stopped looking out of the scope of her gun to turn to you. Her brows were furrowed and her mouth hung slightly open, but you simply rolled your eyes. You had seen this look many times.

“You did not come this far in the Red Room to give up now, Solee.” And there was that nickname again. Yelena gave it to you after she helped clean you up that one time, and from then on, she rarely used your actual name unless if others were around. But she never explained what it meant, even now, years later, and you could never figure it out.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. The pain only makes us stronger.”

“Good.” The spy, now satisfied, turned back to her gun. 

“But it’s killing everyone else around us.” Yelena sighed, putting her gun away once more.

“It’s called self-preservation, Solee. We do this to stay alive.” Yelena wasn’t sure why Dreykov’s mind control didn’t work as well on you as it did on the others. You still had to do whatever he ordered you to, of course, but your mind was never in it. You didn’t have the singular focus about it that all the others did. You still had a heart, had morals.

But she also wasn’t sure why she listened. She could easily turn you in to Dreykov and rat you out for questioning his orders; she’d certainly be forced to if Dreykov had ever asked her about you. There would be no question about your fate. You’d be killed immediately, written off as just another failure.

Yet, Dreykov had never asked, and when she helped you after you took the life of your first victim, it was like some part of her was forever stuck to you and she couldn’t pull away if she tried. So she did her best to appeal to you, convince you to stay on the mission, even tried to adjust the mission plans so that she was the one taking the kill and not you. But this time, both of you needed to infiltrate, and you’d likely be the one pulling the trigger.

“Besides, it’s not like this one has any good in him. He had it coming.”

“But his family,” you murmured. From your stakeout point, you had the perfect view of the house’s kitchen. The man’s husband and his two kids laughed around the table as they got ready for their day. Someone had turned on the radio a bit earlier, and they danced as they prepared their things. You wouldn’t be taking their lives, but you sure would be ruining them. “They’ve done nothing wrong. They don’t know who he really is. This will destroy them.”

Yelena stayed silent as she continued to fiddle with her weapon. You two wouldn’t move in until later, when the target’s family had left for the day, but she liked to be prepared.

“Maybe I can leave a note or something.” That had Yelena looking up instantly.

“No. No, Y/N, you cannot do that.”

“It won’t be long, just a quick wri-” The blonde stood up and clapped a hand over your mouth.

“Writing a letter could be used to track us down. We cannot leave something like that behind. We can’t leave anything behind. Dreykov wants us in and out. Do you understand?” She could tell from the way that your eyes started to shine that you did. There was no other way about it. And she didn’t mean to be harsh, but she had to if you were going to stay alive.

“But they deserve to know, Leni.” Yelena knew exactly what you were talking about.

“This man is not the same one as the first you killed, Solee. He is not innocent. His family will find out the truth, they always do.” When you finally nodded, she lifted her hand away and returned to her seat beside you. 

-

“You’re quiet.” Yelena’s concern was clear from the way she pursed her lips together. The gravel dug into your palms as you leaned back even further onto them. You looked at your feet before responding, rolling your ankles as if sitting there for less than an hour was the most arduous thing you ever had to do.

“I’m just tired.” Someone else might’ve asked how much sleep you had gotten the night before or asked you if you had your morning cup of coffee. But Yelena wasn’t someone else, and she knew you never really slept and you hated coffee. And she knew physical exhaustion wasn’t your problem.

“It’ll be okay, Solee.”

“Who’s going to tell them that?” You nudged your chin in the direction of the group of three as they ran into the car. They were running late, but they all still had smiles on their faces. You wondered how soon that would change. Yelena didn’t respond; she didn’t know how to. So she settled for resting a hand over yours as the two of you watched the family pull out of the driveway. It was time.

-

“Solee, what are you doing? We need to get out of here.”

“I can’t just leave like this. I can’t leave them like this.” Your hands were practically shaking as you paced the length of the kitchen, the same one the target’s family had been in that same morning. Technically it was still morning. You had the letter drafted. You’d been thinking of the exact words you needed to write. All you needed was Yelena’s approval, and-

“They will be ok-”

“They will not be okay! Pain doesn’t always make you stronger, Leni, it doesn’t!” Yelena froze as you collapsed to your knees in tears, but she quickly burst into action, pulling you up and into her arms. A glance at the window told her that you two were safe for the time being, but you had to get back before Dreykov became suspicious.

“Solee, now is not the time to be having this conversation. You will be killed if you do this, you know that. I’m sorry, but we really need to go.” Part of Yelena’s heart shattered when you pulled yourself together in less than a second, going from a sobbing, devastated girl to a composed spy in the blink of an eye. She hated that you had to do that. That you knew how to do that. But the other part of her heart soared because it meant that you were still trying, still pushing. And if she was honest with herself, some part of her hoped it was because of her that you were still going.

“There is never time to have this conversation, Leni. And is all this really worth it?”

-

“Yelena, Y/N! Dreykov wishes to see you. Now.” The two of you met Madame B’s gaze, each giving her a slight nod before slipping away from the rest of the group to find his office. Neither of you spoke as Yelena fell into step with you.

“Another mission, you think?” You shrugged, your face indifferent, causing the blonde to frown. You’d been closed off, cold even, since the two of you had come back from the mission. She’d been trying to get you to crack even the smallest of smiles, but all of her efforts had been nothing but futile. “Solee, what’s wrong? Please, tell me.”

“Nothing’s wrong, Leni. Let’s just see what Dreykov wants, yeah?” The spy finally nodded when the corner of your lip curled up slightly. It was barely noticeable, but it was something, and that was the best you’d given her or anyone else these past few days. So she forced herself to push past the tight knot forming in her gut and walk with you silently to meet Dreykov.

The second the two of you made it into Dreykov’s office, the door was shut, and Yelena almost let out a yell when you were hit across the face. Wow, whatever you were hit with was hard.

“Which one of you let it slip?”

“I- I don’t- what are you talking about?” It took everything in the blonde to not let her temper get the best of her. Of course, she couldn’t do anything, but she sure as hell wanted to. Rather than explaining verbally, Dreykov launched a live news feed on a screen that covered the entire wall. The camera focused on the target’s family as a headline below read: “Family Blindsided By Assassination of Major Mob Boss.” The two of you had mere seconds to soak up what was going on before Dreykov spoke up again, his voice now more even.

“A betrayal like this could get us revealed. So, which one of you pathetic fools let it slip?”

“We don’t know what you’re talking about,” you spat out after composing yourself. “Neither of us said anything to anybody.” Dreykov narrowed his eyes at you as he approached.

“Listen here, Y/N. You may be one of my best, but don’t think for one second that I won’t have you killed. Those lies will not work here. Tell me the truth.” He could threaten you all he wanted to, force you to tell the truth no matter how badly you wanted to keep a secret; he could do anything to you, make you do anything. But you weren’t scared. Adrenaline was rushing through your veins, but you were tired of the Red Room and its horrors. You were done.

“I. Am. Not. Lying.” You barely noticed it, but a flash of surprise swept across the man’s face for just a moment. You weren’t too surprised by it; it wasn’t like the other girls had been so bold when they addressed him. And you supposed the blood dripping down your face made you a bit more intimidating. But just as quickly as the look appeared, it was gone, and he turned to Yelena.

“Yelena? The same thing goes for you. You are good, I’ll admit, and it would be such a shame to lose you, but if one of you doesn’t come clean, there could be… consequences.” Yelena opened her mouth to deny it. She knew nothing about how the reason for the assassination could have been discovered; to her knowledge, neither of you did. You were both innocent. But, as she opened her mouth to talk, Dreykov turned away, one hand to his ear. Seconds later, he turned back to the two of you, a smile on his face.

“Never mind, my darlings. You may go now. I will handle this. Oh, and Y/N? Go get that cut checked out. I’m afraid it looks rather deep.”

-

Several days later, it was publicly revealed that the target had numerous deals slipping through. Many people were mad at him, and he was getting desperate. A suicide note was carefully slipped into the target’s home—how could the police be so careless as to miss that?—and everything was forgotten. But the permanent scar you had going across your eyebrow would never let you forget it. It would never let you forget how, once again, Yelena had saved your life.

---

You looked down on the brightly lit kitchen and were immediately hit with a sense of deja vu. It was a woman this time, and the kids were older, but it was the same.

No. No, it wasn’t the same. Because this man was innocent. He’d done nothing more than pick up a hard drive one of the rookie Widows had dropped. And while she’d been punished, he now had to be dealt with.

It also wasn’t the same because Yelena wasn’t here with you.

It’d been two months since Yelena had “gone rogue,” or at least that’s what everyone else called it. But you knew what it really meant. Yelena had been freed. She was no longer trapped under the influence of Dreykov. She didn’t have to be a killing machine anymore. But she also didn’t have to be with you. She can’t be with you, you reminded yourself. If you saw her, you would have to kill her whether you wanted to or not. And if not having Yelena with you was hell, then killing her would be… killing her would be the end of you.

But hell certainly wasn’t fun. With Yelena gone, that left you in charge of most missions. Dreykov was supposed to be overseeing, but you hadn’t heard much from him recently. Nevertheless, the missions kept coming, which meant you still had a job you had to do. A job you couldn’t do. You didn’t have the same objectiveness as Yelena. You couldn’t cut out your emotions to see the bigger picture, and with Yelena gone, it would be so much easier to just… be done with everything. But there was always that one thing nagging you. It rang in your head every time your hand brushed just over your brow and every time that man’s pleas rang in your ears.

You did not come this far in the Red Room to give up now, Solee.

So you’d do your best to stay alive in hell, but to be completely honest, you weren’t sure how much longer you were going to last.

-

“Y/N, you ready? Target is in place.”

“I’m ready. Remember, we make this one quick. This man died of a tragic heart attack.” You had the syringe in your pocket. Normally, Dreykov would prefer you to stage it as murder. But this man was innocent, and Dreykov hadn’t been responding to your communication attempts in ages. So the team followed your lead. “Understood?”

“Copy.” With confirmation coming in from your earpiece, you made your way down from your hideout, taking care to avoid being spotted by the occasional passerby or home security camera. You had several Widows posted around the area to alert you of potential obstacles, and two Widows would enter the house with you in case of any unforeseen troubles, but this should be an easy job. Once again, this man was innocent. How many precautions would a man take for his safety if he had no reason to believe he was in danger?

But when you had your eyes locked on the target and asked for a report from your accompanying widows, your earpiece stayed silent. A quick check-in with those in the perimeter showed that nothing suspicious was going on inside, which meant there must’ve been something, someone else, in that house.

A quick glance at your watch had you cursing. You’d been staking this man out for a few weeks now, and his mother was scheduled to come to the house in less than thirty minutes. You didn’t have much time to find out what was going on with the other two Widows. Get the man first, worry about them later, you decided. They were highly trained; whatever was going on couldn’t be that bad. But just as you swung out, syringe in hand, you were tackled to the side, and the needle flew out of your grasp. So this is what took out the other Widows. But you weren’t going down that eas-

“Leni?” Your eyes widened in shock for a second before you immediately charged at her. And no matter how loudly your brain was screaming at you to stop, your body was on autopilot, and, now, completely submitting to the orders of someone that wasn’t you, it was the most ruthless it had ever been. It was demonstrating in full force just how you had earned your reputation as one of the Red Room’s best. And while this was a reputation you had always been ashamed of, you had never hated yourself so much as you did when you attacked Yelena. Luckily for you, she was also one of the best.

“This is so completely and utterly stupid, Leni,” you managed to grit out as you tripped her to the floor. “What are you thinking?”

“Don’t,” Yelena paused to avoid another punch in her direction, “worry about me. I’m trying to help you, you fool!”

“You’re trying to get yourself killed!”

“I’m sorry, Solee.” Before you had time to retort, the two Widows you’d been looking for stumbled into the room. Unlike attacking Yelena like you thought they would, they slammed you to the ground before you had time to land a kick to Yelena’s torso. The shock of their attack was enough to keep you down for a second, just fast enough for a vial of red dust to explode across your face. 

Yelena studied your face as you were exposed to the chemical agent, waiting desperately to see the telltale signs of disorientation that showed it was working. Much to her dismay, they never came, but she soon realized why as your eyelids slowly shut. When they reopened, your face was brighter than she’d ever seen it, a small smile gracing your lips.

“It’s over,” you laughed, immediately jumping into her arms. “It’s really… it’s really over?”

“It’s over, Solee. You’re done. Never again.”

-

A knock at the door brought your eyes away from the window and towards the blonde, a smile automatically growing at the sight of her. “Hey, you comfortable? Do you need anything? I brought a sweatshirt. It’s one of mine, but you should borrow it. It gets a bit cold at night.” You took the gray piece of clothing from the former spy with a grateful nod.

“So this is where you’ve been all this time?” You looked around the bedroom once more. It was nothing special, literally just a room with a gray dresser and a bed in a wood frame surrounded by white walls, but it was yours. Well, technically you didn’t own it, but you would get to sleep here, by yourself; Yelena had even told you that the two of you could go out to get some decorations for it later.

“We move around as we need to, but yes, we’ve been here for some time.” She paused, the silence not quite like the comforting one that usually fell between the two of you. She was waiting for something. To ask something. “Do you like it?”

“Are you kidding me?” The blonde relaxed at your laugh. “I love it. And the other Widows do too. That’s seven of us that you’ve saved today, eight if you count that man, and eleven if you count his family.” Yelena shook her head gently at the last part of your sentence. Nothing meant more to her than her family, but she was amazed at your compassion, caring not just about your family, but the family of every person you ever came across. “Do you always save this many people in one day?”

“Only on the good days,” Yelena sighed softly.

“Today was a good day then?”

“The best.” When Yelena’s hands slipped into yours, you watched the link just as carefully as she watched you as she made the connection. You weren’t pulling away, but you weren’t… you weren’t moving. Yelena could feel her heart stop beating, her throat closing, her diaphragm freezing. You guys had never moved past a friendship, but she’d always assumed it was because you never could. But maybe the real reason was that you didn’t want it to be anything more than that. Maybe-

“Why, because I’m finally here to make things fun?” It was that one joke, accompanied by a squeeze of her hands, that brought her body back to life.

“No, because we had mac and cheese for dinner,” she scoffed. “Always so humble, huh?”

“Yep, that sounds just like me.” The two of you fell into a fit of giggles, just like you always did when you were together. But this time it was different. For once in your lives, there was nothing holding you back. There were no targets to eliminate, no families to destroy, no Dreykov or Madame B telling you to stop being so pathetic and get on with it already. You were both free at last.

“Leni,” the soft call of her voice had the blonde meeting your eyes. You pulled her hands closer to you before you spoke, effectively pulling Yelena closer to you. “Thank you-”

“You have nothing to thank me for, Solee, I-”

“I have everything to thank you for, Leni. You saved me the first time you helped me, and that time you didn’t let me write that letter, and now today. I don’t know how much longer I could’ve kept going if you didn’t free me today. You saved my life.”

“And you give me life, Solee. Nothing in the Red Room was real. The fake pity Dreykov gave us, the ‘purpose’ that they gave us, none of it. But you were, and you still are, the only thing I knew to be real during all those years in that hellhole. You are my heart and soul.” Oh. Soul-y. That was the nickname. “You are the reason I am here today. So thank you.” You watched as she brought the palm of your hand up to her cheek. But when she turned to press a kiss to your hand, your eyes closed on their own accord, as if they knew it was too much to watch her perform the intimate action. You didn’t want to watch it, you needed to feel it.

And feel it you did. The warmth of her lips against your calloused hands, the gentle yet strong support of her fingers wrapped around yours... in less than twenty-four hours you had gone from hell to absolute heaven.

You slowly opened your eyes when her lips were replaced by her cheek.

“Feel good, Souly?” The former spy asked with a chuckle. You hummed, studying her face before responding.

“I can think of something else that might be better.” Yelena simply quirked an eyebrow at you, but the slight smirk on her lips told you she knew exactly what you might be referring to. So with one last flicker of your eyes from her eyes to her lips and back to her eyes, you closed the gap between the two of you—or maybe she did, you honestly weren’t sure—and your lips melted into hers. All the emotions you had felt, were feeling, and could ever feel were poured into the kiss. It was sweet, gentle, and pure, your stomach aflutter with butterflies and your chest swelling with joy, but it was also raw, passionate, and emotional, saying more than two emotionally constipated former assassins ever could.

You two finally separated with your foreheads pressed together, puffs of air being exhaled against each other’s lips as you attempted to fill your lungs with the oxygen it had been deprived of for so long.

It was a while before either of you even thought about speaking again. But there was no need to, not right now. You could talk about what you were later. For now, both of you were perfectly content to stay in each other’s embrace; she, having your whole heart, and you, her soul.

-----

🏷 : @vancityfire13

[randomshipperhere]

Favorite moments from Markiplier Ego vids

From the main series and fan popular ones and the reasons why.

More like me raving about Dark again. Do you have 90 minutes for how did we get here?

ISWM Countdown- 6 days......

ADWM (general)

I’ve never properly discussed why I love ADWM so much but now I get the chance to. I’ll actually get into a dissection post sometime but this is SPECIFICALLY about moments.

“Bonjour” is the greatest joke in this video series and I will not take any criticism.

I have the exact same boots that Mark uses here and I just realized that while rewatching the series for this post. Wild.

He just gave us a massive fan service feast by making all of the fanfics come to life in a comedic, interesting, and very Markiplier manner.

The Romance poster is amazing. I still don’t know who edited that but I want to print it lol.

The fact that we actually get to see (Y/N) Fischbach in the NO option.  I’m so happy Mark is for Y/N rights. Made a post of how funny it is in the ADWM timeline we’re still most likely going around with the name Y/N Fischbach.

We still have the long running joke of not getting back our credit card. 5 years since that date and we never got it back.

Skeleton getting thrown in frame is still an on-going visual gag and I’m sure ISWM will find a way to bring that in. Along with the PB&J and Tuna sandwiches.

ADWM (HORROR)

That ain’t makeup under his eyes, it’s an edit of Mark’s eyes. In the BTS when they reach to filming in the theatre, Amy says they’ll just add it in post production. Gosh dang it’s a good edit that at first glance you’d really think it’s makeup. It’s most obvious at like 1:11-1:30. It adds a creep factor to it. Most fans when watching this don’t quite have the same scared reaction live (on the day) watchers had y’know. Same for the ear ringing. The goosebumps were real.

Dark you’re really making it hard to not fall for you. 6 years of this bullshit we going round and round in circles and you make me grin way too fucking wide damn it.

ADWM (FREEDOM!)

I’ve always found a certain VFX funny. It’s the one where Dark’s outline gets larger in the background. Not good at explaining so timestamp, 0:24. That. Same effect is used in Heist but just the enlarged ears. It’s funny to me okay.

Another case of fanon and death of the author. We all like to think of Dark as this untouchable and indestructible being but when confronted with Mark (or Tyler with a printout of Mark’s face in this case), no murder or fight to the deaths happen. Dark just curses at him and proceeds to bag his fucking head in response to his own head being bagged. Sir, you are so fucking goofy. Just the transition from serious blackmail(?) to the fight. Comedy gold everyone.

When pleading their innocence, Dark’s more controlled movements just screamed theater kid to me. I don’t know, I just really found it charming.

ADWM (LEFT)

Mark’s death sound will never not be funny, I want it as my ringtone.

Dark out here and his first instinct is to reassure us and that’s it’s alright. Master manipulator you are sir! Since you’re fictional I’ll allow it and willingly go forth! At least you had a nice reaction, Mark just assured us that murder was okay in that situation. Even their monologues after, similar script but reactions are night and day.

Also I love chocolate!!!! you aren’t the wrong choice at all~ ISTG if yandereplier didn’t exist I would think you were the yan with your parting words.

Feb 2017 Charity Livestream he explains Amy was the one holding the camera here. So :)))))))))

Markiplier TV

Ethan bless your fucking soul. I love every second of him, especially the one where he came home with flowers.

Santaiplier has a grudge is because of this.

My favorite egos sitting next to each other at the table :D

Someone relaxing in the other room during the ego meeting.

Dark fixing his hair. Fuck this character just needs to exist and I’m head over heels like it’s the first time every time. How annoying.

Host you had so little screen time but I love you to an extent that should not be possible to a minor character who over the span of over 10 years of content has less than a minute and all you did was narrate the event.

SANTA SPILLS THE TEA

2:34 By the district attorney’s body, well I’ll be- I will never get over Santaiplier saying my beloved Dark is NOT on the *not copyrighted* Naughty List. Mark may (jokingly) hate him and Dark’s fans but Santa gets it. One of us! One of us!

Once again. I love Dr. Iplier. This bitch is in my top 5. He’s just so fucking bad at improv. Please don’t let him advertise things. He either forgets or just ignores that the cameras are still rolling

I don’t need to talk about our baby Eric, the fandom already does the justice for him.

Who Killed Markiplier

Poker table recollection by William is underappreciated and I want to say that is in my top moments of Chapter 1.

We’re aware of the Life quotes gif sets from this series and boy are they just immortal. I’ll take all three to print out please!

The groundskeeper is probably the weirdest one off character we’ll ever get.

The Chef is one of my favorite recurring side characters, and the Butler’s presence is nice. It’s funny how little buddy was just there when they rented out the place. The stars aligned for that moment.

Celine, I loved her outfit. Would wear that 10/10.

Actor’s robes are so fucking slutty in the way he descends down the staircase and you just see the legs underneath. No wonder Mark was so careful with how he moved.

Abe. My gosh this detective is so weird but so funny and we just get dragged around and everything is a mess but his presence is fun.

William is a walking fucking stereotype and he is just taken out of Jumanji but he has his own character! I really love the outfit design for him. Those glasses. Very cool. I want to steal those glasses.

Okay but can we talk about how every time Damien is on screen it feels like I’m reading a fanfic but it’s in video form. I swear to God, so many shots it feels like there’s a halo above him. The one on the second floor with those bright ass lights, the gazebo. The whole he’s the only one that trusted you from start to finish (before any of you say there’s the Detective, remember he turns on you for a bit in chapter 3 when Celine arrives at the table). He is an angel. I will die on this hill and I will die for him (quite literally but it technically wasn’t for Damien).

All the Jim videos are a fucking masterpiece of a shitpost that they are my canon Jims. Don’t know those bitches in Markiplier TV, I like them unhinged. Demons Jim is the fucking best.

To note: I’m pretty sure that there were only two hands that it kept alternating with throughout the series. That is Ethan (starting shot in chapter 1), and Amy (last Y/N hand shot in the final chapter with the cane). Make do with that information.

Wilford ‘MOTHERLOVING’ Warfstache

First joke that made me laugh? When the briefcase fell from the car.

Any long time Mark fans know that the party place is the same one from Ninja Sex Party’s Cool Patrol where Mark had a cameo in.

I loved the hmm.... would it classify into environmental story telling? Color theory? IDK. But the way the noir colors with Abe turn into this fucking pop and lively full colored world that Warfstache lives in is just so telling of the kind of characters they are. It’s fucking brilliant. And the way that when they’re in the same frame the colors are somewhere in between those two, it’s just so cool. The art kid in me gives it a thousand thumbs up.

A joke I love to this day: the person who just casually dances away after Abe shot his gun in the air until they’re out of frame.

Wilford doing that thing again where the other person is still talking to them but Wilford isn’t quite there.

The entire car scene. Fuck I love that car scene. Did I mention how much I love the car scene?

The 2 moments where he directly looks at the camera, to you, the viewer while he’s dancing. One at the start and the end. Very cool.

The look of realization in Wilford’s face that he knows Abe. Shit that gets me.

Not at both Wil and Actor saying Celine would carve their hearts out. Bro, she so ruthless.

That small glitch in 10:38.

The fact that Wil’s mustache has frosted pink tips.

The way he just fucking talks to the gun as if it was an actual child.

Both of their acting is top notch. Mick when he finally burst after all of this nonsense, Wil when he delivered his speech to Abe. I will say without bias (and this one really is without bias) that among the WKM storyline videos. This is the series’ Magnum Opus. The Best of the Best.  From the comedy, to crime, and the drama. The tragedy of it all! Even without knowing the story or anything about the Markiplier TV/MarkCU this would be the one video that I would show to friends if they ever asked me to recommend any of his more professionally made videos.

I also feel for Abe to a spiritual level of like wanting to make sense of nonsense even if in the end it doesn’t mean anything. It’s what’s fun for me. Just like right now! with this post! Putting feelings into tangible things through words. With my appreciation for the team’s craft and overanalyzing of things. I like things to make sense even if it doesn’t need to.

DAMIEN

This is a half baked thought process but Celine tells Damien to go to sleep and Dark tells the viewer to go to sleep in don’t remember.

Actor says to Damien what he said to the viewer in WKM “It’s not fair, is it?”

Those earlier two points just point the similarities of The DA and Damien.

First most notable thing. From being the author’s head canon during the WKM explanation stream, Celine and Damien being twins is now canon! Congratulations Mark one of your visions has been fulfilled!

“Don’t let anyone ever leave” Fuck the shitty house entity. All my homies hate the house entity.

Bro let me tell you, I liked Actor even with what happened in WKM but this video made me like him a lot. The lilt, the sing song voice. Bastard but I don’t hate him. Never in the way the majority of the fandom feels for him...

The emotion in fucking “Acting like you’re the only one without blood on their hands!” sent me. Bro u right but you got no right to say that to our sweet beloved Damien. Rude.

Actor just has so much character and I am a villain apologist in multiple fandoms so...

In both WMLW and DAMIEN, Mark just saying the word “carve” in each characters accent gets me in a way I’m not sure how to explain. That’s actually explainable, I liked Heathers. You know the song with the word carve. The ones that do, they get it.

Celine is a very cool sister.

Just the entire exchange towards the end, it was so heartfelt. The emotions, wow. “I can’t remember the last time I slept” “Don’t worry I’ll protect you” and the callback to what Celine said earlier. Celine warning Damien of the consequences of his actions, Damien fully understanding this and taking up that mantle. God, such powerful stuff.

In the explanation stream for DAMIEN, it’s incredible how different his views are about certain characters when you compare it to let’s say the ADWM explanation stream. Speaking of, at the end of the stream, he was basically saying the DA is an observer to everything that happens. We are in DAMIEN as simply the viewer. As the actual you behind the screen. Crazy how we’re such an integral character to the plot even if we can’t do anything because without our presence, these stories wouldn’t see the light of day. What’s a hero without a villain and what’s a story without an audience. We may not directly affect what happens but we do get to see as everything unfolds, as the world gets built and broken down.

(this is a long winded way of me saying that the DA is not being sad and miserable the entire time behind the mirror. We are just vibing. Still don’t let my rant stop you from creating your hundred year stuck in the mirror DA fanfic.)

A Heist With Markiplier

This is the longest of the entire thing so I’ll batch them up and really really make it short as possible.

Main video- banger we got to go on a quick heist adventure. Quick in and out. The story is finished we did the Heist. Mark dummy is incredible comedy in the works. Waiting for this tradition to come back in ISWM.

Dark tunnel & Endings- SMH why does he want to die so badly. No Mark, I will not allow you to kill yourself. Laughed my ass off when we cuffed ourselves to Mark. He ain’t leaving. Very final split up option, I really like the vibe of ending 29. Alright, I’ll live in a foggy area in a cottage. Sure. Ending 30 is amazing with the whole seeing the alternate endings without having been there in that timeline. About Ending 31? I’m just a simple simp simpleton. My most popular post in this fandom is saying how much I love him.

Light tunnel & Endings- Animation is cool as shit. Very sus for Mark to say not again with the alien ending because that implies in Ending 23 that ADWM came first then AHWM. Caveman MatPat fuck yeah. Ending 25 fun but terrifying love the not actually freeze frame. Captain Magnum’s death by snu snu line delivery is funny. Out of all the random deaths, getting cannoned out is my favorite. Golden Treasure’s an entire reference that I like kind of ending. Treasured Gold is cheesy but at least its one of the better endings.

Car & Endings- underrated moment is when you wake up and he cooks breakfast for you. Heist Mark huge BF material. Illinois being such a flirt intentional or not is much appreciated. His wink, with the whiplash! What a heartbreaker but Illinois is pretty charismatic so he get’s a pass. Then there’s this zombie apocalypse route is where Mark is the best partner you could ask for. Like when he punched Zombie Tyler for us, asked us if we were okay and if we needed something for the cough. Ending 4 is cute. Screaming with Ed is great. That oh so familiar pb&j and tuna sandwich options. Endings 8 & 9 are way too wholesome. Time is fucked but we got a scientist this time and Mark is on our side. Awww. Seriously, how sweet. Ending 6 is a very satisfying end. Honestly the Car route is like the best way to go, least bad ends.

Helicopter & Endings- Worst idea since we get sent to prison. Not so bad idea when Mark got punched and we got Yancy singing. Incredibly rude to kick dance us to death but incredibly bittersweet when we had to say our goodbyes. Yancy’s “youse gonna fit riiight in” hits the right notes. Not much to say about the Charm the guards route. Bob and Wade’s appearance :DDD. I have a love-hate relationship with Wilford’s I ❤ U underwear. I love how we’re in the hot seat and we got to live.

The Ned Affair- The Warfstache Saga

This comment sums up everything concisely

yamiaainfero (4 years ago) comments: Warfstache has an affair, murders a bunch of people, and shoots a detective (It was an accident, I swear). Wil...really can't let go of the past, can he?

The Fall of Slender Man

It is canon that Warfstache beat up Slender man during the time he had an afro and went to Jamaica with said afro. His popular ‘Warfstache don’t take shit from nobody’ line.

Warfstache Interviews Markiplier

The Nani is everything to me.

Another moment I found hilarious is the shot where Wilford just wasn’t in the seat and Mark is just continuing on his ramblings as if Wilford was still in that chair.

Final one, is when Wilford unsheathes the knife from his stockings. Like that implied he wasn’t wearing pants during the interview and Mark either wasn’t paying attention or just didn’t comment on it.

And while it was just a funny skit at the time, with the lore we have now it’s interesting how our perception of the video changed. It’s as if Wilford isn’t lucid enough to recall a certain Mark he used to know or this could be the egos testing the waters on how they could kill Mark.

Honorable Mention:

DARKIPLIER vs. ANTISEPTICEYE

For being a canon non-canon and very fan service video. Well it seems on the Mark side it’s non-canon. Jack’s side seems to be semi-canon in fanon lore. Even rewatched explanation video for it. Gosh, simpler times. The bloopers video is such a good cringe too. Seems to be the video that solidifies how Dark is just kinda flirty, kinda sensual without meaning to. So yes people, he is both flirting and threatening you.

+ nose boop and embarrassed reactions from everyone. Fucking SS tier quality bloopers.

The Warfstache Automated Interview Automaton

Honestly I should be ashamed at myself for forgetting this but yeah this short very FNAF inspired CYOA was sad. Potato salad and exotic butters kinda sad. Also whoever created the 3D models. Amazing work.

Don’t Open the Door

Not considered but this was just a fucking fever dream of an experience. The title naming suggests it’s a Dark related video but it’s just Mark. Very confusing.

[phoenixyfriend]

Thoughts on “Auntie Soka and Little Leia” now that I’ve actually got it posted:

Call it a director’s cut! The process of actually writing the thing, and also jokes made along the way. Link to the actual fic.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the energy for image descriptions, even the text screenshots. Might come back that later. Most of this was DMs with @atagotiak​.

This was an entire thing before I even started writing:

Before I decided on ages and stuff Ahsoka, to Jango, who has had zero contact with Kaminoans: Okay I know I'm a Jedi kid so you hate me but this toddler is your clone from the future. Jango, tired: What the FUCK are you talking about. Rex, barely able to talk: Don't you dare leave me with him, Commander! Ahsoka: I'm not going to leave you I just--I'm so tired I'm so fucking tired I haven't slept in five days and someone tried to kidnap Leia two days ago I am so fucking tired I need help

Ben: [twenty years of depression followed by a 'now I'm safe' breakdown over the course of weeks] Sokari: [whatever the FUCK this mess is]

When Ahsoka mentions there only being three other Jedi at the time of her death,  I was thinking Kanan, Yoda, and Obi-Wan (Leia told her about the latter two living past her). She's not counting anyone that received training after the Temple fell, and she didn’t know about Cal.

When Leia says  “I was adopted and raised by one of the founders of the rebellion, a movement built on the desire to instate freedom and democracy in a galaxy that had lost even the pretense.”

Depa: I'm no therapist but I diagnose you with "incredibly fucked up." Ahsoka: yeah, that’s fair

"Why did you pick Depa for--" She's pretty and I'm gay. Also because of the Kanan thing But mostly I'm gay "It's not a visual medi--" GAY

Empty of context beyond general post-fic AU: "Hey Sokari, we need to engage in psychological warfare against this individual and--" "I'm going to break into his office and leave a threatening note on his desk and leave no other sign that I was there. He'll see that his security is nothing and the only reason he isn't dead is because I'm too nice to kill him." "...okay, not what we were planning, but that works. Why is that your first choice?" "I really like breaking and entering, it's soothing." Ben just standing there with a bland smile like This Is Normal.

"We need someone to infiltrate a highly guarded facility in hostile territory." "So we're sending the Torrent kids?" [sigh] "We're sending the Torrent kids."

Rex and Sokari insist on both going by "Torrent" even though Rex could be a Fett. Jango really wants him to be a Fett. Rex has too many grudges to agree to being a Fett for... a while.

I really hope it's blatantly obvious that Ahsoka's not a reliable narrator for some things Ahsoka: Fett could care less if I died Jango: jfc even if you are older than me I can see you're fucked up. Drink your hot chocolate. Hells. She's got good reason to expect him to hate her as a Jedi! BUT. THAT IS NOT REFLECTIVE OF REALITY

We don’t get a lot of actual characterization for Jango, but the way I played him out here is he has never really parsed that Jedi are people before all this. It's a lot harder to treat them as a monolith when the traumatized former child soldier is having regular breakdowns in your shitty little kitchen

Fett: I respect you Ahsoka: No, don't do that

Ahsoka’s vigilantism is something that, in my mind, she's associating heavily with Zygerria and then the clones.

I figured that she never bothered to learn Quinlan’s teacher’s name but in the process of looking up some basic facts (whether he had a surname), I found that Wookiepedia was forced to give us a VERY wide range of possible death in Legends.

Please take a moment to imagine Quinlan's FACE when Ahsoka initially dismisses him. Quinlan has put a lot of effort into being rogueishly charming! It's very useful for his line of work! He knows to expect either irritation or a return flirtation when he acts like this with people his own age! Ahsoka is not flustered OR rolling her eyes and insulting him, she's just ignoring him and it's a bit of a blow to the ego

This just makes me really happy:

This was the initial comment I made, as a joke What if Maul is just. There. On one of the planets they make a pitstop at. What if Maul exists as the walking problem he is, but fifteen, and Ahsoka immediately tries to kick his ass and drag him back to Coruscant. I do not have room for this plot but What If

Despite not having room for this plot, I proceeded to write this plot.

Maul is kidnapped and it’s the best thing that ever happened to him HE'S FIFTEEN HE'S DUMB AS SHIT AND HAS A BAD ATTITUDE AND YEAH HE'S A DARKSIDER BUT HE'S FIFTEEN

Ahsoka: I sense... Maul [takes off sprinting] Rex: [immediately takes Jango's blaster and runs after her] Jango: Wait who Tholme: Who Quinlan: Who Jango: [looks at Leia] Leia: I don't know who that is either! Ahsoka, already wrestling a teenager to the ground: Oh no, you're a child, REX STUN HIM AND GRAB THE CUFFS, I'M SURE FETT OR THOLME HAS SOME

Fighting him isn't even legal, they have NO evidence of criminal wrongdoing, so first she needs to yell until he admits to something she can fight him about

Ahsoka: When I see Maul, it's on SIGHT Maul: WHO ARE YOU

Ahsoka: The Force didn't give me hands just to NOT throw them when I run into That Crafty Son Of A Bitch

Ben, when they arrive, after the tearful reunion: You... you brought Maul. Ahsoka: Well, yeah, he's fifteen and kinda dumb. I figured we could drag him here and force him into therapy, see what happens. Ben: I can't quite tell through the gag, but I think he's threatening to feed you your own spleen. Ahsoka: Lol, yeah.

Ben is absolutely on team "get Maul therapy" and will fight the Council on rehabilitating the baby Sith But also it's like. Here's your daughter! And your niece! And your daughter's QPP! Also your best friend, but baby, and his teacher, and the biological origin of a number of people you cared for deeply! AND ALSO THE GUY WHO SPENT LITERAL DECADES CRAVING YOUR DEATH, FOR SOME REASON

I just really want Ahsoka lovingly bullying Maul She gives him noogies and the horns don't protect him because girl has reinforced gloves

Maul's only allowed a low-power training saber and his fights with Sokari involve Much Taunting by her and Eventual Screaming by him, and everyone pops by to see: 1. Sokari doing the most absurd flips, for fun. 2. The bullshit that is ataru-shien reverse-grip jar'kai in the hands of someone who makes it work 3. What a Sith lightsaber form looks like 4. Just the general nonsense that is the way these two fight

Tia said “Wrt ridiculous flips. I'm remembering that time she beheaded four Kryst'ad at once.” and I just Rex brings up the quadruple beheading at one point to get someone to stop asking questions and the awkward, horrified silence almost makes him regret it. And then Sokari just snorts and makes a joke about how Rex once speared a slaver point-blank and everyone's just like hello??? "are you two okay" "no"

Maul absolutely starts crushing on Sokari after a 'sword under chin' moment and she's just very "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh you're fifteen, bye" GO MAKE PUPPY EYES AT OBI-WAN OR SOMETHING

The crushes are the worst part of everything, really, she's an attractive young woman that can kick a lot of ass, and a lot of people are into that! Unfortunately, most of those people are a decade younger than she is, mentally, because all the people her actual age look at her and see a child on account of the 17yo body.

It’s almost a good thing she’s in no place mentally for a relationship.

I just want Ahsoka to wear beskar.... I think that would be Nice........

This AU is also what caused this post.

I'm deeply enamored by the idea that Ahsoka can win fights against "older" padawans pretty much unilaterally, even when they team up 2v1 And then she offers to fight 5v1 "But only if I have permission to fight dirty." Ben approves it, a horror show full of "I fought many wars and will scream in your face or kick you in the balls if that's what it takes" follows She wins. There are no permanent injuries, but her reputation certainly gets weirder. Nobody under the rank of Knight agrees to let her fight dirty again. She just lets that stand because, well, she's not actually a padawan, she's thirty-three.

I’m not going to write this but my brain was EVIL and suggested it:

IT WOULD BE REALLY SAD IDK maybe 9yo Anakin has nightmares about what's happening to baby Ahsoka because bullshit about time-traveling force bonds IDK ANYWAY he cries to Sokari about the nightmares and she's like "oh shit" and it's time to go rescue herself from motherfucker unlimited

It's either that or she's like, expecting to welcome mini-me aaaany day now, for like, several months, before she realizes Something Went Wrong. Anakin’s dreams could even start right as she’s starting to realize something’s off.

Obi-Wan has never had a padawan that doesn't at some point bite Even Luke will, when pushed

OH also once the twins get Baby's First Lightsaber (training sabers, not real kyber), Sokari begs to borrow them for a dumb joke and tells Rex to get on her shoulders for a "Grievous Greeting" and they do The Thing

Jango and Ahsoka wrt Quinlan is just “Do I need to beat him up for you” “You realize I’ve beaten up sith lords before?”

JANGO'S TRYING He's just. "Can we be friends? Can I--can I be the guy that just noticeably gets in the way of a creep on the subway so you can be more comfortable without someone making a scene? I'm fucking trying here, give me a hint."

We didn’t actually figure out Jango’s age until this point. The only reason Fett's age matters is for Quinlan making a Wild Oats quip after Jango says he didn't know about Rex until a few weeks ago, and Fett going "How old do you think I am? And how old do you think the kid is?" and Quinlan getting Very Awkward as he does the math. Rex overhears and lets Quinlan sweat for a bit before saying "I'm a genetically-modified clone someone grew in a tube, he didn't know or have reason to know until he saw me with Sokari." Which is like. Eight additional layers of WTF, obviously, but at least Jango gets to avoid awkward wild oats jokes

Like, you’d expect the rebuttal to be ‘he’s my brother just with a biiig age gap’ or ‘he’s my nephew’

I find it very unfortunate for Quinlan that I've decided his defining characteristic in this context is going to be repeatedly putting his foot in his mouth

He’s trying so hard but "That sounds like a cool thing, maybe I'll ask ab--and it's another fucking trauma."

I'm doing Ahsoka&Jango t w i c e (there’s another fic where I’m doing it)

It’s just a fun dynamic! So much resentful respect.

Like she's twenty seconds away from calling him a bitch at any given time and he's just there like "I don't like you but I do see you move like you're about to tell an entire building to get on their knees with their hands in the air and I can respect that" Also she's probably much less judgmental about using blasters than Obi-Wan is The Maul subplot actually started with me daydreaming about Ahsoka grabbing a blaster for Reasons

I like the idea of Jango just deciding the most Useful thing he can do is help teach the Smol how to fight. He's AWKWARD around Rex and Soka because he doesn't know if there's anything he CAN teach them.

I didn’t actually plan for Tholme to figure out the age thing, he just SAID it and I had to sit there like Wait.

Ahsoka, Rex & Leia: ahhh, children Tholme: you say that like you aren’t children

I liked getting to write Rex's little "I have worked with all of them, and they're all Terrible" He loves them But They once got stranded on a planet that didn’t exist and Ahsoka died and Anakin killed a god.

There was research and discussion as to whether Ahsoka could win against Tholme but seeing as she held her own against Vader, and fought Grievous at that physical age without dying, etc.... yeah, the only thing holding her back was her body not being what she was used to, and she’s had a few weeks go adjust.

“I miss being able to just jump off skyscrapers” is such a jedi thing

Jango: I'll take the gun back if he tries to leave, they can't get far before--WHAT THE FUCK He knows Jedi are scary but he’s still not really used to just how over the top ridiculous they are He knows how to deal with Jedi in battle, not Whatever The Fuck These People Are Doing

Rex isn't even a Jedi, he's just so used to working with them. “Oh yes time for free-falling without a parachute again, same shit as always.”

Tia: I’m imagining Jango freaking out and Quinlan and Tholme being like. Concerned but mostly exasperated Clearly if they’re jumping off buildings it must be serious? But jfc they could’ve maybe communicated a bit more?

Leia: I want to finish my juice Tholme: Quin, stay with her while we go figure out what those two are doing. Quinlan: Wait what

Jango: Oh now he’s jumping off a building too??? Tholme: Sokari, you are not registered! You can't legally jump out windows yet! Jango: What the hell is going on? Is this normal?

We don’t necessarily know how often Ahsoka and Maul ran into each other after Mandalore. There was the later thing on Malachor, but other than that I'm just going with the idea that they ran into each other every year or two and just went for the eyes like feral cats

Ahsoka: I need to kick ass and you're coming with me. Rex: Yeah, okay. [several minutes later] Rex: Whose ass are we kicking?

Ahsoka and Rex

Neloms aren’t a SW fruit to the best of my knowledge, I just wanted to mess around with lemons/melons

Jango: you didn’t think any of this through, did you? Rex: you were there, you know we didn’t "When the Jedi says to jump out a window, I jump out a window."

Tholme’s real composed about stalking the ancient nigh-mythical enemy of his people, very “Life is already so goddamn weird”

This fic has been so heavy on the trauma but then I introduce Maul and suddenly it's the worst kind of comedy Nobody is competent, everyone's a little dumb, the bad guy is just grocery shopping

My propensity for banter has turned this into a six-person buddy cop comedy about Maul buying grapes They spend a significant amount to time ineffectually stalking Maul before Quin suggests the sensible option Quinlan just "You remember this is my literal job and specialty right"

Ahsoka sees Maul and all her brain cells go out the window except "Fight good" Usually she doesn’t need to worry about doing things legally. Maybe she needs to worry about someone seeing her do illegal things but she spent the past 15 yrs in a place where her existing was illegal

I feel like he’s also maybe kinda wanting to reassert that yes he is competent. Bc like. Ahsoka’s been kinda condescending this whole time and also can beat everyone up so. It's not his fault that he's actually the youngest person there, but.

Jango is finding this whole being friendly to Jedi thing a lot more overwhelming than he thought it would be. And overwhelming in different ways.

Maul usually signifies things getting worse and more horrifyingly tragic but he's just a dumb teen that they needed to arrest for his own good.

Quinlan: Look, I'm useful! Ahsoka: I've been through hell, wanna hear? Quinlan: NO. I DON'T. WHY.

Quinlan: I understand the concept of joking about your traumas, I do it sometimes myself! But sith hells that’s a lot of trauma.

Quinlan just wanted her to treat him as a Competent Individual, and here she is whipping out stories about Dying and Gods and the Force insists it's the truth and he just???? And apparently emo darksider over there is a Sith. And just, sure. Why not

A lot of people’s interactions with the time travelling disaster lineage is just

Tholme and Fett arguing and  Ahsoka's just waiting for a moment to pop in with "Hey, when's the last time either of you worked with the other's culture before this mess? Yeah, that's what I thought."

Much like Leia and Ahsoka hurting each other earlier, and Tholme figuring out the de-aging, we ALSO have Fett’s confrontation with Ahsoka being something the characters just did, rather than something I planned.

FTR the only time I managed to trigger myself while writing this fic was the “your behavior isn’t actually acceptable and we’ve all been trying really hard to give you room to recover but you have to at least make an effort to not be a bitch”

Writing about people having PTSD and symptoms of such: Yay! Writing about people having PTSD and engaging in toxic behavior to cope: Shit Ahsoka had... basically my exact reaction. It's "remind yourself that you're in the wrong, that they have a point, and then be overly formal in the apology because fuck if you accidentally make them feel sorry for you when they're the injured party"

Quinlan: Can we be friends? I mean, you're an asshole, but you're really cool. Let's be friends. (He MIGHT be nursing a crush) (Neat mysterious girl who can beat him up.)

Also he realises she's probably nicer when not having a slow-motion breakdown He's like "Huh, you'll probably be less of an asshole once you've gotten therapy."

...also, she pretty and got Nice Biceps

I love writing a good mental breakdown

I was so close to including a "he tried to kill me" just early enough for Jango to wildly misinterpret as her thinking Quinlan tried to kill her. He'd have been very confused, considering Quinlan's the one that called them down in a panic and currently has Ahsoka having her massive breakdown in his lap But

Tia:  I could see Jango interpreting it as idk, Quin resembling someone or for a moment acting like someone who tried to kill her and she had a flashback or something like that

There's absolutely room for a couple reasonable interpretations there And "trapped in a flashback about someone who tried to kill her" is absolutely what's happening! Just. You know. For a different reason. Jango probably wouldn’t assume Quin would hurt her, for one thing he seems to like her, for another even if he did he’s smart enough to pick a way that wouldn’t be so likely to get him caught

I had to step back and actually say “Also I'm just. Wow. I'm really just shoveling QPP Rex&Ahsoka at full speed”

Me, a few weeks ago, joking: Two halves of the same idiot black ops specialist Me, now, entirely seriously: Two halves of the same idiot black ops specialist

Me, belatedly: Oh, Ahsoka being joyfully mean to people was a form of mania she was unconsciously using to build a barrier between herself and her impending meltdown

She went from "just died" to "in charge of Rex and Leia" in like. Two minutes.

Confession: I've been delighting in the mental image of this whole Mess leading Jango to try to retake Mandalore, and Ahsoka loans him a saber for a 1v1 to get the darksaber.

“Can’t I just fight him barehanded? That’s how I did it on Galidraan.” "But the drama, Fett!"

Probably Rex has learned how to use a saber as well, because you never know when you have to borrow a weapon

I later changed my mind to Jango asking her to help, rather than her just sneak-teaching him, but it was funny.

Background nonsense to all this is Ahsoka and Rex, despite Rex being as force-sensitive as a lump of coal, having developed a process where she can extend her sensitivity to him mind-to-mind for weird symbiotic battle trance that scares everyone around them. It’s very similar to Battle meditation.

CONTEXT FOR LEIA BEING WORRIED ABOUT THOLME HIDING THINGS: Tholme is hiding the fact that the Council reached out and told him that the people he picked up might be connected to Ben and Luke, who showed up after the Depa thing but a solid week and change before Jango's ship makes it to the Temple. They asked that he not share that information to avoid getting anyone's hopes up in case the two situations aren't related. Ben and Luke haven't shared enough information for anyone to really be sure if the other three are connected Because the info Tholme has isn't quite the info Jango has, etc. And they can't just say Ben is a future Obi-Wan over comms

I just have a lot of feelings about people trying to do something right and just. Nobody's at fault! Not really! It's just complicated!

Tia: I like how when Ahsoka isn’t doing maladaptive trauma response stuff she’s very mature. And of course she’s had to be but it’s a good like, contrast. Where when she slows down to think about things she’s very sensible

Jango just spends most of this story lowkey wanting Ahsoka to Be His Friend but there's too much baggage that he's only metaphysically responsible for

Local aroace(?) has a squish

Ahsoka: He just wants to get on my good side because of Rex. Jango: I'm pretty sure you could kill an entire army without trying but you wouldn't because you have actual morals and stuff... and when I met you it was because you were killing yourself trying to keep (what appeared to be) children safe... you seem cool please be my friend.......

Ahsoka’s #1 weakness: mountains of trauma Ahsoka’s #2 weakness: she just doesn’t get why so many people think she’s cool and want her to be their (girl)friend

Jango, a 27yo massacre survivor who's killed Jedi masters with his bare hands: [gets lectured on various government structures by a tiny girl that's missing several teeth and needs to sit on books to see the table properly]

Ahsoka was raised in a religious meritocracy but developed all her opinions during a galactic war and then became a vigilante spy, Rex comes from a military cult, Leia is from an inherited monarchy that participates in democracy, Quinlan was originally from what appears to be a dynastic dictatorship, and IDK about Tholme other than that he is also from the religious meritocracy. And in legends Quinlan came to the religious meritocracy after his aunt sacrificed his parents to a vampire cult and then forced him to experience the psychometric echoes of that. There's just. A lot going on.

Leia at least has knowledge about structure and admin in theory that isn't based in either the military or populations under 10k

Jango: I want to be your friend. Ahsoka: Sounds fake.

I am unfairly fond of "Rex destroys a conversation by bringing up his own horrifying childhood and calling it a cult"

"Why does Sokari call you 'Rex'ika'?" "Because she's older than me." "...can I--?" "No."

Nickname privileges are extended ONLY to Ahsoka and older clones. There are no more older clones, so it's just Ahsoka.

Me joking about Star Wars AUs: Would you like a crackship? Me writing actual Star Wars fic: My favorite character type is apparently “too traumatized to have a relationship” so this is at least 90% gen.

I had to pull a scene opening at one point because Ahsoka's skill with not getting shot is actually much less useful than Tholme's clearance levels.

Now I really want a team-up of Ahsoka, Rex, and Jango where they do have to get in a dogfight of the "she flies, we shoot" variety and Fett just has to scream because the speeder thing to catch Maul was one thing, but this....

Ahsoka, before TCW: I know all the traffic rules but I'm not that great at flying! Ahsoka, after TCW: I'm great at flying but if you let me behind the wheel we are absolutely getting arrested.

She went from "knows the rules but doesn't have the skills" to "has the skills but primarily in the form of not getting shot" which! Is delightful! "Bet I can get us through that alley--" "DO NOT"

Jango and Ahsoka are both just very "Is this friendship? Is this camaraderie? My heart's been fried on platonic love by so many murders that I'm not sure anymore." "I've lost a lot of friends. I kind of forgot how to make those."

I have no idea if "hasn't been closer than Alderaan except that one trip to Chandrila" is canon-compliant but ehhhhhhhh It feels plausible enough?

Belatedly realized that I could just explain my optimal Rex&Ahsoka dynamic as just... drift compatible. It's vague enough on the specifics while still digging into the meat of what they mean to each other and how they work together. The terminology is already in existence. I can just use it.

Romantic? Platonic? Familial? Doesn't matter! They're drift compatible.

They are important to each other and that is what matters

I really like the Leia&Quinlan thing. He's just like "This small child needs a friend that isn't super depressed," and decided he's going to be her friend. I keep trying to toss in "Quinlan volunteers to 'baby'sit." She's not much older and she has a Baby Brain, it works out

There's a running bet as to whether Leia will leave the Order the second she turns thirteen, or if she'll let Sokari "train" her for a few years first. And... that’s how I came up with Leia Antilles, Senator of Serenno.

They'll be bullshitting Ben as her new master to "finish out the padawanship" since they can't tell everyone she's really in her thirties and he's conveniently there and already knows everything and was half her master anyway. Like Ben was planning on taking on Luke, but Luke is "six" and even he can't swing that as old enough to be a Padawan, and it's not like Sokari will take more than a handful of years to justify knighthood, sooooooooo

[luimagines]

He reacts to seeing you Sick/Wounded Part 3

Final part of the prompt below!

Masterlist

First Part Previous Part

Scenario under the cut!

Four

Four starts looking through Wind’s borrowed telescope at the monster below them and tries to search for weak points and guard trails. There’s a good number of them, at least two per person here but they’re closer to the town than anyone anywhere is comfortable with so they have to go.

“AHHHCHOOO!!”

Multiple monsters look in your direction.

“Will you keep it down?” Legend snapped. “Sneeze a little louder next time, I don’t the monsters in the back heard you.”

“I’m not trying to be loud.” You sniffle and furiously wipe your face. “There’s got be something in the air here. I’m not allergic period. This just isn’t like me.”

Four nods in agreement and takes his eyes away from the telescope. He hands it back to Wind, who eagerly takes his spot and makes his way toward you.

In all honesty, you look miserable. And have since that morning.

You’re constantly sneezing, your nose and eyes are red and blotchy and it goes out to cheeks. You’ve been blowing your nose on random leaves since you’ve run out of tissues earlier that day and it continuously seems to be plugged despite it all. You also seem to be shivering ever so slightly but you never made any mention of being cold.

Four frowns to himself and pokes your neck, only to startled into placing his whole hand there. You’re covered in a cold sweat but warm despite the temperature outside.

“What the heck Four?” You knock his hand away and take a step back.

“I think you’re sick.” He blurts with as much grace a bull in a china shop.

“I’m no-” You cut yourself off with a cough this time. It’s so strong that you bend over and fall to your butt on the ground with barely any time in between to catch your breath.

“Benched.” Time turns on his heel and points you back the way you came. “Go back to the town. You’re not fit to fight.”

You whimper after the cough attack and nod, getting to your feet. Four doesn’t like the idea of you going back alone but he knows his friends need the numbers to take the monsters down fast enough, so he doesn’t offer for a moment. He tries to come to a decision before they make any more moves without him but Time speaks again.

“Four. Go with them. Make sure they actually make it to the town.” Time commands and turns to the rest of the group. “We’re going to need fire power.”

Four catches Warrior and Wild grin manically. “Leave it to us!”

“You had to say something.” Four snickers at Twilight misfortune and jogs slightly to catch up with you.

You’re still trying to wipe at your face with your sleeve and it leaves a trail of snot and tears on the fabric.

It’s a bit disgusting....Ok, it’s super gross and it makes Four want to gag somewhat but he’ll let you have it.

Being sick is gross. He’s just got to make sure your clothes are washed when it passes.

“Four?” You call.

He perks up and speeds up to fall in line with your steps. “I’m here.”

You look at him for a moment and sniffle again. “ ’m sorry you got sent back with me. You looked excited to take some monsters down.” 

“I’m...” Four looked to the side and tried to find the right words to talk to you. “I mean, I’ll live with it. I’m not that disappointed to be honest. I was thinking of joining you anyway. It didn’t feel right for you head out on your own.”

“But you want to support the others.” You argue. “I could see it. You had to think about it.”

“Ok well-”

“There’s a lot of them out there, isn’t there?” You press and frown to yourself. “A lot of monsters that are going to take all their hands and then some to be taken down and I get sent back and you have to come with me-”

“Ok, hold up.” Four grabs your bicep and shakes it a little. “Slow that down. It’s not like you asked to get sick. I know just as much you do that we’d both rather be up there with them. That’s a given. But you need to take care of yourself as well and I don’t mind being with you anyway.”

You push your mouth to the side and don’t look at him. “I better not get you sick.”

Four snorts ever so slightly and moves his hand from you arm to your hand, lacing your fingers together and swinging them ever so slightly. He knows you don’t want him to see the smile on your face when he does so but it’s your reaction every time.

“While I doubt it’ll happen, you’ll take care of me if I do get sick, right?”

“Always.” 

Warrior

They were in a new area this time. Warrior can’t recognize the landscape or the town’s names as they pass so he’s content to let someone else take the lead for a change.

The town’s people had mentioned a sealed temple of sorts that hadn’t been used in ages. Bad things had been happening in the area so they were advised to steer clear.

Naturally they had to go check it out.

Don’t leave no stone unturned and all that jazz.

If anything, it sounds more like a dungeon at this point so he’s a bit excited to get some practice in. 

Warrior walks near the front of the group and lets outa whistle when the reach their goal.

It a large dark blue building with three spiraling towers in a triangle-fecta with multiple columns around the front of it, acting as a sort of imposing gate. The columns themselves are full of grotesque monstrous faces, which are realistic enough to cause some discomfort amongst the ranks. 

“Oh, we’re going to be here for hours.” Legend groans and tilts his head to the sky. “Maybe even days! Why are here again?”

“To eradicate evil before it grows beyond it’s borders.” Time take a breath and walks forward. “The people are afraid and it’s our job to put an end to it.”

Warrior can agree with that, it’s what the hero does after all. Fine print and all that.

But you make a small whimper from behind him and turns around to see you. You don’t pleased one bit with your arms crossed and your head down. “I don’t like this place.”

Right. Not a Link. This technically isn’t in your job description, unlike them.

“You could wait out here?” Wild offers. Warrior remembers that they’re alike in a  away with the lack of experience with dungeons and wonders if maybe either one of them can stay back as well. Surely, they don’t all have to go in, do they?

Sky grins good naturally and punches you gently on your shoulder. “You good?”

“This whole place feels wrong.” You reply. “Do we have to go through there?”

“It’s because it feels wrong that we have to go in.” Hyrule shrugs. “We have to make it better.”

“If we find loot inside, it’s just a bonus.” Wind bounces up to you with grin.

“What’s the problem? Are you scared?” Legend taunts. “Do you need someone to hold your hand?”

“Are you offering?” You snap back.

“He may not be, but I am.” Warrior holds his hand out and smiles at you with as much charm as he can conjure up. He has no idea what possesses him to comment and he hopes that you don’t take offence to it. He wasn’t trying to mock you.

To his surprise, you look at his hand for a little moment longer than he think it’s worth and gently reach out to lace your fingers together.

Your hand is warm and you don’t look at him when he feels you give it a small squeeze. “Ok, let’s go.”

This is not a big deal. He’s not going to make it a big deal.

He just wanted to be a good friend is all. Yeah, that’s all it was.

As the group you all head into the cursed building and are immediately faced with choices.

Five hallways. No end in sight in any of them and no other options.

“Guess we split the party.” Twilight shrugged. “I’ll go with Wind.”

This was first pair off and others started to claim a partner for the journey ahead.

“I guess I already have my partner.” Warrior smiles and begins to walk away. “Should we take the far left?”

“Don’t you know, you never split the party.” You sing under your breath and tug on Warrior’s hand to the beat. “Clerics in the back, keep those fighter hale and hearty. The wizard in the middle where he can shed some light and you never let the damn thief out of sight.”

You’re not paying attention to him.

He chalks it up to your previous nervous energy and takes the lead instead.

The hallway you both travel through is dark and beginning to shrink. the two of you are now shoulder to shoulder and with more time, have to walk in a single file line.

You don’t let go of his hand.

Occasionally there is the lone torch to keep the path ahead illuminated but Warrior thinks that they’re more for decoration and peace of mind than any actual use. You know, considering the vast space of nothing in front of you.

The hallway comes to an abrupt stop and Warrior can feel you crash into his back. Before him a large room with torches on every other wall, eight walls in total, counting the one with the entryway. There’s nothing inside but a single glowing blue ball of light.

It reminds him faintly of Proxy and he steps inside the room to get a better look.

“Will o’ the wisp.” You mutter from behind and stop from entering the room any farther, stopping Warrior as well in the process.

“What?” He turns to you and can see how tense you are.

“Back home,” You begin. “They are known to be by swamps, bogs and the like. They’re supposed to mislead travelers and are used as a symbol of a goal that’s impossible to reach and are typically sinister in nature. What ever you do, don’t follow it.”

Warrior takes the warning to heart, takes a step and returns to your side.

Nothing like Proxy at all.

“What do we do then?” He asks, not taking his eyes off of it.

“I don’t know...” You gulp. “I didn’t even think they’d be here. They’re not known to be fighters... just mess with your head and lead you to your doom.”

On cue, the light shifts and begins to circle the room. Warrior makes a grab for his sword and you copy his movements. The two of you stand back to back and watch it closely.

It flies straight into a wall after a dizzying moment and a door appears where there wasn’t one before.

“That’s it?” Warrior stands down but his grip is tight, on both your hand and his weapon. “Guess that’s the way out.”

“No. What did I just say? Don’t follow it.”

“But it’s gone.”

“It went that way. Don’t go in the same direction.” You stress.

Warrior lets go of your hand and turns to stare at you head on, taking a step back and entering the rest of the room. He goes to open his mouth to reply- but his foot goes lower than he anticipates.

He’s activated something.

You jump as the entryway where you once were, shuts and the torches go out instantly, plunging the whole room into darkness.

“Link?” You call out and Warrior has no idea where you are all of a sudden.

He regrets letting go of your hand.

“Still here.” He chuckles nervous and finishes the sentence with an audible gulp.

The Will o’ wisp returns from a different direction and he hears you scream.

Warrior is quick to reach for Legend’s fire rod and he fires it into the air.

The ball of light leaves but the he’s taken gives just enough light to see what’s happened. You’ve ended up on the floor and somehow took a hit to your head that’s pouring blood all over your face, with a massive skeleton over you, poised to take another hit.

The fire from the rod dies out and the room goes black again.

But at least Warrior knows where you are.

And now he’s pissed.

He fires the rod again right at the monster and feels a vindictive sort of satisfaction when the creature catches aflame. He’s quick to launch the monster away from you and help you up. He passes you the rod, taking a full hold on his sword and stands in front of you.

“Light up the room and monsters, yeah? I’ll finish them off.” He says and drops into a defensive stance.

“Bad things happen with Wips.” You mutter and prepare to fire rod again and instead spin across the floor. Some of the torches relight but it’s clear they won’t last long.

More monsters start to appear from the doors the wisp activates now that the initial key has been set off.

“I’ll listen to you next time!” Warrior finishes the first beast and begin on the next.

“I think I’ll leave the dungeon stuff to the Links. Leave you, your puzzles and your monsters to each other.” You start talking to yourself. “This is no way to make a living.”

“Tell me about it. I didn’t even have these in my Hyrule.”

Hyrule

Hyrule has no clue what he’s was doing.

He could admit that.

He was used to having magic at his disposal and fixing the problem with it. But this? This was a little beyond his pay grade.

He wasn’t even being paid.

“ ‘Rule!” You cry from the bed. You hand is outstretched in an attempt to reach him but he’s too far away from your grasp.

He walks over to your side and grabs your hand. “I’m here. What do you need?”

“Can I have a glass of water?” You grip his hand and he’s hit with a wave of concern when he sees it’s not really that strong.

“Yeah, sure.” He says, getting up. “Give me a minute.”

You smile at him and close your eyes again. He hates how miserable you look. Flushed cheeks and forehead, raging fever, cold sweat running off you in a vain attempt to cool yourself down, you’re shaking and he catches you mumble every now and then but he can’t catch what you say.

Hyrule’s silver lining is that you’ve been mostly asleep through the day, making his job a little easier as nurse and doctor. The most he can complain about is that it’s a little boring.

He still doesn’t know what’s he’s doing.

He had thought that it was something he could handle but but was only within the first hour that he realized he was powerless to help you with anything.

He feels a little useless.

The others had gone out to survey the town they’re cooped up in and get details and equipment.

Hyrule knows himself well enough and has learned enough from the others that he’s pretty much... well, useless in a market. Money isn’t really a concept where he’s from or at least not with the bells and whistles and unwritten rules that everyone else seems to know at the drop of a hat.

On top of that, with Hyrule’s bleeding heart, he had offered to be the one to stay behind and look after you while they were gone most of the day. He figured that if he was the groups healer then he could help you with this too.

Wrong.

Again, he’s thankful you’ve mostly been sleeping.

When he’s retrieved your request and made it back to the room, he stops dead in his tracks at the door.

There’s... something over you. A shadow like blob with no discernable shape, figure or features. The revelation shocks Hyrule into stillness at the idea of you being in danger.

It’s not outwardly hurting you. Just watching.

Or so he thinks anyway.

You still look peacefully unaware of the conscious world and look to be in a deep sleep once more. Meaning, you have idea that this.. thing is here.

Hyrule doesn’t move but he looks around is immediate vicinity. His sword is barely within arms reach and he knows that the step he’s about to take is directly on a squeaky board. It would alert his presence and he doesn’t have anyway of currently fighting that thing.

He crouches down and places your cup by the door frame. He then places is hand just beyond the squeaky board and crawls those few inches to reach his sword.

As soon as it’s within his grasp, he calls on his magic and throws his astral sword in the thing’s direction.

It makes contact, but does no damage.

The shadow mass merely “stands” straighter and stills all movement.

This thing may not have a face but Hyrule is sure that it’s checking him out, assessing him, gauging what kind of threat he might be if he were to attack again.

Hyrule readies himself into a defensive stance and glares right back.

There are no words spoken.

Just as he’s about to charge, it dips down and disappears through the floor boards. The air in room ceases to be charged with unfathomable energy and he knows that it’s gone.

Hyrule is confused and on edge. He’s never seen something like before and he doubts that it’ll help your condition if he asks you or if you would know anything about it.

He straps his sword on his back, just in case, and picks up your cup.

“Link?” You call again, trying to push yourself up into a sitting position. You’re still very weak and very tired and you give up half way.

“I have your water.” He says instead, trying his best to smile for you. He holds it out to you and hopes that you don’t notice that his hands are shaking.

You grin in response and take it, seemingly none the wiser.

You sigh in relief as you sip. “You’re a good friend. Thanks for staying with me. I’m sure it’s been pretty boring when all the others are been productive.”

“I don’t mind one bit. I’ll be here for as long as you need me.” He sits on the bed.

Hyrule continuously has no idea what he’s doing.

But he certainly isn’t going to be bored from here on out. 

He has to protect you now, from whatever that was, so he will. 

[occasionalrpmemes]

LA by Night: Happy Families sentence starters

sentences taken from s1ep4 of the VtM chronicle LA by Night.  edit as desired.  the transcript these lines were copied from, including credits to transcribers, will be linked in the replies of this post.

tw: guns, violence, vomit, drug mention, brief n.s.f.w.

“Normally, I wouldn't bother.  But favors are favors.”

“I didn't say I was happy about it.”

“You are looking ravishing this evening.”

“Very good.  Someone's been teaching you.  Well done.”

“Perhaps we should all make ourselves comfortable, and we'll talk.”

“Does anybody talk to birds?  Is that a thing we can do?”

“What's the meaning of this?”

“Get the guns out, please, but no one fire until I say so.”

“We don't waste time on bullshit.”

“This is going to go badly very fast.  Time to go.”

“Sit down and don't move.”

“If you want to run, you should run now.”

“The party's back on!  I got to go dance.”

“I've always wanted to do this.”

“Let go of my fucking arm.”

“Who are you going to use the gun against?”

“You're a MILF, if it helps.”

“Booyah!  Booyah!”

“Look, I'm sorry, but I told you.”

“[Name], what are you doing here?”

“Who are you and what the hell is going on?”

“This is so messed up.  This can't be happening.”

“That's future [name]'s problem.”

“So, uh, that happened, and now I have two guys pointing guns at me.”

“The only safe way is straight ahead.”

“Oh shit, this guy's a problem!”

“Unfortunately, you're not in a place to fight back.”

“I need you to come back here and sit that fine ass right back down.”

“You're making it weird.”

“Please.  Just sit this one out.  I promise that nothing will happen to you and I will help deal with the consequences afterwards.  Just sit down.”

“Shit, oh my god, what's happening?”

“Don't ever say that again.”

“We're a great team, we should go on the road.”

“Then it's death.”

“What could go wrong?  No negative repercussions to this.”

“They're trying to kill us.  That's a big detail.  Don't try and gloss over that.”

“Let's just get out of here, and we'll- We'll worry about it when we get out.”

“[Name]!  [Name]!  [Name], [name], [name], [name], [name]!”

“Let's dance.”

“Going to have to do better than that, kid.”

“You're not so fucking tough now, are you?”

“Take that!  Take that, you ugly fuck!”

“Okay.  Tried to talk, that's not working.”

“No.  We're not done talking.”

“Go before I change my mind.”

“I think- I think I’m going to be sick.”

[gagging]

“You have one chance to save yourself here.  Drop your weapons.”

“You really want to talk about this now?”

[worried squeak]

“Can I have a hug?”

“Every time I get close to somebody, just, like- bullshit happens.”

“That's fine!  We can work with bullshit!  Right?  You can mold it into things, make little statues...  They'll smell bad, but you could- You could collect them--”

[mixed sobs and laughter]

“I know that I- I'll probably just make more trouble.”

“Thankfully, nothing important caught fire.”

“I've been doing some stuff.  Earning money.  A little dealing, a little larceny.”

“Look, you got no room to talk.  Look- look at your life.”

“I didn't really know what would happen, I just... I wanted to hurt you.”

“Look, [name], our family is totally screwed up.”

“It's never too late to make it right.”

“I got to get you out of this mess.”

“This is the weirdest night in my life.”

“The plan was pretty vague.”

“Can't be compelled to testify if you don't know.”

“Also, rethink your life, man.”

“You know, I was just about to say something nice to you.”

“I think you’re losing track of the macro theme here.”

“I thought we were friends.”

“Like, there's just a lot of things I don't know.”

“So now, I need a reason not to murder you.”

“Yeah, you don't look so good.”

“There's no good choices here.”

“There's no good choices here, but there's less bad ones.”

“Our way?  Not only do you get to live, you get paid.”

“I mean, whew. You've been through a lot.”

“I learned a long time ago not to judge people by their appearances.”

“That's not cool.  Please don't do that again.”

“It's never enough.”

“I can't do it.  I can't do that.”

“Who are you talking to?”

“Time to talk.”

“I now know horrible things about you.”

“How do you suggest I repay you for your inconvenience?”

“Ah, [name], good to see you again.   Glad you're unhurt.”

“We're friends.  Pals.  And maybe sex stuff?  It's unclear.”

“Chaos is a ladder.”

“Just be safe.”

“It's fine. It's fine.  It's fine.”

“Is this what you wanted?”

“Nothing is easy. It's a complicated world.”

“It's possible to be a good person in a complicated world. I believe that.”

“We may have to do some things that you're really not going to like.”

[text:]  vital information.  need to speak.

“I guess I'll punch that bridge when I get to it, then.”

[dialovers-translations]

Diabolik Lovers DARK FATE ー Shuu [VAMPIRE ENDING]

ー The scene starts in front of Karlheinz’ castle

Yui: ( His answer...? )

Shuu: Basically you’ll quietly let yourself get killed?

Karlheinz: ...No.

I will kill you.

Shuu: !?

Yui: Shuu-san!!

( Karlheinz-san’s hand is reaching towards Shuu-san...! Don’t tell me he’ll actuallyーー! )

Shuu: Kuh...!

Yui: ...!!

*STAB*

Shuu: ...

...You never change.

Yui: ...Shuu-san...?

Karlheinz: ...Hah...

Yui: ( ...!! There’s a knife stabbed inside Karlheinz-san’s chest...! )

Karlheinz: Kuh...

*Thud*

Shuu: Like you did just now...You see right through my plans, always making sure you’re one step ahead.

Expecting me to follow in your footsteps is unreasonable. I simply had no other choice but to give up.

Karlheinz: That is exactly.... how those standing at the very top must be. It is how, you will guide your people down the right path...

Next....I must guide you. 

Shuu...In what lies ahead of you, you will surely be thrown into a state of disarray.

However, that is your...destiny. One which you could never escape, from the second you were born as my son...Your dark fate. (1)

However...You have already decided you will no longer run away, no? For the sake of those you wish to protect.

Shuu: ...Yeah.

Karlheinz: ...Perfect.

You have fully awakened as Adam. I shall give you my answer as well.

Shuu...You did more than a fine job trying to reach my level. And right now, you have even surpassed me. 

You, who has learnt how to love and feel, should now possess powers much greater than my own.

Go ahead, my son. Take my head...

The head of none other than the King. I am sure it will be useful to you in many ways...

Shuu: ...Ugh...

...Yui, close your eyes. You don’t have to see this.

Yui: ...No, me tooーー

Shuu: It’s fine.

In return...Whenever I will recall this moment in the future, please quietly stand by my side.

Yui: ...

...Okay.

ー Yui closes her eyes

Karlheinz: I’m leaving everyone in your care...

*CHOP*

Yui: ...!?

( What is going on...!? This overwhelming forceーー... )

( I can’t...I can’t endure it... )

ー She collapses

*Thud*

Shuu: Yui!?

ー The scene shifts to the garden

Ayato: ーー Take a look at the sky...

Kanato: Is that enormous magical energy...Father...?

Laito: ...It’s Shuu.

Subaru: He actually killed him...?

Reiji: ...!

Laito: Isn’t this for the best? To us Vampires, death is a blessing.

I’m sure he yearned for it as well.

Ayato: So he finally took his final breath? Well...He lived for long enough.

Laito: You’re being awfully optimistic, Ayato-kun. The King of Vampires just died, you know? Furthermore, the Vibora are without a leader right now as well.

Kanato: I can only imagine chaos will break loose in the Demon World. I’m sure there will be many wars as well.

Subaru: You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me...As if this place isn’t enough of a hellhole already...

Reiji: ...

Ayato: Oi, Reiji. Whatcha gonna do?

Reiji: ...Let us go meet Shuu.

There are a hundred and one things...I want to ask him, and say to him.

Laito: Let’s go pay our dear older brother a visit then.

Subaru: Cut it out, you’re makin’ me gag!

Reiji: ...Father...

*TIMESKIP*

Shuu: ーー Oi, Yui.

Yui: ...

ー Yui wakes up near the castle

Yui: ...Shuu...san...?

Shuu: ...You’ve regained consciousness, huh?

Yui: I...

Shuu: You had fainted. I assume from the magic energy.

Yui: Magic energy...?

Shuu: ...When the Old Man died, his power was let loose. You witnessed that right before your eyes.

His magic energy was the strongest of anyone in the Demon World. I guess a human simply couldn’t endure it. ...Are you okay?

Yui: Yes...

...How about you, are you alright?

Shuu: ...

...To be honest, I’m not quite sure myself yet.

Part of me regrets killing him, but at the same time, I also feel somewhat relieved.

Yui: ...Do you believe you made the wrong choice?

Shuu: I don’t know that either.

I never thought of him in terms of ‘like’ or ‘hate’ but...

Right now, I understand very well that my Father has always been an impactful figure in my life.

All in all, I might have actually viewed him as my family. For some reason, I feel as if I’ve lost a part of me...

Yui: Shuu-san...

*Meoooow*

Yui: Ehーー...?

*Meoooow*

Yui: Ririe!?

*Meoooow*

Yui: Ririe...!

Shuu: ...He was alive?

I figured he had died because we gave him that name but...I guess you weren’t that weak after all.

...Come here.

*Meoooow*

Shuu: Even when something is lost...Life goes on. That might be the true meaning of a family.

Haah...My list of things to protect just keeps on growing.

Yui: ...Will you protect us? Both me and Ririe?

Shuu: You’re still asking that now? Isn’t that what it means to be a family?

...I’ve made up my resolve. I will take responsibility. I will go head-to-head with my own destiny.

Yui: Shuu-san...

Ayato: ーー Oi, there they are!

Yui: You guys...! Is everything okay now?

Ayato: In what world? My whole body hurts like hell!

Laito: But I’m glad to see you safe as well, Bitch-chan.

Kanato: That being said...Where did that cat come from?

*Meoooow*

Yui: Ah...Ririe, you can’t! Come here.

Subaru: Ririe...?

Shuu: ...Shut it, you guys.

Where’s Reiji?

Reiji: I am present, right here.

ー Reiji walks up to him

Reiji: ...Shuu. Do you remember what I told you?

Shuu: The part about not forgiving me if I were to kill the Old Man?

Reiji: ...So you did kill Father after all. 

Shuu: Yeah.

Reiji: Did he have...any final words?

Shuu: He asked me to take good care of all of you.

That isn’t what brought forth this decision but...I’ll be playing his role from here on out.

Reiji: ...!

Kanato: You’ll ascend the throne?

Ayato: A sloth like yourself? ...For real?

Reiji: Are you saying...You will become the Vampire King?

Shuu: That’s what it’ll boil down to. The late King has died.

From here on out, I will lead the Clan of Vampires as their new King.

Yui: ( Shuu-san... )

Shuu: The Demon World is in disarray ever since what happened to the Vibora. Once the news of the Vampire King’s death hits the masses, it’ll only get worse.

After losing their leader, the Vibora were swiftly conquered by the Founders and lost their clan’s pride.

I can’t let the Vampires go down that same path. I won’t allow for that to happen.

I can’t let those guys...run loose forever.

Even if my struggle is in vain, I will fight till the bitter end.

We haven’t seen the last of this yet...

Ayato: ...But can you pull that off though? Us Vampires are already running low in numbers after the recent attack. 

Shuu: Of course, I don’t believe I can fix this all by myself.

I’ll obviously rely on you guys’ help as well. I won’t take no as an answer. As members of this family, you’ll follow my lead.

Laito: Good grief...Seems like we got ourselves another tyrant on our hands.

Shuu: Reiji. You’ll be my right-hand man. Lend me your strength as the second son of the Sakamaki household. Understood?

Reiji: ...

...I did not fathom a day would come on which I get to hear such a clear order from you.

Very well. For the sake of our family, and our clan, I shall do everything within my ability.

Yui: ( Reiji-san... )

Shuu: First we must retroop our people. Then we can move on to uniting them.

Reiji: You make it sound so easy.

Shuu: Of course, I don’t believe it’ll be a breeze. Therefore, first upーー Yui.

Yui: Eh? Yes?

( I wonder what he’s going to say? He’s staring right into my eyes... )

Shuu: I’ll marry her.

Yui: ...Eh?

Ayato: Hah?

Kanato: ...What are you saying?

Shuu: That’ll increase my prestige, no?

Subaru: You’re marryin’ her over that reason!? Don’t you feel bad for her!?

Shuu: Haah...Ridiculous. You really think I would go through all the trouble just for that?

I’m obviously marrying her out of love.

Yui: ...Shuu-san!?

Laito: Haah...I didn’t think I would hear those words come from Shuu’s mouth one day.

Kanato: Seems like he won’t even bother listening to Yui-san’s reply.

Shuu: Because I don’t need to. ...Right, Yui?

Yui: ...No fair...

Shuu: You’ve been stuck in this destiny with me since forever. You can no longer escape.

So you should make up your resolve as well.

Reiji: Haah...You decide such an important thing on the spot. I fear for the future...

Well, I suppose it is fine. Right now, we have something to celebrate first.

The birth of a New King, and his spouseーー 

*TIMESKIP*

Yui: ...I didn’t think I would one day get married in the Demon World.

Shuu: Really? I anticipated this.

I told you, didn’t I? That I was aware this moment would come one day.

You were naturally there as part of that imagination as well.

Yui: I...How should I know without you telling me?

Shuu: I’m not the type of guy who expresses himself with words. I’m pretty sure I told you that before as well?

Yui: Gosh...

*Meooow*

Yui: Ririe. Did you wake up?

*Meooow*

Yui: Fufu, come here.

On certain CGs, little black roses will appear on the screen. If you click on them, you get an extra line of dialogue.

“What? You think I look lovely in these clothes because it’s so different from my usual attire? ...Haha. Dare I say you don’t look half bad either?”

“I’ve had let alone time with you ever since this little guy came along. ...However, from here on out, you’ll always be only mine.”

Shuu: ...Don’t you think you spoil him a little bit too much?

Yui: You think so? Not as much as with you though...

Shuu: What do you mean?

Yui: I think I spoil you much more than I do Ririe.

Shuu: ...Hah, you tell me.

*Rustle*

Shuu: In that case, make it a little more obvious.

You always claim you don’t understand me but...Your behavior is confusing as well.

Yui: I-Is it...?

( I always thought I was pretty straight-forward...I wonder if that didn’t quite convey to him...? )

Shuu: Don’t look so anxious. ...It properly got through to me.

Yui: Ah...

*Meooow*

Shuu: You’ve made it more than clear that you love me ...Nn...

Yui: Nn...

Shuu: Nn...Haah...

Shuu: Haha...Now you are one of us as well.

Yui: Am I?

Shuu: Even if your body is human, you’ll marry the Vampire King, so I’m sure that will happen.

The King’s spouse is a human, huh? Well, I don’t think that’s such a bad thing?

...Yui.

Yui: Yes?

Shuu: Chaos still washes over the Demon World to this day. I can only imagine the war will get intense.

Yui: ...Yes. 

Shuu: As long as you stand by my side like this, you will surely get involved with this dark fate as well.

That must be rough as a woman, and a human on top of that. I can understand why you would rather turn a blind eye to it.

Yui: ...I’m prepared.

I’ve always stuck by your side, well aware that this would happen.

Shuu: Heh...I guess I worried for nothing.

Well, not that I was going to let you go either way.

Father was right. I...lose all meaning in life when you’re not with me.

Stay with me until death. I’ll protect you till that day.

Become my new family, and live by my side.

Yui: ...Yes.

Shuu: Then kiss me.

Yui: ...Where did that come from!?

Shuu: Just words aren’t enough. Promise it with your body as well. Come on...

Yui: Nn...

*Smooch*

Shuu: Hah...I really like this way much better than just mere words.

*Meooow*

Shuu: ...Don’t interfere. She belongs to me.

Yui: Oh come on, don’t compete with a cat.

Shuu: I guess every time we welcome a new member to our family, I’ll have to reconfirm that you’re mine.

Haah...I fear for the future. Having a family really is a drag after all.

Well, I guess I can live with it if they’re directly descended from you. 

Yui: ( Does he mean...? )

Shuu: From here on out, I’ll protect both you and my family with my own two hands.

To live alongside my precious family, and the woman I love...

Yui: ...Yes.

Shuu: ...We still haven’t said it, huh?

Yui: What exactly?

Shuu: The oath to become a family.

Komori Yui. I...love you.

ーー THE END ーー

Translation notes

(1) Karlheinz drops this term in the general prologue as well. He says 闇の���命 or ‘yami no sadame’ which means ‘the law of the dark’. However, ‘sadame’ is written with the characters for ‘unmei’, which means ‘fate’ or ‘destiny’ instead of 定め.  

Within the DL franchise, ‘the dark’ is often used as a synonym for demons/those who live in the Demon World. For example, in HDB, the boys will often call themselves ‘yami no juumin’ or ‘residents of the dark’. Personally, I believe he implies that all Demons are born with a set path in life already drawn out for them and in Shuu’s case, it was his destiny to one day become Adam, kill his Father to inherit his powers and become the next Demon King.

[amedetoiles]

@suibian-chenqing​ ME TOOOO!!! It is my ultimate endgame in any version of cql/mdzs. Just Lotus Pier in some way, shape, or form being the home where everyone returns to.

So please consider a universe where everyone makes better choices, has healthier conflict resolution skills à la conversations over soup, and lives happily ever after. Hear me out:

We all know that the chaotic Jiang disciples are the unsung heroes of the story, always merrily dragging their grumpy grape sect leader from danger and picking up after his dramatically discarded capes across various parts of the country.

What if after that staged fight while Jiang Cheng angrily copes with brozilla wedding planning (they hear him crying yelling multiple times at all the notebooks full of wedding ideas Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng have jotted down over the years), they decide that this is just not conducive to the happiness of their two favorite Young Masters?

Or equally important, the continuation of their beloved tradition of monthly Lotus Pier lake parties. A Jiang pool party without their resident chaos king and undisputed champion for the highest caliber splash swan dives? This Will Not Stand!

Obviously it is their Duty and their Right as the protectors and purveyors of Jiang culture for a few of them to secretly stow away while Jiang Cheng is having an epic meltdown over fabric.

“800 thread count? Are you out of your goddamn minds? My only sister, and you expect us to throw her a wedding with disgraceful eight hundred thread count fabric?! Do we Jiangs look like barbarians to you?!”

The Jiang disciples go to Yiling, rush up the Burial Mounds, and shout very convincingly, “Da-shixiong! Da-shixiong! Zongzhu, he – he –”

Wei Wuxian, war-torn, living with ten thousand ghosts, and constantly on edge, panics immediately, jumps to the absolute worst conclusion, and doesn’t even clarify before he rushes down the mountain because oh god, oh god, no, not again, didn’t he leave so his siblings would be safe, didn’t he promise to keep Jiang Cheng safe?????

Wen Qing warily agrees to come along because they clearly now have this well-established ongoing unspoken agreement to constantly save each other’s little brothers.

If the Jiang disciples have caught Jiang Cheng brooding over a pretty redwood comb wrapped in a silk handkerchief more than once, then they don’t say anything. Just share silent looks of glee when no one is watching.

By the time they reach Lotus Pier, Wei Wuxian has worked himself up into such a state of frenzy that he bursts through the doors of Lotus Pier like a black thundercloud of overprotective fury and worry, screaming, “JIANG CHENG! JIANG CHENG!”

.... Jiang Cheng is sitting on the floor of the Sword Hall, surrounded by a mountain of square fabric samples, with bits of thread stuck in his hair, totally gobsmacked at the sight of his windswept big brother.

Wei Wuxian, still panicked, falls to the floor in front of him, grabs Jiang Cheng by the arms before he can even react, and frantically checks him over. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened – I thought –”

Jiang Cheng stares at him. Wei Wuxian blinks. The Jiang disciples have all conveniently disappeared.

Behind them, Wen Qing heaves a big sigh, slow and long through pursed lips. She bows respectfully, says “I will be outside,” and gets the fuck out of there.

There is a tense silence. Wei Wuxian realizes he’s been tricked, but he is so overcome with relief after all that soul-crushing fear that he doesn’t even get mad, just sags forward with his face in Jiang Cheng’s chest as the adrenaline leaves him all at once. He pretends he’s not shaking.

Jiang Cheng doesn’t know if he wants to shove Wei Wuxian away, hug him back, or wrap him in as many blankets as he can possibly find until a-jie comes home. He does none of those, just demands, half-strangled, half-something-like-worry, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“They said – I thought you were in trouble or – or –”

[long pause] “You – came all the way here shouting like a possessed lunatic because you thought I was in trouble?”

Wei Wuxian hunches a little defensively and starts to move away. “Of course I did.” He makes sure to add, with emphasis, “Idiot.”

It doesn’t matter if Jiang Cheng can’t make up his mind because apparently his hands can, and they grip both of Wei Wuxian’s elbows to keep his brother from pulling away. They stare at one another.

”You said you didn’t want anything to do with the Jiang sect.”

Wei Wuxian looks away, grumbling. “How else was I supposed to keep you and shijie safe? Besides, you’re the one who stabbed me.” He is very pouty about this.

Jiang Cheng, immediately incensed and indignant, shouts, “You broke my arm! I had to be in a cast for a whole month!”

An almost smile flashes over Wei Wuxian’s face. “Hey, it was only your left arm. You were still able to write.”

Jiang Cheng glares at him and shoves his shoulder. Wei Wuxian instinctively shoves him back. They stare. Wei Wuxian scrubs his face tiredly with his hands. Jiang Cheng has to push away the urge to motherhen with blankets again.

He says, “I never asked you to protect me.”

Wei Wuxian gives him a look. “I don’t need to be asked.”

Jiang Cheng grits his teeth. “I don’t want you to protect me, idiot.”

Wei Wuxian heaves a very resigned sigh. “Then what do you want?”

Several answers come up, all too serious and too revealing without the support of a-jie’s soup and copious amount of alcohol. So Jiang Cheng just throws a handful of fabric samples at Wei Wuxian’s face. “Help me pick through these until a-jie comes home. You should have fucking heard Jin Zixuan’s suggestions last week. If we let the peacock plan a-jie’s wedding, it’s going to be an absolute disaster.”

Wei Wuxian’s smile this time is real and genuine and lasts the entire afternoon of bickering over fabric squares until Jiang Yanli rushes into the pavilion with many Jiang disciples in tow and hugs both her brothers for the first time in months. They manage to not horribly cry all over each other.

Jiang Yanli insists Wen Qing has dinner with them. There’s plenty of soup after all. Jiang Cheng is awkwardly stiff and doesn’t look Wen Qing in the eye the entire time, and Wei Wuxian pokes him repeatedly with silent  what the hell is wrong with you.

They talk about growing turnips, purifying rice wine, that the scariest thing about Wen Ning is his ability to create a disturbingly large variety of dishes from turnips, and how Wei Wuxian has essentially adopted baby A-Yuan as his own.

Later, Jiang Yanli tells Wen Qing, with a smile, her eyes alight like a flame, that she will take care of it. Wen Qing has no idea what this means. Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian share a look as only little brothers with intimate knowledge of their big sister’s stubbornness could and wisely choose to remain silent.

Jiang Yanli enlists the help of both Jin Zixuan and Madam Jin and somehow does indeed take care of it.

Many back door conversations occur between Jiang, Jin, Lan, and Nie sects. Jin Zixuan is the sole Jin representative. Nie Mingjue is initially leery but comes at the behest of Huaisang and Xichen.

At some point, Wen Ning tells Wei Wuxian that if they are going to do this, then it’s best if they have no more secrets. Wei Wuxian glares and tries to pretend that he has no idea what he is talking about, but neither Jiang Yanli nor Jiang Cheng allow Wei Wuxian to run away this time.

There is an emotional golden core reveal, followed by an equally emotional I didn’t go back for their bodies, with lots of shouting, shoving, crying, and clinging. In the aftermath, the Jiang siblings form an even stronger co-dependent unit around each other.

Jiang Yanli coordinates with Lan Xichen (and a begrudgingly cooperative Jiang Cheng) to bring Lan Wangji to Lotus Pier to help Wei Wuxian control his powers. Wangxian are desperately cute, and Jiang Cheng makes pointed gagging sounds whenever he’s around them that leads to several incidents of lake shoving, an excitable gaggle of Jiang disciples swan diving into the water after them, and a very, very confused Lan.

In the end, Wei Wuxian refuses to hand over the Stygian Tiger Seal to any of the sects, but he does agree to destroy it if Wen Qing, Wen Ning, and the remaining Wens are granted clemency and allowed to live freely without persecution. Jiang, Lan, and Nie sects agree.

Jin Guangshan tries to make an uproar, but in a surprising turn of events, Jin Guangyao (grateful for Jiang Yanli’s non-judgmental kindness over the past year) reveals all of his father’s treacherous secrets, including ordering the slaughter of Wen civilians, pardoning and releasing Xue Yang, and purposefully fueling the mob against Wei Wuxian to acquire the seal for himself. Jin Guangshan is shamed, sentenced, and dies imprisoned some months later.

Jin Zixuan formally recognizes his newly renamed brother Jin Ziyao.

Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxian decide that their sister is even scarier than they had believed.

The Wens leave the Burial Mounds and build a small village together in Yiling where they branch into farming non-turnip crops much to the delight of Wei Wuxian. Jiang disciples are dispatched to help with the construction of several buildings, including one extremely beautiful apothecary. Jiang Cheng is seen in Yiling fairly regularly.

Jin Zixun, the most vocal opponent against the pardons for Wei Wuxian and the Wens, tragically falls off a cliff one day. Sect Leader Yao tries to pin it on Wei Wuxian, but Jiang Cheng shuts him down with scathing ferocity.

Someone also puts a Silencing Spell on Sect Leader Yao and keeps it going. Every Lan swears it was not them and thus cannot remove the spell. It lasts for two glorious months. Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji get along disturbingly well from that point on.

Wei Wuxian is there when Jiang Yanli gets married in a magnificent splendor of red and gold. He is there to see Jin Ling born, to watch Jiang Cheng tie a purple bell to their nephew’s robes, and to gift little A-Ling a bracelet on his first month birthday. He is there to watch Jiang Cheng rebuild their sect with unending grit, respect, and loyalty. He is there to see Jin Ling and A-Yuan grow up underneath a sky he helped clear, loved and adored by all the different parts of their family. And some years after he and Lan Wangji are happily married, Wei Wuxian is there when his little brother dons red robes and bows to the heavens, to the earth, and to a woman with a redwood comb in her hair whose life became entwined with theirs so very long ago.

[jordanstrophe]

Be a Good guest, collab part 6

CW: Whump, held captive, cutting implied, choking, restraining, forced to mildly strip(nonsexual, at all) *inhales* Parental, possessive, controlling, intimate, creepy whumper 

YAY! I finally got around to doing the colllaaab :D @whumpasaurus101 Thank you for being patient with me <3

Pheonix’s masterlist -  Gabriel’s masterlist

Previous chapter

“Oh sweetheart I missed you so much!” Walter chirped, pinching Gabriel’s cheeks and planting a kiss on his forehead. Gabriel just stood still and took it, his arms hanging limp at his sides. 

“Mateo! Thank you so much for taking care of him while I was gone. Was he any trouble?” He asked, taking Gabriel’s arm and pulling him to stand by his side.

“Supongo, he was good enough. You’re got quite a fun one on your hands.” Mateo gave him a concerning smirk, his eyes darting to the car where Pheonix was bound with a belt at his wrists hanging from the handle.  

“A-... A fun one?” 

Gabriel wasn’t quiet, er... “fun” as he would describe it. Watching and caring for a young boy was lots of hard work and dedication! They were fragile little objects that could easily be broken if not cared for properly. He glanced down at Gabriel, who was frozen in place like a frightened cat stuck in a tree. “We have to go. Come, Gabriel.” Walter said, taking his hand and leading him up the stairs. 

“Ay! Before you leave, are you sure you gave me every detail about what happened with my mi amore’s escape?” Mateo spat with accusation. Walter slowed his pace for only a moment. 

“I told you everything I saw.” He cranked his head around just enough for one cold eye to burn contact. Mateo’s eyes narrowed, trying to find these ‘lightbulbs' of lies Walter described, but he could see none. 

“Doesn’t matter anyway. He’s your boy, deal with him.” He turned his back and left before Mateo could say any more. He sighed as he walked to the vehicle, watching Pheonix squirm around in the seat at his approach. He ripped the car door open, placing a foot against the car steps with an elbow resting on the doorframe looming over him. 

“Some stunt you pulled back there, did you enjoy your little recreo?”

<><>

Walter marched Gabriel back to their hotel room. They were supposed to be driving back to the cabin by now… But something was wrong with Gabriel. He wasn’t acting like his usual self. Walter shut and locked the door behind him. 

“Gabriel, take your shirt off.” He instructed. He could hear Gabriel let off a horrified gasp in terror.

“WHY! I-I di-didn’t do anyth-thing wrong!” Gabriel was quick to wrap his arms defensive against his chest. He fought back his tears… It wasn’t fair! Mateo was cruel and heartless, he didn’t have a choice but to be used and abused.

Just.. N-not the belt… Not again! It hadn’t even been a day! It wasn’t fair… None of this was fair!

“I know! I know you didn’t, little dove. I’m not going to hurt you. You are not being punished, okay?” He said, moving closer to place a hand on his cheek. Gabriel violently flinched at his approaching hand, like he was dodging an attacking blow. 

“Ga-Gabriel!” Walter hissed with offence. “Why are you acting this way? What happened?!” He asked. Gabriel didn’t dare face him after getting yelled at, getting more and more frightened. Walter took a deep breath, before as calm as he could order, “Shirt. Off. Now. Or I will take it all off myself.” 

Gabriel’s face burned red as he turned his head away, slowly fumbling to undo each and every tiny pearly button. Water’s eyes grew even more skeptical when he realized that wasn’t even his shirt… It looked like the one Pheonix was wearing on the first day of the restaurant! Why was he-?

His thoughts were cut off as the white shirt slipped off his shoulders, fluttering to the floor. Two deep cuts ran down his chest, he could no longer hide the bloody bandaged wrist with the long sleeve. 

Walter’s face went pale. Then red with anger. He quickly turned his head away as he took deep breaths, cooling his temper. 

He wanted to loom down the hallway right back to Mateo and rip his throat from his neck. 

Leave nothing behind but a ruined corpse.

A crippled husk of death.

He took another deep breath. Gabriel came first. He would always come first.

His eyes shot open as his mind was back to earth. Gabriel was covering his chest with his arms tucked up as he cried with his head turned away. “Sit down on the bed, sweetheart.” He said, with a voice calm enough to lull a frightened rabbit.

Walter took both his wrists and pulled them up so he could see his chest. He could see them clearly now, running deep and neglected. Blood that had dripped was left to dry in streaks down his chest. 

He had to swallow down his anger once more. “How badly does it hurt?” He asked. Gabriel let out a sad little whimper as he kept trying to pull his wrists down, which was enough for Walter to know he was hurting. 

Gabriel’s head fell forward as his forehead claimed his shoulder, Walter instantly pulled him in as he held his crying child. His sobs were heart-breaking to his ears… His poor darling didn’t deserve this! “It’s okay… You’re okay, my little dove. No one is going to hurt you anymore.” He whispered.

He took a warm cloth and cleaned up the blood, taking out a long bandage strip and tended to what was neglected. He took his hand, turning it over and running his fingers over it. Seems that Mateto already treated whatever happened here, but he didn’t trust anything he had done. 

Not anymore.

Never again.

“What happened, little dove?” Walter asked, as Gabriel automatically leaned against his shoulder with a sniffle. “He t-took me to the restaurant.” He quietly explained. “-To your wrist, darling.” Walter stopped him, crouching in front of him. Gabriel’s eyes widened as they darted down, not brave enough to make eye contact. 

“He..He took a knife...  And dr-drove it-t through-” Walter instantly shot to his feet, scaring Gabriel as he gasped and flinched back. Walter threw his coat back on and slammed his hand against the door handle.

“W-wait! Where are you going?” Gabriel squeaked. 

Walter didn't answer, or even turn around to face him. He failed Gabriel. It’s his job to protect him. He left him for thirty minutes and he comes back to… to this! This was his fault and he would never let him out of his sight ever again! But now, he had to take care of someone else. Someone else who was a threat to his dove. 

Someone who lost their privilege to live. 

<><>

Mateo unbuckled Pheonix’s restraints and grabbed his arm, ripping him from his seat, he staggered as he struggled to keep up. “Come now, don’t tell me you forgot how to walk already.” Mateo sneered. “No sir!” Pheonix yelped, as he did his best to appear obedient. 

He didn’t know what Walter had told Mateo, but he did promise him he would bring down some of his seething anger. Noah was waiting outside the hotel door, his brow raised with surprise when he noticed Pheonix getting dragged along. 

“Jefe! You found him! What happened?” Noah asked. 

“Shut it! You’re not off the hook either, Noah. I’ll deal with you later.” Mateo hissed as he pushed passed him. Noah quickly shut his lips as he took a small step back. He was given one job~ Bring Pheonix to the car and secure him and he didn’t even do that much. 

Mateo slammed the door behind him as Pheonix was kicked to the ground at his feet. “So. You wanted to come back to me, hmm?” He clicked his tongue, resting the toe of his boot against his cheek to force his head down.

“Wh-wha?” Pheonix asked, before quickly shutting his mouth. 

“Walter said you got scared and came back. That you wanted to come home, is that right? How… Interesting.” Mateo traced his jawline with his boot.  As badly as Pheonix wanted to jerk away, he was given a small amount of grace from Walter’s lies, it would be a waste to throw that away and get them both into deeper, hotter water. 

“I… I regretted it as soon as I ran.” Pheonix musters some fake sniffles in an effort to look regretful. Mateo’s eyebrow raised as his boot was replaced with his fingers wrapped around his chin before dropping an inch, tracing a nail down his neck. Pheonix let out a shaky breath as he forced himself to lie still and accept the unwanted touch. 

“My dearest mi amore, if I didn’t have anything else to go off of, your story would be a spit in my face. I have no reason to not believe Walter, but my gut-.” He takes his fist and taps his knuckles to his chest. “-Is letting me otherwise.”

His hand slammed against his neck, his head hitting the hardwood floor beneath him as his hand shot out to fight the wrist that was choking him. The first tightened as his airways were cut, he let out a choking sob as he fought for a breath, for a hint of air, anything! 

“P-nng. Ple-se…” He rasped, his head held to the floor by his own neck. Mateo’s eyes were almost blank as he stared him down, ignoring the tears that streamed down Pheonix’s face as his color changed from the lack of oxygen. 

“Ma-eo please….”

The door behind them opened as Mateo let out a huff of annoyance. “Noah! I said I would deal with you later! Get out!” He hissed.

“Is that any way to talk to your old friend?” Walter said, his voice low and unreadable. Mateo let off his grip as he spun around to see Walter. His eyes were dark but emotionless, an unreadable mist hovered over his face. 

‘’Walter! What are you doing here?” Mateo asked, rising to his feet. 

“We need to have a talk.” His eyes flashed with a spark of malevolence for only a moment, fast enough Mateo didn't catch it. Mateo smirked as he wiped his hands with a rag. Pheonix laid helplessly on the ground as he gagged and choked for air. 

“You’re kid doing alright?” 

“I told you to take care of him.” Walter hissed, as his nerve was quickly struck. He instantly took a deep breath as he became visibly calmer. 

“Come now my friend! You know how these boys work! They need to be taught respect. They are nothing but wild animals without it! You’re like me, you understand how important command and control is.” 

But you did it wrong, and you’ll burn for it. I’ll burn you until there’s nothing left for what you did.

He was mine. MINE. I trusted you with him. I trusted you with everything.

Ripping your heart from your chest would be merciful.

“Why of course I understand! We are the same indeed, my friend.” Walter’s smile was kind and sweet. So trusting and innocent. “My little dove is always the most well behaved fresh after discipline, after all. I just like it when there’s actually something to discipline, not just having “fun”.” He grinned. 

“Hah! I honestly was expecting you to be furious with me! I thought I would show you what it’s like when you put them in their place. Why wait for them to misbehave, eh?” He roughly patted Walters shoulder as he got knocked off balance.

“Leave him, come have a drink with me. There’s something I left out.” He smiled, tilting his body just enough so he could see Pheonix, giving him a small wave. Pheonix was clutching his throat as his breath was weak and wheezed, staring up at him with mistrusting eyes.

He wouldn’t… Would he? Was he taking his story back? Why?

“I’ll say, I’m not surprised. Something was fishy about your little story in the first place...” 

“Not here, come, have a drink with me.” He smiled, waving him to his room. “I’m not leaving Phoenix, he doesn’t deserve even a moment of peace. I was about to get to the whipping. ” Mateo smirked. Pheonix’s face went pale as his tears ran freely, he had no more dignity to keep anymore.

“Then bring him.” Walter shrugged, already halfway out the door. He grabbed Pheonix’s hair in an effort to catch up with him as he let out a cry, he was drug down the hall with his feet struggling behind him to gain a footing. 

“Noah! Watch the door.” He ordered as Walter pushed open the door. Gabriel was sitting on the bed as he instantly gasped and crawled back a few feet further. “No no! It’s okay sweetheart, go wait in the bathroom for just a few minutes, okay?”

He didn’t have to tell him twice as Gabriel bolted off slamming the door shut behind him. The table by the window oversaw the whole city, with two hot cups of tea sitting at each side. “Black tea, your favorite.” He smiled, extending his hand inviting him to his place. Mateo sighed as he sat down, running his fingers along the elegant golden handle of the delightful tiny teacup. His spare hand was wrenched in Pheonix’s hair as he held him at his feet against his leg roughly. 

He took a sip from the cup, Walter could always pull off the best killer tea in the house. He could feel Pheonix’s chest breathing heavily against his leg as he let out a smirk. 

Good, he should be scarred after all the trouble he caused him today... Embarrassing him was bad enough, but his biggest crime was disrespecting him. “So what’s this story? If it’s this important you drag me out here to get me all comfortable then why didn’t you say so in the first place, amigo.” His anger bubbled up from his own words as he took another sip of the tea to calm his nerves. 

He pulled a lighter from his pocket with a cigarette pack, Pheonix flinched at the loud click of the lighter sparking into flames. He already knew that cigarette would be pushed into his skin when he was done. Every second that ticked by drew him closer to the promises of pain. 

“If I’m being honest, I think Pheonix simply deserves better that you.” Walter’s smile twisted into something darker. 

“WHAT!?” Mateo’s fists slammed onto the table, as both teacups clattered and fell, spilling onto the floor.

“You… I tolerated you for long enough because I valued you as a… a-as a…” His voice trailed off after he jumped to his feet, his vision warped and spinning around the room. 

“Fr-friend...?”

When he opened his eyes as he found himself lying on the ground with his vision flipped, watching his cigarette roll across the floor out of his vision between him and Walter’s well-polished boots standing over him. 

“Wh-what did you do!?” Phoenix asked, scampering away until his back hit the wall as soon as his hair was released. 

“I drugged him.” Walter smiled proudly with a wink.

ʕっ• ᴥ • ʔっ  Thank you for reading!

(If you would like to be removed from this laglist, please let me know)

@alien-octopus @yesthisiswhump  @lave-whump @whumpasaurus101 @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi @hamiltonwhumpdump @just-another-whumper @castielamigos-whump-side-blog @approach-me-and-ill-cry  @whump-it @kixngiggles @as-a-matter-of-whump  @five-fictions-5-9 @rippedjeansandfadeddreams @thelazywitchphotographer  @sophierose002

[novantinuum]

Hi, I was just wondering if you had ever thought about what would have happened in your story "Hollowed Moon" if you had continued it. I always thought it was such an interesting setup that could have gone in so many different directions. And there really aren't other stories focusing on Stevonnie and Spinel, so it was unique!

Hiya!

So, I do have some half-written, half-plotted out material to share. I gave this story some consideration the other day, and came to the decision that I don't have the desire to finish it out, alas- I have far too many other active WIPs to add it to the list. There's a few good reasons why I discontinued it, anyways... intimidation over the huge surge of attention it was getting back in 2019, some rude comments from overzealous Spinel fans, (I know everyone isn't like this, but a certain segment of the Spinel side of the SU fandom kinda burned me over time, hhh), and a future chapter containing a sensitive topic that I wasn't in a good headspace to write about at the time.

But! Anyways! Below the cut is all the existing material I have for Hollowed Moon past chapter 14, consisting of a mixture of descriptions, sketchy dialogue, and prose. It honestly feels nice to finally be able to put this story to an official rest.

__

Chapter 15

“I... I saw her.”

“Who-?”

“I saw Pink Diamond. I saw you, in this exact garden, in a dream. I- it was like I was experiencing everything through her. She explained your game, tapped your nose and told you to smile, then warped away—“

“That’s it, that’s what happened, almost exactly! But how could you even know that, I never—“

“I don’t know,” they blurt out. “I have empathic abilities, and sometimes that makes dreaming a little weird, but I have no idea how or why I saw any of this.”

[Pause for Stevonnie to think]

“Spinel, I’m so, so sorry,” they whisper brokenly. “But I think... she left you here.”

“What...?”

“She said she’d return, but before she warped away she whispered goodbye, like she didn’t actually intend to make good on that promise. She was lying to you,” they choke out, voice thick.

“No. No,” she says in clear denial, “no she’s not. She can’t be! She told me she’d come back! I can wait! I just have to wait—“

“But she’s not! She... she can’t, because Pink Diamond is gone. She- she was shattered, Spinel. Five thousand years ago, on the Earth. I- I should’ve told you this from the beginning, and I didn’t, and I- I’m so, so sorry—! But she left you behind, and now she’s never coming back.”

[Silence. Tears brim in Spinel’s eyes. Her eyes grow dark, pained, and then she glares at Stevonnie with such venom it almost knocks them backwards in alarm. ]

“NO!” she screams, tears streaming down her faded pink cheeks.

[She tears her feet up from the roots and runs away, using her arms like an orangutan to vault herself forward super fast so Stevonnie can’t catch her.]

___

Chapter 16

AN: Content warning for self-shattering attempt. Part of the reason why I had to stop writing this story at the time. I considered pushing the plot another way, but it didn't feel authentic to how I believed this scenario would play out for Spinel when she didn't have a direct target for her anger. Without someone to actively be jealous and upset AT, I could only imagine her breaking inwards instead of outwards, feeling that she's utterly failed in her life's purpose. Nothing more than a description for this chapter... and it'd be a short one.

[When Stevonnie finds her, she’s smashing her fists against her gem in her sheer anguish. She’s already cracked it. She’s glitching. It looks terribly painful. She’s about to strike her gem again when Stevonnie intervenes.]

___

Chapter 17

[Post timely intervention. Spinel is still cracked at this moment, though... her form glitching as she cries.]

“I was... her best friend,” she cries, fat, glistening tears streaming down her cheeks. “I was supposed to make her happy! Why wasn’t she happy? Why didn’t she come back?“

[Spinel reasoning that maybe if Pink came back for her, she wouldn’t have been shattered in the first place]

“What did I do wrong?” she whispers hoarsely, gazing pleadingly into Stevonnie’s eyes. “Wha- what am I doing? Why do I wanna hurt myself so badly?”

“Shh, now,” they reply, tears of their own brimming at the crease of their eyes, and pull Spinel’s head to their chest. “I’ve got you...”

___

Chapter 18

They know their throat is tight, and their voice scratchy. They know they’ve never sung this song in front of another living being, since it’s something personal they composed alone on one of their late nights back on Earth, thinking about all the difficult days Steven and Connie have had to face over the months. Pair this with their active crying, and there’s no way their singing will be anything pretty.

But pretty doesn’t matter right now.

Stevonnie opens their lips, and— clutching the broken hearted Gem close, rhythmically rocking with her back and forth— lets the wandering melody emerge from within.

“I guess I have to face That in this awful place I shouldn’t show a trace Of doubt...”

“But pulled against the grain I feel a little pain That I would rather do Without...”

“I’d rather be Free, free Free...”

[Hoarse, Spinel starts singing with them.]

“I’d rather be Free, free Free...”

“Free, free Free...”

“From here...”

[Stevonnie holds her tight while crying, their tears healing it back up.]

___

Chapter 19

AN: Don't have anything but a single bit of dialogue in this chapter note- I'm assuming I intended it as being a good few hours after the events of chapters 16-18... when Spinel has calmed down a little and has a moment to reflect on the upsetting news she's just received.

“I think... I always knew,” she says, voice hoarse. “In a way. It was so obvious how she felt about me.

___

Chapter ?

AN: From here on out, the plot hasn't been split into individual chapters.

[At some point shortly after chapter 19, Lars and his crew locate Stevonnie in the garden, and pick them and Spinel up. The next few bits of dialogue and description takes place on the ship.]

Rutile twins: “I haven’t heard of Spinels being produced in over five millennia.” “Me neither!”

Rhodonite: “Yeah, I heard they stopped making them entirely after the rebellion on Pink’s colony.”

[A bit of overwhelming conversation later, no one really noticing Spinel's conflicted emotional response to so many Gems hovering around her at once.]

Padparadscha: “I predict that you’re both going to make Spinel feel very uncomfortable aboard this ship.”

Rhodonite: “I’m sorry, we don’t exactly meet new Gems every century.”

Rutile twins: “Yes!” “It’s just been us until we met our captain!”

Fluorite: “Our new huuuuman friend helped us escape the tunnels on Homeworld. Now... we’re slooowly making our way back... to Earth.”

Spinel: “Earth?? You’re going to Pink’s world? But why? I heard she... was shattered.”

___

[Spinel feeling a sense of kinship with the idea that there’s other Gems who didn’t serve their rightful purpose and are now escaping their life on Homeworld to be free of that. Because now, without her Diamond, since she was unable to keep her happy, she’s an Off Color too. She failed her given purpose same as them.]

[Discussion of Earth, and the rebellion, and how there’s Gems living free there. And how Pink’s colony was siphoning life away, and that’s what these Gems were fighting to protect. Stevonnie points out all the plants and wildlife that used to live in the garden, and asks her if she felt happier when it was around. Spinel says yes. Stevonnie says that this is what the Diamonds are destroying, with each lifeless colony they forge. Everywhere they go, dead wildlife lies in their wake.]

Spinel: “I... guess I never thought of it that way.”

[(Stevonnie adds...) And while they’re very sorry for the personal connection there, and can’t imagine how painful that must be, that’s why Pink Diamond was shattered.]

[Spinel is given an open choice... Lars gives the invitation to stay with him and the Off Colors, and Stevonnie offers for her to come with them back to Earth. It's not a hard decision for her in the end, though. She's always dreamed of seeing what was once Pink’s planet, ever since she heard the Diamonds bequeath it to her.]

___

Stevonnie: “Okay, so… before we go, I need to be honest with you about something." [deep breath] "I’m actually a fusion of two separate people who are close friends. You... know what fusion is, right?”

Spinel: “Duh, o’course! What, d’ya think I was made yesterday?”

[...]

Stevonnie: “But even with that, I can’t be together as me all the time. Steven and Connie, the two who come together to form me... they love hanging out with each other so much, but they also have their own lives! Other friends, other hobbies, their own families. They still talk when they’re apart, but they know it’s okay to do things alone, too. Do you know why I’m telling you this?”

Spinel: [shakes head no] “No...?”

Stevonnie: [sighs] “I understand you’ve been left behind. Believe me, I know how bad that feels. So the last thing I wanna do is make you think I’m doing that too.”

Spinel: “Y-you— you’re going away?” Stevonnie: “Unfusing, yes.” Spinel: “But Stevonnie, you—“ Stevonnie: “Spinel. No matter what, you are my friend. Steven and Connie consider you a friend, too. And my hope is that you’ll keep making a whole bunch more on Earth, so you’ll always have people around who know and love you. But that can’t always be me, okay?“

___

[At home... on Earth. There's a bit of a close call for Pearl when Spinel arrives, and recognizes her as Pink's second pearl. This is news for Garnet and Amethyst and Steven, the first of which had somewhat suspected that Pearl used to be in the diamonds' service, but never knew for sure. Pearl, of course... can't say much on this due to her gag order... not that anyone else knows about that yet... but does manage a very concise and PD=RQ free explanation about her past in Pink's court, and her transition towards being a Crystal Gem:]

Pearl: “Rose Quartz set me free, and I’ve been a part of the rebellion ever since.”

___

[At some point between the last scene and the next, mention how Spinel had a bit of a relapse... she ended up poofing herself, and reformed differently. A little bit closer to the smudged mascara and frayed pigtails look of canon, but no rotated heart. Unlike in canon, she has a solid support system amongst the Crystal Gems, and she's working hard to recover from the heartbreak of Pink's abandonment.]

___

[Final scene is set post A Single Pale Rose. Steven and Connie fuse, and Stevonnie goes to find Spinel to check in on how she's taking the news. The final line of the fic is as follows:]

Spinel: “I know you’re not her, not really. And I know you’ll always be a better person than she ever was. But in some silly cyclical way... back in that garden... it’s almost like Pink came back for me after all.”

[brightlycoloredteacups]

King of Traitors

Series: Brynhilda’s Saga

Pairing: Ivar x OFC

Warnings: None for this chapter

Tagging: @salt-is-a-terrible-currency

****

The Cliff of Cliffs had a cave system. As a child, Brynhilda had explored the systems to such an extent she still knew what paths lead to where. From the information she’d gathered, thanks to a recon mission gone very right, she knew that Boggvir’s men were situated right against the cliff, next to a crack that opened right in the middle of the camp. 

She has a plan to sew some chaos into the camp, not much, just enough to put the men on edge. Brynhilda’s force is small, excluding herself, there were seven in total that followed her. Alf, Dorfi, and five of the bravest women in the whole camp. The men that would have volunteered to come had other jobs to do. She turns to her people, “Remember, you can take as much as you can carry, but destroy supplies. Keep as quiet as you can, for as long as you can. If you get caught, I won't be saving you.” Everyone nods in understanding. “Good, lets go.” 

She sent other groups out that night that were going to help with creating chaos. One was setting up traps in the forest. In the early morning, they’d try to get a group of Boggvir’s men to follow them, and neutralize a small portion of the army. Another group was situated on top of the cliff, ready to fire arrows down at the enemy at a random time in the night. Yet another group was going to try and lead a small group of the enemy into a small skirmish to the south. 

Brynhilda didn’t have the bulk Boggvir did, even now, at the height of her popularity. She had to resort to guerilla tactics for the next few hours in the hopes of weakening the enemy, tiring them out, depleting some of the massive army. 

So many opportunities to go wrong...yet the reward was worth it. 

Brynhilda leads her group through the caves with no problem, out the otherside with only the smallest of sounds. When she finally saw the last woman out of the cave, she hisses,“Find cover, quickly.” They do as told, following her behind a stack of food. She looks at them, “spread out, start destroying supplies. Food, weapons, shields. Throw things into the ravine, steal things, I don't care. Get going.” Everyone disperses at her orders. They had one hour to complete their tasks before the attacks began. Then, they either get caught in the fight, or they escape without a scratch. 

For an entire hour, Brynhilda is on edge, anything could go wrong. Luck holds with her. She manages to find weapons just laying around the camp, just as she expected. It’s a pity that she has to give Boggvir this sorely needed reality check.  

Her confidence is slowly returning. She can do this, they can do this. A soft caw from one of the crows that perpetually follows her tells her it's time to go. She rushed back to the hole in the cliff, seeing most of her group. “Where is Dorfi?” She asks. “We don't know,” Alf tells her, “lost I expect.” Brynhilda curses. “Go back to the camp, I'll find Dorfi.”

“What happened to you not saving us?” Alf says, smirking, “Clearly I lied.”

”I saw him go towards the edge of the camp, toward the log trap.” A woman tells her. “Thank you,” Brynhilda turns heading back towards the camp, stopping when her group moves with her. “Go back to the camp,” 

“Not without you,” Alf says. “Look-” Brynhilda begins to argue, but Alf cuts her off,  “Don't bother arguing. We aren't leaving without you.”

“Well, don't blame me when we're still stuck here when things go to shit.” Brynhilda mutters, moving herself and her group towards the edge of the camp. It occurs to her that Dorfi really might be working for Boggvir, thus leading her into a trap. She grips her sword tighter, she'd behead him if that were the case.

She doesn't have to wonder about it though, as she hears Dorfi's voice through a tent. “I don't know anything about Brynhilda.” he says defiantly. She smirks, she loves it when she's wrong. “Oh? She didn't send you here to curse us all?” Someone sneers. Their voice is gruff, someone she doesn't recognize. She motions of her people to surround the tent. “Do you really think Brynhilda is someone that believes in curses?”

“Yes.” There was an awkward pause, “Do you think Brynhilda is someone who would use curses?” Dorfi rephrased. “Look, we all know Brynhilda wants us dead,” she steps into the tent for dramatic effect, cutting off the man’s tirade. She’s angry when she sees Dorfi beaten and bloodied. For a moment, she has to wonder if he really kept her secrete despite the torture.  “You're right, I want you dead,” she says. Before the man can even yell or draw his weapon, she runs him through with her sword, covering his mouth so he doesn't make much sound. 

Dorfi looks at her, smiling. He gets off his knees and stumbles out of the tent. Sheathing her sword, she follows him, bringing out a dagger from its holster and cuts his restraints. “What happened to not coming to save our asses?” Dorfi asks, delighted. Brynhilda just pats his shoulder. 

They were going to sneak back to the hole, but one of her ravens caw, loudly so everyone can hear it, a warning sign that her other plans are about to be set into motion. “Shit,” she mutters. Everyone readies their weapons, “There isnt enough time to escape,” Dorfi warns her, watching as people are now pouring from the tents, wondering why the fuck a raven is cawing in the middle of the night. 

“Please tell me you disabled the trap.” Alf says. Dorfi snorts, “course I did!”

“Tight circle,” Brynhilda instructs, bringing her shield in front of her. They form a tight ring as shouts of intruders begin to go up, now alerted to their presence. Men surround them. “Brynhilda, I don't like this,” Alf mutters, “Oh really?” Brunhilda snaps, “What's not to like? We're trapped in the middle of an enemy camp, surrounded, with fucking no way out.”

“Someone's testy,” Alf mutters, “She needs a nap,” Dorfi explains, “she gets cranky without her beauty rest.”

“I hate you both.” She mutters, bracing herself for an attack. The dam of tension breaks as soon as a random enemy charges at her and hits her shield. Everyone begins to shout, fight, run. Its utter chaos. 

Brynhilda wants to throw herself into the fight with wild abandon, her very being craves the blood shed, demands it, but she's divided. She has to get her people to safety. They have to survive. She defends them more than she fights. 

The enemy, composed of men she's led in battle, are confused at the new tactic. She's a brute force fighter, she charges and her opponent dies. Now she's yelling coherent instructions, staying back and helping her people. It confuses the enemy, makes them hesitate. 

Her new friends are just as adept at fighting as she is, a tall blond clears a path, striking so quickly anyone barely has time to react. Dorfi is clearly a distance fighter, throwing numerous little knives into the fray. The women dart in and out of small pockets of enemies, taking down two or three at a time. They work as a team and manage to get to the border, where fighting only grows heavier. 

The group Brynhilda sent out that was supposed to charge the side of the camp she’s headed towards is doing its job beautifully. The shock of the trap working had given them the advantage, confusion was sown, everyone was divided. “Retreat!” She yells, her voice is heard clearly over the battle. A horn is sounded and her men begin to fall back. Brynhilda stays until she is sure the last man has gone. She is about to join them when the enemy crowd parts, and she sees Boggvir. 

Her heart aches. A sick part of her wants to forgive him, to run into his arms and take comfort in his presence, most of her just wants to snap his neck then and there. He looks older than she remembered, he looks...terrified. “Enjoy your final moments,” Brynhilda calls to him, bowing, “Boggvir, King of Traitors” with that, she turns and runs. 

*

Her camp is riotous when she gets back. Through snippets of excited congratulations, she finds that all men have made it back alive with no more than a few bumps and bruises. Someone had the wherewithal to break out the celebration food. She notes there wasn't a mead cup in sight, good, mead was after the battle was definitely won. “To Brynhilda the Deathless!” One of her men yells. The cheer goes up, her name reaching the heavens. She laughs as someone picks her up on their shoulders, it's hard not to get caught up in the celebration. “To my warriors!” She says, throwing a fist in the air. This elicits an even bigger cheer. 

When she is put down, Alf approaches her, pulling her off to the side. “Sven tells me there's something that requires your full attention.” She follows him through the camp. 

They come upon her tent, small and unassuming, except for the large boar stitched into the side. A group of men surround something, the air is charged, as she approaches, they part for her so she can see what it is they’ve captured. The Volva that started this mess. She's not so pretty now, covered in dirt, hair wild, half starved. “What did you do to her?” Brynhilda mutters, feeling bad for the woman...only slightly. She glares at the men in turn.

“Your men have done nothing,” the witch says, looking Brynhilda in the eyes, “they were perfectly behaved.”

“Leave,” Brynhilda tells them. “Jarl-” Sven, who’d been among the group, begins to argue, but at Brynhilda's look he stops. They all leave. 

Brynhilda picks the witch up, and throws her into the tent, nearly gagging at the smell of her. “Are you cold?” Brynhilda asks, not bothering to wait for the answer. She throws a blanket around the woman. 

“Enough with the niceties. I know nothing of Boggvir's plan. He cast me aside the moment he got word you lived.” Brynhilda had trouble keeping the smirk from her face. “A wise queen told me once that women seldom have choices in life. We must take what we’re given and deal with it, ours is a most tragic lot.” The volva merely grunts. “She was loved, hated, and killed because she was a witch.” 

“What's your point?” 

“My point is, right now, you have a choice to make.”

“I told you I know nothing of Boggvir's plans,” Brynhilda ignores her, “become mine, work for me, and live under my protection,”

“Be a slave? Ha! I'd rather die,” Brynhilda nods, pulling out a dagger. “Very well,” she gets up and grabs a fistfull of dirty hair, pulling the volva's head back. Before she can even put the blade to her neck, the witch changes her mind. “I'll do it! I'll work for you! Don't kill me please!” Brynhilda lets her go. Smiling, she puts the dagger down, “I'll send someone to come clean you up.”

[itsnothingofinterest]

I’ve often said that it seems like a lot of the main pros below All Might seem to end up representing serious flaws in hero society; specifically the ones on the hero side of things. So as a fun little exercise I thought I’d go over all those main pros and what flaws they represent (should be easy, they’re usually their own personal character flaws). Maybe also give my assessment to what I think their chances of living to the end of the series are while I’m at it, since representing serious flaws in the old guard can be hazardous to your health if treated poorly.

Endeavor

A man who needs no introduction if you’re any kind of HeroAca fan. love or hate him, everyone knows the new no.1.

Funnily enough, he’s actually the main exception to the rule we mentioned before about a pros’ character flaw being the flaw they thematically represent. See, his character flaw is that he focus so much on heroics, his career in heroics, or just his own general needs over his family; to the point that he only had a family to have children he could live vicariously though, and felt no obligation to love the ones he couldn’t live through. What he represents, is actually two-fold: 1) the toxicity of the ranking system which makes heroics so competitive and encourage heroes focus on some arbitrary number, and 2) the power heroes have that let them do horrible things and get away with it. They’re connected concepts, for sure, but not exactly synonymous.

And with that said, what are his chances of survival? Well, the ranking toxicity is out of his hands, but besides that...it can be hard to tell. He has, under semi-aggressive guidance of his family, publicly taken responsibility for the things he’s done and vowed to make up for it; which helps his chances considerably. But in that same scene he also said that the only way he can atone is to keep doing what he’s always done; beat up villains and at least 1 family member. It sends a mixed message. But in general; I want to say that he’s gotten enough development that he doesn’t feel set to fail his arc now. I’d be tempted to say his chances look pretty good...were it not for all the separate reasons I think he’s likely to die anyway. Oh well, no one’s situation can be perfect.

Hawks

The controversial hero; Hawks!

I’ve summarized Hawks’ main flaw before as ‘hubris’, partially because he’s an Icarus figure so generalizing it like that feels clever, but it’s a bit more complex than that. Hawks main flaw isn’t so much pride as it is self-righteousness. Hawks represents the belief that everything is just right as it is, and the status quo must therefore be protected at all costs. A denial that the heroes he believes in have done anything wrong even after staring their mistakes in the face and spending months talking with those the heroes failed. In fact to contrast Endeavor’s line to the press; Hawks tried to excuse what he did as though it had to be done. That’s the opposite of promising.

With that said, what are his chances of survival? Well, I’d actually put him at 50/50 odds; since I see 2 endings for him, and it’s too early to tell which is more likely. See, while we’ve only got two instances of a “pattern,” Hawks seems like a guy who falls to the ground, recovers and gets back up, only to fall even further down because he never learns. So his two futures are either: A) To actually learn. Take a fall so hard that in the aftermath, he can’t convince himself he was right all along. Maybe he gets Endeavor killed, or does something to sever their relationship. Something that’d force him to self-reflect. B) To take a fall so hard it proves fatal; his mistakes catching up to him in a way that doesn’t give him a chance to self-reflect.

Best Jeanist

Sir Long Neck McImagine Obsession himself.

Best Jeanist represents the self-interest in hero society can have over justice itself. Already known for being focused on superficial image; he’s dramatic reappearance revealed just how deep that went. For when it’s revealed by a villain that a hero has committed great crimes that ended up motivating that villain’s actions; Jeanist’s immediate concern was the damage this would do to the reputation of heroes. More than what kind of person he’s been working alongside, and even more than saving lives, Jeanist’s first thought went the wellbeing of the industry he works in and how bad they would collectively look to the public; that’s what he’s most angry at Dabi for.

Chances of survival are...maybe 40-50%? There’s no real leaning one way or another frankly, so that kind of feels like it’d put him at even odds for the exact opposite reason as Hawks. Will he live? Will he die? Who can say? Leaning just a bit towards death though, because again, representing flaws in the old guard can be hazardous to your health.

Mirko

And here we have the violent one.

While I’m tempted to lump this one with Hawks, I actually think Ms.Mirko represents the heroes use of incredible violence best. See, Mirko is someone who really likes to beat people up, even once in a spin-off said Bakugou’s drive to murder was a good thing in a hero. And while she won’t even feel the need to kill like Hawks apparently did, her response to fighting the High End Nomu was something like “finally, some villains I get to just kill with no ethical issues, that makes things easy”. (Which, considering the High Ends are sentient is, um, hmm). Her love of violence borders on villainous, and she freely admits it is simple obligation that prevents her from crossing that boundary. It’s reminiscent of when Shigaraki pondered what the difference really was between heroes’ & villains’ violence. And, well, if it closes the gap in morality between heroes and villains, it’s going on this list.

Regarding her chances of survival, like Jeanist she’s not exactly defined enough to really say anything for sure or end up on any extreme end; I’ve no real reason to think she’s very likely live or die. That said; on the one hand she seems a bit more eagerly reveling in the flaw she represents, plus a blood knight getting back into the fight after sustaining heavy injuries is never a good sign. On the other hand, Horikoshi clearly likes her for reasons we won’t address here. I think I’m gonna average it out to 50%. Maybe even 60%.

Kamui Woods & Mt. Lady

You wouldn’t think some of the most plain as bread heroes would be joining the ranks of the problematic, and in fairness that’s because they mostly aren’t, but they are the ones who best represent a serious issues with heroes. They represent the way heroes will focus on flashiness & the problems they cause/exasperate in the process. Misconduct performed in the quest for fame; in so many words. Kamui showed this in chapter 1; calling a giant purse snatcher “evil incarnate” because that villain was attention grabbing and disturbing the peace. This is especially noticeable in hindsight, after we’ve see some real problems heroes could be dealing with but aren’t; like lost children on their way to becoming villains. And Mt. Lady represent it by how she operates in a big city despite her powers really working better for more rural or neighborly environments; because city work makes her more popular and rakes in the cash (that she loses paying for repairs).

That said, even if those are flaws I feel are highly associated with them, none of that is stuff they’re actively involved in; they’re naïve at best, and have already improved considerably (for minor characters at least) into better heroes. Frankly speaking, their changes of survival are probably averaging at 85% (80% for Kamui, 90% for Mt.). Like, they’re not gag characters per se; but they’re not super serious characters, they’re not connected to the MCs in any real way, and they don’t knowingly contribute to any of society’s corruptions. Really, so long as big H doesn’t really want to off someone we know for a shock, they’re probably fine.

Gran Torino

And lastly, the only non-big shot on the list, the unpleasant old geezer himself; Gran Torino!

What GT represents better than any other, I think, is the idea of passing any blame a hero may have for the actions/very existence of a villain on to the villain in question, thus allowing the heroes to better absolve themselves. You know like how with Shigaraki, he ignores any fault he has with that guys’ existence and simplifies him down to a criminals they can only beat down; and how dare he exist and thereby hurt Toshinori’s feelings. On that note, I’d say he also represents the idea that the villains are what they are, they’re too far gone, and there’s nothing the heroes can do about it. The most convenient excuse to not ever have to try to make up for what they did wrong, which you can’t even blame them too much for because they “tried their best” (even if they really didn’t).

So, what are his odds? Well frankly I wanna put him at 0% just cause he’s so old that if a villain doesn’t get him, time will. But that’s cheating. In actuality, it’s hard to say; dude’s a stubborn old man, and it really feels like it will depend on his ability to admit how wrong he handled things regarding Tomura. Now admittedly, he did admit to making the wrong choice in handling Kotaro, but he’s said nothing of Tomura so far. For now I’ll put him at 30%, but we’ll have to see if he sticks to his guns regarding current events next time he talks with All Might or whoever to really get a gasp on his chances.

And that’s about all the big ones so we’ll wrap it up. Anyway the point is it feels like a lot of heroes are gonna need to get their acts together lest they risk coming down with Not Alive Syndrome sometime in the future.