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cardierreh15 · 2 years

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Believer

To honor our Lovely Henry returning to his role as Superman, I’ve decided to make a series! I hope you all enjoy the first chapter!

**I do not give anyone permission to repost or copy my work!!!

Warnings 18+: Cursing , Mention of Death , Just Superman giving Batman a Taste of his own medicine lol That’s it :)

Description: Cardi learns something new about her favorite animal.

Word Count: undetermined

He is Risen!

2 Months Ago

‘Good Morning Manny!’ She smiled at the cashier as she placed her energy drink on the counter.

‘Good Morning Miss James. Will this be all for you?’ The older male asked as he lifted the the aluminum can towards the bright laser.

‘Oh!—‘ she damn near forgot, but before she could speak, there was commotion by the door. Sounds of wrinkled bags and frantic footsteps filled the air around them. Two kids, snatching up a few bags of chips and dipping out of the door.

‘HEY! HEY!’ Manny shouted but by the time they could hear him, they were out the door. ‘Goddammit! Fuckin’ kids.’ He hissed in frustration as he placed his hands on the counter. ‘No home training.’ He grumbled.

Her eyebrows pulled together in worry. She had been coming to Manny’s convenient store for about a month and a half, since she moved closer towards the city… closer towards her job. She felt for him. And it seem as since their savior had been gone, everyone had been running a muck!

She sighed and pressed her lips together, ‘Hey… just— Listen, just add it on my bill for today. They only took about two or three bags so… it’s fine.’ The woman pulled out her wallet, getting ready to pay for her things.

‘What? No, Miss. James. It was only teenagers being teenagers. It ain’t no big deal—‘

‘I insist—‘ and she pulled out a hundred dollar bill. ‘You shouldn’t have to suffer at other’s expense.’ She placed the thin yet, valuable piece of paper on the wooden counter and slid it beneath the glass. ‘Take care Manny. And I will see you soon.’

All the man could do was stare down at the hundred dollar bill as she left. This was enough proof for him, men are still good.

Cardierre was walking out of the door, popping open her energy drink as she shuffled her keys around to find her remote for her car. Her attention was brought towards the laughing kids. Clenching her jaw she wanted to go over there and have a word with them but I’m just a mere few seconds, one of the boys started frantically hitting the other, pointing up at the sky. ‘Bro… look at that!’

Intrigued by curiosity, she walked back over to where the boys stood. And it had seem as if air was snatched out of her lungs. Her mouth slightly gaped so some form air could pass through her.

A being— just levitating in the air. He was too far to see with the naked eye but she was more than sure that the man with the red cape, was alive.

She didn’t know if she should be scared, or inspired! After all, when he died— it was the last story that she did write. She just couldn’t take her eyes off of him— none of them could! They were just waiting for something to happen.

‘Hey! What’s going on out here!’ Manny called out as he walked towards the three of them. He looked up at the sky, ‘Dear God! Is that?’

The shudder that left Cardierre’s chest definitely told the men around her that she wasn’t feeling positive about who that man was in the sky. She had to find if it was him… and if it was, how’d he come back! ‘I don’t know. I have to go. Kids! Stay out of trouble will ya?’ And she rushed back over to her car.

***

‘C’mooon, C’MON! MOVE!’ She screamed at the stand still traffic before her. Everyone was too busy staring at the being floating in the sky to care about traffic laws. ‘Fuck this.’ She swerved onto the curb, parking her car and frantically got out. As she was locking her car, a loud CRASH and BOOM erupted in the air. It sure did capture everyone’s attention. And before her smart little brain could tell her “do not go.” Her feet took off in a hurry!

Making it to the memorial, the police had already set up a perimeter and she, a few other people, and some reporters were there watching the being fight those who served the same duty. Her small hands rest on the barricades as her eyes watched the scene unfold before her in shock. It was him. He was alive — in the flesh!

Cardierre was mesmerized! She had never seen him this close before… well— perhaps it was a good thing that was the case. When his eyes glowed bright red, and lasers exuded from them onto the one known as Cyborg, she along with the rest of the crowd, covered their eyes at the sudden brightness!

Once he made his way through the ones who swore to protect this world, her heart had sunk into her gut as he approached the dark knight.

His eyes glowed crimson red once again and she braced herself for the brightness and violence that was to come next.

With great force, those bright beams of firey death knocked the Dark Knight right into a patrol car. The sound of Batman’s pain and agony floated around in the air. This caused Cardi’s hands to grip that barricade so tight, she felt as if her knuckles were to pop out of her flesh.

And once again, the God lit the Dark Knight up. This time, she didn’t take her eyes off of him. What was he doing?! Why was he acting like this?! Her eyes burned with tears as she felt as if her chest was going to explode.

‘STOP! STOP IT!’

Her words had seem to capture his attention. His fiery eyes had been distinguished and he was looking in her direction. It had seem as if all the chatter around her had dissipated in thin air. Everyone’s eyes were on her— and then they’d glance back over at The God … gauging his reaction.

She regretted this. She felt as if she was staring death in it’s face. And he was staring back saying,

Girl, you have no idea — who you’re fucking with.

Sure, at first his glare felt as if someone was stacking cement blocks on top of her face. But within the next few seconds, his face formed into something soft. It was a look of familiarity— as if he saw her before or knew her. But he wouldn’t dare come close. The hairs beneath her sleeves stood up and she felt a chill sliver down her spine. She held her breath, not taking her eyes off of him … for it may be the last time she ever looked at something. And before anyone of them in the crowd knew it, he had flew into the distance- leaving behind a cool gust of wind behind him.

The crowd around her remained quiet, either staring at the destruction around them that Superman had created, or her.

‘What?’

Currently

She was lost in thought, staring at the beautiful creatures of the ocean, her favorites— Jellyfishes.

‘Uh-Oh, here she is again!’ A familiar yet, annoying voice creeped behind her, ‘Watching those little jellies float around on her computer screen. Sheesh, Cardi… is that all you do?’

Letting out an annoyed sigh, with a gentle roll of her pretty brown eyes, she spun around in her office chair with a fake smile, ‘I’d rather do this than look desperate Steve.’ She crossed one leg over the other, lacing her fingers together to rest them on her knee.

Steve looked a little startled by this remark, he glanced to the side, ‘Oh whatever. You declined on that concert I asked you about and now I’m the one being called desperate… how does that work?’

The fake smile had turned into something more annoyed this time, ‘You asked every female in the department before you came and asked me one more time… how is that not?’

Silence loomed in the air around them. Until the sound of muffled laughter filled in that uneasiness.

‘Sure, whatever— hey! Harry Styles is playing tonight—‘ Steve continued.

Cardi’s head had fallen to the side, her eyes narrowed in frustration. Her lips pursed together hard, keeping her from lashing out and embarrassing him.

‘Wha? You don’t like Harry Styles?’ He asked.

‘Oh, I love Harry Styles. But I wouldn’t want to bore you with my love for Jellyfishes.’ She said sarcastically as she spun back around to face her computer.

She could hear whispers behind her for a short moment before he walked away.

The sounds of paper printing, keyboard typing, phones ringing and conversation filled the room once again. They’d never left but whenever Steve was around, he sure did make everything about himself.

She was once again, watching those pretty neon colored Jellies float around her screen, mesmerized like a child at the zoo.

‘Did you know that the Portuguese Man-Of-War is not a jellyfish?’ A deep, soothing voice spoke.

Cardi’s head popped up, being that the Man-Of-War was one of Cardi’s favorite invertebrates… she was intrigued. ‘Of course it is! I mean… have you seen that thing?’ She scoffed and turned her attention towards him.

Clark was standing big and tall by her cubicle. He had this charming smirk on his face, the one that told her that he knew what he was talking about. ‘Well, in defense it does in fact look like a Sea Jelly. But it isn’t a true Jellyfish.’

‘Really? How’s so?’ Cardi asked, her gaze never faltering from his.

Their eyes met. It was like he was staring into her soul… just like that same day he magically appeared back on Earth. The day that neither one of them shall ever forget. ‘Have you ever heard of a siphonophore?’

The brown skinned woman thought for a moment, trying to piece this together before he could, ‘I mean— I think I have. But what does that have to do with this Jellyfish?’ She picked up her pen and placed it between her teeth as she prepared to listen.

‘I’m getting there,’ he snickered before continuing, ‘A Siphonophore is a animal that is created by a colony of other organisms. The organisms work in sync and they all alive! And not to mention, their tentacles can grow to be 165 ft long!’

Cardierre’s mouth fell slightly, with her pen falling right into her lap. She loved learning new facts but, the fact that she and Clark hadn’t had a real conversation since she started working here… made her want to know more about him.

‘What?’ He asked, clearing his throat and stood up straight.

She didn’t say a word.

‘Alright, alright—‘ he threw his hands up in defense, ‘Call me a nerd OK? But you tend to leave your Netflix documentaries on while you go to the restroom.’

She choked out a laugh, ‘Yeah, sure! I think I may have found the office’s Nerdy boy over here.’ She continued out her laugh.

‘If that’s the case you’re the Nerdy Girl then.’ And he chimed in with his hearty laugh.

Once the two recovered from their moment of shared bliss, she stared at him for a bit. She couldn’t get over the fact that she knew she saw him before. But that wasn’t all. She was noticing a lot of things about him. His gorgeous smile and those deep blue hues that told many stories behind them. She had to say, that was her favorite part about him. ‘You have blue eyes.’

Clark paused for a moment before he snapped back into reality himself, ‘Oh— I haven’t noticed,’ he chuckled, ‘Yeah. I do.’

Cardi giggled again before staring a bit longer, ‘They’re .. they’re pretty.’ Her face heated up with a vengeance, and her dimples pierced those pretty brown cheeks of hers.

He gave her a gentle nod, ‘Thank you. But I think… your eyes are … prettier.’ He paused for a second.

Her eyebrows grew as the heat now rushed down to her neck, shoulders and chest. She was going to say something, ‘A-‘

‘Not that… I’m flirting with you or… anything just— telling you that… you have gorgeous eyes.’ Her brown eyes were like honey in their purest form. And as he looked into them more, he could see himself doing backstrokes in them. Sinking into them as if he had cemented ankles.

She looked up at him, her lips pressed together tight as she tried to fight the smile that ached to be on her face. Until she just couldn’t hide it any longer, ‘Thanks, Clark.’ And she looked down at some papers that she was working on earlier.

‘Anytime.’ He said back softy.

The moment was crippled by the sound of loud sirens blaring down the street. Cardierre’s head popped back up again, pushing her office chair back and walking vigorously over to the larger than life windows, ‘Sheesh! What are these people up to now?!’ Clark and A few others gathered next to her. They all were quick enough to catch 3 fire trucks and about 6 police squad cars racing on by.

‘Aliens gone mad again? Bank robbers? Can never really tell with this world we live in.’ Steve grumbled next to her. Clearly irritated with his voice, she looked behind her to see if her new friend was around but… it had seem as if he’d never came to the window at all. In fact, his cubicle was in the same shape he’d left it when they rushed to the window! She couldn’t shake how strange that was. Perhaps he had to go to the restroom?

Before she could ponder on it any longer, the sound of a boom rattled the glass windows. Her eyes twinkled in delight as her hands pressed flat against the glass; readying herself for this miracle!

The red and blue raced past them in a blur. Unable to truly capture with the human eye. A huge grin curled on her lips, and tears of pure joy filled her eyes.

This is where he belonged. This was his world.

Hope… was home.

#henry cavill #man of steel #Superman #clark kent #clark x cardi #henry cavill fanfic #superman fanfic #superman fanfiction

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thestobingirlie · 1 year

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Ok, so Nancy's lack of emotional intelligence. The really obvious ones are seasons 2 and 3.

Season 1, there are just little things, and a lot of it can be written off as her being a teenager. Like her being pissed off about not being allowed out because Will is missing. Karen is obviously worried that if they go out alone after dark something will happen to Mike or Nancy, and likely thinking about how Will went missing on his way home from their house. Mike is a bit of a mess, because his best friend is missing. But Nancy is unhappy because she can't sneak out to see her boyfriend (But as I said, she's 15 with what could be her first boyfriend, so it's more of an age thing.) Another minor thing is her reaction to Steve's worry about his parents (his reaction is something that is very open to interpretation, it could just be a teenager not wanting to get in trouble for underage drinking, or it could be something darker), but again it can be written off as a teenager who has never had to think about why some kids could be scared of their parents.

And her showing up at the funeral home where Jonathan is looking at coffins because he thinks he has to bury his little brother to talk to him about Barb? Just felt a little tone-deaf to me.

I think a slightly bigger thing in season 1 is how she doesn't seem to understand why Steve's upset in the alley when he'd seen her in her room with Jonathan, despite the fact it is heavily implied by Steve and Tommy that Steve's dad is unfaithful to the point his mom follows him on business trips "My moms gone with him cause she doesn't trust him." "Good call." and she was a part of this conversation, she heard it.

Then there's the time skip scene at the end of season 1, when she's back together with Steve. She'd already been shown to have feelings for Jonathan, but as we're told in season 2, she only waited a month for him to be ready for a relationship before going back to Steve. This was unfair to both of the boys, because she wasn't truly invested in a relationship with Steve, and was really stringing him along until Jonathan was ready, and because she expected Jonathan to be ready for a relationship within a month of his brother going missing, being pronounced dead, having a funeral, then being found alive but in a poor condition. Obviously, he'd want time with his family.

In season 2, we've got the part where she thinks she sees Barb and is ready to put a lot of people in danger to tell the Hollands what happened (Not just her and her family, but Steve and his family, the Byers, Hopper, Lucas and Dustin. Anyone who knew what happened could be put at risk if one told.)

The start of the party, when she's acting like Steve's in the wrong for them going to the party, and she decides to get very drunk. Like, she was shown to be excited for the party, to the point she talked Jonathan into going to the party when he'd made it very clear that he wasn't interested.

The whole bathroom scene doesn't really need going into. When she says "like we're in love" ties into the stringing Steve along when she's not interested in him, she's interested in the attention.

When she and Steve argue outside the school gym, she's putting her own inconvenience over Steve's hurt. She brushes off everything he says about what had happened the night before, and acts like he is the one in the wrong for feeling hurt.

She disregards the hurt the Byers have been through in comparison to losing Barb. "It's different for you, Will came home." As if the weight or trauma Jonathan is carrying is lessened by the fact that Will is alive.

The night she and Jonathan are in the motel. She gets huffy when Jonathan points out that she only waited for a month before going back to Steve. This, to me, feels like she clings to relationships rather than processing her own trauma.

Season 3, the big one is after she got herself and Jonathan got fired. She completely disregards the fact that he needed the job to pay bills in favour of 'but I didn't get to do what I wanted.' The whole Oliver Twist routine comment (which was so classist) seems to imply his financial instability isn't a big deal in comparison to how she feels she was wronged. And then, later, she gets smug when Jonathan told her she was right "I look forward to you never doubting me again." and doesn't apologise for hurting him and targeting his insecurities.

Season 4, as I said before, only watched it once, but I can think of a few instances.

Her relationship with Jonathan. Yes, both of them are at fault for the lack of communication, but we're just talking about Nancy. She seems to blame their position in their relationship on Jonathan, but doesn't seem to make an effort to be the one to reach out to work through the issues. Like, she's the one in the relationship with a financially stable family, she could have easily gone with Mike to visit the Byers in California. And expecting him to follow her to Emerson. That's her dream, not his. His dream school, at least until s1, was NYU. And she knows how protective of Will he'd been, so it seems pretty obvious he'd be hesitant about going to a school on the opposite coast to where his family are, he wouldn't want to be 3000 miles away in case something went wrong.

How she treats Robin until Robin makes it 100% clear that her and Steve are not a thing. Like, you have a boyfriend, why are you worried about who your ex-boyfriend (That you cheated on with your current boyfriend) is dating or friends with?

How she does seem to be sending mixed signals over what she wants with Steve, and with the end scene between her and Jonathan it really implied that she has feelings for Steve again. Which takes us back to the leading her partner on when she's not interested/ losing interest.

(I know some of the relationship stuff in s4 was lazy writing pushing for the love triangle story again.)

This feels a bit disjointed compared to when I wrote about her lack of common sense, but yeah. I feel Nancy isn't this brilliant, every type of intelligence person a lot of people make her out to be.

Oh, and adding to the emotional intelligence thing (same anon). Nancy just seems to not care about how her words impact others. She always has to be right and is quick to point out other peoples perceived lack of intelligence (Steve), or lash out if her position as the smartest person is challenged (Robin, Jonathan, and to an extent Fred.) And she puts people in danger just for her constant need to be right.

i think a lot of nancy’s emotional insensitivity does just come from her not being able to understand other peoples situation. however, she also seems to refuse to understand. like you said, a lot of her actions in s1 are understandable, because she’s a young teen with very limited life experience. as seasons have past she’s gained more knowledge, but refuses to use this knowledge to treat people with more sensitivity, and seems content to remain in her own understanding of the world.

but yeah, super funny to me that she just approached jonathan, in the middle of his appointment, to ask him to look at a photo he took while hiding in steve’s back garden. she couldn’t even have waited till he was done picking out a child sized coffin?? lmao

i can excuse her not understand steve’s complex relationship with cheating, because she has just been called a slut lol. so a girl that’s already not very empathetic isn’t gonna feel like trying to see the situation from steve’s pov.

the whole relationship situation is so messy at the end of s1. her dating steve is very much so influenced by her trauma, but again, she’s getting in a relationship with steve, while clearly either not ready for one, or in love with someone else, without considering steve. the actual person she’s dating.

s2 is the point where we see that nancy’s trauma and lack of emotional intelligence stops her from understanding steve’s position, to the point that she lashes out. at the halloween party, nancy gets drunk to spite steve. and obviously she can’t control what she says when insanely drunk, but she can control her reaction to those words. which is to basically laugh in his face. she doesn’t take his feelings seriously in that scene, and it isn’t until she’s with jonathan later that she even shows emotions.

i think with misunderstanding jonathan’s trauma that also comes from the duffers minimising trauma that isn’t about someone dying. but yeah, it is, again, nancy not being able to understand the way other people feel, and feeling a bit… maybe bitter that jonathan got his brother back, but she didn’t get barb.

oh and nancy 100% uses romantic relationships to avoid ever working through her trauma. if she’s never alone, and she always has someone to be with, then she doesn’t really have to process barb’s loss.

interestingly, even while barb was alive, there was a shift in priorities when dating steve. which is common when teenagers get their first boyfriends! so it’s kind of like, as long as nancy has a boyfriend, she can spend all her time with them, and it’s normal! instead of her acknowledging that she’s alone because she’s lost her best friend.

oh god, i hate the s3 fight. yeah, both of them don’t recognise each others issues in the workplace, but jonathan admits he was wrong, and nancy never does. nancy definitely struggles to admit when she’s wrong, which is probably part of the whole emotional immaturity thing, and is one the biggest things that’s holding back her development.

nancy can’t let herself admit when she’s wrong, with relationships or breaking someone’s heart, or investigating a murder. which i think is another trauma thing, better to make a decision and move on, because if she looks back and regrets, her life kinda starts to fall apart.

i think her relationship in s4 is partly her refusal to regret things, so she can’t acknowledge when her relationship has major issues, and also it comes down to her kind of… self-involved sounds a bit mean? but it’s like, her dream is to go to emerson, so her plan is to go to emerson with jonathan, regardless of his dream college. she has a plan, and she wants to go through with it regardless of jonathan’s wants. (jonathan definitely made mistakes in s4 too!!! but this is about nancy’s role)

robin and nancy are rough in early s4. nancy is seemingly jealous, and takes this out on robin. it definitely doesn’t scream emotional maturity.

i think nancy’s trauma has definitely emotionally stunted her. and i would say she prioritises scholarly intellect over emotional intelligence, which is why she’s pretty smart and savvy and everything, but seems to struggle when it comes to empathy and connecting to people emotionally. like you said, she puts her need to be correct before keeping people safe, or treating them with kindness.

in my opinion, nancy’s emotional issues are the main things holding back her development, and though i hope that the duffers do dive into it in s5, i cannot see that happening.

#nancy wheeler critical #stranger things #asks #anon

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wiltedclown · 1 year

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the dan and phil sims 4 series came out 8 years ago. i was 13 and now i’m 21. i’m still here, in my own house i pay rent and bills on, watching the same videos i used to watch in my mums house when i was barely even a person. i cant vocalise the poetry but i want to draw it but something something time changes and people grow and here i am the same weird anxious kid despite it all and ive had character development but beneath the adulthood and coping mechanisms and debt im still the same little girl i was when i was four and i still pick up rocks on the beach and i still like the sound of birds and i still sleep with my baby blanket. i’m undeniably an adult now but i’m still a teenager and i’m still a little kid and i’m still a baby and i’m choosing to refuse to change and i’m still here clinging to the little kid i was over a decade ago.

i used to wish i was a grownup. i used to wish i could go on huge adventures at the big age of seventeen. seventeen was four years ago now. ive grown up and i smoke cigarettes and get too drunk but at my core i’m still sitting on the grass eating sunflower seeds in my mums garden. my cats are both long gone but every time i go home i think about the fact that i sleep with their blanket in my bed every night. i moved out three years ago but my room is still my bolt hole when i’m lonely and i still want to hug my mum and i still hope that if i have a nightmare i can crawl in bed with her and i’ll be safe.

i’m still only little. i’m still the same curious, excited, desperately touch-starved little kid i’ve always been. i’m lonely and sad but every time it gets too hard i think about her and think she’d be so confused if she was dropped in my situation and if i think about it hard enough she has been. but shed see the bright side and she’d be so excited about how cool i am and how i cut my own hair and designed my own room and live with my friends.

i worry about disappointing her. i worry that if she saw me now she’d be sad about what she grows up to be. but i know that if she saw me crawling around the beach looking for crabs and sea slugs and infodumping about everything i see around me she’d be just as excited as i am.

i miss her. i miss being her. i hope she gets better soon. i hope we can meet again soon.

#chatter

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captainhysunstuff · 2 years

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Transcript: The Chain - Sis was Curious

The Chain - Sis was Curious comic

Light: *thinking about his conversation with his mother, thinking* Kids, huh... Would L even want kids? He doesn’t seem like the childrearing type... *imagines L with a baby* Ehh... not like I really want them. However, raising an heir could be something to worry about down the line...

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Sayu: *peeks in* Knock knock! Comin’ in!

Light: *sarcastic* Please, make yourself at home~.

Sayu: Gotta make up for lost time! *shuts door* It’s a little late for a rebellious teenager phase, isn’t it?

Light: College opens doors to many opportunities, y’know.

Sayu: Even Misa-Misa-shaped ones?

Light: Yes. I’m still seeing where that one leads. *thinking* Jeez, am I going to have this conversation with Sayu, too?? *out loud* Are you just here to bug me about Misa?

Sayu: Whaaa? How’d you guess?

Light: I picked up mind reading while I was away.

Sayu: Wow~. Is there anything you can’t do? For real though. You doing okay?

Light: Yeah. I feel a lot better now. I kinda missed being at home. It’s kind of amazing how nothing’s changed.

Sayu: Yeah. Well, Mom’s got this place how she wants it, and it’s gonna stay that way, like it or not.

Light: Ha, I suppose. So, how about you? How’s school?

Sayu: Ehh... I’m getting by. At least I’m passing. I had to start relying on study groups more since a certain someone decided to run off with his girlfriend for half a year~.

Light: Hey, I’m not gonna be around forever. I can’t be your only lifeline, y’know.

Sayu: Ugh, I knooow. Not gonna lie, living with a wonder nerd like you was pretty convenient.

Light: Good to know where my value lies.

Sayu: Well, that’s hardly my fault! You never wanted to hang out anymore!

Light: *shocked*

Sayu: I swear, if Mom didn’t make you eat with us or make you help me with my homework, we’d never see you! You’re such a recluse! And then you just ghost on us out of nowhere?! Right when I thought you were finally becoming more normal...

Light: What? You didn’t think I was normal?? *thinking* Sayu, too?!

Sayu: Duh, you’re not normal, Brainiac. What teenage boy holes himself in his room forever just to study? Ha. “Studying.” Maybe you are normal~.

Light: Sayu...

Sayu: I know, I know. You really are studying. How else are you getting perfect scores in everything? You’ll probably even pick up college again no problem. You ditched school too, right? You’re going back to To-Oh, aren’t you?

Light: Well, yeah. Of course.

Sayu: And if things get better, will Misa be cool with it?

Light: Well, she’ll have to be if she wants to keep dating me.

Sayu: Whoa...

Light: What? Was that too harsh or something?

Sayu: No no, you’re right. School stuff should come first, but...

Light: But...?

Sayu: You should still have fun. Can’t be all business all the time, right?

Light: Well, I hate to break it to you, but being an adult isn’t always fun. Work, bills... *wiggles fingers in her face, puts on a faux-spooky voice* RESPONSIBILITIES~! CONSEQUENCES~!

Sayu: Ew~! Just don’t burn yourself out, okay?

Light: Henh, I’ll try.

Sayu: Seriously though. Dad disowning you? What’s up with that? Talk about extreme.

Light: See? He wants me to succeed, and dating’s a distraction--

Sayu: No, it’s been bugging me. It just doesn't make sense.

Light: Huh?

Sayu: I mean, think about what Dad’s like: he super stubborn, and even though he’s barely around, he loves us too much to just give up on any of us. Especially you, his genius son who’s working to be a detective just like him. You’re so awesome, and everyone knows it. So, what sense does it make that he’d suddenly abandon you? Even if you guys had a huge fight, if anything, he’d try even harder to get you back. So, it’s weird, right?

Light: I suppose...

Sayu: I mean, all you did was take a surprise trip with your girlfriend. Nothing too radical about that if you ask me. Unless... there was more to it than that.

Light: Where are you going with this?

Sayu: Fine, I’m just gonna say it. Look, it’s not like I don’t think you could bag a model, but Misa was a real... surprise.

Light: What--?

Sayu: Style aside, I just can’t see Dad disowning you over her. It bothered me so much that I went and did some digging, and I found out some interesting stuff~.

Light: *thinking, alarmed* “Digging?!”

Sayu: So, you and Misa disappearing at the same time totally tracks. But after asking around, mainly to figure out where you guys went... It turns out that another guy disappeared around the same time. And when I learned that his name was “Hideki Ryuga,” you know that got my attention! I realized real quick that it wasn’t my Hideki Ryuga, but that didn’t make him any less special. With a name like that, word gets around. Imagine my surprise when I found out that he aced the To-Oh entrance exams, too! Just like you did!

Light: *thinking* She knows about L?!

Sayu: Bro, we all knew that you’d be giving the freshman address with another student. That was Ryuga, wasn’t it? I do remember you acting kind of weird when you came home that day.

Light: *sweats* Um...

Sayu: My guess is: You met the guy, and he blew you away with his smarts. After all, you don’t meet a fellow genius every day. He swept you off your feet so thoroughly that you, understandably--

Light: Sayu--

Sayu: Light. He’s the one you eloped with, isn’t he?

Light: SAYU--

Sayu: It makes more sense this way! Dad was so shocked that his beloved son ran off with another man that he overreacted, and he eventually got over it. Someone as determined and devoted as Dad giving up on you... Someone alluring enough to draw you away... Misa’s reappearance, and your and Ryuga’s continued absence... I don’t wanna say anything bad about Dad, but it just fits better.

Imaginary!Soichiro: *weeping* Light... My son...

Sayu: The Misa excuse was a convenient cover story, and Dad still loved you enough to not directly out you. Helps that Mom and I already knew that you knew her personally.

Light: ...You watch way too many dramas.

Sayu: *sigh* Ehh, I’ve just been trying to make it all make sense, and I had a long time to think about it. Besides, it’s not like you’d actually tell me if I was right even a little bit. Well, not before you’re ready~.

Light: Do you really think I’m gay?

Sayu: I don’t know. It’s not like you ever brought anyone home before Misa. Even then, unless she’s actually a huge nerd, she doesn’t really seem like your type.

Light: *thinking* Ugh, you don’t know what my type is! *out loud* ...You are way too interested in my love life.

Sayu: No duh. I’m your little sister. It’s my job~!

Light: Well, what about you?? Do you have any secret boyfriends I should know about??

Sayu: *annoyed* Ugh, not anymore.

Light: “ANYMORE??”

Sayu: Good riddance, too. Pssshhh.

*So, Sayu regaled Light with the story of her two awful ex-boyfriends that happened while Light was away*

Light: Bastards! What were their names again?

Sayu: Why? So you can go after them? lol

Light: (yes)

#transcript #text #my fancomic #The Chain #Death Note #lawlight #Light Yagami #Sayu Yagami #Sayu being a nosy theorizer #tw: implied homophobia #tw: disownment

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1000sandwiches · 4 months

Text

Tue, Feb 6, 2024

Lately I have become extremely nostalgic for the Web 1.0 era of the internet. It started with me looking at archived Usenet posts via Google Groups, but has turned into me spending hours on the Wayback Machine looking up sites I used to haunt back in the 90s and early 2000s. Stuff like The Gaming Intelligence Agency (which is still up somehow), Elfwood, Toriyama's World, or various rabbit holes from the Anime Web Turnpike. I really miss the days everyone had their own website (I had several if you're wondering. A Flame of Recca fan site, for example). I want to be one of the cool kids and join Neocities in hopes it'll give me a similar vibe, but I haven't done HTML in years and feel a bit intimidated by it. So for now maybe a Tumblr diary will do. So that's what this is, a rambling online diary like the kind I kept as a teenager. It seemed cheaper than therapy.

Rambling about being a new parent and venting about my in-laws below. It's not particularly interesting. Next time I'll just write about video games I'm playing, probably.

I became a dad in November 2023. My emotions and mental health have been sort of all over the place since the day we checked into the hospital. I had always wanted a family of my own, and my wife and I both felt we would regret not having at least one child. I have a lot of insecurities about being a first time father at my age. I'm 38 now, and I just keep thinking about how I'll be 43 when my son is 5, and worry I won't be able to keep up with him. But here we are.

My wife was induced and spent 30 hours in labor before the doctor finally gave us the option for a C-Section. She didn't even hesitate to say yes, honestly just relieved to get it over with. The operation went fine, but apparently I am a lightweight when it comes to gore. Seeing my partner's blood and guts all over the surgeons had my anxiety screaming. Also, no one will ever believe me, but during the surgery the anesthesiologist, Bob, was playing on his phone. All of a sudden an ad for homemade marinara started playing, and the whole room stopped to stare at him. Surgeons still covered in bloody bits. Bob just mumbled "bad timing" and turned the volume down. What an absolute legend. I love you, Bob!

The experience of holding our son for the first time was just as powerful as I had always heard. So many different feelings washed over me all at once. I'd never even held a baby before then. Seeing my son being held up against my significant other's head made me cry.

Unfortunately, I am a peon at a public library, and my wife works retail, so neither of us are great breadwinners. Oops. Sorry, baby! So now we have super fun medical bills while we also figure out a budget. Currently we are living with my in-laws. Having to adjust to both our newborn and their family routine has been a challenge for us both.

Some days are great. Others are hard. Especially in the first month, where some nights the baby would just scream his head off for hours. I knew I hated loud noises, but I never realized how triggering a baby's cry could be. I'm not suicidal, but I've spent several nights imagining a scenario where I'd jump into my car and driving off a cliff. This has gotten better recently as he now does fairly good job of sleeping through the night. It's a lot easier to be patient with his crying when we are not exhausted.

My wife had a few struggles with post-partum depression. The week after giving birth, her hormones were all over the place and she had frequent panic attacks. One morning she woke up, walked into the living room and saw our son, only to then throw up. She is over this now thankfully, and has put a lot of energy into figuring out how to be a mom. I'm very proud of her.

The In-laws are a huge help, but there are pros and cons to their assistance. There are times where my wife and I really need to learn how to deal with our son's tantrums by ourselves, but the grandparents will insist on taking him. I appreciate the help, but I worry about not being able to handle him myself. In fairness, I might struggle to get him down for an hour, but Grandma can get him to sleep on five minutes. It's like dark magic for grandparents, I swear.

I am also prone to feeling like a burden on the family. I notice a lot of little corrections. Stupid things like say I take some chips from the cupboard and I know I'll put them back in a moment. I might decide to leave the door open for a moment, but Grandma walks in and immediately shuts the cupboard. Other times I might leave a light on which Grandma turns off while I'm still using. I also feel like every interaction I have with my son is being judged. If he's crying and I set him down for a few minutes, someone feels the need to swoop in and take him from me. It's like leaving him be in his bassinet while he's awake his frowned upon.

My In-Laws also have a family culture where everyone hangs out in the living room together all day. This is completely new to me, and I'd rather be alone in my room most of the time. It doesn't help that they are a family that keeps their television on all day and I get very sick of hearing the news cycle repeat over and over. This recently had consequences when Grandpa came home from work sick, and apparently keeping the baby in another room, away from the sick guy, was never even considered.

As you might expect, our baby got sick. I was pissed. I just couldn't believe that I would come home from work to find grandpa coughing just a few feet away from him, and no one thought to keep them separated. Our son then passed his cold onto the rest of the household (not covid or flu, as several of us have tested negative).

So that brings us to now. A week after getting sick, I am still having issues with sinus drainage along with aches and pains. Our son is doing better, and you can't even tell my wife was ever sick. I'm very jealous. I should probably take a few moments to proof read all this, but I've already been typing on my phone for an hour and feel silly about posting this at all.

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survey--s · 10 months

Text

588.

When was the last time you got more then eight hours of sleep? Last night. I've been sleeping pretty well lately, actually.

Do you find that people don’t really understand you? lol, this just reminds me of when I was full of teenage angst. I don't really think anyone is that complicated.

Is there anyone in your life that you wish you were closer to? I mean, there are people I wish I could spend more time with but it's not for lack of trying, it's just that work gets in the way ha.

Would you say you are a gullible person? No, not really.

Are you one to swear often? Yeah, I swear a fair bit but I am capable of controlling it when needed.

Have you ever sat down and played video games all day? Yeah, I used to game a fair bit when I was younger, but now I'm more likely to spend all day messing about online.

What is one thing in your life that is no longer there, that you miss? Horse riding. My instructor had to stop teaching and I really miss it. I used to love my weekly lessons.

What do you believe is the best thing about being a kid? Not having to worry about money or bills or the future.

What flavor Dum-Dum is your favorite? Is a Dum-Dum like a lollipop? I like raspberry or cola flavours.

What is the last book you read/are reading? Did you/are you enjoying it? I can't remember the last time I read a book, to be quite honest. It's just not something I really enjoy doing anymore.

Are you on a laptop or a desktop right now? Laptop.

If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go; why? I'm honestly happy enough being here, it's been a busy week.

Have you ever trusted someone you wish you wouldn’t have? I guess so.

Have you ever been on a picnic? Sure, loads of times.

Which is better tea or coffee? Coffee as a general rule, but sometimes nothing beats a cup of tea.

Do you own an umbrella? I do, but I couldn't tell you where it is or when I last used it lol.

Do you like the ocean? I love the beach/ocean. It's definitely my happy place.

Is there anyone that you wish you were with right now? Nope.

Who was the last person you hung out with? Mike.

What animal cracker is your favorite? We don't have animal crackers over here.

Is there anything you’re currently holding back? No.

Do you like your smile? Not particularly.

Have you ever watched something on the TV that truly disturbed you? Sure, various things over the years.

Are you scared of needles? No.

Is your current cell phone out of date? I guess it is as it's two years old, but it still works perfectly well.

Have you ever drank milk when it was spoiled? No, surely you'd be able to smell it?

Would you/have you ever bought a gym membership? Yeah, my dad got me one as a student and I also got free membership when I worked at a gym for a while.

Have you ever bought anything on the TV? No.

Have you ever done something that you knew was wrong? Sure, but nothing major.

Do you know what all the keys on your keyboard do? Not off the top of my head, but I'm sure I could figure it out.

What is the last channel you were on, when watching TV? We don't have live TV. I'm currently watching Amazon Prime.

What is your favourite restaurant? That depends what kind of food I'm in the mood for.

What is the last thing you spent money on? Cat toys after Purrlock broke the last lot.

Do you know of anyone who hates you? Not as far as I know, that's pretty extreme lol.

Lose your arm or your leg; Which do you choose? Probably my arm.

Has an animal ever bit you? Yes.

Have you ever tripped over your own feet? Sure, all the time.

Do you ever take out the garbage? I mean, of course.

Do wash your face thoroughly everyday? Not thoroughly, but I do wash it in the shower everyday.

Would you ever do a ride along with a cop? I'm pretty sure that's not allowed here.

Are things, in your opinion, overly expensive these days? Sure, I mean, the UK is fucked now lol.

Where was your last car ride to? Home from work.

Are your nails long? No.

Have you ever gotten food poisoning? Yes.

Have you ever had to put a dog to sleep? No. I've only ever had one pet pass away and that happened so quickly that we couldn't get her to the vets.

What messenger services do you use? WhatsApp and Messenger, and DM's on Instagram.

Have you ever lost someone important to you? Sure, that's life.

Do you change your myspace page often? Ha, I miss MySpace.

Are you listening to music currently? Nope, I'm watching TV.

#survey #surveys

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myforeverlostthoughts · 2 years

Text

PERSONAL VENT

Keep scrolling if you don't wanna read it..

I find it funny..

I always dreamed that by the time I was turning 30 I would have everything that I ever asked for. A loving boyfriend/husband, a house to call home, a job I enjoy dearly, and a few other things maybe kids or a pet. Just you know stuff we dream about while being kids and just wishing for the adult world to take us away and rid of our teenage dread we all complained about.

I sorta miss being a kid/teenager. Sure, the life of an adult has its perks and being able to "drown my sorrows" with liquid happiness is great, but like I miss the comfort of not worrying about bills and stuff. Comfort of school and the stress it brought on if I studied hard enough for the weeks test or seeing my Friends because that was one of the ways I could see them without worrying about my parents telling me "no, so-n-so can't come over" and so forth. I just miss feeling some what free and not worrying about if my boss is going to fire me or if the bills are going to get paid or if I have money to get food, which no this isn't a cry for help, just venting because it's been a thought in my head for a long time.

I see friends and family having kids, getting married, and yeah a part of me is a little envious because again I wish for that life. I wish for a loving partner who greets me when I get home from work and asks how my night went and that they missed me. Greet me when they wake up or take me to bed because it's bedtime. I know my past relationships have been toxic, have been bad, but it was a learning curve for me to just focus on myself and know what I want...

What I want..

Yeah thats a thought for another day, but I just want happiness and sure self love is a happiness but being with someone who love me for me and shares the same goals as I do is also a happiness.

Anyway, thanks for reading my vent.. I'm off to bed.. take care everyone, love ya ♡

~Senpai

#inner thoughts #thoughts #thought #dreams #daydreaming #dreaming #vent #deep thougts #venting

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provisionalsparkle · 3 years

Text

The Boy Next Door

Reader x Bang Chan (Stray Kids)

[Genre] exes-to-lovers au, smut, angst.

[Word count] 6.7K

[Warnings] Smut. Angst. Unprotected sex, voyeurism, ample description of bodily fluids.

[Note] This is my contribution to @feliix ’s Summer 2 Lovers collab! Check it out!

Summer.

The season of fun and sun, careless joy, long days and warm nights…

For most people.

For you, this summer is about change. It’s about the little town you used to live in, the quaint house you grew up in, the smell of your mother’s cooking or the breeze from the yard, the sound of younger kids playing in the street. It’s about the big city you will go to live in, it’s purple and orange twilight skies, black silhouettes reaching toward the skies beginning to twinkle with golden lights, the noises of the traffic coming from evening bustle, the scent of the delis and restaurants that line the streets.

You were stuck between these two places, university having been a four year long limbo of boundless sex mislabeled as self-discovery, and now visit your home one last time, reminding yourself of the life you had there before moving on to another.

You think of the past with nostalgia, yet also with a restlessness that makes you want to run from everything. The stillness, the silence, the unchanging landscape in this little town is too unbearable, too unsettling. But it’s familiar, and it’s comfortable. The life you’ll soon live promises excitement, autonomy, it’s the adulthood you’ve fantasized about. It terrifies you too, and you have these horrible dreams about missing the payment of the most insignificant bill and having the entire world collapse on you because of it. You still don’t know how to do your taxes.

College is over, a new life awaits you in a big city after landing a rather ideal job, but it felt like you were leaving things behind. Funny how, after so many years of fantasizing about this grown-up life you suddenly felt like a lost child, scared to forgo the familiar.

It’s these sort of almost-quarter-life-crisis thoughts that fill your mind on a particularly warm afternoon. You’re indecently splayed out on a couch with as little clothing as possible, the door to the backyard is wide open, letting an occasional breeze waft in to disrupt the stifling stillness of the heat. The lights are off, and you were too unbothered to turn them on as the sun set, preferring to stare at a darkening ceiling as the evening sky turned purple.

There’s a familiar jingle of keys from the front door.

“Honey? You home?”

“I’m here, Mom.” You lazily answer back. She wanders from the hall to the living room, you can feel the judgemental look she gives you.

“Have you been laying like this all day?”, indignation lines her voice. Was it so surprising to find you like this?

“Yeah…”

“You can’t just lay here all day. Go out! Get some sun! Go play with those kids you used to hang out with from school!”

“I can’t Ma, I’d rather just plank here.”

“Oh goodness, Y/n. Give me one good reason you shouldn’t go hang out with them!”

“I’ll give you two: either they grew up to be total bitches or they had kids and became a bore.”

“I didn’t become a bore when I had you!” She exclaims, although it’s not too serious and some playfulness hides beneath the surface.

“Yeah, that’s because you’re a cool mom. They don’t make those anymore.”

“Hmm… well, I think you should make a bit of an effort.”

“Mom… it’s my last vacation you know -”

“You know what?!” She suddenly exclaims, her voice brightening like a lightbulb just radiated in her thoughts. “Mrs. Carson’s son is here with her for the summer too! I bet you haven’t seen him in ages, and he’s gotten so handsome.”

“Mrs. Carson?” You didn’t have any clue who that was.

“Well… you might remember her as Mrs. Bang, but Jane changed her name when she married Norbert a few years ago. She still lives next door and Christopher’s in town spending the summer with his mother.”

Bang…

Christopher…

You hadn’t heard that name in years. It surprised you a bit actually, and a hint of a smile came to your lips.

“Yeah, yeah, Mom… I’ll think about it.”

You wouldn’t admit�� something did grab your attention. A curiosity of sorts.

You were fifteen years old when you had your first kiss. He was a short boy with a kind smile, a bit awkward really, but you had a fondness for him. It wasn’t about looks at all, all boys at that age were hideous and nothing would change your opinion on that, but you’d swoon whenever you saw him. It was mutual, an icky teenage infatuation that had your friends poking fun at both of you whenever you’d become giddy at the sight of one another. Hot faces, nervous glances, trembling innocent touches.

He sat next to you in chemistry and you’d hold hands under the lab table while the teacher gave class. His left hand always felt soft in your right one. Cute. It’s a bit silly but you’re glad you had that sort of adorable and silly romance. While it lasted, that is.

Christopher wasn’t a bad guy. He was stupid, like all boys that age.

When you saw him kissing another girl, of course you cried, but you knew it had to do with him being stupid more than anything. This simple looking girl that you had been friends with in elementary school, you can’t even remember her name.

You know why he did it, beyond his stupidity. Your mom had let it slip long before - you knew it was coming.

“Honey, would you believe? Mr. and Mrs. Bang are divorcing!” Probably just some hot gossip from one of her PTA yoga groups, no ill intention on your behalf. She didn’t know you were seeing Christopher - over your dead body. You were fifteen and a horrible student, you didn’t need to give your mother yet another element to ground you with.

“Oh no…” You acted as normally as you could, your first thoughts went out to Christopher first though. “Do you know why?”

“Well… I’m obviously not going to ask, duh! But I do know that Mr. Bang is taking the kid with him abroad.” What?! What did she just say? Chis is WHAT?!

“I - uh, what?” Act normal, act normal, act normal.

“Aww… sweetie, was he your friend?” Goodness, parents can be so oblivious, but it’s beneficial in this case. She doesn’t pick up on the depression of your mood.

“I guess.” A sniffle is about to threaten your composure so, in your teenage arrogance, you leave before your mother can see your teary eyes.

The subsequent days were strange. You expected Christopher to tell you the news, you expected to comfort him, you expected to live out the rest of your young romance as best as you could. And then… you saw him.

And he said nothing. He was cold, pushed you away. He must be going through a lot of pain, you thought. More days went by and he still said nothing, and his demeanor grew worse, no affection, no smiles. He must be having a hard time, you reasoned.

Sometimes you thought he was on the verge of saying something to you, like he was about to say something and the words threatened to come out but he’d suddenly pull away and swallow them. You didn’t question it really, it was so confusing but you just went with it.

You never held his hand in chemistry again.

Time made you realize that Christopher didn’t want to be with you anymore. You weren’t sure if it was because he stopped liking you, and that hurt a little, but you knew what he was going through, and you stood by him in case he ever chose to open up and cry on your shoulder. You’d be there for him.

When he kissed that girl, it didn’t really surprise you. Damn it, what was her name? You cried, you thought it was because you were ugly and your boobs were still pretty small - stupid reasons.

It took a few months for you to understand the real reason.

He left without saying goodbye. You never spoke to him after he kissed what’s-her-name. Maybe he tried to do so a couple of times, but you ran away or didn’t let him. Or maybe you remembered it that way to comfort you, just so you’d live with the thought that he tried to apologize, tired to make things right.

But the fact of the matter is he didn’t speak to you and he didn’t say goodbye. He didn’t want to.

He didn’t want to say goodbye because it hurt.

He was trying to ruin your relationship so you’d break up with him and he wouldn’t have to say goodbye, so that he could kill the feelings you had for him to spare you from the pain of his departure.

Or maybe you were just imagining it like that to make it a cuter memory and think about it fondly.

Maybe in the end, Christopher was just a horny teenage boy that cheated on you. Maybe.

Regardless, you giggle as you think back on the silliness of it all, and how serious and life altering it all felt in your childishness. It seemed so long ago, so distant, and you were so changed that it felt like it had all happened to a different person. You wondered about the man next door, and the entirely different boy who had once been next door. What kind of person had Christopher become?

University did you well. It was four solid years of irresponsible drinking and uninhibited sexual exploration paired with relatively easy academics. You don’t know how it happened, but it had been like a transformation from one day to the next.

You, sort of, kind of, absolutely plain and normal girl that no one would notice lest you stepped in their line of sight. One day, there you were - normal.

Two weeks in - boom. Confident. Your roommate was an okayish girl, another plain one. Then you started noticing how comfortable you were undressing in front of her, to change clothes or whatever, as if it was the most normal thing in the world - which it was. Wearing shorts and skirts became less of a worry, just something that felt better. Sometimes you’d be thrown icky glances from some boys, which you hated, but others were acceptably flirty and you loved those. The best ones were the boys that would get shy and who would quickly whip their heads the other way once you caught them staring.

That definitely flipped the switch. It made you feel strong, it made you feel damn good. You, who at the most had dipped a finger into the world of heavy makeouts during high school, now became a seasoned seductress of all kinds of men. So long as you could wrap them around your finger with your demeanor, so long as you could prowl over them and take the lead.

Ah… the good old days.

What was going to happen now, though? Four years later, no slightly inexperienced men left to be wowed. Everyone you knew was turning into a bland and bitter office worker. Was this the end of it?

To think that you’d be ending this glorious chapter of your life in this tiny town, lounging on the same stuffy couch in the same hot living room every day, having your routine philosophical melodrama where you’d stare at the ceiling in the afternoons until your mother came in inquiring if you were alive. It was a terrible fate.

A few days after the revelation of Christopher’s presence, which you would never admit had been circling your mind nonstop, your mother returns with another piece of information.

“You know, Jane and Norbert are having a get together of sorts next Saturday - just the usuals from the block.”

“Is that so?” You said with disinterest.

“In fact, I borrowed a baking pan from her last week… why don’t you go over and give it back to her for me? She might need it, and you probably haven’t left this house in days.” You didn’t reply, but you could feel her eyes on you, waiting for you to obey.

“Fine…”

The afternoon was enjoyably fresh, although your white t-shirt stuck to you like a second skin, the bikini top you wore underneath tracing its silhouette into the cotton. You lazily stomped your way to the house next door, admiring the tall window where you had snuck into Christopher’s room a couple of times during your short romance. A ladder was perched up against the exterior toward that window, they must have been fixing things up. The porch was full of cans of paint, tools, boxes. It was only when you rang on the doorbell, begrudgingly holding the large tray, that you realized that Jane might not be the one to open the door but instead it could be -

The door swings open and you gasp. Christopher.

Well… his face hadn’t changed much. But he was slightly taller than you remembered, far more masculine, oh, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Yeah, he was shirtless… jeans hanging low on his hips… shirtless… abs… fit waist… arms…

“Hi! Is Jane home?” Good… pretend you don’t remember him.

“I - Uh… no, my mom’s actually out right now.” He replied. His voice had grown deeper, and where did he get that accent? Wait - did he not remember you? Now, that just made you angry, but you wouldn’t let it show.

“Oh, well… my mother wanted me to return this.” You say handing him the tray, avoiding trailing your eyes downward.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll give it to her.” He says. He seems a little frozen, an expression between surprise and caution lingers on his face, but you don’t know if it’s good or bad.

There’s a moment of silence where you just stare at each other.

“Y/n…” He finally says. There’s hesitation in the way he says your name. He’s scared, not of you, but he’s scared about the fact that you’re on his doorstep.

You don’t say anything, calmly, almost coyly, waiting for him to continue. You’d gotten rather good at pretending you were calm, and the slightest tint of a smile painted your lips so you wouldn’t seem cold or ingenuine.

“Do you remember me?” He asks. You can’t help but huff, a tiny laughter really.

“Of course. You know, you haven’t grown much taller.”

With those slightly playful words, you turn to walk back to your home, and with each step your impression of the encounter with your childhood love became more bitter and less sweet.

It was strange how you thought about him, about it. The situation, that is. Seeing him, talking to him, both of you now being older. A few days of thinking now.

You don’t know why you thought about it so much, but you thought about it. You thought about it without knowing how you felt about it or what you thought about it. This man you had only gotten a glimpse of, too overwhelmed to take in his features properly, now walks around your mind freely. He wasn’t the boy you knew. He wasn’t the boy next door whose hand you’d once hold in chemistry, who you’d kiss before turning the corner towards both of your homes. The boy who left all those years ago.

No, it wasn’t that boy. It was that man, who kept perturbing you. What did you feel? Interest? Yes, there was something quite intriguing about all of this which sparked your curiosity. Lust? Of course, absolutely, the man next door looked divine. Suppose you could abstract the person from his body, so that you wouldn’t be so bothered by who he was and what he meant to you, and you’d easily bend over in front of him and invite him in.

You supposed a conversation was in place, though, because after all, he was still the Christopher. You couldn’t just go around fucking people like that anymore - unfortunately. That was something you got away with in college. It’s a shame college boys grow up to be boring men, sex gets more boring, they think they have all the authority… Maybe you should go back to school.

You’re sitting on the windowsill of your second floor bedroom, one leg hanging out and stepping onto the roof. Opposite to your window, beyond a neat shrub, is the window of the guest room of Mrs. Carson, formerly Bang, which seems unchanged from when you last saw it. You remember watching her from your room, also unchanged, using the TV in there to do some aerobics she followed along from a VHS… was it a VHS? No, that’s the machine. What were the things you used to put in the VHS? A cassette? No… regardless, eventually she must have started using DVD’s.

Damn it, it all seemed like thousands of years ago.

Damn it, you were still so melodramatic throwing around words like poetry over some Richard Simmons tape. Aha! It’s a tape!

Your crotch is being dug into by the window frame, and you let your weight rest on it, the slight grind tempting you to have a round of masturbation. But you’ll finish the cigarette you stole from your mother first. It tasted awful, it was another adult thing you couldn’t understand. Why did everyone at university smoke so much? It was just another thing their eager teenage selves did to emulate the adults in grown-up world, to feel a little more grown-up. Who the hell likes this stuff?

But you liked watching it burn, occasionally inhaling its airy and bitter smoke. It wasn’t your preferred type of smore. You preferred watching papers and matches burn, their sweet and rich smell, the warmth of the fire that would sting the edges of your fingers. Shame your mother only used a lighter, you didn’t like the smell of that fire either.

You just surrendered to watching the bright tip of the cigarette and the white streams that came from it.

“You know those are bad for you.”

“Jesus fucking Christ!” You exclaimed, your heart nearly jumping out from your chest. A man had sprung out from the window in the guest room of the Carson house, formerly Bang, and that man was Christopher Bang himself.

“Sorry I didn’t -”

“You almost gave me a fucking heart attack - what the hell?!”

“ - mean to startle you…”

“Damn it, Christopher!”

“Ah! So you do remember me?” He says with a bit of joy, but you just look at him, realizing that this is where the talk will come. His features grow a little more somber. He continues, “So… I guess I -”

“Where’d you get the accent?” You interrupt, genuinely curious. “You sound like the crocodile hunter.”

“Well… I was living in Australia with my dad.” He says it in a normal tone, but you make sure it doesn’t stay normal.

“Oh, so that’s where you went?” You both wince at what you just said. Yep, it’s finally time for that talk.

There’s a bit of silence, but you’ll let him be the one to fill it.

“I…” He sighs deeply. Uuhh… it’s quite a masculine sigh. “I didn’t know you’d be here. I didn’t think I’d ever see you again but I… there’s something I’ve always wanted to say.”

“I’m listening…” You say. It’s a flat tone, but it’s funny. You hope it’ll ease him.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry.” Some silence again, “I’m sorry for being an ass, I’m sorry for cheating on you -”

“Chris, we were like fifteen… you kissed a girl with braces, big deal.” You waved it off. Really, kissing that girl didn’t bother you so much, now almost ten years later.

“I left without saying anything.”

“Yeah, you did. Hard to not notice.”

“I was - I know it’s not an excuse, but I was going through a lot and I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“So you left without saying anything?”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok… we haven’t spoken in years. I practically forgot about it.” No you didn’t.

“Did you?” He says. Was he hopeful when you insinuated he hadn’t hurt you as much as he thought he had?

“No, not really. I mean, yeah, you kissing another girl was pretty insignificant, we were just kids. It did hurt that you left without… I don’t know… There wasn’t any closure. There wasn’t a goodbye. I felt confused for a while, I guess.”

“I’m so sorry about that. But my parents were splitting up, I was going to have to leave everything behind. You were the first girl I loved and I was going to have to say goodbye and I couldn’t handle it. I was too hurt and embarrassed to even tell my friends. I wish I had done it differently.”

“Yeah, I wish you had too. I wanted to be there for you, you know? I wanted to hug you, hold your hand, tell you it was going to be ok.

“I really messed up there…”

“It’s okay Chris, you were just a kid. We were just kids.” You offer your sympathy but he doesn’t soften.

“Mhmm. Doesn’t make me feel less guilty about it.”

“Can I ask you something?” He nods, “Did you do all that stuff… you know, treat me that way, for real or where you…?”

“I was hoping you’d break up with me, get over me. That way we wouldn’t have to say goodbye and we wouldn’t get hurt.”

“I got hurt.” You admit.

“I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing.” You insist. “It’s fine. We’re fine. We’re old and grown and fine. All of that’s in the past, I can’t blame you for acting like a kid. It’s okay.”

“Well I can agree with you there. We did grow up, not kids anymore.”

“You didn’t grow that much.” You laugh, he laughs too.

“You certainly did.” He’s being flirty. It could have been bad timing, but the mood felt right.

“Oh, you noticed?”

“Hard not to.” Goodness was he being direct. “You were really cute back in school, I had a crush on you for like, forever.”

“Really…Plain old me?”

“Really. And now here we are and I think I could have a crush on you all over again.”

“So you can go off and kiss another girl with braces and leave the continent?”

“No, I’m a one woman man.” He says while making himself comfortable on his own ledge. It’s getting comfortable overall, like you’re talking to someone you’ve known for the longest time, like a decade of separation didn’t do much harm.

“Well, well. And who is that lucky woman now?”

“There’s no one at the moment. I’m in the middle of some life changes.”

“Do tell.”

“I’m moving back. Well, not here, just in the country again. A big city, big job, kinda scary.”

“Seems we’re on the same boat. I just came back to say goodbye to this place forever and I’m ooout.”

“Did you finish school already?”

“Yeah… I wish I hadn’t though.” You think back on your experience with longing, lamenting it’s end.

“Wow, can’t relate. I couldn’t wait for it to end. What’d you miss about it?”

“Well, I didn’t have to work, grades were good and easy. And I guess, it was tons of fun.”

“How so?”

“Being on a campus full of horny and stupid guys - it was open game.” Chan hisses at your admission.

“I wouldn’t have taken you for that type.” He chuckles, “You would stutter for like the first two months we went out.”

“We were just kids.”

“I guess we were…”

Another comfortable silence as you stare off at the sky, your cigarette burnt through with only the spongy bud left to pinch.

“Chris?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m single too, you know.”

It might have been a bad idea, you said it on impulse after all, something quite instinctive having taken over you. Maybe you were just horny and Christopher was just hot, regardless, the conversation was over. Before he could even process what you said, and the implications to it, you had already slipped back into your darkened room and out of his sight.

Chan felt like a teenager again. Not in a good way.

Chan remembered your first kiss, holding your hand. He remembered your breasts being the first he had ever really noticed, your legs being the first he ever caressed. He remembers how you’d press your bodies together while you kissed, not really understanding what both of you felt, only understanding the urgency of it.

Now he can name those feelings, the ones that once belonged to an inexperienced boy, merely dipping his toes into the surface of that world. But now that he dove, and had dived into its waters several times, he knew how to swim in them.

Yet, seeing you made him feel like he didn’t. It made him feel like he couldn’t swim, like he couldn’t breathe. He felt like he was drowning.

The first moment he saw you on his doorstep he felt his stomach drop, a pang of guilt that had lingered on his mind during countless of sleepless nights hitting him with full force. He didn’t expect it. He thought he would never see you again.

And after taking another look, a longer look, it was like he was swimming in completely different waters. He felt submerged, and he didn’t know which way was up. He wanted to open his mouth and swallow it all up, let you drown him.

He hadn’t felt this raging feeling since he was a teenager. He certainly hadn’t had a specific woman make him feel like this until you.

It made him feel another kind of guilt. Shame even.

The following days he’d watch you, shamefully. His mother had him painting the house and when he stood on the rooftops he took his time to enjoy the view of you swimming in your pool, wearing tiny bikinis that stuck to your skin and showed the buds of your niples and the lines of your labia through the fabric. He would admit, shamefully, that he stopped watching from the roof because he needed to get closer to see these beautiful details.

He now watched you from over the fence in his backyard. Getting incredibly hard watching you swim, watching you oil your body down.

It was all horribly, horribly shameful.

But weren’t you the one that mentioned you were single? It had caught him off guard. He was being cheeky in that moment, but he didn’t know what waters he was testing then. Now he knew, and it was making him behave so, so shamefully.

Should he go over there, push you into a corner of the pool and pull your bottoms to the side? Should he kneel at your feet while your rubbing yourself with that golden oil, and beg you to let him fuck you?

It wasn’t just the thought of sex that drove him mad, it was you in general. How inferior he felt in front of you, like he had to prove himself. Every day he worked shirtless, hoping you’d get a glimpse of him, but you were just so unbothered by it all.

It was driving him fucking insane.

If only you knew.

Except - of course you did. Of course you did. This is what you craved, what you were best at. Driving boys, technically men but boys sounds tastier, to be absolute slaves to their desire for you. Christopher wasn’t doing a good job at hiding it. Did he really think that you would suddenly spend every day swimming in the tiniest bikinis after having not left your couch for over a week? They really are such stupid, fuckable animals.

And Chris was particularly fuckable.

Day four of his perverted project, he was hammering away at some boards in the back porch of his house. Your mother wouldn’t be home for hours, his parents were away for a couple of days.

Everything was perfect.

“Chris?!” You call loudly over the fence from your chaise lounge, carelessly flipping through a book. The hammering stopped, he had heard you. “Chris, it’s hot today. Don’t you think you should come over for a swim to cool down?”

Why on earth were you acting so damn unbothered and confident, he thought. Why on earth were you asking him over?

It’s only a matter of time before he circles his own house and slides in through the gate on your end. He’s still wearing jeans and a utility belt, gloves too. No shirt.

“You can’t really swim in those, take them off.” You hardly peered at him from over your sunglasses. He was just standing there, frozen. That’s usually a sign that you’re working your magic well. Good. “Come on Christopher, take them off.”

“I - uh, I’m actually not wearing trunks right now. Uhm… I’ll be right back.”

“Oh, you don’t have to go.” Insert unbothered page flip. “Why don’t you just undress and get in the pool so I can join you?”

“W-what?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He genuinely thought he had imagined it, maybe all of his hornyness was driving him insane.

“Christopher!” You whine. “You’re ruining the fun!” You slam the book shut and throw it over to the side, taking your sunglasses and hat off. “Chris, I think it’s obvious. Do you think I haven’t noticed you being a peeping tom for the past half week? Look! You’ve already got a tent in your pants and everything!”

“Fuck.” Shit, you were right.

“This is like, hmm, like an open invitation to fuck me.” You say with an eye roll, but your eyes roll toward his abs because they are absolutely distracting you.

“Are… are you serious?”

“Well… You want to, I want to. You’re nice, look like you’ve become quite a decent man - and I’m not just referring to your physique Chris. Maybe, just maybe, it would be an excellent idea if we finally fucked this tension away.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. You’re here for a few weeks, so am I. Why not enjoy each other while we can? After that we can just go our separate ways, just like before except we’ll end it on good terms.”

Too many points for him to argue with - you were right on all of them. He couldn’t disagree. In fact, he eagerly agreed. Little did he know you had this pitch rehearsed to perfection, to your benefit, because he seemed to be completely subdued by it.

“Fuck.” He mutters under his breath. Fumbling with his belt, zipper, exposing the line of his abdomen down to his hardening cock. A fat, heavy cock that swung between his muscular thighs. He was fully nude now, standing in front of you, his tan skin glistening in the sunlight. You’re quick to urge him over with a finger.

He pounces, but once he’s crawling over you on that narrow chair, he becomes slow.

“Hi.” You manage to whimper out, now feeling a bit small beneath him, feeling nervous even.

“Hey.” He’s just as nervous but there’s an energy that goes beyond either of your wills pulling you toward one another.

He kisses you. It’s a kiss you melt into, and he sinks his body against yours, with you spreading your legs so he can slot between them. His cock rests against your lower abdomen, his body pressing further into you.

You can’t help but slide your hand between your two bodies in an attempt to finger yourself, prepare yourself, but he stops you and pulls back.

“No.” He growls.

“No?” Is he going to leave you like this?!

“Let me.”

And you do. Chan lowers himself, adjusting you so he can easily bend over the chair while kneeling on the ground, and his hands shake as he dips the tip of his fingers into the hem of your bottoms, just slightly tugging at the material, playing with it before he starts to play with you. You’ve got the perfect view of him basically drooling over you.

He slides the bottoms to the side, but you pull at the strings at your hips, so they come undone and he pulls them away completely. Your lips and the juices coming from between them are just as glossy than your oiled skin.

He can’t help but dig in. Fucking you with his mouth, jamming his fingers in you. It’s an animalistic frenzy and it’s hot and slippery and sticky. You cum and your fluids spill over the impermeable cushion below, pooling under your ass. He can see every sparkling droplet fall from you.

It’s just a haze, he nearly jumps on you, bending your legs nearly over your head, bouncing his pelvis on your cunt like a trampoline, smacking with every thrust. You’re completely glued to one another. If he’s not abusing your mouth with his tongue then he’s biting on your shoulder or grunting, growling, into your ear. It’s filthy. You’re absolutely sure you’ve never been fucked like this.

He cums, several times, as do you. He pulls out each time, jerks himself off on your body, although a couple of times you urged him into your mouth and face. He pulls the triangles on your top to the sides, so your breasts are exposed. He made sure to cum on those too. Semen, sweat, squirt, oil, spit, everywhere there are droplets of your fluids shining on your body like jewels.

It ends with him lying on top of you, nearly sleeping from exhaustion, and your lips feel deliciously sore and sensitive, almost ticklish as he softens inside of you.

It happens again. Several times in fact. Many, many times. When his parents are away, when your mom is away, you fuck all the time. Just a little call of his name over the fence or from your window and he’d be running to you. You were too comfortable with one another to bother with formalities, it was like you’d never been separated. You’d wait for him on all fours, wet cunt on display for him to dive in, but he’d always greet you with a gentle kiss.

Fucking each others faces, drinking eachothers fluids. You even let him fuck you in the ass, multiple times, and he was the first guy to make you cum that way. You were just as hooked and as desperate as he was.

Things started to change though.

The welcoming kisses became longer, you’d talk between the rounds…

You’d fall asleep in his arms, or he in yours.

You’d fuck slowly, deeply, staring into each other’s eyes.

You’d talk to him, tell each other stories of all these years, asi if you had been together the entire time.

You’d smile as you made love, gently. You’d let him cum inside of you.

He’d hold your hand again. They were as soft and warm as you remembered.

You were holding his hand on one particular pink evening, your head resting on his heaving chest, teaching circles into his pecs and nipples. On your bed, in your quiet childhood room. It was a painful silence now. It had been weeks, weeks closer to your respective departure dates.

“I wish I had never left.” He eventually says. You don’t know what to say. “I wish we could have stayed like this for longer.”

“Maybe we would have broken up eventually, or left for college.” You ponder.

“Maybe I would have taken you to prom, or we would have had sex together for the first time…” He returns.

“On this bed? Hmm? With my cute school uniform?” You tease. “Yeah, maybe.”

“But I guess this is what was meant to be.” He sighs, as do you.

“I’m sorry.” Is all you can say.

“What for?”

“I don’t know, I just feel bad. I started this and now we have to go our separate ways again.” You feel something sting in your eye. You can’t cry now.

“Shh…” He coos as he hears you sniffle and feels you twitch. It makes his heart ache like it did all those years ago when he left.

“I - I…” You cry. “I don’t want you to go. I don’t want to go.”

He pulls you into his arms, crushing you in an embrace. Your eyes are closed but you feel the tears fall from his face, he’s crying too.

“I know… but what else can we do?”

There was nothing left to do, other than fuck the days away, crying, holding each other until it hurt. It was a horrible, horrible thing to have fallen in love with Christopher Bang this final summer.

You didn’t go with him to the airport. You didn’t want to say goodbye, you didn’t want to see where he was going.

But he did slip into your room that final night. You made love quietly, he kissed you as you cried.

He said it was the second time he loved you, and the second time he had to leave you.

It hurt much more this time around. Maybe you shouldn’t have done it, maybe you shouldn’t have gone next door.

Being in your house was unbearable once Chris wasn’t next door.

A week later, you’ve arrived at your new place. It had been a whirlwind and you stayed at a hotel the first couple of nights while your new furniture got brought in, most of your personal belongings only fitting in a couple of bags.

It’s kept you busy. That way you think about him a little less. Crying into pillows that have that certain ‘brand new’ smell isn’t quite as comforting as you’d expect. Everything seems unfamiliar, strange, artificial. Nothing here reminded you of him - it was for the best and you hated it.

The place is nice, bright. It’s on the third floor of a small apartment building, a couple of other doors beside yours in the hall. You go downstairs to grab a few packages that have arrived, carefully treading up the stairs in a kind of balancing act once they’re piled in your arms. It’s a choreography you can dance to with expertise, always denying any help from your neighbors.

However, you do fumble with the lock and handle once you’re at your door, holding the boxes up by pressing them against the door with your body as your hands blindly fumble with the keys, nothing but cardboard in your sight.

Nothing you can’t handle, until they start to slip.

“Woah, let me help you with that!” someone says behind you, and in your complicated state it’s a bit difficult to process what happens but the boxes are soon out of the way, said someone pulling them from you and freeing you.

And then you see him.

Him.

Your him.

He says your name and you’re too stunned to react. He’s in awe too. He drops your packages, and you’re certain some of them contain some makeup palettes but you don’t give a damn at the moment.

“What are you doing here?” You finally ask, frozen in place.

“I… live in 304.” He says.

“You live in 304?” He nods. “You? You’re serious?” He nods again, eyes still wide.

You both stand there, processing it all. This can’t be real.

“I live in 302.” you manage to say, after some time. Your voice is weak, all the air has left your lungs. You shake.

“You do?” He asks. Now you nod.

This can’t be.

But he cups your face, holds it like you’re precious and delicate, he kisses you. It is real. You kiss him back, harder. Eventually you’re both clinging to one another, gripping each other’s clothes desperately.

“You live here.” He says, little tears sparkling in the corner of his eyes. You nod, the same tears coming to you.

“I do. Mm-hmm.” The sniffles you let out seem so sweet to him, he swoons with how happy you are to see him. Knowing you feel the same joy he does - it makes him feel complete.

“I live here too!” He cries, laughing, smiling, beautifully.

One more kiss, just to make sure it’s real. You pull him in and kiss him one more time.

It’s real.

#bang chan smut #stray kids smut #skz chan smut #skz smut #bangchan smut

519 notes · View notes

fluent-in-lesbianism · 3 years

Note

Sorry, what's so bad about the mom who pays her child a dollar a day if he picks up his toys and makes his bed etc, then has him pay 'bills' that add up to about $8. It seems like a great way to teach responsibility, and $22 a month ($30-8) is way more pocket money than I ever had at 7 years old, when I was making beds and picking up toys

You don’t give little kids adult cares and responsibilities. Bills, rent, paying for utilities or food, budgeting, etc are things for adults or teenagers about to become more independent. The best way to start teaching little kids responsibility is by giving them chores to do, and then rewarding them with money that they can spend on toys. Teach them about prices and how saving money can lead to bigger toys. Or go a step further and start teaching them how they can donate their money to charities if they want. Don’t force them to start worrying about being able to afford food or wifi. Let them have a fucking childhood smh

Not to mention everything on that list is things parents shouldn’t be charging their own damn kids anyway??? Like rent? You mean for the shelter you’re legally supposed to provide them anyway? You gonna evict them if they miss a month? 😂

Like, we gotta stop adultifying these babies from the womb for clout on Tiktok. Just let your kid have money and stop giving them a fucking financial complex by age 8 smh

#Anonymous #hopefully that woman only did that for internet claps #cuz if she was serious??? i feel so bad for her kids

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helloalycia · 3 years

Text

secret relationship // wanda maximoff

summary: you're the daughter of the famous Black Widow, which comes with its own set of hurdles such as revealing to her that you're dating the newest Avenger that she also happens to be mentoring – Wanda Maximoff. What could go wrong?

warning/s: minor (implied) violence and injury

author's note: okay so the request was the reader is Natasha's daughter and is struggling to tell Natasha that she's dating Wanda. All I know is I got excited (as usual) and this happened so yeah, enjoy! Also, Wanda’s age is always a mystery to me since it’s interpreted differently with everyone, so I tried my best to explain the age gap between you and natasha so things made sense.

masterlist | wattpad

"Did you know red onion and red cabbage is called 'red' instead of 'purple' because back in the old days, they didn't have enough words for colours so anything purple was defined as red?"

"The mission, Y/N," my mum, Natasha Romanoff, AKA Black Widow, scolded.

I sighed, my attention still focused on my surroundings and my gun directed ahead. "I know, I know. But did you know that the most common internet password is '123456'?"

"Y/N," Wanda, my girlfriend and teammate said with a laugh. "Stop it."

"Yeah, please, quit it," my mum added with an eye roll.

I smiled at Wanda, admiring how beautiful she looked when she hid her laugh. My mum wasn't aware we were dating, so I settled for sending her a playful wink before looking ahead.

I knew I had to focus on the mission – scouting out this abandoned HYDRA den – but it was boring. And it was obviously empty of any threats, so talking was my only pastime.

"Did you know the inventor of Pringles is buried in a Pringles can?" I said after a moment of silence, making my mum stop walking abruptly.

"Okay, you know what? New plan," she said, looking between Wanda and I. "Everyone split up. Take a look around. Stay alert. Keep in contact. Sound good?"

I quirked a brow. "You trying to get rid of me?"

She narrowed her eyes my way. "Yes."

I frowned, making Wanda crack a smile and nudge me in the shoulder.

"You need to learn to have an off button sometimes," she joked, her Sokovian accent shining through despite the voice lessons my mum was giving her. Honestly, I preferred her Sokovian accent to her American one.

"You love it," I teased, giving her a knowing smile, my mother completely unaware of the double meaning.

"Just do as I said," my mum said, already shooing me away. "Wanda, you know what to do. If you see or hear anything suspicious, use your comms."

"Yes, Miss Romanoff," Wanda said obediently, and I tried so hard to hold in laughter at her seriousness. I mean, it was great that she was respectful of my mother and her mentor, but God it was funny to witness.

"Once again, Wanda, you can just call me Nat," my mum said with a wince, trying to be polite. "Go on."

Wanda nodded and walked off, her gun raised as she'd practiced. I grinned at my mum, noticing the way she massaged her temple with mild agitation before her gaze fell to mine.

"Go. Now." She pointed behind me, and I stifled a laugh.

"Bet you love babysitting duty," I joked.

"It's not babysitting if I'm your mother," she pointed out. "Though sometimes, you make me regret not picking the baby instead of you."

"That baby would have been six years old now," I informed her. "If anything, I spared you the whole diaper thing and the outgrowing clothes thing and the– oh yeah! Not being able to speak thing!"

"At least they wouldn't be annoying me with stupid facts," she retorted, hand on her hip. "Now be a good agent and do your job."

I rolled my eyes playfully, knowing she was kidding. Whenever I annoyed her, she'd bring up the story of how it was between twelve year old me and a six-month old baby at the adoption centre. She was worried I'd view her as an older sister or something, hence her choice of adopting the baby instead. But I never did, as she was always way more mature than any twenty-seven year old I'd met or seen at the time. And maybe, I guess, I was really desperate to have a motherly figure, and she just happened to fit the bill.

"Aye, aye, Miss Romanoff," I saluted, making her raise an eyebrow threateningly. "Okay, geez, I'm going."

I wandered off, exploring the dishevelled HYDRA den with full focus. The brief clearly stated it was an abandoned site, but I stayed on alert anyway in case there were stragglers. As usual, I only got given half the facts because of my clearance level, so I knew we were looking for a hard drive, but I had no idea what was on it.

Being a seventeen year old working in S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't exactly how I saw my life going when I grew up in an orphanage. I honestly never thought I'd get adopted, as rumours spread quite quickly through the orphanage that once you hit double digits, nobody wanted you. So, when the beautiful, red-headed Natasha Romanoff came in, looking for an addition to her family, I felt like the luckiest kid in the world because she chose me of all the kids there.

I definitely didn't expect her to be the Black Widow, nor to teach me everything she knew about espionage, stealth, hand-to-hand combat and much more. She ensured I was multi-lingual like her, preparing me for the many S.H.I.E.L.D. missions I would have to go on. There were times when I absolutely despised her, particularly when she overtrained me or stopped me from seeing my friends. And there were times when I wished she'd never adopted me, hating that I couldn't have a normal teenage experience.

But when it came down to it, I knew I couldn't have asked for a more caring, considerate and compassionate mother. I learnt early on into our relationship that she was unable to have kids of her own, hence her interest in adoption. And honestly speaking? That was probably the worst thing in the world because if anybody deserved a child of their own, it was Natasha Romanoff. I guess, in that sense, I was lucky to have all of her love to myself.

Now that I was older, I came to appreciate how awesome she was, especially when we got to go on missions together and I saw her awesomeness upfront. The only thing was, she was extremely overprotective, so it was difficult to get sent on the dangerous missions. Though, I guess, whenever I did, she was always there to have my back and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

Her overprotectiveness was also a reason why she didn't know about Wanda and I's relationship. Wanda had joined the Avengers a year ago after losing her brother in the battle against Ultron. She was a year older than me, so naturally we were drawn to each other, and before I knew it, our friendship became more. But of course, my mother could never know that. At least not yet.

"Empty here," I mumbled, rounding a corner into an empty room. As I looked through the rubbish on the desk, I continued, "Empty here... and here... and oh, look, here, too. What a surprise!"

"Y/N, I love you, but God help me I will kill you if you don't turn your damn mic off," my mother's voice came through my comms piece in my ear.

For once, I wasn't trying to piss her off, so I smiled sheepishly to myself and replied, "Sorry. Love you."

I could imagine the eye roll she was giving me in response, so continued to look around for the hard drive I saw on the brief. Still, there was nothing here.

My searching was interrupted when I heard a loud crash from a nearby room, like the sound of bricks tumbling against one another. I spun around, eyes widening with concern.

"Y/N? Wanda? What happened?" my mum's voice came through my ear, slightly reassuring me as it wasn't her who was caught up in anything. But then that meant–

"Wanda! What happened?" I replied worriedly, already rushing out of the room and to the source of the sound.

"I'm okay," Wanda's shaky voice came through my ear, which did nothing to ease my concern.

I found the room Wanda was in quite quickly, seeing her sat on the floor as if she'd been pushed. She had a deep cut on her forehead and looked visibly distressed. Running to her side, I kneeled down beside her and cupped her face, studying her head.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" The words tumbled from my mouth so quickly I wasn't sure if it was understandable.

She nodded slowly, accepting my hand and holding it for reassurance. I followed her gaze, seeing a hole in the wall ahead, bricks crumbling and dust beginning to settle. Laying on the floor through the hole and into the next room was a HYDRA soldier, clearly dead from the impact of hitting the bricks.

Wanda's power was magnificent, but hard to control. A year later and she was still learning its limits, but sometimes slip-ups like this happened. I was, admittedly, in awe of her actions.

"I'm sorry, I should have kept him alive like Miss Ro– Nat said," Wanda apologised suddenly, and I looked back at her to see her shaking her head. "He just– he startled me and I didn't know what I was doing until it happened. I thought–"

"Don't apologise," I cut her off, squeezing her hand gently, before looking back to the cut on her forehead. "I'm just glad you're okay. You did good."

Despite my words, I bit my lower lip to contain a frown, worried about her cut.

"Damn."

Wanda and I both turned to the doorway to see my mum, who stopped and took in the sight of the hole in the wall with partial surprise and partial amazement.

"Mum, we need to get her back to the quinjet," I said, pulling her attention away from the wall. She approached me as I said, "She needs medical assistance."

I didn't let go of Wanda's hand as I moved to the side for my mum to take a look. Gently guiding Wanda's chin to the side, she took a closer look at the gash on her forehead, expression showing nothing as usual.

"You'll be okay, honey," she reassured, letting go. Her eyes drifted to our connected hands briefly, but I figured she wouldn't piece anything together, so I didn't let go. She continued, "Let's get out of here. There's no hard drive anyway."

Wanda nodded and my mum and I helped her to stand up, me still not letting go of her hand.

"The hard drive is on him," Wanda spoke suddenly, nodding to the dead HYDRA agent. "I heard his thoughts before I– yeah."

My mum raised her brows with surprise. "Oh. Perfect. Y/N get the drive and let's go."

I pursed my lips, glancing at Wanda with concerned eyes. She gave me a small, reassuring smile, squeezing my hand subtly before letting go.

"Right, yeah," I said, swallowing hard.

I looked back to my mum, who seemed to be studying my expression, so I cleared my throat and left to get the drive. When I retrieved it, I jogged after Wanda and my mum, checking in on her with a small smile, before leading the way to the quinjet.

When we boarded the plane, I hung around Wanda and my mum as she helped the brunette to take a seat in the back. I noticed Wanda's momentary dizziness as she sat down and felt my chest tighten.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked, kneeling before her as my mum got the first aid kit.

Wanda gave me an endearing smile as I swiped at the blood dripping down her forehead.

"I'll be alright," she said, holding my gaze with comforting green eyes before they flickered to behind me.

"Okay, Y/N, stop hanging about and start the plane whilst I stitch Wanda up," my mum said, appearing from behind me and kneeling beside me.

I nodded, glancing between the needle, thread and disinfectant in her hands and Wanda's head. Reluctantly, I got up and left them both to it as I started up the plane and got us in the air. Once we were in the clear, I flicked on autopilot before heading back to Wanda and my mum to see how things were going.

"We'll have someone look at it properly when we get back to the tower," my mum was saying to Wanda, who was now stitched up and wearing a small bandage, "but it'll hold up for now." With a playful smile, she added, "You're not dying on me just yet."

Wanda cracked a smile and whilst I appreciated how lovely it was to see their closeness in a way I never usually saw, I was still troubled by her injury. Logically, I knew she'd be okay, but it never felt good to see her injured.

"Plane is on autopilot," I announced, making my presence known. My eyes never left Wanda's bandage as I asked, "Everything okay here?"

"You need to calm down," my mum joked, making me look her way. "It's not that serious. Just some stitches."

I smiled awkwardly, but I knew it was much more than that.

"Yeah, relax, it's not a big deal," Wanda added playfully.

Her eyes met mine and I knew she was communicating the same thing through her gaze, holding a seriousness that wasn't able to be shared verbally because of my mum's presence. I tilted my head, giving her a knowing look; she knew I was aware of how big a deal it was. All I wanted to do was give her a hug and kiss and not leave her side until she felt better. And she knew that.

"I'm gonna go fly the plane," my mum said suddenly, and I almost forgot she was standing there until she spoke up. "We'll get back to base quicker..."

I glanced at her, mildly confused at her sudden change of expression. She headed to the front of the quinjet, leaving Wanda and I alone.

"Seriously though, you should relax," Wanda said, sounding like she did when it was just her and I and nobody else. She had an amused smile on her lips as she watched me worry. "I'm fine. All stitched up."

I licked my lips, sulking, as I dragged myself over to the seat beside her. She laced our fingers together, pressing a kiss to the top of my hand before facing me with an easygoing smile.

"I'm fine," she repeated gently, lovingly, sweetly.

I offered her a small smile, before leaning forward to press a kiss to her bandage. "I know. Just don't worry me like that. Especially in front of my mum. I can't take it."

"It's cute," she noted, amusement returning. "It means a lot to know someone cares."

My shoulders relaxed. "I care too much. So, please don't test that."

She laughed and I felt my heart flutter in my chest, never getting used to the sound.

"I promise not to," she said, looking up at me through her lashes.

I leaned my head on her shoulder and kept ahold of her hand, staying with her until we arrived back at base. My mum flew us the whole way back, only coming to get us once we landed. I knew I should have left Wanda's side as to not raise suspicion with my mum, but I couldn't find it in myself to do so. I just hoped she would interpret it as two concerned friends rather than her daughter having a secret girlfriend.

"You should head to the medical wing to get checked out properly," my mum said once we were back at the tower, looking to Wanda.

"Yeah," I agreed a little too eagerly. "I'll go with you."

My mum gave me a curious look. "I mean, that's not necessary."

Wanda must have sensed my eagerness, as she said, "I'd appreciate the company, actually. I don't mind."

She shot me a subtle smile, eyes bright with reassurance.

"I'm happy to accompany you, Wanda," my mum offered, and I felt my mouth go dry.

"It's okay, mum," I said suddenly, making her look to me with pursed lips. "You can go debrief and I'll make sure Wanda is cool with everything."

Glancing between us, my mum finally nodded. "I see. I guess I'll see you both later then." She paused, looking between us once more, before adding, "You did good today. Both of you."

I looked down to my shoes as Wanda shot her a grateful smile. She walked away, leaving us be, and I immediately intertwined my fingers with Wanda's as the two of us headed to the medical wing.

"You may as well write desperate on your forehead," she teased with a beautiful smile.

"So funny," I said sarcastically, though a smile of my own was present. "Let's just get you checked out."

"If it means you'll stop pouting, then sure."

"Real jokester you are. Hilarious, honestly."

Her laughter surrounded me like a warm hug and I could have listened to it forever.

—

Since our mission together, I noticed the distance my mum was putting between her and I, and I had no idea why. I thought I was overthinking it and seeing things that weren't there, so I didn't follow up with it until one evening.

It was a rare occurrence for all of the Avengers to be at the tower at once, so when they were, we'd all have a 'family' dinner for some normalcy. Only, this time, I noticed how strange my mum was acting whenever I spoke to her. She'd either act super dismissive or give one word answers to my questions – once again, I wasn't sure if I was seeing things.

After dinner, everyone went their separate ways and Wanda and I stayed in the living-area to watch some TV. Though it was playing, the volume was lowered and neither of us were watching it. We were just talking about random stuff and enjoying each other's company.

"Okay, how about this one?" I said to Wanda, turning so I was facing her, a grin on my lips. "What did the clock do when it was hungry?"

As with all of my other attempts at making Wanda laugh, she stared at me with an amused smile and a quirked brow.

"Say it...," I encouraged, motioning for her to speak with my hand.

She sighed. "Okay, what did the clock do when it was hungry?" Mumbling, she added, "Even though clocks don't eat..."

I slapped her leg playfully. "Sshhh, you'll ruin the joke. And the answer is, they go back four seconds!"

Wanda didn't laugh, but she seemed entertained as she hid a smile. "Seriously?"

"Because of the number 'four' and the word 'for'," I explained. "C'mon, that's a good one!"

"D'you think you're funny?" she asked, eyeing me playfully. "Because you're not."

I shrugged, playing it off like I wasn't fussed. "I mean, I don't know about that... how about now?"

Before she could question me, I moved forward and began to tickle her sides, watching as she squirmed with laughter.

"Stop it!" she shouted, but her smile was as wide as ever as she was unable to stifle her laughter. "P-please! Y/N!"

"But you said I wasn't funny!" I retorted with a grin, practically straddling her as she attempted to push me off her. "I'm just checking if you still think that!"

Wanda was crying now, tears escaping the corners of her eyes as she continued to laugh. "I'm s-sorry! Y/N, stop!"

Before I could think how to respond, the doors to the living-area opened and in walked Steve Rogers AKA Captain America, a confused expression on his face as he saw me sat on Wanda.

"Hey, ladies," he greeted, raising an eyebrow. "You both good?"

I pulled my hands away from Wanda and breathed out, still smiling as I glanced down at her. She blew a strand of hair from her eyes and glared at me playfully.

"Yeah, just talking," I answered Steve, before being thrown off Wanda and to the floor with a thud.

"Just Y/N harassing me as usual," Wanda corrected, and I sat up to see her sitting up, too, fixing her hair.

Steve chuckled as he headed to the fridge in the connected kitchen. Wanda helped me back onto the couch, nudging me in the side as a response to the tickle fest, before leaning on me and stretching her legs across the couch.

"So, hey, what's up with you and your mum?" Steve asked as I continued to annoy Wanda by flicking her face.

"What do you mean?" I asked, not looking up as I grinned down at Wanda, watching as her eyes glowed red threateningly.

"Don't make me hurt you," she said teasingly, lifting a hand and summoning her powers, red wisps of energy becoming present.

I stopped flicking her and intertwined her hand in mine, watching as her eyes faded to its usual colour.

"She just seemed distant at dinner," Steve continued.

I looked up and saw he was leaning against the counter with a water bottle in his hand. Wanda continued to stretch, practically on top of me, probably to annoy me as I had been doing with her. I moved her hands out of my face as I nodded to Steve.

"So, you saw it too? She was being off, right?" I asked him, glad I wasn't just imagining things.

He nodded, gulping his water, before saying casually, "Definitely. What did you do? Finally tell her about you and Wanda?"

It took me a second to realise what he'd said, but when I did, my eyes widened and I spluttered out a terrible response. "What– what about Wanda and I?"

I glanced at Wanda as she began to sit up properly. She looked more confused than panicked.

"You know, that you're together," Steve said like it was obvious.

I cleared my throat. "What? Why would you think that?"

Steve smiled with confusion. "Wait, so you're not? But I thought–" He paused, pulling a face. "No, you are! Everybody thinks you are!"

I shrugged it off, though inside I was panicking. "I mean, even if that was the case, why do you think my mum knows?"

Steve nodded knowingly. "She's been off with you all night. And then I caught up with her after dinner and she wasn't in a very talkative mood. Just mumbled something like 'new girl, her age, pretty, nice, should have seen it coming'. I assumed she was talking about Wanda."

Heat crept up my neck with embarrassment and when I looked to Wanda, I saw her cheeks dusting a red colour, similar to the energy she could summon. She looked as flustered as I felt.

"Has your mum been okay with you before today?" Steve asked, trying to be helpful.

I chewed on my lower lip and shook my head. "Not since we got back from our last mission..."

Steve scrunched his face with sympathy. "Oof. You should probably talk to her then. You know how much she hates secrets."

I groaned internally. "Thanks for the reminder."

He saluted playfully, his stupid smile on his stupid face, before leaving Wanda and I alone again.

"Well, looks like she knows," I said to Wanda, sinking into the couch with hopes it would swallow me forever.

"She might not," Wanda tried to make me feel better, resting a hand on my leg. "It could be something else."

I gave her a knowing look. "She has to know. It's the only thing that makes sense. You heard Steve."

Wanda sighed, sinking into the couch beside me. "Yeah..." She glanced at me and I looked at her as she said, "I did tell you to tell her."

I forced a smile. "Gee, Wanda, that was helpful. Thanks."

Wanda rolled her eyes before leaning her head on my shoulder. "Sorry..."

I rested my hand on hers. "It's okay, sorry. I just– she's gonna be really mad that I kept this from her."

"Yeah, why did you do that again?" Wanda asked questioningly.

I massaged the tension between my eyebrows. "Because she's too overprotective. It gets too much to handle sometimes... Take my last boyfriend for example. He was some tool that cheated on me and, oh boy, my mum wanted to kill him. I had to physically restrain her from doing so."

"I don't blame her," Wanda quipped, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

I smiled a little, squeezing her hand. "I know... she ended up slashing his tyres and egging his car without telling me. But instead of egging the outside, she broke into it and egged the inside. A thoughtful take on a classic, I must admit."

Wanda laughed, her whole body shaking with pure amusement as she listened to the story. I couldn't help but smile myself, remembering it like it was yesterday. Definitely a fun time.

"I appreciated it, don't get me wrong," I added, smile fading. "I just didn't want that to happen again. I wanted to enjoy our relationship without anyone spying on us, y'know? But now she's gonna be super angry."

Wanda let go of my hand and rolled on top of me, leaning down on my chest so she could look me in the eyes. I wrapped my arms loosely around her to keep her steady.

"She only wants the best for you," Wanda told me gently. "You have to tell her you're sorry. Explain why you did what you did, but hear her out, too. She's your mum. Caring too much isn't a bad thing."

I groaned, knowing she was right. She smiled reassuringly, patting my chest.

"You get the caring too much thing from her by the way," she added, before leaning forward and pressing a haste kiss to my lips. "It's okay though because I love it."

I smiled, never really seeing it like that. Raising my hand, I brushed my thumb over the small bandage on her head; her injury was still healing, but she didn't let it bother her. Very Wanda-like.

"Thanks," I mumbled, meeting her gaze. "You always say the right thing."

"Which is why I'm going to tell you to get up and go to your mum," she ordered playfully, pushing herself off me and holding out her hand.

I let her pull me up before straightening up and taking a deep breath. Wanda was right. I just needed to be open and explain my piece. It would be fine.

—

So, it wasn't fine.

When I entered my mum's living quarters, she wasn't the happiest to see me. In fact, she actively turned her body to face her TV when I came through the door.

"Hey," I started with a small smile, fighting the nerves in my stomach. "Can we, er, can we talk?"

She grabbed the cushion on the couch next to her, hugging it to her chest. Her eyes didn't leave the TV, but the space next to her was free, so I took that as an opportunity to close the door and sit beside her.

The news was playing on the TV – headlines, I think – and they were talking about a new elected congressman in New York.

"Seriously? The news? Even in your free time?" I asked playfully, hoping it would lighten the mood.

She didn't even glance my way as she muttered, "I like to know what's happening in the world."

Losing my smile, I straightened up and cleared my throat. "Right, right..."

It went quiet as the TV played in the background and my mum said absolutely nothing. I grabbed the other cushion on the couch and hugged it to my chest, similar to her. It was a nervous habit that I picked up from, well, from her.

"You said you wanted to talk?" she reminded me. "So, talk."

Having the Black Widow as your mother wasn't something anyone could get used to. She could be the most caring, loving, protective person in the world, but she could also appear quiet, intimidating and ruthless like the trained assassin she was. Not the greatest combination when trying to open up to her.

"I think I know what you're thinking," I started, pinching my hand to distract from my growing anxiety.

Without hesitation, she bent forward to grab the TV remote and turned it off before turning to me with sad eyes.

"That's where you're wrong," she said calmly, and it was way worse than her yelling. I would have preferred her yelling to be honest. The disappointment in her voice was much worse. "You always assume you know what I'm thinking. What I'm going to say or do."

I avoided her eyes guiltily. "Mum, look, I know that I should have told you the truth. And I know how angry you are, but–"

"I'm not angry, Y/N!" she shouted, finally, standing up off the couch and creating space between us.

I winced. "You sound angry."

She put her hands on her hips, looking down to her feet and taking a breath. Her voice at normal volume, she said, "I'm upset. You– you didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth. Instead, I had to put it together when you acted how you did with Wanda after that mission and..." She paused, sighing. "Forget it."

"No, keep going," I pleaded, the guilt piercing through me sharply. "You're right."

She swallowed hard, glancing at me with glassy eyes. "I wouldn't have done anything. I know I have in the past, but this is Wanda we're talking about. I've been her mentor for a year. I care about her and– and– she's good. And she's good for you."

Okay, I definitely misread this whole thing because now my mum was upset, on the verge of tears, and I was the arsehole responsible for it.

"I'm so sorry," I said, standing up and moving forward to hold her arms. "I should have trusted you. I mean, it wasn't even about trust. I was just scared you'd react badly. But it wrong of me to assume that."

She frowned, looking down to her shoes. "I know I can be tough sometimes, but it's only because I care."

I thought back to Wanda's words and gave her a small smile. "I know. I get it from you."

"I am happy for you, you know," she said, glancing at me petulantly.

My expression softened. "Thank you. That means a lot coming from you."

Without another word, she pulled me in for a motherly hug, making me close my eyes and relax in her arms. I still felt horrible for making her feel like I couldn't trust her when it was anything but that.

"I'm sorry," I repeated quietly into her shoulder.

"I forgive you," she said, before pulling away and giving me a small smile. "Now tell me. You're happy?"

The thought of being with Wanda gave me butterflies and I couldn't help but smile in response. With a nod, I said, "I am."

She nodded, squeezing my shoulders gently before fully letting go. "Good. I'm glad you've got her... I know you can take care of yourself, but she's strong, too. She can look out for you when I'm not around anymore."

I shoved her in the shoulder. "Don't joke about that. She isn't replacing you and you're not going anywhere, you hear me?"

She laughed, nodding. "Not yet anyway. But sure, okay."

I relaxed and gave her a nervous smile. "So, you wanna meet Wanda? Like, as my girlfriend and not your student?"

She rolled her eyes playfully. "If I must."

I smiled widely, grabbing her hand and leading her to the door. "She loves you a lot, y'know. She wanted me to tell you about us as soon as we got together. She hated lying to you."

"Yeah because she knows that lying is wrong," she teased me, making me groan loudly. With a chuckle, she added, "I love her, too. She's definitely something."

"Hell yeah she is," I said in agreement, grinning to my mum as I dragged her to the living-area where I last left Wanda.

On the way, we passed Steve in the hall, who took notice of the smiles on our faces and nodded knowingly.

"Glad to see you worked it out," he said supportively.

"Thanks for the heads up," I told him gratefully as we passed him.

When we reached the living-area, I saw Wanda sat on the couch watching TV. When she saw who entered, she straightened up instantly, moving to stand and unsure what else to say or do. It was cute, the respect she had for my mum.

"Did you– I– She told you?" she stumbled over her words, starting to speak to me but eventually looking to my mum.

My mum glanced at me before meeting Wanda's nervous eyes. "She did."

Wanda licked her lips anxiously. "And you're okay with it...? Angry...? Wanna kill me...?"

I watched my mum, nodding encouragingly to her. She sighed before giving Wanda a small smile.

"No killing will be necessary," she reassured my girlfriend. "Unless, of course, you break my daughter's heart. Then in which case, I may have to find you when you're sleeping."

"Mum!" I complained, face falling into my hands with embarrassment.

"I'm just being truthful," my mum said with seriousness, before looking to Wanda expectantly.

Wanda surprisingly took it well, probably used to my mum's personality after training with her for a year. "I understand completely, Nat and I'll hold you to that. I have no intention of breaking Y/N's heart."

A rare, genuine smile appeared on my mother's lips. "I know you don't. Just–" She paused, glancing at me. "Keep her safe, yeah? She's a bit stupid sometimes."

Wanda laughed as my mum smiled with amusement, like it was an inside joke.

"Right here, you know," I reminded them with a wave of my hand.

They only rolled their eyes.

"I will," Wanda promised my mum. "Thank you for being okay with this."

My mum nodded, giving us both a final smile and once over, before saying, "I'll leave you to it. Goodnight."

Wanda and I bid our goodnights, watching her leave before a giant sigh of relief escaped our lips.

"You feel better?" Wanda asked me, grabbing my hand and tugging me to the couch.

She let me fall on her chest easily, snuggling up to her as she wrapped an arm around me and held me close. I inhaled her perfume, a familiar and comforting scent, as my head rested in the crook of her neck.

"I feel better," I answered, closing my eyes and letting her intertwine our fingers.

"I believe this is the part where you say I was right," she prompted, a hint of amusement in her words.

"Don't make me hurt you," I mumbled, making her laugh quietly beneath me.

"You're lucky I love you," she said, kissing the top of my head. "I guess opposites do attract. You're the stupid one and I'm the clever one."

"Wanda?"

"Yeah?"

"Fuck off."

She laughed again, and even though it was at me, I couldn't help the content smile from spreading on my lips.

#wanda maximoff x you #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda maximoff #marvel imagine #mcu imagine #marvel #mcu #scarlet witch #elizabeth olsen

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shivada-jade · 3 years

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modern!au/idol!au

characters: aether, lumine mentions: venti, xiao, kazuha, barbara, azhdaha warning(s): swearing because lumine and aether are siblings

notes: i've been lACKING these idol au's so im gonna write more idol au's because i nEEED it

You were seven when you were introduced to the twins. Coming from a foreign land, you struggled with the language they spoke in, but they were patient with you and taught you their language and much more. The twins were multilingual and explained it was from their frequent traveling and relatives from different places.

You and the twins were close, but Lumine spent more time with you, making Aether whine a lot. He would always poke sticks at you and hide your legendary, full art Pokemon cards to catch both Lumine's and your attention. It does work, but Lumine's mad.

"Aether!" She'd scream with a lisp because of a missing tooth. "Stop doing that!"

Oh, but Aether is a sibling, meaning he'd play the 'innocent' card. "Stop doing what? What am I doing?"

In the end, you'd always have to call their parents when they fist fight at the sand pit. "Aether and Lumine's mom! They're fighting again!"

"Again?" The tall blonde sighed. "Thanks for telling me, hon."

After a good scolding, Aether and Lumine would be totally okay the next minute like nothing happened. You were used to their banter and rightfully took your Pokemon cards back. Lumine stuck a tongue out, blowing a raspberry at Aether when he turned his back, grabbing three large sticks.

"Fight me!" He cried with glee, giving one stick to his sister and one to you. "I will be the grand king of the sand pit!"

You vaguely remember the rest. Maybe you lost the 'sword duel,' or maybe you didn't, but what you did remember was this tall kid playing with his cat and eating the sand. Forget the kid, the only thing you remember is his cat's name called Azhdaha.

Your hands close your story book. You would never admit to your friends, but Lumine and Aether that you still read fantasy. The other kids in the neighbourhood would laugh saying what you were reading is a kid's story.

"So what if it's a kid's story? If you like it, read it," Lumine says aggressively while Aether opens the door for both of you.

"Lumi's right. They think they're all grown up, but they're kids too," he closes the door behind him, waving goodbye to your grandma rocking on the porch. "What's the story about anyway?"

You walk ahead, leading the two to a local mall. Every week, Aether, Lumine and yourself would spend Fridays and Saturdays together.

You and Lumine often joke how Aether doesn't do 'Saturdays are for the boys.' To which, Aether would scoff and reply with, "Boys who say that are stupid, not all but most. Saturdays are for spending time with people you care about. I don't care if they think I'm weak."

You step foot in the bus, tapping the card to pay for your admission. The twins, walk behind, doing the same and sitting next to you on the bus.

"It's called 'Songs of a Siren.' It's cool, you should check it out." You say, scooting a bit closer to the side so Lumine could have more pace to sit. The bus is packed. Teenagers littered inside, only a few adults were there including the bus driver. "Let's leave. Teenagers stink."

"...But you are one."

"Well-"

After the next stop, you push yourself through the crowd, trying to exit. Lumine pushes people, muttering a few 'excuse us' while dragging her brother. Your feet land on the concrete sidewalk and you finally breathe freely.

You see the twins finally get off the bus and tilt your head, "Let's go, the mall isn't gonna wait for us."

Entering the mall, the first thing you pass by is a clothes shop. You and Aether share a look, quietly doing rock-paper-scissors behind Lumine who's beaming to go inside.

Rock.

Aether chooses paper.

You droop to the floor because you're dramatic, knowing that once you go in the shop, you'll be the one carrying Lumine's purchases.

"Alright, Lumine," you say sighing. "Let's go shop."

You see Aether in your peripheral vision, pumping his fist laughing a quiet, "Yes!" when Lumine takes out her wallet.

"I know you did rock-paper-scissors." She counts the bills from her wallet, "But I'm buying for Aether which means even if you carry the things I buy, Aether's gonna have it much worse because he will be trying on everything I tell him to wear." She grins, settling with a black debit card.

After hearing this, Aether tries to walk in another shop to avoid dressing up for Lumine, but his sister quickly catches on and pulls him by the ear and walks in the clothes shop.

"Let's go!" She says to you, "These clothes won't shop themselves!"

...

"This one?"

"No, you look like grandpa in that outfit."

"Well what if I like looking like grandpa, huh? What are you gonna do about it?"

"Some people can pull off the sexy grandpa look. You're not 'some people.'" Lumine pulls out another outfit from the rack. "Try this one," she laughs, seeing Aether's horrified face and pushes him in the dressing area.

This is the ninth clothes shop you three go to, and you were starting to feel bad for Aether who had to wear every outfit Lumine wanted him to wear.

"Lumi," you say calmly, having trouble holding five shopping bags on each arm. She's on a shopping spree and you wonder how she gets all the money to buy these things. "That should be enough shopping for the day. I'm hungry."

The blonde lifts a hand. "Hold on a second," she smiles before banging on the changeroom door, "AETHER LET ME SEE THE FIT."

You can hear the loud sigh from the other side of the door as it slowly opens. He only peeks his head out, shyly mumbling, "This is embarrassing. I don't want to walk out like this."

Lumine rolls her eyes and pulls the door open, revealing Aether in a white dress shirt and dark pants.

Aether lifts an arm, inspecting the design. "It's a bit..." he pauses, thinking of a way to not offend his sister. "It's not my style." His eyes seek for your help to back him up, but you couldn't. The style on him looks so ethereal to him, and Lumine has the same idea.

His twin ran up to an aisle and picked out two accessories: a silk cloth and a floral pin. Lumine shushes Aether who tried to punch her.

"Shut up Aether, you'll look great." She pins the black rose onto the front of his shirt and ties the silk cloth around his neck. She steps a few steps back, making a rectangle shape to symbolize a picture frame and elbows you lightly. "He looks okay for once."

Okay is underwhelming, but to describe Aether better, he looks celestial. The warm studio lights hug every angle of Aether from head to toe. His golden eyes seem to brighten more and the outfit only accentuates his physical traits more.

From the corner of your eye you spot a tall-ish man who has been wandering past the same aisle but never picking anything up. He wears ordinary clothes- a T-shirt and jeans (rather stylishly), but you know from his incoming aura he's more than just an ordinary person.

You tap Lumine discreetly while still holding onto her shopping bags and tilt your head towards the man.

Aether, who keeps picking on the cloth around his neck goes frigid when the strange man walks up to him.

"Hey kid," he says cooly. He looks Aether up and down, lifting his shades to see clearer, and pulls out a small business card from his pocket. "You look like idol material. Ever thought about being a part of a boyband?"

Out of politeness, Aether takes the card and laughs nervously, "Not really" He looks at Lumine and you for help, but you two pretend to not know him when he turns to you.

The man shoves his hands in his pocket, blowing a bubblegum and popping it. His hair slightly tousles when he turns, waving a hand.

"If you ever do decide if you wanna be an idol, auditions are held next week at 10AM," he saunters off. "If they ask who recruited you, tell them a man by the name of Valentin did."

His lavender irises looks back once more before leaving the store, "The people from Teyvat Entertainment are introduced by my very hands. Don't disappoint me."

The automatic sliding doors open for him and he waves the store greeter a goodbye.

You see Aether's eyes scanning over he card Valentin gave. His lashes flutter quickly, signaling you and Lumine he was either shocked, or confused.

Lumine grabbed the paper, a habit she picked up due to being a twin and having to share everything with Aether who won't share. Her lips part, showing the card to you.

Teyvat Entertainment.

A company who created the world's famous DCKZ and the idol, Barbara. Teyvat Ent. has one of the youngest, top rookies of the year because of a group called TVT Dream. A company with many celebrities' and the business card is legit.

A store worker no older than your age meekly walks up to the three of you and asks, "Hey, uh. Are you ready to purchase your clothes?"

...

Aether shoves Lumine (don't worry she shoves him 10x harder) on the stairs while you watch from a safe distance.

You wave hello to their mom before waltzing into their home like you did many other times. You were their third child in their mom's eyes.

You slam the twins' room open and lay yourself on the bottom bunk of their bunkbed. "So do you wanna check Teyvat Entertainment?"

You fish out your phone from your pocket and hand signal for Aether and Lumine to come close to see. Your phone turns on, showing the lock screen of the twins in their embarrassing toddler moments then unlock it. Quietly laughing at the twins who have their faces beet red from the photograph.

"Why do you have that pic? DELETE IT."

"Did mom give that to you..."

You ignore them, opening up Google and typing in the Teyvat Ent. website and search their contacts. You ask Aether for the business card, comparing the two numbers side by side, and Valentin is indeed one of the scouts for the company.

You shut your phone off, hugging the two siblings together tightly. "Whether Aether decides he wants to be an idol or not, we'll still be the best of friends."

Lumine grins, squishing your cheeks, taking a closer look at you. "Well, duh. Are you scared we'll fall apart? No, if anything you should be scared we're never going to leave you alone even if you're 60 and married."

You pinch her cheeks and start to say something until you hear sniffles and coughing. You turn to Aether who was hiding his tears.

"Shut up, I'm not crying." He harshly wipes away the water falling from his eyes, "When I go famous, I'm going to give you my autograph so you can sell it and eventually get 20 cars and houses."

...

You were a teen when the dark-haired Valentin scouted Aether to be a trainee in Teyvat Ent.

You note that without Aether, their home is extremely quiet. It's odd not seeing Lumine scream at Aether for taking her hair clips. It's odd not seeing Lumine aggressively pull on the colourful flower hairclips on Aether's hair, just to get the clips back. It's so odd not seeing Aether is general.

Lumine scrolls through her phone, looking for furniture to add to her new apartment she shares with you. The only thing in the newly bought apartment is three mattresses, three plates, and three cups, just in case Aether visits. Though, Aether visiting is rare. His visits only happen during December for Christmas, but even then he had not visited. It's been two years since you and Lumine last saw him.

You stare at your last sent messages to the blonde boy.

▶ hEY. (threatening)

▶ take care okay? lumine's worrying all the time for ur health bc she keeps watching yt vids on how idols over-do themselves from training

haha thanks for telling me

are you sure it's not you who's worrying 🧐🤧

the last thing lumi sent to me was "FUCK YOU"

▶ well the last thing you sent to her was "U BUTT"

▶ and she took that seriously

are you siding with her?

▶ yes

oh okay, frick you too seen three months ago

Your feet pad against the wooden tiles, grabbing a glass of water while scrolling through twitter. You lift the glass to your lips and almost choke from the water you drink.

You click the link on the phone with the title "Debuting boy band already claiming the hearts of many! Please welcome 4nemo!" Four boys stand in the picture, one being Aether.

You place your glass to the sink and run to Lumine, sitting next to her and who her your phone. She reads it over and visibly shakes. You swear she was about to cry until she takes the phone from your hand and starts throwing it, "AETHER THAT BITCH. HE DEBUTES AND SAYS NOTHING."

You're mortified and pull your friend away from your phone, "THAT'S A NEW PHONE, STOP." You push her away and run to your device, clicking on the link.

"One, two, three! Hello we are," Aether, the familiar blonde says.

His group members follow after him. "4nemo!" They say in chorus. One by one they start introducing themselves.

"Hi I'm Aether!"

"Kazuha," one says with a raise of a hand.

An energetic member steps up with a grin, "And I'm Barbisabeto!"

"He's Barbatos, forgive him." Teal undertones make it's way to the camera, "Hello, I'm Xiao.

The one with twin braids step up, mischievously grinning. "Please take care of us and support us during our journey through the music industry."

His teal eyes squint behind the camera, whispering to the member behind him. "Psst, Xiao. I can't read I'm blind."

Xiao rolls his eyes and steps up, slightly bowing, "Please support our debuting group, we will see you in our music videos."

But Lumine and you never paid attention to what they were saying. Both of you just started crying insults of endearment to Aether because he looks so... different. His face had mature and he's a real idol now.

Reality sinks in.

Now that Aether had a growing fanbase, it's going to be harder to contact him.

"Lumine, how are we going to talk to him now?"

Lumine ponders a bit, resting her chin on her hand before smirking. "Let's create an Aether hate page."

"Yes, let's do it."

After a quick recording of Lumine and yourself, you posted the video online, and soon enough, it goes viral.

Lumine laughs, replaying the video.

"This one's for the boys with the booming system," You say monotonously in front of the camera like what you said was a speech instead of a song. "Top down, AC with the cooler system."

Lumine comes on screen, flipping her middle finger at the camera. "When he come up in the club, he be blazin' up. This one is actually not for the boys with the booming system. This is for the BITCH, AETHER WITH THE BLONDE BRAID. Look at you with your ugly ass smile," She speaks in one breath and it amazes you. "Make sure you get millions of hits or it's all for nothing. Oh Aether's an ass."

The screen shows your hand scooping the phone up and waving good bye with Lumine still dissing Aether.

You nudge Lumine, showing a comment written at the bottom of the video, covering a laugh.

"who's aether?"

"huh??! aether?"

"lOL Why Does The Person On The Left Look Like Aether?"

"OH 4NEMO DABUTE. SHUTUP YOU ANTI. THEY'RE GORGEOUS. YOU'RE THE ONE UFLY" ➡ "ahisfdh you obvi didnt watch the whole video. she said "make sure get millions of hits"

Lumine grins, commenting at the people calling her ugly and Aether way better looking. "Lol, IKR. the one on the left is trying too hard to look like Aether. it's like shes tryna be a twin or smthn"

Though, because of your viral "hate" video, 4nemo's popularity sky rockets because of the unknown 'Aether' of the group.

...

Aether watches the video on the news channel, because that's how popular the video got. He looks at his manager, "Can I send a hate video back?"

"Aether, no."

But the winds are troublesome as the ocean, because a boy with teal tips on his hair snatched the managers phone, running and giving it to Aether. "AETHER. DO IT RIGHT NOW."

...

It was a shock to you seeing people follow your twitter account.

"LUMI, [NAME], IM SRRY I LOST MY PHONE AND DIDNT WANNA TELL ANY1 OR THEYLL GROUND ME," said the tweet, tagging you in comments.

Lumine doesn't have twitter, so when she looks over your shoulder seeing the tweet with her name on, she grabs the phone and locks herself in the bathroom, "R U FR AETHER?U DIDNT REPLY TO MY HAPPY BDAY. WE SHARE A BDAY DUMBASS"

She calmly unlocks the door, giving your phone back casually while you whine, "Lumine! This is twitter! They're gonna cancel me!"

"I'll cancel them back."

Ding! You receive a post with you name under the comments again.

hello, i have to apologize for our member stealing the manager's phone to tweet that. i swear that kid's the most responsible, but he's been triggered. #kazuha

You quickly type back, under the hashtag 'kazuha.'

"@/4nemo sorry uh thats one of ur members twin & shes mad that aether never gave her a bday present when she gave 1 to him #kazuha"

notes: psst here's where i got aether's outfit inspo when they were outfit changing at the mall

#genshin x reader #genshin impact x reader #4nemo #aether x reader #lumine #aether #lumine x reader #genshin fanfic

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twilitty · 2 years

Text

By The Moon

By: @twilitty

Chapter One: The Arrival

word count: 2k

image from this post by @stregoni-benefici

My mother had lived in Forks long before I had, and it wasn’t something she took pride in. Every time the town was brought up she got a mean look in her eye and listed off all its awful qualities, not that I blame her. She hated her time in that town, where everybody knew each other and it rained constantly. Renee hates the rain, which explains her move to Arizona so soon after her divorce.

I take after her in that sense, the whole not liking the rain bit. Every time it rains my mood seems to tumble down a steep hill. It’s not that I hate Forks, not like my mom at least, but it was always gloomy to me. Maybe it was her disposition running off on me, a gene embedded in my DNA only waiting until adolescence to begin acting up. As a kid, I loved visiting Charlie. He’d take me on hikes in the wet forest and shake tree branches over my head. Water would drop on me like rain, and I’d scream and run out from underneath its path. “It’s the forest saying hello,” he’d explain before shaking another. Once I’d outgrown being a kid, Forks lost its appeal. Charlie worked often and fished even more, his idea of a good time was visiting the same diner every night and eating the same thing for every meal.

I remember spending time in the fishing boat with him and his friend Harry, wishing desperately for the sun to peek out or my mom to call and insist I go back to Phoenix immediately. Then, when I refused to go out fishing, I was left ashore with some of the kids from the reservation. That wasn’t too bad, but even then, I never really fit in. I was an unhappy teenager and all they wanted to do was have a good time. They’d go to the stores or go swimming in the cold ocean, and I always trailed behind. Watching from afar and wishing for the time to go by quicker.

It wasn’t my first choice to move to Forks, and it wasn’t my second choice either. But when Renee looked so excited telling me about Phil’s transfer to Florida, I couldn’t help but assure her that I wanted her to move with him. I thought maybe I could stay in Phoenix, finish my last few years of school, and then go off to college. Phil, her boyfriend, wasn’t a huge fan of that idea, which means mom wasn’t either. And that was never really an option either, I couldn’t stand living in my moms’ house without her. I’d miss her too much.

So, with a plane ticket in my back pocket and a duffel bag with the few clothes that would stand the cold weather of coastal Washington, I set off to live with Charlie.

Mom cries the entire car ride to the airport, Phil occasionally rubbing her shoulder and handing her a tissue as he drives. “Bella, I can’t imagine you living so far away from me,” she weeps into a balled-up tissue. She turns around to place a hand on my knee and squeeze, giving me a tearful smile. “What would I do without you?”

“Travel?” I offer, which results in a single tear rolling down Renee's round cheek. “Mom, I’m joking! I’ll miss you too.” She turns back around, legs pulled up to her chest as the barren landscape gives way to the on-ramp of the highway. We all sit in silence, looking out our respective windows.

I don’t like the idea of leaving my mother alone. I can’t imagine her moving to a new place, an unfamiliar place, without me to make sure she pays her phone bill and takes her credit card when she goes out. What if she forgets her address? Or accidentally loses her phone on the bus and can’t call for help?

There are too many things that can go wrong. But she has Phil now. And he’s a good guy, different from Charlie in so many ways that it surprises me they were ever together, ever married. Phil is kind, responsible, and loves my mom almost as much as I do. He’ll make sure she isn’t late for work and will always move the laundry into the dryer before they get all mildewed. There’s nothing else for me to worry about.

The airport is large, but I know it well and Phil guides us up to the lobby where we all need to go our separate ways. Mom gives me another big hug, her fingers clutching the flannel of my jacket. “Bella, you don’t have to do this,” she says into my shoulder.

I hug her back, wishing I didn’t have to let go. “I know mom, but I want to.” She sniffles and releases me.

“You’ve never been a good liar,” she chastises tearfully, “you get that from me.”

Phil laughs and says something I don’t hear. She gives a small laugh in response. I’m glad she’ll have him. My plane boards soon, a gentle reminder from the intercom, so I give my mom one last kiss on the cheek and hurry off, so I don’t miss my flight.

The entire walk down the main lobby feels like torture, a fire burning in the pit of my stomach that screams at me to turn around and hug her one last time. But I can’t turn around, I need to be strong. So, I keep walking and turn the corner, even as tears sting the back of my eyes, and my feet drag against the floor in protest.

My plane lands uneventfully, the woman that was sitting next to me asks if I have a ride to wherever I’m going and I tell her I do, my dad is picking me up. It’s weird to think that Charlie is picking me up from the airport and that this time he won’t have to drop me off here in two weeks. This time I’m here to stay.

I meet him outside of the main doors, leaning against the police cruiser and still in uniform. He straightens when he sees me walk out and gives me a kind smile from beneath his moustache. He’s never been one for words, I guess I get that from him. He pulls me in for an awkward one-arm hug and then takes my duffel bag and tosses it in the trunk. “How was the flight?” He asks once we’re in the car. “Turbulence?”

“No, it was okay.” He nods at this and pulls out of the laneway and onto the main road.

It’s a forty-minute drive back to Forks from the airport, and for once I don’t totally mind it. Charlie is different from Renee, he doesn’t feel the need to constantly check in on me, ask me questions, fill the silence. So, we sit, the radio playing 80s music quietly in the background.

Everything out the window is a bright green, damp with rain. Moss seems to grow out of every available corner here, the rocks and trees covered in it. My phone buzzes and I flip it over to see a text from mom. Love u txt when landed

I respond quickly and then turn the phone back over. “Renee?” Charlie asks, looking down at my overturned phone. I nod. “She’s always been a worrier,” he says with a hint of nostalgia. We lapse into another silence and this time it lasts until we pull into the driveway of the house.

It’s a two-story, at the end of a residential street right next to the forest we used to hike in during the summer. The porch is rickety now, white paint chipped from years of neglect. Almost everything is unchanged from the outside, the swing hanging from the front tree and the yellow curtains hanging in the kitchen window. Moms’ yellow curtains. There are little touches of her everywhere.

Charlie takes my bag inside for me and I take an extra moment to appraise my new home. This is where I live now. This won’t change. This won’t change. I repeat it like a mantra as I walk up the porch steps and into the house.

To the left is the living room, old brown sofa and lazy boy recliner, soft with overuse. A large mantle over the wood fireplace cluttered with picture frames sits beneath the even larger television. To the right is the small kitchen, the cabinets a pale yellow to match the curtains, the breakfast table pushed against the far wall with three mixed chairs sitting around it. There are still dishes on the counter.

“Now,” says Charlie. “We’ve got a sick call today, but if you want me to-”

“No, Dad,” he doesn’t like me calling him Charlie. “That’s fine, you go back to work.” The Forks Police Service is seriously low on cops, they can’t afford to also have their Chief take the night off.

“Are you sure, Bells? I wouldn’t want you to feel that I’m leaving you alone on your first day…” He trails off with a look of concern, but his feet are angled towards the door. As nice as it would be to have him here, even just to eat dinner together and then immediately separate, I know he feels a moral obligation to go to work. I can’t blame him for it, either. Work has been his wife and family since mom left.

“Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll see you later?” He nods quickly, assuring me he’ll be back before midnight. I promise him dinner for once he’s back, I know he’s awful in the kitchen. He leaves with an awkward wave and I lock the door behind him. One of us will need to learn to communicate a little better or this living situation will get uncomfortable fast.

My first point of business is bringing my bag upstairs and unpacking it. My room is the same as it’s been for the past seventeen years, the violet painted walls, the wooden desk, even the mobile I had over my crib is still hanging in the corner. My crib has since been switched out for a bed, but the padded rocking chair still sits in the corner from the glory days of my parents’ marriage- the first year after my birth.

I put all my clothes away into dresser drawers, the few articles that need to be hung up are in the closet. There’s still a lot of space left, not much of my Arizona clothing would fit the cold, wet weather of Forks. Some would see this as a good thing, a chance to go out and buy new clothing. I am not one of those people.

I take out my toiletries, setting them up on my dresser for easy access when I need to use the shared washroom between Charlie and me. I didn’t bring many mementos from home, just a picture of my mom and me at her yoga class, she quit the day after the picture was taken, and a few books. Some Jane Austen and a few poetry anthologies that I’ve since battered with notes and dog ears. I stack them on my nightstand. And just like that, my entire life has been unpacked in less than an hour.

There isn’t much left for me to do tonight, I don’t start school until the day after tomorrow, so I spend the evening watching TV and making myself dinner. I head to bed before Charlie’s home, so I leave a note for him on the kitchen table that there’s pasta in the fridge.

It’s weird sleeping somewhere that has so many memories. Memories of me wishing I could go home to mom, memories of me colouring at my desk, playing music too loud and pretending I couldn’t hear Charlie asking if I wanted to go fishing with him and Harry again today. And I know I’ll make new memories here, I know I’ll fall asleep here every night for the next few years and eventually, this won’t be my childhood bed, it’ll just be mine. But until I get to that point, every time I put my head down on this pillow and pull the lace sheet up over my shoulders, I’ll always think of my summers hating it here and how I can’t wish to go back home anymore.

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stillebesat · 3 years

Text

An Unconventional Defeat

Sanders Sides: Patton, Virgil Blurb: Patton knew that heroes started out young, far younger than villains ever did. But this young? Inspiration: From the Anon prompt: “I can take care of myself just fine.” with Virgil. Fic Type: Superhero!AU, Villain!Patton, Hero!Virgil Overall Fic Warnings: Near Death Experiences, Death Talk, Injuries, Hospitals Taglist in Reblogs:

He’s fourteen.

Patton stared down at the prone form of his nemesis, Onyx, in the darkened hospital room, mind racing.

He knew that heroes started out young, far younger than villains ever did. But this young?

Sure, that no good empathy that the heart twinged with seemed to chime all stronger for the children. For those naive fools who were still optimistic about life and wanted to believe that good would always win out in the end. That being good was the best way to live your life. That you could change the world for the better.

Patton had been a fool like that. Once.

He’d wanted to be a teacher. Once. Be an example to the rising generation. Once.

And then he’d had his eyes forcibly opened in college to just how cruel and heartless the world actually was. Goodness only got trampled. Squashed. Taken advantage of. Goodness only got used until it wasn’t useful anymore and then got dumped like so much trash. If one wanted to change the world permanently. One couldn’t do so by being good.

Kids though?

The poor fools didn’t realize that yet. That being good wasn’t well...good. For anyone. Hero work? Pointless. Especially with how active Patton was in the city.

Hero work didn’t put food on the table. Hero work didn’t pay the bills. It was a thankless never ending job.

A job that landed a fourteen year old in the hospital with head trauma, a broken leg, arm, fractured ribs, and multiple puncture wounds in the shoulders and abdomen that had only avoided killing the kid by sheer dumb luck.

A fourteen year old that Patton had been fighting for a good three years now, not that he’d known that until nine hours ago.

Onyx had always snarked at him in a deep distorted voice, had always been covered by an ever shifting melee of shadows that never showed just who was manipulating the darkness around him.

He growled under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck. Eleven. The kid had been freaking eleven when he’d first shown up to stop Patton from razing the police department to the ground.

No wonder Onyx had been so ferocious in defending the place. He’d still been of an age to see the cops as fellow heroes. The good guys. He hadn’t yet discovered their darker side. Just how much like school ground bullies most of them could be to the weak.

Patton clenched his hands, conscious of the frost coating his fingertips, of the room getting noticeably colder. “You’re an idiot.” He told the sleeping hero in a low voice, tensing as the shadows sluggishly stirred at the sound of his voice. “Ruining everything.”

He’d been trying to take down Onyx for ages. Perfecting the best way to use his ice bolts to freeze those shadows of his once and for all. It had been the best moment of his life seeing the hulking figure finally stagger when his ice had successfully pierced through the darkness and not fly out the other end. To know that they had stuck. To see those dark wisps vanish like so much smoke as the hero plummeted from the sky. To have a crater form from the impact that left a dust cloud floating in the air with no hint whatsoever of his shadows preparing to strike back.

It had been his greatest moment of triumph. The final defeat of his main nemesis.

An icy javelin had already formed in his hands, aimed for Onyx’s heart before Patton’s feet had even hit the ground.

But instead of the square jawed overly muscled hero he’d expected to finally see underneath that murky shadow disguise...he’d found a freaking child laying there, bleeding, broken, and unconscious.

One Virgil Hawkins. Fourteen years old. Orphan. Parents dead since he was nine. Grandmother dead since he was eleven though apparently no one else had realized that little tidbit yet besides Patton because he’d actually tried to find the woman last night after he’d rushed the boy to the hospital for emergency surgery only to discover the little urn with her name on it on the mantle of the fireplace in her home.

It was one thing to kill a Hero. And Patton...well he’d done in his fair share of heroes over the last decade. But killing a child? His heart might be cold. Frozen even. But as much as he itched to end Onyx the hero permanently...ending Virgil the child was an entirely different matter.

Not that anyone would know. Not that anyone would care if Virgil vanished the same evening Onyx died. He could freeze the kid’s heart here and now and not even the staff supposedly watching the boy would think much of it, injured as he was.

Patton frowned, breath misting in front of him as he held out an ice coated hand over the child, an icicle easily forming in his fist.

It would be so easy.

Who would care about the disappearance of a single boy? One who was practically a ghost in his civilian life. Certainly not the news. Certainly not the cops the kid had risked his life to defend. A kid only surviving as it were because he’d been clever enough to keep his grandma’s social security checks coming to the house as a source of income.

No one would notice if he just...vanished. Not even the school the kid attended would. Not when they couldn’t even tell him if he’d shown up yesterday for class.

No concerned teacher. No concerned counselor. No friends to worry about him suddenly vanishing. Not even the staff here in the hospital cared enough to keep more than a cursory eye on their John Doe as the police attempted to track down the boy’s nonexistent family.

Virgil had no one.

Patton let the icicle dissolve back into his skin, his hand lightly resting on the boy’s warm forehead, fingers lightly brushing the stitches there.

No one to pay the hospital bills. No one to look after him once he was released. No one to ensure that he had food, clothes and shelter. No one to stop him from being a fu-freaking idiot and going out to attack a villain old enough to be his Father.

Patton shuddered, pulling his hand back. Crofters forbid that. Teenagers were the worst. Onyx only proved that tenfold with how easily he’d wound up Patton in their fights. To have one living in his own home? With their constant mood swings, inability to do chores, and dependence on social media? Ha. No.

A groan from the bed drew him from his thoughts right as the shadows around the bed surged at him, latching onto his arm and jerking him forward with a startled yelp.

“Cold.” A hoarse voice whispered as pale fingers shakily rose from under the blanket, twisting to catch Patton’s wrist as the shadows pulled him within reach. Onyx’s eyelids fluttered as he placed Patton’s hand on his forehead. “Cold.”

Was he insane?! Patton growled, the temperature in the room dropping another ten degrees as he struggled against Onyx’s shadow grip. “Let. Go!”

The hero had the gall to smirk, dark eyes unfocused as he opened them fully, the shadows pulsing around them. “No way, Icy.” He whispered. “You cold. Feels good. You stay.”

WHAT?! He wasn’t an icepack! “I’ll freeze your burning head off! LET GO, you idiot!” He allowed a thin layer of ice to form under his hand to prove his point. It was bad enough that Onyx could match him throw for throw on a good day, it was worse knowing that a fu--freaking half-drugged teenager could still hold him with minimal effort.

Virgil closed his eyes, stupid smile growing wider. “Rubber. Glue. Back to you.”

Patton blinked. “Huh?” What was that supposed to mean?! This was why he hated teenagers. They didn’t make a lick of sense whenever they spoke.

“You’re the idiot here.” Virgil dropped his hand, the shadows releasing their grip. “Coming in uniform? To a hospital? To see me? For shame.”

Patton scoffed, taking a step back. He wasn’t some first year amateur to walk in the front door dressed like this. “Like I care if anyone sees me, kid.”

If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t afford to let anyone see him actually caring about anyone’s welfare, especially some ‘random’ kid found on the street after the big fight with Onyx, he would have blasted the front doors off their hinges and made a grand entrance instead of manipulating the ice of his clothes to resemble simple civilian attire before sauntering inside, no questions asked. After all, no one ever looked twice at some guy walking around in a black shirt and blue jeans, not even in a hospital.

Though. He flexed his fingers. It wasn’t like it was outside his wheelhouse to freeze people to death if they got in his way.

Onyx frowned, the shadows pulsing as he opened his eyes again, making eye contact. “No...you wouldn’t would you….why are you here--No.” The darkness gathered underneath him, carefully carefully pushing the kid upright in the hospital bed. He hissed, uninjured arm moving to wrap around his stomach. “Why am I here and not dead, Icy?”

Patton lifted his chin, glaring at the hero. “Did you want to be dead?” He asked, hefting a javelin of ice in his hand.

The teenager had the gall to roll his eyes, though Patton didn’t miss how the shadows surged around him in a protective shield. “Missed your chance, buddy. Don’t tell me your frozen heart actually thawed a little during our fight.”

“No.” Patton jabbed at the shadows, not at all surprised when they easily shattered his weapon with a quick twist.

So the kid wasn’t as out of it as his dilated eyes made it seem. Good to know.

“So I’m alive then….why?”

Why did it matter? “You’re fourteen.”

Virgil scoffed, slowly moving the arm that was in a cast so it too rested against his stomach. “So? You’ve killed kids before.”

Patton stiffened, ice flashing from his feet to cover the floor like a mini ice rink. Did the boy honestly not care about his own life?! “You shouldn’t have been fighting me in the first place, Onyx! You’re a kid. A Fu-FREAKING KID. Your biggest worry should be passing some stupid Math test! Making friends in school. Not squaring up against the worst villain the city has ever seen!” A villain that always, always killed his nemeses no matter what.

Virgil huffed, spreading his arms, the shadows twisting around them. “Last time I checked, this kid could wipe your ass into the dirt without breaking a sweat. I can take care of myself just fine, thank you very much.”

“But you shouldn’t HAVE to.” This wasn’t some stupid dystopian novel. No normal eleven year old should have such a stupidly high Chosen One complex.

“And who’s fault is it that I have to, Icemas?” Virgil’s eyes practically glittered like obsidian shards as the shadows lifted him off the bed, turning him to face Patton properly, the machines squeaking in protest as the various tubes connecting them to the hero shifted out of alignment. “No one else was stepping up. No one else would face you.”

“That’s the point!” Patton hissed, shooting a ray of ice to the door, crystals covering the window there and locking it in place so no one else would be able to investigate the alarms going off, before stepping forward to jab a finger at the boy’s chest, though he was careful to not actually touch the wounds there or send any ice bolts at him. “I’m showing everyone that being a hero is a useless archaic practice! No one should have to risk their life day in and day out for complete strangers who will never appreciate your sacrifice! If you had died tonight, Virgil, who would have cared?! The media? Ha.” He shook his head, gesturing to the blank TV screen in the corner as the shadows pulled back to quiver behind the young hero. “They’d mourn you for maybe a week tops before moving onto the next sensational story, the next stupid hero trying to make a difference. Maybe, maybe they will name some shiny new building after you, to remember you by, but then what? NOTHING. You’d be DEAD before you could ever drive and it would have all been for naught!”

Virgil frowned, shadows lowering him so he was sitting on the bed. “...You know my name?”

Patton stiffened. That’s what the kid was worried about? Him figuring out his civilian identity instead of nearly dying?! That was so messed up. “Someone had to try and track down your family, kid. The idiots here weren’t gonna do it.”

The hero had the gall to grin, though Patton didn’t miss how his fingers clenched the sheets. “Aww, well isn’t that sweet of you, Popsicle. How did that go?” He tilted his head to the iced over door where distant voices could be heard as the handle rattled. “Good old mom and dad waiting outside to see me? To check in on how their ickle Virgikins is doing?”

Teenagers. He hated them. “You know they aren’t. You have no one.”

Something flickered in the boy’s eyes. “Oh! Then let me guess.” He rested his chin on his uninjured hand. “You let the staff know I’m on my own? Do I get the oh so fun opportunity to experience our stellar A+ foster care system now?”

Patton rolled his eyes, shooting another bolt of ice at the door for good measure. “Please. They still think you’re a John Doe.” The lazy bums were waiting for him to wake up first. Hoping that Virgil would tell them who he was before trying to track down his identity or family.

“Excellent.” Virgil gave the door an appraising look. “Think they’ll believe amnesia?”

Patton blinked. “....Do you not feel the stitches holding your head together?” Or the baseball sized lump on the back of his skull from hitting the pavement?

The hero shrugged. “Honestly?” The shadows pulsed around him. “It’s all kinda fuzzy agony currently. Can’t differentiate what parts of me hurt and what doesn’t.”

How was this kid even awake?! Patton stepped forward, pushing the boy back down flat on the bed. “Then REST before you hurt yourself further, idiot.”

“Aw, love you too, Popsicles.”

“DON’T CALL ME THAT.” He would never be a fu-freaking Father to anyone.

“Or what?” Virgil relaxed against the pillows, even as his hand twisted to catch Patton’s wrist again. “You’ll kill me?”

If he wanted to do that the kid would be dead already. Patton jerked free, another ice spear forming in his hand, pointed to the boy’s throat. “No.”

“Aw. You scared to?”

“NO. I’m not killing a KID. Our fights are done with, Virgil. No more Onyx. He’s DEAD.”

The boy scoffed, pushing the spear to the side. “Last I checked, Icy,” The shadows surged over him in a swirling mass until the familiar shadowy form of Onyx stared back from the bed. “We’re the same person.” His voice echoed. “And I’m still alive and kicking.”

Ooooohoooho. Patton could feel his eye twitching as ice crept up the walls and window. If it were just Onyx he’d take great pleasure in killing the hero here and now. He itched to do so. But he couldn’t. Not with knowing that Virgil the child hid underneath the darkness. “I won’t fight you, kid.”

The shadows pulled back, revealing Virgil looking far paler than before, his face glittering with sweat. “Coward.”

“Idiot.” The kid needed to see a shrink. No normal fourteen year old would be this stubborn about wanting to constantly go up against him and face death by his hand!

“I know you are but what am I?”

The window shattered, sending frost covered glass glittering to the floor. “Hopefully grounded by the fool that ends up taking you in.” He got out through gritted teeth, ice particles shimmering in the air, ready to defend as the shadows around Onyx sprung up like a series of blackened tentacles writhing behind him.

He pitied whoever ended up with this troubled teen in their home…though...maybe he could arrange for the kid to be shipped across the country to live far far away from here. Getting out of this place could set him straight. Snap him out of this stupid hero phase he was in.

Virgil threw his head back, laughter ringing throughout the room as banging sounded from the door, the ice blockade cracking under the strain.

Judging by the way the ice was shearing off, someone with heat abilities had finally shown up.

Virgil shook his head, still grinning, though his eyes held no laughter as the shadow tentacles sharpened into jagged points, all aimed at Patton’s chest. “Oh that’s rich. Me, grounded? Like a normy would be able to stop me from coming after you the next time you decide to wreck the city.” He pushed himself up onto one elbow, jabbing his cast at Patton, the shadows quivering behind him like a pack of hunting dogs waiting to be unleashed as the temperature in the room dropped even further. “Face it, Popsicle. If you’re not gonna kill me then you’re stuck with me being your nemesis. If you want me to stop being the hero and keep me alive, then you have to stop being the villain. And we both know you’re not gonna do that. Your precious plan is too important to just give it up for my sake.”

And that was the crux of the matter wasn’t it? Patton snarled, raising his hands, the ice particles in the air morphing into a slew of arrows all directed towards the boy. He didn’t want to kill Virgil. But he couldn’t give up his plan. Give up being the villain. Not after a decade of fighting to get all those idealistic fools to see what a farce being a hero was. He was so close to winning. So close. “Fine.” He surged forward, grabbing the boy by the throat, ice arrows darting about to block the shadow tentacles of the kid’s from interfering. “You value my plan more than your pathetic life? Then you should--”

BANG.

The door behind them shattered, sending a heat wave full of shrapnel blasting into the room.

IDIOTS.

Patton whirled, flinging a wall of ice towards the figures in the doorway in an attempt to block the worst of the heat from outright killing Virgil then and there. IDIOTS! Did they not care at all that an already injured kid was in the ro---

A half melted silver door knob burst through the resulting steam before Patton could react to it, clocking him between the eyes with enough force to knock him backwards, his world vanishing into cold, silent darkness as the hospital floor rushed up to meet him.

#An Unconventional Defeat #stillebesat #Sanders Sides #Patton Sanders #Virgil Sanders #Morality #Anxiety #Superhero!AU #Villain!Patton #Hero!Virgil #Near Death Experiences tw #Death Talk tw #Injuries tw #Hospital tw

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