#now he feels safe enough with this strange group of trouble magnets to actually let them see how much a bad call gets to him

[atryoshka]

@buckevantommy plssss the brainworms you just gave me omg

everyone at harbour is stoked about bucktommy because it means they get to hear all the insane drama from the 118 without having to worry about getting mixed up with it.

[bugaboosandbees]

Justice Over All Part 1

Okay. Here is the Ladybug-episode-divergence Princess Justice fic that I promised!

I’m still a bit sick, but I wanted to get something out before the end of the weekend. I eventually decided to just split this monster into parts. It should be two or three parts long, depending on what people want to see. 

As per usual, if you’d like to be tagged, shoot me a note/message/ask! 

Thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Marinette

“Princess Justice, I am Scarlet Moth.”

No, no, no, NO! This couldn’t be happening. She could feel him seeping into her mind like a puddle of oil, turning her already turbulent emotions up to 11 until she wanted to scream and cry and shout and punch something all at the same time. 

“--nette! Marinette!”

She dimly realized that she’d sunk to her knees, hands were clamped tightly over her ears. She felt a light pressure on her shoulders and forced her eyes open, trying her best to shove Hawkmoth’s voice to the back of her mind. Adrien. Because of course it was him kneeling before her, hands on her shoulders and emerald eyes looking so concerned.

“Marinette, don’t listen to him! You can fight it. You’re the strongest person that I know. Please, Marinette!” He looked close to tears.

She tried her best to focus on him, to calm down, assure herself that there was some way to fix this -- to prove that she hadn’t… And then she saw Lila over his shoulder, smirking victoriously and the rage and sadness broke through the walls she’d tried to build in her mind. Not yet -- she frantically scrambled to get her earrings off -- she couldn’t let them --

She pressed them into Adrien’s hand and shoved him away from her as the darkness overtook her vision.

“Yes, Scarlet Moth.”

Adrien

No! Adrien pressed himself up against the lockers behind him as the bubbling red cloud swept over Marinette’s hunched form. When it cleared, his friend was gone -- in her place stood an imposing lady in red. Her pigtails had grown longer and darker and moved through the air like pools of negative space. She was blindfolded with fabric as red as blood and held a wickedly sharp sword in one hand and a set of scales in the other. Her head tilted in his direction and something that almost passed for a smile twisted her lips.

“Thank you for trying Adrien, but I am Princess Justice now, and I will have my vengeance.” The armored heels of her boots clicked across the locker room floor as she followed the other akumas out, no doubt starting to hunt for Lila who had slipped out of the room sometime after she had succumbed to Hawkmoth’s control.

For a second he couldn’t move, couldn’t think. He was going to have to fight Marinette. He wasn’t sure if he could -- and there was another army of akumas and how was he --

“Adrien!”

He sharply shook his head and looked forward. Chloe and Alya were looking at him with concern.

“Come on,” Chloe said. “We should get to my hotel. Ladybug will be looking for me and it will be safer for you guys there too. Sabrina ran ahead to tell Daddy what’s going on so he won’t be stupid and get akumatized again like last time.”

“I… err…” He couldn’t go with her -- his Lady would need him. His Princess already needed him. “I should get home. Father worries if I’m not safe during attacks and I don’t have my phone, so I can’t tell him I’ll be somewhere else.” Did that sound good enough?

Chloe looked at him doubtfully, but before she could speak again, Alya cut in.

“Right before she was akumatized, Marinette gave you something. Why would she do that?”

Adrien suddenly took notice of his right hand, still wrapped into a fist around something that was pressing uncomfortably into his palm. He loosened his fingers to reveal a pair of very familiar earrings, and his heart stopped.

A bright light emanated from the earrings in his palm and all three teens covered their eyes. When it dimmed, Tikki was floating in the air above his palm, looking absolutely distraught. She immediately flew towards him and hugged his neck as best as she could with her small arms, without seeming to notice the two other girls in the room, eyes blown wide as the recognized what was obviously a Ladybug-themed kwami that had appeared out of Marinette’s earrings.  

Their shock was only exacerbated when a dark shape flew out of Adrien’s jacket towards Tikki as if yanked by a magnet, wrapping small arms around her and starting to purr.

Adrien closed his eyes, counted to ten, and opened them again, staring determinedly at Chloe and Alya, both of whom he had never actually seen at a loss for words. If the situation had been less grim, it might have been funny.

“You can’t tell anyone,” he said with all the seriousness he could muster even as he raised a hand to comfort the two kwamis curled up in the crook of his neck. He couldn’t process right now. He’d think about everything that had occurred in the last two minutes later, but if he tried to think about it now, he’d shut down and he couldn’t do that. He looked down at Plagg wrapping himself around Tikki as if physically trying to hold her together.

“Plagg?” he questioned softly. His normally caustic kwami looked at him with sad green eyes that already knew what he was going to say. “I think we need to find the Guardian.”

Alya

Marinette was Ladybug. Ever since a kwami -- Ladybug’s kwami -- had materialized out of her best friend’s earrings, Alya felt as though her world had been turned on its head. Everything suddenly made absolutely no sense, and yet more sense than it ever had before. Of course, Ladybug wouldn’t choose someone she hardly knew to wield a miraculous. That would be too unpredictable a situation and Ladybug, above all else, was a strategist. It explained how Marinette had been able to get her an interview with Ladybug, and how she always seemed to disappear when an akuma attacked. It explained -- no.

“Lila’s a liar! I saw Ladybug call her out!”

“A good journalist always checks her sources.”

“It was Lila! Lila framed me!”

“Don’t jump to conclusions.”

Alya saw red. She dug her nails into her palms, focusing on the dull pain as she counted backward from ten. No. She had already failed Marinette -- her best friend, her hero -- once. She wouldn’t fail her again by getting akumatized. She looked up at Adrien. He looked just as shaken as she felt.

“You two need to hide,” he eventually said. “I need to go and find the Guardian -- tell him what happened and -- I don’t know. Hopefully, he’ll know what to do.”

Alya bristled at the thought of being sidelined when her best friend was hurt and when it was partially her fault -- but before she could speak, Chloe scoffed and cut in.

“Please, Adrikins. There’s an actual army of akumas loose in the city. You’re going to need all the backup you can get to even reach the guardian. I’m coming with you, and I guess Cesiare can too.” Alya saw a strange, determined glint in the blonde’s eyes. Huh. Perhaps being Queen Bee had been good for her.

“But --”

“No.” This time it was Alya’s turn. “Even if it’s supposed to be a secret, it doesn’t matter at this point. If we don’t fix this, Hawkmoth wins. You need all the help you can get.”

Adrien glanced down at the Plagg and received a hesitant nod. He took a deep breath. “Alright, let’s go.”

Chloe

Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug. Scarlet Moth was back, he’d unleashed another army of akumas, and Ladybug was one of them. Hell if Chloe knew how to unpack all of that at the moment. Fortunately, growing up as the daughter of Audrey Bourgeois had taught her to compartmentalize. That was good. It looked like Adrien -- Chat Noir -- and Cesiare were having trouble right now.  She could have an existential crisis about bullying the idol that had trusted her with superpowers later.

“Alright. Now, where is this Guardian? We need to come up with a plan to get to wherever he is without getting hit or captured by any akumas. We don’t know exactly who has been akumatized yet, but we should probably assume that everyone we don’t run into in person is an active akuma. We’ll have to get there as civilians, but that could work to our advantage -- we’ll be less of a target.” The steadiness in her voice surprised her. It appeared to surprise Adrien and Cesaire as well. Cesaire looked a bit sour that Chloe had said something before she had, but Adrien appeared happy that someone else was willing to take charge.

Adrien softly grabbed Tikki and Plagg and deposited them in his hair, mussing it around them to hide them. “I don’t know where the guardian is, so you’re going to have to guide us.”

“Alright, kid.” She heard Plagg say. “Let’s go.”

The three teens moved cautiously toward the locker room door. Just before they reached it, it slammed open from the outside. Chloe quickly positioned herself in front of Adrien, noting with pleasure that Cesaire had done the same. It appeared that the Ladyblogger wasn’t totally incompetent. Admittedly, she wasn’t sure what they could do against and akuma, but they could at least hopefully provide enough of a distraction that Adrien could get away.

“Dudes! Zombizou, Princess Fragrance, and Reflecta bused into the classroom and everyone got akumatized?! What happened?” The newcomer looked around. “Where’s Lila? And Marinette?”

The tension drained from her form -- it was just Lahiffe.

Cesaire relaxed out of her own fighting stance and gave her boyfriend a long look. “A lot happened. We’ll fill you in on the way.”

The “way” turned out to be a winding path through at least two arrondissements, ending at a movie theatre of all places. They’d stuck to small alleys as much as possible, moving as quietly as possible to avoid the scarlet akumas they occasionally saw nearby and overhead. Chloe wasn’t the only one who had let out a quiet curse when the group had seen Dark Cupid flying above them. She remembered how Dark Cupid had almost caused Hawkmoth’s victory on Heroes’ Day. Even if they made it to the Guardian, they’d have to be careful.

It came as no surprise that the movie theatre that the kwamis had led them to was deserted. In unspoken agreement, the group moved as far from the glass front doors as possible once inside. They couldn’t chance a passing akuma seeing them.

“Master? Master?” Adrien whisper-hissed as loudly as he dared into the empty lobby. When a familiar Hawaiian shirt moved out from behind the central kiosk, he nearly fainted from relief.

For her part, Chloe was less than impressed. The so-called “Guardian of the Miraculous” was four-foot-nothing, looked like a strong wind would blow him over, and had the most atrocious fashion sense she’d ever seen outside an akuma. This impression was not improved when the old man fixed Adrien with a disapproving glare.

“Adrien, you know well that the miraculous are supposed to be kept secret. What is the meaning of this?”

Chloe could see the way he deflated, all too similar to the way he did when scolded by his asshole-emotionally-manipulative father. Oh hell no, no on her watch.

“Excuse me, Monsieur Guardian,” She cut across the old man before he could continue to badger Adrien. “He didn’t exactly have much of a choice. Have you looked outside lately? Thanks to a more startling than usual display of complete incompetence by several adults and what I can only assume is another Heroes’ Day-esque scheme of Hawkmoth’s, Ladybug has been akuamtized. We were there when it happened, and with an entire army of akumas loose in the city, we sure as hell weren’t going to let Paris’ only hope walk here alone.” Her arms were crossed over her chest and she leveled her very best Audrey Bourgeois glare at the small man.

He blanched, and Chloe used the opportunity to edge a bit more protectively in front of Adrien.

“Ladybug? Akumatized?” His frown grew deeper, and Chloe’s anger spiked again.

“If you’re going to try to blame her for this, don’t even fucking bother. I’ve literally never seen anyone with a more valid reason to be akumatized. She was framed, discredited, and expelled from school in the span of about five minutes. In case it escaped your notice, she’s fucking fifteen. She’s allowed to have feelings.” She was aware of Adrien, as well as Cesaire and Lahiffe openly gaping at her back. She was a bit surprised at her vehement defense of Dupain-Cheng… Marinette, herself. She didn’t quite know how she felt about everything yet, but she figured that if the girl she’d bullied for years could trust her with literal superpowers on a repeat basis, she could defend her against a man that she could already tell had a severe holier-than-thou complex.

“Now,” she continued, “are you going to help us fix this mess, or are you going to continue blaming two people who’ve done nothing to cause it?”

Adrien

Ever since he’d seen Tikki emerge from Marinette’s earrings, he’d been in shock. His Lady was his Princess, and he’d failed both sides of her. She’d been akumatized because he’d been too naive to see that Lila’s lies were hurting the most important person in his life. He… he wasn’t sure that he could fight her. He hadn’t expected Chloe to step up and take charge so effectively, but he’d been more relieved than he’d like to admit that he could stand back, listen to Plagg’s quiet, reassuring murmurs in his ear, and try to forget that because of his own negligence he’d have to fight his Lady. Maybe it was cowardly, but he just couldn’t -- When Master Fu looked at him with such disapproval, he could feel his breath start to come faster and faster. Oh God, he’d failed. He was a terrible excuse for a Black Cat, and Master Fu was going to take his miraculous back --

The almost panic-attack was cut off by a sharp pressure on his arm. He looked down to see Plagg staring up at him with concern and shook himself out of whatever state he’d been in, just in time to hear Chloe’s impassioned defense of his Lady.

No sooner than she had finished speaking, Plagg cleared his throat, drawing attention to himself. “She’s right, you know. You may be the Guardian, but don’t forget that you never finished your formal training.” The Black Cat kwami spoke with an unusually cold and serious tone. “I shouldn’t need to remind you that you’re not infallible. I will not let another set of chosen be destroyed because you refused to believe that someone could know better than you. Bring my chosen the miracle box.”

Master Fu opened and closed his mouth several times, unsure of how to respond. He looked to a turtle kwami who had emerged to perch on his shoulder, but the kwami merely averted their eyes. Deflating, Master Fu turned around and pulled the box out from a compartment underneath the kiosk. As he opened it and presented it to Adrien, Plagg cut in once more.

“And, so help me, if anything happens to Tikki’s bug because of this…” He let the sentence hang, staring at Fu in a way that made Adrien want to step back.  

Master Fu paled but looked at Adrien. “Adrien Agreste,” his voice shook only slightly. “Your mission to protect Paris has never been more dire. You must choose allies that you can trust to fight beside you. After the battle is done, you must return the miraculous for safekeeping.”

He stared at the box laid out before him -- unimaginable power glinting up at him in the form of seemingly innocuous jewelry. Was this how Ladybug -- Marinette -- felt every time she had to find allies for them? He’d once envied her the Guardian’s secrets, but standing here before the box, he took it all back. What if he chose wrong? He didn’t know who any of the other heroes were besides Luka and Kagami and --

“I --” he paused, voice cracking. “I don’t know who the other heroes are, Master. What if I choose wrong --”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Alya and Nino step up beside him, matching gentle smiles on their faces.

“Rena Rouge and Carapace reporting for duty.” They said together.

Adrien felt himself melt in relief. He gently lifted the fox miraculous out of the box and placed it in Alya’s hands. She fastened it around her neck as Master Fu handed the bracelet that had been around his wrist to Nino.

Adrien grabbed the Bee comb and looked back and Chloe, who was staring at her feet.

“I can’t.” She whispered.

Alya bristled. “After all this, you don’t want to help her?”

Chloe looked up to reveal eyes glistening with tears. “You all saw Dark Cupid out there! Hawkmoth knows that I’m Queen Bee. If I come, I’ll be more of a liability than a help.”

Adrien looked down at the comb in his hand. She was right, but then who --?

Master Fu cleared his throat. “If I may make a suggestion,” he said tentatively. “Miss. Bourgeois is correct that it is too risky for her to again become the Bee. However, if my memory serves me, there is another hero that can no longer wield her miraculous for the same reason. Judging by her earlier behavior, I believe that Miss. Bourgeois would be an excellent match for Longg, while the girl who was Ruukyo would suit Pollen quite well.”

Chloe looked shocked, but Adrien grinned widely, grabbing the Dragon choker and handing it to Chloe. As soon as her hands touched it, a brilliant light burst from it, and a dragonlike kwami -- Longg -- appeared. He stared at Chloe appraisingly for a moment and grinned approvingly.

“Yes,” he said, practically purring, “This one suits me quite nicely. A leader wise enough to know when it is practical to step back. I will enjoy guiding you to greatness, fledgling.”

Adrien turned back to the miraculous box as Chloe properly met her kwami while Alya and Nino got re-acquainted with theirs. He grabbed the Bee’s comb and the Snake’s bracelet from the box before closing it, a new wellspring of confidence running through him.

He had a team of people he trusted at his back. They would succeed. They had to.

Alya

Alya never thought she’d see the day that she’d feel reassured by the presence of Chloe Bourgeois, but in light of everything else that had happened in the past half an hour, she supposed it might be the least strange thing that had happened that day. She was impressed by how the other girl had handled the Guardian (boy if she hadn’t wanted to give him a piece of her mind as well) and she certainly didn’t expect Chloe to turn down being Queen Bee. When she heard the blonde’s reasoning, she was even more surprised.

While the Guardian suggested a bit of a miraculous swap, she leaned towards Nino, grabbing his hand gently to draw his attention away from Wayzz.

“Yeah, babe?”

She looked into his eyes. “We can’t make the same mistake that we made on Heroes’ Day, Nino. If one of us gets hit, the other needs to stay focused on the mission, okay?” For a moment, it looked like he was going to argue, but she cut him off. “Please, Nino. I -- I already messed up so bad. I need to know that even if I’m out of commission, you’ll protect her. Okay?”

The fight left him, and he sobered. “Alright Al. I promise.”

Grateful that she had secured his promise, she turned her attention back to the room. Chloe was quietly talking with a small red dragon kwami, and Adrien had the Bee comb and another miraculous she didn’t recognize in his hands.

“Alright,” he spoke. She was grateful that it looked like he’d gotten some of his confidence back. They’d all been pretty shaken to see Marinette akumatized, but she was his partner, and he’d taken it the worst of them all. “I need the three of you to find Marinette. Figure out where she is, and keep her distracted. I’m going to go get some more help.” He paused. “Be careful. She might not have her earrings right now, but she’s still Ladybug. She’s the best of all of us -- this won’t be easy.”

“You can count on us,” said Chloe. Alya and Nino nodded, and Adrien flashed them a grin.

“Plagg, claws out!” he was out the door of the movie theatre in a flash of green light.

Alya looked to her right at Nino and to her left at Chloe. An unspoken understanding passed between the three teens. “Let’s go,” she said.

“Wayzz, shell on!”

“Trixx, let’s pounce!”

“Longg, bring the storm!”

[qandnoablog]

Titan (Marvel Imagine)

Title: Discovered

Pairing: There is no final pairing (since I follow along with the movies as accurately as I can) but [Y/N] does gravitate towards Loki

Warnings: Based on the movie - Avengers: Infinity War

Part: 13, [12], [11], [10], [9], [8], [7], [6], [5], [4], [3], [2], [1] Short story: [3], [2], [1]

Key: Y/N - Your Name Y/L/N - Your Last Name

Word Count: 2,627

Summary: Taking the fight to Thanos seemed like a straight forward plan, but [Y/N] knew first hand just how capable their enemy was. Now that he had more stones in his arsenal, she couldn’t help but feel like the odds were against them. Still, they are the Avengers! They faced impossible odds before. This time shouldn’t be any different, right?

Note From Author: Another part is now out! I should be updating more regularly now so if you all are still keeping up with the Discovered series, please make sure to check in every week :)

Part 13 - Titan

A lot happened after that.

After saving Strange, sending the pale alien out into open space, “knighting” Peter as an official Avenger, and finalizing their objectives, the group decided to face off with Thanos on Titan. Rather than bring the fight back to Earth, it was better to surprise him on his own turf. Of course, [Y/N] had strong objections with this plan at first, but thinking about it objectively, she had to agree. There would be countless casualties in a battle that Thanos had envisioned for Earth. Rather than allow such an event, it would be safer for everyone to have them face off the root of the problem far from their loved ones.

When the ship crashed onto the planet, the team was unprepared for the sudden landing. The metal broke apart right as it hit solid ground. Tony and Peter tried their best to steer the ship, though they didn’t know how to properly work the controls, while Strange and [Y/N] worked hard to protect the group from the impact. He utilized his magic to protect the area around them while [Y/N] used her powers to provide a sturdy barrier that draped around each individual person.

Everything was sparking, the machines all torn apart, but due to Strange and [Y/N]’s joint efforts, none were harmed. Though a bit disoriented by the landing, they were all safe and soon quickly got up.

Before the team could feel at ease with their situation, trouble had to come knocking. Right when Peter finished warning the team with another one of his movie references, an object rolled on the ground and stopped in the center of their small circle. [Y/N] could barely collect her thoughts when it suddenly opened, a flash of light and energy propelling each and every one of them backwards.

Her powers instinctively shielded her from the blast, allowing her to come out with no broken bones but with some minor bruises. She was starting to feel very annoyed, and immediately shrouded herself in a blanket of air and energy, promptly turning invisible before anyone could lock onto her.

“Thanos!”

A gruff and unfamiliar voice yelled out, a mixture of anger and impulsive rage, as Strange quickly protected himself with magic to stop the flying knives from finding their mark. The stranger roared, his skin a grayish color with odd tattoos, that looked more like engravings, all over his body. Before he could get another sound out, however, Strange sent out his cloak that swiftly tied itself around the new arrival’s head, muffling all his incessant shouting.

Iron Man and the stranger with a weird helmet fired at one another, the two flying with their tech. When it seemed like Tony had the upper hand, the helmeted man chuckled to himself as he pressed a button. Looking down at his chest, Tony saw a foreign object near his arc reactor that hummed with energy and a strong magnetic pull forced him onto one of the metallic objects of the ship.

“Tony!” [Y/N] called out, causing the helmeted man to be momentarily confused when a voice seemed to come out from nowhere.

She ignored the attacker’s confusion as she used her powers to help wedge Iron Man off of the metal he was stuck to. It wasn’t easy. The magnetic force of the object was surprisingly very strong. It was a joint effort to pry him off.

When Iron Man was finally free, he immediately rushed off to the fallen alien, who was still struggling with the sentient cloak. The moment Tony had his arm out, ready to shoot, the cloak let go of its prisoner and returned to Strange. Seeing this, the helmeted man grabbed Spider-Man, who was entangled by a strange, possibly electrical, rope and pointed his gun to the kid’s head.

[Y/N]’s heart skipped a beat, seeing her friend being held hostage in front of her, and quickly shot out a wave of energy to enclose around Peter’s body. She wasn’t sure how strong the weapon was nor if her powers were able to defend from a fatal blow at such close range, but if she was stupid enough to take on an infinity stone [Author’s Note: Part 7 - War], then she was damn well brave enough to take on a hit from an alien gun.

“Everybody, stay where you are!” The man yelled with the weapon still pointed at Spider-Man’s head, “Chill the eff out!”

[Y/N] was just about ready to send out her powers to wrench off the stranger’s arm away from Peter when the man reached over to his helmet and pressed a button. It quickly came off him, revealing a human face underneath that mask. She was stunned, surprised to find someone who looked human rather than an alien like his other comrades.

“I’m gonna ask you this one time. Where is Gamora?”

“Yeah, I’ll do you one better,” Tony instantly replied, his helmet coming off too, “Who’s Gamora?”

“I’ll do you one better,” the alien under Tony’s foot challenged, “Why is Gamora?”

Now this left [Y/N] baffled. Their demands were something that none of them were expecting. The sudden fight didn’t really startle them too much, considering they were now on enemy territory, but the reason behind the battle left all present very confused.

“Tell me where the girl is or I swear to you, I’m gonna French-fry this little freak.”

The moment that man said those words, something in [Y/N] just snapped.

“Do that and I’ll burst your body like an overfilled balloon,” [Y/N] warned, her voice dripping with an icy, murderous tone.

This was a first for her. She was even startled by how calm she felt even though those bone chilling words had exited her own lips, but upon further thought, she found this change to be natural. After witnessing so much, fighting alongside many people, and seeing first hand how some of her friends had fallen… How could she not have hardened her heart? Besides, in this line of business, killing wasn’t unusual. It’s just… She’d never actually openly taken a life. It was all in self-defense. Would she come out of this battle unscathed?

It wasn’t just her that was shocked by her words. Both her own team and those against her were also surprised. The group that had started this fight was startled to hear a voice without some sort of body. Clearly, [Y/N] was still invisible. Her friends, on the other hand, were feeling many emotions. Strange might not have known [Y/N] the way Tony and Peter had, but he still understood her character enough to know she wasn’t a hardened killer. That’s when everyone’s emotions shifted from shock to distressed.

Her friends were especially distressed when the two realized that the conviction in her voice held no trace of a lie. It was a promise, those words she said. Seeing how far she’d go, it was enough to show how much she endured this whole time. She did not want to lose any more of her friends. She did not want to sacrifice any more of her loved ones’ lives. Just how much did she see? Just how much did she suffer to come this far?

“Just try it, creepy disembodied voice,” the man taunted, calling her bluff.

The sad part was… [Y/N] wasn’t bluffing.

Before she could do anything rash, Tony quickly interjected.

“Let’s do it. You shoot my guy and I’ll blast him!” Tony indicated with his outstretched arm, his suit shifting into a blaster that was equipped and ready to shoot at the alien’s head.

“Do it, Quill!” The gray alien under Tony called out, his eyes never leaving the barrel of the blaster pointed right at his face. “I can take it.”

“No, he can’t take it!” The female alien countered, clearly worried for the gray alien’s life.

“She’s right. You can’t,” Strange agreed.

“Oh, yeah?” The man, Quill, scoffed, “You don’t wanna tell me where she is? That’s fine. I’ll kill all three of you and I’ll beat it out of Thanos myself. Startin’ with you.”

The moment [Y/N] heard his gun hum to life, her whole body went stiff. Her energy that was sent to wrap protectively around Peter began to twist and turn, being fed more and more power as [Y/N]’s focus zeroed in on her friend’s captor. She was just about ready to attack when Strange interrupted her murderous thoughts.

“Wait, what? Thanos?” Strange repeated, puzzled. “All right, let me ask you this one time. What master do you serve?”

“What master do I serve?” Quill mocked, clearly not understanding what Strange was getting at. “What am I supposed to say? Jesus?”

“You’re from Earth,” Tony concluded, a bit annoyed and no longer feeling the need to fight.

“I’m not from Earth. I’m from Missouri.”

“Yeah, that’s on Earth, dip-shit. What are you hassling us for?” Tony questioned, now completely fed up with this man.

“So, you’re not with Thanos?” Peter asked.

“With Thanos?” Quill repeated, now completely confused. “No, I’m here to kill Thanos. He took my girl. Wait, who are you?”

He finally put down the gun, and [Y/N] followed and withdrew her powers that were building up, ready to explode. She was still wary of these strangers, but she now knew that they were no longer their enemies.

“We’re the Avengers, man,” Peter replied as his mask came off.

Hearing those words, Quill released Peter and let out an exasperated sigh. He was also irritated to hear that his long-awaited revenge had not been fulfilled.

Seeing this, [Y/N] dissipated the energy shrouding her, becoming completely visible for all to see. Those that didn’t know who she was were stunned to find a woman appear out of thin air. Now they knew where the “creepy, disembodied voice” was coming from.

“You’re the ones Thor told us about!” The female alien said.

“Thor?” [Y/N] exclaimed, no longer showing the icy emotions she felt when Peter’s life was in danger. “Did you say Thor? He’s alive?”

~

[Y/N] was very clear on the plan, but never was she so disgusted with the enemy that she wanted to abandon all logic and just bash his psychotic head into the ground.

His plan was sick. Just a snap of his fingers and millions - no, trillions - of innocents would just vanish from the face of the universe. No one would be spared by such a feat and yet that was his ultimate goal. To purge the universe of its over accumulating population so that none would have to go hungry to the point of extinction again. He acted like a prophet, sacrificing his time and efforts for the good of the universe, but it was just the twisted ravings of a madman.

Mercy? More like cruelty. Everything he spouted was inhumane. A monster in every way.

“I think you’ll find our will equal to yours,” Strange said.

“Our?” Thanos repeated in confusion.

That was the signal. Following that, Tony barreled into Thanos with a piece of the alien spaceship, crushing Thanos beneath the unimaginable weight of the metal. Dust clouds emerged from the ground and flew outwards from the impact, draping the vicinity in a thick layer of dirt and dust. But even that wasn’t enough to stop Thanos.

A purple glow shot out from where Thanos was hit and the metal broke apart, revealing himself to be uninjured and free. He yelled out in anger from the surprise attack, using another stone to change the metallic debris into a swarm of bat-like creatures that rammed into Iron Man.

Everyone worked together after that. There was no time or room for a breather.

Hitting in any possible way, propelling one another towards Thanos for another hit, and dodging so as to not lose their lives. That was the fighting style that everyone took part in. It was complete and utter chaos, yet still there was some semblance of rhythm. There was no gap to allow Thanos time to use his infinity stones. Even the surprising new addition, the blue woman who was also looking for the girl named Gamora, didn’t hinder their plan. In fact, she followed along and joined in on their battle. And no one seemed to question it. As long as it was an enemy of Thanos, she was deemed a friend.

Strange and [Y/N] were on support. He would portal several of the team towards and away from Thanos while [Y/N] used her powers to protect them from most of the damage on behalf of the others. Her hands were now bruised all over, taking hit after hit, but she disregarded that familiar pain and pressed on. The others threw punch after punch, causing Thanos to be bombarded with attacks from all around.

The goal was simple. Get that gauntlet away from Thanos.

Finally, all their efforts were paying off as they had succeeded in getting Mantis, the female alien on Quill’s team, onto Thanos and forcing him to go under. With everyone struggling to keep the purple giant in place, it was Tony and Peter’s job to pry off the gauntlet from the semi-unconscious Thanos.

But everything went to hell in just a single moment of impulsive anger and grief.

“He… He mourns,” Mantis cried as she felt the swirl of emotions going through Thanos’ head.

“What does this monster have to mourn?” Drax, the tattooed alien, questioned as he strained to keep Thanos’ arm down.

“Gamora,” the blue newcomer answered, realizing the truth.

“What?” Quill asked as he turned away from Thanos and towards the blue alien.

“He took her to Vormir,” she replied, “He came back with the Soul Stone. But she didn’t.”

Tony knew what those words meant and tried to calm Quill down. The whole team was already struggling to pry off the gauntlet from this monster, so it was unwise to let one act of anger mess up the whole plan. But even [Y/N] could sense the unrest within Quill that the truth had ignited. She understood the anger and pain he was feeling, but she also knew this wasn’t the time to act. Not yet.

“Don’t!” [Y/N] pleaded as she struggled to keep Thanos down alongside the rest of them. “It’s not time yet! Don’t!”

But it was too late.

Shit! [Y/N] internally screamed as Thanos finally broke out of his trance.

Everyone holding onto Thanos was flung off the moment he regained his senses. The plan was crumbling before everyone’s eyes as the monster regained the upper hand and separated the team into all different directions. Some fainted from the intense blow of the infinity stone while others were desperately trying to evade the onslaught of debris from the destroyed moon that Thanos had sent their way.

Tony tried to fly away in time but was caught up by a massive piece of the moon while Peter and [Y/N] quickly set out to save those that couldn’t dodge for themselves. However, before she could actually put in the effort of saving a few of her new comrades, something appeared below her feet. Her brain couldn’t process what was happening in the heat of battle, and she couldn’t stop what came next.

Gravity worked against her and just as [Y/N] recognized the magic at play, she heard his voice.

“You are needed elsewhere,” the culprit said, his voice cracking with exhaustion.

“Stephen!” [Y/N] yelled with all her might in both disbelief and fury as she fell through the portal to places unknown.

That was all she could scream out right before disappearing from Titan.

[PART 14]

Tags: @themeanestlittlewitch  @stressedandbandobessed7771 @moistpotatobear @fxckingfat​ @e7here4l

[ewankoseyo]

magnetic || jinyoung pt. 4

A/N: Part 4 is finally here! I’m sorry it took so long, work has been really busy and I’d hit some writer’s block before, but here it is! Thank you so much for being patient with me. I hope everything with the variety show aspect of this chapter makes sense. Part 5 will most likely be the last part of this series so stay tuned! Kita kits!

——

You were 13 when your brother proudly introduced his friend Park Jinyoung to the family. 

The two of them had come home from a meeting at the company and your mom told Jinyoung to stay for dinner. You stifled back a laugh when you shook Jinyoung’s hand for the first time. He had the silliest haircut, as if someone had put a ruler and protractor against his face so they could get the edges completely straight. 

Jinyoung seemed like a nice enough guy. He politely answered your parents questions, telling them where he grew up, what his family looked like, what his parents did for a living, how he got into music—answering the usual questions your parents asked whenever meeting one of your or Jaebum’s friends. You listened quietly, never one to speak up when Jaebum’s friends were around unless they spoke to you directly, because you felt it wasn’t your place to say anything. Jinyoung hadn’t initiated anything with you but you thought nothing of it. You were content with just listening to the conversation. 

The meal continued without incident, the two boys describing to your parents what their upcoming schedules were looking like, until Jaebum made a joke about Jinyoung’s voice cracking during vocal practices earlier that day.

“I can’t help it if my voice cracks,” Jinyoung replied calmly, looking over at Jaebum with a slight glint of mischief in his eyes. “Kind of like how you can’t help tripping over your own feet even when you’re not dancing.”

Completely caught off guard by the boy’s sharp tongue, you broke out in laughter. You had pegged Jinyoung as a soft-spoken, calm and polite boy, unaware of how snarky and quick-witted he could be as well. Unfortunately, you were in the middle of drinking water when Jinyoung took a jab at your brother, and as a result, Jinyoung was now glaring at you across the dinner table, water droplets dripping down his face and on his clothes.

“Sorry...” you apologized with a nervous laugh as your mom handed him some napkins while scolding you for being unladylike. “That was just...really funny...”

You knew it would be a while until Jinyoung would ever come back for another family dinner. 

You were 17 when you realized your crush on Jinyoung was no longer just a crush.

A friend had told you she read in an article somewhere that when a crush surpasses four months, it meant that you were “in love.” Four years must have meant you had it bad. 

No, you couldn’t be in love with Jinyoung. This was just a stupid school girl crush that you were going to get over (you tell yourself for the millionth time.) Besides, you only say you’re in love with someone when you’re already in a relationship with them. And you weren’t. Unfortunately. The guy barely talked to you passed hi’s and bye’s when you saw him. You also didn’t get the warmest vibes from Jinyoung, but you attributed it to the fact that you only really saw him when he and the other members were dead tired from practicing. The upcoming debut was probably taking a huge toll on them. 

Jinyoung was still your brother’s closest friend, and that was all you needed to know that he was a good guy. Take that and add how great of a singer and dancer he was, his passion and dedication in his work, how supportive he was with his other members (despite the occasional roasts,) his quick wit, his love of reading, and how great he was with kids etc. etc. and you had the ultimate recipe for a full-fledged crush.

But is this love? You wondered to yourself as you watched the boys practicing a routine through the glass window. You were waiting for Jaebum to finish dance practice as you were his ride home. You didn’t realize that by gaining the freedom granted by a driver’s license you would also be granted the responsibility of being your brother’s chauffeur (you needed the car more than he did,) but you couldn’t complain too much. At least you’d get to see Jinyoung. And the other members, of course.

 You watched Jinyoung laugh as Yugyeom messes up his moment in a routine, the crinkles by his eyes out and proud. Though it wasn’t directed towards you, you couldn’t help but feel slight tugs at your heartstrings. 

You sighed to yourself. Everything about him seemed absolutely cute and attractive, even with the stupid haircut, and that’s how you knew it was love. 

Jinyoung was about to pass by you as the group filed out of the studio, finally done for the day, when he stops in his tracks and turns to where you’re sitting and waiting. 

“Hey.”

You slowly look up from your phone after a beat, realizing that everyone else had left and he was still standing there...addressing you?

“Oh hi Jinyoung, sorry I thought you were talking to someone else...”

“I just wanted to congratulate you,” he states, disregarding your admission. “Jaebum mentioned earlier that you got accepted into that really prestigious American university yesterday. Congrats.”

“Ah I see...” you nodded slowly. “Thank you.”

“You must have worked very hard to get in,” Jinyoung continued. You two looked at each other for a moment, expecting the other to say something else but silence remained in the air. He knew he should have just told Jaebum to pass his congrats on to you. “Anyway congrats again, and you two get home safely.” Jinyoung nodded, giving you a brief tight-lipped smile before following the direction of the other boys. 

As you exhaled the breath you were unaware that you were holding and started to text Jaebum to see where he wandered off to, you were absolutely sure it was love. 

You were 22 when you felt like you were falling apart.

Sure this might be a silly memory you’ll laugh about years later, but right now, everything just hurt so much. You hadn’t gotten any sleep after overhearing Jinyoung’s conversation with Mark. You spent the whole night tossing and turning in bed, replaying the the scene over and over again. How were you going to face him the next day? He didn’t know you’d overheard, but you weren’t as good of an actor as he was. How were you supposed to act like everything was okay after finding out one of your worst fears was actually true?

But you have no choice but to pretend, you thought to yourself as you slowly got ready for the day. Brushing out the tangles from your hair and applying enough foundation to conceal the hurt you felt, you were determined to at least appear okay. After shooting, you could go back to your room and wallow in self-loathing for the rest of the day. You weren’t about to ruin a whole broadcast just because your stupid schoolgirl heartbreak was getting in the way of your normal functioning.

You weren’t going to ruin the boys’ trip and you couldn’t give Jinyoung another reason to hate you.

So putting on a brave face as you went downstairs to join everyone for that day’s filming, you mentally prepared yourself to act like you weren’t dying on the inside. It seemed to fool Jaebum, who happily greeted you with pastry to eat for breakfast. A part of you felt guilty. You were lucky to have Jaebum as a brother, always doting on you ever since you were kids even though he wasn’t much older than you. He made sure you ate well and always answered your phone calls even when he was busy half a world away. Jaebum told you everything and likewise, expected you to be upfront with him and to always come to him for advice. It would hurt him to find out that you were hurting and he didn’t know about it. 

But this wasn’t something you could share with Jaebum. You already hated talking to him about boys, but this was a whole different beast. So you felt it was probably best to just keep this from him. There was also no use in troubling him with something so trivial. 

Soon the staff had you all get into your pairs in a line to prepare for filming. They were going to announce the winners of the photo challenge and prepare for the next challenge. Jinyoung came over to you, greeting you with a smile.

“Morning, ready for today?” 

You simply hummed in reply, a small smile quirked on your lips. Jinyoung thought it was a little strange how you didn’t look at him and instead had your eyes glued to a spot on the ground. Usually you were the one coming up to him and addressing him first when you had to gather into your teams. Come to think of it, you were uncharacteristically quiet since you came down. He shook off the thought as he listened to the staff’s instructions for the shoot. You were probably still waking up. Yesterday had been a pretty busy day so you must have been dead tired. 

“We will now be announcing the winners of yesterday’s photo challenge. Let’s take a look at the pictures you all took!”

Going through everyone else’s adventures was a nice distraction. A blanket-cladded Yugyeom as ET had managed to stuff himself into a bike basket as Mark struggled to pedal the bike they were both on. Your brother somehow got Jackson to let him hoist him over a seemingly high cliff to reenact the famous Lion King scene—but Jackson mostly complied because the staff let him strip down to his boxers to play a baby Mufasa. Bambam and Youngjae (though they had the funniest segment, everyone had deemed it by far the least creative) had spent the whole day in a Target, creating discount reenactments of their movies with whatever they could find. They only succeeded in recreating three movie scenes, as an employee had to kick them out of the store due to a “complaint from other customers about a disturbance in the toy section.” Seeing that they did just three reenactments and you could only really tell what scenes they were recreating when they explained them (“So Hyung put on a really scary tiger mask, symbolizing the Beast, and I found a yellow dress in the kids section, and this is supposed to be us dancing in the ballroom but pretend the produce aisle is the ballroom, OBVIOUSLY.”) it was unanimous that Bambam and Youngjae had lost the challenge. 

“You guys just don’t have the same artistic eye that we do!”

You and Jinyoung’s segment was met with "ooh”s and questionable yet excited looks from the other boys (a very confused Jaebum kept asking Yugyeom what everyone was going on about, but Yugyeom just kept shushing him.) Jackson waggled his eyebrows knowingly at you during the part where you grabbed Jinyoung’s hands to place them on your waist. You shook your head frantically and gave Jackson a look to keep quiet before averting your eyes back to the ground. You tried to think of something else in an attempt to tune out all the “aww”s that would erupt whenever something everyone deemed “cute” happened on the screen.  

You couldn’t dare to look at Jinyoung’s expression. With the way everyone was making a big deal about your pictures (Bambam demanded to have several copies of the Lady and the Tramp picture as a reminder of what “true love looks like,”) Jinyoung had to know how much you liked him. Remembering his harsh words from last night just added salt to the open wound. 

“I think we have the winners of yesterday’s challenge!”

All of the pictures were laid out and judging from everyone’s reactions, it was decided that you and Jinyoung had won. Jinyoung held up his hand to you for a high-five, which you returned but your eyes still didn’t meet his. Come to think of it, you never actually said a word to him when you all were going through everyone’s segments. Whenever he’d make a side comment about one of the boys, you would just silently nod, your eyes never leaving the screen. Jinyoung found your silence kind of weird, but then again, he had always found you pretty weird. 

He tried not to think about what this could have meant, but he couldn’t shake the equally weird feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

——

Luckily for you, the next challenge was a divide-and-conquer task.

Unluckily for you and Jinyoung, this challenge put your prize from the last challenge at stake. For winning the photo challenge, you guys had been awarded 200 dollars to share. If you won this next challenge, the staff would double that wager, earning the both of you 400 dollars. If you and Jinyoung lost this challenge, the winners would get your 400 dollars, and you and Jinyoung would be forced to spend the day handcuffed together. Since you two had done so well together on the last challenge, the staff thought it would be funny to get the other boys riled up and gang up against you. 

For the next challenge, the member who was not fluent in English from each team was tasked with buying an outfit that suited their English-speaking member from a sponsoring store. The non-fluent members had to find the store themselves, but they could still communicate with with their fluent teammate (who would be monitoring them from the hotel) if they needed help. The only hard part was that no Korean was allowed—the non-fluent members had to find their way around only speaking English, and likewise the fluent members could only speak English when helping them.

Thankfully Jinyoung was probably the most fluent in English out of the four non-fluent members so you really didn’t need to talk to him at all. Jackson spouted words of encouragement next to you to Jaebum over the phone as you all watched Jaebum through the monitor quietly rehearse to himself how he was going to hail a taxi and ask it to take him to the store. Youngjae had asked a local for directions but they were talking too fast for him to understand (wanting to be polite, Youngjae just smiled and nodded) so Bambam was slowly repeating the directions back to him. Yugyeom and Mark were currently bickering over the pronunciation of certain words (“But if it’s not ‘BU-ying,’ why is there a u?!”)

Jinyoung, having navigated to the store without a problem, was the first one to start shopping. He quickly found the women’s section and started perusing through the items.

“You wear these usually?” Jinyoung asked suddenly, shaking you out of a daze. He hadn’t needed any help so you were just watching the others directing their teammates on the phone. Jinyoung was standing in a streetwear section and held up a long-sleeved crop top to his cameraman so you could see it on your end. The piece he held up was definitely something similar to what was in your luggage.

“Uh, c-correct,” you stuttered out. Jackson noticed your nervous response and gave you the same knowing look he sent your way earlier. You elbowed his ribs in response and shot him a dirty look. You still didn’t know how to talk to Jinyoung normally so you figured you would keep your responses (if what he was saying absolutely needed a response) as short as possible. 

“How about...a dress?” 

“Um sure, whichever,” you tried to reply nonchalantly. Mark and Bambam had now taken notice to your exchange and joined Jackson in watching Jinyoung picking out an outfit for you. You tried to shove Bambam away as he smirked at you and playfully nudged your side. The three boys gave you teasing looks and would feign a silent gasp whenever Jinyoung picked up and looked at a new item. You just gave them a look commanding them to cut it out, trying to refrain from making any noise so Jinyoung wouldn’t ask you what was going on. Fortunately they returned to communicating with their teammates when they were called back for help.

“Hi, can I help you with anything?” An employee had approached Jinyoung as he rifled through a rack of dresses.

“Oh, is there...in red?” Jinyoung asked slowly after mentally translating his question. He held up a light-blue off-the-shoulder floral sundress.

“Yes, I believe it’s going to be on the other side of this rack,” the employee replied, guiding him around the rack he was looking at. Sure enough, there was a red version of the dress he spotted. Jinyoung thanked the employee, happily taking the dress off the rack. “Is this a gift?”

“Yeah, a gift,” Jinyoung nodded. 

“For your girlfriend?”

The three boys next to you heard this and immediately averted their attention back to Jinyoung on the screen. You felt the heat rise to your face and you wished you could just run back to your room and bury yourself in your sheets. Jinyoung seemed taken aback by the women’s inquiry, scratching the back of his neck nervously with his free hand. His mouth opened and closed as he attempted to form a reply. 

“Ahaha uh, just uh, friend,” he answered back with a nervous laugh before clearing his throat. “Where are the shoes?”

With the help of the employee (who thankfully did not press on about who he was shopping for,) Jinyoung managed to find shoes and accessories to go along with your outfit. He hadn’t run into any of the members while shopping (probably because he had to shop in the women’s section) and he was glad he didn’t. With the prize at stake, Jinyoung knew the other boys would have somehow tried to sabotage him if they saw him. 

As they watched Jinyoung check out the items and exit out of the store, Jackson, Mark, and Bambam remembered that they were supposed to be helping their teammates and not focusing on the tv drama that made up Jinyoung’s screen (though you were sure the editors would most likely edit you and Jinyoung’s segment that way for the actual broadcast.)

“Yugyeom hurry, Jinyoung already walked out of the store!”

“Just buy whatever already JB, I look good in everything, just go to checkout!”

“Hyung MOVE!”

Even though you still felt the awkwardness with Jinyoung, seeing the others’ frenzied reactions instilled a sense of urgency in you too.

“Jinyoung, hurry and get on the next cab over here, the other boys know you left!”

As he picked up the pace to flag down a taxi, Jinyoung turned to the camera following next to him and smiled, knowing you were watching. “On my way!”

Well-aware of the cameras also on you, you scrunched your face up so you seemed thoughtful, in an attempt to hide how his boyish response really made you feel. 

Soon enough, you all heard the front door of the hotel suite beeping, signaling the arrival of the winning team member. And sure enough, Jinyoung walked into the room looking smugly over at Jackson, Mark, and Bambam, who were now groaning at their inevitable loss. With Jinyoung standing before you, you’d lost your voice all over again. You stood up hesitantly but smiled, holding out your hand to your teammate for a high-five. 

Ignoring your gesture, Jinyoung immediately dropped his bags and ran over to you to pick you up into a celebratory hug. 

“Oh!”

“We did it!” He rejoiced, spinning you in around in a circle before putting you back down. “We just made 400 dollars!”

Perhaps it was from the sudden rotation, though you were sure it was from the unfamiliar warm gesture, but you felt like your head was spinning. Now it was as if your whole body was on fire and you seemed to have forgotten how to speak in any language other than gibberish. You finally looked up at Jinyoung, who grinned at you proudly before letting you go to pick up the shopping bags he dropped. 

“You should take a look at the outfit, see if it fits okay.”

You stared on at Jinyoung, slowly processing the last few moments. It was all so confusing. Park Jinyoung was the literal definition of an enigma. You had no idea what was going on in his head. He only spoke to you when he absolutely had to and you were also too nervous with your crush to really initiate anything. Yesterday you had hung out like old friends, last night he basically ranted to Mark about how he couldn’t stand to be in the same room as you, and now he was picking you up and hugging you like you were the world.

Kind of like how someone who loved you would. 

Jinyoung pulled out the sundress and handed it to you. “I got you wedges, a necklace, and a sunhat that I thought would go along with it. Hope you like it.” 

You rubbed the material between your fingers, trying to think of what to say. You hadn’t said anything to him since he came in. Why does Actor Park feel the need to act up so much today?

“So, uh, why red?”

“Because red looks good on you,” the boy simply replied, without skipping a beat.

——

Jackson was leaving the suite when he spotted you walking in the hallway of the hotel. It seems you were returning from the vending machine, sipping on a soda as your feet dragged on the carpet. You were walking in a daze with your face completely blank, but Jackson knew that meant you had a lot on your mind. He started jogging over to you.

“HEY!” You were broken out of your thoughts as Jackson stopped in front of you. “You should have grabbed me a snack too!”

“Ahh...sorry...” You looked down, nodding slowing. You moved to walk back to the suite when Jackson gently grabbed your arm and pulled you back.

“I’m just joking,” he grinned before putting on a more serious face. “Are you okay? You just seem...upset today and a lot quieter than usual. What’s up?” 

You stared back at Jackson’s concerned expression, contemplating how to respond. The ever-empathetic Jackson Wang could read you like a book, so you knew there was no use in pretending you were fine.

“I’m just...so confused...”

“About what? Jinyoung?” You nodded. “What’s the problem? It seems like you guys have gotten closer in the last two days. He freakin’ hugged you earlier! The you from the beginning of this week would have been over the moon!” Jackson grinned as his teasing earned a small smile from you. 

“But that’s the thing though,” you responded, returning your gaze back to the floor. “He’s never hugged me before.”

“Maybe he’s finally warming up to you.”

“Jackson, I overheard him talking to Mark last night...” You braced yourself. As the conversation resurfaced in your memory and you attempted to voice it out loud, you could feel yourself getting choked up. “He—I know Jinyoung hates me...”

“What?! What’d he say?”

“He basically said that he can’t focus with me here and that it’s been difficult having to put up with me all these years,” you replied with a sigh. “And I really thought we had a breakthrough yesterday. Then today, he was just being really nice, talking about how red looks good on me, but I know it was all just for the cameras. And just remembering that his nice words were just for show a-and that’d...he’d n-never actually say them to me in real life, I just—Jackson, I can’t do this anymo—”

You broke into a sob before you could finish and Jackson immediately pulled you into his arms, rubbing small circles on your back soothingly. It hurt him so much to see you look so broken. You were always a cheery girl, knowing just what to say when one of the members were feeling down. Seeing the one person who always seemed optimistic despite the situation actually coming apart before him left Jackson at a loss. 

You sniffled as you picked your face off of his chest. “Sorry...now you’re shirt’s all wet.”

He smiled, patting the back of your head lightly. There you were—still cracking a joke even though you felt awful. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Jackson,” you inhaled deeply, trying to stifle the extra sobs threatening to escape. “This is just so stupid, I don’t understand why I like him so much,” you continued. “I’m just...so tired of never being enough for him.”

Jackson gave you a sympathetic look before slinging an arm around your shoulders. “You know, I was just about to go down to the gym. Come with me and you can rant all you want while I work out. And maybe if there’s a punching bag, you could blow off some steam!” 

You giggled, gently shoving Jackson in the chest before wrapping your arms around his waist. Jackson was the only person you could really open up to about these things. You went to him when it came to boys while you went to Jaebum when it came to everything else. Though he could be goofy, it was just Jackson’s way of making you feel better when you felt like crap. You appreciated how great he was at listening and he only gave you advice when you sought it out. And even though he was known as the loudest member, you could always count on him to keep your secrets. 

Jinyoung was coming out of the suite when he noticed you and Jackson at the end of the hallway waiting for the elevator. As you snuggled closer to Jackson, there it was again.

Twisting and turning.

——

Park Jinyoung was never one to initiate conversation. Those who want to talk to him will and really, to him, those were the only interactions that mattered. 

But after his talk with Mark the night before, Jinyoung figured there was a first time for everything. And when he found you alone in the kitchen at midnight, Jinyoung felt that time was now. 

“Hey.”

Startled from the sudden break in silence, you jumped in your place, nearly dropping the glass of water you were holding. “Oh, I didn’t hear you coming.”

Jinyoung couldn’t help but chuckle at your frightened expression. You always did have a tendency to jump easily. “I actually came to get some water too.” 

“Ah...”

Silence returned to the kitchen as Jinyoung went to fix himself a glass. Tension filled the air, yet there was a sense of familiarity in the tension. Kind of like...the times when he’d be over at Jaebum’s house and the older boy would leave him alone with you in the living room while he went to go shower or something. The obligation to say something to one another would permeate the air as Jaebum would call from his room to “just entertain each other.” 

Perhaps there needed to be a break in familiarity. 

“Can we talk?”

“Huh?” Jinyoung didn’t think it was possible for your big doe eyes to get any bigger, but his suggestion to you seemed to prove him wrong. 

“Sorry, that sounded really serious, not really what I wanted to say,” Jinyoung cleared his throat, shifting on his feet. He hadn’t really thought this through. “I mean, do you want to grab ice cream with me from the shop downstairs? I’ve got a craving and you’re awake so...”

“Jinyoung,”

“Hmm?” Now Jinyoung was looking at you with wide eyes. You had said his name with an edge he had never heard before. 

You sighed, looking around the room before returning back to him. Jinyoung suddenly felt paralyzed under your gaze. There was an uncharacteristic iciness  in your eyes. “We aren’t filming anymore.”

“So...”

“You can stop pretending to be nice to me.”

A nervous laugh escaped his lips. “W-what do you mean by ‘pretend—”

“Stop toying with me Jinyoung!” He jolted at your outburst, his response dying on his lips. You were fuming, shaking in your thoughts. “I heard you and Mark talking last night.” 

“No...wait...” Jinyoung found himself taking a step towards you, holding his arms out to you. He didn’t understand himself what he was intending to do. You took a step back and signaled for him to not come any closer before hanging your head down.

“Jinyoung, I get it,” you sighed again. “You don’t like me. You never have.” 

Jinyoung took another step towards you as he heard you choke on your words, but you held your hand out to stop him again.

“Stop! I’m—” You stopped yourself to take a deep breath. You couldn’t cry in front of him. You had gotten all the crying out with Jackson already. “I know...you only put up with me because...I-I’m your best friend’s little sister so you don’t need to be so buddy-buddy with me even if it’s just for the cameras.” 

Twisting and turning.

You paused to take another breath. “When I was in school, I used to fantasize about the day you’d start treating me better and like me back,” you mused bitingly, averting your gaze to the lights. Despite your best efforts, a tear had escaped but you quickly wiped it away before it could cascade down your cheek. “I was so...stupid to think we could be anything more than-than a fantasy. But just tell me one thing Jinyoung,” you hissed at him. “Why do you hate me so much? What about me drives you crazy? What about me makes it so hard for you to put up with me?”

The tears now flowed carelessly down your face as you awaited his response. 

It took everything in Jinyoung to not bring his hand up to wipe them away. 

“I...I don’t know...”

You shook your head slowly, a bitter smile creeping its way on your lips. “I shouldn’t try so hard, right? ‘Cause I’ll never be good enough for you.”

Jinyoung knew should have stopped you. He should have followed you to your room. He should have banged on your door begging you to let him explain. 

But he stood there frozen in his spot and at a loss for words as you finished your drink and bid him a short “good night” before heading back to your room.

As Jinyoung heard your door close shut, the sensation in his stomach that he’d grown almost accustomed to had left, replaced with a new tugging feeling at his heartstrings. 

——

[foreverbeingthunderbuddy]

Prove Myself [Part 3]

Pairing: Peter Parker x female!Reader

Warnings: Cuss words (a lot of them sorry)

Summary: Having powers and being able to do things that others can’t do is something you don’t want to deal with on your own. You want to help. You want to be an Avenger. A dream you had for years, finally coming true? Too bad, nothing goes as planned. Being new in NY is hard enough, more so as you develop a crush on one of your new classmates, Peter Parker. The plan? Make the Avengers aware of you and then have them come to you. Easier said than done.

A/N: Whoop whoop here’s Part 3!! Thank you so much to everyone who read the other parts and who liked or reblogged or messaged me!! I appreciate all of it so much <3 (Gif by @saltybatman , thank you for letting me use your gif!!)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

So. Spider-man has called his people to deal with you. That means trouble. Big trouble.

Looks like things don’t go as planned again.

---

Run or stay. Run or stay? RUN OR STAY?!

What should you do? The Avengers are literally coming for you. You can see them. Flying towards you.

Iron Man in the middle, being accompanied by War Machine, Falcon, Scarlet Witch (kind of hovering?) and Thor (being pulled by his hammer?).

There is no Captain America or Winter Soldier, no Hulk, no Black Widow and no Hawkeye. They either stayed away because they can’t fly and they will join you later or they were busy. That doesn’t really feel like a relief, though. Tony Stark alone would have you running for the hills.

What to do? What to do? Wait for them and talk to them? Maybe try to convince them you’re not evil and actually want to be part of the team? Risk that they don’t buy it, see you as a threat and lock you away in their facility?

You did attack their home. You paralyzed their arc reactor. Stark Industries kind of relies on that tech. Not much you can work with here. That whole mission was a mistake. Stupid stupid stupid.

“I’m sorry” Spider-man says behind you. Oh, so at least he knows he was being sneaky by calling Death in an iron suit and his deadly (awesome) friends to take over. How nice.

Within a second you decide to make a quick getaway. This is definitely not good and knowing your luck, you will most likely end up behind a glass pane in some laboratory.

You turn around and start to run. You get two metres between you and Spider-man before you feel your feet glued together and stuck to the ground. Very ungraceful you fall on your knees. Shit shit shit. As fast as possible you get back up and try to escape from your spider web-ankle-cuffs. Obviously, that doesn’t work.

“Let me go!” You demand, panic filling your voice. You look at Spider-man, your eyes full of fear, trying to reach his empathic side. “Please!”

As an answer he simply crosses his arms and looks at his feet. No help from Spidey. Of course he’s loyal to Stark.

With a wildly beating heart you watch as Stark and his posse land on the roof about three metres away from you. If you thought seeing Iron Man, live and in colour, land before you with the Stark Tower in the background yesterday was impressive, than this is simply off the charts. It looks like a well-practiced choreography, like a group of superstars coolly taking the stage. And Spider-man.

You don’t dare to say anything, you’re too busy with staring at everyone. How absolutely mortifying would it be if you passed out at this exact moment?

“Great to see you again” Stark sarcastically says as if you weren’t glued to the ground and wouldn’t be bolting as soon as you had the chance.

And again. The scarf and the beanie were a great choice! The idea of your own superhero mask becomes more and more appealing to you. You wouldn’t risk losing the beanie or scarf while running around the city and having your identity revealed. If you go out – as originally planned – you will need a better outfit for saving people and doing good stuff.

“Hm-hm” You agree carefully, not sounding very excited. Facing the Avengers makes you shy and very, very nervous and you don’t really trust your voice right now.

Before Stark can say anything else, out of nowhere another person appears next to Thor, making you jump. He is in a silver, metallic looking suit with red parts on his chest and stomach and he wears a strange silver helmet. This must be Ant-Man.

You have only seen one picture of him which was taken by an anonymous person that was there during that big airport fight. They took a lot of blurry pictures, one of them being a shot of Ant-Man who, for some reason, was bigger than the airport building. The pictures are the only proof for the public that the Avengers had something to do with the demolition of the airport terrain. The lucky person who took them sold everything to a magazine; it being the biggest story of the month.

Another anonymous source later told the same magazine the name of the giant. Ant-Man, ironically.

“Hi, sorry, I can’t fly. Sam was so gracious to carpool with me” Ant-Man jokes and puts his hands on his hips while throwing a glance at the other Avengers. The way he stands makes you think he is sulky. Looks like they had an argument about who would have to bring the littlest Avenger to this inquisition. Apparently, the fact that there even was a discussion hurt the ant’s feelings.

If this hadn’t been such a serious situation, you would have laughed at that.

Their leader starts to speak again.

“I know our first encounter was far from pleasant, but I and the team were hoping we could resolve-” Iron Man says and thinks for a second, “this thing.”

Interesting choice of words. Resolve this thing. You suspect you won’t feel too fond of the way they plan to resolve this thing.

“Who are you?” Thor asks, clearly not devoted to the script. Iron Man and War Machine throw glances at him whose nature remain hidden under the metal of their suits.

So, Thor is the spirited one of the group. Good to know. You try to contain your excitement about the fact that these really are the Avengers and you really are finding out internal trivia about your idols that the public doesn’t know.

Who is the temperamental and who is the restrained one? Who starts fights the most and who ends them? Who is the mom-friend and who is the one that gets in trouble the most often? Who is the funny one and who is the work one?

Bruce Banner and Tony Stark are the intelligent ones, you know that already. It’s safe to say Spider-man is the kid of the group, being new and the youngest. Thor obviously is the most vivacious of them. What about the others?

Being wildly caught up in your own thoughts, it takes you a couple of seconds to realize that you are supposed to give an answer, seeing as Thor asked you a question. You clear your throat. Unfortunately, you have no idea what to say. No way in hell will you let the Magnet-Man incident happen again.

“I uh … I … I am” You mutter, thinking hard. Welp. Magnet something. Magnet-Person. Magnet-Girl?

“I am … MG” You finally say, or more accurately ask. Pretty sure self-confidence works differently.

“MG?” Falcon – no, Sam (according to Ant-Man) – inquires incredulously. You hear Ant-Man snort.

“Like the car brand?” Sam asks. Oh, of course. Of course, there’s a car brand with the same name. Wonderful.

A muffled giggle comes from Spider-man. Thor looks very confused while the Scarlet Witch wears a frown on her face.

“No!” You are quick to contradict. “Like Magnet-Girl.”

“Magnet-Girl” Iron Man repeats contemplatively.

You nod. “Yes.”

“Before you guys showed up, she said magnetism was her thing” Spider-man reports, his face towards Stark. He is still trying to distort his voice, making it sound deeper than it naturally is. Thank god, he didn’t mention your Magnet-Man faux pas. That would have been the end of you.

“Okay, Magnet-Girl, so magnetism is your thing? Believe me when I say I noticed” Stark says with a tone that edges on humorous. “You can imagine I wasn’t too thrilled about the fact that you invaded my property and manipulated my arc reactor. I also wasn’t too happy about having my suit paralyzed and then having you run away from me. That was rude, so I expect an explanation. And an apology.”

Nope. Not going to happen. You definitely won’t explain your “masterplan” to the Avengers and bear that humiliation. But you can make an apology. You probably should. Just not make it too easy for him. They are holding you here against your will, after all.

“I won’t apologize to an iron mask” You say pretending not to be scared shitless.

You see Thor smile and Sam raise his eyebrows while Spider-man, Ant-Man and the Scarlet Witch wait for Stark’s reaction. War Machine just stares at you like a guard dog.

Stark hesitates for a second before shifting.

“Okay. Fine. Let’s do this face to face, then.”

He takes a step forward. At the same time his suit opens in the front and retreats to his back, revealing Tony fucking Stark himself. In a black suit. He steps out of his Iron Man armor and casually adjusts the suit shirt on his wrists.

He didn’t have to go that hard, he could have just uncovered his face. But as far as you know him – from watching interviews and public appearances on the internet – the man loves a dramatic entrance.

Immediately, you feel star struck. You hadn’t seen his face yet; he always wore the iron suit when dealing with you. But now that you are face to face with him and see his face up close in person and not just through a screen, you feel overwhelmed. This feels like meeting a celebrity.

You absolutely admire the man and worship the ground he walks on. All confidence you had five seconds ago is gone. Took a train and is now on its way to Bolivia.

You can see the wave of alertness going through the other Avengers that followed Stark’s self-exposure. They still don’t know what you are capable of and wether you have bad intentions or not. As far as they are concerned you do have bad intentions and seeing the head of their group put off his armor slash protective clothing seems to cause a certain tension.

As if you would ever hurt Tony Stark.

“So, kid. I’m waiting” Stark says calmly. He tilts his head and spreads his arms as if he’s saying Hit me with that remorseful apology, darling. He really doesn’t want to make this easy, does he. You take a subtle breath.

“I’m sorry I attacked your Tower, Mr. Stark” You mumble, “I can’t really tell you wh-“

“What? What did you say? Would you speak up, please, I can’t understand your mumbling, kid.”

You are too intimidated by everything to get annoyed by that remark.

“I’m sorry I attacked your Tower. I didn’t have any bad intentions, I can promise you that. I just … I’m a big fan, actually.”

They did not expect that, you can tell. Ant-Man makes a noise that sounds like the verbal equivalent of “?” and looks at his fellow team members for an explanation.

With your last comment Stark drops his arms and raises his eyebrows in a very A little surprised but not bewildered way. So do Sam and the Scarlet Witch. She stares at you so intently, that you have a feeling she’s trying to read your mind. Spider-Man doesn’t show any emotions through the mask, but his spider eyes widened. War Machine throws a glance at Stark before returning to stare at you motionlessly.

Thor is the only one who looks amused by this whole thing. He smirks to himself and twists the Hammer in his hand. You earthlings must seem quite strange to him sometimes.

“Well, Tony, looks like you found yourself another admirer. She seems less of a threat and more like an ally to me, if I’m being honest with you, friend” Thor says in a mocking tone.

The God of Thunder may have just risen up on the list of your top favourite people. Have you ever mentioned how much you love blonde guys with an obsession for hand tools?

The rest of the group doesn’t look that convinced, unfortunately.

“Tony, you don’t actually buy that, do you?” Sam asks with a frown on his face.

“We must not lose our prudence just because she is a kid. This could be part of her plan, Tony” War Machine says; this being the first time he opened his mouth since they landed on this roof.

“Tony, we don’t know her. She may not look like she’s lying but it could be one of her powers. Like Loki. Don’t trust her on this. She attacked our home, don’t forget that” The Scarlet Witch says. Her words create an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach. She obviously dislikes you. Seeing her open disapproval of you doesn’t go well with you.

Also, comparing you to the God of Mischief is quite an insult, if you’re completely honest.

“I promise- I promise I’m not lying. I don’t mean you any harm. I would never try to hurt you or anyone else. I’m on the good side- I’m on your side!” You say, slowly getting desperate.

This conversation is going into the wrong direction. This is exactly what you feared would happen when you decided to escape. Which regrettably got prevented by Spiderboy. Speaking of – the boy apparently decided to contribute to this nerve-racking discussion.

“Why did you paralyze our living room area, then? What kind of fan would do that? In what way does that have to do with admiration for the Avengers in any way?” Spider-man asks, sounding very bewildered. And quite … hostile.

Ouch.

It hurts more coming from him. He is your hero, your crush, the person you look up to and the person you aspire to be. He and Stark – they are your idols. When you planned this, you didn’t expect them to dislike you. You expected them to be impressed by you and to ask you to join their team. You should have never attacked the Stark Tower. You should have just started to be like Spider-man and waited until they became aware of you. It would have taken more time, but then you WOULDN’T BE IN THIS FUCKIN TERRIBLE SITUATION!

Stark throws a puzzled glance at Spidey, seemingly surprised by the youngest Avenger’s little outburst.

“I … I can’t tell you that. But I promise I didn’t do it to harm you. It was something … I really can’t tell you that” You say helplessly.

“I believe her” Ant-Man announces, catching you completely off guard, “Guys, she is a kid. Can’t be older than sixteen or seventeen. She doesn’t look like a threat and she doesn’t sound like a threat. You’re taking this way too seriously, Stark.”

“Am I? So, you think she’s not a threat? You think the person that is able to shut off an arc reactor and mute an entire floor of one of the highest secured buildings in this country is not a threat? You think those actions are motivated by good intentions? How exactly is that the work of an ally? Can you explain that to me, Lang?” Stark inquires.

Double Ouch.

Both Stark and Spider-man dislike you. You sense your heart sink a little at that realization. Years of dreaming – crushed in a single night. You suddenly feel sad. All of this makes you incredibly sad.

“No, I can’t, but I’m just saying. She seems harmless. You heard her. She sounded sincere to me and I-“ Ant-Man aka Lang begins, but gets interrupted by Stark.

“With all due respect, Lang, you haven’t been an Avenger for that long. I’ve been doing this for almost a decade now, so naturally I have some experience with dealing with stuff like this. And I say, we can’t trust her as of right now. What she does and what she says contradicts itself and she can’t give us a good reason why she did it in the first place.”

Oh no. Oh no no no.

Stark takes a look at your still tied feet. “Well done, Spiderboy. It was the right choice to call us; this concerns all of us. You can tell me how she ended up on this roof when we’re back in the basis.”

You ended up on this roof, because Spider-man has woken you up. Why has he done that, you start to wonder. There was no need in putting your attention on him, in the middle of the night. And how Stark put it, it was also not part of their plan. He probably was only supposed to keep watch.

Interesting. You look at Spiderboy, but he avoids your glance and nods at Stark, before staring at the spider web on your feet. You feel Stark’s eyes on you.

“Magnet-Girl, I don’t intend to let you run away from me, again, so I’m gonna keep this short” He says portentously. You fearfully reciprocate his gaze. He looks very serious, not a single emotion can be seen on his face. Oh-oh. A bad suspicion crawls up into your mind.

“Let me introduce you to the Scarlet Witch over here. Or how we call her, Wanda.” He points at the woman next to him who doesn’t break her gaze from you. “Your thing is magnetism. Her thing is neuro-electric interfacing, telekinesis and mental manipulation. Incredibly powerful. And, in this particular situation, very helpful. See, we don’t know what you can do yet, we know you can command some type of magnetic waves, but we don’t know the extent of it. Who guarantees us that you don’t lie to us about your powers? Who guarantees us that you don’t suddenly use some type of magnetic shock wave or that you use your abilities to mess with the blood circulation in our bodies?”

“I do. I guarantee I won’t ever do that. I promise!” You say quickly, eager to wipe away his distrust as fast as possible. He wrinkles his nose for a second before an almost sympathetic look crosses his face.

“I’m sorry, but that’s not enough, coming from you.” He throws glances at his team members, which apparently means something because they all shift and take a step towards you. Your heart starts beating faster as you see the determined expressions on their faces.

And then Stark says the one thing you have feared the most, ever since you fled from the Stark Tower the day before.

“Wanda will use her abilities to paralyze any type of magnetism that you try to send in our direction, so that we can operate freely without your interruptions. For your and our safety we will stun you, so maybe you should take on a sitting position, unless you want to fall and smash your head on the ground. Sorry kid, we are taking you to our base.”

---

Tag list:  @brightcolorsoffendme @sonal-ily @courtneychicken @lionheo04 @just-call-me-trash-can @yourwonderbelle @willowtighe @theeaniilsson @laurie-ofmoonlightandstardust @wowpeterparker @tienna-laufeyson16 @spaceandstars @n-ghtwind @dulcetminds @the-black-panthers @prancingdestiel

[dnkaus]

Fateful Visions | Chapter 22: Clashing Emotions

Namjoon x Reader (OC)

Summary: Idol Namjoon meets a grad student, Maya, but he experiences strange visions each time their eyes meet and they touch one another. Fate plays a magnetic role, & keeps bringing them together. Are these visions a sign that they should stay away or stay together?

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Previous Part: Chapter Twenty One Next Part: Chapter Twenty Three

Hoseok came back after dropping off Namjoon in the dressing room. However, when he came back all the members had a strange look on their faces.

“I made sure Namjoonie took medicine, so let’s hope he feels better by the time we perform…” Hoseok said as he sat down between Jimin and Taehyung.

No one responded. They all just looked at each other.

“What’s wrong? You all look like you just saw a ghost…” Hoseok let out a small laugh. He was really unsure why the members looked so afraid.

“We kinda did, actually…” Jimin replied.

“What?” Hoseok was now even more confused.

“Maya is here.” Taehyung leaned over to Hoseok and whispered in his ear.

“What? Oh no…”Hoseok suddenly felt his heart drop.

“So, what are we gonna do?” Jungkook asked looking at his hyungs.

“Well, for now we are safe since Namjoonie isn’t here. We just have to make sure they don’t see each other.” Yoongi suggested.

“Are you kidding? How are we gonna make sure of that? Namjoon-ah has to come out for the actual award announcement. What if we end up winning something?”

“Yeah he can come out for the performance and then leave again….and as far as the award speech goes we can just say he was sick so we are making the acceptance speech tonight.” Yoongi explained.

“Honestly, I am sure she will try to stay away from him anyways…” Taehyung added.

“Yeah, true. Let’s hope this works.” Seokjin responded with an unsure expression. Honestly, no one was fully convinced by this absurd plan, but then again what other choice did they have?

Once the event started everyone was back in place and the cameras started recording. The members tried to act normal whenever the camera showed them on the screens. At one point the camera showed Maya, and she suddenly felt flustered but managed to give a shy smile.

About half an hour passed and for the members, the initial shock of seeing Maya at the same event started wearing off. They were almost grateful that Namjoon agreed to stay in the dressing room until their performance. Now they just needed to make sure that Maya and Namjoon didn’t cross paths.

It was right after Shinee’s performance that BTS members lost track of Maya. They were all too busy enjoying the performance, and suddenly Hoseok looked behind him and Maya was gone. Everyone panicked.

“Guys, guys, guys...where is Maya?” Hoseok asked with panic in his voice.

“What?” Taehyung said as he couldn’t hear over the loud chanting.

“Where is Maya?” Hoseok repeated. “I don’t see her…”

“Oh no, where did she go?” Jungkook repeated Hoseok’s statement.

“Crap…” Yoongi put his hands over his face out of frustration. “How did we lose her? She was just here a second ago!”

“It’s fine. I’ll go find her. We can’t all go at the same time, so you guys stay here” Seokjin recommended.

“No, I am coming with you.” Taehyung insisted.

“Fine…” Seokjin defeatedly responded.

The two members hurriedly went backstage, wondering where Maya could be.

Meanwhile, Maya was actually making her way to The Crescent’s dressing room, to wish them luck before the performance. She had gotten somewhat close with the members while working with them during the production of the album and despite her mixed feelings about the company, she knew that the girls in this group were very talented.

Maya went inside and talked with the members for a few minutes, and then decided to leave them so they could get ready. As soon as she came out of the dressing room, she ran into Junmyeon.

“Hey!” Maya said as she saw Junmyeon come towards her.

“Hey, what are you doing backstage?” Junmyeon asked.

“Oh I just came to talk to the girls and wish them luck for their performance” Maya said, as she referred to The Crescent.

“Ah, I am sure they’ll be fine.” Junmyeon assured.

“Yeah, I am sure you guys will do great too!” Maya said referring to EXO’s upcoming performance.

“Maya we have been doing this for years, so I am not worried.” Junmyeon laughed.

“I guess that’s true. But still, everyone can use a little positive energy. Anyways, I am gonna get some food. I am starving!”

“Did you not eat before the award show started?” Junmyeon asked.

“No, I didn’t get a chance cause I had to change and get ready for the red carpet. But it’s all good, I can go now!” Maya replied.

“Alright, well I will see you later!”

Maya was staring at the ground as she walked, since she was not used to wearing heels and long gowns. Suddenly she felt herself running into someone and so she quickly looked up finding herself seeing  a painfully familiar pair of eyes that tended to trigger a vortex of images flooding through her mind.

Maya found herself looking at a book with a black cover with only her name on it...she was suddenly outside walking towards a building with bodyguards and there were lots of people trying to take her pictures, and some were holding boards in their hands with her picture and a red cross going through her face, while others were cursing at her… she now found herself inside a dressing room, where there were several women that were helping her get ready for something...she was suddenly inside Namjoon’s arms, “please take care...okay?” he said with a soft voice. “I love you…” he whispered before letting go…

Maya felt herself blink, bringing her back to reality. A reality that she had already gotten a sense of as soon as she looked into the eyes of the person who she had run into. But still, she had trouble fully understanding the situation she was currently in. She took a step back before looking up again at the person.

“Maya…” the person whispered.

Maya gulped as she finally had enough strength to put the name to the face that was in front of her. Kim Namjoon of BTS was standing in front of her. The man that once she referred to as her “Joon.”

Her body finally began to feel the adrenaline kick in as she realized what had just happened. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It felt like all the years of distance had melted and she was now in front of the person that she had even been afraid to think about.

Namjoon just stood there and stared, not being able to take his eyes off of Maya. He was stunned. Was it really her? Or was this his imagination again? Why was she here? Is this real? He couldn’t figure out the boundaries of his imagination from his reality. Strangely, instead of pain, he felt alive for the first time. Like he could finally feel his heartbeat. Unlike Maya, Namjoon had thought of a thousand scenarios where he would run into her one day. But in none of those scenarios did he imagine it would happen like this. He wasn’t sure whether he should be thrilled to see her again or whether he should be panicking.

“So-sorry…” Maya hesitantly whispered. Her eyes were glimmering due to the tears forming in her eyes. Namjoon saw the glimmer and  was immediately tempted to forget all of the history and take Maya into his arms as he would drown in her warmth. But he knew that it would always remain just a dream.

Just then a hand abruptly pulled Maya away from him  and the figure stood in between her and Namjoon. It was Junmyeon. He was the one standing between them. All of Namjoon’s emotions became tangled at this point. Namjoon’s mind suddenly went back to the conversation he had with Yoongi. Namjoon remembered Maya’s contract with SM. He remembered The Crescent, and his thoughts about Junmyeon and Maya being together came to the forefront of his mind.

“Stay away from her.” Junmyeon said in almost a loud whisper.

“I just need to talk to her for a sec-” Namjoon was interrupted as he tried to go around Junmyeon to be near Maya.

“I said stay away from her.” Junmyeon said it louder.

Namjoon didn’t respond this time. He moved out of the way.

“C’mon Maya, let’s go.” Junmyeon said as he gently put his arm around Maya’s shoulder and gestured her to go. Maya was still too in shock to say anything.

Namjoon clenched his jaw in both anger and jealousy.

“You already moved on with him, Maya. really?” Namjoon suddenly replied as Junmyeon and Maya passed him.

Both Junmyeon and Maya paused. They were both confused as to what Namjoon meant. But Junmyeon decided to let him think what he wanted.

“Why? Are you afraid that she will be happier with someone else? Well guess what, you are right. She will be. Because not everyone’s a coward like you.”

Namjoon suddenly felt his hand turn into a fist. Maya saw the hatred in Namjoon and Junmyeon’s eyes towards each other and it scared her. Namjoon was about to raise his fist, when Maya came in front of Junmyeon.

“Just stop it! Please just stop!” Maya suddenly whispered loudly. All of them were trying to be quiet so they wouldn’t attract attention.

At this point Taehyung and Seokjin came running towards Namjoon. “Hyung...we were looking for-” Taehyung stopped talking as he saw Maya and Junmyeon standing across from Namjoon.  It was too late. Maya and Namjoon had already met.

It was obvious that there was already tension in the air so both Seokjin and Taehyung merely came up and stood behind Namjoon.

Maya was still standing in front of Junmyeon, blocking him from Namjoon. Namjoon’s hand was now in even a tighter fist.

“My personal life is none of your business.” Maya suddenly said, answering Namjoon’s earlier question.

“And Oppa, you don’t need to protect me from him. I can take care of myself.” Maya said as she turned towards Junmyeon.

Then Maya paused before saying. “We are in a middle of a public event. Do you realize how terrible it would be if someone saw us here?” Maya sounded upset. Frustrated. She didn’t know what to feel, but she knew she had to keep herself together. Everyone was silent, as if they were waiting for Maya to finish talking. So she did.

“Now, I am gonna leave first. After I leave, I want you both to go in separate directions. Do you understand? Do not create another scene. We are all professionals here.” Maya gave both Junmyeon and Namjoon an intense look, and walked away swiftly after warning the guys in her stern voice.

Namjoon and the two BTS members were shocked to see Maya’s confidence. Perhaps, she had changed since the last time they had met her.

Junmyeon gave all of them a glare and also walked away, leaving Namjoon, Seokjin and Taehyung with a feeling of uneasiness.

“Namjoon-ah, are you okay?” Seokjin asked after a few silent moments.

Namjoon didn’t reply. He started walking towards where Maya was headed earlier.

“Where are you going?” Taehyung asked.

“I--I need to talk to her…” Namjoon mumbled.

“Namjoon, don’t do this to yourself. It’s only going to hurt more.” Seokjin insisted.

“Hyung, no you don’t understand. It’s like this is the first time I don’t feel pain in all these years...the first time I feel alive…” Namjoon turned and replied.

Seokjin and Taehyung didn’t know what to say. It hurt them to hear Namjoon say that all this time he was in pain. The members knew it was true, but it hurt more to hear him say it out loud. Somewhere inside, all the members felt guilty and responsible for the break-up, even though they knew technically it wasn’t their fault. Therefore, Seokjin and Taehyung didn’t stop Namjoon.

Namjoon also knew how the members must have felt being in the middle of all this. He knew he was getting too emotional, and perhaps, the members were right about not seeing Maya again. But he couldn’t help but feel the urge to go see her. To at least say the things that he should have said to her years ago. For some odd reason, he felt like he finally had enough strength to face her again. Maybe, the initial fear of seeing her was now over and that’s why he felt like he could do it again. This would provide the much needed closure to him, because honestly he had never really had closure.

“Hyung, can I..can I at least go apologize? I won’t say anything else...please…” Namjoon was not only asking Seokjin’s permission, but he was also asking his own heart’s permission.

Seokjin and Taehyung looked at each other. “Go! Just go!” Seokjin said as he gestured towards the hallway where Maya was headed earlier.

“Thank you…” Namjoon mumbled before heading in the hallway.

Namjoon began searching for Maya. First he checked the dressing rooms, to see if he could find her room, but he looked too quickly and missed her name. Then he went towards the staff area where The Crescent were getting ready for the performance. Then finally Namjoon went towards the area with all the food, where he saw Maya standing there with an empty plate in her hand, deciding what she wanted to eat. There was no one else in the room except him and Maya.

It still felt so strange to see her right in front of him after all this time. He stood there for a few moments before her name escaped his lips. “Maya…”

Maya immediately turned around and looked at Namjoon from the other side of the room. As soon as she saw him, she took a few steps back. Just her reaction to him was enough to deplete whatever confidence Namjoon had to face her. For a moment, back in the other hallway, Namjoon had thought that maybe she had forgiven him. But no, the way she was avoiding him made it clear to him that she had not forgiven him. In fact, she was even afraid to be around him.

Maya put down the empty plate and walked out of the room from the other side.

Namjoon sighed before following her. He had come too far to back down now.

He silently followed until Maya went inside her dressing room and closed the door behind her. Namjoon quickly looked around to make sure there was no one around him, before he knocked on the door.

Maya immediately opened the door, it was as if she knew this would happen.

“What? What do you want?” Maya immediately exclaimed as soon as she opened the door. She had her arms crossed across her chest.

“I just wanted to talk to you…” Namjoon said

“Well, I don’t want to talk to you…”  Maya walked away from the door, and went inside the room. “I don’t talk to strangers.”

Namjoon let out a painful smirk. It was hurtful, but at least she was still talking to him.

“You still haven’t forgiven me have you? You are never gonna forgive me, will you?” Namjoon half mumbled to himself.

“Again, I don’t talk to strangers, so please leave. What part of that do you not understand?” Maya was not even looking at Namjoon at this point. She was facing the other direction. Her expressions were somewhere between sadness and frustration.

Namjoon knew what she must be feeling, so he nodded. “Okay, fine you don’t have to talk to me. But let me talk to you. I just came here to apologize.”

Suddenly Maya started laughing and then she stopped, turned around to face Namjoon, and slowly walked up to him. She was no longer the shy, hesitant, Maya. She was no longer afraid of running into him. She was angry. It was like all the trials and despair had led up to this.

“Apology? No, no, no, no, no...uh-uh, I know what you are trying to do. You just want closure, don’t you? You want closure so you can just drop all that guilt you are probably carrying around and move along like nothing happened. But no, I am never letting you have that. I want you to continue carrying around that guilt.” Maya said as she came up dangerously close to Namjoon and stared right into his eyes. She was so close to him that he could feel her warm breath on his neck.

Namjoon gulped. He knew Maya was angry, but for some reason he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride. Sure, he knew she was giving him a life sentence of torture and guilt, but at the same time he felt like he was seeing her release herself from her own life sentence of despair, and that honestly made him feel almost proud.

“If that’s what gives you closure, I will gladly accept that.” Namjoon replied as he softly gazed back into Maya’s eyes, trying to keep back the bitterness in his heart and accept his punishment. It wasn’t that hard to keep back the bitterness, because he was staring at his favorite hazel speckled brown eyes and that meant that nothing in that moment could bring him down. His mind was at peace. It felt like he was some sort of a restless nomadic traveller that had travelled far and wide and he finally found his tranquility.

Meanwhile, Maya was slightly taken aback by Namjoon’s response. She had expected him to resist her eternal punishment, but instead he accepted it like it was a present. Namjoon also took a few steps back away from Maya, mostly because he was afraid if he stood that close to her any longer, his urge to wrap his arms around her would become far too strong. His emotions were getting out of control.

“Good luck to you and him, Maya. I am proud of how far you have come.” Namjoon said as he walked backwards towards the door. He paused only briefly, hoping for Maya to react or say something, but when she didn’t he quickly left.

Maya stood there for a few moments, soaking in the events that had just occurred in the past several minutes. Up until this point, Maya had closed a segment of her heart that still ached for Namjoon, but tonight, the lock on that segment  had been reopened. How would she close that part of her heart again?

Namjoon went back to the front for BTS’s performance and for the rest of the award announcements. His mind was scattered, his heart was in chaos, and truthfully, he was feeling much worse than before. However, he knew he had responsibilities that he needed to fulfill.

Maya eventually also came back to her seat, after BTS was finished performing. By this time the presenters were about to announce the daesang for Song of the Year. There was tension in the air as the nominees were being announced one-by-one. Of course, BTS was nominated alongside, The Crescent, and EXO. It felt almost unreal for Maya to see a song that she wrote be compared to BTS. She still couldn’t believe this was her reality.

The presenters began the announcement of the winner. “MAMA Song of the Year award goes to…. ‘Small Stain’ by The Crescent. Congratulations” the presenters announced, and the members of The Crescent quickly hugged each other and went on to the stage.

The group thanked all the staff and team that helped them write the song, and thanked the fans that listened. They kept their speech humble and short, as they knew they were still rookies. Maya was excited for them, but she couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty as she accidentally looked over at BTS and saw some of the members look mildly disappointed. Surprisingly, Namjoon was still clapping as the members of The Crescent came down from the stage and came back to the seat. He even bowed in return when the girls bowed towards him before they sat down in their seats.

“Can he not make it so obvious?” Yoongi whispered to Seokjin, referring to Namjoon’s enthusiastic support for The Crescent’s win. Yoongi knew that the cameras were recording their reactions and seeing Namjoon in such a happy and enthusiastic mood, could potentially be taken the wrong way by the media.

“I literally have no idea what’s going through his head right now.” Seokjin responded.

Next, the presenters began announcing the nominees for Album of The Year. The nominees were essentially the same, therefore, the tension was still high for all the involved groups. The presenters then began to announce the winner. “The winner of this year’s Album of the Year award goes to…..EXO”

The members all stood up and went towards the stage to accept the award. Junmyeon accepted the trophy from the presenter’s hands and then went towards the microphone to make an acceptance speech. Honestly, no one saw this coming. For the few years, BTS had been winning almost all the 3 daesangs. It even surprised EXO members, that this year they were winning again.

Junmyeon adjusted the microphone before he began speaking. “Hello everyone! Firstly, I just want to say that the members and I are beyond grateful to EXO-Ls and everyone who has supported us throughout our journey. I am honestly surprised by this award tonight. I was once told by someone close to not underestimate myself, and to never stop believing in my work. At the time, I thought they were just being nice to me, but I think they were right. Perhaps, I did underestimate myself. Moreover, I would like to offer the same advice to my beloved fans. Do not underestimate yourself and continue putting your best foot forward no matter which path you choose. Thank you once again to MAMA awards, and EXO-Ls.”

All the members bowed and went back to their seats. Meanwhile, Namjoon couldn’t help but feel a pang inside his heart when he heard Junmyeon speech. Who was Junmyeon referring to in his speech? Was it Maya? Could she have been the one to support him? It did sound like something she would say. This must really mean they are together. She really did move on from him, he presumed. No wonder Junmyeon had called Namjoon a coward. Because he really was. Namjoon would never have enough courage to say such a bold speech. If Maya was dating Junmyeon, then it was good. Because she deserved to be with someone who was proud to be with her.

The presenters started announcing the nominees for the final award of the night. The Artist of the Year award. Again, the nominees included the same groups. Hence, the tension was still thick in the air. The presenters finally announced the winner after the nominee list was finished.

“The winner of this year’s Artist of the Year award goes to none other than BTS!”

The crowd cheered and the boys immediately enveloped each other into a group hug. Namjoon was barely even over the previous speech, but he realized now he needed to make his own. He quickly tried to pull himself out of his trance as he walked on to the stage.

Namjoon let Jungkook accept the trophy from the presenter’s hand, as his were shaking too much. Then he went towards the microphone, not knowing what to say at all. This was actually rare for Namjoon. He always knew what to say every time. But this time, he was failing. He didn’t have words and he wasn’t in the right mindset at the moment. The members waited for Namjoon to begin speaking, half-wondering if he would  even be able to talk at all.

Namjoon looked out into the crowd. His eyes almost unconsciously landing on Maya. He remembered he had seen this scene before in one of their old visions. Namjoon gulped and quickly looked away. The crowd was loud. ARMYs were waving their ARMY bombs, waiting for their beloved leader to speak. He then threw one last glance at Maya before bringing himself back together to say something coherent.

“ARMY…..ARMY, thank you.” Namjoon began to say. The crowd cheered even more loudly as he said ARMYs’ name. He paused and let the crowd calm down before speaking again. “Being part of BTS, we always preach about loving ourselves. But I realize it’s easy to say and hard to do. That’s why this year our concept was nostalgia and regret. Our music focused on how nostalgia and regret can prevent us from accepting ourselves and looking towards the future. Sometimes, however, this regret is important. Without the regret you would make the same mistake again. Therefore, we encourage you to look at your mistakes with an open mind. And instead of dwelling, truly think about what you could have done differently in that situation. And then apply that to your future choices. BTS and ARMYs have come a long way. We have learned many things together, and I know we will learn even more things in the future. So let’s continue learning how to love ourselves. Thank you ARMYs.”

The other members also took a few moments and gave their speeches. Even though they were still taken aback by Namjoon’s long and strange  speel about regret. The others tried to make their responses more bright to distract the crowd and soon the cameras panned away into the crowd, which meant the award show had finally come to an end.

3 weeks Later

After the award season ended, Maya’s contract was also coming to an end with SM. By this time she had accrued enough money to finish writing her novel without any extra income. That is why she had also told the SM producers she would not be renewing her contract with them. She just needed peace as she finished her novel and sent it off for publication. The events that had taken within these last few weeks had left Maya feeling weak. She was drained and her willingness to stay in Korea was slowly fading.

One morning, Maya had just finished making her morning cup of tea, and had sat down at her desk in her bedroom to write her novel, when she heard a knock on her front door. Maya was alarmed as she was not expecting any guests. Who could it be? She wondered. Maya checked her phone to see if someone had texted her before coming to her door, but she noticed there were no notifications. She assumed it was Han Bi, since Han Bi often came to her apartment unannounced. Therefore, Maya got up from her desk and quickly went to open the door.

Little did she know that she was not just opening the door to a friend, she was opening the door to another turn in her fate.

[lurkingcrow]

Ok, so I had a few ideas about an AU of an AU of a crack AU thanks to @albaparthenicevelut @resistancepilots  @aifsaath and @forcearama . And then I got thinking. And then it got a little long. Ok, a lot long. But the mental image had so much potential...

 It all starts on Mandalore. In another universe Satine Kryze holds her tongue and Obi-Wan Kenobi leaves after saying his goodbyes and commits to becoming the best Jedi he can be. In this universe, she asks him to stay. So he does. Oh not immediately, there are after all conversations he must have with his master, apologies he must give, but Obi-Wan meditates long and hard and determines that this is where the force is calling him and so he leaves the order just after his 18th birthday. 

Qui-Gon is devastated at first. But Obi-Wan is no Xanatos - he is not leaving for power, or due to the failings of his master, but for love and the chance to bring about peace to a war-torn planet, and maybe Qui-Gon can live with that. He stays for their wedding, which for all its simplicity given the limited resources is no less beautiful. Qui-Gon does not cry, but his eyes are suspiciously wet and anyone with a hint of Force sensitivity can feel his love and pride half a planet away. Obi-Wan may still have his doubts about leaving, but having his former master's support means the world. Their bond never truly breaks, and frequent holocalls ensure that Qui-Gon is up to date with what his former apprentice is up to (Satine is not above snitching to him about Obi-Wan's reckless stunts in the hope that he can guilt her husband into behaving, and Qui-Gon is thankful for her efforts to keep their relationship strong. He is growing quite fond of Obi-Wan's lady love.).

But it is lonely in the temple without his padawan. And increasingly Qui-Gon is growing frustrated with the senate interference in Jedi activities. The missions he is sent on seem like futile wastes of time, and while he never thought he would say it, he is beginning to see Master Dooku's point about the systemic corruption being too entrenched to overcome. Honestly, these days he suspects he'd do more good running around the galaxy as some kind of vigilante peacekeeper than negotiating yet another inane trade deal that should have been resolved weeks earlier if it weren't for the egos involved... the force pings. Oh.  Qui-Gon Jinn is a master of the living force, of the here and now, and here and now the force is telling him that maybe that's not such a bad idea.

Truthfully there is little left for him in the Temple; Tahl, Master Dooku, Obi-Wan - so many of those close to him are gone. All that keeps him here is his duty, and as a Jedi is his ultimate duty not to the Force? It would be nice to pay Obi-Wan a visit, maybe take a side trip to Serreno to see what his old master is up to these days...

So Qui-Gon leaves, not quite knowing what his plans are but trusting in the will of the Force. He initially sets up on Mandalore, where Obi-Wan and Satine are more than happy to have him (once Qui-Gon has finished convincing his not-son that his leaving the order was not his fault. Satine does not permit emotional constipation in her palace after all.), but soon finds himself restless and sets out again, promising not to get in too much trouble. Obi-Wan sighs and Satine starts ordering the set of armour she knows he's going to need when it comes time to rescue his old master. After all, their future children should have at least one Grandparent to look up to right?

The Force takes him to Tatooine, where an investigation of Gardulla the Hutt ends up with him befriending a local mother and her toddler and confronting the reality of slavery on the Outer Rim. The Jedi aren't coming to free the slaves, but Qui-Gon's no longer just a Jedi is he? And he sees Shmi worry over Little Ani (So strong in the force! And yet so unlikely to ever be found and brought to the temple...) and decides that maybe he can't save them all, but there's no reason he can't try and help those he can. A bit of offhand gambling during the negotiations, a minor favour of two (that the Hutt doesn't realise will end up backfiring but Qui-Gon does) and Qui-Gon Jinn is up a large sum of credits and two newly freed Skywalkers.

(It should be noted that as there are a lack of facilities to provide a midichlorian count, and Shmi is still somewhat reluctant to admit to the whole "virgin birth" thing, Qui- Gon considers Anakin Skywalker to be a strong and promising child but not exactly miraculous. Cute though. Very cute. He likes to fall asleep against his shoulder and Qui-Gon gets nostalgic about all the times Obi-Wan did the same. Shmi looks on, and thinks.) 

They head to Mandalore to get the chips out (and to show Obi-Wan that his father old master is safe and well - minus a cracked rib of two) and  Qui-Gon Jinn is faced with a major dilemma. He really should be encouraging Shmi to consider sending Ani to the temple, where his talents can be trained, but… he looks to where Shmi and Satine are beaming as they watch Anakin attempt to sneak up on Obi-Wan who is assiduously pretending to ignore the toddler's giggles as he reads the latest reports on the rebuilding effort. Anakin inexplicably adores Obi-Wan, and it is to all appearances, mutual.  Qui-Gon has no desire to hurt his former Padawan again, and how could he be so hypocritical as to send little Ani off to an institution he’s not sure he believes in anymore? The question is rendered moot when Shmi bluntly tells him the only ones she trusts with Anakin are currently in the palace, and if he needs teaching Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan can do it. The idea is honestly a little uncomfortable for the pair of former Jedi, but they're coming to terms with what the Force seems to be asking of them.

 Which in Qui-Gon’s case seems to mean a lot of trips to the outer rim among the poor and downtrodden - oddly enough Shmi suddenly decides to come with him, claiming that Ani is safe as he can be on Mandalore, she’s familiar with some of the more unsavory parts of the galaxy and Qui-Gon needs someone to watch his back. He’s just glad for the company,  particularly when he does end up paying a visit to Serenno. Watching a former slave look Dooku in the eye and calmly and quietly call bullshit on his arguments surrounding the role of the trading unions is worth every moment. Honestly, while he may have a point about corruption within the Republic, Qui-Gon is getting a little creeped out by his former Master’s insistence on the need for strong leadership and a firm hand. It sounds like he’s advocating open conflict, and war isn’t good for anyone!

So he attempts to make his goodbyes, but Dooku is reluctant to let them leave, which means it’s time to implement the old “disappear and claim you had a vision” trick. And ok, so I won't go into details, but after a long and complex series of events involving a freight hauler, eight barrels of spiked Telosian Brandy, three janitor droids and a Twilek Dance Company they manage to make it off planet and into Hutt space where they can disappear for a bit.

But a Skywalker is still a Skywalker, not matter how much sense she has, and Qui-Gon Jinn is as much a trouble-magnet as the rest of his line, so thanks to yet another strange convergence of events involving an attempted kidnapping, five tonnes of explosives, a backroom bar on Ord Mantell, a missing shipment of Spice, an insurrection on a mining colony,  uncountable huttese expletives, one inspirational speech, a cache of heavy weapons and no less than eight marriage proposals, Qui-Gon Jinn finds himself the captain of a small fleet of ships and a band of untrained but passionate freedom fighters. Shmi has never laughed so much in her entire life!

Qui-Gon does what he does best and attempts to talk his way out of it, but it is to no avail; “Captain Jinn” is an inspiration to them all, his dedication is unparalleled and they will do all they can to aid him in his quest to bring justice to the galaxy!  Qui-Gon panics and calls in the cavalry. Unfortunately for him Satine thinks it’s a brilliant idea.

Because while she adores her husband, the Duchess of Mandalore has noticed that recently he seems to be going a little stir crazy. For all his denials Obi-Wan is a man of action, and things have calmed enough that he needs a distraction lest she start throwing martini glasses at him to make him stop hovering! Assisting a band of “pirates” in undermining the various interests who take advantage of the lawless nature of the Outer Rim to spread their influence and at the same time giving him the chance to spend time with Qui-Gon  seems like an excellent way to keep him occupied. Also, as Shmi points out, it’s exactly the type of thing that Mandalorians go gaga for - heroic warriors secretly taking out evildoers and doing good while dramatically declaring their own villainy, why it seems like the perfect outlet for those Mandalorians who long for the glory found in days of old!

She’s right. There are plenty of volunteers willing to follow their Duchess’ dashing husband to join his father mentor in cleaning up the Outer Rim. They start out small, intercepting a shipment of slaves, diverting a cargo of pharmaceuticals to a planet in urgent need of medicine, confiscating a hold full of illegal weaponry. But soon they grow bolder, raiding larger and larger targets, always making sure that those they hit deserve it and will only bring themselves greater trouble if they make a fuss about the loss of their ill-gotten gains. Soon their little group has carved out quite a solid support base, and while they never stop wondering why the Force seems so happy about this turn of events, the former Jedi actually begin to enjoy their work. They’re slowly making progress, and eventually they know enough momentum will build that uniting this part of the galaxy and freeing the slaves may one day be feasible. Also, it’s really really pissing off both the Senate and the Order, which means they must be doing something right.

And that is how Qui-Gon Jinn becomes a Pirate King, the Scourge of Slavers, Hassler of Hutts, Bane of the Banking Clan and Terror of the Techno Union. Dooku is grinding his teeth into dust with frustration. Especially since all his correspondence suggesting an alliance is either returned unopened or overwritten with sarcastic commentary and a suggestion to go deep throat a lightsaber.

That’s more than enough for now, I need some sleep, but there is more to this verse I’ve worked out. Tune in next time for “Naboo’s no good very rotten day aka Padme Amidala, Pirate Queen in Exile” “The clone wars start but the clones are late to the party” “Qui-Gon discovers he never actually formally quit the Jedi, and Yoda and Mace take advantage of this” “Plo Koon admire’s Qui-Gon’s taste in pets” and “Oh god, Anakin Skywalker, Mandalorian Pirate Prince, what have I done?”...