#the last status update i did on ya boy

[shuyui-nether]

My Blue Sky

Chapter 02: AO3

Summary: She hated this bitter fate and wished that her father would return even for one day. But this was an impossible wish that will never come true.

Admin talks: Hey guys long time no see. I miss you all. Forgive me for disappearing. As you know I had therapy sessions for my mental status. Now I'm completely fine and will update more. I can't wait to write again. Please welcome me with your reviews 😭.

With the sunlight shining on his face, Kou slowly opened his eyes. He was never a morning person. He usually couldn't sleep well at night because of his nightmares, so he woke up in the morning with great difficulty. Sometimes he wished he could just sleep peacefully for one day without any nightmares.

Kou: Damn it... why do I have to go to school every day? Ahhhhhh...

With great difficulty, Kou got up from his bed and went to his wardrobe to put on a shirt. After choosing his shirt, he put it on and tried to fasten the buttons.

Kou: Ahhh... this is very difficult... I wish someone else would do this for me.

Saying this, Kou remembered the pale girl who is now in the dungeon. And he smiled with this thought.

Kou: ...! Hahaha... I remembered now. I have a new little girl. Maybe I can make her listen to me. Of course, I am sure that she will do it with full satisfaction. She is probably one of those fangirls who is dying to be with me for just a few seconds. What a lucky girl you are...

Thinking about his weaving and dreaming, he buttoned his shirt hard and went out of his room and went to his brothers.

Kou: Yahooooo.... Good morning...

Yuma slowly appeared from behind Kou while yawning.

Yuma: Why are ya making so much noise in the morning?

Azusa: Good morning... Kou... Yuma

Ruki, who had woken up earlier than everyone else and was busy making breakfast in the kitchen, entered the living room with a breakfast tray.

Ruki: Good morning everyone. Breakfast is ready. You can go to the kitchen and start.

Kou: Ruki, do you want to eat breakfast alone?

Ruki: No. This is not for me. It's for Eve.

Kou: Ahhhh... you are right... I was forgetting that, that girl is now in the dungeon. Poor girl must have had a hard night. I am sure she is scared now. Haha, her scared face must be so cute.

Yuma: Haha... did ya really forget or were ya thinking about her all night haha?

Kou: what the fuck Yuma? Why should I think about that ugly girl?

Azusa: Kou... you're such a liar... we all saw yesterday... how you... were staring at Eve. Besides... she is very... cute and beautiful... if you call her ugly, you are lying.

Kou: Azusa, you should see my fans, they appear in front of me every day with the best makeup. I'm sure this girl has never put on makeup.

Azusa: That... makes her more beautiful...

Kou: It's ridiculous...

Yuma: Haha, just say you love her.

Kou: Never...

Ruki: Enough. Your fights are like children's fights. Do not forget the right behavior. Anyway, I will take het breakfast to explain some rules to het. Then we all have to go to school.

Kou: Shall we take Eve too?

Ruki: Of course not. She disappeared last night. Besides, we can't let the Sakamaki brothers see her.

Kou: Ruki, isn't it better to have someone stay with her at home. I mean, even if you make rules for her, she will still be a rebellious girl.

Ruki: Yeah. I will stay with her.

Yuma: Ya...

Ruki: Is there a problem?

Kou: No, you are just an honor student. Are you sure you want to stay?

Yuma: Hahahaha... What's wrong? Don't say that you want to stay with her. Boy, you fell in love with her badly.

Kou: Ahhh.... Stop Yuma. Don't say such nonsense. I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well last night. I prefer to stay at home.

Ruki: Okay.

Yuma: ...!

Kou: ....! Really? Is it okay?

Ruki: yes, but just this once.

Ruki went to the dungeon with the breakfast tray to see Eve and explain the rules to her. Kou went to the dungeon with him. Ruki frowned when he noticed Kou is following him and turned towards him.

Ruki: Why are you following me?

Kou: I want to see Eve. Her pitiful scared face should be interesting. And since I'm going to take care of her today, I need to know what rules you set for her.

Ruki: Ah... okay.

Ruki and Kou continued on their way until they reached the pale girl. It was unbelievable. She was sitting quietly staring at the door without any attempt to escape. It was as if she was waiting for them to arrive.

Ruki: Good morning Eve. So you are awake.

Hearing Ruki's voice, the girl raised her head and looked at him. You can tell from her shaking eyes and hands that she is scared. But she was trying to show herself strong. That's why she looked at those two people without showing any fear.

Yui: Who are you? where am I?

Ruki: Don't worry Eve, I will explain everything to you soon.

Ruki put the breakfast tray in front of Yui.

Ruki: You must be hungry. you can eat I will open your hands, but remember, if you make a foolish attempt to escape, you will be punished.

Ruki slowly unchained Yui's hands. Yui was hesitant at first, but she was very hungry. Since the Sakamaki brothers are vampires, they eat little, Yui also eats very little, and this has affected her health.

Yui first took the glass of water and drank it. She seemed very thirsty. She looked at Ruki as she ate some of the food and waited for his explanation.

Ruki: Listen Eve. Or Komori Yui. You are here on the orders of an important person and you must obey us. You are going to stay here for a long time. Remember, don't think of stupid attempts to escape, they will all be futile and you will only get yourself in trouble. From today you have no right to go to school. You have no right to contact the Sakamakis and most importantly, you have no right to disobey. It is in your best interest to listen to everything I say, otherwise you will be severely punished.

Yui: Why am I here? On whose orders am I here?

Ruki: This is not important anymore. I am Ruki, the older brother of this family. And this is the second brother of the family Kou. You will meet Yuma and Azusa soon.

Kou was listening to the conversation of these two people without saying anything. He was staring at Yui. He knew he had seen Yui somewhere before, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember.

Ruki: We will free you. As long as you respect all the rules I said. Do you have anything to say?

Yui: Please... let me go...

Ruki: Ahhhh.... Didn't you hear what I said? Do not resist, you will only make it difficult for yourself. Now eat your breakfast as soon as possible. I will introduce you to my other two brothers and we have to go to school. But don't worry, you aren't going to be alone. Kou is by your side and makes sure you don't break the rules.

Yui was afraid of Ruki. She had to obey him, otherwise it was not clear what fate awaited her.

*TIMESKIP*

After Ruki introduced his brothers to Yui, they left the mansion and went to school, leaving Kou and Yui alone at home.

Kou: Ahhhhh... I'm finally alone. I can't wait to just have fun and relax today.

Kou walked over to the couch in the living room and threw himself onto it, yawning deeply and chuckling. He could see Yui staring at him. He smirked at Yui's look.

Kou: What happened? Didn't you think you would see your favorite idol up close, M-Neko-chan?

Yui: Idol? Are you an idol?

Kou: Haaaaaaaaa? Don't say you don't know me.

Yui: I'm sorry, but I don't know you.

Kou: Are you kidding me?

Kou went to Bookshelf and picked up some of the magazines and came to Yui. He put the magazines on the table and pointed at them angrily.

Kou: My picture is in almost every magazine. What do you mean you don't know me?

Yui: Fufu... I never read such magazines. I am sorry. But I felt that I have seen your face before. Maybe that's why you looked familiar?

Kou: Familiar? Are you crazy or something? All the girls in Japan know me. I am a famous idol that girls die to be with me for just a few seconds. How can you not know me?

Yui: I'm sorry... but I've never been interested in this kind of thing... but that doesn't make the value of your work less.

Kou: You bitch... are you trying to pity me?

Yui: No... I just...

Kou: Shut up... you worthless bastard... you are the one who is worthless. You are just a moving blood bag.

Kou angrily walked over to Yui and grabbed Yui's narrow neck in his fist and began to squeeze it to strangle Yui.

Kou: You see... you are so worthless... if I kill you now, no one will be upset. No one even knows you exist.

Yui: Kou-kun... I can't... breathe...

Kou: If I feel a little sick all the girls in Japan send me postcards and gifts to wish me well. You see, this is the difference between you and me.

Yui: Kou...kun...my breath...

Kou: Hahaha... yes, hurry up and beg for your life. You have to beg even for your life. You are just worthless prey, nothing more.

Yui's eyes were about to close when Kou released his hand and let go of Yui's neck. Yui fell to the ground in despair, coughing and struggling to breathe. Tears were flowing from her eyes and her vision was blurry.

Kou: Don't forget your place. You are as worthless as a mouse and I can easily crush you under my feet. I don't even have to do it myself. Just mention it and the fans will destroy you.

Yui: Huh...huh...I'm sorry...

Kou smirked when he saw Yui in that state and walked out of the living room. When Yui was alone in the room, she started to cry. She hated this bitter fate and wished that her father would return even for one day. But this was an impossible wish that will never come true.

[sleepyscxry]

Peridot x Gender neutral reader!!

A/N this might be pretty short because I’m tired asf.

the car comes to a halt and my eyes jolt open. “WERE HEEERRREE!!” Said my very awake friend, Bullet.. he’s been awake on monsters since we got out of Alabama. He’s been awake for two days.. “are you okay?” I said with worry.. “don’t worry y/n I’m fine we just gotta get the stuff in as soon as possible before I crash.” “Ooook” with that me and him start moving boxes and furniture in. The appliances came with the house on both floors!! Sinks, washers, dryers, dishwashers and a big doggie door!! ‘Will be perfect for king he’s fucking huge. Why did we decide to get a Great Pyrenees again?’ by the end of the day we were surprisingly done! We laid on our beds on our sides of the room and immediately crashed. the next day we wake up to king scratching at the door like a zombie. “I’m comin’ ya big goof.” Bullet said with his groggy Italian accent. I giggled because he sounds so silly. I got up and went to the bathroom to splash water on my face to wake me up. Putting on a snazzy sweater and some jeans I go to the kitchen and bullet is already making breakfast! “Your hair looks like an aliens trying to abduct it lol” I said with a still pretty sleepy tone. “What do ya mean?” He looked at the camera on his phone and said “oh my god I look like I’m in the 80’s jeezus.” We laughed it off as he fixed his hair and finished making breakfast. It was a waffle sandwich. “Huh?” “Oh that’s just something this dude over by the shore told me about. But said he went veggie and doesn’t like ‘em anymore so I stole the recipe!” “Wow.. sounds like you, talking about breakfast to someone you barely know.” “Oh no I’ve known Steven ever since we were twelve!” “Oh wow..” “there are a lot of things you don’t know about me. Let’s go talk to ‘em!” “But I haven’t finished-“ “it’s fine don’t worry about it king will!” He dragged me to the car and started driving to the shore. I will admit the beach is very pretty. We get to this ancient looking statue thing with a house built into it.. “what the hell?” “Don’t worry about it! Top secret stuff!!” He giggled and ran up the stairs. He knocked on the door and yelled “STEVEENNNNN ARE YOU HOOOMEE??” Then a boy with poofy curly hair like bullet answered the door. “Hair buddy!!” “Hiya steven so I just wanted you to meet my friend y/n!!” “Oh hi! It’s nice to meet you come in!” He was as cheerful as bullet which surprised me. ‘In my 4 years of knowing this man I’ve never seen anyone as cheerful as him until now.. wow’ and then I see weirdly colored people come into the house through this crystal portal thing? “Omg these are the crystal gems!!” He then goes on to tell me all of their names.. but only one catches my full attention.. “and this is peridot. She’s mostly sweet but a bit of a gremlin..” “HEY!! I AM NOT A GREMLIN!!” “My proof.” “Oh.. SHUT UP YOU CLOD!” ”Hi I’m y/n it’s nice to meet you all!” “It’s nice to meet you too.” Garnet said with a bit of a serious tone. Bullet saw me and said “you ok? To many people? You’ve got that look on your face that usually means you’re feeling a strong emotion” he led me outside to talk about it. “I’m fine it’s just that the last one.. peridot she is..” “different, short, loud, kinda annoying?” “I guess but she’s also kinda cute-“ “AYO- SUS? Sorry but uhm that’s actually really funny. Y’all could be the shortest couple known!” “Hey it’s not my fault you’re 6’2!!” “Ok true buuut you are only (I’m sorry to do this but-) 5’3” “I- eh- UGGGH” I stomp back in there. Him walking in with me wheezing. “What happened” steven said with a concerned voice. “Y/n is mad because they’re short lmao” “well that’s nothing to be to ashamed about..” peridot said with a smile. I notice that she is pretty short compared to the others.. “wanna be friends?” I said with a sweet gentle tone

I’m SORRYYY. I know I haven’t been updating ANYTHING! And yes I’m making this slow burn because peridot is ARO. ACE. Get it right you fools. bullet out >:)

[heroquills-a]

( pltbhplbhbh )

[life-in-the-monster-haus]

In Defense of Gillington "Gil" Webber Part 2

After the last Episode we take a break from Lagoona's boy troubles and it's time to focus on Frankie's boy troubles. it's refreshing to see Jackson & Holt just come out and say they likes Frankie instead of tip toeing around the topic, Then Deuce has girl troubles and Ghoulia has boy troubles and everyone is in some relationship drama except for Clawdeen... Smart Ghoul. BUT this isn't about them. but I do enjoy the last half of Volume 2! I forgot about how much of jerk Operetta was, I kinda miss it.

We don't hear any updates on Gil and Lagoona's status until Episode 57 "The Bermuda Love Triangle" where Frankie needs help deciding on who they like more Holt or Jackson, under advice from a Teen Scream magazine the oracle tells Frankie to ask their friends for advice! and the first friend they run into is Lagoona.

In her fragile state Lagoona is probably the worst person Frankie could have possibly asked for relationship advice.

"Hey Lagoona! I think I like 2 boys!"

"wow! 2 boys huh? good for you! some of us are lucky if we can find one! much less get his parents to accept us or even keep him in the same school. But 2 boys!? Good on ya mate, I'm very happy for you"

Lagoona falls apart during the end of her comment then she turns away from Frankie and cries into the drinking fountain. I'd like to remind Lagoona that she is the one who did this! she pushed Gil to confront his parents about their bigotry and Gil warned her this would happen, we're supposed to feel bad for Lagoona but I just don't! She made her bed now she has to lie in it. We're supposed to be sad because she sheds a few tears? While Gil is currently rotting in an Underwater Boarding School! crying is the least of his problems! is he getting hazed? or caned? we don't know! I wouldn't put it past racist parents to tell the Dean to put the boots to him extra hard for being a dirty salt water monster lover. I would give anything if Mattel showed us what that school was like! cowards!

BUT being a bitch to Frankie isn't going to undo what you did sweetheart.

We don't hear from Lagoona during the Monster Mashionals arc Which was the end of Volume 2 but after that finishes we get our second Special and My personal favorite: Fright On!

Fright on is where Gil makes his big return to Monster High! Lagoona mentions the feud between Salt Water and Fresh Water folks and Gil mentions that his Parents sent him away "But they couldn't change me so I'm back!"... What!? that's it? that's how you got them to send you back to Monster High? nononononononono! Racist Parent's don't just give into the demands of their kid because "they can't change you" they weren't trying to change Gil, they just wanted to keep him away from Lagoona! it's such a weak BS excuse! come on Monster High you are WAY more creative than this hand wave of why Gil has returned. I like my theory better that Gil went feral at the boarding school and got thrown out on purpose so his parents had no choice but to send him back to Monster High. (I did mistakenly call it a Military school, my bad) and That's the theory I'm sticking with. The most common reasons people get expelled from Boarding Schools are carrying weapons, fighting, stealing school property, disrupting the education of others, hacking the school computer systems to change test scores, damaging school equipment. So do with that information what you will.

Now regardless if you accept the canon explanation or my theory the outcome is the same either way... Gil basically strong armed his parents into getting his way. This is important but also worrying for Gil since it has been heavily implied that Gil fears his parents, I can't imagine they welcomed him back with open tentacles.

Now we officially enter Volume 3! The first few episodes of Volume 3 spend a lot of time taking characters who were introduced in Volume 2 and Fright On and blending them with the monsters we already know and love. We don't really see much of Gil and Lagoona until Episode 72 "Unlife to Live" and it's only for a second. they're still palling around together.

For the beginning of Volume 3 Gil and Lagoona are hardly in it together. We don't really see or hear from them much as a team until we get to the first movie "Why do Ghouls fall in Love" where they are giving Ghoulia love advice because she is torn Between Slo-Mo and Don of the Dead. Can I just say I can't think of any couple least qualified to give someone else dating advice? Their relationship is being held on a thread of Gil's parents mercy at this point.

Now it's been AWHILE since I've watched this movie, despite my love for Kieran Valentine and his sexy southern drawl It's not really part of my rotation unless it's Valentine's Day. But does anyone else remember Draculaura being a huge cow in this movie? Because for some reason I don't but during the re-watch she really is! in terms of Monster High characters who are bad partners Draculaura definitely fits the bill here, Not only is she ungrateful as hell to the gifts Clawd gets her, She low key cheats on him with Valentine during this entire movie.

I know I'm supposed to be focusing on Gil and Lagoona but this seems like a bigger problem at the moment.

Valentine has just walked into the school, he has NOT yet put Draculaura under his spell or hypnotized her or anything yet. He just walked up to her and give her flowers and she calls him "My Valentine" all love struck... Clawd walked away from her not even 10 seconds ago. And this is how she acts when her ex shows up and her current boyfriend is out of ear shot??? This may not be "technically" cheating but it's suspicious as hell and not cool. Flirting is cheatings ugly cousin. But no one gives Draculaura shit for being a bad girlfriend now do they? I feel like it's because she's a fan favorite, cute and a girl, But because Gil isn't that he seems to have the worse reputation...and why? Gil has done nothing wrong. I'm gonna be mad about it the whole movie. Clawd doesn't deserve this. The ghouls & Frankie but mostly Clawdeen do get on her case about this, but it's already after Valentine has been touching her, romancing her, having lunch alone with her... This is cheating y'all. They tell her she needs to choose but completely ignore the fact that she has already been cheating on Clawd. Clawdeen tells her that Clawd isn't stupid & he's a great guy - for some reason they are tip toeing around saying the C word...but it's cheating y'all, this is cheating. Draculaura cheated on Clawd on got away with it. Frankie who is narrating this movie spins us a yarn about how poor Draculaura is torn between 2 boys!... But she isn't though... She is currently in a monogamous committed relationship with Clawd and cheating on him with her Ex... this is not "torn between 2 loves"- cheating! it's cheating. "But in the end Draculaura knew the answer" - to STOP cheating on the boyfriend that she already has is the answer. In the next scene, to Draculaura's credit she DOES choose Clawd and tell Valentine that it's been fun but she loves Clawd... Valentine then hypnotizes her to get her in his clutches, NOW from here on out y'all can feel bad for Draculaura but don't forget she cheated on Clawd before the hypnosis thing with little to no prompting. But tell me again how Gil is such a shitty boyfriend.

That movie ends with Draculaura having cheated on her boyfriend, but she still got a car, a party, gifts, Clawd. This is a horrible message to send to little kids, How did we let this fly in 2012? Don't cheat on your partner folks, there is no guarantee they will forgive you and IMHO they shouldn't.

The next 3-D Movie is "Escape from Skull Shores" and THIS is the the one we've all been waiting for! so go grab some milk or an orange, pack a lunch because this is going to be a long bumpy ride!

So, right off the bat Lagoona planned Gil's spring break without telling him under the guise of a "surprise" and apparently Lagoona's parents sent them a luxury cruise to bring them to the Great Barrier Reef (Great Scarrier Reef was not canon yet) so that Gil can meet her parents. Gil... Understandably so freaks out a little.

Maybe it's just because he's a boy and "meeting the parents" is such a big step in a relationship, maybe he fears they are racist like his parents are and won't like him... Lagoona reassures him no one cares about the whole salt water/fresh water thing anymore... Gil is...

Not convinced.

Gil is kind of being a sandy butt hole about this but after what his parents put him through can you blame him?

Lagoona is trying to be very optimistic and tell Gil about how Beautiful the Great Barrier Reef is to put him at ease but...

"I just wish it wasn't so full of Sea Creatures"

Pump the Breaks! This might be the first unsavory thing Gil has said, I really hate to give that "Gil is a racist" mindset any legitimacy but... that was kinda bigoted Gil, it reeks of "you're one of the good ones!"... Which if your familiar with racism like myself you'll know that's not a compliment!

Lagoona isn't hurt by this. She uses this as an opportunity to gently remind Gil he is starting to sound like his bigoted parents and then she does a very.... Canadian? Midwestern? unflattering impression of Gil's mother?... "Oooh yea! a thousand lakes! no salt in MY water!"

Gil immediately apologizes for his bigoted statement and confesses to Lagoona that he's afraid of the sea. He thinks it's full of scary fish and monsters who just want to get their flippers on a fresh water guy like him... Gil's parents have instilled in him that sea creatures are out to get him, this is not Gil's fault this is an unfortunate side effect of being raised by a racist (trust me). He also adds on that the "Normies" have polluted it so much you can't even see 3 feet down... you know what? I'm gonna let Gil have that one, Humans DID fuck up the ocean.

Gil: "what's that!?"

Lagoona: "it's an island chain, mate"

REALLY, LAGOONA!? is it an island chain!? or is it a fuckin' Kraken!?

This does not justify Gil's parents racism against all sea creatures but to treat any place on earth like it's completely safe would be a fool's errand. Danger is everywhere.

"What was that you were saying about the sea being "perfectly safe!?"" I wanna bust Gil for being an asshole here but...given what's happened to them, he's kinda right to get sassy.

Lagoona doesn't say a damn thing.

While they are shipwrecked they get picked up by this greasy human dude named Bartleby Farnum who's just a lazy parody of P. T. Barnum, If you know even a little bit about P. T. Barnum you already know this guys deal, scam artist, showman, trickster. the whole movie is already spoiled for you, Sorry.

Frankie looks exactly like this scientist lady from an Island Farnum knows about so he wants to use them as bait to catch Andy. it's a popular head canon that G1 Frankie was just straight up built using the dead scientists head and I completely agree, it would explain their "uncanny" resemblance to her.

Frankie's head has to have belonged to the scientist... Heterochromia is pretty rare, what are they odds they would look like her AND have her Heterochromia!?

Edit from future me: SHE EVEN HAS A CUT ON HER FACE IN THE SAME PLACE AS FRANKIE! this is no longer a head canon, it's just canon, Frankie's head used to belong to the normie scientist from Skull Shores. She probably got that cut on her face from being in the jungle.

While everyone was sleeping Farnum steered them to Skull Shores, when Lagoona asks about the Great Barrier Reef, Farum assures her this is just a one night stop to rest and get supplies. Notice how he did not tell any of them this, before they went to bed. Just assume everything Farnum says is a lie and you'll be good. Farnum makes up some BS reason why they should say on Skull Shores and everyone loves the idea except for Lagoona who thinks her parents will be worried sick about them if they don't hear from them soon, Farnum guilt trips Lagoona into letting everyone stay and she caves.

Lagoona is rightfully suspicious of why Farnum wouldn't let her back onto his boat when they all just spent the night on it and enlists Gil to help her spy.

Gil would prefer to stay on Skull Shores because 1.) it has a lake and 2.) it means he doesn't have to go meet Lagoona's parents. Lagoona knows he is stalling and Gil finally breaks.

Gil: "They won't like me Lagoona! I'm a fresh water freak to them!"

Lagoona: "it's all in your head Gil! they're modern monsters! that's not how they feel!"

Lagoona is being kind of a hypocrite. Gil warned her several times that his parents are racist and won't let him see her, Lagoona told him to stand up to them and when he did he got sent to an Underwater Boarding school for the entire Summer and half the next school year! Now Lagoona is trying to convince him her parents aren't bigoted and from Gil's POV why should he listen to her? the last time he took her advice he got exiled. They're trying really hard to paint Gil out to be the bad guy here for not wanting to listen to Lagoona but look at what happened to him the last time he did.

Is he right? No. But do I blame him? also No. By being so pushy with his parents Lagoona ruined her own credibility. it was real easy for her to go "Stand up to your parents!" when it wasn't her head on the chopping black. Gil was the victim in that situation and he's scarred now.

Despite being hesitant Gil goes with Lagoona. He protested but he still goes with her, this is yet another case of Gil going against his better judgment to support Lagoona.

Lagoona: "let's hurry!"

Gil: "Good, I don't want to be in the sea any longer than I have to"

Lagoona: *gives Gil a dirty look*

Gil: "Whales go to the bathroom in here Lagoona!"

Gil, Shut up. I've been defending you all this time but don't sit there and tell me that crocodiles and gators don't shit in lakes. Gil complains, a lot and he's been real sassy this whole movie... but he still goes with her.

Lagoona and Gil are missing from dinner and Farnum instantly sends Kipling to go find them... Farnum must have better instincts than me because if I was babysitting some teenagers on an island and the boy & girl who are real close ran off to be alone in the woods... I would just assume they're boning and go back to trying to rob the natives or whatever he's trying to do.

I just gotta pause this analysis of Gil and Lagoona's relationship to focus on this hunk of Manster that we never got a doll of. Mattel robbed us blind! Can you imagine him on a Manny Body? Bow chicka wow wow! Me @ G3 please bring us Andy! I'll forgive you for removing Frankie's neck bolts if you give us Andy!

Lagoona sees that Farnum is tracking Frankie and she wants to rush in and follow him, Gil asks her what she plans on doing once they get there and her answer is "I'm not sure but we'll think of something" Gil... respectfully tries to question her logic and he insists they think about this before just jumping in but Lagoona, ignoring Gil's sound advice steps forward on the cliff ledge they are are on and falls into Farums hands.

Lagoona isn't stupid but this is probably the second dumbest thing she's ever done, the first one being telling the boy she likes to confront his racist parents like he's not going to get punished. Rushing into things without considering the consequences is no way to go through life Lagoona.

Once we see Lagoona get caught we pan to Gil who looks like he's running away because... Movie has to engineer conflict SOMEHOW. Did people just stop watching Skull Shores after the commercial break? because that's the only reasoning I can think of for why Gil is so frequently labeled a coward and a bad boyfriend. Because if the movie ended HERE!? then yes, Gil is a coward and a bad boyfriend. But it doesn't.

Farnum roasting a teenage girl that he has just kidnapped because her boyfriend ran away and Lagoona agreeing with Farnum. "I knew Gil wasn't the most courageous monster but I never thought he would just hang me out to dry" WOW Lagoona! way to have faith in your man! Everyone keeps saying that Gil is a bad boyfriend to Lagoona but I'm beginning to think maybe Lagoona has been a shit girlfriend. "but Jess!" I hear you cry... "what would YOU do if you saw your man run away!?" If it was me? I would assume he's thinking up a rescue mission because him running down that hill after I get caught to "save me" would be very stupid when it's 1 against 6 and one of those 6 is a pretty big dude. getting BOTH of us captured wouldn't have done anything to help our situation.

I started this deep dive to defend Gil but really all it's doing it making me dislike Lagoona. She's SO short sighted! I guess years of looking at her with rose tinted glasses made me see her as this perfect person but the problem with looking at someone with rose tinted glasses is... all the red flags just look like flags.

Just as it looks like Farnum has won, Gil returns with an army! "The salt water army" in his own words! My boy came back with reinforcements and he tamed the Kraken!? He swam all the way to the Great Barrier Reef by himself and showed up on Lagoona's parents doorstep, exhausted and probably rambling about their daughter being in trouble and they trusted him enough to take care of business on his own... mind you this is the first time they met him!

Between this and getting snotty with Mr. Hack it's very clear that Gil has no problem facing conflict on the condition that conflict is not his own parents why is that? Because Mr. Hack and Farnum don't have control over his life! His Parents do. Gil has been very brave when problems arise his one weakness is his parents and I don't think we should fault him for that. He busted ass for Lagoona and y'all have the nerve to call him a racist coward, the level of disrespect is unreal.

This is yet another moment they should have kissed, Gil even has his water tank off. I can't even use the excuse that Mattel is run by prudes in this part because Draculaura and Clawd got to kiss in "Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love" Why no Lagoona and Gil kiss!?

Anyway, Gil says the whole time he realized what he is the most of afraid of is losing Lagoona... Which if you've read this far... Duh.

The rest of the movie wraps up with not much more from Lagoona and Gil they had their big moment. Great timing too because I have once again hit Tumblrs photo limit. I stand by everything I said in part 1, In fact I'd like to double down on it and say not only is Gil a great boyfriend, Lagoona might not be a good girlfriend. Gil has one boundary and Lagoona does not respect it. Re-watching the Webisodes and the first few movies has shown me that Gil is willing to do anything for love... but he won't do that and all Lagoona and her fans can focus on is the that.

I don't know how this Gil slander started, but whoever started it clearly has no critical thinking skills at all OR they like, saw the screenshot of Lagoona crying and got insta-mad "Gil made Lagoona cry! rage!"... yes... yes he did make Lagoona cry... And then she got him sent to an Underwater Boarding school! one of these things is vastly worse than the other! get perspective!

I don't know if I'll make a part 3... I really want to cover 13 wishes but by now? I feel like I've made my point. The Gil slander is unfounded and Gil never did anything wrong he's just a good boy in a bad family situation.

I would think a lot of you... if not most of you can relate.

Part 1 + Part 2 + Part 3 + Part 4

[spicytrashthe1st]

Obey me boys "i beg to differ" "then beg"

Lucifer

"I beg to differ"

U fool. U absolute buffoon. He realises what his said too late. By the look on his face he already knows what ur gonna say but is still irritated when u say "then beg". Will walk away from u, is 100% done w ur shit.

"Then beg"

He says it w so much sex in his voice that u cant not be flustered. If u cant recover feel free to retreat, if Mc.exe comes back online climb into that bitches lap n whine a "please". He'll break, trust me.

Mammon

"I beg to differ"

We all love to make Mam's beg, he's just so cute when he does it. Considerin he says this in front of his bros the poor boy doesnt see it comin. So when u say "then beg" he freezes, full body blush like hes a kettle ready to boil before yeetin himself out the room. Congrats, uv broken him, better go after him before he runs into a wall.

"Then beg"

He's so smug when he says this its too cute. Like full on hands on hips bendin down to ur level smiling all the way.

Dont back down. Dont u dare back down.

Sensually grasp the sides of his face, only leave an inch between ya n say "oh great mammon, would u please". Break him.

Leviathan

"I beg to differ"

Big regrettie spaghetti as soon as he says it. He waits for ur response but it never comes so he looks up at u. Big mistake. He gulps at ur wicked grin. "Then beg" n oh boy does he.

"Then beg"

Y'all r in full fanboy discourse mode so he says it w such conviction. Naw, look at ur boy bein so confident. Take a picture, itll last longer, especially since ur gonna wipe it of in a second. Go all out. Crawl into his lap n go full anime gurl w a "Leviachan, please, please, pretty please?". Get the smellin salts, u just k.o'ed this boy.

Satan

"I beg to differ"

U respond w "then beg" without even thinkin about it. U both blink at each other like 'did that really just happen?'. Then this shithead gets that demure smile on his face n u know ur fucked. The way this man says please leaves ur entire being tingling.

"Then beg"

Smug bastard tm. U cannot visibly break his resolve, however, blush stained cheeks r still a win.

Asmodeus

"I beg to differ"

He's waitin for u to say "then beg" like a dog lookin at a nice jucy steak. Will u give in?

"Then beg"

Doesnt really expect u to beg, but that just means that u can do a sneak attack. Fluster the avatar of lust at ur own risk.

Beelzebub

"I beg to differ"

He looks confused when u ask him to beg. He does the dogo head tilt n u have to tackle hug him. Mission failed, we'll get 'em next time.

"Then beg"

Gotta be honest, i dont see him sayin this unless in jest. That bein said, he did ask.

Belphegor

"I beg to differ"

Gettin brat boy to beg is harder than tryin to get Luci to sleep at a reasonable time. Most of the time he'll scoff at u. But on a rare day he'll get all sly n rub himself against u like a cat, lookin up at u w those eyes that make u horni grip before sayin please.

"Then beg"

Never beg this man. Ur better than this.

Make this brat pay for his insolence.

Diavolo

"I beg to differ"

He doesnt know. I always see Dia as both oblivious n in the know at the same time. It shows when u ask him to beg. Like a light bulb goin off in his head he looks at u w such smolder u almost regret sayin it, almost.

Dia begs either like a dog wanting to go for a walk or a brat. He begs like a brat this time. Pound his ass, its what he deserves.

[Im changin Dia's status from baby boy to bothe brat n baby boy, it has been decided]

"Then beg"

Bratty behaviour engaged, tread carefully soldier. To defuse do so cutely, he become a fit of giggles. If u wish to escalate be prepared to back ur shit up.

Barbatos

"I beg to differ"

Homie. Brother. Senpai. Look at me.

If u ask this man to beg u r unleashing a beast that could destroy us all.

So do it anyway!

Honestly gettin this man to break his whole butler shtick is a challenge, but a challenge worth doin. Im just warnin ya that the amount of horni ur about to unleash is uhh...well itll be somthin else, lets just leave it at that.

"Then beg"

Please leave it cute.

Leave the horni outta the kitchen.

Simeon

"I beg to differ"

He knows. The fucker knows exactly what he's doin. Will act all innocent but theres that look in his eyes that screams otherwise.

[Is...is Simeon a brat? 🤔]

"Then beg"

Would u beg for this angel man?

Do u think he'll show his tru intent if u do?

Solomon

"I beg to differ"

Is this wizard boy even capable of beggin? Only one way to find out! He'll do it if he thinks it'll fluster u.

"Then beg"

Dont let him, never let him win. Cake that shit on when u say "oh my beloved king". Or flip it on its head, how dare he tell u to beg, put him in his place.

[This post has been updated to reflect my findings after makin this post]

[thatasianstereotype]

Damn, You’re Looking Fine.

To my utter delight, my crack writing Fuck. I’m Gay. got a good reception. I was not expecting to write more for this AU/pairing. But why not? I got some ideas and a computer to write them down on.

So this fic is the took-a-while-to-put-together sequel. It’s focused on the downfall of one certain Liar-la, Damian wooing Adrien with all the flair and romantics as his Chaton deserves, and Adrien being a blushing hot gay mess. 

P.S. Damian’s formal way of talking is an utter pain to write but hilarious to read.

P.S.S. Creative liberties were taken. Again. I just feel this needs to be mentioned. 

.

.

.

So Status Update:

Adrien and Damian are definitely dating (It is totally official. Told you ya boi got game).

Adrien still calls him Hot-And-Sexy from time to time much to his utter mortification (He can’t make himself stop. Please send help). And Dami gets amused by it every single time, that arrogant smug jerk.

Marinette still puts the fear of god in Damian and he is wary of her. She feels very proud about that. Adrien wants to facepalm.

Fuck Gabriel Agreste.  

And Lila Rossi is still a bitch.  

Adrien and Marinette were made aware about Damian’s alter ego —well mostly because he is utterly terrified of Marinette’s seemingly sweet (icy) smile she gave him when she politely asked how he obtained the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous and partly because of Adrien’s pouting kitten eyes. 

They truly were a pair to reckon with. 

.

“I am not sure why the Justice League dismissed your concerns and pleas for assistance. So I am taking the initiative. My name is Damian Wayne, the son of Batman and the current Robin and leader of the Teen Titans.”

He’s a superhero too?! And it’s Robin!!! One of his favorites!! Can you hear him internally squealing in excitement?

Adrien bit his lip to keep from fanboying right then and there. But a slight pink hue spread across his face. 

“You’re not lying.” Mari has gotten pretty good at deciphering through people’s bullshit. Whether it’s because she is now a Guardian or because Lila’s bitchiness made her a human lie-detector remains unknown.

Damian took it in stride. “I am not.”

“Paris is still our city.���

“I am only offering my assistance.” He won’t barge in on their superhero duties to the city. He has more class than that.

Mari didn’t have to look at Adrien to know his decision.

She smiled, a bright genuine smile. “Then we’re allies.” Before her eyes gained a spark of mischief and her smile turned teasing. “Hot-And-Sexy.” 

“Marinette!” Adrien immediately covered his blushing bright red face with both hands, utterly mortified. 

His sister was evil. E. V. I. L. And why is Damian smirking and looking so smug? Fuck! He even makes that look completely hot. Curse his Adonis genes. And curse his teenage hormones. 

He regrets introducing the two of them together. What a pair they make. Truly a couple of fur-midable terrors here. 

.

Back to the matter at hand, Marinette is able to ensure that Hawk Moth and Mayura will never be out again and another akuma won’t be made. She already made sure that the miraculous were better protected. 

Damian has enough evidence to put them behind bars for their crimes but Marinette wanted to go through it and make sure that Adrien won’t suffer the repercussions of having a villain for a dad so they held onto it until they figure out how best to protect their sunshine. 

.

Ah Shit. 

“Duusu? Where are you?” 

Did Gabriel lose the miraculous again? 

But when he looked into the last place he left it, he groaned. Fuck. His brooch was a fake again.

He knew he shouldn’t have made a miraculous fashion line and had replicas of the miraculous jewelries made. It was his most popular items to date. He has gotten lot of praises for getting the details just right and capturing the essence of each miraculous holder. No surprise there. He deals with them on a daily basis. He should get the details fucking right. 

It’s a wonder he only came up with a line because there was talk that he was becoming obsolete with no new ideas coming forth and if there is one thing that Gabriel Agreste isn’t, it is being obsolete. 

The line was just a joke, a parody of the heroes and villains if you will, but apparently people like it. Ladybug and Chat Noir were the most popular obviously (he should’ve seen that coming to be honest). Hardly anyone buys Hawk Moth or Mayura and he is left with boxes of fake brooches. 

It is annoying.

Especially since he keeps fucking misplacing his miraculous. 

.

Adrien felt like he could be a Disney princess and just skip his way to school and sing for the world to hear. 

Now that the Butterfly miraculous were safely with Marinette, he doesn’t have to worry about another akuma. He could just die happy right now. His dad doesn’t have a hold over him anymore. He doesn’t have to put up with Liar-la anymore. But if they put up a fuss? Well, worst case scenario is he becomes a Dupain-Cheng. 

And he doesn’t mind. He’s already an honorary one. 

And if that somehow doesn’t work out (which he highly doubts), Damian offered to make him a Wayne. 

.

Françoise Dupont High School experienced a shock that morning. Specifically Ms. Bustier’s class. 

When they saw Adrien and Marinette walking in class with arms intertwined, laughing and smiling together. 

What the actual fuck?

Did they cross into an alternate universe? Marinette is a nasty bully and Adrien’s a pure sunshine child. Why would they be acting like they were the best of friends? 

Lila glowered darkly when she saw them walking towards the back and sitting at the same table. Didn’t Adrien care about what his father thinks? Doesn’t he want to still be able to go to school? 

She bit her lip and turned on the waterworks, her eyes close to bursting into tears. She made herself be the very picture of a pitiful woe-is-me victim as she cried out in a hurtful and betrayed tone. “Adrien, what are you doing with her? I thought we were close friends.” 

The sheep class instantly catered to Lila, pointing their fingers at the pair. 

Alya, her biggest supporter, led the charge as always. “Adrien! What do you have to say for yourself? How could you cheat on Lila like this? And with her?” 

Adrien narrowed his eyes at his former friend. Bitch, how dare she implies he was in an actual relationship and had feelings for that harlot. 

Wow. 

He has been spending way too much time around Damian. 

"Yeah, bro!” Kim said, raising his voice. “How could you do her dirty?” 

“Okay guys.” Adrien cut in. “I don’t know where you heard that but me and Lila are not dating. Like at all.” 

“Please.”Alya waved him off like he didn’t know what he was talking about (he was highly offended at the notion he didn’t know what his heart yearns for). “We all know you have feelings for Lila. You’re just in denial over them.”

Bitch, what?

Is no one catching onto his chaotic gay vibes here?  

And oh, how his fragile little heart was betrayed yet again when he saw Nino supporting his girlfriend. He still couldn’t believe the first friend he made all by himself was a part of their rabid pack. He deeply mourned the loss of such a great friend in the midst of that deceiving fox’s claws. 

“How many times do I need to say it?” At this point, Adrien was about to throw hands. “I don’t like Lila like that. I feel nothing but pure spite for her. Also, me and Marinette are not dating if anyone’s wondering. We’re just really good friends.”

“But Marinette’s a big bully.” Alix piped up, a hard edge in her voice. “She treats Lila horribly.”

“Marinette didn’t do anything to her. Rossi is lying.” 

“Oh Adrien.” It was Mylene of all people who spoke up. “Did Marinette get to you with her lies?” 

He was done. 

Completely and utterly done. 

He looked over at Marinette who shared his exasperation at the class’ antics. 

Adrien already said it before. But it bears repeating.

Lila Rossi is a bitch.

Luckily (or maybe unluckily), that was the moment Ms. Bustier chose to step in the room and class started. 

When the teacher’s back was turned, Adrien pulled out his phone and proceeded to spend the rest of the time alternating between taking notes and texting with Damian. 

They were currently at the stage of their relationship to be sending animal pics and memes back and forth, with a few puns added from time to time. 

He really does have the perfect boyfriend. 

.

They cornered him after school. 

One: Rude. 

And two: Double rude. 

He was excited to meet Hot-And-Sexy (daMn iT! It’s Damian! Get it right brain) at the bakery and spending time with his two most favorite people in the world (Tom and Sabine don’t count because actual parents don’t have a ranking). 

His former friends were looking all concerned and everything because they somehow collectively came up with the idea that Marinette actually brainwashed him to believe Lila was evil. 

The fucking irony. 

They actually had the audacity to say that Marinette —sweet and honestly badass Marinette— was no good and just wanted to use Adrien to get ahead in the fashion industry (as if Mari actually needed him for that). He shouldn’t be around her. Lila was a much better person to keep as company. 

Adrien laughed in their faces and left. 

.

Onto happier events, Adrien was having a blast hanging out with Mari and Dami. His boyfriend (he still can’t believe he managed to score such a hottie!) fit right in the everything-that-matters siblings’ dynamics. 

They were in Mari’s room. Adrien was cuddling with Damian on her bed. And Mari was at her desk working on fashion designs. 

“So what’s your family like?” He played with Dami’s hair. It was so soft. Like what the fuck. It is so unfair. 

Damian thought about it for a few seconds. “My family is a bit...crazy. We drive each other insane every other day but at the end of the day, I have no doubt they have my back as I have theirs.” 

“You guys sound close.” 

“We were not always. We had an extensive amount of issues to work through before we actually bonded as a true family.” 

It was quiet for a minute until Damian casually said. “I would appreciate it a great deal if you can make time to visit Gotham for the summer.” 

Adrien stopped playing with his hair to look at him with wide incredulous eyes. “Summer’s only two months away.” 

“I am aware.” 

“You really want me to meet them? Isn’t it too early?” 

“I met yours the day we started dating.” 

True but....

Adrien averted his eyes. “Do you think your family will like me? You guys fight criminals and my dad’s a villain.” 

Damian put his hands over Adrien’s and gave them a light squeeze, making his Chaton look back at him. 

“My mother is a villain and I was raised as an assassin. Yet despite of that, my father accepted me. And I am fairly confident he will do the same to you. Mon amour, you have a pure and selfless heart. You are a better person than I am. I have no doubt that my family will love you from the start. 

“Are you being fur real right meow?” Adrien tried to lighten the atmosphere but he could feel his eyes tearing up. 

"I wouldn’t lie to mew.” 

He let out a small laugh, wiping his eyes. How did he ever get so lucky to land such an amazing guy? “You always know the purr-fect thing to say.” 

“We get it you’re in love. It’s amazing. Now stop it with the puns.” Mari rolled her eyes, utterly exasperated at these idiots who just ignored her and pulled out even more cat puns. “You have got to be kitten me.” 

Before she noticed what she said and groaned in faux despair. “Oh you two are so dead.”

Adrien stuck out his tongue playfully. “You can’t catch me. I got a handsome knight in shining armor to protect me.” 

Damian interlaced their fingers. “Always, mon amour. I’ll protect you from everything like your wicked father.”

“Does that make me the dragon here?” Mari joined in. “Cool. I can breathe fire and torch people. Too bad I can’t do that to a certain liar.” 

“Liar-la is totally the witch here.” Adrien said before thinking for a few seconds. “Does this make me the princess?” 

“Well, knights always have to save the damsel in distress.” Mari said. 

He frowned before crossing his arms indignantly. “Dami, I love you more than Plagg loves his stinky cheese, but I’m no damsel in distress.” 

Damian rolled his eyes. “Tt. Of course not. You can destroy things with a single touch. It would be not be in my best interests to downplay your abilities.”

Adrien relaxed and beamed a sunny smile. “Good. Remember that.” 

“Mon amour, I look for an equal as a partner, not some weak spoiled harlot that can not defend their self.” Damian placed a flower crown (that was just sitting on Marinette’s nightstand, must be one of her projects) on Adrien’s head. “Having said that I do believe you are a prince that deserves all the love and care in the world.” 

And oh my. 

Adrien can feel his face burning scarlet and his heart almost bursting at how sweet this incredible, conceited Adonis was. 

He was falling in love with Damian over and over again each time they meet up. 

“You deserve love too, Dami.” 

And sweet, caring Hot-And-Sexy (Ah, fuck it. He will never grow out of that) placed a soft kiss on his cheek. 

Oh dear, he didn’t know his face can burned any redder. 

He could almost hear Mari cooing in the background. 

And in case anyone was wondering, Tom and Sabine adores their everything-that-actually-matters son’s boyfriend. Damian Wayne seems like a responsible young lad. And he makes Adrien really happy which is a major plus. Anything that makes their son happy is good in their books. 

.

Lila was not at all pleased. 

Why was Adrien suddenly hanging out with Marinette? Yeah, he doesn’t buy into her lies but she was confident he will be lured into her charms. Why wouldn’t he be? She was young and way more beautiful than a baker’s daughter. He was supposed to be hers. 

She and Gabriel are going to have a talk about his rebellious son. 

Except when she arrived at the Agreste mansion, Gabriel was apparently too busy to see her. 

He was too occupied with searching through boxes of fake miraculous to find Duusu to bother with her. 

“I don’t have time for you.” 

“Excuse me?!” 

She was aghast. How dare he speak this way to his biggest supporter —well, besides Mayura and Nathalie. 

“You’re excused. Now leave the premises.”

Before the door shut in her face and she was left fuming, her face an unflattering angry red. 

.

Being Damian’s boyfriend, Adrien has come to learn that Damian does nothing by halves. Including asking him out on a date. And the actual dates themselves. 

Today as the sun fell down and night came about, Damian and Adrien were taking a stroll in the park. It was relaxing and it was nice. They talked about everything and anything. 

Adrien did not think Damian planned anything more. 

But he really shouldn’t underestimate the son of Batman. 

Because when the last of the sun’s rays were gone, Damian led him to a gazebo strung up with beautiful lights giving the whole place an ethereal feel. And with the bright moon out tonight, it looked like fairies dancing in the garden. 

He didn’t notice Damian pressed play on his phone and classical music filled the air. 

He definitely noticed Damian bowing with a flourished and holding out his hand with a charming smile. “May I have this dance, Chaton?”

Adrien would have to be a huge fool to say no. 

“I’ll loved to.” He placed his hand in Damian’s and let the Adonis lead him in a simple waltz. 

This was his life. 

His life was one big sappy romance novel. And you know what, he doesn’t care if it is. Between dealing with his shitty father and Liar-la, this kitty deserves some happiness. 

.

It was a scene from one of those Disney fairy tale movies Adrien used to watch as kid. The magic. The love. The romantics. He felt like Cinderella and wished this night will never end, that the clock will never strike midnight. He just wanted to stay in his Prince Charming’s arms forever. 

Under the starry night sky, the lovebirds danced to their heart’s content and when another song ended, Damian tilted his head down to place a tender kiss on Adrien’s lips. 

“I harbor a great deal of non-platonic affections for you, mon amour.”

“I love you too, Hot-And-Sexy.” 

.

What the fuck?!

Seriously. 

What the actual fuck? 

Lila was simply walking home after her disastrous meeting with Gabriel (She was still not over how he simply dismissed her like she was nothing. How dare he). 

When she saw them. 

Adrien and some guy (she’s pretty sure that was a guy) dancing in the park. She can feel that disgusting jealousy just burning in her veins, a cold anger thrumming underneath. 

Things were not at all going her way. 

First, Adrien is back to being friends with that Mari-whore. Then, Gabriel ignores her. Her. And now, she is seeing her Adrien in the arms of someone else. 

Oh this will just not do. 

She took out her phone from her pocket and snapped a couple of pictures, making sure Adrien can clearly be seen. She didn’t care too much about the other guy. He’s probably just another pretty airhead Adrien knew through his father. He’s not important. 

A cruel smirk appeared on her face at the thought of the perfect revenge. Adrien was going to have a rough time at school tomorrow. After all, he should’ve known better than to make a move against her. 

.

“Seriously?!”

“Wow.” 

“I’m sure there’s an explanation for this.”

“Yeah. Adrien is obviously gay. That’s the only explanation.” 

“....Maybe not? There could be another reason.”

Lila had watery eyes and a sad frown on her face but inside, she was fucking smiling like a Cheshire cat. She made sure to be at school early so she can show the class the picture of Adrien’s little date last night. Who —predictably— were shocked at their sunshine child being with a guy and made plans to confront him about his supposed sexuality. 

She glowed at the thought of her plan working. This will teach Adrien to know his place or become a social pariah like his little friend Marinette. 

“I thought Adrien had feelings for me.” Lila wiped the “tears” from her eyes. “How could he lead me on like this when he’s been gay all along?” 

Alya —predictably— comforted her. “I’m pretty sure he’s just confused. He doesn’t know what he’s feeling.”

“I’m sure that’s it.” 

The pair didn’t notice Juleka and Rose glaring at them. 

.

Damian was not at all pleased. 

He was rightfully angry. 

How dare that poor sense of fashion taste trollop tried to shame his mon amour for being gay. How dare she try to say he was simply confused and didn’t know any better. How dare she defame his reputation because he holds nothing but spite for her person. 

How dare she. 

As Adrien’s boyfriend and future husband, it is his duty to correct this travesty and defend his Chaton’s honor. 

.

When the Damian Wayne, youngest son of Bruce Wayne, appeared at Françoise Dupont High School, you know that people are gonna stare and talk. 

When he headed towards the courtyard where Adrien and Marinette were sitting at, boy are things going to get juicy. 

Lila and her followers who were sitting a bit father from the outcast pair were utterly confused. They could possibly get Adrien knowing such a super hot celebrity but for him to be on good terms with Marinette too? How inconceivable. Absolutely flabbergasted. 

“Hey Lila didn’t you tell us you knew him and his family?” Max brought up. 

“Uhhh....” Lila knew she dug herself in a corner here. She never thought that the Damian Wayne would ever visit here. At this second rate school. 

“Well, let’s go, girl!” Alya exclaimed. “I’m sure Damian just hasn’t seen you. That’s why he didn’t walk towards you.”

Before proceeding to practically drag Lila to where Damian was talking with Adrien and Marinette. 

Lila, on the other hand, was cursing out Alya in a bunch of different languages in her mind while trying to come up with something to dig herself out of this mess. If they talk to Wayne, the class will realize she was lying all along. 

She was not going to lose control of her kingdom like this —well, not without putting up a fight. 

But when they and the rest of their classmates walked close to the trio, they were shocked when they saw Marinette playfully punching Damian in the arm. 

“Okay. How the hell are you so close with Damian Wayne?” Straight off the bat, Alya was on the offense as she glared at Marinette as if it was Mari who did something wrong. 

Damian answered before the bluenette could. His face was impassive and his glare cold. “I’m Ms. Dupain-Cheng’s top model for her fashion business.”

What? 

Even Lila was taken aback at the news. She knew that goody two shoes likes designing but she didn’t think anybody would actual buy her stuff. She didn’t think a Wayne would like her stuff. 

She could feel her fists clenched. How dare Marinette steal the spotlight again. 

“I’m also Adrien’s boyfriend.” Damian continued casually as if that wasn’t a huge bombshell. 

Everyone’s minds screeched to a halt. 

They knew about the possibility of Adrien being gay since Lila showed him on going on a date with an unidentified but clearly male person yesterday. But they didn’t think there was actually something there. 

Lila could feel her anger clouding her mind. Adrien was supposed to be hers. He was her ticket to fame and fortune. 

“And what about Lila? Aren’t you guys best friends?” Alya put her hands on her hips. How could Damian just ignore someone he is close friends with but give Marinette all the attention? Lila deserves better than that.  

Damian was unamused. “I don’t know her.”

“Yeah, you do.” Alya ignored Lila’s gestures to stop talking. Lila was too shy about her achievements and she was going to have her amazing best friend’s back. “She’s the one who helped your family out multiple times.”

“She did not. And I am appalled that you believe I would know a harlot like her in the first place.” Damian’s face twisted with disgust as he glanced at Liar-la like she was a mere insect. “Please. I have class and dignity.”

“Take that back!” She screeched. “You are so rude.” 

“Are you honestly going to lecture me on my rudeness when you plebians are being hypocrites?”

“What? I’m not a hyprocrite.” 

“Lila Rossi is a pathetic liar who begs for attention like street dogs beg for scraps. She never once saved Jagged’s cat nor does she help out with green charities. Lastly, she is not on close terms with myself nor with my family.”

“No! You’re lying!”

He raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Ok then. Look her up on the internet. If she is as grand as you lot seem to think, she should have articles dedicated to her. Show me proof of her actions that isn’t your subpar blog and I will give you an exclusive.” 

Alya’s eyes gleamed at what should be an easy challenge. But when she pulled out her phone and typed Lila’s name and what she did in the search engine, her smile disappeared. 

She spent the next few minutes scouring the net for anything, any mention of a Lila Rossi that wasn’t on the LadyBlog. 

She found nothing. 

Lila Rossi was a fucking liar all along. And Alya and the rest of the class believed her. 

“We tried to warn you.” Marinette said in a soft voice. But anyone who knew her knew she was trying to hold back her laughter. 

“Marinette,” Rose cried out as she realized the class has been total jerks to the one person who always had their backs. “We were horribly wrong. Can you ever forgive us?”

She shrugged. “I forgive you. But this doesn’t mean we’re friends again. Because we’re not. Seeing how easily you drop me for that liar without even looking for any kind of proof hurts and I’m not eager to be friends again. Maybe in the future but not right now.”

“That’s goes ditto for me.” Adrien added his two cents. 

Their former friends classmates wore gloomy expressions, utterly devastated at ruining their friendship with their Everyday Ladybug and Sunshine Child. 

And with that, Adrien and Marinette left the courtyard, with light hearts and heads held high. 

Damian shot the class a razor sharp grin. “Well, it’s been nice to meet you.” 

Everyone knew he meant anything but. 

“I always knew teenagers were prone to be foolish imbeciles. But seeing the collective stupidity of you people today made me realize that the bar can in fact be lowered.” 

.

Adrien was fucking ecstatic. 

Elated. Overjoyed. Jubilant. Drunk on happiness. All the synonyms associated. 

Because Lila was finally exposed. The class realized what utter assholes they have been. His father will receive his due (soon according to Mari and Dami). 

He was happily humming a tune as he swung his and Damian’s intertwined hands back and forth. 

He was entirely grateful that Damian showed up to school today. Although he was a bit mean for Adrien’s taste. 

But oh man. Payback was so sweet. 

He smiled giddily. 

Mister Hot-And-Sexy definitely earned himself a kiss. 

Previous

Next

[writteninsunshine]

Heaven’s A Lie - Lucas Baker/Ethan Winters - NSFW

Title: Heaven’s A lie

Author: Reno

Fandom: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Setting: Baker Family Estate

Pairing: Lucas Baker/Ethan Winters

Characters: Lucas Baker, Ethan Winters, Mia Winters, Zoe Baker, Jack Baker

Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance

Rating: M

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 1376

Type Of Work: One-Shot, Part of the For All These Times series, Whump Fic Bingo fill #1

Status: Complete

Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, MLM, Non-Con Kissing, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Sick Fic, Comfort From Whumper, Whump Fic Bingo, Trauma, Traumatic Experiences, Canon-Typical Violence, Mostly Canon Compliant

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.

Summary: The last thing that Ethan needed was Lucas’s comfort, but that didn’t mean he was going to deny him. He didn’t have it in him to fight right now.

AN: Hey guys, it’s me again! Just thought I ought to say, if you want vague updates and to talk to me more, I have a writing Tumblr, too! Twitter is Sunshinecackle, and Tumblr is Writteninsunshine! I also have a writing Discord that is currently pretty dead. xD If you want it, please contact me on Twitter!

So, I was looking for a good whump fic bingo I could use for Ethan, since that man can take a beating like no one else. I didn’t find one I liked, so I made one myself. Requests are open for it, and only three slots are taken out of twenty-five, so please give it a look? People on FFN can PM me for the link or search HimboHungry on Twitter. It’s under my pinned! Warning, it’s a NSFW twitter.

Here we go: https://twitter.com/HimboHungry/status/1391276875415269379

With that, here goes nothing!

Resident Evil Fic Masterlist

Ethan Whump Bingo Fic Masterlist

Heaven’s A Lie

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

There was no fighting it, now. Fatigue crept into every fiber of his being, and his eyes could barely stay focused and open. Pain wracked his body, and there was a distinct collection of saliva in his mouth, leaving him nearly drooling as he gasped for air like a man drowning, lost at sea.

0Heaving shoulders and a lurch in his stomach had Ethan crumpling to the grass, hands and knees bracing him against the dewy turf. The humidity of the swamp around them didn’t help the sweat dripping from his face, broken pants bursting from his nose. Soon, he wouldn’t be able to breathe out of that. With a painful heave, he gagged, coughed impossibly hard, and spilled the contents of his stomach all over the ground in front of him. It splashed against his arms, staining the sleeves of his shirt and hitting his face; he would have grimaced if he wasn’t otherwise occupied. Nothing but acid left him, as he hadn’t eaten in God knew how long. Dehydration was going to set in soon and only make the pounding in his head that much worse. Blood pumped loud and harsh in his ears, his vision swam and he felt another dry heave coming on. 

For a moment, he begged any God listening to end this torture, but his ardent pleading fell on deaf ears. Nothing reached out to save him, and death was still lightyears away. How could he still be kicking after all of this? Every injury, every removal of his limbs. Jack had seen to it that he wouldn’t die, he thought, and that was the most shocking education he’d ever had.

Eyes watery and nose dripping over his lips after six more emissions, he staggered back to his feet. Swaying for a few seconds, he scrubbed at his face, smearing the tears and mucus up his cheeks, trying to regain control over himself. He had to get to the barn that Lucas was hiding away in, he had to save Mia, himself, and Zoe. That was his main focus, the only driving force to keep him going right now. A one-track mind helped in this situation, and he stumbled forward, the light peeking out from under the door a beacon showing him where to go next. Would this kill him? Maybe. The heaviness in his arms wasn’t helped by the gun in his hand, his arms nearly limp as he fought against the weakness in his knees.

Not paying attention to where he was going, lumbering ever forward, a sudden shout left him and he plummeted to the ground hard. No time to catch himself, the biting pain in his leg too much for him to handle on such short notice, his face hit the mud hard enough to bruise his cheek. With the wind knocked from his lungs, he lay there in agony for a long moment, eyes screwed shut as he tried to catch his breath.

Once he could wrap his mind around filling his lungs again, his eyelids lifted and fell sluggishly as he pushed himself up off the ground halfway, hips still glued down. Turning to look at his right leg, Ethan winced at the sight of barbed wire looped around his ankle, a thin, short leash of it tied to a stake in the ground. It looked like the kind screwed down, meant to keep a dog in the yard. That was him, now, wasn’t it? A dog trapped in a yard that wasn’t his, kept by someone intent on keeping him. Tears leaked down his face again, his nose a snot faucet, the fire in his face unable to compare to the tight grip ripping into his flesh.

Footsteps alerted him to a presence, and he grabbed the shotgun not far from his hands. They quivered as he looked up, expecting a molded to be coming for him in his hour of darkness. Forcing himself to sit up on his hip, he leveled the gun on Lucas, surprised to see the other man out of his control room.

“Aw, look at you, Ethan…” Lucas chuckled, his grin splitting his face nearly in half, “Caught like a coyote in a trap.” 

Ethan was hyper-aware of Lucas’ southern drawl, ‘cai-yote’ leaving his lips, and he clicked another bullet into the gun in his hands.

“Now, now, no need for that,” Sauntering over, Lucas pried the shotgun from Ethan’s hands with more ease than the injured man wanted to admit to, and he watched as Lucas set it aside. Apparently, he had more sense than to simply throw it, and Ethan recognized that all too well. Self-preservation, at best, but at least Ethan wasn’t going to get shot.

“Fuck off.” Ethan managed, his voice wavering, cracking as Lucas kneeled down to take Ethan’s chin in his filthy hands.

“You ain’t in any position to tell me what to do, now, are ya, Ethan?” Lucas shook his head with a happy chortle, leaning in quickly enough that Ethan was stunned, stuck in place.

Dry, cracked lips met his in a violent kiss, and he tasted blood, snot, salt, and bile as Lucas’ tongue strong-armed its way into his mouth. A disgusted grunt left him as Lucas plundered his mouth, taking from him what he wanted and leaving no room to struggle against his advances. Ethan was exhausted, in too much pain to fight him as Lucas tugged him forward by his armpits, straining the limited reach of the barbed wire lacerating his skin. Another cry of pain left him when Lucas bit into his lip hard enough to split his plump, chapped flesh, leaving a trail of blood down his chin.

“There you go, Ethan… Look so good like this.” Lucas was nearly purring in excitement, blood thrumming through his system, “Want to make you mine.” His whispers against Ethan’s lips almost left him bereft, but he was sure he was past that point, now.

“Wh-wh-what do you want, Lucas?” His tone wasn’t as rough, wasn’t as spiteful as he’d wanted, but Ethan had to take whatever he could get at this point. Spitting at him, Ethan glared as hard as he could with= his wet eyes and watery, almost stern frown. 

“Don’t go playing hard to get, now, Ethan. It’s unbecomin’. You’re dependent on me to get you outta this, ain’tcha? You oughta be nicer to me.” Lucas’s smarmy smile almost made Ethan sick again, he felt his stomach railing against his insides, bile rising in his throat.

Another rough kiss met his mouth, his blood mingling with Lucas’s saliva, staining both of their teeth pink. Suddenly, Ethan shoved at him, unsure when he cared not to give him his ire. God knew Lucas deserved it. Turning just enough to feel safe in this moment of weakness, a few dry heaves soon produced more stomach acid to slap on the ground, splattering more against his chest and arms.

“Can’t handle yourself no more?” Lucas asked, absently rubbing Ethan’s back as he spilled his stomach contents again, eyes red and puffy from tears and throat hoarse. Quivering, he leaned into Lucas’s touch, hating himself for wanting the comfort he provided. Elbows buckling, he did his best to fall to the side that his vomit wasn’t on, shocked to find Lucas scooting forward and sitting down cross legged.

Yanking Ethan into his lap, he held him close, wiping at his face and sweaty forehead.

“Pushin’ you too far, baby boy?” Lucas asked softly, his voice almost tender and eyes soft as he took in the sheer amount of pain in his face. Ethan nodded vaguely, eyelashes fluttering against his bruised cheekbones. Lucas was right. If he’d stayed away, he wouldn’t be suffering like this. On the other hand, Mia would have been, and he couldn’t find it in himself to give up on her. Eyes sunken in, he looked like he might pass out, and Lucas took pity on him. Reaching for the shotgun, he held it up above Ethan’s oblivious head, his eyes closed to the world, before slamming it down against his temple as hard as he could.

The world swam for a moment, Ethan’s vision hot and white for just a second before everything went dark.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

AN: Welp, I feel like this vaguely covers another part of the whump bingo, but I’m not going to count it because the theme is still being caught in a snare. At any rate, I hope you guys enjoyed the ouchies. I had fun writing this! It’s partially a vent piece, as a lot has been happening lately and it’s driving me crazy not getting it out.

Prompt: Caught In A Snare

[madfantasy]

Dear blogging

It's very draining to expect, nd met with silence, by any angle of life.

I want to always bring pleasure

But idk, I continue to be too tired that I don't feel anything..

Last month I wanted to take a full month break and just chill. "They" did payed for the expensive Internet service for once but still I had to open commissions to hopefully and eventually did to pay for groceries, and/or to treat my equally depressed siblings with burgers we first time got. They were awful c':

This month too, refused to pay it, nd me running their bank accounts for them I know that they didn't have much so I payed it yesterday. . their excuse this time? they payed the rent for the empty house next door.. yeah. The house that they rented so no one with 11 kids can live by us. Now I have to gather up for the next one soon. Nd idk.. i feel I can't put out anymore creatively while I'm just on a stressed race to do commissions and still make time to do my own work nd catch up. Like, one colored character with background alone takes me a week to finish. And I try to do my best to be fast by skip living, basically. And by the time I finish, the month was gone nd I didn't get to use the Internet for anything. So I can't see the point of paying it beside making my sibs happy.. (Also I couldn't fix my phone and the lack of notifications enforced that I'm more disconnected tbh)

I wish to be able to save the fruit of my labour for myself without feeling guilty, nd not dish it all out on one thing for an entire family of 8 ppl. Like, yeah what i gather in a month is basically nothing. So they be pressuring me to do something about it and suggest to make my art more lovable nd get more followers nd views and whatever???? While me been trying for years before hand all in secret without mentioning them keep stopping me from talking to ppl online.. nd now I see the numbers on my accounts keeps reflecting that I am indeed failing, nd nothing is working nd I'm just horrible... I don't want to tell people to do what they won't, thats why I took off that 'support me' banner, to like and reblog or follow and whatever.. I feel its only natural to do these things if u like something, or it's just my expectations again that I shouldn't be having

Remember me getting new perfume? To me, it was heaven by smell each time I spray tbh. Yeah they hate it, too. They kept rasing hek on me for using it. On the plus side, every time I came they shoo me off cuz it was suffocating them, so the arguments lessened drastically with this innocent reasoning; they can't talk to me while I'm wearing perfume, and not cuz I don't want to hear it. So naturally i wore it all the time.. sacrificing the only "love" gesture i can give and sometimes receive from them; that morning "awkward hug".. I'm more emptier than ever, tbh..

Anyway..

I'm drawing my bois now, feeling splinded peace.. the euphoria of drawing them again never hit more true.. I mean my characters (a.k.a art) are the embodiment of my aliveness. Just seeing their faces take final form fills me with happiness.. happiness that can make me forget and feel. They r not just drawings, they accompanied my life, ya know. And it's funny to me that when I made them, they were older than me, now I'm older than them. I smile remembering how I used to seeing them surround me at school, how they made diverse remarks on subjects, people and things. Or when I'm upset, act upon or say the things I can't and/or never would. Never directly to me, just.. projected from me but not necessary for me. How they only exist in the limits of my imagination, nd how I am –too– only ever been at the limits of 4 walls, we can't exist without each other. A form of expression that isn't related to me that im so grateful to have.. even if art frustrated me for 80% of the time of making, but when it works, it is an enternal regenerative source of everything one can wish of inspiration, motivation and more.. it is why i do it and wish to do more of.. god just give me those intensive feels

without it I'm probably just an expressionless statue.. I'm trying to practice nd change my zombie voice these days, actually hehe

Axel need lots more work but now let's wonder what they r up to

It's been forever that I used words and my basic human intelligence to make them, heh. I'm grateful I can spew my vent-like updates here.

I wish you ease and joy everyday my dears. Thabk you for your kindness towards Mani, all my love and prayers 🍀💛

5.4.2021 2 a.m.

[smol-and-grumpy]

EUPHORIA - Chapter 26

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: He’s Dean Winchester, owner of a shady night club. She’s a journalist who has been asked to write an article to expose the indecency and debauchery that’s going on behind closed doors. But he’s also Dean Winchester, the boy who sat next to her in class. The boy who was too cocky for his own good.

Chapter Warning: Flangst

WC: 2858

Beta’d by @deanwanddamons <3

This series is complete on Patreon!

Series Masterlist ~ SPN Masterlist

Become a Patron ~ Buy me a coffee

Dean left her all flustered and oh god, he accepted and didn't object when she introduced him as her boyfriend. 

Her fucking boyfriend! 

Her friend, who is a boy and who she’s fucking!

The first one after Cole. The second one ever.

Charlie winked when she walked into the room light headed and Y/N could not hide her stupid grin even if she would have tried.

Y/N sighs and rolls her eyes at her friend before she makes her way over to her. 

Charlie’s actually a very good friend, if not one of her best friends. They met in college where they both pursued the same dream. Charlie moved away though, leaving her alone in the city and just yesterday morning  she got a text from Charlie while she was on the train saying that Charlie was attending the workshop too. 

Immediately, Charlie is all over her when Y/N sits down but at least Charlie was considerate enough and went to grab coffee for the both of them from the back of the room, where the organizers have a little breakfast table set up. 

“So,” Charlie’s still grinning stupidly, “Your boyfriend, huh?”

“God, can we not talk about that, Charlie?” 

“What do you mean?” The woman sounds offended, “When do you wanna talk about it? When we’re on the fucking phone?”

Well, Charlie’s not wrong. They rarely see each other anymore apart from from the weekly phone calls and she hasn’t had the time nor the feeling that she should update Charlie about her relationship status yet. Dean was kind of a secret because she’s not sure where what ever they have would lead to and she’s not the one who jumps the gun.

Y/N takes a look around them. People are still mingling together and the host hasn’t started with the morning briefing of the workshop yet. In fact, the desk in the front isn’t set up at all. 

Turning back to Charlie, she’s met by the woman’s pout. She groans and sighs, “Well, he’s Dean.”

“Duh,”

“Winchester.” She adds.

Charlie’s eyes widen, “The same Dean Winchester you went to high school with?”

“Ya!” 

“What are the fucking chances?” Charlie laughs.

“I know!” She couldn’t help but laugh with her friend.

“The Winchester boy who I caught you during lecture writing a story about?” Charlie squints her eyes, but the smile’s still there. 

She cringes at the memory, because she doesn't like to think back to college. It brings back memories of Cole and she doesn’t like that thought, at all. And oh god, she was daydreaming a lot during their lectures, and yeah, Charlie’s not wrong. She once started to write a short story about a boy who was too cocky for his own good . She even gave the story that title, if she remembers rightly.

Y/N nods her head. There’s not a chance she can hide the flush of her face from Charlie. The woman always knows it. 

Charlie lets out a squeal and wraps her arms around Y/N, nearly sending her coffee spilling onto both of them. When Charlie parts, she looks at Y/N, and she can detect a hint of concern on her friend’s face, “Does he treat you right? Please tell me he does.”

“Don’t worry Charlie, I’m not rushing into anything, I’ve learned my lessons.” 

They both know what she’s talking about. Charlie was right the fuck there when it started with Cole. It was in their last year of college. Cole was working at the bar  they frequented and she really didn’t know what he saw in her, but she was so head over heels in whatever the feeling was , because it sure as hell wasn’t love. It was kind of a new feeling to be wanted by someone, so new that she ignored all the fucking red flags Cole waved in front of her. It was a whirlwind romance. She moved in with him as soon as she finished college and Cole had her cut all ties to Charlie. Behind his back, she managed to keep her contact with Charlie though. Charlie was so mad at her, but still she remained in her life because Charlie knew that without her, Y/N would have nobody. 

After Charlie spent years persuading her that Cole wasn’t good for her, she finally caved. It was a long process of understanding that what she had was not healthy. That the one person she trusted the most was misusing her trust. It was a long way to realize Cole’s toxic behaviour, but she was glad that she finally got it in her head. 

The last straw was actually, when Cole promised her to finally find a decent job but instead of going out and doing some job hunting, she found him in their fucking bed with another woman. Apparently it wasn’t the first either. She felt so fucking dirty afterwards and ran to Charlie. Her friend helped her leave him for good, but Cole began to hunt her down and pretended that he wanted her back, stalking her wherever she went. It was again Charlie who went to the police with her to file a restraining order. 

So, yeah, Y/N gets that Charlie is overprotective when it comes to her, and her friend is just afraid that Y/N will make the same mistake again.

“You deserve a good guy, you know?” Charlie says and it’s sincere. 

“I know. I think Dean’s alright in that department.” She grins when she thinks of him, how can she not, “He had a crush on me in high school.”

“He did not.”

“Did, too!”

“You had one on him, too, didn’t you?” Charlie asks.

“I mean, who didn’t? He was Dean Winchester. The bad boy everyone was gushing over.”

*

Her and Charlie continued to talk until the workshop started. They talked again at lunch. She told her friend everything. How Dean earns his money, how he took care of her when she was sick, how she’s so insecure that she gets jealous of other women and thinks that Dean only plays with her feelings. That is apparently normal, Charlie said, and she begged for Y/N to let her come see the club and she promised to ask Dean about it.

They went to dinner together in the evening and Charlie made the drive home because she had work the next morning and Charlie doesn’t live too far away from here, unlike her. She has to stay another night and take the train home in the morning. 

Y/N keys in her card, debates on taking the DO NOT DISTURB sign back in but decides to leave it on the door. Once inside she can still smell Dean’s cologne. She walks to the unmade bed and dives face first into it and buries her face into the covers and pillow where he was sleeping last night. The smell of his skin still lingers in the sheets and she breathes it in.

They texted today while she had lunch and some more during dinner, but that’s about it. It’s almost 10pm. Dean’s working right now, and even though she would love to hear his voice, she decides not to call. She’ll see him tomorrow. It’s not that far away when she thinks about it. Still… it’s so close, yet so far. 

She closes her eyes, breathing in his scent some more even though she knows that she should pack her things to be ready to leave before 6am but dragging herself away just seems impossible right now. She also knows that if she’d hurry, she can be back in bed sooner and buries her face back in here, but still, she’s just too fucking weak right now. 

There’s a vibration at the end of the bed, where she left her purse. Yanking her eyes open, she heaves herself up and crawls towards the source. She takes it out and scans the caller ID, smiling as she goes. 

Quickly, she swipes her thumb over the button, “Hey,” Her heart flutters.

“Hey,” Dean replies with a chuckle.

The background sound is muffled. She takes it he’s in his office. 

“How are you?” Dean asks, and Y/N hears the sound of him reclining into his chair, hears the creaking of the leather. 

“Good,” She answers, “‘M so tired.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it out tonight.”

Yeah, he’s told her that already and she was okay with it. It would have been exhausting for him to drive here two nights in a row and she gets it, there’s really nothing that he has to be sorry for.

“Don’t be, that’s okay. I wasn’t expecting you to. And I didn’t even expect you to come here the first night either.”

“I would have,”

“I know.”

“So,” He chuckles, tries to lighten up the mood, “What are you wearing?”

It works, because Y/N’s smiling. She scrambles off the bed, and jams the phone between her cheek and shoulder to pull the zipper down at the back of her skirt, “I’m just getting out of my clothes now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” She tugs at her bottom lip with her teeth, as she lets the skirt slide down her thighs before her hands work on her shirt, “I’m in my underwear.”

“Take it off,” Dean mumbles.

She has to grin at that, “Why?”

“It’s just,” He starts and pauses to think before he adds, “I love it when you wear nothing but a smile on your face.”

“You do?” 

“Yeah, don’t get me wrong. I love it when you wear clothes, especially when you’re wearing my shirts, but I love it when you’re naked, too.” Dean breathes out, “Jesus, I’m getting hard just thinking about it.”

She chuckles.

Just when she’s about to say more, she hears an opening of a door, hears music spilling in and then Dean takes the phone away from his face, hears a muffled ‘ Yeah, I’ll be right down ’.

“Yeah, uh,” He starts, when he’s back on the phone with her, “I’m needed down stairs and now I have a boner. Great. Well, I just wanted to call to say good night. I was hoping to catch you before you went to sleep and now I got more than I bargained for.”

She smiles, “No worries, Dean. I should probably go to sleep soon if I wanna catch the train on time.”

Dean sighs, “I miss you.”

Y/N smiles as she feels her heart clenching. She chuckles, “I miss you too.”

“Text me what time you arrive, okay? I’ll pick you up.”

She grins, “You know that you don’t have to, right?”

“I know, but I want to.”

“‘K,” She tugs her bottom lip between her teeth, tries not to squeal because she’s happy.

“Good night, baby.” Dean says and she can hear him smile. 

“Night, Dean.”

*

The train ride was uneventful and as soon as the train arrived at the platform, her heart started to race. Y/N wonders if Dean’s going to be here like he promised. He’d texted her before he left and honestly, she actually felt bad because he’s probably so tired from working and it’s still too early in the morning for him. She wonders if he had slept at all and she doesn’t really want to be the cause if he hadn’t.

Even before the train comes to a halt, Y/N grabs her bag and walks past the other passengers, in order to be the first one to get out. 

She looks around before she descends the steps but there’s no Dean in sight. She continues to walk towards the exit and there’s someone she recognizes but it’s not Dean. 

Cas’ waves at her and walks towards her, but his face is blank. He looks concerned and already her heart starts to thumb faster.

“Hi Y/N,” Cas greets her with a shy hug and takes the bag from her hand. 

“Hi,” She replies, and she really wants to ask him where Dean is, but thinks it would be rude for it to be the first question, wouldn’t it? Fuck it, she decides, she needs to know, “Where’s Dean?”

“Yeah, about that,” Cas starts and starts to walk ahead, leaving her to catch up on him, he places a hand around her shoulder to keep her walking, “I’ll tell you in the car.”

“Cas,” She breathes out and tries to keep up with him without him having to drag her along too much. God, why do they all have to have such fucking long legs! “What’s wrong?”

Cas doesn’t say anything though, he just keeps walking until they arrive at his car and only after he stows away her bag and gets her inside he looks over to her, “Dean’s been in an accident.”

“What?” 

“Yeah, just moments ago. He wanted to pick you up and as soon as he drove into the intersection around the club, a car t-boned his Impala.” Cas tries to explain.

Her hands start to tremble, and she feels nauseous, “I— is he okay?” 

Oh god, please let him be okay.

“Yeah,” Cas breathes out, “Yeah, he is.”

“Oh thank god,” She doesn’t know why she’s crying, but the tears are running down freely.

“The impact wasn’t strong enough. As of now, I know that he has bruised his ribcage. They are checking if anything’s broken and they wouldn’t let him leave the hospital until the cops arrive to take down his statement.”

Oh. Thank fucking god.

“And he sent you.” She says calmly as she brushes at her cheeks. 

Cas smiles weaky, “Yeah, you were his only concern, he didn’t even care about his car. He wanted to make sure that you get home okay.”

Dean didn’t care about his car? That is really new to her. He was so proud since he got it as a hand me down from his dad. She remembers him driving to school with Sam every day and she was actually surprised that he still has it when he took her on their first date with it.

“And the other driver? Are they alright?”

“That’s the thing, we don’t who did it because they fled the scene. We think it has to do with the threats. Now they’re really trying to get Dean, apparently.”

“Shit,” She mutters under her breaths.

“Exactly,” Cas nods, “Anyway, Dean called me to pick you up, said you’d be worried if he didn’t show and he’s really adamant that you’ll get home alright.”

“Can I go see him?”

“That’s my first stop with the Cas-mobile,” Cas winks before he turns on the ignition. 

*

Castiel drove her to the hospital in silence and they had to wait until Dean came back from another x-ray until they were allowed to see him. 

When it was time, Cas said that he’ll wait, and she knows it’s because he wants to give them privacy. 

Y/N walks to Dean’s room on shaky legs, and it’s mainly because she doesn’t know what to expect.

Knocking once, she turns the door knob and peeks her head through. 

Dean’s sitting on the edge of his bed and he’s in a hospital gown but he’s smiling as he greets her, “Hey, I’m sorry I couldn’t mak—”

She’s on him before he could finish the sentence, kisses him hard and soft at the same time, and Dean’s hand goes around her waist, holds her steady and keeps her a safe distance away from his bruised ribs. 

“Don’t be sorry,” She whispers when she breaks the kiss to hold his head between her hands. She looks him in the eyes that are a little weary, but the crinkles are showing around them.

“Jesus, I missed you,” He whispers and pulls her in, grunting when it hurts him and she wants to pull away, wants to take a step back, but Dean wouldn’t let her. Instead he draws her closer to him, grunting and chuckling at the same time as he does. He kisses her again, all soft and tender.

“I was worried,” She says and she leaves her forehead on his. 

“I know, I’m sorry.”

“Is anything broken?”

Dean shakes his head, “No, just little bruises here and there.”

“Good,” She says and she just can’t not kiss him again. 

Dean’s arms wrap tightly around her, his hands span over her back, fingers digging into her flesh. 

“I’ve got to wait for the police to arrive. Cas can drive you home and I’ll see you later.”

“No,”

“Baby, I—”

“No, I wanna wait, okay?”

“Okay,” Dean smiles, “Then you should go get something to eat with Cas? I’ll call you when I’m finished.”

She nods and leaves Dean with a bruising kiss, strokes her hand over his scruff and lets her fingertips trace along his face. Y/N hasn’t seen him for a night but it feels like it has been a lifetime and she’s so glad that nothing happened to him. How cruel would it have been, though. She’s only just met him. She doesn’t want anything to take him away from her just yet.

Chapter 27

Please share your thoughts with me, I’d love to hear your feedback.

[kyber-crystal]

Maybe It’s Meant To Be

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Words: ~3.7k

Summary: Sometimes, love finds people in unexpected ways. In this case, fate has extra special plans for America’s golden boy and one of SHIELD’s best agents in history. And you know there’s no running away from fate once she’s set out your futures for you. 

Warnings: mentions of violence and blood, angst, and once again, soft steve :)

A/N: I haven’t attempted a soulmate AU in over a year. this is one of my fav works but it’s really poorly written rip. The age gap between you and Steve is ~3 years. 2017 AU where they made up after the Accords :) Steve’s back with his WS look bc that suit was hot af

Tags: @pies-writes-and-more​ this is for you! THANK YOU FOR ALWAYS BEING SO ACTIVE ON MY BLOG AND FOR YOUR SWEET AND SUPER ENCOURAGING WORDS. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. AND @marvelsswansong BECAUSE YOU'RE MY IDOL AND I LOOK UP TO YOU YOU'RE AMAZING

Soulmates.

You'd heard plenty about them growing up. Seeing your parents' perfect relationship blossom over the years piqued your interest, and for the longest time, your only wish was to find someone who could love you with their whole heart and soul and mind, like the way your Mom and Dad loved each other.

Unfortunately, as all stories must come to an end, love stories had to find their ending. And not all of them ended on a high note.

Their jobs should've kept them apart from the beginning. Your mother was head surgeon at one of the best hospitals in Brooklyn, and your father was head of SHIELD's navy division. Constantly out and about, they were rarely granted any time to rest. Yet they still found a way to make things work; and it all started because of a run-in at a café around the corner.

Then when you were fifteen, you got word that your father had been deployed overseas again, but this time, he wasn't coming back.

You had to stand there and watch your mother slowly fall apart, breaking down a little more each day until she fell gravely ill. A mere week after her diagnosis of cardiomyopathy, she passed away in her sleep.

A person's soulmark didn't appear at a specific time. It could show up at any point in their lives, when the Gods believed the time was right for them. When those Gods felt the time was right for you to find out who it was, you'd feel a slight tingle where the mark was etched into your skin.

Some people didn't receive the soulmark at all. Along with this came a sense of freedom to fall in love with whoever they pleased, but often times it would end in a loveless relationship. But they were additionally granted the ability of being able to carry on by themselves.

If your soulmate got injured in any way, you would feel the same pain that they endured. And if they died, you would carry a weight around with you for the rest of your life that slowly progressed into a disease. So ultimately, those left in the world without their soulmate would also die in the end, further proving the claim of humans being unable to live without love.

One by one, you watched your friends find their match. They would excited come up to you, goofy grins on their faces as they showed you their marks. You were happy for them in the beginning, of course. But as years went by, and you passed adulthood with still no sign of your designated soulmark, you slowly began losing hope. There was no point in looking forward to the future when you watched one fall apart before your very eyes.

Maybe it was because of your job. None of the Avengers had received their soulmarks either, asides from Tony and Pepper. But they were an exception. Everyone could see it coming from the day they first met, judging by the way they lovingly gazed at each other from across the room. It was a match made in heaven.

You believed that maybe, just maybe, you were destined to be alone. So when you woke up one morning with the burn mark on your wrist, you were taken completely by surprise.

"Hey, Tony? Bruce?" you asked, walking into the lab with a frown. "I need to ask you guys a quick question."

"Ask away, Killer," Tony nodded, using the nickname he'd given you years ago when you first joined the initiative. "What's on your mind?"

"So, um..." you fiddled with the sleeve of your sweatshirt for a moment, before pulling it up to reveal the mark, "this happened."

"That's a soulmark," he stated.

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock," you rolled your eyes. "But why would it appear now? I don't see any sign of me meeting them anytime soon."

"When did it appear?"

"I don't know. I woke up this morning and saw it."

"Let me take a look at that," Bruce carefully took ahold of your wrist, squinting as he adjusted his glasses to peer at the mark, "huh. So it appeared last night...have you felt any side-effects?"

"Not that I know of yet, no..."

"If you start feeling any severe symptoms, I can prescribe you some medication to deal with the pain, though I doubt that's going to happen. In the meantime, we need to figure out who this could be."

"Imagine if it was someone who already died, and I'm slowly dying right now," you joked.

"No, if that were to be true, you'd be lying in a hospital bed right now."

"Does the symbol have any specific meaning?"

"That I'm not so sure about," Tony shrugged.

Bruce was silent as he began typing away for a bit, before turning the screen over to you.

"I've checked out over a dozen different sites about this, and..."

"And what?"

"Well...once both people discover their mark, they have a week to find each other before both of them disappear off the face of the earth, forever."

"Sounds like a damn time bomb to me," you muttered. "What the hell? I thought that the point of this whole thing was the gods trying to push us with someone else! Not the other way around!"

"I don't know, Y/N," Bruce sighed. "Feel free to do your own research, but everything I've read up on so far says the same thing."

"So basically, what you're telling me is I'm gonna die if I don't find out who the hell has this same mark as I do," you repeated.

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Well, I'll have to worry about that later. Got a briefing with Cap, Bucky, and Wilson in five. Fury's gonna kill me if I'm late again," you breathed out as you tugged your hoodie's sleeve back down. "See ya."

"Agent Y/N," Nick Fury gave you a curt nod as you burst into the meeting room, breathless. "I hope you slept well last night."

"Of course."

"I need you four to track down a weapons dealer in Skagway," he explained as he handed Steve a black manila file folder, "shut down the base, download the intel onto the flashdrive. You’ll be staying at a safe house in Juneau afterwards for about a week to keep things on the down-low in case something goes wrong. Simple in-and-out job."

"When are we leaving?" Sam questioned.

"You're taking off in half an hour. Suit up."

You sighed. Finding your soulmate would just have to wait, then.

...

"Y/N, look out!"

You quickly whipped around and narrowly missed a bullet whizzing past you, as Steve tugged you around the corner, an arm wrapped firmly around your torso as he hid you both behind his shield.

You gasped as you felt a sharp pain in your chest, and Steve immediately pulled away from you in alarm, gripping your shoulders worriedly. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” you panted, trying to steady your rapid breathing, “I’m fine. But we’re gonna have to split up from here if we wanna get the job done faster.”

“Y/N, I can’t-”

“Steve,” you interrupted, the firm tone of voice making him immediately shut up. “I can handle myself just fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure! Go find Sam and Bucky, and I’ll meet you guys by the rendezvous point as soon as I’m done. Okay?”

“Alright.” He looked around for a moment before stepping away, as if he was hesitant to leave you on your own.

Ignoring the slight ache in your chest, you parted ways, darting down the hall with your guns up and ears alert. 

From there, it was easy to fall into your usual routine. Keep all eyes and ears open; don’t hesitate, shoot on sight unless ordered otherwise. If necessary, engage powers but if not, use your fists or bullets. The mantra repeated itself over and over in your head as you followed through with your job.

You hid behind a tower of wooden crates, back pressed up against the steel walls. “Sam. Status update?”

“Controls room with Barnes, disabling all security systems. Steve’s retrieving intel from the north wing. You?”

“Outside on standby,” you murmured, keeping a finger pressed to your ear. Three technicians were loading equipment onto crates as the other six stood guard several yards away. “I make nine hostiles on the load dock straight ahead at twelve o’clock. Three dozen in total scattered around the area. Most likely preparing for an overseas arms trade. We’ll have to stop them.”

“And...done. We’re heading your way,” Bucky reported. “Be there in three.”

“Roger that.”

Exactly three minutes and two seconds later Bucky showed up, with Steve and Sam in tow. You came out from your hiding spot and began making your way towards the loading dock where the agents were stationed. They were quick to stop what they were doing and noticed the four of you approaching, whipping their snipers out and proceeding to open fire.

...

Your breath came out in white wisps of fog as you got caught in between a fistfight with one of the three dozen men on the docks, the freezing cold slowing all your movements and making them feel more sluggish than usual. If it weren’t for the thick material of your suit and your enhancements, you would’ve succumbed to the harsh weather hours ago.

The man captured you into a tight headlock with his thick arm but despite your frostbite you were too fast; you quickly whipped around and grabbed his wrist, twisting it to the side. His eyes widened slightly as he cried out in pain, the sickening crunch of bone echoing through the frigid Alaskan air as you swiftly dodged each one of moves as he attempted to come at you, countering with a sharp right hook to his jaw. 

His body slumped to the ground with a thump. 

“Why the hell do you even carry around a sniper if your fists do all the work for you?” Sam yelled over the cacophony as he released Redwing, swooping down from the rooftops. “Seriously, you don’t need guns! You’re strong enough as it is!”

“I prefer versatility in fights, Wilson!” you yelled back, grunting as you dodged a blow to the stomach, sweeping out your attacker’s feet from underneath him as his head smacked against the wall, before sliding down to the ground with a dull thud. 

“Y/N, look out-” Bucky called out, but it was too late. You didn’t get to hear his warning in time before you felt something cold and hard hit your lower abdomen. A yell of pain ripped through your throat as you felt a sticky warmth spread across your skin, your knees hitting the ground as you clutched the wound.

At that exact moment, Steve felt a sharp pain flare up his side as well. “Shit,” he cursed to himself, “Buck, cover me so I can get to her.”

You were barely clinging on to life by the time he reached you. Your breathing was heavy and labored, your eyes beginning to roll back as you struggled to stay awake. Everything hurt. Your arms and legs felt like they were weighed down with bricks. You couldn’t move. You couldn’t open your mouth to scream, either - you had no energy left to do so.

“Come on, Y/N, stay with me, please stay with me,” he muttered as he began carefully applying pressure to your wound. You let out a hiss of pain at the same time he did. “Just hang in there for me, please. Sam’s getting the Quinjet ready. We’re gonna get out of here in just a few minutes, okay? Please don’t die on me.”

“Look, if I don’t make it-”

“Don’t say that,” he spoke in between clenched teeth while fighting back tears of his own, “you’re not going to die. Not today, not tomorrow, and certainly not on my watch.”

“Steve…” you croaked out, the stinging from the wound almost becoming impossible to bear. Your eyes were becoming heavier by the second, your body throbbing painfully now that all the adrenaline had worn off. It was a struggle just to take in a single breath and to stay awake. "I'm so tired, I can't do this anymore..."

He disappeared from your line of sight as your began seeing spots at the edges of your vision momentarily, before reappearing and pulling you into his lap, trying to put pressure on the area of injury again in an attempt to stem the bleeding. But it didn’t seem to work. There was so much blood. So much of it, coming out so fast. There was no way you’d last out here for longer than ten minutes before bleeding to death.

"Stay with me..." he murmured as he looked up around him. "Hang in there for a few more minutes, please…Damn it, Sam, how much longer is this gonna take? Y/N’s down. We gotta get her to the safe house as soon as we can. She’s bleeding out.”

"Three minutes, tops. I’m circling the perimeter as an extra precaution," Sam replied. "You guys hang tight for a sec."

"We don't have time!" he raised his voice. "Just hurry the hell over here."

"I'm so sorry," you choked out before going into a coughing fit, blood dripping down your lips and chin much to Steve’s alarm. "I'm sorry for everything, I'm sorry for being reckless and not keeping a look ou—"

"Shhh, it's okay," he soothed, "There’s nothing to be sorry about. Just save your energy for later, okay? You're gonna be just fine."

"Hold my hand," you begged hoarsely.

"I already am," the super-soldier answered, but his look shifted to that of an alarmed one when he realized you couldn't feel it. "Y/N—"

"I'm cold," you said weakly, already feeling your limbs grow heavy and numb and your vision growing blurrier with each passing second. "I'm so tired, Cap, I just wanna sleep—"

"No no no, please don't leave me," he pleaded as he felt his head begin to spin as well. Where had the sudden wave of dizziness come from? "Hang in there for a little longer, please, I l—"

You didn’t get to hear the rest of his sentence before your eyes fluttered shut and everything went dark.

...

When you came to, your throat felt dry and raw, the metallic taste of dried blood around your lips and chin overwhelming your senses as you adjusted your eyes to the harsh bright lights streaming into the room. It looked like you were in some sort of antique coastal house, strangely void of belongings with the only decoration being a plain floral calendar hung on the wall opposite you, above the fireplace.

You were still in your suit, but your wound had been treated and wrapped up in a thick set of bandages. The couch you were on was old but extremely comfortable, so you found yourself not wanting to sit up at the same time you wanted to get up and look around.

The blinds were drawn shut, but the sunlight still managed to shine through. It was light outside, but you  weren’t sure what time it really was. The walls were a dull grey, and if you listened hard enough you could hear the faint ticking of a nearby clock and probably Bucky or Sam talking on the phone upstairs with someone in hushed whispers.

You finally pulled yourself up into a sitting position, glancing around at your surroundings. Someone quietly entered the living room and you looked up to see Steve. His shoulders sagged in relief upon seeing that you were awake.

“Hey,” his voice came out so softly it took both of you by surprise. You moved over slightly to make room for him to sit. “How are you feeling?”

“Like crap,” you groaned lightly, feeling a dull ache in your stomach where you’d been hit. “But other than that, I’m fine. What about you? Did you get hurt anywhere?”

“Body aches that come and go, but I’m fine. It isn’t your place to be worrying about me right now though, Y/N. You got shot.”

The curtains fluttered and a cool breeze rushed in, making you shiver. Steve took notice and stood up to go light up the fireplace, then sat back down and wrapped the fleece blanket around your body. You let out a small sigh of contentment. “Thanks.”

“Are you sure you’re alright? You knocked out for over twenty-six hours .”

“I’m fine, Steve, just tired...hey, how’s Bucky and Sam?”

“Sam’s upstairs radioing Fury on the mission status. Bucky’s taking a nap in the guest room.”

“Oh. Okay. So, I-” you were interrupted by a sharp stabbing sensation in your wrist. “Ow. Fuck.”

“Language,” he joked lightly, but when he saw the obvious pained expression on your face, his face fell. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Just...I get those random pains from time to time. I don’t know why, but...they’ve gotten worse since we took off for Skagway and then came here...”

“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, eyes glassy with unshed tears, “I should’ve kept a closer watch over you. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine...I should’ve watched my own back better.”

You both fell into an awkward silence for several minutes before he spoke up again, the realization finally dawning on him. 

"Y/N."

"What?"

"Your wrist."

Your brows furrowed in confusion as you looked down and saw the star glowing brightly, sending a white-hot pain down your arm. "What about it?"

Steve pulled at his shirt's sleeve for a few seconds before lifting it up to reveal the same exact symbol.

"We're soulmates," you breathed out, the realization hitting you like a flash flood.

"Yeah, I guess we are, huh," he smiled softly.

“W-when did yours appear?”

“Monday afternoon.”

“Mine appeared in the morning...I showed it to Tony and Bruce and they said I had a week to find who it was or both me and my soulmate would die. So I guess we got lucky, huh? Only four more days, then...”

“Yeah, we did,” he exhaled. “I’m glad you’re the one. I can’t imagine living out the rest of my life with anyone else.”

“But Peggy...”

“She found her soulmate decades ago,” he explained, “which explained why our relationship was so short-lived. I didn’t expect to find mine...especially not after coming out of the ice. Maybe I had this coming from the get-go, I’d wonder...”

“Then how come they’d appear now?” Your brows furrowed together in confusion. “I don’t get it. We’ve known each other for years.”

“Because it was only this year that I accepted it.”

“Accepted what?”

“That I’d fallen in love with you, and I kept that inside for far too long.”

“You...what?” You were officially rendered speechless. 

“Yeah,” he chuckled lightly, face breaking into a gorgeous, million-dollar grin before turning serious again, lowering his voice. “Y/N, I’m in love with you. You are my infinity and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you. You’re my present and my future, and I hate that I couldn’t see that sooner. I should’ve known from the start that Peggy and I wouldn’t work out, but I never understood why...until I met you. I didn’t believe in the concept of soulmates because I felt I was undeserving of that love, but then you came along...and I started hoping and praying I’d find someone who’d love me as much as I love you. So now that I know for sure it’s you, that it always has been and always will be...I couldn’t be more happier that you’re my soulmate.”

You didn’t realize you were crying until he reached forward to brush your hair away from your face and wipe the stray tears that fell, before wrapping an arm around you and gently pulling you towards him.

“God, I made you cry, I’m so sorry,” he choked on a sob of his own. “I’m the worst.”

“I’m not mad at you, Steve,” you sniffed as you wiped your nose with your sleeve, and looked up and cracked a small grin. “You’re just so cheesy.”

“Can I kiss you?” he whispered, so quiet you almost didn’t catch what he said. 

“You can kiss me any day, Captain,” you smiled.

“I love you more than you know.”

“I know. I love you too.”

He then brought a hand up to cup your face, allowing his thumb to lightly skim against your cheek, his warm breath fanning against your skin.

When his lips met yours, it was like you were turning back the clock. Everything in the world stopped and held its breath,  and all the hurt, all the sadness and heartache and pain bottled up inside your body, washed away.

...

BONUS

“HOLY SHIT, Y’ALL ARE SOULMATES?”

The sound of Sam’s screeching made you finally break apart for air. You could’ve been like that for two minutes, two hours, or two weeks, you weren’t sure.

You blushed and quickly averted your gaze. 

Steve’s face was as red as a tomato. “Yeah. We are.”

“I KNEW IT! I KNEW SOMETHING WAS GONNA HAPPEN BETWEEN THEM SOON! PAY UP, BARNES! YOU OWE ME TWENTY BUCKS.”

“Come on, man,” Bucky groaned, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a crumpled twenty-dollar bill. “We’re gonna head back home soon, anyways! And you’re not even poor.”

“A bet’s a bet, Barnes.”

“Of course you two bet on it,” you groaned. “Classic Sambucky activity.”

...

NINE MONTHS LATER

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride, Captain Rogers,” Fury announced, a rare smile gracing his normally stoic features. 

Steve did his best not to break down sobbing as he slid the ring onto your finger. With the backdrop of the waves gently crashing against the shore and the sun slowly sinking lower and lower into the horizon, he leaned down and cupped your face in his hands, passionately pressing his lips to yours. Your soulmarks glowed brightly in tandem, lighting up in a brilliant gold hue. 

Needless to say, there wasn’t a single dry eye in the house. 

[xazz]

Okay now that I’m not always on the cusp of passing out from anemia we can get back to writing and posting

Pairing: AltMal, Altair+Desmond Rating: Explicit Tags: vampires, romance, servant AU, music AU, fluff, angst, flangst Status: WIP

As before Tumblr gets updated before AO3, meanwhile Patreon is like 40k words ahead of everyone. Like Malik and Altair have fucked already lol

-----

Altair was woken with a start to the sound of a slamming door. His eyes popped open and he didn’t know where he was. Then he looked next to him and saw a window, the curtains drawn. It was pitch black out.

He sat bolt upright, all the blood leaving his face.

He’d slept too late. He needed to go get Desmond. Oh the mistress would be furious with him! He was about to scramble out of bed when he realized he wasn’t alone in the bed.

Sitting on top of the comforter, was Desmond. “Altear,” he said when he saw Altair was awake.

“Desmond- what are you doing here— oh where am I?” He looked around in confusion. He was in a lovely bedroom. It hit him like a beam of wood. He was in Malik’s bed. The foreign vampire had insisted he take it and he sleep in the sarcophagus.

“Altear, plaw,” Desmond said.

“Not now,” he said gently. “Just a moment. I-“ he got out of bed as a figure stepped into the doorway. He froze but relaxed somewhat when he saw it was Malik.

“Ah, apologies. Did the door wake you? I didn’t think of that,” he said. Malik was unusually flushed, his skin ruddy and warm looking.

“I should have been up,” Altair said. “What’s he doing here?”

“I brought him here of course,” Malik said. “He’s been fed, its the one thing that useless mother of his does for him,” Malik rolled his eyes.

Altair remembered the conversation from last night. “Did— you talk with my masters?” he asked nervously. It would explain the slamming door and Malik being flushed from an argument.

“I did,” Malik said calmly. “We do not see eye to eye on how to treat the help.” His eyes narrowed. “But that’s not your problem.”

“... Am I going to be punished for what you did?”

“What? No. Why would you? William knows it was my idea alone.”

Altair breathed a sigh of relief. “Altear, plaw,” Desmond said.

“Desmond, I just woke up. Give me a moment here,” he said. Desmond folded his little arms. He ran his hands through his hair trying to think. “What now then?” he asked Malik. He knew Malik had ideas already. “Will you let me alone?”

“Am I such a bother?”

“I would have rather been ignorant than know what you told me,” Altair said. “I can never unknow this now. I know my stay here at the castle will be a long one. And your stay will end before that. I wish you hadn’t told me about the cellar.”

Malik frowned and he walked into his bedroom properly. “You deserve to know, and be treated with some damn dignity.”

“They already basically kidnapped me, Malik. I have no dignity left,” Altair said loudly. “You think I wanted to come here? I had a life, a livlihood. I’m my father’s only child. If he dies before this is over there will be no more luthiers in the valley,” he rubbed his face miserably.

“Do they know that?”

“They don’t care,” Altair said weakly. “They’ll care in twenty years when no more instruments are made and the ones around become broken and no one can fix them and their parties will be only full of brass and percussion. Fiddle players will keep their instruments carefully but they’ll eventually become warped with time and age and wet and they won’t sound right anymore.” Altair sighed deeply. “But right now they don’t care the only heir to the luthier family in the valley is here, in the castle, raising their son because they won’t.” He hugged himself.

Malik came closer. “Can I do anything-

“No,” he sat on the bed miserably. “No one can do anything. I’m stuck here until Desmond is big enough. Who knows when that will be,” he looked at Desmond.

“Plaw,” he said.

Altair sighed. “Alright. I need to go get the violin-

“Oh, I brought it,” Malik said and nodded to next to him. Altair looked and the case was there. “I figured you’d want it.”

“Thank you,” Altair picked it up and put it on the bed. Malik sat on the end of the bed as he tightened the bow and tuned the strings, listening carefully as he turned the pegs. It needed only slight adjustment each time, as he loosened the strings some at night so they wouldn’t have too much tension on them.

“Plaw, plaw!” Desmond cried happily. He immediately became quiet when Altair drew the bow across the strings in a rich chord. He closed his eyes and like last night started with the lullaby with a flourish before breaking off into some riffs he didn’t remember as soon as he played them. But they sounded good. That’s all the two vampires cared about, that they sounded good, they didn’t care if Altair played an actual song or not.

He played for a while before his stomach started to complain quietly. He pulled the bow across one last time as he opened his eyes. Desmond was watching with wide eyes of amazement. Malik was watching with equal intensity. “No,” Desmond complained.

“Yes. I’m hungry,” he told Desmond.

“Plaw, plaw.”

“Later,” Altair put the violin away. He then picked Desmond up and grabbed the case. “We’ll be off now,” he told Malik. “Thank you for letting me sleep here, sir. But please, leave me alone.” Malik frowned at him but he didn’t care if he’d hurt the vampire’s feelings. He’d single handedly upturned Altair’s entire life by telling him he was being treated like less than livestock and he had a miserable existence to look forward to for years to come.

He put the violin in Desmond’s room and carried the child down to the kitchen. Desmond busied himself investigating all the lower cabinets while Altair had a cold pasta salad. It had been in the cool box a while too long and was mushy. It tasted awful. He didn’t finish it and just put his face in his hand tiredly.

Why did this have to happen to him?

He looked down when Desmond pulled on his shirt. “What is it, Desmond?” he asked quietly, looking at the little vampire boy. Desmond made a motion like he was hungry. Of course he was. Just what Altair needed. To look at one of those damn vampires who lied to his face and ask them to go get Desmond a meal from the ‘livestock’. Yeah. Sure.

“Are you really hungry or are you bored huh? You had breakfast just a little while ago,” Altair said and combed Desmond’s bangs from his eyes gently. Desmond just shrugged.

He wasn’t going to ask a vampire for help. He just pushed himself to his feet and stuck one of the chickens. Desmond wouldn’t care and his parents wouldn’t know. Not like Desmond would tell them. Desmond still drank out of the big syringe, not quite coordinated enough to drink from a cup and Altair didn’t feel like cleaning up all the blood when he spilled. He put Desmond in his lap and fed him thinking about what to do.

Moonlight slanted through the thick window into the kitchen. It was well and truly dark out. Dawn was a long way away but he didn’t think it was so late yet really. Once Desmond had finished Altair left the kitchen through the side door and looked down the mountain. Castlesong still had lights on down below.

“Desmond,” Altair called. “You want to play?”

“Plaw!” Desmond jumped over to him, his useless little wings fluttering behind him excitedly.

Altair wanted a fresh, hot, meal damnit. “Okay. C’mon,” and he grabbed Desmond’s hand. “We’re going to go see the people.”

“Pople?” Desmond asked.

“Yes,” Altair stepped outside.

“Awwwww,” Desmond looked up. It occurred to Altair then that he’d never taken Desmond outside before. “Altear,” he pointed up at the stars and the moon.

“That’s the moon, and the stars,” Altair said. Desmond jumped like he wanted to fly but his insectoid wings were far too weak to carry him. Altair just smiled and led him down the stairs away from the castle.

On the road he hoisted Desmond up so he didn’t trip and continued the walk down to the town. Desmond reached up trying to grab the moon and Altair just chuckled. At least his wings had curled back up against his back.

It was late enough that the pub was mostly empty except for the lag abouts and drunks. A half asleep bard was in the corner plucking at his guitar, slumpee over the fat belly of the instrument. Altair sat with Desmond at a booth so he could lock the boy against the wall. Desmond’s mouth was open and he was staring all around in wonder at the building.

The maid came over, looked like she had a snide remark but noticed the vampire sitting next to Altair. Even if she didn’t know Desmond’s teeth still barely fit in his little mouth and hung open they were like little jagged knives behind his lips. She didn’t say anything at all. Altair just ordered the stew and bread, fresh bread, and an ale. The maid retreated, casting a look over her shoulder at Desmond as she left, white as a ghost.

“This place is neat huh?” Altair asked Desmond, propping his chin up with a fist. “It’s called a pub. Can you say pub?”

“Pup,” Desmond said, popping the second p.

“Pub,” Altair said back, popping the b instead.

Desmond giggled. “Pup pup,” popping the p each time. Altair smiled.

“That is a puppy. This is a pub.”

“Pub,” Desmond finally said.

“Good boy,” and Altair gave him a squeeze.

“Pup,” Desmond squeaked and Altair just chuckled. “Pupie? Pupie?”

“It’s a little... dog. But you don’t know what a dog is,” Altair sighed.

“Doug— dougy?”

“I’ll find a book with a dog in it, okay? And maybe a puppy too.”

“Pup pup,” Desmond peeped. Then he leaned back against the seat when someone came up to their table.

It was the bard with his fat bellied guitar. “Eavening,” he said, tipping his head to Altair.

“Morning,” Altair replied and the bard smirked.

“Mind if I join ya?”

“Depends on what you want.”

“Never seen a vampire before. He’s real little,” he smiled at Desmond who sunk under the table.

“He’s shy,” Altair said. “But he likes music.”

“You don’t say?” The bard swung his guitar around to be over his chest. “Well I happen to know a guy,” and he plucked a little ditty as cheerful and bouncy as a new fawn. Desmond’s eyes appeared over the top of the table with interest. “Ah, you like that huh?” he asked Desmond. Desmond nodded. “Good taste you got there, young master,” and the bard played a song Altair recognized.

“Come In, Come In, we'll do the best we can

Come In, Come In, bring your whole bloody clan

take it nice and easy and we'll take you by the hand

set ye down and treat ye 'dasent' I'm a valley man”

Altair felt himself singing along a little as the bard played. Desmond was enthralled. He crawled under the table to sit on the other booth seat to be closer to the bard. As the bard started the chorus the maid returned with Altair’s stew and bread. She eyed the bard but didn’t say anything and also didn’t ask Altair for any money. Good. Fuck her.

The bard had turned to Desmond now as he played and sang, bouncing his foot to keep the beat. It let Altair eat in peace. He hummed along to some of the song. The bard was very good and had a nice voice. After a few songs Desmond started making noises like he was singing along too and the bard started repeating verses so the child could catch on. Altair had by now finished his warm meal and was just watching them. It was cute to see Desmond happily going along with the bard just like a human child would. If you ignored the teeth and the eyes he even looked like a human child.

The bard played a fast song high on the register. A song he probably only sang to show off. He had a good range and could get those high notes that would normally require a woman singer to reach. But reached them. Desmond beeped up there at the high register too, trying to match the bard’s high chords. Then he did something that made Altair go white. He opened his mouth wide, far too wide for a human child, for a moment it looked like he was tearing open his mouth, and displaying a huge assortment of teeth so he could scream at a high octave. So much so that it made the glass of Altair’s tankard sing.

The bard jumped back, the music stopping abruptly. Altair lunged over the table and clapped his hand under Desmond’s chin to close his mouth, abruptly shutting off the sound.

The noise had roused the drunks and the lay abouts. They were all turned towards their little booth. The bard was white as a sheet and looked visibly shaken to really see how big Desmond’s mouth was and how full of teeth it was. “I think that’s enough for tonight,” and Altair got up and picked Desmond up. He protested but Altair paid him no mind. “I’m sorry for the trouble,” and Altair put the money he would have used to pay for the meal onto the table for the bard.

“No. No!” Desmond cried as Altair took him out of the pub.

“Yes,” Altair said sternly once they were outside. “You scared that man.”

“Plaw!”

Altair took some steps away from the front door and set Desmond down, then he took a knee in front of him. “You can’t do that,” he said sternly. Desmond folded his little arms, pouting. “You scared him. You made him afraid. Like when the light comes in from the outside sometimes when we don’t close your drapes all the way? That’s scary right?” Desmond nodded. “These are scary,” he pushed Desmond’s lips open to indicate his teeth. He knew Desmond wouldn’t bite.

“Wha?”

“Why? Because you’re a vampire, Desmond,” he said patiently. “I don’t have teeth like that, see,” and he bared his teeth at Desmond. Desmond nodded. “But outside vampire teeth are very scary to people.”

“Bad?”

“No. Not bad. But if you want people to like you you need to not frighten them,” he stroked Desmond’s hair gently.

“Altear do?”

Altair softened. “Yes. I like you. Do you feel bad?” Desmond nodded. “If you want people to be okay with mistakes you’ve made you need to say sorry. It’s important to apologize.”

“Altear, sowwy,” Desmond said, his little lips pursed sadly.

Altair hugged him. “Apology accepted,” he said gently. “Now let’s go home, okay?” When Altair picked him up Desmond didn’t protest. He just leaned on Altair’s shoulder and watched as they walked out of town and back up to the castle.

--

Hey you, yeah, if you liked it, consider reblogging. It helps me a lot. Maybe leave something nice in the tags idk.

[valkyriesryde]

Release the Hounds {6/?}

Chapter Six: Am I Supposed to Fight?

Pairing: Persephone!Steve Rogers x Hades!Reader

Chapter Summary: Both sides are preparing but the question of whether they will actually have to fight is still standing. And everyone has an opinion.

Word Count: ...2,000ish lol

A/N: Sooooo I’m a slack human being but I’m not giving up on this story! Just have a bit of a busy life at the moment hahah here you go fambam please forgive me. I’m going to try and smash out several chapters in the next week before I go on holiday/school starts back up.

Series Masterlist ~ Masterlist

As Hades stepped into the home of her brother she slipped off her coat and threw it over the back of the couch in the first living room. 

“Where art thou my dear brother?” She called through the house and a sweet whistle sounded down the stairs and around her. She dressed and presented herself much more casual than when she met with Thor. She no longer adorned her business attire, dressed in black jeans and a loose t-shirt. Her boots hitting the marble as she climbed the stairs. 

Loki’s house is extravagant. The outside something like a greek temple with its decorated ionic columns and statues. The inside much the same in its sense of power. But Loki likes to be comfortable.  His home has a, well, homely feel to it. Art adorns every wall, in every corner but the blanket is thrown lazily over the couch, there’s a pile of books on the coffee table and as she walks down the hallway she can smell the sea salt as if they were right next to the ocean. She can hear the horses in his backyard through the open windows. Hades always enjoyed coming to Loki’s home because thats what it was. A home. It wasn’t a place of work, apart from his office, his children come and go as they please, there’s always dishes to be washed and laundry to be folded. She felt welcomed here.

“Since when do you work this late?” She leaned on the doorframe of his office as Loki looked up from his piles of paper, his long black hair disheveled from running his fingers through it.

“I’m a very hard worker excuse you,” he smiled and offered her the seat in front of his desk, reaching into a draw next to him and bringing out two glasses and a bottle of nectar in a beautifully adorned glass bottle. Hades’ eyes lingered on the bottle as she ached for him to just hand the thing to her so she could pour it down her throat. Lord she needed a drink after this week.

“And I’m beloved by all,” her voice was sarcastic and she drooled as he handed her the glass and raised his eyebrows.

“By me especially,” he winked. Loki, forever the cheeky bastard.

“My biggest supporter,” she smiled and they clinked their glasses. 

Loki looked back down at his work, his forehead crinkled and his lip pulled between his teeth, she had an inkling to rip out the paper from under him but knew better to disturb him while he thought. It could be important afterall. 

So instead her eyes wandered, they moved to the ceiling tall bookcase to his right, spotting some of her favourites amongst his collection. She stood and walked towards the giant fish tank he had to his left and peered in, watching the exotic fish minding their business.

“Why can’t people be more like you,” she muttered under her breath and the red and blue fish with a tail that looked like it belonged to a feather dancer stared blankly back at her.

“They don’t like being stared at,” Loki chimed from his desk, his attention still on his papers. She sighed and fell back into the seat.

“Perhaps if you joined me for dinner and a drink or two I wouldn’t. Why are you working, work is off limits on our nights.” She was getting agitated, her entire week had been filled with work, forgetting about the normal stuff, the addition of the council and that damn god of spring was starting to give her a headache. “I’m sick of work! I just want a night off, please Loki.” 

“Well I’m sick of you being treated poorly by assholes who think they’re better.” His voice was stern and she leaned back for a second in shock at it. Loki was not often passionate about things. Unless someone had spoken poorly against him or, in Odysseus’ case injured his son and was just a “lying good for nothing asshole!” Loki fought when it was his reputation on the line, but this, this was different, the last time Hades had seen Loki fight for someone other than himself was when he went by Poseidon and they fought side by side with Thor, then Zeus, against their father. Hades prayed a war would not come of this strife that was forming between the Olympians.

“Thor told me what you’re doing, why didn’t you come to me about this? I would have told y-“

“You would have told me to stop, that it’s for nothing but I’m sorry to say Hades, you’re wrong.”  

Steve had his nose buried in his notebook while his mother went on about her campaign to “keep that wicked witch of the Underworld from getting her death grip on the council.” He sketched out the cornucopia from the gates, the flowers that had adorned it. The pages were covered in those sketches, one of her crown, how it was burned into his memory but he didn’t dare draw her face. Currently his pencil shaded a hand, with a vine twisted around it, the thorns piercing its skin and Steve couldn’t help but feel the prickle of the thorns in his own hand.

“Steve!” He jumped at the sound of his mother’s voice. The book slammed shut and he slid into his pocket as she dropped a clipboard into his hands. “Go around the council’s homes, get their signature. Thor needs proof that we will not stand for her to sit with us. We must band together in a time like this. I have no doubt the olympians will agree.” He dropped the clipboard onto the table and shook his head. She paid no attention to him, instead continuing her work as she wrote notes for the debate. “Sing your name too, we can’t forget about ourselves.”

He picked up the clipboard and walked out the door making his way out of the house towards Bucky’s home first. 

Bucky’s house always confused Steve, the interior and furniture changed every couple millennia but the outside, the general idea of it was always the same and it was never extravagant. Most homes in Olympus didn’t change much, they just added things to keep up with the times. Bucky’s home was basically a shack. A cabin in the woods. A beach house with the lake view to match. Made of dark wood with a porch that stretched around the entire front of the house. Bucky’s home was one that matched its owner in its entirety. Bucky was a relaxed man, he took things as they came and he was never very serious. It was one of the reasons Steve enjoyed his company so much because when his mother was up his ass or his work was being exceptionally hard Bucky was there with a pat on the back and a drink in his hand inviting him to watch the sunset over the water. 

They were best friends, could always count on one another no matter what, Steve knew that Bucky had his back always, and so he knew now that no matter how much Bucky disapproved of the situation he would still back Steve. 

“You’re mother is going to kill you.” Bucky sat leaning on his knees on the couch, his beer long forgotten about on the coffee table as he held the clipboard in one hand shaking his head at Steve. 

“Pretty sure she always kind of wants to kill me.”

“Never. You’re her special little boy, her one perfect creation,” Bucky cocked a smile at his friend who rolled his eyes back. 

“Shut up,” Steve leaned back and sipped at his own beer, watching it spin in his hands. It was a solid plan, if he went to the right people it would work, he could go behind his mother and her campaign and plead Hades’ case. Maybe even talk to Loki, though he wasn’t sure if Loki would believe him. He wasn’t overly sure if anyone would believe him. 

“You already know I’m on your side Steve. I know Hades, I remember the last time she sat on the council. She’s smart, she has the knowledge and the authority, she deserves to be there, but the younger gods, the once who have forgotten what she did, the ones that have never worked with her. They don’t know. They eat out of Demeter’s hands with all her bullshit about satan and how we ‘don’t need the dead in the business of the living’,” Bucky mocked Demeter, he was never afraid to do that in front of Steve, at first he felt slightly weird about it, like his mother would know if he ever spoke a bad word about her but he soon realised the Bucky was safe, he could be himself and say what he wanted without consequences, well, with little consequences. 

Steve thought about what Bucky had said, he knew that Bucky would be on his side, Bucky had never not shown support for Hades herself, just, ya know, the stupid shit Steve did in Hades…

But something stayed with Steve. ‘the ones that have never worked with her’, had Bucky worked with Hades? When would Bucky have to work with her? Bucky worked with the sun, he worked with prophecies and medicine, none of which concerned the dead.

“Start with Becca, she and I are one of the same, Pallas-Nat, she’ll be on your side too, I know she’s already talked to Loki about it. That’s who you should go to after, to him, if he knows, if he has confirmation from Nat, I know they hate each other because of Athens and Odysseus but he trusts her word, he trusts that she’ll choose the winning side.” Bucky went on and on about who Steve should see, who he knew that would be on his side.

He listened intently, took note and made a plan of what he should say to each. To Becca, goddess of the hunt, the best way was to talk to her about Bucky, they always fought side by side. To Natasha, goddess of wisdom, it was going to be harder. But if Bucky was right then she already agreed with Steve, they just needed to join forces.  

Hades,

I don’t know when you’ll get this, I plan on giving it to Peter to pass on, I know I can trust him to get this to you safely. There’s five days before the council debates and I thought you would appreciate an update as to what is happening in Olympus.

I imagine you have your own ways, maybe spies, Loki has probably discussed matters with you also. He said he had told you he would fight whether you liked it or not, how you told him that he was stubborn. You said I was stubborn as well, I guess I am, but I can’t help fighting for what I believe in. I believe in you. I believe that you should have a say and so do many of the others, Loki, Becca, Natasha, and Jane all agree with me. I think we actually have a shot but Loki thinks it will take your appearance to convince Thor and the lesser gods and nymphs that will be present.

I hope to see you there, please. 

Yours,

Steve 

Hades and Sam sat side by side on the balcony that overlooked the gates. They watched as night engulfed them and there was an eery silence between the two. A fresh argument still sitting between them, two sides of the same fight. 

Hades’ mind was fighting with itself, her guard was being torn down brick by brick as Loki and Steve tried to convince her to stand before the twelve Olympians. But Sam wasn’t a fan of the idea.

“What if it’s a trap,” he argued, “we don’t know what Demeter has up her sleeve,” he said, “we don’t need them!” He raised his voice and she let him get it all out.

“Are you finished yet?” She brushed her hand over her dress and looked at him as Sam nodded. “You’re right.” 

Sam was shocked at what she said, he expected her to rationalise her reasons, he expected her to tell him to mind his own business, to tell him that she would stand up for the Underworld. But she didn’t.

“I’m what now?”

“You’re right Sam. Everything about this is stupid. The living and the dead shouldn’t be mixed, bad things happen, bad things like husbands wanting to resurrect their wives, like people thinking they can make deals in order to mess with what is natural. They don’t respect us or what we do here, you’re right, it could be a trap. Demeter will make it a living hell for myself and the rest of you here if she can. You’re right, we don’t need them, we run things differently here, our systems aren’t the same.”

“Then what…” Sam looked at Hades in awe, there was fire in her eyes and he knew that look, she was sick of being undermined, she was angry, she was determined and if he knew her as well as he thought he did he knew what that look meant. She had a plan. “Then why are you considering it?”

“Because they need us.”

Chapter Seven: Here Comes Trouble

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[willadisastercry]

Keep Moving Part 1

tw: depicton of explosions, broken bones, head trauma, vomiting, collapsed building, being trapped.

Keith is on his self sacrificing bullshit again and no one is surprised. The only difference is this time be can’t extricate himself from the terrible situation he very much asked for before it goes horribly wrong. And it just continues to get worse. **also a part 2 has been written but not finished and I may cut it down so there is at least some closure... might also just finish it but willa makes no promises**

“We’ve cleared the red zone, Matt!” Pidge reported breathlessly into her coms on direct line to her brother and the other rebel space crafts that joined them on their mission.

“Copy that,” she said, slowing her sprint to a jog, “they’re waiting until we make some more ground to start dropping their explosives.”

“I don’t know how soon we’ll be on the move, we’ve got two fleets of sentries headed our way,” Keith reminded.

“We’ll just have to make as much distance between ourselves and the death zone as possible before everything goes boom, unless Keith is afraid he can’t keep up with us...”

Keith just stared at Lance blankly, struggling to accept that he did in fact just say what he thought he said.

“Obviously, but the issue is--” 

Lance never got to know what the actual issue was because before Pidge could tell him, he was face down on the floor, butt in the air still smoldering from where he was shot by a sentry. 

The first fleet had caught up to them.

“Bullseye...” Hunk said nearly crying from holding in his laughter.

“Shit!” Keith watched as the fleet descended on them quickly and started shooting at what seemed like a never ending stream of purple and metal.

“owWWWW-”

“Lance, shut up and start shooting.” Keith ordered, hauling the taller boy up by his neck guard.

There was little cover in the hallway and so the paladins had to quickly manuver between blocking the sentries’ barrage with their shields and engaging their bayards to take a few out at a time. Lance had recovered from his owie and was now dropping sentries from behind the cover of Hunk’s legs.

“We need to keep moving!��� Pidge urged, taking a couple steps back.

“You guys keep going, I’ll use my sword to push them back,” Keith offered.

“No! We don’t need to split up, just keep moving back I have an idea.”

They all walked backwards slowly still firing shots and deflecting hits while Pidge activated her bayard and then before they knew it she had it wrapped around the upper portion of the nearest sentry and was swinging it accross the width of the hallway, clobbering several of them into each other and successfully congesting their procession.

“Damn Pidge...”

“Keep it moving Paladins!” Allura echoed over the coms.

“Ya know, sometimes I’m terrified of you Pidge,” Lance mused as the four of them took off in a dead sprint down the narrow corridor.

“Don’t know... if I should be flattered... or offended...” she huffed, struggling to keep up with the other three.

“It’s a compliment!”

“Yeah, well who wouldn’t be scared of five feet of pure--”

“Careful... Hunk.”

“... intelligence?”

Keith laughed to himself at his teammate’s menial banter. It lightened the tense atmosphere of battle and action of which he was mostly really greatful for, except when they needed to be serious and Lance was still posing hypotheticals about conceiving with a space mermaid.

But it was his lack of partcipation in the conversation that alerted him to the  pounding of metal on metal somewhere around them of which was very odd.  They had just lost the last fleet and were supposed to be nowhere near the second, but when he slowed down to asses as the others passed by the opening of another corridor, a shot from a sentry’s gun nearly took Pidge’s helmet off. And then before anyone could even react, the hallway they were in flooded with sentries, affectively seperating Keith from the rest of his team.

The paladins got to work quickly, but they were soon overwhelmed. 

And then Keith heard the fleet from before gaining ground behind them and decided that since he was already seperated, he might as well take some of the attention off of his team while he was at it. And so he ran back to the last possible turn he could take between him and the first horde, diverting their focus onto him with a significant section of the new fleet of sentries following suit as well.

“Yeah, so you’re gonna have to find another way out for me when you get a chance Pidge.”

“What? Why?...” and then to his friend’s horror they realize that he is simply just gone and so were half of their assailants.

“May have gotten cut off by that fleet when they dropped in on us, but it’s okay! I can handle them, only issue is they’re pushing me back towards the rebel destroyers, ya know where we just narrowly escaped from... so if you have any suggestions on how to get me out of here before I get blown up... I’d greatly appreciate them,” Keith stated almost amusedly and his team could hear the zip and crack of sentries being taken out by his bayard.

“Ok, ok, ok—Lance I need cover, Hunk I need help, can you configure...” the rest of Pidge’s orders were drowned out by the whining of metal above him and then her voice was frantic over the coms, interrupting it all to tell Keith that a massive bomb had just been dropped directly over him and that he had about five minutes before the structure gave.

Well, shit.

He picks up his pace and focuses on just evading shots from the fleet when he hears a particularly loud groan from above. 

“That doesn’t sound good,” he huffs and looks back to see that as the sentries round the corner, he has put enough of a distance between them that they lower their weapons temporarily because they’re not close enough to lock onto a target.

There’s another groan from above as debris begins to make its way through the metal interrior at the farthest end of the corridor where the sentries are filing in. Perfect. He realizes that he still has a long way to go and can’t navigate via Pidge if he has to worry about being lasered in the ass by a horde of metal minions, so Keith ducks into a doorway and starts firing at the mass.

Over the coms Pidge continues to update him on just how badly he needs to not be in that hallway. The entire ceiling is caving but Keith hasn’t moved, he refuses to. Pidge watches his heat signature and the flashing red light on her scanner letting her know the integrity of the building is waning.

“I have an entire fleet on my tail, gotta at least make a dent!”

“Just another day of Keith on his self-sacrifice bull shit!”

Keith did not appreciate Lance’s tone. His plan was sort of solid. The sentries just need to keep marching and not switch into ‘chase mode’ a little longer and then the ceiling will finally give and smush them. Solid.

“Lance on ur left!”

Zap. Crash.

Karma.

“Thanks.”

“Pidge, I’ve entered the intelligence room.”

“It should be the main panel, shiro”

“Got it, getting started now”

“Pidge get down!”

Keith listened to his team struggling against their own fleet as large pieces of debris came down all around him. He didn’t need Pidge’s fancy scanner to tell him the ceiling was about to go.

He took one last look. The sentries were close enough now to start shooting. He breathed deeply. Just a couple more seconds. And then there was a massive crunch from above and he took off running in a zig zag, the ceiling breaking apart in large pieces behind him and taking out clusters of sentries at a time

Beautiful. 

Glancing over his shoulder as he ran he watched the last sentries disappear in a plume of dust and smoke, turning around only to narrowly avoid a falling spire of shredded metal by toppling over the chunk of ceiling that had crashed down already in an effort to not get impaled.

There’s a loud crack after his foot is stopped against the base of the debris and his body twists away awkwardly, victim to the mercy of his own bodies’ momentum he falls to the floor in a sprawled heap.

Keith didn’t recall screaming.

The coms were soon alight with a flurry of concerned questions and orders for him to declare his status, but he couldn’t make any sense of what they were saying over the white hot pain in his leg.

All Keith could muster the strength to focus on in that moment were the beams  flying over his head. How the fuck--? But before his mind could even attempt to make sense of how any sentries emerged from that, he pulls himself closer to the ceiling chunk he just ate shit on and ducks down to use it as cover before he started returning shots.

Just a hanful left.

Aim. Evade. Drop.

Aim. That was close. Drop

Duck. What the hell? Drop

“Keith if you can hear me, the building is severely compromised, the ceiling is coming down, you need to MOVE.”

He waves his bayard in a spray and lunges forward off of his good leg to scramble behind more debris.

As he lowers himself down behind another chunk of ceiling, he’s stunned when the visor of his helmet is struck by a sentry’s beam, shattering in his face before flying off. 

Woah.

He can’t hear over the piercing ringing in his ears for several seconds after the initial hit and after a minute he becomes aware of the blood dripping down his neck slowly from where the shattered glass of his visor nicked him.

When the ringing dies down he can faintly hear his teammates screaming his name over the coms, the world tilting before him in more ways then one as the section of the ceiling he was just under comes down on the remaining sentries.

Phew. He lets out a huge breath he didn’t know he was holding.

With some effort, he reaches out for his helmet but is instantly nauseated by the exertion as well as the noise coming from it before it’s even on his head, he lowers the coms volume so he could actually comprehend his teammates concerned questions against the sounds of their own battle.

“I repeat: Keith, sound off!”

“If his vitals are strong... then why the fuck aren’t you responding mullet!?”

“I’m good,” he breathed heavily. “Took care of the fleet, but i think my ankle is really stuffed up.”

He slid his hands under his knee and raised his leg to test what mobility he had in his ankle and couldn’t suppress the light yelp that just the movement produced when his foot dangled limply in the air. Keith’s ankle was definitely broken and not some cutesy hairline shit.

“Okay! Working on it! Don’t try and move for now, you’re suit and boot should support it and keep it in place. Tapping into your suit now... authorizing the boo boo protocol... loading... sweet! Okay pulling up the scans, you should hear a beep.”

Keith could hear Pidge feverishly tappin on a screen as well as heavy metal footsteps and thuds.

“Uhh, so minor emergency,” Lance postured just as Keith heard an electronic beep. “There’s only about a dozen sentries left but their closing in fast, we could use that back up right about now Shiro.” 

Lance cried out as a beam caught his elbow while using a slumped sentry as a shield as he picked off the front of the wave.

“Nah, I’ve got it Shiro!” Hunk called. 

“Pidge is all set... breaking out the big guns now, everyone focus on their original tasks!”

“Got it, I’m almost done here,” Shiro replied.

“Sound off when you’re free and I’ll load up directions to Keiths location—shit, Keith your ankle is like mangled do not under ANY circumstance put weight on that!"

"Uhhhhm, and get crushed to death instead?" Keith said already pulling himself up to lean against the wall with a groan.

 “No thanks.”

"~Minimal weight~ then,” Pidge compromised, “or whatever you can withstand, but that’ll be a couple extra hours in a pod.”

“A couple extra hours of beauty rest might be good for those dark circles on mullet.”

“Lance has a solid a point there.”

“Damn, you know mullets hurting when he’s agreeing with me.”

“I’d just also rather live to see another day.”

“Whatever, just get to the end of the hallway. There’s a supporting beam over there that should hold up until we get to you in case things go south.”

“Noted, making my way now.”

The ceiling above him gave another groan and so did he as more metal and ruble crashed down behind him, but he only focused on moving forward, pushing away his mounting concern for how strangely numb his foot was while his ankle was pulsing with an excruciating ache that shoot up his leg. Every hop nearly made him cry out and tempted the black dots threatening to fully cloud his vision.

“How’s it going shiro?” he gruffed while he took a break, he needed some good news.

“96% complete! Should be done any second now and then I’ll make my way over to you.”

“Okay,” he breathed meekly and bit back the bile creeping up his throat as another wave of nausea washed over him.

His head was pounding something awful now, the helmet took the brunt of the hit but his head was still sufficiently rattled. His ears were still ringing, though it seemed to mostly come from his left side.

“Done. Pidge send me his location.”

“5 sentries left. We’ll be on our way to him soon too.”

It was getting harder to stay engaged with all of the different pains he was in. His whole body just wanted to rest, his ankle throbbed angrily, and his eyelids grew heavier and harder to keep open as the pain in his head drew to a piercing concentration above his left ear, right where he took the hit.

“Hey, Keith?”

It was pidge. Everything was really loud suddenly and the thought of his own voice in his ears seemed like it would increase the pressure in his skull tenfold so he managed a groan in response.

“Did you ever take a hit to the head?”

He took a shuddering breath as he stopped again and leaned heavily against the trembling wall. Or maybe he was trembling. He couldn’t tell which it was.

“Yeah... why?” he managed to half whisper, his head felt like it was going to explode.

“Crap, okay.”

“Pidge?” it was shiro. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing bad, I can just see where he’s bleeding from on my scanner. It’s superficial but he’s bleeding pretty well from his forehead.”

“Yeah, my visor is slightly shattered,” Keith gulped.

“Hey, what’s a lil scratch when it could’ve been you’re whole face?”

“Yes it could’ve, Lance. Glad to see you care about Keith’s face. But sadly I can’t tell if you have a concussion from these scans, so just don’t fall asleep until we get to you.”

“I think I can manage.”

“You sure? Vitals say your heart beat is slow. Seriously, just don’t fall asleep.”

“Ok, yeah, got it.” Keith agreed and with a hmph he dragged himself upright and began hopping along the wall once more.

Whether it was his hearing being testy or the haze of pain distracting him from reality, he didn’t hear the loud groans of the metal shifting above him, threatening to fully give any moment now.

His progress was so painfully slow it had been well over 5 minutes and he had still not reached the end of the hallway that pidge recommended.

“Keith you’re haven’t reached the support beam yet, you’ve got to pick it up.”

He didn’t respond. He was trying. But aside from his ankle being in excruciating pain, his head was as well. The nausea had only gotten worse and his vision was getting iffy too, he saw double if he picked his head up too fast and had to turn the volume of the coms all the way down now because he thought his ears would start bleeding between Lance’s shrill exclammations of victory and Pidge’s directions.

Keith had to take a lot of breaks. Everything was so loud and his stomach was so unruly, the effort to even stand upright was becoming too much let alone making the last few feet of progress.

And then the wall that was keeping him up seemed to come away from him, that or he had keeled over on his own, either way he was now on the ground and could feel as another bomb landed on the structure above him and shook everything with a terrible rumble.

In a climax of pain and exhaustion as well as the violent rumbling of the building collapsing around him, it was all too much. The wrenching in his stomach made his eyes water and his mouth was filled instantly with saliva. He shrugged what was left of his visor up to spit it out only for his stomach to clench and his body to be rocked by his heaving. 

His head swam.

He felt so heavy. 

But he desperately wanted to get away from his puddle of sick, so he sort of crawled away from it, careful to keep his hurt ankle up.

“-eith. keith!”

“Shhh, don’t need to scream.”

“Sorry!”

 “You scared us!”

“Almost made me puke, you know I have a sensitive stomach!”

“Sorry,” he muttered hoarsely, “couldn’t really help it.”

“We know, Hunk’s just messing with you. So you most likely have a concussion if you’re vomiting, but don’t be scared, Shiro’s almost at your location and—“

But he didn’t get to hear what other wisdom Pidge had to reassure him with because another bomb had just exploded above him...

[the-real-tc]

Fic UPDATE! Wide River to Cross: Chapter 23

A.N.: This chapter took way longer to churn out than I expected, and there will be another update very shortly. We're moved into Episode 713 territory now, so you know that means things are getting even closer to where they are supposed to be. Enjoy!

Chapter 23: Chance Encounter

The drive back from Moose Jaw on Tuesday was its usual eight-hour, mind-numbing slog for Tim Fleming. Shane and Miranda seemed to be doing fine without him, though something in his gut warned Tim there was something going on neither of them wished to speak of in his presence. The visit started off on a positive note. Shane excitedly asked about Pal before politely moving on to inquiring about his half-sisters. By the actual Thanksgiving Monday, Tim knew he was wearing out his welcome, as if Miranda could not wait to be rid of him. Yes, it was true they had called it quits, but there was a distant air about her that Tim could not put his finger on. When he mentioned he would like to come out in a month for the Remembrance Day holiday, he was met with a non-committal sort of answer, but not an outright "no". Shane's sullen resentment over the absence of a father-figure in his life was still brewing beneath the surface. Tim recognized the signs; he just had no idea what to do about it, especially since Miranda was apparently hedging about the next time he could visit his son. How was he supposed to be a father to Shane if he was not even permitted to see him on a regular basis?

By the time Tim reached Hudson, he was exhausted both physically and emotionally. He had half a mind to drop in at Heartland and stick around long enough to invite himself to dinner, but he was not in the mood to hear Jack complain about the sheep again, which he was sure to do. Instead, Tim pulled into the local McDonald's Drive-thru and ordered something he knew he would barely taste, but would otherwise tide him over until the next day. On Wednesday morning, Tim regretfully realised he was completely out of supplies and would need to head into town for groceries.

He was still contemplating what to do about convincing Miranda to allow him to visit again in a month's time while grabbing some steaks from a refrigerated shelf in the Deli section. Maybe the boy could come out to Heartland instead, Tim pondered. After all, Shane was still obviously interested in riding Pal. Amy and Lou would be happy to see their half-brother, of course. Tim also had a feeling Shane and Georgie would get along just fine, if given the chance.

What would he think about Tricia? Tim suddenly wondered as he mechanically loaded his groceries into his truck before starting the drive back to Big River.

What would Tricia think about Shane?

When is the right time to tell her about my "illegitimate" son?

Are we serious enough for that yet?

Those thoughts quickly fled as Tim did a double-take at the unexpected sight of an oddly familiar auburn-haired woman. She stood at the bank of green community mailboxes on the side of the rural road, unaware of his scrutiny. The presence of her nearby silver-grey Porsche SUV confirmed it: the usually blonde Lisa Stillman had returned to Hudson. Tim pulled his truck to a stop—he simply had to get the low-down on this. Lisa was the last person he expected to see here, especially after Lou bought back her share of the Dude Ranch so many months ago. Jack's continued silence on Lisa's whereabouts and the status of their relationship compelled Tim to approach. After all, Lisa was godmother to his granddaughter Katie. It would be impolite to drive past her without a word, he reasoned.

"Hey, Lisa!" he called when he was within earshot.

Her shoulders jerked slightly, causing Tim to feel slightly guilty for startling her when he caught the stunned expression on her face. She recovered in time to respond, though somewhat hesitantly. "Oh. Hi, Tim!" she called back with forced brightness. Her smile, too, was forced.

"Wow, I didn't expect to see you back in town," Tim said as he neared. "How ya been? How was France?"

"Busy. I've been really busy," she replied hastily, closing her mailbox door and snapping the lock shut before stuffing her envelopes into a side pocket. "Um, France was fine. Sorry I can't stay and chat. I just got back from dropping off my sister at the airport, and I've still got lots to do today. As a matter of fact, I have an appointment with someone in less than half an hour."

"Your sister was visiting?" Tim echoed. "Huh. That's nice. Don't think I've ever met her. The appointment wouldn't happen to be with Jack would it?"

Lisa's spirits sank at the mention of the man she loved but was avoiding. She wondered if Tim did it on purpose—honing right in on a person's vulnerable spot and then exposing it.

"Uh, no. No, I'm not meeting Jack," Lisa's voice faltered.

"Then who are you meeting?" Tim pressed.

Lisa felt cornered now. Knowing the news would eventually get out, anyway, she decided to be straight with the man. "A real estate agent," she answered testily. "I've put Fairfield on the market."

Tim's face betrayed mild surprise. Wow, he thought. She really is making that move to France permanent. "You're selling Fairfield. Whoa. Does Jack know about this?"

Lisa exhaled. "Jack knows I love France," she eventually responded as she averted her glance. "I tried to share that part of my life with him, but it didn't work. He hates France, and there's no changing that fact. It's best I make a clean break. For now, he doesn't even know I'm in Hudson, and I'd like to keep it that way, please. So don't tell him you saw me, okay?"

Despite not quite receiving a straight answer to his question, Tim nevertheless made a zipping motion across his lips. "O-kay."

"You promise you will not tell him I'm here?" Lisa said, eyeing him now with skepticism.

"I promise I will not tell Jack you're here, Lisa," Tim proclaimed, raising his hand in a Scout salute.

"Good. Thank you," she said, making her move back to the Porsche. "Now, I really have to go. Take care, Tim. 'Bye."

"Yeah, 'bye," Tim said, absently securing his hat on his head.

Without bothering to look back at him, Lisa raised a hand in a farewell gesture as she climbed into the driver's seat.

Tim called out: "But you are gonna tell him eventually, right?"

The motor roaring to life drowned out the question, causing Tim to frown. Aw, man. Something's gotta be done about those two before it's too late, he thought. I just need to figure out what.

**

Lisa pulled away from the mailboxes in a daze. Now that Tim had seen her, it was only a matter of time before Jack found out she was in Hudson. Of all the people I had to run into, why did it have to be Tim Fleming?! she fretted. And once Jack does find out, what will I do? Guess I'll have to cross that bridge when I get to it.

The real estate agent warned Lisa from the outset her asking-price was high, given the current slump in the market. While she knew this, it was a tactic she hoped to use to her advantage. It was intended to weed out a bulk of potential buyers who would only waste her time. Genuinely interested buyers would be savvy enough to try to negotiate a lower selling price they would both be comfortable with. Lisa was ready to play that game. Besides, if someone did agree to the initial price, the agent stood to make a fantastic commission.

There would be no way to hide the signs or the real estate listing, of course, so even if she never laid eyes on Jack, he would eventually find out about the sale. She was plagued with feelings of guilt. Was it really fair to avoid him? How difficult would it be to make a quick call to say: "Hi, I've returned to Hudson to sell the old place. Thanks for the good times we had; I'm moving to France for good."

Very difficult indeed.

Those thoughts were quickly dismissed when Lisa reached Fairfield and business concerns once again consumed her mental energies. Among those concerns was the sale of Cinders, a horse for which Lisa felt an uncommon fondness due to his resemblance to her long-ago cherished Silver. Riding Cinders out to Lookout Point every morning was part of her daily routine when in Hudson, so she was reluctant to part with the animal. I have Indigo back in Toulon for my morning ride, Lisa thought practically, knowing one fewer horse to transport to France could be good for cost-saving in the long run.

A buyer from Montana was interested; Lisa was awaiting the finalization of that sale before booking transport. Three other horses would be going to buyers in Alberta; two to British Columbia, and one to Saskatchewan. That left several other horses that might eventually need to be auctioned, including the pregnant Rhapsody. The broodmare's pregnancy and the subsequent weaning process once the foal arrived meant travel any time soon would be ill-advised, so having her remain in Canada to be sold made sense.

The clone of Fairfield Flyer—when it arrived—was still a question mark. Dan seemed overly confident it would help them make their mark once they launched their breeding business overseas. Lisa was more cautious and hesitant about the whole idea; in time, maybe she would feel differently about the situation, as her sister Rachel had predicted.

And I'm still quite angry Dan did it, Lisa realised, almost feeling her blood pressure rising just thinking about the whole mess. Why am I even still in business with him? The answer she always arrived at whenever she pondered that question was that they still made good business partners, despite their failed marriage. This time, though, Lisa wondered whether business success in partnership with Dan was a good enough reason.

I have spent more than half my life doing this, Lisa said to herself. I've achieved a lot in that time. I would like to think I have made my father proud of the 'Fairfield' name. That alone should be worth it, right? And it's like I told Rachel: the money I've earned has made it possible to realise a lot of dreams, do things I wanted to do, and see the world. But at the end of the day, I go home to an empty house. What dreams am I chasing now? I always dreamed of retiring to France. And then Jack came into my life.

Lisa reflected fondly on that day at Heartland when she encountered Jack at the Open House barbecue. Amy had just awed the crowd by showing off her work with Promise, and with the way she had risen to Val Stanton's seemingly impossible, impromptu challenge to fix the hundred-thousand-dollar horse that refused to jump.

"You're doing a really good job with her, Jack," Lisa recalled telling him. What she didn't tell him was that she had inquired discreetly about his fifteen-year-old granddaughter after being impressed by her during their first meeting at Fairfield. Since Nick Harwell had sung Amy's praises regarding her work with Star, Lisa called him up. She hoped to find out a little more about this Amy Fleming, daughter of the late Marion Fleming. She had a vague recollection hearing about Marion and Heartland since returning to Hudson from the 'States. Even so, she had at least known of the existence of 'Heartland Ranch' in the same sort of familiar way Hudsonites would know of the existence of any other ranch in the area.

"I read in the Hudson Times about Marion Fleming's passing and how Amy's grandfather is a rodeo legend," Lisa had told Nick during their conversation. "What else should I know about this family?"

"Yes, Jack Bartlett is pretty well-known for his rodeo days. And Marion... Marion was something else," Nick had stated. "And I really think Amy has the gift, too. What did you think of her?"

"It's too early to tell," Lisa had replied honestly, "but I like her spunk. I had my reservations about Promise going under the care of a fifteen-year-old, but she won some points with me. She set me straight when she told me her mother didn't 'whisper' to horses; she listened to them."

Nick had chuckled. "Whatever you want to call it, Marion sure worked magic with horses, and Amy can, too. You just have to sit back and let the magic happen."

"How is Heartland Ranch doing?" Lisa then inquired. "Are they going to be okay without Marion working with troubled horses? That was their main source of income, wasn't it?"

"I'm not sure," Nick replied with a sigh. "Jack does have a herd of cattle, but it's small. His adult granddaughter Lou is back in town from New York to help, but who knows how long she plans to stay... And Jack's wife, Lyndy, died a few years ago. I heard through the grapevine Amy and Lou's dad is a rodeo legend too, but he's also a total deadbeat. So now Jack has got to raise Amy by himself. It's not going to be easy for them. I do believe Amy has her mother's gift, but she's still so young to be taking on the 'family business', if you know what I mean. Jack has his work cut out for him."

"Yes, I guess he does," Lisa had remarked thoughtfully, imagining an elderly man all of a sudden saddled with a responsibility he did not anticipate in the wake of his daughter's tragic death.

To see Jack Bartlett in the flesh was a revelation. The man was nowhere near the 'elderly' grandfather Lisa had envisioned after speaking with Nick. He was tall, fit, and grizzled with irregular features, yet handsome in an unconventional way she found attractive. She would almost have guessed he was Amy's father had she not known any better. So this was the man who was taking care of his teenaged granddaughter. This was the man who had clearly taken the responsibility very seriously, and was succeeding at the task despite the burden of loss and heartbreak. This man, a salt-of-the-earth type, exuding quiet confidence and strength—this man she simply had to get to know better.

He was the first man in a very long time Lisa felt the urge to flirt with; the first man she felt comfortable sending out signals she wanted to know him on a deeper level. Their first real conversation was brief. She paid him a compliment about the burgers he was grilling up, then added she thought he was doing a great job with Amy. She mentioned her own situation with taking on her nephew following his parents' divorce. As they parted company that evening, she brushed her shoulder against his after his offer to help with Ben, hoping the message was received.

Bringing up those old memories of the weeks and months that followed the Open House was bittersweet. Back then, it was Immediately clear to Lisa that Jack was nothing remotely resembling a social butterfly. He was never at any of the parties she attended, nor was he known to folks in her Hudson social circles. She would have to ferret out what his interests were and meet him at that level if she wanted to get closer to him. Lisa would be forever grateful to Maggie for suggesting Amy have a look at the traumatized Gallant Prince, as it provided more opportunities to visit Heartland—and to see Jack.

And then I asked him to accompany me to that auction... and his truck broke down.

It was a deviation in her plan she had not expected, but rolled with it by suggesting they eat right then instead of after the sale. They discussed nothing of consequence during that interlude while they ate turkey-and-swiss sandwiches, but Lisa enjoyed every minute of it.

"Aren't you something?" Jack had asked, clearly not expecting anything like this when she told him she made coffee for him; that she had planned a picnic treat from the very beginning.

The early fall weather was pleasant, a soft breeze fluttering through the leaves of the trees that surrounded them. She seldom had a chance to pause like this, sitting in the company of just one other person, undisturbed by the rest of the world. He complimented her on the coffee, subtly making her realise he had strong opinions about the beverage. Time slipped away much too quickly. After a particularly long stretch of silence between them after the last of the coffee had been drunk, Jack finally spoke up: "Well, I guess I should probably see if that old truck of mine is ready to start. Can't have you missing that auction, can we?"

Reluctantly, they tidied up and trekked back to the stalled vehicle. It started without complaint, bearing them safely to High River for the auction. Lisa mentally skipped over the part when they encountered Dan, knowing what she knew now about how he had the temerity to tell Jack she was still his wife. Lisa remembered her acute disappointment upon discovering Jack had abandoned her there without a word. Something about that scenario did not sit right with her, as she was quite certain he had enjoyed their picnic.

Perhaps another woman might have dismissed him for that perceived slight, Lisa reasoned, but I knew I couldn't let him go that easily. Fortunately, a good friend she ran into at the close of the auction was willing to give her a lift to Heartland so she could retrieve her Porsche. At the time, she was tempted to knock on Jack's door to demand an explanation, but something told her that would be the wrong move. Let this thing play out, she remembered thinking. Let him come to you when he's ready.

And the explanation did come out, confirming for Lisa she made the right choice by not blowing the situation out of proportion, though she had every right to be upset. Handling it with a dose of humour had de-escalated what could have been a very uncomfortable situation. After all, Dan had just sourly peeled out of Heartland, having been told off by Jack, and after being rebuffed by Lisa.

"Well, since men keep driving away on me, would you mind driving me home in your truck, please?" she remembered asking with a smile and a good-natured chuckle. Of course Jack had not minded one bit. She had noticed the look of gradual, earnest relief on his face once he realised she was not married to Dan any longer; that she had not been playing with his emotions or leading him on.

"Jack, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding with my EX-husband," she said contritely during that ride back to Fairfield. "He had no right to do that, and I want to make it very clear I—"

And he had broken in gently then, telling her she had no need to apologize; that he was the one that needed to do the apologizing for abandoning her at the auction.

"Hmm," she had said playfully. "I suppose you have a plan in mind about how you're going to make it up to me?"

"Well, as a matter of fact... I was wondering..."

After a few seconds of tense silence, he had asked if he could have the pleasure of her company at his private cabin in a few weeks' time. She could tell it took some effort on his part to ask the question, but she readily accepted his invitation to try a little fly fishing, despite the lateness of the season, as he told her.

"I would love to, Jack," she had replied, grinning from ear to ear, thinking this reconciliation had gone miles better than she hoped.

Maggie had helped her pick out all the requisite equipment after she realised she would actually need hip waders and rods for the date. Expensive hobby, she remembered thinking when her friend rang up all the purchases at the cash register.

"I'd better catch something, huh?" she had ruefully asked.

"I think you already did," Maggie had quipped.

At the time, the meaning of those words had not been lost on Lisa. Now, after all the time since those early days when they were still practically strangers, Lisa wondered if he was still on the line, or if Jack had pulled loose. Severed from her life, he would be pulled away from her shore, lost to the currents of the passing world.

Despite never using the equipment again since that first date, Lisa had never availed herself of Maggie's promise of a refund.

I always hoped we would go fishing together again, Lisa mused. Why is it we never did? Maybe it's high time I got rid of all that stuff; I certainly won't be doing much fly fishing in France.

Lisa shook her head slightly, knowing she had to cease thinking about such matters and concentrate instead on getting her Fairfield business in order. As if on cue, her office line rang, its call display revealing a Montana area code.

Looks like I have an answer about Cinders, she rightly guessed.

"Lisa, hi! It's Wayne Mosley. I'll make this call short and sweet: We have a deal on your horse. I can have the funds wired to you today."

"That's great, Wayne," Lisa replied, squelching the sentiment that unexpectedly sprang up at the thought she was really going to be parting with the animal for good. "I can get transport booked for Cinders as early as Sunday."

"Perfect. Thanks, Lisa."

"You're welcome. Glad we were able to work something out."

"It's always a pleasure doing business with you. Take care. 'Bye."

"Likewise, Wayne. 'Bye."

**

Lightning almost as bright as day flashed, visible even through Lisa's closed eyelids. That alone might have been enough to awaken her, but the following crash of ear-splitting thunder made it impossible to remain in the land of dreams.

Lisa rolled over in bed, gradually becoming aware of the fact of the storm raging outside. When she cracked open an eye to check the time on the bedside digital clock, she could barely make out a blank display screen.

Have we lost power? she wondered groggily. Another flash of lightning briefly illuminated the bedroom. Her ears picked up on the wind-driven rains beating against the windowpanes. A quick glance outside confirmed Hudson had indeed lost power. Seconds later, the Fairfield generators kicked in, bringing to life the security lights outside. The numbers on the clock now blinked '12:00' a.m. in a rhythmic pattern, its green glow a slight irritant.

With a sigh, Lisa let her head fall back onto one of the many the pillows scattered about the mattress. Installing those generators had come at some expense, but she was grateful for them now and in times past when an outage occurred. She listened to the sounds of the storm, unable to fall back asleep quite yet. Some of the horses in the stables would be restless, and she wondered if Rhapsody was okay, given her expectant state.

Harry and the rest of the hands are going to be dealing with a few grumpy, skittish equines in the morning, she thought as she finally sat up to re-set the time on the clock after consulting her iPhone.

The lightning flashes were less frequent now; the answering thunder a distant rumble. The storm was either moving on or its intensity petering out.

Oh, no. Things are going to be a mess out there tomorrow, this new thought entered her mind, as it dawned on her the power loss was probably caused by downed tree branches. The trees around Fairfield were never spared damage in such instances in the past. The real estate agent would expect the property to be in pristine condition if there were going to be any showings.

Better call the landscaping company first thing... It was the last thought she remembered thinking before drifting off again.

**

Clean-up the morning after the storm that knocked out power at Heartland occupied a fair chunk of the Bartlett-Fleming-Morris family's time. Branches lay haphazardly about the yard. Piles of scattered leaves and twigs littered the ground, blown off by the earlier violent winds.

Tim pulled up in his truck uncharacteristically early to lend a hand, though he certainly had ulterior motives. Lisa made me promise not to tell Jack she was back in town. She didn't make me promise not to tell anyone else, though... He approached Amy, hoping to determine if Jack was wise to the situation of Lisa's return to Hudson.

"Guess who I saw in town yesterday?" he asked his daughter, unable to keep a lid on the information bubbling up to the surface.

The surprise that registered on Amy's face told him everything: Poor Jack was clueless.

**

Lisa's backside smarted. That's going to leave a bruise, she thought ruefully as she checked herself over for any other potential injuries after being unceremoniously dumped to the damp ground by Cinders. But no, every other part of her body seemed just fine. No broken bones or sprains, thank God. That's the last thing I would need right now just as I'm trying to get things sorted out at Fairfield. Now where has that horse trotted off to, and what the heck happened?

Lisa's brow creased as she recalled a sudden uncomfortable, intense buzzing sensation right before being tossed from the saddle. Her eyes sought and quickly spotted something that confirmed a dim suspicion: a downed tree tangled up with the line from an electrical fence erected around the slough Cinders had stepped into.

So that's what that shock was, Lisa realised.

"Cinders!" she called, hoping the sound of her voice would bring the horse back. It was usually an exercise in futility; Cinders was not trained to come when beckoned as a pet dog might. A careful inspection of the sod around her revealed hoof prints.

I hope that horse hasn't gone too far, Lisa thought in irritation. In truth, she was more annoyed at herself for not noticing the downed line. Fortunately, she spotted the dappled grey horse not too far away, pulling at some vegetation.

"Hey, you," Lisa softly chided as she approached him with deliberate caution. "What was that all about? Did you get spooked by that silly electric fence?"

Cinders seemed to bristle slightly when she neared, but he did not refuse when she took hold of his bridle. "Let's go home, huh?" she said, placing her right foot into the stirrup to mount up. With a squeeze of her calves, Lisa cued the horse to begin the return the way they came. Ahead, she could see the muddy banks of the slough along with the energizer and tangle of electrical wiring and branches.

Everything about the ride seemed normal until they were a few feet away from the water. Cinders stiffened as soon as he sighted the pond, stopping dead in his tracks. He balked when Lisa urged him on again; a snort of terror issued from his nostrils before he reared up in protest.

"Whoa, whoa!" Lisa called out, barely avoiding another fall as she regained her balance. "What's the matter with you?"

Without being commanded to do so, the horse backed away, giving his head a few contrary shakes.

"Come on, Cinders," Lisa coaxed, applying more pressure to his sides with her legs. She clicked her tongue loudly twice. The horse eventually got the idea, and he sidestepped the muddy bank, pacing off to the right, giving the slough a wide berth.

**

"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Scott," Lisa said.

"You've always been one of my best clients, Lisa," Scott commented warmly. "Happy to be of service. I was surprised to hear from you, to be honest; I haven't had a call from Fairfield in months."

"I know," she said vaguely, "being in France and all meant I wasn't as hands-on here as I have been in the past."

At that moment, Ty ambled in to the holding area. If he was surprised to see her there, he hid the emotion well. "Hi, Lisa," he said casually, as if this were any other normal visit.

"Hello, Ty," she answered back with a wan smile. Kicking herself mentally, she now knew she should have counted on the possibility Ty would be on duty at the clinic today. Oh, shoot. First Tim; now Ty. It's going to be impossible to keep my being in Hudson from Jack.

"I noticed the 'For Sale' signs up at Fairfield," Scott continued. "Don't tell me you're thinking of leaving us for good?"

Lisa bobbed her head, still wary of Ty's presence. "Yeah, I've had a good run here," she replied. "I'm looking at a new opportunity in Avignon."

With that short answer, both Scott and Ty understood she was not going to say anything more on the topic.

"So what's going on with this guy?" Scott asked, looking now at the horse. "You said something about an electrical fence?"

"Uh, yes," Lisa spoke up, re-organizing her thoughts to focus on the reason for her hasty appointment. "Meet Cinders."

The horse's level of agitation had come down since the earlier ride, but Lisa caught subtle cues that told a different story, making it clear to her Cinders was not over the sudden electrical shock they had experienced at the slough. She explained the whole episode while Scott examined the animal, inviting Ty to do the same as a learning exercise.

Presently, Scott declared: "In my medical opinion, there's nothing wrong with him physically, Lisa."

"That's good," Lisa said in relief. She rubbed Cinders' forehead. "It's just that he now absolutely refuses to go near water, Scott. The shock was pretty intense. Even I felt it right before I ended up on my butt. I'm afraid he thinks he's going to get zapped every time he steps into a puddle."

"I wish there was a magic pill I could give him to cure aquaphobia," Scott said with a smirk.

"Yeah, I know," Lisa sighed. "I just sold him yesterday to a guy in Montana. He's being shipped out on Sunday. I can't sell a 'defective' product."

"Want me to ask Amy if she can take the case?" Ty interjected, sympathetic to her situation.

Lisa contemplated. Involving Amy came with a risk. If Jack found out... She was grateful Ty had not asked any prying questions, seemingly aware the topic of her reappearance was verboten, but his suggestion was her best chance at fixing the problem.

"Okay," she eventually replied. "But could you—could you please tell her to keep it confidential...? Jack doesn't know I'm back, and I mean to keep it that way."

Ty nodded at her with understanding; Scott looked at her quizzically, but wisely held his tongue.

"Thanks," she said, blowing out a breath. "I hope she can figure him out before Sunday. But then again, she's always come through for me in the past. Go ahead, Ty. He's all yours."

"I'll get Cinders trailered out to Heartland right away," Ty said, taking hold of the lead rope.

Once Ty was safely on the way back to Heartland, Lisa carried on with some additional errands. As she drove, she came to the conclusion she was simply prolonging the inevitable. Even though I've sworn Scott, Ty and Tim to secrecy, walls have ears. Jack's going to know I'm here before the day is done, guaranteed.

**

Jack's sleep had been restive and uneasy. Katie's fright over the storm in addition to her irritability at missing Lou had not made for a peaceful night. Pete had sheepishly apologized for the toddler's cries, but the older man sympathized. He had been through those same parenting woes when Marion had been a baby, though he had admittedly missed months at a time of her growing up due to being on the rodeo circuit.

As Jack drove out to the town Yard Waste and Recycle Centre to deposit their dead branches and leaf sweepings, he wondered what his grandson-in-law was going to do if Katie continued to regress in her potty-training regimen. Clearly, these new parents had not counted on a lengthy separation between child and mother during this crucial time. Pete was doing his best, but it seemed not to be enough at this time.

He was still pondering this problem on his return trip to Heartland, slowly coming to the realisation there might not be any easy solutions. He was so engrossed in this mental exercise he had a double-take when he spotted a woman he thought he recognized on the side of the road.

Lisa?! he thought in a daze. It can't be.

But his eyes were not deceiving him. This was no case of mistaken identity as in times past when he thought he saw her in town. This was his old flame, quietly checking her mail like any other person. Only she was not any other person. She was the one who somehow managed to slip through his fingers. A subtle heat burned in his chest as he brought the truck to a slow roll before setting the brake.

Lisa is back. What is she doing here? Why is she back? Lisa is here.

Jack very nearly stumbled over his two feet on his approach. He could tell she heard his footsteps though he was trying to be stealthy.

"Hi, Lisa," he uttered, unsure of what to say now that he had been presented with this unexpected opportunity to talk with her.

She looked up almost guiltily at him.

Busted, Lisa thought. Here I am, trying to avoid Jack this whole time, and he has to spot me getting the mail. How silly is that?

Yet, her heart swelled at the sight of this cowboy, dressed as usual in his boots, jeans, plaid-patterned shirt, coat and hat. He looks healthy. I'm so glad. And now that she had seen him, every word she had once hoped to speak to him fled from her mind, leaving her tongue-tied. Her first instinct was to bolt from the scene rather than try to explain why she had not told him she was in Hudson. That same reticence seemed to be reflected in Jack's eyes; this unplanned encounter thoroughly throwing them both into an state of confusion.

They both mouthed meaningless words to each other, clumsily working through some semblance of a conversation that lasted less than a minute. Twin coals that once burned as one had turned stone cold, the former lovers behaving more like passing acquaintances. Absent from this meeting was any sense of excitement or jubilation; no crushing embrace or feverish kiss.

Jack's heart sank perceptibly when Lisa admitted she had been back for maybe a week—and that she was selling Fairfield.

"Well, I guess that was always the plan, wasn't it?" he spoke with an air of indifference, despite the chill brought on by the revelation. Yes, you always said you wanted to retire to France, Lisa. I never figured it would be so soon; and not without telling me, first.

Rather than prolong the sheer awkwardness of the encounter, Lisa excused herself, claiming—truthfully—she had a busy schedule to keep.

"'Bye'," she said, before turning to climb into the SUV.

"'Bye'," Jack managed to articulate, a lump forming in his throat watching her hasty retreat.

No "See you later" or "Let's catch up soon", and certainly not anything close to "I'm ready to make up".

Jack looked on a second or two while Lisa drove away, struck by the memory of another similar departure over a year prior, the one that had come as a sort of coda to their "break". Attempts had been made back then to repair that break; circumstances had not been in their favour.

"Not goodbye," he had corrected her at the time, a sad smile creasing his face. He remembered being heartsick at the prospect of suffering another lengthy separation from her, especially when their relationship was still so fractured.

"'til next time," she had repeated, her eyes misting, almost as if she sensed it could very well be the last time they ever saw each other.

The fact it almost was the last time they ever saw each other was not lost on Jack. His brush with death brought her rushing back. Now, he considered something new: Would she ever have come back if I had not had the heart attack? She did write that letter... But no. Just as swiftly as she had arrived, she had left him.

And now she's driving away again. For a fleeting moment he entertained the notion of chasing her down. No, that would be foolish, Jack thought, idly scratching the side of his face. She gave no indication she was happy to see me; let it go. That whole meeting went over like a lead balloon. Dejected, he paced back to his truck, trying to stem the flood of old memories of happier times with Lisa.

We're driving off in opposite directions. I'm going to Heartland, and she's going to Fairfield. She's selling Fairfield. I must have missed the realtor's signs, somehow. Jack knew how he had missed them, however, as he had taken to deliberately avoiding looking at Lisa's property any time his course took him along the stretch of road bordering it.

He could not help but remember the first time he had seen Fairfield up close. I was driving Lisa back after I told off that jerk of an ex-husband of hers. I was so happy that she still wanted to talk to me after leaving her stranded at the auction. She's so forgiving. Why did she give me a second chance? She accepted my apology so easily. I thought I had blown it.

His brain had been spinning at top speed throughout that drive, reaching for some way of asking her out on an honest-to-goodness date, but could think of no simple way to bring up the subject. Thank goodness she had provided an opening when she playfully asked if he had a plan in mind about how he was going to make it up to her. He had always felt comfortable and relaxed at his cabin, so before he even knew what he was saying, he asked if she was free to go fly fishing with him in a few weeks.

"Well, as a matter of fact... I do have something in mind about how to make it up to you..."

And she said "yes" so quickly, I almost couldn't believe my ears. What was I thinking asking a woman like Lisa out to a ratty old fishing cabin for a date?

Presently, Jack pulled back into Heartland. The sun was starting to go down, splashing golden rays across the open fields, highlighting the tops of the trees. He noticed Amy and Georgie in the jumping pen; the former taking a new horse around the course over what looked like empty liverpools. Heart and feet heavy, he dragged himself onto the porch and sank heavily into the bench, mind still full of that first date with her.

"To whatever it is," she had toasted them, a spark of warmth bursting in those blue eyes he already loved so dearly.

Whatever it was, Jack now thought with a doleful shake of his head. She didn't even tell me she was back in Hudson. After all we've been through, she didn't see it fit to tell me she was selling Fairfield. I deserved that much at least, didn't I?

But the more he tried to take umbrage at Lisa's lack of communication this time around, the more he was convicted of his own behaviour the last time they were together. She doesn't want anything to do with me after that falling out we had over that ridiculous hospital bed. The spark in her eyes was gone today. I never thought those eyes could look so cold... And sad.

It tormented him to know he was the proximate cause of that sadness and cold, impersonal reception.

**

Of all the dumb luck. I can't believe after all that avoidance, I had to run into Jack at the mailboxes. Lisa replayed that disappointing encounter, analysing each careless word spoken, wondering what she might have done differently. I honestly have no idea how to interpret how that went down back there, she thought. I don't know how to read that expression on Jack's face. Was he happy to see me? He didn't sound like it. And he certainly didn't sound surprised when I told him I was selling my place. What did I expect, anyway? That he would break down and beg me to stay? Oh, no. That's not Jack Bartlett's style. In fact, I have no idea at all what he was thinking. It's like we were almost strangers by the way we talked.

Lisa pulled onto the access road to Fairfield, flashing by the 'For Sale' sign. Her heart throbbed after concluding that might very well have been the last time she ever saw Jack. What a sour note to end things on, she mused bitterly. What a wasted opportunity.

Business concerns soon took over once again as she was obliged to inspect the clean-up job done by the landscaping company. Everything looked ship-shape; Fairfield would be more than ready for prospective buyers the realtor wished to bring for a viewing.

Out of nowhere, a distant memory of Val Stanton's mocking voice surfaced. "So, you'll be living at Fairfield, then?"

Lisa paused in her tracks, swept up in the residual irritation of that long-ago exchange. "Jack did hit the jackpot, didn't he?" Val had teased, though she seemed to know she was poking at one of Lisa's private insecurities. "I'm sure you'll have an ironclad pre-nup."

Val's thinly veiled antagonism stirred up feelings of resentment now. Jack and Lisa's hasty engagement was over just as quickly as it had begun, all because they truly had not seriously considered how their lives would come together in a practical sense. Oh, we had the romantic side figured out, Lisa acknowledged, but now even that's gone. No engagement, no marriage. We'll never be together at Fairfield now, and we certainly won't ever have France. Our relationship is officially road-kill, and I'll bet Val the Vulture is still lurking around, just waiting for an opportunity to pounce.

**

Next Chapter: Chapter 24: Things I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You

[occasionallyish--archive]

Whenever I'm getting tired of a maladaptive daydream series that's been going on in my head for a while, I either kill my character off or kill somebody important to them off or make them fall into obscurity– Except I literally cannot do that with yesterday's daydream so I decided why not write it all down?

In this current daydream, I'm the elusive leader of some underground organization literally called The Underground. Set 5-6 years after the current ongoins of BNHA, we essentially help people disappear from the eyes of the public(and the government!)– Whether they be ex-villains or ex-felons or civilians that just want a new life, we're happy to help. We host these huge, monthly, elaborate charity parties so that we can get funds and also donate some of those funds to other organizations dedicated to the homeless and the hungry! Also, I'm Dabi's best friend and he's my right hand man. After establishing all of this, I kinda of hit a roadblock as to where I wanted to turn, so I had my villainous ex-lover invade one of these parties and hold me at gunpoint.

Except... This was getting interesting! I decided I didn't wanna die just yet. So we go back, do a bit of rewriting– And decide that various heroes (MindJack, FreezerBurn, Cellophane, 30-y/o Hawks for some reason) were getting these threatening letters all about "dispose of him or I will" sharing things like the time and place of the party that dearest ex-lover invades. They come in just to see what's up with the place– Maybe provide some protection for this random guy that's getting death threats– and everything goes as it did originally, except with added pressure because these hero guys are there for my protection! So anyway that goes on and like a month or some other semi-short while goes by and I've been established as friends with the heroes and now I've decided "let's just have a semi-flirty friendship with Hawks and call it a day!"

Except, well, I decided with all the ideas flooding my brain I should just put a stop to em and turn to another daydream. And so, why not kill off Dabi and make me disappear off the face of the earth??? Yeahhhhh,,,, So Dabi goes missing for a while and somehow my guy Hawks get intel on where we may be able to find him so I tag along with a couple of heroes on what could be a rescue mission. And just as I say something stupid like, "Oh yeah, he can hold his own! He'll be fine :)" we slide open the doors to this werehouse and there he is... On the ground...... Heavily bleeding and Very Well Dying :(. I go to him and sob and he's on the brink of death when he tells me to just keep on talking to him. So I tell him how he's my closest friend in the history of ever. And I tell him I love him. And I tell him stories from my life before I became immersed in The Underground, and his last words to me before he stops breathing are a little laugh and an amused little, "You're such a dumbass." The ambulance gets there but it's too late. A week later, I'm hit with the press asking about my relationship with the former villain, and how I feel regarding his death... I respond "He was my best friend. And I loved him. And I'm sad. Is that enough for the tabloids?" And then after that interview I announce I'm taking a sabbatical from life, leave The Underground in the hands of a trusted friend (either Mustard or an oc of mine called Akira), and disappear off the face of the Earth

Except, ohoho, this was truly getting interesting! So I decided, 6 months later, I'd reappear from nowhere. And how do I make my entrance? A surprise, truly. I'm taller, I'm bolder, I'm happier than I've been in a long time– And I walk right into a party as hosted by whomever currently runs The Underground. A number of my hero friends are there. I walk right up to the host, get a hug from him, dismissively explain that I was just "far away" and that I'd be happy to reposses the responsibilities of The Underground in a month or so– Because I want another little while to live a little bit less stressfully, but surrounded by all my people. After a talk with the host, I find Hawks– We exchange snarky comments and he tells me he thought I was joking when I said I'd be taking a break from life. I tell him "Well, now ya know" and then he teases me about how a certain someone is staring. I laugh and raise a brow– Then he tells me how one Hanta Sero has been calling him every other week, asking if there's been any updates on my status. How Sero's been antsy to see me again. How he's worried. I laugh and roll my eyes like he's just teasing, but then he tells me to look to my left or smth and I do and... I lock eyes with tape man. He chokes on whatever he's drinking. I go to him and we get to talking and maybe a bit of flirting– I can't not tease him mercilessly. I go a little bit more in detail about my whereabouts– "Exploring my roots, and all that. Going 'round the world in 6 months." He calls me pretty and I ask if he's flirting, to which he confirms. I laugh and explain, "Well, pretty boy, a lifetime ago, I told myself I'd never get with anybody whose job had 'potential death' in the description– Heroes included." He pouts, but he understands. "Except, maybe let me get to know you more. I'd be willing to rewrite my rules, if you can show me it's worth it." An outing and a couple dates later, Sero unexpectedly ends up in the hospital

But I didn't wanna kill him off lol, I love him too much! So, I say that, in the line of duty, he fractures his knee or smth. But thanks to quirks and modern technology, they can fix it! I rush in and I'm worried but I'm assured it's all good. By the time he's cleared to go home, he's looped up on painkillers and his hero friends are conveniently back on the job and since he probably shouldn't be left alone, I'm left to take him! I take him home and we sleep and when we wake up, we're cuddlin or something cliche like that. He looks at me and all he sees is beauty, and he just.. Stares, for a while. But then I wake up, and I feel that spark, and I cup his cheeks in my hands. We stare at eachother, and after a second, we share a kiss to remember. Later I tell him that I want to kiss and I want to hold hands, but I don't want to put a full committment into it– Not until I have my full job back and we figure out if we can both handle the stress of that. And he understands. So, soon I've got full ownership of The Underground again. I host a party and people can see me n tape man are unusually close, this time. In the next party, we hold hands– He gets all nervous and I tell him, "At this point, darling, if you wanted to, I wouldn't mind if you shouted our relarionship out to this whole room." The party after that, he has to come in late because he was away at a convention or smth and his flight was delayed. He makes a big show of running up to me and scooping me in his arms and finally, officially announcing our relationship with another kiss to remember. We're together for years, after that. He moves in with me, we get a cat, he regularly even helps with managing The Underground. Life is good. And then for some reason I get shot.

Then, we're in the hospital room– I wake up to him at my bedside, hair messy and eyebags prominent and worry-lines creased in his face. He's kind of rambling, talking about whatever comes to mind. I move to grab his hand, sending a smile his way. He smiles back and takes a deep breath, before lifting my hand up to kiss my knuckles. We greet eachother with loving little "Hey."s. He tells me the guy that shot me is locked up and won't hurt me again. He tells me he knew I'd pull through, but that he was worried I'd be permanently hurt. I told him I probably would be. The mood gets heavy, but then I kind of tug on his hand and give him a goofy smile, "By the way..." He raises a brow and suddenly the mood is lightened, when I hum out a lighthearted yet serious "Let's get married, Hanta"

Anyway this is the only daydream in which I haven't been able to die... So I decided I'd just write it down and say that we ended on a good note! Because I can't really juggle multiple daydreams, and ideas tend to come daily so I always have something different to work with. Never get bored, ykyk? And no way am I letting this kinda awesome Sero brainrot burn me outta good content for myself

Or I'll just get sniped during the wedding ceremony lol I don't know if my character is op enough to come back from that–

[nightwingvixen23]

DICKPrettyThingGRAYSON Updated His Status :

To my soulmate.........

BITCH COME FUCKING GET ME😩

8,426 Likes 25 Comments

RedKINGRoy : I pulled up where your ass @ ?

DICKPrettyThingGRAYSON : Dairy Queen

TimBirb : you’re a legit mess

DICKPrettyThingGRAYSON : that’s why your man wants a piece

TimBirb :

KonElK: I’m not apart of this conversation

TimBirb : you are literally a part of this conversation Kon 

KF2.o : I will bitch slap each and every single one of you who comes near my dick

Stephanieee23 : lmfaoooo try again Wally

KF2.o : I will bitch slap each and every single one of you who comes near my Dick

RedKINGRoy : 🤣🤣

Stephanieee23 : one more time

KF2.o : I will bitch slap each and every single one of you who comes near my Dick Grayson

Stephanieee23 : There ya go! Who’s a good boy !!?

KF2.o : 🖕✋

Jason piece’a’me Todd : first of all....all of you guys can slap yourselves when I tell you to slap yourselves ‘cause I’m predominate bitches. Second of all the stake has already been claimed. end of story. good day.🎩

RedKINGRoy : then why am I about to pull up and feed your boy some ice cream ?

Jason piece’a’me Todd : you’re delusional, we established this weeks ago Roy. You wouldn’t remember tho.....considering you’re delusional 

DICKPrettyThingGRAYSON : no one knows which Dairy Queen i’m at. Besides, for all you know, I could be on a stakeout. Or undercover. 

Stephanieee23 : Major hot crimes goin’ down in the DQ you guys

KF2.o : fuck if I didn’t already know that, my sundae last week had extra nuts when I didn’t ask for extra nuts 

TimBirb : lemme guess, a little too much extra ?

KF2.o : exactly

Stephanieee23 : Major Hot Crimes

DamiWayn : what the fuck kinda shit did I just read ?