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shutupandshipit · 4 years ago

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Christmas Preemie - One Shot

Summary: Izuku smoothed a hand over Katsuki belly, smiling as it was kicked at rather viciously. “He’s been moving around a lot, hasn’t he? Wouldn’t it be crazy if he decided to be a Christmas baby.”

Fingers curling in Izuku’s collar, Katsuki brought their noses very, very close. “Don’t even joke about that, shithead. I’m not done baking this loaf yet.”.

....

Or where Izuku makes a joke and forgets to knock on wood.

Pairing: Bakudeku

Rating: T

Check out Coming Home if you haven’t already! It precedes this fic!

Author’s Note: So, I'm sure other places have Christmas Strolls, but I've never seen one outside my hometown. It's literally my favorite part of the entire year, but I haven't gotten to visit it in more than 5 years. I didn't mention the name of the street in the fic, but it is based on the actual Plumas Street and Christmas Stroll that's in my hometown. When you're imagining it, think of what main street for a small town would look like (except we haven't been a small town in many many decades). Also, before anyone mentions it, yes the tortoise from the pat store that's mentioned is an actual thing we saw often. They would tie a balloon to him to keep track or where he went. He was pretty freaking big (medium dog size), and if I remember correctly, he was over 100 years old.

It's Christmas day here in Japan for me, so have another Christmas fic. Anyway, enjoy! Stop by and tell me what your Christmas Stroll/Festival is like! (when there isn't Covid) Blessed Yule! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Whatever you're celebrating, I wish you a happy day!

"Daddy."

The whisper was just soft enough to wake him up, but not loud enough to startle him. Still, Izuku hoped if he pretended not to hear it, it would just end up being a dream. He let his face remain slack, his breathing steady.

A few seconds later before Izuku had even managed to doze off again, the whisper came again, closer this time. “Daddy, wake up.” Weight followed, two small hands pressing into his chest with all their weight.

“Sumi,” Izuku breathed quietly, still refusing to move and believe his daughter had woken him up, “It is very early and Daddy is very tired. Please go back to sleep.”

“But there’s someone outside the door. I can smell them.” The weight disappeared from his chest, but not the edge of the bed.

Groaning, Izuku pushed himself up and peeled his eyes open. Weak blue morning light crawled into the room from beneath the curtains. On the bedside table, blurry red numbers told him that it was only 6:22 AM. Katsuki was still dead asleep beside him, pillow covering his head while his hand lay protectively over his belly.

Sumi bounced anxiously on the edge of the bed, her protheses bare metal all the way down to her toes. She glanced between the door and Izuku. Her wild green locks were wilder than usual from sleep, a brush handle protruding over the top of her head at the back of her hair.

Before Izuku could move to extract it, a knock sounded at the door. Three short, but loud, raps. Both he and Sumi startled, glancing at Katsuki before each other.

With a heavy sigh, Izuku nudged Sumi off the edge of the bed and stood. He was just pulling a shirt over his bare torso when the knocking came again. Louder this time.

Izuku wasn’t someone who normally got agitated easily, but between the early hour and the jetlag, he was less inclined towards solicitude. Jerking open the door, scent flaring out strong and sharp, he growled, “What?” He felt Sumi press against the side of his leg, and glanced down to see her baring her teeth.

The man on the otherside was a burly looking alpha fellow with an overwhelming burning sage scent. Irritation made the scent sharper, less pleasant plant life and more like weed. His arms were crossed over his wide chest, murky brown eyes cut in thin slits. He was taller than Izuku by several inches, but Izuku had no doubts that he could still take the alpha down even without One For All. “Tell your wife to reel in her pheromones. I’ve got three alpha teens in the next room over, and she’s driving them nuts.”

Izuku glanced over his shoulder at the still form of Katsuki before pushing Sumi back into the room and stepping out to square up against the man in front of him. He smiled, sharp and dangerous, channeling every ounce of Katsuki he had stored in his veins. “I’m sorry, can you repeat that? My English isn’t that great. I thought I just heard you say it’s my omega’s fault your boys can’t control themselves.” His English was almost as good as his Japanese after four years with Sumi and Katsuki and Shonetta every other day.

The alpha huffed, glaring down his nose at Izuku. “That’s right. You know you can’t bring omegas in heat to hotels in the U.S.”

“Wow! Amazing! You can’t do that in Japan either, and my omega isn’t in heat.”

“Whatever she is, you need to get her to reel in her fucking pheromones. I’m sure we’re not the only family being bothered.”

“I think,” Izuku started sweetly, “maybe, you need to teach your boys some self control. If they get riled up just from smelling an omega, I think the fault lies with their parents and not a family minding their own business in a separate room.” His smile could have cut glass.

The alpha bristled, face going red. “Why you-”

The door opened behind Izuku, and both alpha’s startled as a disgruntled Katsuki stepped up behind Izuku. “What’s going on? Do you know what fucking time it is, asshole?”

Izuku hadn’t heard Katsuki get up, and assumed Sumi had made the decision to get him. His protheses were attached, metal bare to the morning chill. Katsuki was also shorter than the alpha, but his presence was far more intimidating as he glared at him in all his pregnant glory. At eight months, Katsuki was deep into his pregnancy, and deeply over it as well. He had begun to swell at five months and hadn’t stopped.

“I’m just giving this man some parenting advice,” Izuku said, glancing at the other alpha whose face had drained completely of color.

Katsuki shot narrowed eyes at Izuku. “Yeah, sure sounded like it.”

“You’re Dynamight-”

“Yeah, what of it?” Katsuki groused. His eyes turned back to the alpha, looking him up and down with a critical eye.

Katsuki, pregnant and tired, was not someone a lot of people knew how to deal with. They’d set up the trip to visit Shonetta and Cynthia before they’d had the pregnancy confirmed. Izuku had suggested they move it either one way or the other around the birth to provide his mate with more comfort, but the paperwork had already been in route and tickets purchased. On top of that, Katsuki had been sure he was going to be just as small as when he’d had Katsumi. He had surpassed that stage two months ago.

The alpha seemed to shrink under Katsuki’s steady anger. “I, uh, I’m sure you don’t remember me, but you might remember my daughter? She was kidnapped while we were at the zoo, and you saved her before the guy could throw her into the lion pit.”

After a moment, Katsuki said, “Little red headed omega. Freckles everywhere. Presented very early at seven or something like that. Wouldn’t let any of the alpha heroes near her.”

A smile split across the alpha’s face, and Izuku wasn’t exactly sure what was happening here. “Yes! You were the only one who could get her to calm down enough to come out of the crevice she’d wedged herself in behind the statue.”

Katsuki considered the guy again, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the door frame. “Right, now what were you saying about omegas earlier?”

Sumi pressed between them, eyes still narrowed at the man before them.

Red bloomed in the alpha’s face again, but this time it seemed to be in embarrassment. “Oh, nothing. Nothing at all! Your mate was giving me some parenting advice like he said.” A door opened close by.

“Right.”

Izuku and Sumi glanced down the hall to see an omega girl of about twelve pop out of the door.

“Dad, Danny said- Mr. Dynamight!” She darted out, letting the door slam shut behind her. She gasped. “Katsumi!”

“Katherine!” Sumi shouted in return, wriggling out from between Katsuki and Izuku to jump around with the other girl, hairbrush still in her hair and all. “You’re so much bigger than me now! Do you talk to Ms. Bains anymore?”

While the little girls chattered excitedly with each other, Katsuki pointed at the alpha. “You, come here,” he growled threateningly, palm crackling quietly. Swallowing, the alpha stepped just a hair closer, and Katsuki snapped out a hand to jerk him forward until they were nose to nose. He hissed, “Get your fucking boys under control and stop blaming others for your short-comings. You’ve got a fucking omega daughter, and you’re spouting that rhetoric around her? Get your fucking priorities straight.”

“Y-yes, sir,” the man squeaked.

Katsuki pushed him away. “Great, now that we understand each other.” He turned, slowly making his way back into the room, but returned only a moment later with something clutched in his hand. “Hey, girl!”

Katherine perked up, trotting over to the three adults with Sumi’s hand still clutched in hers. “Yes, sir?”

“Here, something to make your brothers jealous.” Katsuki held out a bandana that their PR agents had specially made when Katsuki and Izuku had publicized their bond. Cut from one corner to the other, one side was green and black with Izuku’s signature bunny motif while the other side was black and orange with ‘X’ graphics. They’d brought a couple of the prototypes to give to Shonetta and Cynthia. “That’s the first like it. I sighed the ‘X’ in the corner, and I’m sure Deku would sign it too if you ask him.”

Katherine turned big brown cow eyes on Izuku, and he smiled as he turned to find a sharpie.

Behind him, he heard Katsumi shout, “I’ve got one too! We can match! We’ve got shirts too! I could send you one when we get home!”

“Would you?” Katherine asked excitedly. Izuku grabbed a pen and paper as well, returning. As he traded everything in his hands for the bandana, she asked, “Dynamight, can I feel your belly, please? I’ve never gotten to feel a baby move before.”

“Go ahead, kid.” If Katsuki Bakugou was anything, he was soft when it came to children and other omegas.

Izuku thought maybe it was something he’d never really completely get about his mate. He knew it had to do with biology, but he thought maybe it had to do with just Katsuki himself. He was gruff around the edges, but he had an ingrained instinct to protect those weaker than him. Then again, Izuku was softer than him when it came to children, so who was really to say.

Katherine stepped forward, pressing reverential fingers to Katsuki’s distended stomach before leaning to press her ear there as well. Sumi followed her lead, chattering all the while as the girls felt and listened. Katherine let out a high, girlish giggle as she pulled back. “He kicked me in the face! What a little bugger.” Still, she pressed her ear right back to where it had been. “You smell good, Dynamight, sir.”

“Well, heck, I hope so. How else am I supposed to keep this one around?” Katsuki jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Izuku who huffed out a laugh in response.

Laughing, Katherine took a few more moments before pulling away. She scribbled a cell number, email address, and physical address before exchanging the notepad for the bandana again. “One day,” she said very seriously, staring up at Katsuki with wonder in her eyes, “I’m going to grow up just as strong as you. I’m going to be a great omega hero like you!”

Her father seemed ready to protest, opening his mouth to say whatever had come to mind, but Izuku put his hand on his shoulder with another sharp smile.

Katsuki’s expression was soft as he patted her on the shoulder. “Hit us up when you’re about to intern in high school, and maybe I’ll be able to work something with Negative. Or if you choose not to be a hero in this sense, you can intern with her wife at the hospital as a nurse or a midwife. There’s a lot of avenues that you could take. Make sure you pick the one that makes you happy.”

Katherine nodded, just a quick bob of her head. “I will.” Before they could part, she wrapped her arms around Katsuki and then did the same to Sumi. When she pulled away, eyes finding her father, they went wide. “Oh no! I forgot. Danny said that the toilet is clogged and it’s leaking all over the bathroom.”

“Ah! What the hell!” The alpha threw his hands into the air, stomping towards the door she’d come out of.

With a giggle, she hurried after him. “Bye, Katsumi! Bye, Mr. Dynamight! Bye, Mr. Deku! Hope to see you again!”

As they disappeared into the room, Katsuki turned to Sumi. “Okay, little monster, time to get ready. Shonetta and Cynthia are supposed to be picking us up soon, and why is there a hairbrush stuck in your hair! Deku!”

Izuku gaped. “It was there when she woke me up! Don’t go blaming me!”

“And yet, I’m still going to.”

…..

-7 months earlier-

“Izuku fucking Midoriya-Bakugou, get your ass in here!”

It wasn't often that Katsuki called Izuku by his full name, and he nearly dropped the plate he'd been holding as Katsuki's enraged voice thundered from the bathroom. He and Sumi, now a stunning nine-year-old and growing bigger every day, caught each other's eyes across the kitchen counter. It had been what felt like years since Katsuki had yelled at him so ferociously.

' Papa's mad !' Sumi signed helpfully, eyes darting to the bathroom door before returning to Izuku.

' Yeah, but the question is how much ?' Izuku signed back one-handed, soapy fingers moving quickly through the air, ' And why ?'

“Fucking Deku!”

Izuku startled again, this time actually dropping the plate as he darted away. Sumi's laughter followed after him, but it did nothing to calm his nerves. “K-Kacchan? What's the matter?” he asked tentatively as he pushed into the bathroom. He paused just inside the door.

Katsuki sat on the edge of the sink, head cradled in his hands, fingers pressed to his eyes. The scent hit him next, sweet caramel and all-spice spiked with the bitter tang of bile and urine. Last was the quiet growling hum Katsuki seemed to be letting slip.

“Kacchan?” Izuku stepped completely into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Whatever this was, he doubted Katsuki wanted Sumi in on it just yet. “What's the matter?”

“Are you fucking happy?” Katsuki growled, but the edges were softer and fonder than Izuku normally received when Katsuki was angry with him.

That made him wonder; was Katsuki actually angry or just trying to hide something? “A-a-about what? What's going on?” When Katsuki jerked his head toward the toilet, Izuku stepped around him and stopped again.

Right on top of the lid, four pregnancy tests sat. Four pink sticks with four pink plus signs on white faces stared up at him.

He was crying before he'd even fully comprehended the sheer magnitude of what the tests meant. Inhaling a shuddering breath, he whispered, “How long have you thought...”

“A couple weeks. About a month, but I wasn't sure. Didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. Had to check after I puked though.” Katsuki still hadn't lifted his head, and Izuku turned to press between his knees, leaning in to lightly scent the top of his head.

“Kacchan, you really are?” he asked with a hiccup, throat thick and voice choked, “Really? You're not messing with me?”

“Tell me, in what world do you think I'd joke about this?”

A sob slipped passed his lips. “Really? You're really pregnant? Are...” he trailed off, fear coiling in his stomach right alongside the excited butterflies, “Are you mad about it?”

Katsuki released a heavy sigh, and dropped his hands. A smile pulled up the corners of his mouth, and he met Izuku's eyes. "No. No, I'm not, Izuku. Maybe it's just my stupid omega brain, but... I love Katsumi and I loved when she was a baby, and I didn't think it was going to feel the way it did. I didn't think I'd get another chance to feel that again. It's different having a baby and that changed my whole world. And this time..." Reaching out, he gripped Izuku's hips and pulled him close. "This time you'll be here to experience it too."

A torrent of sobs fell from Izuku's mouth, and he covered his face with his hands. Pressing forward, he wrapped his arms around Katsuki's neck to press his face into Katsuki's shoulder instead. "Kacchan, I'm so happy! I can't believe- I didn't think- I'm so happy!"

"Yeah, that's obvious, nerd," Katsuki said fondly, threading his fingers into Izuku's hair to hold him close. "Get it all out now. You're not allowed to be emotional for the next nine months. Got it?"

"That's totally unreasonable." Izuku laughed, breath sticky and wet against his own face. "But I'll try my best." He let out a breath, finally calming as he pulled back. “I can't wait to share these next months with you."

"You won't be saying that soon," Katsuki warned, but his smile ruined the effect. He pulled Izuku back in, this time for a kiss. And even though his mouth still tasted hideous, Izuku couldn’t have been happier.

Sumi burst through the door, eyes wild, hair wilder, hands popping around a phone screaming with Shonetta's voice. "I'm going to have a baby brother?" she screeched, launching herself between Izuku and Katsuki to try and get closer. "Let me touch your belly, Papa! I want to feel Taiyo move!"

"Katsumi!" Katsuki growled warningly as he pulled back to glare down at her, "How many times have I told you to not eavesdrop! Or answer my phone!"

Izuku was laughing though, stepping back to hoist her into his arms. "Sumi, you won't be able to feel them move for a long time. And how long have you had that name picked out? Also, hello, Negative."

Shonetta wasn't paying attention, screaming instead at Katsuki to pick up his phone so she could congratulate him. He didn't comply, ears red and face buried in his hands.

"Since I was three!" Sumi announced, "And I told Papa I wanted a baby brother like the other girls in my class!"

"And I told you not to hold your breath, you little monster," Katsuki growled before groping blindly for the phone. Removing his hand, he glared down at the woman on the screen with red cheeks and curled lips. "You tell anyone, woman, and it'll be the end of you, do you hear me?"

"I've already texted Cynthia."

"You know she's not who I'm talking about."

Izuku could hear the grin in Shonetta's voice rather than see it. "Well, the entire agency is congratulating you. Don't ignore them when they text you."

"Bitch-"

"Katsuki," Izuku reprimanded quickly, but Sumi was already preoccupied as she chattered away at Shonetta.

…..

-Present-

“Katsumi Bakugou-Midoriya, get over here and put your jacket on or I’m going to leave you here, and you’re not going to get to go to the Christmas Stroll at all.”

Izuku popped his head into the little guest room that Shonetta and Cynthia had set up for Sumi to use for the week they’d be in America. There was an air mattress on the floor with a rumpled pink comforter in the middle surrounded by two desks and numerous filing cabinets. Sitting on the edge of the mattress was Sumi, arms crossed over her chest in consternation.

“No! It’ll be too hot!” she shot back, “I can dress myself!”

“Clearly not if I’m having to tell you to put on more clothes because it’s going to be cold!” Katsuki snarled, out of breath as he glared at his daughter. He was gripping the back of a computer chair with one hand while the other pressed to the small of his back, face contorted with as much discomfort as it was irritation. “I’m not asking. This is nonnegotiable, and I’m not in the mood to be arguing with you.”

Sumi turned up her nose, and Izuku got a very sudden and terrifying flashback to Katsuki when they’d been kids. “No. I’m not wearing it.”

Before either could snap back, Izuku stepped into the room with a smile. "Sumi, you know you're not supposed to be arguing with Papa right now." He turned to Katsuki with a smile that softened as that now familiar warmth of seeing Katsuki swollen with pregnancy filled his chest. "Kacchan, please sit down if you're uncomfortable."

"I'm fucking fine," Katsuki snapped, but almost immediately blanched and slowly sank into the computer chair. "Fucking kid." Closing his eyes, he tilted his head back and rubbed a hand over his belly. Once, twice, soothing circles.

When Izuku looked back at his daughter, he found guilt twisting her round face. "Wait here for me, Sumi, and we'll talk about the jacket. I'm going to help Papa outside."

"Okay," she mumbled, ducking her head and tugging at the end of her long braid, "Sorry, Papa."

Izuku gripped Katsuki forearm as he slowly stood back up. "Not your fault, little monster, your brother just has a lot of energy like Dad."

She didn't lift her head, and they both sighed as they made their slow way out of the room, and out to the living room.

"Shouldn't have yelled at her," Katsuki grumbled as he sat down and let Izuku slide and lace up the orthopedic boots from Cynthia on his feet.

"There was a better way to handle the situation, yes, but traveling always makes you irritable. And you've been doing really well handling your anger throughout your entire pregnancy." Task completed, Izuku pressed a kiss to Katsuki's belly and got kicked in the mouth for his trouble. "I'll talk to her, and then maybe you can talk to her about why you were frustrated later."

Katsuki made a sound above him, and Izuku lifted his head to find his husband scrubbing at his eyes. Izuku pressed gentle fingers to Katsuki’s wrist, but it only made Katsuki's breath hitch. "You're so much better at this parenting thing than I am. What would I have done if you hadn't wanted to stay with us?"

Pregnancy hormones. Even eight months in, Izuku was still surprised by how wildly Katsuki's emotions could vacillate in a few moments. Anger to guilt to tears. Tears weren't something Katsuki was predisposed to, so each time Izuku found Katsuki crying over something, he always had to stop and think about his next step. Sometimes Katsuki would cry over something that made sense; pictures of Sumi in the hospital, a news story about children being lost in a villain attack, the anniversary of All Might's death. Sometimes, they didn’t make sense; the time he'd knocked the dish soap onto the floor, doing paperwork at home instead of at the agency because he'd had an appointment that day, watching Winnie the Pooh by himself while Sumi was at school.

Everything about pregnancy fascinated Izuku, and he felt blessed every moment of it he was able to share with his mate.

Standing, Izuku pulled Katsuki into his body, rubbing a hand up and down his spine. "We're a team, love, we've always been a team. This works because we're together. Even if I weren't here, I know you'd be nothing less than amazing."

They remained like that until Katsuki’s shaking slowed. After a moment, he whispered, “Deku.”

“Yes?”

“I want you suck your dick.”

Izuku felt his entire body flush from head to toe at the blunt word choice. He laughed, rubbing at his forehead. “How about we save that for later? I thought you wanted to go to this Christmas Stroll thing Sumi and Shonetta haven’t stopped talking about. Isn’t today the last night?”

Katsuki huffed against Izuku’s chest, fingers stilling where he’d pushed them up beneath Izuku’s shirt. “I would say ‘fuck it’,” he groused, using Izuku to stand back up, “But it’s Sumi’s favorite part of the season. The whole thing’s a fucking annoyance.” Which actually meant Katsuki enjoyed it, Izuku had discovered. “The things I do for that little monster and her godmothers.”

Izuku smoothed a hand over Katsuki belly, smiling as it was kicked at rather viciously. “He’s been moving around a lot, hasn’t he? Wouldn’t it be crazy if he decided to be a Christmas baby.”

Fingers curling in Izuku’s collar, Katsuki brought their noses very, very close. “Don’t even joke about that, shithead. I’m not done baking this loaf yet.” He pressed a quick kiss to Izuku’s lips before hobbling away towards the kitchen where Cynthia and Shonetta were singing Christmas carols at the top of their lungs. “Sumi’s still waiting for you.”

Izuku put on his own shoes before returning to the bedroom. Sumi was still sitting in the same spot he’d left her, scrubbing at her eyes with the sleeve of her long-sleeved t-shirt as she sniffled quietly. "I'm sorry," she whispered miserably.

Sighing, Izuku picked up the coat -barely a sweater really- that Katsuki had been trying to get Sumi to put on and sat down beside her. "Why are you sorry?"

Her shoulders hitched, just like her father’s a moment ago, and mumbled, “Because I’m being a bad girl.”

Running a hand up and down Sumi’s back like he’d done with Katsuki, he asked, “Why do you think you’re being a bad girl?”

“Because I was arguing with Papa and made him start to yell and now he’s mad at me. I don’t want to wear my jacket because it’ll be too hot, but I just get so mad when he starts to yell. I can’t help it.”

“You’re a lot like your Papa, baby. He’s like that too, and it took him a long time to learn not to let that be his first response.” Resting his hand on the side of Sumi’s head, he pulled her into his body, pressing a kiss to her temple. “He’s not mad at you, he just wants to make sure you don’t get sick. Papa shouldn’t have yelled at you, but you shouldn’t have yelled back, okay?”

“Okay.” Sumi hiccupped, tilting her head to rest on his shoulder.

Izuku let the moment stretch until he heard Cynthia’s voice coming down the hallway. “Alright, so here’s what we’re going to do.” Lifting her head, Sumi sat back to meet his eyes, silent and resolute. “I want you to put on your jacket before we go outside, okay. No, no arguments.” He put up a finger when her mouth automatically opened to argue. “You can take it off again in the car. You have to put it back on before you get out of the car. If it’s too hot after ten minutes of being outside, you can take it back off, but I want you to carry it just in case you do get cold. Okay? Is that fair?”

After a moment of puff-cheeked disdain, Sumi huffed and muttered, “Yes.”

…..

When the others had said ‘Christmas Stroll’, Izuku had been expecting houses lit with strings of light and families marveling at them as they passed. Maybe a few groups caroling or selling hot chocolate.

Izuku was not expecting a full-on parade of floats and fire trucks and police cars with people dressed as Santa Clause and elves dancing to Christmas music over loudspeakers. He also wasn’t expecting an entire street to be shut down and blocked off to allow the crowd to walk from one booth or store to another. At either end of the street, live music played. One side seemed to be professional musicians while the other side seemed to be high school students and volunteers. Behind the makeshift stages, Christmas trees towered, dripping in tinsel and sparkling lights and handmade ornaments from the ornament making stalls off to the sides.

Each booth and store shone with lights, boasting their wares. There was a whole booth dedicated to olive oil, another to soaps made out of goat’s milk, another to hero merch that Katsuki wouldn’t let him linger at. There even seemed to be a gift wrapping stall every ten meters or so. The stores were all small family owned businesses of holistic shops, restaurants and one records shop.

Katsumi ran out in front of them in the jacket she’d been so against with Shonetta, laughing as they held hands and darted around other families. Cynthia paced Katsuki, close at his elbow to help at any moment.

“Papa, look!” Sumi shouted, pointing down the road, “The tortoise from Guisser Pets is out again! Oh, Cookie Tree has a booth! Can we please get some cookies and hot chocolate!”

“Sure!” Katsuki called back, “Go pick out what you want, and we’ll catch up in a moment. Do a baker’s dozen!”

Other patrons glanced curiously at him, the Japanese obviously foreign to their ears, but Katsuki didn’t seem to notice as Izuku pressed close against his side. “This is really nice. They do this every year?” Izuku asked.

“Every damn year. The agency usually helps out too,” Katsuki said, eyes scanning over the crowd, “Those idiots should be around here som-”

“KATSUMI!”

Izuku and Katsuki lurched forward on instinct, Cynthia’s hand shooting out to grip Katsuki’s arm, but they stopped as quickly as they’d started. Up ahead, a group of heroes lifted their daughter into the air as she screamed with laughter. “Katsumi! Katsumi! Katsumi!” they chanted, Negative already in the middle of the group not making a lick of difference.

For a solid moment, they stood watching. Then Katsuki strode forward, intent in every step. “Hey, assholes! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Izuku had heard Katsuki use English before -at the hotel, on the phone with Shonetta, to Katsumi when she got overwhelmed- but it was a shock every time. And every time it made him hot around the collar. He watched completely dumbfounded as Katsuki stopped in front of the group, hands on his hips, and subsequently as they engulfed him into their mist. “Ah, Kat!” they shouted, and Sumi popped from the group to dart to Izuku’s side, “It’s so good to see you! Where have ya been, fucker? Holy shit, you’re huge!”

It was a group of fumbling, laughing and crowing as they absorbed Katsuki into their ranks like he’d never returned to Japan in the first place.

Izuku stood with Cynthia and Katsumi, watching his husband interact with people in a way he never had before. Katsuki’s smile was wide and unrestricted as he wrapped one of the guys in a choke hold and rubbed his knuckles roughly over the man’s crown. As he playfully pushed at the shoulder of a small wolf-eyed woman with sharp canines, large triangle ears and grey bottlebrush tail. As a pair of twins with cotton candy pink hair and thin delicate claws pressed their ears to his belly to listen.

There was an instinctual need to ward off every person standing too close to Katsuki, especially the alphas he could smell in the air, but knew exactly how well that would go over. That didn’t stop him from pumping out pheromones enough to make others attending the stroll pass him wary glances before skirting as far around him as they could. Beneath his hand, Sumi giggled and reached up to grab his arm tightly.

“Calm down, tough guy,” Cynthia told him, hand on his arm as she pushed cinnamon dreads back over her shoulder, “You’re suffocating the crowd. They’re not a danger to your mate or pup.”

Izuku groaned, turning to meet her brown eyes. “I know that logically, but that doesn’t make me want to rip off their hands any less.”

‘ Protect mate. Protect pup. Mate close to birth. Vulnerable. Must protect. Run off threats. Protect .’ The litany of Izuku’s alpha was only interrupted when the group of Katsuki’s ex-coworkers started glancing around.

“Speaking of which, where is baby daddy? You brought him, right? Of course you did. No alpha worth his salt would let a mate as pregnant as you out of their sight. We haven’t met him yet! Let us meet the person who can handle you!” a burly man shouted to a crowing of assents from the rest of the group, “Come on, Kat, where are you hiding him?”

“My mate and husband , you absolute dickhole, is right over there,” Katsuki spat, jerking a thumb over his shoulder, “Can’t you smell him? Or are you as nose blind as you are stpuid?”

The group followed Katsuki’s motion, eyes landing squarely on Izuku. Immediately, his alpha went on high alert while his face flooded with heat at the attention. Their eyes stared at him for several long moments. Eventually, it was the woman with wolf eyes that spoke up first. “Honestly, Kat, I saw the news, but I thought it was a publicity stunt. I didn’t think you had your claws in Japan’s No.1 Hero Deku. Like what is that? Sumi, how could you keep this from us!”

“I didn’t! You just didn’t believe me!” Sumi shouted back, hands still wrapped around Izuku’s forearm as she bodily dragged him towards the group.

“Hey, assholes! He’s been mine since we were kids! And we switch between the top two spots all the time! Hey!” Katsuki’s teeth snapped viciously, a snarl splitting the excited atmosphere as he knocked aside someone’s hand who’d been reaching for Izuku. “Hands off. This is a no touch exhibition, fucking got it?”

“Ah, Kat, you’re too much like a territorial alpha,” the burly man said, setting a hand on Katsuki’s shoulder.

This time, Izuku didn’t stop himself. He slotted himself between the man and Katsuki, and very deliberately picked his hand off Katsuki’s shoulder to give it back to him. “Like Kacchan said, this is a no touch exhibition.” He gave the group his widest and most lethal smile that put his sharp canines in full view. “Please stop touching my mate. I’ve been very patient up until now.”

The heroes roared with laughter, unaffected by either Izuku’s or Katsuki’s displays. The conversation devolved from there. Introductions were properly made. Chatter shot from one side of the circle to another. Santa hats were shoved onto Izuku’s and Katsuki’s heads from the good-natured group. Eventually, Shonetta dispersed the group to continue with their jobs. Sumi took off with the twins as they promised her cookies if she danced with them. Shonetta and Cynthia pulled back, and then it was just Katsuki and Izuku holding hands as they wove slowly through the crowds.

At the end of the street where the professional band was playing a slow sweet Christmas song, Katsuki allowed Izuku to pull him into a crowd of couples of every age and orientation. He wrapped Katsuki up in his arms and swayed them gently to the beat. The twins turned passed them, Sumi held on their feet, and Izuku smiled.

When he pressed a lingering Katsuki’s temple, he muttered, “You’re being gross. Stop.” Despite his words, he leaned into the gentle touch.

“I’m happy. I like it here. I like the whole celebrating together and the lights and how happy everyone else is too.”

“It’s one of the more enjoyable things to look forward to here,” Katsuki agreed.

Giggles rose from around them, and for a moment, Izuku thought it was because they were so tightly bound up in each other that they hadn’t realized the song had changed. Only, the song was still the same slow beat. They pulled apart enough for Katsuki to give the surrounding couples a dirty glare.

They weren’t looking at them particularly, but at their feet.

Sumi swooped in, eyes worried as she whispered, “Papa, did you have an accident?”

“What? No, I didn’t have an accident. I’m twenty-”

“It’s just… your legs are all wet and there’s a puddle under you,” she interrupted.

Katsuki and Izuku reeled away from each other, staring down between their bodies at the puddle beneath their feet. Izuku couldn’t understand how Katsuki hadn’t felt the wet, but he also couldn’t understand how there could be so much liquid and it not smell like urine.

Color drained from Katsuki’s face. “Katsumi, go get Cynthia and ask Shonetta to run to start the car,” he said slowly and deliberately.

“Why? Are you hurt?”

Was he hurt? Izuku was as lost as Sumi seemed to be, but Katsuki didn’t seem lost at all.

“No. Just tell them my water broke, okay, little monster?”

‘ My water broke .’ Izuku was suddenly far less lost, and both fear and excitement thrilled through him at the same time.

“Are you going to be okay?”

Katsuki seemed to struggle to smile. “I sure am, little monster. Just go tell your godmothers that okay. Tell them to be quick.” His fingers tightened exponentially on Izuku’s forearms, and as soon as Sumi darted away, he spat, “You just had to open your fucking mouth, didn’t you, Deku?” Unbidden tears spilled passed his lashes. “I fucking told you I hadn’t finished yet. Now, he’s coming and-”

Izuku cupped Katsuki’s cheeks in his hands, quickly wiping away the tears. “It’s okay, Kacchan. He’s a little early, but it’ll be okay. It’s not ideal, but we’ve got Cynthia and Shonetta, and everything went well when you had Katsumi here. It’ll be alright.”

“I know that,” Katsuki grit out, eyes squeezed shut, “But so many things can go wrong with a preemie. I just want him to come out healthy and happy. What if-”

Izuku tapped Katsuki’s cheek lightly. “Hey, none of that now. No ‘what ifs’. Taiyo is going to be just fine, alright, but we’ve got to get him here first.”

After another few seconds of just breathing and couples staring at them in concern, Katsuki opened his eyes. He was back to himself, the same hero who had faced down more villains than a lot of heroes could even boast about. With steel in his eyes, he muttered, “Get ready. I’m going to end up breaking your fingers tonight. I broke Best Jeanist’s last time.”

Izuku laughed, and then Cynthia was at their sides.

…..

Taiyo came into the world in the early hours of Christmas morning, and was almost immediately whisked away to the preemie ICU. They hadn’t even allowed Katsuki or Izuku to scent him before.

Now, with Katsuki fitfully sleeping under the sedative they’d had to administer to make sure he wouldn’t come after them, Izuku sat in silence. At first, he’d busied himself with making the phone calls he needed to. One to Inko, to Mitsuki and Masaru, to their agencies to inform them of what had happened so they would know that not only would they miss their flight, but also they’d be immediately beginning maternity/paternity leave. The last calls he made were to Ochako and Kirishima.

Hearing their voices, so cheerful and encouraging, made tears slip down his cheeks and words difficult as he explained to them the situation so far.

They both said the same thing. “Don’t worry, Deku, everything is going to be fine. Taiyo is going to be fine.”

He wasn’t so sure the longer he sat there without a baby in his arms. He didn’t even have Sumi there to hold, Shonetta and Cynthia taking her home and telling him to call when he finally had word on Taiyo. So, he sat and fidgeted and stressed and cried at the side of Katsuki’s bed. Eventually, he just crawled in next to him and snuggled close.

What felt like hours later, Katsuki began mumbling and shifting, eyelashes fluttering as the sedatives wore off. “Zuku. Zuku. Izuku,” he panted, eyes struggling to open, “Alpha- where’s my pup?” His fingers curled around Izuku’s already bruised digits again, grip slowly growing stronger as he came out of the drug induced stupor. “Where’s my pup? Alpha!”

Izuku sat up in the bed, quickly reaching to incline the head so Katsuki wouldn’t have to move. After jabbing his thumb into the call button, he settled back against the bed and ran shaky fingers through Katsuki’s sweat sticky spikes. “D-don’t worry. They’re just making sure he’s healthy. I’m sure they’re almost done.”

“I want my baby,” Katsuki whispered weakly, turning his nose into Izuku’s neck. He breathed out shakily, grip calming if only marginally.

“Me too. I called the nurse. I’m sure she has an update.”

When the nurse pushed opened the door, tugging a bassinet in behind her with the doctor in on the other side, it was deathly silent. There was no smile on either of their faces, and Izuku’s stomach dropped at the silence.

He could smell Taiyo. Spearmint and brown sugar. There wasn’t anything off about it, but the expressions on the doctor and nurse’s faces told a different story.

‘ Pup. Scent. Hold. Protect. Need to scent. Pup. ’ Izuku swallowed against his alpha’s rising aggravation.

“I want my baby,” Katsuki said immediately, struggling to push himself up straighter and reaching out his arms towards the bassinet, “Now.”

“Mr. Dynamight, we need to discuss something first-” the doctor started, but Katsuki wasn’t going to let him finish.

He snarled, loud and harsh, all protective omega mother. “Give me my fucking baby before I get out of this bed and hurt someone. You didn’t even let me scent him before you took him. You didn’t let me touch him or feed him. Give me my goddamn baby.”

The nurse and doctor exchanged a glance, but after a moment, the nurse carefully lifted the abnormally silent bundle into her arms and brought him to the bedside. Hesitantly, she passed him over.

Katsuki and Izuku reached for him at the same time, bringing him in close between their two bodies. His eyes were closed, but he snuffled quietly as if he could smell them as well. There was wispy blond hair on the top of his head, and when his eyelids fluttered, there was the barest glimpse of color. Newborn baby blue eyes.

Tears tracked down Izuku’s face as he pressed a kiss to Taiyo’s forehead and then Katsuki’s temple.

“Help me get this stupid gown open,” Katsuki muttered as he shifted Taiyo closer to his chest. Taiyo made a soft barely audible sound, tiny nostrils flaring as Izuku and Katsuki got him flush against Katsuki’s chest. It only took him a moment to latch onto the offered nipple. “Why was that so much easier than with Sumi?”

The doctor cut in before they could continue on ignoring the pair. “Mr. Dynamight, Mr. Deku, please, if I could have a moment of your time. This is very important.”

“More important than me feeding my pup?” Katsuki asked, voice saccharine as he smiled up at the doctor.

The doctor swallowed, but nodded and forged forward. “I need to discuss your options with you. I know that you two are very busy pro-heroes with one child already.”

“What situation are we talking about?” Izuku asked, “You failed to mention what the problem was when you took him from us. I understand that you had to make sure he was healthy, and I appreciate the good work you’ve already done for us, but if something’s wrong, we should have been told immediately. Not hours after the fact.”

Looking chastened and rather aggrieved, the doctor nodded. “Yes, but this is a rather delicate subject. We weren’t sure how, uh…” He cleared his throat, eyes flickering toward Katsuki.

“How I would react? Is that what you were going to say?” Katsuki sneered, mouth cutting a razor sharp line. “You think anything is going to make me not want my pup, is that it? Full offense, but you don’t fucking know anything about me. So tell me what you’re so worried I’m going to react badly over.”

Swallowing again, the doctor cleared his throat. Worry and fear pierced straight through his scent when before Izuku hadn’t even been able to smell the alpha. Katsuki really was marvel. “Your baby was born with a birth defect known as spina bifeda. Do you know what that is?” Katsuki and Izuku didn’t answer, eyes now trained solely on the doctor. Clearing his throat for a second time, he gave a brief explanation before saying, “From the tests we’ve run, we have determined that it’s not a severe case. His brain seems fully functional, no sign of water.”

“But?” Katsuki snapped.

“But... it seems the mobility of his legs is non-existent. As he grows older, the condition may worsen or it may remain the same. What we know for sure at this moment is that he’ll never walk normally. There’s only so much our healers can do, but if the nervous system just didn’t develop correctly…” The doctor trailed off, looking between the two silent heroes. “He is going to need a lot of care, more than two pro-heroes may be able to give him. There are resources-”

“Shut up.” The doctor went silent with a clack of teeth, and Katsuki sighed, running a finger over Taiyo’s chubby cheek. “Not even you’re normal, baby. Sorry, but you’ll fit right in. Between the four of us, we’ve got three legs, six and a half arms, three sets of working ears and four pairs of eyes. Welcome to this dysfunctional family. Merry Christmas, you little heathen.”

Izuku was sure he’d never been more in love with Katsuki than in that moment. Laughing quietly, he asked, “I get everything else, but why six and a half arms? I’ve still got both of mine.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, not looking up from Taiyo. “Yeah, and one of them barely functions. Hence, half.”

“Okay.” Izuku pressed a kiss to Katsuki’s cheek before turning to look back at the gawking doctor and nurse. “When can we take him home? Also, when can we get on a plane? We eventually have to go back to Japan.”

They could only sputter.

…..

“Katsumi Bakugou-Midoriya, you are not taking your brother on to the jungle gym. He’s too small right now. Bring him to me.”

With a huff, Sumi turned on a heel and returned to Katsuki and Izuku where they were sitting on the park bench with Kirishima and Mina. Their little boy, a few years younger than Sumi, pouted impatiently at the swings while Sumi very carefully unstrapped Taiyo and his papoose from her front.

“I know you want to include your brother in everything, but you have to wait for him to get bigger. It’s going to be a while before he can really play with you, alright?” Katsuki explained patiently, holding Taiyo up so Izuku could remove his papoose and sat him in his lap. Taiyo waved his fists, but had yet to kick out. Just as the doctor had said, Taiyo seemed to have no control over his legs, though he could still feel pain. After returning to Japan, they’d immediately started him on neuro-therapy, but they had no illusions that he’d ever walk normally. Now, they just planned for what they could do for him instead.

Sumi leaned in to press a kiss to Taiyo’s nose, and he crinkled his crimson eyes at her before batting at her with a closed fist. She laughed, dancing back with a whirl of skirts. “I understand. I’ll play with him when we get home then.” Spinning, she tore off across the playground and tackled her friend to the woodchips.

Mina laughed, phone at eye level as she recorded the entire debacle. “Yeah, that’s your guys’ child. Poor, Dai.”

Kirishima sighed, though happily, running a hand through his ever lengthening red hair. “Honestly.” He cut eyes towards the trio as Katsuki began to bounce Taiyo on his knee, the baby babbling nonsense the entire time. Reaching over, he allowed Taiyo to grip at his fingers. “You know, a lot of people are surprised. I keep trying to explain it, but no one ever believes Chako or me.”

“Hah? About what?” Katsuki asked, glancing away from Sumi to throw Kirishima a scowl.

“You know, that you kept Taiyo.”

“Yeah, even after all this time there are people who thought you’d give him up for adoption or something for being disabled,” Mina interjected, leaning around Kirishima to get her eyes on him, “I know you’ve been staying away from the news and stuff while you’re still on leave, but some of the headlines are absolute bonkers. When they ask me about it in interviews, I tell them straight up that everyone’s being an idiot.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, eyelashes fluttering spectacularly, and Izuku sighed. “That would be kind of hypocritical of us, considering,” Izuku said, glancing at Sumi’s legs, bare metal because she’d refused to put on the synthetic skin or leggings that morning. “But that’s besides the point.”

“I mean,” Kirishima started, mouth skewing, “I don’t think they ever doubted you’d want to keep him, Deku.”

“And I’ll tell those vultures the exact same thing I told the doctor,” Katsuki interjected before Izuku had a chance to speak, “People don’t know fuck all about me.” He dropped his eyes back to the baby in his lap. “Taiyo was the best Christmas present I could have ever gotten. The only people who need to know that are the four of us. Everyone else can shove their opinions.”

Izuku felt heat press against his eyes, and he dropped his forehead against Katsuki’s shoulder as Mina laughed and said, “You’ve gotten soft in your motherhood, Kats.”

Instead of his usual response, Izuku heard Katsuki say, “Yeah, probably.”

Izuku laughed happily against his shoulder, grinning like the in-love fool he was.

#my hero academia #mha #bakudeku #dekubaku #decchan #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #assorted ocs #omegaverse #a/b/o dynamics #alpha!izuku #omega!katsuki #disabled!katsuki #pregnant!katsuki #my writing #coming home #christmas preemie

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somedayonbroadway · 4 years ago

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I think all the Newsie's AU's could be really entertaining but I would most like to know about the Leverage one and the Lilo & Stitch one.

Okay, so I had two people in a row ask for Lilo and Stitch while also requesting another outline, so I’ll be doing Lilo and Stitch very soon.

But… I LOVE this one.

So, for those of you who haven’t seen Leverage, you can watch it on Amazon Prime Video. It’s amazing and I adore it. My favorite character is Hardison. He’s everything. Nothing he says ever gets old. Hardison and Parker are literally so freaking cute that I just can’t. And I think I’ve already talked about how Spot Conlon is very similar to Eliot Spencer, at least the way I write him. So this’ll be fun.

So anyways…

Leverage AU

Characters

Jack Kelly — Nate Ford

Katherine Plumber — Sophie Devereau

Spot Conlon — Eliot Spencer

Racetrack Higgins — Parker

Albert DaSilva — Alec Hardison

Jack Kelly: The Mastermind

Jack is an alcoholic

He’s only twenty five when this story starts.

He used to work for an insurance company but after that same company let his baby brother die, refusing to pay for his treatment, Jack quit and has been a “functioning alcoholic” ever since.

Jack has anger issues that he refuses to acknowledge

Jack used to pride himself on being emotionally broken, but still never crossing over to the “dark side” of the law.

He’s the son of a numbers runner who was emotionally abusive

Was originally trying to become a catholic priest as he was strong in his faith but has since strayed a bit after losing Charlie, the only person in the world he truly loved

After meeting his team, Jack grows very protective of them, viewing them as a sort of family that he’d never really had, all except for Charlie.

Jack first meets the team when a man comes to him, begging him to keep an eye on a group of thieves as they execute a job he’s hired them for. After they are all double crossed by this man, narrowly escaping death, they come together to set things right and the team begs Jack to continue leading them as Jack shows them how good it feels to do the right thing, even if the right thing requires bending or breaking the rules.

Jack grew up extremely poor but is an excellent artist and chess player.

Jack likes to cook.

Jack loves to learn new things when he can’t drink to continue distracting himself.

Jack is the one to typically choose the clients his new team takes on.

Jack took Charlie in the second he turned eighteen, unable to trust his father who was a no good drunk.

Jack hates that he’s becoming just like his dad but refuses to stop.

Jack is more protective of Race than anyone else, as Race’s optimism and energy remind him of Charlie.

Jack serves as a mentor of sorts to Albert.

He is kept in check by Spot.

Jack is very quick witted, moving from one plan to the next as things change.

Jack gets his own father killed after a mission gone wrong.

Jack gets arrested protecting his team who he knows will go away for much longer than him for all the crimes they’ve committed.

Jack is the one who introduces the group to Katherine, the best grifter he’s ever seen, with whom he ends up falling for.

Katherine Plumber: The Grifter

Katherine is a struggling actress who can’t perform to save her life, though is the best grifter in the business.

Katherine is very careful of her identity, meaning that absolutely no one knows her real name.

Katherine speaks nearly eleven languages.

Katherine has difficulty maintaining real relationships as it’s hard to decipher her acts from reality.

Before becoming a member of Leverage she focuses heavily on art theft

After meeting the team, she bonds with Race over art

Katherine manages to fake her death twice in two years and attend her own funeral at both

As Katherine is the only woman on the team, she often feels as though she doesn’t belong, but all of her boys adore her and protect her at all costs.

Katherine has an abundance of connections around the world, though none of them know her true identity.

Prides herself on long cons that she’d pulled in the past all by herself.

Katherine never reveals how she grew up to her friend as she is very good at letting things go and never getting attached but all of that changes when Jack reaches out to her.

Katherine is wanted in five countries.

Successfully stole the Stanley Cup and replaced it with a replica, though she does not care for Hockey and did all of it out of spite because someone told her she couldn’t.

Katherine makes a game of keeping her real name from Jack as she insists he has to earn the right to know it.

Katherine falls for Jack nearly as fast as he falls for her.

Though Jack and Katherine do sleep together a few times, they agree to keep it a secret for the good of the team.

Though Katherine and Jack aren’t much older than the rest of the team, they take on a sort of parental role for Race and Albert who both grew up orphans

Katherine eventually opens up her own acting company where she finds she is an excellent coach, though she was never a performer herself because she lacked a certain truth element when she would try to perform on stage or on screen.

Katherine is very close with the whole team, but is able to relax while around Spot, as he’s more an equal to her than Race and Albert, and Jack and her have a lot of tension sometimes.

She shares the most with Spot on accident as Spot is easy to talk to.

Runs away at some point to “find herself” after an old team of hers tries to kill her and the rest of her current team and comes back just in time for Jack to be arrested, saving all of them.

Spot Conlon: The Hitter

Spot Conlon was in and out of the mob all growing up. (Eliot was black ops, but I want Spot to be younger, this is different).

He began training when he was very young and is a very skilled “retrieval specialist”

Spot has had to kill before and is ashamed of his past. When asked about it, he calmly asks his team not to get curious because he would tell them what he did

Though the whole team consists of criminals, Spot believes them, especially Race and Albert, to be innocent and naive and he constantly looks out for them as best he can, acting as a sort of big brother for them until he catches feelings for Race (yeah sorry guys that’s gonna be different too)

Spot is very calm and never shows any kind of panic.

Spot is a trained chef

He grows up only fighting, learning to not get attached

The leverage team is his gateway to figuring out that he is capable of love

His role on the team is protection. He is always around to keep his team out of trouble when something goes wrong or even when things go right and he has to disarm people on purpose.

Spot is wicked smart and is able to discern things from noises, smells, walking patterns etc. always stating “It’s a very distinctive __”

Knows various types of martial arts and uses them regularly

Though not technically a grifter, Spot has an easy time playing different roles and can blend in easily with a crowd.

Hostage negotiator

Survivalist

He’s extremely protective of his team and is willing to go great lengths to make sure they’re safe and secure

Has a budding relationship with Albert who constantly gets himself into trouble that Spot has to get him out of.

Was known as Sean before Race showed up and gave him a non threatening nickname based on his freckles

Can play the guitar

Manages to get shot at constantly, taking a few bullets but refusing to walk with crutches.

He loves teaching Katherine how to defend herself

Loves teaching Race knew things as well

Speaks six languages

Spot is not familiar with a lot of technology, causing him to often need Albert’s help with that kind of thing

Has rescued Race and Albert from being kidnapped or hurt the most

As times goes on, finds himself more and more in love with his team and really does love to protect them

Sees Albert as a little brother, even if he won’t admit it.

Racetrack Higgins: The Thief

Has been a thief since he was very young, maybe seven, but only gives his team made up stories about how it all started

Has a hard time coping with grief or pain, which is why he likes to make up stories about his past.

Abusive father killed Race’s mother when he was very young

Race grew up in foster care until he ran away at twelve, eventually getting raised on the street by an elite thief who spotted his talents and offered to train him, making him the best thief in the world

Is socially awkward on account of being a loner for most of his life and rarely ever opens up about his childhood

Despite this, Race is very loud and curious, almost childlike with his team, thus why Katherine and Jack become sort of parental figures toward him.

Race did have an older brother who got hit by a car when he was very young, after going out to get food for him. Race blames himself to this day.

Desperate for some kind of real family, besides the thief who trained him, Race meets an older foster brother who teaches him how to boost cars, along with “teaching him other things”. Though his is abused physically and sexually by this boy, Race doesn’t know any better and hangs on his every word, believing that the older boy wanted to help him.

Race is arrested when he’s fourteen, taking the fall for the boy who taught him how to boost cars

Race was a getaway driver at thirteen, and a good one at that.

He is constantly reminded of how he’s not normal, taking a toll on his mental stability as he’s often referred to as insane or inhuman

Race is fairly naive, but does live up to his title as the best thief in the world

Enjoys stealing diamonds more than anything else.

Quickly becomes best friends with Albert and is curious on how to get Spot to open up.

Never went to high school but is still amazingly smart as it takes a lot of math and science and so forth to be a thief.

Enjoys using tasers as a weapon of choice.

Has a bit of a sadistic mind as he enjoys watching Spot beat up on some of their enemies, especially the ones who’d tried to come at him, sometimes even visualizing that they’re the boy who left him behind after using him constantly all those years ago

Eventually does have to confront Drake again, but has his whole team to protect him.

Really loves cash

Is shocked the first time Spot kisses him because, he has been abused before, but kisses Spot again, telling him how different it feels

That’s the first time Race truly opens up about his past and Spot figures out that someone had used him

Has a fear of horses

Is not anywhere near afraid of heights

Has trust issues (obviously) despite the insistence that Albert and Spot (and of course Jack and Katherine but most Al and Spot) would never let anything happen to him

Actually trusts Jack the most as he came from the good side of the law

Does not like psychics

Katherine coaches Race in his social skills, helping him embrace his sexuality and slightly rely on those around him for connection and comfort

Race’s real name is Antonio Higgins, but he’s known across the world as only ‘Racer’

Albert DaSilva: The Hacker

Much like Race, Albert grew up in foster care, though through most of his childhood, he lived with a woman he refers to as “Nana”. Not his actual grandmother, but a foster mother who he adored and actually took care of him.

Often refers to himself as a geek and prides himself in being one as it is the “age of the geek, baby”

Is relied on heavily by the team as he makes a lot of their equipment (eg: coms, modified cell phones, button cams)

Provides CIA level aliases for his team.

Owns the teams vehicle, “Lucille” and is pissed when they manage to destroy not one model, but two

Has an unhealthy obsession with orange soda

Is physically very fit, but is not good in combat situations

Being an introvert for most of his life, Albert took to technology and learned just about everything one can about them

Albert is straight in this one (sorry for my Ralbert fans) but, as Race’s best friend, is constantly trying to subtly get Race to admit he has feelings for Spot

Though he and Spot didn’t get along too well at first, they eventually see themselves as brothers and look out for each other

Claustrophobic

Gets buried alive during a job gone wrong and is showed just how much he’s loved when his team manages to rescue him, believing him to be dead at first

Manages to keep the team very well paid and secured so the government can’t find them

Hacked into the pentagon when he was only twelve

When he was younger, his nana forced him off the computer for one hour out of every day to “give his eyes a rest from the screen” and Albert learns how to play the violin

Mostly used his skills for fun when he was younger, just wanting to prove he could do something

Skipped his senior prom to hack into medical records and get his nana on a high priority list

Has always looked out for the people he cared about

The only one Albert didn’t trust was Spot, as Spot intimidates him until Spot started showing interest in what he did, never commenting on it, but always looking very impressed

Oversells himself while grifting and often relies on Katherine to help guide him

Cares about humanity and the big picture, much like Jack. This is where their bond comes from as Katherine, Race and Spot have spent most of their lives looking out for themselves

Has a soft spot for little kids

Enjoys messing with Spot and making bets with him, even sparking in them having their own handshake which consists of them subtly high diving twice at waist level and then fist bumping. It’s often how they seal a bet or agree on a plan

What do you guys think? Any scenes you wanna see? Any other characters you wanna hear about? Let me know!

For more Mood Boards and AUs, click here!

#newsies #newsies live #newsies musical #newsies au #modern au #modern era #modern day robin hood #leverage #leverage au #jack kelly #katherine plumber #spot conlon #racetrack higgins #albert dasilva #dragonflysobright seethemfly #much love #angst #newsies rp

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janeyseymour · 4 years ago

Text

Escape- pt 12

pt 1. pt 2. pt 3. pt 4. pt 5. pt 6. pt 7. pt 8. pt 9. pt 10. pt 11.

Jane Seymour has stayed with Henry for long enough. Cue Catherine of Aragon and the rest of the girls to save her.

Jane and Catherine have a late night talk. The girls are let in on a secret. Aside from the beginning, a pretty fluff filled chapter.

“Where the fuck is she?” Henry yelled at Thomas. The two had met accidentally in a gas station and were currently fighting in the parking lot.

“I don't know! Let me go!” Thomas practically cried.

“Yes you do!” Henry gripped the man tighter.

“If I did, I would’ve won her over by now!” Thomas confessed.

“You fucking piece of shit, backstabbing son of a bitch! I’m going to find her first!” Henry threw Thomas to the ground.

“No you won't! You’ll see fucker.” Thomas cringed at his own words. Had he really sunken to Henry’s level?

“Hello?” Jane whispered, trying not to wake the slumbering woman next to her.

“It’s Beale. Henry posted bail. Stay where you are until we find him and you can testify against him.

Jane’s heart hit the bottom of her stomach and whisper-yelled,” He- are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m really sorry Jane.”

“I don’t know why this all has to happen to me,” she pitied herself.

“I’m so sorry. I’m doing all that I can, and I’ll keep you updated.” He hung up.

“Lina?” Jane began to cry. “Catherine?”

“What?” she moaned as she was pulled out of her sleeping state.

“Beale called. Henry’s out on bail. We’re going to die,” she worried aloud.

“We’re going to be okay. I promise; I already told you this.” Catherine wrapped an arm around Jane and pulled her closer.

“That was before we knew.”

“Yeah? We’re going to be fine. Nothing’s changed here. He doesn’t know where you are. Try not to worry so much, okay?”

“How can you tell me not to worry about something that could literally cost us our lives?” Jane bolted upright.

“Honey, just relax and try to go back to sleep.”

“No! I will not go to bed!” The blonde was shaking with anger at this point. “You can't keep staying so fucking calm about this! It’s ridiculous! You shouldn’t have ever been mixed up in all of this in the first place, and here you are! Here you are, risking your life just to keep your stupid and pregnant best friend company!” Catherine shot up at this.

“Are you-” Catherine was cut off by Jane’s lips before she so quickly pulled herself away from the hispanic.

“I’m so-” Jane began.

“Please tell me you’re going to remember this.”

“What?” she asked, slightly taken aback.

“You kissed me before.”

“I what?”

“Over the past month, I’ve been kissed a lot,” Catherine cleared her throat. “By you.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m not going to forget this one. I don’t want to.”

“Are you saying-”

“Yes. I’ve done so many stupid things. I want to take the leap. I want to be your girlfriend,” she confessed. “As long as you want me to be your girlfriend.”

“Are you positive?”

“Yes. I think I just want to keep this quiet from the others until everything with Henry is over.”

“I’m thrilled with this, but I have to ask why the sudden change? I’m more than okay with waiting.”

“My dad made me realize that sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith.”

“Whatever you want. I already told you: I’m in this for as long as you are.”

The relationship between Jane and Catherine didn’t stay a secret for long.

“Do you think we should just ask?” Kat asked Cathy, the two closest to the other women.

“I mean, I think that if they wanted us to know, they would tell us.”

“They’re dating,” Anne threw in.

“How do you know?”

“Oh please. Even if they say they aren’t, they definitely are.”

“They’re dating,” Cleves stated smugly.

“How do you know?”

“When I tell you I’m observant, I mean it. I know things about you guys that I’m sure you think is too minor for anyone to pick up on. They’re dating.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes. But I also heard Jane call Catherine ‘baby’ like a week ago.”

“You heard that?” Jane appeared in the kitchen, carrying a load of laundry on her bump.

“No?” Anna tried.

“I thought we were alone in the house,” Jane sighed.

“I had literally just come back. I made it like, three steps into the house, heard that, and walked right back out. I don’t need to know what you two do when we’re not here.”

“Anna!” Catherine exclaimed. “We do not do anything like that!”

“Oh yeah right.” Anne smirked. “She’s pregnant. Don’t tell us she’s not-”

“That’s enough.” Katherine covered her ears in case her cousin didn’t stop talking. “I do not need to hear what you think someone I think of as my surrogate mother does with her girlfriend.”

“Surrogate mother?” Catherine questioned. “Does this mean I’m like your-”

“You’re kind of like the cool aunt who’s around all the time.”

“Woah. You think of me as a mother figure?” Jane’s expression was unreadable.

“Jane, don’t act surprised. You might not be all that much older than Kitty here, but you act like her mother sometimes. ‘Kat, don’t forget your lunch!’ “Kat, are you sick? Here, I already measured out your medicine.’ You mom her a lot.”

“I-”

“I don’t really mind Jane. It’s nice to have someone take care of you for once.”

“Hey! I took you in!” Anne was about to fight Katherine for the previous statement.

“Yes, and I’m so grateful for that, but we also do dumb shit together all the time. We got arrested together once and had to spend the night in the holding cell until Cathy could come bail us out. You’re more like my older sister than a mother figure.” Anne nodded. Her cousin had a point.

“So, I guess the cat’s out of the bag?” Catherine went back to the previous subject.

“So, you guys are dating?”

“Yes,” Jane confirmed.

“For how long?” Cathy interrogated.

“Maybe a month?”

“And when were you planning on telling us?” The two women looked at each other.

“We hadn’t really thought that through. We figured you guys would figure us out eventually, just not this soon. Idealistically, we would’ve waited until after the baby was born, but I guess that’s not in the cards anymore.”

“Rude!” Anne burst out. “You just weren’t going to tell us until the baby came?”

“Well, you figured it out anyway.” Jane crossed her arms and gave Anne a defiant look.

“You know-”

“Congrats you two,” Cathy cut Anne off before anything could escalate.

“Thanks Cath,” Catherine pulled her younger cousin close.

“Congrats on finally getting it together enough to stop denying that you two are meant for each other!” Kat chimed in.

“Thank you love.” Jane smiled warmly at the younger woman and opened her arms. Kat flew into them almost immediately.

“You’re doing the mom thing again.”

“Oh well,” Jane sighed happily.

“You’re gonna be a good mom you know,” Kat whispered to the woman holding her with a smile on her face.

“Thank you love.”

#six the musical #six musical #six fanfiction #six the musical fanfiction #six fanfic #six the musical fanfic #six musical fanfic #aramour

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yourdeepestfathoms · 5 years ago

Text

Balance Requires Motion (Six Cowgirl AU)

TW: Animal abuse

————

Horse barn names/racing names:

Latte/Overly Caffeinated

Dusty/Avoiding Dust

Vinnie/Vincent Van GoGo

Whisper/TellMeYourSecrets

Blazer/Out-Burn Kamikaze

Listener/Lost Song

Peril/Hell Comes Handily

Croft/Tomb Raider

Queenie/SheBeast

———————

Jockeys/Race nicknames:

Anna Cleves/Red

Anne Boleyn/The Trickster

Joan Meutas/Hurricane

Thomas Cromwell/Bulldog

Thomas Culpeper/Salt

———————

“What did I say about bringing him into the house?!”

“He gets cold!”

“Fuck, he stepped in the food!”

Maggie blinks from where she’s packing up her things, watching as a medium-sized goose honks and hops back up on the table, his foot going into the mashed potatoes. Maria screeches, reaching out to grab her beloved bird, but he flaps his wings and dashes off the table and under the couch.

Bessie just sighed and rubbed her thumb and index finger against her forehead. This is a normal occurrence, seeing as how her roommate favors the bird for some reason.

“You have to stop bringing him in,” Bessie scolds, grabbing the ruined potatoes. She’ll save them for the pigs, maybe.

“But his dad is the devil! He doesn’t deserve to be stuck outside in the cold with that demon!”

Maggie suddenly gasps, placing a hand to her chest.

“Aries is a sweetheart! Sure, he may look a little rundown, but he’s sweet and loving!”

She receives two looks of disbelief.

“You’re the only one he likes,” Bessie says, shaking her head.

“Yeah, he’s a pest for everyone but you!” Maria calls from where she is now, crouching down on the living room floor. She peeks under the couch and then a cushioned seat, squeaking as the goose tries to nip at her. She coos, placing her hand under the chair until the bird hesitantly waddles out.

“Who’s my good Leonardo?” Maria coos, rocking the goose back and forth in her hands.

“I still don’t understand why you named a goose ‘Leonardo’. Too pristine for him,” Bessie says, noticing Maggie scurrying over to the house phone that was starting to ring. “Take him outside.”

Maria let out a long groan, but obeyed and walked out of the house to return Leonardo to his pen. When she returns Maggie has finished the phone call.

“It’s Miss Seymour,” The farmhand informs, “She’s got a mare that’s struggling.”

With that, Bessie is already swiping her car keys and pulling on her coat. She nods to Maria, who heads out the door to the truck.

“Would you like to be dropped off, dear?” Bessie asks her young farmhand, “Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

“I can stay,” Maggie said, “I want to help.”

Bessie smiled and nodded, heading out to the car to get to the job.

—————

“Maria will you stop cringing and help me?”

Bessie’s roommate peeked into the barn, her face pale and expression disgusted, then immediately yanked herself back out.

“Oh, that is so gross! I didn’t sign up for this!”

“You didn’t sign up for ANYTHING! I am letting you LIVE in MY HOUSE for FREE! So get your ass OVER HERE and HELP ME!”

Standing against the far wall in of the barn, Jane Seymour, the farm owner, and her horse trainer, Catherine Aragon, watched this exchange go on. Maggie stood alongside them, holding any tools that might have been needed.

“Are they...?” Aragon’s words trailed off as she scratched the top of her head. “Does this...?”

“Oh yeah.” Maggie said without her finishing. “This is their process!”

“You have your ARM in a horse’s VAGINA!! You never said anything about THAT when I came to live with you!”

“I’ll stick my arm up YOUR VAGINA if you don’t get over here!” Bessie then quieted her voice and stroked the fur of Latte, the foaling horse she was assisting, “Shh, Shh, Shh. It’s okay, sweetie. You’re okay... MARIA!!”

“Okay! Okay! I’m coming!”

Maria dragged herself over to the fallen horse and did her best to not look at the hooves sticking out of the mare’s vagina.

After some time goes by, Bessie was pulling on the foal’s front legs, sticky and wet with birthing fluid and covered in the placenta. She was doing her best to be gentle, yet firm enough to pull out the baby, but the mare continued to let out louder whinnies. Jane grips tightly to her shirt as she watches.

“Come on, girl. I can’t do it alone. Push.” Bessie said encouragingly, pulling out more of the baby.

“Come on, Latte, push. You can do it.” Maria said to the mother. The horse’s wild, tired eyes looked up at her.

And, as if she was actually listening, she began to push harder. The foal’s head slipped out a second later, followed by the rest of the upper body.

“That’s it, you’re doing it!” Maria cheered happily, trying to keep her voice down so she would remain calm.

“Almost there,” Bessie murmured as she got a hold of the foal’s middle.

After a few minutes, the foal was finally out. A spew of birthing fluids and placenta followed and Maria was darting out of the barn, causing Bessie to laugh as she peeled off the soaked glove she had on her arm.

“Good work, Mars!” She called.

“Urrg...” Maria groaned from outside.

“You okay, love?”

“Fine...like you care...” Maria grumbled.

Bessie laughed again and then looked back down at the baby. The new foal looked just like it’s mother. Under all that goo was a beautiful, chestnut colored mustang, with a sweet little patch of white on it’s nose. She just about swooned when she saw those large, gleaming brown eyes look up at her.

“It’s a filly,” Bessie called to Jane, who was taking deep breaths of relief.

“Oh, she’s perfect.” Jane said, walking over slowly. “Bessie, I cannot thank you enough. I was so worried...”

The filly began to gather her surroundings, looking around to see where she was while her mother licked and nuzzled her from above. After a moment, she slowly began to stand on her long legs, wobbling and tumbling down a few times, making Maggie laugh a bit before she finally started to get the hang of it. She clumsily tottered her way over to her mother and instantly began to nurse.

Speaking of the young farmhand, she was alerted by voices outside, so she walked out and approached a nearby track.

“Jog him a bit, Catherine doesn’t want anything crazy," A dark-skinned girl, maybe around nineteen, called to another colored woman on a horse.

The woman on the horse nodded in understanding. She walked her mount, a large, muscled chestnut mare, down to one of the far poles, circled her around, and shifted her weight forward allowing the horse to start moving.

At the same time, a second woman riding a bulky red stallion, shot by, throwing up dust as they went by. The chestnut mare grunted and staggered backwards, nearly rearing, but she calms when her rider pats her broad neck and whispers something loving in her ear.

“Anne!” The nineteen-year-old barked, “Didn’t you hear me?!”

“She never does,” Giggled the second girl at her side. She was younger, maybe seventeen, and her hair was dyed pink at the tips.

“A jog is so boring! Vinnie and I need something more exciting!”

“Then give me a few figure eights!” The nineteen year old said.

Seemingly content with that, the red stallion and his rider pushed forward and began running in circles. As they did this, Maggie found it to be the best time to approach the two girls.

“Hello?” She called, and the pair leaning against the track fence turned around. The one with dyed hair smiled brightly and lunges for her, hugging her tightly.

“Maggie!” She chirped. “I didn’t know you were coming!”

“Emergency call,” Maggie grinned, hugging back, “I was still at Bessie’s house, so I decided to come over! Hey, Cathy.”

“Hey, Maggie.” Cathy smiled at her.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Helping Anna and Anne train,” Cathy said, “Since Catherine is with Jane and the mare, we were gonna watch and help out here. We got a race coming up.” Pride leaked into her voice. “How’s your jockey coming along? Bessie said she’s getting into horse racing.”

Maggie inwardly winced, but, luckily, doesn’t actually do it to where anyone can see.

“Joan’s doing good! She struggled a little at first, but she’s come a long way.” She then smirked, “You guys better be ready for some competition.”

Cathy actually laughed loudly at that. Katherine grinned brightly.

“Oh, we are!” Cathy said.

“Speak of the Devil!” Katherine yipped.

Maggie turned around to see a blonde girl, barely eighteen, with tired eyes walking a red horse with black speckles up to the track. She perks up a little.

“Joan!” She called, “What are you doing here?”

“Bessie texted me to bring Blazer over.” Joan said. Her voice was as tired as her eyes were, oozing with hidden pain she tried to shove away. It’s like she’s been shattered and pieced back together several times. She went to say something else, but stopped when she noticed the other two jockeys on the track, moving with such professionalism and perfection that it nearly made her turn around and march back home.

By the gleam in Katherine’s eye, she's caught the young jockey’s expression.

“Up you get, Joan,” She said cheerfully. “Show us those skills you've been honing!”

Joan turned to her to glare slightly, her irritation for Jane’s farmhand already bubbling. She ignores it for now, though, and grabbed the saddle horn and clambered onto Blazer’s muscular back. Surprised, the horse stumbles a little, pawing at the dirt with a front hoof. Then he settles. Somewhat. He doesn't seem happy...

Blazer hesitates. He shuffles back and forth. Under Joan’s thighs, his muscles tense, and, for a moment Joan thinks he might throw her off. Then, he cranes his head around, looking for something. Joan laughs softly and gives it to him- a sugar cube.

Cathy wrinkled her nose a little at this. Katherine attempts a little lopsided smile, while Maggie shrinks back, secondhand embarrassment stinging her insides.

“He shouldn’t be so fidgety when you get onto him,” Cathy said as gently as possible. “And you shouldn’t have to tempt him into listening to you with treats... Is he not trained?”

“He is trained!” Joan snapped, causing Blazer to stir in agitation at the tone of her voice. She quiets herself, hunching her shoulders in a little, and mutters an apology to her mount. “Blazer’s just...he has a temper. That’s all.”

Cathy and Katherine say no more on the topic. Katherine opens the gate to the track and Blazer trots through the fence.

“Hey, Joan!”

The woman on the red stallion, Anne, came charging up to Joan and, for a moment, the girl thought she was going to get trampled. But then the horse skids to a perfect halt in front of her.

“Hi, Anne.” Joan gave her a small smile. “And this is...?”

“Vincent Van GoGo.” Anne smirked proudly. “Vinnie is his normal name. Anna’s lady is Dusty. Or Avoiding Dust.”

That name was understandable. That mare looked so fast. When she was in a race, she could probably easily avoid dust.

“And who’s this?”

“Blazer.”

“Race name?”

“Race-? Oh! Out-Burn Kamikaze.”

Anne quirked an eyebrow.

“It was Maria’s idea.”

Anne laughed. “Ah! Alright. Well, why don’t you try practicing? I don’t think I’ve seen you ride before.”

Joan nods and heads off to begin.

Figure eights and loops around the yard to start, then she has Blazer hop over a few fence posts one by one. He's responding beautifully.

Now the tricky bit.

Joan urges Blazer around the curve of the track and leans forward, allowing him to speed up. He does and his canter quickly turns to a full gallop.

Wind tears through Joan’s hair as her mount ran around the track. The air feels crisp while atop the speeding beast- it was unreal.

It was amazing.

But then, all of a sudden, Blazer is spasming.

Spooked by something, the horse jerked to the side and began rearing in circles in the middle of the track. He jabbed at the air with his front hooves, shrilling frightful, or maybe furious whinnies so loud they bring Aragon, Jane, and Bessie out of the stables.

Joan helplessly cries for her steed to calm down, but her yelling only seems to spur his frenzy further. He whipped his head back and forth, turned in every direction, and reared until, finally, Joan came loose from his back and was flung to the dirt. With one final buck of his hind legs, he scampered away to try and calm himself down.

Joan lays dazed on the ground for several long seconds. Her shoulder aches in tremendous pain when she sits up, winding her further. She struggles to breathe as several other cries of horses sound around her. Avoiding Dust and Vincent Van GoGo must have gotten spooked by Blazer’s tantrum.

“Joan!!”

Someone was coming, so she angrily scrubs away her tears and forces herself to her feet. Her shoulder throbs in disagreement, but she ignores the scream of her muscles and bones.

“Joan, are you okay?” Maria asked. Worry was glinting in her eyes. “What happened?”

“I don’t know!” Joan growled, her voice cracking slightly. She sniffled and clawed away tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks again.

“Oh, sweetheart...”

“I’m going back to the farm.” Joan said. She then turned around and promptly walked over to Blazer, who bumped her reddened face as if nothing had happened.

The entirety of Royalling Stones Farm felt silent as she walked out with her horse in tow.

“Is she okay?” Bessie asked Maria the moment Joan was out on the street.

“I don’t know,” Maria answered. “She was crying, though...”

“Poor thing...” Bessie sighed.

“Is everything alright?” Jane asked.

“Besides the kid being bucked off and all.” Aragon added.

“Yeah,” Bessie said slowly. “Joan’s just...got some things going on. That’s all. Anyway...I need to be getting Maggie home. Let’s go, girls! It was good seeing you Jane. You too, Catherine.”

With goodbyes said, Bessie, Maria, and Maggie all piled into Bessie’s truck to leave.

The ride home was awkwardly silent. Maria was going to start up a conversation when Maggie suddenly yelled and pointed out the window.

“What’s going on?”

Bessie and Maria both whipped their heads around to see their jockey and her horse causing some kind of scene in a neighboring farm. When Bessie saw what farm it was, she nearly floored it and continued driving, but she couldn’t do that to Joan, so she pulled over.

“Leave her alone!” Joan was yelling. At her side, Blazer was working himself up to a proper temper, stomping his hooves and snorting.

“What’s it to you, kid?” The man she was speaking to scoffed.

“What’s it to me? The poor thing’s crying out! It’s probably whining because she’s tired. I saw you running sprints with her when I passed by. She’s panting, can’t you see? If you bring her into her stable and give her some water she should calm down, no reason to whip her.” Joan replied, matching the man’s gaze. She has herself bristled up like an angry squirrel.

The horse she was referring to was a giant void of black. The mare was huge, much bigger than Vinnie back at Jane’s farm. However, the large creature was very clearly frightened and kept crying out and pain from when her owner had whipped her.

“It’s my horse. I paid for her. I can do whatever I’d like to her.” The man said, stalking closer to Joan. “Her race name is SheBeast for a reason. Now, why don't you go off and braid your little colt’s mane whilst I try and break my mare in like a real trainer, aye?”

Joan clenched her fists tightly. Blazer was getting more and more agitated by the second, the cries of the other horse setting him off.

“Alright, that’s enough!”

The sound of Bessie’s booming voice drove Blazer into a bucking fit. The whip-wielding man leapt away as Joan held tightly to her horse’s reigns, which gets her jerked around in the process.

“Jesus fuck!” The man yelled, “Control your horse, brat! Before he kills someone!”

“I am!” Joan snapped.

“Joan.” Bessie growler. “Get Blazer under control and let’s go.”

“Bessie!” Joan said in surprise, still being yanked around by her horse. “Wait- what? We can’t leave! This man’s-“

“Ah, Elizabeth.” The man smirked widely.

“Cromwell.” Bessie spit. She grabbed Joan rougher than she intended to and pushed the girl behind her.

“Please. Use Thomas.” Thomas crooned, “You’re looking well. Better than well. Henry has been saying how good you look at the races and now I see what he means.” His eyes are hungry.

“We’re leaving.” Bessie hissed. She ignored Joan’s blubbering and pulled her to the truck as Thomas laughed and called to her mockingly.

“Bessie, we cant leave. The horse-“

“I know, Joan,” Bessie said. “It’s terrible, but there’s nothing we can do.”

“Yes there is! What’s your deal with this place? Why do you want to leave so badly? He’s hurting that horse!”

“It’s his horse.”

“That makes it worse!”

“Joan, please, you’re making a scene.”

“And you’re refusing to help that poor horse! She needs us!”

“Joan, we are not-“ Bessie cut herself off with a help of pain when Blazer suddenly bites her hand.

—————

Joan furiously threw chicken feed into the coop, tears burning down her cheeks. The birds fluttered around to eat, unaware of what she was muttering about. Not that they would care.

Geez. Was she really at such a low in her life that she thought some chickens would care about her?

(Nobody cares nobody cares nobody cares that’s why Bessie got mad Bessie is just using her)

The girl put the bucket she was using back in the main barn, then went to go get on the horses. There, she found Blazer, munching away on some alfalfa. His twin sister, a gorgeous dapple grey mare named Listener, was in the pen right beside his.

“Are you scared, too?” Joan whispered to her horse. “Is that why you won’t run?”

Blazer didn’t even look up at her.

“Were you scared when you bit Bessie? Were you...protecting me?”

Nothing.

“I’m scared, too.”

No reaction.

However, when Joan opens the corral gate, his head whips up.

Joan steps inside, bolting the door behind her, and Blazer whinnies and lifts his forelegs, mimicking a rear-up, his ears turning back- but not flattening. He doesn't show his teeth.

Joan lets Blazer circle around, but when Blazer turns to show Joan his hindquarters, she steps back, her spine pressing uncomfortably against the wooden gate.

A good jockey or trainer would have whipped the ill-tempered horse with a coil. Not enough to hurt, but enough to let the horse know it was a warning to not kick out. Hell, even a normal jockey or trainer would know that.

But Joan wasn’t normal or good.

She shrunk back further against the gate, eyeing Blazer’s powerful back legs wryly. One kick from those in the head and she’d be dead.

(Please kick please kick please kick bust open her skull smash in her brain make her no more make her no more PLEASE)

Blazer watches the girl, then huffs, nostrils flared out. His hooves settle back on the ground. Joan smiles a little, dipping her head. She steps forward.

“There we go,” She whispered. She has some sugar cubes in her pocket and puts one in her closed fist, knowing Blazer can smell it. “C'mon, you giant. What else you gonna try?”

Blazer lowers his head like she was. Then, he darts to the side, kicking up a spray of dirt, and Joan laughs, wiping her hand over her face where some hit her. Blazer tries to show his hindquarters again and Joan sidesteps, not wanting to flick her horse, even if it wouldn’t hurt. Blazer huffs trots around the corral.

“I got all the time in the world,” Joan warns the animal, as Blazer snorts and blusters again, pulls up short as if he can trick Joan into turning too far. Seems put out, huffing in annoyance when Joan proves too smart for that. Joan laughs and Blazer finally seems to calm, his ears rolling forward. He shakes his mane out and swishes his tail like a wagging dog.

Joan hums, and then she goes to the edge of the corral, keeping her eyes on Blazer. She sits back, and bends down so she can keep her thighs on one of the metal bars, but her chest is behind it, and she can put her arms over the bar above and stay upright. Blazer snorts at her, walking slowly back and forth, side to side but getting a little closer each time, like he's testing the waters. He looks almost sheepish, like someone realizing they had been blowing things way out of proportion.

Joan grins at him, and offers the sugar cube with a flat palm.

Blazer perks up with a soft whinny, ears forward, and lips delicately at the mint. He snorts at the girl, long lashes dipping over his dark, warm eyes. Joan knows horses aren't capable of having thoughts like people do, don't understand things like taxes and God, but there seems to be some focused shine in Blazer’s eyes, and Joan thinks, with a smile, that they have just come to some unspoken agreement.

“There we go,” She murmurs, petting over Blazer’s big, warm cheek. The stallion breathes out heavily, warm on Joan’s arm and chest, and swishes his tail again, taking another slow step forward. “I know, you just had to get it all outta your system.”

She laughs when Blazer nudges at her pocket, seeking another sugar cube. She pushes Blazer’s forelock to one side, scratches over his forehead, and cups his cheeks.

“Who’s my big brave boy?” She whispered to him.

It could have been pure coincidence, or, perhaps, Blazer really did understand her, but the horse paws the dirt with one hoof and bobbed his head up before returning to Joan’s hands. The girl stared in shock for a moment before a wide, giddy smile stretched on her features.

“Yes you are!” She cooed and pressed a gentle kiss to his soft nose. “You’re my big brave boy.”

Joan closed her eyes, relaxing herself as she leaned forward and pressed her forehead against Blazer’s.

“We’re gonna be champions, you and me.” She told him. “We’re partners. And we can do this. I know we can. Even if we’re scared, at least we can be scared together.”

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ofmikaelsonshope · 5 years ago

Text

Five years, her daughter was been on this Earth. The Christmas lights twinkling as a small child plays with new toys under a Christmas tree. The twenty-three-year-old had her own place for about three years now, Addy learned how to climb trees outside in the backyard and had her first slumber party with Eliza under the stars last summer where Hope made sure they had more fun than just the babysitting that Katherine’s nanny, Casie gives Addy and Eliza normally. Hope found herself a little job at a baker that she does two times a week to give Eliza and Addy some friend time without Hope hovering like a worried parent. Klaus had dropped off a car full of gifts, no one knows he has a daughter as no one remembers her but him. Addy had new toys and Hope had actual food in the fridge that wasn’t just enough for her daughter. It is a relief when her dad showed up when Addy was two years old, the house only really having a small amount for Addy at the time but he threw money around and made it home.

Holidays are hard for her, she can’t swallow down the wonder of what her friends are doing this year and what gifts they got and from who. Hope would find out later when she heads to the Grill when her father shows up and listen to her friends talk about everything. Once a month, the super squad gets together and has breakfast, Hope had joined in by sitting far away eating breakfast by herself listening to them talk even if it hurts when they are done eating and say goodbyes.

❝Addy,❞ Hope says setting her coffee cup down onto the coffee table. When the green-eyed child finally can break her attention from the brand new doll, Hope tells her. ❝When grandpa comes by tomorrow, you need to thank him.❞

A soft whine of displeasure at her mother’s request, ❝I know mommy.❞ As if she can’t remember to use manners. It was more annoying her mother always reminding her when she knows it all by now.

Raising a leader was hard work because Hope holds out hope in being able to go home someday and when that day comes, Addy won’t be like Eliza because the daughter of the Alpha is a big role and it is one she needs to be taught into from day one. Hope remembers sitting in meetings with her mother once a month coloring a picture and always found it amazing how her mother could take control of a crowd full of screaming wolves without raising her voice. I want to be just like her when I grow up. How far she fell from grace when some 90 some year old vampire murders her mother. Getting up, placing a kiss to her daughter’s hair before going to the kitchen. Flour, eggs, and milk on the counter, pan on the stove and pam. Four pancakes are done when the doorbell rings and magic shuts things off as her daughter goes to hid in another room (she assumes) like always when a doorbell rings in case, it was someone dangerous. A magical signal down pat between the two of them to know if Addy was safe to come out.

Only she smells something before her mother and is hiding behind a couch this time and that will be a trouble later. Addy sits down, back leaning against the couch listening.

Door comes swinging open and Hope feels the house shake firmly once at who it was, a few glass items crack but a magical fix will save. ❝Landon?❞

❝Hope? Hope Andrea Mikaelson...❞ All the images pieced together when he died the last time and suddenly his mind was an open book. It was what he was going for each time he died, hoping to uncover the mystery girl. No one could prepare him for knowing what his name sounded like on her lips during sex, no one could prepare him for knowing the sound of her in pain when he died the first time came to his ears either and it made him keep going to search for this one that he swears he knows just never knew how. How he had shared a Milkshake with her. Peanut butter blast, whipped cream on the bottom. His words to her when he would serve her at the grill. How she had flirted back and the way it felt to dance with her the first time. A box of cookies from Lizzie, who had demanded to be present in some way (because she knew for a long time someone was missing, knew her name but sided with her twin figuring the tribrid was dead).

Fuck, just fuck. She has no words for this moment but a silent nod, knowing he wouldn’t go away as she lets him inside her home. ❝Ignore the mess.❞ It was messy but it was toys from a child, something she certainly hadn’t had before because Landon would have noticed.

Stepping inside, Landon feels like his heart drops to his stomach seeing all of the toys and the smell of baked food hitting the air. ❝I could come back later. It’s a holi...❞ He is interrupted with a quick no from a tribrid.

Small fourthbred jumping from behind the couch, wild dark hair running toward a phoenix and nearly knocking him onto his ass in shock. Magic calls family, phoenix father can be smelled on his skin and she was too excited to wait for her mother to call her out of hiding.

Landon is shocked, unable to figure it out until he catches it, a scent that only he would know 9okay others might know it as well). His blood, his..fuck. He finds blue eyes and with the tears that are in a tribrid’s eyes, it is enough of an answer. ❝I’m staying.❞ For his daughter, for his life and well, promising Josie to help her run the boarding school was only when he didn’t have a child out there. ❝If you let me.❞ A Christmas miracle to finally find family even if the anger is so deep at himself and her for missing everything. Did she know when she jumped into Malivore? Did she know when she got out of Malivore and left town after getting a peanut butter blast from him? Had she even tried to lift the curse of wiped memories from everyone’s mind? So many questions.

Pancakes, cookies, light chatting with his daughter leads him to end up playing tea party with a crown on his head and fake tea water in his cup. Adelina, he learned was her name but she goes by Addy. This child was like her mother, knew how to play people to get what she wants with batted eyelashes and a pouty lip that makes him melt. How could he tell her now? It’s finding out that grandpa Klau was alive and many questions just keep adding up and nothing in his favor.

Around two, for a child-like her a nap was needed after such a fun day. How Addy climbs into her mother’s arms, the soothing voice of tribrid whispering stories about her friends. Landon listening in from the door and it was like this tribrid had always been born to be a mother. How nature it was for her to slipe away once green eyes closed for good for a few hours

In the kitchen, talking about everything that was Addy besides what happened, where his daughter was born or what time of day. Anything deep about the first few hours of Addy’s life was shut down with changing to talk about Addy now. Landon missed everything from the first kick to seeing his child take her first breath of air.

❝I missed everything,❞ Landon whispers, green eyes finding the table that was cleaned of their plates. ❝I’m...sorry.❞

Sorry doesn’t make up for it but then again, it isn’t his fault. Reaching out to touch his face like she once did only for him to wince at the contact, ❝Was just going to show you.❞

Regret happens the moment the images of coldness, wet, how fingers shook the whole time that the minute old infant was being laid on her mother’s chest and from his view all he can see is a perfect shot of her face. The body of the baby so thin and when he noticed a tribrid’s fingers, legs, everything really felt like she was too thin, too cold, too along in this world. How he watched through Hope’s eyes as blood coats her thighs, the old cabin’s floor and he got to see the moment the lights went out for her with a newborn crying out into the early morning hours for her mother.

How when Hope woke it was a burning fire in her belly and a small nick of her daughter’s finger helped for a second of relief. How magic kept them warmer after that. He watched in horror what his child did to the tribrid, how she went from living to die because of him not wearing a condom one time. How much love was there and then he sees hope witih Elena? He had met Elena several times over the years but the one that saved his child and the mother of the child was not Elena Gilbert by any means.

By the time that Hope pulled away and let images fade, they both are crying. Maybe in a different life, their daughter would have been born healthy and strong and she wouldn’t have died. Maybe if he had fought harder to get his memories back he would have been there to hold his child and keep her warm.

Not a Merry Christmas but then again, when was it ever?

#・ ˖ ✦ ⋄ . My Drabbles. ❝ I got a love and I know that it’s all mine. ❞【Jenniger Things】#・ ˖ ✦ ⋄ . Drabbles. ❝ My mama always told me that I’d make it ❞【Hope Mikaelson】

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zalrb · 5 years ago

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They never go into detail about Stefan saving Elena from the car when her parents died, all we know is that he pulled her out. I was wondering if you could write a one shot about what Stefan was thinking when it all happened? I’d love to see what you come up with 😊❤️

Stefan heard it: the screeching tires, the collide into water, impact so hard it sounded like a crash into concrete. He could even hear the screams, the surprised and terrified and horrible screams. They tore into him. One night. He’d been back in Mystic Falls one night and there was already an accident, a potential tragedy.

It burned him. Was his nature so debauched, so corrupt, so evil that simply setting foot in his town, his home, caused calamity?

He could hear coughing, hear the frantic calls of, “Dad? Dad? Dad!”

“We’re going to be OK. I promise....”

“Dad---” a gasp for breath.

“No,” Stefan whispered.

He could save them, there was still time, but he had to act quickly. He would not succumb to despair, allow others to succumb to despair, he was done with that, he would instead rise to action. He would not allow another death in Mystic Falls if he could help it.

Stefan took off in an instant. His enhanced hearing led him to Wickery Bridge. Looking over the edge, he could see the huge splash in the water and without a second thought, dove into the river.

He reached the Toyota in a manner of seconds but it had taken Stefan longer than he would’ve liked to get to Wickery Bridge and so the car was already fully submerged. He saw movement in the front seat and swam up to the window on the driver’s side. The man was facing the back and when he turned and saw Stefan, he shook his head, frantically pointing behind him.

“Her! Her! Leave me! HER!” he mouthed.

Stefan followed the instructions and shifted to the back of the car. It made sense, a father wanting to protect his daughter, save his daughter, a father wanting to --- Wait. No. It was impossible. Impossible!

Stefan put his hand on the window, shock and confusion coursing through his body. The girl, it couldn’t be --- but she looked just like --- no, it was physically impossible --- but she looked exactly like --- No! Katherine was dead. Katherine died years ago, decades ago, a century ago. It could not be, this girl could not be---

He shook his head. He would have to figure it out later because if he spent anymore time suspended in his own puzzlement, this girl, if she wasn’t Katherine, would die.

Stefan ripped the back door off its hinges, a fairly easy task even with all of the pressure beneath the water. Quickly, he swam over to the girl and pulled her to him. He glanced to the front of the car. The woman in the passenger seat was unconscious, she’d been unconscious even before he got there, she hadn’t said a word when Stefan heard the crash up on land. The man was still conscious but barely. If Stefan was fast enough, he could go back and save him. Stefan nodded at the man, letting him know he would get his daughter to safety, then held the girl and brought her up to the surface, getting her onto the clumps of dirt beneath the bridge. He had to make sure she was alive before going back into the water. He checked for a pulse; it was weak but there. Compressions. Mouth-to-mouth. Compressions.

She would not die. It had been her father’s wish that she live and it was Stefan’s will that his wish come true, so she would live. She had no choice.

Mouth-to-mouth. Compressions. A sputter. Water. Moans. Stefan closed his eyes, exhaling in relief.

“Daddy?” she croaked, eyes closed.

Stefan turned to go back into the water and felt something tug him backwards. He looked. Her hand, around his wrist. Her grip was weak but somehow it held him. She held him. Something ... blossomed in Stefan, something warm, something powerful, something he never felt with Katherine. Gently, he pulled himself out of the girl’s grasp and dove back into the water.

Too late. He was too late. The man was gone, like his wife, but there was a faint smile on his face, an expression of ... peace. Stefan swam back up to the surface and made his way back to the girl, gathering her in his arms.

She wasn’t Katherine. He didn’t know how he knew, but he knew. This girl was ... special. This girl was ... he couldn’t explain it but he could feel it --- her soul and its beauty. Quickly, he sped toward the hospital. There was an ambulance in the parking lot, an empty stretcher by the entrance. The instant the paramedics turned around, he sped over and lay her on the mattress, gone before anyone could even notice he was there.

When he was a safe distance away he called 9-11. “There was an accident on Wickery Bridge. A car went over and crashed into the water.”

“OK, can I have your name?”

Stefan hung up and dropped the cell on the ground, stomping on it, before speeding away again.

That girl wasn’t Katherine. He could feel it. But after all, Katherine was Katherine. Diabolical. Manipulative. She could be involved somehow. There was a connection there, there had to be, the resemblance was too striking. And so was the girl. Striking. Moving. She’d moved him. He didn’t know who she was but he did know, he couldn’t leave Mystic Falls without finding out.

*Note* I would have had Stefan take Elena’s parents out of the car if it weren’t for the fact that in 1x11, Elena says that everyone wondered how she got out of the car, implying that her parents were still inside of it because she didn’t say, for example, everyone wondered how I got to the hospital. It was an oversight on the writers’ part because it’s a little fucked up that Stefan went back for her dad and then left him there when he was too late. I chalk that up to a writing issue and not a Stefan issue.

#stelena #stefan salvatore #elena gilbert #the vampire diaries #dobsley #paul wesley #nina dobrev #stefan x elena #elena x stefan #drabble #tvd #anti-tvd #anti julie plec #anti caroline dries

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takeeachdayonebookatatime · 1 year ago

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Why did you elbow me? 106

Achilles Castle part 11

Martha: pov i help Castle sit in the chair outback. Chief Brady and the teenagers arrive, Lanie tells him we can all sit outside. The parents seem nice and apologetic. Jim is helping Katherine outside to sit in a chair. Once everyone is sitting, Chief Brady starts talking, asking the teenagers if they have anything to say to Captain Beckett. Like an apology, one of the parents says Chief Brady told us you were injured in the line of duty. Katherine tells her I was shot on the left side of my chest at my Captain's funeral while giving a eulogy. The girl's mother seems surprised, Katherine explains everything that happened with her mothers case. She says I'm so thankful for Lanie. She saved my life and did CPR until the paramedics arrived. Castle mentions Katherine died in the ambulance and was brought back to life with the paddles. Lanie says she works with the dead but it is hard watching your friend die.

Jim: pov i ask if anyone wants lemonade, this is too much for me to hear, I go inside to get the lemonade for everyone i grab the pitcher and some cups. .

Dave: pov Lanie tells the teenagers I was still doing CPR when Kate was immediately rushed to the ER, In the OR a chest tube was put in since she was bleeding in her chest. The bullet nicked her pulmonary vein and ventricle requiring emergency surgery to gain access to her heart which was full of blood compressing it. The surgeons performed a thoracotomy on her, Kate went into Vfib requiring them to use the internal paddles on her, she then flatlined. The surgeon manually massaged her heart. Kate suffered cardiac arrest on top of the collapsed lung. Spent 3 months on disability recovering. She has a heart condition called ventricular tachycardia and ptsd

Chief Brady: pov Kate mentions I will be on heart medication for the rest of my life, fatigue is real, I'm captain of the 12th precinct homicide unit. I've learned how to manage my symptoms and take breaks. Getting sick from anything like a cold or food poisoning can send me to the ER, I have a weak immune system. I also wear a special vest so I don't injure my left side. A few of the teenagers apologize to Kate. Lanie tells them what alcohol can do to your body and even shows them pictures. Wow I had no idea she was going to print pictures.

Kate: pov I'm starting to get tired and I can feel a headache coming on. I was up a lot last night, since I couldn't sleep. Lanie asks me if I feel okay because I look off, I tell her I'm fine. She asks me to hand over my phone so she can check my heart rate. I decided to be honest with her and mention I can feel a headache coming on. She goes inside then comes back out with some tylenol for My headache.

Alexis: pov a boy named Glenn asks what it feels like. Kate says you mean my arrhythmia. It's uncomfortable. My heart starts beating extra fast and feels weird, then it gets hard for me to breathe and in a severe case without medicine I can faint.

Lanie: pov one curious boy asks if he can see her scars. His dad says it's rude to ask that. Kate says it's fine. She first shows the teenagers the bullet scar then the thoracotomy one. All of them eventually apologize, after they leave Kate heads upstairs to take a nap. Castle has something special planned for Tomorrow afternoon. It's this underwater submarine thing where you can see sea life up close and Castle can do it since you don't have to get in the water if you don't want to.

Castle: pov I paid for the tickets. This will be so cool I got Alexis and Dave the wet suits so they can actually go in the water. Lanie is on the phone with the company letting them know Kate has a heart condition. I ask Lanie what time tomorrow morning does Kate have her physical therapy type appointment. She tells me the pt guy is coming to the house early, he is going to help Kate keep in shape. Lanie says he is not from pt but cardiac rehabilitation. I ask if there is a difference, turns out there is a small difference. With Kate's medical history they thought this was better for her then regular pt. I decided to take a nap then get some writing done. Alexis and Dave are back from sightseeing and outside in the pool swimming.

Martha: pov Alexis is making French fries with salad and Dave is grilling some burgers with the supervision of Castle. Katherine is up and chatting with her dad, I'm pouring some peach tea into cups. I made sure it was decaf because I don't want Katherine having an episode. Lanie is on the phone with Esposito, he and Ryan are coming down the day after tomorrow.

Jim: pov the food is put on the counter so all of us can fill our plates once everyone is sitting down for dinner, Castle takes his pain pill and starts talking about tomorrow's plans . Lanie explains someone from cardiac rehabilitation is coming tomorrow, the cardiologist from the hospital and Dr Burkett just want to be extra cautious with her exercising since being injured. The peach tea tastes amazing, on the counter there are a few different flavors of salad dressing to choose from. I pick the strawberry vinegar, which sounds fantastic.

Dave: pov me and Alexis are going to watch a movie on the big screen, Mr Castle and Kate are going to sit outside and listen to music. Kate gets into some Pj's and grabs a blanket, Jim says something about watching an old movie upstairs in his room. Martha Is practicing her lines for something in her room and Lanie is in Castle's office using the computer. To be continued. …….

#fanfiction #castle #stanakatic #katebeckett #nathanfillion #richardcastle #tamalajones #lanieperish #jonhuertas #javieresposito #kevinryan #seamusdever #mollycquinn #alexiscastle #jennyryan #jimbeckett #susansulluvan #martharodgers

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ofskinandbones · 5 years ago

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⌠ LORENZO ZURZOLO, 21, CIS MALE, HE/HIM ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, RAFAEL THOMAS! according to their records, they’re a SECOND year, specializing in AWARENESS TRAINING, BREATH CONTROL, AND HAND-TO-HAND COMBAT & MEDICAL TRAINING; and they DID NOT go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of (scars up his wrists disappearing under his blazer, old but polished loafers, a piping hot mug of green tea). when it’s the (cancer)’s birthday on 06/28/1998, they always request their VEGETABLE PAELLA from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation. ⌿ ally, 21, she/her, est ⍀

whats up im ally and i got muse for this boy as soon as i started. this is the fastest i’ve ever added a second muse let’s hope i don’t regret it.

history. (death tw, murder tw, child abuse tw, injury tw)

tl;dr: assassin baby learns about violin and life, escapes after he’s forced to kill tutor, finds his cia agent father and is promptly sent to blackthorne

the first son of the first daughter of the head of the quaranta family, mercenaries since the roman empire. they used to be based out of sicily, but during the renaissance they moved their base of operations to a compound at the base of piz bernina in switzerland, where rafael was born.

trained to be an assassin from as soon as he could walk, tutored in combat and languages and, of course, the human body. the intent was to teach him how to destroy it, and he was fascinated, but he loved to heal.

rafael always loved music; his mother wasn’t allowed to hold him anymore when he turned four, so she used to sing him lullabies through his open window to comfort him. when he was eight, he got a violin teacher named zacharias fittkau, and he picked up the instrument extremely quickly. fittkau taught him that the intricate machine of his body was not just made to destroy, but to create and to heal.

when his grandfather feared he was growing too close to fittkau, however, he ordered rafael to kill him; his beloved tutor was to be his first murder at the age of ten. he did it, but broke down into tears afterwards, an utter wreck. as punishment, his grandfather broke every finger in rafael’s left hand to assure he’d never play the violin again.

his mother broke all the rules that night, held him close for a moment and whispered, “your father is named edward thomas. find him.” that night, rafael escaped through his open window, and his mother shot down the guards that tried to stop him. she was killed by his grandfather that morning, but rafael didn’t learn that until he was nearly a grownup. the only way his mother could think to protect him was to send him after his father.

spent the years between nine and sixteen on the streets, drifting all around europe and western asia. learned how to survive, how to steal and hide and, most importantly, stitch himself up when needed. he spent an entire winter in istanbul’s public libraries, reading through all the medical books he could at age twelve. he knew he wanted to heal, but he couldn’t shake his legacy. (he does some things he regrets, hurts people, leaves them bleeding in alleyways. he can’t stand to check if they’re dead or not.)

the entire time, he was trying to find his father. edward thomas is, of course, a very common name in the english-speaking world, and hard to find. eventually, though, he couldn’t find the right man in europe, so he skipped across the sea to america when he was sixteen. it took him another year to find edward thomas, former cia agent and current security consultant.

the thomases have a long legacy in the military and law enforcement, as well as at blackthorne. edward himself is a graduate, and took pity on this boy who claimed to be his son. they had a paternity test to be save, but rafael had his grandfather’s jaw, and his mother’s eyes.

rafael was understandably paranoid and angry and afraid, so he spent a couple years basically on lockdown in the old thomas estate, mostly with his therapist, madeleine ross, and his tutor, katherine barker. he kept up his physical fitness, his skill at fighting, and learned about the thomas legacy. and was, eventually, sent to blackthorne when he was twenty-one years old, after he’d gotten his ged and an excellent sat score.

excelled at blackthorne, but as soon as he heard that gallagher offered medical training, he was suddenly extremely grateful for the institute’s closure.

this is pretty fortuitous timing bc now that he knows what the blackthorne final test was he is feeling washing machine vine vc i am DISGUSTED i am REVOLTED i dedicate my ENTIRE LIFE to our LORD AND SAVIOUR jesus christ and THIS is the thanks i get????

personality/tidbits.

when he speaks it Sounds Like This. it’s half because english is like his fifth language and half because he’s just like that

he means well i swear he’s just full of himself. he’s trying really really hard to be a good person.

very emotionally stunted, frowns a lot, tsks a lot, pretty annoying lbr

MASSIVE perfectionist. also a health nut.

loves music of all sorts, and actually has a really good voice (though he doesn’t want anyone to know that)

super bi/queer

his dad loves him but he’s a Blackthorne Boy(tm) so emotions??? he’s never heard of them. the most rafael gets from him is a pat on the shoulder

tries his hardest to be helpful but his help often comes off as insulting and then he gets upset when the other person gets angry

wanted connections.

someone whose family was killed by his family. whoops. (him being a quaranta is not widely known so we could go Betrayal if you want)

old friends from blackthorne

RIVALS give me a rival

someone make this boy feel a human emotion

ANYTHING just pls im Begging

#gallagher:intro #i hate that his personality is just Annoying Bitch but its true

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snickerl · 6 years ago

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I am reblogging this because I don’t know how or why the last part and thus the closure of this ficlet was missing. It’s in italics at the end if you want to find out how Ahab’s and Maggie’s conversation went on after “Did you ever...” Instead of finishing the sentence he bit his lower lip.

Mom’s The Best

A collection of XF ficlets

I started this collection of stand-alone ficlets from Margaret Scully’s POV a while ago because she’s always been one of my favorite characters. This particular chapter has been sitting in my “yet to post” box for the longest time because I wasn’t sure if anybody would be interested in reading it. Anyway, today I decided it was time to post it and just find out...

So far, the collection contains the following ficlets:

PEPPERMINT TEA APPLE PIE ROOT BEER PEACH PUNCH CHOCOLATE COOKIES

APPLE CRUMBLE

"Hey Starbuck, have you decided which offer you want to take yet? I heard Johns Hopkins is interested."

Bill Scully, Sr. had just swallowed the last piece of roast. He was dabbing the corners of his mouth with a napkin and popped the question casually at his younger daughter who instantly stopped chewing. His wife sucked in her breath. Maggie somehow knew this wasn't a good after dinner topic. Dana had been avoiding to talk about what to do after her graduation from medical school lately whereas Ahab had hardly been talking about anything else.

Maggie knew he loved all his children but Dana had always been his favorite. Since the day she was born, she had been the apple of his eye. It had put her at the receiving end of his fatherly affection like none of her siblings but it had also put a lot of pressure on the girl to cope with. When she had been admitted to medical school, Maggie had seen her husband almost burst out of pride, Dana Katherine Scully, M.D. sounded like a melody in his ears. Therefore failing or, God forbid, dropping out hadn't been an option for Dana. It had turned her into an ambitious, tenacious, and determined young woman with an incredible amount of stamina who would do anything to not disappoint her daddy. To her mother's dismay, enjoying life had fallen a bit by the wayside in the process. Well, her older sister and younger brother had compensated for it more than enough.

Dana was putting the cutlery down in slow motion, then dabbed her lips thoroughly. She squinted her left eye for a brief moment and looked at her father.

"You heard? From whom?"

Maggie noticed a sensitive undertone in Dana's voice her husband obviously missed because he continued unwaveringly.

"Daniel told me."

"How did you get around talking about me with my boyfriend?"

Dana was tensing up noticeably. Maggie held her breath.

"He's as interested in your career as I am. Your move into the medical field needs to be well considered, and Daniel says Boston is offering the best opportunity for you to go into cardiology."

"Oh? Daniel says? I see." Dana chewed the inside of her cheek before she asked tight-lipped, "do I get a say in this, dad, or have Daniel and you already submitted my application?"

Bill's eyes widened at his daughter's harsh and open irony. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Dana let out an annoyed chuckle. "Does it even occur to you that I might have other plans?"

"You're not talking about that crazy FBI idea, are you? That's absolutely out of the question!"

Bill shook his head. Ever since Dana had first mentioned that she had been approached by an FBI recruiter, he refused to even talk about it, always wiping the topic away with a dismissive wave of his hand, just like he was doing now.

"Bill, please," Maggie cut in as she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

The family dinner which had started out so nice and enjoyable was at the brink of turning into a veritable family argument. They hadn't been together like this for quite a while because the final exams of med school had accounted for all of Dana's free time. Now that all the tests - written, practical, and oral - were taken and they were waiting for the results, doubting not even for a nanosecond that her marks would be anything but excellent, their daughter finally allowed herself to spend an evening away from her textbooks at her parents' house.

"It's my life we're talking about here, dad, and not that many graduates get recruited right out of medical school by the FBI. I would get the chance to specialize in forensic pathology and might be teaching at the Academy later on. That's really something I can see myself in."

Maggie noticed how Dana's tensed-up body posture relaxed a bit, how exhilaration took over. It showed clearly how excited she was about this. Unfortunately, her husband wasn't this sensitive, for he exclaimed indignantly, "pathology? A medical doctor saves lives and does not cut open dead people who can't be helped anymore. It's stupid!"

"Stupid? Pathology is a medical specialty like any other. It isn't about some morbid slicing and dicing, it's about getting to the bottom of why and how a person died. It's science. Forensic pathology is a substantial part of solving criminal cases and convicting murderers. I would be saving lives by keeping potential victims from harm by killers that I helped to put behind bars."

Dana's passionate advocacy of forensic pathology didn't impress Ahab one bit. He didn’t seem to listen to her at all actually, Maggie noticed. Instead, he was pulling another ace from his sleeve; or so he thought.

"You really want to be a Fed, Dana? Lowsy pay and small reputation included?"

"This is what this is actually all about, isn't it? Pay and reputation." It wasn't meant as a question. "Your daughter being an underpaid federal agent wouldn't be anything you'd be comfortable talking about in your old boys' circle, would it? Your offspring performing open heart surgery though would be something else, something you wouldn't hesitate a second to let your friends know. Right, Dad?"

Ahab took a step backward. Was he perhaps impressed in some way by Dana's accusatory tone, Maggie marveled. There was a kernel of truth in it somewhere, for sure. Her husband had always loved letting his environment know how well his beloved Starbuck was doing. Dana had hit a blind spot with her angry words, she read from the change in Bill's whole demeanor and facial features. He had not only taken a step away from his daughter, not towering her anymore, but his whole body posture collapsed. His arms, which he had been fidgeting with, were hanging limply all of a sudden, his chin, which had been lifted challengingly, had sunken to his chest, and his eyes, which had been boring through Dana's just a moment ago, were avoiding hers now. He gritted his teeth so hard his jaw pushed through visibly. Maggie had very rarely seen her husband searching for words; this was one of the times.

"It's just...Daniel...well, he says you're really good at it and that you'd have a bright future in cardiology," he eventually tried to defend himself, but Dana didn't want to hear any of it.

"Daniel? Daniel says? And what Daniel says is necessarily right? You don't trust me to make my own choice? To know what's good for me?"

Ahab tried to fend off the accusations he had been showered with a feeble, "you're getting it all wrong, Dana." Maggie almost felt like stepping up and pairing with him to form a consistent parental entity. It was what they had always done when serious arguments with their children occurred, she was wondering why she was somehow reluctant to do so now. Before she got to the bottom of the motivation, or rather lack thereof, Dana's voice filled the room again.

"I don’t think I'm getting anything wrong here! It's so typical for men to believe they are to make choices for us women. I mean, did mom ever had a say in whether she wanted to pursue her career after you got married?"

Maggie's heart skipped a beat and she realized that her daughter was unconsciously rubbing her nose into what was keeping her from backing her husband up in this matter.

"Your mother knew what it meant to be a Navy wife," Bill said without even looking at her as if the woman he was talking about wasn't in the same room standing just a few inches away from him.

"That does not mean she wouldn't have liked to keep working. She loved being a teacher, didn't you, mom?" Dana exclaimed, her glaring eyes meeting her mother's.

"I, uh-," Maggie started but was interrupted instantly by her husband.

"She was happy to be a housewife and mother."

"You didn't even let her answer herself just now, for Christ's sake! Was she allowed to have an opinion of her own back then? Did you even ask her or agreed upon what was good for her together with grandpa, just like you are doing for me right now with Daniel?"

Without even taking another breath Dana turned to Maggie and implored, "mom! Don't you have anything to say to this?"

"Watch your mouth, young lady! I am not to be spoken to in this tone by any of my children. And neither is your mother." Ahab's words came out of his mouth like shots out of a machine gun. Sharp, cold, deadly, but Dana would not let herself get intimidated.

"I'm an adult, dad! I'm not a kid anymore you can force to take piano lessons just so she can play Mozart to your party guests for their entertainment and your sick fatherly pride."

"How dare you-"

"Stop it! Now! Both of you!"

Maggie had been listening to what was being said about her with a mixture of shock, anger, and regret until she drowned the gamecocks in a high-pitched voice. She knew that if they went on, they would be saying something they regretted later. They had never been in an argument like this, mainly because Dana had always been a child trying to please her father, always wanting to make him proud of her. These times seemed to have come to an end. She was obviously ready to disobey his wishes, and Maggie secretly believed that it actually wasn't such a bad thing. Even though she herself had been pulled into their fight, she knew that right now was not the time to voice her own feelings about the whole FBI matter. Right now she had to protect father and daughter from getting themselves into a rage and saying something so hurtful the wounds left behind would be difficult to heal. Ahab and Starbuck had always been so close, if they tore themselves asunder over this, it would break both of their hearts; and Maggie's own heart along with it.

Both were staring at her, flabbergasted by her temperamental, forceful outburst. They weren't used to her speaking up, reining people in so openly. She usually tried to appease, to sugarcoat cracks and to smooth out disagreements within the family. "Don't look at me like this!" she said. "Did you even realize how you were yelling at each other? This is not how we talk to each other in this family!"

Maggie had a distinct need for harmony and every family member relied on it. No matter how severe the dispute was, everybody knew she would later arbitrate between the parties and make them reconcile again. Throughout her married life, she'd played the mediator between her husband and his children as well as between the siblings many times, had always tried to be impartial, to not take one side but make them see the other's point of view, to understand each other. It had always worked best like this. Until today. Today she would leave her neutral position and speak up for the person she believed had a reason.

"Dana is right, Bill," she said and was surprised about how easily the words were leaving her mouth.

"What?" her husband retorted, apparently dumbfounded by the statement which was so openly in conflict with his own opinion on this matter.

"What?" Dana whispered, equally caught off-guard like her father but in a more positive way.

"She's right. It's her choice to make, not ours."

Here she was again, Margaret Scully, a loyal wife to her husband, joining him as a parent by calling it their choice when as a matter-of-fact it had been just his. It was fair enough though, to not push him in the corner and blame him alone because if she was honest, she would have to admit that she was also not fond of her daughter's idea to join the FBI, but for totally different reasons.

Ahab's face turned red, anger creeping through his body. "What's going on in your minds, you Scully women? Very well, then," he spat but knew better than to start another argument with his wife now. He let out an exasperated huff, turned on his heel, and took a beer out of the refrigerator and mumbled under his breath, "I'm outside."

"Great," Dana hissed right after the porch door had been closed with a loud 'bang' seconds later, "now he's mad at me and you."

"That's alright, sweetheart. He's going to calm down again. We let him have his beer and give him time to think."

"I'm a disappointment for him because I'm not taking the career path he wants me to."

Maggie gasped. It hurt to see Dana being so hard on herself. Children weren't determined to fulfill their parents' dreams, they should aspire their very own goals.

"It's your life, Dana. You have to decide on your own. You've already signed the contract, haven't you?"

"No, but I really want to do this, mom."

"Yes, I can see your determination, but I always thought it was medicine you wanted to work in."

"I've never given anything else much thought until the FBI approached me."

"What is it with law enforcement that interests you so much?"

"It's not law enforcement per se but the opportunity to specialize in pathology. That's science, mom. Searching for the cause of death in a dead body is scientific work. It will challenge my intellect in many more ways than doing one heart catheter investigation after another. You remember that I wrote my undergraduate thesis about Einstein, don't you? If dad hadn't pressured me into medicine, I might've as well graduated in physics. I love science, mom."

"I know you do, but all this time you spent in medical school...you worked so hard for your degree, sweetheart. Are you willing to throw this all away?"

"I'm not throwing it away. A pathologist is a medical doctor like any other, and if I find out that the FBI is nothing for me, I can start as a resident at a hospital in cardiology or pediatrics any time. Johns Hopkins won't give me another chance probably but there are enough renowned hospitals in America." She looked at her mother with tears in her eyes, searching for some understanding. "I really want to give this a try, mom."

"You've already made up your mind," Maggie realized.

"Yes. I have an appointment with HR at the FBI headquarters this week. Field training will start next month."

Maggie tensed up. "You're going to be out in the field?"

"It's not intended. I get trained in forensic pathology and will work in the morgue and the lab mainly. Any time later, I might also be teaching at Quantico."

"Not intended? Does that mean it might happen nonetheless? That you have to go out into the field to track down criminals?"

"Mom, it's the FBI after all. I mean, it's part of the training and I have to do what I'm assigned to. If they need my expertise out in the field one day, I might be partnered up with someone. You know how it works in a federal institution, people are not asked but ordered."

Yes, being married to a naval captain, Maggie knew how it worked. Her family had been ordered to relocate to a different Navy base on short notice more than once, and her husband had been commandeered to dangerous missions around the globe never ever taking into consideration whether his wife was pregnant or his children had just made new friends at school. She also knew what it was like to worry about a beloved one on a daily basis, how to cope with the constant fear that something might happen to them. Maggie knew all of this and she wasn't sure how she was supposed to get through it once again. When Ahab had eventually retired from active military service and started working behind a desk, assuming a consulting role at the base, it had taken months until she had learned to not expect a compassionate Navy officer tell her something happened to her husband behind every nightly ring of the phone or urgent knock at the door. And now it would start all over again. How she wished her daughter would spare her dealing with this kind of fear.

She was fearing for Bill, Jr. already, her oldest son, who had followed his father's footsteps into the Navy. But he was tall and strong. A man. Dana was so small and fragile. Not any less fierce than her older brother, probably even more tenacious than he, but wouldn't she easily be outrun and overpowered by a muscled male criminal? Wouldn't she be bullied as a woman in a male-dominated environment? Maggie knew the FBI was as much an old boys' club as the Navy. Her daughter would have to fight herself through the system day in and day out. What a tough path she was choosing for herself.

Maggie sighed quietly but wouldn't voice her inhibitions. She would swallow her fears down and would resist the temptation to ask Dana to stay in the medical field just so her mother would be able to sleep more peacefully. Her daughter had every right to do whatever she wanted. It was her life, her career, her choice, and in a way she admired her guts. She would stand up to any man who underestimated her like she had stood up to her father today. Who would have thought that the tiny rosy bundle she had held prematurely in her arms all those years ago after a complicated pregnancy and difficult childbirth would grow up to become such a powerful and strong personality.

"I'm so proud of you, Dana," Maggie said, working hard though to mask her underlying worries.

"Thanks, mom, but you're the only one I'm afraid. Dad's never going to accept it."

"Don't underestimate your father. Give him some time to get used to the idea."

Dana shook her head. "Let's face it, he's disappointed in me."

"You have to go on your own way, Dana, not on the one your father wants to see you on. He will understand eventually."

"Do you really think so?"

"He's your father, and he loves you no matter what."

Maggie was sure of it. His love for his daughter was infinite. One day he would be able to swallow down his pride and see Dana's choice for what it was, an autonomous decision by his grown-up daughter. Something else was on Maggie's mind though. Her father wasn't the only dominant male figure in Dana's life.

"What's Daniel's reaction to your decision?"

Dana looked away. It took her a moment until she answered her mother. "I'm going to break up with him, mom."

"Oh. Because of this?"

"No...yes...well, I guess it's the straw that broke the camel's back. He's been so patronizing lately. He's not only planned my residency but has also more or less outlined my whole career after that. Can you imagine? I mean, who does he think he is that he acts like my goddamn guardian?"

A wave of relief was rolling over Maggie. She'd always thought that Dana's relationship with Daniel was not sufficiently based on equality although she had never mentioned anything to Dana, Dana was old enough to decide who she dated.

Daniel was Dana's teacher in medical school. He was an accomplished man, married, which bugged Maggie in particular. Not because she saw Dana as an adulteress - it had been the man's own decision to leave his wife and teenage daughter to get involved with one of his students - but because he used her, bathed himself in how she looked up to him. He enjoyed the role of her mentor, both in the medical field as in how to lead her life. Of course, he wanted her to do her residency under his wings in his hospital. It would give him the perfect opportunity to guard her furthermore, to mold her into what he saw in her.

A clear cut was maybe for the best. A completely clean slate. Another professional environment, another city, another man eventually. Maggie would hate to see her independent-minded, self-assured, and autonomous daughter permanently with someone who didn't treat her as an equal. There had to be men out there who saw her inner height and didn’t mistake her for a little girl just because she was petite. But Maggie also knew that Dana loved Daniel, that she had thought not long ago she would share her entire life with him. Breaking up wouldn't be easy.

"I better get going, mom. I don't think dad is coming back inside as long as I'm here."

"But what about dessert? I made your favorite."

Even if it was a bit silly to believe there was even the slightest chance the three of them would be sitting at the table together having dessert, Maggie tried.

"Apple crumble with vanilla sauce and whipped cream?"

"Uh huh," Maggie confirmed.

She had even made the vanilla sauce herself this time. She hadn't done that in a while because of the time-consuming work involved, but the ones you could buy consisted more of sugar and artificial flavor than real bourbon vanilla, and that was what Ahab and Dana liked the most.

"Especially for your father and you."

"You're the best, mom." Dana flew into her arms and hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry I ruined the evening, but I had to tell dad sooner or later. As much as I love your apple crumble, I lost my appetite. I don't think I can get anything down now."

"Take some home, dear. You can have it later, or tomorrow. I made it this morning, it'll persist a few days."

Dana gifted her one of her warm, genuine smiles. "I'd love to."

After Dana had said her goodbye with two Tupperware boxes in her hand and the front door closed shut behind her, Maggie stepped through the screen door out on the patio behind the house. Ahab was sitting in one of the deckchairs. His eyes were closed but he wasn't sleeping. There was an empty beer bottle on the floor and one half-full in his hand. He put it to his mouth and took a swig.

"Has she left?" he asked without opening his eyes.

"Yes. She told me to say goodbye."

He chuckled condescendingly. "There were times she gave me a hug before she left."

"Well, you didn't really make the impression you wanted to be hugged tonight."

He snorted, sat upright, put the bottle to his lips and emptied it in one gulp.

"Shall I get you another one?"

"Are you trying to appease after having stabbed me in the back?"

"I haven't stabbed you in the back, Bill. I just spoke out what I thought was right."

"It's not right that she throws away her medical degree and goes into law enforcement instead. The FBI, for heaven's sake, Maggie! She'll spend her time in a dull governmental building behind a utilitarian desk. She'll have to fight with the audit department over expenses more than she'll take criminals into custody. She'll waste years accomplishing nothing until she realizes she made a mistake." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe the money we paid for medical school was all for naught."

"Haven't you listened at all? She told us that she would specialize in forensic pathology."

"She could be a heart surgeon but wants to become a pathologist? That doesn't make any sense! Why doesn't she see what Daniel is offering her?"

"He might actually be part of the problem."

"Huh?"

"Daniel is part of the problem, Bill," Maggie repeated with more emphasis. "Can't you see that Dana wants to stand on her own two feet? That she wants neither her father nor her partner to tell her what career path to choose? Is that really so hard for you to understand? She wants to make her own decisions."

"You mean she's doing this to get one over on me?"

Maggie sighed. "No, Bill, this has nothing to do with you. Or Daniel. That's exactly the point."

Bill shook his head and put the bottle to his lips to take another swig. Realizing it was empty, he snorted. After contemplating for a moment, he popped a question which had obviously been bothering him for the time he had been out on the patio.

"Uhm...Maggie...what Dana said..."

"Yes, dear?" she said warmly. She had an idea of what was on his mind. They had never spoken about it, not even once since they were married, and she found it ironic in a way that one of their kids had to bring the topic up.

"What she said about you...uh, you giving up teaching," Ahab continued stammering.

"Yes?"

"Would you have rather continued working? Instead of...I mean..."

"Being there for you and the kids?" she completed his thought and added with a smile, "no."

"Hmm," he grunted apparently not fully convinced.

"Times were different then, Ahab. Today, it might have been possible for me to be a teacher and a housewife and mother, but not back then. You were right when you said that I knew what it would be like to be a Navy wife, and I chose to be one. I loved you, and I wanted to have children with you."

"Did you ever..." Instead of finishing the sentence he bit his lower lip.

"Regret it? No. Not a single day." "Hmm," Bill gruntled again, staring at the empty beer bottle in his hands, peeling the label off. "Why does Dana have to be so stubborn?" "Oh, Bill," Maggie laughed good-naturedly, "because we raised her to be an emancipated woman with an independent mind and a strong will. When has Dana ever been inconsiderate or unreasonable? Huh, Bill? I'm sure she's given this much thought, and I'm also sure that the feeling she's disappointing you is hard for her to handle. She adores you, Ahab." "Weird way of showing me," he mumbled, softening a bit. His shoulders, which had been tense were slowly descending, his brows returned to their original spots, and the wrinkles on his forehead were fading. He breathed in deeply and let the tension flow out of his body with a prolonged exhale. Maggie seized the moment to go for his soft spot again. "She's still your Starbuck." His special nickname for her, being the only person allowed to call her like that, never missed having an effect on him. He was relenting even more. "Yes, sure. Of course, she is." Maggie took the empty bottle out of her husband's hand and put it on the floor next to the other. She pushed the second deckchair right beside his, placed herself in it, and intertwined her fingers with his. After a while, she asked, "are you ready for some apple crumble for dessert?" "You made apple crumble?" "It's Dana's and your favorite. The plan was to spoil you a bit tonight." "Did you buy that sugar-sweet sauce again?" "No, I made it myself. Following your mother's recipe." Bill Scully smiled lovingly at his wife and squeezed her hand tenderly. He pulled it up to his mouth and placed a soft kiss on its back. "I don't deserve you. I'm sorry the evening turned out like this. I know how much you like to have your children around. They drop by seldom enough." "It's okay, darling. You said what you had to say. Just don't be too strict with her. She's doing what she feels is right. She's not doing it to purposely contradict you." Bill left it at that for a moment. "I can't believe the money we spent on medical school," he said again and groaned. "Well, you never know, Ahab. Dana will be a medical doctor, one way or another, and who knows what the FBI has in store for her. She might become the Bureau's first female director," she said with a smile. He let that sink in for a moment, and although the fact that his daughter would not become a heart surgeon was still bugging him, this new idea soothed him a little. Maggie could imagine what was going on in his mind. If there was a woman capable of achieving this seemingly unreachable position for a female, it would have to be his Starbuck. "You did give her some dessert to take home, right? She loves your apple crumble." "Sure." Maggie smiled. Despite all the grievances Ahab had aired this evening, he cared very much for Dana. Inside the strict Navy captain was a devoted father; devoted to all his children but particularly to his younger daughter. And even if it seemed to Dana that he had been a dominant husband, having pressured her into a life as a housewife and mother, it had been her own wish to be this exactly, a supporting wife to her husband and a loving mother to her children. Maggie knew Bill treasured her, that he had never even thought of anyone else but her to share his life with. He had always been a loyal husband and family man, and she had relied on him to provide for her and the kids in return. She never had the feeling she had missed or lost anything because she had once decided to marry him. On the contrary, he had given her four wonderful children and a sheltered life. For that, she was infinitely thankful. She loved him.

#xf fanfiction #margaret scully #no mulder #pre season 1 #young scully

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idreamof-music · 5 years ago

Text

Grad Night is for Lovers

Pairing: Peter Parker x Female Reader

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: Slight one-sided angst and tons of terrible writing!

Prompt: “Hey Cutie”

Summary: Alcohol is just liquid courage and Katherine needs that courage to face Peter Parker. Grad night is the best time for last chance confessions.

A/N: This was written for @hillsnholland’s birthday writing challenge. This is my first writing piece EVER so please prepare for tons of terrible writing. Constructive criticism is completely welcomed.

“Katherine, you need to put that book down and live a little.”I looked up from the novel in my lap, meeting MJ’s stare with my uninterested eyes. Rolling them, I put my book in the bag next to me and stood up. “Says the girl who can’t seem to put her books down long enough to socialize during lunch. I didn’t even want to come to this party, MJ. All I see are a bunch of drunk eighteen-year-olds sucking face with one another. That’s fun? That’s living?”

“Dude, we just graduated. We deserve to let loose a little.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes right back at me, handing me a plastic cup.

Scoffing, I peered into the red Solo cup, a subtle coconut scent hitting my nostrils. Deciding she had a point; I took a large sip. We all literally just graduated earlier in the day and most of us would be leaving for college over the summer, some further away than others. It was our chance to be young and dumb before we were thrown into what I assumed would be hell compared to high school. After four years of being a good child, keeping textbooks practically glued to my face and busting my ass at after-school jobs to save up for college, I sure as hell deserved this. With that thought in mind, I downed the drink in my hand and followed MJ to find something a bit stronger.

A couple hours and a few drinks later, MJ and I had found ourselves sitting next to a pool out back, giggling at the cringey couples “dancing” inside. My eyes shifted to a pair of boys exiting the house and making their way through the yard. Brown hair, brown eyes, and a signature science pun tee caught my eye. Naturally, MJ had noticed my silence and craned her neck to find what was currently holding my attention.

Peter Parker was probably the only guy at school to have piqued my interest. We shared a majority of our classes. He was also MJ’s best friend, or at least male best friend, which meant he was around a lot. Peter was always so clueless, but constantly happy which was the complete opposite of who I was, and it honestly got under my skin. At first. At some point in our friendship, my irritation turned into a fascination with the boy.

“So…You gonna make a move on Parker before he goes off to MIT?” MJ shakes my shoulder as I laugh at her.

“It’s three hours away, that’s barely considered “going off to,” I reminded her. She mumbled a whatever and I sighed. “You really think I should? She nodded frantically, grinning ear to ear. I brushed my hair over my shoulder before getting onto slightly unbalanced feet and fixing my skirt. “Ok, how do I look?”

“Hot. You look hot. Now go get him, tiger!” She cheered me on as I shakily made my way to Peter, who was seated near Ned on a lawn swing, animatedly talking.

I watched his hands fly around the air as he talked, a smile gracing the edges of his lips. It was cute, that boyish charm of his. That charm was what ended up being the metaphorical nail in the coffin for my crush on him. My heart skipped a beat as I got closer to them, the quickly fading alcohol in my system is the only courage keeping me going.

“Hey, cutie! Can I sit here?” I motioned to the open spot next to Peter. He snapped his head up and upon recognizing me, smiled.

“Yeah, um, just let me move a little.” Before he could move closer to Ned, the boy stood up, quickly shuffling his body away from the swing.

“Don’t worry about it, I think I saw MJ waving at me. I’m gonna go talk to her a bit. Catch up with you guys later!” With that, Ned bounded off in search of MJ, leaving a disgruntled Peter and a confused look on my face.

I sat down in the now empty seat that Ned had previously been sat in and pulled on the sleeves of my sweater. A small, shy peek over at Peter proved he was just as nervous as I was. Kicking my feet at the ground, I sighed. “How is Aunt May doing? It’s been a while since I’ve been over.” Peter shot me a smile, breaking the ice between us, ice that had never been there before.

“She’s good. Ya know, same old Aunt May. With me leaving soon, she’s been pretty mopey.” That last part held sadness to it, just a slight bit.

“You’ll only be a few hours away though. I’m sure you’ll visit whenever you can, right? I mean, I’ll be in town still and can keep her company. It’s not the same as if you were to visit her, I’m sure...” I took a deep breath at the end of my rambling, looking at Peter through the bangs that had fallen in my face.

He smiled at me, a smile that made my heart melt. “I think she’d like that. She’s always bugging me about when you’re coming over next.” A blush formed across my cheeks at that. “Of course, I plan to visit as much as I can. She would literally kill me if I didn’t. We laughed together at that accurate statement.

Aunt May was not one to cross. She had proved that when she caught me sneaking out of Peter’s room after a late-night movie marathon back in sophomore year. It was a school night, and with all that Peter had going on, she had strict rules about friends staying over during the weeknights. That rule had been broken many times by the two of us, but that was the first time we had been caught. Definitely not the last time though.

“Are you excited for NYU?” I looked over at Peter and gave a small shrug.

“Yeah, I guess so. Mom is still pissed I’m not choosing something science related that can make “big bucks”. Dad is on board though, but I don’t know. I worry too much about what she thinks of me.” I wrung my hands together in my lap, looking down at the cracked polish on my nails.

“You decided to go the writing route, right?” I nodded and kicked my feet a little. “I think that’s a cool thing to do. Your mom will probably come around once she sees how happy it makes you. Don’t worry too much,” he reassured me. I mumbled thanks, shooting him a small smile before letting it grow silent between us.

I leaned my head back against the swing, closing my eyes and listening to the party still in full swing around us. The chill air hitting my face cooled the heat in my cheeks from our close proximity. At this point, any alcohol that was in my system had faded. Here I was, sitting on a lawn swing with Peter Parker, the guy I had fallen for. All the times we had been alone in the past never felt like this. There was a new electrical charge in the air between us.

A warm hand on my knee jolted me from my thoughts. Whipping my head to the side, a pair of wide, brown eyes met my hazel ones. When had Peter gotten so close? I blinked a few times and smiled at him. “Have I ever told you how adorable you are?” Well, there went the filter on my mouth.

Peter chuckled, shaking his head. “No, I don’t think you have. It’s not too late though,” he playfully whispered, leaning closer to me.

In mock shock, I slapped a hand to my chest and gaped at him. “Peter Parker, are you flirting with me?” A grin spread across his face, cheeks turning a rosy shade that accentuated the freckles across them. A shrug of his shoulders and he had turned his attention to the hand still on my lap.

I watched as wheels seemed to be turning in his head, his thumb rubbing circles into the fabric of the socks covering my knee. Oh, how I wished I could have seen or heard what was going on in there. His bottom lip was caught between his teeth, something that happened when he was nervous or thinking. The sweet innocence he had was just the icing to the cake. A man normally wouldn’t be called beautiful, but when it comes to Peter, that just goes right out the window.

“Peter?” I whispered. I was almost hoping that he couldn’t hear me over the music that was playing, but he did. He lifted his head, brown eyes searching my face. There was a softness to them that I swear I had seen before. Before I lost all confidence, I made my move. Smacking my lips into his, I nearly knocked the boy off the swing.

Strong arms wrapped around my waist, steadying me before I could completely fall on him. His lips were still beneath my mine and I had faintly heard the squeak of surprise slip past them. The lack of positive reaction caused a million negative thoughts to run through my mind, each one filled with regret. How could I have been so stupid to misread him like that? Sure, we had flirted a ton throughout the years, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was into me.

As I started to pull away Peter sprung into action. His arms tightened around me and his lips parted sucking my bottom lip into his mouth. I couldn’t hold back the gasp that left my throat. And that was all it took for me to throw myself into him and this kiss. Our lips melted together into a perfect rhythm, nipping gently at each other’s lips, and hands finding their places in each other’s hair or wrapped around someone’s neck. This was it. This had to be what heaven felt like.

After what felt like ages, yelling from across the yard broke us apart. Both of us looked around out of breath, trying to find the yelling, only to spot MJ and Ned by the back door. The excitement written on their faces said they had watched a good portion of what just went down. “About time, you dorks!” MJ yelled at us. I flipped her off, laughing and shaking my head. When I turned to look at Peter, he was smiling, nose and cheeks pink from our kissing. I placed my hand on his neck and pressed a sweet kiss onto his cheek.

“You’ll be visiting me at MIT when I leave, right?” He asked nervously. That pure look on his face made me smile.

“Of course, I will, Peter. You’re not getting rid of me now.” I pulled him towards me by the fabric of his shirt, picking up where we left off, our lips meeting much slower this time.

This was never how I imagined grad night to go. It was a million times better than expected. With Peter’s lips on mine and his arms around me, I felt safe. The world couldn’t touch us. Our summer was bound to be just as amazing as tonight was. The future seemed optimistic despite the setbacks we had over our years of friendship. I couldn’t wait to see what was in store for us.

#t&t birthday wc

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somedayonbroadway · 5 years ago

Note

Avengers au? 👀

Avengers AU

Okay, so this one is complicated 😂. Me and my friend @bexlynne never fully figured out which characters should go where and debated for a long time about who should be Cap. It was between Davey and Spot. I think we decided Davey.

So here’s a little snippet of the list right now with the characters we know for sure (also note that I have a lot of different Avengers AU ideas and all of the characters are switched around plenty).

Characters

Jack Kelly- Iron Man

David Jacobs- Capitan America

Racetrack Higgins- Black Widow

Hot Shot- Hawkeye

Spot Conlon- The Hulk

Katherine Plumber- Pepper Potts

Les Jacobs- Bucky

Crutchie Morris- Rhodey

Smalls- Spiderman

Romeo- Ned

Morris- Thor

Oscar- Loki

Snyder- Thanos

Mike- Quicksilver

Ike- Scarlett Witch

Medda- Nick Fury

Albert- Starlord

Elmer- Groot

Riddle- Doctor Strange

Specs- Vision

This is what I have 😂. I know there’s a lot left out. I’m gonna give you the basics of the original gang-

Jack Kelly

Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.

He is a cocky, sarcastic, brilliant man who was orphaned at fifteen while studying at MIT and left a fortune by his father

He’s a womanizer when he younger.

He takes over his father’s company, continuing to design weapons and armors and make more money.

One day, while travelling to advertise his creations, he gets caught in a booby trap and is captured by enemy forces. He is severely injured and wakes up to find himself strapped to a car battery. The other man who had been taken hostage, a physicist, explains that the battery is the only thing keeping the shrapnel in his chest from reaching his heart.

Jack manages to escape, only because the physicist gives up his own life to protect him.

Jack is only twenty one when this happens.

Jack blames himself for the other man’s death.

All in all, Jack slowly becomes mentally unstable and more and more depressed after this incident.

Jack’s assistant, Katherine Plumber, a woman he’s always been infatuated with but never acted on, does her best to take care of him and help him with whatever he needs.

Jack does his best to push her away.

It doesn’t work.

Jack is in pain a lot as he makes himself a battery to keep the shrapnel away from his heart, knowing he can’t remove it without getting himself killed

He creates the iron man suit when someone threatens him and his company and him personally and tries to tell the media that Iron Man is his personal body guard, only for him to have a meeting with the press and come clean, blatantly stating, “I am Iron Man” to the public.

Jack never had a great relationship with his father, James Kelly (who he is in fact named after) and finds that his father was obsessed with this hero who died years ago called Capitan America

Jack spends his whole life trying to live up to this legend of a man as a child and it eventually becomes the real strain on Jack’s relationship with his dad.

When Jack first finds out his parents are dead, he tried like hell to find their murderer who shot them in their own car after running them off the road.

Eventually he gives up, believe it to be a random murder

When A Miss Medda Larkin approaches him about something called the “Avenger’s initiative” he turns it down immediately.

Once he gets dragged into it, as he likes to think (forces his way back in, is how it actually works) and he meets the rest of the team, he ends up forming a sort of makeshift family with them and does his best to make sure he is the one in the most danger at all times, wanting to spare the rest of their lives

He loves his team, even if he won’t say it.

David Jacobs

Was born prematurely and grew up small. He was malnourished and scrawny and short than everyone around him.

His little brother Les grew to be taller than him and stronger than him and David feels inferior to him, even though he loves his little brother like nothing else

David’s dream has always been to fight for his country.

Les gets to. David, no matter how many fake names he uses and how many tests he tries to pass, does not.

During examination that David is sure he’s going to be arrested at, he is approached by a scientist who asks him odd questions but eventually tells him that he’s going to go to war to defend his country. And David is ecstatic.

Though Davey is not the strongest, he proves to be the smartest and bravest and most worthy soldier at training camp. The reason he’s there is so that the scientist that approached him before can conduct an experiment on him and make him into a super soldier

Davey agrees

David is made into a super soldier, but instead of becoming an actual soldier becomes more of an add for patriotism.

Until one day he hears about a group of soldiers that are captures not far from the camp he’s set to entertain at.

Les is one of the captured soldiers

David goes against his orders and tracks down the hostages, freeing them all and finding his little brother strapped down to a table like some kind of experiment

Les is confused when he sees that his brother is actually taller and stronger than him.

They only barely manage to back it out of the collapsing building alive.

After this, Davey does get to fight against Nazi forces. He fights against several attacks with his brother as his right hand man and a woman named Peggy who he’s falling in love with

One of the missions that Davey is sent on with Les gets them into a moving train, which Les is shot in just before he falls out of the car down a cliff. He is reported dead.

David blames himself for this

Another attack ends with David in a plane, trying to save an entire city of people by diving down into the ocean. He talks to Peggy as he goes under, promising her a dance as neither of them have ever had the opportunity to slow dance with someone before.

He wakes up 70 years later

David is practically dragged into the Avengers.

He never truly gets used to the 21st century.

He and Jack do not get off to a great start

David is physically only three or four years older than Jack but Jack still calls him “old man”

David grows very close to the team he is given.

He’d protect them all with his life.

Racetrack Higgins

Antonio Higgins was orphaned in Russia when he was three years old.

He was found by an organization that took him and claimed him as their own.

Growing up, he was brainwashed and heavily trained in combat and in interrogation techniques.

Antonio Higgins was named after he was found. He doesn’t know his birth name.

Antonio was raised to be one of the most lethal Russian spies in history. He was basically psychologically programmed with false memories to ensure his loyalty to the organization

Race was brainwashed to believe he’d been a ballerina

Antonio is sent to the US to break into Kelly Industries and basically frame Jack for starting a terrorist attack.

Antonio is met with Iron Man instead.

Iron Man never gets a good look at him, but ultimately Antonio gets injured and runs. He lays low for a couple days only to be met with an ex-criminal now working for an organization called SHEILD. Who eventually becomes Race’s only friend and convinces Race to leave the people that raised him behind him.

After only a few months away from that, Antonio is recaptured and brainwashed all over again.

He’s sent to the US again only to be met with his only friend who held him break free of the control that this organization had over his mind and Antonio eventually is recruited by SHEILD as one of their best informants and combat specialists

Once Antonio becomes apart of the Avengers, Jack, who met him as a geeky assistant to Katherine a few months ago while undercover, calls him Race because he’s so quick

Race becomes close with the entire team, almost more so than the others as he’d grown up with no one to rely on but himself. Race is younger than Jack when he meets him. It amazed them all how much he’s been through.

Yes Race and Davey go through all the events of winter soldier and yes they are still like brothers when it’s all over, but Race discovers that it’s okay to have feelings for a man (even if that man isn’t David)

The first time Race can ever recall crying is after the events of Infinity War

Hot Shot

Luca Romano began as a normal kid.

He is orphaned when he was young, much like Race, only he has a brother.

His brother and him run away and join the circus where they are taken under the wing of a swordsman

Luca learns a lot about acrobatics and pickpocketing tricks.

This swordman eventually teaches Luca how to shoot a bow and arrow. This becomes Luca favorite trick and a talent he practices at for years to perfect.

He never misses.

A couple years after meeting this swordsman, Luca figures out that this man is a wanted criminal who he tried to turn over to the police

The man turned on him immediately and tries to kill him.

Eventually, the swordsman gets away and Luca’s brother follows him, stating that he’d rather have a warm bed and hot meal than the morals that Luca did

So Luca is on his own.

He stays at the circus and is known as Hawkeye, the world’s greatest marksman

Luca only ever wanted to help people. However, after a misunderstanding, he is perceived as a criminal and runs to not be taken into police custody

He’s seen hovering over a man who’d been stabbed and was bleeding out on the ground. He’d only been trying to help

SHEILD had an agent out at the time, watching the crime and going in to stop it. That’s when they found him. They brought him in. Luca thinks they’re arresting him. But they’re recruiting him.

They train him. Since he’s young, they basically help raise him. (He’s in his mid teens when they find him)

Eventually he’s sent out to find a spy that had broken into Kelly Industries. He’s told to eliminate him. And at this point, they’d taught him that sometimes bad people needed to be taken care of.

So he had every intention in doing it.

Until he met Antonio

Antonio reminded him of himself. Alone. Lied to. Nowhere to go. So he tried to help him. And they got close until Antonio was taken away

Luca makes it his goal to find Antonio (who is younger than him and reminds him of his little brother)

It takes about a year for that to happen

Once Hawkeye becomes an Avenger, Jack gives him the nickname “Hot Shot”

Hot Shot basically ends up being one of the most responsible avengers. He ends up having a family that only Race knows about and basically adopts Race as a little brother and teaches him the difference between good and bad

I love the Hawkeye/Blackwidow relationship

Spot Conlon

Sean Conlon is a brilliant scientist

During an experiment with a gamma bomb, he sees a teenager accidentally driving onto the range and rushed to save him by shoving him into a trench, but takes the gamma hit himself

He wakes up without a scratch

But that night, after one too many reporters manages to piss him off, he transforms into a big green monster, unable to control himself and destroying his own home.

Sean grew up an orphan. Passed from foster home to foster home. He grew up with issues already. Anger management issues, being one of them.

He’s horrified at the thought of hurting someone but has always been unable to control his fits of rage.

He tries to let his boss’s company take him in, expecting them to kill him if they can’t reverse whatever was done to him

After hundreds of tests and more torture than anything else, Sean tries to off himself, only to transform and have “the other guy” spit the bullet out of his throat.

Rather than try to continue fighting this curse he’s been given, he breaks out of the facility he’s locked in and focuses strongly on helping others rather than hurting them.

He travels all over the world and puts his scientific knowledge to use as he tries to cure diseases in other countries.

Sean avoids any relationship he can, not wanting to get close to people that he could potentially cause harm to

That’s why, when years later he finds himself being followed, he tries to scare the person off

Only to find a young man who escaped his every attempt at losing him

Though, he does manage to scare Race by pretending to get ready to transform. Race pretends not to be phased, even though he jumped

He gets dragged into the avengers and starts to fall for Race who is even more emotionless than he is.

Or at least, pretends to be

Lemme know what other characters you wanna hear about! What scenes or storylines you wanna hear about or see!

I do have other Avengers/Superhero AUs

Such as-

Jack as Thor and Race as Loki

The Spiderman AU where Race is Spiderman and Jack is Tony Stark

Another Spiderman AU where Jack is Aunt May and Race is Spiderman and Crutchie is Ned

Lemme know if you wanna hear about any of those!

For more AUs, check out my list and send me an ask 👇 lemme know if there’s any AUs I left out of my list!

Thanks for reading!

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salvatoreschool · 6 years ago

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Legacies recap: Hope's battle with Malivore has a shocking end

There are a lot of things that make a good season finale. Shocking twists. Romantic confessions. And, of course, answers to the big questions posed throughout the year. Not only did this Legacies finale have all of those things, but it managed to bring together all the best elements of the season in a way that makes the entire season, as a whole, better. With every piece of the puzzle that was put together in this finale, you realized that the show had been setting the stage for it for a long time. This hour was funny. It was sad. It was shocking. And it offered up the kind of payoff that only the best finales can.

We start with MG’s mom showing up and tranquilizing both Nia and her son before moving her son to the secret tunnel underneath the school. (Mystic Falls loves secret tunnels, but did this exist in Vampire Diaries? I don’t remember a tunnel under the Salvatore mansion but a lot has changed.) MG’s mom is trying to get him to safety by sending him away from the school, which Triad is currently invading. It’s there that MG spots a blood fountain — it is even creepier than it sounds — which is preventing the students at the school from using magic. Realizing he can’t leave his friends, MG goes to hug his mom but instead, he uses her own tranquilizer gun on her.

With Dorian and Ric stuck at a roadblock — someone blew up Wickery Bridge, which is arguably the least-safe bridge in the world — the students are left to help Triad locate a chalice, which they believe to be the third artifact that can unlock Malivore. Shockingly, Hope is not into helping Triad. She, Josie, and Lizzie head into Ric’s office to find the school cell phone and call him. But that’s not all they find: Without any magic at the school, a cloaking spell on one of Ric’s bookshelves has worn off, and on it is a red box. More on that later.

Hope calls Ric, who asks her to do nothing, but of course, she ignores him. Ric then leaves Dorian behind to find his way back to the school, and in the meantime, Agent Burr from Triad decides to have a little fun and shoot one of the girls with a Malivore bullet. (It was formed from the pit and weaponized by Triad scientists. It can break the skin of any supernatural being and once it does, it will disintegrate its target from the inside.) Lizzie, finally about to have her martyr moment, tries to take the bullet, but Josie beats her to it.

The Triad agents then lock all three girls up, which leads to my favorite line of the episode, almost entirely because of its delivery. When the girls are talking to one another in their cell, a Triad agent tells them to be quiet, at which point Lizzie yells, “We’re not in the prison yard, asshat!” I love her so much.

Thankfully, MG isn’t far behind, and he knocks out the guard. He quickly tells Hope about the fountain, which she plans to shut down, and after that, they tell her to go after Landon. She’s been the hero all year. They got this.

Speaking of Landon, Clarke takes him to a Triad warehouse to find the third artifact, and when Landon brings him a fake chalice, Clarke reveals it was all a test. Plus, Landon didn’t have to look for the third artifact anyway. Does he remember taking the first two? Nope. He did it without realizing. And he’s done the same thing this time: The third artifact is in his pocket.

Once he hands it over to Clarke, they sit and wait for the next monster to show up. Clarke’s plan is to let said monster take the artifact back to Malivore and do their dirty work for them. And while they wait, Clarke tells Landon about his fate: Landon is the key to Malivore creating a new species — anyone else having Klaus Mikaelson hybrid flashbacks? — but he’s more than that: He’s Malivore’s host.

While Landon digests that terrible news, none other than the Headless Horseman shows up for the artifact. Clarke tosses it to him, but Landon decides to grab hold of the artifact so that the Horseman picks up Landon and takes him out of there. Doing his best Damon Salvatore impression, Clarke gives us his, “Dick move, brother.”

Back at the school, Ric arrives using the tunnels and shows Hope how to shut down the fountain, which is actually very easy. He then discovers that Josie was shot … but so was Hope? There’s a bullet hole in her sweater, but the bullet didn’t pierce her skin. Why? We don’t get that answer just yet, but we do find out that the fountain is a dark object that belonged to the Travelers, another Vampire Diaries villain. With that, Ric goes to save Josie, and Hope tells him to try giving Josie her blood.

Unfortunately, Ric barely makes it anywhere before running into an armed Triad guard, but Dorian shows up and saves the day. (Now he’s definitely getting that raise!)

After Lizzie realizes she can’t siphon the bullet out of Josie, the sisters apologize to each other and agree to go help MG. If Josie is going out, it’s going to be in a blaze of glory. And as soon as the fountain is disarmed, MG signals the troops, and every single student at the Salvatore School fights back (including Pedro!).

Ultimately, Rafael goes full invisible wolf thanks to a cloaking spell and takes down the terrible Agent Burr. Well, he takes him down temporarily. And when Burr gets back up, Nia is there to turn him to stone and save MG. (I sort of love them.) MG then stops Kaleb from killing the guy, because as he tells him, they have to be better. And with that in mind, MG confronts his mom and tells her that if Triad is their family legacy, they can’t be family anymore.

As for Ric, he shows up just in time to give Josie Hope’s blood, which again took me back to the Vampire Diaries season 2 finale when Katherine showed up just in time to give Damon Klaus’ blood. Josie recovers, but she has something to show Lizzie: She stole the red box they found in their dad’s office, and inside is something that looks very familiar to them both. (Vampire Diaries fans will recognize it as the ascendant, but I won’t spoil it beyond that at this point.)

Ric then calls a school meeting, where he tells the students the truth about the fountain: MG’s mom knew about it because Ric had it installed as a contingency in the case that the world ever needed to be protected from his students and not the other way around. He tells his students that he has betrayed them and proposes that the honor council decide whether Ric should remain their headmaster moving forward.

Back at Triad, the Horseman throws the third artifact into the pit, but Hope uses magic to stop it just before it makes contact. She then puts the artifact aside to kick some Headless Horseman ass in one of my favorite scenes of the hour. She uses her fight training while Landon uses his sci-fi knowledge to figure out how to kill this thing. The answer? Kill the head, the body dies. “That’s science fiction!” Landon yells when they defeat the Horseman.

He then runs up and kisses Hope, only stopping so that she can tell him she loves him. And he loves her too. But as sweet as that is, now isn’t exactly the time for romance because Clarke is back … and he just threw the third artifact into the pit.

Landon, going full badass, uses the Headless Horseman’s whip to snap Clarke’s neck before updating Hope on the whole “Malivore is my father” thing. And once she’s caught up, Hope concocts a plan … but it’s not one Landon’s going to like. So, she kisses him and then snaps his neck. (Don’t worry, he’ll come back. He’s a phoenix, remember?!)

Hope then calls Ric with her plan: Malivore was created by the blood of a werewolf, a witch, and a vampire, and only they could destroy him. But nature created a loophole with Hope. She’s the tribrid. The Malivore bullet didn’t affect her. Her blood cured Josie. She’s not a cosmic mistake, and her purpose is clear: She’s the answer to all of this.

Hope tells Ric that she finally understands why her dad sacrificed himself for her, and furthermore, she finally realizes that she has friends. Maybe she would’ve realized that sooner if she hadn’t been beating herself up for years. Ric tells her that he’s proud of her, and she asks him to have the maintenance staff pack up her room. As for Ric, he’ll need to burn her files. When she does this, she’s going to be wiped from their memories, and she needs it to work to keep them from the pain of losing her. Ric promises to do just that, and she hangs up.

But before she can jump into the pit, Clarke wakes up. It seems a snapped neck doesn’t kill him. (I guess he was molded from mud? That’s a weird sentence.) And surprisingly, he doesn’t want to stop Hope. He claims he was only resurrecting Malivore because he figured dear old dad would find a way out eventually and he’s terrified of him. But if Hope can kill him, he’s all for it.

Hope, being the badass that she is, decides to do a little mimicking spell. She learned it in second grade. And this way, when she jumps into the pit, Clarke, well, he follows the leader.

After Hope does that, we cut back to the school where poor Raf is stuck as a wolf and Ric is burning the files. It’s clear he can’t figure out why he was doing that, but then he finds the note he wrote himself: “Fort Valley, GA. Find Landon.” Ric then calls the recently-back-from-the-dead Landon and neither of them can figure out what’s going on. Ric mentions the note and Landon asks the million-dollar question: “Who left it?” Ric tells him, “I have no idea.”

Finally, Landon looks to where the pit used to be and it’s just a big hole in the ground. Malivore is no more … but the same can be said of Hope.

Talk about a hero journey for Hope Mikaelson. Not only did this finale complete that arc for her, but it dealt with things that dated as far back as The Originals. Plus, it set up a number of new mysteries for next season, the biggest of which being: What are they going to do about Hope … once they remember her?

The Vampire Diaries universe has always excelled at finales, and this one was no different. With Hope’s victory, the show achieved its own.

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