#AND STAIRS. from right to left specifically. messes me up sometimes

[snowflakeb0ttles]

I LOVE VIDEO GAMES HOORAY!!!!!(i am immediately crushed with a very large brick)

[caffeinated-binturong]

The Human Factor: Part 1

Ran x Reader

[PART 1] [PART 2] [PART 3] [PART 4]

Synopsis: You thought it was going to be a regular day until you get called into a certain bar one morning. Even though it wasn't how you expected the day to go, you enjoy yourself up until you become the unwitting recipient of someone's bad mood. Genre: Fluff POV: Second Warnings: None Word Count: 3.4k

—

Quiet bar chatter wasn’t the type of ambiance you normally worked to but you had to admit, it wasn’t the worst—it faded into nothing easily enough. Usually you stuck to your workshop and the silence within it, maybe some music from an old phonograph if you really wanted something on in the background, but today was an exception. You didn’t usually do house calls, so to speak, since they limited you in what you could bring but this was one you were fine taking.

It just meant you’d have to work some longer days to make up for it.

“Sorry for pulling you in so urgently,” Ran smiles apologetically. The booth was already set up by the time you got there, which really meant it was cleaned off. Curiosity moved you set up quickly so you could finally see what you were dealing with—the message you got had been light on details and some damage was expected in Ran’s line of work but once you see just how mangled the hand is, you understand why it was considered an emergency.

“It’s nothing,” you shrug, taking in the mess before you. You’re already wondering if you had everything you need to get it operational. “Guessing there's no one to cover your shift?”

“Not until later.”

“Figures.”

“Yeah, there was—”

“You don’t need to explain,” you interrupt. You knew better than to let someone explain what happened—the less you knew, the less likely it was someone would target you for information. Doing freelance work that often involved criminals, regardless of affiliation, sometimes landed you in the middle of conflicts and you learned just how strict you had to be about people telling you anything.

It didn't mean you were naive or couldn't speculate, you just had a reputation to uphold.

“Right, sorry.” Ran had been a client for long enough to know about your rules. Most of the time you didn’t mind how they could get a bit talkative—especially if they felt they were inconveniencing you—but this time you had to cut them off for your sake.

“’S okay.” Even without knowing the specifics, you can tell a lot of force was involved. “You’re going to have to get some of this replaced. I’ll make a list for you.”

They sigh. “Thought as much.”

“I can get it working but it won’t be pretty.” Your skill is with the internal mechanisms, someone else would have to deal with the aesthetics.

“Thanks, doc. Knew I could count on you.”

“Not a doctor,” you retort automatically, not hiding the smile that brought to your lips.

“Whatever you say. Want anything while we’re here?”

“Just water, thanks.” Mixing up which hand was busy and which one was absently feeding you only happened once but it left a lasting impression.

“Suit yourself,” they say as they flag down the bartender. You forget all about it until someone starts moving your tools, and you shoot him a look that must have been sharper than intended with how fast he retreats. It wasn’t that you didn’t like people touching your stuff, you just had things set up in a certain way.

You sigh. This was why you didn’t usually leave your workshop.

“Shit,” you mutter, breaking the comfortable silence the small talk had turned into.

“What is it?”

“I can see a gear that’s jumped the track but can’t quite get it,” you explain as you futilely dig through your bag. “Don’t have the right tool with me.”

“I think I know where one might be,” Ran says, a mischievous sparkle in their eye. Intrigued, you secure their hand so nothing falls out and they promptly disappear up some stairs. You don’t know how they know what you need but if they brought something back that didn’t work, it’s not like you’d be any worse off.

The forced break gives you time to start writing that list of parts before you forget any, too.

“There might be something in here,” says Ran as they slide back into the booth, presenting you with a box.

“Where…”

“Let’s just say a coworker owes me a favour,” they grin.

Not sure what to expect, you cautiously open it and are relieved to see it’s stocked with tools one would use when working on prosthetics. There's not as many as what you have in total but you find what you need.

“This will work,” you say, pulling out a clawed tool. It would have been better if it was smaller but you could manage and it beat having to walk across town and back.

Though even with the mystery tools supplementing your own, it’s slow going with how small some parts are and having to essentially rebuild certain mechanisms. You didn’t usually work on delicate pieces like hands or optics—there were specialists you'd refer people to for those—so there are times you have to go back and tweak something to get something else to respond.

You could manage, you just didn't have the muscle memory for this—it made you feel like an apprentice.

Luckily Ran is patient and no matter how many times you have to redo something, they don’t yell at or push you to work faster—they say it gives them an excuse to laze about whenever you apologize for it. That easygoing nature was one of the reasons you took them on to begin with and why you hadn’t hesitated to take this call despite the amount of time you assumed it would take.

No, any pressure or judgement came from yourself.

“Those mine?” The sudden sharp accusation makes you jump—you were so focused, you didn’t hear anyone approach. Mouth dry, you give Ran a reproachful look. You knew Sevika’s reputation well and personally with more than a few repair jobs you've done the result of her handiwork, if you knew the additional tools belonged to her, you'd have refused them.

“Relax, we’re just borrowing them,” answers Ran, unconcerned, though they do give you an apologetic half-smile.

“Relax?!” It’s impossible to tell which makes her angrier: people taking her stuff or telling her to calm down.

“Remember the Handleman job? I’m calling it in.” You have no idea what Ran’s talking about but since they aren’t worried, you continue but are careful to keep your eyes averted.

Sevika alternates her glare between the two of you but since you’re avoiding her gaze, she focuses it on her fellow fighter. It was probably Ran’s fault anyway—not like you knew where she kept them or would have been allowed to get them—but she did owe Ran a favour. That didn’t mean she couldn’t do anything, though.

A wolfish grin spreads across Sevika’s face and she all but shoves herself into the booth, trapping Ran who gives an indignant squawk at the abrupt intrusion.

“Well, go on,” she orders after you pause—freeze—at her entering your field of vision, ignoring the obscenity-laden protests beside her.

Unsure of what else to do, or if there's anything you can do to make this better, you do as told and keep your head down.

The easy small talk between you and Ran is replaced by tense, awkward silence as you feel the weight of Sevika’s scrutiny with every action you make. She doesn’t say anything but she doesn’t need to, not when her goal is to make you so uncomfortable you leave. Little did she know you were accustomed enough to intimidation that, while you didn’t like it, it wasn’t enough to get you to leave a job half-finished.

If you were alone, you might feel differently, but she accidentally gave you the framework needed to ignore her.

“You’re doing that wrong,” Sevika says, breaking her silence to try a new tactic when you don’t respond to the first.

“I’m not.” As frightening as Sevika was, as much as she was successfully making this unpleasant for you, you weren’t about to let her—or anyone—tell you how to do your job.

“Sure you are.” The condescension in her voice and that smirk of hers gets to you. That was the second mistake she made, now you were about to do something. Ran tries to wave you off from the course you’re about to commit to but you ignore them.

“Then how about you show me,” you ask Sevika, gesturing to her arm.

“Why would I do that?” Her voice is barely above a growl at such a daring request. You heard her threat, she didn’t hear yours.

“I thought you might be onto something, necessity breeds ingenuity and all, but I should have known better.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because the state of these handles tells me these tools are more for show than for use,” you lie, dropping your bait.

Still suspicious but not seeing how you could pose a danger, Sevika walks into the trap. When she opens her arm after placing it on the table, you move quickly and stab with a piece of wire you palmed before she can stop you. You aren’t quick enough to pull away before she could grab you, but it doesn’t take away from your small triumph.

“THE HELL DID YOU DO?!” roars Sevika after her left arm powers down. The entire bar is now focused on you and her grip tightens until fabric bites into your neck and it gets hard to breath.

“Shut up and I’ll fix it after I’m done,” you choke out.

For a moment you think you might have gone too far, not that you would change things if you could, but after visible internal conflict, Sevika ultimately releases you. You rub your throat, glad she got your shirt instead of your neck, as she settles in to glower at you—she wasn’t going to let you out of her sight until you fixed this. Without the prospect of a show, the other patrons slowly return to what they were doing, pretending like nothing happened.

And Ran… Ran holds back laughter at the whole thing. Much of it is out of relief—they weren’t looking forward to stepping in or having to explain why a customer was throttled—but also at you having equal parts guts and foolishness for pulling a stunt like that. Not everyone could put Sevika in her place and those that tried that with her rarely walked away unscathed.

That alone made this all worth it.

“How’s that?” you ask Ran after finally finishing. Like you thought, the end result wasn’t pretty but it worked. That was what was important.

“Feels good,” they say as they flex their hand. You can see it’s not what you’d normally consider passable, let alone good, but it was functional. If you were being honest, you could have spent all day on it but you don’t know how much you could improve from where it was now.

You hand over the list you made. “Let me know when you get these. And don’t wait too long—I did what I could but it’s only a matter of time before some of the micro-fractures give.”

“Sure thing, doc.” Ran gives you a small salute and you roll your eyes.

Not forgetting her, you turn to Sevika and pull the limp limb closer to you. This time you can actually see when you’re doing but you're in no hurry so it only comes back to life after you pass an appraising look over everything.

“How’d you do that?” she asks, still suspicious and testing the limb to make sure nothing was broken. You wouldn’t have gone so far as doing permanent damage—and from your brief look at the internals, that would have been hard to do—but she didn’t know that.

“There’s a tiny switch for safety reasons,” you explain. If she really wanted to distract you, Sevika should have asked what you were doing. “Most prosthetics have them but they’re filed flush and made to be the same colour as the rest so they don’t stand out. Fingers are too thick so you need something narrow and know where to look if you want to use it.”

“You saying I have a kill switch and didn’t know it?!” Sevika demands both in surprise and alarm.

“In a manner of speaking.”

“Any way to disable it?”

“It doesn’t accidentally trigger and you’d have bigger problems to worry about if someone got access to it in a fight.”

“That doesn’t answer my question. Can I remove it?”

“I wouldn’t try,” you answer. “Messing with it could make the whole arm useless. And like I said, it’s a non-issue.” You can’t help but judge whoever she was seeing for keeping her in the dark and not having the sense to shut such a piece down before doing work.

“Are you sure?” Sevika remains skeptical of your insistence that it’s fine.

Before you can answer, Ran backs you up. “Listen to the doc, Sevika. You’ve gone years without anything happening, knowing it’s there won’t change anything.

Sevika sighs, still not comfortable with it. “Maybe I can—”

“No,” you cut her off louder than intended. Softer, “No. I’ve seen what happens when people try and it’s not pretty. Needing a total replacement is the best case scenario. Do it wrong and we’re talking things like feedback loops, malfunctions, injuries. It’s tied into so many systems that even if it looks to be fine, something can fail out of nowhere. There’s no wiggle room and no warning with this—if you make a mistake, it’s too late to stop it.”

“Can you remove it?”

“No,” you repeat. It wasn’t beyond your capabilities on paper, and it wasn’t the first time you’d been asked. You sympathized with the shock of revelation but it’s one of the things you refuse to do.

Sevika gives a small grunt but you don’t know what that means. You might have gotten off on the wrong foot but you hope she’ll listen—you had a list you could go down in vivid and excruciating detail to get her to reconsider. You might have to employ Ran to make sure she didn’t try anything, just to be safe.

“So what’s this doctor thing about?” Sevika asks, changing the topic.

“Oh, that. That’s what this one,” you jerk a thumb at Ran, “calls me sometimes.”

Ran gives a theatrical gasp at your betrayal. “Let me give you the real story,” they say to Sevika. “That one will lie about it.”

As they recount the origin of the nickname, you can’t help but notice how they play up what you did—not enough to be fantastical but you didn’t remember being as skilled as they make you out to be. Still, you don’t stop them, enjoying hearing it from their point of view.

By the time they finish, what you could have summed up in a few sentences has been stretched out for fifteen or so minutes.

“And I only occasionally regret it,” you wink at Ran.

“Only occasionally? I must be slipping,” Ran retorts. This time it’s Sevika who rolls her eyes.

You slide Sevika’s toolbox over to her. “Thanks for letting me use them. I know you didn’t have much choice in the matter but still, thanks.”

“It’s nothing,” replies Sevika gruffly. “But if I ever see you sniffing around them again, don’t think I won’t stop you,” she growls at Ran.

“Okay, okay,” they yield. You can’t help but chuckle.

What started off as a hostile meeting was much more relaxed and you found yourself enjoying it and the dynamic that had formed. You could have rushed back to your workshop and the backlog waiting for you, and maybe you should have, but you chose to stay until you couldn’t put it off anymore. As much as you liked the company, you had prior obligations

A few days go by without much word other than brief exchanges. You practically live in your workshop during that time between the sheer amount of backlog you have and some pieces in it turning out more temperamental than expected. Even with your buffer time, they would have caused delays but now they made you properly late.

The knock at the door doesn’t startle you but it is puzzling—you didn’t have anyone scheduled and weren't expecting anything. Part of you doesn’t want to answer but it could be something important so you brace yourself and open it. When you do, though, it’s not a client or someone with a message but Sevika of all people. You didn’t even know she knew where you worked.

You would have bet money she didn't know you existed until less than a week ago, but now here she was on your doorstop.

“Hey,” she says.

“Hey.” You blink, confused.

“Can I come in?” she prompts after you stare in silence for several seconds longer than you should have.

“Oh, uh, sure.” Spell broken, you move aside to let her in. You’re still baffled by her showing up, though.

“Busy?” she asks, eyes falling on the pile of work you were making your way through.

“A bit, yeah.”

“I’ll be fast then. I wanted to apologize for being an ass the other day,” she says somewhat awkwardly. You suspect someone else urged her to do this and apologizing to a relative stranger wasn’t something she was used to doing.

“I’m over it,” you shrug. “Ran said you were dealing with crap, it happens. But if it makes you feel better, apology accepted.” You don’t want to seem like you' we're blowing her off but you’d been so busy, there wasn’t time to fixate on it even if it was bothering you.

“That’s the other thing I’m here about,” she says roughly, somehow more awkward and resigned than she was a moment earlier.

“Hmm?” You can’t think of what other reason there’d be.

“Just ask Ran out already,” Sevika gruffs, watching you. Ran had only pestered her to make an apology, this was something she decided to do on her own.

You splutter. “What?” Whatever you were expecting, it wasn’t that.

“The looks, the jokes, it was damn palpable what was going on. Except to you it seems.” Now that the subject was broached, she was finding her footing.

“I don’t even know if they feel—”

“They do,” Sevika interrupts. This was about as awkward for her as it was for you and she had no interest in walking you through it.

“But they’re a client. I don’t date clients,” your protest but it sounds feeble even to you. Given how Sevika’s eyebrow quirks up, you aren’t the only one who noticed.

“Then fire them or whatever it is you do when you drop clients. I’m tired of hearing them moon over you.”

“I’ll… think about it.” A non-committal answer is all you can manage. Sevika’s observations weren’t wrong but you always wavered when it came to this.

“Don’t think, just do it. Or don’t but stop leading them on,” she tells you.

Time just ran out.

“Right…” you say absently, sitting heavily to process what she just said.

Sevika stands over you, assuming you were being apathetic. “I’m serious. Ask them out or don’t, I don’t care, but drop the damn flirting.”

Unable to make eye contact, you eventually ask, “Can I have until tomorrow at least?” You needed to think.

Slowly, Sevika relents, giving you this concession. “Tomorrow. If you don’t, I’m locking you two in a room until you sort it out.”

You don’t doubt the veracity of that for a second, it's the only thing you're sure about right then.

As she lets herself out, almost as an afterthought she adds, “And you’re taking me on as a client.”

There’s so many other thoughts going through your head, it takes a moment to register her parting words but by then it’s too late. Your plate already had a lot on it, now there was more.

—

A/N: Originally this was going to be a Ranvika one-shot but it got a bit long, so now it's less of a one-shot and half of that ship is missing for now. But hey, Ran deserves some love outside Ranvika.

[dirtybitfic]

COMPANY pt 1

Matt Sturniolo x y/n

contains~ business meeting , fight , slight degrading , little bit of flirting.

y/n pov -

Its currently 4 am and the only reason i'm awake is because my boss called me . I try my best not to fall back asleep as he goes on and on about shit I need to do before todays big meeting. Don't get me wrong I like my job but sometimes my boss drives me insane. I didn't sleep well last night which is not helping the current situation .

*phone call*

Matt - Y/n are you even listening right now

Y/n - Sorry yes mr sturniolo I'm just trying my best to stay awake right now

Matt - Well I will let you go back to bed but you better have things ready when I get to the office am I clear

y/n- yes sir I will have it ready

Matt- Good girl ill see you at 12

Y/n - yep see you in the afternoon

*phone call ends*

I woke back up around 8 and made my way to the office .

I always make it a point to look classy and wear business attire especially when we have big meetings like today. I wear an outfit that I know I look good in but comfortable enough I can sit through 3 hours and write notes for my boss.

I finished up my last task Mr. Sturniolo had giving me on the call earlier and sat at my desk waiting for him to arrive. I've been his assistant for about a year and a half. He's a pretty good boss though he can be harsh and assertive with me at times I try not to take it offensively .I know he just likes things a specific way .

I've been sitting for about 40 minutes when I get call from my boss and I immediately pick it up even though I don't exactly want too

*phone call*

y/n-hey mr sturniolo

matt-hi y/n I just called to tell you that the meeting has been pushed back too 1:30 our clients flight got delayed

y/n- Okay sounds good sir I just finished up the final touches on the presentation and the meeting room is set up and ready

Matt- Atta girl! thank you for getting all that done . Im sorry for calling you at 4 am I know it wasn't the best time

Y/n- Its okay I know you like things done perfectly so im not upset

Matt- Good well I'm parked down stairs and was about to go grab some coffee would you like to come with me?

Y/n- Sure why not ill head down now

Matt- Okay I took the blue convertible today so I have one of the claw clips you left in it a couple weeks ago so your hair doesn't get messed up

Y/n- Oh good thank you

Matt- Of course see you in a couple

Y/n- Yep heading down now bye

*Call ends*

One thing about my boss is he notices the little things most don't for example him knowing I wouldn't want to mess up my hair and keeping the clip in the car just incase I needed it. I know its just a small gesture but it makes me feel some type of way , a way I definitely should not be feeling about my boss. We have a slight age gap given he's 27 and i'm 23 which is yet another reason I should not have the thoughts that I do about him quit often.

I Made my way down to the private parking garage and walked around until I spotted my favorite car Mr Sturniolo owns. Obviously everyone loves a convertible but his is just perfection.

"Hey!" I greet him as I open the door and slide into my seat.

"Hi Good morning " he he greets me with a small smile.

" New suit?" I ask as I look over him noticing i've never seen him wear this suit.

" Yes actually it is" he says with a sigh .

" You don't like it do you?" I ask as I can tell from the sigh and his facial expressions he doesn't seem very excited about it.

" No I hate wearing colored suits but my brother insisted I wear it for todays meeting" he says with an eye roll making me laugh.

" Well for what its worth I think it looks good ... It brings out your eyes" I say smiling over at him.

he return the smile before asking where I want to go for coffee.

I told him to go to Philz so he heads there.

One thing that we do share is music taste so riding around with him is always good. We were listening to "Everlong by the foo fighters" when my phone started to ring.

I look down to see it is my ex who had recently broken up with me . I sigh as I immediately hit decline . He cheated on me for an entire year with a woman who owns a large art gallery and I only found out because I went with matt to buy art for his new penthouse he moved into and saw my boyfriend walking out of her office with lipstick on his face and an untied tie around his neck. Safe to say my boss saw a side of me I wished he never had.

I yelled at him for an hour outside the gallery when he finally broke up with me telling me " I don't love you anymore ... I actually never really did I just liked your body and living with you in your nice ass apartment " so obviously I punched him in the face and he cried like a bitch when I ended up "accidentally" breaking it .

Matt watched the entire thing and safe to say we did not end up buying anything from HER gallery. When we had gotten back to the car Matt had praised me for the way I handled myself and said he was proud of me for breaking his nose .

I felt bad acting how I did in front of him but i'm glad he didn't judge nor fire me for it.

" Zach again" he asks as he pulls into the parking lot giving me his full attention.

" Yes hes been trying to call me all week and I have been ignoring him " I answer as I throw my head back letting out a deep breath.

" They say you never know what you had until its gone . I have known your for a while now and I don't understand why he would cheat on you " he answers in a tone that shows anger and annoyance.

Im glad I have a boss who cares about me outside of work even though some would deem a conversation like this unprofessional it's very normal in our relationship.

"Yeah I don't know either but i'm over it I just want him to leave me alone" I answer ending it with a long sigh and looking over at him.

" Im sorry he's such an ass but we should go in and get our drinks and head back to the office" he answers as turns the car off and unlocks the doors.

I nod as we get out and make our way into Philz and order our drinks Matt always makes it a point to never let me pay which I appreciate but with the amount he pays me i'm very capable of buying my own coffee. I mean shit I live in a 3 bedroom open floor apartment all by myself , Just goes to show I make more than enough money.

We get our drinks and make our way back to the office to get settled in before the meeting.

As we were getting the projector up and running my phone started ringing again . I turn the ringer off and throw it in my bag rolling my eyes. It doesn't go unnoticed by matt when I catch a small smirk runs cross his lips. He doesn't smile too much , I notice that he only really smiles around his family and sometimes me if i'm lucky . He's intimidating which is one reason I was so scared when I first got the job but the thing that kept me going was one day about a month into working for him his mom came into the office and told me that I must be special because he went through 25 interviews before me and he had met me , He was very specific about how he wanted his assistant to act and behave and shockingly I guess that was me. He may have "liked me" but for the first year and a half he was cold and standoffish with me , he would practically ignore me unless he needed me for something or when he would tell me the things that needed to be done for the week.

He finally started warming up to me sometime last year and i'm really glad he did it makes the job 10 times better and enjoyable when he acknowledges and speaks to me .

I sat in my chair by the large windows as I zoned out looking over the city but was snapped out of it when our front desk guy told us through the intercom our clients were on the way up.

This new client we have is actually very exciting . The company that matt owns is a luxury advertisement production company . We make advertisements and plans on ways to promote products and grow the businesses me work with.

Our new client who is on their way up right now is a wine company . Their vineyards are located in the south of France and they have made a new champagne that is flavored with different fruits. They created a new flavor line which is peach, passion fruit , Pear and guava. At first I was skeptical of how well these flavors would taste and if they would really sell or not but after sampling them all I knew they were going to make amazing profit from the new collection.

I sat through thirty minutes of the meeting when my phone continuously rang and vibrated with calls and texts. I knew it was my ex and I started to get fed up so I stopped taking notes so I could just power off my phone.

I grabbed it from my bag with a roll as I saw 6 missed calls and 15 text messages that he had sent in the span of 30 minuets and started powering off my phone .

" You're assistant seems to be more interested in her phone than the importance of this meeting. I must say this is very unprofessional" I hear as my head snaps up and I make eye contact with one of our clients. He glares at me as he scolds me for being on my phone.

" i'm sorry I was just powering it off beca-" I try and explain myself but he immediately cuts me off before I get the chance.

" I don't want to hear any excuses . You need to learn how to respect the people who want to work with your company " he scoffs with a rude eye roll and I cant help the tears that start to fill my eyes.

I look at matt panicking but find him staring at me with an agreed look .

" i'm sorry would you excuse us for a second" matt says as he comes over pulling me out of my chair by my arm and dragging me out o the room.

"I-im sorry I didn't mean to-" I start to say as the tears stream down my face.

" Y/n you need to understand these are very important clients and if this goes right not only I will make a lot of money but so will you . I don't like the way he spoke to you but I will not compromise this deal by saying something to him. So we will take a few minutes for you to calm down and make him think that I set you straight and we will go back in" he says as he places a soft hand on my back soothing me .

I nod " yes sir" I answer as I calm my breathing and look up at him.

We keep eye contact as his eyes seem to grow darker . Something in me stirs as his hand moves up and down slowly on my back at some points getting so low he could grab my ass if he felt inclined too . I hater to say it but his soothing actions are turning me on. Ive always felt a tension between us but I used it aside just telling myself its his cold personality that makes every situation slightly intense .

He moves his hand to my chin holding it and moving my head up to really look at him . He slightly smiles " You calm down?" he asks in a deep voice that for some reason has me clenching my legs together.

"Yes sir i'm sorry for crying I just -"

"I know you don't like being patronized infant of people i've learned that throughout the years you've worked for me . Just be glad your well behaved or you'd really hate me " he says with what sounds like a small chuckle.

" why would I hate you?" I question as I step slightly closer.

"i'm not one to tolerate people misbehaving or defying me . You should know that by now" he answers in a more gravelly voice that has me clenching around nothing .

" right well umm should we go back in " I say in a wavering voice but clear my throat to try and play it off.

He smirks at me but nods his head .

He leads me back to the conference room with a hand on my lower back .

Im moving to open the door but stop when he start whispering to me.

" make it look like I corrected you okay " he whispers before opening the door .

I walk in as I distort my face to make it look as though I am upset and I move quickly to my seat and choose not to even look up at anyone .

I grab my computer and get to typing as matt starts back on the presentation and the clients make their comments and requests .

After about an hour the meeting comes to and end and they decide to go with us for their campaign.

" Me and my wife would like for you to come down to our vineyard in say 4 weeks and shoot promo videos and get photos for the videography does that time frame work for you Mr. Sturniolo?"

the man who blatantly degraded me asks as matt looks to me.

"y/n is the calendar clear that week?" he asks and I pull up his calendar that I schedule and go over it.

" Yes looks like there is only one meeting that week but its with gloria i'm sure we can reschedule it" I answer as I smile at both of them.

"Amazing well my wife is very excited for this campaign . She can be a bit much but what woman isn't right" he says jokingly to matt .

Matt smiles and nods as he leads him out of the office and to the elevator.

I audibly sigh and roll my eyes at his misogynistic comments , safe to say i'm not exactly thrilled ill have to deal with that man on a normal bases but its worth the money so I guess i'll just have to live with it.

Matt comes back in groaning and running his hands through his hair.

" I really do not like that guy" he says making me laugh.

" Trust me neither do I" I say making him chuckle and shake his head.

" He wants us to stay at his estate but I kindly declined . I told him We have many work calls we take and we wouldn't want to be a disruption " he says with a smirk .

I smile widely nodding my head

" Thank god I wouldn't want to be stuck in a house with that man for a day let alone an entire week" I say making him laugh.

" I'll book the hotel so you won't have to worry about that and we'll take the company jet " he says as he grabs his bag and powers off the projector.

" You sure I don't mind dealing with the hotel bookings" I say as I pack up my things as well.

" Yes I have a favorite hotel i've gone too many time there and I know they will give us amazing rooms and the view is amazing" he says as he walks over to me .

" Oh okay" I say smiling up at him.

His hand goes to my jaw like earlier as he moves his thumb softly back and forth .

I lean into the touch as he looks at me deeply like he's studying my soul.

" You did good today I know you're dealing with calls from that asshole and I appreciate you were powering off your phone " he says as he steps him closer to me .

I sigh as I avert my eyes

" Im sorry for causing our client to think of our company as less then because of my actions though" I say still not looking up at him.

" You did nothing wrong you're always a very good girl he's just an asshole who clearly doesn't respect woman"

I blush as I look up at him . His use of the term "good girl" today has gotten me feeling things I shouldn't.

He looks at me as I look up at him .

" If you ever need anything you call me okay . I know i'm your boss but I want you to consider me a friend too " he says as his hand slides down my neck to my shoulder.

His touch leaves goose bumps in its wake which i'm embarrassed about and I can tell he noticed my body reaction by the smirk that grows across his face.

" Yes sir I just wouldn't want to burden you with my problems you have enough to deal with as it is" I answer honestly .

He shakes his head sighing

" Sweetheart you could never be a burden no matter how hard you tried . You're the first assistant i've had for longer than 4 months which can only mean I like you very much and that is rare" he says making me smile .

" Thank you sir I like this job a lot and I hope to keep it for a very long time" I say as I step slightly closer . Our chest are almost flush against each other , im so close I can feel the heat radiating off of him.

" Trust me i'm not letting you go anytime soon " he says in a deep gravely voice that makes me feel such dirty things a literal whimper escapes me .

My eyes widen as I clear my throat and avert my eyes from his.

He grabs my face and turns it to face him again

" Did you just whimper " he asks with a smirk .

" What n-no I was clearing my throat" I say in a panic .

" Are you lying to me y/n " he asks in a teasing tone that almost has be whimpering again.

" No sir " I answer but avoid eye contact.

" Look me in the eyes and tell me the truth" he says in a demanding tone .

I feel as though i'm shrinking into myself as I look up at him .

" Im not lying to you I promise" I say as convincingly as I can.

" You better hope you're telling the truth" he says in a darker deeper voice that has me gulping .

" A-and why is that" I ask as I try and take a step back but bump into the table behind me.

" I don't like liars . Do know what bad lying little girls get y/n " he asks as he steps even closer and i'm forced to sit on the edge of the table as his body is positioned in-between my legs. If anyone where to walk in right now this would be a very compromising position to be in .

" No sir I-i don't" I say .

His entire demeanor changes his large presence now dark and cold as his hand moves to my neck pulling me closer as I gasp in shock.

"They get punished" he kind of growls more than speaks . My mouth opens but no words come out .

He lets go and steps back and goes back to his normal calm demeanor .

I sit in shock as he grabs his bag and starts walking to the door.

"Goodbye y/n see you Tuesday" he says in a kind of sing song tone that has me scoffing. He obviously finds it funny to leave me wet and speechless.

We've never had a moment like that sure we've had weird moments where a little flirting was involved but nothing like what the fuck that just was.

I hop off and grab my bag before rushing down the hall to the elevator . The second I get into my car I scream .

I don't exactly know why I did but it felt great.

I start up my car and put on my nighttime playlist and pull out of the parking garage and pull onto the bright light city roads.

The second I got home I went through all the messages and voicemails from Zach .

15 missed calls from Zach

37 missed texts

all consisting of " call me back" " Im sorry" " I love you so much please" " Fucking bitch answer me" " God your a cunt this is why I cheated on you" and a lot more .

I hate the fact that after listening to three of his voicemails i'm in full tears curled up on my floor in front of my huge floor to ceiling windows.

Im snapped out of my daze when I hear 5 loud bangs on my door . I jump up as my heart pounds . My apartment is the only one on this floor so its not like whoever it is has the wrong apartment .

I slowly make my way to the door when the bangs happen again this time harder .

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR Y/N" I hear Zach's voice from the other side .

I panic even more as I slowly go to open the door . The second I turn the lock the door barely open and a fuming Zach marches his way in.

He comes at me so fast I have no time to react . One hand is wrapped tightly around my neck as the other is grasping my hair so tightly I feel like my scalp is on fire.

" You think you're so fucking cute ignoring me huh don't you " he practically spits in my face.

" You-- cheated on me a-and broke up with me w-why are you mad" I choke on as I gasp for in in his tight hold.

" Don't you dare fucking speak to me like that . I said I was sorry but you just want to be a spoiled fucking bitch and ignore my calls" he bites out as his grip on my hair tightens and I scream out in pain.

" You think you are so perfect don't you good fucking too shoes but your just a pathetic little bitch who's unlovable " he shouts in my face as tears start to steam down my face and I cough as I try and pry his hand from my throat.

" I tried to love you I did but you are just so insufferable to be around you know that god your always so pleasant you never do anything bad you're fucking boring all you do is work and come home and sit around doing nothing like a pathetic little loser " He spits as he shoves me into the wall making me yelp.

His hand connects to my face as his fist hits my eye .

He has never acted like this before let alone hit me .

He immediately lets go and steps away also in shock of what he just did .

" I c-cant believe you actually j-just p-punch-ed m-ee" I say in a gasping panicked voiced.

"I-im sorry y/n I ... I didn't mean to I " he says as he steps further away with fear across his face.

"GET OUT GETH THE FUCK OUT " I scream as I fall to the floor and cry .

he runs out closing the door on his way.

My head is pounding my eyes isn't opening correctly and I haven't gotten off the floor in 2 hours.

My phone starts ringing making me jump but I turn it over to see "Matt Sturniolo(boss)" calling .

I don't answer because of the state i'm in and the last thing I want is my boss knowing wtf just happened .

I get a text

" y/f/m/l/n you better answer your phone this is very important" it reads. Judging by the fact he literally just used my full name I know I have to choice to answer his second call to me.

*phone call*

"H-hello" I say as I sniffle and try to make it sound like i'm not crying and my voice isn't stringed.

" Hey I know its late but the clients from today actually want us to come down Tommorrow and stay until the following Sunday and I already cancelled all the appointments this week that were a conflict so I need you up and ready at 10 am Tommorrow I will pick you up at 10 and well head to the airport" he rambles . I panic not knowing what to do I cant say i'm sick because he'll know thats a lie .

I stay silent as I continue sniffling trying to mask my situation .

" y/n are you there ? " he asks in a slightly worried tone.

"Y-yes its just that ... I can't leave Tommorrow " I say as my voice breaks with the last word.

" What why you obviously don't work Tommorrow so what is wrong?" he asks in more of an interrogational tone .

" I j-just cant okay " I bite back as tears start to stream down my face again.

" Y/n what's wrong are you crying " he asks his tone now soft.

"n-no " I try and say without giving away that i'm lying but obviously fail.

" I can hear you sniffling and your voice is choked up tell me what's wrong" he says in a sweet voice .

I sigh loudly " Zach came by earlier and he ..." I stop myself from finishing my sentence not wanting to tell my boss about the embarrassing events .

" He what y/n" his voice sounding slightly angry now.

" He yelled at me and said really hurtful things and then he ... he punched me " I answer in a squeaky raspy tone.

" HE HIT YOU" matt yells from the other side of the phone

"Y-yes" I say as more tears stream down my face .

"Thats it I'm coming to you is your door unlocked " he ask as I hear keys rattle in the background.

"Wait what n-no don't come here" I say in a panic . I do not want him seeing me like this its for one embarrassing and two he's my boss he shouldn't be coming to my apartment .

" Don't tell me no i'll be down there in 5 minutes that door better be unlocked"

I go to protest but the line goes dead.

As much as I love my apartment it doesn't help that Matt lives in the penthouse at the top floor of the building meaning he has easy access to come and see me if he really wants to hence why hell be down in 5 minutes .

I sit on my floor as I try and at least stop the crying before he gets here.

As i'm sitting calming myself my door opens and in walks matt.

I turn away from the door so he doesn't see my face.

" y/n where are y- why are you on the floor?" his voice rings as steps approach me .

I shrugged but burry my face in my arms .

I feel him sit next to me as his scent fills my nose . I sigh but still don't bring my head up .

" y/n look at me" he says in a soft sweet tone.

"No " I say as I shake my head .

"Y/n please you're safe with me you know that i'm not going to judge you" he says as his large hand soothe up and down on my back .

Im so embarrassed that at my grown age I'm crying infant of my fucking boos.

I lift my head and look at him as a look of anger and pain washes over his face.

" sweetheart" he whispers as he immediately pulls me into his chest cradling me . I feel as though i'm a little girl girl again being rocked back to sleep after a nightmare . I being sobbing in his arms as I choke out all the horrible things Zach called me and said to me.

" You are non of those things. Don't think for a second that what he says is true , You're are amazing , sweet, hard working and strong . He is a crazy ass motherfucker who didn't deserve you in the first place" he says as he rocks me slightly .

I for some reason feel inclined to crawl into his lap and bury my face in his chest . I know this entire situation should not be happening right now but I cant stop myself from doing it.

The thing is he lets me he pulls me closer as he smooths my hair and holds me to his chest tightly .

After god knows how long i've stopped crying and my breathing has become somewhat controlled.

I unbury my head from his chest and look up at him .

He smiles weakly

" My sweet girl" he says as his hand gently runs across my face wiping some tears away . I wince when his hand grazes my eye area.

" where are your pain meds ?" he asks as he runs his hand through my tossed hair .

" My bedside table" I answer in a whispered and exhausted tone.

" Alright come on lets get you upstairs " he says as he picks me up off his lap setting me on the ground and standing up then extending his hand to me , I take it as he pulls me up then follows me up the stairs to where my room is .

he tells me to get into bed as he runs down to the kitchen getting me water and rushing back up .

" which table right or left?" he asks .

I try and remember which one but cant so I just shrugged and answered that I couldn't remember so he goes to the rightsize on first .

He opens it and his mouth pops open as he looks at me .

"w-what are they in there " I ask in confusion as to why he looks shocked .

he just stares as me and slowly shakes his head .

It dawns on me after a couple seconds that that is the one I keep my "personal items in" . My body flys up in bed as I rush to close the drawer .

" Im so sorry I forgot about keeping those in that one I ... god thats so embarrassing.

" I never thought of you as the type to own things like that" he says with a laugh making me groan and hide my face in a pillow.

"Im only messing around with you , i'm not uncomfortable about seeing that its normal" he says as he walks to the other table finding the Advil and pouring out two in his hand .

" Take these to her with the swelling before it gets worse" he says as he walks over to me .

" were seriously just going to breeze over the fact that you ... my boss just say my ... "

" toys yes now take these" he says shoving his hand in my face . I sigh as I take them out of his hand and toe them into my mouth then take the water he had in his hand and swallow them down.

" Now i'm going to help you pack . Where are your suitcases " he says as he start walking around my room searching .

" You're actually joking right there is no way I can go looking like this" I say in a bratty tone . I didn't mean to use that tone its just the way it came out.

" First of all watch your tone but yes you're still coming and it will get better in a day or two and we don't have to start the campaign shooting until Tuesday so we can just stay in until then or when we go out you can just wear sunglasses. Now suitcases where are they?"

I groan but point to the door "hallway closet " I say as I yawn .

He nods and walks to the door opening it and coming back 5 seconds later with two suitcases in hand.

" Okay what do want to pack first pants, shirt ...? " he ask as he sets them out on the couch I have on the wall opposite my bed.

"Well I usually pack pants first "

" Okay where are your pants" he asks looking at me .

" Bottom three rows in the closet" I answer

" Any specific ones you want ?" he asks

" You know what how about you pick 4 pairs and i'll say yes or no " I say as I getting extra comfy in bed .

" Yes ma'am " he says jokingly as he makes his way to my large walk in closet.

He comes out 2 minutes later with 4 pairs in hand.

He holds up the first pair , I nod and he smiles " I really like these ones" he says as he happily packs them in my bag.

Second pair - I happily nod and he packs them.

Third pair - I dead pan as he laughs actually laughs . " You've gotta be kidding those were all the way at the back " I say as I give him a look. " why do you even own these " "They were part of a halloween costume like 2 years ago" he just shakes his head and sets them aside .

Fourth pair - " Matt this is a business trip" I say as a I shake my head no . " I know that sweetheart but we don't have to be in business attire the whole time" " I guess your right okay yes pack those"

"Okay next skirts pick 3 they are hung on the left side along with the dresses pick tow of those" I instruct him as I try and stay awake .

He comes back out with a big smile which i'm finding slightly unsettling given ive never seen him so cheerful before

dress one - " absolutely not"I say. He sighs and sets it aside

Dress two - I smile and nod yes . He neatly packs it

Skirt one - immediate yes

Skirt two - Yes

After 45 more minutes i'm fully packed except for underwear and socks.

"Okay last things are undergarments " he says as he looks at me waiting for to tell him where they are.

" Don't worry about those ill pack those in the morning " I say as I wave him off.

" I have a feeling if I let you do that you'll forget " he says as he tilts his head . I hate to admit but he probably right.

" fine okay top shelf of the drawers on the right wall" I say as my face flushes red. My boss definitely should not be handling my underwear and bras but at this point i'm to tired to care.

"wow these are organized so nicely" I hear him say from inside my closet.

Their's silence for a second before he comes out with a handful of my sets with a smirk on his face.

He sets them on top as well as socks .

"Okay done now shoes " I tell him where the shoes are and he picks all good options so that was easy.

He packs up my makeup and skincare bag putting them in the suitcase with the shoes .

" Okay fully packed and ready to go" he says as he pushes both cases by the door .

"Thank you Sir you really didn't have to do all of this" I say sincerely

" First of all as much as I love you calling me sir when we are outside the office call me matt you calling me sir makes me feel fucking old" he says with a smile.

I choke on air at his beginning comment with makes him chuckle.

" Im grateful I have you as a boss matt"

" Im great full to have you as my assistant y/n "

We both share smiles before he turns on my ceiling fan and comes and sits on the edge of my bed.

" I want you to know I genuinely do care about you y/n not just because you are my assistant but because your all around a great girl " he says as his pulls his hand on my comforter covered leg giving it small shake.

" Thank you matt really I couldn't ask for a better boss" I smile at him with half open eyes.

" I'll let you get some rest and ill take your extra key so you can sleep as long as you can and ill just come down and grab your bags and make sure your up and awake by 10" he says as he pats my leg and stands up.

" You sure I don't mind setting and alarm " I ask .

" Im sure now get some sleep and ill see you in the morning "

"Okay well see you in the morning and thank you again really "

" Of course . Good night y/n "

" Good night matt"

God what the fuck just happened ...

[fruitycasket]

Moira Saw The Truth (6 of 7)

The Magic Circle arrives in an attempt to clean up this mess. Will they succeed? Probably not. The better question is what they'll do to Marvin when all is said and done.

Word Count: 4,708

Notes: Obligatory links to the previous chapter, next chapter, and Ao3. Obligatory tag for @the-pastel-kitsune. We're pushin through the doubt babyyyy. Unrelated, the colors of the Twins' masks are really nice.

“Turning within is what really lets us see.”

Moira checked the time.

Only 10 PM? Really? It felt like the whole night had passed.

Marvin was still fast asleep, and the Cat, though mostly inert, sometimes stirred in unsettling motions she couldn't decipher from where she stood.

They're both going to hate me, she thought.

The Circle was due to arrive soon. There was no specific time frame, but they wouldn't let this simmer for long, not if they understood what this was. (Or rather, understood that they didn't understand.)

There was no way to make it a nice awakening for Marvin, nor to explain what she’d done to the White Cat in hopes of assuaging any bad blood. She kept contemplating waking Marvin up to give him the bad news. If she did, maybe he’d have some time to steel himself, but it was most likely Marvin would run screaming out the front door with the Cat at his heels. She doubted it was within her power to stop either of them from taking off into the night, and she couldn’t bear the thought of seeing some kind of manhunt put out in response.

“Would you like me to watch him for a bit?”

Moira jumped.

Ramesses stood behind her. “We won’t be waiting long, in any case.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You look tired.”

“You think you don't?”

Ramesses raised an eyebrow.

Moira looked away from him. “I’m fine,” she insisted again in a soft tone, “Ramesses, I’ve been meaning to tell to you… All you’ve done since you got here is try to help and I've been snippy all that time.”

Ramesses grinned. “This is true."

“I didn’t mean to scare you back there. I’m sorry. I don’t know what we would’ve done if you’d left.”

“That is also true, yes. I’ll say it’s water under the bridge as of now.” He raised an eyebrow. “If you’ll have a little more faith in me.”

“I can do that.”

“Then you can let me watch him for a moment.”

“Maybe.” Moira sat on the flensed remains of Marvin’s bed. The fitted sheet retained cold from the outside air even though the window had been closed for a while. She saw Ramesses getting ready to point out she was technically still watching Marvin from where she was, and spoke before he could get a word out, “You know we have a spare mattress, you don’t have to sleep on our couch.”

Ramesses took Moira’s old spot against the doorframe. “Eh. I can fall asleep anywhere.”

Moira swung her feet onto the bed, laid back, and yawned. Her limbs turned to lead the moment she hit the bed. “Doesn’t mean you should, right?” she murmured.

“I suppose not. Maybe I’ll take it one of these days.”

“It’s there if you want it…” Moira yawned again, “Wake me up when they’re here.”

“Of course.”

Ramesses did not wake her. Instead, she awoke to the intrusive tune of someone knocking hard on her front door, followed by someone answering in her stead.

There was a moment’s confusion before she realized, They’re here.

Moira leapt to her feet. On her tiptoes, she darted past the ajar closet towards the stairway, stopping briefly to check that Marvin and the Cat were still there. Her son was still fast asleep. The Cat’s ears and the top third of its eyes watched her while the rest was swaddled in its blanket, but it was otherwise still. She thought its face looked a shade darker than it had an hour before as she ran out to the top of the stairs.

“Ramesses?” she asked, “Who’s there?”

What felt like an army of robed magicians poured into Moira’s house, with Ramesses irritably grumbling as he pushed his way through them.

There were two, a man and woman, who led the horde and seemed to be in charge. They were wearing masks of some canine animal Moira was too tired to bother analyzing the species of beyond: Dogs.

The Dog Masks looked up at her. “Where is he?”

“Asleep upstairs…” Moira trailed off as the magicians came towards her. “Wait.”

They did not wait.

To their credit, they didn’t shove her out of the way so much as gently push her to the side.

Ramesses reached her as all the magicians closed in on Marvin’s room. Most of them stood on the stairs as barricades, a few kept an eye on herself and Ramesses, and the Dog Masks stood at either side of Marvin’s doorway to peer at the open closet.

Things were getting claustrophobic. Moira found her heartrate spiking even as Ramesses tried to comfort her.

“Moira,” Ramesses warned, “you’ve got to let them do their work.”

“But, he’s—Wait! You're going to scare him.”

The Dog Masks stood in the doorway like they were uncertain if they should go in.

“That could be an issue,” the Dog Masked Woman whispered.

“It can’t be helped,” the Dog Masked Man whispered back. He entered the room, flicked on the lights and called out in a loud voice, “Marvin. You will surrender that thing and yourself, now.”

Moira crept forward, coming up behind the two to see what Marvin was doing. She didn’t get far before a magician grabbed hold of her arm. Still she could see enough of the inside to know Marvin was wide awake now, standing at his open window.

“It’s gone,” he said.

“Gone where?”

“Out the window.”

The Dog Masked Woman immediately turned around and headed for the stairs, “I’ll see about that.”

The other magician kept his distance from Marvin, regarding him like a wild animal trapped in Moira’s house. “You understand what happens now, I believe. I would not like to cause a scene with your mother and Ramesses here.”

Marvin turned around slowly, his eyes skipping between the magicians in a frantic hunt for an escape. Moira could almost hear his heart pounding through his ribs as the air became difficult to breathe. Although he wasn't crying, he was more upset than he’d been earlier, and the windless storm his magic made reacted in kind. It was pulling so hard at the magician's robes it seemed like it should be sweeping him off his feet.

“If you run, we will catch you. And if we have to catch you, it will be much worse for you than if you surrender now.”

“I…” Marvin locked eyes with Moira. He looked betrayed at first, then resigned. “I…”

The Man took a step towards him, and Marvin flinched. The window behind him cracked down the middle. Jagged branches sprouted from the center in lightning-strike patterns.

The Dog Mask paused again. “If I had wanted to harm you, I could have done so many times before now,” he took another step, and another crack sprang across the window pane, “Marvin, I will do what I must to defend myself.”

Another step.

The glass remained still.

Marvin was fighting to take deep, slow breaths.

The Man found his confidence at last and crossed the room. He grabbed Marvin by his wrists, but the movement was too fast, too startling. The window shattered. Its glittering shards were instantly sucked into the center of the room and spat back out in all directions.

Moira put her arms up and ducked a second too late. Pain lanced up her arm as a wide spike of glass wedged itself into her palm.

Ramesses stood, wide-eyed but unharmed, grasping at a cut on the shoulder of his shirt. Around him, several magicians frantically checked for wounds to varying degrees of success.

When Moira recovered from the shock of the glass in her hand, she peered into Marvin’s room again to find the Dog Masked Man was still holding on to him, hissing something under his breath. Whatever he said made Marvin shrink down and away, but he didn’t struggle when he was led downstairs and outside with a shimmering set of handcuffs on his wrists. He had a small cuts along his arms where glass had stabbed him.

Moira was kept away from Marvin by a few magicians while the rest followed the Dog Masked Man to keep him safe from more exploding windows, but the whole affair seemed unnecessary. Marvin was twitchy, no doubt, but the handcuffs seemed to have brought an eerie calm over him.

Outside, the Dog Masked Woman was leaving the shed. She stopped the Man and Marvin first, and after speaking with them both, she noticed Moira and Ramesses coming to stand on the back porch and stalked towards them.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where that thing went, would you?” she asked him.

“Clearly not. It got away,” Ramesses said.

The Dog Masked Woman sighed. The sound reminded Moira of a pressure cooker signaling it was time to let out the steam. “You let it get away, you mean.”

“Oh, I apologize, madam. I should’ve just walked in there, gave the boy a stern talking to and scruffed the Cat for you before you showed up, really it was selfish of me not to”—

She turned on him and snapped, “Watch your tone, seer.”

“I’m right,” Ramesses didn’t flinch, “There was nothing anyone could’ve done, every road leads to that beast giving you the slip. You’ll just have to wait and see where it turns up.”

The two faced each other with hard, unblinking stares, and all the magicians poring over the backyard for any other illusions stopped to watch. Even the Dog Masked Man and Marvin paused as they walked away from the house. Moira looked around at them, awed of the sudden onset of fear that had gripped their ranks.

The Woman snorted. “If it turns up, Ramesses,” she said, “For all we know the thing’s vanished for good.”

“Maybe that’s for the best.”

The magicians cautiously resumed their work as the Woman answered. “It’s for the best that it’s not out there unmonitored, regardless.” She paused. “Does the boy know where it’s gone?”

“He… might. But you won’t get far without his cooperation.”

“Tch. Go with Nico, if you’re so concerned about that,” the Woman turned away from him and called out in an impressively commanding voice, “My brother can handle a child on his own. Search this house for anything else out of order.”

Ramesses glared at her, and it occurred to Marvin she hadn’t ever seen him look truly mad. “I’m going to make sure Marvin’s alright,” he said, “You’ll be careful, Moira?”

“I think so, yes?” Moira didn’t know what he meant. Ramesses was gone before she could ask, and she was distracted by other matters shortly after.

The magicians swept through the house like a windstorm, with little care given to her belongings and what they meant to her. She couldn’t argue with them to spare that heirloom or to please keep this wall intact. If they felt it was suspicious, they overturned it, opened it up, and dumped out its contents.

“Madam.”

“Eep.” Moira jumped. Standing behind her, too close for comfort, was the Dog Masked Woman.

“You may call me Nicola,” she said, “I see no one has tended to that injury, yet. May I?” She held out an upturned, white-gloved hand. It was so pristine Moira was leery of putting her blood-soaked palm into it.

A stab of pain reminded her not to be so ridiculous.

“Oh. Nice to meet you… Nicola,” Moira laid her hand in Nicola’s and winced as she set about levitating the shard of glass free, “I’m”—

“Moira. I’m aware.” The glass was plucked free. A rush of blood followed. Nicola sealed the wound with a spell that looked like motes of light dancing inside Moira’s skin, but not before her glove went from soft white to dark red.

“Sorry about that. How did you know my name?”

“Marvin talks about you here and there.”

Moira figured Nicola was just saying that because it sounded nicer than, “I researched everything I could about you before I got here”. When the little lights disappeared and Moira’s cut had scarred over, she pulled her hand away with an awkward laugh. “That makes sense. I’m sorry for being so jumpy, this is a lot for me.”

“I imagine. It’s not going to get any easier, I’m afraid. I have to ask you some questions.”

“Oh. Of course you do.”

Nicola inclined her head towards Moira’s injured hand. “Has Marvin done things like that before?”

“What—Oh, no no no. He’s not like that.”

“I understand you’re his mother, but it’s imperative that you are honest with me about this.”

“I am being honest.”

“Hm,” Nicola inspected her bloody glove, “Bear with me. It’s standard procedure that we ask some things more than once: Tell me the truth…”

Pinpricks of light danced in Moira’s eyes.

“…has your son done this before?”

She blinked, hesitated, and spoke again, “Well, he… Never anything this extreme. It was always an accident, and it only ever pushed some light things around.”

“If he can’t control it, that is still a concern.”

“I’m sure he can.”

“We will see. And you were aware he had this ‘cat’ for how long?”

“I learned tonight. Before I just thought�� I don’t know. I thought the things in the shed were a little odd, but not anything like that. He just loved sketching cats, and he collected dead animals, who would think that could lead to this?”

“Who indeed,” Nicola nodded, “And you were aware of the other contents of the shed?”

“The other…?”

“It would seem your son has been practicing less grim forms of magic in his spare time. It is less important, I suppose, but still something to be noted, given that he was expressly forbidden from casting.”

“I… No, he… It was all harmless, though.”

Nicola repeated impassively, “It is still something to be noted, madam.”

The questions kept up after that. Things about the shrine, and whether Marvin had a history of violence outside of class, and what kinds of spells she suspected he knew, and so on. Sometimes Nicola pried further or asked a question a second time, but for the most part things moved quickly.

When she was done, she thanked Moira for her honesty, regrouped with the magicians in the house, and gathered them all to leave. They put her things back with a few flicks of their wrists and gave empty promises of repairing Marvin’s window for her.

“But…” Moira tried to ask as they left, “What are you going to do to him?”

She got no answer.

She looked out to the street and found everyone was long gone.

She was alone.

“If you were expecting to convince me to ‘go easy on the lad’, it’s not going to work.”

Ramesses scowled. He had come along for the ride into the Circle’s depths with Marvin, which Nico had allowed upon seeing how it calmed the boy down, but now he was continuing to get in the way. Because of course he was.

Nico loomed large over him, but the old man was unshaken. In a way it was refreshing, to actually fight with someone instead of immediately getting his way the moment the ghost of irritation crossed his features. In another way, though, it reminded him why he enjoyed having that power so much.

“Pretend for a moment,” Ramesses said, “that we’re talking about a boy who is in over his head, and not a maniac who likes skinning small animals alive for fun, would you please?”

“Now, I never said I thought that.”

“You understand what I’m trying to say. You go in there huffing and puffing if you’d like, just warn me so I can stand farther away first.”

In Nico’s peripheral vision, someone flinched at Ramesses’s tone.

Nico sighed. Sometimes I regret letting you remember you can talk to me this way. “Calm down. You can run along and tell your friend her son will be fine. I do still need him in one piece, in case he knows where his ‘cat’ might be, do I not?”

Ramesses sat back in his chair, glaring. “I’ll wait here, thank you.”

“Here” was a well-armored room built for the purpose of containing powerful criminals and those who had the displeasure of interrogating them. It looked normal save for the winding, enchanted maze on the other side of its single exit, designed to confuse and stall escapees. The room was populated with a dozen security magicians, half of which were bemused to be guarding a scrawny, anxious, barely-adult boy.

Nico took his mask off, eyes narrowed in a warning he knew the old nut wouldn’t particularly care about. “Don’t interrupt me.”

He set the mask aside on a nearby table, inwardly scoffing at the sympathetic looks some of the guards gave Marvin through the cameras. Like Nico had so little decorum that he would enter this room and immediately start torturing someone. Like he hadn’t just said he didn’t think it was necessary. What was he, a scientist?

“How is the boy?” he asked.

“Mmm,” someone stationed at a group of three computer monitors picked at his teeth, “Scared shitless, I believe. Mind you don’t get turned into a cat.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Careful you don’t do anything to him, either. Old man’s got a point, sir.”

Nico shot the guard an annoyed look, and he turned back to his monitor. “Good luck,” he muttered, reprimanded.

Nico entered the room and Marvin jumped at the faint noise of the doorknob turning. The atmosphere changed, the air moved thick and slug-like down Nico’s throat each time he took a breath.

It was saturated in evocation magic. The next sudden noise could cause the whole room to go up in a ball of green flame.

That old man was a thorn in the side, but his words struck true. Nico internally, begrudgingly accepted that taking his advice was the correct call as he approached the wooden table Marvin was seated at.

Marvin fidgeted with his hands. His magic thumped along with his rapid heartbeat. Not ideal.

It was a fact that evocation magic had to come from somewhere, but there were vanishingly few opportunities to study it. Scholars of every stripe would be foaming at the mouth to hook this boy up to the fanciest sensors money could buy in search of his magic well, and while the idea of finding it was appealing, Nico had to think of the bigger picture. If Marvin was in imminent danger of hurting the Circle or the people around him it would be no issue to see him dealt with.

“Marvin, correct?” Nico sat down across from him.

Marvin shrank into himself as best he could, given that he was handcuffed to the table and chained to the floor by his ankle. His nails scratched against the wood grain. “Professor.”

“There’s no need to be afraid, I don’t bite. And I’ve been told you’re a victim of circumstance, is that right?”

Marvin muttered near under his breath, “I guess so.”

“You will have to explain that to me, then. We need to understand why all this has happened.” Recalling everything he knew about Marvin from observing him in class, Nico continued. “I’m sure a precocious student like yourself has some idea of how these things go. I won’t have to deal with lies, will I?”

“…No.”

“Good. Now, first things first, I wanted to ask you about this.” Nico pulled a picture out of his cloak, received just that morning and pored over by a million visual effects and illusionist masters for signs of doctoring prior to being handed off to him.

It had been deemed probably real, if for no other reason than it was hard to look at. Not because it was gruesome, but because it was like the image didn’t want to be perceived, resisted allowing its colors to be properly transmitted into useful images by the human mind. Nico was also inclined to think it was real because it was unlikely their donor was skilled enough in illusions to make anything like it, but there was only one way to truly find out.

The moment he set it on the table, there was a shift in Marvin’s body language. His fear was overpowered by a laser focus. Something like a translucent emerald oilspill shimmered over his eyes. He leaned forward. “That’s…”

“Your cat?”

“The Cat.”

“I see. And you made this creature?”

Marvin looked up. He blinked, as if clearing some dust from his eyes. “No, I only helped.”

“How?” Nico put his hand over the picture and drew it back towards his body until it was out of Marvin’s sight.

Suddenly, robbed of the picture of his monster, the boy became anxious again. The air felt tinged with static. “The White Cat needed a body, so I brought it cats to use.”

Dodging the question. Nico clicked his tongue. “Be specific. Can you explain what that means?”

“I don’t know.”

Cynically, his vagueness was an effort to make what he’d done seem less abhorrent, but perhaps…

Nico uncovered the picture again. As expected, Marvin locked onto it. “And then?”

“It was… probably like transmutation. They’re the White Cat now, and the White Cat is them.”

“Hm.” Nico doubted he was going to get more detail on the cats’ fates than that. He switched angles. “Does this cat speak to you?” he asked.

Marvin looked uneasy. He worried at his hair and when he spoke, it was barely a whisper, “When I’m asleep, usually.”

Interesting. “Did this ‘cat’ tell you how to create it?”

“It’s not like that.”

“What is it like, then?”

“You won’t believe me.”

This time, allowing the picture to remain on the table, Nico attempted to offer some comfort. He was getting somewhere. “I have a higher tolerance for the unbelievable than one might expect, Marvin. You know, Ramesses and I know each other.”

“Sure you do.”

“It’s true. We’re acquaintances, it’s why you made it into our school. You remember that, don’t you?”

Marvin paused, twirled his hair into a loose braid, and muttered, “It doesn’t talk like what you’re thinking. Not in normal words. It’s…”

“Hard to explain?”

“It’s like music.”

“But you understand what it asks you do to?”

“I understand how to do it.”

Very interesting. Had someone or something given him the instructions on how to create the cat creature? It would make sense, if it were true. Marvin was smart enough to take a magical “blueprint” and create whatever it detailed, in the same way one could (with some difficulty) put together a puzzle without understanding the picture it formed. Throw in interference from a third party, and… Perhaps Ramesses hadn’t been lying when he’d said this wasn’t Marvin’s fault.

But would that be better or worse than Marvin doing this of his own accord?

A thrill of dread ran down Nico’s spine at the thought of anything capable of this, of expertly puppeteering every aspect of their body and brain for unknown ends. He hoped Marvin was lying. Nico knew what to do about humans, at least.

“You made this Cat, you think you transmuted it, at least, but you can’t tell me how,” he said.

“Um. Yeah, basically.” Marvin shifted in his seat.

Nico found himself strangely relaxed in spite of the words he was hearing.

Confession extracted. Wonderful.

But what to do with his catch?

It was tempting, and legally correct, to enact some sort of punishment, but Marvin’s fate was proving more flexible than that. He was smart, but suggestible on account of being young, and if this “white cat” could be used to sway his choices that was all the better. Of course, that idea banked on the fact that the “cat” could be blotted out of his mind, or at least have its influence lessened. If that couldn’t be helped… He had great potential for brutality, and that wasn’t how Nico liked things to get done, nor was it a quality anyone should really be looking for in the student of an esteemed magical institution. That had to be under control if nothing else.

Nico stood. He decided he had enough of a baseline to get to the most important part of this procedure. If Ramesses was still watching, he’d be averting his eyes right about now. “I have one last question, Marvin, and then we’ll see how truthful you’ve been and go from there.”

“Alright,” he said.

“Do you feel remorse for what you did to those cats?”

Marvin met his eyes for longer than he’d ever managed before. “I didn’t—I wouldn’t hurt a cat. Those cats didn’t die and they aren’t hurt, because the White Cat’s not like that. But I, if I did hurt them… of course I would.”

“That’s good to hear, young man. Now, I have one last thing to do,” Nico crossed the room. “Relax. This won’t hurt.”

He pressed a finger to Marvin’s forehead, and—

Marvin was sick. He could barely hold himself up and he was freezing cold. Little pinpricks of lights danced in his eyes, but these weren’t pieces of his Cat, these were manifestations of pain. It felt like someone had hammered a railroad spike into both of his eyes and stabbed his eardrums with toothpicks. Why? He couldn’t recall. The events of the past hour were a blur to him. The pain in his eyesocket was explainable, but what was wrong with everything else?

Maybe it was a stress headache?

“We’re done here,” Nico smiled at him, and Marvin jolted as if woken from a daydream.

Oh, yes. He had been taken in because…? Marvin rubbed his temples until he could coax something of an answer out of his brain.

He had been taken in because someone found out about the Cat and he was in trouble. Or, that was how it seemed.

“What happened? We were… you…” Marvin stumbled over his words as his memory returned to him in bits and pieces, “Are we done? You said there was something else we had to do.”

Nico put a hand on his shoulder and steered him towards a water cooler. (Wait, they weren’t in the interrogation room anymore? When had they gotten here?) “I don’t know what you mean. I never mentioned anything else.”

Marvin found his thoughts momentarily consumed in opaque fog, and when it was gone, he wasn’t sure what he’d just been talking about. “Oh.”

“I’ve come to a conclusion. There is potential in you, yet, Marvin. I think I can arrange an outcome for you that doesn’t involve life in a padded cell,” Nico said. He collected his mask from a nearby table where an empty chair and dark computer monitor sat, and slipped it over his face.

Marvin looked around and found the entire room was empty, when he was sure it was full of guards—and Ramesses—earlier. What did that mean? Was Nico being honest? He really wasn’t going to be locked up forever? “You mean that?”

“Completely. You’ll even be able to go home today, though you understand you can’t be left entirely unsupervised, and there is still the matter of your creation.”

Marvin supposed that couldn’t be avoided. It didn’t worry him, though. The White Cat wouldn’t be found unless it wanted to be seen. It was probably long gone, hidden somewhere the best magicians and detectives would never find.

…Which left Marvin to bear the suspicious, sidelong glances of the Magic Circle for the rest of his life.

“I still don’t know where it is,” he muttered. A little spirit had returned to him, enough that he managed an indignant pout and crossed his arms over his chest.

Nico’s gaze was inscrutable from behind his mask but it weighed heavy on Marvin all the same. “…I know.” There was a beat of awkward silence. “You said you had a headache. Perhaps some water and medication could help, I’m sure someone here has one or both.”

“Oh. Yes, please. Sir.” Marvin was led out into the winding, enchanted halls, unsure what had changed, but pleased at not being treated entirely like a criminal.

[dis0rderly-cl0wn-nerd]

Red Silk

Ledger!Joker x Nolanverse!Harley - Oneshot

Warnings: Violence, murder, just J things, implied smut

Summary: Harleen makes her debut as Harley Quinn and now that they have officially declared themselves a couple, Joker starts to show her more and more of his romantic side. Takes place directly after Fire Meet Gasoline.

Author's Note: OH MY GOD. This was supposed to be done 3 weeks ago. The procrastination struggle is real. Anyway this is the oneshot that goes with this art I posted. I’ve had that specific scene in my head forever so I needed to write it out. As always enjoy! <3

Joker helped Harley down from the stairs and led her by the hand through the alleyway.

"What are we doing?" Harley asked him quietly.

"We're going to blow something up.”

Harley raised an eyebrow. Before Joker could respond, a car skidded to a halt in front of them. He ushered her into the back seat with him. The driver glanced into the mirror, making eye contact with Joker. He eyed Harley suspiciously.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, Frost. She’s with me.”

The driver, Frost, nodded but still seemed wary of the newcomer. Harley eyed him right back, observing him. He had shaggy brown hair, sharp blue eyes, and a little stubble on his chin. He looked hardened and experienced, a lot like Joker sometimes did without his makeup.

After an awkward silence, Joker cleared his throat. “Uh, I guess I should introduce ya. Harley, this is Frost, my most trusted right hand man. Frost, this is Harley. She’s that girl I’ve been telling you about.” 

“Nice to meet ya.” Frost said gruffly as he started the car up.

They drove in silence for a while. Joker fidgeted with his knife, flicking open and closed. He seemed antsy, like he couldn’t wait to get where they were going. Harley still had no clue what was happening.

“J, what are we doing?” She finally asked.

“We are destroying a club owned by what’s left of that hot headed Gambol’s organization. After I killed the idiot, his whole operation went to shit and there’s been a power struggle since then. My guys took a hit a few weeks ago when they attacked us on our own turf. Time for some payback.” 

Frost grumbled in agreement. 

“So what’s the plan?”

“We’ll go inside and mess around with ‘em a little bit. Then attack and kill the goons and the leader. When we come out, the button gets pressed and the whole place goes up in smoke. I’ve already planted the explosives.” Joker explained in between gleeful giggles.

Harley’s eyes widened and she gulped. She didn’t know if she could stomach that or not. Joker seemed to catch on to her discomfort.

“Remember our deal, Harley. I warned you it was gonna be like this. You can stay in the car if you don’t want to do this anymore.”

Harley thought for a moment, took a deep breath, and confidently shook her head. This was her chance and she was not gonna blow it.

“No. I’ll be alright.”

“You sure?” 

“Yes, J. I’m sure.”

Just as she said that, Frost stopped the car in an alleyway across from an old looking building. Joker stepped out and grabbed Harley’s hand, helping her out of the vehicle. They approached the back door with Frost leading the way.

Joker leaned down and whispered to Harley, “Stay behind me. Just watch and learn. Oh and here…”

He reached into his pocket and produced the detonator. He handed it to Harley. 

“I want ya to press the button when we come out. Okay?”

Harley nodded. Frost kicked the door in and stepped aside. Joker waltzed right in like he owned the place with Harley following timidly behind. 

The usually lively club was closed for the night due to a meeting that was being held by the group’s leader, Little G, Gambol’s nephew. The men seated at the table looked up from their heated discussions in surprise. They drew their weapons instinctively and eyed the clown with disgust. Joker threw his hands up innocently and smiled.

“Gentlemen, gentlemen, please. There’s no need for all that. I’m just here to talk.”

“Then talk, you fuckin’ psycho.” Little G spat. 

Harley saw a glint of irritation in Joker’s eyes at being called a psycho but he just brushed it off with another charming smile. 

“It’s, uh, my understanding that you took out a chunk of my guys a few weeks back. Why would you, uh, do such a thing?” 

Little G ignored his question and finally noticed Harley lingering behind Joker. 

“Who’s the little lady?”

Harley narrowed her eyes. Men. Always underestimating her.

“This is my new partner, Harley Quinn. She decided to join me for tonight’s little outing. Now, you didn’t answer my question.”

“I don’t know, man. Why you gotta come on my turf startin’ shit?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

Joker started advancing towards the table with Frost close behind. The men with guns grew nervous and shifted uncomfortably. Suddenly, on the side closest to Frost, a younger guy’s finger slipped and fired a wild shot in the air. Then the chaos ensued. 

Harley ducked for cover. She watched in awe as Joker and Frost took out the slew of men in a matter of minutes, dodging swarms of bullets and shooting with such precision. 

One henchman dawdling in the back lunged at Harley with a knife. She dodged, knocked it out of his hand, and kicked him in the face forcefully with the hard toe of her boot, causing the man to fall backwards unconscious. Joker saw and smiled approvingly at Harley. 

Once all the goons were dead, Little G stood up with a snarl of rage and attempted to shoot but Joker was one step ahead and shot him in the neck. He fell back into his chair, blood spewing out everywhere. Joker and Frost bolted towards the door and Harley darted out behind them. The three climbed into the car and Frost sped away immediately.  

“Now Harley!” Joker shouted.

Harley pressed the button. The building instantly exploded. Joker and Harley whipped around to watch through the back windshield. Harley with wide eyes and Joker with manic glee. He cackled as he watched the flames consume the club in the distance. He didn’t turn around until the explosion couldn’t be seen anymore.

Harley’s heart was still racing. She’d never felt so alive. It was absolutely exhilarating.

Joker was so proud of his girl. He would never forget the fire he saw in her sapphire eyes as she knocked the goon on his ass. It meant there was some darker, aggressive side to her that he hadn’t seen until now. He did believe that she was as innocent and sweet as she always acted but that wasn’t entirely her. 

Bringing this other side out of her would be a challenge. She’d buried her real self for so long for the sake of normalcy and professionalism. It made Joker sick to think such potential had gone to waste. Why should Harley have to hide who she is? She was perfect and he wanted all of her. Every flaw, every quirk, everything.

Confessing his feelings to her was going to be another obstacle. Then he remembered their conversation before they left the apartment.

Oh no. Did I…? Shit.

He recalled his words from earlier and nodded to himself in reassurance. He only scratched the surface of how he truly felt. He never said that he loved her. He was talking about her personality and her beauty and he said he loved that about her. He breathed a sigh of relief. 

He did love Harley. He loved her so much it made his head spin. But those three little words had a lot of meaning. He had to wait for the perfect timing. Especially since he didn’t even know how he was going to do it. The emotions he was experiencing were something strange and foreign to him. It made him feel really good but uncomfortable at the same time. Like a burning sensation that wouldn’t go away. 

Yet he wanted to say it so bad, scream it from the rooftops even, but he couldn’t do it. Everytime he tried, his mouth betrayed him.

Joker made up his mind. Tonight was the night. Screw waiting until the time was right. He was going to make it the right time. He didn’t care how, he was getting it off his chest. He couldn’t wait any longer.

The car skidded to a halt as Frost pulled up to the abandoned apartment building. Joker nodded his thanks as he and Harley got out. Frost nodded back and sped off. 

Harley chuckled and glanced up at Joker. “He’s a man of few words, huh?” 

“Yeah. Frost keeps to himself. But I’m telling ya he’s a good one. He’s been with me since the start.” 

They climbed up the ladder back to the apartment and crawled through the window. Harley landed on the floor with a thud. 

“You really need to get a door.” She complained.

Joker smirked and scooped her up into his arms.

“Harley, you were…amazing!” He exclaimed as he carried her bridal style to the bed. 

Harley giggled. “Thanks.”

It was 1 in the morning but the two clowns were far from tired. The eventful night was just getting started.

Joker laid her down gently and sat next to her, staring lovingly. “I really liked the way you knocked out that guy. I’d like to see more of that spunk from you.”

Harley blushed. “It was nothing. I just got lucky.” 

“Nah. I saw you defend yourself against those thugs in the alley. You have what it takes, you just need more practice.”

“Really? If you say so.” 

Harley turned away and started undressing, taking off the different pieces of her outfit with care. When she got to the reddish flannel, she slid it off and threw it on the couch.

“Hey, that’s mine.” Joker noticed.

“Yeah, I kinda borrowed it. Sorry.” Harley said with a sheepish smile.

“Eh, you can have it. I never wear that one anyway. Not really my color.”

Joker undressed himself next, only leaving on his purple boxers. He curled up next to Harley, resting his hand on her belly and humming a random tune softly. She felt the vibrations on her shoulder. It reminded her of a cat purring.

Glancing down at her and once again admiring how beautiful she was, Joker felt something strong take hold of him. Mixed with that and the need to confess his feelings to her, he felt like he might explode. But he had to be gentle. If he wasn’t, all their progress would be undone. 

“Harley, sweet girl, I can’t keep myself together anymore. I need ya so bad. I know last week you said that you weren’t ready for anything more yet. But, uh, do you wanna give it a try tonight?” Joker asked, treading carefully.

Harley was quiet for a while, her blue eyes were swirling with thoughts Joker couldn’t read. He inwardly cringed and hoped he didn’t upset her. Finally she looked up at him thoughtfully.

“I-I guess I’m ready now. I trust you. It’s just that… I don’t think I’ll be good enough. This would be my first time when I, um, have a choice. And to be honest, I really don’t know what to do.”

Joker fully understood the assignment now. This would essentially be her first time so it had to be perfect. He slid his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.

“That’s okay. I can guide you. And doll, don’t ever say you’re not good enough. You are.”

“Y-You don’t think I’m dirty? Or used up?” 

“No. Not at all. And I’m not kidding when I say you’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

Harley smiled to herself and rested her head on his chest. Joker’s heart raced knowing this was his moment. He had to tell her now.

“Harley, I couldn’t really articulate what I wanted to tell you before we left but um…you make me feel a certain way and I…I guess what I’m trying to say is…I love you.”

Harley looked up at him in shock. Did she hear him correctly?

“What? What did you say?” 

“I said, uh, I love you.”

Anybody else would just shrug off that statement. Those words were thrown around flippantly by people on the daily. Harley knew better. Joker was different. Emotions were a hard thing for him. For him to admit he loved someone was significant. She still couldn’t believe it.

“J…did you mean that?”

“Every word.”

Harley propped herself up and cupped Joker’s face, boring her blue eyes into his dark pools of brown. She kissed him softly and whispered, “I love you too.”

…

Groggily, Harley sat up and rubbed her eyes. The night before came back to her slowly. She blushed, realizing it was all real and not just a wonderful dream. She pulled the sheet up over her naked body and looked around. Joker slept peacefully next to her, also naked. She smiled as she stared at his unusually relaxed face. Sunlight streamed in through the curtains behind them, illuminating his now partially gone makeup.

Harley carefully got up from the bed and tiptoed to the bathroom for a shower. She caught sight of herself in the mirror and quietly gasped. Her hair was a wild, tangled mess and there were love bites and bruises lining her neck down to her abdomen. 

She thought back to last night fondly as she turned on the water. It was scary and reminded her way too much of her past experiences but in the moment Joker took it all away. She felt safe with him. He didn’t do anything without asking her first and made sure she was okay and that he wasn’t going too far. All while whispering encouragements and affections into her ear, with a gentleness that no one would expect from The Joker.

The water finally warmed up so Harley stepped into the tub and went to close the shower curtain but a hand stopped her. She peeked around the curtain and smiled softly when she saw Joker. He looked back at her with that boyish smirk of his, sending butterflies right to Harley’s stomach.

“Good mornin’.” Joker greeted her.

“Morning, J.” Harley replied sweetly.

“Mind if I join you?”

“No.” Harley said with a shrug and stepped aside so Joker could get in.

At first they stood with their backs to each other, quietly washing themselves and taking turns standing under the showerhead. Quickly growing bored, Joker decided to have some fun. He playfully spun Harley around to face him and lifted her chin, gazing into her eyes. He went in for a kiss and Harley returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling his hair, and clawing his skin. She bit his lower lip and swirled her tongue across the scar, making him moan faintly. She recently found out that he loved it when she did that. 

They rocked against the wall, kissing and gasping for air. They could’ve gone on like that for hours but suddenly Joker lost his footing and caused them both to fall down, hitting the tub with a splash. They stared at each other for a second and then burst out laughing.

“You idiot.” Harley teased him with a playful shove.

Joker snickered and shut off the water since it was getting cold. He helped Harley out of the tub and tossed her a towel. After they dried off, cleaned up the water in the floor, and got dressed, Joker went into the kitchen and Harley sat down at the table to braid her hair.

“Want some french toast?” Joker asked.

“Ooh, yeah. I haven’t had that in forever.” 

…

The next few days went by as another break period for Joker. He used the time to regroup his henchmen and plot and scheme. Today was different though. He was planning to do something with Harley he’d been meaning to do for a while.

Since she got evicted she’d lost all of her possessions except for that change of clothes and whatever was in her bag. Joker felt bad about her living with him without any other clothes and things of her own. So he decided to make it up to her.

When Joker told her they were going shopping, she practically squealed with delight. She was ready to go in an instant and before he could blink, she was dragging Joker down the ladder and into the alleyway. They would walk since the stores weren’t that far. Just as Harley was about to skip away, she paused and looked back at Joker.

“Hey, what about your face?” She asked.

 “Uh, what about it?” Joker retorted.

“Won’t you get recognized going out like that?”

Joker just smirked and fished a purple scarf out of his pocket. He fastened it around his neck and made it so it covered up his scars. “Tadaaa.” 

Harley felt dumb for questioning him. Of course he knew what he was doing. He lived with those scars long enough to know how to go out in public without being noticed. 

The two clasped hands and continued their walk down the sidewalk. Joker wasn’t very enthused about going shopping. He hated it intensely but he was doing this for Harley so he forced himself to tough it out. Besides, since they were officially a couple now, the apartment really needed to be upgraded. They needed a bigger bed, new sheets, new curtains, etc. Really they were both benefiting from this.

At the store Harley got the things she needed like hygiene stuff and new clothes. While they were at it they bought home essentials, including a whole new set of bedding that was a golden yellow color with a purple floral design. 

Harley pointed out they got a bigger size than the bed they had but Joker briefly explained that while they were away a few of his goons were moving a new bed into the apartment.

Once they got back to the apartment to unload everything, Harley remembered when she got evicted and the landlord had thrown everything out into the street, she hid some stuff behind the dumpster so she could come back for it. With everything that was happening lately she totally forgot. 

“J?” Harley called from the kitchen.

“Yeah?” Joker replied.

“If you don't mind, I wanna go back to my old place and check something out.”

“Anything for you, doll.”

One long taxi ride later, they were on the other side of Gotham outside Harley’s old apartment building. She walked around the side towards the alley. Joker followed her, watching their surroundings with a keen eye.

“It should be somewhere around… Ha! Right here.” Harley said as she pulled the dumpster away from the wall. 

Joker jumped in to help her. Miscellaneous things piled up behind it fell over and spilled out in front of them. Harley knelt beside the pile and started going through it.

“What exactly are you looking for?” Joker asked, leaning against the wall.

“I don’t know. I don’t remember what I hid. It was so long ago and I was in a rush.” 

“Take your time then.” 

Harley nodded, skimming through some papers and ripping a few up that had her information on them. Joker lit a cigarette while he waited for her to finish. 

After several minutes, Harley ended up with a few pieces of clothing that weren’t ruined from the elements, an envelope full of pictures, and a box of books. Joker carried the box for her since it was very heavy. They hailed another taxi and started back towards their apartment. Joker never told drivers to go to their exact location unless they were his. This time he told the driver a street across.

“I’m so happy I got my books back. Some of these I’ve had since I was a kid. I’ve always been a bookworm. I can read some to you if you want.” Harley suggested to Joker as they walked back to the apartment.

Joker hummed. “I’d love that.”

…

The next day

Harley was sitting on the new bed folding some laundry when Joker walked by all dressed up and it wasn’t his typical purple suit. He wore a lilac colored dress shirt with a black vest and black pants. He looked sharp.

“Where are you going?” Harley asked him. 

“Um, I was gonna ask you if you wanted to go with me to a place one of my guys owns. I need to scope it out anyway but I figured we could make a night out of it.” Joker said, shifting his feet anxiously.

Harley found his nervousness adorable. “Sooo like a date?”

“Yeah. A date. Unless you don’t wanna. I mean…” 

Harley rose to her feet and kissed him so he’d shut up. She pulled away with a warm smile.

“Yes, I’d love to. But what am I gonna wear? I don't have any nice clothes.”

“Don’t worry about that. I got you something while you were distracted yesterday. I just didn’t know when to give it to you.”

Joker grabbed a bag from underneath the bed and handed it to Harley. She opened it, gasping after seeing the contents. She held up a red halter dress and a pair of maroon heels.

“Oh J…it’s beautiful. I love it!” She exclaimed and gave him a big hug, practically knocking him over.

Joker chuckled. “I’m glad you like it, Harls. Now go get dressed. We need to get going soon.”

Harley ran to the bathroom with an excited noise, bag in hand. Joker rolled his eyes and sat down on the couch, waiting for her to get ready. When Harley came back out, playfully spinning in a circle, his jaw nearly dropped. He was so glad he picked that dress. It suited her so well. 

He ushered Harley towards the window so they could get going. Harley didn’t know how he expected her to climb down the ladder in heels. But she didn’t have to worry because Joker picked her up and carried her down like the gentleman he was.

There was a black car parked in the alleyway waiting on them. They got in the backseats and immediately the driver drove off. Joker didn’t even have to tell him where to go. Their destination wasn’t that far of a drive. Within 15 minutes they arrived.

The place Joker’s goon owned was to Harley’s dread a nightclub. She was bracing herself for a rowdy mob of people and loud obnoxious music. This was Joker’s idea of a date? When they got inside, Harley now saw that it was in fact a club but was actually pretty tame. There was a bar and something that resembled a dance floor but there were fewer people and the music was actually coherent songs and way quieter. This suited her much better.

As Joker went to find a place to sit down, he spotted Frost sitting at a table in the back corner. He led Harley over to a circle booth behind Frost’s table and the two of them sat down.

“I thought this was your night off, Frostie.” Joker said to the other man, looking across the room for something.

“Yeah. I’m spending it here. Can’t be too careful.” Frost replied, also scanning the room.

“Smart man.” 

Harley rolled her eyes. Something was up about this place but it didn’t matter to her. This was supposed to be a date. She hugged Joker’s arm, subtly hinting, hey, I’m still here.

Joker looked back at her and realized. “Oh, sorry Harls. I know, I know, I shouldn’t be working right now. I’ll let Frost handle it.”

Frost could be heard chuckling behind them.

“Whatcha want to eat, doll?” Joker asked, ignoring his wing man.

Harley shrugged. “I’ll eat whatever you will.”

Joker ordered some food and when it came, took off his scarf once all the wait staff was gone. They were seated in a dark back corner so no one would notice him. 

They ate the pizza and breadsticks he ordered quietly for a while. It was getting a bit awkward so Joker tried a little comedic relief. He folded a slice of pizza in half like a taco and got a laugh out of Harley.

Joker grinned. “What?”

“I’ve never seen anybody do that before. That’s kinda weird.” 

“Weird is my middle name. Wait ‘til you find out I dip pizza crust in soda.”

Harley giggled again as Joker dipped his crust into his glass of cola and took a bite. He was about to take another but saw the waitress coming in his peripheral and quickly slipped the scarf back on. She handed Joker the bill and told him where to pay. Joker nodded along but Harley knew better. As if he’d actually pay.

After the waitress left, Joker took off the scarf again. He put it in his pocket, clearly annoyed with having to keep changing.

Harley slid out of the booth. “I’ll be back. I’m going to the bathroom.”

Joker nodded. He watched Harley go and then turned to talk to Frost some more.

As Harley came out of the bathroom, she noticed decorative red silks dangling nearby. They weren’t quite aerial silks but because of her time as a gymnast, they certainly reminded her of them. She ran her fingers along the silk and got an idea. This would really get Joker’s attention. She kicked her heels off and began to climb.

Joker and Frost’s conversation was interrupted by gasps and murmurs that broke out in the club. Joker looked up to see what the deal was. He didn’t see a problem until Frost nudged him and pointed. He looked over in that direction and a smile stretched across his face. 

Oh. How could I miss that?

Harley was draped over the red silks near the dance floor, swinging gracefully along with the background music. Joker looked on, mesmerized by the beautiful sight. The red silks wrapped around her body were a brighter red than her dress and shimmered in the dim light. 

Joker forgot all about why he was at the club in the first place. His little stake out with Frost could wait. Right now his girl was begging for more of his attention. Multitasking on a date wasn’t a good idea anyway. 

He smirked and walked over, pulling his scarf back over his face. Harley hung upside down with a mischievous grin as Joker approached her.

“Hey pretty girl. How’d you learn how to do that?” Joker purred.

“I was a gymnast, remember?”

Joker nodded, remembering her telling him about her gymnastics all those nights ago when they would talk in the alleyway.

“You sure are causing a spectacle.”

“What? There weren’t any signs.” Harley said playfully.

Joker feigned a horrified gasp. “But you’re ruining the decor.”

“Pfft. I could care less. Wanna join me?”

“Uh, no. I’m afraid I wouldn’t be as graceful as you, darlin’.”

Joker lowered his scarf slightly and kissed Harley while she was still upside down. She giggled and unraveled herself from the silks, landing on her feet elegantly. 

“Let’s get out of here.” She said as she slid her heels back on.

“Yeah. This place smells of a rat.” Joker growled in a low voice.

They walked towards the exit, holding hands the whole way. Joker turned his head and gave Frost a quick glance as they passed by his table. Frost met his eyes and understood. They were totally blowing up the place later.

“Where do you wanna go now? It’s still early.” Joker asked Harley once they were back in the car.

“I don’t know. It’s really pretty out tonight. I’d love to just sit and stargaze.” Harley replied, looking out the window at the night sky.

“Okay... I know a place.” 

When the car came to a stop, Harley looked around and raised an eyebrow. “J, this is just the apartment.”

“I know. Follow me.”

Joker got out of the car and walked up to the ladder with Harley following behind. This time instead of stopping at the window, Joker kept going all the way up until they reached the roof. He plopped himself down and helped Harley up, making sure she didn’t fall. Harley wrapped her arms around his torso and held him close. She felt safer that way.

“You said you wanted to stargaze. Well, here ya go. It’s not the best view in Gotham but you can see the sky. I come up here a lot when I can't sleep. It’s a good place to think.” Joker said, putting his arm around Harley.

“It’s beautiful.” Harley responded, gazing upwards and admiring the sky.

They were quiet for a few moments, lost in thought and a sea of stars. 

“Did you like going out tonight?” Joker finally broke the silence.

“Yeah. It was fun. We should go out again sometime. Well, somewhere different since you’re gonna blow that place up.” Harley replied with a chuckle.

Joker snickered. “How did you know?”

“You and Frost kinda have this secret code where you’ll look at each other and know what it means. Plus I saw your phone in the car.” 

“Heh. You’re very observant. That’s good. In this line of work you have to pay close attention to things cause if ya don’t it could getcha killed. I got a scar to prove it.” 

“I think I can handle myself. I could fight Batman if I wanted to.” 

That made Joker really laugh. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, doll. You’re good but you still have lots more to learn. I haven’t even seen you use a gun yet.” 

“Hmph. I look forward to beating you in a shooting match then. I bet you can’t hit squat.” Harley teased, fully knowing Joker was an extremely good shot.

Joker grinned, a hint of mischief in his eyes. “Ohhh you’re on.” 

[yrndrgn]

Brain zaps be zapping again

I'm going through this headache again, and I'm so upset about it. I'm not even going through a decrease- I increased goddamnit. I thought they only happened if you decreased. Now I have the metal balls jangling in my head if I so much as move my eyes wrong. Even my tinnitus has taken on a tinny sound. I hate these things so much. Life feels like it's on pause once they start up. I only get them closer to the evenings, so it's not too bad. But, like, some times they start at 5:00PM and mess up my whole evening. I'm in law school damnit- I've got shit to do.

I've also had some scary bad ones recently.

About three weeks ago, I was having a really shitty time. I got dumped, I was plagued by some unknown upper respiratory infection (not COVID), and- key point here- I had vomited a little after taking my meds. The only medication in the puke was the Mucinex I had taken earlier, but my other meds were also probably disrupted because of it. Due to- just- the emotional devastation that I felt and in generally feeling utterly like shit all the time, I hadn't been able to sleep for about 48 hours.

Not great for a sick person.

It was getting late. My dad had gone off to bed. I go up to brush my teeth because they were feeling shitty because, well, depression. My head had been buzzing for maybe an hour- the occasional long series of zaps, but also just buzzing pain in general. Enough to note, but not enough to really to make myself do anything about. I'm on the stairs when something feels off the first time. A lot of zaps go off at once and make my head feel a little dizzy.

Worrying.

I make my way to the bathroom and start brushing my teeth. That's when things got really bad.

I'm one of those people who shakes their head as I brush my teeth. I move in rhythm with the brush. Maybe the motion caused it because suddenly a whole bunch of zaps go off all at once. Just simultaneously blasting away at my brain. My body goes stiff I feel like I'm about to fall over and out of control of my body. The worst part was my vision. The world just started kinda melting. Y'know how sometimes a bunch of window screen will pop up in this specific diagonal overlap? It was like that but also a little liquidy. There was this sound as it happened- like when one dribbles basketballs really low and quickly to the ground but more metal. I remember feeling so stiff.

My body doesn't respond to my commands for a second, but somehow I pushed my will through enough for me to stop myself from falling. I panic finish because what the fuck just happened? I'm heartbroken, depressed, exhausted, sick, and now terrified because I lost control of my body for a second. I leave the bathroom and proceed to have another one. There's basketballs. My head hurts. My limbs stiffen.

The world melts.

I cling to some shelves. I gain back control. I'm scared. Do I move? Do I stay? I'm so tired. I need to go back downstairs. I need my meds. I want my dad.

My dad went to bed- that means he's in the room right next to me.

This is purely a matter of happenstance. Due to some shenanigans involving the AC units at home, my dad started sleeping in my sister's room since she had already left for her own place, and her room conjoins my childhood bedroom through the bathroom. I went to my childhood bedroom by habit despite not sleeping there because my AC unit was among the broken ones because, when you're feeble, sickly, prissy prissy prince(ss) like me, you need to be able to cool the room a little while on a tropical island. I was standing in my room at the time, maybe I could drag myself just far enough to get my dad.

I move slowly. I keep one hand webbed in the shelve's grids as I travel, then pressed against the wall once there are no more shelves.

I'm in the doorway when a third one hits. Maybe because it's happened twice now, but it's not quite as bad. But the world still melts for a bit.

I cling my to my sister's bedroom door and knock. I call out for my dad and quietly open the door.

He's tired and confused and worried.

"There's something wrong with me. I don't think it's safe for me to go down the stairs alone. Can you help me?"

I feel like a little kid all over again.

Instead of doing what my routine-oriented brain thinks of which is guiding me downstairs then back to the actual room I sleep in, he slips me into what was his bed. He rubs my back and strokes my hair then goes to get my meds. My Ate comes to check because she heard something happened and know that I'm still really sick. She brings me an extra blanket and some water.

My dad returns with my meds and my phone. He tells me to text him or my Ate if I need anything and to get some rest.

I take all my meds plus a Tylenol PM and finally sleep for the first time in over 48 hours.

I haven't had brain zaps as bad as that day since.

But every time they start back up, I worry if it'll happen again, and if this time I really do lose control. My dad isn't here to help me again. I don't know if there's anyone who could help me if they happen again.

[nataliaphantomhivesblog]

Newsflash: Dazai cares for Chuuya

Before reading any further, I will be talking about stormbringer, so spoilers ahead!! Translation credits go out to: @popopretty on tumblr, make sure to give this kind human some love and appreciation<3

Also if you want to read the first few chapters of stormbringer: @buraihatranslations is currently translating it, give them much love and appreciation as well, they deserve it!!

Honestly, I have been so obsessed with Soukoku lately and I think the reason behind this is because when it comes to Soukoku, their feelings for each other are not as easy to grasp as love or hate, it is much more profound than that. There is care, hurt, trust, resentment, companionship, bitterness, and consideration...And ironically enough, thats just the tip of the iceberg.

If we break down their individual feelings towards each other, it will be easier to understand their bond.

On Chuuya's end, his feelings are much more clear due to his expressive personality. He wears his emotions on his sleeves, he can try and hide what he feels towards Dazai but his true feelings tend to unravel easily.

He sometimes tries to mask his feelings towards Dazai by throwing insults, but his facial expressions are enough to contradict what he is saying.

Chuuya's feelings towards Dazai can be easier to comprehend. He obviously feels this certain betrayal due to the fact Dazai left the Port Mafia. Not to mention, he and Dazai have always had a rivalry relationship.

In the Soukoku wiki page, it is stated that Chuuya is aware of Dazai not experiencing a proper childhood, therefore allows him to act as childish as he can and lets him tease him relentlessly. I don't know how reliable this source is, but either way I think its worthy enough to add.

In the Dragon head conflict when Dazai was out of sight, Chuuya told Mori to forget about Dazai. That was until Hirotsu mentioned a microscope, Chuuya quickly realizes it was code language because he remembered a previous conversation where Dazai says he needs a microscope to be able to see Chuuya properly.

The moment he figured out it was a tracker, Chuuya did not hesitate to jump in and rescue Dazai. But here is the catch: No one but Chuuya knew about the microscope, if Chuuya really didn't care for Dazai he wouldn't have mentioned the microscope and kept all this under wraps, leaving Dazai in a mess.

Chuuya trusts Dazai with his life. He never hesitates to leave his life on Dazai's hands when it has to come to it. Chuuya and Dazai have known each other for years, for Chuuya to be able to trust Dazai that much is because Dazai also cares for him too, right?

The answer here is yes, Dazai cares for Chuuya. In a superficial level, it doesn't seem like Dazai truly cares, but I can assure you that he does care for him. Weather you like to think of his care in a platonic or romantic manner, the care Dazai has for Chuuya is undeniable and extremely significant for Dazai's character.

I think that stormbringer establishes this idea even further. There is one specific moment in this light novel that shows his genuine concern towards Chuuya's well being:

"There is one problem." Dazai cut off his sentence hesitantly. "It has nothing to do with the sucess rate of the plan. It is a matter we have to overcome in the end but... It may require some time to decide."

"What's with you?" Chuuya raised his eyebrows at Dazai. "Stop dramatizing it. Just hurry up and say it."

"I said earlier about this control spell to open the 'gate' that is used to reset the command inside Chuuya, right?" Dazai spoke with a strangely restrained voice. "If we use that, the logs of the command formula that were written in the past will be erased. That means...even if the memory erasure was used on Chuuya in the past, the traces of that will be erased as well."

"What?"

"I told you before right, the memory erasure command. The only way we can confirm if Chuuya is human or not is to check the history to see if the memory erasure command was ever used. It means..." Dazai looked at Chuuya with eyes that he had never looked at him before. Those eyes were serious. "If we use that control spell, the method to confirm if Chuuya is an artificial personality created by a string of code, or just a normal human being, will be lost. For good."

The time had stopped.

Chuuya opened his eyes and looked towards Dazai but his eyes were not seeing anything. The wind blew between the two of them. Even so, Chuuya did not blink.

"Verlaine became like that because he was tormented by the curse that he was not human. That only is enough of a big problem. The matter of being human or not." Dazai looked at his pocket watch, gave it a glance and continued. "I can delay the time until the plan starts for about two minutes. I will send an order for my men to wait... You can think about it alone for a while. Cuz I guess its hard for you to collect your thoughts with me around."

Having said so, Dazai turned away and walked down the stairs, leaving Chuuya alone.

Dazai fixated in his pocket watch. Two more minutes. Too short for a life decision. But he couldn't afford more than that.

Inside Dazai's head, he was planning a procedure to swith to an alternative plan in case Chuuya refused, at a tremendous speed.

This section in stormbringer is personally one of my favorites, this is a very rare moment between both of them, but especially for Dazai. Like I stated earlier Chuuya wears his emotions on his sleeves, therefore even if he tries to mask his care with insults, its still painfully noticable that he genuienly looks after Dazai. Chuuya also sometimes show a vulnerable side of himself to Dazai, especially after using corruption.

Dazai on the other hand is extremely unreadable. Its hard to understand his true intentions and if he really cares for people or only sees them as a pawn. In this moment though, Dazai was being painfully genuine. Dazai literally prioritized Chuuya over the mission. He was already thinking of coming up with an alternative plan just in case Chuuya refused, obviously the sucess rate of the alternative plan would be lesser than the actual plan Dazai had in mind, he choose Chuuya's wellbeing over a mission.

In this section, Dazai wasn't throwing jokes or witty remarks, he was being serious. Because Dazai knows how desperately Chuuya wants to be human. He knows how important being human is to Chuuya.

Dazai wasn't manipulating Chuuya by giving him the chance to decide, we can see that Dazai was literally showing a lot of hesitation when mentioning this to him, we also get to see what Dazai was thinking, and we can tell he wasn't thinking about manipulative his movements in any way. All of this wasn't coming out of manipulation, it was coming out of pure care.

After six steps, Dazai reached the stair. He stepped on the stair and started walking down. Three steps down the stair, he heard a *clang*, a cool sound of metal echoing behind him. It sounded like the metal was kicked by the sole of someones shoes. The moment Dazai realized what the sound was, Dazai turned around in surprise.

There was already no one at the top.

Dazai was dazed for a moment, then he loosened his lips and laughed.

"Trying to act cool, huh?" Dazai smiled, both annoyed and relieved. Then he turned on his radio and sent out his order. "Chuuya has sallied, everyone get ready for battle."

I personally love this part so much, relief washed over Dazai the moment he noticed that Chuuya was going to go through with the first plan, which proves my point that he wasn't manipulating him and how Dazai was under a lot of stress because he wasn't sure if the alternative plan would be as effective as his original one.

Yet he still was willing to go through the alternative plan if Chuuya refused, because Dazai values him and regards his wellbeing.

Dazai was being surprisingly gentle in this section, he was being honest. There was no ulterior motive behind his actions here, just a boy looking after his partner.

"So i'm going to send an order to my men to prepare for action... Is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay." Chuuya turned to Dazai. "Why are you asking me such a thing?"

Dazai didn't answer right away.

That was an unusual expression. It's like he was trying to say something, but he had to arrange the words in his head to decide where he should start. An expression he rarely shows.

This was right before Dazai drops the bomb to Chuuya about the memory erasure command. He was even asking for Chuuya's opinion on sending his men to get ready, this was the first time Dazai ever showed actual concern without masking it with witty remarks. You can tell that Chuuya isn't used to this.

And when you think about it, when Dazai and Chuuya have missions together, Dazai always uses corruption as a last resort and he always allows Chuuya to make the decision if they will be using it or not.

I personally belive that the main reason Chuuya trusts Dazai with using corruption is because The Sheep used to exploit his powers too much, but Dazai leaves the decision to use corruption up to Chuuya. Dazai understands the physical and mental toll corruption takes on Chuuya and therefore leaves the choice up to him.

Theres another section in stormbringer that I really enjoy, it doesn't necessairly show solicitude but I still think this should still be taken into consideration:

"You seem pretty confident that Chuuya is human, don't you?"

"I am," Dazai laughed with a sigh. "There is no way a man-made code could create such a personality that I detest so much."

Throughout the whole story, Dazai is more than determined that Chuuya is human. The main reason Dazai finds Chuuya so intresting is because of how frighteningly human Chuuya can be, because of the fact that he always wears his emotions on his sleeves, something Dazai rarely does himself. Thats personally a nice sentiment from Dazai's end, even when Chuuya struggles completely when it comes to believing in his own humanity, Dazai still can't help but see him as a human being.

Also I am aware that Dazai literally said he detests Chuuya here but he also sighed and laughed while stating this, showing us that he isn't being serious about hating him.

And its not only in stormbringer were he shows his concern towards Chuuya. In fact, in this following manga pannel Dazai is telling Chuuya that if he is willing to listen him, he will stage his own escape so that Chuuya doesn't get punnished.

Honestly, if Dazai didn't care enough for Chuuya, he wouldn't have mentioned this to him. Chuuya didn't care enough to realize that he literally unwillingly freed Dazai which would get the pm mad at him, so the fact that Dazai is literally helping him out is no doubt out of care for him. If Dazai didn't have any regard for Chuuya he would've not staged his escape or mentioned anything to Chuuya, eventually incriminating him.

There are many misconceptions when it comes to Dazai's feelings towards Chuuya, people think that he doesn't care for him due to the fact that he left the Port Mafia, leaving Chuuya behind. But heres the thing: Dazai's intentions had nothing to do with Chuuya. He left the organization for his own good, he left it to fullfill Oda's wish.

"If Dazai cared for Chuuya then why didn't he take Chuuya with him?" the reason is simple, he knows how much the PM means to Chuuya. In stormbringer it is shown that Chuuya feels as if his humanity is attached to the people he is loyal to, in this case its the port mafia. Verlaine wanted to get rid of the pm because he believed that the pm is what kept Chuuya's humanity, eventually making Chuuya believe that he is only human if he stays loyal to the pm. Dazai knows this. Thats exactly why he didn't take Chuuya with him or even explains to Chuuya why he left, he knows it would be selfish to basically rip Chuuya's sense of humanity apart.

I have a feeling that if Dazai told Chuuya about the real reason he left the Port Mafia, Chuuya will not only feel conflicted about being in the pm, but he would also have an inner conflict with himself as a human.

People also think Dazai may not really care for him because of the fact that after the fight against Lovecraft he actualy deserted him, maybe that part was truly just supposed to be seen as simple humor, but either way I want to talk about it. Chuuya's only request to Dazai was to take him back to base safe, so why did Dazai leave Chuuya behind?

I mean he has carried Chuuya back to saftey before with no problem, for example in stormbringer when Chuuya uses corruption for the first time Dazai carries him back to the billiards bar and not to the mafia’s base so that he could say goodbye to his passing friends.

The reson behind this is because Mori needs to know that unlike Dazai, Chuuya is absolutely loyal to him. Leaving Chuuya the way he did will make Mori believe that these two really are at each others throats and that Dazai is insignificant to Chuuya. Making it seem that for Chuuya, the mafia comes first before anything else.

Therefore Dazai established Chuuya's saftey within the mafia since not only does Mori want these two to be hostile with each other, he doesn't want Chuuya to eventually turn against him if he truly found out more about Dazai's true reason of departure. Then again, this isn't canon but it is a logical assumption.

Not to mention that although Dazai did leave him behind, he folded Chuuya's coat and hat before taking his leave. There is also an an extra chapter where Ozaki Kouyou was talking with Chuuya but when he left he forgot his coat, which made Kouyou came across the coat; where she noticed a badge sewed inside saying "Name: Hatrack", she smiled fondly thinking to herself that some things just never change, in this case, Dazai and Chuuya's bond.

Dazai literally took his time to sew this into his coat just to tease him, it was a simple gesture but it shows us how their dynamic will never change. No matter what these two go through, they will always share a bond that consists on teasing, trust and underlying care.

All of this actually makes that theory of Dazai planting a bomb under Chuuya's car for the sole reason that the PM doesn't find Chuuya as an acomplice who aided Dazai on his escape much more feasable.

For Dazai to just plant a bomb under Chuuya's car with no motive makes no sense because if Dazai's true intentions were to simply mess with Chuuya, he would've most likely made it clear at that time. Dazai always has an underlying motive behind his actions, and in this case it is very likely that he did that for Chuuya's sake.

Don't get me wrong, I am aware that the bomb incident could've just been a comedic moment and I shouldn't look too much into it, but there is still a posibility, right?

These two hold so much trust and care for one another, yet they also hold a lot of bitterness and resentment. In the end the good aspects of their dynamic outweighs the bad.

Either you see these two in a platonic or romantic way, you can't tell me that their bond isn't significant.

Thank you so much for reading!! I wanted to talk about this for a while because I feel like people misinterpret Dazai's feelings towards Chuuya a lot so I hope this clears up things a bit<3

[rachaelswrites]

Sex, Birth, and Death

Spencer Reid x Daughter!reader

Based on Criminal Minds Season 2 Episode 11 “Sex, Birth, and Death

Word Count: 2,164

A/N: Part of the Episode series (this is one of my fav episodes of the show btw)

Warnings: Mentions of murder, death, blood 

Each morning in the Reid household was the same. Spencer woke up, got himself ready and then you. The two of you ate breakfast together and then left for the subway. Your preschool was on the way to the BAU so he brought you along on the subway with him. There were never any troubles until today. 

He took the same route everyday. The two of you walked from the apartment to the subway. You were able to walk but you still had trouble on staircases. Spencer would walk behind you so he could catch you in case you fell. He always made sure he had a hold of you, not trusting that any bystander wouldn’t steal his child (a fear because of his job). 

After walking down into the station, Spencer would get on the train with you and sit in a seat with you on his lap. Most people gave him a seat, seeing he was a single father to a young, curious child. You would always point out colors and shapes you recognized, even specific objects that you knew the names of. 

When you reached your stop, Spencer held your hand as you got off. The next set of stairs was right there so he held your hand as you walked up them. Sometimes, if you were extra energetic that morning, like this morning, he’d play a little game with you. He’d take each of your hands in one of his, even with his daily cup of coffee in one, and lift you up so you'd skip a few steps. If you guessed the correct amount of steps skipped, he’d attack your face with kisses, something that always made you burst into giggles. 

You nearly guessed them all correctly today, until about halfway up, a young boy stopped your dad. 

“You’re Dr. Reid,” the boy said. 

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” Spencer stopped in his tracks, but still had a hold on you. 

“I just know what you do,” he responded. 

“Okay,” your dad said nervously. He held on you a little tighter and went to take another step, but the boy spoke again. 

“I saw you at Georgetown a few weeks ago. Your lecture on sexual sadism and how you helped with the Mill Creek Killer.”

Spencer nodded and smiled nervously, “I’m not much of a uh, public speaker.”

“I thought you were cool,” the boy added. 

Spencer looked down at you to make sure you were still there and you just smiled up at him. He looked back at the boy, “You seem a little young to go to Georgetown.”

“I’m a junior at Northwest high school,” the boy explained. 

“You just got to lectures on anger excitation for fun then?”

“I don’t really have friends,” the boy replied. He seemed nervous to be around your dad and just nervous in general. You wanted to get going so you started messing with the hem of your dad’s jacket. 

Spencer didn’t pay attention to you. He was interested in how such a young person seemed to be so interested in his work, “So you’re interested in profiling?”

“I read a lot. You know, true crime and graphic novels,” the boy watched as Spencer nodded intently, “They’re all about if there’s evil. Nature versus nurture. I figured it would be smart to hear from an expert you know? You said a lot of them kill prostitutes?”

You tugged on your dad’s hand this time to get his attention, causing him to look down at you, “Hang on baby,” he said, then turned his focus back to the boy, “It’s the number one serial killer target actually,” he told the boy. 

“Well is that for sex or because they think they’re dirty and need to be punished?”

Spencer was taken aback by this question. He paused to think and then spoke, “Were you waiting here for me?”

The boy ignored the question and asked another one, “What does it mean if they’re stabbing them and cutting their hair off?” The boy was avoiding eye contact with Spencer now. 

Spencer pulled you a little close to him and answered, “I uh, I’ve never heard of a case like that. Do you want to go to the BAU with me? Maybe talk to some of my other team members?”

“I actually, uh, have to go to school,” the boy turned away and started walking down the steps. 

Spencer, knowing he was about to lose the kid and knew you wouldn’t keep up if he walked faster than his normal pace, picked you up and placed you on his hip. You wrapped your arms around your dad’s neck as he raced down the steps, “You want to give me your name o-or your number and I’ll call you and,” Spencer lost track of the boy and bumped into several other people. He quickly turned and raced back up the steps to the BAU. 

At some point, Spencer had pulled out his notebook and started sketching what the boy looked like. He ditched his coffee so he could still hold you and draw at the same time. He didn’t have time to drop you off at preschool so he brought you to work with him. By the time he reached the bullpen, he was almost done with his drawing. You had been peeking at it the whole time and admiring his work. You were too young to understand what was actually happening. 

“Hey Spence, hey Y/n,” JJ said as she walked past you two. It wasn't rare to see you accompany your dad to work. Almost twice a week you came into the office

“Who’s your contact at the D.C police?” Spencer asked her. He walked straight into the bullpen and straight to the nearest phone. 

“Victor Barnes. You need me to call him?” She asked, following you two into the room. 

“Can you take her real quick?” Spencer handed you off to JJ before dialing the phone. JJ smiled at you before letting you mess with the collar of her blazer, “Detective Barnes please?” he said into the phone. 

“What’s wrong?” Gideon asked as he came up to Spencer. You waved at him and he waved back, a smile on his face at seeing you. 

“Get that to everyone as soon as possible,” Spencer said, sliding his drawing on the desk in front of Gideon and JJ. His attention was now back to the phone, “ Hi Detective Barnes, this is Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid with the Behavioral Analysis Unit at Quantico. Have you had any recent murder involving prostitutes. Maybe Jane Does? They would have been stabbed to death and their hair cut off by the killer.”

At hearing the details of the case, both JJ and Gideon looked concerned, shooting each other a glance. You weren’t listening, too focused now on playing with some of JJ’s hair. All three adults were deep down glad that you seemed to not be paying attention to the conversation. 

Spencer waited for a response from the Detective, “When was the most recent victim?” there was another pause before he spoke again, “I’ll explain when I see you, I’ll meet you in half an hour,” Spencer hung up the phone. 

“What’s going on?” Gideon asked him. 

“There was a boy at the twain,” you said, trying to help the conversation. JJ laughed quietly at you and Gideon glanced over at you, smiling a little. 

Spencer looked to his team members and told them what actually happened, “D.C might have a serial killer. And I think I just let him get away.”

~~~~~

You had spent all day at your dad’s work but didn’t get to see him much. Instead, you were stuck hanging out with Anderson, who had surprisingly done a good job at keeping you entertained. Eventually though, you started to get bored and fussy, wanting to see your dad again. Luckily for both you and Anderson, Spencer walked into the office space and picked you up from the floor. 

“Daddy!” you squealed, wrapping your arms around his neck, “Done?”

Spencer smiled softly at you before kissing the side of your head, “Hi sweetheart. Daddy’s almost done with work for today,” he picked up some of the things you had brought before making his way back to the bullpen, “I have some time and thought I should spend it with you,” he said. 

“Otay,” you rested your head on his shoulder as he made his way to his desk and sat down in his chair with you on his lap. Spencer was keeping his mind off of Nathan and his eval results by keeping you occupied. Luckily he always kept something for you in his desk, most times it was a book or a stuffed animal. 

It wasn’t long before Nathan appeared  out of the interrogation room with Emily and was asking for your dad. Spencer handed you off to Penelope who eagerly took you, making sure not to let your stuffed turtle leave your hands. 

“I know I don’t deserve any favors but, whatever my psych eval says, will you tell me?” Nathan asked. 

Spencer nodded, “Yeah,” he said quietly. 

“My mom says a promise doesn’t count unless you say it out loud,” the boy added. 

Spencer gave him a small smile, “I promise.”

“Thank you,” Nathan said before being led away by the police. 

Garcia handed you back to Reid when he turned around, “He might have killed two women. It’s not your job to hold his hand through this,” she said. 

Spencer took you from her and settled you on his hip, “It’s like with my mom,” he said, “I used to think if I could understand everything about Schizophrenia I could fix it,” he explained. 

It was getting late and you were tired now so you leaned your head against your dad’s shoulder and used your free hand to grab onto his sweater, grabbing it with your fist. Spencer bent his head down and placed a quick kiss to the top of your head. 

Garcia shot Reid a sympathetic look, “You can’t, I’m sorry.”

Spencer just gave her a small smile before Hotch walked by, needing everyone in the round table room to work on the profile. 

As Garcia saw Spencer’s face fall at hearing Hotch’s order, she placed two of her fingers to her lips and then pressed them to Spencer’s head, making him laugh a little, “Let me take her back,” she said, reaching out for you, “Our sweet baby Reid doesn’t need exposure to all that so young.”

Spencer really didn’t want to part from you but he reluctantly handed you over. You gladly went to your aunt Penelope and waved goodbye to your dad as he disappeared to the round table room. 

~~~~~

You wanted to go back to work with your dad today but you had to go to school. You preferred your dad’s office over school, since you found it boring, but Spencer insisted. 

He dropped you off at your normal time but instead of him picking you up, it was your babysitter. It wasn’t rare for that to happen, especially if your dad is working late. 

The babysitter took you home and stayed until your dad got home. 

~~~~~

After the long day Spencer had, he just wanted to go home and spend time with you. He just wanted to relax and unwind but Garcia had other plans. 

“Come on, we’re hitting the town,” Garcia said, hitting him with her scarf. 

Spencer didn’t budge from his chair, “I don’t think I’d make the best company right now Garcia. And besides, I should get home to Y/n. It’s getting late.”

Garcia scoffed, “Isn’t the kiddo with a sitter? She’s fine. I’ll get you home to her in no time,” when Spencer still didn’t budge, she tried again, “Up,” she said, “Don’t make me hurt you.”

Knowing Garcia wasn’t going to take no for an answer, Spencer stood up, grabbing his jacket and following her out to her car. 

The two had just reached Penelope’s car when Spencer received a phone call that ended with him hurrying Garcia to drive to a motel across town. They made it there just in time to save Nathan and make sure the paramedics arrived to take care of him. 

Spencer was outside the motel, trying to clean his hands of the dried blood when Gideon approached him, “The medics said he wouldn’t have made it without you. You saved him.”

Spencer continued to try and clean his hands off, “He wanted me to let him die.”

“He needed saving,” Gideon said. 

“How many lives did I risk in the future though?” Spencer asked.

“Profiles can be wrong.”

“What if it’s not? What if he kills somebody?”

“Then you catch him,” Gideon said. He put his hand on Spencer’s shoulder and led him from the parking lot, “Go home Spencer. I’m sure there is someone who wants to see you.”

Taglist

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[holden-caulfield]

The Distraction

main masterlist

REQUESTED: "Kaz brekker with a reader who is apart of the crows but she doesn't fight, she plays the violin and is used as a distraction during heist. And she's the complete opposite from kaz super sweet and nice. Maybe something goes wrong during a heist and she gets hurt."

SUMMARY: the reader is part of the crows and is used as the distraction during most heists, but when she gets injured she discovers something very interesting about kaz.

WARNINGS: blood and wounds mentions and descriptions.

WORD COUNT: 1846

"Everyone knows what they have to do?" asked Kaz to revise the plan once more.

"I stay in the shadows, watching over everyone and making sure nothing goes wrong." said Inej, checking all her knives.

"I escort Y/n inside and wait for the right moment to strike." said Jesper as if he was reciting more of a nursery rhyme than his part of the job.

"I distract." you said, simply shrugging your shoulders.

It wasn't the first time you had been it, the distraction. They said you played the violin, but you didn't just play it. You were one with the instrument, every melody that emitted from its strings was a spell and no one was immune. Every chord you played, every song you made, it enchanted everyone, it kept them glued to your agile hands, fabricating every single sound to allure and well, distract.

Kaz Brekker had found you, he had been lost in the music like everyone. No one was immune. His undeceivable mind momentarily stopped, enraptured by your fingers holding the instrument like the most valuable crystal glass. It was like watching a master at work and he knew he needed such an asset in his team.

Ever since then, you had worked with the crows, deceiving everyone they needed to with your talent. You didn't do the dirty deed, but you made sure it got done.

That night was no different: you got inside, Jesper by your side, both dressed with the most elegant clothes you could find. You smiled widely as you took your place at the center of the hall. You took out your weapon while they welcomed you with a soft round of applause, and then you began. Everyone had eyes only for you, everyone had ears only for you.

Jesper silently left his place and began roaming, but you focused only on your work. You played and you played, and you got lost in it. No one was immune, not even you.

It was only when you felt a sharp pain in your stomach that you stopped. Everyone was running around, the music had stopped and you realized you were bleeding. You let go of the violin, falling desperately to the ground, but you couldn't do anything for it as you clutched your side.

You didn't look down, you kept your eyes on the door. A swarm of men with rifles advancing on you. They were all hazy, undefined. They started falling one by one, scarlet strands filled your vision. Yet another man stepped closer to you, but no one stopped him. He was dressed in all black and black was the last thing you saw.

When you started seeing colours again, you weren't in the hall anymore, the violin wasn't by your side and you weren't dressed in your long scarlet gown. You were in a dark room, a tiny golden line was all the light you had and it came from a tiny opening in the window. You delicately touched your side and immediately retrieved your fingers as you ascertained that last night wasn't just a dream. You lifted your shirt slightly and saw stitches keeping the sides of the wound together. It hadn't been a dream, but it sure was a nightmare.

You tried getting up, sitting on the bed with the feet dangling on its side, and then the door opened: in entered a tall girl, brown locks on her shoulders and she was carrying what you supposed was food. You couldn't see it very well but the smell that invaded the room was obvious.

"What are you doing up?! Lay back again immediately!" she shrieked, settling the plate she had brought on the table beside your bed. She pushed you back down, uncovering your wound. "You aren't fully healed yet, you shouldn't be standing."

"Who are you?" you asked as you watched her hands hover over your stomach.

"I'm the one that saved your pretty face!"

"Thank you, then." she turned her gaze to you with shock on her face. You returned the confused look.

"When Kaz told me i had to help you, i thought you were a crow..." she pondered.

"I am. Y/n Y/l/n, pleasure to meet you." the girl shook your outstretched hand, still surprised.

"Nina Zenik, pleasure's all mine," she began, then turned her attention back to your stomach. "You don't look like a crow, what do you do?"

"I distract." you said simply, a déjà-vu, but noticed her look of suspicion, so you continued. "I play the violin and i distract whenever there's the need for a distraction." Nina scoffed lightly. "What?"

"It's just- Kaz doesn't need distractions." she claimed, and you started feeling a tingling sensation in you abdomen as she moved her hands over it.

"Well, sometimes during a job-"

"He has Jesper for that. He has demo for that." she admitted, a smile playing on her lips but you couldn't quite understand. "He doesn't need a violin."

"But he's the one who offered me the job, of course he needs it." you stated stubbornly. You weren't going to let some random girl tell you how useless you were.

"No, no, you got it wrong," she started. "Kaz doesn't need a distraction. He has plenty already." you were growing progressively more confused and irritated, but let her continue. "However..."

"However, what?" you asked.

"However i think he wanted a distraction." she said, flashing you a knowing smile.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," she twisted her hands on your abdomen and the wound was starting to disappear almost completely. "That Kaz Brekker is a very logical man, as you probably already know, and this isn't a logical decision. Why hire a distraction when he could simply ask Jesper or create one himself?"

You thought about it; you knew the crows had been together before you joined them and you knew they had worked together before but you always thought you made the whole process of stealing and deceiving easier with your abilities. Nina was now making you doubt that.

"I'll tell you why, because he wants a distraction, and, more specifically, you."

You widened your eyes as she got up from your side, the wound now a past memory, only a light scar was in its place. You lifted yourself from the bed, it still hurt but you had more pressing things on your mind now.

"What do you mean? Kaz hired me to work for him."

"That's what he tells you, but i think you are his first impulsive decision. Be proud of it, it doesn't happen often!" she winked at you but you were still confused. She sat down on the chair and started biting on one of the delicacies she had brought with her. "Want one?"

"No, thank you."

"Your loss." she said as she shifted the plate onto her lap.

"I think you're wrong." she lifted her gaze to look at you.

"Why's that?"

"I know Kaz and he does nothing without a reason."

"Oh you are right, but i think he had different reasons for hiring you." she said. "I think he might have a liking on you."

You laughed incredulously. Kaz Brekker would never.

"And i think you might be crazier than i expected."

"Then tell me, Y/n, why would such a logical man come check on his basic distraction every hour when he could simply find another one?"

You gulped. He checked on you every hour?

"Because no one does what i do like i do it." you shuddered at your words, you were speaking like him. "What i mean is, he would do it for everyone."

"I am quite sure he wouldn't check on Jesper every few minutes, he wouldn't pace around his office like a mad man if i were in your place." she said, eating the last of the waffles she had brought.

You thought about it a moment, then swatted the thought out of your mind. There was only a way to know for sure and it was to ask him directly.

"Do you know where he is now?" you asked, getting out of bed and going for the door.

"Where do you think he is?" she said inquisitively. You had a feeling you knew.

You thanked Nina and bid her goodbye, darting outside the room towards Kaz's office. You had been there sometimes, usually to discuss plans with him. You never made a big deal out of it but now Nina's words were reverberating in your mind. Maybe she was just messing with you, but maybe she wasn't and, however silly it sounded, you wanted to believe it was the latter possibility.

"Hey Y/n! Are you alright?" asked Jesper as he saw you running past him.

"Yes, have you seen Kaz?" you asked quickly.

"Should be upstairs, but why are you-"

"Thanks Jesper!" you didn't give him time to finish as you climbed the stairs.

You stopped in front of the door and knocked loud enough for him to hear you, thinking about what you could have said, thinking about his reaction. Would he have been happy to see you? Relieved? Impassive as always?

"Who is it?" came his rough voice from inside.

"Y/n." you said gingerly and you heard total silence.

"Come in." you opened the door and stepped inside. He was standing in front of the window, his shoulders to you. He didn't even turn around, maybe Nina was kidding and you fell for it like an idiot. "Do you need anything?"

"I-" you stopped yourself, what could you say? You just wanted to see him, see if he was scared for you, if he cared. "I thought you'd have wanted to see me..." you wanted to smack yourself in the face after that. He was Kaz Brekker, not some silly teenager in love.

He remained in silence, still in front of the window. It was late and the sun had already gone out.

"I am planning this new job and-"

"You don't need me for the job." you said it matter-of-factly.

Even though Nina might have been wrong about Kaz, you knew she wasn't wrong about you: you weren't vital for the plan and you had never been, so Kaz owed you at least an explanation. Especially after what happened the previous night, the job gone wrong.

"You are right, i don't." you weren't surprised by the answer he had given you, but what surprised you was that he admitted it so easily. "But i thought you'd want to be there when we get our revenge over those that did that to you."

You gaped at that, but he obviously couldn't see it. "We?"

"Yes. We." he repeated.

"Did you come checking on me?"

He craned his neck so that he was looking over his shoulder, looking at you. "Did Nina tell you?"

"Did you or not?"

"I did."

You paused for a moment. "Why?"

"Because you are one of us."

"Just one of us?" you insisted. You weren't sure whether you should have continued or not, but he couldn't leave you with such an answer. You needed a clearer one.

"No." he said, "Not just one of us."

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[mc-lukanette]

Omg I am loving your dreaded string of fate au this is such an interesting take! As always your writing and ideas absolutely amaze me You are such a wonderful writer! If it isnt too much of a bother could we get some more writing for dsaf? Either way I hope you are staying safe, taking care of yourself, and that overall life is doing you good.

Thanks, everyone! And sure, you can have more!!

—————

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

Luka wasn't sure why Marinette had called him over that day. As far as he knew, she was busy with projects, though he wouldn't complain about spending some time with her.

Still, he found himself tensing and steeling himself up as he walked up the stairs to her living room. The hum of her sewing machine could be heard as he got closer, reminding him of clothes, which led to the thought of thread, which then brought his mind to the red string of fate wrapped around her neck. His last venture as Viperion seemed to have improved his sensing, so now he could see someone's red string even if the person on the other end wasn't nearby.

Needless to say, he wasn't looking forward to it with Marinette.

He closed the living room door behind him, then went up the staircase, knocking to let Marinette know he was there. The sound of the sewing machine stopped, and he heard her footsteps come closer followed by the slight creak of the trapdoor.

Marinette's face was revealed to him, offering him a smile, and Luka tried not to stare too much at the red string still tied around her neck. He swallowed, but smiled back at her, which was genuine enough even if he was uncomfortable.

"Come on up," she welcomed, holding the trapdoor up for him. He nodded and walked up the rest of the stairs, hearing the trapdoor close behind him as he took a look around the room. He felt Marinette's eyes on him, but she voiced her thoughts before he could wonder about them.

"You didn't bring your guitar?" she asked.

He glanced at his back, then at her, having no way of telling her the real reason why he'd chosen not to bring it. "Yeah, I didn't. Sorry, did you want me to play for you?"

"Oh! No, it's okay—I mean, of course I love it when you play for me so I always want—but I understand!" She thankfully dropped the subject there, turning away to return to her seat. "You can make yourself at home or help yourself to the fridge downstairs if you want anything!"

"Thanks," he said with a smile, heading over to her chaise lounge and taking a seat on it. Even with Marinette's chair turned away from him while she used her sewing machine, he could still see the red string dangling off the side, though it faded into full transparency before it hit the floor.

In truth, he'd left his guitar behind to force himself to use less music and more words. He didn't want to hide behind it to try and ease his situation or make himself more comfortable with everything. The situation the love of his life - and more importantly, his friend - had gotten into through no fault of her own was horrible, and no matter how uncomfortable he was, he couldn't have been any more uncomfortable than her being strangled by fate itself.

He watched her, waiting for a lull in her work to ask, "Did you need anything?"

"Hm?" She looked over her chair to meet his gaze.

"I'm happy to be here anyway, but I didn't know if you needed me for something," he clarified.

"Oh." She understood. Waving a hand dismissively, she assured, "No! I just invited you here to hang out—" She gestured to her sewing machine, her eyes a bit shifty. "—with me, while I was busy but totally happy and relaxed and everything!"

Her wording was inherently suspicious. His eyes scanned over the room, noting the projects littered about that seemed so plentiful. He supposed he hadn't exactly been subtle in his concern for her, but he wasn't sure of exactly what tipped her off or made her feel like she had to "prove" her happiness to him.

Besides, he knew better, and he knew her. Even with the smile she gave him, her brows were furrowed and twitching, a tiredness to her eyes that definitely didn't show what he would call "happiness."

He gave her a nod anyway, not wanting to call her out when he was still piecing things together himself, and he didn't want to confirm her worries if she was merely suspecting that he felt that way.

He leaned back while she returned to working, his hand on the cushion underneath him as he considered what to say. If Sass was right in his beliefs, then Luka indeed had the power to change Marinette's fate, though there wasn't any specific method of how. He thought back to all of their conversations, wondering what he would've done differently if he'd known beforehand and trying not to get bogged down by "what if"s or blame himself for it.

He stared silently at the back of Marinette's head, remembering the day at the ice rink when he saw the same thing. She'd been running away, or more specifically running towards Adrien after he'd encouraged her to do so. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but from what he gathered from interactions he'd either seen or heard about, it hadn't gone anywhere. Maybe it hadn't even gone well at all.

Maybe he'd made a mistake?

Luka's mind grew heavy with the thoughts, his body falling back to lay down on Marinette's chaise. He didn't regret doing what he felt was right, but now he wondered if his wording could've been better.

"You should probably go over and talk to him."

He hadn't exactly been thinking at the time - a lot had happened that day - but he noted that he could've asked her how she felt. He could've questioned her on if she really wanted to go after Adrien. It was possible she'd wanted to go home on the subway with him, but was convinced to chase Adrien when he brought it up. Luka just imagined Marinette seeing Adrien and Kagami together, the red string tightening around her neck and then loosening when she was presented with the prospect of going after him.

He felt like he was the one being strangled, just thinking about it.

"Luka?"

He looked up, surprised, seeing that Marinette had stopped sewing at some point and had come to sit on the chaise lounge with him. She hovered over him, concern written across her features and the red string taunting him with its mere existence. Luka knew by now that she was very worried about him, and trying to wriggle or half-lie out of it wasn't going to convince her. He'd just really thought that she would've been sewing for longer.

He also jolted up into a sitting position upon realizing that he probably looked like he was making himself too comfy on her chaise lounge. She didn't seem to mind at least.

"...Marinette," he said slowly, trying to put his thoughts in order. She leaned closer as a sign that she was giving him her attention, and he continued, "Do you know why I let you go that day?"

She tilted her head and he belatedly caught that he hadn't been specific, still too lost in his own head. He opened his mouth to clarify, but realization struck Marinette before he could speak, her brows raising in recognition.

"Oh!" she gasped. Though the conversation was sudden, she didn't seem to mind rolling with it. "Um, yeah, I wondered about that sometimes. I mean, I knew that you knew that I—but I didn't know that you—but if you didn't back then, I—"

"No, your song was definitely in my head, even back then," he confirmed casually, smiling as he added, "Since the day we met, remember?"

She blushed at the mention of his confession, but nodded. "Y-yeah." Then, seeming to rethink the moment with that information in mind, she asked, "...Why did you let me go then?"

His eyes flickered to the red string, then back up to her face. "I want you to be happy, Marinette, no matter who it's with. I thought that Adrien would do that, but I hope I didn't make you feel like you had to go after him."

She blinked, the thought having seemingly not even occurred to her. She averted her gaze, her eyes darting around at nothing in particular. "Is...is that why you were looking like that?"

He didn't answer, but that was answer enough for her.

"Oh, Luka," she murmured sympathetically. "I—well—" She shifted uncomfortably. "—I shouldn't be talking to you about this. It'd be wrong when my feelings are so messed up. You..."

He shook his head. "You can talk about Adrien if you want. I'd be happy if you relied on me more."

He meant it. Even regardless of his fate sensing, he wanted Marinette to feel comfortable talking to him, even if it was about her love problems. He didn't want their relationship to be changed because of his feelings for her.

"Even more?" She raised a brow, the concept confusing her, but she didn't question him further. She hesitated, rubbing her cheek in thought, then dropped her hands to her lap and twiddled her fingers. "I-I don't know; about Adrien, I mean. I—" She sighed, giving a halfhearted shrug. "—he's not interested in me. He likes Kagami, but the girls kept telling me that I shouldn't give up on him because of how hard I tried." Then, stiffening, she waved her hands and rapidly assured, "N-not anything against your sister, of course! That's just what happened—and—" She huffed in frustration. "—it feels like I hit a wall, and I'm not going anywhere. Adrien doesn't notice me and I can't talk to him and... I'm tired."

Luka nodded silently to let her know that he was both listening and sympathetic towards her plight, also not wanting to interrupt her.

"Of course I tried hard, but Adrien and Kagami seem like they're good for each other and they should be happy together. Just, whenever I think of giving up or not trying, I..." She raised a hand to her neck in a gesture that he immediately understood. "It hurts, and Alya's always trying to get me together with Adrien no matter what I say. Maybe she knows best and maybe she's right, and that's why I always end up in crazy situations with him. Plus, everyone..." She looked away, her voice not having the enthusiasm one would imagine her next words would go with. "...everyone keeps saying we're made for each other."

Luka clutched his leg to ground himself while struggling to keep a straight face. He'd certainly never heard that one before, but it stung like his neck did just thinking about it. His lips pressed together, trying to contain his emotions, but he couldn't help blurting out, "No one's made for anyone."

She blinked at him, shocked, but he didn't take it back or apologize for saying it so suddenly. He recognized the fact that he was talking about destined love being nonexistent when he himself knew that "fate" was very much a real thing, but his actual opinion on the subject hadn't changed. As far as he was concerned, fate's "opinion" was about as valid as anyone else's when it came to someone else's relationship.

"No matter what Alya, or even Rose, say about you and who you love, Marinette, all that matters is you and who you want to play for. You deserve someone who makes you happy." He paused, lamenting the reality that she really hadn't gotten to think about it. "Does Adrien make you happy?"

He saw the string tighten, Marinette opening her mouth to respond before she seemed to stop herself. He felt like apologizing, but knew she wouldn't understand even if he did. She frowned, staring down at her lap and appearing conflicted with herself, so he reached out and carefully hovered his hand over her shoulder in a show of comfort. She glanced at his hand, noticing the gesture, but didn't immediately give him any sort of permission.

Then, to his surprise, she brought her hand up, gently grabbing his wrist and lowering it so his hand was placed perfectly on her shoulder. She didn't even let go, keeping his wrist held like she needed his hand there.

"...Luka," she whispered, her voice shaking, "I—no, you'll laugh, or think I'm crazy."

He squeezed her shoulder, not hesitating to insist, "I won't. I'm here for you, Marinette."

She finally met his gaze, and he saw a vulnerability there that wasn't there before. She was nervous, whether of his potential reaction to whatever she had to say, or something else entirely.

She took a breath, her fingers tightening around his wrist as she composed herself. The silence stretched, though he could tell that she was steeling herself up.

"The—the Adrien pictures," she began, tossing a pointed look to the wall where they were. "I don't remember putting them there."

He kept his expression schooled, not wanting her to overthink his reactions. Careful and quiet, he asked, "What do you mean?"

"I-I mean, obviously I started putting them there, back when I first met him," she admitted, "but I took them down. They'd been down for a while."

Luka could confirm that. He'd been to Marinette's room before when she'd been sending in their Kitty Section audition to Bob Roth, and the pictures weren’t there.

She continued, "I-it hurt when I did it, but I did, and I threw most of them away. But then—when I wake up sometimes, they're back, and I don't remember putting them up. I-I mean, maybe I did but I just don't remember it? I stay up late sometimes and I won't remember falling asleep, so it might be like that, you know? I-I know you're not exactly like me and I'm sure you don't sleepily put pictures on your wall but..."

He smiled as best as he could, even though he was hurting inside. "I know as well as you do that creativity doesn't have a schedule."

She managed a smile in return, but it returned to a frown as she dropped her gaze to her lap. "A-anyway, I can forget things, but it's never been that bad, and sometimes they'll be gone for a while but then they'll be back a few days later. There's just—there's no other explanation, so it has to be me, right? I-I don't know if it's a sign or what, but if it is then I don't know what it's telling me? Because whenever there are a lot of pictures—" She made a vague gesture with a wave of her free hand, cringing as she added, "—something humiliating always happens. That usually gets me to take them down again, but then... well, you know." She rubbed the back of her neck with a hand, blushing in embarrassment. "Sorry, I probably sound crazy. I-I swear, I'm not trying to—"

"I believe you."

Her mouth halted mid-sentence, hanging open as she stared at him.

"I believe you, Marinette," he repeated, giving her shoulder another squeeze. He didn't need any further detail to know what happened, as there was no way Marinette would take down those pictures and then put them back up the next day, or even the day before that. It didn't make any sense, and while he hadn't seen the wisps of fate move things or brush them aside, he had seen them trip Marinette, meaning they had some level of physical control. It explained it all: the convenience of the pictures appearing and disappearing, as well as the amount of them there'd be.

"T-thank you," she murmured, her lips briefly moving to form extra words but nothing coming out. She looked shy, possibly from admitting something she hadn't told anyone before, but she at least wasn't so nervous anymore.

"You don't need to thank me," he assured, "but you're welcome. Just know that you can tell me anything."

She ducked her head, peeking up at him to ask, "How much do you want to know?"

"Whatever you're comfortable sharing with me," he replied.

"Everything?" She'd said it quickly, as if she'd blurted it out, but she didn't panic afterward. She merely looked at him, hope in her eyes.

He nodded without hesitation, wanting her to be certain that he meant it. She searched his gaze for a few more seconds, one last shred of doubt remaining, but he knew he'd convinced her when her body relaxed and she smiled at him with her whole heart. Her grip on his wrist lightened, her hand sliding off and back down to her side. He pulled back as well, his heart a mixture of emotions but mostly just happy to see her happy.

"I..." She turned away, facing her trapdoor. "I'm going to get some snacks first."

He watched as she pushed herself up, then stood as well to follow after her. "Do you want any help carrying them?"

She looked at him, confused. "You don't have to."

Instead of responding with the obvious - that he wanted to - he simply replied, "You're not alone anymore, Marinette."

He didn't need to elaborate for her to understand. He let himself get lost in the warmth of her gaze, hoping that he might see it more one day if he could ever get her string removed, even if her warm gaze would end up being for someone else.

[cathalbravecog]

i am on my hands and knees begging.. how do u get into winstons boss area ive seen like 3 ppl clip back there and i have no idea how theyre doing it HGFBSDJGFD

you need to have evil eldritch being powers like i do which comes naturally from being a creature, sorry pal....

Ok, in ALL SERIOUSNESS!!

You're gonna want to get an auto-clicker and set the click interval to like 80 miliseconds (This is ok as long as it doesn't actually exploit the game or hack it, yknow? doesnt mess with main gameplay. tool on a similar lane as multitoon controller)

Set the place where it clicks to be on the group button

The time of day is important too, because if there isn't any groups, it's gonna bug out less. The more groups the buggier it will be - more likely to clip out

You can also just... Click it yourself, but you'll just injure your hand, don't do it. But you can still try it!

Find, what I like to call, a "sus corner", you can find them by checking with just your normal clicks and the group button while running into them - does your screen start jumping? good! that's a sus corner. if you just slide over and there's no screen jumping, then try a different spot. some spots you can clip out almost instantly in and some are round and you can't do much there.

!!!!! remember, don't do this if you suffer from epilepsy because OH BOY IT GETS REALLY WILD SOMETIMES.

and just... keep running into the wall until you clip out - move left to right to adjust your position slightly to see if you can find a sliiightly better spot. and yeah if you're in a good spot and keep this up eventually in some places you can clip out.

doesnt work everywhere, tho. there's also a way to make yourself go up and down, but it requires two people and stairs.

for THIS specific room you want to do it here. blue spots mean dont go there unless you wanna clip inside of the cells specifically.

have fun with your out of bounds chaos. i have taught you forbidden knowledge. (i legit usually don't tell ppl unless they're friends and keep it keep it as like an oOOooh mystical thing. i mean its a friend who taught me to do this as well. i just like voids in video games its fun to see whats out there, different perspectives.... or just chill there yknow.)

this room is special bc - the winston fight is obviously in a different instance of the room. the walk in animation doesnt even show the tunnel. from different povs you cant even see inside the tunnel - and yet the whole fight room is there and you can walk in there because it has full collision.

[mrs-march-ahs]

The Evans Drunk

Enjoy:)

Tate

-On Halloween he’d go out and buy some alcohol and save it for when you’re having a tough day and need cheering up -Either that or you’d take some alcohol from your parents -You’d sit together and drink, not taking shots or anything because you probably only have a few beers or spirits each -Even more into deep talks than usual -But also super easily distracted - “Oh I definitely think that there’s alien life out the- hey reckon I can balance that vase on my forehead?” -Incredibly awkward and white dad dancing to music -Super touchy, would want you on his lap so that he can take a drink and then put it to your lips until you drink it

Kit

-Kit’s a responsible dad and not the type of person to get drunk, but occasionally he will have a beer or two

-Or twelve

-It’d be a barbeque for the whole family and you’d have lots of friends around, joking around, everybody’s kids playing together running around

-Then after everybody ate, you’d all talk and have a few light drinks, and then once the kids went to bed and some of the guests left, Kit, you and a few friends would play beer pong

-He’s be very loud and silly

-Would find jokes 10x funnier and would keep laughing quietly long after everybody else

-Unintentionally pull silly faces, like pretending to be serious if somebody starts talking about something serious

-But then he’d remember that thing he laughed at and snort

-After everybody’s gone, he’d go into the kitchen and want to make cupcakes

- “Kit we can’t make cupcakes at 2am and drunk”

- “We can’t, or we shouldn’t? Two very different things Y/N” he giggles

-You two would pour all the ingredients in the bowl and then you’d stir it

-Kit would come up behind you and put his arms around you, helping you stir, kissing you occasionally

-He would get distracted and you two would go to sleep, leaving the raw cupcakes in the oven without it being turned on

-In the morning, despite Kit having a ridiculous hangover, when he’d see the baking mess, he’d clean it all up

- “Kitten if you told me, I would’ve helped you”

- “No no I made the mess, I’ll clean it”

-Very responsible dad, until next time

Franken Kyle

-You’d be sat together, celebrating New Year’s Eve and you’d of course have some alcohol

-Because you were scared and cautious popping open the champagne in front of Kyle, worried it may scare him, you tried to bribe him a little

- “This bottle cork is going to fly open, with a very loud pop, but try and stay calm and you can drink the champagne first, okay?”

- “From b-bottle?”, he said smiling, knowing that you never let him drink milk or juice straight from the carton

-You say sure, and pop it open, and when it pours out bubbling, Kyle kneels down and sits under it with his mouth open, the alcohol pouring all over his face and shirt

-He’d love it and drink loads

-Covered in sticky champagne, when he hugged you and you tried to change his shirt, he just rubbed his sticky chest over you even more

-Dancing with you, which meant putting his head on your shoulder and swaying

-Drunk, he’d have an even bigger obsession with copying noise

-When he sees the fireworks, “kaboom” or “pew” or “poof”

-When you cheers the glasses, “clink” or maybe even “clinky dink”

Jimmy

-As we saw, a hot mess

-Not aggressive but willing to fight

-Would swing his arms around even not meaning to hit anybody seriously

-Sex drive increases by 40%

-But would probably have a harder time finishing if he was super drunk

-Slurs his word much more than anybody else

-Would act like a child trying to get what he wants from you

- “C’mon Y/N just one more little sippy sip”

- “No Jimmy, you’ve had more than enough”, you say and take the beer bottle away from him, leaving Jimmy to make puckering and make slurping noises, watching you throw the bottle away

-You’d try to put him to bed, so that you could put a backpack on him to avoid him choking on his own vomit

-But after a while of him being annoying, constantly getting up, etc, you’d give up

- “Jimmy I’m not gonna be constantly fighting with you, you either go to bed now or you leave the caravan and end up passing out somewhere on the field”

-He’d get upset and try to apologise, but you’d end up just throwing a blanket over him and sleeping on the couch

-He’d probably wake up still slightly drunk the next morning

-In the evening, a full 24 hours after drinking, he’d come and apologise to you about how he acted, and promise he’d never drink again

-Definitely read this cool fanfic I saw earlier about

drunk Jimmy

James

-Tries to remain classy but sometimes forgets the right words

- “Darling, remember when how the night we met and how you said to me those things and then we danced?”

- “That didn’t make sense, Jimmy”

- “Clearly you weren’t listening carefully enough, darling”

-Super touchy, especially in public

-Arm around your waist, giving your shoulder and neck kisses

-Bite your earlobe just to see your reaction

-He’s very slow

-Has to furrow his eyebrows and open his mouth when listening to you talk, lets him hear better

-This is very specific but if he’s drinking anything out of a straw, he would sit and chew it

-When you got back to your room he would kiss and lick your neck and mumble gibberish against it

-He’d want to give you genuine compliments but being too drunk to have coherent thoughts, he would just mumble

- “mmm…your skin… my darling”

- “What about it, James?”

- “It is so… mmmm”

Kai

-Probably aggressive -If he’s in the mood to start an argument, he’ll find a reason to start one -Would make you feel guilty and upset about something just to hear you apologise -Would be completely in denial about how drunk he is -Very loud and obnoxious -The only time he would slap your ass not possessively but for fun -The scene would be having the cult over to celebrate something, all sitting in the kitchen drinking -He’d keep doing cheers for the most random things - “Pass me some crackers” - “We don’t have crackers Kai, we finished them” - a few second pause… before Kai lifts his glass “wheyyy!” - “Get me another beer babe”, before slapping your ass -Slurs his words a little, but focuses and tries really hard not to -After everybody’s gone home, he’d try to act as sober as possible around you, as if he suddenly doesn’t want you to see him drunk - “Okay, go upstairs, brush your teeth and put your pjs on Y/N” -You laugh slightly and put Kai’s arm around your shoulder, “Let’s get you to bed Kai, I don’t think you’ll make it down those stairs alone” -He takes his arm off and turns you to face him, trying to keep strong eye contact - “What did I just say? Go upstairs… uhm… pjs… brush your teeth… go”, you’d smile in amusement and he would try to put on a stern expression “Now” -You’d obey him, and when he eventually makes it down the stairs and gets to the basement, he’ll look over at you in pjs in bed, and walk over to you -He looks at you up and down, and mumbles “good”, before sitting down panting slightly, not making eye contact - “We have a lot of stairs Y/N”

[eddieslittlefreak]

bleaching my heart - steddie ff.

summary: steve gets back with nancy because this is all he ever wanted. at least he thought.. and a very specific someone just won’t leave his mind.

note: school is taking away all my time and energy from writing, i hate this :( song rec. for this is definitely bleach by 5 seconds of summer

There was a little gathering at school and everyone was more than happy to be there. Things turned out to be good for once in Hawkins and Steve couldn’t be happier. He was alive, all this madness ended and he got Nancy by his side. He wanted to get her back somehow in forever now and he should be feeling nothing but joy and love. 

But fuck. He couldn’t ignore this.

He couldn’t ignore the knot in his throat whenever someone mentioned him and Nancy together for the first time in a while. He couldn’t ignore how he sometimes totally spaced out, thinking about everyone and everything but Nancy. He couldn’t ignore how he told Nancy that she was in his dreams and how he wanted all of this. It was a mistake, Steve now knew it, but couldn’t bring himself to say this out loud. To say this to Nancy. And most importantly..

Steve couldn’t ignore Eddie’s eyes on him from across the room.

With Eddie, Steve felt different. He always thought he is just the troubled kid and he has nothing to do with him, but then one night after they got back from the upside down, Steve found himself in Eddie’s arms and ever since then, every little space in his mind got filled with the thought of Eddie. Steve felt like he was living again, when he was with Eddie. Now he knew that all of this with Nancy was a mistake. Nancy was nice and kind, Steve liked her but he was just too blind to see that it’s not like that anymore.  It just happened that Steve found someone who was a little better for him.

Someone who he hurted when he left him alone in the morning after they made love for the first time the other night. Someone who still ached after Steve’s every little movement. Someone who made Steve feel the closest to the feeling of being in love. 

This someone was Eddie, who was uncomfortably rocking on his heels right next to the table with the drinks. 

And damn it.. Nancy knew all of this, she wasn’t stupid. She just wanted Steve to say it himself. She didn’t mind it, because Steve was suffering for a long time now and he deserved happiness. It was bad to see him so sad and maybe it was a lie that Nancy said she wanted this, too. Everything was a mess, and it was difficult to see clear. But it was time to move and not be freezed in time. 

Around midnight Eddie left and went up to the roof. Steve was hesitant, but eventually he followed him. On his way up the stairs he couldn’t stop thinking about how Eddie won’t ever forgive him now. Steve was the best version of himself, but he didn’t believe he was a good person. Yet Eddie.. Eddie kind of made him feel like that. When Steve was seventeen he felt like he owns the world. That he knows everything and everything is just a game and he is destined to win in all of them. He felt on the top of everything. And now at the edge of twenty one he felt like nothing. He knew nothing, he was confused and lost. He already drank too much and just wanted to sit down somewhere and cry, because there was too much in him. At the end of the day he was nothing new and he was about let too many people down.  He slowly opened the door that led to the roof, just to get hit by the ice cold air right in the face. His cheeks were burning from the alcohol and the cold was hurting his skin as he stepped out from the doorstep. Eddie heard his steps behind him so he hesitantly, but turned to face the person behind him. Steve felt like he got hit in the gut, because it’s been a while since he has been this close to Eddie. And gosh, he looked absolutely beautiful. And sad. 

Steve thickly swallowed before the first few words left his ice cold lips.

“I missed you.” he breathed out, leaving hot marks in the air between the two of them.

“You came up here to tell me that?” Eddie looked at him with a blank expression, trying to suppress everything that was killing him from the inside. Steve sighed, not breaking the delicate eye contact for a second. “Go back.”

“No.” Steve answered, stepping closer. “Not without you.”

“Not without me?” Eddie laughed, bitterly. “To me it seemed like you are just fine without me.” Steve’s heart was aching in his chest to finally confess everything to Eddie, but he was a coward. Love was always something that made Steve terrified. Maybe because he never got enough of it and he didn’t even know how to love right. But Eddie.. Eddie had so much love to share and he wanted to give it all to Steve.

“No.” Steve said again, as his drunk thoughts started to overtake him. “I want you.” he was so close to Eddie now and as he tripped in his own leg, Eddie caught him just in time. “I miss you, Eddie.. fuck, I miss you.” he repeated it.

“Steve, please don’t do this.” Eddie tried to push him away but Steve held him so tightly that Eddie had no chance. It’s like Steve was afraid of falling down off the roof if he didn’t hold him. 

“I’m stupid, I’m so fucking stupid..” he pressed his face onto Eddie’s chest, muttering the feelings soaked words softly into the material of his shirt. “I never should have left you. I’m better with you, I don’t want to let you go.” he sobbed, every word as heavy as an anchor.

“Steve, for fuck’s sake.. you’re with Wheeler, what does this have to do with me?” Eddie rested his arms on Steve’s back, now accepting the fact that he won’t move.

“I didn’t.. I don’t want to.. I just.. fuck..” Steve whined. “I want you Eddie. I want you so badly, it physically hurts.” he finally stood up straight, eyes a bit foggy from all of the emotions that were causing a hurricane in him. Eddie turned his head away, looking down at the town like this whole thing didn’t matter. The truth was that it did matter. He tried to forget it, but he couldn’t. He loved Steve, it was more than obvious now, and it was like a dagger in the middle of his back when Steve got back with Nancy. Eddie felt betrayed and he tried to remove the dagger that was sinking into his skin deeper and deeper, but he just couldn’t seem to reach it. And now, on this cold night Steve offered to remove it himself and even heal the scar. “I’ll tell Nancy. I promise, I will.” Steve said, snapping Eddie back into reality. “Just please. I don’t want to let you go. I’m sorry for everything. I know it now that my place is next to you and I don’t care about anything else.”

This time Eddie got closer, sneaking his hand up onto Steve’s cold face that was colored rose red. He gently brushed his thumb over the sensitive skin and then softly touched Steve’s bottom lip.

“Big words, you know that?” Steve nodded, melting into the touch of his missed lover. “You have no clue what I felt when I saw you with her again. The way you said her name.. I wanted you to say my name like that. To tell everyone I’m yours. Such a daydream, right?” he smiled sadly. 

“Eddie..” Steve whispered and the name was more than crystal clear the silence of the night. “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie..” he started to repeat it with the burn of passion that rolled off from the tip of his tongue. “My Eddie.” he dared to kiss him, so urgent but slow at the same time. The last few months were more than hard but now everything seemed to be alright. 

Because Steve was nothing new, but for Eddie he was an old poem. And he memorized every line. 

[blzzrdstryr]

Reveries of changes

Yandere!Childe x Fatui!gn!reader

[Previous chapter] [Next chapter]

CW: Dissociation, mentions of rape, violence, unhealthy relationship, abuse of power.

Sometimes you find yourself asking what ifs. What if the Event never happened and you never received the vision? What if Ajax never developed his obsession with you? What if you treated him a little bit warmer? Would he be more tolerable? There are thousands of possible scenarios buzzing in your head, sometimes diverging just by words left unsaid or an outstretched hand being shaked. You know it’s a futile thing, thinking about the future and the present that you will never have, but you can’t stop, thoughts spiraling further and further.

This morning starts with the similar what if. What if I agreed to start again? The brief conversation from yesterday is still on your mind - you dread it’s another of the turning points in your relationship, just like the rejected handshake or the hospitalized recruit were. A moment after which there’ll be changes, changes that you won’t have time to prepare for. Speaking from the experience alone, Childe, like the rotten bastard he is, will act even worse from now on. It all started from teen Ajax following you and offering his friendship at every turn and somehow ended in him personally asking Tsaritsa to assign you to him, reducing you from a highly respectable Fatui agent skilled both in stealth and subterfuge to a glorified escort and a secretary.

One day he’ll just get tired from all of this and will forcefully bend me over in some dark murky corner, you darkly conclude, the remnants of the sleep leaving your body entirely at the grim thought. Or maybe he will break his promise not to cheat and will order me to do it.

Unwilling to think about the Ninth Wave of your unwanted relationships, you quickly stand up from the bed and start preparing for the day. Dressing and freshening up from the sleep you still mentally return to the darker place, cautious of what Tartaglia will pull out this time. Finally, you exit the door fully ready and lock the room, hiding the key under the clothes after, and make way to the fourth floor of the bank.

Here lies Childe’s working space and personal quarters , and if the former can be easily seen and entered just by walking up the stairs, the latter is hidden from view by the wall and massive door. There is a wide work desk and two armchairs placed too close for your comfort. You peek into the interior window, only to find it veiled by a thick curtain from the other side, so you decide to broaden the space between the chairs.

Satisfied with distance now, you sit at your place, taking a sheet out of the pile of documents, mostly consisting of reports of credits approved and money returned, unusually mundane yet highly classified information. Aside from accompanying Childe when he needs to beat and threaten the debts out of deadbeats, you also have to track the transactions the bank makes, a routine job consuming most of your daytime.

At the sixth or seventh fiscal account, you hear door opening and mentally brace for Ajax’s presence. Harbinger doesn’t smile, looking serious instead. You hope it has nothing to do with you, as it’s too early in the day for you to already deal with his usual mess.

“[First]”, you look up, staring at the bizarrely humorless Ajax looming over your sitting form. He clears his throat, as if he feels awkward right now, “Are you sure you won’t have one of your episodes?”

Your mind blanks for a second and then there’s a mix of shame and anger flooding your being and making you see red. Over the last months you spent working with him, he was the sole trigger of your affliction and now there are considerable gaps in your memory, in which you have absolutely no clue what happened to you. You had an inkling that Childe is aware that you are not always completely here, but a slap in the face with such casual mention is enough to render you wordless for a good minute.

“I... It happens only under certain circumstances”, you find your voice wavering and his face darkens, as he quickly catches unsaid ‘because of you’. Fortunately, he decides not to press it.

“There’s a problem at hands, one that needs your skills". These words make you do a double take - Ajax doesn't look like he's lying, speech lacking usual grandiose and bravado, yet you still can't believe he lets you return to your former work. You make a quick guess.

“Qixing?”

“Qixing” he nods,"their spies must have learned something about the sigils. It's a minor issue now, but if Tianquan or Yuheng will learn about it…"

"A diplomatic disaster and a permanent loss of Geo Archon's gnosis" you continue for him, “Fatui would be banned or seriously limited in Liyue and most of trade routes will be cut off, Ningguang can easily press sanctions against most of Snezhnayan import”. You frown at the thought, no matter what Fatui would do in such situations there's too much to lose and almost nothing to gain, even if you start destroying the investigation and replication of sigils right now, it will be a waste of possible weapons against Rex Lapis.

Then, there's one painless exit from the complicated mess: destruction of all meager material evidence and clues they somehow scraped together. Despite finally having a glimpse of a freedom, you don’t feel any excitement, but doubt instead - just a year ago, such operation would be another routine task for you, but now, having wasted months because of Childe's possessiveness, you can't help but feel incompetent.

You contemplate, glancing at him: on one hand, Tartaglia can easily send any other agents, but on the other hand, none of said agents possess a vision, a vision that you specifically molded to be a perfect tool for stealth and assassinations. He tilts his head, a hand impatiently drumming against the desk, waiting for your answer - you can infer his inner monologue - Tartaglia, just like you, is torn between his loyalty to Tsaritsa and his own feelings on the matter and this is what finally cements your decision.

You can almost see how much he itches to forbid you from taking the mission, but stops himself out of his sense of duty to Snezhnaya, and this knowledge fills you with darker type of satisfaction to the very brim: You lean back, pretending to still ponder over his words, enjoying the view of apprehensive Childe for once.

“I think, I can’t...” you start, your voice deliberately small and hesitant, watching how Ajax smiles again, convinced that you no longer have any confidence in your abilities, “let Snezhnaya be compromised in any way”.

He doesn’t let any of the anger and frustration show on his face, yet the drumming ceases, leaving you two in the silence, save for the sounds of the street coming out of the window.

You know you’re poking at the sleeping tiger, letting a childish impulses to guide your words, but the opportunity to upset Harbinger are much harder to come by these days: he took away your job, your delusion and your freedom, the least he can do to compensate is suffer in return.

“Alright”, he finally says and fails to hold back disappointed sigh “agent [Last]. Your delusion is in Ekaterina’s possession, just as the rest of the equipment. You will start tonight, information is in the upper left drawer. You have no right to fail, if you do I will write a complaint to Tsaritsa against you and personally oversee that you will be discharged”.

It’s a gambling game then, and terribly unfair at that - even if you win it won’t set you free or relocate under someone easier to handle and Tartaglia loses virtually nothing by allowing you to roam out of his sight for one night only, and by failing you will literally had your life into Childe’s eager hands.

You won’t let the bastard triumph.

***

After getting your gear and delusion back, you spend the rest of the day reading the data and mentally preparing for what is about to come. The qixing base you're to infiltrate is located awfully near the current place of sigil research, as if Ningguang or whoever planted it here already suspected Fatui from the start. The base itself is disguised as an ancient Liyuen ruin with a couple of deactivated ruin hunters placed nearby to scare off the adventurers who no doubt will try to explore it.

You are almost panting when you finally reach it - turns out that despite being easily visible from afar, the base is surrounded by the tall and steep cliffs from all sides, with the only passage bound to be guarded. Invoking to the power of your vision, you effortlessly become invisible to the eye, enter the building and almost rush back the same second - there’s a millelith passing nearby in whom you almost bumped in.

Heart racing you enter the building again, walking on half bent legs to minimize the sounds, and avoid milleliths on your way. They feel a sudden rush of frosty air, but seeing no one nearby, just write it off as a sudden midnight chill. You continue to make your way, peeking into each room, forcing yourself to remain in this form longer and longer, body aching and freezing from the overuse. Finally you see it - a stack of documents placed on the bamboo table near the oil lamp in a conveniently empty room.

Your hand is already extended to push the lamp and fake an accidental fire, when you decide to investigate the papers - it’s better to learn what qixing already knows. Your eyes quickly peruse a liyuen script, characters upon other characters - a report about suspicious activities, a detailed intelligence of Northland’s spendings and thankfully, not a word of sigils, except the note stating that Fatuis are buying a considerable amount of paper and ink.

Having memorized each of the documents, you throw the lamp now, a flame quickly spreading to the documents and soon consuming a whole table. Someone in the corridor screams about fire, four milleliths rushing in the room and you use this distraction to sneak out. Having escaped the borders of the faux ruin you quickly run, still maintaining invisibility, and only when you reach the cliffs again do you allow yourself to rest.

After climbing over the rocks, the rest of the trail is spent between jogging and walking, frost from the vision still residing inside. Bitter chill slows down your movements and you can’t help, but shiver from time to time, arms and legs aching and burning from it. You eye the pyro delusion and consider using it - unlike a cryo vision that you sculpted for secrecy and agility, the delusion is more battle-focused, able to produce quick bursts of fire in the rare occasions you get into a brawl.

Suddenly, a ball of flames explodes near you - a whopperflower bursts out of the ground, sensing you in proximity. You dodge another fireball, instinctively flinching at the sudden flash of light and send an ice blade it's way. It slightly grazes the creature's skin, yet a mimetic plant rushes back under the ground as you summon another icicle and swiftly stab it in the "head" the second it emerges again.

The plant dies in convulsion, it’s reddish walls contracting around the blade, a fast stream of boiling hot energy nectar shooting from the wound the moment you pull away the weapon. You curse, as some of the liquid hits you on the leg, burning a part of your pants and scorching the flesh underneath. Hissing and gritting teeth, you use your vision again, now to soothe a throbbing pain.

Well, at least I am not freezing anymore.

You return at the first rays of dawn, dull pain still lingering in the lower body, pulsating and echoing every step. Slightly drowsy Nadia at the entrance nods at you, her gaze at your wound obvious even with a mask on, and you nod back, a wordless exchange providing a slight reprieve, before you have to deal with Childe again.

“Hard day?”, she asks right before you enter, a pale shadow of concern in her voice. You frown, confused by the sudden disquiet.

“Something happened?”

“Uhm”, a small pause, “the boss. He was restless tonight, very restless”.

Ah, shit.

“Well, that is unpleasant” you deadpan, any remaining desire to go inside the bank vanishing the same second: “Thank you anyways” and then you step in.

Harbinger waits right there in an absolutely empty lobby - it seems that Ekaterina’s shift hasn't started yet. He’s leaning on the wall, head turning to you as you enter and immediately noticing the state of your leg. His expression grows darker, when you thought he would lighten up at your perceived failure instead.

"Who did this to you?" he asks, hints of steel appearing in his voice. You lift your eyebrows - no teasing, starters or bravado. Maybe he's so impatient to hear about your failure that he forgot to keep up the act?

You swat away his question, deciding to report on your mission instead - documents were destroyed by a set up accident, none of the qixing and milleliths saw you; he doesn’t seem to listen though, eyes still glued to the burn and then he repeats his question, voice taking the dangerous tone.

“No one, no one did it. It was an accident on the way back”, he isn’t convinced judging by the way he grabs your arm, his monstrous strength evident in the steel trap grip. “Damn” you cuss, trying to free your hand - if Tartaglia learns that you let the whopperflower of all things injure you, he won’t let you live it down and will weaponise it, to point out your so-called incompetence over and over again.

“Let me go” you tug harder, a vision coming back to life from the distress. You pull away your wrist from him again and again and then you hear it first and feel it second - a small cracking sound and a sharp pain, shooting up your arm - you broke a bone. It’s too sudden for you to realize what happened or even properly sense the shock of ache.

He lets go of you in the same second, eyes looking blankly at the injured hand. His lips thin and he exhales, in a long and strangely controlled manner - seeing Childe act and look so emotionless is sure bizarre. He hauls you up bridal carry style, ripping out a low hiss of pain as his clothes rub against the burn, and directs himself to the stairs. You're too busy gritting your teeth and trying not to cry in front of Childe to notice him climbing past the third floor and only when he opens the door to his room with a kick do you finally snap back to reality.

Despite working for him for months now, you enter his quarters for the first time. It's a spacious place, with a wide bed and writing desk located near the window. There are different weapons decorating the walls - swords, claymores, spears - all with the traces of use, and a small pile of trinkets and children's toys on the desk, placed right near the started letter, some of them already half wrapped - must be a gift for someone, then.

He sets you down on the bed and turns to the wall, taking a dagger from its place and some small container. A part of you gets scared all of the sudden - you remember your morning thoughts and all those instances when his eyes focused on your body for far too long to be innocent or comfortable. Is this it? Did he get so fed up with you that he decided to drop any pretense and abandon the cat-and-mouse game you two seemed to have?

Ignoring the pain in both limbs you jolt for the exit - there’s no meaning in fighting him, yet you can still flee, lock in your room and then plan what to do. “Stop it” he says, a warning clear in his voice, and to your frustration it’s enough to glue you in place. You look at him, heart booming in your chest, barely suppressing a flinch at every step he’s taking. He leads you back to the bed, as you feel the world warping around you again and the worst part is that you can’t stop it - It’s unfair, I can’t leave, not yet, I will hate myself for the rest of my life if it happens.

He kneels down, blade slicing through the pants as you forget how to breath. His figure deforms, a dark blue sea leaking out of the dead fish eyes and you see great leviathans lurking underneath the surface. Childe is the ocean, in a sense that he contains horrors beyond the human imagination. He is the great sleeping kraken that will swallow the world and you are his first victim.

His hand takes something out of the container and you expect it to burn and to hurt you, but instead there’s a muffled soothing feeling that comes, an unintentional “ah” coming out of your mouth. He doesn’t force himself and patches you up on the contrary.

You come back to yourself little by little, when he almost finishes with ministrations, leg and wrist looking like two casts. It feels bizarre to come back to your body halfway, to see Ajax kneeling in front of you, head hung low and it’s even weirder to hear his voice, hurt and utterly defeated: “So that’s what you think of me”.

He helps you come back to your room, as you still feel dazed. You pinch yourself a couple of times, still unable to believe that any of these happenings are real, they are.

A turning point, you conclude, there’s no way anything will stay the same after this.

You both dread and anticipate the changes.

[ravennm84]

Serafina

Part 2     Part 3

Based on @unmaskedagain post “Marinette’s Haunted Doll” this is my take on the story and the kind of things Serafina would have done to get even. There’ll be three parts, and will hopefully be posted through the week. Blood, gore, and character death ahead. You have been warned.

She was seven years old when her Grandma Gina’s sister, Ramona, passed away. Marinette couldn’t remember ever meeting her. Her dad said that she was a very private person and didn’t get out much. Since she had never married or had any children, all of her relatives were asked to come over to the house and divide the property before the rest was sold and equally divided. 

While her parents had been in the kitchen, looking over some family cook books, Marinette had wandered around the old house until she came to a small room. It was full of spiderwebs and old toys, which greatly interested her. She spent a long time looking through the boxes and shelves until she found a locked chest in the closet. Remembering the key she had seen in a dresser drawer, she retrieved it to see if it worked. It was hard to turn, but she heard the click and was able to open the lid. Inside was a box with an envelope laying on top of it. Curious she opened the envelope and read the note as best as she could.

“If I’m dead, Serafina killed me.”

Tilting her head in curiosity, Marinette set the letter aside and opened the box. Inside was an old looking porcelain doll. It was covered in spiderwebs, the dress was old and ripped, she was missing a shoe, and the hat looked like it was stained with red paint. 

“Are you Serafina?” She asked the doll before carefully lifting it out of the box. “I don’t think you’re bad, you just look lonely. But don’t worry, I’ll take care of you!” Giving the doll a gentle hug, the little girl got to her feet and left the room and letter behind. Finding her parents, she asked if it was okay to take the doll home so she could take care of her.

Tom remembered seeing that doll when he was a kid and had always thought it was creepy, but if his little girl saw the good in it, he would trust her. And since none of the other relatives wanted anything to do with the doll, it came home with them. 

Once home, the little girl raced up to her room with the doll and immediately got to work. She threw away the old dress, hat, and shoe before cleaning away all the dirt with a washcloth and carefully combing out the knotted hair. Then Marinette got to work on making Serafina a brand new outfit with new shoes and a hat. It took a few days, but she was really happy with what she came up with: a pink Victorian dress with rose and pearl accents, a wide brimmed hat with maroon feathers, and maroon slippers that tied with ribbons around the ankles.

Proud of what she had made, Marinette held the doll up high as she twirled around her room. She had been interested in fashion and clothes for months now, and making the pretty outfit for Serafina was a lot of fun. If anything, it proved to her that fashion design was what she wanted to do.

“I hope you like your new clothes, Serafina. You make the perfect little model, so I hope you don’t mind if I make more clothes for you later on. I promise to only make you clothes that will make you feel pretty.” Giving the doll a kiss, Marinette placed her next to her computer before skipping down stairs for dinner.

~oOo~

Serafina had not been expecting this when the young girl, Marinette, had opened her box. It had been decades since anyone had shown her any kindness. For so many years, she had been passed from person to person, shoved into boxes and hidden from sight or attempted to be sold off. Serafina had had no choice but to punish many of her past owners, and she had not been lax with their punishments. 

But she didn’t feel the need to do that with Marinette, this girl was different. She wasn’t afraid of her. She didn’t scorn her and hide her away where no one could see her. No, this girl was kind and made Serafina feel loved; something she hadn’t felt in nearly a hundred years. Staying with Marinette, she knew that she would be happy. So, no one needed to die here.

And she was.

The porcelain doll smiled quietly on Marinette’s desk as the years passed, and felt more for this girl than she could remember with anyone else. She felt beautiful whenever Marinette used her to experiment with a new outfit before she would make a full sized outfit for herself. She had fun when the girl would sing and dance around the room, sometimes even picking her up so she could dance with her. She felt entertained when she would play movies on her computer, one time watching a movie about a haunted doll like herself; they didn’t watch much before she turned it off, but Serafina thought it was funny. Scratching people and leaving notes wasn’t scary, she had done much scarier things than that.

As Marinette grew into a teen, Serafina felt proud as she grew from a shy girl into a fearless superhero. Her owner had a lot of love and light to give, so it made sense to her that she became Ladybug. She also felt scared for the girl, not wanting to lose her to Hawkmoth, but silently promised her that if she was ever hurt, the people who hurt her would pay her back in blood.

Serafina was also aware of the tiny god that gave Marinette her power, just as Tikki was aware of her. No doubt, the god could sense the darkness that dwelled in her porcelain body, but realized that she cared for the girl and would not harm her. So the little god wisely said nothing, she would hate it if Marinette suddenly feared her.

After all, the three of them were happy and at peace.

Until the day Marinette came storming into her room, complaining about a girl named Lila. From what she could hear, this girl was a liar and was using her friends. Knowing how much her human cared for other people, that didn’t sit well with how it would affect her. Then she didn’t hear anything about the girl for months. But when she was mentioned again, it quickly got worse from there. 

Serafina heard about the threats, the lies, almost being akumatized, her crush Adrien telling her to take the high road, all of it. She watched as one by one, her friends turned against her. Bullying her while accusing her of being a bully until only three of her classmates remained. She knew that the teacher and principal were useless and even accused Marinette of being a problem, especially after the expulsion. Serafina had nearly enacted her revenge that day, but held back when she was reinstated the next day.

Nathaniel, Rose, and Juleka were the only people left that believed her or even bothered to try and help in her class. There was also Kagami and Luka, Juleka’s brother. Serafina would admit, that boy was sharper than most. When he first saw her, his blue eyes studied her intently for a long moment until Marinette spoke up.

“That’s Serafina, she’s been passed down through my family for a long time. She was in really bad condition when I got her and took a lot of work to get her fixed up, but it was worth it. She was my first ever model and I’ve never felt lonely since she’s been around.”

Luka looked back over at the doll and gave her a smile. “I can tell, I’d bet no one gave her the proper love or attention until she came to you. And I think, if she could talk, she would say that you kept her from feeling lonely too, and all she wants is for you to be happy.”

Serafina liked that boy, a lot more than she had liked Adrien when he had come to play video games. The boy genuinely seemed to care for Marinette. And even though he could somehow sense that she was more than just a doll, he didn’t spill her secret. Yes, she approved of this one.

And then, less than a week after she returned to school, came the worst day. They were taking pictures at the school and Marinette had worked so hard on a new dress; it was pale purple cotton with teacup sleeves, a tulip skirt and pink lace at the hem. It was so sweet and looked like she was going to a spring tea party. Then half way through the day, she came into her room crying. Her makeup was smeared, there were bruises and scratch marks on her arms, another bruise on her cheek, her hair was a mess and covered in dark blue paint. The same paint that covered almost half of the dress. Tikki was doing her best to comfort the girl as she showered. Marinette was unable to save her dress and ended up throwing it away before she cried herself to sleep on her bed. 

Serafina was angry, the kind of anger she hadn’t felt since Ramona had attempted to burn her in the fireplace… and that hadn’t gone well for her. Tikki flew over to face her. “I know what you’re thinking and I can’t condone you falling into old habits and killing her entire class. Despite how much they’ve hurt her, it would still break her heart if they all suddenly died.”

The doll actually considered that for a moment before picturing some very specific people. Lila, the liar that was trying to take away/destroy the person she cared about. Alya, the best friend that betrayed her, acted like a hypocrite, and took joy in hurting her. Adrien, the boy that not only broke his promise to help her as a civilian, but continually harassed her as a pseudo-hero. And finally, Hawkmoth, the person that was constantly putting her in danger. Everyone else that had harmed her would be punished, paying back the harm they had done to Marinette in blood, but those four would pay with their lives.

Tikki shook her head. “As angry as I am with Adrien, you can’t kill him. Marinette still has feelings for him and if he dies, she might never get over him. I can’t stop you from punishing them, but please try not to kill them. You know that she has a big heart and it would hurt her to lose any of them, so please keep that in mind.”

Serafina would have argued, but the little god was right. Killing around Marinette would only upset her. So she would do her best to punish them without killing them… although, accidents do happen. 

~oOo~

It was easy enough to sneak herself into Marinette’s bag the next day of school. It was even easier to select her first victims. One of her classmates, Kim, stole her backpack and dumped out all of her stuff, including her. The boy laughed about Marinette bringing a doll to school as he ran up the stairs to keep it away from her. It took little effort to make the boy trip, in full view of everyone that had been watching, and fall backwards down the steps. 

Serafina had landed at the top landing with a perfect view of the boy’s tumble, and it was oh so satisfying. She could see his knee bent in the wrong direction, a bone in his arm protruding from the skin, and blood dripping from the cuts and open wounds. But the sound was even better, all the cracking and popping of bone before he began crying like a little girl, begging for his mom.  Ah, she hadn’t realized how much she had missed those sounds.

When the principal came out to see what was happening, she hid her presence and let the principal trip over her and fall as well. He even landed on Kim, causing more injuries to both of them. She held back a laugh as the grown man wailed and cried until the paramedics arrived. Loading the two into the ambulance while one of the teachers called the Board of Governors. A representative, M. Rupere, quickly came to take over the principal’s duties while he was gone, and was surprised when a bunch of students tried to blame Marinette for the incident.

“And how is it her fault?” He asked the students that surrounded him. “Did you see her push or trip M. Le Chien or M. Damocles down the stairs?

“Marinette brought in a doll and Kim was distracted by it when he was going up the stairs, that’s how he tripped and fell,” Lila told him with tears in her eyes. “Then M. Damocles tripped over the doll and fell down the stairs too. It’s just like how she pushed me down the stairs last week and I hurt my knee. I think she’s actually trying to hurt people.”

The man looked at Lila for a moment before looking to the top of the stairs, but there was no doll there. Then he looked back at Lila with a stern glare. “Young lady, if you had been pushed down the stairs last week, you would have been severely injured just like your friend or M. Damocles. And whether or not it was Mlle. Dupain-Cheng’s doll that caused the incident or not, does not mean that she is at fault for the accident. To the principal’s office, right now. I think we should have a discussion as to why you are trying to blame another student for something she did not do.”

Totally shocked, the girl looked around to her followers for some support, but they were now looking at her with uncertainty. They had just seen two people fall down the stairs and receive severe injuries, so how was Lila walking around just fine without a scratch on her? Huffing in annoyance, Lila stomped her way to the office while the class stared after her, most of them noticing the lack of limp to her walk.

Serafina was pleased with how this was turning out, she had already punished two of the people that had betrayed Marinette and had begun sewing seeds of doubt with the liar. At the moment, she was hiding in the classroom, observing everyone so she could figure out the best way to punish them. She noticed Rose, Juleka, and Nathaniel sitting close to the girl and doing their best to comfort her. She also noticed Nino, a boy she had seen a couple of times over the years, casting looks back at Marinette. 

During the first break, the boy cautiously approached her, clutching his hat in his hands. “Hey dudette, listen… I, um, wanted to say I was sorry,” he said, having a hard time looking her in the eye. “After Kim fell, what that Governor dude said about Lila not being hurt, and the fact that I’ve known you forever. I felt so stupid. You would never push someone down the stairs or cheat or steal from someone like that. And I tried looking up Jagged’s discography to see if there was any mention of a song about Lila, and there was literally nothing. I tried telling Alya, but she didn’t want to listen and-”

Nino was interrupted by Marinette giving him a hug. Serafina smiled at that. The boy had thought for himself and admitted that he was wrong. He apologized and Marinette was willing to offer him forgiveness. She supposed that Nino could also be exempt from punishment, so long as he never betrayed the girl again.

Half way through the second lesson, Lila had returned to the class with two weeks worth of detention and had a meeting scheduled with herself, M. Rupere, and her mother at the end of the week. Serafina decided to let the girl’s empire fall before going in to completely destroy her.

During lunch, when all the students had left. Serafina got to work on punishing Mme. Bustier. She started by slamming the door shut, it made the woman jump and look around the room, but there was no one there. Then the giggling started, causing her to look around the room again. This time, she walked up the steps to see if anyone was hiding in the room, but she was completely alone. When she turned back to her desk, the papers she had been grading were torn to pieces. A bit panicked, Bustier tried to run out of the room, but the door was locked. As she struggled with the door, she heard the scraping of chalk and froze for a moment before looking at the board. Large words were scrawled in block letters: LIAR, ENABLER, MEAN, CRUEL, and the most frightening of all, YOU WILL PAY.

Bustier’s hands were shaking as she erased the words from the board, not understanding what was happening. Only taking a breath when the door opened and her students began to file in. Serafina quietly laughed at the teacher’s fear, she was another person that she would take her time in punishing. Payback for failing to help Marinette. For now, it was time to take out her biggest supporter. 

Again, it was much easier than it should have been to sneak herself in Alya’s backpack and go home with her. When the girl found her she sneered. “The klutz must have put you in my bag by mistake.” Then she smiled cruelly at her. “I think I’ll give you to Etta and Ella to play with before giving you back to Maribrat, maybe tell them that you need a makeover and give them some permanent markers too.”

Turning to take the doll out to her sisters, she stubbed her toe on her desk chair hard enough that she felt a crack and dropped back on her butt while hissing in pain. When she was finally able to think past the pain, she realized that she had dropped the doll and didn't see it on the floor. After wrapping her foot, she looked all over her room but couldn’t find it anywhere.

That night, things got… more than scary. Alya was absolutely terrified.

First, her computer turned on, on its own, and started printing off papers saying “YOU KNOW THE TRUTH”. She turned the computer off, only for it to turn back on after she’d climbed into bed and the browser pulled up past searches; specifically, the searches that proved that Lila had been lying. She had found that out after Lila had disappeared from school for months, but had kept to herself so she wouldn’t lose her credibility on her blog or have to admit to Marinette that she’d been right. Turning it off again, she’d decided to sleep on the couch when her phone suddenly let out a hiss and burst into flames.  

Letting out a shriek, Alya rushed to her door, and had just barely opened it when it slammed shut on her fingers, causing her to scream as she struggled to pull her hand free. She could hear her parents and Nora shouting on the other side of the door, trying to push it open, but it wouldn’t budge. Her head got fuzzy and she suddenly felt cold, she realized that she was going into shock. Her parents’ shouts became garbled background noise and Alya heard the sound of tiny feet running around the room. She tried reaching the light switch so she could see, but it was out of reach.

From the light outside her window, she could barely make out the movement of a small shadow, moving from one part of the room to another. Coming closer and closer to her with every sweep. Alya began tugging harder on the doorknob and her hand. She needed to get out. Something was in the room with her. She could almost feel the darkness creeping closer. It wanted to hurt her!

What happened next, Serafina couldn’t have planned better if she’d tried. Alya jerked back her trapped arm and the doorknob at the same time Nora threw her shoulder into the door as hard as she could. Sending the teenagers flying into her bedside table and her head hitting the corner with an audible *crack*. The doll smiled silently in the corner of the room as the paramedics were called and listened to her parents cries for their horrid daughter to wake up. They called time of death at 2:03am.

~oOo~

It was a bit more of a chore for Serafina to get back to the school, but it was still manageable as her mother had to inform the school of her daughter’s death and pick up her things. The woman had also noticed the information that had been brought up on Alya’s computer and thought that she had been up late chasing a lead. And as the lead had to do with the disturbing behavior of one of her daughter’s classmates, she thought it best to show the acting principal the information before taking her leave. 

Making her way back to the classroom, she saw that the news had spread already. Nino seemed to be hit the hardest, as it was his girlfriend, but he would get over it. Kim was still out of class, and likely would be for a few more days. Tikki saw the doll when she was peeking out of the purse and gave her a disapproving glare, but there was nothing she could do. And in Serafina’s defense, she had only intended on maiming the failed journalist, her death had been an “accident”.

When class let out for lunch, Serafina got back to work tormenting Mme. Bustier. Today, the door slammed and locked shut a few minutes after the last student left. The woman shrieked and was struggling to open the door when the giggling started again. Bustier started screaming for it to “go away” but the giggling continued. Turning back to the door, books began flying at her from all over the room, hitting her chest, back, arms since they were shielding her head.

Then the door opened to show a panicked looking M. Rupere. “I heard screaming, are you alright?” The red haired teacher looked extremely frazzled; her hair was a mess, eyes wide and dilated, and her hands were shaking.

“The books,” she said in a trembling voice. “There was giggling, the door wouldn’t open, and the books attacked me. And this was the second time!”

His eyebrows rose to his hairline as he stared at the woman. “Did you see who was throwing the books at you?”

Bustier shook her head in a frantic manner. “There was no one, the books just started flying at me after the giggling.”

Giving her a slow nod, Rupere gently motioned her to step out of the room ahead of him. “How about you take the rest of the day to recover? Some rest will do you some good.” 

To his relief, Mme. Bustier agreed and collected her purse before leaving the school. Looking around the room, he was confused to see all the books in place on the shelves. Curious, he went to examine her desk and saw essay papers… covered in red ink with large “F’s” on every one of them. Reading the paper on top, all he saw were a few grammar mistakes, nothing that should have resulted in a failing grade. A bit unsettled, Rupere called the Board to schedule a psychological exam for the teacher. Serafina watched the man with satisfaction, at the rate she was going with that terrible teacher, she wouldn’t be around much longer.

Her next victims were Max and Alix during science class. She switched a couple of labels on the tubs on their desk before hiding in the room to enjoy the show. Half-way through class, Max poured a large amount of reactive chemical into the mix while it was warming over a burner, and the glass exploded. The two screamed and cursed in pain as Max tried wiping the liquid away from his face, only succeeding in getting more in his eyes. Alix tried wiping it away with a cloth, not noticing in time that the fabric was also soaked in the chemicals that now covered her entire face.

Serafina was impressed with how quickly Mme. Mendeleiev reacted to the incident. Doaning on gloves in an instant and leading the two students to the chemical wash station. Both students looked to have chemical burns on their faces, arms and necks. She could already see the burns covering a large amount of their exposed skin. While the class was distracted, Serafina switched the labels back so it would appear that the two had not been doing as instructed.

When school let out, the doll hid away in Mylene’s bag and ended up going on a date with the girl and Ivan. They commented on the bad luck their class seemed to be having and wondered out loud at what the cause might have been.

Mylene was hesitant to speak as the two ate their ice cream. “Do you think… maybe it’s karma coming back on our class?”

“Why do you think that?” Ivan asked her, seeming genuinely curious. Deciding that their conversation might lead to something more, Serafina waited and listened.

“It’s just… ever since Kim fell down the stairs, it’s got me thinking. Lila says that Marinette pushed her but the only injury she says she got was a bad knee, and she’s been walking around fine since then. And then she tried blaming Marinette for Kim and M. Damocles, when Kim shouldn’t have been running up the stairs and M. Damocles tripped at the top of the stairs when she was still down in the courtyard.”

“You’re right, now that I think about it. Lila lied to that new principal and she did it really easy.” Ivan nodded slowly, his brow creased as he pulled out his phone. “I wonder if she lied about anything else.” Mylene watched over his shoulder as he looked up the story about saving Jagged Stone’s kitten from an airplane. There was nothing, the only article that came up about a pet was his crocodile, Fang. The story said that he had hatched the reptile himself seventeen years earlier and any other pet wouldn’t be as rock’n’roll as Fang. “I don’t think Jagged ever had a cat, this article says that he’s only had Fang for longer than we’ve been around.”

Mylene pulled out her phone and called Rose, putting the call on speaker when she answered. 

“Hi Mylene, did you hear anything about Max and Alix? Are they going to be okay?” The girl asked as soon as she picked up.

“Ivan and I haven’t heard anything about them yet, but we have a question for you, Rose, and it’s something only you would be able to answer.”

There was a slight pause on the line. “Go ahead.”

“Do you still chat with Prince Ali?”

“Sure I do! We video chat every Saturday and I send him videos of our performances with Kitty Section. Why do you ask?”

“Ivan and I were wondering… Has he ever mentioned Lila to you?”

There was another pause, although they could hear a hushed conversation in the background. “So, you guys figured out the truth about Lila?” When they didn’t respond right away, Rose continued. “I found out a few weeks after Lila says she came back from Achu. I mentioned Lila to Ali and asked him about the charities they had been working on together, but he’d never heard of her. And Ali is only working on charities involving children, nothing with the environment. When Juleka and I tried asking Lila about it, she got really mean and threatened us if we told anyone. I would have been akumatized if Marinette hadn’t been there to calm me down.”

Ivan and Mylene were horrified, not only had Lila been lying to them, but she had threatened Rose, Juleka, and probably Marinette too. “What should we do?”

“First, you should apologize to Marinette for how you’ve been treating her and let her know that you know the truth.” They heard Juleka over the phone. “Lila has been more terrible to her than anyone else and she keeps getting in Lila’s way to protect us and Nathaniel since we know the truth about her.”

“Who all knows?” Ivan asked, feeling a bit sick to his stomach. Sure, he and Mylene hadn’t really hurt her or done anything, but they hadn’t stood up for her either and they were supposed to be her friend.

“Us, Luka, Kagami, Nathaniel figured it out when she said she could introduce him to Stan Lee, Nino figured it out yesterday, and Adrien’s apparently known from the start but didn’t say anything because he doesn’t think her lies are hurting anybody.”

Both of them could hear the acid in Juleka’s voice when she mentioned Adrien, and they couldn’t argue with her. They knew he had led a sheltered life, but how could he claim that ‘lies don’t hurt anybody’ after sitting back and watching Lila and her friends torment and bully Marinette?

Mylene hadn’t even realized that she had asked that question out loud until Rose answered them. “He told us that it was Marinette’s own fault for antagonizing Lila, and ‘If she just took the high road like I told her, then Lila would leave her alone’. It took everything I had not to slap him.”

Coming from Rose, that really was saying something.

Serafina was then taken on a shopping trip to an arts supplies store, a card shop, and a stop at an ATM before going to Marinette’s family’s bakery. She smiled quietly and with great respect to the couple as they apologized to her girl, gave her cards, an entire bolt of soft purple cotton the same color that her ruined dress had been, a new sketchbook, and money to pay her back for some of the things that Marinette had given them over the past year. They even asked her to provide them with proper receipts, and admitted that they knew the amount they had given her wasn’t enough to cover everything. But they promised to pay her back before asking for anything else, as well as pay in advance for any future items or baked goods. 

The little doll would have cried right along with Marinette if she could. These two had proven themselves to her and would avoid punishment, just as Nino had.

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[wonunuu]

iris beauty ❀

40: getting closer

✎ synopsis: falling for a guy is never easy, especially when your best friend of many years basically claimed him; you and mina have been friends for as long as you can remember, but your loyalty and trust are tested when she asks you to pretend to be her in meeting a guy she had been talking to online and you unintentionally start to develop feelings for him.

✎ genre: romance, angst, comedy

✎ pairing: reader x yoon jeonghan

✎ word count: 1.6k+

✎ warnings: suggestive

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a/n: i gotta question.. do you think pet names between couples is cute? cos like me, no lol i mean like the only one i'd accept is "my love" but idk i just don't know (this has nothing to do with the au lmaoo just a thought in pj's little brain)

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2:41

After your overtime shift at the café, you head back to your apartment to grab your textbooks. Finals were approaching, and there is no doubt that you were stressed. You need to, not only pass in your exams, but also excel in all of them to get at least a 3.8 GPA, and this is the only acceptable grade for you if you wanted to get accepted into a medical school.

So, studying has been your number one priority for the past couple of days. You and Vernon, your study buddy, have been in and out of the campus library to do nothing else but study. And that’s where you’re heading again. 

“I’m almost there,” you manage to say, panting, while jogging towards the library where an impatient Vernon was waiting. For what felt like three weeks of jogging, the familiar building finally came in sight. There were countless students, some whose faces you’ve seen before, were making their way in--probably has the same reason as you. With this many students going there to study, you knew there would be competition in getting the tables and booths first, and you mentally scold yourself for arriving late. 

“Can you be any slower?” Vernon rolls his eyes teasingly, earning him a light punch on the shoulder from you. The two of you head in and look for available spots. You checked the first floor, but they were all packed. As well as the second, third and fourth floor. Your legs felt like they were about to fall off, tired and numb from climbing an endless amount of stairs. Not to mention, you were also carrying textbooks that’s equivalent to the weight of three elephants stacked together in your bag, and you say that with no exaggeration.

“There’s one,” he points to an empty desk just by the window. As you are walking, from the side of your eye, you see another group of students pointing at it and making their way. You increase your speed, dragging Vernon behind you, so that you could get there first before they could. Fortunately, just before they got there, you slapped your hand on the table. 

“Scram, freshmans,” you growled and Vernon crosses his arms, smirks. The group of friends roll their eyes before they walk away, and you smile in victory. Some would say your actions were a little immature, especially that comment you made, but you gotta do what you gotta do to survive. Afterwards, you and Vernon take your seats, and start your hours of studying. 

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9:28

Opening the door to the apartment, you were surprised to see Jeonghan sitting on your couch, watching the television. You walk behind him and snake your hands around his shoulders, wrapping him in a warm hug, and nuzzle your head between his neck. 

“Another long day at the library?” He caresses your hands and you nod in response. “Have you eaten?” he asks. You remove your hands and walk around the couch. You lay down and place your head on his lap. “I can make you something if you want,” he offers. 

“Will you?” you look at him, smiling. You’ve never really imagined Jeonghan cooking before. You don’t even know if he knows how to. But you weren’t going to turn down his generous offer to cook for you, whatever the result may be.

Jeonghan stands up and heads to the kitchen, and you watch him from the couch. He opens the cupboards, takes out the pan and places it on the stove. He then opens the fridge, looking for anything he can cook. To your surprise, he takes out a bag with a logo of your favourite restaurant. 

You cock your head to the side as your eyebrows meet. “I thought you were going to cook for me. That’s take out.” You stated, pointing at the bag he was holding. “I am going to cook. I’m gonna heat it up. That counts,” Jeonghan looks at you and gives you a smile that displays his teeth. Disbelief is all you feel. You scoff at his reply, and feeling too tired to argue, you lay back down. 

Jeonghan has been nothing but supportive these past couple of days. When you and Vernon were at the library, he would drop by to give you two snacks and drinks. Sometimes, like today, he would use the spare keys you gave him to enter your apartment to clean up so you wouldn’t do it when you get home. Embarrassed, you told him to stop cleaning your mess, but he said it wasn’t a big deal and that he didn’t want you to come home to such an unkempt apartment--the unorganized sight causes more stress, he adds.

You were grateful for everything Jeonghan has done, yes. But you can’t help but think of one specific person who used to do the same. Who used to tell you to eat before you go to bed, who reminded you to drink water, who reassured you that you would pass your exams, and who comforted you when things didn’t turn out the way you hoped for. Joshua has never left your mind since he went away. Often, you wondered what he might be doing and where he might be. You’ve had multiple urges to send him a text or ring his phone to check up on him, but you thought he might want some space. You knew he would come back when he’s ready, and you were willing to move on from the past and start anew with him. Gosh, you miss him.

“Mind telling me what’s in that pretty head of yours?” Jeonghan disrupts your thoughts as he walks towards you, holding a plate. He sits down and offers his free hand to help you up. You grab his hand and use your abdominal muscle to sit up. 

He hands you the plate and you take it from him, and immediately, the aroma makes your mouth salivate. “Mhmm,” you murmured, “this looks delicious. Thank you, Han.” 

Your boyfriend nods and urges you to take a bite. So you did. 

“What about you,” you ask after swallowing your first bite. 

“I’m okay, babe. Just eat, hmm?” Jeonghan smiles while reaching his hand to your face to tuck your hair behind your ear. You felt bad that you were the only one eating, so you feed him. At first he refused, but quickly cave in when you pouted. 

The two of you sat on your couch, taking turns to feed each other. Sometimes, he would follow up a bite with a soft peck or two--he called it a quick served dessert. You rolled your eyes at his corny remark, but you couldn’t hide the rosy tint on your cheeks as the blood rushes through them.

Jeonghan absolutely loved spending these little moments with you. No words can ever explain the feelings he gets when he hears your laughter--your smile alone is enough to make his heart melt as if it was ice cream under a fifty degree celsius summer day. He would not exchange this moment for anything else. There is nothing he wants more than to spend time with the person he loves most. 

After your meal, you head to the kitchen and quickly wash the dishes before going back to sit with Jeonghan. You plop yourself beside him and he takes his arm and wraps it around your shoulder. You do the same as you snake both your arms around his waist and rest your head on his chest, where the sound of his heartbeat is clear and audible. You don’t know if you just really love to hear his heart beat because you love him, or if it’s because of your longing profession of becoming a doctor. You think it’s a combination of both. 

“What should we watch?” Jeonghan asks as he flips through shows and movies available on netflix. You shrugged your shoulders and told him you were okay with any. Soon, the two of you settled with Grey’s Anatomy--a show you absolutely loved. Jeonghan was never a fan of medical shows or whatsoever, but if his girl was going to be a doctor, he’ll have to get familiar with some terminologies, right? 

Three episodes have passed and the two of you were still in the same position as before, cuddled on the couch. You were still watching intently, but you were not so sure about Jeonghan though. Not seeing his face, you guess that he probably fell asleep when you guys were just halfway through the first episode. You didn’t mind though. He deserved to rest. 

However, your guess was proven wrong when you suddenly feel his kiss at the top of your head, causing you to giggle. He did it again, and again, and again, each lasting longer than the previous one, and moving lower and lower. Kissing as a form of affection has become a normal thing between the two of you now. But this time, Jeonghan’s kisses feel more than just affection.

Images in your head started popping in, making your heart rate increase and your breathing pattern to change. 

“Yn,” Jeonghan softly whispers to your ears, making your insides churn, “are you okay?”

Fuck it. 

You unwrap your arms from his body and take your hands straight to cup his face, taking him by surprise. You close your eyes and lean in to kiss his lips. He freezes for  ma second but quickly melts right into the kiss. He uses his hands to take hold of your waist and pulls you in front of him. You oblige and place your knees on either side of his lap.

You detach yourself to catch your breath, but your eyes remained closed as you relinquished the taste of his lips. He did the same, but eager to taste your lips once again, he leans in and kisses you, quite roughly this time. He takes his right hand and places it at the back of your neck, guiding you as the two of you made out on your couch. 

“You still have extra clothes here, right?” You ask between your kisses. Jeonghan doesn't respond, and instead kisses you harder. Soon, he trails kisses from your lips to the side if your neck. Whispers escape you lips as you cock your head to the side to give him more room.

This night is going to be long. 

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