#task: 106

[hammerclamour]

Akage animation with SCP buddies bleh

[bonesvoid]

Risky Business

word count: 5.5k

contains: modern/college au, no preestablished romantic relationships (viktor and reader are besties that torment jayce /hj), frat bro/lacrosse player!jayce, honors student!viktor, art kid!reader, switch!jayce, dom!viktor, switch!reader, bottom!jayce, top!viktor, alcohol, weed, drug use, stoner!viktor & stoner!reader, oral sex (blowjob & pussy eat), anal sex, cock milking, safe sex & proper use of lube!!! (wrap it before you tap it & never do anal without lube), doggy style, too many mentions of prostate/cock/dick/pussy/cunt, praise kink, corruption kink, virgin!jayce, teasing, praise, pet names (golden boy/darling/sweetheart/baby), vaginal sex, somewhat animalistic/rough sex, we swallow not spit, cervix bruising, multiple orgasms, jayce aims to please, jayce’s cock is too powerful, lightweight!jayce (bro can't handle the weed), viktor and reader are menaces, one off mention of public sex, humiliation if you squint

summary: jayce embarks on a spiritual journey of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll with the help of his two hottest classmates at his fraternity's risky business themed party.

a/n: shoutout to this fic's beta reader @zevrra <3 they're awesome and write amazing arcane content!

Stale booze, pungent smoke from loosely rolled joints, and people making out in every room of the house are the trifecta of a typical frat house party. Yet, things have been turned up to a hundred and fifty for Greek Week’s Battle of the Greeks, each frat and sorority house on the Row competing to be the Greek Life chapter. For Piltover University’s Sigma Phi Delta, Greek Week means maintaining their incumbent title. 

Jayce, the newest recruit and brother, has the most unfortunate task for the party: keeping drunken idiots from destroying every inch of the frat house. Not that he minds, of course! Despite his charming looks and demeanor, Jayce Talis despises parties. Sure, a party of twenty people or less is fine, but a party at this level of insanity? Pure nightmare fuel.

To make matters worse for poor Jayce, someone from Sigma Phi Delta (he has his suspicion of who was responsible, a certain snobby blonde named Allira Salo) had suggested Risky Business as the theme for this year’s Battle of the Greeks. Now, here’s Jayce, standing by the drinks table in nothing but grey boxers, crew socks, and the longest button down he could find. D.M.S.R. by Prince plays over the speakers, a staple from the movie and the perfect party song.

Jayce nurses a Red Solo cup of cheap liquor in his hands, but he hadn’t taken a single sip. Whenever a frat brother or chatty drunk girl would come up to him, Jayce would feign drinking and laugh like a gleeful drunkard, playing along in the hopes they would skitter away to their next victim.

“Not much of a drinker, huh?” someone shouts to him over the loud beat of the funk track. Jayce looks down–he has to look down at everyone on the campus–and sees you, a classmate from his ART 106 class, Drawing for Non-Majors. Everyone pursuing a degree at Piltover University is required to take a “Creativity and Creative Development” class as part of their core curriculum. Drawing for Non-Majors happens to be the only art Jayce believes he could net an easy ‘A’ in. 

“How could you tell?” he yells back, as the music switches to The Dream is Always the Same, a somewhat psychedelic song. You tease the rim of your cup, bubbling lemon-lime soda inside, “You’re the least giddy frat boy at the party.”

Jayce eyes the way you guide your manicured finger around the cup and has to tear away his gaze to answer, “Yeah, makes sense. I got tasked with ‘drunk dumbass’ duty, so it’s better to be sober if some ass tries to pick a fight and break something.”

You give a nod and hold up your cup to Jayce, “Care for some Sprite then?”

Jayce’s eyes widen at your offer, “But you,” he blinks his surprise away, “That’s your drink.”

“Sharing is caring,” you chuckle. 

Jayce grabs the cup from you and examines it; never has he taken an already consumed drink from someone else, nonetheless from a cute girl like you. It’s like an indirect kiss! Oh, Jayce Talis–the cheesy romantic–is not one to kiss and tell, but he could count on one hand how many people he has kissed. Now or never. Jayce takes a timid sip from the cup and relishes in the refreshing taste, “Oh God, I needed that.”

“Good!” you take the cup back and down the rest of it. Now, this is an indirect kiss! Jayce’s tanned cheeks warm up at the realization and he fans himself with his free hand. Seeing his overheated face, you tilt your head and ask, “Too hot? Wanna come with me to a cooler spot?”

“Oh! Uh,” the frat boy runs through the possible outcomes if he does or doesn’t follow you. What if a fight happens while he’s occupied? What if you think he’s a bummer for not joining you? What if– “You don’t have to,” you add on and shrug, “If you don’t wanna.”

“No!” he exclaims, a bit too loud. Jayce quickly masks his enthusiasm with a fake cough, “Lead the way,” he flashes you his ‘Golden Boy’ smile. Please don’t think I’m an inexperienced loser.

“Cool,” you toss your cup in the nearby trash can and grab Jayce by the wrist, barely able to wrap your whole hand around it. Through the mobs of partying sorority girls, people cheering on a frat brother’s keg stand, and folks getting way too into dancing, you lead Jayce outside to the back of the frat house. A few party attendees are lounging about in the backyard, some of which are couples making out or people exchanging joints. 

“Viktor!” you call out. Sitting around some abandoned lawn chairs, a thin man with shaggy shoulder-length hair and a flannel perks up. He waves the two of you over and you each find a chair to occupy. Jayce examines the stickers on Viktor’s cane.

“Hey,” Viktor greets you both, his accent rich and thick.

“H- Hey,” Jayce attempts to be nonchalant, but fails miserably when his baritone voice cracks into soprano range. He recognizes Viktor from many of his engineering classes, but he never had the opportunity to chat one on one with him. Yet, judging by the hordes of engineering students seeking the cane user out for tutoring, Jayce doesn’t want to come off as needing such assistance–well, some assistance would be appreciated–or that he would use Viktor for it.

“Cute,” Viktor lets out a deep chuckle, honey amber eyes glowing almost eerily under the full moon’s light, “The Golden Boy’s a bit shy, huh?” 

“Oh, for sure,” you snort. Jayce pouts and averts his eyes from the two of you, only to have you tilt his chin back up with the tip of your finger, “We only tease in good faith,” you coo, “I take it that you know Jayce, Vik?”

“Everyone does,” he answers. Jayce pouts again and Viktor stifles back a laugh, “Also he’s my classmate in about half of my classes,” the pretty haired–Pretty haired?! Jayce, get it together!–boy leans closer and Jayce can smell the familiar stink of weed on his flannel, “I thoroughly enjoyed seeing your Rube Goldberg machine unfold during our class with Professor Hemingdinger.”

“Haha, yeah, that machine,” the engineering student cringes. You raise your eyebrows at the exchange, “Oh no, what happened?”

“The concept was ingenious, I must say,” states Viktor, “A creative way to dispense a cup of coffee for our dear professor,” Jayce buries his face into his sleeves of his varsity jacket, as Viktor continues, “However, Jayce miscalculated the placement of the coffee pot.”

“Don’t tell me,” your cheeks puff up to hold back your laughter. 

“Cue our poor professor drenched in coffee!” the cane user laughs. You break and join in, boisterous laughter ringing through Jayce’s ears. The frat boy peers up at the exchange and comments, “At- At least, it was lukewarm coffee…”

“Thank God,” you calm down from your laughing fit, “If it was any warmer, I’m afraid that you would have been sued,” Viktor nods along in agreement. Jayce runs his large, veiny hands through his clean-cut hair, “Okay, okay. Enough is enough.”

“Sorry,” you throw an arm around Jayce’s shoulders and pull him close, the scent of your strawberry perfume strong and intoxicating to the frat boy, “We can make it up to you, if you want.”

“How so?” he inquires.

You give Viktor a wink and he returns it with a thumbs up. Viktor snatches his worn out satchel from the leaf-covered ground and rummages through its content. It takes a moment or two before Viktor procures the object of desire, a baggie of green flowery clumps.

“Please tell me that’s oregano,” Jayce pleads.

“Nope,” the cane user confirms, “One hundred percent pure marijuana.”

“Don’t worry! Vik has a med card, so it’s like… totally legal,” you reassure Jayce with a pat on the cheek. Jayce bites his tongue to prevent himself from saying something utterly stupid, “Are you sure it’s okay? We won’t get in trouble?” Okay, nevermind, he does say something utterly stupid.

“As long as you’re not a narc,” replies Viktor. He sets the baggie down and pulls a few more items from his satchel: rolling paper, filter paper, and a grinder, “Watch the master at work,” 

Viktor grinds up a clump of flower; once properly grounded up to his liking, he places the filter paper on one end of the rolling paper, followed by the flower. He rolls it up flawlessly and seals it, producing a perfectly made joint, before making two more joints.

“Here,” he holds out a joint to Jayce. With shaky hands, Jayce accepts the joint with visible hesitation, almost dropping in the process. You squeeze his shoulder and murmur, “Don’t worry, the first time can be scary, but we can help you.”

“How?” questions Jayce. A sparkle of mischief flickers in your eyes, “Lemme show you,” you hop off your lawn chair and approach Viktor. You plop down on his lap and throw your legs over the arm of the chair, twirling a strand of Viktor’s tousled locks, “Light me up, baby.”

Viktor pulls out a silver lighter from his jeans pocket and you place the joint between your lips, letting it dangle. Jayce watches with bated breath, as Viktor flicks the lighter open and holds the flame by your joint. Once lit, you take a drag of it and inhale some of the smoke. You pull the joint out, cheeks puffed out with smoke, and beckon Viktor to come closer. Leaning in, you press your lips against Viktor’s and exhale, allowing the thinner man to consume the rest of the smoke, as the two of you kiss. 

Jayce gawks at the sight of you making out, the way you tug at Viktor’s hair and the way he grips at your sides stirs something inside the frat boy, “And that’s called shotgunning!” you finish the kiss up and inform Jayce, “Just make sure you part your lips before I shotgun you, or else we’ll waste some good smoke,” you offer him a lopsided smile, “Wanna give it a try?”

“Sure,” he nods. You move from Viktor’s lap and onto Jayce’s, the joint still lit in your hand. Jayce swallows any fear away, as you lay the joint between your lips and breathe in the smoke, the lit end lighting up with the inhalation. You pass the joint over to Viktor for him to hold and he steals a few hits, as you moved closer and closer and–

Jayce’s lips connect with yours and he parts them just enough for you to push smoke into his mouth. It travels down his throat and into his lungs, burning and irritating. Jayce breaks away from the kiss to cough, spluttering out hot smoke. You rub his back while he hacks up a lung, “Yikes, yeah, that happens a lot to beginners.” 

“Have some water,” Viktor passes off his water bottle and Jayce snatches it, drinking up all the liquid like a dehydrated man crawling through the Sahara Desert. He coughs a bit more up and finally settles down, “When does this-” he cuts himself off, as a fuzzy feeling suddenly clouds his mind. Jayce closes his eyes, then opens them, and then closes them again, “Wow,” he giggles, “Feels nice…”

“Please tell me that he didn’t just get high off one hit,” begs Viktor.

“I think he got high off one hit,” you answer. You prepare yourself to disembark from Jayce’s lap, but stop yourself, “Jayce,” he looks at you with wide eyes, “Yeah?”

“Why are you hard?” you question him. 

Jayce’s eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets at your inquiry. He jerks his head down and sees his predicament, a noticeable tent in his boxers. His face turns a deep shade or crimson red, “N- No, fuck, I’m so so so sorry- I don’t know why-” 

You place a finger against his lips to shush, “Don’t worry, baby. We’ll take care of you,” you whisper into his ear and stroke his cheek with your thumb, “I know for a fact that you find me and Viktor very attractive, mhm? I saw the way you looked at us while we kissed.”

“And so what if I do?” the frat boy retorts, puffing out his chest in an effort to appear manly and confident. Yet, his resolve crumbles the moment you press your chest up against his torso, the fabric of your shirts being the only barrier, “We find you very attractive, too.”

Between the haze dulling his brain and the lustful stares of two stunning individuals on him, Jayce Talis caves in and whimpers to you, “Please, take care of me.”

“Good boy,” you peck him on the lips, “Show us the way to your room.”

Like an obedient pup, Jayce rapidly nods and helps you off his lap. Viktor nearly chokes on his joint when he sees Jayce’s boner, “What the fuck, you’re huge,” and earns a slap to the back of the head from you, “Don’t announce it!” you hiss to him, “He’s ours.” 

Those two or so words send shivers down Jayce’s spine. He’s ours. All Jayce ends is to be wanted; his efforts on the lacrosse team, his performance in class, everything he does is motivated by his need to be praised. He squeezes himself between you and Viktor in a line as a makeshift hiding spot for his boner and guides the two of you back inside the frat house. You three weave and dodge various obstacles, such as neglected soda cans and a sorority girl threatening to puke on you. Upstairs, a few people are scattered about the hallway, but none pay any mind to you all. You make your way to Jayce’s room and he opens the door, allowing you and Viktor to enter.

Jayce’s room is somewhat stereotypical of an athletic frat boy with messy bedsheets and posters of famous athletes on his wall. However, he has a few so-called nerdy things in his room, including a mechanical model of the Solar System and a Lego-built U.S.S Enterprise from Star Trek. You make yourself comfortable on Jayce’s bed while Viktor borrows the desk chair and Jayce sits on the floor. 

“Sooooooo…” the lacrosse player twiddles his thumbs, “How do we fix this?”

“What do you mean?” Viktor scoffs, “Haven’t you gotten a blowjob or a handjob before?”

Jayce’s silence speaks volumes and you connect the dots, “Oh. My. God. Jayce fucking Talis is a virgin.”

“No! I’m- well-” the virginal accused racks his brain to deny the allegations, “It’s- Ugh, okay, it’s true,” he confirms to you and Viktor, “It’s not that I have a vow of celibacy or anything, just that I wanted to save it for someone special.”

“It’s kinda cute,” you giggle softly while Viktor jokes, “And they say chivalry is dead. Good on you for defying frat bro stereotypes.”

“Are you gonna tease me all night or is one of you gonna choke on my fucking cock already?” Jayce’s filter went offline, the effects of weed taking more of an effect. 

“Don’t have to ask me twice,” answers Viktor. You blow him a ‘good luck’ kiss and get cozy for the show. Viktor rises from the chair and leads Jayce to the bed; he sits down next to you, now face level to Jayce’s pelvis, “Drop those boxers, Golden Boy.”

Jayce tugs down his boxers and haphazardly shakes them off his legs. Now free from its confinement, his cock bounces freely, on display for you and Viktor to admire. Viktor sizes up Jayce’s dick—as thick as his wrist and as long as one and a half pencils stacked—and mumble to himself, “Damn, this is a virgin killer.”

“Impressed?” Jayce strikes the Superman pose and smiles. Viktor wraps a hand around his cock and gives it a light tug, watching as Jayce’s cockiness vanishes in an instant, “Yeah. It’s pretty impressive,” Viktor lines his lips up to the top of Jayce’s dick and opens his mouth, carefully sliding him inside. A soft moan tumbles Jayce’s lips from the sensation, as Viktor’s hot and wet mouth costs his cock. Inch by inch, Viktor takes more and more of Jayce’s length until he gets all but an inch in, a small bulge pointing from under his Adam’s Apple. Testing the waters, Viktor goes agonizingly slow with the blowjob, taking his sweet time to pull back until only the tip is inside. 

“Please go faster,” Jayce whines. Viktor lets out a muffled chuckle, the vibration ever so pleasant against Jayce’s shaft, and picks up the pace. He bobs his head up and down the length of Jayce’s cock, occasionally running his tongue down the prominent vein underneath and twirling it around the mushroom tip. Combined with the weed, Jayce is experiencing pure bliss, as he jerks his hips forward and shoves his dick deeper down Viktor’s throat. The smaller man gags at the sudden change, but quickly recovers, letting Jayce fuck his throat. Jayce thrusts his pelvis forward and slams his cock deep inside Viktor, gripping the receiver’s shoulders for extra support. Spit leaks from Viktor’s mouth, his hooked nose smacking into Jayce’s well-trimmed pubes, as Jayce assaults his throat with his fat cock. 

“Oh, shit!” the lacrosse player grunts, “I think I’m gonna-” he doesn’t have time to warn Viktor before climaxing, shooting sticky hot cum down the other man’s throat. Once positive that Jayce had finished orgasming, Viktor unhinges himself from the taller man’s cock and coughs up some cum. He swipes it off his lips and licks it off his fingers, “Salty.”

“Did you swallow all of that?” you ask, eyes as big as saucers, “He came for- like- two whole minutes.”

“Spitters are quitters,” he jests in retort. You playfully smack his arm and turn your attention to Jayce, “How are you feeling?” 

“Amazing,” he pants, face flustered, “Just one issue, though.”

“What’s up?” you furrow your eyebrows.

“I’m still hard,” the frat bro points downward, his cock still hard as a rock. Viktor looks over at you and rasps, “Tapping you in.”

“More than happy to have my turn, take five to recover,” you tell Viktor. He leaves the bed and returns to the desk chair, massaging his throat. You focus in on Jayce and pull him onto the bed, “Ready to try some pussy?” you coo.

Eager, Jayce nods in response, his mouth salivating at the thought of eating you out. You obligate his desires and strip yourself of your jeans, leaving only your cherry red undies left, “Take them off and have a look.”

Jayce follows your command without question, pulling your panties down your thighs and off your legs. You spread your legs open and Jayce bears witness to his first ever not porn-related pussy. Some wetness spills from your slit and onto the bed, you’re simply drenched. He hooks his hands around your legs and pulls you closer to his face, inhaling the smell of your divine cunt. The scent alone sends Jayce into a needy state, rutting his weeping cock against the mattress for some form of relief. Yet, he wants—no, needs—to focus on the task at hand, pleasing you.

“Give it a try, I’ll guide you,” you inform Jayce. With a timid nod, the frat bro dives right in and licks a long stripe from the bottom of your entrance to the top of your clit. You shudder and curl your toes, as Jayce experiments with a variety of methods. He sucks on your clit, first gentle then hard, altering to see which one you like more. It seems that you prefer hard, taking sharp breaths whenever he sucks like so. Above, you rip off your T-shirt and bra, freeing your breasts. You gesture for Viktor to come over and he does, finding a suitable position before latching onto one of your tits. Sweet mewls escape your lips while your boys have their way with you, Jayce now confident enough to devour your cunt like an animal and Viktor groping at your unoccupied tit while he suckles the other. 

“Fuck!” you croak out a shaky moan, as the knot in your stomach snaps, releasing a wet wave onto Jayce’s mouth and face. He happily laps up your juices, consuming every ounce he possibly could. You give yourself a minute to recover, Viktor laying beside you and tracing miscellaneous shapes on your skin while Jayce rests his head on your thighs. 

“Good job, boys,” you announce. You give each man a tender kiss on the lips as a reward, “You two should make out with each other.”

“Okay!” Jayce cheerily complies while Viktor merely shrugs. Viktor takes your spot on the bed and lays down fully. Jayce hovers over him, one leg on each side of Viktor’s petite waist. Only once did Jayce Talis ever kissed a boy and that had happened in middle school, but kissing boys is just like kissing girls… completely nerve-racking! 

“Just kiss me already,” huffs Viktor, yanking Jayce by the collar and slamming his lips against his. Jayce lets out a surprised yelp, but adjusts. Viktor’s free hand travels around Jayce’s waist and to his back, landing on his ass. He smacks Jayce’s ass, earning a moan from the other man, and begins groping it without remorse.

“Dude,” Viktor pauses the kiss to get your attention, “You have to feel this ass, it’s like pound cake.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” you make your way to Jayce’s backside, grabbing his ass and feeling it up, “Damn, Jayce! You have a whole bakery here!”

“Uh, thanks?” Jayce answers, unsure if that’s a compliment or not. You give Jayce your own smack on the ass, “Nice ass, Golden Boy. Now, get back to making out with my best friend.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he exclaims before he resumes kissing Viktor. Meanwhile, you utilize this opportunity to ‘rub one out’, as you play with your clit and folds. You shove a finger inside and whimper, visualizing Jayce’s finger in its place. Another finger is soon added later and you bite your tongue to suppress any ungodly noises. 

“Hey, is it cool if I fuck him first?” Viktor asks you, receiving a weak thumbs up in return because you’re too busy jerking off to properly speak, “I’ll take that as a yes. Jayce, go get a condom from my bag.”

Jayce picks up Viktor’s satchel from the side of the bed and peeks inside, scooting various items out of the way before locating a roll of condoms, “I didn’t think you were the kinda guy to have a whole roll of condoms in your bag, Viktor.”

“Blame that one over there,” Viktor points over to you, who’s too entranced in pleasure to comment, “She likes to fuck everywhere.”

Jayce blushes at the thought; if you like to fuck everywhere, did you ever fuck in the arts classroom? His cock twitches when he imagines you and Viktor fucking in that classroom. Maybe, they’ll let me join them next time, Jayce ponders. 

Viktor shimmies off his pants and boxers, revealing his own equally impressive cock. It’s definitely not as long as Jayce’s, but Viktor rivals him in terms of girth. The man in question  rips off a condom from the roll and opens up its packaging, rolling the condom down his shaft, “Ready?”

“Wait, why am I the bottom?” he huffs.

You and Viktor stare at Jayce in silence, only the muffled echos of the party downstairs can be heard.

“Okay, you’re right, but still,” he concedes. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of you,” states Viktor, genuine care in lieu of dry humor. Jayce smiles to himself at the reassurance and positions himself above Viktor, his hole dangerously close to his dick. 

“Got any lube?” asks Viktor.

“Yeah, in the top drawer of my dresser,” responds Jayce.

“Sweetheart,” the smaller man calls out to you, “Be a dear and grab the lube. No one’s raw-dogging anal tonight.”

“On it!” you approach Jayce’s dresser and open the top drawer. Among the stacks of underwear and socks, you find a bottle of lube, half of it already used, “Want me to lube you up, Jayce?”

“Sure,” he consents. You squirm some lube on your hand and Viktor pries Jayce’s cheeks open, granting you access to his hole. Jayce hisses at the coldness while you lube up his hole, taking time to finger him loose for extra measure, “All ready!”

“Thanks, sweetheart,” Viktor smiles and pecks you on the lips, “Now, enjoy the show,” he lines his cock to Jayce’s asshole and guides him downward. Viktor’s cock pierces through Jayce’s untouched hole and Jayce swears he sees stars in that moment. The feeling of a dick in his ass is definitely a new feeling, as Jayce gives himself grace to adjust to Viktor’s size. The other man strokes the sides of Jayce’s legs as a means of distraction, “Take all the time you need, darling.”

Pain soon morphs into pleasure and Jayce moans loudly, “Fuck! This is nice!” He begins to ride Viktor’s cock, his own dick bouncing up and down with each movement. His tongue rolls out of his mouth, the overwhelmed pleasure incapacitating any reasonable thought in Jayce’s head. Jayce steadies himself with the help of his headboard, continuing to hop on Viktor’s dick like a rabbit in heat. Cum drips from his cock onto Viktor’s pelvis, but he pays no mind to it, too fixated on Jayce’s blissed out expression. Viktor joins in with Jayce’s bouncing and thrusts his dick upward whenever Jayce goes downwards. He positions his cock just right to hit Jayce’s prostate, sending full body shivers through the larger man.

“There, there!” Jayce eggs Viktor on. Using Jayce’s hips for support, Viktor pistons his dick in and out of Jayce, relishing in each inclited moan and plea from the lacrosse player. To Jayce, each collision against his prostate feels like winning at the slot machines. One final thrust grants Jayce with the jackpot win, as he climaxes and coats Viktor’s torso in cum. Viktor follows afterwards and grunts, spilling his cum into the condom.

“Congratulations,” Viktor lets out a pant, rubbing circular motions with his thumbs against Jayce’s aides, “You just lost your anal virginity.”

Jayce tries to reply, but all that comes out of his mouth is incoherent babbles of pleasure subsiding. With Viktor’s assistance, he carefully slides off Viktor’s dick and promptly collapses on the bed beside him, his poor hole throbbing. Viktor removes the condom from his now flaccid cock and ties it shut; he tosses it into the small trash can and eyes you up, “I think he might be done for the night.”

“I’m not!” Jayce refutes, “See, look!” he gestures to his cock, still hard. 

“Jesus Christ, did someone spike your drink with Viagra? How are you still hard?” you sputter, “This calls for drastic measures.”

“Drastic measures?” questions Viktor. 

“I’m gonna milk that cock,” you proclaim.

You and Viktor swap places while Jayce regains his energy for another fuck. Engulfing Jayce in a side hug, you quietly hum to him, “What position do you wanna do? I’m a fan of missionary and doggy style.” 

“Can we do doggy style?” he requests.

You snicker, “You’re not gonna be beating the golden retriever boy allegations anytime soon,” you roll over and get on your hands and knees, “I’m all yours for the taking, Golden Boy.”

Jayce rises up from the bed and gets behind you, your ass hitched up and slick leaking down your inner thighs. He gropes your ass a bit and gives it a few smacks as playback, “Nice,” he mumbles under his breath. 

“Are you gonna keep admiring me or are you gonna fuck me already?” you sway your hips at Jayce, his cock twitching hard. Viktor tosses him an unused condom and Jayce rolls the rubber over the entirety of his shaft. Now properly prepared, he lines his dick up to your entrance and rubs it with the tip, making sure you’re wet enough for him to enter. You let out a low whine and Jayce takes it as a sign to slide in, doing so methodically and with as much gentleness as he could muster. 

“So big…” you mewl, taking each inch of Jayce’s length like a trooper. By the time he finally bottoms out, there’s a noticeable bulge by the lower half of your stomach. Jayce caresses your stomach and finds the bulge, silently gawking at the sheer power of his size. On the other hand, you’re able to faint if Jayce Talis doesn’t fuck you yet, so you take matters into your own hands and pull back a bit on his cock before smacking your bottom against it. Jayce snaps into focus and grabs your hips, digging his nails into your supple flesh. His chest presses up against your back and he groans in your ear, “Eager, aren’t you?”

“Says the guy who just lost his virginity five minutes ago,” you fire back. Jayce responds with a sharp thrust and you replace your sass with a shameless moan. The frat bro starts thrusting in and out, making small modifications to his movements that incite the biggest reaction from you. Jayce finds it very hard not to pin you down and fuck the life out of you, he’s a gentleman like his mamá raised him to be. However, you’re more than willing to get the life fucked out of you, as you beg to Jayce, “Please! Fuck me, fuck me like an animal! I want you to destroy my cunt!”

All logic, all reason, went out the window the moment you tell Jayce to destroy your cunt. He buries your face into the bedsheets and latches a hand onto one of your tit while the other locks around your waist. You realize what a big man Jayce Talis is when he pins you, easily trapping you under his size. The sound of skin slapping against skin and filthy moans fill the bedroom, as Jayce growls to you, “You want me to destroy your cunt, huh?” 

Smack! 

“You want me to bruise that cervix of you, make you unable to walk for days?”

Smack! Smack! 

“I wonder what kind of excuse you would have to use to justify such a prolonged absence.”

Smack! Smack! Smack! 

“Sorry, Professor! I missed last class because Golden Boy Jayce Talis destroyed my tight, little cunt!”

“Jayce, please, please!” you sob against the bedsheets, tears of pleasure and arousal running down your cheeks, “Bruise my cervix! Do whatever you want, just fuck me!”

Jayce grits his teeth and picks up his pace, the bed rocking and creaking with each thrust. He looks over at an awfully quiet Viktor, only to see the stoner stroke himself off at the sight of his best friend getting fucked. That pushes Jayce to the limit and he lifts you up, holding against his body while he relentlessly fucks you. Any noise that comes out of your pretty little mouth is either pitiful cries or moans forced out by Jayce’s pistoning.

“Ready for me, pretty girl?” he rasps, as his third orgasm of the night builds up, “Want me to fill you up?”

“Yes! Yes!” you wail. In a flash, Jayce flips you over so you’re facing him and his lips clash against yours, a passionate kiss to silence his orgasmic moans while he climaxes. Near the desk, Viktor climaxes, as well, covering his mouth with his hand to suppress his moans. Your walls clench around Jayce’s shaft and you keep him inside your pussy until you milk every last drop from his beast of a cock. 

Finally flaccid, Jayce pulls out of your cunt and falls exhausted by your side, completely drained. Viktor joins the two of you on the bed and snuggles up close to your left while you rub Jayce’s back on your right. 

“That was so hot,” comments Viktor.

“Agree,” you tack on.

Jayce mumbles something against the bedsheets, but neither you nor Viktor can decipher what he says. You turn on your side and hug Jayce from behind, “Congratulations on losing your virginity, we’ll get you an ice cream cake to celebrate it tomorrow.”

“Yay…” he weakly cheers, “I love ice cream cake,” you chuckle quietly and kiss his back a few times, “Good job, very good job.”

“Hey, where’s my aftercare?” Viktor mockingly frowns. You pull away from Jayce and kiss him on the lips; you then pull away and pinch his cheeks, “Ouch!” he hisses, “You’re a dick.”

“And you’re my bestest friend in the whole wide world!” you tease. Viktor rolls his eyes and sets back into the bed. With a handsome boy on each side of you, you smile fondly to yourself and bask in the glory. 

“We’re definitely doing this again.”

[petrerpkr]

Jason todd reading order

For more info here /& /here

Batman #357-#399 (1983-1986)

Batman #402-416(1986)

Detective Comics #524-#567 (1983-1986)

Detective Comics #568-#582(1986)

Nightwing Vol. 2 #101 -106(2005)

Batman #424-429(1988)(Batman: A Death in the Family)

Batman: A Lonely Place of Dying (1989)

Red Hood: Lost Days (2010)

Batman: Under the Red Hood Batman #635-641, #645-50, & Batman Annual #25(2005)

Green Arrow Vol. 3 #69-72(2007)

Nightwing Vol. 2 #118-122(2006)

Batman RIP(2008)

Robin (Vol.2) #175-183(2008)

Batman: Battle for the Cowl(2009)

Batman and Robin #1-6 + 23-25(2009)

Red Hood and the Outlaws vol 1 #0-20(2011)

Batman Incorporated #0-6(2012)

Batman Incorporated #7-13 + Batman Incorporated Special #1(2013)

Death of the Family(2013)

Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #1 (2013)

Batman and Robin (Vol. 2) #20(2013)

Red Hood and the Outlaws #21-40(2013) + Red Hood and the Outlaws Annual #2(2014)

Red Hood/Arsenal (2015)

Batman and Robin Eternal(2015)

Batman and Robin #33–37 (2014 – 2015)

Batman Eternal(2015)

Robin war

Red Hood and the Outlaws: Rebirth #1 (2016)

Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2 #1-13 (2016)

Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2 Annual #1 (2017)

Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2 #14-25

Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2 Annual #2(2018)

Red Hood and the Outlaws Vol. 2 #26(2018)

Red Hood: Outlaw #27-36 (2018)+Red Hood: Outlaw Annual 3(2019)

Event Leviathan(2019)

Red Hood: Outlaw #37-52(2019)

Joker War(2020)

Batman: Urban Legends #1-6 (2021)

Robin #5(2021)

Nightwing Annual (2021)

Task Force Z #1-12(2021)

The Joker : The Man Who Stopped Laughing 1-6 (2022)

Batman – Legends of Gotham (2023)

Lazarus Planet: Next Evolution (2023)

Knight Terrors: Robin (2023)

Red Hood – The Hill(2024)

[77gigabytes]

The Fox's Den {Sylus x Reader}

This just kinda...spilled out of my brain... It started off as a few paragraphs and then spiraled into this, but uh, enjoy.

FAIR WARNING!!! THIS IS INCREDIBLY LONG, I MIGHT HAVE TO SPLIT IT INTO PARTS ACTUALLY IDK

|| Masterlist ||

-Seven

You’re finishing some paperwork at HQ when Jenna slides a manila folder on your desk.

“Advance tech labs has another mission for you.” She says and crosses her arms over her chest, “Hear them out first. Then go take a look.”

As if on cue, your watch beeps with a notification.

You click on it and the mission’s user interface window pops up.

Client: Unspecified - Investigative mission Status: ACTIVE Authorisation: Approved entry - No Hunt Zones: 105, 106, 107, 108

Task details: High-class Linkon residents have been seen carrying protocores to Fox’s Den, a host club, on the outskirts of Linkon. There are suspicions that the club is being used as a trading venue to sell and modify high-grade protocores into the N109 zone.

Objective: INVESTIGATE Fox’s Den FOR PROTOCORE SMUGGLERS. DO NOT ENGAGE OR ELIMINATE SUSPECTS. THIS IS AN INVESTIGATION ONLY.

As you re-read the objectives, Jenna speaks once more, “Have a look through this folder before heading to the Data Sector. ” She places her hand above the folder, “Nero and Tara are waiting there with some more information for you.”

You give her a small nod, “Yes, Captain. Will do.”

You do as you’re told and flick through the contents of the folder.

“Huh, the address is near the N109 zone?” You whisper.

Sylus has a safe house near there, I think.

It’ll be easier to complete the mission if you could crash there every now and then.

I’ll ask him when I have the chance.

There’s a few photos of the club tucked into the folder and from what you can see, it’s quite luxurious.

Entering the club shouldn’t be a problem with the brooch Sylus gave me. Hmmm. I might need to visit Jeremiah some time soon to forge another identity.

You sift through a few more pages and a photo catches your eye. It’s of a blonde woman with a hunter’s uniform and badge but stamped across the page is the word ‘TENEBRA’ in bold red lettering.

“Hmmm,” You hum as you read the sticky note attached, “If encountered, detain immediately? Who is this?”

What had she done to be labelled a Tenebra?

With that thought in mind, you think to your own situation.

Your involvement with Sylus is more than enough grounds to label you a Tenebra, but you brush that thought aside quickly.

“MC?”

Your head perks up from the sound of your name and you quickly press the folder to your chest, “Oh! Tara… Nero. I was just leaving to see you guys, actually.”

“About the case, right? Isn’t it interesting?” Tara grins, “But, yes we came here instead because Nero thinks that the Data Sector is too noisy.”

“They’re blabbing about all the time, it’s dizzying.” He retorts.

He pulls a nearby chair and motions for the two of you to come around, “Come, we’ve got work to do.”

The three of you discuss the case for a while until you ask, “Why am I being sent alone? Aren’t mission usually done in pairs?”

“Yes, well… Technically, it’s only an investigative mission, so the higher-ups don’t think we should waste resources on a mere investigation.” Nero makes quotation marks with his fingers. “You’ve got orders not to engage where possible.”

Tara leans forward to argue, “But even still, Fox’s Den is surrounded by no hunt zones! Isn’t it dangerous?”

“Yes, that’s true, and speaking of which…” He opens some tabs up on his laptop, “As I’m sure you’ve seen, you’ve been approved access to all no hunt zones surrounding the area.”

You nod, looking back at your watch and also the map that spread across the table.

“But that’s not the problem.” Nero continues, “The problem is getting into the club.”

You furrow your brows, “What?” You tilt you head, “Can’t I just go in as a client?”

He clicks his tongue, “They’ve got a very specific clientele.” He says and then draws a rectangle with his fingers, “Invite only.” He emphasises. “Did you think you could just waltz into the place?Everyday?”

You tense for a moment. I thought… with the brooch...

But you can’t tell them about the brooch; They’ll ask you how you got it. So you settle with, “I- well,” you scratch your temple, “I haven’t really thought that far yet.”

...

Your meeting with the two ended just as the sun dipped completely below the horizon

Somehow, they’ve got you a position as one of the hostesses.

You huff. You don’t know a thing about being a hostess.

To be fair, being a hostess would give you the widest variety of intel.

Never had you thought you’d be going undercover like this, but the job must be done, you suppose.

You harshly tug your helmet on and head to Sylus’ safe house on your 270HM.

If he says no, then you can just scout the area on the way back home. That way, the ride there wouldn’t have been for nothing.

“Oh! There you are, little miss hunter.”

You turn around at the voice of one of the twins. “Luke, Kieran?”

“Mephisto told us you’d be here.” Kieran says pointing to the sky where Mephisto circles above the three of you.

“Is Sylus-”

Luke responds before you can finish your question, “The boss has a important business deal, but,”

“You’re more than welcome to stay with us in the meantime.” Kieran finishes the sentence as he opens the gate.

You can almost see the grin behind his mask.

“How long will he be gone?” You ask as you walk with the twins into the house.

“It might not even be until tomorrow that you’ll see the boss.”

“If you’re lucky--” Luke starts

“--I’ve checked your luck index today, miss, you’re not.”

“Kieran!” You smack him on the shoulder

“Anyway,” Luke starts again, “As I was saying, if you’re lucky, he might be done by midnight.”

…

Well now, it’s way past midnight and the boys have convinced you to play card games as you wait. From old maid, to kitty cards, to Big 2.

Eventually, they pull out another deck of cards with haphazardly drawn crows. - “We’ve invented our own version!”

Your brows furrow.

“Crow Cards!” They say in unison.

You’re speechless. You shake your head with a chuckle, but oblige them regardless.

It isn’t long before Kieran has passed out on the couch and you can tell that Luke isn’t too far either.

“Luke, why don’t we get you and your brother to sleep?” You suggest.

“Yeah,” He yawns and give you a nod, “but Kieran can sleep here on the floor.” He snorts, but goes to haul him up anyways.

“I can use one of the spare rooms, right?” You ask

“Of course. The boss has even gotten spare clothes specifically for you in every house. They should just be in the closet of the en suite.” He points to one of the doors, “That one is your room.”

It didn’t take very long after your head hit the pillows that you drifted off into a shallow sleep

Just as the sunlight begins peaking through the horizon, Sylus enters into the safehouse

Mephisto is cawing at him incessantly.

“What has you so worked up?” He frowns.

“CAW!”

Sylus walks through to the main area and sees cards strewn across the floor.

He examines them, seeing the poorly drawn crows, and looks to Mephisto, “What?” Sylus raises an eyebrow at Mephisto, “You led me here because Luke and Kieran made you look like roadkill on these cards?”

Mephisto shakes his head and pecks the cards out of Sylus’ hand. He pitter-patters to the door of the en suite and lightly pecks at it

Sylus’ frown deepens but he follows after him.

And there you were - laying on your stomach atop the sheets.

He lets out a small chuckle, “Tsk tsk, kitten,” he shakes his head, “You’ll catch a cold at this rate.”

He gently turns you so he can lift you up into his arms.

With his Evol, he untucks the sheets and lays down with you in his arms.

You have your head on his chest and legs entangled with his own.

With all the movement, you lift your head blink your eyes open, “Hi.” You whisper.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, kitten.”

You plop your head back down onto his chest, “Yeah, I wanted-” you yawn, “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Oh? You’re asking me for a favour? How unusual.”

You only hum in response and close your eyes again.

For a moment, he thinks that seeing you in the sunrise makes the sunlight a little more bearable.

“What is it that you need, sweetie?” he asks, brushing his lips against the top of your head.

“The location of my mission is near this house.”

“And?” he shoots you a smug smile, “What is it exactly that you’re asking, Dove?”

You narrow your eyes at him, “I’m asking if I can stay here for a little while.”

He chuckles and gently swipes at the space between your brows, “Do you know what you look like right now?” he asks, “A kitten with a temper.”

You untangle yourself from his grasp, “Screw you.”

It quite futile since you end up in his arms once more.

“What mission is so important that the hunter’s association would send you into the N109 zone?” He asks.

“One,” You put your pointer finger up, “It's near the N109 zone. And two,” You lift another finger, “Apparently, there’s some shady trading of high-grade protocores.”

“Hah, when is there not?” He chuckles.

You quickly brush his question aside, “But you’ll let me stay, won’t you?” You pout for good measure.

“I never trade for a loss, dove.” He taps a finger on his temple. “What are you planning to give me in exchange?”

“Um…” You contemplate on the question. “I'll trade any protocores I find that I think may be of use to you?” Your intonation makes it sound more like a question than a statement.

“What makes you think that I don’t already have access to such protocores, sweetheart?” He shifts to lay on his side with his head propped up by his arm.

That’s true. What could you possibly offer to a man who already has everything in the palm of his hand?

You glance up at him, “Well, then… truthfully, there’s nothing I can give you.”

I guess he won’t let me stay after all.

One of the corners of his lips tilt upwards into a smirk, “There is…” he pauses as he procures a piece of paper with his Evol, “Something you can give me.”

You take the paper and frown as you read the contents, “Isn’t this that restaurant by the river? The one with the orchids?”

“Mmm.” He hums in agreement.

“What could I possibly give you there, Sylus?” You ask

He chuckles, “Well, it’s quite simple, really.” He leans forward to whisper in your ear, “I want you to stay with me… Until the moon is high above our heads”

His voice is so close to your ears that you have to turn away

“I want your time.”

A few days have gone by since your…encounter with Sylus.

Now you’re face-to-face with the owner of the club.

He has his hand grabbing the lower half of your face, turning it side to side.

You grit your teeth. Keep it together for the mission, MC. You say to yourself.

“She’ll fetch a hefty price from the clients, that’s for sure.” He chuckles

He almost throws you towards a woman who has a comb and spray bottle in hand.

“Another?” She asks

“Get her ready.” He says as he begins to walk towards the bar where the guests are, “I want her ready for service by the end of the week, Stella.”

The woman, Stella, as you’ve learned, rolls her eyes and grabs you by the arm.

She drags you across to one of the clothing racks and pulls various clothes up to your body. She takes some off, and others she returns.

Your eyes wander as you stay still, and for a brief moment, you see a blonde woman in a red dress, strutting towards the exit.

“Tenebra?” You mumble

“What?” Stella raises her brow.

“Huh? Oh, I was asking If I’ll need to wear a bra.” You gulp hoping she’ll believe your cover-up

She stares at you for a moment but then continues to find you a dress.

After a while, she’s finished with your make up and has given you a run-down of the rules.

“For tonight, you’ll be staying with me.” She says as she walks towards the exit

You scramble after her. You barely catch yourself from bumping into her as she abruptly turns around to address you.

“Keep close and don’t wander. Do you understand?”

You nod, “Yes.”

She wraps a red band across your wrist with ease, “This bracelet means that you’re off limits for the mean time.” She grips your wrist and squeezes, “So I suggest you keep it on your wrist even if your life depends on it. You won’t have this luxury for long.”

What have I gotten myself into?

You spend that night observing each and every one of the hostesses and clients.

Memorising faces, names, voices. Anything.

As the week ends, you’re back at the safe house trying to piece all the information you have so far.

You’re hunched over the coffee table with papers scattered about. Some of which you’ve scrunched up and have unintentionally made into Mephisto’s playthings.

You huff.

Everything looks normal, but clearly that’s not the case if HA has sent you here. They wouldn’t have sent you here if there wasn’t some concrete evidence of a covert operation.

Sylus stops cleaning his gun and smiles as you frown. The bastard.

You huff once more and rub your temples.

“You look as if you’re going into a grand battle.” He chuckles and leans back into the sofa.

“I feel like I’ve gotten nowhere!” You throw your hands into the air.

He carefully returns the gun to it’s case and settles himself on the floor next to you, “Talk to me.” He pulls the pen from your hands and spreads the papers across the table, “We can figure it out together.” He glances at you with the smallest of smiles.

A couple of weeks have gone by and you’ve gotten better at acting as a hostess.

You find that a lot of these clients have a very loose lips - ever so willing to give information with so little incentive

Today, you’re cozied up with a client, your legs in their lap, and an arm wrapped around one of theirs.

You grin internally as he continues to talk about all the protocores he could offer you.

“Oh?” You say sultrily, drawing circles on his arm.

YUCK

“Oh, I do, baby.”

EUUUGHHH

You’re trying your best to suppress a scowl.

“I could give you all -”

You glance up at him as he stops mid-sentence.

Your gaze shifts from his face to the mirror behind him where your eyes meet Sylus’s intense gaze.

What is he going here?

Sylus nonchalantly walks over to the two of you and the room has gone still.

“And who might this be, sweetie?” He glowers at the man, but his question is directed to you.

You open your mouth to reply, but the man beat you to it, “Mr Sylus, I’m-”

"I didn’t ask you.” He says sharply.

“Sylus, what are you doing here?” Your grip around the man loosens and you quickly shift your legs to plant your heels on the floor.

“Well… Sweetie.” He emphasises the endearment as he pulls you from the other man’s lap, “I’m here for you,” He pulls you to his chest

Without another word, he tugs you into one of the private rooms.

With the momentum, you fall to the loveseat in the middle of the room.

“Sylus!”

“When you said you had a mission here, I assumed you were going in as a client.” He locks the door and makes his way to you, “Not a hostess.” He narrows his eyes as he traps you between his outstretched arms on the loveseat.

“Why does it matter?” You glare back at him, “I’m still getting the information I need.”

“You realise that I could get you all that information in the blink of an eye, right?”

You know that. You do. He never lets you forget. Head of Onychinus. King of the N109 zone.

But what does that say about you?

Always relying on someone else to do things.

Always relying on Xavier on missions. Even Rafayel helped you at The Nest. Zayne’s always taking care of your health, and now Sylus, too.

When had you ever truly done anything yourself?

You grit your teeth, “Look.” You say as you muster up all your courage to glare at him, “I appreciate the help, but I’m not some dove that needs saving.” You push at his chest, “I can do this on my own.”

He yields as you push him until both of you are standing.

“I can’t just rely on you for everything,” You say.

Tenebra - the word plants itself at the forefront of your mind

His chest heaves as he looks at you, but he doesn’t speak.

“What am I supposed to say to the association?” You walk towards the door but look back at him with a soft smile, “They’ll label me a Tenebra for even breathing the same air as you, remember? We can’t have that now, can we?”

He takes a hold of your wrist. “You know I’d never let that happen.”

“Mmm.” You shake your head, “I know, but even then… I want to be able to proudly say that I was able to do a mission with my own strength.”

He doesn’t say anything, so you shrug your hand away from his hold.

“So,” You place you hand on the door knob, “Let me do this on my own, Sylus.”

As you leave, he deflates onto the loveseat with a sigh.

As much as it stings that you don’t want to rely on him, he understands what you’re trying to say.

You’ve gone many days without seeing Sylus, not even at the safe house.

At the host club, you return to your dressing room with the brightest smile, you’d think your face would split in half.

That drunk client spilled all the beans. They are smuggling protocores through this host club. He mentioned a warehouse south from here, in the no hunt zone. Luckily Jenna authorised your entry into that zone. You’ll have to check it out after you leave the club.

As you exit, your watch beeps, “Huh? Wanderers? This far from the no hunt zone?”

Your hands settle at the hilts of your hands guns strapped to either thigh.

With vigilant eyes, you scan your surroundings. Trees upon trees in every direction.

Taking soft and steady steps, you head deeper into the no hunt zone.

Eventually you see lights scattered throughout the tree line.

There’s a large building stood in the centre of the clearing.

As you walk closer, you hear voices. “The warehouse.” you whisper.

Then a truck whizzes past and you duck for fear of getting caught.

It drives far into the warehouse and you follow around to get a clearer view.

They seem like specs from this distance, but they’re unloading the protocores from the truck.

The impatient part of you screams to just sneak into the warehouse.

But that fire is quickly extinguished when you notice a few men patrolling the warehouse.

“I need to come back another time. With a plan.”

The next few days you observe the schedules and their protocol for receiving deliveries

You manage to sneak your way into one of the trucks as your shift ends at the host club.

In the truck, you’re shallowly breathing from the adrenaline coursing through your veins. You close your eyes to take a deep breath as the truck slows to a stop.

“This is the last one for today, boys. Let’s do this quick!” You hear a man shout.

Your hand comes up to press at your sternum. Your heart is beating right out of your chest so much so that blood is thumping in your ears.

“You think we’ve got some aether cores to sell today?”

“Tch, I wish.”

As their footsteps grow louder, you take a slow breath-

BEEP BEEP!

You gasp as your hunter’s watch detects wanderers nearby. You grasp at your wrist to dampen the noise. Hunching over, cradling your arm as it beeps again.

STOP! Please!

“What was that?”

What do I do? I’m going to get caught.

“Check it out.”

Think. Think.

From their footsteps, you can tell one of the men has walked into the truck.

THINK!

You don’t have a choice.

With a grunt, you charge at the man, shooting him in the chest, before hauling his body to cover yours as you exit the vehicle.

“INTRUDER!” the other man yells. “INTRUDER! LOCK EVERYTHING DOWN.”

Sirens blare as shots are fired in your direction. One lodges itself into your thigh. With a scream you dump the body shield and limp as best as you can out of the crossfire.

Another shot whizzes past the side of your arm. Another into your lower abdomen as you turn to shoot at them.

Before you make it to the forest, a loud roar shakes the ground and you stumble onto all fours.

A wanderer. A Hoarfrost Wyrmlord, you recognise.

It stomps it’s way towards the warehouse, likely drawn in by all the noise.

You scramble away as best as you can, but behind you are the men from the warehouse.

Your breaths have become rapid and shallow, “Where…”

The Wyrmlord locks onto you, blowing out gusts of air from it’s nostrils.

You begin shooting at the Wyrmlord but it looks unphased.

You duck for cover as it shoot icicles your way.

Protocores. You think. “You must have a shield somewhere.” you say as you peak over the metal pillar.

“You!” A foreign voice takes your attention.

The man has his gun pointed to you.

Swiftly, you kick your leg out in an attempt to disarm him, but he catches it and kicks at your other leg so that you land face first into the dirt.

For a few moments, you wrestle him until he’s got you in a choke hold.

You elbow him in his side and as his grip loosens you try to swing him over your shoulder.

But he uses the momentum to kick off of the pillar, and the action flings you backwards, and your back hits the ground with a thud.

You grunt and struggle to stand.

Before you can shoot him, a Harte Knave slashes through him.

Just as quickly, your bullets pierce though the Harte Knave and it disintegrates in dust.

Another roar shakes the ground as you and many others are pulled into a protofield.

“No!” You scream.

“Sylus!” You yell into the air.

Hoping, praying that he just might appear out of thin air.

...

“CAW!”

Meanwhile, Sylus is seated in another safehouse.

His leg is bouncing up and down.

You should have returned to the safe house hours ago, but there has been no notification of your arrival from the security system.

For every centimetre the moon rose into the sky, so did his worry.

“I appreciate the help, but I’m not some dove that needs saving.”

Your words echoed around in his mind for the past few hours.

“I can do this on my own.”

He knows that. You’re strong. He’s seen it.

“They’ll label me a Tenebra for even breathing the same air as you, remember?“

Tch.

“I can’t just rely on you for everything,”

But something was wrong.

His intuition never failed him.

“CAW! CAW!”

“Mephisto.” Sylus quickly stands and stretches his hand out for Mephisto to land on.

A holographic video pops up and Sylus sees you dropping the lifeless body and limping away into the tree line.

The screen flickers for a moment as you scream his name before you disappear into the protofield.

Even before the video ends, Sylus is rushing out to his motorcycle. He pulls up the coordinates from Mephisto’s previous location history and speeds away.

Why did I leave her by herself? Near the N109 zone nonetheless. I’m a fool.

In the protofield, the Wyrmlord is the last wanderer.

There are only a few other humans left and luckily, the Wyrmlord is beginning to stagger too.

You’ve managed to break it’s shields but you’re heavily wounded and the Wyrmlord has caused the temperature to drop so rapidly that it’s difficult to even pull the trigger.

Sylus… Please…

You know he can’t just appear into a protofield. But somehow his name on your lips gives you enough strength to continue the fight.

Out of desperation, you’ve managed to resonate with some of the Evolvers.

And with great effort, you and another Evolver deal the final blow to the Wyrmlord and you’re transported back to the warehouse.

Sirens are still blaring and the edges of your vision are fading.

“Sylus.” You whisper walking away from the warehouse.

You grunt as you slump against a sturdy tree.

The shards of ice that were lodged into your stomach have vanished along with the protofield and now your blood has begun to soak through your clothing.

With a few harsh tugs, you rip your sleeve off and press it against your wounds.

Everything hurts, but you try to slow your breathing.

Your watch beeps once more.

The adrenaline causes you to perk up at the thought of more wanderers.

WARNING! Critically low blood pressure - severe blood loss. Coordinates have been sent to the nearest Hunter’s Association field lab.

When you wake next, the room is too bright for your eyes to adjust.

You blink and raise a hand to your face to block the light.

Glancing around, you notice it’s like any other bedroom.

You groan as you sit up.

Looking down at yourself, you see the faint outline of multiple gauze pads from underneath your top.

You limp out of the room, using the wall to take most of your weight.

You flinch as you feel a tap on your shoulder, hands immediately going to where your guns would have been.

“Relax, Kitten.” Sylus says, with both his hands up in the air, “I’m just trying to help you.” He begins to lower his hands.

“Sylus…” You croak from the dryness of your throat.

You could do nothing but stare. Was this real?

You were hyperventilating a little, and he’s never really seen you so high-strung.

“You’re safe.” He says as he slowly cups the side of your face.

“Sylus… I…”

He lowers his forehead to yours and you visibly relax.

“You’re safe with me, sweetheart.” He repeats the phrase as he gathers you into his chest.

“I won’t let you go ever again.” He whispers. “Never again.”

I told you it was long XD. I had fun though. If you guys like it, I don't mind fully fleshing this out into chapters. I really enjoyed writing this one actually.

|| Masterlist ||

-Seven

[greenarrow-core]

THE COMPLETE GREEN ARROW BY DENNIS O'NEIL - READING GUIDE

On The Order:

Reading this chronologically woudn't really work. He retconned his own work(for the better). However, there are notes here that would allow you to easily organize things chronologically.

There are some stories here that don't really have Green Arrow that much. You will know which ones as there will be notes on them pointing that out.

The Retconned Story and The Retcon Story:

To read chronologically without facing contradictions, just skip JLA #75 and DC Super-Stars #17, And instead read Peacemakers and The Arrow and the Bat before JLA #66.

PRE-CRISIS

DENNIS O'NEIL'S RUN ON JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA

This is the run in which everything starts. Anarchist Green Arrow, Black Canary in the League, GA and BC relationship...

He doesn't show up in 3 issues of the run(70, 73-74).

This run is also very important for Black Canary. And their relationship. This is where everything starts. Black Canary on the JLA, anarchist Green Arrow. BC and GA's relationship...

Justice League of America #66, 68-75, 77-83

GA doesn't show up in 3 issues: #70, 73-74

The latter part of this run was released during the beginning of GL/GA

PRE-CRISIS ORDER:

The order here is the DCUGuide order.

JLA #66, 68-75, 77-80

Green Lantern #76-77

JLA #81

Green Lantern #78-79

JLA #82-83

Green Lantern #80-83

Superman #236(b)

Here my bias showing. It's a short story about Krypton. GA and BC are listening to Superman telling this story. I really like this one. It's worth checking out. You get cool moments for GA and BC in the first and last page of this.

Green Lantern #84-86, 89

The Flash #217-219(b stories)

Green Lantern #90-99

DC Super-Stars #17(a)

Origin story in a flashback. The non-flashback part is following up on JLA #75

Green Lantern #102-106, 108-115

World's Finest Comics #256(b)

Team-up with Black Lighting, part of O'Neil's run on BL

Green Lantern #116-122

DC Comics Presents #20

POST-CRISIS

FROM THE QUESTION BY DENNIS O'NEIL

These stories are from O'Neil's Question run.

The Question #17-18

FABLES

Detective Comics Annual #1

Green Arrow Annual #1

The Question Annual #1

LOSING/SAVING FACE

The Question Annual #2

Green Arrow Annual #2

Green Arrow Annual #3

Epilogue of The Question's 1986 series.

THE RING, THE ARROW AND THE BAT

All stories from now on are team-ups with either Batman or Green Lantern.

Batman/Green Arrow: The Poison Tomorrow

Justice League Task Force #5-6

Part of Knightquest: The Search

Not that much Green Arrow

PEACEMAKERS

Legends of the DC Universe #7-9

This is a tale of how GA came to be the character O'Neil made him be. It retcons JLA #75

O'Neil characterize this as a Year One-type story

It works with the post-zero hour continuity. Just doesn't match certain elements of O'Neil's JLA run

It leads to GL/GA

It matches fine with GL/GA

Due to Ollie's characterization, this would have happened before JLA #66

THE ARROW AND THE BAT

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #127-131

Sequel of Peacemakers

It's set before the last scene of Peacemakers.

DC Retroactive: Green Lantern - The '70s

This one ties Peacemakers and The Longbow Hunters.

It would fit right after the next story.

TIME ALONE

Green Lantern 80th Anniversary Super Spectacular(d)

Last published O'Neil work.

I don't know where this would fit. I would guess before Green Lantern #172. For Green Arrow, that would be after DC Comics Presents #20

[boofinator]

can i request your buttons pngs all in a single post?

i fear that post would be HUGE.. definitely a daunting task.

however, i can put a link to every post with a button/badge in it! sorry for being lazy :/ ENJOY!!

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

[angesaurus]

Soccer practice was cancelled and so I got the motivation to handle some administrative tasks I’ve been putting off:

- renewed Gavin’s instrument rental for next school year (lol bye $400)

- renewed my vehicle registration for 2 years (lol bye $106), printed it, and put in my car

- made my child an appt with an allergist 🙃

- requested an enrollment change for the camp Cecilia’s going to this summer (she originally wanted dance camp, now she wants gymnastics camp lol)

- deposited the $5 checks Dan’s grandma sent the kids as a late Easter gift

I’m so glad practice was canceled lolololol

[ckret2]

Good on you for starting a new fic! Are you going to still continue the GF fic or nah? Either way I'm sticking around becuase your writing is just so enjoyable :P

Oh yeah, I have a rule for myself: each day, I'm not allowed to work on the new fic (or do unrelated art or play video games or or or) until after I've written 2k words on Goldilocks Zone (or edited this week's chapter or drawn this week's art—whatever today's task is). I'm not quitting a 500k+ word fic over a oneshot.

Today I've written about 2050 words of Goldilocks Zone and 130 words of Samurai Jack fic. Here, free excerpt from today's writing session:

this is from around, idk, chapter 106? Depends on if I insert another flashback arc after Agent Powers (and if I post all the chapters together, or space them out with other plots in between.)

[lostsoulaltair]

Owari no Seraph Chapter 143 - Analysis and Review. SPOILERS Ahead

今日は皆さん。久しぶりですね。

Hey everyone, it's been a while hehe...Soo, given that the chapter was released in Japan, we'll have to wait until it gets released on this side till Jan 10th. Nevertheless, I want to give an insight.

P.S: As usual, ships are excluded and everything's held within a neutral view.

The chapter starts retaking from chapter 142, an encounter between the Shinoa Squad and the 5th Progenitor Ky Luc. There is an eventual fight of willpower given that Shinoa is aiming to turn Ky Luc into a cursed gear from the black series so Mitsuba can wield. Along this, we have a flashback on which it is revealed as to why Ky Luc followed Urd Geales with utmost loyalty.

The reason behind is because Urd wants to die. But not die like a demon but as a human. To reach mortality in order to die like the human he was born.

Upon hearing such dream, Ky Luc was amazed by such dream, promising himself to carry on and live until Urd fulfilled his dream.

Given this, Ky Luc's will was all that kept him from turning into a demon, nevertheless, given that Shinoa was devouring him as well, Shinoa was able to feel his feelings and memories, making her overwhelmed, nevertheless, the squad was there for her so she could manage to turn Ky into a demon.

She apologizes to him for that and at the end we have an Owari Kaisen. [Shinoa made the new demon as two fingers. Don't ask what the author was thinking cause Idk either haha].

As for the end of the chapter, Shinoa now knows what Urd and Rigr are thinking along Yuu's location.

Analysis

First of all, many might consider or may think that the portrayal of strength between Shinoa and Ky Luc was unfair along that her power up was random...

I will say that the way things are paced is not exactly the best. The story is reaching its eventual end and yes, there are things that could have been detailed much better or polished nevertheless, let's not forget details that have been from the very beginning.

What do I mean?

Ever since the LN were published, it has been stated that Shinoa is far stronger than other characters. That includes Mahiru, Guren, the adults even by Shikama. But why's that?

Simple, Shinoa has had the ability to accept demons without losing her heart, without needing to do trials like other wielders as seen in old chapters and the last one which was chapter 102 till chapter 106. [That's when Yuu fought went to save Mika, then fought against him to make him his cursed gear].

Now, following suit, why did Shinoa never do such task when she had the power but chose until now?

Well, it all goes with the narrative but also with her emotional development. What do I mean?

Perhaps people what makes them feel like something's wrong is not only the narrative but also the building of "expectation". Long ago, I was actually pissed, angry or rather upset with how things turned in OnS in terms of story, I felt no motivation to write or the sort but then, along a friend, we started to consider other aspects from what we actually expected but rather, what the characters were displaying emotional wise and rationality wise.

Which means, the characters are driven regarding how they feel, what they aspire, what they want, along what they know about their own selves.

With Shinoa, she thought she had found out what she wanted, she thought that because she had fallen in love and was together in a squad, she had truthfully lived when in reality, she was taking the baby steps required to live.

As Kouhei Kadono's LNs suggest. In order to have the right to die, you must live first.

But returning to the topic. Shinoa had a massive advantage against Shikama not because of raw power alone. It was first seen she could take any demon into her and use them (LN which came to portrayal on chapter 133). But let's remember that Rigr made certain Shikama's powers were constantly restrained due to the place they managed to create, giving Shinoa an advantage.

In the case of Ky Luc, Shinoa was able to bust her own teammates so they could actually pull a fight against a beast like Ky Luc.

Her being able to know how to create a demon, this was shown in early chapters when Mikaela turned into a demon. Knowledge is power and in a war where life is at stake, such knowledge comes in handy.

The next question, why did Ky Luc lose if he was powerful?

One of the topics that it's heavily touched in Ky Luc's backstory is that Ky had no sense of why he wanted to live. He had a bind that all he knew was that he had to survive. Ky fought through life to survive but not until he met Urd Geales, did he find a first thing to live for. Nevertheless, he is living for someone but not living for himself. What do I mean?

Usually, the story tends to portray how characters want to be recognized, how they want to be seen to someone else's eyes along how people start gathering around them. But the other side of the coin is, what is exactly to live? What does living exactly mean?

It's not just about living for someone but actually finding a reason for your own. It is a delicate thread between selfishness along personal love, it's hell after all. It's finding in a desolate land a reason as to why one's self is existing and living. Even during hell, or during the trial called life, people find meaning, they find things to do, to enjoy, to aspire for, to spend time with, to cry for, to lament for, but to grow for as well.

Ky Luc's human clock stopped, the reason he lost was because he always believed that vampires would be the strongest of their kind, never considering what divided humans and vampires. What exactly made humans be special yet frightening, but rather, he thought as long as he fought, as long as he made himself stronger, he wouldn't lose. But it was a different day there...Ky Luc had a past stained with blood and I'm not going to say he's a justificable character, but rather fascinating, how despite the mind along the ideals can set someone to see light, for others such light only reflects darkness.

As for the final point. The squad's role

For sure, the way they got their power up was not exactly the best developed point but given that the story had to move on, that's what we got. Shinoa being able to access to the First Progenitor's powers is what allowed her to give her team a chance to fight given that the protagonist is broken in terms of power as well, so there must exist a balance in power scale.

But, what is there to need to be discussed with the squad?

Their union.

One of the things that's been visible is that once Yuu left, the squad had a turnoil of emotions, distress, sadness, along feelings akin to feeling lost.

Like lambs who were waiting for the lead to guide them, but given that someone stood there, a new beacon began to shine. But instead of following Yuu and Guren; they began to follow a beacon to a new path. One on which they could dictaminate what they wanted to do with their lives.

Kimizuki, Yoichi and specially Mitsuba, have displayed growth despite few chapters passing by; they do treasure the family they have, they love Yuu but they are living in the present. They are not tied to what happened millenia ago, they want a better world, a world that lets humanity prosper and end the eternal hell they've been subjected to endure but among this, the real creation of bonds has been visible. The squad supporting each other, working together along ensuring each other is alright is one of the most precious things that can be witnessed.

As a side note

I usually complained about Mitsuba's poor development...but right now, her worrying about Shinoa, showing what it is to be a caring friend, what it means to give support for someone you hold dear. It means there is progress instead of blindy following. I hope we get to see interactions between Mitsuba and Ky Luc with time along constant development with the members of the squad.

What do you think about this? Let me know.

It's alright if you don't like it, just remember, respecting each other is what leads to good conversations.

[girlactionfigure]

onthisdayinjewishistory

July 4, 1976: Entebbe Rescue ⚡️🇮🇱 On 26.6.76, the terror groups, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Red Army Faction (a West German radical leftist group) hijacked an Air France plane flying from Israel to France. They took 248 passengers hostage and released 148 non-Israeli or Jewish hostages after stopping in Athens. After, they flew to Uganda and demanded the release of 47 terrorists or they would shoot the hostages. Lt. Colonel Joshua Shani was tasked in leading the rescue with two days to plan. Working with Lt. Col. Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu, they formulated a plan in those two days, improvising for the remaining challenges. They decided to use President Idi Amin’s nightly route to their advantage, driving up in vehicles similar to his convoy to approach the terminal discreetly.  Although the mission hadn’t been approved by the Israeli government, the planes took off #onthisday due to time constraints. Flying low to avoid radar detection, they reached Uganda despite encountering bad weather. The paratroopers dismounted, engaged with security forces, and stormed the terminal.  Simultaneously, the IDF destroyed eight out of twelve Ugandan Air Force planes to prevent pursuit. The hostages were rescued, loaded onto a plane, and flown to Israel. The mission was a success, saving 102 out of the remaining 106 hostages. Lt. Col. Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu was killed in action and 3 of the hostages were also lost in the process. Lt. Colonel Joshua Shani and Lt. Col. Yonatan “Yoni” Netanyahu got widespread recognition for their bravery and leadership. They were commended by the Israeli government and received military honors for their role in saving the hostages. Many, including the UN and Uganda itself, condemned the rescue in a similar fashion as some did in the recent Gaza hostage rescue mission last month.  The mission was as a testament to the elite training and capabilities of the IDF in executing complex and high-risk operations. The event also led to a reassessment of airport security measures. This was one of many hijackings from Palestinian terror groups in the 70’s in a backwards attempt to gain international attention.

[orbdotexe]

back at it again with TF63 thoughts. featuring Quartermaster (but also. basically every 6-3 member) this time

"Y'know, I used to serve under Taskforce 6-3. Think most of my men are still stationed there. You be good to them, alright, boss?"

the way he says it??? He sounds tired, almost? Speaking low, kind of quiet. Not sure how to describe it. but oh boy

The beginning of the mission, walking in there and listening to the wounded and the people trying to help them (particularly devastating to me is the one where they think they've stabilized someone, only to flatline before they're done speaking. they sound like they're trying not to cry and focus on trying to save who they can)

The way the people sound almost scared to hope but wanting to when they see 106? Calling you the Ace of 2-7? Monitor's "I'm counting on you, Ace." and the Western Cargo Wing with Freakshow's team? (i love Freakshow he's so funny. crazy guy)

look if i gave all my thoughts on the entire mission we'd be here all day (see: Deadeye and the termination order) BUT. Quartermaster. hey buddy

"The Director told me what happened... How 6-3 went rogue. [sigh] Guess people change."

I have to question just how much of the specifics Director told him, though? 6-3 "went rogue" in an effort to save what was left. Auditor got in Monitor's head, amplified by 106 exterminating the wounded you were sent to save. This wasn't an instance of people changing. You're shown from the start that they care for their own, especially Monitor. I have to think, it was the only way it could have gone (and I have all kinds of feelings about those kinds of stories).

"Ya gotta think, if I hadn't transferred over to Task Force 2-7, you probably would have shot me dead today, too."

And it sounds like he knows he would have gone along with it, too? Or that he recognizes there wasn't a choice to be made, at that point. But we also know that, if escape is in impossible, then self-termination is protocol (the Defector HVT & Director's voicelines). Does he know he would have fought back? Does he think he would have been among those wounded? Or does he really know that little? [insert Dubious Morality Of Salmon comic quote here]

What maybe drives me the most insane is the last line, though:

"...Or die tryin'! [weak chuckles, dying off after a moment, followed by a deep sigh]"

god.

yeah dont mind me, just overanalyzing a few sentences of dialogue pointed at the mute weapon protagonist. As always

[eleni-cherie]

a thief's origin✨ || bts • kth - chapter 0.1

"you're afraid I won't wait." "I'm afraid you will."

a criminal and a doctor should be as different as the sun and the moon - but unexpected things happened every day. like him finding his safe haven in her.

© 2024 | eleni_cherie

»»»

masterlist: here

— genre: thief au, gangster comedy, adventure, romcom, humour, angst, fluff, sexual tensiON, slowburn, mutual pining, strangers to friends to lovers s2f2l

ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE. CHARACTERS NOT NECESSARILY LIKE THE REAL PERSONS. ALSO VERY UNREALISTIC PLOT LOL - JUST PRETEND READING A MANGA/COMIC OR WATCHING A FILM, REALLY.

SUGGESTIVE THEMES. MENTIONS OF VIOLENCE & BLOOD (BUT NOTHING TOO GRAPHIC, IT'S STILL A COMEDY!)

»»»

age 25 // 1st year - assistant physician

16th August

Barcelona, Spain

"This is a terrible idea," Yoongi mumbled into his palm that was propping up his chin. Side-eyeing Jimin from his seat in the backseat. "They'll blow it."

"They won't, have a little trust," Jimin argued with a whine. Only earning an unconvinced raised brow from the older guy though.

"Why would I trust these guys I don't know?"

"You know and trust me, don't you?"

And Jimin's grin only widened as Yoongi found himself huffing, unable to object. The younger one taking it as a victory.

His glance then falling to Taehyung on the passenger's seat beside him who had been rather quiet the whole drive there to the docks.

"Yoongi might be right," he eventually spoke up then. It wasn't like Taehyung was too keen to disagreeing with Jimin, but Yoongi had a point.

Much to the master thief's dismay.

"Oh no, not you, too.." Jimin's voice faded, however, when seeing someone entering the warehouse then, catching his attention instead. And he hastily swung the car door open. "Ok, do what you want. I'm going in now!" he announced in a sing-song voice.

Causing the other two to groan in comical unison.

Obviously they wouldn't let him go there alone.

"Wait for us!"

»»»

"Take the vital signs from the patient in room 102, schedule an MRT appointment for room 106 -"

Cassandra was scribbling everything down on her clipboard as she followed one of the third-year's, Dr Moreno, down the hallways, almost bumping into a nurse who was helping an elderly patient going back to his room.

"Oh, and don't forget to get Mrs Oliviera's blood results before the laboratory guys leave."

The older physician came to an halt then, blowing off some of her loose strands, which tended falling in front of her eyes. Her gaze catching something in the distance then before glancing down to the shorter Cassandra, who was too busy noting the latest task down to notice her sudden unsettled demeanor and lightly bumped into her.

"Uhm, anyway, if you're done you can check out if they need help at ER. Heard they got lots going on there this weekend. And if there's any problem, page me. Alright?"

Cassandra quickly looked up and nodded, seeing the tall brunette flashing her a quick smile before stomping away to the direction of the cause of her distress. And Cassandra caught the glimpse of Dr Ramirez, another third-year, walking through the corridors.

"Huh, of course what else," she almost snickered to herself when remembering she might get overheard and instead pursed her lips.

She passed by the nurse station where her colleague and fellow first-year Stella was peeking over the desk with wiggling brows, sending Cassandra a curious look then. Always up for some good gossip.

"What's up with her today?"

Cassandra sighed, letting her gaze wander to where her supervisor and her ex-boyfriend had disappeared to. She had only been there for three months so far, but things like that quickly made rounds among first-years.

"No clue, I am guessing he got on her nerves again."

"As always."

One of the older nurses and someone you wouldn't want to get on bad terms with, rolled in her chair towards them with a knowing look. "Rumors has it the two have a bet going on."

Cassandra was about to ask further, her own curiosity often getting the best of her, when recalling all the tasks her supervisor assigned her to after the daily round. So she excused herself and hurriedly made her way to room 102 first.

First year was hard for most rookies. It apparently got better after entering the second year, but she dared to doubt that until proven wrong.

The daily round every morning was like a quiz show with the chief physician acting as the quiz master and cracking up bemused, knowing all rookies were scared of him.

Then followed the routine tasks and examinations, with an emergency here and there in between.

The intensive care unit was no joke, even if not all of Dr Moreno's patients - who essentially were also Cassandra's, Stella's and the other two rookies' in their team - were in the intensive unit, sometimes they did end up there. And that did take a toll on her, because intensive care usually meant critical conditions.

It wasn't like her intern days anymore - which only lasted three to four months straight - where she mainly assisted in easy routine tasks. This was the real deal now, even if as a rookie she still beared zero responsibilities. The attending physicians would have to face the consequences for a mistake, but that didn't lift the weight off Cassandra's shoulders. Not one bit.

Thankfully, she hadn't made a mistake so far. Yet. Sure, patients had died, but not out of a mistake from her side. Yet.

As one of the other senior physicians had pointed out in one of his very motivational speechess: sooner or later all of them would make a mistake.

His words haunting her ever since, even if he'd later argued that it shouldn't let them weigh down. Being afraid could be a good thing. It'd prevent them from becoming sloppy.

There was truth to that. However, it still left her unsettled.

It was 2am when Cassandra finally arrived at the ER after a busy day and found the ward physician down there. She remembered seeing her around before, Dr Estefan, who was running her fingers through the mop of dark curls while designating patients.

It was indeed a chaotic day there since it was the weekend and normal doctor's offices were closed. It felt like everyone with even a mild cold was coming there in fear of it being something severe.

Cassandra was about to approach her, when a clearly stressed nurse came seemingly out of nowhere, holding a patient's file in front of her face. "You're a doctor, right?"

Cassandra blinked, her mind going blank. Technically, she was one, right? She had the degree and everything. At least she had more medical knowledge than an average person.

"I -uh-" Before she could even stutter out a proper answer, the file was shoved into her hands. The nurse being called by another colleague to assist before Cassandra could object.

Dumbfounded, the young physician took a deep breath and began skimming the filled in pages.

"male - 25 - laceration left arm - sprained arm"

In that moment one of the third-year assistant surgeons passed by - easily recogniseble by the green scrubs contrary to her blue ones and his confident way of walking. He was also one of her supervisor's best friends, so she knew him.

"Eh, excuse me, Dr. Torres. The nurse gave me this file an-"

He had already snatched the papers from her hands, reading over the important info. He glanced at his watch then.

"Ah, you can manage that on your own," he grinned, handing her the file back without giving any sign of wanting to help her out, "Remember what we practiced." He was already walking away, waving. "And if needed, page one of the orthopedists for the shoulder."

Yet again, she was left speechless.

Admittedly, it indeed sounded like something she could actually handle herself. So she inhaled deeply and nodded to herself.

Well, she could take a look and if needed, still call in one of the attending physicians - if she even managed finding an unoccupied one in this chaos.

The note attached to the file said room 044, which was right behind her and where the nurse had probably emerged from.

An insecurity was audible in the knock she gave the door and she took out a pen to scribble down her name as the assigned doctor on the file while pushing it open.

"Hello, I'm here to take a look on a wound?"

There was a short moment of silence before she heard the patient respond. "Y-yeah.."

She hummed, still not taking her eyes from the file as she walked to the counter when hearing him speak up again. "Do I know you?"

"Do you?" she questioned unimpressed as she set the file down and got a pair of disposable gloves, almost knocking off a bottle of oitment. Her clumsiness resurfacing once again.

"Think so.."

"Perhaps you'll remember later," she mumbled, not taking him serious.

She only moved to the city a few months ago to start her medical training after graduation and barely went out. Therefore she highly doubted anyone outside of the hospital would know or recognise her.

Slipping over the gloves with some strange determination, she turned around swiftly. Long curls swaying over her shoulders. "Now let's take a look on th-"

She didn't manage completing the sentence, however, her words getting caught in her throat when meeting a pair of wondering brown eyes. Triggering her memory in the second their irises met and her brows soon joined his raised ones.

"Three.. no, two years ago. Right?"

He was the first one to speak up after the short silence. His attempt to chuckle coming to an abrupt halt as his arm moved, a wave of pain washing over him.

"T-two to three years.." she repeated with a stutter.

Eventually, the scales fell from her eyes as flashbacks from a particular night during one of her interships rushed in front of her mind's eye. Of course.

"Oh, don't say you don't remember me, Doc." He mocked offence only for his smile to grow wider.

"No, no, I do! I also remember your friends," she quickly reassured, almost tripping over her words, "One of them was named Yoongi. Right?"

At this, Taehyung only laughed under his breath. "You remember him but not me? Can I have another doctor, please?"

"Hey!" Cassandra groaned playfully. And she stepped closer, tilting her head at him in an almost marveling manner. "I must admit, I'm amazed you managed remembering me with that concussion though."

"What do you mean? Pops would've busted us without you." A scowl was contrasting his gentle features and she giggled, remembering that odd nickname they had for the interpol agent.

"True. You still owe me one for that, cool guy."

Her lips tucked into a grin full of fake cockiness. She was obviously only joking but Taehyung's expression softened, cracking a small smile.

Of course he remembered her. How couldn't he? He didn't visit many doctors after all - trying avoiding it as much as possible. And he'd especially not come across many with such lovely doe eyes like Cassandra's.

"So.." he cleared his throat then, "What are you doing here? You're an actual doctor now?"

She nodded, not able hiding a little proud smile. "Mhm, only assistant physician though. I'm in my first year."

"I see.."

The young physician decided to proceed with the examination then, feeling they'd spent enough time with small talk - if it could even be considered as 'small talk', considering that term held a randomness and insignificance to it, which didn't feel suitable to their conversation. 

Carefully, she touched his arm. His hand was pressing on it firmly to keep the cloth he put on it steady, preventing blood from flowing all over his skin. But it also prevented her from taking a proper look on the wound.

"I know it hurts, but I need to take a look.." she slowly began, giving him an inquiring look to which he nodded. And he let her fingers lower his hand.

The wound was indeed not too severe, aproximately 3cm only. But it must've been deep considering the amount of blood.

"Can you move your fingers for me?" she asked and he obeyed, his left hand moving. "Good, thank you," she smiled. It was indeed good, that meant none of the main nerves was injured. She lifted his sleeve next. There was a light swelling on his brachium as noted in the file. "As for the sprain, we should do an x-ray to rule out a fracture or other bone injury as the source of the problem. But if you can still move the arm, it should indeed be a simple sprain."

"Whatever you want, Doc."

"Here's the deal," she retreated then with a confident posture, pointing at his arm, "I can handle all this. The puncture doesn't seem to be severe and only needs a few stitches, but if you feel more comfortable waiting for an attending doctor, I'm happy to step back. Good luck seeing one before midnight, though."

Taehyung chuckled at her sarcasm. As if she hadn't already taken care of his injury when she'd been a mere intern. Though, frankly, they hadn't left her much choice back then. "Funny how you let me choose. You think I wouldn't trust you a second time?"

She shrugged, biting back a bashful smile. "It's my duty to inform patients about all their options."

Taehyung observed her for a moment, licking over his dry lips in a contemplating manner. "S'okay, I'll take a risk and let you do it."

Cassandra's lips curled into a grin. "Good call."

While she began getting all the needed utensils ready, he took a closer look on her. She hadn't changed much, hence why he'd recognised her so easily.

Same sweet smile, same beautiful coppery curls, same dazzingly chocolate eyes, same cute round nose.

He hadn't noticed her beginning to work, too absorbed in his own thoughts. Only when she desinfected the wound, his mind returned to the examination room and he flinched.

"Want me to inject you a local anaestheticum for the stitches this time?" she asked with an arched brow. An amused smile toying on her lips when remembering their first encounter. "Now I can finally do it after all."

Much to her surprise, however, the young marksman shook his head. "No, it's fine. It already hurts like hell. What is there a little additional pain anyway," he tried joking and playing it off. And Cassandra let him, still giving him a knowing look when preparing the needle and threat.

"Ah, indeed a cool guy," she smirked then and he brushed off the fact he liked that nickname, despite its purpose being to tease him. "Alright then. But if it hurts too much, just say and I'll stop. Promise?"

And his lips tucked into a genuine smile despite his state, enjoying her concern. He nodded. "Promise."

Cassandra began the stitches, peeking at him after each one to ensure it was durable. She could tell he was clenching his jaw, but otherwise didn't seem to mind it. Perhaps the overall pain was indeed higher.

"So.. your name was Taehyung, right?"

The basic trick of engaging patients in a conversation to help them ease up and distract them had proven itself as very helpful to her over the years. That hadn't changed.

"Oh, so you do remember my name," Taehyung scoffed playfully.

She frowned briefly, a short laugh escaping under her breath. "Why wouldn't I?"

He shrugged as much as his injured arm would let him. "Because a minute ago you didn't even recognise my face."

Raising a brow, she got ready to defend herself. Having all the arguments ready.

How she saw countless of patients and couldn't instantly remember all their names. How his face got rounder and his hair seemed darker and definitely longer since their last and only encounter. How it had been years.

But she decided against it, focusing back on her work with a sly smile.

"Since you're talking so big, do you remember m-"

"Cassandra."

Her eyes went round and they met his teasing ones. With a light blush, she huffed and went back to the stitches. "So Taehyung, how comes there's a different name in the file?" She cleared her throat then, the wit returning to her lips.

"A different name, huh?" he played along, "That's odd."

She hummed amused, knowing the reason very well. "And how did your arm end up like this?" she wondered then with pretended nativity.

He most likely wouldn't tell her the truth anyway, but it was her duty to ask either way. And her suspicion was only confirmed when he nervously laughed out, gaze wandering.

"Oh, you know.. stupid accidents happen all the time. Tripped and fell onto something sharp."

That wasn't even a complete lie. He hadn't tripped though, the goon had twisted his arm and rammed the knife right into it. Perhaps trying fighting a guy twice his height - to be dramatic - without his gun hadn't been the smartest idea. Then again, he was entirely blaming Jimin for his current situation. They shouldn't have trusted those guys after all.

The young woman only hummed at this answer, not buying it at all but not able to disprove it either. Simply playing along as well. "Hate when that happens."

They exchanged a small chuckle.

"What are you doing here in Spain anyway?" he wondered out loud then. "Last time I saw you in Germany after all."

She shrugged, her eyes briefly catching the sight of a small golden pedant around his neck. She tried recalling if she'd seen it that night back then as well or if it was new to her.

"Was only there for the internship. Now I was in the mood for something sunnier," she explained with eyes still fixated on the wound.

There was an odd familiarity while talking so casually to him. Reminiscing of long-lost friends when in reality, they had only met once. Though frankly, that one time had been quite a lasting encounter.

"Stitches are done," she announced then and cut the thread. He perked up at this before wincing at the abrupt move. "That fast?"

"Oh, don't you remember? I'm a pro at this," she grinned almost smugly, being sure Dr Torres would be proud of her stitches. And Taehyung chuckled under his breath. Recalling something along the lines.

At last, she smeared some antibiotic gel onto the now closed wound and bandaged it with gauze.

Picking up the file again, he watched her with curiosity scribbling down something.

"As for the sprain.. avoid activities that cause pain, swelling or discomfort and regularly ice the area for twenty minutes each time," she said, too focused on the file to notice his eyes following her. "To help stop swelling, you can also compress the area with an elastic bandage until the swelling stops. And elevate the the arm above heart level, especially at night, so it allows gravity to help reduce it."

He only hummed, making mental notes of everything. Or at least he tried to as he kept getting distracted from the small wrinkle between her brows and her pacing around the room. Being in awe with her professionality when she talked like that, knowing exactly what she was saying.

"I'll also let one of the nurses give you some pain medications, if you need."

He blinked as she had interrupted his train of thoughts. "Y-yeah. That wouldn't be too bad."

"Well, then.." She stiped off the gloves and tossed them into the bin. Extending her hand to him then with a bright smile. "I would say come back soon, but this is a hospital and that seems wildly inappropriate. So.. take care, cool guy."

She had to admit, it was a pity she'd never see him again like most patients coming in and out there. Especially considering he was a thief who was, she assumed, still on the run.

Even if this was technically the second time they met. She shouldn't press her luck, she knew.

Taken aback, Taehyung stared at her hand. Eyeing it for a second longer than intended.

This was the part where he should say something, he knew but he had no clue of what exactly or how.

So instead, he simply accepted her delicate hand. Giving it a light squeeze and a shake.

Her cheeks feeling warm at the brief touch and the sight of Taehyung's endearing smile before he let go.

"Thanks, Doc. You.. you, too."

»»»

18th September

A month had passed since Cassandra and Taehyung had met yet again in the ER. Ever since, she had often caught her thoughts swirling back to him. Filled with a mix of curiosity and fondness towards the mysterious criminal with the harmless aura. Although those thoughts became less and less frequent with time.

It was the middle of September now. The weather far from being autumn yet, but the hot summer days were gone as well and so she slipped into a light jacket when exiting the hospital that evening. Mindlessly, she shoved a piece of gum between her lips to keep her mind occupied and distracted from her rumbling belly until reaching home and getting to eat properly.

There were several people around the parking lot, some leaving, some arriving. Not paying much attention to any of them as her sole focus was to get home quickly.

Only when her name echoed over the buzzing city noises, she paused in her tracks.

Glancing confused over her shoulder, she quickly spotted a tall man waving at her lazily. He was leaning against the wall of the ER entrance. And her eyes widened further. Wondering if he had actually been the one calling her or if she had imagined things.

He had ash-blond, mid-long hair which covered his forehead messily. Eyes hidden behind round black sunglasses which matched his black blazer. And for a second she tensed, not recognising this person despite the inviting voice and cheeky rectangle grin ringing a bell in the depths of her memory.

The man huffed out a laugh when noticing her hesitation. Lowering the shades on the bridge of his nose as he tilted his head forward to glance past them.

"You keep hurting my ego, Doc, you know that?" he winked.

And her eyes lit up.

"Taehyung?"

She quickly pursed her lips, realising how careless it might be to say his name out loud like this. Looking around then to ensure no one had heard her, she approached him with fast steps.

In all honesty, Cassandra hadn't expected seeing Taehyung again. Or at least not so soon. But frankly, she hadn't expected to ever see him again after that one night during her internship either and yet, a bit over two years later, their paths somehow had crossed again in a similar situation.

Funny how things worked in indecipherable ways sometimes. It wasn't all too predictable after all.

"I didn't recognise you with the new hair-colour and the glasses, sorry," she pouted apologetically when standing in front of him. Suddenly feeling very small under his striking appearance compared to hers, with a simple cardigan, shirt and jeans paired with a 'just finished a twelve hour shift'-tiredness on her face. Not much was left of it from the moment she'd seen him, though.

"But looks good. How comes?"

He only gave her an ambigious smirk. "Let's say it was time for a new look." Or rather disguise, he thought. Seeing an unconvinced glance behind her long lashes as she hummed.

"I see.. and how's the arm?" She motioned with her chin to the limb she'd taken care of only a few weeks prior. "Any better?"

"Mhm, fully recovered." He raised it with a nod, wiggling it as proof. "Great work as always by you."

She blushed and looked away at the unexpected praise. Coughing awkwardly then. "Well, I'm glad to see that," she nodded. Her heels rocking back and forth at the thought of her next question. "And to what do I owe the honour of this visit? Or was it just to update me on your recovery?"

Taehyung chuckled quietly. Shaking his head. "I still owe you, remember?" he said, matter-of-factly.

Her eyes widened at his words. "You owe me?" she repeated puzzled.

With a non-chalant shrug, he briefly glanced down to the ground.

Truth was, he hadn't expected seeing the young doctor with the warm smile and beaming eyes ever again either. He hadn't planned to. Because even if they relished more the challenge of stealing and there were times when they only stole the object in question to return to its rightful owner or someone who actually needed it - they still remained criminals.

He knew he should stay away from her. And yet, she was one of these people he just couldn't get out of his mind. Whether now or two years ago. No matter how hard he tried.

"You kept your promise two years ago," he said then, "And you didn't call the cops on me last time, either. So I want to make it up to you. If you let me."

Cassandra contemplated for a moment. Folding her lips as her conscience tried arguing with her about all the risks there were - and there were many - when getting involved with someone like him.

But then she glanced at him again and all she could do was smile.

It wasn't his handsome face, but the expression full of charming anticipation on it. It wasn't his heart-shaped lips, but the shy, boyish smile on them. It wasn't his mellow voice, but the words radiating warmth.

Her mind might've been trying warning her, but her chest was telling her otherwise.

"Lead the way, cool guy."

»»»

next chapter: 0.2 here

Don't forget to like, reblog & leave feedback!♡ It motivates me to keep writing :)

taglist: @lilanyxta @naoolammao345 @memna234 @tetehion

[atimeofyourlife]

It's a boy!

written for @steddiemicrofic prompt: cake wc: 311 | rated: t | cw: none | tags: trans Steve Harrington this sat at 205 words for most of the month, finding that extra 106 was so hard!

After his first attempt at baking had nearly destroyed the trailer’s kitchen, Eddie had roped in Robin for help. Who in turn called in Dustin, who had then insisted that his mom would be the best person to help out.

So the three of them were crowded into the Henderson’s kitchen, with Claudia teaching them how to bake a cake. All she’d needed to hear was “It’s for Steve,” before she was agreeing to anything they asked.

As he watched Claudia work her magic, he found it harder and harder to understand how, exactly, he’d managed to mess up a basic box mix so badly, when she made it look so easy.

Eddie came up with the idea when Steve had told them that he was, well, Steve. Eddie wanted to celebrate Steve feeling comfortable and brave enough to tell them that he wasn’t the girl they thought they knew. Especially as everyone knew his parents weren’t the type to celebrate Steve the way he deserved.

Once the cake was finished and decorated, Eddie jumped into action to get everyone over, to surprise Steve. All the kids, Nancy and Jonathan, Hopper and Mrs Byers, even Sue and Charles Sinclair. Everyone who loved Steve crowding into the Henderson's living room, waiting for Steve to get off work. Dustin took the task of getting Steve to come over, calling him at work and making an excuse of something he needed Steve's help with.

"What's going on?" Steve asked, confused when he walked in. When Dustin had called him, he wasn't expecting anyone else to be there.

"We just wanted to celebrate you. Surprise, baby." Eddie replied, kissing Steve softly before dragging him to the table to see the cake. "For you, sweetheart."

Steve took in the cake, then started laughing as he read the words piped on in blue icing.

‘It’s a Boy!’

[sarksarkos]

Wonder Woman '59: Good Stories with Nonsense Plots

Wonder Woman #106 is the story about Wonder Woman temporarily losing her magical powers and getting trapped by a planet of giants. Why did this happen? Because otherwise there wouldn't be a comic. Welcome to the Gutters.

Saying a superhero comic has a "nonsense plot" is something that needs some extraordinary circumstances. This issue already has a story where an ancient greek Amazon gets kidnapped by space giants and put on a massive charm bracelet, and that isn't even the nonsense part.

The story begins when a giant named Tooroo wins the Giant Olympics and claims the planet Earth as his prize. He shows up and starts grabbing all the shiny things he can see as gifts for his giant girlfriend. Wonder Woman tries to stop him but, unfortunately, it's June 19th! AT 10 O'CLOCK!

For some reason, all of Wonder Woman's special equipment - her tiara, lasso, bracelets and invisible jet - lose their magical powers for 24 hours at this specific date and time. It's never explained to the characters or the audience why this happens, and this right here is the nonsense plot. Wonder Woman's whole deal and the planet of asshole giants, that's a wacky premise, but I can accept it. But if a plot introduces an arbitrary restriction on that premise, like Wonder Woman losing her powers because of a superhero service interruption, the story needs to provide at least some explanation as to why that is.

Despite that, the story itself is actually pretty good. Wonder Woman challenges the big dumb man and has to overcome his challenges despite being .1% his size. Without her special equipment, she has to use her skills and intelligence to win, and pulls out a last-second turnaround by using the giant's overwhelming strength to her advantage. At the end, everyone learns a lesson not to pick on people just because you're 100 stories tall.

Second story in the issue is "The Invisible Wonder Girl" which gives up the plot twist right in the preview image. Wonder Girl gets secretly replaced by an alien shapeshifter, and for some reason this new girl doesn't show up in photographs. Like it doesn't show a blur or her true form or anything, she just doesn't show up at all. I think the writers confused aliens with vampires. The Amazons decide no harm done and let her stay on Paradise Island, and she is never seen again.

The first story in Issue #107: "Wonder Woman: Amazon Teenager" has two main throughlines. The first is that Wonder Girl meets a mer-boy named Ronno and starts like a cute teen romance with him. The second is that the Amazons have a time machine that they can use to view the future, and Wonder Girl decides she wants to dress like her future self, and she goes on a quest to get her future costume iconography. Again, kind of a nonsense plot. It doesn't even affect the story because there's any number of reasons why the Amazons could send her on this quest.

As with before, the story itself is pretty good. It's a classic story structure where the hero goes on a dangerous quest, gaining skills, tools, and allies that help them complete their task. It's a formula that's survived into the present day, basically every Zelda game uses this exact structure. Ronno the mer-boy is a pretty fun addition, unclear if he's from the same mermaid civilization as Lori Lemaris, but he shows up a few times in these adventures.

The second story in #107, "Gunslingers of Space", is exactly what it says on the tin. Aliens disguise themselves as old west gunsligners and try to rob airplanes on flying horses. Why are they doing this? Don't ask stupid questions. Wonder Woman beats them by getting a thousand magnets together, smushing them into one massive magnet with her bare hands, and grabbing them by all the metal they're wearing. That's fun, it feels like something that would happen in a tall tale, like Pecos Bill roping the tornado.

Issue #108 features "Wanted - Wonder Woman," with a cover that looks like a prototype of the iconic "Days of Future Past" cover from Uncanny X-Men #141. In my last post I talked about the sequence where Wonder Woman robs a bank and gets chased by the police at night, and it's pretty cool. The reason for that is that aliens are attempting to mind control her so that she will be unable to stop them from invading.

We've seen this kind of plot before, Batman and Superman have all had this happen to them. This issue makes a really significant storytelling decision to show us Wonder Woman's internal monologue as she's being subverted. With Batman or Superman, it's usually played as a mystery, where the audience asks "Why is Superman stealing the jewels?" Here, we see Wonder Woman having to ask herself "Why am I stealing the jewels?" and trying to fight off her own impulses, and that turns it from a mystery story to a horror story.

I also wanna point out I love the alien design. I love aliens that look like bugs, and these guys are gross and cute at the same time. Bring back unnamed aliens from Wonder Woman #108.

Once they get Wonder Woman to rob the bank, as seen last time, they conclude that she's completely dominated and won't put up a fight against them. That's when Wonder Woman reveals that she was only pretending to submit to their mind control and had been building up resistance. The aspect of dominance and submission from the Golden Age Wonder Woman doesn't come up much in the silver age because of COWARDICE, but this is a good way to bring those elements up again. When faced with unwanted domination, Wonder Woman chooses to feign submission while secretly undermining those who would control her. This is going to be more and more relevant as the world gets more and more awful.

The second story in #108 is about some stamp-themed supervillain making special Wonder Woman stamps that grow to massive size and explode and then uses them for military sabotage. It is a completely wild story and nobody in it acts like a person who shares a housing complex with reality. Absolute nonsense plot. I don't even know what to say about it so I am going to move on.

I feel like a lot of these stories weren't written to have aliens in it. To me, these read like they had a more supernatural or fantastic bent and then aliens were plastered on top to make it fit the silver age ethos. For example, the giants could just be magical giants who live in some secret magical kingdom. The shapeshifter who impersonated Wonder Girl makes more sense if she's some kind of ghost or spirit. The Duke of Deception from last time would work just as well if he were working for Mars, the god of War.

The one thing I really wish would have been more fantastic is "Gunslingers of Space." Cowboys and outlaws of the wild west have been described as a kind of American mythology, and it would be really interesting to contrast that with Wonder Woman, a representative of Classical mythology. I could see, for example, the Greek gods trying to take on new personas to rule the modern age, or even the spirits of the old west manifesting as new gods and having to fight the old. Just building up stories for my hypothetical Wonder Woman run.

Until next time!

[heart-in-a-locket]

106 Days of Productivity: 7/106

finished my review sheets for two lectures (this is literally the most tedious task so I am very proud of myself)

entered some appointments

did Flashcards

read a text for a lecture next week

picked up some books from the library

[dicenote]

touta matsuda

discuss

omg YES ty! This is gonna be a long, disorganized ramble, so bear with me!

Touta Matsuda. My blorbo, skrunky scrimblo, love of my life, etc.

There are so many things about Matsuda's character that I could talk about. His impulsivity, his loyalty, his uncertainty... All of it makes a very real and very interesting character. And I think that a lot of his traits shine in one of the most horrifying scenes from his perspective: the Yellow Box Warehouse.

Like, let's take a step back and look at the numbers here. On one side of the warehouse, we've got a guy claiming to be L, and the three members of the old Kira Task Force that he brought with him. On the other side, we've got a different guy claiming to be L and three members of the SPK that he brought with him (oh. and the guy from the Task Force that got kidnapped in the mix). Outside, Kira's accomplice is lying in wait. So we've got ten people in all who are ready for the final showdown. The reveal. The evidence that will finally end this years-long nightmare and point to the true identity of Kira.

And of those 10 people, only one of them doesn't have a clue who Kira really is.

Light is Kira. Mikami is X-Kira and finds out who Kira is as soon as he looks in the room. Near and the SPK are all on the same page. Mogi and Aizawa know. Ide's a bit more on the fence but he wasn't completely in the dark. So Matsuda is the only one who goes in totally blind.

If anyone were to re-write Death Note purely from Matsuda's perspective, the Warehouse scene would go from tense to horrifying. To (nearly) everyone else there, this confrontation isn’t meant to reveal an unexpected truth, it’s to confirm something that they already know. But for Matsuda? Near's request to meet at the warehouse is, at worst, a tactic to once again frame Light. Because Light obviously can't be Kira, right? Light will show Near that he's wrong, and the investigation will continue as normal until the real Kira is caught.

But then Near presents that irrefutable evidence, and everything that Matsuda knew for over five years comes crumbling down. Light starts monologuing about how the world had to be fixed and how no one could ever make it as far as he did. Kira and Light are one and the same. Matsuda always thought that Kira was a well-intentioned person who was helping change the world. Ide and Aizawa and Mogi believed that Kira was evil, they were much stronger in their resolve than Matsuda ever could be. But Light had confessed to him once that he too questioned if what they were doing was right. If Kira was doing right.

Light has always been Kira.

And then comes the absolutely tasty part where Matsuda shoots Light. I love how chapter 106 is called "Intent to Kill", because it reminds me of how Matsuda and Light are foils to each other. Better yet, they can be compared against a man they both held such deep respect for, Soichiro Yagami.

See, Soichiro threatens to kill people a good couple times, and even holds a gun to his son's face, but he never has any intent to kill. In fact, he's never killed anyone, as (I think) Mello points out. It's almost kind of silly. Like, Soichiro draws the line at firing bullets or writing full names in the Death Note, and that's it? Everything else is fair game? Weird line to draw, but go off I guess.

Light, meanwhile, justifies killing thousands. But only with the Death Note. With the Death Note, his intent to kill becomes a righteous one, another step on the path to becoming God of a New World. The criminals deserved to die. Those who get in Kira's way deserve to die. Because Light isn't a serial killer. He's doing the right thing! Crime is going down, war has stopped, and Light is the only one who could have possibly gone this far and done this much good.

And then we're back to Matsuda. I believe the mafia raid is the first time we see Matsuda using a gun, and we see that he's damn good at it. So good, in fact, that he's able to fire only non-lethal shots to get the Death Note back. (Also, fun tidbit: I'm pretty sure he's the only one who doesn't go into the raid with a rifle, he's just got like, a standard-issue cop pistol with a light on it.) The same thing happens in the warehouse, at least initially. He fires at Light's hand to get him to stop writing. Then he and Light yell at each other for a little bit about (who else?) Soichiro. Light demands that Matsuda shoot the others, because he's the only one who understands Kira. When Matsuda hesitates, Light resumes writing Near's name. Then Matsuda fires again and again and again. Anything to make Light stop. Anything to make it all stop. But it becomes obvious that he's not just shooting Light as a deterrent. What does Matsuda say as he's doing it?

"He needs to die!"

The others literally have to drag Matsuda away before he can execute Light on the spot.

Matsuda is a character full of contradictions. He dedicates over half a decade to fighting Kira, but he doubts the whole time. He tries to follow in Soichiro's footsteps but in the end makes the same justification that Light did when he first started writing in the Death Note. This man is a criminal. He deserves to die. The Yellow Box Warehouse not only exposed Light's true colors, but Matsuda's as well.