#we played that one game uhh zone? i think. a while ago and i had so much fun exploring a new system with my beloved friends

[zincbot]

spoke too soon abt the ttrpg dog in me being smaller these days because if i don't play a game in the next 1 second i'm going to eat probability

[bl--ankhaeji]

Five Months(yuta)

Pairing ~ Yuta x Reader

Genre ~ A little bit of angst, fluff, humor if you can find it and bittersweet

Warning ~ uhh I don’t really have any 

A/N ~ so for this i felt like my writing changed a little. like so far I haven’t written anything with this type of atmosphere or theme so it was something new and I really enjoyed writing this. I also want to say thank you to my beta readers Xiami and Mylin. 

W. Count ~ 2.4k

Hii, before we get into the story. Wanted to let you guys know that this is my fic for the Secret Santa collab that @neoculturechristmas held. @neonun-au I am your secret santa 😊 or 🎅🏽anon. I am sorry I didn’t talk to you that much in your asks, but when we did I really enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy.  

On to the story

You and Yuta have been broken up for around five months now. Over what, you truly don’t even remember. Some petty argument got out of hand and it caused you guys to break up with each other in the heat of anger. Usually when things like that happen the couple gets back together within a week and everything is fine, but sad to say that’s not what happened with you and Yuta. 

You both were entirely too stubborn for your own good, and with both of you refusing to even so much as speak to the other you managed to stay broken up for five months. And that’s what led you to where you are right now. Stranded on a snowy mountain trail with said ex. 

The sound of snow crunching underneath your boots was deafening,but even this noise couldn't drown out the sound of your thoughts. You ask yourself, how did what was supposed to be a quick stroll on a beautiful snowy trail to clear your mind end up becoming a meet up with your ex?

Oh, maybe it’s because life is a bitch that loves to fuck with you. What are the odds that you and your friends plan a Christmas trip to the same resort as Yuta and his friends? And what are the odds that your cabins are right next to each other? And what are the fucking odds that you both picked the exact same time to step out for a walk on the same trail, and you both manage to get lost? 

“Yuta, I really don’t think you know where the hell you’re going.” You say halting your steps, the icy tone in your words almost rivaling the cold outside. You both have been lost and aimlessly walking around for the past 20 minutes and the temperature continued to drop as it was getting later and later into the night. Yuta swore he knew the way back, but you were cold and tired and seriously doubting this ability. 

When you first realized you were lost, you tried to retrace your steps only to find out the consistently falling snow had already covered them, making it look as if no one had even been there. At first you thought, maybe this was a sign, an opportunity for you and Yuta to rekindle your relationship, but you quickly realized how wrong you were. 

Yuta’s hand reached up to his head, “Just, give me a minute okay. I know how to get back, we're almost there.” He said as he continued to pace forward. 

“Yuta, stop! Just fucking stop and admit that you don’t know where the fuck we are or where we are going! This is just like you, I see you haven’t changed in these last five months.” You scoff looking away as you wrap your arms around your waist, trying to generate some warmth.

“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean, huh?!” A fiery Yuta inquires, turning around to face you. 

“It means that even with our breakup, you still can’t admit when you’re wrong and don’t know something. You keep pushing at it, not listening, feeling like you have to know it all on your own.” The words fell out of your mouth unforgivingly, packing a punch in every single syllable. Finishing your statement, you roll your eyes, shifting your weight to your right side. 

“Wow, isn’t that fucking rich coming from you. I’m not the one who bottles everything up and whenever they feel is convenient enough decides to blow up on her boyfriend for no reason. Just like the one that broke us up, this argument was started by you. So don’t act like I’m the only problem.” Just like Yuta said, you may have started the argument but he seemed intent on finishing it. 

The cold was suddenly unbearable, and all you wanted right now was to just go to sleep in a warm bed. No words were spoken after that, and like that you and Yuta just pushed past it, continuing to walk forward and ignoring the venomous words you both spoke in hopes of forgetting this event. This really was no different than five months ago. 

The want to cry your heart out was almost all consuming, but you didn’t let a single tear fall. In hopes of not appearing weak and also because you believed with your whole heart that if you were to cry right, now the tears would turn to ice on your face instantly from the cold. So you kept your head down, trying to not think about where you actually were. 

You were completely zoned out until you heard, “Y/n, we’ve made it.” Raising your head, you see a wooden cabin in the distance. Finally, you thought, it was starting to get dark. You instantly start sprinting to the cabin. “Wait up.” Yuta said as he started to run behind you. The sounds of crushed snow and huffed breaths filled your ears. 

Upon getting closer to the cabin you realize something is off. Looking through the uncovered window on the door, you realize that this wasn’t the cabin that either of you currently occupied. You could tell not only from the emptiness in the house but also from the lack of lights and the quiet that rang through the air. “Yuta, I don’t know where we are but this isn’t either one of our cabins.” You tell him through bated breaths, your teeth slightly chattering, looking as he slows down until he stops in front of you, also out of breath. 

“Huh? What do you mean?” He asks as he tries the doorknob only to see that it’s locked.

“I mean that this isn’t where we’re staying. It’s just a random cabin in the woods.” Yuta swears loudly at the revelation. You both are stranded at some random cabin at night while it’s snowing and almost below freezing outside. “What the fuck are we gonna do? We could barely manage to find our way here. There's no way we’ll be able to navigate in the dark and find our way back.” 

“We have no choice, we have to break in. Our clothes and shoes are almost soaked through from the melted snow and I can practically hear your teeth chattering. Also, I’m hungry.” At the mention of food your stomach chooses now to rumble loudly almost as if agreeing with Yuta’s statement. 

A small chuckle leaves Yuta’s lips, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you go hungry.” He proceeds to take off the flannel he has underneath his snow jacket and wraps it around his hand making a fist. He lifts his fist getting ready to punch the glass before you stop him, your hands coming around fist. 

“Woah! Stop right there, we can’t just go vandalizing this random cabin hell we’re already breaking and entering. Just step aside, I got this.” You tell the man as you push him aside. You slightly tilt over, surveying the type of lock on the door and inwardly rejoice at the fact that there’s no bolt lock and it’s just a regular handle lock which seems to be quite loose. 

Good thing you brought your wallet in case you went to the convenience store. Taking out an old card, you proceed with breaking into the cabin. Sliding it in between the door handle and the frame, a smile takes over your face when you feel the door give and start to open. 

Standing straight, you look towards Yuta while inwardly praying the owners don’t have a silent alarm for the cabin. “Woah, that was kinda hot. When did you learn to do that?” He questions, leaning against the wall of the cabin watching you with predatory eyes. 

Something stirs in your stomach at the look on his face. Deciding to ignore it, you just say, “A lady never tells.” and waltz into the cabin with a wink. You hear a low whistle flow from his mouth as he follows you into the currently uninhabited cabin.    

You look around the room searching for a heater, preferably gas when the room suddenly gets flooded by light. “We have electricity, so that’s good.” Yuta says before he makes his way to the kitchen, “Now let's look for some food.” You hear a couple cabinets open and close before Yuta finds some canned food. Luckily, there’s three cans of beef soup that you guys can heat up and eat. 

Yuta gets the food going and you continue your search for a heater, finding it near the back of the room. You quickly turn it on in order to warm yourself up, while proceeding to take off your wet jacket and boots. It was a good thing the wood floor was covered with a rug. Yuta calls your name, telling you the food was ready, and you walk to the kitchen reluctantly, leaving behind the warm rug underneath your feet. 

You take the first sip of your soup, the warmth it radiates heating you up internally as it travels down your throat, and part of you feels relieved. The prospect of freezing to death wasn’t knocking at your door anymore and you had food in your system, but you and Yuta eat your soup in silence. Though the room was draped in a comfortable warmth and you guys weren’t yelling at each other you still couldn’t help but feel like something between you two just wasn’t right. 

After washing the dishes, you make your way back to the main room, tuning in on the softness of your sock clad feet padding against the wood floor. You spot Yuta standing near the heater and you notice that he had draped your wet jackets above the heater, possibly so they would be dry by the time you guys left in the morning. 

Lowering yourself to the rug, you sit down criss cross, busying yourself by braiding the tassels on the sides of the rug. You hear Yuta clear his throat as he sits across from you on the spacious rug. “Do you want to play a game?” He asks you looking up from his hands to gouge your reaction. 

“Sure.” you reply, waiting for him to tell you the game. He replies, telling you he wants to play          questions, and you prepare yourself for the possible shit show that might ensue. 

“I’ll go first. Are you still cold?” His simple question takes you by surprise. That’s not even close to what you expected for him to ask.

“Yea, just a little though.” You reply honestly shrugging your shoulders, “My turn.” What did you want to ask? you thought to yourself. You didn’t want to lower the atmosphere with a question about your relationship just yet, so you also decided to play it safe. “Are you still hungry?” 

“You know I am.” He quips a little smile playing at his lips. “Next question. Since you’re still cold, can I cuddle you right now?” Your eyes grow larger at his question and you can’t deny that the thought of it made your heart race a little. A slow nod is all the answer Yuta needs before he is scooting over behind you wrapping his arms around your torso. 

You never got to tell Yuta how good this hairstyle was on him. The bleached hair with lilac highlights fit him so well, and that’s all you could think as his head finds a home on the side of your neck and his semi long hair tickles the side of your face. You’re so focused on the sensation of his body against yours filtering his warmth to you that you don’t notice that it is now your turn for a question. 

“Y/n, it’s been your turn for a while.” Yuta speaks as his warm breath dances on your skin.

“Why have you not tried to mend things with me?” You don’t know if it’s just your curiosity or if it’s your brain trying to ruin the moment so you don’t get hurt but you decide it’s time to bring up your relationship.

“Well you can’t say you’ve tried all that hard either. It goes both ways y/n-” 

“Actually,” You interrupt him, “I did try, once. It was three months into our breakup and I was tired of missing you and missing us and I wanted it all to be over and to just put this behind us. So I went over to your house to mend things and I saw some girl leaving, and before you say I jumped to conclusions, I saw her kiss you.” Averting your eyes to your sweaty palms, you watch yourself rub them against your knees. You can feel the telltale sting in your eyes signifying future tears.

“That- Y/n no it’s really not what you think.” You feel Yuta’s arms wrap tighter around you. “That girl was a project partner and she came over so we could work on it, but she had heard that me and you broke up so she thought it was okay to try and shoot her shot by kissing me. I didn’t kiss back, nor did I enjoy it. I even ended up doing the rest of the project on my own.” 

You turn to look at Yuta to see if he’s telling the truth and you see no hints of falsity. Instantly you feel stupid, and you go to look back at the floor until Yuta grabs your chin, forcing you to look at him.  

“My turn. If I were to tell you that I was willing to change for us right now would you believe me?” His eyes burn intensely as he waits for your reply.

“If I were to tell you that you don’t have to change for us would you believe me?” Was your reply and you could see the hope forming in his irises

“If I were to tell you I still love you-” His words fall off as your lips meet his and they become occupied with something else. 

Five months. It had been five months since you heard his voice. It had been five months since you felt him against you. Five months since you tasted his lips. Five months since he had last declared his love. 

If you could go back in time and make it to where you never had to suffer that drought without him, you would. But for now you just wanted to enjoy the time you would get from today forward.   

[supermanshield]

Finding this is hard

~~~

Yet despite his best efforts tonight, Clark smiles at him, and even through the screen and slightly distorted feed he feels the warmth. Tingling suppressed because it’s nothing like the real deal. The one he’s seen directed at Lois, or when Clark talks about Lana.

Bruce has accepted that Clark will never be interested in him. Until finally, Clark takes a chance.

~~~ 

Words: 5,242

A/N: This only started because I was thinking about the layout of Wayne Manor, and for some reason considered Tim’s room next to Bruce’s. It grew into something much bigger from there, became much too serious and I completely lost track of the humorous angle I wanted to go for at first. Yay angst.

Also, another one in Bruce’s POV, which I always considered harder than Clark’s POV, but I am also working on two+ things with POV Clark.

Read on AO3

 ______________________________________________

“Quiet night?” Soft thud of Clark’s boots on the rooftop behind him and footsteps walking over to where Bruce sits crouched at the edge. An affirmative grunt is all he gives Clark in return, eyes trained on the building across the street and listening to shards of conversation being fed to him by the cowl from the bugs he has planted earlier.

“Stakeout.”  

Minute flicker, Clark shifting in and out of focus, and he sits down next to Batman. “Turned the security camera on the corner over to the building with your guys in it.”

“Hnn. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Don’t use your superspeed though. Don’t need suspects scrambling because they see red and blue.”

He chances a look over at Clark. Squatting down on a grimy rooftop in Gotham, back against the half wall running around the perimeter – good, anyone on the street can only maybe see his black hair and Batman’s cowl blends into the dark of the night anyway –, and hair and cape wet from the rain is not a good look on Superman. He stands out like a sore thumb next to Batman, doesn’t belong here. Yet, it has been a long time since Bruce has sent him out of his city because of all that, his presence now a comfort that has crept up on Bruce. And Clark has learnt, too. Hiding in the shadows just like him and helpful to a level that used to be annoying. It’s not that Bruce is dependent on him for this kind of stuff, he really isn’t. He can just… welcome the company sometime. That’s okay.

“Did you have something to discuss?”

Clark shrugs, one corner of his mouth goes up. “Just thought I’d check up on you.”

“You can use the communicator for that.”

“Right.”

After a while of sitting like this, Clark’s hearing clearly focused on the same conversation as Bruce, they both perk up at the same time. Silently following the suspects is a job for Batman. He sends Superman away, tells him through his comm to go back to Metropolis and silently thanks him for the company.

Much later, after a meet-up with Robin at the docks and on their drive to the Cave, Red Robin behind them on his bike, Bruce considers his relationship with Clark. Damian stays silent in the seat beside him – lets him brood - , and when they get back to the cave, he and Tim (even Tim), both tired, disappear up to the house for a snack and sleep.

Maybe he has let Clark get too close. Got too comfortable around him and let down those meticulously crafted walls. Yet being around Clark isn’t painful anymore, feelings born out of curiosity evaporated a long time ago. A mere physical attraction shoved into the depths of his being when reciprocation turned out impossible. He’s accepted that, Clark is a friend, and Bruce is content with his family, as far as that is possible with two teenagers and an aggressive prepubescent son in the house, and more scattered across the city and the east-coast (he is). It was a necessity to keep Clark at arm’s length, before. Protect them, put yourself last, don’t be selfish, don’t let yourself fall (don’t pull Clark down).

He has even chased Selina for a bit in an attempt to settle down as expected of a man his age and his status, his name, but it ultimately wasn’t worth it. Selina obviously not the right person for settling down and his interest faked, a game of cat and mouse (bat).

So yes, he can be close to Clark. They are friends, after all.

----------

Clark’s brain is a super-computer and more human than Bruce’s at that. It comes in handy when filtering through recordings or data and Bruce can’t think of a better reason to invite him over for dinner and a joint case-study in the cave.

He doesn’t remember the last time Clark has been up in the house and not just in the cave. It’s ridiculous really, they’ve been friends for years, only Bruce hasn’t been acting like one while Clark has put in 100% effort (and only sporadically to the point of annoyance).

Friendship leads to bad things and more, like with Harvey. But Clark is not Harvey.

“Thanks for inviting me for dinner,” Clark says when they walk back down into the cave. “You didn’t have to, I mean. But it’s nice to talk about non-cape stuff for once and see you interact with your kids.”

“I didn’t invite you because I had to, Clark. We’re friends.” Fact, not question and (obviously) obvious to Clark.

“Of course.” But a dazzling smile in his direction (he finds he wants that, more, and that’s exactly why he can��t) and Bruce decides that now is as good a time as any to go on patrol and leave Clark with the brunt of the work that they started on earlier. A few quick commands and suits up, utility-belts packed, and Robin, Red Robin, Batgirl, and Batman speed out of the cave to go on patrol.

----------

A steaming cup of coffee appears on the desk in front of him and Clark sits down in the other chair and swivels towards him. It always goes like this; Bruce will come up early, ready for monitor duty whatever time of the day it is. Clark walks in almost a clockwork five minutes later, coffee or tea in both hands, a quick silent rush of his cape and he reappears with snacks, sometimes dinner (leftovers from Martha’s cooking, and Bruce hears his stomach growl in betrayal at the first waft of chicken, cooked vegetables, goulash). They often get paired up, being in the same time-zone and no one else wants to spend time with Batman much. Except maybe Diana, or J’onn. (But Diana pries too much, seeking out the truth. J’onn doesn’t pry at all, even though he could. With him it is hyper-focus and silence for most of 6 hours.)  

So, it’s fine with Clark, nothing’s expected and there is familiarity in their conversation. The time passes faster and he gladly chooses this over any board meeting where nothing ever gets done anyway. But today monitor duty is during his patrol, and Tim and Damian are out on their own. Together. Dick in Blüdhaven and Cassandra out of commission in bed. One of Bruce’s screens is continuously focused on Gotham, two small figures in capes and chasing bad guys and each other. They do their job and Bruce watches his other screens, listens to Clark and nods appropriately, goes over some new schematics for a suit improvement.

Corner of his eye, peripheral vision is dedicated to the two small figures in Gotham. The screen shows the top of Wayne Tower and Red Robin pacing up and down, clearly talking, unhappy, Robin has crossed his arms. Bruce can interrupt them over the comms, give them a good scare, but they’d never learn. The need for them to work together more poignant as Bruce becomes older and Damian almost ready to join the Teen Titans if it wasn’t for Tim. His heart skips a beat when Damian’s hand goes for his katana, but Tim holds up his in surrender, holding him off and it is fine, they’re okay.

Bruce turns back to his other screens only to find Clark looking at him, one eyebrow raised.

“Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” Clark takes another bite of his Mars bar, feigning oblivion.

“Listen.”

“It’s my hearing, B. I can’t just turn it off.”

“Then focus on something else.” Clark turns back to his side of the monitor bank and Bruce goes back to his work, but he’s lost his focus. Gotham not just in his peripheral vision anymore and of course, Clark notices.

“Want me to go down there? I’ll keep an eye on them. Or you go and I’ll stay here.”

“No, we have a job to do. So do they.”

Clark doesn’t look convinced and something in the back of Bruce’s mind screams of Superman’s disapproving scowl at a brightly coloured child next to Batman’s black cape. But that is a long time ago and Clark looks at him now with a crease between his raised eyebrows and a hand on his shoulder. Worry, a question.

“No,” he says again. “They need to do this together. I trained them. I trust them.”

That hand lingers on his shoulder a moment longer, and Bruce doesn’t shake it off, doesn’t want to. The weight behind Clark’s touch and his gaze ground him, get him out of his thoughts and back to focus on work.

----------

It’s a couple weeks later and they’re all in the cave, Tim and Cass on the matts, sparring, Damian off by the workbench quietly cleaning his gear. Bruce has a video feed open to the Fortress of Solitude, where Superman and Supergirl are looking into the Kryptonian database for the origins of an abandoned alien ship found on Mars. Or at least, Superman is. Kara is playing with newly acquired Krypto, two streaks of red and a blur in the background from time to time. Clark’s family is expanding, too.

Their conversation is all business, small talk quickly waved off by Bruce and he keeps them on track. He has other stuff to do and if Clark can’t find anything about the ship in the Kryptonian data, he’ll contact Oa and let the Lanterns handle it. Yet despite his best efforts tonight, Clark smiles at him, and even through the screen and slightly distorted feed he feels the warmth. Tingling suppressed because it’s nothing like the real deal. The one he’s seen directed at Lois, or when Clark talks about Lana.

“I could uhh… come over?” The uncertainty in Clark’s voice surprises Bruce, but Clark quickly picks up again. “Got everything we need here. I’ll send it to you and we can come up with a plan.”

“The Lanterns can handle it from here,” Bruce says resolutely, pauses. “OK, come over. Bring Kara. I want to have Tim teach her some things about tracking and deduction.” At the mention of her name, Kara appears, now fully visible and Krypto at her side, looking up expectantly at the ball in her hand.

“Hi, guys,” she waves, and Bruce finds Tim and Cass behind him, and even Damian has come much closer. She pretends to hold a magnifier in front of her face. “Detective Kara on the case.” Cass smiles and waves. Tim greets back and says something about listening to detective Tim, smug voice and all smiles. Bruce looks back at Clark to find him still staring at him, holds onto that and Clark’s blue eyes, until Kara speaks again. “Sooo, sleepover at the manor tonight? It’s getting a little boring up here. No offence, Kal.”

Clark holds up his hands. “None taken.”

Bruce cuts in quickly. “No. Tonight’s training and then back home. Damian and I will go on patrol. Clark can stay here with you guys.”

Clark chuckles. “Bruce, it’s fine. You’ve got room enough and I’ll just go back to Metropolis tonight.”

Bruce’s stare turns into a scowl, and Clark folds his arms. Tim lets out an uncharacteristic groan, Cass rolls her eyes. Clark breaks first, unfolds his arms but it’s not without a smug smile when he says, “We’ll be right there.”

 -

They all have supper together, it’s an odd sight at the table with Clark and Kara in their super suits, capes left folded on one of the benches in the cave. Damian is already in the under-suit of his Robin costume, the rest of them still in training sweats, but Alfred only scoffs mildly as he joins them at the table, impeccable as ever. Bruce gets lost in conversation with Clark while the children have their own thing going on. So lost, in fact, that he forgets about patrol time until Damian gives an incessant tug on his sleeve and tells him to ‘get ready, father. I cannot believe you let the alien distract you like that.’

On top of that, in the cave Clark somehow convinces him to let Cass, Tim, and Kara have their sleepover. It’s good for Kara, he says, she needs to spend more time with people her age. Of course Tim then asks if Kon can come too, and Clark happily says yes, at which point Bruce has to remind him that it’s his home, his room is right next to Tim’s and everyone needs their sleep, and thinks it’s a good thing they’re not raising these kids together. They’re opposites, he would be the strict parent, and everyone would go to Clark to ask things (evidently, they already do, or at least Tim does, and Bruce wonders again if he’s let Clark let too close).

That night on patrol though, he can’t shake the feeling that something about tonight felt absolutely right. He chalks it up to the manor, it’s large, it’s supposed to be that full, and his age. He’s not weak, he’s just becoming a sentimental old sap.

----------

On Tuesday afternoon he runs into Tim in the hallway adjoining both their bedrooms where Tim tells him about a recent board meeting at WE, some adjustments he wants to make to their financing plans, coffee cup in hand and stack of papers in the other. Mature, he looks mature.

“How old are you again?” He asks after Tim finishes talking.

Exasperated sigh and waving the stack of papers. “Did you even hear anything I said?”

Bruce just glares at him in answer, raises an eyebrow.

“Right,” Tim says. He hums. Tim is going to fly out soon and Bruce is not quite ready to acknowledge how that makes him feel, but he’ll do his damn best to make sure it’s a good experience for him. To not push him away. To not lose him. “You know I’ll be out of here as soon as soon as I’m eighteen.”

“And finish school.”

“Fine, and finish school. Then I’ll get my own apartment. Might get quiet here.”

Bruce shrugs. “It won’t be quiet with Damian around. I could always call Clark to come over if it gets boring.”

“Clark?”

“Or-”

“No, no, invite Clark. Good for you.” He elbows Bruce and steps into his room. Tim’s grin is just a little unsettling, worth a second thought, but the only possible answer is simple enough. Clark slips into his conversations and his thoughts like he’s supposed to be there (he is). Being around him is more than comfortable, it’s normal. Much better than back in the day when he was always with Lois and Bruce is completely over his feelings.

---------

A mild injury (twisted ankle, he landed wrong and feels it up in his knee), and Clark insists on going back to the cave with Bruce after patrol. He sends Damian to the showers and to bed, slides into the chair in front of the computer and takes off his cowl. Clark hovers around, it’s annoying, he offers to get an ice pack, but that’s Alfred’s job and he’s there as soon as Bruce sinks down. Tim’s at the other end of the large bank of monitors, tracking shipments of something. Bruce should really be more interested and know what Tim is up to, but he’s tired, sore all over, just wants a nice warm shower and sleep. Work first.

Maybe it’ll go faster with Clark around. At least, if he would just stop worrying about Bruce and actually help him. They’re looking into some recovered DNA when Bruce reaches up, rubs at his neck subconsciously.

“You okay?” Clark’s question startles him, both their eyes still trained on the screen. Listening again.

“I’m fine, just sore.”

“Go to bed. I’ll do this.”

“No, I still need to write tonight’s report.” Rubs at his shoulder and rolls.

“Ok. Then here, let me.” Clark walks closer to him, behind the chair, makes a motion with his hands. It takes just a bit too long for Bruce to catch on, but he leans forward slightly. Clark deftly removes the cape and cowl - and it should really worry Bruce that he knows how to, but he forgoes an angry comment as soon as Clark’s hands touch his shoulder. They’re warm along his shoulders and neck, large, gentle despite their incredible strength. Of course, Clark easily finds all the knots and twists and kneads in just the right places. Bruce tries to refocus on his work, tries to be annoyed with Clark for knowing exactly what to do, but the smooth slide of Clark’s thumbs on his trapezius muscles makes it hard. Friends can do this.

It’s somehow much too soon when all the tension is gone and Clark pulls back his hands, but he pushes the thought away. Clears his throat. “Hnn. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

He hasn’t noticed Tim leave, but his spot is empty now, hears him rumbling around in a different part of the cave and the rest of their work gets done quickly in silence.

“I think we should wrap things up here,” Bruce says after finishing his report. He pushes himself up out of the chair, has to hold onto the backrest for support. Clark, automatically, reaches out to him to help.

“Report all done?”

Bruce nods.

“Ok, then. Need any help getting upstairs?”

“No.”

Clark hasn’t let go. In fact, he’s come closer, every colour blue visible in his eyes and his breath ghosting over Bruce’s face.

“Bruce, I-“

“Yes.” The grip on his arm becomes tighter, slow tug. Lips on his, impossibly soft and a hand gently supporting his back. But his own hand stings and the next second Clark stands in front of him, shocked and appropriate distance between them again. Bruce swears in pain. His hand throbs.

“What the fuck, Clark.”

“Crap! Sorry, Bruce, I…” Bruce clenches his jaw, there’s a sigh, then only a gust of wind, Clark’s speed too high for Bruce to even see the streak of red flying out of the cave.

“Bruce.” He whirls around at the sound of his name, heart racing. Tim’s stopped on his way to the stairs, towel around his neck and Bruce ignores the pain in his ankle as he makes his way over. “Fuck, why did you try to hit him?”

“Bed, now.”

Tim groans overdramatically and walks past him into the house. Slowly, Bruce makes it up the stairs and to his bedroom, where he collapses into bed and a restless sleep.

---------

The next day it’s glowers from Tim, no hugs or any words from Cass, and Damian isn’t much better off. Alfred gives him more than a few pointed looks, no sassy raised eyebrow and all scowls. Bruce ignores them as much as they ignore him and the house is quieter than it’s been in a long time. He needs to deal with this himself, he just doesn’t know how to yet. It all lasts until evening, when everyone is in the cave quietly getting ready, where Tim finally speaks to him.

“You lead him on.”

“What?”

“Clark. You lead him on.”

“I heard you, Tim. I did not.”

“You get too close to the alien, father.”

“Clark is a friend. I am close to him.”

“No, you let him get close. You lower your defences, and your body language is all… open.” The last word sounds like a reach within Damian’s vocabulary, chosen carefully.

“Exactly,” Tim joins in. “You lean into him; he moves towards you. You make googly eyes at him; he makes googly eyes at you. When you’re not looking of course.”

“I don’t make googly eyes.”

Tim sighs. “You get the point. Hell, I’ve seen you having coffee with him in the kitchen after patrol more than a few times. I thought that-”

“Tim.”

One of his trademark teenage sighs again, all frustration and no patience. “For a so-called billionaire playboy, you’re really bad at telling when someone is actually interested in you.”

“I’m done talking about this. Suit up. All of you.”

“Had me believe you were in love with him…” A mumble and it dies down as Tim puts on his helmet. The roar of his bike engine drowns out Bruce’s words. “Clark isn’t… that’s just me.”

By the time the cave is quiet again, Damian is waiting for him in the batmobile, arms crossed over his fastened seatbelt. Bruce pulls the cowl over his head and doesn’t notice Cass behind him until she tugs on his cape, puts a hand on his shoulder. “You… love.” She touches his chest. “Clark. Loves you… too.”

 -

On patrol that night, Bruce’s mind wanders. If Damian notices he doesn’t comment on it. They intercept a weapons shipment by the docks, take down the thugs. Standard night in Gotham.

Clark isn’t gay. Straight? Bruce has never outright asked him, always assumed. Lana and Lois all he has to go on and he simply came to a logical conclusion. Though it’s a flawed one, and contradicted by himself on top of that. CEO of a billion-dollar company and he has women hanging of his arms at every society event he goes to because it’s expected. To be straight. He can’t imagine Clark having to do that – maybe it was his rural upbringing, though the Kents are not like that.

And of course, Clark brings Bruce’s whole world, the lies he tells himself, down with one simple kiss. After eleven goddamn years, and all he can feel is loss, lost time, frustration and anger as his fists connect with ribs, jaws, elbows on the street. He needs Clark to explain. He needs himself to understand.

---------

“Bruce.” Clark opens the door, still dressed in a blue button-up and off-the-rack slacks. It’s clear he hasn’t been expecting him; a single plate with a half-finished dinner sits on the table, next to a laptop.

“Why now.”

“What?” Clark clears his throat, swallows a remnant of his dinner. “I’m sorry for what happened.” He steps aside to let Bruce into the apartment, follows him towards the small living room. “I didn’t mean to… I just thought- “

“That’s just it. You didn’t think, you just-” Bruce stops himself, groans. He isn’t here to fight with Clark, but it is just so goddamn easy. Toe to toe and head to head despite half the room separating them. Clark’s jaw sets in that all too familiar way and his expression drops from astonishment and curiosity to calm and collected.

“Are you just here to yell at me? Because I’m really not in the mood. I’m sorry. I thought you were interested in… that. Clearly, I misread the signs, so it won’t happen again. Can we just forget about this whole thing… and move on or something?”

“No.” To Bruce, moving on is impossible.

“Right. Why are you even mad at me? If anything, I should be the one being angry with you. And it doesn’t sound like you came here to apologize for hitting me.”

“No, I didn’t. I’m here so you can explain one thing to me, Clark. Why did you kiss me?”

An eternity packed into the second it took Clark to find his reply, and his answer anything but satisfying. “I don’t know. Maybe we’ve just been spending too much time together.”

“We’re friends. Friends spend time together.”

“Yes. Ok,” Clark sighs, averts his eyes. “I’m attracted to you… and I thought it was mutual. I mean, you let me give you a massage. You’ve never let me done that! So really, I’m sorry if I misread the situation.” Clark holds up his hands, palms up in explanation, excuse. All of it seems much too easy for him, something to brush off.  

“I didn’t think my behaviour would cause such a complication.”

“A complication.”

“I didn’t know, or I would have done things differently. Ergo, a complication.”

Clark breaths in and out, pinches the bridge of his nose under his glasses. “Ok, do you have a problem with me being the way I am? Because that’s what it sounds like. It was just a kiss. Get over it.”

“You jump to conclusions, Clark. As always.”

“Cryptic and you leave me two steps behind, Bruce. As always.”

He looks around Clark’s apartment. The couch is small, but he sits down anyway, motions for Clark to sit on the armchair. Ikea. It puts him across from Bruce and level. “I didn’t know you were…” he has to strain for the right word. “Not straight. Why didn’t you ever tell me?”

Clark runs a hand through his hair, closes his eyes and takes of his glasses. “I thought you were supposed to be good at reading people. I thought you knew.”

“All evidence pointed to the contrary.”

“Bisexuality is a thing you know. And I don’t have to tell you everything about my love interests.”

“Right. Feels like you do, though.”

“So then,” Clark tries. “You’re just here to confirm my sexuality.”

“Not just that.”

“Oh. So, you are… You’re not out, are you?”

“Neither are you, apparently.”

“It’s complicated. And it’s not like I actively hide it,” he says accusingly. Evidently, conditioned bias can really be a bitch sometimes. There’s a whole other conversation to be uncovered behind Clark’s complicated. One they should have. Maybe later. Bruce swallows.

“Why I hit you. I overreacted. I taught myself to… not want that, and-”

“Rao, Bruce, stop. You don’t have to deny who you are. Not around me.” There’s that comforting hand on his again. So much of Clark's communication is rooted in touch. He's held back, Bruce realises now, and finds he desperately wants a lot more of it. Hand on the armrest of the couch, he doesn’t pull away.

“Will you let me apologise. I didn’t mean to hit you and I’m sorry. You know I would never, and it’s stupid.” He looks at where Clark’s thumb touches his bruised knuckles. “Clearly,” Clark agrees.

“The thing is. I was finally content. Happy with what I could have. My family. You as a friend. And then you go and ruin it all with a stupid little kiss.” He has to avert his eyes, look up at the ceiling to consider the absurdity of it all. Biggest miscalculation of his life. The feeling of loss washes over him again like a tidal wave of his own making, and he can’t help but wonder if it feels the same for Clark. “Eleven goddamn years, Clark. Took you long enough.”

Clark’s chuckle does things to his stomach that he hasn’t allowed himself to experience in a long time. He joins Bruce on the couch. “Hey. At least I had the courage to do something.”

“Okay. So you suck a little bit less at this than me.”  Some of the tension finally leaves his body, and Clark visibly relaxes next to him. He turns towards Bruce, like on the watchtower, like at dinner. Bruce thinks of what Tim had said, how they lean towards each other, always, and it feels right, fits. Opposites attract, or something.

“Can I kiss you?”

“God, yes. Didn’t really get the full experience last time.”

“Wonder whose fault that was.” Clark’s face has come much too close for Bruce to see his smile, but he can hear it, feel it in the way there is just a little bit of teeth when their lips meet. This time, the kiss is much better. The feel of Clark’s lips under his own, his hands on Bruce’s thigh, his chest, so warm. Clark’s curls and incredibly strong pulse. He commits it all to memory. Just in case.

“And he says I jump to conclusions,” Clark states to the room, and Bruce has to close his eyes to keep from laughing.

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

Epilogue

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

It’s been over a month since the incident with Bruce and Clark in the cave, and honestly, Tim thinks he would be seeing more of Clark. He felt a little disappointed at first, didn’t talk much to Bruce. Because of course, leave it to him to just shut everyone out again and pretend nothing had happened. Damian – annoyingly so – takes after his dad, works hard and just a tad too victorious.

Tim considers himself a pretty good detective.

However. It takes him a couple days to notice, too long, Bruce would say, that Bruce is calm. More relaxed. If that’s even possible for Batman. Well, not out on patrol of course, but at home. Tim’s doing homework in the ground floor study one day when Bruce walks in, looking at his phone. Smiling. Distracted and he hasn’t noticed Tim on time, clearly, when he quickly pockets his phone and asks Tim what he’s working on. The smile lingers.

There’s a league meeting but when batman returns to the zeta platform in the cave, the usually present proverbial protruding vein is not there, and Bruce doesn’t stomp to his computer right away. Instead, he takes a whole five minutes to remove the constricting parts of his uniform, eat one of Alfred’s sandwiches, and comfortably installs himself in front of the large monitor. It’s as un-Bruce and healthy as Batman can get and it doesn’t go unnoticed. No one comments.

And then. Bruce comes home late one night – on time for patrol – from the office. Or so he claims. But his tie is loosened, shirt not perfectly pressed anymore, and he smells like Pakistani curry. He could have got the food delivered of course, but it’s the windswept hair that betrays exactly who brought him back to Gotham after a dinner in Metropolis.

All of it culminates, there’s more little things and it’s the kind of behaviour that stands out when you spend a lifetime practicing every possible degree of a scowl and a faked interest in small-time fun.

Tim’s suspicions are finally confirmed in a much too unsubtle way when he’s in his room late one night – or maybe early morning –, under the covers and ready to go to sleep. There’s stumbling, bumping into the wall outside his room. His first thought is a threat, but then he hears Bruce’s voice. And another. Creak of the master bedroom door and footsteps shuffling on carpet.

“Take that off.” Straightforward as ever, Bruce.

“This too?” And yep, that’s Clark. Where are his noise cancelling headphones?

Constrained. “Yes.”

Tim clicks on his bedside light, stumbles around his room extra loud, hoping Clark will hear him. Notice he’s awake. At the very least, Superman should be considerate.

“I thought you had superspeed.”

“Patience, B.”

“Waited for you all week.” The rest was muffled, a creaking sound.

Under the safety of his covers and the protection of his headphones, Tim thinks about texting Stephanie. Or Kon. Or Dick. He groans and decides to put on some music instead. Why couldn’t Bruce just come out to them like a normal person? Why didn’t he spend an all-nighter in the cave tonight? Why did he ever choose the bedroom next to Bruce? At least Damian won’t be able to hear them. Right? He makes the mistake of lifting up one side of his headphones to check, only to hear a rhythmic thump, thump, thump, and drops it right back down. Okay. He can probably do some more work on the Two-face case down in the cave. It’s not like he needs sleep, anyway.

He just needs to have a very stern talk with Batman and Superman come morning. And move to a different bedroom.

[captain-of-the-historicfuture]

~hello~ !! For the meta asks!: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, and 25 :))

Hello!! Thank you for sending these; I was really excited to see that ask game and I was hoping somebody would send some in. It still took me a while to actually answer them though, and for that I apologise. But without further ado! Some meta answers (under the cut because they ended up being fairly long, whoops):

3. What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (Consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway.)

I thought of a few examples, but they could basically be grouped together under a common theme: whumpy/angsty scenes that were self-indulgent as all heck. The whole self-indulgent aspect often required the characters to be just the teeniest, tiniest bit OOC and/or necessitated rather unrealistic plot circumstances. So it was simply easier to keep such scenes as maladaptive daydreams, rather than trying to think of explanations for the character/plot issues…or exposing myself to judgement for them LOL.

Receiving permission to write/share one such scene anyway is an opportunity I can’t let slip by though. It might be because I’m writing this while running on zero (0) hours of sleep—let’s hear it for insomnia, y’all!—but I suddenly couldn’t remember any of my newer ideas under this category. However, I did recall a one-shot I had started writing a couple of months ago that sort of counts? “Sort of” because I could actually be arsed to write it since I was, ya know, writing it. Only got about six hundred words down though.

…should I share those six hundred words…?

………nahhh. I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet.

But here’s the gist of it: Coulson and May (because of course it’s Philinda) were married for quite some time before the Attack on New York. But then Coulson DiedTM and then got ResurrectedTM. But gasp of horror, he had to lose his memories of his romantic relationship with May because reasons. (I actually did have some ideas for those reasons but sshhhh this is about me yeeting context and setup.)

The first half of S1 still happens as normal (except MayWard doesn’t happen because??? Vows) and it’s now post-E20 “Nothing Personal”. The morning after (or a morning soon after, whatever) the T.A.H.I.T.I. reveal! May’s mom—who doesn’t know about GH.325 and whom May fed a cover story about Coulson divorcing her or something equally as oof, IDK—shows up at the hotel and starts ripping into Coulson for breaking her daughter’s heart, then dragging her back into the field with her ex-husband (him), then accusing her of terrible things and forcing her away again.

Poor guy’s confused as heck, and so is the team, and soon enough so is Lian. The only one who understands what’s going on is May, and she’s freaking dying off to the side like why is this happening to me and eventually everybody’s like! Explain??? (Was thinking about including something from Coulson like, “Are you still keeping things from me?” Just for that extra smidge of angst, yay!)

So yeah then May gives a, like, two-sentence debriefing that elicits more questions than answers. Coulson decides to take May aside and they have a heart-to-heart. Lots of feelings and angst and hurt/comfort and at some point plenty of kissing too. Just! May hiding her feelings for Coulson’s sake but really magnified, plus some actual apologies and consideration of the grief May’s been through on Coulson’s part.

And uhh yeah that’s basically it I dunno hdsjncjshd. I warned y’all it’s OOC, plot-bendy, and very self-indulgent!

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

I don’t think I could name a single character for this. I get different things out of taking on different voices, you know? I guess recently I’ve found myself gravitating towards more taciturn and introspective points of view, like JQ from my original novel Rosewood or M. Yisbon from my…other original novel Temple.

Generally, however, I like tackling stories from an outsider’s perspective. That’s why I so rarely write my more “substantial” (serious? demanding? for lack of better words?) projects from the PoV of my “preferred” character. This usually means writing from their love interest’s perspective, but not always. With shorter fanfic, using a more removed/unconventional/niche PoV can be really fun. Like, I once wrote a canon compliant ficlet purely(-ish) about Philinda from Tony Stark’s perspective. That isn’t always sustainable with stories that demand more character development or closer character studies, however, which is why it’s a good thing I like writing drabbles!

9. Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? Do you wish you were the other?

My word counts tend to run long, but I usually only write one-shots for fanfic. If I’m even inspired with a novella- or novel-length story idea for a fandom, you already know I’m in deep with them. And if I actually find the motivation to plan and execute that idea? Dangg. That’s only ever happened…twice, maybe thrice, and I’m in a lot of fandoms.

At times, I wish I could go for more of a middle ground ’cause, like, you know what I love to see? An AO3 dashboard with several completed novellas for my ship/character of choice. I mean yes, I hecking love >90k fics, but sometimes I’m in the mood for quick reads…and what am I supposed to do when I burn through all the drabbles and 2k one-shots? (Besides despair and/or reread my faves desperately.) Novellas are basically always safe for me LOL, and I’d hope to be able to give as much as I take.

Ultimately though, I think I’m okay with where I am with regards to that. I wish I could write more in general, but I’d be okay with “writing more” just meaning “writing more one-shots”, ya know? More than okay, really. I have mad respect for fic writers who have, like, a hundred or more one-shots under their belt for this one ship. The fandom ecosystem would be incomplete without them (as well as every other type of writer, but sshhh that’s the type of writer I’m closest to being right now).

I’m definitely a plotter, and I definitely prefer it that way. It’s cool having such a detailed record of my process. I like feeling like a frazzled genius on the brink of a major discovery with all of my different outlines and colour coding and many drafts and various websites.

12. Do you want your writing to be famous?

Not exactly. It might be cool if my original works were recognisable in the world, but I don’t think I’d want to be recognisable. As for fanfic, I’d low-key enjoy gaining a place in that fandom’s community as a fic writer. Like someone who gave and got fic gifts from fic writer friends, who participated in challenges and GCs, who received writing prompts on Tumblr, whose name was known for doing a certain trope/genre a bunch of times… Ya know what I mean?

Unlikely to happen when I’m so hecking hesitant to publicly (i.e., outside of AO3) claim credit for my writing, but fjnskfsjhfjs. A writer can dream, right?

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Of those three, tags are the easiest for me, for I have a reliable system for figuring out those.

Next easiest would probably be titles. For fanfiction, I like to use titles that are a quote from the source material. You should have seen all of my old Hamilton fanfic… I was really proud of some of those titles. And I don’t mean, like, whole lines—usually only two to five words. It’s a unique type of wordplay that I just love dabbling in.

And lastly, summaries. Sometimes inspiration strikes me and a snappy and intriguing synopsis just jumps out—one that I’m quietly pleased with—but most of the time I’ll spend way too long trying to think of such a synopsis and eventually just go with whatever I’d come up with so far. And live with my quiet dissatisfaction for the rest of time.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (Plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations...?) Tell us about them!

Typically, no. If I have deleted scenes, I save and publish them separately, but that’s about it. I sometimes think of AUs for my own work and might talk about them in my author’s notes—might even talk about writing them—but I never really do anything with them.

Although…

It’s not uncommon for me to decide a plotline isn’t working for a certain story or to think of an interesting but undoable arc for a certain character, but what I’ll do is make a whole new story for those ideas. Once I’m done developing the original idea and the branched-off one, you probably wouldn’t be able to tell they grew from the same roots. Does that count?

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as (film, webcomic, animated series, etc.)?

That depends on the story. I’ve actually written stories in other mediums—movie screenplay, musical stageplay, poetry, TV show scripts, play scripts, roleplay—but the novel does tend to be my comfort zone. Sometimes, if I have an idea that I think could work, or would even work better, as another medium, I’ll label it as such in my folder of ideas and decide not to write it as a novel.

Most of the time, my non-book projects are collaborations. I’m working with five different people on six different story ideas: two webcomics, one stage musical, one anime, and two animated TV shows. Little concrete progress has been made in any of those, mind you, but they’re still fun to discuss!

24. Would you say your writing has changed over time?

Absolutely. But I’ve been writing stories since I was five years old, so we would hope so, huh?

I wouldn’t say my writing’s changed completely, though maybe that’s just my insider’s perspective.

25. What part of writing is the most fun?

Oh gosh, I can’t believe you’d make me choose. Writing is just such a wonderful experience for me; I love just about everything to do with it. Admittedly, not all the time, but. Since that barely qualifies as an answer, however, I’ll give you this—

The endings. Not only that intense feeling of rightness when you wrap up that last sentence, but also the moments before. The adrenaline of knowing you’re almost there but you gotta push just a bit more to actually get there. And also the part right after—the real wrap-up, honestly: the revision and the editing. Heavens, I love revising and editing my work.

Which is not to say I don’t like writing it out for the first time, too—there’s nothing quite like seeing your cursor scroll to the next page, like going from a blank expanse to a Oh man, how many more lines are even going to fit on this page?, like watching that page counter tick up another number. However, there’s something cathartic about finally ironing out those problems I had to force myself to stop worrying about earlier because “just finish the first draft dangit”.

I guess that’s not really the end of the writing process, but whatever. Close enough (as fic writers are wont to say).

Another thank-you for these asks, and feel free to come back with more at any time! ;P

Send in fun meta asks for your friendly neighbourhood writer!

[shinygoku]

Top 10 CSatM Episodes (1/2)

Ahhh, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons...! Probably only Second to Thunderbirds when it comes to the most popular and beloved Supermarination programme, with only Stingray able to compete for that coveted Silver Medal. But for me, it’s my Favourite!

I could go on and on about it, but for now I’ll go over my personal picks for a Top 10, which may give some insight into what about the way the series ticks makes it so enthralling.

Without further ado, let’s jump in! I’m not ordering them by preference, but rather the Episode order as I watched them on my DVDs (tediously the ep listings never seem to be consistent :T) Spoilers for all eps covered! ✂

Winged Assassin

Starting off my Favourites is the 2nd episode of the whole show, featuring a good condensed version of the events of Ep 1 if ya missed it and probably the best explanation on the workings of Retrometabolism that canon media is ever gonna grant us. The plot is fairly straightforward, but what elevates this is the aforementioned Exposition, which feels more organic than it did last episode, the interactions between Scarlet and Blue, and even the shocking twist at the ending, where the mission that had been going so well falls at the very last hurdle, in spite of Spectrum’s best efforts.

One of the most chilling visuals in the series is a surfaced shard of a downed passenger plane floating up from the sea, before the camera pans out to show the duplicated plane flying through the air, and another dark shot later on, of Scarlet’s limp hand with blood running down after he died in the effort to prevent the massive explosion that occurs regardless.

Winged Assassin sets a lot of standards of things to follow; traits like massive collateral damage just as part of the Mysteron’s grander scheme, the close partnership of Scarlet and Blue, Scarlet’s seldom used Sixth Sense and even the occasional downer ending, where the Mysterons manage to sneak a victory in and actually kill or destroy their stated target.

White as Snow

This episode shines a very interesting light on the dynamics between Col. White and Scarlet. It’s obviously one of a superior giving orders most of the time, but in a twist from the somewhat strict nature of Jeff Tracy over his sons who show respect to their father by not arguing back, with these two there’s actually the occassional spark of friction, that Scarlet will voice when he doesn’t like the commands and will only reluctantly go through the motions in the situation. I’m referring mostly to the first Mysteron attack, where a satellite is on a collision course with Cloudbase, but Scarlet unsubtly opposes the plan as there’s the possibility of innocent people on board who would get killed if Spectrum shot it down first. However, he’s overruled... and it turns out that it was indeed a trap, the people on board had been exploded hours ago and what was shot down was a Replicant copy. And that’s just the first half of the episode! But I find it interesting that again, back in Thunderbirds, the call to not remotely destroy something like that on the offchance it was populated would be the Correct course of action, but in this show pragmatism is needed, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Anyway, the episode has another Mysteron attack aboard a submarine, with plenty of tension... but yet, there’s something of a comedic bend to the episode, such as a furious White shouting at the currently dead Scarlet, much to the Naval crew’s confusion, and the scene at the end which I’ve taken the picture from. The weakest part of the episode is probably Blue in charge of Cloudbase, as he doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing and I feel they coulda done more with him. Oh well! At least we got the fantastic music insert, which is also titled White as Snow.

Operation Time

Probably ranking in my Top 3, Operation Time is pretty remarkably both one of the most tension filled... yet an extremely funny episode. I guess some of that’s just due to my own odd sense of humour, though some moments are clearly intentional. Both the operation scenes, the Mysteron’s pursuit of the Doctor, and finally Spectrum chasing the Mysteron!Doctor are all played very suspensefully, and I find myself holding my breath. But then the funny scenes, like everything with Magenta and how hilariously pissy and unsubtle the Fake!Doctor gets leave me in stitches! [pun unintended lol]

I dunno, maybe some of the amusement effect is enhanced by the strong contrast between the scenes. Also we get a very grisly death for the Fake!Doctor and this episode establishes weaknesses for the Mysterons that will come up in future instalments. There’s a lot this ep has to offer, even something of an insight into 60′s medicine (though the series is set in 2068). While an extremely minor point, both the scenes with operations have the pssssshh.....fsssssshhhh sound that I associate with ventilators even though they ain’t being used, what’s up with that? But it’s another thing to add to the Atmosphere so s’all good, man.

Odd that I can’t think of much else to put here, I love it so much but maybe it’s so solid in the couple of things it does that’s all there really is to say? I’m feeling frustrated at how I don’t seem to have written enough for it, but trust me when I say it’s excellent and that it’s absolutely a Must Watch if you’re giving the series a look. (Though again, I’m spoiling each ep covered so uhh... read at your own risk if you’re using this to judge it!)

The Heart of New York

An interesting tale that I’ve actually Heard more than I’ve watched, as the audio adaptation is a free sample on the official Gerry Anderson site! [At least at the time of writing lmao, it’s worth a look anyway. This message was not paid for.]

This story is somewhat unique in that the Mysterons’ plan is pretty tame by their standards. They want to blow up... a Bank. Sure, it contributes to the long game they play, causing disruption and destruction, but compared to the casual massive collateral damage they inflict as part of a more focused murder attempt (again, see Winged Assassin and the passenger plane) this is small potatoes. But still, they end up feeling more moral in this episode than the actual ne’er do wells, a trio of would-be Robbers. These guys are pretty assholish, deliberately using the horrible cosmic war that’s already taken lives in the triple digits to hide behind while they take their pickings from a vault. Captain Black locking these morons in with the explosives feels like poetic justice, that they really did get what they wanted and are punished in kind.

Maybe this feeds the Mysteron’s point, that humans are aggressive, corrupt and selfish... though Colonel White challenges this view at the end of the episode, stating the robbers aren’t indicative of humanity as a whole. The whole shebang is a lot like The Twilight Zone, honestly. All we need is Rod Serling to open and close the episode...

Point 783

This episode is a bit harder to go into depth on, to be honest, it’s not one with a particular gimmic that makes it more memorable, but it’s a very solid ep all the same. There’s still a fair few layers that keep me thinking, like how it seems one of the Methane Trunk drivers had seemingly been Mysterionised offscreen to enable the Mysteron’s main pawns to me made. Then the first attempt to kill the Supreme Commander is thwarted by Scarlet’s (somewhat inconsistant) Mysteron Sense and perspex tubes that take their sweet time to descend and don’t even prioritise the actual target lol

Anyway, the meat of the episode is focused on the guest vehicle, the Unitron implacable unmanned Tank that can be controlled remotely by human operator or programmed to destroy something particular, and it will not stop or slow down no matter what’s thrown at it. Something something Proto-Drone Warfare commentary. The Mysterons’ last big attempt to assassinate today’s dude has one of their Mysterionised guys from earlier become the target, unknown to everyone else until he draws his gun inside the SPV (who even points out the 6th sense didn’t activate!). Scarlet gets shot 3 times but manages to eject himself and the Supreme Commander, which leads to the above scene, which offers a nice, human response.

Mr Supreme Commander later chews Blue out as it emerges instead of Scarlet going to a Hospital within 10 minutes, Spectrum insisted on waiting for one of their Helicopters to pick him up, which took 3 hours. Poor Blue has to try reassuring the army guys that Scarlet will be fine, truuuuust hiiiim. It makes me wonder if Spectrum is making things easier or harder overall by keeping his Retrometabolism under their hats, though I can understand they’d have reservations, but just trying to gloss over it with a ‘no no, it’s fine, he’ll get better.’ type answer doesn’t seem all that convincing. But I enjoy that it’s semi challenged here. And this episode summary ended up longer than expected cause all the Thinking I’ve done, haha!

=======

This has gotten a lot longer than expected and will be Two Parts! Find the second half here~

[lovemesomesurveys]

1. What is your favorite shade of blue? Pastel blue, teal, Tiffany blue, baby blue, powder blue, sky blue, turquoise. 2. When's the last time you bought something just because? I bought some room sprays and hand sanitizers from this place that makes Disneyland/World scented things because I was missing Disney and wanted to bring some of it to my house. 3. What Ozzy lyric describes you best? I only know Crazy Train and I mean, I do feel like I’m on a crazy train. 4. When was the last time you went for a walk without a specific destination in mind? I don’t do that. 5. Do you daydream? Yeah. My mind wanders and I zone out a lot.

6. What was your last daydream about? Random stuff. 7. Ever won the lottery? No, I wish. 8. How much did you get for your high school graduation? I think around $300 and my parents my threw me a nice graduation party. 9. What was the most important decision you made that screwed up your life the most? Not taking care of/putting off some things and neglecting myself.  10. Do you know what your Chinese horoscope is? Nope. 11. What is love really about? Encouragement, support, growth. 12. What's the most you ever made in a year? I’ve never had a job. 13. Do you have an online diary? You’re lookin’ at it. 14. What's the biggest pot you've won in poker? I’ve never played poker. 15. What's your most prized possession? I love all my things. 16. What Metallica lyric most describes your life? I don’t listen to Metallica. 17. Ever been to Ozzfest? No. I take it you’re an Ozzy fan. 18. How many concerts have you been to? I think I’ve been to 7. 19. Which one was your favorite? All of them were fun, but the Jonas Brothers concerts and the Green Day concert were my favorites. 20. What shade of purple most describes your feelings right now? I don’t know. 21. Pick a shade of a color. Now describe it to me and name it. Nah. 22. Sun tea or brewed tea? My mom used to make sun tea during the summers growing up, which I liked. I haven’t had that since then. Nowadays I just throw a tea bag in a cup of hot water and let it steep for a few minutes.  23. What's the most illegal thing you've done? I haven’t done anything serious. 24. Ever get busted by the cops? What for? No. 25. What's under your bed? Nothing. 26. Vacuum or dustbuster? Vacuum. 27. How many people are on your buddy list? Aw, the days of AIM. 28. How many pairs of rollerblades do/did you own? I’ve never owned a pair of rollerblades. 29. Ever wear out a CD? What was it? No. 30. What's your favorite card game? I like card games like Uno, Apples to Apples, and Cards Against Humanity. 31. Who was the most annoying person you've talked to on the phone? I’m not a fan of talking on the phone in general. 32. What's your favorite fast food meal? Wingstop’s boneless garlic parm and lemon pepper wings with their ranch and a a side of lemon pepper sauce. 33. Where is the best restaurant you've ever eaten in at? This Mongolian BBQ place was my favorite back when I could eat spicy food. 34. Lamb chops or pork chops? Neither. 35. How many roses have you received/given? I’ve never received or given roses. 36. When's the last time you mowed the lawn? Never. 37. Washed your car? I’ve never had a car since I don’t drive. I have participated in several car wash fundraising events for Girl Scouts and the psych club I was in in community college, though. 38. Ever have a tornado in your town? No, thankfully we don’t get tornadoes. --- 40. What state is your wardrobe in? Uh, it’s fine?  41. What's the last article of clothing you bought? A cute Valentine’s Day themed Baby Yoda shirt from Boxlunch. 42. How many trash cans can you see right now? One. 43. If you HAD to pick ONE song to listen to for the rest of your life, and that would be the only song you ever heard, what would it be? Ah, I don’t know. 44. Ever heard of Shinedown? Yeah. 45. They rock, don't they? I only know one of their songs and I don’t really care for it much. 46. What size is your bed? It’s a full. 47. When's the last time you had pigs in a blanket? I have no idea. It’s been several years. I don’t particularly care for those. 48. Have you ever painted the ceilings in your home? No. We haven’t painted anywhere in this house. 49. What does your lawn furniture consist of? We just have a bench in the backyard. 50. Ever live off of canned soup and ramen noodles for weeks at a time? I do have my nightly bowl of ramen, but it’s not the only thing I eat. 51. What flavor of jelly are you? *shrug* 52. Ever take any of those online personality quizzes? I’ve taken several. 53. What musical group/artist do you love, but hide from other people? I don’t hide any of the musical artists or bands that I’m into. 54. What's on the floor in your bedroom? Nothing. 55. What is the first meal you remember eating? Pfft, I have no idea. 56. Ever been to a drive in? Yeah, a few times. I wish those would make a big comeback. 57. What was the first movie you ever saw? I don’t remember. 56. What's in your keepsake box/scrapbook? I don’t have like a designated box and I don’t have a scrapbook, but I’ve kept a lot of things throughout my life and a ton of photos all stored away in various places.  57. Describe your first date. It was dinner and a movie. 58. Would you recognize most of your classmates 5 years after graduation? Not from my college graduations. 59. What percentile of your class were you in? I have no idea. 60. When was the last time it rained while the sun was shining? I don’t recall. 61. What did you score on your SATs? I never took the SATs. 62. When was the last time you saw a rainbow? It’s been several years. 63. Name your favorite artist/song from before 1990. I have many favorites. 64. Do you think there should be new genres of music to encompass some of the newer rock performers out now? I don’t know, man. 65. What colors is your lava lamp? I don’t have a lava lamp. I did have one as a kid, though. I think it was blue. 66. What's the strangest thing you've ever hung on the wall? I haven’t hung up anything strange. 67. When's the last time you did laundry? My laundry was done a few days ago. 68. How many hammers do you own? I don’t personally have any hammers, but my dad does. I could use one of his if I needed to. 69. Can you name every place you've ever had sex? Yeah, nowhere.  70. How many speakers are in your bedroom? My laptop, TV, iPhone, and my Nintendo Switch.  71. DVD or VHS? I just watch movies through a streaming service. 72. What's the most important thing you ever lost and never found again? Myself? Lost her a few years ago...still haven’t found her. 73. What forms of birth control have you used? Abstinence (I’m a virgin). 74. How many webpages have you created, and can you still find them all? I’ve made a few back in the day, but no I don’t remember any of them. 75. You have .30 in two coins. One of them is not a nickel. What are they? One of them is not a nickel, but the other one is.  76. What's your pet peeve when cleaning the house? I don’t enjoy cleaning in general. 77. Do you use sponges or dishcloths when doing the dishes? We use a dish washing brush. 78. How many people are in your family portrait? Four. 79. How many times have you moved? A few, but only once that I’m old enough to remember. 80. Handcuffs or rope :D? Neither. 81. What season best describes your temperament? Whatever one best goes along with irritability and moodiness. 82. What's the last thing you had to drink? Starbucks Doubleshot energy drink. 83. Ever been so drunk you blacked out? No, but parts of my memory from one night when I got too drunk are spotty. 84. What's your favorite song on the top twenty right now? I don’t even know what the top 20 is right now. I haven’t been listening to music.  85. What do your light fixtures look like? I have a ceiling lamp and a floor lamp. 86. How many jobs have you held for more than a month? I haven’t had a job. 87. Ever punched a wall? No. 88. When's the last time you really lost your temper? It’s been a long time. 89. How do you cope? Good question. 90. What's your antidrug? My go-to distractions ASMR, watching YouTube videos, scrolling through Tumblr, checking my social medias, doing surveys, reading, watching TV, coloring, sleeping... 91. Ever grown any plants before? What were they? Nope. 92. Ever own a director chair? No. 93. When was the last time you camped out? Never. I have no interest in camping. 94. Went swimming? It’s been like 7 years now since I last went swimming. 95. Went fishing? I’ve only done it once and very briefly. 96. Oust or Glade and why? Glade.  97. Ever thought you (or a girlfriend) were pregnant, but it was a false alarm? Nope. 98. If 97 is yes, were you glad or sad? -- 99. Do you have a red-eye mouse or one with a ball? I don’t have a mouse, I use the trackpad on my laptop. 100. What do your doorstops look like? Uhh those springy ones. I don’t know how else to describe it. The ones that make a lot of noise if you accidentally bump into it. 101. What was the last conversation you had with someone before they died? I was by my grandpa’s side when he died and I was just telling him how much I loved him, thanked him for everything, and comforted him; letting him know it was okay to go. 102. What do your drinking glasses look like? We have various glasses and mugs. 103. How many bottles/containers are in your medicine cabinet? We don’t have a medicine cabinet, but we have a medicine drawer full of various medications. 104. How many funerals have you been to? Three. 105. How many states have you been to? Five, including my own.

106. What was the last bug you killed and what did you use? A gnat. I just swatted it. 107. What does your country need right now? Unity. 108. Are you creative? I wish I was. I don’t have any creativity, artistic abilities, or good ideas. 109. How so? -- 110. How many computers in your household? Two. 111. Ever help to solve a crime? No. 112. Who is in the picture frame on your bedside table? I don’t have any photos on my bedside table. 113. How many CDs does your player hold? I don’t have a CD player. I haven’t had one in many years. 114. What is one thing you'd like to do before you die? Get my shit together and do something with my life. 115. Do the good die young or do they die before they have a chance to be bad? That seems to imply that everyone ends up bad. 116. What's your favorite totally cliche' saying? Blah. 117. Ever go out of your way to exact revenge on someone? No. I’m not a vengeful person. 118. Was it worth it? I don’t think it would ever be worth it.  119. Ever get pulled over by the cops and get away without a ticket? I don’t even drive, so no. 120. What's the weather like right now? It’s currently 50F. 121. What was your first legal alcoholic drink? Tequila shots. 122. Do you have a door/doorknob to your room? Yes. 123. Name one thing you regret? I have a few regrets. :/ 124. Ever get published by one of those poetry groups? No. I don’t even write poetry. 125. What's the furthest distance you've moved? Across town. 126. How many friends from high school/college do you still talk to? None anymore... 127. Where is your home/heart right now? Right here. 128. What's the most expensive things your parents ever bought you? Many things throughout my life and even still.  129. What's the most expensive thing you've bought? My first MacBook back in 2009.  130. How many hangers are in your closet? Uh, a lot. I’m not counting. 131. If you died right now, would you feel cheated or happy? I haven’t accomplished anything. :/ 132. How many times did you intentionally start to commit suicide? Zero. 133. Ever spent the night in the "loony bin?" Don’t call it that, first of all, and no. 134. What's wrong with society? Ignorance, close-mindedness, greed, hate, violence... 135. How many crazy ice cream trucks are in your area? Uh, I’ve never considered any of them to be crazy. Anyway, lately there’s been an ice cream truck coming through my neighborhood, which is is the first in many years. What a random time, though. 136. What is your favorite cover song? I love the cover of George Michael’s, Fast Love, that Adele performed at an award show after he died in honor of him. I always describe it as hauntingly beautiful. It was just so good. I wish she would have released a studio version of it. 137. Does the weather ever seem to reflect your mood eerily? I’m always moody, so when it’s rainy and gloomy it does. 138. Are you more psychic than most people? I don’t believe in psychic abilities.  139. What's your inspiration? I don’t know. :/ 140. What's the longest relationship you've been in? Whatever it was Joseph and I had lasted 3 years, which is longer than technically the only relationship I had that lasted just a few months. What I had with Joseph felt more like one as well in a lot of ways. 141. Did you ever drop out of school? No. 142. Ever raise a child that wasn't your own for more than 3 months? No. 143. What is your favorite piece of jewelry? Probably the stuff I have with birthstone.  144. Ever help someone cheat on someone else? Absolutely not. 145. Are you a cheater too? No. 146. What was the last dessert type food you've eaten? I had some mini funfetti muffins yesterday. 147. Fill in the blank: I'm a ________aholic. Coffeeholic. 148. When's the last time you went to a hairdresser/salon? Last February. I’ve over a year due now.  149. Strangest medical procedure ever performed on you? I had to wear this thing called a halo, which is a weird thing that gets drilled into the front of your head (I have two tiny circular scars above each eyebrow from that) and on the back are some weights attached to it that hang down. It was put on after my spinal fusion surgery and is meant to keep your back straight and things in place. It was awful. And heavy. When it was removed I had to wear a neck brace for a bit because my neck was weak. 150. Do you own any appliances? Yeah, we have several appliances. 151. Do you have an "egg crate" on your bed? Yes. 153. Last time you went to the laundromat? I remember tagging along as a kid with my grandma before. 154. How many hinges are on your front door? I’m not sure. 155. Can I be done yet? Yeah, I think you’re good.  

[winchesterbrotherstan]

Agents of Shield- Pilot (1.01)

Pairing: Leo Fitz x Violet Ward (OC)

Summary: Coulson gathers the group, Violet is reunited with her long lost brother, they pick up a stray, and Grant tries to be an angry dad

Warnings: cursing, uhh blood i think?

Word Count:  6086 (not that long)

“Leo, what are you doing?” My voice was a low grumble as I turned my head.

“Trying to fix the fan so it stops making that bloody clicking noise.” 

I rolled my eyes at the curly haired Scot, pulling my pillow out from under my head before chucking it at him.

“Come back to bed.” I snuggled further into the blankets and closed my eyes.

“But Violet...” He trailed off and sighed.

I felt the bed sink beside me as he crawled in next to me, worming his way under the covers.

“We have to be on Coulson’s plane in two hours. Let’s just relax.” I twisted around to face him, the blankets still up to my chin.

“I just hate the noise.” Fitz pulled me against him, my forehead against his warm shoulder and my hands curled against his stomach. “And I know you do too, darlin’.”

I melted at the pet name, slouching against him as I pressed a kiss to his shoulder. I heard him chuckle and his chest rumbled before he kissed my forehead. I felt myself drift in and out of consciousness, his heartbeat under my ear lulling me back to sleep.

“Love you.” He mumbled, rearranging ourselves so my arms were around his neck and his head was on my shoulder.

“Love you too.” I tangled my fingers in his hair and pecked the side of his head.

We stayed like that for a while, both on the verge of sleeping and awake. A loud knock at the door startled us both. Fitz yelped as I flinched, sitting up blearily.

“What?” He shouted, flopping back onto the pillows.

“Agent Ward, I need to speak with you.”

I forced myself out of bed and shuffled to the door, pulling my hair back behind my ears as I opened the door, greeted by an antsy Coulson.

“It’s four in the morning. What’s wrong?” I tugged on the sleeves of Fitz’s flannel, pulling them down my arms.

Coulson sighed before looking up with a grimace.

“What is it, sir?” Fitz was behind me now, hands on my shoulders and as confused as I was.

“Violet. We found your brother.”

I would’ve stumbled backward if Fitz wasn’t holding me steady. I felt my eyes sting as they welled with tears.

“You found Grant?” I could feel myself shaking.

“Yes. He’s joining us on the mission. Are you gonna be okay?”

I nodded before looking back up. “Does he know that-”

“No. I haven’t spoken to him yet. I think it’s best that he finds out in due time.” Coulson’s gaze was sympathetic, and I could feel Fitz staring at me out of more concern than pity.

I nodded again. “Okay. Thank you, sir.” I shut the door in his face and closed my eyes.

Maybe I’m dreaming.

I heard thunder roar outside and rain started to hit the window.

“You alright darling?” Fitz put his hands on my waist this time and led me back to the bed, pulling me to sit next to him.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as I nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“It’s going to be okay, Violet. I promise.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

I looked up at him and nodded once more, head cleared this time. “I know.”

                                                           ***

“You okay, Violet?” Jemma asked me, concern in her voice.

I nodded. “Yeah. Just nervous.”

“Don’t wanna see your brother after all this time?” Fitz pressed a quick kiss to my head before passing by me, taking one of the bags from the floor and packing it into the lab.

“Scared to see if he’s changed.” I answered truthfully, laying on the floor in front of the lab doors.

“Whoa whoa whoa! Watch it! That’s the night-night gun.” Fitz scrambled over to take it from Jemma.

“Well it’s on my stuff and it doesn’t work and there’s no way we’re calling it the night-night gun.” Jemma scoffed.

“The bullets work. Nonlethal, heavy stopping power, break up under the subcutaneous tissue-”

Jemma cut him off with some other scientific argument as I heard footsteps coming up the cargo ramp.

“Violet?”

I bolted upright and struggled to get to my feet, frantic.

“Hey Grant.” I looked up at him.

I hadn’t seen my brother since I was fourteen, which was about eleven years ago. Things had happened and we had been told he was dead, but it never felt real.

He looked at me and froze, as if he were a buffering computer. I started to think that maybe being on a mission with him would be an awful idea. He must’ve noticed my change in posture, because he carefully put his bag on the floor and came practically running to lift me off my feet in a bone crushing hug.

“Hi. I’ve missed you.”

“I’m so sorry, Vi.” He whispered.

“Wasn’t your fault. Never was.” I fixed my arms around his middle as he put me back on the ground, still hugging me.

“I’m sorry.” His heart thundered under my ear and I took a deep breath.

“It’s okay.” I took a step back and looked up at him.

He had changed a lot since I had last seen him, but that was when he was nineteen. He should be thirty now, if my math was right. I couldn’t help but stare, eyes flickering over every detail of his face. His jaw seemed to be more square, his nose flatter. His eyes looked the same. He pulled me in for another hug before sighing.

“Gotta go get set up.” He squeezed my arm.

I nodded and stepped out of his way. Fitz-Simmons were still arguing about the bullets from the night-night gun, and Grant dropped his bag roughly, getting their attention. I stayed off to the side, observing. I was a field agent, but I was also a psych agent, and I couldn’t help but wonder what else had changed about Grant. Was he still short-tempered? Did he still close himself off from other people? Were his mannerisms any different? Would I still be able to read him like a book?

“Fitz-Simmons?” He asked.

“Fitz.”

“Simmons. I’m engineering, she’s biochem.” They pointed at each other.

Jemma sent me a wink and a small smile. Fitz caught my eye with a disgruntled look. They obviously had different thoughts about my older brother.

“So you’re Violet’s brother?” Jemma smiled at him.

“Yeah, Grant Ward. Coulson said I’d need my comm receiver encoded.” Grant eyed them wearily. “I don’t know if you’ve worked with that model before.” He said as Fitz took it.

He only sighed as Fitz broke it to pull out IDIS chip, saying that it was brand-new. I avoided his glance. It would be better if he figured out Fitz and I were a thing at another time.

“He’ll repurpose the IDIS chip.” Jemma said.

“Don’t need the external receiver for the inner-ear comms anymore.” Fitz explained, pulling the chip out.

Grant looked at me and I only shrugged. I wasn’t a tech person.

“So uh, how does it-” He was cut off by Jemma taking a swab of his cheek, holding him in place by the chin.

“Embedded sensorineural silicone matched to your DNA. It’s very posh.” She rubbed the cotton swab around before finally stepping back.

I watched Grant move his cheeks, obviously uncomfortable with being poked and prodded at.

“So, are you excited to be coming on our journey into mystery?” Jemma kept smiling.

“It’s like Christmas.” I watched his nostrils flare.

He was uneasy. He didn’t like the dynamic presented in the room, he didn’t like being touched, he didn’t like the attention. Luckily, Coulson came up, the old red car’s tires screeching.

“One of Coulson’s old S.H.I.E.L.D. collectibles. Flamethrowers, world’s first GPS. He’s mad for this crap.” Fitz explained to Grant.

“Don’t touch Lola.” Coulson ordered a worker helping us load things.

“And he calls it a girl’s name.” Fitz’s nose crinkled up in amusement.

Grant only raised an eyebrow. He was unimpressed and probably a tad stressed. He caught me watching and squinted his eyes before letting a small smile slip, his nose twitching. I grinned and patted his arm as I passed by him, following Coulson up the steps. Grant picked his bag back up and followed suit.

“Lola’s not just a collectible, you know. People tend to confuse the words ‘new’ and ‘improved’. This mobile command, they were in heavy rotation back in the nineties, but then we got a helicarrier. Hey Ward, did you hear the one about the guy who’s afraid of flying?” Coulson tried to joke with my brother.

“I’ve done a night jump into a drop zone under heavy fire, sir. I can handle it.” Grant was oblivious.

“That was … a joke. The first part of a … I’m not gonna tell it now.” Coulson sighed.

“If you plan to unpack, make it quick. Wheels are up in five.” May rounded the corner, eyeing Grant with an expression I couldn’t read. She quickly turned to Coulson. “We may have a hit on one of the Rising Tide’s routing points.”

“Good. We need to do some catching up.” Coulson leafed through the packet she handed him.

May walked away without a second glance. Grant was wide-eyed, looking at where she had walked off and then turning to me.

“Is that … who I think it is?”

“She’s just the pilot.” Coulson shrugged it off.

“Melinda May is just the pilot. Come on, sir. What game are you really playing?” Grant eyed Coulson.

“Better stow your gear.” Coulson ignored his question and went into the small conference room in the middle.

“I’ve gotta go talk to Fitz. I’ll catch you later?” I inched away.

I was noticing small things. Tics, movements, glances, mannerisms, postures. All things that made me uneasy. Something was off about him, but he had been gone so long that I didn’t know what it was.

“You and Fitz are a thing? You could do better.” He apparently could still read me like a book.

I let out a sigh. “I don’t wanna do better. I like him.”

                                                          ***

I stayed in the lab helping Fitz unpack as we flew to California. There was a lead on a member of the Rising Tide. They were an organization that worked day and night against S.H.I.E.L.D. to expose the things we tried so hard to hide. They believed the world would be better off with the knowledge of aliens and other-worldly life forms out there. We did everything we could to stop them, but they only grew in size and were nearly impossible to track down. Coulson wanted to catch this particular member, and it would help him test Grant in the field.

“You are not convinced.” Fitz stood in front of me.

I shrugged from my perch on the table. He grabbed my hands and tilted his head until his eyes were level with mine. I smiled and looked up so he wouldn’t have to twist his neck to talk to me. He cupped my jaw and pulled me closer for a kiss.

“Talk to me.”

I sighed and pulled him closer, so his hands were on either side of me on the table and I could fiddle with the end of his tie. I sprung up and pecked his lips. His presence was beyond reassuring as bad thoughts about Grant filled my mind. 

“They’re small things. Really little things. Mannerisms, tics, wording… Something’s off. But at the same time, I barely know him anymore. I know that something is wrong, but I don’t know him well enough to know what it is.” I licked my lips before looking up at Fitz, met by concerned blue eyes.

He nodded. “I’m sorry, darling.” He opened his arms and I leaned forward, pulling him to stand between my legs so I could slouch against his chest without falling off the table. My forehead found its place against his warm neck as he swept my hair out of my face and then ran his hand up and down my back. I heard footsteps and pulled back, grabbing at Fitz’s hands to hold them in my lap.

“Hey. Oh, sorry…” Grant trailed off as he slinked back behind the door frame. “Coulson needs you guys upstairs is all.” He flashed Fitz a look before heading down the hallway.

Fitz stared, his head tilted to the side. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong, darling, but… he seems almost,” he eyed me and let out a sigh. “Predatory.”

I bit my lip. “You know, angel face, I really wish you were wrong sometimes.”

                                                          ***

May parked in the middle of the street, her body tense. Jemma was eager as she stepped out of the car, a wide smile on her face and her eyes wide. Fitz met me on my side of the car as he looked up at the building in question. The Rising Tide member had filmed a man jumping from a few stories high after it blew up. He had rescued a woman before running off. Coulson suspected the person who filmed the video must’ve caused the explosion. May looked over the breaks in the asphalt left from the man’s fall. She remained stone-faced and wordless.

Jemma talked the entire way up to the floor that had been the source of explosion. Fitz answered her a few times, but she soon didn’t require any interaction. He noticed my continual unease and stopped me, offering a hand. I sighed and took it gratefully. We weren’t publically touchy feely, we didn’t like PDA, but his presence helped, and so did his thumb running across my knuckles.

“This was a lab.” Jemma noted as we walked into the room. “Was this leased as a lab?”

“Mnh-mnh. Self empowerment center.” May shone her flashlight around with a chuckle. “With a top of the line motion-sensor security system.”

“Ah. So a secret lab.” Jemma seemed excited.

I tried to ignore the smells in the burned out room as I took my hand back from Fitz.

“And a superhero. Not a coincidence.”

I knelt next to the body burned on the ground. Their hands were up defensively. They couldn’t run in time to evade the blast. Jemma picked samples off with tweezers and packed them into test tubes. I turned on my heels and walked toward Fitz, who was shining his flashlight around with a grimace on his face.

“So was this explosion sabotage? Was it meant for him? Or were they just in over their heads?” May asked.

“Yeah, working the problem.” He saw the body and tensed further. “Ladies, if you’ll just…” He tried to dodge May and ended up hitting her shoe. He muttered an apology and scampered by.

I ignored May’s raised eyebrow and followed him, placing a hand on his back as he knelt to set up the drones. I could feel May still staring.

“If you’re gonna be in the field, Agent Fitz, you have to get your hands dirty.”

“No, I don’t.” He smiled, clicking things on the tablet in his hands as the drones rose off the floor with a faint whirring. “Heigh-ho, off to work you go.” He sang under his breath.

I bit back a smile as he straightened, sending each drone to do their thing as he stood in the center of the room. He paused and caught me staring. He smiled before going back to his tablet.

“See, we designed each with their own capabilities, so um, some recording the dimensions and textures of the room, and then some testing the matter density, radiation. I mean, one is basically just smelling.” Jemma explained this all to May, who didn’t seem interested.

I watched as Fitz perked up, spinning around. “Whoa whoa, I’ve got something.”

“Who’s got it?” Jemma asked.

“Uh, Bashful.” He pointed.

The drone in the corner of the room was still, persistently scanning a piece of what seemed to be scraps. May eyed me before crossing over and picking things off.

“Surveillance camera. Deep-fried.” May sighed.

“Yes, but that model has flash memory in case of brownouts.” Fitz moved, returning my smile before tripping. He caught himself with a cough. “Now, I could that with data from the motion detectors, and, with a little luck, get some images from before the blast.” He was smiling widely now, plucking the camera from May’s hand. “And by luck, I mean unappreciated genius.” He sighed.

“Yeah, and by the looks of it, we’ll need it. Snow’s reading some compounds that are- whoa, my god.” Jemma scurried to pick something up.

“Explosive?” May incurred.

“Not of this earth.” Jemma was in awe of the alien technology in her hand.

                                                          ***

“Heads up. Your brother is up in the interrogation room sleeping. We needed the asset to think she had the upper hand. Gave him a fake truth serum. He’ll be fine.” Coulson whispered to me as soon as we walked into the bus.

“Oh..kay.” I nodded as May followed him up the stairs.

Jemma began to unpack their samples, filing them neatly.

“You alright?” Fitz’s hand came to my side, pointer finger nudging my pinky.

I nodded with a sigh. “Just tired.” I eyed Jemma through the lab door.

It’s not that I didn’t trust her. Of course I trusted her. She was amazing, and I loved her. But there were things about the topic of Grant and my family that I didn’t share with anybody but Fitz. And even then, there were some things Fitz didn’t know either. I would tell him about my new concerns later.

Fitz caught on, pulling me into his side. I leaned my head against his shoulder and looked up, sighing sadly. He gave me his puppy eyes and I couldn’t help but feel my heart flutter. I tugged at his tie gently, bringing him down to meet me on my toes. He realized and grabbed me by the waist, throwing my balance off so I would fall into his grip as he leaned over me and pressed a kiss to my lips. I hooked one arm around his shoulders and tangled my other hand in his blond curls. He smiled before pulling me back onto my feet, pecking my cheek before taking my hand and leading us to the lab.

                                                          ***

After Fitz-Simmons had finished with their data analysis and whatever else, we trudged up the stairs in silence. Coulson pulled out an ID card and slammed it onto the holotable. It instantly began to scan it. I sighed and leaned over the table, chin in my hand. Fitz came beside me, his hand on my back. I nudged him off and moved over so he would have space to get comfortable. He shot me a smile and settled himself, arms crossed on the edge of the table. I hooked an arm around his shoulders with a sigh.

“Michael Peterson. Factory worker. Married, one kid. Gets injured, gets laid off. Wife jumps ship. Good guy, bad breaks.”

I watched as the girl from Rising Tide—Skye— paced around Coulson, her nails between her teeth. She pulled her finger out and started to flick it past her lips. She was obviously antsy. I wasn’t sure why Coulson would let her out like this, but he always had his reasons.

“Best guess? Somebody comes to him, tells him they can fix him. They can make him strong again, make him super.”

“Who has the tech to do that?” I asked.

“And why would anyone want to?” May followed up.

“Fitz, what do we have from the security footage before the blast?” Coulson asked.

I took my arm away and watched as Fitz wordlessly swiped away, pulling up the footage he had managed to recover up.

“What are we seeing?” May asked.

“Well, the man is angry, at the other man.” Fitz described the very obvious scene. 

I stifled a snort as May glared and Coulson sighed, looking defeated. Skye seemed entertained.

“The data is very corrupt.” Jemma jumped in.

Fitz turned back to the screen, gesturing as he spoke. “Yeah, like Cold War Russia corrupt. I can’t sync the timecode without-”

“What if you had the audio?” Skye cut him off.

Fitz and Jemma glanced at each other, each making a face.

“I was … running surveillance on the lab. I had my shotgun mic pointed at the window before the blast. The digital file’s in my van. There’s too much background noise for me, but you could probably-”

“You could clean that up, right?” I looked up at Fitz.

He nodded. “I would have to find a sync-point and use cross-field validation- no. I can’t scrub for expression patterns…”

“Well, is there a chrominance subcarrier?” Jemma jumped in.

“Yeah, attached to the back porch. Brilliant. Uh, that audio would be great. Thank you very, very much.” Fitz straightened himself out with a smile.

“Your van’s here. But you were right. We couldn’t decrypt the files.” Coulson spoke up.

“The encryption’s coupled to the GPS. Get my van back to that alley and then I’m in business.”

“Agent May will escort you. And on your way out, wake up Ward.” Coulson muttered.

                                                          ***

“Uhh, yep!” I watched Fitz jump from one place to the next after having consistently refused help.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m getting it.” He ran to type something in, sliding the pen between his teeth.

“So, when you get back, I’ll show you my thing. A thing. It’s not-i-it’s my hardware. My equipment!” He turned pink. “Let’s hang up.” He ripped the comm out of his ear in embarrassment.

I caught him by the wrist and yanked him back, grabbing him by the neck and pulling him in for a quick kiss. He returned it happily before switching back to work mode, again jumping around like a monkey.

“So the alien metal wasn’t the explosive?” Coulson asked Jemma.

“Well I assumed from the break pattern and dispersion that it was but, it’s just dripping with gamma radiation and-oh! Now it’s actually dripping!” Jemma exclaimed.

I looked over to see her pull the drill away, a dark yellow substance falling out. She rushed to pull a container under it. “Fun!”

“So what did that get us?” Grant’s footsteps thundered across the floor of the lab as he appeared, freshly showered.

He was angry.

“Morning, sleeping beauty.” I grinned at him.

He rolled his eyes.

“Skye’s sending us the rest of her decrypted files on Centipede, but we have her audio. I’ve loaded it up.” Fitz scrambled around my brother before coming back to the computer by my side, typing excitedly.

“Nice work.” I heard Coulson speak to Grant, who only rolled his neck before going stiff, staring straight at Coulson.

“Now, using motion estimation, bayesian inference, a beam splitter, and a little diffraction theory, our mystery man-” Fitz hit a few buttons, “Appears.” He grinned as the hologram displayed in the middle of the garage. He was happily perched on the stairs. I slid past Grant’s angry figure and to Fitz, curling my arm around his and leaning against him.

“It’s like magic.” I whispered.

“It is! But it-it’s science.” He grinned.

“Explosives in the case?” Grant asked as the hologram came to life.

“...to please calm down. Just let me check your vitals.” The man in the lab coat was nervous.

“I feel fine. I want to feel more. Where’s the doctor? Where is she!” The other man was antsy, angry, riled up like he was a crackhead.

“If you don’t settle down, I’ll have you sedated.” Lab coat stuttered.

“Where is she?” Crackhead lifted a stool, and something orange glinted on his arm as he swung it down.

“Fitz, stop it. Go back. There was something on his arm.” I patted his arm.

Grant walked up closer as Fitz rewound it. He was eye level with the thing on the man’s arm.

“What does that look like to you?” Coulson asked him.

Grant crossed his arms and sighed. “A centipede.”

“It’s an intravenous filter for his blood.” Jemma popped out of her chair and came to have a closer look. “This goo, sir-very similar to the serum Dr. Erskine developed in the early ‘40s for the-”

“Super soldiers.” I cut her off. “Someone’s out here trying to make the next generation of super soldiers?

“I’m reading alien metal, gamma radiation, the serum. Every known source of superpower thrown in a blender.” Jemma sighed.

“We need to see the origin of the blast. Run it back to from the last point recorded.” Coulson ordered Fitz, who fumbled with the controller.

We all watched as a ball of flames slowly turned back in on itself, getting smaller and smaller until Fitz pulled it even further back. Coulson walked closer as the flames came back to form the man who had the filter.

“Extremis.” Coulson stated.

I looked at Grant, who was already looking at me with the same face of confusion.

The fuck’s that?

What the shit?

I shrugged at him and looked up to Fitz, who had his eyebrows scrunched and his nose crinkled.

“It’s new. Completely unstable.” Coulson went on.

“Poor guy didn’t bring an explosive. He was one.” I sighed, looking back at Fitz, who wrapped an arm around my shoulders with a sad expression.

“And Mike has the same stuff in his system.” Jemma added.

“And judging by his strength level, a lot more.” Grant arched an eyebrow, arms still crossed.

“So any minute now, Mike is gonna..” Fitz gestured with his free hand.

“He’ll take out anyone within a two-block radius.” Jemma exclaimed.

“Well.” Coulson walked to the lab, stopping in front of Grant, whose face was solemn. “You wanted a bomb.”

                                                          ***

We scrambled to get ready, pulling out equipment and guns and then more guns. Grant set up a rifle and began to check it as Coulson looked over papers. Fitz-Simmons were downstairs trying to link the explosion to behavior. I stayed with Grant, cleaning off my knife before tucking it into the holster at my waist.

“Sir?” Jemma led the way up the stairs. “He didn’t explode because he was angry. The two are connected. It’s kind of a chemical surge, but calming him down will buy him a minute at most. He will detonate within the next few hours.” She frowned.

“Solution?” Coulson trained his hands on his hips.

“Isolate him? Get him away from people?” Jemma offered.

“Or?”

I caught Fitz’s somber glance.

“Or put a bullet through his brain.” I sighed from my spot on the table.

“If he’s dead, the irradiated metabolic process will stop.” Jemma explained.

We all turned to Grant, who was happily wiping away at his deadly machine. I looked at Coulson and shook my head.

“We need to come up with a third option. One that doesn’t involve Mike’s son losing a father.” Coulson was firm.

“We have a couple of hours at most, there’s no way we could possibly-”

I watched as Coulson whipped around and cut Jemma off with a growl. “Don’t ever tell me there’s no way! It’s on you. Get it done.” He yelled, looking Fitz-Simmons in the eyes before walking away.

“Fitz! What about the night-night gun? You can make it work, right? You’re close enough to figuring it out as it is.” I called.

He turned and looked at me, nodding with a growing grin on his face. He walked over and pressed a kiss to my lips with a smile. He mumbled a thank you before bolting back downstairs. Grant sent me a glance as he picked up his weapon, positioning it in the crook of his arm.

That’s gross.

I checked my handgun before sliding it into the holster at my hip and shot him a similar look.

Like you and your high-school girlfriends were any different.

Coulson stormed back in, picking up his phone the second it started to ring.

“May.” He paused. “You alright?” He put her on speaker.

“We’ll deal with that later. At length. Right now we need to figure out where they went.” She growled.

Grant picked the tablet off the table and started to swipe. I sighed and hopped off the table, making my way to the lab.

                                                          ***

“Come on, gimme more paralysis. Less rigor mortis!” Fitz shouted, frustrated. “Oh, come on! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

“Just pretend it’s a test.” I gingerly rubbed one of his shoulders as his hands twitched above the keyboard.

“She’s right! You’re just taking an exam. That’s all.” Jemma said cheerily.

“I don’t want an F. F equals a massacre.” He began to breathe heavily, panicked.

“Hey. It’s okay, angel face.” I rubbed his back and he pressed his head into my chest, groaning with more frustration.

Beeping from his computer brought Jemma out of her seat. “Oh no.” I muttered as Grant coming down the stairs with an angry look on his face.

This isn’t what I signed up for.

I ignored him.

“What is this nonsense? Why are you making nonsense?” Jemma panicked.

“This isn’t me! This is noise! Somebody’s hacking our secure channel!” Fitz yelped.

“It’s longitude and latitude!” I perked up.

“Mike took Skye. She’s telling us where.” Coulson explained, clicking the remote in his hand.

Grant took the keys and got in the car, slamming the door. Fitz pulled up a satellite and matched the coordinates. I popped in my earpiece and tapped it.

“Grant. She’s outside Union Station.” I spoke.

“Got it.” I heard in my ear. “Violet, your friends better pull through before this guy explodes.”

I sighed and watched as Coulson got in the car and Grant stopped talking.

“I know, bud. I know.”

                                                          ***

“Grant!” I caught his attention, bounding up the stairs.

“Did he get it?” My brother took the new rifle from my arms, checking it over before setting it up the way the old one was.

“It’s as good as it’s gonna get.” I whispered, watching as Coulson tried to talk Peterson down.

Coulson took a step closer, and Mike twitched.

“Grant. He’s almost there.”

“Coulson’s in the way.” He grunted.

Mike’s face relaxed and he slouched off to the side. I looked at Grant with wide eyes, and he took the shot. I watched as Fitz-Simmons ran to Mike, making sure he was still breathing after he had collapsed onto the floor. Jemma let out a smile and Fitz caught me eye, a happy glow on his face. I tilted my head, to which he gave me a thumbs up and winked. Coulson and Grant exchanged a look. Grant smiled.

He caught me looking at him and I felt my eyes begin to water.

It’s okay, Vi. I’m here now.

I had missed him more than I had realized. He put the gun down to his side and wrapped an arm around me, sighing sadly. I buried my head into his shoulder and held back a sob. Maybe now we could put our small family back together.

                                                          ***

I felt Fitz’s chest hit my back as he leaned over me to steal my food. I rolled my eyes with a smile and handed him my chopsticks. He pressed his lips to the side of my head. Grant had the computer open in front of him, rubbing his eyes as he ran through the latest S.H.I.E.L.D. notifications. Jemma handed me a beer as Fitz settled behind me and I leaned against him.

“Shit.” Grant swore.

“What is it?” Jemma asked.

Grant only pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Sir? We’ve got an 0-8-4.”

We looked at each other and I moved up to read over Grant’s shoulder.

“They want us to go in and confirm it.”

I patted Grant’s back. This mission really was going to be a mystery. He sighed and mumbled a reply to Coulson before hanging up the phone, shoving the laptop away and digging into his food. Fitz had repositioned himself behind me, now on the edge of his chair, leaning against the wall of the bus. He reached a hand out lazily, fingers barely brushing my waist. I gave him a small smile over my shoulder before scooting closer, letting him pull me to sit between his legs. I put my weight against him, taking up the front edge of his seat as I looked up at him, head against his shoulder.

“Did they say what it was? The 0-8-4?” Fitz asked Grant as I grabbed his hand, tracing my fingers over his.

“Nope.” He spoke through his last mouthful, choking it down. “I’m gonna go take a shower. I’ll catch you guys later.” He became evasive as he excused himself, tossing his carton before rushing out with his laptop.

I sighed, looking back up at Fitz.

“I’m sorry, Vi.” He kissed my forehead.

I sighed, pulling my legs up to my chest as he curled his arm around my shoulders. I placed my hand on his thigh, palm-up. He linked his fingers between mine.

“Maybe I’m just reading him wrong.” I shrugged.

“I don’t think so.” Jemma spoke up. “Not to interject, a-and I don’t know Grant all that well, but your worry seems reasonable. Something about his behavior is sort of strange.”

I nodded against Fitz’s shoulder. “Something’s off. He’s angry about having been supposedly pawned off to Skye, but there’s more. He didn’t hesitate before shooting Mike. I get he’s a field agent, but he should have hesitated. He didn’t know if the night-night gun worked. A-and the way he’s been acting about Leo? Totally off. He’s been out of my life for eleven years. The first thing he should do after realizing you’re my boyfriend is try to intimidate you. He’s just been a douchebag. He should be asking me about you, not skipping straight to being pissed off.”

Fitz-Simmons nodded, somber looks on both their faces. I only shook my head.

“He’s different. I just don’t know how.” I sighed again.

“I’m sorry, love.” Jemma gave me her most sympathetic gaze.

I returned a half smile and she excused herself to work on something in the lab. I stayed against Fitz, comfortable even though we were both balancing on the same seat.

“Come on, darlin’. I know what’ll make you feel better.” He gave my hand a squeeze, leading me through the hall once I slid off the seat.

“Leo, honey. Please tell me you’re not trying to get in my pants while I’m worried my brother’s had a psychotic break.” I whined as he pulled me into our bedroom, which was barely unpacked.

“God, no. I wouldn’t stoop that low. I thought taking a nap might help.” He moved our bags onto the floor.

I broke into a smile as he came back to me, hands pulling at my waist as we moved toward the bed. He stumbled as he kicked his shoes off before falling onto his back, yanking me to lay next to him. I pushed my shoes off and curled up to him, giggling. His legs were hanging half off the bed and the pillows were nowhere near our heads, but he seemed content with laying there.

I stayed for a minute before sitting up and pulling myself to stand, tugging my jeans off and tossing them into a corner. I pulled an old flannel out of his closet and changed my top. I caught him staring with a soft smile, arms crossed under his head. I knelt by him on the bed, grabbing his cheek and kissing him.

“Get changed, I wanna nap.” I whispered before pressing my lips against his again.

I pulled back when I had to breathe, laughing at his flushed cheeks. I crawled into the bed, tugging the covers up to my chin as I watched him change into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and neatly fold his clothes before piling them into a corner. He wormed his way into the bed with me, immediately pulling me into his chest.

“I’ll wake you up in an hour, darlin’. Yeah?” He whispered as I made myself comfortable against him, legs tangled and my arm thrown over his side.

“Okay. Goodnight.” I mumbled sleepily.

I felt him pull my face up and smiled, keeping my eyes closed for the kiss. He rubbed my cheek before letting me resettle into his grip, falling asleep.

[sapphiresartblog]

Save the date!

chapter 3 

(read on ao3 ==> https://archiveofourown.org/works/18519439/chapters/45655477 )

He ended up leaving the toy store with a Disney princess sticker album and a small spider-man action figure, neatly wrapped up in pink polka-dotted wrapping paper with a plastic bow on top by the girl behind the counter. Danny really hoped Sarah would like the present!

He might have spent a little too much time at the toy store, because it was already 5 pm when he stepped outside. man, toy shopping for little girls he didn’t know was really hard. He had to get home fast! He still needed to finish his- like, All of his homework from this week and the week before. Danny ran into the alley next to the toy store and quickly transformed into Danny Phantom.

The toy store wasn’t that far from his house, only a 10 minute flight, ‘but things can’t ever go fast or easy in my life, can they?’ thought Danny. A pink blast whizzed by his ear and Danny groaned. he turned his head and saw Valerie flying in the corner of his eye. She balanced a big red and silver bazooka on her shoulder.

‘Can you be more careful!? I have a fragile package that definitely doesn’t need to be shot into the ghost zone!’ Danny yelled, and dodged another blast from the knock-off Fenton bazooka.

Valerie didn’t answer, instead she just kept rapidly firing blasts at him. It was quite annoying. Danny turned on his back (while still flying forward) and yelled ‘’Don’t you have anything else to do with your life than pester poor, harmless ghosts like me?’’.

‘’Harmless? Don’t make me laugh phantom! You ruined my life!’’ Valerie yelled back.

‘’And you know I still feel really guilty about that right? like, all the time, every day?’’ Danny threw his arms up in the air, ‘’Can’t you let it go for a week? I have important business to-’’ And he got hit. right in the stomach.

Luckily not with the stupid Fenton bazooka, Valerie had switched to a different weapon. Danny didn’t know what it was, only that it had hurt and he was now falling to the ground. He couldn’t move his body, which really sucked because the present for Sarah slipped out of his grip. It hit the ground right as he did, with a thud and, in Danny’s case, without any air in his lungs. He lay there, Gasping for breath in the park close to his house. Valerie landed a few meters from him and jumped off her hoverboard.

‘’what- what the heck was that?!’’ Danny asked with a hoarse voice. He could already feel a tingle in his fingertips, meaning that it wasn’t like Skulkers tranqualizerdarts. But he was still paralyzed enough that talking was hard.

‘’A new gun, Do you like it?’’ Valerie asked, walking over to the present Danny had dropped. ‘’I just got it a few days ago. Also, Phantom, since when are you a mailman- err, ghost?’’ she looked at the present with mistrust in her eyes.

‘’I’m not’’. Danny stirred his body. the paralysation didn’t last long, but hopefully Valerie did not know that yet. He slowly pushed himself up and saw Valerie, with her back turned to him, poke the present with a stick. As if it could explode at any moment.

“Going to a birthday party then?” Valerie asked. She was still inspecting the present. Danny saw that some of the paper had gotten ripped and he could see the edge of the sticker album. Damn, he hoped Valerie wouldn’t impale the package, because he didn’t have the receipt.

“None of your business” He used her fixation on the package to turn intangible and sink into the ground. It hurt and all his muscles ached like hell. He kept his eyes above the ground and floated over to where Valerie was standing.  Then he quickly grabbed the present and dove deeper into the ground.

“Hey!’’ Valerie yelled, but the sound of her voice was muffled through the dirt and grass above Danny’s head. He blindly flew away through the ground and shot up when he thought he was far enough. He floated near of the entrance of the park. Valerie was all the way on the other side.That was nice to know.

Danny slumped down and lay in the grass to catch his breath. Of course, Valerie would soon jump on her hoverboard, track him down and shoot at him again. So he actually didn’t really have time to catch his breath.

he should really transform back. and leave the park.

“MISTER PHANTOM!’’

Danny jumped up and looked at the entrance of the park. Dragging her mom behind her, Sarah half skipped half ran towards him. Danny grabbed the present and hid it behind his back. He stood up and almost fell over, The earth spinning around him and he tried not to throw up. Fuck, that gun had really messed with his system!

‘’Reminder to myself: never get shot with that thing again!’’ Danny muttered under his breath.

Sarah was now standing in front of him, grinning and trying to peek behind his back. “What is that?’’ she asked

“Its nothing! Its a secret! uhm..” Danny laughed weakly and started to float out of Sarah’s reach. Her mom looked at him, and mostly his stomach, with concern in her eyes but didn’t say anything. Danny looked down and just then noticed the big scorch mark on his stomach. How had he not felt that before?! He pulled up his knees to hide it from Sarah. Sarah’s mom smiled and put a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. ‘’Why don’t you go play on the swings sweety?’’ she pointed at the playground between the trees, ‘’I’ll join you in a minute’’.

‘’Ok’’ Sarah said. As she walked past Danny she tried to see what he had in his hands again, but Danny turned around so his back was facing her mom. Sarah giggled and ran towards the swings.

‘’Are you ok Phantom?’’ Sarah’s mom asked. He faced her and held the present infront of his stomach.

“Oh yeah, totally fine!’’ he said, and put one hand behind his neck. Sarah’s mom raised her eyebrow. She totally did not believe him, but instead of asking more about it, she held out her hand.

‘’My name is Ellen, by the way. I don’t think I mentioned that when we first met’’.

Danny shook her hand. ‘’I’m phantom, but- uhh you already knew that’’ He said sheepishly. ‘’You can just call me Danny’’.

‘’Ok, Danny, that looks like it hurts’’ Ellen said, nodding to his stomach. Danny raised the present and looked down again.

“It’s fine, really’’ He said, and relaxed a bit, ‘’My superhealing will kick in any minute now and it won’t even leave a mark!’’. At least, he hoped it wouldn’t. It was always a guess game with  new weapons if they would leave scars or not.

Ellen still didn’t look convinced.

‘’Listen, Danny, you really didn’t have to buy-’’ her words were cut off by a whirring sound, like a dangerous ghost hunting weapon getting ready to shoot him to smithereens. Danny turned around again and saw Valerie floating above the trees, pointing another big gun at him. He gasped and made an ecto-shield. The blast hit it with a powerful force and Danny was thrown back. Ellen shouted something but Danny didn’t understand it. He pushed himself up, ready to protect her from whatever Valerie was planning to fire at him next. But just as he shot up in the air, Valerie sped away over the treetops. She didn’t even yell at him or shot at him again.

‘’What the?’’ Danny said as he floated down. He landed next to Ellen, who seemed to be unharmed. She was holding Sarah’s present, which Danny had dropped when he made the ecto shield.

‘’Holy crap!’’ Ellen said, staring at the spot where Valerie had been a few second ago. ‘’She just shot you while you weren’t doing anything!’’.

‘’Yeah, she tends to do that.’’ Danny looked at Ellen. ‘’Are you ok?’’ he asked.

‘’Am I ok?! Are you ok?! she just shot at you for no reason! did she do that to you too?’’ Ellen pointed at his stomach.

‘’Well, yeah. But I told you, its fine. Just the life of a ghost, y’know’’ Danny said. He saw Sarah coming over to them from the playground. ‘’Can I have that back? I kinda need to go’’ He said, and held his hand out.

‘’Of- of course’’ Ellen said and handed Danny the present. Danny flew up just when Sarah arrived at where Ellen stood. She hugged her mom and then looked up at Danny. He gave her a small wave and quickly flew away, in the direction of his house. The sooner he got out of there the better! Valerie might come back for him. He wondered why she ran away from him?

[vampireloreskill]

Get To Know Me 

tagged by @fourfinefreshfishforyou a billion years ago, thank you so much!! i actually Did have fun filling this out even if it took me forever 

 anyone who still wants to do this can say i tagged them!

1. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Who wrote this? A fed??

2. WHAT IS YOUR NICKNAME? Kris

3. BIRTHDAY? This year

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK SERIES? Would you believe me if I said Warriors

5. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ALIENS OR GHOSTS? Ghosts no, aliens sort of... I’m not sure I buy into whole other civilizations but I find it hard to believe that there isn’t some kind of life outside of our planet even if it’s just bacteria 

6. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR? Rick Riordan is pretty cool

7. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RADIO STATION? Christmas

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ANYTHING? Strawberry or peach 

9. WHAT WORD WOULD YOU USE OFTEN TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING GREAT OR WONDERFUL? Amazing

10. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT FAVORITE SONG?  Your Type - Carly Rae Jepson

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WORD? I’m a big fan of defenestration

12. WHAT WAS THE LAST SONG YOU LISTENED TO?  Your Type - Carly Rae Jepson

13. WHAT TV SHOW WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR EVERYBODY TO WATCH? I don’t like to blanket recommend shows because everyone has such different tastes

14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE TO WATCH WHEN YOU’RE FEELING DOWN? Tbh I just mope around until I either feel better or give up and go to sleep

15. DO YOU PLAY VIDEO GAMES? This is an Assassin’s Creed and Sims zone ONLY

16. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR? Strangers on the internet knowing my second biggest fear

17. WHAT IS YOUR BEST QUALITY, IN YOUR OPINION? Objectively it’s probably my ability to see things from other people’s perspective but TBH I much prefer my sense of humor and ability to laugh at my own jokes whether or not anyone else finds them funny 

18. WHAT IS YOUR WORST QUALITY, IN YOUR OPINION? My inability to self moderate

19. DO YOU LIKE CATS OR DOGS BETTER? I want to say neither,, but I may be leaning towards dogs in recent years :/

20. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? Winter, but lately Autumn has been sneaking up on it

21. ARE YOU IN A RELATIONSHIP? Nah

22. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU MISS FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD? Being small... I loved hiding in tiny spaces and being picked up

23. WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? *cowboy voice* Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time...

24. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR? Dark brown

25. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR? At this point it’s basically black but I still like to say dark brown

26. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU LOVE? God, my family, probably a lot of people idk I catch feelings easily

27. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU TRUST? Literally no one but God 

28. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN? A lot of seemingly random celebrities, if you count constantly reciting names in specific patterns as thinking 

29. ARE YOU CURRENTLY EXCITED ABOUT/FOR SOMETHING? Yes, lots of things! 

30. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST OBSESSION? lmao

31. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW AS A CHILD? REDWALLLLL

32. WHO OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER CAN YOU TELL ANYTHING TO, IF ANYONE? I’m not sure what the opposite of shrug emoji is but the answer is still no one

33. ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS? I’m not, but someone needs to tell me that

34. DO YOU HAVE ANY UNUSUAL PHOBIAS? I’m not sure I have any phobias? Irrational fears, Sure

35. DO YOU PREFER TO BE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA OR BEHIND IT? Behind it!

36. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HOBBY? I REALLY want to get into dollhousing

37. WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? I know I said Les Misérables in a previous tag meme but I now remember that I actually read the first book in C.S. Lewis’s space trilogy a while back more recently

38. WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Spider-man: Into The Spiderverse which was........ AMAZING 

39. WHAT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS DO YOU PLAY, IF ANY? When I was younger I had a lap harp but that’s about it

40. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? Opossums

41. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 5 FAVORITE TUMBLR BLOGS THAT YOU FOLLOW? I’m not a fan of naming names in this context sorry!

42. WHAT SUPERPOWER DO YOU WISH YOU HAD? A lot, but I’ve concluded that for any powers gained I would inevitably just end up becoming a super villain and/or batman so hard pass

43. WHEN AND WHERE DO YOU FEEL MOST AT PEACE? When I first wake up, and just lie there trying to hold on to what I was just dreaming about

44. WHAT MAKES YOU SMILE? It’s basically physically impossible for me not to grin like a fool watching Wander Over Yonder

45. WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY, IF ANY? Does Wii Bowling count

46. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DRINK? Apple cider

47. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WROTE A HAND-WRITTEN LETTER OR NOTE TO SOMEBODY? I don’t know? Probably when I wanted to wake up at a certain time

48. ARE YOU AFRAID OF HEIGHTS? Sometimes? Depends on how possible it is that I could fall

49. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE? Dry skin currently 

50. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A CONCERT? I was going to say no but I have the distinct feeling that I have even though I didn’t remember absolutely anything about it except maybe the auditorium?

51. ARE YOU VEGAN/VEGETARIAN? No

52. WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? Zookeeper

53. WHAT FICTIONAL WORLD WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN? Um. Eternia?? ajfghdk 

54. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WORRY ABOUT? Not growing as a person

55. ARE YOU SCARED OF THE DARK? Not really, but I do like the ability to turn on lights if I need to

56. DO YOU LIKE TO SING? My vocal cords were made for Christmas carols and little else. But yeah, sometimes.

57. HAVE YOU EVER SKIPPED SCHOOL? I’m not... sure?

58. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE ON THE PLANET? I’ll let you know when I’ve found it

59. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? Where I already do

60. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? Yes

61. ARE YOU MORE OF AN EARLY BIRD OR A NIGHT OWL? Night owl

62. DO YOU LIKE SUNRISES OR SUNSETS BETTER? Sunsets

63. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE? I feel like I could make an educated guess in an emergency

64. DO YOU PREFER EARBUDS OR HEADPHONES? Headphones

65. HAVE YOU EVER HAD BRACES? No

66. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC? I feel like it’s probably pop or disco tbh

67. WHO IS YOUR HERO? Jesus 

68. DO YOU READ COMIC BOOKS? Here and there, the only series I’ve actually read all the way through is Cable & Deadpool (2004) but I want to get into Venom

69. WHAT MAKES YOU THE MOST ANGRY? Not to be cliche but injustice of any kind

70. DO YOU PREFER TO READ ON AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE OR WITH A REAL BOOK? Real book, I like turning pages and the way the cover fits into my hands. Can’t say I’m a fan of the smell though.

71. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL? Vocabulary

72. DO YOU HAVE ANY SIBLINGS? Yes

73. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? Sims 4 packs

74. HOW TALL ARE YOU? 5′2 or so

75. CAN YOU COOK? If it involves anything other than a microwave or a toaster then,,, no

76. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS THAT YOU LOVE? Vampires, villains in love, wood paneling 

77. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS THAT YOU HATE? Intrusive thoughts, Marius Pontmercy, mint flavored toothpaste

78. DO YOU HAVE MORE FEMALE FRIENDS OR MORE MALE FRIENDS? I... Have more female mutuals

79. WHAT IS YOUR SEXUAL ORIENTATION? Bisexual but like it’s Complicated. Also this is the first time I’ve ever actually said that directly so ✌️🎉

80. WHERE DO YOU CURRENTLY LIVE? A fed wrote this

81. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TEXTED? My mom

82. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Earlier this month

83. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE YOUTUBER? I don’t really follow any, but I used to be obsessed with the videos of this one guy who acted out crossovers of DC/Marvel characters with action figures and had a really great voice

84. DO YOU LIKE TO TAKE SELFIES? I do! I just never do anything with them once I’ve taken them lol

85. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE APP? I don’t have one right now, but I adore choose your own adventure ones

86. WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR PARENT(S) LIKE? Pretty good with my adoptive parents. I want to be closer with my birth mom but I don’t... really know how to go about that without being a disappointment. Never met my birth dad which has been eating at me somewhat lately.

87. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOREIGN ACCENT? Uhh Australian maybe??

88. WHAT IS A PLACE THAT YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TO, BUT YOU WANT TO VISIT? Mexico

89. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? 6

90. CAN YOU JUGGLE? Do you take me for a clown

91. ARE YOU RELIGIOUS? Yes, I’m a nondenominational christian 

92. DO YOU FIND OUTER SPACE OF THE DEEP OCEAN TO BE MORE INTERESTING? The ocean, it’s teeming with life and I find it bafflingly fascinating how there’s still so much we don’t know about it

93. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE A DAREDEVIL? Absolutely not

94. ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING? Almost every single time we go shopping in Sam’s Club I get inexplicably feverish and nauseous and feel like I’ve thrown out my back until we get to the check out. That and I may have a dairy allergy? But honestly my stomach is acting out every other day so who knows really.  

95. CAN YOU CURL YOUR TONGUE? Ye

96. CAN YOU WIGGLE YOUR EARS? No

97. HOW OFTEN DO YOU ADMIT THAT YOU WERE WRONG ABOUT SOMETHING? Not as often as I should

98. DO YOU PREFER THE FOREST OR THE BEACH? Aesthetically, the beach, but forests are less sandy

99. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF ADVICE THAT ANYONE HAS EVER GIVEN YOU? Pat, don’t rub (When drying your hands)

100. ARE YOU A GOOD LIAR?  mmMM I don’t really lie, like, seriously about stuff that I can recall? I’ll jokingly say stuff that blatantly isn’t true and even then I sometimes feel guilty and confess seconds later. Unless you count lying by omission? Or saying stuff like “I’m fine” LMAO. The World May Never Know

101. WHAT IS YOUR HOGWARTS HOUSE? We Don’t Discuss Harry Potter On This Blog, but ravenclaw all the way and any test that tries to sort me into hufflepuff isn’t Valid 

102. DO YOU TALK TO YOURSELF? Generally just when I’m alone

103. ARE YOU AN INTROVERT OR AN EXTROVERT? Introvert

104. DO YOU KEEP A JOURNAL/DIARY? I’ve tried, but I just don’t have the attention span for it asdfgh. Sometimes I write down my dreams though.

105. DO YOU BELIEVE IN SECOND CHANCES? Yes

106. IF YOU FOUND A WALLET FULL OF MONEY ON THE GROUND, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Convince someone else to pick it up and check for ID

107. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF CHANGE? Yes

108. ARE YOU TICKLISH? That’s a personal question

109. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A PLANE? Yes

110. DO YOU HAVE ANY PIERCINGS? No

111. WHAT FICTIONAL CHARACTER DO YOU WISH WAS REAL? Count Dracula from Monster Family (2017) ok so,,, i know he tried to freeze the entire world because a married woman rejected him but LISTEN

112. DO YOU HAVE ANY TATTOOS? No

113. WHAT IS THE BEST DECISION THAT YOU’VE MADE IN YOUR LIFE SO FAR? Following Jesus

114. DO YOU BELIEVE IN KARMA? Mm, not karma per say, but I do generally think that what goes around often comes around in way or another

115. DO YOU WEAR GLASSES OR CONTACTS? No

116. DO YOU WANT CHILDREN? NO

117. WHO IS THE SMARTEST PERSON YOU KNOW? Idk! there a lot different types of smart people

118. WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MEMORY? Nice try, but someone might actually read this

119. HAVE YOU EVER PULLED AN ALL-NIGHTER? I’m basically nocturnal so... yeah

120. WHAT COLOR ARE MOST OF YOUR CLOTHES? Various jewel tones

121. DO YOU LIKE ADVENTURES? Ehhhhhhh

122. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON TV? Not that I know of

123. HOW OLD ARE YOU? 21

124. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE? I can’t really think of one right now

125. DO YOU PREFER SWEET OR SAVORY FOODS? Whichever I’m in the mood for!

[ghostmartyr]

Pokémon FireRed Nuzlocke [Part 7]

Finally free from the horror that is Koga and Silph Co., it’s time for the no-grinding Nuzlocke to reach for another plateau. Or something.

I need Surf.

There are a few things that I’m unsure of about this place. The most obvious is I’m not sure if the different areas count as different... areas. I know that some spots have different pokemon than others, and theoretically it would be reasonable to catch the first thing out of each section, but I don’t follow that logic with caves.

Then, if I’m not going to catch a thing per area, what’s the best place to wander through the grass? Is there even anything high enough level for me to care?

To Google.

Ugh. You know, the freedom to make your own rules often feels more like a trap.

So given that the only reason to catch things would be to convenience my way into maybe having a prayer at the Exp. Share, I’m gonna go with the first encounter for the entire Zone being the one and only. Whatever it is, I’m probably not going to use it, and so just stacking my pokedex to make my life easier feels like it really goes against the spirit of this particular Nuzlocke.

That’s mostly going to involve trying to step in as little grass as possible, probably. Otherwise I’ll just make myself sad.

Well, so much for that.

Paras, your name is Winner, and we will not meet again.

This place is so stressful. “Figure out where you’re going and get there in 600 steps. Find pokemon you want that will regularly run away from you!”

Yay.

Sprinkle learns Surf. Life is marginally better. But now we have to find the old man’s teeth. I think I know where they are, which is mildly disturbing given how long ago I played these games, but the sooner I can find them, the happier I’ll be.

Oh. Found them. Snap.

600/600 steps later, and I have to contemplate if there’s anything worth spending 500 more pokedollars on to grab. ...You know what. I really don’t care enough. Partly because Serebii’s page for this seems slightly broken, but that counts as a reason to me.

Also I want to fool around in the ocean.

See? This guy. He gets me. Swimmer Tony understands. He has a level 30 Horsea. Then another.

Swimmer David, what have you got for us? A level 29 Goldeen. ...Oh, whoops, I forgot to give the old man his teeth back before I did this. Uh. Allenby, mop up so we can go back and deal with it. Shellder next. Seaking.

Done, and okay, going to give the old man his teeth back. For great Strength.

Mission complete, back to the ocean.

Where it’s time to catch a thing.

With the power of Zaft and Sonicboom, I believe.

Yay, Tentacool get. Uh. Flaga.

Back to battling.

Swimmer Matthew has a level 30 Poliwag. Then a Poliwhirl. Sprinkle is finally level 30, and Zaft is staring at me in sad judgment at all the exp that was promised.

Sis and Bro Lia & Luc want to battle. Yay. They have a level 30 Goldeen and Seaking. They are swiftly defeated because Zaft is good.

Swimmers are kind of weird in these games. They just go tread water out in the middle of the ocean, then stop and have some battles with a kid resting on a pokemon.

Swimmer Axle has a level 27 Tentacool. Sprinkle beats it up all by herself. I’m so proud. Another Tentacool. More pride. Tentacruel. And all of the successful confusion statuses come back to bite. Horsea brings us back to simpler times. Sprinkle learns Ice Beam. And last up is Staryu.

On to Swimmer Connie. She has a level 29 Staryu. Then another. Then another. Riveting.

Swimmer Alice is next! With a level 30 Goldeen! Allenby can help here. Seaking, similarly.

Last of this bunch is Swimmer Anya. Level 27 Poliwag. Goldeen. Seaking. Goldeen. ...My Lapras that I need for reasons of Special Attack is going to have better Attack than I ever needed. One last Poliwag for good measure.

Sprinkle makes it to level 32. Sigh.

The Team.

..Sprinkle’s name is the odd one out because when I got her it was an hour where things like naming themes just were not under any consideration.

Ocean.

Different ocean.

Swimmer Barry is taking some time off from being the Flash. He has a level 31 Shellder. Then Cloyster. I believe in you, Zaft. And my belief is rewarded.

Swimmer Darrin is next up. Cue level 28 Horsea. And another. Seadra. ...The Seadra poisons Zaft. Darrin, that costs me an Antidote. Come on. One last Horsea, and Sprinkle is level 33!

On we go, and Swimmer Shirley wants to battle. And thanks to the Code Geass movie, any use of the name Shirley is going to make me giggle for a while. She starts with a level 30 Seadra. Then a Horsea. I’m not sure I understand the order Swimmers put things in. Another Seadra coming up.

Yatta.

Swimmer Tiffany only has one pokemon. It is a level 35 Seaking. Allenby can assist here.

Yay, that’s done, and we hit a Seafoam Island. It looks like Route 20 only has Tentacool available for Surfing, so I’m going to use a Good Rod and see what we end up with.

Horsea. We already caught that.

Krabby! Welcome. I won’t be using you. Your name is Tarle.

That’s 35. Out of the 50 needed for the Exp. Share.

Sigh.

Oh look, another cave.

We find a Psyduck in it.

Uh. Hell, I don’t know. Tieria.

I can’t remember if this place has any Trainers in it. If it doesn’t, I’m sort of wasting my time here, and should just loop around and sail through the ocean via Pallet. Help me, Serebii, you’re one of about a dozen hopes.

Yeah, no Trainers. So my focus should just be on a way out.

Found a way out, going back to Fuchsia, and oh. I missed someone.

Swimmer Douglas, sorry for the oversight. You have a level 27 Horsea. Tentacool. Another Tentacool. Goldeen.

I hate switch training so much. It makes the whole game come to a screech. Not a halt, just a screech as it continues to move but requires small adjustments constantly.

Anyway, can Pidgey learn Fly? I don’t really want to commit to Heero having it just yet. It might be inevitable, but I would like to wait it out a little longer.

Ha, Pidgey can learn Fly. Ren, you’re of use! Quatre, you are being temporarily replaced.

To Pallet!

To Route 21. Let’s see what we get.

Tangela!

...Maybe. It doesn’t seem to like us much. Three Ultra Balls gone. Also known as all of the ones I had.

Is this thing really going to make me use a Master Ball on it.

HA! Last Great Ball gets it. Your name is Relena now.

I need to go buy more Great Balls now. For those pokemon I so desperately want and need.

Hm. Speaking of spending money on stuff, it looks like I have enough to bother with helping Sprinkle out a bit on the stats I’m looking for. Let’s go get us some vitamins.

-many many pokedollars later...-

And while we’re here, let’s rob the entire vending machine.

Oki doki.

What do you mean I can’t use Fly on the roof?

Oh, I just thought of something. I don’t think I’ve visited the Power Plant yet. I choose to deal with that before exploring the ocean more.

A Trainer! Happy day.

Oh hai Mark.

Mark has a level 29 Rhyhorn.

Sprinkle has Surf.

:)

Next up is Lickitung. Allenby can share that one.

Sprinkle makes it to 34!

Are there Trainers in here, or just pokemon? ...Serebii?

No Trainers. Quick trip, I guess. What do we get?

Something that isn’t a Voltorb. Yes, really game. I know it’s confusing, but I already had one, and it’s still doing fantastic work for me.

Magnemite.

Caught! You are now Erde.

Now we got to Pallet and ocean. And the land of Fishermen. Fishermen like Wade. With his six Magikarp.

I love these games.

There is much that also inspires hate.

Fisherman Ronald, are you going to make me hate you? The level 28 Seaking says no. Goldeen keeps up the dream. Seaking. One last Seaking. For reasons of me being. ridiculous, honestly, Sprinkle only gets exp from the first while Po cleans up. I just can’t make myself keep wasting EVs on Attack for her.

Why does this Trainer class use two types of And. It doesn’t matter, and yet it annoys me.

They have a level 33 Seadra and Starmie. Nice.

Except for the part that every Seadra seems to have Poison Point and a passion for making me suffer. Zaft’s at 40 now, though. Hooray!

Swimmer Spencer brings out yet another Seadra. Level 33. I approve. Tentacruel is similarly helpful. I think I like this side of the ocean better.

Fisherman Claude has a level 31 Shellder. Oooh, and Cloyster. Allenby can help out with that. And Sprinkle makes it to 35. Thanks, Claude.

Fisherman Nolan goes back to Seaking at level 33. Then there’s the Goldeen.

Swimmer Jack only has one pokemon, and it’s a... ... ... level 37 Starmie.

I definitely prefer this side of the ocean.

Swimmer Roland has a level 32 Poliwhirl. And a Tentacool. And a Seadra. Which basically just translates to using up another Antidote.

Swimmer Jerome has a level 33 Staryu. As well as a Wartortle.

Heeeey, we made it. Time to turn in our Dome Fossil for Cinnnabar’s creature of choice.

Though in the meantime, we do have other choices.

Caught! Uhh. Milli. Swell.

And now to wander the Mansion in deep confusion as I continue to run into Trainers that will hopefully level me in a suitably speedy fashion.

First up, Youngster Johnson! He has a level 33 Ekans because this game cares not for my wants. Then there’s another one, and I just feed it to Allenby. And I’m not going to bother switching back for the Raticate.

...I put on a Repel. So I keep running into level 36 Raticate. Pain.

Bandit Arnie has a level 34 Charmander. Followed by a Charmeleon.

Sprinkle needs multiple turns to run away from all the Raticate that show up in these parts. I am going slowly mad. I am going fastly angry. I thought the worst part about no grinding was going to be the increased difficulty. But no. It’s the difficulty in running away from everything when the first thing in your party doesn’t have the most wonderful Speed.

I don’t want to end up putting Zaft in front and switching in Sprinkle every time I see a Trainer. I feel like that might have to happen if this keeps up.

Yep. One necessary Hyper Potion later, Zaft goes in front.

This is the closest I will know peace in this entire Mansion.

He has a level 38 Ninetales.

Redact that previous statement.

Sprinkle, stop hitting yourself. Please.

Thank you.

I hate this place so much.

Scientist Braydon, why is your name, and what have you got for me? A level 33 Magnemite. Voltorb. Magneton. Geez. The worst threat of this place is I hate walking through it so much I haven’t been to the Pokemon Center since starting. A crit anywhere would have killed Heero. Not good.

Scientist Ted is next. With a level 29 Electrode. Po goes in for fear of Selfdestruct. And stays in for the Weezing.

....Aaaaaand I failed the maze, so I’m outside, so I guess I’ll go to the Pokemon Center!

...

I hit something on my keyboard.

The window closed.

All of my hate.

But thanks to being paranoid about such things, loading the last save just puts us in the middle of fighting Braydon right before he sends his Voltorb out. And somehow the Magneton goes better despite me doing the exact same thing and Heero being confused.

Hey, guess what. This time the Electrode uses Selfdestruct. Po’s fine. And I get to be right about things. Yay.

Back to where we were, except without going outside by accident.

Save me from myself, Lewis. You and your level 34 Growlithe are my only hope in this desolate building. The Ponyta has its inspiring features too.

Back to walking around. And reading forbidden Mewtwo lore that I might care about in a different mood. For someone not familiar with the story, it’s actually really cool. For me right now, go away, stop giving me extra things to click A at.

YOU SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO GET YOUR EXCLAMATION POINT OF NOTICING ME BEFORE THE SCREEN EVEN ALLOWS ME TO SEE YOU.

FUCK YOU, SCIENTIST IVAN. YOU ARE THE REASON EVERYTHING IS WRONG. YOU AND YOUR LEVEL 34 MAGNEMITE. AS WELL AS YOUR ELECTRODE.

In other news, Zaft is finally saying farewell to Charge. The time of the Light Screen is upon us. I liked Zaft having a move that upped Special Defense and the damage of Spark, but the damage-upping is unreliable, and Light Screen can help the whole team.

Finally.

I have Escape Ropes. Peace out.

I guess now we’re at the point where we really have to fight a Gym Leader. Sabrina or Blaine. Only that’s not much of a choice. Sprinkle is too inexperienced for me to want her to nom all the Growlithe. For what I’m trying to do with her moveset, I want Sabrina to be trained against first.

In case my clear avoidance didn’t make it obvious.

I do not want to fight Sabrina. I can’t remember why the caution is buried so deep, and yet. The fear.

We remember how fun teleporttion is, right? Yeah? ...No?

Let’s get this over with.

Psychic Cameron is our first contestant. With a level 33 Slowpoke.

Huh. tfw things go better than expected. Another Slowpoke, and then a Slowbro that Zaft can help out with.

Psychic Tyron is next, which is not going to help future me a little because I draw the line at establishing which teleport I use each time. No. I have had enough with the teleporting.

Anyway, he has a level 34 Mr. Mime. Followed by a Kadabra.

Sprinkle murders all.

Psychic Johan. Starting with a level 31 Kadabra. You mock me, sir. Mr. Mime next. Oh damn it, Psybeam caused confusion. Why. Mr. Mime also knows Magical Leaf. Why. Slowpoke’s next, and I think Zaft is going to help just because of the awkwardness of the damn mime. Kadabra again. Same thing, just for the heck of it. Yay. Win.

That is what I’m here for. Channeler Tasha. She has a level 33 Gastly. Followed by another. Wrapping up with a Haunter.

Psychic Preston of the unfortunate name has a level 38 Slowbro. Oh snap. Zaft, whaddya think? Electricity? yes, good.

Channeler Amanda has a level 34 Gastly. Also a Haunter. Not anymore.

Channeler Stacy only has one. Ominous. It is a level 38 Haunter.

That’s it, right? Seven done in a box of nine, one’s the entrance and one’s Sabrina?

..

I guess that means it’s time to fight Sabrina.

That is not something I really want to do. Even now. But let’s. Get it done. I guess.

OG sprite best sprite.

Out first is a level 38 Kadabra.

Reasons to not want this fight near me.

I think I’m going to let Po have the Mr. Mime. To possibly eat the Future Sight the Kadabra got off, and also just. I don’t know. There’s no basis to the comfort Po handling the Mr. Mime brings. Mr. Mime is level 37. That helps me feel even more better.

Why does Psybeam confuse everything it touches in this run.

And then Sabrina Baton Passes her level 38 Venomoth in. Okay, fine. And with the Mr. Mime mostly dead, Sprinkle can handle it safely now.

Final pokemon! ... ... ... Level 43 Alakazam!

Perish Song is my new best friend and also I do not like this. It uses Future Sight, so I want Po to come back in, but I’m probably also going to want a potion for her. She’s eaten a lot of damage for me.

Future Sight failed for... some reason someone who actually reads the conditions for these things could probably tell me. Good. After the hit of a Calm Minded Psychic, that might have actually killed Po.

Sprinkle, you’re a good egg.

So that’s done with, and I have ominous feelings about what awaits us in Blaine’s Gym. Let’s maybe continue to put that off by visiting more Trainers in the ocean. At this point, though... I think we’re probably reaching the most difficult part of the run. Maybe because I added Sprinkle to the lineup, but the decision there already happened, so no point whining about having a Water pokemon.

Yeah, I left a Fossil there and it’s too inconvenient to pick up. Swimmer Melissa with the level 31 Poliwag. Allenby gets the Seaking.

Picnicker Missy is on an island. She has a level 31 Goldeen. Seaking for Allenby again.

Swimmer Dean only has one pokemon, and it’s a level 35 Staryu. We can let Zaft help. Zaft’s going to miss a lot of the coming action.

Swimmer Nora has a level 30 Shellder. Then another. Then a Cloyster.

Another island, and we have a Bird Keeper by the name of Roger. He has a level 30 Fearow. Sprinkle has an Ice Beam. Po gets the next Fearow. Zaft can have the Pidgeotto.

Well. Here we go. Our last available Trainer before Blaine’s Gym.

Cue the dramatic music.

Picnicker Irene has a level 30 Tentacool. Then a Horsea. Then a Seel.

..

That’s sort of it, isn’t it? We have Blaine and. Yeah.

I’m trying to think out the available stuff, and unless I’m missing something, there’s nothing for me to do after Blaine except Giovanni. Then there’s the Elite Four. Victory Road might cut me some slack, but we’re largely out of trainers. I think because these are the gen three remakes, there’s some stuff after Blaine, but I can’t remember if that’s actually after Blaine, or after the whole game. With Bill and Cinnabar and. stuff.

I haven’t checked the leveling, but isn’t one of Lance’s Dragonites in the 60s?

I guess we really are hitting the difficult part of this run.

For now, Gym.

Let’s do this, (ex)Burglar Quinn.

A level 36 Growlithe is up first. Right, I was going to switch between Sprinkle and Allenby for this. Since Allenby still has Rock Slide. Vulpix comes next. Followed by Ninetales.

Yay, we did it. Next room.

Super Nerd Erik has a level 36 Vulpix, Vulpix, and Ninetales. I’ll spare you the details, but Sprinkle was involved.

Super Nerd Avery shares the room and starts with a level 34 Ponyta! I can’t remember if we’ve seen one of those yet. I love Ponyta. Charmander, Vulpix, and Growlithe round out his team, and we’re off to the next room with no problems.

Burglar Ramon doesn’t tell us he’s stopped stealing stuff, so we can safely assume that Blaine just lets whoever likes Fire pokemon into his Gym. Morality comes last in concerns.

Anyway, Ramon has one level 41 Ponyta. It’s gone now.

....

Okay, so I remembered Blaine liked quizzes, and was thinking how odd it was that they didn’t include that in this version. Because I was just going around battling the Trainers. Then I got curious and actually clicked on the machine that each room has had.

Oh, look, quizzes.

Let’s fight Super Nerd Derek anyway. He has a level 41 Rapidash.

Sprinkle’s killing everything, if you couldn’t tell.

Burglar Dusty has two pokemon. A level 37 Vulpix and a Growlithe.

That does not make you sound smarter, Super Nerd Zac. Even your level 37 Growlithe is disappointed. Vulpix is next and meets the same fate.

The time has come.

Final room.

Penultimate Gym Leader.

Blaine.

I believe in you, Sgt. Sprinkle.

A level 42 Growlithe is out first. That feels like overkill. Nothing compared to what Sprinkle does to it, but still. Level 40 Ponyta shows up next, and outside of Sprinkle eating a Fire Blast, same result.

The level 42 Rapidash comes out to play. Its Fire Blast does a little more damage, and burns Sprinkle (unforgivable), but it still only survives one Surf.

Arcanine is last, and Allenby is going to deal with it. Sprinkle’s too hurt, and Pokemon Go has taught me that Arcanine sometimes knows horrible Electric moves. Staying away from all of that and giving Allenby something to do sounds like a better move for everyone.

Holy shit, this thing’s level 47??

Uhhh. I foresee maybe letting this be Po’s problem. Allenby can get a hit in, but I doubt a non-STAB Rock Slide from something that’s had its Attack lowered by Intimidate is going to kill in one hit. The things the Arcanine might do, on the other hand....

Allenby gets a crit.

Because she loves us and life and being alive.

So that’s that! Seventh badge get!

No, it’s gen five where you can’t leave a Gym in peace. Go away, Bill, Sprinkle needs heals.

Bill just waits for us to leave the Gym so he can ask us to hang out with him on a private island. We’re ten, Bill.

Why are they named the way they are.

Bill throws a Meteorite at us to go deliver to another one of his friends on Two Island. This isn’t a private island getaway, this is Bill recruiting an unattended ten-year-old for free labor.

I’m not big on this section of plot, but given that Blaine had a level 47 Arcanine, I can’t just go around skipping things at places that might have Trainers. So.

Bill Gaiden. Start.

[exact-translation]

Hello! I saw that your requests are open so I wanted to take a shot. :) How about Yoosung confessing to an MC he previously rejected? Why he rejected her is up to you. Make it angst-then-fluff please. Thank you! I look forward to you using your magic! :))

This was hell. This had to be hell why else would he feel so much like garbage? Yoosung groaned into his pillow for probably the hundredth time that night. He just couldn’t stop thinking about her. All this after turning her down months ago…

Shortly after joining the RFA she had told him she liked him and asked if he wanted to go on a date after the party. He said no. He turned her down so fast she looked almost shocked. Truthfully he thought she was pretty but it was clear that Zen had a thing for her and he didn’t want to ruin a friendship over a girl. That and he really didn’t have super strong feelings for her in that way… until now…

But now she had moved on. Still helping the RFA plan parties and going to Zen’s shows with Jaehee. Living a perfectly content life without him playing a major role. “I’m totally a side character in her life.” He sat up in bed, unable to sleep despite it being almost 4 am. He slid out from under his blanket and dragged his feet as he made his way to his desk, turning his computer on as he sat down. A bit of LOLOL would help take his mind off of her. As the game started up he made the stupid decision of checking the messenger to see MC and Luciel talking about some new game coming out. They immediately noticed him enter the chat and MC asked if he had seen the new trailer.

Leaning back in his chair he tried to think of a reply. Yeah, he had seen it but he honestly didn’t know how to talk to her anymore without putting his foot in his mouth. Out of his peripheral vision, he noticed that the game had loaded up and was waiting for him to log in. He slammed his phone onto his desk, having not answered her question.

He just wanted to play some LOLOL and not think about girls or girlfriends or the way she smiled or the cute sound of her giggles whenever he told a joke or her perfectly plump lips.

Needless to say, his focus wasn’t at its best. His eyes constantly darting back to his phone, wanting to talk to her, to call her, hear her lovely voice tickle his ear as she spoke softly to him.

DEFEAT

“Damn it!” He shoved his keyboard back and aggressively ran his hands through his blonde hair. His face started to feel hot all over. Why was this getting to him now?! Why would his stupid heart decide that turning her down was a good idea and then change its mind? The sinking feeling in his stomach was driving him insane. He knew that Zen hadn’t asked her out yet. He could take it all back and tell her how much he wanted her. How stupid he was to ever say no.

A loud buzzing sound pulled him out of his minor tantrum and made him look at his phone. MC was calling him? Why?

“Hey… What’s up?” He asked trying to sound as calm as possible. His throat was burning and his palms were sweating like crazy. “Yoosung? Sorry, it’s so late or uhm early… I was just sort of worried since you’ve been quiet lately.” Her voice was so soothing he started to zone out while she spoke. He wished she was next to him instead of on the phone. They could lie in his bed together and talk while he held her hand.

“Are you still there? Hello?”

“Ah! Sorry! I’m kinda out of it right now. I uhh haven’t been feeling well.” He faked a small cough. “I should probably get off the phone and to bed-” He was interrupted by the sound of her gasping. “I’m so sorry I kept you up! You go to bed and I can come over later today and take care of you.”

He had been zoning out again. He just agreed and hung up. Slouching in his chair he found himself groaning. He was such a loser…

A loser who was scared half to death when he heard his front door open and close. He had fallen asleep at his desk a few hours prior and was not aware anyone was suppose to visit. He quickly scanned his room for something he could use as a weapon when a knock came at his bedroom door. He was about to use his keyboard as a weapon when a voice on the other side of the door caught his attention. “Yoosung? Are you awake?” MC…

It slowly dawned on him what she said last night. He ripped his jeans and T-shirt off and pulled pajama pants on before sliding under the covers and messing his hair up (more than it already had been). He slid into his bed just as she walked in. The most caring smile plastered on her face. “Still feeling bad?” Her question took on a completely different meaning in his head. He nodded, answering her question and the subconscious one as well. MC fully entered his room and sat on the bed, moving his bangs so she could feel his forehead. His red cheeks made her sigh and pull her hand away. “I know you’re not really sick. You’re a bad actor.”

“Yeah… I’m not Zen.” His mumble made her lightly slap his cheek. “I’m only here causing I’m tired of you avoiding me. Tell me what’s up so we can make up and be friends again.”

Her sincere tone made him feel worse. He sat up and took in a deep breath before looking to her eyes. “I’m bad at accepting my feelings ok?” MC tilted her head confused. Before she could say anything he had his hand on the back of her head and had pulled her close so their lips could meet. He felt her stiffen some, making worry pulse through his mind. ‘Should I have asked first? Am I doing this right? Why did I make my first kiss this of all things?!’

Suddenly his mind went blank when he felt arms wrap around his neck and her warm lips press into his more. She was kissing back? He pulled her away from him and looked in her eyes. Noticing tears start to drip down her cheeks he began to panic. “Oh geez- did I startle you? Are you ok?” He wiped at her tears only to then hear her laugh? She shook her head and leaned in, kissing him briefly before putting her hands on his checks. “I thought you hated me for confessing to you.” She admitted, giggling as she finished. Yoosung let out a deep prolonged sigh. “I messed up. I can admit that. I should have accepted it before… I hope you can forgive me. And uhh… if you want to be my girlfriend we could-”

He was tackle hugged so hard his back was pressing deep into his mattress. MC was smiling and saying yes between planting kisses on his mouth and chin. This was heaven.

[idi0twizard]

Sunny-Side Up (1)

hm, i’ve never posted any fics before haha

i have other parts planned that i’ll probably post...eventually

feedback/comments/reblogs/likes all incredibly appreciated

Angus Mcdonald was 11 years, 3 months, and 6 days old. He’d calculate down to the very second, but he had other matters to attend to, and just didn’t have the time. He had things to check, crimes to solve, and clues to crack. In his short, short human life, he’d dealt with a lot more than an average 11 year old should, and some days he felt more like an adult than a child. Still, Angus Mcdonald was a kid, and kids will be kids no matter what.

The Bureau of Balance moonbase was an incredible feat of science, and Angus could respect that, but it could get awfully boring living on a fake moon day in and day out when everyone else got to touch back down planetside at least once in awhile. And the Bureau definitely hadn’t been built with any children in mind, even a child as reserved as him, so there wasn’t much around to keep him occupied. So today he decided to do some investigating, or as others liked to call it, snooping. An even more correct term would be “eavesdropping,” and hoping someone had a mystery on their hands that needed solving.  

Sure enough, a mystery showed itself in the form of the Bureau’s sole reclaimers, the uh, Tres something Boys. Perhaps eavesdropping hadn’t been the proper term, since the three (actually, only Magnus) invited him to sit with them in the cafeteria, but they had been ignoring him and speaking huddled up ever since Angus sat down. Their attempts at secrecy were admirable, but their idea of hushed conversation was speaking at room volume while pretending to whisper.

“It's an object just….made of zone of truthing,” Merle said, placing a hand against his mouth as if he still wasn’t just talking as loud as ever, “That’s like...my whole deal, ya know? We gotta find it!”

Taako leaned back in his chair, dropping the pretense of pretending to talk quietly, and stared dismissively at the ceiling, “Sounds like waaay too much effort for Taako. Probably just a bust anyways- count- uh, count cha’boy super out.”

“But Taako,” Magnus cut in, “If it’s lame, we can just lie and make up a story about it and pawn it off for some cash. You’re like, crazy good at that! ...aaand we might need your super cool magic stuff?”

Taako paused for only a moment before leaning back into the huddle, “Okay, flattery's getting you everywhere” he whispered, “So when we going?”

“Um, Sirs?” Angus chimed in for the first time since he had sat down. He immediately had three pairs of eyes on him, all looking like they had entirely forgotten he was there, “Do you..do you even know where this thing is? Or what it's actually called? You’re going to need some leads if you’re going to find it.”

“Thanks Pumpkin, but the grownups are talking right now so-”

“No, no, Ango’s got a point. Do you even know what it’s called, Merle?”

“Uh,” Merle scratched at his beard, his brow furrowing in thought, “The..er..Fab Egg? The Fad Ed? The uhh...”

Magnus rolled his eyes, “Okay cool, so we have no idea what or where this thing is. Taako’s right, too much work.”

Angus’s eyes lit up and he bolted up in his seat, “I can help! I can ask around and see if anyone’s heard of anything like it! I can even look through Leon’s book and see if there’s any magical items similar to it listed to get some clues and-”

“No fuckin’ way, ki-”

“Great, Angus! Can you go do that for us? We’ll start lookin’ too, meetcha back in a hour, ‘kay?” Taako gave the young detective a wink and Angus beamed, leaping from his seat and practically sprinting out of the cafeteria.

Merle huffed and crossed his arms, giving the elf a pointed look, “Why’d you let the squirt help out? We can figure it out.”

Taako smirked and rested his feet on the table, reclining back in his chair, “Less work this way, Gramps. Now all we gotta do is chill for an hour and Agnes will have all the answers.”

The dwarf still wasn’t convinced, but relaxed further into his seat, “Ya really think he’ll figure it out?”

Taako gazed at the door Angus had just ran through, suppressing his grin that threatened to show, “Yeah, he’s got this.”  

Okay, Angus, you’ve got this! Angus had stopped running after leaving the cafeteria, but his pace was still brisk with the excitement of having a mystery on his hands. He began to think of all the possible people who could know about a magical object. There was Leon, obviously, and he was for sure visiting him, but who else if that turned out to be a dead end? Killian and Carey have seen their share of magical objects, but Angus doubted they’d have much knowledge of them or their whereabouts. The same went for Avi or Johann, and Davenport...well, Davenport wasn’t much of a conversationalist. He continued his trek down the hallway while pondering his options, head down and fingers on his chin in deep thought. The Voidfish could know something, but as far as he knew there was no way of communicating with it. Maybe he could come up with a system where it could hum once for yes or twice for no, or motion with its tentacles? No, no, that wouldn’t work…Completely absorbed into his thoughts, Angus ran right into something solid and flew backwards, landing on the ground with an ‘oof.’

“Oh, Angus! I’m so sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going. Are you alright?” Madam Director was standing over him, her hand outstretched for him to take.

Angus stared up at her with wide eyes, “Madam Director,” he grinned and took her offered hand, “Can I ask you a few questions?”

“Got any fours?”

“Nah, go fish. Merle, ya got any eights?”

“Mmf, yeah yeah. Taako do y-”

Heaving a dramatic sigh, Taako slammed his cards down on the table, “Okay, this chill sesh is boring as hell, my dudes! Won’t- Can’t stand another minute of this, I will die for reals.” The elf stood, crossing his arms over his chest, “Are we seriously gonna let boy detective do all the dirty work while we just play old lady games?”

Magnus stood as well, pointing accusingly, “You’re the one who came up with that! You’re the one who suggested we play cards!”

“Yeah whatever,” Taako waved his hand dismissively, “Had a change of heart or something, totally wanna track down the Fat Eggplant or whatever it is. Let’s go do that before I kill over.”

Merle hopped off his chair and strode over to Taako, “The kid did say there might be somethin’ useful in Leon’s book. Maybe we can go check in with him?”

“Yeah, I do that.” Magnus replied, already heading towards the door. The remainder followed suit, and together the trio made the familiar trek across the quad to Leon the Artificer’s office.

Leon threw out a warm greeting as he heard the door to his office open, but his cheerful demeanor was struck down instantly when he looked up from his book and saw who his guests were, “Oh, goddamnit.” He closed the book and paced around his desk, “You three haven’t been sent on any missions,” He stalked over to stand in front of the trio, “You have no tokens, I have no patience, now please get the hell out.” He glared up at the three of them, eyes narrowed almost challengingly.

“Hey it’s okay man, we’re not here to mess with you-”

“Much.”

“-We just need to look at your book real fast.” Magnus finished, elbowing Taako in the side. Taako elbowed him back forcefully, and the two broke out in a seconds long elbowing match. Merle attempted to cut in and end the spat, but instead got himself dragged into it as well.

Leon made no attempt to hide his exasperated sigh, drawing the trio’s attention back to him and promptly ending their duel, and hesitantly stuck out an arm to gesture towards his book, “Just make it quick, okay? No funny business. I don’t even care what you need it for, I don’t want to know.”

“We’re looking for a truth orb or something,” Magnus replied helpfully.

“Truth egg,” Merle corrected.

“I just said- wait a what?” Leon’s interest was visibly peaked. He returned to his book before the other three had a chance to look at it themselves and began flipping through it’s many pages, “There aren’t many magical truth items out there..hm..ah-ha!” He slapped his small hand down on the page opened before him, “Here it is!”

“Well,” Merle pressed, “What is it?”

“The Fiberge?” Angus was sat across from the Director in her office. The desk between them was hand-carved and looked worn and old compared to everything else in the room, save for the madam herself. Like the desk, the Director looked worn with age, and the wrinkles on her forehead creased when she smiled in response.

“Yes, I believe that’s what it is, given the, erm, vague description.” She shifted a few files she had set in front of her and read, “The Fiberge is a collectible faberge egg that’s been enchanted with a zone of truth spell, or at least something of similar nature. Completely unsurprising that word of it would catch Merle’s, uh, scattered attention.” Angus noticed her focus shift for a moment, her gaze distant and a soft smile on her lips, before turning back to Angus, “We found it years ago on a bad relic lead. It seemed harmless enough so we decided to give it to Leon for the Fantasy Gashapon. I haven’t any idea if it’s still there or not, though.” She returned the papers back to their proper file and slid them into one of the desk’s drawers, “Sorry, I wish I could be of more help.”

“No, no, Ma’am, you’ve helped a lot!” Angus grinned up at the woman with a look of both an excited child and a detective with a lead, “Now I’ve got a name to go off of, and a susp-- person of interest! This has all been very valuable information for my investigation!”  

The Director chuckled at Angus’s enthusiasm, “I’m glad I could be of assistance. Just take it easy, alright? Those three goofs can be a handful to deal with when they set their minds on something.” If Angus noticed yet another change in demeanor, which he absolutely did, he didn’t draw any attention to it. Everyone up on the quad seemed to be fond of the trio of reclaimers at least somewhat, but the Director’s fondness towards them was something else entirely. Angus noticed it constantly; when they visited her office, when they cracked jokes at her or others’ expense, and especially when they returned home from their missions. Her eyes would always light up and the creases of a smile would appear by her mouth, all undetectable by untrained eyes. But Angus didn’t mention it. It was a mystery for another day.

“Oh, I know how they can get, Madam Director. I did spend quite a lot of time with them on a train! I’ll be sure they don’t almost get themselves killed again, don’t you worry!” Angus slid out of his chair and extended a hand over the desk, “Thanks so much for your help! I’m going to go talk with Leon right now.”

The Director took Angus’s extended hand and shook it with a grin, “You’re welcome, Angus. Don’t hesitate to come see me again if anything comes up. And don’t let the boys pick on you!” She called after him as he practically sprinted out of her office. Shaking her head, Lucretia stood and faced the portrait hanging on her wall, longing for her own days of adventure.

Well, they had some idea of where to find The Fiberge, and a pretty good one too. Leon had told them all about it, and with some light threats revealed that the late Liam Kessler had won it a couple years ago. “We’re pretty good at this detective shit, huh?” Merle mused as they made their way through the quad to return to their quarters, “Didn’t even need the squirt.”

“Oh shit,” Taako replied, “I uh, forgot all about him, actually.”

“Do we still want to...go meet up with him? See if he found anything out too?” Magnus suggested.

“Nah, we got this all figured out. Just gotta go do some grave robbing and we got our egg,” Taako shrugged, “‘Less you jokesters are cowards.”

Magnus made a face and stopped walking, “Aren’t there like, mystical consequences over disturbing the dead? Like curses or hauntings?”

“Not worried about that.” Taako responded plainly, continuing ahead. They were well across campus when they heard a tiny voice calling out for them from behind. “Ah fuck.”

“Sirs, sirs! I know what it is!” Angus jogged up to the three, all besides Magnus hurriedly walking away from him, “I ran into the Director in the hall and she had a bunch of files and information about miscellaneous magical items and she told me that it was called the-”

“The Fiberge,” Taako cut in, “Yeah, Agnes, we figured that one out already, catch up.”

“Oh. That’s um, very pro-active of you guys, I’m proud! Well, I’m on my way to Leon’s right now to-”

“No need, kiddo, we already got that covered!” Magnus beamed and pat Angus on the back. The force sent the detective stumbling forward before righting himself, “He told us that Liam Kessler had it.”

“O-oh…” Angus visibly deflated. He had been so excited to help them out with their mystery, but it seemed like they hadn’t needed him after all. He willed his pouting expression down and cleared his throat, “Well, okay, I’ll just, leave you to it then.”

Taako let out a long, dramatic sigh and looked up towards the heavens. Gods forsake his totally generous and bleeding heart, “We might still need your help, pumpkin. We- we have no idea what they did with Kessler’s shit after he bit it. We were, uh, just gonna go check his grave out.”

Angus brightened, “That’s very ill-advised, sir! Grave robbing is super punishable by law, not to mention highly unethical!” Taako rolled his eyes and ruffled the boy’s hair, “I can look into what they did with his estate. Um, if you...if you want me to.”

Merle grumbled to himself for a moment before speaking up, “Okay, kid. Where do you want us to start?”

[writtenwordsoffic]

Reggie x Reader- request - Okay Reginald

Reggie x Reader 

Word Count: 2,130

Masterlist

anonymous asked: Can i ask for a reggie x reader where reggie tries to ask her out but she plays hard to get? thanks :)

A/N: I hope this is what you were looking for in your request. Thanks for reading, this was fun to write.

Taglist: @sgarrett49

Your year had started out a little different than the last. With the arrival of Veronica Lodge, and her friendship - you soon found a new confidence in yourself. And while you may have had a little bit different interests than the typical girl in Riverdale, there seemed to be a new glow around you.

Within the last few days in english class, you began to feel someone’s eyes on you. And with the pop of your head you would turn around and see no one staring. You shrugged it off while going back to the paper in front of you. However, you swear you could hear the faintest sigh that day.

After class you headed to your locker. You glanced at the inside of it, pictures of your favorite things staring back at you. Some pictures of some poets as well as a small flyer for Star Wars: A New Hope at the drive in, some pictures of friends - Veronica included, as well as mixture print outs of your favorite comics. As far as a small town like Riverdale was concerned - your tastes were a little out of the realm for a typical 16 year old girl.

“Hey Y/N”, you peered over the locker door and there was rather a surprised look on your face.

“Um, hi Reggie”, you were a little confused at why he was talking to you as he never really did before.

“How’s it going?”, Reggie had a rather large smile on his face while his shoulder leaned into the wall of lockers.

“…fine”, your face still adorned a questionable look. He stared for a second and you interrupted the pause. “Did you want something Reggie?” Your eyes gave a motion of trying to figure out why he was there.

“Umm”, within the brief pause his body stood straight up as if he found confidence in his words. Something more typical of Reggie Mantle. “Yes actually. Would you like to go to Pop’s later?”

You stood there for a second in slight shock. When you peered over the side of Reggie’s shoulder you could see Veronica’s face in a similar state of your own, just with an arched eyebrow adorned.

You looked back to Reggie, and without thinking, “why?”, slipped out of your mouth.

He was a little taken a back. “Because I would like to take you out”.

You now gave an eyebrow towards him. While his reputation was nothing like Chuck’s, Reggie had seemed to go for a specific type of girl, something you definitely didn’t consider yourself to be. “…Becuase?”, your words were still blunt as you were still in a slight state of confusion.

“Well, I’ve noticed you more lately and you seem interesting and… I would like to take you out”. He flubbed some of his words, as this seemed out of character for him.

You thought for a second. “I don’t know Reggie…”, your eyes went to the floor. You were a little afraid that him asking you out might have been a cruel joke.

“Well, give me a reason why not?”, his confidence seemed to come back.

“Because we’re VERY different people, and typically your friends make fun of me?”, your words seemed to hit him a little like daggers.

“I’m not my friends and I’ve never made fun of you”, he seemed to get a little ticked off now.

“You’ve also never stood up for me, so no Reggie”, you closed your locker and started to walk away.

You looked back and saw Reggie look somewhat disappointed until he caught up to your step.

“Y/N, hold on”, he slightly tugged on your elbow.

You turned around and started to become annoyed, “Look Reggie, if this is supposed to be some kind of joke…”

He cut you off. “Look, I like you okay? You seem fascinating to me and you’re such a fresh air from all the girls around here. Please?”

Your face was close to his and you looked back down the hallway as you saw Moose and Chuck together. Somewhat pointing and laughing in your direction. You weren’t sure if they were making fun of you or of Reggie, but either way, you weren’t having it.

“Not a joke huh?”, you nodded your head towards Chuck and Moose while Reggie looked back and glared at them.

“Y/N…”, by the time he turned around you had already walked off.

You had been home from school for about an hour now and were watching tv when you became startled. You looked down and your phone vibrated with an alert for a new message.

Hey.

Y/N: Who is this?

Reggie. Veronica gave me your number.

You had to remind yourself to kill Veronica later. You paused as you decided not to text him back.

R: You aren’t a joke to me Y/N. I’m sorry for Chuck and Moose, they’re idiots.

You gave a slight sigh. 

Y/N: I agree with that assessment. 

R: I really meant what I said today. Will you please go out with me? 

Y/N: Reggie, you know nothing about me. 

R: Hence the date Y/N. 

You gave a small laugh. 

Y/N: How about this? My parents will be at work tomorrow. You can come over and we’ll watch something and get to know each other, as friends. 

R: I’ll happily take you up on that. 

Y/N: Okay Reginald. 

Friday night had come and gone and it was about noon the next day as you heard a knock at the door. You opened it rather nonchalantly. “Hey Reggie, you can…”, you paused at the sight of him. 

He had a few roses in hand and a rather large smile. He nodded, “Y/N”. 

“Uhh…Reggie…”, his words cut you off while you looked at the flowers. 

“Look, I know you said “as friends” but I’d really like this to be a date. Even if we don’t go anywhere…“, his face became a little flushed. 

You gave a slight sigh as you finally found yourself genuinely happy to see him. "Reggie. As much as I do like the sentiment”, you paused giving a gesture to the flowers, “I’m allergic to roses”. Before you could help it, the wind slightly picked up and you sneezed. 

“Well shit. Hold on”, you gave a chuckle while Reggie ran back to his car and put the flowers on a seat. He somewhat raced back to the door. You found yourself still laughing a bit as you motioned for him to come in. He slid off his shoes while looking a little around your house. "I like your place…”, he looked around still.

“Heh, well it’s not really my style”, you gave a glance around the living room that had a lot of flowered patterns around it. 

“What’s your style then?”, Reggie’s eyes looked back towards you. 

You gave a breath and motioned your head up the stairs. “Come on”. He seemed to have a smile come to his face while he followed you up. You made a slight left while you entered your room. “This is”, you gave a motion with your hands while you went to your bed to sit down. 

Reggie looked around the room. Your walls were pretty much covered in any way possible. Movie and tv posters surrounded him as he looked around it. Star Wars, Die Hard, Back to the Future, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks - just to name a few. He turned around and then saw a bookshelf. And while it definitely had books in it, there were two shelves completely devoted to comic books and volumes. He glanced at some of the titles before turning back to you. 

“Huh”, he reached the back of his hair and seemed somewhat confused.

“What?”, you gave a slight sigh with your question, figuring this would be the moment that Reggie would finally turn uninterested. 

“I have that poster”, he motioned to the Die Hard one. 

“Well it’s a great Christmas movie…”, you gave a shrug. 

He gave laugh, “I suppose it is. You really aren’t like most girls are you?" 

"Not like the one’s here no…”, you gave a slight drop to your eyes. You began to play with the hem of your shirt. 

“Well I like it”, he gave a nod as if a matter of fact. He gave you a smile and you returned it. “I actually used to read some X-Men”, he motioned towards the bookshelf. 

You sat up against your headboard while he sat on the other side of your bed. “Oh yeah? Favorite X-Men character?" 

"Wolverine. I mean hands down, he’s badass”, you gave a chuckle while he leaned back against the wall making himself comfortable. “You?" 

"Tie between Rogue and Nightcrawler. I mean Rogue has so much dimension to her character in a lot of different series. Whether you go Classic X-Men or something like Ultimate X-Men. And then Nightcrawler because honestly I’m envious of his power”, you gave a breath realizing you just rambled a bit. “Sorry…" 

He gave a small laugh and then turned his face to a smirk. "Don’t be sorry, I like it. I like that you aren’t typical. You actually have interests”. 

“Yeah well Veronica is trying to get out of my comfort zone a little…she wants to go to a club next weekend. Don’t know if I’m letting her just yet…”, your eyes shifted away from Reggie. 

You felt a slight pause between the two of you. “You coming to the game tonight?”, he was making an effort again. 

“Uh, I don’t know…”, you became a little flushed and you had started to realize why. 

“What, football not your thing?”, Reggie shrugged a little while plopping his letterman jacket on the floor before leaning back to the wall. 

“Honestly I’m a bit more into baseball”, you motioned towards a small coat rack that had a baseball cap on it. 

He looked behind him. “Red Sox huh?”. 

“Yep they’re my team. Although obviously the season is about to end…”, you resisted rambling again. There was another pause between the two of you. “Hey Reggie?" 

He was looking around your room with his eyes still until his attention came back to you. "Yeah?" 

"Why me?”, you gave a slight sigh. “I mean you could honestly have anyone in the school if you really wanted…” your words trailed as you became nervous. You found yourself enjoying his company and hoped your differences weren’t going to effect that now. 

He gave a smile while his face softened. He reached for your ankle that was slightly hanging over the bed. “I like that your different. You have a different point of view on things. We had to read our essays out loud a few weeks ago, and I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been enamored by someone’s words so much before”, he was rubbing your ankle now. 

 You gave a thought as you now remembered Reggie sat in the row next to you in the back of the room. “Reggie. Have you been staring at me in class?" 

He seemed to be a little embarrassed. His eyes went off of yours for a second and then came back. "Uh…yeah”. 

You gave a smirk with a small laugh, “Well why?" 

"Again, I find you fascinating…and well…I really wanted to…”, he lost his words.

“Wanted to what Reggie?”, you were curious by his words. You completed your question and within seconds you found Reggie’s body now hovering slightly over yours. You gave a small breath out of nervousness while he grasped a side of your face with his palm. He leaned in and began to kiss you. Your whole body had warmed while his lips were on yours. You were a little taken back by the taste of his lips but you leaned into his mouth the second you could. You put a hand on his shoulder bringing his mouth more entwined with yours. 

He parted your lips and gave you a smile while looking into your eyes. “Wanted to do that”, he smirked. “Would you come to the game? Please?” He seemed bashful again. 

You gave a slight thought. You tugged at the neck of his shirt bringing his body back to yours while you gave a him a deep kiss. You tugged slightly on the back of his hair and then parted his lips. 

You gave him one more small peck before you chose your words. “Depends. We going to Pop’s after?" 

A larger smile had now come across his face. He stared at your lips for a second and gave a breath as if he had to cool himself off. "I’d really love that”. 

You gave a nod. “Okay Reginald”, you returned a smile back and brought him in for another kiss.

[betweenrivers-betweenworlds]

Tag game fun time zone

Get to know me tag game!

Tagged by @svartalfhild, who is quite the cool kid.

Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people.

LAST:

1. Drink: Water 2. Phone call: My younger sister Mary. 3. Text message: Group chat. "Man nod" (poking fun at a typo) 4. Song you listened to: rn I'm listening to Resonance by HOME. 5. Time you cried: Uhhhhhhhhhhhh...a while?

HAVE YOU:

6. Dated someone twice: Nope. 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: Yeah, but that was part of a much larger thing. So it wasn't the kiss itself, but the kiss was part of it. 8. Been cheated on: No. 9. Lost someone special: No. 10. Been depressed: Meh 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: Yup. Don't recommend it..

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS:

12-14: black red and blue.

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: Oui.. 16. Fallen out of love: Nah. 17. Laughed until you cried: At least one time I'm p sure.. 18. Found out someone was talking about you: I don't think so? Like in a shit-talking way? 19. Met someone who changed you: I like to think I pick up things from everyone I know, but I wouldn't say I've changed fundamentally lately. 20. Found out who your friends are: Not in fuck-you-you-weren't-there-for-me mode. 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Yarp.

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Most of the folk, probably. There are a lot from high school/college, but there are others who are internet friends I haven't met in person yet. There's also a dude from Egypt who one of us befriended the other over a fb game but we've never actually spoken. Oh, and a dude from one of my old chat room/forum things. Never really talked with him either but w/e. 23. Do you have any pets: No, but my roomie does. 24. Do you want to change your name: Naru 25. What did you do for your last Birthday: Kelsey and I had a shared bday. We had cake n shiz. 26. What time did you wake up: My alarm went off at 8, I got out of bed a bit after that. 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: I think I was actually trying to sleep then. 28. Name something you can’t wait for: Getting back to my apartment. I'm writing this on the bus rn lol 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: Close to an hour ago. She and Mary dropped me off. 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: I'd dropkick my asthma. 31. What are you listening to right now: Same song as before. 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: I have an uncle named Tom, so yeh. 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: My ankle being a sack of shit b/c of Ragnar. 34. Most visited website: Tumblr probs

RANDOM INFO:

35. Mole/s: One or two I think? 36. Mark/s: Like what? Scars? Freckles? Dirt? I have some scars (including a chicken pox scar on my forehead and some on my knees from falling into gravel) and some freckles. Fewer than I'd like tho. 37. Childhood dream: At varying points I wanted to be a train conductor person thing, and an archaeologist/paleontologist. 38. Hair color: Brown 39. Long or short hair: Short 41. What do you like about yourself: A few things. 42. Piercings: None, but I've been told I could rock earrings. 43. Blood type: I always forget it. I think it's O+? 44. Nickname: Alex is short for Alexander, but there's some others that I've had through the years like Freaky Elder (middle school thing. Hard to explain). 45. Relationship status: Got a lady friend. 46. Zodiac: Virgo 47. Pronouns: he/him 48. Favorite TV Show: Fuuuuuuuuuuu-Person of Interest, maybe? 49. Tattoos: Nada 50. Right or left hand: Right 51. Surgery: None. 52. Hair dyed in different color: Nah. 53. Sport: Cross country, track, wrestling, soccer, I've played those all. XC was the big one for moi. 55. Vacation: Mostly to Canada or other states. 56. Pair of trainers: Brooks Adrenaline GTS 17. I've used the Adrenaline GTS line since high school and it's served me p dang well.

MORE GENERAL:

57. Eating: I eat a lot. 58. Drinking: I try to keep hydrated. I drink more coffee than tea but I'll drink them both. 59. I’m about to: Get back to my apartment, but that'll be a while so it's not really "about to". 61. Waiting for: Various shiz to load b/c the bus internet is sorta slow (which I get cuz it's free but still) 62. Want: No student loan debts. 63. Get married: Some day? 64. Career: Fucken. Who knows at this point.

WHICH IS BETTER:

65. Hugs or kisses: Both are good, but hugs are easier to deal out and I come from a huggy family. 66. Lips or eyes: Eyes? I pay more attention to those. 67. Shorter or taller: I don't really have a preference, although most folk I'm interested in are shorter cuz I'm 6'2" 68. Older or younger: Just not extremes in either direction. 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: Arms? I guess? 71. Sensitive or loud:  I don't entiendo. 72. Hook up or relationship: I think I tend towards relationship? But it depends. 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: Nah.

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a Stranger: As in someone I had met that night? Or just someone I didn't know, period? Because if the latter, then no. 75. Drank hard liquor: Yup. 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: No. I don't wear them. Well, sunglasses but anyway. 77. Turned someone down: Yup. 78. Sex on the first date: I have. 79. Broken someone’s heart: Yup. Like not intending to hurt but it happens sometimes. 80. Had your heart broken: Yup. 81. Been arrested: Nope. 82. Cried when someone died: I think I cried when my grandparents died? But I was also like, 11 so. Uhh, probably died for my other grandma. That was sophomore year of college. 83. Fallen for a friend: Yeah.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84. Yourself: Usually. 85. Miracles: Nope. 86. Love at first sight: Nah. It's a process if you ask me. 87. Santa Claus: Nah. 88. Kiss on the first date: I have, but it's not my norm.

OTHER:

90. Current best friend name: ??? 91. Eye color: Brown. 92. Favorite movie: L A B Y R I N T H

tagging (screw the rules): @wenamedthedogkylo, @regexkind, @americas-shit-salad

Only if you wanna. Feel free to tag yourself too.

[whitefx]

I’m doing what no one wanted or asked me to do :D

1. Who was the last person you held hands with? My ex?? 

2. Are you outgoing or shy? Both 

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? Uhh friends. hopefully. Um family friends coming to visit.. i’m not sure bc i’m becoming a social recluse and apologize for everything i do.  Oh and my college classmates I met last week, they seem super coolio.

4. Are you easy to get along with? I’d like to think so

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you? Idk, I hope so?

6. What kind of people are you attracted to? Guys, Gals, and nonbinary pals. Idk people with good personalities, nerds, soft features, again, nerds.

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now? I highly doubt it

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind? Uh? No one right now?

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable? Thats a yes and no answer. I’m okay with it but at the same time because I don’t know much of how sex works it sort of does? 

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? Not sure. I don’t do deep convos often, the closet thing i’ve gotten is when I angrily told someone I’ve been wanting to die for the past few days, and that was a good month or two ago. I don’t usually do deep convos, I usually talk to myself about that jazz. 

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?

“Nice Nice”

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now? 

Sharp Edges by Linkin Park, Heavy By Linkin Park, One more light Linkin park, Save by Tyler Joseph, Falling too by Tyler Joseph 

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair? Yess 

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles? Eh, not really 

15. What good thing happened this summer? I started a college class. (summer legit just started)

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Likely not, as I doubt she wants to talk to me ever again. 

17. Do you think there is life on other planets? Maybe 

18. Do you still talk to your first crush? Yes? 

19. Do you like bubble baths? I would if my tall large body would fit in the bath tub

20. Do you like your neighbors? I do, more or less nice 

21. What are you bad habits? Eating food all the time, scratching at my skin, keeping in my emotions

22. Where would you like to travel? The uk! 

23. Do you have trust issues? Yes and no. I trust too easily but at the same time I have a hard time trusting at all 

24. Favorite part of your daily routine? Sleeping

25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with? My chest/weight

26. What do you do when you wake up? Check my phone for the time

27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker? Darker 

28. Who are you most comfortable around? My friend Ridge I think? I’m awkward around him once again bc i’ve been out of contact with him for a while and only recently got back to talking to him, otherwise i’ve become really uncomfortable socially around people

29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up? Not yet. 

30. Do you ever want to get married? Some day

31. Is your hair long enough for a pony tail? Nah not anymore

32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with? Good question?? I’m not too into sex?? and I can’t remember/don’t know names very well. 

33. Spell your name with your chin. Nah fam

34. Do you play sports? What sports? I used to do Tae Kwon Do, but not for awhile 

35. Would you rather live without TV or music? Tv probably. 

36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them? Probably? Not sure?? 

37. What do you say during awkward silences? So... 

38. Describe your dream girl/guy? A nerd, a nerd in shows, video games, movies etc, soft features, cuddly and understanding of emotions, someone a bit taller than me, someone who understands that I get anxious quite easily and wont force me to do things that make me uncomfy.  

39. What are your favorite stores to shop in? Hottopic, Spencers, JC Penny, Michaels, idk I don’t shop that often. 

40. What do you want to do after high school? Get my two year degree, get a job in that process, move out. 

41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance? I do, but I give a billion chances when I shouldn’t. 

42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean? I’m overthinking, i’m doing art, listening to music, i’m angry. 

43. Do you smile at strangers? I do. 

44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean? Ocean 

45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning? The fear of my parents checking on me, thus seeing my disaster of a room and then being like, get yo room clean, no pc til room clean, and the possibility of being teased at/ told off for sleeping so much.. 

46. What are you paranoid about? Everything tbh.. like fuck.. It makes things hard and it makes some friends disappointed bc I can be super fucking paranoid. 

47. Have you ever been high? Yep. 

48. Have you ever been drunk? Not yet

49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about? I don’t know.

50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore? Dark blue 

51. Ever wished you were someone else? Yea 

52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself? My weight 

53. Favourite makeup brand? Idk 

54. Favourite store? Spencers 

55. Favourite blog? Idk 

56. Favourite colour? Dark Navy Blue 

57. Favourite food? A good question 

58. Last thing you ate? Cheese cake 

59. First thing you ate this morning? Cheesecake 

60. Ever won a competition? For what? I don’t think so 

61. Been suspended/expelled? For what? Not yet 

62. Been arrested? For what? Haha no 

63. Ever been in love? I don’t know.. My last relationship was long distance and I started feeling nothing, kind of numb towards my ex, even when I went to see her it was sort of there sort of not.. So I don’t think so. 

64. Tell us the story of your first kiss? My ex got on the couch to be taller than me and we kissed. 

65. Are you hungry right now? No

66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends? Idk 

67. Facebook or Twitter? Facebook  

68. Twitter or Tumblr? tumblr 

69. Are you watching tv right now? No 

70. Names of your bestfriends? I don’t know who my bestfriends are anymore because of the stupidity thats fucking ruined my life for the past year. Theres on person, her name is Kaylee 

71. Craving something? What? Cuddles :( 

72. What colour are your towels? Creme-coloured 

72. How many pillows do you sleep with? 6? 

73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? Yes 

74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have? On my bed, there’s 5, in general thats a good question 

75. Favourite animal? Owls 

76. What colour is your underwear? Blue plaid 

77. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate 

78. Favourite ice cream flavour? Green Tea 

79. What colour shirt are you wearing? Blue gray? 

80. What colour pants? Blue 

81. Favourite tv show? Lucifer or spn 

82. Favourite movie? Spirited Away 

83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2? Mean Girls 

84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street? Mean Girls 

85. Favourite character from Mean Girls? idk 

86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo? Nemo 

87. First person you talked to today? My mom  

88. Last person you talked to today? Dunno yet 

89. Name a person you hate? Me, myself, and I, kind of jking, I don’t really HATE anyone?  

90. Name a person you love? A good question 

91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now? Nah 

92. In a fight with someone? Not at the moment 

93. How many sweatpants do you have? 1 

94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have? 3? 

95. Last movie you watched? The Mummy 

96. Favourite actress? Idk 

97. Favourite actor? Idk 

98. Do you tan a lot? If I try to tan I have to burn my pale pale bod 

99. Have any pets? Yes 

100. How are you feeling? I’ve been better, def been worse. 

101. Do you type fast? I’d like to think so 

102. Do you regret anything from your past? Yea.. 

103. Can you spell well? More or less, when I care to pay attention 

104. Do you miss anyone from your past? Yes? 

105. Ever been to a bonfire party? Yea 

106. Ever broken someone’s heart? probably 

107. Have you ever been on a horse? Yea 

108. What should you be doing? nothing really 

109. Is something irritating you right now? yes 

110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt? no 

111. Do you have trust issues? I answered this earlier 

112. Who was the last person you cried in front of? sort of my sister? like I walked past her crying 

113. What was your childhood nickname? Randaloo 

114. Have you ever been out of your province/state? I’ve been to different states

115. Do you play the Wii? Sometimes 

116. Are you listening to music right now? Yes 

117. Do you like chicken noodle soup? Eh 

118. Do you like Chinese food? Yes 

119. Favourite book? Merry Christmas Alex Cross By James Patterson 

120. Are you afraid of the dark? Yes 

121. Are you mean? I don’t know, probably to some people.. 

122. Is cheating ever okay? No 

123. Can you keep white shoes clean? no 

124. Do you believe in love at first sight? maybe 

125. Do you believe in true love? i’d like to hope so 

126. Are you currently bored? always 

127. What makes you happy? bouldering, going out and hanging with friends, DOING something anything. 

128. Would you change your name? I sure plan on it. 

129. What your zodiac sign? Cancer 

130. Do you like subway? Yes 

131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do? Sister-zone her. 

132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with? I answered this already 

133. Favourite lyrics right now?  

“I'm holding on Why is everything so heavy? Holding on So much more than I can carry I keep dragging around what's bringing me down If I just let go, I'd be set free Holding on Why is everything so heavy? ” Heavy by Linkin Park 

134. Can you count to one million? No 

135. Dumbest lie you ever told? The lunch I had earlier I gave to my friend bc she didn’t have one. fml lol 

136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed? Closed 

137. How tall are you? 5′7 

138. Curly or Straight hair? I have curly hair 

139. Brunette or Blonde? Both 

140. Summer or Winter? Winter 

141. Night or Day? Night 

142. Favourite month? December 

143. Are you a vegetarian? Working on it 

144. Dark, milk or white chocolate? Milk 

145. Tea or Coffee? Both 

146. Was today a good day? I guess 

147. Mars or Snickers? Mars 

148. What’s your favourite quote? 

“I’m still figuring out who I am, but I know I’m not who I was” ~Brendon Urie 

149. Do you believe in ghosts? Yes 

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page? “You take off your belt. And it happens again.”

That sounds bad out of context but its not a sexual book at all. 

[dylan-hague]

Chapter 24

February 19th, 2018. 9:24 AM EST.

Damian leaned his head up against the window in the backseat of Dick's car as they made their way slowly down the road. Part of him deep down wished that he was back in Jump City in Titans Tower, getting back into the habit of patrolling his own city and handing the occasional smaller crime. But Dick had suggested they stay for another two weeks and come along to visit Bruce for his birthday, and how could he and Raven object to that?

He turned to his right, his eyes on the black-haired girl in the backseat beside him. Raven stared out the window as they drove, her eyes hanging half-open as she teetered on the edge of sleep. Damian smiled as her head began to droop for a moment, only to pop back up again as Raven struggled to stay awake.

"You look tired," Damian thought to her. Raven turned to face him and shrugged, a sleepy half-smile on her face.

"A little bit, I guess..." the girl replied. "I don't do good with cars. Always get drowsy."

"I didn't know that." Damian smirked as he tilted his head to the side, continuing their telepathic conversation. "Seems like I've been learning a lot about you lately."

"And yet..." Raven cocked an eyebrow. "You're still an enigma, Mr. Wayne."

"You're the one who can read people," Damian taunted. "If you wanna know something, just reach in and see for yourself."

Raven nodded sleepily as she placed her hand on top of Damian's in the middle seat. Their hands glowed faintly for a moment, and they looked silently into each other's eyes for a moment. Suddenly, Raven smirked as her cheeks turned faintly red.

"Ohhh," she snipped teasingly. "Damian, I didn't know you could dance!"

"What are you talking about?" The boy looked back at her quizzically. "You've seen me dance before. That night at the Pier with that ridiculous dancing game ..."

"No, not that kind of dancing..." Raven smiled curiously. "I mean, like, slow-dancing. Like, fancy parties, ballrooms... that whole thing."

"Oh! Well... I figured I would need to pick it up at some point," Damian shrugged, blushing slightly. "Once Father went public about my identity, I'd probably be dragged along to all sorts of galas and such. I didn't want to embarrass myself like Dick did."

"Maybe you could teach me to dance sometime. I've always kind been curious about--" Raven stopped short as an image projected from Damian's mind into hers. She shot him a look, and he couldn't help but snicker. "You really do think it's cute, don't you, you dork?"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist." Damian winked, and the red in Raven's cheeks deepened. "So when did you learn to play piano?"

"My mom started teaching me when I was a little girl," Raven replied. "After I came to Earth, I lived with my aunt in New York for awhile, and she got me a teacher. I wanted to keep learning, because it made me feel a little closer to her... y'know?"

"I get that..." Damian trailed off, his thoughts drifting towards the photograph she gave him at Christmas two years ago. Part of him wished he could have met Arella, but then another part of him wondered if he would be put off by who he was...

Raven squeezed his hand gently. "Don't worry," she assured him with a gentle smile. "Mom would have loved you."

"Thanks, Raven..." Damian smiled back at her. "It means a lot to hear that." Raven's irises swirled a little faster as she looked into Damian's eyes. Her eyelids still hung low over her eyes, and her mind began to drift. "You want to go ahead and sleep for awhile before we get there?"

"Not really," the girl shook her head. "Keep talking to me, help me out here. Okay?"

"Alright..." Damian searched in the back of his mind for a moment, trying to conjure up a good question. "How long have you been a Titan?"

"I came to the Tower two years before you did..." Raven let out a quiet yawn. "It was funny... Nightwing was visiting Kori the day they took me in. There was so much going on between them, I had to go straight to my room to keep from getting overwhelmed by all the vibes they were giving off."

"Two years before me..." Damian nodded. "He and Barbara had decided to take a break, see other people for awhile. I remember Dick didn't exactly handle it very well... he was pretty invested in their relationship. I guess when she left, he reached out to Kori for someone to latch onto while he was hurting."

"That's... wow," Raven thought, glancing up at Dick with pity. "That's really sad."

"Oh no. That wasn't the sad part," Damian replied, rolling his eyes. "The pitiful part was that he still kept that picture of her on the mirror the whole time they were split up." Damian pointed to the overhead visor above Dick's head, where a photograph of Barbara was held in place by a paperclip. "He also had the same picture beside his bed in his apartment. He spent a lot of nights crying himself to sleep looking at it... he could put on a convincing show, make everyone think he moved on just fine. But whenever he was alone at night... it tore him apart."

"Poor Dick..." Raven paused for a moment. "... Poor Kori... I'm happy for Dick and Barbara, now that they've figured everything out, but... I can feel something pulling at Kori whenever somebody mentions Dick. For Tamaraneans, affection never ends... she still loves Dick."

"I figured she probably did. I've seen the look she gets when he comes up in conversation..." Damian's eyes turned to the pregnant woman in the passenger seat. "But I think Dick knew deep down it would end with Barbara. That's just how it is for him... it's always been Barbara. Despite everything, it's always been her."

Damian looked back to Raven. His eyes lingered on her face, where he could just barely see the tip of the scar on her forehead poking out underneath her ebony hair, which cascaded like black silk down her shoulder, sitting bare where her hoodie had slid down her arm, revealing her smooth grey skin. Damian glanced back up to her lips, and his thoughts shifted back to that morning several weeks ago. Something was different about that kiss that morning. Sure, they'd kissed plenty of times before, but this time was different... this time he noticed things about her he hadn't noticed before. The feel of her back under his fingertips, the warmth of her legs around his, the taste that her lips left on his... It was somewhat disconcerting to him, but Damian couldn't help but notice that he had begun to make more physical observations about her, as opposed to the personal things he'd been learning about her up until this point. But that morning, the 25th, that was the tipping point. Raven was a fascinating creature, and he found himself craving further intimacy with her; after he noticed her taste for the first time, it felt as if the rules of the game had changed, and he'd stepped into a world with many more facets than the one he remembered... his cheeks turned vermilion as his eyes shot back to his window, and a sense of shame washed over him. How could he let his thoughts become so crass? He was a Wayne! Heir to the mantle of the Dark Knight! He should be above such baser instincts...

"You don't to feel embarrassed, Damian..." Raven's finger began to trace little circles into the back of Damian's hand as he looked back at her, wide-eyed with surprise. "That kind of thinking is normal for people our age. You have nothing to be ashamed of." Raven looked back at him, a shy half-smile on her face.

"H... how much of that did I... did I let you hear?" Damian could feel his ears burning with embarrassment.

"All of it..." the mage-girl looked down as she ran her finger slowly up Damian's arm. "I feel it, too, y'know. I want to be more... y'know. Intimate. I mean, not like..."

"Oh, of course not!" Damian piped up, realizing what she meant. "Not that. But... yeah. I feel like..."

"Yeah," Raven looked back up at Damian. "It's just... it makes me nervous, that's all."

Damian nodded in agreement. "But... maybe we should try stepping out of our comfort zones. A little bit at a time."

The clouds in Raven's irises began to slow their billowing as she looked back at him lovingly. "Yeah... I agree."

"Ugh, just kiss already!"

Damian and Raven both snapped back to reality as the turned, seeing Dick and Barbara grinning cheekily back at them... with Bruce leaning in through Dick's window, smirking back at them as well.

"Uhh..." Damian looked out his window to see that they were parked outside the mansion. "... Dick, how long have we been sitting here?"

"Five minutes," Bruce answered smugly. "And from what Dick says, you two have been sitting back there making eyes at one another for at least ten."

Damian leaned back into his seat and groaned, his face completely red. Raven turned back to her window, her face just as red as his.

Dick chuckled as he looked at the two teens in the backseat. "Well... Happy Birthday, Bruce."

Titans Tower, Jump City. February 19th, 2018. 6:37 AM PST.

Jon dangled his feet over the edge of the Tower as he watched the first beams of sunlight appear over the horizon. It was strange, not having Damian and Raven with him this morning. They'd been watching the sunrise together for so long now, it had just become part of his morning ritual. But with the two of them still in Gotham, Jon was left to take in the morning all by himself. It wasn't like it was unbearable, but he had to admit he had been a little lonely.

"Hey... Jon, right?"

Jon turned to see Will Batson walking up behind him, a yellow scarf poking out from the top of his thick red coat.

"Hey, Will..." Jon nodded in acknowledgment as he stood up to greet the Leaguer. "How come you're not back in Fawcett?"

"I figured I'd hang around with you guys a little longer," Will replied, his breath visible in the cold morning. "It's nice getting to hang with people my own age for once."

"Well, you COULD just join the Titans, bail on the League altogether," Jon said with a wink.

"Nahhh, no way." Will waved off the notion with his hand. "Once you've been in the Justice League, you don't ever look back."

"Y'know, I heard Cyborg said the exact same thing!" Jon turned back to the sunrise. Will stepped up to the edge of the Tower, peering down over the edge all the way to the ground below. He grinned at he felt his stomach drop, then looked over to Jon.

"Hey, Jon..." Will cocked an eyebrow as he spoke. "... wanna see something crazy?"

Jon tilted his head to the side slightly. "Ummm... okay?"

Without another word, Will held his hands out, closed his eyes, and leaned forward, dropping right over the edge of the Tower and hurdling towards the ground below.

"Will!" Jon cried out at the top of his lungs as he leapt from the Tower, rocketing towards the plummeting teenager as fast as his powers would let him. "Will, take my hand! You're gonna be alri--"

"Shazam!"

With a blinding flash of light, Will vanished, and Captain Thunder swirled through the air, pulling up inches before hitting the ground, Jon following suit. The pair of them tore through the sky for a moment before lighting back onto the roof.

"Ugh..." Thunder groaned, shaking his head in annoyance. "I really need to stop doing that..."

Jon raised an eyebrow in surprise at his friend's newfound demeanor. "W... what makes you say that? It looks like you were having fun."

"That's because as Will Batson, I can ignore the obvious fact that I could very well get myself killed pulling a stunt like that." the hero put his fists on his hips, standing tall as he looked over to Jon. "But as Captain Thunder, the Wisdom of Solomon urges me to think more rationally, and not take such unnecessary risks for the sake of self-entertainment."

"Well... good." Jon shook his hair out before looking back up at Thunder. "... you scared me."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Shazam." Another crash of lightning later, Will Batson was back to normal, and headed for the elevator. "You comin' inside?"

"Yeah, just gimme a sec..." Jon pulled out his phone and took a picture of the horizon, the sun's beams peering through the purple haze of morning. "Gonna send this to Dame and Rae, let 'em know I hope she gets better soon."

As Will and Jon descended into the Tower, a vibration came from Jon's pocket. He went to check his phone, and smiled when he saw the picture message: an oh-so-rare Damian Wayne selfie, with what looked like his father's courtyard in the background, and his face pressed up against Raven's, both of them beaming.

"We'll be home soon, Jonno!"

Wayne Manor, Gotham City. February 19th, 2018. 12:14 PM EST.

Damian sat in the floor of the family room with an old photo album in his lap, with Raven, Bruce, Carrie, and Alfred sitting all around him. It had become something of a tradition each year when Bruce's birthday rolled around to crack open the album and add to it, while also looking back over the events in recent Wayne history. At first the album was a private project of Alfred's, but on Bruce's 30th birthday he happened to walk in on Alfred adding photos of himself and Dick (who was just starting out as Robin at the time) to the later pages of the book, and sat down to look through it with him. Now they did this every year... and whenever someone new came into their fold, they flipped all the way back to 1968, where the album began with Alfred's career as butler to Thomas and Martha Wayne. This year, there were two new members of Bruce's little family: Raven and Carrie. Alfred had gathered up plenty of photographs (some taken himself, others sent by friends and loved ones) to add for each of them.

"Ah, there he is!" the old butler exclaimed. "That was the first night Master Jason ever went on patrol as Robin. Oh, he was so excited..."

Damian let out a chuckle as he looked back at Carrie. "See this, Kelley? This is why Robins are supposed to cover their legs."

Carrie couldn't help laughing at poor little Jason, standing proud in his little glorified green panties. "Y'know what? I totally get it now." Everyone laughed at that one as Damian flipped the page.

"Oh, jeez..." Raven muttered quietly at the photograph before them. "Is that..."

"Yeah, that was Jason's grave," Bruce sighed. "We're fortunate that he wasn't actually around to fill it..."

"Indeed," Alfred added, casting his gaze down to the bottom of the next page. "By... by God, look how young Master Timothy was!" He pointed to a photo of Tim and Stephanie on the roof of some building in Blüdhaven, from back when Tim was still Robin.

"Hey, I remember that day!" Bruce said with a smile. "Tim had just gotten out of school for the summer, so we decided to take a day. By the end of it, he and Steph had run off somewhere..."

"Just couldn't stay mad at 'em, huh?" Carrie looked over her shoulder at Bruce.

Bruce shrugged. "Tim never gave me a reason to be angry too often," he said. "Everything he did had a purpose to it."

"Except for his sleeping habits, I should say..." Alfred grumbled.

"Okay, that is a good point," Damian said with a smirk as he flipped the page. When Raven looked down to the next page of photos, she had to stifle a laugh when she saw a photo of a ten-year-old Damian, covered in what looked like blood with a stern look on his face, standing proudly in front of a cow.

"Okay, hold on..." the poor girl couldn't fight back the grin spreading across her face. "I know you've mentioned Batcow to me before, but I thought you were kidding!!"

Damian let out a dramatic gasp, smirking back at the Girl. "I would never joke about Batcow!" The young Wayne cried out. "She is the terror..."

"... that moos in the night!" Everyone exclaimed together before breaking out in laughter. Damian looked down at the next page, and was surprised to see a photo of him and Raven at Pier 64 shortly after he joined the Titans, sitting at a table conversing over a cone of cotton candy.

"I didn't know anyone had any photos from that night..." Damian said quietly, thinking back to that conversation. His cheeks turned red as he turned to Raven, who was also blushing.

"Kori had her camera out the whole time..." Raven shrugged, looking up into Damian's eyes. "She sent me this picture not long after everything settled down a few days later."

Damian smiled. "I'm glad she got this picture..." He slipped a hand into Raven's. "That conversation is one I look back on pretty fondly."

"Again... just kiss already, you two." Everyone looked up to see Dick and Barbara walk into the family room. Damian shook his head smiling.

"I'm not to keen on doing something so rambunctious in front of my own father, Richard," the younger Wayne said with a wink. "My standards must be just a tad higher than yours."

"Master Damian, putting aside the fact that you just used the word 'rambunctious' unironically..." Alfred commented wryly (to which Damian blushed a bit more), "... both your father and I have watched you break a man's neck before. You said it was 'fun'. You are, in all honesty, the worst example of behavioral standards in this room."

Damian's face flushed at the butler's statement. Dick, grinning smugly, held up his phone up over the photo album. "Y'know, if you don't want to do it now, I can always just play the video..."

"Nope!" Damian shouted as he snatched Nightwing's phone up and deleted the video.

"Dude!" Dick swiped the phone back in anger. "Why would you--"

"Not to worry, Master Richard," Alfred sighed, an eyebrow cocked as he pulled out his own phone. "I have the video right here."

Oh no... Damian thought. Dick's phone was one thing. But I can't touch Alfred's, or I'm a dead man.

Damian went to look to Raven for support, but by the time he'd locked eyes with her, she already had her hands on either side of his face, and pulled him in for a kiss. Before we could even react, Raven pulled away and threw her hood up, leaving Damian flustered and embarrassed. Everyone cheered (except for Bruce, who could see how uncomfortable the two were), and Alfred slowly put his phone away.

"Okay, maybe that was a little much..." Dick put his hands on Raven and Damian's shoulders. "But trust me, it gets easier with practice."

"Dick, leave the kids alone," Barbara snipped at her fiancé. "You'll have plenty of time to embarrass children when Tommy is born."

Dick stood back up, walking over to the Batgirl and planting one right on her cheek. "Yes, ma'am."

After a moment of Damian rubbing little circles into her back, Raven pulled her hood back off, and the seven of them continued flipping through the pages of Alfred's photo album. Something about it was almost cathartic; after everything they'd been through --- brainwashing, deaths in the family, the literal coming of Satan --- it was important for them to look back on the memories they held closest to their hearts. Tea with Alfred on a Sunday morning, Tommy's ultrasounds, Carrie at the fair with her school friends, and plenty of sunrises over Jump City. Little moments in time that made the rest worthwhile. That's what it's all about, right?