#with at least 2 backup escape routes

[noficbyhalves]

Altaïr: I got you one of those "plans" you're always on about

Malik: ...this is a map

Altaïr: Of guard patrols, yes. For the plan. Since you like plans.

Malik: Where did you get this map

Altaïr: ...

Malik: I know you didn't make this yourself, since it's

Malik: y'know

Malik: Actually Legible

Altaïr: Soooo, it's good? You like it?

Malik: That's not an answer

Malik: Altaïr

Malik: Altaïr

Malik: How many people died for this bizarre romantic gesture

Altaïr: ...Good talk

Malik: Goddamnit, novice

[hastyprovocateur]

I have seen many calling Akemi an annoying brat for running away from her father's guardianship. And I laud their critical thinking abilities on this because really, why would a girl whose father is forcing her to marry a stranger openly known for being a sadist and killing his first wife over an unhappy marriage want to do anything but jump gleefully into the union, right? Especially when all Akemi's father has to say for her life-or-death situation is "Hey learn these sex positions and keep him happy like your dead mother kept me happy lol."

Akemi loved Taigen for a set of reasons. First and foremost, he was the path she chose and finally got her father to agree with in part for his honorable stature, aware that Taigen, though imperfect, isn't as cruel or selfish as men in said period typically were. You have to understand that women were rarely afforded the choice to love without having underlying motivations. They have to choose the lesser of evils. Which in this case, is Taigen. Akemi has far greater chances of survival with him than any other man she knew. Marriage wasn't a tic-tac-toe game for her, she was ensuring her survival. To ensure she wouldn't get violated or killed or tortured or forcefully impregnated for not falling into the narrow set of rules aristocratic women especially had to follow.

Come to Taigen and Mizu's duel following which he loses his honour and possibly his engagement. Akemi stayed undeterred because regardless of what Taigen felt about his honour, Akemi didn't have a backup option that she knew would ensure her security as much as being with Taigen would. She tells him that his chonmage being cut is no obstacle as he can style it to suit other noble men, that she will convince her father to maintain their engagement and that his honour was intact as Mizu hadn't officially challenged him. Her sexual advances are a calculated move, she narrates to him a version of events where he defeats Mizu to massage his bruised ego. And while Taigen is her singular route out of her imminent marriage to a stranger, Taigen, ignorant of the same, claims he'd rather commit seppuku and sets out to trail Mizu.

With Taigen gone, she is in deep water, and naturally, her father quickly sets her up with a fresh suitor from a family he chose for the sake of furtherance of his political expansion over any concern for his daughter's life. When she tries to escape, Seki sees it as another funny haha situation, making it a teachable moment where he profoundly tells Akemi, already fearful of her bodily autonomy and life: that a woman has 2 paths "to be an improper whore or a proper wife." To which Akemi very wisely responds that they are one and the same thing, only one is shrouded with aristocratic niceties and huge houses that women are an extension of. Regardless of her (father's) wealth, status, and relative comfort in life, no woman deserves to be put in a position of ownership under a man, vulnerable to assault, coercion, intimidation just because "at least she'll be assaulted on a nice bed."

Akemi wasn't enjoying her round trip searching for Taigen, selling herself out to flesh traders and getting betrayed by Seki, her confidante, for funsies. Seki had seen her plight and only given her the singular choice to be a proper wife to a stranger after Taigen had already left her to her own fate. She was still determined to do right by him because she wanted to live. Her seeking out Mizu was key to saving her marriage. Thereby trying to drug and bring Mizu to Taigen so she could restore his honor and go back on their engagement and live somewhat peacefully. Which we now know wasn't going to ever be because Daichi Tokunobu had already schemed to compromise the Shogunate by wagering his daughter as an alliance.

I am convinced that most people can't understand complex female characters outside of "ruthless. fighter" or "perfect victim." Akemi's fault, it seems, that through her process of running from a dangerous marriage, a callous father, getting brokered by Goro, joining Kaji's brothel, seducing her first client, trying to subdue Mizu is that she didn't get brutally violated in any of scenarios. Because I'm sure if she had, not half of y'all would be crying about her being annoying and bratty or "having it too easy." As for her trying to attack Mizu, what else was she supposed to do? Be told that this stranger robbed her fiance's honor, ruined their engagement, and killed him, and what? Pat him on the back? Or was she supposed to have a prophetic vision that Mizu is going to save them from Hamata's men?

And no she did not resort to name calling, abusing, threatening after she was tied down, she was far more benign in assessing Mizu's disposition as opposed to Mikio or Taigen who straight up called Mizu monster, dog, beggar, scavenger and what not. Mikio sold Mizu's favourite horse to get back at her, abandoned her for the bounty hunters to get her, killed her mama. Taigen was a bully who accused her of digging through his trash and near damn killed her with a rock with his friends. Yeah, him being a kid makes no difference to the one who was traumatised because that'll last Mizu a lifetime. In both cases Mizu posed no threat to them as opposed to Akemi who truly believed that Mizu had killed her fiancé.

Taigen continued to be a bully in the present time (growth in latter eps aside), calling Mizu a dog, monster boy, whore mother, scavenger of Kohama's gutters, reminding her of her house burning down. He stalked her, threatened her to duel, gave her consistent trauma reminders. Oh btw- Akemi called Mizu "nothing special" and "angry" and yall decide she has mentally abused this woman after knowing her for a good 3 hours. Yall fr just hate women.

She didn't know about Kinuyo either, or anything about Mizu's past. Despite only knowing her in the worst way, she largely softens towards Mizu knowing she's helping save Kaji's workers. She could've easily stayed tight and comfy in the cellar. She doesn't know a thing about fighting yet stands by Ringo and later saves him. Not for her sake because she says "Now they have to get through the both of us." She didn't fear death either, only being helpless. "I'm not brave" she said "I've been a captive my whole life. If I die today, I die free."

She didn't stop there "Mizu can't possibly hold them all off" and then goes up to save Mizu when the assassins attested that "The samurai has been cornered." And yes Mizu was unconscious from being choked until Akemi intervened. She just had to stay low like the others and not give a FUCK, especially not Mizu, someone who shittalked her as far as she knew, but she did because she saw the honour in Mizu's actions.

Unfortunately, Akemi didn't magically mind read Mizu's ptsd and all the flashbacks she's been getting about her past betrayals, what happened with Kinuyo and made the mistake of trusting Mizu, WHO SHE THINKS IS A MAN, to fight for her when the guards come. All but 3 men. This isn't about numbers because Mizu totaled an army and has the plot armour of Jesus, it's not about being innocent, because Mizu killed that clawed dude she spared initially, not to mention Kinuyo who was just a means to get to Fowker. And some people talked about Mizu not wanting Daichi's men coming after her... um... are you sure you're watching the same show because as far as I know Mizu doesn't give a flying FUCK about being careful or who comes after her because she's recklessly creating collateral all down her path of revenge. That's the wholeass point.

Akemi wasn't ordering Mizu around, cuz she asked "I'm not going anywhere, right Mizu?" She wanted her approval, her support in that moment. To fight for her because she doesn't have the agency to fight for herself. What did Mizu do in this crucial moment? She doomed Akemi to an arranged marriage and made her choice FOR her. Especially being someone who's always been shown to do exactly what she wants and then fight whatever consequences come her way.

Mizu "thought" Akemi's better off with being married to a stranger because "atleast the abuser is rich, not everyone gets a rich abuser." And yes she assumed hella things because Akemi's reasons for chasing Taigen are literally so she can live by an iota of her choice and not because she's "begging to eat trash." And Mizu didn't consider the reputation of the Shogun's son, regardless of if he's a horrible person, how is being forced to marry a stranger justified?? Another day, another man Akemi trusted, dooming her to a path with no cognizance of how much apprehension of death or joyless life she actually faces in that position.

Mizu was no different from Daichi, Seki, Taigen in that moment. Akemi had no one. Despite doing all in her power to turn her fate, she was unsuccessful because she wasn't able to physically fight for herself and no one chose to step up for her. She was about to solve her own problems by throwing herself off the balcony, evident in how much she didn't desire the marriage. Takayoshi not being an outright brute chauvinistic killer is no justification for "hey didn't turn out to be so bad, huh." Would you rather she have gotten brutalised? Been treated like absolute shit? Would you then believe how scary the marriage could have been for her? Kaji herself told Mizu that "if you killed every man I've seen who couldn't come till someone bled... you'd wear your blade to a stump."

Ringo was justified in criticising Mizu. While Mizu doesn't care about anyone in her path of revenge, Eiji, her own father figure struggles to teach her that she NEEDS people to fight. To strengthen her blade and resolve. Mizu did return to save Akemi as her conscience would have it, Seki also came around and Taigen was finally ready to pursue a life with her over his honor and greatness but it was too late. I don't blame Akemi for asserting twice to Mizu that "We're not friends which Mizu showed too in her actions prior. I don't see it as Akemi being ungrateful but asserting the truth before Mizu slams it in her face. Mizu doesn't want friends so she doesn't get any.

I also don't blame her for rejecting Taigen, I too wouldn't ever wish to be blindsided like that again. It's better to choose your own reality than rely on love or friendship only to get betrayed. As for Akemi's new venture, I laud her for taking Kaji's word and to fight with the agencies she has even though I feel that Kaji shared Mizu's tone deafness in terms of seeing Akemi's (father's and now husband's) wealth as a neutralizer to the abuse she could face which could've been much worse than it was shown to be.

I do agree that having free choice, even after Seki tells her to pursue her own path, is a tad too idealistic for the place and time. She basically just complied to the choices Seki, Taigen, Mizu's made for her. So I loved seeing Akemi make the best of the cards she was dealt, choosing to use her body and mind to seduce, manipulate and progress. To make her choices whether she is loved in the process or not. . To exploit her meek husband's position, to subdue her scheming (now hopefully crispy) father and be great.

[word-witch-krin]

Drifting

“Shit.” That's all Calliope can think as the engines on their hopper stalled and stopped. To call it their hopper was generous, as she stole it from an Arcaedias shipyard mere hours prior. The log she managed to swipe from a mechanic said it was only being serviced for minor security issues, not a failing reactor and leaking back up fuel cells. The Lavender Rose was just a small transport hopper, no one would miss it. They could take it and finally have a way out of the slums of Arcaedias. Now it was going to trap her in a way that the slums never succeeded at.

As the reactor shuts down, a familiar chill fills the room. An empty, indifferent, uncaring cold. Familiar to all of the residents of the outer ring of Arcaedias. The cold of lost power and desperation. The cold felt while working the worst maintenance jobs on the station. Calliope scrambles to find the emergency environmental suit. Hopefully this one safety measure will be able to save her. Their hopes are dashed as they reach the locker and find only a half measure of safety. The suit that should have been their savior missing, replaced with a simple helmet, air tank, and propulsion pack. None of this suit will save her from the oppressive cold that was seeping in from the space beyond the hull.

Calliope sighs as she puts the suit on. At least it will save her if the hull breaches or the life support is gone too long. At least until the cold gets them. Frost starts growing on the massive slates of glass that surround the cockpit of the tiny ship. Its sharp edges and points grow, threatening Calliope with their inevitable end. She keeps trying to find a way out. The ship is too small for escape pods or large scale backup systems, it was only meant to go between Arcaedias and Luna Coalition Space. The transponder beacon was part of the security systems that were broken, and they were so far off the regular routes that no one would likely pass by this piece of space anytime soon, if ever.

It succeeded, the cold beyond finally has her trapped, no options left. She ran to escape it, stole to escape it, and all of that was for naught as the cold creeped inwards. The frost grew all around them. The walls of the hull, the screens of the dead consoles around her, crawling up the chair beneath them.

In one last desperate attempt at survival Calliope opens the innards of the comms console, and selectively rips wires out, connecting them to a simple 2 way radio comm she had. It was rudimentary, but hopefully this will let them send a signal out. Anything that could get her saved. Tapping out a simple pattern, one anyone would recognize, sending out rhythmic spikes of static to hopefully call for help. Just then, as they were finishing the pattern, and setting it on a loop, her breath catches in her throat. She can't breathe.

Each attempt at a breath just felt wrong, too empty. She is trying harder and harder to breathe. Their helmet grows warmer with the feeling of suffocation overwhelming them with each additional attempt at a breath. The life support had been out too long, and now their air is gone. 

Struggling with the half suit she donned, Calliope desperately tried to get its backup airflow running. 

What if it's empty? 

What if it's broken? 

It's only a half suit, can it even help me?

Thoughts race across their weary mind as the fog grows on the helmet, each laborious breath covering one side while the frost grows on the other. The frost, she had forgotten about the overbearing cold, the barbed chills piercing her to the bone.

The world starts to blur around them, dizzy, and fading. Falling out of their seat, she hits the ground, the chill making it harder to move as her breathing becomes less and less effective. 

Then, a slight hissssss, and the indicator on their helmet activates, signaling the usage of reserve air. Could it even save her at this point. Their vision grows darker as the fresh, oxygen filled air enters the helmet. Is this her fate, to die in this small stolen ship, far away from anyone, alone with the void? 

As their vision goes dark, a light breaches through the frost, searchlights from another ship. She may be saved, and that was the last thought she had before everything went dark, potentially for the last time.

[technewsera]

Fallout Shelter Tips: A Comprehensive Guide for Survival

In an increasingly uncertain world, being prepared for potential disasters is crucial. One of the most important aspects of emergency preparedness is having a fallout shelter in place. Whether you're concerned about nuclear fallout, natural disasters, or other catastrophic events, knowing how to create and maintain a fallout shelter can mean the difference between life and death. In this guide, we'll provide you with essential fallout shelter tips to help you optimize your chances of survival.

1. Location Matters: When it comes to fallout shelters, location is paramount. Choose a location that is underground or heavily shielded from radiation. Basements, underground bunkers, or even specially designed shelters are ideal. Ensure that your chosen location is easily accessible from your home but far enough away to minimize exposure to radiation.

2. Reinforce the Shelter: Proper construction is key to withstanding the effects of fallout. Reinforce the shelter's walls, ceiling, and floor with thick concrete or lead-lined materials. Ensure that the shelter is airtight to prevent the entry of radioactive particles.

3. Stockpile Supplies: A well-stocked fallout shelter is essential for long-term survival. Store an ample supply of non-perishable food, water, and essential medical supplies. Aim for at least a two-week supply per person, and periodically check and replace items to ensure freshness.

4. Radiation Monitoring: Equip your shelter with radiation monitoring equipment to stay informed about radiation levels outside. Geiger counters and dosimeters are valuable tools for tracking radiation exposure.

5. Ventilation and Filtration: Proper ventilation is necessary to ensure a constant supply of fresh air while maintaining an airtight seal to prevent radioactive particles from entering. Install a ventilation system with HEPA filters to remove contaminants.

6. Sanitation and Waste Disposal: Plan for waste disposal in your shelter. Stock up on hygiene supplies, including sanitation kits and waste disposal containers, to maintain cleanliness and prevent the spread of disease.

7. Communication: Stay in touch with the outside world by including communication devices like radios or satellite phones in your shelter. It's essential to monitor news and updates to know when it's safe to leave.

8. Radiation Suits: Have radiation suits and gas masks on hand in case you need to venture outside for any reason. Ensure they fit well and are in good condition.

9. Family Emergency Plan: Create a family emergency plan that outlines roles, responsibilities, and escape routes. Practice regular drills to ensure everyone knows what to do in case of an emergency.

10. Psychological Preparedness: Prepare mentally for the possibility of being confined in a shelter for an extended period. Include books, games, and other forms of entertainment to keep morale up.

11. Water Purification: Invest in water purification equipment or supplies such as water filters, iodine tablets, or bleach to ensure a clean water supply.

12. Security Measures: Consider security measures to protect your shelter from potential threats. Install sturdy locks and reinforce entry points to deter unauthorized access.

13. Redundancy: It's wise to have redundancy in your preparations. This means having backup supplies, equipment, and emergency plans in case something goes wrong.

14. Regular Maintenance: Periodically inspect and maintain your fallout shelter and supplies to ensure everything is in working order. Replace expired items and test equipment to avoid unpleasant surprises during an emergency.

15. Stay Informed: Keep up with the latest developments in emergency preparedness and radiation protection. Knowledge is a valuable asset in any survival situation.

In conclusion, being prepared for a potential nuclear fallout or any other disaster scenario is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. By following these fallout shelter tips, you can optimize your chances of survival and protect your loved ones in times of crisis. Remember that while it's essential to have a well-equipped shelter, your best asset is knowledge, so stay informed and stay safe.

[accustiv-archived]

@4ger sent: 📔 / accepting

Entry 209 .

MOCA Toronto is hosting the showcase of Graham Hunter-Wolff’s private collection on the 18th of August. Including the den Uyl. I already have a buyer who wants it but need to confirm willingness to move it if it’s hot - no forger can replace in such a short timeframe - at least not someone who will answer my calls.

Insurers for the event: Arthur J. Gallagher. Security teams: MOCA staff, Hunter-Wolff’s personal team [NOTE: research from previous investigation suggests while GHW hires good muscle, not particularly focused on analytics. MOCA staff more likely to notice oddities.]

The Plan: Event night is an absolute no-go; even if I am lucky and no other crew has their eyes on a piece of the collection, security presence, guests, society page reporters and critics are all going to be present, security cameras notwithstanding we have a dozen dslrs, countless social media posts, a bunch of meatheads in suits trying to look like they know how to do their jobs, and a full shift of MOCA staff who might actually know how to do their jobs. I’ve also checked the security system itself and it’s beyond my own skills.

So: AJG is insuring, they will send adjusters out to check sec system and organise staff rotations ahead of time as well as catalogue the pieces being displayed and the transport company. HOWEVER - senior staff don’t stay at events after initial reports [see Entries 197, 168, 129] leaving behind junior staff members for clear out. Toronto office is small, but Boston office a lot larger and closer connected to HQ directives. Not beyond question that event for GHW would require an adjuster from Boston to be present for an event of this size; even a junior. [NOTE: Staffing mistakes easy to engineer, double book then send the more junior home - find delegation from Toronto before commissioning AJG ID and make sure I outrank.]

After the event it’s a simple smash and grab, the hard part will be making sure no one gets there first but once that’s done I would be responsible for cataloguing out - multiple shipments to avoid interception so marking the den Uyl as shipped is easy; frame not needed for re-sale, so removing and shipping concerns greatly eased; removing from site is the biggest obstacle but according to blueprints there is a camera blindspot following the east wing supply corridor. Avoid security rounds and it’s a clear run to staff parking lot. Once back at hotel, ship as standard to PO BOX in Boston & from there arrange handover.

Final Thoughts: Junior attendee from Toronto office is William Sobert; tenure: 2 years ; Collection being shown also includes van Eyck and van Gogh, high chance of interest from other crews, Melissa Adams operates in the area so possibility of recognition if don’t offer co-op ; GHW high value extortion target after government contract news broke, so need bailout plan for possible captivity or blackmail attempts.

FOOTNOTES:

Cover: Joshua Im ; 25 years old ; junior insurance adjuster @ AJG

Funds required: $800 travel & shipping, $350 hotel, $600 corporate ID.

Weapons: No - unnecessary ; if Recognised 2 or Co-op 5 need to be used, can contact Melissa for firearms?

Escape Routes: ID Discovery - Bailout 1 / Bailout 2 / Bailout 3 . Extortion Crew Present - Backout 1 / Backout 2 . Other Adjusters Present - Back up 1 / Back up 2 / Back up 3 / Back up 4 (inside man) / Back up 5 (reporter a) / Backup 6 (reporter b) . Other Thieves Present - Recognised 1 / Recognised 2 / Win back 1 / Win back 2 / Win back 3 / Co-op 1 / Co-op 2 / Co-op 3 / Co-op 4 (doublecross a) / Co-op 5 (doublecross b). [ALT FLIGHT PLANS HERE.]

Take: ~ $1.5 mil - cost = $1,498,250 (if no dent from esc plans).

[marcusrobertobaq]

Not shooting Connor and just telling him to leave, going with the logic the current game got, would lock u out of 2 major playthroughs in the game. It's the same reason we ain't got an option to leave Jericho as Kara before the army arrives and Markus/Connor "escape Jericho" route anymore. The game want u to play CLT or HPR sections. So shooting the guy is a easy way to force u in HPR and have something to play.

Connor wouldn't flee the country, he would probably stay hidden like ousted Markus, at least until they start the remote control (which I think could happen in NoTS cuz Markus rejected Connor and let him alive).

Also this "don't trust" option is just to say "ah, Markus can kill another protag and he got a reason to". I believe the deviant hunter issue here is about trusting Connor ain't playing the game just to get an opportunity to have a Jericho raid pt2 or CyberLife having some backup plan.

But going this route we end up in a rabbit hole related to CLT on "but why CyberLife didn't assume control while on the church if they got Connor's location? They could've killed the leader there." shit and I won't waste time with this.

I really don't think he would go CLT if he were rejected by the leader, this is kinda an "unlocked" route in case u don't kill Connor, like a reward.

Markus leadership system is just ass overall. The only way it's really relevant is if u get fired in Crossroads, just to say u got a consequence - as u can see he remains the leader until this very point doesn't matter how much u fuck up. And he can go back and put all the blame on North and some shit, it's very messed up. But, well, "rA9: the savior and the only one that can free the androids and lead 'em to victory" and blah blah blah...

There should have been a third option when Markus talked to Connor in the church.

Like, why "don't trust" means immediately a bullet in the head? Why can't you just choose to shoot him or not after click "don't trust"?

And just like when Markus has low popularity in Jericho and can choose to stay or leave, why not Connor had the same option if Markus decides he can't trust him but doesn't kill him?

Like, I know if you press, don't trust, it just makes sense to shoot Connor. He's the deviant hunter, blablabla. But the whole time in pacifist Markus, he IS forgiving even to humans who just shot his people and trusted his own people to not shoot them after he told them not to.

So, what if you press don't trust and you tell Connor to leave. Then, as Connor, you can choose to help the revolution anyway and go to Cyberlife and possibly get the same good ending but with a different dialogue. Or flee the country Kara style, and there's not more than a secret ending of Connor observing the news in Canada.

[salemwritesxx]

𝓯𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾.

𝕋 𝕒 𝕜 𝕒 𝕞 𝕚  𝕂 𝕖 𝕚 𝕘 𝕠  |  ℍ 𝕒 𝕨 𝕜 𝕤

     ⇴ male reader [22, chubby, 194cm]      ⇴ all characters are depicted as [18]+

↳ summary: [Your.name] is a chubby and tall man, someone who definitely didn’t fit Japan’s beauty standards. Safe to say, he wasn’t the most confident. However, during one group date, it finally all changes when he meets someone who is certainly very interested in him.

↣ rating: general audiences ↣ warnings: modern AU; self-deprecation; chubby, tall reader; reader’s “friends” being assholes to chubby reader; hawks and reader have a happy end tho; hawks is a simp for reader from the first minute on, ok?

part 2.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

“Come with us, they said. It will be fun, they said.”, you mumbled to yourself as you stood there. Awkward. Alone. Ignored. Too afraid the tiny bar stools would collapse underneath your big ass, hence why you chose to rather stand than sit.

Why did you let yourself get dragged into this group date? You wanted to say no in the beginning, but with your friends pestering you, you kind of agreed in the end. Though now, you knew all too well why you didn’t want to come.

As a chubby and very tall man, you weren’t the type that people, or rather, gay men, drooled over. At least you hadn’t had anyone show interest in you like that. Maybe it was because you were rather shy and thus not as loud as many of your fellow male friends, or you were the “wrong chubby”. Whatever it was, you were not attractive. Society made sure to tell you that at least once a day and sometimes those nice and kind people, not, were even going out of their way to tell you what a nuisance your were with your tall, fat ass taking up space. And in Japan, where everything was not really built to accommodate people like you, it was sometimes very hard to fit into things.

While you were sighing to yourself for the nth time and making sure to put yourself down as much as you could, you certainly didn’t realize how someone was always glancing at you. Hawks was one of the four gay men you and your friends had met today for said group date. Ever since he saw you, he had the urge to talk to you and get to know you. You were so tall and handsome and t h i c k. You could probably swing him around and break him like a toothpick. Just thinking about it made him grin.

However, it almost seemed like you had a shield around you he just couldn’t break through. He could guess why. Not only once had he seen people bullying the ones that didn’t fit the norm. Too fat, too skinny, too small, too tall – there was no end. People always found reasons to put others down. With how you stood there all alone, trying to make yourself as small as possible, Kei understood you tried to hide and you were uncomfortable. Even though you literally had nothing to hide. God, he wished he had met you sooner.

“Oiii Ta-ka-mi-san!”, his thoughts were rudely interrupted.

“What are you staring at Takami-san?”, then one of your friends, who was obviously interested in him, looked in the direction as well.

“Ah. [Your.name], huh? He’s like a car accident, right? You don’t wanna look but you also can’t really look away.”, your ‘friend’ laughed and Kei could have not been more disgusted by that behavior.

“God I wish I could just punch you, you fucking idiot!”, Keigo thought, furious and having to gulp down the anger.

Thus, he just smiled a little before he silently stood up to walk over to you, ignoring the calling of your ‘friend’. Instead, he got all nervous all of a sudden. Normally, he was the one being confessed to, not the one confessing or even initiating a conversation. Takami was used to people fawning over him, he was a rather successful model after all, hence why it was so hard to find someone who wasn’t just interested in him sexually or because of his money. And it did not help one bit that he found you so unbelievably attractive as well, his nervousness was at its peak.

“Hey. You’re… [Your.name], right?”, he tried to sound very casual as he leaned against the bar beside you. AND MY GOD, he was so tiny compared to you. He loved it. The way he had to look up so much.

You were rather surprised to get attention, especially from someone like Hawks. Like, he was so out of your league it was ridiculous to even think he would even BREATH besides you – yet there he was. Talking to you-

Oh. You knew what he wanted.

“Okay, look, let’s just skip all that polite small talk, the little laughs so we don’t feel awkward before you drop the question. Just tell me, which number do you want? Or should I just give you all three?”, you immediately cut to the chase. It had never been any different, so why would it be today? Especially when someone so sexy and pretty talked to you? Obviously he wanted someone from your much more handsome and well-trained friends.

Hawks was, however, rather surprised that THIS was your initial reaction to him talking to you. Though he could have not known how hard it would truly be to get to know you or get your number.

“Uhm… To be honest, your number alone would be quite sufficient.”, Keigo played it smooth. A handsome smile on his lips covered up his own nervousness – was he about to get rejected?

For a few seconds you stared at him, completely flabbergasted. Then you turned around and looked around… and looked around… and looked around some more until he finally asked, “Everything okay? You looking for an escape route?”

Keigo chuckled at the end, though he was not as calm as he pretended to be.

“No, I just…”, you then turned to him again, your brows furrowed, “… You can stop now, you know? Like, are you trying to prank me or…? Cameras anywhere? Like haha we got the fat guy. Look at him getting all flustered finally getting attention. Hahaha funny.”

At the end, you almost sounded a little angry, before you grabbed your drink and walked away from the bar. Saying Hawks was confused was an understatement. He just watched you for a moment as you walked away and squeezed into a lonely corner. God… How many people must have put you down for you to think he was pranking you?

“This is going to be more difficult than I thought.”

Running his hand through his hair, Kei had to calm down for a moment and reevaluate. Did you reject him because you genuinely weren’t interest or because you were self-conscious? Probably the latter. So… should he try again? Fuck yeah. As if he was going to give up so easily. He just needed you to know he really wasn’t pranking you, the rest… was up to Future-Keigo.

Clearing his throat and taking his drink, he then walked over to your corner. Standing in front of you he was so  s m o l. It would probably feel great hugging you.

“Okay that was rough. Listen, I really don’t wanna prank you or anything. Just… get to know you… ya know?”, this time he genuinely smiled a little, hoping you wouldn’t just reject him again.

Raising one brow, you were still rather suspicious. AS IF someone like Keigo would want to get to know you. Something was not right, you could feel it in every fiber of your big, chubby body. Then again.. maybe the only thing that you felt was the insecurities that held you back from getting to know someone who might genuinely be interested in you.

So, you gave yourself a little push.

“Yeah… I guess… I’m not really used to…. You know, how about we just start over?”

Keigo thought he had finally cracked you, giving himself a mental high five for being persistent. Thus, with a small smile he nodded and reached out his hand.

“Sure, nice to meet you, I’m Takami Keigo.”

“I’m [Your.name], nice to meet you.”, you finally smiled a little as well. Oof, his heart just jumped. Why was he so smitten already? He literally just met you. Keigo definitely wanted to get to know you more.

“So, how about we go take a seat over there? I could do with another drink.”, he said while pointing in the direction of a free table.

For a moment, you hesitated, though after a few seconds, you nodded, “Yeah, sounds nice.”

-

Without realizing it, hours went by as you and Hawks sometimes were the loudest ones laughing. Your friends just glancing over every so often, obviously jealous you had gotten the most handsome men of all of them today. But for the first time, you didn’t care what other’s thought as you and Kei just had … a connection.

Hence why, when he glanced down to his watch and sighed, you felt a little sad.

“I wish this night wouldn’t end. But I have a model job tomorrow and I only was a backup for someone so I didn’t even intend to have so much fun today. Time sure flies with you, [Your.name].”, he gave you one of his best smiles that made your throat dry and your knees weak.

“I… really enjoyed myself, too. Thank you. And sorry for acting like that in the beginning.”, you smiled apologetically and a little flustered. He found it very endearing.

“That’s fine, don’t worry about it. Well…”, he then looked at his phone and stood up, “It’s 2 a.m. definitely missed the last train. I’m gonna make a quick call for a taxi.”

“Hm.”, you nodded and watched for a second as he went outside where it was a little quieter to call.

Looking between Hawks and your friends who were still partying with Keigo’s friend group, you wondered if you should bring him home. You were the driver, but… how often had your friends disappeared with someone without telling you? How often did you leave a party all by yourself? It was time to be a little selfish today.

So, you hastily stood up and walked outside the bar, watching as Keigo typed on his phone, ready to call.

“Uhm, Takami-san?”, you interrupted him.

“Hm?”, he was a little surprised.

“If you want.. I can drive you home. I brought my own car since I was planning on leaving earlier too and I only drank one cocktail right in the beginning and the rest was alcohol free stuff so… if you want?”, your voice became a little smaller by the end, not knowing if you were too eager. Was this okay?

“Really? That’s not a problem?”

“No! Not at all.”, you reassured him.

“That’s great! I only live like 20 minutes away if we take the car. Ahhh, you’re a life saver, [Your.name]! Thank you.”, Keigo beamed.

And so, you hopped into your car, the only place big enough for you, at least that’s what it felt like since you invested in a nice big one. Keigo was quite cute how he sat there in the big seat, being so small.

The drive to Hawks’ home was also filled with chatter and laughter, once again reassuring you both that you definitely had some sort of connection. And since he had been attracted to you before, it only gave him more reasons that he wanted to meet you again. Man… this could be the first time a group date turned out successfully – for the both of you!

When you parked in front of his apartment complex, Takami didn’t even want to go yet. Wishing that time would just stop, he sat there for a few seconds before turning to you.

“Thank you, [Your.name].”

“No problem, really!”

“You know, if it wasn’t that late I would have invited you to a coffee or another drink or something but alas…”

“It’s quite late…”, you almost said a little… saddened?

“Hm… It is… I’ll call you!” Hawks then said with a little bit of a grin, since you had exchanged phone numbers before.

“O-Okay.”, you didn’t know why you stuttered, it was just… really new.

“Oh, but you can call me too, yeah? Don’t be shy. Well, anyways.”, he jumped out of the car, turned one last time to grin at you, his golden eyes sparkling a little, making you even more flustered.

“Have a safe drive home and have a good night, [Your.name]!”

“Ah, you too, Takami-san!”

Then, you just watched as he walked up to his apartment complex. You didn’t know what suddenly got into you when you opened the door and jumped out, calling for him.

“Takami-san?!”, it was literally two in the morning, his poor neighbors.

Though Hawks immediately turned his head.

“I… really, really enjoyed myself today. Just… thank you.”

Oh my God, you were so cute. Such a gentle giant teddy bear, that’s what you were. Without thinking about it, Keigo rushed back, catching you a little off guard when he walked around the car.

“You know, I might be a little drunk, but fucking God – I want to kiss you SO. BAD. right now.”, Kei said without hold back. His golden eyes gleaming in the dark and his cheeks flushed, you didn’t know if it was because of the alcohol or if he was blushing.

You, on the other hand, were very flustered, yet you barely whispered, “Maybe you should…”

Which only made Hawks giggle and raise his arms. An almost… seductive grin on his lips.

“Then you should help me out a little here, Handsome!”

Was he a bit drunk? Possibly. Was he overly flirtatious because he truly liked your personality and found you attractive and DEFINITELY wanted to meet you again?... Probably. But someone as straight-forward as Hawks was exactly who you needed because of your tendencies to overthink everything. Especially when it came to your weight and thus attractiveness. (Even though the one didn’t have anything to do with the other though not when it came to society.)  

And so, you accommodated him by leaning down. Takami himself standing on his tiptoes, thus, after he had hoped all night long, his lips finally met yours. His small arms wrapped around your big, broad shoulders and your big hand was placed on his lower back. That’s what he had wanted. And it really happened. To say Keigo was quite euphoric was an understatement. He was ecstatic, overjoyed, jubilant and so much more – and that from a little kiss. He surely fell quick and hard. Something he had never experienced before.

After a few moments of pure delight, you were the first to pull back, just to watch Kei bite his lip in such a sexy way it took all of your control to not grab him and pin him onto your car’s hood.

“Thank you.”, he just whispered, still with that grin on his lips, “I really enjoyed myself, too.”

Then, he let go and you did as well, this time really just watching when he turned around and walked into the apartment complex with one last wave. So you got back into your car as well, the last minutes replaying in your head over and over again.

With your hand covering your face, you had to hide your stupid, big grin. If all of that was just a dream, you didn’t want to wake up. Someone found YOU attractive. You had deemed yourself the most unattractive, undatable guy and that only because society had always told you that. But he didn’t care. He liked your “undatable, unattractive” body just the way it was. And not only that, after a rough start, you got along so well. You loved his little laughs, his beautiful eyes and those soft lips-

“God I have never felt like that before, what the fuuuck??”, you mumbled to yourself, still in disbelief that night even happened.

But as you drove away, you heard a little noise that came from your phone and as you looked up, you quickly scanned the text before looking back onto the streets – a wide smirk spreading across your face.

The message read.

“txet me wehn yruoe home so i konw yuore hmoe safe!”

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

@salemwritesxx || do not repost, edit, modify or translate my works

⇻ salem.talks: let’s appreciate all shapes and sizes. being a short and rather stumpy man myself, ive been struggling a little with how i view myself ever since my relationship ended. ive been casually looking on apps but i think I am not ready for another relationship yet since my last one was rather messy. anyways. I know you shouldn’t rely on others to feel validated and loved but loving yourself is hard, bro so… yeah, its nice being desired for once, no? also this kinda makes me wanna write a part two but eh we’ll see!

part 2.

[looooooooomis]

F I N A L  G I R L  |  O N E

You were his final girl.  And there was no chance in hell that anyone or anything was going to mess that up.

p a r t   o n e  |  c o r n   m a z e

masterlist here 

pairing: Billy Loomis x f!reader  word count: 4.3k warnings: implied/referenced cheating, swearing (obv), angst, drinking, fluff, pending smut + mentions of smut. as mentioned, part 2 will be allllllllll the smut x

You were going to kill Randy.

In fact, as the five of you crossed the threshold into the corn maze, you thought of the various ways you could do it without it coming back to you. You could strangle him with the tape of one of his precious Jamie Lee Curtis flicks, you could push an entire shelving unit of said movies on him during one of his shifts, hell, you could just lure him over to your house with the promise of sex before ultimately throwing him out your window. Any of the above sounded good to you tonight because the bastard was running late. Which meant that you were currently fifth wheeling on what was supposed to be a slightly boozy corn maze with your friends. Only now it was a slightly boozy corn maze with yourself and two loved up couples as you all impatiently waited for the idiot to arrive.

Yeah, you were definitely going to kill Randy.

You and Randy were friends, had been for years, and you were always there for each other when it came to these types of activities. Nobody liked being a fifth wheel but at least with two single people in your little gaggle of friends, it made things easier. You were happy as a clam being single, you preferred it in many ways if you were being honest, but at least with Randy around, you could ignore the weight of his stare.

Billy’s stare.

His brown eyes were on you constantly. You could feel them on your skin, feel them raking over every inch of you as though he was trying to soak you in from afar. His stare had a weight to it, you found. No matter how far away he was or where you two were – be it at school or hanging out or even in a goddamn corn maze – you felt him all over you.

At least with Randy around, it was easy to ignore. The two of you could joke around and escape the couples long enough to focus on anything else but the weight of Billy’s stare. But tonight, it was impossible to ignore, and you hated Randy in that moment for unknowingly leaving you with the one man you hadn’t been able to get out of your head for the better part of three years.

You hated Billy more, though, for making you feel as though every inch of your skin was on fire. For making you feel this level of guilt each and every time you hung around with Sid. Sid was one of your best friends, as was Tatum, which only made this entire situation so much worse.

“You think they’ll kick us out if they find out we’re loaded?” Stu asked with a quiet chuckle, glancing behind them for effect as though he was being tailed by the owners of the farm.

Tatum smacked his chest. “Maybe if you said it a little louder, Shit for Brains.”

Stu giggled again and slipped his hand into his jacket before pulling out a mickey of cheap vodka wrapped haphazardly in a brown paper bag. “Then I guess they’d be really mad at this.”

Tatum opened her mouth to tell him off but seeing it as your only saving grace, you reached across the divide and plucked it out of his hands to take a big sip. The vodka burned all the way down your throat, and you could feel all eyes on you as you licked the remainder of it from your lips and bottled it back up before handing it back to Stu. “You’re a saint, Stu.”

“Damn, Y/N,” Tatum laughed, “I can’t even be mad at that.”

Stu was smirking across at you, knowing exactly why you were choosing the bottle tonight which only made you feel worse than you did. Of course he knew. Where there was a Billy, there was a Stu. The pair didn’t have secrets between them much to your chagrin which only made nights like this all the more awkward.

“Everything okay, Y/N?” Sid asked, sweet as ever.

Your stomach twisted in your gut at the genuine concern radiating off of Sid’s features and your heart fell into your stomach when you watched her lovingly place her head on Billy’s shoulder. Where the fuck was Randy?

“All good, Sid,” you smacked on a breezy grin and shot her what you only hoped was a convincing wink. “I haven’t done a corn maze since I was a kid, just preparing myself is all.”

Tatum leaned into Stu’s lean torso and frowned. “Why? You scared?”

“Nah, she’s not scared,” Stu hummed, grinning across at you with a gleam in his eye. “On edge, maybe. Why so jittery, girl?”

You rolled your eyes and flipped him the bird just as Billy spoke up. “She’s not jittery, pencil dick,” his velvety voice was closer than you’d expected and when you saw him reach for the bottle in Stu’s pocket to take a rather big gulp himself, you swallowed hard. “She’s just getting this party started.”

You held his stare for a moment, feeling your entire body light up like a switchboard, before the familiar voice of Randy rang out. Breathlessly, he waved you all down and grinned. “What’s this I hear about a party?”

Tatum rolled her eyes and hugged her jacket closer to her body. “About time you got here, dick, it’s fucking freezing out here.”

“I know a way we can warm up,” Stu teased as he leaned down to nibble at her neck.

Despite your mood, you found yourself smiling across at the pair. They were a good match and you could tell that Stu genuinely made Tatum happy. Just as Billy made Sid happy. Your smile fell at the thought.

Randy’s eyes circled around your group of friends briefly before he threw an arm around your unsuspecting shoulders. “What did I miss?”

“The usual,” you chimed in, smiling across at him. “Tatum and Stu sucking face, Billy and Sid cuddling up and me drinking my weight in cheap beer from Stu’s dad’s mini fridge in the garage.”

Randy grinned. “I chugged a couple beers before I left the video store, so good to know we’re all on the same level.”

Your chest was already starting to feel lighter now that Randy was around. Granted, Billy’s eyes hadn’t left yours for a second since Randy slung his arm around you, but that was to be expected. At least you had Randy here now. With that kind of distraction, you’d be just fine.

“Why don’t we make this interesting?” Billy suggested, running a hand through his unruly mop of brown hair. When everyone’s eyes were on him, you could have sworn he gave you a little smirk before shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “We should split up.”

“Fuck that,” Tatum laughed, “no chance in hell.”

“Yeah,” Sid agreed quietly, “I don’t know.”

“That’s literally what they tell you not to do in scary movies,” you chuckled. “When everyone splits up, trouble starts.”

Sid shivered and leaned into Billy’s chest. “Yeah, Billy, I don’t know. I don’t think that’s a great idea.”

“Oh, come on,” he was grinning excitedly now, looking between Stu and Randy for backup. “It’ll be like the movies. Dumb teenagers wander into a corn maze and split up for the sake of the plot. Halloween’s tomorrow - why the hell not, right?”

A slow grin began to pull on Stu’s face as he listened to Billy. There was a mutual understanding between the two men in that instance and if you blinked for just a second longer, you would have missed it.

It made you nervous.

“Dumb teens wander into a corn maze on the night before Halloween,” Randy repeated, “you know what, I like it. I’m in.”

You snapped your neck up to look at him. “What the hell happened to the Do’s and Don’ts of a horror movie? This is easily number one: Don’t split up.”

But Randy only shrugged. “I’m still a virgin, I’m safe.”  

“How about you three idiots stick together,” Tatum gestured to the boys, “and the three of us stick together. Whoever makes it out first gets a prize.”

You and Sid were nodding along to her words, but Stu simply pulled her in for a quick kiss and laughed. “Or we all split up and see where the night takes us.”

“I’m not Lewis and Clark, Stu,” you grumbled, “I had every intention of letting Randy and Sid lead us out of here alive while the rest of us idiots followed.”

“Don’t worry, Y/N,” Billy smirked across at you, “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

Sid seemed to still be unsure of the entire situation as she mulled over the suggestion. “Y/N is right, what if people get left behind?”

“It’s corn, not the berlin wall,” Stu pointed out incredulously. “Fucking walk through the stacks until you find an exit if you get too lost.” As if on cue, Stu’s eyes lit up as he noticed one particular bend of the maze that held six different options. With a burst of laughter, he took off running towards it and pointed to his newfound discovery. “If this isn’t fate, I don’t know what is.”

You, Sid, and Tatum begrudgingly followed the boys to where Stu now stood giddily beaming across at everyone. “This is a stupid fucking idea,” Tatum grumbled as she took her place in the row beside her boyfriend. “We only brought one flashlight, how do you idiots plan on seeing the route?”

“Here,” Billy gently tossed the flashlight to Tatum and shrugged. “Moon is bright enough for me.”

With another roll of her eyes Tatum flicked the flashlight on and scowled across at her route. “Girls, if you see a flashlight, come to me.”

Stu laughed. “What about me?”

“You lost that right when you agreed to this stupid idea,” she groused. “You’re on your own.”

Grinning – and probably much drunker than he gave himself credit for – Stu rubbed his hands together and began counting down from three.

“You okay to do this, Sid?” You found yourself asking. Her mother had only died a few months prior and the idea of the poor girl meandering around alone in a cornfield sounded barbaric considering what she’d just been through.

“I’m fine,” Sid vowed, “I’ll see you guys soon.”

“It’s okay, Sid,” Randy muttered. “You’re safe, I promise.”

By the time Stu reached one, you took a hesitant step forward and embraced the darkness that surrounded you once you delved further and further down your path. You could hear the footsteps and crunches of the stacks around you as your friends eventually all split up to take their own trail and you swore that you heard Randy bump into Sid a few minutes in, putting you slightly at ease to know she wasn’t going through the maze alone. But, as time went on and you continued to circle the gigantic moonlight maze by yourself, your nerves began to eat away at you.

You weren’t one to scare easy but there was something about being on your own in the middle of a corn maze that was eerily off-putting. You’d seen Children of the Corn one too many times to feel at ease right now and the fact you could only see a few feet in front of you at any given time wasn’t helping one iota.

Hugging your denim jacket tighter around your body, you turned left and were met with a dead end. Groaning, you threw your head back in defeat and turned on your heel to retrace your steps but stopped when you heard a loud snap come from the wall of tall corn stacks before you. Swallowing hard, you narrowed your eyes in an attempt to see through the wall of decaying crop, but it was to no avail.

You couldn’t see a damned thing.

Another snap of a corn stock echoed out before you, making your skin crawl. Why the fuck had you agreed to splitting up? This is exactly how every horror movie you’d ever seen started and sure enough, here you were. About to be killed by a child of the corn on the eve of your favourite holiday.

Another snap.

And then, just as you were prepared to run for your life, a husky raccoon came bounding out of the thick hedge with a mouthful of hard corn. Your scream caught in your throat as you jumped back from the wild animal but, before you could think of bounding away, your back connected into someone’s chest.

With a high-pitched yelp, you turned only to be met with Billy’s wide brown eyes watching your every move. “Hey,” he cooed, reaching across to steady you. “You okay?”

That familiar cologne of his hit you like a tonne of bricks and for just a second, you allowed yourself to get lost in it. You knew that smell well. You couldn’t count how many times you’d woken up to that smell all over your pillows and sheets, wafting all over your bedroom like a slow mist that never quite subsided. Swallowing hard, you blinked out of your reverie and took an instinctual step back. “I’m fine,” you breathed out, “a racoon just scared me, is all.”

He glanced over your shoulder briefly before those brown pools soaked you in yet again. “You sure you’re okay?” He asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “You’ve barely said a word to me all week.”

You offered him a polite smile. “I’m fine, Billy. Just been a busy week. With swimming practice and—”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” he muttered, voice strained. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“Billy,” you sighed, pinching your brow, “I’m not doing this here. We can’t.”

His brows pulled together and a pained look crossed over his handsome features. “I meant what I said,” he rasped out. “You’re my girl, Y/N.”

“No, see that’s bullshit, Billy,” you bit back, “Sid is your girl. I’m just an easy lay. That’s all I’ve been for the last six months and I can’t do it anymore. I won’t.”

“You can’t believe that,” he stepped towards you and visibly flinched when you stepped back. “Sure, Sid’s a good girl but it’s compli—”

“Complicated,” you choked, “yeah, you’ve mentioned that a few hundred times in the last six months, Billy. And you’re right. It is complicated because me and you are making it complicated. For god’s sake, she’s one of my best friends, Billy. I’m fucking one of my best friends’ boyfriends. Do you get how fucked up that is?”

“Me and Sid are complicated,” he reiterated, ignoring your little tirade entirely. “But me and you, sweetheart, we work. We’ve always worked. You’re it for me. You’re my final girl.”

You shook your head and grabbed his wrist, yanking him closer to you to avoid having one of your friends creep up on the two of you and hear him rambling on. “Jesus, scream it a little louder, moron,” you growled, pulling him into the corner of the maze where the racoon had just jumped out of. “What is wrong with you? Do you want one of them to hear you?”

“I don’t care,” he admitted, “I miss you. I miss feeling you squirm against me when we watch a scary movie. I miss smelling you all over me the next morning. My fucking pillow smells like your shampoo and the fact that you haven’t so much as said a word to me this week is killing me, Y/N.”  

Looking over his shoulder to ensure none of your friends were coming, you nearly hissed as you pulled him further into the thick wall of corn stocks. The tall stacks towered over the two of you and shielded you away from any prying eyes.

“One week, Billy. It’s been one week and it’s hurting you? Try being in love with someone for three fucking years and watching them fall in love with someone else. And then, when he can’t get his whistle wet with his girlfriend, he ends up in your bed.” You ground your teeth together in an effort to control the burst of emotion pounding in your chest. “That is the shit that hurts, Billy. I wasn’t good enough to be your girlfriend, but I was easy enough for you to sleep with and I was so enamoured with you that I was willing to overlook the fact I’m hurting Sid each and every time we do it. I won’t do it anymore.”

The moon managed to seep in through a barren patch of the maze wall and struck Billy in such a way that you lost your breath. Those brown eyes you’d fallen in love with all those years back were glued to your face. He’d always had this air of intensity about him but, right now, looking at the long shadows cast against his face from the illumination of the moon, that intensity had all but dissipated. You’d never seen Billy look more beautiful in your life.

The silence that followed your words was thick and tense, but those damn eyes never left your face. Not even for a second. Slowly, Billy leaned in and, in the softest voice you’d ever heard him speak, he managed to break your heart all over again. “You love me?”

“Oh, shut-up,” you snarled, “like you didn’t know.”

“How the fuck would I have known that?” he whispered, taking a step closer to you. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you?” You snapped. “Billy, you have a girlfriend. I’m already fucking you, what am I going to do? Confess all of this in between sucking your dick and packing up before Sidney catches wind of us?”

“Don’t cheapen it,” he cautioned, “not when it comes to us.”

“There is no ‘us’, Billy!” You reminded him. “There is a you and there is a Sidney. Then there is me.”

“Fuck Sidney,” he snarled through gritted teeth. “And don’t act like it’s only been sex between us.”

You snorted. “Maybe the odd movie, sure.”

Anger flickered across his face as he took another step closer, backing you into a particularly sturdy corn stock. This was a side of Billy you rarely saw, this unhinged almost animalistic side that came out when his emotions got too overwhelming. You’d seen this look only once before. It was few weeks into your sneaky little affair when Billy had snuck in through your bedroom window with red, bloodshot eyes and bleeding knuckles. It was the night his mother had left, and he’d just had lost a one-sided fight with the brick wall of his house.

“You were there for me when nobody else was,” he leaned his forehead against yours and you watched the muscle in his cheek clench several times over as he chewed on his words. “When my mother left, you were the one that was there for me. Not Sidney, not my father – you.” You felt his hands trail up your jean-clad hips before guiding your hips towards the thick corn stock behind you. You should have pushed him away, stuck to your guns, and ran off to find the rest of your friends. But, you couldn’t. Not with Billy looking at you the way he was.

“Billy,” you tried, but there was no conviction behind it. “I meant what I said.”

“Which part?” He asked. “When you said you loved me or when you said you couldn’t do this anymore.”  

“Both,” you told him. “Sidney’s a good friend and—”

A growl escaped his throat as he shut his eyes, but he never stepped away. With his forehead still leaning against yours, it was as though he was afraid to break contact in fear of losing you all over again. “Can we not talk about Sid for one goddamn second?” He took a few even breaths before those brown eyes opened back up, capturing your gaze instantly. “I love you.”

“Don’t,” you warned him. This time it was your turn to shut your eyes as the pain of hearing those three little words sliced you from stem to stern. “That’s not fair, Billy.”

“What? You don’t believe me?” You felt his hands slither up the side of your waist and up the length of your body until they cradled your face. “Look at me.”

“No,” you griped, “to both of your questions. Don’t say shit you don’t mean, not when it comes to that. It’s cruel.”

His calloused thumb danced across the apple of your cheek. “Look at me,” he demanded, barely above a whisper. “Sweetheart, look at me.” Frowning, you opened your eyes but remained silent. Bumping your nose with his, Billy pushed your hair back and away from your face and shook his head. “I fucking love you.”

“You’re with Sidney,” you reminded him, sounding like a broken record. “If you loved me, we wouldn’t be hiding in the middle of a goddamn corn maze while our friends blindly stumble around looking for the exit.”

“Stu knows,” he admitted. “And when it’s a good time, so will everyone else.”

“Colour me shocked,” you rolled your eyes. “Stu knows everything.”

“You think I don’t want to parade you all over town?” Billy questioned. “I get so heated when I see Randy or any of those goons on the football team flirt with you. I want you every second of the day.”

You swallowed hard. “Then please, Billy, just be honest with me. Tell me why things are so fucking complicated with Sid? I get break-ups are hard but cheating on her isn’t the answer.”

Billy was truly torn as he took in the desperation in your eyes. Things with Sid were complicated but not in the way you thought they were. There were no feelings involved with Sid, at least not the romantic kind, but there was no chance in hell he was divulging his plans with Sidney. Not with you. He couldn’t stomach the idea of losing you knowing full-well you’d try and sway him on it. Or worse. What if you went to the police about it? What if you tried to stop him? No. He wasn’t getting you involved. You were the one person in his life who hadn’t let him down and he was hell-bent on doing the same for you.

The less you knew, the better.

“Just give me some time, alright?” He pleaded, grabbing your hands to ghost his lips across your knuckles. “She’s still dealing with the loss of her mother. I can’t spring a break-up on her, too. Not yet. But soon,” he kissed your hand, “I promise.”

“I don’t want to hurt her any more than we already have, Billy,” you told him, “we could end this here and now and then when you do break-up, we can continue whatever the hell this is. But we shouldn’t d—”

Before you could say another word, he leaned forward and captured your lips in a bruising kiss. Everything about this man was electric and despite everything –  the guilt, the secrets, all of it – the way his lips seemed to mould against yours so perfectly, stopped you dead in your tracks. Placing sloppy kisses down from your mouth and along your jaw, Billy nipped at your ear. “I really do fucking love you.”

You leaned into the kiss and tangled your fingers through his hair, tugging at the ends. A low growl rumbled in his throat as he continued his assault down your jaw towards your neck where he nipped and sucked at the sensitive flesh. “You give me a fucking hickey and you’re dead,” you chastised breathlessly. When he responded with a gentle bite, you gave his hair another gentle tug. “I mean it, Loomis.”

Pulling back from your neck, you were met with one of Billy’s rare but genuine grins. He was all teeth as he leaned his forehead against yours again, scraping his thumbnail gently across your cheek as he fought to catch his breath. “You’re perfect, you know that?”

“Your girlfriend would beg to differ, but I appreciate the sentiment.” Groaning quietly at the mess you and Billy had created for yourselves, you reached up and pushed a strand of his brown hair back and away from his face. “We should go,” you told him. “Before anyone besides Stu finds us.”

Giving you one final peck, he nodded in agreement and pushed a few stocks aside for you to escape from. Before you stepped out of the covering, however, Billy reached for your hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I promise, Y/N, everything is going to work out for us.”

Giving him a small, resigned smile, you leaned in and gave him a quick, chaste kiss. “I’ll leave my bedroom window open tonight,” you told him. “Do what you will with that information.”

Billy watched you disappear back into the maze with a shit-eating grin on his face. God, he was in deep with you. Too deep, perhaps, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. Not yet, at least. For now, he had you back and he had no intention of letting you go again.

part two HERE

[fics-n-stuff]

Home - Pt 2

For @glowstick-lesbian, request here

Pairing: Kaz Brekker x Reader

Summary: After Y/N finally gets out hiding, it's time to sit down with Kaz and talk through whatever it is that's going on between them.

Word Count: 5.1k

Warnings: Brief talk of Jordie and Kaz's trauma and touch aversion

A/N: Wow this ended up being longer than I intended! I'm so sorry it's taken so long, I was focused on The Bastard's Shadow and Affluenza pts1 + 2, and then I started picking up more shifts at work and got writers block at the same time. I really hope you like how it turned out!! ❤❤

Pt1 here

After the very enlightening visit from Kaz, the days seemed to drag on even slower than before. The next two months went by in a crawl, and no matter how much you buried yourself in work you couldn’t distract from the longing you felt to get out of your apartment.

When your messenger came to deliver the news that your pursuers were willing to come to a truce you had been so happy that you’d gone straight to pour yourself a glass of whisky to celebrate. From then, you counted down the days until the meeting that you set up, the result of which should mean that you were free to roam the city again.

Inej had shown you how to get out of the window and onto the roof months ago. It was your escape route in case of an emergency, but you had used it every now and then just to sit on the roof and enjoy a taste of the outside world. That night, you had climbed out with intention and dressed in your finest coat.

You travelled over the rooftops towards the Government district, where your meeting had been arranged to take place near the Stadhall. The presence of the stadwatch would serve to protect you in case the deal went south.

You had been jittery with a mix of anxiety and excitement when you descended to street level and wended your way through the streets to find three men waiting for you at the Stadhall, all of them tall, broad and commanding. Barrel businessmen that you had crossed one too many times, and no doubt they had been angered that forcing you into hiding hadn’t put a stop to your business.

You were too smart to have not found a way around it; you had to be to run the business that you did. You owned three boarding houses and two bars in the Barrel and two ships that brought in imports from Ravka and Novyi Zem, a squaller as a permanent fixture on the crew of each to whom you paid a fair salary. You’d had Kaz put them under the protection of the Dregs to keep them safe from slavers. On top of all of that, you used your contacts in Ravka, Novyi Zem and other parts of Kerch to help get kids out of the Barrel and into honest work elsewhere. You might operate from the criminal underbelly of Ketterdam, but you made a mostly honest living.

The meeting took longer than you had anticipated. The three men were eager to negotiate territories that you couldn’t conduct business in and items that they didn’t want you to import because it was cutting into their own business. You held firm, you knew what was fair and you would be damned if you let anyone bully you into submission.

In the end, you essentially just agreed not to get in their way, which was easy enough to do. You wouldn’t actively compete with them in the sale of imported goods, and you wouldn’t try to convince any of the lads that they used as runners and grunts to get out of the Barrel. As long as you kept your distance from them you’d be fine, since they were clearly tired of chasing after you.

“Alright then, the deal is the deal.” You said, holding out your hand. All three shook hands with you in turn, echoing the phrase as was customary. When the man in the middle – clearly the leader and the last to shake with you – took your hand, you tightened your grip and leaned forward. “If you try to cheat me after this deal, you will have Dirtyhands to answer to.” You said lowly. He tried not to show his reaction but the fear in his eyes betrayed him, and you released his hand. It wasn’t often that you involved Kaz and his reputation in your affairs, but sometimes it paid to be friends with the most ruthless man in Ketterdam.

You left the meeting with your head held high and took a gondel back to the Barrel. You were approached by a few people who stayed in one of your boarding houses or drank in one of your bars on your walk to the Crow Club, telling you that they had been curious or worried about having not seen you around for so long. You didn’t engage in any conversation beyond polite acknowledgment, too eager to get to the Crow Club.

Inej was the only one that knew that you were getting out tonight. You had told her when she had come to deliver your food for the week and she had promised to try and keep everyone corralled at the Crow Club so that you could make a big entrance, but the later it got the less likely it was that she could keep them all there without raising suspicion.

You practically ran down the last street towards the Crow Club, bursting through the open door and searching the crowd for your friends. Jesper caught sight of you at the same moment that you spotted them all at the bar, and you saw his jaw drop in shock. A huge grin spread on your face as he set his drink down, his sudden change in demeanor getting the attention of the rest of the group and causing them to turn to follow his gaze.

“Y/N?” Jesper called, prompting you into as much of a sprint as you could manage across the crowded floor of the gambling hall. You vaulted yourself into him, wrapping your arms tightly around his lanky frame. “You’re back! How?” He exclaimed, and you laughed as you felt him hug you back and sweep you off of your feet.

“I had a meeting to call a truce. As of tonight I am a free person!”

“We missed you so much!” Nina grinned, prying Jesper’s arms off of you so that she could pull into a hug herself. “Why didn’t you tell us that you were finally coming out of hiding?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise.” You grinned, pulling away so that you could move to hug Wylan next. “I missed you guys so much too, you have no idea.” You caught sight of Kaz over Wylan’s shoulder, his eyes wide as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. You pointed your smile at him and his lips twitched upwards before he cooled his expression and gave you a simple nod.

Your reunion was spirited to say the least, even Matthias couldn’t help but smile at the fact that you were back. You made them tell you about all of the most significant things that you had missed in the year that you had been trapped inside and update you on any power shifts between the Barrel gangs. Jesper wouldn’t shut up, Wylan was excited to tell you about all of the new explosives and weapons that he had developed, and Nina was making a list of places that she wanted to get lunch together to make up for lost time. It felt amazing to be with them all again.

“Okay! I want to play a few hands of Three Man Bramble before I go.” You announced, pushing your glass away from you after downing the last of its contents.

“Don’t have to ask me twice.” Jesper grinned, slinging an arm around your shoulder and guiding you to a table.

It seemed apt that fortune seemed to be in your favour, winning so consistently that you continued to play even though you knew that you shouldn’t. It felt like every time that you looked up from the table you caught Kaz watching you, and his unashamed gaze made your heart flutter.

After a while you saw him give a slight nod towards the door, an action that meant that it was time to go, and you tucked you lip between you teeth as you gave a subtle nod back and turned your attention back to your cards.

“Unbelievable!” Jesper exclaimed upon seeing that you had won again. “I guess you’re catching up on a year’s worth of luck.”

“Perhaps, but I’m going to quit while I’m ahead.” You smiled, gathering up your winnings. “I need to go and breathe some more fresh air.” You pocketed half of your winnings and pushed the other half around the table to Jesper. “Not too much fun.”

“There’s no such thing as too much fun.” He beamed and pulled you to him so that he could plant a kiss on your cheek. “Good to have you back, Y/N.”

“Good to be back, Jes.” You winked before bounding back to the bar to say goodbye to the rest of your friends. Kaz had already disappeared, no doubt in an attempt to avoid drawing attention to the fact that you were leaving together.

“We’re going to get waffles tomorrow. I will break your door down if I have to.” Nina asserted, practically crushing your ribs in a hug. “Inej, you’re coming too.”

“What about me?” Wylan pouted, and you laughed.

“Everyone’s invited.” You replied, holding his face and turning it towards you so that you could press a soft kiss on his forehead before pulling him in for a hug. “I just got out, I want to spend time with you all!”

You kept your hug with Inej pretty short, considerate of the bad feelings that too much contact could stir up in her, and even managed to coax a hug from Matthias before you headed out. Kaz was waiting not far from the entrance and you smiled as you quickly made your way towards him

“Hey.” You chirped.

“You wanted it to be a surprise, huh?” He questioned, starting towards the Slat. You chuckled.

“I know you’re not a big fan of surprises, Kaz, but I thought this might be a fun one. Why? Were you offended that I told Inej and not you?”

“Did you have anyone go with you to your meeting?”

“No, I didn’t need any backup.”

“Things could have gone badly, and you didn’t tell anyone about it.”

“Well things didn’t go badly.” You rebutted. “I’m here, I’m fine, and I surprised you all.”

“You shouldn’t put yourself in danger like that.” Kaz said flatly, ignoring your point, and you groaned loudly at his stubbornness.

“If it makes you feel better, I made sure to drop your name in to intimidate them. But I can handle my own business.”

You hopped along the cobblestones playfully, irrationally happy to be back out on the filthy and foul smelling streets of the Barrel, but even the stink couldn’t dampen your joy at finally being free. You were sure that you and Kaz probably looked like a bizarre pair walking together now, him with his stoic exterior and identifying limp next to your childlike joy, though you had taken after him fashion wise with your smart attire and well-fitted, black coat.

Walking back to the Slat with Kaz took you in the opposite direction to your home – now that you were out of hiding you could finally return to where you actually lived in a house on the boundary of East Stave and the Zelver District – but you wanted to talk to Kaz, and he wouldn’t have asked you to leave with him if he didn’t want to talk to you too. Nevertheless, you continued the rest of the walk in silence.

When you got to the Slat, Kaz continued straight up to his room while you lingered on the ground floor to say hello to some of the Dregs that you were more friendly with. The noise of the Slat was unfamiliar to you after so long, but you had kind of missed the rowdiness of it.

You followed upstairs shortly after. Kaz had left his door ajar for you and you could see him sat at his desk through the opening.

“Shut the door behind you.” He said as you slipped inside, and you heard the door click as you push it shut after yourself.

“You wanna talk to me?” You questioned, walking over to lean on the side of the desk casually. “Or did you just want some time to look at my gorgeous face?” He did look up at you then, his eyes darting around to take in the entirety of your face, and you felt your heart flutter.

“How did your meeting go? What deals did you make?” He asked. You sighed. It wasn’t new that Kaz was asking about your business, he liked to know about what you were doing the same way that he liked to know about literally everything else, but you had hoped that this conversation would be a little less mundane than that. You had hoped that he might express an iota of joy that you were back.

“I can’t dock my ships in 3rd Harbour anymore.” You shrugged. “So I’ll stick to 2nd for imports going into the morning market, mostly 5th for everything else. There’s a few streets that I need to keep my business off of, and obviously I can’t try and undermine their operations anymore. That doesn’t mean that I won’t, it just means that I’ll be smarter about not getting caught.”

“And what do you get from them?”

“They leave me alone. I don’t need more than that. I mean, their terms are hardly going to impede my business anyway.”

“And your insurance?”

“You.” You smiled sweetly. “Very few people are bold enough to cross someone that has Kaz Brekker on side.”

“I thought you prided yourself on running an honest business.”

“I do. My association with you doesn’t make my business any less legit. I’m more honest than most of the Merchant Council anyway.”

“That’s fair.” He conceded with a slight nod.

Kaz had visited you a few times since the night that you had both let on about how much you cared about each other, but you hadn’t talked about it. It felt like the tension between you had been building and building like an elastic band ready to snap. It was driving you crazy.

“Anything else that you want to talk about?” You hinted. Kaz let out a long breath, his eyes sliding away from you for a moment. You could tell that he wanted to talk about it but he was struggling to get it out. “Because you haven’t told me that you’re glad I’m back yet.”

“I am glad that you’re back.” He affirmed, then he took a hard swallow. “We all missed you.” You smiled brightly at that.

You could hear the crows moving around on the half-roof outside of Kaz’s window and crossed the room to perch on the windowsill. There hadn’t been anywhere for the birds to land in the apartment that you had been cooped up in.

“Can I stay here for a while? I don’t want to be alone again just yet.” You said softly, tucking one knee up against your chest as you watched the birds through the glass.

“Sure.” Kaz answered.

You sat in silence for a while after that, which wasn’t unusual for you two. Before you had gone into hiding, you had spent many evenings with Kaz in his office just like this. Tonight felt different though. Something had opened between the two of you and now you couldn’t close it. The feeling permeated every corner of the room until you felt like you might explode if you didn’t break this silence, but, to your surprise, Kaz spoke first.

“I’ve been thinking about that day that I saw you outside the Crow Club.”

“Why?” You asked, blinking in surprise. Kaz was still facing forward at his desk, back turned to you, but his pen had stilled over the page.

“I watched you for a while, deciding whether to chase you off or recruit you for the Dregs.” He continued, ignoring your question. You were used to that too. “You were good at pickpocketing – you could spot a good mark, distracted them by pretending to beg for pennies – but you stayed in one place for too long.”

“I know, you told me at the time.” You smiled amusedly.

“I was just planning on telling you exactly that, but after I got your attention and you looked at me I knew that I had seen you before. It was in your eyes.” He turned around to look at you then, his gaze finding yours immediately. “Your eyes never changed.”

Kaz’s eyes had. Maybe that was why you hadn’t recognised him. Kaz Rietveld had eyes full of wonder and warmth, that were curious about everything and shone when he was happy. Kaz Brekker's eyes were cold, they held secrets. The curiosity had become analytical, and the shine had turned into a devious glint. Kaz Rietveld didn’t exist anymore, the R tattoo on Kaz’s bicep was the only relic of him, and you were the only one left to remember him.

“Crows remember the faces of those that are kind.” He finished softly.

“And that’s why you took me in? Because I was kind?”

“Because we were friends. We are friends.”

“Just friends?” You murmured, a challenge in your eyes. It wasn’t a provoking challenge, more of an encouraging one. You wanted to know where he stood and you wanted him to be able to tell you. He was silent for a long stretch.

“Would we ever be able to be more?” He asked. You knew what he meant. Kaz had built up so many walls that he didn’t know how to let down, and he knew that about himself. It was how he had survived, but it was a way of being that wasn’t very conducive to relationships. He didn’t think that he could do it.

“That depends on you.” You answered with a soft smile. “Because I’m not looking anywhere else.” Kaz swallowed and looked away quickly, but you swore that you had seen a hint of a blush in his cheeks.

A knock came at the door, and you cursed whoever was on the other side in your head.

“What is it?” Kaz called.

“There’s a man downstairs says he has a job for you.” Specht’s voice came through the wood. “Won’t talk to no one else but you.”

“I’ll be down in a minute.” Kaz replied, then muttered something under his breath bitterly. You heard the creak of Specht's retreating footsteps and Kaz turned to you. “Will you wait until I get back?”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

You watched Kaz leave the room and let out a long sigh once the door had closed behind him. You were finally talking about whatever it was that was between the two of you and you just had to get interrupted.

You shed your coat, dropping it lazily on the floor next to you, and rolled up your shirt sleeves. Despite the pressure put on you from some members of the Dregs, you had never gotten the crow and cup tattoo on your forearm. You had known from the start that you didn’t want to belong to the gang, no matter how thankful you were for the help that Kaz had given you.

When you had realised who it really was that had approached you that night outside the Crow Club, you had been shocked. He knew your name when he spoke to you, though he had seemed unsure of it, and you had furrowed your brow and asked if you knew him.

“It’s Kaz.” He had said, and you had blinked.

“Kaz Rietveld?” You had whispered in disbelief. His jaw had clenched, his shoulders stiffened.

“That’s not my name anymore.” He snapped. “It’s Kaz Brekker now.”

When you asked him why he had changed his name he had simply told you that it was easier that way. When you asked him about why he was in Ketterdam he had answered that his father had died and they had sold the farm. When you asked about Jodie he didn’t answer.

He had walked you to the Slat, told you not to talk to anyone, and brought you up to this very room. You had trusted him enough to follow. Despite his proud presence in the Barrel, despite the fact that he was walking you into the den of a gang, despite the fact that he was almost unrecognisable from the Kaz that you knew as a child, you had trusted him. And in the years that followed, he had never broken that trust.

He had helped you pay for the first boarding house that you purchased, come with you to the bank when you took out the loan to buy your first ship, had come to the harbour to see you off the first time that you had gone to Ravka.

Kaz had once reminded you of something from your childhood while around the other Crows, and once it had slipped that you and Kaz had been friends when you were young, people were constantly asking you about what he had been like. He never told anybody anything about himself and people had been eager to find a source of information on him, but most people had quickly come to realise that you weren’t going to say anything either. Kaz had never thanked you for your discretion, but you knew that he was glad for it.

If you were honest with yourself, you had found yourself drawn to him ever since you got your first glimpse through his cold and uncaring exterior and saw his loyal and protective nature. The pull had only grown since.

Your thoughts were broken by the sound of the door opening, and you looked over to watch Kaz enter. The door clicked shut behind him and he moved to the wash basin directly across the room from the window that you were sat in, set down his cane and pulled off his gloves .

“A good job?” You asked. He shrugged.

“A job that I’ll do.” He answered and began unbuttoning his shirt. You tried not ogle as he pulled it off and picked up the washcloth from the basin, but you caught sight of a reddened stripe of raised skin across his side and furrowed your brows.

“When did that happen?”

“A few days ago.”

“How deep did it go?”

“Not too deep.”

“It doesn’t look like you stitched it up properly.”

“It’s fine.” He dismissed. You rolled your eyes and got up from the window ledge. Kaz never took proper care of himself but he was always too stubborn to admit it.

“Let me see.”

“I said it’s fine, Y/N-"

“Kaz.” You interrupted sternly, meeting his eyes in the mirror. “I said let me see.” He held your gaze for a moment before letting out a huff and raising his arm so that you could get a better view of the wound.

You kept your distance as you looked over the injury, but you could clearly see that the stitches were sloppy on the end of the gash towards his back; the side that he couldn’t reach easily himself.

“You’re keeping it clean?”

“I know how to treat a wound.” He grumbled.

“I know that you know how, that doesn’t mean that I actually trust you to do it. You didn’t even have it bandaged or anything, what if it gets infected?”

“It won’t, Y/N, stop worrying so much.”

“Well, if you’re not going to worry about yourself then somebody else has to.” You exasperated. “At least bandage it.” You didn’t wait for a reply before you crossed over to the cabinet where he kept his impressive stock of medical supplies and grabbed a roll of gauze. Kaz caught it grudgingly when you tossed it to him and set it to the side while he finished washing his torso.

“You worry too much.” He muttered.

“It’s good for you.” You smiled.

You watched him as he unrolled the gauze and wrapped it around his body, carefully laying it over the wound with pale fingers that you rarely saw. He was precise, but he couldn’t see his back and the bandage twisted as he moved it between his hands.

“It’s folded.” You told him softly, taking half a step towards him. “I can fix it... if you want.” There was a beat of silence before Kaz nodded slightly.

You moved towards him slowly and reached for him even slower, your eyes constantly flicking back to the mirror to gauge the reaction on Kaz’s face. Your fingertips barely brushed over his back as you unfolded the downturned piece of bandage and you immediately stepped away when you were done. It took no more than a few seconds, but you could hear Kaz’s short breaths and when you looked at him in the mirror you could see that he had paled.

You picked up the clean shirt that was laid on his bed and held it out to him at full arms length. His hand shook as he took it from you. He pulled it on quickly, making short work of the buttons, and pulled his gloves back on hastily.

“Sorry.” You mumbled, though you weren’t exactly sure what you were apologising for.

“It’s because of Jordie.” Kaz’s voice was hoarse when he spoke, his eyes trained on his shoes. “Why I can’t touch anyone. It’s because when he died...”

“You don’t have to tell me, Kaz.” You said softly when he trailed off. He shook his head slightly and cleared his throat, squeezing his eyes shut for a few seconds.

“When Jordie died, I was sick too. It was the Queen's Lady plague. One night, I fell asleep in an alley and woke up on the Reaper's Barge.” He swallowed thickly, wringing his hands together thoughtlessly, and you could see sweat forming on his brow. “When my fever broke, I had to swim back to the harbour, and Jordie... whenever someone touches me, all I can feel is those corpses.”

Silence hung between you as you tried to find the words to respond. It was a lot of information to take in, but suddenly things made sense. Now you understood why Kaz had become the way that he was; why he was prone to shutting people out, why the light behind his eyes had dimmed.

“Kaz, I... I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say.”

“That’s okay.” He muttered. “I have work to do. You’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like.” He crossed the room to sit down at his desk, his movements tense. You watched him for a minute, unsure of what to do. It felt wrong to leave him alone right now, but you didn’t know if he would want you to stay.

“I’m sailing to Novyi Zem next week.” You said. It was the first topic that you could think of. “I’d really appreciate it if you could look over the rent ledgers while I’m gone.”

“Sure.” He replied flatly. Silence again.

“Will you come with us all to get waffles tomorrow?”

“I have work to do, and Nina didn’t invite me anyway.”

“Yeah, well, the celebration is for me and I’d really like for you to be there.” You smiled slightly. “She probably didn’t invite you because she knew you’d say no.”

“Smart of her.” Kaz responded, and you let out a frustrated huff.

“Don’t do that, Kaz. Don’t shut me out.” You complained. He didn’t answer at all. You folded your arms over your chest and went to stand beside his chair. “I don’t care that you can’t touch people, it doesn’t bother me. You went through trauma and that’s not your fault. What is bothering me is that you’re choosing to stay closed off to everyone. You can’t keep your walls up forever, you’ll kill yourself trying.”

“I can’t handle it, Y/N.” He snapped, his voice low. The gravel in his voice might have intimidated you into backing off if you weren’t so adamant on getting through to him.

“You’ll never be able to handle it if you don’t start trying.” You insisted. “Maybe if you’d just admit to yourself that you care about people it wouldn’t be so hard to see that we care about you too.”

Kaz pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes shut tightly, and released a long breath. You watched him, waiting for a response, not backing down. After a moment of silence, he glanced up at you.

“I can’t need anyone.” He said slowly. “Not after Jordie. I can’t let myself need anyone else.”

“You don’t have to need me, Kaz. You just have to want me.” You replied softly. His head snapped towards you and you actually saw his pupils dilate for the few seconds that he held your gaze before quickly turning away again. You hadn’t meant it like that, but you weren’t upset that he’d heard it that way.

“I don’t deserve you.” He muttered. You leaned against his desk, a sympathetic smile on your face even though he wasn’t looking at you.

“I’ve been around this long, I’m not going anywhere.” You promised. “There’s more to love about you than you think.”

Kaz tapped on his desk with a finger, a nervous action that he would usually suppress. Then, he took a sharp inhale and turned back to you.

“Okay.” He breathed. “I can try.” You bit down on your tongue in an attempt to suppress your grin, but you couldn’t stop the smile that stretched across your face.

“That’s all I ask.” You lilted. You stood up straight, pushing off of the desk and starting across the room to the window. You rolled your shirt sleeves down and snatched your coat up from the floor. “I’m going to head home. I expect to see you at my door promptly at eleven bells tomorrow morning, ready to get waffles.”

“Alright.” He nodded, breathing a single light laugh.

“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”

“Here, Y/N, these are for you.” He said quickly, picking up and couple of envelopes from his desk and holding them up for you. “You’ll have to make sure to notify your business partners of your change in mailing address.” You chuckled, going to take the letters from him, and he gave a small smirk as he handed them over.

“Thank you.” You smiled, before turning and heading to the door. “Eleven bells, Brekker. I know you’re a punctual man.”

“I’ll be there.” He affirmed. “Goodnight, Y/N.”

“Goodnight, Kaz.” You echoed softly before stepping out of the room and shutting the door behind you, a fond smile on your lips.

[austarus]

Harrison Wells (Eobard Thawne) x Reader Ballistic Confrontations (2/3)

**A/N: The picture/edit/gif does not belong to me. It belongs to its rightful owner.

Word Count: 4578

Part 1   Part 3

Oliver’s eyes narrowed at the doppelganger he had struck down. What a fool. Oliver-X nudged the body with his foot before giving the unconscious Thawne doppelganger a rough kick to the chest. The impact of the sound was drowned out by the alarm. The body had lurched to the side and the man’s glasses flew off his face, yet still no response. A cruel smirk crossed the Dark Arrow’s features, secretly feeling satisfied on taking out his pent-up rage towards Thawne against a weak mirror image. A damned fool to not be prepared for a secondary attack. He should have known better. Oliver hummed to his thoughts, his eyes showing nothing but utter coldness. Ruthlessness. This was his path after all. Weak, just like the rest of this world. It’s so-called ‘heroes’. Pathetic. Oliver looked on with no remorse as he walked through the halls, boots.

“Such a shame.”

This is what needs to be done. An image of his Kara drifted to his mind, the way her body convulsed. The blood that lingered. Her smile fading. But Oliver-X shook it away. She would be fine with their forces at the warehouse, there was enough action going on in order to legitimize the scope of their distraction while he infiltrated his doppelgangers base of operation. Thawne’s labs- or as Oliver thought of it, Thawne’s Castle of Cards. He is the only one among them that knows it tech and secrets inside-out. The Queen doppelganger cracked his neck, readjusting the bow in his hand as he braced himself to face-off with the lackeys that were left over in this forsaken excuse for a laboratory. Everything is going according to plan.

***

Mick and Frost had already left, planning to intercept the Earth-Xers in the Speed Lab. Meanwhile you were to stay with the ladies as backup. Electricity hummed through your veins as adrenaline pumped. Multiple camera feeds showed your friends either fighting or getting dragged to the Pipeline. Still radio silence from the others. You gritted your teeth as your eyes focused on the screen where the fiends threw Harry into a cell like ragdoll. Their first victim. One thing was for sure, Oliver-X was here directing the grunts while his cohorts were distracting the dispatched heroes. Felicity had her tablet handy in case she needed to work her tech magic, shutting down the Cortex mainframe from being accessed by Oliver-X and his cronies. Iris had quickly suggested the vents were the best place to hide until they can determine what necessary steps you three would need to take to get to the others. The three of you would not succumb to the position of sitting ducks. Unfortunately, Iris didn’t have enough time to grab a laser rifle from the closet.

You climbed into the vents first with quiet movements, Felicity following and Iris behind her to seal the vent. Closing your eyes for a moment, you focused- tuning out Iris and Felicity’s hushed words of worry for their men and your friends. You tuned out the dull thrum of electricity that emitted from the labs’ computer system, focusing on one type. Cellular electricity. Human generated electricity. Snapping your eyes open, you lead them down a few routes. The two women chalked it up to your knowledge of the ventilation system as you’d hid here multiple times to escape the tension in the Cortex, but really it had been the intensity of electricity that steered you. The multiple electrical signals that spiked made you keen on navigating away from those corridors and rooms. More Nazi’s would be on guard there. One little scuffle with the wrong group could alert Oliver-X. You breathed a sigh of relief as the neural electricity passed by, unaware of what lies just above.

Iris didn’t know, neither did Felicity. No, they would never know. No one would. No one would ever know that you could shatter a person’s nervous system with a flick of the wrist. Never know that you can put the one of the most vital organs into cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest usually resulted from an electrical disturbance in the heart. It's not the same as a heart attack. Shutting down cells, yet overstimulating neurons. How would the human body fare? They were… morbid curiosities that haunted you. But rather giving into those conjectures you settled for a milder solution, immersing yourself into the field of electrical neurophysiology rather than contemplating how a person can expire by your will. Eobard had been intrigued with your desire to understand the physiological field that your powers can be derived from. He helped you, of course, entertaining the electricity that sparked in your eyes with understanding. You breezed through medical articles and journals, understanding the neural circuitry and it’s outlets. Yet, your intent wasn’t to kill (not to his surprise), just to render an adversary unconscious for a period of time. Or in a speedster’s case, the ability to jumpstart their heart and motor functions. Stimulating a failing organ, should the situation arise. Even in a way to hypothetically understand how a speedster’s body can siphon off your generated electricity without harming their natural laws of the Speedforce.

But like any meta, there were hypothetical limits and lines drawn, even to a possible conclusion of short-circuiting your own body without careful proctoring. You’d be lying to yourself if you hadn’t wanted to push your abilities further than that, but you hesitated. The desire was strong, but the darkness was too powerful. Could you afford the hypothetical blood on your hands? Would you be able to sleep at night, knowing that you’d be just another monster? Questions like that swirled in your head, but it’s the remembrance of your friends that you didn’t give into that… dark instinct.

You’d done it before. Once. On accident of course, but you were overwhelmed with anger and terror and fear that night. Trudging on, that moment resurfaced to the front of your mind. Your skin prickled as you remembered the sensation. Feeling the meta’s heart stop and mind short-circuit with neural electricity. The body shut down. The electricity out as if you’d turn off the lights inside the intruder’s body. You didn’t mean to. You were just scared. There was just… so much blood. Blood on the ground. Blood on Harry. Harry’s blood. Your breath hitched for a moment, but the two ladies behind you were none-the-wiser. Swallowing harshly, you pushed the image of the dead meta and Harry’s half-terrified/half-surprised face. You both never talked about that incident, nor did he ever bring it up to the others. It wasn’t his right to, after all. Two years had past, but that incident remained with you. You’d sworn that a moment like that wouldn’t occur. The guilt was too great on your conscious even if it was for self-defense. But…

Looking down from the vent opening, you realized your electrical instincts had brought you close to the entrance of the Time Vault. It was the one place Felicity and Iris can at least hold off in. You just needed to buy them some time. Felicity is more than capable of utilizing Gideon into locking the Time Vault, especially without Eobard around. After a few minutes had passed, you deemed that it was safe enough to drop down. You found the panel entrance, unlocking the pebbled room with your handprint to the side of the panel. Felicity and Iris jumped down, your plan dawning on them. You eased them in with a push. The fake panel wall reintegrated shut. You didn’t have much time.

“Find a way to get in contact with the Legends,” You spoke as the door had shut. “Smalls and Tinman should be aboard with Amaya.”

“What are you going to do?” Iris frowned as Felicity got to work.

“Buy you some time,” you breathed, pulling out your gloves. “It’s all that we can work with at the moment before the Dark Archer decides to play Cat and Mouse with us. If anything goes south, don’t look for me.” You needed to make sure.

“But-”

“Iris, please.” Your eyes trained on her, reluctance present in her demeanor. “Trust me.” She nodded. You left.

Now, who would be the cat and who would be the mouse, I wonder? You mused, climbing into the nearest low vent.

***

“Excellent, I will rendezvous at the warehouse,” Oliver-X nodded, his hand on his comm system. The heroes have been detained, her doppelganger seized. His own doppelganger caught. No more tricks. The labs were secure, remnants of the Earth-1 fighters detained. All is going according to plan. His lips twitched up.

“Did you know that the human body can only generate between 10 and 100 millivolts?”

You jumped down from the vent, landing perfectly on stable footing. The Dark Archer had his arrow and bow drawn in an instant, readily aimed at you. He watched you with careful, stormy eyes. You both stood in silence. One move and he could off me, but so could I. Your gloved fingers fidgeted; a subtle flicker of electricity honed there. “Such a fickle thing, really, when there’s an electrical imbalance within the body. Various things can go wrong.”

The Dark Archer’s eyes narrowed, noting the underlying threat in your words. “You’d be smarter to run. Wouldn’t want to end up like the others.”

“I don’t run from danger.” You smiled wickedly.

“Such naïve words from a hero.”

The dead meta flashed through you mind again. The blood on your hands. Would you do it again? For your friends? Your family? “I’m no hero.” Yes.

You two had circled each other in the dimly light room, tension thick in the air. Dust collected here and there, white sheets covered table and monitors. Oliver-X was amused, to say the least, his eyes locked on you with every intent to-

“-To my knowledge you have a speedster in your arsenal.”

He didn’t blink. “What of it?”

You rolled your eyes. Really, such a man with little words. “Take me to him.” Your hand balled into a fist The bulb behind Oliver-X shattered instantly, yet he did not flinch or look back.

As fun as this could be, I’m not here to play games.

“You are in no place to make such demands.”

Neither is he.

“It’s not a demand, just an innocent request. Indulge me, breacher.” You held your head higher, “You’re not the only one with a love.” You sensed his hesitation as he understood. So, you pushed. “The radiation is killing her, isn’t it? Flew too close to the sun, like poor Icarus.” You couldn’t help but taunt him. Oh, it felt good. Felicity had given you the run down, reiterating Alex’s hypothesis in regarding what she found in Kara-X’s blood cells. It didn’t take a genius to understand why they came here. Why they’d come now. With Eobard in tow. “Too much is too much, in the end. But… that’s why you’re here, right? To fix your love before- well, before the radiation eats at her.” You huffed a laugh and paused. Another lightbulb burst. Each out releasing electrical energy. “Right?”

An arrow whizzed past your head, hitting the wall behind you. The Dark Archer’s patience was running thin. You swallowed thickly but didn’t cower. Fear tickled the back of your mind, but you pushed it away. You needed emotions to overwhelm him into slipping. It clouded rational thinking in even the most skilled assailants. Eobard had drilled that into you.

Breep, breep, breep.

The SS alarm rang against his person. You tilted your head at him, curiously watching what he’d do next. If he chose to fight, then so would you with every ounce of energy in your system and that surrounding you. That comm, you could use that. That’s assuming it didn’t self-destruct when out of his reach.

Oliver-X grunted. His time was running, he needed to get to the rendezvous point. “Fortunately for you, I’m in a good mood. However, one foot out of line and you’ll be joining your friends on this earth’s makeshift cells.” He grabbed you by the upper arm and dragged you to walk with him. “That or an arrow to the heart.” Blunt just like Ollie. Well, this is better than being dead. Yay for progress.

***

Yawning, you shifted a bit in your seat. Your hands were bound behind you and there were two Nazi soldier guards to each side. In a sense, you were absolutely bored. Neither soldier paid you any mind and your hands were getting kind of numb from how long it’s been held back there. Basically Oliver-X dumped you onto them and gave them permission to kill should you escape your babysitters. Great. How long has it been? An hour? Two hours? Where were the others?

“So,” You broke the set silence. “Does this job give you guys any benefits, or do you guys have to like… find your own medical insurer? Does your Earth even do that?”

“Silence, we do not acknowledge such petty talk from someone of your caliber.” Soldier 1 had his finger on the trigger as he turned to you.

Someone’s crabby today. “Well, that was rude. I was just asking a question. Are you guys always this ill-mannered?”

“No, Ian just didn’t have his coffee today and he’s pulling some overtime.” Soldier 2 spoke up from polishing his weapon. Interesting, meaning that it’d be easier to take him out since he’s running on lack of sleep and is exhausted. This guy, though, seems more alert so I’ll maybe have to take his buddy hostage before whacking him.

“Devon! You’re not supposed to be fraternizing with the enemy?”

“How is it fraternizing if it has nothing to do with the General’s heart?”

I think he’s talking about Kara-X. “Devon does have a point,” you piped up. “Honestly, just-”

You blinked and Eobard had sped into the room, wind blowing as he had entered. Negative electricity deliciously licked in the air. Your heart skipped a bit as his red eyes met yours, but your mind anchored you. “Get out,” his distorted voice had hissed at the guards, both who had which shuffled out like ants. You weren’t going to miss them, though their bickering did entertain you. In an instant you were free from the power dampening cuffs and Eobard had drawn his cowl down from over his head along with his techy face shield-mask thing. Just seemed excessive. He took a step towards you with a hand outstretched, but you leaped from your chair and stepped back with a hardened look.

“Don’t touch me.”

A flicker of pain resonated in his eyes, something hollow hit your own heart, but this needed to be done. You needed answers from him, so you kept your distance. “This… isn’t the welcome back reunion I was expecting.”

“Screw whatever it was you were expecting,” You spat, eyeing the SS on his chest in lightning bolt form with disgust. It replaced his Reverse Flash insignia. “Nazi’s, Eobard? Really? What the hell are you doing?”

“You’re angry. Understandable.”

“Of course, I’m angry! You were gone. All of a sudden, three years ago. Erased from existence. And now you’re just… here. With Nazi’s no less. You hate them!”

He licked his lips, frustration present in his tone. He did hate them, every last one of them. “I was just trying to survive.”

“Really? Really? Like this?”

“I had no choice. I just needed some time. Time that-”

You shook your head at him, anger sparking within you. “-No, do not give me the whole ‘time’ bullshit. You can save that for Barry. You owe me an explanation before I decide to over-write every one of your friends’ brains here.”

“They are not my friends,” Eobard retaliated fiercely, he took a breath to calm down. “Did Barry not tell you?”

“Tell me what?” You questioned through gritted teeth.

“You want an explanation,” Eobard had spoken before he whisked you away to the top of one of the Central City towers. The air was crisp, drizzle cascading onto the city. You regained your footing; Eobard gripped your upper arms to steady you before letting go. Message received that you didn’t want him to touch you. “Fine, I’ll give you an explanation. When Barry saved his mother and changed the timeline, he had pulled me from that night and caged me. Like an animal. But,” The yellow speedster started chuckling to himself, doing the little pace he did when he did his monologues. Yes, he does it frequently. “He needed me. He needed me to fix his mistakes. He was losing his speed, his memories of the previous life he had. And oh, did I relish in making him say what he needed me to do the most.” You just rolled your eyes, arms crossing.

“Get to the point, Thawne.”

“One thing led to another and certain… things happened with the Legends and I ended up in the Speedforce after the Black Flash got me, after being erased again. Or so I thought. I… The Speedforce works in mysterious ways, you see. It punished me in for my deeds by sending me to the most miserable place in the multiverse.”

“Earth-X.”

“Precisely. You’ve seen just how ruthless they are, anyone with powers that had opposed them were decimated. I couldn’t die. Not again. I wouldn’t allow it to happen again. Not like that and certainly not at their hands.”

“But others can?”

That stung him. Eobard paused for a moment before his eyes reconnected with yours. “No matter what I could do, they would have found me out. To the expense of those lives, they were already targeted for death regardless of how they can plea or be helped. There’s a resistance group, it’s only a gamble of fate if they’re snuffed out or snuff out the Reich. I was confined to their labs because of my intellect and speed. My task was simple. Find a solution to Overgirl. Fast.”

“And that was to come here. To cut open Kara for her.”

“Here’s the tricky part that they don’t know,” Eobard grinned wickedly, giving you that little look that says he’s got a wildcard up his sleeve, “a heart that they’re so desperately chasing after won’t save Kara-X.”

Enlightenment flared up in your mind. Eobard took a step towards you, this time you didn’t back away. He recognized that look. “A heart won’t stop the cells in her body from replicating and contaminating the heart cells once more. You threw them a bone to get here.”

Eobard nodded, “I studied her anatomy, I’ve made the calculations. Even with a new heart she’d just revert back to her previous radioactive state. The heart would be a temporary fix, but her internal organs are all infected. Festering.” The man in the yellow suit rubbed his lips with two fingers, a move he does when his nerves were getting out of his control. When things were going south, and he needed to recalculate and try a different approach. “I manipulated the calculations in order to seem like the heart would be a reasonable solution along with pumping Kara-X with new blood. Didn’t take long, of course. But I made sure I was the only scientist working on this project. I couldn’t have a liability if others were involved, else they would have made sure I would never run again.” The speedster had marked those words grimly.

Your throat went dry. Death had been haunting Eobard since he had gotten stuck in your time, it even followed him to Earth-X, the place of his punishment. You could have lost him without knowing. You did. Back when he get involved with the Legends, apparently. The speedster stepped closer, the back of his gloved hand brushing against your cheek. You flinched back to reality at the situation, back to the reality of him. Eobard’s heart tugged at the idea that you were seeing him as the rest of those monsters. While he was one, he wasn’t like the ones from Earth-X.

“And Oliver-X is too blinded by his love for her that he’d go to any extent to get her back to 100%.” You summed up. Like how Eobard had done anything to come back here. You gingerly took his hand. What a mess.

“There wasn’t a moment when I hadn’t thought of you while there. But I needed a way back, I needed to get back here. Back to you. I wanted to come back, needed to or else I was going to go insane without you. I was going to lose my sanity and myself there. But the thought of you kept me together. And I would do anything. Even if it did mean ‘allying’ myself with them,” he had done air quotes around that word, “in order to get back here. To my Earth. To you.”

His words echoed in your mind. Anything could be anything. “That won’t excuse what you’ve done. What… what you’d been doing.” I can’t fathom the thought of him… carrying out those heinous crimes and missions. Yes, Eobard is no stranger to committing a felony or five. But to the degree of these Earth-Xers?

“No, it doesn’t.” He wanted to ask. Eobard so desperately wanted to ask for forgiveness, but he stopped himself. “But I hadn’t participated in anything regarding their goals. Just the Overgirl project. Oliver-X wouldn’t have allowed me to anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“You already understand the type of radioactive issue Kara-X is experiencing, provided by Oliver’s Kryptonite arrow.”

“Yeah, Felicity gave me the run down. Her cells have too much solar radiation. Cells subjected to such energy can be fatal to her system. The cells are essentially overwhelmed and overworked that they’re misfunctioning. There’s no regulation in her system or that regulation is waning.”

“The project was the cause… of her imminent downfall. She wanted to be stronger, fly higher, hit harder, so she ordered I subject her to solar rays.”

“Eo, did you-”

“Yes, I did.” He had said it without hesitation. The most logical thing he could have done. Oliver-X, he could handle in a fight. Only a bow and arrow with some fists being thrown, no problem. But Overgirl… “Solar radiation exposure in concentrated time increments were implicated to avoid suspicion on my part. And like I had predicted she demanded a higher dosage when given smaller amounts. Kara-X isn’t a patient person, when she demanded results, she demanded them now. I delivered. She is her own double-edged sword.”

“She was your death sentence,” You deadpanned, you squeezed his hand and he winced. She had broken his wrist earlier when he and Oliver-X were at it. She was not pleased with her threat. “Should you have slipped up.”

“When things don’t go her way she’d take it out on me,” Eobard mused, pulling his hand back to take off his gloves. Recovering bruises and dark spots were on his wrist. Your heart sunk further. “Blamed me for her sickness when even Queen understands it was her lust for power that drove her to this extent.” The genius saw hate flash in your eyes as he felt the electricity spark in the air. “It was either I take her out or the Flash and his friends given her remaining time.”

“Either one would have driven her to her death.”

“Quite frankly, it’d be better for the latter, but since Barry and his entourage were sent away.”

“What do you mean they were sent away?”

“…”

“I think it’s best if I don’t tell you, or else they’ll think something’s up if your reaction isn’t sincere.”

You pursed your lips and deeply frowned. You had gotten your answers, more than that, but then that led to ‘Where the hell did they get taken to?’ And then it hit you like how Weather Wizard hit Barry with an ice ball. Eobard raised an eyebrow at you, knowing you’d figure it out on your own.

“No.”

“I’m afraid so, t-” Breep, breep, breep. Eobard cursed, shutting off the alarm on his person. “We need to go back. Now.” Eobard swooped you up, your arms interlocked around his neck before he sped you back to the labs. Chit-chat over. Back to facing the real problem. Overgirl.

***

What awaited you was a scene you were not prepared for. Kara strapped down to a gurney under red light, one you can assume is dampening her Kryptonian strength to a mere human. She squirmed and grunted, but to no avail. She could not break free. Overgirl was smirking over her, such cruelty and intense demeanor a strange contrast to the kind and soft-hearted Kara you knew. Oliver-X watched with indifferent eyes as guards were stationed outside the med bay.

“I would stop squirming if I were you,” Kara-X mused. “Wouldn’t want your heart to give out already?”

“At least I have a heart.” Kara retorted.

Upon your entrance with Eobard, Oliver-X’s eyes narrowed slightly while Kara-X crinkled her nose. Kara’s eyes went wide but blinked her surprise away as she glared at the speedster beside you. She hadn’t forgotten how he said he’d carve her open from earlier.

“Kara,” you whispered, her eyes were brought back to you and you shook your head subtly.

“Well, well. I didn’t know you liked to play with the rats, Eobard.” Overgirl sneered at you and you resisted the urge to roll your eyes at her. Eobard gritted his teeth but remained silent. You’ve had worse scathing comments thrown your way since being with Eobard before the accelerator explosion. Being called a rat wasn’t anything. Kara-X frowned at your lack of response. “Now, who’s this little… rodent?”

“That’s none of your-“

“-His love.” Oliver-X cut Eobard off. Kara’s eyebrows went up from where she laid.

Kara-X drawled in morbid amusement with a clap of her hands, “How touching.” A twisted smile ran across her lips as her eyes scanned you and Eobard carefully. Eobard had placed restraints on you once more but had whispered to you that they were loose enough for you to slip out should hostilities arise. “Who knew that the bastard speedster had a heart. Such emotions. A person that actually ate up his lies and loved him. Just another monster. Interesting, interesting. Makes this all the easier to-”

“You lay one hand on her, and I’ll personally see to it that you never get your new heart and he dies an excruciating painful and slow death.” Eobard didn’t smirk at the Kryptonian-X. His words were slow and they were lethal. Rather his signature smirk appeared, “After all, I’m the only one fully equipped and to successfully perform your surgery before your time runs out.” He glanced at the wall clock, the second hand moving along with each tick. “Tick tock, time is ticking. For you.” Kara glanced between you and Eobard then to Oliver-X and her doppelganger.

“You insolent-”

“Kara,” The Dark Archer stopped her, a hand gripping her upper arm harshly. She looked him dead in the eye, so much hate, so much anger. Clouded emotions. Oliver-X’s own eyes challenged her in a silent match, “Enough. Let’s go.”

The pair left you and Eobard with Kara, but not before throwing disgusted looks your way. You turned back to Eobard, who had changed back into his normal choice of all-black clothing. You gave him a pointed look, which he understood perfectly.

Now what do we do?

[ezraspiderwick]

Blanket Heist (ch.2)

David Santiago/ f!Reader​

Word Count: 1137

Warnings: none

Ao3: Blanket Heist

    David woke up due to his head throbbing, his headache quickly making itself known. He had no idea how long he was out for; he took in a deep breath and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that he was laying on his back, his hands bound together with his own handcuffs, and he scoffed at the irony. The restraints felt a little too tight against his skin, so he was glad to notice they at least weren’t cutting his circulation, still, he was sure they’d leave some nasty bruises. The cuffs were connected by a chain to a pipe in the wall.

    Even though he was slow to sit up, his vision still doubled with the effort, so David leaned to the wall to keep his balance. He closed his eyes and took a moment to fight the dizziness. Once the feeling had passed, he opened his eyes to observe his surroundings with more intent. He was in an empty room of what appeared to be an old factory. There wasn’t much in the room apart from some old furniture opposite of him. He was completely alone, and since he wasn’t gagged, he deduced that they were somewhere where nobody would hear him if he screamed, which made him assume that they were outside the city.

    He scanned the room again, this time looking for some sort of weapon, or a means to escape, but he came up empty. He checked if he still had any of his weapons on him, hoping for some recklessness, but of course, they had been stripped away. In fact, they had taken all his gear, leaving him with his long-sleeved shirt. He also noticed his clothes were scattered with brown spots and when inspecting them closer an awful stench hit him. With the smell came the memories of how he had gotten into this whole situation, he realized the sewers had been your escape route.

    He frowned at himself; he should have listened to Bo. Hell, there were so many things he would do differently if given the chance. He would have waited for backup, he would have taken a bigger team, he would have been more aware of his surroundings. He sighed and leaned his head back against the wall, did his team even make it out?

    David decided that torturing himself with questions he couldn’t answer was a waste of time, so instead, he alternated between pulling on the chain and on the pipe to see if one of them had a weak spot. Maybe he could get out due to rusty pipes. He was about to give one more pull on the pipe when the squeak of the door caught his attention, his eyes immediately landing on your frame entering the room.

“Hello again.” You innocently waved at him, closing the door behind you. His body tensed, most of his scars came from captors that were friendly towards him at the start, but he knew all too well how easily they could turn cruel. His hands instinctively moved up to his chest as if that would protect him in the slightest.

“Where are we?” David wasn’t looking for an answer, your location mattered little to him at this point. What he wanted to know was how guarded you were and how easy it would be to get you to slip and make a mistake.

“Can’t tell you that lieutenant.” He briefly wondered how you knew his rank but then he remembered that you had stripped him of his belongings so it wouldn’t be difficult to figure out who he was.

“They are going to be looking for me.” He said.

“You think I don't know that?!” You practically screamed and he flinched, not having expected that reaction. You seemed to notice this as you spoke the next words with a softer tone. “Just for the record, having you here was never the plan.”

“What was the plan then?” He shifted his body to face you fully, the chains rattling eerily as he did.

“Getting out of there without a liability.” You crouched down in front of him and handed him a water bottle. He reluctantly took it but didn’t make any attempt to drink from it.

    You reached into your pocket for something, and he immediately tensed up. This was a song he was familiar with and truthfully speaking, he wasn’t looking to add more scars to his body— yet he knew it was better to keep the discomfort to himself, so he tried his best to hide his reactions. He couldn’t let you find more vantage points over him. Despite his efforts, he did not relax when what you took out turned out to be a little pill. You handed it to him but this time he made no move to take it.

“I’m not trying to poison you if that’s what you think. It’s for your headache.” You rolled your eyes at him. He blankly stared at you, one eyebrow slightly raised in suspicion. “I’ve been on the receiving end of a fair share of knockout punches, and given how quickly your body dropped, the one you received a couple of hours ago was a hard one. I bet you’ve got a killer headache. Look, it even drew blood.” You swiped your thumb over the left side of his forehead, making him pull away and wince.

“I don’t need it.” He grunted.

“As you wish, Lieutenant Santiago, but I’ll leave it here just in case.” You threw the pill on his lap and got up to leave.

“You know we can probably be on a first-name basis since you’ve kidnapped me and all. I’m David.” He smiled; his tone filled with sarcasm.

“Nice to meet you, David.” You genuinely smiled back at him, and a kick of self-hatred ran through him when he realized how his stomach fluttered at the way your smile curved. “I’m no one, you, unfortunately, know my face, but that doesn’t mean that you should also know my name.” With that said you went out of the room.

    Now that David was left alone once again, he felt like he could finally breathe. Apart from the butterflies in his stomach, which he attributed to the stress of the situation, this hadn’t been so bad. If he could stall long enough his team might be able to track him down. He took the pill in his hands and examined it. It looked like a standard headache pill, and with his headache getting worse by the second, he made a decision. He took the water bottle and squeezed it carefully with his legs so he could unscrew the cap. He drank a sip from it, and when he didn’t notice anything strange with the water he swallowed the pill.

[libermachinae]

Dratchet Party 2021 Day 2 - Wedding Bouquet

---

“Scrapmetal saved your life and you didn’t get a name, nothing?” Deadlock asked from where he crouched on the floor, peering into a blown-out cupboard.

“You were dropping bombs on us. Even if I’d thought to ask, I probably couldn’t have heard the answer.” Ratchet picked up a wrench and began carefully tightening the bolts until the splint pressed flush against his leg. The medbay had survived less intact than he had hoped: the backup fuel cells had either been ruptured or internally combusted, taking out two thirds of the storage and rendering their more advanced tools useless. Ratchet hadn’t been appointed CMO for his ability to push buttons on a computer, and he could have completed a proper repair with what was on hand, but for reasons he refused to divulge, Deadlock was rushing him. The splint was heavy and awkward to walk with, but it meant he wouldn’t need to ride Deadlock’s back all the way to… wherever they were going.

“Have to assume he’s dead now, anyway. Unless you were taking prisoners?”

Deadlock didn’t answer, drawing back with a can of something—coolant?—in his hand. He twisted off the cap as he walked to Ratchet’s berthside, letting the contents drizzle out and mix with the fluids already puddled on the floor. He movements were so smooth, a controlled effortlessness that was almost enough to distract Ratchet from his work.

“Did he say anything?” Deadlock asked.

“I just told you, I have no idea.” Ratchet waved his wrench at the pest. “Shoo. I need to concentrate.” Technically true: tightening the bolts too much here could cause the metal to warp. It wasn’t something he’d even come close to doing in millennia, but luck had been betraying him plenty so far.

Deadlock stepped back, though he was still close enough Ratchet could hear his engine idling.

“Are you almost done?”

“Yes, but I’m never going to finish if you keep interrupting me.” No one, least of all an Autobot noncombatant, should have been able to get away with talking to Deadlock with that tone. Ratchet knew it, and he was equal parts thrilled and terrified he could exercise it so brazenly.

Deadlock shook his head and crossed his arms, optics pointed to the far wall. His pede was tapping. Strange.

Realizing this might be his opportunity, Ratchet started to ask, “What are you—” before an echo caused them both to jump.

“Scrap.” Deadlock whipped around to the door. Ratchet squinted, frustrated by the indistinct buzz that had taken over his baseline audial input.

“What’s—”

“You’re done now.” And then an arm was around his shoulders, hearding him off the berth.

“I am not.”

“You are.” Despite protests and fighting, Deadlock got Ratchet’s pedes to the floor, at which point he had to keep up to avoid getting shoved. “Where’s the backway?”

“It might be blocked off,” Ratchet warned. Getting in through the main entrance had taken them a full joor, necessitating multiple detours around collapsed corridors and dangerously unstable areas. There were no alternate routes through the escape tunnels.

“I’ll get you out,” Deadlock said. “Now where is it?”

Ratchet limped over to their imaging machine, behind which was a door that fit into the wall like any other panel. He slid it open, pausing just a moment to consider what he was doing before he stepped inside, Deadlock on his heels.

The passage looked clear. Dark, even the emergency lights had given up under the strain, but Ratchet kept a flashlight as part of his kit. It only reached as far as the first bend, though. There was no telling what waited for them beyond that, no more than what was coming from inside the ship. It occurred to Ratchet what a foolish decision this was. What if they were Autobots, come searching for survivors?

“We should—”

Whatever plan Ratchet had been forming died on his lips, though, as he turned back in time to see Deadlock pulling apart a sparkstarter.

“Where did you get that?”

“Medbay,” Deadlock said. He successfully extracted the ignition mechanism, tossing aside the invaluable scraps. Holding it pinched in one hand, he got his other back around Ratchet’s shoulders, holding him tight.

Ratchet should have pushed him off. He should have demanded more answers, pressured Deadlock for his real motivations. But pressed up against Deadlock’s side, it became hard to reason that harshly, and he found himself nodding more on instinct than real thought.

Deadlock grinned ruefully at Ratchet before he tossed the sparking piece of equipment back, over his shoulder. They were on the move again before Ratchet heard it hit the floor, though there was no disguising the fwoosh as the sparks ignited the standing puddles. Ratchet tried to glance back, just for one more look, but Deadlock was hurrying them along, diving into the dark unknown.

[domenicochambers]

OPEN TO FAMINE AND WAR [ 2/2 ]

MAY 23RD. DOCKS AT RIVER THAMES. AFTER MIDNIGHT.

     His prone body warms the gravel of the rooftop beneath him, unmoving for hours as he observes the night through his scope. The night-vision shades everything in hues of green, Pestilence and Death glowing silhouettes that move across the decks — at least until Famine and War’s assault begins. More flood into his vision, and from here, at this distance, it’s hard to tell who’s a friend or foe. That isn’t his task for the night anyway, positioned on a building above the getaway car to make sure no stragglers try to follow. By stragglers, he means any members of Death… or Pestilence, should they choose to play dirty. He’d expect nothing less and he’s prepared, finger resting lightly on the trigger guard, primed to act.

     Domenico flicks off his night vision to refocus on the docks closest to their vehicle, keeping his aim at head level while he watches a handful rush in, features highlighted when they pass beneath warm globes of light. Their escape routes are split between a truck and boat, and once Domenico hears the rumble of the explosion, he shoulders his rifle and jumps down, boots thudding loudly as he lands on the lid of a dumpster. Another more muffled one follows as he hits the ground, long strides bringing him to the vehicle where Marcus and Kashvi are, the rear of the truck fogged by exhaust from the running engine. He glances down the dock as he approaches, dense smoke obscuring any light from the moon, the river shimmering from the glare caused by the flames. 

     There’s footsteps coming, the sound of heavy breathing alerting Domenico to their arrival, and he’s brandishing a pair of SMGs, squinting against the brilliance of a streetlamp as he tries to make out who it is. His stomach churns with anticipation — not at the prospect of a kill, but at the safety of those around him — tingling in his limbs as he readies himself for an attack, a rush of air expelling from his lungs when they step into the headlights. Domenico lowers his guns, his gaze sweeping over them as he looks for signs of injury, “You good?” He glances past at the fiery exhibit on the river, “They need any more backup?”

[disengaged]

idk if youd be comfortable with it but i'd love some advice for like how to get in the bowl ive been curious about it for awhile but have been nervous to start, super intimidating on my own

i'll take a crack at it below the cut.

step 1) be 18+, average-to-attractive, & fairly conventional (slim/athletic, good fashion sense, feminine). sounds shitty, but fat folks, trans people, alt/tattooed/pierced people, etc. don't do very well in the bowl, or else really need to "dig" to find an SD who's looking for that 'niche' kind of identity. there is a market for gay cis men, but it's also narrow. i was still moderately successful with a mohawk for the month or two that i had one, but only cuz i dressed up to compensate + settled for a less lucrative/more short-term arrangement. 'cute' really doesn't cut it in the bowl, you'll just end up with like. low-end losers LOL

step 2) live in a big city, highly-populated area, or popular business travel destination, ideally a rich one. this is a big one. if you go anywhere smaller, the pool shrinks down to like 5 random dads looking to pay $50 for a quickie

step 3) be comfortable having sex with older (& married) men, or at least able to fake it convincingly. this is Also a big one. i'll say it straight-up: it's rare to find anyone young, attractive, and single seeking a SB, and if you do, chances are they have something else wrong with them (cuz let's face it, no one pays for a sexy younger girlfriend unless they have Something wrong with them, in terms of either looks, schedule, personality, WEIIIRD kinks, or being attached). to add to this, if you take issue with participating in infidelity/cheating, the bowl is not for you.

step 4) have a thick skin. be prepared to talk to a lot of creeps, a lot of time-wasters and salt daddies, and a LOT of scammers. (never accept e-transfers, paypal offers, or amazon GCs from anyone until you've progressed into an in-person relationship, this is a common tactic.) also, sugar mommies, cyber-only, and no-sex relationships do not exist. they just don't. these are all scammers.

step 4) BE SAFE. for the love of god, have plans, backup plans, emergency contacts (plural), escape routes, all of it. never use your real phone number, it can be tracked. never post a photo that you've posted elsewhere on any social media, it can be tracked. never give out your paypal, it can be linked to your real identity. if you have a unique first name, make a fake one. if you have tattoos, cover them. always meet-and-greet in a public place, watch your food/drinks, and tell two (or more) people where you're going, what time, vague description of the POT, etc. every single time. never give identifying information like your school, job, or neighbourhood until you've progressed far enough into an arrangement to build trust (and even then, be careful). never agree to have sex right after the M&G. you might want an allowance, but always start with PPM (pay-per-meet) and get your money first, in cash. i really can't emphasize this one enough. so many people are idiots about this shit^^ & end up getting scammed or sexually assaulted, it's brutal

step 5) if you're really committed, and you're really, truly, 100% sure you can be smart and safe about it, you might want to start by making an acc on seekingarrangement. it's the biggest site for this stuff, and it's not the best (like 80% scammers and bots), but it'll show you POTs in your area, and some of them will be legit. (you'll also get like 200+ messages a day if you're new, and most of them will go nowhere.) you can also check out r/sugarlifestyleforum to do more research or get advice or profile reviews (profile blurbs + good, full-body photos make or break everything!!!), but idk, it's maybe not the most newbie-friendly forum.

step 6) once you get chatting with someone and get a good vibe, don't discuss finances on the site (or any other site). take the convo elsewhere, or maybe save it for the M&G if you've got a good feel for the situation. also, SET YOUR PRICING BEFOREHAND. this will depend on where you live and what is expected of you (e.g. how long is each meetup, will there be sex, what kind of sex, is it a sleepover). don't get lowballed, don't lower your standards. negotiation is normal, but haggling and bartering is unacceptable. (also ..... gifts are fun, but cash is king.)

it takes a while to get the hang of chatting with POTs, but i typically just like to have a quick and friendly convo to get the vibe of his personality, expectations/what he’s looking for (weekly, monthly, once in a while if he’s in town for business, is it necessary to be discreet...? etc.), maybe share pics, then move the convo to a different app.

this^ is all really just the very tip of the iceberg, so please do a lot more research and PLEASE think carefully before going ahead with this. the bowl is, as a whole, incredibly intimidating and overwhelming, & frequently stressful as shit. a lot of people have a really romantic sugar daddy fantasy where they get pampered and spoiled just for going on a date every so often, but it's typically not like that at all. it's basically like another part-time job, requires an immense amount of time and effort just to sort through the lowballers and scammers, & to be frank ... your average SD is a much older, overweight married guy. it's not that glamourous.

it'd be immensely hypocritical of me to say "don't do it", but like ...... once again, please think really, really hard before you make this decision. no matter what precautions you take, it's never safe (STIs, homewrecking, being robbed, raped, stalked, etc), and the money isn't always good. sugaring is all about business transactions, but you should be aware that the men on these kinds of sites are transparently looking to take advantage of younger women. like... that’s an innate part of the game. that’s how it works. the line between sugar dating and being a prostitute is very, very fine, and in some cases, it just disappears altogether.  (also? be prepared to commit tax fraud, or to do some funky, shady shit to disguise your income LOL.)

with that said, i'm happy to try to answer any other questions about this stuff, i know it’s not something a whole ton of people are super informed about. i don't sugar anymore (since a little while before i went on T), but i somewhat enjoyed it for a period, and it did help me to get my feet under me in terms of financial independence.

[bitch-butter]

more modern!au webgott. still deciding if i want to do anything with this, in the meantime she lives here~

Read More for meet-cute in the back of an Uber

***

He had known the woman across the hall from him with every sense except sight.

Could hear the sound of her heels clattering off to work in the morning as he fixed himself food before passing out, had even glanced at her back as she left the mailroom, the sheet of blonde hair that swept over her shoulder. She’d been dating a guy with light feet, who drove a car with a Texas license plate he always stared at when he smoked out by the dumpster. The car had disappeared in June, and shortly afterwards he’d heard the moving trucks outside, the sound of somebody's life being hefted out the door over a whole day.

The trucks had appeared again in August, but he’d pulled the pillow over his head and missed the majority of the move-in.

In September they raised the rent. By October he was already working longer hours to make up for it, lingering longer near the airport, taking every scheduled ride, spending every spare moment asking to pick up Fridays and Saturdays at the bar.

He’s fucking exhausted when the air turns cold. In the scant hours between working and sleeping he thinks of escaping, of all the places he could move to get away from Philadelphia. He thinks about Montana, Washington, New York, Canada, Sweden, France, and most especially the roads. Roads and roads and roads to get lost in, to get turned around and inside out on.

But it had taken a lot to get him out of California. A lot to take this apartment and make it into something like a home, to take the aggregate of these days and call them a life.

Might not be a good one, but it is his at the end of the day.

Even so, the hours were wearing on him.

It was nearly 2:45a.m. by the time he was trolling through downtown and the request chimed in, startling him out of his fugue. Blinking rapidly, he had half a mind to reject it and just cut it all short and head to bed, but his eyes caught on the destination.

His apartment building.

Joe accepts the trip before thinking about it, curiosity getting the better of him as he began winding his way back towards the Canopy hotel. One of the unseen neighbors. It’s a small world, after all.

He’s gathered people from this hotel before, typically bound for the airport, and the sight of its well lit doorway, the patterned stones of the sidewalk before it, the richly detailed façade and canopy always made him crave steak. Steak, stiff sheets, and even stiffer booze. Fine things. Things he has neither the time nor the inclination for, in spite of the empty comforts they promised him in the dark after hours of shuffling strangers from one building to the next.

In spite of this stranger.

He stood just outside of the circle of light cast from the hotel, the rosy glow of its many lights barely catching onto the angles of his curls, the lines of his neck above the collar of his coat, and the shapes that made his face in the semi-dark. He waved one hand out to Joe as he crawled to a stop, stepping towards him with heavy movements as he pocketed his phone and pulled the door open.

“David?” Joe prompts, turning to look over his shoulder as the guy slid deftly into the backseat.

“That’s me,” the guy confirmed gently, buckling his seatbelt as Joe pulled out from his spot and made for the familiar route towards home.

“Anything you want to listen to?” he asks, eyes glancing up into the rearview mirror to catch another glimpse of the shadowed man, David, and what pleasing shadows they were. In the neon lights passing beyond the car window he spotted his jaw, his mouth, then back to the road, then back to the mirror and his cheek, then back to the road.

He was...a type. A type Joe hadn’t felt a pull towards in a minute, but…

In the mirror he could see the heavy bobbing of David’s throat, before he gave his head a small shake.

“No,” he said simply.

Shrugging with just his face, Joe took the hint gracefully. Not a talker, he thought as he reached for the volume and turned the radio back up. The late night station was playing the sort of heroin music he had liked to listen to deep, deep in the night as a teenager, the CD’s he had gathered up from ‘Used’ bins, half-priced sections. The comforting sound of Lou Reed flooding out from the stereo brought a wry grin to his face.

The last time he heard “Satellite of Love” they had all been singing it in unison on mushrooms back in California.

Long time ago.

Still, the song made him feel abruptly young.

They ride in silence, Lou cushioning the oftentimes uncomfortable stillness as best he could, until Joe happens to glance up back into the rearview and catch sight of tears. David, his unseen neighbor, or so he presumed, stared listlessly out the window of the car as it glided through the barren streets, streetlamps catching onto the empty canvas of his window and lighting up his face just long enough to illuminate the absent pain of his face. He looked back a few more times to be certain his tired eyes weren’t playing tricks on him, but found the same: darkness, light, tears, darkness, light, tears.

Joe paused, mouth opening but remaining voiceless. He’s had people cry in here before, of course he has, but this particular incident is catching him off guard. Maybe because this guy lives in his building, maybe because Joe likes the look of him, maybe because he makes no motions, makes no sound, as he cries. It could be any of these things in isolation, and in combination it turns his head into mince meat.

He’s too nice for his own fucking good sometimes, swear to Christ.

“Are you ok?” he ventured quietly, half afraid his voice would get lost under the still hum of the music, of Lou Reed’s snapping backup vocals.

David’s eyes shot to him in the mirror, and Joe glanced back to the road quick as lightning. Blue, blue, blue, his veins throbbed, stunned and intently, irrevocably, interested.

In the backseat he heard the sound of a somewhat shaky inhale, before a hard exhale. “I just had a hard night.”

“You want to talk about it?” Joe pressed, glancing back to get another eyeful of blue, this time drawn sideways to watch the lights go past.

David paused, an almost audible swallow moving through his throat. “I came out here for...someone,” he said softly, voice raw. “And it’s just not going very well.”

Someone. Damn it.

Joe tamped down his disappointment and looked back to the empty road before them. “Something you two can work out?”

He could see the impression of movement out of the corner of his eye, a shake of the head. “He isn’t who I thought he was.”

He, Joe noted, and looked back towards the mirror. “Nobody ever is,” he said easily, fighting between bitterness and comfort.

David coughed out a choked ghost of a laugh, wiping at his face. “That’s not what I want to hear right now.”

Joe smirked into the mirror, wondering how much of his own face the other man could see in the dark. “Not being paid to tell you what you want to hear,” he said back lightly, happy at least that the heaviness of his passenger's mood had lifted somewhat. “Just get you home.”

“Home,” David repeated darkly, rolling his eyes with a weary humor. “I don’t have a home, not anymore.”

A familiar enough sentiment. So much so that Joe found himself nodding towards the road. “That’s what I thought when I first came out here.”

“You’re not from here?”

“Nope.”

“Where are you from?” David asked, and the curiosity in his voice caught hold of his eyes again, and he found himself looking back into the mirror where he was being watched.

“California,” he answered, trying to sound cagey as he quickly moved on. “Where are you from?”

David blinked into the mirror, before looking back towards the darkened window. “New York.”

“Why’d you come out here?”

“I’m supposed to be writing,” the other man sighed, shaking his head once more, an aggrieved turn to his mouth as he looked back to the mirror for one moment and then back to the passing lights the next. “I’m supposed to be engaged, I guess.”

Well, that’s the clincher. Joe fought not to scowl, before reprimanding himself for getting his hopes up in the first place. Nobody fucks their Uber driver, especially not guys that get picked up at the Canopy, and especially not guys that look like that. It's just been too long since he last had anybody, he’s letting his dick get the best of him.

That’s what he tells himself.

“But it’s not going very well,” he noted, trying to sound as terribly wheedling as he felt.

David’s mouth scrunched up, an oddly sardonic expression. “It’s funny what a new city will do to you, huh?”

Joe cleared his throat, attempting to straddle the line between professional and familiar enough to comfort. “Listen, I might not be an expert or anything, but it will get better,” he assured, half grimacing at the saccharine nature of the words. “It does get better.”

The other man scoffed. “That’s just for gay kids.”

A laugh startled out of his mouth, and Joe couldn’t even pretend to hold it back. “Well, it works for people a long way from home, too,” he insisted, meeting David’s eyes in the mirror once more to take in the softly humored expression held inside it. “Trust me. Hated it here the first year I lived here. But you just gotta sit in it for a minute.”

Another sigh. “I’m trying.”

Joe felt a strange warmth towards the man in his backseat, towards his slumped shoulders, his drawn face, the electricity of his eyes. “If you still hate it here in a year I’ll give you a lift to the airport myself,” he promised, imbuing his voice with as much of that sentiment as he could as he rounded the corner onto their block.

David looked back at him, an open intensity in the turn of his mouth, the icy calculation of his eyes. “I’ll make sure to add you as Favorite Driver, then,” he said easily, and Joe could swear he heard some of that particular interest he had felt himself dripping from the other man’s words.

“Customer is always right,” he responded weakly, pulling up alongside the stone building, its three levels of dark windows and the brightly lit gape of its front door.

David nodded, almost to himself, before making a vague gesture with his hand. “There’s a lot in the back, there.”

“I got it,” Joe assured, pulling off the street to round into the back. He’d do best to keep their shared residence to himself. After all, this guy is not only likely engaged but probably wouldn’t appreciate being hit on by his Uber driver only to find out they live in the same building after having to shoot Joe down. Can of worms.

Doesn’t mean he’s happy about it. He really does need to fucking get out more.

David unbuckled himself as Joe stopped in front of the back door, the door made of old iron that screeched and creaked with regularity, needing an extra shove just to close completely sometimes. “Well, thank you very much.”

Joe nodded, looking over his shoulder like the needy motherfucker he was. “I hope -” he started, putting a pause on the other man’s movements just long enough for them to look into each other’s faces for the first time. Shadows cut over David’s face, obscuring his lips, the side of his face, and leaving only a single eye, still red at the rims, staring back at him in curiosity. Joe fought not to gnaw against his lip, acknowledging dully that he’s already made this odd enough. “Well, good luck.”

David blinked at him, head moving in a dismissive nod and letting the light catch onto the paleness of his skin, illuminating the little smile that moved over his lips. “Thank you,” he responded, meeting Joe's eyes with some manner of gratitude. “Thank you for…”

As the other man trailed off, Joe let the temporary insanity move through his head like a stiff breeze. “Give it a chance. And break up.”

Laughing bemusedly, David looked at him almost stunned but at least appearing amused as he continued looking deeper and deeper into the shadows of Joe's face. “I can’t decide if you’re trying to get a good tip or not,” he said, teasing and searching at once.

“I can’t give away all my secrets, this was only a $12 ride,” Joe quipped back, chest going warm with the way David laughed at him again. At least he wasn’t offended. Or so he appeared.

“Well, I’ll take it into consideration,” he said decidedly, and the soft interest of his eyes was back again, but Joe must be imagining it. He’s imagining things, he’s tired. “Thank you again.”

“Take care,” he said quietly, exhausted by his own moods as David opened the door and stepped out into the lot.

David lingered at the door for a moment, hand pressed against it as he looked back towards Joe in the warm light of the apartment building behind him. His mouth opened, before almost grimacing closed as he gave his head a small shake. Sighing, he met Joe's eyes again just long enough to nod at him with a gentle smile.

“Drive safe, Joe,” he said, and shut the door.

Fuck.

Joe watched him go, making sure he got in and that the fucking screeching door shut behind him alright.

Maybe he’ll see him around. Who knows? It’s all wishful thinking. He’s only met one of his neighbors in the entire time he’s lived here, there’s no way that he’s ever seeing that guy again.

Joe doesn’t get that lucky. He hasn’t gotten lucky in a long, long time, in more ways than one.

He sighed.

Nothing a few more hours out on the road can’t cure. After all, bars are going to start closing fast, he can at least make some money while he daydreams about fucking his neighbor.

He swipes into the app, completing the trip and finding it in his heart to rate David a clean Five Stars for being hot and emotionally distressed enough for Joe to want to escort him upstairs and soothe him with his dick. Maybe he should start letting himself go on apps again if he’s going to start being this fucking annoying to himself.

By the time he’s back downtown waiting for a flurry of drunk passengers, his phone is chiming at him happily.

You received a tip!

Joe almost grains as he taps in, steeling himself for the unhappy acknowledgement that he was probably really going to be paying for that crack about breaking up with his fiancé. Literally paying.

But the feeling leaves him at the sight of it.

Custom Amount: $100.

He grins down at his phone like a psychopath, rubbing across his face at the absent realization he was flushing up, and nodded into the acceptance. At least now if they run into each other in the hall it won’t be awkward.

Joe has thanked you for your tip

[because-im-write]

The Beloved Big Sister of 1-7, feat the Beloved Number Five

5/7 1 2 3 4 “Luther was always awkward around X. She was too straight forward for him, his tendency to shy away and take the quick routes out never went well with her. But he used to try... try and be strong like her. In the end if made them closer than any of us thought they would be.” -Vanya

Five knocked on the door to what was once Ben’s room. He made a good guess. X’s sleepy voice came through the door.

‘What?’

‘I’m going out, you’re coming with me,’ he said, leaning on the wall to wait.

There was a muffled groan, a grumble and the sound of movement. Five knew that X wasn’t going to be more than 100 metres away from him at any given time for at least two months after just getting him back.

There was a clump, and curse or three, a sigh, a half-restricted yawn and then the door opened.

‘Where are we going?’ yawned X, forcing her hair into shape absentmindedly with a grouchy hand. She looked about Five’s physical age and he blinked in surprise; it had been a very long time since he’d seen young X. 

‘Ben’s bed is too small for an adult,’ X explained, aging herself up. 

‘Glass eye,’ Five reported, as X eyed the bag slung around his shoulders with no surprise whatsoever. ‘Watching that guy, I don’t trust him.’

She shrugged a shoulder, ‘alright,’ and followed him through the house. ‘Wait,’ she said when she realised Five’s route, ‘we’re not taking that god-awful van in the alley, are we?’

‘Why not?’ Five glared.

‘Well, Klaus is out there dumpster diving for one,’ X yawned, ‘rattling around outside the windows. Also it stinks.’

‘Well what do you suggest?’

‘Take your Dad’s car, he’s not going to miss it.’

Five pulled a face that said he’d like to argue about stealth and needless ostentatious behaviours, giving up before he’d even started and followed her out the front door.

They got in the car and she turned the keys.

Five pulled the bag onto his lap as they drove, unzipping it and pulling out Delores.

X glanced to the side to see what he was doing. ‘How is she?’

‘She’s fine,’ Five sighed lovingly, caressing the bullet holes in the mannequin.

X kept her eyes on the road. ‘If you’re going to keep doing that, I’m dropping you at a hotel.’

Five scoffed and pulled Delores upright to face outside.

Delores apparently said something.

Five laughed. ‘Yeah, she is, isn’t she.’

‘You two aren’t shit talking me, I hope,’ X said distractedly, trying to look around the corner.

‘She said you’re funny,’ Five explained.

‘I’m sure,’ X responded, unconvinced.

‘Yes, I was happy to see her. ... You were right. ... All these years.’ Five sighed.

‘Hey lovebirds,’ X announced, pulling the handbrake up. ‘We’re here.’

They watched the factory in content, peaceful silence, after a while resorting to taking turns watching while the other napped or talked to Delores, or read.

-

The tranquility was disturbed as a back door was opened and the car creaked from the great weight of Number One, pulling himself into the car.

‘What the...’ Five hissed, glaring at the disturbance as he stirred from his thoughts. ‘You shouldn’t be...’ he stared at Luther in disbelief.

X had a similarly bewildered expression.

‘How did you find us?’ Five asked.

‘Uh.’ Luther looked down at his feet.

Klaus emerged, somehow having managed to fit in the space below the back seats.

‘What the...’ X jumped, blinking down at Klaus, beyond impressed.

Klaus sent her a wink and a wave.

‘GET OUT!’ Five groaned, ‘we’re in the middle of something, go away!’

X put a hand to her head.

‘Have you found the man with one eye yet?’ Klaus asked, leaning over X’s chair as he somehow managed to sit beside Luther.

‘W-,’ Luther began.

‘Doesn’t matter, it’s Klaus,’ Five grumbled sternly. ‘What do you want, Luther?’ He glanced back at the factory, antsy.

‘Um, so Grace may have had something to do with Dad’s death,’ Luther announced as if he was on the news.

Five frowned a little but seemed otherwise very unperturbed. X wasn’t far different.

‘So I need you to come back to the Academy. It’s important.’

There were many times, Five reflected, in fact it was most of the time, that Luther’s ratio between brain and brawn was very difficult to deal with. ‘Important,’ he muttered.

‘Why, are we giving Grace a medal?’ X asked lightly.

Klaus clapped his hands at the idea. On the other side of Luther, Ben snickered.

Luther gazed at X in a stupor. ‘X, this is our Dad!’

‘Your Dad,’ she corrected nonchalantly, ‘and so what?’

‘Hey,’ said Klaus suddenly, before Luther could rile up further, ‘did I ever tell you guys about the time I waxed my ass with chocolate pudding?’

‘Yes,’ X replied, tired among the disgusted faces of the others.

‘Why are you still here?’ Luther asked.

‘Wha-’ Klaus flapped, ‘I need an excuse to-,’

‘-we’re trying to have a conversation-,’

‘-I should-,’

‘Luther’s got a point,’ Five interrupted pleasantly, ‘you should get out.’

With more grumbling, Klaus exited. He rounded the car and rapped jazz-like on the driver’s window.

X rolled it down.

‘I’m peckish,’ Klaus whispered in a complaint.

X glanced behind her at the hell Five was in and the storm Luther was creating. Without resisting, she nodded in resignation and got out.

‘Whoa, whoa,’ Five startled, leaving the conversation with Luther immediately, grabbing her arm with a frantic grip. ‘Where are you going?’

X put a hand over his grip, squeezing it reassuringly. She looked into his eyes until the panic left his and she nodded.

Five looked back to Luther so he wouldn’t have to see her moving away.

Klaus linked their arms automatically and skipped her over to the corner shop.

Luther frowned. ‘What’s with you?’

‘What do you mean?’ Five glowered with his impatient grin.

‘I’ve never seen you...’ Luther wisely trailed off as Five’s eyes widened threateningly. He changed tact. ‘You know what your problem is, Five?’

Five nearly rolled his eyes.

        ‘That one?’ X pointed to a chicken 2-minute noodle.

‘Oh, no, no, no,’ Klaus sighed with a gentle sway, ‘it doesn’t taste like chicken at all, it tastes like turkey.’

X nodded thoughtfully. ‘Hmmm,’ she agreed, and put it back.

‘Get the pork, get the pork!’ Klaus said, seeing the flavour behind her.

‘Is it good?’

‘It’s delightful. SHHHHHHH,’ he then hissed at what X presumed was a ghost. ‘By the way, what’s up with Five?’ Klaus sauntered conversationally, twirling a packet of something into the wrong shelf. ‘He seems almost petrified,’ Klaus made a clown-like shocked face, ‘to let you out of his sight.’

‘ You noticed it, too, huh?’ X replied casually with a fond grin at Klaus. ‘It’s certainly more than even I’d expect. I haven’t asked because he’ll tell me when he wants to,’ she stood up with a small groan, ‘and I’m not sure I really want to know.’

      ‘I don’t think I’m better than you, Number One,’ Five said, restrained. ‘I know I am. I’m better than all of you, and you know it, too. Telling yourself otherwise won’t get you anywhere. In fact, the only one of you better than me, is X.’

Luther felt defensive. ‘Oh, so that’s why you barely talk to us after coming back but don’t leave X out of your sight?’

Five opened his mouth to retort but Luther pressed on.

‘X has lived 28 years without you, Five, you can’t be around her forever.’

Five had fully rounded in his seat, two seconds away from punching Luther in his rambling mouth.

        X looked at the piled of food in her arms. ‘Okay, noodles, chips, oranges... anything else?’

‘I could go for an ice-cream. Chocolate?’ He fished in the freezer and got them both an ice-cream, placing them on top of the mess in X’s arms.

‘Uh... dammit. My purse is in the car,’ X realised. She’d been so preoccupied with reassuring Five that she had forgotten to bring her bag.

‘Oh, don’t worry, I’ve got the backup plan,’ Klaus announced with a grin.

         ‘You always did like to tease me that she liked you better...’ Luther was spiraling into a bout of his usual self pity, staring blankly ahead as he nodded philosophically to himself. ‘I think I know her better than you do, now, though,’ he added thoughtfully, completely missing the pained tension that flashed across his brother’s eyes as he was reminded of all the time he missed and the years he spent aching for his siblings and X.

But he doubted and disregarded Luther’s, really rather un-thoughtful, words without hesitation. If anything, it made him more impatient. In a second Five was leaning closer toward Luther menacingly. ‘I don’t have time for your insecurities, Luther.’ He grabbed him by the collar and pulled him forward with a sharp tug. ‘I didn’t drag myself back in time to deal with this, in fact, I came back here to try and save all of you.’

Luther, eyes rabbit wide at the hold he was in, looked out of the window in a feeble attempt to try and escape Five’s fury in time to hear a hoot and see Klaus pushing X out of the shops, a pile of food in her arms. A security guard was chasing after them.

Five turned around at the sound of X’s voice as she squealed across the road, laughing as together she and Klaus evaded the guard.

‘Hey bitches!’ Klaus yelled at the car.

‘Though I’m beginning to wonder if it was worth it,’ sighed Five, letting go of Luther, who couldn’t see the hidden happiness in the young face as he watched X and Klaus. His eyes hollowed a little when X disappeared somewhere unknown around a corner. ‘I’m busy. I’ll get back when I get back. Right now I’m busy.’

       The guard started to catch up. While they ran, X passed as much of the food as she could to Klaus, dropped the rest, grabbed him by the shoulders and surged down an alley, then onto a street, back around the block and beside the car.

Klaus opened the door and they shuffled themselves inside, scooting over the back seats, now vacated by Luther, and made themselves comfortable. X passed the before startled and now relaxed Five a bag of chips and an orange and peered into whatever already open package Klaus was offering her.

‘Luther went back home,’ Five told them, settling back in his chair to watch the factory.

‘Oh, darn it,’ Klaus cried with an exaggerated sigh. ‘I guess I’ll have to go, too.’ He let out another dramatic sigh and picked out the noodles from the food. ‘I’ll see you later.’ He clambered out of the car again and sauntered away.

‘How was the heist?’ Five asked.

X was throwing the shopping into the front seats. ‘Oh, good. Klaus has been a terrible influence the more the years have gone.’

Five’s head lowered by a fraction and he felt the same regret Luther had brought up in him reappear. He ignored the look Delores gave him.

Then his mood dropped as quickly as it came, washed gently away as X was already clambering back into the driver’s seat to sit beside him.

-

They continued in their weird happy stakeout exchanging stories until they were a lot further caught up with what had happened over their years. 

It was dark and they’d moved their seats back to lie down a little, keeping their eyes lazily on the entrance to the factory. If X wasn’t there, Five would have been a great deal more transfixed, but he found himself quite relaxed. Turns out X was the only one in the family besides Pogo and Grace that knew Luther was a little ape-y, something Five had discovered in the apocalypse. He didn’t bother to ask how she knew, she always knew these kinds of things. 

He sighed. Even though the task he felt on his shoulders like lead was great, he was doing all he could. That would have to do. 

The conversation had quietened while X ate a little more, and Five stared down at the glass eye, still able to picture it in Luther’s dead hand after all this time. He stole a very quick glance at X, keeping his eyes and head low. With the flames still burning he’d found bodies of his siblings, crushed, beaten and broken, seemingly knocked back as they fought. 

He’d found no trace of Ben, the reason for why he later found after finding Vanya’s book and clearing a bit of the rubble to find the white grave, but it had taken him even longer to find X. 

She was strong, and fast, and healed at an incredible speed. She was so strong that even after the torment of finding his family dead, he had some strange persistent hope left in his heart that maybe, just maybe, X had survived. If anyone could have, it was her. 

After two days Five was searching for any more clues or hints in the rubble of the house when he saw a hand buried under a huge mountain of rubble. Telling himself it was just a hand, he’d seen many these days, he gently reached down. It had no warmth. But it felt very familiar. 

Feeling like he wasn’t quite managing to control himself, since half of him wanted to run away and never know, he spent a long time trying to get enough of the large pieces of wall to fall away off the pile. Then he dug out the rest and, not even looking at the body, pulled it by the hand out. Once it was on flat ground, he was knelt beside it with his eyes closed. He took a few deep breaths and forced them open. 

He shut them immediately with a strangled cry and put his head under his arms. 

Diego was a mum’s boy. He’d been raised completely attached to Grace, with her as his guide and source of paternal love. Not that there was a word for it, but Five was a big sister’s boy. Back then, he’d never have admitted it, not even for a second, but if he’d been asked by a stranger on the street who his guardian was, his mind would go to X straight away, and stay there. To Luther and Diego she’d been a harsh but fun older sister, to Vanya, Klaus, Allison and Ben she’d been a mix between the cool aunt type and the big sister. To Five, she was paternal and sisterly. 

And now she lay beside him, body stuck forever in mid-twenties. He hadn’t seen anything properly, just her face, and rocking back and forth a little he gasped for air and looked again, then away as if it had seared his face, cringing and hiding behind his hand. 

He was right. It did take a lot to kill X. Not only had she clearly been thrown across the entire manor, probably blasted through the ceiling, but some sort of shrapnel had flown into her neck, her shirt stained with dried blood, easily litres’ worth. 

In the days after, when he had recovered enough to set about burying them, Five had removed the shrapnel and discovered another piece lodged shallowly at the back of her head. 

‘Well, well,’ X declared suddenly, clapping her hands and resembling Klaus a great deal.

Five sniffled, spooked and looked up. X was watching the man from before, Lance??, exit his work, and get into a car that had pulled up in front of him, looking very suspicious. 

‘It looks like someone needs another little visit,’ X remarked.

Five sniffled again at the sound of her voice and she frowned and turned her attention to him.

He gave her an embarrassed laugh as he wiped his face with his hand and sleeve. ‘I, uh... I just remembered a few things.’

She nearly scoffed at him, her expression telling him exactly what bits of his words she’d easily pick apart. ‘Five.’

‘I found you,’ he managed through a thick gulp. ‘In the apocalypse.’ He settled into his usual glum repertoire whenever he mentioned what he’d seen. ‘You were killed by shrapnel. To the neck and head, and you were blown through the air, the length of the block.’

X’s eyes mellowed and her head tilted slightly as the final piece of information slotted everything into complete understanding. She grabbed his hand and pulled him into her embrace, wrapping him in as much warmth as she could. She rocked gently from side to side to keep herself animated. 

-

Bullets rained through the Umbrella Academy and Allison, Luther and Diego pelted full speed through the mansion. 

‘X?! WHERE THE HELL IS X?! X! WHERE- VANYA, GET OUT OF HERE!’

‘I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON, VANYA, GO!’

‘YEAH, YEAH, GO, FIND X! YOU’LL BE SAFE WITH HER!’

-

Five sighed as he rolled over. He hadn’t slept this well in... well, just under fifty years. The bed was unbelievably comfortable, it was a smell and atmosphere he hadn’t been in since a week before he time traveled, and Delores was beside him again. 

The sound of footsteps stirred his sleep, but didn’t wake him up.

X scratched her head as she walked through her house toward the front door, glancing at the clocks to make sure she wasn’t in a dream and it wasn’t nearly midnight. 

She looked through the peephole and saw Vanya, shivering from the cold and scared. 

Immediately she ripped the door open and Vanya fell in to her arms. ‘X!’

‘Whoa... Vanya...’

X put her arm around Vanya and picked her up, carrying her to the comfiest spot on the couch. Vanya was too tired and shocked to say anything. 

‘These people, they attacked... they attacked the academy - everyone’s fine, but it was scary, I, they told me to run and find you, so I’m, I’m here, to be safe.’

X put a hand on her shoulder and then moved into the kitchen, making Vanya cocoa. ‘Tell me only what you want; I can ask later.’

Vanya swallowed and clasped her hands together. ‘There were two people, I think, with machine guns... I heard gunfire and went down to see if everyone was okay, then, I don’t know, someone attacked me, Luther pulled them off and they yelled at me to run.’

‘Highly trained?’ X asked in a tone that said she didn’t care if Vanya answered or not. 

‘Uh...’ Vanya’s forehead creased. ‘I don’t know. I think so, even Diego had a hard time. I got a message from Allison saying they’re fine but to stay away in case they come back.’ 

‘No wonder they sent you to me.’ X passed her the cocoa. 

Five growled as he was woken and rolled out of one of X’s many spare beds in the large room, stomping out into the living room. ‘Who the hell is here this late-,’ he stopped when he saw Vanya, mouth closing gently. 

Vanya had looked up at the movement 

‘Vanya?’ He moved and sat beside X on the coffee table, leaning closely toward Number 7. 

‘A team of two attacked the Academy,’ X summarised, ‘they’re fine, Vanya’s here to be safe. Highly trained,’ she added in answer to Five’s question before he could ask it.

‘Yeah, that’s probably something to do with me,’ Five muttered solemnly. ‘Vanya. I’m sorry.’

‘No,’ Vanya said, ‘no, it’s okay. I’m fine, just a shock. It’s been a while since anything crazy like that has happened around me. I’ll be fine.’ She took a sip of the cocoa and felt better. 

‘Stay here for the night,’ X said, putting her hand on Vanya’s shoulder again. ‘You know no one gets past me.’

The words made Five squirm a little as he felt a little colder. He shuffled closer to X. She put her other hand on Five’s shoulder. ‘Come on, bed time.’

-

‘That beanie does nothing for him,’ X remarked airily as they watched Lance from afar. Five was beside her as they sat on the edge of the building, watching the street below. It had been very easy to tail him with X surging them from rooftop to rooftop, following the car as it trudged through the dismal traffic like smug birds. 

Lance was returning to his car. Five stretched and stood up, the usual madness springing into his eyes. 

X chewed on a candy happily as she watched Five disappear and reappear in the passenger seat of the car, putting a knife to Lance’s throat. 

       ‘One more thing,’ Five finished as he leaned back into the passenger seats. ‘My sister’s coming, too.’

‘Your...’ Lance frowned. 

The back door opened and X slid into the seats, grinning at Lance lazily. ‘Hi again.’

Lance knew better than to ask questions. He drove. 

     They got the factory and Five marched up the path, then they noticed the smoke pouring from the building. X and Five left lance behind as they broke into a run. X grabbed Five and surged them the rest of the way and around the corner toward the entrance. She let go of him and he felt her already speeding away. He looked at the flames completely engulfing the building. 

‘NO!’ he screamed, reaching into the air where X was an instant before in an attempt to stop her. 

Mid surge, X had seen what he had and she, lightning fast, turned her head as she flew toward the flaming doors. 

The blast wave from the explosion hit Five first, sending him flying back, then he was vaguely aware of X holding him before the heat reached him. 

He landed cushioned by the arms held protectively over him. 

X ducked her head as shrapnel and fire blew behind her and once the explosion had ended she stood up, helping Five stand. 

He checked her head and neck for injuries with a quick scan and then stared, still behind and holding onto one of X’s arms, at the wreckage of the glass eye factory. 

‘... ... ... ... ... ... ... shit!’ he growled eventually and gave up, letting his weight collapse on X as he stared dismally at the smoke. 

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