#they all lie but none can handle being lied to oh well

[tragicotps]

Lyra, Asriel and Marisa + Calling each other out on their lies

[bayisdying]

Lucky Penny - Chapter Sixteen

A/N: I'm not super happy with this chapter not gonna lie you guys. The whole thing kinda rambles and I think it's awful but just bear with me. Basically the ending is the only good part but even that isn't what I wanted. Oh well.

"Do I have to go?" Lucky whined.

Ice just smiled at her.

"Oh come on Ice, that's so mean."

"It's one night you can handle it."

She sighed. "Fine."

It was three months after the mission, and now the Navy wanted to throw an awards banquet honoring the Dagger Squad.

For the others it was an excuse to dress up and be recognized. For Lucky? It was a huge night, announcing something so close to her heart. She was more nervous for this speech than flying jets thousands of feet in the air.

As Fanboy zipped up the gorgeous silver, floor length dress she had picked out, he could see the look in her eyes in the mirror.

"Hey cariño. What's got you thinking so hard?"

She turned around to face him, "I'm just thinking about I need this night to be over quickly so I can get you out of this suit." She smiled then responded truthfully. "Ice is making this such a big deal, and he knows how much I don't want to give this damn speech."

"Babe, I've read the speech and you've practiced it so much. It's going to go great. Just imagine the audience naked." He paused. "Okay maybe not Hangman, Coyote, Payback, Bob, or Rooster. Imagine none of them naked."

That made her laugh, then she placed a kiss to his cheek.

"Let's get this over with."

"What a positive outlook Lucky."

"Shut up."

-----

When they entered the hall, she first noticed all the people. Ice had told her it wasn't going to be a huge crowd, clearly he lied to her. Rude.

They found the table reserved for the Daggers, and took their seats. Lucky sat with Fanboy to her left and Coyote to her right. Next to Fanboy was Payback, then Bob, Phoenix, Rooster, and Hangman. She texted her Mom who confirmed she was somewhere in the crowd of people.

"This is quite the party." Coyote says.

"Yeah they went all out for this." Mickey responds for her, she was trying hard not to have a panic attack.

After dinner was served and drinks were had Cyclone took to the stage and got the attention of the whole place.

"First I would like to thank everyone for joining us tonight to honor some of the best pilots the Navy has ever produced."

A round of applause rang out.

"These pilots completed a mission that we thought would be impossible. They proved otherwise. Tonight we honor all of them. I will now turn it over to Admiral Tom Kazansky, callsign Iceman."

Ice got a round of applause even bigger than the first. Lucky barely realized Fanboy had placed a careful hand on her thigh.

"Thank you Admiral Simpson for warming up our crowd here." He joked. "Now I have watched many pilots come through the Top Gun program. Many of which I either personally trained or made an effort to get to know. But these pilots we are honoring tonight represent the best of the best. I feel a tiny bit responsible as I picked them out for this mission, but I played such a small part. I would like to first acknowledge Admiral Beau Simpson, call sign Cyclone for dealing with this crazy group. Next is Rear Admiral Solomon Bates, callsign Warlock for keeping Cyclone from jumping off the ledge. To Captain Pete Mitchell, callsign Maverick for training these pilots the parameters of the mission and showing them that anything is possible. And lastly to Chief Warrant Officer, Bernie Coleman aka Hondo, for keeping the leash on Maverick as tight as one can. I know how hard that can be somedays." Iceman laughed as Maverick flipped him the bird.

"Maverick, if you would please join me up here to help with your feral children." Mav and the other top people there made a line across the stage.

Here was the moment Lucky had been dreading. Them actually being honored. She wanted to throw up.

"First, we would like to bring up our Dagger Spares. These two may not have flown in the mission, but both men were crucial to the rescue mission that followed. These two have proven time and time again why they both graduated top of their classes. Please welcome Jake Seresin, callsign Hangman and Bradley Bradshaw, callsign Rooster to the stage."

She clapped for the two men, as they shook hands with all the bigwigs up on stage, before taking their spots behind Iceman.

"Next we would like to bring up the two Foxtrot teams that flew this mission. Both were vital in this mission's success, and both teams did their part to perfection. First let's bring up Natasha Trace, callsign Phoenix and her backseater Robert Floyd, callsign Bob. Phoenix is a pilot anyone should be grateful to have the opportunity to fly with. She is smart and laser focused. Bob is not only one of the best backseaters around, he was also on the rescue mission."

Phoenix and Bob then joined the others on the stage. Mickey's hand squeezed her thigh just enough to let her know he was right there.

"Our next foxtrot team is a duo that have been flying together since flight school and their chemistry proves it. The pilot is one who has exceeded all expectations and then some, with a smooth voice to boot. Rueben Finch, callsign Payback."

She knew that meant the comfort of Mickey right next to her was going to be gone.

"And his backseater is someone I personally am quite proud of. He is always making sure his other pilots can laugh and also makes them do 200 push ups as punishment. Please welcome Mickey Garcia, callsign Fanboy."

He gave her a quick kiss to her cheek before taking his place beside Payback on the stage.

"These next two pilots showed courage, perseverance, and wits on this mission as mission leader and wingman. First I would like to bring the wingman up here, and hand over the microphone to him. Please welcome Javy Machado, callsign Coyote."

Coyote stood up and left Lucky all alone at their table. He hugged the fellow Daggers then Maverick before taking the podium from Iceman.

"Hello everybody. First I'd like to thank everyone for being here, we much appreciate the support. Also, to my fellow Daggers, I love you guys. There is no better team in the Navy. Even with Hangman bringing us down." He laughed as Hangman tried to hit him. "But I am not the most important person to this mission. I was just the wingman to a very special lady who is here tonight and we should honor her the most. She is the best of the best that there is. Nobody else would go back for their dumbass wingman who sacrificed himself for her trying to be a superhero. Nobody else would have stood a chance out there in the wilderness like she did. And I'm so honored to not only have survived with this lovely lady, but to introduce her to you all. Please help me welcome Baylie Steele, callsign Lucky."

She stood on shaky legs as she climbed the stairs to the stage, with assistance from Maverick. She shook hands, until she got to Iceman who pulled her into a bear hug.

"You look stunning, you're going to kill it kiddo." He whispered in her ear.

She hugged her fellow Daggers, and each one of them whispered words of encouragement in her ear.

She took to the podium, and took a deep breath and searched for her mother in the crowd, after she found Delilah's warm smile she began. "My name is Baylie Steele, but you can call me Lucky. First and foremost I would like to say that my Mom is here tonight, and she is the reason I am as badass as I am. Love you Mom." Everyone clapped as Delilah dapped at her eyes. "I would also like to thank everyone who showed up tonight to give acknowledgement to my friends and fellow aviators who flew this mission with me. I would also like to give a very special thanks to Iceman, Maverick, Cyclone, Warlock, and Hondo for creating a group of people who meshed so well, the people behind me are going to be my best friends for life. Some of them already were. I would like to tell you guys a story with this speech, a story about how my life has led to this moment in time. You see my callsign Lucky has a very special meaning. Most of these guys think it's just because I find pennies everywhere I go. Which is true, I do. But the reason I find all those pennies is because of a very special man that I wish could be here tonight. My stepfather William Steele taught me many lessons in our short time together and when he died he told me he would send me pennies to remind me he was still with me. All of those lessons have helped me in my life after him and also in my career. He taught me that family is not defined by who you share blood with, now I stand on this stage with people who are like my family with no blood shared between any of us. He also taught me how to be tough in all situations, to never give up. During this mission I never gave up even with the odds aganist us, because I knew deep down it was possible. Basically, my Dad was right all along, I could just never admit that out loud as a kid, his ego did not to fed into." She gave a small laugh and caught her breath before continuing. "William also taught me that just one person can change your life, and after he died I never thought I would get another person like him. I was wrong, again, because my very first go around at Top Gun I met someone who would exceed my expectations. Fanboy, you have changed my life in so many ways. You are my best friend, my biggest supporter, and I can't imagine my life without you. That was another lesson I learned from William, I asked him once how he had known my mom was the one for him. He told me "I knew when I couldn't imagine life without her." Mickey Garcia, you are the one for me, and I love you so much. I can't wait to be your wife." She turned back around and saw his eyes glistening with tears, she hadn't shown him that part of the speech.

She turned back around. "Going back for Coyote wasn't me trying to earn recognition or awards or even a night like tonight. I was simply not going to leave one of my friends behind. I made a promise as team leader that all of us were coming home safe and I made damn sure that I kept that promise. Javy, I still haven't fully decided if you were worth almost dying for, but I guess you're alright." She turns around to see Javy smiling widely at her.

"And lastly, I am going to force Iceman back up here to help me finish off this speech." She scoots over so they can share the podium. "Over the last three months I've been honored to spend quite a lot of time with this handsome, old man here." Ice chuckles. "And in our sit downs I've told him much about my stepfather and how alike they are. When one day an idea hit us both at nearly the same time..."

----

"You know, when Dad was sick Mom and I had a fundraiser to raise money for his treatments at the bar." She smiled at the memory. "It was so packed and fun."

She paused.

"Ice I just had an idea."

"Well that's dangerous."

She grabbed a paper clip and threw it at him. "That was mean."

He threw his arms up in surrender. "I'm sorry continue."

"What if we created a foundation for the kids of people going through cancer treatments? We would help pay for the treatments and also provide the kids with the support they will need through it too."

Ice smiled. "Not a bad idea kiddo, and I think I might have a name for it.

"Oh really?"

"Lucky Pennies."

"Perfect."

-----

"So tonight we are proud to announce our foundation that was created with the support of the Navy, American Cancer Foundation, and Cancer Support Community. Iceman, would you like the honors of telling them the name?"

He leans into the mic. "Of course kiddo, I am beyond honored to announce Lucky Pennies, a charity that will not only support the parent going through cancer but also their kids who are fighting alongside them. Much like Lucky here and also my children Jack and Mercedes who are somewhere in this crowd. I love you two so much, and I'm grateful to be your father."

The hall erupted in applause, and she felt as Mickey came up beside her. "I'm so proud of you." He whispered in her ear.

She turned to face him and kissed him deeply right there on the stage which caused the crowd to go wild again. As they walked down the stage, Delilah rushed up to reach her daughter and gave her a huge hug.

"Dad would be so proud of you my love."

"I know."

-----

A/N: hope you guys like this better than I do 🙄

[nethercomfies]

Oh perfect! Could you do something where Kaeya comforts reader when they're sick? Gn or male reader, I don't mind which! Dw if not

Of course anon, here you go! If you're currently sick, I hope you feel better soon! Thanks for the request, this was fun to write 💛

🏵️ Kaeya with a sick reader 🏵️

Pairing: Kaeya x gn!reader

Content: established relationship, reader is implied to work for the knights, use of nicknames for reader (snowflake, love), description of sickness, Kaeya is really caring and reassuring

Word Count: 1k

It only takes one look for Kaeya’s observant gaze to tell that you’re not feeling like your usual self. You look like you’re about to fall asleep over the papers you’re handling and your eyes are lacking their usual shine. Frankly put: You look terrible.

“What’s wrong, snowflake? Please don’t tell me Jean made you work until late into the night again.” His voice is more serious than usual, and someone as familiar with his mannerisms as you can clearly tell he’s worried.

You shake your head, trying your best to put on a smile. “No, she didn’t. I just didn’t sleep well last night,” you lie, not wanting to worry your boyfriend too much. The truth is, you have a pressing headache, you’ve felt nauseous all morning and, despite the hot temperatures outside, you feel like you’re freezing.

Kaeya crosses his arms, seeing right through your lies. “You slept like a rock. I got up several times and you didn’t even stir in your sleep. Come on now, what’s really wrong?” Usually there’s a slightly bemused tone in his voice when he uncovers one of your lies, but today there’s none of that to be found. Instead, he just sounds concerned for you. Kaeya steps closer, cupping your cheek. “Your skin feels like it’s burning, snowflake.” Despite how cold you felt just minutes ago, now that Kaeya mentions it, you feel the heat rushing through your body, your boyfriend’s cold skin against your feeling like heaven in comparison. You lean into his touch, closing your eyes for a short moment.

You hear Kaeya sigh, carefully removing his hand from your skin. “That’s it. You’re going back to bed. Come on, work can wait.” He says, gently pulling you up from your seat. You want to protest, but the moment you stand up, you feel slightly dizzy, reaching out to Kaeya for support, who instead wraps you up in his arms to carry you. You decide to not protest after all and instead lean into Kaeya’s chest, breathing in his calming scent. He kisses your cheek and carries you to your shared bedroom, putting you down on the bed and sitting next to you.

“Anything you need? Are you hungry, or would you like to drink something?” He asks, smoothing back a few stray hair that slipped to your forehead. You nod weakly, suddenly finding it hard to keep your eyes open.

“Some water would be nice,” you mumble, to which Kaeya nods, kissing your forehead before slipping away, only to come back shortly after with a glass of water. He helps you sit up enough to take a few sips, setting the cup down on your nightstand once you’re done.

“How about you rest for a while, snowflake? I’ll get you something to eat later when you feel a little better. I’ll go and tell Jean you won’t be doing any work today.” Kaeya is about to get up, but you reach out to grab his hand, pulling it towards you to rest your face against his palm again.

“Stay for a while, please?” You say, your voice already sounding sleepy. Kaeya softly sighs, lightly ruffling through your hair before climbing into bed next to you. He pulls you closer, so you can rest your head against his chest for a while. It feels nice, being able to have his body cool yours down a little while you listen to the steady thumping of his heartbeat.

“I suppose Jean just has to wait until later.” Is the last thing you hear your boyfriend say before you drift off, snuggled up safely in his arms.

By the time you wake up, you actually feel more terrible than before. Your head is killing you and the cold feeling is back, even though you’re sweating like crazy under the blanket you’re covered in (When did that even happen? It must have been Kaeya.)

“How are you feeling, love?” You hear Kaeya’s voice from beside you, only now noticing him still lying there next to you, an arm loosely wrapped around you over the blanket.

You groan and turn around to bury your face against his chest. “I feel terrible,” you whine, to which Kaeya responds by gently patting your head. You lay completely still for a while, only feeling the constant buzzing of your head. “I think my headaches are killing me,” you mumble, feeling like you’re about to cry. It’s been a while since you felt THIS miserable.

Kaeya wordlessly offers you the glass of water again, which you gladly drink. It doesn’t quite ease your headache, but it feels nice to focus on the sensation of the cold water running down your throat to at least forget about the buzzing for a short moment.

“Looks like your sickness really broke out now,” Kaeya notes, reaching out to feel for your temperature again. “I’ll head to town later to pick up some medicine for you. For now, how about I make you some tea? Maybe that will help too.” You’re reluctant to let him go, but how can you refuse when your boyfriend is so sweet and caring to you?

He returns again shortly, bringing a few cut up apple pieces for you as well. Kaeya patiently sits next to you as you eat them, gently stroking your back. Once you’re done, he puts you back to bed, kissing your forehead again. “Get some more rest, okay? Do you want me to stay with you until you fall asleep?” You nod, so he lies down next to you again, stroking your hair as you snuggle up against his chest. “It’ll be okay, love. I’ll take care of you until you feel better. And you’ll see, soon enough you’ll be back to your usual self again, okay?”

It’s hard to follow his words, exhaustion washing over you again, but still, his words hold a certain comfort to you. You gladly let sleep win over you and take you away from the way you’re currently feeling, all while holding onto Kaeya, who gently kisses the top of your head before you slip off to sleep again.

[bubblyprettybunny]

I love you.

Yay!! Some “I Love you” scenarios!! There may be some angst in some scenarios but I promise it is all fluff in the end!<3

Have fun!!<3

Pardonne moi if there’s any mistake!!<3

Diluc

As you walked by the path in the vineyard, the nice fragrance of ripe grape inebriated your nostrils. The nice weather framed that late September night; the crystalflies fluttered around both of you gently emphasising your face already slightly visible by the dim lights of the lanterns. Diluc looked at you astonished: how cold a human being be so beautiful? He met many people in his life, but none of them was as beautiful as you. He took your hand, gently intertwining his finger with yours. “Y/n..” he said. The look on his face made you worry: it was clear that he was anxious. “I’ve…I’ve fallen helplessly in love with you.” He said, his cheeks almost as red as his hair. You smiled, gently squeezing his soft hand. Oh, the desire to stop the time and live in that moment forever.

Kaeya (tw: cheating)

You slammed the door as you entered into the office. Kaeya looked at you puzzled, getting up from his chair. “Y/N? Is everything ok?” - “How may it be ok, Kaeya?” you responded, angrily walking toward him. “I met the bard. What was his name? Venti? Well I met Venti. He was still drunk and he told me that «I must not tell the lover of the Khaenri’ah that he kissed another maiden»” You paused. Kaeya face fell: “Do you believe to a drunk bard? The same one that claims to be the Anemo Archon?” Said Kaeya, biting his lip. He did kiss another girl: he was drunk and scared because his dear brother told him that you wouldn’t wait for him forever: that you deserved better than a back and forth. “As for me, he can be whoever he wants, I just say that I wouldn’t be surprised if you flirted with another chick last night!”. Kaeya sighed, admitting his guilt. “It just…I am scared.” He stated, sighing and looking at you. “I’m scared because I fear that once we get in a relationship, it will all fade. Or worse, I’ll do something that will make you hate me like Diluc does…”. You’d lie if you said that you wasn’t mad at him, but how could you yell at someone who’s feeling bad? “Look, I love you. Ok? You. You and only you y/n” ended. His tone wasn’t the usually flirty one, it was more serious. You could feel it in your heart. And as he started to wonder if you hate him already, you got closer, kissing him gently on your tiptoes. Kaeya’s smile could be felt in the kiss.

Thoma (Tw: injuries?? || Spoiler on Inazuma Archeon Quest??)

You entered the tea house sobbing: as he saw you, Thoma rushed at the entrance, worried. “W-What happened?” Said the blond young man cupping your cheeks with his hands. “T-the guards, they tried to confiscate my vision…” He made you sit down and started treating your wounds. “Maybe..you should hide here for some time..Miss Ayaka and Taroumaru would approve without any doubt..” said the young man: his voice and his hands were shaking. After bandaging your injuries, he sighed and made a cup of tea. You didn’t stop tearing yet, scared by what just happened. “Hey…there there..” said Thoma handling you the cup of tea: he caressed your hair and got closer putting his forehead on yours. “Everything is ok, got it? I’ll protect you…” whispered the man, moving then away. “I care for you, I love you, ok?”

Childe

You both lied on the soft grass of Lyue. The last warm light of the sun caressing your face as your heavy breath escaped your mouths. It was a nice match: you knew for sure that he let you win this time -in any case, the victory was yours. Childe got closer, tenderly running his tires fingers through your hairs: “It’s getting late- since you won, wanna go out with me? My treat” said, chuckling. You nodded, turning around to face him: the redhead hair were all messy and he had a little cut on his bottom lip -your fault, you didn’t mean to hit him on the face. Childe cheered, getting up and stretching. As you did the same, the strange urge to pick you up got in his mind- And so he did. “Next time I’ll win! And you’ll have to kiss me!” Said, sweetly messing with you: oh, such a long time since he had such a good time.

Zhongli (tw: overprotective boyfriend.)

As a living being, a human, Zhongli feared a lot for your life. Usually he’d warn out the listener and then continue with his own life, but not with you. Once, you wanted to go play with the snow with his adepti and he stopped you: “too cold, you’d get sick” - let alone that Lyue mountains were as dangerous as it can be. “You know I only say that because I care for thou.” Again, when you wanted to go playing outside with the traveller and their floating friend, he was always quite resilient: Aether would protect you, but must be said that he hadn’t the best of luck- and the Archon didn’t want you ti end up fighting with some people straight from the abyss. “You know I only say that because I care for thou”. And then also that time when he had a brutal argument with his friend of a life, Venti, just because one it was too windy and you could catch a cold. And as always he said “You know I only say that because I love thou”. Zhongli meant no harm and you were aware of that, but you’d lie if you say that it was inopportune: you were an adult, you knew how to protect yourself- and you wanted to have fun. And so it happened, the great fight- to him, worse than the Archons War or the fall of Khaenri’ah: it was a nice weather and you wanted to swim; it was sudden, so you didn’t have a swimsuit. He said that it wasn’t the right thing to do since Lyue was far from there and if you’d walk all wet you’ll catch a fever. Maybe he was right, ok? But you couldn’t handle that behaviour anymore: you ranted, almost tearing, toward the man- even if he was at least six thousand years old, in proportions with your age and the lifespan of a human being, you had the same age. Maybe it didn’t made sense, but you were tired to be treated like a child. And as he saw your tearing eyes, he understood many things: you’d die anyway, so at least let’s spend some time together. Zhongli removed his cog and untied his belt, slowly undressing himself just to remain in shirt and pants. “We’ll then, what are you waiting for? The waters of Lyue are nicer now than this night. They’re a little warmer and you can se some pufferfishes or medium koi swimming around there” - he said so, but in his heart he wished to not se a single fish. You smiled, knowing how much it meant for him, quickly undressing yourself and bathing with him in the nice waters of Lyue.

Xiao

Xiao wasn’t…the best with words. He never said that he loved you directly- even when you got together, he didn’t really confess, it was more the “consequence” of a kiss you gave him. Yes, physical touch was the only way he could show you his love and affection. Although today it was your first anniversary: he wanted to do something special for you. It was quite a while he was spending part of his precious time taking flute and poetry lessons from Venti. If the bard would have been honest, he wasn’t that good, but when he spied on the two of you the night of “Xiao performance”, he heard the most sweet melody he’ll ever listen to. It was a song from Orpheus and Euridice, Gluck: it was so sweet, so well played. Your heart melted as you saw his pretty face all focused on what note play next. At the end of the song, he got a piece of paper and looked you in the eyes, then down again at the note. “My love, you've captured my heart in ways beyond comprehension.” Muttered shyly looking at you, his precious lover. Maybe he exaggerated, maybe you didn’t like it- Xiao was rather surprised when he felt your soft lips on his; he kissed back with a new warmth in his heart, his cheeks and ears as red as they can be. And that weird bard will sing about the purest love of Lyue for years and years.

Kazhua

You rested your head on Kazhua lap as he calmly played the Zither. He hummed quietly, closing his eyes, enjoying the perfect pace of that nice evening. You gazed up at him, smiling softly. The white-haired boy stopped playing and glanced at you. “The dove cross the sky, cumulonimbus clouds cry on their wings, the sea welcomes new pearls”. You reach out and caressed his soft cheek: “we’re late..Beidou must be searching for us..but your gorgeous figure makes me want to stay here longer.” Stated firmly and gently. You chuckled, getting up only to leave a little perk on his lips. “i love you...” spoke him: his eyes shut and his tone comforting. He breathed softly, holding you closer. “I love you more than anything else on this planet…more than the wind, more than the mountains, the flowers, the sea…”

Albedo

“Ok ok, but you can’t know everything.” You said as you laid on the snow while was painting the landscape. “I never said that, that’s why I pursued my studies” remarked Albedo, whiteout glancing at you. “Ok, so you don’t know how to make a snowman? Right?” - “wrong.” - “I don’t believe you!”. Albedo sighed putting his art supplies in the bag and coming closer to you. He sat down in the snow next to you. “If you wanted to build a snowman you could have asked, you know?” said ad he glared at you petting you on the head. You smiled and nodded, but instead to get up you pushed him down, taking him by surprise: he stared at you puzzled and you smirked, starting to make a snow Angel. Albedo rolled his eyes, smiling a little, and started to make one as well. And when you both were covered in snow, still hand in hand, you laughed happily. He smiled with the most lovable smile he could ever give to someone. “I may not know everything about this world, but I know for sure that I love you”

Venti

The Bard pulled you closer: “Ok ok, it’s not wine, nor tavern…can you give me another hint?”. You puffed your cheeks. “What’s something you love Venti?” You added at your previous conversation. He giggled playing with your hair “I got it: music!”. You got up, crossing your arms “ok! I’ll return to the city then”, you affirmed, messing around with him. “Ok, ok, you won. I love you. I love you so much.” Claimed the bard, getting up as well and hugging you tightly.

[drarrily-we-row-along]

Day 131.2 Tease (Part 2)

(you can start with part 1 if you'd like.)

It's not forever. Harry reminded himself as he sat in his fourth meeting today with a board of people he barely recognized. His eyes searched for Draco who was across the room, his head bowed as he spoke in hushed tones to a witch in a hideous magenta robe.

It's not forever he repeated as he listened to the arsehole leading the presentation about all of the ways that the war had helped the economy boom.

It's not forever he thought again as the board congratulated themselves on a war well won when not a single one of them was there.

He wanted to scream, wanted to cry, wanted to replace every person he'd lost with one of these arseholes instead.

His gaze met Draco's across the room and he wondered if the other man could see how this was killing him.

"Mr. Potter," the wanker who'd been running the meeting, Sebastian if Harry remembered correctly, said, "You've been awfully quiet," he added jovially and the room chuckled with him. Harry forced a smile. "What are your thoughts?"

"Thank you for the invitation to speak," he said courteously. "Yes, I agree," he lied, "It's really something that we've had such a boom in the economy." He paused as the people around the room congratulated each other again. "There are several things that I would personally love to see some of the excess get funneled into."

"Oh-" Sebastian started but Harry continued over him.

"The number of children orphaned during the war doubled," Harry said bluntly. "Our orphanages don't have enough room to hold them and they're being put in muggle orphanages or into muggle homes. Many muggles aren't equipped to handle a wizarding child."

"Mr. Potter-"

"Excuse me," he said. "If I could just have another moment of your time." He cleared his throat, "I would like to see better processes in place for how these children are placed. An extra set of interviews, even." There were murmurs around the room but Harry plowed on.

(Read more below the cut)

"The number of people who are now affected by lyncathropy has nearly quadrupled but our funding has remained the same for that department in St. Mungo's-"

"Yes, but-"

"And," Harry continued, "The potion typically used for treatment is really expensive. With all of the prejudices against lycanthropes, it's difficult for many of them to find gainful employment, they can't-"

"Mr. Potter," Sebastian interrupted more forcibly, "I don't really think this is the appropriate time or place."

"Then where and when is?" Harry snapped. His eyes found Draco once more and watched as the other man lifted his chin and inhaled slowly, deeply. And Harry took a deep breath and shook his head, looking down at his hands, "I apologize, I don't mean to be rude," he said even though it was a complete lie. "I must be feeling a bit peckish. Congratulations on your success," he managed.

"Yes, thank you," the other man said amidst a third round of congratulatory murmurs. "I think we're all a bit hungry," he chuckled. "Let's end early," he suggested.

Everyone was quick to pack up and leave, several people stopping to congratulate him but not a single one of them saying anything about orphans, or werewolves, or any of the other things that Harry hadn't managed to say.

Draco was talking to a wizard, patting him on the back and Harry pretended to be digging around for something important in his bag until that wizard left the room, leaving only him and Draco.

Their eyes caught and held, Draco looked at him helplessly and Harry broke. "I can't," he whispered.

"Not here," Draco said, voice soft and achingly tender.

He nodded and told himself that it didn't hurt when Draco simply walked past him and out the door. After another moment, where he let the emotions swirling inside of him rage, he took a fortifying breath and tamped everything back down.

Harry made his way out of the room, down the hall, and through the atrium; he was stopped every several feet by people wanting to talk to him, to have their minute in the limelight. When he'd started working with the ministry, he'd imagined that he'd be able to do anything he wanted because of these frequent meetings but none of them wanted to actually help. It was a game to them.

When he finally made it to the apparation point he barely had the energy to lift his wand and apparate home.

"Don't sit," Draco called when Harry's feet touched the floor.

He whined, "I'm exhausted."

"I know," Draco called back, "But we both know that rest isn't what is going to help you."

Harry wanted to argue, wanted to lash out. Godric, he was itching for a fight, desperate for an outlet. It's how he and Draco had gotten together in the first place, after the war and the trials. Fighting had turned into fucking which had turned into making love and now Harry could hardly imagine not loving Draco.

"I know," Draco repeated as he came into the living room where Harry was still standing in the middle of the floor. "Here," he said, holding out a pair of muggle jeans, a plain black tshirt, flip flops, and a pair of sunglasses. "Get changed."

Harry looked at him then, the other man was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a blue polo, blue sunglasses perched in his hair.

"What are we doing?" he asked even as he stripped out of his robes and the clothes he'd been wearing underneath.

"We're having a taste of someday," Draco said.

Harry paused buttoning his jeans and grabbed Draco's shirt, pulling him in and kissing him fiercely, pouring all of his frustration and desperation into the kiss.

"I know," Draco whispered, pressing his forehead against Harry's. "I know, love."

He swallowed and took a step back so he could finish zipping up his jeans and pull his tshirt on over his head.

"Ready?" Draco asked after he'd stuffed his feet back into his sandals.

Harry nodded eagerly and accepted Draco's arm.

When they blinked back into existence, they were on a bare, sunny stretch of beach by the ocean. "Give me your glasses," Draco said, holding out a hand.

"But I need them to see," Harry protested.

Draco rolled his eyes, but the fond curve of his mouth gave him away, "These," he said, holding out the sunglasses he'd brought down with Harry's clothes, "Are prescription sunglasses."

"You're brilliant," Harry breathed, leaning in to steal a kiss. "Sorry," he said, pulling back quickly remembering that they were still in public, even if the beach seemed deserted.

"Hey," Draco whispered, cupping Harry's cheek and drawing their lips together softly, sweetly, "This is someday, remember?" he murmured, lips brushing tantalizingly over Harry's before he leaned in and closed the distance once more.

Harry grasped his shirt in his hands and kissed him back for a long moment.

When he pulled back, Draco was smiling, warm and open and real, and a bubble of light expanded in Harry's chest. "Give me your glasses," he said again, holding out a hand.

He pulled them off his face and handed them over, accepting the sunglasses and watching as Draco carefully folded them and put them in a case. "Come on," he said as he shoved the case into a bag and held out a hand to Harry.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked, reveling in the feel of Draco's hand in his, fingers entwined as they set off down the beach.

Draco smiled, "Right after the war," he said, "When I was trying to get my head on straight, I wanted to understand muggle culture."

"Oh?" Harry asked, greedily gobbling up every word out of Draco's mouth. They didn't talk much about the time just after the war.

He nodded, "You weren't there seventh year but what we were taught in Muggle Studies by the Carrows," Draco shook his head, "well, it doesn't bear repeating. And I wanted to know what they'd lied about; I wanted to see it for myself."

Harry squeezed his hand encouragingly.

"The new professor at Hogwarts who's teaching Muggle Studies now gave me port keys to different places that would let me experience muggle life."

"You did that by yourself?" Harry asked.

Draco laughed, "I know, it's outrageous to think about now, isn't it?"

"Sorry-"

He squeezed his hand and waved him off, "Don't be. It was crazy but I needed to see it, you know? The poor bloke I tried to pay the first time I had muggle food," he laughed again. "Oh Salazar, his face."

Harry couldn't remember the last time he'd smiled this much, the muscles in his face actually hurt from disuse.

"Anyway," Draco continued, "This was one of my favorite places. I'd been taught that muggles were stupid and lazy, but this," he said as they walked around the corner and a boardwalk came into view. "It was magic," he said simply.

The scent of fried food wafted down the beach toward them and the sound of children's laughter reached his ears. "I've never been to the boardwalk," he said.

"You'll love it," Draco assured, tugging his hand.

Harry tugged back, pulling Draco around so he could kiss him. "Thank you," he whispered.

"You're welcome," Draco replied softly, bumping his nose against Harry's.

--------------

The afternoon stretched into evening, the sun burning red and gold, and setting the ocean on fire. Harry leaned against the railing and watched the sun setting as he stole bits of the funnel cake that Draco had purchased. "They're never going to listen," he said.

"Sorry?" Draco asked through a mouthful of food and Harry loved him all the more.

"I love you," he said simply, distracted.

Draco grinned at him, "I love you, too," he replied. "What did you say before that, though?"

"That they're never going to listen."

The other man frowned, "We don't have to talk about this now," he said. "We're in someday," he added.

"But I want to actually, you know," he said, gesturing vaguely, "get here someday."

"Politics take time," Draco said gently, in the way he had a thousand times.

And Harry recognized it was a product of his upbringing, that Draco had been raised from a very young age to measure every word that left his mouth, to look at a room and size up the people in it to know who was the most important, to make connections and build on them, to calculate every move he made. It's why seeing him here with powdered sugar at the corner of his mouth made Harry feel like he could fly; because Draco could be free when it was just them. And Harry knew from experience that he'd slip back into the role he played without hesitation or difficulty. He'd make a great politician.

But not Harry.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm done with that."

"Harry-"

"I'm running for Minister of Magic," he said.

Draco gaped at him and Harry stored that mental image away for a rainy day. "I'm sorry. What?" Draco asked.

"It's the only way that I'm going to be able to get anything done," he said. "I'm sick of the games."

"But the games are what you'll need to get elected," Draco said.

He laughed, "Nope. I'm pretty sure I've found what all that fame will be useful for. I don't need the support of the idiots who work for the Ministry, I just need the support of regular people. And I'm pretty sure I've earned that. Then once I'm in office I can fire all of them and put in people who actually give a shit."

Draco stared at him for another moment, "Are you sure about this?"

He shrugged and looked out over the water, "As sure as I am of anything."

"Anything?" Draco asked, bumping him with his shoulder.

The corner of his mouth curved up, "You excluded, of course."

"Of course," Draco echoed. "Fuck, Harry," he breathed, "You don't do anything by halves, do you?"

He shook his head, "I think about where Teddy could have ended up if not for Adromeda and I can't sleep," he said. "I think of the way Remus was treated. And of the way the trials went after the first war, the way yours would have gone if I hadn't shown up." He rubbed his fist against the railing, "Every day I walk into the Ministry and I see that fucking fountain where wizards are stepping on other magical creatures, and I just," he shrugged, "I can't."

Draco shifted so he was behind Harry and wrapped his arms around his waist, hooking his chin over his shoulder. "I know," he said softly.

"Will you help me?" Harry asked.

Draco started nodding before he'd even finished the question. "Always, love."

-----------------------

part 1 | part 3

[jadegreenimmortality]

Bungou Stray Dogs Men as Househusbands pt.1 - Sakunosuke Oda

A/N: I’m sorry that this isn‘t a request, but this brain rot has been going on since forever and now I can’t resist it anymore. I totally blame @hanazou for this. There will also be a part two featuring Chuuya, but his part has a completely different feeling to it, that's why I'll post these separately. Besides of that, this is basically an “Way of the Househusband!AU”. Go watch the show or read the manga if you don’t know it, it’s absolutely hilarious! This is mainly focused on them as househusbands, but since you are their spouse, there’s also a bit of reader insert. Also, a lot of Oda as a dad to his orphans. And the whole thing is feat. Dazai. (^^)

Pairings: Oda x gn!reader

Genre: Crack, domestic fluff

Warnings: none

Summary: You, Oda and the orphans move in together. While you become the working spouse, your loving husband stays at home and becomes a full-time househusband.

pt. 2

First things first - If you agree to marrying Sakunosuke Oda, you are also agreeing to become the parent of five children. Oda loves you and you are one of two main reasons he’s leaving the Mafia, the other being his life purpose. But if he’s leaving the Mafia, he’s keeping those kids in (if they want him to of course, but you can’t tell me they don’t, come on -)

So yeah, be ready.

He only cooks spicy curry at the beginning. The curry shop owner gave him the exact recipe of his favourite plate as a goodbye gift and that’s the only thing he is cooking for days on end. He has some basic cooking skills, but this is the only really elaborated dish he knows how to prepare as of now, so be ready to suffer from the spice. It will go on like that until all six of you you and the kids hold an intervention for him. The kids will paint nice banners like they were going to a demonstration saying "No more curry" that they hang up in the living room and he’ll be greeted by your sorrowful face when he comes back from buying groceries.

“What’s this?” – “Oh honey, I’m so sorry, its just…” – “WE CAN’T TAKE THE SPICE ANYMORE STOP COOKING CURRY ALREADY!” – “…I mean…yeah.”

Of course, he’ll be a bit embarrassed and disappointed. May scratch his neck and look to the side thoughtfully. But he’ll take your plead seriously.

This is also how you bond with the kids for the first time. Congratulations, huddling up against someone is always the best way to bond!

He works hard on his cooking skills after that and becomes quite the formidable cook. He takes suggestions from you and the kids and will try to learn how to cook anything you might fancy to eat. It’s really important to him that all of you are happy and cooking may be the most important job of a house spouse, so he takes it very seriously.

There will be curry Tuesday though. One day of spice hell. Enjoy.

Please picture Oda in his usual attire, wearing a beige “kiss the cook” apron over it and bunny slippers. You’re welcome.

He'll learn how to make anime and cartoon-themed bentos for the kids, so it's highly probable you'll get cutely designed bentos as well. Again, you may drop suggestions, he’ll absolutely take them into considerations. Octopus sausages, bunny apple slices, cute bear faces made out of rice, he’ll learn to do them all. He isn’t too sappy of a person, but if he’s feeling romantic while cooking, your rice could also have the shape of a heart. Either way, your co-workers will be very envious of your food and your husband.

Oda iss the master of negotiation at the food market. He’ll be completely stoic all the time, not aggressive or dismissive at all, but he’ll point out little flaws of the products in a way that most shop owner’s won’t be able to deny and that’s how he gets discounts. He doesn’t want to cheat anyone out of their money, but he does have seven mouths to feed.

He may not look like it, but if any of the kids tag along for his grocery shopping, it's really hard for him to deny them something if they beg for it. He may seem unnervingly calm all the time, but he’s a big softie, especially for those kids and for you, and if they hang at his sleeves long enough, they’ll get that ice-cream they want so badly. That doesn’t work on pricier items though, he can be a strict parent when really needed.

Oda is great at handling the finances. He’s well aware that he has to be thrifty with five kids. Still, there is one thing where he struggles to keep his control: books.

If you agree to it, the apartment will have an absolutely minimalistic interior, but! In your living room, there will be a shelf full of books, so big it covers a whole wall. That’s it, that’s Oda’s only weak spot when spending money.

It’s not only books for him though. He buys books for you when he sees something from your favourite author or genre. He buys books for the kids so they learn the joy of literature. Poems, bed time stories he wants them to grow up appreciating the possibilities of the written word.

You can bet that he’ll read them bed time stories. Only one book for all five of them though, so one kid gets to choose a story each day.

He’ll read to you as well if you want him to. His voice is incredibly calm and soothing, he’s a really good reader. There’s a high probability you’ll fall asleep while he reads to you. You can cuddle up in bed and rest your head on his shoulder or sit on his lap and hide your face in the crook of his neck, feeling the vibration of his voice in his chest.

Whenever he has some time to spare, he’ll retire to your shared bedroom to write. Mind you, that won’t happen often. It happens mainly on weekends, when the kids are with friends and/or you are at home. If you want to do him a favour, consider cooking on the weekends, he’ll be more than thankful for the opportunity to submerge in his beloved writing. But don’t worry, it won’t consume him – he’ll always put some time aside to spent with you, without the kids, as well ¬‿¬.

He's so polite with the neighbours. Will pay all his neighbours a short visit together with the kids to introduce himself and bring little gifts. Just imagine him standing there in the door frame, witih all five kids around his legs, smiling at their new neighbours angelically - what's not to love?

He really wants to maintain a good relationship to all of them. Basically, he’s the perfect neighbour – always polite, always up to a little chat, always ready to listen to neighbour A complain over neighbour B without snitching. He’s mainly concerned for the wellbeing the kids though. He wants them to feel part of the community and often arranges play dates with the neighbour kids. If it's possible at the neighbour’s house because five kids are a lot to handle already…and when they are all out of the apartment, it’s cleaning time.

Oda is an angel of patience and the ultimate multitasker. He isn’t left with much of a choice with five kids, but thankfully, calm lies in his nature. You may see him explaining Sakura her math homework while cutting vegetables for today’s lunch. Then, he’ll take a quick glance out of the window to see if they boys are still playing on the street where he can see them and then he’ll check on Sakura again. Isn’t he lovely?

His ability is unexpectedly helpful for all of this. If he’s in the living room to clean, his ability will alarm him if the food’s about to burn. If he’s around the kids, he’ll know in time if one is about to trip. If you come home from work so tired you fall asleep face first in your soup, he’ll be able to catch you. So useful.

He’s a very attentive and loving husband. His love is mainly expressed by keeping the house as clean as he can and putting a lot of effort into cooking. Your work is hard enough, he takes it upon himself to manage everything else. He’ll also try to have the kids well-behaved so they don’t demand too much from you after you come home from work. Though if you decide to pull yourself together and give them attention and love even when tired, he’ll be more than thankful. He knows it’s a lot to ask to be a parent, especially to not one, but FIVE kids that are not yours by blood. So if you actively seek to have a close bond to them, it will make him so incredibly happy because he knows it’s not the natural course of action for everyone.

Will give you head, shoulder and foot massages after an especially excruciating day of work. His hands are skillful and he knows where to touch to make you moan to release the tension from your muscles.

Likes to lie his head in your lap after both of you had a long day of work. Yes, you may be the provider, but keeping a house clean and five kids under control isn’t an easy job either! So, he’ll seek peace laying his head on your thighs and closing his eyes while you tussle his hair and tell him about your day. Don’t expect more than a mumbled “Mm” or “I see” from time to time, but be sure that he’s listening.

And the Port Mafia? You’re in luck - since he was the lowest-ranking member, The Mafia, by which I mean Mori isn’t bothered that he left. He refused to kill anyways, he’s to no use to them him.

Of course, Oda will try to be absolutely sure there is no hidden reason for Mori to hinder his leave beforehand, or to resent him for it. The last thing he wants is to endanger you or the kids by leaving his job as a criminal.

If he ever meets a member of the PM in public, he'll act as if he doesn't know them. He may give them a polite nod if they make eye contact, but that’s about it. It’s not that he resents them, but he really wants to start a new life here that isn’t connected to killing and cruelty at all. If they approach him he'll be very polite, but try to keep the conversation short, even if they seem to have no ulterior motive.

Of course, there’s one member of the Port Mafia that marks the exception, by which I mean to say that you’ll have Osamu Dazai over for tea regularly. No, he won’t announce himself at all. The first time he appears at your apartment, you’re just finishing to unpack. He’ll tand at your doorstep all of a sudden to tell Oda that Mori already knows where he moved to. Oda will just nod as an acknowledgement. He expected as much. And then he’ll give you a questioning look. If you nod, he’ll officially asking his friend to stay for dinner. You’ll be having curry.

From then on, he’ll just drop by whenever. You may come back home from time to time to find dinner ready, the kids in bed and your husband and Dazai drinking. If you join them, you will have some truly joyful evenings spend together. You’re Oda’s chosen one, so Dazai is a bit more inclined to let you get close than he is with others. You may make a new friend in the process.

It doesn’t take a lot of time for the kids to start calling him Uncle Dazai. He’ll actually be Uncle Dazai before they ever call Oda Dad or you Mom/Dad. It will take them mere weeks to call him uncle, but months, maybe years to call the two of you Dad/Mom. It will happen eventually though, and the day it happens, I assure you that you will see Oda spill tears of happiness. He’ll be looking away, wiping his face with one hand and smiling. He never thought he would want this, but now he knows he does.

Back to Dazai! He’s reserved with the kids at first. As we know, he doesn’t feel all to comfortable around “childish behaviour”. But kids are like cats, the feel drawn to the one that’s most cautious. By which I mean to say that they are all over him. Literally. Oda will leave for five minutes and when he’s back at the living room the kids will have tackled a slightly unnerved Dazai on the floor. Sakura wants him to see the drawings she made, Katsumi, Kousuke and Yuu want to play, Shinji wants to ask him what's under his bandages. He’ll have no choice but to oblige and it goes surprisingly well. Oda may abuse him as a baby-sitter when he visits from then on.

Then suddenly, Dazai stops visiting altogether. You are worried, but Oda, for some reason, isn’t. Even more, whenever you ask him about it, you may catch him smiling to himself in a satisfied, proud way. No, Dazai didn’t tell him anything. If Oda would know, it would endanger all of you. But he knows. He knows that Dazai finally made his choice to leave the Port Mafia and needs to lay low now. And that’s okay.

It takes Dazai two years to come back, which will be just as sudden as him leaving. You’ll be astounded to see him a changed man at first sight. Oda will scold him for not sending any notice and then everything is normal again. And after some more years, he’ll start bringing along a scrawny kid with white hair.

A/N: Wow, this is the first post I put a "keep reading" link in because it's so long! That's kind of a milestone for me. ｡ﾟ(TヮT)ﾟ｡

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this! Thank you for reading!

[redhoodieone]

His Girl

Plot: Dick Grayson has a type in women: athletic, feminine, and classy. However, the reader is completely different as she is plus-size, tomboyish, and spontaneous. But a conversation about Y/N between Dick and the batboys takes an unexpected turn one night.

Warnings: Language, Sensitive topics, and Fluff.

“What the hell’s up your ass?” Jason asks Dick, as he hands him a bottle of beer from the refrigerator in the Batcave. It was only until last week that Bruce gave in and allowed a refrigerator to be down there after the boys begged him for one.

As long as it was only for beverages, of course. Bruce had mentioned the boys have been eating too much junk food lately, but the boys knew deep down that his rule is simply for him, because of his age, and maybe for Y/N, too.

Y/N has only been with the Batfamily for a year since her family died at the hands of Two-Face. She had only started training with Bruce for two months now, and the two of them have been working out quite a bit.

Which makes sense of Bruce’s one rule for the refrigerator, though. But that hasn’t stopped Jason from sneaking in food anyways; mostly pizza and lunch meat and cheeses for sandwiches.

But now, Dick’s distant and silence is unbearable since the circus descent acrobat is usually excited and rambling about anything and everything.

“Uh, nothing! I mean...” Dick stutters. His behavior tonight was questionable to say the least. Usually, he would be on his game and even throw some wisecracks but he’s been awfully quiet, nervous even.

“Uh-huh, sure. Whatever you say,” Jason scoffs.

Dick sits on top of the hood of the Batmobile while he peels the sticky label from the beer bottle. He notices Tim and Damian walking out from the showers and are already dressed in sweatpants and t-shirts. Bruce is seated at the Batcomputer, still in costume but minus the cowl. Jason sits at the small table and sips from his beer and snacks on a triple meat and cheese sandwich he must have made quickly.

And Alfred had long gone to bed after Bruce forced him to get some rest since they’ve returned home and are not dead.

Dick suddenly notices Y/N must still be in the showers, on the other side of the cave for privacy where the guys can’t bother the girls.

“Fine...I’ve been...having these thoughts and dreams about Y/N lately,” Dick confesses. He notices Jason staring at him with a confused expression.

“Yeah, and…?”

“Well…lately, I’ve been thinking about her as…more than a friend. I’ve been seeing her in a new light. And you know I’ve always thought she was cool, and funny, and incredibly smart,” Dick continues, with a small smile. “But…I’ve never been sexually attracted to women like her before.”

Jason purses his lips and appears to think it over. “So, I don’t see the problem.”

“I just told you I’ve never felt this way about Y/N or any woman like her before.”

“Because you’re shallow.”

“I’m not shallow,” Dick argues, suddenly feeling defensive at Jason’s attack. “I just…I’ve never seen heavy women as hot, you know?”

“You can try to justify all that, but the point is, you’re shallow.”

“Have you ever slept with a heavy girl before, Jason?!” Dick snaps.

Jason chuckles and grins. “Actually, I have.”

“Bullshit,” Dick scoffs.

“Yeah, I have Dickie-bird. It happened three years ago, when my Outlaws and I kicked Black Mask’s ass. We went to a bar to celebrate in downtown Gotham. Roy and Star left early to go fuck or something. I was left alone and I was about to call it a night until this smoking hot woman took a seat next to me. She had long dark hair, tan skin, and curves that made my mouth water and my cock hard enough to pound nails. She was gorgeous, but there were these assholes around her and were calling her fat and telling her to leave because no one here would take her home. And do you want to know what I did?” Jason asks.

“What?” Dick asks quietly.

“I took her home, after I broke all those guys’ jaws. She was fucking amazing, man. She had a magnificent ass that she actually allowed me to spank. Her curves were endless, and after I fucked her good three times, cuddling and falling asleep with her was probably the best part of the night. I’ve never felt so…comfortable and felt warm, because I actually felt someone beside me,” Jason admits.

Dick raises an eyebrow at him. “Wow, I didn’t think something like that could happen to you, Jason. If anything, I thought you were shallow.”

“I used to be, until I realized I was judging others, when I was actually trying to have others not judge me. Alfred actually helped me with that. I don’t remember every word he said exactly but he said I wasn’t trying all the ice cream flavors out there. Like, I was always sticking to a certain flavor of ice cream, and I wasn’t trying other kinds, meaning I should be looking at all types of women. And after my one night stand with that magnificent woman’s ass, I realized bigger girls aren’t deal breakers; they’re just more to love,” Jason admits, and shrugs with a smug smile.

“That’s…I don’t even know what to say. But Y/N’s different. She’s someone we know and it makes it harder. And my problem isn’t that I’m shallow, it’s how I’m supposed to handle my feelings about her.”

“Yeah, you are, Dick. Y/N’s literally the best woman we’ve ever met. Hell, the best woman I’VE ever met. She’s fucking funny, she’s so caring and kind, she’s smarter than Timbo when it comes to common sense,” Jason lists off his reasons.

“That’s true! I’m not going to lie about that!” Tim interrupts from the distance.

“Y/N’s real, she doesn’t bullshit about anything like other girls. She’s honest, and that’s a rare thing to find nowadays. And fuck…she can really handle her alcohol, she can down shots of Fireball like it’s water,” Jason adds.

“You don’t think I know all that? Of course, I do! That’s why I’m having such a hard time dealing with my feelings for her. I’ve only ever been with tall, athletic women, who wear skirts and dresses, eats healthy, and are…well, feminine,” Dick confesses. A guilty expression shows on his face. “And Y/N’s not any of that. She’s really short, kinda chubby, and she’s more of a tomboy type, who’s loud and rambunctious, and eats like a man.”

Jason snorts. “And that’s a problem why? That’s why Y/N’s fucking awesome, man! I actually really like how she’s not afraid to be herself. She’s not fake. Do you know how long it took for her to be comfortable with all of us and be who she is rather than how she thought we expected from her? And I don’t know about you but I love how she eats, whenever we go out to restaurants, I actually like how I can eat the way I want and not feel like a fat ass because I know her and I both love what we love and fuck all who have a problem with that!”

Bruce turns around in his chair and gives both boys a warning look. Even Tim and Damian silently take a seat and watch closely.

“Fuck…Y/N is the perfect woman. She’ll always be in my eyes,” Jason admits, looking down at his beer longingly before taking a sip.

“If you feel so strongly about her then why haven’t you tried to go out with her or sleep with her?” Dick asks angrily.

Jason’s pause takes everyone by surprise. “Because she can do better than me.”

“You-you actually tried to get with her?” Dick stammers.

“Oh, yeah I definitely did. I think about a year ago. I had spent the summer with her here while everyone was busy with the whole Justice League and Superman bullshit,” Jason explains. “You were with the Titans with Tim and Damian. It was just me and her.”

“Alfred was there as well,” Bruce mumbles.

“Anyways, call it cheesy as hell like those romcoms, but we actually got really close. She’s a spitfire for sure, but she really knows how to get under your skin,” Jason chuckles.

Tim and Damian nod their heads in agreement with that.

“And I obviously made the whole situation uncomfortable as fuck because when I told her how I felt, she rejected me. She said we were too alike, we’d butt heads all the time. And after that, I never brought it up again.”

Jason’s confession gives Dick a sense of confidence.

“Look, if you want to ask her out and do all that then I support you. Just know if you fucking hurt her or do anything wrong, I’ll slit your throat even if you’re family,” Jason threatens seriously.

“I wouldn’t even know how to bring it up with her,” Dick says.

“Well, don’t bring up how her weight and appearance bothers you,” Jason says seriously.

“It doesn’t!”

“Okay. How did you ask Barbara, Star, Zatanna, and-”

“I get it, Jason. I’ll just talk to her and tell her I have strong feelings for her,” Dick interrupts him. “I’ll just tell her the truth.”

“You already did.”

That voice belonged to none other than Y/N. All the guys in the Batcave jerked their heads to the top of the stairs where Y/N stood and looked down with tears running down her cheeks. She was wearing her plaid pajama pants and a loose black t-shirt she stole from one of them a long time ago, she doesn’t exactly know who though.

Dick and Jason slowly stand up. Dick carefully walks over to the stairs while Jason cautiously follows.

“Y/N…” Dick whispers, already feeling guilty and nervous that she had probably heard everything. “Please listen to me…”

“WHY?! So, you can tell me you didn’t mean any of that, when you actually did. I thought you were different! I didn’t know you could judge someone like that! Especially someone like me!” Y/N yells. “I thought you were my friend!”

“I am your friend! Y/N, please give me a chance to explain! I really like you, and-and I was just trying to ask for help so I can talk to you!” Dick pleads.

“Don’t lie to me! You were only asking for help because you didn’t know how to deal with me being fat and manly! I’m sorry I’m not like Barbara and Star! I’m sorry I’m not beautiful and thin! I’m sorry I’m not perfect for you!” Y/N cries out and runs up the stairs.

“Y/N! Wait! Please!” Dick shouts for her. He chases after her.

By the time Dick reaches Y/N’s bedroom door, it’s locked. He can hear her crying, automatically feeling like shit for being the reason why she’s hurt.

“Y/N, please…” Dick tries again.

“Leave me alone, Dick!”

Dick swallows hard and forces himself to move away from her door. There was no use for him to stand there; he’d already broke her trust and possibly ruined their friendship. He might have even ruined his chances with her.

Jason approaches Dick. “Is she crying?” he asks.

“Yes,” Dick chokes out. He runs a hand through his dark hair. “Fuck, Jason…I don’t know what to do. She won’t even talk to me.”

“You should go, Dick. I think you’ve done enough.”

Dick was a little taken aback by Jason’s command. He pushes himself to walk away anyways.

“Bruce wants to talk to you. You should go find him before he finds you,” Jason adds.

Dick exhales heavily and leaves. Jason shakes his head in disappointment at him. He takes a deep breath and knocks on Y/N’s bedroom door.

“Doll, it’s Jay. Please let me in,” Jason says softly. “I just want to talk to you.”

He didn’t think she would open the door for him. He didn’t think she would want to talk to him even though he hadn’t pissed her off or upset her in any way. But Y/N unlocked her door and even opened it for him.

Jason was deeply heartbroken to see Y/N; her eyes were red and swollen, her cheeks were wet, and she had the devastating look on her beautiful face. He quickly walked into her room and shut the door, quickly locking it.

He had to be cautious though. He knew couldn’t say or do the things he wants to do with her right now. Instead, he slowly and carefully approaches her. She allows him to wrap his strong arms around her, bringing her closely to his body to hold and protect her from everyone and everything.

“Shh…it’s okay, sweetheart. I got you. I’m not going anywhere,” Jason whispers into her hair. He tries desperately to not inhale the addicting scent of her shampoo and lingering perfume so much. “You’re okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Y/N lifts her face from Jason’s chest and gazes up at him. The sight of her glistening eyes makes him draw her closer to him.

“What did I do wrong, Jay? What did I do to deserve all that? Is everything about me really bad?” Y/N asks softly, on the verge of tears again.

“No. No, don’t say that. Don’t say any of that! Nothing is wrong with you. You’re beautiful, Y/N. You’re perfect just the way you are,” Jason admits.

Y/N shakes her head in disbelief. It breaks Jason’s heart more when she tries to pull away from his embrace, but he refuses to let her go. His grip tightens and he holds her as if she’d disappear and leave him all alone.

“That’s not true, Jay,”

“It is true. Hell Y/N, you’re the most badass woman I’ve ever met. You don’t take shit from any of us. You’ve managed to stay here even after all the bullshit everyone has put you through,” he explains. He even chuckles at a memory. “You’ve even made Bruce cry, remember? Remember you called him out on his bullshit when he refused to train you? You’re almost a savage like Alfred, you even make Wonder Woman and Catwoman look like dollar tree prizes, and that’s no lie.”

Y/N looks down at her feet. Jason knows she still doesn’t believe him.

“You’re always perfect in my eyes, Y/N. There isn’t a goddamn thing I would change about you,”

“If I’m so perfect, then why does Dick think so low of me?” Y/N asks. She sniffles adorably and looks back up at him.

“Because he’s a fucking idiot who can’t see the best thing that’s in front of him,” Jason answers, and looks into Y/N’s eyes before he looks at her lips. “But his loss is my gain.”

[marauderundercover]

How We Fell: Ch. 28

Day 28: Call a Friend/Hanukkah

AO3

Prev

Marinette flounces down onto her couch, dropping her head into her hands. She’d just had an entire three hour long conversation (on her yoyo) with Carapace and Chat Noir. They were planning on moving in on Hawkmoth on New Years Eve. Which was three days away. She was excited, but she was also terrified. What if their plan failed? What if they lost? How much longer could Paris handle this? How much longer could her team handle this? Nino was already putting his life with Alya on hold. Sure, they were married, but they weren’t even able to live together. Nino was too determined to see the battle through. Which was nice, but still. Then there was the continued problem with Chat Noir and Young Justice. He insisted that he had tried to get ahold of them, but that none of their representatives would get back in touch with him. It was beyond frustrating, and she honestly didn’t know who to believe. She knew that, for a while, Chat Noir had been distant. He’d stopped showing up to battles at all at one point almost two years ago. And he was distracted when he was there. But then he got better, and he was back to the partner she was used to. The one she had missed. She didn’t understand the disconnect now between him and Young Justice. Why was there so much…drama there? And then there was the strain she felt it putting on her relationship with Damian. Not that he knew the strain was there. She’d lied to him yesterday. Well, it was a lie by omission but still. She hated herself for it, and for not being able to be completely open with him. And with her other friends. She knew Jon’s identity and assumed Nino knew hers, but none of them could talk about it. It hurt to constantly try to be multiple people. It was exhausting. Her phone rings suddenly and she sighs, before glancing at it. The tension in her shoulders immediately melts away and she smiles at the caller ID.

“Hey, mon amour.” She says.

“Hello, habibti. I hope I didn’t wake you up.” He says. She frowns and glances at her clock, wincing at the time. She definitely hadn’t slept last night and it was, currently, only seven in the morning. Definitely much earlier than she would willingly be up for on Christmas break.

“Would you believe me if I said I woke up an hour ago?” She asks hopefully. He sighs.

“You didn’t sleep, did you?” He asks. She sighs.

“No, I didn’t. And before you lecture me, I know it’s not healthy. I’m trying to do better, I just- I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed lately.” She admits.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” He asks.

“No, I don’t think so.” Marinette says sadly.

“Would you like to get lunch today? We could go out somewhere nice, take a break from everything else.” Damian suggests.

“That sounds nice.” She says.

“I’ll pick you up at noon?” He suggests.

“Sounds great. I love you.” Marinette says, loving how freeing it felt to utter those three little words.

“And I you.” He says before hanging up. Marinette grins, excitement thrumming in her veins. She had plenty of time to take a quick nap and work on some commissions before lunch.

“Marinette, we really need to talk.” Tikki says, zipping into the room, the panic clear on their face. Marinette blinks in surprise, not used to seeing the kwami in such a state.

“Of course. Are you okay?” She asks, turning so that she can focus on her friend. Tikki zips around, obviously their version of pacing as they shake their head.

“No, I mean, this isn’t about me, Marinette. It’s about you and your team. And Hawkmoth.” They say frowning.

“Oh.” Marinette says, panic creeping up on her. “Am I- is this about our plan?” She asks. Tikki nods.

“Yes. And I tried to tell you sooner, but I couldn’t because-” They’re cut off by the shrill ringing of the akuma alarm. Marinette winces.

“It’s okay, Paris can wait a few minutes.” She says, trying to help Tikki calm down. They start to cry, startling Marinette.

“You can’t go. He-” The burner phone, the one that only Carapace and Chat Noir had the number for, begins ringing shrilly. Marinette frowns apologetically.

“I’m so sorry Tikki. Just, just give me a minute, okay?” She asks. Answering the phone, she immediately shifts into Ladybug mode. “Hello?”

“LB please hurry. I’m not- Dude! Not cool! I haven’t seen Chat Noir yet and I don’t know- listen dude, swords are not- SHELTER!” He yells, before the line goes dead. Marinette’s eyes widen.

“We have to go.” She says. Tikki, who was still crying, nods slowly. Marinette feels awful, but she calls her transformation before throwing Kaalki’s glasses on and calling a portal. Dropping into Paris, her eyes widen at the giant green shelter currently protecting a group of people, including Carapace, as a dozen people with swords continuously stab at the green shield. This wasn’t going to be easy.

---

She was right. And she hated it. Several hours had gone by, no sign of Chat Noir, and she and Carapace had already been forced to recharge several times. She was starting to worry that he’d either been taken down by a minion as a civilian, or was a minion himself. She and Carapace had both tried to call him, several times. Ladybug had even used the burner phone, but no luck.

They also weren’t having much luck finding the actual akumatized person. Just a lot of minions. With swords. She glances at the clock and swears under her breath.

“Carapace? I gotta make a quick call.” She says. He gives her a thumbs up, but focuses on the minion he was busy fighting. Hopping up onto a low roof, she pulls out her yoyo and dials Damian’s number.

“Hello?” He says, and she can practically hear the frown in his voice.

“Hey Damian.” She says, keeping an eye on her surroundings.

“Marinette? Did your number change?” He asks and she has to suppress the urge to groan. Unless she took the time to press the right buttons on her yoyo, it came up as unlisted. Which was usually helpful, but not so much in this moment.

“I can explain that later. I might be a bit late for lunch.” She says, feeling awful.

“Is everything okay?” He asks. Marinette starts to respond, but yelps instead as another minion shows up out of nowhere, slashing at her with a sword. “Marinette!”

“Just a sec.” She says, muting the call as she throws her yoyo forward, wraps it around the minion and pulls them close. “I was in the middle of a conversation.” She chastises before yanking their sword away and using the butt of it to knock the minion out. Huffing, she unmutes the call. “Sorry about that, just uh, klutz moment?”

“Marinette, what is going on? Do you need assistance?” Damian asks, worry clear in his voice. Marinette frowns.

“Uh no?” She says unsurely. Honestly, it might be time to move up their plans. See if they could get Hawkmoth today.

“Are you-” He starts, but she screams in pain as a sword is inserted into her shoulder. Yanking away, she snaps her yoyo shut and immediately starts fighting the minion. It was time to end this.

---

Damian Wayne liked to think of himself as a level headed individual. Yes, he could get angry. He was his Father’s son, after all. However, he always believed that he could stay calm in tricky situations. That belief, though, crumbled the instant he heard Marinette’s pain filled scream.

“Marinette!” He yells, panic shooting through him. But the call disconnects. Making his mind, Damian grabs his keys and rushes out of the manor, towards her apartment. He definitely broke several traffic laws as he sped through Gotham, but he didn’t care. He had to make sure she was okay. Parking right in front of her building, he takes the stairs two at a time, not wanting to wait for the ancient elevator. Rushing to a stop in front of her door, he knocks twice. Not hearing any movement on the other side, he uses his spare key to unlock the door and enter the apartment. He stays silent as he clears the apartment, scanning for any sign of a struggle. Any sign as to why his girlfriend was hurt. And how. But there was nothing. Pushing down his panic, he tries to call her back on the number she’d just used, but the call would not go through. It was almost as if the number did not exist. Frowning, he tries her personal number.

“Pick up, pick up.” He mutters into the phone.

“Hi!” She says chirpily, and he sighs with relief. “This is Marinette. I can’t come to the phone-” He growls and hangs up, pacing the living room for a minute before calling her back.

“Hi! This is Marinette. I can’t come to the phone-” He hangs up again. He runs through his head for any contacts they have in common who she may have contacted. Kent? Maybe….making up his mind, he exits the apartment and locks the door again. Taking the stairs two at a time again, he decides to call Agreste on his way to the Batcave. If he hadn’t heard from her either, Damian would just have to try and find her as Robin. He had more resources that way.

“Hello?” Agreste answers on the second ring, sounding as though he had recently been exercising.

“Agreste, this is Damian Wayne.” Damian says, switching his phone over to the bluetooth in his car.

“Yeah, obviously. I have caller ID. What is it?” Agreste asks with a huff. Damian frowns.

“I was calling to see if you had heard from Marinette.” He says. Agreste grunts, sounding almost as if he was in the middle of a fight.

“No, I haven’t. Is that all?” He asks, clearly frustrated.

“What is happening?” Damian asks.

“Akuma attack. Gotta go.” Agreste huffs out, the line disconnecting.

“Call Jon Kent.” Damian says.

“Calling, Jon Kent.” The car says, the sound of the phone ringing echoing throughout the car.

“Damian! What’s up?” Kent asks happily.

“Have you heard from Marinette?” Damian asks.

“No? What’s wrong, you sound worried?” Kent asks, clearly concerned. Damian lets out a slow breath, trying to calm himself. He was no use to Marinette if he was panicked.

“I was on the phone with Marinette, she screamed, and the call disconnected.” He says simply.

“I’ll try listening for her. We’ll figure out what it is, Damian. Don’t worry.” Kent reassures him.

“If I do not hear from her soon, I will be going out as Robin to look for her.” Damian says.

“I’ll make sure my suit is ready.” Kent says simply before hanging up. Damian feels a small wave of relief wash over him. They would find her. She would be okay. She had to be okay. Using one of the exterior entrances for the Batcave, Damian freezes as he hears Marinette’s voice ring throughout the cave.

“Marinette?” He whispers, unbelieving. He rushes forward, but stays hidden in the shadows when he sees it’s Ladybug on the screen talking to his Father. Not Marinette. He frowns. He was so sure…

“Our plan’s been moved up. Chat Noir is MIA and we can’t find the akumatized individual. It’s almost like they don’t exist. Which isn’t the point. I need someone to help scan security cameras, try and help us get a location on Hawkmoth. Maybe even Chat Noir? I don’t know, I’m just worried that he’s hurt and that Carapace and I aren’t around to help him.” Ladybug rambles. Damian narrows his eyes as he looks at her. Her face had scratches, and the fabric on one of her shoulders was darker than the other. Most likely drenched in blood.

“Of course, Ladybug. Do you need additional backup?” His Father asks. Her eyes widen slightly and she ducks down as a sword comes into view.

“Listen asshole, you already made me cancel my damn date. Stop trying to kill me!” She screeches, somehow gaining control of the sword. She flips it and the hilt of the sword disappears momentarily, a thud occurring out of sight before she twirls the sword, relaxing her shoulders slightly. Damian gasps lowly as he looks at her, and it’s almost as if a layer of magic surrounding her melts away. He tunes out the rest of the conversation because he realizes: Marinette is Ladybug. Skirting around the edges of the cave, he makes it to the locker room. Grabbing one of his suits, he pulls out his phone and calls Kent again.

“I need a pickup outside my house in two minutes. We are going to Paris.”

---

“Carapace, fall back. We need to recharge.” Ladybug says tiredly. He nods, taking a few steps back to stand in line with her. Wrapping her arm around his waist, she manages to swing them away from the horde of minions that were quickly approaching. Swinging into her go-to alcove, she lets her shoulders slump.

“Okay, seriously, where is the akuma? Or Hawkmoth? It’s like he’s trying to play with us. Trying to mess with us.” Carapace huffs out. She shrugs before turning, both standing back to back as they let their transformations drop.

“I have no clue. And Batman is having trouble trying to find anything. I hate how this is all happening right before we were supposed to execute our plan. Seriously, how is our luck this bad? The Ladybug Miraculous is supposed to be good luck.” She huffs out.

“Oops?” A familiar voice says. Marinette’s eyes widen as Chat Noir lands in front of them, his eyes wide.

“Chat Noir!” Marinette shrieks, hoping he hadn’t been around long enough to know.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry you guys. I didn’t- Well, the plan wasn’t-” He starts to ramble, a terrified look on his face.

“It’s okay dude.” Nino says gently, his eyes closed. Marinette pinches the bridge of her nose, wanting nothing more than for this to all be a bad dream. Everything that could go wrong, was going wrong.

“No, you don’t understand.” Chat Noir says, shaking his head. Marinette frowns.

“What do you mean?” She asks.

“Plagg, claws in.” He says. She yelps and squeezes her eyes shut.

“No, Marinette, Nino, please, look at me.” He says, effectively outing her to Nino (though, she was pretty sure he already knew). “Guys please.” He says again. Marinette opens her eyes, blinking in surprise.

“Adrien?” She says.

“No way.” Nino says, not opening his eyes.

“Open your eyes, ya goof.” Marinette says with a laugh. Nino huffs, but opens his eyes, jaw dropping.

“I can’t believe you’re Chat Noir.” He breathes out. Adrien chuckles.

“Surprise?” He says. Marinette frowns.

“Your Father-” She starts, and Adrien nods, a hopeful look on his face.

“Yeah, I know, but see, now that we know each other’s identities, it’ll be so much easier.” He says. She frowns.

“Easier for what? I thought our team worked fine.” She says. He sighs.

“Yeah, sure, but now that you know everything, you’ll give me the earrings, right?” He asks. She flinches, taking a step back as he takes a step forward.

“What?” She says under her breath.

“Your earrings? I really didn’t want to have to fight you guys, and now that we know we’re all friends under the masks too, you’ll give them to me, right?” He pleads. Tears spring to her eyes as she shakes her head.

“No, no, Adrien what are you-”

“I’ve been helping my Father.” He says quietly. “I just- I want my mom back.”

“Run.” Nino whispers before calling his transformation and lunging at Adrien. Marinette quickly calls on Tikki before swinging away, moving as quickly as she can as she hears her friends fight behind her. The panic shoots through her veins as she realizes how difficult this just became. Adrien was Chat Noir. Chat Noir was on Hawkmoth’s side. Hawkmoth, technically, already had the ring. She swings into one of the towers of Notre-Dame, everything starting to piece together in her mind. When he’d stopped showing up for battles. When he stopped being as helpful. The fact that he wasn’t working with the Young Justice at all. She chokes back a sob, immediately throwing a punch as someone lands in front of her.

“Ladybug, stop!” Damian yells. Her eyes widen at the sight of her boyfriend in his Robin gear standing next to Jon.

“What are you doing here?” She asks, wiping furiously at her eyes.

“I was worried when you screamed and the call cut off.” He says.

“Well I didn’t mean to worry you, but I don’t exactly have a better reaction to being stabbed- oh shit.” Her eyes widen as she realizes he knew. “How long-”

“Earlier. I was in the cave while Father was on the call with you.” He says simply. She tries hard to ignore the awful churning in her stomach. Another thud makes her tense, then relax immediately at the sight of Carapace.

“Somehow, we’re still linked, we’ve gotta keep moving cause he can definitely still track us. We can’t afford to detransform until we’ve taken their Miraculous.” Carapace says firmly, wiping blood off his face. Ladybug’s eyes widen.

“What the hell did he-”

“LB, dudette, love your concern, not right now.” He says firmly, glancing at the other heroes before pursing his lips. “You tell him?” He asks, nodding towards Jon. Ladybug winces, shaking her head.

“No, I-”

“Mari, Nino, please come back!” Chat Noir yells, and she can tell he’s moving towards them fast.

“What the hell-” Damian starts, but she cuts him off.

“Not right now. I’ll explain later.” She says, running and leaping out of the tower.

“Please! Just- look, we don’t want to hurt you! Especially now that I know you’re my friends. Please.” Chat pleads, calling after them. An idea pops into her head.

“Then get your Father to show up. Meet us himself and promise us that he won’t hurt us or our families.” Ladybug calls back to him. She pauses on a roof, breathing heavily as she watches him also pause. He tilts his head to the side, and she’s not sure if he’s thinking, or using a comm to communicate with his dad. The thought makes her stomach churn. How often had Hawkmoth listened in on their meetings? Their plans? Their hangouts where they all claimed to love and care for each other. Where they promised each other that everything would be okay. How long had he pretended to be on their side? How long had he been a traitor?

“Fine. He says…the top of Françoise Dupont in fifteen minutes.” He says, glancing longingly at Jon before rushing away. Ladybug waits until she can’t see him, then collapses to her knees, letting out a long scream.

“I gotchu LB, don’t worry.” Carapace says gently, wrapping his arms around her as she gives herself just a minute to cry. A minute to let everything sink in. Because besides everything that had happened, he was still her friend. She cared about him, and the fact that he had turned on them hurt like hell.

“What is going on?” Damian asks, the worry clear in his voice. Sucking in a deep breath, she wipes her eyes, letting Carapace help her to her feet shakily.

“Chat Noir has been working for Hawkmoth.” She says softly. Carapace huffs, and she glances at him.

“That’s putting it lightly, LB. He betrayed us. This wasn’t some spur of the moment shit. He planned this. He’s been working with him for a while. He was the mole. The reason Hawkmoth always seemed one step ahead of us. He tried to get LB to give up her earrings earlier. Once he realized that we’re friends under the mask too. God, how could I be so stupid?” Carapace yells, whirling around and punching a chimney. He swears under his breath and shakes out his hand, the bruises on his knuckles already forming.

“Who is it?” Jon asks, sounding panicked. Marinette winces, turning away. “Who is it?” He asks again, softer this time.

“I think you know.” She says. His face crumbles, before a hard mask covers it and he whirls around, flying towards the school. Shit. She zips after him, hearing Robin and Carapace scramble to follow. She lands a little bit away, frowning at the scene in front of her.

“Did you ever even love me?” Jon asks. Chat-no- Adrien whirls around, eyes wide.

“Jon-”

“No! Did you ever care about me? About any of us? Because if you did- if you did, Adrien, how the hell can you stand there and work alongside someone who has emotionally tortured people for years?” Jon screams, tears streaming down his face. Adrien frowns, glancing around as if looking for some sort of backup.

“But, my mom-” He says. Jon shakes his head.

“You could have asked for help! The second you found out she was here, in a coma, you could have come to the League. Or Ladybug or someone and asked for help. So many different heroes could have helped you, and would have been willing! Especially since you were a hero. God, Adrien, you were a hero! You stood there and watched LB get totally wrecked at several different attacks, all because you didn't have the fucking guts to stand up and say that something was wrong. Or at least the fucking decency to stay home if you weren't going to help her.” Jon growls out. Marinette winces, not used to seeing this side of Jon. Adrien sighs, taking a step towards Jon. He visibly flinches as Jon takes a step away from him.

“Jon, please, I’m begging you. I just-”

“No. We're done, Agreste. I am so beyond hurt, right now. I- I loved you, Adrien. I loved you and you hurt me. You hurt the people I care about. People that I thought you cared about-” Jon freezes, visibly tensing. “How long have you been working with him?” Marinette inhales sharply. That was the one thing she hadn’t asked. The one thing she wasn’t sure if- she didn’t know what she’d do if it turned out their entire partnership had been a lie.

“I-” Adrien hesitates, and her heart drops. “I’m not sure you want me to tell you.”

“How long?” Jon yells, the pain clear on his face.

“Almost two years.” He says, and Marinette can’t help the tears that start streaming once again.

“Did you ever even love me? Are you even sorry?” Jon asks, shaking his head.

“Yes! Jon, I’m so- I never meant- I love you. Please.” Adrien pleads, rushing forward and trying to grab Jon’s hands. Jon shakes his head, flying away, probably to wherever Robin was hiding. Marinette glances at Carapace, who had landed next to her. She reaches down and squeezes his hand in reassurance. Chat Noir was Ladybug’s best friend. Adrien was Nino’s. Taking in a deep breath, she moves with him to stand in front of Adrien, who had tears streaming down his face.

“Where is Hawkmoth?” She asks, wanting nothing more than to get this over with. He hiccups, swiping at his tears.

“I uh, I don’t, he should be coming.” Adrien mutters out, his face contorted with pain. “Mari? Remember when you said I didn’t have to be perfect to deserve love?” He asks. She bites her lip harshly, ignoring the sting from the breaking of the delicate skin.

“That didn’t mean you could go and work with a villain, Adrien! God, do you know I would have done anything to help you bring your mother back? I would have walked through hell for you, Adrien. I would have even gone to that stupid misogynstic temple full of people who hated me, if it meant I could learn the right magic to help. Why didn’t you let us help you?” She says, shaking her head.

“Because he did not need your false promises, Miss Dupain-Cheng.” Hawkmoth says, landing next to Adrien, Mayura landing behind him.

“Well what a dysfunctional family.” Carapace says, narrowing his eyes. Hawkmoth- Gabriel, purses his lips.

“Lahiffe.” He says with a nod.

“Now you can give us the earrings and we can fix mom and everything will be okay. Because you won’t hurt them, right, Father?” Adrien says, glancing at his dad hopefully. Gabriel quirks an eyebrow, holding his hand out.

“The ring, Adrien.” He says. Adrien frowns.

“You won’t hurt them, right Father?” He asks. Gabriel’s eyes narrow.

“Do you want your mother back or would you rather protect your little friends?” He asks. Adrien winces, glancing up at them. And for a moment, for a split second, Marinette thinks he’s on their side. That it was all an elaborate prank. But then he frowns at them.

“I’m sorry.” He says, taking his ring off and ignoring Plagg’s cries as he passes it to his dad. “I just want my mom back.” Before Gabriel can slide the ring on, a figure flashes forward and grabs it, rushing back to stand by her.

“I believe this belongs to you, LB.” Kid Flash says, his eyes sad. She nods firmly, turning and glaring at the group in front of her.

“I suggest you hand over the Miraculous now.” She says. Gabriel roars with fury, a cloud of purple and black magic forming over him. Gritting her teeth, she turns to Kid Flash and raises an eyebrow. He nods and darts forward, barely visible before he’s standing next to her once again. He passes the two brooches to her, and her stomach churns. All of this. Five years of torture. Of dying, and hurting. And never being able to actually feel. It never would have happened without these little pieces of jewelry. And the man in front of her. Five years of pain. Over.

Next

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Story tag list: @kking13 @jayjayspixiepop @ritacrow-blog @fangirlingfanatic @basenikon @toodaloo-kangaroo @maribat-calendar-events @hammalammadamdam @kittyditzydancer

[miyagihawk]

for hawk

lover of mine - 5sos

it's a selfship anthem, bby!

the lyrics make so much sense

i love 5sos!!!! ty for the request :)

lover of mine | eli “hawk” moskowitz x reader

warnings: cursing, i think that’s it?

summary: based on lover of mine by 5sos <3

Lover of mine

Maybe we'll take some time

Kaleidoscope mind

Gets in the way

Your relationship with Hawk was more complicated than most.

You had to be patient with him. His mind was like a kaleidoscope; his thoughts were in intricate patterns that you could never comprehend. It amazed you, but it also frustrated you when you couldn’t understand him.

And when it seemed like you finally did understand, he would shift into new colors and you’d have to start all over again.

“I just- I don’t get you, Hawk! Why are you always lying to me?” you said loudly, already feeling exhausted from the argument.

“I’m not! You just never believe me!” he turned it on you. Like always.

You looked at him with a hard stare and crossed your arms. “Did you or did you not break Demetri’s arm?” you asked in a calmer, but still threatening tone.

You already knew the answer; everyone was talking about what happened in the laser tag room. But here Hawk was, denying it. You just couldn’t grasp why he hid so much from you.

When he stayed silent with his gaze not meeting yours, you sat on your bed with an exasperated sigh.“We should take a break,” you interrupted the quiet atmosphere, looking up at where your boyfriend stood in front of you.

“What?” Hawk finally met your eyes with a hurt expression.

You patted the spot on the bed next to you, and he sat reluctantly. “I’m just tired. We need a break Hawk.”

“We don’t need a break,” he protested quietly, and the subtle sadness in his voice was enough to make your heart pang with hurt.

Hope and I pray

Darling, that you will stay

Butterfly lies

Chase them away

He was scared. Even through all the countless arguments and lies, you never left. Now you were suggesting a break, and Hawk knows from seeing other relationships that they always just end in an actual break up.

In a weird way, you did want to scare him. Because he would never change if you didn’t. You hated the idea of a break, but maybe Hawk would finally stop lying to you if you showed him you were serious.

“It’s not a breakup,” you assured, because you knew what he was thinking. For once. “We just need time apart for a little bit. To think.”

“About what?” he asked defensively, starting to raise his voice again.

“You and I. We’re quite toxic, you know?” you contrasted his volume in a lighter tone, making his face relax and his lips turn up a bit.

His small smile dropped suddenly, replaced by an anxious expression. “Don’t leave me Y/N.”

Your heart dropped at his words, and you wanted to wrap your arms around him. To tell him you’d never leave and that it was all okay. But it wasn’t all okay.

You grabbed his hand instead, “You’re my best friend. I love you. But I need this, okay? We both do. Just some time to figure out how we can fix... us.”

“I can fix it now, we don’t need to take a break. Please. I’ll never lie to you again. I just- I hate disappointing you,” he pleaded, tightening his hand around yours, and you wanted to give in.

But you knew that letting this go on, this never ending cycle, would only end with the both of you in a huge crash and burn.

“You said that last time,” you gave him a sad smile. “Let’s just figure our shit out, and then come back better for each other. We need this Hawk.”

-

6 months later

Things didn’t end so well after your break with Hawk. After spending some time apart, you two were just never close again.

None of you planned for it to happen; you just drifted away from each other. And neither of you exactly established when the “break” would be over.

So for the next few months, you passed each other in the halls without any acknowledgment of the other’s existence. Of course you missed him, but not being with him just became the new normal. And you accepted it and pushed your feelings aside.

“So you’ll meet us there? You sure you don’t want the limo to pick you up?” your friend Cara asked from across the lunch table.

“Yeah don’t worry about me, Jesse’s picking me up,” you replied, making the rest of your friends wiggle their eyebrows teasingly.

“What happened to prom with the girls, Y/N? I thought we established no boyfriends during prom season,” Cara pouted playfully, and you elbowed her in the ribs.

“He’s not my boyfriend. He just asked me to prom and that’s it,” you corrected.

Your other friend jumped in, “And why not? Jesse is so cute.”

As she asked, your eyes trailed away from your friends and towards a certain someone with loud red hair, sitting across the room with his karate posse.

Your group noticed your lack of attention and turned to see what you were looking at. They sighed in unison, making you bring your focus back to them.

“He’s why, isn’t he?” Cara gave you an understanding smile and rubbed your shoulder comfortingly. “It’s okay. Just have fun tonight.”

You only nodded, giving your kind friends a soft smile of appreciation.

As much as you tried to convince yourself that you’ve moved on fully, the boy with a kaleidoscope mind would always have a place in your heart.

-

Where is he?

You paced around your living room anxiously, checking your phone for what seemed like the millionth time in the past hour.

You scrolled through the numerous texts you’ve sent, contemplating if you should send another one. Calling him wasn’t even an option; it went straight to voicemail everytime.

After an hour and a half, you gave up waiting and hoping that your prom date would show up. You flopped down onto the couch despairingly, replying to worried texts from your friends.

‘I’m not going to make it, just don’t worry about me. Have fun my loves.’ you typed, throwing your phone onto the floor right after.

You didn’t want to ask them to pick you up and ruin their night, and you were honestly too drained from being stood up to call an Uber.

So prom night ended up with you spread out on the couch with your outfit that you’ve planned out months ago, eating out of a carton of rocky road ice cream.

Honestly, it could’ve been worse. You could’ve been spending the night with an absolute jerk named Jesse. (a/n: so sorry if ur name is jesse lmao)

In the middle of your rom com movie marathon, an abrupt knock at the front door made you sit up from your pathetic, ice cream eating position on the sofa.

Immediately, you turned off the TV and tiptoed towards the door. You silently grabbed the baseball bat next to it, while squinting to see through the peephole.

Your stomach immediately dropped when you saw him.

Clad in a black suit, with a bouquet of your favorite flowers.

Shifting on his feet and chewing on his lip nervously, as he waited for you to open the door.

The boy you didn’t know you needed to see until now.

What is he doing here?

You covered your mouth in shock as you ran to the mirror to check if you had chocolate stains around your mouth. You smoothed down your hair and straightened out your dress in a frenzy, before unlocking the door with a deep breath in.

“Hawk?” you tried to act surprised, which wasn’t hard because your heart was racing.

He took a second to look at you in your wasted prom attire, and he was locked in a trance for a second before he snapped out of it. “Oh... uh, these are for you,” he held out the flowers to you and you took them with a smile.

“Wow, I love them. Thank you,” you brought them up to your nose for a whiff of your favorite floral scent. “So, what are you doing here?” you asked awkwardly.

“Oh crap, sorry, do you want to come in?” you said before he would answer, and you opened the door wider so he could step inside.

Hawk looked around the room where he’s been countless times, and he frowned at the sight of 13 Going On 30 paused on the screen with half melted ice cream on the coffee table. That movie plus the sweet dessert was your absolute comfort pairing, and it made him sad that you needed it.

“Cara texted me, and I was worried,” he finally spoke, answering your earlier question. You suddenly felt embarrassed as you placed the bouquet in a vase. You didn’t want to be pitied. Especially by your ex-boyfriend.

“I’m fine,” you said bluntly, busying yourself with the flowers so that you wouldn’t have to face him. You hadn’t talked to him since the night you suggested the break, and you already felt too exhausted from tonight’s events to even talk about it with him. “It’s better that I didn’t go to prom with that dick.”

Hawk chuckled at your remark, and you felt more at ease. The tension between you was thicker than an iceberg, and you didn’t know if you could handle it.

“So did you leave? Or are you just dressed up like that for me?” you smiled, sitting down on the couch where he followed.

He laughed again, lightening the mood even more. “I was there, but you know, Cara told me about what happened and... I just felt like I needed to come. It was lame though. The whole thing is just dancing. And I don’t dance,” Hawk explained, and you found yourself smiling at the thought of him caring about you. “But I know how excited you were about prom, so I thought I’d bring it to you. Some romantic shit like that.”

Your eyebrows raised at “romantic shit”, but you decided not to say anything about it. Although, it did make your cheeks heat up and you hoped he didn’t notice. “That’s really sweet Hawk. Thank you. Really,” you placed your hand on top of his, but you recoiled awkwardly because it felt too intimate, given the circumstances.

You cleared your throat, “So... since you’re bringing prom to me, does that mean I get a dance?” you got up and stood in front of him with your arms playfully crossed.

Hawk squinted his blue eyes at you, crossing his arms as well, “I don’t dance, remember?”

“For me you will, right? Or I could just, you know, dance by myself. It’s already been such a great night for me,” you teased, walking away from him towards a clear space in the living room.

He groaned from behind you and got up to follow, making you cheer happily. “For you I will,” he stated under his breath, releasing dozens of butterflies in your stomach.

Dance around the living room

Lose me in the sight of you

I've seen the red, I've seen the blue

Take all of me

You turned on your Dad’s old record player, where a slow, jazzy, 60s vinyl was spinning. You almost wanted to change it because it felt too romantic, but Hawk was already waiting behind you and you were scared he would change his mind.

The rush his presence gave you made you boldly put your hands on his shoulders, and he stiffly placed his own on the curve of your waist. Your hands were locked at the nape of his neck; his hold on you was light as if you were fragile china.

You forgot how intoxicating it felt to be this close to him, and you wondered how you went so long without that feeling.

The both of you swayed to the smooth melodies of Nina Simone with interlocked eyes, and with every second his hands on your hips became more relaxed. You rested your head on his chest, pulling him closer.

For a song or two, none of you said anything; there was just an unspoken appreciation of each other’s presence. After 6 months without him, you needed this.

I'll never give you away

'Cause I've already made that mistake

If my name never fell off your lips again

I know it'd be such a shame

When I take a look at my life

And all of my crimes

You're the only thing that I think I got I right

“I should’ve never let you go,” Hawk whispered close to your ear, sending a shiver down your spine.

“I was the one who wanted the break. It’s my fault,” you opposed, lifting your head up from his chest to look up at him.

He raised one of his hands to tuck a piece of hair behind your ear, and it brought a warm smile to your face. “But I didn’t chase after you,” his lips turned down into a frown.

You put your hands on the sides of his face while you two continued to sway to the staticky vinyl. “Maybe it’s both of our faults,” you laughed lightly, touching his soft skin.

“It’s me Y/N. I’m the one who lied to you throughout the whole relationship. I’m so sorry,” Hawk looked down at you with glossy eyes. “I’ve done so much fucked up shit. But you’re the only thing I got right. I hate myself for ruining it too.”

Your felt yourself melt at his confession. “It’s not ruined,” you disputed. “You aren’t perfect and I’m not either. I shouldn’t have given up on us. I’m sorry.”

He closed his eyes in peace as your hands ran through his bright hair. It was down from its usual style, giving him a softer look.

“Maybe we both messed up. But I’m never giving you away again Y/N. I won’t make that mistake. I love you,” the boy you’ve missed for months admitted, saying everything you wanted to hear.

You kissed him in reply.

a/n: ah idk if i like this but i hope u do, i feel like my writings are getting repetitive im having bad writers block (as u can tell by how slow im doing requests)

[yourslytherinprincess]

:Not You: - Sirius Black x F!Reader

A/N: Some of these titles are awful. Minor angst, fluffs. Also I used to go back and forth between first and third person a lot, before switching to second person permanently. This is one of the few that was written in first person.

Summery: Sirius doesn’t handle having feelings well.

Prompts: “I’m just not right for you” / “I can lose anything, but not you”

Word Count: 2669

The Gryffindor common room was mostly quiet, which was strange considering the fact that James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all sitting along the wall "doing their homework." As if that was believable for even a minute. Remus was the only one I'd imagine that actually might be working. And of course, James and Sirius were whispering back and forth, laughing to each other.

I looked back at the book in my hands, trying to study for our upcoming Transfiguration quiz. The portrait swung open, I glanced up to find three of the younger girls walking past the boys, all looking at Sirius who had taken a second to smile at them, giggling as they headed to the dorms. I barely had it in me to roll my eyes. It was stupid the way that all of the girls, didn't even matter what house they were in, fawned over Sirius.

I could wonder what it was they saw in him, the stupid girls, but I already knew because I was a bloody hypocrite. Merlin knows I'd had a crush on him since first year, something about his sense of humor, the giant smile always on his face, especially when he was with James, and his smart mouth had always been very appealing. All the girls were stupid. Not because they fancied him, or acted foolish and idiotic in his presence, it was because they all thought that maybe they had a chance with him, the mysterious bad boy from Gryffindor. He ignored every single one, besides flashing grins and occasionally winking at them, which he did often, he honestly didn't so much as flirt with them. They all thought they had a chance to be the one he called his, but the ugly truth was that he wasn't interested in any of them, and it only made them all want him more.

"You know," Lily bounced onto the couch next to me, "you can tell him you like him."

"Yeah, right." I slammed my book shut, looking at the auburn-haired girl, "So he can laugh at me? You know how he gets, and I'm not about to let him turn me into a joke."

"Let who turn you into a joke?" James asked as he walked up to the couch we were sitting on, the rest of the boys in toe. Leaning over, he kissed Lily on the top of the head, the others all looking at me.

"Oh- nothing, just one of the boys in Ravenclaw..." I lied. Sirius raised his brow at me, as did Lily. One of them full of curiosity, the other knowing better.

 I was walking down the corridors, making my way to the library, when familiar footsteps matched up with mine. "Where's James? You two never go anywhere without each other."

"He decided to have his girlfriend help him with his homework instead of Moony. He's getting tired of doing it for us apparently." Sirius laughed, brushing a piece of dark hair behind his ear.

"Well, I can't blame him honestly," I smirked.

"So, about this Ravenclaw boy, who is he?" Startled at his question, I stopped in my tracks. "Well?"

"It's none of your business, Sirius." Lost for any other words, I hadn't exactly planned on it being brought up again and had made no effort to elaborate the lie at all.

His eyes were the grey of a perfectly smooth stone, even though I had looked into them hundreds of times, every time I saw them, I was stunned. "Well (Y/N), I'm making it my business."

I stood there, stubbornly; arms crossed over my chest. Sirius grabbed my wrist, gently pulling me into the next empty corridor behind him and pressed my back against the wall, facing me, his arm placed by my head, blocking me from going anywhere. "Who is this boy?" He asked again, dark hair falling back around his face.

"Why does it matter, Sirius? It's just some Ravenclaw boy from class."

He looked stern, almost angry, and then slightly indecisive. His face went completely blank, he let out a breath, and then leaned forward, his face almost touching mine. "I won't allow anyone to make a joke out of you." His words were hot on my skin, and then his lips were hot on mine.

I kissed him back fiercely, grabbing his face between my hands, pulling him closer. His hands were at my waist, pulling my body to his, extinguishing any space that was between us. Sinking into him, he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue between my lips, my hands tangled up in his hair.

Pulling away to breathe, Sirius looked into my eyes, "I'm sorry." He whispered and then walked off, leaving me in the empty corridor alone, cold taking over the parts of my body that he had been keeping warm.

More confused than I think I had ever been in my life, I continued on my way to the library, the taste of Sirius's mouth fresh on my tongue.

 "-and then he just apologized and walked off. I haven't seen him since." I was sprawled out on Lily's bed next to her.

"So, what do -you- think it means? I mean he must obviously fancy you. He doesn't just go around snogging girls in the corridors." She asked. "I can ask James, I'm sure they tell each other everything, those two are worse than girls."

"I don't know, I don't want him to think I'm desperate, or that I blabbed." Sighing I rolled over onto my side, thoughts of his mouth on mine flashing through my mind.

"Well, you think he'd expect it. We do tell each other everything. We are girls." Lily laughed.

Deciding it was probably time for bed, I got up and moved into mine. "I suppose I'm just going to sleep on it. We can worry about it tomorrow."

 Heading up to the Gryffindor common room after dinner the next day, I found Remus walking in front of me. "REMUS!" I called out, hoping I was loud enough to be heard.

Stopping in his tracks, he waited for me to catch up. "Hey, (Y/N)." We walked side by side the rest of the way.

"Have you seen Sirius today, Remus?" I asked, glancing over to catch his reaction.

His expression didn’t change, he had to know something. "Uh, no. Not really."

I wasn't stupid, but I could act like I was. "Oh, well I was just wondering if he was alright. I'm not sure if he attended any of our classes today, but I noticed that he wasn't at breakfast or at dinner."

"I think James said that he was in classes today, he was just late or sat in the back or something. I'm not really sure, but if I find anything out, I can let you know."

"Alright. Well thank you anyway, Remus. Have a good night." And I walked back up to my dorm.

Sitting there, I waited for Lily to come back, biding my time looking over books and doing homework. The hours seemed to pass by, when finally, Lily made an appearance.

"He's been avoiding me all day, I tried to talk to Remus, but he just lied to me about it, said he didn't know where he was. Also said he'd let me know if he heard anything. I very highly doubt that."

"I just saw Sirius come down from his dorm into the common room, I bet he's still probably there if you wanted to go see him."

I only debated it for a second, before standing to make my way back down the stairs and into the common room. Lily was right, he was sitting on the couch, looking into the fire.

"Sirius..." I called. He jumped as though I had startled him.

"Oh, (Y/N) ... I was just about to head up stairs and get to bed." Sirius said coolly, refusing to meet my gaze.

"I know that you've been avoiding me all day, Sirius. Don't you think we should talk about what happened?" I asked, taking a step towards him.

"There isn't anything to talk about, L/N." My stomach turned cold, as he stepped away, putting more distance between us.

"What do you mean there isn't anything to talk about? You kissed me Sirius, you pushed me up against a wall and kissed me like it meant something." It took everything that I had keep my voice from cracking. My hands started to tremble, as I tried to step forward again.

Sirius kept his distance. "I know what I've done, and it was nothing but a mistake."

"No!" I couldn't hold back any longer. The corners of my eyes started to burn as the tears hiding there tried to escape. "You're lying!"

"I'm just not right for you, Y/N. Just imagine, us together...? It's never going to work out. The only thing we can be is friends." He sounded disgusted, I had no choice but to believe him, but there was no way I was just going to let go on his terms.

"No, Sirius... we can't even be that. I like you, a lot, and I have for years. I won't let you hurt me...you said you won't allow anyone to make me into a joke, but if I stay friends with you after this… that's all I am. Just a big stupid joke." I wouldn't cry, not here, not now, not in front of him.

"Now you're really talking non-sense,” His mouth turned down into a deep frown. "You can't just end our friendship over this petty argument. You just need to get some sleep; do you need someone to get Lily for you?" Who did he think he was? How dare he feel like he deserved to be upset after this, this was all his doing.

"I can get to bed on my own, thanks." I huffed before walking off, deciding that that would be the last thing I would say to him.

 I spent the next several weeks nearly alone. I wasn't trying to push away any of my other friends, but I couldn't see them if they were with him. It only took three days for Sirius to realize that I had meant what I said about no longer being friends. Nearly every day since, he had all but got down on his knees and begged me to talk to him, but I just walked past him, acting as if he wasn't even there.

"Sirius won't stop talking about you and it's getting on my nerves." Lily announced one day while we were in the library with James and Remus studying.

"Oh, has he started doing it all the time now? I barely noticed. We've never been able to get him to stop talking about her." James added rolling his eyes, "Isn't that right, Moony?"

Remus sighed, looking at me and Lily. "He really has since we started school first year. If you're not around, you're the only thing he talks about. I'm honestly surprised that he never runs out of things to say."

Lily looked over at me, waiting for me to say something, anything. What happened between me and Sirius had really hurt me, put me in a real bad place. And him. He looked terrible, but there was no way I could talk to him, I already knew how it would go. I would listen to him, let him tell me what's been bothering him, and then feel bad, and forgive him, and then go back to the way things were. Only instead of looking at his lips and wondering what it would be like to kiss them, I would know. And that would be worse.

"I'm not giving in, I can't." Looking back at my book, I could feel all three of them looking at me. "What?"

"Y/N, Sirius is... he's really not doing well." Remus said. "Honestly, I can't remember the last time he ate that we didn't force him."

"Yeah," James piped up, "He just walks around talking about you and how he messed up everything. He sleeps even less than he used to because his nightmares are worse than they were."

My heart sank into my stomach. He looked awful, upset. I could hear it in his voice when he tried to talk to me, which was at least once a day. He was persistent, and up until that point, so was I. We all knew that he had had problems with his family and their Pure-Blood supremacy issues, until last year when he moved in with James' family. But still, he had been having nightmares for years. If they were getting worse -and- he wasn't eating, there was really something wrong.

Suddenly the world around me was a blur. And I couldn't even remember if I had closed my book, or if I had said anything to my friends when I stood from the table. I don't think I could feel my body as I ran, as hard and as fast as I could out of the library. All I could feel was my heart pounding in my chest, all I could hear was the blood in my ears, and all I knew, was that I NEEDED to find Sirius. I ran and I ran and I ran, down every corridor, robes flying behind me, knocking into anyone that got in my way.

"SIRIUS? SIRIUS WHERE ARE YOU?" I screamed as loud as I could manage. I couldn't think of anywhere he might be, and just as I was going to give up, I saw a dark mop of hair outside, heading towards the lake.

"SIRIUS!" I yelled, over and over as I ran, he turned around at my voice.

"Y/N?" He ran to meet me, and I ran right into his arms. He picked me up off of the ground, spinning me in circles.

All of our "I'm sorry's" spilled all over each other, my hands on his shoulders trying to pull him into a hug, and I just kept saying it -I'm sorry, I'm so sorry- And he had his large warm hands on my face, brushing my hair out of my eyes, filling my ears with "I'm sorry", "I'll never hurt you again", and "I've missed you so much." I stopped him.

"Sirius, I had no idea how bad it was. I didn't know. James and Remus... they told me everything."

His hands, still on my face, and his lips were covering my own, moving with mine. He tasted the same, minty and some other thing that I couldn't put my finger on. He kissed me slowly, and gently, and like he was afraid to stop. When he finally did pull away, he just looked at me, square in the face, his grey eyes not letting me escape. "If this is what you really want, then I'll give it to you. If you want to be with me, then we're doing this. I have been miserable without you. I can't take this anymore, I can lose anything, but not you... I love you."

"Sirius, we don't have to. If it's not what you want-"

"No, it is everything that I want. I was just scared, I didn't want to ruin our friendship, to lose you, but as long as I have you, I'll never have anything else to lose." I couldn't tear my eyes from his, his lips kept moving but all I could hear was him saying in my head, over and over. I love you. I love you. I love you.

"There was never a boy from Ravenclaw, I was lying. Lily told me to tell you how I felt, but then James walked up and-" Pausing, I stared at him hard. "Sirius, I think that I'm in love with you." I was breathless.

He smiled brightly for the first time in weeks. “After everything you've put me through, you had damn well better be." And he kissed me again.  

[goggles-mcgee]

Revolt Of The Akuma [Commission for @miner249er]

As the title says, this is a commission for @miner249er

Summary: There’s only so much a person can take and Marinette is almost certain she has reached that point. What with Lila and her seemingly never-ending lies, Adrien and his nonexistent spine, Chat and his stubbornness, Hawkmoth and his akumas, Paris and their expectations, it’s all too much. She’s going to snap sooner or later. At least she has Luka and Kagami on her side, right? Right?

[Contains: Class Salt, Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Salt, Lila Rossi Salt, Angst, Misunderstandings, Slight Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng Salt, Slight Tikki Salt, Akumanette]

It was rare for her to be surrounded by quiet, even more so to need that blanket of security that quietness can give, and yet here she was. The pink of her room had never seemed more faded or dull even with the lights on. Realistically she knew it was not quiet, her home was never quiet, there was always the bustle of business from the bakery downstairs, the sound of traffic outside, usually the sound of music coming from her phone or computer, and as always the chatter from her Kwami. Though Tikki’s words at the moment sounded like they were being spoken from above water whereas Marinette was under said water, deep under. Her eyes glanced at the mess she had made around her, the pictures of past friends as she’s come to understand all too well these past couple of months, to the torn and destroyed gifts she had given them returned to her solely for the sake of making her heart wrench painfully beneath her skin, from there to the piles of used tissues thrown about during her silent cries, and finally to the thing that had hurt the most and had been sitting in her lap, limp, shredded, basically lifeless, her sketchbook. The sight caused Marinette’s heart to clench in pain once more and she could feel tears pool her eyes yet again, but she forced them to stay, she was tired of crying. 

Noise flooded back to her almost making her flinch. There was the soft ding of the bell from the bakery’s door downstairs signaling a customer’s arrival or departure, there were the car engines and the horns beeping, peoples soft voices floating in, and of course Tikki’s worried voice. Everything in her yearned for the quietness but she knew she had to deal with everything eventually and eventually meant now, so she didn’t worry her parents if they came to check on her at any point. If they even noticed her mood change from lunch, she thought bitterly and felt immediate guilt at the thought. 

“Marinette…”

“Tikki.”

“Were you listening to me?” Tikki asked, and even though she knew Tikki wasn’t saying it in an admonishing tone, the girl couldn’t help the tiny wince she gave in return as she finally stood up and picked up the tissue piles. Truthfully she hadn’t but she could guess what the kwami had been saying. It was the same thing every time something happened between her and her class. That, they would come around, they were just acting out of misplaced trust and love, they would realize their mistakes and come back to Marinette and everything would go back to normal, but she had to get a handle on her feelings in the meantime so she wouldn’t be akumatized. No that wasn’t right. So that Ladybug wouldn’t be akumatized, but how could she after the day she had?

Lila made good on her promise. Marinette didn’t have a friend left in her class, maybe not all of them thought her the awful bully that Lila painted her out to be, but they  didn’t stand up for her, they didn’t talk to her in or out of class, and they wouldn’t meet her eye when she desperately looked around for at least one supportive pair of eyes. It had never been this bad with Chloe. At least with Chloe she knew what she was getting into, she knew the brand of teasing and insults that Chloe Bourgeois used, and she knew that people were scared to stand up to her, but even then they would still flash each other a look of comfort, a look of strength. Those looks let all of them know they weren’t alone, that others saw them struggling, saw them hurting, and were offering comfort.  Things truly were simpler then. Lila was something more than Chloe, more than any other bully she had ever seen or encountered. She had a silver-tongue that just seemed to gain more power the more she used it. Her lies were outlandish at this point and yet, no one saw it, no one but Marinette and maybe others outside her class but she wasn’t. The awful truth of it all was that Marinette had no one.

Sure Adrien had said he would be there for her, but that had been the biggest lie Marinette had ever been told, even with Lila spouting nonsense like knowing Jagged Stone because she saved his ‘kitten.’ She was always prepared for Lila to lie, could count on it, and she had become accustomed to her friends falling for the lies, but she had thought she had at least one person by her side. That had quickly been disproven again and again, and it felt like parts of her heart chipped away every time it happened. Adrien, once considered the love of her life, did nothing to ease her aching heart. There were no comforting hugs or even a hand on her shoulder to let her know that she wasn’t alone in the class of sheep. There were no glances shared between the two to let her know that he was just as fed up with Lila’s lies as she. Most importantly, and the one that hurt the most, there were no texts or calls or even letters that offered her any amount of support. That’s not to say he never texted her, but when he did it was never about anything important, it was always mundane and dare she say superficial, and sometimes, sometimes he texted her about her situation but it was never anything helpful, if anything they made her feel worse. They were always about how she was “provoking” Lila and, “what happened to taking the high road Marinette?” At first they had made her cry, she wasn’t provoking Lila, Lila was provoking her, how had Adrien not seen that? Sadness grew into anger, blinding anger, anger that caused her to rip every poster down, change her computer background with such force she nearly broke the mouse, and gave away every planned gift for every occasion, and afterwards all she felt was numb. In the beginning the numbness scared her, but it grew on her like a second skin, it protected her sometimes so she welcomed it. 

“Marinette!” Again she was wrenched from her thoughts by the yell of her kwami’s voice. 

It took her a couple of seconds to focus, “Yes, Tikki?”

“I lost you again. Where were you?” Tikki asked softly as she flew closer to Marinette’s face. 

“Sorry. Nowhere,” Everywhere, ”just thinking.” An apology and a half answer, when was the last time she actually told someone how she was feeling without holding back? Too long, her mind supplied. 

“...About today?”

“In a way.”

“Oh Marinette, things will start to get better, don’t let today get to you.” Don’t let it get to Ladybug.

“I know Tikki.” Hollow words, but they were expected, she even threw in a small smile, it was the most she could manage. It was the response of habit she gave, even to her parents, though she had the feeling they wouldn’t notice even if she did show some of her real feelings, some of her hurt. They were just so busy with the bakery sometimes that Marinette couldn’t help but feel that their attention to her was more obligation than anything else, and wow, wasn’t that just the cherry on top of everything? They had even forgotten to ask how her day was today, and though she wasn’t going to tell them, it still would have brought her some comfort to know they cared or pretended to care. At this point she would take what she could get. Today had been another rough one, but it had started out like her new normal, she would go to school and be ignored by her classmates or get glares and sneers that she in turn would ignore. Then she would go to her locker and put the bare minimum of her belongings in, that she prayed would not be destroyed (“improved”) or stolen, she did her best to boobytrap anything of importance like she did her diary since having a lock on her locker was supposedly unheard of at this school. After that was class itself where she expected her seat to be sticky or wet with something but she took to bringing wet cloths and paper towels with her since this was so common. ‘Just harmless pranks.’ Mme Bustier claimed when she first went to talk with her about the behavior. Honestly she didn’t know what she had been expecting when she went to her teacher for help, but she was not going to make that useless of a mistake again. What followed though was weird, she still found rude little notes but none of her classmates went out of their way to glare at her, or make snide comments about her, she wasn’t even tripped if they walked too close to her. To some people it would mean a break, but it only put her more on edge, like something bigger was coming, because Lila was acting strange. 

She hadn’t spouted one lie about Marinette, she still lied, just nothing about Marinette, which was odd. Though Marinette pushed it from her mind in order to get some help from Mme Mendeleiev for her homework packet that was due tomorrow. Some problems were proving difficult and she knew the teacher was more than willing to help students out if they went to her, so that’s exactly what Marinette did for lunch time. She even brought a packed lunch so she could eat and work with the teacher so they had more time, it was actually rather nice. Mme Mendeleiev, though stern and strict, was a real teacher. She wanted her students to learn and Marinette yearned for that, she yearned to be one of her pupils. There was a part of her that thought that maybe the teacher wanted that as well. It was an impossible thought, she tried to transfer once, it hadn’t ended well for her. Lila spun it around when she had heard, claimed Marinette was doing it to abandon them and leave them without a class president. Oh how she spun her web of deceit and claimed Marinette was doing it for attention, to get back at the class for not believing her ‘lies.’ Of course the class and Mme Bustier believed her, because why wouldn’t they? Then Mme Bustier went behind her back and spoke to Principal Damocles and whatever they spoke about resulted in her staying in the class no matter what she tried or whatever papers she managed to get her parents to sign that would allow her a class transfer. She was stuck in the class. In her prison.

After lunch is when everything had blown up, and some twisted part of Marinette was thankful it happened sooner rather than later. Lila had made a show of holding something, some papers that looked destroyed, to her chest and “crying.” If you could call over the top whimpering crying. Marinette didn’t have to prepare herself since she had been prepared all day for something to happen when Lila and her herd of sheep came to her and yelled at her for ruining Lila’s homework and something about writing something on her locker too? She just didn’t care anymore, she still claimed her innocence and that there was no way she could have done it, but no one was listening and Adrien was just standing there frowning at her in disappointment and all she could think was, right back at you boy. Mme Bustier joined in and Marinette just stood there as the teacher of course fell for whatever scheme Lila cooked up and then held back a sigh when said teacher started to lecture her there in the hallway for everyone to see. Of course they had to make a spectacle of it, of course they did. Damocles decided to join in and Marinette thought it was for sure going to be another expulsion, some part of her hoped for it. She knew that was bad but she was just so freaking tired of dealing with it all, but to her surprise Mme Mendeleiev was her knight in shining lab coat so to say.

“Marinette didn’t do it. She was with me the entire lunch period so unless she managed to defy all laws of physics and was in two or three places at once I would say she’s being framed.” Mme Mendeleiev’s voice had commanded attention and even Lila couldn’t spin it around to keep Marinette in trouble. Even her classmates had stopped their incessant murmuring. 

“But Lila said she saw her running away from her locker!” Kim had yelled in return. It spoke of Mme Bustier’s character and control of her class that she hadn’t even attempted to reprimand Kim for raising his voice to another teacher. 

Marinette saw Mme Mendeleiev give Mme Bustier a look that had the younger teacher trying to reign in her rowdy class after they had all been yelling their own affirmations that yes, that was what Lila had said. “Then either Mlle Rossi needs to get her eyes checked or she saw someone else, or she’s lying.”

“Demeter! I’m sure Lila didn’t mean for this...little misunderstanding to happen. I'm sure she saw someone who looked like Marinette.” Mme Bustier had tried to reason. 

“If I’m not mistaken Caline, this is not the first time this has happened to Marinette. Her being accused of something in this school and getting punished unjustly with no proof. Forgive me, or not, but I’m not going to overlook this like you. Those are serious accusations to throw at someone. It would be wrong not to investigate. Right, Damocles?” No one spoke throughout Mme Medeleiev’s little speech but Marinette saw the glare Lila was giving the teacher and Marinette was tempted to tell Mendeleiev to just drop it.

“Er, yes, of course.” Principal Damocles had stuttered out. How he had managed to be a principal Marinette would never know. Once upon a time she had thought him an awkward but good guy all around, but that was not the case anymore.

“I suspect we call Mlle Rossi’s mother to speak about this. I’m sure she would love to know that her daughter is being...if not bullied then the start of being bullied. Then we will gather students who match Marinette’s description. It’s not much but it’s the best we got. I’ll go take pictures of the locker in question.”

“Oh-Oh we really don’t have to do that. I’m sure it really is all a misunderstanding! I wouldn’t want to bother my mother!” Lila had desperately claimed. 

“How is this a misunderstanding Mlle Rossi? Please explain. Because from where we teachers stand this is clearly bullying and we will not tolerate that at this school.” Mme Mendeleiev said with such authority, one would think she was the principal. 

Somehow, Marinette didn’t know how, but Lila had talked her way out of having to have her mother called to the school even though Mme Mendeleiev had strongly insisted to Principal Damocles that they call her and have a sit down with her over her daughter’s wellbeing and school life. Though she honestly shouldn’t have been surprised that nothing had been done. It was Damocles after all. Lila probably said it would be best not to disturb her very busy, very important, diplomat mother and Damocles with his nonexistent spine folded. Though with all the wrong type of attention the incident had brought for the lying vixen Marinette had a relatively “relaxed” rest of her day. No one outright apologized for just blaming her for destroying another person’s work and defacing public property with no proof but at least they didn’t glare at her or make snide remarks for the rest of the day. Adrien even managed not to give her one of his lectures at the end of the day which was a big welcome on Marinette’s end. She could only deal with him being on his high-horse and looking down on her for so long and more often than not she wouldn’t even argue back she would just end the conversation with,*“Il n’y a pas plus sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre.” 

The day had started to look up for her and she was going to strike the iron while it was hot so to say. Her steps felt lighter. It’s like Mme Mendeleiv’s belief in her gave her invincibility for the day and she found herself actually looking forward to seeing Luka and Kagami at the end of the school day since she would finally have something good to share rather than her usual bouquet of gloom. The sun seemed brighter when she remembered that fencing practice was cancelled that day due to M D’Argencourt having some appointment to go to and a substitute couldn’t be found so the fencing club students had the day off. Marinette had excitedly texted Kagami that they should meet up after school and hang out earlier than the trio had planned since the girl had more free time. Kagami had agreed but said she would meet Marinette at her house as she had some things to take care of there at the school that she wanted to finish up before they met up. Of course Marinette had agreed without question, Kagami liked things to be in order before she had her free time and Marinette understood that. Now, Marinette didn’t remember what she had forgotten, but she knew she had forgotten something in her locker and had rushed from her home to grab it, not wanting her luck to run out for the day. She didn’t know why but since she was back at the school she felt the need to go talk with Mme Medeleiev and thank her once more for what she had done that day for Marinette. Whether the teacher knew it or not, she had given Marinette some hope back.

So she was going to do just that when she had heard familiar voices. Luka and Kagami? Kagami she could understand but why had Luka been there? He was supposed to meet them at Marinette’s house so she was immensely confused to hear his soft voice echo the halls. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her then and she had followed its call. She had not expected to find the scene she had stumbled upon, and the way her heart lurched with such pain. You would think I’d be used to it by now. Her eyes watered as she watched Kagami and Luka, her closest and only friends sitting with Lila and looking at her with such concern and half hugging her to give her comfort. She couldn’t hear what was being said but she would wager it was about her, she saw the disapproving frowns both Luka and Kagami gave in response to whatever Lila had said and all Marinette could think was, I’ve lost them too. She took them from me too. Before she knew it she had ran back home, to her room and had, well, she wasn’t too sure to be completely honest. It all went by in a blur, but she did remember texting Kagami and Luka and saying she wasn’t feeling well and maybe they could hang out together tomorrow, despite knowing Luka would have band practice and Kagami would have fencing practice. Then threw her phone onto her chaise and looked at her pictures of her friends she still had on her walls, she thought of the gifts she had given and all she had felt was this white hot rage and sadness that consumed her. 

She heard, more than felt the ripping and smashing of the things that reminded her of a past she could never get back. Marinette was done listening to Tikki in that moment, and she was done believing she had anyone on her side like she thought she did. Kagami and Luka, they both held little pieces of what was left of her heart and she could feel those pieces breaking with every thing she destroyed. Now here she sat in the aftermath of her destruction and she didn’t even feel satisfied. A small part of her still felt hurt, she was sure she had to have made noise, quite a bit of it, and yet neither of her parents had checked on her. It was just another drop added to her already too-full cup. 

“I’m sure it wasn’t what it looked like, Marinette.” Tikki chirped as she flew to Marinette’s sink and back with a wet cloth in her hand to help Marinette clean her face.

“What?”

“Luka and Kagami.” Tikki said their names so simply, “I’m sure it wasn’t what you’re thinking. You’ll see! We have to see them for patrol tonight. I’m sure you can ask them subtly about it as a concerned hero of Paris.”

The only concerned hero. Her mind bitterly spat out without warning. The thought almost made her wince in shock at the venom that came from it. Though she found herself not apologetic in the least, Chat had been proving himself to be unreliable. At first she had brushed off his behavior as his usual antics and she had been beating herself over the head about it everyday it seemed like. He became more aggressive in his flirting and really that’s what it was, it wasn’t passionate, it wasn’t some misguided persistence, it wasn’t just him being a “boy”, he became aggressive in his affection for her. He started asking her on more and more dates, bringing her more and more gifts and each time she rejected him, reminding him they had work to do, or she had plans, or that his timing was not the best, or of course that she had feelings for someone else, he started “punishing” her and Paris as a result. He would refuse to help, sometimes he wouldn’t show up to a battle at all, he would only call to ask her if she had come to her senses and realized she loved him and when she wouldn’t give him the answer he wanted he would hang up and the battle would be a lonely one. She had tried to get Master Fu to do something about it but he had brushed it off much like she had in the beginning. Seemed like he still had faith in the cat, Marinette wished she could say the same but it would be a lie, besides she had kind of announced she no longer trusted Chat to help her since she gave Luka and Kagami their individual Miraculous back but to permanently use to help her defend the city. So instead of Ladybug and Chat Noir defending Paris, it was Ladybug, Viperion and Ryuuko. 

“I think I want to go out a little early Tikki. Maybe the fresh air and time out will do me some good.” Marinette said with forced cheer as she stood and stretched her arms high above her head. 

“I think that’s a good idea Marinette!” Tikki chirped as she zipped through the air to hover at Marinette’s shoulder and she couldn’t help but chuckle. With a quick saying of the magic words and one transformation later, Marinette was out slinging from rooftop to rooftop. There was no destination in mind just yet, she just wanted to simply be for a while. Everything finally felt okay and she was ready to actually head to the top of the Eiffel Tower to wait for Luka and Kagami as their hero forms so they could start actual patrol when she heard their voices. It sounded like they were trying to keep quiet about something. She didn’t want to pry but it was late and if they were out this late as their civilian selves she had a duty to them to make sure they were okay. With a quick swing she was at the Château Edmond de Rothschild where the voices seemed to come from, it was supposed to be not accessible to the public, so why were they there? 

A quick peek was all it took to understand why and Marinette had to stop herself from making any noise, whether it be a sob or a scream or a gasp. She couldn’t risk it if what she was seeing was real, but there it was right in front of her. Luka and Kagami were sitting in their hero forms holding a charm of some kind between them and they both had the sickening violet glow of Hawkmoth around their eyes. They didn’t seem angry or sad, or even like they were being akumatized so she wasn’t really sure what was going on but she was going to put an end to it. Now.

“Yes Hawkmoth. Ladybug trusts us completely, we are doing our part.” Kagami said.

“But...Chat Noir has yet to show up. That has helped us get closer to Ladybug yes, but it means we don’t know where the Black Cat Miraculous is for you.” Luka had added on and it was another stab to Marinette’s heart. They, her most trusted allies, her friends, her maybe something more’s, were working with...oh god she was going to be sick. She had to get out of there. She didn’t know how long she had swung but at some point she hadn’t been thinking about where her yoyo should attach itself and she fell down into a garden. No, she couldn’t identify the garden because she couldn’t see past the tears. Marinette didn’t know how long she laid there crying but she quickly took off her earrings and just as soon as she did Tikki zipped out.

“Marinette…”

“You said things would get better Tikki. How? How is this supposed to get better? Luka and Kagami...they are...they’re working for HIM!” She screamed and she didn’t care who heard, she was tired of suffering in silence. 

“I’m sure it wasn't-”

“What? What, it looked like?....I’m done. I’m done sacrificing everything for this city. Sacrificing my feelings. I need to feel Tikki!” Without waiting for a response, Marinette threw the earrings and ran further into the park. She sobbed as loud and she had wanted to, needed to, and she couldn’t stop. She collapsed yet again, this time in a patch of butterfly bushes, though she hadn’t noticed. It wasn’t the only thing she hadn’t noticed, there was an akuma flying her way, but by the time she heard the tell-tale sign of the flap of its wings it was too late. The thing had already morphed with something on her person and all she could do was gasp.

______________________________________________________

Gabriel Agreste couldn’t help the tiny shout of joy he let out because finally, finally he had managed to snag his masterpiece. She had evaded him for so long, her will over her emotions had always seemed so iron strong but finally, Marinette Dupain Cheng was akumatized, and she was going to be the one to get him the Miraculi he craved. He could feel it. He turned to brag to his swarm of butterflies seeing how Nathalie wasn’t in the lair but when he did so he paused. All his butterflies were gone. Honestly he had to just stand and stare because where could they have gone? And why hadn’t he noticed or heard them leave? 

No matter. The important thing was that he had Marinette Dupain Cheng under his control and it was going to be glorious. She would make quite the spectacle for Ladybug and, well, the heroes and Chat Noir when she appeared tomorrow. Victory was close, he could practically taste it.

__________________________________________________________

Wang Fu had made many mistakes in his life and he regretted every single one, but this one, this one was causing him the most pain. Marinette, the girl he had chosen to be Paris’s pillar of hope, the girl he had seen as a granddaughter, the girl he had failed to protect when she needed him, was in danger. He had been sleeping when Tikki had come flying into his shop wailing about Marinette. At first he and Wayzz couldn’t understand her, when she managed to calm down some she gave him some of the most devastating news he had ever received. Marinette Dupain Cheng had given up the mantle of Ladybug and had been akumatized. He had been desperate to know why and know why Tikki looked so guilty because surely it could not be her fault. Then the kwami had spilled everything, she told of the situation at school, the situation with Chat Noir, with Adrien that he himself had thought was nothing more than him being a stubborn boy, and she had told him how even she believed her user was somehow something more than human and would be able to handle it all. She had been angry at Marinette for throwing her away but had realized that it wasn’t her fault and had tried to find the girl to talk to her but by the time she had found her...it had been too late. So here he sat after calling Chat Noir to his shop and hoping the young hero...no, the young boy, would show.

“Master Fu?” Adrien asked softly as he entered the shop, it was almost easy to believe that the young boy wasn’t wayward and that Fu hadn’t made yet another mistake.

“In here Adrien.”

“Uh, what’s the matter Master Fu? You never call me Adrien. You said this was about Ladybug. Did she...Did she say something to you?” Near the end it was easy to see now the hidden anger the boy held, why hadn’t he seen it?

“No. This is something...far worse I’m afraid. Ladybug has been…”

“Ladybug has been defeated.” Tikki finished for him. 

He watched as Adrien’s eyes widened and he gaped at Tikki, he looked as though he didn’t want to believe it. Fu wanted to yell at the boy. He had no right to stand there and act like he cared about Marinette. “That is not all. A young girl has been akumatized and I fear she may be the strongest akuma Hawkmoth has ever made.”

“What do you mean Ladybug has been defeated!? Defeated by who!?” 

“By the akuma,” Fu lied, though was it really a lie?

“What akuma?”

“Not what. Who. The akuma is Marinette Dupain Cheng and from what Tikki and Ladybug have told me...Hawkmoth has been wanting to akumatize her for a long time. Whatever sent her to his side...I’ve met the girl. She is a kind soul and to know that he has her under his control...Adrien. You have to stop her. After that...after that is when you and I will sit down and have another talk, but in the meantime find Mlle Dupain Cheng and help her.” Fu pleaded, and he couldn’t help the tear that escaped. 

The emotion seemed to hit Adrien, though it didn’t seem to be the only thing. “Marinette is the akuma? How?”

“I think you know the answer to that Agreste.” Tikki answered with a glare from where she was being held by Plagg who honestly looked like he wanted to scratch his owner's eyes out.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“We don’t have time for this. Adrien, just please, go and find her. Help her.” Fu watched as Adrien had left, it was almost morning now and he had work to do as well. He had to retrieve the Snake and Dragon Miraculi before their current users handed them off to Hawkmoth, as he doubted they would help in the fight to save Marinette, and he didn’t trust them enough to let them try.

“We’ll get her back Tikki. We will.”

______________________________________________________________

Adrien was not having a good morning, he had spent the early hours of it searching for his friend and coming up empty, and the more he came out with nothing the easier it was to be frustrated. Though it seemed like frustration was something to be shared in the Agreste home since his father also seemed to be irritable that morning. More than that, he and Nathalie seemed off and they were the most put together people he knew. Them being off, threw him off, thankfully he was still at school on time, which is too say he wasn’t his usual early self, but he was there a couple minutes before the bell would ring which gave him a very small window of time to search for Marinette before class began. Though he’s not entirely sure she would even show up at school if she was an akuma but where else would she go? She had a problem with Lila and Lila was at school so the answer had to be there right? God he hoped so.

The bell was about to ring though so he ran back to class after searching the locker rooms and barely made it to his seat when the bell did ring. Marinette wasn’t there. But she was going to show up, he just knew it. She had to. Lila was the source of her anger probably, even if it was childish, she would come to settle the score and that’s when he would swoop in and save the day. Then maybe just maybe, Ladybug would finally see that they were meant to be and realize how amazing he was. The thought had made him smile, almost losing himself in the daydream, that is until he saw a familiar pair of pink pants enter the room. He was at immediate attention and was alert because Marinette...didn’t look like an akuma. She looked like normal herself, but she was an akuma right? So why didn’t she look like one?

“Marinette. Late again?” Mme Bustier asked even though it was obvious.

“I won’t be long Caline.” Marinette replied and her voice...it was just off. Yes it was Marinette but at the same time it wasn’t.

“Marinette! You will speak to me respectfully or I will have no choice but to-”

“To what? Tell me to be a better example? I’m tired Caline, I’m tired of being your doll that you dress up and play pretend with. I’m not a doll, and I’m not a teacher’s assistant, though it seems like that’s what you believe me to be seeing as you push me to do your job. Constantly, so don’t even try to deny it. It’s the teacher’s job to placate their students and make sure that their classroom environment is a healthy one. You allow bullies to reign free from punishment and in turn punish the victims. Do you ever get tired of being the indirect cause of akumas? Because really how many of your students have been akumatized and you have the gall to say you’re a great teacher, everyone’s favorite teacher no less.” Everyone in the room was dead silent. This wasn’t Marinette at all, but before anyone could say anything the akuma continued, though they didn’t know she was an akuma and Adrien so badly wanted to shout it out to warn everybody.

“Then there is all of you sheep. I had the absolute displeasure of once being your friend, but I realized you were never my friends to begin with. If you were you wouldn’t have believed lies over me.”

“Is this really what this is about Girl?” Alya shouted.

“Alya, it seems like you want me to start with you. You claim to be a journalist, a seeker of the truth, but that is the biggest lie you have ever sold yourself beside Ladybug’s best friend over there. You are a hypocrite. You say you are a defender against bullies and villains. Well you Alya Cesaire are one of the biggest bullies by association I know. You turned your back on me. On the truth. You refused to open your eyes and see what was truly there. You became a bully and enjoyed it. You took pleasure in everything you did to make me miserable alongside Lila. Well congratulations Rena Rouge you have been outfoxed and it isn’t because of some sapotis or illusions. I was wrong to ever trust you.”

Everyone watched as Alya grew pale and just sat there with her mouth agape. “Nino, Kim, Alix, Ivan. You became destroyers rather than the protectors of the weak you boasted about to make yourselves feel better. Well guess what Nino? There’s no shell to protect you from the truth! You are a bully, bigger than Chloe! Because instead of not doing anything like you had last time I was bullied for years on end, this time you partook in the “merriment.” Kim. How I ever trusted you with anything is beyond me. You know in China to call a child a monkey is a great compliment, to call you anything similar would be a great disrespect. How you held the title of the monkey king...I’ll never understand it. Alix, you always liked to believe you were as fast as a rabbit both in mind and body, well the rabbit is dead. Your time will never come again I’ll see to it. Your most prized possession, your watch, I helped you restore it after it had been broken and I even gave it back to you but that was a mistake on my part as you never deserved it in the first place. Ivan, who helped you during Stoneheart? Who? Oh that’s right it was me? I helped you see you weren’t that monster but I was wrong. I was very wrong.” The words were cruel and Adrien didn’t know where all this anger was coming from. Lila was the target right? Shouldn’t she only be going after her, not their friends? He had to sneak out and transform, he didn’t know where her item was but he would find it and put an end to all this unnecessary hurt.

“Oh Adrien, where do you think you’re going? You’re at the top of my list.”

“Your list?” He asked as though he hadn’t been caught trying to get out of his seat.

“Yes. The list of people who have wronged me. The list of people who have turned me into the current me. The list of people I hate. Sorry, but not sorry If you can’t handle hearing how imperfect you are but you will listen to what I have to say.”

Adrien didn’t understand why everyone gasped but he was hurt to hear that Marinette hated him. No it had to be the akuma’s influence, it just had to be. “I’m sorry you feel that way Marinette.”

Marinette walked up to him and took both his hands in hers, it would have been a sweet gesture if it weren’t for the added pressure. “Save it. I don’t want your superficial pity. You Adrien Agreste are the biggest liar I know next to Lila. You knew she was lying. You knew she was lying from the start seeing how Ladybug told you herself that Lila and her were not friends. Oh yeah I know about that, in the park, or how about when Lila was akumatized to be the Chameleon, which by the way Lila very unoriginal and I’m fairly certain you were akumatized on purpose but hey what proof do I have right? And she pretended to be you because she didn’t like what you had to say about her lying. Yet you still didn’t tell your so called friends about her, because you don’t care about anyone but yourself! I learned that the hard way. I believed you when you said we were in this together and that if we both knew then that was enough and that we should take the moral highroad. What a joke! I am truly disgusted with myself for ever thinking I was in love with you.”

What!?

_____________________________________________________________

Luka couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he and Kagami had rushed to Marinette’s class after they had each gotten a call from her mother asking if either one of them had seen Marinette. Apparently they went up to her room and realized she was missing but thought maybe she had told them she was spending the night at Alya’s and they maybe just hadn’t heard but when they had called her and texted her with no response they had gotten worried. More so when she hadn’t shown up that morning. Luka had immediately felt his heart drop. Marinette was, well, she was his melody and to think that something could have happened to her, it made him get on his bike and search as many places as he could think of. It seemed like Kagami had the same idea because he ran into her and her car before they decided it would be better to search together. He felt awful about her cancelling their plans yesterday but figured she just genuinely wasn’t feeling well. Luka was beating himself over the head because obviously that wasn’t the case. 

Maybe if him and Kagami hadn’t been so focused on helping get evidence that Lila was a liar and who Hawkmoth could be they wouldn’t be in this mess, but they had done all that for Marinette. They had seen what Lila had done to her and Kagami had been the one to say she didn’t trust Lila and proposed they help Marinette expose her for the lying weasel she was. Luka had been all for it, even if they had to pretend to be nice. When they found out that Lila actually didn’t like Ladybug well, that had been a shock but they had played into it. Both he and Kagami had acted like they too despised the superheroine and finally they saw Lila, the real Lila, or at least a small glimpse of her. She believed they really didn’t like Marinette and Ladybug, she believed they were her spies on Marinette, and then she admitted something that genuinely made Luka sick to his stomach.

Lila was working with Hawkmoth. And she wanted them to help them and join their “team.”

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. It was more evidence against Lila Ross and it was a way to help Ladybug who had seemed like she was being spread thin thanks to that no good Chat. So him and Kagami agreed to help. Then Ladybug asked them to be permanent heroes. They told Hawkmoth in order to gain trust from him and he had seemed pleased. Fake working with him was disgusting but him and Kagami felt like they were getting close to figuring out who he could be or what his ultimate goal was, but one thing was for certain and that was, for some odd unexplainable reason, Hawkmoth wanted to akumatize Marinette. He wanted Luka and Kagami to help, they had been hoping to unmask him before it came to that, but hearing Marinette now and seeing her...that was not Marinette. Hawkmoth succeeded somehow. Because that in there was an akuma and it was breaking Luka’s heart, more so when he realized it had way more information about people and the Miraculi than anyone would other than Ladybug herself. 

“Luka...that’s.” Kagami had never sounded so lost.

“I know. Marinette was, is, Ladybug.”

“What do we do?”

“We save her. And...and we tell her the truth.”

They were ready, they were opening their mouths to say their separate transformation phrases when a window in the classroom broke. They turned to look inside to see if it was Marinette running out and finally showing an akuma form, but all they saw was a green blur and Marinette leisurely following after the blur out of the school to the park outside. Of course they followed, but when they went to transform they both realized, their respective Miraculous was gone. What did they do now?

_____________________________________________________

Fu had done it. He had retrieved the Dragon and Snake Miraculous, with help from Tikki as she took them from their holders as he caused a distraction as Jade Turtle. It was never easy to hold his transformation but he had done it for the short while he had to. That was one, kind of two, problems out of the way, now all he had to do was wait for Adrien to save Marinette. “He will do it”

“He will, Master.” Tikki muttered from his shoulder as Wayzz nodded his agreement from Fu’s other shoulder.

“I doubt it.” Fu nearly fell with how he stumbled back at what had landed in front of him. It was Marinette but also not. He didn’t want to call her an akuma because even that felt like a wrong description. She felt like something else entirely, looked it too. She wore some armor like that of a knight over what appeared to be a black body suit, but one made of light. Her freckles seemed more like stars and if he looked closer each star was unique, and almost seemed to resemble every past akuma

“Marinette...what...what are you?”

“A protector, the Protector.” Marinette answered as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

______________________________________________

As soon as Marinette felt the akuma merge with her, because truly it felt like it merged with her and not an object, she felt so much. She could feel the butterfly feel her pain, her anger, could feel it soak up her negativity. She in turn could feel its pain and anger, its sadness too. Her heart filled with so much empathy. Then it was like the voice of the butterfly doubled, then tripled, then there were too many voices to be heard but Marinette understood. She felt their pain because it was the same as hers. All of them had been used, all of them together had put their trust in people they shouldn’t have. Though she had no way to see it, Marinette just knew she was covered in butterflies because she refused to call them akumas, they were victims just as she was, just as Paris was too, to Hawkmoth.

They told her they wouldn’t let him harm her. That they would protect her. That was the moment that Marinette felt that she and them were one and she vowed to protect them just as they vowed to protect her. She accepted them, she let them and her truly become one, because at that moment they were her only friends, her only family, and she was going to protect them from their abuser. They sung her praises, they gave her strength, they whispered a name and place. Their former owner. She listened and she heard and Marinette followed where they led. The closer they got to the Agreste Mansion, the louder the cries of Nooroo she could hear, could feel. She vowed she would protect him as well. He was her family, her friend too, just like the butterflies. A part of her felt like she should have been surprised that Gabriel Agreste was Hawkmoth and that so, Nathaniel Sancoeur was most likely Mayura, but really she just felt anger. Gabriel and Nathalie were to face justice. Her justice.

They would pay for their crimes against Paris, and their abuse of the Miraculi, kwami, and butterflies. She was the Protector and nothing would stand in her way.

_________________________________________________

“I don’t wish to fight you, but I see you believe me to be an akuma. I’m not. I don’t expect you to believe me but it’s the truth. I am merely the Protector now. As a sign of good faith,” Marinette, or Protector held out a hand to Fu, one he was reluctant to reach out for. “Here.”

It seemed like she caught on to his hesitation because Marinette threw whatever had been in her hand to him. Tikki and Wayzz had quickly helped catch them and when he saw what Marinette had tossed him he felt faint. Whether it was from relief or fear he didn’t know. Marinette had given him the Peacock and Cat Miraculi. “And what of the Butterfly Miraculous?”

“I’m keeping it. You couldn't protect it, so I will in your place. Nooroo and I decided it is what is best.” At the mention of the kwami, said kwami fly out into the open to sit in Marinette’s open palm.

“Marinette I can’t let you do that.”

“We’re not asking permission.” Nooroo stated as he nuzzled Marinette’s thumb that was caressing his head. “Marinette and I have suffered at the hands of Paris long enough.”

“This was merely me wanting to say goodbye face to face. Don’t come looking for me Fu.” 

Fu could only watch at Marinette, Nooroo, and a swarm of white akumas jumped away from him and his kwami. He didn’t know what else he could do. He was too old to run after her, and he didn’t have anyone he could trust with a Miraculous with to send after her. So he just watched as Marinette continued to get smaller and smaller in his vision, until she was gone. Though she asked not to be looked for, he would do it, because Marinette deserved to be found and talked some sense into. When he found her, an apology didn’t feel good enough, but he would give her the biggest most heartfelt apology. She was a kind soul, and truly deserved none of this.

______________________________________________________

It was chaos. Tom and Sabine had closed the bakery but it was still filled with people, only it was Marinette’s class and Luka and Kagami. They didn’t dare call this class their daughter’s friends after they finally learned what had really been happening at the school. Luka and Kagami had told them everything and Sabine, Sabine sobbed and had called out for her baby girl till her voice was hoarse. What had they done to her baby girl? But they apologized to them, they said they were tricked. It felt more like they were trying to trick them, but nonetheless they needed help figuring out where Marinette could be and they were offering to help. Tom said it was out of guilt and had wanted to kick them out but Sabine convinced him it would be more manpower to help with the search. Truth was, they were just as guilty, they hadn’t realized something was wrong with their daughter until she was missing. 

Adrien had come in with his arm in a cast, when they asked what happened, the class claimed it was Marinette when she was an akuma. Adrien hadn’t denied it, in fact he looked angry, every time Marinette was mentioned he would frown, and Tom had been so so close to just tossing the boy out, but they heard the kids gossiping and saying that someone had broken into the Agreste Mansion and had beaten Gabriel and his assistant pretty badly. When asked about it Adrien would get really quiet but would confirm that his father and Nathalie were in the hospital due to injuries. He looked a mess.

Luka and Kagami though,...those two looked worse. They looked as though someone had ripped out their hearts. They were there physically, helping wherever they could and however they could, but one glance and you could tell they weren’t there in spirit. It was awful. Paris was celebrating the supposed defeat and disappearance of Hawkmoth and Mayura, but how could Tom and Sabine join in the merriment when they couldn’t share that joy with their pride and joy? The guilt of being so busy had never hit them so hard, but they vowed that once they found Marinette, they would do everything in their power to make it up to her.

____________________________________________________________

It was quiet, actually it was more like her ears were ringing so loud that it was impossible to hear anything. Her body collapsed from exhaustion, she couldn’t travel any further but she felt the distance. It felt safe. She felt safe and maybe that’s why her body just kind of shut itself down, maybe that’s why when the butterflies and Nooroo prodded at her mind if she was willing to give up the akuma and drop the transformation and which she did, that didn’t mean that Marinette wasn’t going to fight to stay conscious even if it was a losing battle. But she was so tired and she could feel Nooroo reassuring her that they were safe and that? That was enough for her. She quickly slipped into unconsciousness and for once didn’t fear the possibility of nightmares, because she knew when she woke up she wouldn’t be back in Paris anymore. Though with falling unconscious she did fail to introduce herself to those who found her, right away.

“I’m telling you guys I saw something wash up on the beach from my house!” A boy said as he and his friends made their way down the beach.

“Yeah? Last time you said that and dragged us here it was just a piece of driftwood.” Another boy piped in with a point of his finger.

“And you claimed it was a real mermaid this time.” His twin sister added.

“Guys be nice I’m sure it’s an actual real mermaid this time.” A girl laughed as she walked ahead to walk side by side with the first boy. 

“Actually there are many documents of mermaids you know.” The third boy of the group said matter-of-factly.

“Any of them driftwood mermaids?” the fourth boy of the group asked with a laugh.

“Ha ha ha, very funny. But I’m telling you I really saw...someone. Oh my gods.” The first boy had started before he actually did see the slumped form of Marinette just lying there. 

*Il n’y a pas plus sourd que celui qui ne veut pas entendre Translation: No one is as deaf as the one who does not want to listen.

[wheezyandchesterwrite]

Daydreams and Tickles ~ Ruby Martinez

Summary: You get distracted while Ruby rambles. 

Word count: 3.3k

Pairing: Ruby Martinez x Fem!Latina!Reader

Warnings: Tickling, Kissing, Suggestive dialogue (Innuendos, dirty jokes, etc) If we missed something let us know!

A/N: Hiya, it’s been a while, we are going to try to post at least a monthly one shot, but won’t make any promises. Hope you all that read this enjoy this!

You were awoken by the sound of notifications going off loudly. You stirred around on your bed, trying to ignore the cacophony of dings your phone kept emitting. Groggily, you made a mental note to silence your phone from now on. When you could finally look at the screen without it blinding you, you scrolled through the seemingly endless string of texts Ruby had sent to the group chat, “The Gnomies”. Yes, Jamal came up with it. Yes, everyone tried to change it, but he just kept changing it back so they gave up. You groaned as you read the messages. ‘Be here at one on the dot,’ the last message read, ‘mandatory meeting’. That was less than half an hour from now. Lazily getting out of bed, you started getting ready. After brushing your teeth and making your hair look somewhat presentable, you threw together an outfit that resembled a picture you had seen on Pinterest after looking up ‘grunge aesthetic’. You liked trying out different styles constantly, feeling like every single one of them suited you, but none of them could get you to commit to them for more than a month. Satisfied with the way you looked, you left your room, grabbed your keys and skateboard, and started to skate your way to Ruby’s house. Midway, though, you decided to take a detour and get some food—junk food, to be precise—knowing that you would not be able to handle a hyperactive Ruben on an empty stomach.

You left the joint with two bags full of food, hoping bribery would get you out of being lectured by Ruby about punctuality. You balanced the bags on both hands like a scale as you focused on not falling from your board on the way there. Making the last turn to Ruby’s house, you miscalculated the speed you were going at and had to hop off the board, letting it crash against the curb. Though you fell on your ass, you made sure to hold the food up keeping it safe and sound. Holding both bags in one hand, you retrieved your skateboard and walked up to the door, but it flung open before you could even think about knocking. Ruby stood on the other side with a scowl. You smiled sheepishly, extending one of the bags to him. 

“You’re very late! Did you get me fries with that? Also where are the others?!" Ruby said all in one breath.

"First of all, I know I'm late, but I'm sorry to inform you that you are not more important than food.” Ruby scowled and was about to protest, but you kept speaking before he could utter a word. “Secondly, yes, I did get you fries, you impatient goblin. I mean, what do you take me for? A monster?” You pretended to be offended, but Ruby simply looked annoyed by the dramatic display. “Just know that when I win my first Oscar I will not be thanking you, Ruben.”

“Yeah, yeah if you say so—also don’t call me that. Can you get to the most important question now?”

“Damn, someone hasn’t had their daily handy.” You laughed in astonishment, amused by how much irritation Ruby had in him.

“Seriously, Y/N, this is serious!” His voice raised an octave, causing it to crack, and you had to bite back a laugh.

“A la jaula, bestia, a la jaula,” you began, laughter causing your words to come out like wheezes. Ruby spared you one death stare, and you somehow found your composure. “Look, I have no idea where everyone else is. I, honestly, thought everyone was already here and that you were waiting on me.”

“So, you thought they were here and didn’t think to bring them food?” Ruby questioned.

“Do I look like I have enough money to feed todos esos trogloditas? I brought you food with hopes of getting out of the ‘Punctuality Lecture’, but seeing as they aren’t here, guess that spares me.” You dropped the skate on the entryway, pushing past Ruby to sit on the couch.

“And here I was beginning to think you favored me from the rest.” Ruby sighed with disappointment before raising his voice dramatically. “When in reality, it was just BRIBERY!” he exclaimed, his voice cracking once more as he fake sobbed while clutching the food. You clapped as you opened your food, ready to dig in.

“Damn, man, I better watch out, otherwise you’re probably going to win that Oscar before me,” you said as you began stuffing your face.

“Are you calling me dramatic?” He placed his free hand over his heart.

“Oh, without a shadow of a doubt, now sit down and eat.” With your fork, you pointed at him then towards the couch. Instead of sitting, he started pacing around the coffee table, and you watched him as you munched on your sandwich and fries. He stopped for a second to place his bag of food down, yet he didn’t sit down to eat it. He kept going around the small table at a pace too quick for your eyes to keep up without feeling dizzy. “Wow, man, slow down. Me mareas con tus vueltitas.” He only huffed. “Ruben, seriously, I did not buy that for you to let it go to waste. At least breathe and stress eat.” He whipped around at the mention of his full name.

“I thought I told you not to call me that,” he reminded you exasperatedly. “Anyway, I can’t eat right now. I have many thoughts whirring in my brain, and it’s making me sick. Do you know why I called you guys here? Well, if you’re here, you must have read the messages—” Ruby was rambling on and didn’t even stop in between sentences to take a breath so you cut him off. 

“RUBEN!” He ceased all movement so abruptly that a skid mark could’ve possibly been seen in the spot where he stopped. “Could you get to the point,, please? You’re making my head hurt.” You completely ignored his previous statement and pressed the tips of your fingers to your temples. Rolling his eyes at you he sat on the other end of the couch and took his food out. After a few angry munches, he turned to face you, the grease of the food that was plastered on his mouth drawing your attention to his lips. 

“Alright, since the others aren’t here yet, I’ll just start telling you my new ideas for income.” He stopped eating and started chattering and chattering and chattering… 

You don’t know when it happened, but at some point, he stood up and began pacing around the living room again. You stopped listening about half an hour into his ramble, zoning out and staring blankly at him. Your mind got the best of you, and you started to remember why you liked Ruby. What brought this on? You didn’t know. Maybe it was how much passion he put into his pointless arguments, or maybe even that you found it totally adorable that he was practically unable to lie because he would start sweating like a pig on a stick. Maybe it was the way he smiled at you, the tendency he had to correct everything you said matter-of-factly, or maybe it was his dangerously absurd perfectionism. It could be one of his many qualities, good or bad, you didn’t care. Your eyes trailed to his lips once more. They were so full and pink it was hard not to stare—slightly chapped too, but that wasn’t a problem to you. You imagined running your thumb over them, pulling them close to yours and then just crashing them together. Your breath hitched in your throat at the thought of you and Ruby making out. It wasn’t an uncommon thought of yours, seeing as you’ve been dreaming about it happening almost every night since you discovered what hormones could do. 

There was always Cesar, you thought. He was the “face” of the group after all, but that got to his brain sometimes. Nothing more dangerous than a cholo who’s aware of his good looks. You grimaced slightly. Cesar’s ego was one of the many reasons why you never developed an emotional nor carnal liking to the boy. You’d rather leave him to Monse, plus you wouldn’t dream of getting caught in the middle of their toxic and manipulative games. But that’s beside the point. You were abruptly brought back to reality by Ruby waving his hands in front of your face, occasionally snapping his fingers. Shaking your head to shake out the thoughts, you noticed Ruby was now standing on top of the coffee table, being careful not to step on either of your foods.

“PAY ATTENTION TO ME, (Y/N)!” Ruby whined. You held back a chuckle at how funny he looked. His small body barely added to the coffee table’s weight. Deciding to play it cool, you shrugged nonchalantly.

“What’s your fuzz? I am listening to you. Have been for the past hour and a half.” 

Ruby squinted his eyes at you. “No, you weren’t. I know that face. You were very deep in your thoughts. What’s going on in that pretty, little head of yours?” You freaked internally. 

He’s onto us, you told yourself. “Yes, I am onto you, (Y/N), that’s why I asked. Keep up.” He looked at you like you were stupid. Wait how did he—Can he read my mind?  Blink twice if you can read my mind. Ruby blinked twice, and you felt like a rock dropped in your stomach.

“Oh shit,” you whispered under your breath.

“Before you throw up on my couch, I’ll have you know I can’t read your mind. You were just speaking out loud.” You threw yourself backwards unto the couch, grabbing a pillow to cover your face. After making a mental note to slam your head against the nearest wall later, you decided you were not going to make a further fool of yourself. 

“I wasn’t not paying attention; I was just—”

“I am the king of bad excuses, babe, so spare me your lies.” You blushed at the nickname and prayed he wouldn’t notice. “Now since there is obviously something more important on your mind, speak,” he demanded. 

You weighed your options. You could either try to lie and hope he’d let you off the hook, which was not likely, or you could tell him the truth and risk your friendship being awkward from now on if he didn’t feel the same way—and with your luck he most likely didn’t. A few more silent seconds passed before Ruby spoke once more, “Don’t make me take drastic measures on you, (Y/N). I will have no mercy.” He eyed you with determination. You scoffed in disbelief.

“What could you possibly do to torture me, Ruben?” You mocked him, stretching out his name. Ruby smirked.

“Oh, you’ve done it now.” He jumped from the coffee table, landing on top of you and successfully pinning you to the sofa. You giggled and tried to get away from his grip, but it was surprisingly strong. Ruby chuckled at your failed attempts to break free. “Now, you’re going to tell me what I want to know, or else,” he brought his lips close to your ears, “you’ll pay for it with your melodious laughter.” Your eyes widened in realization as his words sank in.

“No, not the tickles,” you begged him playfully. He nodded while mischievously smirking. 

“One last chance, are you gonna talk?” You shook your head.

“In your dreams,” you defied. 

“I was hoping you’d say that.” In seconds, his hands went to your sides and laughter erupted from your throat in loud cackles.

“Stop, Ruby—Stop!” you tried to articulate between laughs. He shook his head no.

“Not until I get what I want.” He said between laughs as well, since in retaliation, you had managed to start tickling him as well. The sound of his own laughter mixed with yours was like music to your ears.

“N—Never!” You still mutinied. His fingers only increased their pace and not in ways you’d like. Your stomach was starting to hurt and you were running out of breath, leaving you with just one option. Well, it was now or never. 

“I WAS THINKING ABOUT KISSING YOU,” you blurted; his movements ceased, “I have been since we were in middle school.” You closed your eyes, concentrating on catching your breath. Ruby released you and got off of you, running his hands through his hair in deep thought. You sat up and covered your face with your hands. “This is going to be so awkward now,” you muttered through your hands but it came out like an incoherent jumble of sounds. You moved your hands to sneak a peek at Ruby. Your muffled words didn’t even faze him.

“Ruby?” You looked over at him. His eyes met yours, and he struggled to bite back a laugh. Great, you thought, he thinks I’m a joke now. 

“About time.” He grumbled and sighed.

“What?” You were very confused. What could he possibly mean by that?

 “I said ‘about damn time,’ (Y/N).” His suppressed laughs turned to a shy grin. Still confused as ever, you tried your best to gather your thoughts and form a coherent sentence.

“Wait, YOU KNEW?” You felt sick to your stomach now. All this time, you thought you had been successful at keeping your feelings hidden and sealed away, but now it turns out even he knew.

“Well, yeah, I’ve known for a couple of months now.” He shrugged it off as if it were obvious. 

“Months?!” This was unbelievable. You abruptly stood up and faced him, hands on your hips. “So, you’ve known for months and you didn’t think for one second to tell me? At least, have the decency to confront me, damn it.” You found yourself feeling dumbfounded, feeling toyed with. Ruby reached out to you, holding on to your forearm and pulling you back to sit on the couch. You let him.

“Cesar and Jamal implied it once during one of our guy’s nights, and ever since then, I kind of started paying more attention. Ergo, leading me to the conclusion that you liked me,” he explained. “If it makes you feel any better, the clues to your feelings were very subtle so, I would have probably never noticed if it hadn’t been brought up.” Ruby was trying his best to cheer you up, but you still felt extremely embarrassed by the fact that your secret crush wasn’t so secret. 

“Why would they even bring that up, in the first place?” you questioned, annoyed.

“Well, I may or may not have made a comment about how I thought I was starting to develop feelings for you and the guys just jumped on that and told me that you liked me too,” Ruby admitted shyly, rubbing his neck awkwardly. 

“So, if you like me back, then why didn’t you say anything or make a move when you figured out I actually felt the same way?” You felt bad for interrogating him like that, but you were in dire need of answers.

“I just didn’t know how to bring it up, and even if I did, I wouldn’t have known how to say I liked you back without, probably, choking on my own saliva.” He chuckled lowly, afraid that if he laughed too loud, he’d set you off again. “You know I’ve never been good with the ladies, (Y/N).” You grimaced at the memory of all of Ruby’s failed love attempts. 

“Well, you already knew I liked you—it was a matter of saying three words, eight letters,, and I would’ve been yours months ago.” You pushed his shoulder playfully, the anxiety and embarrassment you had felt washing of and making room for the still-settling realization of having confessed your feelings. Ruby leaned back into you, your legs brushing, causing you to take notice of your proximity. Your hands fell upon each other’s, and you looked up to meet his eyes. You started leaning in, maintaining eye contact as you got closer.

“Ruby,” you started, but he shook his head. 

“Don’t think, act,” he said as he grabbed the back of your neck, crashing your lips together. All your late night fantasies crashed at once, the real thing surpassing each and every one of them. Kissing Ruby felt like a kaleidoscope of butterflies got loose in your stomach—it felt like your heart alone was running a marathon. Kissing Ruby was soft and messy, your lack of experience shining through-. Ruby kept pressing himself to you, making sure there was absolutely no space between you. You had to resort to lying down, pulling Ruby on top of you, not once breaking the kiss. Due to the new position, one of his hands made its way to rest on your waist and the other cupped your cheek. Your hands around his neck were pulling him impossibly closer, and in that moment, your body felt like it was exploding with fireworks, warm all over. You didn’t break away until you needed to  breathe, a goofy smile plastering itself on your face. Ruby held the same expression as you as he looked down at you. As you started leaning in for another kiss, the door burst open. You pushed Ruby off of you, causing Ruby to fall on the ground with a thud. 

“Uh, what’s going on here?” Jamal asked.

“Told you guys it would work.” Cesar had the biggest, cockiest smirk on his face. You and Ruby shared a confused look and stared back at the very late rest of the crew.

“Yep, just like you said. A couple of hours alone, and they were all over each other.” Monse said, trying her best to refrain from laughing.

“I think our little man, Ruby, just popped his cherry.” Cesar wiggled his eyebrows. Monse’s eyes widened and she broke down laughing. 

Irritated enough, you finally spoke up, “Slow your roll, Little Spooky, we’re not like you and Monse.” You shot at him defensively, and Monse choked on her laughter. “No offense,” you added, not wanting to stir up any drama.

“None taken,” Cesar assured. Ruby got off the ground and reclaimed his seat beside you.

Leaning over, he whispered, “Why can’t we be like them?”

“Keep it in your damn pants, Ruben.” You nudged his side and he raised his hands in surrender.  

In retaliation, though, Cesar sat between you and Ruby. You shared a look of annoyance before Cesar asked, “Are you going to finish that?” referring to the forgotten leftover cluttering the small table. 

“Go crazy.”

“Suit yourself,” you and Ruby at the same time.

As Cesar dug in Jamal spoke up, “Can we just skip to the part where Ruby yells at us for being late and starts talking non-stop?” 

“No, man, not today.” Everyone looked bewildered. “Cesar why don’t you take that home? Yes, okay, bye,” Ruby dismissed him.

“Wait, woah, the hell man?” Cesar questioned as Ruby used all his might to get him off the couch. 

“You can all come back tomorrow, on time, and we’ll talk about my idea.” He said shooing them all away. 

“Are you freaking serious?” Monse got angry quickly.

“Hey, not my fault you decided to play cupid and be late on purpose.” Cesar, Jamal, and Monse shared looks of pride at Ruby’s statement. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some wasted time to make up for with my new girlfriend so, bye!” 

“Whatever you say, man,” Cesar said as he opened the door with one hand, the leftovers in the other. When Jamal and Monse were outside he said, “Just remember sin gorrito no hay fiesta.” He immediately shut the door after himself, but that didn’t stop Ruby and you from yelling after him.

“Fuck off, Cesar!” You both yelled with smiles on your faces as you looked at each other. With everyone else gone, Ruby cupped your cheek once more and tenderly kissed you until you had to head back home. That night you slept peacefully, no longer having to dream and wonder about how kissing Ruby would feel like.

Taglist: @steveisherdaddy  @apotatoinabigfield @xlostinobsessionsx @izjustafaze @yourlocalwhitemanwhore​

[simpz-art-stash]

Late Beginnings [Ch. 2]

Summary: Macaque’s gotten over the biggest gap on his side of the burnt bridge between him and his broke af relationship with Wukong. Now he’s gotta take an even bigger leap in hopes of getting MK to give him a chance as well.

(Author’s note: DUNNO IF THERE’LL BE MORE BUT WE’LL SEE, FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST STUFF TO PUT IN HERE)

Previous | Next

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It should’ve been easy, a kid like MK had a good head on his shoulders, enough to see the good in all besides himself.

It should’ve been easy.

So then why the hell was he still standing on the sidelines mulling over what to say to the kid who was just a few yards away training under the careful eye of his mentor?

What could he say? The same to Wukong? He felt that might be a bit too cliche, even if it had worked.

‘Just barely.’

Mac sighed, brushing his hair back and watching the two practice stillness together, Wukong resting on his tail in a lotus position while MK stood on one foot, straining to keep his posture in check. Even with the staff being used as a counter-balance his muscles flexed against the lack of support in his other leg.

Maybe he could offer him something? Nothing major of course, something innocent but worthwhile and thoughtful. Demon head’s wouldn’t do, the kid had no real use for those, nor would he probably appreciate a trophy that wasn’t his. What did kids even like these days anyways? He thought of toys but, MK was practically a bigger kid than most other cub’s. Most kids like him usually just kept to popular places or their phones…

Decisions decisions…

A small yelp forced him out of his thoughts, his gaze shifting back over to MK who had since fallen back on his butt. Groaning and complaining like usual before Wukong gave him the ol’ ‘keep it up!’ attitude, prompting MK to simply nod and give it another try.

‘Geeze, and I thought my training was harsh. At least I gave him actual critique on his form…’

Then an idea flashed in his mind, popping off like a rocket and he suddenly found himself with something worthwhile.

------~------

“Alright bud, I think that’s enough of that. Why don’t you hit the bench, I need to go check on the kids back inside n’ make sure they haven’t left a mess after that marathon I set up for em.” Wukong claimed, patting MK on the back before turning away. Offering a curt wave as he left, “Call me if you need me!”

“Alright, I will!” MK sighed and made his way over to a makeshift seat, which happened to be nothing more than a split log. And proceeded to take his headband off if not to just drench his hair in some of the water from one of the bottle’s he’d brought along with him. Before guzzling the rest of it down like he hadn’t drank in forever.

“I see he’s been keepin’ you on your toes. Full pun intended.” Mac commented, earning him a startled squeak from MK who had just about spat his drink out when Mac rounded him from behind to sit himself down on the opposing side of the log.

MK had heard a little snippet from MKing about Macaque trying to make amends, he didn’t get the full details but he’d heard enough to know to keep an eye out for the guy. Not that he wasn’t already always on high alert for any suspicious activity.

“Guh- yeah.” MK coughed a little, rubbing his throat a little as he cleared it. “It hasn’t been uh, easy, but I think I’m gettin’ better. Just need to try harder or whatever…”

“Mmm…” Mac let his gaze concentrate on the immortal peach tree Wukong had planted out in the front of his yard, it having long since bloomed and been picked clean.

MK shifted a little under the uncomfortable silence that spread between the two, there wasn’t tension in it per sey, but it was still a lil awkward for him to just outright be chatting it up with the same guy who had once tried to kill him at one point.

“So uh..I was hoping to..make it up to you, what with everything that happened the last time…” Mac’s face squinted a little, his tail irritably swaying behind him, it seemed this was just as awkward for him as it was MK.

“Uhm..okay?..” MK veered a little away from the guy, not too sure how to handle that. “Hey if this is about the whole ‘you trying to kill me thing’ then uh, hey man we’re cool.”

“What? I mean yeah but, it’s more than just that..” Mac fiddled idly with the hem of his cloak, the things color long since having been worn down from the elements. “A lot more…”

“Complicated?” MK quirked a brow at him.

“Yeeaaahh…”

“Heh, been there. Done that.” MK nodded, not that it was anything to be proud of.

“He didn’t tell you?” Mac looked at MK finally with a concerned expression.

“About you and him?? I mean..yeah he told me a lil..mostly just warned me to keep an eye out for you but…” MK rubbed the back of his neck out of nervous habit, shifting under the demon’s gaze.

“Of course he didn’t…” Mac sighed with a frown, “Well, maybe that’s where I can help you out. I know Wukong, he doesn’t exactly give you the full picture so easily, then again he’s never really had a student before either so.”

“So?”

‘So, he won’t just outright give you the benefit of the doubt just like that, especially if you just say you’ll give him whatever advice he wants. He’ll think you’re just trying to pull him from Wukong again or worse.’

“What I mean to say is, if you want to correct your form with that whole balancing thing, you should try putting less focus into just your foot, and put it towards your whole body.” Macaque stated plainly, his gaze shifting away back to the peach tree.

“Oh..uhm..alright?...Thanks???” MK blinked, none too sure what to make of that, but he wasn’t trying to kill him, or hurt his feelings so, maybe that was a good thing??

“Feel free to mention it to him…” Macaque claimed, his gaze softening before he got up finally and began to walk elsewhere.

“h-Wait!” MK called out, standing up right then. To which Macaque of course obliged, though he kept his back facing kid.

“..are you..like...being serious about that whole, ‘making amends’ thing?..” MK squinted at him suspiciously, even if Macaque could lie about his true intentions, MK at least thought it right to ask. Considering everything else…

“Yes.” Mac stated, his tail curling a little behind him.

“Ohkaaay... “ It was still hard to tell but, “Then why’re you trying to?-”

“Because he told me to.” Mac claimed, his head turning just enough to share a glance with the kid. “Don’t get the wrong idea..it was wrong of me, but.”

“Buuut?”

-------~-------

“But whatever you do, you gotta stop lyin’ about the real stuff.”

Mac grunted, that was probably gonna be the hardest trial of his to overcome. For him, lying was basically his day by day means of survival. “I think I’d rather cut my own tongue out at that point an be mute then cut that out.”

The chick shrugged, “Hey, I’m just sayin’. Honesty is the best policy. Even if it hurts to hear it, better said than left for dead. You want em to trust you again? You gotta earn it. A few pretty words ain’t never gonna be enough. You gotta put some effort behind em.”

“Uuuugh.” He rolled his eyes, already regretting having decided to go through with the whole thing. “Fine...but if I get my ass beat because someone couldn’t take the heat, I’ll hunt you down.”

“I’ll take that chance.” The chick smirked.

-------~-------

Macaque sighed, he could already imagine just how easy it’d be to screw up something so casually done by others. Century old lies he’d held onto for most his life being the worst one’s, with how gnarled they were from the many times they’d been knotted by his reasons to keep them from being undone by any means necessary. He’d run from them for such a long time though, enough to the point where he’d finally hit the end of his lead, and now he was forced to look back at the mess he’d caused.

It wasn’t a pretty sight at all.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t go back and try to fix some of it. Now matter how long it took, little by little. He just had to be careful in doing so or else he’d just get himself wrapped up in knots all over again.

“...I..” Just say it, even if it’s half the truth.

“I didn’t want to see you waste that potential under a guy who wouldn’t appreciate it...” Macaque claimed, his gaze shifting away.

That...was probably the first time MK had ever seen Mac show a genuine side of himself before. Even during training he’d been distant and strict, similar to Wukong but a lot less merciful in a spar. Where with Mac, bruises were lessons learned.

“...Thanks. For the uh..advice I mean.”

Macaque stiffened a little at the response, but he didn’t spoil it for fear of ruining what little ground he had on that bridge.

“Anytime.”

And then he was gone.

[elmmni]

In what way do you think the Beetlejuice musical handles the topic of suicide better?

oh anon i am so glad that you asked! so, in the beetlejuice musical, lydia is strongly encouraged by everyone, both living and dead (but mostly dead) to stay alive. when she considers/attempts suicide, theres a Whole song meant to distract her and keep her away from the side of the roof (granted ol' betlebeuse has ulterior reasons for that but i digress). later when she Actually Goes to the afterlife, everyone there tells her to go back, and she eventually decides for herself that she wants to go back, and enjoy life with her family. the whole show is pretty adamant that "hey death only sucks kinda but also being alive is better so do that instead." there is also a lot of discussion of mourning someone who has died, and how to properly deal with that grief.

meanwhile dear evan hansen has. none of that. now im not saying i expect ghosts to be telling evan life is cool and all, but there is, literally nowhere in the show, anyone who thinks that connor made the Wrong choice. connor is simply a tragic figure, but there is no attempt made by any of the characters to figure out Why he was willing to take his own life. none of them really seem to care, and absolutely No One properly mourns this kid we see like, 4? 5 times in the whole show? in "requim", his mom pretty much only adresses the letter (that evan wrote) when mourning, his dad doesnt mourn at all, and is shown to be bitter rather than sad. and his sister actively is like "yeah that guy was the fucking worst im glad hes gone." the fact that we just dont know ANYTHING about connor, other than he smoked, his family seemed to hate him, and hes dead now, is just so bad.

the connor we see throughout the show is pretty heavily implied to only be a product of evan imagination to, thats not connors ghost or whatever. thats evan conscience, in the form of this kid whose memory he's supposedly "keeping alive." "disappear" really rubs me the wrong way for this too, because that whole song is about "no one diserves to disappear" blah blah blah AS EVAN IS ACTIVELY ERASING WHO CONNOR WAS AND INVENTING A NEW PERSON. "you will be found" really falls flat for this too, because the whole connor project is built on a person who wasn't real, and the whole message of the song falls through so hard.

TLDR: dear evan hansen, having the plot that it does of things built on lies and recreating a person who is dead, can not handle the topic of suicide well. songs like "disappear" and "you will be found" fall flat on their faces in context of the lie. im sure having a story based around the people who are left behind when someone takes their own life can work, but it was not done well here. beetlejuice however, is about a mourning, depressed, and vaguely suicidal girl meeting several dead people and growing to accept the life that she lives and deciding to live it to the fullest. this genuinely explores what may drive someone to it, and comes to the conclusion that it is Not the correct choice, that theres so much to live for instead. the suicide in dear evan hansen is not once framed as something connor shouldnt have done, and for that i am incapable of claiming the show handles the topic well.

[austarus]

Harrison Wells (Eobard Thawne) x Reader Ballistic Confrontations (3/3)

*A/N: The picture/edit/gif belongs to me!

**If you understand what I’m referencing to in the end, well the Kudos to you. You win 85 Stardollars.

***Trigger Warning: Scars from mentioned self-harm

****Please don’t forget to comment, like, and reblog. It means a lot to content creators of all kinds!

Word Count:  6397

Part 1   Part 2

Eobard said nothing. Instead, he disregarded your look as his gaze locked back onto Kara, as the Kryptonian woman threw him a hateful look. The futuristic genius did not care. His baby blue hues jumped back to where you stood before stepping away to the side tables. Now we proceed, the speedster mused to himself, picking up a scalpel and arranging his surgical tools. The stage needed to be set tonight. All the actors were in place, and he needed to complete his role. A delicate procedure, if you will. But he needed to be bought some time. Surely, Barry and the others would be back by now from Earth-X. He was, in essence, reluctant to cut up the Earth-38 Kryptonian for he held no malice towards her. She was just an unnecessary casualty in all this. And after all, if Barry Allen were to die it would be at his hands. Not on some tainted Earth at the firing range. You’re centuries late, Mr. Allen. As always.

You glared at your genius scientist for not cluing you in on whatever it is he had planned now. What was his plan? Play along until ‘Uh oh, it’s too late to turn back’ and ‘Oh, look. We’re doomed’? A grunt caught your attention, Kara was trying to break out of her restraints again. “Kara,” you whispered, now standing beside her. “Save your energy, please.” She eyed the restraints on you before taking a slow breath in. Kara wanted to throw her guts up, but she pushed back the bile caught in her throat.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.”

“Honey, you are looking anything other than fine.”

Kara pursed her lips, feeling fatigue wash over her once more. “Where… where are the others… that were here- at the labs? Are they…?” There it was, always concerned for others when she should be concerned about herself.

“No, no they’re fine. They’re in the pipeline. Iris and Felicity-” You stopped yourself, noticing Eobard’s head snap towards you. A pang of guilt echoed in your body. “They’re being held there too,” you lied, giving her hand two small squeezes for her to indicate the lie. If he held things back from you to entertain the Earth-Xer’s with legitimate reactions, then so would you. Supergirl nodded her head subtly in understanding. You were too focused with Kara; you didn’t notice Eobard move. “You’re going to be fine; the others should be back. They wouldn’t go out just like that.” Iris, Felicity, where’s that help? Just where are you guys? You couldn’t leave if you wanted to. Not with the others lurking around. Not when there was a chance you could tip them off about Iris and Felicity, then there was Eobard. Overgirl would instantly go after him for betrayal.

“I… I really hope not. Alex-” Kara trailed off; her eyes drooping shut as her shoulders sagged. Her hand went limp in your cuffed ones.

“Kara?” You looked up to see a tube in Eobard’s hand with a syringe in it. Empty as its contents have already worked its way into Kara’s system. “What are you doing?!”

“I’ve given her a mild anesthetic,” you pursed your lips as his statement. Eobard sighed, “Not to worry, that should have her out for 30 minutes. Strong enough for a Kryptonian, but not strong enough for too long even with the red sunlight on her.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I needed to talk to you without anyone listening.” You followed how Eobard’s eyes glanced at the door. Outside stood two more Nazi guards.

“You could have just pulled me to the other room,” you whisper-yelled at him.

“No, I couldn’t have.” He crossed his arms at you, replying in his own gravely hushed tones. “I needed to keep up the image of the bad guy in front of Kara.”

“Why? Why, when she could understand that you’re not really with them? Why let her also think of you as one of those heinous monsters?”

“Because her opinion of me doesn’t matter. Not hers, not the Earth-Xers, not anyone else.” Eobard punctuated his words before taking your hands in his, placing a gentle kiss on the back of one. The intensity in his eyes never broke as he spoke once more, “Only your opinion of me matters. You matter.”

You pursed your lips, your eyes unable to leave his heated gaze. Oh, if only we weren’t in this mess. If only we had more time… Kara crossed your mind once more, the ominous thrumming noise that came from the machine that generated the red sunlight. A frown found its way onto your face. “Wait, you said 30 minutes? Shouldn’t she need time to recover from the anesthesia to be given another one?”

Eobard sighed, letting go of your hands. He crossed his arms. You weren’t going to like his answer. “No, not in this case.” Dread welled up in the pit of your stomach.

“What…”

“The General herself requested, more like ordered, me to have our Kara awake during the… transplant.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” You responded slowly. Your eye slightly twitched as anger started to consume your thoughts. You wanted nothing more than to rip your friend’s doppelganger apart.

Eobard very well sensed your feelings, he always hated putting a frown on your face or seeing you upset to this extent. “Look, I don’t want to do it either,” the speedster retorted hastily as he unfurled his arms, his hands gently grabbed your shoulders, “but I can’t defy their word especially with you around.”

“Why? Am I suddenly a liability?”

“Never, but they’ll figure something is up with you here with me. Conspiring against them. You already saw how easily Oliver-X caved to his Kara regarding who you are to me.”

Technically, that’s my own damn fault, but a calculated risk to get to Eobard. I can live with the repercussions. “But that’s technically what we’re doing on the downlow, Eo.” You echoed one of the lessons he taught you years ago. “One weakness is better than none, it can be essential to creating the downfall of another.” He had mainly told you that regarding Eilling, who hadn’t ceased to stick his nose into Eobard’s lab experiments and projects. The general had eyed you as a means to get to him, but in reality you were a strength to Eobard. Not a weakness. And the speedster very well knows you can handle your own; after all, the both of you trained constantly. Pushing each other’s limits. Though where you hesitated to kill, he compensated on that, especially in the right moment. “We can have the Dark Archer on the ropes. If anything, he’s made it evident that his wife is a liability to his rational thinking.”

A proud grin ran along his handsome face. “Exactly, my little bird. But they will hurt you, even if you can hold out against them you can’t take them both on.” Even I cannot, not with where I’m at with my speed. Not with the slight dampener they have on my suit. The potential self-destruction if removed from the emblem by my own hands, is a heavy weight on my chest. If I can get rid of them, I can defuse the detonator.

“I’m not worried about me; I’m worried about you! I can’t- I can’t be the one to lose you again.” Eobard shifted his gaze away from you. “Look it’s not going to come to that.” He knew what you were suggesting. “Ok? Worst comes to worst I cause a distraction.”

“No, over my rotting corpse.” 

That sounds eerily familiar.

“We don’t have a choice, if it buys us time then I’ll be damned not to try!”

“That’s why we adapt to the situation and find alternate routes to keep off their radar. I know what I’m doing.”

“Precisely. Adapting. So let me do what I can if it comes down to it.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!” You bit back a retort at the way he raised his voice. “Just trust me.” He wasn’t asking you to.

“Kinda hard with your track record,” You deadpanned, and Eobard just rubbed his face.

“Have I ever lied to you?”

“Is that a question you seriously want me to answer?” A small cheeky smile made its way to your face. You couldn’t help but tease him right now, of all times.

Eobard huffed out a chuckle, pulling out some white surgical clothes from a drawer. Have those always been there? “Just follow my lead, ok? Whatever happens stay on their side, whatever happens to me stay with Barry and the others.” Eobard gloved his hands while the guards re-entered the medical room along with Oliver-X and Kara-X. Speak of the devil. You pursed your lips and held a stoic expression even as Kara-X sauntered to her respective gurney, smirking widely before a violent coughing fit erupts from her. You didn’t miss how Oliver-X moved towards her, yet you averted your eyes to the protruding machines the other soldiers were bringing in for the ‘necessary’ operation. Two guards held you by the arms where you stood. You swallowed thickly as everything was being sterilized and prepped.

***

Harry caught the ball once more after it ricocheted back to him. He’d been letting his frustration out on it towards the cell wall. Something didn’t feel right. He cursed himself, knowing he should have been carrying some weapon or breaching device to have gotten away from the Dark Archer. Or any intruder for the matter of this invasion. Yes, he pushed the emergency labs alarm, but he still got whacked and dragged to the pipeline. He could have done more damage to these damned Nazi’s, but he was helpless. I should have carried my gun or my pulse rifle, what was I thinking? His hand gripped tightly at the ball as regret never left his side. I should have seen this as a possible attack. It’s a simple strategy. Divide and conquer. Yet they were all too fooled, too hasty to attack to even logically see this move by the Earth-Xers.

“Wait, Thawne’s here?” Cisco’s outburst broke the Earth-2 genius out of his thoughts. Harry cracked his neck and directed his attention back to Cisco’s squabbling from the cell near him. The Wells doppelganger was getting pretty tired about hearing of Thawne. A feeling of dread picked at his insides, his thoughts going to you and what Barry had discussed vehemently earlier.

“Yeah,” Caitlin responded. “I haven’t seen or heard from her. We only briefly got a visit from Iris and Felicity not too long ago. But they didn’t know where she was either.”

“Do you think maybe she… you know?” Cisco made an implication. “I mean, does she know?”

“I don’t know,” Caitlin trailed off. “But Iris had said that she left them in the Time Vault to buy them time. Whatever that could mean.”

“Well, on the one hand, they either got to her and are holding her hostage somewhere or, on the other, she rendezvoused with Thawne and now they're going all Mengele on Kara.”

Harry rubbed his face irritably at Cisco’s words, by now you would have known. There’s a high possibility. Whether it’s from seeing Thawne face-to-face or by overhearing someone. By now, Harry’s sure, you would have made a choice. Where did you go, though?

The lights flickered in the pipeline before shutting off as Caitlin finished. A dull blue tint lit up in each individual cell as the pipeline was divulged into a dim darkness. The emergency lights were the only things on. Every person was on high alert at this point.

“Ohohoho, my girl Felicity definitely pulled that one!” Cisco chirped, making a loud clap.

Dinah tried her canary call again, but to no avail. The cell would not budge. Harry narrowed his eyes; he knew she’d try again. But Cisco had crafted these cells with Thawne cautiously for metas. Practically indestructible unless you’re a Time Wraith.

“I wouldn’t try it again if I were you.” Harry finally spoke. Dinah paused, the silence daring to be her question. “These cells are reinforced to withstand any form of meta-attacks generated within. A backup generator still supplies the power dampeners with energy to preserve the cell.” Harry looked out his cell and towards the darkness. “All we can do is wait.”

***

You took a breath, smoke and blood and electricity filled the air. Your eyes didn’t miss the rush of electricity in the distance. Red and gold, the Speedforce of the only two speedsters here. Swallowing thickly, your attention was diverted to the Waverider being chased by another. Well damn, I think someone’s having a bit too much fun. Raising an eyebrow, you watched both airborne vehicles zig-zag through the air. You hooked up your earpiece and headed for the nearest skirmish to help out. A grin plastered itself on your face when you heard Cisco on the comms arguing with Harry. I guess they’re the ones taking the Waverider for a joy ride.

You pressed the button on your communication device, “Any chance I can hop on?” You sucker punched a Nazi. “Oh, I’ve been wanting to do that all day.” Cisco laughed, weaving through the air as if he’s directing a Strike Fighter.

He’s totally Luke Skywalkering his way through this.

“Girl, where you been?”

“Let’s just say,” you huffed, generating electricity in your palm and slamming it into the chest of another soldier. “I caught some unwanted attention, and they were reluctant to release me.” In actuality, Eobard had sped you away from the Labs once Ray made a dramatic entrance to save Kara. He’d sped you to where the battle would be, at least to where the Earth-X forces would arrive from. Telling you to run and appear at an opportune moment. Meaning, go hide while the battle thickens so your disappearance doesn't bring up too many questions from your friends. “Is Iris with you?”

“Yeah, she’s in the back with Felicity, we’re still trying to maneuver in the best position possible to take down their shields.”

You breathed a sigh of relief, thinking back to her stunt with Felicity to sabotage the surgery. “So, how about that help?”

“Hmm,” Harry spoke up, pushing his glasses up. “Unless you have the capability of overloading and shutting down the entire Earth-X Waverider system without passing out, be our guest.”

“… I mean I could try.”

“No.”

You pouted, punching another soldier, this time in the nose. Someone’s particularly grumpy right now. “It’s honestly not that hard, I would just be out for a couple of days and probably on life support.” The line was quiet meaning that Harry chose to ignore your comment. Rude.

You took in a breath and reduced your being to an electrical form, traveling up some buildings to gauge the situation. Kara and Kara-X were facing off at the moment. Eobard was naturally keeping Barry busy while Oliver and Oliver-X were in an intense hand-to-hand-to-bow combat. Yeah, their fight wasn’t as impressive as the other two. You took in a breath heading back down to the fight, this time getting closer to Mick and Leo Snart, who you found to be the Earth-X resistance fighter and doppelganger to your dead ex-boyfriend.

What goes around comes around.

***

“Where were you?”

Turning back from where you sat, you sent a questioning look to Barry and pointed to yourself when no one had responded. He had specifically prompted you with the question. The look in his hazel-green eyes were distant as he leaned against the front of the Cortex desks. You recognized that look from a few years ago. The silence in the Cortex was sliced amongst the team. DeVoe was still out there, scheming. Some stopped what they were doing to gauge what would happen, others (mainly Harry) kept working away but inclined an ear in case either of you were to do something rash.

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, (Y/N). You’re not that dumb.”

“Excuse me.” You narrowed your eyes at the scarlet speedster.

“Barry,” Iris whispered to him, but he shook her off as he folded his arms.

“Where were you after you left Iris and Felicity?”

Ah, of course he wouldn’t miss that. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse.

“I went to go buy them some time.”

“Buy them some time or buy yourself some time? To see Eobard.”

Your heart hammered tightly in your chest, but you made no move to indicate what you had done. In a sense, you did both. You protected Iris and Felicity while keeping Eobard company.

“Why would I want to see someone who’s allied themselves to a Nazi regime on a different Earth, Barr?”

“Why wouldn’t you do anything to see the one you once loved?”

“Are you talking about me,” you tilted your head to the side, taunting him now, “or yourself?” You referenced the events that happened last year. Barry was more than aware of what you were indicating. Flashpoint. Savitar. Iris’ predicted death, HR’s sacrifice, his time remnant’s downfall. But you’ve been wanting to add kerosene to the flames. “Are you referring to your mom,” you turned your head to Iris, “or to Iris?” If looks could kill, you would have been reduced to ashes under Barry’s gaze. Cisco put down his tools and Caitlin glanced at her friends from where she sat beside Iris. Harry capped his marker but turned his eyes towards you. “Like I said, I caught some unwanted attention, and they were reluctant to release me. How is that any different from the others getting stuck in the pipeline?”

“You left Iris to defend herself.”

“Oh my god! Barry!” You rolled your eyes at his statement, deflecting your own questions. “Iris this, Iris that. Iris is a big girl with nearly perfect marksmanship as Harry. She’s more than capable of taking care of herself. I know that. She knows that. The same goes for Felicity as well. But do you know that?” Divide them, fester the idea of unreliability between those two. After all, it’s because of Barry’s decisions for Iris that everyone gets screwed over. It’s one of the reasons for the resentment and bitterness that grows within you. Only they can be happy, no one else can.

“You left Iris and Felicity while this place was crawling with Earth-Xers just to see Thawne!”

“Fucking prove it, you dickbag,” you screamed back at him, “if you’re so certain. Prove it, because contrary to your belief, I was fighting beside you and everyone else that day in the city once I managed to escape. Ask Cisco and Harry. Ask Sara. Hell, even ask Mick and Leo.”

Barry shook his head with a cruel smile, “Do you wanna know how I know?” The speedster took out his phone and started it up, showing the screen of your location. “Careful what you wish for.” Dread gripped your heart as Barry chuckled to himself. “That’s right. I chipped you, that night I pushed you against the doorframe before leaving for the warehouse fight. I chipped you. I already had Thawne chipped earlier that night. On his suit, when I landed a few hits on him. He doesn’t know or… not until recently.” Barry did a search for any pings, but there were none except for yours. “You asked me for proof, here it is.” He slid his fingers on the screen showing a timestamp and your location pinged with Eobard’s at the labs.

“This means nothing.”

“It means everything!” Barry stepped closer to you, anger in his wake. “You left us for him.”

“Yet I still fought with you guys because it was the right thing to do regardless of how I feel for him. You don’t understand nor will you want to understand. You’d rather label us as 100% on the wrong side without acknowledging that we can dwell in a gray area. The world isn’t just black and white, Barry. Or have you forgotten about your own morally gray decisions?”

Sparks crackled in the air, whether it was from you or Barry, no one could tell. Harry took a subtle step towards you from where he stood at the glass board a few feet beside you. He was the only one that can calm you down from this, maybe Iris too, but most definitely he himself. But Harry wasn’t quick enough because the Cortex monitors went haywire while the room darkened. You and Barry were nowhere in the room.

“Barry!” Iris screamed a second after he had sped you away.

***

Eobard raked a hand through his dark locks, analyzing the future article again. He fiddled with his rightful Reverse Flash emblem in his hands, his fingers tracing over the single lightning bolt. It took the genius a full day to extract the SS emblem from his suit, but with your help he was able to detonate it a safe distance away in some open fields. While the people of Central City slept and you had assured Eobard that the Labs were vacant, the speedster had rushed into his old office and compiled all the documents he needed to keep out of Barry’s hands. He’s honestly surprised Team Flash hadn’t rifled thus far into the records he kept. The only things missing were speed theories and the equation escalation to the Speed Formula. Although, he had solved that issue for Barry two years ago when he had traveled back in time for an answer on getting faster.

Still such a naïve child, not at all like the Flash from my future. Arranging some papers together on his new office desk, without meaning to Eobard had knocked over a picture frame. The breaking of glass caught his attention, craning his neck to see the fallen frame. The frame held a picture of you and him from before the Particle Accelerator exploded around Christmas. Before you had known his secret. But now the frame was adorned with a fierce crack through you. Eobard’s mouth went dry, knowing that superstitions were just superstitions, but he couldn’t exactly place the rush of fear welling in his body.

“Gideon, pull up (Y/N)’s location.” Eobard pulled his glasses off smoothly as the AI did as told. She was at the labs. “Access the live feed cameras.” Gideon pulled up holo-images 8x8 of what seemed to be a further escalating scene between you and Barry through STAR Labs. Gritting his teeth, Eobard summoned his suit and launched himself forward into it. The Negative Speedforce fueled by his anger and hate pumped dangerously in his veins.

Barry Allen will regret the day he dared to lay a hand on you.

***

“You’re a traitor!”

“Speak for yourself.” You grunted against the wall, your electric blade dissipating in your hand. It was getting harder to breathe, to keep up with his movements. With speedsters, you preferred long-range combat, but you had to make due at times. “You’re the one who betrayed everyone first for your own selfish desires. Flashpoint, the cause of so much pain and misery. In the end, there was so much collateral damage, and you were the cause of so many lives lost.”

“Flashpoint should have wiped you away. You should have been thankful. We helped you,” Barry fumed, pressing his forearm harder against your throat. “We stood by you.”

“They stood by me.” You tried channeling your electricity, even to siphon off a lick of his in order to produce a dagger, but to no avail. Only sparks flickered from the tips of your fingers, “You couldn’t stand the sight of me when you brought me in.” You had no grievances towards anyone else other than Barry. Not Iris, not Caitlin, not Joe, not Cisco. Certainly not Ralph simply because he’s new. And not towards Harry and Jesse. Iris and Caitlin were the two people who kept you the most grounded to the world for they understood the loss of a loved one and the process of moving on.

“You’re damn right I couldn’t. I was wrong to have let you stay around after Iris and Caitlin rehabilitated you.”

“That wasn’t your decision to make, now, was it?”

“You’re a monster just like Thawne. You’re not a hero.”

You simply spit blood in Barry’s face. “I’m neither thief nor hero.” You were kind of enjoying pushing his buttons, releasing all those pent-up emotions and frustration over the years. Wiping his face clean with his sleeve, the speedster sped you out of the room, throwing punches and kicks at you. He had run you through the entirety of STAR Labs. You siphoned off passing energy from computers and lightbulbs to throw at him Palpatine-style when there was distance between you two, but there was only so much you could do in your current condition. You were getting tired; you couldn’t keep up. Every burst of electricity that burned him had drained you. Blood continued to trickle from the side of your face and sweat glistened on your skin. You healed fast, but he healed much faster.

“Barry, stop! You’re going to kill her.” Iris shouted with a gun in her hand, the others piling into the room. Cisco threw a wave blast at Barry and Frost aimed a couple of icicles his way, but the speedster had dodged them. The scarlet speedster tossed you to the ground like a bag of peanuts before turning to the others. You skidded to the side, breathing in deeply then coughed up some blood into your fist. Blood continued to trickle from the side of your face and sweat glistened on your skin. You could feel your cheek swell as well as an ache form in your chest, maybe a few cracked ribs. Could potentially puncture your lungs if this didn’t end soon.

“And why shouldn’t I? For all we know, she could be spying on us for Thawne.”

“Barry killing her won’t solve anything,” Harry shot at him with his pulse rifle to create some distance between you two before training it on you. “It’ll just make things worse.” You met his eyes, and you could see the disappointment in them. A tinge of guilt hit you, but you pushed past it as you stood on unsteady feet. Your body felt like it was made of lead, but you continued on. If this is how things are to be, then so be it.. You leaned against the wall, cradling your damaged ribcage, as Harry continued. “Regardless of her actions, she did keep Iris and Felicity safe in her own way, she still stood by us.” You were finding it extremely hard to breathe, to stay conscious. Your breathing slowed, the noise in the room between Team Flash was reduced to murmuring to your ears. Did I burst an eardrum too?

“Are you kidding me, Wells? How can you say that when-”

You blinked before collapsing onto the ground, a streak of red had filled your vision. Eobard pinned Barry to the wall, his hand squeezing at his throat while red hot anger filled his vision. “Good to see you again so soon, Flash,” the yellow speedster drawled with a rough grin in his distorted voice. “It seems like you overstepped your boundaries.” Eobard kicked Barry in the ribs and landed a few speed punches, the scarlet speedster already exhausted from his fight with you. “Isn’t this position nostalgic?” Barry was clawing at Eobard’s firm grip, suspending the young hero in the air against the wall as he had done years ago.

“I- had a feeling... you’d show up, Thawne,”

Licking your bloodied lips, you groaned as you leaned up with hoarseness in your voice, “Eo, don’t.” The man in yellow stopped, slowly turning his quaking gaze towards you. You held his gaze for as long as you could get the message through to him. “Enough.” Eobard retracted a fist that was to make contact on Barry’s face, but not before squeezing the scarlet speedsters throat tightly and throwing him towards the upper part of the speed lab. Eobard took off his cowl and generated his speed to be by your side, eyeing every cut and bruise on your broken skin. Your eyes drooped shut when he brushed the back of his gloved hand against your unwounded cheek. His eyes softened, but his insides clenched. Iris and Caitlin had run to where Barry laid while Harry and Cisco monitored Eobard with caution as he gently scooped you in his strong arms.

Standing up with your limp form, the speedster disregarded Cisco, yet glared coldly at his supposed doppelganger. The future genius then turned to them and spoke, “My love for her is what stopped me this time. Next time,” his eyes landed on Barry, “you won’t be so lucky. Lay a hand on her again and I won’t hesitate to end your miserable life, Flash.” His eyes flashed red as they met Barry’s for the last time before taking his leave in a wake of red electricity.

***

Eobard stopped his vibrational intimidation once he made it to your temporary home, Gideon had already prepared the necessary diagnostic tests that would need to be conducted to assess your health. Laying you on the gurney gently, he kissed your forehead before proceeding. The speedster had cleaned you up, replacing your burnt clothes and scrubbing the dried remnants of blood on your skin. His heart shattered. His blood turned to ice. Eobard’s baby blues scanned every part of your marred skin. Lines that tallied up right after another, scars that were too stubborn to heal correctly as if trying to serve as a reminder. Eobard’s mouth had dried as his thumb made featherlight touches before injecting the needle into the correct vein. The speedster opened his mouth and closed it, but he could not register any other emotion other than anger and guilt. His thoughts funneled fluidly, emphasizing that one certain cause that led to this escalation. His death had been the cost of your mental and physical state.

Never again. The speedster peppered kisses along your arms as all the implied images ran through his mind. A tear slipped out. It fell from his face onto the scarred tissue. My love. He needed to get back to work. With classical music dancing in the background, Eobard conducted a blood transfusion in order to replace the blood you had lost as well as administering IV fluids. He had to steal the materials from a hospital nearby in Keystone. They won’t be missing it. 

“According to my current readings, copious amounts of stress have been exuded onto her heart allowing her to retain a constant distressed state.” Gideon rattled on as Eobard sat next to you with a sleeve rolled up. He glanced over at you as the AI continued. “The X-ray scans have also been completed. She’s suffering trauma in her ribcage, a few cracked ribs, however none are broken. CT results also conclude a mild concussion.”

She’s lucky her lungs hadn’t been punctured. His hate for Barry Allen grew with every second that you laid unconscious.

“How long until a full recovery?”

“Physically it could take up to 3-6 weeks regarding her ribs. The mild concussion will take approximately almost a week and a half. Her heart might take longer. Therefore, she must avoid extraneous activity.” 

“Such as using her powers and so on.”

“Yes. Shall I assist you with anything else today, Professor Thawne?”

Eobard ran his fingers over his lips before taking his glasses off and throwing them onto the side of a nearby table. “Keep tabs on Barry Allen’s movements, I want to be alerted if he comes near Keystone or has any intention of it.” The AI nodded before shuttering away into the plinth. Yes, the speedster had been smart to chip him, something Eobard had easily gotten rid of. But to chip you as well, Thawne cursed himself for not seeing it coming. Too preoccupied with the timeline and it’s malleability. “Hopefully DeVoe will keep him away long enough.”

***

Your eyelids felt like they had been cemented shut, the stinging smell of antiseptic slapped you right in the face. Am I dead or in a hospital? A groan left your lips, your throat dry as a desert and craving any drips of water. I hope I’m not in a hospital, I hate those places. The nice thing was that a light wasn’t blinding you, at the very least not piercing through the darkness supplied by your shut eyelids. It was oddly soothing. Your mind finally processed the dull ache residing in your bones, the softness beneath you and the slight chill in the air. Maybe I am dead. Taking one slow breath in, your blood vessels throbbed louder with each fluid pumped through and the humming of machines finally registered to your ears. You didn’t want to open your eyes; you were content with just laying here.

“…” You frowned, the sound of mumbling coming to you. Who was that? “Gi… ru-… I-.” Death, perhaps? You twitched your fingers, a numb sensation set in both your arms. If I’m dead, how can I still feel? It took a moment for your brain to catch you up on how you’d been reduced to such a state. Barry… killed me? No, that’s- Eo was… You shakily formed a fist only to feel something cool against your skin. Felt like another hand. Not bony. Maybe Death gave the appearance of a human for us to pass.

“Mm,” you tried clearing your throat, but it hurt each time, inducing a coughing fit. Blinking wearily, you looked around, your vision blurry until it settled on the being the hand had belonged to. “Mm, I…”

“Shh,” the deep voice cooed. You could hear much more clearly now but couldn’t make out the image of the being. “I have some water for you,” you felt a straw tap your lips. “Drink up.”

Why is Death being so kind to me? I thought Death was swift. You drank a sip at a time before pulling back and shutting your eyes once more. The somatosensory neurons on your arms brushed against some coarse material. A blanket? That same cool touch caressed your cheek. You blinked your eyes open a few times, dizziness ensnaring your mind, but your eyes met icy blue ones. “Eo?”

“I’m here,” he whispered in a gentle tone, standing up from where he sat next to you.

“I’m not dead.”

“No, you’re very much alive”

“Barry, he…”

“I’ve dealt with him. He won’t ever hurt you again.” You watched as he kissed your bandaged hands, each finger receiving a kiss. Cracking your neck, your realized he had changed you into fresh clothes. The scent of faint lavender hung onto the fabric.

“How long was I out?”

“Two weeks.”

It hurt your head when your eyes bugged out. You patted your temples lightly. “Two weeks? What- I-I need to get back. They were going to confront DeVoe. Harry and-”

“No,” Eobard pressed his palm against your shoulder when you tried to sit up abruptly, “You need to rest. Screw Team Flash. For once, just let them be so you can recover.” The speedster did not ask for what had happened to you, knowing the implications in his mind were too strong to be false. Rather, he’d make sure it would not occur a second time

“It’s not that simple, Eo.”

“It really is,” the yellow speedster sighed to himself, rubbing his face. You gestured to the water, and he handed the cup to you. “You’re in no condition to go back there, not after what happened. Your powers and your fight did a number on you. I-…. Your heart stopped a couple of times.” You almost choked on your sip. “I had to jumpstart your heart and keep it going.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For worrying you.” For being a liability that Barry can use.

“Don’t. This,” he gestured with his hands between you and him, “is not something to apologize for. Ever. If anything, it was smart of him to use you for bait as I had used Iris and Eddie.” You pressed your lips into a thin line as your mind started to wander.

“So, we wait?”

Eobard nodded as you ran a hand through you knotted hair. Need to brush that out asap. “We wait until it’s time to strike.”

“Until it’s time for you to strike. I’m remaining neutral in whatever it is between you and Barry in the future. Even if he might not see it that way.” Tipping the scales, balancing good and evil natures in the forces of the world. That’s what He told me my role in the multiverse is along with...

“I know, my love.” I don’t know how to break this to her. “But until then, rest.” If I ask her to come with me, would what I orchestrate then work?

“Eobard.”

“Hm?” Eobard knew he needed to go back to sort a few things out. Chances of getting caught were roughly 30-70, but not zero.

You shifted over to make room for him, patted the spot next to you. “Stay.”

Or would she become collateral damage?

“Always.” The speedster leaned down to kiss your lips before moving in beside you. You laid your head on his chest, minding the slight tremors of pain. Eobard kissed the top of your head and you shut your eyes. You’d go to the ends of the multiverse for him, but you’d also protect your friends. Being at odds with Barry wouldn’t stop you. He just needed to learn to live with your choices as everyone else has had to live with his.

Eobard’s mind ran through every scenario, deciding it’s best to tell you what he intends to do. He’d rather you decide for yourself what to do. The negative speedster respected the position you held onto. Neutrality wasn’t always an easy feat, but he admired your devotion towards him and the ones you love. Eobard was just selfish enough to only want and care for you. He didn’t need anyone else. He certainly didn’t need camaraderie. Tomorrow, he’d tell you. Tomorrow, he’d make sure to take the first step towards ensuring the future.

Betrayal is a fickle thing, Barry Allen. A lesson you will learn again.

[dreaming-about-fanfictions]

Choose Me Instead II Draco Malfoy x Reader II Chapter 20 of 27: Love

Summary: Pretending to be in a relationship with Draco Malfoy to get back at your ex might have not been the smartest idea you ever had. Especially during your last year of Hogwarts where you should be focusing on exams and your future plans. However, you were just pretending. There was no way in hell you could actually catch feelings for someone like Malfoy. … Right?

CHOOSE ME INSTEAD MASTERLIST CHOOSE ME INSTEAD PLAYLIST

A/N: I posted this a little later because on Sunday I had the idea to do this. If you want to participate, feel free to do so! I received some amazing ideas and messages already! Thank you so much for them! Now, enjoy this little chapter <3

Words: 3070 Pairings: Draco Malfoy x fem!Reader, post war Warnings: none

Three weeks after the Winter Dance …

On a Tuesday evening in March, clouds gathered over Hogwarts and darkened the sky. The few students who had been outside despite the cold wind had mere seconds to sprint to the castle before the gates to the heavens opened. Rain began to pour down, drenching everyone. You were one of those students.

You cursed once you got inside and whipped out your wand to cast a drying spell while hoping your Potions book wasn’t completely ruined. Even though Snape was no longer around to retract at least fifty housepoints for it, you still didn’t want to deal with Slughorns disappointed look that he’d give you. “Oh thank Merlin,” you mumbled when you saw that it was fine.

“Here, you lost this.”

You almost dropped your book when you heard the familiar voice. “Hermione!”, you said surprised.

The brown-haired girl stood in front of you, holding out a quill that had slipped out of your bag when you reached for the wand. She smiled awkwardly.

“Thank you.” You took the quill from her. She nodded but stayed silent, burying her hand in the pocket of her jacket. It had been three weeks since you last talked to her. The morning after the Winter Dance, you had tried to get her to talk to you. She refused and sent Ginny to let you know that she needed space. You tried one more time a few days later but still – Hermione didn’t want to see you.

Your own emotions shifted from guilt that you didn’t tell her, to anger that she didn’t want to speak to you for three freaking weeks, and then back to guilt because you knew you screwed up with your lies. Now that she was here, you understood that you just missed her. You missed not being able to talk and laugh with your friend.

“Where are you going?”, Hermione asked.

“To the common room.”

She hesitated and looked back and forth between you and the stairs behind you. “Can I come?”

Relief washed over you. That could only mean that she wanted to talk. “Sure,” you replied and smiled at her.

You walked together in silence for the first pair of stairs. Only when you turned a corner and entered the hall that lead to the next stair, did she speak up. Her words surprised you.

“I’m sorry.”

You looked at her, stunned. “What for?”

Her gaze was fixated on her shoes. “For not coming to you earlier. I was embarrassed.”

You frowned. “I’m the one who lied to you, Hermione.”

“I know,” she sighed, still not looking at you. “But I overreacted.”

You snorted. Not because you found this situation particularly amusing – to be honest, it was ridiculous. You stopped walking, Hermione did the same.

“You didn’t.” You shook your head. “Seriously. I should have told you the day it first happened. You’re my friend and what I did was wrong.” You paused. “I hurt you. And I’m deeply sorry for that.”

For the first time since you started walking, Hermione looked at you. She pursed her lips but there was no anger written on her face. When she spoke, there was certainty in her voice: “I know. What you did wasn’t okay.”

You couldn’t agree more. “You’re right.”

“I’m not mad that you slept with him, you know.”

“You’re not?”

“No. Although … it’s a little weird.” She wrinkled her nose and you chuckled softly.

“No, but I’m not mad about it”, you friend repeated herself. “He didn’t cheat on me. We weren’t dating then and …”, she hesitated, “I had my fun as well.”

You raised an eyebrow at her confession. “Oh?”

You could have sworn that a soft shade of red colored her cheeks but then again, it was rather dark in the hallway. Hermione gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’ll tell you about that later.”

Before you had the chance to say anything else, she continued: “Both of you obviously didn’t handle … the end of your whatever it was that you two had very well. I had my suspicions to be honest. You were both acting strange and not talking to each other for months.”

“Why didn’t you ask me?”

Hermione shrugged. “I thought that if my suspicions were correct … you would have come to me.”

You looked down when you heard that. “I’m sorry, Hermione.”

“Also, it sucked hearing it from Malfoy. Of all the people who could’ve told me.” She shook her head. “See, that’s the next thing. Malfoy knew, Ron knew, Ginny and you knew … It hurt being the only who didn’t know.”

“I’m sorry.” You didn’t know what else to say.

“It’s fine,” Hermione replied, her voice a little softer now.

You looked up at her. “It’s not.”

“It is,” she smiled at you. “Honestly, I’m not mad anymore. It just took me some time to realize it.”

You stared at her, somehow expecting this to be a test or a joke. You couldn’t believe she would forgive you for lying so long so easily. However, Hermione simply stood in front of, waiting for you to react.

“I missed you so much.” The words came from deep down within you, along with the relief and happiness that flooded your mind right this second. You pulled her into a tight hug.

Hermione laughed before returning the hug. “Missed you too,” she then mumbled.

“What about Ron though?”, you asked after a while and took a step back.

“What about him?”

You tilted your head. “Did you talk about it?”

“No,” she said calmly but couldn’t hide the way the corners of her lips twitched. “No, he deserves to suffer a little longer.”

Only one more lie left.

 ***

Four weeks after the Winter Dance …

“We already had a lesson on Amortentia in our sixth year, Professor,” Pansy whined and the sound instantly caused you to roll your eyes.

“Your exams are here sooner than you think,” Professor Slughorn replied, facing the blackboard. “I believe a little repetition will do you good.”

Exams. The word caused you to crinkle your nose. They were so close and yet you felt so far behind. It seemed as all you did was study but between the fight with Hermione and the drama with Astoria, your attention was certainly split.

Astoria … You looked over to her table where she stood next to Millicent Bulstrode, nose buried in the Potions book. Draco had told you some of what went down between him and her in the Room of Requirements. He said that he knew the reason why she wanted to marry him but he had also no right to let you know. It didn’t help your restless mind. You spent hours speculating and brooding over it. Was she sick? Would her parents disown her if she didn’t marry Draco? You wouldn’t be surprised by something like that. Was she pregnant?

None of your theories made any sense to you and Draco was steadfast. He didn’t comment on them or give you any more clues. You had to respect his ability to keep a secret.

“I think I did it wrong, can you smell anything?”, Theos voice pulled you from your thoughts.

The Slytherin came up to your table. Since the Winter Dance, you had spent increasingly more time with Draco and he had sneaked you in their common room on more than one occasion. It had resulted in you becoming friendly with Nott.

“Where’s Blaise?”, you asked as you stirred the liquid in the cauldron. “Isn’t he supposed to help you with it?”

Theo shrugged. “Probably off and begging Astoria to go to Hogsmeade with him.”

You chuckled and when you looked over to her table, sure enough, Blaise leaned against it, talking to her. “That’s still going on?”

Theo followed your gaze. “Very unsuccessfully, but yes.” He looked back at you. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“The part of where he’s unsuccessful,” he explained. “She’s set on marrying Draco.”

You shrugged and reached too add the missing ingredient. “I’m set on having pudding for dessert tonight but it probably won’t be served, so let’s see what happens.”

The potion was supposed to be finished now and you leaned over it, carefully.

“You smell something?”, Theo asked again.

You closed your eyes and sniffed. Irritated, you opened them again and looked to your side, expecting Draco to be there. The scent of his cologne, mixed with mint and the smell of summer rain, was overwhelming. He wasn’t there. No, he stood a few feet away, talking to Professor Slughorn. Huh.

“And?”, Theo began to sound a little impatient.

“Yes,” you nodded, still slightly confused. “I smell something.”

He groaned. “It’s my mistake then and not the book’s.” Before he went back to his table, he asked curiously: “What do you smell?”

“Your shampoo, Nott, what else?”, you joked. Just in this moment, Draco came back, catching the last bit of your conversation.

Theo chuckled. “Not in front of Draco, darling.” Then he winked at you and turned around.

The smile still on your face, you looked at Draco. “And? Did Slughorn know?”

Judging by the sour look on his face, the Professor hadn’t been able to answer his question.

“Seriously?”, Draco asked.

You tilted your head. “What?”

“Did you smell his shampoo?”

You stared at him. He avoided your eyes and instead flicked through the pages of the book, pretending as if he was reading something about Amortentia. You saw right through him.

“Are you jealous, Malfoy?”

His hand stopped in mid-air of the page for a second before he cleared his throat. “Of course not,” he replied quickly.

Your smile returned, turning into a full-size grin. “You’re jealous!”

“What would I be jealous about?!”, he sneered. “We’re not dating so …”

The grin stayed plastered on your face. “Right, we’re not but still you’re –”

“Don’t we have work to do?”, he interrupted you and sat down abruptly. “We still need to write down what we did.”

You giggled softly before you sat down next to him and grabbed your quill.

“It was just a joke,” you whispered while writing.

Draco didn’t reply and you were wondering if he had heard you. “What does it smell like for you then?”, he said after a while.

You hesitated. The smell of mint still wafting over to you. “I can’t smell anything today,” you lied. “Still fighting that cold from last week, I suppose.”

“Hmm,” Draco made.

“What do you smell?”

“You, Y/L/N.”

“Right,” you chuckled at his joke. “No, seriously, what do you smell?”

No more words came from him, only a wink. You rolled your eyes and chuckled again, pushing down the strange feeling emerging inside of you. When the class was over, you walked to the Great Hall together. Dinner was served and you had pudding for dessert.

 ***

Five weeks after the Winter Dance …

“Do you love him?” Hermione sat down across from you and dropped her books on the table.

You didn’t look up from your own studies. “Draco?”

“No.”

You looked up. Oops.

“Ron, of course,” Hermione explained.

“Of course.” Why on earth would you think of Draco first at that question? But more importantly right now – why on earth would Hermione think that you loved Ronald Weasley?! You shook your head. “No, why?”

“I’m trying to understand … your thing.”

You closed your book. “Can I be honest?”

Hermione raised her eyebrows. “Are you serious right now, Y/N?”

Right, honesty was probably the only thing she expected from you these days. “I had a crush on him. I admit that,” you shrugged. You tapped on the cover of the book in front of you with your fingertips, before you continued. “And it hurt when he just dropped me like a hot potato.” The memory, even though it began to fade and become more and more irrelevant, still stung a little. “I don’t love him.” You looked into her eyes. “Never have.”

Hermione nodded slowly. “What about him then?”

“He loves you.” You smiled. “Everyone knows that.”

“But when he’s around you …”, she began.

“He doesn’t love me,” you interrupted her. “He’s just pissed that I’m with Draco.”

Hermione slumped against the back of the chair. “You really think that’s all?”

“Yes.” It was the truth. “His ego is hurt and he got confused. He loves you though. Did he apologize to you?”

Finally, Hermione smiled. A soft, shy smile. “A thousand times. He sent me love letters. God, they were so ridiculous.” She raised a hand to her mouth to hide the smile.

You grinned and reached for her hand. “I think you should give him a chance.”

“I love him so much,” your friend admitted with a soft sigh. Then the smile on her face vanished. “But what if … what if it happens again? With a different girl?”

“Then I will personally kick his butt.” You squeezed her hand tightly and Hermione chuckled. She looked down at the table as if she was thinking about something.

“Do you love him then?” She raised her head again.

“Who?”, you asked, knowing damn well who she meant. However, you were certain your friend knew the answer to her question already.

 ***

Six weeks after the Winter Dance …

It was cold in the dorm that Draco shared with Blaise and Theo. The fact that you were wrapped in nothing but a black towel, didn’t help much with it. You shivered when you closed the bathroom door behind you and quickly ran over to the warm bed where your pretend-boyfriend still waited under the covers.

“Can you believe it’s almost April?”, Draco asked while he reached for the sweets on his nightstand. “School is nearly over.”

“Exams are almost here,” you replied, climbed over him and slipped under the blanket.

The Slytherin rolled his eyes as his chewed on another piece of candy. You wondered if they were still yours from the first weekend in Hogsmeade last year. Then Draco turned to face you and propped himself up on his elbows. “Stop playing scared,” it was almost a demand, “you’ll do great and you know it. I barely got to see you these last few weeks.”

“We saw each other every day, Draco,” you countered with a grin.

“It felt less.” He let himself fall on his back and put one arm behind his head.

“Did you make a decision yet?” The question left your mouth before you had time to think about it. This was a sensitive topic for him. Too many uncertainties in his life.

“I always have the option to marry rich,” he joked, looking at the ceiling.

You snorted. “Ha ha.”

 ***

Seven weeks after the Winter Dance …

“You’re staring. Again.”

Draco and you had found yourselves in his dorm once again. Theo and Blaise spent an awful amount of time at the library lately, giving you the freedom not to rely on the Room of Requirements so often.

It was a Saturday morning. You wished you could tell whether it was a beautiful spring day with birds chirping and beams of sunlight falling through the window – but from here, you were only able to see the green water of the lake.

“I’m not staring,” Draco mumbled. “I’m admiring.”

You smiled and when your eyes met his, a warm feeling spread in your chest. A feeling, you had experienced a lot more often in the past weeks. Sneaking up on you, always in the back of your mind as it tried to tell you something. Something, you already knew but were too scared to put a name on it. So instead, you pushed it back and tried to ignore it. “What are you admiring then?”

“You.” He whispered. “You’re beautiful.”

You pressed yourself closer to his body.

“I love you.”

At first you thought that you had accidentally fallen asleep again and this was some sort of weird dream your brain produced. But your eyes were open and you felt how Draco stopped breathing next to you; surely, this wasn’t a dream. The words had actually left his mouth. He had said them. They were out.

Oh Merlin.

You sat up abruptly. “I’m sorry, what?”

His eyes were wide as he got up as well, turning his back towards you. He walked over to the closet with stiff movements and frantically searched through his drawers. “I don’t know where this came from,” he said in a hardened voice. “Forget it.”

I love you.

The words rung in your ears like the sound of a pot crashing to the ground. You stared at his back. And then, when his eyes flickered over to you, the ringing stopped

I love you.

You were suddenly very calm. “Draco –”

“Forget it,” he interrupted you and slipped over a black shirt. “Just do me the favor and pretend I never said anything.”

“Draco –”

“Draco!” The door flew open and crashed against the wall. You flinched.

Theo stood in the doorway, breathing heavily as if he had just sprinted up the stairs. “Oh, shit, sorry guys,” he exclaimed when he saw you and quickly looked away.

You needed a second to realize that you were sitting in Dracos bed – completely naked. Letting out a surprised gasp, you pulled up the covers.

Draco quickly stepped in front of him, blocking his view. “What do you want, Theo?”, he sneered, making it clear that this was not the right time.

Theo cleared his throat. “Okay, uhm,” he began, “Don’t panic but …”

Draco crossed his arms in front of his chest. “But what?”

You would later on call it intuition – but a part of you knew that the moment Theo stepped in, something would change. The tranquility and happiness between Draco and you had been going on for way too long already. You had pushed away the fears and uncertainty and allowed yourself to simply be. You should have known that it would come back to bite you in the ass.

“Spit it out,” Draco demanded.

Over his shoulders, Theo looked at you the same way he had a few weeks back during that Potions lesson. Fear gripped your heart. Sorry, his eyes seemed to say.

“Your mother is in the common room, Draco. She’s talking to Astoria.” 

So this was the way it ends.

***

A/N: I hope you liked it! <3 Thank you so much for reading! Quick reminder, if you want to participate in the little thing I’m doing rn, I’d love it. It gives you the chance to add your own personal touch to this story <3

CHAPTER 21

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Tag List:  @writerdee1701 @youareinllve, @sjmahoney, @detroitobsessed, @takura-rin, @jadam268, @wynterwind,  @renaissance-confiance, @doitforthevine67, @ilovemollyweasley, @flowerpowerpixie, @gold-flowing, @starkssnarks, @bookcornerkins, @harpersmariano, @markedsweetly, @iraniq, @pointlesscoconut, @hvrcruxes, @pillowjj, @idkatee,    @magicwithaknife, @graystherapy, @scoote-rankle, @nxstalgicnxbxdy, @sunsetsofanemoia,  @tommy-holland, @lordfxxker, @streetfighterrichie, @awaken-the-sirens, @destiels-assbutt13, @pockitparks, @just-addicted-to-bangtan, @cuddlykoala101, @zpandaqueen ,  @natsiboo, @jjjmaybank, @justmesadgirl, @books-and-tings, @slytherinprincedracom , @katiaw2, @saintkore, @nctnight, @lifestragedy, @obxmxybxnk, @spideydobik , @ladylizzieofdarbyshire, @aspiring-ginger, @dracomalfoyswifey, @jpow345, @realistic-breadstick,  @abbs-is-tired, @alwaysbeanunknownfan, @niallsarmveinstho, @is-this-a-febreze-commercial, @acciowilltolive, , @sexytholland, @faangirl101, @donttellany1iusetumbler, @mendesmuffinsss, @lilxnvm, @kill-the-teen-memories, @darkusangelus, @itsbebeyyy, @hesaidimcrazy, @jenniweaslee, @hpxpjo, @brisbubble, @xomaymay, @shitnstuffillregret, @serialkillme, @angel-tears15, @panicattheeverywherekid, @obsssedwithjustaboutanything,  @nobleking, @tashii-blr, @ddaeing, @randogirlo-fando-main, @sadgirlnumber92899, @captivateing, @bitchyegirl, @smiithys, @ninipoo1, @intheawks,  @nothanksnyla, @calpal-4ever, @dracosathenaeum, @belsandthings, , @kiwi-sloan, @xdmx, @lexi-ravenclawdracomalfoy, @kvyenxay, @live-awkward, @babebenhardy, @bitchysweets-blog, @cravingmusic, @frau-moon, @ohissandhalasta,  @broken-but-beautiful-cassie, @lil-black-heart,  @vminenthusiastt, @dracos-sluts, @mrmoonyy, @saucysuazo, @fuzzzwald, @matsuno-nadeshiko, @amber-arsenault ,  @loveableasshole,  @spideycures, @echpr, @shiningstar-byulxx,  @twinklebug2282, @bloodiedroses, @klthmef, @ostorian ,  @bi-chai-tea, @maddieisnotok, @amandaluvssupernatural, @makeoutwithstiles,    @i-am-addicted-to-tea, @tenclouds, @lovingdracomalfoy, @lannaax, @dr-bitch-bby,  @fallinallinmendes, @suckerforparker, @runninglownad, @piercinghorizons, @dosicas, @yanaaaaaaa,  @akzer300500 @hoseokslily, @dracofeltonmalfoy, @emilianamason, @tothemoonwithclifford, @gcldreinhart ,  @angelofthorr, @k-k0129, @musicalmuffindog1410, @andydre4m, @mxl-foyrecs, @seeinorange, @vlgsqd , @justmimithings, @allthevoicesinmyhead, @pipppaaaaalouisee, @yessirrz, @2think2twice2 @spencerreidisbootiful, @find-a-little-faith, @thatguppienamedbae, @emmamarie7708, @dontpanicitsdan @jordaangx, @ceeellewrites, @drxcomvlfx, @7minutes-tomidnight, @coldheartedslytherin, @wingardiumdepressionosa, @perfect-storm95, @danisaur1324, @unlikely-y-bliss, @trentdijklfc66, @saptediavoli, @treestarrrrrrrr, @aangsupremacy @yaanasluv, @megamihatake, @lavenderblossom12, @bimbelle, @beiahadid, @weasleytwinswheezes, @bogikrmn, @gublerslut, @prongsandprancer, @superkawaiicandyfloss , @instantllamaruins @happijamie, @azkabanlexi, @devi1s-snare, @headcase-shine, @ghostlygreenbean, @hermione-stark, @avaluriaa, @harry-and-draco-loves, @bellagrayson-wayne, @theanxietyqueen17, @captainamericasinnocence, @summertimelilies, @malfoysp0tter, @dracoxmgg @justignoreth-s @official—fangirl  @softlyqoos  @tatidarc  @writerdee1701 @draco-malfoys-significant-other @scootankle @punchnxzis  @potterhead-of-ilvermorny