#'Daredevil is talking to me a lot since a few days. I am really close to send him to hell by myself'

[the--journeys]

double shop talk Tuesday: DAREDEVIL?????? Also: what sparked your interest in writing fic?

re: Daredevil:

I am so incredibly (actual years and years) behind when it comes to DD. Definitely need to brush up on literally everything about that world before I'd be comfortable trying to write any sort of fic involving those characters but! I have always had a soft spot for Matty murdy, so we will see!

re: writing fic:

You know how they say that a serial killer's first victim tells you the most about them? I sometimes feel like the same thing might apply to a fan fiction writer and their first fic lol. "This Love" came about because a few friends randomly picked sm: homecoming for movie night and I couldn't help but wonder about the idea of LizMJ. Dusted off Ao3 for the first time since the og PJO days literal years ago, only to find that no one had really run with that idea in the way I was imagining it. After a few weeks of thinking about it (and reading some other lovely sm fics) I was like...I guess I could try and do it??

This Love is not even close to technically perfect, but it (unintentionally) has a lot of me in it. I had such a good time writing it that I decided to keep trying this new thing out, and...the rest is history, I guess?

[purple--queen]

How aboute everytime Clint & Matt meeting in a dumbster, their talking about their crushes (just like highschool girls would do it) & than their trying to help each other. 

[aliasimagines]

It Was You All Along // Dave Lizewski

requested by a lovely anon 💕

Can u write dave x fem!reader where reader Always had a crush on him but he kinda ignored reader bc of Katie but then someone popular asks reader out and he gets jealous and y/n dresses up super hot and he realizes he fucked up

word count: 1809

a/n: i hope this is close enough! ❤️ (i couldn't think of a different title but this one reminds me of Agatha All Along xd)

"Hey, Dave! My folks are gone for the weekend and I thought we could have an X-men watch party. Wanna come?" 

"Sorry I can't, I'm hanging out with Katie." 

"Again?" you ask a bit louder than intended,causing a few people to look at you in the hallway. You continue with a lower voice "Aren't you like, tired of all the lying? Like, what if she finds out that you're not actually gay, hm? Cause you know she will, eventually." 

"Why do you care so much?!" Dave says, clearly frustrated. 

You raise an eyebrow. 

"Oh why would I? Maybe because we have been best friends since diapers, you stupid asshole!" you say not caring if some students hear you or not, anymore. "But you know what, you are right. I shouldn't care. Go play pretend with Katie but don't come to me, crying when you end up getting your heart broken." 

"Don't worry, I won't." he snaps back. And you turn around and leave but not before flipping him off. You felt the angry tears rolling down your cheeks as you zigzagged between the chattering teenagers. 

You couldn’t  believe how Dave could be so blind! He only had eyes for Miss Perfect. Whom by the way, is a real bitch and would go back to ignoring Dave or calling him a freak if it wasn’t for his little gay act. 

Somehow you made your way over to the restroom and locked yourself into one of the booths.

Dave couldn’t even see you as a potential “love-interest”. Eventhough you were the one who always were there for him, you were always there when he called, running to him like a lost puppy. And he couldn’t even care less. And you hate him for it. But you hate yourself more for still liking him. 

It’s not like you can do something about it, if you could, you would have. But that’s not how it works, so you are just crying your guts out on the toilet trying not to think about Dave.

In all honesty, you have no idea how you made it through the day. You almost cried during biology but you caught yourself after a few lonely tears. You could feel Dave’s gaze on you but there was no way you would look at him. As soon as the last bell rang you were out of school, hurring past Tod and Marty, not being in the mood for them either.

The next day wasn’t any different, you didn’t hang with Dave, Tod and Marty like you normally do. You didn’t sit with them at lunch, instead walked over to the only empty table you saw and placed your tray there. You mounched on your food, completely unaware of your surroundings until you hear the chair next to you being pulled out. You look up to see Matthew Greendale, resident hottie of the school sit next to you. 

"Hey, sorry, it's not a problem if I sit here, right?" he asks. You eyed him suspiciously. 

"No, it's fine." 

It's fine?! You mentally scold yourself. You never even spoke to this guy, outside of literature in first year. Why would he sit next to you? 

"I didn't want to sit with all the other "popular jocks" he answered you unspoken question while taking a bite of his canteen-hamburger. “They’re fun and everything but it’s nice to get away from them sometimes.”

You think of your friends who are sitting a few tables away and you can’t help but agree with Matthew.

“Yeah, I feel you.” you say without thinking.

“Hey..We used to sit next to each other in freshman year, didn’t we? It’s y/n ,right?” 

You nod with a smile, honestly being surprised that he remembers you.

“Yeah!”

“I haven’t really seen you around a lot. But when I do you are always hanging with those comic book nerds.”

“Hey! Comics are great.”

He puts his hands up in a defense.

“Oh no! I didn’t mean it as an insult. Some comics are good, my little brother made read one last month. It was actually great.”

“What comic was it?”

“Oh, uhm..It was about some kind of blind dude in a devil costume.”

“Daredevil?” you ask with a giggle.

“Yes, that one!” he laughs too.

The two of you continue talking until the end of lunch break. He is surprisingly fun to talk to and he even offers to walk you to your next class after lunch. You had such a good time you didn’t even think about Dave, heck, you didn’t even notice him literally glaring daggers into Matthew.

“What’s up with you, dude?” Tod asks snapping Dave out of it. 

“Yeah, Dave. What the shit is going on with you and Y/N?” Marty asks too.

Dave forrows is eyebrows. Yes, what the shit is going on with the two of you? Every since yesterday's 'fight' with you he can't stop thinking. About how he spends most, if not all of his time either with being Kick-Ass or, rather with Katie. It used to be different. He spent every second with you and he just threw you away so he could maybe get laid. And sure, Katie may be hot as fuck but she is.. Well, she is not you. 

"We had a fight, yesterday. I.. And she was right." he explains with a grimace. "But why the fuck is that Greendale asshole is with her?" 

"You jealous or something, dude?" 

"Wha- Of course I am not jealous! Why would I be? You guys are nuts." 

Jealous… The word rolled around in his mouth like a new flavored milkshake he never tasted before. 

Could he be… Jealous? He never thought of you that way, you were always his best friend. Just that. But.. The more he thinks about it the more he can't stop that twist like feeling in his stomach. 

That night he can't focus on crime fighting. All his thoughts are tied to you. Whether he likes it or not, memories of you keep popping up in his mind. How didn't he notice your beautiful smile before? And your laugh? It's like a beautiful melody. And… Gosh! When did he become such a sappy teenager? Oh and another thing.. He kept trying to think of something else, anything else like Katie for example but he doesn't care anymore! 

Dave goes home early with a frustrated growl. The remaining hours of the night he spends with tossing and turning and daydreaming instead of sleeping. 

(the next afternoon, Atomic Comics) 

Dave bangs his head against the wood table once again. A tired groan leaves his lips when he hears Tod almost choking on his iced coffee. 

"What the tunk, Tod?" Marty and Dave ask almost at the same time. The dirty blonde haired boy keeps pointing outside the huge window that they are sitting next to at Atomic Comics. 

"Is that fucking y/n?!" 

Now all three of them look outside the shop and see you, all dressed up nad seemingly waiting for someone. 

"Holy fuck!" Dave whispers. He stares at you, with his mouth a gap before jumping up from the booth they were sitting at and rushing outside the store. 

"Y/n! Y/-" he yells almost tripping on thin air. 

"Dave?" you question, quickly turning towards him. Damn, you missed him. No! Yeah, you did… "What do you want?" 

"What do I- What, can't I talk to you?" 

"If you wanted to talk you would have in these past days!" you say. Yes, you might have missed him, but it's not like you're gonna show it. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I am waiting for my date to show up." 

"Your.. Your what, now?!" 

"My date" 

"You can't go on a date!" 

"And why is that, Lizewski?" 

"Lizewski? Really, you're calling me by my surname? Are we in such a bad place right now?" 

"I don't know, you tell me. Are you going to tell me what i can and can't do, hm?" 

"I didn't mean it like that. I just…" 

"What, it's fine when you say it but when I do it with you about Katie I'm the bad friend?" 

"No,it's just-" 

"Sorry. Matt's here." you point to the street across the road where you saw the boy walk towards you. "I gotta go." 

You start walking away but Dave grabs your wrist. 

"Please, don't." he mumbles. 

"Why not?" you snap at him but your expressions soften upon your eyes land on his saddened face. 

"I- because I don't want you with him. O-or anyone." 

You raise an eyebrow. 

"What?" 

He took a deep breath before looking around. Matt was waiting patiently by the traffic light so he could cross the road. Dave quickly began explaining. 

"You were right. About Katie. I was such a dickhead, I am so sorry, y/n. I am sorry for ignoring you over her and and.." from the corner of his eye he sees the traffic light turn green. "Shit! I don't want you to go out with Greendale cause I.. Because I like you. Like really fucking like you. And oh my god you look so fucking hot in this outfit, not that you're not always hot but holy shit. I know we are just friends and you don't think of me that way but I ju-"

"Oh my god! Do you ever shut up?" you yell before pressing your lips to his. Dave stumbled back a little, but quickly recovered and kissed back. Your hands cupped his face and his hands grabbed your waist in response. You both tilled your heads, deepening the kiss earning loud knocking from Marty and Tod as they watched the whole scene through the window. Not that you noticed any of it. You didn't hear the passing by car honk at you nor the yells or whistles. You also did not notice Matthew walking away with a sad smile after seeing the two of you. Your touches intertwine and you're pretty sure you heard Dave moan slightly which causes you to giggle into the kiss. You both pull away gasping for air. You look down at your shoes, hoping to hide your flushed cheeks. Dave scratches his back and looks around nervously only to see his two idiotic friends making kissy faces. He lifts his middle finger for them before clearing his throat. 

"So.. Khm.. I guess you like me too?" 

You let out a soft chuckle.

"Yeah, I do." you say looking at him with a smile.

"That's.. Fuck. That's great." he replied genuinely happy. "Wanna get out of here?" 

You nod and you take off. You take Dave's hand and he intertwines your fingers with a smile. Maybe he is truly a superhero. He helps people and he gets the girl of his dreams. The happy ending. 

Dave Lizewski taglist : @sethcohenluvr @your-hispanichufflepuff

[aminiatureworld]

Time and Chance II

Characters: Kaeya, Xiao, gn!reader

Word Count: 2,702

Warnings: Swearing

Premise: Confessions are tricky things. Sometimes it takes week, maybe months, maybe years of building up courage for one to happen. And sometimes life throws the oddest wrenches in our paths.

In which the reader confesses.

Author’s Note:

Sorry for the lack of Zhongli. I feel completely awful currently and though I wrote part of his scenario it was really poor in quality so I decided to stick with Kaeya and Xiao. I’ll get to him and Keqing another time I promise. Also don’t worry this isn’t life or death I just need to sleep it off lol. I realize between this and my computer there’s always something and I feel a bit guilty about it. At least I hope everything’s up to par!

This also probably won’t get proofread tonight.

 I hope you enjoyed my extra fic for Valentine’s Day! To all the lovely people who requested prompts I will be getting to those next week. Have a lovely night and thank you so much for your patience!

Kaeya

Perhaps falling in love with Kaeya wasn’t the most original thing you’d ever done, but by the time you’d come to that conclusion you were too far gone to care.

You loved Kaeya, or at least you liked him a lot. As someone who looked up to the Knights of Favonius there was something intriguing about the man who was simultaneously one of its lynchpins, and a sort of rogue state of a human being. It didn’t hurt that he was stupidly good looking, and a bit of a smoother talker. Okay, maybe more than a bit, but you didn’t really mind that. It was nice to be flirted with sometimes, and Kaeya had the sense never to take it too far.

You figured that Kaeya was at least somewhat aware of your feelings. Though you never asked about it, it seemed somehow too brash. Instead you figured that, in the months that had passed since your friendship had begun – for you did see it as a friendship by now – Kaeya had become aware and decided not to comment on it, as to not hurt your feelings. Though you wouldn’t go as far as call it noble of him, you certainly appreciated it.

So this charade continued on. You two remained close friends, or rather close friends in your estimation. Kaeya continued to flirt and you continued to ignore your personal feelings. It was truly an odd song and dance, but it wasn’t one you were about to change, not willingly anyways.

It’d become a bit of a tradition to patrol together. Seeing as you were an adventurer yourself and Kaeya was, well, Kaeya, you two had eventually decided it was better to make one long patrol together than two shorter patrols apart. Besides wasn’t the rule safety in numbers?

It was an exceedingly boring patrol, and as it neared its end the atmosphere between you two grew from semi-serious to absolute buffoonery. Kaeya had challenged you to see who could pick the most flowers the fastest, then who could control their vision’s element the long, then eventually, seized by some divine genius, he suggested that you might see who could run the farthest on the walls of Monstadt without falling over.

“This has got to be the stupidest thing I’ve ever agreed to.” You grumbled good naturedly. “Don’t blame me if you go tumbling off and end up with a broken leg.”

“I trust you’ll lift me to safety before that happens.” Kaeya answered back, eyes alight with his daredevil proposal.

“My anemo vision isn’t your personal elevator captain.” You reminded him. Hauling yourself up on the walls so you were on the farthest side you flashed a thumbs up. Kaeya nodded.

“Okay. Three… two… one and three quarters.”

“Kaeya.” You huffed, eliciting a chuckle from the knight.

“Okay, okay. Three, two, one, go!” The two of you ran as fast as you could, scrambling up the turrets, too concentrated to talk. Kaeya was laughing though, and eventually you found yourself laughing too, thrilled by the recklessness you were indulging in and the freedom to be doing it with someone apparently as stupid as you were.

“I’m getting ahead~” Kaeya chimed. You scoffed, quickening your pace. Kaeya did likewise, and for a moment it seems you two were going to be running the entire wall in this position. That is before Kaeya slipped.

“Shit.” He cursed, waving his arms like a madman. This only lasted a few seconds before he truly tumbled off, heading towards the stone paved ground. You didn’t say anything, though your brain was screaming various incomprehensible things. You simply clambered off your perch, hands already outstretched, praying to the god Barbatos that you could manipulate air you couldn’t see.

Luck was on your side as it turned out, and your swirl of wind caught Kaeya before he hit the pavement. Gliding down you shook your head wildly.

“Great gods Kaeya you scared the shit out of me!” You knew that you were screaming slightly, but you couldn’t help it. The whole situation had riled you up, leaving you panicked and not fully in control of your emotions.

“I’m fine! Honestly I am. I’m only sorry I lost.” Kaeya chuckled, but his laughter was weaker than before and his expression was slightly shocked.

“It’s not time to joke around Kaeya!” You shot back. “You can’t be so reckless! I know that it was also my fault for agreeing to it, but honestly! What would Monstadt do without you? What would I do without you?” You paused then, realizing that what you said held certain implications you’d been hoping to keep under wraps.

“What do you mean?” Kaeya’s expression immediately became brighter. Figures he’d read the meaning into your words. Honestly the man was too emotionally intelligent for his own good.

“I meant was I said.” You replied, figuring that there was nothing else to say. The truth was all but out now. “I really don’t know what I’d do without you Kaeya. Now I’m going to tell you something I’ve been hiding for a while, and since I saved your life and revealed it in the process I just want you to take it seriously, okay? I’m not joking, and now that I’ve said it I want to make it explicit. I like you. Like, I like, like you. And I know that I’m just your friend and that you’ve probably been aware of it for ages, but it’s out in the open now, okay? You don’t have to reciprocate or anything, that’s not it. I just… want to let it out.”

You stared at Kaeya, trying to gauge his reaction as much as possible, unwilling to look away. Unsurprisingly the news hardly seemed shocking to him, but instead of his smile slipping from his face it only grew wider. “You’re kinda oblivious you know.”

“I – what?” You sputtered, slightly offended. This wasn’t where you expecting it to go. “I don’t expect you to reciprocate, but leave the teasing alone for now at least!” So much for calling Kaeya emotionally intelligent.

“You’re reading this the wrong way!” Kaeya held up his hands, before stepping closer to you. “I just can’t believe that you’ve been my friend this whole time, had feelings on top of it, and never noticed that I was just as interested in you. I mean I’ve been flirting with you for months.”

“You flirt with everyone.” You scoffed, although the argument seemed to hold a bit less weight when compared to the jubilant, slightly smug look on Kaeya’s face.

“You may be right about that.” He admitted. “But c’mon. I don’t flirt with them like I flirt with you. I certainly don’t take them out on patrol.” His expression turned softer then, and he shook his head. “I know that I joke around a lot, but I promise, I wouldn’t joke about this. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you though, that was a fault on my part.”

“So you mean I’ve been hiding my feelings all this time for nothing?” You deadpanned, feeling overwhelmed. The situation still seemed too good to be true.

“Sounds about right.” Mischief was creeping back into Kaeya’s voice. “But it’s all right now! Your prayers have been heard! So, since you were the one to admit your feelings, I’ll be the one to ask the question. Want to date?”

“Yes.” You replied, sure of your answer.

“Good.” Kaeya replied, before pulling you into a hug, one you gladly reciprocated. It had been a hell of a day, and while you wouldn’t relieve Kaeya’s fall for anything you felt somehow lighter, as if a great burden had been lifted off your shoulders. He liked you, Kaeya liked you. For you, for now, that was all that mattered.

 Xiao

Once you’d decided to admit your feelings to Xiao you’d immediately followed up that decision with the knowledge that you were going to have to break it to him slowly. You’d been friends with Xiao for over a year now, and though you were cautiously optimistic as to how the adeptus would take it, you still knew that he wasn’t the kind of person who would be at all comfortable with a sudden confession.

Confessing your feelings was in itself an act which required all the courage you possessed. You weren’t sure when you’d truly started falling for Xiao, it had come about so gradually. But before you knew it you had grown to love him. You loved the way he talked, the soft cadence of his voice though often impatient was still filled with enough softness to make your heart flutter. You loved how, despite all he’d suffered, he still retained a begrudging love for the world, especially Liyue, which he once revealed to you would always be the one thing he loved, even if he loved nothing else. You loved everything, his hands, his eyes, the way he walked, the way he kept going despite it all. You loved it so much it hurt, and now you found that your love wasn’t something merely to be pushed away. If the odds of Xiao rejecting you were almost 100 so be it, at least then you’d be proud of yourself.

You spent quite a bit of time mulling the whole thing over, before the answer struck you. Xiao refused the gifts you brought him after some of your adventures, and when you’d once asked him what he might accept he’d shifted his gaze slightly towards the side, one hand running itself through his hair. “…Almond… Tofu.” He’d admitted. You’d been delighted by the revelation at the time, promising yourself you’d learn to make it. And what was a better way to show your feelings than to do so now? Not only was it something he’d like, it was something you’d made yourself.

So you gathered all the ingredients, borrow a receipt, and set to work in Wangshu Inn’s kitchen.

Unfortunately you’d failed to predict how difficult Almost Tofu was to make. It’d been hours and you had nothing to show for it but dirty utensils, a scarcity of ingredients, and a few mysterious blobs that looked about two steps away from inedible. Leaning your head on the counter you let out a groan. Why the fuck did you think this was a good idea?

“What’re you doing?” A familiar voice broke through your reverie.

“Xiao!” You exclaimed, glancing around you. There was no use hiding the project, although technically nothing was looking even close to Almond Tofu right now. “I was, I was trying to make Almond Tofu. But I guess I’m no good at cooking.” You laughed, more than slightly embarrassed.

Xiao’s eyes narrowed, and he raised an eyebrow. Saying nothing he walked over to the counter. Grabbing a cloth he started wiping down the counter.

“What’re you doing?” You asked, slightly confused and extremely surprised.

“Teaching you.” Came the reply. “Come on, let’s start again. Have you washed your hands since your last attempt?”

If cooking was difficult without Xiao it was impossible with him. The whole time you couldn’t help butbe aware of his presence, the way he stood behind you, leaning forward ever so often. Once you hadn’t been mixing fast enough and he placed his hands on yours, pressing his chest against your back. Your grip had immediately lost all strength, and you were sure that Xiao was the only one actually working. His breath was warm against your neck, and his palms were warm and dry. It was all too much, and you spent the rest of the lesson only half paying attention, too wrapped up in his proximity to you.

Despite the distractions this batch turned out, well looking like Almond Tofu. You couldn’t help but smile when seeing the finished product. Even if you didn’t make it completely yourself, there was still something about creating that gave you a sense of pride. Even if you did need help from the person you were going to give it to.

“It’s done.” Xiao proclaimed, a slight smile of satisfaction on his face. “I hope you enjoy it.”

“Oh, well actually I made it for you.” You grabbed the plate and approached the adeptus. “I know you said it was your favorite, and the only thing you’d accept, so, I made it!” You smiled slightly, though inside you were a bundle of nerves. This was happening. Holy shit this was happening.

The surprise on Xiao’s face was evident, but he nevertheless took the plate. Grabbing a pair of chopsticks he pressed into the tofu, causing it to almost immediately separate. Taking a bite a smile crossed his face. “Thank you,” he said, “it’s very good. I’m surprised you remembered.”

“Of course I did!” You replied, voice slightly hurried. “And, um, well I’d like to tell you something.”

“What is it?” Xiao’s slightly concerned look returned. Setting the plate down he crossed his arms.

“Well… you see.” You glanced at the floor. “I know this will probably seem very sudden, and maybe not very proper; and I know that this is something that’s purely one sided, but the fact is I like you. I like you more than a friend and, well… yeah.” You finished, feeling as if you’d just spoken some utter nonsense.

Glancing up you noticed how rigid Xiao had gone. Mouth twisting into a nervous frown you shook your head. “I’m so sorry! I know that you aren’t really, well you’ve said you aren’t familiar with the way humans experience the world. And I don’t want to put you on the spot, that’s the last thing I wanted to do. I’m sorry it’s so shocking.” Glancing away you started worrying your hands together. This had gone so much worse than you’d expected it.

“I don’t understand,” Xiao finally spoke, dropping his arms to his sides, “I don’t understand why you’d like someone like me. I’m not a human, and in terms of adepti I’m far more cursed than most. You shouldn’t, you shouldn’t like some like me. I bring disaster.”

“No you don’t!” The objection came naturally to you, horrified as you were by Xiao’s view of himself. “You’re one of the most wonderful beings I’ve ever met, human or adeptal! You’re kind, and you try to understand the pain and emotions of humanity. And you never push your burdens onto others despite carrying such heavy ones. If that’s not the mark of a good person, well then I don’t know what is!”

“I still don’t understand.” Xiao said, voice softer than usual but just as matter of fact.

“I’m sorry I pushed this onto you.” You said, suddenly feeling a burst of regret, turning around you made to leave the kitchen.

“Wait!” Xiao’s voice was loud and slightly jarring, his hand caught your wrist in a grip that, while gentle, was still firm. You turned around, unsure what to expect. Xiao sighed, closing the distance between you two. “When I said I don’t understand, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to.” There was a pause as he collected his thoughts, looking down, shaking his head slightly. “I don’t understand how humans think, nor how they feel. But, when I’m around you I’m happy, happier than I’ve been in a millennia. And I want to be around you, all the time sometimes. I want to know more about you and I want you to know more about me. So, if that’s what you mean, then… I also like you.”

Xiao glanced back up towards you and your eyes met. You felt slightly floaty all of a sudden, as if you’d gotten very, very drunk. Everything was too sudden, your emotions had changed too quickly. But through all your confusion you understood one thing. Xiao liked you, he liked you. He wasn’t going to reject you or push you away. The thought was enough to bring a smile to your face.

“So you really like me?” You asked. Though you knew the answer now you still wanted to hear it again. Just in case.

“Yes.” Xiao replied, a smile once more adorning his face. “I like you.”

And that was all you needed to hear.

[daredevilexchange]

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See what this is about here, or if you’re using the app here.

What’s your fannish ID? Hello there! 👋🏻 I am AndanielLight but you can call me 'An'. I go by she / her pronouns, and I've only joined one (1) organized fandom event all my life where I was one of the content creators. And... Oh, by the way, English isn't my first language.

What types of fanworks do you create? I've been writing and posting my amateur fanworks on AO3 (link: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andaniellight) since 2015 - I've never used a Beta for all of them, so it's been just me and me alone all this time. Meanwhile, I started doing digital drawing with Medibang software since 2020, and am a self-taught digital artist ever since.

What are your favourite types of fanworks, when you’re not creating? Honestly? Absolutely everything, no biggie. Creating something, or to try something new in order to sate your own desire on I Wish This Thing Exists, is *hard* my dudes. So I'll take whatever handed to me, cause, I find that every creations are admirable on their own respective ways. Endearing. Effort always counts in the most unironic ways, tbh. And as long as all the creators out there realize that whether the result is likeable or not (to the creators themselves), at least they've past this step that is much more important than "attracting audience that they can interact with", which is: They're progressing better at handling themselves. So, keep 'em coming! Keep creating and be a God! 😄

What do you like in particular about this fandom? Not going to lie, I am - really intimidated by Marvel fandom, or just- Marvel in general, I guess. I only consume and observe from afar, not wanting to get close at all. I don't read their infinite comics, nor their lores, so I don't know what the fuck is going on outside of what's happening on those boxoffice movies either. Their universe is just - too big for me to navigate, so. There's that.

As for Daredevil... I just started binge-watching the series in January this year, while I had some spare times from work. I didn't have access to watch the series before until I finally got a job. I heard a lot of crazy stuff about it years ago, which is WILD to know there were people being dead-silent on Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock cameo on the NWH and its screening too?????? Unbelievable. But anyways, I finished Daredevil in less than a week, I guess? And then moved to The Punisher, because Jon Bernthal appearance on DD S2 tripped me into shipping Matt and Frank. Their bickerings and banterings never fail to crack me up 💀 Alas, there's no cameo of Matt Murdock in The Punisher, but oh well. [Opens AO3 and stays up late at night reading and scrolling on Frank Castle/Matt Murdock fanworks] Not an unfixable problem.

Other than Frank and Matt, Foggy has a very special place in my heart. I'd love to be his friend, honestly, so that we can go have a walk and order take-away food to talk about - whatever. Maybe side by him if he argues with Matt, too, because we all know that guy needs help more than he'd (never) admit.

Do you like participating in fan events? Mmm, I'd love to? I've only ever joined one (1) organized fandom/ship event, and it's back in 2021. It's also because there were A LOT of enablers, too, at the time, when at the same time still so few of content creators while I still had some time to do it myself? Something something I am cursed with always-intrigued-and-choosing-rare-ships something something. So, yeah. Again, I'd love to, but I'm afraid I won't have enough energy and time, because of work, these days. Maintaining interaction and/or communication with people (online or offline) is also not what I'm good at doing exactly.

What about your creating process? Oh, yeah. Writing and/or drawing while listening to music usually goes hand-in-hand like garlics in most delicious cuisines in general to me. And I'm not Italian, by the way. Meals with garlics are just- [cheff kiss]

Usually, to focus on making something, I listen to Instrumental Progressive Metal kinds of music (like this one, for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONwLlBMeu0s). My particular influences on keeping the juice flowing is centralized in conceptualization that snatch my entire attention until I fixate on it for maybe a whole week or months or something, honestly. I don't know how to explain that, but it's the kind of "symbolism" (listen, everything I did was mostly self-taught, so I have no artistic background, never have taken art class or anything fancy like that) - like these:

1) https://twitter.com/Sykine_R/status/1497270891432247297 2) This twitter thread of daredevil and how its posters' trilogy is inspired by (17th-century baroque artist) Caravaggio's oil paintings of religious saints https://twitter.com/616FRANKCASTLE/status/1481472002418528257 3) This close-up kind of baring concept https://twitter.com/loika/status/1322512727663763456 4) Or excerpts that I've been piling on my blod tagged with "quotes" (link: https://andaniellight.tumblr.com/search/quotes) 

Do you interact a lot with other fans? Um, yeah.... I used to - I used to interact, or talk to other people who ship/shipped the same ship I ship (shipped?) on several fandoms. Now, however, I'm just sticking around with my oldest fandom-friends on discord who I got to know from watching and hyperfixating on this thrilling, gruesome K-drama from 2019 on Netflix titled "Kingdom".

Is there anything else you want to tell us about yourself? I usually share my fanarts on my tumblr (link: andaniellight.tumblr.com), my twitter (link: https://twitter.com/DefyAnSpite) and on Instagram (link: https://www.instagram.com/andaniellight/)! :D

Where can your fanworks be found? Unfortunately, because of how stupid and forgetful I can be sometimes, I don't tag my own art because I Simply Forgot and can't care less. But, so far, for Daredevil-related alone, I've made at least these fanarts:

1) The things I've made for Frank/Matt when I didn't know their more-preferable ship name is "Fratt" : https://andaniellight.tumblr.com/tagged/Mastle

2) First solo-Frank art: https://andaniellight.tumblr.com/post/674762558144659456/repost-after-i-a-mistakes-maker-noticed-a

 3) Every Matt Murdock fanarts: https://andaniellight.tumblr.com/tagged/Matthew%20Murdock 

Thank you, @andaniellight !

banner by @context-is-for-kingpins !

[ID on a white background, four black triangles that look like spotlights from above. Each illuminates one of the Defenders silhouetted in white: Jessica, Luke, Danny, Matt. A hand on the left is holding a pen writing the words Content Creator Spotlight. There is a little Punisher skull on the pen. End ID]

[obwjam]

thoughts on giant matt murdock?

funny you ask... a couple summers ago i actually started writing a little blurb about this that never really came to fruition that i am going to include under the cut ☺️☺️☺️ and i haven’t watched TV marvel in over a year now but:

giant matt would totally be a huge bitch to any tiny he discovered

the tiny would have been doing things seemingly under his nose but matt would sense it every time

soon he would feel the tiny’s fear and soften up

he would be intentionally aloof but he would also leave out food for the tiny. kind of an unspoken friendship

the tiny would just accept this and not question it

matt would hide the fact that he’s daredevil even from the tiny but one day he comes home just absolutely wrecked and the tiny is very scared and concerned

the tiny tries to help the best they can and it doesnt do much but matt is appreciative :)

now enjoy the blurb!

You considered yourself lucky.

You felt bad saying that, too. But most borrowers have to tiptoe around the human they live with, only going out in the wee hours of the morning just to get by. You didn’t have to deal with that. The human you lived with was blind.

It was a borrower’s dream. No need to hide, no need to leave things exactly how you found them. You could stand on the counter with the human while he cooked and take pieces of fresh food right under his nose and he’d never even know! As long as you didn’t make a lot of noise, you were safe.

You had been living here for a while. Your last place was blown to bits. Hell’s Kitchen was not the safest place to be, and you found that out the hard way. But you struck gold wandering into this place. It took a few days to figure out the human was blind, and that was only because you thought he had left for the day but he was actually just in the shower. He looked right at you on the counter but kept walking to his room, completely unaware of your presence. From then on, you… others would say you pushed your luck, but you liked to say you were taking advantage of your situation. You drank hot tea. You ate fresh fruit. You would even climb up onto the couch and listen to the radio with the human. You were bummed you couldn’t watch TV, but you were pretty sure he didn’t even own one. You hung out so closely with the human that sometimes you felt like you were really friends; that you really knew him.

You were out one day, borrowing while the human was lounging around on the couch. You were trying to push something across the counter to make a stepping-stone of sorts to some supplies, but you pushed too hard and the ceramic made an awfully loud screeeeeeeeench across the counter. The human’s head whipped around, his blank eyes staring directly at you. You froze in place, chest heaving, reminding yourself that he couldn’t see you, he couldn’t see you, he couldn’t--

“You’ve really been pushing it lately, you know.”

Your breath hitched and you let a small YIP! escape your lips. Surely he wasn’t actually talking to you. Maybe he was just monologuing to himself. You stepped away from the ceramic and slowly started to tiptoe back to your hole in the wall.

“I’ve stopped myself from saying anything before, but it’s really been getting out of hand, don’t you think?”

It was like your legs forgot how to move. You stood there, a feeling of deep sickness entering your stomach. The human slowly got up and started walking right toward you.

“I mean, I don’t really mind when you listen to the radio with me and stuff like that. But, really, when you start to--”

He stopped just a few feet away. Matt Murdock was now staring directly at you, and while he’d been this close to you before, he never really focused on you all that much. He had heard the tiny heartbeat in his walls since the moment you moved in, but he didn’t think anything of it. He was shocked to learn about the existence of tiny humans, but considering midtown was recently leveled by an alien attack, things like this weren’t all that crazy anymore. You never really did much damage -- he understood that you were just trying to get by.

But now, with his full attention on you, the pace of your heartbeat and the shakiness of your breath scared him. He had never felt such an intense level of fear before. He could hear you breathing so heavily and so rapidly he thought you were going to pass out.

The human began to reach his hand out, and your trance was broken. You took off for the wall, but suddenly you were lying face down on the ground, head throbbing in pain. Something just got in your way.

Matt hummed sympathetically at the way you so helplessly fell down when you hit his hand, but he had to remind himself how rude you were getting. Slowly, he pinched your torso between his fingers and dropped you into his palm.

As soon as you landed on this unfamiliar surface, you tried to find a way off. But he lifted his hand up to eye level, for whatever reason, and jumping was no longer an option. You had to face him. Somehow, his face was painted with wonder, even though he couldn’t see you… or could he?

“H-how-how did you know I was--I was even here? You can’t-- you’re…”

Matt scoffed. “You don’t need sight to see.”

You raised your eyebrow, but the logistics weren’t important to you. All this time… he knew you were here, knew you were borrowing right under his nose… he was pissed. He was definitely pissed.

“P-please… don’t--don’t put me in a jar, I--I promise I won’t-- I’ll never steal from you again! I’ll move away! Please! Just--just don’t hurt me!”

Your fear was so intense that Matt was starting to feel some of it himself. The more intense your shaking became, the more his heartbeat climbed. He almost felt like his entire body was going to rattle with you. And he was starting to sweat… this little guy was absolutely terrified.

“I’m… I won’t hurt you,” Matt said, but he knew his words meant nothing. He wasn’t sure what to expect when he caught you, but he probably should have considered the high likelihood of crippling fear on your end. Matt was used to people being scared of him, but this… this was completely different.

Tears began leaking out of your eyes, and you felt so pathetic. All the times you had walked around right under his nose… he was just pretending not to see you. He knew everything you ever took, everything you ever touched.

“How long were you going to keep taking things from me?” Matt asked out of pure curiosity. He realized after the fact how angry he sounded.

Your words got caught in your throat. “I--I--uh--I mean… as long as I could…” you said that last part so softly that no normal human would have been able to hear you. “B-but I can give you your stuff back! Not the food, obviously, but-but whatever you need, I--I can--”

Matt chuckled. He knew it wasn’t an appropriate response, but he couldn’t help but find the whole situation a bit funny.

“No, no, you don’t have to give my stuff back. I don’t care about missing paper clips and shoe laces,” he said with a laugh.

“Wh… what do you want with me then?”

Matt paused. Honestly, he had caught you because he was pissed. But after getting a sense of you, he didn’t have it in him to keep being nasty.

“I want you to be honest with me. No more taking my food while I’m in the middle of cooking. I can leave some stuff out for you.”

Your jaw was quivering. What were you supposed to say to that?

lol and that’s as far as i ever got

[keanureevesisbae]

The alluring charm of Henry Cavill - Chapter 5

Summary: After a short two day break, Adelaide finally comes back to the cottage. During their next challenge however, things don’t go to plan. 

Henry Cavill x Adelaide Park (ofc)

Wordcount: 7.9k (I know, this is a lot, but I don’t know what happened to me

Warnings: Descriptions of a haunted house and what can be found in them.

Masterlist // Previous chapter // Next chapter

I’ve been here in Italy for a week and a half now, but I have to take a small break, because the I had to travel to Switzerland. It was only for two days, to sign some papers and meet up with the director. The filming process isn’t starting for three more months, but it’s nice to know a bit more about it and to finally see the director in real life.

Plus it felt like I finally had time to breath, when I’m not being surrounded by camera’s. Henry and I prerecorded our challenges, so the schedule isn’t messed up.

Two days ago, the second episode aired and I actually liked the way people write about us and me. For once I’m not the ditz, but I’m the daredevil and actually quite smart.

I’m in the back of a taxi, as the driver soars over the roads. Thankfully he can’t hear me because of the plastic that separates us and from the looks of it, he doesn’t want to talk to me. That’s a good thing, because I see my dad wants to FaceTime me. ‘Hi,’ I say when I pick up.

Ever since I have been making a lot of money, he started to look even better and better. Not because I’m paying for his botox, but because he finally can relax. Years of overworking himself, stressing over me and my mom, it took a toll on him. Though he still works hard to make sure my mom is happy, it’s nothing compared to what he had to do.

The smile on my father’s face when he sees me is priceless. Even when I was younger, his entire face would light up when he saw me. I’m happy to know that I still have that effect on my dad, even when there is an ocean in between us and we’re on FaceTime. ‘You look so pretty,’ is the first thing he tells me.

He is an absolute sweetheart. ‘Thank you.’

‘Where are you?’

‘I’m in a taxi, appa. I went to Switzerland for my new movie. Now I’m on my way back to Italy, to the cottage I’m staying at.’

‘Right,’ he says. He tilts his head. ‘You okay?’

‘I’m totally fine,’ I tell him. ‘Why? Don’t you like the show?’

He smiles, holding his phone very close to his face, as if he is closer to me then. ‘I do, but you look tired.’

I simply shrug. ‘I’m okay. How is eomma? She likes the show?’

Dad nods. ‘She is resting now, but she loves the show. Tell me, you like this Henry guy?’

Why am I blushing? What a way to give yourself away, Adelaide Park. ‘I like being around him, yes.’

‘Don’t lie,’ he says. ‘I taught you better than to lie to your appa. You like like him, right? I can tell, you know. Your smile when you’re with him tells me enough and you do that thing.’

My brows furrow together. ‘What thing?’

‘You touchy.’

‘That sounds perverted,’ I say. ‘And by the way, I’m not touchy.’

‘You are,’ dad tells me and this man is dead serious. ‘You touch his arm in your sleep. You always do that when you sleep, touch the other person. I remember when you were little girl, maybe five, and it was summer. It was very hot. Normally at that age, you always lay next to me, very close, because you were scared. But it was too hot, so you only placed your hand on my arm, because you couldn’t sleep without psychically knowing that I was there.’

I’m so grateful that there are no camera’s around, because this is one way to get exposed.

‘Also, you are happy around him. I haven’t seen you like that in a long time,’ he says with a smile.

I lean my head against the head rest. ‘I’m always happy,’ I tell him. ‘Not just because of him.’

He simply nods. ‘I see you don’t want to talk about it. That’s okay, I understand. You don’t want to talk about your love life with your appa.’

‘This is barely a love life,’ I chuckle.

‘It’s more than you have now.’

I purse my lips together, to not burst out into laughter. ‘Thanks for putting it into perspective.’

‘You take good care of yourself?’

‘Yes, dad.’

He nods. ‘I’m very proud of you,’ he says in all seriousness. ‘Only a daughter of mine eats fried spider like it’s nothing.’

I keep thinking about that challenge. It was disgusting, sure, but it’s true what I said: I can eat anything. One time, we didn’t have anything to eat and my dad was desperate. After spending an entire day at school, with only half an apple, I was starving and crying. It was pretty rough weather outside, so he couldn’t go on his usual round of finding food behind the restaurants, something he did when it was a situation like this. He went to the garden and found us some earthworms. My mom refused to eat it, after dad sort of made a meal out of it. She told him she wasn’t going to accept that we were that poor that we needed to eat earthworms.

What was next? He was going to snatch the snails out of the yard? He was going to catch a pigeon? Go fishing in the lake a few kilometers from our house?

They started fighting. My mom was mad at my dad, my dad thought she was being ungrateful. Just to stop them from fighting, I ate the fried earthworm and despite it being disgusting, I was too hungry and needed something in my stomach. It instantly stopped them from fighting and my dad was proud of me eating it. My mom even ate one, because she didn’t want me to think any less of her, she told me years later.

We talk for a bit and then he has to hang up, since he needs to do some groceries. I stare at the picture he send me yesterday. We don’t have many pictures of us from when I was younger, but he actually found the only one we have of the three of us. It was during Christmas. Both him and my mom were home when I was seven and the neighbor came over with her polaroid camera. She made a picture of us and during a clean up session, my dad found it again.

I remember what he texted with the picture: I loved you when you were born, I loved you when you were my little princess and I still love you now you are my hardworking princess. I’m so proud of you.

I’m pulled out of my thoughts, when I see that Henry wants to FaceTime. I answer the call and see his handsome face appear on my screen. ‘There you are,’ he says, a grin spread across his face. ‘Are you almost home?’

Home. I never had a place that I called home. It was always the people that made a place home. My parents were my home and since I moved out for my career in the acting industry, I have an apartment where I stay, but it’s never a home. I can’t seem to turn it into a home.

But staying in this cottage with Henry, felt homey, but I didn’t dare to call it a home, not wanting to come across weird or desperate.

However Henry does it now and it makes my heart skip a beat.

I look at the navigation screen and say: ‘Forty minutes.’

‘I miss you,’ he admits.

This shouldn’t make me blush like it does right now. I can’t stop my smile. ‘You miss me?’ I teasingly ask.

‘A whole lot, Addy. The place is so quiet without you here.’ He flashes me a dashing smile and sits outside on the doorstep, in the nice evening sun. ‘How was Switzerland?’

‘It was okay,’ I tell him. ‘The place where we are going to shoot is beautiful.’

‘Did the director have someone in mind for the love interest?’

I nod. ‘Yes, he is thinking about asking David Castañeda again. We also starred in another movie together and he liked our chemistry.’

When I told Henry about what the movie was about, he simply raised his eyebrows. It’s about a woman who goes to Switzerland, she is a journalist and needs to write a story about a mysterious man who owns way too many dogs and no one seems to understand him.

I don’t really need to explain how the rest of the movie will go, since it’s still a romantic comedy, thus pretty self explanatory what is going to happen.

‘But if David says no…?’

‘We’re back at square one,’ I say. ‘You sure I can’t pursue you?’

‘You, Addy, can pursue me any day.’ He winks at me, but I don’t understand the joke. ‘I think you wanted to persuade me, not pursue me.’

Oh shit, this is embarrassing. I’m tempted to open the car door while we’re going this fast, simply to throw myself out. ‘Yeah, I meant persuade. Sorry, English is hard.’

Henry smiles, but it disappears when he looks at me on his screen and he tilts his head in the process. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I’m fine.’

‘You have watery eyes.’

I clear my throat, before I blink away the tears in my eyes, because I indeed have watery eyes. ‘Really, it’s fine.’

‘Sure?’

Though I want to tell him a bit more about my private life, the words never roll out of my mouth. Like something is physically stopping me. However, now I say: ‘My dad called me. Just wanted to know how I was.’

Henry nods. ‘When was the last time you saw him?’

‘Think eight months ago. I just miss him a lot, just like I miss my mom.’

‘Understandably so.’ He leans against the doorframe, while he simply stares at his screen. ‘What did they think of the show?’

‘They liked it, but they like every single thing I’m in. They rewatch interviews, movies and episodes of Remembering High School when they miss me.’ I smile, thinking about the millions of videos that my dad send me of them rewatching episodes. He would film himself and say sweet things about how his daughter is the most talented one on the screen, or that his daughter is the prettiest. I know that he sends those videos to me, but he also sends them to friends. ‘I think I just realized now how much I miss them.’

‘That’s totally understandable,’ Henry says. ‘Are you going to visit them once this is over?’

‘I think so.’

Henry smiles. ‘Well, they can be proud of you and they should be. I am proud of you too,’ he says. ‘I mean, you totally put me to shame with that food challenge. I even got a message from Angela Bassett, saying how you are by far the coolest and that I’m a wimp.’

I chuckle. ‘That’s sweet and she is right.’

We talk for a while and those forty minutes fly by. The taxi stops in front of the cottage and Henry stands up with a bright smile. He always looks so happy to see me. The chauffeur hands me my bag and after I thanked him, he gets in again and drives off. Henry walks over to me and snakes his arms around my waist, lifting me up after he pulled me close to his body. ‘I’m happy to know that you aren’t going to leave me here again in this cottage,’ he says. ‘It felt like every second went by at least seven times.’

Sure, what he said was sweet, but I can’t seem to focus on those words, since this is the tightest hug someone has given me, apart from my parents of course. This is actually the first time he is hugging me. I press my nose in his shoulder, taking in his familiar scent and I close my eyes.

I’m really home now.

He lets go of me way too quickly. ‘I made you dinner.’

‘Really?’ I ask. ‘What did you make me?’

‘Pasta bolognese. When in Rome, right?’ He points a daring finger at me and says: ‘Don’t you dare say we aren’t in Rome.’

‘I wouldn’t dare,’ I chuckle. He holds out his hand and I give him my bag, before we walk into the cottage. During dinner, I tell him more about the movie and how beautiful the little town was where we’re going to film.

‘Isn’t it tiring, though?’ Henry asks. ‘To constantly play in romantic comedies?’

He asked me this before, but I didn’t know him that well to answer truthfully. Now I do know him well enough, to at least be sort of honest, without sounding like an ungrateful bitch. I simply shrug. ‘Sometimes I wished I would get other offers, but I guess I just have the face for romantic comedies.’

‘What kind of genre would you like to play in?’

‘Like a thriller or an action movie,’ I say. ‘More serious, you know? Maybe even Lara Croft one day. That would be amazing.’

‘You would nail Lara Croft,’ he says. ‘I feel like you have a lot of potential to play in tons of different movies. You would do great in a drama too, but a thriller is something I would like you to star in. Really different from what you do now.’

‘Don’t you ever want to play in a romantic comedy or something really serious?’ I ask him. ‘A drama for example?’

‘I would like to try it out one day,’ he says.

‘I think you would be great in a romantic comedy. You have that charm that women fall for.’

Henry cocks an eyebrow. ‘A charm you say?’

‘Yeah, exactly.’ I smile at him, stirring through my pasta. ‘What is a role you really want to portray one day? I mean, you already played Superman, that was pretty awesome.’

He nods. ‘Maybe James Bond one day.’

‘Why would you want to do that?’

‘I mean… It’s James Bond. That’s almost every men’s dream.’ Henry takes a sip of his water, as he clearly is studying my face. ‘Why? Don’t you like James Bond?’

I shake my head. ‘My mom hated the movies with a passion when I was growing up. It’s kind of sexist, really. I feel like, if you should ever play a movie with something like that, you should look into a movie where they create a whole new legendary character. Just like Keanu Reeves is the start of a John Wick legacy, you could be the start of something else.’ I smile at him, before adding: ‘You deserve better than to portray James Bond, Henry.’

He plays with his food for a second, before he looks at me again. ‘You think so?’

I nod. ‘Of course. I wouldn’t lie to you.’

Henry smiles. ‘Well, I’ll consider it.’

After we finish our dinner, I take a shower and get dressed in my pajamas. Despite the fact that I only drove back to the cottage today from Switzerland, I am really tired. Before I would go to bed early, simply to avoid falling in sleep in front of him, but now we usually get in bed together. We talk about tons of stuff before we actually fall asleep, still with the wall of pillows between us.

My mind is nearly in Dreamland already. I turn on my side and wrap my leg and arm around the pillows, my fingertips accidentally caressing his soft skin. ‘You don’t mind me doing this?’ I groggily whisper, still remembering my dad’s words that I’m apparently doing that thing.

‘I don’t,’ Henry says. ‘I think it’s sweet.’

I open my eyes for a brief second and I see him already looking at me, a smile toying on his face.

‘Go to sleep, Addy. Tomorrow you and I go swimming in the morning, remember?’

‘Oh right,’ I yawn, closing my eyes again. Somehow my hand finds his and I hesitate for a second. Should I pull my hand back or just leave it here? Thankfully I don’t have to think about that, because Henry wraps his fingers through mine and whispers: ‘Good night, Adelaide.’

‘Good night,’ I mumble, slowly drifting off to sleep.

◎ ◎ ◎

The next morning, I’m back in the insanely cold pool again with Henry. We’ve done this two times before now, but I still don’t trust myself enough to do something alone in the water. Even if it’s just holding the edge, as I’m sort of swimming by myself, Henry close by. I know that even if I do that, he wouldn’t let anything happen to me.

‘No, no, no,’ I quickly say, when he suggests that same idea, for the second time this morning. ‘Don’t let go of me, please.’

‘Addy, have I ever let go of you, when you didn’t want me to?’ he asks me. He decides to answer his own question. ‘No, I have never done that, so I’m not going to do that now. I’m just going to remove one hand from your waist to hold your hand, okay?’

‘No,’ I whine.

Henry starts to chuckle. ‘What’s up with you today?’ he asks. ‘You’re shaking. Is the water that cold or are you scared?’

‘I’m scared,’ I admit. ‘I know that I have to do it myself one day and at least try a bit alone, but not today. Please.’

‘Okay, not today,’ he assures me. ‘You seem a bit tense. Is everything okay?’

I sigh. ‘I just got a text from my dad this morning,’ I whisper, but loud enough for him to hear it, maybe not loud enough for the “hidden” camera’s that are stationed in the garden to pick up. ‘It’s just that my mom has a cold and that always worries me.’

‘Why?’ he asks, as he stops walking in the water.

I don’t want to tell him, but I know that I eventually will. My arms are wrapped around his shoulders, while his fingers are circling on my skin. It’s such a small, yet caring gesture from his side. ‘My mom is paralyzed from the waist down,’ I tell him. ‘But… She… After she got paralyzed, she never got back to her old health, if that makes sense. She is very prone to colds and a simply cold can turn into a nasty flu and that can result into her needing to go to the hospital. She ended up in the emergency room a few times and each time I wasn’t home. My dad always tells me not to worry about her, just like my mom tells me not to worry, but it’s hard. I worry a lot about them all the time, especially when she’s sick.’

Henry doesn’t say anything, he simply studies my face. ‘I had no idea,’ he tells me. ‘Come here.’ He pulls me towards his body and I nuzzle my face in his neck. ‘I’m so sorry, Addy. I understand you worry a lot about them, but… I just have to ask: why don’t you tone it down with the movies, so you can be with them?’

I pull back and say: ‘Because… I want to provide for them.’

‘Why?’ His blue eyes almost look innocent. I have to hold myself in, not to brush the wet curls out of his face, not to press my nose against his cheek, to kiss his jaw, feeling the short hairs puncture my lips. I can’t stop myself falling in love with him. He is everything that I was apparently looking for in a man. He is kind, he is patient and he is caring. He knows how to cook, he can read me like the back of his hand and yesterday, the way he held my hand when I went to sleep, is making me feel all sorts of things.

But there is one thing that I know: if he ever becomes a bigger part of my life, he should know more about me. I have been dodging it for too long now, but I should tell him. And even if we don’t become an item, I know that we will end up as friends. I know that after the Celebrity Project ends, I don’t ever want him out of my life again.

‘When I grew up, we were very poor,’ I say. ‘Like, my dad had to work long hours in a factory, my mom became a live in nanny and I had to raise myself. My dad barely ate after a long day of work, so mom and I could have most of it, when my mom would be home to eat it. I went to one of the only schools that was close by and was free. It wasn’t a great school, I don’t even think my teachers remember me at all. We couldn’t afford testing for me, something that my parents didn’t even know about, because they couldn’t miss a day at their jobs and I did my own parent teacher meetings.’

‘Geez, Adelaide,’ he says. ‘I’m so sorry.’

I clear my throat, because I don’t want to cry. ‘When I was nineteen, I was working at a diner, to help meet ends back at home, since I couldn’t go to college, my mom was hit by a car and left paralyzed. The medical bills were out of the roof and she needed physical therapy, but we couldn’t afford it. And that’s the whole reason I started acting in ‘Remembering High School’. I had zero acting experience, but I needed the money. After I made that money and my year on the show was up, I got offered two different movies. A romantic comedy or a thriller, but from the looks of it, the romantic comedy would definitely make more. Thankfully I chose that movie, because the thriller was a big flop. Every penny I earned from that movie and a few after that, went to my parents, for their bills.’

Henry nods and removes his hand from my waist, so he can wipe the tears of my cheeks.  Not that it helps, since his hand is still wet from the water. ‘You are amazing,’ he says. ‘I think you are by far the most amazing woman on this earth. Do you still do that? Give your money to your parents?’

I nod. ‘I don’t really know what I should do with it and my parents worked so hard for me. This is my way of thanking them.’

Henry pulls me closer to him, his arms around my body and I let out a tiny sob that I was holding in, when I bury my face in his strong shoulder. ‘It’s okay,’ he whispers. ‘If you want to go home, you just go home, okay? I totally understand. Your family is more important than this show.’

‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before.’

‘No, no, no, don’t say something like that. I understand. It’s very personal and this isn’t something that you just tell people. You are amazing, Addy, please remember that, okay?’

I nod, before slowly pulling back, so I can look at him again. Henry is smiling. ‘What?’ I ask.

‘You just keep on surprising,’ he says. ‘And in these days that I’m spending time with you, I’ve gotten to know you in a way that I never thought would be possible. Angela spoke so highly of you, though she barely knew you. Now I know you quite well and I can’t speak anything but highly of you.’

I let out a nervous chuckle. ‘You don’t have to.’

‘But I will anyways,’ he smiles. ‘Let’s get out of the pool now, you are freezing.’ We go to the edge and when I climbed out, I grab my towel and wrap it around me. Henry’s perfectly shaped body, with the right hip-shoulder ratio… I can’t help but look.

‘Henry,’ I say, causing him to look up. ‘Thank you.’

He chuckles. ‘Not a single problem, Adelaide.’

◎ ◎ ◎

Dad: No need to worry. Eomma will make it, it’s a tiny flu.

Adelaide: Sure?

Dad: More than sure. Enjoy your time.

Dad: I love you 😘

Adelaide: I love you too 😘

I keep thinking about my dad’s texts. I mean, he tells me that it will be alright and I should believe him. Back in the day, he was always right and that shouldn’t change now.

After our little swimming adventure, Henry and I got ready for the day and now we’re standing in front of a haunted house, waiting for the host of today to get ready. What exactly the challenge is for today, I don’t know, but I’m not looking forward to it at all.

The rest on the other hand seem to be totally fine. Henry places both of his hands on my shoulders and I look back, placing the top of my head against his chest. Even upside down, he is beautiful looking. I bet I look like a moron. ‘Are you okay?’ he quietly asks.

‘I’m fine.’ Thankfully over the course of the years, I have become a better liar, which I think is a skill thanks to my acting career. I have always been a master at hiding my emotions, but when people get closer to me (just my parents, but nowadays Henry too), it’s harder, because they see right through me.

And right now, I’m not fine. My mom is sick and I don’t know how she is doing as we speak. We have to go through the haunted house and I’m afraid that they are going to make us go individually. I really want to go with Henry, because then I can just hop on his back, bury my face in his neck and not look.

However, this show is the stupidest thing I’ve ever participated in, because we have to go through the haunted house all by ourselves, while even doing some challenges while we’re inside.

My heart is racing and I can’t even look at the big screen outside of the house, without jumping. Henry is still standing behind me, with his hands still on my shoulders, his thumbs pressing into the tight muscles to make them less tense. ‘Relax,’ he whispers, when someone else is going inside. ‘You’re going to be fine.’

But I can’t believe him. I’m not going to be fine. Justin screams his lungs out when someone pops up in front of him, as he is trying to solve a Rubik’s cube. Jennifer is hiding in a corner, while she is singing one of her own songs. And when it’s Henry’s turn, he has to solve a sudoku, but he jumps at every little sound and that is really not easing my mind. If a man like him, who nearly tripped over his own feet because I moved the fried tarantula in his face, screams like this when he hears water drip on the floor, how the hell am I supposed to do this?

After watching everyone else go, it’s time for me. I feel like my petite frame reminds them of a kindergartner, because they all wish me extra good luck. Jennifer even pulls me into a motherly hug and whispers that I’ve got this.

But do I have it in me to finish this?

I push open the door and I step into the house of horrors. I could eat the most disgusting looking snacks and people called me a daredevil. I can manage this. This isn’t that terrifying. It’s just fake, it’s like acting.

Only this set looks scary as hell and there is no one out here to say cut.

The lights start to flicker, something they didn’t do before. How am I supposed to read and answer eventual questions if I have to do that? I take a step forward, but my heart is pounding so loud, that my eardrums hurt.

The steps are minuscule, but at least I’m taking steps forward. Every door, every corner, every closed window… It makes me hesitant, but so far, nothing has happened. Maybe the actors that work here feel sorry for me.

I could crawl over the floor, I think to myself. Maybe that would be—

Something falls down from the ceiling and bounces on the floor. I jump backwards, letting out a scream that is more a high whistle note. When I finally can open my eyes again, I notice it’s a head and just a head. ‘It’s fake,’ I tell myself out loud. ‘It’s fake.

But then the head starts to scream, causing me to scream and a tiny sob escapes my lips. No, no, no, this can’t be happening.

I quickly jump over it and hurry myself through the rest of the hall.

Because I’m simply just walking and not paying attention, I bump into a wall and I go left, but someone with a fucking knife comes out of the door and I stumble backwards. Thankfully this person keeps standing in the doorframe and I crawl past them, but he or she keeps standing in the doorway, not attacking me. ‘Thank you,’ I squeak, my throat tightening, almost like someone is physically choking me.

Okay, I managed this and I see a clipboard with some questions on a table. I press my back against the wall, so I can see everyone.

What is the capital of Russia? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy, I think to myself. If these are the questions, I’m out of here within a minute.

I hear footsteps and the light that was flickering two seconds ago, is completely out. It’s dark. Oh no, oh no, oh no.

I can’t see anything, but I hear screams and dark voices. I try to catch my breath, when the light come back on and I’m surrounded by a bloody nurse, a creepy clown and oh my, is that not one, but three zombies? They are really close to me and I can’t help up but scream bloody murder, as I hide my face behind the clipboard. ‘No, go away, go away!’

Is that a fucking chainsaw?

I open my eyes for a second, only to see that someone who looks like Chucky is really close now with a chainsaw. This doesn’t seem fake anymore. This seems way too real and my brain is going crazy. What is happening? Am I dying?

I start to cough, as the tears run over my cheeks. ‘No, stop, please!’

I hear something, but the pounding of my heart is too hard for me to hear what is happening. All I can do is cry, shake and cough as the tears nearly make me choke.

‘Addy, I’m here,’ I hear a voice say, but I keep hiding my face in my face, kicking my feet and I hit something. ‘Ouch, no, no, it’s me, Henry. Don’t worry, it’s all over.’

I peek through my fingers, to see the lights are on and all the scary people that cornered me, are gone. The only one I see now, is Henry. My cheeks are flushed and my eyes hurt from crying. I try to say something, but my breathing is all over the place.

Henry holds my hands and places one on my own chest and the other on his. ‘Try to breath with me, Adelaide,’ he says to me. ‘Now breath in deeply.’ He takes a deep breath, holds it for a second, before slowly breathing out. I try to copy him, but my breathing is too erratic. It takes at least ten times before I’m finally sort of managing. ‘Very good,’ he says in a soft tone. ‘Very good.’

‘Is it over?’ I whimper.

Henry nods, holding my hand tightly in his. ‘It’s all over. I’m so sorry that this happened to you and I’m sorry I didn’t come in here way sooner. I should’ve noticed that this was too much.’

‘Did we lose?’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ he says sternly. ‘You shouldn’t worry about that.’ Henry stands up and pulls me with him, but my legs feel like jello and simply give out, because of all the adrenaline that is breaking down. I cling onto his shirt, as he holds me up by my waist.

‘I can’t anymore,’ I cry, as I bury my face into his shirt, not caring about wiping my tears on the fabric. ‘I’m so scared.’

‘I know,’ he sighs. ‘Fuck, I know.’ He hoists me up in his arms, guiding me into wrapping my legs around his waist. ‘Don’t look,’ he tells me.

I don’t even want to look at this awful, awful place anymore, so I bury my face into his neck, as he walks out of the haunted house. He places me on the soft grass and he runs his fingers through my disheveled hair. ‘Addy, listen to me,’ he says, ‘you’re breathing is good, but you need to make sure that it stays like this okay?’

I simply nod. ‘I’m just so embarrassed.’

‘There is absolutely no need to be embarrassed,’ he tells me. ‘You can stop with this program if you want. I mean, I totally understand that you want to quit.’

‘I think I just want tomorrow off,’ I whisper. ‘And do nothing.’

‘I understand,’ he says. ‘You want to go home?’

Home. ‘As long as you are there.’

Henry smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. ‘I’m not leaving you, Addy. Not after this.’

◎ ◎ ◎

When Henry and I are home, I feel disgusting. I could actually use a shower, but I’m too afraid of standing in the shower cabin by myself and I don’t want to shower with Henry (our friendship is too fragile for that), so a simple washing cloth should do the trick.

The producers of the Celebrity Project gave me the next day off and depending on how I feel after tomorrow, I will decide whether or not I’m staying here. I don’t want to give up and I think I can overcome this.

Henry sits next to me on the couch, as we both stare at the television. We have been watching Mamma Mia, simply because of the ABBA songs and the story line is predictable and predictability is exactly what I need right now. ‘You want something to drink?’ he asks me, when the credits are rolling on the screen.

I shake my head. ‘No, thank you.’

‘How are you feeling?’

‘I don’t know,’ I whisper.

‘Do you want to go to bed?’ he suggests. ‘We could do that. I bet you are tired.’

I am tired and the fact that he said that we could do that, must indicate that he is going to stay with me, right? I simply nod and he says he is going to close off. To be alone is not what I want right now, so I follow him around the cottage like a puppy.

When we’re in bed, I ask him if he wants to leave the light on his nightstand on. I still sit up straight in bed, my arms wrapped around my knees. Henry places a hand on my back.

‘I’m scared,’ I whisper, as I feel my heart pounding painfully in my chest.

He sighs deeply. ‘I know. Is there anything I can do for you?’

I turn my head to the side, so I can look at him. ‘Can… Can you… Can you hold me, please?’ Tears burn in my eyes. ‘I’m so scared, Henry.’

He throws the pillows from the bed, before I crawl into his inviting arms. I place my head on his chest, my arm wrapped around his waist. ‘Breath, Addy,’ he whispers. ‘It’s all okay now, I’m right here with you. Nothing can happen to you now.’

However, the tears come again and they aren’t stopping. His large hand cups my cheek, his thumb caressing the skin right underneath my eye. He lets me cry, even though I have been crying a lot for the past few hours.

I force myself to stop, because I’m out of breath and I’m just too tired to cry anymore. Henry pulls me closer to his broad and heavy frame.

‘There, there,’ he says in a soft tone. ‘You are all okay now.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ I whisper.

‘No need to be sorry, Addy. You just try and go to sleep, because you are really tired and after this day… You should just sleep, okay?’

During the night, I wake up a few times, but every single time I’m closely tugged into Henry’s protective arms. Sometimes he is behind me, his face buried in my neck or my hair, our hands linked. Sometimes I have my head on his shoulder and then my face is nuzzled in his neck. But every time I wake up, he is still awake. ‘Go back to sleep,’ he whispers, his fingers drawing soothing circles on my skin.

And as if his voice is working like hypnosis, I drift off right back to sleep.

◎ ◎ ◎

The next day, Henry has been nothing but a sweetheart to me and halfway through the day, I feel a whole lot better and decide to stay here and finish the competition. I don’t care that we are last and that we are probably going to lose anyways.

The two of us decide to take a walk through a large orchard, with trees filled with apples and oranges. We end up on a lovely field and I plop down in the grass. The sun is burning on my skin, but I chose a spot near a tree, so we can alternate between sitting in the sun and the shadows.

Henry and I lean against the tree when the sun is too hot for us to sit in, as we stare ahead of us. ‘You know,’ he says, ‘I was wondering something.’

‘Tell me.’

‘You kept your personal life very private over the course of the years. Why was that?’

‘I thought it wasn’t anyones business.’ I look to the side and chuckle. ‘That’s the I try to be really tough-answer, but the truth is: I was embarrassed. No one at school knew about my situation at home and I certainly didn’t want the entire world to know.’

‘You didn’t have any friends?’

I shake my head. ‘Yet again: I was too embarrassed to share this with anyone. Besides, I was the weird girl who wore the same clothes for three days on end.’

‘Kids can be cruel,’ he says, referring to his own past.

I wrap my arms around his strong one, pressing my cheek against his bicep. ‘They can.’

‘Can I ask something else?’

‘You can.’

‘Have you ever dated?’

I place my chin on his arm, so I can actually look at him again. ‘No, I have never.’

‘You have played alongside quite a few single guys. Was there not a spark in real life?’

‘Goodness gracious, Henry, you sound like you’re in a retirement home. A spark in real life? Really?’

He chuckles. ‘You get what I’m saying.’

‘I do,’ I say with a smile. ‘But to answer your question, no, there wasn’t. I mean, I remain in contact with some of them and we’re still friendly, but I never let them in. Not like how I’m with you.’ I place my cheek against his bicep again, but one of my hands slides down his arm. He intertwines his fingers with mine and his thumb draws soft figures on my skin.

Henry nods. ‘You know,’ he says, ‘you are really one of a kind.’

‘Why?’

‘Because you do something that no one else does. You haven’t mentioned my appearance once since we are here.’

‘Really?’ I ask frowning. ‘I thought about your appearance quite a few times.’

He smiles. ‘But you never voiced it. You know, it’s flattering that people comment about my appearance, but you don’t do that. You comment about my personality traits and I don’t want to become all sappy, but… It means a lot.’

‘You are sappy,’ I mumble, causing him to laugh. ‘But since we are being sappy with one another, I should tell you that… You are one of a kind too. You give me a chance. I remember one of the first times I was having issues with speaking and you didn’t fill in the rest. You just waited till I could finish my sentence. That means… a lot. Also, Henry, you… You ran into the haunted house for me.’

‘How…’

‘I saw the footage,’ I say with a smile, remembering what I saw this morning.

He was standing outside, his arms crossed in front of his chest, a deep frown between his brows. ‘Can you just leave the lights on?’ he asked. ‘Flickering lights make it harder for Adelaide to concentrate.’

But there was no response. He shook his head, clenched his jaw and eventually he simply walked away. He went in the haunted house, pressed the “Stop” button, before rushing towards me, pulling some of the actors away. ‘It’s over,’ he told them. ‘Get the fuck out of here.’

After seeing the footage, it made my heart swell like crazy. ‘Quite romantic, really,’ I chuckle.

He laughs, but it sounds more nervous this time. ‘Well… It was nothing.’

‘It meant the world to me,’ I retort. And because of that, I think I’m even more in love with you than I already was. However it doesn’t leave my lips. I don’t want to scare him off.

‘This never happened to me before,’ Henry says. ‘Feeling about someone like this.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like how I feel about you.’ He squeezes my hand, before continuing by saying: ‘I care so much about you, Adelaide. Before you told me about your life, after you told me about your life. Even if we don’t win this contest, I did win something else. I won the privilege to get to know you.’

‘You care for me,’ I repeat, letting those words process for a bit. But that’s not falling in love with me.

‘And,’ he continues, ‘I’m slowly falling for you too.’

I resit, so I don’t strain my neck when I look at him. ‘What?’

He holds my hand tightly in his, as if he is afraid that I might slip away. ‘I’m falling in love with you, Adelaide Park.’

I bite my lip. ‘You are?’

‘I am,’ he confirms. ‘Even if we don’t win this show, I want to figure out how we can manage after this. Maybe you can even tone it down with your movies.’

I chuckle, hiding my face in my hand. ‘Maybe I can do that.’ I look at our linked hands and I whisper: ‘I’m falling love with you too, Henry Cavill.’

‘You are?’ he asks with a smile. ‘Lucky me.’

We don’t say anything. I just look into his eyes, trying to figure out what he is thinking. I can see him staring at my lips, before he moistens his own. ‘When I kiss you,’ he says, ‘there is one problem. I fear that I can’t stop then, but I also want us to remain a little secret. For time being of course.’

I nod. ‘Then you don’t kiss me.’

‘But I want to,’ he chuckles.

‘You have to pick one of the options.’

‘What do you want?’

‘I mean…’ I purse my lips together. ‘I wouldn’t mind if we kissed.’

Henry pulls me closer by my hand. I lose a bit of my balance, so I fall against his chest. ‘Careful now, Addy,’ he chuckles. ‘We don’t want any injuries, now do we?’

‘Shut up.’ I finally place my hand on his cheek and as my thumb is slowly caressing his soft skin, I accidentally graze over his velvety lips. He turns his head, to kiss the palm of my hand.

‘Can I kiss you?’ he asks against my skin, as he places his hand on mine, so he can press another, but more firm kiss on the inside of my hand. ‘You can say no.’

‘I want to kiss you,’ I hoarsely whisper. ‘Badly so.’

‘Badly so,’ he repeats with a self fulfilled grin on his face. He leans in closer to me and teasingly kisses my cheek, the tip of my nose and even my forehead. ‘Where?’ he whispers. ‘Where do you want me to kiss you?’

‘Right here,’ I whisper, before pressing my lips on his. They fit perfectly on each other. I cradle his face in my hands, as he pulls me closer to his body, though my legs are in the way. Without even thinking about it, I sit on his lap, causing him to smile underneath the kiss.

‘Badly so it was,’ he mumbles against my lips, his hands slipping underneath my shirt. He opens his mouth and carefully his tongue invades my mouth. I whimper, as his fingers dig into my back, his thumbs softly circling my stomach.

How many on screen kisses have I done?

Billions.

How many felt like this?

None.

I pull back, so I can catch my breath, but he is not giving me a break. He buries his face in the crook of my neck, pressing wet kisses on my delicate skin. ‘Can we stay here forever?’ he asks against my collarbone. ‘I don’t want to go back to the camera’s.’

‘Me neither,’ I whisper. I place my pointer finger underneath his chin, lifting his face. ‘How are we going to do this back at the cottage?’

‘Well,’ he chuckles, ‘we are already behaving like a cute couple, so we don’t have to change a lot about that. Just have to hold back the kisses.’

My fingers run through his curls, messing them up a little, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Henry simply smiles at me. ‘I think we can manage that,’ I say, smiling back at him.

‘Can I have another kiss?’ he asks.

‘You can,’ I whisper, before he captures my lips again. This kiss is even more intense and my fingers toy with the buttons of his shirt, when we hear someone clear their throat. We look up, to see a little boy staring at us, while his grandmother is screaming something in the back. ‘Maybe we should find another place,’ I suggest, stepping off his lap.

‘Yeah,’ Henry says, ‘maybe we should.’

◎ ◎ ◎

Adelaide: You were right.

Adelaide: I like Henry a lot

Dad: I’m always right

Adelaide: And I kissed him.

Dad: You didn’t?

Adelaide: I did, but please keep this a secret.

Dad: I can tell your eomma right?

Adelaide: Yes you can

Adelaide: I love you 😘

Dad: I love you too, future mrs. Cavill

Adelaide: Please, don’t.

◎ ◎ ◎

Taglist: @thelastsock​ // @jolly-polly​ // @henrythickcavill​ // @maan24​ // @diegos-butt​ / @agniavateira​ // @onlyhenrys​ // @turkish276​ //

[cracknoir]

headcanons: 

there were A LOT more members of The Gang back in the day. Most of them are dead. Kind of why so many of my characters are dead in canon, lbr this really is the Jimmy Show and the rest are just side-characters

little jake’s probably depressed, doesn’t realize

on the same note, jack has a lot of trouble sleeping

,jimmy liked fucking other peoples wives, if you asked him why he did this he’s tell you it was psychological warfare but really it was a power thing. also i said “liked” cos that would be pre zoe dying. when he comes back to new york, he sees sex as a waste of time, he has sex three times over the course of two years in the test-run novel thing i did. 

that said, as a part two to the above, when he came back to new york after a while he did actually get into a pretty healthy relationship, right up until he ended up killing her dad

this isn’t really a headcanon, more just me relaying the characters history bc i don’t think it’s actually on this blog, but alex served in iraq

bruce goes on 4chan

not really a headcanon but i was watching this youtube video were they read out reviews of strip clubs or something and one of them said something like “and the bartender always has her derelict boyfriend hanging around” and how fucking good is derelict for a descriptor of a person. im deffo gonna use that at some point and u should too. it would make me very happy

jack and little jake play fifa on ps4 regularly 

jack’s apartment is tiny, one bedroom, “spider”, his elusive room-mate, is meant to have the bedroom - hence why jack has a sofa-bed, but since Spider’s never around jack keeps all his clothes in there, in a big rumpled pile 

molly has a lot of fairy lights in her bedroom 

why have i never been interested in aus??? because everything is always canon forever. like, my marvel verse is just jimmy sometimes gets beat up by daredevil and that’s about the only difference

molly preferred weapon is an uzi, she also carries knuckle dusters

little jake bites his fingernails

jack regularly goes to the beach just to skim rocks. he also loves fishing but rarely gets a chance to do it. the americans don’t think twice about driving two hours but jack sure as hell does. he has tried fishing the hudson but it only served to depress him 

oliver was a cowboy before he turned into a skinwalker. he was lost to the madness in the mountains. i’ll probs flesh this out a bit further if i ever write that spooky cowboy thing i’ve been wanting to 

if u want jimmy to do something for u, money ain’t the way to get him to do it. he’ll usually ask for a favor

kayleigh’s killed a few people, but she never killed anyone before she moved to america, and she’s only ever done it in self defense/self preservation -- she has also killed to save the lives of members of the gang

satan can be killed, but a person couldn’t do it

jimmy will smoke meth don’t test him 

brad really fooled dmitri into thinking he was an ally. took him fucking years to gain his trust. rasputin saw straight through him and tried to choke him to death. 

jimmy’s default ringtone is sex noises, but he usually has his phone on vibrate 

mollys apartment is shitty on the outside but really nice inside. she’s never moved, but always put her money into doing up her apartment. 

im heavy regretting calling molly molly because she loves molly and it feels weird having american characters say ecstasy instead of molly so that the sentences dont read like molly loves molly. like i called her molly cos she loves molly. i fucked it.  

its been so fucking hot here the past couple days why am i melting 

buck has a boxing name but idk what it is. was thinking buck the bruiser but that’s kinda shit 

all my characters have a severe case of swamp ass 

bruce talks to himself a lot. 

bruce loves the cheesecake donuts from dunkin donuts. spends a lot of time down there with crooked cops 

been thinkin a lot about space lately and how big things are. been thinkin a lot about trees 

i have no idea how im gonna do it but i have a swamp monster character called flower and i really want to rp her but like it’s annoying cos i can see what she looks like and there’s nothing i could icon that would even come close. could maybe icon the swamp-thing tv series but like,,,, it ain’t right 

[thorsterstrudle]

Scar Tissue

Anon request: can you pleaseeee write a daredevil x reader smut with a lot of teasing & appreciating his body? if you don’t write about daredevil anymore that’s totally fine though!

Daredevil x reader

Warnings: Unprotected Sex (Wrap the Willy before you get Silly), swearing, general NSFW, Law Jargon

You stormed into the dusty attorney office, absolutely fuming. As the already fragile door slammed behind you, your eyes scanned the small lobby. They fell on Karen, who uncomfortably shifted in her pencil skirt behind the desk.

“Can I help you, ma’am?” Karen eyed you carefully.

“Yes, actually, I need to speak to Matthew Murdock,” you straightened, looking at each door to the small individual offices before adding, “now.”

You softened slightly as Karen’s wide eyes looked at her with a kind of fear. You were used to this look. It was how your co-counsel looked at you when she went off-script cross-examining a witness. It was how defendants looked when you stared them down as they sat on the stand. It was how opposing counsel looked when you introduced herself as the representative of the state. It was how everyone looked at you, except for one person.

How unfortunate.

Karen stood and walked over to the door labeled, ‘Matthew Murdock, Esq.’ before knocking and opening the door briefly. 

You stared at that crack in the door as if you were going to burn a hole through the back of Karen’s head. You didn’t have a lot of time, and if you wasted any more time on this stupid plea deal, you’d lose your patience.

“It’s okay, let her in,” you heard the deep, gravelly voice from the other side of the door and began approaching before Karen had even turned to her.

“Thank you,” you said to the secretary before opening the door the rest of the way and closing it behind you. You should have felt bad about closing the door in Karen’s face, but where would you be if you thought like that?

“Would you like to sit down, Ms. YLN?” Murdock asked.

You ignored him, jumping immediately into the issue at hand.

“How dare you encourage him to deny our plea deal?” You stuck a finger out, pointing a manicured nail directly into Murdock’s face; his expression never changed, of course.

“Who are you referring to, Ms. YLN?” Murdock played dumb, waiting for you to explode. And, exactly as he had hoped, you did.

“I am talking about the Sims trial, Murdock, and you know it. We offered that plea deal on good faith that you would advise him to accept it, and what did you do?” You took a deep breath, feeling your voice go into that dark, commanding tone that you only use when your fury has been pent up for far too long.

“I encouraged Mr. Sims to deny the plea deal in favor of trial,” Murdoch’s expression never changed, and his voice never wavered, and for that, you were impressed but even more frustrated.

“Listen,” you started, pinching the bridge of your nose, “I really don’t have time for this. And we both know that taking Sims to trial is a waste of tax-payer money and our time. So, just have him agree to the deal, and we’ll be good, okay?” You found your voice turning up in false sweetness at the end before glaring daggers towards the defense attorney across from you.

“I have to disagree, Ms. YLN,” Murdock replied, a small smile on his face as you huffed at his answer, “I think that Mr. Sims is innocent until proven guilty, and that can only be done in a court of law.”

It took all of the willpower you had gained from dealing with privileged frat boys in college and law school to not slam your fist on the table…maybe that would get something more than a calm smile from the blind man.

Getting this plea deal pushed through would keep your record clean. You knew that if this case went to court, it wasn’t a sure conviction, which meant you could have a loss on your hands, and that was the last thing you wanted. Being the youngest partner at your firm meant you had to be aggressive and tenacious, and you had been, but it just wasn’t enough to crack Murdock.

“How about this, Ms. YLN,” Murdock piped up, interrupting your thoughts, “you’re clearly eager to get this deal, so I will hear you out. Unfortunately, I have a meeting in less than fifteen minutes. If you would like, we can continue this conversation over dinner. My place. 7 o’clock. I’ll have Karen send you the information.”

With that, he stood up, took his walking stick, and moved to leave his office, with you still dumbstruck at his desk.

All you could think was, over and over, that motherfucker.

As promised, Karen sent you the address, and you showed up, still wearing work clothing, though it was different than what you had been wearing earlier that day. You’d ditched your blazer and opted instead for just the blouse and dress pants. This was a work dinner.

You knocked three times, sharp raps against the smooth door. No more than a few seconds later, Murdock opened the door, wearing jeans and a button-down. The sleeves of the button up were rolled past his elbows, and you could see the muscles in his forearms as he gestured for you to come in. You quickly looked away, rolling your eyes at yourself for even paying attention to the way the veins in his arm popped as he closed the door behind you.

“Thank you for doing this,” Murdock said, moving to the counter where a bottle of wine and a spread of Caesar salad, scampi, and warm bread.

“No,” you suddenly found yourself feeling more civil, more polite. It had been a long time since any man had cooked for you. You reminded yourself that this was all for the plea deal. That’s all it was. You continued, “thank you. It looks great.”

He offered you a glass after carefully pouring the wine. You studied him as he did so. His hand found the bottle and made its way up to the neck before moving it to meet the glass and pouring slowly. You wondered how long it had taken him to learn how to do that. At the thought, you shook your head, that was rude. Murdoch was a giant pain in your ass right now, and he was blind, but why should you think him doing something normal was exceptional for him? You checked yourself on your ableism before taking the glass he offered.

You tried your best to not jump immediately into the plea deal. Instead, as you both ate, you asked him how his meeting went. His reply was a smile and a nod before elaborating.

“It was good,” he paused, tilting his head slightly, “not incredibly interesting, as it was about a plea deal.”

You stopped chewing, eyes fixed on him, on the way his jaw ticked slightly before grinning.

“I’m kidding,” he offered. 

You took a breath before chuckling and taking a deep gulp of wine. You looked at Murdoch, a defense attorney trying his best to be nice and cordial to you, a prosecutor known for being ruthless. 

It could have been the one—two, three?—glass of wine, but you didn’t feel like being aggressive or assertive or anything like you were at work. In fact, you would much rather be the easy-going woman you were at home, laughing at yourself for talking back to a commercial or making faces at your nieces through FaceTime. 

“Well any meeting beats listening to Judge Hamilton drone on about courtroom etiquette,” you quipped back, not even realizing it.

Murdock—no, Matt—Matt laughed at that.

“I knew it,” he replied, smiling.

“Knew what?” 

“You’re just like the rest of us, bored to death by Judge Hamilton.”

You couldn’t help but smile again, a full, bright smile that actually showed your teeth. You took another sip of wine before picking up a piece of the bread. As you did, Matt leaned back in his chair, sighing. 

“What’s that for?” You asked, popping the bread into your mouth.

“I guess we have to hash out that plea deal now, don’t we?” He said, eyebrows raised. You Looked at him before letting your eyes travel to his shirt, where the top button had come undone. You shouldn’t stare, should you? But what if I’m staring at something interesting? You thought to yourself. You let your eyes travel downwards, past each button, wondering what wonders lay underneath. And then, just as your eyes reached the beginning of his jeans, your view was blocked by the table.

“Ms. YLN?” Matt said, gaining your attention again, barely hiding his small smile. It’s as if he knows. But, there’s no way, right?

“Y/N,” you replied, “outside of the office, I’m Y/N.”

“Sounds good to me, Y/N.”

A few glasses of wine later, the plea deal was all but forgotten. The two of you traded trial stories and made fun of other attorneys, throwing yourselves into laughing fits until the warmth from the alcohol running through your veins made you wonder. You sat there, looking at Matt once again, wondering what about this night, this supposed-to-be work dinner, made you let go, relax. Wine on its own didn’t do this.

“Penny for your thoughts?” You heard Matt’s voice and realized you had been silent for a little bit too long. You exhaled, almost chuckling.

“Fuck it.”

“What?”

“I don’t know what it is about you, Matthew Murdock, but I don’t want this night to end,” before you knew what you were doing, you stood, chair scraping the floor and walking over to him. You paused before asking, “can I take your hand?”

He nodded, head tilted, listening to you intently.

You looked down and took his right hand before slowly moving it up to your face. You closed your eyes as his fingers delicately felt your features, mapping out your face.

“It’s kinder than I would have thought.”

“And how do you know that?” You said, mesmerized.

“All these gentle curves,” he said, tracing your nose, then your jawline, then, slowly, your lips.

“What about these?” You took his hand again and moved it to your waist before taking his free hand and moving it to the other hip, “are these curves soft?”

He hummed, and you thought you might never forget the sound of it.

Matt stood, hands tightening slightly on your hips. You inhaled sharply, waiting.

“Not as soft as your lips, if I may?” 

You smiled before consenting.

And then, to your absolute delight, Matthew Murdock, your would-be enemy in the court system, placed his lips on yours. He had said your lips were soft, but his were more so. Your arms wrapped around his neck as his arms wrapped around your back.

Before you could stifle it, a moan escaped you.

Instead of pausing like you thought he would, Matt kissed you harder, deeper. Without thinking you moved your hands to his chest, doing some mapping out of your own. You marveled at how firm he was as your hands moved lower.

“These buttons are a bitch,” Matt said as you pulled away slightly, moving to undo the buttons. He scoffed, smiling as, one by one, the button-down was discarded. 

Like so many times before, you found your eyes glued to him. His chest swelled with each breath and his abs contracted as you looked at him. Before you knew it, your hands were on him again, feeling the lines, moving down to his Adonis belt. Your fingers passed over a scar, thick and long. You stopped.

“Stray bullet,” Matt said gently, “and it’s not the only one.”

He said it in a tone that would have confused you if you were any other mental state. It was almost disappointed, like his scars were meant to be disappointing to you. 

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

You knelt, moving closer to him. Once again, he tilted his head, listening to you as you placed your lips on the scar. Looking up, you smirked and began to move again. This time, you made your way up, placing kiss after kiss along his torso, taking special care to attend to the many scars you could now see dotting his body like road markers.

As your lips touched a particular scar on his collarbone, his hand shot up and tangled itself in your hair, bringing you close for another fiery, passionate kiss. You bit his lip gently, and he groaned.

“If I had known you were hiding all of this from me, I would have been a lot more polite,” you said in between kisses. Matt chuckled, his free hand untucking your blouse and feeling the hot skin beneath. You stopped his hand, holding it in place as you discarded your blouse. Then, you led it up to where your lacy white bra covered your breasts.

“Tempting, but I think we’d better move this somewhere a bit more suitable, don’tcha think?” His voice was dark, and you wanted him more than you thought possible. He took your hand and led you to the bedroom, the path memorized in his mind.

He twirled you before having you sit on the bed. This time, he knelt in front of you, hands tracing your skin until they met your dress pants. Quickly unbuttoning and sliding them down your legs, Matt’s fingers were deft and skilled. You wondered what else he could do with those fingers.

The heat in your core grew brighter, impossible to ignore, as Matt made his way back up your legs. His fingers traced up your calves, then over your knees, then your thighs. Your breath caught as they came to your underwear.

One hand made its way up to your torso, pushing you back onto the bed, while the other slid your underwear down and off your legs.

“Please,” you rasped out, ready for whatever he had in store for you. Ever so slowly, you felt him spread your legs, and then, the heat of absolute pleasure as he dove in. His mouth felt so, so sweet as his tongue swirled around your clit before dipping inside of you. 

You moaned, legs involuntarily moving to clench together at the pleasure. Matt, hands rough, but gentle, caught your thighs and held them open as his mouth continued its assault on your core.

He alternated from your clit to dipping inside of you with his tongue, and soon, you were shaking in his grasp. With his right hand, Matt gripped the inside of your thigh tighter, and you felt yourself give way. The white-hot pleasure of your orgasm rolled through you, and you couldn’t keep the pornographic moan inside you.

“Yes, Matt,” you moaned, riding out your high as he continued his onslaught for a few more moments.

Matt pulled away, grinning like an idiot before standing. You opened your eyes and looked at him, blissed out. As your eyes rolled over him again, you could see the outline of his dick in his jeans. 

As quickly as you could in your wobbly state, you pushed yourself into the sitting position, placing more kisses on his chest, then his torso, all the way down to his Adonis belt. You spun him until it was his legs against the bed, before unbuttoning his jeans and pulling them, along with his boxers, down.

You inhaled sharply, a shit-eating grin spreading over your face as you took in the sight of his beautiful, thick cock. You leaned forward, kissing the head.

Matt hummed as you licked a long stripe from the base to the tip. Then, as one hand roamed around his torso, the other ran over his length. You took him into your mouth, bobbing back and forth until he was groaning, one hand in your hair.

You felt him throb in your mouth and you pulled off of him with a pop.

Hand still in your hair, Matt pulled you up, locking lips and grabbing your ass. He moved his other hand from your hair down to your thigh and picked you up, turning, and laying you down onto the bed.

Wasting no time, Matt knelt in between your legs before frowning.

“Shit,” he said.

“What’s wrong?” You began to panic.

“I don’t have any condoms.”

You chuckled, relieved.

“I am as clean as they come, Counselor, and I’m on the pill. So, as long as you’re clean, we have nothing to worry about.”

“Thank God,” he said before leaning down to kiss you again. He held himself up with one arm as he lined himself up with your entrance. Gently, he thrust forward, sinking into you.

You gasped as he groaned. Your eyes rolled back as you relished the feeling of being filled. You wrapped your legs around his back and placed a hand in his hair, tightening your grip when he bottomed out.

“Fuck,” you gasped.

“Fuck is right,” Matt smiled.

“Why don’t you put all those muscles to work and fuck me hard, Counselor?” You never knew your voice could sound like that, but the way his cock twitched inside you, you knew you’d use it more often.

Matt pulled out until only the tip was inside you. Then, he slammed back in. He set an unrelenting pace, pulling out and pounding back into you until you couldn’t remember your own name. Your free hand gripped the comforter.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you chanted as Matt ruined every other man for you. He moved his free hand down to your clit, rubbing in time with his strokes until you felt yourself on the edge again. 

“Come for me,” he said, bringing his forehead down to yours, “it’s such a sweet sound.”

And come for him, you did. Once, twice, three times.

By the time Matt came, you were covered in a sheen of sweat, hair falling out of your once-neat ponytail. Your fingernails were digging into his back, searching for something to ground yourself with as Matt thrust into you one last time, coming deep in you.

You laid there, head on Matt’s chest, finger tracing all of his scars. His arm was around you, and you felt warmer, happier than you had felt in a long time.

And the plea deal? It could wait until the next day at the office.

[mrscasnovak]

Yandere! Matt Murdock x Reader

Matt Murdock and his best friend Foggy Nelson were looking for a new secretary since Karen had left to start as a journalist. Matt and Foggy had been interviewing a lot of ladies for the position, but Matt didn’t like any of the ladies so far. Foggy was growing frustrated, Matt didn’t seem to like anyone, that they have interviewed so far. 

 They had one more interview before they called it a day. The door to their office opened and a woman quietly stepped over the threshold. Foggy looked up at the newest person to join them in the room. 

“Hello, Miss. How can we help?” Foggy asked walking around the desk to shake the woman’s hand. 

“Hi, my name is [Name] [Last Name]. I heard about the job opening. I was hoping I can still apply?” You said shaking the hand that was offered to you. 

“Of course, Miss [Name]. We do have some preliminary questions, we have to ask. That is, if you don’t mind, of course.” A slightly gravelly voice spoke up. You turned to look at the owner of the voice, a tall, slightly built man with a red and white cane. 

“Not a problem, sir.” You replied, as you followed them into another room, that held a big table and a few chairs. 

Foggy got out his pad of paper and a pen to write down information. 

“Hello, Miss [Name]. My name is Foggy Nelson and this is my partner Matt Murdock.” The long haired blonde said pointing to himself and then pointing to the tall brown haired man, that sat next to him. 

“Nice to meet the both of you.” You said as you sat down in the chair across from them. 

“It is very nice to meet you too, Miss [Name]. Matt said as looked at you. He liked the way your name sounded on his lips. 

“Thank you for letting me take up a bit of your time for this opportunity, Mr. Nelson and Mr. Murdock.” You said. 

Matt felt his heart flutter in his chest, when you said his name. To be fair it was his last name, but still. He hardly knew you, but he wanted to know everything about you. 

Foggy started on asking you a few questions and you answered them honestly. Unbeknownst to you, Matt was listening to your heartbeat as you talked. It was becoming his favorite sound in the world, well next to the sound of your voice that is. 

 Before he knew it the interview was over, and he heard you stand up. He felt his heart drop a bit, knowing that you would be leaving soon. 

You bid both Mr. Nelson and Mr. Murdock a good night, before you walked out the door. 

Matt had to stop himself, from walking out after you. 

“Well, what do you think? She has some nifty qualifications, and seems like she would do pretty well around here.” Foggy said looking over his notes, while our dear Matty was stuck in his own head. Your voice was on repeat in his head, he will never forget that lovely sound of your voice. 

“Matt? Earth to Matt?” Foggy said touching his shoulder, startling Matt out of his reverie. 

“Yes?” Matt asked as Foggy rolled his eyes, not that Matt could see it. Foggy walked to sit at the desk in the front. Leaning back in the chair casually, he kicked his feet up on the desk. 

“I was asking you, how you felt about hiring [Name]? Her record is fairly clean, she has previous experience that is helpful for here.” Foggy repeated hoping this time Matt would actually be listening. 

Matt listened while Foggy continued to talk. The thought of you working with them made his heart flutter and his body grow warm. 

“I agree, Foggy. I think she would be a perfect fit.” Matt replied, before walking to his office, leaving Foggy alone. 

~ The Next Morning~  

A ringing woke you from your slumber. Opening your phone, you answer the person calling you. 

“Hello? Who is this?” You asked slowly waking up. 

“Hello, [Name]. My name is Foggy and you had an interview with us?” The voice on the other side said. 

You were suddenly awake. You cleared your throat of the sleepiness. 

“Oh, yes! Good morning! How are you?” You asked, sitting up in your bed. 

“ I am doing great, thank you for asking. I am calling you in regards to our interview we had? I am calling to let you know, that we would love to have you work with us.”

You were shocked! Happy but shocked. 

“Thank you so much! When would you like me to start?” You asked more awake, if that was even possible. 

“ Well, if you could come in today, we can get you all set up with everything.” Foggy said. 

“Of course! I will be down there soon.” You replied getting out of bed. 

“Of course, we will see you soon. Goodbye, [Name].” Foggy replied before hanging up.

Hanging up your phone, you moved quickly picking out an outfit. Making sure you had everything you went to take a shower. You finished your shower and got dressed in record time. Before you knew it, you were out the door and on your way to Nelson & Murdock.

Soon you were walking through the threshold of your new job. As soon as you walked in you were greeted by two familiar voices. 

“Hi, [Name]! Was the slightly too cheery voice of Foggy. 

“Good Morning, [Name].” Said a voice to your left. 

Jumping slightly, you looked towards the other office and saw Matt Murdock.

‘For a blind guy, he sure is silent..’  You thought, before saying a quick hello to him.

“ Glad you could make it here so quickly, [Name].” Foggy said standing up, and moving away from the desk in the front. 

“Thank you, Mr. Nelson.” You replied sticking out your hand for him to shake. 

Matt had to hold to bite his lips, to hold back the growl that was bubbling up inside of him. 

Your voice broke him out of his dark thoughts. 

“ I am looking forward to working here.” You said happily. 

Foggy moved away from the desk he had been sitting at, when you walked in.

“Great! If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask, [Name].” Foggy replied, before he walked into his own office.

You set your bag down on your desk, as you started looking through the folders that were laying on your desk. 

Matt walked over to you, watching as you worked. ( Well, as much as he can with his world on fire.)

He has never seen anyone so graceful before. 

“You know it, is your first day. You don’t have to dive in so fast, [Name].” Matt said moving closer to your desk. 

“ Thank you, Mr. Murdock. I am using this as a chance to catch up on everything.” You replied.

 He admired that. Not too many people are like that, now a days.  

He walked back to his own office, to look over his own work. 

~ Hours later~ 

Your back hurt from you being hunched over from looking at the files that were scattered across your desk. Standing up, you stretch your back. You let out a soft groan at your muscles being stretched from being hunched over for so long. If you knew how it was going to affect one of your bosses, you wouldn’t groaned out loud. 

Matt didn’t plan on working this late, he did have his other job ( cough* Being Daredevil *cough ) He honestly, didn’t get as much work done as he wanted. You were a big distraction, and really he wouldn’t have it any other way. He heard you stand from your office chair, presumably to stretch. He heard your bones shift as you stretched. What he didn’t expect was the soft groan that fell past your lips when you did.

This man, never knew he needed a person in his life so badly. 

You are going to be the death of him, and really he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

‘Fuck….’ He knew he was screwed. He has never heard anything so Heavenly and so Sinful at the same time.

 At the sound of your groan, he immediately grew hard. ‘Dammit...’ He thought as he now wondered how the hell he was going to get rid of his hard-on, without you or Foggy seeing. 

He leaned back in his chair, he rubbed his eyes. Trying to figure out how he was going to get out of this. 

 He soon heard Foggy’s voice from his own office. “Crap! It is late, we shouldn’t have worked this late. Come on guys, we are going to Josie’s! We need to celebrate our new secretary and to new friends!” Foggy said cheerfully as he walked out of his darkened office. 

Matt smiled. He was glad for Foggy’s friendship, he really didn’t know where he would be without Foggy. 

“ Are you sure? I don’t want to be an imposition on you.” You replied to Foggy. 

“Of course not! We have to celebrate your new job!” Foggy replied grabbing his jacket. 

Once Matt managed to will away his hard-on, he walked to the threshold of his office, he stopped at his doorway. 

“He is right [Name]. You deserve it. I agree with Foggy, let’s celebrate.” Matt replied agreeing with Foggy.

“ Well, if it is okay with you guys, then let’s go.” You said with a smile on your face. You set the files you had looked through already, to the upper corner of your desk and you straightened other files you still have to look over, since everything was messy. 

“ Well, whenever you guys are ready, we can go.” You said as you grabbed your jacket off your chair. 

“ Of course. Let me shut my office down, and we can go.” Matt replied shutting his office down, rejoining You and Foggy at the front. 

“Ready?” Matt asked you and Foggy.

“Yep.” You both said in unison, laughing as you both did so.

Matt held out his arm for you to take, hoping that you would take it. 

You saw Matt’s arm extended outwards, and you figured that he would need help avoiding anything that he could trip on. 

Taking his arm, the three of you made your way to Josie’s Bar. 

Arriving at the bar Foggy grabbed their usual table. You followed leading Matt towards the table that Foggy picked. 

Little did you know that Matt didn’t need any assistance in walking, he was using it as a way to get close to you. 

Foggy watched as you lead Matt to the table and sat down with him. 

“ Okay, I am going to grab our usual drinks. What would you like [Name]?” Foggy asked you. 

“ A hard cider, if they have one? Thank you, Mr. Nelson. ” You replied after a moment of thought. You weren’t too much of a beer drinker. 

“ You got it! And please call me Foggy, [Name]. Foggy replied with a smile.

“Okay, Foggy.” You replied with a smile. 

“ I will be back with our drinks.” Said Foggy as he made his way to the counter to order. 

You felt a tad nervous sitting alone next to your other boss. 

“ I hope you will like working with us, [Name].” Matt said breaking through your thoughts. 

“Of course! I really am grateful that the both of you gave me a chance and hired me.” You responded with a smile gracing your lips. 

“I am glad.” Matt said, a rare smile gracing his features. 

Before you knew it Foggy returned with your drinks. 

“Thank you, Foggy.” You said taking your drink, that Foggy had placed on the table. 

~ Later~ 

 A few drinks later, you felt lighter. It was nice to finally cut loose and relax. Matt and Foggy were regaling you with tales from when they met in college.  

You had tears rolling down your face from laughing at their stories. 

Soon the three of you decided to leave Josie’s and make your way home. 

“Thanks, for tonight.” You said enjoying the cool breeze that blew over your flushed face. 

“ We should do this Friday night after work.” Foggy said his words slurring together slightly. 

You noticed Matt leaning on Foggy. ‘He must not drink too much.’ You thought a goofy smile on your face. 

“I’ll see you guys at work tomorrow.” You called over your shoulder as you made your way home, hopefully you didn’t look too drunk.

“[Name], are you sure you don’t want us to walk you home? It can get dicey out here at night.” Foggy asked, holding Matt up. 

“Nah, I will be fine. You should get him home anyway.” You said stopping to point at Matt.

“Thanks, for the offer though.” You called back as you continued your way home. 

Soon you were out of their sight. Foggy was still a tad uneasy about it. 

“She is out of sight, you can stop pretending.” Foggy said dryly. He felt Matt’s weight leave his shoulder. 

Foggy of course knew about his friends “other job”. Foggy knew almost everything about Matt. 

“Matt...I know.” Foggy said slowly, as he moved himself and Matt around the corner into an abandoned alleyway. 

“What are you saying, Foggy?” Matt asked nervousness tinting the edges of his voice. 

“I have known you for years, Matt. You try really hard to hide your “tendencies”, but I know you just as well as I know myself.” Foggy said as he laid his hand on Matt’s shoulder.

Matt felt his stomach drop. Matt was internally panicking….He thought he had hid his tendencies well enough. 

Foggy wasn’t angry, just disappointed. But this was still his best friend, and nothing was going to change that. 

“Matt, please follow [Name], and make sure she arrives home safely.” Foggy asked, already knowing how his friend was going to act. 

Matt nodded already making his way to the stairs that led to the roof. 

Foggy smiled, as he picked up and folded up the discarded walking stick. Foggy made his way home. 

~On the roof tops with Matt~

 Matt was able to follow you easily, he heard you mumbling to yourself as you walked home.

If only you understood the power you held over Matt. He is willing to do anything for you. 

He loves the sound of your voice, it could drive away the darkest of demons. He needs that in his life.

He heard the voices of a group of men around their 20’s from the sound of it. He had a bad feeling about this. They were behind you, before he knew it they had grabbed you, a hand over your mouth to prevent you from screaming. 

A growl pushed past his lips, as he heard the group snicker and lick their lips.

He watched from the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. 

“Well, what do we have, here boy’s?” The obvious leader drawled out as his minions held you against the wall. 

You tried to struggle against them as hard as you could, but the alcohol you had ingested before, made your movements slow and sluggish. 

“ Is the little rabbit trying to fight back?” One of the boys sneered. Using a free hand he wound his hand in your hair, pulling your head back towards the brick wall with such force, you were seeing stars. 

You began to do what any normal person would do, you started to plead. 

“ Please, don’t hurt me. I have some money in my purse. Just p-please don’t h-hurt me…” You sobbed afraid of what they were going to do. 

“ Bitch! I don’t want to hear you pitiful begging.” The leader shouted asp he back-handed you across the face. 

Even though Matt could only see the world on fire, he clearly saw the slap that echoed through the alleyway. 

He grit his teeth, he was ready to kill. 

How dare these bastards try to defile you! His angelic beauty! 

He made his way silently down from his perch upon the rooftops and into the alleyway. 

Through your teary eyes, you watched the leader as he unzipped his pants. This became life or death, you were renewed with new energy, and you started to struggle even harder than before. 

“ Hold this bitch down, we are gonna teach her, her place in this world.” The leader sniggered out, as his men held you down, with your mouth free, you tried one more hopeless attempt, at someone to help you. 

“SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP ME!!!” You shouted hoping that someone, anyone would arrive to help. 

A hand was quickly slapped back over your mouth. “Tch...no one is arriving to help. Get over yourself, you aren’t worth saving.” One of the minions whispered into your ear. “Just lay back and enjoy it, Sweet thang.” was whispered into your other ear. 

You felt someone’s hands under your skirt, soon you felt the cold breeze. Meaning they had taken off your undergarments.

The leader had taken off your underwear, and stuffed your panties into your mouth, preventing you from making anymore sounds. 

The leader who was standing in front of you, failed to realize the wrath that was coming for all of them. 

Matt moved silently, before striking the guy in front of you. He went down quick, but Matt was even quicker as he moved on to the men holding you down. 

You shut your eyes, not wanting to see the horrific scene that was going to unfold in front of you, soon the weight that was holding you down, was gone. You soon felt yourself sliding down the brick wall and landing upon the concrete. 

You could hear the sounds of a fight going on around you. You didn’t know who saved you, but you were thankful. 

Matt had to restrain himself from actually killing anyone, he didn’t need you to see that.

You heard the sound of groaning, it sounded like someone wasn’t completely down and out. Hearing shuffling close to you, you gulped as you tried to scoot closer to the wall. 

 In your one track minded goal, you screamed when you felt a hand wrap around your ankle, pulling you harshly towards the owner. 

“Where do you think you are going?” A harsh voice whispered to you. 

You nearly gagged at the guy, as his rancid breath washed over you. 

A growl was heard before the man, was ripped away from you harshly. 

You gasped, when the man was ripped away from you. You heard the harsh sounds of a fist making repeated contact with flesh. 

You closed your eyes as you waited for this nightmare to be over. 

When silence fell over the alleyway you were occupying, is when you opened your eyes.

Once your eyes readjusted to the low light of the night, you noticed a lone man standing victorious in the middle of a fallen pile of your attackers. 

You wondered why some stranger would help you...but you didn’t dwell too much on it. You were beyond grateful that this avenging angel had saved you. You weren’t religious by any means… but you were thanking whatever deity sent this person to save you. 

You thought you saw the man was dressed in a suit, but you couldn’t be sure. Maybe you were hoping it was your cute new boss, that came to your rescue, but maybe you were just projecting. I mean you were just attacked, in a dingy alleyway. 

“Thank you.” You replied as you stood on shaky legs, hoping that they would be strong enough to at least get you to a place you can call someone. 

“You should get out of here.” A gruff voice sounded out. 

You didn’t need to be told twice. You nodded, as you booked it out of the alleyway. 

Soon enough you ran into the last person you expected. 

“Oof!” I am so sorry!” The words rushed out of your mouth, hoping the person wouldn’t be mad and maybe they could help you. 

“Name?!” You looked up at the owner of the voice. 

“Foggy?!” Oh, Thank God!” You wrapped your arms around Foggy and cried. 

“Name! What happened?!” Foggy asked holding you, as he tried to calm your shaken demeanor. 

“Let’s get you to the police station. This needs to be reported.” Foggy replied as he led you to the nearest station. 

You let him lead you to the station, without a fuss. Your mind was in shambles, you were on autopilot. 

Foggy knew that Matt would be at the police station soon. Foggy took off and draped his jacket over your shoulders, hoping to give you some semblance of privacy. 

Soon you both arrived at the station, and walked through the double doors into the brightly lit police station. 

Once the both of you entered, Foggy got a good look at you, and you looked like death. He felt his heart break, how could something like this happen?

‘Matt...Where are you?’ Foggy wondered as he helped you towards the nearest officer. 

~Meanwhile in the alleyway~

Matt stood in the middle of the alleyway, surrounded by the fallen bodies of your attackers. He heard a rapid heartbeat, that wasn’t his own. You. He turned his head to address you. 

“You should get out of here.” He addressed you in a gravelly voice. He heard your heart race pick up before he heard you leave the alleyway. He made sure that you were gone before he decided to end this once and for all. 

“Tch… damn you...why are you gonna protect that whore?” The voice of the leader rasped out. 

Matt growled at the voice that spoke. He had the audacity to ask why he was protecting you?? His one and only? Matt laughed, a dark sound echoing off the dark alleyway. 

The leader that spoke gulped and felt a cold feeling wash over him. 

“You ask me why I chose to protect her? She is mine! How dare you touch what is mine! Matt ranted his voice growing louder. Matt grabbed the leader and dragged him deeper into the alleyway, throwing the gang leader against the opposing wall.

“You forfeit any rights you have since you decided to try and completely defile the most pure being that this world has seen.” Matt said as he pulled something from his jacket pocket. 

“Man, you are crazy! She is just some easy ho!” The man screamed, trying to back away from the crazed smirk upon this man’s face. 

“I can forgive some things, but this...this is unforgivable….” Matt muttered as he pulled a knife from the inside pocket of his jacket. 

The man’s eyes widened at the glint of the knife. “Please, d-don’t do this…” The man stuttered, hoping that this man would take pity on him. 

Matt was silent. The man watched as Matt stood above him, thinking (incorrectly) that he was free to go. 

Matt listened as the man heaved himself up, wincing from his previous beating. 

“You had me scared, with that knife, man.” The man let out a shaky laugh. 

The man went to set his hand on Matt’s shoulder, only to stop and look down at the knife that was embedded in his chest. 

“W-Why?” The man managed to say through blooded lips. 

“Why? You ask? Because you thought to touch something that is mine. You dared to think that you wouldn’t be punished In My City! I will gladly bear the burden of getting rid of the filth in my city.” Matt responded with a grin on his lips. 

“Normally, I am not one for killing, but you sealed your fate, when you decided to try and defile my ethereal angel.” Matt responded while he twisted the knife. 

Matt chuckled as he pulled the knife out of his chest, and allowed himself to revel in the joy of your attackers heart slowing down. 

Matt knelt down by the slowly bleeding out filth. “You could have avoided this whole thing…” Matt trailed off as he continued to listen to his slowing heart.

“G-g-go t-to hell.” The man whispered as he tried to move himself towards help. 

“Tch...We can’t have that now can we?” Matt said as he bent over the man and jabbed the knife into the side of his neck effectively killing him. Matt made sure that his heart was completely stopped before he made his way home. 

Arriving home he finally felt the blood from his angels attacker on his clothes. Making a decision to take a shower, he shed his clothes and hopped into his shower. As soon as his shower was done, he heard his phone going off. Grabbing his phone, he answered with a “Hi, Foggy.” His mood turned darker (if that is possible.) “I’ll be there soon.” Was all he said before he hung up and got dressed in record time. 

He was out of breath by the time he made it to the station. Entering he found you and Foggy quickly.

You looked up at the newcomer, expecting another officer. Upon looking up your were pleasantly surprised by Matt standing there. 

Completely, forgetting yourself and where you were, you ran to Matt, wrapping arms around his middle. 

Matt drops his cane to catch you. He soon felt your tears wet his shirt and felt your shoulders shaking. 

“Shh...[Name]. Everything is going to be okay.” Matt shushed you as he cradled your shaking form in his arms. 

Matt rested his head upon yours as he waited for you to calm down. 

 Soon he felt you calm down enough to stop shaking. 

“[Name], what happened?” Matt asked rubbing your shoulders comfortingly.  

Matt of course knew what had happened…. He needed to keep up appearances, at least for now.

Soon a police officer called for the three of you to follow him. Matt helped you stand up and the three of you followed the officer. 

 Following the officer into his office, you make yourselves comfortable.

You waited nervously, as Matt and Foggy sat on either side of you. 

The three of you watched as the officer walked around the side of the desk. 

“ Sorry, about the wait.” The officer said as he grabbed his notepad to jot down information. 

You were still shaking, trying to convey all your emotions into words. 

Foggy had put his hands on your shoulders, offering any sort of emotional support he could. 

The officer took silent note of your disheveled appearance. The officer was already working what had happened in his head, but he needed to hear it from you. 

Matt could sense you trying to calm your racing heart. Before he could speak up, he heard Foggy start. 

“Yes. “ My name is Foggy Nelson and this is Matt Murdock. We are lawyers, and our coworker has been assaulted.” Foggy said, as the officer took down notes. 

Matt had a sly smirk on his lips, as he listened to Foggy explain what was going on. 

“When did this happen?” The officer asks, while continuing to jot down notes of the conversation. 

“Just a bit a go.” Your small voice spoke up, as you sat a bit straighter in your chair. 

 Matt was glad that this attack didn't break your spirit. You are stronger than you gave yourself credit for. 

After half an hour, the officer said he had all the information for now. The officer gave you his number, in case you remembered any other details from tonight. 

The three of you thanked the officer. Matt and Foggy shook the officer’s hand before leading you out of the station and into the dark of night. 

You vaguely heard Matt and Foggy talking through your haze. 

“[Name], I think you shouldn’t be alone tonight.” Foggy said suddenly, his voice cutting through the haze that clouded your mind. 

You barely registered his words, before Matt cut in. 

 “ I agree with Foggy. After everything that has happened tonight, you really shouldn’t be alone.” Matt finished with an air of authority. 

You knew that with the both of them like this, that they weren’t going to take anything other than a yes from you. 

Sighing, you slowly nodded your head at them. 

Foggy had the ghost of a grin on his lips, before he replied. 

“Okay, then. How about you stay with Matty tonight?” He said quickly and before you could say anything to object, Matt had already chimed in. 

“Perfect idea, Foggy. I do have the most room and that way you won’t be up all night with his snoring and being kicked awake.” Matt replied with a small chuckle.

“Hey! I do not snore! Or kick!” Foggy shouted as you and Matt shared a quiet laugh. 

“ Whatever helps you sleep at night, my friend.” Matt replied laughing. 

You smiled at the two men bickering childishly. You knew that they were trying to make you feel better after what happened. 

Foggy stretched his back before he waved at the two of you before bidding the two of you goodnight. 

You and Matt bid Foggy a goodnight, as you watched him walk towards his home.

Matt held out his arm towards you, as he stood in his spot patiently. 

Matt could hear your heart racing as you walked towards him. 

You link your arm with his, as he walked you towards his home. 

Matt’s heart fluttered, when he felt your arm link with his.

You and Matt walked to his apartment in companionable silence. 

Before you knew it, the two of you were standing before the door to his apartment. 

You watched as he slipped his key into the lock to unlock his front door, he opened his door and stepped to the side to let you in. 

You thanked him as you made your way into his massive apartment. Your eyes were wide as you took in his minimalist apartment. You heard him walk in and close the door. 

Matt put his coat up and walked into his kitchen. He could feel your heartbeat as you took in his apartment. 

“Would you like something to drink, [Name]?” You heard Matt ask from the kitchen. 

“ Yes, please. Anything is fine, thank you.” You replied as you walked towards the large window next to the brightly colored neon sign that light up his living room. 

“Your home is amazing!” You gushed as you walked around the place he called home. 

Matt chuckled as he popped the tops of the two beers he had grabbed from his refrigerator.  

“Thank you very much, [Name]. I am glad you like it.” Matt said as he set the beers on the coffee table in front of the couch. 

“ This may be an invasive question, how much did this cost you?” You asked as you went to sit on the couch. 

“Thank you for the drink, Matt.” You said before quickly taking a swig from the bottle. 

Matt could feel his heart sped up. His name sounded heavenly coming from you.

“Well, it wasn’t too bad. The huge neon sign helped drop the price a bit.” He replied with a laugh. 

You let out a laugh, even though you could see how the bright billboard, would be an annoyance. 

Matt sat down next to you on the couch, he smirked when he could hear your pulse race. 

You felt your self tense up, you shook your head. ‘You had nothing to worry about, this was Matt! He was your boss and he was helping you after everything tonight.’ 

Matt could tell that something was weighing on your mind. 

“[Name], you okay?” Matt asked with worry coloring his tone. 

You were too in your head, to even notice that he was trying to talk to you. 

“[Name], are you okay?” Matt repeated his question, he grew slightly worried that you weren’t answering him. Matt reached a hand out to touch your shoulder, and was prepared to catch you when you jumped. 

You nearly fainted when you felt a hand on your shoulder, Matt was ready to catch you before you fell off the couch. 

You immediately entered fight mode and started thrashing trying to fight off the images in your head.  

“[Name]! You are okay! You are safe!” Matt yelled trying to break through the horrific images going through your head. 

Matt picked you up easily, even though you were fighting an invisible foe. 

Matt laid on the couch with, he wrapped his legs around yours to prevent any injuries. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you to his chest. 

Matt rocked you slowly as he ran his hands through your hair. 

“[Name]. You are okay. No one is going to hurt you. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” Matt murmured as he continued to calm you down from your panic. 

Matt continued to murmur sweet nothings to you, as he worked you through your panic attack. 

Matt would make sure that nothing would harm you ever again. He would will protect his angel, after all every angel has a devil.

I am so sorry that this is so late! My muse kinda left me high and dry and I had no idea how to finish this. More than likely I will make a part two of this. Shout-out to everyone that reads these, Ilysm 💕 I am trying to push out more of my works out. And please do not copy my works, thank you very much! -Vekky 😻

[rwbyremnants]

WARNING: Cunnilingus and fingering.

Told you it wouldn't be too much longer! Enjoy you guys!

=Chapter 24

A week went by with very little word from the police. Weiss and her mother and brother had to go down to the station and testify about Jacques Schnee’s behaviour, and that seemed to be enough to convince them that they shouldn’t let him out quite yet. When asked if they would like to see him, Weiss flatly refused, but her mother waffled, unsure if she should. Weiss told her she should wait until she was sure and that did the trick.

Whitley seemed no better for having seen his father. During the car ride home, he had suddenly announced, “Can I be sent to military school?”

“What?” their mother asked in shock. “Military school? Why would you want that?”

“Well, it seems to have made Winter happy. And…” Shrugging, he looked out the window. “I can’t tell which of you is lying. You or Father. So I’d rather just go away and not have to think about it anymore.”

“How dare you,” Weiss snapped. “How dare you think Mother and I would lie about anything like-”

“It’s alright, Weiss,” she sighed wearily as she drove. “In his situation, I can understand; both of his parents are accusing the other of being a terrible person. Honey… do you really want this?”

“Yes, I think I would. Or I think it’s best. I…” His voice faded, and he didn’t seem to have anything else to say.

“Then I’ll look into it for you. But I am sorry you feel this way.”

Very softly, he whispered, “I am, as well.” And no more was discussed.

There was another visit to the Branwen home two days later that went better than the last. Raven stayed out of their way entirely, and Yang was in even better spirits. Weiss took a spot on the bed next to her and even Ruby, who had been less privy to their relationship, said nothing about how much they were cuddling. It was nice, having a space like that outside of Shopkeeper's where they could be themselves.

And Yang was maybe a little too affectionate, if the playful “ewwww” from Ruby when they kissed was any indication. But that was her only protest.

Frequent visits from Kali turned into daily visits. She was busy working at her restaurant, so it still meant a lot of very lonely days for Weiss’s mother, but she tried to drop by as often as possible. Together, they began to piece together a plan of attack for when Jacques was healed up and would be trying to piece his life back together. Though Willow had no idea why they needed to be so thorough, Kali assured her that these were necessary steps to protect their monetary well-being. Weiss stopped being able to follow along with their discussions, so she eventually retired to her own room and focused on homework instead.

Friday evening was the first time Yang's shoulder was healed up enough that she could venture out of the house. Though it meant being chauffeured instead of riding her motorcycle, which was still being repaired anyway, she was glad to hit Shopkeeper's and see all her friends again. They had nothing but kind and encouraging words for her, other than the odd teasing about her being too much of a “daredevil” for her own good. Cinder insinuated that she had only wiped out to get all that attention, and Yang told her to go sit on a fork. The only response from the smirking girl was “Ooohh, kinky.”

Salem expressed further concern about Weiss's situation, and her usefulness to the Dragons. Though Kali had already informed her of their plans, and she was satisfied with them thus far, she told their newest recruit to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity from the man now that he was essentially her enemy. Having to think of her father that way hurt… but it was too accurate to bother arguing with her.

Meanwhile, it seemed as if Blake was content just to see Yang again. Weiss had been a little worried about that, and about whether or not there would be lingering feelings of jealousy. But there weren’t. She still looked a little sad when no one was watching her too closely, but Weiss understood; she was working through it at her own pace. She would just have to be there for her whenever she could.

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

To help make up for such an atypical week, Pyrrha loaned Weiss her car on Saturday night so she and Yang could go to the drive-in. Weiss had learned the rules of the road from her father, but he was such an overbearing terror in the car that she didn’t attempt it very often. After a few rocky stops and starts, and nearly running a red light, Yang laughed and took over, guiding them into a spot near the back of the lot.

“So this is pretty cozy, eh?” Yang whispered as they settled in with their popcorn in Pyrrha's front seat. The movie was just starting, so it was nothing but musical score and credits drifting by.

“Yeah, I'll say.” Weiss didn't want to admit how nervous she was. It was the first time they had been alone since she helped dry her off - and that had been only a fleeting moment. There might have been dozens of other cars parked around theirs, but none of them cared about the two girls. They had their own dates to make it with. “How’s your shoulder?”

“I’ll live.” Her finger tapped the small metal speaker unit hanging on the driver's side window. “This alright? Can you hear?”

Snuggling into her side, Weiss said, “Perfectly well. Besides, I've seen ‘South Pacific’ at least five times.”

The smile that blossomed on the Dragon's face was a bit more reminiscent of the ones she wore when they first began speaking, and promised much. “So… does that mean you don't mind missing the flick?”

“Quiet, you. I'm very interested in sharing this musical masterpiece with my… my girlfriend.” Their shared smile was warm and shy. “Wow. It's nice to be able to say that.”

“Yeah. And… well, we’ve been kind of funny about saying it, but it’s definitely not ‘cause I don’t want to! Just weird, hanging around my sis all the time, and with Kali-”

Weiss cut her off with a gentle press of lips on lips, her hand sliding up her neck to cup her cheek. The response was immediate and enthusiastic; Yang pushed her back against the passenger door, humming into the union of their mouths. Even though she had initiated this, the rich girl felt herself completely powerless to resist, melting beneath her brute as their bodies writhed and the windows fogged.

The kiss was broken with a quiet little “ow!” from Yang. Weiss pulled back, concern in her eyes.

“Just my arm,” she breathed, eyes serious yet dazed with the power of their affection. “I'm fine.”

“Come on, you said it was okay. Here.” She began to knead it gently. “Is that better?”

Violet eyes fluttered closed. “Mmmm… yeah. Thanks, babe.”

“Of course. I take care of what's mine.” They both shared a knowing smile. “We're not watching the movie.”

“What movie?”

“Brute,” she purred in a voice that was anything but accusatory, petting her hand up and down the lapel of Yang's jacket. “Uncultured Philistine.”

The last one made Yang's eyebrows shoot up a little higher. “Oh yeah? Think I can't enjoy this dumb movie of yours, Princess?”

The teasing had apparently backfired very slightly. Weiss was definitely more interested in Yang than in the movie, but Yang was now turning around to face it properly, pulling the popcorn bucket back into her lap from where it had been resting on the dashboard. Slapping her shoulder only made Yang shush her so she could pay attention.

“You're really going to watch it now, huh?”

“Yep.”

“Hmm… good.” Even though the prospect of spending a few minutes fogging up the windows appealed to her greatly, Weiss decided this was just as good and snuggled back into her side, reaching into the bucket.

That went on for a good long while. Weiss hummed along with the songs and relished the closeness. Much to her own surprise, Yang seemed to be enjoying the film, as well, even laughing at some of the key comedic points. All the while, her arm remained around Weiss's shoulders, and she began to realize that she could stay there forever and not feel like she was missing out on anything else in the world. She hadn't been expecting to find someone to be that close to for many years yet - especially not a woman that she had barely known for a few scant weeks! Life had really thrown her for a loop.

“Your lips are salty,” Yang giggled after a brief kiss.

“Hey! Yours are, too!” Settling in again, she began to pet up and down Yang's ribs beneath her jacket. It prompted a quiet hum of appreciation. “Like that?”

“Yeah. You feel really good right there. And here,” she added, squeezing her shoulders to illustrate what she meant.

“I would certainly hope so.”

They lapsed into silence for a few more minutes. Then Yang whispered, “Hey.”

“Yes?”

“Uh… I haven't really said it yet, but thanks. For everything: saving me, and dealing with Raven, and… Ruby… you've just been really great, and I don't deserve-”

“Shhh,” she shushed her, petting a little more vigorously. “Thank you for saying so, but I don’t need you to. It’s… I think Kali said it best when she said you and the other Dragons are my family now. And family does things like that for each other. It was a pleasure. Really.”

Yang suddenly set the popcorn aside again, turning so that she was kneeling in the floorboard and gazing up into Weiss’s eyes. Her hands clasped Weiss’s tightly, causing the shorter teenager to blink back at her. She was expecting something very risque… and suddenly got something even better.

“I’m really in love, Weiss. I never thought… I mean, uh… ain’t so good with words,” she admitted with a lopsided smile, and Weiss spared a small one of her own. “You were my dream girl. Then we started talking, and I was worried you weren’t because you hated me. Plus, you were kind of a brat.”

“Hey!”

“Come on, it’s true,” she laughed, and Weiss laughed with her. “But just in these last few weeks, I think we both grew up a little. Got to know each other, and more about the world. And now…”

As Yang raised their hands up between them, lacing their fingers together, Weiss finished for them, “Now we fit together perfectly. Like links in a chain.”

“Yeah. Is that crazy? Am I just real gone?”

“We’re both real gone, Yang,” she whispered softly, heart pounding in her ears and stomach fluttering in time with its beats. “I want to be your wife. Or you to be mine, or… oh, I’m being so silly; we can’t be that to each other. But I don’t care!”

“Me, neither. I just want you in my life forever. And that’s…”

Words had run out. Yang leaned up to kiss her again, and Weiss threw herself into the contact even more than the last time. Nellie and Emile were singing to each other so earnestly in the background that she couldn’t imagine a better place and time to live. She wanted to always be there, with Yang, in that car.

The transition was so natural she almost could have missed it. One moment, their lips were engaged - many moments, actually. Then she felt lips moving down her chest, to her stomach through the soft cotton dress she wore. Her own hands lifted to glide through Yang’s hair, holding on for dear life as she wondered what was about to happen to her. There weren’t a great deal of possibilities. Either Yang had dropped something, or…

“Oh.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Yang paused to look up at her. “Tell me to stop.”

“I…”

“Tell me to keep going.” Her throat clearly worked to swallow before she kissed her thigh through the layers of fabric. “Tell me… whatever it is you want.”

It took a lot of willpower for Weiss to find the words she needed. “Keep g-going. I…” She had to look away to admit it. “I need you.”

Even as Yang kissed down her thigh to her knee, still sheltered by her dress, she could feel the stirrings from before. Why did the bruiser have such a strong effect on her entire system? It boggled her mind. Almost as if she were still an inch away, memories of Yang’s fragrant sex filled her mind - the taste of her, the sounds of her writhing beneath her at every touch. And she was about to have that paid back in full. Was she ready?

No. But she was through waiting to be ready.

When Yang began to lift her skirt and petticoats, a little squeak of alarm blasted out of her throat anyway. Yang paused to whisper, “Too much?”

“No, Yang. I want more. I’m just…” Her shoulder shrugged helplessly. What she was made no difference.

Kisses moved up the insides of her thighs, over her stockings until they reached the tops where they ended in lace. The first kiss on skin was so close to her center that she had to suppress the powerful urge to clamp both legs around Yang’s head to hold her still; instead, she merely twitched. A single light peck against the crux of her entire being was enough to make her fall back against the seat, eyes clamped shut in mingling fear and anticipation.

“You’re ready,” Yang breathed softly, as gentle as a lamb where she was normally ravenous as a wolf – even if the hunger was burning just under the surface. “At least… you smell ready.”

“Sh-shut up,” she breathed very softly. “Is it bad?”

“No, no. It’s incredible.” Yang nuzzled her inner thigh as her fingers drifted upward. “Can I…?”

There were certainly no words of protest. Weiss pressed a hand into her eyes as she felt cool air caress her wetness, followed by the warmth of breath. This was insane. Could she really let a woman do this to her? Let anyone? She was starting to believe her nerves had a lot more to do with reservations about allowing anyone to get this close to her, rather than the gender of the person in question. And for her to finally allow Yang to return this favour…

Yang must have felt her reticence, because she appeared above the skirts again, face flushed and eyes dark with desire. “It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.”

“Yang…” Swallowing hard, Weiss looked to one side so she wouldn’t see the single tear that escaped her guard. “Thank you, my darling.”

Lips on her waiting petals caused her to lose all sense of time, direction… the world became as fogged as their windows. The heels of her baby blue pumps gouged into Yang’s back through her jacket but if she felt pain from it, she made a good job of ignoring it in favour of pleasing Weiss. The practiced ease of Yang’s tongue made Weiss’s clumsy attempts pale in comparison. Before she had any chance to even attempt to think of something to ask, a praise to lavish on her for such skill, Yang was finding new ways to caress her most sensitive skin and wring even more pleasure from the moment. All she could manage was to pant, and moan, and suppress the occasional shriek of pure joy that tried to burst from within her. Barely.

Minutes passed and she felt her end building - it could be nothing else. Her hand pressed into Yang’s crown to hold her face precisely where it was as her hips began to rock forward to meet each caress of the eager tongue.

“Yes! Yang! I… yes!!!”

The only response was a low “Mmmhhh” of pure enjoyment. That was the one thing that could have added to her own pleasure: knowing Yang did not consider this a burden, a chore that need be done. They were both swirling through the same eddies and pools of ecstasy.

Which was how Weiss crashed headlong into her first orgasm.

Yang continued her gentle licks for a minute more as Weiss writhed and moaned, thighs trying to trap her there forever, heels no doubt bruising her back. Then the licks turned to kisses, and then the kisses moved down her creamy thigh flesh until reaching the top of her stocking. Her head slowly raised up from the horizon of the skirts to smile at her.

“Woooooow,” Weiss breathed weakly, eyes wide and face hotter than she could ever remember.

“Yeah,” the brute chuckled, though her grin was full of adoration rather than amusement. “Wow.”

After barely a moment's hesitation, Yang quickly kissed the inside of her thigh before tugging her underwear back into place. Trying not to be awkward, she climbed back into her seat - accidentally kicking open the glove box and making both of them burst into giggles. Then they were simply sitting side by side and sharing one of the warmest smiles they had ever worn in their lifetimes.

“So that's why you kept trying to get my dress off all these weeks.”

“Not the only reason, Schnee. But… a big one. Wanted to make you feel good so you'd date me. Never really considered it would last, since you're too good for some meathead like me. Gotta admit, though… this is better.”

Snuggling into her side, letting her entire body relax, she whispered, “This is?”

“Absotively, posilutely.”

“Mmm. But you're not a meathead. You're sweet, and considerate, and strong in the best of ways!”

Out the side of her mouth, she told Weiss, “Not so loud. I got a reputation to keep!” They shared another giggle as Yang petted up and down her arm. “God, I love you.”

“I love you, too. More than I-”

Their moment was interrupted by a knock at the door. Rolling her eyes, Yang turned and shouted, “WHAT?”

“Knock it off in there, you kids! This ain't no motel!”

They couldn't even see the perpetrator of this grave injustice through the fog on the window; just a vague silhouette. Yang decided the most effective way of communicating her displeasure with the interruption was by pressing her middle finger against the glass.

“Yang, that's crude!” Weiss hissed, though she had to try hard to suppress a small giggle.

“You wanna be run out of this drive-in? Huh?”

Realizing that the guy wasn't going to leave them in peace, Yang rolled down her window and glared at him. He was either a teenager or had only been older than that for a year or two, with scraggly brown hair and a missing tooth in the front. His irritated expression gave way to one of shock when he saw the driver was a woman, and it only deepened when he saw the passenger was, as well.

“Listen, chum. We're trying to have a nice time watching this talkie. You're kinda making that less easy. So why don't you make like a tree and leave?”

The man let out a weak little laugh. “H-hey, my mistake! I thought you were a fella, and- well, the windows are all steamed up…”

“That's our business. Thanks for checking in, though. Now take off.”

Now he looked a little creeped out. However, he did nod and moved off, shaking his head as if to rid it of unwanted thoughts.

“Very well-handled,” Weiss whispered as Yang rolled the window back up.

“Thanks, doll. I take care of business.”

“You've taken care of enough business for a week as far as I'm concerned.” They shared a conspiratorial grin. “But now I'm sad.”

“Why?”

“Well, he's paying too much attention for me to be able to go down on you now.”

Yang's blush was honestly so cute and unexpected that Weiss thoroughly enjoyed peppering her face with dozens of little kisses. But she didn't dare get too vigorous lest they attract any further pests.

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

By the end of the movie, both girls were in high spirits. On top of the world. They decided to revisit the old depot rather than hope for a few stolen moments in anyone's house.

Weiss practically ripped Yang's clothes from her body in her haste to re-engage their bodies; Yang took more care, gently peeling off her beautiful dress and laying it aside. Wandering hands explored curves, lips met over and over, skin shifted against skin. Instead of her mouth, Weiss attempted to use her hand to bring Yang pleasure - and if the reactions we any indication, she was successful. This was crazy; Weiss couldn't believe she was in an abandoned building with a gang member, a woman, naked and unafraid. Their mouths rarely left each other until Yang needed hers to gasp for breath as she reached her finish.

And they didn't stop there. Instead of weeks later, Weiss found out immediately the kind of thrill she had provided Yang when one of the brute’s strong hands snaked down between their bodies. Going from never being quite sure she was aroused to two orgasms in one day was almost too much… but it was a surplus of pleasure she was more than happy to weather.

“Ohhhh,” Yang groaned as she rolled off, panting and gazing up at the half-crumbled ceiling.

“What did… we just do?” They both laughed. “You don't actually… have to explain, I'm not that naive. But WOW!”

Still laughing, Yang petted up and down her bare stomach, making it quiver at the touch of a foreign hand upon it. “You said that already.”

“I mean, I know this is old hat for you, but I'm… honestly surprised. I thought sex was something women just did to keep men happy, and make babies! So all of this with you is really opening my eyes.”

“Hey, watch how you say it's ‘old hat’ for me. I'm not that cheap a floozy!”

Weiss looked horrified. “Oh… oh no, I'm not- that wasn't how I meant that to sound!”

“Don't worry about it,” she laughed, kissing her temple. “I mean, you're right; I've been around the block a time or two. But it's never been so… with you, everything's different. I'd be alright if it was just you and me for the rest of our lives.”

“Really?” When Yang nodded, she wrapped her body even tighter around the Dragon, feeding off her warmth, her strength. “Oh, I love you so much!”

Burying her face in Weiss's neck, the bruiser whispered urgently, “Love you, too, baby. Chee… you really do like me. Really?”

For a few seconds, Weiss didn't reply. Then she drew back to gaze down into the stunned, overwhelmed features of her lover. She felt like singing! Therefore, she did - and didn't trouble to keep her voice down.

“Younger than springtime am I! Gayer than laughter am I!” Even before she continued, she could see Yang blinking in surprise. “Angel and lover, heaven and earth, am IIIIIIIII wiiiiiith yoooooouuuu!!!”

Then she felt a little silly - especially when Yang started clapping. Why had she allowed herself to be such a square? Just when she was about to shout at her for poking fun, she saw the look of pure wonder in the blonde’s features.

“DANG! How did I not know you can sing?! I mean… I've heard you hum a little, but you can really sing, like rings around Peggy Lee! You're phenomenal!”

“Oh, stop,” she muttered with a bashful smile.

“Are you out of your tree? I wanna hear more!” She sat up and slid her hands around Weiss's trim waist, eyes sparkling as she gazed up at her. “Baby, you're gonna be a star! Like… like Judy Garland or something!”

Now the smile was even more bashful, and the color that had begun to fade from her cheeks rushed back in with a vengeance. “What? Please, I'm not that good!”

“Better! You could beat the ruby slippers off her!” When Weiss rolled her eyes, she insisted, “Honest, Weiss, I'm… I'm so lucky. I knew that already, but holy hell…”

“Well… my parents wanted me to go to Vassar first, but… I guess I could audition for some musicals while I'm there… and they’ve always insisted I keep up my vocal training.”

“Who cares what they want? This is about what you want.”

The idea of that surprised her a little. What she wanted? What did she want? A successful career, sure. But becoming an international singing sensation was a tempting thought. No one had ever really cared what she wanted out of her future before. However, she only had one immediate answer.

“You.”

After a quiet second, Yang smiled shyly. It still stunned Weiss to see the brute that way. “Come on. Even if you do like gals now, I'm… just some-”

“No, stop that,” she cut her off. “Whatever you're going to say, I don't care. I love who you are, and I've never felt this close to another human being before. And you are… the most beautiful woman the whole wide world.”

“Stop trying to pass the buck. That's you, not me.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “So pretty, and sweet, and comely, and smart… a-and you're the b-best thing that ever happened to me!”

Weiss wasn't used to seeing the tough woman fall apart. What was she supposed to do?! All she could think of right away was to fold the overcome Yang into her arms, petting up and down her nude back and rocking very gently. If anyone deserved to feel like they could let their armor fall away, it was this titan of a woman. She would be her armor when necessary.

[avasharpe]

Honey, There Is No Right Way Chapter Four

Chapter: four/four

Summary:  Ava picks Sara up from blind school and they take a walk through the park. Later Sara makes breakfast for everyone and they talked about how Sara has settled into things.

Fandom: DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Relationship: Sara Lance/Ava Sharpe.

Characters: Sara Lance, Ava Sharpe, Charlie, Zari Tarazi, John Constantine, Nate Heywood, Behrad Tarazi.

Chapter Rating: General Audience.

Additional Tags: Blind!Sara, Fluff, Lemons.

AN: I have completed a multi-chapter fic with a consistent update schedule! I am so proud of myself for this It's something I fail at more than I like and something I'm trying to change.

Read at AO3

Read at FFN

……………………………………………………………………

Ava was absolutely not outside of the Blind school waiting for Sara to finish her lessons for the day. No, she was just sitting at the park, eating her snack, and... Oh who was she kidding, of course she was waiting for Sara. Ava missed her, Sara’s classes took up most of the day and she worried about how Sara was doing. Ava turned away from the building to look over at the park in front of her, watching the bare tree sway and picking out the lone red leaves left in the trees. 

Ava tried to distract herself and think of anything other than Sara. It worked, and Ava was so distracted that she didn’t notice Sara sneaking up behind her until Sara tugged on her jacket. Ava jumped as she touched her and Sara laughed before wrapping her arms around Ava’s waist. 

“You must have had a very successful lesson. You found me all on your own,” Ava said as she smiled and tapped her nose, before pulling Sara in and kissing her lips. 

“The vision I saw of you waiting for me helped, but I walked 10 whole blocks, learned some new living skills, and worked on my Braille,” Sara smiled, her voice full of pride. “Also, we have got to catch up on Daredevil because Lucy is two episodes ahead of me and she kept spoiling everything.”

“It sounds like you had a really good day,” Ava said, leaning in to tuck Sara’s hair behind her ear. “I’m glad these lessons are going well.”

“Me too, it feels good to walk around knowing I can navigate the unfamiliar street,” Sara said, as they strolled into the park. Sara used her cane with one arm and Ava held her hand as Sara led them along the trail to where they had parked the Waverider. 

“I’m glad, I know this has been an adjustment for you my love, and I’m happy that you’ve been able to learn how to adapt and even make some friends. Even if Lucy does spoil the plot for you.”

“I told her I was behind and she still blabbed the ending of episode ten.” 

Ava chuckled as they walked. It was early winter and the wind picked up the leaves to dance around then and Sara laughed as the leaves tickled their legs as they walked. Eventually, they got to the Waverider and paused outside it. It was camouflaged to match the field around them, but Sara remembered where to stop, something she had recently learned.

“What can you hear?” Ava asked, as she looked around the park, wrapping her arms around Sara’s waist and set her head on Sara’s shoulder.

Sara smiled, tilting her head as she listened to the world around them. “I can hear the leaves rustling through the trees. The sound of kids' laughter as they play over there and the steady steps of the joggers as they run past us and the hum of the ship.”

“Can you hear what trouble the Legends have gotten into since we’ve been gone,” Ava asked, giving her a nudge.

Sara smiled and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Her powers were another thing that she was learning how to use. “Well, it looks like they are decorating for the holidays. They’ve hung some large white snow fluff which has attracted some giant spiders as they left the cargo bay door open.”

Ava made a face and shivered “Oh, maybe we should enjoy the park a little bit longer.”

“Come on, Miss Sharpe,” Sara said, with a smile as she dragged her back down the trail. “I smell a taco truck.”

……………………………………………………………………

Ava woke up to an empty and cold bed. She frowned as she stretched, missing her tiny little heater. Sara ran hot and Ava always got cold without Sara sleeping beside her. Ava was a morning person and out of habit, Sara got up early to train. Usually, they would wake up together and have morning sex, but it wasn’t too unusual for one of them to get up before the other. Ava never liked waking up without Sara next to her. 

She reluctantly rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom, wrapping her robe around her and washing her face before heading out in search of Sara. Ava looked in the gym first, but found only Mick on the weights and headed off to the kitchen. As she approached, Ava spotted Sara at the counter.

“Surprise!” Sara said, having heard her walk in and turned around pulled the foil off of a plate for her.

Ava walked all over and looked down at the plate Sara had prepared for her. It was her favorite breakfast of turkey bacon, eggs, and a yogurt parfait. Taking the plate from her hands, Ava looked around to see the rest of the kitchen set up buffet style on the counter. There were waffles, eggs, pancakes, and a sorted array of breakfast foods set for everyone to enjoy.

“Thank you babe,” Ava said, as she wrapped her arms around Sara’s waist as Sara leaned into her and kissed her cheek. “Who made the rest of the food?”

“I did.”

“You made all of this by yourself?” 

“Yep,” Sara said, smiling, very pleased with herself. “With Ray’s organization and the braille labels, I was able to find everything I needed. Then Gideon helped me time how long to cook things, and the rest I did all by myself.”

“Babe,” Ava said as Sara let her over to the table that was completely set with silverware, coffee, and a basket of fruit and flowers. “This is amazing.”

“And really good,” Behrad said as he stuffed his face with pancakes. Nate nodded too as his mouth was also full of pancakes.

“And a pretty decent English breakfast too,” Charlie said, with their plate of sausage, beans, and toast.

They both sat down at the table, at a place Ava assumed was Sara’s as it was half a bowl of oatmeal and apples. Sara poured her a mug of coffee using her liquid level indicator. She added the right amount of milk the Ava liked, grabbed her hand to give her the mug. 

“Thank you,” Ava said, taking a sip of the coffee with a hum of content. 

She put her mug down and wrapped her arms around Sara’s shoulders, pulling her in for a proper kiss. Sara smiled and hummed against her lips, putting her hands on Ava’s abs. They continued kissing, melting into each other, but were forced to part by the groans of the crew as they made out. 

“Um excuse me, some of us are trying to eat breakfast here,” Zari said, tapping Ava’s shoulder in a teasing tone.

Sara and Ava laughed as they pulled apart. They never turned down an opportunity to embarrass their crew. Ava grabbed Sara’s chair, pulled it close, and put an arm around her as Sara laid her head on Ava’s shoulders. 

“I didn’t realize that you had learned how to do all of this?” Ava said, looking around the kitchen again.

“Yeah, I’ve learned a lot, and I wanted to kinda show off and do something nice for everyone.” Sara shrugged against Ava’s shoulder. 

“I’m so proud of you Sara,” Ava said, leaning down to kiss her forehead and give her a little squeeze. 

Sara just smiled and Ava could see how happy she was, as she hadn’t stopped smiling. They all lapsed into conversation as they ate and the others finished up before they got up to leave.

“Excuse you?” Ava said, looking up at them. The Legends just looked back at her, confused until Ava gestured to the dirty dishes they had left at the table. “And I haven’t heard a ‘thank you Sara’ yet?”

“Thank you Sara,” They all chimed as they quickly picked up their plates and scampered over to put them in the dishwasher. 

“You’re welcome,” Sara smiled as she heard them go.

Ava finished eating before getting up to do her and Sara’s dishes. The dishwasher on the Waverider was industrial and could handle anything, but she and Ray still like to do a few dishes by hand. Sara cleared the table and put away some of the food before she hopped up on the counter next to Ava and started drying the plates Ave handed her.

“I think I’ve grown comfortable being blind,” Sara said, looking straight ahead as she put down the plate and twisted the dish towel in her hands. “I mean, I still have my visions, but and I don’t know, being blind just feels normal now.”

“That’s good,” Ava said, putting down the last dish in the cabinet. “I’m glad that you're okay Sara. You have handled everything that came your way, better than I ever could, and I’m glad that you're good.”

“Come here,” Sara said, smiling and reaching out for her.

Ava smiled as she turned and wrapped her arms around Sara’s waist, moving in between her legs and pressing her lips to Sara’s. Sara held Ava against her and wrapped her legs around Ava’s hips.

Ava let herself smile against Sara’s lips so that she could feel it and kissed her again, letting herself linger there. She didn’t need to say anything and she let her body do the talking as she kissed Sara. 

Sara pulled at Ava’s sleep shirt, her fingers quickly unbuttoning it before she paused. Ava’s gotten pretty good at telling when Sara was having a vision. She always paused just for a brief second as something flashed across her grey eyes. 

“John’s going to come into the kitchen and catch us if we go any further,” Sara said as she reluctantly re-buttoned Ava’s sleep shirt. 

“Well I guess we better take this somewhere else,” Ava said letting her hands run down Sara’s back, to rest on her ass. Sara laughed as Ava picked her up and tightened her legs around Ava’s waist, leaning in to trail kisses along her neck, her intentions hidden by Ava’s long hair. 

Ava turned the corner just as she saw John whistle as he headed over to the galley. Ava carried her through the halls as Sara directed her way so they wouldn’t get caught by anybody else. Finally, Ava opened the door to their bedroom and walked over to lay her down on the bed quickly crawling on top of her.

[amoveablejake]

My Five Key Songs of January 2021

Thats right, this is going to be a new recurring feature.

This year I have decided each month to make a playlist on Spotify of my songs of that month. I know, I know, I am a real daredevil but here me out. Whilst this may not be a particularly high octane thrill for many it does give a lot to me. Not only does it give me the organisation and list making that I thrive on but it will in the future, whether that be years from now or next month, allow me to see what I was listening to back then and what feeling that month had. As an extension from this I have decided to set up this recurring feature that will appear at the end of each month. Rather than go through the whole playlist I will choose five key songs from it and from them which is the track of the month. This track will then be compiled into a songs of the year playlist that will rear its head on New Year’s Eve or there abouts. But now, enough pre amble lets get right into it shall we:

First up ‘Out of My Head’ by Mac DeMarco 

Lifted from ‘Other Here Comes The Cowboy Demos’ ‘Out of My Head’ from the moment I listened to it was always going to find itself on this list. I am a very big fan of Mac Demarco and I like the vast majority of his work but occasionally one song will rise above the others and go straight to my head and heart and quite frankly will refuse to leave until I’ve listened to it on repeat for days on end. Its a gentle song, that brings with it a laidback quality that Mac seems to specialise in. Its a song that even now I can’t get out of my head. 

Look. We knew that was coming. 

Number two, ‘K.K. Cruisin’ by Mesmonium 

Yes. I know. This song is not by Mesmonium. It is infact performed by K.K. Slider but Nintendo, much to my eternal heartbreak, have not released the official K.K. discography and so a cover will just have to do. Although saying that, this cover stands up on its own right and dare I say is as good as the actual version in Animal Crossing which I am aware could be sacrilegious. I have been playing a great deal of Animal Crossing: New Horizons this month as I have been really since last March and even after all that time I only fall for the game more everytime I play it and the music, oh the music, it is out of this world. ‘K.K Cruisin’ and then Nook’s Cranny’s closing song are both firm favourites of mine and if you ever wonder where I am, I’m listening to them on my little island paradise. 

Track three, ‘World in Motion’ by New Order 

I should say uptop that I do not listen to this ironically. I don’t listen to it to try and relive world cup nostalgia. No. I listen to ‘World in Motion’ because I genuinely adore it. It is much more than a football song, I mean we can’t avoid that it was written for the England team but its a lot more than that. If we took out the England lyrics would it be liked a lot more, maybe, but then we wouldn’t get John Barnes rapping. I’m not going to talk about ‘World in Motion’ too much because quite honestly it could make me quite upset due to the memories attached to it. I will say however, that when I was much younger I said to my Dad that this was my favourite song and honestly, it is definitely still up there.  

If something’s good, its never gone. 

Record four, ‘Barrytown’ by Steely Dan 

After this past week’s album of the week this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise and whats more than that, this could have well been the key track of the month. ‘Barrytown’ might be my favourite Steely Dan song, whenever I listen to it I can’t help but tap my foot and smile. Even though I wasn’t listening to it at the time, it always makes me think of Granville Island in Vancouver. Infact, ‘Barrytown’ makes me imagine that I’m getting some food supplies on Granville Island on a Friday morning listening to Steely Dan as I work my way through the different stalls. Its a song that I day dream to and one that I listen to everyday so I think we may be hearing about it on a few more of these lists. Whether I’m in Vancouver or not. 

And finally, our fifth song of the month and our key one for the end of year playlist: ‘Dirty Work’ by Steely Dan. 

First off, it may come as a surprise that this is the song of the month after my glowing report of ‘Barrytown’ above but there is a reason for that. As I’ve written about over the past two album of the week posts, I liked Steely Dan before but it is only this year that that relationship has moved from oh yeh I like some of that Steely Dan stuff to oh boy, I cannot live without them. ‘Dirty Work’ is the song that ignited this shift. Does ignite and shift make sense when put together, perhaps not, but I can’t help it because when I’m listening to Steely Dan I forget about everything else, speaking included, and get lost in my daydreams and the music. I don’t know how many times I’ve listened to ‘Dirty Work’ this past month but I do know I’m listening to it now and that this simply had to be the track of the month. January overall has been a Steely Dan month and it feels almost like the precursor to a Steely Dan year. 

So, there we have it. The five key tracks for January 2021 with ‘Dirty Work’ taking top spot. Well, no not top spot really but rather the most important track of the month. We will revisit this in February to see whats made the list then and then at the end of the year we will have a playlist that will hopefully surmise the year in a rather nice and fitting way. That is, unless every month’s track is ‘Dirty Work’ or ‘Barrytown’. 

Is that a joke? 

-Jake, a man who might build Biff’s Pleasure Palace on Animal Crossing due to his newfound fortune, 31/01/2021

[sunny-wolff]

secrets and lies

here is my first fic for the @badthingshappenbingo 

Fandom: Marvel Pairing/Characters: Billy Russo x Reader, Frank Castle Prompt: Lured into a trap Summary:   the one where you find out that your best friend is alive, your fiancé is one of the few that knew and set up the hit on your family. now, you must decide who you trust is telling the truth and come face to face with all the dirty secrets that have been hidden. Word Count: 5,510 Warnings: trust issues, betrayal, presumed death, minor violence, slight angst and hurt/comfort, threats of violence AO3 Link: here 

Tumblr version after cut. enjoy! :)

~*~*~*~

“I need you to stop talking. You’re supposed to be dead.”

You stare disbelievingly at the man who showed up on your doorstep out of nowhere and is still talking like you never said a word. It’s a man you once knew very well. A man you grew up with and watched get buried next to his family. A man who is currently covered in blood, head to toe. While his face is bruised to all hell, like he willingly became someone’s personal punching bag. A man who is very clearly still alive. Your oldest and only cousin the King was standing in your kitchen like you guys do this every single week.

And the only thing he’s talking about how your fiancé isn’t who he says he is, how dangerous he is and that you are in serious danger.

“Please stop talking.” You try interrupting him again because you have no idea what the actual hell he is talking about. But like the stubborn ass he is, he just ignores you again.

“Francis, can you shut up for one second?!” Once he goes quiet, you take a much-needed deep breath and raise your hand toward his face. “Frankie, you’re alive. How are y—how is that possible? Where have you been?”

Frank walks up to you and pulls you in to his arms, squeezing you tightly. “I’m sorry kid. I know this must be a lot, but I need you to buck up and listen, yeah? I’ll explain everything later but right now I gotta keep the Princess safe.”

Holding your breath, you just leave your arms down at your sides. Not returning his hug at all because of that name.

That stupid nickname from when you were kids was confusing you, it was only used when things were extremely serious, or danger was around the corner. You had only heard it twice and both of those times were for very good reasons. The first time was when your dad was injured in his last tour over seas and Frank had come home to be the one to tell you. “Princess, I’m so sorry. Uncle, your dad, he is not coming home the same person that he left. He got hurt, real bad.” The second time was when his wife and kids were killed, and he knew someone was going after everyone close to him. “You need to get to the safe house now, Princess! I’ll explain later but I really need you to stay put until it’s safe.”

So, the fact that he is using that name, now, means something is very wrong and you finally hug him back.

You nod and stand straighter, clenching your jaw for a second. “Okay, marine. But don’t think you’re going to get out of this without explaining how you aren’t in the casket we- the casket I buried you in.” You try to fight the smile that happens when your cousin pulls away from the hug and takes the invisible crown off his head just to place it on yours.

“Wouldn’t think of it, princess. Now, like I was trying to tell you before you so rudely interrupted me – about Russo – you may want to sit down for this. It’s going to be a lot to take in.” With a single nod from you, Frank leads you over to the couch and sits on the coffee table in front of you.

A look settled over his face. It was a look that made your heart stop because it usually meant that someone died. The very last time you saw that look on him was when you were nine and Frank was the one to tell you that your mom was killed in a hit and run accident and you had to go live with him and his parents now.

Frank watched you for a couple minutes. Searching for something or just trying to find the right words to speak, you weren’t sure but whatever it was he must have figured it out.

In the next moment he is squeezing your hands once more before locking eyes with you. “Russo isn’t who he’s been pretending to be all these years.” Before you had the chance to say anything, Frank just gave you a look and you just listened to him explain what he meant.

That’s how you came to learn of the truth on the deaths of Maria and the kids and the attempted murder of your cousin. You learned about the reason behind all the killings that happened in Hells Kitchen with the gangs and in the prison. He told you everything he knew and did – like working with Micro, who had the something very similar happen to him, to take down the people who destroyed their lives, to chaining Daredevil to a roof because he was being annoying in trying to stop Frank when he was looking to ‘talk’ to the people at the carousel that day. Which you obviously scolded him for doing, after laughing for a few minutes since you now knew who Is behind the Daredevil mask, because chaining people to a roof is never a nice thing to do but Francis Castle was never nice to most people.

He told you about him taking the guns right from underneath Homeland’s nose and then stopping to pull out the agent in charge after the crash happened. You were informed that Curt knew about Frankie being alive and he had to stop you from going to Curt’s place to punch him in the nose for keeping this from you. And then finally Frank told you how your fiancé, Billy Russo, was involved in all of this.

And you cried.

You just cried and cried in his arms for well over an hour because you were too overwhelmed with all the information and a part of you couldn’t believe that Bill could do something like that to his family – to your family.

“He wouldn’t do that, Frankie. You’re wrong. Someone had to have gotten their information mixed up. Maybe Billy was another target on a list? What if it was meant to be only him that was supposed to be killed that day? You have to be wrong. You have to be.” You rambled on while tears still slid down your face.

Frank looked down at the floor and when he looked back up at you, he handed you a file that you did not even realize he had.

Through clenched teeth, he muttered, “I’m not wrong, princess. He was involved with my—with our family dying. I was supposed to die with them and according to that,” he gestured to the file in your hands. “He was going to either give you to the person he answers to as payment for something or he was going to let them come to finish off the Castle bloodline by killing you.”

Sitting there you were shocked and just staring at the closed file in your hands. You couldn’t find the strength to open it and look through the papers and read what your cousin was telling you. Frank Castle was a lot of things, but he was never a liar, so you knew without a doubt that he was being 1000 percent honest with you about what he found.

“Princess, there is one more detail that might really hurt you. It’s part of why I’m here, right now. I came as soon as I saw what was in that file.”

Loosening your grip on the folder, you let it fall to the floor as you stare at Frank’s constantly moving trigger finger. You don’t notice his other hand has moved until he places two fingers under your chin and tilts it up to look him in the eye.

“What is it?” A defeated sigh leaves your lips, “Frankie, what could possibly hurt me more than the learning that my fiancé had a part in the killings of our family, tried to have you killed more than once and is now trying to figure out the best way to deal with me? What is worse than all that?” You cry out.

Frank wipes a few tears away and squeezes your right hand. “Whatever he’s planning on doing, it’s being set up to happen on a specific date that’s coming up soon.”

“A specific date? Am I supposed to know what the hell that means? The only day that we have plans set for that is coming up is—no. Frank, please don’t tell me it—”

“It’s the 17th of October.” He pauses and squeezes your hand again. “His plan is supposed to go into motion on that day.”

A tearful smile crosses your face. “I’m going to die on the day proposed to me on?” A bitter laugh escapes you before you can stop it. “At least you can say Billy is very fucking consistent.”

Your cousin grips the back of your neck, squeezing and leans his forehead against yours. “Hey. You listen to me, yeah?” He grits out. “Don’t ever let me hear you say repeat that shit. You aren’t going to die, kid. I’ll kill every single one of them a thousand times over before they even think to lay a finger on you again, understand? We still have a while to get a plan together to get you out of here and away from him. You trust me, yeah?”

Nodding, you whisper. “Yeah, cousin. I trust you.” He nods once back at you and stands up heading back into the kitchen. You can hear him opening cabinets and the coffee machine start making noises, so you stay in your spot and just let everything settle in your head. This is way too much to handle all at once, with finding out your last family member has been alive all this time and the truth of what happened with your family. Then on top of that, learning that your fiancé, Billy fucking Russo, has been involved in all the bad shit.

Plus, now, you don’t even really know if you fell in love with a façade, he was forced to put on to keep you close for whoever he answers to or if you fell in love with the real Billy. You don’t know which would be worse at this point but either way, you were going to end up heartbroken. Now it was just a matter of if any deaths will come of it and if so, who’s death will it be?

When Frank comes back with two cups of plain black coffee you give him a small but thankful smile and take one from him. As you blow to cool it down, you realize something that makes your heart stop for the second or third time that night.

“Frank, you’re wrong.”

He takes a drink of the still boiling coffee and simply raises an eyebrow at you. Which roughly translates to, “I’m never wrong about anything but what are you talking about?”

Noticing your hands start to shake a little bit, you set the coffee down on the table and place them under your thighs. “You said we had a while to get a plan together, you’re wrong.”

“I’m not wrong, kid. It’s probably just your nerves on edge because of everything you heard today.”

You shake your head vehemently. “Frankie, you’re wrong! It’s October 15th right now which means there is a little over a day for your plan to come together before Billy comes back to get me. He told me he had a client a couple hours away to tend to but he would be back by our anniversary to take me out.”

Standing up, Frank walks over to you, pulls you up from the couch and into the bearhug that always had a way of making you feel extremely safe. “That’s plenty of time, don’t worry about it, yeah? Just go pack a bag princess, you’re going to come stay with me and Micro until this is settled.” You wrap your arms around his waist and softly agree to get some of your things together and once you’re done he grabs his duffle bag and places the file back in it and pulls you outside to a not-as-creepy-as-a-white- van and takes a route to where you will be staying for the foreseeable future.

Being at the bunker is very strange. You’ve only been here for five hours and you don’t have anything to do but worry and stress over the possibility of you dying or of Frank getting himself killed trying to protect you. So, you decide the best thing to do, instead of worrying on how you and your cousin will eventually die, is to hover behind Micro. Who, you learned is actually a guy named David Lieberman, after being there for ten minutes. The only reason you figured that out was when your cousin yelled it out as loud as possible when Micro insisted that ‘Micro’ was honestly his legal name and that was the only thing you could call him.  

“You are always sucking the fun out everything, Castle. Stop being a fun-sucker.” David mumbles under his breath but loud enough you can still hear it and you let out a little snort, making him jump in his chair. “Jesus. You Castle’s are really trying to kill me, aren’t you? One with guns and the other is going to give be a damn heart attack.”

Trying and failing to stifle your laughter, you offer David some of your skittles as an apology and take a seat next to him. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Davey; I was just trying to see what you were doing and if it’s something I could learn.”

Micro raises an eyebrow at you. “You, princess of the Castle bloodline, want to learn how to do all,” he pauses to wave his hands towards all his computers, “this?”

You start to nod but that’s all you can do in reply before Frank walks over and shoves at David’s shoulder. “Shut it, Lieberman. Only I’m allowed to call her princess, yeah? And if I hear you call me a “fun-sucker” again I’m going to show you just how much fun I can be with all my new ‘toys’. Now, tell me what you have so far?”

David sends you a he is so bossy look before he starts typing and clicking on things all over his computer screens. You see some pictures of Billy pop up and it makes you flinch a little. Frank immediately notices, rolls his chair next to yours and knocks his knee against yours in the typical Castle way of saying, you’re not alone; I got you. Always.

Knocking your knee back in to his, you place your head on his shoulder and listen to David  explain that Billy has been a 15-minute drive away from you for these past three weeks he’s been “working” and that he’s at some place that Frank had been before a few weeks ago. He goes on to show blueprints to three buildings and some notes, written in Billy’s writing, that are very detailed descriptions of ways to get away with lying to someone, who was trained by a marine to spot things or people out of place.

The one thing that stands out to you is the simple two sentences at the end of each description and those two sentences break your heart a little more each time you read them over again.

“Target will be completely unarmed when taken. They trust me irrevocably, so they won’t question a thing as long as I’m there to keep them in their place.”

You know there is going to be worse things than that as David keeps showing your cousin everything he’s found, so you decide to try and get some sleep. Standing, you lean down to give Lieberman a hug and thank him for letting you stay at his secret basement, man lair. Then you hug Frank and plant a kiss on his cheek before you go lay down on the little bed he set up for you. There isn’t a way out of this situation without one of the men you love with everything in you getting hurt.

You fall asleep quickly and sleep well into the next day; you honestly think you would have slept a lot longer if it wasn’t for your cousin getting mad at something Micro said or did and was currently threatening loudly to put a bullet in his leg.

Groaning loudly, you throw your arm over your eyes and murmur, “Frankie. Shut up and leave the poor guy alone. He’s had to live with you for however long it’s been and I know how that feels. Stop threatening him and just admit you have a soft spot for your little computer wizard.”

The only thing you hear after is David laughing as loud as he could and Frank grumbling as quietly as he could.

Just as you are on the edge of falling back by listening to the two men get along, you feel a body drop gracelessly down on the end of your little bed and is constantly moving. Finally peeking your eyes open, you see Micro wiggling in place where he dropped and Frank standing right behind him. Serious and grave looks glued to their facial features and you don’t have to be Einstein to know they have a plan but it’s not the best considering how short on time you are.

As you open your mouth to ask a question, David blurts out the ‘plan’.

Not saying anything, you stare at him until he finally repeats what he just blurted out.

“He has to take you.” David mumbles, quieter than before.

You glance back and forth between David and your cousin and wait for them to continue with the master plan.

“I don’t like it, but he’s right kid.” Frank continues. “Bill’s going to arrive at your place, where you will be dressed and waiting. You said he always takes you out to dinner for your engagement anniversary, right? Then that won’t change, let him do what he normally would, the only difference this time is we will be there watching out for you. You’re going to be safe the entire time, I promise you that.” He notices your hands are twitching where they lay in your lap and he places his on top. “It’s going to be okay, kid. I did some work while you were sleeping and now there is only one route he can take to get to your favorite restaurant but he has to drive by some empty warehouses to get there and I’ll be waiting for you in the third one, alright?”

Frozen in fear of what you realize is going to happen very soon, you nod your understanding of the plan and let it play out a few times in your head before you get up to get ready.

It’s time to soldier up, princess. You hear 15-year-old Frank’s words bounce around in your head as you finish the curling the last piece of your hair and put on your lipstick. We’ve got a war to win. These words come through next once you are in the car.

You look at the time on your phone and you try to get a handle on your nerves as you arrive to the condo you live at with Billy.

“You’ll be safe, Castle Junior. You know Frank will be in the third warehouse; he has the nails set in the road so the tires will go flat quick enough that Billy will have to stop right near the third warehouse, and Frank will handle everything else. I’ll be in the sky and everywhere else keeping an eye for his team.” Sending him a thankful smile for going over everything one last time you open the door and step out. Just as your about to close it, David calls for you again.

“Princess. When I say you need to go, please don’t ignore it. You may have met me for the first time yesterday, but it feels like I’ve known you as long as Frank has with all the stories he told me and neither of us can lose another person to these people.” You nod once and take a step back again, waiting to see if he says what you already know. When he doesn’t, you close the door and turn around to head into the building.

And that’s when you hear the motor of the window and his voice following you up the sidewalk.

“You may not get to say ‘goodbye’ to him, CJ. Don’t jeopardize your life to give him one.”

Not turning back to face the van, you tilt your head to the side to show you heard him. You wait there, unmoving, until you hear the van pull away before you take a shaky breath, steel your nerves once more and continue inside to what was once your home.

~~~~~~~

It is about two hours later when you are back on the road. You had dinner with your fiancé, talked about the future like you normally would, shared dessert, took pictures on your usual walk around the park. It was a normal anniversary celebration night. You were back in the SUV and on your way home when you realize you are nearing the stretch of road with all the warehouses. And a small part of you starts to feel the dread coming.

You frown at Billy when you notice he has his phone in his hand. “Hey, y’know it’s dangerous to text and drive, Bill? I wouldn’t want my fiancé to get arrested on our anniversary.” Billy chuckles and puts his phone back in his pocket. He pats your thigh twice before focusing back on the road.

Looking out the front windows you see the warehouses getting closer and your nerves spike. You start thinking about the worst-case scenarios and just as your about to call Micro, you see it. The smallest glint on the wall of one of the warehouses, that could be assumed to be made by the moonlight, but you knew better.  

And that is when you hear a pop and Billy lets out a curse. “Sorry, baby. It’s probably just one of the tires going flat. I’ll get it fixed though, you just stay in the car, okay?” Nodding your head, you wait until you hear the car door shut before you look closer at the building. Looking for something other than the small glint on the wall and sure enough, you notice a shadow standing on the roof of the building.

It is not noticeable unless you were really looking for something that doesn’t belong. The only reason you were able to see it was the glint, which was the drone hovering over the shadow.

You knew without a shadow of a doubt that Frank had his face painted, vest on, at least three weapons on him and one near the entrance of the building where you are supposed to head towards – he’s ready for a war.

And as nervous, heartbroken and confused as you feel – so are you.

Within the first minute of Billy getting the spare tire out of the back of the SUV, he makes a joke about how this is a perfect place for an ambush. You knew it was a joke that he didn’t want you to hear because there was absolutely no reason for either of you to be ambushed. But you can tell by his body language, he’s not sure if he should be worried or not. When you climb out of the car, you can see that he’s trying to laugh it off.

Billy looks at you, with a question on the tip of his tongue when you both hear a noise from inside the warehouse.

As Billy pulls out his phone, he looks over at you and yells, “baby, get back in the car now! Stay there and stay hidden until I come back for you!” You don’t move, just stare at him as he sends a couple messages out and when he realizes, he begins to yell again.

That is until Frank jumps down on the wooden crates right in front of the car and suddenly, all hell breaks loose.

You turn to run towards the entrance, where you knew Frank had hid the other gun and where you’d be safe, but the second Billy sees it’s Frank standing there all geared up, your fiancé immediately rushes to stand between you and his old best friend. It confuses you for a second and that split second is what causes your mind to spiral into the questions you avoided thinking about.

Why is he protecting you now? Why was he involved with what happened to your family? How did he get involved in all this? Why didn’t he stop it? If he was scared why didn’t he tell Frank or you or anyone else? Why did he do it at all? Why did he propose when he knew that the Castle’s were the only family you had, and he took that all away – from both of you? Why is he doing this now? Why didn’t frank come to you sooner? Why you? Why is he trying to break the last few pieces of your heart by not owning up to his plan of handing you over to his boss or killing you? Why in the hell do you still love him knowing everything he’s done and plans to do?

You don’t realize you were mumbling some of these questions until Billy turns around and faces you with a stunned look and an angry glint in his eyes. And now you are face to face with the man who has the blood of your family on his hands. The man who is trying to convince you everything your cousin has told you is a lie.

Billy is begging you to believe him. “Tesoro. C’mon, please don’t tell me you actually believe him? He’s been lying to you for months about not actually being dead! How can you believe him that I was apart of what happened to your family?” When you don’t say anything he shakes his head and a long sigh escapes his lips. “Okay, I haven’t been completely honest about this but neither has he, baby. Your cousin knew about what happened to Maria and the kids because he helped set it up! He didn’t want to give up killing when we came back from our last tour. He got addicted to it and he knew they would hold him back from doing what he wanted. That’s the truth.”He HH

He grabs your left hand and runs his thumb over your engagement ring. “This, right here baby, should show you who is on your side.” Pulling your hand out of his, you feel a tear fall down your face as you take a step back. You see the moment Billy realizes he’s already lost you and that’s when he grabs your face and kisses you hard, trying to make a statement, trying to bring you back to him. Shoving him back you realize you’re full on crying and mumbling repeatedly, “why, why, why?”

Your fiancé leans to grab you again and Frank finally gets Billy’s attention again. Frank hasn’t said a single word since this whole thing started playing out. The only thing he does is aim his gun right at Bill’s head the minute Billy starts whispering something to you in Italian. As your brain registers what he’s said, you start crying harder than before and stumble back against the car.

“You aren’t telling her the truth, Bill. Tell her what you did!” Frank spits out. “Tell her how you were going to give her over to Agent Orange once you got home! Yeah. I know about it all. I know everything that you’ve been doing and every pot you have your hands in. Tell the woman you love, the woman you proposed too, tell my baby cousin how you planned her death out, Russo!”

Billy starts shaking his head back and forth. Talking about things that don’t make sense and when he mentions the steak and ribs dinner he loves to have; you know what’s happening.

You sense, more than feel, Bill move to grab the gun from his belt before you drop the knife from your sleeve and hold it to his neck. “You’re stalling, micio,” you say hoarsely. “Please don’t do anything stupid and just do what Frankie says.”

Billy laughs, it’s one you’ve never heard before and you can see a darkness in his eyes that was never there before. “C’mon, anima mia, put that down. You aren’t going to use it. You’ll only hurt yourself or if Frankie boy keeps aiming that gun at me, I could kill you with it before he gets one shot off.”

With a tearful laugh, you shake your head in slight disappointment. “Bill, please. Please just stop this. I-I- I will do this, you know that. You know I’ll hurt you if I have to because you are the one who trained me for this exact situation,” you murmured. “Granted, you swore it would probably be a random stranger or someone who wanted to go after you, so you made me train for weeks upon weeks until you thought I was good enough. I was your secret weapon, remember?”

Bill moves suddenly and you let the training he gave you kick in as you slice across his chest before you stab it into his shoulder. The way you moved gave Frank an opening and you heard the gun go off four times. You completely expected the shots to be in his chest but they there was one in each of his legs and two in his gut.

There was a lot of blood and Billy wasn’t moving. But neither were you. Frank was still giving him the chance to tell you the truth but it was like time had stopped.

You were staring at his shoulder. At the knife Frankie got you before he left to his last deployment, sticking out of your fiancé’s shoulder. You were numb. Nothing was really registering in your head, you still couldn’t believe Billy was part of this whole thing to begin with.

You didn’t realize you were still crying and you completely forgot you weren’t alone with your slowly dying fiancé until you felt a hand softly touch your shoulder before your cousin turned you away from Billy’s body.

“I’m sorry this happened, princess. I didn’t want to get you involved in this,” He pulls you in to a hug and you grip onto his arms. “But you deserved to know, and I knew if our positions were switched you would have told me too.”

Frank’s phone went off and he answered it while you still clung to him. You weren’t really paying attention to his words because he shifted his stance and now you were again staring at Billy from over his shoulder. Only this time his eyes were open and it looked like he was trying to speak while reaching out for you.

Frank tightened his grip around you and kissed the side of your head. “C’mon kid, we gotta go, yeah? His back up is about seven minutes out.”

You nodded once and let Frankie start leading you away before something in you forced you to stop and run back to where Billy laid. Your cousin didn’t try to stop you, he knew this was the only closure you could get so he let you go. Dropping to your knees you grab Billy’s hand and lean your forehead against his. “I’m sorry,” you croak and squeeze your eyes shut and try to get your breathing under control. “Ti amo, più di ogni altra cosa, mio amore. Sempre.”

You hear Frank’s phone ring again and his gruff voice calls out, “princess, I hate to do this but we gotta go now. That was a two-minute warning.”

You nod not caring if he is looking as you stare into Billy’s eyes for a second before you place one last kiss on his lips.

You get up and run to Frank’s side as he heads towards the exit. You turn your head as you get to the door and then your hand is in Frank’s as he pulls you along to the van where David was waiting. There was no other sound other than both of your footsteps on gravel and the lingering echo of the final words to your fiancé.

“Maybe in another lifetime, goodbye my love.”

What you didn't hear as you ran towards safety was someone running through the building or Billy's reply as the person applied pressure to his wounds.

"In every lifetime, I’m yours. I'll find you again in this one, my love, and I will get you back."

[toocool2btrue]

They were Roommates!

"Katie!" Romelle called, giggling with excitement. Katie suspiciously raised an eyebrow, as she abandoned her bag on the coffee table and headed towards her friends that were crowded in the living room.

"A new romcom released and we have to watch it!" Allura declared.

"I overheard a few girls talk about it in class, Apparently it's pretty good" Nadia informed, pushing her glasses up her nose.

"What is it about?" Katie asked, taking her usual seat on the couch between Allura and Romelle.

Over the past two years thanks to her friends she had become well versed in romcoms. Although she would never care to admit it to her friends but overtime romcom had become a guilty pleasure of hers. Despite the cheesiness, she usually found them cute and a good escape from her exhausting school life.

Romelle squealed, "It's about two people who are roommates and the main lead is so dreamy"

"I would love to be his roommate" Allura dreamily sighed.

"You have Keith! This guy is mine!" Nadia declared, throwing a pillow at Allura.

Allura raised her own pillow in response but stopped in midaction as Romelle pointed to the screen.

"It's started!" she stated, dispersing the pillow fight. The four friends finally settled in, Nadia on the arm chair and the rest of the three on the couch.

____________

Approximately two and half hours later, Katie trudged to her own apartment, deep in thought.

She was already aware of the fact that movies held a very small sense of reality but didn't have the heart to tell her swooning friends that this movie might as well be made on another universe.

It was nothing close to having a guy roommate. If only the writers had interviewed her before making that movie, she would have given such an account that movie would have turned from a romcom to a murder mystery.

Although she wasn't certain who was the murderer. Lance or her?

They both get their fair share of moments of wanting to murder each other.

She shrugged as she entered the elevator. Most probably the murderer would be Hunk given the amount of times she and Lance used to call him to complain about each other.

She shook her head erasing the thoughts, as she took out her key to open the door but before the key could touch the lock.

The door enthusiastically opened by none other but the devil himself.

"Pidge!!" he greeted cheerfully ushering her inside.

She simply rolled her eyes, reminding herself never to forgive her older brother for using her old nickname in front of Lance.

"So how did your day go?" he questioned taking her bag from her.

"Alright" she mumbled, feeling slightly puzzled at the sudden warm welcome.

"Are you hungry?" he questioned and she shook her head, her brain still trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

Pidge wearily eyed the cherpiness of her roommate, she was used to Lance being a ray of sunshine but today he seemed a bit too happy.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked nervously, touching his cheek.

"Are you bringing one of your girlfriends over?" she asked.

Her dear roomie was one heck of a social butterfly, she has witnessed those 'romcom endings' almost every week in her living room thanks to Mr Lover boy.

"No!" he quickly answered, his face turning red.

She quizzically raised a brow wondering where the sudden shyness had come from but she quickly brushed the thought off in favour for another theory.

"Don't tell me you want to throw a party again?" she asked sternly.

Lance paled at the memory, "Definitely not after the last time."

"Then what are you upto?" she questioned.

Lance innocently shrugged, "Just trying to be the wonderful human I am"

"No funny business?" she confirmed, not finding enough energy to deal with the "wonderful human"

"Nope" he assured, feeling satisfied Pidge nodded, heading to her room.

Two hours later, she poked her head out of her room. Her hair held a beautiful resemblance to a bird's nest thanks to her unexpected nap.

According to her year's experience since it was 9:30 pm on a Friday evening. Lance McClain should be out of the house by now to be at whichever party he had been invited to and that meant that the house belonged to her.

But to her utter surprise, Lance McClain was at home in his pajamas watching tv. She never thought she would ever live to see this day.

"Hey" she called softly walking towards the couch.

"Finally awake? You know it wouldn't kill you to have a normal sleeping schedule" he teased, making space for her on the couch.

"Shut up" she sleepily retorted, stifling back a yawn.

"How come you're at home?" she asked to which he simply shrugged.

"I had to work on a paper today and now I am too exhausted to go out" he replied, slumping back lazily on the couch.

"Who are you? And what have you done to my roommate. The real Lance would never miss a chance to have fun" she asked.

He chuckled, sitting up straighter.

"About that. Are you up for a match?" he challenged grabbing the controllers.

Pidge smirked confidently, "If your prepared to lose that is"

There was no denying that the two of them had their differences but surprisingly found a common ground in video games. She considered Lance a worthy player, his reflexes were very sharp making him a challenging opponent.

Lance on the other hand always found it a good opportunity to bond, befriending Pidge was not a easy task. She usually didn't like to talk about herself or initiate conversations but strangely did become a much easier talker when her attention was diverted by work or video games.

So he took his opportunity.

"How come you came home late? Don't your classes end early today" he asked.

Pidge briefly glanced at him, her gaze held surprise which were cleverly disguised by annoyance.

"You have learned my class schedule now?" she questioned, her gaze was fixed onthe screen where she tried her best to stab Lance's character.

Lance snorted, swiftly avoiding her attacks.

"It's not that hard to learn. I am very observant person after all" he grinned proudly.

"An observant person with a lot of free time in his hands" she chided.

"So where were you?" he asked again.

"Watching movie. At Alluras" she answered, heat bloomed in her chest remembering the plot of the movie.

Stupid romcoms...

Lance opened his mouth again and this time she was aware what his next question was going to be.

"No Allura didn't ask about you. She and Keith are still together" She teased, anticipating the familiar pout to appear.

Lance chuckled warmly ducking his head.

"I will never understand how Mullet managed to charm her" he confessed.

His thumbs paused over the controller, as the screen finally announced Pidge as the winner but there wasn't any sign of disappointment in his eyes.

Instead he slightly shifted towards her, there was a dreamy gaze in his blue eyes and instead of his signature smirk a soft thoughtful smile graced his face.

"But I guess that's funny part about love. It's where you least expect it to be" he whispered.

Pidge blinked back at him owlishly, her brain failing to understand the implication.

"If you say so. You are the love expert after all" she naively shrugged.

Lance shook his head as laughter bubbled in his throat, although he had his right to feel disappointed but he couldn't bring himself to.

He let out a hearty chuckle earning a more puzzled look from Pidge.

"What?" she asked dazed by her roommate's strange behavior.

"You finally admitted that I am a love expert" he declared proudly, ruffling her hair.

"Well I never denied that either" she retorted, swatting away his hand.

_____________________

"Katie. The professor is going to kill you" Nadia warned shaking her friend awake.

"I am already dead. So it doesn't matter" she sleepily mumbled.

Nadia slumped back in her chair, observing her surroundings. Most of her classmates tried their best to keep their eyes open as the professor droned on with his lecture hardly bothered by the lack of response.

Whose bright idea was to keep an 8 am lecture on Monday?

She fixed her glasses and leaned forward trying to understand what the Professor was talking about.

Despite her best efforts she failed to do so, she decided that her friend had the right idea and it was better to catch up on her sleep. Atleast she would be feeling fresh for her next class.

But that was until!

"Katie!" she hissed poking her friend.

"What?" Katie groaned.

"James is looking at you" she whispered, unable to contain her giddiness.

"What!" Katie jumped in her seat.

Nadia facepalmed as their classmates attention turned towards them.

"Miss Holt and Miss Rizavi. Anything you like to share with the class?" The Professor questioned sternly, crossing his arms.

The two friends slowly got up from their seats, they momentarily shared a look before turning back to the Professor.

"Well you see Professor..." Nadia started as Katie zoned out of the explanation. Her eyes darted like a theif avoiding her Professor's gaze.

The people who were barely awake a minute ago, watched the pair with curious eyes. Among those eyes was James Griffin.

Katie froze as his eyes made contact with hers, he gave her a small sympathetic smile. Subconsciously Katie's lips curved up as well.

"Miss Holt what are you smiling about!"

__________________

"I am sorry but what?" Allura giggled and Keith smirked in amusement.

"I finally manage to get us out of trouble and she lands us right back in" Nadia groaned.

"You were the one who got us in to trouble inthe first place!" Katie reasoned.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter" Nadia waved off, slurping the last of her chocolate milkshake.

"So what is the good news?" Keith asked.

Nadia grinned, "That daredevil trick helped her score. He asked her out"

"Really!!" Allura grinned , slapping her hands on the table in excitement. The three of them jumped back in terror as their glasses and the table shook.

"Easy there, Honey" Keith reassured carefully steadying the glasses.

"He didn't ask me out!" Katie glared at Nadia.

"He only asked if I wanted to be his partner for our project" she clarified.

"Oh please the translation for that is. Will you be my partner for life" Nadia informed.

"Geez Nads" Katie rolled her eyes as the rest of them laughed.

"Oh no. We are going to be late for our class" Allura declared, checking her watch.

"This is gonna be the third time!!" Nadia added, frantically grabbing her stuff.

"See you later" Allura waved off, giving Keith a quick kiss on the cheek. Surprising the young man, whose face started resembling his red jacket.

Katie smirked in satisfaction as she watched Keith's eyes follow Allura till she disappeared outside. She and Keith have been friends for ages courtesy to Shiro and Matt but she had never seen this soft side of him. The side which was only reserved for Allura.

"Aren't you the cutest" She teased causing him to turn red.

"Shut up" he mumbled turning back to his fries.

"No offense but never in my wildest dreams did I consider you the dating type" she confessed and Keith gave her small smirk.

"I could say the same for you"

Katie giggled stealing a fry, "Well I am still single so your theory stands."

"Not for long" He informed.

"You want to make a bet?" Katie challenged, Keith shrugged innocently, "Sure. I bet you 50 bucks that you will be dating before the end of the semester"

Katie look at him bemused, "I'll take that bet. Prepare to lose"

Keith smirked, "We will see"

"Hey you want to hear something weird?" he suddenly offered. Katie rubbed her hands in delight, "Another conspiracy theory. Is it about Area 51?"

"No no but this is even weirder" he assured. "What?" she asked carefully, Katie didn't like the evil smirk on Keith's face.

"Today after class Miranda Green asked Lance out" Keith informed and Katie's eyes widened.

"Miranda Green? The popular one who is famous for playing hard to get. How come she asked Lance out ?"

Keith shook his head, "That is not even the weird part. Lance rejected her"

"What?!" Katie shouted and Keith quickly grabbed all the glasses before she could reentact Allura.

"See I told you it was weird" Keith smiled in satisfaction.

"Wait..wait. Didn't Lance like her?" Katie questioned, racking her brains.

"I mean he used to talk about her all the time till..last month?" She mumbled trying to remember the last time Lance mentioned Miranda.

Keith casually shrugged his shoulders, "Who knows what goes on in that boy's mind"

________________

Pidge absentmindedly shuffled her food around her plate replaying the recent weeks in her mind.

The year had given her plenty of time to grow accustomed to her roommates activities and behaviors but the last two weeks were a stark contrast to her previous observations.

For starters he hardly went out this weekend, before that there she had a higher probability of seeing him outside rather than in their own apartment.

Now he had rejected someone for whom he was singing love ballads a few weeks ago. Speaking of that, when was the last time he brought or mentioned a girlfriend?

She stabbed her meatball with her fork, what was this boy upto? Had she rubbed off on him? This was disappointing she had really hoped he would rub off on her. God knows how much she needs those social skills.

Whatever it was she was going to find out, Pidge decided munching on her spagettis.

"Hey!" the familiar voice called.

The devil was home.

Lance dramatically fell onthe couch. Pidge glanced at her watch and turned towards Lance.

"Hey. How are you ?" she questioned.

Lance shrugged, "Very tired and hungry. Please tell me there is still dinner"

Pidge nodded, "I made spaghetti"

Lance immediately perked up, "I am the luckiest man alive"

Pidge rolled her eyes, "Flattery will get you no where Mr McClain. You have to get it yourself"

"But Pidgey I am so tired!" Lance groaned, he pleadingly clasped her hands in his.

"Please" he mumbled, giving her the puppy dog eyes.

"Ugh fine!" she agreed, freeing her hands from his. Faint shivers ran down her back and she rubbed her hands together trying to get rid of the sudden chill.

"Don't call me Pidgey" she warned and he mischeviously smirked.

"But we have a deal" he reminded.

There were rare moments when Lance could make Pidge speechless, it's not easy to make a genius speechless mind you so Lance enjoyed each second of it.

"Just wait till I meet your family!" she threatened.

"You will be sorry that you even thought about messing with me!" she warned disappearing into the kitchen.

Lance chuckled to himself, "What's the rush? Let me ask you out first"

___________

Pidge glanced up from her laptop, it was 11:45 pm and Lance was out cold on the couch.

Her eyes softened at the sight, he looked less evil when asleep and as much she would have preferred to let him stay like that. He is gonna get a back ache, their couch wasn't exactly the beacon of comfort.

Putting her laptop aside she walked towards the sleeping man, mustering all her physical energy.

"Lance" she whispered shaking him lightly.

"Go to your room or else you are going to end with a backache" she ordered, shaking him harder.

Lance groaned in his sleep hugging the green pillow tighter.

Pidge sighed, a wise person would leave him alone to his fate but a wiser person knew that he would be grumpy the next day and in turn annoy her more.

So taking another deep breath, Pidge started pulling on his arms in order to get him up. Lance might look like a bean pole but he was heavy and pulling him up wasn't an easy feat.

Thankfully his eyes fluttered open, "Pidge what are you doing?" he slurred in his sleep.

"Getting you to your bed" she answered between her struggle.

Lance nodded absentmindedly as he slowly started getting up.

Pidge patted herself for a job well done but the celebration was done too soon.

"Quiznak! Lance!" she shouted as he nearly toppled her over.

Pidge huffed, she was nearly being crushed by a man almost twice her weight then again she should have known better than to stir the devil in his slumber.

"Next time I am leaving you there" she angrily hissed to the half awake man as she almost dragged him towards his room.

"Mmmm" was his simple reply as his face snuggled closer to hers.

Pidge didn't know if her face was red from blushing or exhaustion. Rolling her eyes she continued her voyage and then kicked the door open.

Using the last of her strength she dumped the 85 kgs on his bed. Lance seemed unaffected by the whole ordeal and he simply snuggled closer to his pillows with a small smile curled on face as if he was the most innocent person in existence.

Pidge glared at the sleeping figure before tossing his blue comforter over him. All that effort would be a waste if he caught a cold, she decided.

As she turned to leave, Lance managed to gather enough senses to sleepily whisper "Thank you"

Pidge smiled to herself, softly closing the door.

________________

Lance sighed with contentment as he opened the door. Thursday had become his favorite day for it successfully ended at 2:30 pm. No more classes and definitely no work.

His brows furrowed in confusion at the sight of the empty apartment. Usually she would be haunting the living room at this time.

Could it be that Katie finally decided to leave the home on her own accord?

He cautiously stepped inside wondering if he ended up in one of those alternate realities Katie kept talking about?

His eyes searched the apartment till it ended up on a unfamiliar object.

Wait was that plant here when he left?

"Ka-Pidge!!" he finally called out.

"Over here!!" came the immediate reply.

Lance shook his head as he made his way over to the balcony, sometimes he forgot that they also had a balcony. Their apartment was like a luxury for them, no wonder despite their differences they had decided to co-habit it.

There she was, among her plants. Smiling at them like a proud mother.

"Hey!" she chirped.

"Hey" he cooly replied.

"Mind telling me about that plant in our living room?" he questioned, the amusement evident in his eyes.

"It needed a home?" she offered innocently. "Really?" he asked, leaning against the railing.

Pidge nodded enthusiastically, "My mom got it but it's not safe to keep around Bae Bae. So she asked if I could take care of it"

Lance shook his head trying to keep down the laughter bubbling in his throat.

"Our home will become a Greenhouse soon" he tried to reason.

"Please! Lance" she begged, clasping her hands together.

Lance raised a hesitant brow, "Katie.."

"It has no where to go" she whispered helplessly.

"Fine. As long as you are not allergic to it" he gave in and Pidge grinned.

"Did I ever mention that you are the best roommate ever" she praised gleefully.

"I wouldn't mind if you mentioned that more" he added and Pidge simply rolled her eyes, turning back to watering her plants.

"Need any help?" he questioned, kneeling next to her.

Pidge blinked in surprise, "Yeah. Can you transfer that one to the bigger pot"

"Wow it's grown so much!!" he marvelled, picking up the spare gloves.

"Just be very careful with it" she advised.

"Don't worry. I am a pro" he assured, gently lifting the plant from its old home.

Lance could feel the amber eyes trained at him as he added the soil inthe new plant. It gave him goosebumps.

"What?" he softly questioned as Pidge flitted her gaze.

"Nothing" she mumbled.

A peaceful silence followed till she asked again.

"Hey, I can ask you something?" she carefully juggled her words.

"Sure?" he replied, his voice holding equal uncertainty.

"Is everything alright?" she whispered. Lance looked at her confused, "What do you mean?"

A pause followed as Pidge selected the suitable words in her head before she spoke again.

"Lance you have been acting differently these days. I used to hardly see you in daylight and today your classes ended early but instead of parading around somewhere with your friends. You are at home with me"

Lance simply let out a chuckle, " Is staying home with you a bad thing?"

Pidge shook her head,"No but it's certainly unusual for you"

"Maybe I just like hanging out in my apartment these days. I can't let you have our awesome TV all day" he joked but Pidge remained unamused.

She sighed, Lance wasn't an easy person to deal with. He thought he had everyone fooled with his goofy and easy going persona but overtime she had learned better.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk to me about it but make sure you do talk with someone" she firmly stated.

The playfulness from his eyes disappeared and he took a sober tone.

"Everything is fine" he assured sincerely.

Pidge raised a skeptical brow, "Really?" He gave her a small smile, "Cross my heart"

"Although.." he started and tone made her realize that he was going to say something ridiculous.

"I didn't know my dear Pigeon cared about me so much" He teased.

Pidge's reply was interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

They shared a puzzled look for a moment on who could it be before Pidge's eyes widened in realization.

"Shoot!" she paled, taking her gloves off quickly.

"Lance get the door. I will be back!" she said heading into her room with top speed. Lance slowly walked towards the door, scratching his head on what could have possibly made Pidge so nervous.

He didn't need to wonder for too long though, the other side of the door revealed a young man with brown hair.

He seemed fimiliar, Lance probably saw him around campus. The brown haired man was equally surprised to see him.

He cleared his throat, "Is Katie here?"

Lance's eyes narrowed but before he could reply the person in question came running towards the door.

"James!!" she greeted opening the door wider and letting 'James' inside.

James's posture relaxed but he still suspiciously eyed Lance who in turn did the same. Both boys wondering the relation of the other.

Thankfully Katie considered it a good time for introductions, "This is my roommate Lance"

"And this my classmate James. We are working on an assignment together" she explained. The two boys reluctantly nodded in acknowledgement.

"Did you research on the malfunction of 1269?" she asked. James nodded proudly holding up his USB.

"Awesome! Let's get started" Katie grinned in excitement, there was a mad look in those amber colored eyes. Lance considered it to be safer not to get inthe way when Pidge was in her 'mad scientist' mode.

Beside him, James affectionately chuckled at her excitement. Lance's eyes narrowed again, an uncomfortable feeling poked him in the chest. He didn't like this guy.

____________

Hope you enjoy! The second part will be coming soon.

Please Reblog if you enjoyed! And do mention if you liked a certain part.

Edit: the second part is here! Check my blog to find the second part.

[p-artsypants]

Longest Night (19) Pacing

Marinette had thought Highschool had been hard. Right now, in this moment, she'd give anything to go back to those petty arguments and gossip fueled drama. But she couldn't. Instead, she and Adrien were trapped here, being punished, humiliated, tortured, for being heroes, all broadcasted for the world to see. At least she and her kitty were in this together. For now. Whump!Fic

Ao3 | FF.net

This chapter takes place over several days. We will switch back to the audience next, and cover the time a little more slowly. A lot happens.

Also, there’s no physical torture in this chapter, but there is talk of starvation and menstruation.

—

Marinette and Adrien stayed awake as long as possible, just trying to get any joy they could from being with each other. They recounted times where they had been in school and had to leave to fight an Akuma, along with all of the bad excuses that they had come up with along the way.

“I remember being in class and there was boom across the street, I can’t even remember what akuma it was, but we both raised our hands at the same time, and at that second, I just found myself thinking, ‘no Adrien! Stay in your seat!’”

“I remember that! Because Miss Bustier let you go, and said that I had to wait until you came back! I had to make a big fuss and pretend that I was going to piss my pants before she let me go! And then when Chat arrived to the fight, you gave me a hard time about being tardy!”

Marinette outright laughed, unable to contain her amusement at the irony that was their life.

“I hope the school retroactively excuses all our absences,” Marinette giggled. “I had perfect attendance before I became Ladybug.”

“They better.” Adrien added. “I’m not even close to getting perfect attendance because of all the times I had to miss for photoshoots.” He paused, thinking. “You know, it’s a marvel that I had as good of grades as I did, given how often I wasn’t actually there.”

“Well, we can’t all be geniuses.”

“Oh, what are you talking about? You’re the smart one, my lady.” Then he gave her a little kiss, one that sent goosebumps down her spine.

“Flatterer.” She said flatly, despite the smile on her lips.

His stomach growled loudly, and he cringed. “I’m sorry, I’m just…really hungry.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I’m hungry too.”

“How’s your hand?” He asked.

“Probably the same as yours. It sucks.”

“Yep, that’s where I’m at too.”

“And your ears?” She asked, knowing that they were still being pulled by that string.

“Definitely infected.” He grimaced. “I can’t touch them.”

“Oh kitty…”

“It’s fine. I guess. We can’t do anything about it. Sorry to worry you.”

She kissed his cheek. “I still worry about you, no matter.”

“I worry about you too, Princess.”

Marinette nuzzled her face into his shoulder, the good one. He smelled awful, since he hadn’t bathed in a week, and she could smell the infection in his ears. But it didn’t matter one bit. Because it was Adrien, and he was warm and alive, and right here.

For who knew how long.

He pressed his nose into her hair.

“Ugh, don’t smell my hair. It hasn’t been washed in days.”

“Smells wonderful to me,” he cheeked.

Marinette was quiet, pensive, as dread creeped up on her shoulders. “What…do you think Salo meant, when she said we should enjoy our last hours together?”

“I think she’s going to kill me.” Adrien said, softly. “She acted like she was the most angry with you…”

Marinette bit her lip, hugging him tighter. “I don’t think so. Before the wedding, she told me she wanted to torture you in front of me, because it would hurt more.”

“Then maybe we’ll just be separated for a little while.”

Marinette hoped that’s what it was. God, she hoped that was it. For a week of this, she sure was taking things better than she ever thought she would. But she attributed all of that to Adrien. Just having him here, being a source of strength, and a reason to keep fighting, had allowed her to keep her sanity.

Without him, surely she’d lose herself to an abyss.

Far too soon, sooner than they were willing, the locks to the door were clicking, and the door was opening.

“Well, I’m disappointed.” Salo stated with her arms crossed. “You had several hours to pork, and all you did was kiss and talk about mushy corny shit. I thought kids your age where supposed to be horn dogs.”

Neither of them answered.

“Come on, on your feet.”

Hesitantly, they both stood, a lot weaker than they had been the first day. Keeping their hands together, they walked out of the closet, and prepared for the next round of torture.

Salo rested her hands on her waist, her expression impossible to discern underneath her sunglasses. “As much as I love being here and taking care of you two, I have some other business to attend to. I have to clean up the mess you made for me. But not to worry, Pasolini will be here, as well as our chef. We will continue to provide the excellent service we have been providing you with. And, I’ve even updated your rooms! Free of charge!” She gave a nod, and a man on each side took hold of Marinette and Adrien, and began pulling them in opposite directions.

“No!” Adrien cried out, clenching Marinette’s hand.  

“Come on, Chat, your room is this way.” Salo pulled on his bum arm, making him cry out. “Just let go.”

“No! My Lady!”

Marinette clenched him just as hard. “Adrien!”

Salo had to manually pry their fingers apart to get them to let go, and even then, they continued to reach out for each other.

“Adrien!”

“My Lady!”

Marinette was dragged down the hall and around the corner, out of sight. She could still hear him crying for her, and she shouted right back until there was silence in return.

“In you go, Miss Bug.” Said the man dragging her along. It was another closet. Just as small as the last. But without Adrien, it felt incredibly cold.

The door slammed behind her, and the locks were put in place.

Then, she was all alone.

And it was so quiet.

No hum of an air conditioner, no rush of traffic, nothing. Absolutely nothing but dead silence broken with her own short breaths.

She sat down on the ground, the cold cement floor covered with debris and dust from a bygone era.

So this was it then? Isolation? Solitary? For how long?

At least until the next session of torture. Which would probably be in a few hours at least.

Marinette saw no point in sitting awake with her thoughts, and so she curled up into a ball, and eventually fell asleep.

—

And Adrien thought he was overcoming his claustrophobia.

But being put into a closet that was only a little bit taller than him, and only allowed him to stretch his arms out to his elbows really undid all the progress he was making.

How thick was the door? Would he run out of air in here? There weren’t any vents. No slot like there had been in his first cage.

He knelt, and felt along the bottom of the door. The space between it and the floor was barely wide enough to fit his pinkie through.

He needed to calm down and breathe. Slowly. Or else he would suck up all the oxygen and start to suffocate and—

“Oh god!” He shouted, his breathing erratic.

There was no calming down.

Were the walls closer than they were before? This room felt smaller!

Adrien braced his hand on one wall, and his back on the other and pushed.

Solid concrete, it wasn’t budging.

“They’re going to crush me!” He cried, using every bit of his strength to hold the wall still.

He spent a long time, just holding that pose, until his weak arm started to ache. When it felt like the wall wasn’t moving, Adrien slowly slid down the wall onto the floor, pressing his face against the cold metal door, and just trying to catch his breath.  

—

Day 3.

As future guardian of the Miraculous, Master Fu and Marinette tried to make a habit of meditating together on Sunday afternoons.

She wasn’t buddhist, and neither was her family. Master Fu made it a point that the meditation wasn’t religious in nature, but simply a way to keep emotions in order, and not to let anger overwhelm them.

It would be disastrous if either of them were akumatized, after all.

So Marinette crossed her legs, resting her wrists on her knees and just tried to clear all thought from her head.

There was nothing to focus on. No chirping of birds. No chimes singing in the wind.

Nothing to prevent her thoughts from wandering.

Adrien’s probably gone by now.

She shook her head, forcing the thought away.

“I am in control. I control my thoughts. Things look bleak, but it’s alright. Right now, everything is alright.”

Everyone has given up.

“Everything will be fine.”

No one cares about a Ladybug that messes up all the time.

Marinette tightened her fists.

“Tikki, help me.”

—

Day 7.

They say you should spend every day like it’s your last. But for Adrien, every minute, every second, he feared would be his last.

How would they do it? Would they leak gas in under the door? Would it be painless? Or violent?

He refused his food for a few days, afraid that they would poison it, or put whatever drug they had put in a while back. But eventually, his hunger got the best of him, and he devoured the food loaf before he even tasted it.

For a while, Adrien wondered if they had forgotten about killing him. That is what they were going to do, after all, right? If Salo was so hellbent on hating Ladybug, why keep Chat Noir around?

For several hours, maybe a whole day, he stood in the corner, his hands over his mouth, lest they hear him and remember their job.

—

Day 10.

Back and forth. Back and forth. Marinette shuffled her feet over the dusty floor, trying to get some exercise. Her legs felt weak, and it was getting harder and harder just to stand.

As Ladybug, and by extension Chat Noir, she didn’t have any body fat. The type of acrobatics and daredevil stunts she performed on the daily burned through any fat she had.

Now, her hunger was burning through her muscles.

The corset she was forced into some two weeks ago, was now loose, and slipped down her form. It was only for the cold that she even wore it.

—

Day 15.

What if Ladybug forgot him?

What if she had escaped, but thought he was dead, and so she left without him?

What if she left him on purpose?

No.

She wouldn’t do that.

Of course she wouldn’t. She loved him, right? She kissed him.

No, she was probably still here somewhere, suffering.

This was all his fault. If he had gotten to the docks sooner, or if he had catcylsmed the akuma’s chains when he had the chance…

That fight repeated itself over and over in his mind. He could clearly see all the mistakes he made. All the openings he missed. All the time he wasted.

It was like that with every akuma fight though, wasn’t it? He goofed around too much. He was having fun being a superhero. He dragged out the fight, and thus his freedom. He teased and flirted and was just over all…

A pain.

A failure.

He deserved this.

His father had kept him home, secluded and safe, and if he had just listened to him and stayed put, none of this would have happened.

Marinette would still be Ladybug, but she’d have a different Chat Noir.

A more capable Chat Noir.

They would have found Hawkmoth by now.

“I’m so sorry, My Lady.” He said out loud. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry I was so useless. If…If we get out of here…I promise to always protect you. I promise…to always be by your side. I’ll make this up to you…”

If he said anything else, no one else would hear it, since he had covered his face with his hand to sob.

—

Day 21.

Being a woman was hard enough without being locked up in a closet with nothing.

She didn’t need to get her period too.

That was like…turning on the sprinkler when it’s raining.

This all already sucked. So why did she have to deal with this too?

No toilet. No hygiene products. Heck, she wasn’t even wearing anything that would help.

When her biweekly meal came, she begged the man, “can I please have some napkins?”

He just laughed in her face.

Up until then, she hadn’t realized how much she bled in a week.

The floor was already disgusting, and the cell reeked of the most disgusting smells a person could come across.

She was surprised she hadn’t caught some disease and died already.

She was filthy. She hadn’t showered in about a month, and she slept in her own waste.

Marinette was barely hanging on to her humanity. People don’t live like this. People don’t exist like this.

Unless they were in the holocaust?

Maybe. She couldn’t remember all that much about that event. She was having a hard time remembering basic things.

Like what her mom’s voice sounded like.

And what sunshine felt like.

And what her dad smelled like after a day in the bakery.

These things were slipping away.

—

Day 27.

Adrien clenched his hands into fists and banged on the door.

Hours and hours, he pounded against the metal, hoping anyone would hear him.

There had to be someone nearby that was on his side! A pedestrian! Or a neighbor!

Or…

Plagg!

His miraculous was still in the safe, right? If he could just…tap into that link that he had with the ring…not that there was any sort of link when the ring was off...

But he’d be damned if he didn’t try!

“Plagg!” He screamed. “Plagg wake up!”

He only stopped when he got lightheaded. And then only to catch his breath before he was screaming and banging his fists on his doo again.

“PLAGG! PLAGG!”

After a while, it didn’t even sound like a name anymore. The word just poured out of his mouth endlessly, his voice breaking with each scream.

“PLAGG! PLAGG!”

“PLAGG!”

He screamed and screamed until his voice went out.

—

Day 32.

No one was coming.

No one was waiting for them.

They had all given up.

So why should she fight anymore?

How long had they been held here? A year?

It felt like it.

Every time she tried to fall into sleep, someone would bang against her door, startling her.

She was done with this.

“Just kill me already.”

—

Day 36.

Adrien couldn’t stand anymore.

Physically.

His legs were too weak to support him.

His knees ached, because he was unable to stretch his legs in any direction. This cage was just too damn small!

There was supposed to be a fencing tournament coming up. Or maybe it had already passed. He wasn’t quite sure how many days he’d been in here.

But there was no way to practice his moves anyway. Not if he couldn’t stand.

Wouldn’t his father be disappointed? If he forgot all of his skills he worked so hard to learn…

Carefully, he swept the area right in front of the door clear of filth and debris.

Then, he took a sharp bit of concrete and drew a keyboard out on the ground, just barely able to make out the shapes in the faint light.

Once it was all drawn, he began to practice.

Of course, the solid keys didn’t make any sound, so he just had to sing the notes out loud to himself. But with the shape his vocal chords were in, they came out as faint whispers instead.

It was good enough. It had to be good enough. Or else he wasn’t good enough, and there wouldn’t be any point in escaping.

—

Day 39.

She sat in the corner. Her food loaf on the tray sat just inside in the door. It had been there for hours now, but she couldn’t find the motivation to eat. Salo was gone, off doing God-knows-what. If she just stopped eating, then she could just die, and spare Salo the satisfaction of finishing her off.

The door opened with a creak, as it always did when dinner arrived.

“Ugh,” Salo’s voice pierced through the darkness. “Disgusting. I told you not to kill them.”

“We didn’t!”

A flashlight shone in her eyes and she winced against it, the harsh light like a stab to the brain.

“Would you look at that!” Salo laughed. “Still just barely hanging on.”

One of the men nearby gagged loudly.

“Yeah, that’s foul. Ugh…she certainly smells like she’s dead. Alright piggy, on your feet.”

But Marinette didn’t move.

“I said stand, Maggot! Did you forget how to listen?”

“…can’t…” she whispered.

“What?”

“I…I can’t…stand…”

Salo rolled her eyes, and then snapped her fingers.

The men were hesitant. “Do we really have to touch her? She looks like she has the plague.”

“Just get her over to the old showers. There’s a drain, we’ll hose her off.”

Marinette turned her face away in the beam of the flashlight, hiding her face in the wall.

A man grabbed her arm and hauled her far too easily onto her feet.

She wobbled on her legs, but eventually found some sort of balance.

The corset slipped right off her body, as if it hadn’t been tied on at all.

Salo gagged at the sight of her naked body, what was left of it, at least.

Slowly, she was led to a room that looked like it had once been communal showers. The pipes were rusted and eroded.

But there was a hose with a sprayer on the end running from down the hall.

Her escort let go of her, and gestured her into the room.

She had to use the tile to walk farther in. But eventually, she got to the place they wanted her, and they blasted her with the hose.

The water was absolutely bone chilling, and the pressure nearly knocked her on her ass. But instead she just slowly turned around, allowing them to power wash her.

There was no soap, so the blood and filth still stained her skin, but it wasn’t caked on anymore.

After Salo deemed her clean enough, her beloved hospital gown dropped into her hands. She scrambled to put it on, and warm up.

Then she was led from the showers into another room with a table and chairs.

“Take a seat. The next session starts in a few hours, and I have a visitor for you.”

“…who?”

“A good friend of yours. They missed you so so much. Talked about you all the time.”

Marinette just sighed, her eyes going to the table.

“No? You don’t care?”

“…doesn’t matter.”

“Oh!” Salo sang, a chill running down her spine. “That’s just what I wanted to hear! You’ve finally cracked, haven’t you? Oh it took a while, but man, that was worth it! Alright. On to the next phase!” She laughed and laughed, slamming the door behind her as she left.

Marinette sauntered over and sat in the chair, still shivering.

The next phase? There was more?

“Just let me die.” She whispered. “I just want to die.”