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nikkoliferous · 3 years

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Phase One: Avengers (Part Two)

Apparently I had so much to comment on this crappy book that I had to break this up into two parts (you can read part one here). No, I have nothing to say for myself. Lol

Let’s continue.

Clint Barton and Loki’s hand-picked strike team were in a stolen Quinjet with a faked S.H.I.E.L.D. call sign, 26-Bravo. That got them close enough that by the time the air-traffic officer on the Helicarrier knew something was wrong, it was already too late.

Whoa whoa whoa. I thought you said Loki didn’t care about the details. I thought you said such things were beneath him. Make up your mind.

With a last heave and twist, she freed herself from the fallen beam and ran. At that moment, the Hulk turned and saw her. She vaulted up a stairway and onto the next level. The Hulk swiped at the stairway and shredded it into scrap metal. Loki had gotten what he wanted. He must have been trying to time it so he could manipulate Bruce into becoming the Hulk right as his soldiers came to attack the Helicarrier. The Hulk would do at least as much damage from the inside as the rogue Quinjet could do from the outside.

Yes. Yes, he did. Lol

Natasha kept running, and the Hulk came right behind her. For a moment, she thought she’d lost him, but then he came at her out of the shadows, roaring. He was like walking rage, a single-minded engine of destruction. She shot a hole in the pipe over his head. Steam shot out of it into the Hulk’s eyes, stopping him for just the moment she needed to get a head start. She ran as fast as she could, but she knew she wasn’t going to stay away from him for long. He came after her, smashing through bulkheads and doorways like they weren’t even there and roaring the whole time.

Mood, though.

Steve got to the edge of the turbine mount about the same time as Tony. “I’m here!” he called out.

“Good,” Tony said, dropping into view and hovering in the Iron Man armor to survey the wreckage. He had the suit on, and Steve could hear his voice through the earbud microphone all S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel wore. At least that channel was still intact; if they lost communications, they’d be done for.

Convenient. Clint would absolutely know this, which means either 1) he's incompetent, 2) he's not as mind-controlled as we think, or 3) Loki allowed/arranged for his own team's semi-failure.Take your pick.

“What’s it look like in there?” Tony asked.

“It seems to run on some form of electricity,” Steve said.

Tony was shoving loose huge pieces of debris that prevented the turbine blades from rotating. “Well, you’re not wrong,” he said.

Steve fumed. He wasn’t here for technical support. But that was all he could do at the moment.

Ironic for Steve to call out Tony for being useless without his suit when Steve is apparently useless at anything other than beating people up. Lol

Tony stood inside the turbine housing, looking at the blades. He’d cleared most of the debris jamming the rotors. “Even if I clear the rotors,” he said, “this thing won’t reengage without a jump. I’m going to have to get in there and push.”

“If that thing gets up to speed, you’ll get shredded,” Steve said.

Hey hey hey now, I thought Tony wasn't the type of guy to sacrifice himself??

The Hulk stomped around the flight deck, roaring. He saw Thor and swung a fist twice the size of Thor’s head. Thor caught it in both hands, straining to hold both the Hulk’s arm and his attention. “We are not your enemies, Banner,” he grunted. “Try to think!”

Now, where have I heard that before...?

In answer, the Hulk punched him through the wall.

Jealous.

Thor got up and watched the Hulk coming after him. Now this was a fight! He held out a hand, waiting for Mjolnir to return to him. Mjolnir smashed through another wall and reached Thor’s hand just as the charging Hulk came within striking distance.

What's a little bloodlust between friends, amirite?

The Hulk caught the hammer, and a fierce grin spread over his face… then he toppled backward and Mjolnir pinned him to the floor of the hangar.

None but I can lift Mjolnir, Thor thought. Not even this giant.

Yes, yes. You're very special, Thor. We're all super impressed, promise.

“You like this?” Coulson asked, meaning the gun. “We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don’t know what it does.” He powered it up, and rings along its barrel glowed bright orange. “Want to find out?”

But Loki wasn’t there in front of him. Thor saw it too late to do anything. That Loki was an illusion… and the real Loki was behind Coulson.

Lokiception.

“You lack conviction,” Coulson said. He did not move from where he sat against the wall. Blood trickled at the corner of his mouth, and the enormous gun lay uselessly across his lap.

Of all the things Coulson might have said, this was perhaps the one Loki expected least. I have moved worlds out of conviction, he thought. Made bargains with beings who snuff out planets as an afterthought. “I don’t think I…”

"bargains"

“Tasha,” he said. “How many agents did I—?”

“Don’t,” she said. “Don’t do that to yourself, Clint. This is Loki. This is monsters and magic and nothing we were ever trained for.” Better than maybe anyone on the Helicarrier, Natasha Romanoff knew you couldn’t blame yourself for things you did while you were brainwashed. All you could do was try to heal and get things right the next time.

OH? DO TELL.

“Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I’ll give you that one,” Tony said. “But let’s do a head count here. Your brother the demigod, a Super-Soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend, a man with breathtaking anger-management issues, a couple of master assassins… and you, big fella, you’ve managed to piss off every single one of them.”

“That was the plan,” Loki said with a grin.

“Not a great plan,” Tony said.

YOU'RE RIGHT, TONY. IT'S AN OBJECTIVELY TERRIBLE PLAN. NOW ASK YOURSELF WHY HE WOULD DO THAT ON PURPOSE.

“You’re missing the point!” he said, and his tone got sharper. “There’s no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it’s too much for us… but it’s all on you. Because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be sure we’ll avenge it.”

Weeeeeell...

With those last words, he tapped Tony on the chest with his scepter, just has he had Hawkeye and Dr. Selvig. Nothing happened. The Arc Reactor in Tony’s chest countered the scepter’s effect.

Loki tried it again. “This usually works.…”

“Well,” Tony said, “best-laid plans. You know the saying.”

Uncomfortable with mild swear words and dick jokes, I see. Lol

Look at this!” Thor shouted, holding Loki and forcing him to gaze out over the destruction in the city. “You think this madness will end with your rule?”

“It’s too late,” Loki said. Thor thought he was beginning to understand what he had done. “It’s too late to stop it.”

“No,” Thor said. “We can. Together.”

Loki looked him in the eye… and then betrayed Thor again, stabbing him in the side with a knife hidden in his sleeve. Thor dropped to the ground, clutching the wound. “Sentiment,” Loki said mockingly.

OH MY GOD. HE'S MOCKING HIMSELF, YOU ABSOLUTE KNUCKLEHEAD. I swear to god, this author sat down and went, "Hmm. How can I systematically erase any and all complexity this character possesses so he's as generic a villain as possible?"

CASE IN POINT:

On a bridge, Cap huddled behind a destroyed car with the Black Widow and Hawkeye. “Lots of civilians trapped up there,” Hawkeye said, indicating the nearby buildings. A flight of Chitauri went over, and Cap noticed something different about one of them.

“Loki,” he said. He was shooting at the civilians fleeing through the streets. “They’re fish in a barrel down there.”

It can be admittedly hard to tell because most shots of the Chitauri vehicles firing on people are from too far away to tell who's piloting... but I checked the clips from the Battle of NY and the only person Loki can definitively be seen firing at is Natasha. On another Chitauri whatever-you-call-them. Not even aiming for the street.

Thor was still watching the Chitauri zipping overhead. “I have unfinished business with Loki.”

“Yeah?” Hawkeye said. “Get in line.”

“Save it,” Steve said. “Loki’s going to keep this fight focused on us, and that’s what we need. Otherwise those things could run wild. We’ve got Stark up on top—”

Almost as if... according to plan...

Look, I have historically not bought into the full "Loki formed the Avengers so he could lose on purpose" theory because I feel that it contradicts the canon explanation that he was being influenced by the sceptre. But... you'd have to be an absolute moron to think he wasn't sabotaging himself, whether accidentally or on purpose. I suppose one could argue that just because it was amplifying his negative emotions, that doesn't necessarily mean it prevented him from working against his "allies". But if it wasn't affecting his actions at all, I don't know why they'd bother to confirm the theory as canon.

Also, like... according to this book, Loki is somehow targeting civilians and not targeting civilians at the same time ?? lmao

“Dr. Banner,” Steve said. “Now might be a really good time for you to get angry.”

Bruce was already walking toward the Leviathan. “That’s my secret, Captain,” he said over his shoulder. “I’m always angry.”

Same, tbh.

Thor reached the top of the Empire State Building and lifted Mjolnir. Storm clouds gathered and lightning struck down, hundreds of bolts reaching for Mjolnir. Thor turned the Empire State Building’s iconic spire into a lightning rod, gathering the force of the elements into it. Then he thrust Mjolnir in the direction of the portal. All the energy he had built up blazed out in a single forking bolt. It struck and destroyed every single Chitauri between the Empire State Building and the portal itself. Hundreds of them exploded and tumbled from the sky at once, including several of the Leviathans that tumbled down to smash into buildings below.

...so why didn't Thor just keep doing this for the rest of the battle? Too draining, or not exciting enough? Lol

Satisfied, Thor nodded and glanced over at the Hulk. Perhaps the scales were evened from their last fight against each other on the Helicarrier—

The Hulk shot out his left fist and smashed Thor all the way across the block-long gallery. Then it was his turn to look satisfied.

Jealous. Again.

Maybe that was just Loki, but Steve was starting to feel like the Chitauri were going to absorb every punch the Avengers could throw. They had to close that portal, or nothing was going to stop the invasion.

Well then. It sure is fortunate that Loki allowed Selvig to install a failsafe, huh?

Fury stood and listened to the World Security Council explain that they had decided to take the operation out of his hands. They were going to use a nuclear missile to destroy the Tesseract and close the portal—but at the cost of untold civilian lives. Fury protested as strongly as he could and one of the councilors cut him off. “Director Fury. The Council has made a decision.”

These crazy motherfuckers would have killed so many more people than Loki it's not even funny.

...and tbh, it probably wouldn't even have destroyed the Tesseract, so they would have killed them for literally no reason too.

The Hulk paused, confused.

“You are, all of you, beneath me!” Loki raged.

Not yet, sir, but I would very much like to be. 😏

She knelt next to him and said, “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know what you were doing.”

Selvig digested this for a moment and then said, “Actually I think I did. I built in a safety to cut the power source.”

Of note and as alluded to previously:

1) The mind control over Barton and Selvig was not absolute either; therefore, if they are not responsible for their actions over the course of this movie, Loki is not responsible for his either.

2) If The Other could hear everything Loki was up to, it's very likely that Loki could hear everything Barton and Selvig were up to as well. Meaning that, at a minimum, he knew about the failsafe and did nothing about it.

The missile had a lot of momentum built up, and Tony’s Mark 7 suit was not operating at full capacity after the amount of energy he’d expended in the battle already. It was no easy task to get the missile angled up sharply enough to clear the tallest buildings in Midtown—especially Stark Tower. That was where the missile seemed to want to go. So, Tony thought, the World Security Council is jealous of me, too.

Look, I get that he's mostly just being witty, but seriously... this dude is out here accusing Loki of being an egomaniac? Lol

He got underneath the missile and angled it upward, straining against its stabilizers, which tried to keep it on course. But slowly he forced it up, and once he got its warhead pointed at an angle, pushing it into a steeper climb got easier. A little.

Steve Rogers’s voice broke his concentration. “Stark, you know that’s a one-way trip?”

So... you're admitting you were wrong, then? 🙃

The Avengers looked up. On the roof of Stark Tower, Natasha said, “Come on, Stark.”

They saw the explosion through the portal, brilliant as a new sun. There was no way Tony could have survived that.

I was wrong about him, Steve thought. When the time came, he did make the sacrificial play.

Thanks, Steve. That's really all I wanted.

Loki had just gotten himself put back together enough to get out of the hole in the floor. Painfully he dragged himself toward the door. Never had a mortal damaged him as much as that green monster. He would be healing for a long time.

He's literally in better shape now than when he came through the portal. And the author made zero mention of his health there.

But heal he would, and then he would have his revenge. Even though the portal had collapsed and he had lost the Tesseract. Even though his Chitauri army was destroyed. Loki would show the so-called Avengers they never should have opposed him.

Raise your hand if you watched Avengers and thought Loki was thinking about revenge right after getting Hulk-smashed. Why aren't any of you raising your hands??

Seriously, there are two emotions I felt from Loki at the end of Avengers Assemble: relief and anxiety. I have no idea why Alex Irvine is so intent on turning him into a boring, one-dimensional villain, but it made this book absolutely insufferable to read.

Anyway, that's it! I hope you all found this as entertaining and cathartic as I did. Lol

↩️ Back to Part One

#loki meta #loki #thor #tony stark #steve rogers #bruce banner #natasha romanoff #clint barton #avengers assemble #mcu #phase one: avengers

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love-fireflysong · 3 years

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It be June 3rd now, and would you look at that, the second of my prompts is already up! Who’d a thunk it? Anyway, as successfully guessed by the lovely @torahime here is 5 + 1! And as by the nature of this trope in general, this one ended up long. Like crazy loooooooong. (Also I’m a moron who didn’t understand what the prompt meant for like a week. I kept trying to figure out what the hell the number six had to do with anything, and when I finally googled it out of desperation, all I saw were the words ‘five times’ in the first link and I immediately felt ashamed of myself. I should have known. Why didn’t I know?)

Anyways, you can read the long-ass fic in question at ao3 over here: Do You Ever Wonder What Could Have Been? You can also read this one under the cut, but considering the length I wouldn’t recommend it asdhaskdjh The next one should be much shorter due to the fact that like the first one, I blanked for ideas completely lol.

Do You Ever Wonder What Could Have Been?

Trope: 5 + 1 Fandom: Until Dawn Characters: Ashley Brown, Chris Hartley, Josh Washington (all the other kids also make an appearance but due to them only having like one scene and a single line each I’m not tagging them) Words: 12733 Rating: Teen (though I think I’m being pretty damn generous with that rating tbh) Authors Notes: Yes you’re reading that word count right. Almost thirteen thousand words. Don’t ask how I managed to write this in 5 days, I have no fucking idea. Just take this fic about two nerds being morons in love and mutually pining over each other for six. fucking. years.

Chris is fourteen and so goddamn tired of this stupid crush on his best friend. It's been a whole year now since he met her, and he hates that this stupid, silly, little, crush of his hasn't abated at all. He doesn't even know why he likes her in the first place! It's just Ashley after all, there is absolutely no reason to feel this tongue-tied around his best friend. It's Ash: with her braces, arms always full books (when her head wasn't buried in one that is), stringy red hair, wide green eyes, who sometimes snorts when he tells a joke, freckles that dot her nose and shoulders and—

Okay, he was maybe getting a little side-tracked here. The point was, there was 100% absolutely no reason to feel this way about her. In fact, he bets this was all Josh's fault in the first place! Yeah! That was it! None of this would be happening if Josh hadn't basically kidnapped Ashley from her true home in the library and forced him to meet her!

...But then he wouldn't have met her. And stupid crush aside, she is pretty much the only girl he knows who laughs at all his jokes and helps him with his English homework sometimes. He likes knowing her and likes being her friend even more, he just doesn't like liking her. And maybe that was it? Maybe he just likes Ashley cause she's the only girl who willingly hangs out with him and Josh, and isn't Josh's sisters.

And that's what he's going to prove today once and for all. He heard from Josh that Hannah was absolutely adamant that everyone was going to play spin-the-bottle at her and Beth's birthday party in a couple of days. And that everyone meant not only the people that the twins invited for said party, but also the people that Josh invited over (ie: Chris and Ash) so he would have some company during the twins big b-day bash. Chris was going to find Ashley and explain that losing their first kiss over a game like spin-the-bottle was just so not cool, and that maybe kissing each other first would just be a way better and smarter idea of doing things. And once he kissed her he would finally realize that yup, Ash was just one of the guys and that was so fucking gross and they were totally never ever going to do that again.

Perfect idea. Fool proof even. No way that this was totally going to backfire into his face. Absolutely none at all!

So when he finds Ashley sitting and reading under her usual tree just outside of the school, he is so sure of the success of his ingenious plan that he brings it up right away.

"I think we should kiss before Hannah and Beth's party."

See! Right away! Straight to the point. He has got this shit in the bag baby!

Ashley looks up at him, clearly a little startled from reading her book and squints at him. "Huh? Chris? Is that you?" For a second he's a little confused about how Ash doesn't even recognize him, but then he quickly realizes that he's probably got the sun directly at his back so she can't see him clearly and he awkwardly shuffles to the left a little so she can see him better. "Oh! Hey Chris, what was that you said earlier? I got so absorbed that I didn't really hear a thing you said, sorry." While she doesn't close her book, she does give an embarrassed little laugh that makes his stomach flip-flop just a little and starts to weaken at the cracks of his once fool-proof plan.

He finds himself messing with the strap on his bookbag as he tries to ignore the butterflies fluttering around in his stomach. 'Um, I asked if you were going to the twins' birthday party this weekend." Okay, falling a little behind schedule now, but it's fine. No problem.

"I mean, I wasn't exactly invited, but yeah. A whole night of graphic horror movies to drown out the sounds of screaming pre-teens. I honestly can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday night." The absolute dryness of her tone has Chris smiling.

"Oh come on Ash, it's not gonna be that bad."

"Our choices are either to hang out with a bunch of kids who have basically never talked to us ever, or watch Josh's disgusting horror movies Chris."

"Well, I mean, when you put it that way...actually, no. The screaming pre-teens sound like a safer bet honestly." The little snort of laughter she lets out only has Chris pushing the butterflies down harder. God, he is going to be so glad when those stupid things finally leave him alone. "And well, from what Josh said, it sounds like horror isn't the only thing planned for that evening."

"It isn't? You mean he's actually opening up to other movie genre options? Shocking. I truly never thought I would see the day."

"Ha, I wish. Nah, I was, um, talking about what the girls—well, what Hannah wanted to play. Actually." Great. And now he's starting to blush. Really keeping with the rails of his plan there!

"What Hannah...? Oh! You're, uh, talking about the spin-the-bottle game." Ashley brings her lower lip into her mouth and pushes some hair behind her ear. "Yeah, Josh mentioned something about that."

Perfect, one less thing he had to explain. That would speed things up immensely. "Honestly, between you and me? I think it's a stupid idea."

Ashley nods her head vigorously in agreement. "I know right! I mean, who wants to kiss some stranger over a bottle of all things? Can you imagine losing your first kiss to some person who probably doesn't have a single idea who you are in the first place? God that would be awful." Oh man, things are lining up right for him! Ashley's even on the same page and this next part is going to be so easy— "That's why I asked Josh if I could kiss him first instead when he told me a couple of days ago."

Wait. Waitwaitwait wait . She already asked Josh?! "Oh, wow. You were, uh, really thinking ahead there huh?" God, he could feel every ounce of determination he had slowly deflating out of his body. There was no way he could ask her now, absolutely no way! Ashley was gonna think that Chris wanted to kiss her—or worse, liked her! And okay he kind of did, but this was supposed to prove the exact opposite. That this was just stupid hormones and puberty really messing with his life and not something else.

"Of course, there was absolutely no way I was gonna have my first kiss with some popular buttface who was just gonna make fun of me behind my back afterwards. Better to have it with Josh, who would also make fun of me, but at least it would be to my face." Ashley starts to return to her book, flipping a page but stops halfway through. "Wait. Were you going to ask me the same thing?" She sounds a little unsure and a little of something else he can't place right now because he's too busy trying not to panic.

"What? No! God no! Of-of course not!" Oh god, was his voice seriously choosing to crack now? He really, really hoped that the shade being cast from the tree was enough to hide how red his face was. He needed to get out of here and quick .

"I-I-I mean, it's not like it was good or anything—"

"Think I should probably go now anyway."

"It was, like, really wet and-and-and like so bad. Super awkward honestly."

"Lots of things to do. Lots and lots of things to do in fact!"

"I mean, we could still, uh, k-k-kiss? If you want to...?"

"Nope!" Chris was honestly looking everywhere except at Ashley right now, which was fine because she was currently in the middle of trying to hide behind her book. "There's absolutely no reason to do that. Because, because... I already kissed Josh too!"

"...you did?"

"Yup! Totally did. Just came over to see what you had planned to do about it actually. And because you're so much smarter than me, you had totally already done the same thing. So no reason for me to still bother you after all! None whatsoever! So I'll just let you get back to your book. And the battle between the uh, vampire and the, um, cowboy? Riveting stuff I bet."

"Um, yeah. But—"

"I'll just, uh, see you tomorrow then, I guess. Bye!"

Chris thinks he catches a wave of disappointment flash across her face when she returns his farewell, but he's already basically fled half away across the yard to find Josh so he doesn't think about it too much. And it turns out that Ashley is right, kissing Josh is wet and pretty fucking awful in the end. Which should only prove his idea that kissing her would have been just as bad and awkward.

So why does he feel like it would have actually been the complete opposite?

"I'm going to fail."

Ashley rolled her eyes as she struggled not to laugh. "Oh my god, you're not gonna fail Chris."

Chris didn't even deign to raise his head from where he had face-planted it into the open book only moments before, letting his words come out muffled and flat. "I am Ash. I am going to bomb this exam so hard that they're gonna make me repeat ninth grade."

Ashley groaned, but it was more of an attempt to hide her amusement than out of any exasperation, as she tried to lift Chris back into a sitting position and wasn't laid out prostrated over the table. "Okay first of all, get your dumb face out of that book. Ms. Norman is not gonna be happy with either of us if she discovers your drool all over the pages of the only half-decent copy of Lord of the Flies that the school library has." Once she finally has finally managed to prop Chris into a halfway decent sitting position, she moves the book closer to her in case he decides to try smashing his face into it again. "Second of all, I'm pretty sure that the school's not going to make you repeat the grade just because you failed English, your grades in everything else are high enough that they'll definitely pass you. That, and there is no way that the teachers would let Josh move on to high school of all things without supervision."

"...That is a scarily good point."

"And thirdly, there is absolutely no way I would be able to get through the next four years of school with you in my grade," she teases him with a poke in the arm. "I mean can you imagine? Having to go to class everyday knowing you're going to be there with me? I can't think of anything more terrifying honestly."

Chris gives a startled laugh. "Gee, thanks Ash. Really appreciate that vote of confidence. Making my self-esteem soar over here. And also, I for one can think of something way more terrifying."

"Really?" Ashley says as she crosses her arms across her chest and levels him with a disbelieving look. "Well go on then, try me. Cause I can promise you that there is absolutely nothing more terrifying—"

"Me and Josh in the same grade as you."

Ashley just blanches. "Oh god. You're right. That is so much worse and the idea of this even happening is now going to give me nightmares for the rest of my life."

"Oh please, it wouldn't be that bad."

"It would. It so would. And to prevent this we need to double down on you studying for your English final so that this cataclysmic event never occurs."

It's Chris's turn to roll his eyes as he slumps down even further into his seat. "That's what I was doing earlier until you stopped me."

"What? Planting your face into the middle of the book?"

"Exactly. Decided to try out a new method cause the other one wasn't certainly working. Learning by osmosis."

Ashley shoves her face into the palms of her hands to try and stop her giggles. It didn't work, not by a long shot, but it at least smothered them a bit. "You can't just read a book by trying to absorb it into your skin, that's not how things work at all!"

"And how would you know that Ash? Have you ever even tried?" Chris scoffs.

"Of course I haven't you dork! I haven't tried because that's not even possible!"

"Um, sounds to me like someone just isn't open to new ideas."

"Oh my god. Can we please get back to studying and making sure you don't fail. I for one would really like to get back to that." Ashley starts to put the copy of the book back between the middle of them where they can both read it easily. "Okay, so chapter eight is where the divide between the boys finally reaches a boiling point after seeing the 'monster' on the mountain in the last chapter. They argue over whether Ralph should still be left in charge and Jack leaves in a huff."

Chris groaned as he tossed his glasses onto the table so he could throw his arm over his eyes. "Starting to think that Jack has the right idea here." he grumbled.

Ashley ignored him. "Some of the other boys follow after him and form their own tribe with Jack as its chief further down the beach. As a group, the hunters then fall into a savage frenzy when they go hunting and kill a sow, with Roger dealing the killing blow."

"By driving his spear into the thing’s ass," Chris helpfully supplied.

Ashley sighed. "Yes, by doing that. Good to know you're at least remembering some things, but do you remember what happened next?"

Though she couldn't see with Chris's arm in the way, she knew that he was narrowing his eyes in concentration. "Ummm, they... eat the pig?"

Ashley groaned and fought very hard against the impulse to smack her forehead into the center of the table. " Chris . "

"What? Do they not eat the thing? I mean, why even hunt it if they're not gonna eat it?"

"Chris, what they do next is the lead up for what is often considered the most important scene in the entire book! How can you not remember?!"

"I don't know Ash! Kind of think I was distracted by the whole 'shoving a spear into a sow's anus' part!"

"They leave its head on a stake in the jungle as an offering to the beast! This is what creates the Lord of the Flies that Simon sees later that night!"

"Oh right, that. Yeah that sounds a little familiar now that you mention it."

"A little—" Ashley stops fighting against the earlier urge and places her heavy head into her hands in despair. "You literally had to read this book last month! How could you have forgotten so much already?"

Chris groans and drapes himself over the back of his chair. "This is hopeless Ash. I appreciate the help I really do, but I think it's time we face the inevitable and just take a page out of this book."

"What, I stick your head on a pike and be done with you?"

The snort that Chris makes in surprise is enough to bring a tired smile to Ashley's face. "Leaving you to deal with Josh alone? Ha, you wouldn't. Nah, I was talking about just making an offering to the exam gods out there. Think they'll be the best bet I have to pass this shitty ass final."

Ashley removes her head from her hands to give him a withering look. "If we're going that route, you want a kiss for good luck too? Probably work just as well as those gods of yours."

There's an awkward pause, and at first Ashley can't figure out why but then the words finally hit her. She feels her face start to burn and she places her head back into her hands so she doesn't have to look at Chris anymore. Oh god, she can't believe she just said that. Why would she even say that in the first place?! It's a damn good thing that Chris isn't wearing his glasses right now, the heat from her face alone is making her feel like she's about to combust as it is, and him seeing that would probably push her over that physical boundary.

"I-I mean, if you think it will help..." Chris sounds almost bashful when he says it and Ashley snaps her head to him in shock.

"I—" Ashley isn't quite sure what she's trying to say, and is interrupted when her phone buzzes with an incoming text message. She immediately jumps up from her chair and starts grabbing at her things. "Oh man, that's probably my mom here to pick me up. I should really get going."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah! No reason for me to stay if you aren't so I guess I should head out too." Chris starts picking up his stuff too, putting his glasses back onto his face as he shoves his books into his bag.

By nature of having brought less than Chris to help him study, Ashley finishes cleaning first but doesn't leave right away. Chris had said it was fine after all. And sure, maybe he was just desperate for anything that will help him pass his final, but he said it would be fine. So steeling herself, Ashley leans down and leaves a quick but chaste kiss on Chris's cheek.

"For luck!" She manages to squeak out as she all but runs out the doors of the library to the school's entrance where her mom will be waiting for her, too scared to even look back.

Chris should have known that something was up the moment Josh brought it up: 'Hey, how about you and Ash hang out at my house this weekend instead?' Innocent sounding sure, but he really, really should have known better. Josh never pushed for hang outs at his place, it had always been an agreed upon rule that Hannah and Beth got their place, while Josh preferred to host their get togethers and his and Ash's own houses. It was just the thing that was done and everyone had been more than happy with how it was. Had it been any other time, Chris would like to think that he would have totally seen right through Josh's plan and offered up his place instead.

But Josh's parents were almost never around either, and that meant staying up late and talking and goofing around without parents warning them to go to sleep. Which most importantly meant staying up late and talking to Ashley, because that hadn't been a thing that the three of them had been able to do a whole lot recently. It was still so weird not seeing Ash around in the school halls, not being able to hang out at lunch, and not meeting up after school all the time. It felt like there was something huge missing and it bothered him (just as much as it bothered Josh, not that he would ever say anything about it). The two of them wandering the hallowed halls of high school while she was still stuck back in their middle school just felt so wrong .

So when Josh had brought up a weekend hang out, Chris (and Ashley) had accepted right away. Which, judging from the fact that Josh had somehow managed to weasel the two of them into playing a game of Truth or Dare with him, had been a huge mistake.

"Well, well, well. It seems the time has come. So let's get on with it shall we?" Josh rubbed his hands gleefully together in the dim light of the bedroom (for atmosphere he had claimed) as the three of them sat in a circle. A seemingly innocuous plate of cookies sitting in the middle of them, and knowing better then to trust Josh, both Chris and Ash had been eyeing the cookies warily for the past few minutes. Not that Josh seemed to notice or care of course. "Seeing as I'm the one who set up elegant little ritual—"

"You forced us into playing a stupid game dude, there's nothing elegant or ritualistic about it."

Josh ignored him, unsurprisingly. "I'll go first of course. So Ash, truth or dare?"

"What are the cookies for Josh?" Ashley asked nervously as she continued to eye the plate instead of answering him.

"That's not important. And anyways, it's my turn Ash. So I'll ask again: truth or dare Ashley?"

Ashley raised her eyes from the plate to transfer her nervous and mistrustful stare to him. "...truth," she answered slowly.

"Oh ho ho! So truth it is! Well then Ash, tell me: have you got any secrets you've been dying to share with us?"

Chris could immediately tell that the question had hit a sore spot on some sort, shoulders locked and her body stiff. "You know I'm not gonna answer that one. Pass."

Josh shook his head, a devious smile on his lips. "Nope. Nuh uh Miss Brown. That's not how this game works. If you're gonna pass then I'm gonna have to ask that you take a cookie in return."

"...I'm sorry, what? "

He waved a hand down towards the plate of cookies. "These, my dearest chums, are the fabled Truth or Dare cookies. Anytime one of us refuses to act out what is asked of us, we must then take a cookie in penance."

At first, Ashley doesn't move. She continues to dart her eyes suspiciously between Josh and the plate of cookies, but eventually slowly does reach out and hesitantly grab a chocolate cookie from the plate. She holds it up closer to her face to investigate it further, and Chris watches as all the tension she had stored up just evaporates from her as she physically deflates. "Oh my god, are you actually being serious right now Josh? ‘Dare’ brand cookies? Really? Why in the world are you trying to be so ominous when you went with a pun as lame as using Dare cookies in a game of truth or dare?"

"Wait, really?" Chris reaches out to grab one for himself but Josh smacks his hand away with a grin.

"So sorry Cochise, but these are only for if you refuse. And trust me, you don't want to refuse." Josh turns back to Ashley. "Oh, and don't eat that just yet."

In response, she just shrugs and leans back, but keeps the chocolate crème filled cookie in her hand as she looks between Chris and Josh. "It's my turn now, right? Okay, so—"

Josh cuts her off. "Nope, still mine. Now, Chris—"

"What? That's not how this stupid game works Josh!"

Josh waves her off. "You didn't answer my question Ash, or eat the cookie, so it's still my turn."

"But you just told me not to eat the stupid thing!"

Josh ignores her as he keeps his attention squarely on Chris. Who, to his own shame, has begun squirming in his seat in dread of what's going to come. "Well, Chris: truth or dare?"

Chris tosses the options over in his head. Both are terrible obviously, but playing this game with Josh of all people never ends well, so he decides to go with his gut instead. "Dare."

"Ooooh, feeling a little gutsy are we? That's fine, I can work with that. I dare you to... return the favour and do one thing you've been thinking about alllllllll summer."

Personally, Chris is finding it a miracle that he hasn't reached over and tried to strangle Josh yet, but he has a feeling that has more to do with the fact that he's trying not to shrivel up on the floor and die than out of any mercy. Even though Josh for some reason worded it in a really convoluted way, he just literally dared him to kiss Ash. It was so obvious that he was frankly amazed that Ashley hadn't figured it out yet.

Because of course he still thought about that kiss for good luck that Ash had given him in the library. He thought about it nearly all the damn time! Hell, Chris was pretty sure that the reason he had even passed his final even a little bit was because of the kiss. Not because it was good luck or anything, but because whenever a question appeared on the exam that asked about the themes or some shit about Lord of the Flies, he kept getting sent back into that library where Ashley had been drilling the same stuff into him just before she had kissed his cheek.

And there is absolutely no way that he's gonna kiss Ash in Josh's bedroom. No way in hell. Especially not when it's gonna reveal that he had been thinking about what was more than likely a super innocent and helpful gesture on her part.

So glaring at Josh, Chris reaches forward and without a word grabs a vanilla cookie. And for some strange reason, this only causes Josh's smile to widen. "I see, so that's what you both went with huh? Anyways, I think it's about time you take your 'reward' and chow down!"

Exchanging a confused look with Ashley, Chris nonetheless shrugs and pops the entire thing into his mouth and bites down.

And realizes in a horrifying instant that this is not a vanilla cookie.

There's a flash of light that blinds him for a second, and when the spots clear he sees Josh holding a camera and laughing his ass off.

"What the—? Is this fucking mayo dude?!" And it must be, because this is not what a vanilla cookie should ever taste like. While the cookie portion itself is okay if not a little soft, the crème is way too oily and eggy to be anything but mayo. Josh doesn't answer his question right away, but that's from a combo of laughing way too hard and being distracted by Ash trying not to retch in the middle of the bedroom floor.

"Oh my god! You put soy sauce in a cookie?! What is wrong with you Josh?!" She's up in a second and rushing to the garbage can near Josh's desk, and Chris is quick to join her in trying to spit everything out. "I'm never going to get this salt out of my mouth! Why would you even do that?!"

"Cause it's fucking hilarious that's why!" Josh is still laughing as he takes a look at the picture he took on the camera, and starts laughing harder. "Oh fucking hell, this was glorious. Oh wasting those two questions just for this picture was so worth it. Best decision I could have made!

"Now you two get your asses back over here! I spent hours on these cookies after all, and I am not letting them go to waste. We've got hours my friends, and so many questions and dares to get through."

Chris shares a look with Ashley over the garbage bin, both of them now obviously wondering if keeping their own secret had been worth having to eat those cookies, and if they still would have passed their turn knowing what exactly laid in store for them. While he certainly couldn't say a thing about her, Chris wasn't so sure if not kissing Ash and enduring all the fallout that would have resulted in was worth the terrible combination of vanilla and mayo in his mouth. He supposed he would never know, it was too late to simply retract his pass after all.

And well, he really didn't want to kiss Ash when she had just been tricked into eating a bunch of soy sauce.

You know, Ashley kind of figured that once she entered high school all of these stupid games would be done with. Surely high schoolers were too mature and too old to be playing childish games like spin-the-bottle or seven minutes in heaven? And yeah, obviously Chris and Josh weren't, but that was them and they were in a class all their own. But Hannah? And Sam and Beth? She would have thought that they were way too cool to be playing spin-the-bottle of all things, especially Beth.

And yet, here Ashley was: squeezed in between Matt and Sam as Matt spun the bottle around on the now extremely sticky hardwood floor. She wasn't stupid, she knew the entire reason the game was even being played in the first place; Hannah had been making eyes at Mike all through the evening and well into the game after all. She just didn't think that anyone else would have been stupid enough to go along with the game when Hannah suggested it.

(Ashley knew very well why she had reluctantly agreed to play, she just didn't know why anyone else did.)

Though to be fair, it didn't seem like the game was gonna last much longer anyway. Emily and Jess had started scrolling through their phones ages ago, showing each other whatever was on the other's screen every few minutes and the two of them laughing. Mike had been tapping a really off-rhythm beat on his jeans with the straw from his can of soda and staring into space, while Hannah stared lovesick at him . Beth was starting to doze on Sam's shoulder, not that either seemed too concerned about it, and Sam was nervously eyeing all the spilt pop and chips around them that they were gonna have to clean up before they went to bed. Unsurprisingly, Chris was also scrolling through his phone, snickering every now and then as Ashley felt her phone buzz in the pocket of her hoodie whenever he sent whatever it was that he found funny to her and Josh. Josh meanwhile, had joined Matt in building a rather shaky—if not impressive—tower out of discarded plastic cups, straws, and paper plates.

Ashley yawned behind her hand as the bottle slowed it's spin. She had been ready to drop out of the game a round or two back, but hadn't yet because she didn't want to deal with the others teasing her on being a sore loser who backs down the moment the bottle didn't land on the person she wanted it to. Which would lead to Chris asking who it was even though everyone else already knew who because it was glaringly obvious to everyone except him. The sound of the bottle stopping its spin managed to get everyone's attention as they looked at the neck of the bottle pointed squarely at Mike.

Everyone made the expected ' oooooooh ' and wolf whistles that everyone always did in this game, though quieter than they might have usually. Bob and Melinda were sleeping upstairs after all, and the last thing any of them wanted to do was wake them up and have them discover that despite it being nearly three in the morning, that the ten of them were still awake as the snow storm raged outside the lodge. Nonetheless, Matt and Mike both rolled their eyes and leaned over Josh who sat in the middle of them with a groan. Mike also didn't hesitate to take Matt's face into his hands and just plant one firmly on his mouth with no fanfare, other than the continued wolf whistles of course, and the two of them settled back down to their previous antics.

With that done, Ashley stared down nervously at the bottle. Once again, she felt the words stick in her throat. It would just be so easy to say "Oh man you guys, it's really late, I should really just go to bed" but let them die without a fight as she swallowed nervously and gave the bottle a hard flick. She knew exactly why she let the words die, and it wasn't solely because of what the others would say, though that was certainly a large part of it. No, it was because of the same glimmer of hope that sparked in her everytime it was her turn at this stupid game. That maybe this would be the time that the bottle would land on Chris, that she would finally get that kiss she's wanted for three years now.

She watches the bottle spin around the group, slowing its motion every full spin, and she notices that Chris has turned his attention away from his phone to watch it almost as nervously as she is. Which should probably make her question just why Chris is as just as invested on who it's gonna land on as she is, but she's kind of distracted right now by the fact that her heart is rapidly picking up pace in direct contrast to how much slower the bottle is getting. And feels it stop almost entirely when the bottle begins its last revolution and she knows. She knows . It's finally gonna land on Chris. All these years of playing this stupid, stupid game and it's finally happening.

Ashley's eyes shoot up to meet Chris's over the bottle, but that's also when the lodge suddenly plunges into darkness just before the bottle stops on him.

Immediately, the others are screaming next to her and the tower of cups and plates fall with a soft clatter.

"Oh my god! What the fuck was that?!"

"Holy fuck! Can you guys see anything?"

"Of course we can't see anything Michael!"

"It's probably just the storm you guys. Settle down."

"Can you guys please quiet down? My parents are sleeping and they're gonna kill us if they find out we're still awake."

Ashley isn't yelling though, because she's too busy screaming internally. There is no way that this is actually happening right now. There is no goddamn way. The bottle finally lands on Chris and the power goes out? Because of some stupid storm? She wanted to scream. She has half a mind to reach out and hold the bottle in place so there's proof of this when the power comes on, or to just jump over the distance and kiss Chris anyway. She knows exactly where he is after all, and he must have seen it land on him. He must have, right? It's that little second of uncertainty that decides for her, there's a sound as someone gets up and the flat 'thunk' as they accidentally kick the bottle across the room.

"Shit. My bad. You guys stay here, I'll go and check out the back-up generator in the basement. You coming, Cochise?"

Ashley can hear Chris awkwardly and quickly getting to his feet. "Um, y-yeah. Right behind you, bro."

The two of them walk away leaving Ashley to sit on the floor about to scream from the frustration of it all. And she does scream that it is, though not from almost having the perfect excuse to kiss Chris, but from someone touching her shoulder.

"Sorry, sorry!" Sam apologizes. "You were so quiet Ashley that I got nervous. I know that you're scared of the dark and I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Oh, yeah. That's right. She was so preoccupied with the dark ruining what was almost going to be the highlight of her entire year , that she kind of forgot that it was, well, dark now. And once that realization hits her, so too does the fear that she's sitting in absolute darkness and can't see a single thing other than the lights being cast from everyone’s phones. That she has no idea what else—or who else—is out there. She frantically reaches out and wraps up Sam's arm in her own for a physical reminder that there is someone else she trusts in the darkness with her.

"Wait, you're scared of the dark Ash? Shit. Here, just give me a second." From next to her, Matt rustles in his jacket pocket and brings out his phone, turning it on and casting light around the room, and reflecting off the plastic bottle that Josh had accidentally kicked to the other side of the room. "Hope this helps a bit."

Ashley lets out a breath and a small smile. "Yeah, it does. Thanks Matt."

"No problem. Hey, I think I may have a funny video saved on here somewhere. Pretty sure I downloaded it so just give me a moment." He finds the video quickly enough, and while Ashley doesn't find it particularly as funny as he clearly did, she does appreciate the effort anyway.

Thankfully for everyone, the lights come back on soon enough. Though whether from the power coming back or the back-up generator activating, she isn't sure. It is enough to convince everyone that maybe it's time for bed though, and no one asks about her spin and who it landed on, which Ashley is both insulted for and thankful of in equal measure. Sam unfortunately reminds everyone of the mess they've all made of the great room though, and that they should all clean it up before Bob and Melinda wake up and find it, which Hannah and Beth eagerly echo, and so does Josh when he makes his way back up from the basement with scowling Chris in tow.

Thankfully, between the ten of them, the clean up takes very little time and they're all on their way back to their own rooms in record time, even if Ashley was too embarrassed to even look at Chris now. God, she couldn't believe that she had seriously considered jumping him! And for what? Just because some bottle told her to? Oh man, she never would have been able to live that down. She still spends more time then needed to get ready in the bathroom, and then laying in bed with her lamp on in the hopes that maybe Chris will knock on her door to confront her about the spin and ask for that kiss.

While the fact that he doesn't make an appearance doesn't surprise her, it's still a little depressing.

Chris is going to kill Josh. He is going to kill him . And he means it this time. Years spent watching Josh's horror shit and listening to Ash go on and on about her mystery novels should have given him a real edge actually. He can murder Josh violently in the way that the weirdo would probably like to go and then Ash can help him get rid of the body so that no one will ever know it was him. Easy.

You know, assuming Ashley is still gonna want to even associate with him after this.

"You feeling okay, Chris? You're starting to look a little red... and surly."

"Yup, I'm fine. Just peachy in fact." Chris takes another swig of the punch that has somehow not been spiked yet, and tries to plaster a smile on his face for her only to once again start looking over her shoulder. Not that there's anything interesting over her shoulder of course, unless one finds a group of football seniors trying to play a game of chicken in the middle of the dance hall interesting, but it's easier than looking straight at her. Not because she looks terrible of course—good god is that not the reason—but because she is way too fucking gorgeous for him to handle right now.

When Chris had decided to invite her to his and Josh's grad thing, it had just been a way for all three of them to hang out and enjoy their last year of high school together. School rules dictated after all that for some stupid reason, graduates weren't allowed to invite anyone who wasn't in school anymore so Ash wasn't going to be able to ask them to hers next year. Which was complete and utter bullshit of course, but that was beside the point. It was supposed to be a fun night... and then Chris's parents found out. And being the complete pain in the asses they are, they insisted that if Ash was going to this party with them, and it was a formal party, then they needed to make this proper. So against his wishes and leaving Chris wanting to die, they went and found out what colour of dress Ash was going to be wearing and got him not only a matching tie but a fucking corsage to go with it! The only thing that had made all of that even a little better, was that they had forced Josh to go along with it so at least he wouldn't be alone.

But then Josh had showed up not wearing his stupid tie and without the fucking flowers. And despite Chris's repeated protests that he didn't want to do the whole matching thing, especially if Josh wasn't doing it, his parents still made him do it anyway, saying all the while that 'it would make Ashley happy, you do want to make Ashley happy don't you?' And now here he was, sitting with Ashley at their table while she wore his stupid flowers on her wrist and his tie matched her green dress.

He hated how fucking obvious his crush was s0 much.

"...It's because of what everyone's been saying isn't it?"

At the dejected tone of her voice, Chris immediately snaps his full attention to her, leaving his glass of punch forgotten as he flaps his hands around in an effort to not reach out and grab at her hand. "What? No! God no! That isn't it I swear!"

Ashley sighs sadly as she looks glumly down at her lap. "It's fine Chris. I can understand if it's making you uncomfortable."

Chris takes one of his ineffectually flapping hands and makes to run it through his hair, before remembering the amount of gel he had put in it before coming and rubs at his eyes beneath his glasses. "I'm serious Ash, that's not it. I was honestly just thinking about the different ways I'm going to murder Josh when he gets back."

She laughs a little at that, and turns to look out into the direction of the buffet table, as though she'll be able to see Josh coming back with their food through the literal sea of people. "He has been gone a while hasn't he? He left like twenty minutes ago and he still isn't back. Do you think he even went to the buffet table in the first place?"

"He better have. Him coming back with food is probably about the only thing that's going to stop me from murdering him honestly."

Ashley laughs a little louder, and when she pushes a stray strand of hair that had come undone from her simply styled updo, Chris catches the while flowers on her wrist and feels his stomach flip pleasantly. "Any particular reason you want to kill Josh this time?"

"I mean, I have plenty but let's just be honest with ourselves here: do either of us ever need a reason to wanna kill Josh, Ash?"

And there it is, the surprised snort he was waiting for and that just made this entire evening a little more bearable. "God, you're not wrong." She follows his eye line to the corsage on her wrist and just like that all levity to the situation is gone as she hides her hands back in her lap under the table. "...you're sure that you're okay with what everyone is saying though?" she asks a little nervously.

Honestly? No, he isn't. Ever since the three of them walked into the party, everyone they had talked to right away had noticed the matching colours and the corsage and all comments had been the same. 'Fucking knew that there was something going on between you two' and 'Hey, it's about fucking time' or 'Always knew that you two would be good together'. It had been bad enough realizing that apparently almost everyone he had ever spoken to even a little bit had known of his super obvious feelings for his best friend, but the absolute worst thing had been the pained but polite smile that Ash had forced onto her face every single time.

"Honestly, I'm never going to see most of these people ever again once I graduate." He's avoiding the question, and he knows that she knows that he's avoiding the question. "But you're probably gonna have to deal with people brining this stupid thing up for the entire next year. Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. It's not like this is something I don't deal with already." She says it with a little shrug and smile, but Chris can feel his heart sink anyway. How long has she had to deal with the bullshit that his stupid crush has caused her, and why had she never told him? It's way too late to try and fix things, but he can at least hopefully try and stop any further comments from coming, so he lets his fingers fly to his tie and starts to frantically undo it. "...What are you doing Chris?"

"Wondering why on earth I let my parents talk me into this. This is obviously making you uncomfortable and I should have taken this stupid thing off ages ago." His fingers keep catching on the knot and he lets out a fairly explicit curse under his breath.

Ashley's eyes go wide with realization. "Oh!" She instantly flips over her wrist and starts fumbling at the clasp of the corsage with her other hand and Chris finds that his heart has somehow managed to travel all the way from the bottom of his stomach straight into his throat. Abandoning his only partially undone tie, he lays his hand on hers to stop her.

"You don't have to do that." She's staring at their hands in wide-eyed shock, and his breath catches. "Not if you don't want to, that is. It-it looks good on you."

"Okay," she whispers softly, eyes still wide as her fingers leave her wrist, "I can leave it on."

"Only if you want to though." When the hell did his mouth get so dry?!

"I do," she looks up to him when she says it, and the earnestness of her smile bowls him over. "I really, really do." In an effort to try and distract himself from her smile, he starts fumbling at his tie once again and he catches her eyes flickering to it. Ashley's smile somehow only brightens as she laughs at him. "Here. Let me give you a hand with that."

She scoots her chair closer to him and he removes his hands from his tie so she can take over. The two of them say nothing as she places all of her attention on continuing to loosen the knot, while Chris tries his absolute hardest not to swallow...or breathe...or do anything at all really, as he just stares down at her in awe.

Once the knot is finally undone, Ashley slowly pulls the entire length of fabric from his neck and places it on the table, before putting her hands back where they were so she can carefully smooth out his shirt collar. And when she looks back up at him with a smile, he can feel the entire world stop as they just stare at each other and Chris slowly starts to close the infinitesimally small distance between them. And he's probably just imagining things, but he thinks that she's doing the same thing as well.

"Jesus Christ, sorry it took so long you guys. Line for the fucking food was longer then you would believe!"

The two of them fly apart so fiercely, that Chris's entire chair manages to tip over backwards and send him to the ground with a loud clatter. He can feel everyone's eyes on them and the murmurs that follow, and he hopes that they're mistaking the redness of his face for the embarrassment of falling out of his chair. Yeah, that's a story that's going to make the rounds before he graduates for sure.

"Shit, you okay bro?" From his spot on the floor, Chris watches Josh place a couple of plates absolutely piled high in food on the table and reach down to help him up with a laugh. "Oh hey, I see you finally decided to take off that stupid tie too. Surprised it took you this long honestly."

Chris accepts Josh's hand up. "Yup, me too." He hopes and prays that Josh just thinks that the absolutely breathless and stunted quality to his words is that he's just a little winded from the fall. Once he gets his chair back up and sits back down, he grabs at the tie to shove it in his pocket. He notices that Ashley is refusing to look at him as she digs out a couple of sandwiches from the miscellaneous pile of food, even as she fiddles with the strap of flowers on her wrist for the rest of the meal.

He's exceptionally thrilled to note that she does keep the corsage on the rest of the night though.

Five times. That's how many times her phone has gone off in her pocket. Five. Times. And every single time Ashley lets out a sigh of relief when the buzzing finally stops, it goes off again only seconds later. And checking the caller id the first couple of times only showed that it was Josh calling her. Normally Ashley liked to think that she would have answered her phone if it was literally anyone else, but this was Josh. He called for every little thing after all; from letting her know that he saw a super big dog on the way home from classes to informing her that he was out of chips and if Ash could pick some up on her way to meet them from her job then that would really just be swell. And considering that he and Chris were supposed to meet her and grab a bite to eat together while she was on her lunch break, he was probably just calling to let her know that they had just left, and to make a milestone out of every block closer the two of them got so she could greet them with all the pomp and circumstance he likely thought he deserved.

Though to be fair she probably would have answered her phone after the third ring, if only to tell him off, but Jared had been giving her a stink eye from his office pretty much since she had arrived so she hadn't.

So she let it buzz...and buzz...and buzz. Until finally, her phone stopped yet again and she tensed her shoulders ready for the next round of vibrations to start. But there was nothing. Nothing but blissful silence coming from her pocket and she let out a huge sigh of relief as Ashley got back to work shelving some of the new stock, letting Kyrstin and Curtis deal with the short line of customers that had begun to form as they bought their books and whatever little trinkets littered the entire front of the store.

She hoped Chris and Josh got here soon, she was overdue for her lunch break and the smells coming out of the nearby food court were calling her name. Particularly the chinese place, she had been craving them for the last week at least . Plus, Jared had been raking her over coals about how her availability was going to drop dramatically once she started college in the next couple of weeks, and one of the creepy regulars had followed her around the store for-freaking- ever (she's pretty sure he had been staring at her ass the whole time too honestly) until Curtis had basically shoved her into the back room to let her escape while he covered for her. And surprise surprise, Jared hadn't been too thrilled about her 'abandoning her post' and yelled at her about that too.

Whoever said that working in a bookstore was a lazy job where she got to read books in her free time was a dirty, rotten liar. It was hell on earth and she was going to slowly tear the fingernails off whoever it was that said it (even though she had a sinking feeling it had probably be Ashley herself that said it back when she romanticized working in bookstores when she was, like, ten ). God, she really really needed that Chinese if she had any plans of surviving the last four hours of her shift.

The phone at the front desk behind her begins to ring, but a quick backwards glance has her realizing that with poor Curtis trying to deal with an older woman who is adamant that the book he's trying to sell her is the wrong one because she is 'positive that the book had a light purple cover and this one is lavender, that is two different colours and I want the right book now ' and Kyrstin being forced to deal with the rest of the line herself, that Ashley's the one who's going to have to answer the phone. With a groan of resignation (she hated answering the phone at work but Jared was in a horrendous enough mood as it was), she stood up and made her way over, repeating the greeting she was going to have to say over and over in her head so she (hopefully) wouldn't mess it up. And taking a deep breath, and repeating the greeting once more in her head, she forced a smile to her face as she picked up the handset.

"Hi! Thanks for calling—"

"Fucking finally Ash."

In an instant, Ashley could feel every ounce of nervous energy violently expel from her body as she nearly doubled over with another groan, this one entirely of exhaustion. She took quick glance over her shoulder, but Jared seemed to busy with another phone call in his office thankfully. "What are you doing Josh?!" she whispered angrily, "I'm at work right now you moron!"

"Uh yeah, I know. Why do you think I called you using this number?"

Ashley gave Kyrstin an apologetic and pained smile when she looked at her curiously, who responded with a good-natured shake of her head and a laugh under her breath as she turned to help the next customer. "Well, you didn't have to call here."

"Kinda did, Ash. You kept ignoring me."

"I was ignoring your calls you butt, you could have just texted me instead you know."

"Hmmm, no. Anyways I tried calling to tell you that Chris and I might not be able to meet up with you for lunch."

Ashley felt disappointment flood her entire being. "Oh. I see. But you really could have just—"

"We're at the hospital while Chris gets some x-rays done."

Immediately any disappointment fled her body as Ashley all but collapsed on the counter for support as her legs gave out on her. "Is he okay?! Oh god, is he okay Josh?!"

There's a pause on the phone and all Ashley can hear is her own blood pounding in her ears. He has to be okay. He has to be, he just has to be!

"I dunno, it was a pretty gnarly fall. Don't know if he'll ever truly recover, there was a lot of screaming after all."

Ashley doesn't even respond as she slams down the phone and turns to Kyrstin and Curtis who are looking at her in shock as her entire world falls to pieces around her. "I-I have to go. Chris is... Chris is..." she can't get anymore out with how it feels like someone is ripping her heart out of her chest. "Josh said he's in the hospital and...and..."

Curtis nods quickly as he runs to the staff room, and Kyrstin just starts shoving her towards the door as they all ignore the customers who are standing around awkwardly. "Go. We got this."

Ashley turns her head towards Jared's office. "But I gotta—and, and I need to grab my stuff—

"Nope. You go. Curtis and I will figure something out, and Becks arrives for her shift in another half hour. We can manage just fine until then. You just get out of here right now."

Ashley doesn't try to fight anymore than that, not with how hard she's fighting to hold back breaking down in the middle of the store after all. Curtis meets her at the entrance with her bag and shoves it into her arms. "Do you need me to call you a taxi, or give you a ride, or anything? Kyrstin can drag Jared out of his cave if she's gotta." Next to him, Kyrstin nods furiously in agreement.

Ashley has never loved anyone as much as she loves her coworkers in this instant. "No, my-my mom gave me the car for today."

With that little bit of approval, and a random customer shouting ‘I hope he's okay hun!’ at her, the two of them shove Ashley into the mall itself and the very instant she crosses that threshold she takes off running, shoving her way through people and nearly falling down the stairs in her effort to get to the parking lot as quickly as she can. She is so, so glad that her mom basically forced the car on her today instead of letting her take the bus as originally planned, she doesn't know how she would have lasted if she'd had to wait for a taxi to arrive and pick her up.

As it is, once she's finally (and somehow safely) managed to arrive at the hospital and found a spot to park, she's nonplussed about the fact that she didn't leave any imprints in the steering wheel from how hard she had been gripping it the whole drive over. She fumbles with the clasp on her seatbelt with shaking hands, almost bursting into tears about that fact alone, but she eventually manages to free herself and basically throws herself out of the car, only remembering to lock the door behind her when she's about halfway to the hospital doors.

The moment she bursts into the waiting room, Josh is sitting there waiting for her. He looks up at her in surprise as she hurries towards him, then down at his phone and back up at her again as he gives a low whistle. "Shit Ash, how many laws did you break to get here that fast?"

She ignores him. "What happened?! How is he?! Just tell me he's okay! Please, please tell me he's okay!"

"I mean, I suppose he's as fine as he could be considering the circumstances." He seems to sense that she's about ready to scream at him so he quickly follows up with "He's on the second floor, in room 272 if you want to see him."

Ashley doesn't even bother to thank him as she bolts to the nearby elevator, frantically pushing the 'Call Elevator' button nonstop until the door opens and then doing the same thing to the second floor button as it carries her up. Her eyes are burning in an effort to hold back her tears but she can tell that the dam is about to burst any second, especially with how long this elevator is taking to move. She doesn't even wait for the doors to open fully, squeezing through them the moment they're wide enough and accosting some poor nurse until he points her down the correct hall. She hurries the rest of the way, staring at every number on the wall until she finds room 272. And then she stops, her hand on the door knob as she braces herself for whatever she's going to find. Chris lying in bed, covered in blood and bandages with a heart monitor beeping next to him, just broken and shattered beyond all repair. With a choked back sob she opens the door—

and finds Chris sitting on the bed looking up at the ceiling bored to tears with a splint wrapped around his pinky and ring finger on his right hand.

"Finally! I thought you would never get here, so if we could just get this over with—" he looks over at her standing in the doorway shell shocked and still in her work uniform and jumps to his feet. "A-Ash?! What the hell are you doing here— Wait, did you just come here straight from work?! "

"You're okay?" Ashley hates how small her voice comes out, "You're really okay?"

"What? Yeah, why wouldn't I be? Who told you—"

Spell broken, Ashley’s bag falls from her shoulder to the ground with a small clatter and she dives towards Chris, wrapping him in a tight hug. "Oh thank god. Oh thank god. " Chris starts to return the hug, likely more than a little confused about what's going on, but she's already moved so her hands are on either side of his face as she tugs him down to her level so she can get a better look at him. Twisting and turning his head this way and that as she looks for any bruises or cuts. "Josh told me that there had been an accident and—"

"Ash!" Chris interrupts her by taking her wrists in his hands—though he winces at the pain that likely forms as a result of doing so—and speaks as calmly and reassuringly to her as he can. "Ash, it's okay. I'm fine . I promise. I just tripped earlier that's all."

Ashley takes in the sight of the scuffed up palms of his hands, and the holes in the knees of his jeans that certainly hadn't been there before, and knows that Chris is telling the truth. Though it doesn't explain the splint on his hand.

"Okay, and I might have broken my finger doing so."

Ashley just stands there so dumbfounded and relieved in equal measure, that she blurts out "Josh said that there had been screaming."

To her surprise, Chris only gives an embarrassed groan as he stares at an area just over her shoulder "God, Josh is never gonna let me live that down is he? Okay, so my finger may not have been the only thing that broke..." Confused, mainly because except for the bandaged finger and ripped jeans he seems perfectly okay, Ashley looks over her shoulder and follows his eyes to his phone laying on the counter just behind her. The screen completely shattered to hell and back with no promise of life anywhere on it. Just the dead, black screen reflecting the ceiling above on its cracked surface

"Wait," Ashley starts to feel the relieved giggles try to break free as her nerves finally settle, "are you telling me that you broke your finger but you were more worried about your phone? "

Chris sputters as he starts to wave his splinted finger infront of her face. "I mean obviously! This doesn't cost me any money to fix Ash; that's what health care's for! But my phone? Do you know how expensive that thing's going to be to replace? How many paychecks I'm going to have to put towards it? All the money I saved up this summer for school: gone! All because of a stupid little sidewalk curb!"

Ashley can't help it, she starts laughing uncontrollably as she collapses into a nearby chair with her head in her hands. "Oh, I am going to kill Josh when I see him, kill him! And then Jared's gonna kill me for bailing at work and not telling him! God, and I just left in the middle of a rush too! Remind me to buy Kyrstin and Curtis a cake or flowers or something as an apology. Oh my god ."

"You just ditched work? Ash!" Chris falls back onto the bed as he laughs with her. "Why would you even do that in the first place?!"

"Josh told me that you were in the hospital getting x-rays! What was I supposed to think?"

Chris rubs at his eyes beneath his glasses. "I asked him to let you know that we were probably gonna be a little late for lunch while I waited to get my cast! Fucking hell, I'm so sorry."

"Am I interrupting anything or..."

The two of them turn to see a doctor looking up at them with an upturned brow, and holding what Ashley assumes (and hopes) to be the materials needed for Chris's cast. "This is Chris Hartley's room correct?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. That's me."

The doctor nods, and walks towards Chris, but stops in front of the chair Ashley is sitting in. "I'm sorry, but I will be needing that chair sweetheart." With a squeak of apology, Ashley jumps out the chair and moves back by the door so fast that she's almost certain that she had managed to teleport over there, almost tripping over her forgotten bag in the process. Red-faced, she picks it back up and goes to leave (and possibly strangle Josh violently) but is stopped by the same doctor as she sits down in the chair with a chuckle, shaking her head. "You don't have to leave if you don't want to. It'll only take a couple of minutes to get this cast on and then he'll be free to leave with you."

Now even more red-faced (if that was even possible), Ashley just slowly shuffles over to the table where Chris's (broken) phone and wallet is, nervously fidgeting with the strap of her bag as she waits for Chris to get the cast on. Taking Chris's hand in her own, the doctor—Dr. Klorens her name tag reads—scowls at the now slightly bent fingers in the splint, which Chris only gives a sheepish shrug and smile to, and sighs as she unwraps his fingers so she can reset the splint. And Ashley blanches at the deep, dark bruises that spread all the way from the middle of his pinky to nearly halfway down his palm that she had completely failed to notice earlier before those are once again lost.

And as promised, once the Dr. Klorens has put the cotton sleeve over his hand and trimmed it to the desired length, it only takes her another couple of minutes to wrap starting from the center of his forearm and all the way up to the center of his palm and then finally finishing with his splinted fingers. As the three of them wait for the fibreglass material to dry, Dr. Klorens goes over the do's and don'ts of cast care, which Ashley takes serious note of because she knows that Chris won't. Especially the 'do NOT get the cast wet' part, he's gonna forget about that one the moment Josh tries to bait him into another water gun fight.

"Alright, I think that's about it. Just come back in three weeks so we can do another x-ray to check and make sure that the bone's all healed up before we remove it. Just let someone know that you're done with the room when you leave, and remember to check out at the front desk." She gathers up her supplies and makes to leave, but stops to look over her shoulder at them with an amused smile on her face. "Oh, and if you two take the stairs, just make sure that you're careful. I know that we're in a hospital already, but I don't think any of us want to deal with any more tripping instances. Especially if they result in another broken bone." After waiting for Chris and Ashley to meekly agree to be careful, she finally leaves the two of them alone once again.

"Welp, that's it for my summer. 'Fraid I'm nothing but a cripple now."

Sighing, Ashley turns to Chris with a tired smile. "You are not a cripple, oh my god. You have a broken finger, you didn't lose the entire arm you dork."

Incensed, Chris waves his cast at her. "Um, do you not see this thing Ash? I may as well have. I've lost the use of two of my fingers now! Two! And on my right hand to boot. I can't hold a controller to play games with, I can't type, I can't text. What am I supposed to do Ash if I can't hold a single thing in my dominant hand anymore?"

"I'm sure you'll manage," she dryly responds. "Now come on, let's get out of here. I have to figure out how in the world I'm going to explain this to Jared so he doesn't fire me."

"Pretty sure that you should just let him if you ask me."

Ashley groans in agreement, but says "It's only another couple of weeks until college starts. Just hoping I can hold out until then, I need the money after all."

Chris lets out a resigned breath but then starts eyeing her work apron. "You got a sharpie in there?"

"Um, I think so. Why?"

"Uh, so you can sign my cast, duh. You missed out when I broke my arm when I was like nine, so you can be the first to get your name on this one."

"Trying to weasel my autograph out of me huh?" Ashley asks even as she digs through one of her pockets to pull out the sharpie in question, and joins Chris to sit next to him on the bed.

Chris laughs. "Damn, you figured out my devious plan. Thing’s gonna be worth a fortune when you make it onto the bestsellers list one day. Gonna be fighting off all sorts of crazed and fanatic fans."

Ashley shakes her head as she chuckles and writes her name on his arm, but pauses when she caps the pen. Seeing her name on his cast suddenly pulls everything back into vivid clarity, and she remembers the panic she had felt when she had thought—when she had believed —that she had nearly lost him. That this was it, that he was here one day and gone the next, and she hadn't even told him how much he meant to her. How important he was to her. She watches as a drop of water splashes down onto the cast and she finds herself wondering if there's a leak in a room upstairs.

"What the—Ash? Are you crying?"

"Huh?" She wipes her eyes, and a surprised but weak laugh escapes when her hand comes away wet. "Oh, I guess I am. Sorry about that, you're supposed to keep the cast dry and here I am crying—"

Chris places his left hand on her cheek to help wipe away some of her tears. "Oh fuck, I really freaked you out didn't I? Fucking hell. I'm—"

"Do you promise not to hate me?"

The look Chris gives her is nothing short of bamboozled. "Hate you? Ash, what's going on with you?"

"Do you promise not to hate me? Please Chris, I really, really need you to promise me this. Please . Do you promise not to hate me?" She’s fully aware that she’s practically begging right now, silent tears flowing down her cheeks, but if it gets Chris to promise then she’ll gladly throw away her pride for this one thing.

"Yeah, I-I promise. Will you just—"

Ashley doesn't give him anytime to finish his sentence before she's squeezing her eyes shut and she surges up to kiss him. She doesn't want to see his expression, not when all she wants is just to remember everything else that is happening. Remember the feel of his lips before he pulls away, and the warmth of his hand on her cheek. In fact, she spends so much time trying to memorize what she is sure is only going to be a single shared kiss, that it takes her a few seconds longer than she would like to admit to realize that Chris's hand isn't on her cheek anymore, it's moved to the back of her neck so he can kiss her back . The shock of which is enough for her to break the kiss and stare at him with wide eyes.

"Wh—" that's all she can get out before Chris is pulling her back in for a second kiss, and this time she lets her eyelids flutter close as she completely melts into, throwing her arms around his neck to hold him closer.

Ashley's not sure how long they stay like that—could have been an eternity, could have only been a couple of seconds—before they're both pulling back with their faces flushed and giggling like morons.

"Wow," Chris says after a moment, "I don't know what made you think I could hate you after that , but wow . If I had known that this would be the reaction I get, I would have broken my finger years ago."

There's something about the way he says it that has Ashley's heart beating even faster. "How long?" she demands breathlessly, "Tell how long ago?"

Somehow, Chris manages to flush even deeper. "I dunno, like... six? I guess?"

Six years. He'd had a crush on her for six years and she'd had no idea. The moment the realization hits her she starts laughing. "I knew you were trying to ask me for a kiss back in seventh grade! I should have just chased you down and given you one anyway!"

This time, it's Chris who starts laughing at the realization. "Wait, you liked me too?! Then that kiss, back in the library...?"

"You still remember that?!"

"Remember it? Ash, that stupid little cheek kiss is the only reason I passed that final I'm sure! Hell, why else do you think Josh dared me to kiss you in truth and dare?"

"What? No he didn't!"

Chris shakes his head as he moves his hand from her neck to around her waist. "He did! He told me to 'return the favour' and all I had been thinking about that summer was kissing you back. Fucking hell, I almost killed him when he pulled me away to get that generator working that winter in the lodge."

"Oh my god, I almost jumped across the floor to you that night when the power went out after the bottle landed on you."

"You didn't!"

Chris sounded so scandalized at the idea that Ashley presses her forehead to his as her smile widens, which only causes his own to widen in turn. "I did! But then Josh pulled you away and I just completely lost my nerve." She starts laughing at the next memory. "Oh god, I kept my lamp on in my room after that hoping you would stop by if you thought I was still awake."

The answering gape in shock was all she needed before she broke into more giggles. "I saw that! I don't know how long I hovered outside your door trying to work up the courage to knock before talking myself out of it. I think I just convinced myself that the outage had freaked you out badly enough that you needed the extra light to get to sleep."

Once the giggles started to lessen, the smiles on their faces did so as well, softening to something warmer and infinitely more cozy. "I almost kissed you, you know," Ashley confessed shyly. "Back at your grad party."

"Yeah, I-I almost kissed you too. And, just so you know, I wasn't lying then. The flowers looked really really good on you."

"That's good to hear," she admits as she leans in closer, her lips brushing his so lightly it's almost a caress, "I kept them, after all."

Nothing more is said as Chris closes the distance between them again to kiss her, and even though she knows that they really should get back downstairs, she doesn't try to stop it.

They have a long six years to make up for after all.

#my writing #pride month prompt challenge #until dawn #chris hartley #ashley brown #josh washington #chrashley #ignore the weirdly long and frankly unimaginative titles so far #i throw these into an ao3 and tumblr draft at like 2am to post the next morning #so my brain isn't exactly what i would call imaginative lol #or working in general asjkdhasdh #and yes it possible to break your finger in such a way that you need a full on arm cast for it to heal #i would know

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risingsouls · 2 years

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@fusiioneternal asked:🧺 gogeta IT'ing in on nabs getting changed is something i feel he'd easily do on accident tbh

Cheesy Nude Shenanigans || Open!

Nabooru rarely thought much about security, typically fogoing even the basic measures such as locking her door regularly. The general barren nature of the desert and the distance off the beaten path in which her home stood kept most would-be thieves at bay. And, should any sticky-fingered intruder venture far enough into the wasteland to break in, she had more than enough strength and skill to deal with them herself.

Thus, when she caught sight of a silhouette behind her in the mirror's reflection, her reaction was instantaneous. Dropping the clothes she was considering and more concerned with preventing any unfortunate mishaps to her person than her state of undress, orange ki shot from the palm of her hand and formed the shape of a curved blade. She whipped around with blinding speed and poised the tip of the ki sword at the intruder's throat, golden eyes narrowed.

Until she registered the beautiful, wide, onyx eyes staring back at her and the spiked hair atop his head. The lips parted in shock that she had kissed more than a few times now and the muscular frame she found comfort curled up against every. Realization dawned and softened her features from a dangerous warning to blinking embarrassment. Heat rushed into her face and set it on fire and, from the glow of pink in his cheeks, the Saiyan wasn't faring better in the department.

" Gogeta. " Blade disappeared in a flash and she scrambled for the nearest scrap of fabric to cover herself, tearing the sheet from her bed and holding it haphazardly over her front. How had she not heard him come in? Or sensed his flight over? She knew he was fast but–

Instant Transmission. It all made sense. From her text moments ago assuring him she would be ready in a few minutes to not hearing the front door or his footsteps in the hall. The battle between shock and a hint of sheepish guilt flickering over his face instead of the smug satisfaction one would wear if they were trying to walk in on her in such a state. And she knew Gogeta wasn't the type to do such a thing, even if it wouldn't bother her that much.

The culmination of the mishaps–her thoughtless text to someone who could literally arrive at her place in half a second and Gogeta using a useful but apparently not super exact travel technique–brought a grin to her lips. She laughed, fingers tightening on the fabric to ensure it didn't slip from her grip in her mirth. More for his benefit than hers.

" I guess I should really be more specific with my texts, especially when you can get here in the literal blink of an eye, " she said, wrapping the sheet more securely around herself in a makeshift evening gown. She stepped toward him to get a better look at his neck and wiped a bead of blood from the miniscule scratch her sword left behind on his throat.

" Sorry about that. I guess I didn't think about Instant Transmission… " She chuckled again. " I guess my ki signature can't tell you if I'm dressed or not, huh? "

#.:ask:.#:: nabooru ☀#fusiioneternal #aljsdflaj this was too fun to write #i love these dorks #she's sorry she almost took your head off #and that he got a reeeeal eye full ;D

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mercurymetals · 5 years

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i could never be alone

I apologise for how long this took @rose-obsidian. Writing yan!Bruno is honestly so difficult for me, I just can't do my man dirty like that... So please forgive me, but this is 100% self-indulgent fluffy domestic Bruno content. I went full in on the caring reader vibes tbh. There’s just like... a 2%, barely-passable yandere bit at the end.

Warnings: None. But skip this one if you don’t like fluff.

You can barely contain your excitement as you reach out to knock on the door. It's not often that you come over to visit your boyfriend - not for a lack of wanting on either side, but because he rarely gets a day off, spending most of his time outside with his team, or in that favourite restaurant of his. Most of your time together is spent in there too, which can be awkward considering his teammates often hang around on the other end of the room, throwing amused glances your way.

But today is different. In the morning you woke up to a text from Bruno asking you to come over when you're up. You immediately flung yourself from the bed and made a mad dash for your closet. You didn't bother making yourself look too fancy, just presentable enough to leave your house, and practically speed-walked the entire half hour of a journey to Bruno's place.

And now here you are, unable to stop yourself from smiling as you wait by his front door. It's been a little while since you've last seen him, as he was away from Naples on some business. You don't know the details of what he does, but you never inquire too deeply. Bruno doesn't seem to enjoy sharing about it either, so you don't prod. What matters is that he's back, and clearly has earned himself a rest - a rest which he is choosing to spend with you. You couldn't be more happy about that.

After a few more seconds, the lock clicks and the door swings open. You are greeted with the sight of Bruno in a loose white T-shirt, and dalmatian-patterned pants that you recognise to be a part of his pyjamas. He's also wearing similarly-patterned slippers.

He opens his mouth to greet you, but you don't give him the chance. You throw yourself into his arms, clumsily pressing your lips to his as a way of saying hello. Bruno is surprised for a moment, and then you feel him laugh against your mouth as he returns the kiss, embracing you in his arms. He pulls away just enough to quietly say your name, then leans in to kiss you properly, tenderly, his lips fitting perfectly against yours.

"I missed you," you say when he pulls away again, and he smiles.

"So I see," he says, tugging you inside the house and closing the door. "I missed you as well. Come on."

The two of you make your way to the living room, where the small television is currently playing some news program. You suspect Bruno switched it on more for background noise than anything, given his extremely limited TV license (a discovery that left you highly disappointed the last time you visited).

The rest of the room is bare of anything interesting save for layers of dust on the shelves. You drop your bag on the sofa and turn to Bruno. "Let me help you out with cleaning a little."

He blinks. "What? No, I did not invite you here to do my chores for me--"

You roll your eyes. "Oh please. Dusting a little won't take that long. Just let me do it, and then we can relax for the rest of the day."

It's not that you're crazy about neatness, you just want your boyfriend to have a decent space to come back to every evening, at the very least. The place is modest, but the lack of memorabilia beyond a few photos in the bedroom makes the house feel lonely and vacant. It's really no wonder he doesn't like staying here much.

Bruno gives you a measured look, but finally gives in. "Alright. But in that case I'm helping, too."

There's no point arguing with him, so both of you dig through his kitchen cupboards until you find some old dust cloths and cleaning spray bottles, and then you get to work.

The announcer on the television is currently discussing the rising problem of drug abuse in Italy, which is far from an exciting soundtrack to do chores to. Bruno seems to think the same, for he reaches for the remote and switches it, leaving it on some pop music channel.

As it soon turns out, dusting to the tune of Survivor blasting in the background can in fact be very motivating, and what was supposed to be a quick sweep through the room ends in a full-blown house cleaning session. Spring started last week, so you reckon it's only appropriate.

Once you're done dusting, you set to the task of sweeping the floor, while Bruno searches for a vacuum he's sure must be somewhere in the house. His search is briefly interrupted when you decide to passionately lip-sync to Lady Marmalade, using the end of the broom as your microphone.

At one point you get really into it, and perhaps get a little inappropriate with the broom. Bruno tries hard to stifle his laughter, but loses the battle when you try to lean on the handle sexily and the brush slips against the floor, causing you to lose your balance. You only just manage to catch yourself from falling, and Bruno makes a passing comment about teaching you the ropes someday. You take note of this to question him on another day about.

When you're done with the living room, you move on to the kitchen and wipe all the counters down. Then you go through each cupboard, throwing out old and expired products (mainly tea bags and unused spaghetti noodle packets years past their expiry dates; and on one occasion an ancient jar of tomato sauce which neither of you dare try opening). You are unsurprised to see Bruno's fridge is largely empty, but you still go through it and get rid of a couple of stale vegetables, and a bottle of ketchup so old you can't even get it to spurt anything out when you test it.

Two hours and some more poorly done performances by yours truly later (although you do manage to rope Bruno in on singing I Want It That Way with you, which ends in a nice make out session that is then tragically interrupted by you going into a sneezing fit from all that dust in the air, much to Bruno's amusement), everything is tidied up and sparkling clean.

But you're not done yet.

You insist on going grocery shopping, intent on cooking dinner for tonight. You know one of the reasons Bruno loves that restaurant of his so much is because he's never really had the time to learn how to make anything more complex than an omelette, and you intend to treat him to something nice after having forced him to spend half his day off doing chores with you. All that said, Bruno doesn't seem to mind this turn of events, going along with your plans with a smile and no complaints.

But both of you feel a little icky after all that work, so you decide to take a shower together before leaving. It's a bit of a squeeze to fit both of you in the cubicle, but you're not in a particular hurry, and you enjoy a companionable silence against the hot stream of water, cleaning up with slow, relaxed movements, careful not to disrupt or bump each other.

Your favourite part is when Bruno quietly offers to wash your hair for you, and the feel of his long fingers soothingly massaging your scalp is nothing short of heavenly. You don't think you'll be able to stand the idea of having to wash your hair by yourself after that experience.

The shopping trip itself is brief but enjoyable. Bruno lets you pick out most of the products, although you have a disagreement when you try to add some apples to the cart, which Bruno vehemently refuses to purchase. You give it up, but promise you'll change his mind yet on the delicious fruit in the future.

Back at his place, so soon as you're done putting the groceries away, you send Bruno off to the living room for a break. He's insistent on wanting to help you out, but you're more insistent on the fact he's useless in the kitchen and anyway it's really not a big deal, you like doing this kind of stuff. You get a feeling he's not entirely pleased to be leaving all the work to you, but he does as you say and you have the kitchen to yourself.

You've known Bruno long enough to know his tastes, and you set about making a risotto using his favourite porcini mushrooms. With having to prepare the rice and the broth, it takes you about an hour to finish, and you take a few minutes towards the end to grill some scallops as a side dish, since you know he loves them.

You're almost done setting everything on the plates, when Bruno walks into the kitchen with a yawn. You smile. "Took a nap?"

"Yes... But tesoro, whatever you made smells amazing."

You grin in satisfaction. You do feel a little guilty for having tired out your boyfriend all day, but at least you'll be making it up to him with this.

A few minutes later, you discover your cooking not only smells amazing, but tastes it as well. You're glad you managed not to botch it, and you and Bruno clean your plates in no time, enjoying a glass of white wine each to go along with it. Bruno is particularly delighted by the scallops, and you watch him eat them with an uncharacteristic excitement. You wonder how long it's been since he's treated himself to something he likes, but you don't want to bring the mood down, so you don't ask about it.

You finish your evening by curling up on the living room sofa together, limbs tangled and your head resting on his chest as some cheesy romantic movie plays on low volume on the TV.

But there's something on your mind. Something that even after a whole day together, Bruno hasn't brought up.

You put your hand on his chest, and run your fingers on the open part of his jacket, tracing the patterns of the black lace against his skin. You can tell he's looking at you now, but he still doesn't say anything, so you speak up first. "Caro... Don't you have something you want to tell me?"

The text you got that morning mentioned there was something he wanted to discuss. You were so excited to go over and spend the day with him however, that it nearly slipped your mind entirely. Until now.

There's a beat of silence, but Bruno gives in quickly. "Yes. I do." You think he's trying to find the right way to say it, and he speaks carefully when he finally continues. "You've heard of what's been happening recently around Naples. The streets may not be as safe as they used to be any more. Being with me automatically puts you in danger..."

You suddenly feel uneasy. He's not... he's not about to break up with you, is he?

"...But at this point, I prefer it to the idea of you being all by yourself."

You shift so that you can meet his eyes. "What do you mean?"

He's frowning. "You live alone, tesoro. I don't like that."

You tilt your head. It's true that you live on your own, but... What exactly is he getting at?

Seeing your expression, Bruno clarifies: "I think I'd like you to stay here with me. Permanently."

You stare at him for a long moment. Permanently? He wants you to move in with him? Well, that's... That's a little sudden. You don't hate the idea, but you're not sure if you love it, either, for a variety of reasons, which you soon try to explain to him. "Bruno, living together would be lovely... But you don't exactly spend much time here. Besides, my place is much closer to my work."

"I can take you to work, and pick you up afterwards. Or if not me, I can send someone from my team," he argues, and you recognise that tone of voice. It's one that tells you he's made his mind up about something. Normally when you hear it, you don't bother arguing back, knowing Bruno is prone to staying committed once he makes a decision.

"Your workplace should be safe, but as for where you stay... I feel more confident about being able to protect this place, than worrying about your safety from far away,” Bruno tells you earnestly.

You chew on your lip, mulling over his words. Even if he's right, it's just a little unexpected. You didn't exactly come here ready to give up your old lifestyle. But... he does have a point... But also... Argh, you really can't decide on the spot like this!

Bruno sees your hesitation, and sighs. "Look, tesoro... Vita mia... Let me put this another way." He holds you tighter, a loving but firm embrace. "I'm not letting you leave here again. Even if I have to keep you here by force."

You don't reply to that, slowly lowering your head and pressing your cheek to his chest. Well... He's probably not actually serious about that last part, but you find it moving that he cares this much. And, looking back on the day you shared together... Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, to turn this house into a place he wants to come back to. To turn it into a home.

"Alright," you agree quietly. "I'll move in with you."

Bruno relaxes against you. "Good." His hand starts petting your hair gently, reminiscent of that time in the shower earlier today. You lean into the touch, closing your eyes.

"But Caro... I didn't bring any clothes with me, or anything..."

"I'll lend you something of mine. Come on, let's get ready for bed."

How could you refuse that? You let him pet you for a little while longer, but eventually the two of you slink off the couch. Bruno switches the television off, and tugs you along to his bedroom. You follow after him rather happily.

#yandere jjba #yandere bruno buccellati #jjba imagines #jjba scenarios #neutral reader #im not even gonna put the other yandere tags on this bc is it? is it really #anyway i looked up top charts for late 90s/00s to write this and had an absolute BLAST #this fic is just my ultimate guilty fantasy like.. this is all i want from life #why wasn't i born in time to take care of a beautiful italian gangster of the early 2000s... gdi #anyway if yall rly want me to try writing yandere bruno lmk but i can't promise anything #i love him too purely for that tbh #song recommendation of the day:#dead flowers by the rolling stones

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darisugawa · 5 years

Note

❝ Sorry I, uh… Walked in on your alone-time. I swear I didn’t see much. ❞ for uhhhhhhhhh Jakurai he deserves to get his meat beat

so yeah this one’s another Long One and it took me 84 years a;sldkfjAS;DLKFJ

but tbh shoutout to @theempresskaizer who left like the nicest tag dump under my samatoki fic bc it gave me the Encouragement to finish this scenario for jakurai thank u

ANYWAY UH… this is phone sex just. straight up. so very dialogue heavy LOL

Negative Numbers

↪ Jakurai/Reader

Jakurai doesn’t consider himself a man of many indulgences.

He could make many excuses as to why that is, whether it’shis schedule, his lack of desire, his priorities–anything. There’s along list of things that come before his own pleasures that he has sorted downto a particular science and he’s too meticulous to stray from it at this pointin his life. Or perhaps he’s just getting old–too stubborn to strayfrom habit to fix what’s not entirely broken.

The only problem is that his current predicament might be inneed of fixing, given that it’s not the first time he’s had to deal withit in just the past two weeks.

Jakurai sighs to himself, having woken up from another dream–sovery unlike him, as seeing things in his sleep only ever means bad news.They’re not like the nightmares, at least, but he wonders if they’re worse.There is tea to drink and syringes to fiddle with when he is restless frombattle-hardened memories, but there is no quick fix to longing,indefinite as it is. Matters of the heart are confusing andfrustrating–incomprehensible and without reason. Jakurai dislikes problemsthat don’t come with decided formulas, even if he begrudgingly understands thathe’s no exception their inevitable nature.

He’d prefer it, at least, if that said longing took a moreshapeless, anonymous form. It’d be far, far easier if he didn’tassociate his desires with you.

Another sigh escapes him as he sits up, ever aware of the heatthat’s coiled up at his very core and how he strains against his pants.He’s not been a teenager for some time, but Jakurai is certain he’s notexperienced inane wet dreams in just as long. Faint images of animaginary you remain in his mind–your lips wrapped around his cock as you lookup to him, observing every reaction he gives you. The thought isn’t nearly assatisfying when he’s lucid, as the feeling ghosts along him instead ofactually providing anything of substance. Jakurai drags his legs over the sideof the bed and puts his face in his hands with a groan. He will have to takecare of this, even though a small part of him loathes putting the effort into asolution that will only last him a short while.

The clock reads 2:17 AM.

As it turns to 2:18, his phone rings.

Jakurai doesn’t bother to check the name before quicklyanswering it, hoping that maybe whoever it is may have more importantmatters to distract him with. Perhaps it’s Ichiro-kun, who’ll apologize for thelate hour but insist he needs some over-the-counter suggestions for one of hisbrothers… He considers Doppo-kun, but realizes he’d more likely be trying tosleep at this hour. Hifumi-kun should be at work, and–

“Oh, Jakurai-san? I didn’t think you’d answer at this hour.”

… Ah. This is quite the predicament.

“… It’s not very common,” he grunts out, cursing his ownluck that the very source of his distractions is just on the other end of theline. The sound of your voice sends a shiver down his spine and Jakurai pincheshis own thigh, as if reminding himself to keep his composure.

“You do sound like you’ve just woken up,” you say,sounding a little guilty. “I apologize if–”

“No,” he says, too hasty, before he shakes his head,trying to get rid of the haze. “No, I was… already awake. It’s no trouble. Whatwas it you wished to call me for?”

“You asked me for those documents a few days ago, remember?I’ve finally gotten them gathered and organized, so I figured I’d leave you avoicemail since your phone is usually off at these hours.”

“Is… that right?” he asks, just barely able to wrap his mindaround what you’re talking about. Jakurai ends up focusing so much on the soundof your voice that he can’t even comprehend what you’re saying. Goodness.

“… You sound flustered, Jakurai-san,” you say, soundingsuspicious. He shivers again at the sound of his name on your tongue. “Did I…perhaps interrupt something?”

Ah. A direct question, as always. Jakurai clears his throat,caught off guard, but he knows that alone has given him away and he wonders ifyou have that curious smile turning your lips up at this revelation. Thesilence is heavy, but you wait for his answer patiently. He swallows.

“… Something like that, perhaps.”

“I see,” you say, humming to yourself on the other end. “Yetyou saw it fit to answer me right away, regardless? It makes me wonder of yourintentions, Jakurai-san.”

“Nothing unsavory, I can promise,” he insists. Not foranswering the phone, at least. “I was quite hoping for a distraction fromthis… issue of mine, actually.”

“Oh? Talking business to get your mind on other things?” youask, sounding as if you’re shifting your phone from one ear to the other. “Or…were you looking for another sort of distraction?”

Jakurai feels himself throb and uses all of hiswillpower not to curse aloud. “… Is that your offer?’’

“I wouldn’t mind. We’re good friends, aren’t we?” youinsist. “I’m a bit pent up myself… it could be mutually beneficial.’’

Mutually beneficial. It sounds so clinical, butJakurai wants to use it as a proper excuse for himself. Maybe it’s not right ofhim, but if he can rationalize he’s also helping you in the process,then he suddenly doesn’t feel so bad about it.

… Is he really so desperate that he’ll reach for anything?

“… What do you propose?”

“Hm… Will just my voice do for you?”

“Yes.”

He hears you giggle on the other end and he moves to leanback against his bed frame. This is shameless, he knows, but you areboth adults. You know him too well by now to offer him something like thiswithout knowing the consequences… of which there will be many in the aftermaththat you’ll have to talk about in extent. But just this once, Jakurai doesn’twant to consider the details–he just wants you to tell him what to do.

“Tell me then, good doctor,” you say and he hears the soundof a chair leaning back. “What were you thinking about before you picked up thephone?”

Jakurai wraps an arm around his stomach, gripping at his ownclothes. “… I was dreaming of that which I do not have.”

“And what would that be?”

He’s afraid to say it, but your gentle voice prods him,anyway. “… You.”

“Oh?” you ask, feigning surprise as you hum to yourself. Youknow exactly what you’re doing, but he’s not inclined to stop you. “That’s verycurious indeed… For you to be so riled up, I must’ve been doing somethinginappropriate, for certain.”

“… It is my own fault, to have imagined it that way.”

“Nobody’s blaming anyone, are they? I’m simply askingbecause I want to help, Jakurai-san…” you say with an even tone. “… Was it myhand? Perhaps my mouth you were thinking of?”

His hand starts to loosen its grip. “… Your mouth.”

You fake a gasp of surprise, but he doesn’t respond to itright away. “Really? You’d be so desperate for me to have a taste ofyou? Jakurai-san, I’m surprised…” You pause. “… Though I suppose being calleda god makes one long for someone to kneel before them.”

“… I’m no better than any man seeking the warmth ofanother,” he says, allowing himself to push his pants past his hips and lettingout a sigh of relief as he rids himself of restraint. “I wish to be nothingmore before you, if I may…”

“Before me? Jakurai-san, you must be joking.”

“You would need only to ask of me…” he insists, shivering ashe wraps a hand around himself, circling his thumb at the tip. “Call it worshipif you wish… I’ll confess at your altar, if only you’d be mine…”

“Dangerous words from a dangerous man, Jakurai-san,” yousay, thought you sound a little breathless. He wonders if he can have that sortof effect on you–if you long in the same way that he does. “Surely…I’ll let your words go to my head, if I’m not careful.”

“I wouldn’t lie to you,”–never to you–“So youneed not to worry… If it’s a god you wish to be, then I would make it so…”Jakurai starts to stroke himself then, sighing as he imagines your hand insteadof his own–smaller, more delicate.

“Do you always make such impossible promises?” you ask. “Itmakes me wonder what it is you expect of me…”

“I expect nothing,” he says, moving his hand in a twistingmotion. “Even if this is all you’ll give me in the end… I won’t be able tostop. I’m too far along to let go…”

He hears you sigh against his ear this time and he wondersif you’ve begun to touch yourself, too. The thought haunts him–the image ofyou messily half-dressed as you seek release with him, unable to experienceanything but your own touch. Do you wish his hands were on you instead, the wayhe does yours? Do you want him to unravel you, take you apart until you laybare beneath him in the same way?

“… You offer too much of yourself, good doctor,” you saywith a breathless laugh. “… Wouldn’t you prefer to be a little selfish? Letme take care of you…?”

He stutters out a quiet moan, speeding up his pace a little.“I dare not to hope for such things, you must realize…”

“Let me indulge you then,” you insist, your breath hitchingas you speak. “Though all you have are my words right now… You can ask mefor whatever you like, Jakurai-san.”

“… You’re all I want,” he admits, too caught up in his ownpleasure to reel himself back in. “These are desires only you could possiblysatisfy… I long only for what you and you alone can give me…”

He hears a moan from the other end and Jakurai slumps backfurther against his bed frame. You’re in your own throes of pleasure, allbecause of him and he can hardly stand that he’s not there to see ithimself. It’s quiet between you two for a moment, save for the sounds you shareover the phone, but you speak up again after a while.

“… Allow me to give you that,” you eventually tell him,short of breath and so, so close–or so he hopes. “If it’s just me youwant, then take it… I won’t stop you.”

“Please–”

“You can finish… just for me, Jakurai-san.”

For you.

His breath hitches when he feels himself spill over hishand, leaning back heavily as it trails down his knuckles. He calls your nameout in whispers, wishing so desperately that you might be here to kiss it outof his mouth. Jakurai doesn’t have such a luxury, so he at least settles forhearing you call out for him in turn as you reach your own high from the otherend. You share heavy breaths over the phone and he’s too content to want tomove from his spot, wanting to let the moment drag on for as long as possible.You’re the one who breaks the silence and he almost regrets it.

“… Was that what you were looking for, Jakurai-san?”

He doesn’t answer right away, gathering his thoughts. “…Did you mean it? When you said you wouldn’t stop me?”

You laugh in response. “As you would do the same, I wouldn’tlie to you.”

His shoulders relax and despite himself, he feels hopeful.“Perhaps my timing is terrible, but… may I see you tomorrow? We should… discusssome things.”

“Of course. I’d hate to leave you with just thoughts of me…I’m not so cruel, you know.”

“Only when you don’t feel like it,” he says, unable to helpthe chuckle that leaves his throat.

“I won’t be cruel to you, is what I mean,” you say,sounding indignant. “But… the hour is late. For now, you should rest… and wecan have our talk tomorrow.”

“… You swear it?”

“On my very soul, Jakurai-san,” you say. “I’ll come for you,worry not.”

He nods to himself, offering a hum of approval before hefinally bids you good night. You’ll come for him, you promised it, anddespite the mess he’s in, his worries are no longer there in the back of hismind.

Jakurai will see you tomorrow–perhaps things will be setback on the right path, then.

#hypmic #hypnosis mic #jakurai jinguji #matenrou #spice #scenario #( yeah this took me forever a;slkdfjA;SDLKFJASDF )#( but i read. all tags if u reblog it brings me Joy LMFAO )#( also wanted to play around with like... someone speaking sort of formally in circles w/ jakurai )#( like a game almost )#( but we'll see if that comes across well LMAO )

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heros-amoung-us · 6 years

Note

8. As an apology With Bakugou! Have fun!

8. As an apology

Hey! Thanks so much for this ask, TBH i have spent literally DAYSSS crafting this imagine. This is the most ANGST thing I’ve ever written. Like I’m giving y’all Katsuki Bakugou angst for dayysssss. Also, shes pretty long so you’re gonna wanna strap yourself in for some feels.

Anyways I hope you enjoy!

Words count: 4957

”FUCK!”

Katsukislammed the door to his house open, not even bothering to shut it as hesprinted outside. He frantically shoved one of his grenadier bracers onto hiswrist, trying to get as much of his hero costume on as he could. He held his handsbehind him, detonating explosions to propel himself faster. He deeply groanedas he pushed himself to make larger explosions, trying to move himself as fastas he could towards the down town area.

Trees,houses, and onlooking civilians flew passed him as he shot through the sky atlightening fast speed.

Hisintense ruby eyes were narrowed in frustration. His mind was a swirling tsunamiof emotions and it only seemed to piss him off.

Your fightseemed to play over and over again in his head, like a never-ending bad movie.

You and Katsuki haven’t been datingfor that long; five months. And it seemed that getting through to the stubbornblond was more difficult than you originally thought. You were a pretty openperson, so you shared pretty much everything with him. You broke all your wallsfor him, but it was becoming increasingly clear that he wasn’t doing the same.

Then, Katsuki hadn’t been returningyour calls or texts for three whole weeks. At first you understood; he’s a prohero, he’s constantly busy. If he’s not working he’s sleeping or training. Thatwas nothing new. But he had never ignored you for three-whole-weeks. By thesecond week, you got anxious. You knew the bastard was alive because you’d seehim on every news channel. You began to leave increasingly upset voicemails onhis phone. As everyday passed that second week, you got more and more upset. Bythe third week, you were DONE. Your voicemails became placid and monotone. Theyhad gone from fifteen-minute angry rants to less-than-a-minute one-liners. Whenyou still heard nothing from him, you decided to act and go over to his house.

Katsuki heard aggressive knockingcoming from his front door that day. He was lounging on the couch with his barefeet resting on the coffee table. The tv played a mindless news channel. Hishead of spikey ash blond hair looked up over at the door. He narrowed his eyes,wondering ‘who the fuck’ it could be.

But before he got up from hisposition, the door opened and your small head poked itself out from behind it.You looked around the large entrance way before your enchanting (e/c) eyes metwith his. Katsuki felt his heart slightly flutter and his cheeks instantly heatup in that annoying way they always seemed to do when you looked at him.

Your features hardened into that ofcomplete annoyance and anger. Katsuki instantly stood up; his legs feelingshaky as he watched the rest of your body storm into his living room.

“What the hell are you doing here?”He asked shoving his hands into his pockets.

You stomped over to him, until youstood only a few inches apart.

“First of all, I get to ask thequestions right now, okay?! Where the damn hell have you been?” You shook withanger and hurt.

Katsuki stiffened at your tone, butwasn’t about to back down. “Who the fu-“

“Where have you FUCKING been Katsuki?!”You repeat, hurt had completely washed over your expression.

Seeing him in person seemed surrealto you. He seemed like a different person, after not speaking to him for almosta full month. You wanted to break down, you wanted to beat his ass, you wantedto walk away. But you couldn’t do any of those things, you had to just suck itup and act like the adult you were.

Katsuki felt his heart drop to hisstomach at your hurt tone. The ends of your eyes pricked with marble tears.Every fiber in his body wanted to wrap you up in his arms. But he neededdistance, he was falling too fast; it scared the shit out of him how much hewas falling for you.

“You…you just, what?! Ignore me forthree weeks?! I hear nothing from you for three whole fucking weeks?! And thenI come over to just find you relaxing and watching tv?!” You pointed angrilytowards the tv behind him.

Katsuki said nothing, his expressionhad returned to a neutral glare; one that you could not read. You stared up athim, begging him to give you some sort of answer, some type of response. But hesaid nothing. And it broke your heart.

“You don’t even seem to care…” Yourvoice was barely above a whisper as a single tear escaped your eye, runningitself down your cheek.

“GET OUTOF MY FUCKING WAY!” Katsuki screamed at another pro hero.

The herolooked back at the angry blond, his eyes wide, as Katsuki grabbed him by thecape and threw him to the side.

He wassprinting now, deciding it was best not to over-exert himself before he even gotto the chaos. He knew he was strong, but worried he might need all his energyfor the real battle.

Hot,terrified, sweat trickled down his temples as he ran. He mindlessly pushed pedestriansand other pro heroes aside. His blood was boiling inside his veins, making hiscrimson eyes savage-like.

‘FUCK! I’msuch a fucking idiot! I should have followed her. I should have fuckingfollowed her!’ He thought to himself. ‘Please be fucking okay, you piece ofshit!’

Katsuki’s eyes widened slightly ashe watched the hot tear fall from your eye. Your expression was nothing buthurtful begging. In the moment, he felt embarrassed to be around you; he feltdisgusted with himself for making you look so weak.

Katsuki turned his head away fromyou, glaring down at his hardwood floor. His jaw clenched. “You just…wouldn’tfucking understand, okay,”

“What wouldn’t I understand,Katsuki? I care about you more than anything, I want to understand,” Your voicehad softened.

You tentatively reached your handout to touch his arm, but he abruptly grabbed your wrist. His grip was tight,and he brought his face to yours. You squeaked in surprise.

“Why can’t you leave me the fuckalone, huh?! I don’t wanna fucking talk about it! Especially not with you!”

Katsuki’s eyes burned into yourswith an intensity you had never seen before. You felt yourself shrivel againsthis harsh tone and grip.

“Just go,” his voice was chillinglymonotone.

He let go of your grasp, shovinghis hand back into his pocket. You watched in shock as Katsuki turned aroundand headed for his couch. You felt hot tears sting the corners of your eyesonce again. You squeezed your eyes closed in frustration. Clenching your fistsat your side. There was a hot sobbing lump in your throat. You struggled tokeep it down.

Katsukiopenly panted as he finally rounded his last corner down the busy city streets.Rubble, fires, and broken glass scattered the street. Pro heroes everywherewere trying their best to evacuate civilians as orderly as possible, althougheveryone was running and screaming away from the villain.

Katsukistood in the middle of the road. His shoulders and chest heaved up and down inhis black tank top. His blood thirsty eyes glared down the street at thevillain. If looks could kill, Katsuki’s stare would have detonated sevennuclear bombs.

Thevillain was an tall, lanky man with creepy, sharp features. His face seemedpointed in every angel and his deep purple stripped suit fit tightly againsthis figure.

But itwasn’t the villain Katsuki was concentrated on.

It wasyou.

You hungsuspended in the air, seven meters above the ground. Your body glowed purple,and despite your movements and protests, your position in the air didn’t move.

You curseddown at the villain. Spewing out things like: “let me go!” “Put me down orelse!” “I’ll crush you, you fucker!”.

Thevillain smirked as he looked over at the seething Katsuki.

“Ah!~” Hisvoice was smooth and refined “Nice of you to finally join us, Bakugou,”

Your headsnapped in his direction. Your (e/c) eyes frantically looked over his form. Hefelt his knees buckled at that helpless, scared look.

Youreached out your hand towards him, beckoning him to take it and save you; evenif he stood several yards away.

“Katsuki!”

Your voice cracked as you calledhis name, making him stop in his tracks.

Your fist held on tightly to theback of his shirt. You clenched your jaw together as you continued to fightback the lump in your throat and the tears in your eyes.

“Why are you pushing me away sosuddenly? I don’t understand. Do you even want to be together anymore?! Jesus,just tell me please. Tell me so I can do something! Open up to me for once! I’mhere for you, I support you, I understand, just fucking tell me,” You begged.

Katsuki didn’t turn around. “I don’tknow,” His voice was low.

You blinked in confusion. “D-don’tknow what?”

Silence.

“D-don’t know if you want to be togetheranymore?” You felt terrified. Your heart raced in your chest, threatening tobreak at any second.

More silence.

“I can’t fucking open up, okay?!”He yelled, suddenly turning back around to face you. Your eyes widened at thestruggling look inside his crimson ones. “…so just leave me alone! Stop seeingme, stop messaging me, hate me, WHATEVER! I don’t fucking care! Just dowhatever the hell you wanna do! Just let me be alone when I need to be.”

Hot tears streaked down yourcheeks. Katsuki angrily sighed. “Don’t push me away, Katsuki! Why do you keeppushing me away?!”

He felt his last nerves begin towither away. He was terrible at expressing his feelings. The only emotions hecould openly express were annoyance, anger, or neutral. Talking about hisproblems was not his style. Katsuki was more of an action man. If he had anissue, he didn’t talk about it, he would work on it, try to make it go awaywith hard work. If he wasn’t strong enough; he’d train more. If his herocostume malfunctioned, he’d fix it. But when it came to you, he didn’t evenknow where or how to begin expressing his emotions. You grabbed a tight hold ofhis heart and he had no idea how to handle it. All he knew was that he hatedfeeling soft and giddy, which is exactly how he felt around you. He feltvulnerable with you. You were chipping away at his rough, harsh walls he hadspent years putting up to protect himself. He couldn’t allow you to become suchan important part of his life. Such vulnerable asset villains could use againsthim. He thought, for your sake, it would be better of you weren’t together. Thetarget on his hero back was large enough. He didn’t think he could handle ifvillains tried to use you against him. His one weak spot.

So, he decided that time away fromyour contagious smile and intoxicating face would help his feelings dissipate.But it only resulted in them intensifying as he missed you more every day. Itpained him not to go over to your place everyday and just say ‘fuck it’. But hecouldn’t do it. He was a prideful man, and he would rather be dead than letsomeone inside like that.

“….I….I don’t want you to leave” headmitted “…but if I hurt you that much…what’s the point in fucking staying? I’mfine by myself and that’s the way I fucking like it,”

“I’m not going to wait until yourdone pretending you don’t need anyone!” You suddenly yelled.

Katsuki peered over his shoulder atyou. Your eyes were squeezed shut. One fist hanging on to dear life to his shirt,the other over your heart.

“I’m done, Katsuki. I’m trying sohard here. I waited for three weeks! I swallowed my pride and came over here totalk to you, since you couldn’t talk to me. I laid everything out on the tablefor you. I broke down all my walls for you, and you just keep pushing me away!”

The hot tears continued to streamdown your face, falling from your cheeks onto the floor. You used every fibrein your body to let go of his shirt and take a step back. Katsuki watched inslight horror as you stared at him with heartbroken eyes.

“Well…I didn’t ask you to do any ofthat…” Katsuki swallowed a hot lump in his throat. He knew he was beingcruel. But he couldn’t allow himself to be vulnerable. “I told you, you wouldn’tunderstand…I…I don’t-“

“I’m done.” Your voice slicedthrough his like a hot knife through butter. He stared at you with widenedeyes. “I’m not going to try until you decide you’re ready to swallow all yourpride.”

“Then fucking get out. I’ve gotnothing left to give you. Like I said before, forget it, drop it, and leave mealone! I’m tired of this fucking conversation!” He yelled.

Your voicerang through his ears like a deafening ring. Your face, contorted in fear,frantically looking at him to save you.

Katsukilet out an enraged low growl. “LET HER GO YOU PIECE OF SHIT! BEFORE I BLOW YOURFUCKING BRAINS INTO THE CEMENT!” He screamed, his voice so harsh it scratchedthe back of his throat.

Youflinched as you felt yourself being moved within the air. The villain swipedhis glowing purple hand to the left, and your glowing body followed like a marionetdoll. You couldn’t help but scream as you had no control over our movements inthe air. The villain raised his hand, and you floated into the air five moremeters. You squeezed your eyes shut. Being the same height as the tops of somehouses made you shudder.

Katsukiinstantly began sprinting towards the villain. His main goal was to get you outof this creep’s grasp. Then, beat the living shit out of the tit bag.

Hepropelled himself forward by letting off explosions behind him. He angrilyyelled as he neared the villain, who remained unmoved with a sly smirk on hisface.

As Katsukineared, large chucks of debris in front of the villain began to glow a similar shadeof purple and float above the ground. Katsuki noted each one, his crimsonsavage eyes darting to and fro. If he focused, he could easily explode each oneif they tried to get near him. Still swiftly gliding through the air, Katsukitried to quickly come up with a plan of attack-and-rescue.

You on theother hand, had no idea that Katsuki had seen the debris. It floateddangerously still above the ground, just waiting to be controlled. Like puranawaiting patiently in the water for it’s prey. Katsuki looked overly distressedas he neared the villain. You knew the look in his eyes: he just wanted tomurder the guy. Out of the corner of your eye, you caught one of the large debrischucks hurtle itself towards Katsuki from the left. You felt your heart rateincrease ten-fold.

“KATSUKILOOK OU-“

Thevillain swiped his hand once more, driving you directly into the side of abuilding. You felt your body collide with the hard surface and instantlygroaned in pain. Your head had smashed itself against the wall and you feltblood slowly trickled down the side of your face. Your vision was blurry andyour whole body washed over in aching pain.

Katsuki’shead snapped in your direction. He screamed out, slowly faltering hismovements.

“[Y/N]!”

Suddenly alarge cement debris block smashed itself into Katsuki’s back, nailing him hardinto the ground. He yelled out and skidded across the concrete road. The blockflew over past him and collided with the building you were being suspendedagainst. You felt the building shudder from the impact.

Katsukijumped back up on his feet. His eyes were glowing with hatred toward thevillain.

“NOW YOU’REREALLY GOING TO FUCKING DIE!” He yelled exploding his way towards the man.

“I don’tthink so~” He cooed gesturing his hand up to your form, still being suspendedagainst the building’s exterior wall.

Two largepieces of debris floated up towards your body and hovered in front of yourback, threatening to crush you at any second.

Katsukiclenched his jaw. “You bastard”

Katsukidetonated and explosion under his feet, propelling him high in the air, anddistracting the villain. He jumped up to your height and touched each debris.Instantly, he exploded both pieces into millions of smaller pieces.

You gavehim a side glance over your shoulder, fear ridden in your features. For amoment, as Katsuki remained suspended in the air, only a few meters away, youtwo exchanged fiercely loving looks.

“I’m gonnaget you out of here, [Y/n]. As your number one hero I promise I’ll-“

His bodywas ripped away from yours in the air as he was struck by another piece oflarge debris. You outstretched your hand towards his and screamed. Watching thelove of your life fall to the ground at intense speed scared the shit out ofyou.

A sob escaped your lips as you clutchedyour chest. It snapped Katsuki’s heart in half. He squeezed his eyes shut infrustration. Why couldn’t he just open up? Why was he such a big target? Whywas this bothering him so much?! His heart ached in his chest and he hated it.He hated all these feelings. He hated making you cry, making you hurt.

‘But it’s for the fucking best. I’djust put her in more danger if I allowed her to get close…’ he bitterly thoughtto himself.

His emotions got the better of himas he groaned, suddenly twisting his body and punching an explosive fist intohis wall.

You jumped back in surprise andfear. His chest heaved up and down. He angrily shook, and you didn’t know why.Why was he so worked up? Why wouldn’t he just tell you?

“Well,” you sobbed, holding yourhands against your chest, trying your best not to let your voice crack. “…I’msorry I wasted your time, Katsuki…”

You slowly began to walk backwardstowards the door. You watched his every movement, desperately hoping he wouldtell you not to go. You were hanging onto every last chance that he wouldsuddenly turn around and say that he needed you, that he wanted you.

But he didn’t. He just continued tostare at the ground, his fist still in the wall. A few of his blond locksfalling in front of his face.

You squeezed your (e/c) eyes shutas you turned around, facing the door. Your enhanced hearing listened morecarefully than ever to his movements. But nothing changed, even as the hottears ran down your face, burning your cheeks. Even as you grabbed the door,stopped and looked back at him.

His lidded red eyes glanced over toyou. Your breath hitched in your throat. But your heart was met with more disappointmentas he said nothing. You found his eyes to be swimming with emotions, all of whichhe claimed he would never share with you.

“…goodbye.” Your voice was lightand you barley managed it out before stepping through the door and sprintinghome.

Katsuki let his knees buckled andfall to the floor. His hand retracted from the wall, but instantly pounded theground. He knew he had just lost something more than special. He just lost you.

‘It’s for the best’ He bitterlythought, a single hot tear quickly running down his agonized features. ‘This ishow I can protect her the most,’

Katsukiexploded the debris mid-fall. It turned into a thousand tiny pieces. He quicklyheld his hand behind him and let off another explosion, propelling himself inthe opposite direction and cushioning his landing.

He landedon his hands and knees, glaring up at the villain.

“Yourreputation as the number one hero does not sees you. You are impressive,Bakugou. But to think, ‘the man with no weaknesses’ actually has a weakness?!”The villain chuckled.

You feltyour heart rate increase at their conversation. You refused to look down, knowingyou would get nauseous and anxious the second you see just how high you are.

Katsukiclenched his jawed in anger.

“I’m nothere to have a fucking conversation! And I don’t have any fucking weaknesses!”He hissed.

“Oh~” Thevillain cooed, gently lowering your hurt body down from the building andtowards him. He watched as Katsuki’s gaze instantly darted over to your bodyand the look in his eyes turned from hatred to concern. Your body stopped,floating a meter above the villain’s head. You looked down at Katsuki withtired, scared eyes. You could feel a couple broken ribs now that you weremoving. “But you do have, just one~” His hand lowered itself, as if pluckingyou in the air from an invisible string. Your body followed and turned. Yourhead faced towards the ground and your floated upside down. The villain cuppedyour cheek and pressed your other against his pointed face.

Youcringed and tears started to brim the corners of your eyes. This man wastouching you and you couldn’t do anything about it.

Katsuki’sfists began to smoke up as he watched the villain get close to you. He rubbedhis cheek against yours and smirked as he heard an uncomfortable groan leaveyour lips. Katsuki felt his blood boil in his veins at the sight. No one couldtouch you but him.

“Thislovely little fawn is your sweet spot! HA! What a joke. The most villain-likepro hero is in love?! Actually cares for someone other than himself?! It’salmost too good!”

Yourbreathing stopped as you listened. Your eyes hesitantly looked into Katsuki’s.You had no idea where you stood with him after your fight.

Katsuki stood up from the floor. Itseemed like he had been there, hating himself on the floor, for years. But it hadonly been several minutes.

He didn’t know what to do at thispoint. All he knew was that ‘the fucking news channel is too damn loud! I needthat shit turned off right now!’.

As he slumped into his living room,angrily looking for the remote. A sudden headline caught his attention. Thenews woman was holding onto her ear piece and speaking directly into thecamera.

“This is breaking news! Just in! Avillain has just been spotted within the city! Everyone! Stay away from Avendaleeast street and 23rd! The villain is reportedly moving objects withhis quirk and using them to destroy the street….Wait! It-it seems he has ahostage!” The screen panned to live footage of the villain.

He stood on top of a pile of debrisholding [y/n]’s helpless form in his iron tight grip. Katsuki watched as she struggledto pry his hands from around her neck.

Instantly he saw red. He fuckinglet you go and now you were in real danger. He tried so hard to distancehimself, to make you not a vulnerable part of him, but it was too late.Watching you struggle against the villain as he pelted floating glass and debristowards you set him off like never before.

Suddenly the villain looked towardsthe cameraman. “BAKUGOU! Come get your pretty little flavour before she’snothing more than flattened flesh!”

His voice rang through Katsuki’shousehold as the blond sprinted to grab his costume. He heard the villain’s disembodiedlaugh echo through his house as he slipped his boots on and sprintedfrantically out the door.

“FUCK!”

Katsukididn’t respond as he was tired of listening to the villain’s voice. The more hetalked the more Katsuki wanted to see him smeared across the pavement.

Katsukiflung himself towards the villain, his palms instantly heating up anddetonating a large-scale explosion at the villain. The fire and destructionspread across the entirety of the chaotic street and stretched a few yardsbeyond him. Katsuki was impressed., Almost smirking as he imaged the stunned,burnt look on the villain. He landed on his feet and swiped at the smoke,trying to get a clear view of the villain.

Butinstead of an unconscious, half-burnt villain, it was you.

Katsuki’sheart instantly fell to his stomach and he felt nauseous. You laid on yourback, your face tilted to the side and covered in soot, along with the rest ofyour body. Burns littered your unconscious body and half your clothing had beencharred.

Katsukiflung himself towards your body. He landed on his knees. His eyes franticallylooked up and down your body before he tentatively placed his arms under you.He brought your body against his chest, holding your neck and back.

“Oi![Y/n]!” He nervously yelled. “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!” he screamed up at thevillain.

He stoodonly a few meters away, untouched, with his hands on his hips.

“I didn’tdo anything~ You’re the one that detonated that HUGE explosion at the poorgirl. And if I do recall, she was crying and running out of your house before Ipicked her up. So you also caused her to run away, placing her in my hands. Youdidn’t even follow the girl ou-“

“ENOUGH!”Katsuki screamed, putting your unconscious body down on the ground and flinginghimself at the villain once again.

His eyeswere blood shot and savage-like. He held his hand behind his head beforeswinging it around and unleashing another huge explosion in the villain’s face.

This time,Katsuki jumped towards his attack, into the smoke. He growled as he swiped atthe smoke, trying to see through it and grab onto the villain.

Your bodyflew across the air from the impact of the explosion and collided with the hardground in front of Katsuki’s feet. Again, somehow, you managed to take the fulldamage of his attack.

“YOUBASTARD STOP THAT!” He screamed as he ran towards your body.

Deeppurple bruises and red marks were scattered across your body. Katsuki hurriedlytook you into his arms, using his body as some-sort of protective shield fromthe villain. He held onto the back of your head, which hung lazily in his grip.Like you weren’t even able to hold up your own head on your own neck anymore. Hisother arm wrapped around your back and pulled you up into his chest. He held yourhead in his neck, resting your cheek against his shoulder. He could feel yournose against his neck, but for the first time, he couldn’t feel your breathagainst it. His mind stopped working and shut down. Only being able to focus onyour dead-weight body in his arms. He allowed himself to tremble as he desperatelystretched your neck for a pulse. He leaned your body against his, and used hisarm to check your wrist for a pulse.

Nothing.

Katsukiwas going to be sick. He felt like his body would explode. His emotions weresweating out of his pores and he held you closer to his body. Burying his faceinto your neck, he yelled out in pain. His chest felt like a thousand poundsand he was convinced his heart had tore itself apart into a million pieces.Your body leaned itself against his, all your dead weight made his throat wantto close up.

His sweatyhand entangled itself into your hair and he placed his palm against the back ofyour head. He pulled you closer into his body, wanting to save every lastfragment of heat from your body.

“This isn’treal, this isn’t real. Come on, wake up! Wake up you sh-shit head.” His voicecracked as a tear escaped his eyes. “Fuckin wake up already! So you can watchme beat this guy’s ass….a-and then say something sarcastic after like youalways do. That shit was annoying! But you gotta fucking wake up so you cankeep annoying me.” He begged.

He rubbedhis cheek against yours. Some of the soot coming off onto his cheek. He lookeddown at your face. You looked like you were in a peaceful sleep. Your eyelasheswere long and fluffy against your soft cheeks. His whole body begged you toopen your eyes. But you didn’t.

Hereleased an agonized scream into your chest. Tears shamelessly running down hisface and onto you. It seemed calm around him, but he couldn’t be bothered tofocus on anything except you.

He pulledyou back into his neck. Your head resting against his arm.

“You can’tfucking leave, [Y/n]…” he whispered into your ear. “…I love you…” He said,almost apologetically. His proclaim was loaded with apologetic meaning. He feltsorry for how he treated you in your last months together. He felt sorry fornot opening up. He felt sorry for pushing you away when he really should havejust let you in. He felt sorry for letting you go. And sorry that it was his faultyou ended up like this. But most of all, he felt sorry he hadn’t told you heloved you sooner. Because now, as your reality fades from his, and he clings ontoyou for dear life, he realizes that he’s loved you all along

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