#the protege chapter 4

[protege-not-protagonist]

Criminal Minds: The Protégé Chapter 4

Ch 4: My Brother's Keeper Pt. 1

Blurb: After meeting with Dr. Reid, Grace is called away on a case with the team to a double Homicide of children with excessive overkill. It doesn't take long to establish that This Unsub will kill again if not caught soon. But as Grace works the case, certain aspects of it stir up a past she would rather forget. Meanwhile Spencer can't help but start working on the victimology of this new possible serial killer back home.

Masterlist

Previous Chapter

Audience: mature audience for depictions of violence and sexual references

Author's Note: if you see a trigger warning that concerns you, you can scroll to end and I'll have a brief description what happens. I think that system should work well cause then those who don't want spoilers don't have to read the trigger warnings at the start and get spoiled. Also my apologies to Groton South Dakota. I'm sorry I'm sure your a lovely town, I just threw a dart on the map and looked for a small town in that area. No offense.

TW: Ableism, child death, violence, gore, crime scene depiction, kidnapping.

Quantico, FBI Runway Tarmac Thursday July 2023 1:32 pm

‘Sorry,’ Grace apologised as she entered the jet, ‘It’s worth the wait trust me.’ She turned behind her and gestured to the two people who followed her up the stairs, ‘This is my friend Agent Stiller, from Forensics…’

A neatly dressed young man with dark skin and round glasses smiled widely and offered his hand to the rest of the team, ‘You can just call me Avery, nice to meet you guys, I’ve heard a lot about the lofty sixth floor. Didn't know you guys had a jet.’ That earnt a few laughs from her team.

Grace turned to the older redheaded woman who still stood at her side. ‘And this is our associate, Dr Boland, she's an expert Forensic Anthropologist with the Smithsonian. She taught me everything I know.’

'Well, I don't think that's quite true, Grace,' Dr Boland chuckled slightly and turned to the team offering a small wave, ‘Nice to meet you all, although I wish it were under better circumstances.’

‘Thank you for joining us on short notice, we appreciate having you both on board,’ Prentiss welcomed them, ‘Take a seat where you can find one, budget won’t allow for a bigger jet so we might have to get a little cosy, I’m Section Chief and Acting Unit Chief SSA Prentiss, this is SSA’s Rossi, Alvez, Simmons, Jareau and Dr Lewis, you both know Special Agent Matthews. As soon as we’ve taken off, we’ll start running through what we've got so far.’

The jet started taxiing along the runway. Without too much surprise, Avery and Dr Boland took the couch seat together. Grace smiled and shot them an encouraging smile up before sitting down next to Rossi.

‘Where did you wander off to today, huh? That's the first time you’ve taken a lunch break longer than 10 minutes. I’m proud of you,’ Rossi nudged her.

Across the table from her, Dr. Lewis and JJ listened in curiously.

‘I was still on site, as I’m sure you will all hear from Alvez in his report-’ she heard Luke snort from the seat behind her. ‘-I went to see Dr Reid.’

Everyone sat up in their chairs, suddenly very focused on what she had to say. She even heard the rest of the team's seats creak behind her.

‘What?’ she asked. It felt like she was unaware of some joke that they had with each other. Had they been taking bets again?

‘Nothing.’ Rossi shrugged, ‘We all miss him. Guess we just wanna know how he's doing, How’d it go?’

The jet shuddered as it sped full speed down the runway. They all paused their conversation as the cabin began to rattle. Rossi gripped the armrest tightly and Grace closed her eyes and enjoyed the stomach flipping sensation. They lifted off the ground and there was the pleasant buzz in her body of adrenalin. She loved take offs. She opened her eyes and there were a few pairs staring back at her, waiting. Oh yeah, they had asked her a question.

‘Fine, it was really good actually. He’s nice, gave me some advice, and he's funny too… It was very… I don’t know.’

‘You two just… gelled well? It would be nice having someone on your level to talk to,’ Dr. Lewis suggested.

Grace let out a nervous chuckle, ‘Oh no, he is way above my level, but… he’s not like other people I've met who are like that.’

Rossi gave her a knowing look, ‘He is the smartest guy in the room but he doesn't lord it over anyone. He doesn’t have a drop of arrogance or conceitedness in him.’

‘Yeah, that’s it,’ she smiled. Rossi was right, probably because he knew who some of the ‘other people’ she was referring to.

‘Well, if you think he is funny, you must be closer to his level than us, cause his jokes often go over our heads,’ JJ remarked and there were a few nods of agreement.

The monitor chimed, and Garcia’s bright personality shone through the screen.

'Hello my crime fighters and special guests! I've got an update, not a good one but still an update.'

'What have you got, Garcia?' Prentiss asked. They all got up and gathered around the second table in the jet that currently had all the files scattered across it.

‘Well, I have nothing folks, I looked for two related persons with Brittle Bone Disease in Groton and surrounding areas, and there are none. I trolled through medical records, but knowing they can be tricky and locked up tight, I went with ER admissions for repeated broken bones, then tried health insurance, then wheelchair and braces purchases, then school enrollments with special needs, nada… whoever these babies are, they aren't local and I can't find them and it's making me so sad.'

‘That's okay, keep working on that list, extend it to nationwide; families with two or more individuals with Brittle Bone who are under 25,’ Prentiss instructed.

‘Oooh, that is a big list,’ Garcia winced.

‘It’s okay, we have Dr Boland and Agent Stiller here, they will help give us more identifying features and we can narrow down the list further as we go along.’ Prentiss assured her. 'But are there any missing persons with Brittle Bone reported?'

Garcia shook her head, 'None reported in the entire country.'

Grace felt her chest ache a bit at the thought of a pair of parents out there unaware their kids were missing, or worse, not caring that they were. She held to that thought.

‘Brittle Bone is debilitating for kids. Most breakages occur before puberty, they would require a high level of care. These are kids you couldn't leave them home alone for long periods of time. They wouldn't be able to walk long distances or play on a playground unsupervised. Even if these victims are in their early teens, and they aren't as vulnerable, they're still someone you would notice missing. If they have not been reported missing, it’s likely that their guardian is also missing,' she suggested.

'Or the unsub themselves,' Alvez countered.

Why hadn’t she considered that? It was more likely.

She winced at the thought, 'I hope not. But yeah that's what statistics would point to, most murders are committed by someone closely related to a victim, even more so with children.'

'Well, if that is not the case…' Simmons pointed to a map of Groton they had on the table, 'Two major routes intersect here the 37 and the 12, there isn’t much in the town, it’s basically a rest stop, we could be dealing with a mobile killer. If our unsub knew the town had little in the way of law enforcement, they could dump the bodies, shock a small town, overwhelm law enforcement and continue driving. They’d be long gone before the cops even figured out what to do, it’s a forensic countermeasure. Have we looked at the Highway Serial Crimes database? Any similar scenes in other states?'

Garcia shook her head, ‘I checked that, and I'm keeping tabs, but I’ve found nothing this severe, or with kids, sorry. Ah… and I see you’re getting ready to look at those photos and I’ll take that as my cue, I’m out. Talk to you later.’

The screen went dark as Simmons laid out some of the photos on the table.

Prentiss turned their guests. ‘Can you tell anything from the photos that will help narrow anything down?’

‘Ah, no, I agree with everything Grace has concluded. An MNI of two. Both victims are definitely under 21. Most likely related, both have OI. Most likely Caucasian; their teeth have no shovelling. I would say these victims are more likely have Type One, but we will have to reconstruct and get stature estimates and bone samples to know that for certain. Unfortunately, I can’t rule out one of our individuals being pre-pubescent either, like Grace observed, their 31 hasn’t erupted. And if the victims do have Type One, it is the only type not known to cause unusual dentition. I believe it is a worse case scenario, one of those victims is around 12 years old.’ Dr Boland reported.

Grace already had known that, but somehow having someone else confirm it, made the cabin's recycled air feel heavy.

Avery sighed, ‘I have nothing to add, except I want to let you guys know, we are pretty good, but we are not miracle workers. I just want to prepare you for the possibility that we may not ID these victims if no relative comes forward with DNA or reports them missing. Soft tissue is obliterated, so we’re going to work with what we can and move to bones. Now, with younger victims, it is harder to determine sex with only skeletal remains, and given the condition they are in, the fragmentation will also make it difficult to determine facial features or distinguishable characteristics. Dr Boland will do what she can and I will assist where I can.’

‘Wait assist? So you’re not a bone and body guy?’ Alvez asked.

The rest of the team looked confused. Grace realised she hadn’t really told them much about who Avery was, or much about her old team, really.

‘I dabble but no, on the second floor, I’m the living people expert,’ he explained.

JJ nodded along with a grin, ‘You’re the team liaison.’

He nodded proudly, ‘I specialise in CSI coordination, organisation, and education for local police. Grace called me because I’ve worked cases like this before. It is possible we are walking into a contaminated crime scene, regional PD’s will be trying to work with one another, there will be press vultures, and we will most likely be doing the reconstruction in a country clinic or even a vet clinic. Agent Prentiss, I know you will be head of this investigation, but if you allow it, I will gladly organise and coach Local PD though evidence collection. I will do my best to make sure all evidence is collected and processed so it is admissible in court, if that's what you want me to do.’

‘That would be a big help, a profile is going to be hard enough with not much victimology to go off, we don’t need to be juggling crime scene management as well,’ Prentiss agreed.

Avery pulled out a business card and passed it around, ‘That’s my number, I'll grab all yours as well. I know how important a profile is in a case like this, I need to know any updates on your profiles immediately. In a small town like this, we will definitely work with volunteers. I’ve been warned that having Feds brought in might excite and Unsub, it’s possible I will be working along side our unsub at some point, so I think it’s good if we stay in touch.’

Rossi nodded with an impressed look on his face, ‘Where do you find these people, kid?’

‘Around. I keep good company,’ she smiled.

‘Okay when we land, we have a 20 minute drive to Groton from the regional airport, JJ, Matthews, Stiller and Dr Boland, I want you to go to the crime scene, make sure they get everything under control. Rossi, Alvez, I want you to question the staff at the golf course where the bodies were found. Simmons, Lewis you're with me, we will go to the station and get a lay of the land. We'll meet at the Gold Stallion Inn by seven. That's where we're being put up. I hope none of you snore, because there are only six rooms some of us are gonna have to share.’

‘Shot not sharing with Rossi,’ Dr Lewis remarked.

‘Hey, I do not snore. And I’ve had three wives who can attest to that,’ Rossi defended.

-------

Somewhere along Route 37, South Dakota, Thursday July 2023 3:30 pm

He looked out the window as the radio played country music. It had been a long time since he had been on a road trip, he’d forgotten what it felt like. The crink in his knees hardly bothered him though. This was too exciting. Fields passed him and he smiled as a herd of cows lazily grazed, watching their minivan drive by.

‘Cows!’ he exclaimed with delight.

No one else in the car shared his enthusiasm. That was okay, his mom and dad had been driving for a long time, they were tired.

But then the woman next to him sobbed.

‘Please, where are you taking us? Where are my boys!’ his mother cried.

His smile retreated. She was ruining it.

‘SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP RIGHT NOW!’ he pressed the gun to her head again.

‘Lilly, it’s okay baby, we’ll be okay!’ Dad called from the driver’s seat. ‘Please don’t hurt her, she just wants to know when we are going to stop.’

The man turned back to look at him and the woman with pleading eyes. It was good that Mom and Dad loved each other. If only they would love him as much. This was supposed to be a family road trip. They were supposed to be a happy family now. Why didn’t they love him?

‘We stop when I say we can, and you’ll see your boys again, soon enough,' he promised, and he wasn’t lying this time.

This Mom and Dad weren't right, his brothers weren’t right. He’d find the right ones one day. But he supposed he had to value what little time left he had with this family, it was supposed to be fun wasn’t it? He lowered the gun as the road sign loomed up ahead and he smiled. They were nearly there.

‘Ooh, let’s play a game… I spy, with my little eye, something, beginning with… M.’

--------

Groton SD, Golf Course, Thursday July 2023 3:58 pm

'Deputy Mitchell?' JJ asked as the four of them climbed off the golf cart and approached a middle-aged man guarding a large tarp spread over the ground.

'You the feds?'

‘Agents Jareau, Matthews, and Stiller, and our forensic expert Dr Boland.' JJ introduced, pointing out each one.

'Well, thought you'd be all suited up with earpieces, but I'm glad you're here. Body is under here.' He lifted the tarp partially and they all braced themselves. 'Groundsman found it here this morning, Jesus,' the deputy winced and turned away.

'When did the call come in?' JJ asked.

‘That was about six this morning... Look, other than putting the tarp on and doing a search of the grounds, we haven't done anything else. This is way over our heads. We are a small community. People come here cause it’s quiet and nothing happens, we don’t have resources, certainly not for this. Heck, I’m not even sure how we are going to move the body. We asked the regional centre, Aberdeen, for help. They took one look and told us to contact you guys, but they’re sending us their CSI team. They just radioed that they are a few minutes away.'

Avery began to talk about how they were logistically going to go about this. JJ asked questions about what time people usually played golf, and the opening times of the course. She zoned out and peeled the tarp back fully, and Dr Boland jumped to help.

Immediately it was clear the victims were killed right here. This wasn't a dump sight. Blood spatter was caked all over the grass.

Dr Boland opened her field kit and began taking the ambient temperature, following procedure. Grace however became focused on the thing she hadn't been able to tell from the photos; how was this done.

She fixed her glasses on the nose and knelt down next to the bodies.

'Hello, I'm Agent Grace Matthews, I'm just going to examine you to see what happened, okay? Then we will get you both somewhere safe and put you together so we can bury you okay?'

She always spoke to the bodies. She knew the others on the team thought it was weird. She even felt weird talking to them this time, it was hard to even recognise them as human in the state they were in. But that’s why she had to do it, especially at a scene like this.

It was a habit she started at her first job after she left school and she kept it up when she went into forensics. The practice was quite normal in some fields. It was a humanising technique that gave dignity to a body while acting as a coping strategy for the living person. They taught it at the academy, but few practiced it.

'And I'm Dr Boland, I’m Grace’s friend. I will be putting you together and running tests. I will work as fast as I can.' Dr Boland introduced herself, not missing a beat. Grace looked to her in surprise. The doctor only smiled warmly back at her as if to say, “it's not weird at all.” And kept setting up the scene for the investigation.

Grace turned her attention back to the gore and clasped her hands together and hugged them under her chin; it was time to focus. This is what she was here for, this is what got her into the FBI.

Her eyes darted across the mess and searched for repeated patterns or familiar shapes. Amongst the clumps of flesh, splinters of bone and bloody strips of cloth that would have been clothes, she looked for large pieces that were still relatively intact. A long bone, or perhaps the outline of where the clothes would have sat, hopefully. She moved around, searching from every angle for something recognizable. Eventually, the two bodies began to appear. She could identify different sections of a body and her mind filled in the blanks or rearranged into the form it was supposed to take. The two had died next to each other; one face down, one face up.

Two fragmented bones stuck out to her. A snapped the ulna and radius. Attached to it she found a bit of skin that was bruised and dented in a rough crescent shape.

The scene flashed in her mind;

A young voice cried out as they were hit in the back of the head with the bludgeon, their skull shattered immediately, they fell face first into the grass and their jaw dislocated, which allowed the mandible to remain relatively while the overkill was exerted. This was the younger one. When they hit the ground, the other older one turned to the assailant, who was already swinging the weapon at him now. They raised their arm in defence to block the first blow of a rounded heavy object swinging at them. Their forearm shattered immediately. They fell to the ground, and the blows kept coming in a frenzied rage from the man standing above them. They died relatively quickly. But the unsub wanted to humiliate and disfigure them further, he beat them for what must have been hours.

She shook the scene from her mind and focused now on the weapon.

It was flexible and heavy yet did not leave a uniformed mark. It was malleable and, given the frenzied blitz attack; improvised.

She racked her brain, an improvised weapon on a golf course. It would have to be a club right? But it couldn't be; a golf club wasn't the right… anything. Shape, size, weight distance from the attacker; it was all wrong. This damage was more like a mediaeval mace, something heavy that could be swung but didn’t have much reach- yet, not solid? She stood up and wandered around, deaf to the world as she searched for an object that would fit the disruption.

'Hey Agent Matthews… Matthews… Grace. Grace!’ Dr Boland called to her.

‘Yes?’ she turned around

‘If you're heading over there to the bunker can you get a sample of the sand please?' Dr Boland asked.

She nodded and pulled out a test tube from her forensics field kit. She knelt down and scooped up some sand from the bunker. It was really fine sand, not like the natural sand that was about the town. This stuff would get everywhere if I fell over right now, she thought to herself. Then she had a little giggle to herself, it would get everywhere, but it wasn’t rough, or course, it was powdery and fine. Like Anakin Skywalker, she disliked sand, which was unfortunate, having grown up on a tropical island. She also hated golf courses. In her opinion, and her father’s, they were a waste of space. Swathes of nature manicured into useless fields to chase a ball in. The amount of habitat destruction, water wastage and land metamorphosis places like this went through was… she halted.

The sand wasn't from here.

It was brought here, and you buy sand in bags and sand bags are heavy and malleable. And she knew firsthand, you can scale a sandbag down and make the tried-and-true homemade truncheon with little effort.

She ran back over the body and pulled out her magnifying glass, inspecting a depression that would have been caused by a blow. Sure enough, she could make out a few fibres and sandy particulates in the wound. She pulled out a swab taking a sample.

‘Dr Boland, there are fibres and particulates in these wounds, make sure to get some samples before you clean the bones, have you established a baseline yet?’

‘Yeah, it's that flag there,’ she pointed to the peg in the ground and continued laying out measuring guides getting ready to take scaled photos. Grace stood next to the baseline, took out her tablet, snapped a photo and drew an outline with her stylus.

'I got a rough indication of where the victims are lying. I'll do a diagram, that way you can have a rough starting point for the reconstructions.’ She drew outlines of the victims over the photos and labelled them One and Two and hit send.

Dr Boland glance at her tablet smiled, 'This is great. I've never seen you work out side the lab before.'

'Well I do this quite often, I think it would be more accurate to say I've never seen you work out side a lab before,' Grace grinned.

'True, the field is not usually my scene, especially when the site is this recent. But I just wanted to say, the field, it suits you. You seem... more free.' The doctor remarked.

Another golf cart approached carrying a uniformed officer and a few people in CSI jackets; the team from Aberdeen.

‘Looks like the Cavalry's arrived.’

‘Go, catch this guy, we’ve got this,’ Dr Boland nodded, holding out her hand.

Grace frowned at her and reached to shake it.

Dr Boland laughed and shook her hand back, ‘As much as I appreciate that you are comfortable enough to shake my hand, I actually was after the samples you collected, I need to catalogue them.’

‘Oh. right,’ Grace nodded and handed them over. ‘What do you recon? If we catch this guy by Saturday, will you be up for Sunday Study Brunch?’

Dr Boland smiled at her, ‘Well with your diagram here, it should make it easier to reconstruct. I’ll say, we’re on at this point. I’ve got a new stack of possible US soldiers from Bataan, circa 1940s, that I could use help cataloguing, unless you want to work more on your thesis?’

Grace sighed, ‘Not yet, I’m still stuck. Cataloguing Soldiers it is then. I’ll see you and Avery tonight, I’ll keep you in the loop, but I have to brief JJ, and the team. I’ve got a weapon and a few details.’

--------

Leaving one car with Avery and Dr Boland at the scene, JJ and her met up with Rossi and Alvez after they finished the staff interviews.

‘Anyone stick out?’ JJ asked.

‘Nope,’ Rossi shook his head. ‘All of them have alibis.’

‘Grounds man was a bit too into lawn, but none of them seemed off at all.‘ Alvez added. ‘What if this guy is a worse case scenario; just a random guy with victims of opportunity who motored out of here like Simmons said?’

JJ sighed, ‘Well, apparently opening hours are seven to seven, and people would only interact with staff and leave a record if they paid for entry, or hired equipment or a cart. Most locals have an annual pass, so they don’t need to pay for entry. Not that it’s really barred at all, there is no fence, no security or CCTV. Anyone could walk onto the course at any time. What could you tell from the bodies?’

They all looked to her.

‘It was a blitz attack followed by post mortem overkill. After the initial attack the unsub continued to beat them to humiliate and dehumanise them. There was no attempt to conceal the bodies; there is no remorse. The Unsub, is a man, given the strength, and probably under 30, immature and emotionally stunted. The attack was disorganised and full of rage. It seems personal, if the unsub didn’t know these kids, he must be using them as surrogates,’ she reported.

‘Now that kinda rage at two random defenceless disabled kids makes me think we could be looking at a hate crime; like extreme ableism,’ Alvez surmised darkly.

‘Ugh, can this guy get any worse,’ JJ murmured.

Grace gave her a sympathetic look. JJ hid it well but Grace could tell, she was very shaken by this case. She had said very little the entire time. Anything with kids was hard, especially on JJ, but this level of brutality was something else entirely.

‘You said the attack was disorganised, are you implying that he is organised in another aspect?’ Rossi turned to her.

‘Yes well, I may have some good-ish news in that department,’ Grace nodded, ‘The weapon was an improvised truncheon. Now improvised weapons usually indicate a disorganised individual, but on this occasion the weapon actually shows the opposite. He used something that requires criminal sophistication. This guy used a sock filled with sand. It’s a simple but effective weapon. It's not one that comes to mind unless you’ve been in a situation where you’ve had to learn to make a weapon out of nothing before,’ she smiled proudly. They continued to look at her, confused, so she elaborated; ‘I think this guy’s been to prison. Which means he’s in the system, we can find him.’

Rossi’s phone rang and he answered after a quick glance at the Caller ID. ‘Yes? Yeah everyone’s here, yeah I’ll put you on speaker hang on-’ Rossi held his phone out, and they gathered around it, ‘-Go ahead Emily.’

‘I have bad news and worse news. The bad news is there are only five rooms at the inn, so more of us are going to have to share. The worse news is that there are only five rooms because room one’s key was left in the drop box this morning before the office opened and the guests’ car was gone. Now the manager assumed they had checked out, but when the cleaner arrived this afternoon, the Giles family’s belongings were still inside the room.’

‘Well, that’s not good,’ Rossi voiced what they were all thinking.

Grace's mind raced, it made sense why they weren’t reported missing; this family was on vacation, they weren’t expected to be anywhere. The Unsub still had the parents, they couldn’t report the kids missing, they might not even know their kids are dead.

Prentiss continued, ‘Hotel manager says the Giles family were a family of four staying one night. Mom, dad and two boys, one around 15, one around 12 with crutches. Garcia got the 411 on them, the Giles are originally from Minneapolis, she can confirm the boys and the father have type one Brittle Bone Disease. Garcia is searching for their car as we speak. We also have moved our base of operations to the inn and called in State troopers to meet us and the sheriff there. We need to give the profile as soon as possible; we’re dealing with a family annihilator.’

-------

Next Chapter

Note: Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this and that you like Avery and Dr Boland, we'll be seeing them and a few other OCs a fair bit in this story. If you love it, or even just like it, please leave a comment and/or like, it is much appreciated and it really motivates me.

TWs:

Ablesim: this is the big one. Unsub is targeting physically disabled people and it is suggested that these murders could be hate crimes. It is not explored why the unsub has this view point in this chapter but it doesn't really matter. It's never justifiable at all to hate like that. unsub is horrible and delusional. Be warned for ick factor.

Child death: sadly the victims are kids.

Violence, gore, crime scene depiction: these all go together, I don't think I'm too graphic, but Agent Matthews goes to the crimes scene and she replays the events in her head. it's a brief depiction of how the children were murdered.

Kidnapping: there is a scene with our unsub who is currently with the kids' parents, who have been kidnapped. He threatens them and is just generally creepy.

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

Might be a hot take but a major character’s death is really only as good as the weight and the treatment that the narrative gives it. Sure, any author has the ability to write death as they see fit. But whether the consumer (of any given form of media) is actually able to emotionally connect and resonate with the departure of someone who has occupied a good chunk of narrative space very heavily depends on how it’s treated within the story. If it’s a major character, the narrative needs enough built-in breathing space. As in, the consumer doesn’t have to fill in the blanks as to how the death impacted the plot or the remaining characters. Let the narrative do that for them, and that would actually allow the consumer to better react and relate to that major death (sadness, anger, joy, etc). Allow the rest of the characters (who were impacted by the deceased) to react to their parting. Let them engage with the death in a manner that helps justify the character’s inclusion in the narrative to begin with. Make it clear how the character’s life and (especially) their death relate to the larger themes of the story. Because most consumers aren’t stupid. We don’t want our hands held at every waking moment, but we also don’t want our investment in a story to be insulted just for the sake of a cheap shock. Give us time to breathe and grieve. And respect that we have put in a lot of emotional investment in a story and its characters, and we deserve to have that acknowledged.

[ifyoucandaniel]

exactly one person asked and i’ve been DYING to make this, so here are all of my favorite long batman fanfics in general and for new readers @twisted-tales-told :)

cards on the table by @wesslan ! 69k, completed. this is one of my all time favorite fanfictions, it’s so funny and tim is a mastermind genius and a little liar <3 he basically pretends to be a fortune teller and gives scarily good predictions and advice by stalking the upper class and eventually gets involved with the batfam and has to maintain his lies while dealing with his issues :) 10/10, very found family, good angst, so much lying

Dark Matter by @mysterycyclone , 221k, ongoing. this is a batman fanfic rec, of course my bbg dark matter is going to be here <3 this is a MCUxDCU crossover where after infinity war (spoilers for that if you haven’t seen it!) peter parker gets sent to the DCU dimension with part of the soul stone and basically is haunted by the ghosts of the avengers while trying to survive in gotham and get back to his dimension. this is so well written i’ve read it at least three times, it’s still ongoing but trust me it is SO GOOD. i can’t properly describe it, but if you like spider-man and you are interested in batman, you’ll love.

Red is the Color of Sinners by @bluelotuswrites , series, 120k, ongoing, M. i want you to look me in my eyes when i tell you this is my favorite series on ao3. it is set after under the red hood and daredevil 3 where jason and matt meet in a church after jason loses his ability to speak following the events of UTRH. they keep running into each other both as matt and daredevil and eventually jason begins helping matt out with injuries and tech. it’s not finished yet, but there is something so compelling about their dynamic in this series as well as jason’s overall character and how he is portrayed. i’m a sucker for mute jason after UTRH and this series does so well giving him a fresh start and a place away from gotham to heal and build relationships. i cannot recommend enough.

buy back the secrets by @vinelark , 71k, ongoing, T. THIS!!! oh my god, so this is a timkon fic where kon still doesn’t know tim’s civilian identity, but whenever he’s in trouble tim calls for superboy which leads to them meeting without kon knowing. shenanigans ensure when kon starts spending more time with tim! it’s still ongoing but the author is currently working on the next part and it is so so worth the wait. chapter 4 ends on a cliffhanger though so be warned :))

Sales People Know (listening is the most important part) by Mayhem10, 77k, completed, T. this has the coolest urban magical realism ever. tim basically runs this magic shop that shows up places and people who need something find it in his shop :) it’s kinda a slow burn found family fic with magic themes and a smidge of angst!

Retrograde Motion by Lysical, 112k, completed, T. this is best de-aged kid fic ever. jason gets turned into a 7 year old and basically the outlaws, artemis and biz, join forces with the batfam to take care of him. but trust me when i say this is worth your time, it might sound tropey but in the best way possible!! and jason’s relationship with artemis is sooo important to me in this!

Hand in Unloveable Hand (a chokehold) by britishparty, 54k, completed, M. this is one of the best psychological torture/grooming fics i’ve ever read. pretty much what if while our taking photos of batman and robin, little tim gets kidnapped and black mask gets his hands on him and decides he’s the perfect size for a protege. years of psychological abuse and insane mind games ensue. also tim is a Badass™️

If He Had Come by bronwe_iris, 45k, completed, T. so i’m a little freak and i love the angst of arkham knight jason, but more specifically the aus where bruce saves jason before he becomes the arkham knight! this is an au where bruce finds jason and saves him from the joker after 9 months of torture and brings him home. focuses on his healing mentally and physically and rebuilding his relationship with his family

Banshee in a Well by liverobinreaction (bugbee), 43k, completed, T. veeeery good angst. basically what if tim couldn’t die? 43k of tim drake whump where he just dies a bajillion times and eventually his family notices <3

The Birds: Hatching a Family by Oceanera12, 81k, completed, T. this is like “what if the batkids weren’t adopted by bruce, but instead they were all foster siblings who can’t seem to stay out of gotham at night and batman happens to find them and decides obviously he can’t leave these kids to their own business, he has to stick his nose in it” and there’s some angst and heaps of found family

The Hellblazer’s Apprentice by @bluelotuswrites, 29k, ongoing, M. what can i say, im a simple woman, i love to see jason with literally any older male mentor :) basically in UTRH what if he took up an apprenticeship under constantine to learn magic to piss off batman! so good, i really love constantine so seeing him and jason interact in a long fic is so good. also ALL BLADES JASON TODD SAVE ME… ALL BLADES JASON TODD-

something in the static by bonerot19, 101k, ongoing series with three main completed works, T. this is a jason centric series where jason still lives in crime alley with his mom and dad and never stole the batmobile tires. it follows his life in crime alley with an addict mom and an abusive dad and one night when his dad is whaling on him nightwing finds him and the bats just can’t seem to leave him alone after that. steph is his neighbor and best friend also and their relationship is so good. this is a “what if jason took a different way home to the wayne’s” fic series and i love it so much <3

catch the asteroids that come your way by ThePackWantsTheD, 54k, completed, T. i don’t read a lot of ships in the batman fandom i’m sorry, but this kyle/jason one is sooo lovely. basically the two of them growing up together and falling in love and then dealing with the aftermath of A Death in the Family and finding each other again :) really sweet and nice!

hope you find something you like! i realized the majority of these are tim or jason centric, and i love them all dearly, but if anyone has any recs for long fics focusing on any of the other batkids lmk! and any other recs in general, i am a fiend for new fics

[thatsmzbitchtoyou]

Pretty P.A. Chapter 4

Summary: Y/N has been the personal assistant to the most influential and famous fashion modeling agency director in the industry for the past 13 years.  They’ve decided to retire, and are leaving the agency in the hands of their protege and former model, Bucky Barnes.  He seems plenty qualified, and Y/N is excited for a chance to work with him.  Change always takes time,  but the new insanely hot boss is distrustful and hesitant towards her.  **curvy reader** **Y/N/N = Your nickname ** Warnings: mentions of sexual assault (not from Bucky), some violence, blood, smut

Previous chapter Next chapter

Y/N took the rest of the week off.  It was something she rarely did, but she felt overwhelmed and frustrated.  The whole ordeal with Brock hurting and threatening her to the near-kiss with Bucky had sent her mind reeling.  By the next week she had made a decision.  As much as she enjoyed working for Bucky, that was all it was going to be, a working relationship.  Whatever it was that had happened meant nothing.  It was a rush of adrenaline, a weird reaction to the shock she was going through.  He was her boss.  Nothing more.

She arrived at the office earlier than usual, setting everything up for the meetings that were scheduled that day.  She set her coffee on the small table and chair off to the side in his office for herself to take notes and his coffee on his desk, rearranging the chairs facing his desk for the designers and models.  As people trickled in she greeted them warmly, accepting their “sorrys” and condolences for what had happened before getting back to work.  Bucky came in and froze when he saw her at her desk.

“Good morning, Bucky,” Y/N said, barely sparing him a glance before getting back to typing.  “Your coffee is on your desk.  The first meeting is at 9:30.”

Bucky stared at her for a moment before stepping towards his office.  “Thank you,” he mumbled.  He walked into his office and stopped again, staring at the setup.  He stepped back out and looked at her questioningly.  “Why is your chair all the way over in the corner?”

Y/N kept typing.  “I take notes.  Don’t want to be in the way.”

Bucky exhaled sharply.  “Can I speak to you, please?”

Y/N stopped typing and quietly sighed before standing and smiling at him.  She walked around him into his office and he shut the door behind her.  She stood by the spot she made in the corner and waited for him to speak.  Bucky stared at her for a moment before opening his mouth to speak, but the words died on his lips.  He roughly rubbed his face with his hands and sighed loudly.

“Y/N, what happened last week, I–”

“It doesn’t mean anything,” Y/N interrupted.  He looked at her in surprise.  She kept her face neutral.  “Thank you, again, for helping me.  I appreciate your concern.”

Bucky gawked at her and shook his head.  “No, that’s…that’s not at all what…” he trailed off.  Y/N waited, but he didn’t seem to know what he was trying to say.  

She looked at her phone.  “Well, Cecilia should be here any minute.  I suggest you get settled.”  

Y/N moved to walk out of his office but Bucky stood in her way. “Y/N–”

“Bucky,” Y/N said, a warning tone in her voice, her eyes narrowing at him.  They stared at each other for a moment until Bucky stepped back.  She walked past him back to her desk.  She breathed a sigh of relief at being away from him.  This was going to be a long day.

The meetings were long and stifling.  She could feel Bucky’s eyes on her repeatedly throughout the day, and she actively ignored him.  By the time people were leaving for the day she was ready to crawl in a hole and hide from how awkward and uncomfortable the day had been.  As she cleaned up her area and packed away her things Bucky walked out of his office and leaned against the doorway.  “Y/N, I need to talk to you.”

“Hm?” Y/N hummed, not looking at him as she organized her notes and folders.

Bucky walked over to her desk.  “Jesus, can you just look at me?”

Y/N’s last shred of patience snapped.  “What Bucky?” she turned on him sharply, making him recoil. 

“I’m sorry,” he blurted out.  “I’m sorry for being unprofessional.  I was just feeling worried about you and I let my emotions get in the way.  I shouldn’t have kissed you.”  

Y/N blinked.  She felt her eyes burning but refused to let herself cry.  “I understand.  It was a highly emotional day.  Again, thank you for helping me.”  She turned back to her desk and grabbed her things.  “Goodnight,” she said quickly and walked around him to leave.

“Goodnight,” he said quietly.

@calwitch

**this is a short chapter, juicy stuff tomorrow!

[12woso12]

Dorothy lands in North London - Part 2

Part 1

A fun chapter from the perspective of the media and fans about the transfer :)

Orlpride

Liked by __emilyfox and 15,000 others

Orlpride We're saying goodbye to a Legend, join us this weekend in giving a y/n a send off to remember at her last home game.

View all comments

y/nfan13 I'm so sad rn

Gooner54 So the rumours are true? She's coming to The Arsenal?

OPSuperFan Well now we're completely screwed

y/n13

Liked by alessia and 56,000 others

Y/n13 Orlando, you've been everything and more. Thank you for your relentless support.

Comments limited

Martasilva10 Go shine kid

Y/n13 added to their story

Gunnersaurus69

109 likes

Gunnersaurus69 Holy shit y/n just posted this to her story

4 comments

RussoTooney Isn't that London?

Gunnersaurs69 @RussoTooney That's what i'm saying! I'd bet anything that she's on her way to put pen on paper for Arsenal

Arse_nal Who let her travel alone

Gunnersaurus69 @Arse_nal She's going to get on well with Kyra

CNNSport

10,000 likes

CNNsport Hit that follow button to keep up to date on the latest from the world of women's soccer

TheSun

23,000 likes

TheSun How we feeling Gooners?

189 comments

Codiismother Bit harsh isn't it?

katie_mccabe11 I don't know personally I'm quite excited for my future protege to arrive

part 3

[imgeekgirlfan]

Down The Road (F1 x Reader) SMAU Season 1

>> Down The Road 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙩

➡  Previous Part : (End of Season 1)

Taglist: @raizelchrysanderoctavius , @laura-naruto-fan1998 , @jpg3 , @tsukishimawhore , @minkyungseokie , @roseseraj , @bbhyuneee , @omgsuperstarg (If you want to be added in this fic, just tell me in reply)

A/N : Finally, we've reached the conclusion of the first season of "Down The Road." I feel deeply touched that there are still people joining in to read both the old and new chapters. I'm delighted that you've enjoyed the stories from my head.

I must confess that SMAU fics aren't really my thing because I tend to focus more on narratives. That's why I've included captions under every image. I felt that without these extensions, it would be quite frustrating for me.

One thing you might have noticed is that I didn't use chat format to narrate the first season. because I wanted the readers to have a sense of the mockumentary format from different perspectives and then piece it together. I feel that the chat format might destroy the mystery of the story. so I decided not to include it (However, in George Russell's part for Next Season, I thought I should add a chat element).

I'm still excited to continue this series. As long as I have inspiration and support from everyone, however, this fic consumes a lot of my energy. I've been consistently writing for a full month, with only about 4 hours of sleep a day throughout the week, to write these fics for you to read. and it's affecting my health significantly. So, I need to take a temporary break before I continue with the new story in Season 2, which is about Max Verstappen x Reader (spoiler: enemies to lovers). I hope you won't forget about me and will eagerly await Season 2.

note ; I would like to express my thanks to @missmarmaladeth a dear friend and lovely reader who diligently proofreads the fic before I publish it for everyone to read. and without her help, this fic would not have been completed. I am very grateful to her.

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Season 1 : ── 𝐃𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐬 ── (Lewis Hamilton x Reader) S1 : E04 𝑇𝘩𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝐶𝘩𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑜𝑛

The 2024 Formula 1 season is more intense than ever, with three contenders for the championship: Y/N YLN, Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton. Apart from keeping an eye on the new champion, what has everyone on edge is the rumor that Hamilton might retire. Is it true? Or is there something else we don't know? This is the final episode of Season 1, "Down The Road" that viewers must watch closely!

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Source : @F1

The championship has become the most closely watched position this year, with three drivers who can score points closely and have equal chances of winning this year. Will Verstappen maintain his fourth championship? Or will Hamilton succeed in claiming his eighth title? Or could it be Y/N who makes history as the first woman to win The Formula 1 Championship? So here are some of the main talking points heading to Abu Dhabi...

How possible is it for Y/N to beat the two best male drivers in the world? 

It's undeniable that Y/N plays a crucial role in propelling her team to be on par with Ferrari and Mercedes in terms of total points. However, defeating Red Bull, which boasts a superior engine, remains a distant possibility, especially considering her relatively limited experience in Formula 1, having just one year under her belt. This differs significantly from Verstappen and Hamilton, both of whom have already clinched world championships and managed the pressures on the track more effectively than Y/N.

There's another aspect to consider, and that's the complex dynamic between Hamilton and Y/N in their roles as mentor and protege. They share a close and highly respectful bond. Flashbacks to 2023 at Suzuka Circuit come to mind, where Y/N made a stunning debut by narrowly defeating Hamilton. The young driver received genuine congratulations from him. However, will he be as gracious if Y/N triumphs this season, especially given Hamilton's clear intention to secure his eighth world championship after missing out to Verstappen in 2021. Now that his former protege has become a formidable competitor, will the bond between Hamilton and Y/N come to an end?

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Source : @Motorsport

There are reports that Lewis Hamilton might be considering retirement after successfully clinching his eighth championship. 

These rumors began circulating after an interview during the United States Grand Prix 2024, where the seven-time world champion responded to media inquiries about his plans for the future, saying, "I have many things I want to do in the future. One of them is to start a family because I'm 39 years old now, and it's time for me to lay down some roots." 

While there hasn't been a clear confirmation from Hamilton, this is seen as a potential sign of retirement for one of this generation's greatest drivers.

And about the two prominent contenders who have a chance to vie for the World Championship, Max Verstappen and Y/N YLN, Hamilton acknowledges that both of them are formidable rivals with the potential to become the next world champion. However, Hamilton makes it clear that he's not willing to give up the championship for an eighth time easily.

“Their team has great engines, and it's clear that they also have talent. That's something everyone agrees with when they see them both racing in competition, especially Y/N. I hope to see her become the World Champion because, as the first woman in Formula 1, it would be a tremendous achievement for all of us to see a woman in that position. However, it won't be easy this year because I'm determined to secure a win as well, and I'm not one to give in easily.”

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Source : @SportskeedaF1

After the retirement rumors sparked significant discussion on the internet, Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team have remained tight-lipped about it. Nonetheless, fans spotted Hamilton in Italy before the upcoming #AbuDhabiGP race, He appeared to be enjoying some quality downtime with his family and friends, including several Formula 1 drivers like George Russell, Alex Albon, Y/N YLN, Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, and many more. 

Additionally, there have been reports that Toto Wolff is also in Italy, and it's possible he might have a private meeting with Hamilton.

Certainly, the gathering of other Formula 1 drivers and the arrival of the CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team in Italy, especially on the brink of the race, only intensified the curiosity among fans. Up to this point, no one knows for sure what's happening in Italy, leaving fans with even more questions and speculation.

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Source : Formula 1: Drive to Survive (On Netflix)

In the show "Formula 1: Drive to Survive" Will Buxton, a Formula 1 journalist, has predicted the intense situation in Formula 1 2024 about the possibility of Lewis Hamilton's retirement and who might become the world champion this year.

"I'm sure that the decision to retire is a tough one for all racing drivers, including their fans," Buxton said. "I can't speculate on Lewis Hamilton's thoughts, so it's hard to say how he's thinking about retiring. But I'm confident that if he were to decide to retire for real, it would be a significant loss for Formula 1, and the FIA or the Mercedes team would likely not accept it."

“Lewis Hamilton is an icon of Formula 1, a fact that nobody can deny. Whether you like him or not, I believe this is the perfect time for him to create a legend as an eight-time Formula 1 World Champion”

However, Buxton believes that Hamilton's hope is not an easy matter, with both Max Verstappen and Y/N YLN having a chance to clinch the championship this year. Even though most people consider Verstappen superior, Buxton has a different perspective, stating that Y/N is a dark horse that every team should genuinely beware of.

“In the Formula 1 business, Y/N is an intriguing case. She comes from an unexpected background, not a ‘nepo baby’ or a wealthy family. She relies solely on her own abilities and has managed to climb to the position of world champion in just one year, something unprecedented in Formula 1 history. This is even more remarkable because she is a woman in a sport that has rarely given women opportunities over the past several decades. It might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her to come this far, and she will never give up, no matter what. I understand that not everyone may agree with what I'm saying, but I'm fairly confident that she has a better chance than Hamilton and Verstappen of claiming the championship this year.”

“Who will stand as the Formula 1 World Champion this year? Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, or Y/N? No matter who among these three becomes the champion, history has already been made.”

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Source : F1 TV (LIVE)

Narrator : “Y/N fiercely competed with Verstappen, but Verstappen exceeded the track limits, which led to a 5-second penalty, separating him from Hamilton and Y/N. It's evident that the championship this time is going to be a showdown between a former mentor and a former protege. It's bound to be a memorable conclusion for both of them”

“Oh my god, it's happening! Y/N has passed Hamilton and clinched the victory by a nose at the last second, just like it happened at Suzuka Circuit in 2023. And now, we've got the championship for this year!”

“A new page in Formula 1 history has been written right here. She is the first and only woman since the inception of Formula 1 to successfully claim the World Championship title. Congratulations, Y/N YLN!”

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Source : @F1

Y/N YLN WINS IN ABU DHABI!

Although she appeared unwell before the race, causing concern for everyone, Y/N managed to defeat Hamilton and Verstappen in a momentous victory. becoming the first and only woman to secure the Formula 1 World Championship. This is a monumental achievement that will be etched into history. Congratulations to @Y/N 

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Source: Y/N twitter & instagram (update)

Important Announcement from Me

This is a difficult decision for me, but I need to announce a temporary retirement from being a Formula 1 driver to focus on the most important thing for me, which is building our family.

Lewis Hamilton and I have known each other for a long time since my days as a driver at the F1 Academy. Our relationship began with mutual respect. He is the only driver who has cared to involve women more in the world of Formula 1, and due to his strong support, I got the opportunity to compete in Formula 1 as a full-fledged driver, which is a significant achievement in this sport.

Throughout my time in Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton and I developed a close and strong relationship. He has become my idol, my mentor, my competitor, and my love. We always intended to keep these stories secret to maintain our privacy and allow us to focus on Formula 1 without distractions. However, being falsely accused by the media forced us to distance ourselves and go our separate ways. But strangely, the distance made both of us realize how much we love each other and how much we want to spend the rest of our lives together.

Lewis Hamilton and I had a private wedding ceremony in Italy, surrounded by friends, family, and other Formula 1 drivers. It was the happiest time of my life because I married the one I love and discovered that I had been pregnant for two months.

I know that my time in Formula 1 is limited. This will be the season's last race and my last race too. as I cannot devote my full attention to racing anymore because there is something even more significant that I must devote my life to: my child, who is about to be born.

I had intended to announce my retirement after winning a championship, but with support from my husband, Susie and Toto, my team, and my friends George Alex and Lando, I've decided to declare a temporary leave instead. I will return once I've managed everything.

Thank you for all the support and love you have given us.

Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton

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Source : @Cosmopolitan

This is truly the shock news of the year. If you're a Formula 1 fan, you've probably heard about the new World Champion of 2024, Y/N YLN. She has announced her marriage to the legendary driver, Lewis Hamilton, in Italy and revealed the good news that she has been pregnant for two months. This has left fans around the world amazed, since there were hardly any hints before!

Going back to 2023, Y/N YLN made history by debuting as the first female Formula 1 driver in decades. Besides her professional achievements,there was something else worth noticing: her close relationship with Lewis Hamilton. She revealed that he was instrumental in pushing for her inclusion in the Formula 1 world, and she deeply respects him as a mentor. However, fans have observed that they have something more than just a professional relationship because they often spend time together, leading to speculation that they are dating.

These speculations quickly vanished from the spotlight with the emergence of Latin singer Shakira, who had a romantic connection with Hamilton, and with the appearance of Úrsula in the Formula 1 Grand Prix,sparking rumors about a previous relationship between her and Y/N. Nevertheless, these stories gradually faded away, much like the story between Y/N and Hamilton. It's evident that they both tried to keep a low profile, and they've barely appeared together since.

Sources tell us that both Y/N and Hamilton actually dated back when Y/N was still a driver at the F1 Academy. Susie Wolff, Managing Director of the F1 Academy and Toto Wolff's wife, was instrumental in introducing them. However, the media scrutiny and their roles as Formula 1 drivers led to their separation and dating others. But true love never fades, and the distance only made them realize how much they love each other and decide to start their relationship anew. now even more private than before, determined to keep it away from the public eye.

The turning point in Y/N and Hamilton's relationship came when Y/N YLN discovered that she was pregnant before the end of the 2024 season. While it should have been good news, it left Y/N deeply worried. Hamilton, on the other hand, was overjoyed about becoming a father and promised Y/N that he would retire after winning his eighth World Championship this year. He further solidified this promise with a secret wedding in Italy, attended only by family, close friends, and fellow F1 drivers.

It seems like a romantic story, unless you consider that Formula 1 is all about competition and winning, and while Lewis Hamilton had his heart set on winning his eighth championship, Y/N wanted the same. She had to choose between her family and her own Formula 1 championship; ultimately, she chose to race. and won the championship while pregnant, outshining her husband.

However, the Y/N victory didn't affect their relationship, as they openly shared their feelings with each other. Y/N told Hamilton she didn't want him to retire for her and she would retire instead, but Hamilton disagreed because he knew Y/N still wanted to compete. So they both decided to continue competing in Formula 1. Hamilton still has his goal of achieving the eighth championship and retiring, while Y/N will take a temporary break and return to racing after giving birth.

The legendary sports couple is now expecting their first child together. Congratulations to the new power couple!

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Source : Formula 1: Drive to Survive (On Netflix)

In the final episode of "Formula 1: Drive to Survive," Y/N YLN, the reigning world champion, opened up about the behind-the-scenes of her relationship and rivalry with her husband, Lewis Hamilton, before she became the world champion and made history as the first female Formula 1 champion.

"Getting pregnant during the racing season was something Lewis and I didn't anticipate. It worried me a lot, and I had to keep it a secret because it could seriously affect my professional commitments in Formula 1." 

Y/N revealed candidly about the pressures she faced as the only female driver in this era, especially considering the high expectations from everyone since she had the chance to become the world champion. Thus, she chose to keep her pregnancy a secret from everyone initially.

However, Y/N decided to disclose the truth to Hamilton, as he is the father and deserved to know. This news brought immense joy to Hamilton, as he had longed for a child. This led to their decision to quietly get married, sharing the details with only those closest to them.

"Lewis is thrilled to become a father. He made me a promise that if he secures his eighth championship, he will retire and spend all his time taking care of me and the baby. I understand how important this win is to him and what it means for our family," Y/N said. "But I looked at him and thought, 'I'm sorry, honey, but I also want to be a fucking World Champion too.' "

Y/N's final competition at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was her sole decision, which caused a great deal of anxiety among those who knew about her pregnancy, especially Hamilton, who strongly disagreed. Y/N admitted the heated debates that took place but emphasized that Hamilton knows her deep love for Formula 1, as he did. So eventually, he accepted her choice to continue racing. and this decision ultimately led to her successful championship win.

When asked about her future in Formula 1, Y/N revealed that she had thought about retiring and letting Hamilton continue. Still, she felt guilty about not listening to him and decided to compete for the championship. But Hamilton was supportive and didn't want her to retire. Finally, they both agreed to continue racing in Formula 1.

"I told him I would retire on my own because he deserves to continue competing. I've already won a Championship, and I have a child to take care of. But, as I mentioned earlier, Lewis knows how much I love Formula 1, and he doesn't want me to retire. So, we both decided to stay in Formula 1 until we can't drive anymore," Y/N said, concluding with a smile.

In the end, Y/N expressed her heartfelt gratitude to fans worldwide for their warm wishes for her family. She hoped that everyone would continue to follow and support her adventures in the Formula 1 world from now on

"I know that many of you have been following our story, and your comments and encouragement mean a lot to me. Now, Lewis and I are stepping into new and crucial roles in life beyond the racetrack, as parents and husband and wife. I hope you'll continue to support us in the future and look forward to the upcoming season with new, undisclosed stories in the world of Formula 1. Please stay tuned."

End of Season 1

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Bonus : What if Lewis Hamilton is the one to announce his marriage instead of Y/N?

(It's a joke meme I wanted to include in the fic, but never had the chance to use. Lol)

If you like it, don't forget to like and reblog for me.

[xmorguekittyx]

Chapter 4: 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝘾𝙖𝙣'𝙩 𝘿𝙤 𝙈𝙚 𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩

master list

The days that separated that night from Monday morning were quiet, to say the least. The rain had seemed to move away and the town came together to move limbs and trees from neighbors yards and roads. The sheriff's office had even sent out a few spare officers to help clear off the road ways. A town united, until another murder was called into her work. Same thing, a woman found in her apartment, her body bare and split in half. At least she wasn't there to witness it this time, but Harvey wanted her in the morgue.

  "Not today, Harv.", her voice crackled on the receiver, she was still in bed, curled up in her blankets as she stretched her aching limbs. Her body had been used to being curled up, unable to leave the warmth and comfort of the mattress, dipped in with the shape of her curves. "Not today, not yesterday or even the day before that either, huh?", he sighed, she could hear the disappointment in his voice. "What's the point in me paying you if you won't even show up? My protege. You're suppose to take over for me once this old body of mine finally kicks the bucket.", her eyes closed as he spoke. "Your daddy wouldn't want you moping around-", her finger slipped, purposefully, the screen flickering black as she laid her head back down. She wasn't moping, she was just- What was she doing? She'd seen bodies before all kinds, this wasn't what she was moping for. She was worried, bodies were piling up, Desmond had a few sitting in his cooler, too. That wasn't why she curled into her bed and cry her eyes blurry. Her chest aching from a dull feeling she couldn't even pin point. Was it... anger or hurt? Leon's words retained in her head, repeating over and over about him having to act like her father.

    She loved her father very much, her feeling like Leon was trying to take his place really messed with her feelings for him. She wanted to feel that love she knew was out there, Harvey and his wife had been together 30 years and she wanted that. It wasn't fair she wanted it with a man that was unobtainable, almost. Her breath fanned the sheets as her mind finally pushed her deeper into her want to talk to him, after 3 days of ignoring his texts. Her fingers tapped until she was looking at his messages. All apologies or even just "are you okay?"'s with time stamps in between. She almost forgot why she was mad. Her father was a touchy subject and so was Leon, his closeness to her father and his likeness in personality. Her head thumped as soon as she read the last few messages, a headache crawling up the back of her mind and curling up behind her eye. "I'm coming over, you've been calling out and we're all worried about you.", so to the point and bland. That was Leon, so short and to the point. She'd gotten use to it, he didn't stray far from the had to's and the necessary.

   She didn't want to be seen by him in day old clothes and hair that hadn't seen a brush in two. Her joints ached as she pushed herself from the bed, the blanket brushing her legs as she took that first step. Body, hair, teeth, clothes... she had to look... semi decent, not like he hadn't seen her like this before. After her father passed, Leon was the only one allowed in their house. She was afraid anyone else would break down what was left of her father, but she felt like Leon had that same spirit, that want to to help others and he could keep her father's spirit alive. He didn't disturb her peace in the beginning, until he felt he had to be the enforcer. He was the one who had Harvey up in arms about her being gone, she knew he had to have told Harvey to try and guilt her into coming in. He didn't know how to mind his own after all this time, he'd gotten comfortable in that role and kept it.

  Her fingers gripped the brush as she started to tackle the tangles that hung around her face. Her eyes lingering on the fog that ate away at her visibility in the mirror. The simple sound of drops of water hitting the plug, she was already feeling like the days weren't getting better, the shower didn't revive her enthusiasm about Leon's company. Just gave her more time to think back on his words. "Maybe if you didn't act like a damn child, i wouldn't have to!", a sharp breath left her lips as her hands came down on the porcelain sink, slamming the brush into it. "I'm not a child!", her lips quivered as she thought over his words, the sound of his voice was he yelled at her. Maybe she was making a big deal out of it, but her mind was in survival mode and he called her a child over it!

   A knock at the door had her eyes snapping up at her reflection, her shirt just a bit too tight, her breasts poking out just enough she hoped it caught his eye. She was a walking contradiction, she wanted him but she was so tired of being stuck with the enforcer. She wanted Leon, her best friend and... crush back. Her eyes scanned her body as she stood up, her shorts covering her thighs and her fingers tugging the tail of the shirt down. "He probably won't even notice.", she sighed, her breath baited as she made the walk to her door. The knob cold in her hand as she turned it, coming face to face with the man that caused her hibernation. "See, you're up and at 'em. Why not head into work?", he asked as he pushed into her home, a couple bags in his arms. "I brought some food over, that Chinese place you liked so much last time. Got those... rice noodles you had and some spring rolls.", he spoke on and on, her brain still catching up with the fact that he's not in uniform. Had he not went into work either?

   "Thanks.", her fingers brushed her arm as she moved next to him at the island, her steps soft and weary. "You didn't have to do that.", she whispered as she got next to him. Her eyes peeking over his bicep, the food looked good, warm too. She hadn't ate food like this in a while. "Wanted to say 'm sorry.", his tone sounded bashful, the warmth of his hand coming up to cup her bicep as he side hugged her. "'m sorry, Kitty. I ain't your daddy, I had no room to comment on your behavior.", it almost felt... too much of an apology. Friends were allowed to comment on attitudes, right? Why was he acting like a kicked puppy? "Let's just- Let me just get some food into you, okay?", his head coming down to lay against her temple, arms tightening around her as he pulled her closer. "Yeah?", he whimpered, his breath fanning her face. The harsh scent of liquor hit her nostrils, her lips opening to a gasp. "You're drunk-", she tried to push her hands between them, placing them on his chest. "You drove here drunk?!", her anger came out, her words spoken so harshly. "I was worried about you! Stop pushing me!", he yelled, his hands sliding up her arms and lifting her up, sitting her in the island chair. "Stop! You take anything I do for you and find the worst in it, Katerina! Stop being so damn selfish!", he yelled, his eyes full of a heat that was only directed at her. "Stop yelling at me-", tears reached her eyelids, pooling as his fingers kept their tight grip. "Please.", she begged, her lip quivering as he moved his hands up and down her arms, trying to soothe her. "I'm sorry, i'm sorry. Don't cry, shhh...", he moved his hands lower and lower, coming down to touch her thighs, so soft and doughy. "It's okay, 'm sorry, Kitty.", he mumbled, his hands starting to kneed her flesh. "It's okay, pretty.", he whispered, his head coming to lay on her shoulder. "'m sorry.", he breathed, it reminded her of how her father was near the end of his life.

   So angry, the liquor bottle biting into him as he became a drunkard and couldn't handle his temper, but she knew what wasn't him. Some days were good, some were bad. Leon had those days, but never like this. "Kitty-", he breathed, his tone needy. "I just wanted to see you.", he tilt his head so his lips feathered her neck. "I was worried after our fight.", he hummed, "You forgive me, right? You wouldn't hold it against me?", he seemed to be apologizing for more than one instance, which she figured coke tomorrow he wouldn't remember any of this. The smell of the liquor brought her back to her father slamming doors and screaming at her for choosing such a morbid profession, then praising her once the liquor left his system. But the scent on Leon... it wasn't as harsh, not as bitter as the one her father drank, on Leon... it smelt sweet, like honey, like the tone in his force as he whimpered for forgiveness. "Please, Kitty..", his thumbs brushed her thigh, soothing the skin he had hardly palmed. She could only brace herself against him as his weight leaned on her, hoping that tomorrow he would forget. How could she come back from this… he was… his hands were so big and soft; was he just drunk? His words sounded so good to her, but his actions scared her more than she thought. Her mind racing with if he wanted to; he could. He was bigger, taller, stronger, his hands alone could swallow her wrists and pin her. "Forgive me.", he repeated, her mind struggling to find it within herself to do so, but he was her Leon… under the alcohol, under this forced affection.

editor note: i may go back and edit some details in the previous chapters! editing will take place this week and i hope you guys don’t mind! i didn’t have it all planned out until now so i’ll post once it’s edited! Thank you for reading

< 3

[hyperfixationsporfavor]

True Form Sukuna/Reader: A Moment in Time (Part 4- Fateful Warnings)

Author’s Note: Hello people! I’m back with a new chapter of this fic. It’s super short but I wanted to ease back into writing since it’s been awhile. I just started a new job so I apologize for the lack of updates. Hopefully I’ll be able to drop the next chapter sooner. Enjoy!

Warnings: mentions of blood, implied sex, referenced infidelity, sexism, Sukuna

“Recite it again,” Tengen instructed. 

A young Ryomen Sukuna let out a sigh, holding the parchment in his hand closer to his face to make out the text in the dim candle light. 

“When ending the life of a hostile sorcerer one must be wary that they will not come back as a curse, you must kill them with the usage of cursed energy.”

Tengen stood up from her spot behind the table to stare down at the unruly nineteen year old. 

“Correct, so why did you fail to do so earlier?”

Sukuna tossed the parchment on the stack of other scrolls and leaned back with a shrug. 

The instance she was speaking of had happened earlier that day. A curse user had been causing trouble in a small village up north, leading to the deaths of a few families. This is why they had personally reached out to Tengen in a plea of mercy, for the landowning lords could care less about the lives of a few peasants. 

She had decided to send Sukuna in her place, noticing how restless he was becoming these days, only for her protege to carelessly allow him to bleed out. 

“I had every intention of going back to finish the job,” he huffed.

She glared at him. “Yes you did, as soon as you got back from desecrating his wife.”

He brushed off the claims of infidelity with a wave of his hand. 

“She invited me inside while the ugly bastard was out, believe me the little whore was singing my praises joyously.”

Tengen blew past his odious sentiments with contempt. 

“Yes, only for her to meet her end when he returned as a vengeful curse to slice her throat.”

Sukuna rolled his eyes. 

“I was there.”

“Which is precisely why I’m failing to see how you don’t grasp the severity of the situation!” she snapped.

“What situation?” he argued back. “I used cursed energy to exercise him. It’s over.”

“After a completely preventable loss of life.”

Sukuna crossed his arms. “Are you talking about the wife? She was warming the bed of a man you wanted me to kill. Who cares if she lived or died?”

“It’s not just that Ryomen, it’s the way you’ve been handling everything as of late. Aggressively doing the tasks I give you with little regard for the wellbeing of others, blatantly ignoring my teachings, disrespecting my writings. How am I to trust you as my successor?”

Yes, the original reason she had taken the then young boy into her home. Being a woman, even as powerful as she, could only get Tengen so far. So she had begun relying on the presence of a male figure to act as a stand in for her. 

Played the part of Tengen while she operated from behind the curtain. Currently she had been using a fellow she had met decades ago by the name of Kenjaku, a person she had come to trust, but he was aging rapidly, feeling the affects of old age settling throughout his body. 

So a replacement was necessary, and that’s where Ryomen Sukuna came in.

When she had first encountered him she had sensed a powerful presence, verging on becoming predatory. Despite Kenjaku’s protests she decided to take him on as a student, perhaps she could harness his cursed energy and make him useful. 

But now, standing in front of him, Tengen was beginning to realize that not even she could control Ryomen Sukuna, and she feared a time would come when no one could. 

Sukuna stood up, glaring at his instructor. 

“I am not some puppet like that old bastard you have to keep around! And I’m tired of you holding me back!”

“Ryomen, your reckless actions will lead to your eventual downfall.”

He narrowed his eyes on her. “Are you threatening me?”

“No, I’m warning you. If you stray I will no longer be able to help you.”

He let out a bitter laugh and stormed out of the room, out of the house, out of Tengen’s life.

“I’ll never require your help.”

~

From then on Sukuna strived to grow stronger, and he did, evolving beyond a human body with an appetite that could only be appeased by the taste of human flesh. He lived how he wanted, ate when he wanted, and entertained only those who he found interesting. And at this current moment the one he found the most interesting, was you. 

~

“Damn him! Damn him!” the lord of the house howled.

His personal physician worked quickly to stop the bleeding while he screamed in agony. The other residents and staff stood around him anxiously, waiting to see if he’d live through the hour. 

The young servant boy was the only person whose mind was still on you and the terrified expression you wore as Sukuna had whisked you away. He trembled as he reluctantly approached one of the palace ladies who hovered next to the physician, the same one who had scolded you. 

“My Lady,” he managed to force out. “What is to be done about (Name)?”

She peeled her attention away from the grotesque scene to face him. “Who?”

He blinked in disbelief. “The maid…scheduled for execution.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “What do you think you imbecile? Nothing. Her fate is sealed.”

The palace lady turned her attention to one of the noblewomen next to her. 

“Better a low status maid than one of us.”

“You!” the physician called. 

The servant boy looked up to find it was him who he was speaking to. 

“More rags. Go now.”

~

The End. 

[levi-venn]

The First Toothpick

Chapter Four: A Little Juicy Gossip

Gen Fic - Mentor/Protege

Summary: Cad Bane teaches Crosshair how to be a sniper. The kid picks up some other habits as a result.

Chapter Summary: Crosshair meets Todo 360 who does not know how to keep a secret.

Chapters: Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9 |

Available also on AO3

“Great callouts, Hunter! You’re a natural leader. Wrecker, we’re gonna need stronger droids to handle your strength. Tech, you sliced those panels in record time! Now let's see," The lieutenant looked at his datapad, scrolling through the rest of the data. 

Crosshair waited for his turn.

The lieutenant kept scrolling, frown deepening.

A brotherly hand squeezed Crosshair's shoulder. He pushed it away. He didn’t need comfort. He needed feedback.

“Alright, pack it up, soldiers,” the lieutenant said, tucking his datapad away. “The final test of the quarter is tomorrow.” 

“Hey, wait,” Hunter said. “What about-”

Crosshair's elbow found Hunter's ribs, chasing the question away.

“Is there a problem, soldier?” The lieutenant asked, raising an imperious brow.

Hunter clutched his side. “No, sir.”

The lieutenant left.

Crosshair would have left too if not for his brothers surrounding him, blocking his escape. 

“You did great , Crosshair,” Hunter insisted. 

“You hit every single mark flawlessly,” Tech observed.

“Yeah! You’re wizard!” Wrecker shouted.

Molten anger heated Crosshair's cheeks. “It doesn’t matter what you think,” he hissed. “The lieutenant’s opinion is all that matters. They are going to retire me.”

“I won’t let that happen,” Hunter said.

“It’s not up to you, Hunter,” Crosshair said. 

“Bugger this,” Hunter sighed and grabbed Crosshair’s wrist, tugging him towards a nearby ventilation grate. "Recon time. C’mon.”

Crosshair thought about kicking him, but...the recon may prove useful.

“Aww, recon?! I wanna come, too!” Wrecker whined.

“This mission requires more stealth than you are trained to handle, Wrecker” Tech indicated. “Also your size would break the air vent.”

“Hehe, yeah, I’m a real tank,” Wrecker grinned, proudly.

Hunter hoisted Crosshair up into the air ventilation tunnel before leaping up behind him.  The tunnel ran in a dozen different directions like a many-armed rapthar, each path identical to the next. Hunter always knew instinctively where to go. It didn’t take long before they found the vent overlooking the lieutenant’s office.

There was another clone in the office with him. 

No...not a clone...

“Is that Fett?” Hunter whispered. “Last time Fett was here, they took Radar away.”

“I know,” Crosshair snarled quietly.

“Oh yeah,” the Lieutenant snickered below, taking his seat at his desk. “He's the best in the facility.” 

“Cut the sarcasm, Pynk,” Fett leaned against the wall, arms folded across his chest. “We need a sniper in this squad.” 

“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good sniper, but we train good snipers every day. This squad needs someone extraordinary and he isn’t. It’ll save a lot of time and energy to just retire him and pick up a normal sniper for the team.”

A normal sniper…

Crosshair had heard enough. He shoved Hunter down the tunnel and followed him, angrily wiping his blurry, wet eyes as they went.

“Are they gonna retire Crosshair?” Wrecker whispered loudly to Tech as Crosshair climbed out of the vent.

“They will have to retire me first,” Tech said, adjusting his goggles, not bothering to lower his voice. “I won’t let them take him.”

“Yeah,” Wrecker slammed his fists together, “me neither.”

He ignored them both. He made a point to ignore them both. They were all idiots, thinking they could change anything by just wishing it wouldn't happen.

And Crosshair was an idiot for daring to think he could be extraordinary.

The next day, Crosshair earned the nickname “Misfire.”

Not long after that the bounty hunter, Cad Bane, took him away.

***

Crosshair couldn’t sleep.

The room was too quiet without Wrecker’s chest-rattling snores, too dark without the faint glow of Tech coding on his datapad, and even though Hunter was practically a ghost at night even when awake, Crosshair missed him, too.

Facing the fact sleep wasn’t going to find him, Crosshair slung his rifle over his shoulder, tip-toed down the hall past Bane's room, slid down the bannister, avoiding the creaky stairs altogether, and slipped soundlessly out the front door. The weather-beaten porch was barely held together by whatever rusted nails poked out of the cracked wood. He kept his steps light, but each footfall he could feel the threat of a creak beneath his boots. He leapt over the stairs entirely and landed in the dark soil with little more than a quiet squelch.

The moon was a meager sliver in the sky that didn't do much to illuminate the wheat field, but the way it moved in the wind reminded Crosshair of the black waves of a rarely calm nighttime Kaminoan sea. 

“Goin’ somewhere?”

Crosshair hadn't heard anyone approach. How was this possible? And yet, as he turned, he found that Bane had been sitting in a rocking chair in the darkest corner of the porch, only his red eyes, half-moons obscured by the brim of his hat, could be seen.

Crosshair refused to be rattled. He planted his feet firmly in the soil and and puffed up his narrow chest. “I’m going to scout the perimeter.”

“Got sensors for that, kid” Bane replied. “Ain’t a soul out there except for us n’ the Fabools.”

“Then I’ll go check on the Fabools.”

“You don’t gotta worry about them until tomorrow mornin’. Todo will show ya what to do.”

Crosshair had no response. Wrecker's clumsy question floated in his head.

Are they gonna retire Crosshair?”

He needed to do this. He needed to do...something.

Bane’s head tilted slightly.  “What?”

Crosshair didn’t respond.

I don’t want to be retired. I want to live… at least long enough to fight a real battle with Tech.

Bane let out a strained growled, his spurs jingling as his boots landed heavily on the porch. In the darkness his scarlet eyes cast harsh shadows against his scarred face. 

“You n’ me are gonna get along a lot better if ya stop bein’ so fuckin’ timid. You’re a soldier, right? You’re an elite sniper? You’re a tough guy? Then stop bein’ afraid of everything. I’m bein’ paid to train ya, but I may ask Jango for extra cuz I gotta go lookin' for yer spine first before I can teach ya anything.” Rows of sharp teeth gleamed in the dark. “Start talkin’.”

I want to live.

I want to live.

I want to live.

I-

“I…don’t want to be retired.”

The teeth vanished. The eyes dimmed. Bane leaned forward and into the meager moonlight, confusion etched into his scarred face. “What do ya mean ‘retired’?”

“If soldiers don’t meet their lieutenant’s expectations, they’re retired and their data gets erased. Radar and Pintsize were retired last year. No trace of them anywhere. Like they never existed.” Crosshair scrubbed his sweaty palms against his pant legs. He couldn’t stop talking if he wanted to, like trying to fight momentum down a steep hill. “Radar was redundant. Hunter’s tracking skills were sharper than his. Pintsize could barely hold a blaster with his tremors. The lieutenant said I’m not ‘extraordinary’ like the rest of my squad. I dropped my sniper rifle last test. They started calling me-”

The name seized in his mind. Tech’s magnified eyes glaring at him as if he was somehow holding onto the name. 

“That’s not who you are.”

“Jango knows about this? These retirements?”

Crosshair blinked. “What?”

“The retirements. Are they his decision or not?”

“It’s the lieutenant’s decision.” 

Bane rested his elbows on his knees, his unyielding glare boring into Crosshair. “Who’s this lieutenant? What’s his story?”

“A first generation clone. Lieutenant Pynk,” Crosshair thought about how to describe him. “He’s an asshole.”

Bane snorted. “Yeah, I gathered that much. So when you told me you’re the best in the facility that was his sarcasm I was hearing?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Well, fuck Pynk. We’ll show him what extraordinary looks like.” he extended his hand. “Gimme your rifle.”

Crosshair tightened the grip on his rifle strap. “Why?”

“Oh yer full of questions now, huh?” Bane sneered. “Official inspection, soldier. Give it here.”

With a small hiss of protest, Crosshair handed the rifle over.

Bane gave the rifle a little spin as if testing the weight. He looked through the scope. He ran his fingers over the stock and gave it a good shake.

“No wonder you can’t razzle and dazzle anyone,” Bane snickered. “This here’s a piece of bantha poodoo .”

“There’s nothing wrong with my rifle.” Crosshair said. “I clean it everyday. I calibrated it this morning. It’s fine.”

“Yeah?” Bane tossed the rifle back to Crosshair. “Prove it.”

Bane stood up, reminding Crosshair just how tall the Duros was compared to him. He was taller than Pynk and somehow that was comforting to know. In one swift movement, Bane hopped over the porch railing and with a crisp snap of his leather duster, he vanished around the side of the house.

Crosshair followed. At first it looked like Bane had simply disappeared, but upon a closer look, the side of the house was covered with a wide wooden trellis far too reinforced to withstand just the weight of creeper vines.  He looked up and saw a brief glimpse of the brim of Bane's hat on the roof. Crosshair slung the rifle over his shoulder and climbed. 

Some of the roof tiles were flatter and smoother than they appeared, leading to an ornamental bell tower half the size of Crosshair and far too small for Bane to fit. Still, Crosshair peeked into the bell tower and found...a short chute leading into a spy holodrama.

It was one part sniper tower, one part high-tech surveillance bowl filled with panels and devices similar to the simulation models Tech ran through to practice slicing communications and monitoring air traffic.

Bane sneered up at him. "C'mon in, kiddo."

“What is this?” Crosshair asked, hoisting himself into the chute and using the short ladder to climb down.

“Crow’s nest, watchtower, sniper tower, reinforced bunker, whatever we need it for. There are a couple of cots under the false floor if we get swarmed and have to lay low for a while.”

“Who would attack us?”

“The local authorities, mercs lookin' to even the score, raiders aimin' to steal the Fabools which can sell for a pretty credit on the black market.” Bane pressed a switch under his seat and the blank wall flipped over to reveal a pair  of LL-30 blaster pistols and a 773 Firepuncher rifle, the kind Crosshair had only seen in firearms databanks Tech sliced in for him.

Bane grabbed the rifle, charged it up, and checked the scope. “Don’t have to worry about any of that tonight though. Tonight, we’re doin’ some target practice...”

He dialed something into the control panel. A long opening slid 280 degrees around the tower at Crosshair’s eye-level, no taller than his fist, yet a screen flickered around the opening to reveal a holographic image of the surrounding area. 

“I can see everything,” he said.

“That’s the idea,” Bane replied. “Watch the field.” 

He flicked another switch and a blue light shimmered over the wheat field as the security shield went down. 

The grass started to quiver almost immediately. 

“What’s out there?” Crosshair asked, sliding the barrel of his rifle through the opening and peering through the scope. 

“Stalker lizards,” Bane said. “Lookin’ for a free meal inside that Fabool enclosure. Tell me what ya see.”

Crosshair toggled the heat sensor display on and off, watching the heat signatures from the lizards and the dark shadows of the landscape. “Lizards about a meter long coming from the southwest.” He scanned the enclosure next, remembering his training. Always check doors, corners, exits, and blindspots.

“We have blindspots.”

“Where’re the blindspots?” Bane asked, clearly a test. 

“South and East walls of the enclosure.”

“Already covered. Look again.”

The heat signatures didn’t change. The landscape didn’t change much either. Crosshair lowered his scope and leaned over the edge of the bell tower as if it would help. “How-”

Bane grabbed his jumpsuit and pulled him back. “Stay in here.” He pushed some monoculars into Crosshair’s hands. “Your little toy scope doesn’t have a range finder, use these.”

“It’s not a toy.”

“It surely is. You wanna be an extraordinary sniper? You gotta grow up n’ use a real sniper rifle. Now quit givin’ me that death glare n’ look at coords 233.32, 33.4.”

Fuming, Crosshair looked through the monoculars. “Coords 233.32, 33.4.” He repeated. 

Crosshair dialed in the coordinates and let the cursor on the display guide his movements.

There were several panels in various parts of the field. Each panel was painted with a shiny yellow number and embedded with silver reflective discs. “Are those mirrors?”

“Tell me which one to shoot.”

“What?”

“Can’t believe I’m sayin’ this, but yer askin’ too many questions. Just do it.”

Crosshair rolled his eyes and shifted his scope from mirror to mirror until the caught the reflection of a stalker lizard climbing up the fabric wall of the enclosure.

“Panel two, center.”

A blaster shot rang out, it ricochet off the mirror and the low-power stun blast knocked the lizard off the enclosure, driving it back to the treeline.

“Again.”

Crosshair aligned his vision. Another panel. “Panel three, top left.”

The blaster bolt fired, ricocheted, and hit its target.

“Keep callin’ ‘em,” Cad said. "Faster."

“Six, low right. Four, center. Two, top center. Two, top left, no wait-”

“Two, middle left,” Cad corrected and took the shot. 

“How do you see them without the monoculars?” 

Bane snatched Crosshair’s monoculars and shoved the Firepuncher into his hands. “Built-in rangefinder in the scope. Give it a try.”

Bane’s rifle was heavier than his, but it also felt sturdier and a lot more powerful. He did a quick procedural check of the power cell, the scope angle, and acclimated himself to the weight before sliding the barrel through the opening.  The scope was alive with readings. Rangefinder, coordinates scale, the crosshairs shifted as it looked for moving targets and returned to center when there was nothing. 

“This is cheating,” Crosshair grumbled.

Bane snorted. “No such thing in this business. Besides, you can spend all the fancy credits in the galaxy and it don't make you the best. Yer greatest mod is yer eyes n' yer instincts. Now shut up n’ start firin’. Lizards are startin’ to swarm.”

The heat signatures doubled and Crosshair took shot after shot, chasing the lizards away.

“Good.” Bane said.

Good, but not extraordinary, Crosshair thought.

Two lizards scaled the corner of the enclosure. Crosshair hit the leader and it landed on its follower, scaring both away.

He waited for Bane to praise him. It was an impressive shot.

Bane remained silent.

Another lizard leapt from a panel onto the enclosure wall. He shot one mirror and it ricocheted off another mirror and hit the lizard between the eyes, sending it sprawling backwards before scurrying off. 

That was impressive too. He waited for the Lieutenant...no...he waited for Bane to comment.

Bane said nothing.

“He’s a good sniper…This squad needs someone extraordinary.”

He took another shot. The blaster bolt bounced off the mirror and hit the tail of the lizard. It kept climbing. 

He took another shot. The lizard dropped.

“Sloppy,” Bane said.

Crosshair’s bolt hit the edge of the enclosure, wool sizzled. The Fabools inside bleeted and honked irritably.

“Shit shot.”

“Are they gonna retire Crosshair?” Wrecker asked, eyes wet with tears.

Another miss.

“Worse,” Cad said.

And another.

“Shittier.”

He shot a mirror, it ricocheted into the night.

“Now yer takin’ yer failure out on the mirrors, huh?” Cad snickered. “Try again.”

The rifle felt heavier. Like the hands of a dozen laughing cadets and one unimpressed lieutenant was pushing it down. 

“Look out, here comes Misfire.”

The heat signatures began to multiply through the scope.

“What’re you doing?” Bane asked. “I said try again.”

Shit shot…worse…failure…

The trigger refused to move. 

“Misfire…Misfire…Misfire…”

“Dank farrick,” Bane swore and grabbed the rifle, firing five shots in quick succession. Blaster bolts soared and ricocheted off the mirrors, scaring away the rest of the lizards. He punched the control panel and the blue shimmering shield spread across the wheat field again. “What was that about? You forget how to shoot?”

Crosshair's hand twitched. He didn't move. He stared at the rifle.

“What the hell, kid?”

Crosshair couldn’t feel his fingers.

Hands shaking, he managed to hoist himself out of the bell tower.  By the time he got to the bottom of the trellis he realized he had left his own rifle behind.

Tears blurring his eyes, he raced back to the front of the house, crashing through the door and stomping up the stairs. 

He hid under the covers.

In a bed that wasn’t his.

Without the rifle that he didn’t deserve anyway.

***

The next morning, the house seemed empty. Bane wasn’t downstairs, but breakfast was waiting for Crosshair. A plate of bacon and eggs on a warming plate.

He ate quickly and guzzled the apple juice, politely pushing away the black caf and wondering if it was only there because he knew Fett was never far from a cup of caf.

He wandered outside to the sun sprinkling the wheat field with golden light. It made him squint. Climbing up the trellis, he poked his head in the bell tower. Neither rifle nor Bane was there.

His heart dropped. He felt sick. If Bane confiscated his rifle, then Crosshair was probably heading back home today. He hoped he’d be able to say bye to his brothers before they retired him. Then again, he didn’t get to say bye to Pintsize and Radar.

Climbing back down the trellis, he walked to the Fabool enclosure punching in the code he watched Bane use the day before. The gate swung open and before he could fall into a cuddle pile of Fabools, a stout droid flew directly at him, nearly slamming him against the gate.

“Who are you?!” The droid asked, round, unblinking yellow eyes flashing with suspicion, his thrusters hissing angrily as he floated in front of Crosshair’s face.

Crosshair pushed himself off the gate. “Bane told me to take care of the Fabools with Todo this morning.”

“I am Todo 360,” the droid declared, spindly arms flailing. “Did Mr. Bane order you to spy on me?” 

“No. If I was going to spy on you,” Crosshair said, dryly. “You’d never know it.”

The droid’s three-fingered hand touched his non-existent chin thoughtfully. “Oh. Hmm. That’s…a valid point. Fine, you may stay, but I am in charge here and you will tell Mr. Bane that I am doing a perfectly good job and I don’t need any help.”

“Fine by me.”

“We’ll start with feeding practices!” Todo announced, shooing away the Fabools who seemed to hate the sound of his thrusters. They rolled towards Crosshair and away from the noisy droid. It was hard to worry about retirement when there were a dozen soft, bouncing balloons begging for his attention, and Crosshair decided to enjoy the moment, taking time to pet each one while Todo did all the work. 

“Well, you’re already proving yourself to be an adequate assistant," Todo said, cleaning the water trough. "It takes me three times longer to fill their troughs when they try to bully me into their cuddle piles.” Todo floated towards the hose and dragged it across the enclosure, straining between words. “Your...reaction...to them...is...far…different…from…Mr. Bane’s…first…interaction.”

“What do you mean?” Crosshair asked.

“Oh, Mr. Bane was terrified of the Fabools when Fett brought him here. Practically climbed up on the fence to get away from them. He was scared of a lot of things back then though.”

Crosshair’s jaw dropped into his lap. “Bane? Cad Bane?”

“Well he wasn’t Mr. Bane back then. Just Cad. He hadn’t chosen a surname. Some Duros culture thing. I never understood it.”

“How long have you known Bane?”

“Many, many years.”

Crosshair cupped a Fabool chick in his hands and pressed it against his cheek. It snuffled at him, inquisitively. “Why was he afraid of the Fabools?”

“He full of paranoia when we met him,” Todo said, lightly. “Just distrustful of everything, in general.”

"But..." Crosshair stared dumbfounded at Todo. “How did he get so…”

“...so very 'Bane' ?” Todo asked.

“Yes.”

Todo held up an authoritative finger. “By eating his vegetables, little boy,” Todo hummed and floated towards the food sacks.

Crosshair rolled his eyes. “What else do you know about Bane?”

“Oh, I know lots about him. I’ve known him for a very long time. I’m his most trusted confidant. I am sworn to secrecy though so I couldn't possibly share anything with you.”

Considering how much Crosshair learned about Bane in the thirty seconds he knew Todo he decided to just nod. “Okay.”

“But…” Todo floated forward, hands rubbing together conspiratorially. “...I do have a few juicy tidbits I could share if you’re interested.”

Crosshair made a mental note to never tell Todo 360 anything about himself. “Sure.”

“Oh goodie! It’s so rare I find someone to gossip with that aren’t Fabools. Bossk and Aurra tell Mr. Bane everything .”

Crosshair scooted forward, setting the chick down on the ground only to have two fabools bounce into his lap and a third bounce against his back. Somehow all of the Fabools reminded him of Wrecker, only cuter and less annoying. “What else do you know?”

“Hmm…oh! Here's something. He didn’t know how to use a blaster when he met Mr. Fett. Mr. Fett taught him everything he knew about being a mercenary.”

“I figured that much.”

“But did you know that Mr. Fett and Mr. Bane engaged in a bar fight before Mr. Fett left for his secret project?”

“Why?”

“Is it not obvious? Mr. Bane idolized Mr. Fett, followed him around like a fabool chick bounces after a feed bag. When Mr. Fett left mercenary work, he left Mr. Bane behind. Mr. Bane took it very personally, but I think it was the best thing that ever happened to him.”

“Why?” Crosshair pressed.

“Because that is when Mr. Bane found that cool confidence in himself. Mr. Fett was always there to lift him up, reward his victories, and tutor his failings. Mr. Bane had to figure out how to exist without Mr. Fett and it was then I noticed that confidence grow like a hmm…like a cactus blossom! He went from Mr. Fett’s shadow to being quite the opposing figure himself.”

Crosshair sat quietly, absorbing this fact. It was hard to imagine the Bane today cowering from Fabools or needing help from anyone.

Or starving for someone else's approval.

When he thought of Bane, he thought of the easy stance, arms relaxed and thumbs hanging over his belt buckle, a toothpick casually moving between his teeth, round eyes behind hooded lids that could see through a person with more accuracy than a scope. That nonchalant drawl, the cheeky turn of phrase, unrattled, and prickly.  

All the things Crosshair wanted to be. 

“Has Bane ever had an apprentice before?”

“Not to my knowledge. Mr. Fett’s request is unusual, but Bane would do anything for-”

“Kid, get up.”

Crosshair startled, whipping his head back to find Bane leaning against the wall, arms folded, toothpick rolling lazily in his teeth. How long had he been in the enclosure? A Fabool snuffled at his boot, lost interest than bounce against Crosshair's head.

“Come with me.” Bane left the enclosure without another word.

Crosshair didn’t move at first. Not because he was covered in Fabools, but because he knew this was the end.

Retirement…

He’d finally find out what happened to Pintsize and Radar.

“Nice to meet you, Todo,” he said, standing up and gently rolling the fabools away who happily bounded towards the droid.

“Oh! Well nice to meet you too, um… ‘Kid’.”

“Sit down,” Bane said, pointing to the rocking chair on the porch before going into the house.

Crosshair sank onto the flower-patterned cushioned seat, trying and failing to rest his boots on the railing. It was too far away. He sighed and drew his legs up, hugging his knees. He watched the skies for a ship to come and pick him up. 

Bane came out a few minutes later and sat in the other rocking chair, boots landing with a jingle of his spurs on the railing. Crosshair’s rifle was in his hands. It took all of Crosshair’s self-control not to lunge for it, hug it, and promise he would never abandon it again.

He hugged his knees tighter.

“Doesn’t take a genius to know why you ran out last night,” Bane began, tilting his hat up to look Crosshair in the eyes. “You crave praise like a dying man thirstin’ of jocola . I don’t reckon you get a lot of positive reinforcement at the facility n’ ya know what? Tough shit. The sooner ya realize the galaxy ain’t gonna give ya validation is the day ya actually become the extraordinary sniper I know ya can be.

“This is the last and only time I’m gonna say this," Bane continued. "Yer real fuckin’ good, and yer gonna be the best. I ain't ever wrong about shit like this. Now...you hold onto that praise because after this conversation, I ain’t gonna be nice to ya anymore. Yer gonna get pushed n' pushed hard, yer gonna get shaken, and I’m gonna do everythin’ I can to get ya past this bullshit worry about what everyone else thinks. Maybe you’ll hate me, hell ya might even shoot me in the back, but it’ll be worth it because it’s gonna send ya past that kraytshit extraordinary standard Pynk’s got for ya.”

Bane offered the rifle back to Crosshair. “I promise, by the time ya get back home, yer gonna be tougher than a reek’s horn n’ twice as deadly.”

The moment Crosshair’s fingers touched his rifle, he knew it was augmented. It felt like a Firepunch. Better scope, heavier stock, a weapon for a real sniper. He peered through the scope. 

“Whoa,” Crosshair murmured, scanning the field with his scope, toggling between more scanners than he knew existed. “Wizard.”

“Listen kid, in this galaxy there’ll be plenty of people tryin’ to put you down, break your spirit, break your bones. Only person you gotta trust is yourself. Yer all ya need, you understand me?”

Crosshair realized it was a lesson Bane had to learn when Jango left for Kamino. It would be a lesson Crosshair would carry with him the rest of his life.

Even if Bane was hired to train him, to be this mentor, it meant something to Crosshair. "Understood."

“Go clean up. Food’s in an hour. Beef stew minus the carrots. After that you start yer real trainin’. Deal?”

Crosshair hopped up, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. “Deal.”

“One more thing, kid.”

“Yeah?”

“What did you and Todo talk about this morning?”

Crosshair didn’t bother lying. “You.”

Bane growled quietly. “That gossiping little shit. What did he say?”

Though Crosshair didn’t intend to lie, he also didn’t feel like ratting Todo out. So he was honest about the thing that mattered most. 

“He said you’re better off without Fett around.” 

The words seemed to splash cold water on Bane’s face. The mercenary  looked away, out to the golden field, too bright in the noonday sun. 

“Is it true?” Crosshair asked. 

Bane’s glare didn’t skewer Crosshair as sharply as he expected. In fact, it looked like he may even answer.

“Target practice starts at dusk. Bring your A-game, kid. Not holding back on you. Now get outta here.”

And with that Bane sank into his rocking chair tilted his hat forward over his eyes.

The conversation was over.

Crosshair was happy he asked.

[astridthevalkyrie]

chand ko chakor dekhe, tujkho naseebo wala (the bird looks at the moon, a lucky one looks at you) | hawks x reader | chapter 6

“You’ve died twice? From clocks? “I know you’re not blind to the rocks and debris flying literally everywhere! The world would be better off without you in it!” you scream at the villain. The machine is even louder as it breaks and jams into the ground. “Flying building pieces or something, I don’t know—one hit me yesterday. The first day I got knocked into a wall, and then I woke up hugging my body pillow. Same thing the next day. And the next, and the next. Did my number three pro hero partner save me? No, he let me get stuck in a fucking time loop!” Or, you’ll do a lot of things with infinite time on your hands, but falling in love with Keigo Takami isn’t one of them.

a/n: yesssss update's out have a fun time reading!

warnings: suicide attempts (with the understanding that she will reset), hawks pins reader to a building, rudeness, icky romantic stuff 🤮

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

“Whoa.” Your hands come up in front of your chest as the kid’s arm crackles—crackles?—with lightning. “Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa hang on, I don’t fight children!”

You don’t think the nerd hears you, because he’s jumping forward with wide, fearful, despaired eyes. “Detroit”—of course he’s an All Might copycat, USA lover, star spangled stripes, would still smash their number one hero, though more like she’d smash you because she’s super strong—”SMAAASH!”

Fuck your life. Truly.

—————————————————

You go back to the beach the next today. Not to kill All Might again, even if you did cheat and break the vow you’d made to yourself the first day you officially started training to be a hero (haha your soul is broken you’re going to hell except you’re not because you’re stuck in a time loop and ohmygosh maybe this is hell maybe when you got hit by the rock that first day you died what the shiiiiit). No no, you won’t kill him again, because you’re just far more interested in who this tiny little green loser is and just how he KOed you with one punch.

That’s not, like, easy. You killed the top ten heroes minus the dumb bird! By right of passage, that makes you the number one! Or at least the number two if Hawks is de facto one even though he totally isn’t. He admitted MULTIPLE times that he would have just let you kill him. Who needs a flimsy number one hero like that?

Speaking of flimsy number one heroes.

You’re probably losing your mind more than you thought. Why are you looking at a chibi version of All Might?

Goddamn are heroes stupid! You’re perched up just barely out of view and neither the LITERAL NUMBER ONE or his protege have noticed you as they eat and yap about CLASSES of all things!

Okay, so when you killed All Might, he wasn’t exactly himself because he hasn’t had his Snickers bar yet or whatever. Which means you didn’t really kill the number one, and so the right of passage still leaves you at number two (yeah yeah, de facto Hawks number two, then you). 

So if Small Might (good one! that’s original!) can’t fight you, that would mean the real foe you’d need to defeat is YOUNG MIDRORIYA! Only problem is that YOUNG MIDORIYA! is a child and y’know, you’re not quite that comfortable in your amorality yet. Already you feel queasy every time you think about the way you killed LightMight. 

Still, one doesn’t just go around California Cabana-ing every single person they see, so when YOUNG MIDORIYA! starts walking back to whichever hovel he crawled out of, you follow him until you see someone trip in front of him, large drink in their hands. 

What would have soaked his shirt now completely coats his face with just a liiiiitle bit of wind.

Respect your elders, kid. You’ll never be the next Mini Might with that attitude. Although, that isn’t any reason to apologize that profusely to the lady that spilled the drink. No, there’s no need to buy her a new drink either, your face got soaked, not her’s, she was the one not looking where she was going. OFFERING AN AUTOGRAPH FROM ERASERHEAD? HUH? DID SHE LOSE HER DRINK OR DID SHE LOSE HER WHOLE GODDAMN FAMILY?

Oh, she doesn’t even know who Eraserhead is. Ha. That’s right, walk home with your sorry little green head all wet. That’ll teach you not to bribe civilians.

—————————————————

The next day, you wake up, ignore Hawks’ text first thing in the morning, open your window and jump out. Then you wake up in your bed again, and repeat. Repeat. Repeat. It’s entertaining for all of six minutes before the nothingness and despair becomes passionless.

What’s left? What more is there?

Well, it was kinda fun taking Ryukyu up to space (no it wasn’t?). You could try that again. Opening the window, you go up this time, instead of down.

Today, you’ll try to reach the sun.

First, you’re shot by someone who must think you were a stray bird. First, rude. Second, still illegal. Rot in jail. You love being a pro hero, the police do whatever you say with overt rudeness but begrudging submission. 

Second, you look into the sun too long and uh. Die. That one’s embarrassing.

Third, claws dig into your hips and yank you down. 

“Hey!” You scratch at the hands assisting gravity in bringing you closer to the ground. “What the hell, what are you doing? You never get here this early!”

“What are you doing? Where are you even going?”

“I will kick you in the balls if you don’t let me go, you dumb shit!”

“You’re so nice,” Hawks drawls, and his legs wrap around yours too, one arm around your front to pin your arms to the side. Now it’s only his wings keeping you afloat, his air giving you flight. It infuriates you, appealing muscles aside. “Someone just took a picture of us, by the way. Have fun explaining that one.”

You growl as fiercely as humanly possible, wriggling in his grasp. “Stupid stupid stupid bird impedes justice, gets murdered for it.”

“Too wordy for a hashtag.”

“Okay, how’s about—” It makes your chest hurt when you do it, but you suck in wind towards you using your own breath, and shoot it down to throw his arms away from you. “Hashtag I Did Hawks’ Dad!”

His wings flap as he falls, but he catches himself in no time. You’re propelling back up already, clouds not even within touching distance yet. Not that you wanna touch them. They’re really cold. Might as well touch Endeavor’s heart while you’re at it.

“For your information.” His nails graze your nape this time, and he grips the back of your uniform. With a grunt, he pulls you back again, too strong for those weak birdy bones. You shoot downwards, gasping. “That would make you a criminal fucker.”

You’re sideways, hair twisting in strange ways as you glare up at him. His wings expand impressively, blocking the sun and giving you a good look at a world of crimson gold. 

“Sorry about your dirtbag father. Can you get out of the fucking way?”

Hawks holds up a finger with a condescending look, pointing to his right, then his left. “See these? These are legitimate directions to fly in. Up is nothing. Up doesn’t have anything for you.”

“You’re a fake friend,” you spit, jetting up with a fist raised. 

He blocks, immediately raising his leg to kick you, but you saw that move coming because sometimes you watch his fight compilations for entertainment (and his compilations in real life too, duh). His foot connects with your arm, and the sunlight gleams in his visor. “Is that so? Elaborate for me.”

“Do you know how fucking bored I am? Do you have any idea how much I hate every single fucking person on this planet?”

You land a square hit on his chest; the victory is short lived. Feathers sneak into your sleeves and pull you down, ignoring your kicking and screaming.

“Who could you possibly hate?” he sings.

“You, for starters, winged piece of shit! And Endeavor, yeah, that’s right, dickrider. Cry about it. I hate All Might too—did you know he’s a fraud? And his stupid ass sidekick, or ex boyfriend, or whatever, I paid him a visit and every time he’s about to tell me my future I end up dying, because life hates me just as much as I hate life! I’m not even allowed to know how I go out! Ryuku and Best Jeanist think they can appeal to my better nature, well, I DON’T HAVE ONE! Oh, I hope you get to marry someone someday, Hawks, and I hope they cheat on you and take all your money.”

It might look like you’re flailing, but you’re not. You’re just trying to air out your own clothes to get the feathers out. The man who had taken a picture of you is not full on recording the fight you and Hawks are having.

You flash him two matching middle fingers. 

“Stop it,” Hawks snarls, apparently fed up now (one word against Endeavor and Fanboy Hawks comes out to play). “That shit’ll go viral, you know it will.”

“Sorry to ruin your perfect image, golden boy.” You finally rip the last feather out of your sleeve, biting it in half and spitting it out just to spite him. “Kiss my ass—fuck!”

You’re pinned. Fully against the building. The feathers aren’t under your clothes, they don’t need to be. They connect with each other to form a link that pins your ankles and wrists individually and before you can suck in any air a few more stuff into your mouth as a makeshift gag. Upside down. “I’m not worried about my image, songbird. Your popularity rating is at an all time low lately.”

Because you don’t pose for posers the way he does. And also maybe how not child friendly you are in interviews. Maaaybe because most of the other heroes don’t even like you enough to team up with you.

Not! That! It! Matters!

Hawks can read you well enough from your eyes. He maneuvers his body upside down to look at you face up, and looks into your gaze with a slight quirk of his lips. “What’s the matter, Nightingale? You hate hero society all of a sudden?”

NO SHIT.

“You wanna skip patrol today?”

NO.

“Why not?”

WE’LL BE CALLED TO FIGHT CLOCKINTHEHOLE ANYWAY AND IF WE DON’T GET THERE IN TIME PEOPLE GET INJURED AND YOU GET ALL SAD FOR THE REST OF THE DAY.

“Sorry, gonna need your mouth to transcribe that one.” The gag is lifted and before you can scream he covers your mouth with his hand, “Hey,” he coos, looking like his hair is flying up, “I’m serious. We can skip patrol, or I can do it on my own. I’ll cover for you, no problem.”

“Dude,” you choke, and the wetness running up your temple makes you realize you’re crying, “I wanna die.”

His face changes immediately, dropping every bit of his persona in an instant. The feathers loosen and release you, dropping you, and he catches you bridal style before you can turn on Aerial. 

“Alright, hang on.” His face is pained as he nudges your window open, carrying you in. “Hang on.”

The blood rushes back to your head, and the tears fall normally. He places you against your headboard, right next to the body pillow you always wake up next to. The sight of it makes you cry harder.

“Hey, hey.” Just like he did every time you tried to manipulate fighting tactics out of him to use against Endeavor, Hawks’ thumbs come up to brush your tears away. He sits at the edge of your bed, as though he’s visiting you in the hospital. “Hey, pretty girl, c’mon. Talk to me. Tell me everything. Let me help you.”

Your hands tangle in your own hair and your eyes shut, looking every bit the crazy lady you’ve become. “I want to fly into the sun. Please, just let me do that.”

“I can’t,” he pleads, taking his visor off and setting it aside. His jacket goes next, and he drapes it over you like the two of you aren’t indoors. And not on a date. He’s watched one too many cheesy romcoms. His favorite is John Tucker Must Die. You think that’s because he has mommy issues.

“I can’t,” he repeats, nudging himself next to you and moving your hands from your hair to your lap. His own hands go up to pat your hair down, and brush your shoulders, touch as light as a feather. 

He’s grooming you. Dumb bird. 

A painful sob escapes you, and you fall into him as he rubs your arms, your back, your hair. His bodysuit quickly becomes wet with your tears, but he doesn’t seem to mind, lips on your temple and arms tight around you. He even leans down and kisses a tear straight off your cheek.

“I’ve been living the same day again and again. I’ve lost count of the days. I killed people and I manipulated you and you keep helping me but nothing works. Everyday I have to go through this. Everyday the universe finds a way to kill me. I haven’t—” Your own wail cuts you off, and he squeezes you closer. “I haven’t seen nighttime in forever! I’ll forget what nighttime looks like soon, I’m so sick of the sun!”

He doesn’t say anything. Sometimes he believes you straight away, sometimes he doesn’t, but either way he eventually takes it in stride. He cheers you up. He takes you places or he talks and talks and talks until you’re laughing, laughing so hard you almost don’t feel the pain when you die.

His lips burn on your skin. He keeps them on your temple, warming you far more than his jacket does. 

“I hate telling you this every time,” you sniff, “I wish there was a way I could fast forward it.”

Still, he doesn’t talk. He moves instead, holding you to his heart like you’re.

Gold.

When Hawks does speak, his voice is thicker than normal, like he’s holding back something. Tears of his own, or a confession. Too many times he’s seen you vulnerable now, even if he doesn’t remember, and you don’t think you’ll ever see him in such a state. 

“If you wanna fly into the sun, I won’t stop you.”

You look at him. No hint of a lie in those golden eyes. Pulling away from the safety you’d embraced for a second, you sit back and swallow. “Yeah? No lie?”

“No lie. You’ll come back, right? The day will reset. So it’s okay.”

“Yeah.” Unless today is finally the last day. But you doubt it. You’ll know when it is. If it ever comes.

“Then you can go. Or…”

A few minutes ago, you’d have jumped out the window the second he stopped holding you back. “Or?”

“Or.” His tongue pokes into the side of his cheek. Thinking face. One of the few people who doesn’t have a dumb thinking face. This one actually looks like he’s thinking. “You let me take you somewhere.”

“Where?”

“Surprise,” he says softly, “you’ll like it. Promise.”

And you figure you can always fly into the sun tomorrow. The giant ass star isn’t going anywhere.

—————————————————

He’s had a hand over your eyes for a couple minutes now, guiding you inside…somewhere. Every few seconds he makes a shushing sound, to who you assume are bystanders wondering why the rude hero who trended number one on Twitter this morning (#FrightingaleBreakdown) is wandering around.

“Are you taking me to a strip club?” you ask suddenly. “I really don’t wanna go to a strip club right now.”

“No, but that’s a good idea. Tell me that one later. Or, tomorrow, or whatever. Whenever you want.”

Yeah. Okay.

A door closes, and that’s when he finally moves his hand. You’d assumed you would have to shield your eyes from some ceiling light. But instead, you’re met by even more darkness.

Well. Not total darkness.

There’s a hint of white. A sliver of silver. And it’s everywhere.

You honesttoGod gasp, staggering back as you witness the night sky. The stars twinkle like shiny teeth (that sparkle, adding beauty to my faaaace, my shiny teeth that glisten, just like a christmas tree, you know they’d walk a mile, just to see me smile (woo!) my shiny teeth and me). Your hands tremble as they close over your mouth, and you don’t realize that you’re tearing up until Hawks’ fingers are under your eyes again, catching the tears before they can fall.

“I know a planetarium isn’t the same as the actual night.” He glows like this, how does one do that? What’s his skincare routine? “But…it’s better than nothing, and I’ll bring you here whenever you want. You say the word to me and we’re here. Or anywhere else. If you can’t get out of the loop, then you should take advantage of it. Have fun. Do things you’ve never had time to do before. I’ll help you.”

For all this trouble, you should stare up at the faux sky, not at him.

“And um, to speed up the process.” His cheeks dust pink, and he whispers, “Keigo.”

That’s when you find your voice. “What?”

“Keigo. My name. I’ve never told anyone, so, you know. I’ll believe you faster.” His face is red now, all the way up to the tips of his prickly ears. 

“Kei-go.” You test it out on your tongue, eyes on him. “Well, what if I’m just messing with you and I’m not actually reliving today?”

He exhales in a way that tells you the thought didn’t even cross his mind. As if you’re sooo goodhearted you would never do such a thing. But you absolutely would.

“It’d be worth it.” Hawks—Keigo—shrugs. “To hear you say my name.”

Oh.

You step forward, you think, to kiss him, but before you get the chance the ground shakes, and then crumbles directly under your feet. You don’t even hear his cry of surprise. Is this an earthquake? No, quicksand? But that makes no sense—except the curse doesn’t make any sense at all, so yeah. Sure. You’ll go out like that.

You wake up with the taste of sand and good sense never to try and kiss your partner again. 

—————————————————

“You’re early!” Hawks greets you at patrol.

“Yeah, well.” You sigh, blowing into the cup of hot tea in your hand. “We don’t all take our time like you, Keigo.”

[districtscare]

one thing about katniss everdeen is that she'll be prejudiced towards anyone that doesn't fit her narrative of vulnerability and here are my examples from JUST her treatment of haymitch because it's important to note that despite his role as mentor, he's still treated as inferior BY his proteges who he in fact saves multiple times. haymitch being smart and competent does not take away that he is a vulnerable person, and his functioning alcoholism is still is a disease, not an excuse or a lifestyle. this is JUST from the first book.

chapter 1, page 23 — the hunger games

chapter 2, page 29 — the hunger games

chapter 3-4, page 53-57 — the hunger games

chapter 4, page 58-59 — the hunger games

i totally don't care if this is just katniss being a typical dramatical teenager because she should at least be aware at how severe haymitch's condition actually is, instead of making fun of it in the FIRST 4 CHAPTERS onwatds????????

the comments she chooses to make concerning a vulnerable adult like haymitch AND her mother but will glorify and romanticize the plight of a vulnerable children like rue or prim, as if both of them aren't suffering in their own ways is very telling! whether you like it or not, katniss isn't written to be likeable and sweet and kind. while you acknowledge the kindness in her character in certain aspects, you also have to realize how morally grey and how generally ignorant/prejudice she is for someone coming from an impoverished background, which can be due to a number or reasons including lack of outside environmental exposure and wider education and information. nonetheless, her comments about haymitch (who is an inebriated male & at his drunkest DOES lack inhibition,) is both disgusting and degrading. using molestation in the wrong way AND mentioning "washing the vomit out of his chest hair" is just foul??? like there's no genuine excuse for the way she treats him for something he actually. can't help.

[sinbadalexandros]

Please help by donating to my book ‘I Hide Among the Words” to make it across the finish line to publication. PayPal.Me link: paypal.me/forcedevolutio…

I Hide Among the Words

By Sinbad Alexandros

Poetry and Prose from within a schizophrenic's mind, heart and soul. Come explore, find me, and maybe a little of  yourselves. We are not so different.

322 pieces of my own work written over the last 40 years and 14 by my protege & fiance, Jaira Gena, in the final chapter of the book

tinyurl.com/Soul-Poetry

This is the first time I have written something which I said to, as a quote, and it became something else. First, a 4-line poem, and then a poetic story verse where I try to explain something to a friend. What's unusual about it is I tried to write it from the female perspective for her. Both works share the same name.

"Cages 1"

{ 4-line poem / quote}

"Not all cages,

are of metal, wood, or stone.

Sometimes we consign ourselves,

to a prison of flesh, blood, and bone."

"Cages 2"

{ Poetical Story Verse }

I feel chained up, like I'm all tied down,

but I'm lying in the park, lazily upon the ground.

Can't figure out what's up, don't know what's wrong,

so, I do some daydreaming, while listening to a song.

The next song begins to play, the lyrics strike deep to my core,

they make me hurt in every way, and there is no mystery anymore.

I see people fight like children, every day they scream and yell,

they act like complete animals; it feels like we’re living in hell.

I think no one understands me, no way they could feel the same,

our lives are so very different, and most think it's a big game.

I feel broken and damaged, in this there is no crime,

but others did this to me, with their actions over time.

As the days grow colder, and the light becomes dim,

my mind begins to wonder, will I sink, or will I swim?

I wish to know freedom, and experience real love,

please send me an angel, from the sky up above.

After long years of searching, I finally meet someone new,

who treats me so special, to keep me from being blue.

We go out on some dates, and I have an amazing time,

I wonder if he's like the others, Will he also commit a crime?

I want him to hold me, and to kiss my sweet lips,

yet I'm afraid all he wants, is only between my hips.

I hope he won’t hurt me; his love feels oh so real,

he is different from others, and makes me start to reel.

I talk to him of my fears, and try to drive him away,

he stands his ground firmly, and says, “I'm here to stay.” 

He speaks to my heart, with love in his voice,

to give it reassurance, he made the right choice.

We talked of our bad times, and seeing tragedy’s vision,

then what he did to escape, from his own lonely prison.

And I now realize not all cages, are of metal, wood, or stone.

Sometimes we consign ourselves, to a prison of flesh, blood, and bone.

But every jail can be opened, no matter how solid its pawls,

by offering love and compassion, you can bring down the walls.

He’s healing my damaged heart, and wishes to unshatter my soul,

I wonder if he's strong enough. Can he reach such a lofty goal?

Something has started now, I’m not sure I can finish,

and if it all goes wrong, the man I love will diminish.

We take things slowly, setting our own pace,

leaving those around us, to fight the rat race.

And each day gets better, than the ones before,

being given more reasons, to protect a man I adore.

Perhaps it’s manifest destiny, or just a simple trick of life,

all that time longing for love, and now I’m becoming a wife.

[super-paper]

what context did bnha mean by "fantasy becomes reality?" how is it used in the story

Hmm?  This question is kinda broad, so I'm not really sure how to go about answering it, but.............

I do talk a bit about how MVA plays with the idea of fantasy vs reality + how the league all noticeably use "masks/villain identities" and "fantasy" as a coping mechanism in this post, and I talk a whole lot about how MHA itself plays w/ these concepts in this post.

Other than that-- There are like, three or four BIG lines in the first chapter that firmly establish what the core ideas of the series are, and the "fantasy became reality" line is one of them:

“Fantasy Became Reality!” <- The "establishing line" of the series. Izuku uses this line to establish what sort of world they live in (a world that has become "just like a comic book"), and he later repeats this line when All Might becomes the first person to validate his "fantasy" about becoming a hero while offering to make that fantasy into a reality. It sets the tone for the type of series MHA is. AFO later repeats this line during Izuku's OFAFO dream, where he witnesses AFO forcing a quirk/"role" on Yoichi-- The entire scene depicts AFO acting as a dark echo to both Izuku and chapter one of the series, taking the idea of "fantasy becoming reality" it to its darkest possible conclusion and showing us how people ACTUALLY reacted to this concept. This is the chapter that cements why AFO is the main villain of mha, with AFO using MHA's establishing line to instead ask the readers: If reality is now fantasy, and a fantasy is something that's written.... then who gets to be the author of that story? :) (he then proceeded to write the worst, most self indulgent Captain Hero x Demon Lord self-insert fanfic the world has ever seen. boo this man.)

"You looked like you needed saving." <- The heart of the series.

“You CAN become a hero.” <- The point of the series.

And I'll throw the opening line in as a bonus:   4. “People are not born equal—that's the hard lesson I learned at age four. But that was my first and last set back.” (<- i'm including this one bc so many people cite the first part of this line as evidence that the series is about how “life isn’t fair + some people are just dealt a bad hand and there's nothing you can do about it + you can’t save everyone, actually”..... while completely omitting the second part, which establishes that the first part of the line is just that: a setback that can be overcome, not an ironclad rule that chains people in one place. Like sorry, but MHA is all about PLUS ULTRA + GO BEYOND + BELIEVE IN THE U THAT BELIEVES IN URSELF + ETC. It is NOT a fatalistic, nihilistic, pessimistic series. )

Back on topic!

There is smthing wrong with him ❤ (part 538 of ???)

MHA's relationship with fiction as a concept or w/e is baked into the story on practically every level-- it's both a love letter to and a deconstruction of the art of telling stories, of comic books, and of the conventional expectations people have of "fiction" and "hero/villain" stories. MHA understands the value of fantasy in saving/inspiring others while also exploring what drives people to use fantasy as an escape from reality. Understanding how MHA plays with these ideas is fairly integral to understanding what's going on with Tomura/AFO.

Like, there's really no way to summarize it briefly, but here are some of the other ways MHA utilizes these concepts:

The idea of "Heroes" and "Villains" being exaggerated alter egos or "roles" that might not be a 1:1 reflection of who that person truly is. Tomura, Endeavor, All Might, and AFO are all big examples of this.

The concept of defying fate (i.e. the narrative/author) and breaking free from the villain/hero/mentor archetypes also plays heavily into Tomura, Izuku, and Toshinori's respective arcs. "The mentor dies once he completes his role so his protege can take up his mantle" isn't anything unique, ya'll-- it's a classic and wildly popular trope. Toshi's arc is about breaking free from the constraints of "the mentor role" and expectations of that particular narrative, and shaping his own fate while wrenching his story away from a particularly malicious author (i.e. AFO). side note: AFO getting curb-stomped by a "character" he helped create and having them basically call his writing shit right to his face will never not be funny btw-- let's go three for three, Tomura.......!!!!!!!!!

Izuku is trying to break free from the narrative of "the hero killing the villain at the end of the story" and outright rejects AFO's idea of a "happy ending" (that is, an ending where Tomura disappears and AFO gets to keep wearing his skin as a cool villain costume).

Meanwhile, Tomura is trying to force the whole story to perma end 😬. Which is like, fair enough, bc he's the character who has been hurt by "fantasy" more than anyone else and he's completely over it at this point-- but destroying that fantasy means losing himself in the fantasy of being "Shigaraki Tomura", which implies that he is going to destroy himself in the process of tearing the story apart. Not a good thing. Treat him gently, Izuku.

Also, here are some choice panels/excerpts that I feel emphasize MHA's relationship with fantasy and the above bulletpoints:

the absolute state of the mha fandom lmfaoooooo

iirc the anime also has a neat scene where they include a sort of "television suddenly being turned off" effect to emphasize when AFO completely takes over Tomura's body during the PLW-- you can see part of it in this video, around the 8:36 mark. I gotta give Bones credit where it's due-- it's a really fuckin' cool way of emphasizing what exactly AFO is doing to Tomura + how AFO is treating Tomura as more of a fictional construct than an actual person:

Tomura: sensei you don't get to be a voice in my head you lost to all might like a punk bitch and I'M gonna be the one to surpass YOU 😤

AFO:

tbf if i had the power to permanently mute the mouthy little teenager who keeps bringing up my Ex and our embarrassing break up, I would also abuse tf outta it. That and the boyish appreciation for eldritch body horror is where I draw the line at relating to AFO, tho.

----- Anyway!

MHA's premise basically asks: “wow, what if fantasy suddenly became reality? what if we started treating reality like it's a comic book? what if.... we started treating actual people like they were comic book characters? what if we implemented a system of justice that's ripped straight from the pages of a comic book WHILE treating actual people like they're comic characters?? :D wouldn't that be wild ha ha”-- and after that question has been popped in the most deceptively flippant way possible, Hori spends the rest of the story holding his readers in place with a white-knuckled grip while fixing them with an unblinking stare as the entire concept just gets more and more (VERY INTENTIONALLY) uncomfortable lmfao.

At any rate, sorry if this doesn't answer much-- but like I said, the topic is a broad one bc the way MHA plays with the concept of fiction/fantasy is baked so deeply into every aspect of its narrative that like....... it's impossible for someone like me to summarize it succinctly. It's just one of the foundational aspects of the story!👍

[sayruq]

Areola and Digested Tarpit stans on this app and on twitter every other day oscillating between these two deranged takes 1) "Sansa is just a camera where reader's see the action through. She's irrelevant and not important. Check mate!" and 2) "Sansa is morally grey, she's going to become Petyr's protege and do villainous shit alongside him in order to cause problems for the real heroine, Areola Stark aka Future Queen of Winterfell/Future Captain of Winterfell/Jon Snow's Future Wife and Baby Mama/Digested's Future Best Friend/Sister-In-Law. Sure, ok, alright. So which one is it?

My favourite thing is assuming that a girl who vomited when Dontos was killed in book 3, who, in book 4, wept hysterically while recalling her aunt dying after trying to kill her, and who helped a stuttering man finish his sentence without mocking or ignoring him in a small moment of kindness is going to become a villain. If so, GRRM's pacing is way off. I mean Arya is killing people like Dareon and Daenerys ignored hundreds of people getting burnt in favor of the joy of flying on dragonback and if none of that is any indication that they're becoming villains, how can Sansa even come close?

As for Sansa being a camera, yeah, strap a 'camera' to a hostage who is kept away from crucial events like the Battle of the Blackwater Bay and Littlefinger's trip around the Vale negotiating and blackmailing Vale lords. That makes a lot of sense 🙄. Almost as if Sansa's own journey in its own right is being presented as important to the overall story, important enough to warrant 20+ chapters starting from the very first book.

I feel like the only people who truly believe this are people who don't actually read the books.

[wiz-writes]

The OoTY update was everything I wanted thank you for the food 🙏🏼 I love how you gave every RO a moment to shine in, after this I really want to make 4 separate MCs for each of them. And the cliffhanger at the end... you sure do love to torture us, uh?

My current MC is going for Wei Qing and 🥲 thinking about baby Shiyi and Shiqi breaks my heart. Selecting certain dialogues + Wei Qing's unconscious reactions towards the MC made sure to imprint in my mind that their relationship used to be very close before the Elders drove a wedge between them, so playing a MC who was haunted by his 'death' and will get to start all over again with him is going to be interesting, to say the least.

Also, I love the double standards that the MC can keep regarding everyone vs. Wei Qing:

MC: *tries to keep their intentions and identify hidden from their protege, the heiress of the manor, their weapons teacher, etc.*

WQ: Why are you here?

MC: *immediately tells the truth*

LMAO.

Hmm, final thoughts I've had from reading the demo again:

1. I've got the feeling that Master Hua already suspected that the Yinshan Society/someone else (most probably the person who commissioned the society to steal Wujin) would try to do something funny in light of the rumors about his supposed illness. I even doubt he's really ill— I wouldn't be surprised if he spread the rumors intentionally to make his target take the bait, after all.

2.

You touch the piece of broken green jade, running your thumb across its polished surface. You don't know why you agreed to take it back then [...] Maybe it was the shock, or you simply couldn't refuse a dying man's last wish.

Oooh, more mysterious MC backstory that definitely will not cast suspicion/backfire on them later on. No sir, it's just an innocuous piece of jade, nothing more. 🙄

Aaaah, Anon, you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that you like all the ROs!

The cliffhanger originally wasn't supposed to be there, but I felt that the ending was kind of meh, so I decided to move it to the next chapter.

A bit of background info about MC and Wei Qing, which I'm not sure will ever come up in the story, and also a little bit of insight into what Wei Qing's thinking, so SPOILERS ahead:

.

.

There were altogether seven people in your "group" at Yinshan, with Shiyi being the oldest and the MC being the youngest. Out of these seven disciples, Shiyi and MC were definitely the closest until their Mentors intervened. While you got the MC's side of what happened afterwards and how they moved on, Wei Qing is kind of still stuck in the past, because he never experienced what the MC did. So when his little Shiqi appeared in front of him again, it was like he had gone back to the time when everything was okay. Except, you're not really his little Shiqi anymore.

Man, I think I might write a side story with his POV.

.

.

END OF SPOILERS

As to your final thoughts:

That's a great theory! And Master Hua is certainly capable of coming up with this sort of plan!

Tsk, what did the piece of jade do to you, Anon? It's just a little piece of jewelry, nothing strange about it, no no, absolutely nothing! 😂

This got long, sorry! Anyway, thank you so much for the ask, Anon ❤️

[blee-bleep]

Hey, I know this might be a big ask but I remembered your Pokemon fanfic. It was about White as the UNOVA league champion training a new trainer for a tournament across the other leagues (the other champions had proteges too). I know I checked for it a couple of times probably a year ago but didn't have the courage to ask. Would you be willing to repost it? I remember really liking it and would love to reread it even if it never gets finished. What was written was great!

THIS ASK WAS LIKE A FLASHBANG???? I CANT BELIEVE SOMEBODY READ THIS. first of, thank you for reading it!! its such a blorbo thing w OC's because I LOVE pkmn b/w. 15 yo me created a whole universe for it.

also I'm afraid to say that the fanfic's scrapped now 😔 majority of the chapters were written in an old family PC and Ive yet to recover any files (I think the hard drives its on is dead now). another thing is that I posted it in a fanfiction/.net account that I cant access anymore (forgot password and email I used) so I basically didn't look at anything I did there for over... 4 years. this includes my reverse lwa au and my genderbend TWGOK fic. i think I also wrote some more fanfics but I cant remember anymore.

so yeah, i cant repost it. lost media and idk how to read it anywher :((. i still have sketches of that fic locked away somewhere tho but I'm pretty sure,,, anything past 2019 is forever lost lol (or that I cant look at it out of shame lol)