#FORTY FOUR SAVES ON FORTY SEVEN SHOTS

[wehaveagathering]

red wings you fucking failed him

[bellaxgiornata]

List of Installments for Falling For the Devil

Warnings/tags: 18+; series contains lots of smut, fluff, angst, humor

Summary: This is a very long series/collection of one-shots about a nervous/awkward journalist Reader meeting, falling for, and dating Matt Murdock. Meant to feel like a realistic look into dating Matthew Murdock and all the sweet, vulnerable, sexy, and dark sides that come with him. Reader also gradually gains more confidence in and out of the bedroom as the relationship progresses.

List of Installments

Part One: "The Night You Met"

Part Two: "The One-Sided Pining"

Part Three: "The Time Daredevil Saved You"

Part Four: "The Night You Almost Kissed"

Part Five: "The Wedding Day"

Part Six: "The Wedding Night"

Part Seven: "The Post-Wedding Brunch"

Part Eight: "The First Date"

Part Nine: "The Pool Game"

Part Ten: "The Growing Insecurity"

Part Eleven: "The Night Together"

Part Twelve: "The Week You Tried to Avoid Matt"

Part Thirteen: "The First Time He Walked You Home"

Part Fourteen: "The Time Matt Got Jealous"

Part Fifteen: "The Vulnerable Side of Matt"

Part Sixteen: "The Time You Saved Daredevil"

Part Seventeen: "The Revelation in the Rain"

Part Eighteen: "The Visit to Fogwell's"

Part Nineteen: "The Time You Almost Told Him"

Part Twenty: "The 'I Told You So'"

Part Twenty-One: "The Time You Did Tell Him"

Part Twenty-Two: "The Night You Couldn't Sleep"

Part Twenty-Three: "The Day of Phone Tag"

Part Twenty-Four: "The Devil and the Baker"

Part Twenty-Five: "The Leather Couch"

Part Twenty-Six: "The Big Win"

Part Twenty-Seven: "The Grocery Run"

Part Twenty-Eight: "The Early Morning Wake Up"

Part Twenty-Nine: "The Questions Over Coffee"

Part Thirty: "The Introduction at Clinton Church"

Part Thirty-One: "The Flight to Chicago"

Part Thirty-Two: "The Night He Couldn't Sleep"

Part Thirty-Three: "The Thanksgiving Dinner"

Part Thirty-Four: "The Ex Encounter"

Part Thirty-Five: "The Very Bad Day"

Part Thirty-Six: "The Cozy Night In"

Part Thirty-Seven: "The Bad Dream"

Part Thirty-Eight: "The Black Suit"

Part Thirty-Nine: "The Secret Santa"

Party Forty: "The Secrets in Your Suitcase"

Party Forty-One: "The First Half of the Trip"

Part Forty-Two: "The Argument in the Hotel Room"

Part Forty-Three: "The End of the Trip"

Part Forty-Four: "The Christmas Eve Party"

Party Forty-Five: "The Christmas Dinner"

Part Forty-Six: "The Night of Christmas"

Part Forty-Seven: "The Devil in Need"

Part Forty-Eight: "The Perfume"

Part Forty-Nine: "The Cemetery Visit"

Part Fifty: "The Interview"

Part Fifty-One: "The Devil's Wrath"

Part Fifty-Two: "The Breaking Point"

Party Fifty-Three: "The Downward Spiral"

Part Fifty-Four: "The Impossible Friendship"

Part Fifty-Five: "The Disheartening Valentine's Day"

Part Fifty-Six: "The Nightmare"

Part Fifty-Seven: "The Rough Conversation"

Part Fifty-Eight: "The Aftermath"

Part Fifty-Nine: "The Necessary Conversation"

Part Sixty: "The Long Awaited Kiss"

Part Sixty-One: "The Things You Didn't Know"

Part Sixty-Two: "The Pinky Promise"

Part Sixty-Three: "The Dinner Party"

Part Sixty-Four: "The Lesson at Fogwell's"

Part Sixty-Five: "The Shower"

Part Sixty-Six: "The Night Out"

Part Sixty-Seven: "The Morning in Bed"

Part Sixty-Eight: "The Sleepover"

Part Sixty-Nine: "The Lunch Date Delay"

Part Seventy: "The Thoughts About the Future"

Part Seventy-One: "The Sleepwalking"

Part Seventy-Two: "The Belated Valentine's"

Part Seventy-Three: "The Easter Sunday"

Part Seventy-Four: "The Boy's Night at Josie's"

Part Seventy-Five: "The Hangover"

Part Seventy-Six: "The Request"

Party Seventy-Seven: "The Very Frustrating Day"

Part Seventy-Eight: "The Night You Cooked Together"

Part Seventy-Nine: "The Hell Day"

Part Eighty: "The Revisitation of Moving In"

Part Eighty-One: "The Nighttime Visit"

Party Eighty-Two: "The Overload"

Part Eighty-Three: "The Really Bad Idea"

Part Eighty-Four: "The Late Night Snack Hunt"

Part Eighty-Five: "The Romantic Voicemails"

Part Eighty-Six: "The Moving Day"

Part Eighty-Seven: "The Week of Distractions"

Part Eighty-Eight: "The Birthday Brunch"

Part Eighty-Nine: "The Stray"

Part Ninety: "The Ring"

Part Ninety-One: "The Helping Hand"

Part Ninety-Two: "The Recurring Nightmare"

Part Ninety-Three: "The Unexpected Introduction"

Part Ninety-Four: "The Offer"

Part Ninety-Five: "The Evening of Insecurity"

Part Ninety-Six: "The Quiet Morning at Home"

Part Ninety-Seven: "The Rooftop" {Coming Soon}

[wileys-russo]

childhood sweethearts (12) II a.russo x reader

playlist one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven

childhood sweethearts (12) II a.russo x reader

"took your time!" you stepped aside as the two taller boys pushed inside making you roll your eyes. "please, come in!" you gestured sarcastically, slamming the door shut behind you. "get off russo." you huffed, smacking away gio's hand as he ruffled the hair you'd just finished doing.

"that was not an hour. that was forty minutes you're lucky i'm ready!" you warned them both, kicking harry's feet off your coffee table with a glare. "forty minutes is an hour in guy time, you'll learn." your brother dismissed with a wave.

"nice place shortstack, teachers salaries must be better than i thought." gio whistled as he wandered around your living room. "not really." you chuckled honestly with a shrug. "she's just good at saving money, squirrels it all away like a little mouse." your brother teased pulling a face.

"i had to! you and lil were always stealing it from me." you shot him a filthy glare as he held his hands up. "you have no evidence of that." he grinned with a wink. "hang on. you're not wearing that are you?" gio narrowed his eyes and pointed at you accusingly.

"yeah. why? whats wrong with it?" you frowned, playing with the hem of your jumper. "it's sky blue!" gio groaned without explaining as your frown deepened. "oh he knows the color wheel! good job buddy." you mocked sarcastically with a clap.

"manchester city are sky blue you idiot. we support arsenal, go find something red!" harry chimed in pointing away as you scoffed. "sorry i didn't know there was a dress code for a football game." you rolled your eyes.

"no it's fine we'll just get you a jersey from the armory. go find a hoodie or something, but not blue!" gio dismissed, shooing you off toward your room. "all this over a stupid fucking football match." you mumbled to yourself as you left, both boys yelling at you for the comment.

"can we go now?" you sighed, gesturing to yourself as the boys nodded, dressed in distressed blue jeans, a black hoodie and a black puffer vest on over the top, harry hauling himself to his feet.

"yes we can now you no longer support the enemy. so are you still allergic to football or have you actually grown up?" gio threw his arm over your shoulder guiding you away as you grabbed your keys, leaving the lights on and locking up.

"oh she's still deathly allergic, pretty sure she thinks the ball is a square." harry grinned as you flipped him off and buckled up, gio immediately beginning a rambling recount of all of the rules and history as harry started the car and you sat in the back with a sigh.

you contemplated texting alessia to let her know you were coming but the first moment your fingers touched the device to pull it from your pocket it was snatched from your hand.

"you're a teacher shortstack you should know better than to have a phone out in class, football school is in session and there will be a test." gio grinned wolfishly dropping your phone into the front console and ignoring your protests to have it back.

the three of you split up as you arrived to the emirates and your eyes almost bugged out of your head at the amount of people wandering around. "they're all here for the match?" you asked in disbelief, harry disappearing to get some food as gio dragged you off to get a jersey, again ignoring your protests.

"yeah! you've clearly been living under a rock if you don't know how big womens football is." the boy chuckled with a shake of his head, the two of you waiting in line. "didn't you literally go to the world cup? and you still can't believe how many people are here?" he laughed as you looked around in awe.

"in my defense the last match of alessia's i attended that wasn’t a world cup semi had about fifty people watching!" you frowned, only making him laugh harder, patting you on the back and shaking his head. "well, times have changed kid." he grinned, again ruffling your hair as you shoved him away and you moved closer in line.

"so. you and my little sister, worked things out then?" gio asked, leaning in to practically whisper at you as you frowned, unsure what he was asking. "please. don't play dumb with me i know you far too well to be fooled by that!" the boy warned with an amused smile as your eyes widened.

"she told you that we..." "yeah. i went to visit her at college a couple of months after she moved, she got quite drunk and babbled everything." gio smiled somewhat sympathetically.

"everything?" "yeah, everything. i had your back though she should have told you her plans and i made sure to let her know how stupid she was to mess everything up." gio shrugged.

"christ did both of our families know?" you huffed with a scowl, forever under the impression your relationship with the striker had been a well kept secret, though as time passed it seemed more and more people had been clued in than you thought.

"not the parents. dunno how they didn't catch on given you and less were hardly subtle, luca and i had our suspicions long before less told me i can promise you that." gio chuckled with a wink making your face heat up as you arrived to the front of the line.

"we're just friends though." you quietly answered his previous question as he gave you a look and nodded, turning toward the cashier with a dazzling smile.

"could i please get a red gunners beanie and a russo home jersey in a size..." he glanced to you clearly waiting an answer as you shrugged cluelessly, never having bought a jersey before. "large." he answered for you and rolled his eyes at how you looked like a fish out of water.

"better too big than too small." he shrugged, pushing you away with a firm shake of his head as you tried to pay, tapping his phone and grabbing the bag with an appreciative smile. "gio!" you hissed with a scowl, punching his arm as he whined and rubbed it.

"a thank you would have sufficed!" he mocked, waving at harry who was wandering about with a confused look a hundred or so metres away.

"put it on we haven't got all day." gio waved impatiently as he handed you the bag and you sighed, stripping off your puffer vest and pulling the jersey on over your hoodie, shrugging the vest back on.

"perfect! now you at least look the part even if you're still as clueless about football as a newborn baby." the boy grinned, yanking the beanie down on top of your head and spinning you around. "i have not missed you." you grumbled as he smacked away your hand from pulling off the beanie.

"aw my little sister in law i love you too." he pinched your cheeks as the two of you caught up to harry, your face going almost as red as your beanie as you were squished between both boys. "did you not get me anything?" you poked your brother accusingly as he handed gio some food but not you.

"you didn't ask for any!" he defended as you all squished into an elevator. "you didn't ask me if i wanted any." you rolled your eyes at his thought process, tuned out by the rumble in the elevator.

"they sometimes have food in the box." gio shrugged as your head whipped toward him and the doors opened, the boy gesturing for you to step out. "the box?" you questioned with a suspicious frown.

"friends and family box." harry answered with a grin, the pair of you following after gio. "he comes with me and luca sometimes." gio answered with a chuckle before you could even ask.

"most of the time mum and dad or some of the extended family come too but they've got some swanky lunch they can't get out of." he shrugged, handing you and harry a lanyard as you only nodded, at a loss for words.

having gotten over your initial shock and now settled in your seats waiting for the match to begin you nodded as both harry and gio seated either side of you attempted to debrief you on everything they felt you needed to know for the game.

you of course were still clueless, focused more on trying to spot alessia as they lined up for the team photos, noting her right away as you hummed, gio and harry sharing a look over your head and rolling their eyes.

it wasn't until half time when you felt like you could finally exhale, a familiar but unwelcome sensation settling in your stomach, worry.

this match had been particularly aggressive, yellow cards hardly in short stock as you winced every time alessia's body went tumbling down onto the pitch, just like you used to all those years ago when you watched her you still worried.

you accepted the drink from gio as he returned with a grateful smile, the older boy just chuckling at the blatant worry in your eyes. "she's fine! she's a big girl she can take a tackle or too, and dish them out." he assured you as you nodded, falling into conversation with harry about lily's upcoming baby shower.

your panic came in a different form the second half, the score locked 1-1 with only injury time remaining you bounced your knee anxiously amusing both boys either side of you who hadn't hesitated to tease you all match about it.

you held your breath as again alessia went down, this time not getting back up as a few of her team mates waved for the medics and she slowly sat up, your grip on your cup tightening.

"hey, she's okay." your brother noticed your discomfort and squeezed your knee, draping his free arm over your shoulder.

"this is sort of insane." you breathed out, having been taken aback all match by the chants and passion of the spectators filling out the stadium, all 59,000+ of them which sent your brain spinning. "yeah next match we'll teach you some chants!" gio grinned, nudging you with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

"or at least alessia's. she'll be horribly offended if you don't know her chant at least!" harry chipped in, both boys clearly doing their best to distract you as alessia was looked over by the medics.

you exhaled as finally she got back to her feet rewarded with a thundering cheer from the supporters, a free kick given for the poor tackle as the stadium exploded in support.

"speaking of!" harry laughed as alessia's name echoed around the pitch. you shook your head with a smile of utter disbelief, you knew she was clearly famous you weren't that naive, but seeing how many people were yelling her name with a clap had your heart bursting with pride.

"so less doesn't have to take the kick right, and they can get their players in front of the ball?" you questioned for clarification as harry nodded, explaining roughly how it would work and what arsenal would try to do to force man city to concede.

you held your breath as two of the arsenal girls lined up for the kick, watching as alessia was shoved and pushed around, repeatedly yanking away hands and arms which jostled and poked at her.

you watched frozen to your seat as the kick was sent in, a mad panic exploding in the box as a flurry and fight of heads, limbs and feet flailed around to try and make contact.

then finally there was a swish as the ball hammered the back of the net, the whistle blew and the stadium exploded.

"oh my god!" your eyes almost bugged at of your head as alessia sprinted away from the goal with her hands in the air, tackled to the ground by her team as you jumped up to your feet alongside nearly every single person in the stadium, cheering loud and proud for the blonde.

"she's still got it." you grinned at gio who laughed and nodded, shoving your head playfully as alessia was announced as the goal scorer and the crowd went mental at a replay of her goal.

"now they just need to park the bus for six minutes." harry whistled, turning and explaining to you right away what he meant before you even had to ask, the three of you settling back into your seats.

you weren't sure quite how but you were near certain you didn't breath for those next six minutes, your eyes widening in shock as with three to go alessia was shown a yellow card and walked off with a roll of her eyes.

"told you she gives as good as she gets sometimes short stack!" gio beamed, full of pride only making you chuckle quietly. "you'd know, she used to beat you up!" you teased the boy who shushed you and pulled the beanie down over your eyes.

you finally let out a deep exhale as the full time whistle sounded, the crowd erupting into cheers of victory as you watched alessia do her laps of the pitch clapping the fans.

"she'll be a fair while, she'll sign some stuff and go shower then come up." gio explained as you all returned inside the box to escape the cold, the weather well and truly taking a turn for the worst as thunder started to rumble in the far off distance.

meanwhile alessia had finally returned to the locker room, unable to wipe the smile off her face as she laughed and sang along to the music leah had blasting all around.

"hey less did your brother get a girlfriend? ben said he was all over some girl he brought with him to the box." beth laughed as alessia pulled a face, grabbing her slides out from her cubby and tying her wet hair up into a bun.

"no? that would be news to me." the blonde frowned with a shrug, shoving her belongings into her bag, now one of the last ones left. though sure enough as she tiredly made her way into the box flanked by vic and kyra her frown returned seeing her brothers arm draped over a girl, both of them with their backs facing her.

but right before she could reach them the girl spoke and shrugged his arm off, making a beeline for the toilet as alessia charged toward her brother. "did you bring a girl to my game and not tell me you were seeing someone!" she accused with an annoyed frown poking at his chest.

"did i what?" he laughed in disbelief, an annoyingly smug grin curling on his lips as he realized where his sisters thoughts were. "yeah actually i brought a little date!" he grinned, knowing the moment you returned everything would fall into place for the striker.

"gio!" alessia huffed punching him in the arm, temporarily distracted as a few of the girls and their family members wandered over and pulled her into conversation. "those bathrooms are so nice!" you marveled, your brother pushing you away as you shoved your hands into his face demanding he smell how good the soap smelled.

gio smirked as at the sound of your voice alessia spun right around, ignoring the questions fired toward her by the small group of people she was with as she finally noticed you, smacking about your brother as he wrapped you into a choke hold.

"i never said who the little date was for." gio smirked as he appeared at alessia's side, the blondes cheeks flushing bright red as she hurried to smooth her jumper out, suddenly wishing she'd made an effort with her hair.

"go on lovergirl, she's even wearing your jersey. you're welcome!" gio whispered, pushing her in your direction as she stumbled slightly and shot him a filthy look over her shoulder.

catching gio's eye harry let go of you and pushed you away, shooting over to the other boys side before you could tell him off, turning around and practically running into a body.

"you're here!" was all alessia managed to get out with wide eyes as you nodded. "i didn't know you were coming." she added on with a nervous smile, shifting her bag on her shoulder.

"not of my own free will. thing one and thing two kidnapped me!" you pointed to your brothers over her shoulder, not missing the strange look which crossed the taller girls face.

"hey, less i'm only joking. you had a great game!" you were quick to make amends, hoping your comment hadn't rubbed her the wrong way. "that volley? class!" you complimented, the blondes lips curling into a surprised grin.

"well well well, look whose been studying her football jargon." alessia teased, nerves melting away as you bumped her with your shoulder and a playful roll of your eyes as the two of you chattered away, everyone else in the room ceasing to exist as you only had eyes for one another.

"i see old habits die hard. will you ever learn?" you sighed dramatically, reaching a hand up to tuck away a loose strand of wet hair out of her eyes. "when have i ever listened to you?" alessia smirked, you having forever warned her against not drying her hair or at least leaving it out.

the two of you so engrossed in conversation alessia failed to notice a few of her friends eyeing the two of you off, laura and leah looking especially pleased as they gave the two of you some space, just sending you a friendly wave from a distance which you returned.

alessia also failed to notice a few of them creeping closer, jolted out of the little bubble with you as an arm slung around her waist with a squeeze. "hello!" vic addressed you as kyra and teyah appeared on alessia's other side and she withheld a groan.

"and who is this?" the dutch girl smirked as alessia shot her daggers briefly. "this is my..." she struggled for a moment giving you a glance. "my y/n." she answered awkwardly, wishing the ground would swallow her up as she shot kyra and teyah a firm glare at their giggles.

"well hello lessi's y/n. pleasure to meet you! i am lessi's vic, this is lessi's kyra and lessi's teyah." vic beamed as you couldn't help but laugh, alessia shoving vics arm away and moving to stand protectively by your side as the three younger girls all began to speak at you.

"oi! lay off she's not a performing monkey." alessia warned, hand settling on the small of your back as you struggled to keep up with the three different accents, lines of conversations and questions. thankfully leah noticed and swooped in, quickly ushering away the three troublemakers as alessia mouthed a thank you.

"they seem fun." you grinned up at the blonde who groaned quietly. "that's one word for them." she sighed. "seem to remind me of a certain outgoing outspoken loud mouthed young striker." you paused to look away contemplatively as alessia cracked a smile, harry and gio joining the two of you, the tall girls hand remaining on the small of your back.

"hey how did you get here?" alessia asked as the boys ducked off to use the toilet, the box clearing out. "i told you, kidnapped!" you teased, alessia's stomach clenching strangely as you smiled up at her and her knees went a bit wobbly.

"would you like to come over for dinner? i'll cook." alessia asked before she could talk herself out of it, nervously playing with the strap of the bag still slung over her shoulder.

"are you asking me on a date?" you asked quietly, smile growing at the slight blush which coated alessia's cheeks. "yeah. is that okay? or we can do something else!" she breathed out, corners of her mouth curling upward as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

"dinner sounds lovely." you agreed, trying to ignore the butterflies swooping and diving around in your stomach as alessia seemed to relax a little. "i'm gonna get a ride back with less." you spoke up as the boys returned, the four of you falling into conversation for a bit before parting ways.

"uhh, stay here for a second. please!" alessia stopped you suddenly after taking you down the back of the stadium, disappearing around a corner as you crossed your arms and waited, eyes roaming the photos of past teams and their victories on the wall.

"okay!" you jumped as alessia suddenly returned, the blonde apologizing with an amused smile nodding for you to follow her again. she lead you out to the back lot, having moved her car away from prying eyes where a few fans were still hanging about.

she wasn't quite ready to have to explain that aspect of her job to you just yet.

"nice jersey, your favorite player?" alessia grinned as the two of you arrived to her place, parking out the front as you rolled your eyes. "don't flatter yourself your brother bought it and forced me into it, and this!" you gestured to the beanie on top of your head which alessia found absolutely adorable.

"ouch, my poor ego!" the blonde sighed dramatically clutching at her chest as you rolled your eyes. "it could use the humbling. we've got, lessi russo! we've got-" you clapped as alessia's cheeks went red and she shoved you mumbling for you to shut up.

"we might need to sprint for it, my umbrella's in the boot." she shifted tones, the rain now hammering down against her car as you hummed in agreement.

"on three?" you nodded as both your hands hovered by the door handles. "three!" alessia announced as you both flung your doors open and made a dash for it, your laughter lost into the mid afternoon air as alessia almost sent herself flying down her stairs.

the two of you collapsed into one another laughing once you were in the safety of her front porch. "whose got wet hair now!" alessia teased tugging your beanie down over your eyes and scrambling for her keys.

"might have to bin this jersey since its all wet, shame." you yanked off the beanie and tousled your hair with your hand, stepping out of your soaking wet shoes as alessia slipped out of her slides both pairs left by the door.

"i can get you another one, even sign it for you if you like." she winked making you roll your eyes as she wasted no time pulling off her sopping wet jumper and gesturing you do the same. "mmm would up the resell value for ebay. have you got a pen handy?" you teased.

"do you want a shower?" the blonde offered kindly, biting her lip to stifle her laughter at both of your soaking wet states. "just some dry clothes if you don't mind." you replied with a somewhat shy smile, alessia nodding and sprinting off before you could say another word.

she returned mere seconds later, a pair of joggers and a hoodie in hand, nodding for you to change and give her your wet clothes so she could put them in the dryer. as the bathroom door closed with a click alessia went into panic mode, racing around her house tidying as well as she could in the small window of time she had to do so.

you couldn't help but inhale once you were changed, now drowned in the familiar smell of your ex girlfriend, though for once it wasn't accompanied with a weird stab of guilt, you allowing yourself to just enjoy the sense of safety and comfort which settled on your shoulders.

what alessia hadn't anticipated was you exiting the bathroom right as she rushed past with a basket piled high of dirty washing she intended to hide, her body slamming into yours and sending the two of you to the ground and her laundry into the air.

"i'm so sorry!" her face paled as she winced and gently peeled off her training shirt from where it had landed on your head, the two of you buried in a mountain of her dirty clothes as alessia wished the ground could swallow her up.

"if this is a way of you telling me to do your washing for you, you could have just asked!" you laughed and rolled off of her, alessia relaxing a little at your reaction, quick to her feet and helping you up to yours.

"two minutes." the striker promised still red with embarrassment, hurrying to shove her clothes back into the basket, grabbing your wet ones from the bathroom floor and darting off into the laundry, yelling out for you to help yourself to anything in the kitchen.

alessia took a moment once her washing was safely in the machine and your clothes in the dryer to collect herself, gripping the bench and taking a few deep breaths, nodding firmly and exiting the room.

an affectionate smile curled onto her lips to see you sat up at the island bench of her kitchen, your legs just a little too short to touch the ground you'd tucked one beneath you and were absentmindedly swinging the other to and from.

alessia would be lying if she didn't something settled over her which could have maybe been described as a sense of possessiveness seeing you sat in her house in her clothes once again. though she quickly tried to shake that off, giving herself a firm reminder the two of you were taking things slow and you were far from being hers anymore.

the large black adidas hoodie she'd given you to change into was big on alessia so it hung down to your mid thigh, and the blonde grinned in amusement seeing you'd had to roll and cuff up the ends of the joggers given her legs were a fair bit longer than yours.

"so whats on the menu chef russo?" you smiled sending her stomach into knots again as she joined you in the kitchen. "what do you feel like?" alessia questioned, washing her hands and rolling up the sleeves of her jumper with a raised eyebrow.

"anything. just no pineapple!" you teased, alessia laughing dryly and flicking water at you from her wet hands before wiping them on a tea towel. "pasta?" you nodded happily.

"just no tomatoes." alessia now teased your own eating habits as you mocked her and pulled a face. "wait, from scratch?" your eyebrows shot up in surprise as alessia breezed around the kitchen pulling out ingredients.

"obviously. did you forget i am italian!" she grinned and you smiled softly seeing her tie an apron around her waist, resisting the temptation to tease her for it and instead settling for enjoying how cute it was that she had one handy.

"half italian." you reminded earning yourself a glare and a middle finger in your direction as a cutting board and knife appeared on the bench in front of you. "make yourself useful would you." alessia smirked, placing down some peppers, onions and carrots on the board and tugging playfully on your ear.

"you know typically when you ask someone on a date and offer to cook them dinner, you don't force them to be your sous chef!" you shook your head but rolled up the sleeves of alessia's hoodie.

"aw you think you're at a sous chef level, that's adorable babe." it was a simple slip up, so much to the point alessia didn't even clock what she'd said but you did, your face burning bright red as you focused your energy into prepping the vegetables as she busied herself making dough.

the two of you fell into conversation about your upcoming weeks, alessia filling you in on her training schedule and commitments as you explained your lesson planning, both of you hanging off the others words, fully engaged in making an effort to show your sincere interest in what the other had to say.

"only you would just casually have things laying about to make pasta from scratch on a sunday night!" you grinned, now stood by the stove keeping an eye on the sauce at alessia's request. "if its not better than anything you've made pre-made i'll retire tomorrow." alessia challenged confidently, moving to take her hoodie off leaving her in joggers and a singlet, not wanting to get flour all over herself.

you wrenched your eyes away from her bare arms as she expertly kneaded the dough, muscles flexing as you turned back to the sauce, stirring it occasionally as a comfortable silence fell between the two of you.

"come here." you glanced up to see alessia wipe away a few small beads of sweat on her forehead, nodding for you to join her. she leaned over and flipped the stove top to the lowest heat it could so the sauce wouldn't burn.

"a pasta making lesson with a real life italian? should be charging." you teased as alessia demonstrated how to fold and roll out the dough, shaping it into spirals melting you a little as she made a point to note she knew they'd been your favorite growing up.

"christ you make this look easy." you credited her as you struggled with the dough, tensing up a little as you felt her body settle in behind you, her front pressed to your back as her bare arms wound around you.

"like this, push with your palms." she murmured, maneuvering your hands with hers on top as she helped you to roll out the dough and shape it like she'd shown. you thought once you started to get the hang of it she might move away but she stayed pressed against you.

"is this okay?" she checked quietly as her hands settled on your waist and her chin rested on your shoulder and you nodded, a little lost for words as waves of emotions you refused to overthink crashed into you, alessia starting to very gently sway the two of you.

"perfect!" the blonde beamed proudly as you finished rolling out and shaping your half of the dough. "had a decent teacher i guess." you smiled, craning your head back to gently kiss her cheek as alessia's hairs stood on end and she pushed herself away from you, moving to quickly finish off her half of the dough as you returned to the sauce.

on her orders you had a pot of water waiting to boil, leaving the sauce to thicken on low as you moved to watch her finish off the pasta. "do you want a pro tip?" alessia smiled as you nodded, gesturing for her continue.

"always flour your board." you gasped as her finger reached out and rubbed flour all over your nose, the taller girl grinning clearly quite pleased with herself. not even waiting to speak your hand darted out into the leftover flour, your hand pressing against her cheek leaving a white hand mark on the side of her face.

that seemed to open the floodgates as you chased one another around the island flicking and smacking flour against one another until alessia called for a truce, wincing at the flour which now coated her once clean floors.

however as the two of you retreated back toward the stove in typical alessia fashion, she slipped.

"less!" you cried out as she grabbed out for you to steady herself, instead taking you down with her, your body landing on top of hers as you both groaned.

"i'm beginning to think you do this on purpose now!" you tutted, hint of a smile on your lips. hyper aware of her large hands resting on your back an odd sense of deja vu settled over the pair of you, neither of you paying attention to anything than one another when you suddenly found yourself admiring and studying over ever little feature of her face, alessia doing the exact same.

just like clockwork the longer you maintained eye contact the smaller and smaller the room seemed to become, alessia's eyes flickering down to your lips just for a fleeting second.

"would it be too fast if i kissed you again?" the girl whispered, eyes still locked with yours as you gave a small shake of your head. "please." was all you managed to breathe out.

your hand moved to brush a few strands of her golden blonde hair out of her face, leaning in ever so slowly.

just like last time your hands moved to tangle in her hair now brushed out and dry again, and in turn alessia's own hands came to rest on either side of your face, thumbs tracing soft circles on your jaw, ever so gently guiding your mouth within millimeters of her own.

you both sighed as your lips met, the kiss slow and calculated and tender. alessia kissed you like you were made of glass, terrified that one wrong move and you'd break, her lips soft and inviting as they moved against yours.

you parted your own slightly as her teeth ever so gently tugged at your bottom lip, her tongue slipping into your mouth as the kiss became just a little less sweet.

though you hissed and pulled away at the feeling of something burning your neck, the blonde underneath yours eyes widening as she tightened her hold on your face and sat up taking you with her.

"what's wrong? was that too much? too fast? i'm so sorry." she rambled out, chest heaving with worry as you were quick to shake your head. "i think something bit me!" you gently moved her hands off your face and turned your head, moving your hair out of the way as alessia frowned and glanced at your neck.

but everything suddenly made sense as she heard a strange noise and looked up to the stove, realizing exactly what had happened.

"shit the water's over boiled!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

thirteen

our cute little lovers seemingly all happy but will it last?

what do we think is going to happen? what do you want to see happen?

[esamastation]

Part forty-nine of Shizuroth, aka, the SOLDIER General's Self Saving Shizun.

Ao3 link.

Previous parts: thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, thirty-six, thirty-seven, thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven forty-eight

-

There are certain things you can expect to happen when warriors from opposing factions meet. Some of those things don't make it into the reports.

Truth rarely accepted by higher-ups at Shinra is that no one wants to die. It would be obvious to anyone with sense, but it isn't. Because even when they acknowledge that, sure, no one wants to die, they rarely draw the next conclusion. Which is that no one willingly charges into a hopeless battle, knowing they wouldn't make it out alive.

And that includes Wutai troops.

SOLDIERs have been around for years, and they've reshaped the nature of the war being fought in Wutai. That's not only on the side of Shinra either - the Wutai warriors have adapted too. They've learned. And they never, if they were to help it, to try to take SOLDIER head on anymore.

And there are SOLDIERs, not all of them but some, who take full advantage of it whenever they can. Angeal most certainly does. Because there's another truth, rarely acknowledged.

Most people don't want to kill other people.

On a report it looks something like this:

"Shortly after the engagement began, the Wutai troops deployed a diversion in order to make their escape. Unfortunately, this made following them impossible."

In reality it looks like this:

Angeal walks down the path, making himself loud and obvious. The Wutai troops spot him. There's about a dozen of them, armoured men and women armed with gunspears. They aren't expecting him, but they can recognise his uniform. It makes them wary. 

They take a few warning shots at him, which Angeal quickly deflects with the Buster Sword. Then he's left with a dilemma quite literally in his hands.

He doesn't usually draw his sword on people. It was easy not to, before, he wasn't really able to use it. Now he can use it, but, uh… if he takes the Buster Sword on a person…

The two sides size each other up. There's a moment of posturing.

"What are you doing here, Shinra?" demands the warrior in lead, wearing captain's colours.

"I'm sorry, but I can't answer that," Angeal says, feeling a little awkward with the sword now. "Shinra business. I'm going to have to ask you to go back the same way you came from."

"You want us to leave, from our home? You have some nerve! Who are you, SOLDIER, what is your name?"

"I am Angeal Hewley - and you are?"

His name might not be as known as that of Sephiroth, but it's known enough. SOLDIER Firsts carry a similar level of recognition as Wutai generals, and his name is usually enough.

He isn't usually holding a huge sword, though, and the Wutai troops look somewhat alarmed now.

Angeal clears his throat and rests the Buster Sword on his shoulder, trying for casual rather than… excessively forceful. "Your name, sir?"

The Wutai squad looks to their captain, who makes a decision. "I am captain Deng Yuto. It is my honour to face commander Hewley in battle." He bows and then grabs his spear and shouts to his squad, "Get ready!"

For a moment it looks like they might actually rush at him - then one of them throws something. It cracks on the dirt road between them, and there's an explosion of smoke, footsteps, confusion. 

And then the Wutai Captain murmurs a quiet mantra and brings out a Summon, lighting the acrid smoke in a vivid red glow.

"Here we go," Angeal murmurs, looking up. Before him looms a fiery demon, with flames dancing on its back, behind its impressive horns. Smiling slightly, he tightens his grip on the Buster Sword. "Ifrit, huh? Great - I have been wanting to try these new tricks I've been learning!"

It's not the first time he's been left facing a Summon rather than people, and quite honestly, he prefers it. There's not much honour in fighting people who can't truly meet him at his level. A man's honour can only take so much, fighting against weaker opponents.

But a Summon is something very different.

Angeal waits standing still until the Ifrit attacks, and then ducks out of the way - and then back closer, to get a few hits in, using the Buster Sword to its full advantage. And damn if it's not gratifying, to put his recent lessons to the test!

Ifrit isn't the strongest of Summons, but it's formidable enough and far above the usual monsters of Wutai. This one is a higher level one too - someone put a lot of effort into maturing it. It's one hell of a workout. Being able to swing his sword and feel it do real damage…

"Whoa, what the hell -"

"On guard! Stay alert!"

Angeal falters, realising that the Wutai troops hadn't run away - they'd moved back, but stayed to watch, and now they're watching out for someone else. Quickly Angeal jumps away from the Ifrit's blow and looks where they're looking - up in the trees?

It's… Sephiroth. Who is - what?

"Uh?" Angeal manages, confused - and then Ifrit is upon him, trying to blow him away with a fiery fist. Angeal drags his attention back to the fight and goes about finishing it as quickly as he can. He must've seen it wrong.

Whatever he saw isn't as important as the fact that Sephiroth is here at all. He was supposed to be doing his Alignment practice - why is he here? And… how would he react to all this?

Before he lost his memories, Sephiroth never humoured the Summons - and he too has a reputation. One far worse than Angeal's.

Angeal whittles the Ifrit's HP to zero as quick as he can, and the Summon breaks. Breathing hard, Angeal checks the Wutai troops - still there, frozen in place - and then he looks at Sephiroth.

Who lands, light as a feather, not far from him.

"... What are you doing here?" Angeal manages.

"I was told there was going to be trouble," Sephiroth says, a complicated look on his face, and apparently not thinking there was anything unusual about his own ability to, what, fly? He looks at the Wutai troops instead, eyes narrowed.

"I've got this handled," Angeal says slowly, worried it might turn into a bloodbath after all. "You didn't need to come."

Sephiroth glances at him, and his expression goes cold and inscrutable. "You're worried," he says, sounding somewhere between confused and offended. "Why?"

Because Angeal wasn't planning to fight, really, and he wasn't planning to kill. There wasn't any reason for it. The Wutai squad were just checking out the unusual activity in a place they knew to be abandoned - they weren't geared for an assault. Certainly there might be a full assault later, after they'd confirmed who had taken residence in the abandoned house they might choose to attack them, but that is different. If the enemy planned and executed an attack, even knowing who they were, then of course there would be a fight, but…

Killing these people here and now, when there's no mission and no orders and no point other than to keep them from passing information on… information that would be passed on regardless…

These men aren't a threat to us, Angeal wants to say. But Sephiroth didn't get his moniker for being understanding or merciful. And Angeal isn't sure how he will react now.

Angeal opens his mouth, but before he can speak, the Wutai Captain steps forward. "My name is Deng Yuto," the captain says bravely and brandishes his gunspear at Sephiroth. "I challenge you, Demon of Wutai, for the lives of my men."

Angeal's heart aches for him. The man's spear point doesn't even quiver. Angeal looks at Sephiroth, who probably doesn't even understand the custom he's witnessing. "You don't have to do this. Please. Let me handle this."

Sephiroth looks at him and hums, thoughtful. For a moment, Angeal dares to hope…

And then Sephiroth draws his sword and turns away.

"I accept your challenge."

-

So, not my favourite chapter ever...

[mendessi]

speak now | part one

pairing: fem!reader x pre-outbreak!joel

summary: joel saves you from the biggest mistake of your life

word count: 2.8k

warnings: smut probably, pre-outbreak, mentions of marriage, based off speak now by taylor swift, mentions of domestic abuse, joel is 26 & reader is 21, mentions of cheating, kind of slow burn, brief mention of death, angst, will add more as i think of them

part one | part two | part three | part four | part five

minors dni

Joel Miller never believed in the idea of love at first sight, not even when he had met his young daughter's mom. To him it sounded like the things heard in movies that he never cared to watch. Every relationship he had been in had been slow burn, minus the one with his daughter's mom, hence how he ended up a single father at twenty-two. 

Joel Miller still didn't believe in love at first sight when his eyes fell on you from across the bar as you poured a shot for a woman who was way past her alcohol limit. He didn't believe in it, but damn you were the most gorgeous girl he had ever seen. 

Work brought him and Tommy to El Paso, a town that resembled something close of a desert. It was the first work trip they'd done and it may as well be the last considering how shit it was going and how much he just wanted to get home to his daughter. 

"She's pretty," Tommy said as Joel brought the glass of whiskey to his lips. Joel didn't respond as he watched you say something to your friend who was behind the bar with you and then step out from behind it walking towards the back to meet a guy who instantly had his hands all over you.

"She's taken." Tommy added earning a glare from Joel. 

Joel continued to watch your encounter with the man who looked to be at least ten-fifteen years older than you run his hands up and down your waist earning uncomfortable glances from you. Joel sprung to his feet as soon as he noticed the grip of the man's hands tighten around your wrists and marched to the back corner where you stood.

"Hey, you work here right? Some guy is causin' trouble over there can you get the bouncer?" Joel said, gesturing over his shoulder once he reached you. 

"Uh, yeah I do." You replied, hesitantly taking the man's hands off of your body and grabbing the flashlight off your hip to signal the bouncers. 

Joel shared one last look with the man and then walked back to his table with Tommy.

"Smooth." He said as Joel sat down.

"Shut up." 

A few more drinks in and Tommy had managed to pull a girl around his age and left the bar leaving Joel watching the Cowboys game that was playing. There was no urgency for him to return to the hotel especially when there was a chance that Tommy would be in there with said girl. 

His attention was caught with a flashing light coming from the bar which was coming from you. He grabbed his beer and made his way to the bar, pulling up a seat. 

"Thanks for earlier." You pulled another beer from behind the counter and pulled the cap off with the bottle opener before sliding across the wood to him. "On the house." 

"What did I do?" He asked, eyeing the beer.

"Come on, don't be weird about it." You laughed lightly and put your hands on your hips, thankful for the moment to breathe after the busy game rush.

"Who was he anyway?" It was easy to tell he wasn't a stranger to you.

"Fiance." You said after a moment of silence. 

"The guy looked fifty." Joel said, not attempting to hide his shock that somebody as drop dead gorgeous as you was going to be married to somebody that old. 

"Forty-seven." You nodded. 

"How old are you?" Joel asked. To be fair, the alcohol was finally starting to kick in. 

"Twenty-one. You?" You asked. 

"Twenty-six."

"Hm." You poured yourself a glass of water and squeezed a lemon into it, keeping your eyes trained on him. His hair was scruffy, he had these big brown eyes that looked like they had such stories to tell, and a scruffy patchy beard that you found yourself becoming a little obsessed with. He was extremely attractive and very much your type. 

"Are you from around here?" You asked him, taking a sip of your water.

"Austin. You ever been?" He asked.

"I've always wanted to. 'Keep Austin weird' they say." You smile. "You don't look very weird to me."

"I can bring you." Joel said to you earning a shy laugh. "I'm serious."

"What's your name?" You ask the man in front of you who looks like he's teetering on the line between sober and tipsy.

"Joel Miller."

"Well, Joel Miller, my shift is up, but maybe I'll see you around." You untie the apron from around your waist and he sits up hopefully, trying to find the courage to ask you out, but teetering on the line of sobriety and tipsy he can't seem to find it. What was he thinking asking an engaged woman out anyways?

"I didn't get your name." He said to you. You simply pointed at your name tag before saluting him goodbye and walking out of the bar.

His conversation with you was short and hardly held any substance, but something about you captivated him and he wanted more. He had a little over three weeks left in El Paso and he was gonna find one way or another to learn more about you, and he certainly didn't care if that meant sitting in The Ginger Duck every single night until he left. 

-

The next time Joel saw you wasn't at The Ginger Duck but was walking down Main Street with some books in your hand just a few days later. He almost couldn't believe his eyes that he had gotten this lucky as he pulled over to parallel park on the street. He eagerly got out of the car and called your name to which you turned around. 

"Hey!" You said, surprised to be seeing him but also taking note of the little flip your stomach did as you saw his smile. "I thought you'd be gone by now."

"Have about three weeks left here." Joel said rubbing the back of his neck. "What are you up to, are you free to grab a bite?"

"Yeah actually. I have a shift at the bar in about two hours so I'm open til then." You looked down at your watch and then back up at him with a smile. 

You and Joel found yourselves in the back of his pickup truck with takeout from your favorite Chinese restaurant on main overlooking the gray city from a lookout point you used to come to in high school. You didn't tell Joel that this was where you had lost your virginity to your very first boyfriend. 

"What? I do not give off that vibe." You said to him, laughing as you nudged his shoulder with your own, "Do I actually look mean?" 

"Just when you're dealing with drunk people." He said to you, joining in on your laughter.

"You can look pretty mean too, you know." You said, looking over at him. 

"I've actually heard that before. Several times." He replied. "My daughter makes fun of me for it." 

"You have a daughter?" You gasped unintentionally putting your hand on his knee out of excitement. "Tell me about her."

"Sarah, she just turned four and she's about as crazy as any four year old. We been teaching her soccer and god, she's actually pickin it up real quick." He smiled proudly and you admired the way he spoke about her, his southern accent pulling through. 

"'We' being..." You trailed off. You had an idea that he was a single dad and honestly hoped he was a single dad with the way would eye you up and down sometimes. 

"Me and my brother." He nodded. "Her mom left right after she was born." 

"I'm sorry to hear that." A twinge of guilt hit your chest and it was because you knew what she would go through only growing up with one parent. You loved your dad with all of your heart and he did everything he could, but there is a certain relationship a mother shares with her daughter that his would never experience. You knew what that felt like after your mom walked out on you and your father when you were six. 

"It's alright. Everything happens for a reason." He nodded. 

You sat in silence for a few moments and sighed taking off your jacket, the heat from the Texas sun blazing down onto the both of you. Joel nearly jumped at the sight of the disgusting looking purple, blue and green bruise covering your shoulder under the strap of your tank top. 

"What happened?" His fingers grazed the bruised skin more gentle than you ever knew a man's touch to be and you almost flinched at the idea of his fingers against you. 

"I dropped a glass rack on myself at work." You told him. "Fucking horrible, do you know how heavy those things are?" 

He didn't say anymore on the matter and looked back down at his food, the gears shifting in his head as he replayed the moment he saw you in the corner of the bar with your fiance. Surely this wasn't his doing, this bruise was giant, he couldn't seem to piece together how this bruise could've been done by a human so you must've been telling the truth.

"Can I ask you something? Don't take it the wrong way." Joel said to you. 

"Sure." You smiled over at him, thankful he bought into the glass rack story.

"Your fiance... what's the story there? I- how do I say this? You're about the prettiest girl I've ever seen and I can't imagine why you'd marry so young." He tried his best not to insult the fact that the man was in his forties and was quite ugly and had no clue as to how he got so lucky for your hand in marriage. 

Another silence fell over the two and you looked down at your lap debating on if you should tell the truth. Joel felt like somebody you could trust with a secret and everything about him felt safe. Joel was warm and just his presence was enough to embrace you enough to feel as if there were no other problems in the world. When you were with Joel right here in this very moment, it was just the two of you. Not even the dull city below you had people. Just the two of you watching over it. 

"If I tell you the truth, you promise not to tell?" Hesitation laced through your words.

"On my life." His eyes were on you, despite you hiding your face as you looked down at your hands.

"My dad was sick and I needed to pay for his healthcare somehow. My fiance was a regular at the bar since I was eighteen and he's... he's well off, you know? I started dating him and he helped pay for my dad's care until he passed. Um," A sigh falls from your lips and you barely notice the tear that falls from your eye, "I was going to leave him but my dad asked me to stay with him. Marry him, because he knew I'd always be financially taken care of, so... I did. And now we're getting married at the end of the month." 

Twisting the large engagement ring around your finger you finally get the courage to look up at him. His brown eyes are soft as they look into yours and he reaches for your hand taking it into his own. 

"It makes me sound like a horrible person, but my fiance isn't too great either." You brush the hair from your face as you look into his eyes. 

"You're doing what you need to survive, there's nothing wrong with that." He squeezes your hand and a sigh of relief falls from your lips. You half expected him to get in his truck and leave you at that lookout point, maybe even call you a gold digging psycho, but he didn't. He offered you comfort. He offered you warmth. And despite the Texas heat, the warmth he offered was much needed. 

Joel instinctively wrapped his arm around you and you leaned into his side, draping you arm across his torso. You didn't know it, but he needed this as much as you did. 

Joel drove you to The Ginger Duck after the two of you both accidentally fell asleep in each others arms in a short thirty minute nap. You couldn't help but feel a magnetic draw to him after your little lunch date together. It wasn't technically a date, but you wouldn't mind if it was a date either. 

"Hey, I'll try to stop by a little later if that's okay with you." Joel said as he pulled your door open. 

"Yeah, I'd like that. Wednesdays are a little slow so I could use the pick me up." You said to him. 

"If I don't make it for whatever reason, you can find me over at the Lazy Eight. Room 193. If not tonight, anytime between now and the next three weeks." He smiled down at you as he leaned against the door. He was tempted to kiss you but finally some sense knocked into him as he remembered you were engaged to be married at the end of the month.

He should leave it and run the other direction before he got too attached. You had no business getting involved with him either as an engaged woman and it didn't matter if your fiance was sleeping with someone else every night, that didn't mean you should stoop to his level. 

You didn't see Joel for a week. It hurt to say the less. But maybe what said did scare him off. You almost expected it to anyways so it shouldn't surprise you that he didn't go to the bar that night or any night after that. 

Joel was sitting in his hotel room that night waiting up to make sure Tommy made it home from the bar safely, wondering if he should go see you. He wondered if you questioned where he was and why he didn't uphold his promise to visit you. 

It wasn't a wise decision for him to get involved with you when you were set to be married at the end of the month. Let alone the fact that he lived in Austin and you lived here in El Paso. The odds were stacked against him. 

He spent lunch with you one day and now he was obsessed. He wanted more of you, all of you and he couldn't bring himself to drive down to the bar to see you. There was a connection and neither of you could deny it. The spark was undeniable no matter how badly the two of you wanted it to die. 

Joel was woken from a sleep to a loud knock on the door. He figured Tommy must've been drunk and lost his key so he stumbled from bed and walked to the door. He almost jumped at the unexpected sound of thunder as he looked through the peephole. 

"Christ," His heart dropped and he pulled the door open to see you standing there, completely drenched still in your work uniform, teeth chattering as you stared up at him. Your cheek was bruised and your nose was still bleeding. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go and I remembered-" It was hard to tell because of the rain but the wavering in your voice made it clear that you were sobbing. "I can leave."

"No. No, come." Joel gently grabbed your hand and pulled you through the doorway. "Are you okay?"

Joel's hands almost immediately began shaking as rage began coursing through his body at the sight of you. The sound of you trying to stifle your tears as he lead you to the bathroom was almost enough to make him see red but he held his composure for you.

"Who did this to you?" He asked grabbing a clean towel of the rack and holding it to your nose as you sat on the toilet. 

You simply shook your head as he gently pushed your head forward so your nose was tilted down. Joel dropped to his knees in front of you, moving the towel slightly to see if it was broken, a sigh falling off his lips he realized it wasn't. Just bleeding from the force of being hit. 

"Was it him?" The tone of his voice made it clear who 'him' was and you held onto his shoulders as he tenderly held the towel against your face. 

"Hey," He lowered his voice and it came out softer than he expected. Thankful nonetheless because that's what you needed, "You can tell me." 

"Yes." You whispered, wincing as his fingertips brushed against your cheek bones.

"I'll kill him." 

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[mangoshorthand]

No Hard Feelings- [Five Hargreeves x F Reader]. Ch7

Note: this chapter was added as part of a major edit/extension of this fic which is why it's being posted now and out of order. SUMMARY: You're Five's latest assassination target, but things don't go to plan and now he wants you as his fuckbuddy. Funny how what we want and what we need are rarely in line. (Aged up Five because things get smutty...obviously.)  Chapter One - Chapter Two - Chapter Three - Chapter Four - Chapter Five- Chapter Six - Chapter Seven - Chapter Eight - Chapter Nine - Chapter Ten - Chapter Eleven - Chapter Twelve

Having stormed out of your apartment, Five's getting fifteen flavors of fucked up.

Chapter Seven: Scars

Now he knew why Lila had been acting like more of a prick than usual lately. 

Since not murdering Santiago’s mother was essential to maintaining his position as his favorite uncle, he decided against doing his drinking at home.

Instead, he sucked his final lime with his elbows on the bar before dropping the shot glass on the tray beside the other five. The ritual of salt, tequila and then lime always appealed to Five, and tequila was a remarkably efficient delivery system.

“Jesus, son. Another bad day?”

“What?” he snapped, head whipping in the direction of the voice like a bated dog on the verge of biting.

“Woah,” said the old man, one hand held up in surrender, “just saying hi. We talked in here a couple of months ago, remember? You bought me a drink. Just repaying the favor.”

As Five looked at him from under lowered brows, the guy placed another tequila slammer in front of him.

“Oh,” Five said, recognizing him and nodding, “Thanks, but I’m not in the mood to socialize.”

The guy, clearly drunker than Five was, (and nowhere near as drunk as Five intended to get), brushed off the rebuff.

“Name’s Geoff. What’s eatin you…?” he asked, the question tapering off expectantly.

“Five,” Five supplied, reluctantly.

“Like th-”

“Like the number, yes,” he snapped, irritated by the predictability.

Geoff sat down next to him, undeterred by his obviously forbidding attitude.

“Five. Sure. Is it still chick stuff and job stuff?”

Five chuckled darkly. Drunk as it was like six shots from a revolver, the tequila was permeating his brain extremely quickly. He found that Geoff wasn’t as annoying as he might have expected.

“Just chick stuff now.”

Geoff made a sympathetic noise, as if he knew Five’s situation of old.

“You in a fight with your girl?”

“No,” he said, “she’s not my girl. That’s the point.”

Geoff looked his confusion and Five explained.

“I’m seeing her casually but she’s getting clingy.”

“Treating her mean to keep her keen, huh?” 

“No.” Five grunted, raising his new glass briefly to Geoff before downing the shot. When he surfaced, wincing slightly, he continued:

“She knew the deal. It’s casual or nothing, but she’s sticking her goddamn nose in my past.” 

He was becoming effusive, the liquid sounds in his words starting to drag and hand gestures becoming more pronounced than usual.

“What gives her the right to…to psychoanalyze me? To pathologize the only good thing I had- she has no idea what I’ve been through.”

“Sounds tough, son,” Geoff replied, only understanding part of this, “she sounds like my ex-wife. Everything’s always ‘oh, you have a transactional understanding of relationships’, ‘you aren’t attuned to my emotional needs’ or some dumb shit like that.”

“Exactly!” Five said, pointing at Geoff, “she doesn’t know my goddamn shitass life. She doesn’t know. She doesn’t understand. All we had was each other for over forty years. You don’t just forget that.”

“Exactly!” Geoff repeated, not really listening, “my ex could never understand that I’m not a mind-reader.”

The two men talked over each other:

“-You don’t just throw it away because it wasn’t normal or whatever.” Five said, tipping the shot glass again in the hope of a final drop of tequila. “She was the fuckin’ love of my life. She saved me. She was there when nobody else was, and I don’t regret a single minute of it. So fuck her.”

“ ...just expected me to magically know when the housework needed doing. Here’s the thing, Karen : I don’t know if you don’t tell me.”

“-she doesn’t get to judge us. She doesn’t get to call her a fuckdoll just because she wants me to be her emotional support animal or whatever. Delores was twice the woman she is-”

“...and maybe,” Geoff ranted, “if she’d put out now and again I might not have got all that credit-card debt spending money on cam girls.”

“Looking up at me with those goddamn puppy-dog eyes and she thinks she can…she thinks she can make that all go away? Like it never mattered?”

They both stopped talking at the same time, both of them having caught up with some contents of what the other said. There was a brief moment in which they looked at each other, confused.

“Well…thanks for the shot,” Five said, not wanting to hear any more about Geoff’s cam-girl debt. 

“No problem.” Geoff replied, clearly deciding that the mental wherewithal to unpack how such a young man could have had a 40 year relationship with a sex doll was beyond him, “bye then.”

He decamped quickly, not looking back.

After the brief interruption, Five turned his attention back to the task at hand: getting fifteen flavors of fucked up.

“Hey, you,” he says to the bartender, “will you do me a double tequila and ginger ale?” 

The bartender looked over at Five and the several empty shot glasses in front of him.

“I think you’ve had enough. Your ID says you’re over twenty-one, and that’s fine, but I’m not serving you any more. You’re gonna end up having your stomach pumped at this rate.”

Five tried to summon the wit needed to persuade the guy, but found it that he lacked it given the sudden influx of alcohol to his brain. “Ah…well fuck you.”

He blinked with surprising accuracy given the booze and emerged, swaying, behind the bartender. He grabbed an opened bottle of scotch, gave him the finger, and disappeared again.

He shivered out on the street in a sudden blast of chilly December air. Drinking out in the open wasn’t a problem for him: that was where he’d done most of the drinking in his life, after all.

In the apocalypse, drinking alcohol was a rare godsend. It represented brief moments of respite: a break from obsessive reading, calculation and fight for survival. Alcohol even gave him sweet, dreamless sleep, something he learned to value above almost anything else.

And throughout it all, she’d been there. His angel, his saving grace: Delores. She’d been there when he was thirty and sure he was going to die of an infection, she’d been there when he was forty-two and had the most severe of his nervous breakdowns. She’d been there through the good and the bad, and she’d borne it all with her Mona Lisa smile.

He took off his tie and undid a couple of shirt buttons as he walked, not really knowing where he was walking to. He’d clung to her; a lifebuoy in stormy oceans and, in return, she’d kept him afloat. Their love was a deep-rooted thing, in itself terrifying. In his fractured, beleaguered brain, she spread and clung, filling the gulfs, digging into the sinew and creating new, if diseased, pathways. 

His love for her was so essential to his sanity, so entwined in the basest part of his brain, that there was a time he thought she could never be extracted, even if he wanted her to.

At random, he turned down a sidestreet and then down the sort of alleyway he envisioned Klaus inhabiting during the worst of his addiction. With numb hands, he twisted the lid off the whisky and took a long swing, smacking his lips appreciatively. 

He left her behind when he first got back to 2019 because he felt himself come full circle: once again, he was a young boy in a strange world. He felt their lifetime together could end poetically...and she had always appreciated poetry. 

Leaving her behind in the department store had attractive symmetry: her back with her friends and him back with his family…but he’d anticipated visits. He hadn’t imagined skipping between timelines, encountering more apocalypses and ending up somewhere similar but entirely different, where that department store had only ever used faceless mannequins. 

He lowered the whisky bottle and slid down the wall, back leaned up against it and legs splayed in front of him.

Delores didn’t even speak in his head anymore. 

Before, when he was apart from her, he had a direct line to her consciousness. The part of his mind reserved for her could communicate easily with the rest of him. When they were together, he liked to talk to her out loud, but he didn’t really need to. They could have entire conversations without either of them needing to speak a word. 

Yet she simply wasn’t there now: at some point in the last six years of contact with other people, she’d faded into nothing.

He raised the bottle to his lips, inhaled the smoky, molasses smell and relished the precious oblivion it promised.

An improvised fuckdoll. A fuckdoll, you called her?

His teeth worked furiously at his lower lip.

“Fucking bitch,” he murmured, inbetween deep gulps of whisky.

“Please! S’still Thursday.”

You woke suddenly, eyes wide. It was him. He was outside in the hall, knocking loudly and insistently.

“Please….please,” he begged, “c’mon…it’s Thursday for like ten more minutes.”

Cautiously, you got to your feet, grabbing your robe from the back of your bedroom door, wrapping it tightly around yourself and creeping out into the hall. You could hear him moving around in the hall: his heavy movement sliding against your door. 

“Please. I’m sorry. Pleeeaase.”

He didn’t sound like himself. 

Briefly, you considered just ignoring him. You could pretend you never heard him and wait for him to leave. You wavered on the cusp of indecision. 

At last, you spoke through the door.

“Go away, Five.”

“Please…I won’t blink in but please … oh shit, I couldn’t blink in anyway. But please, talk to m-”  but he cut himself off with a loud dry heave.

Maybe it was his increasing volume, maybe it was the thought of what your neighbors would think, after this racket at ten to twelve, only for the whole hallway to smell of puke in the morning. Whatever it was,  it made you open the door.

He all but fell through it, catching his balance at the last minute and stepping slightly back into the hallway, waiting to be formally admitted. 

“m’sorry.”

He looked entirely and absolutely awful.

“Can you shut the fuck up?” you hissed, sticking your head out and taking a furtive look down the hall.

He swayed, following your gaze as if expecting to see onlookers gathered. 

If his hair was mussed before, now it was a disaster; some stuck up at odd angles and the rest was plastered to his face. His tie, waistcoat and left shoe were gone. His shirt was untucked and unbuttoned to just above his nipples. His face, though still handsome, looked slack, his eyes unfocused. He held a bottle of scotch by the neck with less than a finger’s width left in the bottom.

“Shit.” you muttered, under your breath.

He smelled so strongly of the whisky that it hung in a miasma around him. 

“I need to pee,” he whined, like a kid in school.

You regarded him for just one more moment and then stood aside with an angry exhale, now only happy to get him off your doorstep. Better for him to be inside embarrassing himself than to be outside embarrassing you. 

“Thank you,” he said. As he entered,  he stopped a second, facing you in the doorway. His eyes were bloodshot:

“Your eyes are a lot like hers, you know.”

You’re weren’t sure what to do with this information.

“How much have you had to drink?” you asked, worried, as he crossed the threshold, “have you drunk that whole bottle?”

“Nah. It was only…only half full. I only had that and some tequila.”

His words blurred together. 

“How much tequila?”

He stepped past you. On his first attempt to enter, he walked into the bathroom door frame, making it through on the rebound. You could hear him urinating, muttering incoherently under his breath. 

“How much tequila have you had?” you asked, raising your voice to follow him through the bathroom door.

“Only two shots…or maybe like, six?”

“In…” you checked the time incredulously, “under two hours?”

“M’fine.” he said, sounding more his age than usual: every inch the gruff old man.

Rolling your eyes, you went as if to wait for him on the couch, but then you heard a crash, a short yell and more retching.

“Five?” 

Yet more retching was the only response.

“Okay, I’m coming in.”

You pushed the door, still ajar, to find him kneeling with his head in the toilet bowl with vomit splattered on the cistern and toilet seat. He could barely draw breath in between bouts of vomiting. His whole body heaved with the force of the mostly-liquid mush surging out of him. 

You hovered, unsure what to do. Him vomiting was probably good, right? It was hard to feel too sorry for him given his behavior, but listening to his painted groans wasn’t exactly fun. As much as he terrified you that night, hearing him in real discomfort still tugged at you. Your hand hovered for a moment as you considered laying it comfortingly between his shoulder blades, but anger stopped you.

 When, at last, he subsided into watery gasps, you leaned over him and flushed the toilet.

“God…I’m so sorry.”

He fell back onto his heels, one hand still holding the bottle where it stood upright on your bathroom floor. He looked up at you, chin caked in puke. Now the entire bathroom was filled with the mixed smells of scotch, piss and bile. 

You shook your head at him.

“Take off your clothes.”

He giggled drunkenly.

“This is hardly the time!” 

“Shut up and get in the shower.”

He laughed again and stood up, swaying. You caught his bicep to steady him.

“Whoops” he said, steadying himself with difficulty, “thank you m’dear.”  

He said it ironically, but his use of the endearment made you frown.

He managed his shirt and shoe alone, but needed to put a hand on your shoulder for balance to remove his trousers and underwear, struggling to stand on one leg. 

When he was naked, you helped him take the wobbly step over the side of your bathtub, turned on the shower and pulled the curtain in front of him. 

“Ah! S’cold!” he exclaimed, shocked by the water’s icy temperature. 

You couldn’t help but feel a hint of schadenfreude at this.

“I don’t care how cold it is. Deal with it. It’ll warm up in a second.”

“Okay,” he said, submissively. 

 The shampoo’s next to you. Make sure you wash everything. You stink.”

“Yessirrr,” he slurred.

You kicked his clothes to one side and with a sigh, turned to the cupboard beneath the sink and dug out your cleaning stuff: the heavy-duty antibacterial variety. You cleaned the floor and the toilet, trying not to puke yourself at the smell. As you worked, you could hear Five stumbling around in the shower.

As you scrubbed, you asked yourself what the fuck you were doing here. Here you were, cleaning the vomit of a man who screamed in your face earlier, someone you knew could murder you if he chose. A man who trashed your apartment, who never even held you after he fucked and degraded you.

A small clatter and a whisper.

“Shit.”

He’d dropped the shampoo. 

Not wanting him to attempt to bend over, make his head spin and vomit again, you removed one of your latex gloves and leaned over the bath to pass it to him. 

“Th-nks.” he slurred, face and hair covered in suds. 

He tried to take it off you, but his reactions were too shoddy, especially with the addition of soap on his hands, and he dropped it again with an identical clatter.

“Shit,” he said, again, as if faced with an impenetrable problem. 

“Just leave it.” you said, firmly, “you got plenty on you.”

“Yeah, okay,” he replied, sounding thankful that this insurmountable issue had been solved for him. 

You finished up your cleaning and closed the toilet lid, using it as a seat while you waited for him to finish in the shower. Once or twice, you were sure you caught him sing-humming a couple of bars of Cher’s If I Could Turn Back Time . 

You certainly didn’t imagine any of this knelt on the floor with his gun to your head.

“You nearly there?” you asked, searching for a spare toothbrush.

“Yup.”

A few seconds later, the water shut off and he opened the shower curtain. As he did so, he gave a small hand gesture as if to say ‘ta-da’. You couldn’t help but laugh at this with him standing there, looking so pathetic.

You got him dried, supervised him cleaning his teeth, helped him put his underwear back on, and then shepherded him into the living space and onto the couch. At least the water seemed to have sobered him up slightly.

“I don’t deserve you.”

He tried to take your hand, but you avoided his touch, instead throwing the blanket over him.

“No, you don’t,” you said, pointedly.

As he lay down, you put a full glass of water on the coffee table and a basin on the floor near his head, just in case. As you did so, he looked up at you.

“She did…challenge me,” he said, eyes appealing to you, begging you to understand, “i-in the ways I could imagine.”

He took a few sob-like breaths before continuing.

“She kept me sane…more or less.”

You sat cross-legged in front of the couch, your face on a level with his. 

“I know - I know how it sounds. But she was real. She made me...laugh. Y'know, take myself a little less seriously? She didn’t always agree with everything I said. She wasn’t some…Stepford wife.”

He turned his face into the couch cushion, muffling his voice.

“She’d kill me if she knew what I did today.”

You waited. You could sense there was more to come.

“But the love was - is - real. The grief is real. I know what a shrink would say. I know that I projected my conscience onto an…an object. But I love her. I love her and I miss her every day. I felt like I could fuck you and not betray what we had, but I couldn’t hold another woman like I held her.”

You couldn’t help but pity him. Your anger and resentment ebbed away even as you watched him, hiding his face in your couch. You knew how much this must have cost him to say. For once, he looked like the lost, lonely boy of so long ago.

“She sounds very special.”

“She was”

“And,” you hesitated, “I’m no shrink, but if she was ‘just’ part of you, then…isn’t that good?”

He couldn’t unpack this. Maybe it was the drink, maybe not, but you tried to explain.

“She sounds sweet and loving and she stopped you going mad. And that…that’s all inside you. You and she did that together. You can’t lose her if she never fully left. It means you have all that love to share. The love you have for her and the love she had for you. If she was loving, then so are you.”

“You're getting a little ‘kumbaya’, don’t you think?” he said. And then, as his characteristic cynicism faded, “Thanks.”

You stood up.

“I have work tomorrow. Drink that water and then sleep on your side in case you puke again. I’d rather avoid having someone who looks like he’s not legal to drink choking to death on my couch.”

“ ‘kay,” he mumbled, eyes already heavy as he shifted onto his side, “she always said I drink too much.”

“She was right.”

*** Friday morning. You intended to let him sleep, but when you entered the living room he wasn’t there. The blanket he slept under was folded neatly on the couch, the bowl and water glass clean and drying on your draining board.

He’d cleaned up the broken glass and your destroyed TV was gone. In its place was a note:

New TV arrives tomorrow. Sorry again.

Masterpost

Alternatively, join me on A03.  Here is a link to the whole series

[narrans]

A Tall and Small Collection | S2 |

It has been some time since Ashlynn has seen her Borrower companions - Soren, Dorian, and Rey. Why did she leave? Will she come back? What will have changed? Soren has been living with his brothers in the same old apartment for years, even after Ashlynn left that day. So much has changed. How is she doing? Will they see her again? Read and find out.

Chapter One | Snippet/Tease

Chapter Two | One Word

Chapter Three | Recognition

Chapter Four | Reunited

Chapter Five | She's Back

Chapter Six | Soren

Chapter Seven | Last Night Home

Chapter Eight | Good Bunny

Chapter Nine | Moving into the Unknown

Chapter Ten | Welcoming Committee

Chapter Eleven | Is Honesty the Best Policy?

Chapter Twelve | Tense

Chapter Thirteen | Baby Sitting

Chapter Fourteen | Settling In

Chapter Fifteen | Dorian's Small Forte

Chapter Sixteen | ... Have You Been?

Chapter Seventeen | Feeling Loopy

Chapter Eighteen | Dorian's Lament

Chapter Nineteen | Unspoken Confession

Chapter Twenty | An Unexpected Guest

Chapter Twenty-One | Confronted on the Countertop

Chapter Twenty-Two | Afraid to Catch Feels

Chapter Twenty-Three | Making A Musician

Chapter Twenty-Four | Sick Day

Chapter Twenty-Five | Recovery and Discovery

Chapter Twenty-Six | Ambushed

Chapter Twenty-Seven | Confessions to the (Un)Conscious

Chapter Twenty-Eight | Worth the Wait

Chapter Twenty-Nine | Forward Together

Chapter Thirty | Cloud Watching and Admissions

Chapter Thirty-One | Mailroom Promises

Chapter Thirty-Two | From Fun to Fright

Chapter Thirty-Three | A Jarring Night

Chapter Thirty-Four | Music and the Prelude

Chapter Thirty-Five | Saving Our Hero pt. 1

Chapter Thirty-Six | Saving Our Hero pt. 2

Chapter Thirty-Seven | Saving Our Hero pt. 3

Chapter Thirty-Eight | Harrowing Heroism

Chapter Thirty-Nine | A Little Theo-ry

Chapter Forty | Inventors Exchange

Chapter Forty-One | Field Trips and Feelings

Chapter Forty-Two | True Colors Revealed pt. 1

Chapter Forty-Three | True Colors Revealed pt. 2

Chapter Forty-Four | True Colors Revealed pt. 3

Chapter Forty-Five | True Colors Revealed pt. 4

Chapter Forty-Six | True Colors Revealed pt. 5 (FINALE)

Chapter Forty-Seven | Epilogue

~~~~~^*^*^*^*^~~~~~

One-Shots An A-Mayzie Christmas Wish

[todaysdocument]

Wilbur Wright pushed a lever the wrong way and crashed the Flyer III during test flights on May 14, 1908. 

Record Group 27: Records of the Weather Bureau

Series: Records Relating to Aviation Experiments Conducted by Orville and Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

Transcription: 

The World, New York.

The Sun, Baltimore.

The Post, Washington.

The Landmark, Norfolk.

After the greatest of [corrected from “od”] all air ship flights this afternoon the machine of [“Wr” crossed out] Wilbur and Orville Wright was smashed into an unrecognizable [“heap” crossed out] mass. The navigator of the machine, Wilbur Wright, escaped from the accident practically unhurt, [“xThax” crossed out] having received nothing more than a mere scratch on his face [“as a result of the accident” crossed out]. The [“mexbyne” crossed out] machine had already flown eight miles in seven [“second” crossed out] s minutes and [“seven” crossed out] forty seconds under beautiful control. The wrecking of [“the machine” crossed out] it was due to an error on the part of the navigator. Proceeding [“slights” crossed out] slightly in a downward course, it was the [“Wilbur” crossed out] designed by the navigator to elevate its course, but instead of working the lever to accomplish that result, he worked it as to direct the course of the machine still further downward. Responding instantly to the influence of the lever the machine shot downward and to [“th” crossed out] the ground with great rapidity. As strongly as it was put together it [“could not” crossed out] was crushed like an egg shell. Wilbur Wright’s luck which has [“stt” crossed out] stood by him ever since he has commenced his ascents in the air [“stood by him” crossed out] was still with. 

The machine was wrecked behind a sand hill two miles from the point [“at which” crossed out] from which it was started. [“Leaving” crossed out] Rising from [“the hous” crossed out] a point near the house in which it is stored, the machine flew away with twice the speed of a bird. Its course was directed north along [“th” crossed out] the beach for a mile and a half when it was [“then” crossed out] turned to the [page torn]

[page 2]

and which was working to their satisfaction, was hard to manipulate instantaneously, without considerable practice . The Wrights had not had time to practice its manipulation to perfection.

The flight of the machine was [word truly is inked out] a  marvelous one, [breaking all is inked out] far out distancing other successful ones that have been recently made at Kill Devil Hill. The machine [inked out had] flew upward of eight miles in seven minutes and forty seconds. Making the ascent from a point near the house in which it is sheltered, one mile from the Kill Devil Hill Life Saving Station, it was steered in a northerly direction, parallel with the coast for a mile and a half. It was then directed westward, over a [inked out "sand hill fifty feet"] small sand hill and between two larger. Then completely circling another sand hill, the course of the machine was turned towards the starting point. Arriving there like a giant bird on a mission requiring great haste, and under the perfect control of the navigator, the machine sped on, the navigator having determined to again fly over the four mile course which had been just completed. The course was pursued with the same great speed until exactly half of it had been flown. Then the fatal mistake was made. Barring the accident, the flight was [words truly a are marked out] magnificent [the word one is inked out] .

Previous to this flight an other of perhaps equal importance though shorter was flown. This consisted in the complete circling a big sand hill 150 feet tall for a distance of two miles, both Orville Wright and a mechanic assistant, being seated in the machine. The machine on this circuit came back to its starting point and beyond it for a quarter of a mile.

[page 3]

[penciled and underlined the number "3"]

The Wrights state that they will immediately pack up the wreckage of their machine and ship it back to their home in Dayton, Ohio "[several sentences are inked out and illegible]"

Orville Wright had intended leaving here Monday to prepare for a trip to Europe, having engagements there with representatives of foreign Governments who have [2 words inked out] been attracted by the possibilities of their machine.

Not since the Wrights have been here did their machine appear so complete an instrument as it did today, due no doubt to its wonderful performance in the hands of its makers who were daily displaying more skill in [inked in "operating  it] The fatal mistake was the result of [inked in importance [?]] with the operation of the new steering gear which the brothers had perfected and installed on the machine. Its working was very satisfactory, but required practice [inked in "for instantaneous manipulation[?]]

Another extraordinary flight [comparatively a short one is inked in] was made by the machine today [although is inked out] "[the words "although a comparatively a short one are inked out]" It was the complete circling of a sand mountain for a distance of two miles, '[inked out "Orville Wri"]"both Orville Wright and Furnass a mechanic occupying seats in the machine. The remarkable part about this flight was the fact that the machine was on a constant curve. It sailed the distance in two minutes and a half. It returned to its starting point and continued its flight for a quarter of

[page 4]

[penciled in and underlined the number 4]                       [penciled in the number 20

a mile beyond. "[two inked out illegible words]" Owing to the refusal of the Wrights to [2 illegible words are inked out] operate their machine when [3 words inked out "witnessed by strangers"] they were possessed of the knowledge that others besides themselves and the life-savers at the Kill Devil Hill Station [3 illegible penciled in words] and the isolation of their location, but few have seen the machine fly. Those who witnessed the flights today and many of the previous, besides [penciled in words "[The Wrights and Life-saving?]"the following newspaper Correspondents: Newton, of the New York Herald; Hoster, of the New York American Macgowan, of the [inked out 2 words] London Daily Mail and Salley.

[the word Salley is inked out]

[phoenix-le-danseur-de-pole]

100 Thoughts

(BTW this one is really long, so it will be split into two separate parts)

One life, we live. Two hands, we give.

Three days, we save. Four times, were made.

Five trees, all fell. Six men, to hell.

Seven tears, replenish. Eight crops, diminish.

Nine clouds, above. Ten angels, all love.

Eleven blades, stuck in. Twelve hours, gone dim.

Thirteen, cursed tounges. Fourteen, children young.

Fifteen, yellow pills. Sxteen, glasses filled.

Seventeen, gold bars. Eighteen, hands scarred.

Nineteen, plates filled. Twenty, all killed .

Twenty-one, shots fired. Twenty-two, conspired.

Twenty-three men, of sin. Twenty-four coats, too thin.

Twenty-five, matches lit. Twenty-six, scarves knit.

Twenty-seven, lions roar. Twenty-eight, eagles soar.

Twenty-nine, run out. Thirty, in drought.

Thirty-one, fires burn. Thirty-two, souls turn.

Thirty-three, left dead. Thirty-four, in bed.

Thirty-five, books burned. Thirty-six, stones turned.

Thirty-seven, lives wasted. Thirty-eight, wines tasted.

Thirty-nine, gone astray. Forty, pushed away.

Forty-one in, the sun. Forty-two have, no fun.

Forty-three, sacred bells. Forty-four, shiny shells.

Forty-five in, the sky. Forty-six free, to fly.

Forty-seven, tiny seeds. Forty-eight, choked by weeds.

Forty-nine, healed up scars. Fifty, bright white stars.

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"JONES AND KELLY WILL SERVE 36 YEARS IN PRISON," Winnipeg Tribune. June 14, 1912. Page 8. ---- Nineteen Years Extra for Four Men Who Broke Out of Ports- mouth Penitentiary ---- Kingston, Ont., June 14. - Nineteen years were added by Judge Madden to each of the sentences of Frank Jones, Harry Kelly and George Brown, the western desperadoes, who on April 20 escaped from the provincial penitentiary at Portsmouth after assaulting and wounding guards and keepers. The convicts came upyesterday at the court of general session along with Arthur Bonner, the Australian, who came under their influence at Stoney Mountain penitentiary and, became further associated with them at the time of their escape. Bonnar conducted his case with the skill of a lawyer. Jones. when he saw how the Jury acted in the charges against his comrades, put in a plea of guilty and saved the court an hour trying him.

The additional nineteen years means that Jones and Kelly have thirty-six years of prison lite before them, while Brown, the abductor of Gladys Price, will serve twenty-seven years before he will be a free man.

Bonnar made a splendid plea to the judge when he stood up for sentence. He asked for chance to become a useful member of society. Judge Madden was so impressed that, while he gave him the same sentence as the other three men, he informed Bonnar that if he behaved himself well in the prison during the remaining years of his western sentence he would be given an opportunity at the expiration of the seven years to apply for a pardon.

Past Records Frank Jones and Arthur Kelly are the names under which the Macum brothers are known in Winnipeg and they are looked upon by the local police as two of the most daring criminals with which they have had to deal. After committing a series of robberies here they were rounded up in Elmwood by Constable Mackenzio and chased across the river. Cornered in the red light area, they shot W. P Traynor, and later were arrested by several constables headed by Hugh Brown. Traynor laid at the point of death for some days, but ultimately recovered and is now desk sergeant at police headquarters. During the chase after Jones and Kelly between thirty and forty shots were fired at the constables who were unarmed. Shortly after this the police commission decided that all constables must be armed to prevent a similar trouble in the future.

Brown is the man who abducted. Miss Price from the school house near Snowflake. For eight days the Pembine valley was scoured by the settlers who left their work and armed themselves with any weapon on which they could lay their hands. However, despite the vilizance Brown succeeded in stealing food from the Western hotel at Snowflake and disturbed in one of his raids he shot William Adams, the proprietor. Eight days after abducting Miss Price Brown was captured two miles south of the boundary in a house where he had gone for food and shelter.

Bonnar is a horse thief sentenced here on several charges. He made a sensational leap from a train while being brought in for trial and also made several attempts to escape. With such men as Brown, Jones and Kelly he was considered too dangerous to keep in the penitentiary at Stony Mountain so the quartette, heavily shackled, were sent to Kingston, it was while nearing the eastern penitentiary that they made the break for liberty for which they were sentenced today.

[jrpneblog]

North End suffer the Easter Blues

A goal from Jay Stansfield midway through the second half was enough to send North End to only their second defeat in eleven league games. It didn't quite de-rail North Ends play off aspirations as much as it might with all the four teams in strong contention for that sixth spot losing. In truth this was a poor affair with quality being at a premium but we didn`t take our chances in the first half and we were made to pay later on in the game. Too many passes went astray in the middle of the Park and North End slipped back into their bad habit of giving the ball away far too often when possession had been regained. Once the home side had taken the lead we rarely looked like creating the golden opportunity to level the game and take, what would have been, a good point.

Ryan Lowe made two changes to the side that beat Rotherham on Good Friday with Noah Mawene coming in for Alan Browne and Jack Whatmough replacing Jordan Storey. It was a quiet start to the game with the hosts having the first chance on the quarter hour which was well saved by Woodman. On the half hour North End created a good opening but Frokjaer choose to pass instead of putting his foot through the ball. North End then had another opportunity though Mawene but the ball got stuck under the players feet and the chance went begging. I thought Brady was our best outlet in the first half down the left hand side and a shot from the Irish International was well saved by Ruddy. Birmingham hit the outside of the post a few minutes from the break but the 0-0 at the interval probably accurately reflected the first forty five minutes.

Now changes from North End at half time but it was the hosts who came out with more intent after the interval. Having said that chances were very few and far between in the early stages of the second half has both sides were finding it difficult to get momentum into their game. Half way through the second half came the decisive moment in the game as a tackle was missed in midfield by North End and as Lindsay went to clear he slipped. This left Stansfield with a clear path to goal and the striker raced forward to beat the advancing Woodman with a shot to his right hand side. It was a good finish to be fair and was certainly good enough to win this poor encounter. Millar was introduced for North End as we looked for a late equaliser but we never really looked like creating a goal scoring opportunity and the points went to the home side.

So a bad defeat for North End on a day we just didn`t look up to the task in my opinion. It could have been much worse save for the fact that Norwich, Coventry and Hull City all lost as well so we remain five points behind the Canaries, who are in sixth place, with a game in hand. Clearly, North End missed the influence of Alan Browne in the middle of the Park although young Mawene gave a fair account of himself as the replacement. This was only the second defeat in eleven league games for North End so it was hardly a collapse but with only seven games left and North End five points behind a win at a tough looking fixture away at Watford on Gentry Day is now looking a must if we are to have any realistic hopes of sneaking into the top six.

.

BIRMINGHAM CITY 1-0 PRESTON

.

WOODMAN 7

WHATMOUGH 6 LINDSAY 6 HUGHES 7

HOLMES 7 McCANN 6 MAWENE 6 BRADY 7

FROKJAER 5

RIIS 6 KEANE 7

.

SUBS

WOODBURN 6

MILLAR 7

OSMAJIC 6

STEWART 6

SEARY 6

.

MOTM: Robbie Brady

Attendance 24,511

Preston Fans 1,389 (5.67%).

[mitchbeck]

HARTFORD WOLF PACK REGULAR SEASON FINALE

By: Alex Thomas, Hartford Wolf Pack SPRINGFIELD, MA – The Hartford Wolf Pack conclude the 2022-23 regular season tonight with a short trip to Massachusetts to face their rivals, the Springfield Thunderbirds. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m., and coverage is available on both AHLTV and Mixlr. Tale of The Tape: This is the 12th and final meeting of the season between the Wolf Pack and the Thunderbirds. It is also the sixth and final meeting of the regular season at the MassMutual Center between the potential playoff foes. The Thunderbirds have enjoyed great success in the season series, including a 4-0 decision in the last meeting on March 25th in Hartford. Nikita Alexandrov opened the scoring 14:14 into the game, tipping home a centering pass from Scott Perunovich for his 14th goal of the season. The tally would stand as the eventual game-winner. Adam Gaudette extended the lead to 2-0 10:32 into the middle stanza, while Mathias Laferriere ended the intrigue just 66 seconds later at 11:38 with a powerplay marker. Hugh McGing ended the scoring 14:44 into the third period, firing home his 13th goal of the season. Garret Sparks made 21 saves for the shutout victory, his first win as a member of the Thunderbirds. The Wolf Pack are 3-6-0-2 against the Thunderbirds this season, with their most recent triumph coming on March 24th by a score of 6-5. In addition, the Wolf Pack are 1-3-0-1 at the MassMutual Center this season. Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds are 8-2-0-1 in the head-to-head series and 4-1-0-0 at home. Wolf Pack Outlook: The Wolf Pack won their eighth straight game on Friday night, blanking the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins by a score of 4-0 at the XL Center. Tim Gettinger opened the scoring 15:58 into the game, as a Lauri Pajuniemi shot went off his right leg and into the goal for a powerplay marker that stood as the game-winner. Turner Elson tacked on the insurance 6:27 into the second period, taking a centering feed from Ryan Carpenter in the slot. Elson would score again 4:32 into the final stanza, steering a pass from Cuylle home for his 17th goal of the season. It was Elson's second straight game with two goals. Adam Edström finished the night off with his first career AHL goal 13:24 into the third period, undressing a Penguin before ripping a shot by the blocker of goaltender Joel Blomqvist. Louis Domingue made 28 saves for his fourth shutout of the season. The win was his ninth consecutive victory. Hartford's current eight-game winning streak is the second longest in franchise history. The franchise's longest winning streak is nine games. That occurred during the 2004-05 season. On Friday night, the parent New York Rangers (NHL) recalled Domingue, forwards Jonny Brodzinski and Jake Leschyshyn, and defenseman Libor Hájek. Brodzinski leads the Wolf Pack in points with 48 (21 g, 27 a) in 47 games. Cuylle, meanwhile, leads the team in goals with 25. With Brodzinski recalled, Cuylle also leads the active Wolf Pack in scoring with 45 points (25 g, 20 a). Thunderbirds Outlook: The Thunderbirds fell behind early last night against the Providence Bruins but stormed back to score seven unanswered goals and take a 7-2 decision on home ice. Georgii Merkulov and Chris Wagner scored for the Bruins in the opening frame, giving them a 2-0 lead through twenty minutes. However, the T-Birds awoke for the final forty and ran away with two key points. First, Matthew Peca scored 44 seconds into the middle stanza to get the Thunderbirds on the board, then McGing popped home the equalizer 12 seconds later at the 56-second mark. Gaudette then gave the T-Birds a lead they never lost at the 19:05 mark. Springfield's offense continued to pour it on with four unanswered goals in the third period, started by Will Bitten 3:03 into the frame. Mikhail Abramov would score at 4:59 before Alexandrov and McGing scored late to cement the win. Joel Hofer made 39 saves for the victory. Martin Frk leads the Thunderbirds in scoring with 64 points (30 g, 34 a) in his first season with the club. His 30 goals also lead the Thunderbirds and rank him tied for sixth in the league in goal scoring with Laval's Anthony Richard, Coachella Valley's Kole Lind, and Ontario's Lias Andersson. Game Information: WATCH: AHLTV LISTEN: Mixlr Play-by-play voice of the Wolf Pack, Alex Thomas, will have 'Wolf Pack Pregame' starting live at 6:50 p.m. on both AHLTV and Mixlr. The Wolf Pack will begin the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs next week. Hartford's First Round opponent and game dates and times are still to be determined. For Calder Cup Playoff tickets and seeding information, please visit  www.hartfordwolfpack.com/tickets/playoff-information. ABOUT THE HARTFORD WOLF PACK: The Hartford Wolf Pack has been a premier franchise in the American Hockey League since the team's inception in 1997. The Wolf Pack is the top player-development affiliate of the NHL's New York Rangers and plays at the XL Center. The Wolf Pack has been home to some of the Rangers' newest faces, including Igor Shesterkin, Filip Chytil, and Ryan Lindgren. Follow the Wolf Pack on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

[rmhashauthor]

Yet More Dreck!

I'm not kidding, I have a TON of these little pieces of things just lying around. They follow me from hard-drive to hard-drive and I just can't let them go. Every time I come up with a new species or character they get their own little vignettes to flesh them out before (if) I do anything with them. Sometimes they come out like dreams, and I'll look up after writing for two, three hours and stare at it like "where did this come from?"

This one I do have plans for, but they're secret plans 😁

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they trained her for stasis, they told her that waking up would be unpleasant at best. They told her that she would feel grimy, like she'd just been dug out of a crypt, and that the inside of her mouth would taste like she hadn't brushed her teeth in seventeen years. They warned her that she'd have to fight going back to sleep, and if she couldn't then she'd get a hefty shot of stimulants to make damn sure she woke up. During the training runs she'd been drugged into twilight sleep just to be jerked rudely awake by a needle full of epinephrine to the heart, had soaked for hours in tubs of ice to acclimate to the deep freeze of space, and signed off on the placement of a nasogastric tube that would keep her alive while she slept. She'd had multiple psychological evaluations, been trained in survival and hand-to-hand combat, and said goodbye to her friends and peers before her trip. The fact that she would probably never see them again had been discussed, but she'd believed that the benefit to mankind would outweigh her personal losses.

What they hadn't told her was that when she stepped into the launch capsule, a cluster of space rocks the size of buses would cross her path in forty-seven years and send her single-person craft into survival shutdown. Unbeknownst to her, there was a fail-safe built into her life-support systems that switched from maintenance to storage, taking her body from preservative deep sleep and locking it in suspended animation. Once her blood had been flushed with a solution designed to remain liquid even hundreds of degrees below freezing, the craft would shut down to nuclear battery power and send a distress ping alerting anyone or anything nearby that there was a vessel in need of help. And it did, for approximately four hundred and thirty-eight years.

Lyssa Alderman remained frozen, completely unaware that she slept through The Greeting, and first contact between humans and the huge semi-aquatic Dreen. She slept through the breaking of the Drassian Empire, its young Dragon Emperor abdicating his throne to save his people. She slept through asteroid storms, rings of gas giants like colossal dancers in the endless night, and the birth of stars in their placental clouded nebulae. And when her craft's signal was picked up all those centuries later and her rescuer Tafa scooped her out of the dark with a magnetic arm, she slept through that too. Lyssa only woke when someone with knowledge of 'defrosting' using generations-old tech pumped her veins with borrowed blood and cycled through the long, slow process of unfreezing her body before ramming a shot of amphetamine straight into her bloodstream. Lyssa jerked to life then, screaming a rusty shriek that rebounded on the white walls of the medical ward while her body protested against being folded in the same shape for half a millennium. Under conscious sedation, her saviors unwilling to anesthetize her again so soon after waking, her nasogastric tube was removed and replaced with an IV bag of fluid nutrients, and her recovery and reintroduction to waking life began.

Lyssa stared at her hands, stiff and curled into claws from her centuries of sleep, and tried to make sense of what Doctor Grissom was telling her. They found us? Aliens? Actual life beyond our system, not just single-celled things? Her mind, still sluggish, struggled to incorporate this new knowledge, didn't quite understand what Grissom was saying.

“You need to drink, Lyssa. It's thirty-nine degrees out there, drinking is the difference between life and death.”

He means Celsius. It's over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit outside, it's hot. The world beyond her hospital room glared with yellow light, the grassy dunes outside her window shades of dun and amber. Juua, he said this is Juua. Another world, a completely different star-system, a planet with very little surface water but nonetheless alive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The desert heat pounded mercilessly on her head as Lyssa followed Doctor Grissom across the campus. “You'll get used to it,” he assured her. “Make sure you drink plenty of water – you'll find community watering stations every block or so. Ask any Juun for water and they're happy to give it to you free of charge. They're an extremely hospitable people, even if they look strange to you.”

Lyssa had to agree. These Juun, the strange humanoid creatures that lived in densely populated communities in the desert, hadn't been discovered when she'd begun her journey, and the revelation that there was life beyond Earth, life far more complex than the single-celled bacteria of Io, had left her gasping to comprehend. Lyssa wondered when she would start to feel old, when time would begin to catch up with her. Sweat dripped down her face, her hair was soaked with it and dust clung to her skin from it. She and Doctor Grissom passed three of the aliens, their androgynous faces and bodies swathed in loose clothing that hid any distinction between male and female. Some looked more feminine or masculine, but she wasn't able to say how. All wore jewelry of some kind, some more than others, and it seemed that there was no one particular hairstyle. Some wore their straight or wavy light-colored hair cropped short, others long, some loose and others twisted into simple or elaborate braids or curls piled on top of the head or trailing down their slender backs. It was easier to accept their long, thin tails and legs than it was their apparent androgyny.

Grissom led Lyssa to his office, inviting her to sit while his assistant – a Juun with strawberry-blonde hair pinned to the back of their head with a piece of sharpened, polished bone – prepared them a tray of cold tea and dried fruit. “Lyssa, this is Asha, they have worked for me for several years. Asha, Lyssa is the patient I have told you about.”

Asha offered Lyssa a delicate cup and a friendly, genderless smile. “Doctor Grissom speaks well of you, Lyssa. I am pleased to see you alert and on your feet.”

“Um...thanks.” Lyssa took the cup, regarding the pale liquid with mild suspicion. Asha's clothes whispered quietly as the Juun bustled around the room, straightening books and collecting papers. Lyssa watched them, cautious of the thin tail that flicked silently around their ankles. Asha handled Doctor Grissom's things with great care, maneuvering their long, slim four-fingered hands with delicacy. When Asha moved a stack of files to a tray by the window, Lyssa took note of the fine hairs covering the Juun's arms, a soft pelt like mouse fur that left only the palms of their hands and the soles of their feet bare. Asha nodded to Doctor Grissom and he returned the nod. “Thank you Asha, I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Good night, Doctor.” The Juun padded out of the office, silent as a cat. Lyssa watched them go, unsure how to regard the exchange.

“It takes most people some time to get used to them,” Doctor Grissom began, “I know I was uncomfortable at first. But Juun are surprisingly understanding when it comes to humans, they don't seem to mind explaining to us humans how things work around here. When I first started my practice here Asha did much more than keep my schedule and handle my business affairs – they served as my social liaison as well. It's really thanks to them that the community trusts me. You can only go so far with an education, you have to have the people skills to go with it. You remember people skills, don't you?” Grissom's bearded face cracked a smile, but Lyssa frowned mutely into her cup.

The doctor set his cup down. “Lyssa... I know this is difficult. You missed out on almost seven hundred years of history and you're scrambling to catch up. But you're a brilliant woman, smart enough to enter the Federation's exploration program, so I know you'll be able to adjust.”

Lyssa stared into her cup. When she'd first climbed into the Rosetta craft, humans had been the only intelligent life she knew of. Two hundred and forty years after the Rosetta's signal had been lost, the Greeting came and the Dreen had reached out to humankind. A century later, the Nuani and Drass had made themselves known, and barely a generation after that the Drassian Empire's last surviving prince had disbanded the monarchy. Since then more and more species had come out of the shadows of space, and the Federation had cataloged them as they came. Lyssa had gone into stasis hoping humans weren't alone in the universe, and woke seemingly into an ironic dream – everyone she'd known, all of her relatives, everyone she'd loved was gone, dead for centuries, their descendants scattered to the stars. That she was related however distantly to Doctor Grissom made no difference – Lyssa was alone in the universe, as alone as she had been when the Rosetta had found itself adrift in the interstellar current. Doctor Grissom voice brought her back from the edge: “Lyssa, you should drink, dehydration can kill you in two or three days.”

She tipped the cup to her lips and drank. The cold liquid touched her lips and she realized suddenly that she was thirsty. The tea disappeared down her throat and settled behind her breastbone. When she set down the empty cup Doctor Grissom refilled it. “Better get into the habit now, it's easier to maintain hydration than it is to catch up.” Lyssa found herself remembering snippets of the survival training she'd undergone for months before liftoff. Two liters of water per day, per person. Always more if you can get it. She drank another cup of tea.

“Lyssa...” The tone in Michael Grissom's voice told her he wanted to breach a new subject, one that she might find distasteful. “Concerning your living situation, as well as your adjustment, I believe it would be in your best interests to place you with a foster family. Asha has located a pair of Juun willing to take you in for a time.”

“A foster family? I'm not a child-”

“Let me explain. Among the Juun, it's a common enough practice to take on fosters of any age. Older Juun with no living relatives can adopt or be adopted by a younger Juun family. Some of my staff live with Juun families, and they raise their children alongside Juun weans. It's a good system, it makes sure that no one is left completely alone. The pair I have in mind live outside of the city, in a canyon a few miles from here. They're nice people, I've met them before. They'll do their best to help you acclimate, teach you the language and the history you've missed.”

“No.”

“Pardon?”

“I want to go home. I want to go back to Earth, where I belong.”

“Lyssa, Earth isn't like you remember. You wouldn't recognize the place – the shock would be terrible for your health, mentally and physically. You need to go somewhere quiet where you can come to terms with it all.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So there's that. Another species, another world, more cultural exploration and drama, all the good stuff. I don't want to give too much away, but this story will likely be very experimental in terms of character-building and interactions. Hopefully I'll have the time to get it finished, it'd be nice to see it out in the real world on a bookstore shelf some day...

[feralthoughtdump]

Till Forever Falls Apart

CW: angst, death, squid game spoilers, a little bit of fluff, hurt/comfort I guess?, wrote this while concussed

Word Count: 1.5k

The blinding white room did little to help her headache. Her stomach grumbles from the little food she was given and the fight that broken out the night before kept her up. 

She pulls her jacket around herself, basking in the little comfort it provides her as the other players shuffle around her, collecting into teams of ten. 

It was hopeless, trying to find anyone that was willing to take her in. She barely made it past the finish line during Red-Light, Green-Light, hiding behind the other players and hoping to god that even the smallest amount of movement would go undetected. 

She wanders around a little more before taking refuge in the corner. 

She’s broken from her train of thought when someone crouches down in front of her. Despite the grim conditions they were stuck in, his handsome smile still managed to meet his eyes. 

“Hey,” He offers her his hand and she notices the 325 on his jacket. “I’m Bucky. I see that you don’t have a team.” 

“Yeah. I um, I don’t.” She whispers. 

“Join ours then. We’re short of one and you seem like a smart girl.” 

She takes his hand and he gently pulls her onto her feet, escorting her to a group of men and women sitting on the ground. 

“Looks like you’ve found our tenth.” A redheaded woman smiles. “It’s nice to meet you.” 

She’s quickly introduced to the rest of the team, recognizing Steve and Pietro as the first to cross the finish line, Wanda and Peter who had expertly carved out the umbrellas in the honeycomb, and Bruce, the doctor who had kindly tended to the cut on her forehead. Natasha, Clint, and Tony quickly introduced themselves to her before they were ordered to proceed. 

As they all shuffled into the room, she looks up in awe at the two platforms standing before them. From her peripheral, she sees two guards carry a large rope. 

The teams.

The platforms. 

The rope. 

Tug of War.

They were going to play tug of war. 

The guards hold up the numbers. Seven and Four. 

Everyone watches in silence as they ascend up the towers and have their hands shackled to the rope. 

At the gunshots, the teams start pulling at the rope, groans, and cries echoing through the arena. 

She watches wide-eyed, mouth agape, knowing what’s to come, but she uselessly hopes that no one has to die.

And though she knew it was coming, she still can’t get over the screams of agony as the players slip from the platform, dangling from the rope. 

She claps her hand over her mouth, watching the blade fall. A whimper slips past her lips as she watched the players on team seven falls, still attached to the rope. 

As they replace the rope, the next numbers are drawn. 

Team Two and Team Five. 

“Don’t worry,” Natasha says. “Steve and Bucky are pretty strong. They served together.” 

She doesn’t respond, only quietly standing and walking with the others to the yellow elevators. 

As Tony discusses strategy, she fidgets with her fingers. Her heart pounds and her hands tremble. 

Tony’s plan was simple. They were to stand in alternating positions, grip the rope with their armpits, and for the first ten seconds, bend backward.

Steve was placed in the front, and then Bucky, while she stood in between Natasha and Wanda and the end of the rope. 

They immediately bend back at the sound of the gunshot, keeping their feet planted on the platform. 

The strategy was working fairly well, they held their position and kept a strong grip on the rope until the other team started tugging harder. 

Panic fills her chest as her feet start sliding forward. 

She starts screaming, almost losing her grip. 

She thinks of all the times she’s played tug of war on the school playground, wracking her brain through all of the tricks that would be the most useful in this deadly situation.

The only one that comes to mind is a risky one. But given their desperation, it was a risk she’s willing to take. 

“We need to take three steps forward!” She screams. 

“Are you insane?” Peter retorts. “That’ll kill us!”

“If we do it, they’ll trip. It’ll give us an upper hand.” 

Everyone exchanges quick glances of hesitation before Steve nods.

“Alright.” He tightens his grip on the rope. “We’ll give it a shot.”

“On the count of three!” She yells. “One! Two! Three!”

They all step forward, nearly toppling over the edge, but thankfully Steve and Bucky help them hold strong. 

Their opponents falter and trip, just like she said. 

“Pull!” She screams. “We have to keep pulling.”

It’s as if her adrenaline has hit an all-time high. Her only focus was survival. Her own, and her teammates. 

The muscles of her arms burn but they continue pulling and pulling. Everyone screams in frustration, but she can only hear her heartbeat. 

With one final ragged yell, they pull the rope back and their opponents slide off the edge. 

She falls onto her back, guilt already creeping into her as she listens to the screams of their opponents and wincing at the sound of the rope being cut. 

Everything around her dulls, Natasha’s words never reaching her ears. Wanda reaches out a shackled hand to rub her shoulder, trying to soothe the distress growing stronger inside of her, but it does nothing. Sobbing, she curls into her body and lets her exhaustion take control. 

… 

“Are you okay?” 

She looks up to see Bucky standing in front of her, holding a plum in his hand. Her eyes cast downward as tears start to prickle at her eyes. 

“No.” She whispers, voice cracking. “I-” A sob breaks through her chest. “All those people… They’re all dead.” 

He sits down next to her, placing the plum in her hands. 

“You did what you had to do to survive. And you saved us all.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that they died for us to live.”

She buries her face in her hands, sobs wracking through her body. 

Bucky stays by her side, gently rubbing her back.

“Why?” She whispers. “Why did you want me to join your team?” 

“Because you’re smart.” He hesitates, but places his fingers under her chin, tilting her head up to look at him. “I saw your little trick with the honeycomb. ” 

She scoffs. 

“What does that have to do with any of this? Hmm?” Her brows furrow and her voice filled with anger. “The game started off with over four hundred people. And look at us now. There are only forty of us left.”

She’s tired. So tired. Tired of all the debt she owed, tired of watching the people around her die, tired of all of the spilled blood. At this very moment, she could care less about staying alive. She had been stripped of a name, simply reduced to Player 28, starved, and had to face death far too many times for someone her age. Paying off her debt wasn’t worth this. Neither was living. 

“Tell me something, Bucky. Is paying off our debts worth all of this? Each game is just going to get worse. When the final game rolls around, we’re going to have to kill each other. Hell, we’re already killing each other!” 

Despite her anger, she keeps her voice low. Not wanting to attract anyone else to her hidden spot behind all of the beds. 

“Hey,” His thumb brushes away her tears. “Listen to me. We don’t know what the next games are going to be. But I’m telling you, I know you’re going to make it through. We’re going to make it through. You’re a strong girl, I believe in you.” 

She looks into his blue eyes, searching for any deception, but she’s only met with sincerity. 

Maybe it was the exhaustion, maybe it was the knowledge that any one of them could die tomorrow, or maybe it was Bucky’s words, but she leans forward and presses her lips against his. 

“Oh my god.” She pulls back quickly. “Oh my god, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t”

“Doll,” Bucky cups her face in his hands. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” His thumb brushed over her lips. “I liked it.” 

He pulls her towards him, passionately kissing her. For the first time, ever since getting into this hell hole, she feels safe. Safe with him, in his arms. 

“I promise you,” Bucky presses his forehead against hers. “We’re going to make it out alive. Together.”

And for once, there’s a little spark of optimism inside of her. 

“Together.” She whispers.

[keiichikuzuryuwu]

Place Your Bets

Implied (Future) Keiichi Kuzuryuu x Reader

Summary: This is a reimagining of the manga’s version of the Four of Clubs game, featuring a very stubborn, very smart mother hen Y/N instead of a gentle girl.

A/N: I have literally never seen anyone write for Kuzuryuu and that made me sad, because I love him. Also I know very little about how to actually take care of a baby so please be forgiving.

TW: Blood, leg injury, a crying baby

Walking along a deserted street, a man in a hat was making his way toward tonight’s game. Based on his body language, you would think he didn’t want to go, but in honesty, he was tentatively looking forward to it.

“Oh my god, another person!!” The voice of a woman caught his attention, pulling his gaze away from the lights in the distance. As he looked over, he took note of how clean she was, all glow and innocence compared to the world around her- a new arrival, clearly. But what truly surprised him was the fact that she was carrying a sleeping baby in her arms. It was rare to come across a child here, much less a baby. Perhaps it was her’s, which was why she hadn’t abandoned it yet, “You wouldn’t happen to be this baby’s father, would you? Or at the very least have seen anyone who could possibly be their parents?”

So it wasn’t her’s. The man wondered how long it would be until she gave up on it.

“No, sorry. I’m on my way to a game, so if you’ll excuse me,” He tipped his hat and took a step, only to feel his arm grabbed.

“Wait, what game? Should I be heading there too?”

“You… don’t know about the games? Are you new here?” He already knew the answer, but no point in signaling that to her. She may end up a Heart Specialist and get into his head, after all.

“Yes, actually! One moment, I was going to meet up with my friends, and the next, the entirety of Shibuya was powered down and empty except me and this little one here,” So she’d walked all this way from Shibuya in just a few hours? Maybe a Spades Specialist, then.

“Well then you should come with me. We need to get you registered for a game so you don’t end up a day one victim.”

“Woah, what?? Day one victim??” The color drained from her face, before she grabbed his hand and began walking, “What and where is this game? Is it Trivial Pursuit? Because I’m really good at Trivial Pursuit! Wait, but that’s a one winner game and this is looking more and more like the set up for a death game manga but in real life,” She looked back at him, “Did I get stuck in a death game manga but in real life?”

“Um…” He didn’t really know how to respond to this woman. Regaining his wits, he caught up to her brisk pace and pointed in the direction of the lights, “See those lights? That’s where the closest game is. And, yes, you unfortunately did…”

“Brilliant, let’s go,” She still held onto his hand as they walked, confusing the man. They were complete strangers and he’d just told her that she was walking towards her probable death, yet she continued to hold his hand as though they were allies.

Walking up to the glowing tunnel, the man spotted the registration phones on a table, three of them already missing. The already registered participants were scattered nearby, looking at them strangely. Did they perhaps think he, this woman, and the baby were a family? The thought almost flustered him.

“So what do I do?” The woman asked him when they got over to the table, “Just take one of these phones?”

“Yes, here,” Handing her one, he watched as she tapped to turn it on.

“I don’t like the fact that this facial recognition already had me registered with an ID number,” She scoffed, putting the phone in her skirt’s pocket before hesitating, “Wait, do I need to register this baby too? I mean, obviously I’m not gonna abandon it, but… they’re a baby, they can’t really play a game.”

“No, unfortunately they need to be registered… Here,” Picking up another phone, he held it up to the face of the babe, the ping of the completed registration sounding a moment later, “You keep hold of this one too, since you’re holding the baby.”

“Alright, sounds good to me,” Placing the other phone in her pocket, she cooed at the baby, “You better hope this isn’t Trivial Pursuit or I’m gonna have to kick your butt, baby~ That’s right, that’s right~”

“Please don’t taunt the baby like that. It’s… unnerving…” Nervously pulling on his collar, the man was surprised when she just laughed.

“Sorry, I cope with stress by joking around…” She placed a hand on the back of her neck as they walked over to the others, “The only way this baby isn’t surviving is if it’d be better to do a mercy killing. Other than that, I’m fighting tooth and nail to make sure they get through this with me.”

“You for real??” One of the men closest to them, with spiked, pitch dark hair, scoffed, “You really think you can keep a baby alive here? Put yourself first if you wanna live, lady!”

“Come on, don’t say that!” The woman snapped back, before taking a breath and calming down, “Here, how about we start over and introduce ourselves?”

“This could be a Hearts game, or the rules could state we need to kill each other,” The only other woman there, a stark, gothic contrast to the Mori girl aesthetic of the woman with the baby, stated coldly, “I’ll pass.”

“One minute until registration closes,” A calm, female voice suddenly came from all of their phones, startling the woman with the baby.

“Huh?” Taking out her phone, she looked it over, “Guess it speaks too… These are my least favorite part of this nightmare so far,” Then, she took note of the camera app, “Ooh! Hey, wanna take a selfie?”

“You want to… take a selfie with me?” The man she’d arrived with questioned her, utterly befuddled by this woman.

“Yeah, come on! This might be the last chance we ever get to take a good picture!” Moving in close, she held up the phone, making sure to get both them and the still sleeping baby in the shot, “Awesome! Thanks for indulging my possibly last request!”

“You are way too chipper, lady,” A new man spoke as he walked up. Short cropped hair with designs buzzed into it and a mean face, this man screamed gangster. In reaction, the woman held the baby tighter.

“Entry has now closed,” The phones spoke again, “There are a total of seven participants. Please proceed into the tunnel.”

“I just hope it’s not Spades… I’m not very good at physical games…” The man in the hat grumbled, causing the woman to raise an eyebrow as they walked into the tunnel. About 100 feet in, the woman suddenly stopped, “What’s the matter?”

“I hear something…” Straining her ears for a moment, she suddenly looked up at the top of the tunnel’s entrance.

“Wha?! What the hell?!” Just as the words left spiky haired man’s lips, a barrier fell from the ceiling, creating debris and, more importantly, blocking them in.

“UWAAAHHH!!!!” The baby had woken up due to the world shaking from the force of the barrier’s impact with the ground, only for the woman to pull out a pacifier from her purse and stick it in the infant’s mouth.

“Thank goodness I thought to grab that…”

“W-We’re trapped in??” Goth woman shouted, panic taking over, “But that isn’t the standard!!”

“Guess they really don’t want us to be able to choose the coward’s way out this game…” Gangster guy placed his hand on the wall.

“ARGHH!!” Everyone’s attention was directed to the man in the hat, who was sitting on the ground, blood gushing from his leg, “Some rubble… it went into my leg!!”

“On no!!” The woman with the baby was the first to react, rushing over to him, “Hold the baby, we need to wrap this up and restrict the blood flow!”

“O-Okay…!” Carefully, he took the baby, doing his best not to shake as she took an extra baby blanket out of her bag and used it to create a makeshift cotton bandage.

As she worked, their phones chimed again- “The game will now commence. Difficulty: Four of Clubs. Game: Runaway. Rule: Endure the four trials and reach the goal within the time limit. Clear condition: Reach the goal safely.”

“Trials? Goal? What’s it talking about?” The goth woman mumbled.

“It looks like these are the trials it’s referring to…” At a man in glasses words, everyone turned around and saw what he meant.

In the floor, walls, and ceiling were various doors and hatches. The first door was in a wall, marked ‘Trial One,’ with a timer stating the lock released in fifteen minutes. Next to that, several round hatches labeled ‘Trial Two’ were going to release in thirty minutes. Trial Three’s vents in the ceiling were releasing in forty five, and Four’s hatch on the floor was set to release in an hour.

Spiky haired man noticed a placard on the wall by Door One, and walked over to inspect it.

“The distance to the goal is written here… But I can’t read the most important part. Damnit…” Sure enough, where the number should be, instead was worn down metal.

Looking down at the ground somberly, Glasses stated, “A conjecture… ‘Runaway’ means to flee… Something will come out of each of these four doors after a delay. Perhaps it means we should run towards the goal while running away? If the fourth lock opens after an hour, and we were to run for that amount of time, then the distance to the goal is around ten kilometers…”

“Ten??”

“Game… start.”

At that moment, the timers started counting down, and their phones switched to an hour long timer as well.

“Ten kilometers in an hour is cutting it too close! We can’t afford to waste a second!” With that, everyone save the woman with the baby and the man in the hat started running.

“Can you stand?” The woman asked him as she took the baby back, genuinely concerned about this stranger.

“With help, I think I should be able to…”

“Hey, you lot! Care to help a lady out??”

“I make no promises that I’ll hold on to you till the end…” The gangster helped lift the man to allow the woman to continue carrying the baby safely.

“Thank you in the meantime…” The man got out through labored breaths as they walked.

Within the first five minutes, everyone reached a bus covered in graffiti, the first car they had seen since the game began. By the time the man, woman, and gangster got there, it seemed their fellow players had exhausted it.

“There’s nothing here except junk, and it’s not going no matter how hard I hit the gas!!!” Spiky hair complained as glasses looked underneath the bus.

“The belt is cut, that’s why. Looks like this isn’t meant to be our method of transportation…” Getting up, he began running, “Looks like we have to run! We lost time here, so let’s hurry!”

“Gaaah!! I’m at my limit… There’s no way I could run…” The man in the hat groaned, “Don’t worry about me anymore, you all should hurry on ahead…”

“But-!”

“It’s like he says,” Goth woman cut off the other, “The first trial is about to start… In order to survive in these Borderlands, sometimes we have to do callous things. If you don’t learn that quick, you won’t be long for this world,” With that, she began running as well.

For a moment, the man, woman, and gangster didn’t move, until the gangster helped the man over to the first step of the bus and set him down before walking away.

“You too??” The woman angrily called out after him, “You’re going to desert us??”

“I tried helping… But now, things have changed…” He picked up speed, quickly catching up to the others.

“Selfish cowards!!” She yelled, shaking her fist at them. Sighing, she turned to the man, “Guess it’s just you and me, huh?”

“Are you sure? You should go run-”

“Nuh uh. I’ve decided I’m staying here, so I’m staying here,” Scooting around him, the woman gently placed the baby into the dip of the driver’s seat before helping the man up and to a seat so he could prop up his leg, “Let’s see…”

“What are you doing?” He raised an eyebrow as he watched her go up and down the bus.

“In order to slow the flow of blood more until we can get you help, we need to raise your leg. By doing that, the blood will- Here-” She took the baby and handed them to him again before looking around more, “The blood won’t be able to pump up there as fast, and it should give us some wiggle room.”

“You seem awfully knowledgeable about this. Are you perhaps a doctor?”

“Hah, no, I just remember a lot. Picked this up from a medical book I read when I was sixteen for fun. I’m actually a Masters student working towards simultaneous degrees in Psychology and Religion with a focus in cults,” Before the man could comment on how impressive that was, the woman sighed, “I’ve found a Japanese to English dictionary, a space heater, a set of keys that turn on this motionless bus, and a gum wrapper, but nothing to prop up your leg,” Sitting in the chair across the row from him, the woman took the baby back and gently bounced it, “Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens…”

“I’m sorry I’ve dragged you down with me…”

“Nonsense!” She waved her hand dismissively, “I’m not much of a runner, and I’ve got this little angel to look after. There’s no way I could run to some mysterious goal even if I wanted to. Besides…” Her eyes shifted back and forth before leaning in and dropping her voice as though they were being watched, “Something about this game is striking me as odd.”

“What do you mean?” The man leaned in as best as he could, voice dropping as well.

“Before I tell you my theory, could you explain what exactly the card level of this game means? You said you hoped this game wasn’t Spades because you weren’t good at physical games, while the woman stated we shouldn’t tell each other our names in case it was a Hearts game. That means the different suits represent different types of games, while the number represents how hard it is, right?”

“You picked that up quickly. Most people don’t realize that their first game, it generally takes someone explaining it to them their second or third game for them to get it,” Thinking for a moment, he nodded, “Very well, since we’re going to be here for at least an hour, I’ll tell you. Yes, the number on the card connotes how hard the game will be, with Ace being the easiest, while King is the hardest. As for the suits- Spades represent physical games, lots of moving around and exertion. Diamond games are intelligence and wit based games, and are the least physically demanding. If you were to find a game of Trivial Pursuit here, it would fall into that suit.”

“I see,” She sounded enraptured.

“Hearts,” He paused, considering his words, “They’re psychological games…  They mess with your mind and your morals, and are widely regarded as the most brutal of the four suits. If possible, you do not want to join a Hearts game.”

“And Clubs?”

“Clubs games like this one refer to team battles and a mix of the other’s elements. It’s an unofficial rule that there is always a total win scenario, that it’s possible for all participants to make it out alive.”

“Then that puts us at an advantage!” She nodded decisively, “If Clubs are a team battle, then by sticking together, we have a better chance at survival!”

“But we’re just sitting in a bus?”

“Look mister, I’m trying to remain positive here, so if you could work with me a little?”

“Alright, alright,” The man put his hands up, chuckling. From the sound of it, it was an unfamiliar noise to come from his mouth, “We’re at an advantage because we stuck together while the others are only thinking of themselves.”

“That’s the spirit!” She held out her hand for a fist bump, which the man would have returned, had it not been for the bus suddenly lurching forward, “The hell??”

“UWAAHHH!!!” The motion woke up the baby again, but neither the man or the woman had time to calm them down again, as water was quickly rising around their enclosure and leaking in through some gaps in the windows.

“Oh no, you take Yuuji, I’ll stop the water!” Handing the baby to the man, the woman began to shed layers of clothes, using her jacket, cardigan, tights to plug the gaps. In the end, she was left in just a camisole and her torn up skirt, having even used parts of that to slow the water, “There, that should keep us relatively dry as long as the water goes down soon.”

“You called the child ‘Yuuji,’” The man commented, a bit surprised.

“Huh? I did, didn’t I?” Laughing sheepishly, the woman sat back down, “Don’t know why, they’re not my kid. I don’t even know if they’re male or female.”

“Well, I suppose they do look like a Yuuji,” He looked down at where he was bouncing the slightly calmer baby on his shoulder, “Can I ask why you chose to take this baby with you? You even grabbed their diaper bag.”

“Guess I felt bad about them being abandoned by their parents,” She shrugged, “Something just told me I needed to hold onto them and protect them; which makes no sense, given that it’s not like I grew up with great parental role models.”

“Maybe you just possess a natural maternal instinct, bad parents or not.”

“Who knows? Maybe you’re right.”

For several minutes, neither of them said anything as the man calmed down the baby, lulling them back to sleep.

“It seems as though the water is going down,” The man finally commented, the woman looking out the window to see that they were no longer surrounded.

“Yeah, but now it seems like the temperature is dropping fast!” The woman was right, the air was indeed getting colder, “I’ll go turn on that space heater before Yuuji wakes up again!”

“Sounds good to me.”

With the space heater on, the bus quickly warmed back up, keeping the baby asleep in the man’s arms.

“This cold must be the… how much time has passed?” Looking at her phone’s timer, the woman's brow furrowed, “Forty five minutes?? When the heck did the first trial happen??”

“We must have missed it somehow while we were talking.”

“Weird. Maybe it just passed right by us,” The woman didn’t let it bother her too much, just grateful to have not had to deal with it. Silence passed for a few more minutes as the woman held the baby, before she spoke again, “Okay, something’s been on my mind for the last half an hour, and I gotta know before we die… You were totally faking your personality when we got here, right?”

“H-Huh??” The man’s eyes widened, and he could feel his pulse quicken.

“Acting timid and stuff. Fake, right?”

“I… I…” Sighing, he looked her in the eyes, “How’d you know?”

“I sorta guessed around the time you told me about the suits. Your speech pattern started getting more eloquent, your sentences became longer, and you didn’t bat an eye at the fact that I’m working towards two Masters degrees at the same time. That last thing doesn’t really have to do with the timid thing, but it did tell me that you’re smarter than you seemed. That accident with your leg was very real, something you didn’t account for that truly did leave you near helpless; but before that, it was all strategy so we’d underestimate you in case this turned out to be a single winner game.”

“That’s… phenomenally impressive,” He stared at her in awe, “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”

“Because I’ve been having fun talking with you and didn’t want to make it awkward,” Laughing, she shrugged, “But my natural curiosity got the better of me. I want to die with as few regrets as possible, and I’d regret not getting to see your actual personality,” Tears welled up in her eyes, and she kissed the top of the baby’s head, “I hope however this ends is clean and painless. I doubt it would happen, but if my family were to ever find my body, I wouldn’t want their last image of me to be tainted by something like decapitation, y’know?”

“Yes, I… I understand,” Moving closer, the man took the woman’s hand and squeezed it gently, “I promise you, if we survive this, I’ll do whatever I can to help you survive long enough to reunite with your family.”

“Aww, thanks,” She smiled sadly at him, “That means a lot. You’re a really nice guy, even if you are a crafty strategist.”

“I-”

KABOOM!!!!

An explosion violently shook the bus, causing the baby to once again wake up and cry.

“Quickly, on the ground!” The man pulled the woman and baby into his arms and got on the ground, shielding them with his body as the bus continued to shake. It seemed to go on forever, the shaking, as the bus grew warmer and warmer, far warmer than the heat the space heater would have been able to produce. But, finally, the shaking did stop, and the world became quiet outside of the baby’s cries, “Are you two alright?”

“Y-Yeah, I think so,” After she was helped up by the man, the woman grabbed the baby’s pacifier and returned it to their mouth, “That was the fourth trial, right?”

“I believe so,” He nodded, looking out the window, “All I can see are scorch marks, so I can’t tell, though.”

A little fanfare like tune emitting from their phones answered them, however.

“Game clear. Congratulations! To the survivors of the game, we will now supply you with a Visa.”

“G-Game clear?” The woman’s eyes widened in surprise, “You mean… we won? But that would mean…” Handing the baby to the man, she threw open the door to the bus and hopped out, running around the bus, almost immediately spotting the confirmation she sought, “The goal… It was the bus…”

“It was the bus??” The man limped out of the bus, handing the woman the baby due to feeling shaky as he saw what she’d found, “The graffiti… G-O-A-L… Dear lord…”

“Your injury saved us,” Tears flowed down the woman’s cheeks as she suddenly hugged the man, laughing almost manically, “It saved us! I don’t normally believe in luck, but tonight I think I’ll make an exception!”

“I can’t believe it, though! You were right!” The man laughed as well, “We stuck together as a team instead of only thinking of ourselves, and we survived!”

“Wait- oh no!” Pulling away, the woman frowned, “Those poor people that ran on ahead!! They… If the trials didn’t kill them, then… what did?”

“Anyone who breaks a rule like leaving an arena before the game is over or doesn’t achieve game clear… They’re struck down by a laser from the sky…” His words cause the woman to gasp, a hand covering her mouth, “I hope for their sake, their deaths were as clean and painless as the one you had wished for…”

Taking his hand, she squeezed it gently, “I’ll carry their memories with me, and push forward. As ill as they treated us, I can only hope that wherever they are, they find peace.”

“You’re an incredibly kind woman, Miss…?”

“Oh wow, we never did introduce ourselves, huh? If we’re gonna be sticking together, we should probably at least know the other’s name,” Wiping away her tears, she laughed, “My name is Y/N L/N, Y/A years old, Masters student, and guardian of this little angel until further notice. It’s nice to meet you, Mister…?”

“Kuzuryuu. Keiichi Kuzuryuu, 37 years old, attorney at law, and Diamond Specialist here in the Borderlands. It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Miss L/N.”

“Please, we just nearly died together! You can call me Y/N. Mind if I call you Kuzu?” She looked at him so hopefully that he couldn’t find it in himself to refuse her.

“Alright, you may call me ‘Kuzu’… Y/N.”

“Excellent! Now let’s get out of this place! I’m tired and we need to get you off that leg.”

“I believe I saw a furniture store near here that we could use as shelter before finding something better tomorrow,” He offered as she helped him limp out of the tunnel, the barrier to the outside having been blown off in the explosion.

“Perfect, let’s go there. There’s some supplies to take care of Yuuji in this diaper bag I grabbed, but we’ll need to find some more tomorrow as well.”

“Sounds good to me.”

An hour later, as Y/N and Yuuji slept soundly in one of the spacious beds on display in the furniture store, Kuzuryuu stood outside and pulled out a walkie talkie.

“HQ, please respond. This is Four of Club’s observer, Kuzuryuu,” Taking off his hat, he pushed back his hair and slipped on his glasses, “Surviving players- two of six. Dispatch the cleanup squad to deal with the disposal of tools and materials.”

“Copy that, sir. Anything else?”

“Yes… Tell the others I won’t be back for a while,” He looked back through the doors to where Y/N and Yuuji slept, a small smile on his lips, “I have a player I’d like to place my bets on.”

Y/N L/N

Clubs Specialist

End of Day One of Sojourn

[seconds-not-decades]

Time and Chase

Pairing: Five Hargreeves x Fem! OC

Author's Note: Hello and welcome. This is a major throwback but we are kicking off my TUA series of fics all the way from season one so that this story actually makes sense. Or about as much sense as it can be. I will be posting daily. *Please note that I am well aware that Elliot Page portrays Viktor, but due to season one being before his transition, that is why his character is still Vanya. I am not deadnaming him and I sincerely hope I don't come across as such. I will transition when I write season three.*

Warnings: Slightly long post, cursing, and violence.

Previous | Next

Number Five

~ * ~

On the first day of October, 1989, forty-three women around the world simultaneously gave birth. None of the women showed any prior signs of pregnancy. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and playboy adventurer, made it his personal mission to find and adopt as many of these children as possible.

He got seven of them.

~ * ~

The world was a wasteland. An entire wasteland. Fire and smoke and rubble were all that remained. That was the world Five and Karina grew up in. The world they established a relationship in. The world they got married in.

The years ticked by. The seasons changed. They grew old. It wasn't a picture perfect paradise, but they managed to try to make the most of it and survive with what little they had. They had each other. That was all that mattered in the circumstances given.

They wandered around for what felt like forever. When their resources would be exhausted, they'd pack up and move on. That became their routine. So much that it became their lives.

Here they were, in their mid ages. Resting in the ruins of a library and nursing some alcohol they saved.

Five chuckled. "Do you remember that, uh, little mansion just outside the city limits? Where we…"

"Yeah," Karina laughed quietly from the memory.

"Yeah, well, it turns out the wine cellar was untouched. Picked up a few cases of your favorite Bordeaux," he acknowledged the red wagon.

She smiled as the two clinked their cups and chugged down. Five sighed and kissed her cheek.

"Hmmm, you're in a very happy mood again," she sighed contently.

"Ah, that's an exaggeration, Rina. I don't drink too much," he gave her a look. "You know, I work hard all day. I…why would you even say that?"

The sound of rubble moving caught Five's attention, and soon he seized his rifle and shot to his feet, pushing Karina behind him and aiming it at the source:

A gorgeously dressed woman in vintage apparel, an old fashioned black coat, a fancy black hat, and sunglasses. She waved with a smile and she had a briefcase in her other hand.

"Oh, shit," Karina quietly hissed.

~ * ~

Present Day

"When's it supposed to happen? This…apocalypse," Luther was sitting across from an awake, sober, and freshly cleaned up Five.

"We can't give you the exact hour, but…from what Rina and I could gather, we have four days left," Five responded lowly.

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

Five sighed. "It wouldn't have mattered."

"Of course it would. We could've banded together and helped you try to stop this thing," Luther argued.

"For the record, you already tried," Karina spared Five from telling the news.

"What do you mean?" Luther frowned.

"I found all of you. Your bodies," Five was despondent.

"I found my mother's body as well, when I was searching for her," Karina put in quietly.

"We die?" Luther echoed in disbelief.

"Horribly. You were together, trying to stop whoever it was that ends the world," Five sighed, still forever haunted from the memory.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Luther questioned.

"This was clutched in your dead hand when I found you," Five revealed the mysterious eyeball. He tossed it to his brother. "Must've ripped it out of their head right before you went down."

"Whose head?"

"Like I said, I don't know."

"Well, there's a serial number on the back. Think maybe you could try…"

"No, that's a dead end," Five cut him off. He bitterly chuckled. "It's just another hunk of glass."

Luther wordlessly handed him the eyeball back and he pocketed it. Suddenly, the door banged open and a very angry Diego stormed in.

"Piece of shit. Do you have any idea what you just did?" he was about ready to tackle and kill Five as Luther got to his feet and Five nudged Karina behind him. Diego grunted when Luther grabbed him. "Nope, let me-get your ape hands off of me!" he struggled against his brother.

"I can do this as long as it takes you to calm down," Luther remarked, lifting him off his feet.

"Okay. Fine," Diego huffed reluctantly and he landed back on his feet.

"Now, wanna tell us what you're talkin' about?" Luther asked.

"Our brother's-and possibly his wife's-been pretty busy since he got back. He was in the middle of that shootout at Griddy's, and then at Gimble Brothers, after the guys in masks attacked the Academy, looking for him," Diego bit out, death glaring at Five.

"None of which is any of your concern," Five retorted.

"It is now," Diego seethed. "They just killed my friend."

Luther turned to face the couple. "Who are they, Five? Karina?"

The two were quiet for a moment.

"They work for our former employer," Five broke the silence reluctantly.

"A woman called The Handler. She sent them…to stop us," Karina continued.

"Then, soon as Diego's friend got in their way, well, fair game," Five finished.

"And now they're my fair game. And I'm gonna see to it they pay," Diego headed out.

"That would be a mistake, Diego. They've killed people far more dangerous than you," Five warned him.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Diego let the door slam behind him.

"Former employer? What's this really about, you two? And don't give me any of this "It's none of your business" crap, all right?" Luther snapped.

"Well, it's a long story," Five sighed.

Luther sat down as Five and Karina glanced down.

~ * ~

Five had his gun still aimed at the woman. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm here to help," she replied.

"Tell me why I shouldn't put a bullet through your head right now!" Five threatened, watching her walk towards them.

"Because…if you did," she stepped into the ruins of the library. She set her briefcase down and took off her sunglasses. "You wouldn't hear the offer I'm about to make you. Which would be rather tragic, given your…current circumstances." She perched on a broken piece of concrete. "I work for an organization called the Commission. We are tasked with the preservation of the time continuum through manipulation and removals."

"I don't understand," Five moved closer to her.

"Sometimes, people…make choices that alter time. Free will, don't get me started. When that happens, we dispatch one of our agents to…eliminate the threat," she explained and with that, he held his gun up again. "No, no, no, no." She chuckled. "You misunderstand me. You're not a target. You're a recruit. Both of you. I've come to offer you two jobs, Number Five and Karina."

"I'm not interested," Karina remarked coldly.

"I know what The Commission is. She told me. You'll have to do better than that," Five backed her up.

"I admit, we didn't have the best first impression with your darling wife, but, I promise things will be different this time. I'll see to it myself," the Handler promised. She sighed. "As for you, Number Five. We've had our eye on you for quite some time. And we think you have a lot of potential. Your survival skills have made you quite a celebrity back at headquarters. That and your ability to jump through time."

Five and Karina exchanged a look. Karina knew in her gut this felt like an elaborate trap, but then again, what real and good choice were either of them going to have in the end?

"You saying that we…we could actually leave here?" Five stuttered. "Go…Go back?"

"In return for five years of service," the Handler answered. "Once your contracts are done, you two can retire to the time and place of your choosing with separate pensions plan to boot."

"If you can alter time, why not just stop all of this from ever happening?" Five pointed out.

"That's quite impossible, I'm afraid. You see…all of this, it was supposed to happen," she replied.

"That's insane," Five was in disbelief.

"The end of everything?" Karina echoed, joining his side.

"Not everything. Just the end of…something," the Handler vaguely answered. "So. Do we have an agreement?" she held her hands out for them to shake.

Five scoffed softly as he looked at Karina. She bit her lip, glancing around.

"Look. I-I know this is not going to be an easy decision for you. But-"

"Accept it," Karina resigned herself to another God knows how many years of forced torture.

Five eyed her. "Rina…"

"Don't. It's either this wasteland or there. I can tolerate The Commission a little more than this hell hole," she clenched her jaw.

"I'll be with you every step of the way, I swear," he promised.

And with that, they took the Handler's hands to seal their agreements.

~ * ~

Present Day

"They turned me into the perfect instrument for rehabilitation of the time continuum," Five began to bitterly recount, remembering the memories leading up to where he and Karina were now. "Or "corrections," as they called them."

"I worked in the briefcase division at headquarters. I was always good with technology, so, the Handler made me the Head of that department," Karina continued.

"I wasn't the only field agent. There are others like me. Beings out of time, fractured, extracted from the lives that they knew. I don't know how they got there. But I do know that none of them were as good as me," Five sighed. "They didn't realize it, but we were biding our time, trying to figure out the right equation so I could get us back. If we could just get back, we knew we could stop the apocalypse. Save the world. So we broke our contracts."

Five's head filled with the memories of them being at the JFK assassination in 1960s Dallas, the time portal he conjured, seeing his family on the other side, and both of them falling through the portal into 2019.

"So…you were a hit man and Karina stayed at headquarters?" Luther tried to wrap his head around it, coming over to them with two plates of food.

"Yes," Five nodded.

"Uh…I mean, you had a code, right? You didn't kill just anybody?"

"No code. We took out anyone who messed with the timeline."

"What about innocent people?"

"It was the only way we could get back here."

"But that's murder," Luther pointed out.

Five eyed him. "Jesus, Luther, grow up. We're not kids anymore. There's no such thing as good guys or bad guys."

"Besides, The Commission doesn't care about innocent people. They never did," Karina bitterly remarked. "There's just people, going about their lives."

"But when the world ends, all those people die, including our family," Five sighed. "Time changes everything."

~ * ~

After that oh so lovely conversation, Five jumped him and Karina back into the Academy. They went down the hall.

"Five, look," Karina quietly inhaled, catching his arm. She pointed to the bloody footprints leaving the bathroom and leading into Klaus's room.

The two glanced over to see Klaus meandering around his room. He groaned.

Five knocked at door. "You okay?"

"Hey. Yeah, I just…long night," he flatly chuckled.

"More than one, from the looks of it," Karina was sympathetic.

"Yeah."

"Don't remember the dog tags," Five pointed them out.

Klaus grunted. "Yeah, they belonged to a friend." He slipped his shirt on, making the dog tags jingle.

"How about that new tattoo?" Karina eyed it.

"You know, I don't totally remember even getting it. Like I said, it was a long night."

"You did it, didn't you?" Five got to the point.

"What are you talkin' about?" Klaus sat down.

"You know, we can recognize the symptoms, Klaus," Karina strolled into the room with Five by her side.

"Symptoms of what?"

"The jet lag. Full body itch," Five listed, making his brother sigh. "The headache that feels like someone shoved a box of cotton up into your nose and through your brain."

"Do you want to tell us about it?" Karina inquired gently.

Klaus eyed Five. "Your pals, when they broke into the house and they couldn't find you, they took me hostage instead."

"And in return, you stole their briefcase," Five remarked in disbelief.

"Yeah. I thought there was money in it, or I could pawn it, you know, whatever," he sighed. "And then I opened it."

"And the next thing you knew, you were…where? Or should I say when?" Karina corrected herself, watching Five pace.

"What difference does it make?" Klaus muttered.

"What diff-uh-okay, how long were you gone?" Five stopped in his tracks.

"Almost a year."

"A year? Do you know what this means?"

"Yeah, I'm ten months older now," Klaus flatly scoffed.

"No, this isn't any sort of joke, Klaus," Five warned him. "Hazel and Cha-Cha will do whatever they can to get the briefcase."

"Where is it now?" Karina bit her nail nervously.

"Gone. I destroyed it. Poof."

"What the hell were you thinking?" Five hissed at him.

"What do you care?" Klaus questioned.

"What do I care? I needed it, you moron, so we could get back. We could start over!" Five exclaimed.

"Just…Just…" Klaus waved him off, walking away.

"Where you going?" Five watched him.

"Interrogation's over, just…leave."

Five muttered in disbelief, eyeing a pad and a pen on the table. He grabbed both and began scribbling furiously. However, he knew he needed more writing area, so he blinked into his room with Karina.

~ * ~

The moment that they reappeared, Five grabbed a piece of chalk and went to town.

"What are you doing?" Karina watched him curiously.

"Figuring out our next move, dear," he replied.

"Oh. Of course. How silly of me," she plopped down on the bed.

"You don't have to stay here if you have things to go do," he told her distractedly.

"Like what? I have nothing."

"Okay, suit yourself."

Karina rolled her eyes, slipping out a book from his desk and going to sit near the window. She felt the refreshing breeze wash over her as she began to get lost in the story she was reading.

"Oh. Okay, I think I've got something, Rina," Five interrupted her from her thoughts.

"Hmmm?" Karina shook her head, coming back to her reality. She glanced up to see him standing on his bed and writing on the walls.

"It's tenuous, but promising," he continued as footsteps approached outside in the hall and in came Luther.

"Who you talkin' to?" he looked around at the frenzied writing scribbled on the walls. "What is all this?"

"It's a probability map," Five replied.

"Probability of what?"

"Of whose death could save the world. I've narrowed it down to four."

"Are you saying one of these four people causes the apocalypse?" Luther questioned.

"No, I'm saying that their death might prevent it."

"Oh."

The sound of chalk continued tapping on blackboard as Luther watched in confusion.

"I'm not following," he whispered.

Karina was amused as she closed her book and stood up. "Time is fickle, Luther. The slightest alteration in events can lead to massively different outcomes in the time continuum. The butterfly effect. So all Five has to do is find the people with the greatest probability of impacting the timeline, wherever they may be, and kill them," she rather matter-of-factly explained.

"Oh, yeah…" Five hopped down off the bed and looked under it.

"Milton Greene," Luther read off. "So who's he, a terrorist or something?"

"I believe he is a gardener," Five was writing in his notebook.

Luther turned to face him. "You can't be serious. Wait, this is madness, Five. You-" he broke off upon seeing the large case Five had. "Wh-Where'd you get that?"

"In Dad's room. I think he used it to shoot a rhinoceros," Five unzipped it and pulled out a gun. "It's similar to the model I used at work." He cocked it in place. "Nice shoulder fit and highly reliable."

"But you can't-this guy Milton is just an innocent man!" Luther argued. He turned to Karina. "How can you just stand there and let him do this?"

She sighed. "I don't like the sound of it either, but, it is basic math."

"His death could potentially save the lives of billions," Five spoke up. "If I did nothing, he'd be dead in four days anyway. The apocalypse won't spare anyone."

Luther wasn't giving up quite yet. "We don't do this kind of thing."

"We are not doing anything. I am," Five corrected him tightly.

"I can't let you go kill innocent people. No matter how many lives you'll save."

"Well, good luck stopping me," Five turned to walk away.

"You're not going anywhere," Luther turned to Karina. "Forgive me for this," he suddenly grabbed her and shoved her near the window, causing her to scream out.

Five whipped around and aimed the gun at him. "Luther, you asshole! Put…her…down!"

"Put the gun down. You're not killing anyone today. I know she's my sister-in-law, so don't make me do this," Luther retorted as Karina tried to get out of his grip. "It's either her or the gun. You decide."

Karina had enough of being man handled. She ended up kicking Luther and he stumbled back, though she lost her balance and nearly fell out the window.

Five blinked in a flash and barely caught her in time when he reappeared. "Rina! Thank God," he breathed out, helping her back inside as she clung to him shakily.

"Asshole," Karina death glared at Luther.

"That was a mean kick you got there. Sorry. I can keep doin' this all day," he sighed, putting the gun down. "I know you're still a good person, Five. Otherwise, you wouldn't have risked everything coming back here to save us all. But you're not on your own anymore."

Five sighed, looking at Karina worriedly as he gently smoothed some hair out of her eyes. "There is one way." He kissed her forehead and looked back at his poor excuse of a brother. "But it's just about impossible."

"More impossible than what brought you back here?" Luther remarked.

Five sighed again and gazed at Karina. She just bit her lip and gave a small nod.

~ * ~

Here was the plan. A risky plan. Fool Hazel and Cha-Cha by giving them a fake briefcase in exchange for a conversation with The Handler. Luther, Five, and Karina were out in the middle of nowhere, waiting for them to show up.

Five sighed, thinking over things. "You know, I never enjoyed it."

"What?" Luther eyed him.

"The killing. I mean, I was…I was good at my work, and I…I took pride in it. But it never gave me pleasure," he sighed. "I think it was all those years alone. I mean, I had Rina of course, but, it was still just the two of us. We both longed for some connection outside of our own. And we quickly found out that solitude can do funny things to the mind."

"Yeah, well, you were gone for such a long time. I only spent four years on the moon, but that was more than enough. It's the being alone that breaks you. You're lucky you had someone to keep some of your sanity," Luther returned. "You think they'll buy it?" he got them back on track.

"Well, what I do know is that they're desperate. It's like a cop losing his gun. If the Commission finds out, they'll be in deep shit."

"Oh, not to mention the fact that they'll be stuck here until they get it back," Karina piped up from the back seat.

"Well, I should hold onto it," Luther suggested.

"Hm?" Five frowned.

"In case they make a move on you or Karina."

"Okay, Luther, but be careful. I mean, I've…I've lived a long life. So has Rina. But…you're still a young man. You got your whole life ahead of you. Don't waste it," Five advised him. "Hmm," he hummed. In the distance, the three saw a car approach.

"Here we go," Karina muttered.

The three of them got out of the car and Five drew Karina to his side, tucking her hand into the crook of his arm.

He looked at her. "If this all goes sideways, I just wanted to let you know that I'm sorry."

"Same to you, though it depends on what kind of move you decide to pull," Karina was quick to remark with.

Five scoffed airily and placed a kiss on her forehead. The car door opened before Hazel and Cha-Cha stepped out and shut the doors. Luther and Karina hung out near their own vehicle.

"The masks really necessary?" Five met the duo halfway.

They took their masks off and tossed them aside.

"So where is it, kid?" Cha-Cha demanded.

"Wow, that's how you're gonna start. You know, we can get right back in our car and call it a day," Five retorted casually.

"You won't even make it halfway there," Cha-Cha swiftly pulled a gun out, causing Karina to step forward but Luther stopped her.

"Maybe. But as I'm sure you found out in your previous foray, my brother is not your average giant and of course, you know my wife has the same fighting skills as any other agent," Five pointed out.

"He's right. You dropped a chandelier on him, got right back up," Hazel agreed.

"By the time you took him out, he'd smash your precious briefcase to a pulp," Five added almost smugly.

"Probably us too, right? So, how do we help each other?"

"I need you to get in contact with your superior so I can have a chat with her. Face-to-face."

"About what?" Cha-Cha questioned.

"Well, I don't believe that's any of your concern," Five replied.

"Just don't tell her about the briefcase."

"Fair enough."

Cha-Cha went over to a payphone to make a call as Five went back over to the two.

"What happens now?" Luther wanted to know.

"Now we wait," Karina watched the duo carefully.

All of a sudden, the wind began whistling and a random ice-cream truck chime playing "Ride of the Valkyries" sounded in the distance. Everyone looked to see the truck approaching.

"Is that her?" Luther looked at Five.

Five stared at the truck in disbelief when he saw that it was Klaus and Diego. Klaus waved as they passed by.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Five breathed out in confusion.

"Go faster!" Diego yelled.

"Wee!" Ben squealed delightfully, perched on the dash.

"It's a setup!" Cha-Cha cried as she and Hazel began shooting.

Five took Karina to the ground as Luther got in front of them. The truck hit Cha-Cha and Hazel, sending them flying mid-air before everything froze. The last thing was a gun fire, echoing as a bullet sailed towards Luther and suspended in the air.

Five slowly looked up, confused as to why the world around him was frozen in time. He peeked around Luther and stepped forward. He walked down the road some.

"Neat trick, isn't it?" a familiar woman's voice asked. He turned to face the source, going over to her as she lifted her veil and slid her sunglasses off. "Hello, Five," the Handler greeted. "You look good, all things considered."

"It's good to see you again," he retorted.

"Feels like we met just yesterday. Course, you were a little bit older then," she acknowledged his appearance. "Congratulations on the age regression, by the way. For both you and your lovely Mrs." The Handler glanced in Karina's direction. "Very clever. Threw us all off the scent."

"Ah, well, I wish I could take credit. I just miscalculated the time dilation projections, and…well, you know. Here I am," Five held his arms out before shoving them back in his pockets.

"You realize your efforts are futile. So why don't you tell me what you really want?" she put her hands and her briefcase behind her back.

"I want you to put a stop to it," he answered.

"You realize what you're asking for is next to impossible, even for me. What's meant to be is meant to be. That's our raison d'être," she casually said as Five pulled a gun out and aimed it at her.

"Yeah? Well how about survival as a raison?"

"I'll just be replaced. I'm but a…small cog in a machine," she watched him closely. "This fantasy you've been nurturing about summoning up your family to stop the apocalypse-" she stepped closer to Five as he lowered the gun some. "-Is just that. A fantasy. I must say, though, we're all quite impressed with your initiative, your…stick-to-itiveness, really quite… quite something. Which is why we want to offer you a new position back at the Commission, in management."

Five let out a sarcastic laugh in disbelief. "Sorry, what's that now?"

"Come back to work for us again. You know it's where you belong. I can unfreeze Karina and bring her back, too. She could be the latest and greatest secretary. Even as my own," the Handler told him.

"Well, it didn't work out too well the last time with the both of us," he remarked tightly.

"But you wouldn't be in the correction division any longer and Karina wouldn't be stuck in that suffocating briefcase department. I'm talking about…the home office. You'd both have the best health and pension, and an end to this ceaseless travel. I could even throw in maternity care if you two ever decide to…venture down that path," the Handler pressed on further. "You're a distinguished professional in…schoolboy shorts. And she's a promising individual in need of a wardrobe upgrade. We have the technology to reverse the process. I mean, you…you two can't be happy like this."

Five lowered his gun. "I'm not looking for happy," he bit out, though Karina did make him very happy.

"Don't lie about that. I see the way you act around her; it's honestly quite adorable and super sickening," the Handler scoffed. "We're all looking for happy. We can make that happen. We can make you two…yourselves again."

Five knew there was no peaceful way out of this. He sighed. "Rina stays here. I won't let you near her so, leave her out of the little corrupter plan you have in your head. And what about my family?"

"What about them?" the Handler glanced at them.

"I want them to survive."

She sighed. "All of them?"

"Yes, all of them."

"Well…" the Handler slipped her sunglasses back on. "I'll see what I can do. Do we have a deal?" she held out her hand.

"One thing," Five tucked his gun inside his blazer and went over to Hazel and Cha-Cha. He emptied the gun on the road and tossed the magazine and the gun on both opposing fields.

The Handler sighed impatiently.

Five made his way over, but paused. "Mm…no." He moved the bullet safely out of Luther's way. He looked at the still frozen form of Karina ducked down behind his brother.

"She can still come too, you know," the Handler told him.

"I'd rather not," he went over to the car. He opened the door, grabbing a pen and a piece of paper and scribbling down a note. He tore it off and then slid it into Karina's jacket pocket. He sighed. "I'll be back," he kissed her forehead.

Five went over to the Handler and grabbed her hand. The two blinked out as the fight resumed orbit. Hazel and Cha-Cha landed on the ground with a soft grunt, Luther regained his balance, Klaus accidentally crashed into a blue car, and Karina slowly got to her feet after the bullets ricocheted off the car.

"Ah!" Diego clutched his arm in pain as chimes continued playing.

"Five?" Luther looked around.

"Good God!" Klaus exclaimed in the distance.

Karina inhaled sharply as she looked around. "Five?!"

"Oh! Ow!" Klaus groaned.

"Five!" Luther called out.

Hazel and Cha-Cha were panting as they slowly stood up.

"Come get it!" Luther held the briefcase up.

Cha-Cha raced forward before he chucked it away, letting it land and clatter in the field.

Luther and Karina hurried to the other two. Diego grunted as he got out.

"Come on. Come on!" Klaus was frantically trying to get his brother out.

"Wait. My shoes hurt," Diego complained as Luther supported Diego's other side.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" Luther demanded as the four and Ben made a run for it to the car.

Hazel scurried over to get his gun and tried to shoot. "No! Shit!" he cursed when all the gun did was click.

"Get in the car," Luther helped the others quickly pile in.

"Luther, go! Go!" Klaus exclaimed.

"Let's go!" Ben patted the dashboard as the engine revved.

"Woo!" Klaus shouted as tires screeched and the car sped away, flipping the duo off through the back window.

"Woo-hoo!" Ben cheered.

"Damn it!" Hazel shouted, going over to his partner.

Cha-Cha dumped out the clattering contents of the briefcase and watched the car get smaller in the distance.

"Shit!" Karina heard her scream.

She smiled to herself, tucking her hand into her pocket. She furrowed her brows, pulling out a folded piece of paper. She read the note Five left her and sighed.

Of course he'd go off on another wild goose chase and leave her behind.

~ * ~