#this is very loose and sketchy but i have so many things to shake out of my brain | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

themfchase · 4 years ago

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raven unit v (m) jjk

Jeon Jungkook x Reader

‒ raven unit. (m) chapter five: safe house. ✎ [8k words]

genre: political!Au, taskforce!Au, warcrime!Au

warnings: smut, angst, gore, violence, drug mentions, alcohol mention, graphic description of violence, death, oral (male receiving, sorry not that much smut in this chapter) With your life at risk and several people around you dead, your loyal head of security makes sure your safety is taken care of when he’s out of the picture. Three ruthless, dangerous and deadly men take on the task to protect and hide you, Min Yoongi, Jung Hoseok and the one in command, Jeon Jungkook. masterlist. chapter one. chapter two chapter three. .raven unit: drabble #01 drabble #02 n/a: After a long hiatus due to work, I’m here to finally post the fifth chapter of Raven Unit. The next chapter will be the final chapter of this series and I can only say for now, it’s been a ride. I really hope you enjoy it. It’s shorter than the others and highly unedited, but I just wanted to post as soon as I could. Please, send me messaged, anything, your support and love for this series has been what motives me to keep going and I’ll never take that for granted. Thank you so much. <3 Now onto the chapter.

You had spotted Jimin and Jin a couple of times as you and Namjoon were quietly still in your corner, watching as the partygoers spoke to each other avidly. The discrete radio in your ear was also dead silent, only to be used in case something changed. The tension had eased a little as you drank a single glass of wine. Maybe you should have eaten more before leaving. Namjoon remained quiet as he observed the party, eyes now giving away his soldier ways as they sharpened to any sudden movement close to you, and you were thankful for the silence. Looking around your eyes searched for Jungkook, you hadn’t spotted him after he had threatened Namjoon, you’d feel a lot calmer if you could just see him, keep your eyes on him. Make sure he was safe. A gasp left you when you felt a warm palm against your own, head turning to look at Namjoon that offered you a comforting smile. “Loosen up, nothing is going to happen, all you need to do is to be yourself.” He smiled, and you frowned. Be yourself is the last thing you needed to do. “Well, you get the point.” Your lips parted to give him a witty answer when you were interrupted by the sound of a voice. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to The Elizebeth Gala.” Your gaze moved to the tall man sporting a fine tailored suit, he had a glass of champagne in his hand and he looked oddly familiar. “I’m pleased to see everyone has adhered to our masquerade theme this year.” He continued, he was young, perhaps a little older than Jin, but still oddly familiar. “I hope you all enjoy the event, dance, enjoy the food and the music, it’s a pleasure to receive you all.” He makes a quick toast, eyes moving in your direction, and for a moment you’re nervous. Once everyone goes back to their conversation, the man is slowly making his way towards you, your eyes slightly building behind the mask and your hand automatically wraps around Namjoon’s arm. “Mr. Kim, fancy seeing you here.” He stops in front of you both, gaze moving towards Namjoon. “Mr. Wang, I’d say the same, wouldn’t expect you to be out so soon.” Namjoon retorted politely. Your brows furrowed. They knew each other. The handsome man scoffed, eyes rolling as he downed his champagne and placed on a passing tray. “Well, they can’t keep me locked forever, I have good lawyers.” He placed his hands in his pockets, shrugging. “I guess I owe you one.” Namjoon chuckled, a melodic laugh that was too unfair to be true. “Don’t get caught next time or I’m keeping them.” You didn’t understand what they were talking about, your gaze moving from one to the other as they had the cryptic conversation. “And who might this beautiful lady be?” The man’s gaze shifted to you, eyes boring down your figure, but not in a nasty way. Namjoon’s lips parted to answer, but you quickly extended your hand. “Raven, it’s a pleasure.” You smiled at him, finding newfound confidence within you. The man lifted a brow, taking your hand, but to your surprise he lifted the back of your palm to his lips, placing a kiss to it. “Enchantée.” He - cheesily added. “So, Mr. Wang, how do you and Namjoon know each other?” You wrapped your arm back around Namjoon’s arm once again, the man stifling beside you. “Please, call me Jackson.” The man winked. Too many cliches for one man, but suddenly the name rang clearer in your head. Jackson Wang. You had a faint memory of seeing the news and his name popping up when they announced they had one of FBI’s most wanted under custody “Oh, Namjoon, and I go way back. He’s safe kept some of my... Art a few times when I was... Unavailable.” It all came back to you now, one of the most infamous con artist of all time. Had made million-dollar heists. Art. Banks. Politicians. “But of course, my collection isn’t by far as vast and luxurious as Namjoons, I’m sure you’ve seen it.” His gaze shifted to the man beside you, Namjoon stood silent, looking straight at the other man. “Oh, I’ve seen it.” You faked a wide grin. “Was quite taken back by the Caravaggio first time I saw it, matter of fact, I think I heard somewhere that It had been stolen a few years back...” You furrowed your brows, bringing one finger up to your lower lip inquisitorially. “Isn’t that right, Joonie?” You tilted your head to look at him. Namjoon has his tongue poking on the inner side of his cheek, annoyed. “Oh, the Caravaggio, if he doesn’t take good care of it, I might just sneak in someday and take if for myself.” Jackson continued, but Namjoons brows raised. “Oh, you can definitely try. But my security is better than the Louvre, my friend, where I borrowed it from, and plus, I don’t mind killing intruders.” Namjoon smiled widely, bringing the glass in his hand to his lips. “Are you at least going to finally tell me how you breached that?” Jackson lifted a brow. “Nope,” Namjoon answered, emphasizing the ‘p’ as he took yet another sip from his drink. “Well, in that case, I think it’s time for me to return to the party.” He chuckled, looking your way. “Raven, it was a pleasure meeting such a stunning woman.” He gave you a slight bow and made his way back to the crowd. You and Namjoon were quiet for a while, not a word exchanged, but you couldn’t help it, you started shaking your head, dumbfounded by the information you just got. “A fucking con artist.” You blurted out. Namjoon quickly pulled to further back onto the boat. “Keep it fucking down, people can hear you.” He whispered, quickly looking around and bringing one hand up to fix his hair. You turned in his direction, crossing your arms. “So is everything about you a pissing contest?” You questioned, and he rolled his eyes, finally a semblance of a non-poised man. “I just enjoy art.” Was his answer. “You can just go to a museum and enjoy it there, in case you’re unaware.” You retorted. “I didn’t steal it, I borrowed it. Besides, the Art Mafia is very real and I assure you more people are safe with some of them in my hands than they are in museums.” Namjoon shrugged. “I knew there was something fishy about you.” You chuckled, the alcohol making you a little more loose than you’d be. “Doesn’t my sketchy persona make me even slightly more attractive?” The corner of his lip lifted in a smirk. And you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t attractive as fuck. But the real thing ringing in your head was... Was Namjoon flirting with you? You took in a deep breath. He knew what he did to you, they all knew. “Maybe, or maybe it just makes you seem lame.” You teased, a tipsy chuckle leaving you. “Oh, Raven, I can assure you, I’m far from lame.” That sobered you up. He was certainly flirting with you. But unknown to you, someone was listening in, and that someone walked away right before what you said next. “Don’t start getting ideas, now, Joonie, I’m a taken girl.” You brushed off his flirting. “Nah, you’re not my type anyway, I just enjoy the chase.” You suddenly felt comfortable around him for the first time, as if a wall had fallen between you both. And you both talked about art and other things you had in common for the next hour. You had even forgotten what your situation was for a moment before something rang in yours and Namjoon’s ear. “Suspicious movement on level three, keep your eyes open.” It was Hobi, your nerves suddenly spiked, and you were on high alert. “Hoseok, what’s up?” You heard Jungkook's question over the com. There was a beat of silence before he answered. “Found two bodies in the laundry carts, I think we have company.” That was more than just suspicious movement. That meant they had found you. What didn’t make sense, though, was how? You quickly eyed Namjoon, he only nodded, it was time to move. Making your way through the crowd, he guided you by the hand, your eyes quickly moving to the waiters, Yoongi, Taehyung they were all looking, one hand hovering perfectly over where their guns would be. And then you saw another face, one you didn’t know, a menacing one, wearing a disheveled waiter’s uniform, a small bloodstain on the corner of the shirt. Your eyes bulging as the man walked slowly through the crowd, eyes all the faces, looking for you. He slowly made his way towards you and Namjoon, still not looking at you, and you quickly spotted Jungkook, he had spotted the man as well, but he wouldn’t be able to make his way to you in time, the boat was almost over the border. You were almost there, just a few more minutes. As the man made his way towards you, it was as if things moved in slow motion, Jungkook reaching for his gun, the slow movement of the man’s eyes moving in your direction. You had to make a decision, and you quickly pulled Namjoon back, turning your back to the man and slamming your lips onto Namjoons. He stiffed in place as your lips met his, but quickly cupped your small face with his large hands, almost covering most of it as he kissed you back. You kept your eyes open, gaze moving as the man went right past you, not even stopping to look at the kissing couple. As soon as he was out of sight, you pulled away, quickly turning your head to meet a frozen Jungkook. His eyes glued to you then his gaze moving to Namjoon. He shifted as fast as you could think, gaze darkening, featured hardening, and he took one step. “Jungkook, not here.“ You heard Jin speak over the com and he stopped, but you could almost see the anger bubbling in his features before he took in a deep breath. “We’re moving.“ He spoke over the com and you followed him with your eyes. Hands quickly lifting to your lips. “You can worry about that later, Raven, we have to move.” It was Namjoon who bought you out of your screaming thoughts, pulling you in the crowd and walking to the Jackson, that spoke avidly about something with someone. “It’s time to repay your debt.” Namjoon interrupted the conversation, making Jackson just glare at the person he was talking to, the same walking away. “Hit me.” He spoke with amusement. “I need to get off this boat effective immediately, has to fit at least eight people.” He looked around as he spoke, making sure the second possible attacker wasn’t close. “I have a motorboat in the back of the boat, should fit everyone.” Jackson didn’t even question. “Follow me.” You were moving the moment Jackson took a step, skipping as you tried to follow their quick steps. “Back of the boat,” Namjoon spoke over the com. As you made your way through the large waste boat, one by one the boy’s appeared behind you, your head turning to spot them, and Jungkook in the back with dark eyes, not even looking in your direction. Once you were finally at the back of the boat it was dark, the boys quickly going past you as Namjoon stopped in front of Jackson, the man putting his hands in his pockets. “We’re crossing the border as we speak. A couple more minutes and you shouldn’t have any trouble,” Jackson informed. “You have two armed men on the boat, they’re dangerous, keep your eyes open.” Said Namjoon. “Oh, I already had seven armed men to worry about. Two more shouldn’t be a problem.” He shrugged. “Besides, I could tell the story of how I helped get the president’s daughter to safety at parties in the future.” You furrowed your brows once his gaze met yours. “Oh, you didn’t think I wouldn’t notice, did you? I can spot fine art from a distance, sweetheart.” Your mouth opened, but you closed it, not really knowing what to say. “Time to go,” Jimin said, you turned your head and noticed the motorboat was already on the water. “ Namjoon thanked Jackson and pulled you along with him. He helped you onto the motorboat, and soon enough, you were on your way, watching the big boat disappear as water splashed lightly around you from the speed you were going. The boat was silent, everyone quiet and looking ahead, even Namjoon as the only light source was the moon shining above you. You sat at the far back of the boat, watching them with their backs to you, Jungkook stirring, sailing. You had a dreading feeling that you had messed up. A dreading feeling that it would be hard to overcome this, but you just hugged your arms as the harsh wind blew your hair, messing it up. The party was over. It was back to reality now. It must have taken an hour for you to finally reach the docks. Not one word spoken once the boat was anchored at the dark, empty docks. You had made it, one step closer to being safe, one step closer. You almost lost your step once your feet met the rotting wood from the dock, Yoongi quickly gripping on your arm, making sure you wouldn’t fall before he was walking beside you, following the others. Your eyes were trained on Jungkook’s back. It was unusual of him to leave your side when you were out in the open like this, and it made you want to curl into yourself. You all walked until you stopped in front of three cars, Hobi and Jimin quickly moving to uncover them as Namjoon threw a black backpack over the hood and began to undress. You turned around, looking at Jungkook as he too began to undress. “Jungkook.” He didn’t look at you, didn’t even react. You sighed. “Jungkook.” You tried again. He continued to undress. Back to you. Losing your patience you closed the gap between you both, gripping at his arm and he quickly pulled it away from you. “What?” He questioned sharply. You furrowed your brows, a scoff leaving you. “You can’t be serious. Jungkook, I had to do it.” You started to argue with him, but he remained quiet. You could feel the other men quickly glance up as they all changed. “Jungkook, fucking talk to me.” You insisted once he finally finished putting his gun in his holster. “Fine, you wanna talk?” He turned to face you. “Let’s fucking talk, Raven.” He quickly gripped at your arm and pulled you into the back of one of the cars, throwing another backpack beside you before he shut the door. “I’ll drive with her, you guys go along, I want Jin in front of me, Hobi behind me.” He commanded before getting in the driver’s seat and starting the car. “Get dressed.” He commanded to you before he started driving. You huffed, almost like a teenager, but obeyed, quickly changing into the clothes inside the bag, the same black cargo pants, and the plain shirt. You took off your heels and put on the heavy boots, undoing your hair, taking off your jewelry, and stuffing it all inside the bag before you crawled into the front seat, sitting beside him. “Put your seat belt on.” He once again commanded coldly. You did so then crossed your arms and it was quiet. The road was dark, it was mostly dirty all around, you could see Jin’s car in front of you and Hobi behind you through the review mirror. “Talk.” He said. “I’m not speaking to you while you’re acting like an asshole.” You shook your head. “Oh, stop being a fucking spoiled brat.” He spat, not looking in your direction. “I fucking kissed him, so fucking what, Jungkook, there was a man ready to fucking kill me coming in my direction I needed to think fast.” You argued. “Ah, I see, think fast, so the flirting before that had nothing to do with you suddenly deciding to fucking kiss not only my soldier but my fucking best friend, one I have fucking history with?” He condescendingly asked. “Of course not! What the fuck do you think I am? I’m in a life-death situation and you think the first thing that comes into my head is to make out with your fucking flirty friend, fuck you!” You lose your patience. He’s quiet for a few seconds, then he shakes his head. “So you admit you two were flirting?” You rolled your eyes, both hands coming up to rub at your face in frustration. “Yes, we fucking flirted, Jungkook. But not only was it playful, but I also told him to not get ideas because I was taken.” You looked away, out the window to the pitch dark desert. “I’m not fucking Irina, I’m not going to sleep with all your friends, I just want you.” And if you hadn’t seen his expression on the reflection of the window, perhaps you wouldn’t have regretted saying those words. You quickly turned to look at him, his brows deeply furrowed, a look of grief in them as he went quiet. “I’m sorry.” Your voice was quiet. “I’m sorry you lost someone you loved, someone you let go of.” You reached a hand towards him, placing it gently on his cheek. “But I’m not her, Jungkook... I playfully flirty with your friends, but... I don’t want any of them, and they don’t want me.” “That’s easy for you to say, I can see the way they look at you.” His voice came out contained. “No... They don’t want me. I know they don’t... They respect you and they respect me. It’s just banter... You don’t have to give me up for anyone.” You leaned forward, the seatbelt making it hard for you to reach him fully, but you placed your lips on his cheek, and his eyes fluttered. “I wouldn’t...” He spoke softly, stance relaxing. “I wouldn’t give you up... Not you.” He quickly glanced at you, before looking back at the road. “I’m sorry I kissed Namjoon, but it really was a way to hide my face in an unsuspicious manner.” You apologized, thumb grazing softly at his cheek. “Motherfucker, now I’m going to have to find a way to deep clean your mouth.” He chuckled. “Did he slip in tongue? I swear to god, I’ll use bleach.” He shook his head, and it was your turn to laugh. “Mmm, maybe a little.” You teased, and he squinted, looking in your direction. “But I know a better way to cleans my mouth from him.” You tilted your head, one hand moving to unclasp your seat belt. Jungkook quickly furrowed his brows. “What are you doing?” He questioned, putting his eyes back on the road. “Cleansing my mouth, commander.” You reached down, hand pressing into his clothed middle, and his lips parted. “Y/N, we’re in the middle of a mission.” He warned you. “Nothing is going to happen.” You comforted him as you felt his cock hardening under your palm. “What if something does happen, am I supposed to just start a shootout with my boner hanging out?” He quickly glanced at you. “Jungkook, shut up and let me suck your cock.” You started to undo his pants. He didn’t argue. Smoothly, you pulled out his hard erection from his pants, eyes shining once his hard engorged head met your eyes, licking your lips as you started to slowly pump him. His gaze fell to the motion of your hand moving up and down slowly on his length. “Eyes on the road, commander, I know for a fact you’re good at multitasking.” You leaned down, mouth engulfing his tip and sucking on it gently. “Fuck.” He whispered out, you could hear the light thump of his head against the seat. The curse gave you more motivation, sinking further onto his length, tongue lapping as you took in as much as you could before pulling away, a string of saliva connecting you to his cock. You pumped him a few more times, noticing his grip tight around the steering wheel, and you looked up at him. Fuck, he was hot. Lidded eyes, slightly swollen lower lip. He must have been biting on it. You decide you want this to be the best head he’s ever had, so you sink back down onto his length, further down until you could feel him in the back of your throat, unable to breathe. Your throat closed around him and he dragged out groan sent a shiver down your spine and straight to your core. Bobbing your head, you repeated the motion a few times, taking him in deep and stilling, hearing him pant just above you. Little grunts and groans leaving him as you did your best to bring him closer to his edge. Your mouth pooled with drool, jerking off what you couldn’t fit in your mouth, and eventually, you felt a hand rest on the back of your head, fingers threading into your locks before he was gripping. You allowed him to control your motions, understanding that he was a man of control, and he pulled at your head and pushed, setting a pace that made his sounds louder, breathless. “Fuck, just like that, baby.” He cursed out, and you whined, you wanted to see him. Wanted to see the look of pleasure on his face. His eyes shifting from your head to the road, sharp attention allowing him to drive and edge at the same time. It wasn’t until you felt yourself choke around his cock at one hard press of your head down that he hissed, croaked out, voice breaking when he spoke. “I’m gonna fucking cum.” He almost whined out. And you went faster, bopping your head, drool sticky hands playing with his cock and his groans become more frequent, louder. His grip on your hair tightened until it was painful and he was twitching and spilling into your mouth. Hot spurs of cum coating your tongue and throat as he ground upwards to rise his high. Like a good girl, you helped him until nothing more came out, swallowing every last bit of his release before you pulled away, sitting up again. He panted, hand moving to the steering wheel again, and you helped tuck him back into his pants before he looked at you. There was the dangerous, hungry gaze that sent jolts of arousal down your body. You truly felt like he hadn’t shown you just how much he would devour you. And you were eager to find out. “Fuck, you’re so beautiful.” He whispered out, hand moving to clean the drool from the corner of your swollen lips and bringing it to his own, sucking the thumb into his mouth. It was amazing how something as simple as that made you blush, calling you beautiful. It made you forget everything, just like at the party, it made you forget you were being hunted down, chased, that you had witnessed, almost felt death multiple times. Right here, with his warm body just beside yours... You felt like you were already saved. A few hours went by. It didn’t nearly seem like it while you both talked about things you hadn’t had the opportunity to talk about before. Trivial things, really, but in a setting like yours, it was more than welcomed. You had found out Jungkook was obsessed with games. Mostly shooting games, of course, the soldier would be obsessed with shooting games. He defended himself by saying it had improved his strategy views and you laughed at him. His laugh, though, was truly mesmerizing, when he was free, full-body laughter that made your heart feel like it could stop beating at any second. That boyish smile of his when he made fun of your disastrous prom date. It almost felt perfect, if your mind didn’t suddenly sabotage you with the heavyweight of your duty to the world. Jungkook noticed the shift in your demeanor but decided to let you process that on your own, offering his support by placing his hand on your knee. You took it, interlocking your fingers. Soon enough you were going uphill on a rocky road, the car bouncing, and he took his hand away to have a better grip at the steering wheel. The safe house was atop a hill surrounded by a deep, large forest. The house looked old but large. It was made out of heavy wood, and you could tell it was well taken care of. As soon as the cars pulled up into the large vast driveway, you could see the sky turn a light blue color, indicating the sun was rising, and you didn’t even notice how tired you were before you saw the change. Everyone parked, and Jungkook turned his head in your direction, a deep sigh leaving him. It was as if he could finally relax. “Welcome to the Safe house, Raven.” His voice came out raspy, and you offered him a soft smile, reaching out for his hand and taking it. There was a silent conversation going on between you both. Everything you both had gone through to ensure your safety, how close to death you had been, how in the middle of this all you still found a way to find love, even if it was all still so fresh. A knock to your window brought you both back to reality, finally exiting the car. Jungkook walked to you, taking your hand as you both met up with the other men. Namjoon kept his eyes cast down, hands in his pockets. It was different seeing him in anything other than a suit, but you couldn’t deny that it also fitted him perfectly. “So... Uh...” He began, Jungkook lifting a brow in amusement. “You’re not mad about the kiss, right?” He finally lifted his gaze to his commander. Jungkook chuckled. “Nah, it’s fine. She did what she had to do.” Jungkook nodded. “Besides, you’re free to kiss right now if you want, I wouldn’t mind at all,” Jungkook said, and you looked at him, brows furrowing. He only shrugged. You squinted your eyes. “She sucked your dick in the car, didn’t she?” Yoongi was the one to ask, Jungkook only smirked. “Yeah, definitely gave him head in the car,” Hobi added in. “What the fuck?” You cursed out. “Do you guys really need to talk about me giving Jungkook head or not in the car right now?” You felt your face burn hot. Why were they like this? “It’s not a discussion, you did give him head in the car, I could see your head moving.” Jimin fixed the straps of his backpack. “Oh my god.” You rolled your eyes. “Not the first time Namjoon would get dick breath, though.” It was Taehyung’s turn. Everyone looked at him, silent. “What, too soon?” You all fell into laughter, it felt like it was finally over, deciding to participate in the fun, you pouted your lips. “Joonie, give me a kiss.” You playfully said. “You all are children.” Namjoon crossed his arms. “Let’s settle in, I’m fucking starving.” Jin finally spoke, taking the first step towards the house. The inside was dark, yet cozy, it had a big fireplace with a large couch and a few armchairs, Jungkook was quick to walk into a room. You only watched everyone move around as if they were familiar with the house. Taehyung and Jimin quickly starting a fire while Namjoon looked through the cabinets for some coffee, Jin and Hobi sat down on the couch and groaned. Everyone was tired. You looked around for Yoongi, only noticing him walking back from the same room Jungkook was in and joining the other two on the couch. “Jungkook put up the motion sensors, it’s safe sailing now.” He slumped on the couch and relaxed. Jungkook finally made his way back, watching you, still frozen in place, looking around. “Love what you did with the place, by the way,” Namjoon commented from the wide-open kitchen on the opposite of the living room. You looked at Jungkook. “So, this is your safe house?” You questioned him, watching him place his hands in his pockets and make his way to you. “This is my house.” He admitted. “Your original safe house was meant to be somewhere else, I changed things up last minute.” He said looking at the boys and back at you. You both were quiet for a while, a shy smile playing on your face. “So, are you going to show me around, commander?” You looked down, reaching out your hand to tug on his shirt. He sighed, leaning closer to you. “You really have to stop calling me commander if you don’t want me to fuck you in front of everyone.” He teased, voice raspy. “There are literally nine rooms in the house. Get one.” Yoongi shouted from the couch. You chuckled, Jungkook mimicking you. Jungkook showed you around the house, Yoongi wasn’t lying there were nine rooms, eight bedrooms, and one control room. You saw monitors that showed cameras that spread all over the forest area, they were all motion-triggered and on the wall, Jungkook had a waste collection of guns. You noticed there were no pictures on the wall. If this was his house, you’d think he at least would have pictures of his friends, but to your surprise there was nothing. He showed you his room. It was simple, a bed, bedside table, no television. It felt... Lonely. But this was after all his home. “Do you want to rest, Namjoon made some coffee, we’re taking turns keeping watch for the first week.” He leaned against the frame of his bedroom door, crossing his arms like he always did, muscles bulging out, making you really tempted to “rest” with him for the next hours. But for some reason, you were no longer tired, you just wanted to sit down with them, spend some time with everyone. “No, it’s fine, I just want to relax a little.” He nodded and took your hand, walking back to the living room. You all sat down in front of the newly lit fire, everyone with coffee mugs in their hands and quiet, all of them contemplating that we had made it. Finally made it. The responsibility of what you had to do next weighed on your shoulders. But you just looked at their faces, faces of the men that risked their lives for you, that someone took you in, someone that came from a completely different world than them. “I found out what Namjoon does for a living.” You said, breaking the silence as you brought your own mug of coffee to your lips. The conversation spurred on after that, Namjoon telling everyone about how and why he got into being a con artist. Everyone pays attention, Yoongi makes fun of him for it and everyone joins in on the laughter. And soon enough the conversation becomes more serious. “So, Y/N... Do you know what you’re going to say?” Hobi is the one that asks, you’re head is resting on Jungkook’s shoulder and he has an arm around your waist, playing with the material of your shirt. You think about it for a few seconds. “I guess I’m just going to tell the truth.” You begin. “If people want to believe me or not, that’s up to them, but I’m going to do my part and it’s probably going to open up an investigation.” You took in a deep breath. “And after that?” Jin was the one that asked. You moved your gaze to him, remembering the conversation you both had at Seamore. After everything was over, what would you do? “I... I don’t know. I guess it all depends on the outcome. I’ll go back and continue my duty in my father’s place for as long as the people need me, but... Once that’s over, I think I’m done.” You look down at your fingers, contemplating going back to your “normal” life, leaving these men behind. “I think you’re really brave,” Taehyung spoke. “You went through hell, held yourself pretty well despite losing everyone you trusted, your family, you could just disappear, be presumed dead. But you’re choosing to set the record straight. To fulfill your duties.” Jungkook sighed beside you, you wondered if he also was thinking of the aftermath of it all. You nodded, a soft appreciative smile tugging on your lips. “I know this might sound cliche, but... I lost my family, and I feel like life gave me a new one. You know? Like... Six brothers.” You spoke softly. “Count me out, I’ve thought about fucking you before.” Yoongi chimed in. “Yeah, me too, sorry...” It was Taehyung’s turn. “Well, you did kiss me, so...” Namjoon added. “If one more person speaks up, I’m bringing out my knives,” Jungkook warned. The boys chuckled, and you pursed your lips, chuckling right after. “What about you guys, though? What now?” You asked, wrapping an arm around Jungkook’s middle, looking at them. “Well, I’m going to need to head back to Red Hawk sooner or later.” Jimin sighed out. “Get back to work.” “Yeah, Gallaticus has been unattended for a while, I might have to go back too,” Taehyung said. “I can stay for a while after the first week, but I have a job coming up that I need to strategize, so, not for long,“ Namjoon said while resting his head on his hand. “Same for me, my men need to come back,” Jin spoke out. You looked at Yoongi and Hoseok, waiting for their answers, but all they did was look at their commander, they were with him till the very end. Jungkook sighed, letting his head rest back on the couch. “I guess... We go back to our lives.” He finally spoke. You could tell there was a lot going through his head. Doubts, worries. “But you’re free to stay for as long as you like.” His gaze moved to you. You leaned up, pressing your lips to his softly, his eyes fluttering closed as you kissed him tenderly. It wasn’t an answer, but it was an appreciation. After another hour, everyone started to retreat into their bedrooms, Jin and Jimin taking the first watch. You knew you were safe here, but Jungkook wanted to be sure, so for the first week, they’d take turns. Jungkook pulled you into his bedroom, he was tired, you could see it on his face. He was in his home, he could finally relax, you were safe. Once you both changed, you walked over to him, wrapping your arms around his middle, resting your head on his back, and taking in a deep breath. He turned in your hold, wrapping his large arms around your tiny frame and walking backward until the back of his legs hit the mattress. He didn’t even mind falling down onto it with you in his arms, he soaked in it. In the feeling of you. “Thank you.” You whispered out, nuzzling into his neck as if your life depended on it. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” You repeated it like a mantra, feeling your throat burn, your eyes burn. He soothed you, caressing his hand up and down your back, pulling you flush against him. “You don’t need to thank me. I was just doing my job.” He whispered, pressing his lips to your temple. “I love you.” You let out in a broken voice, feeling the weight of the world almost lift off your shoulders. “I love you, little dove.” He searched for your lips, pressing soft, tender kisses to your lips over and over. And then you both stayed like that, in each other’s arms, until you were both asleep. A routine settled during the first week. Jin and Jimin would take watch during the night and sleep during the day, Taehyung and Namjoon took the day shift. Yoongi, Hobi, and Jungkook decided to continue your training while you were there to keep up not only your strength but their own. It was almost domestic, waking up with Jungkook every morning, soft kisses and morning voices, morning sex - a lot of morning sex - and getting to watch them act more freely with each other. It truly felt like a family. Your new family. Namjoon left once the first week was over. You gave him a long hug, hard and thanked him for everything. He said you were always welcome to come visit him and talk art once everything was over. The second to leave was Jin, not before cooking the most delicious breakfast you ever had and hugging you as tight as he could. You almost cried once he left, but held your tears when he said that you knew what to do now, that he was proud of how far you had come. Once the second week rolled around Taehyung and Jimin decided it was time for them to leave. They were both by the door with their backpacks, a lingering sadness on their faces after spending so much time with you. “I’m going to miss you.” Taehyung hugged you tight. This time you couldn’t help the tears hiding your face into his neck. You didn’t want him to go, you didn’t know when you would see him again. Hugging Jimin, you dried your tears and watched the men say their goodbyes to each other with long lingering hugs and a lot of shared thank you’s. Once they took off you leaned against the door frame with the three remaining men. The three men that had been with you from the start. “Hey, Yoongi, and I are going to collect some wood, want to come with us?” Jungkook took you out of your thoughts as you still looked at the empty road ahead of you, where Taehyung and Jimin had left. “No, I’m fine, I think I’m going to rest for a while.” You said. “Yeah, I could use a nap,” Hobi added. “You two get some rest, we’ll be back soon.” Jungkook smiled, leaning in to peck your lips. Once they’re gone, you sit on the couch, going through all your memories with the men that had left, deciding to lay down you feel something hard underneath you. It was Jungkook’s black notebook. You look at it for a while pursing your lips, your eyes moving to the front door before deciding to take a look. You weren’t expecting what you saw. They were sketches. Some were of people you didn’t know, but you could make out the boys, Yoongi laughing, Hoseok sleeping. Namjoon seated on a rock, Jin with his arms wide open. Jimin doing pushups. Taehyung’s boxy smile. These were all sketches of Jungkook’s family. You flipped through the pages until once sketch caught your eyes. It was you, sleeping against a car window, your pants pulled down your legs. The second was of you smiling in the dessert, a fire in front of you. You flipped through the pages of more and more sketches of you in situations you remembered. Some of only the boys, some of you with them. Your face kept showing up again and again, and you realized why Jungkook didn’t have any pictures around his house. Because he registered his favorite memories. You found yourself bringing your hands to your lips, more tears filling your eyes. A knock to the door breaks the moment, your brows furrowing. Jungkook and Yoongi wouldn’t knock, perhaps it was Jimin and Taehyung back because they forgot something. You quickly made your way to the door, opening it without hesitation and a smile on your face, the smile, though, quickly disappeared when you were met with a familiar face you hadn’t seen since the day you met Jungkook. “Phillip.” You breathed out, surprised by the sudden visit. “Miss Y/L/N.” He smiled at you. “I’m so happy to see you well.” You were speechless for a while, still standing at the door. “Yes... I’m safe.” You said. “I knew I had chosen the right team to take care of you.” He smiled wider. “Is Jungkook here, I wanted a word with him regarding the mission.” He looked past you, through the door. “Oh... No, Yoongi and him went to get some wood, but they should be back soon, please, come in.” You made way for him to enter the house. You shut the door and guided him towards the living room. He sat in one of the armchairs, smiling at you and you sat right across him. “I can see you guys encountered some trouble.” He said, pointing at the scar on your shoulder, your fingers quickly lifted, tracing the outline of it as the memory came rushing back to you. “Yes, we had some trouble, but... We pulled through in the end.” You said. “And have you already decided what to do?” He asked, and you furrowed your brows. “Regarding Jefferson John, I mean, have you decided how you’re going to expose him?” He rested his hands on his lap, the same soft smile on his lips. “Well, I recorded a video on my first week here... I just haven’t decided what to do...” You started. “Wait... How do you know about Jefferson John?” You questioned, you remembered clearly that you hadn’t told anyone other than the boys about your suspicion. “How do you...?” Suddenly you felt highly suspicious about Phillip showing up, you also remembered Jungkook telling you coming to his house was a last-minute call, how did Phillip know? You didn’t think Jungkook would have told anyone out of the circle. You suddenly stood up. Backing away from the man, your back hitting the kitchen counter. He didn’t say anything, instead, he stood and took two steps. “You have to understand miss Y/L/N, the world is cruel, I’m just doing my job.” He said in a calm voice as if the meaning of those words didn’t indicate that he was going to kill you. “W-why get a team to protect me, w-why go through all that trouble?” You spat at him, rage fueling in your veins. “Oh, I had to make sure no one else got the hit, of course.” He said simply. You blindly patted under the kitchen counter behind you, looking for the gun you knew Jungkook had hidden. “I selected my best team to make sure an asset as valuable as you were protected, you must understand.” He reached for something on his hip and you heard the click of a gun behind him. “Hobi!” Your eyes bulged once you saw the man with a gun pointed to Phillip. “Ah, Hoseok, fancy seeing you here. I guess I miscalculated.” Phillip didn’t even look at him, only pursed his lips, putting his hand back down. “Phillip, I really don’t want to shoot you,” Hoseok said between clenched teeth. “That’s why you’re not in charge.” He said before you heard a loud shot come through the window, shattering the glass and hitting Hoseok right on the side of his body. Your eyes bulged, a loud ripping scream of his name coming from you as you watched him fall unconscious on the floor. Phillip took out his gun, pointing it at you. “Stay where you are.” He said, walking backward and kicking Hoseok’s gun further away from his hand. Tears streamed down your eyes as they were glued to your friend’s form, blood soaking through his shirt. “Now, where were we.” He looked back at you right before you heard gunshots in front of the house. Jungkook was back, you took the moment of Philips distraction to launch yourself forward onto him, hands gripping at his wrist where he held the gun, using your elbow to hit at his jaw and try to disarm him, but he was well trained and you, well, you were barely trained. It happened fast, Jungkook barging into the house, pointing his gun at the man and you, back flush against Phillip, his arm around your throat and a gun muzzle pressed to the side of your head. “Let her go.” Jungkook sounded dangerous. He sounded possessed. Sweat dripping down his face and a look of pure rage in his eyes. “I thought you were smarter than this,” Phillip said, a disappointed tone to his voice. “I said, let her fucking go, Phillip.” He growled out. “What are you going to do, shoot me?” He questioned, raising a brow. “You work for me, put your gun down.” He scoffed at Jungkook. But Jungkook remained in position, ready to shoot. “Stupid boy.” Was all Phillip said. “Bring him in.” He shouted and from the door came Yoongi at gunpoint, a man in all black with a black mask pressing his gun to the back of his head. Jungkook’s eyes bulged, looking from you to Yoongi. And right there you understood his internal battle. “Put the gun down, Jungkook, you’re outnumbered. If you don’t your friend dies.” Phillip grinned. “Jungkook, don’t put the gun down.” Yoongi warned and hissed when the armed man pressed the gun harder onto his head, spitting out a “shut up”. He looked at you, ultimate dread in his eyes. And right there you understood what he had said in the desert. When you’re in this line of work, people you love can be used as leverage. Your head went back to the memories you both had shared, to his black notebook. You were happy, he had made you happy, you could see it in his eyes, filling with tears, with dread. Fear, ultimate fear, and grief, one he knew he would feel. You swallowed the hard lump in your throat as tears streamed down your face. “It’s ok...” You said. “It’s ok, it’s not your fault.” You reassured him, nodding in the man’s tight hold. “I love you... Thank you for letting me love you, thank you so much for l-letting me love you.” He shook his head, the silent tears falling down his cheek. You could see him tremble. “Jungkook, please, please don’t fucking do this,” Yoongi argued, receiving a strong hit to his side. “Put the gun down, Jungkook... It’s ok, I love you.” You watched his stance falter, and you closed your eyes, ready to embrace what was coming next. You heard the familiar sound of gunshots, the familiar feeling of something hitting you, but not in the head, almost just like the first day, and your body slumped down to the floor, the pain radiating all through your body before you blacked out. n/a: see you in the next and final chapter of Raven Unit.

#raven unit #themfchase #jungkook #jk #jeon #bts #fanfic #imagine #smut #mature #btsnetwork #oc #reader #fic #kssmutclub #btssmutcentral #btsmutcentral #smutcentralnet

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moonlit-imagines · 4 years ago

Text

Two Sides of a War

Peter Parker x reader

warnings: a fight scene that makes no fucking sense bdhshagag, bad writing in general

a/n: thank you !

prompt: anonymous: “okay so dating peter parker and then fighting him during civil war cause the reader is on team cap?? thank much love you and your writing”

You and Peter were just two wannabe up-and-coming vigilantes heroes based in New York. You barely had a name for yourself, just some YouTube videos with some...interesting comments. Why are people so attracted to masks?

Peter and you crossed paths as Spider-Man and y/h/n a couple dozen times while watching over the streets of New York, after a while, you guys became good friends and revealed your identities to each other. It wasn’t long before the two of you fell for each other.

Now you were being approached by the famous Wanda Maximoff and Clint Barton, two Avengers who needed your help. You couldn’t just say no! This was the opportunity of a lifetime.

“Where are we going?” You asked as you packed up your suit.

“Germany.” Hawkeye replied while you slung your backpack over your shoulder.

“I’m good to go.”

Along the way, you picked up another masked individual, Scott. He sure talked a lot, he talked until he passed out. Once it was quiet, you realized something. You hadn’t told Peter where you were. This was the coolest opportunity you’d ever received and you had yet to share it with him. You stared at your lockscreen, the picture of the two of you sitting on a rooftop eating cardboard-tasting pizza. Never again would you order from there.

You typed out your message, reading it over and over again.

Pete, you’ll never guess where I am right now. I’m in Germany, dude!! Apparently the Avengers aren’t doing to well, so they called me in. They told me I’d be home for dinner though, I don’t know if they meant dinner in NY or dinner here, either way, it’s gonna be awesome! Wish me luck, love you!!! 💙❤️💙❤️

You selected the entire message and deleted it, casting your phone aside on the seat of the van. Honestly, that text might worry him more than anything. Suddenly you just run off to another country with some rogue Avengers? Sounds a bit sketchy. Your stomach didn’t feel too good now, what if you made a mistake coming here? No way, this is your chance to do the right thing. The Accords they told you about were ridiculous, they shouldn’t have to wait for a vote on where to help. They should just be able to help.

The van came to a halt and the engine switched off.

“Ready to meet the Captain, y/n?” Clint asked you as you gathered your things.

“Definitely.” He stepped out of the van and opened the door for you, you stepped over Scott and hopped out, dropping your bag on the pavement. “Hi, I’m y/n, y/h/n. Here to help.” You waved at the three men in front of you with an awkward smile to go along with it. You were so caught up in the thought of fighting alongside these big names that you forgot that you were probably going to be extremely intimidated.

“It’s good to have you, y/n. Thanks for coming here on such short notice.” Captain America himself reached out his hand and you nearly forgot how to shake somebody’s hand. “Are we all ready to go?”

—————

You marched through the lot of the airport beside your new teammates, heart racing with anticipation, you should be a bit scared, but this was the coolest thing you’ve ever had the chance to do! After some bickering between the Tony Stark and the Captain America, Tony called out some random word.

“Underoos!” Iron Man yelled and a red figure flew onto the scene.

“That can’t be..?” You muttered loud enough for Cap to hear and he looked over to see your puzzled face. It was. “What the hell?” You said loud enough for everyone to hear, now all eyes were on you.

“Oh, shit.” Peter put his hand to his forehead, this could not be happening right now.

“Wait, kid, you know them?” Tony asked his newest recruit, who’s white eyes grew larger as he stared at you in shock.

“That’s...heh, funny story, Mr. Stark.” Peter stood up with Cap’s shield on his arm.

“I’m his partner, his s/o. You got him a new suit?” You cut in and Tony gave you a dirty look.

“I wasn’t asking you, pipsqueak.” He snapped back at you. “Of course I got him a new suit, he was wearing rags. You could use an upgrade, too.”

“This is awkward.” Peter piped in before getting punched in the face by Ant-Man. And just like that, you all scrambled to take each other down, you were determined to make it over to Peter, hiding behind a gasoline truck to talk.

“Peter, why didn’t you tell me that Tony Stark picked you up?” You and him yanked your masks off and your boyfriend engulfed you into a hug.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Stark told me to keep it quiet! I honestly don’t want to fight you, this could get bad.” Peter held your cheeks in his hands and brushed his thumb on your face. “Please don’t punch me that hard.”

“I dunno, Pete, I can’t make any promises.” You joked and kissed his palm. “Kidding, be careful out there. There are some heavy hitters.” You put his mask back on and adjusted your own before running back to the fight, Peter swinging above you. The fight couldn’t have been more tense, all these friends were suddenly turned against each other and somehow you and Peter fell into the middle of it.

“Hey, Spider-Boy!” Tony called to your boyfriend. “Why don’t you take care of your little lover?” He suggested, making Peter very uncomfortable for many different reasons.

“It’s ‘Spider-Man,’” he whined and reluctantly swung back over to you, making you lose your balance and tumble backwards, “hey, me again!”

“They want you to take care of me, huh?” You crossed your arms and cocked an eyebrow, the ultimate look of disapproval. Peter lifted the bottom half of his mask for you to see his lips move.

“I think you may be on the wrong side of this one, y/n. I mean, these guys are doing something illegal.” Peter grabbed you by your upper arms and pulled you to safety, there was debris flying every which way.

“Did Tony tell you what it was?” You turned you head and gave him a know-it-all smile, Peter sucked his tongue and did you one better, an awkward smile.

“Well, no...” He rubbed the back of his neck and you nodded along.

“That’s what I thought.” You reached your arms out to him, which was deceiving since your next move was a front-flip over his shoulders, pressing the button to his web shooters and wrapping the webs around his wrists. Peter barely reacted because, well, he didn’t think his own s/o would disarm him like that. “You should sit this one out, babe. You’re doing more harm than good.” You folded his mask back down and patted his head, strutting away to help your team again.

“Y/N?! Are you serious?!” He squirmed around trying to break loose from the binds of his own weapon. “Mr. Stark? I could use a little help here!” Peter cried out while shimmying against a piece of metal to free himself. “These things are so strong! I can’t tell if I should be happy or mad at my work!”

“What’s going on, kid?” Tony flew to Peter and witnessed his struggles.

“I’m a little stuck.”

—————

The fight came to rough close for your team as everyone went down one by one.

“What’s gonna happen to them, Mr. Stark?” The freed Spider-Man asked his boss.

“Well, my young padawan, the proper authorities get to deal with them!” Tony told the Spider-Man and realized what this would mean. With a reluctant groan he looked around the airport for you. “Alright, kid, your little friend is laying on the ground near that plane wing. Go get them, I’ll cover for ‘em.”

“Thank you, sir!” Peter rushed to go and get you, worried by the fact that you were just laying there. “Y/N? Y/N, are you okay?” Peter fell to his knees and shook you by the shoulders.

“Yep! I’m good.” You answered without opening your eyes. “Can we go home? Please?” You begged him, reaching out and accidentally hitting his face.

“Yeah, let’s go.” He laced his arms under your knees and back, when you were moved you moaned in pain. “You’re gonna be okay.”

taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @rorybutnotgilmore // @locke-writes // @sweetheartlisbeth // @queen-destenie // @natasha-danvers // @allthecreativeonesaretaken // @frostedgiant // @praellee //

#peter parker x reader #peter parker imagine #peter parker #spiderman #spiderman x reader #spiderman imagine #marvel #marvel imagine #marvel x reader #avengers #avengers x reader #avengers imagine #tony stark #iron man

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ameliasnormandy · 4 years ago

Text

An Agreement between Commanders on Omega.

They didn’t meet on either of their ships. They both wanted neutral ground. Neutral ground allowed them to talk to each other without either of their teams thinking that one had more power than the other. It was more important for their crew, because both crews believed they had the advantage.

It was on Omega. Shepard had been on Omega many times before, she knew Aria Tolok, she knew how Omega worked, and more than all of that, Aria owed her. The problem was that Aria also owed Abigail. The reasoning was different. Why Aria owed Abigail was very different then why Aria owed Commander Shepard, but the point stood that Aria owed both of them. Abigail had also spent some time on Omega, and she had the support of the people. She had the emotions of the people on Omega. The people would fight for Abigail, her crew knew that. Neither crew knew of the others connection to Omega, and both the captains wanted it like that.

Abigail’s team was the first to show. Victarous, Brax, Maxwell, and Abigail all found their seats around the room. Abigail sat down on the floor in the corner. Victarous sat in a chair beside the table, and Brax stood behind Victarous. Maxwell, however, sat away from them. He tried to find the position that Shepard and her team would sit.

Commander Shepard’s team came in shortly after them. Shepard sat at the table. Miranda stood behind Shepard. Kaiden stood in the shadows behind all of them. Abigail stood up from her corner to shake their hands. “It’s nice to officially meet you,” she said, shaking their hands. “I’m Abigail and this is my team. That’s Victarious.” The Turian did a slight nod. “Brax is there.” The Krogan grunted, but said little else. “And there is Maxwell.” The human stood up and saluted the other humans.

“At ease,” Shepard said. “This is my team Maranda.” Miranda took Abigail’s in hers and she shook it again. “And that’s Kaiden.” Kaiden doesn’t even bother to immerge from the shadows.

“It’s a pleasure to meet all of you,” Abigail said, nodding her head. “I am glad that you were willing to meet me here. My team feels a little unease meeting on an all-human vessel.”

“I don’t,” Maxwell said.

“I know,” Abigail said, looking at Maxwell, for her it was impossible to understand how anyone could want to be on an all-human vessel, but that was just a fact that she had become accustomed to.

“We all know,” Victarous added.

Abigail cleared her throat. “I am sorry. We are still a little unprofessional. I do hope you can forgive us.”

“It’s fine,” Shepard said, sitting down at the table. Abigail went back to sitting in the corner on the floor. “Admiral Hackett thought that the two of us would work well together.”

“He told me the same,” Abigail said.

“Do you want to work for her?” Miranda asked.

Abigail tilted her head. “Of course, I would…” she didn’t get a chance to finish.

“We were told that it would be a joint effort,” Victarous stated.

Abigail looked at Victarous for a second. “I’m sorry about him he’s just a touch protective. I, as do my team, understand that you would be taking lead on this. I am new. I am well as green as probably an N-7 has ever been. I’ve barely had my commander’s position for more than a few months. I think that with that information in mind you taking lead, and charge would, of course, be the best for everyone.”

Shepard smiled. “You don’t need to be so nervous.”

“Thank you,” Abigail said.

“Now, we should get down to all of the information that we need to,” Shepard said, shaking her head.

“Sounds good to me. I think that I have written a proposal that will work out for everyone. If it is ok for you to look over it for your approval,” Abigail said, looking down at her omni tool. “Can I send you my proposal, please?”

“Yes,” Shepard said, nodding her head.

“Thank you,” Abigail said, nodding her head. She quickly typed in the code and sent them all her proposal.

“It’s like thirty pages long,” Brax growled.

“Yes, of course, I don’t expect you to be able to read it all during this meeting. The only thing that I want you to read is the overview that is on the first page.”

“Well, that’s a good,” Kaiden said, walking out of the shadows.

“Yes, it is,” Abigail said, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, just slightly distracted. This is very extreme for me. Anyway, my suggestion is for me to make the Normandy my most of the time home, while if it is alright with Maxwell, he will be taking my ship.”

“I knew that you were more sensible than these aliens,” Maxwell stated.

Abigail looked down for just a moment. “You will still have to work with them Maxwell, and I will expect daily reports. This would still be my operation.” She then turned to Shepard. “At least part of it, of course. I don’t expect to be leading anything except that ship.”

“Of course, ma’am,” Maxwell said, but it was clear that he wasn’t thrilled about still having to work with the aliens that didn’t trust him, and he didn’t trust them not to kill him.

“Why do you want to spend most of your time on our ship?” Miranda asked.

“I think that I would be more effective if I am on your ship besides, there is a matter that I will discuss with your captain once there is no one around.”

“What else does your plan entail?” Kaiden asked, Abigail. It seemed easier for him to ignore the comment that she just made then make her talk about it.

“Not much that needs to be cleared right…” Abigail stopped. “Now, is not the time for this. This is really a bad time. We really shouldn’t be…” Abigail stopped again. “I understand. There might be a few things that I have overlooked. I am sorry for anything that I might have forgotten.”

“She does that often,” Maxwell said, shaking his head. Maxwell, didn’t know the story but he could always tell when she was about to crack like that, he had seen it enough himself.

Abigail shook her head. “I’m sorry. I talk to myself a lot. Anyway, the other main thing that I wanted to talk to you guys about isn’t in my report and that is what was going on.”

“I think she has a few screws loose,” Kaiden stated, looking at Commander Shepard. It seemed to everyone in the room that Kaiden was trying to convince Shepard that this was a fool’s errand.

“The report also talks about switching some of my team to your ship,” Commander Shepard stated, looking up from her Omni-tool. The only two that were taking any of this seriously was Shepard and Abigail, they both seemed to be aware that if things didn’t change, someone was going to get hurt, and neither of them wanted to be the people to get hurt, nor did they want their team to be hurt, so they had to do what they thought was best, and listen to each other.

“It does,” Abigail stated, giving her a smile. “I think that would be best, a true intersection of our two ships. Making sure that the two of us have the teams as connected and listening to each other as much as possible.”

Commander Shepard nodded. “I can see that would be a very good idea.”

“Is there…” Abigail stopped again. Abigail looked around. She was nervous. It seemed that there was something going on in her head, and she wasn’t sure what could happen with all of the things that are going on her head. She was trying to make sense of it all, but there was no answer, at least not for her. Someone else might have had an answer.

Victarious walked up to her. “What is going on?”

“It’s probably nothing.” She stopped and fixed herself. “Sorry, about that. Anyway, I don’t have a preference on who you decide, and I assume that you will, so I left all of that information up to you. Just remember that my team does have some aliens in it, so anyone that isn’t prepared to talk to aliens probably isn’t a good choice.”

“Understood,” Shepard said. “I will talk to my team and see who wants to go over to your ship. Is that alright?”

“Yes, it is. I understand that you have to talk to your team. My team means a lot to me too. That reminds me…” Abigail stopped again. She seemed to be lost for a second.

“What’s going on?” Victarious asked her. “Do you need a moment away from everyone, again?”

“Is she alright?” Miranda asked.

“She’s broken,” Maxwell said. The comment affected the rest of her team a lot more than it affected her. She knew he was right. They had talked about it, when no one else knew, and sometimes, though she wouldn’t admit it, he knew her better than the rest ever could.

“She’s not broken,” Brax said, glaring at Maxwell, “And you say that again and I will actually break you.”

“It’s cool,” Abigail said, getting up and stepping in between Brax and Maxwell. “It has been getting worse lately. It’s fine. I understand. It might seem like to some I am broken, but I can promise you that I have full control.”

“What’s been getting worse lately?” Commander Shepard asked Abigail.

“Not right now,” Abigail stated, she looked around for a few seconds before she continued. “I don’t think that I should be talking about what is going on, right now. Not here. Not with so many possible ears. I do hope that you can understand that.”

“Of course, I can,” Commander Shepard said, looking at her team. Miranda and Kaidan didn’t want to understand. They wanted to know what they were walking into; whatever it was it was getting sketchy. It seemed that they might be walking into a deal with an insane person, and that was somehow worse than a deal with the devil, at least in their minds.

She wasn’t insane, Abigail knew that, but also knew better than to say what the real matter was, they would have strung her up the moment that they could. She didn’t exactly wish to be dead, nor did she wish others to want her dead, only those in her highest circles knew about her secret and she tended to want to keep it that way. Instead, Abigail did what she did best change the subject. “Might I be so bold as to ask what mission we are getting involved in?”

“It’s not something that should be discussed on Omega,” Shepard said.

“Fair enough,” Abigail said, she couldn’t much argue with Commander Shepard, though none of her team knew it was Shepard, considering the fact that Shepard still kept her helmet on.

Then there came the silence. It was an awful silence. The silence made of the dead. The past that everyone seemed to want to forget. So, there this motley group, not a crew, not even people that trusted each other, stood. It was a sad sight. Thankfully, Commander Shepard was able to defuse the situation before too much could occur. “We should toast this new alliance.”

“Agreed,” Abigail said, looking at Brax and Victarious.

Commander Shepard poured each person a glass. She then raised her glass. “To a new world.”

“To a new adventure, and to new friends,” Abigail said, before setting her glass on the table while everyone else drank.

#female shepard #commander shepard #oc fanfiction #Mass Effect #Kaidan Alenko #Miranda Lawson

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btssunnyboy · 5 years ago

Text

And They Were Roommates - Jung Hoseok

In which I give you another set of blurbs about being roomates!

Word Count - 1,856

Warning - Profanity and the same awkward moments. Also during the nightmare portion, it involves a dream about DROWNING! If you have issue with that please skip over it, I don’t want you all to think about it if it hurts you.

Request are open still!

Masterlist

———————————————————————

NIGHT SHIFTS

If it wasn’t you staying late at the store it was Hoseok. Coming back to the partment well past midnight, having to force his body another few feet before he crashed on the couch. You remember the countless times you’ve have to physically holster his body on top of yours and drag him towards the bedroom. All these long nights were taking a big toll on him and you could see his appearance change right before your eyes. And it was heartbreaking.

“Oh shit!” Hoseok’s panicked voiced called out. His eyes were wide when he noticed the time that was flashing across his clock. He flung the heavy covers from his body when he saw that two hours, two precious hours have passed. Having missed these two hours of work was a huge deal, he might as well be fired at this point. Right before he could finish ripping off his shirt, you quickly opened his bedroom door.

“Calm down, I called the store and asked for the week off for you. Made them think it was family emergency. ” You softly smiled and handed him a steaming cup of coffee.

“Y/n, we need the money. We can barley afford rent.” Hoseok started, a glum expression overtaking his features. He always worked long hours from the moment you two started sharing this apartment. The extra work load was draining him ever so slightly, but he’d work his body to the bone it if meant you’d never have to be this exhausted.

“I know and I’m gonna pull as many shifts as possible for while! So you’re gonna get the rest you deserve.” You chirped, whiling pulling your hair back and fixing your work uniform.

“But, Y/n,” Hoseok argued, his arms wrapping around your waist.

“No, but’s, Hobi.” You stated, a little more demanding then Hoseok would have liked. He knew better then to argue the moment your eyesbrows raised in a knowing matter. “Now, please have the best week of your life. Because my sunshine you deserve it.”

He stood in the middle of the room a small ache in his heart when he heard the door shut. He wished you could have took the week off as well, but the bills were piling up and they weren’t gonna pay themselves.

—

You tried to unlock the door as quietly as possible. The last thing you wanted to do was bother him this late at night. Finally having slid the door open without it squeaking, only to be greeted with a surprised, but very appreciated sight. Hoseok with a sleepy grin and drooping eyes.

“Hobi, you should be asleep.” You sighed as you started taking off your shoes. You let out a puff of air the moment your sore back collided with the cushions on the couch.

“You always stay up for me and I wanted to do the same for you.” Hoseok shrugged taking your hands in his. Rubbing small patterns on them as well.

“Well, you’ve stay up long enough time for bed.” You yawned slightly and pulled his body upwards. “I’m ready for my Hobi cuddles.”

“And I’m more than happy to give them.”

—

SINGING IN THE SHOWER

You couldn’t help the adoring smile that overtook your face. When Hobi started singing you could already feel your mood being lifted. The soft melodies leaving his plump lips just felt so serene. You wished he’d sing more often, but he always gets too shy and comments that he is no where near as good as you say. You know that’s not the truth what so ever.

Taking light footsteps in order for the floor not to creak and give you away. You pressed your ear up against the wooden door and slowly fell in love with the soft echoes of the song he was singing. To others this may seem like a sketchy situation to be in, you ear is pressed up to a bathroom door. If anyone saw that they’d probably think you’re on something.

“It’s not nice to eavesdrop!” Hoseok’s disimbodied voice spoke. He watched with amusement as the shadows that was being casted underneath the door quickly slid off.

“I’m not! I swear,I just like your singing!” You sputtered when you got caught. “I still say it gets better everyday.”

“Oh my god, y/n, go away!”

“We both know I’m right though!”

—

NIGHTMARES

It was taking your body hostage. The feeling of the waves circulating around you and trapping you beneath it’s cool surface. Everything was growing suffocating, you felt the air bubbles leave your lips. You were trying to take deep breaths, but you could only feel the water filling up your lungs.

“Oh my god!” You shot up and slightly coughed. You hastily turned on the lights and tried to calm your body down. It was shaking like a leaf as you clutched the blankets.

“Baby, shit are you okay!” Hoseok exclaimed the moment his eyes locked with your terrified figure. Your eyes were casted downwards and your hands gripping the blanket like a safety object.

“It’s just another nightmare, about the water.” You muttered and made a slight grabby hand towards his side. You clutched the orange material like your life depended on it. You knew it was just a dream, but god it felt so real. It felt as if your real body was being beaten by the brutal waves. It felt as if you were loosing the fight.

“I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” Hoseok tried to console you. He tucked you into his muscular shoulders and played with your hair.

“Can you stay up with me for a little longer?” You meekly mumbled out. You felt so bad depriving him from sleep, but you needed him.

“Of course I don’t mind. I’ll always be here for you.”

—

SLID IT OUT

You loved feeling the slight breeze blow through your hair. The simple little action reminds of when you used to do this in your childhood days. Slipping and sliding all over the place. Pulling on your favorite socks and just having at it in the hallway of your little apartment.

“Do I want to know?” Hoseok questioned while staring at you. His big, bright eyes following your stumbling movements.

“Remember when Cristina Yang was talking about dancing it out? Well I’m not much on dancing till I forget about things,” You spoke as you took a running start. The sound of your fluffy socks sliding across the hardwood floors right up to him. “I’d rather slid my problems away.”

Hoseok cocked his and a small chuckle of amusement left his lips. He’s seen you do questionable things, but this almost takes the cake. “Isn’t this a little childish?”

“Too some people probably, but it helps me let loose for a minute or two.” You shrugged and raced forward sliding again. “You know I bet you’d have a lot of fun if you just tried it.”

He bit his lip in consideration while staring at you from down the hallway. With a short huff he quickly rid himself of his beaten up sneakers. He rolled his eyes playfully when he saw you clap your hands excitedly. His boisterous laugh echoed in the hallway when he was making his first slid. His hands going straight up making it clear he was actually having fun.

You both slid in opposite directions before your chest collided with one another. Both of your glorious laughs getting mixed with with one another’s. Your hands gripped his shoulders while his were around your waist trying to steady you.

His eyes flickered to your lips for a millisecond, just before lightly colliding them. It was a short and rushed kiss. Your noses being pressed against each other while your teeth felt as if they scraped together as well. He pulled back and tried to apologize for his sudden action, but you only gripped the back of his head. Bringing him down for another and much better kiss.

“If I knew sliding in our socks was gonna lead to this I would’ve joined hours ago.”

—

SICK DAY

The ache in your bones was practically killing you. The coldness you felt made you want to wrap yourself in your cocoon of blankets and never come out. You gave a bone chilling cough and tried to reach for another tissue. You cringed when the rough material made contact with your red, sensitive nose. It’s already been three days and you wished this stupid cold would leave you body alone.

“Here’s another ice pack and some water.” Hoseok softly spoke trying not to add more pressure to your headache. He rubbed your head with smooth strokes trying to feel for your fever. “You don’t feel as warm.”

“I feel just as bad as before.” You horse stated, while breathing though your mouth. If anything you just wanted to have your nose clear, because breathing through you mouth was a tricky and exhausting task. You placed the cold ice against your forehead and pulled the blankets back up to your chin. You eyes slightly got bigger when the covers were lifted while a warm body added more heat. “Hobi, you’ll get sick.”

“My immune system is strong, I’ll be fine.”

“You better not expect me to take care of you when you get sick.” Even though you said that you knew the moment a small sneeze even threaten to leave his nose, you’d be there within a second to make him feel better.

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staruplatinum · 5 years ago

Text

A Night With Prosciutto

this was a commission for the lovely @babyybitchhh . It was so much fun to write this, I really enjoyed the Idea and i hope I did it justice! (●♡∀♡))ヾ☆*。also, fyi, im terrible at titles.

word count: 3,400

warnings: 18+, slut shaming, prostitution, cigarettes, rough sex, slapping/spanking, unwanted creampie, slight daddy fetish

*reader is female, translations/currency conversions are at the bottom!

Your mistress called down for you on one crisp evening in November. This was the usual for you of course, and a phone call from a client was not out of the ordinary, especially since the months were starting to get colder. Slipping on your housecoat, you were in the middle of doing your makeup. You trotted down the stairs to meet with her. She gave you an annoyed glance before proceeding to order you around.

“You have a client tonight, he’s willing to pay big.” She said, hanging up the phone and putting it back on it’s stand, the soft crashing sound enough to startle you.

“Pay big?” You asked, crossing your arms — almost as if you didn’t believe it. You were in this business for about two years now and on the higher-end of the scale. It wasn’t uncommon for men to say they would pay big, only to leave you with 65,000lire. This wasn’t a lot considering most of these men were Mafioso and had more money than they knew what to do with. You’d think that having sex with them - disgusting as some of them were- they’d give you more than that.

“He’s part of Passione, or something like that. I don’t really care. The point is, he saw your photo and asked for you in particular.” Your mistress added.

Sighing, you pinched the bridge of your nose. You should have known better. Lately, lots of men requested you because of how submissive you were, you were sure they were giving your name out to all of their buddies.

“Alright, what’s the address and when do I have to be there?” You asked.

“Vico Pallonetto Santa Chiara 8 80134” your mistress stated. “You are to be there for 7:00pm which, is in about an hour. I’ll have a cab ready for you.”

You had heard rumours about that area, nobody ever really went there because it was a sketchy part of town. You started to worry a bit, maybe this wasn’t a good idea..

“Wait signora, that’s a bad part of town!” You protested.

She shrugged and gave you another dirty look. “So?”

“So, I don’t want to go! What if something happens to me?” You asked, shaking slightly from the anxiety.

“This man is going to pay us big, and you will be going whether you like it or not. If we don’t hear from you by 10:00pm, we’ll send one of the guards to come get you. Now, go get ready. I don’t want to hear any more on the subject.” She said cruelly, before turning around and heading towards the kitchen with some of the other girls.

You sighed heavily as you made your way back up the staircase. The area was sketchy, and you had heard many warnings from other people in town to stay away. Upon doing further research, you heard that this was the area in which La Squadra Esecuzioni operated, the notorious assassins of Passione.

You never got involved with the mafia, you had no interest and you wanted to keep your nose clean, despite the fact that you had fucked a bunch of members already.

Having less than an hour to get ready, you finished your makeup, put on a tight black dress and wore a long coat over it all. Of course, you didn’t forget your black stilettos either. The thought of where you were headed was making you anxious, but you tried your best to mask the rush of nervousness.

As you headed downstairs you grabbed your clutch purse before being escorted into your taxi.

The ride to the location you were told to be at was long, about 40 minutes with all the traffic you had to endure. You had made sure to take “anti-anxiety” pills to help numb your emotions. The last thing you wanted was to have a freak-out and be in trouble with your boss. Plus, if this man really was going to pay well, you’d be in deep trouble.

Finally, just as the sun was setting, you were dropped off right in front of an old building, riddled with graffiti and blocked off windows. Your clicking sound of your heels echoed as you cautiously walked down the alley way, looking for the address.

“8 80134…” You repeated over and over until you reached a run-down door with that same address. You knocked cautiously, waiting for some sort of response.

Suddenly, the door opened, and you were greeted by a tall man smoking a cigarette. It was hard to make out his features due to the darkness inside and outside, but he gently grabbed your hand and pulled you inside.

Upon further inspection, you could see his face more clearly now. He was much more hotter than you expected, and he looked rather young. Most of your clients were older men, between 40-50. He looked to be 25, maybe 26. Either way, you were both close in age and that gave you some sort of ease.

The man looked you up and down, smirking as he took a drag of the cigarette. “sei davvero carina” he purred, before dumping his cigarette on the floor and stomping it out. You pushed some loose strands behind your ear, and muttered a soft “grazie” as you blushed.

“So.. where .. how should we do this?” You asked. Just as you did, you noticed at least 4 other bodies moving around in the background. Your eyes shot open with fear. Oh no…

you had hoped this wasn’t one of those times where you’d be gangbanged, that really wasn’t your intention for the night, even if you did enjoy it. Truth be told, you had just wanted to get this over with. The location and glares from the other men

“No no no Bella, you think I would fuck you in this shit hole? You deserve the best” the man said as he squished your cheeks with his right hand, making your lips pucker out.

He stopped briefly and looked behind him before yelling abruptly. “PESCI! Vieni qui!” The loudness of his voice shocked you, and suddenly you felt taken aback. Moments later, a tall man with spiky green hair, and a very apparent nervous face, approached you both.

“porterai me e la mia piccola puttana in hotel” The y’all blonde man asked. Ah, so he had planned to take you to a fancy hotel, how nice!~

Pesci nodded, and walked outside to one of the black cars that were lying around, he started it, waiting for you two to join him. The blonde man held out his arm for you to link yours with, and flashed you a toothy smile. “My name is Prosciutto, by the way.”

You smiled and blushed, before giving him your name. He really was attractive, probably the most attractive man you had got to do this with in a while.

Prosciutto opened the car door for you and escorted you inside before getting in and sitting with you. He had told Pesci where the location of the hotel was, and before you knew it, you were on your way once again.

The drive to the hotel wasn’t nearly as far as you imagined, it was only about 15 minutes before you arrived. As you sat in the car and looked out the window at the beautiful scenery, you felt the warm hands of your client snaking their way up your thigh and squeezing hard. You looked back at him, smiling softly as you watched him smoke another cigarette.

“grazie Pesci, guida sicura” prosciutto said as he tapped the hood of the car and watched Pesci drive off. He finished smoking his cigarette once again before escorting you inside the fancy hotel.

Apparently, the room had already been booked, paid for and everything. And by the time you reached the room, you felt your nervousness begin to show up again. However, it was a different kind of nervousness. You weren’t scared, no. For once you actually wanted to have sex and this man, who you barely spoke to made you weak at your knees.

You walked inside the fancy room and Prosciutto followed, helping you take off your trench coat. He hung it up for you before shutting the door behind him and guiding you over to the bed. You had to admit - this place was way better than the original address you were supposed to be at. At least here if anything happened you could run into the hallway.

Prosciutto came up from behind you and studied your body, admiring all your features. The dress you wore extenuated all of your curves, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off of you. His hands glided up to your breasts where he gave them a firm squeeze. “Take this off.” He demanded, his voice hazy with need.

You nodded and complied, slowly pulling the straps of your dress down and following suit after with your bra. Your breasts now exposed in the air, Prosciutto smirked. “These are pretty nice” he said, as he pinched one of your nipples, causing you to gasp. “For a whore.”

His words took you back, but you were used to this kind of treatment by now. “It comes with the job description signore, but you flatter me all the same.” You added. Prosciutto just smirked at you before taking out another cigarette and lighting it.

“Alright, troia,” he said in between drags. “How about you put that mouth to good use?”

You knew what that meant. Nodding, You pulled the rest of your garments off completely, only leaving your stockings and heels. You complied with his orders; getting down on your knees. Your delicate fingers traced patterns over the growing tent in his pants before you began to unbutton them and zip them down.

“Let me take care of you, Signore”

Though he was only half-way hard, you could already tell he was big. Pulling down his underwear, your fingers wrapped around the base of his shaft as you slowly began to pump him. Looking up at him and batting your lashes you stuck your tongue out, making an ‘o’ shape with your mouth as you began to take him in. He looked so handsome from this angle- the fact that he was smoking made it all the more appealing. He put one of his hands on the top of your head, roughing up your hair as you started to suck him off.

This went on for a few moments, until he finished his cigarette, before he abruptly grabbed you by the hair and pulled you off.

You shrieked as his hands tangled in your hair, pulling the roots on your scalp. “Sorry Bella, but I don’t see any tears in those beautiful eyes,” Prosciutto said to you. “That means you’re not trying hard enough. If you want that 1,315,258lire, you better try harder.”

1,315,258lire?! That was more than anyone had ever paid to your business as a whole!

You nodded and grabbed his thick cock, pushing all 7 ½ inches of it down your throat slowly. “That’s more like it.” He cursed. He let you take him in slowly, but only for a little while. When he got impatient, he grabbed both sides of your head and began to fuck your face. It was too much, you could feel the prickly parts of his shaved pubes on your nose as he went as deep as he could. The head of his cock reached the deaphts of your throat, causing you to gag.

Soon, just as he wanted, tears were welling up in your eyes, mainly from the fact that you could barely breathe. Your throat made lewd sounds as you struggled to take his rough thrusts. Eventually you tried to push him back with your hands; nails digging slightly into his thighs. Holding onto a fistful of your hair, he pulled your head back, his throbbing cock just barely touching your lips. Your eyes were watery, and your mascara was leaking. You looked like you had been crying for an hour…

You puckered out your lips, trying to lick the Pre-cum off of his cock as you stared up at him with watery eyes. The tears had nearly blurred your vision. He was a little - no, a lot pissed off that you’d even try to push him off. Who do you think you are? He kept his cool though. The last thing he wanted was to ruin everything… so early.

Prosciutto noticed your tears and he got down on one knee, using his soft hands to wipe away the tears on your face. He held your cheek in his hand, gently caressing you. You leaned into his touch willingly as you sniffled — enjoying his comfort.

“Oh no Bella, you don’t have to cry-“

smack

In an instant, he went from caring to borderline abusive. He slapped you across the face hard enough to leave a red hand mark. Prosciutto kept his fist knitted in your hair and picked you up roughly, throwing you on the bed. “Get on your hands and knees, Puttana.” He demanded. You nodded, obeying him once again. As he asked, you were on your hands and knees with your ass up in the air, waiting for him.

He pulled his trousers down completely and got on the bed, gently rubbing circles on your ass cheeks. Of course this didn’t last long, as he started to spank you hard once again leaving red marks all over. While prosciutto thought you would be hurt by this, he was surprised to see that it turned you on. Not only did it turn you on, it caused you to moan.

“Ha. So this is why the slut is so popular” he thought to himself. Nonetheless, He placed the head of his cock at your entrance, gliding it up and down your folds to tease you.

His teasing was driving you insane! You bucked your hips backwards, hoping it would egg him on enough to shove his cock inside of you. But, Prosciutto was in no hurry, after all, he still had you for another hour or more. He wanted to make the most of his time. A shitty blowjob wasn’t enough.

As he slowly pushed the head of his cock in, he pulled out his pack of cigarettes. Grabbing another one and lighting it, he tossed his lighter on the floor as he steadied himself inside of you. Prosciutto took another long drag of his cigarette before pushing all the way inside of you and butting the cigarette out on your ass.

“Ah!” You shrieked as you looked back at him, a clear expression of pain and fear on your face.

“che c'è? The woman said you were experienced.” Prosciutto stated as he pushed in even further. The head of his cock was prodding at your cervix. You let out a long groan as you struggled to take his length.

“I-I am! But a warning would have been nice!!” You managed to screech out.

“Well here’s your warning troia, don’t tense up.” He barked, looking down at the small circular burn mark that now littered your plump ass cheek. Smirking, he couldn’t deny how much it turned him on. He loved taking beautiful whores and making them wither below him. He wanted to be the one to ruin them.

His hands traveled to your hips where he groped you hard, pulling you back into him as his thrusts became erratic. He wasn’t slow and soft about it at all - no. He fucked you hard and rough, he wanted to make sure that you felt him, and that your cervix would be bruised from how hard he was going.

Small pants and grunts could be heard from Prosciutto as he continued his assault, meanwhile you were moaning like a ‘whore’ as he called it.

His thirsts slowed and he bent over you, snaking a hand around your neck and whispering in your ear;

“Here’s what’s going to happen Bella. “ — he started, his soft breaths tickling your ear lobe. “You’re going to call me daddy. Understand?” He finished, biting your ear hard. That little stunt earned him a small squeak from you and a sensual nod as you tried to keep your composure. Which, was hard considering he was pressing your face into the pillows.

Prosciutto leaned back up, pulling onto your hips once again. His thrusts sped up again, and you could tell he was close, since they were so uneven. Your fingers grasped onto the sheets, struggling to get a strong grip by how hard you were being fucked. Prosciutto noticed this and just chuckled darkly before slapping your ass once again.

“Come on, Bella. Cum for your daddy” he growled.

You stopped thinking after Prosciutto said that. His left hand trailed down and began to rub rough circles on your clit. The pleasure was too much.

“Oh- fuck!! Daddy!” You moaned, louder than you should have. You were so close, you could feel it in your soul.

Just then a sudden thought popped into your head.

“D-daddy… please don’t cum inside…” you panted. Though you had sex many times before, you didn’t like when men came inside you. It was just a mess for you to clean, plus having to get the morning after pill was usually a pain.

“I’ll do what I want bitch, now keep quiet.” He growled. His fingers continued to massage you roughly and without warning you finally came, squirting your juices and throbbing around his hard cock. You moaned out the words “daddy” as much as you could. After all, you wanted him to be satisfied.

Soon after, Prosciutto came. Right inside of you. His cock pressed hard into your cervix, going as deep as he could so you could feel his seed leak into you. A wave of panic ran over you as he finally pulled out and you felt some of his seed leak down your thighs. When his cock was fully out of you, he spread open your cheeks, watching how red your cunt was, as well as your ass. You were going to have bruises there for sure the next day.

Using one of his slender fingers, he pushed the remainder of his seed back inside of you as you rolled onto your back, panting.

Prosciutto stood up, and cleared his throat while looking at you.

“Clean me up.” He demanded while pointing to his softening cock, which had both your juices and fragments of his seed on it. You felt dead for a moment - completely worn out and utterly upset that he didn’t respect you enough to pull out. However, you pushed that aside and got up off of the bed and kneeled on the floor.

You gently held his cock in your hands as your mouth engulfed him once again, sucking the residue off of it until he was satisfied. Prosciutto looked down at you. For a moment, he genuinely felt bad about what he had done to you, but then again.. you were just a whore.

He pulled his cock away from you and knelt down squeezing your cheeks and pulling you in for a deep kiss. His tongue invaded your mouth for a while before he pulled away and looked into your eyes.

“I’ll be calling you again, Bella.” He said, almost coldly.

As quickly as the night started it came to an end just as fast. Within minutes Prosciutto had his suit on once again - and a cigarette in his mouth. He wrote you up a check, the 1,315,258lire he promised was there, and suddenly you didn’t feel as bad as you did.

Prosciutto tossed you the check and rushed out of the hotel. He had business to finish with La Squadra, so he couldn’t stay for pillow talk.

Alone, you stayed on the bed, feeling his seed leak out of you and a few tears fall from your face. Part of you hoped you’d be able to see him again. He was rough, but he was one of the best clients you ever had… but part of you had a feeling you’d never see him again. Either way, he really did make you feel like a whore.

translations!

65,000lire = $50

1,325,258lire = $1,000

veini qui - come here

porterai me a la mia piccola puttana in hotel - bring me and my little whore to the hotel

grazie - thank you

guida sicura - drive safe

troia - slut / puttana - whore

signore - sir

che c’e? - what’s wrong?

#prosciutto #not sfw #commission #prosciutto x reader #la squadra di esecuzione #la squadra #female reader #jjba

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chxckandmxte-a · 4 years ago

Text

@ardensfides || Long Overdue Starter

Another day gone by, and another night of drinking to add to the list. Ever since he turned forty, his life seemed to take a huge downward spiral, and just as he was BARELY holding on to smoke, that one mission in DC went haywire, shitty timing. Everything had been done right in terms of preparation, but the moment they made it to the rendezvous point, a whistle-blower ratted them out and tipped off the enemy terrorists, this resulted in a series of explosions and gunfire from all directions. Thanks to Leon’s veteran experience with this sort of level of danger, he was able to escape with only minor injuries, but the result, was Leon being the only survivor of the whole unit. It was THAT very event that just added to his trauma.

That very event was the final straw that was enough to completely shake the rest of his already UNSTABLE WILL. Everything else in his life up until now was finally beginning to EAT AWAY AT HIM from the INSIDE. How the hell could anyone expect Leon to be the same after something like that? Some would say that it was just Leon going soft, but no, that wasn’t the case at all. Being the lone survivor was something Leon had faced in ALMOST all of his entire career, again and again allies and comrades would die right in front of him, the list of friends he had lost only continued to grow larger and larger each year. Only the well prepared friends of his would make it, like Helena his partner in the DSO.

There was also his close friends that had been in this fight as long as he was, like Claire Redfield whom he survived Raccoon City along with young Sherry Birkin who was now another agent in the DSO, then Claire’s brother Chris, his BSAA and longtime partner Jill Valentine, Rebecca Chambers and Berry Burton. Aside from that, everyone else died on the front lines with him or in another mission of their own. Regardless, Leon was just tired of it, tired of this constant vicious cycle of:

‘man makes virus then proceeds to unleash said virus on the world’

It was all the same, and it seemed the more harder he fought, the smarter and swifter other psycho’s would get, this war had been going on for over two decades now and without an end in sight. Enough was enough, he either needed a long break or retire, but he was too conflicted to decide, there was no more fire in his fight, it was all burnt out and didn’t seem to have any sign of coming back, at least not easily, not at all.

So here he was again, in another bar sitting at a table, the usual place he went to was busy with some kind of billiard tournament going on right now, sure the drinks would be cheaper, but that also meant a much bigger crowd, and he didn’t want to deal with too many people right now, and that was why he was here in this dive bar. It wasn’t the best place, it wasn’t particularly shady, but this place was known to get the more trouble-making drunkards as well as a few skeptical people, but Leon would easily dissolve a situation if anyone dared to bother him.

Slamming down another shot glass of strong Whiskey, Leon would turn his head to notice someone who just walked inside, it was a young woman, blonde and not familiar. She seemed to stick out like a sore thumb, evident to the way everyone turned their heads to look at her, of course, it could also be because she was very attractive too, which probably wouldn’t help her here. Everyone in here was gloomy and wore loose clothes and dark colors, she was hard to miss, and it wasn’t very often a pretty lady walked in here. It just didn’t seem like she fit in here, but even today, Leon wasn’t the type to judge. Despite this, he felt somewhat obligated to give her a heads up about this place, she didn’t look too familiar with the place. After staring for a few seconds, all the other patrons went back to doing their own thing.

[{☣}] - “..Little piece of advice. The regulars here, are a bunch of shady and sketchy bastards, I’d keep your guard up if I were you..” A fair warning, perhaps she was looking for another place and got this one mixed up. He didn’t know or care, but at least she knew now.

#ardensfides #V; Sᴛᴜᴄᴋ Iɴ A Gᴏᴅᴅᴀᴍɴ Lᴏᴏᴘ (Pᴏsᴛ-Vᴇɴᴅᴇᴛᴛᴀ: 2017 ᴛᴏ 2020)#Jᴜsᴛ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴅᴀʏ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ Jᴏʙ (IC)#//Here it is #//I hope this is okay?!#//I wasn't sure how else to start it #//Regardless I'm looking forward to interacting with you #//Please take your time~#tw: alcoholism #tw: death mention

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itsanerdlife · 6 years ago

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Mistakes Made 5/30

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Warning: Self doubt. Violence. Anger. Back stabbing. Lying. Arguing. Separation. Blood. Law breaking. Cat Fights. Stalking. A lot of anger. Team fighting. Feelings of being pathetic. Sneaking around. Betrayal.

A/N: Steve turns into a little bit of a dick. He won’t be your favorite through this series. Remember love can twist you up and change you, if you fall in with the wrong type of person.

“When one path is cut off, it’s the world’s way of telling you what you want isn’t what you need.” Steve Rogers is your best friend and you’re harboring the worst, most pathetic crush for him. But when Steve’s no longer got the time for you. When Steve starts dating the horrible and sketchy Agent Holly Smith. You’re left heart broken and in a slump. You got your heart broken in one go. The man you wanted and your best friend. Peter Parker steps in, picking up all your broken pieces. He makes you laugh, makes your heart flutter, and he knows exactly what you are. You’re falling head over heels for Peter. But the team isn’t whole with you and Steve on the outs. A drunk text and misunderstanding, everything you had comes crashing down around you. Assassins are trained to lie, kill and never be trusted. You’ve got nothing left to lose now. Where will you and Peter end up? Is there really such thing as a happy ending in this life? Or is there someone pull the threads to your happiness and life?

Tag List Is Open!!!

You spent more time with Peter in the coming weeks. He was funny, sweet, caring, and your world sort of melted when he looked at you in the adoring way he did. He was building you up again, and each day you seemed to like him more and more. You binge watched, he listened to your conspiracy theory rants, and he never hesitated to have you join him in the lab, or binge reading in his room.

In many ways you were more of a couple, than you’d ever been with anyone else. Pictures, sweatshirts, forehead kisses, hand holding, T-shirts, the nights spent together, books, the touching, and account shares. Peter was pulling you into his web and you didn’t even mind for a second. You stopped feeling pathetic, stopped berating yourself for chasing someone who didn’t want you. Peter never made you feel bad, or pathetic. He educated you, and made you feel better about yourself. When the weekend came around you couldn’t wait to go out with Peter and the team. You had no worries about even Steve coming along.

“Not joining us?” Nat looks at Steve who was coming into the kitchen.

“I’m meeting Holly.” He nods.

“Ahh. Well you know where we will be if you both want to join us.” Buck smirks.

“Peter,” you sigh holding up your pocket. It held your ID, your cash and your card. Your lipstick in your hand as well. “will you carry my pocket?” You bat your eyes at him.

“Yes.” Peter takes the things in your hands, slipping them into the pocket of his jeans. “Are you taking a jacket?” He eyes your skinny jeans, more rips than jeans, and your off the shoulder, loose top.

“Doesn’t go with my outfit.” You wave a hand down your side as if making a point. He laughs, pulling his jacket off the back of the chair.

“I’ll bring mine.” He shakes his head as the team heads for the elevator.

“Now, that’ll go with my outfit.” You grin.

“Why do you think I picked it.” He leans in his voice close to your ear.

“You are a genius.” You wink at him.

“Smart ass.” Peter snorts, rolling his eyes. Tony chuckles behind you.

“Carry me home tonight?” You grin as you step on the elevator. Peter sighs, a grin on his lips.

“If you’re really lucky, I’ll even let you sleep in my bed.” He drapes his arm over your shoulders.

“Tease.” you playfully swat his chest. He leans in close to your ear again.

“Maybe, you’ll get one of my T-shirts too.” You could hear the humor in his voice.

“Promise?” You lift a brow looking up at him.

“Maybe.” He winks at you. Your heart sped up a little at that wink, warmth fluttered in your stomach. You were simply falling for Peter in a much bigger way than you had for Steve.

-------

“Look who joined us!” Buck greets Steve.

“Thought I should introduce you to Holly.” Steve grins, the woman next to him smiles. She’s got long black hair, in soft curls, brown eyes and a friendly smile.

“Finally.” Clint snorts.

“Holly. The team. This is Holly.” Steve nods. Everyone says hello about the same time.

“That’s Y/N.” Steve smiles at you. You look to Peter confused.

“Me?” You look back at them.

“Steve’s told me a lot about you.” Holly grins at you. Something about her seems off to you.

“Oh. That’s awkward.” You shift awkwardly.

“It’s really nice to meet all of you.” Holly grins, it was almost like she was trying too hard. Peter leans in whispering in your ear.

“We’re going to,” you nudge Peter with your shoulder, grinning “to get a drink.” You laugh, shaking your head. You grab Peter’s hand pulling him with you, a grin on his own lips.

-------

Steve watches them walk away, Y/N’s back to Peter’s front, his arms around her waist as they move towards the bar. Peter is still whispering in her ear, making her laugh.

“So they’re a thing?” He nods, taking the glass Buck had poured for him.

“Something like that.” Clint nods.

“They make each other, very happy.” Tony watches his surrogate son and Y/N.

“It’s so cute, it’s a little nauseating.” Buck smirks.

“She never told me.” Steve nods.

“Well it’s not like you two spend a lot of time together anymore.” Nat points out with a cocky smirk.

“We still talk.” Steve mutters.

“You do?” Sam lifts a brow.

“She’s still my best friend.” Steve nods.

“What’s the last thing you two did together?” Wanda tips her head slightly watching Steve.

“Well tomorrow is family night. We always spend it together, you’ll see.” Steve mutters.

“I wouldn’t hold your breath.” Tony smirks.

“You’ll see.” Steve shrugs. Holly shifts next to him, pulling Steve’s attention back to her.

--------

“Get your hand out of each other’s pants and get out here. Family time, you two!” Tony yells down the hall at you and Peter. You laugh, rolling out of bed, Peter follows.

“Man, things were just getting good.” You grin. Peter laughs behind you. Tony grins wickedly at you. “In my book, you pervs.” You snort.

“You are drowning in those sweatpants.” Buck laughs as you shuffle into the living room.

“I know.” You grin.

“Alright. Here.” Peter hands you your take out box. The two of you opening your orders together.

“Awe.” You sigh. Peter looks up at you.

“What?” He smirks.

“Yours looks better than mine.” Your brow pulls down.

“Good, I was hoping you’d say that.” Peter grins.

“Trade?” You light up.

“Hell yes.” Peter and you swap containers. You wiggle back into the couch, getting comfy. Peter places your blanket over your crossed legs for you, before settling back next to you.

“Do we need to check for hands, through the movie?” Nat grins at you from the chair she was perched in, her legs over Buck’s shoulder as he sat on the floor in front of her.

“Only if you’re joining me.” You wink at her.

“Peter doesn’t look like he’s into sharing.” She grins.

“No, not really.” Peter kisses the side of your head.

“Shame.” Nat winks at him. He laughs, you blow her a kiss before going back to your food.

“Pay up.” Tony and Buck put their hands out. Clint and Sam slap cash into their open hands.

“Noticing now?” Buck asks looking over at Steve.

“Changes nothing.” Steve mutters.

“Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Buck snorts, picking up a taco.

Everything Peaches 2/6/19: @xmtd5 @mo320 @courtmr @all1e23 @izzy--lee @irepeldirt @dumblani @nishanki1 @crist1216 @alyssaj23 @allyp1023 @joannie95 @kolakube9 @rileyloves5 @sarahp879 @sea040561 @sexyvixen7 @pcterpvrker @pigwidgexn @doctoranon @abschaffer2 @nickimarie94 @teller258316 @wandressfox @amandab-ftw @henrietteoaks @nea90sweetie @circusofchaos @itsagalaxystar @bettercallsabs @miraclesoflove @lucifersnipnips @queenkrissy11 @sadyoungadult @destiel-artemis @paintballkid711 @iwillbeinmynest @sweet-honey15 @chanelmadrid13 @mellxander1993 @killerbumblebee @spookygrantaire @geeksareunique @supernatural508 @sammysgirl1997 @itzmegaaaaaaan @booksbeforebois @mariekoukie6661 @pure-princess-97 @capsheadquaters @samanthasmileys @youclickedthislink @futuremrsb-r-main @lovemarvelousfics @notyourtypicalrose @petersunderoos96 @loving-life-my-way @booktvmoviefangirl @supernatural-girl97 @fanfictionjunkie1112 @abbypalmer14-blog @meganlikesfandoms @awkwardfangirl2014 @supernaturaldean67 @xqueenofthecraziesx @queenoftheunderdark @writingaworldofmyown @supernaturallover2002 @daughterofthenight117 @sprinklesandsugarcubes @whothehellisbucky-1930 @verymuchclosetedfangirl @for-the-love-of-the-fandom @ocaptain-mycaptainmorgan @wonderlandfandomkingdom @crazy-little-thing-called-buck @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @stupendoussciencenaturepanda @jamesbarnesappreciationsociety

Marvel Tag List 2/6/19: @lumelgy @dottirose @jcc04220 @rockagurl @a--1--1--3 @mizzzpink @jade-taillia @coley0823 @widowsfics @bookluver01 @thelostallycat @shield-agent78 @dtftheavengers @ilovetvshowsblog @capsheadquaters @iamwarrenspeace @thefridgeismybestie @whenallsaidanddone @deanwinchestersrifle @fandomsstolemylife00 @daughterofthenight117 @lilmissperfectlyimperfect

Peter Parker: @ml7010 @ariminiria @dkpink123 @boltsgirl919 @quokkatrash @everthenerd @ms-rogers06 @crayonwriting @baebeepeach @bellamouse16 @honey-bee-holly @kiss-the-stars-goodbye

Mistakes Made: @gabile18 @lakamaa12 @thejupiterkiller @mus1cal-barnes @sherlokiantheatrenerd @nerdy-bookworm-1998

#Marvel #Peter Parker x Reader #Avengers #Peter x Reader #Mistakes Made #Marvel Fanfiction #Peter Parker Series #Avengers Fanfiction #Spider-Man Series

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crackinglamb · 5 years ago

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Fluff-uary Prompt 13 - Take Them Dancing

(ME - Jayne and Garrus)

The vid played out as Jayne sat rapt. Turn here, catch his foot there, get bold and throw a leg up here...he pulls back, stretching them out in a long line of smoldering intent, the crowd begins to take notice...

She remembered it so clearly, as if it was yesterday. “You're gonna pay for this later...”

“Promises, promises.”

She'd paid him back by making eyes at James, who knew better than do anything other than shake his head at her and wordlessly tell her she was hot. She was hot back then, wasn't she?

His talons on her wrist, tugging her back into his embrace. The near flawless poetry in motion that he managed to somehow throw over her as well. Everyone knew she couldn't dance.

The vid was a bit shaky as the videographer changed position to get a closer view. She watched herself as Garrus twirled her around in tight circles, their heads bent together, her hands so easy and comfortable in his. She remembered that dress...

She could barely breathe, but didn't care once she saw him in his civvies. It was so rare, so precious. For a moment it didn't feel like role playing at all.

The dance ended with him dipping her backwards, her hair too short to really do anything but look poofy. The vid didn't pick up on the words they'd shared, but she remembered them. “So, think a girl would fall for that?” he asked, arch and supremely proud of himself for throwing her for a loop.

“Oh hell yes,” she murmured aloud, as the vid started over from the beginning. She rubbed her right leg, stretched out on the sofa in their Palaven apartment. She couldn't dance like that now. Not in the shape she was in. Not when days like this, where pain kept her sitting around, idle, were still too common.

The door opened and Garrus came in, bearing two take out bags slung over his arm and still working on something on his omni-tool. She leaned on the back of the sofa to watch him and smiled. For someone who claimed to be a bad turian, he was doing a decent impression of a good one in these days of Reconstruction. Then again, with a Primarch like Victus, all of Palaven was getting a crash course on getting the job done, and screw the 'rules'.

“Hey, babe,” she said, drawing his attention from his last bit of work. He glanced up at her and flexed his mandibles in a grin, then saw behind her to the vid screen still showing their apparently infamous tango.

“Where'd that come from?”

“Kasumi sent it.”

“Kasumi Goto, notorious thief turned semi-philanthropic art dealer?” he asked, a slight edge to his voice. She'd never asked if that was because Kasumi had always slipped C-Sec's leash or because Jayne knew her personally and had never said anything about it.

“Yes, that Kasumi.”

“Where did she even get that?”

“From the camera angle, I'd say she took it herself.” He huffed and set their dinner down on the kitchen table, out of sight for a moment as he unloaded the last of his day. He came back to the living room and leaned over the back of the sofa, his talons idly toying with her curls, now longer than they'd been since she was 18.

“You know, I practiced those moves for weeks.”

“And you were very good with them.” They shared a grin, one that turned bittersweet on her face. She missed those days, even with all the hell breaking loose around them. She was whole then, not some half broken thing that couldn't do more than sit on the couch and brood. Being an Ambassador sounded great on paper, but there wasn't much for her to do with travel still so sketchy. She was one of just a handful of humans living on the turian homeworld.

Garrus skirted around the sofa and did something between his omni-tool and his visor. The vid shut off but music started playing. “C'mere.”

“What are you doing?” she asked, feeling like it was three years ago and they were in a bar where he'd suddenly grabbed her hand and was pulling her all unwilling off a barstool. He hauled her into his arms as the tempo settled and she recognized the song.

“Garrus...”

“Shh, I've got you.” He didn't try to swing her around, or do any of the intricate steps they'd done that night, but they moved with the beat, their hands and bodies sure with each other. He gave her a pointed look and she gritted her teeth and lifted her right leg over his, just as she had before. The flare of pain was worth it to see his eyes darken like that.

He leaned back, pulling her along the length of his body, stretching her out and yet still holding all of her weight against him. The strain in her leg seized for just a second, then popped and released, giving her blissful relief from the pain. She chuckled and wondered if it would last.

“Who knew the tango was good for chiropractics?”

“I should have thought of this sooner.”

They stayed that way, even as the song moved on, his hands solidly around her supporting her comfortably. His strength was still indomitable. She leaned up and kissed him, cupping his mandibles in her palms. Eventually he set her back on her feet and stood up to his full towering height, but they didn't stop kissing. The song had ended before they came back to the present. Fuzzilla chirruped from the back of the sofa, eyeing his two housemates with something like bafflement. Jayne laughed.

“What's the matter, Fuzzle?” she cooed.

“At least he doesn't know you can't dance.”

She snorted and activated her omni-cane. Some days she didn't need it at all now, but most days – especially after dancing around with her husband – she was grateful for the extra support. She was grateful to Joker too, for sending her the code to upload the program to her omni-tool. “He doesn't even know what dancing is. C'mon, you. I'm hungry and the food's gotta be half cold by now.”

“I'm gonna take you dancing again,” Garrus promised as they sat down at the table in the kitchen. “One of these days.”

She leaned over to him and held his cheek. There were so many things to say, to feel. She couldn't even express all it encompassed. The fact that they'd survived, the fact that music and dancing still existed. The fact that no matter how broken she felt, he didn't see her that way. She couldn't sum it all up, but then again, he didn't look like he needed her to. “All right, babe.”

(credit where it’s due, the omni-cane comes from a piece of art done by @oddmott of Joker and EDI. I loved the idea of that so much I just had to borrow it.)

#FLUFF-uary 2020 #mass effect #shakarian forever

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dustedandsocial · 5 years ago

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One thing and an Other thing

The One Thing:

After many failures in the world of responsible adulthood, I decided in 2010 that I would go full throttle into music distro and record label management. And for a fleeting moment, things were working out in my favor.

But let me back up. I had been having bizarre sleeping patterns going all the way back into my childhood, that no insomnia or depression diagnosis nor medication could ever fix. I never got an answer from a doctor that explained my sleep problems.

Essentially, my body and brain think that a day is 25 hours long. If you pause on that fact for a second, what becomes clear is that my sleep schedule rotates around the clock in a never-ending cycle. This had been the case for me from the age of 10, but clinical research studies were few and far between for most of my life.

Then in the summer of 2011 I learned for the first time that my vague sleeping issue was in fact a disorder, although I didn’t yet know the full extent of the limitations it imposed. Which is why for years I kept thinking there would be some way for me to keep working, despite being fired every time I tried to do so. I mostly lived on an annuity until I was 20 ($1047 per month), which came from a court decision when I was little (my mother committed suicide in a hospital and a court found them responsible, granting settlements to each of my family members). I kept thinking I could dance around extreme sleep fluctuations and pull myself up from the ground by my bootstraps, but I only ever fell back on my annuity.

When I was 12, the cops would show up at my house, wake me up, and drive me to school (my dad was a welder and made an early exit to work at 4:30am). Those near-truancies — as well as all the successful truancies! — along with my insistence on bringing alcohol in my backpack to school, smoking in the bathroom, getting high before school with friends, and stealing car stereos from the high school parking lot, all led me to multiple arrests, finally getting me the boot form junior public high school. There was also the despair of losing my mother at the age of 9, which was certainly an important aspect to all of this maladjustment, if not the most central factor.

But without a cop showing up at my house, I’d wake up around 5PM.

At 13, I was placed in an “alternative school” (aka a program for trouble makers and drug dealers). Most students would sail though towards a diploma, being graded on video game scores, pick-up basketball games, and honest-to-god fantasy basketball gambling leagues (that I several times created for school credit!). We had smoke breaks twice a day in school, and I even sold one of my teacher’s pot. I only showed up half the school year, yet somehow graduated a half-year early at the age of 17. Basically, our ”alternative learning program” was a way for the school district to fudge numbers and make it look like they had rehabilitated kids. I managed to graduate High School easily without my disability playing a major factor. It all felt like being home schooled but with no parents or curriculum to help. Hence why five years into a dedicated leftist education, I can still barely understand Marxist arguments around value theory.

It would still be 11 years from my graduation until I learned about my sleep disorder, so the following years would be spent tossing and turning, going to work and class after being up 24 hours, often crashing at hour 40, then sleeping 24 hours straight to make up for massive sleep deprivation. I’d get fired left and right, girlfriends and family members had no idea what to express to me other than their lack of faith that I could ever get my shit together (and I believed as much myself, because what other explanation was there?)

I decided to work online in 2010 as I began 80/81 Records, as well as work part-time in physical space, all just to scrounge up enough money for distro items and record pressings. I started off with some relative success. I was the first in the US to distro Australian titles like Deaf Wish, Woolen Kits, Mad Nanna, Teen Archer, etc (all even before Bruce’s Easter Bilby!). I had a plethora of reissue releases from the Memoire Neuve label, as well that beautiful Les Olivensteins reissue LP. I even sold a sketchy Chosen Few bootleg to True Anon’s own Brace Belden (aka PissPigGrandad).

By the age of 30, my body started to fall apart.Within a few years, despite a few solid releases on 80/81, I had to give up on a slew of planned record releases and call it quits. All were thankfully rescued by a couple of friendly labels, with masters sent off to a few others. These were: Mosquito Ego’s “Plomb” LP (thanks @ever-never-records), Pustostany’s “2012″ LP (shout out to the great Sweet Rot), Shovels S/T (thanks to Homeless Records), and Expert Alterations 12″ (Slumberland), and the Virvon Vavron EP, later taken care of by Girlsville Records. There was also the Human Hair "My Life As A Beast And Lowly Form” LP, which came in lieu of a 7″ I had planned for them (still streamable on the 80/81 Bandcamp). Sorry to all these fantastic bands! There was no label in the last decade better at not releasing records!

Nearly as long as I’ve been using this tumblr, I’ve been disabled. However, I didn’t realize I was *officially* disabled per the US government until last year, nor did I know that my condition was an incurable neurological disorder. In fact, it’s technicality not a sleep disorder. If earth had the rotational position of Mars, my circadian rhythms would be perfectly in sync. I've never brought it up here, I never wanted it to be a factor in how I presented myself, and I never wanted this to be a personal blog about my plight. But I can't in good conscience hide this aspect of myself any longer, while so many other disabled folks are engaged in fights for all of our rights, including those beyond the disabled community.

Oh, and the other thing:

I figured out last month that I am NOT a heterosexual guy. Queer? Omnisexual? How about "not straight”? Why did it take me so long to face up to this? Well, growing up in a poor and violent neighborhood meant that I needed to latch onto anything at a young age in order to keep myself safe. I could under no circumstances continue to endure the abuse that happened when I was very young, that I thought would come back my way if I opted out of a "straight" “tough” identity. And even with that identity, I felt an inexplicable terror at all times, that seemed like it was seeping through the air, like it was the blood gushing from behind the hotel walls in “The Shining”. In order to avoid the terror, I had to act out in an extreme way so no one would question me. I’d always be the first to tell adults off. I’d always be the one to break into a house. I always be the first to steal, or mouth off to a cop. I did get choked by a cop once, which was also tame compared to the beatings my black and Hispanic friends received. But I also hated fighting, so that style of acting out was mostly a dodge and redirection of attention.

But so many toxic ideas overtook me over the years. While I may not have been outwardly homophobic as an adult, I no doubt policed my own behavior for decades, not allowing myself vulnerability, not allowing myself comfort, robbing myself of joy. And it took me three decades to shake that straight identity loose.

I think this straight identity I adopted though trauma is common for men, even though whose childhoods weren’t as traumatic as mine. That isn't to say that those who adopt it are closeted, but the ideology driving performative straight male expression can cut off naturally heterosexual men from understanding themselves and what it is that they most desire, who they want to connect with, what makes them complete. Heterosexuality as ideology is a giant fucking scam. You get nothing out of it, maybe an early death from a heart attack.

But I’m also happier now than I’ve ever been. When I gave up the straight identity, I completely gave up fear, and in ways far beyond matters of sexuality. That straight identity also policed how I though of women, and since I’ve been free of it, my relation to women has changed significantly.

And now

I’m fighting month after month to get on disability and food stamps (I’ve been denied for disability seven times in eight years, and food stamps were just cut in RI). When all is sorted I’m going to join radical orgs in Providence. From here to there and beyond, it’s class struggle.

Had our welfare state not been decimated, or had we decommodified health care and housing, I would have never had to jump through so many hoops for ultimately no help. When I lacked diagnosis, I could have lived with dignity while I waited for an explanation of my issues, if only the society had a non-bureaucratic solution to personal crisis. I’m a “lumpen” of a sort, but I’m also now a committed small-c communist and queer. Sorry apolitical people, but the fight will be intense for the remainder of all our lives.

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takerfoxx · 5 years ago

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RD Walpurgis Nights 8, Part 10

Then…

It was sort of funny how quickly someone can hit their respective weirdness threshold, and what they were willing to accept once they’ve smashed through.

If someone were to tell Homulilly and Kriemhild Gretchen that they were dead and currently in some kind of exclusive purgatory reserved for those who had been ensnared by an alien’s con when under normal circumstances (whatever those happened to be), they would probably laugh nervously, exchange uncomfortable glances, and start edging for the exit.

But after waking up as humanoid abominations stuck in a madcap city of giant clocks, rotating city blocks, and bi-polar weather, the only reaction they had for everything that they had been told was something to the tune of, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

The owners of the spaceship that had rescued them had introduced themselves as the Doomsday Clock Spawn Site Search and Rescue. Apparently, Doomsday Clock had been the name of that constantly rotating city (an appropriate name if Homulilly had ever heard one), they had appeared there because it was a “spawn site,” and many spawn sites had search and rescue organizations who, well, searched them to rescue anyone that spawned there.

It was kind of crazy how logical and organized the insanity was.

The rest though made even less sense. Their rescuers had promised that everything would be explained in full in time, but for now all they would say was that Kriemhild and Homulilly were in some kind of hodgepodge afterlife intended for “people like them.” Exactly what that meant, neither of them understood. It wasn’t being a monster, per se. There were other people like them walking around, girls with monstrous features. But there were also many who looked completely normal. They had been told that those who were part monster were known as “witches,” name that quite frankly felt wholly accurate, while those who were not were called Puella Magi, and apparently Puella Magi became witches if they became too sad or something, it didn’t make any sense!

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” said Rachel Corsco, a freckled redhead with an American Southern accent that was looking out for the pair. “And believe me, I’ve been here for many years, and there are still parts that don’t make any sense. But believe me when I say as strange as everything might seem, and as scary as everything might seem, you are safe. We’re all in the same boat, and we look after one another.”

Kriemhild and Homulilly exchanged uneasy glances. Kriemhild cleared her throat. “Um, I-I’m glad to hear that, and I understand why you’re taking your time explaining things to us. But you haven’t told us why we can’t remember anything.”

The three of them were sitting together at a round table at a sort community room. Kriemhild and Homulilly were thankfully now clothed. Granted, it was just loose-fitting grey sweaters and a pair of grey sweatpants for Homulilly and an altered set of shorts for Homulilly, but they were warm and comfortable. They had already had a long nap in warm beds and been given hot showers, followed by a full meal, so they were feeling oh so much better. But now that their physical needs had been met, that left them with their endless questions to take up their attention.

“That’s the downside of being a witch, I’m afraid,” Rachel said sympathetically. “All witches lose their memories of who they were.”

“But that’s terrible!” Gretchen cried. “You mean everything we were, like our names and our friends and our families are just gone? Can’t you see how horrible that it?” She wasn’t the only one having outbursts. Around the room were other tables where a handful of other newly arrived girls were talking to other members of the staff. Some were as upset as she was. Some were crying. A few were angry. Others were stunned silent. But none of them were at all happy.

As for Homulilly, she just sat with her legs drawn up onto her chair and her sleeves pulled down over her hands, with her arms hugging her stomach. She had been very nervous about showing her skeletal arms to anyone other than Kriemhild ever since arriving.

“I do, and it is,” Rachel agreed. “It’s a terrible, unfair system that ought to be destroyed. Unfortunately, we can’t do that from here. We’re the victims of that system, and the universe owes us big time for what it took from us, a debt that it will never repay. Yes, it’s sick, it’s cruel, it’s evil.” She picked up a napkin and started twisting it in her hands. “And if I could get my hands on the necks of those who did this to us, I would squeeze their heads off until they popped! Any of us would!” She sat back with a sigh. “But I can’t. We can’t. All we can do is try to build the best life we can.”

Kriemhild felt her lower lip start to tremble. “So there’s nothing you can tell us? About who we were and what happened to us?”

“Nothing,” Rachel said, shaking her head. “That’s how it goes for everyone who becomes a Puella Magi. You die fighting, or you become a witch, and then you die. It’s what happened to all of us.”

Kriemhild felt her throat tighten. She grabbed up her glass of water and gulped it down. It helped to ease some of the tension, but not all. “Wh-When you become a witch, um, you just sort of forget who you were and get a little weird-looking, right? Why would anyone kill us then?”

Rachel shook her head. “No. Witches, full witches, are pretty scary. It’s the being killed that gives you back your humanity.”

The tension got worse. “So we were actual monsters, is that what you’re saying?”

“I’m afraid so.”

This was just so much to take in. Kriemhild sat back, her head in her hands, her legs twisting themselves into knots.

Then suddenly, Homulilly spoke. “What did we look like?” she asked, sounding more curious than horrified. “Or is that gone too?”

Rachel hesitated, and then said, “No. That I can show you. But I warn you, it’s…not pretty.”

“I want to know,” Homulilly said. She glanced over to Kriemhild.

To be quite frank, Kriemhild really could do without knowing what kind of hideous beast she had been transformed into. But even she had to admit to some measure of curiosity. After a bit she slowly nodded.

Rachel reached into a binder she had and withdrew a photograph. “You couldn’t really see this from where you were tied up,” she said. “But I think this was an accurate representation.”

The picture was of the giant clock face. The many, many hands were still there, all of them weirdly spiraling like vines or smoke, the one Homulilly had been tied to sticking straight up. There was a tiny pink thing wrapped around its base, which Kriemhild guessed had probably been that bow that had been strangling her.

But there was something else too. The clock face was painted with a giant mural. Sure enough, it looked like two monsters, one of them facing up, the other facing down, with the bottoms of their bodies fused together, forming a sort of reverse-hourglass shape.

The one on top was vaguely humanoid, sure, but it was a made of a nightmare of sketchy lines, like a manic child’s painting. It had long, grasping hands, glowing pink eyes, and a pair of twintails, as out of place as that was. From the waist down it was a monstrous mass of lines that formed the vague shape of a billowing skirt, like vines or pipes.

Or wires.

The other monster, the one that was upside-down, was a human skeleton wearing a purple dress. It had its bony hands spread wide, as if to embrace the world. The top of its skull had been cleaved off, and in its place was a massive red flower, a blown-up version of the one growing out of the top of Homulilly’s head.

“Oh my God,” Kriemhild whispered. Homulilly said nothing. She just stared in fascination.

“You two are something known as a Walpurgisnacht,” Rachel said, putting the picture back. “It’s when two separate witches combine and become one larger witch.”

Homulilly perked up. “We were one person?”

“In a sense. You shared a soul for a time. You might have felt it, actually. A sense of connection, even if you didn’t know each other’s name?”

Kriemhild looked over to Homulilly, and Homulilly looked back. Together they nodded.

“Then you two actually have a leg up over everyone else. Those who have that connection often have an easier time settling in. Something to do with the mutual support.”

That at least made a little bit of sense. Kriemhild’s head was still spinning with everything she was being told, and she knew her mind was probably going to be blown again more times in the very near future. But at the very least Homulilly would be there with her. That gave her a little bit of hope and courage.

“And as for your memories…” Rachel sighed. “Girls, I know this is a hard thing to hear, but you’re better off just trying to build new lives instead of chasing the old. I know you want to know who you were, but those memories are gone. Instead of focusing on them, just work on being Kriemhild Gretchen and Homulilly. You’ll both be happier for it.”

…

Now…

Charlotte lay in her bunk in the dark, staring at the ceiling.

The rest of the gang had opted to share a room together. However, she had requested a private room. Fortunately, the Aurora Borealis did not require an exceptionally large staff to run, and they did have rooms to spare.

Part of her wished that they didn’t. That way, she would be forced to confront something that she didn’t have the strength to do on her own.

But then, most of her wished a great many things, and she had gotten none of them granted.

The storm had cleared up from what she could tell. That meant it would almost be time to go home.

Home. The lovely two-story house that she shared with her Walpurgisnacht, with her family. Any other time she would be desperate to go home, to settle back to some semblance of normalcy and put the whole nightmare behind her.

She couldn’t though. Because part of that nightmare would be coming with her.

The sound of numerous small, sharp impacts against the hard floor came from down the hall, outside her room. She knew that sound. She knew what was coming.

The pattering came closer and then stopped outside her door. Charlotte tensed up.

Several moments of silence passed, no doubt due to the other person building up the courage to knock. But knock they did.

“Charlotte?” Gretchen said from the other side of the door. “It’s me!”

Oh, Gretchen, Gretchen, Gretchen. Sweet, innocent Gretchen, who always just wanted everyone to get along and love one another. Gretchen, who was too kindhearted for her own good, who wouldn’t hesitated to put herself in danger if it meant helping someone else.

Which was kind of the problem.

“So, um, can I come in?”

Charlotte turned her back toward the door.

“Um, okay. I’m just going to keep talking then. Anyway, you probably already heard this, but the storm’s over! That means we’ll be heading back soon. And, um, I was really hoping that you’d come talk to us before we left. We really missed you the last few nights. It’s just not the same without you, you know?”

The same. As if her presence would ever make things the same.

“A-And, well, I know you’re really upset about what happened to Candeloro. I get it. But it’s still her, you know? Like, she’s still the same person, and she misses you terribly. And I know if you just talked to her you would realize this. I know you still love her, you’re just scared that because she’s different now that means she’s gone. But she’s not gone, Charlotte. You don’t have to be scared. Because if we all stuck together, I know we can get used to how things are now and get back to the way things used to be. Or at least, get used to how things are now. We’d be happy again, is what I mean. But we need you to do that! Please, open the door.”

Charlotte snatched up her pillow and pressed it down over her head.

“Charlotte?”

Her eyes were startling to prickle. Sniffing, she fished out the detritus with a finger.

“Charlotte, please. I know you’re not asleep. I know you can hear me.”

And how she wished that that wasn’t the case.

A silence passed that seemed to stretch for ever. But finally, she heard Gretchen sigh. “Okay.” Then she heard the patter of Gretchen’s legs as she morosely walked away.

Charlotte waited until she was certain that no one else was coming to talk to her. Then she got up and turned the light on.

Her phone was unfortunately still at the bottom of the sea, but all the sleeping quarters were equipped with computers, including hers. Turning her on, she scrolled through the various options and functions until she found what she was looking for.

Given how isolated they were, the Aurora Borealis had working relationships with most other deep-sea installations and any other local marine business, with Oktavia just being example.

As it so happened, Charlotte was familiar with at least one other, one that she knew well enough to contact. She fished around until she found their contact information. Then she sent the call through.

…

Hitomi stood on the front deck of the Aurora Borealis, looking out to sea.

The whole of the ship was thrust upon at an angle onto a reef, sandwiched between two rising walls. The back end of the ship was submerged in the water, while the front poked out beyond the reef, with nothing but the sea beneath.

It was the same place she had encountered Sayaka earlier, and apparently it was some kind of ocean laboratory or something. Apparently now that the weather had calmed, someone was on their way to pick her up. In the meantime, the scientists seemed to be at a loss as to what to do with her. They couldn’t keep her locked up, as there was no place she couldn’t go. At one point, she had overhead them suggesting that they simply sedate her and let her wake up in the FIB’s care. Hitomi had considered simply leaving after that. After all, they couldn’t stop her. She could go wherever she wanted.

Unfortunately, there really was no place she wanted to go, save for down.

She stared down at the still waters beneath. They seemed so friendly, so inviting. Granted, she couldn’t actually die and pass on; she knew that now. But could she just stay drowned, just remain a floating body for the rest of…forever? Oblivion seemed awfully tempting right about now.

Hitomi removed the finger she had been chewing on from her mouth and nervously licked her lips. Maybe that would be for the best.

“You know, if you’re thinking of taking a swan dive, doing it right next to a whole facility of professional divers probably ain’t the smartest place to do it,” said someone approaching her from behind. “They’ll have you fished out in no time and probably be annoyed at having to do it.”

Hitomi started. She had been so wrapped up in her private thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed anyone coming toward her. Trembling, she turned to see.

Ophelia walked toward her. In contrast to the flamboyant outfits Hitomi had seen her with, she was just wearing a pair of black shorts, a grey tee-shirt with the Aurora Borealis’s logo, a pair of disposable sunglasses, and a blue baseball cap with the same logo as the shirt. She was holding what looked like a chocolate protein bar in a silver wrapper

Hitomi felt a flush of fear. Of all of Madoka and Sayaka’s friends, Ophelia had been the one she had wanted to avoid the most. There was just something about her that pegged her as the most likely to actually do something violent. She shrank back into herself as Ophelia walked right up to stand next to her, one foot on the railing.

“So,” Ophelia said, staring out to sea. She propped one leg up on the middle rung of the railing and rested her arm on her knee. “You’re the one we have to thank for our current mess.”

Hitomi swallowed. She glanced up at her umbrella.

“Don’t bother,” Ophelia said. “I’ve got powers too, remember? Try to split, and you’ll find me right next to you. And I’m gonna be pissed.”

Was she bluffing? Hitomi honestly couldn’t tell. She couldn’t see the other girl’s eyes behind her sunglasses, and Ophelia wasn’t even looking at her.

Hitomi looked back up at her umbrella, then back to Ophelia, then back at her umbrella.

Then she folded it up and let it disappear.

“Smart move,” Ophelia said. “First one you’ve had.”

Hitomi pursed her lips. “Are you going to hurt me?” she said. Her voice felt dry and rusty.

“Do I really seem like that sort of person to you?”

“I don’t know,” Hitomi said honestly. “But…But I know you must hate me.”

“Hmmm.” Ophelia took a bite of her protein bar, tearing off a chunk with a rather prominent fang and chewing in an unnecessarily aggressive manner. She swallowed. “Well, I don’t especially care for you, I’ll tell you that much. Also, Homulilly really wants to crush your head like a grape, so I’d stay away from her. Who knows what’s going through Charlotte’s head? But whatever it is, she is not in a good place right now, so you’d be better off staying out of her way. Candeloro is really not in a good place either, so you’d be wise to avoid her as well. Come to think of it, Gretchen’s probably the only one with anything nice to say to you, and she’s nice to literally everybody.”

Hitomi closed her eyes and inhaled slowly through her nose. That was more-or-less what she had expect. “And…” What was her new name again?” “…Oktavia? What about her?”

Instead of answering, Ophelia just gave her the briefest of glances before taking another bite.

“Oh.”

“You’re kind of a strange puzzle for us, Hitomi,” Ophelia said. “What are we going to do with you?”

It didn’t sound like a question that wanted an answer, so Hitomi said nothing.

“I mean, you expect this sort of thing from someone who’s brand new and still coming to terms with things. So no, I can’t really blame you for acting out. But damn, have you royally fucked us over.”

Oh, to heck with it. Either Ophelia was going to beat her up or she wasn’t. No point in staying restrained any longer. “B-But how?” Hitomi said. “What have I done? Was it just the talk with Ma-with Gretchen? Was it because I showed up to say goodbye? I didn’t tell them to follow me! And I sure as heck didn’t mean for them to jump in after me!”

Now Ophelia did look at her. “The problems started almost immediately,” she said. “Right after you yelled at her and Homulilly in the hallway. And everything you told Charlotte only made it worse.”

Now Hitomi was starting to get angry. “So how is that my fault?” she demanded. “I didn’t know any better! What was I supposed to have done after seeing my friend again? A-And you guys set up that talk with Charlotte! She asked questions, and I gave answers!”

“True,” Ophelia said. “But-”

“But what? Is this because I ran away? Of course I did! I couldn’t stay there, not with those people! A-And I asked her if she wanted to talk! I didn’t make her, I asked her!” She turned away. “Everyone keeps treating me like I’ve got some sort of disease, like just touching me is going to make you shrivel up and die! All I wanted was my friends back! That’s it! A-And I know I can’t get them back, but I had to at least see them!”

Ophelia breathed out. “Okay. Okay. Except that disease analogy is kind of right on the money! Sure, you just wanted to see your friends, but we just wanted to make sure that our friends weren’t driven insane, which is what almost happened!”

It wasn’t fair, it just wasn’t fair. “But I didn’t make the sea monster! I didn’t make that storm! And I didn’t make anyone jump in after me! O-Okay, going to talk to Gretchen was reckless, fine! But I stopped myself before talking to Sayaka, and I just wanted everything to stop hurting, to stop me from hurting anyone else! Everything that happened after that was totally beyond my control!

“A-And I’m sorry for everything that’s happened because of me, but really! Most of it wasn’t my fault! Okay, maybe some of it, but you’re acting like I made all that stuff happen on purpose!

“Except…except I keep pushing when I knew I shouldn’t. I kept trying even after everyone told me it was a bad idea. Even Marisa tried to stop me. But I kept going anyway. I w-w-wanted to see them again so badly, to just talk to them. But I couldn’t even have that.”

She shook her head and wiped her eyes with her wrist. “Your world is cruel. Everyone goes on and on about how nice it is and how things will get better if I just go along, but look at what happened! I find my friends, the ones I was looking for, and you take them away! I try to talk to them, and it apparently causes everything to break down! I barely did anything, and yet somehow I ruined everything. Your perfect world was set against me from the start, and you know it!”

As Hitomi talked and talked, Ophelia didn’t say anything. She just stood there, leaning backward against the railing, listening. And when Hitomi finally said the last of her piece, she didn’t immediately reply, neither to condemn or exonerate her. She just thoughtfully looked off at the sky.

Then she sighed and straightened up. “You know, sometimes it just takes a couple pushes in the right place to knock something fragile down and smash it to pieces,” she said. “Doesn’t take much, might seem like you’re doing anything bad. It’s just a slight nudge, right? What’s the harm? But that doesn’t matter when it’s falling to the floor. Especially after you’ve been told not to touch the damn thing.”

Hitomi looked away.

“Now, you had reason, sure. Got dealt a shitty hand and all that. And fine, we made some dumb calls ourselves. And the storm and sea monster were just plain bad luck, okay. And…” Ophelia sighed. “Look, I’m not saying you’re a monster or anything. And okay, most of it wasn’t your fault. But some of it is. And since we can’t just stick you somewhere safe until you get it through your head that you can’t do whatever you want without consequences, I gotta get it through your head right now. The rules are different now, and just because they ain’t fair don’t mean that you can’t just ignore them and start whining when people get hurt.”

Hitomi’s scowl deepened. “May I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“What would you have done if you were me?” she demanded. “If you got snatched away from your home and your family and were stuck in a…a weird and terrifying new world, and everyone was telling you that you could never go home again, could never see your mother and father again, that you were stuck there forever?”

“Well, I suppose that I’d-”

“But you found out that your friends were there! Like, right before you got sent there, Gretchen and Oktavia both disappeared, and you were driving yourself crazy trying to find them! But hey, they’re where you are now, except they’re not Gretchen and Oktavia anymore, they’re Madoka and Sayaka, and they don’t even remember you or anything about you, and you’re not allowed to even talk to them, and they go and lock you up underground with a bunch of crazy and violent people to keep you from talking to them, and you don’t know if you’re ever going to get out again, or if someone’ll just snap and attack you, but you suddenly find a way to escape and you want nothing more to see the people you love again? What would you have done, huh?”

Ophelia tched. She looked back out to the ocean. “I figured you’d ask that. And if it had been me…or specifically, if it had been Kyoko Sakura in your place, then…” She shrugged. “Then I’d probably have done the same thing as you. Or fucked things up some other way. Okay, you got me there.”

Hitomi swallowed. “Th-There. You see?”

“That still wouldn’t have made it right though. Or the damage I’d be causing any less real.” She turned her head to look Hitomi directly in the eye, her piercing scarlet gaze now as cold as Homura’s had been when she had suddenly showed up in Hitomi’s room. “And if I ended up fucking things up, anyone would be justified in smacking me upside the head.”

It was then that Hitomi realized that she had been completely in the right to fear Ophelia. Maybe she wasn’t exactly the violent sort, but she was someone who would have no problem whatsoever with punching Hitomi’s lights out if she felt that she had reason. And from the looks of it, she was getting to that point.

Rather than continue to risk antagonizing her, Hitomi averted her gaze, looking back toward the sea. Ophelia didn’t, however. Though she wasn’t looking at her, Hitomi could feel the other’s eyes upon her, almost as if she were waiting for Hitomi to give her a reason to turn things ugly.

Finally Ophelia looked away as well. “Well, I guess it’s a little too late for that anyway,” she said softly. “Damage done. All I can do is try to get you to start thinking smart before you hurt yourself even more.”

Hitomi sighed. Now that she had exhausted her anger, her shame was starting to come back. “Did I really mess things up that badly?”

“Kinda.”

“Oh. I…uh…”

Ophelia held up a palm. “Save the apologies. Wait until you’ve worked your way through your crap. Then maybe we’ll talk.”

It was then that Hitomi became aware of a familiar sound behind her, a sort of recurring whine-hiss coupled with soft thuds that was steadily getting louder.

“Anyway, I’m not the only person that wants to talk to you.”

Hitomi froze. No. No, it couldn’t be.

The rhythmic hissing got louder, as did the low thuds. Hitomi didn’t dare turn around to face it.

She didn’t need to. They came to a stop right next to her.

“I’m just going to leave you two alone for now,” Ophelia said. She tipped her hat. “Cheers.”

She left. Hitomi kept her face pointed out to sea. She couldn’t bring herself to turn around, couldn’t bring herself to face the other person that was now sitting directly next to her.

Then the other person said with a belabored sigh, “So, you gonna talk to me or something, or am I gonna have to grab yah?”

Wincing, Hitomi slowly turned toward her.

Sayaka was there, sitting in her mechanical chair with her hands folded in her lap and an expectant look on her face. She was wearing the same kind of shirt as Ophelia and had her brown cap back on.

She was also the most beautiful thing Hitomi had ever seen.

A thousand memories flashed through Hitomi’s head. Meeting Sayaka at their parents’ benefit dinner. Sayaka teaching her how to hold a softball bat. Sayaka showing up unannounced at her front door with an entire spool of CD’s that she wanted Hitomi to listen to. Sayaka yelling at her for forgetting Madoka’s birthday only to drag her on an impromptu shopping trip, helping her pick out the perfect gift, wrapping it up for her, and being the one to sneak it into Madoka’s room before the other even noticed that anything was amiss. Sayaka introducing her to Kyousuke, and being overjoyed upon seeing the look of delight on Hitomi’s face when she heard him play for the first time.

But there were other memories too. Sayaka’s face filling with grief and despair when she heard about Kyousuke’s accident, only to suddenly start laughing and proclaiming that there was no way a little accident would keep him down and he would be charming the nurses with his violin within a month, tops! Sayaka visiting him whenever she could and happily telling Hitomi about how much progress he was making and how he was sure to be discharged any day, even though Hitomi could hear the tears in her voice. Sayaka standing at the music rack at the mall, staring with blank eyes at the Classical section.

Sayaka suddenly growing distant and spending all of her time with Madoka, Homura, and Mami Tomoe. Sayaka seeming to have been paradoxically rejuvenated and exhausted, always walking with a spring in her step and a renewed sense of purpose, despite the fact that she was now always falling asleep in class, forgetting her homework even more often than before, and having her grades take a sudden plunge. Sayaka withdrawing even further even when Kyousuke had miraculously recovered as she had predicted. The look on Sayaka’s face when Hitomi had finally confronted her about her feelings for Kyousuke and presenting her ultimatum.

Then there was the worry when Sayaka didn’t show up for school. The sense of growing fear and dread when she continued to not show up, when Madoka had lost all life and joy, when Sayaka’s parents had called Hitomi’s asking if she knew where she had gone. The sour fear turning to desperate anger as she became convinced that something did happen to Sayaka, that her friend might be dead and it was all Hitomi’s fault.

And now Sayaka was there, right next to her.

“So,” Sayaka said. “I hear you’ve been looking for me.”

Hitomi silently nodded.

Sayaka nodded as well. “You found me the other day, but split before saying hi! Now come on. That’s just rude.”

Back in the day, Hitomi had no trouble whatsoever with telling when Sayaka was messing with her. But after everything that had happened, she really had no idea how to respond to something like that. “I…uh…”

“Yeah, I guess that wasn’t funny,” Sayaka sighed. She took off her cap and ran her fingers through her shaggy blue hair. All this time, and she still cut her hair the same way. “Sorry. Um…”

She coughed. Hitomi sniffed and scratched her nose.

“So…this is awkward,” Sayaka said after a bit.

Hitomi still didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know what she was allowed to say. So she said nothing.

“Might be better if you went first.”

“I…” Hitomi’s brow scrunched up. “Wh-What do you mean?”

Sayaka spread her hands in her lap. “Well, if you’ve been trying to find me, then it stands to reason that you must have something you wanna say. So…go ahead.”

“Uh, er, what? I don’t understand. I-I’ve been having people yell at me all…always about not doing that, not talking to you.” Hitomi gestured helplessly back where Ophelia had walked off toward. “Your…girlfriend just told me in no uncertain terms that I did an incredible amount of harm to you and your friends just by trying to talk to you and…and Gretchen.” The name still sounded wrong on her tongue, but she was trying very hard not to offend. “And now you want me to just say everything I’ve been wanting to say to you? I don’t understand that at all!”

“Yeah, that would sound pretty weird,” Sayaka admitted. “Okay, I don’t know what you’ve been told about what’s happened since we fished you guys out of the sea, but all the spiritual dissonance that you gave us seems to have cleared up. I’ve heard my old name a couple times now, and it hasn’t bothered me any. So while it was dangerous then, I think it might be okay now.”

“You think?”

Sayaka shrugged and grimaced. “Look, I took a nap and had this weird dream that…I can’t really remember, but it left we with a sense that everything’s going to be okay, and I should talk to you after all, if that makes any sense.”

“It…no, it doesn’t! You’re telling me that it’s suddenly okay to talk to you about who you used to be because…you had a dream?”

“Hey, I’m not claiming that it’s not weird, okay?” Sayaka said, hold up a placating hand. “But we’re dead, I’m a fish, and you teleported a sea monster about ten meters into the sky not too long ago. You’re gonna have to accept that weird is the new norm.” The side of her mouth lifted in a wry smile. “Besides, I’m telling you that it’s okay.”

God, that smile made Hitomi’s heart feel like it was cracking apart. It was Sayaka’s smile, the same she always used to wear whenever she wanted to cheer someone up. And that twinkle in her eyes was the same as well.

However, Hitomi had long learned that whenever Sayaka had that look, it was because she wanted to minimize a bad situation, and things were probably a lot worse than she was letting on. “But I don’t want to hurt you anymore,” she said, her voice cracking. “I already did so much harm, and…”

“Hitomi,” Sayaka said. She pointed two fingers at Hitomi’s face, and then rotated her wrist around so that they were directed toward her own eyes. “Look at me. I’m saying it’s okay. Me. Call me Sayaka Miki or Oktavia von Seckendorff, it’s still me. And I say it’s okay. So go ahead.”

Hitomi felt like she was being ripped in two. Her vision misted over. “I…”

Then her throat closed up. No! No, she couldn’t let that stop her! She was finally here! She had to go through with it.

“I am so sorry,” she choked out. “I’m sorry about Kyousuke. I-I thought I was doing what was best for you and him, but…but I didn’t know what you were going through! I had no way of knowing! How could I? I mean, magical girls and witches and Incubators and…everything! It sounds so crazy! There was no way I could have…” Then she sighed. “But no! I’m not going to make excuses. I hurt you when you were already hurting. I helped kill you! I’m the reason you never came home! And that probably is what got the rest of your friends killed too! And Madoka! And Homura too! I-If I hadn’t done what I did when I did, then you probably would have never become a witch, and they would have never had become witches either, and you all would have been there helping them against Walpurgisnacht, and they wouldn’t have become witches either! You would have won, no one would have died, and you have gone home, and we’d all be alive and with our families right now if I hadn’t screwed everything up!”

Sayaka said nothing. She just sat with her hands folded in her lap, solemnly listening.

“And after…after I died, after that witch killed me, I still kept screwing things up! They told me that I couldn’t talk to you, they told me that I would just end up hurting you, but I wouldn’t listen! I just wanted so badly to see you again and tell you that I was sorry, but that just made things worse!” Tears left tracks down her cheeks to drip off her chin. “Everything I did was wrong, everything I tried only made things worse. And now everyone hates me and would probably beat me up if they could, and I deserve it! I just…I just can’t…do anything right…”

Hitomi looked away so that Sayaka wouldn’t see her crying. Even as she did so, she couldn’t help but notice the bitter irony. She had never had a problem with crying in front of Sayaka, but here she was refusing to do so now. Maybe it was true. Maybe she didn’t think of Sayaka as being the same person anymore.

Then Sayaka spoke. “Hitomi. Look at me, okay? Come on. Look at me.”

Hitomi wiped her eyes as dry as she could with her sleeve and reluctantly obeyed. Sayaka was looking up at her with as serious as an expression as Hitomi had ever seen her wear.

“You’re right,” Sayaka said. “About the Kyousuke thing, I mean. There was no way you could have known. Hell, if I hadn’t sold my soul so I could regularly risk my life battling the forces of…darkness, I guess, then yeah, giving me that push probably would have been the right thing to do. It was…a little harsh, maybe, but totally fair. Even I didn’t have the guts to make a move, that would have been my fault, and we would probably have made up eventually, which I think is what you were imagining, huh?”

Her throat too tight to speak, Hitomi just nodded.

“But I wasn’t. I was caught in…you know, I don’t know how to sum up that living nightmare in only a few words, but whatever it was, I was caught up in it, and you had no way of knowing.”

“But-” Hitomi tried to say, only to get choked off again.

“Besides, I was probably a ticking time bomb at that point anyway,” Sayaka sighed. “I mean, most Puella Magi don’t last much longer than a year anyway. The rule is you either become a witch, or you die. Horribly. I was living on borrowed time. That’s how it works. Once you get snared in that stupid system, you’re fucked.”

Hitomi let out a small, shaking laugh at the sudden profanity. Sayaka had always been a little coarse, but hearing her speak so profanely was both shocking and kind of funny.

Sayaka smiled a little at that. “Yeah, exactly. Maybe not then, maybe not when Walpurgisnacht attacked, but sooner or later, I wouldn’t have come home anyway.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “But that’s not what you need to hear, so let me say this plain: I forgive you. Sayaka forgives you. The original one. That’s another thing I did get from my dream. She still loves you, Hitomi, and that…in a weird sort of way that I’m still puzzling out, that means I do too.”

Hitomi tried to swallow back the lump in her throat. “B-But I thought you w-were the same pers-s-son.”

“We are, but it’s weird, so don’t think too hard about it. As for the rest…” Sayaka made a face, and then she shrugged. “All right, not going to lie, you did kick of something of a downward spiral. But for God’s sake, you’d been dead, what, less than a week? Of course you wouldn’t be acting rationally! No one expects you to!” Then she frowned. “Well, I mean, no one can reasonably expect you to, but you know what I mean! Everyone in your shoes would have acted out! The only difference between you and everyone else is that, well, we’re here really complicating things, and you unfortunately can teleport.” She shrugged. “But hey, a lot of what happened was on us too. We got curious, and we dug a little too deep. That’s on us.” She frowned again. “And…as much as I hate to say it, it’s kind of on Gretchen too. I mean, she was the one that agreed to a sit-down with you despite knowing better, and she apparently was the first to dive after you did your little swan dive thing, which was the what started that whole mess, and no one could have predicted a superstorm and a sea monster happening at the exact same time, and…bleh.” She stuck her tongue out. “I’m babbling. Point is, there’s a lot of blame to go around, you obviously weren’t in any state to be thinking clearly, and I don’t hold anything against you. So we’re good, is what I’m saying.”

Hitomi felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Her knees buckled, and she had to grab onto the second railing to steady herself. It was more than she could have ever hoped for, far more than she deserved.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank y-y-y…”

“All right, all right, bring it in,” Sayaka said, beckoning toward her. Hitomi gratefully complied, leaning in to let Sayaka bundle her up into her arms. She could hardly believe it. She had done it, had finally found the one she had been seeking, and unloaded the great burden that had been dragging her heart down. Now Sayaka was actually there, actually holding her in her arms, and she just felt so strong, and yet so soft and warm. Even her scaly tail felt nice.

“I missed you,” she said in a hoarse whisper. “I missed you so…so…damn much, you have no idea…

“Shhh, it’s going to be okay, all right?” Sayaka said, stroking Hitomi’s hair. “I mean, with me anyway. I’d still put some distance between you and Homulilly, Charlotte, and maybe Candeloro. They’re kinda pissed off, so play it safe, and…why are you laughing?”

“S-Sorry,” Hitomi said through giggles. “It’s just that you sound so grown up! I mean, you didn’t even used to swear, and now listen to you!”

“Hey!” Sayaka said, sounding indignant. “I am grown up, so I’m allowed, thank you very fucking much!”

“Oh, goodness gracious,” Hitomi said, covering her face with both hands. “You sound like a-” Then she blinked. “Wait. How…grown up are you, exactly?”

“What, you mean how old am I?”

Though she was reluctant to do so, Hitomi drew away from Sayaka and sat back on her haunches. “Yes,” she said. “You’ve been here longer than Gretchen, right?”

“Oh, yeah. I had already graduated and had my own life when she and Homulilly showed up.” Sayaka’s brow furrowed. “Okay, kind of a tricky question, but how old was I when I bit it?”

“Thirteen,” Hitomi said softly. “And seven months.”

“Right. Okay, let me do the math here…” Then Sayaka sighed. “Hitomi, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m like almost thirty.”

Hitomi’s face went pale. “Thirty,” she repeated, her voice a hoarse whisper. “You’re thirty.”

“Give or take. Granted, age doesn’t mean as much anymore, seeing how we don’t, you know, actually age, and I’ve met people in their three hundreds, but yeah. This old lady is a thirty-ish year old mermaid.”

Hitomi slowly shook her head. “Then you’ve had…well, not a full life, but a life. You have a job and a house and a…long-term relationship, and-”

“A girlfriend,” Sayaka corrected. “Come on, you can say it. I am a super lesbian now. And I am loving it.”

“Yeah, Gretchen said that you were kind of a pervert now,” Hitomi sighed.

“Oh, so she exposed me as a dirty old woman, huh?” Sayaka cackled. “Well, got me there. But I’m also a faithful one, so don’t you go getting any ideas.”

There was a pause, and then Hitomi said, “Please don’t take offense, but even if…I swung that way, you’re a little too old for me.”

Sayaka cackled again. “Ha! Okay, fair. Does this mean I get to start calling you young lady and lecturing you about showing respect for your elders and stuff?”

“Please don’t. That would just make this weirder.” Hitomi looked back out to sea again. Strange. It still looked inviting, but not in the same way. “But your life is good, right? I mean, all the time you’ve been gone, you’ve been happy, haven’t you?”

Sayaka sighed happily. “It’s been real good. I make good money doing the things I love; I live in a great house in a great town with the people I love; I got a hot, sexy girlfriend that I’m crazy about; and people like my music. Who could ask for anything more?”

“It does sound wonderful,” Hitomi said. “I mean, except, uh…” Realizing how that particular part ought to remain unspoken, she tried to rein it back only for her mind to go blank in finding a suitable substitute.

Sayaka grinned. “Except for that part about having a girlfriend, huh?”

“Sorry,” Hitomi said with a wince.

“Eh, don’t stress. It takes some getting used to, I know.” Then Sayaka looked down at her hands. “So, you want to address the noran in the bathtub, or should I?”

“The what?”

“Er, elephant in the room, I mean. I mean, it’s just that this whole ball of nasty got kick-started because of a shared crush.”

Hitomi’s stomach clenched up. “You mean Kyousuke.”

“That’s the guy.” Sayaka shook her head. “Okay, so, it is probably blindingly obvious that I’ve moved on from him in every imaginable way, but I really got to ask: was he really worth it?”

“Worth it? You mean, worth me stabbing you in the back for?”

“Oh, hell no! I mean was he worth me selling my soul for?”

“Well, you probably thought so at the time,” Hitomi said. “But he was…” She smiled dreamily. “He was always so gentle, so soft-spoken and intelligent. He had the prettiest eyes, and soft, silky hair woven from silver. And whenever he played, I felt that was building a staircase to Heaven with his music, one that was just for me.”

“Wow,” Sayaka said. “No wonder we fought over him.”

Hitomi’s smile faltered. “He must be hurting so much right now. He was so depressed after you disappeared. He told me that he had never gotten around to thanking you for visiting him all the time, that you had been the only one to stop by at least once a week. He felt like maybe if he had been more thankful, that you wouldn’t…well, you know.”

“Oh. Um, did he…know?”

“What, about your wish? That you were the reason that he got healed in the first place? No! Of course not, how could he?”

“No,” Sayaka said, shaking her head. “I mean that I had feelings for him.”

Hitomi looked down at her feet. “Yes,” she said. “I told him, the last time we spoke. He just got real quiet and hung up the phone.”

“And then?”

Hitomi sniffed. “And then that’s when Kyubey came. I didn’t…really talk to him that much after that.”

“Oh. Huh. That…uh, that sucks.”

Hitomi nodded.

Then Sayaka frowned and shrugged. “Well, if I sold my soul for the guy, it stands to reason I should at least know something about him.”

Hitomi blinked. “You…want me to tell you all about Kyousuke?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Okay,” Hitomi said with a nod. “But on one condition.”

Sayaka tilted her head.

“I want you to tell me all about Ophelia.”

Sayaka grinned. “I have absolutely no problem with th-”

“Except for the dirty stuff!” Hitomi added hastily. “I don’t need to know the details about that!”

“Aw, but that takes the fun out of it!” Sayaka (no, Oktavia. She had a new name, and Hitomi was going to start getting used to it) said with a laugh. “Okay then. Deal.”

…

Everyone looked up as Oktavia reentered the room. Whatever it was that had happened, it must have gone well, as she was smiling fainting, humming a slow tune to herself. Ophelia followed close behind.

Gretchen sat up a little straighter as they came in. “Did everything go okay?”

Ophelia grinned. “Seeing how it ended with the two of them throwing off their clothes and making sweet, sweet love on the poop deck, I’d say it-” Oktavia leaned over her armrest to give her a swift smack. “-ow!”

Shaking her head, Oktavia looked back to Gretchen and flashed her an OK symbol.

Gretchen sighed with relief and relaxed. “That’s good,” she said. “That’s good. I’m glad.”

Homulilly, however, was not quite so enthused. “Okay, but once we get back, we are handing her back to the FIB and she is staying put this time, right?”

“Right. And she was very apologetic for everything that’s happened. We don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

Homulilly cast a dour eye over to where Candeloro lay in her bunk, fast asleep. “That’s nice,” she said. “But damage done.”

Oktavia’s smile dropped. “Any word from Charlotte?”

“No,” Gretchen sighed. “I tried to get her to come out earlier. She wouldn’t even talk to me.”

“What do we do then?” Homulilly asked. “What if she still won’t talk to us before it’s time to go home?”

Ophelia’s eyes got a kind of scary gleam at that. “If Charlotte still wants to be part of this family, then she needs to start putting in the effort to do so.”

That proclamation stunned everyone. It was one thing to be angry with one of their number for being stubborn and callous, it was something else entirely to raise the possibility of having that person evicted from their circle.

“Babe, you’re not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting, are you?” Oktavia said in a small voice.

“I’m not suggesting anything,” Ophelia said as she sat down on her bunk. “I want Charlotte back as much as anyone else. But she’s locking us out. We’ve all done all we can to get through to her, and she’s still locking us out. Enough is enough. Next move is up to her.”

No one had any response to that. Even Homulilly was struck speechless. It wasn’t that she disagreed with Ophelia, but of all the possible outcomes of their current situation, she had never even dreamed that one of them would be one of her friends willingly leaving. And over something like this! She completely understood Charlotte being upset and disturbed by Candeloro’s change, but this was beyond the pale. Even Hitomi had more reason for behaving the way she had.

It was as sobering a thought as one could imagine, one that made them all fall silent. Homulilly and Gretchen squeezed each other’s hands but said nothing.

“So hey,” Oktavia said suddenly after a few minutes of nothing. “To change the subject, it occurs to me that you guys got to do what I had been trying to do all week: tangle with the karnuk.”

“Tavi,” Homulilly sighed. “Trust me, the next sea monster that shows up is all yours.”

“Yeah, but even so…” Oktavia grinned. “You guys wanna see it?”

…

The karnuk was still being held in the ship’s cargo hold. It was floating in a large cube of water, one that was suspended in the middle of the room. Though it had been fully treated for the injuries Candeloro and Gretchen had inflicted upon it, there was still a fair number of people gathered on the catwalks that surrounded its tank, some of waving weird little instruments across the tank’s sides while others wrote in notepads and still others merely gawked at it like visitors to an aquarium.

For the first time, the karnuk was fully visible. They had done something to it that turned it a dark purple, and now Homulilly could fully see the monster that had come so close to eating them all. It reminded her of a strange cross between a manatee, a squid, and a whale shark. It had a fat, bulbous body with two long fleshy appendages dangling from the back like a cricket’s hairs and a long fin that surrounded the whole of its body like a skirt; a head that was flat, blunt, and broad; and four tentacles that hung around its stubby neck. Its mouth was hanging slack, and even with as far back as they were standing its jagged teeth were plainly visible.

It was pretty big. Not mind-bogglingly huge, but it could have swallowed any one of them with no problem.

“We fought that?” Gretchen breathed as they stared.

“You sure did! Roughed it up pretty bad too,” Oktavia said. She sounded almost proud of them. “There was some gnarly surgery going on its first night here, from what I’ve heard. It might have bled out if they hadn’t managed to patch it up.”

“You ask me, you should’ve just let it,” Ophelia said. “That thing would make sushi for days.”

A researcher had been passing by close enough to hear, and Ophelia’s remark made her let out an indignant squeak and nearly dropped the thick binder of papers for days.

“What?” Ophelia said with an unapologetic scowl. “That thing tried to make sushi out of me. I’m entitled to hold a grudge.”

The researcher returned the scowl and stomped off, muttering something about land people and their lack of appreciation for the beauty of nature.

“You don’t even like sushi,” Oktavia said once she had gone.

“For this, I would eat a whole plate myself and savor every bite. Out of spite.”

“What’s going to happen to it?” Gretchen asked.

“That is still being debated,” said Denna Heyman as she approached the group. Homulilly had only met the frizzy-haired girl a couple of times before, but as she understood it Denna was the one in charge. She stood next to them, looking up at her prize. “We were just going to let it finish healing up and have it taken back to where it came from and set it loose.”

“Were?” Ophelia said, raising an eyebrow.

“Word got out, and we’ve already been contacted by two zoos and one exotic animal preserve.” Denna shrugged. “Problem is, this guy’s been out of his natural habitat for some time, so odds are, if we send him back where he came from, he’ll probably get gobbled up himself pretty quickly.”

“Not seeing how that’s any of our problem,” Ophelia said. Denna and Oktavia both shot her disapproving looks.

“Anyway,” Denna said, and a bit huffingly at that, “now that the storm’s cleared up, they’ll be sending people to pick you up and bring you back home very soon. Odds are, you’ll be sleeping in your own beds tonight.”

“What about Hitomi?” Gretchen asked.

“The runaway? The FIB’s sending their own transport for her.” Denna raised an eyebrow. “Assuming, of course, that she’s going to board it without us needing to drop her first?”

“She will,” Oktavia said. “And she’s going to stay put this time.”

Homulilly cleared her throat. “Well, that’s good to hear, but you haven’t brought up the big issue yet. What of Candeloro?”

“I assume she will be going with you.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Homulilly said. “Do they…know?”

Denna sighed. “No, I didn’t tell them, per your request. But while I completely understand your desire for privacy, you all do realize that word is going to get out sooner or later, right?”

Everyone all looked uneasily at one another. Once everyone learned that the ninth confirmed witch-reversal had taken place, and was living in Freehaven, then things were going to change, and not for the better.

Homulilly had long gotten used to her friends’ small amount of fame. She enjoyed joining the crowd in cheering for Ophelia during dancing competitions and. She had on more than one occasion gone to one of Oktavia’s rare performances and felt a surge of pride whenever the audience was wowed by the debut of some new piece that she had already heard weeks ago during her visits to the studio. She had felt justifiably smug when Mitty had fallen head-over-heels over Charlotte’s books, books that Homulilly had given suggestions for and were apparently based in part on Gretchen and herself. She had watched people line up at the Honey Hive to try whatever award-winning treat Candeloro was offering, a treat that she had made specially for everyone at her house.

But this…this was going far beyond than simply people she cared about getting recognition for their accomplishments. This was going to turn their family into a media event, with everyone wanting to come see what Candeloro had become. Hell, people from all over the afterlife were going to be interested, from researchers to theologians to religious leaders to politicians to witches struggling with identity issues to those like Hitomi who knew witches that they wished to have returned to their former selves to those who were simply curious. And there were going to be plenty from every category.

She thought back to their trip to the museum a couple years ago, about meeting Astrid and learning her story. She thought of how eager Mitty had been to meet her, about how blown away many of the other girls had been with Astrid’s very existence. Astrid had been around for several centuries and she was still considered a curiosity by the general populace. Was that to be their life now, always having to dodge random strangers and gawkers and having to field the same questions over and over and over? Homulilly had spent the first few years of her existence just getting over feeling like a freak, and now she was going to be living with an actual freak, someone who ironically had become a freak by ceasing to be one, as weird as the thought sounded.

Ophelia then stepped in front of everyone, her face hard and resolute. “What ends ups being our new normal, we’ll adjust,” she said. “Whatever needs to change, we’ll make the change. Because that’s what families do! They stick together, support each other, and don’t off everyone in a weird murder/suicide!”

“What?” Gretchen said.

“Never mind. Issues. Forget it.”

Denna’s eyes flitted from one face to the next in confusion. “Um, okay,” she said. “I…don’t know what that last part had to do with anything, but whatever it is you decide to do, all I can say is good luck. You’re gonna need it.”

Oktavia breathed out. “Thanks, Denna. You’re a real ray of sunshine sometimes, you know that?”

“I’m a lady of science, I call it as it is,” Denna said with a shrug. “I’ll let you know when they’re on their way.”

After she had walked off, the group let out a collective sigh and made their way back to the room that had been provided for them. As they walked, Homulilly took the time to sidle up to Ophelia.

“What about Charlotte?” she said in a low voice. “What are we going to do about her?”

Ophelia’s mouth was a knife-edge slash across her face. “What we need to,” she said, giving Homulilly only the briefest of glances.

Oktavia made a face. “Babe, not trying to start something here, but I have to agree with Lilly. We really need something a little more concrete.”

For a long while, Ophelia said nothing, she just marched forward, her face point straight ahead. Then she said, “Change happens. It’s inevitable. When it does, you have to…adjust. We’ve been telling Hitomi Shizuki that all week, and look where her not listening got us. Now it’s Charlotte’s turn to learn that same lesson.”

Homulilly and Gretchen quickly exchanged glances. Gretchen swallowed and Homulilly winced. Oh, this wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.

…

Given Oktavia’s fear of flying, they were going to be taken back to Freehaven by boat. To be quite frank, Homulilly would have preferred to go by sky like Hitomi supposedly was; she had quite enough of the ocean for one lifetime, thank you very much. But she could deal. Soon they would be home again.

Candeloro hadn’t said a thing the whole to the dock. Homulilly wanted to talk to her, to ask her how she was feeling and if there was anything she could do, but she didn’t had the first idea of how to approach the subject. What if she said the wrong thing and made things worse? What if she came off as too pushy? What if Candeloro simply didn’t want to speak, and just by asking Homulilly would end up intruding?

This was the sort of thing that Gretchen would handle. She was much more empathetic than Homulilly was, and had a knack for reaching out to people who were hurting. But even she seemed to be at a loss for words.

As they walked onto the dock, Homulilly saw something that made her hesitate.

There was an FIB hovership floating just over the water, with a ramp leading from its side down to the dock. Hitomi was there, being lead into it by a group of FIB caretakers.

“Well, that closes that chapter at least,” Ophelia sighed.

“Is she going to be okay?” Gretchen asked.

Homulilly’s right eye twitched.

“Of course she is. So long as she doesn’t get all weird and start teleporting all over the place again. Seriously, they really need to find some kind of counter-measures for that kind of thing. I know freeform teleportation is a rare ability, but they should have something in place. You know, just in case.”

That sounded like a fine idea to Homulilly. In fact, if they decided to just lock her in a dark room in the underground ward forever, she would have no objections.

Then Gretchen looked over to Oktavia, who caught the glance and nodded.

“Excuse us for a moment,” Gretchen said. Then she hurried over to the dock, with Oktavia stomping off after her in her chair.

“Huh?” Homulilly said. “Hey!” She reached after them. “Wait!”

Then Ophelia placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her from pursuing. “Homulilly, just let it go,” she said with a weary sigh.

Homulilly stared at her. “But-”

“I know you hate the girl, but they don’t. So just let them.”

“Really?” Homulilly said, her face twisting up in disbelief. “After…everything? Everything she’s done to us, all the ways she messed things up?”

Homulilly meaningfully tilted her head over to Candeloro, who was standing silently in the back. The blonde didn’t seem to be listening to their conversation, noticing Hitomi or the fact that two of her friends were rushing towards the little screwball, or really much of anything at all. She was standing stock-still, staring out over the horizon, the only things moving being her fingers as they jerkily tangled and untangled themselves around each other.

Ophelia sighed. “Look, it’s like we keep saying: damage done. Besides, if you really think about it, Hitomi wasn’t directly responsible for a lot of what happened. Some of it was our fault too, and the rest was just pure dumb bad luck.”

“She’s responsible for enough,” Homulilly muttered darkly.

Ophelia shook her head. “Homulilly, don’t. It’s not worth it, okay? No one says you gotta be her friend or even like her, but you can’t stop Gretchen making friends with her.”

Maybe not, but she sure wished that she could. Calling a truce with Mitty for Gretchen’s sake had been tough enough. This was on a whole other level. “Fine,” she said. “But she’s not coming to the house.”

“Fair enough. In fact, they’d be wise to keep her from any steep drop for the foreseeable future.”

“They’d be wise to keep her in a tiny room until she grew something resembling a brain,” Homulilly groused as she folded her arms over he chest. “But what do I know?”

…

“Hitomi! Wait!”

The voice cut through the air like an arrow. Hitomi, who had just been about to step onto the ramp to board the spaceship (a spaceship! They had sent a spaceship to pick her up!), immediately froze in place.

Madoka (no, her name was Gretchen now. She was going to have to get used to that) was bounding toward her. It was kind of disconcerting, actually. Her lower half was a nightmare of skittering golden wires that held her up nearly three meters high, but the way her upper half was bouncing up and down while she waved enthusiastically was all Madoka.

The FIB workers that had been sent to retrieve her quickly placed themselves between Hitomi and Gretchen. “Wait, hold on!” one of them said. “You can’t-”

“It’s okay!” Gretchen said as she slowed to a stop. “She can’t mess with our heads anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” one of the caretakers said. “We were specifically told to keep her away from you!”

“Then you weren’t told everything,” Oktavia said as her chair stomped its way toward the group. “I’ve already had a long talk with her earlier. We just want to say goodbye.”

“But-”

“Look, if she could still mess us up, she would have by now. Please just let us have this.” Gretchen flicked her hands toward them. “Go on now. Shoo!”

The FIB people reluctantly stepped aside. Hitomi glanced at them in uncertainty, and then moved away from the spaceship toward Gretchen and Oktavia.

“You came to see me,” she said.

“Well, we couldn’t just let you go without saying goodbye!” Gretchen said.

Hitomi was flabbergasted. “Really? Even after…everything?”

“Well, hey, you did kind of die to find us,” Oktavia said as she brought her chair to a stop beside Gretchen. “Besides, we were kind of like the three amigos, apparently! Can’t let our third member head out without seeing her off.”

Hitomi’s eyes misted over. “Th-Thank you,” she said. “I don’t…I don’t deserve you two. At all. And…I am so-”

Oktavia held up a palm, stopping her in her track. “I think you’ve done enough crying and apologizing,” she said. “Just concentrate on getting better, okay?”

“And we can come and visit you!” Gretchen chimed in. “You know, after you’ve settled in and gotten used to the place.”

“It’s really not bad,” Oktavia said. “First few weeks are hard on everyone, but once you get past that, I swear it gets better.”

Then Gretchen frowned. “Um, unless they’re still going to keep you in the underground ward. I don’t think that part has visitors.”

Hitomi sighed. “I already talked to them a little over the…phone, or whatever that glowy thing was. They told me that we can work something out. I guess they figured that I already did as much damage as I could.”

“Plus, keeping you underground won’t help much when you got a magical teleporting umbrella,” Oktavia snickered.

“Which she will not be using,” said one of the FIB workers, her arms folded across her chest as she glowered sternly at Hitomi.

Hitomi winced. “Yes, they did make me promise not to do that anymore. Which is fine. I don’t need it.” Her gaze then went to the small group hanging far behind her friends. “Er, what about your girlfriends though? Because they don’t…they don’t really like me at all.”

“Ah, don’t worry about Ophelia,” Oktavia said with a dismissive wave. “She’s a little tough sometimes, but she’s pretty reasonable. She’s fine.”

“Okay,” Hitomi said. “But I’m pretty sure Homulilly wants to strangle me.”

“Uh…yeah…” Oktavia and Gretchen exchanged looks. Gretchen winced and Oktavia shrugged. “Maybe a little…look, just keep your distance, and we’ll make sure she doesn’t come looking for you.”

“Tavi, that really didn’t come out reassuring at all,” Gretchen said.

“Look, you’re the one with the girlfriend that has a super scary side, okay? I’m doing the best I can!”

Gretchen sighed. “Don’t worry. Homulilly can hold a grudge, but she’ll come around too. She just needs some time to cool down. She’s not going to randomly show up in your room again to threaten you, I promise.”

“Okay,” Hitomi said. “But I was more worried about making things hard for you. I don’t want to drive a wedge in between you two or anything.”

“You won’t,” Gretchen said. “Besides, the FIB will probably want us to keep our distance for a while until you’re, um, until you’re…” She shot a pleading look at Oktavia.

“Until you’re settled in and reliably stable,” Oktavia said with a sigh. “Jesus, stop dancing around it.”

Hitomi swallowed. “Am I really that bad?”

At this, Oktavia raised an eyebrow. “Hitomi, you died twice in one week. You had your entire world turned upside-down just about every other day, had the wits scared out of you, and had a lot of really scary people yell at you a lot. Also, you’re coming really close to chewing your entire finger off.”

Realizing that she was right, Hitomi quickly popped her finger out of her mouth. She hadn’t even noticed that she had been gnawing on it again. “S-Sorry, it’s…it just makes me feel better for some reason.” She sighed. “I guess you have a point. B-But after, you will come visit, right?”

“Promise,” Gretchen said. “We just want you to get better.”

Then she spread her arms, clearly beckoning for a hug.

Despite desperately need one, Hitomi hesitated. Not out of fear or revulsion, but out of wondering if she really deserved it.

“You might as well give it to her,” Oktavia said. “She’ll just keep standing there until you give her what she wants.”

Hitomi had to laugh at that. Then she slowly reached out with shaking hands to wrap her arms around Gretchen’s body.

Gretchen immediately half-pounced, seizing her up with both arms to squeeze her tight.

And…oh.

She was so strong, and yet so gentle. So powerful and yet so soft. It was more than one of the happy cuddles Madoka would foist upon her whenever she was feeling happy or affectionate, which was often. It was a grown-up hug, and yet it also reminded Hitomi of being hugged by both her mother and her father, as nurturing as it was protecting, as comforting as it was caring.

And Hitomi, who had no idea just how starved she had been for that kind of physical affection, could do nothing but melt in her arms.

Confessing to Oktavia earlier had unburdened her soul of some of the weight. This took off most of the rest. It was the purest thing Hitomi had ever experienced, and if she could stop time like Homura Akemi and bring this moment to a stop so that she could experience it forever, she would.

Suddenly Gretchen started to loosen one arm, and Hitomi instinctively clung tighter. Not now! Just a little longer. That’s all she wanted, to stay there a little longer.

But fortunately Gretchen wasn’t drawing away. Instead, she was reaching down to grab Oktavia by the arm and lift her into the embrace. When she realized this, Hitomi had no problem in releasing her right arm to bring Oktavia in as well.

Laughing and crying, the three reunited friends held each other close. For Hitomi, it was the first moment of real, unspoiled joy she had had since…well, since she had confessed to Kyousuke, actually. She had done it. Sure, her friends looked different, went by different names, had their pasts missing, and were quite a bit older now, but it was still them! She had found them!

And for the first time since her death, Hitomi felt that maybe things would be all right after all.

…

Ophelia placed a hand on Homulilly’s shoulder. “Steady, girl.”

“I am steady,” Homulilly said.

“I can practically see the steam coming out of your ears.”

“I’m steady,” Homulilly insisted, though the fact that she had been chewing on the insides of her cheeks for the last minute or so was a strike against that claim. “I’m dealing.”

And she was. She understood how much this meant to Gretchen, and she wasn’t about to let personal grudges mess it up for her. And it was true, maybe Hitomi was someone to be pitied rather than hated. And okay, it really wasn’t all of her fault.

But damn it, Homulilly just plain didn’t like her. Like, at all! Things sucked right now, and Hitomi had kicked it all off! Homulilly was allowed to resent her for a little while longer at least.

“Okay then,” Ophelia said, not sounding convinced in the slightest. Then she angled her head to one side and frowned behind her sunglasses.

“What?” Homulilly said.

“You’re, uh, not getting weirdly jealous again, are you? Because we all know where that leads.”

Homulilly rolled her eyes. “Oh please. I’m way past all that. It just sucks to want to strangle someone when the love of your life is giving them a great big bearhug!”

“Huh. You know, Hitomi has a point.”

Homulilly stared. “About…what exactly?”

“You get kind of scary when you’re really mad.”

Homulilly pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

Then she frowned as well. “Wait, hold on,” she said, looking around. “We’re still missing someone. Where’s Charlotte?”

Ophelia’s head jerked back. “Charlotte?” she said as she took off her sunglasses and looked around.

At the mention of her wayward wife’s name, Candeloro finally seemed to snap out of her stupor. She looked around as well, her face stricken.

Homulilly frowned. She had hoped that Charlotte would at least be at the dock to meet them. Sure, the trip home would be awkward, but at least she would be there.

Denna was standing off at the other end of the dock, talking to one of her coworkers. Homulilly felt a chill of premonition go down her back. Whatever it was that they were discussing, it had something to do with their problem. And judging by the look of surprise and irritation on Denna’s face, it wasn’t good.

With a disgruntled sigh, Denna then broke off to walk towards their group. “Well,” she said. “I have some bad news.”

“It’s Charlotte, isn’t it?” Ophelia said.

“Afraid so.”

“She’s not coming back with us?” Candeloro said, her voice a hoarse whisper.

“Um, no. Actually, it turns out she’s already left.”

“What?” Ophelia and Homulilly said in stereo.

“Yeah, um,” Denna said as she anxiously scratched the back of her neck. “Come to find out that she’s actually friends with the owners of one of the deep-sea ocean platforms we got around here. Met them through some kind of book club or something. Anyway, she managed to get in contact with them and had them show up and give her a ride.”

“And you’re just telling us this now?” Ophelia demanded.

“She didn’t tell anyone about this! She just up and left! Walked right past the dockmaster without saying anything and got on their boat! I thought they had come to get all of you until they took off with just her!”

Ophelia’s eyes went as cold and hard as glaciers, a scary look for someone so associated with fire. Homulilly wasn’t scared though. She wore a very similar look.

“So,” Ophelia said. “That’s how it is then.”

Candeloro buried her face in her stiff hands and burst into tears.

…

The small craft known as the Fire Tiger cut through the ocean, speeding from the Aurora Borealis toward Freehaven. In good conditions, the trip took about an hour, and one couldn’t ask for better conditions than what they were currently experiencing. Now that the storm had gotten all of its raging out of its system, the sky was bright and clear, the ocean itself smooth as glass.

Good. Charlotte didn’t want the trip to take any longer than absolutely necessary.

She sat in the back of the boat, staring wordlessly out to sea. She was starting to understand why Ophelia hated it so much. Oh sure, it looked calm and peaceful now, but it had been only a couple days ago that it had been nothing but cruel and violent. And Oktavia could go on and on about how beautiful and wonderful its flora and fauna were all she wanted. All Charlotte knew that it also contained monsters, and one of them had tried to eat her and her friends the moment they had been dumped into the depths. And through a tragic application of the Butterfly Effect, it ended up taking away everything from her.

But of course, now it was lovely and calm, now the monster had been safely contained. It couldn’t have been caught earlier in the week, when the weather had been perfect and there had been several dedicated teams of professionals scouring the area. It wasn’t until after it had taken away everything that she cared about that it had finally been caught. And the storm, the one that hadn’t been projected to even hit until two days after it actually did? That just had to have decided to start raging when Little Miss Delusional wanted to take her swan dive.

Hitomi. The storm. The karnuk. Take any one of the above out of the equation and all of this wouldn’t have happened. But they did happen, and all at once. Now the ocean seemed to be mocking her with its tranquility, almost as if the whole thing had been deliberate, and now it was rubbing it in her face.

At the front of the boat sat the owners of her ride, a couple of local kelp harvesters named Shizuku Sango and Natsuru Senou. They were members of a book club that Charlotte had helped set up back at the library

So far they hadn’t asked many questions about why Charlotte had suddenly ended up on the Aurora Borealis to begin with, or why she needed a ride that very moment instead of simply letting the researchers take her home. Good. Charlotte didn’t feel like explaining. However, the glances that Natsuru was shooting her told her that questions were probably going to start soon.

“So,” Shizuku said suddenly, her voice raised to be heard over the sound of the motor. “The Aurora Borealis just called. Apparently they were taken off guard by your sudden exit.”

Charlotte said nothing.

“They said that your entire family is there, and that they’re quite upset over your departure. Now, isn’t that odd? I know your fish friend is often over there, but for the whole family to be over there too? And I understand that tiffs are normal when you have that many people living in one place, but I find it very odd that-”

“Shizuku?”

“Yes?”

Charlotte didn’t even look away from the sea to address her. “I appreciate you guys coming to get me on short notice. But drop it. Please.”

Natsuru turned in her seat. “Charlotte, you’re not in trouble, are you? Is there anything we can do?”

“You can take me home, and you can keep from asking me questions.”

Shizuku tsked. “Oh, that does not sound good. You know, we have our own little family that’s the same size as yours. There’s Natsuru and myself, and there is also Akane and Mikoto too. And granted, we’re all magical girls instead of witches, but I don’t imagine that would make much of a difference. So when you have four strong-willed ladies living together in a relatively small space out in the middle of the ocean, tempers can flare and arguments do break out. So we’ve had to get pretty good at resolving them. Otherwise, we would have torn each other apart long ago. So while I may not know the specifics of your situation, that doesn’t mean that we can’t help you come up with a way-”

Sighing, Charlotte finally turned toward them. “You can’t. This isn’t…this isn’t someone leaving dirty dishes in the sink or making a mess of the restroom. This isn’t someone waking up on the wrong side of the bed and taking it out on everyone else. This is…you can’t deal with it. I can’t deal with it. So please, j-just leave it.”

Shizuku and Natsuru exchanged glances. “If you say so,” Shizuku said after a beat. “I hope things work out for you then.”

A well-intentioned sentiment, but unfortunately it came far, far too late.

…

Sometimes you just got to confront yourself. Sometimes you have to look back on what you’ve done and wonder what in the hell were you thinking. Sometimes you have to look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I really made Kampfer and To Love-Ru part of my canon, didn’t I?”

Yup.

Still not apologizing.

And hey, fun fact: this story was supposed to wrap up after everyone had their dreams and talked to themselves after the karnuk fight, but things…changed. Funny how that works out.

Until next time, everyone.

#walpurgis nights

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