#Except he said trapped in a civilized woman

[elizabethemerald]

A Shade Darker than Red: Part 8

An alarm sounded in the Monitor room of the Watchtower. The Justice League’s hidden space station base had been home to Bruce Wayne since the confrontation between himself and his family. He was begrudgingly giving them the space they demanded, though he knew eventually he would have to return to Gotham no matter their wishes to the contrary. Gotham needed Batman. He was the only thing that stood between the rogues and the common people of the city. 

When the alarm sounded he typed a few keys to cancel the alarm and show the full information on the screen. It wasn’t one of the usual JL alarms. They had monitors all over the planet and beyond sensing everything they could think of and most national and local governments had their own ways of reaching the League in the event of a disaster. Plus they tried to reach out to as many regional heroes as possible so they could call for backup if they needed to. 

Instead of one of those regular ones, it was one of Bruce’s own alarms that would only sound if he was on Monitor duty. He had numerous issues that he alone was monitoring, like his personal rogues and the other JL members in case they went rogue themselves. This alarm came from Arkham Asylum. A break out. In the most restricted section of the Asylum. That could only mean one thing. Joker. 

Bruce stood to his feet and stepped away to take a zeta tube down to Gotham. He clenched his fist in annoyance as a sudden rush of air revealed Superman to be standing in front of him. 

“Clark.” 

“Heading somewhere, Bruce?” Superman gave him a look that Bruce didn’t know how to interpret. Probably condescending. 

“Alarm in Arkham. If the Joker’s breaking out, I’m needed in the city.” Bruce went to step around Clark and was even more annoyed when Clark stepped with him, effortlessly keeping himself between him and the door. 

“The League doesn’t involve itself in cities with local heroes unless they specifically ask for help.” Clark said. “You wrote that rule yourself. It was one of the first rules you put in there.” 

If Bruce had less control over his facial expressions he would have sneered. Of course he had put in that rule, he didn’t want any of the League messing things up in his city. 

“Gotham is my city.” He kept the snarl out of his voice with difficulty. 

“It stopped being your city when you broke your own rule.” Clark said plainly. 

“Gotham needs Batman.” Bruce stepped forward into Clark’s space, his hand drifting down towards his utility belt, the motion covered by his cape. Except another rush of air passed by him and his hand came up empty when he reached for his kryptonite. 

“Let’s keep this conversation civil, shall we?” Flash said from the entrance to the Monitor room, Bruce’s utility belt in his hand. “I’ll go put this in lock up for now.” 

A blink and he was gone, less than a second later and he was back, empty handed now. 

“How did you-?”

“Disarm your traps?” Bruce stepped back from Clark at Wonder Woman’s words. He was now edged in by three of the most powerful members of the League and they had already removed his tools from him. Diana gave him a smug look. “It would seem an email was sent to certain members of the League with how to bypass your precautions in the event that you began acting out against any of us.” 

“They sent the whole League-?”

“Nope! Just us.” Flash now had popcorn in his hand. He couldn’t tell if Barry was eating out of anxiety or because he was feeling smug at having the upper hand over the Bat. Probably smug. “Honestly I’m a little upset about your contingency plans for if I go rogue. That’s kind of rude, Bruce.” 

Bruce ignored that, instead focusing on what that meant. He had kept those files secured so no one could ever find them. And he had modified the design for his belt’s defenses since leaving Gotham. 

“How did they find that information?”

“I don’t know what to tell you Bruce. You personally trained two of the best hackers on the planet. Maybe your cyber security just doesn't match them. And it’s not like you’ve given them a lot of reasons to trust you.”

He didn’t need to be lectured by them. A mad man was attempting to break out of the asylum again and he needed to be there to head him off and send him right back. He moved to step around Clark again and this time was met by Diana. 

“I’m needed in Gotham.” He glared at all three of them. 

“If the heroes of Gotham ask for our aid, we’ll respond. But if they don’t ask, we don’t interfere. That’s our rules. That’s your rule. Or are you about to go back on another of your rules?” Diana asked him, her eyebrow raised. When he just stood there and fumed for a few moments she continued. “If I need to I will personally ensure you cannot leave the station, or the medical wing until after this crisis is resolved. Is that what you would like me to do?” 

Bruce glared at them, but returned to his seat at the Monitor control. He needed to be healthy enough to fight Joker when he needed to. None of his proteges had his knowledge and experience with dealing with Joker. Eventually they would call for his help and he had to be ready. 

.

Danny and Jason steadily made their way through Arkham towards the maximum security ward. Danny set off the occasional alarm, sometimes even sticking his arm through the wall to set off a hidden sensor that wasn’t sensitive enough to his presence. Jason watched him curiously as he floated next to him. 

“Why are you doing that?” 

“Hmm? Oh!” Danny looked confused where he was currently elbow deep in the wall fiddling with the wires until another alarm suddenly sounded. “If we went in full ghost style, got to the Joker and got back out without leaving a trace, eventually someone would assume something supernatural, and one of the Justice League’s magic users would get involved. If we got in and out without a trace other than the alarms and cameras getting disabled the assumption would be an extremely skilled assassin, which would make people paranoid. Now they’ll just think a regular run of the mill assassin came through. Skilled, but not extraordinary. A mystery not a threat.” 

“That makes a lot of sense. You’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this.” 

“Yeah. Jazz getting our parents put away was great in a tonne of ways. We were finally able to actually be ourselves without worry and I will never complain about the removal of the Anti-Ecto Acts. But it brought us all into the spotlight. And ghosts don’t really belong under the spotlight anymore than they belong under a microscope. So Jazz and I, along with my advisors, put together some briefings on how to normalize the paranormal.” 

“Interesting. I guess as king you have to put a lot of thought into this sort of thing.” 

“Yeah. It’s for the best for everyone if ghosts faded out of people’s minds. I’m sure you can imagine the chaos and carnage some of these folks could come up with a little ghostly firepower.” 

Danny gestured to the sleeping inmates around them. A little ghostly favor from Nocturn and all the inmates in Arkham would be sleeping just long enough for them to get in and get out. They were passing into the maximum security ward only a few more cells until they came to Joker’s cell. Danny stopped with his arm out, forcing Jason to stop as well. 

“You’re sure this is what you want?” 

“He’s hurt enough fucking people. It isn’t even just about avenging my death anymore.” Jason had never been more sure of anything in his life or afterlife. 

Danny nodded and marched forward. The pair of them could already hear the mad ramblings of Joker, the only person in Arkham who was still awake. Danny allowed his full royal regalia to cover his body, blackened armor, ice crown and cloak of stars sparkling onto his body like ice forming on a still lake. When he’s facing the bars in front of Joker’s cell, Danny doesn’t phase through, instead letting his body melt around the bars like a Terminator. 

“Oh, what’s this? Visitors for Uncle Joker? Well welcome to my humble home.” 

“Silence Worm.” Danny ordered and Joker’s mouth snapped shut against his will. Danny held his hand out to the side and a burning green crowbar appeared in his hand. “I am coming seeking vengeance for one of the numerous deaths you caused. Your end will be swift and painful.”

Joker struggled for a moment before he was able to open his mouth again. 

“And which death are you avenging? There’s been so many, I can’t keep count!” 

“The death at your hands of Jason Peter Todd-Wayne. Formerly Robin.” 

Joker’s eyes gleamed as he looked over Danny’s shoulder to make eye contact with Jason’s ghost. The mad man began cackling with glee before Danny silenced him with a blow to the face with the crow bar. However Joker came back up and cackled again. 

“Oh the little bird’s wings were clipped! Too bad I didn’t get the chance to clip them again, I-”

Danny’s eyes blazed with a green light as he brought the crowbar down again. And again. And again. Unlike Joker who had enjoyed Jason’s torture, Danny was methodical. Almost calm as he carried out Jason’s chosen vengeance against one of the worst serial killers in existence. Jason thought he would feel joy, that he would revel in Joker’s pain. But he didn’t. All he felt was a soul deep satisfaction as his death, and all the deaths at Joker’s hands were avenged. 

.

Dick suited up as Nightwing as Cass quickly dressed into Black Bat. An alarm in Arkham was never a good thing and the two of them raced towards the island. The rest of the family spread out around the city to make sure they could find any traces of an escapee quickly. This was the most unified the family had been since Jason’s funeral. They were trying their best to keep together, but the strain of managing Gotham’s crime without Batman was starting to wear on them all. If they didn’t come up with a permanent solution soon either their family would fracture and fall to in fighting or one of them would have to ask Bruce to come back. Neither option was good in Dick’s mind. 

The two of them pulled up outside the prison, hopping out of the Batmobile and heading to the office of the head of security. Surprisingly there was a still living person in the office, though he was watching the monitors and only gave them the barest look before returning his attention to the monitors. 

“Where’s the Bat?” 

“Not here. What are we looking at? Who’s breaking out?” 

“Nooone.” The guard growled, pointing at a map of Arkham where they could see the trigger points for the alarm systems that were going off. “Someone is breaking in. And heading right towards maximum security. I’ve pulled back my men so none of them get killed.” 

“We’ll head in and try and head off the attempt.” Dick said and nodded to Cass who immediately fell in behind him. He didn’t let it show, though he was sure Cass could tell, but he was nervous. Maximum security meant some heavy hitters. Including the Joker. The last thing he wanted was for that psycho to get out and have his way with the city. 

.

Danny rolled his shoulders and let his head fall back in relief. He flicked his wrist and the crowbar vanished into the air. Joker was dead. His beating had been thorough. Behind him he could hear shaking breaths from Jason as the other ghost mourned his own death. Vengeance was always different for living than it was for the dead. The stories the living told always liked to insist that vengeance didn’t help, but for the dead it provided a different kind of catharsis. 

“D-Danny? Why aren’t we leaving?” Jason asked, his voice a little uneven. 

“Just one moment.” Danny kept his focus on Joker’s corpse until he felt something shift. 

He reached out and a massive, clawed shadow shrieked out from his arm to snatch something that glowed dimly with a green light like some enormous, eldritch bird of prey. He snarled at the soul held tight by his powers. 

“Joker, as the High King of the Infinite Realms, for crimes against a citizen of the Realms, I sentence your soul to Oblivion. May your name fade from all memory.” 

Danny closed his fist. The shadowy claw that held the soul closed as well shattering the remnant into nothing. He dismissed the Kingly power with a wave of his hand then left the cell. Jason followed just a little behind him, still overwhelmed with the emotions he was feeling. He still managed to ask the question that was on his mind though. 

“What was that about?” 

“In theory, he deserved his eternity in a hell of some kind. But could you honestly say that he would actually suffer? Ancients, he only stopped laughing now when I crushed his windpipe. And for a soul as rotten as his there was too much risk of him coming back somehow. I wasn’t going to risk him becoming a ghost or making a deal.”

“Good. May his name fade from all memory.” Jason recited grimly. 

The two of them were making their way back out of the maximum security ward as quickly as they could while they talked, Danny again making sure to trip alarms on their way out. Jason suddenly came to a stop outside one of the cells. Danny stopped with him and looked in at the young blonde woman asleep on her cot. 

“Can you wake her up?” Jason asked. 

Danny nodded and snapped his fingers and the woman immediately shook herself awake as if coming out of a quick nap. She rubbed her eyes then bounded towards the bars with a bright smile on her face. 

“Hood? What are you doing in here? I heard you died again!” Harley said, her normally bubbly voice hiding a lot of grief and worry. 

“Yeah, I died again. But my friend here just finished avenging me.” Jason looked at her seriously. “Your ex is gone. He’ll never bother you again.” 

Her smile had dimmed at Jason’s first words, but brightened again, turning slightly manic as she grinned. 

“Good. That asshole hurt me real bad, being locked in here with him is a special kind of hell. Next time I get out, me and Red are gonna get out of town and go on a vacation to celebrate.” 

Danny stepped forward and said, with far more formality than Jason usually heard from him. “I hope you feel your suffering at his hands is avenged as well. He will never harm another.” 

“Thanks kid, I do feel better. Now you two gotta get outta here! If the alarms are going off it won’t be too long for the bats to show up.”

They both nodded and ran, the prisoners around them waking up as Nocturne loosened his hold. Danny reached out and grabbed Jason’s shoulder making them both invisible just as the door in front of them opened from the other side. Jason felt his core clench with longing as he saw Nightwing and Black Bat, posed and ready for combat. The two ghosts flew over their heads and out into the city proper. 

“You know what, Danny?” Jason asked once they were hovering in the air over Gotham. “I think I might like to try and talk with my family soon. I miss them.” 

“Sure thing Jayce.” Danny said though he looked a little distracted as he looked out over the city at something Jason couldn’t see. The two of them portalled away from Gotham and into the Infinite Realms, Jason’s first death successfully avenged.

[freepressofpanem]

Extra content: Coriolanus alone in District 12th

Rating: E

Warnings: Masturbation (m), fantasies, idolization of virginity

Coriolanus receives Vanessa's picture while he's in 12th.

Coriolanus didn't dread being back in 12th as much as he imagined. Smiley, Beanpole, and Cookie were there when he arrived at the base, happy to see him again after two years.

The base had a new head peacekeeper in charge, a short, bulky man with a limp who addressed him by name and eagerly told Coriolanus that he had been working under his father's authority years before.

The food they served them was better than what the peacekeepers ate, and Coriolanus spent his days shooting Mockingjays.

There wasn't any reason to leave the base, so he willed himself to stay inside, re-reading Nessie's letters and convincing himself that, outside, He wouldn't find any traces of the girl he loved years ago.

And even if she was out there, so what? Coriolanus had a new love now, a woman deserving of his attention, aware of the privileges of being Capitol, and willing to leave behind any trace of the district to embrace a new, decent life.

Lucy Gray only had insect bites, humidity, worms, and snakes. She may have loved living like an animal, but Coriolanus didn't, and, in the end, that made what they had impossible.

He sighed, rolling on the comfortably sized bed and inhaling the faint rosemary scent from the crumbled letters. He couldn't picture Vanessa living like the Covey did. She had always tried to fool her conditions to gain a sense of civilization: her posture, speech, and intelligence were far superior to any other district woman he knew, and Coriolanus believed he had met enough to judge her superior to any other district woman.

He believed Vanessa was far too different from them and similar to Capitol citizens to be anything but Capitol. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that Vanessa was Capitol all along. There had to be a reason she ended up trapped in the district.

A knock on his door took him away from his thoughts, and a young female scientist named Meridia spoke: "Snow, you got a letter from your girlfriend!"

He jumped off his bed to open the door, effortlessly taking the letter despite Meridia's attempts at pulling it away from his reach. "You think Dr. Kay is jealous of her?" Meridia teased, but Coriolanus was busy inspecting the neat calligraphy on the envelope.

"Can't help my effect on women." He said casually, and Meridia rolled her eyes like she was having a stroke, turning her back to him to walk away. "Thanks, Dia," said Coriolanus, ignoring his coworkers approving gesture to lock himself in his room. Vanessa's timing was exceptional as always, and Coriolanus firmly believed it was because she understood him at a level no one had done before. One minute ago, he was convincing himself to stay inside and avoid the ruined streets of the district. Now he was pressing the letter to his nose, stomach full of butterflies and no desire to leave his room for the night.

This had happened since he arrived at District 12th. On the second day, work finished early and Coriolanus had spent the evening debating whether or not to go out and walk. He just wanted to make sure Lucy Gray truly disappeared, and see if the Covey was still around. If they were still around and Lucy Gray was not with them, he would assume he killed her back then.

If she was with them? What would he do, then? Coriolanus was thinking about this when Meridia brought him a letter from Vanessa. A very intimate, hot letter that left Coriolanus feeling a buzz in his head and a burning in his stomach.

He didn't go out that day, happy to stay and re-read her letter. He had closed his eyes and pictured her gloriously snuggled against the pillows of his bed, her dark eyes looking up at him with traces of sleep still in them.

Coriolanus pictured it all in his head and then wrote her a letter. The event repeated just when he needed it, Vanessa's letters keeping him in his room just like she managed to keep him pinned to her side when they were together.

He felt his heart leap with anticipation while he opened the new envelope and unfolded the letter, the yellowish paper sheet smelling strongly of rosemary in his hand. Vanessa's letter was short, sweet, and promising.

"Don't you show it to anyone," she wrote.

Coriolanus looked inside the envelope again, pulling a small, instant photograph. He inhaled sharply as his eyes scanned the picture, throat going dry instantly. In his hand, he held a polaroid of Vanessa's exposed collarbones in her white nightgown, her black hair falling thick on her shoulders, the dip of her cleavage barely concealed with the low neckline. If he looked hard enough, the outline of her small, pretty breasts was visible.

Coriolanus felt the familiar heat of arousal pooling in his stomach.

The picture wasn't lewd in reality. Coriolanus had seen countless obscene photographs and drawings of voluptuous women before, in Festus's dirty magazines, but Vanessa's picture wasn't like that. It was even a bit stuffy, with her arms covered by long, flowy sleeves. She was showing her shoulders, neck, and collarbones… yet refused to have her face in the picture, the image cutting sharp right above her pretty lips.

There was something incredibly erotic in it, though. The way she propped herself on her hands, the story about lying to Tigris to get her help, her face cut right out of the picture.

Vanessa was smart. A picture of her was a weapon, no matter how tame, and she never took risks.

"Oh, my love…" He muttered to himself, lying on his back while staring at the Polaroid picture. His right hand palmed his hardening cock over his pants, and he felt pathetic for it. Coriolanus wasn't particularly interested in pursuing a ton of relationships, but it was expected of a Snow to be experienced in all matters of life, including sex.

After becoming the heir of the Plinth fortune, Coriolanus started to see girls more often. He didn't bring them home like his friends did because, overall, he wanted to keep the image of a gentleman instead of a playboy, but he dated a bit. He had sex too, of course.

Never in his wildest nightmares did he imagine himself like this: back to jerking off with the picture of a woman.

He shoved his hand into his pants, fingers squeezing the base of his shaft, feeling his ballsack as it became heavy with arousal. Coriolanus scanned the image again, completely enamored with her figure, and his fist closed around his base.He sighed, eyes fixated on her image, but his brain was going to familiar places.

Vanessa was firm when it came to sex: she would make him wait until they were married. It was annoying, but he had agreed to it. In the beginning, Coriolanus didn't plan on marrying her but said yes so she didn't leave him, not when she would go right to Festus's welcoming arms. Stupidly in love as his friend was, he wouldn't even care if Coriolanus lied and said he fucked Vanessa in every room of the penthouse, he would take her and marry her, and Coriolanus would be the rejected one.

That was before, though. Now, Coriolanus felt himself sinking more and more into his unfulfilled lust, and now he couldn't picture giving up before having her. Vanessa was his. His girl. His genius. His Nessie. She had already broken part of her vows by having him as a boyfriend when she never allowed any man near her, not even for innocent dating. Clearly, Vanessa trusted him enough to let him see her body, touch and kiss her breasts and lay between her legs.

He stroked his cock slowly, dropping the arm that held the photograph to close his eyes. His brain was flooded with images of Vanessa, her clothes tangled around her waist, naked torso at his disposition. Coriolanus felt his breath hitch, looking at the picture once more. He could imagine himself pulling down the nightgown and taking her small nipples in his mouth, rolling his hips down to grind against her panties until he felt them making his own clothes wet. Later, she would refuse him, push him away, and force him to calm down, but before that, he would be allowed crumbs.

His hand fisted his cock slowly, and eventually his pants bothered him, so he pulled them down just enough to free his length. Vanessa's naked body was in his mind then. He only saw it once, but it was enough to burn it in his brain. Her thighs were soft to the touch, and he wished to kiss them, move his lips down until he could bury his face in the tempting mount of her pubis. His hand moved faster when he pictured himself pushing Vanessa's velvety thighs open, his tongue and nose surrounded by the intoxicating essence of his woman. She would mewl for him, and her fingers would be in his hair, delicate yet demanding.

That was her. Delicate, yet demanding.

He panted, willing himself to stay quiet while his fist squelched around his length, precum joining the spit and hand cream and coating his cock base to tip. The familiar image of Vanessa putting her clothes back on was what did it for him. The way she fixed the sleeves off his shoulders, her chest dusted red under her top, sensitive little nipples hidden and rubbing against the soft fabric.

His mouth opened in a silent moan as his cock throbbed in his hand, releasing his cum in his palm while his body jerked and tensed. He was left panting, observing the clear drops of fluid on his hand while he tried to enjoy the afterglow of his orgasm. Then, Coriolanus looked at the picture again and brought it to his lips to kiss it.

In his mind, he roughly made the math. Just four more days and he would see her.

[apathetic-theme-song]

Afterlife Orientation

Jounouchi tells Shizuka some important information about the afterlife. Namely, that everyone's dating everyone else. Ties into Tomb Robbery & Other Plights. CW: Everyone's dead and they talk about it a little.

Shizuka was a little overwhelmed, if she was being honest. One moment, she’d been lying in a hospital bed at the end of a long life. Then, she woke up in a near-perfect recreation of Domino City in a body much younger than the one she’d died in with an ethereal-looking woman who gave her water and patiently explained that this was the afterlife. Jounouchi had come to find her almost immediately and show her around before dropping a pretty big concept on her. “So, we can go other places,” he said, stretching out on the couch of his apartment. It was still cluttered and messy, just like the one he’d had back when he was in his 30s. “Courtesy of Atem, we can go to Egypt, too.”

“Like… his Egypt?” Shizuka knew a little about Atem, but the whole ‘Pharaoh’s soul trapped in a necklace’ thing had been pretty wild to her even when it was happening.

“Yeah. Oh!” Jounouchi shot upright, digging around in the mess of papers to find a blank one. “Except there’s a few things you should know. Everyone’s kinda… been getting around since we’re all together.”

“Katsuya! I don’t want to hear about that!” Shizuka practically screamed, eyes widening in horror.

“No no no - just hear me out, okay?” Jounouchi started scribbling on the paper. “So, like… it turns out that we’re all pretty bad at being monogamous, okay? So you should know who’s dating who. It’s kind of a mess.” Shizuka tentatively sat on the couch next to him, watching as he created something of a flow chart. “Okay, so Atem’s at the top, right? Since it’s his afterlife and he’s been here the longest.” Jounouchi drew out some lines linking to five names. “He hooked up with Iah first - I’ll explain Iah in a second, you never met him - but then he also has Mana and Mahad. They’re like his best friends since they were kids. When Yugi and Anzu showed up, they all settled that weird love triangle they had going on when we were alive, so they’re all together, too.”

“Are they still married, though?” Shizuka asked curiously.

“Oh yeah. Yugi and Anzu are definitely still a thing, although Anzu’s also been spending time with Mana lately. And honestly, good for her. Yugi kind of has a thing with Ryou now, too, except they haven’t made it official or anything.”

“Yugi and Ryou?”

“I know, right? Then again, they had that kinda vibe before Yugi and Anzu got hitched, so…” Jounouchi shrugged. “Anyway. Yugi and me - you know I love ‘im, but it’s strictly platonic.” He paused. “Atem kissed me when I first showed up and I didn’t hate it, though. And I messed around with Ryuji a little, too, but we're better as friends.”

Shizuka couldn’t help but smile, leaning in to coyly ask, “Did you and Mai ever…?”

Jounouchi smiled back at her sheepishly and held up his hand to show off the simple gold band on his ring finger. “Oh yeah. Although she has date nights with Ishizu sometimes. Didn’t see that coming, but my girl’s got good taste.” Jounouchi turned back to the page to draw even more names and lines. “Anyway, Ryou’s kind of off in his own world, but like I said, he’s kind of got a thing going with Yugi, and he’s been spending a lot of time with Marik and Kek, too -”

“Wait, who’s Kek?”

Jounouchi took a deep breath, then started coughing. “Hoo boy - marker fumes! Kek’s… so Marik had DID when he was alive, and Kek was his super-evil alter ego that tried to kill everybody.”

Shizuka shuddered. She briefly remembered seeing Marik jump off the deep end in Battle City. “He’s there, too?”

“Yeah, but he’s been here a while and he’s actually chilled out a lot. Mai and him can't be in the same room, but it’s civil enough. Marik and Kek have a lot of issues they're still working out, so Ryou dating both of them is kind of awkward. And speaking of awkward - Iah. He’s the Thief King, he was kind of the reason Ryou went a little crazy, too. It’s complicated, but Iah’s pretty cool now. He’s with Kek and Atem, but he’s been hanging out with Marik a lot. I guess they kind of had a thing back in Battle City and they’re sorting that out. Ryou kind of hates Iah, though.”

“I really didn’t think Ryou was the type to hate anybody.”

Jounouchi shrugged, staring down at the paper. The flow chart was looking more like a word jumble at this point. “Well, he didn’t like talking about what he was going through. He’s still working on that. He was actually pretty pissed off about a lot of things. It wasn’t entirely Iah’s fault, I guess - part of him got sealed up with literal Evil Incarnate and made Ryou’s life a living hell, and Ryou still doesn’t trust that he’s good now.” Jounouchi sighed. “But… he likes Marik, so as long as you don’t leave him and Iah alone, it’s fine.”

Shizuka slumped against the couch, her head spinning. “This is weird. Dating people that your other partners don’t like?”

“I mean - we’ve literally got eternity to work stuff out. There’s been a few break-ups here and there - oh!” Jounouchi slammed the paper down on the table. “Almost forgot about Kaiba! So he spends most of his time here, unfortunately for literally everyone else, but he goes to Egypt to duel Atem now and then.” He sighed. “Honestly, I don’t think Kaiba can figure out whether he loves Atem or hates him. It’s a real on-off relationship, and Atem always gets super bummed out whenever they go ‘off’. He just needs to make up his freaking mind.”

Shizuka thought back to Jounouchi’s irrational hatred of Kaiba when they were younger and said tiredly, “Or maybe you could just -”

“Finish that thought and I don’t have a sister anymore. Uh - Kaiba does kind of have a girlfriend, though. I think. No one’s ever met her in person, but he wanders around with a girl sometimes. So I guess we add her in, too.” Jounouchi wrote ‘girlfriend from Canada’ underneath Kaiba’s name and linked them together. “But that’s pretty much it. Any questions?”

“You guys really have a lot of free time, huh?”

Jounouchi rolled his eyes. “Hey, we’ve got all the time in the world, remember? Kind of. They’ll let us reincarnate whenever we want, but everyone’s pretty happy right now, so we’re gonna be around for a while. There are tournaments here and a lot of festivals over in Egypt, so it’s easy to keep busy, too. We’re not just lying around with each other all day.”

Shizuka found the energy to sit up and tease, “Good, because you were really good at lying around when we were alive.”

“Hey! I’ll have you know, I was a high-ranking Duelist and had a job! A lot of jobs, actually. I worked hard!”

“I know, Katsuya.” She reached over to hug him from the side. “I hate that you got stuck with Dad and all his debt.”

“Yeah. Thank God Yugi let me crash with him after Dad died, I would’ve never been able to afford rent.” Jounouchi got quiet and abandoned the flow chart, leaning back against the couch to hug Shizuka back. “I’m glad you’re here. You did good after I was gone?”

“Yeah. It was hard,” Shizuka admitted, tears starting to well up in her eyes. “They named my grandson after you.”

“Oh, stop it, I’m gonna start crying, too,” Jounouchi said loudly with a laugh, his go-to reaction when he was getting emotional. “Hey, the cherry blossoms will start blooming soon. Once you settle in, I’ll grab the gang and we’ll go, okay?”

Shizuka hugged him tighter and smiled. “Sounds good. Thank you, Katsuya.”

Jounouchi ruffled her hair gently. “What are big brothers for?”

[donpishya]

This is supposedly an article in 1903 newspapers. I'm trying to find a copy of the original, but it's pretty funny if it's true. I'm not sure what portrait the man was actually looking at, I doubt it's the ones currently available online.

_____

"When I was in Richmond a few days since," said Mr. Ridgely Howard of Baltimore to a representative of the Washington Star at the New Willard, "I made one of those bad breaks which prove so embarrassing. I was a guest of a member of the crack Westmoreland club, and after a slight repast I was escorted through the building for the purpose of viewing the pictures, relics of the civil war, -etc.

During the tour mentioned my attention was particularly attracted to the portrait of what I took to be a very handsome brunette. I incidentally remarked to my host that the young lady was quite pretty, when, with a low chuckle, he replied, 'Yes, quite pretty, but as a matter of fact the picture represents John Randolph of Roanoke at 18.'

You also smile, but let me explain how I was caught. The hair was parted in the middle and neatly combed back of the ears; the features were of a purely feminine mold, and the expression of the eyes and face was so shy and bashful that you will readily understand how I was deceived. One can hardly conceive, looking at the portrait of Randolph at the age represented, that he could ever grow into the cynical and disagreeable creature he is reported to have been in his later years. If he ever had love affairs which went wrong I have never heard of them. As near as I can learn he never had any real ardent affection for any woman except his mother, who, it is said, was beautiful, and whom it is also said he closely resembled in beauty as a child."

_____

Basically, John Randolph could qualify as an anime trap.

Randolph would be extremely mad if he was reading this...😂

An anime trap😂

I have to agree on that, looking at Randolph's young portraits. If the portraits depicted him more younger I can understand why this person mistaken Randolph's gender. 😅

Maybe the portrait is one of those that kind of yassified the person... I doubt the painting is online as well. Which makes me sad...🥲

But I've never seen someone actually mistake him as a lady before, I hope this is a real article because it's really interesting and funny🤣

Thank you for sharing it!☺️💖

[listening-to-free-audiobooks]

Fernley Family Series

Book 1: Earl Grafton and the Traitor 

When love arrives in the form of an enemy, who knew it would be covered in mud?

Baxter Fernley, the Earl of Grafton, takes his duty as a member of the ton with the utmost sincerity, even if King George III has lost his mind. As a respected member of the peerage and the local magistrate, his life has order and meaning until an unruly American woman with a muddy skirt falls at his feet in what he believes to be an attempt at trapping him in marriage.

Briar Kensington thought England was boring until her impolite neighbor knocked her down and threw unfounded accusations at her like a mud-slinging fool. When she overhears the man's claim that she might be the cause of King George's state of insanity, Briar decides she wants nothing to do with him, even if it was said in jest.

Baxter despises almost everything about his traitorous American neighbor, everything except her beauty and strong will. Briar finds Baxter to be an infuriating man without any common sense, even if she does admire his strength of character and loyalty to family and duty. When they agree to be civil, their awkward first meeting is forgotten and these enemies find themselves hoping for love.

Book 2: Mr Fernley and the Lady

When love arrives on a racing horse, who knew it would require one thousand white lilies?

Mr. Archibald Fernley has secured the most sought-after editor in England only to discover his current manuscript is unacceptable. With a deadline of one month, Archie’s assignment is to discover a topic to enchant the ton while exposing the inequalities in England’s social classes. On the eve of his departure from London, Archie finds himself entangled in a scandal providing him with a bride.

To escape an unwanted suitor, Lady Rosalind Bailey accepts an offer to dance with Mr. Fernley. A waltz leads to scandal when they are discovered in a secluded room without an escort and are forced to marry.

Rosalind and Archie are not a love match, but a summer at Brookside Manor and a courtship culminating with one thousand white lilies could make a world of difference in their marriage and lead their souls to love.

[noyzinerd]

Stiles: I miss the KFC Double Down.

Derek:...You're like if a Florida man was trapped in the body of a highschool boy.

[heliads]

Crows

Everyone has a symbol on their palm that somehow relates to your soulmate. You have a crow, which led to you joining the Dregs in Ketterdam. Every Dreg has a soulmate symbol that in no way relates to you- except Kaz Brekker, as no one has seen his palm at all.

masterlist

You stare at the crow inked into your palm. It stares back at you.

You hesitate for a second longer, then snap your hand shut, letting the unblinking eyes of the black bird disappear back behind your fingers. This is the price of a soulmate, of wandering too far from your home and never finding the one person you were meant to belong to. This is the price of being a canal rat, a Grisha, of being anybody still foolish enough to believe in a soulmate in the midst of all this darkness.

Soulmates may technically be real, but people only believe in them as much as they do Inej’s Saints, or anybody else’s long-held dreams. Between the wars and Shadow Folds springing up across the world, it’s getting pretty hard for anyone to find their soulmate at all. It’s supposed to be simple- one mark on each person’s palm to designate their soulmate, a mark that will disappear at the first touch of their hand on yours. Sometimes, you wonder what mark would be on your soulmate’s skin: a flame or sparking coal, maybe, for your branch of the Small Science, or a skull, for all the death that seems to shadow your path.

The crow has been on your palm for as long as you can remember, as long as anyone has ever had a soulmate. It was there when you were born, but judging by your trend in luck, it’ll probably be there until the day you die. Soulmates aren’t for girls like you, girls who flee their homes to trade a life amongst the Grisha for a death in the gray-streaked streets of Ketterdam.

You were born an Inferni, that much is true. You witnessed the Ravkan civil war, and you were there to flee it for safer tides. You weren’t sure what cruel twist of fate landed you in Ketterdam, one of the worst places for a Grisha, but you were at least able to keep your identity a secret. You’d seen what happened to the luckless Grisha trapped inside neverending indentures, and you know what tortures would await you if word of your firestarting habit got out. So, you never spoke a word, and pretended you were just another otkazat’sya traveler in need of safe harbors.

You hadn’t been wandering the canals long before your path turned into the Barrel. It wasn’t an intentional choice, just an eventual fate that you would end up in the worst part of the twisting sidestreets. There was no escaping the Barrel, not unless you were a wealthy mercher or some other lucky sap who the Saints blessed with the ability to avoid getting dragged down into the muck like everyone else. You learned the names and locations of all the gangs like everyone else: Black Tips, Dime Lions, and most notably, the Dregs.

Your breath had caught in your chest when you heard of them. They frequented the Crow Club, some were called the crows themselves, their leader had a crow on his cane. Everything seemed to point in a glaringly obvious arrow towards your soulmate mark: a crow for a crow. Where else could you have ended up?

You knew better now. You had met Kaz Brekker, the boy with the crow cane, and you knew that any chance of finding a soulmate among his crew was near impossible. You had been walking home after dark one night when you found yourself set upon by a duo of thugs. Not Dregs, possibly Dime Lions with a bone to pick, angry that the Dregs had such control over the pigeons of Fifth Harbor. They had been expecting an easy mark, somebody they could thunk over the head with a pair of brass knuckles and walk away without a scratch. They weren’t expecting you to beat them into the dust in a matter of seconds.

No matter your status or location, you were still a Grisha, and you’d been trained by Botkin long enough to be able to defend yourself. When the goons were finally laid at your feet, unconscious, you had allowed yourself a moment to smile. It was easy to feel low, a gutter rat in the canals of Ketterdam, but being able to use your fists again almost reminded you of the training halls at the Little Palace.

Enjoying this one brief memory, though, was a slip that you shouldn’t have made. When you looked up, you weren’t alone- a boy stood before you, gloved hands clasped over a crow’s head cane. You didn’t particularly know who he was, or make the connection between him and the Dregs, and moved to get out of the alleyway before he decided to make the same mistake as the thugs. He had slid his cane in front of you, fast as lightning, stopping you in your place. “I think we should speak about your future in Ketterdam.”

You were annoyed at this sudden interruption. “I think you should leave me alone.” You had retorted, using your hand to move his cane back in front of him. You had also been irritated, both by the fight and this boy’s brashness, and slipped your hand into his pocket for just a second to retrieve a newly shined pocketwatch. No one could have possibly seen it, this tiny movement, and the boy certainly didn’t, as he let you pass without another word.

You were still grumbling when you got back to the ramshackle building you called an apartment complex, and your landlady had raised an eyebrow when she saw you. “What, have you finally realized that it was a fool’s errand to come here?” She asked, and you shook your head. “No, just bothered by some guy with a crow’s head cane. Weird prop to carry around.” The woman had blanched, face suddenly seeming to age a decade in a second.

She had bustled over to you, voice low as if terrified that the boy might be able to hear her. “That’s Kaz Brekker, you fool. He runs the Dregs. Saints, he might even run this city.” She had hurried away from you then, forcing herself back to her work. Even then, you had known she was wrong. There was nothing the Saints could know about Kaz Brekker, nothing they could even hope to involve themselves in.

You had shaken the experience away, climbing up the stairs to your apartment. When you pushed open the door, however, you saw that you were not alone. The boy from earlier was back, this time leaning against the far wall. He gestured for you to close the door, which you did, albeit hesitantly. You had no idea how he got in- you had changed the locks when you first arrived at the apartment all those weeks ago, barred the windows, made it impossible for anyone except you to make their way inside. Yet here he stood, with knowledge of both where you lived and how to get there before you. It was impossible. Well, impossible for anyone except Kaz. The Barrel was his home, after all, and you doubt Dirtyhands had ever bothered to knock.

His fingers tapped the crow’s head of his cane. “I don’t think we quite finished our conversation. You could do more than just wash dishes, you know. The Dregs could always use a new member. That, and I’d like you to return what you stole from me. I’m impressed, actually. No one is that good at pickpocketing except me, and no one would try something that daring except for, well, me. I think you’d fit in nicely with my gang.”

You had folded your arms across your chest. “And I’m meant to believe that my pickpocketing was impressive enough to warrant a visit from Dirtyhands himself?” Kaz had shrugged, the movement stiff in the darkness. “You can believe whatever you want. I just want to see if you’ll take a good offer when you see one.” After a while, you had accepted, and Kaz had left, but not before whispering something in your ear. “If you steal from me again, I will cut off both of your hands. I don’t tolerate theft, not from me.”

You had heard enough threats to know that he meant good on this one. As it turned out, however, Kaz would not have to fear theft from you again. You found a home amongst the Dregs, a home you weren’t likely to give up due to the thrill of pickpocketing Kaz Brekker. You had a room at the Slat, a place at the table, a voice in the masses. It was something you weren’t willing to trade away.

Even amongst the many crows of Kaz Brekker’s gang, however, you still couldn’t let the issue of your soulmate go. You can remember one night, late into the night’s bells when you, Inej, Jesper, Matthias, and Nina had all made the journey up to Kaz’s office, slumped against chairs and floorboards and chatting the night away. Kaz was sitting at his desk, apparently doing paperwork, but you did notice that he kept coincidentally chiming into conversations even when he said he wasn’t paying attention.

At some point, Nina steered the conversation to soulmates. She held up her now blank palm, proclaiming that at some point it had held a wolf’s head. She had been terrified, she said, terrified that she would have a drüskelle or some other weirdo for a soulmate. Matthias had acted affronted at that, but if he was feeling particularly charitable he might relent and tell the gathered Crows about how he’d had a heart on his hand, and how frustrated he’d been when it had disappeared the second he’d locked Nina away on that slaver’s ship.

Nina had turned to Kaz then, intent on poking the bear and having some sort of fun that night. “So, Brekker, what’s your soulmate mark? Or do you not do that sort of zealot human thing we call soulmates?” Kaz had raised his eyebrows, looking distinctly bored. Of everyone in the room, you’re pretty sure that only you and Inej would be able to tell that he was holding back a smile.

“I’m not entirely a monster, Zenik. I do have a soulmate.” Nina had leaned forward, intent on clarification. “Then what’s the mark? We can’t just take a gander at your palm, remember? They’re hidden by your gloves.” Kaz had let his papers fall back to the desk with a thunk, turning to her with an expression laced with both exasperation and studied disinterest. “It’s a fire. A small flame. Happy?”

Nina had looked fascinated. “Beatific. I wonder what that means. An Inferni, maybe?” She wiggled her eyebrows at Kaz. “Maybe it’s supposed to show that they’re devilishly attractive. Really hot, get it?” Kaz had made a sound that was either a dry cough or his best attempt at a laugh. “Hilarious, Nina. I see why you’re a Heartrender- you could make a person want to die based on your jokes alone.”

Nina had acted affronted, making sure everybody knew that her jokes were hilarious, thank you very much, but you couldn’t help but think about the repercussions of this. What if Nina’s first guess was right, and Kaz’s soulmate was an Inferni, like you? If your tattoo was of a crow, and Kaz’s was of flames, then surely it was too much to just be a coincidence. You’d never know, anyway, because soulmate marks only disappeared on flesh to flesh contact. Kaz always wore gloves, so you’d never find out the truth. Besides, you remind yourself, the chances of this were superbly unlikely. A crow could mean anything, so could a flame. You need to stop getting your hopes up.

Despite the possibilities and impossibilities, you’ve still been running with the canal rats long enough to know that you can’t dwell forever on what might have been. You’re a Dreg now and you need to focus on that instead. When Kaz announces an upcoming settlement with the Razorgulls, yet another one of the gangs that roam the streets of Ketterdam, you’re eager for a chance at something entertaining after a long while of nothing. Kaz will meet with the leader to negotiate their way through a claim on the various pigeons coming and going from the harbors, and that will be that.

However, this is the Barrel. Negotiations are rarely easy. This is why, when Jesper arrives as Kaz’s second, he’s shunted aside to a separate room to stay out the duration of the meeting. Kaz and the leader of the Razorgulls are on the opposite side of the street in an empty courtyard, far away from any help should they need it. Kaz was prepared for this, as always, and set up a plan. Inej will shadow Jesper, making sure that he’ll have a way out if he needs it, and you’ll be shadowing Kaz himself. You’re not sure why Kaz chose you instead of his faithful Wraith, only that he rarely makes decisions based on nothing and you would do best to follow his judgement. The times he’s let you down are few and far between.

You and Inej split up, staying amongst the rooftops to avoid detection. She follows Jesper and the Razorgulls’ second into a crowded tavern, and you head towards the abandoned courtyard. Ahead of you, Kaz’s cane taps against the crooked cobblestones as he wends through desiccated hedges and marble statues severely lashed by time. The Razorgulls’ leader is waiting for him there, but you can’t follow now. Instead, you stick to the edges, climbing stairs and making your way into the empty buildings that watch over the courtyard like silent sentries.

You’re not sure what trouble you’ll be walking into, only that it will exist in some crooked form. There’s no logical reason the Razorgulls would want the seconds in another building unless they were planning something, and no reason Kaz would agree to this at all if he wasn’t sure you could have his back when he needed it. As you creep along the buildings, keeping a careful eye on the proceedings through the few broken windows, you notice that the two gang leaders have begun to speak. You can’t quite hear what they’re saying, only a few whispers here and there.

You’re just rounding a corner, ready to make your way into a neighbouring building, when the lights flash off, landing you in darkness. Instantly, you panic. Lighting is scarce here, only the moonbeams and a couple of oil lamps, but there’s no reason they should have shut down this quickly. You hear footsteps on the stairs, along with two pairs of voices: Razorgulls, discussing how important it is to stick to the shadows so Brekker can’t see them.

Your heartbeat thuds in the dark as you realize they haven’t spotted you yet. In fact, they have no idea you’re there at all. When Kaz was giving directions for the negotiations, he specifically told you to make sure that you weren’t seen, even if rival gang members showed up. If you want to go along with his plan and make sure he lives to see the end of this shoddy deal, you’ll have to stay in hiding.

This, however, is easier said than done. If the lights were on, you would be able to see the wooden beams of the floor and tell which ones would creak and which wouldn’t, which large shapes of furniture to avoid and which holes in the floorboards you should step over. A chill washes over you as you realize what you’ll have to do. You move your fingers together, quick as scraping flint against steel, and a small flame materializes at the pad of your index finger. It’s small, barely visible to anyone except you, but it’s enough to help you get out of the room before the Razorgulls notice you.

Even as the thrill of using your Grisha power after so long sends a charge of energy through your veins, you can’t help but feel uneasy. The only reason you’ve been able to survive in the Barrel and avoid unwholesome indentures is because you never used your power, not once. Even if it was necessary, this still feels bad.

You’ve found a new hiding place in the corner of the room and move to extinguish your flame now that it’s no longer useful. However, it’s been too long since you last used your powers as an Inferni, and your concentration wavers. The flame grows brighter and you start to panic, eventually clamping down your mind and forcing the fire to disappear.

The disappearance comes too late. The Razorgulls have seen some light in the shadow that wasn’t supposed to be there and are now edging your way, careful not to let you out of their sight. You have no choice but to take them down, standing over their unconscious bodies and feeling a wave of nerves crest over you. Kaz specifically said not to mess with the gangs, but you had no choice. You can only hope that this won’t ruin his plan too much.

Quietly, you step through the room and unlock a window, letting the panes move open in the wind. Now, you can hear the voices echoing up from the courtyard, and your heart sinks as you realize that things aren’t going well. The leader of the Razorgulls has revealed his ace in the hole, that he’s got guns trained on Kaz right now. Kaz just laughs, the sound as cold as rocks scraping against a ship’s hull, ready to damn a hundred men to the depths of the ocean.

“Do you, though? Who are the men you sent up- Dirk Struik and Niels ter Avest? Your coffers may be deep, but mine are more extensive. Gentlemen, take down this man, if you please.” Your stomach twists as you realize Kaz was counting on the men you just knocked out. Without them, he’s alone with a man pointing a gun at his skull. There’s no way around this- you’re going to have to break your most cherished rule again.

You thrust your palms out in front of you, letting tendrils of flame arc out of your hands and cascade onto the leader of the Razorgulls. He twists in agony, burns appearing on his skin. He only suffers for a moment or two, however, until he becomes unconscious due to the pain. Kaz’s head jerks up, staring at you. You don’t think you’ve ever seen Kaz Brekker truly surprised, but he most certainly was not expecting this.

You don’t think there’s anything you can do except try to explain yourself. You jump down from the open window, letting your heels land lightly on the stones of the courtyard. Kaz seems frozen in place for a second, then moves forward until you’re standing only a few feet apart. Your breath comes wild in your chest. Kaz speaks after the longest of moments. “Where were the guards?”

You hold up your hands uselessly. “They saw me. I had to take them out.” Kaz’s eyes dart to your palms, faster than a sharpshooter pulling the trigger. He takes in the smoke still curling around your fingers, then the crow mark in the middle of your hand. When he speaks again, his voice has lost its icy edge. He just sounds like a boy again, young and confused.

“You never told me you were an Inferni.” You sigh. “It was a secret I needed to keep. You know what happens in the Barrel, the indentures and the tortures. If I used my powers, I would have died a long time ago.” Kaz jerks his head in a harsh nod. “I don’t blame you for surviving. We have all committed worse crimes to live” Your voice gains a confidence it didn’t have before. “Then what do you blame me for? You’re upset, anyone could tell that. If it’s not with me keeping my Grisha abilities a secret, then what is it?”

Kaz hesitates, as if pulling himself back from a yawning chasm. “Me.” You stare at him, at the indecision wracking his brow, then at the way he’s pulling at the glove at his palm. His hands almost seem to shake, like he’s still not sure that he’s doing the right thing. He pulls the glove off, inch by inch, seeming to dread every second that his hands aren’t covered by the black leather. At last, you see it- the mark on his palm, the flame sparking into being right there on his hand.

He reaches out tentatively. “I need to know.” He manages, and at last you understand. You move your own hand slowly, stopping when it’s only a few inches away from his. Kaz squares his shoulders, as if preparing to jump from another broken building, then closes the distance and lets his hand rest lightly on yours. As you watch, your soulmate tattoos shimmer for a second and then vanish, erasing from your skin as if they’d never been there at all.

Kaz lets his gaze linger on the empty skin of your palm, and then he seems to come back into himself, snatching his hand away like he’s flinching from a blow. You can see it in his eyes that he regrets this, that he can’t keep his hand there, but you understand. You can understand quite a lot from him.

Kaz’s voice is like the grating of metal. “I’m not somebody you want as a soulmate. It won’t be easy. It won’t be good.” You laugh quietly in the night. “If I wanted something easy, I would have never come to Ketterdam.” Kaz nods at this, something almost like relief in his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.” You manage. Something almost like a smile flits across Kaz’s face. “Good. We have much to discuss.”

[countrymusiclover]

11 - Sleeping Curse Club

Part 12

His Golden Princess

@fanficismydrug @misskitty1912-blog @alanaangie24

Sliding into one side of the booth Rumple went on the other side smiling at me. Regina and my father were watching over Henry this morning so I could slip away to have my first date with him. Ever since I entered this town we didn't get a chance to actually go on a date. Then the curse broke and everything that came with that happened. Granny set two burgers down eyeing Rumple. "I charge extra for the pickles."

He just made a sound as she walked away. Picking up the burger I asked with a chuckle. "What exactly did you do to her?"

"Let's just say I have a complicated relationship with her. As I do with most people, except for you." He chuckled lightly.

Taking a bite out of my burger I heard the door opened Regina walking in. "Gold, we need to talk." Granny came around the corner sensing a problem. "Folks, I think I may have to close early, everybody out."

"Not its okay. We're civil." Regina held up a hand.

Rumple clutched his right hand into a fist. His gaze flickered from Regina down to me. "Astrid, you remember the woman who forced you and your sister away from your parents for 28 years. And who put you under that sleeping curse."

"I'm actually coming about the one that might unite us." Regina explains leaning down to whisper in his ear. "Cora...she's coming from our land."

Rumple bared his teeth up to her. "I can handle, Cora!"

"There's a big difference this time. This time you have a weakness." Regina stared across the table at me. "You're Golden Princess."

Closing the shop door behind me my father and Henry were already waiting for us. Leaning against the wall I stared down to the kid. Rumple moved a chair to his bedside sitting down slowly. "All right, Henry. Just relax and soon you're gonna drift off."

"What do I tell them?" He asked the Dark One.

Rumple grips his cane in his right hand explaining softly. "Just lisen to mu bedtime story and all will be clear." He placed his hand on Henry's forehead preforming the spell. "Once Upon a Time, Snow White and Prince Charming needed to stun a very powerful magician long enough to lock him up in a dark dungeon.'

"That was you. They used Cinderella to trap you with a magic quill." Henry interrupts before his eyes fell closed.

"It wasn't the quill itself but the ink that captured the Dark One. Harvested from the rarest species of squid from the bottom of the bottomless ocean, impossible to find unless you're a mermaid. Or me. I happen to have a private supply. In my jail cell, that is where they will find it." Rumple waved his hand over the sleeping boy once more time completing the spell.

Henry shot awake suddenly groaning about his arm. Regina moved his sleeve seeing harsher burn marks. Rumple squeezes my shoulder instructing me. "Take care of the burns dear." Closing my eyes I raised my hand waking it over his arm as my hand turned gold until it was completely healed.

"Yes, I did it!" I cheered to Rumple who smiled down at me.

Regina snapped concerned for his safety. "What causes this?"

"Someone woke Aurora before her soul was ready to return. The violence of that act tour her away and injured Henry." He explained to the Evil Queen.

My father turned around to face us getting an idea that isn't a good one. "Snow...she was there once before. She can go back. And I'll be waiting."

"It's not as simple as that. You can't get there. You haven't been under a sleeping curse." Rumple rests his hands on his cane telling him off.

Raising my hand in the air I declare getting up from Henry's bedside. "Then I'll go. I've been there once. And I can come and go simple."

"Absolutely not!" Rumple bared his teeth in a warning tone to me. "Not a chance in hell!" My father said in unison with him.

Knitting my brows together I looked between the pair. "I'm sorry did you two just agree on something?"

"It's too dangerous, honey. I can't risk you getting hurt there." My father stepped up taking my hands in his. "Put me under a curse." He turned his head to my boyfriend.

"If we do that, there's a chance you might never waken up." Rumple warned him.

My father shakes his head no demanding him. "I have spent far too much time looking for my wife. It's time to bring her home!"

Pacing around the room arms crossed over my chest I sigh throwing my head back in nervousness. "I don't like this one bit. Why won't you let me go under instead of my father?"

"Because I care about your safety just like he does. That is one thing he and I can agree on." He runs his hands down my arms giving me a weak smile. "I'll let you put him under if that will help. Then you'll have faith he'll come back hmm."

Nodding my head my father stared at us while Rumple removed the needle from the spinning wheel. "You're about to join a quite distinguished club, Mr. Nolan. Before such innovations as the apple, back when the sleeping curse first came to be, a more direct method was required. Through blood. By pricking one's finger on the needle of a spinning wheel, one falls under the spell."

"Like in the tale of Sleeping Beauty." I spoke remembering that I read that story as a child.

Rumple hands me the needle so I diped it in the cursed vial. "Right you are, Astrid. Care to do the job." He placed the needle back in the wheel.

My father sits on the bed holding my freehand in his. "Come back...dad." I mumbled to him before he pricked his finger falling asleep on the cot. Squeezing his hand in mine Regina followed Rumple into the front of the shop while I sat down with Henry keeping an eye on him.

A few hours later the seven dwarfs run inside talking about the fairy dust was stolen. Red, Henry and I ran into the woods finding that Regina and Rumple had created a portal to kill whoever came through. Henry and I ran forward to try and stop it but I felt someone lift me into the air stopping me.

"Stop it. You're going to kill them!" Henry fought against Regina who tried holding him back so he wouldn't get hurt.

I gasped trying to stop him from choking me. "Rum - Rumple - stop it!" But he holds me up in the air still not moving. "I'm trying to protect you, lass. Cora will kill you if she comes through."

Clutching my hands into fists I grunted managing to move some vines with my magic. Wrapping them around his hand in the air he gets pulled to the ground. "Urgh Henry run!" I grunted landing harshly on the ground raising my hand up burning Regina's hands so she'd release him.

He ran forward but she grabbed him yanking him backwards as I ran up gasping at the amount of power before me. Raising my hands up I released a breath starting to remove the magic from the well. "Astrid! It's too dangerous." Rumple called out in warning having broken the vines I had holding him down.

A second later I see Regina step up out the corner of my eye helping me suck the magic out. I get backflipped onto the dirt grunting at the impact until I saw someone climbing out of the well. The first being my sister then our mother.

"Mom...oh my God mom!" I cheered tackling her into a hug throwing my arms around her. She chuckled hugging me back as well releaved until she spoke about dad. "Where's your father?" I grab her hand dragging her into Gold's shop so she kissed him and he smiled waking up.

My sister exited the backroom I followed after her seeing her talking with Rumple. "Yes. I believe apologies are in order." Resting his hands on his cane.

"No. No apologies necessary. I understand why you wanted to keep Cora out of here." She shook her head staring my direction.

Rumple nods his head staring at her. "Just remind me never to bet against you in the future, Miss Swan." He glanced my direction where I come to stand by his side. "Or your sister for that matter."

"It’s not really a bet when the game is rigged, is it?" My sister questioned him crossing her arms over her chest. "Your scroll. I saw it in your cell. You wrote my - and Astrid's name again, and again, and again."

My eyes drifted to my sister's shaking my head confused. "Em, what are you getting at exactly?"

"He created the curse, sis. He made us the Saviors. So everything we've ever done...it's what he wanted." She trailed off looking at the ground sadly.

Rumple points his index finger at me then to her explaining the truth of our destiny. "I created the curse, dearie, but I didn’t make you two. I merely took advantage of what you are – the products of true love. That’s why you’re powerful. And everything you’ve done, you’ve done yourself."

"So you don’t know. " Emma trailed off clearly shaken up over something.

I raised a brow at my sister  wanting to know. "Know what?"

"Cora… Tried to rip my heart out, but she couldn’t. She was blasted back by something inside me. By… By-" Emma slowly walks up holding a hand over where her heart is.

Rumple finished the sentence that she couldn’t. "By magic. Whatever that was, I didn’t do that. You did."

Rushing forward to my sister's shaking form I hug her gently voicing. "It's gonna be okay. I have magic too. And...he's teaching me." She gulped with a simple nod leaving us alone in the front of the shop.

Slowly turning around to face him I run a hand through my hair throwing it over my shoulder. "You used your magic on me today...you said it was to protect me." I paused my sentence when he didn't day anything just letting me have the floor to speak. "I should walk away from you for this. But my heart is saying otherwise...it's saying that I still trust you somehow."

"I couldn't let my ex hurt you, dear. She's powerful...she knows everything I know about magic because I taught her." He walked up rubbing his thumb over my hand. "But she's nothing like you. You're more powerful than her."

Reaching up I ran my fingers through his hair gently leaning up and kissing his cheek. "Then teach me more tomorrow." He nodded wrapping his arms around my waist. Laying my head on his chest I sighed in relief that everyone was home safe.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[candysweetposts]

Day 167

You can call him the new sun.

Description:

His name is Dean Beaumont. He's around Rose's age but a bit younger. He's 178 cm or 5'10, very french, and a demon similar to Rose (yes, they have a lot in common). He's a sensitive man who loves the outdoors and is also a bit shy.

Well, I said that he's similar to Rose but I won't tell his story from the demon's perspective but from the human he once was. He was an orphan living on the streets of Lyon with some other kids just like him. He wasn’t the oldest but acted like a big brother to them. THy were usually sleeping in abandoned places and sometimes in barns at night. During daylight, they were begging for money or stealing from everyone they could. This made some of the locals and nobles at that time hate these children who just exist to make everyone’s life more difficult.

One day, a rich lord decided to organize a feast for all those starving children. A vas majority went to participate. Dean refused for some reason and said that he’ll go later. So in the evening, he went to this mansion but the doors were closed. E found an open window and sneaked in. Here he found a blood bath. There wasn’t a single soul alive. This made Dean realize that this was a trap and he fled the place. He was very heartbroken and swore to get revenge on the man who organized this. So he tried to find him and where he actually lives. This took some time but Dean found out this lord was a general in the french army. There fore he joined the army at 19. Tho he wasn’t very fit for this kind of “job” he was a very determined person and was moving pretty fast. His plan was to cough this man off-guard and kill him. But Dean was pretty noticeable beyond all those men. He refused to cut his hair (that was over a 3rd of his body long) and was.t so in shape making a lot of soldiers wonder what was he doing there. But he became pretty good as the time passed. 

It was night and Dean felt like it was time. So he snuck from the dormitory and went to the general’s room caring a sharp blade. He went to that room but it seem that no one was there. At that moment the general appeared and Dean attacked him. The General was pretty strong so he mobilized Dean. He then called some other soldiers and they decided it would be so fun to just guillotine execute him. So they did that.

Dean open his eyes slowly and found himself naked in the place he was executed, but he wasn’t alone. Next to him there lay his headless body. He freaked out and tried to understand what happened. In an excess of emotions, the place started burning for no reason so he ran away. He somehow realized it was him who started the fire and tried doing it again. Seeing that he has this fire ability plus the confusion made him decide to burn everything and everyone. So he went full crazy mode and didn’t spare anyone. He kept the general last and he did the same thing he did to Dean then put the head on a stake. His eyes reached a mirror just to see the monster he’d become. One of his eyes was a deep red making him even more confused. So quickly snapped out and realized what he’d done so he ran away deep into the woods. There he decided to live so he cannot hurt people again. He started building a shelter and hunting. He was almost isolated from civilization except for some times when he went out to scavenge for things.

He was hunting one day when he sensed something nearby so he shot instantly. He found this “boy” who looked hurt but didn’t have much time to think because a woman showed up and he shot at her. She caught the arrow pretty quick. She looked like a noblewoman making him detest her from the start. The “boy” quickly fainted making both’s attention gather on “him”. Dean forgot about his anger and took the “boy” to his place while the woman followed him. They didn’t talk much but she seem to like making remarks here and there. Dean started a fire and placed the injured person near. He made a comment mentioning the fact that that’s a boy and the woman said that that’s actually a girl and Invited him to verify. He felt flustered and just believed her. So the injured girl woke up and they all started introducing themselves. The noblewoman was Rose and the injured one was Sumi. They seem to have a lot in common and decided to live together since none of them really had somewhere to belong. They stayed at Dean a couple of days but Rose proposed another place much better. This was a house uptown. Dean being isolated for a long period of time was very anxious at first. He and Rose got a habit of cooking together and training while Sumi was sleeping because… (read her story). Rose loved teasing Dean and because he has such long hair loved to punish him by cutting a small part of it everytime he was losing against her. Despite that, he still thought of her and Sumi as his family. He also got a crush on Sumi for some reason. He found her very cute and innocent. They lived there for quite a while and got to know each other well with the good and bad things. 

One day, they decided to visit some places. In one of them, they all meet this guy (Alan) and Rose went to attack him. Seeing this both Sumi and Dean joined her and they all got defeated. They all were severely injured so Alan invited them to stay at this place until they heal. There Alan introduced himself so did they. For some reason, they just moved there and never came back to their old home. Like in their old house, Rose and Dean cooked but they stopped training. Dean still got strong feelings for Sumi so Rose talked to him and convinced him to confess. So he did it and found out Sumi was feeling the same. On their first time, they were both very shy, Sumi being very embarrassed about her body and Dean didn’t know how things work. But it was ok in the end. At some point, Rose and Alan started dating as well but it didn’t last long. After that Dean and Sumi decided to move out and live on their own. They got married and had some decent jobs, Dean as a bartman, and Sumi working at a bakery. They disused having kids, but even if they adopted one (bc Sumi can’t have kids), Simi still doesn’t feel ready.

Nowadays they’re a happy couple and Dean learned to accept his past. He also learned about what he really is but didn’t react as bad as Rose.

[hysterialevi]

Sinner’s Sanctuary | Part 1/2

Fanfic summary: Joe Roberts and Jason Kolchek. Both are soldiers, both carry the burden of sin, and both seek redemption. In a society where few are willing to offer them forgiveness, the two find peace among themselves when Jason finally confesses his love for Salim to his grandfather.

Point of view: third-person

Pairing: Jason Kolchek/Salim Othman

Author’s note: This fic is based on this headcanon. There’s also a comic I made that explains it as well. 

This story is also on AO3 | Next part

(Inspired by “Make the World Go Away” by Timi Yuro)

UNITED STATES, 1950

SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH

0719 HOURS

“Have a good day at school, sweetie!” Anita Kolchek called out to her son, waving happily as he trudged down the sidewalk. The boy maintained a somewhat sluggish hiccup in his step due to the fatigue that still clouded his mind, hurrying to catch the bus before it passed by his block.

Meanwhile, Anita stayed on the house’s front porch and watched the sleep-ridden child vanish in the distance, taking a moment to enjoy the morning’s refreshing breeze. It wasn’t very often she got a chance to catch her breath nowadays, especially with the way the country was recovering from the war, but occasionally, the world would offer her an opportunity to relax. Today, unfortunately, was not one of those days.

Returning to her thoughts, Anita threw a glance over her shoulder when she heard a sudden ruckus coming from inside the house, drawing her attention to the kitchen. It looked like the family dog Sadie had wandered near the dining table, and if she was around, that meant Joe was too.

Pushing her way through the front door, Anita found the man sitting in one of the chairs with a fresh cup of coffee in his hand, emptying it sip by sip as he stared aimlessly ahead. Just like always, his expression remained flat with a perpetual sense of disinterest, and his movements resembled that of a robot rather than a human being. 

Joe had been like this ever since he returned from the war. No one knew exactly what happened to him overseas since he rarely spoke about it, but his mind always seemed to be trapped in a different reality. He hardly ever uttered a word to anyone, including his own son, and often found the most solace away from civilization.

One would think that a spell had been cast on him. For the past three years, all of Anita’s attempts to get the old Joe back had ended in futility, and the lack of engagement from him did nothing except widen the divide between them even more. It felt as if his very soul had been stolen by the devil, and day after day, his family could do nothing but watch him retreat further into his shell.

It was an issue that had crept into every corner of Anita’s mind, and one that she no longer knew how to handle.

“Good mornin’, darling.” She greeted, displaying a hopeful smile.

Joe kept his eye on the wall in front of him, replying monotonously. “Morning.”

The woman strode over to the dining table, mindful not to trip over Sadie on the way.

“Sam just left for school. He and I were talkin’ about goin’ to the fair later today. He’s been working hard, after all. I figured he’d earned a little fun.”

The man said nothing in response.

“There’ll be food, music, rides...” she continued, trying to pry any sort of reaction out of him, “I’m sure Sam would love it if his daddy came along too.”

Joe took another sip of his coffee. “Mhm.”

“Don’t you think it’d be fun? The three of us out together, spending the evening at the fair. It’s been a while since we’ve done anything like that. Jean said she was gonna go too. I’ve been meanin’ to catch up with her lately.”

Joe leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “...Y’all can go on without me.”

Anita let out a quiet sigh, discouraged by the evident absence of intrigue. “Honey, c’mon. The fair ain’t here everyday. You may as well go while it’s still in town. Besides, I know Jean’s eager to see you too. She’s hardly spoken to you since you came home. Why not have a chat?”

And what, Joe wondered to himself, tell her about how I accidentally murdered her husband?

Even now, the true source behind his reclusive nature remained a secret. No one outside the SS Ourang Medan’s crew knew about the incident with the Manchurian Gold, or how a simple hallucination caused Joe to single-handedly end his best friend’s life. 

He had considered confessing the crime on multiple occasions -- both to a priest and to Jean herself -- but never found the sufficient courage to do so. How could he, after all? Everyone in their neighborhood knew that Charlie died overseas, but word had yet to get out about the real circumstances surrounding his death. If anyone discovered what actually happened to the man, Joe had no doubts that his life would be ruined. Even more so than it already had been.

“Look, Annie...” Joe said, his voice barely climbing above a whisper, “I just... can’t go. I’m sorry.”

As he expected, the woman didn’t take too kindly to that.

“...What’s gotten into you?” Anita asked, her tone delicate with pity. She rested against the counter, crossing her arms in sorrow. “I know things ain’t been easy lately, but... I feel like I hardly know you anymore. It’s as if we’re complete strangers. Sam’s worried about you too.”

Joe rubbed his temple, trying to wipe away the image of the hallucination he witnessed before Charlie’s death. He couldn’t even think about his own son these days without remembering the malformed doppelgänger that haunted him on that ship.

The fleshless face, the blood-stained bones, the lifeless eyes, the inhuman shriek -- it was something that burdened Joe’s psyche every time he saw Sam. It plagued his nightmares as if it had been branded into the back of his eyelids, and only amplified the guilt he already harbored due to the freak accident that followed soon after.

How could I have not known? Joe scolded himself. Sam wasn’t even on that goddamn ship, how could I have thought it was him? There was something obviously wrong that night. Why did I shoot? Why. Did. I. Shoot?

“Joe?” Anita said abruptly, snapping the man back to reality. “Are you listenin’ to me?”

Joe simply gawked at her for a second, briefly forgetting what they were talking about.

“What...? Oh-- right. The fair.” He shifted in his seat, eager to put this conversation to an end. “I’m sorry, but I can’t go.”

Although disappointed with the rejection, Anita held back her frustration and decided to drop the subject, not wanting to push it any further. She could see that Joe was uncomfortable with the idea -- for whatever reasons he may’ve had -- and didn’t wish to risk causing any conflict.

“...Well, alright.” Anita settled with. “If you’re sure. Sam and I are plannin’ to leave around four. Lemme know if you change your mind before then, okay?”

Joe brought his line of sight back to the coffee mug, peering blankly into the warped reflection that sat in the now cold liquid.

“...Yeah. I will.”

“Anyway,” Anita said, heading for the bedroom, “I gotta call Jean. I promised I’d grab some lunch with her at Kingston’s Diner. I’ll be on the phone if you need me.”

Strolling down the hallway, the woman took her leave from the kitchen and left Joe to his own devices, ensuing a subsequent silence that was broken only by the muffled sounds of the outside world. Birds could be heard chirping harmoniously from the trees in the backyard, and on the floor, Sadie let out a series of quiet pants as she rested her head by Joe’s feet.

It seemed like the dog was his only friend nowadays. Even though the veteran still loved Anita with all his heart, it was no secret to him that she had grown tired of trying to break the barrier between them. Over time, her annoyance gradually rose closer and closer to the surface despite her efforts to hide it, and yet, Joe just couldn’t bring himself to open up.

What would he even say to her? Or to Sam? Would the boy still love him if he knew what he did to Charlie? Or would he see him as a killer?

The idea of losing his son shook Joe to the core. He may not have voiced his affection for the child as much as he probably should’ve, but that kid meant more to him than the world itself. He would’ve done anything to keep Sam safe... and part of him wondered if that included staying away from him.

After all, how could anyone function with such a mess of a father? Joe felt like he barely had a grasp on his own life anymore -- not to mention that of an entire family. Would it even be possible to take care of them when he himself was constantly teetering on the edge of sanity? How would he manage that?

“...I dunno what to do, Sadie.” Joe mumbled under his breath. “I’ve been back home for three years now, and I still don’t recognize a goddamn thing about this place. I feel like I ain’t home.”

Scooting himself away from the table, Joe quickly rose from his seat and began heading for the backdoor, causing Sadie’s ears to perk up in interest once she heard his chair scraping across the tiles.

Meanwhile, the veteran strolled into the garden and moseyed down a small set of stairs, putting him in direct contact with the gentle morning sun. He squinted immediately upon being greeted by the soft golden rays, and rested against the fence as a gust of wind whirled past him.

Not too far away from where he stood, Joe could see other neighbors carrying on with their day like a bunch of birds flittering from place to place, steadily rising from the dawn’s dissipating darkness. Cars were being pulled out of driveways, and a gathering of kids skittered down the pavement just as the school bus rolled by its stop.

It was a picture-perfect life, as far as the American dream was concerned. Content families living in quaint houses, seemingly untouched by the horrors of the recent war... but for Joe, it felt like he was still on the Ourang Medan.

Despite the many luxuries he had, his mind remained stuck on the night of Charlie’s death.

He just couldn’t stop replaying that moment, no matter how hard he tried. Over and over, his memories tormented him with the sight of Charlie’s last words, and the anchor of guilt that dropped in his stomach once he realized what he had done. The sounds of gunfire, the scent of fresh blood, the judgmental glares from other soldiers -- it was all preserved in Joe’s head to this very day. 

Not to mention the pain that came with facing Charlie’s wife on a daily basis. For three consecutive years, Joe had watched the widowed woman bring flowers to her husband’s grave, completely oblivious to the fact that his killer lived down the street. He always feigned total innocence whenever she was around, and constantly battled with the idea of telling her the horrid truth. 

It was a struggle that had no visible end, and Joe believed he deserved every second of it.

“...I shouldn’t be here,” he whispered sullenly, burying his face in his hand. “It should be you, Charlie. Not me.”

Letting his head sink between his shoulders, Joe slouched on the fence as Sadie roamed to his side, attempting to comfort the distraught man. She circled around him a few times in curiosity and casually wagged her tail, brushing past a lone basketball that was lying on the grass.

Gazing downwards, the veteran’s eyes suddenly flicked to the left when he noticed the ball rolling near his feet, tapping off the edge of his boots with a light bounce. It was the same ball that Sam often played with whenever he had time off from school, and Joe distinctly remembered the day he got it for him.

He gently kicked the ball against the fence, watching it rebound off the surface.

“...This damn thing...” he muttered, thinking back to the first time he gave it to Sam. “Bought it for a good price at a yard sale... along with a whole list of expletives that came pourin’ out of Ms. Davis’ mouth when Sam sent it flyin’ into her car window. It was an entire month before I let that boy play near her house again.”

Joe smiled fondly, giving Sadie a rub on the head. “You think I should go to the fair with him, girl? I miss spendin’ time with the kid, but... I dunno. He knows the lights in my head’ve been out for a while. I’d probably just make things awkward.”

Sadie sat down next to him, happily indulging in her owner’s touch as he continued to talk.

“...Ah, fuck it.” He decided. “I’ve wasted enough time moping. Sam needs a dad, and I can’t just spend the rest of my life hidin’ from him.” Joe straightened his posture, letting out a deep breath. “I’ll... I’ll go.”

Striding through the garden, Joe quickly made his way back into the house with Sadie following close behind, eager to tell Anita about his new choice. It had been a long time since he bothered going out to an event like this, and a part of him fluttered with excitement at the idea of seeing Anita’s reaction once she learned about his change of heart.

Though, he couldn’t deny that he was nervous. Thanks to his elusive personality, a wall had been built over the past few years between him and Sam, and Joe only hoped that the boy wouldn’t see him as a nuisance. Their conversations always seemed to comprise less than a mouthful of words, and because of this, the veteran wondered if his son would even be happy that he decided to tag along.

Well, he supposed he would find out soon.

Rounding a corner, Joe slowed his pace down just before reaching the bedroom, mindful not to interrupt Anita in case she was still on the phone. Her voice could be heard seeping through the door’s surface, and as the man got closer, her words gradually became more articulate.

It sounded like she was still talking to Jean, but the subject of their friendly chat had traveled far away from simple plans for lunch, to discussions about life overall.

“--Are we still on for the fair tonight?” Jean’s voice buzzed from the telephone.

“Yeah,” Anita replied, “I spoke to Sam about it before he left for school. We’re plannin’ to leave around four, not too long after he comes back. I can pick you up along the way if you’d like. Sound good?”

“Sounds good! Thanks, dear. I’m sure Sam will love it. I hear they’ve got some new rides this year. He’ll have tons of fun.” A stray thought crossed Jean’s mind. “Hey, what about Joe? Is he comin’ too?”

Anita hesitated, her tone faltering with disappointment. “...No. I offered him to come earlier, but... y’know how he is.”

Joe stepped closer to the door, admittedly worried about where this was going.

“He still ain’t talkin’ to you?” Jean asked.

“No, Joe talks,” Anita clarified, “but it isn’t much. The most I usually hear from him now is just hello’s and goodbye’s. Even Sam has a hard time gettin’ anything out of him.”

“That’s a shame. I thought he woulda been better by now. The war ended half a decade ago, after all. Did somethin’ else happen to Joe?”

A despondent sigh escaped Anita’s lips. “I don’t know, Jean, but... something ain’t right with him. Joe’s so distant these days, and he lashes out at the smallest things. It’s even got to the point where I don’t know if he still loves me. He treats me like a stranger, and doesn’t seem to care about anything anymore.” There was a dark drop in her voice. “...Sometimes, I almost wish he never came back. Then, at least, I could remember him as the man I fell in love with. Not the one he’s become.”

Absolutely crushed by the confession, Joe slowly stepped back from the door and gazed loosely down the hallway, utterly devoid of any motivation he once held. For years, he felt as if he had been sitting in a grave looking up at the sky, just waiting for someone to close the lid on his coffin, and now, after hearing that, it was like he had been buried alive.

Was he truly that much of a burden to his family? How much pain had he caused Anita that she wished he was gone? And what about Sam? Did his son feel the same way? At this point, Joe was afraid to ask.

Retreating from the bedroom’s entrance with a hollow heart, the veteran wandered pointlessly down the corridor as a cage unlike any other ensnared his thoughts, leaving him stranded in a void that seemed to blot out all light. He wanted nothing more than to simply crawl in a hole and rot with his regrets, forced to face the punishment he had evaded for so long.

He didn’t deserve to be here. He didn’t deserve the life he had. His partner, his son, Jean -- they all would’ve been better off without him. His hands were drenched in innocent blood, and as punishment, he would have to spend the rest of his days trying to cleanse them.

It was the least Joe could do after all the damage he inflicted, and the only thing that mattered to him now.

I’m sorry, Annie, he cried in his head.

I’m so sorry.

~~~~~~~~~~

54 YEARS LATER

ROBERTS RESIDENCE, 2004

1239 HOURS

Jason pulled up to the picturesque house, turning down the volume of his truck’s radio as he brought the vehicle to a halt. His heartbeat had been hammering inside his head for the entirety of the trip, and it wasn’t until he shut off the music that he realized just how anxious he had become. 

Today was a big day for him. After months of considering it, he had finally decided to come forward about his relationship with Salim, and reveal the fact that he was romantically involved with another man. It wasn’t a secret he was willing to expose to everyone in his family just yet, but there was someone in particular he trusted with this information.

And that person was waiting inside this very house.

“Well, here we are.” Jason announced, turning to his passenger. “What d’ya think?”

Salim looked over the building’s facade, instantly taking a liking to its retro appearance. Although not very impressive in size, the house radiated with a cozy warmth and exhibited an arrangement of vibrant flowers on the front lawn, adding to an otherwise neutral color palette. As for the driveway, a single car occupied the space next to Jason’s truck, bearing the coat of a vehicle that had clearly been taken care of over many years.

“It’s beautiful,” Salim remarked. “Have your grandparents really lived here since the 50s?”

“Not in this exact house,” Jason corrected, “but they have always stayed in the same area. I guess they like it down here.”

“I can see why. It’s peaceful in this neighborhood.” Salim peeked at the windows. “Do you think your grandparents are home?”

“My grandma probably isn’t,” the younger man said, pulling the keys out of the ignition. “For as long as I can remember, she’s always had lunch at Kingston’s with a friend ‘round this time of day.”

“Kingston’s?” Salim repeated in curiosity.

“Oh, it’s a diner not too far away from here, though I haven’t been there in ages. I oughta take you sometime. They’ve got the best shakes in town. I think you’d like it.”

The man grinned. “Maybe we can go there later. But what about your grandfather? Do you think he’s here now?”

Jason shrugged. “He should be. I mean, his car’s here. Can’t imagine what else he’d be doing.” He paused for a bit. “Listen, a word of warning before we go in -- my grandpa ain’t exactly a ray of sunshine. The old man’s got a kind heart, but he don’t always make it so obvious. He probably isn’t gonna like you until you give him a good reason to. Try not to take it personally, is what I’m saying.”

Salim chuckled in a lighthearted tone. “I was able to handle you when we first met. I think I’ll be fine.”

The Marine returned the laugh. “Wait ‘til you see where I get it from.”

Falling into silence for a brief moment, Salim took a second to observe Jason’s demeanor, suddenly noticing how uneasy the lieutenant truly was. His index finger tapped against the steering wheel in a mindless manner, and his other hand couldn’t help but fidget with the rough fabric of his jeans.

It made sense, Salim supposed, for the man to be in such a state. He was preparing to reveal a big secret to his grandfather after all, and there was really no guarantee that his reaction would go according to plan.

Still, it was rare to see Jason so restless. Even when they got trapped in the Temple of Naram-Sin one year ago, the soldier managed to keep his nerves under control, despite being in the presence of thousands of vampires. Though, that could’ve just been due to the fact that he actually knew how to deal with them. When it came to his grandfather however, the solution wasn’t so simple.

“Hey, Jason,” Salim checked, tilting his head in concern, “are you okay?”

The man dismissed his worries. “Yeah. I’m fine. O’ course I’m fine.”

Salim smirked affectionately. “...Ah, come on, habibi. I know you better than that by now. Whenever you lie, you always say things twice. The first time to test the waters, the second to drive it home.”

Jason shook his head in frustration. “Jesus. First Nicky, now you?”

That earned a chortle from his partner. “I’m afraid you make it quite obvious, my love.” Salim switched to a more serious approach. “But all jokes aside, you don’t have to tell your grandfather about us if you’re not ready. You know that, right? We’ve kept it quiet for a year now. We can wait a little longer if need be.”

Jason slid a hand down his face, trying to gather himself. “No, no. I’m okay, really. Don’t worry ‘bout me. I can do this. I need to. I know how sick secrets can make you. Even if it costs me my grandpa... I gotta tell him.”

“Do you think he’ll understand?”

“...I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “I’ve always known him to be a good man, but he can be hard to read sometimes. There’s a chance he could cut me outta his life after this. I really can’t say.”

Jason’s expression sank at the thought, urging Salim to rest a comforting hand on his lap.

“You’ll be alright,” he reassured. “Whatever happens in there, I’m here for you.” He leaned over the seats, pecking a small kiss on his lover’s cheek.

A faint smile spread across the Marine’s face. “...Thanks, Salim. I’ll let you know how things turn out. If everything goes well, you’ll be meetin’ my grandpa for yourself soon enough. If not...”

Jason drifted off, not wishing to dwell on it any longer. “...Never mind. Just wait here, okay? I shouldn’t be long.”

Salim gave him a nod, watching as the younger man took his leave from the truck. “Good luck, Jason. I wish you the best.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Walking up to the front door, the lieutenant quickly worked his way across the drive and onto the porch, passing underneath a lone tree that overlooked the lawn. The sound of leaves brushing against one another rustled in the air as wind danced through the branches, causing the sunlight to warp sporadically on the pavement.

As for Jason, the man could hear the distant chatter of other people who were waltzing around the neighborhood, filling the atmosphere with idle conversation and laughter. It was the sort of environment that used to calm his nerves as a child, and yet, he couldn’t have been more on-edge.

Why the hell am I doin’ this? He questioned. 

Salim was right. He didn’t have to tell his grandfather anything. Technically speaking, he could’ve gone the rest of his life -- however long that may’ve been -- seeing his new partner in private, and sheltering the world from their secret. There was no need to risk losing all his family over something they were oblivious to, or jeopardizing the only true relationship he’d developed ever since he was a boy.

But... no. He knew he couldn’t keep it to himself. Others may have had the willpower to stay quiet about something like this, but just based on how he handled the incident at Green Zone, Jason knew this would eat him from the inside-out if he didn’t say anything soon. He had to come clean, regardless of the cost.

Okay. This is it. I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna tell him. Just keep your shit together.

Extending a tentative arm out, Jason pushed the doorbell after what felt like an eternity of contemplating, only to realize he’d reached the point of no return once the bell chimed throughout the house. 

For a short while, he waited on the porch in silence, knotting his hands together while keeping an ear out for any movement. No immediate sounds came to his attention initially, and upon closer inspection, it didn’t look like many of the lights were on.

Just when he began to wonder if anyone was home however, the door started to creak open, steadily revealing a face Jason hadn’t seen since he was deployed to Iraq.

It was Joe Roberts, a World War Two veteran of 87 years now. His features mirrored those of his grandson as if they were twins despite his faded youth, and his health remained in a surprisingly good condition for his age. Overall, the man was practically a walking reflection of Jason, just with a thicker layer of dust on the looking glass.

“Hi, grandpa.” The lieutenant said, rubbing his palms together out of stress. “It’s me. Jason.”

[wayward-dreamer]

Something Unexpected

Pairing: Dean x Female!Reader (Enemies to Lovers)

Word Count: 7,580 (This really got away from me! Lol)

Warnings: Some angst: fighting, Dean gets slapped. A WHOLE LOT OF SMUT. Rough Sex. Vaginal Fingering, Oral sex (Male and Female receiving), unprotected sex (wrap it before you tap it, people!), Dirty Talk, Biting, Some hair pulling, Swearing (there’s sex, so naturally there’s swearing lol). Fluffy ending. 18+ ONLY!

Summary: Jody needs back up on the hunt she’s on, and Sam and Dean aren’t going to be enough. She calls in Y/N Y/L/N, without knowing that Dean and Y/N can’t stand each other. Things come to a head during the hunt, words are said, and feelings are hurt, but something unexpected occurs. Something new with the promise of more, if they only give in to how they actually feel for each other. Based on this request: “Enemies to lovers. Jody calls in another hunter for back up. Her and Dean butt heads, can end however you want :)”

A/N: This was a request from @flamencodiva! I hope you guys enjoy it and please let me know what you think! :)

Dean pressed harder on the accelerator, the Impala flying down the highway. They were a few minutes away from the main part of town and would soon be meeting up with Jody. Sam was talking to her on the phone, before he hung up.

“Jody there already?” he asked, looking between Sam’s phone and the road.

“Yeah, she’s at the diner on Main Street. Apparently, she’s calling someone else in, too” Sam replied, putting his phone back in his pocket.

Dean frowned. “She say who?”

“No. Does it really matter?” Sam shrugged.

“Guess not” Dean said, rolling his eyes.

Soon, they pulled up and parked outside the diner. Dean led the way across the sidewalk into the diner. He glanced around the room, before they landed on Jody in a booth near the window. She smiled wide when she saw them, getting up.

“Jody” Dean smiled, as he hugged her tight.

“Good to see you boys” she said as she hugged Sam next.

“You didn’t bring the girls?” Sam asked.

“No, they’re at home working on their training with Donna. I would’ve called them in, but Patience isn’t quite there yet. Hence why I called you boys” Jody explained as she slid back into the booth.

Sam was next to the window opposite her, as Dean sat next to him.

“So, vamps, huh?” Dean said, as he glanced over the menu.

Jody nodded. “Whole lot of ‘em, too. Had to call for another hunter.”

“What, we’re not enough?” Dean grinned, jokingly.

Jody rolled her eyes playfully. “She’s good, saved our necks on a Vetala case two months ago.”

“Who is it?” Sam asked.

“Y/N Y/L/N” Jody replied, simply.

Dean dropped his menu and looked up at Jody. She didn’t just say Y/N Y/L/N did she? Jody noticed him staring at her and raised an eyebrow in question.

“What?” she asked.

“You’ve gotta be freaking kidding me” Dean muttered, shutting his eyes.

Jody looked at Sam and shrugged. Sam shook his head. “It’s no big deal, Jody. Dean and Y/N just have a bad history with each other. She’s a great hunter-” Sam explained but Dean cut him off.

“Yeah, if a great hunter steals your kill right from under your nose” he huffed.

Sam glared at him. “Man, would you cut it out? She saved your ass.”

Dean rolled his eyes but said nothing.

“Well, you better act civil because she’s here” Jody said, and jerked her head towards the door.

Dean turned back and saw Y/N walk in. She wore a purple shirt and dark blue skinny jeans, a dark brown leather jacket and her brown, scuffed up hunting boots. She may have annoyed him but damn, she was beautiful. She noticed Jody first and smiled, walking over. As she got closer, her smiled dropped.

Dean freaking Winchester was sitting at the booth, along with Sam. Jody mentioned other hunters coming in for this but failed to mention who they were. Just her luck.

She hugged Jody before she smiled at Sam. Looking at Dean, she watched as his green eyes stared at her intently, somehow angry and hot at the same time.

“Hey, Dean. How’s that leg of yours? You know, I never heard you say “thanks” for getting that wolf off you” she said, rubbing it in.

Dean huffed a bitter laugh. “I could’ve handled it, sweetheart.”

“Geez, I’m regretting this already” Jody mumbled. She clapped her hands once to get their attention. “Guys, can we focus.”

“Sure thing, Jody” Y/N said and sat down next to her, across from Dean.

“Alright, so I tracked the Alpha from Sioux Falls, to here. I followed him to a barn, 20 minutes outside of town. There’s ten in there; more than I can handle. They only hunt when things are busy in town, but tonight’s a curfew because of the killings. So, they’re not going to be heading out to feed. That’s when we get ‘em” Jody explained.

“Sounds like a plan” Y/N smiled.

Later that night, the hunters drove out to where the vampire nest was. They had checked into their motel earlier, except for Jody who said she would drive home that night back to Sioux Falls. As they were prepping, Y/N had felt Dean’s eyes on her the whole time. Every now and then, she’d look over and he’d look away. He was absolutely infuriating, and she just wanted to get this over and done with.

They parked their cars on the main road. There was a forested area that came before the barn, which would shield their cars from being seen. Y/N took out her machete, already sharpened. They walked through the dark forest, Jody and her at the front, with Sam and Dean behind them. They could hear rock music blaring from the barn. Stopping outside, Jody turned to them.

“Alright, Dean you’re with me. We’ll go through the back. Sam and Y/N will go through the front. We good?” she looked between them, especially Y/N and Dean.

“Yeah” Dean nodded, wanting to get this over with.

Jody and Dean went left and walked towards the back of the barn. Y/N followed behind Sam as they walked to the front. Sam looked back at her, a smile playing at his face.

“What?” she asked, quietly as they walked towards the entrance.

“Nothing” he shrugged. “Just wondering why you’re always trying to get under Dean’s skin when you could just admit you like him.”

Y/N scoffed. “You know, you may be a nerd about you’ve never been more wrong about this.”

“Yeah, sure” Sam chuckled to himself.

Y/N ignored as they reached the entrance. She peaked through the crack in the door and saw some of the vampires drinking and dancing to the music.

“Ready?” she asked, looking at him.

Sam nodded, raising his machete.

Jody and Dean rushed towards the back of the barn. Dean clenched his jaw, steeling himself. Jody looked over at him and smiled, slightly. Dean noticed out of the corner of his eye, and looked at her.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing” she shrugged. “It’s just… if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have feelings for Y/N, but you’d rather repel her with your anger than tell her how you feel.”

“Feeling okay there, Jody?” Dean asked, sarcastically.

“Hey, I’m just sayin’… you’re both dancing around these feelings, trying to piss each other off and being angry for no reason. There’s nothing wrong with how you feel, Dean” she said, as she took out her machete.

Dean shook his head and said nothing. “Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah” Jody said, as she stood near the back door.

Dean and Jody burst through the back door as Sam and Y/N did from the front. The vampires saw them and split up, half of them heading each way. Y/N raised her machete and beheaded the first male, but the second one, a woman, grabbed her and threw her. She groaned as she landed but scrambled up quickly as it came for her. Sam took the heads off two male vamps and saw that Y/N was down. Before he could get there, she got up and swung her machete, killing the one that threw her into the wall.

Jody killed one and then another, both men. Dean beheaded one female but was now trapped against a pole, as a male tried to choke him out. Sam ran towards the other two and beheaded one, but the other male grabbed him. Jody noticed and ran over, swinging hard and taking it’s head off. Y/N ran towards the other one, and swung, its head fell to the floor as its body let go of Dean and fell.

She breathed heavily as she looked around the barn, before she looked at him. “You okay?”

She put her hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off, roughly.

“Like you care” he muttered.

“Everyone okay?” Jody asked.

They all nodded.

They walked back to the cars and cleaned up. Jody smiled at Y/N, as they hugged first.

“You sure you can’t stay and have a drink?” she asked.

“No, I should really get back” Jody replied. “Plus, it leaves your night for some other kind of fun.”

Y/N shook her head. “Not you too.”

“Just give it a chance. What’s the worst that could happen?” Jody asked.

“We could kill each other” Y/N said, not so sarcastically.

“Just try” Jody said, as she smiled knowingly.

“You don’t what you’re talking about” Y/N told her, firmly.

“Yeah, sure” Jody laughed.

She walked over to the boys and hugged them.

Y/N watched as they interacted, they were close. She never realised it. She heard Dean tell her to give the girls their best. He could be sweet with he wanted to be. They were a family. And what he had with Sam… that was something special.

Jody drove off, leaving Y/N with the boys. She walked over to them and smiled, tentatively. Sam smiled at her as he packed up the machetes in the trunk.

“You okay? That vamp really threw you” Sam asked, concerned.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve had worse” she said, shrugging. It was true, she had much worse than being thrown.

Dean sipped his beer as he leaned against the car, ignoring her. He was really starting to get on her nerves.

“Hey, you know I saved your ass. Again. Maybe you could look at me and say something good for a change” she said, her eyebrow raised.

“I didn’t ask you to” he huffed, sipping his beer.

“Yeah, and now I’m regretting it” she scoffed.

“Guys” Sam sighed.

Dean turned to her, jaw clenched, and shoulders tensed. “Fuck, Y/N. What are you even doing here? Maybe go find your own hunt for a change instead of weaselling your way into others.”

Y/N saw red. That was total bullshit. “Not that I owe you an explanation, Dean, but I do find my own hunts. When other people need me, then I help them. I don’t let them down.”

“We never asked you for help with that wolf” Dean recalled.

Y/N rolled her eyes and growled. “Are you seriously bringing that up again? I was in town, passing through! I saw you guys and helped. End of story. If I hadn’t, that wolf would’ve kept your leg as a souvenir!” she yelled.

“Guys, just stop” Sam warned. “Enough.”

Y/N didn’t say anything as she shook her head. She glared at Dean as she walked past him. “Fuck you, Winchester.”

She walked to her car and got in, revving the engine as she drove off, speeding down the highway. Dean looked at Sam for a brief second but when he received a glare from him too, he looked the other way.

“When we get back to the motel, you better stop being an ass and apologise to her” Sam said, as he sat in the car, waiting for Dean to finish his beer.

A sinking feeling made its way into Dean’s stomach. He had really stepped in it this time.

--X--

Y/N stared at herself in the mirror. Despite washing her face to try to cool down, she was still angry. She couldn’t stop thinking about the things they said to each other. Sometimes she just wanted punch him in his perfect face. But then that would ruin said perfect face, Y/N she thought to herself as she walked out of the bathroom. She shook her head, damn him for being so goddamn hot.

Why? Why did she secretly have to be attracted to the older Winchester? Most of the time, it was easy to be angry at him because of his compulsive need to take over everything and run the show. She would channel that anger into hating him, but she had to admit it was just a front, because sometimes Dean was actually sweet. She saw that tonight, with Jody.

Y/N picked up the bottle of whiskey and poured some into a glass. As she stared down at the amber liquid, she thought about how those qualities make Dean who he is. He wouldn’t be Dean without them, and therefore, she wouldn’t be drawn to him. She brought the glass to her lips and gulped down the whiskey. A sharp knock at the door shook her from her musings, as she nearly dropped the glass in her hand. She put the glass down and walked slowly to the door, once again in hunter mode. She didn’t need any surprises tonight. Slightly pushing herself up on her tip-toes, she looked through the peephole.

Dean was waiting on the other side of the door, scrubbing a hand down his face.

“Fuck” she quietly cursed, as she moved away from the door. Why was he here?

“Y/N” his voice came booming from the other side of the door. “Open up, we gotta talk.”

Dean waited as patiently as he could on the other side. After his drink and the guilt of what he said weighing on him, he knew he had to come and talk to her. While she annoyed him sometimes, she was a good person and didn’t deserve to live with what he said. He knew he had pissed her off, and he didn’t want to let the night go by without them talking.

Y/N sighed heavily. Throwing her shoulders back, she took a hold of the doorknob. When she opened it, Dean was struck by her beauty once again.

“What do you want?” she asked, pointedly. She needed this to be over and done with.

Dean gestured towards the room. “Can I come in?”

She rolled her eyes and stood aside. Dean walked in and she closed the door behind him.

“So, um…” he trailed off, not knowing how to start.

“Can you say what you need to say and then leave?” She said, harshly. She was taken aback by her tone, as was Dean.

Dean’s eyebrows furrowed as he blinked a couple of times. “I just came here to apologise for what I said, but if you’re gonna be a bitch about it-”

Y/N scoffed and laughed bitterly. “I think I’ve earned the right to be a bitch, Dean.”

“Wow” Dean shook his head as he looked at her. “Clearly this was a waste of time.”

Dean turned around and headed for the door. She wasn’t going to let him just leave without understanding why he said what he said.

“You had no right to say that to me” she said, taking a step closer to him.

Dean turned around, now it was his turn to scoff. “I know. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. You’d know that if you’d open your mind for one fucking second.”

Y/N glared at him but gave him nothing. She was quiet and Dean took his chance to open his mouth again.

“Listen, I-” Dean cleared his throat and took a step closer to her. “What I said… there’s no excuse for it. I crossed a line and I shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t have gotten pissed at you for stepping in and killing the damn vamp.”

Y/N crossed arms as her jaw clenched. She was trying to keep herself from exploding. “And saving your ass in the process. I’m fucking good at what I do, Dean. I don’t need you questioning me or insulting me!”

“I know” Dean said, trying to keep his cool. “And I’m sorry.”

“Are you really sorry? Maybe this is just another way for you to undermine me. Try to make me believe you so that you can just say whatever the fuck you want to me again!” Y/N stepped closer to him as she stared into his eyes.

“You’re insane” Dean whispered. He closed his eyes. This wasn’t going to end well, and he had no idea how to try and diffuse the situation. He had to think of something quick, though.

“Did you really think I’d be here, trying to make things right, if that’s what I wanted to do?” he asked, as he took a step closer to her. They were close to each other now, so close that he could see her eyes glisten with unshed tears.

She was quiet again. Dean felt like that was almost scarier than her yelling at him.

“Fuck, Y/N” he sighed, scrubbing a hand down his face. “I hated the fact that I said that, and you were mad at me.”

“You’ve never cared about making me mad before, Dean. Why is it different this time?” Y/N asked, but she didn’t really know if she wanted an answer.

Dean shook his head, not knowing how to answer. He knew that if he said something now, he would say too much, and then everything would change.

It was different this time because he had genuinely hurt her feelings and didn’t like that he did that. He had doubted her as a hunter, and that was something you just never do. It made him feel the dirt on the bottom of her shoe and needed to fix that.

“I just-” Dean dropped his head and scratched behind his neck, nervously. “It just is.”

Y/N tried to process what he was saying. He was keeping from her. He looked nervous, like there was something else he wanted to say but he couldn’t.

“You’re lying” Y/N said, firmly. “And I’m done now. So please leave.”

Dean shook his head. If there was one thing he wasn’t, it was a liar. “I’m not lying.”

Her lips pressed into a thin line. Why couldn’t he just let it go?

“Just go, Dean” she said, staring at him. Her expression was blank. She had nothing left to say.

“No.” Dean didn’t move an inch.

Y/N lifted her hands and pressed them against his torso. Even through his shirt, she could feel the hard wall of muscle underneath. She shoved him back slightly, but he didn’t move far. “Leave. Now.”

“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart” Dean said, staring into her eyes. His eyes were fiery, holding something she couldn’t quite figure out.

She pushed at him harder. “Damn it, Dean. Just go!” She pushed him again. And again. And again. He kept moving back, but he wasn’t leaving.

“Get out!” she yelled as she started to hit her fists against his chest.

Dean tried to calm her down. “Y/N, hey, look at me.”

Dean tried to grab Y/N’s hands, but she kept hitting him, yelling at him to go, to leave her alone. She raised her fist, ready to strike him but in his quick thinking, he grabbed her wrist. She tried to get out of his hold but couldn’t. She raised her other fist, but he grabbed that too, refusing to let go.

“Let go of me” she said, struggling against of his hold.

“Not until you calm down, sweetheart” he said, his gravelly and deep.

She stared up at him as she continued to try and get away from his hold. His eyes were dark, and something about the way he was looking at her lit a fire within her.

“Let me go, Dean” she gasped, trying to get her fists out of his hands.

In that moment, if she had been honest with herself, she really wasn’t trying to get away from him but away from what she was beginning to feel. His gaze never left her, and it caused a fluttering deep in her core, something that she hadn’t expected to feel around Dean Winchester. Yes, she was attracted to him and had been since the first time they met, but she never thought she would feel anything more than annoyance towards him.

Dean looked down at Y/N, the urge to take her in his arms overwhelmed him. He never thought he would feel this way about her. The girl who had pissed him off on several occasions, as recent as a few hours ago. However, in that moment, with her Y/H/C hair floating down her back and a few strands in her face, her perfect lips inciting him, her incredible body so close he could smell her perfume… she was beautiful.

Without thinking, he let the instinct of that moment take over. He leaned down quickly, pressing his lips to hers. Y/N was shocked at first. His lips were soft and perfect. She had to pull away. This couldn’t happen. In the haste of the kiss, Dean had dropped her hands. With them now free, she pushed him away. Not knowing what possessed her to do it, her hand rose and slapped him across the face. Dean’s head turned sharply to the side with the impact. She breathed heavily, the energy from hitting and pushing him, from trying to get away from him, had taken it out of her. Dean looked down at her, his eyes darkened even more, and Y/N felt a heat begin to rise in her core.

Without a second thought, she pushed herself up on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. Dean’s hands landed softly on her hips, hesitant at first. When she lifted her hands and placed them on his jaw, pulling him closer, he brought her body closer to his. He deepened the kiss, softly biting her bottom lip. She gasped into his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck, pushing herself even closer to him. His hands roamed up her back, tangling in the ends of her Y/C/H hair. Their lips still joined, their kisses became harder and rougher, both of them fighting for dominance. She pressed herself harder into him, which caused him to walk backwards a few steps. His back hit the wall as he pulled her even tighter, his arms hard around her waist.

Y/N’s hands roamed his chest and disappeared under his jacket and flannel shirt. She pushed them off his shoulders and helped him take them off his arms, all while their lips never left each other. Her fingers played with the edge of his black t-shirt, pushing it up, she placed her hands against the warm, soft but strong muscle of his stomach. She reluctantly pulled away from his lips and lifted the shirt off him when he raised his arms. She threw the shirt behind her and turned back to him, taking in the smooth lines and hard muscle of his chest and torso. She leaned in and kissed his neck, biting softly. Her lips trailed down his collarbone, biting and sucking near his anti-possession tattoo.

Dean’s hand found its way to her hair and tugged slightly, pulling her mouth away from his collarbone. He leaned and kissed her, roughly. His entire body felt like fire, burning for her and the things she was doing to him. He was painfully hard already, and all they had done was kiss.

He pulled her away from him, his hands still in her hair. “Shit, sweetheart. You have no idea what you’re doing to me.”

“I think I do” she smiled, biting her lip. Her hand ran down his body, before she slowly rubbed it along the crotch of his jeans. She hummed as she felt him, hard just for her.

With a cheeky grin, she quickly started on jeans. She leaned in and kissed the middle of his chest. She slowly started to lower herself and kissed down his body. Her knees landed on the floor as her hands unzipped and pulled his jeans down. His cock sprung free, causing her to moan at the sight.

“Fuck” she whispered, as she took his cock in her hand.

Y/N leaned in and licked the tip of his cock, tasting the salty pre-cum on her tongue. She pressed her lips to the tip before trailing them down his shaft, heading straight for his balls as she began to stroke him with her hand. Her tongue ran over each ball, causing a sigh from Dean. She continued to do that for a few more strokes before she flattened her tongue, travelling all the way up his cock once more. Dean’s hands slipped into her hair as she took the tip in her mouth. She bobbed her head back and forth, sucking softly.

“Fuck, Y/N, just like that,” he urged her on. He clamped his eyes shut and threw his head back against the wall. He breathed in erratically as he looked down at her. “Shit, you look so good with my cock in your mouth, sweetheart.”

She took him deeper, trying to reach the base of his cock. Considering his size, she used her hand to stroke what she couldn’t fit in her mouth. She pulled back and sucked the tip, her pumping along his length. Her other hand stroked and cupped his balls, as he gripped her hair tighter.

“Your cock is so big, Dean. I love the way you taste, so fucking good” she breathed out as she stared up at him and licked a long strip from his balls to the tip.

“Fuck” he groaned. Now she was talking dirty. How did they get from hating each other to this point? It felt surreal.

She went to take him in her mouth again, but Dean stopped her. He pulled her head back by her hair as he stared down at her.

“You’re wearing too many clothes, Y/N” he said, letting go of her hair and taking her hands.

Dean was completely naked as Y/N took in his form. An Adonis stood in front of her and she couldn’t believe she got to have him. If one night was all she got, then she was going to take it. She quickly got rid of her shirt and jeans, but then he stopped her when he saw her black and red lace bra, and matching panties. He leaned down and kissed each breast, her hands coming up and holding his head to her chest. She gripped the short spikes as he reached around and unclasped her bra, throwing it across the room. He gazed at her breasts, her nipples hard from the cool air of the room. He leaned in and kissed her nipple, taking it into his mouth. He nipped at it, causing a moan from her.

“Dean” she gasped, as she felt his hands travel down.

He grabbed her thighs and lifted her up, turning around and pressing her against the wall. He moved one hand around and teased the front of her panties, feeling how wet she was.

“So wet, baby. It’s all for me, isn’t?” he smirked as he looked at her.

“Yeah” she whispered, leaning her head back against the wall.

He rubbed his fingers along the crotch of her panties, feeling her get wetter. She moaned at the feeling, her eyes shut tightly.

“What do you want, sweetheart? You want my fingers inside you? Fucking you, getting you ready for my cock?” he asked, kissing her jaw.

“Yes” she moaned. “Yes, Dean, I want your fingers inside me.”

Dean leaned in and kissed her, hard. He reached down and pulled her panties away from her body, stretching them until the band snapped. He threw the ripped fabric over his shoulder.

“Dean” she scolded him, but the feel of his lips biting her jaw was overwhelming. She didn’t really care about him ruining her underwear.

Dean chuckled deep in his throat, his fingers rubbing the slit. His fingers became slick from how wet she was, and he inserted two fingers into her warm core. Her walls clenched around his fingers, as he continued to push them in and out of her.

“Shit, Y/N. Your pussy’s so fucking wet, my fingers are soaked, baby. God, you’re so damn hot” he said, smirking as he continued to bite at her jaw.

“Fuck, Dean, that feels so good. Yeah, right there” she moaned. She gripped the hair at the back of his head tightly, her hips thrusting hard against his fingers.

“So impatient” he laughed, as he curled his fingers inside her, rubbing against her g-spot.

“Fuck me” she whispered, incoherently.

“What was that, sweetheart?” he asked, smirking as he teased her.

“Fuck me, Dean. I want you to fuck me with that big cock of yours” she said, louder as she stared into his eyes.

Dean pulled his fingers out of her as she sighed at the loss. He lifted her legs, wrapped them around his waist and gripped her hips, tightly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. He moaned as he tasted her, his hand taking hold of his cock, sensitive with how hard it was.

Dean pressed the head of his cock against her slit. As he felt her tug on his hair, he pushed into the cavern of her pussy. He groaned at the feeling of her wet, warm folds against his hard dick and started to thrust into her. She moaned as she threw her head back, her hips thrusting up to meet his. Y/N had never felt so good. He was stretching her walls so perfectly, making her feel so full.

“Dean… you feel so fucking good” she gasped.

“Your pussy feels so fucking perfect around my cock” he grunted, as he gripped her thighs.

The rhythm of his thrusts was good, but she needed more.

“Fuck me harder, Dean. I want you deep inside me” she moaned. “Fuck me hard.”

Dean groaned and obliged her, his thrusts becoming harder and faster.

“Oh fuck, yeah!” she moaned loudly. “Dean… oh god…” she gasped, gripping his shoulders tight, her fingernails making little dents in his skin.

Dean leaned in and kissed her neck, nipping roughly at her pulse. “Fuck, Y/N…” he moaned into her neck.

Dean lifted Y/N away from the wall and carried her over the bed. He pulled out of her and dropped her down on the bed. He turned her onto her stomach, admiring the curve of her ass.

“Hands and knees” he commanded, his voice deep and rough.

Y/N shivered as she did what she was told. The same tone she would get angry at and argue with was now turning her on so much.

She got into position, the anticipation for what was about to come exciting her.

Dean ran his knuckles along her slit, humming at the wetness. He leaned down and pressed his mouth to her entrance, his tongue licking her folds as he grabbed her ass and pulled her closer to his mouth.

“Fuck… Dean, oh fuck yes” her voice hitched, as her hands fisted the sheets.

He thrust his tongue in and out of her, moaning at the taste of her.

“Your pussy tastes so fucking good, sweetheart” he growled, his breath hot against her pussy.

“Dean… I…” she was unable to finish what she was saying. She leaned her head down and bit into her wrist, too overwhelmed by what he was doing to her.

“You what, Y/N?” he mumbled against her folds, before he drove his tongue in deeper.

“Oh please, Dean. Please just fuck me. Fuck me!” she begged. She couldn’t believe the things he was doing to her and how badly she needed even more.

Dean moved away from her and kissed the right cheek of her ass, as he stood upright. “So desperate for my cock. How bad do you want it, Y/N?” he teased.

“I want it so much, Dean. Please, just give me your big cock” she replied, looking back at him.

Dean’s hands gripped Y/N’s hips as he lined his cock up with her entrance. In one swift thrust, he entered her. She moaned, practically screaming as he began a fast pace, his hips thrusting deep as he pulled hers repeatedly onto his cock.

“Shit” he hissed. “So fucking tight, baby.”

The sounds of his hips slapping against her ass, their moans and harsh breaths filled the room. The entire motel could probably hear them, but they didn’t care. All that mattered in that moment was them.

Dean lifted one hand off her hip and slipped it into her hair. He pulled her up, her back flush against his chest as he continued to fuck her.

Y/N gasped as her hand reached up and grasped his short hair. “Fuck.”

Dean turned his head to look her in the eyes, her pupils blown wide with arousal.

“You like what I’m doing, don’t you, sweetheart? You like my cock inside you? Tell me how good it feels” he murmured against her lips.

YN bit her lip as she gazed into his green, lust filled eyes. “Fuck, Dean. Your cock feels so good inside me. So fucking big, fills me so good” she cried out. She took his other hand in hers, taking it off her hip and guided it towards her swollen nub.

“Play with my clit, Dean” she moaned. “Fucking make me cum hard on your cock.”

God, that nearly made him cum right there, but he had to hold on. She was way too good at that. His fingers circled her clit, adding to the pleasure that coursed through her body.

Dean continued to thrust into her hard and fast. He grunted loudly as she clenched around him. “Your pussy takes my cock so good, baby, so fucking perfect.”

With her head still resting on his shoulder and her eyes still looking into his, Y/N gripped his sweaty short spikes in her hand, roughly. “Make me cum on that perfect cock, Dean. Make me yours.”

Dean felt her walls clenching him tighter, and he knew that she was close.

Dean pulled out of her reluctantly. Before Y/N could protest, he flipped her onto her back and climbed on top of her. She automatically wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her legs around his waist. He wanted to see her face when she came, he wanted to see what he did to her. Dean looked down at Y/N, her face open and something unspoken in her eyes. Suddenly, the air in the room changed. Something between them changed.

Make me yours. That’s what she had said. She wanted him, he wanted her and not just in this way, but in every other way possible, too.

Dean entered her again, as she gazed up at him, never breaking eye contact. Y/N could feel something change between them. It was quick and it scared her, but she invited the feeling in. His thrusts were deep and hard like before, but the speed became more languid.

Dean took her hands in his, placing them on either side of her head. He pressed his body closer to hers, without crushing her. He leaned in and kissed her, passionately. He pulled away and pressed his forehead to hers, their eyes locked on each other. The energy in the room was charged with something new, something exciting that should’ve been terrifying but wasn’t.

She squeezed his fingers tight, gasping for breath. “Dean, I’m so close.”

“I know, sweetheart” he nodded, “me too.”

His thrusts get slightly faster, wanting them to come at the same time.

“Dean, I-” she started but cut herself off as she moaned at the pressure building inside her.

“Cum with me, Y/N. Cum with me” he groaned.

Dean’s thrusts became erratic, as Y/N moaned loudly, her walls clenching tight around his cock. She looked into his eyes as the coil in her stomach snapped.

“Dean, oh fuck, Dean! Dean!” she moaned his name over and over loudly as she came hard on his cock.

“Fuck, Y/N… I, fuck” Dean muttered as he reached his peak, spilling inside of her.

They stared at each other as they came down from their high, breathing heavily. Dean’s hand came up and softly brushed her hair out of her face. He cupped her cheek in his hand and watched as she leaned into his touch, her eyes closed. He leaned down and kissed her softly. Y/N slowly dropped her legs to the bed as he pulled out of her. She hissed as the loss and the empty feeling, knowing she was going to feel the burn in the morning. She smiled at the thought; she didn’t really mind.

Dean slowly lifted her up and reached for the sheets. He pulled them down and laid her down, her head lying on the pillow. He got up and Y/N frowned, taking his hand in hers. Dean looked at her, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“One sec…” he whispered, as he walked to the bathroom.

Y/N felt the cool air of the room against her sweaty body and shivered. Before she could pull the sheet up, Dean walked out of the bathroom with a damp cloth. He sat down beside her and reached between her legs, cleaning her. She closed her eyes as the effects of their lengthy activities started to take over. She felt him leave, probably to clean himself and then throw the cloth in the hamper, but she ultimately didn’t care. The next thing she felt was Dean slide in beside her and pull the covers over them. She rolled into him, her head resting on his chest.

Dean looked down at Y/N and smirked. She was so blissed out as she rested on him. He wrapped his arm around her and listened as her breath evened out, falling asleep. He stared up at the ceiling, thinking about everything that had happened on the hunt and how it all ended up; with them having sex. Sex that started off as pure adrenaline and tension release, before it became… something more.

He didn’t know what it was; just something that he couldn’t explain. He wasn’t used to this feeling of wanting to be close to someone in the most intimate way. It scared him. Wanting that for more than one night was also a foreign feeling, but as he looked down at Y/N those worries went away. He never thought he would feel this way towards her, but if he was being honest, he always did. He just covered it up and acted out to push away what he felt. Clearly it was the same for her. He could see it in her eyes tonight.

Dean pulled Y/N closer and shut his eyes. For the first time in a long time, he didn’t have any nightmares.

--X--

The morning sun shone through the gap between the curtains. Y/N snuggled further into the pillow, as she felt the rays hit her face. She turned away to avoid the heat on her face and cuddled into the other pillow. Her brows furrowed and her eyes slowly blinked open, adjusting to the light in the room. The space next to her was empty. The sheets were thrown back and only slightly warm, as she smoothed her hand over the sheet. She sat up, holding the sheet to her body. She looked around the room and only saw her own clothes on the floor.

Her stomach sank. There was no sign of Dean. He had left her there, and most likely on his way to whatever was next with Sam. She thought that last night had meant something, something new. Something unexpected, but amazing, nonetheless. She should’ve known this would happen. She took last night for granted and now she was paying for it.

Y/N’s head turned towards the door when she heard keys jingling in the lock. The door opened and to her surprise, Dean walked through holding a coffee holder with two coffees and a small, white paper bag. He tossed her room keys on the table and turned. He smirked when he saw that she was awake. Her hair was a mess and there were small hickeys forming on her neck; he felt a sense of pride as he remembered what occurred the night before.

“Mornin’ gorgeous” he said, walking over to her.

Y/N smiled. She doubted him when she shouldn’t have. It was better he didn’t know that; she didn’t want to hurt him by thinking ill of him for a split second.

“Morning” she sighed.

Dean sat down beside her, the coffee and bag still in hand. He placed them on the bedside table, then slowly moved in, kissing her lips softly. She smiled against his lips. She liked this new side to him.

“I got you those powdered donuts you like and coffee, hint of cream, just the way you like it” he said, when he pulled away. He handed her the cup and smiled.

“Thanks” she couldn’t wipe the giddiness from her face. This was so new, and it should’ve been weird, but all she could think about was how much she actually did care for him. He remembered how she liked her coffee from the one time she ordered in front of him, on that witch hunt. He was so freaking cute.

“So, last night was… uh, unexpected” he mumbled, trying to hide his smirk.

“Yeah, it was” she agreed. “But… god, Dean, it was amazing.”

He smirked. “Fuck yeah, it was.” He leaned in and pecked her lips. He couldn’t stop kissing her and touching her.

The room was quiet before she spoke again.

“So… what now?” she asked, looking him in the eyes. She asked the big question. Someone had to.

Dean took a deep breath, thinking it over. “I don’t know.”

She nodded but waited for him to say something else.

Dean took her coffee-free hand in his and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. He smiled softly as he looked at her. “All I know is, after last night… I don’t think I can let you go.”

She bit her lip as her heart skipped a beat at his words. “Me neither.”

Y/N leaned in and kissed him, passionately. Dean deepened the kiss, nipping slightly at her bottom lip.

She pulled away, smiling again. “Who would’ve thought all that arguing and pissing each other off would lead to this.”

“Not me” he said, shaking his head. “If the result of that is more of what happened last night, maybe we should piss each other off more often.”

“You better not, if you know what’s good for you, Winchester” she said, as she playfully glared at him.

“I solemnly swear that I’ll try not to” he chuckled.

She laughed. “That’s all I ask.”

She leaned in and kissed him. She smiled as he immediately deepened the kiss once again. Their lips moved against each other’s slowly, but she frowned as he pulled away too soon.

Dean rolled his eyes and didn’t look happy to cut things short. “I wish I could start something up again, but I gotta go. Sam called while I was on my way back here. We gotta head back to the Bunker. Something about Cas needing our help.”

“It’s okay, I understand” she smiled softly, cupping his cheek and grazing her thumb over his stubble.

He leaned into her touch before turning his head and kissing her hand. “Come to the Bunker.”

She nodded. “I will. I just have to do some things for a friend, but I can be there next week.”

“Really?” he asked, trying to not sound too hopeful. It was adorable.

“Of course. I’ve been hearing about it from Jody for so long, I can’t wait to see it myself” she replied, still stroking his cheek.

“I can’t wait to show you” he said, quietly.

She beamed as she leaned in and kissed him.

“Y/N… I really am sorry about what I said. You’re a damn good hunter and I shouldn’t have doubted you-” he started but she covered his mouth with her hand.

She shook her head as she looked into his confused eyes. “You don’t need to apologize anymore, Dean. Clean slate, okay?”

He nodded. She dropped her hand from his mouth. “Clean slate.”

They gazed at each other for a little too long, feeling the same heat from last night rise within themselves.

“You better go. Sam’s waiting for you” she said, taking a sip of her coffee.

Dean groaned. “Yeah.”

Dean reluctantly stood up from the bed and picked up his coffee. He opened the bag and took out one donut, leaving the other two for her. He took a bite and she giggled as the powder stuck to his mouth. She sat up on her knees, hugging the sheet to her body. He cupped her face and kissed her. It was soft and brief but held everything she needed to know behind it.

“You taste good” she smiled, licking her lips and tasting the powder.

He winked. “You taste better.”

She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “See you soon.”

He nodded and kissed her again, once, twice.

Dean winked at her as he walked to the door, before he was gone. She could pinch herself at how everything played out last night. She couldn’t believe it but damn it, she was excited to see what happened next for her and Dean.

Walking towards the Impala, he bit back a smirk. Sam wondered where he had been all night, but Dean didn’t say anything. He probably wouldn’t; at least not for the next hundred miles. It gave him time to think over how everything changed between him and Y/N. They went from hating each other to something much, much better.

He suddenly couldn’t wait for the next week to arrive, and neither could she. They still had a lot to talk about and work out, but one thing was for sure.

They really owed Jody big time.

Tags: @flamencodiva​ @hobby27​

[tundrainafrica]

some of the aot fans (probably just casual readers) don't see the parallels between EM and LH???? like the brunettes desire to live with their ackermans together in the woods? they call levihan shippers delusionals. their attacking levihans that they didn't read the manga well and we just want our ship to be canon??? WTH????

I keep wondering if it's just us, levihans, who see these parallels?

im sorry for this rant, it's just soooo frustrating. Basically the reason why i leave twt lol not yet, im still there bcoz of lh filo socmed aus

I have so many things I wanna say about chapter 138 and I am so sorry I only got to it now. I think most Levihan fans already said what I wanted to say but either way, I’ll just give some thoughts I entertained when these came out. 

Coz first of all… 

As a Levihan shipper, I am obviously ecstatic about this but as most people know, I come from a household where everyone is not too enthusiastic about Levihan. They are so very enthusiastic about INVALIDATING LEVIHAN in particular that my sister and my parents who don’t even watch AOT just come up to me while I’m staring at Levihan art on tumblr and go… 

“What are you doing?” 

“Staring at art.”

“Oh, is that the one couple you like who don’t even love each other or smthg.” 

Cause apparently my sisters who watch AOT and my boyfriend have been SO vocal about invalidating Levihan that even my parents now are on ship that they aren’t even a thing and I’m just delusional but yes, since I live in a house where literally ‘shipping Levihan’ is on the same level as ‘the curtains are blue so the narrator is sad’ type of interpretation, I will start by mentioning a more pragmatic argument to this whole Levihan and Eremika parallel. 

While I am one of those who can definitely see that yes those were clear parallels, there are some louder people( mostly Eruri shippers) who think that LH fandom is just grasping on straws and trying to diminish their supposedly canon ship( because EL and EM ackerbonding thing) so I was wondering what is your view on this?

So, to break down the argument...

It’s a war story blah blah blah. And besides Mikasa loved Eren from the start blah blah blah. 

I think this is an argument I see a lot. Because Yams is writing a war story and I think a lot of people are suggesting that it’s a war story here is no way anyone can be canon or anyone can have romantic relationships. 

AND I HATE THIS TAKE. Relationships are human nature. Yes, being arromantic exists but I don’t believe that in a fictional space, romance can ever NOT exist. Because most---or scratch that--- I believe all humans will search for companionship and I do not believe it is ever reaching to jump from whatever companionship exists between people and contemplate the potential of romance, except incest but that’s another story. 

Yeah because if there’s no kiss or sex then it’s not a romance apparently. 

Well guess what, we’re all reaching then, cause only Eren and Mika got the kiss. But lemme drop some social experiment I did. 

I actually showed the Eremika and Levihan ‘Let’s live together scenes’ side by side to a colleague at work who doesn’t watch AOT and she told me, WITHOUT CONTEXT, that she prefers the scene between Levihan more than Eremika and the reason behind that is because there were undertones, specifically in the Korean translation’ that Hange was tired, and there’s this apparent romantic-ness to it when you dream of something when you’re tired and when you dream of a particular someone. 

Because here’s the thing, when you love someone, when you decide to be in a  relationship with someone, that person will be your HOME. And now that I think about it, it definitely hits for me more, because when Hange was tired, when Hange was completely exhausted and spent, she dreamt of a future with Levi. 

And don’t you think that it’s more romantic that ‘despite everything, she thinks of him’ compared to ‘she constantly thinks of him?’ Because I dunno, when someone is constantly thinking of someone, there’s actually no effort really needed for the feeling to grow, but when ‘they think of someone, despite everything.’ There’s this idea that the relationship can withstand more things and that means they thought long and hard about it. 

Their life is so interesting and eventful, yet at the end of the day, there exists someone who still shines brighter than life itself and that’s why ‘Despite everything, she thinks of him’ rings brighter than ‘she constantly thinks of him’ for me at least. 

Probably a personal preference thing but either way… Just my take. 

Western people don’t consider running away ‘romantic?’ 

This is something I’ve discussed with filo moots multiple times and this is something I’ve thought about reading the Japanese and English translations, reading the Filipino Soc Med AUs and having my friend read the Korean ones.  

The Japanese and Koreans are quick to see the romantic undertones, a lot of my Filipino moots are quick to see those romantic undertones too. But we have the western fandom on Reddit going ‘Yo Erehisu foh evah’ and people saying ‘Levihan not canon they didn’t kiss.’ 

But YO both of my parents are ‘tanan’ (runaway in tagalog) babies. My mom actually ran away with a man and wasn’t allowed to talk to her dad until she graduated. My dad disobeyed his parents to marry my mom. They were setting my dad up with another woman and they were going to have a big wedding and everything but my dad was like…

NOPE Imma run away and marry this woman. 

And can I just say, my parents are the MOST unromantic people but they literally disobeyed their parents, ran away together, literally risked their relationships with their parents to make it work. 

And my parents are one of the few people in their family who are still in a happy relationship even after 25 years of marriage. 

Okay, I admit, sometimes running away is a dumb decision and shouldn’t constantly be romanticized. 

But I don’t think a lot of people understand the gravity of what ‘tanan’ entails. Legit, it was emphasized in 138 already, if Eren ran away, Paradis could have been overrun by military soon. And if Hange and Levi ran away to the woods, ‘what would there have been left for them? 

And in real life, my mom literally gave up her relationship with her dad to try to make the relationship work. My dad gave up the comforts of marrying a rich woman in a lavish wedding to marry my mom. 

They literally had a civil wedding, went out to eat Chinese noodles and China town as a post wedding meal and 25 years later, they have one of the strongest relationships I’ve ever seen. 

AND NO ONE RUNS AWAY WITH SOMEONE FOR THE LELZ. So yes, running away with someone will always be romantic for me.

And the Ackerbond?

Something I always find myself asking. Why do people want the Ackerbond to actually be a thing? Because if the Ackerbond were real, then wouldn’t that invalidate all Eruri and Eremika even more since we know they’re just trapped in the relationship like Stockholm syndrome or something? 

And besides didn’t Yams debunk that chapters ago? 

Anyway, onto the next questions

hi sav! i have a question about the recent chapter. do you think the em and lh parellels were done on purpose by isayama? 

And to answer this question… I am not so sure actually. I talked to a Japanese friend who grew up in the same prefecture as Yams, apparently it was her acquaintance from high school who married Yams and they were childhood sweethearts. 

So maybe Yams got it from them?  My memory on that convo is hazy but it’s only possible that he built Eremika from there. And Levi and Hange’s development is just incredibly different that I don’t think Yams thought that far to do it. 

My theory here is that Yams is writing a war story and he only has one way he could have ever shown romance in a war story and that’s through ‘running away’ so I believe the parallels are unintentional but I genuinely believe that this was Yam’s way of showing romantic undertones. 

And I personally do not think that Levi and Hange would have ever kissed in that time in their life, at least intentionally and I hoenstly commend Yams for doing such a good job with the subtlety of the romance because I’ve literally seen so many great characters in other stories completely butchered by a poorly done romantic subplot so I aint complaining about these romantic undertones. 

But either way,

I hang in the Japanese fandom a lot and there have been lots of fandom discussion on Levihan becoming endgame if 132 didn’t happen. And there are actually articles on this putting Levihan as endgame along with Eremika so I’m kinda suspecting that invalidating Levihan is an anime-only fan and reddit fandom type of thing.

But anyway, thank you for reading, sorry for the long rant.

[little-mad]

Downsides of Thievery Pt. 9

~ Previous Part ~ Next Part ~

After departing from the stream, it only took about fifteen minutes before Rael and his passenger reached the edge of Ostrad. The moment they broke through the treeline, Rael was greeted by the familiar sight of home.

Despite being the location in which the Emperor resided, Ostrad was not the largest city in the realm. This was due in large part to the fact that the city had originally only been built as a secondary residence for the Emperor. However, over a century ago a flood in the former Imperial Capital had forced it to be relocated to Ostrad.

That being said, looking from Gavin to the bustling city that loomed ahead of them, Ostrad looked positively massive. A slight frown tugged at the corners of Rael’s lips. The most direct route to the palace was straight through town, down the main boulevard and up to the main gates. However, going that way would require walking past a great many alteons. With so many people around, there was a high risk of accidents happening, whether intentional or not.

Having spent his youth running up and down the streets of Ostrad, Rael was quite familiar with its layout. He created a mental image of the city in his mind, mapping out the different potential routes they could take. After several moments of deliberation, he decided on a path that snaked along beside the outer wall. Such a route was more winding and less direct than going straight through the city, but it would decrease their chances of encountering other alteons significantly. After the encounter with Kaydin, Rael was simply not ready to subject Gavin to the possibility of being grabbed again.

Rael glanced down at his hands. He was surprised the human had kept quiet for so long and not interrupted Rael’s contemplation once. The reason became quite clear as he noticed Gavin staring at the nearby city with wide eyes. “Right, this is his first time seeing any kind of alteon civilization.”

Gavin’s expression was a mixture of shock, awe, and fear--which Rael supposed was a reasonable reaction. Even putting the size aside, the architecture was likely entirely foreign to the human. The structures in the human city Rael had seen had certainly seemed very different from alteon craftsmanship.

As if he could feel Rael’s gaze on him, Gavin looked up. “It’s like I got transported into a medieval movie,” he breathed in disbelief.

Rael blew out a soft sigh, the breeze ruffling Gavin’s crop of brown hair. “I don’t know what that means,” he told the human. Both the words “medieval” and “movie” were foriegn to him. He assumed they weren’t important words, considering he hadn’t learnt them during his study of human language.

“Oh right,” Gavin said with a light chuckle. “Nevermind then.” Although he appeared to be making an effort to hide it, Rael suspected the sight of the city had caused some nervousness to develop in Gavin. The little guy’s energy levels seemed slightly lower than they had earlier.

“Alright,” Rael carefully moved the hand holding Gavin up a bit so he didn’t have to tilt his head down so much to look him in the eye. “I’m going to take you around the edge of the city,” he began. “Our chances of running into anyone are low, but I’m going to keep you hidden from sight anyways.” While it wasn’t necessarily a secret that a human was being brought to the Emperor, Rael considered it safer if no one even laid eyes on Gavin until they were safely ensconced in the palace.

“I guess there’s not gonna be a parade held in my honor then,” Gavin joked, mock disappointment in his tone.

Rael shook his head. Not even the human diplomats and politicians that had visited the palace received any sort of celebratory welcome. “Consider yourself lucky you’re even getting to ride in my hands rather than the cage,” he snipped.

-

If Gavin had thought he’d been being smothered before, the situation he was in now was on a whole other level. He still sat in the center of Rael’s palm, but now his entire view of the outside world was obscured. Rael’s free hand caged Gavin in against the giant chest, leaving him in the dark except for the small slivers of light that filtered in between the massive fingers.

While Gavin was effectively trapped, he knew the action wasn’t hostile this time. In fact, it was actually meant to be for his own good. That wasn’t to say Gavin was happy with the arrangement. Despite how intimidating it had been, he had kind of wanted to take in the sights of the alteon city. Though, after the encounter with Kaydin, he could understand Rael’s reasoning for wanting to keep him hidden.

“God, I don’t think I’ve been this close to someone else in...well who knows how long,” Gavin thought to himself. He wasn’t really opposed to physical contact, in fact he had a tendency to maybe be a little bit too handsy at times. However, most of his friends and acquaintances were opposed to physical contact, and so would throw Gavin off whenever he greeted them with an overenthusiastic hug or overzealous handshake.

Now all of a sudden he was being effectively cradled by a literal giant. Gavin ran a hand down his face. How the hell had his life gotten so goddamn weird? Of course, his life was bound to be pretty unconventional as soon as he chose stealing as a career path--but come on, this was beyond bizarre.

“There’s a couple people up ahead, keep quiet,” Rael ordered in a hushed voice.

The urge to scream at the top of his lungs in order to freak out the alteons was quite strong for Gavin. He could only imagine the looks on their faces would be priceless as they tried to figure out who or what had made the noise when Rael’s mouth obviously hadn’t moved. But as funny as that would be, the risk of another Kaydin situation was too great. Not to mention the fact that he would no doubt incur Rael’s wrath. Although, that might actually be funny in its own right…

Suddenly he heard an unfamiliar woman’s voice say something that sounded kind of like a greeting.

Rael gave a perfectly polite, but perfectly simple reply. He slowed his pace ever so slightly, but never came to a stop. Gavin was just fine with that, he wasn’t really interested in having to listen in on small talk while stuck in Rael’s hands.

As they got closer and closer to the palace, the reality of Gavin’s situation was beginning to slowly set in. Surviving the journey to the palace had proven to be a challenge in and of itself, so much so that he hadn’t really stopped for long to consider what was waiting for him when he finally reached his destination. He knew his fate was entirely in the hands of this dimension’s emperor, but he hadn’t the slightest idea what kind of fate that might be. “I’m a criminal being brought in to be judged for a crime, it’s not like whatever it is is going to be good,” Gavin reminded himself solemnly.

“Do you guys have a rule against cruel and unusual punishment here?” Gavin asked Rael, his voice just loud enough to be heard by the giant.

“You’re supposed to be keeping quiet,” Rael immediately scolded, sounding more exasperated than actually angry.

“Is there anyone around right now?” Gavin inquired.

“No, but--”

“Then please just answer the question.” Gavin didn’t like the way his voice sounded, notes of anxiety and fear were obvious in it. Rael was perceptive, he would undoubtedly pick up on it, even if Gavin had spoken very quietly.

There was a long pause. Gavin began to wonder whether Rael planned to just ignore the question and remain silent, but then, “There aren’t rules for punishments, there are precedents.” Rael spoke so quietly Gavin doubted an alteon standing right beside them would be able to discern the words. “The current emperor is known for his fair but firm sentences,” Rael explained. “But you will be the first human he has ever judged, so it’s difficult to predict exactly what he might decide.”

Gavin didn’t really know what to make of that. He supposed it was good to hear that the Emperor wasn’t known for being sadistically cruel. However, the fact that Gavin would be the first human to ever be sentenced in this dimension wasn’t exactly encouraging. What if the Emperor wanted to make an example of him--to send a message to all humans that going against alteons was a horrible mistake?

“There’s no use fretting over it,” Rael whispered. Gavin knew he was right, and normally worrying about things he couldn’t control wasn’t really his style. Rolling with the punches was a part of being a good thief. But with so many unknowns in front of him, Gavin was having a hard time not letting his worst fears intrude upon his mind.

-

Honestly, Gavin’s question had thrown Rael off guard. He himself had been pondering what the future might hold for the human, but he hadn’t really stopped to think about how the weight of the unknown might be weighing on the little man himself.

At the start, the fate that might await the human criminal hadn’t mattered much to Rael. Whether Gavin was imprisoned for life, kept as the Emperor’s pet, or simply slapped on the wrist--it hadn’t mattered to him. All he’d been concerned with was delivering the human to the palace and getting the unwanted assignment over with.

Things had changed. Now Rael found himself feeling almost...nervous about what the Emperor might decide. After all, now he knew that Gavin wasn’t the one truly at fault for stealing from the diplomat. He had been nothing more than a pawn. Of course, the Emperor didn’t know that. “Should I...should I try to tell him?” he asked himself. However, he was quick to dismiss that thought. Speaking out of turn to the Emperor was a sure fire way to damage his reputation, which was something Rael simply couldn’t allow.

“I’ll just have to trust the Emperor's judgement,” Rael told himself. The ruler of the realm seemed a wise and just man. Despite being fairly young for his position, the Emperor had already made a name for himself as one of the best rulers the realm had ever seen. Surely Rael could trust him to make the right decision regarding Gavin.

It was just then that one of the servant’s entrances into the palace came into view. The door, typically used by cooks, maids, and other domestic servants, was always guarded by a single soldier. Today, the guard was familiar to Rael, but he didn’t know the woman well enough to know her name.

“Returning from an assignment?” the guard asked, apparently recognizing him as a member of the Imperial Guard despite his lack of uniform. She seemed confused as to why Rael would use this entrance rather than one of the ones specified for the Imperial Guard, but it didn’t appear as though she was going to press for information.

Rael nodded. “Yes, that is correct,” he replied. All of the palace guards were aware a human would be arriving soon, but this woman clearly didn’t realize that she was speaking to the one who had been tasked with retrieving said human.

“Welcome back then, head on in,” she said with a polite smile. Rael was thankful she didn’t ask about the specifics of his assignment, he really wasn’t in the mood to explain it all to her, nor was he eager to show Gavin to her. Despite now being at the palace, Rael, for whatever reason, preferred to keep Gavin hidden as long as possible.

[unmaskedagain]

No, Bruce! You can’t Adopt her.

This isn’t salt, Cupcake. But I’m going to do a quick drabble of this anyway because it’s an awesome idea.

The suit was a deep dark red. Darker than it used to be from what they had seen saw from the previous news reports reviewed. Her mask was black. Her eyes a startling blue and her hair a shade just touch short of being as dark as night. The girl looked to be no older than thirteen or fourteen.

Somehow she had shown up on the scene just before any of the batfamily could and immediately solve the riddles, freed the innocent civilization, dismantle the bomb with rubber duck and a hair pin, dodged the trap, and was now fighting off the Riddler and his men.

And as they watched her kick the Riddler in the face and then yo-yo away, only to spin around and do it a second time, all the batkids knew they’d have to step in.

“You can’t adopt her, B-Man,” The Redhood pinched his nose.

           Robin opened to his mouth his defend his father but quickly shut it. His four adopted brothers, an adopted sister, one sort of adopted “cousin”, and the hardcore way his father had been pushing Luke spend more and more time at the manner to the point where Lucius Fox had taken to glaring at the Dark Knight.

“…She needs a mentor,” Came Batman’s gruff response.

“You need a therapist.”

           They winced when Ladybug broke the arm of a 300 pound bodybuilder and slam him on the ground.

           Nightwing gave his dad a grin, “I’d love a new sister, OUCH!” His hand went his thigh and saw blood. He glared at Robin. “Did you stab me?”

           Robin slowly sheathed his sword. “…No.”

“Let go!” Riddler screamed as he clawed at the floor as the red menace dragged across the floor by his legs.

“Stop squirming!” Marinette barked. “You’re going to jail!”

           Somehow the Riddler managed to free himself. Then it was Ladybug chasing the Riddler around the tower.

“Come back here, you fashion disaster.”

           The caused the Riddler to pause and give the hero the most hurt look anyone of the batfamily had ever seen on him.

“Black Bat would love a sister.”

“Leave me out of this,” Cassandra’s voice rang in their ears. She was patrolling with Batwoman across the city.

           The fight ending with The Riddler hogtied, and dangling from the ceiling, while Ladybug chastised him on the rudeness of strapping people to bombs.

           Batman smirked.

“No!” Red Robin decided to step in, “She probably has parents. You can keep doing this B.”

“And another thing,” Ladybug hissed. “I’ve seen Disney villains with more style than you; you walking neon glowstick.”

           That was when Batman decided to step in. The Riddler visibly brightened at seeing him, “Bats, I don’t like this Robin. She’s mean. Bring back the boy Robin”

“That one lit you on fire.”

“…She made me cry.”

           Ladybug glared at the bad guy.

           Oh yes that was it, Batman was going to adopt Ladybug.

           Bruce Wayne was going to adopt Marinette Dupain-Cheng. The girl and the rest of her class had taken the Wayne internship program that lasted a little more than a month a half during summer.

           Marinette was the star. Unlike the other interns, Marinette was never late. She never complained. If someone needed research done, she was the first to volunteer and was exceptional at it. Tamara, Tim’s assistant, swore by her. The girl took to assisting the assistant to the CEO like fish to water. When they need a big name to perform at the Waynes’ annual charity Gala, after theirs backed out on short notice, Marinette had saved the day.

           She didn’t interrupt. She had merely leaned down and whispered in Tamara’s here, who then addressed the rest of the room.

“My assistant Marinette,” Tamara nodded with a relieved smile at the young girl. “Would like us to direct our attention to the front screen.”

           They all did. A few months later, the screen split and Clara Nightingale was on the screen, looking as glamourous as ever.

“Marinette,” She beamed. “Love, you are as gorgeous as ever. Now what’s this about a party in Gotham?”

           Before she could answered, there was a beep on the screen as another call came in. Marinette scrambled to disconnect it, “One moment. Sorry.” Tamara got up to help, only for the call to connect anyway.

           That was when Jagged Stone appeared on the screen, “Marinette, how’s it rocking? And Clara, I didn’t know you were on the line too. Penny!” He yelled. “I’ve facetiming Marinette and Clara. How you doing, loves?”

“Jagged,” Clara beamed. “I’m great. Xy’s been bugging me to lay vocals on his new tracks. I’ve heard better from my nephew’s garage band; and his nine.”

           Jagged winced. “That’ll tank a career. Dude’s a sound biter.” He turned his attention back to his favorite bluenette. “Marinette, what’s up? What’s with the stiff in suits?”

           Marinette blushed, “I’m Gotham working as intern for Wayne Industries.” Marinette said. “We’re in a meeting.” The young girl smiled prettily. “This is my amazing boss, Tamara!” She introduced the older black woman, standing between her and Tim. “And we could use some help with a Wayne charity event, on the 19th of this month.”

“I’m there!” Jagged grinned. “Hey! Penny, we’re going to Gotham. Marinette invited us to a party. We’re rocking out!”

“I’d love to come,” The brown-haired superstar clapped her hands. “I have been to Gotham yet. It will be an experience. I can write a song about Batman!”

“Well, we only need one of-” Marinette started but stopped herself as someone, Tim, jabbed her in the side. The only give away that something had happened was the slight widening of her eyes and then cough from Tim, when Marinette stomped on his foot. “Maybe, you guys can perform together.”

“YES!” Clara screamed excitedly. “A duet. A clash of natures.”

“Rock and Pop,” Jagged grinned his approval.

“The fans will love it,” The singer looked at Marinette. “Send us the deets. Jagged, I’ll call you in five to start composing our song.”

“Rock it out, talk later Marinette!”

           Then the calls disconnected.

“Clara Nightingale and Jagged Stone,” Bruce leaned back in his seat. “Well done, Marinette.”

           The Asian girl nodded, “Thank you, sir.” After the meeting let out, Tim, Bruce, Tamara, and Marinette remained behind as they finalized the information to send to the singers.

Bruce noticed Marinette give Tim a dark look, and then were was a huff and Tim winced in pain.

“Stopping fight with your brother,” Slipped from the billionaire’s mouth before he could stop it.

           The room froze. Tim’s face morphed from shock to understanding to an incredulous expression, “No. I’m telling, Alfred.”

           Bruce crossed his arms and pouted. Pouted. Marinette make an excellent additional the family.

           Her and Ladybug.

           He wondered how well the two would get along. If only he could get the two in a room together.

           Meanwhile…

           Lila had been feeding the class lies about her time in Gotham and living with the Wayne family. Alya believed every word, and had requested an interview with Lila’s Dami-bear.

Somehow she’d gotten stuck working in the mail room with Alya and Kim; neither were happy. She didn’t even know where Marinette ended up so she could spin a tail about the other girl threatening her to switch assignments.

           The only bright spot was the Damian Wayne frequently visited Wayne tower to learn about how the business works. However, whenever she tried to get close to him, he’d give her a look of disdain.

           That didn’t bother Lila though. As soon as he got to know her, or rather the her she’d tell him she was, Damian would fall head over heels.

           However, as the weeks went on in Gotham, she found all her plans to get close to the Wayne heir failed. She even tried visiting his home, feigning being lost, only for the Butler to send her packing. Lila didn’t even get a chance to look inside.

           When she learned about the gala, she upped her game. She found herself just “happening by” whenever Damian just happened to be walking by. One time, Lila even pretended to trip and hurt herself; only for Kim to “rescue” her and Damian to walk on by like she didn’t even exist.

           On the night of the gala, she sat in her hotel room with her adoring classmates, watching it on TV, “I’d have gone of course but Dami-bear didn’t want me to get attention from any Gotham villains.”

           Alya nodded sympathetically.

           Lila opened her mouth to regale another tale about her and Damian love affairs when Sabrina cut her off, “Hey, that’s Marinette!”

           And sure enough, the girl they had all froze out and declared their ex-friend was on screen walking with Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, a beautiful black woman, Damian Wayne, and Tim Drake. Marinette wore a stunning sliver dress that made eyes stand out even more.

“Who are you wearing, Clara!” A paparazzi called.

“MDC,” The superstar answered and placed a hand on Marinette’s shoulder. “This designer here. Marinette Dupain-Cheng; she designed all of our looks tonight; including her own. Doesn’t she look wonderful?”

           More questions were thrown out.

“Jagged, why a crocodile? Why not a dog or a cat.”

“Damian, who are you dating?”

“Why is MDC with you, Tim?”

           Jagged answered first, “Well I wanted a dog. But I’m deathly allergic to fur. Found out when I was a kid. Can’t get near it. Dogs are cool but cats aren’t rock and roll enough for me.”

“I am dating no one,” Damian answered. “Any rumors that say otherwise are lies. Anyone that says otherwise is lying, and should keep in mind I will sue for defamation of character.”  

           Tim grinned at the crowd, “Marinette is Tamara’s intern. She helped organize this wonderful event. She did such an amazing job as an intern that I’ve had to stop my dad from trying to adopt her.” There were laughs from the crowed.

           Damian snorted as they walked inside, “He is not joking.” He was the one who found the adoption papers.

[dahlia-coccinea]

A few thoughts on Rachel Ablow’s essay: she perfectly frames that while Cathy does have sway over others, she lacks a true autonomous power within society, outside of her ability to make a socially advantageous marriage. She doesn’t have the opportunity Heathcliff has to go and make her fortune, nor can she inherit and be given political power like Edgar. She can only peripherally have this power through her marriage and to what the time period termed “female influence”. To contextualize “female influence,” it’s the idea that women held such influence on men that it was equivalent to actual civil rights (???). Ablow quotes author Thomas Henry Lister (1800-1842) who was against female liberation and said of “female influence”, "the question is not whether direct influence shall be substituted for the indirect, but whether it shall be superadded.” This is something I’ve seen in other writings around this time period (and unfortunately I’ve heard echoed to this day). 

So, Ablow makes clear how Catherine is excluded from true authority and political clout of any kind - and yet sides with the “Cathy only loves those who obey her” narrative, saying:

"Catherine has no real power, after all; what she saw as power, her supposed slaves appear to have seen as nothing more than requests they might or might not choose to fulfill. And at the moment when Catherine recognizes this fact, she is forced, too, to recognize her insanity.”

(Side note: calling Heathcliff and Edgar her “slaves” bothers the heck out me). She expands on this later saying:

"Catherine's madness thus reveals the double bind the married woman faces, having to choose between being delusional (believing she has power when she does not) or being insane (experiencing and recognizing the truth of her subjection).

Therefore it is not: “...the product of her recognition of her mistake in marrying Edgar (Raymond Williams), her inability to separate herself from Heathcliff (Philip Wion), her attempts to starve herself to heath (Susan Gorsky, Michelle Masse), or her dread of the coming birth of her child (Margaret Homans).”

I can’t agree with this because Catherine’s lack of power is something she recognizes and Abow’s argument paints her unnecessarily as a narcissist like so many others do...Literally, sentences ago Ablow points out how Catherine is aware of her position and that is what makes her marriage to Edgar inevitable in her mind. Yes, she declares: “I have such faith in Linton’s love, that I believe I might kill him, and he wouldn’t wish to retaliate.” But that doesn’t negate her understanding that she toes the line with welcoming Heathcliff (and simply hurting Edgar unfairly) when Nelly says she “deemed it judicious to moderate her expressions of pleasure in receiving him.” 

Ablow also picks the quotation of Cathy speaking to Isabella about her relationship with Heathcliff: “I never say to him, 'Let this or that enemy alone, because it would be ungenerous or cruel to harm them;' I say, 'Let them alone, because I should hate them to be wronged,” to say that shows her faith in her ability to command those around her - but ignores the later on in that same conversation: “I’m his friend—so much so, that had he thought seriously to catch you, I should, perhaps, have held my tongue, and let you fall into his trap.” Catherine’s relationship is not so one-sided. I don’t see why we should doubt her words here as she does care for Isabella and Isabella does (except for during her obsession with Heathcliff) love Catherine. 

Also, this shifts any blame from the other characters onto Catherine for no reason. Edgar IS wrong for blaming Isabella’s immature actions on Catherine. Heathcliff IS wrong to pursue Isabella with the intent to hurt her and Edgar. Isabella IS wrong to fetishize Heathcliff and be uncivil towards Catherine.

I would say that her ensuing madness is (among other things) brought about by Edgar casting Heathcliff out. That is at least the catalyst. I believe it is twice she mentions the desire to break both of their hearts - right after the argument she says “I’ll try to break their hearts by breaking my own.” and then again on her deathbed to Heathcliff she references this saying: “You and Edgar have broken my heart, Heathcliff!” But her focus is definitely on revenge against Edgar. She repeatedly states sentiments like: “If I were only sure it would kill him,” she interrupted, “I’d kill myself directly.” and she does reject him (although he seems to ignore it and just blame it on her mental instability) when she says: “What you touch at present you may have; but my soul will be on that hill top before you lay hands on me again. I don’t want you, Edgar: I’m past wanting you.” This is a stark contrast from her feeling towards Heathcliff, who even though he disobeyed her she says: “But, Heathcliff, if I dare you now, will you venture? If you do, I’ll keep you. I’ll not lie there by myself: they may bury me twelve feet deep, and throw the church down over me, but I won’t rest till you are with me. I never will!” Her acceptance of him even after he is a “brute” towards her is another bit of evidence that her love isn’t based solely on obedience...

[melanoradrood]

since you’ve fallen down the simon/daphne hole, can you do a drabble of their first meeting from simon’s pov? thank you! x

So because this is not really for my Prompt-A-Thon thing, I was going to put it on the back burner, but then I finished writing what was in my inbox, so I decided to go rewatch the first meeting scene, and then I watched the whole first episode again, because... because.

Also, I would not call it falling down into a hole... I would say more like there was this giant ocean and I thought it was a puddle and now I’m drowning in it send help and a support group.

Anyways.

Here’s the first meeting from Simon POV 

NOW ALSO ON AO3

He would stay for once dance, which he would not partake in, one drink, which he would sip at politefully, and one conversation, which would be with absolutely no mothers. And then, he would give his Godmother, the rather terrifying Lady Danbery, a nod. And with that, he would disappear.

Just as he wished he could now, standing within the doorway and taking in the ball. He had always avoided such events, avoided the city as a whole during the Season, except his father had only just passed, and he was now required to attend to the duties that had fallen upon him. He could have pushed off all meetings with lawyers and bankers and even the Queen for a few months by citing that he was in mourning, however much that was a lie, but not for the entirety of the season.

Better to get this over with here and now before retreating to the country house, or anywhere else where there would be no mothers, wishing to make their daughters a Duchess.

Fortune was on his side at the fact that he had simply never attended a season before. He had never been introduced to society. He had never been to any balls. He had not been raised at his father’s side. While, yes, a number of gentlemen might recognize him from his school days, they were not trying to wed off their daughters. No, that would fall to their fathers. All of his schoolmates were likely in bars and brothels and clubs, which is exactly where he was going after this little endeavor had ended.

In and out. Lady Danberry could not say she had not seen him, however much the woman frightened him. He would even go so far as to greet her, if there were no older women around her. And then, he should disappear.

Except, that was not what was happening, because before he could even find a drink, before the next dance had even begun upon which he could set his own mental timer, he was being accosted by a mother and her daughters. And then, as soon as the words Your Grace had passed her lips, another mother and daughter were upon him, until he was surrounded by them.

His father choosing to die only weeks before the start of the Season was surely one last Fuck You.

With a round of apologies, he pulled himself away, citing that he was being called by his Godmother and simply must attend to her. That, of course, was met with a round of sighs at how gentlemanly he was, a truly good man in the heart of London. Honestly, it was the first excuse he could come up with, except now, he was forced to look for the old bat. 

He thought he saw her cane, every present at her side, when he felt something rush into him, like a horse, or a demon. Jostled, he looked down to see it was instead a small girl, and was she even old enough to be out for her first Season?

He tried to not snap at her, tried to not insist she remove herself from his presence, except she was already apologizing, and how could he be rude to her when she was being polite. He bit his tongue instead, and gave her a slight nod. “Forgive me.”

Ah yes, now where had that woman gone - the group which she had been part of before had now dispersed, and-

“Tell me your name.”

It was the little girl again, and he raised his brow as he took her in, at how impertinent she was. As if she did not already know - the whole ton was already speaking his name, his rank, his holdings, likely even how many pounds a year he had come in. Still, he had to admit, it was a good enough attempt at getting him to speak to her, when he had no intention of doing so.

“Am I honestly to believe you do not already know my name?” he asked, no longer amused with her as she had just repeated her question. Perhaps not a little girl - perhaps a spinster he had misjudged, desperate to be wed off before her younger sisters were... or perhaps she was the younger sister, wanting to make a better match than the elder had made.

And now, the idiot girl was laughing, as though he had said something funny. And she had thought this might get his attention? False laughter? He should not have attended. He had no patience for such pathetic attempts at seducing him into a dance.

“If you desired an introduction, madam, I do believe accosting me to be the least civilized of ways,” he said with a sniff, no longer interested in entertaining whatever was occurring here. He needed an escape, some sort of way to get away from this child. “Truly, they will try anything.”

“Sir, that is not…” She seemed flustered for words, a clear sign that he was correct. She had known who he was, then, and had come seeking out his fortunes. Anything would be preferable to this. She would even be the sort of girl to chase him into the gardens, wanting to be caught alone with him. Well, he would certainly be avoiding all gardens for the near future. “What is your name?”

He heard it then, his last name, at least, called out from across the room - but thankfully, it was his savior, his hero, one of his oldest friends. Thank goodness. This one, as well, was without a wife, which meant he might foist the girl onto him instead.

“Bridgerton,” he called out, trying to dismiss the girl as he cut her off.

“Come here, old friend,” his school mate said, the two of them grasping hands. “I heard news of your father. Deuce take it, you are no longer Basset.”

Simon smiled a little to himself, trying to hide his inner rage. In truth, he hated what he was about to be called - it was his father’s title. If he were allowed, he would destroy the title itself, and the house with it. He did not want to be called such, and would not allow one of his few friends in the world to do so. “I shall…”

“Hastings! The Duke of Hastings, now known forevermore,” Bridgerton finished.

Simon could feel his words choked in his throat, and it was his worst fear, another of the reasons he avoided society. To stumble over his words now would be… everything his father had feared. It would make the old man right in his assessment, that Simon was… broken.

“The Duke of Hastings, is it?” he heard from the girl, who he had quite forgotten was there. 

She looked amused, now, although he did not know why. In fact, the amusement, it was a better look on her than the one he had seen earlier, the way she had tried to trick him, as though… well, she seemed surprised by his name now. She was a better actress, suddenly.

“Right, Hastings, this is my sister.”

Sister. Sister.

Everything in his mind came whirling to a stop in his brain, every other thought about avoiding mothers and little girls and their pretending to not know who he was, or pretending to know exactly who he was, it all just disappeared, as he quickly repeated what Bridgerton had just said.

“Daphne, Hastings and I know each other from our days at Oxford, days we shall not soon forget.”

He was looking at her in a new light, now. There was certainly no way that her brother would ever allow her around him. Perhaps, he had read the situation wrong to begin with. She had been looking over her shoulder, as though afraid or nervous - had she truly not known who he was? Was it all a chance encounter?

“Yes. As I am well aware of the company you keep, brother, I am certain your days with His Grace were most civilized indeed, the girl, Daphne, Miss Bridgerton was saying.

Simon had tried to fake a smile at Bridgerton’s mention of their school days, but now, as he watched her speak of the company her brother kept, he could not help it - he suddenly found himself amused, in awe, in… well, he felt something. Perhaps it was even wonder, at the way that she quickly had a retort for her brother, insulting them both while making it sound as though it were a compliment.

She had no interest in marrying him, of that he could be certain. At least, not at this very moment.

And that suddenly made her intriguing. The look she gave him, he might even call it loathing, certainly judgemental. She had no interest in being his Duchess. Well then, the little girl was suddenly very interesting to him, and he had no idea what to do with that.

Bridgerton mentioned the club, which Simon had already planned on attending, but he needed to step away - he had already been here for far too long, had had a conversation, and now, he needed to kiss his Lady Godmother goodnight, and disappear with it.

Before he was trapped in another conversation.

“Indeed. Evening, Bridgerton.” He stopped, turning his attention to her fully, committing the look of her to memory. She had looked too young to him at first glance, but now that he was looking at her, she looked to be most lovely indeed. Bridgerton had mentioned his sister a few times, how she was the Diamond of the family… Far too pure for Simon to ever look at again, but she was indeed quite lovely. “Miss Bridgerton.”

The girl gave him a nod, then took her brother’s arm as they walked away. He could not help himself, then, could not stop himself as he turned in place, watching the pair walk away.

The girl, Daphne… very lovely. Her eyes, they spoke to him in some way, her features that he once thought too young were now something he could politely call dainty, and the way her eyes had thinned at him, upon realization as to who he was to her brother…

She looked back over her shoulder to him, and then her eyes lowered, as though scanning his form. He did not look away, simply held his place, watching her walk away.

Lovely. Very lovely indeed.

Away. He needed to be away from this place. A girl like Daphne Bridgerton was certainly not one that would arrive at the club, and most certainly would not warm his bed, which meant that she was of no consequence to him.

Ah, there she was - it was time to bid his guest good night, before he got into any more trouble.

Or did something foolish, like ask a lovely girl to dance.