#they gotta go through all the red tape & junk

[misc-obeyme]

Okay, friends & followers.

I think I jumped the gun and inadvertently caused some concern but ngl I got spooked.

Just please remember that I DO NOT know why these things have happened. Remember that Solmare is a corporation & has laws to abide by & likely an entire legal department. I don’t think they did it just to be shitty.

Although it’s tempting, I shall not get on my capitalism destroys creativity soapbox lol.

I appreciate everyone who followed my main - I see you guys! But tbh I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. I’m pretty sure this is about data mining or perceived data mining & all I ever do is write so. I should be okay.

It sucks that it happened & I wish there had been a better way to resolve things.

In the meantime it’s always a good idea to back up your stuff because the internet is a cruel mistress! Here’s a post I saved back when we had the Tumblr skeleton crew scare that tells you how to download your entire blog. I haven’t tried it yet & there may be other options for such things, but there it is for those that may wish to save their stuff.

[afriendlyblackhottie]

Nosy

Summary: The team notices Bucky sneaking off the compound every weekend. Now they’re standing outside of an apartment in Brooklyn while Redwing spies out the window.

Warnings: Language, smut, sex tape, daddy kink

Pairings: Bucky x Black!Reader

(A/N: This is a rewrite of Bucky’s Secret Life because 😬. Anyway enjoy. Likes and reblogs are great thanks.)

“C’mon, aren’t you a little curious?”

Steve huffed and rolled his eyes as Tony nudged him. Bucky had been acting a little stranger than usual. If they didn’t have a mission he was leaving in the evening on Friday to come home Sunday nights. This had become a weekly basis kind of thing to the point where he didn’t even show up to parties unless it was something completely mandatory.

It’s not like Steve had never asked him about it. Bucky was his best friend and of course he was curious why he was so hush hush. He hadn’t been expecting for him to freeze up and stutter his way around giving him any details. 

It was killing Sam the most because of course he was nosey as hell and between the three of them, he hated not being in the know. Natasha was even curious. Wanda kind of knew, but that’s because she couldn’t help the things she saw. Besides it wasn’t her place to tell. 

Because what Wanda had been seeing when she’d get a glimpse into his mind were filthy. Absolutely fucking filthy. The images flashing into her mind of him and the same naked woman that he was doing unspeakable things to. It played like porn, but they were clearly memories. She stayed quiet because it was none of her business.

“Why don’t we mind our own business,” Bruce suggested. “Bucky’s been through a lot. Maybe he’s just unwinding.”

“Bruce is right.” Steve smiled at the scientist, appreciative at him for speaking up.

Natasha raised an eyebrow, shrugging her shoulders. “Is he, though?” She replied. “What if he’s doing something dangerous. He could still be having issues.”

“True,” Rhodey finally giving his input from his spot at the table beside Tony. “We would rather be safe than sorry.”

Steve groaned. “Fine.”

Steve reluctantly trailed behind Natasha, Sam, and Tony as they followed Bucky the next weekend. They went about their day as normal as possible. They didn’t want him to get suspicious. As soon as he’d left they had Friday give them the word so they could make their move after. Sam had even had Redwing follow after him. 

“Guys, Bruce is right. We should leave it alone,” Steve tried to reason with them as they’d finally ended up outside of an apartment in Brooklyn. 

“No,” Sam said, as they tried to act nonchalant waiting for someone to open up the door. “We’re here let’s do this.”

Bucky placed his hands underneath your ass, balancing himself as he rammed into you. Your hands were splayed above your head as you took it. For someone who literally couldn’t get drunk he found something so intoxicating with the way your breasts bounced with each thrust. He couldn’t help himself as he leaned down to capture your nipple in his mouth. Swirling his tongue around the brown nub.

You could feel yourself getting so close, but you weren’t allowed to come without permission. Since you weren’t in the mood to be punishes you obeyed him. You wanted to be a good girl for him this weekend after the way he’d made it hard for you to sit after you acted like a brat last time.

You’d made dinner, but it had been abandoned in favor of him dicking you down. He just couldn’t wait any longer to have your tight pussy wrapped around his dick. The plan was supposed to be a romantic evening with a home-cooked meal like you usually did on Friday nights. Saturday’s were usually for junk food as you spent the day either binge watching shows and fucking. It was the routine when he wasn’t busy with work.

It sucked that it felt like you’d never have a life outside of this apartment, but Bucky only needed a little bit longer. He needed to make sure there was nothing that could hurt you once your relationship became public. He’d seen to many romances end in tragedy and it scared him. He’d be damned if something bad happened to you.

His cock was stretching you wide open. “Fuck me, Daddy,” you moaned, leaning up so you could wrap your arms around his neck and then press your lips to his. He didn’t let up as he let you fall onto your back. He moved his hands from your ass to your legs to bring your knees to your chest.

He was so much deeper in this angle. Your head was swimmings you moaned into his ear, throwing your head back. “God, yes!”

“That’s it, Doll,” he moaned, leaning down to kiss you again. His tongue was in your mouth and you struggled to keep up because of how hard he was fucking you. Fuck you love it when you were at his mercy. In these moments it felt like he owned every inch of you.

The knock on the door brought the two of you out of your bubble. Bucky didn’t let up, though, hoping that whoever it was would get the hint and leave when you didn’t answer. He needed to make his girl cum first. Whoever was on the other side could wait.

She nodded with a whimper, feeling too blissed-out to even do anything, except for what you were told. You were so close. The way you tightened around him. Pussy hugging his dick like it was afraid to let go. You whined as your juices seeped out of you.

“Can I cum?” You whimpered out. 

“Yeah, Doll.” He grinned down at you through his pleasure. He couldn’t help himself. You were to damn cute like this. All spread open taking every inch of him. Those noises sounding so good coming out of your mouth as your eyes rolled into the back of your head.

You cried out, hips moving to meet his thrusts. That coil finally snapped in your stomach as you came around him. Metal wrapping around your neck while your fingernails dug into his back,

He was determined to make you cum again. Except there was another knock on the door. This one louder, angrier. Bucky groaned, irritated already at whoever was interrupting. “Fuck,” he mouthed, jaw clenching. “I’ll get it. You stay right here, okay.”

You nodded unable to use your words as he pulled out. He covered you with the duvet, kissing your forehead lovingly as if he hadn’t just rearranged your guts. He slid on a pair of sweats and a red t-shirt - yes he kept clothes at your apartment. It was easier so he didn’t have to pack anything. Besides he knew you were wearing his hoodies when he wasn’t around. Yes even though you spent most of your time together naked, it was just more convenient.

Your head was resting on your pillow as you watched him walk through the door with half-lidded eyes. A dopey smile had spread across your face, snuggling under the covers as you waiting for him to come back.

Bucky looked through the peephole, then backed up seeing Steve on the other side. “What the fuck...”

“Bucky, c’mon, we know you’re in there,” the blond said through the door.

“We?” He frowned before opening it, but not undoing the chain. He could peek out just enough to see Natasha who was standing beside him with a little bit of Sam behind her and what he assumed was Tony next to him by the sudden waft of Axe Body Spray. “What are you doing here?”

Tony huffed. “Just let us in.”

He groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “You guys should leave.”

“We’re just making sure you’re okay,” Nat said, trying to at least get a glimpse inside. It looked like a normal apartment, but Bucky’s body was blocking whatever else she could see.

“Gotta make sure you aren’t doing anything dumb,” Sam said.

“We were worried,” Natasha added.

Bucky scrunched up his face even more. “Worried about what?”

Just then you screamed from the bedroom. Bucky’s heart dropped as he heard you because if anything had ever happened to you he’d probably murder someone. His first thought was that they followed you which led to someone following them as he ran back to the bedroom. 

You were standing there with one of your many throw blankets covering you. So you were okay. As he walked over to you, he grabbed your hand. “Baby, what’s wrong?” 

“There’s something in the window,” she breathed, now standing behind him for cover. Whatever it was, her super soldier serum, metal armed boyfriend could take care of it.

They finally felt victorious as Bucky fully opened the door. Until Redwing was thrown out. “Sam, what the fuck!”

“Hey!” The other man gasped, seeing his beloved bird on the ground before picking it up to cradle it into his arms.

“Who was that?” Natasha asked with a smirk on her face now. 

“My girlfriend! I’ve been seeing someone! Is that a crime.” He threw his hands up. “I didn’t realize I needed your permission to date.”

Steve raised his eyebrows and sighed. “See I told you guys this was stupid.”

Tony pouted, crossing his arms like he was disappointed. “I was so sure you were being brainwashed again. I was actually ready for a little action.” 

“It’s not his brain being washed,” Sam said with a similar smirk to the one Natasha wore before frowning as he looked down at the slightly broken Redwing. Bucky wanted to hit him so bad.

“Baby, is everything okay?” You asked, walking into the room with wobbly legs after hearing her boyfriend raise his voice.You’d slipped on the matching sweatshirt to his sweatpants. It was really baggy. Hitting you mid-thigh. All he could think suddenly was that god you better be wearing panties. Or else you’ll be getting that punishment you’d been trying to avoid this weekend.

“Yeah, Doll. They were just leaving.” His face softened. Although you saw him in a sexy dominating way, you never saw him genuinely angry. Even the few times you’d argued he never even raised his voice. He was so afraid of scaring you away that when he was around he softened himself. So now that you were so close he had to show a little restraint.

“So, this is her!” Sam asked, surprised as hell at seeing that Bucky really was hiding a girlfriend. “Hi, I’m Sam and you are?”

“Y/N,” you replied, politely, offering up a small smile. Yet on the inside you actually wanted to run and hide. This was not apart of the plan for when you finally met everyone. Besides you probably looked like shit after what Bucky had just done to you.

“I’m Natasha!” The red head chirped so unlike herself leading the four men to look down at her like she’d grown another head.”This is Steve and Tony.” 

It wasn’t very often that Tony Stark was speechless, but there he was as quiet as a mouse. All because the tin man had a girlfriend. A cute brown skinned girlfriend who was wearing his clothes. 

“Doll, why don’t you wait for me in the room,” Bucky said. “I’ll be there in a minute.” 

“Okay, D- Bucky...” you caught yourself leaning over to kiss his cheek before doing as you were told. 

He stared at her to make sure she got in the room before opening his mouth again. “Now will you leave. I’ll deal with you all and we can maybe have a team meeting about how important privacy is.” He glared at Tony who loved those little meetings about whoever was putting coffee grounds into the sink.

It was Vision.

Obviously.

At first. 

Until it became a fun little game for everyone to do to irritate the shit out of him. It was terrible yes, but his reactions were so, so, so entertaining.

The three grumbled to each other as they started to walk away, while Steve stood there shaking his head. “Sorry about this, Buck. I told them to leave you alone, but you know how they can be.”

“It’s fine.” He sighed. “I was just hoping to keep her all to myself for a little while.”

“She seems nice,” he said.

“She’s amazing,” he had to stop himself from gushing about you because he hadn’t been able to before and he was pretty sure he could go on for hours.

Steve couldn’t help, but smile. “I’m glad to see you happy.” After all the shit Bucky had been through it was nice to see him adjusting. 

The two finally said their goodbyes and Bucky finally got to shut the door. He went back to finish what he’d started with you, needing to make sure you were wearing panties under that sweatshirt before coming out to greet his friends. He knew you could be a little tease and you needed to be put in your place.

Steve jogged to catch up to his three nosey teammates who were almost out of the entrance of the building. He really was happy for Bucky. He deserved to be happy.

When they’d made their way back home, Sam decided to review the footage on Redwing while in the kitchen. At first, it was just the general views of him walking down the street and then the subway. “Well, at least we know Bucky is boring.” 

Steve looked over his shoulder shrugging at the footage that was just Bucky walking to your place. “You should probably just delete it now.”

Sam fast-forwarded it as his friend got to your apartment, punching in the code to be let in. “I dunno, it’s kind of funny to see Bucky walking around like a normal person.”

“And, he never noticed Redwing??” Steve asked as Natasha came to peek with them.

“That’s kind of weird. I would think Bucky would be more aware of his surroundings,” she noted.

Sam shrugged. “Clearly no-” he stopped speaking as he saw what the camera had suddenly focused on.

“We should probably talk to him about that,” Natasha said, taking a bite out of her protein bar. “We should invite her here, though. It’d be nice to have another girl around. Me and Wanda get so bored listening to you guys sometimes.”

Sam’s mouth went into a straight-line while his eyes widened watching as you the women he’d only met for five minutes had gotten on her knees with Bucky’s metal hand grabbing you by the hair stuffing his cock down your throat. Your nose was pressed to his pelvis as he held you there before he started fucking your mouth. 

“What is it?” Steve asked, quickly noticing how silent Sam went. 

Natasha leaned over to take another look at Sam’s screen just as Bucky had pulled you off to toss you on the bed and smack your ass. “What the... Sam! Delete it!” She gasped seeing Bucky impale you with his cock from behind, smacking your ass again.

You were very clearly enjoying how rough he was being with you as you bounced back against him, arching your back so you could take it.

“I’m trying! It’s not letting me!”

“What is it?” Steve asked, now looking again himself, seeing you the women he’d just met being fucking railed by his best friend. Bucky was saying something that they couldn’t make out, but the way he’d stopped moving only for you to buck back against him, it must have been absolutely filthy. “What the hell!”

“I didn’t know!” 

“Make sure it gets deleted.” Steve sounded so exhausted. If they’d listened to him in the first place this wouldn’t have even happened. 

“I’m trying!” He repeated, pressing different buttons on the panel.

“It’s kind of hot actually,” Natasha surprised them with saying. “I wasn’t really expecting Bucky to be like this.”

“What were you expecting?” Sam asked stopping to look at Natasha with his face all scrunched up.

Neither of them had ever seen her blush, but there she was. Face almost as red as her hair. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about him since the Red Room.”

“Wait, what?” Both of them asked, but Natasha had already started to walk away from them as if she hadn’t even said anything. Or like she hadn’t just seen a video of Bucky fucking you raw. They didn’t see the glazed over look in her eyes as she let her imagination run wild.

“What’d you guys f-” Tony asked, right when Bucky had flipped you onto your back with his hands under your ass, leaning down to take a nipple into his mouth. “What... the fuck... actually... wow...”

“I know. I think I might ask Bucky if she has a sister or something.”

“All of you are monsters,” Steve said. Inside he was very intrigued, but he wasn’t about to say that outloud. “Make sure it gets deleted.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Sam said with a sighed.

“Captain Buzzkill.” Tony pouted.

[shitpissboi]

The More The Merrier

Summary- Just a calm night in with your favorite polycule.

Word Count- 3302 

Request?- Yes 

Pairing- Bakusquad x reader / Bakugou Katsuki x Kirishima Eijirou x Reader x Sero Hanta x Ashido Mina x Kaminari Denki 

Warings- Detailed use of marijuana, swearing, kissing, slight making out, plus sized reader, deaf Bakugou, latinx Sero, aged up characters.

A/N- Again, I am so sorry this is late! I tried extra hard to make it good for the anon who requested it, so I really hope you enjoy it! :) 

You smiled as you heard the front door open, watching your redheaded and blonde boyfriends converse as they took off their jackets and shoes at the front door. The two looked up to see you and, and the rest of your partners, all relaxing on the couch. You were on the very end, closest to the door, while Hanta and Denki sat on either side of the middle corner piece, and Mina laid next to the blonde, her head in his lap while the rest of you gamed. You heard some shuffling before a hand gently grabbed the back of your neck, leaning it back to show him smirking down at you. 

“Hi Katsu, how was work today love?” You asked, smiling sweetly. Before responding, he leaned down, his eyeliner smeared and the soot from his quirk in a line in the shape of his mask. You leaned back more to give him better access and couldn’t help but smile as his lips met yours. You reached up and put one of your hands on the side of his head, signaling him to stay there. He deepened the kiss by moving his lips slightly, you following in sync with him. 

“Come onnnnn, don’t hog Katsuki! I wanna kiss him too!” Denki piped up besides you, making the other blonde break the kiss and playfully glare at him. With your question unanswered, said man walked over to Denki and did the same thing he did to you, but instead of leaning down to kiss you, he lifted the blonde off the couch and held him in his arms bridal style. He quickly fixed him so he was sitting on the couch, with Katsuki between his legs and leaning so far forward that he had to hold Denki to keep him from falling. Said blonde squealed and quickly threw his hands around the other man's shoulders and blushed violently. 

“You got my attention now sparky, what’re you gonna do about it?” The older man asked, leaning down even further. Your attention was pulled away as Eijirou made his way over to you, having started with Mina and ignored the situation between your two blonde lovers. You got on your knees and faced him, putting your arms around his shoulders and pulling him closer. 

“Hello, my little pebble.” The red head hummed, gripping you by your waist and touching his forehead with your. He gave you a small kiss before pulling away, chuckling at the way you pouted. You sunk back down into the couch and looked to the middle of the couch when you heard a scream and a soft thud. Denki had unceremoniously fallen down after Eijirou had pulled Katsuki away to go shower, which led to dropping the poor blonde and his feet to land over his head. 

Denki sat up and grumbled something you couldn’t hear, wrapping his arms around himself. Mina rolled her eyes and hugged him, whispering something in his ear that made him blush and hide his face behind his hands. You rolled your eyes at the supposed “flirt” and turned your attention to your last lover. 

“Where’re you going, handsome?” You asked as he stood up and started to walk around the couch but stopped in front of you, running his hand through your hair gently. 

“I’m just going to grab our stuff real quick so we're ready when Katsu and Eji get out of the shower, mi amor.” 

“Okay, can you grab me a hoodie on your way back, please?” You asked with a small pout, leaning your head up and kissing his wrist. 

“Why would I get you one when I can just give you this one?” The tall man asked, pulling his hoodie over his head, revealing an old and loved muscle tee, some small holes torn throughout the shirt. You lifted your arms up and he slipped the hoodie onto you while you raked your eyes over his torso. You muttered out a thank you when he was done, breaking yourself from your trance and sitting on your knees, pulling the black haired man closer by his waist. He looked down and smiled, placing his hands on both sides of your face. 

“Your welcome, hermosa.” He mutters, kissing your forehead. You grinned up at him and giggled, watching as he pulled away and started his descent to the bedroom. It was only a couple minutes before he came back with a handful of stuff, you stood up and helped him set it all on the coffee table, going to grab a good couple bottles of water while he went to get the rest. You got back first and set all the bottles up in one of the top corners. 

Hanta came back and sat next to you, piling the rest of the stuff on the table. He grabbed a big jar, covered in stickers, out of the mess, along with two grinders. He passed a grinder to you and opened his own, taking the top off of the jar and grabbing a nug. You opened and grabbed your own, breaking it up enough to fit in the ginder before closing the top and swiveling it back and forth. 

You repeated the process a couple times before the grinder was filled. You set the grinder down and slid the bong and a water bottle toward you. You checked to make sure the bong was clean before pouring the appropriate amount of water in, setting the bottle aside and grabbing the grinder again. You packed the bowl as full as you could, making sure to keep just a little bit of room at the top, and put down a layer of kief.

You pushed the bong toward the middle of the table and put the grinder next to it, getting up and heading to the kitchen. You went in the junk door and grabbed a bunch of pamphlets out of the junk draw, walking back and tossing them on the table. You noticed Sero was done rolling the joints and was sitting back, so you sat next to him and threw your legs over his, curling up so your head was laying in the crook of his neck. His arms instinctively wrapped around your form and held you against him. 

“We doing takeout for dinner tonight?” He murmured, resting his head atop of yours. You hummed and nodded. 

“I gotta ask Suki if he’s okay with it but I figured since he just got home he wouldn’t want to cook, and you could probably use a night off from it too.” 

“I’m sure he’ll be fine with it, we haven’t had takeout for a while so he shouldn’t cause a fuss. I’m more than okay with it.” The black haired man chuckled, running his hand gently up and down your leg absentmindedly. You gave a small chuckle back and snuggled into him more, turning your eyes to the tv as the game was turned off and Hulu was turned on. Only about ten minutes passed with you peacefully resting on your boyfriend before your last two boyfriends finally walked into the living room. 

Eijirou sat at the other end of the couch, his right leg against the couch and right dangling to the floor. Mina sat between his legs, her legs hanging over his right one, and Denki sat next to her, their shoulders touching but his legs crossed. Katsuki came to sit with you and Sero, sitting on the other side of you and wrapping an arm around your waist, pulling you back so you were laying against his chest instead of Hanta’s. The blonde hero just leaned over you though, taking the kiss from the other man’s lips that he was supposed to get when he walked in, muttering a small but definitive “There!” as he pulled away. 

You smiled at your two boys but turned away to let them have their privacy, leaning over to grab one of the joints from the table that Sero had rolled, and a lighter. Leaning back, and still sandwiched between the two men, you brought the joint to your lips and lit the other end as you inhaled. The smoke filled your lungs with a pleasant burn to the back of your throat, holding the smoke in as Katsuki took the joint from you. You just rolled your eyes at his impatient ass turned toward Hanta, giving the blonde a smirk then leaning in toward the other. 

Said man leaned in as well, opening his mouth so he could inhale the smoke flowing out of yours. Getting impatient yourself, you closed the distance between you two, molding your lips together as he exhaled the smoke through his nose. Your lips moved together in sync, the taller man setting a slow but steady pace. The pomeranian growled behind you and grabbed the back of your shirt, gently yanking you back and handing the joint off to Hanta. He took it but continued to glare at Katsuki over your flustered state. 

“You can’t just pull her back like that man!” 

“Oh yeah, what are you going to do about it Tape Face?” 

“You really want to go down this road again, bebe`?” The black haired man asked, slightly gripping the others neck with his hand. Your eyes widened and you quickly rolled off of the two, calmly making your way over to the rest of your partners. You grabbed the take out pamphlets and sat in the middle corner, facing the other three. Denki immediately abandoned his position and bounced over to you, climbing into your lap and sitting right between your crossed legs. You smiled at the adorable man, kissing his cheek and running your fingers through his black and blonde hair. 

“Hey cutie, you come here often?” He joked, leaning up to face you. You couldn’t help but laugh at his badly timed and overused joke. 

“You're lucky you're so cute, dummy.” You laughed, placing a quick kiss on his lips. He smiled and blushed a little, quickly leaning back to hide it and grabbing the bong from Mina in the process. He proceeded to take his hit while you turned toward Eji and Mina, thrusting the pamphlets toward them. 

“You guys can pick what to eat tonight. I was gonna ask Suki and Hanta too but they’re a little busy.” You explained, nodding over to said men who were still arguing. You only reached out to grab the joint that Hanta had set on the table. 

“Hey baby, can you hold this while I hit that?” You asked, holding out the joint to him and reaching toward the bong in his hand. He just nodded, wanting to see how long he could possibly hold the smoke in. 

“Your quirk hurts your lungs enough Denks, trying to hold it for so long is just gonna make it worse.” You sighed, giving him a quick kiss on the shoulder before bringing the bong to your lips and inhaling while lighting it. Said man just waved you off, his face starting to turn red from how long he was holding it. You pulled the bong away after a good couple seconds and handed it over to Mina, who passed it to Eijirou. You exhaled the smoke upwards, grabbing the joint back from Denki right before he doubled over, the smoke finally getting to him. 

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” You sighed, rolling your eyes and running your hand up and down his back comfortably. He reached over and grabbed a water bottle from the table, chugging half of it before finally starting to calm you. You rolled your eyes again and brought the joint to your lips, grabbing the hand he wasn’t using to drink and molding his fingers so only was being pointed. 

Used to this by now, he simply let you do what you needed to do. You brought his finger up to the end of the joint, squeezing his wrist twice once he was close enough. He sent a small shock to his fingertip, effectively re-lighting the joint for you. You quickly started to exhale, moving your hand to the back of his neck and running it through his hair to show your appreciation. Over his coughing fit, he hummed and leaned into your touch, giving you a quick kiss on the side of your head. You pulled the joint away, holding your breath for only a couple seconds, and then exhaled, passing the joint off to Mina to pass to Eijirou again. 

“Wait, I can smoke the joint this time?!” Mina asked, staring at you wide eyed. 

“Sorry pebble but not today, they just handed it to you cuz they can’t reach me. You know you and Denks can only smoke joints on special occasions, both of your quirks are really hard on your lungs!” Eijirou piped up, gently taking the joint from Mina and handing her the bong, making sure to give her a kiss on the forehead too. 

“But-but it can be a special occasion! Please Eiji, just one hit?” The pinkette pouted, giving her best puppy dog eyes to the red head. 

“How about this, when us four get to the roach, we’ll make a time bomb and let you hit that.” Eijirou suggested, taking his own hit from the joint. (If anyone doesn’t know, a timebomb is where you put a roach in the bowl and then fill the rest of the bowl, mostly done with kief :) 

“Oooh okay! That’s definitely better than the joint!” She smiled, giving Eijirou a quick kiss back on his lips and then taking her hit from the bong, proceeding to pass it to Denki. 

“Wait, if Mina can hit the time bomb, can I?!” He asked excitedly, practically bouncing in your lap. 

“Sure, but just be careful please, you already hurt your lungs today, love.” You gave Eijirou a look before answering, only answering him once the red head gave you a nod. He cheered and let out an excited thank you, hugging you tight to him. You just laughed and hugged him back, smiling at the excitement and enthusiasm that he still held, even after years of knowing him. 

He worked on calming himself down as Mina passed the joint to you. You took your hit and then looked over to Hanta and Katsuki, giggling at the scene before you. Hanta was sitting similarly to Eijirou, except both legs were wrapped around Katsuki’s torso and resting on his thighs. Katsuki was lying between his legs, his head snuggled into the crook of Hantas stomach and thigh. 

You're not sure how, or when, they got into that position, but you aren’t surprised. Katsuki comes off very harsh and domineering, but once you got to know him, you learned how nice and caring he can actually be. It takes a while, especially since he has no interest in making friends (ever), but it’s definitely worth it once you get past his walls. He would do anything for those he cared about, even more so with the 5 of you, who he was completely whipped for. 

When Hanta and Eijirou step up, it’s very easy to see the dominating nature melt away into something soft and almost unrecognisable, only showing that side to the 5 people that he loved and trusted the most. The blissful look on his face and the uncharacteristically relaxation of his muscles gave his true feelings away, even though he would swear up and down that he couldn’t stand it when Hanta did that later on. 

Your smile softened at the peaceful look on his face, noticing Hanta look down on him with an equally loving look in his eye. He looked up when he noticed you starring, giving his famous triangle smile and scratching the back of his neck. You gave him a smile back and reached over, gently rubbing Katsuki’s lower leg. He opened his eyes and looked up at you, a small smile still on his face. You reached over as far as you could with Denki in your lap, and handed him the joint. His face lit up a little as he took it from you, quickly bringing it to his lips and taking a long drag of it. 

Your attention was captured by said man in your lap as he handed you the bong, getting up to head to the bathroom, Mina getting up too so she could use it after him. You quickly took your hit off the bong and set it on the table, having cashed it, and sat up so you could pack it again. You took the fresh roach from Hanta and placed it in the bowl, grabbing the grinder next to you. 

You heard Eijirou on his phone in the background, ordering from some random take out place for all of you. You opened the second compartment on the grinder and set one half down, grabbing the very small spoon off the rolling tray and starting to transfer the kief from the grinder to the bowl. You held the roach steady as you packed around it, filling the bowl as much as you could with the small herb. 

By the time you were done so was Eijirou, so you grabbed the bong and the lighter and moved toward him. You handed him the bong and he thanked you, quickly taking his hit before passing it back to you. Before you take your hit, he grabbed your hips and pulled you toward him, making you let out a small surprised squeal. He had moved so he was sitting back against the couch, his legs spread apart comfortably. He moved you so you were sitting between his legs but facing the rest of the couch, your shoulder against his chest and your legs hanging over his. 

You blushed and giggled, welcoming the warmth of your space heater boyfriend. He chuckled and kissed the top of your head, apologizing for scarring you. You told him it was okay and leaned up to kiss his nose, making him laugh again. You sat up straight to take your hit but relaxed against him as soon as you were done, passing the bong to him so he could hold it. You heard Mina and Denki come back in but paid it no mind, the beautiful haze clouding your mind. As the two got comfortable on the couch, your feet somehow ended up under Denki’s thighs, allowing you to let out a sigh of content, your cold feet getting some much needed warmth. 

Eijirou tightened his grip around you and smirked, easily recognizing you fading in and out. You smiled again and snuggled into him, allowing your head to rest on his broad chest. He lifted your head for just a second to pull your hoodie over your head, his hand lingering to cup your face. You smiled gratefully and kissed his hand as a thank you, leaning into the touch. 

The redhead smiles and kisses your head, muttering a small “welcome”, having known you long enough to know what your small gestures mean. He held you tight against him, running his now free hand up and down your arm and resting his chin on your head. You opened your eyes briefly to see Denki and Mina sitting next to each other, giggling as they tried to hit the bong at the same time. You rolled your eyes and looked over to your last 2 partners, still in the same position that they were in. 

You smiled and let your eyes close, relaxing into your boyfriend. You loved all of your partners, even if they were loud or harsh or idiots, it didn’t matter to you. They were your idiots. And you wouldn’t change it for the world.

Masterlist 

Posted 1/4/21

[brideofcthulhu10]

Could you do a reaction where the lost boys are hanging out with their S/O at their house. It’s 3 am and s/o falls asleep. They hear a crash down stares so the boy investigates, his face all vamped out. They find the s/o younger sibling in the kitchen who is around 4 yrs old with their hand in the cookie jar. The sibling sees them with their fangs and runs over to them yelling “Kitty”! The next night their s/o tells them they are tired because their younger sibling Made them look for a cat.

Okie doke, super specific but I think I did a damn dandy job on it if I do say so myself lol. Well, I hope you enjoy it!

The Bats Being Cats

Lost Boys × fem!S/O fluff with little brother

David 

It was a rare occurence when David slept outside of the hotel, but with the numerous break ins he didn't feel comfortable leaving you alone. You insisted you weren't alone! 

"Having a stray neighborhood cat you feed doesn't count as protection," he retorts, arms crossed. 

"No that's not what I mean-"

"-Just let me keep any eye on you, kitten. Please?"

Being asked please by David just made your heart ache. Pleasantries were partially limited as it was but David was not one for saying please. You sighed, taking his hand in yours. "Fine, but please don't kill anybody. My parents would be pissed if someone got blood on the carpets."

All had been going pretty well, you managed to cook him up a home made meal for once having to repeatedly remind yourself absolutely no garlic, and after a slashers marathon on TV you were ready for bed. It was only 2 am! David was far from tired, but at your behest he obliged under protest. Being the nocturnal vamp he was, he just laid beside you while you slept enjoying the peace and quiet. Beds weren't exactly his forte so it didn't make him any less awake. Too squishy. The loud banging coming from the kitchen didn't exactly serenade him into slumber. 

An intruder huh? Well, you did say not to kill them… but you never said anything about mmaiming. Besides, he had to skip a blood meal to be here, might as well have some fast food while you were off in dreamland. David gently scooted himself off the bed as best he could without disturbing you and pulled the blankets over. Watching you burrow against the pillow made him smile softly, pushing your hair out of your face. Slowly he leaned in for a tender kiss, after all he wasn't in a hurry. "Sleep tight kitten, I'll be right back."

Carefully he slunk down the stairs with ease. Sure enough a stream of light trailed off from the dining room. The closer he got the more he continued to hear rattling within the kitchen. Drawers slowly rumbling as the were slid open, the cabinets squeaking, the… chairs being scraped across the floor? 

Okay so they were a very short burglar, whatever. Turning the corner with fangs ready to tear into whatever pitiful mortal thought it wise to enter his mate's home- who the hell is that?

Rather than a short man dressed in all black, he had come to find a small boy sitting on the counter in a red race car t-shirt with matching race track print shorts elbow deep in a dog-shaped jar labeled "COOKIES". Currently the tiny pastry thief was smeared with chocolate chips and crumbs, half a cookie sticking out of his mouth. There was such a heavy awkward silence and they both just stared at each other until the boy finally gasped. "Wow you're a big kitty!"

"Ki-?" Immediately David became flustered as the little one scrambled off his kitchen chair ladder and HUGGED HIM. David immediately scrunched his body together as if it could make him smaller. He hardly hugged anyone other than you, the sensation was almost so foreign he nearly rejected the crumb coated tyke who was smearing chocolate on his jacket. Grrrreat. 

"Uh.. Yeah sure, kitty, let's go with that," he quickly dismissed the kid, awkwardly patting his head. "Kitty says off to be or I'll tell-"

"You can't tell Y/N! She'll tell mummy when they can't back!"

Mummy? Go figure you forget to mention you had a little brother! "Well then we better go to bed then, huh? Otherwise we'll both get in trouble. See, your sister doesn't want me getting lost around the house showing off my teeth. So we gotta keep that a secret, got it?"

The boy quickly nodded, pretending to zip his lips shut. Watching David put the cookies higher that the chair could help him reach. With cheeks puffed up he stomped away, whining under his breath that the mean kitty was no fun. David rolled his eyes, sinking away his fangs back into his mouth. With dawn approaching he debated his options, quickly scribbling down a "sleeping in here, do not open" to tape on your closet, using a wadded up towel to seal up any cracks. Not ideal, but better than being burnt to a crisp. Once the sun went down again, he came out to see you utterly disheveled. How were you tired you slept half the night, if anything he should be tired! Well apparently your little brother B/N insisted he found a giant, bossy kitty cat "with a dumb hair cut" in the house and demanded you spent all day helping him find it. David hadn't the heart to tell you, although the chair cut line made him tempted to scare the little turd. Maybe not, so he just shrugged it off suggesting perhaps the kid was sleepwalking.

Dwayne

Well Dwayne had a fair share of handling children before, but this was ridiculous. It seemed like a cute little suggestion, spending the night at your house. He wouldn't exactly get much sleep. Still, he didn't mind cuddling with you in your bed, get the opportunity to maybe look around your room and get some better insight about who you were before he met you. Besides, any opportunity to sleep in a real bed again that wasnt caked in cobwebs was a golden opportunity in his eyes. 

You certainly were a trooper, you insisted on staying up as late as you possibly could. After ordering from a pizza shop he opted just to devour the barbecue wings while you nibbled down on classic pepperoni. You insisted there was no garlic, but he wasn't going to risk anything spoiling tonight. When his hunger couldn't be satiated you offered him the uncooked beef shoulder your mom was saving for dinner next week. It was disgusting, wringing it out like a sweaty sock, watching your juice pitcher fill up with red juices. When you struggled to squeeze out  anything else, Dwayne straight up dug his teeth into the partially dried hunk of meat until it started to turn grey. The entire process was gruesome. You couldn't help make a face, although you were still glad he had some sort of blood. 

"What's animal blood like anyway? I mean, usually you drink human right? Is animal like… vampiric vegetarianism?"

Dwayne pondered the inquiry, wiping the red from around his mouth. "I guess the best way I can describe it, it's like junk food in a way," he explained, polishing off the last bit and smearing his mouth on his jacket sleeve. "It fills you up okay, but not as well as human blood. Eventually it won't be able curb the hunger for very much longer."

"Hm. So it's like having potato chips for dinner," you asked, going to rinse out the jug before he had the chance to lick up the remainder. 

"Pretty much."

After dinner, you settled on the couch watching the IT miniseries on tv, sharing a bowl of popcorn. Half way through the three hour series you had dozed off, head lightly nuzzled beneath his arm into his chest. Gently he swept you up into his arms, carrying you down the hallway into your room. Just as he laid you down he heard a bunch of clanking around in the kitchen. Looking back at you he pushed your hair out of your face, stealing a gentle kiss. "Don't worry princess, I'll handle this one," he whispered against your lips. Guess he was going to get that human blood after all. With fangs bared he swept through the hallways with ease, slinking into the dark kitchen ready to strike, and then the lights flipped on. Standing beside the fridge was a young child, couldn't be more than 4 or five sitting on the floor with a handful of pinwheel cookies. Literally caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the bits eyes turned to saucers. "KITTY CAT!" 

Dwayne flinched when the crumbly toddler hugged his waist. Alright so you had a brother. That was new. Carefully he lifted up the toddler, balancing on his hip like he had done with Laddie. "Well hi. I wasn't expecting a cookie thief tonight."

"Are you Y/N's kitty? You're really big!"

"No, I'm a big ol' panther. I usually eat all the bad kids who stay up past their bedtime," he teased with a fanged grin. "Know any?"

The boy rapidly shook his head. "Nope! Uh uh! I was uh, sleepy walkin'!" 

"Oh well, then I guess we should get you back to bed then, huh?"

Laddie used to pull the same thing all the time. They always put him to bed around 4:40 am, sometimes he could push it to almost 5, but then Dwayne would catch him sneaking around the tunnels at 6 am. Except with Laddie he would just hang upside down with him or go back to Star. He couldn't exactly do that with a four year old human. Instead he shuffled his boots through scattered toys, kicking them out of the way as he tucked the little boy in bed. Out like a light. Boy he was good. Softly he tip toes back into your room and laid beside you until the sun started coming up. He snuck into your parents room with their dark, heavy curtains drawn and wedged himself into their walk in closet just to be safe. Thank god your dad hates sunlight too. The entire day time he could hear your little brother shouting "Kitty?! Mr. Kitty?!"

Cue your groans as you lazily followed him, shooing the boy away from where Dwayne was currently sleeping.

"B/N, you were probably just sleeping after you ate all the freakin' cookies and dreamt there was some big dumb cat."

"No no no, honest Y/N, I saw him, I did I did! We jus' gotta keep lookin'!"

Dwayne chuckled, he'd have to apologize to you once the sun came up.

Paul

Yes! A sleep over at Y/N's place! Finally! He never got to go over there because your parents were such fuddy duddy same-old! Now with them gone for a weekend trip to San Diego, he had you all to himself! Oh he was so giddy when he jumped through your doorway. Wow. Fancy! Two stories, a big ol' tv in the living room with one giant wrap-around couch?! Is that the new Sega system?! There's a freaking pool in the backyard! He's just geeking out!

"Dude, babe, why didn't you tell me your parents are loaded," he exclaimed, jumping over the edge of the couch onto the cushions. 

"I mean the stuff is nice I guess," you shrugged, sitting next to him. "Honestly I just love being with you guys in the hotel. I hadn't really thought about it."

Paul raised his brow. "So, you're gonna give all this up?"

"Well, eventually whenever I decide I want you to turn me." 

Cuuute. Paul just snickered, nibbling on your neck. After that, you were up almost all night. Getting high in your bedroom, concocting bizarre stoner munchies down in the kitchen, video game competitions on the giant television, making out when you were supposed to be watching a scary movie… making out when you guys are skinny dipping in the pool… whole lot of heavy petting. Finally you had tuckered out in his arms, burrowed beside him with his jacket draped over you. Oh god you were so adorable. It was only 3:45 in the morning, so he had a few hours before the sun came up. 

"Okay sleepyhead," Paul huffed, lifting you up in his arms ", bedtime!"

You groaned some half mumbled whine about not being tired which only made him chuckle. "Shhh, chill out kitten. Time to crash. I'll still be here tomorrow night, mkay?"

It was hard for him to put you down. Not that he didn't want to- you wouldn't let go! You kept clinging to his shirt and whining until he had flopped on the bed with you. "Can't get enough of me, huh baby? Eh, I can't blame ya." 

You mumbled something along the lines of "shut up" then went back to sleep. Still adorable. Well he got cozy, gently rolling you off of him once he was sure you were asleep. That's when a loud crash came from the kitchen. A break in? 

Paul sat up- and was immediately yanked back down! "Fuck meee," he groaned, looking over at you. Really?! You were holding his HAIR?? "Ugh, babe you suck."

In a frenzy he managed to untangle the chunk of his blonde hair caught in your vice grip. Carefully he peeked around the corner of the hallway. It couldn't be your parents, he would have been able to hear their car perfectly. No this was down in the kitchen. 

Raccoon, burglar, hobo squatters, whatever he was, it was a little past midnught but he could still go for a snack. 

There was a light on in the kitchen just barely illuminating the living room adjacent to it, Paul could see some sort of shadow shifting around, clinking sounds of glass were, the fridge opening. He tore around the corner, fangs ready to dig into his newest treat. Apparently, someone else was craving a snack. 

There was a breakfast bar hanging off the counter top by the sink in the center of your kitchen, and happily wedged in a tall bar stool was a mop top kid sporting batman pajamas with a big ol' glass of milk and the jar of cookies with the lid off. 

"Whoa!"

"Oh! Shit- uh, hey kiddo," Paul stuttered.

"Shit," the kid questioned, making Paul choke. Crap! 

"Oh crap-! I mean fuc-! I mean-," he smacked his forehead in frustration just so he'd shut the hell up, plunking his butt in the stool trying to process what to say. 

The boy was still staring at him, then with a firm hand, pointed right at him. "You're a really tall cat!"

"Yeah? I like to this so." Paul chuckled, snatching a cookie from the jar, not even waiting to finish chewing before he asked him "What's your name kiddo?"

"B/N," he answered. "You're not gonna tell me sister right? I saw you wrestling with here earlier. Are you like a lion or something?"

Again, Paul nearly choked on his cookie, knocking back the milk. Fuuuuck that kid saw you guys on the couch. "Uh, yeah! You're sister is trying to be a lion tamer, so I'm helping her!" Leaning his cheek on his hand he gave him a sneaky smile. "And I won't tell on you if you don't tell on me and your sister. Your mommy and daddy wouldn't be real happy if she let a big ol' lion in."

B/N nodded firmly as if he was given the most intense secret mission of his short life. Paul just spent a few minutes with the oddball talking about video games, the best cartoons on nowadays, showing him how to stick up some devil horns and head bang. Kid was a natural! Tongue out and everything! With snack time over he shooed the boy back to bed, tucking him in awkwardly.

"Good night Mr. Lion. You're awesome," he yawned, snuggling into bed. Paul felt a twinge of guilt, knowing one day he'd have to take this kid's big sister away… maybe they'd wait just a little longer. Wedged happily inside Y/N's closet atop a pile of her unmentionables with plenty of clothes and some duct tape courtesy of said lovely babe, he couldn't help but hear the boy burst in with excitement, jumping on her bed. 

"Ugh, B/N it's like 9 am, what is it," you groaned from your bed, trying to roll back over under a pile of comforters. 

"You wouldn't believe it! I hung out with a lion last night! He was huuuuge!"

"Yeah? I met he smelled like kitty litter and weed," you half mumbled. 

Oi!

"Nuh uh! Don't you remember? He was the one you were wrestling with in the jacuzzi!"

You sat up straight, your face bright red. "You little twerp, you supposed to have been in bed by then!"

Paul had to stifle a laugh, rolling over. He'd explain it later. After all, lions weren't morning cats.

Marko

When you mentioned your parents flying to Florida to take care of your granny, he couldn't resist the urge to spend the night with you. At first you seemed opposed to the idea. You weren't supposed to have guests over! If your parents caught you home with a boy of all people, they'd kill you then dance on your grave. 

"Pretty please baby doll," he'd hugged, nuzzling his nose into your neck. He wiggled his arms around your neck, teasing beneath your ear with sweet kisses until you practically melted. "I'll be good. Honest, baby girl. No one else is gonna see me, it's not like you'll get caught."

"Well…," you'd hesitate. Well, of course all it took was those bonnie blue eyes, Marko pouting out his bottom lip. "Okay fine, but only if you don't cause any trouble."

"When do I ever?"

You were sure to stock up on snacks for the night. Chips, soda, three types of gummies. You two were the dynamic duo of sweet tooths, if it weren't for his hyper healing he was sure his fangs would've rot out by now. 

 But you were determined. Tonight had to be a perfect sleepover for you and your boyfriend. Later in the afternoon you managed to sneak into the blood drive going on at the beach and steal a cooler of AB negative. After all, it was a special night.

 In regards to the sun, you had made up the guest room with heavy curtains tightly taped to the wall to prevent any light. You even made sure the closet was cleared if that wasn't enough. 

You were so excited once he arrived, practically jumping into his arms. Marko gushed over how cute your room was. Posters, plushies, a plethora of reading material along a wall-height bookshelf, although once he spotted your bed there wasn't much talking left over. When you two were all done having a good ol' time doing the Devil's tango, you insisted on him having a home cooked meal for once. 

"Don't you ever get tired of greasy, soggy chow mein," you ask, sauteing a pan of teriyaki soaked beef. 

"It is not soggy," Marko insisted, feigning offense. 

"You didn't say it wasn't greasy though."

After you two fattened up on a sundae making contest, you crashed on the couch with him, laying comfortably on top wiggled tightly in his arms. Even Marko grew drowsy slurping on the end of a blood pack. You were just so sweet and soft, he couldn't resist the allure of the perfect cuddle partner. Eyes were drooping, almost dozing off.

The sound of clinking glass in the kitchen jolted him awake. You two were supposed to be alone, or so he thought. 

It was nearly impossible to wiggle out from underneath you. When he began to move you verbally whined, holding onto him. "Shhh she it's okay baby girl. I'll be right back," he cooed, lifting you up then laying you back down on the couch. Draping his leather jacket over you, his heart nearly kickstarted again when you snuggled up against it with a weary smile. "Oh you're gonna bring me back to life just to kill me, babe."

Again that loud thump in the kitchen drew his attention. Someone must've either been real stupid or had some twisted death wish to break into your house. With teeth bared he stepped in, swinging the door open. 

Oh! At first he thought maybe it was a raccoon, but following the trail of candy wrappers led him right to the culprit. A guilty six year old covered in chocolate. 

"Well, hey there," Marko chimed, crouching down to look at him. "Where'd you come from?"

"My room," the smart mouth retorted, trying to hide the candy behind him. "Are you some sort of cheetah?"

Marko burst out laughing, the light glinting off his set of fangs. "Heck yeah I am. And who are you?"

"I'm B/N," he mumbled. "Is that why you and my sister were having a roaring contest earlier?"

It was hard not to laugh at that, biting on his bottom lip. "Yeah, but you gotta keep it a secret, okay? It's official Cheetah business, I'm sure you understand."

B/N was a tricky one, Marko could definitely see the family resemblance once he asked

"What do I get if I'm quiet?"

Tricky little bugger wasn't he? That smirk was so familiar it was almost weird. Kudos to this kid for playing the hustle. Bad judge of character though. Marko leaned close and grinned, baring his fangs again. "Well, for one I won't eat you."

The boy gasped, but instead of crying he just laughed. "Okay, deal. Throw in a candy bar?"

"Hm.." Marko tilted his head still squatting in a frog position with his hands resting on his knees. "Well I can't argue with that. You got a deal, kiddo."

Escorting the boy back to his room, Marko crossed his arms as he leaned against the doorway. "You're pretty smart, kiddo."

"Yeah, Y/N always say never get played for a sucker," he sighed between yawns. Typical. He was nearly hustled by a 6 year old. Waltzing back to you he lifted you up still wrapped in his jacket and laid you in your room. If you had been alone he probably would've kept you in the guest room with him. But somebody had to watch the little punk. So wearily he slunk into the quiet room, locking the door for extra measure so no nosey kids came bursting in. He hadn't heard much while he was sleeping that day, but when he came our again you were frazzled after putting your brother to bed around 7pm. Apparently he insisted there was a talking cheetah in the house with a bad attitude who wanted to eat him. "Nah," Marko insisted, shrugging his shoulders with a smirk. "I hear punk kids are too tough and chewy for cheetahs to eat."

[outerjjbx]

Sleep

ship: jiara

summary: JJ and Kiara struggle to deal with the deaths of Sarah and John B.

genre: angst

words: 1.7k

JJ blinks once, twice. His eyes are blurry, and there’s a million reasons why. He looks out the window of the Chateau, squinting at the sight of the sun rising over the horizon, and drags himself out of the pullout bed. He hesitates as he stands, throwing a longing glance towards John B’s room, before making his way through strewn-around junk and police tape until he’s out of the shack. It was ruined by everything that had hit it, and legally a crime scene, but JJ couldn’t stay out. He couldn’t go back home, either. He visited his dad once, right after he found out the Phantom was missing and probably wrecked. He hadn’t reacted well.

He doesn’t know where Pope and Kie are. Probably at their houses, attempting to recover from losing their best friends. Pope had offered to let JJ stay with him, but JJ refused, claiming he “needed to be alone”. That was a lie. He doesn’t know why he said that. Honestly, being alone is the last thing he needs.

JJ’s been alone his whole life, in one way or another. Either physically, when he would spend days in his room, too afraid to leave, or emotionally, when he would hide his emotions behind shitty jokes and a bad temper. He was finally opening up, finally letting people in, and then his best friend died. JJ has never been more alone than that.

He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to keep going without John B around. He thought he was alone before, but this is different. Life without his best friend is barely a life at all. No one to joke around with, no one to stay with when he can’t be at home. Pope and Kie are around, but they aren’t the same. No one is.

JJ exhales shakily and closes his eyes. He’s standing on the porch, swaying from exhaustion and at risk of collapse. He pulls his lighter from his pocket and curses under his breath when he can’t find a blunt, instead settling on flicking the flame on and off. He closes his eyes, just letting himself rest for a moment.

“JJ?”

The mentioned jumps, looking around until he sees Kiara. She seems worried, her protective-mother role in full swing. Her appearance tells a different story, though; the unbrushed hair and baggy clothes tell JJ she’s just as much of a mess as him. For a moment, JJ wants to run towards her, to take her in his arms and never let go, but the self-destructive voice in his head tells him not to follow his heart. He turns and makes his way back inside, ignoring Kiara’s concerned shouts.

“JJ, I just want to talk to you!”

JJ grits his teeth as he walks through the Chateau. He isn’t paying enough attention to realise where he’s going, and, soon enough, he’s standing in John B’s room. He pauses for a moment, his chest tightening, and moves to close the door before he can overthink anything. He turns and sits on the floor, his breathing uneven and strained.

He knows he shouldn’t have run away. He should be there for Kie, for Pope, for anyone that needs him. There’s something stopping him, though, and it’s the same thing that prevents him for doing anything that’s good for him. It’s the same thing that tells him to see his dad, the same thing that keeps him locked inside himself. And he hates it, so much, but that doesn’t stop him from covering his ears when Kiara shouts his name.

She knocks on the door, gently, and he hears her sigh. There’s a thunk, and he assumes she’s sitting down.

“JJ, you’ve gotta come out some time,” Kiara mumbles. “I just... I want someone to talk to. Pope’s shut me out, and I don’t have anyone else. I’ve only got you.”

JJ runs a hand through his hair. He takes a deep breath as he mentally debates the outcomes of opening the door. Eventually, his guilt sets in, and he stands up and swings open the only thing separating him from a bombardment of unwanted emotions.

Kiara hugs him immediately. She basically throws herself at him, burying her face in his chest and dampening his shirt with tears. She sobs, her arms around his waist, and it takes a moment for him to react before his instincts set in and he’s wrapping his arms around her. She melts into the embrace, but JJ’s dumbfounded. Their usual chemistry and ease is replaced by an uncomfortable tensions and JJ knows he’s the one that created it.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.

Kie pulls away and shakes her head. “No, it’s fine. I understand.” She looks up, new tears filling her eyes, and it takes JJ a moment to realise she’s studying the new bruises on his face.

She cups his face and runs her thumb over a bruise along his jawline. JJ flinches away, and he immediately regrets it when Kiara suddenly looks like she’s about to break down again.

“Why’d you go back?” she whispers, her voice watery.

JJ answers honestly. “I don’t know.”

Truthfully, JJ doesn’t really know anything. His motivations, even to himself, are completely unknown. He just does things, not caring about the consequences. That’s what he convinces himself of, at least. Sometimes, when he’s been awake for too long and his thoughts are uncontrolled, he wonders if he does things that hurt him on purpose. But he chooses to brush that aside each time, because that’s stupid to him. He doesn’t think about how much sense it makes.

Kiara nods and takes a step back. Her eyes flicker downwards, to JJ’s clothed torso, and he knows she’s thinking about the bruises there. The ones she’d already seen on that night in the hot tub are faded and yellow, but there’s enough new ones to swallow them until they seem black and red. She doesn’t need to know that, so JJ forces himself out of John B’s bedroom and into the main room of the Chateau.

“It’s illegal to be here,” Kie says. “Shoupe’s probably gonna come around and kick you out.”

JJ shrugs. “Yeah, I know. Figure I’ll hide until he leaves. Dude’s an idiot, he’ll just waltz by.”

Unfortunately, they both knew that Shoupe isn’t as dumb as they want him to be. The Chateau isn’t a permanent stay. JJ has to leave sooner or later, and with their luck, it would probably be sooner.

“You can stay with me,” Kiara offers.

JJ chuckles, but it isn’t real. “Nah, your parents hate me. They’d kick me out if I came within a hundred feet of your place.”

“What about Pope? Didn’t Heyward offer to let you stay with them?” Kiara asks. She almost seems desperate.

“I don’t need to stay with anyone,” JJ says. “I’m a lone wolf, I’m fine by myself.”

There’s a silence, and Kiara’s voice is strained when she speaks again. “I’m not.”

He meets her eyes. She’s crying again; shaking on the spot. JJ feels his heart grow heavy as he pulls her into another hug, letting her cry into his shirt again. He rubs circles on her back, but he doesn’t know how to comfort her. He doesn’t know what to do. He just holds her, whispering sweet nothings to her every time a sob wracks her body. He does what she did when he broke down in the hot tub. He gives her support. He lets her know she isn’t alone.

Kiara pulls away eventually, looking embarrassed as she wipes away her tears and fixes her hair. “Sorry. I just... can I stay here tonight?”

“Of course,” JJ nods. He looks down sheepishly as he admits, “I don’t really want to be alone either.”

Kie laughs and gently shoves his arm. “What happened to being a lone wolf, tough guy?”

JJ smiles. “Guess I lied.”

Kiara hums and walks past him, looking around the Chateau. “Damn, this place is a mess.”

“I know,” JJ hums. “I’m kind of just adding to it.”

Kiara explores the kitchen, picking things up here and there. JJ watches, wondering what’s going on in her head. There’s still tear tracks on her face, and she still admittedly looks like a mess, but she seems at peace. For a moment, as he watches her face twist into a disgusted expression at the sight of a loaf of moaldy bread he has more-than-once tried to eat, JJ feels like everything might be okay. Then a soft breeze brushes past him, and it somehow reminds him of the absence of two people he never wanted to leave. John B, his best friend since the third grade, and Sarah, the girl he never really got to know. JJ falls back onto the pullout and closes his eyes. The sound alerts Kiara, who makes her way over to him.

“You okay?” she asks.

JJ turns onto his side and relaxes into the pillow. “I haven’t slept in, like, a thousand years.”

Kiara raises an eyebrow. “Aren’t you always asleep?” she lays down next to him and keeps her eyes trained to the ceiling. “But, honestly, I haven’t either.”

JJ doesn’t reply. For a moment, Kie thinks he’s fallen asleep, but then he turns to face her, and she gets a good look at his face. Past the bruises, he just looks tired, maybe even scared. It hurts to see him so vulnerable, so fragile. He’s meant to be the tough one; the reckless one that can always think of a plan, even if it is the dumbest thing. JJ is impulsive decisions and messy clothes, not overcrowded bruises and wide eyes.

“It’s, like, 7:30am,” Kiara mumbles. “Are we about to sleep at 7:30 in the morning?”

JJ just shrugs and closes his eyes. Kie just looks at him for a moment, biting her lip as she contemplates her next move. She inhales shakily and scoots closed to him, laying so she’s cuddled against his chest. JJ tenses at the unexpected movement but eventually relaxes and stretches his arm around her, opting to play with her hair. Kiara signs contentedly and lets her exhaustion take over.

And, for the first time since the announcement of John B and Sarah’s deaths, JJ and Kiara sleep peacefully.

[artificialqueens]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered, Chapter 1 (Crygi, Jan x Nicky) - Joley

ao3 link

“Mail call!” Crystal called out, even though it was only her and Jan in the apartment. She sorted the pile out between the two of them, ending up with two slightly messy stacks. “Looks like you got an international package!”

That brought Jan barreling out of her room, nearly slipping on the rug on her way in. She grabbed onto the counter to support herself, taking a gasp of air before standing upright. “Oh yay!” She grabbed the package with the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning and took it back to her room along with the rest of her pile, not bothering to close the door behind her.

Crystal chuckled, looking over to see her cat perched on the couch, staring into Jan’s bedroom with something of a perplexed expression. “It’s nothing for you, Tic. But maybe she’ll let you play in the box,” she mused before her gaze drifted back to her pile of mail, sifting through what inevitably turned out to be nothing but junk. With nothing else of her immediate interest, she wandered into her roommate’s room, sitting on the bed while Jan was at her desk. “What’d you get?”

Jan carefully opened the box, gliding the box cutter down the tape seams so she didn’t have to rip and yank and risk tearing anything inside. She took the neatly folded letter out first, holding it to her face and taking a deep inhale. The scent of patchouli and vanilla wafted into her nose and made her smile. It was the smell she most associated with Nicky, every package and letter she sent came laced with the aroma of her perfume.

“Bonjour, mon petite poupée,” she started to read, ignoring the way Crystal started to laugh at her butchering of the French phrases. “I hope spring is as beautiful there as it is here. I have sent you a box of macarons—I enjoy them year-round, but my mother always loved to bake them the most this time of year. I wanted to send you some of hers, but hopefully bakery ones will suffice. I’d love it if you FaceTime or Skype me when you get them, I want to see your live reaction, and I sent you enough to share with Crystal, so be nice. Until then, câlins et bisous, Nicky.”

Jan smiled broadly as she finished reading the letter, noticing the lipstick kiss print that Nicky signed off every letter with, and gently set it aside. “Okay, it’s like nine at night where she is, she’ll still be up,” she said as she took the pastel box tied neatly with a white lace bow out of the package. “Oh look, this is so cute.” She took out another piece of paper where Nicky had hand-drawn each macaron and wrote the flavor next to it, making a color-coded guide. “Isn’t she so sweet and thoughtful?”

“She told you to share, so yes.” Crystal chuckled, running her hand through her hair to look presentable while Jan called Nicky on Skype.

Nicky answered the call right away. “Hi Jan! Hi Crystal!” She greeted them with energy even though she was dressed for bedtime, wearing a black tank top and white cotton shorts (the latter not being visible in the frame). Her hair was damp, air-drying, and draped over her desk chair. “Did you get my mail?”

Jan nodded, holding the box up for her to see. “Just did. Thank you so much, Nicks. That’s so sweet of you.”

“Of course, I’m still making my way through the gift basket you sent for my birthday. I have opinions on all the different Oreo flavors.” Nicky giggled. They had gotten into a discussion about all the different flavors of the cookie, and she had become obsessed with the idea of trying the variety. So, when her birthday rolled around, Jan had painstakingly arranged a cookie bouquet (along with a few other treats) with as many flavors as she could find.

In the year they’d been communicating, Nicky had both come to expect Jan to go the extra mile and would still be surprised every time. The university course that had brought them together through its pen pal program certainly didn’t require an exchange of presents, but it started with Jan not being to help herself and (unbeknownst to Nicky) progressed into an ever-present desire to impress her.

“We can get to that next, I’m really excited to try these. Which one is your favorite?” Jan asked as she took the bow off the box without untying it and opened it up. “Oooh, it still smells fresh-baked.”

Nicky grinned as she watched her, opening up a bottle of rosé and pouring herself a glass. “I am partial to the red velvet and the apricot.”

Jan licked her lips. “You know I love red velvet.” She plucked the deep red cookie from the box before handing it to Crystal, who was making grabby-hands at it. She waited for her friend to choose and set the box down on her desk. “On three.” She counted down, then took a bite. “Holy shit.” She covered her mouth, not wanting to talk with her mouth full. “Nicks, these are delicious. You’re gonna have to send these on the regular.”

Crystal was enjoying herself just as much. “Is there a word for like, food horny? You know, like it tastes so good, I’m kind of turned on?”

Nicky snorted and Jan looked down and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just say you like it, Crystal.”

“I do,” she confirmed, then looked down at her phone. “Anyway, gotta go. Bye Nicky, thanks for the cookies!” She waved at the screen before darting right out of the room.

Jan chuckled, knowing exactly what propelled Crystal out of the room so quickly and shouted “Tell Gigi I said hi!” after her. Then she faced forward again, her attention effortlessly returned to Nicky. “Anyway, how have you been?” “No complainings,” Nicky hummed, aimlessly strumming her fingers against her glass. “Did you get around to listening to that study playlist I sent you?”

“Oh my god yeah, I forgot to say anything because I kept listening to it after I was done studying and fell asleep,” Jan admitted with a laugh. “You have impeccable taste.”

She twirled her slowly drying hair around her manicured finger. “Tell me something I do not know, darling.” She winked.

Jan’s breath hitched in her throat and she covered it with a cough. Nicky exuded a seductive beauty so effortlessly and it didn’t take much for Jan to get flustered. If their friendship wasn’t exclusively long distance, her crush would have been impossible for Nicky or anyone else to not pick up on. Hell, Crystal only knew because she had been aching for the release of gushing about her feelings and her roommate lent a willing ear. “Last time I did that, we ended up talking about juice boxes for an hour,” she retorted once her body had unclenched.

Nicky chuckled softly at the memory. It was so easy for them to go off on tangents about the smallest things. It was probably her favorite part of her conversations with Jan, everything flowed so easily, awkward silence simply didn’t exist between them. “That is true,” she conceded. “But I’ve got to go eat dinner. We’ll talk tomorrow, yes?”

“Go eat.” She never quite grasped how Nicky always ate dinner so late at night, but she had all but memorized her schedule by now. “Au revoir,” she cooed, just because she knew it would make her laugh, and waved as she ended the call.

——

When Crystal got the text ‘come hang out, im done with class,’ she was out the door before she even sent ‘ok.’ Gigi was a junior while she and Jan were seniors, but all of them going to the same university had their schedules aligning relatively often. But she and Jan were living off-campus, so she didn’t want to waste any time on getting to her.

“Hey.” Gigi smiled, greeting her best friend with a hug. “Come on, we’re going on a coffee run,” she said, leading the way. Her direct nature was something Crystal had appreciated—she didn’t ask questions, she made statements, and it came off as harsh to some, but Crystal was terrible at making daily decisions, so she was happy to leave it in her hands.

“Sounds good. You should come over soon, Jan got these amazing French cookies from Nicky. I think she’ll let us steal some,” Crystal mused, linking their arms as they walked.

“Cool.” She nodded. “Has Jan told Nicky she’s in love with her yet?” It had come up in conversation in the past, leading to Crystal giving the entire backstory of Jan and Nicky’s relationship. Luckily, Jan hadn’t held it against her and could live with one more person knowing the truth.

Crystal laughed softly and shook her head. “Nope. But, you know, you can’t push someone to admit how they feel if they aren’t ready.” Her tone was a bit strained in the remark, looking straight ahead as she spoke.

But Gigi didn’t notice the shift in her voice anyway. “That’s stupid,” she said flatly. “They’re like, four thousand miles apart, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Feelings are feelings.” She shrugged as they entered the café. Of course, she could relate to what Jan was going through, but as far as she was concerned, her situation was worse. A pen pal could be out of sight and out of mind, she reasoned. But having a crush on your best friend made day-to-day life excruciating. She was constantly torn between the desire to distance herself so her emotions didn’t overwhelm, and the powerful urge to spend as much time and be as physically close to Gigi as possible. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the latter would always win. “So, how’s your final project going?”

Gigi let out an exasperated groan. “God, I’m killing myself making a dress for the wedding I’ll never have,” she lamented. “I never want to see white lace again once I’m done with it.”

Crystal winced, averting her gaze. “You don’t think you’ll ever get married?”

“Not the takeaway here, Crys,” she rolled her eyes, but there was still fondness in her expression. “Listen, I’ve made it this far in life without a relationship, maybe that’s just my destiny. I’ll just be far too busy taking over the fashion industry to worry about it.”

It wasn’t a personal rejection, but it was painfully difficult for Crystal not to take it as one. Her heart ached and her chest felt heavy with a sudden sadness, coupled with her active efforts not to let it show. “No, yeah, I get it.”

Gigi rubbed her arm gently. “Don’t let my cynicism ruin that hopeless romantic in you. It gives me hope in this cold, dark world.” She looked into her eyes, silently offering the apology she was just a little too proud to verbalize.

Crystal lightened back up, though she was embarrassed that Gigi had such a hold on her emotions without even realizing it. “I’ll do my best.”

——

Crystal returned to the apartment just as the sun was setting. Coffee had turned to dinner and time had just slipped away from her. But when she got inside, she went right over to knock on Jan’s door, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Come in!”

“Jan, I had an idea!” Crystal let herself in and sat at the desk, as Jan was now in bed with her laptop.

Jan closed the laptop and set it aside. “I’m scared already,” she joked.

“No, no, no, I’m totally serious, and it’s a good idea,” Crystal insisted, shifting to sit cross-legged on the chair. “You and Nicky are like, a million miles apart and that really sucks, right?”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me.”

Crystal waved the comment off and continued. “So here’s the plan—you tell her there’s a big event that you’re going to this summer and you want her to come to visit. Dunno what the event would be, but we can worry about it later.”

The brunette tilted her head to the side. “Like graduation?”

“That’s not enough time. It has to be something that’ll happen in like, a month or something,” she explained. “But you guys will just be so excited to be together that you’ll forget about the event entirely, problem solved.”

Jan stared blankly at her friend, wondering if she had become delirious from too many all-nighters. But then she shrugged, what did she have to lose? “I’ll talk to her about it in the morning, then. It couldn’t hurt to bring up…”

“That’s the spirit!” Crystal clapped her hands together. “Let me know how it goes!” And with that, she left the room with a spring in her step.

And Jan did sleep on it, weighing out the pros and cons of creating an elaborate ruse just to get the girl she was pining after to travel overseas. It wasn’t that they hadn’t talked about visiting each other, but they could never ‘justify’ it, there was always something else they needed to focus on, or the finances just wouldn’t allow it (she wasn’t about to ask her parents to send her to France when they were already paying her bills). The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a decent idea.

After breakfast and a shower, Jan called up Nicky on FaceTime. “Are you busy? I’ve gotta ask you something.”

“You have my undivided attention,” Nicky assured.

Jan smiled, sitting down on the couch. “So, I’ve got this big event coming up next month, and I know we haven’t been able to arrange a visit yet, but I think this would be the perfect opportunity. I really want to see you.”

Nicky tilted her head in curiosity. “I want to see you too. What is the event?”

“A wedding,” Jan answered confidently. She had decided that it would make perfect sense for the time of year.

“I love weddings.” Nicky’s face lit up. “Whose is it?”

Fuck. Why hadn’t she planned one step further? “It’s…” At that moment, she somehow forgot the name of everyone she had ever known for a brief moment, and she wanted to yell at Crystal for giving her this stupid idea in the first place and—

“Crystal and Gigi’s,” she blurted out.

Nicky knew Crystal had a romantic interest in Gigi just from passing conversations, but she had never quite pieced together the nature of their relationship. She was a little surprised at how serious it apparently was, but decided there was no need to question it. “Oh, good for them. I’ll have to double-check, but I think I will be able to be your plus one.”

Jan didn’t realize she had been holding her breath until she exhaled in relief. “Great! I’m so excited, I’m sure Crystal will be thrilled to hear it.”

“Send her my good wishes, I have to get to class, though,” Nicky replied, exchanging goodbyes before the call ended.

“What am I gonna be thrilled to hear?” Crystal asked as she tossed her bag into her bedroom. The door was always left open so TicTac could go in and out as he pleased. She had just returned from class, dried paint splotches still staining her fingers and palms.

Jan’s face froze. Yet another issue she had not accounted for. “Nicky is going to come visit.”

Crystal beamed triumphantly, getting ready to rub her brilliance in the other girl’s face. “See? I told you it—”

“She’s visiting for your and Gigi’s wedding.”

She blinked, looking at her incredulously. “Mine and Gigi’s what now?”

“Look, I panicked, it was the only thing I could think of. And this was your idea anyway, so if I’m going down, you’re coming to hell with me,” Jan got up as she spoke, pacing around the room as she desperately tried to figure out what to do next. “Just go with it, please.”

It had taken another moment for Crystal to fully process the information. How was she supposed to tell Gigi? What was she going to do if she couldn’t get her on board? But she didn’t want to compound Jan’s panic and make everything worse. “Well, Gigi does have a wedding dress in the works…” She looked over at her friend who was still on the verge of an anxiety attack and rushed to her side, wrapping her arms around her. “Listen, we’ll make this work. I don’t know how, but we will, I promise.”

Jan took a few deep breaths, allowing herself to be calmed down. She hugged Crystal tightly, hiding her face against her shoulder. “Where do we go from here?” Her voice couldn’t reach above a whisper.

Crystal chewed her lip as she rubbed Jan’s back. “I guess first thing’s first—I have to tell Gigi we’re getting married.”

[missjanjie]

Signed, Sealed, Delivered | (1/?)

Title: Signed, Sealed, Delivered Summary:   Jan is in love with her French pen pal, Nicky. Her roommate, Crystal, is in love with her best friend, Gigi. A (perhaps ill-thought out) plan emerges: give Nicky a reason to visit by inviting her to Crystal and Gigi's wedding. With a month to pull the scheme together, no one knows how this will end up. Word Count: 2.8k (this chapter) Relationship(s): Sportsdoll (Jan Sport/Nicky Doll), Crygi (Crystal Methyd/Gigi Goode Rating: T (so far)

Read on AO3

also, thanks to @janssports and @imalwaysaslutfordrag for beta-ing xo

“Mail call!” Crystal called out, even though it was only her and Jan in the apartment. She sorted the pile out between the two of them, ending up with two slightly messy stacks. “Looks like you got an international package!”

That brought Jan barreling out of her room, nearly slipping on the rug on her way in. She grabbed onto the counter to support herself, taking a gasp of air before standing upright. “Oh yay!” She grabbed the package with the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning and took it back to her room along with the rest of her pile, not bothering to close the door behind her.

Crystal chuckled, looking over to see her cat perched on the couch, staring into Jan’s bedroom with something of a perplexed expression. “It’s nothing for you, Tic. But maybe she’ll let you play in the box,” she mused before her gaze drifted back to her pile of mail, sifting through what inevitably turned out to be nothing but junk. With nothing else of her immediate interest, she wandered into her roommate’s room, sitting on the bed while Jan was at her desk. “What’d you get?”

Jan carefully opened the box, gliding the box cutter down the tape seams so she didn’t have to rip and yank and risk tearing anything inside. She took the neatly folded letter out first, holding it to her face and taking a deep inhale. The scent of patchouli and vanilla wafted into her nose and made her smile. It was the smell she most associated with Nicky, every package and letter she sent came laced with the aroma of her perfume.

“Bonjour, mon petite poupée,” she started to read, ignoring the way Crystal started to laugh at her butchering of the French phrases. “I hope spring is as beautiful there as it is here. I have sent you a box of macarons—I enjoy them year-round, but my mother always loved to bake them the most this time of year. I wanted to send you some of hers, but hopefully bakery ones will suffice. I’d love it if you FaceTime or Skype me when you get them, I want to see your live reaction, and I sent you enough to share with Crystal, so be nice. Until then, câlins et bisous, Nicky.”

Jan smiled broadly as she finished reading the letter, noticing the lipstick kiss print that Nicky signed off every letter with, and gently set it aside. “Okay, it’s like nine at night where she is, she’ll still be up,” she said as she took the pastel box tied neatly with a white lace bow out of the package. “Oh look, this is so cute.” She took out another piece of paper where Nicky had hand-drawn each macaron and wrote the flavor next to it, making a color-coded guide. “Isn’t she so sweet and thoughtful?”

“She told you to share, so yes.” Crystal chuckled, running her hand through her hair to look presentable while Jan called Nicky on Skype.

Nicky answered the call right away. “Hi Jan! Hi Crystal!” She greeted them with energy even though she was dressed for bedtime, wearing a black tank top and white cotton shorts (the latter not being visible in the frame). Her hair was damp, air-drying, and draped over her desk chair. “Did you get my mail?”

Jan nodded, holding the box up for her to see. “Just did. Thank you so much, Nicks. That’s so sweet of you.”

“Of course, I’m still making my way through the gift basket you sent for my birthday. I have opinions on all the different Oreo flavors.” Nicky giggled. They had gotten into a discussion about all the different flavors of the cookie, and she had become obsessed with the idea of trying the variety. So, when her birthday rolled around, Jan had painstakingly arranged a cookie bouquet (along with a few other treats) with as many flavors as she could find.

In the year they’d been communicating, Nicky had both come to expect Jan to go the extra mile and would still be surprised every time. The university course that had brought them together through its pen pal program certainly didn’t require an exchange of presents, but it started with Jan not being to help herself and (unbeknownst to Nicky) progressed into an ever-present desire to impress her.

“We can get to that next, I’m really excited to try these. Which one is your favorite?” Jan asked as she took the bow off the box without untying it and opened it up. “Oooh, it still smells fresh-baked.”

Nicky grinned as she watched her, opening up a bottle of rosé and pouring herself a glass. “I am partial to the red velvet and the apricot.”

Jan licked her lips. “You know I love red velvet.” She plucked the deep red cookie from the box before handing it to Crystal, who was making grabby-hands at it. She waited for her friend to choose and set the box down on her desk. “On three.” She counted down, then took a bite. “Holy shit.” She covered her mouth, not wanting to talk with her mouth full. “Nicks, these are delicious. You’re gonna have to send these on the regular.”

Crystal was enjoying herself just as much. “Is there a word for like, food horny? You know, like it tastes so good, I’m kind of turned on?”

Nicky snorted and Jan looked down and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just say you like it, Crystal.”

“I do,” she confirmed, then looked down at her phone. “Anyway, gotta go. Bye Nicky, thanks for the cookies!” She waved at the screen before darting right out of the room.

Jan chuckled, knowing exactly what propelled Crystal out of the room so quickly and shouted “Tell Gigi I said hi!” after her. Then she faced forward again, her attention effortlessly returned to Nicky. “Anyway, how have you been?” “No complainings,” Nicky hummed, aimlessly strumming her fingers against her glass. “Did you get around to listening to that study playlist I sent you?”

“Oh my god yeah, I forgot to say anything because I kept listening to it after I was done studying and fell asleep,” Jan admitted with a laugh. “You have impeccable taste.”

She twirled her slowly drying hair around her manicured finger. “Tell me something I do not know, darling.” She winked.

Jan’s breath hitched in her throat and she covered it with a cough. Nicky exuded a seductive beauty so effortlessly and it didn’t take much for Jan to get flustered. If their friendship wasn’t exclusively long distance, her crush would have been impossible for Nicky or anyone else to not pick up on. Hell, Crystal only knew because she had been aching for the release of gushing about her feelings and her roommate lent a willing ear. “Last time I did that, we ended up talking about juice boxes for an hour,” she retorted once her body had unclenched.

Nicky chuckled softly at the memory. It was so easy for them to go off on tangents about the smallest things. It was probably her favorite part of her conversations with Jan, everything flowed so easily, awkward silence simply didn’t exist between them. “That is true,” she conceded. “But I’ve got to go eat dinner. We’ll talk tomorrow, yes?”

“Go eat.” She never quite grasped how Nicky always ate dinner so late at night, but she had all but memorized her schedule by now. “Au revoir,” she cooed, just because she knew it would make her laugh, and waved as she ended the call.

------

When Crystal got the text ‘come hang out, im done with class,’ she was out the door before she even sent ‘ok.’ Gigi was a junior while she and Jan were seniors, but all of them going to the same university had their schedules aligning relatively often. But she and Jan were living off-campus, so she didn’t want to waste any time on getting to her.

“Hey.” Gigi smiled, greeting her best friend with a hug. “Come on, we’re going on a coffee run,” she said, leading the way. Her direct nature was something Crystal had appreciated—she didn’t ask questions, she made statements, and it came off as harsh to some, but Crystal was terrible at making daily decisions, so she was happy to leave it in her hands.

“Sounds good. You should come over soon, Jan got these amazing French cookies from Nicky. I think she’ll let us steal some,” Crystal mused, linking their arms as they walked.

“Cool.” She nodded. “Has Jan told Nicky she’s in love with her yet?” It had come up in conversation in the past, leading to Crystal giving the entire backstory of Jan and Nicky’s relationship. Luckily, Jan hadn’t held it against her and could live with one more person knowing the truth.

Crystal laughed softly and shook her head. “Nope. But, you know, you can’t push someone to admit how they feel if they aren’t ready.” Her tone was a bit strained in the remark, looking straight ahead as she spoke.

But Gigi didn’t notice the shift in her voice anyway. “That’s stupid,” she said flatly. “They’re like, four thousand miles apart, what’s the worst that could happen?”

“Feelings are feelings.” She shrugged as they entered the café. Of course, she could relate to what Jan was going through, but as far as she was concerned, her situation was worse. A pen pal could be out of sight and out of mind, she reasoned. But having a crush on your best friend made day-to-day life excruciating. She was constantly torn between the desire to distance herself so her emotions didn’t overwhelm, and the powerful urge to spend as much time and be as physically close to Gigi as possible. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the latter would always win. “So, how’s your final project going?”

Gigi let out an exasperated groan. “God, I’m killing myself making a dress for the wedding I’ll never have,” she lamented. “I never want to see white lace again once I’m done with it.”

Crystal winced, averting her gaze. “You don’t think you’ll ever get married?”

“Not the takeaway here, Crys,” she rolled her eyes, but there was still fondness in her expression. “Listen, I’ve made it this far in life without a relationship, maybe that’s just my destiny. I’ll just be far too busy taking over the fashion industry to worry about it.”

It wasn’t a personal rejection, but it was painfully difficult for Crystal not to take it as one. Her heart ached and her chest felt heavy with a sudden sadness, coupled with her active efforts not to let it show. “No, yeah, I get it.”

Gigi rubbed her arm gently. “Don’t let my cynicism ruin that hopeless romantic in you. It gives me hope in this cold, dark world.” She looked into her eyes, silently offering the apology she was just a little too proud to verbalize.

Crystal lightened back up, though she was embarrassed that Gigi had such a hold on her emotions without even realizing it. “I’ll do my best.”

------

Crystal returned to the apartment just as the sun was setting. Coffee had turned to dinner and time had just slipped away from her. But when she got inside, she went right over to knock on Jan’s door, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Come in!”

“Jan, I had an idea!” Crystal let herself in and sat at the desk, as Jan was now in bed with her laptop.

Jan closed the laptop and set it aside. “I’m scared already,” she joked.

“No, no, no, I’m totally serious, and it’s a good idea,” Crystal insisted, shifting to sit cross-legged on the chair. “You and Nicky are like, a million miles apart and that really sucks, right?”

“Yes, thank you for reminding me.”

Crystal waved the comment off and continued. “So here’s the plan—you tell her there’s a big event that you’re going to this summer and you want her to come to visit. Dunno what the event would be, but we can worry about it later.”

The brunette tilted her head to the side. “Like graduation?”

“That’s not enough time. It has to be something that’ll happen in like, a month or something,” she explained. “But you guys will just be so excited to be together that you’ll forget about the event entirely, problem solved.”

Jan stared blankly at her friend, wondering if she had become delirious from too many all-nighters. But then she shrugged, what did she have to lose? “I’ll talk to her about it in the morning, then. It couldn’t hurt to bring up…”

“That’s the spirit!” Crystal clapped her hands together. “Let me know how it goes!” And with that, she left the room with a spring in her step.

And Jan did sleep on it, weighing out the pros and cons of creating an elaborate ruse just to get the girl she was pining after to travel overseas. It wasn’t that they hadn’t talked about visiting each other, but they could never ‘justify’ it, there was always something else they needed to focus on, or the finances just wouldn’t allow it (she wasn’t about to ask her parents to send her to France when they were already paying her bills). The more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a decent idea.

After breakfast and a shower, Jan called up Nicky on FaceTime. “Are you busy? I’ve gotta ask you something.”

“You have my undivided attention,” Nicky assured.

Jan smiled, sitting down on the couch. “So, I’ve got this big event coming up next month, and I know we haven’t been able to arrange a visit yet, but I think this would be the perfect opportunity. I really want to see you.”

Nicky tilted her head in curiosity. “I want to see you too. What is the event?”

“A wedding,” Jan answered confidently. She had decided that it would make perfect sense for the time of year.

“I love weddings.” Nicky’s face lit up. “Whose is it?”

Fuck. Why hadn’t she planned one step further? “It’s…” At that moment, she somehow forgot the name of everyone she had ever known for a brief moment, and she wanted to yell at Crystal for giving her this stupid idea in the first place and—

“Crystal and Gigi’s,” she blurted out.

Nicky knew Crystal had a romantic interest in Gigi just from passing conversations, but she had never quite pieced together the nature of their relationship. She was a little surprised at how serious it apparently was, but decided there was no need to question it. “Oh, good for them. I’ll have to double-check, but I think I will be able to be your plus one.”

Jan didn’t realize she had been holding her breath until she exhaled in relief. “Great! I’m so excited, I’m sure Crystal will be thrilled to hear it.”

“Send her my good wishes, I have to get to class, though,” Nicky replied, exchanging goodbyes before the call ended.

“What am I gonna be thrilled to hear?” Crystal asked as she tossed her bag into her bedroom. The door was always left open so TicTac could go in and out as he pleased. She had just returned from class, dried paint splotches still staining her fingers and palms.

Jan’s face froze. Yet another issue she had not accounted for. “Nicky is going to come visit.”

Crystal beamed triumphantly, getting ready to rub her brilliance in the other girl’s face. “See? I told you it—”

“She’s visiting for your and Gigi’s wedding.”

She blinked, looking at her incredulously. “Mine and Gigi’s what now?”

“Look, I panicked, it was the only thing I could think of. And this was your idea anyway, so if I’m going down, you’re coming to hell with me,” Jan got up as she spoke, pacing around the room as she desperately tried to figure out what to do next. “Just go with it, please.”

It had taken another moment for Crystal to fully process the information. How was she supposed to tell Gigi? What was she going to do if she couldn’t get her on board? But she didn’t want to compound Jan’s panic and make everything worse. “Well, Gigi does have a wedding dress in the works…” She looked over at her friend who was still on the verge of an anxiety attack and rushed to her side, wrapping her arms around her. “Listen, we’ll make this work. I don’t know how, but we will, I promise.”

Jan took a few deep breaths, allowing herself to be calmed down. She hugged Crystal tightly, hiding her face against her shoulder. “Where do we go from here?” Her voice couldn’t reach above a whisper.

Crystal chewed her lip as she rubbed Jan’s back. “I guess first thing's first—I have to tell Gigi we’re getting married.”

[slash-em-up]

Priceless pt. 2: The Collector x Reader

OK. Holidays are over. Enough feel-good fluff, let’s get back to the angst and whump. Jkjkjkjk but for real this one is not fun. Trigger warning for torture and child abuse!!!

Pt. 1 Here

———————————————————————

Your head felt like it was about to explode.

The pain made you moan as your eyes slowly slid open. The dim light of the room barely improved your situation, and the you tried to focus on the source of the baleful yellow light.

It flickered from a lamp sitting abandoned on a scratched and dusty table.

The floor beneath your bare feet was cold cement. You were apparently in some type of basement.

As more sensations began to register in your body, you realized that your arms were tied behind the back of the chair you’d been placed in - a layer of duct tape wrapping around your chest holding you tight to the seat.

Where were you?

“Oh hey sweetheart. Nice of you to join us.”

Your eyes darted up to see Arkin standing across the length of the room from you, rifling through a duffle bag and pulling various tools and metal objects out before placing them deliberately on a table.

It wasn’t until you saw Asa behind him that the severity of your situation really started to sink in.

Arkin had stripped Asa and tied him to a chair much like the one you were seated on. Unlike you, his ankles and arms were tied directly to the hard surface as well. You could see his fists curled, testing the strength of the metal cuffs wrapped around his wrists.

His eyes were hidden behind another strip of duct tape, and his ears were covered with headphones.

Arkin saw your pale and ill expression as you observed the larger man.

“Noise canceling headphones. He can’t hear shit right now.”

He strode over to stand behind the bound man.

“That was always the worst part for me – not knowing what he was gonna do next… I don’t have the fancy set up like he does… or, did. But I can improvise.”

Arkin set his hands softly on Asa’s bare shoulders, and you watched in shocked horror as Asa flinched harshly and began to thrash against the bonds holding him.

Letting out a chuckle, Arkin patted Asa on the cheek, moving his fingers away quickly as Asa snapped his teeth, trying to bite.

“He’s a fighter, your guy. Gotta give him props for that. I wasn’t expecting anything different; but even after I put him in the trunk hooo boy…”

Arkin moves his sleeve up to show you a deep set of fresh gouges in his arm.

“He got one hand loose, and that was that. Not making that mistake again.”

You swallowed nervously.

“Arkin… you don’t have to do this. You can still turn us in, I’ll confess to everything… I’ll make him confess … just… please don’t do this.”

The slender man looked at you with a hard expression before scoffing.

“Because the state’s definitely gonna give him what he deserves… Nah, honey. I want this man dead. I want him to hurt like he hurt me… and I want you to watch it all happen.”

A warm tear dripped down your face as you began to realize neither you nor Asa would probably be making it out of this alive.

Arkin’s pale blue eyes followed the trail of the tear as it moved from your cheek to your chin; gaze momentarily softening before breaking to return to his main captive.

He cleared his throat.

“One thing I learned while I was the good doctor’s guest was that different people respond differently to different kinds of stimulation…. What made me scream didn’t necessarily work on his other pets.”

Your wet gaze followed Arkin as he moved to the table and grabbed a wicked looking serrated knife.

“For example, I can do this…”

Fast as a wink he turned and pulled the blade across Asa’s left pectoral, leaving a streaming red line in his wake.

Asa grit his teeth behind his lips, but didn’t make a sound.

“… and I barely get anything.”

The knife was abandoned to the floor.

“But if I do this…”

He moved his palm to lay flat against Asa’s mouth and nose, cutting off his air.

The effect was immediate. Asa let out a muffled cry – somewhere between a scream and a growl – and writhed. Using everything he had in him to dislodge the hand still pressed to his skin.

Arkin grinned as he took his hand away, letting the offending limb drift to his side as he stood beside Asa’s heaving form.

“Completely different reaction, right?”

You shuddered as you watched Asa try to calm himself, taking deep breaths in and out through his nose as he visibly shook.

“Seems like our boy gets a bit more worked up by the hands-on approach than by any of this junk. Not really surprising, considering his history…”

He must have seen some confusion in your gaze and gave another low chuckle.

“I suppose that’s not really the kind of thing a big bad serial killer wants to share… so I’ll do him a solid and let you ask him about it later.”

You licked your dry lips.

“Later?”

Arkin nodded decisively.

“I plan on getting at least a few weeks of fun out of Dr. Emory here before I send him Downstairs. You’ll have time to catch up.”

With that he pulled the headphones and tape away from Asa’s face.

Asa blinked several times trying to let his eyes adjust to the sudden light before they focused on you.

You could literally see his muscles clench in anger as his dark gaze turned to Arkin, blazing.

“They have nothing to do with this.”

Arkin whirled and punched Asa in his gut – causing the seated figure to hunch in on himself with a grunt of pain.

Fingers twisted themselves in Asa’s hair as Arkin yanked his head to the side and leaned down.

“Maybe not, but they have something to do with you – and that’s good enough for me.”

Asa spat in Arkin’s face, looking like he was moments away from tearing the metal cuffs that held him apart and lunging at the smaller man.

Wiping spittle from his face, Arkin grabbed a nearby bucket and hoisted it high, letting the contents fall over Asa’s naked body.

Ice and water splashed over the cold cement floor as you gasped at the sudden turn of events.

The chill of the late winter air was prevalent in your mind as Asa began to shiver violently.

The basement stairs creaked as Arkin ascended, hitting light switches on his way up.

“Goodnight you crazy kids. See you in the morning.”

The door closed, and you were left in the bitter cold of the dark room, wondering what new horrors tomorrow would bring.

———————————————————————

You couldn’t recall falling into an uncomfortable slumber, but you must have. Pale slivers of sunlight threaded past the thick foam covering the small basement windows. You sickly realized that this must be for sound-proofing. Not a good sign.

The basement felt warmer than it had been last night. A small space heater in one corner was blowing warm air onto Asa, who was either asleep or unconscious – his head hung low on his chest, but he was no longer shivering.

A sound that had been your own personal torture through the long night.

He hadn’t said a word to you after Arkin left – not even responding to your inquiries after his health in the chill darkness. After several tries you’d given up – unsure if it was pride or if he was actually incapable of answering.

Soft sounds of movement from behind your chair brought you back to reality.

You were not alone down here.

“Arkin… please let us go. You aren’t a killer. You don’t want to do this…”

A deep chuckle met your statement.

Your eyes widened as a tall man with grey hair– looking to be in his late 50’s or early 60’s- strode into view.

“Hello there. How are you feeling this morning?”

The man dragged a chair out of the corner and sat down between your seat and Asa – casually crossing one leg over the other and setting an arm on his knee. Looking for all the world like he was sitting down at a coffee date rather than a drafty basement torture chamber.

Brows furrowing, you paused before answering.

“… I’ve been better…”

Your statement was met with a hum of amusement.

“I suppose you probably have. But all things considered, you could be worse.”

“… I’m sorry, I don’t think I got your name?”

Another soft laugh – somehow familiar – was your only answer.

Any further questions were put on hold as Asa groaned and began to stir in his seat.

“Asa…”

Both of you watched – you with concern, the strange man with something like humor – as the bound and naked man shook his head as if clearing cobwebs, and raised his eyes to gaze around the room.

The black eyes you knew so well stopped at the strange man casually watching from the proverbial sidelines.

Asa’s face immediately drained of blood till he was white as a ghost, and his mouth dropped open in shock.

The man laughed loudly at this, slapping his hand against his knee before rising and walking over to Asa.

Up to this point, you’d been more confused than upset by the elderly man’s presence in the basement; but that confusion quickly turned to fear as you watched Asa pull back and try to make himself as small as possible as the broad man approached.

“So… You’re the Collector, hmm? Interesting moniker. Mr. O’Brian gave me a brief overview of some of your exploits. I have to say, I’d be impressed if you hadn’t let a man like that get the better of you.”

A wrinkled hand rose to run through Asa’s hair – obsidian eyes pinched closed and if you didn’t know better, you’d think Asa was about to be sick from the expression on his face.

Quick as a flash, a loud SMACK sounded through the empty room as Asa was backhanded across his mouth.

“What have I told you about looking at someone when they’re talking to you?”

Asa’s gaze rose slowly to meet the man’s, who smiled down at the younger male.

“Much better. See? You haven’t forgotten everything.”

Your stomach sunk as you realized why this stranger looked so familiar. You’d seen him before, or rather, what he had been twenty years ago.

He turned to face you again.

“You’re not wrong my dear. Mr. O’Brian isn’t a killer; but I am. And I’d be more than happy to teach my son another lesson on the consequences of failure.”

Giles Emory walked over to the table Arkin had laid out with tools and instruments of pain - running his hand sensuously over each before selecting a hammer and several slender nails.

“That’s what fathers are for…”

[experimentalmadness]

Treatment

More one-shots featuring my OC and Harvey Dent, if you’re curious about more of their story you can find other stories here. Hope you like YEARNING, because we are doing some mutual pining in this household tonight. 

---

She had broken into many places in her life, but that had been her first pharmacy. Jacky kept to the rooftops. The old apartments here were so close together it was easy enough to jump from building to building, no fancy equipment required. If only all jobs could be so quick and painless. The poor pharmacist was going to be sleeping with the lights on for the foreseeable future, Jacky guessed. Hopefully she’d be true to her word and not snitch. Good kid though, they didn’t have to help them find the right medicine, but they did it anyway. Maybe they thought she was just someone desperate with no insurance.

Well, she was, wasn’t she?

She flinched as the first drop of rain landed on her nose. Oh great. That meant she only had a few more minutes until—a curtain of water descended from the night, slicking the roof tops and soaking Jacky through in less than a minute. A quiet purr of thunder followed. Never could have just a little mist or drizzle in Gotham. Had to be a storm or nothing. 

Luckily she was almost to homebase. 

One more leap was all it took, she skidded on the landed, sliding right for the roof access door and almost losing her balance. No one was around to see this less than graceful entrance. Trying the door she found it locked. Huffing strands of wet, fading-bleached hair out of her eyes, Jacky considered busting the door in. Nah, too much trouble. And she really didn’t fancy getting more soaked than she already was trying to pick the look in the dark either. 

Shortcut it was. 

Heading back over to the roof’s edge, Jacky peered down until she spotted the fire escape. Lining herself up and saying a quick prayer she jumped down, slamming onto the cold, iron grating. The impact went from her knees to her teeth, but at least she was golden. The resident inside the apartment window she’d landed beside gave a single scream. Jacky turned about, raising a half salute before climbing down to the apartments below. Poor lady, hopefully she didn’t get any thoughts about calling the police. Jacky was not in the mood to deal with the GCPD. 

It was two more flights before she arrived at her destination. The curtains were closed, blocking her view inside, but should tell the lights were still on. She rapped at the window twice before giving it an experimental push. 

She hadn’t counted on it being unlocked.

The window flew inward and Jacky had just enough time to think that this was exactly why she really hadn’t gotten into burglary before she tumbled into the apartment, tangling up in the curtains. The unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked kept her still. “It’s just me, boss,” she said through a mouthful of cloth.

“Jacky?” 

Harvey pulled the curtains off of her as she rose to her feet. “We could have shot you.”

“Eh, I liked my odds. Besides it’s not my fault the roof hatch was locked again.” Jacky slicked her short hair back, sniffling as she wiped the rain water from her eyes. 

It had been three months since she started working for him full time and Jacky still couldn’t equate seeing him in this slum. She’d grown up not too far from this street. She knew he’d come from those same roots, but somehow he was always in an orbit far beyond her. Far beyond the scum she’d been trying to kick the dust off of for years. Harvey set the revolver on the small, circular table at the corner of the room that served as the majority of the apartment. 

“What are you doing here?” he snapped, fixing her with his good eye. Sometimes if she tilted her head right he’d look the same. But even that blue eye had an ice, cold edge to it now. 

“Angling for that overtime pay?” 

He did not look amused. “Okay, okay, I got something for you,” she held out her hands in surrender before fishing for the items in her satchel. “Doc says you should be using these—”

“We don’t need those.”

“—every day or there could be serious complications!”

 “Did we hire you to be a goddamn nurse?” It was still taking some getting used to, the voice that was and wasn’t Harvey Dent’s. The person that moved his body around, that possessed him, that was still him in all the ways he didn’t want to admit. 

“No, you hired me to take care of your enemies, and sometimes, Harvey, that’s you.”

She was never sure how far to push the man who was still her friend, a total stranger, and now her employer. Saying yes to the job was easy. She’d already gone down as far as one could go in this city. If anyone was going to follow him down the rabbit hole it had to be her. 

Harvey ran an exasperated hand through his hair. “Get yourself dried off, Jacky, and get out of here.” He gestured to the bathroom off the corner. 

Stubborn. Well he was in here with the champ. But she was soaking wet, still. She grabbed the medical supplies and hauled off into the cramped bathroom, taking a towel she dried off the ends of her hair, wiping down her face, neck. She turned on the tap to get some hot water on her chilled hands. The hottest she could get it was still lukewarm. “Damnit,” she cursed, shutting off the water and slamming the towel against the rim of the tub next to her. Leaning against the sink counter she got a good hard look at the haggard woman staring back at her in the dirty mirror, along with Harvey, leaning against the doorway. 

Her fingers curled against the yellowing counter top. It hurt to look at him. There was still that blue eyed stare that got to her the way no one else’s ever had or ever would. “I’m not leaving,” she said to the reflection. 

“We can make you.”

Two nights ago she’d watched as he broke a man’s neck on the flip of a coin. When only two years ago those same hands had helped her put up campaign flyers and posters in her shop and gestured emphatically about how Gotham was going to change. And a few months before that had held her secure as he danced her across Bruce Wayne’s manor, both of them laughing about made up scandals and whiskey. 

Jacky turned around, hiked herself up on the counter top and sat back. “Alright, heads you throw me right out on my ass out the window, scarred side you try the damn treatment.”

Oh, he was livid. But he still went for the coin in his pocket. It was only three stories up, if he really did throw her out it wouldn’t hurt much. Jacky watched the coin flip, saw how carefully he studied it. The most decisive man she ever knew, basing his every move now on the whim of a silver dollar. He pocketed the coin in silence and padded over to her. She stiffened, back pressed up against the mirror. Shit, he really was going to pick her up and toss her out. 

“So...you gonna show us what exactly is in this damn stuff you got, or—”

Jacky breathed out a shaky, laughing breath, her shoulders rolling forward, muscles releasing every line of tension. She felt for the satchel still at her belt, not taking her eyes off him. “It’s for the scarring, least that’s what the pharmacist said. I made him find the right things.”

“Useless junk,” he mumbled.

“Not if you don’t want to get infected,” Jacky countered. “Let’s see what you do when you can’t even talk back to me ‘cause the skin’s so tight from the scar tissue you can’t even move your damn mouth ‘cause you refuse to get skin grafts, genius. And can you even see out of that eye anymore?” She waved in what she knew was his blindspot. 

“Shadows and light,” Harvey said quietly. “But that’s all we need.”

“You’re gonna lose that eye,” Jacky was already working on the eye dropper bottle, tearing the seal and setting a packet of gauze out on her lap. “And I’m sorry, Harvey, but I’m not gonna just sit here and watch you do that. I’m not. And I know you didn’t hire me for this, but I’m gonna be honest...I’m kinda cashing in on five plus years of friendship on this one. You have to trust me.”

Sometimes he looked at her like he didn’t quite know her. That part she refused to get used to. The expression faded as he nodded. “Alright, Jacky, we trust you.”

He was still looming over her, close enough to touch, close enough to make her aware of how pathetic she’d been for these five odd years. Oh, Jacky, you miserable idiot, what were you thinking? This all felt close to some vivid hallucination. Harvey sat along the edge of the tub, no more smart remarks or resistance. Jacky leaned over him now, the countertop giving her the needed height as she primed the dropper. That pharmacist had better have given her the right stuff or she was going to pay them another far less friendly visit. 

Harvey looked straight up at her and Jacky’s mouth went dry. The scars gave him a permanent snarl where the left edges of his lips had burned away, but on the undamaged side she swore she could see something akin to...disappointment? The burned eye was red, wild, and from this close it really was like looking into two different faces. Yet they were both patient. And they both were as good as their word. 

The pharmacist had said two drops so that’s what Jacky did. Harvey pulled away as they hit the red eye, flinching, trying to blink without eyelids. Jacky was ready for that. She placed the gauze pad over the eye, tearing off medical tape and sticking it delicately around the edges. “You gotta keep it on for the rest of the night, Harvey,” she said. 

“Like how you kept the damn tape on when you got your nose busted?” Harvey jabbed her right in the bridge of the nose in question, pushing her head back gently as she laughed unexpectedly. 

“Hey, that was different,” she bit back a grin as she fished around in the bag, pulling out the ointment.

His laughter nowadays was a grating, raspy, vicious sound. She still loved hearing it. “You know I had that little situation under control before you walked in. Thought you were gonna kill that poor mugger.”

The gel came out clear, she ran a finger’s worth down the middle of his face, where the scar tissue met undamaged skin. 

“We wanted to,” he snapped. 

“I’m flattered, boss.”

She had to bring herself so close in order to do this right. The burned skin felt different than she had imagined. This was a rough map and she was tipping over the edge of it. Jacky didn’t fish for conversation as she smoothed the medicine over his face. She had to focus, trying hard not to catch Harvey’s gaze meant she concentrated harder on this new map she was following. The burns were harder, more twisted in some places, in others almost smooth, like new skin was trying so hard to break past the ruin. She didn’t go near his lower cheek and jaw, where the tendon was barely holding the structure together. 

Blood hit her tongue, and Jacky unclenched her teeth. She should have been there that day. Didn’t matter how impossible that was. Didn’t matter she would never have known, didn’t matter she had only just been released from Blackgate a few weeks prior, didn’t matter she would have had no business being in that courtroom. Then at least he wouldn’t be sitting in this slum of a hideout with her. He’d be home with Gilda and she’d still be going about the necessary work of untangling herself from his association for his own good. 

Jacky really wished in that moment she hadn’t noticed that Harvey wasn’t wearing his wedding ring anymore.

Things were already dangerous enough. 

Her hand went down across his neck where the acid had splashed. The attacker would have had to get in close, possibly only a difference of inches between how close she was to Harvey now. She knew that because the only difference between her and that hitman was who they had signed a contract with. It was sheer dumb luck Maroni had put the hit out first and not Falcone when it cold have easily been him. And it could have easily been her holding that bottle of acid, and what would she have done then? 

Her panic blinkered out as Harvey tilted his head into her hand, eye closed. He pulled in a deep sigh that uncoiled every hidden line of stress in his body. She could feel the tension in his muscles unravel beneath her fingertips and transfer directly into her as she clutched the edge of the sink counter. 

That sigh might have bought her a few years out of purgatory. 

Jacky had managed to interpret the new map of his face in its entirety, but this expression now was utterly foreign. His undamaged side faced hers, good eye still closed. She wanted to reach out and brush aside his hair, tell him she couldn’t work for him. This wasn’t a job. Maybe start telling him about all the impossible things she’d gotten very good at boxing up and locking away. 

Instead, like the coward she always was, she moved her hand away.

Harvey opened his eyes. 

And Jacky continued her work without comment.

She knew there were more burns down his shoulder and chest that she could not get to, and she had to get out of this apartment soon or she was going to lose what little she still had of her mind. She was about to close up the bottle when Harvey held out his hand, letting it rest, palm up in her lap. The only quiet insistence that she wasn’t done yet and the closest thing she was ever going to get to him admitting she had been right about the medicine. 

He flexed his fingers as she soothed more of the medication into his palm. The scars on his hand were the ones she could handle the least. The disfigurements were an adjustment, but the burns on his hand were the reminder of the real brutality. The sudden instinct to defend, the recoil. Jack knew she lingered for a second too long, fingers tracing directionless along the edge of his wrist. 

Some excuse was about to escape her lips when, with his free hand, Harvey reached up to tuck back a loose strand of her hair. “Hey,” he whispered in a voice that sounded like his own, incredulous, and strangely surprised. Why did it sound like he had only now noticed it was her sitting here the whole time? “Hey, Jacky…” He let the piece of hair fall from between his fingers, the backs of his knuckles trailing down her cheek as Jacky forgot to breathe.

His fingers tilted her chin up as he leaned in closer and oh, good Christ, she was going to let this happen. There were no more reasons to stop herself. Her whole world was already upside down. It wouldn’t fix a damn thing, but the medicine wouldn’t magically heal those scars either, that didn’t mean it hadn’t helped. 

She had just about convinced herself to give in when Harvey pulled away, opting instead to dive for the coin in his pocket, his breath coming in short, almost panicked bursts. He tossed it up once and Jacky had to restrain the sheer mania that nearly made her snatch the coin out of the air. Instead he caught it as he always did, uncovering it to reveal the scarred side of the dollar. He stared at it hard, brow knitting into a frown and Jacky felt her heart sink from the unexpected heights it had managed to reach seconds before. She hoped it didn’t show on her face. She looked down, fumbling with the cap to the medicine, pretending none of that had happened. 

“Still want that overtime pay?” Harvey placed his unburnt hand over hers. What remained of his lips tried to smile.

“Didn’t come here for the money.”

“Yeah...yeah I know,” his fingers curled around her wrist, thumb rubbing a half circle around the back of her hand. Jacky felt every pinpoint of pressure; a reminder of how far out to sea she was. 

“You shouldn’t be here, Harvey,” Jacky blurted out, a modicum of real courage seeping into her veins. He shook his head even as the first words left her mouth, rising to his feet, pulling away from her. “I think you should let me drive you to a hospital, a doctor...anyone...I think you should let Miri and I put you up until you can get back on your feet so you’re not hiding out in this slum,” she was losing him. His back was to her as he tried to wave her off. 

“Not going to happen, Jacky,” he said, and was she hallucinating or did she detect a note of genuine disappointment. “You get out of here. Go home. When we got work for you we’ll call.”

“For what?” Jacky hopped down from the sink, grabbing her jacket from the tub and shoving her arms through furiously. “When you need a bank robbed? A hit put out on more of Falcone, or Penguin’s men? You think you’re really gonna take this city?”

“We know we are,” he glared at her, from over his shoulder, his red eye unmoving, unblinking. “We’re gonna give this city back what it gave us double.” He stepped away, idly tossing that damn coin in his good hand. Whatever quiet spell had overtaken them just moments before was gone now. The would-be-mob boss was firmly back in his place. 

“That’s not what you told me,” Jacky said. Maybe he’d shoot her after all. Her fingers were still slick with the gel, she could still feel the map of the burns under her skin. “You told me you were gonna change this city. It’s not too late.”

“If you’re not with us, Jacky, you’re against us.”

That snapped a raw nerve she didn’t even realize she had left. She shoved him back, hard, watching that already snarling face twist further. “You gotta ask me that, Harvey?”

“The name’s Two-Face.”

“Your name is Harvey Dent and I’m not letting you forget it! I think you should come with me, but I can’t make you. So screw it,” she ran an exasperated hand through her hair as a desperate laugh choked out of her. “You want me to shake down a few civilians? Put a bullet in the right person’s head? Yeah, sure, Harv, I’ll do that easy. Whatever you want. But I think you should flip that coin of yours again.”

“Not how it works,” his voice had gone quiet again, but it was still the same persona. “Fate isn’t always fair, Jacky. Please just...go.”

If she was a braver woman she would have ignored fate and finished what they had started. “You gotta remember to use that medicine,” she said leaning hard against the door. 

“We will.”

“You’re a terrible fucking liar, Harvey.”

“So are you.”

“Well,” Jacky sighed, a tired laugh escaping her as she opened the door. “Guess that makes us two sides of the same coin.”

[floraone]

So, this is to my guest reviewer who got so offended that I mentioned drag queens in Would You Like To Date My Friend, Chiba Mamoru? that they felt compelled to write me a long review about how much I wasted their time and should not bring my worldviews into my writing.

So… here! Have some more drag queens! :D

-

“Are we really sure this is… necessary?” Mamoru mumbled, eyeing the duct tape warily.

Usagi wasn’t helping. She looked more unsure than he did. And frankly, that wasn’t very reassuring given the fact that she was about to duct tape his newly shaven dick up his ass.

“Don’t be such a baby,” Minako said from behind the paravent. “You gotta look authentic!”

“Right,” he sighed, spread his thighs apart a little wider with a flush, and nodded for Usagi to start.

Unsurprisingly, duct tape on your junk hurt. He winced immediately, 

“Sorry, sorry, sorryyyy,” she cried, but never stopped with the tape. 

Yup. He was now pretty grateful Minako had insisted on that full-body wax for him. 

He closed his eyes and just let her do it, even when she knelt in front of him and looked at his junk and the tape as if it were the most complicated of all IKEA furniture she’d ever have to put together.

“How’s this even supposed to…” she mumbled in frustration.

“He’s supposed to look flat,” came the very helpful remark from the other side. 

“Duh.” Mamoru and Usagi rolled their eyes in perfect synchronization, before he winced again, hissing through his teeth.

“Sorryyyy!”

“Ok, so,” Makoto’s voice this time. “You’re supposed to like, tuck them back up.”

“Back up?!” Usagi said, eyeing his testicles varily.

Mamoru’s eyebrows jumped to his hairline in spontaneous panic.

“Like, there’s supposed to be this little pocket? Where they came from? You’re supposed to shove them back in, or up, and the dick is supposed to go like, all the way back to the ass crack.”

“Where are you reading this from?” he asked, trying to not sound panicked.

“WikiHow!”

Uh…

He looked down at his fiancée wide-eyed, who wasn’t looking back much better.

Shaking his head though, he grabbed downstairs, deciding to take matters into his own hand after all and quite literally, and subsequently tried to shove it all up himself - and actually, yeah… kind of? A pocket??  

He nodded down towards her and yuppp, tape down there really, really hurt. 

He wasn’t looking forward to taking that back off. Really, he wasn’t. 

What he didn’t do for the mission…

“Right,” Usagi announced, quite proudly. “He’s flat now!”

A cheer from the other side of the paravent, and then a hipster slip thrown over the side of it that he quickly stepped into. And with that, he supposed his paravent privacy rights were over, because it was shoved away, and he was handed a pair of shiny see-through black tights and a black bra.

“Here’s your boobs,” Minako said with a wink, and handed him a pair of silicone pads. 

He sighed long and hard, even when Usagi was already grabbing them from him and stuffing them into his bra.

“Is this really–” he tried again.

“Of course it’s necessary!” Minako interrupted him, then motioned for him to sit on the stool before her vanity.

He really didn’t like the look of that glue she held up.

“Sit!” she ordered.

He did, but eyed her suspiciously.

“Oh c’mon!” Minako groused. “Trust me a little! I got you!”

He sighed, and closed his eyes, and felt Minako attack his eyebrows with glue. To better camouflage them away with make-up, she later explained, and paint him new ones.

“Ok so,” Ami said from the side of Minako’s bed, detangling some cables to stick into her impromptu equipment. “Once you’re inside, scout the perimeter. If you wear your mic and earpiece, I have you on monitor the whole time. Try to track anything even remotely suspicious.”

“Right,” he mumbled, eyes back open. Minako was dabbing his face in nude colored make-up and it felt like she was painting him a new one.

“Full contour?” Rei asked next to her.

“Of course!” she mumbled, took a new brush, a new color, and wiped at his cheekbones.

“We’ll be in the audience the whole time,” Ami continued. “The second you notice something that looks like the attack, or a portal, or a weapon, or anything, one of us transforms and will be right with you.”

“A weapon?!” Usagi shrieked.

“And try to keep close to the other Queens, protect them. Try to take the hit for them if worst comes to worst.”

“WHAT?!” Usagi bellowed.

But he nodded. “Right,” he said, at the same time as Rei who rolled her eyes at Usagi and barked a, “Give him some credit, will you? He can take it!”

That was the whole reason they were doing this, after all. Someone had been threatening the local queer community for a while, and after ‘only’ hate speech in the mail, started making serious threats especially to the little drag theater they were trying to protect tonight. And since the last attack had been supernatural in nature, and this one was almost a sure bet, the local police had contacted the Senshi and asked for their assistance.

It had been Minako’s idea of course. That their best shot was to have someone undercover in the show who tries to take the brunt of the attack.

Usagi had been first to volunteer - use the Luna Pen, turn herself into a Beautiful Drag Queen. Mamoru had been first to protest and volunteer as tribute in her stead.

He wasn’t letting any more crazy people try and blow up his girlfriend.

Everyone had agreed (except Usagi.)

Minako was glueing fake eyelashes on him when Rei spoke up again, tapping her finger to her chin as she watched Minako work. 

“We need a good drag name for you,” she mumbled thoughtfully.

“Mamoko!” Usagi cried from her perch on the floor right beside his stool.

He smiled - the others rolled their eyes.

“That’s not a drag name,” Rei shot in her direction with that ’are you daft, again?’ inflection to her voice, dismissing her.

“Princess Flower?” Makoto suggested. “Rosa Mask? Rosa Tux? Golden Thorne?”

“Domina Masque?” Ami threw in with a shrug, and Mamoru threw her an offended look.

“Ooooh!” Minako cried. “I like it! We gotta get you a mask!”

He sighed long and hard - but was tutted for it - Minako was working on his lips.

“Here I got your butt!” Makoto said, holding up the newly finished spanks with foam hot-glued in it. 

He sighed even harder.

It was when Minako was done with the make-up, and the girls had tucked him into the sparkly red and crazy short sequin dress and zipped him up, that he was starting to not recognize himself in the mirror anymore.

“Damn, girl,” Makoto whistled. “What do you need these legs for?! Why are you so skinny?”

He blushed immediately, looking down at himself.

Minako dabbed some powder to his cheeks, looking pleased, then pulled a nylon net over his head.

“You’re really good at this,” he mumbled thoughtfully.

“Thanks!” she beamed, then winked. “Finally some trust!”

“I wouldn’t go so far,” he chuckled.

She threw him a pointed look, but a smile was dancing over her lips, and she tucked all his hair into the net, then took a razor to his sideburns and the back of his neck. He didn’t even stiffen anymore.

“Just think of me as your mother tonight!” she beamed.

Rei dramatically rolled her eyes. “Minako, you are not a Drag Queen. You don’t get to be his drag mom.”

Minako waved her off with a tsk, but flapped a long dark wig over his head.

When it was done, even he had to blink at his reflection.

It was… actually kind of good? The long dark hair suited him, the smokey eyes and contour kinda…too?

“You know,” Minako commented. “You look a bit like Rei like this.”

“You really, really do,” Usagi hushed, quite breathlessly, quite wide-eyed, cheeks way too flushed, and he couldn’t help but lift his eyebrows at her in the reflection of the mirror.

He really didn’t know what to think when she blushed even harder at that…

“Shoes!” Minako cried happily, interrupting that thought, and presented him with a pay of pretty much sky high transparent peep toes, with a red sole and… and… were those roses in the platforms?!  “I have your slippers, princess,” she said with a smirk.

He looked at them as if she was waving a pair of guns at him. 

“Are you expecting me to be able to walk in that?” he asked incredulously.

She threw him a look of utter annoyance. “Just try, for god’s sake. This isn’t science.”

And so he sighed again, but strapped himself into seven inch shoes with roses in them.

When he got up, Usagi’s hand directly there to clutch his and help him up, he was surprised he could actually somewhat walk on them. 

“You know…” he said, surprised and looking down, “this isn’t actually so bad?”

Minako beamed with pride.

“If I don’t have to actually, you know, walk…?”

Another tsk and dismissive wave of Minako’s hand. “Just hang on to the pole. You’ll be fine.”

“A pole?!”

“Ahh, don’t worry, Just swing around a little on it. Try to look sexy.”

“WHAT?!”

“Like you wanna fuck the audience. Ya know? Look at them like you look at Usagi when she’s yelling something obnoxious at you.”

“MINAKO?!”

And so, about an hour later, mic in his fake cleavage and dick taped to his ass and looking like a Queen, he stood in front of an open stage door with a mission to fulfill.

“Let’s do this then,” he said with one last sigh.

“Yas Queen!” Makoto shouted amusedly, and shut up with a barely contained chuckle at his withering look.

“Showtime!” Minako cried ecstatically, and shoved him down the stage door. “Don’t get killed!”

He sighed again, but got to it.

Minako pressed her fist to her heart. “I am so proud of my daughter,” she beamed, wiping away a fake tear.

“You are NOT HIS MOTHER,” Rei cried again in frustration.

And no one really commented the fact that Usagi kind of really, really seemed to like her fiancé in that get-up.

Eventually, he actually kinda killed it? Before the homophobic monster attacked, of course, and blew it all to smithereens. But even then, Domina Masque looked like quite a stunner throwing those roses.

[insomniac-dot-ink]

Breaking and Entering

Genre: ghost story, supernatural

Words: 3.9

Summary: two highschoolers break into an abandoned hospital to see ghosts and wonder the empty halls, but end up being caught by the police and perhaps something more.

It was the end of the school year and it was hotter than hormonal band kids at summer camp. You might as well prepare breakfast on the sidewalk and dunk yourself in ice water to get through the day.

The heat was one of the reasons I didn’t go to my graduation ceremony. My mom begged for me to show up because she was going through an “up” period and probably wanted something to show for her parenting. Like, “hey I screwed up my kid two ways to Sunday, but at least they graduated!”

I didn’t need to give her that kind of satisfaction. Sure, I graduated, but so did a bunch of other people. You didn’t need to throw a party about it.

I was at the old quarry instead and tossing tiny stones into it’s gaping mouth. Sarah Jane Johnson sat nearby with her short hair pulled back in tiny clips and sweating silently as she scrolled through her phone. She was a petite girl with a long black skirt, shredded white top, and hunking black shoes underneath.

I threw a rock at a particularly hard angle and watched it bounce off the wall with a clunk and dance down into the small pool of water below. I gave a small smirk and turned, “see that, Sarah Jane?” Sarah Jane was still going through her spotify looking for a playlist to put on and didn’t even look up. I rolled my eyes and picked up another rock to toss, “come on. I can show you how to do it.”

I flicked the stone with my wrist and listened to the hard knock of rock on rock and the soft thuds as it fell the rest of the way down.

Sarah Jane still didn’t look up. 

I finally picked up a perfectly flat stone and went over to her, “don’t be like this.” I said with a huff.

Sarah Jane’s mouth became a hard line, “I’m just trying to choose the right mood music.” She said flatly, “you are graduated and junk. Maybe the Darth Vader death march?” I rubbed the back of my neck and bent over her, “what did I tell you before?” I huffed and stuck her with a hard look. “I’m not going anywhere. Not really.” Sarah Jane was a freshman that year and we had ended up bonding right away. There was always some gossip around seniors hanging out with freshmen, especially since we were both queer and dyed our hair black and didn’t exactly “get along” with authority figures, but none of the weird impliations were true. I had seen her on the first day and taken her under my wing as a baby punk and there wasn’t anything more to it. Which was all fine and good until it seemed to be coming to an end.

“You are.” She said softly. “You’re gonna find some job or some girl and then forget about me.” Her grip on the ipod was tight and bleaching, “I’ve seen it before.” “Ugh, that’s now how it is.” I scoffed and took a seat next to her, she turned away from me. I sighed, “Look, do you want to do the Mayfield hospital trip? Will that cheer you up?” Her eyes lit up and she twisted back toward me, “the hospital trip?” I had her attention and that made me smile, “yeah. Didn’t you say you wanted to try it out? Burn some candles, mess with some shit?”

Sarah Jane tilted her head to the side and sat up straight, “like, for real?” Her face fell a little bit, “didn’t you say that the hospital was for tourists and rubes?” She didn’t meet my eye as she asked.

“Nah,” I pushed on her shoulder gently. “I mean, with all the sightings in the place we’re bound to find something.” She gave a half-smile, “sure you aren’t scared?” I tossed my head back and laughed. “Of some spirit nurses and sick ghosts?” I snorted, “what kind of elder do you take me for? Now come on.” “Wait,” she flipped through the music. “This is the one.” She played a song from a new band called The Bad Sins about crushed butterflies and had a sick guitar riff in the middle. We nodded our heads along to the beat and watched as the sun crossed the sky with our mind’s elsewhere.

I taught Sarah Jane to toss stones all the way into the quarry’s opposite wall after that.

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

There’s a couple rules to breaking and entering, one of the biggest ones is choosing the right time and place. Breaking and entering into a summer home in the middle of July when security is high and the place is flush with other vacationers? That’s a no-go. Breaking into a modest winter cabin in July is a better bet.

Always try the windows first to wiggle the glass free, but it’s even better if the place is easy access- that means public areas, construction sites, and abandoned places. The Mayfield old patient hospital was both a construction site and an abandoned building- a twofer and Sarah Jane had been talking about it furtively for months now.

She set out Tarot cards with a picture of it on the wall and mentioned the online stories such as sightings of a “Grey Lady,” a muttering nurse in all white, and small boy tossing a ball down a hall. It was your generic kind of haunting tales, but it was the most exciting occult location within driving distance.

Personally, I thought it was a little tacky, but I was graduating and my baby-punk was soundly frowning so I compromised. I drove with the sun gently glinting into my eyes and Sarah Jane bobbing her head along to some old Metallica.

We had a ouija board in the back, some incense, and an industrial thermometer that Sarah Jane nicked from the local Home Depot. The airconditioning blasted and we didn’t talk much since I could still feel her stewing over “being left behind” and it’s not like I could keep reassuring her.

The hospital was located off the highway in a wooded part of the city and with bright yellow construction tape surrounding the doors and outsides. I smiled as the large sycamore trees came into view and bright gasp of color approached.

“Ya ready?” I said and eased up toward the building off to the side, I didn’t plan to park us too close to it.

Sarah Jane glanced over to me with thick eyeliner and a thicker snort. “Don’t give me that look,” she said with a laugh, “you’re the one that should be ready! This is my terf.” “Ha,” I kicked the door open for effect. “Should I remind you of all the places I’ve gotten into before this? Follow my lead.” I could practically feel her rolling her eyes, “right, your cat burglar-ess. I’m coming.” She hurried after me as I surveyed the area. The sun had capsized past the horizon in a bloody death and the purpling sky was already popping out stars and a simmering hot summer night.

I was sure my mom had been calling me all day, but I didn’t really care. I had noticed Sarah Jane texting her folks on the way over, but it was probably more lies about studying at a friends place.

The second step to breaking and entering is surveyance: signs of recent footsteps or cameras or any kind of vehicle. There were some tire tracks of course, but I knew from some precursory googling that construction of the building had been postponed until funding confusion was cleared up.

The yellow lines were sagging and there was a lonely, desolate feel to the place. The hospital was dull white that almost broached into grey, it was four stories with multiple long empty windows on all sides. Some of the paint job had completely chipped away in places and left it bare and ugly dark brown. It was a boxy building with many turns and different bits sticking out and surrounded by dried grass and scraggly bushes.

I whistled lowly, “a looker.” Sarah Jane bounced on her heels. “Did you hear about the Silent Boy here?” She started chatting, she always was a chatter when happy. “He’s the one with the toy ball I was talking about. They say he was bed ridden here for almost his whole life with tuberculosis and could never get up and play-” “And now he wonders the earthly plane looking for people to play with.” I finished and Sarah Jane shot me a look.

“Yeah.” “Come on,” I waved, “let’s hang back.” Sarah Jane detailed different ghost sights of the hospital to me and I watched as all the stars erupting one by one from the nothingness and waited for it to be late enough. Finally, I waved us forward.

“Let’s do this ghost business,” I announced as we passed a “Wallis Construction” sign at the very front and crept to the front doors.

The door was jammed open with a big rock and I could already see the graffiti spray painted on the inside of the door. The peeled concrete wall had the regular phrases of WELCOME TO HELL and TURN BACK NOW.

It was the usual kind of fodder for other teens coming around these parts and I rolled my eyes at the sight. Several tags were on the walls as well for ‘BURNOUT KINGS’ and ‘CLOSED FIST GANG.’

The first hallway was dark and unlit and held all sorts of junk on the floors: there were bottles and plastic bags and piles of dead leaves. Sarah Jane followed close behind me. “We gotta go to the west wing,” she said quietly in the stillness of the dust and long shadows. “That’s where the children’s ward is.” That made me frown, but I shrugged and twisted around. “That should be west.” The only sounds were the thunk of our boots against the floor and the crickets chirping outside in the summer night. Sarah Jane was the first to speak again. She chuckled lowly, “this is so much different than our first time.” She said warmly. “Remember the big green house on Waterson?” I couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t remind me. It’s a gift I wasn’t eighteen yet and that couldn’t stay on my record.” I snorted. “You’ve still got two left feet.” We passed plastic water bottles and more scribbles on the wall, open doors revealing rooms with metal bed frames and plaster heaps in the corner. We passed an abandoned wheelchair at one point and that was probably the height of the scary business.

We even passed a hallway with some thick red X’s that the construction workers must have painted on the doors. Besides that it was just our steps and our voices and we started reminiscing.

We recounted our first concert together and the time I helped her get a septum piercing without parental approval and us standing up to my ex together and flicking through tinder on Sarah Jane’s phone just to laugh at it. We recounted the best music of the last year and the hollow place in my chest started to close.

I wasn’t leaving her behind, not really.

The crickets chirped even louder and I heard scuffling in one of the rooms which I assumed was maybe an animal or maybe branches scraping on the outside of the building. We stopped when we approached what must have once been an enormous mural.

“Stop!” Sarah Jane called at the top of her voice and looked left and right. “This is where we have to do the chant.”

I glanced at her and tried not to make a face. “Alright…” She gave a slim smile and took my hand with a squeeze, “Repeat after me: here we go round the mulberry bush-” “Seriously?” “It’s part of the ritual!” She snapped with a huff, “he reacts to playtime.” “It’s play time little ghost!” I called into the hallways and my voice echoed back and forth across the walls. “Haunted mulberry bush and all.” Sarah Jane let go of my hand and crossed her arms over her chest. “Fine.” She sniffed. “I’ll do it by myself.” She turned on her heels and started down the opposite hall toward the back of the building.

“Wait, wait, I get it, we’re trying to do this right.” I trailed after her and we argued for a few more feet.

“It’s obvious you think this is silly!”

“I just got here.” I tried to defend, “and I want it to be a good night, really.” She glanced over her shoulder with a stinging hot look in her eye, “because it’s our last one?” “No!” I said shrilly. “Jesus, Sarah Jane, I’m not even going to college.” She frowned slowly. “You will.” She stopped in place and looked at her shoes, “you’re smart and good at stuff and you gotta go.” “You sound like my adviser.” I said and tried to make it sound like a joke instead of resentful.

“You’ll see.” She kept stomping down the hall. “And you’re missing the point. You’re gonna go off and have a real life… and I’ll just be alone at school.” “Sarah Jane,” I said and put my hand in back pocket. “You’ll meet some cool people next year, it’ll be fine.” “Not it won’t!” She said shrilly. “You’re the only one who even noticed me this year and that’s only ‘cause I was wearing the right clothes.” “Oh, come on.” She sniffed loudly and looked back at me. “It sucks. It all sucks so much.” “Get a few more years on you,” I tried to smooth out the lines in her face. I hated having serious conversations like this. “Then tell me how much stuff sucks.” “Yeah, yeah, it only gets worse.” She smiled. “And then you’re a ghost.” “And then you’re a ghost.” I agreed and Sarah Jane exhaled and looked down the long hall with cobwebs on the ceiling and a couple fallen tiles in the center. “Come on,” I tugged on her sleeve. “Let’s do this cheesy nursery rhyme and visit a sick kid. That’ll help.” Sarah Jane sighed at me and turned, “no rolling your eyes through it. We want him to come.” I shook my head but took her hand, “here we go round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush…” We did the silly rhyme together and then looked left and right. A soft wind cooed outside, but the night was thick and empty.

Sarah Jane snorted and put her hands on her hips. “Fine.” She said flatly. “That was a bust, let’s go chuck stuff outside!”

“Deal!” We went running down the hall with abandon and for a moment I thought things were back to normal. Then something caught my eye, “Shit!” I stopped in place and pointed at a light by the road. “Shit, shit. Cops!” A bright yellow light was outside the building with a bobbing movement. A couple murmurs let me know they were probably two young cops investigating a tip-off about teens breaking in. And they were coming closer.

I looked around quickly, “I can’t afford another charge on my record.”

Sarah Jane bounced in place. “My mom will kill me if she knows I’m still hanging out with you!” We ran in opposite directions, but I turned quickly on my heels and followed after Sarah Jane’s back toward the end of the ward.

“We need to get back to my car,” I said breathlessly and reached for Sarah Jane. “Turn, turn.” “There!” She pointed at a large door that was thick and metal and looked like it led to a stairwell. She yanked it open and went stomping for the steps.

I paused in place as I saw the light of the flashlight enter the building. “Hurry!” I said but I was the one that needed to hurry as the door slammed shut behind Sarah Jane and left me alone.

There was a moment, just a moment, but I swore I saw a small face in the darkness near the end of the hallway- smudged and smeared and most likely from the pump of fear in my veins.

I reached for the door and yanked it open and blindly ran down, down, down. The steps were concrete and my feet loudly slapped against them until I reached another heavy metal door at the bottom and tugged on it.

My arms strained against the weight of the thing and sweat poured down my brow in the humid stairwell. I had to strain to get a crack open and then slipped through with effort. The first story hall was different than the second.

The windows were farther apart and fewer between- making the scene dim and with only splotches of pure white light here and there. Instead of the doors being carelessly left ajar to reveal disjointed bed frames and wheelchairs they were all firmly closed. I noted that all of the painted white numbers on the doors were scratched off.

I turned left and right and realized I didn’t remember which way was the car, “Sarah Jane!” My voice hit each surface and seemed to amplify down the hall. “Sarah Jane Johnson!”

I twisted in place and almost fell over myself as I chose a random direction and walked.

I checked over my shoulder a few times for the flashlight, but it was only dull grey hallway behind me and moonlight catching the walls ahead. I must have walked for at least a couple minutes before I stopped and called again, “Sarah Jane! Come out.” Sweet was pouring down my back and I was starting to get angry. “I’m not playing around here!” I growled and balled my fists up, “we need to get out of here, now.”

I finally spotted a door ahead that was slightly ajar and hurried over to it, “I know you’re freaked out, but-” I pushed the door wider and the words died in my mouth. The next room was full. I had broken into several places before with abandoned stuff like plastic mannequins and weird animals and some old dolls stacked on top of each other. But nothing like what I saw in that room.

This room was completely filled top to bottom with pale blue hospital shoes. They were piled in the center of the room and looked old-fashioned and frayed. Many of them appeared to be tiny children’s shoes with holes in them and worn fabric. They stacked on top of each other as an ocean of discarded clothing and my stomach somehow lurched at the sight.

There were scorch marks and burns and little tears in each one it seemed.

I was gawking at the sea shoes when something flashed behind my shoulder, “Goddammit!” I cursed and glanced just in time to see a flashlight at the end of the hall.

“Sarah Ja-” I tried to call out but was interrupted. 

“Here.” A hand grabbed mine from behind the door and we started to run. I kept my eyes over my shoulder as I squeezed Sarah Jane’s hand and we fled down into a darker portion of the building where maybe the cops wouldn’t find us.

I was breathing hard in the incredibly long hall and the flash light trailed after us slowly, but persistently. “I can’t,” I gasped for air, “let’s find a room to hide in.” I called ahead, but Sarah Jane didn’t slow down. My lungs were burning with a feverish fury in my very center and my body shook with it.

“Come on.” I let go of her hand and turned to the closest door. “I can’t keep running.” I grabbed for the nearest handle and twisted it open. I wish I hadn’t.

On the other side of the door was filled with piles and piles of what appeared to be human teeth. My eyes went huge and scanned the hills of white molars and sharp canines and various baby teeth scattered across the floors in heaps. They all appeared to be riddled with cavities, at least one or two little black spots on each tooth and all spotted with decay and blackness.

I took a step back as my legs grew weak. “It remembers.” A voice said from nearby and I wrapped myself in a hug. “Sarah Jane, that’s such a-a fucking weird thing to say.” I called softly and my voice was too loud and too strange in the empty dark hall. All of the windows had disappeared from view.

I stood stock-still as the flashlight flickered from behind me and a cold seeped through the air like a vent blasting chilled air from somewhere. It was then that I reflected on the fact that the cops had not yelled for us to stop or called out any warnings or commands. They hadn’t said anything at all.

It was just a light. Drawing closer.

I glanced at the fuzzy glow behind me and it was too pale, too white, not yellow enough to be a proper flashlight and my stomach dropped. There was something behind me and it wasn’t an officer.

I turned forward and scanned the way ahead. Why hadn’t I noticed sooner? I reflected, but everything seemed to freeze in place as I couldn’t see Sarah Jane ahead of me.

There was however, a solitary white hand sticking out of the darkness ahead. It was just a small hand and the outline of maybe something- just barely a thing at all behind it. And it wasn’t Sarah Jane Johnson.

I gulped. “Where is she?” I whispered. “What did you do to her?” The hand shook itself in midair insistently and the cold was crawling across my neck and seeping beneath my skin as the light bore down on us. The fingers wiggled and reached for me and I had a choice at that moment to take the hand or wait for the cold to consume me from all sides.

I could hear breathing at that point, heavy, wet breathing from behind the light. 

I took the hand of the thing in the darkness and we started running again. We ran straight, ever forward and away. We shouldn’t have been able to run that much and should have had to turn at some point.

But we only tuned once and a second pale white hand reached for a door and heaved it open with great effort. The door lurched open with a screech and a puff of warm air blasted into my face and then I was falling out.

I toppled forward onto the yellowing grass outside and crawled away from the hospital as fast as I could. The door slammed behind me.

I climbed on top of a hill and looked back at the hospital. I was out and free of the sticky cold and terrible straight halls.

I turned back and stared at it. My eyes went wide in realization, and I had left her behind.

“Sarah Jane!” I called across the hill in a vain hope and I needed to go back into the hospital and find her. I needed to go back, but when I looked back to the building, a small stray pale light was hovering through the hallways. Searching and scanning and blinking.

And I knew it was still looking for me. 

I turned like a fool and ran back to my car. When the search team came back the next morning there was no sign of Sarah Jane Johnson. It was nothing but heaps of plaster and stray wheel chairs and bed frames and bad graffiti. Sarah Jane was nowhere to be found.

There was no staircase with a heavy metal door and no hallway with no windows and doors with shoes. 

And there was no one in that building at all.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

I See You : Part Six

A/N: THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THE TALK IS HAPPENING. this was a real doozy to write. It took some turns and then some more and then it ended up back on track. But the bottom line is that THE TRUTH IS STARTING TO COME OUT AND B. RUSSO IS STARTING THE SPILL THEM BEANS ABOUT WHERE HE’S BEEN. I’m exhausted. 

Warnings: language, mentions of death, violence

Word Count: 4,713

“We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

Billy’s eyes followed the motion of your hand as you gently patted the black metal bench, indicating that you wanted him to sit. He did as you asked, careful to keep some space between your leg and his. A lot to talk about. Where do we even- but his thoughts were interrupted as you answered the unfinished question with a question of your own.

“Do you remember the last time we talked, Billy?” Your voice was soft, and he could tell that you were already working hard to keep it from breaking. He’d heard you cry over the phone before, and he could hear how close you were to tears, how determined you were not to let him see them. It stung. You’d never tried to hide anything from him in the past. Over the course of your three year friendship, you’d openly laughed and cried and cursed at him when the situations called for it. You’d told him embarrassing stories that he doubted you even shared with Lexi, confided in him when you were upset or nervous or scared. But now you were being more withholding than you’d ever been, and though he knew he deserved it, it still hurt. It hurt as much as seeing the look on your face; forehead etched with lines as your eyebrows came together, mouth downturned in a frown that threatened to give way to a quivering bottom lip at any moment. It carved a hole in his heart to know that he’d done that to you.

Of course I remember, it was one of the worst days of my life, one of the biggest fuckin’ mistakes I ever made… “I remember,” he answered your question as quietly as you’d asked it. His eyes returned to your hands, now clasped together in your lap, one thumb nervously tapping against the other.  A lamppost a few feet away cast a circular glow down onto the pathway and over the half of the bench that you occupied, leaving him in darkness. Appropriate.

You shook your head, one trembling hand coming up to fix the errant strands of hair that fell into your face. “I knew something was wrong then, Billy. I…” you sighed heavily, and he felt his right foot start to bounce nervously, wishing he could reach out to cover your hands with his, but knowing that he shouldn’t. “I could tell, could...hear it in your voice. You sounded so far away...I mean, not in miles...far away from who you are.” You mean were. “The things you said…” you inhaled through your nose, centering yourself. “You’d never said anything like that before...never talked about how you couldn’t wait to get ho-” you stopped yourself and he noticed. He never referred to getting back as being home, and you knew that. “Back.” You let out a puff of air that would have sounded like a laugh under different circumstances. “Before then, I always thought you were happy as a clam over there.”

“Before then...I was…” He spoke without realizing it, boot still bouncing against the crumbling concrete. He scrubbed a hand over his hair- still short and bristly, but finally starting to grow- before dragging it down over his mouth, feeling all the scars and ripples as he did. But then everything went to shit...no...I turned everything to shit…

.  . .  . . .  . . .

“What happened, Billy?” You could feel the anxiety rolling off of him, and it was unnerving; Billy Russo was the most confident, capable person you’d ever met. You’d only ever experienced vulnerability from him once, and you’d excused it because he was drunk and mourning the loss of a brother. This was new and not at all like the man you’d come to know and care about. “Something...I know something must have happened. You said it was different...and your note…” you sucked in a ragged breath, memory flying back to the day you’d read what you didn’t know then would be Billy’s last words to you for...well, as far as he was concerned, forever.

The box arrived three days after you’d spoken to Billy and he’d told you that he’d be back in two weeks. It looked far less beat up than his packages usually did when he was sending them from an active war zone- the last one had been dirty and dented and you were thankful that all it contained was a book and a letter and nothing fragile. This one looked more like the few packages he’d sent you while he was stateside, lacking the dusty film of the desert. But you checked the return address, which showed the APO in Afghanistan where you’d sent the package to him the day after he shipped out. Guess they were just careful with this one. You ran your fingers over the label as though you were trying to feel where he’d touched it last. An uneasy feeling had settled in your stomach when you’d gotten off the phone with Billy, and it reawakened as you reached for the boxcutter in the junk drawer. Something’s not right. You sliced the box open quickly but carefully, both eager and afraid that you might find a clue as to what that something was.

Lifting the cardboard flaps and removing the layer of bubble wrap, you first found the letter. Billy never wrote much. He wasn’t one to go on and on, page after page, but this one was exponentially shorter than any of his previous letters. This one couldn’t really even be called a letter. It was more of a note, or a memo. You took a shaky breath as you lifted it from the box, fingers sliding over the deep indentations that he made from pressing the pen hard into the paper. His handwriting was as neat as it always was, words set at a slight slant between the blue lines on the white page, letters all at uniform height, standing at attention with military precision.

As always, you imagined Billy leaning back in his cot, one knee bent skyward as he used his leg like a desk, Frank sitting on the adjacent cot, maybe reading letters from his wife and kids. You pictured the pen in his long fingers, flying across the page, his tongue poking out between his lips as he signed his name at the bottom. Usually you imagined him smirking as he wrote something snarky about the book you’d sent him, or some story about some dumb thing one of the rookies did. But as you read the short and certainly not sweet message this time, you frowned. An icy shiver went down your back as you imagined the same frown forming on his handsome face, and it only unsettled you further.

Hey, Getting out of here soon. Shit really hit the fan this time. I think I’m done. Don’t think I can do another one of these. Tried to talk Frank into a transfer with me, but Frankie’s Frankie, you know? Guy’s built out of honor and bricks. Not me though. Got an offer to switch to a different unit-different kinds of missions- and I think I’m gonna take it. Been thinking about what you told me, about how I can build something for myself if I wanted, and I think I do. Want that, I mean. So I’m making some changes. Actually liked the book you sent me this time, too. You really know me too well, you know that? Anyway, I gotta go. Hope you’re good, talk to you when I get back to New York.

-Billy

You only realized that your hands were shaking because you heard the paper crinkle. Shit really hit the fan. A transfer. Different kinds of missions… you know me too well. You chewed at your lower lip. What does that mean? You’d never heard Billy talk this way about his deployments before. You’d gotten details- gory ones, dark ones, twisted ones- but you’d never heard him talk about walking away from his unit, especially if that meant that he and Frank wouldn’t be together anymore. Those two were joined at the hip. They’d dug each other out of the worst of those gory, dark, twisted details, both overseas and back at home, for the last eight years. Frank was Billy’s family, his brother. They would morbidly joke that Maria would be relegated to a separate cemetery plot, because the two of them would be buried together like an old married couple. So to hear that he was considering taking a transfer when Frank wasn’t sent up red alerts that only told you you were right to feel uneasy, right to worry. What did you get into over there, Billy?

You set the note on the counter and reached in, surprised to find that your book wasn’t the only item left in the box. Lifting the well-loved novel from the plastic air-filled bubbles, worn, dark red cover familiar in your hands, you noticed a thin strip of material with frayed edges. Is that… But you instantly knew what it was, and it made you release your breath in a quick burst, made filling your lungs again seem impossible. Setting Dorian down on the counter next to Billy’s note, heart beating out of rhythm, you reached in and brushed your fingertips along the embroidered letters. Your eyes watered and you tried to swallow your tears as your hand closed around the fabric and took it from the package. Your free hand covered your mouth as your tears fell freely, staring down at the bold, black lettering reading RUSSO. He’d sent you the name tape from his combat fatigues. He really was done. Billy… what’s going on?

You mindlessly rubbed your fingertips together as you came back from the memory, still able to feel the thread from the embroidery; still able to feel that one loose end sticking out from the top of the R. “Billy,” your weak voice sounded foreign to your ears. You took a deep breath as you heard him exhale, felt the vibrations of the bench as he shifted next to you. “Have you ever thought that someone you…” loved. Say it. Tell him you loved him. “Someone you cared about… was dead? Do you...d’you know what that feels like, Billy?” Your hands were shaking in your lap, much to your annoyance, and you clenched and unclenched them, fingernails digging into your palms. It solved nothing. Now all you had were shaking fists, as you waited for his answer.

.  . .  . . .  .

She was about to say something else...she said someone that you care about, but...was she going to..? Billy’s heart pounded and he knew it was impossible that you couldn’t hear it, banging like a bass drum against his ribs. He could hardly hear his own thoughts over it. “I…” suddenly his throat went as dry as the desert he’d left never to return to. He tried clearing it to no avail before continuing. “Yeah...I...they told me Frankie...there was even a funeral and…” he cursed under his breath. Shit. Guess I’m tellin’ her everything. “Yeah, I know what that feels like.” Difference is I did it to myself. You didn’t ask for this.

“Frank?” you shook your head, confusion rearranging your features, the scarred, stippled area near the corner of your eye stretched. “I...I heard the news on Frank...on his family, but then…”

“Yeah,” Billy said, voice hollow. “Yeah. But then.” But then Frank had gone just as far off the rails as Billy had. They’d just gone in different directions. “Look,” he knew his own features were etched with more than scars, the pain and difficulty of what he was about to tell you...what he was about to admit, was all over his face. “There’s...I’ll answer all your questions...I wanna tell you everything, just…” I’m scared. I’m terrified because you’ll see me for who I always was. I’m scared that you’ll run away from me like I ran away from you. His thoughts were shattered when he felt your hand slip over the top of his. Suddenly that booming beat in his chest came to a grinding halt, staring down at where you were touching him, mouth hanging open and breaths shallow.

“Billy...I didn’t think this was going to be a happy talk,” you explained, giving his hand a squeeze. “But you...you’re,” you sighed, shutting your eyes as you continued. “You mean a lot to me. You always have… You always will. I thought you were gone, and now you’re back and...and I know that a lot must have changed...that whatever happened to you...it...it couldn’t have been good, Billy. For you to just vanish like that…I...I know it’s not going to be an easy talk. But please...I need to know what happened.” You opened your eyes again, shifting to face him, tilting your head so that you’d be looking into his coal black eyes if you could.

She thinks she’ll understand...but how could she… “Yeah...yeah, okay.” The drum beat started back up, and he twisted his hand so that it was lying palm up on top of his knee, giving you the chance to take yours back. You didn’t. Instead, you pressed your palm to his and laced your fingers together, squeezing again. He knew you meant it to be reassuring, and he tried to let it be. But it felt like a bullet had torn through his skin at the place where your hands were joined, and was using his veins like a tunnel to get to his heart. Start talking. Just start talking, Russo. “The last time we talked...when I said I’d be getting out in two weeks? I was here...I was in New York...I...I was trying to keep you out of it, keep you safe, but-”

He felt you loosen your grip, but you kept your hand in his, and despite hearing that he’d lied to you, you didn’t let your face falter. “Keep me safe?” Your question came as a young couple strolled past, their linked hands swaying between them, their carefree, lovestruck expressions mocking the situation that Billy found himself in with you. “Keep me safe from what, Billy?”

“From me.” From me and my shit. From me and the blood on my hands. From me and the way that I’m not who you thought I was, not at all. His top lip curled in self-loathing as he thought about the chain of choices he’d made that had led him to this spot, but also of the chain of choices he was about to make, had he not heard your voice on the bus. He looked down at the knuckles of the hand you weren’t holding. I was gonna add more blood to these, too. He thought about the plan he’d started hatching back in that warehouse when he’d woken up with every inch of his body on fire, handcuffed to a hospital bed and under the care of some hack doctor; about how he would get his revenge on Frank for what he’d reduced him to, about how he’d make it slow, make him feel it, make him regret not taking that transfer back in Kandahar, the flint spark that set their brotherhood ablaze.

But having you land back in his life so unexpectedly… your voice hitting his ear like a tuning fork, it threw that plan out the window. I fucked up with her once and never thought I’d get a chance to make it right...I don’t deserve another chance...but I got one. If it were possible, that after he’d told you everything- all the shit he’d done, all the shit that had been done to him- that you would still want to let him back into your life, he wasn’t about to throw that chance away. He wouldn’t blame you if you never wanted to see him again after tonight, but that would be up to you, not him. She’s always been there when I needed her...she’s here now… He couldn’t remember a time in his life that he’d needed you more. Except maybe the second he’d ended your last phone call. Or the minute he’d put that box in the mail from a post office right here in New York, with express written permission from that piece of shit Rawlins to use the APO address on the return label. Or the week after, when he’d erased your number and the photo that had kept him breathing. Or the thousands of times since those little moments, when the regret had already started chipping away at his heart, and he knew that you were the only one who had a chance at helping him put it back together.

Your voice cut through the night and through his thoughts. “What do you mean from you, Billy?” You were shaking your head, lips parted and downturned in an open mouthed frown. “Keep me safe from you? You would never hurt me...I know that…I know you, Billy.”

He couldn’t help the disgusted, humorless laugh that slipped out. “You thought you knew me.” He looked straight ahead, unable to look at you as he spoke, unable to see that frown and know that you were still trying to fight for him, still trying to believe in him, still trying to get him to think he was worth something.

“No, Billy. I do know you. I’ve always seen who you really are. You don’t get to tell me that I don’t-”

“Just…” he cut you off, your lips pressed together in a thin line. He sighed and your name came out with it. “Please...just let me explain...and then you’ll understand.” I hope.

You nodded, uncrossing and re-crossing your legs as a sign of silent surrender, fingers still loosely fit with his.

Billy felt the weight of the entire universe sitting on his chest. He looked up at the night sky, deep, matte black canvas with only a smattering of stars visible against the light pollution of the city, as though waiting for it to fall, to drop on his head and crush him. It didn’t, so he started talking. “The last tour… in Afghanistan, I told you it was different.” He paused and you nodded. Tongue darting out to wet his lips, he continued. “But I didn’t tell you how it was different. It... “ he shook his head. “It was all fucked. From day one. Rawlins and Bennet, our COs, they had us runnin’ these assassination missions...had us taking captives, had us...had us fuckin’ torturing these bastards, or else standin’ guard while Rawlins did. Operation: Cerberus, they called it.It wasn’t what we thought we’d be doin’, didn’t feel right, but,” he shrugged, “but what were we supposed to do, ya know? Gotta finish the mission, finish the tour. I had already decided I wanted out halfway through that shitstorm, but I didn’t tell anyone...not even Frankie, not until that one night…”

Billy closed his eyes and let out a breath. When he opened them, you were still facing him, lips still pressed together, listening intently. “There was this one night,” he continued, “we walked right into a goddamn ambush. Lost half the unit, Frank took a bullet, most of our guys got hit...it was bad, real bad...but the worst fuckin’ part of it all was that Frankie’n me, we told them it was an ambush. We told them it didn’t feel right, didn’t like the way it smelled, ya know? They asked us what we thought, and we told’em and they made us go in anyway.” He could hear the anger starting to change the tone of his voice.

“That’s… shit, Billy, that’s horrible. I’m sorry it went like that…” your voice was soft, but the confusion was back on your face. “But...it’s not your fault, you can’t...I don’t…”

“Just…” he sighed. “Yeah...I know. Not my fault, just...just listen, okay?” Your shoulders slumped a little, but you nodded again, leaning back against the bench as he went on. “Rawlins, he came in asking over and over again if we completed the fuckin’ mission. Men bleeding and dyin’ left and right, and this shithead’s asking if we completed the fuckin’ mission. Well. Didn't sit right with Frank, and I ended up having to pull him offa Rawlins before he killed’em.” He scoffed. “Shoulda let’em. Hindsight’s 20/20, ya know?” Oh...shit… He realized what he’d just said. “Shit, I...I’m…”

You rolled your frosted eyes as much as you could. “Save it, Russo. It’s a sighted world, you’re allowed to use the vocabulary that you know.” Despite the hurt in your voice, you sounded like you, like the you he’d known, like the you he missed. It was both a comfort, knowing that you hadn’t given up on him, that you were still treating him like you always did, with that little bit of sarcasm that he loved, that got his attention in the first place; but it also cut like a knife, because he knew how badly you’d been hurting...knew he was only about to hurt you further as he continued.

He cleared his throat to rid the lump. “Yeah...well, like I was sayin’, I shoulda let him kill that piece of shit. I didn’t, ‘cause I didn’t want Frank to take the fall, take the hit that shoulda been for Rawlins...the hit I knew would come down on Frank, on me, on all of us if we didn’t do whatever that asshole said.” Billy sneered. “Like we were his trained fuckin’ dogs… But I told Frank that night that I was gettin’ out, and he looked at me like he didn’t know me anymore…” I’ll never forget that look. Like I was betraying him… “Turns out, what we were doin’ over there? None of it was sanctioned by the U.S. Military. We were Rawlins’ private kill squad, just coverin’ his tracks and cleaning up his messes. And word got out, about what we were doin’. So Rawlins’ had even more to clean up after we got back… and who do you think he called? His favorite rabid dog.”

“Billy…” you whispered his name as your grip on his hand loosened almost negligibly, but he felt it. Good. You should let go… “What do you mean, when you got back…”

“I mean he had us takin’ out our own guys. Me’n a couple others he trusted…Paid to trust, anyway… he...and I’ll never stop regretting this...he fronted the money for Anvil, if I agreed to be on that list of trained killers at his beck and call...I took it, because I wanted to start something, build something, for guys like me...guys like Frank, who could come back from war and still feel like they had value and worth...could still use their skills and be with their brothers and...It was a fantasy. I know that now. It was never gonna pan out how I wanted, and I think Rawlins knew that, too.  Frank wasn’t on that list...but he was on one of Rawlins’ lists. You know that fucker actually had the balls to ask me to take Frank’s family out? To murder my best friend, my brother, in cold blood? To kill his wife and kids?” Billy hadn’t realized it, but his leg had started bouncing again. He glared at his knee until it stopped, and blew out a long breath. Okay, Russo, halfway there...

.  . .  . . .  . .

Your heart was racing, blood pulsing, as his story unfolded. Black Ops gone awry, hits being carried out on U.S. soldiers, on U.S.soil… the money for Anvil- no wonder he didn’t look like himself when I saw that press conference… he’d sold his soul. The night air was as cool and clear as it could be for summer in the city, but you couldn’t take a breath. Your mind was stuck on the line he’d highlighted, on what he’d said about the book being perfect for him… about how you’d laughed when you said “you may be dark and mysterious, Billy, but you’re not the devil.” He’s not. He’s still not… that’s… this is fucked, but he’s still Billy… “But you didn’t…” you didn’t dare phrase it as a question. You knew how much the Castles meant to Billy.

“No.” He said firmly. “No, I said I’d have no part in that.” But you didn’t stop it… Oh, Billy… “They were…” you heard him sniff and felt him move through your still joined- barely- hands, and presumed he was reaching up to scratch his nose. “They were the closest thing to family I had…” I know… “Except you…” what? Me? But… Your entire being went numb to hear him say that he considered you family; that he considered you the closest thing to family that he ever had. He didn’t give you time to speak, and you weren’t sure that you could, anyway, so you listened as best as you could above the hum of the shock. “That’s why I had to...why I ended things the way I did. I…shit” he muttered, and you let out a long shuddering breath, noticing that you’d withdrawn your hand from his, but not remembering when that had happened. “You always...you accepted me. You knew all the shit I was doin’, goin’ out with different girls every night, you knew about...about the shit I went through as a kid and, how I carry it around with me and...and you never flinched. You…”

You found your voice, and you couldn’t silence it. “I saw you, Billy. I saw you and I…” I loved you. Say it. “I saw you and of course I accepted you, Billy. I know you. I see you. I care about you...I…”  

“And I didn’t want to ruin that.” That anger at himself was back in his voice, and you imagined those dark eyes growing impossibly darker, imagined flared nostrils and a twitch of his upper lip. “I was selfish. I wanted to keep that feeling for myself, instead of...of telling you the truth about what I was...about how I betrayed my brother because that shithead told me to and handed me a check.” He laughed dryly, and it hurt to hear. “He was right. I’m just another dumb grunt, just a rabid dog on a leash.”

“No, Billy,” your voice cracked and your head shook and you sat forward. Your heart was thundering wildly, like a summer storm, and you worried the electricity coursing through you might spark lightning in the air, but you knew you needed to say something. This is important. I have to say this...before he vanishes again. “You’re not a dumb grunt. You’re not a dog. You’re a person who was put in an absolutely terrible situation. And you were up against the wall because of it, and you had to make choices. And your choices, Billy…” you sighed as your head shook again slowly. “I wish you would have talked to me… I… you’re...I care about you so much, Billy. The things that happened over there… the offer from Rawlins.... I can accept all of that. Because I accept you, Billy Russo. All of you, not just the clean cut parts. Not just Lieutenant William Russo, decorated veteran of war.” You thought about the nametape that you’d used as a book mark for a year before you tucked it inside your pillow case. “Not just handsome Billy or fun Billy.” The picture you still ran your fingers over. “I accept the Billy that showed up drunk to my apartment and fell asleep on my couch. I accept playboy Billy, different girl every night. I know you, Billy, and I accept you. I can accept the bad things… the lies though...That’s harder to accept, Billy. You never lied to me before… don’t you know that I, “ fucking say it. You might not get another chance. “Don’t you know that I loved you, Billy?” Shit.

@something-tofightfor @its-my-little-dumpster-fire @suchatinyinfinity @lexxierave @agent-bossypants @zaffrenotes @songforhema @thesumofmychoices @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @lysawayne @ethereal-heavcns @ymariejp @belladonnarey @audreychaz

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[lunanight2012]

A Tale As Old As Time? Part 7

WARNINGS: ABUSE, BLOOD, CURSING, BAD BREAK UPS, KIDNAPPING, AND A BIT OF ORAL RAPE.

Most couples have small arguments, others don't argue at all. But me and Harry. We got into a pretty big fight right near the end of winter break. It started out as a small argument about my gloves. Then it turned into us yelling some very hurtful words.

He called me broken and a weirdo. I called him a bastard. He dumped me. I ran to my room crying, hugging my Harry plush. Apparently I ended up crying myself to sleep.

Sleep was not peaceful. Gil had to wake me up 3 different times during the night because I was thrashing, whimpering and crying in my sleep. The nightmare that had stayed away for months because of Harry had finally shown itself.

The nightmare started off with me on the Jolly Roger, with Captain Hook branding me, injecting me, cutting me, abusing me….. it was horrible. By the time morning came I was lucky if I had gotten 2 hours of sleep. I hugged my Harry Hook plush close to my chest as I got out of bed. I put back in my contacts, feeling self-conscious about my eyes again.

We made it down to the cafeteria, but as Gil and I entered, everyone looked at us. Uma ran to us, clutching a piece of paper.

"Luna! Please tell me Harry is still in your room sleeping!?!" Uma begged.

"No…. We got into a fight yesterday and…. He dumped me…." I explained, trying not to cry.

Uma made a small hiccup noise. "I found this note taped on the outside of my room this morning." Uma held out the note.

I shifted my Harry Hook plush and took the note.

'Uma.

I'm goin back to the Isle. I'm not wanted 'ere.

Don't tell Cindy. She wouldn't care anyways.

-Harry'

As soon as I finished reading the note I ran to my room, rushed and changed. Grabbing my small backpack, I placed my harry hook plush in it and rushed out the door.

I hopped onto my motorcycle, strapped on my helmet and headed for the Isle. I was going to get Harry back. But of course nothing goes as planned.

I hid my bike and walked around the Isle. I couldn't remember how to get to Uma's ship. But of course someone came up behind me and covered my mouth with a cloth.

"Time to sleep Princess~!" A male voice sang, chloroform… 

I passed out.

~~~~~~~~~~

I groaned as I rubbed my head, sitting up. I looked around, blinking as I tried to make my contacts unblur. I hugged my backpack to my chest, reaching inside and pulling out my harry plush.

I was in some sort of cell in what appeared to be a basement. Was I scared, Hell Yes! But I knew there was no getting out of this.

"Well well. Looks like the princess finally woke up." A male voice sang from the stairs.

I looked in the direction of the voice, seeing a man with terrifying green eyes. He walked down the stairs and stood in front of the cage that I was in. He had a pirate's hat on, though he wasn't one of Uma's nor did he remind me of any of Captain Hook's crew.

"W-who a-are y-you? W-where am I?" I stuttered out, trying to control my shaking.

"Where you are is the last place you will ever be. And as to who I am, I am your new master." He gave an evil smirk. 

"Now, I've heard quite a bit about you princess. Dating that Hook boy, getting kidnapped by his father, injected with Hades blood. Oh, speaking of which, this is now mine~!" He held up my Ember.

I gasped and reached for my neck. 

"Oh and if that Hook boy decides to try to come get you, well let's just say he won't have an easy time finding you." He exclaimed with an evil laugh before he walked back upstairs, closing and locking the door to the basement.

All I could do was cry.

~~~Back in Auradon~~~

"It's been 6 hours and we can't get a hold of Luna. We need to go to the Isle. I have a bad feeling about this." Evie explained, pacing a bit.

"I knew I should've gone with her! I shouldn't have let her go there alone!" Uma exclaimed punching the wall.

"We have to get her back! She had so many nightmares last night. She barely got any sleep. She needs Harry. She even put back in her contacts. She left her glasses here." Gil explained, holding up Luna's glasses.

"That's it. Gil, you're comin along. Who else is joinin me?" Uma exclaimed, grabbing her helmet.

"We will. Celia, Dude, Chad. You three watch the school. We're going to bring them both back." Evie explained, Chad and Celia nodded.

So the group grabbed their stuff, hopped on their motorcycles and drove to the Isle. Once there the group hid their motorcycles in the alley by the entrance to the docks.

Uma took a deep breath, before heading through the tunnel. Once on the other side they looked around the docks, it was early evening and the sun had yet to set. Uma spotted a familiar mess of hair pacing of the Lost Revenge.

"HARRY BLOODY HOOK YOU BETTER HAVE A DAMN GOOD EXPLANATION FOR LEAVIN!" Uma shouted, causing Harry to jump a bit and turn around. 

It was obvious that he hadn't gotten any sleep, he looked like a mess.

"Wat are ye guys doin 'ere?" He asked as the group walked onto the ship.

"Luna came to the Isle to talk to you and try to get you to come back. But that was 6 hours ago and we can't get a hold of her." Evie explained, fear in her voice.

"WHY ON EARTH DID YE IDIOTS LET 'ER COME TO THIS HELL HOLE BY 'ERSELF!!?!?!?!" Harry shouted with anger thickening his accent.

"She was determined. Harry. She kept having nightmares last night. I had to wake her up multiple times last night because she was thrashing and crying and whimpering in her sleep. She even at one point almost burned me. We got maybe 2 hours of sleep last night. Then this morning she put her contacts back in." Gil started to explain, catching Harry by surprise. "She hasn't worn her contacts since Christmas. That's been a month. You realize that she needs you. More than either of you realize. Chad even told me before we left that before she met you, she only had a few friends." Gil explained.

"She's better off with a prince than me." Harry stated, turning towards the mast and tightening the rope.

"You know damn well that a stuck up prince wouldn't stay with her when she starts flaming. You also know damn well that all of those stuck ups would also make her, forcibly, take off her leather gloves and knowing some of them, they would probably try to turn her into something she's not." Uma stated, forcing Harry to look at her.

"You may have said some things you both regret but from what I understand, relationships include arguments. But you gotta talk, and make up. Not run away!" Uma explained.

"I-I just...wait…. Ye said Luna is still on the isle?" Harry blinked.

"Yea. And we're worried that something has happened to her." Carlos confirmed.

"There is one bastard on this god forsaken hell hole that probably has her. Barney Barbossa. The bastard has been jealous of my father for years." Harry explained, gripping his hook.

"So let's go to wherever he is." Jay stated.

"Not that easy. He's known to have multiple locations. We can check the Black Pearl. Maybe Captain Jack will know." Uma stated. 

Harry threw back on his red coat and grabbed his sword. The group headed to the other side of the Isle. It wasn't as drabby or moldy or run down. The stalls were now selling more healthier foods. No more rotten or moldy food. Finally the group made it to the other side of the Isle. They had passed Bargain Castle, Hell Hall, Jafar's Junk Shop, Castle-Across-The-Way, and even Dragon Hall. So many memories on the Isle.

They soon arrived at The Black Pearl. And who was there to greet them but none other than Gibbs.

"Harry! Uma! How have ye two been?" He exclaimed, hugging them.

"We're actually lookin for Barney Barbossa. Have ye seen him? It's urgent." Harry explained.

"Has that boy been getting into trouble again?" Gibbs asked.

"Gibbs! Whose on my ship?" A familiar pirate called out.

"It's Harry and Uma along with some friends." Gibbs called back.

Captain Jack Sparrow emerged from the Captain's quarters. "Harry! Uma! How have you runts been?" He exclaimed as he came up to us.

"Uncle Jack! We're actually in a hurry, have ye seen Barney? 'e kidnapped me lass and we need to get 'er back." Harry exclaimed.

"That bastard, nah haven't seen 'im in a few days." Jack replied. "Though when ya see him give him a slap from me! He was supposed to bring me my rum!" Jack shouted.

"Don't worry Uncle Jack, we'll make sure you get your rum. But first we have to find the bastard." Uma smiled at Jack before the group headed back to the Lost Revenge.

~~~Back with Luna~~~~

Not sure how long I have been here, but the guy let me out of the cage once, chained me up and made me clean the floor upstairs. I have no clue what time it is. He threw me back in the cage, after leaving a harsh slap on my face and a decent sized bruise on my arm. Apparently I didn't clean the floor well enough. 

"You don't do a good job, you don't get food!" He shouted before locking my cage and going upstairs, locking the door behind him.

I hugged my plush close. I wonder if the gang is looking for me. I wonder if Harry….. I shake my head and curl up in the furthest corner of the cage. My gloves were starting to tear up. 

This isn't good, at this rate I won't have my gloves anymore. Suddenly the door opened and he came stomping down the stairs. I placed my plush next to my bag and wait for him to unlock the cage. He does so then reaches in and roughly grabs my arm and pulls me out of the cage and tosses me into the opposite corner.

I hear him gripping some sort of leather and I turn to see him holding a leather whip. My hair made fizzing noises as it tried to light but without my ember it just kept giving me a headache.

He stomped over to me and tore the back of my shirt open. 

"You are getting punished for not cleaning the floor properly you slave!" He exclaimed before stepping back and whipping the whip.

I screamed in pain, my palms heating up. He kept whipping me, over and over and over again. 5 whips. He then threw me, roughly into my cage, locked the cage and went back upstairs, locking the door behind him.

My back was bleeding, and stinging, and all I could do was curl up, hugging my plush close, and cry myself into a dreamless sleep.

~~~The Chip Shop~~~~~

"GODDAMMIT!! That rat bastard is probably doing god knows what to 'er!" Harry exclaimed, slamming his hook down on a rotting old table.

"Harry calm down. Let's split up, I'm also gunna call Mal and tell her what's going on." Evie exclaimed. "Carlos and Jay go to Smee's house here on the Isle and ask if they've seen Luna. Uma and Harry you both search the docks. I'm going to Curl Up & Dye to see if the Tremaine's have seen Luna. Gil, I need you to go to Dr. Facilier's Arcade and ask him if he's seen Luna." Evie explained.

"Actually me and Uma will go to Smee's, Jay and Carlos can take the Docks." Harry stated, and everyone nodded in agreement and split up.

Evie called Mal up. "Hey Evie, what's up?" Mal answered.

"Mal, we have a situation. Harry and Luna got into a fight, he ran back to the Isle. Luna went there alone this morning and she was kidnapped by Barney Barbossa. She's been missing for," Evie looms at her watch, "over seven hours now. We could really use a Dragon fly over. Also can you tell Fairy Godmother what's going on?" Evie explained.

"I'll fly straight there. We're currently at Neverland and Jane and Fairy Godmother are here too. I'll let everyone what's going on. I will be there in 30 minutes." Mal stated.

They hung up and Evie made her way to Curl Up & Dye.

Harry knocked on Smee's door. "Coming! I'm coming!" 

Smee opened the door, a shocked look on his face when he sees Harry and Uma.

"Harry! Uma! What are you doing back here?" Smee asked. 

"UNCLE HARRY!!" Two voices shouted in sync.

Squeaky and Squirmy barrelled into Harry, hugging his waist. Harry chuckled.

"Hey boys! Have ye both been good for yer father?" He asked, looking down at the twins, who nodded.

"Good now, we have a question for ye. Have any of ye seen Luna? Cinderella's daughter." Harry asked.

"I haven't seen her. Have either of you boys?" Smee asked, both boys shook their heads.

Harry frowned. "Has something happened to her?" Smee asked, worried.

"Barney Barbossa kidnapped her." Uma explained.

"That boy is so full of trouble. And no one knows where he lives. We can help you look for her if you would like." Smee suggested.

Harry smiled. "That would mean a lot to me." Harry exclaimed, and the 5 headed down the docks.

~~~~Luna~~~~~

I woke up 30 minutes later, and a commotion upstairs has me hiding my plush and wincing as the wounds on my back scabbed up. Suddenly the door was thrown open and he came back downstairs.

"Looks like there's a search party out for you little slave. But I'm going to make sure they don't find you." He holds up chains, a blindfold, and a gag.

I tried to crawl away, shaking in fear. "Now be a good little slave and obey your master, or do I have to punish you even further. I will take away that thing you have in there." He threatened.

So I obeyed, crawling out of my now unlocked cage. He bound my wrists tightly together, my feet tightly together, then he gagged me and blindfolded me. He then shoved me back into my cage, I hear him lock the cage and slowly go upstairs.

"If you behave and not make a peep maybe I'll give you a treat~!" He exclaimed in a sing songy tone, which scared me the most.

I knew that the treat he meant was not food. I shivered and tried to reach for my plush. I managed to grab it. Holding it to my chest I sat in my cage.

'Please find me. Anyone.' I mentally beg.

~~~~~40 minutes later, The Chip Shop~~~~~~

Harry, Uma, Smee, Squeaky, Squirmy, Gil, Dr. Facilier, Carlos, Jay, Evie, Dizzy, Lady Tremaine, and even Anthony Tremaine were all at the Chip Shop.

A dragon sounded from above and soon Mal was walking into the Chip Shop, in her Isle outfit.

"I'm back~~~!" She sang before her and Uma busted out in laughter.

"Did you find anything?" Harry asked.

"No. But I brought some help." She explained, stepping aside to reveal her group.

Peter Pan, tinkerbell, Hades, and Fairy Godmother.

Harry gulped, clutching his hook.

Peter seemed to notice and flew over to him. "Hooks son? Are you the one that also killed the lunatic?" 

Harry could only nod. Peter laughed and patted Harry's back. "Good job. Now let's see if we can find your girl."

The group talked and planned all throughout the night.

~~~~~Luna~~~~~

He came back, I became scared. I sat my plush down and sat as still as possible. I feel him yank me out of the cage and onto my knees. He took off the gag and unchained my hands.

"Now it's time for your treat my slave." He exclaimed.

I heard a zipper unzip and I tried my hardest to not shake. His member was in my face. I have never even had sex before. Harry was my first kiss and my first ever boyfriend. I should be doing this with him. Not this guy. 

Suddenly he shoved his member into my mouth, trying hard not to gag I could feel my eyes watering as this hurt so much. He just kept thrusting into my mouth and the noises he made, made me even more scared.

It got faster. And soon enough something was going down my throat. It was hard not to gag. "You better swallow all of that. That is your meal for the night. So now." He roughly yanked off the blindfold and tightened the chains on my legs and reattached, tightly, the chains on my wrists before shoving me back into my cage, locking it and going upstairs and locking the door behind him.

It was so dark down here.

[heartsandmuses]

game two

a/n: the sequel to this ficlet that I wrote a few days ago!

(also, I watched the 1977 movie Slap Shot yesterday, and of course I had to write something inspired by this scene -- so, here you go!)

— — —

“Can I open my eyes now?”

Tony shuffles around the room — and Steve’s still not exactly sure what he’s doing, but by the sounds of it, it’s something involving a box-cutter, the TV set, and a costume change — and afterwards there’s a long, assessing moment of silence before he finally says, “Wait, let me just... Okay, there we go. Alright, yeah, you can open them.” 

So Steve does, removing his hand from his face and blinking his eyes open, gaze immediately falling on... Tony, standing in the middle of the living room in a red and white hockey jersey, MIT written across the front and his name and number across the back. He grins, stretching his arms out and doing a slow little spin, and this isn’t exactly what Steve had in mind when Tony said he had a surprise for him, but he’s definitely not complaining.

Tony looks like he’d fit in with any of the big league players, cocky confidence amped up to eleven, hair mussed and eyes bright, shoulders nearly as broad as Steve’s now, under all that padding.

“I... Hi,” Steve says intelligently. He can’t stop staring. “Wow. That’s...”

“Hot?” Tony supplies, clearly enjoying every second of this. “Rugged?”

“Unexpected,” he eventually decides.

Tony laughs, gesturing to the cardboard box sitting on the coffee table. It’s open, the contents half-poking out, though some of it is laid out on the table haphazardly: gloves, socks, loose pucks. “Well, you did say you needed to see it to believe it, so, I dug all of this out of storage. Oh! And, the pièce de résistance...” Tony plucks the remote off the table, aiming it at the TV. “My highlight reel. On tape.” 

It takes Steve a while to notice, but there’s a VHS player connected to the TV, an old, clunky, dusty thing that even Steve can tell is pretty primitive tech.

“Which, for the record, is a true testament to how much I love you, the fact that I’m using this old hunk of junk. Imagine if the press caught wind of this. Stock would plummet.”

Steve just smiles and shakes his head, and when Tony drops onto the couch beside him, presses a kiss to his cheek. “Well, I’m honored that you’d risk your hard-earned reputation to impress little ol’ me.” 

“Am I? Impressing you?”

“Jury’s still out,” Steve teases. “You’ve gotta let me see you play first.”

As if on cue, the TV flickers to life, the grainy picture coming up.

On screen, MIT wins the face-off, and the puck is quickly passed around; it takes half a minute, but it eventually reaches Tony, who glides through the opposing team and, with an effortless flick of his wrist, shoots it right over the goalie’s shoulder. Grinning widely, he pulls his helmet off, and god, he looks so young there, clean-shaven and baby-faced, his hair grown out a little and starting to curl at the ends. He looks so happy, too, and when Steve sneaks a glance at the Tony sitting beside him, he’s wearing the exact same expression, though it’s a little softer, a little more nostalgic.

As the tape plays on, showcasing all his greatest goals and assists, with the odd fight thrown into the mix, Tony provides his own running commentary: he tells Steve who they were playing against, where, who won. He recounts which moves landed him in the penalty box, or suspended, or with a black eye.

But when they finally get to the last clip, he just pauses for a moment, blinking in disbelief, and then, suddenly, bursts out laughing. “So, full disclosure, I’ve never actually watched this tape before,” Tony admits, biting his lip, even though it does nothing to conceal his smile. “And I really didn’t think they’d include this on here.”

Steve just raises a brow. “Why? What happens?”

“This was the last game I played before I graduated, and, uh. Let’s just say I wanted to go out with a bang.” A beat of silence, before he adds: “Have you ever seen the movie Slap Shot?”

“Can’t say I have, no.”

“Ah. Well, then, you’re in for a real treat.”

But before Steve can ask what that has to do with anything, his attention is drawn back to the TV by the crowd counting down the last ten seconds of what seems to be one of the most intense games yet. The tension’s almost palpable, most of the audience on the edge of their seats, and it doesn’t take more than a glance at the corner of the screen to see why: it’s a tie game, already in the third period.

The center runs the puck down to the blue line, passes it off to the left winger, back to center, and then there’s Tony, waiting by the net, and as soon as the puck reaches him, he slips it into the space between the post and the goalie’s pad, just as the horn goes off to mark the end of the period. The game ends 5-4, and as the audience starts throwing their hats onto the ice, MIT’s goal song — Shoot to Thrill, because of course it is — starts blasting over the speakers. Tony does a lap around the rink, taking a bow and blowing kisses to the cheering crowd, with the same kind of showmanship that nowadays he reserves mostly for Stark Expos and various press events. He takes off his helmet, setting it down on top of MIT’s net as he passes by; the gloves are next, Tony shaking them off and tossing them to the side; and then—

Steve blinks. “Are you—”

“Doing exactly what you think I’m doing?” Tony grins, carefree and self-assured, not even a lick of shame as he watches his younger self start to strip out of his jersey in front of the entire arena. “Oh yeah.”

Back on screen, the shoulder pads come off next, and he chucks them at one of his laughing teammates as he skates past. Everyone on the ice, including the linesmen, stop and stare as Tony, with exaggerated but practiced motions, pulls his suspenders off his shoulders and shimmies out of his pants, hips swaying from side to side. The cheers of the audience turn into whistles and playful goading, and Tony’s smirking as he hoists himself up to take a seat on the opposing team’s net, rolling his socks down and removing his knee pads; he does a couple kicks while he’s at it, reminiscent of the USO girls’ choreography, and when Tony hops back down onto the ice, he tugs off his t-shirt, slow and seductive, and flings it up into the stands.

By the end of it, Tony’s left in his socks, skates, and jock strap, and he manages to circle the rink one last time, giving everyone a spectacular view of his ass, before a ref finally escorts him off the ice.

The tape cuts off after his standing ovation.

Steve’s pretty tempted to give him a standing ovation himself, but all he can really do at this point is try to will his blush away and formulate at least one coherent thought. “Holy shit,” is what he finally settles on.

Tony laughs. “So, what’d you think?” he asks, lightly bumping his shoulder against Steve’s.

“Of the hockey or the striptease?”

“Both?”

There’s a fond smile curling at Steve’s lips when he turns to Tony. “When you said you could play, I didn’t think you meant like that,” he admits, still a little awestruck. “Watching you skate, it’s like seeing you fly around in the armor. You make it look so easy.” He couldn’t help but add, “Same goes for the strip show.”

It takes half a second for Tony’s grin to turn into an amused smirk. “Oh, you liked that, huh?”

“Maybe. A little.”

Tony leans in to steal a kiss, hand coming up to settle at the nape of Steve’s neck. When he pulls back after a moment, it’s to offer a wink and murmur, “Play your cards right and you might get a repeat performance.”

[imagining-sio]

Red Blood & A Heart of Gold IX

Jason being a Dick Greyson

————————————————————————

“You wanna listen to me now?” he said, not bothering to look at me, he simply stared at the sky. I, however, was staring at the flaming parking garage. Where Jason’s precious motorcycle was blown sky high.

“That motorcycle meant a lot to me.” I said absentminded.

“Well I can’t lift that piece of junk and you.”

“Fuck you.” I got up.

“I’m sure you would.” he gave breathy laugh; I pushed him back down to the cement rooftop in retaliation. He got back up, chuckling to himself as he did.

“You okay?” He asked, his hand grazing over my bruised side as if it were glass.

“Stop asking me that.” I shoved his hand away.

“Never.” he muttered, but upon noticing I heard him he started backing away few steps. I knew that mannerism from somewhere, like a distant memory.

“What did you want to talk to me about?” I changed the subject, not wanting to linger on the thought.

“Black Mask put a hit out on you.”

“And you have to tell me this-“

“Well if not you would have ben blown sky high along with that shit bike.”

“Call it a shit bike one more time and I will cuff you.” I seethed.

“It was a shit bike, I never understood why you liked the damn thing so much.” He crossed his arms, taunting. It was eery hearing someone other than Todd call it a shit bike. He never was one for old fashioned things; but that bike was his first. So by proxy he had to love it.

“That’s it!” I pulled out my handcuffs from my waist band.

“Really? I just saved your life, again, and you’re gonna arrest me for dissing your blown up bike?!” He sounded like he was laughing through the sentence as I marche toward him. We swatted at each other, me trying to get a grip on him, and he simply acting like he was having the time of his life.

“Shut up before I make you!” I said to himkicking him in the thigh. He doubled over, but only to grab my leg. He yanked me until I was flush with his body. My hands came up against his pectoral armor inorder to stop myself from fully colliding into him.

“There are multiple assassin’s looking for as we speak. If you want to survive the night; you do as I say.” Hood spoke with a low tone, one sending shivers up my spine. The hand on the underside of my left thight didn’t exactly help either.

“Can you let go of me?” I said sheepishly, in an overall small voice. He dropped my leg once he realised what I meant, but his hand only moved to match his other on either side of my waist.

“I need you to trust me, (Y/N),” He spoke, his helmet offering no expression whatsoever. I sighed, nodding my head begrudgingly.

“Ok,” a puff of smoke blew in my face, causing me to back away. I grew dizzy by the second, my footing was turing to putty, as well as my vision. I felt a pair of arms pick me up, carrying me close to their chest.

“I’m sorry about this,” Hood’s voice echoed with remorse. I was gonna punch him as soon as I could get stregnth back in my limbs.

“Bastard.” I coughed hoarsly. My vision finally fading into blackness.

“Yeah, I know Darlin’. Imma bastard.” I hear a voice say softly, pulling me closer to their chest.

————————————————————————

When I woke; I felt a soft weight upon my body. I at first thought I was back in my apartment, but upon opening my eyes and finding dark cement walls and mood lighting; I knew I was assuredly not. I looked down to find dark, blood red, silk sheets, and a black comforter upon me where I slept.

I became more alarmed when I was no longer in my clothes I wore earlier that day, but only in a large red hoodie. I frantically scrambled out of the bed, wincing when my bare feet touched the ice cold floor. I hissed at the sensation, instantly moving to walk upon my tip toes to minimize the contact.

“I see you’re up.” his voice echoed. I gave a soft yelp, turning to find him in the doorway, leaning upon the frame with crossed arms.

The idiot was shirtless, but thankfully wore a pair of sweatpants. His chest was littered with bruises, including my handiwrok from a month or so ago. He still wore the little domino mask, which couldn’t give me a view of his eyes.

That head of black hair, (minus that little white tuft in the front), and looked dishevled as it fell over his forehead. It was unkempt, most likely from sleep or perpetually wearing that excuse of a helmet. He sported a few bruises near his jaw, and a bandage was over the bridge of his nose just beyond his mask. The lower half of his face was starting to show a bit of stubble.

“Where am I?” I asked, a sorry excuse to allow me to rake over his figure.

“A safe house.”

“Where?” I pestered firmly.

“In Gotham; on earth. Does that satisfy you, Jones?” He smirked.

“No.” I spat.

“Well, it’ll just have to do for now.” He shrugged, making his way over to the bookshelf upon the adjacent wall to his bed. He grabbed a worn copy of Pride and Prejiduce and tucked it under his arm as he fixed his sweatpatns on his way out.

“You didn’t-“ I said openly, grabbing his attention.

“What? No! N-no! I’ve been sparring the entire time.” He frantically shook his head.

“Your clothes are in the wash cause it started raining. The sweatshirt is all I had that would somewhat fit.” He desperately tried to explain himself. I was slightly amused at his jitters and his nervous ticks; finding them adorable.

“I hope that your being honest.” I grumbled making my way into the en suite bathroom.

“I swear on my grave.”

“That’s not the saying,” I gave him a look.

“It is for me, sweetheart,” he chuckled, shifting himself from leaning on the doorway. I followed him out of the bedroom, which led into a halway where one of the walls was completely glass, giving a full view of Gotham itself. Out of the hallway, we walked into the open floor plan of the apartment. The place was slightly luxurious, which was evident in the glass wall facing the Gotham skyrise. The kitchen was sleek and stylish in design, even with the dim lighting.

The ‘slightly’ half of it was in the cheap worn furniture, the small gym in the corner of the open floor plan, which even then, was only a punching bag that had been heavily duck taped. What was mostly jarring was that instead of the wall with a tv, it was just a wall of firearms.

“Is there a reason for a the weaponry?” I asked, hunching my shoulders in unease.

“I used this place when I was just starting out, kept everything on hand in here,” he replied, walking over to his enormous bookshelves; placing the book in his arm back in its place. He looked over his shoulder at me, cearly eyeing my uncomfortable posture.

“I’ll take care of them,” he turned around, placing a hand on my shoulder. I nodded, gnawing my bottom lip. I watched as he walked into the kitchen, still without a shirt, and in the lighting; glistening with sweat. This wasn’t fair in any shape or form.

“How long do I have to stay here?” I asked, walking up to the barstool.

“Until its safe.”

“And that would be when exactly?”

“Until its safe.” He repeated, shrugging his shoulders.

“And what exactly am I supposed to do in the mean time. I’m a detective for GPD, I’m also on a first name basis with the commissioner, and his daughter I may add. So please tell me you thought this through.” My feet padded closer to him and his kitchen. I gaged his reaction, watching him yank the fridge door open, the light only adding to his heavenly appearance.

“I’ve got it covered. Don’t worry your pretty little head about it.” He dismissed me. A smirk playing on his face.

“Excuse me?!” My eyebrows shot up. My tone caused him to wince.

“You cannot just tell me that there is a hit out on me; knock me unconscious, take me to an undisclosed location; and tell me not to worry about it!” I angrily marched toward him, fire in my eyes. He shit the fridge, abandoning whatever he was about to get. As I moved closer, he backed away until his waist hit the cabinets and countertop.

Slowly but surely, a small smile grew upon his lips. In only detrimented me in my patience.

“Quit acting like this is fun for you. This is my life you uprooted.” I poked my finger in his pectoral, trying my absolute best to keep any and all of the thoughts running through my head to stay there. I did not want a repeat of this morning.

Before I could poke him again, his free hand caught mine before I could touch him. His grip was at first, iron clad. But it quickly softened as he Mille Dover what he was about to say.

“You know,” he started, his attention solely upon my hand within his caressing fingers.

“You’re adorable sometimes. You really are. But then you gotta do things like headbut me, try to arrest me, or act angry with me-“

“I am angry with you, idiot.”

“Maybe,” he leaned closer, his lips a hair’s breath away from mine. His eyes half lidded as they flitted between my eyes and my lips. His free hand splayed out to the small of my back, pulling my body flush with his.

“But I think that, deep down; you have other things on your mind.” He arched a brow. I felt a warmth pool in the bottom of my stomach, yearning for more.

Just as my eyes flit shut, the door burst open.

“HEY JAYBIRD I BROUGHT THE PIZZ-Oh, shit.” We both turned to find, Roy standing in the doorway with two pizzas and a six pack in hand.

Why the fuck was Roy here?

Did he say just say Jaybird.

Hood, knows Roy. Roy calls him Jaybird. Roy still used present tense talking about Jason.

I pushed out of Hood’s grip, backing away until I hit the glass wall directly across. My chest heaved to and fro. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t happen. I ran my hands through my hair frantically trying to grasp anything that made sense. My legs gave out and I slid to the floor.

“Well done Harper. Impeccable timing as usual.” Red rushed toward me, picking me up as if I weighed nothing to him. I couldn’t stop the tears now.

Everything I had gone through, the mourning, the unhealthy comparisons, everything was a lie. I was the only one out of the loop. Could I not be trusted?

“You didn’t tell me she was gonna be here!” Harper shouted as Red carried me back through the hallway toward the bedroom.

“You can’t be,” I sobbed into his chest. Every little thing about him began to fall into place, his comments, behavior, his scent. All of it. I was just in denial to it cause I watched him get buried at the funeral.

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way Sweetheart,” He pecked the top of my head as he entered the bedroom.

“Why,” I asked between breaths. He sighed, setting me down upon the bed.

“I don’t know.”

“You told Roy.”

He paused; “I did.”

“Is that why he’s here. Cause you needed someone to talk to?”

He remained silent.

“Jason.” It felt so foreign saying his name again, connecting it to the last time I saw his face, a much younger face.

“(Y/N). I can explain, it will take a while to, but I can explain everything.”

“You should have told me. That’s all that matters to me.” I grabbed the nearest pillow, clutching it for dear life, turning away from him. He sat there for a moment, the silence and tension palpable. After a few heartbeats he got up and left the room.

“I hope you’ll forgive me.” He said softly before shutting the door.

“I hope so too.” I mumbled into the pillow soaking it with salty tears.

[javelon]

Old School Movie

"Wow this sale is old school." Chase whistled as he walked down the sidewalk with Jameson. This weekend was the big city wide garage sale and Jamie had really wanted to go check out all the sales. Chase had never really gone garage sale shopping before himself but he had a free day so had decided to tag along when Jamie asked if someone wanted to come with. Some of the sales had been surprisingly great, he had found a lot of clothes his kids could wear that were like new and super cheap along with some old video games that were hard to find now.

This new sale they had come up to had a lot of antique and vintage items that made Jamie's eyes light up. Chase grinned and followed along behind his old timey brother, sharing in Jamie's excitement with each interesting item he found from his time.

"Would you like me to hold onto some of those for ya while you boys shop?" An older man who looked about in his 70's came up to them, holding out a hand to take Jamie's ever growing stack of items.

Jamie nodded happily and carefully handed over the stuff he wanted to the man. "Thank you, sir. We appreciate it." Chase smiled at the older male while Jamie nodded enthusiastically, quickly scribbling "Thank you!" on his notepad.

The man smiled warmly back at them, "It's no problem boys. It's nice to see lads your age are still interested in old relics. You especially young man!" The man nodded his head at Jamie's outfit.

"Oh Jameson here loves old stuff. You should see his impressive old movie reel collection!" Chase grinned, winking when Jamie turned away with a blush.

The old man laughed, "I've no doubt it's a fine collection! You look like you've stepped out of a silent movie yourself."

Chase exchanged a knowing smile with Jamie. If only the man knew.

"What about you? An interest in any of my old antiques?" The man asked as he carefully arranged Jamie's stuff in a pile on a card table.

Chase shook his head with a somewhat apologetic smile, "Nah that's more Jamie's thing really. I dig old electronics though."

"Oh you might take a look in this box then! Got some classics in there!" The man motioned to a cardboard box that was sticking out from under one of the tables.

Chase walked over to it and saw a VCR along with a bunch of VHS tapes, "Oh wow I haven't seen a tape in ages."

Setting his own bags of stuff down, Chase knelt next to the box and looked through the tapes out of curiosity, "Die Hard, Twister, oh Indiana Jones! You do have some good ones in here." Chase smiled as he searched, pausing when he came across a tape that had no label on it, "Do you know what this one is?"

He held it up for the old man to take and examine. The man flipped it over a couple times and pulled the tape out of its sleeve before shrugging and handing it back, "Probably a movie my wife recorded when it was on TV. Or it's still blank. You can have it if you want it."

"Oh no that's ok I don't want to just take it from you." Chase tried to put it back only to have the man laugh and hand it to him again.

"I'll only be missing out on five cents. That may have bought something when I was a kid but not so much now. I just want to get rid of 'em all. Gotta downsize ya see?" The man waved off Chase's attempts to give the tape back.

Chase shrugged and put the tape in his bag, "Well alright. Thank you!"

He browsed for a bit longer until Jamie was done and had paid for his stuff. The old man waved as they left, "Thanks for coming boys. Have a good day! Hope you enjoy your movie!"

"Thank you!" Chase called back. When they were a fair distance away he leaned over to whisper in Jamie's ear, "Hey uh, do we even have a VCR? Hush you I didn't want to be rude!" He was quick to defend himself when Jamie silently laughed.

"I have one in my room you can borrow if you'd like." Jamie signed, still chucking at him in amusement.

~~~~~~~~~

Later that evening while waiting for his kids' new clothes to finish washing, Chase ended up setting up the VCR. All of his brothers had stuff to do after dinner so Chase was left to his own devices. Might as well watch a 90's movie.

It took a bit of fiddling but he finally got everything working properly and he pushed the tape into the player. A ring of light appeared on the screen accompanied by an odd hum for a moment before it was replaced with static. Chase frowned as the tape played, showing him several odd scenes. Most were in black and white but some scenes had a hint of color. A reddish river. A chair in an empty room. A pretty woman smiling in a mirror as she brushed her hair. A little girl who's face was covered by her long hair, backing away from the same mirror. Most of the scenes at the beginning were fairly quiet, with maybe a slight hum. Then a finger was pushed through a nail, making Chase gag as the nail was popped off and cover his ears when a high pitched ringing started playing over every scene.

The tape only played for a couple minutes but each scene made Chase more and more uncomfortable. And confused. Had this been an old home video project? Some bizarre artist take on horror?

Brriing brriing

Chase about jumped out of his skin as his cell phone started ringing like an old phone would. Wtf? That wasn't even his ringtone. He frowned at his screen when he fished it out of his pocket. Unknown? How could it be unknown? Normally he would just ignore it but he found himself sliding the green button and holding the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"....7 days...." A raspy voice whispered over the line.

Chase sighed and rolled his eyes, "Really Anti? A phone prank? Not even a good one bro. What does 7 days even mean?"

...Click

Chase huffed and put his phone back in his pocket. Well this whole thing was a waste of time. Ejecting the tape he tossed it in the trash and took the VCR back to Jamie's room.

"Movie over already?" Jamie signed when he opened his door to take the player.

"It was just some home movie thing. Probably was a school project at one point. Thanks anyway." Chase explained with a shrug then went back to his room.

7 Days Later

Chase bounced his knee nervously, his eyes darting around the room. Fuck fuck fuck there was no time left. Why? Why did he watch that stupid tape??

Every little noise made him jump. Shadows danced in the corner of his eyes. His heart thundered in his chest as if trying to make up for the little time it had left.

Ssshhhhhhh

Chase whirled around when the TV clicked on behind him, static on its screen. His heart leapt into his throat when the static cleared and showed a black and white scene of a stone well near a wooded area. Backing away from the TV, he held his hands in front of him in some vain attempt to protect himself, "Oh God oh shit oh shitshitshitshit."

The lid of the stone well slowly slid back and from out of it crawled a girl. The girl from that stupid tape he had been too curious about. Her hair blocked her face from view like before as the video flickered and she was suddenly standing in front of the well, taking slow steps forward. Chase backed up until his back hit the wall, his wide eyes frozen on the screen in fear.

The scene flickered against and she was suddenly right up on the screen, her hand lifting up as if to press on the glass from the other side. Chase gasped when her hand passes through the screen, suddenly materializing in his world while maintaining her grey hue. He tried his best to become one with the wall behind him, whispering "Ohfuckohfuckohfuck." as he watched her crawl completely out of the TV and begin to stand.

As she lifts up her head and takes a step forward the room is filled with the sound of static again. In a blink of an eye Anti was behind her, his knife raised. "͘Sta͝y ͢the̷ ͟f͜uck͡ awa̛y̡ f̧ròm m̨y ̛b̷r͢o͡th̕er͝, ͜bi͢t̡c͠h̴."̷ Anti snarled  and stabbed his knife through the girl's neck.

The girl grasped at her neck, her form flickering like static. She twisted to try and face Anti only to be frozen in place, her body now outlined with a red glow. Marvin stepped out from the shadows, his eyes glowing and in his hands the tape from before glowed with the same red outline. "You chose the wrong victim, Samara. Get out. Now." 

He started chanting in a foreign language, the tape rising in the air and floating over to the girl. She struggled against Anti's grip on her arm and on his knife that was still embedded in her neck. When the tape touched her the room was filled with a flash and a high pitched ringing. When it all stopped the tape fell to floor with a clatter. Chase held a hand to his chest as he tried to slow his heart rate, "Holy fuck that was scary."

Marvin walked forward and plucked the tape off the floor, "It was. I'm glad you told us about the tape in time for us to figure out how to stop her." He looked up at Chase with a faint look of anguish, "I can't bare to think what would have happened if..."

Anti nodded and gave Chase with a serious glare, "No more bringing home cursed objects. And tell us immediately the next time you get a threatening call even if you think it's just me."

Chase nodded eagerly, swallowing hard when he fully realized what could have happened, sinking to his knees and wrapping his shaking hands around his torso. Footsteps approached him and he looked up to see Anti & Marvin crouching before him, looks of concern on their faces.

Anti placed his hand on Chase's shoulder, "C'mon, let's get you back to your room. I'll bring us some junk food and movies to take your mind off all this. Marvin will dispose of the tape."

Marvin nodded and gave Chase a gentle smile, "You're safe now, Chase. We won't let anything happen to you, brother."

Tears burned at his eyes as Chase gave them a watery smile, letting Anti pull him to his feet, "Thank you." He leaned against Anti's side as the glitch wrapped a protective arm around him, guiding him from the room, feeling safe for the first time in 7 days.

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

Alright show of hands who remembers The Ring? That movie was one of my favorites as a kid. I remember it scaring me out of my wits when I saw it in theaters and when reminiscing about it with an old friend I wondered what would happen if the Septics came across the tape. Thus this story was born!