#today she broke her glasses and instead of just picking out a place to go get new ones
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lavender---sunshine · 2 years ago
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girls will watch their mothers struggles and then be like Wow im never going to be like her, only to end up like their father instead
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brookghaib-blog · 5 months ago
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Whispers of the past pt.2
Pairing: Hoshina Soshiro x reader
tw: mentions of death
Summary: 10 years ago, Y/N went missing after being attacked by a kaiju, now working by Gen Narumi's side as his secret weapon, she hides herself in hopes that one day she reconnects with her first love, Hoshina Soshiro.
pt.1 - pt.3
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Y/N's pov:
The bar was a haven for the weary souls of the city, a place where laughter mixed with the clinking of glasses and the hum of conversation.
However, today was a slow day, the nights were full and tough, filled with people driking by themselves to get their loneliness away, others just friends enjoying their youth and love, others? Just men looking for a dancer to pay their way into a night full of lust.
At afternoon, just with a couple people showing up, I stood behind the counter, expertly mixing drinks, my eyes scanning the room for any signs of trouble or someone needing my service. It was a routine I had grown accustomed to, a semblance of normalcy in a life that was anything but joyfull.
"Evening, Chisuka" a familiar voice broke through my thoughts. I looked up to see Captain Narumi leaning against the bar, his eyes sharp and knowing.
"Good evening, Captain," I replied, keeping my tone neutral. "What brings you here?"
He smiled, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Just checking in. How's everything?"
"Quiet, for now," I said, glancing around the bar. "But you never know when things might change."
Narumi nodded, his expression turning serious. "You remember your mission, right? If anything happens, you're to report to me immediately."
I nodded, a weight settling on my shoulders. "I understand."
As he was about to leave, he paused, holding my chin and looking back at me, never breaking our eye contact, “Chisuka… stay safe. We need you."
I watched him go, my mind swirling with a mixture of emotions. Despite the danger, despite the constant fear of discovery, I had found a purpose in my new life. I was fighting for a cause, even if it meant staying in the shadows, hidden from the ones I loved.
The night I vanished played out like a nightmare in my mind, a memory I could never escape. I had been walking home from school, my thoughts filled with dreams of the future, when a kaiju attack erupted. The last thing I remembered was the ground shaking, buildings collapsing, running to try and help my sweet mother and my baby brother, only to come back to their corpses…their lifeless eyes.
My mother was out of reach, her body under what used to be our home, only her head picking out, maybe she felt the kiss I left her with. My baby brother, four years old, died in my arms, the pain was too hard for him to endure, too hard for him to talk, maybe not too hard for him to listen to me, hopefull that my last words of love would give him some peace of mind when walking into the unknown.
When siting beside my mother and holding my brother, a blinding pain as something inexplicable happened. When I woke up, I was no longer human. I had become a kaiju, a monster in the eyes of the world. How could I come back. Now that I only had Soshiro, and I had turned into what he hated the most.
For months, I lived in hiding, grappling with my new reality, until one day, Captain Gen Narumi found me. It was in a battle field, I turned into a kaiju to help a family that was in my sight in the middle of the attack, with no weapons or skills at all, I was only left with one strategy.
I was desperate, afraid of dying, I wanted to see sohiro's face again on day, I couldn't die, I revealed my self, not thinking of consequences.
Instead of destroying me, he offered me a chance to fight back, to use my newfound abilities for a greater purpose. He gave me a new identity and a new mission: to serve as a secret weapon for the first division, known by their higher ranks.
Later that night, as I cleaned up the bar, the door swung open, and a group of soldiers from the defence force walked in, their uniforms unmistakable. My heart skipped a beat as I recognized one of them—Soshiro. He looked older, more hardened, but his eyes still held that same spark I remembered.
I quickly turned away, focusing on cleaning a glass, my hands trembling. I couldn't let him see me, couldn't risk him recognizing me.
As the soldiers settled at a table, I caught snippets of their conversation. They spoke of the latest kaiju threat, of battles and strategies, but one name kept coming up: Captain Gen Narumi.
"He's got something up his sleeve," one of the soldiers said, his voice low. "Something big. Even we don't know what it is."
Soshiro nodded, his expression thoughtful. "Whatever it is, let's hope it gives us the edge we need."
I swallowed hard, my heart pounding in my chest. They had no idea that the captain’s secret weapon was standing right in front of them, serving drinks and pretending to be someone else.
For now, I had to stay hidden, a shadow among the living. But one day, when the time was right, I would reveal the truth. And until then, I would fight from the shadows, a secret weapon waiting to be unleashed.
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ddejavvu · 1 year ago
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Okok. A little Dbf hotch scenario I thought of🤭
Imagine the reader occasionally smokes weed with friends and she can always get past her dad high without him noticing. But when she gets dropped off this time she comes home to Aaron and her dad having a drink… and he immediately knows she’s high.
Do with that what you will!
- eloise!!💌
today is multiverse monday, send me any au you can think of! :)
this post is 18+ (because of an age gap and drug use), minors dni.
You don't think anything will be different about tonight than any of the other nights you've come home high. Because your dad never notices, and you don't linger in his study when you announce your return home. You're not quite perceptive enough to pick up on Aaron's prolonged stare on you as you greet your father and his guest, but you do happen to notice when Aaron steps into the kitchen behind you not a minute later.
"Y/N," He announces his presence, and you turn, trying to keep your mind solely focused on him. It's hard, it wants to wander into a foggy haze, but Aaron's a treat to look at, so you start there.
"Hi, Aaron," You hum, a glass of water in hand to take back to your room, "Did you want water too?"
"No," He doesn't stop in the doorway, instead he makes his way over to you, stopping slightly too close for normal conversation. You lean back slightly out of instinct, though if you had your way you'd lean closer, and he studies your face.
"How much weed have you smoked?" He asks a moment later, interrupting the thick beat of silence that had befallen the cramped kitchen.
"What?"
"You're high," He raises a hand to your cheek, tilting your head down so that he can get a better look at you, "Your eyes are red. And you're spacey; you're high."
"I am not!" You feel petulant, like a toddler caught with their hand in the cookie jar, "I'm not high, I just- I've been crying."
"Really? About what?" He hums, eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly as he stares down at you, your chin still held in his large hand.
"Um- I broke up with my boyfriend," You fib, because you didn't have one in the first place, "And I'm just sad. That's all."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Aaron croons sympathetically, then drops his hand from your face so that his wrist hovers in front of your nose.
"What time is it?"
You squint at his watch, confused, "What?"
"Tell me the time," He urges, angling the face of his watch towards your own, "If you're not high, you'll be able to read my watch."
"But-"
"Come on," He murmurs, and the smooth tone of his voice sends your insides whirling, "What time is it, sweetheart?"
You don't know. The numbers just aren't making sense, and you're more focused on the dark hair lining his thick wrist than you are on the hands of a clock.
He gives you ten seconds, longer than he needs to know, really, then sighs.
"That's what I thought. Drink this, all of it, and go sleep it off." He gives you an unamused glance, lips turned down as he taps at the rim of your glass, "And don't ever let me catch you coming home high again, do you hear me?"
He seems to take your stunned silence for an answer, and relaxes slightly, backing away. But you find your voice before he's gone, "You're not my dad. You don't live here," And he's stiffening again, turning back to face you.
"I'm not your dad," He repeats, eyes a shade darker than they normally seem. "Your dad's so unobservant he wouldn't notice if you got a face tattoo. But I would. I know you, I notice you. And if it takes me moving in to stop you from smoking, I'll be here every night, sweetheart."
He lets his words hang in the air, exhilaratingly firm. It's a thrill to be noticed by him, even if it means he wants you to stop smoking weed. You watch him with parted lips, not a gawky gape to your mouth, but just enough for a soft intake of air to hit your lungs. You're speechless, and this time silence is your answer.
"Drink your water, and go to sleep," He instructs you, nodding towards the glass as he makes his way back to your dad's study, "Don't let me catch you again."
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topguncortez · 1 year ago
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Career Day | Jake seresin x Shy!Wifey
Opposites Attract Masterlist | Main Masterlist
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synopsis: It's Career Day at Alex's school and a special guest is missing
word count: 1.3k
warnings: none, I actually wrote pure fluff for once
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It was strange for Alex to be quiet on the way to school. Usually, he was talking her ear off as Y/N drove the five minutes to his school. Alex was always excited about going to school, which helped settle some of Y/N’s nerves. He was so much like his mother, shy as can be. Jake’s father had made some comment about Alex’s shyness and Y/N had grown worried about her son’s development. She worried that he was going to get bullied, or teased at school, making his anxiety and shyness worse. But Alex was a bright, blooming kid who had tons of kids. His teacher even said he was a very popular kid. 
But this morning, her little “mister popularity” (as Jake calls him) was looking out the window with a frown on his face. 
"What's wrong, baby?" Y/N asked, looking in the rearview mirror as she pulled up to his school. His blonde hair was pushed back out of his face, he chose his blue glasses today to match his uniform shirt. Alex sighed and looked over at the other side of the car, where his baby sister Ella was happily playing with a stuffed rabbit. 
"I'm just not happy about school," He pouted, placing one of his small fingers in Ella’s hand. 
"Why? Did something happen?"
Alex shook his head and sighed, "It's career day. Jennah is bringing her mom, and Ezra is bringing his mom and dad, but my dad isn't here."
Y/N looked at her son, his large green eyes which resembled his father's, held sadness in them. Her heart broke seeing him sad like this. It had taken some getting used to having Jake gone. It was his first deployment in nearly two years since Ella had been born. Jake hated leaving, he hated it even more now that he had children waiting for him at home. Alex liked having just his mom around sometimes. She always baked cookies and let him have at least one before bed. She also bought him a new toy whenever Dad would leave. It all seemed well to begin with, but it always turned sour after the first phone call. 
Alex had been hysterical after that very first call. It broke Jake’s heart to pieces hearing his young boy so upset and hearing his wife trying to calm him down, worried that he would pass out. It took Y/N nearly an hour to get Alex to calm down, and he slept horribly that night. After that, Y/N noticed the small changes in her son. The not wanting to play with his toys, or draw pictures. Not wanting to go play with Jennah Machado, or to go to dance class. And now, not even wanting to go to school.
"I know it sucks not having Daddy here, but lovebug, you could’ve invited me," Y/N said and Alex frowned. 
"You’re not as cool as daddy,"
Y/N chuckled at her son’s comment, but it was true. No one could be quite as cool as the Naval aviator in the family. When she reached her turn in the drop-off line, she parked the car and smiled as his teacher opened his door and helped him out of his booster seat. 
"Hey, Alex," Y/N called out to her son.
"Yes, mommy?" Alex said.
"Try and smile today, for your daddy, okay?" Y/N told him and Alex nodded enthusiastically, "Bye Alex, I love you, have a good day."
"Bye momma, I love you!" Alex said as he closed the car door and then ran off with his friends out in the quad of the school. Y/N waved as she saw Jennah running around. 
Y/N sighed and put her car in drive and looked back in the rearview mirror, seeing her daughter stare at the mirror above her seat with wide eyes. Ella looked the most like Jake out of her and Alex. Her hair was almost bleach blonde, her eyes electric green. She also had his sass, and she was only two. 
“Are you ready to go pick up our surprise?” Y/N asked. 
“Da!” Ella exclaimed, throwing her toy across the car. 
“Yep,” Y/N smiled, “Da.”  
Instead of driving home and getting ready for work like Y/N usually did after dropping Alex off, she drove to the airport. She parked the car, and got Ella out, before walking into the airport. Y/N watched people walk down the escalator, suitcases and bags in their hands. Y/N scanned their faces until she saw those familiar green eyes. Y/N smiled and held Ella a bit tighter in her arms. 
“Ella, who is that,” Y/N said in a happy voice. She crouched down and put her daughter’s feet on the floor, “Who is that, Ella!?” 
“Da!” The little girl yelled, reaching her arms out as he walked up to her, a bright smile on his face. He scooped up the girl in his arms, kissing all over her face, making her squeal. 
"Sweets," He said greeting you with a kiss, “Does he know?” Y/N shook her head and he kissed her again.
"No clue. Now come on, you gotta get ready to surprise a very unsuspecting little boy."
--- --- ---
The moment Alex had been dreading finally came. Mrs. Andrews announced that career day was finally starting, as the parents and guardians of kids came flooding into the classroom. Alex tried his best to pay attention and not cry as his classmates introduced their parents. Val frowned seeing her godson look out the window and not at the front of the class. Each kid had to present something, and Alex looked down at the pair of wings he had taken from his dad’s desk this morning.
"Alright next up, Alex Seresin." Mrs. Andrews said. Alex sighed and pushed himself up from his desk, holding the wings in his hand and walking to the front of the class.
He stood shyly, holding the wings to his chest, and looking down at his white vans. He took a deep breath, remembering what Y/N had told him, to smile. He looked up at his class, seeing all their eyes on him, the panic starting to rise in his little body. Val could see the look in his eyes from the back of the classroom, and she waved a bit, getting his attention. He looked up at her, and Val gave him a smile and a thumbs up and mouthed ‘you got this’. 
Alex nodded, and took his hand away from his chest, holding out the gold wings, “These are my daddy’s wings. He’s a Naval-” 
"Hey, sorry I'm late," Jake said, walking in the door, still clad in his khaki uniform.
"Daddy!" Alex yelled, dropping the wings and running over to him. Jake picked him up in his arms and held him tightly, "How did you know?!"
"Momma told me. I wasn't about to miss career day." 
“Are you home for good?” 
"I’m home for good," Jake said and sat his feet back down on the ground. Alex grabbed his hand and pulled him to the front of the class.
"This is my dad,” Alex said looking up at him, “He’s in the Navy, and my hero.” 
Jake smiled at his son, before looking at the class of wide-eyed first graders. He saw a hand in the back shoot up into the air and he pointed at the little girl with blue bows in her hair. 
“Are you a sailor?” She asked and Y/N couldn’t help but chuckle and look at her husband. She knew his eye was probably twitching as he hated it when people asked if he was a ‘sailor’. 
“I’m a Naval Aviator,” Jake responded, “And the best one at that. Let me tell you a story of the time I saved my best friend and commander from the enemy.”
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bizkitsnuggets · 5 months ago
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08 — THE PLAGUE
m.list
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“You liar!” The brunet angrily cornered Mattsun with a red face. He couldn't believe it! Mattsun had tricked him about getting McDonald's and instead drove him to some place. Tooru quickly noticed that the “place” was Night Shift's practice location.
Mattsun only smirked before responding, “Too bad, should've checked the GPS then.” He shrugged, making the red in Tooru’s face a darker shade. The brunet groaned in annoyance. Out of all the places Mattsun could've taken him, here…?
He clearly wasn't having it, but Mattsun was the only one with a car, and calling a cab on this busy road didn't seem ideal or realistic. Tooru knew he had no other choice but to stay in that place for a few more hours before he could go home.
“C’mon, UFO nut, what's so bad about watching the group practice? They sound good!” Mattsun broke the odd silence.
Tooru closed his eyes and pinched his nose. “It's not the music, Mattsun. It's her.” He emphazised the word ‘her’, hinting who he meant to Mattsun. The brunet sighed, he really didn’t want to deal with YN. Tooru simply didn’t have the energy left, as he had spilled his milk tea all over his sweater and his professor pestering him to mark his student’s work.
The red on his face had faded away and was now replaced with an annoyed expression from just remembering the not-so-pleasing morning he had.
Mattsun clicked his tongue and flicked the brunet’s forehead, “You’re actually an idiot. She’s not gonna kill you just because you like aliens.” Tooru whined in respond, he’s fully aware he’s being childish about this whole situation. There’s no one else to blame but him. Still, he doesn’t want to cave into reality and believe he is in the wrong and instead continue his overgrowing hatred for poor YN.
And he knows that even if he bribed or begged Mattsun to take him home, it won’t work. Matsukawa is a strong man with a strong mentality. He doesn’t fall for silly tricks or antics especially if it’s from Tooru. Maybe if the brunet turned into a certain candy-colored vocalist, Mattsun would agree to drive him home…
Tooru crossed his arms and pouted like a sulky toddler, “You owe me mcodnalds on the way home.”
Upon entering the place, most of the band members were either cleaning or tuning their instruments. Unsuprsingly, Iwaizumi was also present. He never misses a group practice or performance, ‘I guess he’s a big fan of them’. Tooru thought as he rolled his eyes.
Mattsun and the brunet greeted everyone as if it was an objective in a video game to talk to every person present. But, as they were approaching their last target, YN, Tooru had noticed a vibrant colored keychain hanging from her jeans. Oh, how Tooru was hating himself for deciding to not wear his glasses today. Mattsun thought he looked stupid squinting his eyes like that would make a difference. Upon a closer inspection, the alien obsseded brunet realized YN’s keychain was the limited edition toy story alien keychain.
He winded his eyes in pure disbelief, a new mix of emotions started consuming him. Tooru wasn’t sure if it was jealousy, excitement, shock, or even relief.
Was he intrigued? Very much so.
Will he stop being an ass to YN? No.
Mattsun greeted the bass player as she was busy wiping dirt off of her precious bass. She looked up at him and smiled, “Hey! Glad to see Makki’s boyfriend again.” YN teased as Mattsun’s face turned into a dark shade of red. The girl shifted her gaze to the unusually quiet Tooru. He wasn’t even looking at her, his eyes were everywhere but her own.
Despite that, she still made sure to acknowledge him. Tooru responded by glaring at her and then giving her an obvious fake smile. The kind of smile you give someone when you want to let them know that you don’t vibe with them.
And that deceiving smile of his didn’t go unnoticed by Iwaizumi and Makki who were watching the scene unfold. Fortunately for YN, she never picked up his expression and returned a cheeky smile. Which earned a low “ugh,” from the brunet.
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notes:
iwa doesn't have a car so he rides a motorcycle instead
tanaka and bokuto were at the dog park when they had practice
in the end, mattsun treated tooru to kfc instead of mcdonalds
do you guys believe in aliens?
taglist: @this-is-me-lolol @stayyyyyyyyyyyy21 @kettlepop @causenessus @neeksnicoboytoy @does-directions @rinheartshyunlix @nnnyxie @bae-ashlynn @iluv-ace @k0z3me @eyes-ofhell @sereniteav @phoenix-eclipses @whosramiel
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specialagentlokitty · 7 months ago
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Holt x Male!reader - all this time
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Heyy, So i know you don’t write for Holt (Brooklyn Nine Nine) But i was wondering if you could make an exception? A Raymond Holt x male reader where instead of Ray being married to Kevin he’s married to reader instead n readers Jake’s big brother but jake doesn’t know readers married to holt and he finds out? if not it’s ok!! I love youre work and make sure to drink lots of water!! - Anon💜
A/N: holt has never been on my request list, but since I know there’s probably no fics for him I decided to write this one :))
Making your way downstairs, you glanced at your watch before walking into the kitchen where your husband was getting a glass of water.
“Raymond, I need to head out to work, there’s been some problems at the office.”
He turned around.
“Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, I think it’s more so just some of the interns accidentally filed some paperwork wrong. Are you heading to work today?”
“Yes, I will be there all day.”
You nodded, walking over and kissed his cheek before making your way across the kitchen to grab your coffee.
“I’ll come by after I’m finished.”
With that you jogged away, having to get to the office as quickly as you possibly could.
Making your way in, you found the interns lined up against the wall, and you furrowed your brows a little bit in confusion.
“Why’re you stood there?” You asked.
“Thomas told us to stand here until you get back sir.” One replied.
You sighed, pinching the bridge of your nose.
“This isn’t a military training camp, go on, go sit down in the conference room.”
They nodded, making their way over there and you walked behind Thomas, lightly hitting the back of his head.
“Be nicer to them.”
“They could’ve messed up big time.” He huffed.
“This is their first job, give them all some credit. If you’ve got all the files we’ll go through them with them all and explain the process again.”
“Alright alright.”
You took one half of the interns while he took the other half to a different room.
You spent an hour carefully explaining everything step by step by step with them, and getting them to show you when you had shown them.
“Just remember if you’re not sure always ask, even if you come ask me, there’s no such thing as a stupid question. If you have to ask it a hundred times then you asked a hundred times.”
One of the interns put her hand up, and you smiled at her, dismissing the others and letting her come over.
“I’m not entirely sure what to do afterwards…”
“That’s alright Sophie, let’s go have a look.”
She nodded, following after you with the files in her hands.
“Everything is set up in alphabetical order, so you’ll want to find the first letter of the file, so if you set them all down and pick up the first one.”
You carried on showing her what to do, and you made sure she completely understood everything.
Making your way back to the office you wrote a step by step listen, and you taped it to the wall next to the cabinet, letting them all know it was there.
While you were there you decided to do some work, and went back to your desk.
Not long after you started your work your phone chined and you picked it up.
Jake: come bring me lunch please!
Laughing a little bit, you sent a reply back.
You: sure I’ll be there soon.
Putting your work away, you went to pick up Jakes favourite food, then to the precinct.
Heading up, you made your way to his and dropped the bag down on the desk, placing your hand on his head, ruffling his hair a little bit.
“Yes you’re the best!”
“You’re always broke. Seriously Jake, how to you survive?”
“Hey! I’m not broke!” He huffed.
Laughing a little, you took the fries from the bag and stood there eating while you listened to him talk about what he had been up too.
He stopped eating and looked up at you.
“Where the hell have you been anyway? It’s been ages.”
“Sorry, I’ve been busy with work. Then we’ve been redecorating our home, so that’s taken a lot of free time as well.”
“When am I going to meet this husband? I can’t believe you got married without me…” he pouted.
You laughed softly, patting his head a couple of times.
“I know, I’m sorry, but when we got married I wasn’t actually out as gay to mom or you, so I thought it was easier.”
You stood up, excusing yourself to go and wash your hands and you came back, making your way to the captains office instead and knocked on the door.
When he looked up you smiled at him, leaning against the doorframe.
“How’s work going?”
“It is the same as every other day. Did you fix the mistake?”
You nodded your head, making your way inside.
You sat down in the chair opposite him, explaining to him what had happened, and what you did to help them fix the mistake.
He listened as you spoke while doing his own work.
“Oh, by the way Jake keeps asking who I’m married to.”
“Have you not told him?”
“Well, I decided it was your choice. You’re his boss.”
“You are his brother.”
You laughed a little bit, nodding your head.
“Yeah, but as my husband it’s always up to you if we tell him.”
“YOU MARRIED HOLT?!”
You spun around, giving your younger brother a sheepish look.
A few more people crowded around, and you pointed to the man who was behind you.
“Ask your captain! Bye!”
Getting up you ran off with a laugh as Holt called for you not to let him handle all of that alone
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flowerpotmage · 3 months ago
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Tight Grip, Broken Dam (18)
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You don’t question it anymore, when Miguel appears in your bed at night. He’s not there for sex, no, you’ve never even kissed—though you would be lying if you said you weren’t open to the idea of kissing him. He’s there for comfort. For rest. If only it could stay so simple.
Pair: Miguel O'Hara & GN!Reader
Word Count: 3.5k
Read this chapter on Ao3 here. If you like my work, please consider leaving kudos there as well! You do not need an account to do so.
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You’re tired and a bit sore the next morning, your makeshift bed on the floor less than ideal after your long night out. But that’s nothing new, really—you’ve woken in worse condition after a night of vigilantism on many a previous occasion. So you rise; go to the bathroom, and then to the kitchen to make breakfast–
Ah. You’re out of groceries.
You dress, head to the same cafe by your house as usual, and then venture onwards to pick up the bare minimum of groceries. You’ll figure out what else you need later, now that you’re going to have to go back to doing all of your own cooking (your chest clenches, ribs squeezing tight around your lungs like a child’s finger-trap toy) and you’ll only be cooking for yourself and your much lower standards.
You hastily shove that train of thought aside, sloppily put the groceries away, and shower. You have lunch with Karen soon, and a meeting with Ellison after, and you don’t want to smell like midnight vigilante dumpster alley encounters for either of them. You scrub away under the hot water, exfoliating and soaping and shampooing and conditioning—the tightness around your lungs and the lump in your throat urging you on as if achieving ultimate cleanliness will help reset the thing that aches inside. It doesn’t, of course, but there’s still some part of you that feels an awful lot better when you dry off, the scars across your ribs disappearing under your towel.
“I’m so sorry for canceling yesterday,” Karen says later when you’re seated across from one another at a small place between 7th and 8th. “Matt said you missed my text and came all the way up here.”
You wave her off. “It’s fine, really. Matt and I ended up getting sandwiches and then I spent the rest of the day at the park.”
She smiles, grateful for your apparent magnanimity. “Good, I’m glad the trip wasn’t for nothing.” She pauses. “How are you feeling?”
You pause. “Better,” you say, looking down at your menu and chewing the inside of your lip. “Honestly, I, uh–”
“Hi!” your server greets, appearing as if from thin air. “Do we have any questions about the menu today?”
You’re saved from the awkwardness of opening up to Karen for just that much longer as you pick back up your menus to order. When he leaves, menus with him, Karen turns her attention back to you.
“Better is good,” she says, bringing the conversation back on track.
You nod, deciding not to talk about Miguel right now after all. “I’ve got a meeting with Ellison after this,” you say instead. “Apparently we finally got a press list for that donor gala next month and he wants to go over some things.”
Karen beams. “I was wondering who got that assignment! Ellison didn’t want me to take it, with all the vigilante column stuff, in case a conflict came up,” she says, then waves the thought off with her long, pale hand. “That’s amazing, I’m so glad he picked you.”
Lunch continues, and you find that time with Karen does wonders to lift your spirits. She tells you about a recent night out with Foggy and Matt while you were ‘sick,’ and how Foggy nearly broke three glasses because he wasn’t paying attention to his pool stick before losing to Matt.
“Matt beat him?” you laugh.
“He’s surprisingly skilled at pool,” she laughs with you. “Foggy’s not bad, he just gets… carried away telling his stories after a drink or two.”
It’s hard to mistake the fondness in her voice, and the lump threatens to return to your throat. “He’s pretty good at telling stories, to be fair,” you say.
Karen laughs lightly. “That he is.”
You’re in a far better mood after lunch, and promise to see one another soon before parting ways. It seems Ellison had a good start to his day as well, and he’s practically bouncing on the balls of his feet when you make it into his office.
“Feeling better?” he asks.
“Yup.”
“Good. I got a peek at the guest list, and this is going to be big for you.”
You frown. “I thought it was a standard donor gala?”
He shakes his head. “Well, mostly.” He hands you two sheets of printer paper with a list of names, stapled together at the top left corner, then leans on his desk, arms crossed. “There’s a few big names on the list. Donors who usually don’t attend, yadda yadda.”
You raise an eyebrow and then look down at the list, scanning through it for anyone familiar that might jump out at you. It’s mostly names you don’t recognize, privately rich upper east side-types, one or two vaguely familiar old money surnames, someone with the unfortunate first name of Wilson, and—
Your eyebrows fly up as you look at Ellison. “Stark and Potts?”
Ellison nods, eyes glittering behind his glasses. “Yup. And you are going to get quotes from them.”
The absolute last thing you want is to be on Iron Man’s radar, but…
You nod. “Alright.”
You get started on your research the next day, searching up the names on the lists and taking notes. You’ve got three and a half weeks since the event isn’t scheduled until early November, but with a list this long and how much time you spend on your… extracurriculars, you want to get started early.
Your phone buzzes on the kitchen counter next to you—the couch in the living room behind you, where you frequently do your work from home, untouched. You shift on the stool, stretching your back, before you pick it up to find a text from Karen.
Drinks at Josie’s tonight, 8:30! You’re invited :)
Your fingers hover over the screen. Why not? you think, and tap out a reply:
See you there!
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Josie’s is slightly fuller than one would expect for a Wednesday night, but not overly crowded. There’s a pleasant level of background noise from the voices chatting under the music, and for once the fact that it’s warmer in the bar than it is outside is actually enjoyable: the sunset had long since taken the ambient warmth of the city concrete away with its retreat below the horizon.
Foggy warmly thumps you on the arm when you show up. “Good to see you back with the living!” he says. “Let’s get you a drink.”
True to his word, Foggy gets you your first drink before convincing the group to play teams at the pool table. Him and Karen against you and Matt, losers buy the drinks.
“Don’t worry,” Matt says, something about his grin devilish and full of mischief. “I’m better than I probably look, and you can tell me where the balls and pockets are.”
You grin. Even if Matt ended up being terrible, you think you’d be able to keep your team afloat with your secret talents. “Fist bump,” you say, prompting Matt to lift a fist for you to tap.
“Why do I feel like I’ve made a horrible mistake?” Foggy groans.
Matt grins wider, ducking his head to hide it. “I don’t know, Foggy. Did you think you were setting our friend up for failure here by pairing them with the blind guy?”
Foggy shoots Matt perhaps one of the most dramatically exasperated looks you think you might have ever seen, the kind one can only muster when a particularly dear friend is pulling some particularly specific bullshit. Matt must know, because he laughs, a full and happy sound—but you’re busy trying to pretend you haven’t noticed the scars on his knuckles when you bumped your hands together.
“Even if Matt was trash,” you say out loud, trying to shake the realization off and join the banter and putting on a fake-serious voice. “I think I could keep our team doing fine. You’ve made a mistake, Mr. Nelson, putting me in the position of being your enemy.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Foggy says, swiping up the chalk. “Talk a big game if that makes you feel better. Now, let’s play. Karen, you first?”
“My pleasure,” she says, eyes twinkling. “Prepare to lose,” she directs at you and Matt. “Horribly.”
You and Matt win in a landslide.
“Okay, you cheated,” Foggy says over the next round of drinks.
“How could I have possibly cheated, Foggy?” Matt asks. “You just underestimated our companion here.” Matt pats your upper arm with the back of his hand to punctuate his sentence.
Foggy shakes his head and mumbles something into his drink while Matt smiles and takes another sip of his own.
“Well, I demand a rematch,” Karen says. “New teams.”
With fresh drinks ordered and teams switched, Foggy and Karen set the table up for a new game while you stand to the side with Matt, watching them. This game ends up being more evenly matched—you and Karen against Matt and Foggy.
Matt sinks the winning ball.
“Aha! Take that,” Foggy says, pointing a finger at you and Karen playfully. “Now go,” he makes a shoo-ing gesture with his hands. “Losers buy winners drinks.”
“You’re such a sore winner,” Karen teases. “What do you two want?”
It’s at the bar that you start to lose a little steam, the couple gently tangling their fingers on the counter a few seats away catching your eye. A memory flashes through your head of a few weeks ago, you and Miguel walking to breakfast and you resisting the urge to hold his hand—
“You doing okay?” Karen asks. She follows your gaze to see what’s caught your attention and then looks at you again with gentle curiosity and patience.
You sigh, rubbing your hands on your face. Josie sets down a round of shots, and you throw one back. Karen raises an eyebrow when you drop it back down on the counter and ask Josie for another.
“There was… this guy,” you say, looking down at the counter and pressing your finger on a whorl in the wood.
Karen blinks, Josie sets down your refilled shot. “I didn’t know you were seeing anyone.”
You shake your head. “It’s… it was complicated. He was…” You shake your head. “He was complicated.”
“How long?” she asks, and she follows your example when you start to collect the small glasses for the group.
You pause, thinking back, and nearly grimace at how what you’re about to say is going to sound. “Almost a year.”
She grimaces in sympathy. You feel bad about omitting the details, like the fact that you and Miguel hadn’t actually been together, but that wasn’t the point, was it? You were hurt, and you needed to talk about it. Plus, the feelings were mutual. You felt somewhat sure of that, since he’d all but explicitly said it, and you’d been living like a couple for most of that almost-year—
“Well, fuck him,” Karen says as you reach your table again.
“Fuck who?” Foggy asks. “And what for?”
“Some asshole,” you shrug and pretend it doesn’t hurt to call him that as you set the drinks down and sit. Karen next to Foggy, you next to Matt.
“We could always sue him for you, if you like,” Matt jokes, gently bumping his shoulder into yours.
You chuckle, taking a sip of your drink.
“To fucking assholes!” Foggy declares loudly, raising his drink and you nearly choke. Karen laughs and slaps his arm, chastising him loudly. Still, your group raise their glasses and toast to his intentionally crass words.
Matt leans in after the drinks are lowered, asking quietly: “The personal stuff that came up, I assume?”
“Yeah,” you mumble, looking down at your drink and tilting the glass in a circle.
Matt nods, leaning out of your space again. “Screw him,” he agrees.
“You need more drinks,” Foggy decides, already pushing his seat back to go get them.
“No,” you laugh. “Foggy, really—”
“We just got shots—” Karen adds, but your protests are ignored as Foggy is already halfway to the bar counter, determined to drown any lingering sorrows.
So determined, in fact, that for the first time in years you actually get a little drunk.
“My god,” you slur, leaning back on the brick of Josie’s out front. “How did you d’this?”
“Don’t– don’t touch that,” Karen says, also drunk, as she pulls you off the wall.
“Ugh,” you say. “How do you do this all the time?”
“Strong constitutions,” Foggy says. “We all have—we have high con stats.”
“D&D,” you say, pointing at him. “Nerd.”
“Takes one to know one,” he retorts.
You groan in mock defeat, Matt chuckling off to the side.
Karen says your name, long and drawn out like she just realized something terrible.
“What?” you ask, turning towards her.
“You can’t go home like this.”
“I’m fiiine–”
“You’re in Williamsburg,” she insists. “That’s sooo far.”
“That is far,” Foggy says.
“It’s like, twooo trains, max” you insist.
“Two trains too far,” Foggy rebuttals. “While drunk.”
“Crash on my couch,” Matt says, both hands resting atop the end of his white cane. You suspect the reason he isn’t swaying is because he’s somehow gotten very, very good at standing still. “I live closest, you can catch the train home in the morning.”
Foggy and Karen exchange a look.
You nod, ignoring them. “Yeah. Yeah, that works. Good couch?”
“It’s decent,” Karen says, tone nothing but casual and bordering on chipper. “I stayed on it when I was suspected for murder and my apartment was an active crime scene.”
“I can’t believe that’s how we met you,” Foggy says.
Plans settled—Foggy and Karen will split a cab back to their respective apartments, and you’ll walk with Matt to his—the four of you hug and part ways.
”I’m this way,” Matt gestures down the road with his hand, cane grasped firmly and drawing a straight line from the sky to the ground. “Do you feel up to walking?”
“Yeah,” you say when you remember he can’t see you nod. “Yeah. God, I haven’t been drunk in years.”
Matt frowns a bit, light concern creasing between his brows. “You sure you’re okay?”
”Yeah,” you confirm. “It’s just sooo weird now.” And then, at his doubtful expression, you tack on: “C’mon, let’s get going.”
It really is an easy trip back to his building. You’re more focused on walking normally and not accidentally saying or doing something too Spider-y in front of him than on making conversation, so the chit-chat is minimal up until the building is in front of you.
“Oh, we’re here?”
”We’re here,” Matt confirms. “Do you mind stairs?”
You wave his question off. ”I can do stairs in my sleep.”
Matt laughs. ”I’m at the top,” he says, and leads the way.
His apartment isn’t what you expected, the ceilings high and somehow heavy while being made of so much open space. There’s a sort of barebones, worn, industrial thing happening with the interior design; the brick of the walls is exposed, and the colors are dark and brooding like fall. There’s not much in the way of decoration—-a simple couch, a coffee table, and a side dresser against the wall (no television to be found, naturally) mark the designated living room space. A small dining table sits behind the couch, the kitchen sectioned off by a tall counter, a similar concept to your own home. Off to one side, a step higher than the rest of the apartment, is his bedroom.
”Make yourself comfortable,” Matt says. “Water?”
”Sure,” you say, wandering past the couch to the absolutely enormous windows that line the wall. “Your heating bill in the winter must be as big as these windows.”
Matt laughs. “Heavy curtains help insulate the place.” He approaches the living room, two glasses of water in his hands, and you go to meet him. “Plus sweaters.”
“Thanks,” you smile as you accept one of the glasses from him. “Didn’t have you pegged as a sweater guy.”
“I have quite the collection,” he says, sitting in the chair. “I’ll let you borrow one tonight. I don’t know what you have on now, but I’ll bet it’s not nearly as soft. Or comfortable for sleeping in.”
You hum in agreement. “Entirely possible.” You pause. “Thanks for hanging out with me the other day,” you add quietly. “And for letting me crash here tonight.”
”Hey,” he says warmly. “Any friend of Karen’s is a friend of mine.” This time it’s his turn to pause. “Well, most of them.”
”Sounds like there’s a story there.” You raise an eyebrow, curiosity piqued.
Matt shakes his head. “One for another time. Let me get you that sweater, and a pillow.”
Matt rises from the chair but you remain on the couch, forcing yourself to drink the water despite your lack of thirst. Enhanced healing be damned, you’re not going to risk exacerbating any potential hangover via dehydration. He returns shortly, a pillow under his arm and the promised sweater atop a folded blanket that looks far warmer than the one draped over the back of the couch.
”Here you go.” He stops by the end of the couch, setting the pillow on the end carefully and handing you the blanket, sweater, and a surprise pair of sweatpants between the two. “Bathroom is over there, if you want to change.”
Gratefully, you do, slipping back from the sparse, chilly bathroom with your own shirt and pants folded clumsily. “You weren’t joking about how soft this is.”
He’s also changed into his own pair of cozy sweatpants and a slightly stretched out sweater. “I left some ibuprofen on the table for you,” he nods towards the two little brown pills by your cup of water. “Just in case.”
”You’re a saint,” you say, sinking into the couch. “Ohhh my god,” you can’t help but groan. “Karen was right about the couch.”
Matt laughs again. “When Karen vouches for something, I always listen,” he smiles, though you sense an undercurrent of seriousness with his words. “She’s never let me down.”
”She’s pretty great,” you agree, turning your head to look at him properly when a memory from Josie’s returns to your awareness. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course,” he says, after the most microscopic of pauses—-but a pause nonetheless.
”How’d you get those scars on your knuckles?”
The hand at his side twitches, and after another short second of surprising stillness, Mat sits in the chair by the couch. “My dad was a boxer.” His words come quietly. “After he died, I started practicing myself, and…”
“When…” you swallow. “How long have you been practicing?”
”I started about… not long after it happened.” He leans back in his chair, getting comfortable. “So I think I started about… nearly twenty years ago?” He shrugs.
”I’m sorry.” You hope he knows you mean it. “Is that where you get those mysterious bruises from, too?”
“Something like that,” Matt nods, a gracious incline of his head, the corner of his mouth quirking up. It falls again during a short pause, and then he asks: “Have you lost anyone?”
Your throat gets tight. “My aunt, a few years ago. She raised me by herself.”
Quiet sits for a moment, before Matt echoes your own words. “I’m sorry.”
You sleep heavily that night, after conversation with Matt ends and he retreats to his room, sliding door left open.
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When you wake in the morning it's to the smell of coffee and toast.
“Mgh?” you mumble, a slur of disoriented sound when you lift your head from the pillow. Miguel doesn’t usually make coffee—
“Good morning,” Matt says from the kitchen area. “Coffee’s almost ready if you’d like some. And toast.”
Your stomach sinks, reality catching up as you let your head thump back down onto the pillow. You swallow. “That sounds great.”
If Matt notices anything about your voice, you hope he brushes it off as lingering sleep, or the after-effects of a bad dream. He’s gracious enough to put a mug and a plate on the small table for you, and you shuffle around the couch after dragging yourself upright.
“Anyone ever told you you’re a wonderful host?” you ask after thanking him and swallowing your second bite of buttered toast.
“I could stand to hear it more often. Though I suppose that would require having more guests.”
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“Where’s our Garden Spider?” Peter whispers to Jess. “I haven’t seen them in weeks. Have you?”
She glances around, then shakes her head. “I think we should stay out of this one, Peter. Miguel’s… he–”
“Uh, yeah. I’ve noticed.”
“What are you talking about?” Gwen interrupts, appearing as if from thin air. Following close behind her are two other Spider-Men—Peter recognizes Hobie, of course, and he thinks he recognizes the second from a new recruit file from the last meeting, Pavitr—who are wrapped up in their own discussion.
“Adult stu–”
“Just catching up,” Jess cuts him off. “Is that Pavitr?”
Peter’s inquiries are sidelined for now, not that he wholly minds. He’s always happy to see Gwen, and sometimes Hobie, and meeting a unique Spider-Man is always interesting.
But he’s going to get to the bottom of this.
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angelsanarchy · 1 year ago
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Glass Houses: Jack Thurlow x Y/N Series CH 20 -> CH 21
Tagging:@roryculkinluvr@thatsthewrongwallcraig@icarus-star @cc-luvr @madamemaximoff06@shady-the-simp @quicksilversg1rl @s-0lar @kristennero-wallacewellsver@ophelialaufey @mayathepsychic1999 @x-prettyboy-x @rorylover71 @auggiethecreator @tempt-ress @blacksoul-27
Jack had made progress, real progress that he was happy to report to Dr. Carty. He had attended one of the meetings Y/n suggested and as corny as it sounded, he felt less alone in the struggles of his past that he had a hard time remembering. He received some legitimate guidance on searching for answers through old media. The man that ran the survivors group had a similar story to Jack's only he was lost in the foster care system and passed around between pedophiles collecting state checks.
He explained to Jack that media searches aren't the best way to access your past trauma. He suggested petitioning to have the court records opened for his own mental health. It meant getting a lawyer or an advocate but if Jack really wanted to pick at the scab of his trauma, he had the best place to start.
"I felt like a fucking idiot when I started crying. Shit just got super overwhelming really fast but they didn't really press me to keep talking which was great. Gave me time to collect myself and actually hear other people talking about their own shit." Jack explained.
"How did it make you feel having a small group of strangers telling you their stories?" Dr. Carty asked.
"Honestly, it was sad. This shit happens too often. There needs to be a better system in place, a better reporting center. I actually talked to some of the people in the group afterwards, exchanged some emails..." He trailed off knowing Dr. Carty would make a comment.
"You made friends!" He said gleefully making Jack roll his eyes.
"You say that like I'm a total shut in." Jack argued earning a laugh.
"As your doctor, I can confirm you just now started going out to get your groceries instead of having them delivered." Dr. Carty joked as Jack pulled into the driveway.
"I'm proud of Jack. You're making such amazing progress in your healing. The crying is a release. Don't fight it so much." Jack nodded his head.
"Well I made it home in one piece and I've got to send Y/n a text thanking her for the recommendation." Jack turned the car off and started to gather his things.
"She's provided a lot of healing for you Jack. You should keep her around. You need that positive push." Dr. Carty said confidently. Jack didn't disagree. Before he could respond, her name lit up on his phone.
"She's actually calling me now so-"
"I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a good night Jack." Dr. Carty bid him farewell and he clicked over the call.
"I was just thinking about you." Jack said with a smile.
"Oh yeah? With or without clothes?" She teased.
"Well now I'm thinking about you without clothes but that's your own fault." He laughed.
"I wanted to call and check on you but I also wanted to let you know I might have left you some stuff inside your house." Jack froze on his porch.
"You broke into my house?" He asked looking over to her house.
"Of course not...I used the key." She said firmly. Jack opened the front door carefully and could smell food.
"You broke in to make me dinner?" He laughed.
"Again, I used the key. I didn't cook it. I had it ordered. I figured today would be draining so I wanted you to come home and not worry about feeding yourself." Y/n explained as he walked over to see brown bag sitting atop the counter. He opened and it smelled heavenly.
"It should still be warm but you can heat it up in the package if it needs to be." Jack pulled the box of spaghetti out and took a bit of the bread.
"You can break into my house anytime." He said with a mouthful of food. She laughed on the other end of the line.
"That's not all...I also left you something to keep you company tonight on your bed." Jack stopped eating and climbed the stairs.
"This feels like Christmas." He joked. When he got to the top of the steps he saw Ace sitting on his bed.
"Oh hey buddy! You came to visit me." Jack's voice changed to baby talk for the pup as he leaned down to snuggle him.
"I figured you could use the company and he's been missing you." Jack almost forgot he was on the phone and he picked Ace up in his arms.
"You know one of these nights, I won't be on the backend of an emotional breakdown and I'm going to ask you out on a date. You better be prepared with a better excuse to not say yes than trauma bonding." Jack said with a smile. She chuckled.
"I've got to get back to work but I'll give you a call later okay? Just to make sure you're settled in and don't need anything." Jack hung up the phone and took Ace down stairs with him to eat dinner. He spent his evening making a grocery list, feeding Ace and turning on the TV for a change. He left Ace to watch the TV while he showered and it was around 11PM when he was finally snuggling down with the pup.
He was started to get comfortable and when his phone vibrated. He smiled seeing Y/n was facetiming him. She was still in her scrubs but looked like she was in the bathroom about to clean herself up for bed.
"Well aren't you two the cutest thing I've ever seen?" She smiled seeing Ace sleeping on Jack's chest.
"Don't be jealous he loves me more than you." She chuckled.
"I won't keep you up, just wanted to make sure you were okay." She kept her eyes on them and Jack smiled.
"Today was a lot but it felt good. I definitely needed it. Thank you for the recommendation." Jack watched her take her hair down and wipe her face with a makeup wipe.
"Of course. I'm so happy that it was able to give you some support." She said as Jack watched her carefully.
"Was the food okay?" She asked not looking at him as she continued to get ready for bed.
"How long do I have to wait before I ask you out again?" He ignored her question and she looked at her phone, stopping what she was doing and smiled at him.
"Sleep on it tonight. If you wake up and feel good, you can ask me then. I just want you to wait until you're ready and when you are, I will say yes." She explained making him smile.
"I'll hold you to that." He said with a sleepy smile.
"Get some rest Jack. I will talk to you tomorrow." She said seeing how tired he was. He nodded his head.
"Goodnight Y/n." The screen went black and he let out a sigh. He had never felt so content in this moment. For the first time in a long time, he was hopeful for what was to come.
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janicho88 · 1 year ago
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When It All Falls Apart - Chapter 12
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Pairing- ex!Jensen x Padalecki Reader
Word count- 3,827
Warnings- Some language. Dealing with a breakup. Sad reader. Angst, If I missed something let me know!
A/N-We're going to hear a little bit more from Jensen, and the reader gets to know someone new a little better. A little off canon, SPN ended after 10 years. We still got all the characters in during that time though. Thank you to @writercole and @leigh70 for your help with this. You two are amazing!!
Summary-Y/N Padalecki loved acting on Supernatural.  Working alongside your older brother and your boyfriend, but after ten seasons the guys have chosen to hang up the guns.  Now the three of you are moving on to other projects, but that’s all that needs to change right?  While you have moved to Austin to be closer to your family and boyfriend, Jensen is working elsewhere.  Distance is only the start of your troubles.
Series Masterlist
When Mackenzie leaves your apartment complex, she makes her way back to Jensen’s place.  Her brother is on the couch with a glass of what she assumes is whiskey in his hand, his phone on the table in front of him.  He’s just staring at a black television screen.  
She doesn’t know if he heard her come back or not, because he hasn’t moved yet.  Walking behind him she slaps the back of his head before coming around the front of the couch.
“Ouch, what was that for?” Jensen questions, rubbing the back of his head. 
“For being a dumbass, and losing the best damn thing that has ever happened to you.” 
She picks up a pillow from the end of the couch and throws it at him, with the glass of alcohol in his hand he doesn’t react in time to knock it away.
“What has gotten into you today?  I liked yesterday’s Mack better.”
“She hadn’t just spent the last couple hours with Y/N.”
Jensen looks up at her, “you saw her?”
“I did, and considering how much you always said she meant to you, you did a piss poor job of showing it.  I don’t think I have ever seen Y/N so down and hurt.  What the hell were you thinking treating her like that?”  She ends with a shout.
“I never wanted to hurt her!” He yells back. 
“Well mission not accomplished!”  
Kenzie is pacing back and forth in front of the tv, while her brother gets up and moves to the kitchen.  She follows him after a moment and watches him fill up his glass with whiskey and down it.
“If the man you told me about yesterday, and what she said today is who my brother is turning into, I don’t think I want to know him.”
“That makes two of us.”  He pours another drink before his sister takes the glass away from him.  He takes a big drink from the bottle instead.  “I looked through my phone today, my text messages with Y/N.  There are so many I never responded to.  I didn’t even make it to checking the call log.”
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“What happened to you?  This isn’t how mom raised us, and this isn’t my big brother that always used to watch out for others.”
When he doesn’t reply she continues.
“How could you just push her to the side like she doesn’t mean anything?  Yesterday, you told me you already bought her a ring.  Were you having second thoughts about asking her?  Did you want to end things?  What was going through that head of yours?  Did the new hairstyle come with a dickhead attitude?”
“No, I don’t know. I didn’t mean to.”
“You didn’t mean to?  You’re not a kid that accidentally broke mom’s vase here.  She is really hurting Jay, heartbroken and living in some closet sized dump of an apartment.” 
He stares at his sister and replays the last thing she said.  Is she not at Jared’s anymore?  Grabbing his empty glass and going back to the couch, Jensen sits down in one corner and Kenzie sits in the other facing him.  
“Talk to me please,” she softly pushes. 
“For the first time in ten years I was walking onto a new set.”
“It’s not the first time you’ve been on a new set.  You were just on a movie set before this one.”
He rolls his eyes at the interruption.  “I know, but it was the first time I was coming on after being the star of my own show for so long.  The Batman movie, we were all pretty much in the same boat there.   These guys on The Boys, have been together for two years already.  Not everyone was the most welcoming at first.  Hell, one of the guys even told me, he didn’t want to like me.” 
He pauses for a moment before continuing.  “I didn’t want it to end up being like Dark Angel, where there were stupid fights over lines, or screen time, or some other idiotic thing.  So I did everything I could to try and fit in and avoid rocking the boat. I found a new friend in Karl, and we hung out outside of work. We might go golfing or hit up a bar, maybe both, sometimes Chace or Jack would join.  Then Karl would invite me along when they all went out as a group.I didn’t want to tell them no, and let them think I wasn’t a team player.”
“Okay, but what’s that have to do with how you treated Y/N?”
“When she showed up to dinner with Eric, I was afraid they might see it as calling in a favor with the boss to get my girlfriend to be around.  I don’t quite know how to explain how I saw it at the time.”
“That’s ridiculous.  What about barely talking with anyone before that?”
“We would spend a lot of time on set.  Might not always be the ones filming, but we were there. Phones had to stay in our trailers.  Some nights I was so beat that I just wanted to shower and get to sleep.  Honestly there were times, I didn’t even think to look at it. This character, he’s not exactly the best guy.  There were days or nights I would get in this awful headspace, and I just shut myself away.”
“Mom, Y/N, me, any of us could have helped and talked to you if you needed it.”
“But I got it in my head that I needed to do this on my own.  Prove I could do it just as well as the other guys they were looking at for the part.”
“Bravo, you did it.  You just became an asshole in the process.”
“I never meant to.  I got caught up in everything, and the filming process is different.  It isn’t really just one episode at a time.  Plus there are all these extra things thrown in that we’re filming.  Everything together, it was just a crazy couple of months.”
“I think you need to take some time now that you’re home, to figure out where exactly you stand, and what’s important in your life.  You treated Y/N like shit, and your family didn’t fare much better. I doubt your friends did either.  But you would be an even bigger idiot than you have been if you let that girl go without a fight.”
“After everything, there is no way she would want me back.”
His sister shrugs, getting up from the couch.  “Well this has been an interesting two days, but I need to get back to Dallas.  You need to work on removing your head from your ass.”
“Thanks, Mack,” he quips with a roll of his eyes. 
Picking up her purse she heads for the door.  “Good luck, you’re going to need it.”
“Thanks, drive safe.  Text me when you get home.”
“It would serve you right if I didn’t.”
He just glares at her.
“Alright, fine.  Love you.”
“Love you too, kid.”
With a hug she is off the front porch and over to her car.  Jensen waves as she pulls out of sight.  Shutting the front door he makes his way back to the living room thinking over everything that had been said. 
You spent the rest of your Sunday on the couch with the now empty bag of popcorn.  The Hallmark Channel didn’t last very long.  Flipping channels doesn’t get you anywhere, so you pull up Netflix and decide on Lucifer.  Rich had worked on that show before, and had given you a hard time about not checking it out yet.
Unfortunately, you end up falling asleep on the couch and your neck and back are not happy with you Monday morning.  At least today should be a fairly easy one.  You just have two early scenes and should be free after lunch.
After hair and makeup are done with you this morning, you head to wardrobe before going to your trailer to wait for your call time.   While you are going over the script there is a knock at the door.
“Come in,” you call out from the couch.  
Looking up you see Keegan walking in, seems like he is all ready for the day also.  
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“Hey, I was just wondering if you wanted to run lines for the second scene?” he asks.
“Sure, you can have a seat.”
Sitting across from you he pulls out the needed pages while you flip to your own.  The scene is just the two of you talking or arguing about Cordel after he has stormed out of their parents house. It has your two characters slightly at odds.  You want to cut the ranger a little slack after everything that has happened, his brother does not. 
A short while later a PA comes to call the both of you to the Walker family house set.  Jared is talking with the director.  Violet and Kale, who play Jared’s children, are off to the side looking over their scripts, while Mitch and Molly, the elder Walkers, are seated in the family living room already in their spots.   
During a break after the second take, Keegan pulls out his phone and takes a quick video of everyone waiting for the next take.  
“Here is some of our amazing cast hard at work on episode 2.”
You wave and smile when he turns it to you.
“Are you ready for this Miss Padalecki?”
“I believe I am.  How about you?”
He turns the camera on himself before shrugging. “Guess we’ll find out.  Bye for now.”
The morning goes quickly.  Since you are finished with your scenes, you are getting ready to head out.  Jared comes over as you are locking up your trailer.
“Hey, where are you off to?”
“Heading home.  What do you have?”
“A couple scenes after lunch, then some work on the producer side.”
“Good luck, hope it goes well.”
“Thanks.  I was heading for lunch, did you want to grab some with me before you go?”
You are about to say no, but your brother looks a little down.  “Sure, sounds good.”
You follow him over to craft services and notice that once he has his food, he’s looking around for a place to sit.  Unlike the Supernatural set, those here just look at him and nod as he walks by.  No one calls out for him to join them.  The two of you sit at an empty table in the back, he looks down while he starts to eat.
“What’s going on?”
Looking up in confusion, Jared just shrugs.
“Okay, let’s try this.  Where do you usually eat lunch here?”
“Gen was here some last week so she and Tom joined me.  I’ve had some meetings over lunch other days.”
“You don’t join in with the others?”
“I’m their boss here.  I’ve tried to joke around to get them to loosen up, but it’s still early I guess.  Mitch isn’t bad, but he usually eats in his trailer so he can skype his wife.”
“Y/N, you’re still here!” you hear Keegan call out behind you.
Looking up, you notice him walking over toward your table, he pauses when he sees Jared.  
“Hey Keegan, why don’t you join us?” you call out to him.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, come on.  Do you have more scenes this afternoon?”
“Yep, Jared and I have the brother’s confrontation scene next.  Then a flashback with the Walker family.”
“Okay, did you two need to run lines or anything?”
“I don’t want to bother Jared,” your new friend starts to say.
“It’s no bother.  I’d be happy to.  We can figure out how we want to play it before we get there,” Jared interrupts him.
You leave a short time later with those two in an animated discussion. 
Back at your apartment you decide to take advantage of the workout room.  All your extra snacks and sweets lately have your wardrobe fitting a little tight.  A swim after helps to cool you down before going back to your place. You have the next day off and give Gen a call to see if she wants to get together.  She has some meeting for a fundraiser board she is on, so you offer to come watch Tom.
It’s been a few days since your nephew has seen you.  The little man keeps you on your toes all day Tuesday.  You are playing with his toys indoors, out in the pool, and then running around the yard for a game of chase.  By the time Gen gets back you are wiped.  Tom settles down for a nap, while you spend some time with her.   Back home later that night, you head to bed early knowing the next three days will be long ones on set. 
Jared gives Jensen a call Tuesday night when he is once again hounded by Tom because Aunt Y/N didn’t bring Uncle Jensen over today.  
“Hey,” Jared greets his longtime friend.
“Hi Jare,” Jensen answers. 
“Tom wants to know when he's going to see Uncle Jensen.”
“My week is pretty open, what’s yours look like?”
“I’m on set all week. Tom has an appointment tomorrow Gen is taking him to.  She’ll be home with him Thursday, and she’ll be on set Friday afternoon so he’ll be there.”
“How about I pick him up Friday before Gen goes to work.  That way he isn’t stuck on the lot, or in your trailer.  I can take him over to the park, and bring him back to my place until one of you is done.”
“I’ll run it by Gen, but it should work.”
The two make small talk before ending the conversation.  Jared texts him later that Friday is good for them.
Wednesday and Thursday end up being longer days on set for you, and you are thankful there are only three scenes you are a part of on Friday.  They are just spread out a bit so you are still spending the whole day on set.  You see Gen arrive and go over to greet her and Tom, and are surprised when your nephew isn’t in the car.
“He’s with Jensen.  Tom has been begging to see him,” she tells you with a slight wince.
“Oh, I bet he has.  It’s good that they can spend some time together,” you respond with a small smile.  “I forgot something in my trailer, I’ll catch you later Gen.”
Back inside your trailer you take a seat on the couch.  Why are you upset about this?  Tom loves Jensen and you knew eventually your brother and him would be hanging out again.  Is it because you wish you were included in the plans like you used to be?  You just have to keep reminding yourself that you need to get used to the new way of things.
One very excited Tom is in his car seat in the back of Jensen’s truck on the way to the park.  The little boy hasn’t stopped talking yet. It helps take Jensen’s mind off of the tense exchange he had with Gen.  She is loyal and fierce, so he should have expected that.  Tom has told the adult up front all about his new lego set, the mess Sadie made in the house after she rolled in mud the other day, and the trip he took where he got to wave a sparkle lighter in his hand.
“What’s a sparkle lighter?”  Jensen asks, looking back at him while they are stopped at a light.
“A stick that my daddy put fire on and then I got to hold it while the sparkle lights shot off it.”
“Oh, you mean a sparkler.”
“Yeah, a sparkle lighter.”
“Sure bud, did you do that all by yourself?”
“Daddy helped.”
When they arrive at the park, Jensen is thankful it isn’t very busy.  Tom takes off for the swings first, when he’s tired of being pushed it’s over to the slides.  He makes sure his uncle is watching him go across the bridge on the play set to get over to the tall slide.  
Jensen is keeping a careful eye from down below to make sure he doesn’t fall.  Watching the small child, he can’t help but remember the last time he came here with you and Tom.  You were right up there with Tom making sure he got across just fine.  The first time down the slide you had to go with him, after that he wanted you up with him, but to slide down himself.  Jensen, definitely misses your company today.
When it’s time to leave the park, Tom convinces Jensen to stop for ice cream on the way back.  Looking at the time, Jensen calls in a pizza for them to pick up for dinner before they stop for ice cream.  When they reach his house, he takes Tom and the ice cream inside before coming back for the pizza.  He tells the little boy he has to eat some actual food before he can have his ice cream out of the freezer.
While they are eating Tom starts to tell Jensen about a time when you were watching him.
“Mommy and daddy weren’t home and me and Aunt Y/N got pizza and bread and cake and cheese fries and popcorn and cookies and ice cream.  I had one but she got two.”
“You had all that at once?”
“Yeah, she told me not to tell mommy though.”
This was the opening Jensen was looking for to see what was going on with you.  “How is your Aunt Y/N?”
 Tom shrugs his little shoulders. “She was crying a lot, but only when she didn’t see me there.”
“Is she still?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you see her cry anymore?”
“Not when she visits.”
“She doesn’t live with you anymore?”
“No. Why isn’t Aunt Y/N at your house?” the little boy quickly returns.
“Um.. well.. What did she tell you?”
“You were busy working.  But you aren’t now.  So can she leave her new home and come back there?  I don’t like it.  It’s really small and she has bad snacks there.  Mommy let me take goldfish over for you when you go to her new house.  So you don’t have to have the bad snacks.”
“That was very nice, thank you.  What’s Y/N’s apartment like?” Jensen tries to fish out more information.
“I don’t like playing there. Her bed is in the living room and kitchen together.  We can’t even play hide and seek.”  It doesn’t have any place to hide.”  He waves his hands around as only an exasperated four year old can.
The picture Tom is painting in Jensen’s head isn’t a great one.   Why would she leave Jared’s for a place like that?
After dinner and ice cream Jensen finds a kids movie on Netflix and hangs out in the living room with Tom.  He is out before the end of the movie and Jensen covers him with a blanket before turning off the movie and sitting there in silence.  
A knock at the front door quickly stirs him from his thoughts, he tries to get there before they wake up the little boy.  Opening the front door, Gen is on the other side.
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“I’m here for Tom.”
“I figured.  He’s asleep, come on in.”
Gen silent follows him in the house, stopping in the hallway when Jensen questions her.
“How is she?”
She turns to look at her husband's best friend, and her sister-in-law’s ex. “I’m assuming you mean Y/N,” she replies after a moment.
“That would be correct.”
“Why should I tell you?”
He runs a hand through his hair, “Mack and Tom both said some things. I’m worried about her.”
“Where was that worry two, three months ago?”
“I screwed up, I majorly screwed up, okay.  That doesn’t mean I don’t care about her.  Please.”
She stares at him a good minute before responding, “You hurt her bad.  She puts on a good front, but those that know her can see through it.”
“Is her apartment as bad as they both said?”
“None of us are thrilled with her current living arrangement.”
“I was surprised to hear she moved out.”
“I don’t know how many times I heard her tell Jared she didn’t want whatever happened between the two of you to come in between you and Jared.  One reason she moved out was so he could still have you over without worrying about upsetting her.”  Gen shakes her head.  “As hurt as she was…is,  she still cares about you.”
“I never meant for this to happen.  Hurting her wasn’t my intention.”
“What was your intention then?”
“I got caught up in my own head and trying to get through filming.  I just… I didn’t realize what had happened until it was too late.  She’s right, I didn’t take the initiative and call her.  Took a few weeks after the breakup  for me to realize I was still checking my phone for messages or calls from her.  I had been doing that during the…the end of our relationship, I was too wrapped up in my own things to pick up the phone and call her to see how she was doing.  I left it to her to do all the communicating.”  He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.  “Hell, I still check my phone to see if there’s anything from her.  I’ve come to realize, I failed her on a number of levels.”
“You really did. It’s about time you realized it.  Now how are you going to fix it?”
“I don’t think I can.  She deserves a better man.”
Gen shakes her head.  “I agree she deserves better, or at least better than the you in Toronto.  But I know you still have her heart.  What the two of you had was something very special, and I thought it would be worth fighting for.”
“I won’t be around much the next few months.  I have a recurring role that films in New Mexico.  It’s not fair to her to try and win her back when I’m leaving again.  What if I just fall back into the same habits?”
“I don’t think you would be stupid enough to do that to her twice. Get your shit together Ackles, because you hurt her again, Jared will kick your ass.  But that’s nothing compared to what I will do.”
She leaves him with that, walks into the living room to pick up a sleeping Tom.  Jensen holds the front door open, and moves the car seat back to her car, all the while replaying what was said.  Could he try and win her back?  Does he wait until he’ll be around more?  Is Gen wrong and it’s already too late?  Does he even deserve to?
Thank you for reading!
Chapter 13
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steve-harringtons-lover · 2 years ago
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Broken Down - Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader
Warnings/Notes: None really, stressed reader, car breaking down, set sometime between s2 and s3, stress crying, use of she/her pronouns, lmk if I missed anything!!
Authors Note: I thought of this while I was riding home from school today and thought I should post it on here since I never post on here lol.
This was weeks ago, but I didn't finish it until now.
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It wasn't your fault. You felt like it was, but it wasn't. You felt embarrassed.
Earlier, you had fell asleep at the library while studying and woke up to it being night and stormy. You could barely see out your windshield, the rain was beating on the roof of your car. At this point you just wanted to get home as fast as you could to snuggle up in your bed.
However, your car had other plans. While you were a few ways away from your house, your car began to slow down. You quickly took notice. You had stepped on the gas some, but only the engine roared, nothing moved.
"No, no, no, please." You pleaded with your car, stepping on the gas. The engine made a clunking sound before giving up. You banged on the wheel. "Why." You groaned.
You put on your hazard light even though you didn't see anyone else on the road. You grabbed your bag and began to shuffle around in it for change. You had passed a payphone not too far back.
You had enough change to make three phone calls. You stepped out your car and were immediately drenched from the rain. You walked on the sidewalk until you spotted the payphone. You opened the small door and walked inside the tiny box.
You picked up the phone and dialed the number of the nearest tow place.
_____ _ _ _
"Hey, are you y/n?" The man from the tow truck knocked on your window.
"Yes, sir." You answered, stepping out of your car. He nodded and told you what he was going to do before heading back to his truck. He came back to attach the cable to the front of your car.
"Sir, I hope you don't mind, but there is a payphone back there and I was going to call someone to come pick me up. Do you need me to help at all before I do so?" You asked in your sickening customer voice. The man shook his head.
"No, ma'am. You go right ahead." He said. You thanked him before walking to the payphone.
There was only one person you knew who would come all this way just for you. You just prayed they were awake.
You only had change for one more call now after you put the change in for this call. The phone rang over and over.
"Please pick up." You whispered to yourself, leaning your head against the glass.
The phone stopped ringing and asked you to place your call again.
"Damn it." You cursed. You put the change in the phone again and dialed the oh so familiar number. "Please answer." You closed your eyes and listened to the phone ring.
Then it stopped.
But this time someone was on the other line.
"Hello?" Steve's groggily voice erupted butterflies in your stomach and brought a sense of comfort to your current situation.
"Steve! I'm so glad you answered! Did I wake you?" You asked realizing why his voice sounded dry.
"Yeah, but it's whatever. Is something wrong?" Steve dismissed your worry about him and instead worried about you.
"Yes. My car broke down in the middle of nowhere, its raining outside, I fell asleep at the library, I was too embarrassed to call anybody else because they always tell me that I need a new car, and I just want to go home." You explained to him in a few short breaths. Tears began to burn your eyes from how stressed you are. "Will you come pick me up, please?" You meekly asked, wiping your eyes.
"I'm on my way." Steve answered, immediately grabbing his keys. "Are you close to town?" He asked.
"Yeah. That one road you absolutely hate taking because it's the fastest way to my house." You heard him chuckle on the other end from your remark.
"Alright, well I'll be there soon. Stay safe. I love you." Steve rushed. You slightly smiled to yourself.
"I love you, too. Thank you, Steve."
____ _ _ _
The nice man decided to wait with you until Steve came to pick you up. Luckily, you could see headlights in the distance, and it as it got closer you could see the shiny, red color of his car.
Steve practically jumped out of his car and rushed over to you. A look of concern stained his face.
"Are you okay?" He asked, cupping your face in his hands. They warmed your face just a little before the coldness of the rain drops returned.
"She's fine. Car is just giving her trouble 's all. You can come see about it in the morning," The man spoke, "You kids get inside and get warm, alright?" The man smiled at the couple.
"Will do. Thank you, sir." Steve said. He led you to his car with his hand on your lower back. He opened the door for you, and you climbed into the heated car. You sighed.
Steve got in and began the drive to your house. You laid your head back on the headrest, exhausted from all the stress you had today. The radio was playing softly in the background, the channel you left it on the last time you were in here.
"Thank you for picking me up, Steve." You broke the silence. He slightly smiled, looking over at you for a split second before returning his eyes back to the road.
"No need to thank me, sweetheart." Steve replied, reaching to grab your hand.
Once you arrived home, Steve followed you inside and made sure you got into bed before beginning to leave. Of course, you begged for him to stay. It only took a second for him to give in. He could never say no to you.
He cuddled up beside you. You laid your head on his chest and dozed off listening to the sound of his breathing.
____ _ _ _
Sorry if the ending is kind of shitty! I didn't how to end it lol
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whumpfish · 4 months ago
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So! June, which is usually my more productive month, has positively kicked my ass this year with multiple, multiply stressing stressors occurring right in a row. So my @eclipsingbingo card has suffered. But now I am banging out the prompts!
Tonight, for your consideration: Fever Dream + Fate Worse Than Death
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Fandom: Invisible
Whump tags: fever dream, trauma nightmare, strangulation, hypothermia, (dreamed) character death, referenced canon death
Spoilers: minimal, mostly dealing with pre-canon events; villain's true ID redacted
Summary: Shimura has hated watching people die in front of him since that night, but losing a friend? He'd rather it be him instead. But you don't get the option of trading your life for theirs when you're trapped in your own head...
---
A long tone broke through the conversation in the café they always went to, on off days where they could see each other outside the context of death. No badges, no guns, no cameras, no microphones. Just the three of them--well, four now. Shimura winced and covered one ear.
"Taka-chan?" Toko asked from across the table. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah, just... ugh. Awful ring."
"All clear now?" her brother asked. Anno Shingo, still Anno even now.
Their familiarity had reached the point of given names, but they still didn't use them. That remained Toko's unique privilege, though she was younger than both of them.
"I'm fine."
Toko looked around. "Where's Ki-chan?"
"She's coming," Shimura said. He glanced at his watch, though he couldn't remember exactly when they'd agreed to meet.
"Changing clothes?" Anno guessed. "For the ah... third time today? I guess if you're going to be Invisible, you might as well look good doing it."
"Just eat your cookie," Shimura said, picking up a fortune cookie from the plate in the center of the table and placing it in front of his partner.
Not that it was entirely unearned... Kiriko was the biggest clothes horse he'd ever met, never finishing a day in the same outfit she'd started it in.
"You eat your cookie." Anno slid one over to him.
When he unwrapped it, the cookie splintered in his hands, leaving small, slow-bleeding nicks like shattered glass. Hissing, he picked through the shards to retrieve the paper. It was blank.
"Looks like I drew the white this time," he said, smiling.
"Taka-chan, the back." Toko's usually confident, upbeat voice was hushed as she stared wide-eyed at the paper in his hands. She'd gone perfectly still, shrunk down in her chair like a rabbit hearing a gunshot.
He turned it over. SHE DIES. He looked around. They were the only ones left in the café now, it was just an empty expanse of vacant furniture.
"Did you see who brought those over?" he asked Anno.
His partner shrugged.
Toko cautiously opened her cookie, then dropped it like a snake when she unfolded the paper. "She dies!"
"Okay, not funny!" Shimura stood up, scanning the ceiling for cameras. "Toko-chan, get down," he told her in a quieter voice. He hoped this was just a bad prank, but in case it was some leftover Black Friday wacko, he didn't want her in the open if she was the target.
Toko ducked down under the table, and Shimura experimentally unwrapped another cookie and cracked it open. SHE DIES. Another. SHE DIES.
They started coming up through the table in wild, bubbling fits like a burst water main, wrapping melting away, breaking open whenever he touched them. SHE DIES. SHE DIES.
This was too unhinged to be just a prank. He and his partner exchanged glances. Not only the staff but the rest of the furniture was gone, only their table and chairs remaining.
"We should get her somewhere safe before we deal with whatever this is," said Anno.
Shimura nodded. "Yeah. Come on."
He ducked down under the table. Toko was crouched at the entrance of the staircase leading down into the floor, waiting.
"What is it?" she asked, keeping her voice low.
"We don't know yet," Shimura said as Anno pulled her to her feet. "We've got to get you out of here first. Let's go."
He led them down the stairs and down a narrow hallway at a brisk walk. The lighting was poor, and shadows stretched in all directions across the brick walls and dingy metal doors that lined it. He tried every door they passed, until finally one opened. Shimura looked inside, finding the room small, spare, with a privacy lock on the inside.
Perfect.
"Stay here," he told Toko, hurrying her inside. "Lock the door, and don't open it for anyone but us or Ki-chan. Okay?"
She nodded, and pulled the door shut.
When he turned back around, Anno was no longer standing behind him. Increasingly on guard--and hyper aware of his lack of a weapon--he cautiously began to work his way back toward the café. As he got closer to the staircase, a single fortune cookie rolled down the hall and came to rest at his feet. He didn't waste time checking it.
"Anno?"
No answer.
He kept going. A cookie crunched under his foot, then another, and another. He felt sick, and he wasn't sure why. There was a smell that came up every time a new one was broken that he couldn't identify, but felt was wrong.
"Anno? What happened, where are you?"
His stomach sank, and a chill shot through him at the raw terror in his partner's voice. He broke into a run. The smell was getting stronger, and now he could identify it, was stumbling through it, shoes sliding in it every third step, making him grab for the bricks to catch himself.
"Shimura--!"
Blood. Dark red and slick and way too much of it to be survivable.
His head banged against the underside of the table as he reached the café again. Snarling, he shoved it to one side, scattering fortune cookies across the floor, and stood up, looking around for Anno with his heart in his throat.
"Anno!" He stumbled up the steps. Slow. He was moving too slow! Why couldn't he see him yet, why couldn't he get there in time
"There's the face I love!" crowed a sickly familiar voice.
Reaper
"Where's Anno?!" he snapped, turning toward the voice.
"Too late for him," the Reaper's voice taunted. "Too late, too late... but, oh! Look what I've got!"
A streetlamp came on across the street, and the Reaper stood under it in his black suit and shiny shoes, ever professional, holding Kiriko by her shoulders, her arms bound behind her.
"Kiriko!" Shimura went to charge out after them, but the door was gone.
The Reaper forced her to her knees, fisting a hand in her hair and pulling her head back just enough to expose her throat.
"Did you think she was safe?" Grinning, he drew his empty, ruined knife hand across her throat in a slashing motion that made both of them flinch. He slowly reached up and pulled his tie off with it, the grin broadening to an unnatural degree. "But since when do I need a knife to kill?"
As Shimura raced along the glass, looking for a way out, the Reaper wound one end of his tie around each hand. He looped the middle over her head and knotted it suddenly, savagely behind her.
Fortune cookies were spilling off the table in an avalanche behind him. Breaking open into the same two words, until he could hear them whispered in the multiplying scraps of paper. SHE DIES. SHE DIES. SHE DIES.
"Kiriko!!" Shimura beat a fist against the glass in frustration, still finding no opening.
She pushed herself up further on her knees, trying to get air to answer, but whatever she'd meant to say was cut off in a pained whine as the Reaper stepped slowly, deliberately on the back of her bent legs.
Frantic now, Shimura abandoned the idea of a door altogether. He picked up one of the chairs, slamming it into the glass between them. Shouting to her to hold on, to fight, that he was coming to get her. But the harder he yelled, the more hoarse and rasping his voice became, until his was screaming in frustration at how long it was taking to crack the damned glass, and it was only coming out a labored hiss.
He could see her consciousness, the light in her eyes fade in and out as she struggled against the Reaper. As he toyed with her, dragging her death out, leering at him.
Finally the chair swung through the pane of glass, and icy water poured in from the other side. As he fought through the current, the sidewalk they stood on seemed to drift further away. He hurled himself forward, chest deep, half-swimming to close the distance between them.
He was within arm's length when Kiriko’s shoulders spasmed and went still. Her head lolled to one side, eyes falling closed. The Reaper unwound the tie from around her neck and let her drop like a marionette suddenly unstrung. He locked eyes with Shimura in a moment of sadistic triumph.
Shimura lunged for them, and the Reaper stepped back out of range. Laughing, he pushed her into the frigid water with one foot, then walked away.
"Thanks for protecting me," he mocked in her voice, the first time she'd said it, the first time her tone had shifted from teasing to genuine.
Shimura tried to stop her descent, feeling around in the murky water for a hand, an arm, clothing, anything. There was something squeezing at his chest, and he tried to ignore it, just took a breath and went under, reaching deeper. If he could find her, he could save her. Pull her out of the water and bring her back. And then they could go after that son of a bitch together.
He couldn't do it without her.
His fingers brushed her hair, and he followed it down, got his hands under her arms, and pulled her to the surface. He pushed her up onto the sidewalk ahead of him, then climbed out after her.
With her on her side, he tugged at her bindings. He was freezing, soaked, and moving was far too difficult with the weight of a waterlogged suit on top of the cold. He jerked awkwardly out of his jacket, clumsy with panic because it felt like he already knew, already knew she wouldn't wake up again. But that couldn't happen, shouldn't happen, he wouldn't let it happen. Not this time.
(This time? How many times...?)
Once he'd freed her arms, he started CPR as soon as he got her on her back, shivering but determined.
"Hey... hey, you," he said between breaths. "What did I say... when we started? I told you... I hate this shit. And you... you p-promised me."
He kept waiting for a cough, a sound, for his efforts to push some of the water out of her at least. But nothing he did made any difference. She stayed cold and still, lips and fingertips slowly turning blue.
"You c-can't," he told her again, forehead pressed to hers, as his shivering made every breath he tried to give her a little weaker. "Y-You c-can't... you s-said you w-wouldn't... p-please..."
He kept trying. Checking. Every time he couldn't hear her heartbeat, he tried her carotid. When he couldn't find it there, he put his fingers to the tattoo on her wrist and pressed down until it hurt.
Then he was shaking too hard to do proper compressions, breathing too erratically to keep up the rhythm as the cold slowly took over.
"K--Kh--"
Fuck, now he couldn't even talk to her to say he was sorry. He collapsed next to her, hand moving up from the tattoo to close around hers in a silent apology.
He closed his eyes and prayed that he would just die of exposure here at her side. That if it had to happen this way, if she had to go, he could at least go with her. He wouldn't make it through another funeral. He couldn't.
---
"Are you in?" Kiriko’s voice on the phone was anxious.
"Yeah," Mantaro answered. The locks had been changed since the last time he'd broken into Shimura’s apartment, but the super had used the same model lock, so picking it had been just as easy as the first time.
"And?"
"One sec." He looked around. The apartment was even more spartan without the at-home murder board tracking every movement of the Reaper. "Well, for one thing, it smells super chemical-y. Like something plastic caught fire, or too much bug spray." He coughed. "It's strong... Detective? You in here?"
There was a light on in the bathroom.
"Det--oh. Shit." He coughed again, and pulled his shirt up over his nose and mouth. "Well, you could definitely say he came down with something... like, all the way down. On the floor. With about half a bottle of ibuprofen and a thermometer, shaking like there's a blizzard in here." He bent down and picked it up. "Oof. 103 is... that's ambulance bad, right?"
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sseokminnie · 4 months ago
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*ੈ✩‧₊˚Fireworks*ੈ✩‧₊˚
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𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 𝟑.𝟓𝐤 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭! 𝐒𝐨𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐧 𝐱 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 ! 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: 𝐒𝐨𝐨𝐛𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫. 𝐀𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐲, 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐞𝐧𝐝-𝐨𝐟-𝐭𝐡𝐞-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭. 𝐇𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬.
˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩
“Okay class! Settle down!”
Professor Winston’s boomed into the room, many of the students who were up and talking to their friends scattered to their seats.
Soobin raised his head from his notebook, flinching a bit by the harsh and loud voice of his professor. He turned over to Beomgyu which he also lifted his head from his book he was reading. They looked at each other before laughing at the fact they got scared by the Professor’s voice.
“Alright, let’s get into the lesson for today, open your books and direct your attention to the whiteboard.” He said.
Soobin took out his textbook from his bag and placed it on the table while looking around the room. He was trying to find someone in the crowd of his classmates but couldn’t find the face he wanted to see.
“She probably slept in again, don’t worry.” Beomgyu whispered to him.
The boy just sighed and nodded, a bit bummed down for some reason. He just paid attention to the class when the door of the auditorium opened.
“Ms. L/n, it’s nice of you to join us.” Professor Winston said, sarcasm dripping from the words.
Soobin’s face lit up when he saw her enter the room, he watched as the girl with messy bed head and crocs sheepishly closed the door behind her, “Sorry to disturb.” She mumbled.
“Don’t let it happen again, have a seat.” He rolled his eyes and continued with his class.
The girl walked towards the back of the room where her friends were trying to hold in their laughter, they broke into whispers when she sat down before turning their attention back to the lesson.
Soobin chuckled softly to himself, feeling how his heartbeat began to pick up its pace by just looking at the girl. He looked over to Beomgyu who just rolled his eyes at Soobin for being stupid in love with the girl who was always late to class.
As the class went on, Soobin couldn’t help but look at the girl every chance he got. Beomgyu was right, he is stupid in love with y/n.
He didn’t know when this silly little crush started, they never even had an interaction before to make him head over heels in love with her. Was it when she was late for class and sneaked her way into the room and no one saw her but Soobin? No, he just laughed and shook his head.
Or was it when one of her friends was being scolded for something they didn’t do and y/n was there to tell off the Professor, earning her a strike for suspension? Yes, that was definitely the cause for his crush.
He was blown away by her, the way she wasn’t afraid of speaking her mind and willing to get a strike for suspension just for her friend. She was amazing.
Ever since that day, he’s paid attention to her. Having the classes together was what helped him out the most. He was no stalker, he would patiently wait in the classroom to watch her enter the room with her friends. Just looking at her, it was enough for him.
He noticed the small things about the girl, the way that you can tell that she just woke up by her curly hair. If it’s neatly styled, she woke up early but if it was messy, she woke up late. Her round glasses and her beauty marks. How on lazy days she would wear crocs instead of her converses. Her white crocs with her charms.
But he has never even tried to ask her out. It’s better for him to just look from afar. Like he was just admiring a painting in a museum. His friends try to encourage him to go and talk to you but his social anxiety prevents him from doing so.
“Alright, that is all for today but before you leave I’m going to announce the groups for the end of the year project.” He said.
The class began to murmur, Soobin desperately wanted to be with Beomgyu. Between the both of them, his best friend is the talker. They sat quietly, listening as Professor Winston announced the 7 groups for the project to wrap up the semester.
“The 6th group is Soobin, Y/n, Veronica, Jordan, Stella, and Marissa.” Professor Winston said.
Soobin froze in his seat, he heard Beomgyu’s name being called out with some other classmates who were as outgoing as him. He wanted in that moment to ask if he can switch groups but he doesn’t want to seem like a bad guy.
When the bell rang, he hurriedly packed his stuff up, wanting to leave the room as fast as possible. Only to hear the voice of the girl he loves saying his name.
“Soobin!”
“Good luck.” Beomgyu patted his friend’s shoulder before running out of the room.
The boy tried to grab Beomgyu’s collar only to be too late as his hand grabbed onto nothing but air. He groaned in desperation, holding his books close to his chest, he went over where the girls were still seated (like they weren’t in no hurry to get to their next class).
“H-hi.” Soobin said once he approached the group.
They all replied enthusiastically to him, Veronica pulled a seat next to Y/n, tapping it as a way to tell him to sit down. He hesitated in sitting down, but with the encouragement of the words of the girls he did.
“So, Soobin, what’s the plan?” Y/n asked.
“W-what? Oh! Umm…okay…so.” He stammered. He nervously began to flip through his notes, looking for the paper that was given out. Soobin found it between two of his textbooks and handed it over to y/n. Slightly panicking when he felt her hand brush over his.
“Okay! So, Soobin is pretty much the brains of this group. Why don’t you assign us what we are each going to do and we’ll do it!” Y/n said passing the paper around before going back to its owner.
“Should we meet up in the library to do it?” Marissa asked.
“Okay but when because we have jobs.” Jordan responded.
“After school?” Stella suggested.
They began talking over each trying to find out a way to meet up and do the project. Soobin sat quietly, not knowing what to do or say to stop them from talking.
“Why don’t…”
The girls quieted down and all looked at him, he gulped and wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans. Soobin made sure to avoid eye contact, “If no one is busy, we can begin right now…and then we can see what other day we can meet up again.”
They all nodded and agreed, grabbing their stuff and making their way out of the room leaving a dumbfounded Soobin.
“Soobin, let’s go!” Y/n said, turning back to the boy.
He grabbed his stuff and followed the group, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the loudness of the girls.
“They can be a handful.”
Looking to his side he saw y/n walking beside him, he had to look down. It was at that point he realized how short she was.
“They can be pretty loud.” He mumbled to her.
“Don’t even get me started when they start talking about their celebrity crushes.” She laughed, remembering the many late night talks. “Don’t be scared, we are just a group of girls who just aren’t scared to be themselves.”
“Oh my god! Soobin, you like KARA?!” Veronica exclaimed.
He flinched when he saw the girl with black hair and glasses on the other side of him looking at his KARA sticker he had on his binder.
“You’ve heard about them?” He asked shyly.
“Are you kidding? They are amazing!” She smiled at him.
The walk to the library was a good 10 minute walk, making it 20 when they took a detour to the convenience store.
“Soobin, do you want anything?” Y/n asked.
“N-no, it’s fine.” He chuckled nervously.
“Get something! It’s my treat.” She smiled at him.
He was sure that his heart was about to burst out of his chest when he saw Y/n smile at him. Soobin felt how his cheeks began to turn pink, he fidgeted in his place and grabbed a bag of chips and placed it on the counter where the growing pile of junk food was growing.
He stayed next to her as she paid, helping her bag the stuff and carrying it for them to the library. Slowly, he was breaking out of his shell, talking to the girls (mostly Y/n).
They both walked together, behind the rest of the group. It was mostly Y/n who was talking but he didn’t mind, hearing her speak and making him laugh was enough.
When they got to the college’s library, they rented out a study room just for them. They spent the entire afternoon talking about what they were going to present for the end of the year project. But as the night was settling, one by one the girls had to go, leaving Soobin and Y/n alone in the room.
“It’s getting late, we should get going.” Soobin said as he looked up from his books and noticed Y/n fast asleep on the table.
Her arms making a makeshift pillow, a few strands of her curly hair covering her eyes. It was like his body was taking control and he couldn’t stop it, it was too late to retreat when he noticed his hand brushing away the strands of hair and tucking them behind her ear.
He was able to count her eyelashes through her glasses, he noticed how her nails were painted a black color when last week was a dark red.
Soobin is stupid in love with Y/n.
It pained him that his college years were almost over and it was until now he was able to talk to her.
“You know it’s rude to stare at someone.”
“Oh! Sorry… I didn’t mean to stare!” He said quickly.
She laughed, sitting up and stretching out, y/n looked over too Soobin and smiled. “I guess I should get going. Tomorrow, then?”
He nodded and watched as she picked up her stuff and left the room, Soobin sat alone in the room, processing what happened. He was shocked and a bit proud of himself that finally found the guts to talk to his long-time crush. He smiled to himself before getting up from his seat and doing a little victory dance before grabbing his stuff and leaving the study room.
When he returned to his dorm room, Beomgyu asked him about the project and Y/n.
“She’s amazing.”
˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙
It’s been 2 months since the start of the project, Soobin had opened up completely to the group of girls. Even at times, he would meet up with them to do non-school activities. It was mostly him getting closer to Y/n but he enjoyed having more friends other than Beomgyu.
Like right now, he was helping Veronica buy movie tickets on a saturday afternoon when they finished studying.
“You like Y/n, do you?”
His head whipped to her direction, feeling how his hands began to sweat on command and his heart beating hard. “What are you talking about?” He stuttered and laughed nervously.
“Oh, come on!” Veronica laughed, “At this point might as well hold up a sign with a big red arrow and her name and a heart.”
He looked away shyly, watching as the girl with the glasses laughed at him. He blushed and shoved her a bit, making her laugh even more.
“Look, It’s adorable! Literally we all know about the crush except for Y/n.” She said, grabbing the tickets and walking away.
"Wait, everyone knows?" He chased after her.
"Uh,yeah." She scoffed. "Marissa, Stella, and Jordan know. We noticed the 2nd time when we all went out."
"Okay, but don't-"
"Tell her? Trust me, she is so dense that a rock can see better on how much of a lovesick you are. Our lips are sealed."
And they kept their promise, they didn't say anything about Soobin’s big crush on Y/n. Instead, they helped him out. Coming with excuses so they can be alone because truth be told, the girls don't even know if Y/n likes Soobin.
She's so closed off about her love life that it scares the girls that she'll die alone.
Soobin looked at his watch and then at the girl in front of him. They were both alone waiting for the rest of the group to finish the project but they were nowhere to be found.
"I swear to God, I'll kill them the minute they walk into this room." Y/n groaned.
"They're probably running a bit late." Soobin shrugged, writing in his notebook.
"Oh no, they've influenced you too much! You're defending them!" Y/n laughed.
"They did not!" He laughed back, "They're probably late."
She shook her head and laughed, "Fine then, if they don't come in the next 5 minutes, we are going to the amusement park."
"Amusement park? Really? All of a sudden?" He sat up, looking at the girl and began typing on her phone.
"And I just bought the tickets." She placed her phone down and smiled at Soobin.
He smiled back, avoiding eye contact as he laughed to himself. "Five minutes then."
They both sat in silence, the ticking of the clock on the wall was all you could hear. Soobin looked up when he saw Y/n stand up, pack her things and fling her bag over her shoulder.
"Come on, pretty boy, we have an amusement park to go to." She said, holding out her hand towards Soobin.
He looked at the hand and then at Y/n, he sighed and packed things before taking her hands. She smiled widely before taking off, running out of the study room and into the library holding tightly onto Soobin’s hand.
Pretty boy…
Those words kept repeating in his head, even if she was just teasing him, he couldn't help but think that she thought he was pretty.
They stopped at the bus stop as they tried to catch their breath. Y/n put up her hair and Soobin couldn't turn away. Her curly hair being his favorite feature of hers, he had to fight the urge to run his hand through the dark locks of the girl.
When they got onto the bus, Y/n took out her headphones, putting on one ear bud and handing the other one to Soobin. Hesitantly, he accepted the earbud.
His body froze up when he felt how she placed her head on his shoulder.
He didn't move throughout the entire bus ride.
The moment they arrived at the amusement park, Y/n dragged Soobin to the ice cream shop. They bought themselves a small snack before spending the entire afternoon walking around the park and playing games. They got on a couple of rides but they decided best to just play and eat.
When the sun began hiding behind the ferris and the moon was starting to shine bright, Y/n gasped and stopped Soobin in his tracks.
"The Ferris Wheel! Let's go!" Y/n squealed, dragging Soobin behind her.
He couldn't even if he wanted to, he was already on the seat waiting for the ride to begin. They made it to the top as the seats were still being filled up.
"This is the most fun I've ever had."
Soobin looked at the girl next to her, his heart began to beat fast.
"Me too."
"What are you going to do once you leave college?" She asked.
"All of a sudden?" He chuckled, "I don't know, how about you?"
"Same as you." She giggled.
There was that silence, the comfortable silence where nothing was being said.
"Do you believe in love?" She whispered.
"I do, you?"
"Yeah, I just don't know if it's meant to be for me." She furrowed her eyebrows.
"How come?" He asked.
"I'm pretty dense when it's about this type of stuff, I always seem to push away people who love me without noticing."
"You're not pushing me away."
The ride began scaring the pair, like they had forgotten they were on top of a Ferris Wheel. It was quiet and Soobin panicked, did he ruin everything by hinting his feelings for her?
When the ride finished, Y/n cleared her throat, "We should find a spot, the fireworks are going to start soon." Before walking ahead.
His heart sank, it was happening, she was pushing him away…
Should he let her go?
After so many months crushing over her, he was finally able to talk to Y/n. He wouldn't and couldn't let her go. He was willing to give her his heart even if it meant going through pain just to love her.
He ran after her, dodging people as he tried to find the girl, she walked too far away.
She was standing right there, a perfect spot near the river to see the fireworks. He went up to her and held her hands in his.
"Don't push me away." He whispered.
Y/n was confused and scared, scared to love someone because she doesn't want to get hurt. When she met Soobin, her life got better. She loved being around the tall boy, seeing how awkward and shy he was.
Her heart would flutter whenever he did the bare minimum, holding open doors for her and her friends or giving her his jacket whenever it was cold.
Things that happened to her in the past formed her into the person she is now. Was she willing to change?
"Soobin." She began. Only to be cut off by the boy, he shook his head and held her hands tighter.
"Even if you do push me away, I will always find a way to get back to you. These past days, you've become an important part of my life, I am willing to be by your side for as long as you tell me to. You are an amazing human being and I hope you can see it."
She was speechless by his words, looking deep into his brown eyes, she tried to look even for the slightest emotion that he was lying to her.
But he wasn't.
He was telling the truth, lover or not, Soobin will love and continue loving her until his dying breath. Kind of dramatic but it was the truth.
Soobin hesitated with what he was going to say next, but looking at the calendar, there was only a few months left until they graduated and were thrown into the real world. So…Fuck it.
"I love you, Y/n."
Everything around them disappeared, it's as if it was just them two in this spinning rock in space called earth. Y/n's eyes widened, her heart began to beat fast against her chest. Her breath hitched as she kept looking at the boy in front of her. The boy who changed her life for the good and she knew it, in her heart, that she would rather die than to let someone as pure as Soobin walk out of her life.
"I've loved you for as long as I can remember but I couldn't grow the guts to talk or tell you. And now that I've been able to talk to you, I've fallen even more in love. You don't have to say anything, right now. I just want you to know that I love you and I'll wait for you."
By now, a few tears have fallen from her eyes. Overwhelmed by the confession but happy since Soobin was returning her feelings. Y/n has heard about the phrase, 'actions speak louder than words', she didn't really understand what that meant until now…
Getting up on her tiptoes, she cupped his face in her hands and pressed her lips against his. Soobin was caught off guard but he felt her soft lips against his. He melted into the kiss, placing his hands on her waist and pulling her closer to him. His body and hers pressed closely together as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
Kaboom!
The sound of the fireworks filled the air, they pulled back frightened by the sounds. The night sky lit up with the many lights of the fireworks. Looking up at the sky and then each other, laughing because they got scared.
"I love you, too, Soobin."
She said, he smiled widely looking at the prettiest girl in the world in front of him saying that she loves him too. He connected his lips on hers once more, the fireworks describing perfectly their first kiss.
Soobins loves Y/n.
Y/n loves Soobin.
Some say it's a weird combination, the shy quiet boy dating the outgoing girl. Other people say they were a match made in heaven, those people were right.
They were a match made in heaven.
And Soobin was the luckiest boy in the whole world.
˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚*˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙
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lavender-z-love · 2 years ago
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Blessed-Cursed
Jake Sim X Black.FemReader
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🩸 Genre: Angst, Romance, Reunion, Vampire X Human, Vampire x Vampire.
🩸 Warnings: Angst, Death (Reader dieing), Vampire, Mentions on blood, Undead, Vampire bites, Drinking blood. Probably some spelling errors because a mf can't spell to save her life..smdh.
🩸A/n: So! This will be in 3 parts! My mini Blessed-Cursed series. Sorry for writing about Vampires so much. They are such fascinating creatures to explore in writing with! Plus my Enha boys look good in their 'Vamp-ish' pics. Please enjoy! Quick PSA, the dividers are not mine!
🩸Quick Notice: If you see the name 'Yuta' instead of 'Jake' Let me know. I was making this originally for NCT's Yuta but Enha felt better for this! Yuta will have a story too
🩸Wordcount: 1,400k
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The moon is really bright today..It burns a deep red; and so are the stars in contrast to the sky. The love of my life lies inanimate before me. Im the one who had helped the process come quicker. My selfishness of not wanting to let her go so soon, the selfishness of possibly cursing her with immortality.
The look in of terror in her eyes as she witnessed her life be torn from her body. Mortified of the danger that was the cause of another being; none other than a Human. Her cries hurt my heart, it seemed like it was my fault? I was too late to realize the dangerous, pathetic earthling who had taken her from me was.
I sit by the window, replaying the scene in his head. I suffer a great discomfort to see her like that. I knew it would come, with us being two different species. Y/n, who's human, could leave easily, diseases, accidents, aging...
I should've expected to out live her. Needless to say, I am an immortal being. Though, to outlive her to murder? How unfair, is this what a mutilation feels like? It's painful..really bad. Should I have just let her go?
That evening, you were taking a stroll with your fiancé. Much to the both of your surprises, it rained despite weather apps claiming otherwise. "Jake, it's fine, my place is just nearby. We can stay there for a bit." Jake, leaning close to your ear so you could hear him better.
"Are you sure, I don't want to be a problem my Dove."
"No! None at all! You can stay until the rain stops."
The rain starts to pick up. Jake grabs your hands, pulling you towards a nearby convince store. Y/n L/n, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was an accident, right? No, but it sure did feel like it was on purpose. No way some individual would just randomly take another's life? They would...They do it all the time, I can't deny whats in front of me
A murderous fiend who'd acted on their killer desires. Thats what happened- he should've gone in with you, instead he waited outside for you. He didn't think it would be safe for you to wait outside alone, especially while it was night time too. Not knowing what dangers lurked inside of that ungodly place.
Alerted by your cries Jake broke the glass door making his way inside, witnessing you starting to bleed out. His blood was boiling, he began panicking, even hyperventilating. This couldn't possibly be happening, who had done this?!
The thought of losing the love of his life. No, not again! 'I'm not losing someone I care about again!' Jake would be looked into if he hadn't warped the camera footage. You on the other hand, he was sure there would be some search party out for you. After all, your blood was spilled on the floor. You were seen by bystanders. You were recorded by store cameras; which once again, the footage was now distorted. Best thing for me to do was erase everyone's memories, but in the midst of losing you that was the last thing on his mind.
After Jake he scurried away. Holding you tight in his arms, scared your soul would slip away any moment. His Beloved..She was dieing. "Y/n, Y/n Stay awake for me. Okay?",He called out to you, with his voice wavering.
"I-It hurts! It hurts rea-really bad!" She managed to cried as she clung to my shirt. I, myself wanted to cry, oh so bad. However, it seemed like the adrenaline rush, subsiding the emotions. Y/n's voice..It was failing her. Her life was slipping from your body as your blood did the same.
You wanted to call out to him, nothing ever exited your lips besides a sharp, staggering breath. Your eyelashes fluttering, failing to stay awake. Next thing he knew, you were laying on his bed, deceased.
Its been about two days and you haven't awakened yet. He was starting to feel anxious, maybe he was too late to turn you? Maybe he didn't make you drink enough of his blood? What could've went wrong!? He heard something, a little rustling noise. Attention turned from the night sky as he sat on the window seat. Her fingers twitching with slight movements. He slowly got up from the window seat, steadily making his way towards her. 'Am I just seeing things?!' He thought to himself.
'No- I couldn't have.' I kneel beside Y/n's form, placing my fingers along her neck in attempt to feel for a heartbeat. Surely enough there was one, it was faint, almost undetectable. Her body was not the typical Dead that Vampires are. It was evident that you'd bleed out, but seeing your pulse and breathing it was amost like you never died. It was almost like you'd evolved.
Y/n's blood, skin now suddenly burning with warmth- pulling up the long sleeves of her shirt to reveal the vibrant blue color of her veins. Almost as if on cue..her eyes jet open, glowing a deep blue color. Jake now stood before you in disbelief. "Y-Y/n, your-"
"Hungry..So Hungry." Y/n's voice strains. You attempted to get up and move around, only to no avail.
"Stay down, You have to get used to it."
Your blue orbs shift to him, studying him, your cold vampiric eyes watching his every move. He knew you weren't in a right state of mind at the moment.
She's been "dead" for 4 days. His hands slowly caress you cheek gently, elated that his princess was back. With her breathing rugged, she struggled to learn how to breathe again. "Y/n? My love..",he whispered, running his hands through your curly hair. You couldn't focus on his voice, all that you could see were areas to that you oh so badly wanted to drain. His neck..the pit of his elbows, his forearm...wrists.
"Jake..", her weakened voice calls out and l like a slave, I listened gladly. She struggled to sit up right, fumbling backwards. Eventually she clung to my sleeve..
"I need to...I just need to.."
I helped her up, holding her carefully,"Sure Love, go ahead.." it's not like she needed his permission, She was going to drink his rouge liquid whether he denyed her or not. That is one of the many curses of the vampirism transformation process.
Her fangs slowly protruding past her soft lips..penetrating my skin. For the first time, of the very few times of someone bitting me..God it was incredibly painful.
I bite my lip in attempt to hold in his grunts. My fiancée's slender tanned fingers grabbing, now tangled in my hair and pulling it. This giving her more access to my neck. Finding a new spot to pierce. I grunt, sucking my teeth. She growls, bruising, harshly biting my skin.
Fuck..It hurts, but for her...I'd gladly experience all the pain on earth to keep her in my arms. Her hunger getting the best of her, Y/n wobbles to her feet, grabs my collar, slamming me to the wall. "A-Ah..Y/n!!"
Is this what other creatures feel like when vampires drink from them? Jake sighs, breath staggered trying to contain and help the pain subside. After a minute or two of ravaging his skin with multiple piercings, you finally having enough of a drink. The two of you fell to the floor, with you still in Jake's arms
The glow of your eyes dull down into your usual color as your senses now come to. You pull away, you release your fiancée's hair as you eyes rest on him..vision still not 100%.
Figures, your technically undead, and being "dead" you aren't breathing. So oxygen isn't getting where its supposed to, that includes your eyes. You'd only just started breathing again, so it would take some time before your vision would be 20/20 again.
Your cool fingers reach out before you, touching his face. Your fingers tracing over his eyelids, lips, cheek bones, cheeks, nose. You squint your eyes, foggy vision subsiding a little, but still not clear. "Jake?", you say.
There was some sniffling noises before a quiet laugh. Jake staring at you with tears in his eyes, "Yes my dove?"
"You're so...blurry", you say as your eyes close.
"I know, Im sorry my dove. It'll go away soon." Jake held you close, squeezing you in his strong arms. Your finger finds a tear on his face slowly wiping it away. "You're..crying? Why?", your voice ached. The touch of his skin was cool in contrast to yours. "I'm just happy, So happy", he answered looking into your now normally beautiful brown colored eyes.
You chuckled, and smiled before falling asleep in his arms. Jake kissed your temple, caressing your cheek. Quietly whispering—
"Welcome back My Dove."
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Written January 30th
34 notes · View notes
saiilorstars · 2 years ago
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Ch.8: Lena Luthor
Story Masterlist // Anais’ Masterlist
Pairing: Winn Schott x OFC
Taglist: @ocappreciationtag​​ @arrthurpendragon​ @anotherunreadblog​ @maaaaarveeeeel​ @stareyedplanet​​ @foxesandmagic​​​​​​​
[If you’d like to be added to this specific OC’s stories/edits, send me a message!]
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"So your parents were sent off well?" Kara asked just as she and Anais landed in front of a expensive-looking building J'onn had requested their appearance at.
"Yeah," Anais gave a light shrug of her shoulders. "I told them the man from the pod was another Kryptonian so there was nothing to worry about. They and my godparents are leaving to get some well needed rest."
"You believe that?"
Anais snorted. "They're all science geeks. Anyways, where the hell are we?" The two made it into the building and found the familiar DEO employees going about their usual tasks. "Where are we?" Anais repeated her question and hoped someone would finally answer them.
"The Department of Extra-Normal Operations, where else?" J'onn stopped by them, wondering why they were acting so clueless.
Both women exchanged exact, incredulous glances.
"Wait! Wait, wait, wait!" Kara followed J'onn first. "This has always been here? With the glass and the views and...and you made me fly to that cave every day!"
"DEO has several facilities, Kara."
"A bat bit me in the last one!”
"Whiner," J'onn calmly said, eliciting a snicker from Anais but a rather offended look from Kara.
"Hey, sis," Alex greeted when the trio entered the medbay room.
"You knew about this place, too?" Anais raised an eyebrow. She was beginning to feel rather offended herself for not being in the loop.
"Yeah, it's like a block from my apartment. It's kind of like the old place. Maybe better."
Kara decided to put that behind them or else they would never get to the news of the moment. She gazed at the unconscious man in Alex's care. "He has to be from Krypton. He must have escaped before the planet exploded, like Clark and I did."
"He's comatose. His vitals are stable. Breathing is normal. There's nothing else we can really learn from him because…" Alex had tried to stick a needle in the man's arm but the needle broke instead.
"That proves he's from Krypton!"
"I think it just proves he's not human," Anais chimed in her opinion. Kara looked at her seeming rather offended. "There's a lot of aliens that have freaky strength, myself included."
"Which means he could be dangerous," J'onn said what everyone else had already assumed.
"Sir, I would request that Winn help with the investigation," Alex said once she saw Winn coming into the room. "We need someone to analyze the pod's telemetry, and Winn does read Kryptonian."
At the questioning looks from Kara and J'onn, he meekly explained, "I got bored. I thought I'd pick up a new language. Space talk!"
"You want to prove your worth, Mr. Schott? Find out something my team of highly trained alien experts can't," J'onn said, meaning it as a kind way of letting Winn know his time probably wasn't going to be of much use.
Winn took that as the exact opposite. "Challenge accepted."
Anais laughed quietly. J'onn nodded Winn to follow him out but stopped under the threshold for a moment. "Oh, Solar, your friend is being released in twenty minutes."
Anais eagerly nodded and thanked him again. She turned to meet the smiling faces of Kara and Alex. "What?"
"Arun is getting released today?" Kara asked even though they already knew the answer.
"Yes, he was officially declared nonthreatening," Anais rolled her eyes. "That's still rude but... it's behind us. We're going to watch the Venture space launch tonight after he shows me his art shop."
"Oh, going on a date already…?" Alex purposely teased and Kara really did try to suppress her laughter.
"It's not a date, Alex. He's showing me his life and I'm going to show him mine," Anais smiled brightly at the thought of finally meeting someone like her. "And don't worry Kara, I'll stay clear of the apartment so you and James can have some alone time."
"Oh, so you're the one going on a date?" Alex shifted her teasing glance to Kara instead.
"Yup," Kara answered fast. "It's gonna be great. We are finally both free and clear to just hang out. No aliens trying to destroy the Earth. Just him and me, together like normal people, doing what people do on dates." She had to stop though when she noticed Alex's intense look. "What?"
Alex cleared her throat and purposely moved away from her sister. She went to put down the needle she'd tried using on the mysterious man. "You're just kind of doing that thing where you are super overeager, which means that you really aren't, but you're trying to convince yourself that you are."
"You got all of that from that one response?" Anais blinked in genuine surprise. She wondered if this was what it was like to have a sibling. Sure her parents knew her emotions well but a sibling, she imagined, knew more things about you that the parents wouldn't.
"She does that a lot, you'll see," Alex moved on out of the room but of course Kara went after her, protesting what had been assumed about her.
"I'm excited! I am so excited!"
Anais didn't say anything but she was pretty sure someone who was genuinely excited about something wouldn't go so hard trying to convince someone that they indeed were really excited. Thankfully, things didn't enter into an actual argument since Kara was called away by Cat. Though when she did go, she didn't do it before uttering one more time that she was "super uber excited" which really just proved Alex right.
"Every day I get to know something new about your sister," Anais chuckled as now she and Alex headed towards the main room.
"That's going to happen. I'm really just looking out for her," Alex felt the need to clarify. She didn't want to sabotage Kara's long awaited date but she just knew that Kara wasn't truly happy at the moment. "And I'll be looking out for you too, just so we're clear."
Anais blinked. "What? What did I do?"
Alex playfully rolled her eyes. "Your parents asked me to keep an eye on you."
"Oh great-"
"And keeping my word…" Alex came to a stop suddenly, making Anais dread what was coming, "I want you to be extra careful when you're around Arun."
"Alex, I already told you he wasn't dangerous-"
"You don't know someone's intentions, alright? Now Arun has been living on Earth for a long time. You know who is biologically, but you don't know what kind of person he is in reality," Alex was very serious in this matter. She would be repeating this to Anais every time she deemed it necessary. "So today, while you're out with him, watch yourself. Don't go to his apartment yet."
"Alex, c'mon," Anais laughed at the absurdity of her words. "I'm not a little kid. And I certainly have the means to protect myself."
"I know you do, but I still want you to be alert," Alex smiled and hoped Anais would understand she was just looking out for her too. She left Anais in the central room afterwards but even as Anais tried pushing Alex's words away it was impossible.
Alright, so maybe she couldn't fully trust Arun yet but it didn't mean she had to view him as a villain.
"You alright?"
Anais flinched when Winn touched her shoulder. She snapped out of her thoughts and waved him off. "Yeah, don't worry about it. Alex is trying to be my big sister."
"And that's...bad…?" Winn wasn't sure due to her straight face. "I mean, I know Alex can be scary but, she's fine. She's cool."
Anais chuckled and playfully rolled her eyes. "She is but she just had this idea that I shouldn't be so trusting in Arun."
"He was cleared of any threats, right?"
"Yes!"
"Well, I mean...it wouldn't hurt to be cautious," Winn flashed her a nervous smile when he noticed she was close to glaring at him. "Or not... not works too. Do whatever you feel is right."
She ultimately smiled. "Way to stand your ground. You know, if you're going to be working here, you'll need to learn how to do that."
"Me work here?" Winn's eyes went wide at the idea. "At the DEO?" His laughter wasn't received well since Anais had been dead serious.
"C'mon, Winn. You're more than qualified to be here. Plus, it's pretty obvious you want to be here too," Anais nudged him on the side.
"Yeah…" Winn wasn't going to outright admit the D.E.O. would be a working dream for him. Whether he admitted it or not, it was obvious for Anais.
~ 0 ~
When Arun was finally released, he made a direct demand to go out and eat. Apparently, what the D.E.O. served wasn't as great as one would think. Anais laughed but didn't protest to some tasty lunch.
"We can do whatever you want but I just can't get home until eleven," Anais warned Arun after they walked into the restaurant Arun chose. He apparently had a taste for Italian. "My roommate Kara has a hot date tonight."
"You and Supergirl room together?" Arun was immediately shushed by Anais, even though no one actually heard his question. He raised an eyebrow at her, clearly confused on her rudeness. "What?"
"You can't just say stuff like that out in the open."
"Why? It's not like any of the humans can actually hear us."
"Doesn't matter," Anais frowned.
Arun left it at that and picked up the menu. "What do you feel like having? It's on me, by the way."
"I really love pasta so a chicken alfredo would be delicious," Anais then lowered the menu, revealing a smile on her face. "And thanks for the invite. Next time it's on me."
Arun smiled back. "Don't worry about it. On Solaris, it's customary for the men to pay for the meals."
"Ah, chivalry and tradition - that's not new," Anais playfully rolled her eyes.
"Oh no, Solaris is nothing like...Earth," Arun's brief condescension didn't go unnoticed by the blonde. "Solaris was beautiful in its time. It was always bright and sunny. People were always elegant and there was order."
"Order?"
"Yes, you know, classes? We didn't have to mingle with anyone outside our social class."
"Aha," Anais scrunched her face behind her menu. "Kinda sounds boring."
"What?" Arun sounded offended but Anais wasn't going to keep her opinions to herself just for fear of upsetting him.
"Well, it sounds like a boring, rich place. Don't get me wrong, being rich is probably fun but all the snootiness that comes with it?"
Arun was frowning when Anais put down her menu. "You don't understand. When we can, I'll show you images of Solaris. You'll change your mind in a snap."
"Okay," Anais chuckled.
A young waitress stopped by their table to get their order. Arun ended up ordering on behalf of Anais - which she was a bit surprised with since she was very capable of doing that on her own - then ordered for him afterwards. While they waited for their meals, Arun talked about himself - and a bit of Solaris - for Anais.
As it turned out, Arun was more traditional in that he didn't really mingle with humans except for when he worked. Survival, basically. He viewed humans as a necessity to survive so he kept his interactions civil and short. Anais thought it weird that after living on Earth for ten years, he still kept that type of mentality.
"On Solaris, I was part of a high class so I was just raised with different perspectives," he said with a careless shrug. "Your family was one of them, by the way. The Mjorklands were known for their fine weaving skills. They made the finest clothing on the planet."
"So we were fashion designers?" Anais' joke was met with another frown. She ultimately stopped laughing when he wouldn't lighten up. "My mother never mentioned it."
"Irais should have told you about your history," Arun said quietly, though Anais swore he seemed more upset than she was about the matter.
"She just answered what I would ask. And most of that time was spent in hiding and being absolutely quiet."
"Sorry," Arun apologized. As the waitress came back with their meals, Anais took her turn to talk more about her background.
"My mother was murdered by humans - my father's family, actually - and after the DEO found me, two of the government's employees adopted me," Anais smiled at the thought of her adoptive parents. "They're good people. I love them."
"I'm sorry about Irais," Arun honestly meant it. "But...what was she thinking mingling with humans? Procreating was already a…"
Anais raised an eyebrow, an expression of incredulity flashing across her face. "I'd be careful how you finish that sentence since it's pertaining to me."
"No - I didn't mean it like that!" Arun went wide-eyed once he realized she was right. "It's just...Solaris had a strict rule about procreating with another species. We had these other species sometimes tour on our planet and...well, sometimes they got our people to give them a second look. It's just not right. I mean, look at the consequences you have. Your father never accepted you and his family killed your mother. You yourself only have half of a Solista's abilities."
"And I'm fine with the abilities I have," Anais said calmly despite feeling insulted in about ten different ways.
"I...I just wish that you could have everything you were supposed to have," Arun said, sighing.
Anais grabbed her fork and practically stabbed her pasta with it. She understood what Arun was trying to say and maybe in a way he was right. There were powers that she would never get to experience.
'Hang on, we're hearing of a possible explosion aboard the Venture…'
Anais looked up to the television hanging against the wall. "The Venture…"
"Yeah, humans wanting to reach space," Arun laughed to himself, missing Anais roll her eyes at him.
'Here's all we know at this time. There are over 200 people aboard the craft and the ship itself seems to be propelling down to Earth…'
"Oh my God," Anais dropped her fork on her plate.
'There are no further details, but keep it right here, and we'll continue to bring you the very latest. We can only hope wherever Supergirl and Solar are, we pray they're watching this.'
"I have to go!"
"What? Where!?" Arun scowled as Anais jumped up from her chair. "They'll take care of it!"
Anais was already out the door when he said that. She took off in her speedy run down the streets, picking up her suit on the way, then took off into the sky. She already saw the red cape of her partner and smiled in relief. Supergirl felt the weight of the craft lessen and glanced to see Solar right beside her pushing against the craft's front.
"Good timing!" Supergirl exclaimed.
"What the heck happened!?" Solar groaned as the ship continued to push against their collective force.
Suddenly, they felt a third force join theirs. Supergirl recognized the similar red cape of her cousin and beamed.
"...no frikin way!" Solar was the first to exclaim after seeing Superman smile at them from behind the ship. He breathed an icy air into the engines to force a shut down of its energy.
Between the three aliens, they were able to safely bring the craft into a landing just outside the city.
"That was awesome!" Supergirl laughed when she got to hug her cousin.
Solar practically ripped her away from Superman to have her turn. "Hi! I'm Solar! I love your work!"
Superman laughed at the two women. "Nice to meet you, Solar. I'm a fan of your debut."
Solar screeched and turned to Supergirl. "I really like him!"
"Way to go!" they heard a little girl's voice not too far. The three aliens turned to see a family biking down the road.
The boy next to her pointed at the aliens. "Look, it's Superman!"
"I used to change his diapers," Supergirl felt the need to reveal, making Superman throw her a sharp glance while the boy nearly lost it.
"Uh, not exactly sure you have to tell them that," he whispered but Kara giggled.
"No, I think I really do."
"I think she did," Solar agreed with her own laugh.
~ 0 ~
When Supergirl and Solar brought Superman back to the DEO, there was a whole crowd awaiting to see the Man of Steel. Of course, the man had to stop and greet every employee in the room.
Alex noticed J'onn's grim face as Superman made his way down the crowd. "You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Is...is Superman's appearance a problem?"
"...no."
Alex raised an eyebrow at J'onn but he didn't say anything afterwards. Instead, she heard Winn's squeak beside her.
"Oh. He's coming toward me…" he tried to straighten himself out just as Superman walked up to him.
"Winn, this is my cousin, Superman," Kara almost laughed at his wide-eyed face.
"Hi. I have a million questions," Winn's words were tumbling out of his mouth before he could realize what he was even saying. "When Lex Luthor set off the earthquake in California, did you gauge the focal depth with your X-ray vision?"
"Winn, please breathe," Anais honestly pleaded for him to take a break. He seemed purple around the edges of his face.
"Alex. It's good to see you," Superman hugged Alex next. So far, she seemed like the only one not completely awed by his appearance.
"You, too."
"Kara told me Jeremiah may be alive. And you know your father means a lot to me, so...if there's anything I can do…"
"Thank you, Clark," Alex took his request to heart.
Superman finally met J'onn's hard look and matched expressions with him. "J'onn." Even his tone had flattened.
"Superman. Nice to see you again."
"Oh, don't worry. I won't be staying long."
"Uh, I just invited Superman to visit our mystery guest," Kara jumped into the conversation - if it even qualified as a conversation - before they argued or something along those lines. "Solar, how about you lead the way?"
Anais saw Kara's intentions and of course helped in what she could. "Right this way." And on the way, she grabbed Winn so he could finish asking those questions she knew he was just dying to ask.
~0~
The unconscious man remained just that: unconscious. There didn't seem to be any progress in his state, nor a decrease, but it was difficult to track when they couldn't get any vitals. His hard skin made it far more challenging to do the simplest of things.
"He landed on Earth last night in a Kryptonian pod. We don't know who he is," Anais explained after leading Superman into the room.
"Did you try using a Quantum scan to determine his age?"
"First thing we did," Winn answered since Anais had gotten lost on the point.
"And Kara X-ray-visioned him for foreign objects, like a cybernetic data core?"
There, both Anais and Winn matched in nervous smiles. "She was just going to do that today…" Anais laughed and thanked God that Kara was coming in at that moment. "Kara, remember how you said you were going to use your x-ray vision to see if this guy had any foreign objects?"
Kara's eyebrows raised together, knowing exactly where that came from "Of course I was!" she released a small laugh. "What kind of person would I be if I forgot to do that…"
Superman entertained the show for another minute before very calmly advising, "You should probably go and do that."
"Yeah, okay," Kara x-ray visioned the stranger but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "No, nothing."
There was a ping on the tablet Winn had carried in with him. "Oh, hey, my handy translator just finished decrypting the pod's data log. Now, it seems sleeping beauty on his journey from Krypton passed through something called the Segara Beyal." He showcased his tablet for the three to see an image of a constellation.
"The Well of Stars," Kara recognized first. "My father took me there once. Time doesn't pass there."
"So that's why he's still so young?" Anais gazed down at the unconscious man and wondered what his story was.
"Oh, hey, speaking of age, I've been meaning to ask…" Winn lowered his tablet and garnered a wide, nervous smile. "Superman, you're 12 years older than Kara, right? 'Cause you do not look it."
Superman smiled. "Kryptonians age at a much slower rate here on Earth."
"You look fantastic…"
"When you're finished, we have something more important to talk about," Alex's appearance made the group divert their attention to her.
"Like what?" asked Kara.
"The Venture. The company behind the Venture said there was an explosion when the ship reached low orbit insertion."
"So?"
"Well, if something like that was gonna go wrong it would've happened earlier in the flight."
"The Venture was built here in National City, right?" Anais waited for the others to confirm her question. "Well, then somebody has to know something. That would include on who would gain the most if this craft had actually burned up." The others started agreeing with her and so she added, "And, I don't know, maybe a mild-mannered reporter could make some inquiries while he's here in National City. Perfect cover up."
"The DEO is going to take a very interested look too," Alex promised the man in question.
"Great," Kara clapped a hand on her cousin's shoulder. "You can work out of Catco. Just steer clear of Ms. Grant. She's been in a mood."
"Don't worry, I've got some sway with Cat Grant," Superman promised in a strangely certain way.
~ 0 ~
While Kara returned to CatCo. with her cousin, Clark, Anais decided to stay back at the DEO. She couldn't really see herself returning to Arun just yet. In fact, while she was staying clear of him, she wasn't exactly staying away from him.
"Anais, what are you doing?" Winn's voice startled her into almost dropping the tablet she'd swiped from some poor clueless employee. She was still in the room where the unconscious man remained, making her presence even more suspicious.
"Just...playing Candy Crush?" Her convincing face wasn't really convincing.
Winn raised an eyebrow at her as he further walked into the room. "Really? Cos it seems-" as he moved, Anais purposely slipped the tablet behind her back, "-like you're trying to hide something." And when he tried reaching for the tablet behind her, she jerked to the side with the biggest smile on her face. "Anna?"
Winn stepped back with his arms crossed over his chest. "I could try to take that tablet-"
"But you would fail since I am a speedster."
"Or I could call J'onn?"
Anais' face dropped at the threat. "You wouldn't…"
"I would."
Anais groaned and slowly pulled the tablet to her front. "I liked you a lot before this moment, Winn."
"Yeah, most women don't like me anyways so I'm okay with this."
"I wasn't doing anything bad, I was just...researching."
"About what?"
"Arun…"
Winn paused for a second and looked at her curiously. "Why would you do that? I thought you were going to get to know him today."
"I did, and...while I only heard a little about him, it's...not the best." Anais hated to admit that someone she'd been so excited for was letting her down in the worst way.
"Why? Did he do something? Does the DEO need to go pick him up?" Winn was already turning to leave when Anais grabbed onto his arm.
"No! It's nothing like that," she sighed. "He just kind of sounded...smug, you know? It sounded like he thought he was better than the humans."
"Well," Winn swayed his head, "He is super strong, can fly, has telepathic abilities, has solar powers, is a speedster...yeah, I think he has the makings of someone superior to us."
"Having super powers doesn't make you better than anyone else, Winn," Anais said softly. "Arun can have all that but if he has an ugly personality, then he's the worst of the worst."
"C'mon, Anais, you met him for like what? An hour? You can't know everything about someone in one hour."
"I know, that's why I was just looking him up," Anais raised the tablet. "I wanted to know what Arun did in the community."
"And what came up?"
"Um, just what he said he did. He runs an art shop, does paintings every now and then. He seems like a good man-"
"Then why don't you give him the benefit of the doubt and just get to know him a little more? Maybe there's some qualities that make him a good friend. And listen, if he does turn out to be the worst then by all means kick his ass and bring him back to the DEO."
Anais laughed. "I will."
"Hey," Alex stopped by and poked her head into the room. "We might have found something about the Venture accident."
Both Anais and Winn followed Alex into the main room where they had several photos on the screen.
"Ooh, that's Lex Luthor!" Winn immediately recognized the well known criminal of Metropolis.
"Is it?" Anais knew of Lex, but not what he looked like.
"So we did digging and it turns out that there was one passenger who had a seat booked on the Venture but mysteriously didn't show up last-minute," Alex indicated one of the employees to zoom in on the picture of the trio. "Lena Luthor."
The woman in question was a black haired woman with stark blue eyes. She was smiling at the viewer while Lex and an older woman - their mother - was more or less straight faced.
"Lex's sister," Winn realized. "But Lex can't be involved in this. He's in prison thanks to Superman."
"So we're thinking this time it's Lena," Alex said the obvious but Anais shook her head in disagreement.
"Wait a minute, we're going to assume she concocted this whole thing just because she's Lex Luthor's sister?" Both Alex and Winn stared at Anais with faces screaming 'duh!' at her. Anais set her hands on her hips, extremely disappointed in them. "Guys! That's just wrong!"
"You know what's wrong? All the trouble the Luthors have caused," J'onn joined them and, by the looks of it, to help Alex and Winn.
"Lex Luthor," Anais thought she was correcting them. "Superman fought Lex Luthor, not Lena Luthor. It's prejudicial."
"Look, Anna-"
Anais pointed her index finger at Winn. "If you're going to use that nickname it will not be for prejudicial stuff like this."
"Lena Luthor is Lex Luthor's sister. The entire family is rotten to the core," J'onn said but Anais still wasn't buying it.
"Are there any records of Lena ever being involved in her brother's schemes?" Judging by the silence from the trio, Anais assumed the answer was a big fat no. "Then how can you be sure Lena did this?"
"Kara and Clark are going to visit her right now to get some answers. She just moved to National City so it'll be fast," Alex thought that would help Anais but it just did the opposite.
"You mean send the man who probably already assumes Lena is guilty?" Anais was sure that Clark would just see Lena as another Lex copy. Kara was always more open minded and could probably see more than Lex. Still, Anais felt like she needed to be the unbiased party for Lena's sake. "I'm going to join them."
"What for?" Winn asked.
"To make sure we all stay in line," she turned to leave.
~ 0 ~
Lena Luthor may have a reputation thanks to her older brother, Lex Luthor, but as she led Anais, Kara and Clark into her office she showed nothing but politeness and openness.
"There's a perfectly reasonable explanation for why I wasn't aboard the Venture yesterday." Lena dropped her bag over her desk and sat down to face the three visitors. "There was an emergency regarding the planning for a ceremony I'm holding tomorrow. I'm renaming my family's company, and I had to cancel."
"Ah, lucky," Clark's tone was laced with disbelief, but even that didn't make Lena falter.
Lena, in fact, chuckled. "Lucky is Superman saving the day." Her smile widened when she saw Clark blink in surprise. "Not something one expects a Luthor to say, right?"
"And Supergirl was there, too," Kara said just before clearing her throat to add in an aura of innocence. "Along with Solar."
Lena then turned her attention to her and Anais. She looked them over but didn't necessarily see any familiar features she recognized from the Daily Planet. "And who are you exactly?"
"Um... I'm Kara Danvers," Kara answered with a nervous, tight-lipped smile.
"Anais Allen," went the second blonde in a much more carefree manner. "We're from CatCo magazine."
Lena raised an eyebrow at the two women as a smile spread across her face. "It's a publication not known for its hard-hitting journalism. More like 'high-waisted jeans: yes or no?'"
Kara and Anais exchanged glances with each other before Kara replied, "We're just tagging along today."
"Right. Can we just speed this interview along?" Lena gazed at the three of them with a resignation they didn't understand until she spoke again. "Just ask me what you want to ask, Mr. Kent. Did I have anything to do with the Venture explosion?"
"Did you?" Clark bluntly asked.
Anais sent him a disapproving glance but Lena had been the one to ask in the first place. Even then, Lena just smiled again. "You wouldn't be asking me if my last name was Smith." Her polite sarcasm was surprisingly restrained. Not everyone could remain so put together when being accused with attempted homicide.
"Ah, but it's not," Clark went on like nothing. "It's Luthor."
"Some steel under that Kansas wheat," Lena took in a breath and sighed. "It wasn't always. I was adopted when I was four. And the person who made me feel most welcome in the family was Lex. He made me proud to be a Luthor. And then he went on his reign of terror in Metropolis." She paused and looked away from the three, growing distant the more she recollected the path her brother took on. "Declared war on Superman. Committed unspeakable crimes. When Superman put Lex in jail, I vowed to take back my family's company. To rename it L-Corp." The mention of her company's new name was enough to pull her back to the present. "Make it a force for good. I'm just a woman trying to make a name for herself outside of her family. Can you understand that?"
"Yes, we can," Anais was the one to answer her. "We can really understand that, Miss Luthor." She understood perfectly what Lena was trying to do because she herself was attempting to do the same thing. Sure, her family wasn't evil but the Allens were still a high class family surrounded by governmental science and laboratories. Anais moved to National City in order to make something out of herself on her own. She felt a terrible churn of her stomach due to the guilt of coming for Lena Luthor just for trying to do something good.
"I know why you're here," Lena raised her hands to show she was still acting in good faith. "Because a subsidiary of my company made the part that exploded on the Venture." She got up from her chair and went to a set of drawers on the side of the room, missing when both Kara and Clark x-rayed her entire office. Anais inwardly sighed but knew it was standard procedure. When Lena turned back, she held a USB in hand. "This drive contains all the information we have on the oscillator. I hope it helps you in your investigation." She promptly handed the USB to Clark. "Thank you. Give me a chance, Mr. Kent. I'm here for a fresh start. Let me have one."
"We will," Anais reassured her and was the first to move towards the door.
Once out in the safety of the streets, the three discussed their brief visit.
"I didn't see anything when I X-ray-visioned the room," Clark said as he safely tucked away the USB into his pocket.
"Yeah, me neither," Kara agreed. "What do you think?"
"I've learned through hard experience not to believe anything a Luthor says."
"Yeah, that right there is nothing but prejudicial," Anais turned on both of them, forcing them to stop walking.
"You clearly are new to this life but trust me when I tell you that I know all about Luthors," Clark said, believing to have Kara on her side so he was mighty surprised when Kara sighed beside him.
"Yeah, I know I'm not a reporter or anything, but I kinda believed her."
"And until we find evidence that says otherwise, there's no reason why we shouldn't," Anais grinned at Kara for the support she unintentionally gave for their side. "And, just to cater to both sides, I'll personally keep an eye on Lena from afar."
Clark didn't seem so on board with that but his cellphone rang. "It's Lois," he told Kara and stepped a bit away to answer.
"Shouldn't you be getting back to Arun?" Kara quietly asked Anais once they were alone. "Winn mentioned you seemed a little bit down after your lunch. Was it because you left to help Clark and I with the Venture?"
"No, actually...it was...just some things he said during our lunch," Anais shook her head. She didn't want to keep dwelling on something she couldn't really judge Arun on yet. "I do have to talk to him so, you know, I can get to know him better. Maybe I'm just overreacting, I don't know. What about you and James, though? He couldn't have been too happy about your date being interrupted?"
"Uum…" Kara gave a tilt of her head, "It feels…"
"Kara?"
Kara released a big sigh. "Honestly, it feels like it's a lot more difficult than it should be. I'm trying to juggle being Supergirl and this new job Cat is offering and then when I think about James and dating, I…" she shook her head, making a hand gesture that even she didn't know what she meant. "The spark that I felt before...it's not there anymore."
Anais thought about something but she decided that she wouldn't burden Kara with a thought like that, at least not until Kara gave signs that she was already thinking about it. "Maybe you need to take one thing at a time," she offered instead. "That job offer Cat gave you...that's time delicate so you might want to start with that."
Kara chuckled. "Yeah, maybe so."
"Listen, um, I hadn't mentioned it before but I'm going to talk to Cat as Solar. I feel like it's time," Anais nodded with certainty. She delayed it enough and poor James got all the wrap for it.
"You sure that's what you want to do?"
"Yes, absolutely. It's time she got off James' back for that and it's time for me to start sharing with the city," Anais smiled. She noticed Clark coming back to them and decided to take her leave so the two cousins could spend more time together. "I'll be on the lookout for Lena like I promised."
"Be careful," Clark honestly warned her.
"I'm not bulletproof but I am literally faster than the speed of light," Anais smirked proudly and turned to leave.
~ 0 ~
Alex gripped the folder between her fingers as she walked into the room J'onn was in. "I know why you and Superman aren't the best of friends," she just came out with it. She was sure if she thought about it she would turn around and leave. This wasn't something that could be ignored. "Operation Emerald." She let the file drop on the table beside them and waited to see J'onn's reaction.
The man was stoic but ultimately he did have to wonder. "How did you find out about that?"
"I cross-referenced your personnel file with Superman," Alex crossed her arms and hoped that this would be enough to elicit some type of explanation directly from him instead of getting it all from paper.
It seemed like she was on the right track.
"Back when I first took over the DEO, we got a report about a meteorite coming down in the desert. Superman would work with us back then, so we both headed out to investigate. We got there, it was dark and but I could see something down in the crater. Green, glowing like an emerald. It didn't affect me, but Superman got down there, he started heaving. Passed out."
Alex nodded with understanding. "It was Kryptonite."
"I named it that," J'onn admitted. "Superman wanted to destroy it all."
"But you kept it," Alex didn't mean that as an accusation of some horrible secret he harbored but even she was reluctant to keep such a dangerous object around.
"He was not the only Kryptonian out there, Alex. Their powers are limitless. Now we have a way to protect ourselves from them."
"Except "them" now includes my sister."
"Guys, we may have a problem," Winn made an quick stride into the room, nonethewiser of the tersed conversation just had. "I've been going over the data from Luthor Corp. Now, the oscillator that exploded on the Venture, it was located underneath the main passenger cabin, right?" He wasn't necessarily waiting for either Alex nor J'onn to answer. He just kept going. "In fact, it was housed under seat 23B. And according to the manifest, guess who was supposed to be sitting in seat 23B?" He used his tablet to show them the visual of venture's seating arrangement. "Lena Luthor."
"Lena Luthor wasn't behind the explosion. She was the target," J'onn realized along with Alex. It meant they were dealing with the worst of the Luthors.
~ 0 ~
If the DEO wanted a confirmation that Lex Luthor was trying to murder his baby sister, they got it only one hour after making the first realization. Lena had been almost killed while attempting to fly in a helicopter, but thanks to Solar, Supergirl and Superman she lived to see another day.
Now at the DEO, the team was attempting to analyze a piece of the drone they'd managed to salvage. Winn was the closest, and the most eager, to see just what it was made up.
"This thing is like state-of-the-state-of-the-art! Kind of looks like something my dad might have built in one of his more murdery moments!"
"His what now?" Anais repeated in confusion.
"Nothing," Winn said without thinking. Yes, the world already knew just who his father was but if he could save one mind from knowing a terrible truth, then he was glad it could be Anais.
"We've acquired a partial print from the wreckage," Alex called from the controls. She had Agent Velasquez pulling up a mugshot of the man Anais, Kara and Clark fought earlier. "John Corben. International assassin for hire. He's been linked to Intergang, Kasnian terrorists, and the genocide in Corto Maltese. If you want somebody high-profile killed, this is the guy to hire. But who would want Lena Luthor dead?"
"Hey, where's Kara?" Winn asked after realizing they were short one blonde in the room.
"She, uh, is talking to James," Anais answered, sharing a knowing look with Alex. They wondered when poor Kara would get her thoughts straight. "And where's J'onn exactly? And Clark?"
"Also...talking," Alex knew the irony of the situation.
"Is everyone suddenly talking?" Winn paused just to wonder if he had anyone to talk to. Nope. He was lonely. Anais laughed at his expression, pulling him out of his momentary pensive state. "I have people to talk to," the man argued weakly.
"Didn't your girlfriend turn evil?" Alex raised an eyebrow at him. Winn was frankly offended they would throw that back at him.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure me, Kara and my young adoptive dad kicked her ass," Anais joining in didn't make him feel any better.
Winn opened his mouth but no words came to mind. Still, as he pointed between them something eventually came out. "You both...are mean."
Alex formed a small 'o' with her mouth. "Great comeback. You're almost as good as Kara."
"Well, while this is lovely, I'm going to see if I can convince Miss Luthor to postpone that renaming ceremony." Anais figured it was the best thing Lena could do but she had to see if Lena would be willing to even do it. She seemed really set on the ceremony when they visited her at L-Corp.
~0~
Lena was an exceptionally stubborn woman, Anais came to discover. While Lena went around the public event checking for any last minute changes or mending, Anais trailed after her giving her all the reasons why it would be better to postpone the event.
"I'm sorry, Miss…?" Lena briefly stopped her fast paced walking to look at Anais.
"It's just Anais," the blonde waved off with her free hand. The other hand rested over her camera that was slung around her neck. "And I just really think it's a big risk you're taking continuing on with this event when your brother is...well…"
"Trying to kill me?" Lena finished with no apparent hesitation. It almost made Anais feel sorry for the woman. It seemed like Lena was quite accustomed to aggressive family problems.
"Yeah…"
Lena seemed ready to talk but suddenly looked out to the park. She pursed her red lips together and nodded up ahead. "Do you see how many people showed up?"
Anais didn't understand but she looked over and shrugged. "Well, to be honest, not a lot." Lena laughed softly, knowing that Anais was trying to be polite in her answer.
"My brother's serving 32 consecutive life sentences for some awful things, and now when people think of me or the company...all they see is Lex's madness," she sighed and brought a hand to her forehead, gently rubbing her fingers over her skin. "I'm trying to make a life of my own and that includes this company that I know can be something good to the public."
"I know that, believe me," Anais was quick to say. "I've lived with my parents up until last month. This is the first time I'm on my own, in a new city...with my first job ever." She raised her camera a bit, making Lena smile.
"Then you should understand why I have to do this," Lena started walking towards the platform. "I can't start my life if I succumb to my brother's threats."
Anais had stopped following when Lena reached the platform and decided to mingle instead nearby. She was under the guise of a job - which would end up working to her benefit later when she showed Cat the pictures of the ceremony - but was still going to keep a close eye on Lena. And she knew Alex was nearby as well, keeping an eye on any strangers coming by.
When Lena began to address the crowd, Anais started snapping pictures. She had to admit Lena Luthor had no bad angles because every shot Anais took of her seemed to be perfect.
However, midway through Lena's speech, a laser shot right over Lena and hit a statue instead. It was enough to cause panic amongst the crowd. A couple more lasers shot through and struck a nearby building. Anais forgone her camera - in a safe spot of course - then returned as Solar. She was about to go towards the building when she got word of Supergirl and her cousin.
They would take care of the building so Solar could get the people around them to safety. One by one, she sped the people away but when it came to find the actual target, Solar had to actually fly into the air. She could hear Alex calling out the assassin and flew downwards.
Her eyes glowed gold as she fired her laser and caught the man's back. He screamed in pain when he felt the burn on his skin, but the man didn't catch a break because in the next moment Lena Luthor had made her mark with a bullet. It caught him near the clavicle and set him down.
"Badass," Solar said in utter awe.
"If you're done crushing, Miss Solar, we request that you bring the man back to the DEO," she heard Winn's voice over the comms.
Solar playfully rolled her eyes but did as told and super sped the assassin back to the DEO before he could even process.
~ 0 ~
"You did what now?" Alex gaped at both Anais and Winn the next day. Her dark eyes flickered between the two like a mother who was getting ready to scold her children.
"I asked him to," Anais raised a hand, making sure that everyone who knew would understand that she'd made the call. "I mean, I had some good shots of Lena at her ceremony but I thought the one where she took Corben down would be an extra help in her endeavor to show people she was different from her brothers-"
Alex raised a hand to stop the alien. "You hacked into a public street camera for a picture of Lena?"
"I asked Winn and he was really nice enough to do it-" Anais quickly looked at Winn with a big smile, "-and I have to say thanks again."
"It was nothing," Winn said before realizing Alex was now glaring his way. "O-or was it?" he made a face. "Does this at all jeopardize my new job at the DEO?"
Anais gasped, clapping one hand over her mouth. "Oh my God, does it? I-I didn't mean to - I just wanted to help Lena out. I sympathize with her, that's all."
Because Alex knew Anais was telling the truth, she decided to go easy and avoid them the trouble of being confronted by J'onn. "Our system is not meant to take pictures of people for magazine articles. Don't do that again, either of you." Her moving pointing finger was warning enough for the two in question.
"Got it!" the two chorused.
They waited until Alex left to be able to breath with relief.
"Winn, I am so sorry for that," Anais turned to the man afterwards. "I didn't even consider what would happen...I just thought it would help Lena."
"And it did," Winn said. They had both seen the article Clark had written about Lena that used some of Anais' pictures - which Cat would never know that she had given to the Daily Planet - and thought it was nice that Lena was getting a fair chance to start over.
"Congrats about your new job, by the way," Anais said once things cooled down. They headed for the hallway, intending on returning to the main room. "Sure it's gonna be more fun than working at CatCo."
"Definitely," Winn practically beamed at the thought of all the 'cool aliens' he'd get to see now that he was officially part of the DEO team. "Oh hey, did you ever get back to Arun?"
"No," Anais shook her head, feeling a little guilty she was purposely avoiding that subject.
"Don't you think you should do that?"
"Um, tomorrow," Anais said, though was only half sure of it. "Today I have something else planned."
"Like what?"
"...I've got a date with Cat Grant."
~ 0 ~
Cat was more than prepared for the interview James Olsen had finally set up for (in her mind) her and Solar. It was about damn time, she thought. This was the last thing she needed in her 'bucket list' to feel like she could...move on.
Overlooking the balcony, Cat saw the familiar gold streak zipping down the street. She stepped back when the streak started running up the building. With Solar's arrival, the media queen stumbled back from the force of wind.
"Miss Grant," Solar smiled widely. She had to admit she was fairly excited to do this interview. Kara had warned her that Cat was no joke when it came to interviews but it didn't scare Solar. She just wanted people to finally get an idea of who she was.
Cat got over her initial surprise fairly fast. She grabbed the recorder she left on the table and made a gesture that she wanted to turn it on. Solar gave her the nod to go for it.
"Curious, do you prefer running or flying?" Cat pointed out the balcony. "Because we've seen you do both…"
"Because I'm a speedster, I go about the same speed whether it's running or flying...but I like to run. It gives me some exercise," Solar made the motion of someone jogging.
"So, you're not of the same place as Supergirl nor Superman?"
"Nope," Solar popped the 'p' in that word. "I'm actually a unique case for my people. I am half human and half alien. A hybrid, if you will."
"Your half human?" Cat blinked in surprise. Solar nodded and allowed Cat to say her assumptions out loud. "One of your parents is human then...amazing…"
"They're both gone," Solar said before Cat started on a crusade to fish out the two. "It's just me and, um, that man that you saw the last time?"
"Name?"
"He hasn't picked one. Actually, I don't know if he's joining us, but he's not a danger to the public."
"So where are you from, then? I mean the alien part of you, anyways."
Solar smiled for a moment. "I'm from a planet called Solaris. My people are natural speedsters and can wield the sun's powers."
"Do you know if there are any more of them on this planet?"
"No, not really."
"And you…" Cat moved forwards, startling Solar for a second. Cat's eyes were scrutinizing the alien up and down. At one point, she started to circle Solar. "Where did you come from? I mean, you showed up only a bit after Supergirl. Where've you been?"
"Training," Solar could honestly say. "Because I'm half human, I developed my powers a lot later than my people typically do."
"And is that why you showed up, now? Because you were done training?"
"Yes, and no," Solar sighed. "Look, I'm not here to be painted as a hero with a tragic backstory, nor a wannabe Supergirl. I'm here because of who I am. I am Solar, half human and half alien. I was born on this planet," she pointed her index finger down, "So this is my home. You are my people too and I want to help. I want to do my part in the community."
"A bit cliche…" Cat's lips twitched into a smirk.
"But it's the truth and there's nothing to be ashamed of," Solar shrugged. "That's why I came to you, to tell you and your readers that I am here whenever I am needed and wanted." She tilted her head when another idea popped into her head. "Oh, right, and for you to lay off James. Don't threaten his job to get more interviews, please."
Cat's smirk fully developed. "Got your attention, didn't it?"
Solar playfully shook her head. "This interview is now over. Have a good night, Miss Grant." She gave a mock salute with her two fingers before rising into the air. She would definitely be looking forwards to reading Cat's article.
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marvelmaniac715 · 2 years ago
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It’s day 21 of my virtual Chucky advent calendar! Only three days left, and I can’t wait for everyone to see day 24! Today Chucky is a doll (one of the fragments created at the end of Chucky Season One) and he’s found himself being given as a present to a child on Christmas Day.
————————————————————
His orders had been to infiltrate a home and lay low. But no matter how many times he was shoved inside a box, it never got any less dark or claustrophobic. The sound of ripping paper invaded his eardrums as a sudden blast of light gave him a head-splitting migraine. 
When he’d recovered from his sensory overload, he was face to face with a beaming girl of about nine. Her curly blonde hair was styled into ringlets on either side of her head, and her crystal blue eyes shone with pure joy. A blindingly white smile reached each rosy pink cheek, and her glance towards her parents was angelically thankful.
You couldn’t blame Chucky for seeing this child as an angel at first, she looked like the picture perfect little girl. Their house was large and clearly expensive, there was a glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling and the girl was surrounded by a mound of toys. A large fire was burning in the corner. This place felt like heaven.
But as soon as the child pulled him out of the box, he realised that this wasn’t heaven, it was hell. 
First it was the pony rides, where he was jogged up and down until he felt sick. Then the girl tried to sit on him, and all of the non-existent air left his lungs. Then she carried him up to her room by the arm, bashing him hard against the wall with each step. 
She’d gotten a new set of markers from Santa. So obviously, that meant a makeover. Chucky had never felt so degraded. A better man would reflect upon his actions and weep for his victims, vowing to wrong any possible rights. But Chucky was no better man. Instead he silently bemoaned his fate as a roughly handled plaything.
She was about to give him some ‘mascara’, but she aimed poorly. With one quick poke, his left eye was completely gone. Ugh, he could feel it rattling around inside his skull, and half of his vision was pitch black. He nearly broke then, he nearly screamed. But this child was a tyrant even before she knew he was sentient, what would she do if she found out?
The girl screeched and threw him to the floor. If he had been human, that landing would have either snapped his neck or given him a bad concussion. Instead, he just bumped his head really hard and wheezed a little, as quietly as possible. 
He was blessed with silence and peace for a few hours, then the girl and her mother came up to change into their pyjamas before going down to watch a Christmas movie. The girl had just ran out into the hallway when her mother spotted him in a heap in the corner.
“Oh, Sephy- Persephone dear, I know you’re excited to have so many new toys, and it is Christmas, but you must clean up after yourself my darling.”
The yell that the girl- Persephone apparently-sent back was flippant and bored.
“Mommy, his eye’s all messed up, I don’t wanna play with him no more.”
The woman sighed and picked him up, only to let out a little gasp when she saw his face. Quickly making up her mind, she threw open the lid of a large chest and dropped Chucky inside, discarding him with casual disdain as one would a piece of dog shit at the bottom of their shoe, shutting the lid with a loud thump.
As the family enjoyed a Christmas movie on their couch, Chucky wailed and writhed from inside the dark, dusty, cobweb infested toy box.
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puffpasstea · 2 years ago
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A/N: just something I’ve been thinking about.
Warnings: angst I guess? Idk how to describe it. Depression and mental illness. Please don’t read if you’re triggered by depictions of depression.
———
Harry walked into his bedroom after a long day at the studio to see his girl laying in bed, staring blankly ahead. The familiar look in her eyes broke his heart. He knew exactly what this meant.
“Hello, love.” He greeted her softly. All he got in return was a minute, barely visible nod.
He didn’t know what to do or say next. He wanted to ask her how her day was, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he already knew the answer.
“You alright?” He kicked himself internally, knowing what a dumb question that was.
Without looking at him, she grabbed her pillow off the bed, and got up. “It’s okay, Harry. I’ll just go sleep downstairs” she walked past him as she made her way out of the room.
Harry wanted to stop her, but he wasn’t even sure how. He wished he could make her feel better, or carry the pain with her, or switch places so he was the one who had to deal with it instead of her. The feeling of helplessness was always the worst part of watching her deal with a depressive episode. It left him feeling frustrated and empty, and he struggled to find an outlet for his emotions that didn’t redirect it back at her. All he knew is, he couldn’t in good faith, pretend to be okay with getting himself ready for bed or go to sleep knowing that she’s downstairs, on the couch, suffering and alone. But what could he do? Everything he wanted to say to her, about how loved she is, how he’s there for her, how he wished she didn’t have to feel this way, felt empty and hollow. He didn’t want to pressure her by making her feel guilty for feeling so broken. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to think of some gesture of support. A way to be of use. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind.
He considered going through her “depression checklist” with her. The list of bare minimum tasks she’d assign herself on a bad day: going outside, drinking a glass of water, eating at least one meal, taking a shower. But he figured it would make her feel worse if she hadn’t been able to do even those things all day. He knew he only had one option left, and even though it might be uncomfortable for both of them, he was going to do it anyway.
He went down into the kitchen and assembled a giant bowl of fruit, tossing in some chocolate chips and a squeeze of lemon juice, and taking it into the living room before joining her on the couch. He sat next to her, setting the bowl down in front of her and waiting. Silently waiting for her to make the first move. He kept his eyes on the TV, trying to make out the plot of the film she had on.
A half hour later, still in complete silence, Harry noticed her eyeing the fruit bowl with mild interest. He wondered to himself if she’d even eaten anything at all today. A few moments later, he saw her check it out, and lean forward like she might pick it up. She only scooped up a single piece of strawberry that had a chocolate chip stuck to it and began to nibble. Yes! His plan was working. His lips twitched as he fought to keep the smile to himself.
An hour later, she’d started slowly inching closer to him on the couch, her hand lightly brushing against his. He knew that was his cue. She’d made as much effort as she was currently capable of. It was up to him to meet her halfway. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her to his chest, kissing the side of her head sweetly. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and began to sob as he rubbed circles into her back soothingly….
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