#//Him crying crocodile tears to get something out of them is a WHOLE different story. But yeah

[dutybcrne]

A little known fact is Kaeya usually tends to cry out of frustration. Little known, because he tends to be so good at masking it and holding back when it comes to a head, with only Adelinde having been the one he felt comfortable enough to cry around, back in his youth.

Nowadays, he will adamantly refuse to cry in front of anyone, even those he’s closest to. But if one who knows him well enough might happen to witness his lashes seemingly fluttering as he rolls his eyes after a verbal bout with Diluc, they’ll know.

They’ll know.

[hinamie]

oh my god ok so i know im late I didn't talk about it because it happened during one of my Offline Eras but . but listen ok lisn the new former vandal album sent me THROUgh the FUCKINNG ROOF to be fair i knew it would like i joked about going upstairs to listen to it and cry when it dropped but i didn't think that every fucking song would hit me so hard in the kokoro it made me wail because I too have immense religious guilt ANYWAY im gonna rant incoherently and at length now hope u all missed me

ok first of all gotta shout out the fuckin album title i knew it was gonna be devastating when I saw it . fuckin. divine interference????? music for god's playthings indeed i eat that shit up i was like yoooooo hes also got a bone to pick with jesus go off bestie <333

so former vandal are artists visionaries kings so ofc tracklist is all mythology n religion-inspired (lazarus/goliath/ouroboros etc) and i think its so cool that theyre all in caps until u get to the end and the final song is denial and it's in lowercase and maybe its simple but i was like ART. ARTTTTTT. and it made me go back and look at the tracklist of their previous album and I realized that the whole thing was about vices and unhealthy coping with an overwhelming and forsaken existence but then the final song was Get Right (still my go-to comfort song to this day tbh tbh tbh) and it's like an acknowledgement that ok maybe none of this is the answer and something has to change anyway wrong album oops back 2 divine interference

i made a point of listening to the songs that hadnt been released as singles first so the first song i listened to was Lazarus and tbh probably my fav song on the album maybe tied with parables and maaaaybe even icarian. BUT LAZARUS SLAPS SOS SOSOOSO HARD god the theme of not knowing how to leave something behind even when it's bad for you,,, both criticizing but also mirroring the actual story of lazarus in the lyrics being like "wow kinda fucked up of god for resurrecting u without ur consent" but also acknowledging that he himself is guilty of holding onto the things that kill him.,,, GOD ITS SO FUCKING G GOOD I FDFGSADFGDG

salt also !!! BANGER not quite up there with the likes of lazarus but it gets bonus points because a. i lov the idea of starting to recognize that you're coming into yourself n an identity apart from your vices n traumas and b. for having two of the most RAW lines in the entire album imo which is reaaallly saying something: "now that everything's bright I guess I'm fine/but there's an art in the dark that took years to refine" and "the spark of divine intervention/that I'm still terrified I've left behind" (ALBUM TITLE DROP ALBUM TITLE DROP) god these two just dont miss and i love it but i am far too neurodivergent to contain myself they need to give me a break pls i am v i b r a t i n g

ok gonna move into the Chill(tm) tracks I think with goliath as well as shame/rotten I vibe more with the lyrics than the actual songs because i prefer my angsty alt pop to be Upbeat thank u very much but can i just say. the lyrics of these two songs ESPECIALLY SHAME/ROTTEN LIKE ok first of all i love the tonal shift halfway through that manages not to make them feel like completely different songs it's just jarring enough like there's been an acceptance of sorts,, like omg same i too am like 'god i feel like the scum of the earth might as well own it a bit',, "the fear of god/the need for blame" fuckin bullseye ow,, "I starve to feed the parts of me/far from who i oughta be/tell me are you proud of me yet?" FUCKIN BULLSEYE OWW

I know i just said i prefer my angst upbeat but crocodile tears (very upbeat very rock wuaw) is probably my least favourite track if i had to pick but it does have a lyrical BANGER of an opening verse ("holding the hand that's holding me under" g o d) i think i just don't dig the overall melody too much and find the ending a bit repetitive fr my tastes,, who knows though it took a while and many re-listens for ouroboros to grow on me maybe this'll b a similar story ,, but then again ouroboros had the advantage of echoing mine own mental health and self-destructive behaviours shdgj

ok so i was crying from the beginning right but the songs that made me ugly bawl were growing pains (very similar vibes to get right but in a "i know that i'm healing" way rather than a "i need to heal" way) and denial,, but starting w growing pains,, my god idk What they did with the mic/vocals after the bridge but it felt like the music was being injected directly into my ears secret direct path 2 my bloodstream god I hadnt felt chills like that in such a long time and idk just the whole Mood of the song having been hurting for so long and only now starting to recognize the damage you've done but also appreciate the progress youv made,,, i have so so many emotions but DENIAL (its funny saying it in caps bc its the only track in lowercase getit getit) oh my god ths going straight on the list of Songs That Make Me Think About My Relationship With My Dad but also Songs That Make Me Emo About All The People I've Grown Apart From and i think its so powerful to frame a personal transition away from faith as growing apart from an old friend and missing them despite any hard feelings holy shit though holy shit . the first listen by this point i had already been emotionally devastated by the Whole Album so i was like ok surely ill get a break by the last song lol nope sorry i ended up crying so hard i think i gave myself a headache

I think I must have yelled about the songs that they released as singles when they dropped individually but it's been so long that i forget what i said but honestly parables and icarian are still just as good as when i heard them for the first time (when parables dropped i spilled my tea on my fucking notes bc i was vibing too hard),, I love parables' msg of accepting the lessons ur (traumatic) past taught u and how it shaped u as a person even if u recognize that that person is someone hurt and in need of healing and maybe that has to happen alone! and i know for a fact i've gushed about icarian (still one of the most gojocore songs Ever imho dont fight me on this) but now looking at it in the context of the rest of the album i love that it's first cause it really frames the whole icarus thing of having flown too close to the sun or to god and getting burned and that pain essentially being the catalyst for the entire Journey tht the rest of the album outlines (obsessed w the fact that the next song is jaded like fr having these two songs one after the other is literally "fucked around/found out" gsfhjsh)

but all that being said not to b dramatic but this album destroyed me it rearranged something deep in my soul and i don't know who i was before it but i probably wont ever be the same :) i literally love these two so much im so appreciative of them its so rare to feel so Seen by a piece of media so to have an entire album hit so incredibly close to home for me and slap while doing so????? i feel so lucky . this entire album feels like taking the first step to address years of hurt and self destruction it feels like losing a friend it feels like finding yourself and i just . i love it so much

[beardedmrbean]

A Dallas woman pretended to be a sexual abuse victim and then a grieving widow.

And now she’ll serve life in prison for faking both roles and instead orchestrating and attempting to cover up her husband’s murder.

Jennifer Faith was hit with a life federal prison sentence on Tuesday for falsely claiming that she was sexually abused by her husband Jamie Faith to get her lover to kill him. She then fundraised off his murder, the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas said.

Her public persona following the October 2020 slaying differed from her nefarious motives behind the scenes that a federal judge called “pure evil” during the sentencing, prosecutors said.

Faith, 49, even went as far as to set up fake email accounts pretending to be her husband, an American Airlines executive, and a friend of hers to trick gunman Darrin Ruben Lopez into believing she was physically abused. She also downloaded stock images of injuries from the internet and emailed them to Lopez to further convince him the abuse was real, according to prosecutors.

She admitted as part of her plea agreement there was never any abuse.

“Ms. Faith put on quite a performance in the wake of her husband’s murder. She poured out her sob story to reporters and law enforcement, then headed home to orchestrate her coverup,” said US Attorney Chad Meacham. “But crocodile tears didn’t stop the feds. We were committed to getting justice for Jamie, and with the Judge’s imposition of a life sentence this afternoon, we’re one step closer.”

Faith coordinated with Lopez, an Army vet and Tennessee resident, to orchestrate the slaying of Jamie Faith. Lopez, who has yet to stand trial, is accused of shooting Jamie Faith seven times outside his home while he and Jennifer Faith walked their dog, prosecutors said. The shooting was about seven months into the tryst.

Faith was caught on audio screaming during the attack and caught on video crying hysterically afterwards, which prosecutors showed at the sentencing.

“I turned around and I just saw this person shoot and shoot. I couldn’t believe – I didn’t know him. Like, why?” a sobbing Faith told a Dallas police detective after the shooting that was videotaped. “A lot of shots, five, six, maybe, I feel like. And he just kept going, and I’m like, stop it!

“And then I saw the person turn and like, just, dark eyes, coming toward me. And so I started – I yelled no, and I started to run. And he tackled me to the ground. He was trying to attack me the whole time I was screaming.” 

But before the murder, she sent Lopez, who she called her “one and only love,” gifts and money, the feds said. The two had dated in high school and college.

And after the shooting, she sent him two credit cards that she paid off using money from a GoFundMe fundraiser called “Support Jennifer Faith” launched in the wake of her husband’s death.

After police became aware of a “T” decal on Lopez’s pickup truck he used to drive away after the alleged shooting, Faith went on a television station to help investigators located the decaled truck.

But after the interview, she texted Lopez to remove the sticker.

“I woke up in a bit of a panic… Something is eating away at me telling me you need to take the sticker out of the back window of the truck,” she texted him, according to the feds. “I don’t normally overreact like this… really think you need to get that sticker off ASAP, like today.”

A month after the shooting death, Faith attempted to gobble up $629,000 in death benefits from her husband’s life insurance company with promises to Lopez of buying a home in Tennessee with him, prosecutors said.

When she was contacted to come in for questioning by investigators in early January 2021, Faith admitted she coordinated her cover story with Lopez.

“Don’t text me Monday. I am going to factory reset my phone on Sunday night after deleting texts,” she wrote.

“Ok sounds good,” Lopez responded. “Big hug.”

On top of the life sentence, Faith, who pleaded guilty to interstate murder-for-hire, also needs to pay her late husband’s family $6,500 to cover his funeral costs and another $250,000 in fines.

“No amount of time in federal prison will ever be able to bring Mr. Faith back, however this sentencing shows the gravity of Ms. Faith’s criminal acts,” said ATF Dallas Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Boshek.

“Her spineless attempt to sway law enforcement and public opinion will forever be etched into the hearts of those affected by her monstrous crime.”

[miraculouswolf99]

Forest Wolf Academy Idea

I formed this idea after I read a Miraculous fanfiction where Marinette transferred to a school for magic along with Chloe, Nathaniel, Marc, and her brother. At the school already is Felix and the Quad kids. The magic schools are actually for those that are members of witch covens and you must be a member of the coven to join the school. Luke and Juleka are also witches but in a different cousin. Marinette and the other transfer because of Lila. Adrien soon joins them at the school as well. I also got inspiration from the anime Fairy Tail.

I loved the concept of it so much that it gave me my own idea. My idea if an Adrien-focused story since he is my favorite character and always will be.

My idea started after Miracle Queen. Because of Chloe working with Hawkmoth and because Lila had turned so many of Marinette's friends against her, her parents transferred her to an art school so that she can focus on her designing. The only ones that stayed her friends were Adrien, Nathaniel, Kim, Alix, and Juleka. Outside of the class, she had a lot more friends, but her parents wanted her away from Chloe and Lila.

Adrien's dad still makes him model with Lila despite how Adrien and the staff are always telling him that she is the worst model ever. She never shuts up with her lies, never poses as she is told to do, and is basically also sexually harassing Adrien as well. She drives them all crazy.

But then one day during another photoshoot, Adrien hears some music and is drawn toward it. The music is like a siren song that he does not notice that only he can hear. When he arrives at the source of the song, he finds an old friend of his, Lyon Garden. Lyon and his twin sister Vallia are friends of his that he met in Greece when their family hosted a charity fashion show at their family's nature and animal sanctuary. Adrien had gone there with his parents a year before his mom vanished and he kept in contact with them the entire time.

Lyon and Adrien are happy to see each other, Adrien spilling his guts about everything bad going on. Especially all the things with Lila and Chloe. And Lyon gives him an extraordinary opportunity. The reason why Adrien was able to hear his magical song was because he was magical as well. A fellow witch. So, he was able to offer him a place at his school, Forest Wolf Academy.

The two of them went to Gabriel and he actually let Adrien go to the magic school. It turns out that Adrien's mom had also been a witch and that was why he was allowing Adrien to go so easily. Adrien is more than happy to accept the offer.

When Adrien goes to Forest Wolf Academy, he is amazed to see such an incredible school. Forest Wolf is not the only magic school in the world. Each school is hidden in a pocket dimension where they can be entered in any place in the world through the use of a magical key. But each school still has a main magical doorway in the home of the founder of each school. Forest Wolf's main door is in Athens, Greece.

Adrien only lets his real friends know that he is transferring. He would have told Nino, but he no longer considered him his best friend since he turned against Marinette. But given that magical people can hear Lyon's magical song, there are more teen witches in Paris than Adrien knew about. So, even after he transfers, he is actually soon joined by a lot of his true friends. Luka, Kagami, Nathaniel, Marc, Juleka, Kim, and Alix. And each of them would have their own powers that Lyon and Vallia help them learn to control.

Lyon has siren song magic. He is a real-life siren with the added abilities to control sound and music, not just being able to use his voice as a weapon. Vallia has rainbow aura magic. She is also to surround herself with different color light auras that give her other abilities like how sky blue gives her flight and ruby red helps her shoot fire like a dragon.

Adrien would find out that he has light magic, being able to control all forms of light and even be able to change into it like a human shooting star. Luka would have enchanted instrument magic, being able to do all types of things by playing different instruments while still having his natural ability to hear a person's inner song. Juleka would have a similar ability called music spirit magic, where she is able to turn into magical creature spirits that are hybrids with music like harp playing fairies or werewolf drummers. Kagami would have Requip magic, where she is able to store weapons and armor in a separate dimension that only she can access. Nathaniel would have art-to-reality magic where he is able to bring his drawings to life no matter what they are. Marc would have Fairy Tale magic where he could read from a magical storybook that he has and summon any legendary or mythical creature from it. Kim would have were-beast magic where he is able to turn into any were-creature version of any animal like a werewolf or cat creature. And Alix would have time magic, where she would be able to manipulate time around her while also being able to travel through time on her own.

All of them actually have a great time at Forest Wolf Academy and learn to appreciate and covet their magical lives even if Hawkmoth is still a problem. But he would actually have become less active lately as if he is losing motivation for trying to gain the miraculous.

Vallia would actually gain a crush on Kim and the two of them would eventually start dating. The same would go for Juleka and Alix as well as Luka and Kagami. Nathaniel and Marc would be an already established couple since they are too adorable to break up. Adrien would also find himself gaining a crush on Lyon, something he never expected to have on his old friend.

But, as per all good things, their peace had to come to an end. Magic itself was not hidden, just the people that used it. It was why heroes and villains like Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Hawkmoth all had masks when they used the miraculous.

But, the schools have come under some fire with people thinking that they were secret evil cults that wanted to take over the world. So, they all had to open their doors to people. To politicians, school field trips, and even some tours of powerful world leaders just to show that they were all perfectly normal schools that just happen to teach magic to their witch students.

Only, one of the schools that request to tour Forest Wolf Academy is Dupont High, which puts the new students on edge. Especially Adrien and Juleka because of Lila and Rose. It did not help that Lyon and Alix were very protective of their partners and would hurt anyone that tries to hurt them.

But since they have to keep up appearances as a "normal" magical school, they have to accept the field trip request. Luckily, it is the whole school and not just Bustier's class. So, there are still good students like Aurore, Mireille, and Zoé. It is only Bustier's class that believes Lila, anyway.

Adrien and the others do their best to avoid Lila and her attack dogs. They have their jobs to stop the more temperamental students from attacking the annoying group with how they obviously bully almost everyone around them. Not to mention all of the lies that keep coming out of Lila's mouth that she is related to so many powerful witches, how she is a descendant of Merlin, how her grandparents run the best magic school in the world.

There are a lot of students that wanted her head. Especially since it was known through Adrien and Lyon that she had not heard Lyon's magical song, meaning that she had no magic at all. And since magic was passed down from parent to child, that also meant that no one in her family had magic either. Not unless they were one of those families that had been stripped of their magic for crimes against the magical world.

And if it wasn't Lila causing problems with her lies, Chloe was causing problems with her attitude. And how she kept trying to force the students to do as she says and make them her slaves. Like she would go to those with ice magic and demand that they get her a cold drink. Or she would go to the students with gem and crystal magic and demand that they give her the biggest diamond that they can make.

Once the former Dupont students are found by the group is when things really go downhill. There is a lot of yelling about how they abandoned their friends, that they should not be so jealous of Lila's accomplishments, how they needed to get over themselves, how they needed to stop being bullies. And the group fires back that they can not abandon friends that abandoned them first, that they can not be jealous of accomplishments that never happened, and that they never talk to Lila let alone bully her.

Meanwhile, Adrien is trying hard not to be seen by Lila or Chloe since he does not want either of them hanging off his arm like they usually do. But, Lila soon locks her eyes on him and down try and latch onto him, crying her crocodile tears about how much she missed him and how she wanted him back since he "promised to date her."

That is where Lyon steps in and would be so close to using his sonic scream on the annoying liar. Adrien uses his powers to turn into light and get back to Lyon's side. That is when the two of them go into a big "why Lila sucks" speech and reveals that the two of them were dating and that Adrien would never EVER date Lila.

She is not exposed, but a new demonstration of the more dangerous powers from the students, low key threats against the annoying class, makes them never come back after they leave.

Lila hopes to be akumatized over her rage about not being able to lie her way into dating Adrien, but she does not know that Gabriel gave Marinette the butterfly miraculous and the peacock miraculous already. He gave up once he saw how truly happy his son was and did not want the wish to change his son into any other version of him that would never be this happy. It also helps that a few witches from the school that could heal offered to help him restore his wife.

[its-nebula]

V3 Boys x Pregnant S/O in the Killing Game

Warning: DRV3 Spoilers

“S/O is what?!”

He panics and freaks out.

Calms down as soon as you tell him that you’ll get through it with him. It’s just all the more reason to survive.

“But Gonta… no can put child in this hell!”

He has a fire in his eyes that you honestly wouldn’t expect from him. You have to try your hardest to convince him not to fight Monokuma, out of fear of him being punished.

“Gonta will try to survive…for Gonta and S/O’s kid.”

He carries you everywhere from now on, not wanting you to strain yourself. If you ask, he puts you down, but will hold you and keep you close by.

During Class Trials, he immediately shuts any suspicion down.

“S/O can’t be culprit! Was with Gonta!”

You tell him to be wary of Kokichi, as you think Kokichi doesn’t have good intentions with your boyfriend. He just gives you a smile.

“Kokichi wants to end killing game just as much as Gonta!”

When all of you go in the simulation, Gonta makes sure you’re okay and that the baby’s okay. You don’t exactly look pregnant in the simulation, but he still makes sure. After that, he goes off to watch Kokichi, and you’re left to explore on your own.

To make a long story short, when Miu was killed, you noticed Kokichi giving you the side-eye, but didn’t say anything to him. You could tell he knew something that you didn’t.

During the Class Trial, the “Killing Game Busters” were revealed. You didn’t want to believe it was Gonta. You really didn’t. He would never hurt someone like that without a purpose…

“S/O, take care of Gonta’s baby. Gonta will be watching over you and baby!”

You sobbed as you watched his execution. The father of your child was burned alive, and he was never coming back.

Instantly, you unleashed all your rage onto Kokichi and his crocodile tears. Several people had to pull you off of him, claiming that the stress wouldn’t be good for the baby.

Besides, you could hit Kokichi with all the punches in the world, but nothing would bring him back…

 Laughs when you tell him about it.

Laughs the second time you tell him about it.

“It is even funnier the second time!”

Doesn’t laugh the third time.

“Wait a minute. You can’t be serious-?!”

Hope you valued your alone time while it lasted, because that is now a thing of the past!

MINE! MINE! MINE! MINE!

Lets everyone know that they’re not even allowed near you. He keeps you in his room at all times, you barely even get to sleep in your own bed anymore.

He only really lets you out during Class Trials, and even then he convinces Monokuma to put his podium next to yours.

Constantly talks about how happy he is that he’s going to be a father, to the point everybody knows. Even the Monokubs are a little bit annoyed.  So much for keeping it a secret.

“Hmm, nope! It can’t be me, sorry! I was too busy spending time with my child and my girlfriend~”

His logic is that since you’re pregnant, maybe nobody would kill you because they would feel too bad, so he doesn’t really mind screaming it to the world.

The longer the game goes on, though, the more fucked up things he feels compelled to do, in his efforts to try and stop the killing game.

You practically scream at him when he pretends to be dead.

“Aw, don’t worry your pretty little head! I’m alright, aren’t I?”

Maki keeps sending her threats for him to you.

“If you want to raise the child with a stable 2-Parent family, I suggest you calm your boyfriend down.”

During the fifth trial, things are very tense. Either way, your boyfriend was either dead or going to die. You knew it was all a part of his scheme, but you still thought this was a step too far.

When Kaito was revealed in the Exisal, you bawled your eyes out.

Even as Shuichi explained Kokichi’s thought process, it made nothing better.

You didn’t even get to say goodbye…

And your child would never meet his father.

Wait, you’re what?

Oh no.

In a killing game?!

Oh no.

And he’s the father???

Oh NO.

You’re surprised that he doesn’t faint, by the way he’s acting.

“S/O, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to, really!”

You tell him that it’s okay, because you know he’ll make a great parent. You’ve made him a little more confident, but not by a lot.

“We should probably keep this a secret for now. You can never really be too careful in these circumstances.”

Everyone can tell something’s off with him, because he gets really bad Couvade syndrome.

He still tries to help you as much as he can. If you’re craving something he brings you it almost immediately.

If your stomach moves even a tiny bit, he assumes the baby is coming even though he knows better. You have to tell him that it’s only a kick and he needs to take it down a couple of notches.

“Heh…sorry.”

His anxiety is through the ROOF.

Still tries to work on it. He’s got to be strong for you.

Trains with Kaito to help him become stronger, and brings you along with him.

“Hey Shuichi, don’t you think S/O might want to train with us?”

“It’s okay Kaito, S/O gets really sleepy during this time.”

Tries his hardest during class trials. He can’t afford to take shit from anybody and risk getting you killed. Hits the killers with the hard facts and evidence.

Investigates with you by his side.

“Now the baby can see his father in action!”

At the 6th Trial, he reveals your pregnancy, even though Tsumugi already knew.

Nobody else did. How? Guess they weren’t paying attention to your ever-increasing stomach.

When everyone ducks under rocks, Shuichi shields you with his body for extra protection. After the two of you make it out alive, along with Maki and Himiko, the 4 of you go off to start a new life together.

“WHAAAATTTT?!”

Thinks you cheated on him.

He’s very hurt.

You spend almost an hour convincing him that he’s the only one you’ve ever been with. He still doesn’t really believe it, but there’s only one thing to do.

The two of you consult Miu to figure out what in the hell is going on.

“Miu! I never wanted to actually have sperm and be able to create life! Now our child is going to be born in such horrible conditions!”

“Well, be more fuckin’ clear next time, and wrap it up when you get your dick wet, why don’t you?!”

Looks on the bright side.

He was able to get you pregnant, something no other robot was able to do before! That’s a complete win!

You’re still stuck in this school, though, and this was no place to raise a child.

“Robots aren’t allowed to hurt humans, and I can’t risk you killing someone and losing the trial…”

He helps you the best that he can. He gives you any medicine that he can find, and he lets you use him as a heating pad.

Scans daily to see your state of health. Sometimes more than necessary…

“I just did this scan 5 minutes ago? Oh, I hadn’t noticed…”

Takes pictures of your stomach every day to monitor your growth.

Kokichi always makes fun of the two of you.

“Well, I guess that answers my question! Robots do have dicks! Hey S/O, was it all cold and metallic?”

“…that’s not funny.”

When it was revealed during the 6th Trial about Danganronpa, he was conflicted.

The voices in his head– the audience– told him all different things. He was tired, he just wanted to be free. He didn’t want your child to grow up in a world like this.

“S/O, if this continues, and the kid we created joins a future season, I’d never forgive myself. It’s time to end this. Please, when you see them, let them know their father loves them so.”

He sacrificed himself by blowing up the school. As he saw his friends and his significant other huddled beneath a rock, he grinned, knowing they were going to be okay.

Scoffs.

“Well, that’s just my luck that I would cause you to have to bring a new life into this horrible world.”

He’s honestly pretty upset over the whole thing for at least a couple days.

But then he realizes it; he can raise them to be better than he ever was or had a chance at being. He can teach them to do better.

This makes him happy, and he apologizes for being so stand-offish.

“Looks like… we’ve still got a ways to go.”

When the two of you lay down together, he always lays down in a way that his ear is directly pressed against you stomach.

He talks to the child a lot.

“Don’t worry, little one. We’ll get you and everyone else out of here and to safety. I love you so much.”

Truth be told, he’s a little scared that he’s a  threat to the kid. After what happened in his past, what happened to his family, what happened to his lover…

You tell him to try to not think about it, and you know that he’s learned from the past.

The two of you only tell a couple people that you trust; namely, Shuichi and Kirumi. They’re both really happy for you!

Kirumi helps out a lot by getting you whatever you need for the day. She doesn’t get at all bothered by your morning sickness, and even offers to clean.

After the motive videos come out, Ryoma watches his and though he’s a little hurt, it doesn’t stop his determination to leave.

While she’s cleaning Ryoma’s room, Ryoma confides in her for advice.

“I feel like…I won’t be enough for our kid. Look at me now, I’m nothing more than an empty shell. I just… want to be enough for our family.”

SLAM!

Ryoma fell to the ground with a light thud, and that was the last anybody ever heard from him.

Crying out as you saw the piranhas tear away his flesh, you fainted on the spot.

You didn’t even have time to investigate, because the Class Trial had started.

You appreciated how seriously Kirumi was taking this trial. She kept making glances at you, but you assumed it was because she felt bad that your child would have to be without a father.

Until…

No, it couldn’t be. She’d gained your trust, only to betray you in the end? What kind of sick joke was this?!

As she was executed, you looked down at your stomach, rubbing it.

“Looks like we’ve still got a ways to go, kid…”

Wildly switching between happy, sad, and terrified.

On the one hand, he’s happy to be a father to your child. You were the love of his life, and he wanted to do his part and take care of the kid.

On the other hand, when you tell him the news, he paces back and forth, trying to find a way to get you to be as safe as possible. He already survived one killing game, how hard could it be to let the two of you be the last survivors again?

He asked Monokuma to see if you could have the easy way out.

“Monokuma, I know you probably want me to still participate, but my girlfriend, she’s pregnant now, so can you please just-”

“Puhuhuhu~! All applications made are final, buddy! It looks like we may just have another member in a short 9 months! Well, the more the merrier!”

Shit.

After that “lovely” conversation, Rantaro was more determined than ever to find a way out of the game.

He’d already lost his sisters, and he wouldn’t dream of losing you and the child too.

When the countdown motive for the first murder is introduced, he parts with you for just a few minutes, to record the videos that you and your other classmates would later find. He wanders in the library in order to do something, but he’s distracted when a shot put ball falls behind him. As he goes to pick it up, he’s struck in the back of the head.

Finding his body, you wanted to throw up, and not from morning sickness. 

Nobody knew of your pregnancy yet, so nobody really knew how deep into despair you’d fallen.

Though, they still felt sorry for you, because it was obvious the two of you were together.

You didn’t feel right being angry at Kaede when she was revealed as the culprit, especially as she showed deep remorse.

“I didn’t mean it, S/O. I’m so sorry…”

Tears pricked your eyes as she was snatched back by the chains.

You forgive her.

Over the moon at first.

Yes, that’s a pun. Shut up, I know it’s bad.

This man is DANCING while he’s celebrating.

“WOO! I”M GONNA BE A FATHER!”

He’s loud enough that everyone knows within 10 minutes of you telling him.

Well.

When he has some alone time, he frowns to himself. He’s sick, What if he doesn’t live long enough to see their smiling face for the first time? Hear their first laugh?

These invasive thoughts clouded his mind, as he started to cough up blood.

“D-Damn it…”

Kaito decided not to tell you, not just because he’s an idiot, but he doesn’t want you to stress and possibly cause damage to the child.

He talks to your stomach everyday.

“What’s up, my little star!”

He’s extremely proud and isn’t afraid to show you off.

The more ill he gets, the more hope he has that you’ll be just fine. You have to be!

After he’s locked in the bathroom, he tries to find a way out. Any way out, he needed to make sure you were safe. Kokichi couldn’t keep him locked up forever! 

When he and Kokichi make their deal, he does it in your interest.

“If Monokuma can’t solve the murder, I’ll finally get to walk out of here and start my family! Right?!”

But their plan failed. As you watched his execution, you screamed, pounding on the screen, begging Monokuma to let him go, please. You’d do anything! Soon, his coughing got worse, and he was soon on the ground, pink all around him. He’d died of his own accord.

You smiled happily at the bittersweet moment. He died of his own accord, no longer a part of Monokuma’s twisted game.

You knew he was above, watching you from the stars.

“Did you say you’re pregnant…? My, what an interesting turn of events!”

Did this man just say it was interesting?

You told him that this was serious, and that you needed to find a way out of here now.

“Keheehee... you don’t really think I’d let anything happen to you, do you? It’s clear Monokuma won’t let us go, even under these circumstances. Besides, I have my own kin developing inside your body, you need extra attention now!”

He will literally give you a tsunami of compliments everyday about how your body seems to be handling the pregnancy.

“S/O, your body is just so radiant today!”

Tells you stories about motherhood in other cultures.

Knows the best herbal remedies to calm symptoms such as headaches or nausea.

Nervous that you keep having to go to the bathroom, guides you there and back.

You really don’t know why he completely lost his shit by killing Angie and Tenko.

You convinced yourself that it was because of the oppressive student council, but why Tenko?

As he revealed his true self, you were horrified. He...was a serial killer?

The Korekiyo you came to love was a serial killer?

You were thrown into despair as you came to terms with his true colors. Nothing made sense anymore. Not only was your boyfriend and father of your first-born child dead, but he’d been batshit insane this entire time?

Maybe the next time you see red rope and hear a promise of “pleasure like you’ve never experienced”, you’ll politely decline.

[pl-panda]

The vines that bind us - Chapter 2

Chapter 1 || Next

-----

Until a trip to Gotham came knocking on the front doors

“I can’t believe Lie-la of all people managed to somehow get us the trip to Gotham!” Mari moaned with a mixed expression on her face.

Adrien, who was walking next to them, showed absolute disgust. “Technically, It was my father and I that did the heavy lifting. She really wanted to go to the Wayne Gala and…”

“What Lie-la wants, Lie-la gets.” The three finished in unison before laughing a bit. 

“Don’t worry Mari-bear. I can promise you that this no good liar won’t get to ruin your return home.” Chloe pulled her best friend closer. Best friend. Much better than a servant. Who would’ve thought? “And we can even try to find your mom on free Saturday.”

“Yeah…” The girl with black-blue hair didn’t seem particularly cheerful at that. 

“Now I refuse to have you making sad faces throughout the whole flight. You cheer up right this moment and that’s an order!” The blonde commanded. 

“Yes, Maman-bear.” Mari giggled.

The three of them finally arrived at the rest of the class, who were already gathered around madame Bustier. Of course, Lila was bragging about a million different things, but the three paid her no mind. Adrien did his best to hide behind the girls, cherishing the last moments of freedom. Finally, Mari and Chloe had to step forward for their tickets. The blonde got hers without any problem, but for Mari there turned out to be none.

“I’m so so sorry Marinette!” Lila said with fake regret. “I must have accidentally miscounted the number of students… It must’ve been when I was helping those poor orphans. You know, at…”

“Sure…” Mari didn’t even try to act as if she believed her for a moment. When Lila scowled, realizing that it didn’t affect the girl, she smiled. “I guess Chlo, Adrien and I will have to go with the contingency plan number 1.” 

“What?!” The sausage-hair shouted.

“Of course my Daddy would not send us to travel like peasants. We have tickets for the first class.” Chloe supplied, looking smugly. “We did plan to maybe sit with the rest of the class. What a shame…”

“Yeah, My dad also didn’t want me to travel anything less, but I convinced him to let me stay with my friends. Guess he will get what he wanted in the end.” For his part, Adrien at least tried to look apologetic. He didn’t try hard at all, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

“But… But…” Lila tried to come up with something, likely a lie, to counter it. She didn’t have time as the trio handed their teacher the filled forms from their parents/guardians/Nathalie and proceeded to the plane. The tickets were personal, so she couldn’t do anything. The Italian girl came up with a lie to tell to the class, but it would do no good until they landed. 

--------

“Did you see her face?” Plagg was rolling in the air while holding a giant roll of camembert. 

“You were amazing my queen.” Pollen complimented. 

“I still can’t believe your dad just… bought out the whole first class!” Marinette sighed. 

“Phi! Daddy always gives me only the best. You should know it by now, Mari-bear.”

“Okay. Mari. You are the Gotham expert here. Any advice?” Adrien asked a bit more seriously. 

“Gotham survival guide is probably unlike any other city.” She started. “The first rule is, believe it or not, run away if a person laughs too much or smiles too widely. The downside of living in the same city as the Joker is that most people don’t laugh in public. Secondly, never show that you are lost. Wherever you are, it’s exactly where you wanted to be. Finally, the third is to never flaunt your wealth.” She looked critically at Chloe before taking away her purse and lipstick in a golden case. “This,” She then pulled a mobile phone in a ridiculously sparkly case and popped it out of the cover, “this,” finally, she detached the golden chain on which the purse was supposed to be suspended and replaced it with a pre-prepared white one with copper clips, “and this must all go away.” 

“Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous! Now it will totally clash with my comb!” Chloe complained.

“Oh no! How will you ever survive that?” Mari deadpanned. All three of them had another burst of laughter. After they calmed, Adrien started.

“Do you think it’s wrong that I want to bet which rule will Lila break first?”

“Ten macaroons she will say out-loud about money.” Mari threw. 

“I raise, four tea parties she will start by asking for direction.” Chloe had a grin on her face

“Are you sure?” Adrien asked. When the blonde nodded, he shrugged. “Movie night and double popcorn bowl refill that she will do both in one conversation.”

“Hi, could you be so kind to point me to my exclusive hotel? You know, I’m staying at the penthouse of this luxurious new one.” Mari gave a quite good parody of Lilia. 

“So to sum up, the pool is now ten Macaroons, Four Tea parties, and movie night with triple popcorn?” Chloe asked. When they nodded, she quickly noted it on her phone. 

“Now, who wants a movie? I think they have the newest Thomas Astruck one.” Adrien pulled a disc from the container next to his seat.

“Good for me!/Go!” The girls said. Chloe, who was in the middle loaded it and the other two leaned onto her to watch together. The three were happy. Faintly in the background, there was knocking on the doors to their part, but nobody paid attention to very angry Liela and some classmates. For some reason, the doors were stuck and the blinder rolled down. Later if someone asked, Pollen would deny everything. 

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

When the plane landed, the class was practically kicked out. The team walked calmly down the stairs, all of them having smug expressions. Lila wanted to comment, but a glare from Mme. Bustier shut her up quickly. Mari and co. would later try to guess, what got the crew so pissed at their classmates.

Once everyone was accounted for, the class made its way to the customs to retrieve their luggage. There was a small problem with Mari’s travel bag as it was apparently misplaced to the flight to Timbuktu, but luckily her true suitcase, which had her things inside, arrived safely. She giggled at the thought of custom office in Timbuktu receiving a bag full of Adrien’s old socks that smelled camembert. 

Overall, the airport went mostly unproblematic. At least until they found themselves cleared and gathered in one place while Mme Bustier left to check on their bus. One of the men, wearing a dark blue suit started to laugh almost maniacally. Everybody immediately cleared away from him, out of sheer self-preservation. Lila must’ve decided that a show of kindness was a good way to regain class’ good grace. She was confidently approaching the man before suddenly Mari grabbed her and pulled her away. The designer might’ve despised the liar, but Joker… you don’t mess with Joker. 

Of course, Lila used the chance. She faked falling on the ground and started crying crocodile tears. “Marinette?! How can you be so heartless? I wanted *sniff* to check on the man and you trip me?” Lila sniffled, eyes watering with crocodile tears.

“I might have saved your life genius!” Mari snapped. Joker was a really touchy subject with her. “Does the world Killer Clown mean something?”

“Don’t invent things, you bully!” Alya shouted. That seemed to break the dam and at once the class started to say awful things to Mari. A year ago, it would hurt her. Half a year ago, she would be sad. Now? Now she pitied them. Chloe didn’t, and she was ready to jump to protect her best friend. 

“Ridiculous! Do you like… share a single brain cell? What if that man was…” she didn’t get to finish because Mme. Bustier returned. The commotion immediately calmed. By now the man stopped laughing and returned to talking with his friends.

“The bus is waiting. Come on children. Follow me.”

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

Arriving at the hotel, the class was split into different rooms. Of course, Lila tried to lie her way into some privilege, but Mari was too dead inside to care. The Jet Lag was killing her. At least she got some sleep on the plane. From the rumors she heard from the class, they didn’t because of Lila’s drama with the staff. 

“Now I want you all to be ready here at eight a.m. sharp. A Wayne Enterprises representative will come here to explain the details of internships.” Mme. Bustier instructed them. This, for some reason, caused outrage in students.

“What do you mean internships?!”

“Wayne Enterprises?”

“Shouldn’t we be preparing to go to Gotham Academy or something?”

The terrible trio in the back had trouble holding back laugher. Adrien warned the girls about what his father planned, so they could all prepare. Gabriel Agreste, devious as he is, decided to punish Lila and teach Adrien something about running a company at the same time and using his connections to put the class up for an internship at WE. He did send the liar all the details, but she must have skimmed over the corporate jargon because the class was fed overexaggerated stories about what they would and wouldn’t do during two months trip. 

Most parents were more than happy to send their children away from Paris for two months, especially since the Internship was free and the employment rate after it was quite high. WE kept quite a lot of the interns, if only out of habit. But perhaps it was mostly because the class has become a go-to place for the Akuma. Only Mr. Pidgeon and perhaps Gigantitan were akumatized more often. Mari actually picked up to cleansing their class weekly through a ritual she learned, otherwise there would be enough residual dark energy to power a demon portal. Not something one would want in the middle of a classroom.

“I was told you’ve all read the brochure provided and Lila summarised it for you.”

“I did!” The sausage hair defended. “Marinette must have told them some imaginary story about the trip!”

Immediately, several other people started to nod and confirm this. Chloe actually started to walk toward the liar almost red, but Mari grabbed the back of her blazer and held her in place. All the while she had a completely deadpan expression like it was normal for her (it was).

Mme. Bustier sighed. “Well, In that case, I will…”

“Excuse me, but shouldn’t we be going to sleep today already? We don’t want to be late tomorrow.” Adrien asked with an innocent expression, but there was some satisfaction hidden there too.

“Well… um… I…”

“We will be going then.” Chloe grabbed the key and led Mari to their room. Calline didn’t even question it. She wanted a pay raise after this. 

-----------

The next morning, Mari was woken by a frantic Chloe

“Mari-bear! It’s already late! You don’t want to be late for your first day of Internship girl! It would be utterly Ridiculous!” 

At first, the girl mumbled something, but once she finally processed everything she leaped out of her bed and started getting ready in record time. She was brushing her teeth, packing her purse, and tossing clothes at her best friend all at once. Once she had everything, she turned to see Chloe on the ground tied with a gray blazer. Mari just burst out laughing.

“How…”

“Ridiculous!” Chloe shook her head. “I demand you untie me this instant! We don’t have time for this!”

Once they dressed and did their hair, both girls were ready. Chloe now had a black button-down shirt, deep red blazer, and a matching pencil skirt. Mari also made her wear smart black stilettos (instead of her usual that were slightly more extravagant). The look was completed by a tablet in leather flip-over cover. Mari had a similar outfit, except her shirt was white and the suit was in dark blue. She opted for flat shoes to spare the embarrassment that was Marigold on heels.

“Ready to rock Gotham City?”

“Like you have to ask.” Mari smiled. There was something about the city of crime that made her feel safe and open up more. Maybe being on home turf gave her the much-needed confidence boost. 

When Chloe tried to open the doors, she found them stuck. She was about to go on a rant about poor quality when Mari casually grabbed the doorknob and twisted it. There was a faint creaking sound as the mechanism gave.

“Um…”

“It must’ve been old,” Chloe said with a devious grin. “Nothing happened. Don’t you worry! I will deal with it.”

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

When the doors to the elevator opened and two girls strode into the lobby, their class was already pushing toward the exit. Adrien looked very much uncomfortable with Lila hanging off his arm, literally sinking her claws into him. He mouthed them a muted ‘later’. Alya stared at the girls with loathing. 

“Ah, you are here.” Mme. Bustier spoke. “Lila said…”

“Whatever.” Chloe dismissed their teacher. “Aren’t we in rush?” The blonde practically seethed the last word. 

“Yes, good to see that someone is responsible.” The teacher gave Mari a pointed look. Apparently, she still didn’t get over the fact that she resigned from the class rep position. 

“But…”

“Drop it. She is not worth it.” Chloe whispered. “Daddy will take care of that once we are done.”

Mari just nodded. She knew Chloe was preparing a lawsuit against the school, but their hands were tied until they graduated or Damocles could try and undermine it. Both girls knew that no adult would help them with the lawsuit beyond Chloe’s father signing whatever dotted line she asked him to. That man was more whipped than a fresh can of whipped cream. 

The ride to the WE was short and uneventful. Girls took up to gossiping in English, effectively limiting any eavesdropping. Mari spent most of the time tearing down the outfits of all the villains. She started with Riddler, more as a joke than actual rant, but then she somehow got onto this new guy Anarky. From there, she just kept on, smoothly sailing from one to the next. Even her mom got some shots. Mari still couldn’t stand how skimpy it was. Her rant carried over when they exited the bus and entered the WE. Security led them to a conference room, where they were told to take seats. 

Mari guessed that it wouldn’t be Lila if she didn’t immediately start sputtering lies about how well she knew the building already because of her Damiboo giving her private tours (All while clutching Adrien like a leech). She didn’t have enough ducks left to give to try to expose Lila about several facts. Such as that Damian Wayne definitely wasn’t living with Bruce when he was five. Any Gothamite could tell her that. Bored, she returned to her rant. 

She was nearing the end of the list and was very much engaged in complimenting Harley Queen for her recent change in wardrobe. She still considered it a disaster, but at least it was somehow human. 

“Ekhm…” A voice broke her out of the rant. “Good morning. My name is Richard Grayson. You are the french class chosen for the internship program, correct?” When people nodded, he continued. Idly, Mari noted that Alya and Lila stiffened and suddenly stopped talking at all. “We reviewed the individual profiles and appointed each of you a mentor that will help you settle into your roles. As I read the names, please come forward so I can update your badges. Do carry them on your person all the time or we will have to take you to our human cloning facility.”

People stared at him. 

“Okaaay… That’s that about jokes…” He sighed. “The rules will be explained by individual departments. Now, who’s up for a tour?” 

People started to cheer at that and Dick smiled. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad?

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

It was that bad. Even worse. He knew from the background check that the class was both insanely talented… and borderline criminal. It was like someone de-aged the Rogues and put them in one class. The report called them Akuma class, which (if google is to be believed) meant demons. He questioned how they got accepted into the internship. 

They only toured two floors when Dick wanted to tear half of them to shreds. He noted immediately that they were bullying the girl with black (slightly blue? Maybe it was dyed?) hair. What surprised him was that the teacher didn’t react. If he was to be honest, the girl and her friend slightly irritated him too. They kept talking and seemed to ignore him. It was not because they kept tearing down each and every bats’ fashion choices. Definitely not that. When they brought up Discowing he had enough. 

“Ekhm. Excuse me, girls,” he stared at them. Both immediately stopped talking and looked at him. “Could you pay attention? I wouldn’t want any of you to waste your internship lost on our maze-testing floor.”

“There is no maze-testing floor in this building.” The blonde pointed out.

“And besides, we memorized all you’ve said.”

“Care to recall?” He heard several people groan at his pun.

“The first floor is most representative, where guests are welcome and low-level meetings happen. There is a separate kitchen for employers there that is always fresh on fruits. Don’t use the coffee machine there as it was only patched up and there is a high chance it will set itself on fire again. The…”

“Fine. You’re good. Still, I don’t appreciate the chatter.”

“They are always trouble!” A girl in bright pink colors shouted. 

“Yeah! Why do you have to ruin this trip for Lila!?”

“You’re just jealous of her boyfriend!”

More voices like this came from the crowd of kids. Dick started to feel bad that he singled the girls out. It definitely gave the class a reason to gang up on them. And the teacher still did nothing! He sighed. What did HR think when they accepted them. He would have to look into it later.

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

Mari decided that she didn’t like Dick. Everyone in their class kept talking, but for some reason, he singled them out. For the rest of the trip, she made sure to pay as much attention as she could. There was this silent determination on her face. Chloe wisely also kept silent. 

After the trip class was led back to the conference room where another employer handed out the identificators and folders containing their assignments. 

“Keep the IDs on you at all times. As opposed to the ones you received, this won’t expire and are synched with your jobs, so you will have access to anything you might need. They are also mandatory to receive lunch in our canteen. When you get acquainted with your tasks, you can go to the level specified at the end of sheet one. Your mentor will meet you there.” With that, he left. Dick really needed to do some in-depth research on this class. Something kept icking his detective sense.

“Well, I’m going to the law department. Apparently whoever made the assignments knew my well.” Chloe bragged to her friend after opening the folder. 

Timidly, Mari also opened her folder. She skimmed over what was inside and groaned. “Apparently, I’m interning as personal assistant to one Tim Drake.”

“They actually assigned you to the sleep-deprived coffee addict?” Chloe asked in disbelief.

“You know him?” She asked in surprise

“He and his brother ruined my daddy’s parties two years ago. They got into an argument that ended up with them wrestling over a cake. It took me weeks to get the cake out of my hair! Weeks!” The blonde summarized.

“oh…” Mari tried to hold back the giggles.

“Don’t laugh! It’s a serious matter! Do you have any idea how much work it takes to have such a perfect hair?!”

“Of course… cakehead.” The girl couldn’t stop herself.

“Ugh, you… you… plant leg.” Chloe said.

“Really?” Mari raised an eyebrow. “That’s the best you can come with?”

“Well, I usually have better things to do than thinking about good insults.” Still, Chloe hugged her best friend. “Be careful. I wouldn’t put it past The Liar to try and sabotage you somehow.”

“I’ll be careful. Wish me luck.”

-----

The elevator took Mari all the way to the highest floor. When the doors opened, she stepped int a large room with one desk. As soon as the doors closed, the woman who was standing there rushed toward her. The girl tensed for a moment but she reminded herself that there is no real threat.

“Oh finally! I was asking them to hire someone else for months!” She had a messed bun of red hair on her head and looked like she didn’t sleep in a week.

“But… I’m just an intern madame!” Mari tried to explain.

“An intern?” The woman paused her packing and stared at the girl with wide eyes.

“Um… Madame Sarah Jackson?” 

“Yes. An intern…” She said in a disappointed voice to herself. “Ah! That’s no problem at all!” She started to tap on her Waynetech Tablet and after a moment she smiled. “There! You’re hired!”

“Wha…?!” Mari shouted, but was interrupted when Sarah pushed the tablet into her hand, followed by a large box full of documents and a small mug with a coffee bean pointing a gun at the reader and words ‘Your Coffee or your life!’.

“They are your problem now! Everything you need is in the box. I left detail about ongoing stuff and whatever you might need. Don’t call. I’m outta here!” She shouted before grabbing her personal belonging and leaping into the elevator.

“But…! But…!?” Mari shouted after the closing doors. She could hear a cheerful shout as the elevator left the level. 

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

Next

[justanother-unluckysoul]

Working My Way Back To You 10/11

Killian gets captured. When Emma finally rescues him, he’s traumatized and nearly broken from the torture he endured. Thankfully Emma is close at hand to help him through it.

Heavy on the hurt/comfort, with some whump because I couldn't help myself lol

A/N: Some fluffy comfort for the prompts “hugs” and “kisses.” Short and (hopefully) sweet! We are almost at the end of this story, just a quick epilogue to go. I can’t believe it! Thank you, all my lovely readers, for giving my little story so much support! Epilogue will be up early next week. It’s all finished so there’s no point in making you wait a whole week for it.

Warnings for this chapter: brief and vague mention of rape (though i’m sure if you’re still reading this story you don’t mind that)

Unbetad as always so mistakes are all mine.

Tagging @cocohook38 as requested.

Read this chapter on AO3

Working My Way Back To You

Hugs + Kisses

After their wonderful time together in the forest, the complete bliss and contentment Killian felt while cuddling with Emma under the blankets lingers for some time. He makes the most of his rediscovered confidence with her at night, making love until they are both exhausted and sated (and gods he missed this; the feel of her around him, the expression on her face when he begins to thrust into her, and the way she can take him apart and put him back together so easily, leaving him worn out and absolutely satisfied). And Killian assumes – he hopes – that his mind has finally given up on tormenting him with the memories of his torture. Perhaps he’s even cured of that PTSD thing. He’s certainly less jumpy now, less prone to startling and he hasn’t had a nightmare in a while. His broken hand has healed – Stacy’s not-so-gentle methods have helped return the strength to it, so Killian is able to spend some more time on the Jolly Roger with Henry, properly preparing the ship for a much-needed day out on the water.

“A family outing?” Emma asks with a smile.

Killian’s heart soars and his stomach does a strange sort of flip at her casual use of the word family in this context. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to it.

“Aye, we’ll take her out far enough that it’s just us and the sea,” he says.

Henry is practically bouncing up and down in excitement as they make their plans. It’s been too long since they’ve done this. Emma checks the weather forecast and they schedule a sailing day. Killian tries to conceal the fact that he’s just as excited about it as Henry is, but the way Emma’s smirking at him in that way makes him think he’s not doing a good job of doing so. So he gives up on hiding it at all. It doesn’t matter anyway, because they both already know how much he loves sailing his ship. There’s just something about being on the water that is both exhilarating and calming. And to be out there with Emma and Henry? Even better.

-\-

A few nights before their planned outing, Killian’s nightmares return. And it’s as bad as ever. He’s not sure what triggered it, but it’s nasty combination of what was and what could have been, and he’s vaguely aware that he’s dreaming but he can’t seem to wake up. He tries to call out to Emma so she can help him. The words stick in his throat. He can’t move. His captor has Pan’s face, which seems wrong because Killian knows this setting isn’t Neverland, but he doesn’t have time to contemplate that because Pan is grinning evilly and pushing him back against the wall, and Killian knows what will happen next.

“This isn’t real,” Killian tells himself, desperately trying to wake up. His voice trembles and breaks.

“Are you sure about that, Killian?” asks Pan, his childlike voice sickeningly sweet in Killian’s ear, too close, too much, “Does this not feel real to you?”

Killian’s breath catches in barely concealed dread, gooseflesh breaking out across his skin at Pan’s unwanted touch. And it does feel real, terribly so, and Killian wants to fight, wants to resist, wants to wake the hell up, but his limbs stubbornly ignore his commands. He squeezes his eyes closed tight instead and braces himself for what’s coming, but then Pan is Rumpelstiltskin, and Killian’s on the Jolly Roger, lashed to the mast with ropes that are squeezing the breath from his lungs. The crocodile cackles at him, holding Killian’s heart in his hand.

“No,” Killian whispers, “Please.”

“Reduced to begging so soon, Captain? I thought you were stronger than that.” His hand tightens around Killian’s heart, the agony of it blacking out everything but the crocodile’s next taunt. “But it seems you are a coward after all.”

When the pain in his chest abates Killian finds himself back in the cellar, bent over a table, trying to support himself on his elbows because his hook is gone and his hand is broken and everything hurts and his captors are laughing and he can barely keep his feet from the rough thrusts of the man behind him. Tears roll down Killian’s cheeks but that’s wrong, he didn’t cry, he wouldn’t…

Killian, wake up.

The fingers on his skin feel different suddenly, skittering light and gentle across his forehead and dragging a little heavier across his chest and now that is real. Movement returns to his frozen limbs in a rush. And then he’s falling, and the landing is hard, rattling his bones, and he’s nearly choking on his own breaths in his panic as his stomach strongly suggests it might like to purge itself. He’s shaking violently, his skin crawling, and it’s so bloody dark he can’t orient himself.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m- Damn it. Killian, are you okay?” Emma.

At least he assumes it’s Emma, and not another trick of his mind. He is awake now, right? Emma switches on the light while Killian’s swallowing against the nausea between his ragged gasps, knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around himself, rocking slowly back and forth, trying to calm down – the way his body is trembling, he doubts he has the strength to get to the bathroom in time if his gut really rebels. The sudden brightness burns his eyes but he doesn’t dare close them lest he find himself back in the dreamscape.

“Hey, it’s okay, Killian, you’re safe,” Emma says, and she slowly kneels on the bedroom floor in front of him and doesn’t touch him, “I’m right here.”

“S-swan.” He meant sorry, but her name is apparently the only word he’s capable of saying right now.

He forces himself to reach out and lay his hand on her arm, just to reassure himself that he’s actually awake. That she’s really here. That he’s not alone.

“I’m here,” she repeats, “Let me help you, Killian.”

She always moves slowly when he’s like this, waits for his permission to touch, always careful not to startle him and scared she’ll make things worse. But Killian’s teeth chatter when he tries to speak, so he clenches his jaw and nods instead. With careful, deliberate movements Emma shuffles closer and lifts her hands to his cheeks. His face is wet. It seems he had been crying in the real world too.

“That’s it. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

She wipes the tears away gently as Killian sniffles and swallows and tries to pull himself together.

“Do we need to move to the bathroom?” she asks softly, knowing him so well.

But thankfully, the rolling of his stomach has begun to settle, and he’s quite certain he will not actually vomit. Not this time. He shakes his head, shifts his legs to a more comfortable position away from his chest and runs his unsteady hand through his hair.

“M-my apologies,” he mumbles, embarrassed by his reaction, “I’m…” He swallows hard. “I didn’t…”

Gathering the correct words and ordering them out of his mouth is a challenge, and he decides to give up on it for the moment. Bloody hell, he is pathetic. It’s been a while since his nightmares were this intense. At least this time it seems he’ll be able to find calm before his panicking turns into an actual attack, his breaths already starting to slow down as Emma moves closer to hug him.

“Shhh. You have nothing to apologize for.”

“I w-woke you,” Killian points out.

He’s clinging onto Emma now, curled close against her with his head on her shoulder, and even with how ashamed he feels for this blatant show of weakness, he can’t bring himself to let go. She’s rubbing his back soothingly, cradling his head against her, her embrace comforting him, pushing away the remnants of his dream.

“Yeah, you did,” she says softly, “But it’s okay, I don’t mind. I just wish I’d woken up sooner, really. I tried to wake you up, but I guess I was a bit late. That was a bad one, huh?”

There is no point in lying to her.

“Aye.”

He takes a deep, shuddering breath. His heart is still beating too fast, his throat dry from his gasping.

“Do you want some water?” Emma asks, as if she can hear his thoughts, “I can just… magic a glass up here. We won’t have to move.”

“That would b-be nice.”

Emma moves one hand off him to use her magic and momentarily she’s holding a glass of water, which she carefully passes to Killian. His hand trembles a little, but he’s able to bring it to his lips and quench his thirst without spilling any.

“Feeling better?”

Killian nods.

“Thank you, love. But perhaps…” He winces at the thought but presses on anyway. “Perhaps I should sleep on the couch for a while. So I don’t disturb your rest again.”

“Absolutely not,” Emma says, a bit severely, though still hushed so she doesn’t wake Henry who is sleeping in his room just down the hall, “I’m not letting you deal with these nightmares on your own.”

Killian pretends he’s not relieved about that.

“Now, let’s get back into bed, okay?”

“Okay.”

They untangle from each other and climb back into the bed, where Killian immediately pulls Emma close again to keep his anxiety at bay. The light is still on, and that helps too. He hopes Emma won’t turn it off yet.

“You okay?” she murmurs, settling with her head on his shoulder and her hand over his heart.

“I just…” Killian sighs deeply, his frustration coming to the forefront now that he’s less frightened. “I hate this. I hate that I can’t… I can’t move past it. It’s been months, Emma.”

He doesn’t know why it affected him so much – Archie said it’s likely a culmination of the burden of unresolved trauma he’s been through in the past, this most recent simply one too much for his mind to handle. And that’s also why his nightmares often included such old events along with the new. Pan and Rumpelstiltskin featured tonight, but sometimes Hades makes an appearance, mutilating him with his own hook and threatening to drop him in that accursed river.

“You are doing better though. This is the first time you’ve had a nightmare in a while. And the flashbacks aren’t happening very often anymore either, are they?”

“No, they’re not. But it’s not good enough,” Killian says bitterly, and the disgust he feels for his continued cowardice is so strong it could drown him. I’m not good enough.

He should be the one protecting Emma, comforting her, not the other way around all the bloody time. He’s so tired of it. He can feel himself retreating, if not physically then at least in his mind, the terrible weight of not good enough pulling him down, down, down…

“Hey, stop it.” Emma props herself on her elbow so she can plant the softest of kisses on the furrow between his brows, pulling him back to himself and to her. “You’re healing. It’s a process.”

His hand may be healed now, only the scars remaining that will fade even further with time, but at times like this Killian fears his mind may be beyond repair, despite the assurances from both Emma and from Archie that he’s healing. But Emma continues to pull him out of his morbid thoughts, kissing the scar on his cheek next.

“I never want you to think you aren’t good enough, Killian,” because of course she heard the true meaning behind his words, and there’s a feather-light kiss for a faint line of scarring on his shoulder, his eyes fluttering shut and his lips parting on a quiet gasp, “You’ve been through…” Emma’s lips find another old injury. “…so much. You just need some time.”

Killian thinks this would probably be arousing if it wasn’t so soothing. He can feel how much love she has for him – she’s pouring it into every touch, every word, every press of her lips. Perhaps she’s using a little of her magic to do it, or perhaps it’s simply because he’s still fragile from his nightmare, but the sensation is powerful and wonderful, his very nerves seeming to hum happily under his skin in response.

“Emma.” It’s little more than a helpless whimper. Desperate. Though for what, he can’t be certain. It’s not that he wants her to stop. “What are you doing to me?”

“Loving you,” Emma says, in a voice that means he has no choice but to lie back and take it, “Now sshh, I’m not finished.” She curls her fingers gently but firmly around his bicep, anchoring him in place.

She’s slowly kissing a path across the scars on his body between sentences, the knots and lines and hollows that map out a lifetime of surviving, too many lifetimes really. Her tender affections feel like they’re filling a void inside his soul with warmth and love and it’s almost too much to handle. All he can do is keep his eyes closed and wrap his arm around Emma’s waist as she continues.

“You take all the time you need to heal, and I’ll be with you all the way,” she takes his left arm in her gentle hand, and he knows where she’s going next, “However long this takes. However many bad days, or nights, that you have. You just need to…” Her lips brush against his sensitive inner wrist, just beside the ugly and numb scar tissue that covers the blunted end of it. “…to let me help you. I love you, Killian. Please, don’t pull away from me.”

“I won’t,” his voice breaks, and if she doesn’t stop smothering him with all this kindness soon, he’s going to start crying. Again. “I promise I won’t. Emma, I…”

She moves and takes his right hand from around her waist and softly kisses the scars on his fingers and across the back of his hand, and there’s a feeling of all the broken pieces of him being drawn together, sharp edges smoothed over by Emma’s love and it’s too much. A tear slips from under Killian’s lashes and his breath shudders, his heightened emotions too intense to be contained any longer.

“I love you,” he breathes, looking up to see Emma’s own eyes glassy with tears as well.

“I know.” She smiles down at him, raw and open and honest as her thumb brushes the tear from his face. “And I mean what I said. I’m with you, Killian.”

Her next and final kiss is granted to his lips, and she takes her time there, her palm resting against his cheek while his fingers tangle in her hair, allowing him to reciprocate before she settles down into his arms again, and Killian wants to stay in this moment forever. Comfortable and safe, basking in the wonderful feeling of being so wholly loved. How does his Swan always know what he needs?

“What have I done to deserve you, Emma?” he asks once he’s regained control of his emotions.

“What have I done to deserve you?” she counters.

He smiles, and lets the silence stretch on, his limbs feeling heavy and his thoughts turning sluggish as sleep pulls him away. It almost claims him, his eyes closed and his breathing even, when the light he could still just barely see behind closed lids suddenly goes out and he startles, eyes flying open as he pulls himself back to reality with a jolt. He’d turned over onto his side in his almost-sleep, and now Emma’s pressed against his back with her arm around his torso, squeezing a little tighter to combat his flinch. She’s switched the light off, he realizes, plunging the room back into darkness.

“Sorry, I thought you’d gone back to sleep,” she whispers, “Is it too dark?” She doesn’t wait for his response. “Hang on a second, I’ve got an idea.”

She moves her hand, a casual flick of her wrist in a way that Killian recognizes – so at ease with using magic these days – and the curtains glide open, letting the nearly full moon cast its light into the room. The tension flows out of him almost instantly, coaxed away by pleasant memories of nights aboard the Jolly Roger with the bright moon shining through the windows of his quarters.

“Better?”

“Aye, that’s perfect. Thank you.”

He can’t find the words to convey just how thankful he is for her, for everything she does for him. He hopes she knows. She probably does. She’s quite perceptive, he thinks with a smile. He closes his eyes again and sleep finds him quickly. When he dreams again, it’s of the sea, and of Emma, and of the moon shining down upon the deck of the Jolly Roger where they’re lying entwined in peaceful respite.

[spartanxhunterx]

Miraculous comeuppance

A short story based on @isitsusi 's miraculous idea. Honestly couldn't get this out my head and had to write it. But two things first, I haven't watched a lot of MLB and I've changed the prompt a little. (I added Chloe, cause that girl needs redemption)

--

In the three years, four months and two weeks of being the - somewhat proud - owner of a miraculous, Marinette had never expected it to come to this. She had never anticipated that she would be able to see the end of her journey, the end of the fight.

The defeat of hawkmoth.

Or at least she had that planned for later. She was at the park currently, under the shade of a tree, a notebook and many, many pictures before her. All of them the same, yet not, each a different angle taken of the agrest mansion. To her left sat her friend, boyfriend and superhero partner Chat Noir, untransformed as his civilian self Adrien.

Some few weeks ago he had come to her - as ladybug - with vital information, the identity of Hawkmoth. Gabriel Agrest.

When asked, he said he had seen him transform, not directly, he had been peeking into his father's office to see him and had just... Seen it.

The reveal that immediately followed was messy, sputtering, blushing and a whole week of avoiding each other until they got their act together. Then they were unstoppable, both in and out the mask.

They defeated akumas faster, more effectively. Out of the mask the two were a power duo, who's unwavering loyalty was known by many of their ex-friends.

Now, the two of were planning just how to take him down and reclaim both the stolen miraculous. Well, they were just making complete sure that they understood everything before making a move really, the planning was done.

 "Ugh, could you two stop being cute for like five minutes." The superhero duo looked up to the third member of their team, Chloe borgulous. "The last thing I need is getting a cavity cause of you two."

 Yes, Chloe borgulous was the one the two of them trusted the most, enough to earn back her miraculous. Even after the events of Miracle Queen, it was quite easy to hide her identity again, change the comb into a bracelet, change the hero's costume and give her a new name. Now no-one knew that she was the new bee flying around. She even got to keep the miraculous on her person permanently.

Pollen was good for her anyway.

 Chloe placed down a familiar box, filled with baked goods from the dupan-cheng bakery.

 "I should warn you though, we've got a..." She jabbed her thumb behind her towards a large and recognisable group. "Possible situation."

 " Ignore them chloe, they're not important. " Marinette partially turned her nose up when she saw their classmates across the way, having what looked to be a picnic. She could already make out Lila, no doubt in the middle of weaving another tall tail of how she had saved an animal, knew a celebrity or had just done something impossible.

"This is important," she tapped the notebook with one hand as she reached for the box with the other before it was slapped away. She couldn't help but give a glare at the blonde girl. Both knew it wasn't real anyway.

" They're not just for you Mari, the cheese bread is for Plagg, The honey glazed donut is for Pollen and the cookies are for Tikki. " Oh, yeah. She was even in on their identities. "The rest is for us."

Before either of the three could blink the three aforementioned Kwamis had zipped out of their chosens clothes pockets, grabbed their snacks and had snuck back into a little nook in their clothes that hid them from view of the public eye. They were none the wiser.

"Alright, so you two understand the plan right? Cause I don't want to leave anything to chance."

 Chloe hummed as she bit into her croissant, savoring the flavour before swallowing it down. "Wait for an Akuma, kick its ass without using our powers, go to Hawkdouch's house, kick his Ass, save the day."

 Plagg and Pollen both giggled while Adrien gave a quiet chuckle while Marinette groaned but had an amused smile on her face.

"Ok, so you remember the back up plan should we fail and our identities be revealed?"

" if we fail then Hawkmoth will have our miraculous, there is no back up plan for that. " Adrien slumped his arm around Mari's shoulder, giving her a tentative squeeze. "We do have a plan for after outing my... My father's identity."

" We also have a plan should we win and reveal our identities, so we're covered on all fronts. " Chloe moved one hand down to pet pollen on the head, reassuring herself that she still wasn't dreaming.

"Yeah well I jus- Chloe on your six." Quicker then anything the kwami's flew back into their Chosen's pockets , abandoning their food. Mari had packed up the pictures and notebook, not wanting to leave anything out in the open.

Chloe turned to see several of their classmates quickly heading their way, Alya up front with a crocodile tear crying Lila at the back of the group. Yes group, most of the class was also coming along with the two of them.

What lie had she said now?

The trio quickly stood, not wanting to be left sat on the floor while everyone would stand above them. They couldn't get a word out before Alya had rounded on to them.

"What is wrong with you!?"

She sighed, Adrien wrapped and arm around her waist as he leaned his chin on her shoulder and Chloe simple rolled her eyes at the tabloid writer.

"I think that question is best when directed at you, don't you think?" Marinette couldn't stop the snort that erupted from her mouth at Chloe's words and it only brought on a glare from her ex-friend.

"You think this is funny!? Is this some kind of joke to you!? Not only have you three been the worst people I could ever have the displeasure of knowing but I can't believe you three out attack Lila... Again!"

This time Chloe snorted before dragging her hand up to look at her nails lazily. "Please, as if I'd dare risk the chance of breaking my nails, even if it meant putting a scratch on her. She's simply not worth it." 

"Then explain the many bruises she has on her. " The 'Bruises' she had was nothing but a small smudge on the lower bottom of her right cheek. Honestly how stupid could they be?

Best not to get an answer.

If they were to attack Lila? There be a lot more then one mark smaller then that of a baby's fist.

"Alya, it's probably best you leave, the rest of you too. We were having a... Nice day before you bothered us." Mari rolled her eyes at her boyfriends passive behaviour but understood that it stemmed from not wanting to draw his father's gaze, especially now.

"No, I don't think we will. At least not until I put you three menaces straight. " The trio turned towards the new voice. 

a girl that they hadn't seen before or noticed among the group. A first glance they could tell she was slightly taller then Marinette, her hair a dark shade of blue that made Marinette's hair seem brighter in comparison, clearly it was dyed. Her facial features conformed similarly to her as well, slightly. As small glance while in a darker environment might have you mistake the two of them but only an idiot would do so outside of those conditions. Her hair was even tied up just like Marinette's too, although it looked really sloppy.

"And you are?" Chloe had already puffed out, an air of superiority emanating from her.

"I am Brigitte, a friend of Lila." Oh, great just what they needed, another sheep to follow the wolf. "I am also Ladybug."

Wait. What?

it took a moment before it registered but when it did the three of them just put laughing, Chloe had to hold her stomach while Marinette and Adrien had to hold each other up and stop themselves from falling over.

"Of course you are, and I'm still queen bee and adrien's father is actually competent." She sneered at the false bluentte before turning her nose up at her. She couldn't believe this girl, to claim to be someone she wasn't.

"Well I am, the only reason I am gracing you with that information is because I can't approach you three in my uniform, not unless I wanted to attract unnecessary attention." Brigitte turned her nose up at Chloe trying, and failing, to put the blonde girl in line.

"Alright then, why are you going around telling everyone your identity then? Surely it's not safe to share that information with a tabloid journalist."

Alya sputtered slightly. " I am a reporter, not some low grade tabloid writer. "

"Keep telling yourself that. You might just believe it."

The only thing that stopped Alya from lunging for Chloe was Ivan , who had grabbed her to hold her back. At the back Of the group Lila out on a who new set of false tears and began to shake her shoulders, as if she was truly heartbroken.

"All I've ever tried to do was be your friend, to all of you, and this is how you treat me? It's all I've ever wanted really and you three keep pushing me away." Of course the immediate action taken up by everyone else was to glare at the trio while rose and Sabrina comforted the sausage haired girl.

Adrien sometimes questions why he wanted them to be his friends, what has he seen in them before?

"Right," and now false-bug was talking again. "As my authority as ladybug I hereby ban the three of you from ever being near my friends again."

" Works for us. "

"I will also have to send you three down to the station, I do believe the three of you are working for Hawkmoth, given the number of Akuma that the three of you have caused."

That caused the three of them to straighten up, not because of the threat but because of the clear misuse of a non-existent power.

"Hey, Chloe has changed a lot in the past few months and me and Adrien have cause two maybe three Akumas over the past three years, if we're going on who had caused the most Akumas then you should arrest Lila. " Mari removed herself from her boyfriend before walking up to her not quite accurate doppelganger.

"Besides I'm not convinced you are ladybug, where's your Miraculous, I don't see them. "

"Like I'd actually wear them out in public, putting them at risk like that. besides why would I reveal them When I suspect that you work for Hawkmoth, would be pretty stupid on my part wouldn't it? "

"Sorry dudes, " Nino spoke, doing his best to help Ivan calm down Alya. "But she makes a point, it would be pretty dumb and reckless."

 " Just like plastering her face and confession onto a well known website in case Hawkmoth ever saw it... But I suppose I shouldn't have to worry right? " Alya blanched slightly before she sunk back at adriens words.

before anyone else could say anything a loud shout echoed across the yard, sending everyone's fight or flight instincts into overdrive.

"I AM MOTHER NATURE! AN I WILL COVER THIS CITY WITH THE SEEDS OF THE EARTH!"

Each member of the class had shrunk in on themselves , trying to look as small as possible, even their 'ladybug '. The real superhero trio stood up tall, shoulders squaring out as they looked for the akuma, many plants were growing rapidly on the other side of the park but everyone has already ran away.

"Go on ladybug, save us. "

"Come on, go kick their ass LB."

" Show Hawkmoth that he's nothing. "

Brigitte, for her part, actually began to back off from the group, clearly neither she nor Lila had expected a real akuma to show up, how would it look if the real ladybug showed up while she was stood there?

Fortunately for them the class was in for one big show.

While that was happening the trio was staring at each other, having a mental conversation that transcended anything anyone else could have understood, after a moment the tree of them nodded.

"Full theatrics?"

Marinette hummed at adriens question before nodding. "Fuck It, why not? "

"Tikki."

"Plagg."

"Pollen."

The class had turned to them quickly , those that had used miraculous before dropping their jaws.

"Spots on." "Claws Out. " "Buzz On."

Just for the sake of running it in their classmates faces each of them went through their old routine , showing off what they posed as they transformed before their very eyes.

Before anyone could say anything, the three were gone, already fighting the akuma as a well oiled machine.

They watched, stunned, as they managed to do it without the use of any of their powers. They watched as they left the scene all three bounding off in the same direction.

later that day the trio would drop a beaten and bloody Gabriel and his assistant, they have a short speech on that they had won, Hawkmoth was defeated, the threat was no more, Paris was safe. Th he people were safe to weap once more.

The next day Alya had tried to go to the bakery to speak to Marinette but she had been quickly chased out by her large father, later that day the bakery put out a sign stating they were closing down.

A week passed and they were gone, without a trace, no-one has seen them since the incident at the park. They were gone without a trace.

[livesincerely]

I know I probably missed the boat timing-wise for your little ask game but I am d y i n g to know more about the college years for the domestic au.

There’s no such thing as too late!!! (I am super into all these Domestic AU asks, btw)

Jack and Davey only apply to the same schools. There’s a rough patch right at the beginning where Jack worries that he’s holding Davey back—he think’s he’s too poor or too stupid to get into the schools Davey will. Davey disabuses him of that idea with haste.

“Jack Kelly,” Davey starts, and he’s absolutely furious. Furious with Jack for even saying such a thing, but even more upset with the world for daring to put these thoughts in Jack’s head. “You are going to college. You are a fantastic artist and any school would be lucky to have you. We will figure out tuition money. We will figure out tuition money even if we have to fill out scholarship applications until our fingers bleed, even if I have to call every single financial aid office in this whole damn country. But so help me, if you ever suggest that you’re holding me back again, I’ll break your fucking nose.” Davey takes a breath, chest heaving. Jack just stands there gaping at him, eyes wide with shock. “So sit back down and finish signing those papers.”

(Jack doesn’t figure it out until much much later, but this is definitely the moment he starts to fall in love with Davey)

But anyway, Jack and Davey go to school together, Jack as an art student with a focus in graphic design and Davey as a double major in English and Education. They get a three bedroom apartment not far from campus with help from Medda. Race is 11 and just starting middle school, Crutchie is 10 and in fifth grade. Neither is at all bothered about moving to a new school district and are really excited about living with Jack and Davey.

So, Jack’s been taking care of Racetrack and Crutchie’s paperwork—school, medical, etc—for ages, and Davey has been an unofficial contact on their stuff for years, but now it’s official. Jack and Davey are each other’s emergency contacts and they’re both on all the boys’ stuff. Jack and Davey try their absolute best to be reliable, involved guardians. We’re talking parent-teacher conferences, going to band recitals, helping with homework, etc, and it’s not that it’s really all that different than things had been before Jack got custody, but there’s the added pressure of being The Adults in Charge. They do a much better job than they think they do, just through sheer effort and the amount of love they have for Race and Crutchie.

The first big test of the new normal is when Davey gets a call from the middle school telling him that there’s been an incident with Race. Jack is in the middle of a final and can’t go, so it’s just Davey. Davey shows up to find Race with a bloody nose and some little shithead kid with a fat lip and annoying HOA parents, crying crocodile tears and calling Race a thug. It’s obvious that these people are super entitled and used to getting their way, and the principal is all set to roll over and give Race a suspension without even hearing his side of the story. Davey is not having it.

“Excuse me,” Davey says in an absolutely frigid tone of voice, looking at Principal Jefferson with barely concealed contempt in his eyes. Racetrack sidles ever so slightly closer to him, already starting to un-tense; it’s been a few years but he still remembers the school bus incident. He knows that Davey’s got this. “I’m afraid I don’t understand why suspension is even an option at this point.” “Any student engaging in violence will receive a three-day suspension—“ “Yes, I read the handbook,” Davey coldly interrupts. “It also says you have a rigorous anti-bullying policy, with special wording to protect those from marginalized groups and those in particularly delicate circumstances. Is allowing a former foster child to be taunted with the fact of his parents’ deaths, then punishing him for understandably lashing out, what you call protecting them?”

Race and Davey go home with an apology from the school, and an excuse for the classes he missed while in the principal’s office

“I forget that Davey can actually be scary sometimes,” Racetrack whispers to Crutchie later that night. “You shoulda seen him—I thought Mr. Jefferson was gonna puke.” Crutchie wisely observes, “It’s ‘cause by the time Davey gets angry, Jack’s already went and punched someone.” “Well, Jack should let Davey have more turns being the mean one,” Race says. “He needs to stay in practice.”

Every now and then, when Race and Crutchie have days off from school but Jack and Davey have class, they go to campus with them. They usually go with Davey, as Davey’s large lecture halls and discussion classrooms have more space for two children to post up with a few quiet activities than Jack’s smaller art studios do. Most people are understanding, especially since Race and Crutchie are old enough to sit quietly for a few hours with snacks or whatever. Davey only had to go full berserker on someone once for the entire English department to get the memo. And honestly, Race and Crutchie are a good tool for weeding out unsuitable candidates from the Education department.

I’ve been thinking about doing something with the pre-domestic au ideas. There really needs to be a “5 times...” type fic with Davey protecting Race and Crutchie that explores how the two of them learn to trust and rely on him the way they do Jack, because I have IDEAS. Or maybe they’ll just exist in these little lists. 😊

00000

@agentsnickers

[sethrine-writes]

Daughter of a Devil, Ch. 21

Main Characters:  Father!Dante & Daughter!Reader

Words:  850

Warnings:  Fluff, Sweetness

Story Summary: Being a parent wasn’t easy, nor was there such thing as being perfect at it. Good news for Dante, seeing as how he doesn’t have the slightest idea in hell what to do with a child. Sometimes, he was certain that fighting off a horde of demons was a far better match than keeping up with his own daughter. Well, at least he wasn’t going down without a fight.

A/N:   Just some sweet Father-Daughter moments. Also early upload because I have no control of my current sleep schedule. Enjoy!

------

Chapter 21 - What Only A True Man Can (5 yrs.)

Silence was a very rare, very uncommon thing to occur within Devil May Cry.

Usually, there were people of all sorts coming in and out of the shop in hopes that the infamous Dante would be able to help them with their current demon problems. Sometimes, even demons would come barging in and wrecking the place before Dante had the chance to cut them down.

Then there were those days that Lady came over; those days had to be the worst for the half-demon, especially when you found out she was there for a “visit.” It was hard enough getting the woman to leave on her own merits, but when you were involved and so very much happy to have Lady’s attention, it felt as if he would never get her out of his hair. 

That day, however, things were different.

Lady wouldn’t be coming by until much later that night instead of the usual late morning trips she liked to make. No demons had dared to enter the establishment, be it through the front door or the roof. Dante had put up a dusty sign in the front of the shop that said CLOSED: Come Back Tomorrow in bold, green letters, something he had never done before since starting the business. He had even so much as unhooked the phone from the wall so as not to be disturbed by any phone calls that would surely be coming his way.

That very day was different, because you had asked him with big puppy dog eyes to take a day off so that you could play together. And who was he to deny such a request from his own daughter, the one and only girl that could make him do damn near anything she wanted with just the slightest pout of her lips and the biggest crocodile tears the world had ever seen?

So, with a charming smile, he had patted your head and agreed to take the day off, just for the two of you to have some fun. Little did he know of the exact “fun” he had gotten himself pulled into.

Currently, he sat on the freshly swept wooden floor of the main room, just in front of his desk. In front of him was a wide display of things you had pulled out in order to start off your little play date with your father, gifted toys from Lady and Morrison and even a few clients wanting to pull at his fatherly heartstrings. There were three dolls lined up neatly together surrounding a faux china tea set and a plate of actual cookies he had ordered from the bakery a couple blocks away, your favorite.

You were standing just beside him, tying off yet another spotted ribbon in his hair and adding a bright red clip to pin his bangs back, the ends sure to be sticking up at odd angles. You stepped back a few steps to look at your father and smiled, clapping your hands together happily.

“Daddy looks so pretty!”

Dante smiled back as you moved to sit right across from him on the floor. He knew full well that his hair was nothing short of a disaster and had more clips and ribbons than any doll could handle. But he continued on without a care as you proudly puffed out your little skirt and pulled your braided hair -a braid he had done himself, thank you very much- over your shoulder.

“And you, my darling, are looking quite lovely this afternoon, I must say.”

You giggled at your father as he reached forward and took hold of your hand, giving it a small little kiss as a gentlemanly salutation.

“Thank you, good sir!”

You then proceeded to point to each of your neatly aligned dolls and stuffed toys, telling Dante their names and basically their whole background history. He had even gone so far as tipping his head to each one and giving them a compliment. It was all part of the atmosphere of the game you had pulled him into, a game that would last for the next couple of hours with tea, cookies, dancing, and a crash course on etiquette as explained by your five-year-old mind.

Dante was sure that most anyone who was to enter the front door would give him a once-over and simply double over in laughter, taking him more as a joke than the infamous devil hunter he was known for. Some would perhaps even question his sanity. There would be that one, however, who would understand, because he would have been put in a similar, if not the same, situation.

‘Let them laugh,’ he thought as you giggled and twirled about the hardwood floors, your eyes shining with mirth and a bright smile lighting your face. You were happy, and that was what mattered to him most.

It took a true man to be with his children, to understand what they needed most from him and how he could best provide for them. Well, it just so happened that Dante was that kind of man.

[morkmywords]

Not Really a Cinderella Story | Royalty au | Exo | Sehun | 15 | FINAL

Masterlist | Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 8.5 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 [FINAL]

Royalty!AU

Length: 6.9k

Note: This was a really hard part for me to write since it’s the final part of this fic which iv’e been working on for almost two years now and it’s grown with me, not only in my writing style but as a person. I hope you enjoy it :) I’ve been thinking make making this au into a series with some other members... let me know if you’re interested!

Warnings: some swearing

Pairing: Sehun x Reader

Genre: Fluff/angst

Summary: When a strange string of not so great events somehow and you with a job at the palace punching the wrong people can be not so great.

The music from the orchestra floated in the background as pairs spun and twirled in elaborate patterns. The beginning of your night was flooded with people of royal status bombarding you with well wishes, invitations, and promises of gifts. It was overwhelming but you managed to handle it and it distracted you from the new couple across the dance floor; now, things had finally calmed down a bit and Minseok returned to your side with a glass of amber liquid in hand which you gratefully took.

“It won’t be long now,” he said with a smirk.

“Won’t be long till what?”

“Well now that everyone has seen how young, gorgeous, and extremely single the new lady of the most powerful territory on the continent is…. Proposals are bound to come flooding in!”

You grimaced and punched him on the shoulder, “Don’t even joke about that!” He just winked and chuckled from beside you when suddenly you were being lifted up and twirled in the air. You let out a gasp of surprise when you were finally back on the ground and standing in front of Chanyeol who enveloped you in a bear hug. Yixing, Jongdae, and Baekhyun took up places beside MInseok as you squirmed from Chanyeol’s embrace.

“It’s nice to see you too Chanyeol but please let me go,” you wheezed as you finally broke from his grasp.

“Our little Y/n is so grown up and powerful now!” he exclaimed with a pout.

Beakhyun chimed in with a smirk, “We haven’t seen you in ages and now you come back in charge of Iyle? Shouldn’t you have mentioned it to us at least once?”

“I’m sorry, so much has happened over the past while and I didn’t even know myself until a few weeks ago.”

“You have to tell us everything Y/n!” Jongdae whined, joining in with Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s fake pouts.

“Watch what you say boy,” Yixing butted in with a smile and an arm over your shoulder, “It’s Lady Y/n now.”

Rolling your eyes you brushed him off with a smile, “It’s fine…”

“In all honesty Y/n, you look like a different person and not in a bad way,” he said with a comforting smile that only Yixing could create, “You seem so much more confident and it’s good to see.”

The other princes nodded along with him and you thanked them, you did feel different than the last time you saw them but you were glad they were back with you now, even if it was only for a few days. You continued to listen to them chatter away amongst themselves, making jokes just the same as they used too when a flash of pink tackled you in a hug.

“OH Y/N I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!” Jiyoon wailed, eyes watering as she clung onto you. “JIYOON!” You exclaimed wrapping your arms back around her as you both sobbed into the other’s shoulder. It had been so long since you’d seen her and immediately you started crying crocodile tears, staining both your dress and her. After a few seconds the latched onto your wrist and stood up again.

“We need to talk,” was all she said before dragging you away and towards one of the patio doors that was open and letting the warm night air flow through the great hall. All you could do was follow as you waved to the group of princes who stood there looking stunned. You followed her as she weaved around the patio until she found a secluded bench overlooking the spring garden where she sat you down.

“Y/n,” she sobbed again, “I missed you so much! You leave with Sehun and now you come back as the Lady of Iyle and you’re avoiding each other like the plague? I wrote you letters but Sehun just sent them back unopened, I thought you were dead!”

“I’m sorry,” you said lamely.

“What happened? You need to tell me everything.”

“He asked me to marry him… and I said no.”

“Oh Y/n,” she sighed taking your hand in hers, “I thought something like that might have happened, he’s always been so spontaneous, even since we were kids. But Y/n,” she paused, “Why did you say no?”

“Because I was afraid,” you whispered with tears in your eyes. You had never been able to tell anyone before but with Jiyoon it all just seemed to spill out of you like a waterfall.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, petting your hair calmly, “No wonder he was with that bitch Haerin. I hate to tell you this but even though we didn’t know, everyone started taking sides.”

“What?”

“You notice how only a few of the princes came to greet you right? Unconsciously, we’ve already started taking sides, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, Yixing, Jongdae, Minseok, and I are all on your side. Junmyeon, Jongin, and Kyungsoo are all siding with Sehun as well as most of their siblings.”

“I didn’t mean to create a rift between everyone.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she assured you, “Now tell me about this whole Lady of Iyle thing that happened.”

So you did, you explained everything about your father and mother, and how Lord Cha was the one that found you, and everything to do with the dead queen. She looked at you like you were insane but you knew she believed you.

“Oh Y/n…” she sighed, “I never thought…”

“It's okay,” you managed to say with a smile, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze this time.

“If it makes you feel any better, everyone on the continent knows your name, even though you’ve been ruling for such a short time your people love you!” You gave her a weak smile and the both of you sat in silence for a while.

“WIll you do me a favour and explain it to the others? I don’t think I have enough energy to explain it to everyone individually…”

“No problem! I’ll even tell Junmyeon and he’ll spread it to the rest of the boys.”

“Thank you so much,” You told her sincerely as you wiped a few stray tears from your eyes, “It feels really good to tell my best friend about all of this.”

“Anytime,” she told you with a smile, “now lets head back inside before people start to miss us, I swear when Chanyeol’s sister Princess Sejung gets bored all hell breaks loose!”

You laughed along with her as you wandered back through the wide patio doors and into the sea of people. Jiyoon was immediately swept away by the crowd leaving you alone in your search for the Princes, out of the corner of your eye you spotted Baekhyun chatting with some blushing ladies but before you could reach him you were spun around to face a smirking man with dark eyes and hair the colour of clouds. 

“Nice to meet you Lady Y/n,” he purred, “I’ve heard a lot about you. My name is Taek, I’m the Governor’s son.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” You croaked out as he kissed your hand with a smirk.

“The pleasure is all mine, care for a dance?”

Before you had a chance to answer his hand was around your waist and you were one of the twirling couples on the dance floor. Though he didn’t look it, he was almost as graceful of a dancer as Jongin, he navigated through the swarm of bodies like he had been doing it all his life. And he probably had been, seeing as he was the son of the Governor.

“It’s not everyday you get to dance with the most beautiful and eligible lady at the ball,” he said with a shiny smile.

“I’m flattered,” you said skeptically. He wasn’t bad looking but his motives didn’t exactly seem chivalrous.

“When it was announced that the heir of Iyle had returned everybody thought it’d be some shrivelled old man, but when you entered, boy was everyone surprised.”

“I’m afraid I don't know if that was supposed to be a compliment or an insult,” you said with a frown as he twirled you around again.

“I meant surprised in the best way a man could, Lady Y/n. I assure you it was meant to be nothing other than a compliment,” he told you with a friendly chuckle, eyes glinting.

“I apologize, I am not quite used to the ways of court life yet.”

“I could hardly tell, you’re easily one of the most poised ladies here this evening and I see you are already close with the young royals?” He asked before lifting you up and shouting along with the others.

“You could say that…”

 “As long as I’ve known them they’ve always been a tight knit group but now they’re taking over their parents rule and getting married like our King of Oclaria. Not much time for childish things when you’re the ruler of the country.”

With a small smile you nodded in agreement, “You’re quite right.” 

“On the topic of marriage, I’d like to propose a deal,”

You looked at him quizzically, you had no interest in marrying this man you had just met but you were curious enough to gesture for him to continue.

“You see the girl the King is spending all his time with was my fiance but our engagement was cancelled once the King started taking interest in her,” he explained, “Now I am left without a wife and my father won’t let me take over the family business until I get married. Now seeing as we’re easily the two most powerful single people in this room aside from the King I think we should get married.”

You frowned, “I’m sorry but I fail to see how getting married to you would benefit me.”

Flashing you a smile that would make most girls swoon he swept you up again, “Well if we get married there really would be no downside. With both of our assets combined we would be filthy rich and have enough power to take over the country if we wanted. Aside from having a few sons you would have to do nothing but live a life of luxury after our marriage.”

“I’m sorry but I’ll have to turn down your proposal at this current point in time,” you told him with as straight a face as possible, “I’m really not interested in marrying right now.”

“Just think about it Lady Y/n,” he lamented, “together we could be the most powerful people on the continent!”

You huffed as the music came to a close and you stopped moving, he held you hand keeping you on the dance floor as those who wanted to leave cleared the floor and the orchestra began playing again. Just as you were about to answer him your hand was taken by somebody else, smoothly knocking his grasp from yours.

“Mind if I cut in?” Sehun asked, holding his arm tightly around you. It wasn’t exactly a question since he was the king but he still carried you off into the crowd of dancers before Lord Taek could answer.

 “It’s quite a coincidence that you’ve managed to find yourself back in court isn’t it Lady Y/n?” he hissed in your ear, “When you left I thought I’d never see you again but now you return the most powerful Lady in the country. Aside from my future wife of course.”

“It is quite a coincidence isn't it,” You agreed with him keeping your voice as steady and emotionless as possible, “I’m not sure if I believe it myself yet either, it’s a lot of responsibility.”

He scoffed, “Well, we both know there were a lot of responsibilities you couldn’t handle either.”

You grimaced as he prepared to lift you over his head with a flourish. The lift and jumps were never your favourite part of dancing as you didn’t have the advantage of being much smaller than your partner like many of the other girls. It always felt awkward and this time was no different as you weren’t sure whether he would drop you or not.

“Now, it doesn’t seem like you have much choice about marriage,” he pointed out, “And it seems the governors son is already foaming at the mouth with the idea of marrying you?”

“You saw that?”

“Everyone did, he wasn’t exactly subtle with his proposal a few minutes ago.”

“Oh….” you sighed cheeks going warmer. The music slowed and people began to clap as the dance was finished. Partners were breaking apart and drifting back into the crowd but his hands only tightened around your waist as you tried to draw away from him. His rough fingertips dug into the bottom of your exposed back and you felt his breath against your neck as he leaned in to whisper in your ear.

“Lord Taek is a greedy bastard, maybe he deserves someone like you.” he spat at you before disappearing back into the crowd.

You stood there stunned for a few minutes until someone came up and grabbed your hand pulling you back into a swarm of people where you were quickly surrounded by the princes demanding for you to tell them what was going on. Quickly, you brushed them off and headed back to your room saying you felt ill and needed to rest.

-----

The clatter of people returning from the gala to their rooms had died down a long time ago but you were still wide awake. The clock on the wall chimed telling you it was three in the morning, the curtain danced in the warm summer air drifting in through the open balcony windows. Feeling restless you slipped a loose dress on over your nightgown and made your way through the silent palace corridors and into the gardens. Slowly and silently you made your way through the first five gardens, the sound of your slippers brushing against the plush grass, the hush of the wind dancing through the night, the soft trickle of the fountains, the chirping of crickets were the sounds that filled your ears in the silence. And cautiously you made your way from the garden of day into the garden of night. 

It took your breath away, unlike the other gardens which glowed during the daylight hours but were otherwise dimmed by the absence of sunlight. The night garden glowed on it’s own. Purple wisteria spilled from every crack and crevice, hundreds of lights twinkling softly like stars hung from the domed glass roof giving off an otherworldly glow. You followed the twisting path in the tunnel of little purple flowers until finally it gave way to a large pond filled with little silver fish that seemed to glow in the moonlight. Continuing to follow the path around the side of the lake you came to a small structure sheltering an intricately carved marble bench. Sitting on the cool surface you took notice of the round white flowers that began to blossom in the moonlight; tentatively, you reached out a fingertip to brush against the soft petals. 

“We call them moonflowers,” Sehun said, emerging from behind one of the pillars. Gone were his royal robes which he was wearing for the gala and now he was wearing something more similar to what he used to wear back in Arye. There was a certain charm that came with his messy hair and half buttoned shirt which had butterflies swarming in your stomach. It seemed so long ago that you were back in the palace of Arye, innocent and in love. Unaware of everything the world had in store for you. 

“They’re beautiful,” you told him, returning your hand to rest in your lap.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, you nodded, “Too busy worrying about who to invite to your wedding with Lord Taek?”

“I declined his proposal.”

“He doesn’t take no for an answer.”

“Well it’s the only answer he’s going to get!” You exclaimed jumping up.

You both stopped and stood in silence for a moment.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me,” you told him before dipping back into a lull of silence, “This place is really beautiful.”

“It’s always been for you, this garden. When you had nightmares I meant for you to come out here and have it be like your safe haven. Nobody except for the gardener is allowed in here still, and you of course.” He explained.

Smiling, you told him softly, “Thank you.” 

“Don’t spend too much time out here,” he warned you, “There’s an early start tomorrow.”

“Goodnight,” you called after him as he disappeared down the path, leaving you alone with your thoughts again.

-----

With careful steps you climbed into the carriage, footmen closing the door tightly behind you. The line of carriages stretched through the whole driveway of the palace as the various guests loaded in. Jiyoon had offered to come with you so you wouldn’t be alone but you declined, the ride up the mountainside would give you time to relax from the night before. The second day of festivities would be a picnic on the mountaintop behind the palace, it was clear as the sun was shining down upon the palace that it would be a beautiful day full of fun. Peeking out the window of your carriage as you waited to set off you noticed you were dressed quite differently than many of the other ladies climbing into their own carriages. Many of them wore high necked, floor length dresses with varying sleeve lengths. They were made of lightly patterned cotton and lace in many layers to help the wearer remain cool in the warm sunlight. On the other hand you had opted for something a little more reminiscent of what people in Iyle wore in the south where it was much, much warmer. Your sleeves were short and puffed, ending about halfway down your upper arm,  like your dress from last night the neckline was wide and trimmed with lace while the back was low. With only one cotton layer dyed a soft periwinkle and spotted with many small blossoms the skirt ended midway down your calves giving you an ease of movement something longer wouldn’t allow. Opting to leave the parasol behind you donned a wide brimmed straw sun hat decorated with a ribbon matching the colour of the blossoms leaving your hair loose. 

After a few minutes it seemed everybody was ready in their carriages and you set off with a lurch, rolling down the pebble drive and out the gates, up the mountain road. The view of the seaside cliffs from out your window caused you to reminisce about your trip down the coast for the first time you visited Iyle with the diving gulls and crashing waves, bordered by the swaying grasses and wildflowers. Drifting through daydreams it felt like hardly a moment had passed before you were climbing out and onto the plush grass. Blankets were already strewn about the meadow, each with a wicker basket placed in the center waiting for people to join them for lunch. One step at a time you made your way towards the open meadow until a flying ball of pink attached herself to your side with a giggle.

“Isn’t this amazing Y/n?” Jiyoon exclaimed as who you were guessing the two other princesses made their way over to your side, “This is Princess Sejung of Meadazia and Princess Hyejin of Qeca, I’m sure you haven’t forgotten them.”

“How could I?” you said with a smile, offering them both a small curtsy which only Hyejin returned. Jiyoon was the same as always, full of energy as she dragged the lot of  you away in order to find the best picnic spot. After a morning of playing about in the meadows the four of you settled down for lunch, weaving flowers into each other’s hats and hair. Other guests came by to chat time after time but none stayed long, moving onto the next blanket to continue their greetings.

After lunch was finished you and Jiyoon left the two sun fatigued princesses chatting with a group of young lords and ladies as you headed off to find the croquet set Sehun had mentioned to Jiyoon last night. Once the two of you found it you played round after round until finally you were released by a tap on the shoulder.

“Would you mind going for a stroll with me Lady Y/n?” Lord Taek asked with a sparkling smile.

You glanced over at Jiyoon who had quickly stopped paying attention to the game and started paying attention to the two of you. You turned back to him uncertain of what to say, “Well…”

“She’d love to go! It’s such a lovely afternoon isn’t it?” Jiyoon cut you off, grabbing the croquet mallet from your hands and shoving you towards him. 

You stumbled and he caught your hand with a grin, “Thank you Princess, I’ll make sure to return her in one piece,” he told her.

“Don’t worry, you two go have fun!”

You shot her one last pleading look before you were dragged off behind Taek and down the hillside. Surprisingly he didn’t bring up the proposal again, the two of you spent most of the time talking and getting to know each other, the two of you were nowhere near close friends by the time dinner was called but you could say he would be a decent young man if he wasn’t so set on marriage. 

Unlike lunch earlier dinner was a celebration meant to give thanks for the previous year’s good fortune with food, friends, family,  and as you quickly found out, lots and lots of drinking. You were only a few glasses of champagne in, when like the devil she was, Jiyoon made you drop your glass and join her in dancing around the bonfire. 

“Hurry up Y/n!” she squealed as she kicked off her shoes, grabbed a handful of her long skirt and began spinning in circles to the hypnotizing beat of the drums. Feeling light from the bubbling beverage you followed suit, knocking off your hat and shoes, throwing your hands into the air with a shout of delight. The drum beats matched the pounding of your heart as you leaped around the growing fire, others equally as tipsy, if not more, quickly joined in with your pounding feet. The air filled with laughter, shouts, and music as you travelled around the circle linking arms and spinning with whoever wished to dance with you.  You were in a trance, the sparkling champagne infecting you, the drum beats carrying your feet for hours as the moon rose higher into the sky. Before you realized a cool breeze hit your cheeks and you felt yourself being pulled away from the large bonfire and towards a farther side of the meadow. The fresh evening breeze sobered you and you made out Lord Taek’s glinting smile from in front of you.

“I never would have expected you to be one for dancing,” he said stopping and spinning you in front of him. He leaned close and laughed, “or drinking.”

“And I never expected you to be the one waiting on the sidelines,” you hiccuped, you could feel the heat rising to your cheeks, were you really so drunk he could tell just from looking at you? You certainly didn’t feel drunk but maybe your vision was blurring at the corners just a little. 

He scoffed, “Believe me, nobody loves to drink more than me. Unfortunately my mother has prohibited me from touching any and all alcohol today after what happened last year.”

“What happened last year?”

“It’s too late in the evening to get into it now,” he told you with a laugh, “Let’s just say I ended up with a few scars, but not nearly as many as you Lady Y/n,” he said grasping your arm and bringing it closer to his face so he could inspect it. You could feel the ill intention in his grasp as the silver stars twinkled in the moonlight. “Tell me dearest,” he whistled, “Where did you get these scars?”

The world snapped back into focus, suddenly it felt like and were crawling along every inch of your body, tiny pinpricks against every limb. You tore your arms from his grasp, hiding in protectively behind your back, “That’s none of your concern,” you sputtered out before stumbling back to the bonfire as fast as your jelly legs could carry you. The pounding of the drums once again drowned out your thoughts as you grabbed another glass of wine, and another, and then another before being pulled into the circle of dancing once again. 

Slowly but surely the crowd trickled away, climbing into their carriages in a drunken stupor and being carted back to the palace. Eventually there were only only a few people left, Jiyoon and the other princesses have disappeared already along with the other princes whom you hadn’t seen much of during the day. Vision spinning you climbed into your carriage collapsing onto the plush seat as the driver shut the door behind you. The carriage dipped as you felt the driver climbing to his seat, you closed your eyes and rested your head against the side of the carriage but the telltale poll of the carriage didn’t come.

“Take us to the back entrance and if you tell anyone about this I’ll have you exiled!” The man outside the carriage ordered.

“Yes sir,” the driver replied as Sehun climbed into the carriage beside you and the horses began trotting away.

“Sehun…” you said breathlessly, “What are you doing here?” his face was flushed from drinking and his hair had escaped from its previous slicked back style and now was hanging in front of his dark eyes. You fingers twitched at the thought of running your hands through his hair as he loomed over you, gaze weighing heavily on your own. 

“I want to be with you tonight,” was all he said before he attacked your lips. You gave in easily, mind clouded by drinks you were putty in his arms as he held you close to him. He was warm against the chill of the night and you gladly moved closer to him grabbing handfuls of his half unbuttoned shirt. You broke apart and you could feel his hot breath on your neck as he whispered in your ear.

“I'm still in love with you,” he breathed out, soul pouring through his eyes and into your own before you pulled his lips to yours. A few moments later he pulled away panting before gently moving away from your face and taking your hand in his placing a kiss on the scar closest to your wrist.

“You are beautiful,” he whispered against your skin before moving onto the next. He repeated this process kissing each and every scar on both of your arms and telling you how much he loved you before moving onto your back. The feeling of his rough lips against your back sent shivers down your spine and once he was finished your lips locked once more.

Once you reached the palace he pulled you behind him through the servants corridors stopping every few seconds to make sure you were still behind him as if he was afraid you were a dream and would disappear as soon as he looked away. The grand clock chimed for three in the morning when he pulled you into his chambers shutting the door and pressing you against it, kissing you passionately. Slowly as you moved closer to the bed his kisses grew softer and when he finally pulled himself away you met his eyes.

“Is this what you really want?” he asked between heavy breaths.

The air hung heavy as you slowly reached up to pull him into a kiss as your answer, when you broke away again you reached behind your back and slowly began undoing the buttons of your dress.

----

You woke as the clock chimed six with a start. The sun was just beginning to rise through the window and everything from the previous night came rushing back to you as your pounding headache cleared just enough to see who’s room you were in and your lack of any clothing. Thankfully Sehun was nowhere to be seen as you quickly threw your dress back on, collecting your shredded undergarments with an embarrassed blush before saying a quick prayer that you wouldn’t run into anyone in the hallway as you scurried back to your rooms. Thanking the gods that you weren’t caught you quickly ran yourself a hot bath, eager to wash last night not only from your body but your mind as well. The steam enveloped you, the scent of the bath oils filling the air as you let the heat of the water seep into your muscles. When you were finished you pulled on the soft robe and headed back into your room only to be met with Yixing sitting on an armchair next to the fireplace.

Quickly you pulled your robe even tighter and fastened the belt at the waist with multiple knots, “What are you doing here?” you exclaimed.

“Good Morning to you too Lady Y/n,” he said calmly, not moving from where he sat, “I’ll give you a few moments to get dressed then please come back here, I brought you breakfast and hangover medication. We have a lot to talk about.”

You gulped and nodded silently. Rarely was that amount of seriousness ever heard in Yixings voice so you scurried into your closet and pulled on a comfortable gown and plush sweater, quickly braiding your hair away from your face before returning back to the chair next to Yixing where breakfast awaited you. With a smile he urged you to take the medicine which quickly did a good job of clearing up most of your headache leaving only a dull throbbing. 

He cleared his throat and placed his cup of tea back down on the table, folding his hand in his lap in a very royal manner, “I saw you last night,” he said.

You gaped at him, you thought that everyone would have already passed out cold by the time you and the King reached the palace, “How?” was all you asked.

“I came back earlier with Baekhyun who was far beyond drunk, I was heading to the kitchen to get a cup of tea and some things for him in the morning after I finally got him settled when I saw the two of you dashing through the servants corridors. I followed you just to make sure you were alright and I saw the two of you disappear into Sehun’s room,” he cleared his throat, “I pretty much assumed what happened after you didn’t come out for a while.”

Your cheeks were the brightest pink you had ever been before, you were so sure nobody had seen you and yet, one of  your closest friends had caught the two of you in the act.

“Nobody else saw you two, just me,” he assured you, “But Y/n you know what this means for your future marriage. You must be careful from now on, I won’t tell anyone but you have to make sure nobody finds out,” he warned, “If they do, the chances of you finding a husband are slim to none.”

“I know,” you said, head hanging.

“The one way around that would be to marry Sehun,” he told you softly, “I don’t want to worry you Y/n, but what if you’re pregnant? It’s almost impossible to get the herb that will stop your pregnancy anywhere on the continent after it was outlawed and the fields were burned by our predecessors. What will you tell people then?”

“I don’t know.”

He squeezed your hand in a comforting manner, “I don’t mean to burden you but I just want you to make sure you’re being careful. I’ll help you in any way I can, I promise.”

“Thank you,” you told him with a weak smile.

“The ball is tonight,” He said standing and moving towards the door, “I don’t want to tell you something you already know but if things don’t go the way you want, my door is always open.”

He shut the door behind him as he left leaving you to finish eating alone. After spending your morning alone in your room as the clock struck twelve noon you headed down to the Library to eat lunch with Jiyoon and the other princesses. As they chattered away like the small birds outside your window in the morning you kept to yourself, focusing more on the food in front of you than the conversation around you. Yesterday you had agreed to spend the afternoon with the girls as they got ready for the Solstice ball that evening, it was the grandest party of the summer and they assured you that they would need all the time they could manage. As soon as the four of you had finished your plates were cleared and you headed up to Jiyoon’s chambers. Being the ever so attentive friend she was, Jiyoon noticed something was up and pulled you aside.

“Is something going on Y/n? You don’t seem like yourself…” she asked, taking your hand in hers.

You smiled softly and gave her hand a squeeze, “I’m sorry, I’m just so exhausted after last night. I had too much to drink and not enough sleep but I’ll be okay by this evening,” you assured her, “I left my things in my rooms, I’ll come straight here after I go and get it.”

She nodded and dropped your hand. You gave her a small wave before she disappeared into her chambers and you down the hall. When you had almost reached your rooms you paused when angry voices came drifting from one of the conference rooms.

“You must make a decision, your highness! The solstice ball is tonight!”

“Things in the Southern Continent are getting restless,” a second male voice shouted, “There will be a war soon and you must marry to secure your throne!”

“Forget Lady Haerin,” A third one said, “Marry Lady Y/n, she is the most powerful of any lord or lady in our country!”

“Things are no different in your brother’s country,” the second one said again, “His advisors are pressuring him to marry more than we are you! You are not a child anymore.”

You backed away mind spinning from the information you had gotten from only a few sentences. There would be a war with the southern continent? Lord Cha had mentioned trade had been slow but you had no idea. You quickly shook it off and moved on to your rooms before anyone could catch you listening in or Jiyoon would get worried. 

----

Your mind was elsewhere as you let Jiyoon do what she would with your appearance, hours seemed to fly by so quickly until you were standing in front of the grand ballroom as the Speaker announced your arrival. You went in before Jiyoon since she was at a higher position than you were, the grand staircase seemed shorter than last time with everybody milling about and almost no eyes on you. As an attempt to avoid attention you had decided forgo the original dress you had planned to wear and wear something more plain. It was white with vines of little red flowers strewn around your shoulders, waist, and wrists. You definitely blended into the background compared to the dresses some of the other girls were wearing, Jiyoon sparkled next to you as you walked up to the dias to greet the king.The entire time you kept a blank expression, eyes trained on the floor, as you dropped into a low curtsy mumbling out a “Your Majesty,” before breaking apart from Jiyoon who joined her family sitting atop thrones and headed back into the crowd. Once everybody had been checked off the guest list one of the royal advisors climbed atop a pedestal and rang a small but piercing bell, drawing the attention to himself.

“The purpose of this evening’s ball is for His Royal Highness, The King, to have a final chance to spend time with the eligible ladies of the continent before choosing his bride. At midnight I ask you please to gather back here for the King to announce his bride and without any further, please let the festivities commence.”

The band struck up a tune and the dancefloor quickly filled with people, you wandered off to the agreed upon meeting place for you and Jiyoon once she was released from her royal duties.For most of the night you stayed huddled behind a large sculpture of flowers reading the small book about the continent’s greatest composers you had stashed in the many layers of your skirts. Jiyoon stayed to chat and keep you company for a while but left quickly to flit around the crowds dancing and chatting like the social butterfly she was. People came and went, most who saw you turned away at the first glimpse of you looming behind a book but the Princes periodically stopped to chat without you, hiding from their parents or the hordes of girls always swarming around them. Finally the all ganged up on you, Baekhyun stole your book and Minseok pulled you onto the dance floor, despite the constant panic at the back of your mind you found yourself having a good time with them as they traded off with you for dances. When they were finally done with you, your book was returned and you headed back to your spot with a dazed smile.

It was almost Midnight and Sehun hadn’t paid any attention to you all night, every now and again you would see him with Haerin hanging off his arm but nothing more. As you emerged from the edge of the crowd into the shaded wings of the ballroom you were met with the man himself. 

“Follow me,” he muttered before turning and disappearing through one of the doors that led to the garden. You turned back to the crowd and quickly spotted a fuming Haerin before a hand grabbed your wrist and Sehun pulled you into the garden behind him. 

“You should listen to the king when he gives you an order,” he said as you trailed behind him. You stayed silent until he finally stopped you in the middle of a patch of rose bushes.

You looked up to meet his eyes and tightened your fists around your skirts, trying not to let the small bit of hope you had left peek through if he was just going to torture you, “It’s almost midnight,” you told him, “You need to be inside to announce who you’re going to marry, why are you out here… with me?”

“I need to know,” he told you, reaching out to grab your hands softly in complete contrast to before, “I know I said I wouldn’t ask again but you have to tell me the truth now, after everything that’s happened. I love you more than anything in the world and no matter how many times I try to convince myself otherwise my heart always ends up going back to you and I think you feel the same way. This isn’t just for political power it’s because I want you and I have wanted you long before you became the Lady of Iyle. I need to know now, Y/n, if I asked you to marry me what would you say.”

You looked deep into his eyes and saw a reflection of yourself inside and whispered with all your heart, no moment of doubt, “Yes.”

He kissed you softly before heading back indoors right as the clock chimed for midnight hand intertwined with yours. Your heart pounded  in your ears as he slipped his hand from yours and weaved around the crowd to stand with his advisors on the dias. Jiyoon quickly found your side as the same advisor from earlier began speaking, she squeezed your hand.

“Now, as the clock strikes midnight, his Royal Highness, King Sehun, will announce who will become his bride and the next queen of Oclaria.”

Everyone was silent as the trumpets wailed and Sehun stepped forward slowly, you felt eerily calm as your eyes moved across the crowd, seeing Haerin looking smug at the front of the crowd, and finally landing on Sehun where his gaze met yours.

“I am pleased to announce,” he said calmly, eyes never leaving yours, “That my bride and the next queen of Oclaria will be… Lady Y/n of Iyle!”

The crowd erupted around you as you took in all the shocked faces of officials throughout the room. You felt Jiyoon hug you tightly screaming into your ear before four guards surrounded you and brought you through the crowd and to the dias. Sehun outstretched his hand with a smile and without hesitation you placed your hand in his and stepped in front of the throne beside him and looked out across the crowd of cheering people with your hand still firmly wrapped in his.

[elwenn-dreaming]

okay sorry I’m gonna rant for a while

It’s not a majo issue and I’m litterally crying over a board game but...

My family and I were playing Time Stories tonight, and I really love this game. My mother doesn’t hate it, but the kind of patience and dedication you have to put in it are really not her thing. My brother was being his usual obnoxious self (though for once he wasn’t doing anything else at the same time like building a box with a 3D pen).

I’m really invested in this game. And I feel like I’m the only one. My mom spent the first half hour complaining it was going too slow, my brother is rather not the main focus but was generally taking my mom’s side and making unhelpful coments for anyone. My dad is quite interested but not very assertive (we’ll leave him out of the argument).

Now throughout our precedent games I’ve made a lot of efforts to change my way of playing. I tend to be slightly authoritarian on the sides, because I like having things done well and efficiently. That does not mean I cannot take suggestions in, and I’ve made a lot of efforts towards trying to push the others to make decisions and accepting differents opinions.

The point is, I’m the only one who’s even trying. I take notes of everything, so that we can remember them from run to run and optimise them. I’ve tried and looked at why we failed before, and taken that into account in my way of taking those notes and analysing elements of the mystery. I try to think about how we can solve it in our limited time, try to think about the best way to do things in order to win time. And then my mom comes in and complains every time I’m asking for a few seconds to finsh taking notes. But god forbid I missed something in my last notes, because then it becomes my responsibility to take them. She complains when I’m trying to reread them and analise what we know, says it’s too long and she’s bored, while she does not even consider helping me or discussing our different options.

I’m both expected to provide the answers and then complained about when I try to give them either because I’m taking too long or not letting the others play.

At the beginning of the game there was a possibility I wanted to explore. When the others suggested we go and explore the whole island before leaving to follow the lead we had, we did. And we did find somethng! (Except we had a way of knowing it faster by looking at what we had previously found but let’s not get into that.) And then we get another possibility, except it reeks of time loss in the worst case and very little gain in the best. I suggest we avoid it, they complain that I cannot accept divergence in opinions (the vote was a tie, we went, of course). It quite obviously ended up in the worst case senario; my mom and brother stuck in quicksand and going to die if not saved very quickly, me stuck fighting a massive crocodile alone and my dad alone free to rescue them, but desesperately useless in a fight, which meant he could not help me nor the other two because there was a snake to fight before we could get to them. So they decide that we would cheat (already a very annyoing option) and say we never explored the two dangerous regions of the isle, and laugh.

Now I had been grumbled at for quite some time, and that was the first tipping point, because they made a mistake i had warned them about and escaped, when they get mad at me when i get them into something that doesn’t work out.

So I begin to cry, because I’m tired, and they’re not even trying to play. Which gets me yelled at, because I’m “taking the game too seriously” and “can’t listen to ppl’s opinions” (bitch what did i do but follow your fucking opinions?) and I don’t care about losing. This whole game is about losing a few times before solving the mystery (or not solving it at all). However I do care about losing stupidly, and most of all i do care about their lack of trying to adapt to each other’s way of playing.

They like bumbing around, not taking any notes, forgetting everything in between runs. We did it once, it doesn’t work, and i was there to save their asses at the last minute before they litterally did the opposite of what our mission was. My mom has no patience for that.

I like solving it. I like strategy, discussing efficiency, interpretations, leads and clues. I also like the fun, it is supposed to partly be a role-play game. But i quickly realised we as a whole were not up to it yet, especially as the rules are not easy in the beginning. This is also my dad’s approach of the game except he’s maybe less involved and lest perfectionnist, more laid-back maybe.

Anyway i’m going to cut this short. We lost, which is normal. my mom loved to make a shox about how we could have not died if we had followed the idea she had at the end of our last run (which was two months ago, cuz school), had not taken in note and the had promptly forgotten. Thanks mom, very helpful, maybe now you’ll actually get involved in the thinking?

Then they got mad at me, and i got mad at them too. Because they say I do not let them play when I spend my time asking them about the situation only to realise they have no idea what’s going on. Because I ask them at the beginning if they want me to briefly summarise my notes, and then hear them complain they have forgotten what we learned last time. Because they say I’m taking too much space so that they can’t get involved when I’m using half my energy trying to get them playing. (The main conflict lies with my mom actually, let’s go back to the singular.) When she says I’m too authoritarian when I am making a lot of efforts in order not to be and also the only one atually keeping track of anything, meaning I’m the only one with any element of the solution.

When she says i cannot accept an other vision of the game when 1- theirs have been tested and doesn’t work 2- I have changed my way of playing after each run and taken into account what was said against me and what worked in the game 3- they have not once tried getting involved, even really focusing on the game.

I could go on. But I have been at it for 40 minutes and the night is getting short.

So I ask her wether she’d rather we play an other game together when we play, we have a lot of board games and i like most of those, playing something that wouldn’t create such a quarrel after each game. She can’t answer. She continues the argument multiple times, even after we’ve decided to go to bed, it’s one am at that time and when I tell her, the second time she comes into my room, (and i’m obviously crying at that time and very upset) that I can’t have this argument tonight anymore, she gets vexed. I can’t even... fuck i don’t have words anymore.

If she hates playing it so much, why can’t she accept thath we play an other game together and I’m just going to solve that game alone or with my dad? I’m not asking her to stop playing with us. I’m not even suggesting we do that when she’s here. It always ends up in tears, and tonight more than ever. She doesn’t have the patience the game requires, nor the memory of both the rules and the story, and she doesn’t try to. She’s not that interested in the actual solution. If the purpose is only good family time and fun, let go of it! We’ll play something else, board games are not lacking here fo fuck’s sake, there are dozens of games we like to play together, and this one is very obviously not one of them!

I don’t know what to do. I’m so tired of it.

[stahlop]

Once Upon a Time 3x01 “The Heart of the Truest Believer” Review

Reviews 1x01 1x02 1x03 1x04 1x05 1x06 1x07 1x08 1x09 1x10 1x111x12 1x13 1x14 1x15 1x16 1x17 1x18 1x19 1x20 1x21 1x22 2x01 2x02 2x032x04 2x05 2x06 2x07 2x08 2x09 2x10 2x11 2x12 2x13 2x14 2x152x16 2x17 2x18 2x19 2x20 2x21 2x22

Well, here we are. Season 3! And we are in Neverland! And Peter Pan is an evil little sucker. And Rumple has some emotional connection that we don’t know about. Plus a lot of fighting, evil mermaids, flying, and some things going on in the EF. This episode deals heavily with the idea of belief and believing, so I think we’ll be seeing a lot of that in this story arc. So batten down the hatches, we’ve got an unbelievable season ahead (see what I did there? Huh? Huh? Whatever.)!

Summary: While Emma tries to dissuade her parents, Regina, and Hook from tearing each other apart, Henry encounters a scared Lost Boy on Neverland and reminds him of the power of belief. In the Enchanted Forest, Neal goes to his father’s castle to figure out what’s going on with Emma.

Opening: Henry and Peter Pan flying.

New Characters: 

Peter Pan: Although we don’t know he’s Peter Pan until the end; he finds Henry when he’s running away from the Lost Boys and pretends to be another scared boy. My only problem with this is that the actor playing Pan looks at least 16, so him pretending to be scared to an 11-year-old Henry is a little odd. Maybe it’s supposed to be believable because Felix (Lost Boy Leader’s name according to the credits) is creepy as fuck. Also, why are the Lost Boys so old? Wasn’t the whole point of coming to Neverland to never grow up and be a kid forever? Wendy (in the Disney version) wanted to go there because she was being kicked out of the nursery because she was almost 13. So why are the Lost Boys teenagers? This makes no sense to me. But I digress. Henry tells him how Pan sent people to kidnap and the boy tells him if Pan sent for him he wants him for something. The basic gist of this whole ‘game’ is that Pan is pretending, he wants to make sure that Henry’s belief in magic(?) is real, and tricks him into using pixie dust in order to fly. Only then does Pan reveal himself to Henry and that he basically needs him because he has the heart of the truest believer. And then, in the most menacing way, he calls the Lost Boys and says they’re going to play. Yikes! What has Henry got himself into?

Character Observations:

Emma: We start with Emma giving birth to Henry 11 years ago. Her leg is shackled to the hospital bed and there is a prison guard watching over her. She absolutely refuses to see the baby when it’s born and says she can’t be a mother. But she’s absolutely devastated. We then move to the Jolly Roger where they are going through the portal, a true picture of a mother going after her son. Mary Margaret and David try to cheer her up, but instead, she blames them for giving her hope, for telling her that life is a fairy tale when that’s not her experience, and she can only go off of her experiences when saving Henry. She is just letting them have it while trying to keep herself together, and it’s some of the best acting I’ve seen Jennifer Morrison do on this show. She is so tired of the optimism that David and Mary Margaret have about everything and just wants them to realize that so many bad things have happened to them and to deal with that.  But they refuse to deal with reality and still hold on to hope, aggravating Emma even more. Gold comes out, now dressed like Rumple, and tells everyone that he is going to get Henry back. Emma, still upset from her talk with her parents, wants to know why Gold doesn’t think she can get Henry back. He tells her she doesn’t believe in her parents, magic, or herself. Emma says she’s pretty sure she believes in magic after everything they’ve seen, and that’s exactly the point. She only believes in what’s in front of her, she can’t talk a leap of faith without evidence, and since Neverland runs on imagination, that’s not going to fly. He basically tells her she’s the same person who came to Storybrooke and she can’t do anything without a little hand holding. Emma takes her stress out Sarah Connor style by doing pull ups down in the crew’s quarters, delighting Hook to no end. Hook gives her Bae’s old cutlass to fight with. They toast to Neal with some rum before their lovely moment is interrupted by a mermaid attack.  Everyone attacks them in different ways, but Mary Margaret and Emma catch one in a net and decide to bring it on board the ship. Everything starts going to hell when they bring her aboard. She calls a storm and everyone starts arguing with each other. You can see that Emma is finding this very strange and that this isn’t normal fighting. Regina finally turns the mermaid into a wooden statue and Emma is freaking the fuck out, especially because a wall of water comes at them after she does that. Emma and Hook are desperately trying to regain control of the ship while Mary Margaret and Regina duke it out. Hook and David end up fighting as well and Emma finally realizes that their fighting is causing the storm. She can’t get their attention, so, in a leap of faith, she jumps off the ship, which probably would’ve gotten them to stop fighting even without the rigging that flies off and hits her in the head, knocking her out under the water. Luckily, everyone works together to save her, and they get her back on the ship and she doesn’t have any type of head injury (not even a bruise!). But their working together gets the storm to stop and Emma gets in an ‘I told you so’ after she coughs up the water that could have drowned her. They finally make it onto Neverland and Emma goes into leader mode. She even admits that she was wrong and Gold was right about belief. Her parents think there’s a right way to find Henry, but Emma wants them to be who they are and do whatever it takes, no matter the consequences to save Henry and just cooperate with each other. Regina questions Emma’s role as something other than the Savior. She tells Regina she is a mother and their leader. She’s pretty much had enough of Regina’s lip and basically tells her to keep out of her way as they try to save Henry. They head off into the jungles of Neverland. So Emma has finally accepted her role as Henry’s mother and is finally taking a leadership role instead of letting everything just fall in her lap. We’ll see how she fares with Henry’s other mother.

Gold: He’s not very helpful to anyone. He does decide to dress more Enchanted Forest appropriate by wearing his crocodile skin outfit. He tells Emma that he’ll be the one to get Henry back since she doesn’t have enough belief. His speech borders on religious when he talks about taking a leap of faith (something Emma does later by jumping into the water and Henry does with the pixie dust), and then he vanishes from the ship, leaving his cane behind (I guess being back in a magical place makes it so he doesn’t need his cane anymore).  First he comes across the carnage that is Greg and Tamara. She is still alive so he makes it so she can tell him what happened to Henry. Tamara tells him that Henry ran, and then tries to justify her actions by saying she didn’t know she was working for Pan. She also apologizes for killing Neal. She asks for his forgiveness and Gold is done with this. He almost looks like he’s sympathetic to her plight, but then rips out her heart and crushes it. Bye bye, Tamara. You really did get what you deserved. He wanders around the island until he senses Felix nearby and tells him to come out. Felix addresses him as Rumplestiltskin and Gold does his little Rumple hand gesture with the biggest expression of disdain on his face. It’s hilarious. Felix tells him Pan welcomes him to the island and is happy to see him again. So now we know that Pan and Rumple have some sort of past together. What it is remains to be seen. Gold finds it hard to believe Pan wants him there. Felix tells him as long as he’s not there for the boy, he’s welcome, otherwise he’s Pan’s enemy. So I guess he’s Pan’s enemy.  Gold tells him nothing’s changed then. So I guess they’re already enemies. Felix tells him he won’t survive against Pan. Gold isn’t particularly disturbed by this. He’s more concerned about how many Lost Boys he can take with him when he goes down. Gold thinks their confrontation is over until Felix throws him a straw doll which instantly reduces Gold to tears. Holy crap! Who knew Gold could be so emotional when it didn’t have to do with Belle or Neal? Felix says something about things they haven’t thought about in years having the ability to make them cry, so I’m assuming his doll has something to do with Gold’s childhood. Felix leaves Gold crying over the doll in the middle of the jungle. Well that took a turn.

Regina: Annoying as ever, she immediately lays into Hook for the ship slowing down, and if he didn’t realize what the purpose of their trip was, it was to go rescue Henry (because they went through a portal just for the hell of it?). Like this whole conversation is completely ridiculous. Then she tells Hook about how Greg called her a villain, which she seems incredulous about (does she really not think she’s a villain, she is the Evil Queen after all), and that Greg said villains don’t get happy endings. Hook and Regina reflect on this and how they might have been wasting their lives if that’s true. Didn’t they have a similar conversation when they were below the library in The Evil Queen? Where Hook asked if their pursuit of vengeance was basically an ending and not a beginning? So, Regina doesn’t see herself as a villain, and she continues this belief throughout their journey. When the mermaids are attacking, she’s not a villain by sending fireballs after them. When Emma and Mary Margaret capture one, she yells at her (and is not above torturing her) for information, eventually causing a fight between herself and Mary Margaret (Regina wants to kill her or torture her for information, whereas Mary Margaret wants to free her), and Regina turns the mermaid into a wooden statue satisfied that that will end the storm. Except it brings a huge tidal wave upon them instead. She seems genuinely shocked that this plan didn’t work. Listen to Emma and think things through, Regina!!! Always thinking in the short term and never looking at the whole picture. Mary Margaret and Regina continue to go at it with each other (involving an actual fistfight between the two of them) and Regina, once again, plays the victim when Mary Margaret tells her to stop ruining her life. When Emma jumps off the ship she tells Mary Margaret she can’t see her in the storm to bring her back up. But they all end up working together to save Emma which stops the storm. Once they dock, Regina says she can fix the Jolly Roger and they can go with Hook’s original plan, but Emma tells her to save her magic and says that Pan already knows they’re there. Emma makes a moving speech about believing in each other and Regina poo poos this as her wanting them all to be friends. That’s not even close to what she said. Emma says they just need to be who they are to succeed and she calls Regina a villain in this speech. Regina keeps a very cool facade when Emma goes on about being a mother and their leader (both roles that are usually Regina’s forte), but seems to be on board when they go further into the jungle.

David/Mary Margaret: I just want to roll my eyes at their optimism like Emma does. Their unwavering belief that everything will work out is very annoying. They are genuinely shocked that Emma doesn’t share their optimism. You can see that Mary Margaret is doing all she can to not dissolve into tears when she tells Emma that her experience is all she has to go on and she could share some of her wisdom with her. But Emma reminds them that they are the same age with the same amount of experience. Ok, I see where Emma is coming from, but being the same age does not give them the same level of experience. They both have different experiences that they can both learn from. Mary Margaret is doing everything she can to placate Emma, but Emma is pissed off. Mary Margaret tells her that the moment she lets go of her belief the moment things will ultimately get worse (how much worse can it get? You’ve already been cursed, lost your daughter, Johanna was killed, and now your grandson has been kidnapped?). I’d be frustrated too.  David and Mary Margaret are trying to control the ship when the mermaids attack, and David’s the first to do something useful by making explosives and shooting the mermaids with the mini cannons (I will not be capsized by fish). And he looks hot doing it. Whew! Mary Margaret gets the idea to catch the mermaids, I’m not really sure what the thought process there was. Later on she thinks that talking to them and seeing if they can make some sort of deal with them will work, but all in all, the capturing a mermaid plan basically almost killed them all. When questioning the mermaid, David first goes from the yell and threaten approach (even bringing a sword to her throat, and Mary Margaret looks horrified at this), while Mary Margaret thinks that killing them with kindness is the way to go (she thinks they are scared of Pan and doing his bidding, even though Hook tells her mermaids are liars and just want to kill them). Regina continues to try and kill the mermaid even though everyone else tells her not to and she brings on a huge tidal wave when she turns her into wood. Mary Margaret blames Regina who doesn’t think this is her fault. She wants her to undo the spell and Regina calls Mary Margaret a naive princess, so Mary Margaret punches her! Damn girl! Get out all that pent up frustration! They continue punching each other so David goes to break them up, but Hook tells him to let them fight because he needs him to help with the ship, but he uses a derogatory term for women and David punches him. So now they’re fighting. He even tries to stab Hook with his own hook. Talk about cold blooded. They finally all get their acts together when Emma jumps in the water to stop them from fighting. Mary Margaret and David are terrified.  They all work together, with David jumping into the water to save her and the others pulling them up with rope. Once on the island, Emma tells them all they need to work together and David and Mary Margaret don’t want to work with Regina and Hook. I’m confused as to why they think they’re there then if they weren’t all going to work with each other. David wants to do things the right way (which is what exactly?), but Emma says they just need to be heroes while Regina is a villain and Hook is a pirate. They need those skills to get Henry back. When Emma says her skill is being a mother, Mary Margaret gets the proudest look on her face. Like Emma’s finally understanding what being a parent is all about. And then after she tells Regina to either help or get out of her way, David is the first to follow with a proud daddy smirk on his face.

Henry: Basically, he’s running from the Lost Boys. He has belief in magic and flies. And now Peter Pan and the Lost Boys have him surrounded.

Greg/Tamara: They know they’re in Neverland because it’s the mother lode of magic. They want to destroy it. Henry asks them who they work for that works on Neverland, but Greg says it’s none of his business. The Home Office takes care of them. Henry wonders how they’ll get back home once they destroy magic, but Greg is deep into the ‘it doesn’t matter as long as it gets done’ belief to worry about little things like getting home. They immediately realize something is wrong when their communicator is filled with sand. Tamara even wonders if it’s a toy and Henry remarks that it’s a good thing they don’t ask questions. Greg just gets angry while Tamara starts getting worried. Greg builds a fire to send a signal, but Tamara thinks the broken communicator was intentional. That’s when the Lost Boys emerge. They tell Greg and Tamara they’re the Home Office, and Tamara is getting really frightened now that they know the Home Office is run by teenagers. Henry clarifies that they’re the Lost Boys. Henry’s confused as to why the Lost Boys want to destroy magic, and Greg reminds him that that was their mission. Felix tells him they only told him what he wanted to hear so they could get Henry. Tamara finally gets some balls and asks how they’re getting home and Felix tells her they aren’t getting home. Greg tells them they aren’t getting Henry, but Felix summons the Shadow who rips Greg’s shadow from his body and kills him. Tamara tells Henry to run and gets shot with an arrow from a Lost Boy. Now, I have to admit, I really didn’t like Greg, but this was an awful way for him to die. After everything he went through as a kid he just wanted some justification in destroying magic, and unfortunately, he found the wrong organization who just used him for their own means.  Tamara manages not to die right off the bat and is found by Rumple later. He heals her so she can tell him where Henry went. She apologizes for everything and asks him for forgiveness over what she did to Neal. But Rumple don’t play that game and takes her heart and crushes it.  RIP Greg and Tamara, you will not be missed in the slightest.

Neal/Mulan: Ugh! I really wish Neal was just dead and I didn’t have to deal with all this. First off, we get no explanation about how they rescued Phillip from the wraith, he’s just there with them. Neal wakes up and is bandaged pretty modernly for being in the EF. Mulan immediately thinks he’s lying about being from the EF since he’s wearing clothes like Emma and Snow did. Which makes no sense because she knows about the curse and how they were all from the EF, so of course he’d be wearing modern clothes if he was from the same place they were. Once Mulan mentions Emma and Snow, Neal wants them to help him find her because Emma’s in danger. He also mentions Henry and Aurora quickly comes to the conclusion that he’s Henry’s father. Mulan questions how Neal got there, but he explains about the portal. He tells her they’re all considered fairy tale characters, or legends. When Aurora can’t make contact she thinks the worst. Neal realizes he needs to go to his father’s castle and reveals his father is the Dark One. Mulan and Neal have a deep discussion about why Emma never mentioned him when she was there. Neal says he broke her heart and then never came back for her even though he loved her and he regrets it. He claims he didn’t try because he didn’t want to be rejected. Or, maybe because you were engaged to Tamara up until she shot you? Seriously, what is up with all the Neal retconning. He didn’t want to risk seeing his father so he let Emma go to jail for him and then didn’t ever look for her once the curse broke because he’d moved on and still didn’t want to deal with his father. This whole still loving Emma thing is bullshit! Mulan seems to understand his regret more than she should. Still wondering if she’s in love with Phillip or Aurora. They get to the castle and Neal realizes that someone is there because they left out a goblet of wine. Then an arrow comes shooting near his head and Robin Hook makes his entrance. Neal is in disbelief. He tells Robin he can have the castle, he just needs to find something first and Robin believes he is the son of the Dark One, because who would admit to that if they weren’t.  He also tells Neal that Rumplestiltskin spared his life and Neal wants him to help him find whatever he needs to pay for that debt. Neal is looking for something magical that his father would have hidden away. Neal finds his father’s old cane, swings it around, and uncovers a magical cabinet. Convenient. Neal claims it’s blood magic that made it so he could uncloak the cabinet. Neal finds a crystal ball and laments about how he’s been running from magic most of his life and now it’s the only thing that can help him. Boo hoo. But he can’t make the crystal ball work. Like your father said, you have to believe. Mulan tells him he needs to think of Emma and not a place. And when he does he recognizes that she’s in Neverland. Uh oh!

Questions:

I get having a guard while Emma is giving birth, but shackled? I’ve given birth three times and trying to move without help after you’ve given birth is almost near impossible. I’m honestly surprised she didn’t break the cuff with the sheer force that is necessary to give birth.

With the way Henry fell out of that portal (and that he couldn’t brace himself since his hands are tied), shouldn’t he have broken something? That was a pretty high fall from the portal. 

Why didn’t Greg and Tamara’s portal spit them out in water since they went into it in water?

Why does Regina ask Hook about the ship slowing down? He hasn’t cast anchor, it’s not a car, it doesn’t just slow down. That’s not how it works. If Hook hasn’t put the anchor down then the ship is slowing down most likely due to lack of wind, or the fact that they just shot out of a portal, not because of anything he’s doing.

How is Aurora’s dress not shredded by now? She’s in the same dress that she was wearing in Broken.

Why is Aurora’s first reaction to not being able to reach Henry in her dream that he’s in trouble and not that he’s not asleep?

How does Neal a) know about his father’s castle (he left the EF before Rumplestiltskin owned a castle), and b) know where this castle is?

Doesn’t wearing a bag crossed over where Neal just got shot hurt? He’s acting like he was never shot at all.

Anyone else think David’s face is a little too close to the mini cannon? I was afraid he was going to at least burn his eyebrows off.

Why are Mary Margaret and Regina still wearing their suit jackets in the middle of a storm? Emma took off her turtleneck and David rolled up his sleeves. Having that extra soaking layer must suck.

First of all, Robin Hood says he arrived at Rumple’s castle shortly after the curse (I’m assuming after it ended) to find it already looted by thieves. Did it get looted after Rumple was taken captive by Snow and Charming?  Secondly, why did he decide to go back to Rumple’s castle after he was tortured and nearly killed the last time he was there? Did he know Rumple had been imprisoned beforehand?

I thought Felix was with the Lost Boys chasing Henry. Did he decide to take a break when they discovered Gold was on the island?

Where did Mary Margaret’s bow and quiver full of arrows come from? She only had a backpack when she came aboard the Jolly Roger in And Straight on ‘Til Morning.

Why is David questioning working with Regina and Hook to get Henry back? They all made the journey to Neverland. Were they just going to leave Regina and Hook on the ship?

Observations:

The lights flicker when Emma gives birth to Henry. The last time we saw this was in the Pilot. It seems this is a manifestation of Emma’s magic in our world.

It looks like Gold lost all the gray in his hair when he had his wardrobe change.

Apparently getting your shadow ripped from you will kill you.

Snow didn’t teach Aurora how to control the dreams and walk the dream world. Henry had the amulet that Gold gave him that let him control things (and David later broke). Not that they ever used it after the first dream.

Neal explains how portals work. You have to think about the place you want to go to.

I don’t know if it’s because of the difference between filming a live ship and then greenscreening a background when filming the actors, but the ship looks like it’s barely moving when it’s just a ship shot, and then it’s speeding along when you see the water behind the actors.

Robin Hood is played by a different actor than when we last saw him in Lacey.

I’ve decided that the forest that we saw in Cora’s bubble must be Sherwood Forest, as that’s the only explanation for Robin Hood to still be in the EF, and why he hasn’t aged.

So that’s the season premiere for season 3! We are officially in Neverland. We don’t even see Storybrooke. And we have to deal with characters we don’t particularly care for in the Enchanted Forest (although I like the smarminess of this Robin Hood). We’ll see how this all comes together. Some other thoughts: Regina is still Evil Queen Bitch. She seems to have learned nothing from her brushes with death just that morning. David and Mary Margaret also seem to think that if they just do the right thing then everything will be alright, when we’ve yet to see that work out for them. Emma is the only one who seems to have made any growth by calling herself Henry’s mother and finally taking a leadership role in finding him. And Hook just fancies Emma when she’s not yelling at him.

Please leave comments and reblog! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future reviews.

@searchingwardrobes​​​​​ @thisonesatellite​​​​​ @justbecauseyoubelievesomething​​​​​ @laschatzi​​​​​ @profdanglaisstuff​​​​​ @mariakov81​​​​​​ @lfh1226-linda​

[mainly-kpop]

A Pirate’s Life For Me

Chapter Three.  Pirate!BTS Maid!Reader 

Warnings: tiny bit of blood, talk of scamming, little flirting  Summary:  You had always wondered about pirates, about a life outside of these walls. On your 23rd birthday, you would finally find out what both were really like.  Word Count: 2.5k

You had been on the ship for just over a month, and you were settling in fairly well. So far, they had taken you to an island, letting you shop until you dropped.

‘So, I can buy whatever I want?’ You made sure, holding the bag of gold in your hand. Feeling the weight literally and metaphorically. This was a lot of cash you held, more than what the Palace allowed you. Yoongi just nodded, following you into the small, family run stores. You didn’t buy much, realising this gold wasn’t all for you, you all needed this to survive. Picking out a couple items matching the style of what Yoongi already gave you, you were happy enough. Although, the boys made you pick out some dresses, insisting they would work for raids they had planned. You didn’t argue, happily taking the dresses, the soft silk and pretty cottons making you forget the prices momentarily. Although, feeling the difference in the money bag weight after kind of brought you back to reality.

You insisted they shop some for themselves too, forcing them to buy new sheets and shirts. Not knowing the last time, they shopped for themselves, they agreed, grabbing necessary items before deciding that was good enough. Yoongi eyed up a blanket for a while, in two minds about buying it.

‘I like it, it’s pretty.’ You hinted, hopefully helping him to reach a decision. He just smiled at you, grabbing your chin between his long fingers.

‘If you like it, then we shall have it. No questions asked.’ Really, Yoongi hadn’t bought a new blanket since she betrayed him. Rather fester in the pain than move on, but something about you made him ready to move on.

They ate good that night, Jin making a feast fit for royalty, the rum splashed about between them all.

‘Remember that time, Jungkook got kicked in the nuts by that whore?’ Jimin reminisced, causing Jungkook to physically wince. You looked between them for an explanation, getting nothing bar laughter and dirty looks thrown this way and that way.

‘Please explain, I need to hear these stories!’ you whined, pout on your lips as no one told you anything. Jungkook thought you looked adorable, momentarily having a brain fart.

‘Basically, we took some one-night stands onto the ship when we docked, taking them to different areas of the ship for privacy. Anyways, when Jungkook was finished, he basically went up onto deck, leaving the girl alone. He came back to Namjoon balls deep in her, he wasn’t phased not until-‘

‘Not until, my girl came over sour faced because she was neglected. Jungkook tried to put on the moves then he-‘ He stopped in a fit of laughter, unable to contain himself anymore. Jungkook just groaned, realising he had to finish the story.

‘I wasn’t all that used to the sea yet, I went up onto deck to throw up. I thought I was done but turns out I wasn’t. I was hitting on her and spewed, then she kicked me in the balls... Haven’t been with anyone since.’ You felt sorry for him, wondering how long he had been here without getting his dick wet. You also, couldn’t help the snort of a laugh that slipped from you, setting all the other boys off. Slightly tipsy by this point, you put an offer on the table for him knowing it would make him blush further.

‘You know, if you ever need anything, like that. You know where I am.’ He knew you expected him to blush, to fold in on himself, but he was far too tipsy and far too ready to take you up on that. Leaning into your body, face inches from yours, he whispered against your lips, causing a blush to creep up your face and arousal to pool in your stomach.

‘I might take you up on that sometime, I can’t tell you how painfully hard you make me already.’ If Taehyung hadn’t cleared his throat, you would have jumped the younger boy’s bones. Right there and then. Jungkook dragged his eyes slowly off you, slipping casually back into conversation.

‘So, wait two questions, you are happy sharing women? And Jungkook how long has it been since you got laid?’

‘We don’t mind sharing unless she’s strictly off limits. Yoongi had a girl, she was off limits. Otherwise we don’t mind, as long as she doesn’t.’ Hoseok spoke, answering one of your questions. You nodded, averting your gaze to Jungkook, he just blushed avoiding your eye.

‘Poor Kookie here hasn’t had any in three years, isn’t that right? Poor lad is scared for life!’ Jimin chortled, Jungkook whining in protest.

‘As if you haven’t had your fair share of bad fucks. What about that time...’ And so, the conversation continued, naming and shaming the escapades of these experienced men.

About a week later, the captain proposed the first raid since you joined, all of the men agreeing instantly. Apparently, you were short on food, Jungkook running out of supplies too. You nodded along, Yoongi pulling you into his office again. The boys seemed to already know the plan, Taehyung briefing them as you walked away.

‘You’re a main part of our plan, I need to make sure you are okay with this before we continue.’ He began, letting you sit before he continued. You perched yourself on the edge of the shared bed, crossing your legs waiting for him to continue. He smiled, shaking his head, walking to sit beside you.

‘The pretty dress we bought you? I need you to wear it, go in crying. Make a scene, he’s a sucker for a damsel in distress. He will put his guard down while we grab our things, I don’t want things to get messy, but they might. I’ve assigned Jungkook to you though, he’s a fighter. If anything goes wrong near you, he will be by your side instantly. I promise.’ You fell into his every word, listening intently at every instruction he gave you. Nerves bubbled in your stomach, regardless of having a protector for the raid.

He pulled out the dress, handing it towards you. Smiling, he turned around, giving you minimal privacy again, not like you minded really. Slipping the old clothes off, you folded them on the bed. Old habits die hard. Slipping the dress over your head, you struggled doing the lace on the back up. Now you knew why the princess insisted on being dressed, this shit was hard. Although where she had around six maids to dress her and make her beautiful, you had seven male pirates.

‘Yoongi, could you-‘ Before you could finish the sentence, his fingers were already on your back, gently pulling the fabric for you. You could feel his breath on your skin, his fingertips lightly scraping your back. You hoped he couldn’t see the chills forming on your back, and he hoped you couldn’t feel the clamminess of his hands.

‘There, that should be it, is it okay? It’s been a while since I laced up a dress...’ He mumbled, letting you move about, to test he had done it right. You smiled at his handy work seeing the little bow in the foggy mirror.

‘You did good captain, mighty good.’

‘The boys have docked the ship; we are just waiting on you.’ He had such a soft voice, something you were slowly growing fond of. He wasn’t a pirate in your eyes, the crew never striking you as violent in the slightest. You nod, walking out of the office, to gather with the other boys. Their eyes trailed your form, almost forgetting the shape of your body under the baggy male clothes you usually adorned.

‘Okay, you know the drill. Grab what you can, don’t take anyone back with you, don’t hurt anyone unless absolutely necessary. Jungkook, keep an eye on our damsel here. Get going.’ You chanted in unison with the others a clear ‘YES CAPTAIN!’ before heading to the rowing boat. The boys kept quite most of the time, until Jungkook spied your feet.

‘You don’t have shoes on...’ You smiled at his observation, wiggling your toes for him.

‘Sells the whole distress thing more, no?’ He just sighed, rolling his eyes at you. Namjoon being the one to speak up.

‘Please be careful where you step, we need you, okay?’ You just nodded; a warm smile sent his way. They rowed the boat away from the docks, onto a remote little beach so you weren’t all caught together.

‘I’ll stay with the boat so we can make a quick get away, everyone please be careful.’ Namjoon spoke, everyone splitting direction. You wandered into town, gathering up the courage for your big display. Stepping into the store, you trip on your foot, setting the crocodile tears off.

‘Miss, are you okay?!’ The man yelled, rushing to your side. He grabbed you under your arms, lifting you off the ground. He got you half way before you forced your knees to crumble under you. Letting out another choked sob, you crumpled into the floor, sobbing into your hands. The man just holds you for a moment, letting you sob into his chest. You would feel bad, you could feel bad, but you didn’t let yourself. Instead, pulling the sobs back until they were quiet whimpers.

‘There was someone chasing me, I’m so sorry to have caused you such bother sir.’ You whined, peaking behind the man to see Jungkook, his eagle eyes glaring at the man’s hands on you. The man just rubbed your arm comfortingly, pulling you up from the ground. You watched Hoseok tap Jungkook on the shoulder, the latter giving you the signal to wrap the show up and get to the boat.

‘Why don’t you come inside? I can call the officer over?’ He questioned, genuinely wishing to help. You shook your head, dusting the dress off and wiping your face with the back of your hand.

‘I think he might have gone sir, thank you so much for your comfort, here take this!’ you pulled the gold coin Yoongi gave you for this out of your breasts, handing it to the man. He gulped, hooded eyes looking you over. Planting a chaste kiss against his cheek you ran off, quickly towards the boat.

‘That was some performance angel, impressive.’ Jimin praised, helping you into the boat. You giggled as he patted your ass, climbing in behind you.

‘Why thank you kind sir!’ Your knee hurt a little though, from the dramatic fall through the door. Jungkook noticed you rubbing it, lifting your dress up to look. It was scraped slightly, a bead of blood trickling down your leg. He shook his head at you.

‘But hey, my feet are okay, also this could have been so much worse!’ You chide, much to his disappointment. You were like a child he had to protect, despite you being a year older than him.

‘Not the point babe, I’ll deal with it when we get back on the ship.’ He let you pull your dress back down, covering your legs once again. Realistically he knew you were right. This could have gone bad quickly. You thought about that the whole ride back, how anything could have happened. If something were to happen, would Jungkook be fast enough? Would you be okay if something happened? You decided to voice your concerns later, maybe get one of them to teach you some basic self-defence.

Clambering back on the ship, everyone went straight to Yoongi, handing over the gold and telling them the happenings. Jimin instantly pulled the anchor, sailing away as fast as possible.

‘Where is Jungkook and Y/N? She’s not hurt, is she?’ He worried as soon as he didn’t see you, Taehyung just smiled.

‘She’s not super hurt, she skinned her knee.’ He replied, making the captain roll his eyes. Jungkook would really tend to anything when it came to you, he was slowly starting to realise. He could almost bet gold on the fact you would come back up with a bandage, wrapped tenderly around your knee.

‘How does that feel?’ He questioned, tightening the bandage around your kneecap.

‘Kookie, I’m fine really, don’t you think this is slight overkill?’ you mumbled, leaning closer to his face. He just looked up at you, brushing fallen hair out of your face. Why did he like it so much when you used that nickname? The one he hated so much from everyone else. They made it sound like a childish nickname, with you, it sounded warm, like you were fond of him.

‘I don’t want to see you hurt or uncomfortable. Even if it is a little scrape, even if it’s me making you uncomfortable. I want to make sure I do everything I can, to make sure you are okay.’ You blushed at his words, the weight that they held. Honestly you wondered a lot of things about these boys. They were far too nice to be considered pirates. Just what happened? You leaned in closer to his face, him moving closer himself.

‘I’ll remember that, when my leg is falling off and you can’t do anything about it.’ You whisper, taunting him.

‘I may not be able to do anything right now, but I’ll learn. For you, I’ll learn anything.’ Inches away from attaching your lips to his, you leaned down, lips brushing lips.

‘Guys how’s it going down here?’ Your lips had just puckered, the shortest and softest kiss in history due to your interruption. You both pulled back, him tucking his things away as you pulled down the skirt of your dress.

‘If you’re done, meet us for dinner up top, Jimin says its smooth sailing from here, pardon the pun.’ Jin spoke, giving you a cue to get changed.

‘I have a question for you.’ Taehyung spoke, everyone tipsy from the rum going around. You motioned for him to continue, curious as to what he could ask.

‘Why did you choose to stay? You could have been dropped off, gone back to your normal life. You could be normal. Why not run?’ You pondered it for a moment, not really needing to think. More wondering how much to divulge to them.

‘I had no reason to go home. No love interest, no family, no friends. Why go back to nothing but a job and a room in a Palace?’ They let your answer sink for a moment before you spoke up again. You did have a nice room, with a private bathroom and a big bed. It mirrored the princess’s room, but why wouldn’t it when you were in the room beside hers?

‘What about you? How did you all end up here? Let’s start with Captain, shall we?’

[adulttrio-imagines]

Adult Trio as babies

Hisoka

- Loud. He had colic the first few months of his life and even when he outgrew it, he still cried quite a bit

- Don’t let that fool you, they were all crocodile tears, not many things made him cry for real

- Not the most patient baby, if he wanted something, he wanted it NOW. No warning whines, he just goes into full blown fits

- Temperamental! He was difficult to soothe and had a tendencies to just flip. One moment he would be unbearably clingy and insist on being carried everywhere, the next he wouldn’t even want you near him. Even back then he was already fickle

- Never learned to walk, one moment he was crawling, and suddenly he started running. An honest nightmare.

- Could get into crazy fits where he would just run circles around everyone and wreck havoc. He was the type of kid to stick his fingers into sockets and have a meltdown because you won’t let him

- The type of child to enjoy those loud flashing toys the most, they won’t last long though since he’s so destructive

- Had an innate ability of getting into places he wasn’t supposed to be in, once ended up at the top of the roof and nearly rolled down

- Actually the shyest out of the trio. Would often just disappear if he could when a new face came into the picture. He would only interact or allow himself to be carried by a select few.

- A heavy sleeper, he can fall asleep anywhere and in any position, it’s the only time he’s ever well-behaved

- Post-nap Hisoka is the sweetest, cuddliest, most darling baby you can find, and after a particularly long nap he can stay in that state for hours

- He then makes up for lost time by being an extra demonic force to the poor people in his vicinity

Chrollo

- I always imagine him to be born prematurely, so he was pretty small and weak and honestly it’s a miracle he survived

- Probably the sweetest and even-temper baby you could find, like??? He’s a dream child??? Nothing really bothers him. Dress up? Cool. Going out? Sure. Waking up from a nap? I was going to wake up anyway.

- Barely cries, and he’ll usually give you a heads up and warning signs before he starts, and even then he’s easy to calm down

- But when he goes all out, he ain’t going to stop, and you bet he does the whole nine yards, tantrums and all, and he will embarrass you in public by making everyone think you’ve done something to him

- Not the most affectionate of children, he tolerates it from people and can enjoy it sometimes, but never would he actively seek it out

- If you start singing however, that’s a surefire way to draw him to you. He appreciates a good voice and would occasionally try to sing along as well

- Likes doing things in his own. The thrill of figuring things out on his own is something he likes, even at that age. Will get upset if you even attempt to assist him.

- He started walking on his own late due to malnutrition, but he could speak full sentences way earlier than other kids his age

- Had lots of hair as a baby, practically born with a nice full head

- He likes grabbing things and had an iron grip, especially if it were things he wasn’t supposed to have but somehow found a way to get ahold of them

- Kinda a messy eater? He’s a living vacuum and would eat anything he could get his hands on, even if they’re not supposed to be eaten

- Teething was not kind to him, that was the only period where he became difficult since he would insist on chewing on anything and everything he could find

Illumi

- the only baby who enjoyed getting swaddled tightly, he could sleep through the night when swaddled

- A really, really light sleeper. Opening a door down the hallway would wake him up

- He doesn’t really cry?? He just kinda grunts a lot, and would occasionally whimper if it’s bad. All in all, he’s a pretty silent and easy child

- Actually the most people-friendly out of the trio, anyone could come by and pick him up and he wouldn’t have the slightest issue with it

- Just stares into space a lot, and it gets pretty hard to catch his attention once he goes into that state

- Achieved all his first year milestones at record speed and is extremely self-reliant, even as a young toddler. His Zoldyck genes really pulled through

- He loves being carried around and brought on walks, especially in the morning. It’s one of the few things that can make him smile.

- Absolutely enjoys story time, had his own set of favorite books picked out by the time he was ten months old. He will always ask for another story and it’s hard to say no when he stares at you.

- He’s a selective cuddler, either he’s very into it and doesn’t stand it at all. It depends on the person he’s with. He’s favorite person to snuggle with is his paternal grandmother

- Not attached to any of his family members, and doesn’t actively try to seek them out when he’s removed from them

- The type of child to eat dirt. Just plop him in the garden and he’ll start chomping down on it, it used to drive his mother nuts

- Difficult at meal times since he was oddly picky with food and only ate top grade stuff. How he could tell the difference, nobody knows

[rustybutterknife]

any... beetlejuice and the maitlands headcanons??

Oh hell yeah!!

They’re all dating!!

Nobody can really pinpoint when it happened, but it just… sorta happened.

Barbra is the head of the relationship. She’s the leader of the group!

But she isn’t the best leader. Adam’s the voice of reason.

“Hey, me and Beetlejuice are gonna go cut the sleeves off of our shirts.” “Why would you do that!!?” “Adam is 95% of our self control, and he isn’t here to stop us.” “Snip snop!”

CUDDLE PILES!!!

Usually, when the cuddle, BJ is the little spoon, Adam is the middle spoon, and Barb is the big spoon!

Sometimes they’ll switch it up and let BJ be the middle spoon

But that’s only when he’s sleepy or high because if not then he won’t stop squirming.

It’s all fun and games until someone goes “I gotta pee…” and everyone has to untangle

The Maitlands call BJ a lot of mushy nicknames! Some of his favorites are Gummy bear, Juicebox, lovebug, and puppy!

He usually calls them things like hot stuff, sweet cheeks, lover boy/girl, and just plain ol babes.

THEY SING TOGETHER!!

It’s mostly the Maitlands, but if he’s feeling up to it, BJ will join too!

BJ and Barbra’s go to is Phantom of the opera!

Adam and Barbra’s is a mix between you matter to me and it only takes a taste, both from waitress!

Beetlejuice and Adam’s is classic by MKTO!! (Not a duet, but they love singing it together nonetheless!)

He’s still learning about boundaries, and what’s okay and what’s not. They make a color coded list that Lydia helps them type out on a word document, and makes it so it’s easier for him to read! (He’s got dyslexia and shitty vision, not to mention that English isn’t his first language.)

He still references the list to this day.

Like before he does something, he’ll pull a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and just scan through it.

They really do appreciate it.

They help him on his dysphoric days!

They’ll really amp it up with the “sir’s” and “Mister’s” on those days.

They’ll scritch as his facial hair because “hehehe… face hair manly….”

on good days, they’ll look through old photo albums together!

BJ will sometimes make fun of them.

“Adam, you look like a college hippie stoner.” “Barb, you look like you would chew gum loudly in the back of the classroom while filing your nails.”

They like to bake together!

Adam and Barbra are great at cooking!

But BJ?

He just can’t seem to get it. Especially when it comes to stoves.

But baking? It’s a goddamn art to him.

They like baking cakes together! And brownies!

BJ likes making weed brownies, but fancy.

He’ll put powdered sugar, whipped cream, berries, the whole nine yards.

He once forgot to tell the Maitlands that they were weed brownies and

Oh boy

Adam was mumbling incoherently about animals while feeling like he was halfway through the floor. He began to question existence as is. What is the meaning of life? Why were primates the ones to evolve? Why not crocodiles?

Barbra couldn’t stop laughing at every single little thing. A spoon dropped? Hilarious. A meme Lydia showed her? Crying from laughter.

They later confronted him about it, but he retaliated with “I didn’t know you guys would just yoink my edibles.”

“You didn’t tell us they had marijuana in them!” “Oh, pulling out the m-word I see! You really are white, huh? Just say pot.” “Love-“ “weed.” “Bee-“ “grass.” “I-“ “Mary Jane.” “BEETLEJUICE!!” “Alright, alright. Sorry.” “Thank you.” “...Devil’s lettuce.” “I SWEAR-“ “okay, okay, I’m done now.”

They enjoy candles! All for different reasons.

Barbra enjoys making them! It’s so calming to watch them all mix and melt together!

Adam loves the way they smell! He especially loves nature-y scents (plants or wood smells, rainwater, fruits)

Beetlejuice likes watching them melt as a good visual stim, or holding the flame close to his face and staring straight into it. The Maitlands have had to pull the candle away because with the amount of grease in his hair, he’ll catch on fire in a second. (He also likes eating them, but don’t tell Barbra)

BJ… cannot handle strong scents. That’s sensory hell to him. He loves bright lights and loud sounds, and taste doesn’t matter much to him, but certain textures and strong scents will definitely make him have a shutdown/meltdown.

Whenever he has a meltdown, the Maitlands have to physically hold him back from hurting himself or others. He’ll pull at his hair and bang his back against whatever surface it’s against (usually while he’s sitting, so a chair or couch back), he’ll scratch and bite as his skin, and he’ll just… cry. Not full on sobbing, but he’ll shed a good amount of tears. The Maitlands usually help him by lying on top of him for pressure, and give him stuff to chew on instead of his lip, skin, or nails.

When he has shutdowns, that’s a whole different story. When he has shutdowns, his entire body just goes bluescreen. His hair goes grey, and he’s just… tired. He goes entirely nonverbal, and he has a hard time staying upright. He can’t focus, and everything just seems cloudy. When this happens, he’ll cuddle with the Maitlands until he feels right again.

Even though Lydia considers the Maitlands as her “ghost parents,” she thinks of BJ as her “weird demon uncle.”

The Maitlands are the only ones brave enough to play with BJ’s hair. It’s crunchy, so it stands upright. It’s smooth, but also greasy. Like oily hay.

They like to run their fingers through it, and it’s… they get their hands stuck sometimes.

It’s a struggle until they manage to get him to take a bath.

After that, they can’t stop playing with it. It’s so silky and smooth… so fluffy….

They all have different methods of kissing each other!!

Barbra is a forehead kiss kinda gal!

Adam is a cheek kiss man!

BJ is a sloppy mouth kiss. He doesn’t know how to kiss properly. It’s… there’s drool everywhere.

They eventually do teach him that mouths are usually CLOSED for a kiss

He’ll still stick out his tongue just to mess with them.

He also likes Eskimo kisses, but that’s a secret he’ll never tell. XOXO. Rat man demon.