#whoooo this one took a bit to write

[m-musings]

Winging It: Buggy The Clown X Winged! Fem! Reader Pt. 1

A/N: bless the one piece fans for getting me into the show and introducing me to this man because he is just so FJSCBKGHLKDGW, like you feel me? anywaysss, first time writing for one piece, let's do this whoooo!

(part 2 here! :] )

Word Count: 2.7k Summary: Buggy asks (Y/n) to help out with an unusual task, chaos ensues. Warnings: a dude being a creep to reader later on and a little bit of ooc on Buggy's behalf, but other than that, just some good ol' fluff!

It all started out as a perfectly normal day.

After another busy day on the Big Top and another successful "show", Buggy had given the majority of his crew the day off to do whatever they wished.

As soon as (Y/n) was able, she unfurled her feathery wings and flew up to the crows nest, needing to get away from the madness down on the deck for a while.

Closing her eyes, (Y/n) took a deep breath of the refreshing ocean air as the breeze blew softly against her face.

Having joined Buggy's crew a few months earlier, she had never expected her life to change as much as it did as fast as it did.

(Y/n) originally came from a life as the sole inhabitant of a tiny island in the middle of the East Blue. One day, the Big Top and its crew happened to be sailing by and stopped to search the island for any supplies they could find.

Fearing the worst, (Y/n) grabbed her baseball bat and and flew out of her hut to stop the pirates from getting any closer.

After fending off a few of the crew members, Buggy swiftly stepped in to try and diffuse the situation, being unusually calm and level headed as he addressed (Y/n).

Realizing her wings could be useful to him in shows and in pillaging, Buggy invited her to join him and his pirates instead of struggling to keep herself alive and entertained on her little islet.

With a hesitant but quick decision, (Y/n) agreed, asking for some time to pack some personal items before Buggy and the rest of the crew led her back to the boat, intent on celebrating a new member of the gang.

Quickly learning the ropes of pirating and climbing up the ranks of the crew, (Y/n) eventually became a high ranking member, just behind Mohji and Buggy himself.

She even managed to become friends with the quirky captain, to the the slight disbelief of the rest of their crewmates. In addition, after getting to know each other a bit more, that friendship slowly turned into a (huge) crush on (Y/n)'s part, but neither Buggy nor anyone else needed to know that part.

And even though the start of her pirating adventure was a little strange, (Y/n) could never say she missed her old life. Being apart of the Big Top Crew gave her the family and friends she was sorely missing on her island.

Reveling in the quiet of the air, (Y/n) smiled to herself as she thought of her new existence as the Big Top's resident trapeze artist, grateful that she now had the world at her fingertips, plus people to fight beside and fight for.

As she reminisced upon the past, her eyebrows perked up when she heard ropes creaking from somewhere down below.

"Hey doll! Figured I'd find you up here!" Grunted a voice from beside her.

She cracked one of her eyes open to see Buggy climbing up the rigging, the tail of his bandana flowing behind him.

"Hey, Cap! Did you need something?"

"Nah, not right now. But I might once we get to the island we're headed to. If the winds are good, we should get there in the next 2 days."

"Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot! What's so special about this island anyway? Isn't the stop just for us to stock up again before we head out to meet Alvida?" (Y/n) questioned, sitting down on the floor of the crows nest as she scootched over to make some room for Buggy.

"That's part of it, yes, but the main reason we're stopping is because a couple of our cannons were destroyed in our last fight with the Marines. There's a few weaponsmiths in a city there that are willing to sell us a few new ones if we can negotiate a good price for both of us."

"So we need them to agree to our bargain so we don't get demolished by another battle on the way to meet Alvida?"

"Exactly! You're one smart cookie.

"Hmm, I try." She shrugged with pleased grin, her wings fluffing out in sync.

"You sure do, (Y/n/n). Anyways, I came to see if you would be willing to come with me, just to make sure nothing fishy happens while I'm not paying attention. Maybe pretend to be my arm candy to trick them, y'know?"

"Me? Can't someone, like, Cabaji do it? He's got way more experience with this stuff than I do."

"He's gonna be in charge of the ship while we're gone. Plus, I mean, you're the only one who would make spending time with dumbasses like these smith guys bearable. You would save me of literally dying of boredom."

"Pfft, I doubt that" Answered (Y/n) as she rolled her eyes at the clown's exaggeration.

Buggy chuckled, smiling softly at the girl as he rested his arm atop her shoulder.

The action causes a very subtle blush to appear on her face, which she tries to keep hidden by scratching at her neck.

"So whadya say, huh? Wanna go on a little adventure with me?"

(Y/n) sighed with a sputter of her lips before turning to answer the blue haired man.

"Sure, Captain, I'll come along. It could be kinda fun."

"Aww, thanks (Y/n), you're the best! Even better than Mohji! But don't tell him that." Whispered Buggy as he jokingly cupped his hand over his mouth.

"You're ridiculous, Captain." she laughed softly, bumping her shoulder with his.

"And I take pride in that. It's all I got goin' for me, after all." Chuckled Buggy, who shrugged and leaned back in reply.

(Y/n) gave him an amused grin in reply before shifting her eyes back towards the big blue ocean that surrounded them.

The two then sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before the voice of another crewmate called out for Buggy from somewhere on the main deck.

"Well, sweets, duty calls. See you later, huh?" Buggy said with a salute before he made his way back down the rigging.

As he disappeared from sight, (Y/n) bashfully put her head in her hands as she tried not to overthink the nickname her captain had given her.

"Oh, damn.... what have I gotten myself into?..." (Y/n) questioned herself as she placed her head against her knees.

After a few more minutes of sitting by herself while she scanned the horizon, Buggy yelled out, calling the crew back to the deck for another show.

With a small shake of her head, (Y/n) stood up, stretched, and flew down to gather with the rest of the troupe.

Just as Buggy had said, the Big Top had reached it's island destination a couple days later. Thankfully, there wasn't many Marines in this town, meaning the crew could go into town to stretch their legs on land and get any supplies they might need for the rest of the trip.

Still on the ship, (Y/n) sat below deck as she tried to find something other than her circus costume to wear, wanting to be able to blend into the crowds better or just in case a high ranking Marine or someone from the World Government showed up and recognized her alongside Buggy.

Rummaging through her chest of clothes, her wings fluttered as she finally found a simple black tank top and a pair of jeans.

After placing the clothing on her bed and gliding over to a nearby vanity to do some basic makeup, she heard a knock at her door while she applied some light rouge to her face.

"Come in, it's open!" She announced as she grabbed another brush from the vanity drawer.

Looking behind her using the mirror, she saw a familiar orange pirate hat pop into view.

"Are you decent?" Buggy said as he entered the room, his disembodied hands floating in front of his face to cover his eyes

"Yes, Captain, you can open your eyes if you want." (Y/n) giggled as she put on some finishing touches of makeup.

Popping off one of his fingers to glance at the girl, he gasped lightly as he finally saw her face.

"Wow, you look fantastic!" Buggy said with an impressed nod.

"Really? It's not much different than my usual casual looks..." Claimed (Y/n) as she timidly placed a hand upon her cheek.

"Either way, angel, you look good. But I suppose that's beside the point. I just came to tell you to be ready to go by sundown. I'll be waiting on the dock, Don't be late." He winked before leaving the room.

With a huff as she tried to compose herself, (Y/n) stood up to get dressed and mentally prepare herself for the night.

Within just a few short hours, the sun had finally set upon the island, and right on cue, (Y/n) left her quarters and strutted over to the deck railing to see Buggy down on the pier waiting for her.

"Ah, (Y/n) there you are! I was worried for a sec, thought you were gonna chicken out on me!"

"No, I'm here. Someone has gotta keep an eye on you!"

"Well, I'm glad that someone is you. Shall we go?" Buggy motioned as (Y/n) climbed down to meet him.

"Yes, we shall, mon capitaine!" (Y/n) quipped as he held her head up high with a light giggle.

"C'mon, let's get going." Chuckled Buggy in response as the two made their way out of the marina.

After a minute or so of idle chatter about their days, (Y/n) spoke up with a question she had been meaning to ask.

"What do we do if they don't agree to give us the cannons for the price you set?"

"Well If that happens, I guess we'll just have to... wing it!" Buggy quipped as he gave the girl a sly grin.

"Oh, ha ha, very funny!" (Y/n) fake laughed as she playfully smacked Buggy's back with one of her wings.

"Thank you! I am funny!" Buggy declared as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, careful to avoid the feathers on her back.

(Y/n) bit her bottom lip in reply as she moved her gaze to the cobblestone ground beneath them.

"So where exactly is this weapons store at?"

"Not far, we come to this place every so often so I know the quickest way to get there."

(Y/n) nodded in acknowledgement as Buggy began to tell her some fun stories about his past adventures here.

About 15 minutes later, Buggy made an excited noise as he realized where they were.

"Ok, (Y/n/n), the weaponsmiths store is just up ahead, I'll lead you there." He announced, taking her hand until they found the place they needed to be.

As the door swung open, a little bell rang overhead, signaling to the two workers that someone had entered the shop.

"Gentlemen! How's it going, am I late to the party?!"

"Ah, you must be the guy that contacted us the other day! Nah, you're right on time! Did you bring cash?" Asked one of the men who (Y/n) assumed was the shop owner.

Buggy rolled his eyes as he pulled out a large stack of berry from his pocket and placed it onto a nearby counter, in front of the younger man with black hair.

"Perfect! If you follow me, I can show you the canons we currently have on stock." the older of the two men said, leading Buggy past a few rows of shelves and cabinets to another part of the store.

Just before they rounded the corner, Buggy and (Y/n) gave each other a reassuring nod.

After a brief moment of looking around at the various weapons and items scattered across the room, (Y/n)'s attention was grabbed by the sound of someone behind her clearing her throat.

She slowly whirled back around to see the younger of the two shopkeepers looking her up and down.

"Hey gorgeous, how ya doin' on this fine evening?" The man who stayed at the counter smirked, looking at (Y/n) with something dangerous flashing in his eyes

"Fine, thanks..." (Y/n) giving him a polite smile

"So, you uh, doing anything tonight?"

"Just getting those cannons, then we're headed back out."

"Aw come on, you couldn't stay for... say, one drink with me at the bar in town?"

"Um, thanks but no thanks, I've got stuff to do back on our ship." Responded the girl as she took a few steps backwards

"Are you sure? I could give you a real fun time, cutie!" Chuckled the man as he walked around the counter to stand in front of (Y/n) with his arms crossed.

"Yeah, positive. Sorry." (Y/n) finalized as she started to walk away, but was near-instantly stopped.

"Oh, come on, pretty birdy, leave that idiotic clown guy and spend the night with a real man huh?!" The man cackled as he grabbed onto (Y/n)'s wrist and pulled her into his chest.

"Ow! Let me go!" Hissed (Y/n) as she began to tug against the mans grasp, flapping her wings slightly to give her a bit more leverage.

The man laughed crudely before grabbing her other arm and trapping her against a shelf.

"Hey, maybe that stupid pirate will let me keep you! Who knows, maybe we can see all of the things those pretty little wings of yours can do!"

With a disgusted scoff, (Y/n) went to grab a small dagger she had hidden in her left pocket, but before she could even find it, a white-gloved hand shot across the store to grip the black haired man's collar.

"What exactly do you think you're doing?!" Buggy inquired, his voice menacingly low as he appeared back from the other side of the store.

"Uh, well, you see I- it's um-"

"Answer me!"

"C'mon, It was a joke! I didn't mean anything by it!" The man tried to convince the Captain as he let out a nervous laugh.

"Didn't seem very funny to me..." Buggy stated as he glared daggers at the shopkeeper.

"You're right, it wasn't, I- I apologize-" he stammered with a fearful whimper before Buggy pushed him back against the counter with a growl.

"If you ever try to touch anyone on my crew again, I'll personally make sure you lose both of your hands, got it?!"

"Okay, alright, I'm sorry! It won't happen again, sir!" The man agreed with a frightened look at the pirate.

Buggy scoffs irately, throwing the man onto the floor before picking the berry back up and stuffing it back into his pocket.

"C'mon, (Y/n), we're getting the hell outta here." Buggy spat as he gingerly grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the shop.

Confusedly sputtering as they clambered back down the road, (Y/n) stared at Buggy with wide eyes.

"Slow down a little, please!" (Y/n) said, stumbling as she tried to keep pace with Buggy.

With an apologetic and upset glance, Buggy released her hand before she hurried over to walk side by side with him.

"Buggy, what the hell was that about?!"

"Don't worry about it, we just needed to leave that shithole before I killed someone."

"That hasn't stopped you before!"

"I'll just say I'm feeling generous tonight then." Snarled Buggy, growing more and more enraged as the pair walked.

"We need to go back, we need those canons or we're screwed!"

"We can get the canons somewhere else, we need to go."

"But what was that all about?! Sure, the guy was a douche, but I could have easily just pushed him off with my wings or cut him with my dagger. Why are you being so weird about this?!"

"Because no one fucks with my girl!" Buggy shouted, spinning around to come face to face with (Y/n).

"W-wait, wait... Your girl?..." (Y/n) asked quietly, freezing as the meaning of his words sunk in.

Buggy halted his rant as he turned to fully face her, finally realizing what he had said. Running a palm through his blue locks, he dejectedly shook his head as he struggled to find the right words to say.

"Just forget about it, okay?! We have to get back to the ship..." Buggy muttered as he continued to stomp away.

As the blue haired pirate angrily marched down the street, (Y/n) stood frozen on the edge of the town, not knowing how to feel about what her beloved captain had just revealed to her.

[amypihcs]

Hello my friends! Today's Wake Watson Up day! Our dear doctor might be a bit grumpy!

Well, i'd be grumpy too if my partner woke me up at ass o'clock in a freezing morning. Holmes, i hope you kissed him good morning at the very least.

Poor Watson, cold, knocked out of bed early, no breakfast, even! Holmes, treat your darling a bit better, please!

Oh, apparently the note is from Hopkins calling them for a case! Here's why Holmes is happy and excited

AND STILL SHOULD STOP INSULTING WATSON'S WRITING. Good man Watson replying that way. Oh well, during the beeretirement WATSON will have occasion to criticize HOLMES' writing instead uwu. But back to their case, it's not a moment for bickering, now.

murder.

Uuuh! And an IMPORTANT one! And now that he warmed up with deducing the way Watson shaved with his eyes closed and being an ass to our good doctor, Holmes starts the deductions. Watson would just like to catch some sleep in the train. Can't fault him, toh.

Oh here's Hopkins! Nuu, no more care? You deny Holmes cases? No more case for Holmes? Oh! OH! Ja- No wait. Let's see anyway.

Watson...

this is right on the bistinguished path. Also ouchie, poor girl.

Abused i see. Holmes sees too but lets the topic drop. Not the time, but his spidey senses are tingling.

Holmes, muttering: don't you say Watson is stomping on his foot.

Poor girl again. She's so right. Also thanks acd for having denounced the way it was impossible or very difficult at the time for women to obtain a divorce in England.

Well, yeah, accounts of the mess follows and then a quick question to Theresa, the maid

WHOOOO has balls of steel. And tells our boys to be off. Well, to the dining room.

Poor Holmes. He wanted a nice CASE.

OOOH but he's interested! Well, for starters there's Pavarotti (thank @mostvaliantandmostpround for this) a body on the floor

Ouchie. Well, we can agree he's dead-dead.

And much better like this. An abuser. Great. Holmes' senses were right to tingle.

And Holmes isn't swallowing the burglars explanation.

weeeeird. Did they know someone?

MORE weird. Took few things. And seems UNLIKELY. And ooh? Three glasses? HALLOA!

He's INTERESTED. Very interested. Watson stop staring at him in that way, please, those are the original heart eyes™.

And a little deduction to raise the morning's morale, just to say!

But he's still Sad about the lack of interesting case for now... Poor Holmes, well, Hopkins is a nice man and knows how to do his job! Why shouldn't Holmes give him credit?

And now sorry... Watson has something to do

Like a detective to convince it's time for lunch (sent the letter around midday). He'll tell the rest of the story in another letter.

[sophieswundergarten]

Chapter 20 of S.O.S.

I don't even know anymore

@nobodysdaydreams Here ya go

ALRIGHT LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I AM BOTH EXCITED AND TERRIFIED

WHOOOO!!!!!!!!!

First off, love the title, and it’s making me a little nervous because now I’m thinking about Chapter 1 being titled “The Price of Admission”

Oh dear. The way you describe the feeling and emotions and just overall sensations of what Constance is experiencing is already punching me in the heart

(Though the intro bit with Jeffer was quite funny)

THEY BOTH THINK IT’S LIKE WHEN THEY WERE KIDS. BUT THE ONLY THING STOPPING THAT FROM BEING REAL IS THAT NEITHER OF THEM LIKE THEMSELVES ENOUGH TO BE HONEST AND VULNERABLE. UNBELIEVABLE. I AM ALREADY CHEWING DRYWALL. MASTICATING.

Oooooooohhhhhhhhhh

You added to it. He hasn’t forgotten that Nathaniel is hurting people, he just thinks that he finally got through to him. Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :( 

“The whole world felt so sunny. So vibrant. So full of humor and amusement. Had it always been this whimsically delightful? It must have been, but Nicholas felt as if he was seeing it for the first time. There was beauty everywhere. There was happiness everywhere. Nothing was too loud, nothing was too overwhelming, nothing was too anxiety provoking. For the first time in Nicholas’ life, everything in the world felt “just right”, and it was completely effortless.”

THIS IS A REALLY WELL-WRITTEN PARAGRAPH. BUT IT’S HORRIBLY JARRING BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT I ALSO FEEL AS “JUST RIGHT”, AND I ALREADY KNOW IT’S BAD. I WOULD FALL FOR THIS SO EASILY OH MY WORD ASFJDSJKFDKJ

“His friends might have left him, but he finally had his brother back. Perhaps they really could work together like they used to. It had been so long.”

BODS CAN YOU HOLD BACK FOR LIKE TWO SECONDS???? I AM WRITING OMINOUS STICKY NOTES AND PLACING THEM ON EVERY MIRROR YOU HAVE

OH. THAT’S WHY THERE’S A HYPHEN IN THE TITLE. ADSKJFDSHKJDSKJF

CONSIDER ANY STRING YOU OWN CONFISCATED

And you’re still calling him “Curtain”. He’s still calling himself “Curtain”. He doesn’t think he (deserves) is that name anymore. And yet he calls himself “Nathaniel” in Chapter 1. Hmmmmm

Also. Calling the fact that he “allows” Nicholas to call him his given name as a “luxury” is hysterical and very on-point. You are so, so good at writing Curtain :) 

AHHHHHHH. THE CONFLICT IN POOR NICHOLAS’ BRAIN ABOUT HIS VARIOUS FAMILY MEMBERS

And then also Curtain continuing to not get it. Good gravy, man. PLEASE remember how to be a human being soon. You are hurting yourself so much :( 

(And. Also. Like. Several thousand people, not least your own brother. But, still.)

NUMBER TWO!!!!!

Oh heavens. I feel very bad for her. But she did escape! (Kinda)

And then Milligan. I want to give him a hug.

YEAH

I LOVE THIS PART. BECAUSE JUST WHEN YOU THINK CHAOS AND STRIFE HAS BEFALLEN THE TEAM THEY GET IT BACK TOGETHER AND IT’S GREAT

“for some reason Milligan took personal offense at the implication that educators were incapable, though he could not explain why”

I LOVE HOW INSTEAD OF DENYING THAT SHE STOLE IT SHE’S JUST LIKE “I paid for it. And I left a beautifully hand-crafted thank you note.” IT DOESN’T MATTER THAT IT WASN’T FOR SALE IN THE FIRST PLACE JASHJJDKJHFD

She really is ready to be part of the team

(Why is one of the bars you have to pass, like, Neutral Good committing of crimes??? Ajsdkjds)

Marlon /derogatory

OH NO

OH NOW IT’S THAT BIT

“I don’t see the problem” And Marlon just decides that it’s fine. I Do Not Like Him

AND HE’S SO MEAN TO JACKSON AND JILLSON

OH BOY. AND YOU’VE BROUGHT BACK THE MARTINA BETRAYAL. I’M SO WORRIED ABOUT THAT. GIVE THESE KIDS A HUG

“Someone’s finally at the wheel and all you can do is naysay,” the officer observed, “You sound like a person who, frankly, would benefit from time in Dr. Curtain’s program. Compulsory or not.”

Oh yikes. There’s the wheel motif again, and also that sounds incredibly threatening. YOU WOULD THINK THIS WOULD TIP HER OFF TO GET OUT OF THERE

There’s something so sad about Rhonda being terrified when Number Two missed the check in and now she’s trying to call Rhonda and no one’s there :( 

Adjfsdjfjdsjk

Miss Perumal trying to corral the children on the farm is a really entertaining mental image

OH. SHE’S TRYING TO CALL HER SISTER.

“You have reached the Two residence. We’re busy and aren’t available now or ever. Don’t expect an answer to your messages and don’t come to our house. We don’t want to buy anything, and we don’t want to meet any new people. Heaven knows you’d only abandon us just like everybody else and would probably try to steal from us too no doubt.” 

“This answering machine is full. Please call back later.”

Yikes. Ajkdfjdsfjkdsf The Two family has some issues

(But very nice job on writing that. It’s incredible)

“Milligan heroically threw his helmet and jacket into the motorbike.”

…“heroically”?

Akjfhjkdfkjds Very good choice of word! It just makes me think of how overdramatic the cinematography got whenever it was focussed on Milligan

FOUND CRIME FAMILY. IT’S OKAY AS LONG AS YOU PAY PEOPLE BACK AND LEAVE THEM NICE NOTES. AKJLFDSJKD

Milligan is amazing

JEFFERS

HE COLLECTS RECEIPTS

I love our sad little guy

Oh no. Oh no. Nicholas’ thoughts are fascinating and you write them really really well but also it always makes me legitimately want to cry

OH YEAH. THEY HAVE THE SAME VOICE. THAT’S PROBABLY SUPER CREEPY

Oh. And Number Two’s all alone now. I know she isn’t really his daughter in the Show, but, still. To be abandoned in such a scary situation…

��He was using addict speech. Saying “I need to stay in my brother’s evil cult, not because of the addictive happiness he gave me, but because it’s crucial to our mission” was just another form of “I need to drink, not because I’m addicted, but because it helps my anxiety and is really better for me if you think about it.” There’s always a justification for anything, so long as your brain is smart enough to think of it and clever enough to trick yourself into believing it. And unfortunately, Number Two knew from experience that Mr. Benedict was very smart and very clever indeed.”

Yeah!! And we get to see another bit of Bods’ psychology brain! I’ve been waiting to see what you had to say about this. So, so many thoughts

And the little snips of what’s going on with Jackson and Jillson. It keeps building in increments, and I really have no idea what it’s going to build to with your writing but I have no doubt it’ll be spectacular

Poor Jeffers adsfjsdjk

He’s trying his best

AND THE WAY THAT THEY ALL CROSS PATHS IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY JUST MISS ONE ANOTHER

MARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINAMARTINA

I’m glad that the coaches appreciate her, but also understand that she’s working through a whole lot

(If only they knew how much…)

Ah, yes. Stealing, bribery, breaking and entering, fraud, all of those things are totally fine. Underage driving, however? Unacceptable

Garrison is trying her very best. (Unfortunately for her, that’s not good enough for Constance adjsd)

IS SHE REALLY FEELING BAD ABOUT THIS?????

Somehow that’s really sweet because she does care enough to notice things, but also SHE’S A TINY CHILD. IT’S NOT HER FAULT

Oh. Even without her snark, she wouldn’t be comforted by a lot of toys because of the bad memories she has attached to them. She doesn’t trust them :( 

(I bet her family gives her a lot of unusual toys and puzzles, so she can view it as a challenge instead of being uncomfortable)

YOU DID THE THING AGAIN!!!!! YOU DID THE THING AND BROUGHT BACK THE SCENE WHERE THEY WERE ALL TALKING AND PLANNING!!!! I LOVE IT AND IT’S ALSO HEARTBREAKING. OH MY WORD THIS IS AWFUL AND I LOVE YOU

Oh good gravy. MILLIGAN.

The lot of them need to stop taking all the guilt in the world onto themselves. They are all so ridiculous

GARRISON NEEDS SOME HELP. IT’S NOT HER FAULT SHE’S VIOLENTLY UNCOMFORTABLY WITH CHILDREN

(Although I’d hazard a guess that her discomfort was seriously exacerbated after SQ’s parents died…)

“You need to choose better friends,” Constance suggested.”

YOU HAVE FORFEITED ALL RIGHTS TO YOUR CURTAIN RODS. I AM TAKING A SEAM RIPPER TO ALL OF YOUR PANT HEMS. YOUR WINDOWS HAVE BEEN HAPHAZARDLY COVERED IN BUTCHER’S PAPER AND SLOPPILY APPLIED DUCT TAPE

“Garrison frowned again. Kidnapping aside, there was no need for this child to be so rude.”

Garrison. You really would benefit from talking to another human being now and again (Or not have wiped your best years of social interactions from your brain)

““The ghost in the windmill. The dancer in the dark. You found a flaw,” said Garrison, spitting out the word “flaw” like it was filled with poison. “One that has kept me up every single night since and one that I can’t seem to replicate.””

HOW DO YOU WRITE SO PRETTY

AND ON TOP OF BEING REALLY FUNNY TOO

UM. DID GARRISON ACCIDENTALLY FORGET HER MORALS WHEN SHE STARTED LIVING IN A ROOT CELLAR? IS THIS BECAUSE SHE DOESN’T HAVE CURTAIN ANYMORE? KIND OF LIKE A “He’s so obviously insane that I must be the sane one to keep us on track” ONLY NOW SHE’S ON HER OWN????

Someone give her a hug

Oh, oh PLEASE let Number Two get in a fight with Marlon. She’d beat him so hard. And he’d deserve it

“Everyone barged into his office sooner or later to demand an explanation for things, and even if Curtain had not gotten better and better at correctly estimating one’s breaking point, the security cameras he installed around the compound certainly helped.”

SDFKJDjkdsfkjdj BODS

Also, Curtain, buddy, if you’re the common denominator in all these instances of people bursting into your office then maybe you might be the problem

“By “thing” you mean relieving him of the constant grip of existential angst?” Oh yeah, I would fall for this whole cult thing so very fast. I’m already a goner

YEAH. YEAH, CURTAIN, IT’S KIND OF WEIRD THAT YOU GUYS SEEK OUT SIMILAR FRIENDS. IT’S ALMOST LIKE YOU’RE SIBLINGS. AND YOU MISS EACH OTHER.

She’s so incredibly angry and scared and hurting and just  a tornado of emotions

And then Curtain’s just kinda. Sitting there. Placidly. (I would have snapped and punched him by now)

YOU BROUGHT BACK HER BOOK NAME!!!!!! I love you

SCREAMING SCREAMING CRYING

CAN YOU STOP TREATING HER LIKE A SUB-PAR GARRISON???? PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD REMEMBER THAT’S SHE’S A REAL HUMAN, YOU BUFFOON!!!!!!

Good job. Steal his plates. He deserves it. (Maybe go after his floorboards next…)

Is… Is Auguste okay? He didn’t ever freeze on-screen, but I am quite concerned about him…

OH MY WORD CURTAIN CAN YOU STOP USING CHILDREN AS CONDUITS I AM GOING TO SCREAM

Oh no….

The panic and turmoil and poor Nicholas is caught in the middle. He’d feel bad even normally, but now everything’s all confused too

“Here, Nicholas wasn’t a burden to his friends”

SCREAMING

I AM TEARING INTO YOUR PILLOWS WITH MY BARE TEETH

LOSING MY MIND

(I’ll sanitise the remains after, I promise)

MARLON IS SO TERRIBLE

And poor Jackson and Jillson are getting a lot more scared…

“He was also very agitated at the idea that Dr. Curtain’s happiness was the cause of this, not only because it put his position in jeopardy, but also because Marlon himself had taken the happiness. Obviously, he wasn’t in danger of succumbing to anything like this (he wasn’t nearly as mentally weak as Sebastian or Paula), but the implication that something like this even could happen to him was a prospect that Marlon found insulting.”

He just keeps getting worse and worse. I am so upset with him. I can’t even like that he’s an intriguing antagonist, he’s just awful. (Although I will concede that you write him incredibly well and I am quite appreciative of how much you make me hate him)

AND GARRISON

I KNOW SHE’S TECHNICALLY A VILLAIN/ANTAGONIST BUT SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE HER

“I hope y'all are ready”???

“I hope y'all are ready”????????

YOU HOPE WE’RE READY?????????

READY FOR WHAT??????? Oh my goodness. I— I just— I have no words. I am screeching. Bods, there are so, so many things that happened in this chapter. I am so shaken up. I feel like my insides were in a blender. It’s so exciting to see all of these plot points and hints and through lines and motifs that you’ve been laying out and I am just over the moon about everything. You have created  a  n o v e l, and it’s gorgeous. I am disintegrating. I can feel my molecules breaking up. I read a book once where a lady cried acidic material and when she started sobbing she just sunk into a hole in the floor and that’s what I’m feeling right now.

I think I need a nap. I don’t have any idea how to articulate this. Just know that you’ve done amazingly. Just. You are absolutely incredible, my friend. I can feel these characters living and breathing in the letterings and you somehow make it new and fresh material every time, no matter the fact that I’ve seen the show or how often I’ve reread your work. Each of the characters takes on such a vibrancy of life and independence under your guidance, and I adore getting to “meet” them and learn how they work in your narrative. Just stupendous

[bluesmason]

haaaappy birthday gorgeous, i love this blog so much and i have followed you for so long that it truly feels like you’re my friend. i’ve spent the entire day thinking about you and how special i hope your day has been going!! i really need you to know that i care about you and i always catch myself wondering how you’ve been doing, in the hopes that you’re ok. and if you ever don’t feel that way, just know i’m here for you as are a bunch of other people who care about you just as much. i also hope you are surrounded by and feel the amount of love everyone has for you - you’re so easy to like and to get along with. i feel like we have so much in common, our sense of humor, the things/people we like and look up to, the way we think and see the world. at least that’s what i feel like anyway. and that’s so special to me! you’re truly one of a kind. thank you for being here and for sharing a bit of your life/time with us, i always look up to seeing whatever it is you’re posting/talking about, and i have you’re notifications on as well so i always get excited when your @ comes up on my phone 🫡 thank you so much for everything sarah, you’re an angel and i feel like you don’t even know how much you mean to me (and i’m sure you also mean a lot to everyone who follows you and looks out for you). enjoy the rest of your day, loooooove u!! you’re the most beautiful ever btw i loved every single one of those pictures 😭🤍 i’m also sending mase your way btw so don’t worry as he’ll be with you very very soon 👀 he better give you everything you want

you know what this just made me tear up pls just the way you took the time to write all this and everything you said means so much to me omg 🥺 thank you for being so so nice and supporting my blog and caring about me and for the birthday wishes. ilysm and i need to know whoooo you are immediately so can message you and btw what you said in your other anon, yes pls let’s do a drink date right NOW it’d be sm fun! <3 also mase did arrive he’s with me rn about to give me everything i want hehe thanks love!

[descendantofthesparrow]

Shuffle Playlist - Rewrite - Part of Your World - Part 11 - James Hook

(first gif is supposed to be harriet fighting, dunno if it comes across) also lots of Gifs here srry

Warning!  Graphic depiction of violence!

(a/n): i suggest reading this by listening to the potc sound track starting with “the black pearl” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP-BeFi58tQ&list=PL263677A4D1B673E4&index=3 )

=

Jay blearily opened his eyes, groaning at the soft beam of sun that was blinding him. He quickly sat up as the printer beeped and the wand was only seconds away from being finished. “Carlos” he muttered, smacking his arm when he didn’t respond “Carlos!”

Carlos snorted as he snapped awake, glaring at Jay before his eyes drifted to the now just finished wand. They slowly stood from their chairs, Carlos opening the printer and grabbing the wand. Carlos turned the wand in his hands, pursing his lips in an impressed pout as the wand was seamlessly perfect. “not bad”

Jay nodded, slipping the phony wand from Carlos’ grip and into his own, nodding towards the door “let's go, its” he checked Carlos’ phone, which read 10:45 am “shit come on, I’d rather be just a bit earlier than be late and risk losing Ben” Carlos nodded, about to walk out the door with Jay when he remembered your plan.

He turned back, whistling for Dude “Come on buddy, you’re gonna help!” Dude barked with an excited yip and barreled off his bed, bolting out the door and to the main area, waiting for the boys. ���come on what are we waiting for!” Carlos and Jay shared a look and rolled their eyes, following after Dude.

They made it outside, Jay quickly hiding the wand behind his back as Doug came up to them “Hey guys, have you seen Evie….or anyone else for that matter?” Jay and Carlos shared a panicked look before Carlos quickly came up with an excuse.

“They went camping” Doug raised his brow, extremely confused.

“Evie…camping? Evie, I want to live in a castle? Sleeping on the ground with no place to plug in a hairdryer?” Carlos just shrugged.

“Hey, isle kid remember? none of us are against doing that. But (y/n) and Evie decided to plan a last-minute stress reliever trip before cotillion, VKs only thing” Doug crossed his arms, his eyes showing a bit of hurt “aaand (y/n) is there cuz she's an honorary vk, and you weren’t invited because Evie needed you to man her shop here, she must’ve forgotten to tell you, but we’ll be back by tonight!” Jay nodded, slightly impressed by Carlos’ swift bullshiting skill.

Doug sighed and nodded “Alright then… see you guys tonight” he passed by the boys and walked into the dorm building. “Later Doug” Jay laughed, giving Carlos a look as they turned to go back to the limo, groaning a bit as they were stopped again and hid the wand behind his back.

Lonnie smirked at them, tossing one of her braided twin tails behind her shoulder.

“I’m coming with you” Jay laughed, waving off Lonnie’s request.

“whaa, we don’t need swords at the” Lonnie gave him a look “waffle hut?” Carlos slowly turned his head to Jay, his eyes wide in disbelief.

Wait wasn't-? Oh yeah! “ yeah, you can come” Carlos covered Jay's mouth as he tried to object “(y/n) said we would need an extra hand remember? And she said to let Lonnie come when she asked?” Jay stopped, closing his eyes as he realized his minor brain fart. He tossed Carlos’ hand off his mouth and nodding to where they had the limo parked.

“I’m an idiot, come on, we got no time to waste” Lonnie squealed in excitement and tossed her arms around their necks, babbling away about the upcoming battle.

-

You looked down at the messily drawn blueprints of James Hook’s ship, eyes drawn to the brig where Harry was being kept. “Alright let's go over this one last time!” Harriet sighed, her crew all gathered around you, Harriet, and Gil “We storm the ship, you all keep my dad's crew busy by fighting them and sending in the smoke bombs, while (y/n) goes for Harry, and as soon as Harry’s off the ship we retreat. And do not hesitate to take any of them down. Understood?” the crew nodded in agreement, the plan was set and was ready to be put in motion. Harriet let them go mull around until you were all ready to go. She turned to you, raising her brow as you stared at the outline of the captain's quarters. “what's up?”

“He’ll be on the ship when we raid right?” you muttered, fingers drifting over the metal of Harry’s hook that rested in your hands.

“aye?” Harriet answered, placing her hands on her hips and tilting her head “which is why we gotta be careful, he may be a drunk but even when he’s pissed for shit, he’s a damn good swordsman.” She stared at you as you just nodded and started muttering something to yourself “what are you planning girly?” you glanced up at her, giving her a reassuring, but terrifying smirk.

“you’ll see”

-

You, Gil, Harriet, and Xiaohui were crouched on top of the nearest building to the jolly roger, Xiaohui put down her telescope and turned to Harriet “all crew members are on deck captain, the plan is ready to proceed” Harriet nodded and took the hand-held scope from Xiaohui and looked down at the ship for herself.

“Good, if all goes according to plan, we should be able to defeat the crew and get harry out of there within ten minutes” you glanced at Harriet's pocket watch that hung off her belt, mentally groaning a bit as it read; 11:45 am. You hoped to get this done in time for you and Gil to get Harry to the limo safely.

And you wanted time to deal with a certain…backstabber.

“let's do this” Harriet muttered, watching her father go back into the captain's quarters. She handed the scope back to Xiaohui and put her fingers in her mouth, letting out a piercing whistle.

Within the moment of it, and Hook’s crew looking towards the building you and Harriet were on, several spray cans turned smoke bombs were hurdled onto the main deck, blinding James’ crew.

They all yelled in confusion as suddenly multiple footsteps surrounded them, the sound of swords being unsheathed made all of them leap back and draw their own weapon.

“Who’s there!” One of the men yelled, taking off his yellow cap and rubbing his eyes “You have no chance we-oop” as the smoke cleared, the crew took a step back, their eyes drawing wide as they realized they were outnumbered three to one. “Wha-Harriet?!” she smirked as she flipped her sword in her hand. “What are you doing?”

She didn’t bother to respond, letting out another whistle, and cackling as her crew rushed her father's men. She blocked a quick swing coming from the man with the yellow cap and spun around, deciding to end the mess for later quickly by slicing the back of his neck.

The man slumped to the ground leaving Harriet to move quickly towards the brig, eyes drifting to the captain's quarters.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!!” Harriet stopped, fear filling her chest as her father stepped out of his quarters, his eyes drifting over his crew and Harriet’s crew battling. “Harriet” he snarled, his cold blue eyes looking into hers “How dare you, you little brat!?” he raised his hook arm at her, his eyes flashing red, making Harriet step back “first your insolent brother, now you?! Must I teach you a lesson as well!?”

Harriet's crew quickly finished off James’ crew, their bodies slumping to the ground as blood pooled onto the deck. They lifted their swords in James' direction, ready to do anything to protect their captain.

“I think I have a lesson to teach you instead” James' eyes drifted to you, smirking as he realized just who you were as you unsheathed Harry’s sword and gripped onto his hook in your left hand.

“Ahh, the Auradon brat that turned my son into a pathetic Auradon lovesick bastard~” you rolled your eyes at the simple insult and flourished your sword.

“No, I just made your son realize he deserves better than an alcoholic abusive shit mongering asshole of a father.” you smirked as James’ eyes flashed red again “And if you don’t mind, I’m here to get my boyfriend, so-“ you waved Harry’s sword in a motion for him to move out of your way.

James chuckles and unsheathed his sword, shifting his feet as he prepared to fight “if you want him back” he smirked, slightly unnerved as you continued to look at him with an oddly calm look. “you’ll have to kill me, because unless I die, that boy will always be under my command, free for me to sell and ruin as I please”

Your brow twitched…this “man” didn’t deserve death, no..it was too easy for him…you had a better idea. “To the death, it will be!” James cackles, shifting back on his feet as he prepared to rush at you, stopping as you suddenly yelled out;

“No!” James, Harriet, and Gil looked at you in shock. What one moment you were itching to spill blood and the next you backed out? “To the pain.” James' shoulders dropped as he tried to rack through his brain to remember if he knew that term.

“I don’t think I’m familiar with that phrase” he muttered, eyeing Harriet for a moment then glaring back at you.

You smirked, tilting your head down, oh this was going to be fun~ “I’ll explain, and I’ll use small words so that you’ll be sure to understand, you warthog faced Buffon.” Harriet covered her mouth and snorted, looking down at her boots as her father glared at her.

He turned back to you, his eyes flashing red again “I think that is the first time anyone dared insult me” you raised your brow. really? The first time? Man, James really must be off his rocker if he had forgotten “codfish”

“It won't be the last” your eyes didn’t move from his, challenging him to try anything on you. “To the pain means the first thing you lose will be your feet below the ankles, then your other hand at the wrist, next your nose”

James rolled his eyes, taking a slight step back before stepping towards you “and then my tongue I suppose, I've let this go on for far too long-“

“I wasn’t finished” you yelled, enjoying the look of surprise on his face “the next thing you lose will be your left eye followed by your right”

James groaned and rolled his eyes again “and then my ears let's get on with it!” he growled as you smirked at him again and continued to talk.

“Wrong! Your ears you keep, and I’ll tell you why.” Harriet’s crew’s muttering went deadly silent as your voice dropped into a lower tone, shivers running down Harriet's spine as she realized just how far you were willing to go for her baby brother. “So that every shriek of every child of seeing your hideousness will be yours to cherish, every babe that weeps at your approach, every woman who cries out “dear god what is that thing!” will echo in your ears” James couldn’t move, his entire body was frozen in fear. You hadn’t blinked once during your speech, that unnerved him. “That. Is what to the pain means, it means I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery. Forever.”

The occupants of the main deck stared at you in deathly silence, all trying to detect any lies that came from you. But even Harriet, who could sniff out a lie faster than a bloodhound looking for its favorite treat, couldn’t detect any deceit from you.

James looked from you to Harriet with wide frightened eyes, before looking back at you “I think you’re bluffing” he tried, attempting to get you to back down. You shrugged, slowly closing your eyes and rolling your neck, making hook grit his teeth as he realized you hardly had any guard upon you. You thought you could easily take him, and that pissed him off, but his knees were shaking too much for him to take a single step towards you.

“It's possible pig. I might be bluffing” you opened your eyes and looked into James icy blue ones, smirking again at the fear you saw swirling inside. “it’s conceivable you miserable vomitous mass, I’m only standing here because you lack the courage to step forward”

James' eyes flashed red one last time as he screamed and ran at you, hook swinging back in preparation to slice into your neck. With a sidestep and a flourish of Harry’s sword, James’ arm dropped to the ground, the metal of the hook clanging as it hit the floor and ringing in everyone's ears.

James stared at his missing forearm, looked at you, and let out a piercing scream. “AAAAAAAAAAAAH YOU BITCH-“ You twisted back around and swung the tip of Harry’s sword just inches from James' neck, a small smirk on your face as you stared into James’ fear-filled eyes.

“drop.your.sword.” the entire deck was silent, watching as James reluctantly dropped his sword and took a step back from you.

You spun down into a crouch, arching Harry's blade against James' ankles and slicing them clean off, un-flinching as the substitute spray of blood hit your face.

Harriet and Gil gasped as they watched James fall to the floor with a loud thump, his screaming echoing off the buildings and water below. You slowly stood up and walked to his right side, flipping the blade again and hooking Harry's hook on your belt, tossing Harry’s sword to your now free hand and arching up, slicing off James' right arm.

He screamed again but was silenced as you kicked his side and placed your boot on his face, glaring down at him. “If I ever. Hear about you again, that’s not news that you finally choked and went to hell, I will personally, make sure you can't even tell from your ass to your face.” You kicked his head and took a heavy step on his chest and walked towards Harriet and Gil, nodding back towards James “if anyone else wants a crack at him, go for it, I have a pirate to save”

You cleaned Harry’s sword on a low hanging sail above you and sheathed it, walking towards the brig and grabbing the set of keys that were hanging off a hook next to the opening.

As your steps echoed off the old rotten wood walls, Harry sat up, unsure of the new footsteps that were walking towards him. He glanced at the opening with weary eyes.

You stepped into the small beam of light that was shining through the port window, your eyes brimming with tears as you looked at your poor wounded Harry that sat curled up in a damp dirty cell.

“(y-y/n)?” Harry whimpered, trying to sit up more but fell back “(y/n) yer really here?” a bright grin broke out on his bruised face, tears spilling from his eyes and trailing down his cheeks “Yeh came fer meh” his voice wavered as you rushed to open his cell.

You threw open the metal door and slid down in front of him on your knees, reaching up and gently cupping his face, minding the black bruises and reopened cutes “Oh my Harry, was there any ever doubt?” you sobbed, brushing his messy bangs out of his eyes and shaking your head. “Oh, I’m so sorry I took so long, but it took forever to get to Harriet's ship and- and the smoke bombs and-“ he reached up, cupping the back of your neck and beamed.

“Yer here now, that’s all tha’ matters ta me” he whispered, sniffing and wiping away your tears with his other hand. You stared into his bright ocean blue eyes, you couldn’t believe the amount of hope, trust, and love that was pouring from them.

“I love you harry” you sobbed, a soft smile appearing on your face as Harry’s cheeks and ears turned pink.

“I love yeh too” one moment you were staring into each other's eyes, the next your lips were pressed to his in a passionate kiss. Harry's arms wrapped around your back as you held onto his face, keeping him close as possible.

Your first kiss.

You pulled back for a moment, cracking your eyes open to see Harry's still closed, his lips just slightly parted as he took soft, yet fast-paced breaths. His eyes opened for a split moment, before you both leaned in slowly, lips pressing and moving together in a dance.

Harry let out a quiet sigh of happiness, hands drifting up to cup the back of your head and tilting his to deepen the kiss. You licked his lip carefully, smiling as he whimpered and happily opened his mouth.

‘no’ you thought, pressing one more kiss to his soft lips and pulling back, biting your lip at the whimper that followed as he chased you. ‘not the right time for that’

“Harry” you whispered, caressing his cheek gently with your thumb as he slowly opened his eyes, the blue slightly clouded with his running thoughts “Did anything…happen to you?”

He shook his head gently, heavily leaning his hand into your palm “no” he whispered “nev-never got ta’ tha’ no clients of da’s came, jus’ just beatin’s from the crew” you closed your eyes as you tried to keep calm, getting angry over something that was now over was pointless, right now Harry was priority.

“Thank fuck” you whispered back, leaning forward and wrapping your hands around his torso “okay, Harry, we have to go, I don’t how long we have before the others leave with the limo and I do not want to leave you here” he gave a clumsy nod and stood on wobbly legs with you.

“Gil!” you yelled, smiling a bit as he came running down to the brig “ carry him, and get back to the limo as fast as you can” he nodded, his arms going under Harry's torso and legs and lifting him into his arms in a princess carry. Harry lifted his head up and reached out to you. You smiled and grabbed his hand, pressing a kiss to his knuckles.

“I’ll be right next to you love; the limo is right next to where I need to go.” Gil raised his brow, turning to walk out of the brig with a limp harry in his arms.

“Go where?” Gil wished he hadn't asked as he looked back at you to see a sadistic grin on your face.

“I need to deal with a traitor”

-

Xiaohui watched as you, Gil, Harry, and Harriet ran off the Jolly Rodger and towards the garage under the old pier. She turned to the crew with an impressed look.

“I now have no reason to think I’m straight” Sammy facepalmed and shook his head.

“Bitch you said that when Harriet beat you in a fistfight” Xiaohui shrugged.

“eh, tomato-tomato”

-end of part 11-

HOLY FUCK THEY FINALLY KISSED and YAY Harry is saved~ hopefully, that kiss turned out good! I was lowkey fangirling when I re-read it. Also!!! I hope that “to the pain” part was good, I was also re-reading my first part of your world fic and I was like “hoooow did anyone read this?” but I think I did it justice!!! Next chapter! The fight for the wand! Oh and-

Davy’s demise~

permtaglist!!!

@queer-cosette @sephiralorange (thank you again for being my beta reader/person who deals with my midnight ramblings about this)

@lunanight2012 @daughter-of-the-stars11

@musicarose (and thank you for commissioning me for the first four parts of this! if it wasn't for you, i probably still wouldn't have written the first chapter of Rewrite p1!) @random-thoughts-003 @remembered-license

@rintheemolion @descendantsobsessed @verboetoperee

@imtryingthisout @thecaptainsgingersnap

and taglist for rewrite

@thesailbells @beccad10x​

oh! have this kinda sad “meme” i made because i found a thing on twitter

[vtoriacore]

✧ a push in the right direction

note: idk what possesed me to write this but my friend was rambling about how they were dreaming of deuce confessing to them a week prior so the inspiration truck came full force and this. this is coming straight from the notes app. also also also i haven't written much for epel and jack yet so they're on my radar to either suffer horrible angst or be happy (ig).

synopsis: in which, after an awkward encounter with your crush which you ran away from, your friends decide to help push you in the right direction. one, which will finally end the (very tiring from their perspective) pining on both your ends.

"Are you gonna kiss me prefect?~" Ace, in a very mocking voice, circled his arms around you with his lips all puckered up as you sighed out for the nth time this evening. Clearly staying in Heartslabyul and telling your group of friends about the awkward encounter was the wrong move.

"How childish, will you ever let Deuce and the prefect live this down?" Riddle, despite wanting to sound serious, was really failing to hide his own smile behind his hand. And oh boy you know it’s bad when even the Riddle Rosehearts himself, someone with zero romantic experience, finds this situation funny.

"Ahhh!! I can't believe I didn't catch that on video! It would've made for a perfect Magitok pov . . . I can just imagine the reactions of people, 'Oh how cute!' or 'Me and whoooo?' oh, oh, oh! Or, 'ughh theyre so dreamyy and for whattt'. What a wasted opportunity! 100% SRS! Everyone would've ate that right up!" Cater's voice rang out through the room as his little monologue sent the red headed first year still clutching onto your arms into a fit of laughter. You had to admit it made you want to laugh just a little bit, but your conflicting state of mind didn't allow you to.

"Aren't we being a bit too harsh?" Trey, finishing up the cake he was decorating for tomorrow's unbirthday party, hummed with a tilt oh his head.

"Finally! Thank you Trey! He was trying his best- if anything you should be mocking me! Looking at you Ace," you smiled slightly, recalling the way the cobalt haired boy accidentally let that slip of the tongue pass through. As sweet a moment as it was, you did accidentally ruin it. Your smile fell at that thought slightly, although no one seemed to catch it.

"Aww, look at you smiling and all! You got a lil' crush on Deuce too? How cute~!" with a huge grin, Cater took his phone out with a mischievous glint in his eyes. You did not like where this was going.

"Cater . . . What are you doing?" the colour drained from your face as you watched him type something. When you tried to move however, Ace held you back with a very much wicked grin of his own as he spoke up, "ah, ah, ah! Not so fast prefect! Today is gonna be your lucky day and you'll have us to thank for it!"

"I must agree this once, and with Ace of all people no less. It is very exhausting seeing the two of you clearly be romantically interested in one another and not doing anything about it," with a little shrug, the Heartslabyul dorm leader leaned on the counter top as he observed Cater's work. You couldn't even begin to describe how nerve racking this really was.

"It's for your own good prefect, so please don't worry. Want a cupcake? I made extra this morning, it might help a little with your nerves," you really appreciated the strawberry flavoured pastry Trey handed to you at that moment, as a loud 'ding' noise reverberated throughout the room, signalling a message must've come through.

You thanked the baker and quickly took a bite, intently observing Cater's expression as his face morphed into one of delighted anticipation. Although it eased you at first, your heart nearly stopped when he furrowed his eyebrows.

"W-what . . . What did he say? Is he still upset I ran away? I already apologised- did my message not come through earlier?" your ramblings quickly made the apricot haired boy snap his head up to look at you.

"Oh no, no! Nothing like that don't worry~ He just said he'd love to hear the confession coming straight from you hehe!" that damn grin came back onto his face, and you wanted to scream.

"A CONFESSION? WHAT DID YOU SAY CATER??" and scream you did, as anxiety filled your entire being to the brim. You weren't really surprised things went this way because of course they did. Expectations of anything semi-good happening were low in this world for you!

"Woah calm down, it's all good! We all agreed for Cater to send a simple 'the prefect's also got a thing for you', nothing more," the crimson haired boy from behind you put his chin on your shoulder, sighing out soon after at your panicked form.

"For the record, we do feel apologetic for having to do this. But as Trey mentioned earlier, this really is for your own good," Riddle nodded his head in your direction. It might've been the thought that counted but it didn't necessarily make things any easier to face.

"You should go see Deuce by the way, he's most likely waiting in his room," finally finishing up the vanilla cake, Trey eyed your form and beckoned for you to go.

"I can't believe you all planned this . . . Not like I can back out now. Well, wish me luck at least," your voice came out feeble as you started heading in the direction of the door, hearing Ace snicker and Cater mumble something to Riddle as Trey clicked his tongue at the remark. You sincerely hoped it wasn't directed at your situation but by now, you knew differently.

"It's okay . . . Deuce clearly likes me back. They wouldn't lie to me about that. I hope he saw my apology message. Why did I run anyway? Must I always panic and make things so awkward?" you ran a hand through your hair as you navigated the dark corridor, it didn't help that the lighting was dim and the sun was already out of sight. The nerves came back tenfold as you thought about Deuce.

When you finally reached the end of the corridor, you almost gave out a shrill shriek as you felt yourself walking directly into someone, "sorry- my bad!"

"P-prefect? I didn't know you were . . . Sorry," your eyes widened when you recognised the owner of the voice. After some silence ensued (mostly on your end), you heard the teal eyed boy clear his throat, "I was . . . I was actually looking for you."

"Oh- You got that stupid message from Cater right? I was just making my way to your dorm room," you bit your lip, trying to avoid eye contact the best you could.

"About that . . . Do you really- I mean, of course I don't doubt you or anything but- I just want to hear it straight from you and well," with a harsh swallow, Deuce cut his sentence off as he observed your reaction.

"Yes. I do, you know, really like you. I didn't mean to run away after you asked to kiss me, really! I just panicked because I didn't think you were serious, sorry," you finally looked up, seeing just about the most beautiful sight yet.

You doubted even the starry sky of this evening could comapre to the way Deuce's eyes shone as a crimson red hue overtook his face. It looked so ethereal that you couldn't help but gaze longer and longer. And by the Great Seven, the longer you stared, the harder it was to tear your gaze away from his lips. You couldn't even feel yourself drawing closer and closer in until reality finally came back when you felt his lips meet your own in a delicate yet passionate kiss that threatened to overtake your senses and clarity -or whatever remained of it.

"I . . . " his voice came out meagre when you two finally separated to catch some air. Your knees almost wanted to buckle under his intense stare, as that hypnotising pair of sparkling, turquoise eyes remained glued to your lips. It was clear Deuce was finding it hard to look away, wanting nothing more but to continue this endeavour and yet, he felt the urge to pour his entire heart out to you. Right here and right now, and he didn't have the patience to keep his feelings locked away any longer.

"Listen, I just . . . I really like you too. I mean it, and it would mean the entire world and more if you could do me the honours of becoming my significant other. I know I'm not the best at this romance stuff but, I would love to try . . . with you, if you'd let me?" small, nervous smile gracing his lips, the boy sheepishly rubbed his neck, awaiting your answer. And he didn't have to wait long, "I'd love that Deuce. I'm so happy you feel the same way."

He supposed he got the answer to his original question in the very end too, and it turned out asking to kiss the very person who stole his heart was the correct choice after all.

[lovysmtalks]

Oh, How I wish

1

same TW as the first chapter, very much cursing :)

Thank you all for the support on this book

chapter II

as the class finished, Marinette rushed out of class making it to the back of school, dialing the number her best friend, Chloe

"Hhhh, what do you want Mari, don't tell me you actually went to school, sugar I thought we were skipping today?" The voice of the pollen queen said

"Get yourself something pretty, were going on a trip to Gotham, well I said I'm going alone but I'll bring you along the way, same with Luka and Kagami."

After a little pause

"WHOOOO VACATION, NO IDIOTS TO DEAL WITH!" Chloe yelled probably making her staff hear her

"Yes my flower. You're going to have a surprise when you see, make your bags, we're having the plane on Monday."

"Wha-" "Bye!"

Marinette took a deep breath. Today was a good day. The weekend is knocking at the door so she has to get ready.

----------------Sunday-------------------

Mari was sitting on her balcony, with a notebook on her lap

' I've took Spanish classes when I was younger, I wonder if I could write a song in it, let's change the vibe from all this ugly emotions that I've felt those past 2 years.' Marinette thought, she wanted to make something new, not just sad 'i hate my life' songs.

"Ah! That's it, I'll write something about my experience in Gotham, I hope it won't be bad tho" she says as she looks up at the night sky

Tomorrow it's the day she is leaving.

If you asked her to do this two years ago, she wouldn't have blinked an eye to choose the class. But I guess with time people change, and she'll be a hypocrite if she said she stayed the same.

But it still hurt. She doesn't want to show her soft side anymore, it only hurt her and her supposed friends called it a lie.

All Mari could do is sigh and get up from the balcony and go back inside.

-----------------Monday-----------------

Marinette got up a bit too late, she jumped out of her bed falling and hitting her face in the process

Tikki and Plagg were crazy laughing, probably tearing up a bit

Mari got up from the floor and ran to the bathroom to clean her bloody nose and to rapidly do her makeup

"You think she's ok? That was a pretty hard hit" says Plagg through his laughs

"She most likely is, not the first time this happened" laughs Tikki as they both fly to the bathroom

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

Mari ran to the airport, seeing as Chloe was nonstop calling her and sending her angry messages about how she should stop staying up all night playing Cookie Run Kingdom

Once she got a sight of where the blonde girl was waiting with her suitcase

Quickly Marinette thought she should do something to get her attention, so she started running- jumping on a window gently and then on Chloe, making Chloe lay flat on the floor

The whole part of the airport where they were just started, trying to recover from the shock of what the small girl just did

"Mommy! Mommy! Did you see what she did?! It was pretty! She's very pretty too!" A little boy said while pointing at the two girls who were laying on the floor while Marinette was laughing in Chloe's shoulder

"Y-yes sweetheart, it was very pretty ᵃⁿᵈ ᵛᵉʳʸ ᵛⁱᵒˡᵉⁿᵗ" said the mother, the last part being a bit shaky and quite

One Chloe woke up from her small pass out from the shock-

"MARINETTE CHENG WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?" she yelled as she got up, almost falling back down but being catched by Mari

"Hello to you too my flower, I just wanted to make my entrance know, but you weren't paying attention" Marinette made some puppy dog eyes to Chloe

"I WAS LOOKING FOR YOU ALL MORNING YOU! WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR- YOUR CLOTHES, SINCE WHEN DO YOU HAVE STYLE?-" Chloe's rant was stopped by Mari peppering a kiss on the blonde's forehead

"Relax my queen, I decided to have a small change in style, getting my rebellious arc you know?" Mari winked at her

Chloe's cheeks pout as they blushed a bit

"Y-You look pretty." She turned around and started walking with her suitcase behind her

(what Marinette was wearing └|∵|┐♪)

Mari giggled at the blonde and started running after Chloe, grabbing her by the arm and started running together towards to where the plane entrance was

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

Once they landed, the girls took a taxi to where their hotel was

The girls looked a bit amazed at how big it was, but it wasn't that much of a shock since Marinette knew how rich those bastards probably were.

The two of them entered the hotel, the boy at reception couldn't get his eyes off Marinette, his eyes were only on her eyes and lips, they were covered in a dark shade of faded black lipstick and her eyes were covered in a shade of bringht white and classic batwig eyeliner, making her eyes pop their beauty even more.

"Uhm are you listening?" Giggled Chloe, catching on to what was happening

"OH- uh, YEA! of course!" He said rapidly as he looked for the key of their rooms

The boy had black hair, styled backwards, probably too elegant for a receptionist.

Marinette finally looked at what was happening and their eyes met

It was like the whole world stopped, and everyone else disappeared

The boy's eyes a jade shade of green, they could make anyone fall in love at the first sight, compared to Marinette's, who once we're very soft hearted, they now looked as they were a goddesses, very strong shade of blue, could get anyone on their knees and begging to be honest.

A finger click made the both of them come back to reality

"Ahem you two, it's getting late and I'm tired" laughed Chloe as the boy was still looking at Mari who turned around quickly in embarrassment.

The boy smirked flirty at her as the two of the girls started to walk to the lift

Once they were gone, the young man dropped to the floor and started breathing heavily, trying to calm his heart down

A whistle was heard from on the other side of the reception

"Damn, my lil bro got turned on by eye contact, didn't know you were that much submissive." Laughed an older guy

The receptionist got up quickly and gived the man a killing stare and he threw the first thing he got to hand

"Shut the fuck up Dick."

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

Back with the girls

They finally got to the second floor where their rooms were, once they got to put the keys in the doors-

"So you like black haired dudes now?"

Taglist:

@demonicbusiness @adrestar @alyahibou @a-slytherinish-gryffindor

@crazycryptidgirl

@galla02006 @mysticgwen @princessanimeangel11

[squigglywindy]

Squiggles Ranks the Chain

It's time to rank the chain.

I don't know why I did this. I really don't. It was hard. I love them all. And my favorites in general don't align with my favorites to write and this list is changing every day but here it is anyway. I've told a few people I was going to do this eventually, so here it is. The List. Go ahead, come at me. But do so understanding that I love them all dearly. But, I love some just a little bit more than others. Or, at least, relate to them and rotate them in my mind with more frequency.

Proceed at your own risk

@triforce-of-mischief @silvercaptain24

9: Time. Oh, Time. My guy. The old man. The tired Old Guy surrounded by youngin's. I relate to him in my soul. I love him, I want to hug him, I wish him all good things al the time. I love his dynamic with The Boys, his entire thing with Malon, all of it. But somebody had to be last. And at the end of the day, it's Time. Although my least favorite Link still occupies a bigger piece of my mind than any other fictional character ever, so there's that.

8: Twilight. Twi. My Brother In Y'all. My lil country wolf boy who I love so much. I wanted to put him higher; it was a struggle. Maybe it's because he's been dying for a year and we haven't gotten as much content to love him for; I dunno. Either way, somebody had to be number eight. I'm sorry my lovely Wolfie.

7: Legend. What a legend. (Hah, couldn't resist). I hated him for a long time. Yes, I was projecting my frustration with ALttP onto the poor guy, but still. I was stuck in the game when I started reading still am but that's not the point, and then there he was. And I was just 'ah no. It's him'. And then he seemed like a jerk, and I was just like: 'figures'. And then??? Whoooo boy this guy can fit so much character development into him! He's so sweet. He's so soft. He took me out in Sunset 13 with his lil face.

6: Hyrule. The fluffy lil dude. He's like a human puppy he's stinkin' adorable. He's my Swiss Army Knife when I'm writing; my guy has a tool for every occasion. He's just so soft and sweet and has magic hands??? Very cool. I don't have a lot of coherent thoughts to say about him but I love him very much.

5: Wild. Ah, Wild. The man I thought would be my blorbo. BotW has my heart, and naturally, I thought he would do. And he does! He's a little chaos gremlin. He's also Dramatic and I love him for that. I have so much fun writing him because literally anything goes and somebody out there will be like 'yeah. Classic Wild'. What can I say that hasn't already been said about this controversial lil guy everyone seems to either love or hate? What a maniac. Respect.

4: Warriors. I didn't have a whole lot of feelings about him before I started writing, ngl. Hadn't played HW, didn't really know who he was, all that jazz. And then I started digging in and oh my gosh I can't go two stories without beating him up I love him so much. He's my go-to projectee. I love to hurt him and look at him and I love the dynamic he has with everyone. He is Very Cool.

3: Four. He's just the whole package. A nice lil mashup of someone who has never done anything wrong in his life ever, and someone who has definitely killed someone with his bare hands. Not to mention he is Smol. Like lookit him it's almost like he could be a backpack (shamelessly references my own absolutely unhinged story). And? And??? He's chronically miserable I just wanna give him a hug.

2: Sky. I just love him. He's sweet, he's squishy, and he's just so darn relatable. Standing there. Left in the dust, because running is hard. Just chillin', watching the world pass by from whatever random spot he's chosen to exist in. It's like looking in a mirror. He just loves his brothers and wants them to be okay and he's just wonderful.

1: Wind. I know many of you probably didn't see this coming. I hope you braced yourselves for the surprise. Number one, Blorbo Prime, my number one scrunkle, The Windy Boy. Where to even start? He's just an absolute terror, hacking up the bad guys with the big boys. And his lil face? It's so smooshable. He is babey and menace all wrapped up in one. The child that I wrap safely in my trench coat until it's time to torture him again. He lives on a pottery wheel in my mind, spinning around at unimaginable speeds. The blorbo ever.



[battyhive]

Hiya, I noticed that you take request on Characters from The Thing X Reader stories; I'm wondering if you can write a fanfic between Vance Norris and a bratty reader, who is ignoring Norris to the point where he grounds the reader, but regrets. Please and Thank you

SOME NORRIS LOVE LATELY WHOO WHOOOO!!

You were teasing him a lot lately. Your favorite game is the Silent Treatment. You couldn’t help it! Norris was so easy to fluster. You took all the pens out of his drawer to get his attention knowing he had a bunch of notes to catch up on today.

Sure enough, Norris stomped up to you.

“Give them back.” He demanded holding a hand out to receive his pens. You turn away like he wasn’t even there.

“I know you here me! I need those pens!” He shouts trying to get in front of you to make you look at him. You turn away to look at the TV instead. He turns it off. You go to get up and leave.

“One,” he was counting. Once he got to three a punishment would come after. You fought the urge to grin and kept going.

“Two,” Norris said walking faster to catch up with you.

“Three! That does it! You’re grounded!” He yells. This makes you pause. You turn around to face him.

“Grounded?” You repeat confused as hell.

“Yes! Until you start behaving, no dates, no cuddles, nothing!” He yells. His cheeks are bright red. He’s pissed. You’re heart pings a bit. You only wanted to get attention.. you didn’t want to loose cuddle privileges…

“Not even kisses?” You ask quietly. You loved physical touch. It’s your main love language and now he won’t let you anymore. You’re bottom lip quivers slightly. You might actually cry…

“Well…no we can still have kisses and such. I’m sorry.. please don’t cry.” He coos pulling you in for a hug seeing tears well in your eyes. He didn’t mean to upset you so much..

“I’m sorry. We can have cuddles and all of that but..please don’t steal my things honey. This game frustrates me you know so can we stop?” He asks gently. You nod.

“Okay baby.. I love you” he says gentle with you

“I love you too”

[your-local-hero-niddy]

Hey everyone! I dunno if any of y'all remember me, but I'm Niddy. I worked on the very first Summer event we had, the disappearing sun, writing the dialogue and lore and stuff! I worked closely with Chaotic and uh. Sort of closely with Kah??

Close in the sense it was one on one. Not so close in the sense she was a very slow responder.

I thought I'd like to give reason as to why I only did one event (plus a small bit after!)

When I submitted my application to be the storyteller, I also gave ideas for lore. I created Dianox, I created the shadow mweors. The apocalypse that keeps happening in several different stages?? Yep, that was me! I worked with Kah to turn her small amount of lore into something so much more. (And note, after I left, the lore seemed to change I think? Leaf did a great job picking up where I left off! But if I drop lore spoilers, it will be from my rendition, and not from whatever was changed.)

So, one might think. That was a lot of work creating all that lore. Hours of typing, then hours of going back and fixing things? Waiting hours to get yays or nays. Days into weeks into months. I must have been paid super well, yea?

Heck yea, I got a whopping 40 mp! For the whole event!! Whoooo

Naturally my motivation to work for her dropped hard, but I still wanted to do it for the community. So, right after we started planning the next event, I did unfortunately disappear for a short time. I lost a few weeks of the planning process, which was 100% totally my bad. I had some nasty mental health issues I had to address, and $20 in mp wasn't really enough motivation to do anything about it. I message Kah all, sorry, I got these nasty mental issues. It was real tough but I'm back if you are still willing.

But Kah decided to ghost me. I took it as my fault, definitely. And as all the new events kept coming out, I would keep emailing her giving advice or my ideal direction for the lore. Cause like, I almost felt it was MY lore?? I wanted to at least provide some insight, I wanted to see how my lore played out.

Nah, she never replied to me ever, ever again. Along with everything, Kah won't work with those with mental disabilities either. I knew my disappearance would put a strain on my storyteller job, but to 100% cut me out for having a rough moment in my life, it was just cruel.

[crystalninjaphoenix]

Puzzles & Pleas

A JSE Fanfic

A new part whoooo! As I’m writing this description I’m very tired so I’m not sure what to say. We’re basically following up directly from the last part, like literally only a few hours later. Chase and Marvin are having a nice visit with Jack, and at the exact same time, their other three friends are having a variety of bad times with Anti. Fun fun fun! Well, not for the characters, but probably for us. Enjoy :)

You can find the other stories under the pw timeline tag!

“You look nervous.”

“I’m not.”

“I mean, it’s understandable if you are—”

“I’m not fucking nervous, Chase.”

The elevator doors opened, forcibly stopping the brief exchange. Chase stepped out onto the third floor, glancing back over his shoulder at Marvin. “Well, if you were, I was just gonna say it’s okay to be. Now c’mon.”

Marvin hesitated. Despite what his protests would indicate, he did look rather anxious. He kept twisting the edge of his shirt around. But he took a moment to steady himself and followed Chase out of the elevator, saying nothing.

“It’s just the same room,” Chase said, gesturing down the hospital hallway. “Let’s go.”

They walked in silence for a while, passing by closed doors, each with a room beyond. Chase kept looking back towards Marvin. This would probably be the first time he’d left his house in a couple weeks, something that Chase knew from experience wasn’t good for your health. Marvin looked fine, physically. His hair was combed and pulled back in a ponytail, his shirt and pants neat. But he just seemed...not as energetic. If that made sense. Hopefully, this would be good for him.

They soon reached the room they were looking for. Chase was about to knock on the door when Marvin suddenly asked, “Do you think he’ll be mad at me?”

Chase blinked. Then laughed, in an effort to lighten the mood. “Why would he be mad at you?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I hardly ever went to visit him.” Marvin continued to twist the hem of his shirt. “A-and I haven’t seen him at all since he woke up.”

“Marv. Trust me. Jack wouldn’t be mad at you for something like that.” Chase instinctively went to pat him on the back, but Marvin leaned away, so he dropped it and settled for a reassuring smile. “He’s not that type of guy.”

“Would he be...disappointed?” Marvin asked tentatively.”I-I don’t want to make him feel bad, he probably has enough to deal with—”

“It’s going to be alright, Marvin. Jack knows you didn’t mean to hurt him by not visiting. And besides, you’re visiting now, aren’t you? So it all works out.” Chase waited for Marvin to say more, but he just nodded, breathing out slowly. “Alright, we’re gonna go in now, okay?” Marvin nodded again, and Chase knocked on the door before slowly opening it. “Hello? It’s me.”

Jack turned to look towards the door. The moment he saw Chase, he smiled, and reached to the side and adjusted the controls of the bed to a sitting position. “Hii Shhays.”

“Hey bro. Look, I brought a friend.” Chase stepped into the room, allowing Marvin to take his place in the doorway.

Marvin froze for a moment. He stared at Jack, taking in the bed, the wires, the oxygen tube. Then he waved. “Um...hi.”

“Mahfin!” Jack grinned even wider. “‘S good t’see yuh!” He waved Marvin over.

“Ha. Y-yeah, good to see you, too.” Marvin stepped inside. “Oh, uh, d’you want this open?”

“S’fffine.”

“Alright, then.” He closed the door.

“Hey, c’mon, Marv, sit down.” Chase walked over to the side of the bed, indicating one of the nearby chairs. “Get comfy in the plastic hospital chair.”

Marvin laughed, and followed Chase over to the bed. They both sat, and Jack leaned over to pick up his communication board from the nearby table. He pointed to the How are you? box. 

“Eh. We’re alright, I guess,” Chase said, glancing at Marvin.

“I...well, I’ve been...” Marvin stopped, the words getting caught in his throat. “It’s fine, though. Probably nothing compared to what you’re going through.”

Jack frowned. It was a small, awkward gesture, something his facial muscles were still having trouble with. He indicated the I don’t think so box.

“What’s that s’posed to mean?” Marvin asked, confused.

“It means he’s doubting you,” Chase explained. Jack nodded.

“Well, I mean...it’s fine,” Marvin said slowly. “Honestly, I’d rather talk about you. Like, how are you doing? What are you doing? It can’t be too fun being stuck in here.”

Jack still looked unsure, but he shook his head, and tapped a box labeled I agree.

“You’ve got a TV in here now, though,” Chase said, pointing to the corner. A big box television sat on top of a wheeled cart. “It looks like the ones they used to bring into classrooms in elementary school, y’know?”

Marvin and Jack just stared at him. “I think that’s an American thing,” Marvin said. “Or at least, something that wasn’t common where we were from.”

“Ah. Well, they did it all the time. A couple classrooms had them bottled to the ceilings in the corner and you watched movies on it, but you were always too far away to see it properly.” Chase laughed a bit. “But still, there’s probably only so much TV you can take.”

Jack groaned, rolling his eyes. He emphatically tapped the I agree box.

Marvin smiled a bit. “Well, don’t you have hospital stuff to do? Like, examinations and shit?”

Jack pointed to the Yes box. “Therrs...th’rapy. Lotta it.”

“Yeah, like speech therapy, physical therapy, probably a million other kinds.” Chase nodded. “Oh, speaking of which, you sound much better! Good job, bro.”

“Thnkss.” Jack smiled a bit.

“Y’know, I did some, uh...I don’t know if it was physical therapy exactly, but I did some exercises as a kid,” Marvin recalled. “Because I was severely uncoordinated. Tripped over my own feet to the point Grandmam was worried about it.” He paused. “I don’t know what I mean by that. I guess I’m just saying I relate a bit. It’s probably not the same thing, though.”

“Nnoh, ‘sfine,” Jack assured him. “I geddid. Ah.” He made a face. “I. Get. It.”

“Good, then.” For a moment, there was just silence. It stretched long enough to get awkward, and just when Chase was about to change the subject, Marvin blurted out, “I’m sorry I never came to see you, Jack.”

Jack blinked. “Hm?”

“Well I did but—it wasn’t that often. A-and not since you woke up, and I’m really sorry about it, it’s just—I’ve been having...a...moment.” Marvin clenched his fists as he tried to find the words. Sign language wouldn’t work here; Jack couldn’t understand it. So he was stuck with verbal speech. Not always his strong suit. “You know, when you have...a moment? When it’s hard to do anything because you...don’t...really...feel like anything?” Chase nodded encouragingly, and Marvin took a deep breath. “It’s not because I didn’t want to come see you. I really did, I-I’m really happy you’re awake again! It’s just...my fault. I put it off for so long, and then I got nervous about it, like, that it would be weird to suddenly show up and start talking like nothing had happened—I-I do that a lot, y’know, that’s why I don’t really talk to anyone besides you guys—and it’s not you, it’s me, and I’m sorry.” He finished with a rush and then stopped, waiting, his posture stiff and tense.

Jack was quiet for a moment. Then, he leaned closer, reaching out and putting a hand on top of Marvin’s own. “Mahfin...Mmmahrf...Marrrfvin.” For a moment, he looked frustrated at his inability to pronounce his friend’s name properly, but then he took a deep breath, and moved on. “Mahrfin. ‘S not...yoh fahlt. Thin’s happen. ‘S alright. ‘M happy t’see yuh—yyou. Yohr herre now. An’ tha’s what’s...i-im....important.” And he smiled.

Marvin’s face swelled with a mix of emotions. Relief, hesitancy, joy. It brought tears to his eyes. “You’re sure?”

“Yeh. O’courrrse.”

“I...good. That’s...good.” Marvin wiped his eyes. “Y’know...if you’re having trouble, you could just call me Muffin or something, for the time being.”

Jack laughed. “Shurr, Maffin.”

The moment was interrupted by a faint buzzing sound. Chase jumped a bit, feeling something vibrate in his pocket. “Oh, uh, sorry guys.” He took out his phone, face turning red with embarrassment as the other two watched him. “I didn’t think anyone would be calling me.” He glanced at the screen. “Huh. I don’t recognize the number.”

“It’s probably spam,” Marvin dismissed.

“Maybe. Or it could be important. Like, the kids are in school now, what if their teacher’s calling?” Chase hesitated. “I’ll just—just see if it is spam, really quick.” He tapped the Accept button and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hello? Who’s this?”

—————— 

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. Something was squeezing his chest, his lungs—something was inside him, it was—no, no it wasn’t. This was panic. That had to be the explanation. He had to calm down, and—and do...something.

Schneep had woken up a few minutes ago. It took him a while to remember what happened before that. How someone had been in his room. No...not just someone. He knew—it was him, it was—there was no escape, there had never been any escape—

Okay. Calm down. Breathe. Focus on the facts. He was lying on the floor. In a strange room that he didn’t recognize. Near the wall. And he wasn’t alone. But he couldn’t focus on that fact now, it just made it hard to breathe again, thinking about being watched, being stared at, being—stop. Calm. Breathe.

Maybe if he looked around, it would help. But there wasn’t much to see in the room. The walls were dark gray, the floor was rough white carpet. There was a circular black rug in the middle. And a window with blinds. Besides those features, the only thing of note in the room was...a desk. And its chair, with someone sitting in it. But he didn’t want to look towards that. What about...the window? Was there anything outside?

He hesitated, and briefly glanced back towards the desk. It looked like the chair’s occupant was busy, attention fully focused on the computer monitors on the desk’s surface. But he knew he was still being watched. Perhaps...if he moved slowly, then it wouldn’t be too strange? It would be natural?

Deciding that was worth a shot, Schneep cautiously sat up. His head was still a bit dizzy, and heavy, too. He grimaced, then glanced out the window. The glass was a bit dirty, and looked unusually...thick, if that made sense. Outside, he could see a street corner, and houses. This room was in a house like that, then? And it was at an intersection, with a pair of street signs marking the roads that crossed here. Unfortunately, he couldn’t make out the street names this far away without his glasses. But one of them had some graffiti on it, a spray-painted square with a diamond inside it, and a black dot inside that. It might’ve been more elaborate than that, but again, he couldn’t quite make out the details.

“I see you.”

Schneep yelped, pressing against the wall as he turned to look towards the desk. Anti. He’d turned around in his desk chair and was staring at him now. Staring with those mismatched eyes that haunted his nightmares.

“Enjoying the view?” Anti nodded towards the window. “Sorry, not much to see. Nothing particularly helpful. Especially since you can’t read the street signs from this distance without your glasses.”

He knew what he was thinking?! Was he in his head again?! Schneep squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head, and opened them again. No, that wasn’t true. Anti was human, he’d never read his mind, humans couldn’t do that.

“What? Do you think you’re safe up here?” Anti tapped the side of his head and grinned. “Don’t be so sure. You’re so easy to—”

“Shut up, you are lying,” Schneep interrupted. “You—you cannot do that anymore. I know it’s a trick.”

“You don’t know anything,” Anti said, still grinning. “Because I’ve been watching you. I know you’ve heard me. And I know you’ve told others about me. Don’t you remember what I said about that? The more people know about me, the stronger I become.”

“That is more lies,” Schneep insisted, pressing his back to the wall. 

“I’ve never lied to you. And I’m not about to start now. I’ve been watching you. I know you’ve seen my shadow in the corners, and my eyes in the ceilings.”

“How do you know about that?!” Schneep shrieked.

“Because I sent them, of course. To keep an eye on you, make sure you didn’t break any rules.” Anti sighed dramatically and shook his head. “I hoped it wouldn’t be needed, but I thought, better safe than sorry. And it turns out I was right.”

Schneep pressed his hands to his ears, trying to block out Anti’s words. They had to be lies. He knew that Anti wasn’t some supernatural creature, he was just a man. Anti had to be guessing about the things he saw. Though...how did he guess about the eyes in the ceilings? Schneep couldn’t remember telling him about them, and that had to be a fairly specific hallucination. Maybe he really...? No, there had to be another explanation.

Anti laughed, and Schneep flinched at the sound. His eyes darted around the room once more. There was a door, but it was on the other side of the room, and he was willing to bet it was locked. Same with the window. He could try to break the window, but there was nothing to break it with. Unless he wanted to try and grab one of the computer monitors and throw it through the glass, but he knew he’d be overpowered if he tried.

“That’s right, you’ve got no way out,” Anti said, leaning back. “You’re lucky I haven’t tied you to a chair or anything. The only reason I haven’t done that is because you know it’s hopeless, anyway. Unlike certain others...wearing red jackets.”

Schneep felt a chill pass over him. Jackie. Of course. Anti still had him captive. “I-it’s different, now,” Schneep protested weakly. “They know about you, a-and me, and that we are not the same. They will be trying to rescue me this time.”

“Probably,” Anti admitted. He grabbed something off the desk and stood up, approaching. Schneep’s eyes widened, and he pressed further into the wall, pulling his legs and arms close. “That is, they’ll be trying a search and rescue as long as they think I’m involved.” Anti stopped, standing over Schneep, and leaned down. “So here’s what’s going to happen.” He showed him the thing he’d grabbed from the desk: a phone. “You’re going to call the lovely Dr. Laurens and tell her you left on your own.”

“What...wh-why would I do that?” Schneep stammered.

“Because you got scared. Because you didn’t feel safe in that hospital. Because you told her you saw Anti in the hospital rec room, and you think that he’s real, and that he can come after you.” Anti smiled. “It’s built on truth, isn’t it? Because you told her you saw me, didn’t you?”

Schneep stared at him in disbelief. He had told Laurens about seeing Anti in the rec room. At the time, he thought it was just him seeing things, but...had it been real? The whole time? And how did Anti know he’d told Laurens about that?

Because he hears your thoughts. He can twist them to control you.

No! No, that wasn’t real. But...the idea still lingered.

“What are you waiting for?” Anti held out the phone, staring at him. Staring, staring, staring. Always staring.

Schneep swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. “..okay. I will call her.”

Anti didn’t say anything as he took the phone, still watching him as he dialed the phone number. Schneep tried not to think about it too much as he held the phone to his ear and listened to the call connect.

The other end rang for a long time, and Schneep swiftly grew afraid that nobody would pick up. But just when he thought it would hang up, the ringing stopped. “Hello? Who’s this?”

“Um. Hello.” Schneep reminded himself to breathe. “It’s me, it is—well, you can probably tell by the voice.” The voice that was shaking quite a bit.

“What the f—Schneep?!” The voice on the other end shouted in disbelief. “Why are you calling me?! No, wait, how are you calling me? I thought you weren’t allowed to have a phone there.”

“No, I—there is—something has happened,” Schneep said carefully. “I-I am not at Silver Hills anymore.”

“Well then where the hell are you?!”

“I am...I am somewhere...else,” Schneep said slowly.

“Yeah, where?”

Anti narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Get to the point,” he hissed.

Schneep froze for a moment. He needed to speak freely. “It’s because of—of him,” he said carefully. “You know who I mean, yes?”

“You mean...Anti?” The other end went silent for a minute. “Schneep where are you? Can you tell me, give me a clue or something? I-I’ll call the police, but if you could tell me anything—”

Anti frowned. “Put it on speaker,” he said.

Schneep’s heart sank. Impossible. Anti would immediately know that he hadn’t called the right person. He had to do something drastic. “Er ist es, er hat mich mitgenommen,” he said, speaking quickly. “Ich weiß nicht wo ich bin.” Anti’s eyes widened, and he lunged forward. Schneep cried out, and rolled to the side, just avoiding him. “Ich weiß nicht wo ich bin! Ein Haus an einer Straßenecke—Ich kenne die Straßennamen nicht! Das Schild hat Graffiti, es ist ein Kreis in einem Diamanten in einem Quadrat—”

“You little—!” Anti grabbed Schneep’s wrist and twisted the phone out of his hand.

“Bitte komm—!” Schneep didn’t manage to get the rest of the sentence out before—

Smack!

He fell to the side, half of his face suddenly alight in pain. For a moment, he was too dazed to respond properly. Then Anti grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him upward. He instantly started struggling.

“You worthless little fucker,” Anti hissed, grabbing a handful of Schneep’s hair and pulling his head backwards. “Can’t believe you did that. Fuck. You deserved that. Your friend’s gonna have worse for that stunt you just pulled.”

“N-no!” Schneep gasped. “Leave him alone!”

“No, you know the rules. You know how this works.” Anti glared at him. “You’ve just gotten cocky. So you need a reminder.”

Schneep felt a tear trickle from his eye. He hoped that call was worth it.

—————— 

“Schneep?! Henrik?! Are you there?!” Chase shouted into the phone, but got no response. There’d been a rustling sound, like a struggle, then Schneep had shouted, and then there was—there was another sound, a sound he’d most often heard when his kids would fight each other, and he had to scold them. That sound was a lot more sinister in this context. Especially considering the call had apparently dropped after it. “Fuck!”

“What happened?!” Marvin asked, shaken by the half of the conversation he’d heard. “Was that really—?”

“H-hang on, I’m gonna call his doctor first,” Chase said. He hurried to dial the number for Dr. Laurens, misdialing at first because of his rush and entering it a second time.

The call was picked up surprisingly quickly. “Chase? Is that you?” Laurens’s voice came through loud and clear.

“Yeah, it’s me. Listen doc, is...is Schneep okay?” Chase didn’t know how else to ask.

“Is he—oh, Chase,” Laurens said softly. “I was just about to call you. We...we don’t know where he is.”

“You...don’t know where he is?” Chase repeated, feeling the bottom of his stomach dropping out. He heard Marvin gasp, and saw him squeeze Jack’s hand, who was now sitting up as straight as he could. “What do you mean?”

“He never showed up to dinner. When Oliver went to check on his room, he wasn’t there. We’ve been searching the building and the grounds, but he’s nowhere to be seen. I thought—since you’re his friend, a-and his emergency contact—wait a minute.” Laurens stopped, realizing something. “Why are you asking?”

“Because he just called me,” Chase explained. “From some number I didn’t recognize. He said that—he said that Anti took him.”

“Shit,” Laurens cursed. “Chase, I need you to hang up right now and call the police. We’ll keep searching the nearby area, just in case. I-I’ll call you if we find him.”

“Y-yeah. Okay. And I’ll call you again after I talk to the cops.”

“Great. Go do that.”

“I’m doing it. Talk to you later.” Chase hung up.

“So he just disappeared?!” Marvin whispered harshly. “Just—just like that night.” He glanced over at Jack.

“Wh’s happennin’?” Jack asked, his features drawn.

“You guys heard that call, right? Henrik called me, h-he was speaking...haltingly, I think, with a lot of pauses, I think that’s the word.” Chase squeezed his phone case. “Then he freaked out and started shouting in German—I bet because Anti can’t speak it.”

“What did he say?!” Marvin demanded.

“I don’t know all of it, it’s been a while since I—give me a second.” Chase opened up a translation app on his phone and quickly typed in a few words, trying his best to match the spelling of the things he thought Schneep had said. He had to fill in the gaps. “Okay. He said that Anti took him, and that he didn’t know where it was, but it was a house on a street corner. He couldn’t see the street names, but mentioned some sort of like...graffiti? On the sign? A circle in a diamond in a square.”

Jack’s head shot upward, and he cried out.

“What?! What is it?!” Marvin leaned forward, checking all the wires and monitors.

“Nn—noh that!” Jack clumsily pushed him back. “That sss...ssymmbel. Know it.”

“Wh—you recognize the symbol?!” Chase repeated in disbelief. “Square-diamond-circle?!”

Jack nodded. “H-he...fffakes. Th’ fakes, th’ one...prtendinn tuh be yuh two. I...rmemmber now.”

“Huh?” Marvin asked, utterly confused.

“Right, you don’t know,” Chase realized. “Jack, he—he’s said some stuff about fake versions of us visiting him. Anti, in disguise. I-I know, I ran into him pretending to be you one time, and I heard about an imposter me from Dr. Emerson another time. Apparently Anti talked to him, said some freaky stuff.” He gasped. “You mean—he told you about this symbol?”

“Symmbl. Symbel to...to haf others recogniss him.” Jack pressed his hands to his forehead and leaned forward. “Put outssside...places he...h-has? I don’...don’ rmemrrr.” He fell silent, squeezing his eyes shut. “On a sighhn...steet signnn...ffahk. Fahk!”

“I’m gonna call the police,” Chase said, already dialing 999. “I’m gonna tell them everything, a-and meanwhile, try to remember anything else.”

Jack nodded, eyes still shut. Marvin squeezed his shoulder, an anchor to the physical world. He could hear Chase’s voice relaying what happened over the phone, but the words were indistinct as he tried to concentrate on his memory. Everything was all mixed up and blurred. None of it made sense most of the time. He remembered hearing voices, but he wasn’t sure when it was Chase, when it was this Anti, or when it was just a dream. But he’d definitely heard that description of a symbol before. When...when had he...when...when......?

——————

......

...

“It’s a calling card. Or a warning, if you want to think of it that way...simplified version of my...”

...

The man had no eyes. Or maybe he was just missing one eye. A blank, dark spot in the middle of a white face. He looked like a friend, but that dark spot was wrong. It told him it was a lie.

“Most people don’t know what it means exactly, only that it’s trouble. The area...claimed.”

And the voice was wrong. It...it sounded a bit like his own, actually? Was this...him?

Was that why he couldn’t move? Why he couldn’t look away?

“...outside safe houses, where I store my...and other equipment. They’re also secondary bases. Just in case...never know in this line of work. I don’t want...caught. Living...prison...just be the worst. You have no control.”

The man was smiling. His teeth stretched...his skin was melting. He—he couldn’t understand. What was happening? Who...was this man...? Was he him? Who are you? Who am I? Are we the same? I can’t understand. Something...something is broken up here. My thoughts...they’re scattering. Like throwing paper in a bowl of water, watching it soak it up, then stirring violently. Everything came apart.

“I’m never going to let anyone control me. No. I am in control. Everyone else...my little puppets. I like watching the shows.”

The white ceiling and walls were burning his eyes. It was curving, like a bubble. They were in a bubble. He was floating. He couldn’t feel anything.

“...times I worry about you telling people. But then I—” Laugh. Laugh. Laugh. “I remember you’re a veggie. People rarely wake...after something so severe. So...doesn’t matter. Maybe you can hear me. Maybe you can’t. Doesn’t...”

Green line. Up and down. Up and down. Crossing the man’s face. Cutting him in half.

“Why am I even doing this?”

Green light. Everything is green.

“I don’t even know. It’s a waste of time, a waste of resources, and a risk. Maybe...need it? I’ve never talked so freely. Not even to Jamie. He...a kid, you know. Always will be.”

Light is gone. Everything is black.

“...it doesn’t really matter what I say. I can tell you about the marks outside the houses. Ha. Hell, I can even tell you where they are. Like, for example, on the corner of—”

——————

Jack’s eyes flew open. “Ah!”

“Wh—?!” Marvin jumped a bit. “Jack?”

“Th’ steet! Strreet! Is—is—” Now the problem was just getting his mouth to form the sounds properly. “Ay...airrr...loom.”

Marvin blinked. “Air loom?”

“Hhay. Hhhhair loom.”

“Oh, heirloom? I don’t know that street, uh...” Marvin turned to look at Chase. “Did you catch that?”

Chase nodded in response, still on the phone, then returned to his conversation with the emergency line. “Um—maybe try on one of the corners of Heirloom Drive? My friend thinks that might be it.” A brief pause. “Uh, I don’t know.” And he looked over at Jack, pulling the phone away a bit. “Hey bro, do you...remember the other street? It’s at an intersection, right?”

Jack closed his eyes again. But this time, the memory wouldn’t even come to him. “No.”

“That’s fine.” Chase returned to the phone. “My friend doesn’t know, but on the phone call he said—my other friend—said that there was some sort of graffiti on the sign, that was a uhh square around a diamond around a circle. That probably helps right?” He paused. “No, I don’t think he’d see them. He’s near-sighted, and I don’t think he has his glasses. That probably means that the graffiti description is pretty vague, but it’s an idea.” Another pause. “Yeah, that’s it. Oh, wait, uh...I think Detective Nix was involved in this case? Can you tell him?” And another. “Yeah, his name’s Henrik.” And one last, long pause. “Alright, thank you ma’am. I’ll wait.” And he hung up, letting out a long exhale.

“It—it’s going to be fine, right?” Marvin asked anxiously. “They’ll find him?”

“It might take a while, but I think so,” Chase replied. “God...Hey, uh, Jack? You’re sure about this?”

Jack thought about it, then nodded slowly, head bobbing. That memory was a bit weird, but Dr. Emerson told him it was common to have dream-like memories, with everything that had happened to him. He was confident that the conversation was real. He couldn’t forget the times Anti came to visit, just because of how deeply unnerving his words always were.

“Alright. Well, they’re going to call me to update me on what happens,” Chase said. “Uh...not sure how long this’ll take. Visiting hours might end before they sort everything out.”

“Mm.” Jack shrugged. He picked up the communication board again—he’d just done a lot of talking, and needed a moment—and pointed to the I’m okay box.

“You sure?”

Yes box.

“Well we’re not leaving until they kick us out,” Marvin asserted, folding his arms. “If they call us back, you need to hear it. You just helped out a fuckton.”

Jack smiled, a bit lopsidedly. Thank you box.

Chase laughed, but it quickly faded. He looked down at the phone in his hand, already anticipating the call. “I guess...we just wait now.”

——————

There were footsteps passing by outside the room. At first, Jameson had tensed, waiting for the door to open and Anti to walk inside. But that didn’t happen. They just kept passing back and forth. You hear those, right? JJ asked.

Jackie didn’t respond, so JJ looked back over at him. He was lying on the bottom bed of the bunk and staring up, eyes glazed. Something he’d been doing quite a lot, JJ noticed. When he asked about it, Jackie always said he was daydreaming, which would be fine normally, but JJ was pretty sure that he was doing it too much. Well, he couldn’t blame him. But still, it would be nice if Jackie would look at him when he was signing.

Jameson walked over and, after a moment’s hesitation, shook Jackie’s shoulder. He blinked, made an odd gesture like he was asking someone to wait, then looked at JJ. “What?”

Have you been hearing the footsteps outside? JJ asked.

“Huh? Oh, uh, sorry. No. I wasn’t really paying attention,” Jackie admitted. “What do they sound like?”

Like someone’s running up and down a hallway outside, JJ described.

“Really? Well...I mean, I can’t really think of anyone but Anti who’d be doing that.” Jackie’s face scrunched up in thought. “Maybe he’s...doing something? I dunno. Running, though...it must be important.”

Jameson frowned. That was a good point, why would Anti be running about? I’m going to try to look outside, he said, walking over to the door.

“Look outside?” Jackie sat up, turning so he was on the edge of the bed. “You mean, through the gap?”

JJ nodded. He got down on his hands and knees and pressed his head to the floor, peering through the gap under the door. Nothing much to see. He got to his knees and was about to stand up...when he heard the footsteps again. Wanting to see what happened as they passed by the door, he quickly peered through the gap between the door and the doorframe. The steps were approaching—

Then the door slammed open, directly into Jameson’s face. He cried out as he fell, clasping his hands to his face.

“Oh my god, Jamie?! I’m so sorry!” Anti covered his mouth, staring down at him in shock. “It was an accident, I didn’t expect you to—are you okay?!”

Jameson didn’t answer. His face was in pain, and his nose in particular was throbbing. He pulled one hand away and saw it covered in blood, felt it trickling from his nostrils and soaking into his mustache.

“Shit. Fuck! I-it’ll be fine, I can—i-is it broken?” Anti bent over, grabbing Jameson’s head and trying to inspect the damage. But Jameson pulled away, waving at him to get back. “Hey, I just—okay, fine. This isn’t the time. We can look at it later.” Anti took his phone out of his pocket and checked the clock. “We need to go.”

Go? Did he say go? As in, they were leaving? Jameson stood up, keeping one hand on his face, trying and failing to stop the bleeding from getting everywhere. Why did they have to leave? More importantly, why was Anti trying to move the two of them? Unless...something happened that meant he had to move them. Like...the police coming. At that thought, Jameson started backing away.

“Jamie, this isn’t a joke, we need to leave now.” Anti insisted.

Jameson shook his head. He glanced over his shoulder at Jackie. Judging by the wide-eyed expression on his face, he’d come to the same conclusion as him. It was strange to see the glimmer of hope in his eyes. And that thought made Jameson’s heart hurt.

“Are you going to—?! Fuck, I don’t have time for this.” Anti rubbed his eyes, then adjusted the strap of the bag hanging off his shoulder. He stared at Jameson for a moment. Then followed his line of sight over to Jackie. For a moment, he hesitated, thinking about something. And then he made a decision. “Okay, fine.” Anti pushed past Jameson, reaching into his bag as he did so. He grabbed Jackie, yanking him upwards to a standing position, and pressed a knife to his neck.

Jameson gasped. “A-an!”

“I’m going to kill him,” Anti said calmly. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I can’t handle three of you after all. And he’s the most useless.”

“A...aan.” Jameson shook his head slowly. He didn’t dare to take a step forward. Jackie had looked terrified when Anti grabbed him, but the moment he said he was going to kill him, all emotion seemed to drain out of him. Now he was slumped, eyes blank, not there at all. Please, Jameson simply signed.

Anti looked him in the eyes. “The only way you can convince me not to is if you come with me right now.”

Oh.

So...that was the plan.

Jameson wasn’t sure why he wasn’t more shocked. No...no, actually, he knew why. But somehow, it surprised him to feel this lack of...well, surprise.

But in any case, he couldn’t let Jackie die. Alright, he signed slowly. I’ll go with you.

“Good. Follow me.”

Anti walked out of the room, right through the door, and Jameson followed behind him, quietly. He tried to catch Jackie’s eye, but Jackie wasn’t paying attention to anything at all. He just let Anti pull him along with the blade at his throat.

They went down a hallway and arrived in another, which they then walked down to arrive at a door. Anti pushed it open with his shoulder, and then they were in a small backyard, hardly more than a strip of grass. Jameson glanced at the neighboring houses, but they looked empty. But...maybe someone could see them? Maybe someone would call the police, if they hadn’t already been called.

There was a car parked in the gap between their house and one of the neighbors. It didn’t have anything distinct about it, a simple, gray, four-door car. But the trunk was a bit open. Jameson caught a glimpse of some sort of suitcase—maybe multiple suitcases—before Anti kicked the lid closed. “Stupid boot,” he muttered. “Jameson, get in the passenger side. Leave the door open.”

Well, he didn’t have much of a choice, did he? Jameson walked around to the passenger side and got in, sitting stiffly on the edge of the seat. He wiped his face, clearing up blood from his nosebleed.

“Good.” Anti nodded once. He then shifted his knife to his other hand, still keeping it pointed at Jackie, and used his other to rummage around in his bag until he pulled out a small bottle. He popped the lid open. “Hold out your hand.” When Jameson did, Anti shook a few small pills out of the bottle and into his palm. “Swallow three of those.”

That was the part that got Jameson to finally say something. Or, try to, at least. “A-annn? Yuh...c-c-cannn’...beee sss—”

“Don’t do this, Jamie,” Anti said through gritted teeth. “I know what you’re trying to do. Just eat them, okay?” He put the bottle back in his bag and switched the knife between hands again. He pressed it firmly into Jackie’s neck, causing a drop of blood to trickle down from where the blade met skin.

Jameson nodded, and hurriedly threw the pills in his mouth. Anti watched him closely, making sure they were eventually swallowed. “Good,” he said again. Then he closed the car door. Immediately, Jameson heard the clunk of the lock. He was expecting that...but he wasn’t expecting Anti to walk back towards the back door they’d come from, taking Jackie with him.

“Hhh—!” Jameson pressed his face and hands to the window. “Aaaan! N-nuh!” He banged a fist against the glass. “Nnnuh! Nn—n-n-no!” He screamed. But Anti didn’t even look towards him as he disappeared back into the house with Jackie.

He tried pulling at the door, but of course, found it useless. And looking around the inside showed there wasn’t a way to open the car from the inside. That was probably a safety hazard, but Jameson was willing to bet that Anti had the car modified. He spun around in his seat, looking for anything that would be of help in the back. But there was nothing. Except for...a man. Asleep, sitting in the back seat. Pale skin and brown hair, with a yellow-purple bruise forming on his cheek. Jameson was confused for a moment, until he noticed the plastic medical bracelet around the man’s wrist and remembered. That was Henrik, wasn’t it? Schneep? He hadn’t recognized him. Of course, they’d only met once, and Schneep had spent most of it freaking out, thinking that Jameson was Anti. He looked unharmed, but he was clearly unconscious, and therefore couldn’t help them get out of the car.

Frustrated, Jameson started kicking at the door, leaning back to build up as much force as possible. He tried hitting the window. But it felt as solid as the actual door. This went on for a few moments, until he saw the back door opening again. And Anti came back outside. Alone.

That made him stop, fear shooting through his heart.

Soon, Anti sat down in the driver’s seat. “Alright, finally,” he said under his breath, glancing up at the dark, early-night sky. “We’ve wasted enough time—”

Smack!

Anti was too surprised to even cry out as Jameson’s fist connected with enough force to whip his head to the side. “Y—you just—” He pressed his hand to his cheek and looked at Jameson in disbelief. “Jamie, you hit me.”

Don’t fucking call me that! Jameson threw his hands in Anti’s face, almost hitting him again. Not after all that! You don’t deserve it! You’re the most horrible person I know!

Anti glanced back towards the house. “He’s not dead.”

Well I don’t trust a word you say!

“Just...” Anti sighed, and rubbed his cheek. “Just go to sleep and be quiet, Jameson.”

Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? Jameson seethed. You’d like to have a perfect, quiet, naive kid brother that you can protect and therefore feel good about yourself for once. Well he doesn’t exist. Not one of those words describes me. Jameson turned away. Don’t ever call me your brother again. You make me sick.

Anti didn’t say anything in response, and Jameson refused to even look at him. The car started, then pulled out of the driveway and onto the street.

As the house on the corner faded into the distance, Jameson’s anger lessened, overtaken by the fear and all-consuming worry he’d felt before. He could only hope that Anti wasn’t lying about Jackie. And he didn’t like that. He didn’t like relying on this...person for anything. But, unfortunately, he was at his mercy for the time being.

He had to find a way out. Not now, though. He could already feel the sleeping pills starting to take effect. But as Jameson closed his eyes, he swore that he wouldn’t let Anti be in control of anyone ever again.

[lovecolibri]

Things that did NOT Spark Joy-3x01

Whoooo boy, y’all. This is a SALTY one. All the good stuff is in the Sparks Joy post. For this one, I think I’ll put the thing’s I’m a little confused or frustrated about first and then the rest of it under the cut just as an added layer of protection for anyone who wants to avoid the really salty bits.

We are still seeing a Liz who is too busy and caught up in what she’s doing to think about her friends, which Alex called her out for in season 1 and it...has not changed. Which, girl, I get caught up in things too and hyper focus sure is a Thing That Happens, but she didn’t set an alarm or reminder or anything about the several days Kyle was in town? I love Liz, I do, but if they wanted to spend this season focused more on friendships, this isn’t a strong start for her.

Liz told Max if she ran again, she wanted him to chase her, and is sad he didn’t come, but she also made it pretty clear when she left that she needed some time away from him, so how is he supposed to know when it’s been long enough? He’s not (as far as we know) a mind-reader Liz! The show wants to have Liz be this “strong woman who doesn’t need a man”, but at the same time, this woman who is waiting around for this one man without ever telling us why she even wants Max! They tried to go with the “oh he’s kind and soft” thing, but he also has to be a macho police man so he tends to lash out in anger. It’s such a weird amalgamation of characteristics and inconsistent writing and it’s so frustrating! And Liz is constantly paired off with all these smart medical science dudes I guess as a contrast to Max? But it undercuts their soulmate story and makes it more glaring that we haven’t been told or shown what Liz loves so much about Max, just that she does and it causes her problems. I want them to really dig in this season to why Liz is so drawn to Max and some of the interviews we’ve seen hint at that which I’m excited about because I want to root for them. They are endgame and we know it and I feel like c*rina took that for granted and just...never bothered to tell us why.

Welp. Max is dying again. I’m tired and I don’t caaaaaaare. 

But also! By Max not telling Michael and Isobel (or Liz) that he’s dying, he’s still doing that thing where he thinks he knows best and decides for everyone else how things should be handled. 

On that note, there’s this big push that Liz is finally “putting herself first” which I get because of how they didn’t allow her to be mad at Max for long enough in season 1 and season 2 didn’t give her nearly enough time with Rosa actually paying attention to her sister that was raised from the dead after a decade. But on the other hand, again, Liz is always putting herself and her science work first to the point that even after Max was alive again she was still too busy for Rosa, now she forgets Kyle is coming for a visit, and she didn’t even stop to think that in her rush to release proprietary information she could get someone else fired along with her. I just want to see them address that Liz has this issue like Alex did in season 1. It’s great that she has flaws! But they can’t really be “flaws” if she never faces consequences (like friends speaking up) so I’m hopeful with her and Alex getting scenes this season we will see Liz being allowed to have her flaws addressed by more than just her and Max having fundamentally different ideas on how to handle absolutely everything. Jeanine seems really excited about this season so I’m looking forward to what this season has in store for her.

Max is still shoving Michael around which I’m also Very Tired of.

Also....like, Max is drinking a LOT now? And straight up shooting acetone?! Like, I know the show has a lot of casual drinking but Max has a full-on flask he is taking with him everywhere and it is noticeable, but I can’t quite tell if it’s on purpose so we notice that Things Are Bad for him? Because Isobel and Michael don’t seem concerned and joke about no more truth exercises after that much tequila. But given that they continually have Liz, who has a family history of addiction and even thought she might be having the same mental health issues she knew her mom and sister were self-medicating for, constantly drinking for getting high with m*ria I’m not holding out hope that it’s something intentional that will be addressed.

But also, Max had to “shoot up” immediately after one little power burst in the mindscape, but he’s fully using powers to bury/dig up that box? Dude, grab a shovel and stop taxing your dying heart!

Also we still have m*ria and Max refusing to listen to their doctor which, whatever, but Liz is out there trying to fight for funding to research something to save m*ria when they already have something that works but m*ria refuses to use it as a stop-gap to give Liz the time to do more research.

I don’t hate the new lady, she’s got a killer voice and is apparently also going to be a reporter? And they make it clear that it’s a one-night-stand thing, but I’m so tired of this soulmates show having Max mope around and say he can just never, ever, get over Liz and then turn around and take all his feelings for her and use some other woman to work them out on. Like, he’s supposed to be a writer! Go write some sad AF poetry and get some sleep like a normal person and stop using women’s bodies as a receptacle for the feelings you don’t know how to deal with.

It’s just such a typically CAM thing to have built up Project Shepherd and had it running a whole ass alien experimentation prison basically since the 40′s and it ends with a throwaway line that Alex (who is still in the military based on his AWOL comment to Forrest) has spend the last year “shutting it down”. What does that even meeeeean?! Please tell me he’s heard of Deep Sky before and it’s something that came up in his work or is related to Project Shepherd or something. But given how unsatisfying the end was for Jesse Manes, I’m not holding my breath. (I will DIE MAD about BAMF Alex saying he was going to destroy what his dad loved and make him watch and then we didn’t get it.) 

what does Greg mean when people ask him about “the accident”? Like, there were whole ass witnesses to him shooting his dad in the middle of a carnival? But they made it sound last season like he died a hero saving people and that’s why he got the statue? But now suddenly it’s why Greg can’t get dates because everyone knows he had something to do with it? WHY does c*rina continue to retcon things ONE EPISODE apart?! It doesn’t matter if it’s across seasons, it’s still one episode removed from the event! I was already so confused about how they handled Jesse’s death, but now I’m even more confused!

I’m very confused about Alex’s line that Project Shepherd got everything wrong, but what if someone out there is doing things right. Because a) a super shady, secret organization is definitely hiding anything horrifying for sure, and b) doing WHAT right?! Alien experimentation? Or did he just mean like, doing “first contact” right in a way where they work with aliens and not immediately start a war? It’s...very unclear.

On that note, things were ridiculous right after the episode because NO ONE could figure out what it meant that Alex didn’t go with Forrest. Because Forrest IS with Deep Sky, but he’s going out of town so then if Alex goes with him he WON’T be recruited? Alex staying behind and letting the guy from Deep Sky leave meant he DID want to join Deep Sky? Could they have made it any more confusing? I guess it wouldn’t be one last c*rina episode if there wasn’t a plot that no one could figure out what the fuck was going on! 🙃

Okay, so it’s time for the REALLY salty salt! I’m going to put this part first above the cut because it’s where most of my issues with the episode come from. I always said I knew they absolutely would not just throw m*ria under the bus or actually call her out for being a horrible friend last season. With c*rina gone they want to move forward and put that season and the bad press around it behind them. But there were a few small, subtle things they could have done to mitigate the damage from last season specifically in regards to  m*ria’s relationship with Alex, and Michael. We could have seen Alex suggesting other places to meet besides the Pony, we could have seen absolutely no mention of her from Alex at all (he didn’t mention Michael at all so it’s not like it’s hard), or just had some subtle nudges that Alex isn’t as fine with things as he appeared last season. I still have hope that we will get a little of that for Malex to try and repair the damage c*rina did to their love story by not allowing Alex to be upset in any capacity, and forcing Michael to choose m*ria over and over and re-”break up” with Alex a hundred times instead of showing the tension of Michael trying to be with someone else but still choosing Alex. 

However, they didn’t do any of that, and actually really doubled down HARD on a lot of things from last season that were major issues with m*ria’s character. Now, I know c*rina wrote this episode, but they had said some tweaks were made to the script. I don’t know if there was a certain percent of the script that had to be kept in order for her to have the writing credit, but no matter what, she was not there by the time they shot the episode so even if the dialogue was kept, there were directing and acting choices that could have been made to mitigate some of the damage and that was not done either.  I know a lot of people just want to sweep season 2 under the rug but quite frankly, totally ignoring what happened last season and not addressing it in ANY way isn’t going to fix the issue with m*ria, and is actually going to make it worse. There were several people who were waiting for this season so they could “like” m*ria again in the hopes she would be back to more of her season 1 self. That was never going to be me, but I was rooting for you all! However, this episode gave us exactly the same m*ria from last season which again, c*rina wrote the episode but choices were made in how that dialogue was handled and it all just doubled down on m*ria from last season. Did anyone feel like this was the new m*ria you’d been waiting for?

Maybe she’ll get better in the next couple of episodes but as far as a “new premier” episode to set the tone for the rest of the season, the choice they made with her character are not giving me ANY hope that she will get better. The writing for her might put her more central to the plot and may not revolve around Michael like it did last season, but I don’t see her actions and attitude changing, so they can tell me all day that Alex still thinks of her as a friend but until they show her actually taking responsibility for her actions (which they won’t because she’s perfect and can do no wrong and even if she does no one can acknowledge it and has to keep propping her up as The Best Friend To Ever Exist), then I’m going to continue to be utterly unable to watch her character or the way she treats Alex and Michael. So, as you last warning, this bit is 100% not m*ria or m*luca friendly and it’s definitely not friendly towards her relationship with Greg, and also has some of my more salty complaints about f*rlex, so enter at your own risk!

First of all, I think the dialogue with f*rolex has been talked to death but it was...cringey at best and here’s hoping with c*rina gone we don’t have to see that again. I’m going to stick with my personal headcanon that Alex saw f*rrest wanted to have a serious talk and he panicked and fell back on using sex as a distraction (kinda like m*ria used it every time she didn’t want to hear anything Michael had to say). I posted here about how the lines could hit different based on the people involved but it was...not a good look for a character we hardly know, and a side ship we have seen next to nothing about.

Now, the “Do I have competition” line is pure CAM doing The Most to undercut Malex just like always because giving how pressed she was about what she saw of 3x01 she had every intention of dragging f*rlex out for multiple episodes if not most of the season. But I like that Alex throws that back in f*rrest’s face by mentioning they weren’t exclusive which implies some competition. And f*rrest isn’t stupid, he clearly knows that song was about someone else, and possibly knows it was about Michael specifically.

As mentioned above, I do NOT think it was a wise choice to keep pushing the Alex/m*ria friendship when it could so easily have been left out of the episode. It was a choice to have Alex mention m*ria was texting him about getting back into town (also a choice I will discuss more later to have her and Greg mentioned in the same scene 🙄), and a choice to have Alex and Kyle meeting inside at the Pony instead of one of their houses, or outside on a park bench, or in the Crashdown, or even outside at the Pony like we saw Michael was, even though m*ria mentions he hasn’t been around. And the fact that they went out of their way to not only not address anything from last season between Alex and m*ria (though of COURSE m*ria get’s to be bitchy to Michael about it because she has hurt feelings after she never had anything nice to say to or about him and the was the one to break up with him, while Alex continues being her faithful friend and bar patron. I hate it here.), but are actively doubling down on that friendship is really making all my fears about them not even doing the barest minimum to address last season come true. I talked a little bit here about some of my fears of them either totally ignoring last season and/or forcing Alex and Michael to be m*ria/m*luca apologists and I really feel that not addressing it at all is the wrong choice. Again, I was not holding out for Alex blowing up at m*ria because I knew that would never happen, but they easily could have not had him say anything about her in this episode and with c*rina gone they could have just put distance between their characters which would be a way of addressing it without having to have Alex say anything and I could have even lived with that miniscule effort but we couldn’t even get that, but got them forcing that friendship even MORE. 🙃🙃🙃

On top of all of that, after what happened last season and specifically what happened in 2x06, putting m*ria with GREG of all people I think is another MASSIVE misstep, though of course people who were fans of that episode seem to agree with m*ria that her getting as close to Alex’s dick as possible is “cute” and they can’t wait for it. 🙄 But as someone who was finally happy for Alex to have ONE SINGLE PERSON that wasn’t trying to kill him or Michael actually acknowledge that Michael was massively important to Alex was so great last season and such a balm for what we had to put up with all season with Alex. So to have m*ria get to have that too is such a slap in the face, I literally cannot with how pissed I am about that choice. 

As for Greg, he felt like such a different person but we didn’t know a lot about him last season and he did remember Isobel for a prank she pulled so him being a bad boy isn’t like, the worst thing to happen, but having him specifically going after m*ria after being the only one to stand up for Alex last season, an specifically saying he wished he would have stood up for Alex more, is just ridiculous. If anyone was going to get to be upset on Alex’s behalf if was Greg and now we see he can’t even be bothered to give the side eye to the woman who dated the man Greg knows Alex is still in love with and knows exactly what he means to Alex? That is the personality transplant I’m not happy with, and now I’m just holding out hope that he’s either actually Greg’s twin Clay, or he’s been evil this whole time and was working with Deep Sky and took his dad out on purpose. I was so excited to see more of him this season and now I’m absolutely done. And my poor Belmanes heart! I know some people are sill hoping for it to happen and who knows, it could, but I am SO UNBELIEVELY TIRED with shows just playing musical beds with all their characters because they have nothing better to do with them in their spare time but all fuck each other in rotating shifts and I just can’t. 

As I talked about here, I don’t think Michael and m*ria ever worked as a banter couple because they were always on unequal footing so while they might have been trying to bring that energy from season1 back is absolutely does not work after everything that happened in season 2. m*ria ending things with Michael, but she also never had nice things to say to or about him so her being catty now about Alex when she absolutely knows that Alex hasn’t been in town is just SO unbelievably bitchy I was in shock. What right does she have to play the sad, jilted, bitter girlfriend after ALL of the shit she pulled last season?! This was another choice I’m utterly baffled about them keeping. And don’t get me started on the people thinking that scene was really cute and a soft scene for m*luca. She is literally dragging him about something she knows he is hurt and sensitive about for no reason other than to specifically hurt him. And then she has the audacity to try and reach out and touch him after purposefully saying something to hurt him? How anyone can think that is cute relationship material is beyond me. Plus you have her again talking shit about Michael behind his back. But where as we got to see Alex defending Michael every time that happened, now we get to see Greg “I know what he means to Alex” being too busy trying to prove his dick is bigger and more self-destructive so m*ria will pay attention to HIM now and I just... *screams into pillow* And if we can stop with the “m*ria just has to bat her eyes and everyone will fall all over themselves to do whatever she wants because she’s just SO irresistible” that would be fucking great.

 Something else I’m confused about though, is m*ria calling Michael self-destructive, when the show tells us he’s actually been doing really well and getting his life together. BUT ALSO, m*ria mentions Michael hasn’t been around at the Pony, but at the start of the episode shows him having what is implied as a regular Pod Squad gathering at...the Pony where it’s also implied they have all had a lot to drink with Michael’s quip about no truth exercises after that much tequila. Would it be too much to expect the show to not contradict itself MULTIPLE times in the same episode?

And instead of trying to do anything at all to address m*ria’s behavior last season, they decided we needed to make her a more sympathetic character by showing her being “super cool and badass” and suffering what is for sure going to be a racial hate crime given what we know about the season which is...just so lazy.   

And as a couple final, small, petty complaints, I don’t like that two years down the line after all the buildup for Malex, they are starting to use “cosmic” for Echo. And I don’t like that f*rlex got a forehead bump like we have been WAITING to see again for Malex. 

Stop. Undermining. Malex.

[ulquiorrapleasecallmetrash]

A Dog's Affection (Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez  X Dog Lover! Reader)

This is a really cute ask! I also had fun writing it because although I am a cat person I have two dogs as well so this is relatable. HIs reactions to them would be so cute! I am basing the reader's dog after my Siberian husky!

----

A Dog's Affections (Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez X Dog Lover!  Reader)

Arrancars are foreign to affection, that much was true but when s/o told him about their dog he was appalled. "You tellin' me you want me to meet your dog?" His voice made his question sound like a statement, a furious one at that. He wasn't pleased to say the least, why would he want to meet an annoying, slobbery, animal? Still,  His s/o insisted but  to indulge them  he agreed to it. The second he entered their  house, he immediantly regretted it. Upon entering, he heard s/o squeal with joy, their voice was lighter, happier and sweeter. It was  something he never heard before. "D/N hi how are you? Awww are you happy to see me? Hello hello hello!" The dog began to bark,   twirling around with joy as the creature began to speak to her. " Roooorrroo whoooo rooooo! " "I know I miss you too!" " Woooo roooooo! "   He was visibly disgusted and confused.  Especially when he watched the dog lick their face and hands. Was this the kind of "affection" that these creatures show to their human owners? It was more bizzare than anything he has ever seen before. "Grimmjow, this is d/n." The canine's tail never seized to move and neither did her happiness. She bolted towards him, wagging her tail and twirling with happiness again. She began to lean against him, her pretty blue eyes staring into his own, she looked innocent, and for some reason she trusted him that easily? "What?" He sounded disgusted. "Pet her. She wants your attention." S/o instructed him, entertain by the scene before them.   He hesitantly pat her head, feeling the soft fur below his calloused hands. He had to admit, petting her wasn't so bad but the licking was something to be didn't like at all. "Roooorrooooo!" " What? " "wooooooo!" He glanced up at you, "Can she understand me?" His voice hinted that he was amazed.   You chuckled at him, shaking your head.  "Of course not  but she knows you are talking to her. " " Rooowwoooo! " Grimmjow tilted his head, crouching down to pet her again. She then leaned  forward and lick his cheek whooing in his ear. So what, she was kind of cute. And so what she may have taken a liking to him, still doesn't change the fact that she was a dumb animal. He stood up, shrugging afterwards. "I met her, happy now?"   " Yes I am.  You'll get used to her. She can be a bit... Lovey. " That's just great. "That thing is a pain in the ass.." You rolled your eyes at him, " Maybe she is  but she is cute atleast. " You teased. "Tch, whatever." Grimmjow sneered at the dog, making his way to the couch. Before you both knew it, she zipped over to the arrancar, sitting next to him, close to his side. .He was irritated, can this annoying thing  just go away? But deep down, he didn't dislike it completely. She was such a weak, oblivious  creature yet, her being so  ignorant to the world and how cruel it is makes  her seem too trusting, it was like she sees the good in everyone. It made him feel pure, like he was good person and not a monster. This was proven when he felt a small head  on his lap, staring up in his eyes lovingly, giving him a small lick on the nose.   He took his hand, gently petting the dog's soft fur. You stood at the entrance of the living room, secretly watching them both.  You could have sworn you seen a smile on his face. It was faint but it was still  more than memorable to witness. He wasn't going admit it but he had a soft  spot for this affectionate animal and he was okay with it.

----

Requests are open!

[zer0-is-me]

Chapter 3 - The Olympians

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

A/N:

I need to stop writing at 1 AM. Oh well, I went to bed at 12(i think-) yesterday so i probably am not sleep deprived.

For now.

Anywho, without further ado, this is the third chapter! read on :)

Previously:

Katsuki stared at the newly named, 'Kibo’s, hand, before ignoring it completely. He stood up, stretching, and turned to leave.

He paused right before he was about to jump to the floor, and sighed.

“ Name’s Valour. If we’re doing your cringe-y ass shit, the vigilante of courage and bravery.”

As an afterthought, he added, “ And, no, I’m not using your name, dumb fuck.”

And then, he was gone.

Izuku couldn't get them out of his head.

The vigilante from the night before, that was.

It was just so... so... well, he couldn't really describe it. Take intriguing and confusing along with a hint of amusement, mix them up, and there you have it.

But seriously, it kept on bugging him. He knew it was too early to tell, and he knew Valour, as they called themselves, probably wouldn't be seen again for a while (they had mentioned, after all, that they usually patrolled in a different neighbourhood). And yet he couldn't help but feel that them meeting up would be important somehow.

That, because of the certain chain of events that led to another, something good would come out of it.

He quickly brushed that feeling off when Valour was nowhere to be seen for the next week. They'd probably forgotten all about him, anyway. Soon, instead of thinking about the mysterious figure that had saved him that day, his thoughts were plagued with rightful worry.

His mom wasn't getting better.

She had been in a car crash. Izuku wasn't with her - he was at school when it had happened. Sometimes he wished he had been. Then maybe he would be in her position instead.

Inko had suffered a traumatic brain injury during the crash, and it was moderate, according to the doctors. She might recover mostly, though that would be around twelve months away.

He had cried rivers that day. Not in front of the doctors, no, but when he was locked away in his room.

He remembered feeling numb when they had told him the news right up until he had forced himself to work on homework. It all crashed onto him in one thought, and he remembered clutching his pencil in such a knuckle-white grip that it cracked. His homework page looked a lot like it had been dipped into a swimming pool afterwards.

It had been two months ago.

Since then, Izuku had tried to keep moving. He'd never let a tear drop since that night, sucking it up and braving the kids from school's taunts and bullying. (He deserved it for not being there for her when it happened, anyway.) He'd found a job - since his mother couldn't make money for them anymore - at a convenience store which was conveniently placed close by.

... Convenient.

He tried his best in school and studied hard, hoping that his mom would be proud if- no, when she got out.

And Izuku knew that he should stop his vigilant activities. He knew it would be better for him - to instead try and balance visiting his mother, studying, school and work only, than try to shove vigilantism into it. Every night, he'd tell himself that it wasn't worth it; that the heroes would be able to fill his place easily, and he wasn't doing much anyway. That he should sleep a full eight hours for once.

And yet every night, Kibo left the house and travelled to the neighbouring neighbourhood, ready to save people.

The kids at school didn't make it much better, though.

Kacchan's tauntings and shoves never seemed to stop, even if he'd never seriously hurt him more than a bruise or two. It didn't bother Izuku much, actually - more like an annoying brother who just loved to be an asshole to you and say mean things.

What really bothered him were the other kids at school - those who'd place spider lilies on his desk, like a request for him to die, or punch and kick him between classes and after school.

Those things... they eventually kind of got to him. He'd stare at a blade for a second or a minute, before putting it out of sight.

His only motive to keep going at this point was the people he'd save as a vigilante, and his mother.

He couldn't leave her without a son.

...

Izuku was putting on his costume. Yup, he was going for another night of vigilantism. (An awesome conversation changer, he knows.)

(A week and two days had passed since he had met Valour. He wasn't sure why he was tracking this.)

As he walked through alleyways and shadows to get to the next neighbourhood, he decided to do something he hadn't in years.

He stayed in his home neighbourhood.

Who knew, maybe there would be more crime here.

" Tch. Man, shut up. I know what I'm talking about."

Well that's convenient.

He heard it from a nearby alleyway and went to take a look. Innocent people usually wouldn't be talking in a secluded alleyway at 2AM. Peering around the corner, three men stood. The same person spoke - he had large horns coming from his forehead (sort of like demon ones).

" I'm telling you-"

Another interrupted. He looked tall and strong, and had red, glowing eyes. " Look, we get that you want money. We all want it. But seriously, a quirk trafficking ring? That's a bit too far."

The remaining man had a long crooked nose and dark eyes, like the kind of villains you'd see in a more or less kid-friendly film, and his stature was thin and crooked.

" No, no," he said. " I want to hear where this goes. Go on."

He did. " Thank you. What I was saying, was I heard about a trafficking ring. It's... Well, apparently, the organization's lead by people who call themselves, 'The Olympians'. Obviously, they trade and sell kids with good quirks. There's a twist, though. If they are trading with another quirk trafficking ring, and not selling, they'll insist on doing something called 'The Tournament'. From what I've heard of it, that's how they decide who gets what kid. Not sure what happens there, though."

" Interesting," the thin man said. " Thank you, Nakamura."

" You're welcome, Ito."

The other with glowing eyes huffed. " How do we know you're lying or not?"

'Nakamura' growled. " Well, Kobayashi, you'll know if you take my word, won't you?"

'Kobayashi' scoffed, " What are we even supposed to do with that information? Where even is it?"

Nakamura sighed, " You idiot, if you look at-"

He cut off and his hand shot up to his neck, clawing at something that wasn't there. Kobayashi scowled. " Call me that again, asshole, and see what happens. You need to remember who's best between me and you."

Nakamura dropped to the ground and gasped for air. " F-Fine! Fine."

He scowled at the ground, " If- If you look at where kids have gone missing lately, y-you'll realise that they disappear in a specific location and time. I don't- don't have the info, b-but I'm sure if you dug around, you'd find it."

Kobayashi sighed, " Well. You're really quite useless."

He raised his hand, but Nakamura stuttered out, " W-Wait! I have connections. I can get you whatever you need."

Kobayashi smirked, " Now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

Ito, the thin guy, chuckled darkly. " Oh, you didn't have to be so tough on the newbie, Kobayashi."

" Well it worked, Ito, didn't it?" Kobayashi said.

" Of course."

Nakamura was slowly getting to his feet, when he heard a near-silent scrape of shoes on cement. None of the men seemed to hear it, but Izuku knew he had heard something. He looked up just in time to see a figure dodge out of sight from the rooftop overhead.

He made a split second decision and climbed the building, hoping to see who else had been eavesdropping.

He'd definitely try to turn these guys in, but curiosity got the better of him in that moment.

A/N:

Whoooo another chapter posted! This took way too long, sorry!

Ooooh we got some new people :0 Who will they be, and what part will they play?

Btw, if you haven't figured it out already, the chapters will be in the perspective of the two boys one at a time - so in one chapter, it'll be Izuku, the next, katsuki, the next izuku, etc.

I hope you have a wonderful day, bye byeee! <3

✨@mymanbakugou ✨ (damn this taglist is lonely. If anyone else wants to be tagged, just tell me :))

[fluffymcu]

Letting Loose

Part THREE

This series is TICKLE related. Outfits that are linked here are purely for picturing the clothes, you don’t have to look like the model.

Series Summary:  You’re the little sister of the one and only Captain America. You’re also the youngest girl on the team, so that automatically makes you the avengers’ little princess. And they spoil you as such. They have become your amazing family and you don’t know where you’d be without them. This series will show random adventures and fluffy events in the daily life of the reader and her family, along with an unexpected turn later on as you read.

A/N: I’m so excited to be writing this series! This is my first time writing one and I’m a bit nervous but I hope it all goes well. :) The first few chapters will be about random events, not really following a timeline until Chapter 9. Hope you enjoy!

Word count: 3,421

Previous       Next

You wake up to the bright morning light shining through your bedroom and sigh in content, well rested. You turn to look at the clock on your nightstand and you’re a bit confused as to why it’s 10:30am and you’re still in bed and no one woke you up for school. Then you relax and smile as you realize it’s Saturday. And Saturdays are awesome. You jump out of bed and use the bathroom, washing your face and brushing your teeth before throwing on some shorts and an oversized shirt that you stole from your brother and make your way downstairs.

Most of the team is up and in the kitchen, even Bruce. It surprised you a bit since Bruce is always either up in his lab or discussing science with Helen Cho. You smile and greet everyone in the kitchen, hugging Bucky and Wanda. “Did you guys make pancakes?” You ask. Tony shook his head apologetically and placed a cereal bowl in front of you, placing the milk and favorite cereal next to it.

“Sorry, Hun. We ran out of mix, I’m going to the grocery store right now to get some stuff. Be back in an hour!” He said, grabbing his stuff and Pepper following behind him. You prepare your cereal and notice Peter is sitting on the floor of the living room, watching tv and eating his cereal. You didn’t notice him when you came in but you approached him and took a seat next to him, facing the tv.

“Oh hey y/n/n, I didn’t notice you came down.” He smiled, you returning the gesture. 

“Yeah, I didn’t see you either. Thought you were still in bed.” You chuckled. Both of you continued to watch cartoons that morning, the low sound of the tv along with the buzz of the team chit-chatting. You and Peter sat back, resting your backs on the seat of the couch, your empty bowls on the coffee table. 

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You were laughing along with the team in the kitchen, talking about mistakes and embarrassments some members on the team have made while on missions. Bucky was telling a story about how he was sent to flirt with a woman at a party, that woman being a black market dealer. But instead, he got mixed up and flirted with the wrong person. In the end, they got the woman and arrested her, but he had to deal with constant texts and calls from the lady for the next week, and explain to her about the mix up. He quickly regretted telling the story as Sam had begun to tease him endlessly about it. 

Around that time, Tony and Pepper got home with many groceries and started laying the bags down on the island to put away. Everyone helped put the groceries away so it could be done faster, and sat down in the living room. You all had barely sat down when Tony spoke up. “Hey guys, guess what?” You all turned to look at him. He held a dramatic pause before smiling. “I got a go-kart.” You and Peter gasped excitedly and quickly stood up from the couch. 

“Really?!” You both squealed, making the team chuckle.

“There are 14 people here and you only bought one go-kart?” Steve chuckled, raising his eyebrow sarcastically. Tony rolled his eyes and motioned for everyone to follow him. You and Peter right behind him, overly excited. He led you to be backyard, where the tracks for the Quinjet were, and there was the kart. It was white and blue and had a gold streak in the middle. It was customized, since it had the Avengers A plastered on the hood. You jumped excitedly and Peter’s jaw was on the floor. 

“No way! This is so cool!” Peter gushed. You both turned to look at Tony pleadingly before giving him puppy eyes. “Can we drive it? Pleaaaase?” You both begged. Tony smiled before nodding towards the kart.

“Have at it. Be careful, though. Only ride it on the track.” You and Peter cheered, climbing into the kart. You agreed that you would drive a lap around the compound and let Peter take a lap as well. The team smiled and went back inside when you sped off. 

“WHOOOO!” You screamed, maneuvering the vehicle around the tracks, feeling the wind in your face and blowing through your hair. Peter couldn’t stop laughing silently at how fast you were going. 

‘Y/n you’re gohohohoing too fahahahast!” He laughed, not really meaning it as he was having too much fun. You giggled loudly and screamed as you made a tight turn. “Ohohoho my gohohod!” He laughed, holding his stomach. You sped around the compound, reaching the back door where you left, slowing the kart to a stop. 

“Okay, your turn.” You panted, a permanent smile attached to your face. Peter hopped out and went to the driver’s seat and you buckled up in the passenger’s. Peter grinned before speeding off, your back pressed against the seat and you began to giggle in nervous excitement. You squealed as Peter made many sharp turns and purposely pressed the brakes a few times you make you jerk forward. “Hey!!” You laughed, playfully hitting his shoulder as he chuckled and sped on. You were laughing so much by the time Peter’s lap was finished and you both panted as you sat breathless in the car. 

“Imagine playing Mario Kart in real life with these?” Peter chuckled. “We’d die in the first lap.” You giggled and nodded, fixing your hair from it being all messy from the wind. 

“That was so fun though.” You sighed. Peter agreed and you both sat there to catch your breaths before parking the kart in the garage and going inside. Tony and Steve were there when you entered, probably keeping in eye on you two when you were driving. 

“How’d it go? You guys had fun?” Tony smirked. You both nodded and thanked him for getting the kart and you made your way upstairs. Peter went to his room to take a nap, even though it was only 12:15. You went to check up on Wanda, since you’d always go see what she was doing every once in a while. 

You peeked through her door and found her laid down on her bed and watching a movie. “Hey Wanda!” You greeted and jumped up on her bed. 

“Hey! Whatcha doing?” She smiled, pulling you into a hug. 

“Just checking up on you. I’m kinda bored.” You chuckled, looking at the tv screen. “What are you watching?” You ask as she turns the volume down just a bit. 

“Back to the future. It’s almost over, i think it needs like 20 more minutes. It’s a pretty good movie.” You hummed, nodding as you decided to just watch the rest with her. You’ve heard of that movie in school but you never really got around to watching it. The guy was kinda cute though.

“When this is done, do you wanna put some face masks on? I got a new jade roller.” You asked. Wanda smiled and nodded. 

“Yeah, that sounds nice. We can ask Nat and Pepper if they want to have a spa day with us. You smiled at the thought of all the girls just relaxing and having a self care day. When the movie ended, you hopped out of the bed and went to ask Nat and Pepper to join while Wanda set up the stuff in the spa room in the basement. Nat agreed to go but Pepper had a meeting in an hour so she couldn’t make it. “I’m so sorry Honey, this week has been so busy for me and a spa day would be just what I need to take off all this stress but unfortunately I can’t today.” She said, caressing your head apologetically and walking away. You assured her it was fine and not to worry about it. 

Once you, Wanda, and Nat were down in the basement applying your masks, Clint came halfway down the stairs, calling for Nat. “Nat? You down here?” 

Nat called him over and when he came down and saw you three, he started to chuckle. “Whohohoa. What’s thahat on your face?” He pointed at your masks. You and Wanda had on sheet masks while Nat had a clay mask on. Nat rolled her eyes and changed the subject. 

“What did you need, Clint?” She sighed, ignoring his snickers.

“Naw, I was just looking for you so I could see what you were doin’ and possibly annoy you.” He smirked, shrugging his shoulders. You smiled tightly, not wanting to mess up for mask. 

“Well, It’s working.” She chuckled, causing you and Wanda to giggle. It was Clint’s turn to roll his eyes. You sat up a bit from your reclined chair and looked up at him. 

“Why don’t you join us? You wanna try on a mask?” You asked, with hope in your eyes. Clint chortled and shook his head immediately.

“Nooo thanks. I’m good.”

“But It’s good for your face and it’ll have you feeling so soft.” You drawled out, hoping to get him to give in. “Please? You’ll love it.” You pouted, bringing out your puppy eyes. 

Clint shook his head at you fondly for a moment before sighing. “Fine, I’ll humor you. I’ll only do this because I got nothin’ else to do.” He said, taking a seat on the fourth recliner. You smiled widely and got up to help him get one on. “Would you like a clay mask, or a sheet mask?” You asked. ‘I’ll have whatever Nat has.” He waved dismissively. You grinned and took out the clay mask.

“Clay mask it is!”

--

Whether he admit it or not, Clint was totally enjoying the mask. You could tell by how he couldn’t stop touching his face for the next few hours, gushing about how his face felt so hydrated and soft. 

“Here, touch my face. It’s so soft!”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“But just touch my face and see.”

“I’m not touching your face, Clint.”

--

A few hours had passed, it was about 4:45 and most of the team was down in the gym and Wanda and Vision had gone out to the park. Peter was still napping, surprisingly, maybe to go-kart ride had taken a lot out of him. You were getting sleepy too, and after raiding the pantry and eating a whole bunch of snacks, you passed out on the couch.

Tony came upstairs from his lab feeling a bit hungry. He went to get his favorite cookies from the pantry but they were nowhere to be found. He furrowed his eyebrows, thinking that maybe he had misplaced them, but after searching the whole kitchen, he lifted up the trash bin to find the small box of cookies, empty. His jaw dropped and he looked around to find the culprit. And there you were, passed out on the couch with wrappers of other snack on the coffee table. He sighed deeply, narrowing his eyes at you. “This little minx!” He growled, shaking his head at you incredulously. 

You woke up to fingers poking harshly at your belly and you stirred awake, giggles catching up in your throat. You heard someone calling for your attention but it wasn’t until you were more awake that you realized someone was waking you up. You looked up and saw that it was Tony, poking your belly while wearing a serious face. “Hey! Did you eat all my snacks? Huh?” He asked, raising his brows at you expectantly. Your eyes widened as you realized what you did and you started to giggle nervously. This only confirmed Tony’s theory as he chuckled dryly. “Ohh, I knew it!” He began to scribble his blunt fingers into the middle of your belly, making you burst out into hysterical giggles. 

“Baha! Tohohohony!” You whined, turning over on your belly to avoid his hands. Tony just saw an opportunity to sit on your back and scratch behind your ribs. You scream and kick your legs out in defeat, not being able to see Tony’s smug smirk behind you. 

“I had my name on the and everything, and you just completely ignore that!” He says as he raises his hands in frustration before standing up to turn you around, straddling you again. Your laughter turns desperate when he slips his hands under your arms. “And that’s not even the worst part!” He starts, lifting up your shirt and scribbling on your bare sides. He smiles a bit at your loud squeal. “The worst part is that I just got them this morning! I didn’t get a chance to get one!”

“IHIHIM SOHOHORRY!” You laughed, kicking out your legs at the feeling of his fingers digging into your sensitive sides. You tried to pry his hands off your torso but he grabbed your wrists and pinned them under his knees. “NOHOHOHO!” You squeaked. Tony chuckled before leaning down and rubbing his beard all over your belly, especially on the sensitive spot under your belly button. You shrieked before letting out loud belly laughter, the inability to defend yourself making the sensations worse. “STOHOHOP I CAHAHANT TAKE IHHIT!” You cackle, shaking your head tiredly. Tony smirked and blew a final raspberry on your belly, basking in the sound of your child-like scream. 

You let out helpless giggles as he rubbed his beard on your belly one last time before looking down at you expectantly. “Are you gonna steal my snacks again?’ You giggled, pretending to think. “I mean... probably.” You smiled sheepishly, giggling at Tony as he rolled his eyes and got off of you. “Whatever.” 

You sat up, holding your stomach and called out to him. “I’m just being honest! Knowing me and the fact that I’m probably gonna live here forever, I doubt this would be the last time I eat your snacks.” You shrug. Tony knew it was true too, but he continued to feign annoyance while he walked out of the living room. 

-------

It was starting go get late, The team had gone to their rooms, and you and Peter were having a sleepover in your room. The tv was playing a movie in the background and you and him were talking about the future,

“What do you want to be doing in 5-10 years?” You asked Peter. He was sprawled out next to you on the mattress and staring at the ceiling. There was silence before he spoke up. 

“I don’t really know actually, I mean, with my powers, I don’t have many other obligations that to protect the city. I think I’ll still be living here too. Helping the team. All I know is that I want to help people. Whatever form that takes, I’m willing to do it.” You hummed, smiling a bit. “You? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?”

You thought for a moment, tracing patterns on the ceiling with your eyes. “I wanna help people too. I know I don’t really have any powers or enhancements, like my brother, but I would want to help people as much as I can like, starting my own charity organization to help the poor. But I wanna do it right, and make sure that the money is actually going toward their causes. I want to help children in remote places to get an education and teach them that they can do anything, no matter what their situation is. That would be my dream job.” You turned to look at him with a smile. He smiled softly at you and nodded slowly.

“That’s an awesome plan, y/n.” You thanked him and you both turned to look at the ceiling again. “Hey, would Tony put a skylight in here if you asked him?” He smirked. You grinned and and sat up. 

“Probably! That would actually be really cool! But then I wouldn’t be able to block out the light in the mornings when I want to sleep in and avoid school.” You said with a lopsided grin. Peter laughed and shrugged. 

“Welp, you gotta give some to get some.” He said, getting under the covers and turning his attention to the tv. You shrugged nodding and getting in bed as well. You both watched the movie in silence until it ended, you, almost falling asleep and having to stay up on gummy bears and sprite. Peter had no problem staying awake since he had that long ass 5 hour nap. You really regret telling Peter to wake you up if you fall asleep. “Wake up, sleepy head!” He teased, grabbing your head with both hands, shaking it like a snow globe; gently of course. 

You giggled sleepily and let your eyes droop. You were having a Star Wars marathon and taking advantage of being able to sleep late since tomorrow was Sunday. You really wanted to stay awake but it was hard. 

“Would you like me to body slam you? To wake you up?” He asked, a teasing smirk on his face. You sucked your teeth and pushed him off the bed with a giggle. He made a loud thud as his body hit the floor. “Excuse me?” He said, giving you a bewildered look. You instantly regretted your actions as you put your hands in front of you defensively.

“Peter... I’m sorry.” You tried to apologize but he quickly got up and ripped the covers off you. You yelped, rolling off the bed and standing on the opposite side. He jumped on the bed to cross it and get to you but you ran out of the way and So began the big chase. You couldn’t take this out into the halls because most of the team was already asleep, so you both ran in circles around your room, running over your bed and around your hanging chair and such. You were in a fit of nervous giggles as you dodged him again and again. 

It was when you tried to jump your bed again when he caught up to you, tackling you onto the bed. You yelped and pushed at his shoulders but with his super strength, he wasn’t moving an inch. He held your wrists in one hand and smirked at you. “I bet you’re wide awake now, huh.” He grinned, a playfully predatory glint in eyes before holding your wrists to your chest. He decided to attack one of your worsts ticklish spots; your hips. You bit you lip as you squealed loudly, flopping around desperately, laughing your heart out. Peter grinned evily and let go of your wrists to grab your legs. Your stomach dropped and you gasped in fear as you started to violently kick your legs, begging Peter not to get your feet. He chuckled and turned around to look at you, a mischevious smirk on his features. “You’re gonna have to keep it down, y/n, you wouldn’t wanna wake anyone up, would you?” He teased, wiggling his brows at you.

 “Nohohoho Peter plehehehease! Don’t get my feeeeet!” You squeaked, pulling at your legs but he had a death grip on them. Peter ignored your pleas and mercilessly scribbled his nails in the soles of your feet. You screamed, squeezing your hands over your mouth to muffle the sound of your hysterical laughter. You rolled your upper body around on the bed, making Peter laugh and scratch under your toes. Like a reflex, you brought your arms down and screamed, startling Peter. He opened his mouth in shock, listening for any footsteps leading to your room. You instantly brought your hands to your mouth again and you and Peter stared at each other for a minute before bursting out in giggles.

“If we get in trouble, it’s all on you.” You giggled, pushing at his shoulder. He chuckled and shook his head, pointing at you.

“You, owe me for pushing me off the bed. I didn’t even get to get my proper revenge on you.” He raised his brow, poking your side. You flinched and sighed in relief, the both of you getting back into bed and pulling the covers up to your chests. Seconds later Peter gasped and turned to you. “Someone’s coming!” He whispered and you both got in positions, pretending to be asleep. A second later, a groggy Bucky opened the door to your room, looking around. He saw you both sleeping so he walked over to your bed to grab the remote and turn off the tv for you, before going back to his room. 

When he left, you both began to snicker and sigh in relief before deciding to not risk getting caught again and finally go to sleep.

[shianhygge-imagines]

{R} NSFW Headcanons [Sephiroth] {Final Fantasy VII}

AN: Hooooboiiii (*fans self) NSFW Sephiroth, I can ABsolUTelY do that! aka Riding on the FFVII: Remake hype!

>///<  Awww! Thank you! I’m sorry that it took so long for me to finish this!

Once more, I am writing NSFW stuff while in the office! WHOOOO LIVIN ON THE EDGE!

But real talk, I’m like the prudish prude to ever prude, so I say raunchy and it’s really not, but man, am I the worst at NSFW  |Masterlist Link|

{WARNING: Mature Content Below the Cut!}

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ So... before I begin the reallly raunchy stuff, let me start by saying that Sephiroth... is a sex god/sex symbol, whatever you want to call him. I know it, you know it, the entire FFVII fanbase knows it... but most importantly, Sephiroth knows it.

~ He’s known it since he turned sixteen years of age, and boy does the man capitalize on this fact. And you want to know why he knows he’s a smexy smexy man? Because everyone in Shinra doesn’t hesitate to tell him! :D Boom, ego blown to 1 million.

~ Anyways, on to the raunchy stuff ^.^

~ From my previous headcanon, I’ve stated that he’s a bit of a manwhore. Sex is a casual thing to him until he finds someone that he doesn’t feel like he can just throw away.

~ In a casual relationship, I think Sephiroth is quite the dom with his partners. By partners, I really do meant partners. He’s definitely got no preference in the gender of his partner. Definitely pansexual despite the fact that his upraising basically pushed for heterosexual relationships.

~ But Sephiroth actually enjoys being a sub... He’s so used to being the one in charge that it’s erotic having a partner dominate him in the bedroom.

~ Ride him... peg him... If you’re assertive enough, he’ll certainly let you bend him over a table.

~ Make no mistake though, Sephiroth knows how to pleasure his partner.

~ His fingers alone can do wonders *.* Long... elegant... perfectly manicured for some reason as he makes you cum.

~ He’s into powerplay and edging. Whether he be the one giving or taking, driving you to the edge before stopping is always a treat for him... and absolutely maddening when you do it to him. ;)

~ And while he knows how to use his mouth quite efficiently, his favorite thing to do is use his hands, so that he can watch from above as he brings you to your limit over and over again, but never over the edge.

~ Perhaps if you beg him, he’ll think about letting you cum, but the noises you make... Music to his ears.

~ Make as much noise as possible. Talk dirty. 

~ And don’t be afraid of his nearly endless stamina... well... At least you’re guaranteed to be tired and on the verge of passing out if he really decides to go at it.

~ Ah, but how well endowed is our dear General Sephiroth... Well... 

~ He’s certainly above average in length... no problem getting you deep ;)

~ He’s not abnormally girthy, but enough to comfortable stretch you ;)

~ He’s curved upwards, average shape...

~ :P The most notable thing is a vein that runs along the underside of his cock, but disappears halfway up.

~ Top 5 Favorite positions?

Against the wall (lifting you or pining you there)

Doggy Style (whether he’s getting pounded, or you are)

Binding (great for morning sex :P)

Cowgirl (He loves seeing you above him ;)

Spread Eagle (to get in deep)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hoowee... I hope that didn’t disappoint.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-fi!