#I remember flying onto the roofs of buildings and getting into secret areas

[lulu-draws-stuff]

what if you drew your first oc and your most recent oc?

And they both have blue hair

[lady-charinette]

Omg could you do prompt 100 with Marichat!?

"Wouldn’t it be better to tell her even if the timing is wrong, than to never tell her at all?"

Tags: Romance, Hurt/Comfort, mild swearing, one-sided identity reveal

Relationship: Marichat (Marinette Dupaincheng/Chat Noir)

Word count: 1.945

___________________________________________

Chat Noir lived with his heart on his sleeve, baring his emotions that he couldn't always show as Adrien Agreste. 

But this time, Chat Noir had concealed his heart, kept it in the protective clutches of his claws to hide from sight. 

Especially from a certain blue-eyed friend of his. 

Friend. 

He swallowed, claws digging into his palms as he tried to breathe. 

That's the word he'd tried burning into his brain ever since he started spending more time with Marinette, ever since they opened up to each-other about their broken hearts that one fateful night. How he saw sides of her he only caught glimpses of at school. 

She'd started spending less time with him as Adrien, but had somehow acted...more friendly towards him at the same time. Her stuttering was gone around him now, she greeted him every morning, asked questions easily. He didn't seem to annoy her anymore. 

Chat Noir had started becoming a steady presence in her life, from silly balcony karaoke and dances, to movie nights snuggled in respective blankets, popcorn flying when a scary scene appeared. 

Of course, Marinette sometimes picked horror movies where poor black cats drew the shorter end of the stick, it was rare, 'to not traumatize him', she said. He enjoyed their time together all the same. 

Friend. 

The word he'd burned into his brain, but not his heart. 

He'd tried getting advice from Ladybug, with whom he had a better friendship with, she was friendlier with him too, started indulging in his puns even more than before. But he got answers he already knew, deep in his heart. 

'Tell her,' Ladybug had said, 'Your friend...this girl, she sounds amazing, she also sounds like she might have feelings for you too, Chat Noir.' 

Chat Noir retrieved the good luck charm from his pocket, the one Marinette had given to Adrien a long time ago, running the tips of his claws carefully over the pearls and shapes. 

He also remembered what he had told Ladybug too. 

'I...I can't. She...she's in a relationship with this one boy...' 

Ladybug had considered his options with this newfound information and her eyes looked like they tried to tell him a story her mouth couldn't. 'Wouldn't it be better to tell her even if the timing is wrong, than to never tell her at all?' 

So, Chat Noir stood there, on a rooftop opposite of her balcony, the dim light from her room illuminating the small space outside. 

Clutching his good luck charm against his chest, he safely stored it in his pocket before leaping off the roof, staff propelling him forward as high as his heart jumped in his throat. 

Marinette had heard the telltale thud of Chat Noir's feet hitting her balcony, even if tried being as silent as possible. 

She greeted him with a smile and a small wave, like she mostly did. Sometimes it was with a playfully annoyed frown, other times she would take the spray bottle in her hand when she was gardening and he was a little too close to a plant precariously positioned on the metal fence. 

"Good evening, kitty," her smile seemed to be brighter than the light and it made the frantic hummingbird that was his heart beat even faster against his ribcage. 

"Good evening, Marinette." He called her often by her name now, but the serious tone in his voice made her climb out of the hatch and close it, walking towards him with a worried frown. 

"Is something wrong? Did something happen?" 

He quickly shook his head, eyes downcast, staring at the silver toes of his boots. 

He noticed how small her feet seemed compared to his, almost as small as Ladybug's when they stood side by side. 

He sighed deeply, hands flexing. "There's something I have to say." 

Marinette nodded slowly, unsure what exactly Chat Noir wanted to say. Did he come to seek her advice about the mystery girl he liked? Had her advice as Ladybug not been good enough? What else could she tell him? She felt it was right that he told the girl his feelings, even if...that girl wasn't her. 

Chat Noir deserved to be happy, even if it wasn't with her. 

And then, finally, the secret that made her heart squeeze fell from his lips, but her heart squeezed in a different way, "I like you, Marinette." 

Bright green eyes seemed so scared, so raw and vulnerable it made her want to hug him and never let go. 

Her brain finally caught up to the exact words he said and she froze. 

'You' 

He said 'you'. 

Not 'her'. Not "the girl I like". He said 'you', as in her, Marinette. 

"Was he talking about me all this time? Was I the one he asked Ladybug's advice for?"  Marinette's mind was running a mile a minute, not seeing the crestfallen look on her crushes face. 

Chat Noir spoke softly as his heart was slowly breaking, "I liked you for a while now Marinette, but I understand you don't feel the same. I just...I wanted to tell you, I guess, a good friend of mine said it was only right I told you even if...the timing is off." He stared down at his feet, cat ears flattened to his head. 

His voice cracked, "I..." he cleared his throat, green eyes bright with unshed tears, "I just...wanted to tell you, and- you don't have to," he sucked in a sharp breath, his chest hurt, it hurt worse than the time he used Cataclysm on himself, "You don't have to say anything. I know." Chat Noir looked off to the side, a hint of bitterness mixing into the sadness. "I know about the boy you're...together with, so, um, I don't want to stand in the way of that. Don't worry." 

His eyes darted this way and that, missing the way her elated face morphed into confusion. 

"Wait, Chat Noir, what boy-" Marinette's mind was still stuck on the 'I like you' part, too stunned and happy to react quick enough. 

Before she could continue, he scratched the back of his head and turned his back to her, shifting his weight on the balls of his feet. "I think I uh, his name's Luka? Or Luke? Something like that. Um, anyway, I-" his voice cracked again and Chat Noir felt the first hot tears hit his cheeks, "I wish you all the happiness in the world, Marinette." 

"Wait, Chat Noir, you have it all wrong. I don't like Luka, I like-!" before the last words could leave her lips, Chat Noir was already gone, jumping onto the next roof, ears ringing too much from the sound of the blood rushing in his ears. 

The tears sliding down his face made the city a big blur, lights as smudged as the shimmering stars. "You deserve to be happy, even if it's not with me." his heart sank even lower with those words and he picked up speed to mend his broken heart. 

------- 

"-you..." Marinette whispered into the night, her heart as broken as the boy's who left her there. 

Tikki emerged from the protection of her room, quickly flying up to her friend's face. "Marinette! Are you alright? I can't believe Chat Noir felt the same! But he left before he could hear your answer, didn't he?" 

The sullen bluebell eyes suddenly hardened in resolve, "No, he didn't." 

Tikki's mouth fell open in confusion, "What? But- but I heard-" 

"Tikki, spots on!" 

"M-Marinette, what are you doing?!" Her kwami got sucked into her earrings and in a flash, Ladybug stood in Marinette's place. 

Red rimmed eyes stared after Chat Noir in determination, hand clenching into a fist around her yoyo. 

Finally, the simmering ire in the pit of her stomach turned into fiery rage. "You stupid cat!" 

With one strong leap, Ladybug was in the air, the string of her yoyo already catching a lamp post. Her arms burned at the intensity she used to propel herself forward, to match Chat Noir's speed. "I won't let you just leave like that!" 

Building after building Ladybug jumped and ran over, eyes darting every which way to try and spot sight of her wayward partner. 

The sun had set, it was already dark, his suit would be difficult to spot, Ladybug could only hope she could spot his blonde hair if he was still in the area. 

'Damn it! Where could he have gone so quickly? This is why I always grab his tail, he would rush head first into danger like this too! I always managed to grab his tail, but why not now? Why didn't I move!?' All these thoughts swam through her head, eyes constantly darting around to spot Chat Noir. 

Where would he go? Would he go home? Would he go somewhere to be alone? But where? 

Ladybug picked up speed and finally reached the Eiffel Tower, but no sight of the cat. 

The Louvre was empty as well. 

Where else could he be? 

Ladybug wracked her brain for any more places they visited often, anything that could give a hint that wasn't his home. 

The park. 

Marinette kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner, the park near her school. They often went there for ice-cream. 

And sure enough, when she landed back on the ground in front of the park, Chat Noir was there. 

Sitting with his back bowed, shoulders slumped, she could hear him sniffling and sobbing. 

Her heart cried out even more at the sounds, "Chat Noir!" 

He jumped up with a jolt, hands almost immediately moving up to frantically rub away his tears. "L-Ladybug?!" His voice sounded hoarse, thick with emotion. 

Ladybug crossed the distance in several long strides, grabbing the hands that tried to hide his face from her. 

She peered in between the gaps his fingers left and felt her own eyes grow misty at his puffy red ones. "Kitty..." 

"H-How did you- why are you-" his eyes kept darting everywhere but at her. 

Ladybug pried his hands away with a bit of force and tenderly cradled his face, green eyes staring wide eyed back at her. "M'lady-" 

"Spots off!" The command made Chat Noir still, eyes trying to slide shut but still catching a glimpse of the PJ's Marinette was wearing only a few minutes ago. 

"W-Wait, Mari-" 

"You impatient cat!" the words left her lips in a hurry, at the speed she couldn't muster before, "Why couldn't you wait before I finished talking?! Why couldn't you wait for my answer Chat Noir?" 

He didn't understand why Marinette was crying, he didn't understand why Ladybug transformed back and Marinette stood in her place. Had she been Ladybug this whole time? Had he been asking advice from his former crush turned friend for his former friend turned crush? 

"Chat Noir!" 

"S-Sorry! I'm here!" he clamped his mouth back shut after squeaking out his reply, eyes fixated on Marinette, who was red faced and angry. 

"I said I like you back!" 

"Wh-" and suddenly, her face was too close to his, his ears were ringing, his broken heart was slowly pulling itself together. 

Marinette stopped, eyes reading his expression, before she softly kissed his cheek and hugged him tightly to her. "I like you." She repeated herself, "I like you, kitty." and again, and again. 

She repeated herself until she felt arms slowly wrap around her back, one hand cradling her head, his whole body shaking. 

"I like you." 

Chat Noir let the tears fall, soaking into her PJ's but his lips were stretched into a wide smile. 

"I like you too, Marinette."

Thanks for reading! :3

[pearl-blue-musings]

Unforgettable pt. 2

Hi again! 

I’ll admit up front I’m not too happy with this chapter but I wanted to get this out!

Warnings: none! just some sass but what else is new?

Pairing: Dabi/Touya x f!reader x Hawks

Part one Part 3

Masterlist is here 

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

Time passed by too slowly for the rest of their hero commission academy days. Keigo had become the full-fledged hero Hawks, while you had your plans kept being altered and halted. After your stint at the hospital, the commission was worried about using you knowing the danger of your quirks limit. However, you still wanted to help out in anyway you could; after all this was all you knew.

So you find yourself working at the hero commission headquarters as a personal assistant for the higher ups. Your quirk proved useful around the building so they kept you around, keeping schedules tight, missions in order, and anything else that needed to be done, including some maintenance.

They never let you near their archives or library.

For fear of what could happen, they forbade you from going in there on your own. Unless you were otherwise notified, those two places were off limits. You understood, of course but it still hurt that you weren’t allowed in those places considering all you’ve done for them.

Now into your 20’s, you had the ability to live on your own. Unfortunately, it was all under the watchful eye of the commission. They picked your apartment building, which floor to be on for easy access if heroes ever need a safe haven, almost down to your furniture. You were grateful but very annoyed.

At least it was easy for Hawks to come and go as he pleased. With it being near the headquarters and his alliance to the commission, Hawks frequented you quite a bit. If the press and social media were allowed in your life, they’d be filled with rumors about the two of you potentially dating. However, that was another aspect of life your quirk and hero commission took away from you.

As much as you were allowed to look at meetings, update their website, man some of the phone calls, the world outside of that was off limits. They were terrified of losing such a valuable asset as yourself so they took every precaution to shelter you. Or so you had been told.

On this particular afternoon, you were heading out of the building when you got a text on your phone asking you to go to the roof. A smirk graced your face as you closed all your files in your desk as you prepared to make a pit stop on your way home. Once on the roof, you’re greeted with the bright and warm afternoon sun. Your eyes squint adjusting to the scene before you, the view of the city is gorgeous up here and he knows that.

“Hey pretty bird.”

At the sound of his voice, you turn and see your long time friend. You run to him and tightly embrace him, chuckling into his chest. He falls back at the sudden move and hugs you back, but lifts up slightly off the rooftop to twirl you in the air.

“Keigo! I hate it when you do that.” You pout at him, causing the blond to laugh lightly.

“Sorry Kid, I couldn’t help myself. How are you today,” he asks, cautiously placing you back on even footing.

“Oh I’m good,” you tease, “but not as good as you Mr. Number Two hero! I’m sad I just got the news but… you know…”

His golden eyes soften at that. As much as he hates to keep you in the dark of most life, he knows it’s for the best. He’s still deeply terrified of losing you and the news he’s kept in his back pocket that he’s about to share are a dead weight.

Hawks sighs deeply, “I know dove, I wish there was more I could do. But, that’s not why I brought you up here.” You give him a questioning look as the two of you sit on the edge, just enjoying each others presence. “Do you remember that meeting I had a couple weeks ago?”

Your face scrunches as you go through each memory of the last two weeks at the office. Hawks can’t help but steal a glance at you like this. He’s always loved your intense thinking face, how each crease, each little wrinkle he sees makes his heart soar. But he quickly drowns those bubbling feelings once your eyes meet.

“Ah yes! I handed you files outside of the main meeting room with all of the higher ups. I couldn’t go into detail but it involved the League of Villains and a dangerous mission for a particular candidate which I can assume is you?”

“Sheesh kid, even though I’ve known you for years I can’t get over how detailed you always are. But yeah that one…” he trails off looking at the sky in front of him.

“So? What do you need to tell me?”

He can’t look at you as he tells you his new and elongated mission. “I’m going undercover to infiltrate the League.” He pauses when he feels your body flinch against his. Fuck, he knew this would suck. “The commission didn’t want me to tell you, but I couldn’t do that to you.”

You lift off of him and your jaw drops. “Gasp, the Takami Keigo ignoring orders from the hero commission?! What has the world turned into?”

Hawks deadpans you as small laughs erupt from your belly. He does his best to keep a serious expression but he cracks and always will crack at your reactions. “Yes,” regaining his composure, “I went against one order, they’ll drop me for sure.” Keigo waits for the two of you to calm down before proceeding. “But I mean it, I couldn’t keep you out of the loop of my life like that.”

“How long?”

“A few months minimum. I’m actually already in talks with someone right now in the league. But kid, I wanted to let you know that I won’t be able to visit you as much. I’ll be pulled between them and the hero commission and my agency.” The tenor in his voice trails off as he looks onto your form.  “Aw c’mon baby bird, don’t give me that.”

You stand up and walk closer to the roof’s center. “I know this mission was supposed to be for me.” It wasn’t a question; it was a statement. You knew, you knew they were preparing you for a mission just like this to test you but somehow it fell through.

“Things have changed, the league has grown more powerful. The hero commission and heroes in general are in the spotlight now more than ever. You know that they-“

You stop and turn to face him, “I’m not some fragile piece of glass that has to be kept away! I’m so tired of this!” Tears threatened to fall but you squeezed your eyes so tight to prevent that from happening. “I’m so, so tired of being stuck with them and I know you are too.”

You feel Hawks’ being before feeling his wings encircle you. The smell of his cologne mixes with his musk and sweat that reminds you of home. Keigo has always been your sense of home and to lose that is too much. “One day. But we owe them so much. You know that more than I do (Y/n).”

Your thumb brushes the few tears that fell and you turn to face the blond man. His eyes hold yours, almost speaking to you silently as your heartbeat slows. A chuckle leaves your lips as you slump your shoulders. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make this so sad. You wanted to do something right?”

Shocked at your ability to completely turn the mood around, he resists the urge to wipe your trailing tears and smirks at you. “Ah yeah, in like two hours I’m meeting with Endeavor for a meal. I was hoping we could do one last fly around the city for old times sake,” he opens his arms for you.

You try, and fail, to hide the feeling of your face warming up. “I’d love nothing more.”

Hawks knows all too well that this isn’t the life you want or the one you deserve. Whenever he’s had a meeting with the commission he can’t help but frown at your sight behind your back. You can’t know that he knows you feel trapped, a mutual feeling shared. But he vowed to always be there for you and make you happy. He wants to take you out on the town at least and learn more about the world around you.

************************************

Before he meets with his idol, he drops the two of you off a means away from his meeting place. You glance at him, confusion etched onto your features. “I don’t understand,” you start, “normally you take me back to my balcony why are we nowhere close to that?”

Keigo exhales lightly, “look Kid, you have a map app on your phone right? Use that to get home.”

He’s met with confused silence once he meets your gaze. “Do I have to spell it out for you? Spread your wings, go find a new place to eat on your way back. Find a nice park to sit in for a little while…”

“Go experience some freedom for me okay? I mean it, (Y/n).”

You’re at a loss for words, flabbergasted at what Hawks just told you. Be free? Go home without his help? “Are you trying to get the hero commission to kill you?!”

“Heh, only if you tell them. Now what do you observe, hm?”

You start to look around, really taking your time to take in your surroundings. “Well, we’re in an alley where you could kill me.”

“Words can hurt.”

“And judging by the lack of super tall buildings and wandering bystanders, we’re somewhere near the housing unit of the city correct?” He nods at your questioning as he waits for you to understand the implications of what he’s done. He asked to meet you on the roof, took you on a fly around the city, dropped you near the housing area… “You’re really the best aren’t you?” You hug him tightly and quickly, eager to just wander around for once.

“You can always come back to this spot if you feel trapped. I’ve been scoping this area out for awhile now. Not a lot of press or people; it’s perfect. I know there’s a park and some open spaces and I wanna tell you to be careful but I know you won’t listen. But, from here to your apartment is about a 20 minute walk and yes it has access to the buildings secret entrance.”

“Keigo I could kiss you this is the best gift ever.”

“Whoa dove, save that for the apartment.”

He smirks at you and you just roll your eyes. “You’re incorrigible. But I really appreciate this. You have no idea how much I love this Kei.”

**********************

Hawks flies away as he makes sure your new journey of newfound freedom begins. He checks the time on his phone and double checks the information he had been told and heads to meet Endeavor. Coming out of the shadows to avoid being seen is Hawks’ inside accomplice for what’s about to go down in an hour.

Twinkling sapphire eyes briefly follow the winged man take flight, but are swiftly moving from the man in the air to the woman walking far away from him. The figure emerges, donned in his notable long black jacket but face covered in a mask to somewhat hide his identity. His eyes widen in recognition and a whisper leaves his lips before he prepares the Nomu.

“(Y/n), my little mouse.”

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

taglist! @kiribaku-queen @shinsouskitten @cupcake-rogue @abonshit @luluwiie

[whitecrowapothecary]

Something In The Night Is Dangerous

Jaskier has been begging and begging and BEGGING to go on a hunt- when the witcher finally agrees, Jaskier ends up getting more than he asked for. 

Read it on AO3 here!

Geralt wasn’t inclined to let Jaskier go on hunts with him. Even now, when it was few and far between to even have a job, Geralt didn’t want to drag him halfway across the world for a lackluster hunt. He wasn’t so much worried about Jaskier getting hurt, though the thought still haunted him when Jaskier handled his swords or moved his holsters from one table to the next. Jaskier was always deliberately careful, moving in slow, even steps and watching himself the entire time. It betrayed a fear that Jaskier had never let on about in the hundreds of years that Geralt knew him, or maybe it was something this newest Jaskier was afraid of. 

“Jaskier.” Geralt watches as Jaskier perks up from his place at his desk, glancing over at Geralt who’s laying back on the bed, allowing himself to relax. “There’s a hunt- did you want to come?”

Jaskier’s answering grin is radiant. “What kind of question is that? Of course I want to come!”

“It’s not going to be very exciting.”

“What’s not exciting about getting to see a modern day hunt?”

“It’s a lot of sitting around. Something you aren’t good at.” Geralt points out, smirking when Jaskier pouts, unable to deny it. The only time he can truly sit still is when he’s occupied with something, and even that doesn’t tend to last long. 

“I’ll bring my journal, it’ll be fine! You already offered, no take backsies.” Jaskier wags his finger in Geralt’s direction, but Geralt wasn’t planning on it. “Where are we going?”

“It’s in town, actually.”

“Awww, no traveling?” Geralt can feel Jaskier’s disappointment, but Geralt knows Jaskier is going to Europe later in the year and he’s just being impatient. 

“Not this time.” Jaskier blows a raspberry, laughing when Geralt throws a pillow at him. 

Geralt’s biggest worry in bringing Jaskier on a hunt is the lack of Jaskier’s memories. He remembers essentially everything, but Geralt has lost count of the times he’s had to catch Jaskier before he could fall when a memory overtook him, or the far off, spaced out look that came over him with a smaller memory. Letting Jaskier tag along was like playing russian roulette- what would set off one of Jaskier’s memories, and how bad would it be? If Jaskier can’t run away because he’s stuck in a memory and Geralt is too preoccupied to save him, what happens then?

But this hunt is as safe as Jaskier will ever be- There’s no actual contact with the monster this time, just a simple shot through a scope that Jaskier won’t even be able to see. Geralt can already imagine his disappointment in the hunt, but it’s a baby step, and if Jaskier can manage to sit through this one without getting overtaken by a memory then Geralt might let him come along to others. 

“When is the hunt?”

“We’ll leave out in a few hours, once dusk hits.”

                                                        -*-

Jaskier is practically vibrating while they ride the subway through town, heading straight for the heart of the city. He’d taken a nap before they left, brought water and snacks and anything he could think of to keep himself occupied. Geralt had said it was going to be a long night, and he didn’t make such statements lightly. His eyes keep drifting toward Geralt’s hands, silver rings adorning his fingers as they curled around the handle of a very large, very sturdy briefcase. 

Geralt wouldn’t tell him what was inside. 

The secret ate away at him while they rode the train, Jaskier slumped back into the hard plastic of the bench while Geralt sat, briefcase between his feet. He could have let go, could have held Jaskier’s hand, but his hand never strayed from the case, as if what was inside was precious. Or dangerous. Definitely both. 

“Where are we going again?” Jaskier asks again, hoping that the fifth time will be the charm. Geralt huffs next to him, a smile playing at his lips. 

“Be patient.” 

That’s all he’s gotten for the past forty five minutes while riding the train from their apartment into the downtown area. They’re at the second to last stop of the loop when Geralt stands, lifting his briefcase with him and reaching to take hold of Jaskier’s other hand. Jaskier clings to his hand, letting Geralt lead him from the train. The afternoon crowd heading home is thick, but the briefcase and swords on Geralt’s back creates a wave of an opening, allowing them to pass through without being jostled too terribly. It’s Jaskier’s favorite part of walking around town with Geralt. No elbows in the ribs or dirty looks, just looks of apprehension and sometimes fear. 

The air outside is warm, muggy around them when they make it up onto the street, the smell of smoke and car exhaust drifting past him. He can only imagine what Geralt is smelling right now, and judging by the faint wrinkling of his nose it isn’t very good. Once they’re off the train they head for a tall, glass covered building, an apartment building that Jaskier had thought about renting from before he realized how much he did not want to be this close to downtown. He did like having some semblance of quiet at night. 

“Do you have an apartment here?”

“Just access.” Well, that’s not cryptic as fuck. Jaskier lets Geralt lead him into the lobby of the building and to the elevators, where they ride it to the top floor, listening to random pop songs all along the way. One of Jaskier’s songs comes on as they step out and Jaskier mutters under his breath. He does not need to hear his own music over tinny sounding elevator speakers. Geralt is quiet as he makes for an unmarked door, brandishing a small plastic badge that when pressed up to a box on the wall, disengages the lock in the door, allowing Geralt to pull it open. 

Jaskier can hear the faint sound of wind and car horns, and he pads up the stairs behind Geralt, breaking out onto the roof of the building. Jaskier gasps, wind whipping through his hair, and he jogs to the edge of the building, going up on tiptoes to lean over and see. The wall comes up to just below his rib cage, high enough to make it a challenge for anyone to get over, or in Jaskier’s case, to look. The sight makes his head spin immediately, but not in a way that means anything to him. 

“We’re up high, Geralt.”

“We need to be.” 

does it fly?” Geralt makes a noise that Jaskier takes as a no, but he’s busy watching the cars zip by down below, squinting to try and see if he can see any people. All he sees are smears of color, a blue jacket or a bright yellow hat bobbing among a sea of dark color. Jaskier hears the clasps of the briefcase open with sharp snaps and he turns, interested. 

Jaskier’s breath catches in his throat at the sight of Geralt’s hands, those clever, clever fingers of his assembling an absolutely massive rifle in his hands. Each piece is inspected carefully before it goes into the making of the rifle, and Jaskier feels a bolt of heat shoot down his spine, splashing into his belly and settling there. The longer he watches Geralt, watches the way his fingers twist a piece into place with a click or adjust some setting he doesn’t know, the hotter he grows, the more embarrassed he feels about staring. 

But Geralt knows what he’s doing, he has to, because every so often Geralt will pause, eyes flicking up toward where Jaskier watches him. Once the gun is assembled and Jaskier is properly hot under the collar Geralt rises to his feet in one smooth movement, gun in hand as he prowls toward Jaskier. Jaskier feels entirely like a deer in the headlights, heart racing, and his eyes are stuck firmly on the way Geralt's fingers wrap around the grip and hold it steady in his hands. The gun isn’t anything fancy- dull black metal gleaming under the moonlight, but it’s so Geralt that Jaskier feels dizzy with want just at the sight of him. 

“You’re in my spot, Jask.” Geralt’s voice is velvet, just barely caught above the wind and rushing of blood in his ears, but he jerks to the side, allowing Geralt to take his place. This spot allows him the best view of the city below, and Geralt rests the bipod of his rifle on the wall. The height proves perfect for Geralt, who’s tall enough to use it to position his rifle appropriately, cheek pressed to the stock as he peers through the scope atop it. Jaskier can feel himself throb at the sight of him, body straight and eyes intent on whatever he sees through the scope.

“Geralt.” Jaskier’s voice rasps from him, broken already, and Geralt hums, standing straight and hands going to his pockets. He holds something out and Jaskier takes it without questioning, staring down at the two pieces or bright orange foam in his hands. 

“Put them in.” Jaskier squishes them down, shoving them into his ears and waiting as they expand in his ears, the sound of the cars and wind dropping away from him. It’s an entirely new thing, to be relatively deaf, and Jaskier feels disoriented for a moment before Geralt motions him over. Geralt tugs him close with the arm not holding the rifle, and his breath is warm as he leans down, speaking close enough and loud enough that Jaskier can faintly hear him through the ear plugs. “Keep them in, no matter what.”

“That loud?” Jaskier can feel that he’s yelling, but Geralt doesn’t seem to mind, and for the first time Jaskier notices ear muffs around his neck. He can already see the orange in Geralt’s ears, and his eyes widen at the implication of Geralt needing two barriers. Geralt lets him go, nudging him back a couple steps, and he dips his head to look down the scope again. The sun has finally set all the way, leaving them operating under only the moon’s light, but Geralt reaches forward and turns a dial on his scope. Jaskier’s own interest comes roaring back to the surface, and he lets out a shuddering breath, eying Geralt’s stance and deciding for himself that there’s enough room. 

Jaskier moves in close again, watching as Geralt's eyes, glowing in the dark of the night, shift to track his movements as he drops to his knees and shuffles in front of Geralt. Geralt jolts, eyes widening, and he sees Geralt talk more than he hears him. “What are you doing?”

“Occupying myself.” Jaskier says cheekily, bringing a hand up to cup Geralt through his jeans. He delights in the sharp rise of Geralt’s shoulders and the way he twitches with interest. The fact that Geralt is half hard already sends a thrill through Jaskier, and he doesn’t know if it’s him or the gun or what that interests him so, but he knows what is going to interest him pretty soon. 

“I’m hunting.” 

“So am I.” Jaskier laughs at the way Geralt rolls his eyes, but he palms him again, watching Geralt’s eyes go half lidded. “Will this distract you too much?”

“No.”

“Really? You’ll be able to take your shot while I suck your dick?” Jaskier sees the subtle shift of Geralt’s chest as he breathes in deep, and Jaskier grins when he sees the desperate, exasperated look on Geralt’s face. “I can go get my journal, tuck back for the night…”

The air vibrates with Geralt’s growl and Jaskier laughs, leaning forward to pop the button of Geralt’s pants with his teeth just to see his reaction. He’s rewarded nicely by the shuffling of Geralt’s feet into a wider, more open stance, and Jaskier gets the zipper between his teeth, tugging it down and a hand coming up when Geralt’s hips twitch. He grabs onto Geralt’s hip, squeezing lightly, and feels Geralt go still, careful not to move too much. Jaskier hums happily, glancing up to see Geralt having slid the earmuffs on. He has no clue how much Geralt can hear or when he’s going to shoot, but Jaskier can be patient, just this once. 

He tugs Geralt’s pants open a bit more, giving himself more room to work as he brushes light fingers over the length of Geralt’s cock. Even half hard he’s a sight to behold, to feel as he slips Geralt’s cock free from his underwear. He might want to be patient, but it won’t be with Geralt covered up, and Jaskier admires the sight of him, holding him in one hand and tightening his fist, allowing Geralt’s hips to shove forward once, twice into the tight friction of Jaskier’s fist before Jaskier’s other hand clamps back down on his hip. It’s odd to do this without really being able to hear, Geralt’s sounds lost to the wind, but he contents himself with glancing up, watching the hard line of Geralt’s body, arm muscles flexing when Jaskier drags his tongue across the head in a slow, broad swipe. 

Heat builds under his skin at the first taste, and Jaskier can feel his head going fuzzy in an entirely predictable way. Of course a memory wants to drift in now, but it’s weak and easily pushed back down in favor of swirling his tongue around the head, flicking against a spot just under Geralt’s slit that makes the other man’s thighs jerk. Jaskier takes him in, sucking at the head and trying not to smirk at the way Geralt plumps in his mouth. It’s a heady feeling, licking and sucking until Geralt is fully hard, precum smearing over his lips when he pulls back to place a sloppy open mouthed kiss on the tip. He strokes Geralt from root to tip, thumb swiping to gather the precum and spit slicking the tip to drag it down further, smoothing his way. 

Jaskier faintly hears Geralt say something, but he doesn’t catch the actual words and he doesn’t care much to stop and ask him. All he cares about is the way his skin itches, like every moment he spends here not doing anything will make him burst. Jaskier tips forward, taking Geralt into his mouth in earnest and letting Geralt slide between his lips. The first pass is shallow, just Geralt pressing into his mouth, but Jaskier relaxes, bobbing his head and slowly but surely taking him deeper. Geralt’s cock is a hot, familiar weight on his tongue that Jaskier craves more than anything else at times. Just to be able to tuck himself between Geralt’s thighs, to taste and lick until Geralt squirms underneath him, fingers in his hair.

That, Jaskier decides, when Geralt’s hips twitch uselessly and his thighs tense under Jaskier’s hands, is the worst part about this arrangement. Geralt can’t just drop the gun in lieu of holding his hair, and he needs both to properly aim, so Jaskier is left to occupy himself, a hand dropping down to grind the heel against his own burgeoning erection. He actually hears the hiss that Geralt lets out, and he tilts his head back, pressing Geralt into his throat and blinking inquisitively as Geralt glares down at him. 

“Don’t touch.” He sees Geralt’s lips move with the words and Jaskier whimpers around Geralt, swallowing and hoping that will persuade him. Geralt’s eyelids flutter for a moment, but his pupils are wide, wanting, and he bears those lovely, sharp fangs of his. “Don’t touch.” 

Jaskier’s hand comes back up to rest against Geralt’s thigh, fingers tapping out an apology and a promise all in one. Geralt nods in one jerky movement before resuming his vigil down the sights of the gun and Jaskier contents himself with the aching pressure of his pants, trapping himself in a layer of friction just tight enough to tease him. Geralt didn’t tell him what he couldn’t touch, and so Jaskier’s hands wander, fingernails scratching bluntly through denim as he drags his fingers over Geralt’s thighs, cupping the backs and pressing Geralt’s hips forward, nose brushing against Geralt’s abdomen. Geralt throbs on his tongue at the motion, and Jaskier begins to bob his head once again, drawing back almost to the tip and lapping at the head before sliding down again, moaning at the way Geralt carves into his mouth so firmly. 

Jaskier’s mind is hazy with desire, head pounding at the aching, persistent feeling of want that races through him. He doesn’t know if he’s ever, ever been quite so happy to have Geralt like this in all his years, though a memory of a day spent entirely in an inn tickles at the back of his mind. 

Jaskier is so finely attuned to Geralt that when his cock twitches, thighs tensing just so Jaskier pulls back completely, grinning when Geralt’s snarl reaches him through his earplugs. Jaskier sits back on his haunches, admiring the red flush of Geralt’s cock and the way that he twitches, precum dribbling from the tip. Jaskier leaves him like that, blowing a breath over him and watching the way that Geralt’s cock jerks at even that touch. Only once Geralt’s thighs relax does Jaskier touch him again, allowing Geralt one sharp rut into his mouth before he takes back over. Jaskier keeps him where he wants him, cock leaking and flushed, so close to the edge yet never falling over it. Jaskier faintly hears the click and snap of the bolt being pulled back, and that sound alone has his own hips grinding uselessly into the air. 

He only loaded one bullet.

                                                        -*-

Geralt is going to lose his mind. He didn’t know what he’d expected when he brought Jaskier, but having Jaskier on his knees, mouth hot and wet around him while he tried desperately to line up his shot? That was never part of the plan. He can’t say he minds the plan, not with the way Jaskier’s tongue presses up against him, cheeks hollowing and creating a drag so delicious that Geralt can feel his toes curling. He finds himself closer faster than he’d like, so, so much faster, but Jaskier is pulling back at the last second and Geralt can’t help the noise he makes at that.

Jaskier knows him, better than anyone ever has before though, because he waits, patient, until the boiling heat in his gut settles into a harsh, sweeping warmth instead. 

It doesn’t lessen further than that, not when Jaskier’s hot, talented mouth envelopes him again, drawing him in and lapping in long, languid swipes. Geralt has to force himself to stay still- any stray movement throws his aim off, and he’s entirely at Jaskier’s power as Jaskier works him with his mouth, drawing him closer and closer to the edge and stopping just when he thinks he’s going to get release. 

By the time he slots a bullet into the chamber, snapping the bolt into place to prime his shot he’s so ready to say to hell with the contract, to drop the rifle that he can hardly think. Jaskier’s arousal swirls around him, coats his tongue every time he drags a breath in through his mouth to calm the shaking of his hands. He can’t hear Jaskier for once, not even the beating of his heart, but he knows he’s going to need the protection if he wants to be able to walk home after. 

Geralt spots his prey at the same moment Jaskier swallows down around him, moaning and sending vibrations shooting through him. Geralt’s vision blurs briefly, but he straightens up, squaring his shoulders and tracking the beast as it slowly ambles along the street. It’s chosen a less populated area, easier to grab lone prey, but it won’t get anyone tonight. Geralt pulls in a deep breath, ignoring the very pleasant, very insistent mouth on his cock as he lines up his shot. He holds his breath, going still, and his finger squeezes around the trigger, body jerking slightly at the recoil as the shot rings out through the air, cacophonous even with his double layered protection. 

He watches as the beast crumples, twitching and pawing at the ground uselessly before going still. Jaskier’s arousal spikes in his nose, cloying and heavenly, and Geralt drags in a sharp breath, breathing as deep as he can to read him properly. Geralt rips his earmuffs and earplugs out, wanting to hear, and he stoops, pushing Jaskier back for a moment so he can set the rifle on the ground before he straightens back up. Jaskier whines pitifully, lips puffy and red, and as soon as he can he takes Geralt back into his mouth. Geralt doesn’t hesitate in burying his fingers in Jaskier's hair, fingers twisting and pulling at the strands as Jaskier’s hips jerk uselessly in the air.

Geralt drags in a breath, and Jaskier’s arousal hasn’t faded at all, hasn’t settled into the background like it usually would. Geralt’s eyes widen, nostrils flaring as he drags another breath in. “Jask, you…?”

Jaskier’s eyes are impossibly blue when he glances up, and something like an ashamed whimper falls from his lips when he pulls back, lapping at the head of Geralt’s cock. The sight and sound and thought of Jaskier having come, completely untouched and riled only by what they were doing makes Geralt’s knees go weak, and he groans low in his throat. 

“You’ll kill me, Jask- fuck that’s hot.” Jaskier’s eyes widen a smidge, as if not expecting Geralt’s passionate admission, and Geralt nudges his hips forward. “Please-”

That’s all it takes, Jaskier moaning and nodding his head before taking Geralt into his mouth. This time Geralt isn’t distracted, bound to stay still, and Jaskier yanks at his hips, moaning when Geralt’s hips snap forward of their own accord. He won’t ever get tired of this, the way that Jaskier’s eyelids flutter every time he presses forward, taking Geralt into his throat and swallowing him down. Jaskier alone is enough to make his cock give an interested twitch, but when he flicks his tongue on the drawback, hollowing his cheeks as Geralt presses forward? It has Geralt’s thighs quaking under Jaskier’s hands, and his own need for release raging through him.

Geralt can’t hold on for long, not after the way Jaskier dragged him close over and over again, and his nails scratch at Jaskier’s scalp as he moans, the sound deafening in his ears. Geralt grinds forward, hips stuttering, and Jaskier whines around him, swallowing him down when Geralt finally comes, shuddering and fingers twitching uselessly in Jaskier’s hair, riding out the waves of his orgasm as Jaskier bobs his head. His vision whites out completely, sounds drifting in and out of his mind like water under a bridge. He pulls back when he can’t take the overflow of sensation anymore, tucking himself away haphazardly before crouching to yank Jaskier into a kiss. Jaskier moans against his mouth, the sound cracking in his throat, and Geralt drags him up higher on his knees, Jaskier arching up into him.

“Geralt-”

“When we get home, you aren’t going to be able to walk.” 

“Please-” Geralt silences him with another kiss, lapping into his mouth and tasting himself on Jaskier’s tongue. 

[sylvain-writes]

Guarded Hearts and Safe Houses (Leonardo x Reader) Chapter 4/9

Rated: T

Gender Neutral Reader, canon typical violence/injury, light angst, strangers to lovers, supportive family

for @melodiousmelodrama

The way to The Lair is wet and cold. You should have worn rain boots. You should have listened when Leo said they lived in the sewers. You thank god he meant the water runoff and not raw waste, though you can’t imagine the guys living in filth. They were well-mannered and hygienic, as far as their stay at the apartment let you see.

You hear the others before you see them. Loud, heavy sounds of concrete shifting and crumbling. Debris and broken furniture arc through the air as they're tossed from one pile to another. The routine kicks up dust, but does little to repair the home.

“Raph,” Donatello whispers and Mikey jogs toward the mess.

A slab of concrete flies Mikey’s way. “Watch it, bro. I’m too pretty to get busted. Don’t wanna mug like yours to scare off the honeys.”

Raph ignores his little brother’s jokes and tosses another slab with a grunt.

“Here, here, lemme help.” Mikey picks up a few stones and skips one across the floor into the concrete pile. “Little bit o’ brick over there… what’s this-” he lifts a shard of wood for inspection before lobbing it toward a different pile “-a little bit o’ table over there.” He gives his brother a wide, goofy smile, “How am I doin’ so far?”

Raph continues to ignore him.

“Come on, Raphie, this is pointless.”

“It ain’t pointless." Raphael can't look at any of them. He stares only at the rubble spilling into the tunnel. "This is our home. We gotta have a home.”

You take a step forward, careful to stay out of the path of flying debris. “You can stay with us. Until this place is safe. Or until you find somewhere new.”

“Ain’t nowhere new gonna take us." Raphael says, despite your claim. You understand he means long-term. And you know it's true. Even your parents can't house them forever. You can't expect them to sleep on the living room floor and be comfortable.

"...'sides," he grumbles, "Leo ain't leavin', I ain't leavin'."

Mikey picks up a bigger piece of mortared brick and heaves it into Raph's designated pile.

Donatello gives a deep sigh as he watches them give in to the fruitless work. "Let's find Leo," he says to you, not letting himself be defeated yet.

You find Leo in the dojo, kneeling in meditation before a felled tree. The flowering branches and wide trunk must have made a beautiful focal point for the room, before the trunk had been cleaved in two.

Though it goes against your instincts to bother Leo in this place, Donatello urges you onto the large straw mat.

A slow, quiet approach seems most appropriate, and you kneel beside him, mimicking his form. You're sure he's sensed your presence, but he doesn't say a word.

Leo's eyes are closed, his breathing even. It takes you a minute to notice the moisture gathering along the seam of his eyelids.

You wave Donatello off with the gentlest of smiles and wait until he is gone, until you and Leo are alone, before you reach out. You lay your hand atop Leo's as it rests on his knee and you keep it there when he doesn't protest or pull away.

His chest jumps as his breath hitches, but his tears don't fall. His eyes don't open. The only conscious movement he makes is to lift his thumb to hold your hand closer to his.

Pulling Raphael and Mikey away from the rubble isn’t so hard once they see Leo is walking with you. He still doesn’t speak, and no one has mentioned the absence of their father.

“You should grab what you need," you say to the group. "There’s only a few hours until the sun comes up.”

Raphael kicks at a stone and shrugs his shoulders forward. “Gonna leave somethin’ for Splinter, right, Donnie?”

“There’s a message for him," Donnie says, the computer keys clacking under his fingers. "He’ll have to use the emergency cypher, but he’ll know where we are. He’ll know we’re safe and accounted for.”

Mikey shifts his weight and looks up, his wide eyes hopeful. “Can I bring some stuff from my room?”

You nod. “Whatever you want.” You'd never keep him from bringing along a piece of home.

Beside you, Leo tenses, but remains silent.

Raphael and Mikey rush to their room, climbing over rubble and broken furniture to get there. Donatello gives you a short bow and a word of thanks. “We might be a while,” he warns.

You can’t help but yawn as you wave him off. “Go, go. Take as much time as you need.”

“They know the way,” Leo says, his first words of the night. “I can bring you home if you wish.”

You look at him, ready to protest, but see the stoic expression he wears is only a thin mask to hide his pain. “Thank you.”

Leo helps you over dangerous areas of the tunnels, more cautious with you than his brothers were. It’s equal parts irritating and sweet. You handled yourself just fine on the way in, but you let him take care of you like this. It seems like he needs to feel in control of something and this is a little thing you can give.

“You should have worn more practical footwear,” he says when he sees your water-logged sneakers.

“Next time." Gripping his hand, you let him haul you over a pile of rubble.

He catches you at the waist, holding you close for a second longer than necessary before easing you down the other side. “Won’t be a next time.” His words sound final. “I’ve been wanting to move the Lair for a while now. There’s a subway station…”

“Oh yeah?”

“It’s been abandoned for quite some time. I’ve had my eye on it. Didn’t want to move the guys because… well, because the sewers have been our home for as long as we can remember. But I should have acted sooner. I should have told them what I found. I could have avoided this whole-”

“Can I see?” you interrupt his self-depricating rant, knowing that to let him continue on that path wouldn’t do anyone any good. “The subway spot. If you think it’s safe. Can I see?”

Leo turns to face you, to really look at you for the first time since dinner, and offers a slow nod. “Ok.”

The station is a mess. Full of cobwebs and old crates. There’s an abandoned train still on the track. Most of the train's doors have been rusted open. The seat cushions are dry rotted and falling apart. But there’s promise. There are options. And when you turn to Leo, you can see hope.

“I think you should tell them about this place.”

Leo doesn’t argue. He wasn’t going to keep it a secret any longer. Especially not now, when they need this place more than ever.

“I can fix it up with you before you do, if you want. If you think it’ll help.”

Leo doesn’t say anything at that, but stacking old crates against a wall, so you follow his lead.

You leave the heaviest lifting for him, taking it upon yourself to clean out the cobwebs and clear off the platform.

The place will need furniture. And the guys could stand to tear out the train seats to fit each car with a bed and other things to make their rooms more liveable. But you can tell it’s going to be good. They could make it something great.

You look over the station with a feeling of accomplishment. Leo, however, isn’t yet satisfied.

He looks at his phone and swears under his breath. “It’s almost 5. I have to get you home.”

The news comes as a surprise. You didn’t realize you’d been working all night. Each crate stacked and cobweb swept clean had energized you. You’d felt a renewed sense of productivity, a sense of purpose. You were moving toward a tangible goal for the first time in a long time. This wasn’t the same old routine you’ve been walking through at your day job. This was building a new home for new friends.

You follow Leo through the path and up to a set of stairs to street level. There’s a small restaurant beside an alley.

“Won’t they see us? Hear us?” You glance around quickly to see if you've been spotted, but Leo leads you down the alley with an air of calm.

“Old man’s losing his hearing," he says. He makes giving you a boost to the restaurant's low roof look effortless. "His husband’s been bugging him to get hearing aids but he keeps pretending like he didn’t hear him make the suggestion.”

“Funny.”

Leo’s hard frown softens a moment, giving way to the briefest fond smile. “It’s cute.”

“You want that someday?”

“What, hearing aids?” Leo walks past you without giving you a chance to correct him.

You let him lead as your heart twists and sinks. Why had you asked? Even if he wanted love and companionship, they probably weren’t things a guy like him could have. Sure, he can charm the rings off Gram’s fingers. And anyone would admire the passion he has for taking care of his family. But he’s still a mutant turtle. One with rippling muscles and big, blue eyes, a husky voice, and a gentle touch. But, a turtle. Not many people would look past that. It’s likely Leo won’t let many people look past that, if he’d let people see him at all.

[heartofwritiing]

Lies

Paring(s): slight!Actor!Mark x fem!reader, Darkiplier x fem!reader

a/n: #16 from this prompt list. “All he ever did was use you. Why can’t you see that? “

Ive changed this fic some many time and have been writing and editing it for WEEKS so here it is! Its really rough so please ignore any mistakes I had to edit this myself and If i missed something please just ignore it lol I just really wanted to get this out! This is my take on ending 31 from a heist with markiplier hope you enjoy! 

this wasn’t requested Im just in a angsty mood :/

Warning(s): Angst, crying and more angst.

The last thing I remember was walking down a hallway of portraits of people whose eyes were covered with a stripe of black paint. I kept receiving messages from an unknown number and when I reached the end of the hall the last painting had Mark standing on a staircase in a red robe that started peeling away then my vision went black. I felt sick, my head was pounding with pain and my body felt heavy. I opened my eyes to more darkness and ringing in my ears. two arms engulfed me into an embrace. I tried pushing away but I was too weak. Their voice went through my ears making me wince.

“Name?”

The voice turned into a hushed whisper, my hearing started coming back slowly making everything sound muffled.

“Please, can you hear me?” the voice pleaded.

My eyes slowly lifted open revealing nothing and I began to panic. Was I dead? No, don’t be dumb Name. The person said my name again pulling me from my thoughts and the gears in my head began to turn. I looked up and wanted to cry. Damien?

“Damien,” I whispered.

“He’s here darling,” he said reaching his hand up to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear, a gentle touch that made my cheeks warm up.

I was confused at his words and the way he had spoken, the tone of his voice seemed sad and hurt Dameins eyes searched mine. I had been quiet for a few minutes. I was trying to process how he was here.

“It's alright you're safe now” He smiles softly.

I think he could tell I was dazed and confused but what did he mean by safe? My head is aching, pounding pain shot through my brain as I tried to remember anything. This didn’t feel real and everything just felt hazy. It felt like a dream and I had to know if I was awake.

“Kiss me,” I blurt out.

  He seems shocked for a second probably thinking this wasn’t this time nor place to do this but I needed to feel him.

“I need to know this isn’t a dream or some fantasy of mine,” I tell him.

  Without another word, his hand reached down under my chin to tilt my head back up. His black soulless eyes connected with mine for a moment before he pressed his lips to mine. A knot formed in my stomach when he grabbed my hips bringing our bodies closer, my breath hitched, our lips brushing against each other made my head spin. I reached up to tug on his hair and he let out a breathy moan into my mouth. Pulling away our breaths mixed and his eyes were clouded with lust. This felt real. The feeling of his chilled lips was real. He was real.

  “Did that feel like a dream?” He breathed out. God. Butterflies were punching the inside of my stomach trying to break free. If I had the physical strength to lean up on my toes to kiss him again I would. All I could muster was a little nod, he chuckled

“I’ve got to get you away from here,” he spoke after a minute.

   Damien took my hand in his leading me through the nothingness and my mind began to race with questions. What was going on, I needed answers and I wasn't going to be pushed aside anymore. It has always been like this. I would forget everything and be dragged around by everyone and I was fed up with the games. I stopped and yanked my hand out of Damien’s grip. He turned to me, his face frowned pure confusion across his face.

“Name, I don’t have the time to explain-”

“No!” I shout. I was tired of being scared

“I want to know what's going on, no more lies or secrets Damien.” I was so frustrated, tears started welling up in my eyes.

   Damien sighed, clenching his fists, trying to suppress his anger. He walked closer to me and placed his hands on the sides of my face and everything turned white. Flashes of people, memories flooded through seeing a mansion and then a group of people playing poker. the night of Mark’s poker game, things went horribly wrong. The whole event was a trap in order for him to get revenge. I died. He took over my body, throwing my soul into a mirror and prisoning me for a hundred years. until Mark had found me and erased my memories replacing them with one of me and him together. Lastly, I saw how Damien became this new form he called himself Dark and that Damien was gone forever but he still had his memories.

   My vision returned to see Dark standing away from me now everything was coming back into my brain slowly. My mouth fell open and I remembered, Damien was the love of my life, and to hear that he was dead broke my heart. I started to cry again, grief, sadness, and anger rolled into one coming out as a sob. How could I forget?

“For all these years I thought you were gone,” His voice was trembling.

  I stared at him as he stood a few feet away from me, tears rolled down his grey cheeks and onto his white suit.

“I never forgave myself for killing you,”

  “I don’t understand why Mark would do all of this,” I said, but I understood it completely. I just didn’t want to accept the fact Mark became mad with jealousy and wanted to make William miserable.

  “He’s our friend. Friends would never do anything like this,” my bottom lip started quivering.

“He wouldn’t, he-”

   Dark said my name in a hushed whisper and grabbed my shoulders slightly causing me to look up at him as he began to speak.

  “I know it’s hard to understand any of this but, he’s been manipulating you, Making you forget everything, Forget me.” He said. “Mark is not a good person and I have to get you away from him.”

   I didn’t want to accept what Mark had done. Mark had been there for me when we were kids and always have been so close, I wanted to help him. Dark had explained that Mark’s mansion overtime began to host some sort of entity to put ideas into his head, and it conjured up this idea of getting all the people who wronged Mark together to get revenge. I wanted to help my friend even if he was being controlled. I could tell Dark was reading my thoughts. I could see it in his eyes, he clenched his jaw screwing his eyes shut.

He inhaled before he opened his mouth to speak.

  “You’re not actually considering helping him.” His teeth grit. “After what he’s done, to you, to all of us.” His voice raises and the light around his form pules red. I try not to think about it, maybe it was just this place or my eyes tricking me.

“He’s our friend, Damien,” I plead.

His jaw clenched.

“That’s not my name anymore,” He said bitterly.

  I was shocked at his words. He was angry with me, now I really knew Damien was gone.

   “ALL HE EVER DID WAS USE YOU. WHY CAN’T YOU SEE THAT!?!” Dark yelled, suddenly gripping my arms harshly.

   I jumped, the whole area around us shakes and feels like it's cracking, falling apart at his outburst. Darks aura was buzzing and glowing red showing off his anger and frustration. After a moment his body relaxed and his shoulders dropped, he mumbled an apology I barely heard and stood up straight. Dark struggled to stand when he fell backward suddenly, I grabbed his hands so he didn’t hit the ground trying to keep him on his feet but something was pulling to let my grip go.

  I squeaked when Dark fell back and yanked me with him, his back hit the floor with a thud that echoed and our chests collided. I groaned and slowly sat up on his thighs our hands still laced together as he sat up

  “Its Mark, he knows I’m with you,” His eyes stared into mine and I could’ve sworn for a moment that they shifted into a dark brown color. My heart swelled thinking that those were Damiens eyes looking through. “He’s trying to separate us again.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry,” he spoke in a regretful tone. “This is the only way I’ll ever be able to see you again,” Dark lifted his hands to the sides of my head again, his eyelids closing in concentration. I was bracing myself for what was about to happen and soon sleep began to take over my body and my eyes fell closed.

~

  Dark cradled a unconscious Name against his chest stroking her hair every few seconds. He knew it made her calm even if she wasn’t conscious, he knew she could feel his presence and the feeling of his fingers in her hair. He sat there in the darkness like for the past hundred years being stuck in his own head. Names body began to disappear and Dark was alone; she was with Mark now and would be until he found her again. And could finally take her to a safe place forever. He looked up into the void, praying she would be safe soon.

~

  I stood in front of the museum beside Mark yawning and trying to fight my eyes shutting. I looked down at my timer watch and the numbers 2:30 am looked back at me. I looked down at my satchel and belt making sure I had all my tools and my grappling hook was secured to my hip. I sighed before turning to Mark to see him checking his equipment as well.

“Why are we doing this again?” I ask.

Mark’s head lifts to catch my eyes for a second then going back down.

  “You said you wanted to go on another adventure right?” He reminds me.

   A heist at almost three in the morning when I should have been asleep was not what I meant by going on a crazy adventurer. Going on a trip to Europe like we’ve always talked about maybe but not the local museum in the town we lived in. Mark said that what we were stealing had some importance to it so I was willing to help my friend out.

   “Yeah but I’m tired, you should have at least made me coffee before we left so I could actually function.” I scowl. He shakes his head and laughs. 

   Mark takes his grappling hook off his belt and walks towards the brick building raising his arm he pulls the trigger and the hook goes flying up and catching the ledge of the roof. I do the same and we both walk up the side of the building tiring to be as quiet as possible walking to a small open vent that leads into the museum. I follow Mark’s lead and begin to think this was a bad idea and should’ve kept my mouth shut last week but continued.

[reds-self-ships]

🔎 The Adventure of the Detection Club

Chapter 4: Memoranda & The Great Detective's Plan

Table of Contents & Trigger Warnings

⚠ CHAPTER SPECIFIC WARNING: This chapter contains mild references to death and crime scene descriptions, specifically through severe and repetitive blunt force trauma.

The police hadn’t gone away for even five minutes before *Sholmes, Susato, Ryunosuke and Redford gathered their things together and got into a cab, and were already on their way to the scene of the crime.

Mr. Sholmes put the end of his pipe to his lips, but no kind of smoke seemed to be coming out of it.

“So, Mr. Nineteen—”

“—Ninate—”

“Yes, that. You’re a crime fiction writer, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I’m also a student of English Literature with the University of London.”

“Well; I do believe that Mr. Naruhodo here also studies English. Well, that is, he studied it before he became an attorney anyway.”

“What? Oh, er—yes!” Ryunosuke exclaimed, his eyes darting about the carriage as though he was following a rather excitable fly.

“Is that so?” asked Redford, his right leg resting up on the knee of his left, stroking his chin with his right hand.

“Er, yes. Though, more as a foreign language than any of the ‘literature’ end of things, that is. You’d probably want to speak to my friend Asogi if you wanted to know anything about English literature.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.”

“Although,” added Susato, “there’s also plenty to say on Japanese literature. I’m sure Mr. Naruhodo could give you some recommendations if you ever get the opportunity to study up on it.”

“Yes!” Ryunosuke suddenly exclaimed. “A former client of mine—also a Japanese exchange student—has written his own book of late. He sent me a signed copy as a thank you for defending him in court, actually. It’s called…er…how would you say it in English…? It’s…‘Wagahai wa neko de aru’.”

“I believe it would be ‘I Am A Cat’, Mr. Naruhodo.”

“Oh yes, it would. Wouldn’t it?”

“No point in asking me,” Sholmes said. “I only know a few basic phrases, such as ‘Kutsū no Fukutsū’.”

Susato asked: “Do you mean to say that your stomach has shoes, Mr. Sholmes?”

“What—No! Er, anyway, as I was saying, I don’t speak the language that well.”

“I don’t know any myself, to be honest with you. Who knows, maybe I could learn some crime-related words? Or maybe some courtroom-related words if we ever end up getting that far.”

“Well then, I promise that I’ll do my best to get you found ‘Muzai’,” said Ryunosuke.

Redford and Sholmes sat and stared at him as he began to smile and blush awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head.

“That, er, that means ‘Not Guilty’ in Japanese.”

“Oh…!

——————————

The carriage pulled up in-front of the building that housed the headquarters of the Detection Club, which, even now, was almost entirely surrounded by police constables and blue wooden barriers marked “METROPOLITAN POLICE – DO NOT PASS” in white, stencilled writing.

“Ironic that the offices of a group of crime fiction novelists ended up becoming a crime scene itself, isn’t it?” said Sholmes.

“Definitely something that even I couldn’t make up. I mean, it definitely sounds like something I wouldn’t even be bothered to sit down and write about, now that I think about it. I mean—who’d even want to sit down and read such a thing?”

Ryunosuke came back with Susato after having had a word with the constable in-charge of maintaining the perimeter around the local area. “Alright, we’ve been cleared to enter the crime scene whenever we need to.”

Susato added: “Apparently Detective Jones already sent a telegram ahead to give his approval, and said that we can access any materials involved with the investigation. And that includes the victim’s autopsy report.”

Ryunosuke, Susato and Mr. Sholmes looked up to see that Redford had already deployed a fountain pen and a brown leather-bound notebook, and was already taking what looked to be some particularly in-depth notes.

“Er, Mr. Ninate—?”

“Yes? By the way, Redford or Red will do just fine. Mr. Ninate is my father.”

“OK, er, Red…what are you doing?”

Redford didn’t even lift his head from his work. “Taking notes. You do make notes when you’re investigating something, right?”

“Well, yes, but normally we just file stuff away in the court record as opposed to…”

Ryunosuke craned his head and tried to make out the sort of things that his client was writing. Was this the so-called ‘short-hand’ that Susato had suggested he try learning?

“…a novel, is it?”

“You know, I don’t even bother making notes,” said Sholmes, proudly. “I remember it all myself, then get Dr. Wilson to write it all up when I’m done.

(Which explains so much…so, so much…) said Ryunosuke, quietly to himself.

“Well I’d prefer to keep notes. Well, if you don’t mind, that is?”

“Well not really—”

Ryunosuke didn’t get to finish that sentence. “—Excellent. I’ll just keep making notes, pretend I’m not here.”

Redford continued his note-taking intently, as though nothing had even been said at all. Ryunosuke decided to allow that point to pass without notice.

“Alright then, so the name of the victim is Harris Thomas,” Ryunosuke read from the autopsy report supplied by a constable. “Cause of death is listed as ‘repeated blows from blunt instrument’.”

Mr. Sholmes pulled the photo of the body out of the envelope it came in, immediately putting it back in again as he pulled quite the expression. “Oh my. That’s rather gory.”

“Good to know. But we should get a look at it ourse—” Ryunosuke took the envelope from Sholmes’s hands, opened it, removed the photograph and looked at it. “Oh wow, that ishorrifying.”

Susato tilted her head slightly to one side. “I’m not entirely sure what you were expecting, Mr. Naruhodo.”

The photograph, to phrase it gently, wasn’t much to look at. In fact, there wasn’t much left of the victim’s skull either, after the killer had finished what they had set out to do, that much was very much certain.

“A look around the crime scene proper’ll be able to tell us far more, though. Especially as this seems to be quite the locked room mystery as to how the killer managed to get in and out of the locked room after they killed the victim without being spotted or without any sign of forced entry or exit.”

“Well in fairness I did tell you it was a weird one. No forced entry, no other doors, a lock designed to break if it’s tampered with, and windows that barely open, all on the third storey, up there,” Redford pointed out, squinting as the sun reflected off of one of the higher windows of the building.

As the other three looked up, Redford quickly scribbled something out onto a back page of his notebook before tearing it out and handing it to Ryunosuke.

“Oh, thank you. Er…what is it, exactly?”

“A written memo, obviously. ‘No way in besides the key of the defendant. He maintains testimony that it remained on his person at the time. Only one such key exists to his knowledge. There is only one door into the room which didn’t appear forced, and as the windows only open a small amount and the room is up on the third floor of the building’.”

“I see. Thank you, then.” Ryunosuke passed it to Susato, who filed it away in her pocketbook.

“If you need me to write down anything else, do let me know.”

“Alright, er, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Right. Well then, after you,” said Redford, allowing Ryunosuke to step into the building ahead of him.

Before he could follow in after the pair, Susato caught Sholmes by his arm. “Excuse me, Mr. Sholmes…”

“Mm? What is it, Miss Mikotoba?”

“Are you planning something involving Mr. Naruhodo or Mr. Ninate?”

“No…what makes you say that?” the detective lied.

“Mr. Sholmes, you don’t exactly have the best track record for lying and being able to get away with it with any kind of great success for long, you know? You even weren’t able to keep Mr. Naruhodo’s surprise birthday party a secret from him for all of three days. And Iris and I only told you about it a week before it was due to happen!”

“Well how can I be expected notto talk to him and avoid bringing it up with him when we’re all living under the same roof?”

“What are you planning?” asked Susato, with the intonation as though she was talking to a misbehaving dog.

“Well I’ve been watching Mr. Naruhodo’s eyes all day since Mr. Ninate first came into Baker Street. He’s not been able to keep his eyes off of him all day! Even in the cab he didn’t know where to look without making it exceedingly obvious.”

“But Mr. Naruhodo ends up doing that most days anyway.”

“Still. I do believe he may have a bit of a ‘crush’ on this particular client – especially with the way that he took on the case so quickly, and especially given the particular circumstances of this case.”

“So I’m going to assume that making them share a room also falls under the idea of trying to get them together?”

“Precisely!”

“Mr. Sholmes, you really are something else, you know.”

“I try my best.”

Before they could continue any further, Ryunosuke himself shouted down the stairs.

“Susato! Mr. Sholmes! Are you coming?”

“Coming!” responded Sholmes. “Just…tying…my…shoelaces!”

“This isn’t over, Mr. Sholmes,” said Susato as they headed in together after the attorney and the writer.

*AUTHOR’S NOTE: Iris had decided to stay behind and try to repair the door that had been taken off of its hinges by the rather over-eager Detective Athelney Jones.

[cheemerthelizard]

Crusader of Life (Kakyoin x Reader) Chapter 17

It was time. Dio. The man who took Joseph’s grandfather’s body and plotted a world takeover. You would defeat him, no matter what, and you promised yourself that. And with your friends by your side, you knew you could do it.

“Kakyoin, do something about your girlfriend.”

“We’ve just lost some of our teammates and friends, and you expect her to just stop crying?”

“We’re getting close to Dio’s room, and he’s bound to be in there. Her loud crying will alert him. She at least needs to quiet down!”

“Well, that much is true...”

Although you still couldn’t compose yourself, you all agreed that you had to keep moving. But now, as the dark, eerie feeling in your heart grew stronger from his presence alone, you needed to calm down. That was the problem; you couldn’t. With Polnareff’s oh so sympathetic instructions to Kakyoin, you found an arm around your shoulder, pulling you towards the body it was attached to.

“I know it’s hard,” Kakyoin sighed. “I’m sorry it’s hard for you to bottle up your emotions.”

You clutched his body tightly, as you tried (and failed horribly) to stop crying, feeling your throat tighten and your breathing become sharp and sudden. “I-I-I feel like I should’ve b-b-been there,” you chocked out. “I-I-I-I could’ve s-saved... th-them...”

“That may be true,” Kakyoin ran his fingers through your hair, “but none of this could’ve been predicted. Maybe, if you weren’t with us, one of us was killed. You would feel just as guilty.”

“Kakyoin, she’s getting louder!” Polnareff complained. “Just cover her mouth with one of Hierophant’s tentacles or whatever! We’re getting too close to risk anything!”

“Maybe if you would show her some sympathy and try to calm her down instead of trying to shut her up with force,” Kakyoin snapped, “she would be quiet quicker.”

“J-j-just leave m-me beh-h-hind,” you sniffled. “I’m becoming a h-hinderance, anyw-way.”

“And give Dio the chance to take your life while we’re not looking?” Kakyoin objected. “We at least need to be in groups of two, and that’s just for normal enemies. But with Dio, we need to all stick together.”

You nodded, feeling your breathing get a little more steady.

“Hay, look at me,” Kakyoin cupped your chin. “I know we promised to not put the blame on ourselves if one of us died, but know that I’ll try my hardest to prevent that promise from being relevant.”

You stuffed your face into Kakyoin’s uniform and let out all the final cries before wiping the tears away and putting on a tough face. “I’m ready,” you said, eyes stained from the tears and throat still tight.

“Are we almost there, Nukesaku?” Jotaro asked.

“We’re getting there, just be patient!” Nukesaku growled.

After some more walking, you had entered a room that was like a fridge. Even if it were a warm place, the feeling deep inside your soul, the begging of your heart to run away, it confirmed that Dio was in this room.

“Lord Dio,” Nukesaku’s arms trembled as he started to open the lid to his master’s coffin, “please don’t think that I’ve betrayed you. In fact, the only reason I led them all the way here was because you can take care of them easily!”

He had fully opened the lid, and revealed...

“Wh-what?” Nukesaku exclaimed from inside the coffin. “But... I was just opening it! How am I inside?”

The five of you were taken aback, as well. After all, none of you had taken your eyes off of him. That’s when you felt something. A murderous intent. A feeling that, if you didn’t get out of that room right now, you would die. It was the exact same feeling as before, but so strong it overtook every other feeling you had. Strangely, though, it was also relieving, like you had done something that put you in danger, and your loving father was hugging you tightly, comforting you, telling you everything was gonna be okay now, but you knew you were gonna get it when you got home. Apparently, everyone else also felt that, because Joseph shouted, “Everyone, run!”

All of you immediately jumped out of the hole that Star Platinum had punched through just moments ago, Joseph having to grab Polnareff with Hermit Purple.

“What was that?” you shuddered while everyone was still free-falling. “It felt like something was watching me, waiting for the moment to strike, like a predator watching its prey.”

All of you grabbed onto the sides of the mansion, and slowly let yourselves down onto an etch in the building wide enough to sit down on.

“Right, you’ve never felt Dio’s influence before,” Kakyoin said, “although no amount of knowing what it felt like prepared me for the second time.”

“Neither did it for me,” Polnareff agreed. “But I’m done running! I’ll face Dio head on next time!”

“We need to think of a plan first,” Joseph said. “And, I hate to say it, but that might involve running away. We’re going to be helpless until dawn, after all.”

“No!” Polnareff objected. “I told you, I’m done running away! I’ll fight him, even if I have to go off on my own!”

“Don’t you remember where that got you last time?” you argued. “Do you ever learn?”

“Shut up!” Polnareff shouted. “I’ve made up my mind!” And with that, he ran off.

“That man is stubborn,” you grumbled.

“Wait,” Jotaro said. “Maybe we could use that to our advantage. If some of us stay behind, while the others flee, then Dio will be in the perfect place for a pincer attack.”

“That’s a good idea, Jotaro!” Joseph complimented. “I’d expect nothing less from my grandson, though.”

After setting up your teams, you, Joseph, and Kakyoin all made an escape in a truck, while Jotaro went to find Polnareff and tell him the plan. It was decided you should be with the getaway group, because that was the one that Dio would be chasing after, and you would need to use Ace of Pentacles to mend any wounds.

“I can feel him,” Joseph said. “I can feel Dio’s presence gaining on us.”

“Is that some sort of Joestar gift?” you asked, almost jokingly. “Being able to sense a vampire a mile away?”

“Not exactly,” Joseph answered. “It’s more along the lines of, ‘I can sense another Joestar a mile away’. After all, Dio has my grandfather’s body. And with that body, he can probably sense me, but he doesn’t know whether it’s Jotaro or me. Hopefully, he assumes we’re both in the truck.”

“You don’t look very comfortable, (Y/N),” Kakyoin said. “Is it cramped in the middle?”

“I’m fine, I promise,” you reassured him. “After all, were going against Dio. The last thing we need to worry about is my comfort.”

“I feel Dio’s presence closing in on us!” Joseph exclaimed. “He’s in the car behind ours!”

“Hierophant Green!” Kakyoin shouted, summoning his Stand.

“Ace of Pentacles!” you called out your Stand, as well, just in case he got hurt.

“There’s a guy in the car with Dio,” Kakyoin described to the two of you. “That one is driving the car. He’s pretty banged up.”

“I hate it when people use others like it’s no big deal,” you growled. “Make sure Dio gets the worst, Kakyoin!”

“You got it! Emerald Splash!”

You heard glass breaking, then a door flying off.

“What? He brushed it off like it was nothing! I’ll try a more concentrated splash.”

This time, you looked in the back window, and saw the roof of the car break through.

“He still deflected it!” Kakyoin shuddered. “How did he...? Wait, when did he summon his Stand?!”

You saw Hierophant go flying back into multiple street signs, and heard Kakyoin make grunts in pain.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered!” you cried. Using Ace, you welded together the wounds all over him.

“Thank you,” Kakyoin breathed hard, touching the now mended spots where he had been hurt, and yelped when he touched them.

“It’ll take a while for your nerves to be used to it,” you told him. “Don’t touch the healed spots.”

“Right,” he grunted.

“Ah, good, the car stopped,” Joseph sighed, still flooring it.

“Mr. Joestar,” Kakyoin gasped, “something’s coming straight at us!”

Sure enough, a man covered in blood was sent hurdling though the back window, making Joseph spin out of control and crash.

Frantically, Kakyoin helped you out of the burning truck. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” you said. “Don’t waste any time checking up on me. We have to get out of here!”

Kakyoin grabbed your waist and used Hierophant to hoist the two of you up to the top of a building right before Dio saw you.

“I think I have an idea,” he muttered. “I know how to figure out the secret of The World! (Y/N), you’ll have to stay with Mr. Joestar.”

You nodded, and Joseph hoisted you up on his back and used Hermit Purple to leap from building to building. Eventually, Dio started chasing after you, but something stopped him.

“Emeralds?” you wondered out loud. You watched as Dio leaped back, but then more emeralds shot from behind him. Of course! This was Kakyoin’s trick to uncovering The World’s secret!

Joseph landed on the roof of a building and set you down, allowing both of you to look at what was really going on. There, you saw a barrier that Hierophant had set up all over the area.

“Now, to see the real identity of The World!” Kakyoin shouted. “Take this, Dio! Twenty-meter radius Emerald Splash!”

The emeralds started to close in on Dio, but he didn’t look the slightest bit worried. “The World!” he yelled. Then, as the emeralds collided, Kakyoin was sent flying back with a huge hole in his abdomen.

“Kakyoin!” you shrieked. “No!” You rushed over to the side of the roof when you were held back by purple thorns.

“Let me go!” you screamed. “I know my limits, Mr. Joestar! I’m not gonna kill myself!”

“I can’t let you just rush off impulsively, (Y/N)!” Joseph cried. However, while he was busy holding your original copy back, you made a new copy of yourself that jumped off of the edge of the building.

“She’ll never make it to him,” Dio cackled. “Nobody can make that jump!”

You knew that. You knew that jumping off was suicide. But you knew what you were doing, and it wasn’t anything suicidal. Ace of Pentacles made a copy of you above, and that copy pushed off of you. Then, that copy did the same thing. Soon enough, multiple copies of yourself were jumping off of each other like a crashing screen on Windows XP, and one of those copies grabbed onto the ledge of the building that Kakyoin had landed on. You climbed up from that ledge, and saw a puddle of red-tinted water near a water tower, and Kakyoin’s motionless body sitting there, eyes barely open.

“Kakyoin!” Your eyes were already welling up. You lifted him from the tower and set him down in a dry spot. “Don’t move,” you ordered, but your wavering voice made it sound more like a plead. “If I mess anything up, you’ll be in constant pain.”

You checked all of his organs, and sighed with relief. None of his organs were completely missing, only damaged. Wiping the tears away from your face, you got to work.

Okay, vital organs first. Lungs, stomach, anything else that he would need. But lungs absolutely first. He’s gonna need to breathe. Ace of Pentacles patched up the missing spots in his lungs, and Kakyoin started breathing heavily.

“T-time...” he croaked out.

“What?”

“The World’s secret... is time...”

And his eyes closed. Frantically, you put your ear to his chest. He couldn’t be dead, he couldn’t be!

The thump in his heart proved you right. You let your tears flow free now, just happy he was still alive. But that wasn’t going to distract you from the task at hand.

Alright, lungs have been mended, now the rest of the organs. Carefully, Ace duplicated the cells, and fixed them up. Next was the bones. It would be hard to move if his ribcage was gone. That was a little easier than the organs, since it was a little more straightforward. But even easier was the muscles and blood vessels, and then, the skin. Soon enough, all of Kakyoin’s body had been restored to its normal state. Despite knowing he wouldn’t wake up for a while, you hugged him tightly. “I won’t let you go,” you whispered. “I won’t let you die. Not after Avdol and Iggy didn’t even get a chance.”

For a while, you held him in your arms, stroking his wet hair, getting some of the water from the puddle and washing off the blood on his arms and legs. You didn’t stop holding him until a helicopter hovered over you. A ladder was slowly let down, along with a woman who was hanging onto that ladder. Upon closer inspection, you noticed she had a SPW hat on. Thank goodness, a Speedwagon worker!

“He looks alright,” the worker shouted to be heard over the copter. “You healed him very well.”

“Thank you,” you shouted back. “Will he be alright?”

“He will be just fine, thanks to you,” the woman smiled. You handed Kakyoin to her, and she carefully held him in her arms. “It’s a long way down,” she told you. “You want a ride?”

“Yes, ma’am,” you replied. You grabbed on to the lowest rung, and the helicopter slowly lowered the ladder even more until you could safely jump to the ground.

“Now, go help the others!” the Speedwagon woman said. “Be the light at the end of the tunnel!”

“I will!” You rushed off, in search of your friends. You had to tell them Dio’s secret, as well. 

You started to run all throughout Cairo, in hopes of finding Dio and the others, but so far, nothing. You wondered if they were alright, or if you could get there in time. What if it was too late? No, you couldn’t think about that now, not while you still had to look for the ones you were so worried about.

Then, a silhouette came into view. Joseph’s silhouette. He seemed to look okay, to your relief. “Mr. Joestar!” you cried out. “Hey! I healed Kak-“

“Don’t come any closer, (Y/N)!” Joseph interrupted. “You too, Jotaro! Both of you, stay back!”

You looked a bit further down, and saw your classmate looking just as surprised as you were.

“Jotaro, Mr. Joestar!” you shouted. “The secret of The World’s ability is time! The World has the ability to stop ti-“

“The World!” Dio shouted. Soon after, he seemed to have teleported again, right next to Joseph, who had a knife puncturing his neck, and was lying on the floor.

“Mr. Joestar!” you screamed. Before you could run towards him, though, Dio teleported behind you, and grabbed your throat. No, not teleported. He stopped time and walked. Still, he had you in his grasp, with a knife in his hand. As much as you tried to struggle, nothing broke you free. You thought he would spare you for a little bit, and would most likely use you more as bait to get Jotaro closer, but you soon realized you were only right about one of those things, as he stabbed the knife through your chest and sliced it open, barely missing the heart. The whole thing made you scream in agony, with tears pouring down the sides of your cheeks. You were in so much pain you almost didn’t realize the mask he put over your face, and him reaching his fingers into the open wound. Wait. Joseph had told you stories of the stone mask, and how putting blood on it activated its powers, and destroyed the victim’s humanity, both morally and physically, making them a creature of the night. Dio wasn’t... Dio couldn’t... would he really... make you a vampire? The very thought of being the same as Dio made your heart thump so hard you could feel it.

“Such an innocent girl,” Dio smirked. “She wouldn’t be able to survive a week with vampirism. I don’t think she’d feed on blood even if her stomach was eating itself. What do you think, Jotaro?” He spat out that name like it was nasty food. “I just might have to use the mask on her, though, if you won’t get close enough for me to attack.”

That was enough to send Jotaro running towards Dio, fists clenched, Star Platinum summoned. Once again, Dio stopped time, and left you crumpled on the ground while Jotaro went flying back.

“You did the right thing, Jotaro,” Dio sneered. “I would have had the mask clamp around her face, but you saved her just in time.”

The wound on your chest made you much weaker, to the point where you couldn’t even get yourself off the ground. Still, you started crawling to Joseph’s side, summoning Ace of Pentacles. Although your vision was blurred, you could clearly see Dio’s blonde hair whip around, and his body get closer to yours until he picked you up by your neck, cutting off your air.

“Trying to heal him, are you?” Dio snickered. He violently threw you on the ground, and stepped on your head, putting lots of pressure on it. Despite your screeching protests, the pressure kept getting worse and worse, until you heard a cracking sound. Oh, but he wasn’t done, yet. Dio had The World pick you up, and fling you to the other side of the street with ease. You tumbled across the ground until you skidded to a halt. As Dio approached your beaten up body again, you prepared for the worst. However, before he could land another hit on you, Star Platinum sent a devastating punch through The World, making him fly back.

“Get out of here,” Jotaro ordered.

“But, but Mr. Joestar-“ your voice was as loud as you could make it, and even you could barely hear it. Still Jotaro seemed to understand what you were trying to say.

“The old man’ll be fine, just go!” he shouted.

Gradually, you shuffled along the ground, away from the chaos of the battle between Star Platinum and The World. You didn’t get far, though, before all of the pain Dio inflicted on you was catching up. You knew you had to heal yourself, even if it was just a little bit. Sighing, you rolled over, and summoned Ace of Pentacles again. But you had so little energy that you couldn’t even duplicate one cell. On top of that, your ears wouldn’t pick anything up anymore, and your eyes weren’t really seeing anything other than black. Was... was this it? Were you going to die here, alone on the ground? It seemed more than likely.

“Mr. Joestar,” you said aloud, “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to you in time. Jotaro, I’m sorry I didn’t get out of the way in time. Avdol and Iggy, I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you needed me. Polnareff, I’m sorry I lashed out at you on more than one occasion. And Kakyoin... Kakyoin, I’m sorry you didn’t get to say thank you to me for saving your life. Please don’t hold it against yourself.”

With what little vision you had left, you could see Ace of Pentacles flickering away from sight. “I’m sorry,” you whispered. “Ace, I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you alive longer.”

You took in the brilliant night sky one last time as your final view, then closed your eyes. For some reason, your last breaths felt... peaceful. Like you had fulfilled your purpose, and you told your now grown up child to pull the plug on the life support.

“Please fell my parents I loved them,” you said, knowing nobody could hear you.

“Goodbye.”

[kasienda]

An Open Secret - Chapter Four

Alright @ladybuginettes! It’s finally finished. It’s got a ton of Adrien bonding with everyone. And I thank you for your patience. And I hope you and yours are doing well and are healthy. 

Chapter 1: A Revelation

Chapter 2: The New Normal

Chapter 3: Advice

Chapter 4: In the Rain

Ladybug and Chat Noir were out for a normal patrol. These mundane patrols had always been Adrien’s favorite part of his week. Vaulting over rooftops with no expectations to meet or city to save felt liberating. He felt so free - like he could fly. When he shot upwards with a press of his staff, for a second he felt like he was. The patrols were also time he spent with Ladybug without fearing for her life. Time where they could just hangout, or play a game of tag. But now, they were even better. Now, the barriers and secrets between them had almost faded away. And that brought a whole new level of freedom because he could be himself. Only himself, and that was enough.

The sky had been overcast, but the weather report had promised it wouldn’t rain. They were halfway across the Parisian skyline when that prediction proved completely false. And it wasn’t a light drizzle that Chat Noir could push himself through. In one moment, the air had been clear, and the next, the sky had opened and a deluge poured down around them like a waterfall. His feline ears flattened against his now soaked blond hair in displeasure. While transformed, few things were worse than rain. He cursed the blasted feline traits that had a tendency to bleed over into his very human life.

Ladybug’s laughter hit him from behind. Usually, he loved the sound, but at the moment it was entirely at his expense. He turned a grumpy frown in her direction.

“It’ll be okay, kitty,” she reassured, and then pointed at the tall building up ahead. “Over there. Follow me?” He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. Anything he had to say would probably come out as a hiss in this atrocious weather.

She leapt away, swinging on her yoyo and he was quick to follow her path. He settled down next to her with their backs pressed up against a cold stucco wall under a third story rafter. It was a good spot. They had an expansive view of the city before them, but the roof sloped slightly away so the area stayed dry. Better yet, it was secluded between two other taller buildings without windows. So hopefully, others couldn’t see them well from the street or from other windows.

“Lucky charm,” she whispered. A red and black towel fell into her hands and she offered it to him with a smile. “Tikki’s being surprisingly straightforward for once,” he commented.  

“I have found that outside of battle, the charm is usually more straightforward.” “That must be nice,” he muttered as he rubbed the towel through his hair. Cataclysm had few practical applications in his opinion, though Plagg insisted he just wasn’t being creative enough.

With the help of the towel, Chat Noir was able to get dry enough that he lost the desire to arch and bristle. He kept at it until Ladybug dropped down to one spot anyway. At that time, he handed her back the towel and closed his eyes. He felt the buzz of her transformation drop and saw the flash of pink that said her transformation was down through his eyelids. He resented the need to keep his eyes closed, but Tikki was there.

“Hello Chat Noir,” the high-pitched voice greeted. “Hi Tikki,” he said, still keeping his eyes closed. “I’m sorry you got caught in this storm, Chat Noir,” the kwami said with genuine sympathy. “Perhaps your luck has been too good lately, and as the holder of the black cat you needed some bad luck to balance things out.” “I have felt pretty lucky lately,” the part time superhero admitted. And if the cost of that was getting caught out in the rain, he would take on a hundred thunderstorms.

“I’m so glad! You deserve it as you’ve been very sweet to my chosen these past few weeks. She hasn’t been able to talk about anything else!”

“Tikki!” Marinette hissed.

Adrien laughed. It was nice to know that Plagg wasn’t the only kwami to give his chosen grief.

“I’m flattered.”

“I will give her back to you so you can open your eyes. Please tell Plagg that I say hello.” “I’m sure he’ll be delighted.”

“Not that he’ll admit it!” Tikki shot back.

Adrien smiled. It was clear that Tikki and Plagg knew each other well even though he had never actually seen them interact. The buzz along his skin told him Marinette was transforming back. “Okay, you can open your eyes again. Thank you for your patience.” “Anytime.” He opened his eyes to take in her smile.

Then she turned towards the rain. He followed her line of sight. Pounding water droplets hit the rooftops and ground with such force they bounced upwards again, softening the Parisian skyline. Even the street lamps had a glowing aura about them.

He leaned his head back on the cold rough surface of the wall behind them and let his eyes fall closed. The rain was rhythmic and soothing like a cat’s purr. He sighed in contentment. Adrien could appreciate the precipitation more when it wasn’t falling on him and when he was sitting side by side with his lady.

He opened his eyes and glanced towards Ladybug. She stared out with a small satisfied smile on her face. Flickering lights from the street were reflected on the rain drops that still sat on her cheeks. She hadn’t used the towel herself, determined to give him all the time her miraculous would allow.

She had never looked so gorgeous. And he didn’t mean physically, though she was that too. She was just a beautiful human being. One that found beauty in everything, even the rain. He tried to stamp out his line of thinking. She knew how he felt, and nothing had happened. She probably was still in love with whoever it was she had a crush on. He needed to get over her before he ruined everything between them. She glanced at him and her smile widened. He smiled back feeling completely at peace. Even if they were never together, he got to share this moment with her. No one else could have patrols or flying over the city with her. Chat Noir would always be special to her, and he was honestly happier than he had ever been in his life since they figured each other out.

This, whatever this now was, wasn’t all he wanted, but it was enough. “I love the rain,” Ladybug commented, breaking the silence. He looked at her in surprise. He hadn’t known that before. Ladybug had never mentioned it.

“I fell in love in the rain.”

Keep Reading on Ao3 Keep Reading on FF.net

Oh.

If Adrien could have curled up and disappeared into his cat suit, he would have. He had always wanted to know the mystery of the boy she had a crush on, but now, he didn’t. No doubt, he’d at least know this idiot boy. And he didn’t want any jealousy to sour his relationship with Marinette on either side of the mask.

“Tell me about it?” he asked like a masochist that couldn’t help himself.

She smiled fondly into the torrents of rain, as if she was remembering something. “Initially, I didn’t like him at all. I thought he had set up a prank trying to embarrass me. I thought he was just like another classmate I knew who had tormented me for years. I yelled at him and never gave him the chance to explain.” Who could she be talking about? That hardly narrowed down the list at all. He had witnessed firsthand that Marinette had delivered the axe down onto several of their peers when she felt they had done wrong to her or to those she loved.

“And then the next day after school, he apologized,” she continued. “Seems like the right thing to do if he tried to embarrass you.”

“See, that’s just it. He hadn’t tried to embarrass me. I just thought that he had. He had actually been trying to undo the prank that was being played on me.” She turned to him then and stared right at him.  “So, the first day I met him, he had been trying to protect me even though he didn’t know me, and I yelled at him for it.

Adrien took in every impassioned word because it was important to her, and therefore it had to be important to him no matter how painful.

“And then,” she continued, “he apologized for upsetting me, for giving me the wrong impression. I remember being struck by the complete sincerity in his eyes. I don’t think I have ever met someone so genuine before or since. “And then, before I could accept his apology, he offered me his umbrella so that I would stay dry.”

He stared at her in shock. He needed to breathe, but his lungs weren’t moving. The whole world faded from his senses.

Because he could see it too. Marinette standing in front of him, her blue eyes wide as she stared at his proffered umbrella. Paris behind her blurred with the pouring down rain. Their hands had touched for just a second. That had been a precious moment for him as well, because that was the moment he knew that they were friends.

Chat Noir looked up at that moment to see Marinette again, this time decked out in the glory of Ladybug’s suit, those same blue eyes that were currently lost in her own memory of that day. Her cheeks flushed with just the slightest pink even as they were framed with her dripping wet pigtails that were plastered to her face.  

“It was like he was trying to protect me all over again,” she confided. “Even though as far as he knew, I was still mad and didn’t believe him. Our hands touched in that moment, and after that I was totally lost. It took years before I could utter complete sentences in front of him consistently.” His eyes burned. He had too many feelings. He wanted sob at the needless self-doubt that had plagued him for so long, to cry in glee that everything had aligned so perfectly, to shout his euphoria from the rooftops.

Because she had loved him all along. That was why she had always been so nervous around him as Adrien. She was awkward because she liked him. He had always worried he was doing something wrong, but it was because he was doing something right! “A-are you okay?” she asked, her voice dripping with concern. He nodded, unable to form words around the emotion lodged in this throat. He held up a finger to ask for a minute. He needed to get a hold of himself because he was about to cry. He took a deep breath and turned back to her glassy eyes, realizing that she was going to cry too. He laughed, even as the first tear escaped. “I’m way more than okay. I’m just a little overwhelmed.” “Yeah, I can tell,” she commented, a gloved finger wiping the tear from his cheek gently. She smiled brightly at him.

And that familiar expression helped some of the heaviness dissipate, leaving only giddy lightness behind. “Tell me more,” he asked with a huge grin, wiping the last of his tears away.  

She blushed. “Honestly, there’s not a whole lot else to tell. I watched him a lot because I couldn’t manage words. I was a bit obsessive and I’ve done quite a few things I’m not proud of in the name of this crush.” “Yeah?” he prompted, a smirk blooming across his face. He honestly loved that her affections were strong enough to push Ladybug into breaking rules. “Like what?” She glanced away. He could practically feel the heat radiating from her face. “I think the w-worst thing I ever did was s-steal his phone.” He stared at her, baffled. When he said nothing, she pulled her knees up to her chest. He realized she was panicking. “Why?” he made himself ask.

“I left an embarrassing voicemail. It started with stuttering nonsense. Then I thought it was over, but apparently, Al… my best friend left it going, and I may have confessed my crush on him and called yo- I mean, him, a ridiculous pet name.” He couldn’t hold back the grin that split his face. He could picture the scene so clearly. Alya and Marinette up in Marinette’s room. Alya trying to meddle as she apparently did all the time. He wished he could hear it now, though he was glad he hadn’t heard it at the time. He wasn’t sure how he would have reacted to Marinette’s interest when he was so caught in his own feelings for Ladybug. “What was the pet name?” “H-hot stuff,” she admitted.

He smirked. He had always told her that she’d find his unmasked face irresistible. “Stop it!” she scolded, as she swatted his arm playfully. “Stop what?” “Looking so pleased with yourself!” He bit his lip, trying not to laugh. The strategy proved unsuccessful. “Chaaaat,” she whined. “What else did you do?” He asked with a grin. Now that he had no reason to fear the identity of her crush, he was completely over the moon. He had no reason to hold his curiosity at bay. He wanted to know everything. Every tiny little gift or attempt at a confession. Every embarrassing misstep if she was willing to share. Because even her mistakes were adorable, and made him love her more if that was possible.

“I have his schedule on my wall.”

“What?” he said flatly. And then grinned again. She was never going to stop surprising him. “I probably know it better than he does.” He didn’t disagree. He had no clue what his schedule was. That was what Nathalie was for. “Why?” he asked. It didn’t bother him, so much as he couldn’t fathom a reason for it. She shrugged. “It made me feel like there was a possibility of running into him during the day to tell him how I felt.” “Why didn’t you?” “For the longest time, I was so nervous around him. Completely tongue-tied. I almost always embarrassed myself horribly before I ever managed to confess any feelings. Other times, I ran away before I could horribly embarrass myself.” “I bet he thought you were cute,” he countered. She blushed. “You think so?”

“It’s what I would have thought,” he assured her, turning towards the rain again, pretending to be nonchalant. “Do you think I should go for it?” she asked. Adrien scoffed from inside his cat suit. “If he turns you down, he’s an idiot.” And he had been an idiot for long enough.

“He’s an attractive idiot,” she teased. He grinned again. “Oh? Should I be jealous?”

She smiled in smug amusement. “Super jealous! Did I tell you he’s a model?”

“Uh oh. You’d better be careful, LB. I hear models can be rather self-absorbed.” “He’s not like that!” she objected.

“He’s not?” Chat whispered, all bravado evaporating from his voice. Raw naked vulnerability took its place. “You don’t think he’s selfish at all?” Startled blue eyes flew towards his. “No, not at all,” she insisted immediately without even a second of hesitation. Adrien looked away back toward the falling rain. The falling water felt ominous and heavy again. “Maybe you don’t know him that well.” Her hand rested gently on top of his own. “I mean, I’ve watched him sacrifice himself for the benefit of others so many times. He’s put himself in harm’s way for me countless times. I think that’s pretty selfless.” “I think he just doesn’t know how to live without you,” he countered, staring up at the rafters above them.

“Chat, look at me.”

He did as she requested. I could never deny her anything.

“Wanting something for yourself doesn’t mean that you’re selfish. Being selfish is more like taking what you want without considering anyone else. He’s like the exact opposite of that. He takes everyone into account first. He doesn’t think of himself often enough. I told you, I fell in love with him because he was kind, because he always goes out of his way to protect others. He’s able to see the potential for good in others even when I struggle. He’s just that genuine.”

He stared at her, his chest was pounding so loudly his feline senses could hear it over the rain. He wanted to cry again. He had almost given her up. And so, all of this was completely unexpected - a shock to his system he was unprepared to take, though he wanted it with every fiber of his being. “Why did you wait so long to tell me this?” he asked. He had confessed to her days and days ago. When she knew that everything was reciprocated, why had she waited?

She turned away, red from her mask spreading into her cheeks. “I-I was afraid.” “Afraid of what?”

Her blue eyes stared out into the monotony of falling water. “What if something happens to him because he’s with me? I mean, if anyone ever found out he was Ladybug’s boyfriend, he’d be a target. In some ways, I think he already is one. I don’t know how I would ever forgive myself if something happened to him because of me.”

He relaxed. Like always, she was keeping secrets to protect those she loved. He never really thought he’d be lucky enough to be on that list. “It wouldn’t be your fault. I’m sure if he loves you, he’d be willing to take the risk.” She turned back to him then, her gaze suddenly piercing. “I know he is. But I still struggle with it.” “You’re still afraid.” He wished she didn’t have to be, but as long as Papillion was free, there’d always be a risk. “I don’t think I’ll ever not be,” she admitted softly.

“So, why didn’t you continue to keep your feelings a secret?” He was so glad she changed her mind on this.

“My best friend pointed out that if something happened to him and I never told him how I felt, I would regret that more. And she was right.” He almost laughed. God, he needed to buy Alya a new laptop or something. She had promised she would come through. And she had more than delivered. “Does she know?” he asked, smiling again.

“That I’m Ladybug?” she shook her head. “No. I think she was baffled by my fear, but she knows that I’ve liked this boy almost since the day we met. And she’s been pushing for me to confess for years. She pushes me and has given me a ton of opportunities, but she also has been so very patient when I didn’t take advantage.” “She sounds like a good friend.”

“The best!” she squealed. Then she sobered. “I��m kinda glad I didn’t confess before now anyway because he didn’t really see me before now. And I didn’t really see him. Now, we can really see each other.” She let her fingertips touch just the tips of his.

He forgot how to breathe for like the third time that night. “You’re right,” he finally managed. “It’s better that you’re both ready now. I hope it works out for you. I can’t imagine that it won’t.”

She turned back to him, her eyes sparkling in mischief. “What do you think we should do?”

“For what?”

“For our first date!” she squealed excitedly. “What do you think he would like?” He smiled. “Maybe you should surprise him.”

…

Nino bobbed his head in time with the baseline of the lofi remix he had been working on for days. His current version emanated from the headphones resting on his shoulders, but there was something missing from the track. Mendeliev wouldn’t let him wear the headphones over his ears in class, but he had learned that if there was a certain amount of bustle and activity, he could get away with listening to the music faintly. He glanced at the clock - there was only two minutes left of the period anyway. He and Adrien had long since finished the lab and cleared away their materials. It was awesome to have a best friend who was so good at science.

The bell rang and there was an immediate flurry of activity as students scrambled to pack up for lunch.

“Nino, I don’t know how to tell you this.”

Nino immediately swiveled towards his girlfriend’s sullen voice. “What’s wrong, babe?” She turned her phone towards him. It took him a moment to realize he was looking at the ten day forecast and then another ten seconds to figure out why that was bad. He tried to suck in his disappointment.

“The concert in the park is going to be rained out,” she added unnecessarily.

He hadn’t even considered the weather being a problem! It had been clear skies for like ten days in a row! Why did the rain have to return now, of all times? “Maybe we could exchange our tickets for something else?” she offered. “How about this one?”

“That’s no good!” he countered, glancing through his phone calendar. “That’s bro time!” he explained, as he offered a playful fistbump to Adrien’s shoulder. His friend smiled in response.

“I can always reschedule if you want,” Adrien offered.

“No way, dude! Knowing your old man and his witch of an assistant, I won’t see you outside these walls for another month if I let you reschedule!”

Adrien laughed. “Fair enough.”

Nino noticed at that moment that Marinette had already cleaned up her and Alya’s lab, and was standing in front of Adrien’s desk, writhing her hands. He grinned, offered her a wink, and started pretending that he was looking for something in his backpack. “A-Adrien, I was wondering if you wanted to go get some lunch with me?” “Of course, Mari! Does that sound good to you guys?” Adrien turned towards him and Alya, and Marinette immediately wilted.

Nino shook his head, and pointed his chin back at Marinette. “Dude! I’m sure Mari wants your first date to just be the two of you.” Green eyes went comically wide, and he whirled back to Marinette with a huge grin.

“Date?” She turned bright red, and nodded with a shy smile. Adrien’s smile extended even further, showing off all his perfect glistening white teeth. “Just tell me when and where Nette.”

“How about right now?” “Let’s go!” He offered his hand. She took it and their fingers quickly interlaced. Nino grinned at the sight. He was so happy for both of his friends. “You kids okay without us?” Adrien asked, turning back to him. “We’re chill, dude!” Nino reassured. “Go have fun! We’ll do a double date sometime later.” Alya added. Nino was shocked to see that she wasn’t filming the moment. Maybe Marinette had requested her to not make a big deal of anything.

Adrien turned back to Marinette. “So, what’re we doing?”

She looked up at him, her eyes dancing, and her free hand fiddled with the hem of her shirt. Adrien still held her other hand. It was sweet. “I-It’s a surprise!”

“Well, then lead the way!” Adrien prompted. He flashed a huge grin to Nino and Alya as he grabbed his bag and followed Marinette’s gentle tugs to get him out the door faster. “It’s still so weird to see you get nervous,” Adrien was saying. “What are you talking about?” Marinette bantered back easily. “You’ve seen me a stuttering mess a million times.” “Maybe, but I’ve also seen you…” Adrien trailed off as the door closed behind them. Nino stared at the closed door considering their two friends. Alya was right. Adrien and Marinette had become so close so fast, and they had a weird dynamic where sometimes they seemed oddly nervous and other times way too comfortable with each other.

“I still don’t really know what happened with them,” Alya commented. “Are you okay with that?” he asked, turning towards her. She shrugged. “The curiosity is literally burning inside me, but I’ll live.”

“You’re a good friend,” he told her as he pulled her against him. “And a good girlfriend I hope?” she asked with a delighted gleam in her eyes. “The absolute best girlfriend.” “Good! Because I have something for you,” she said, pulling away just slightly to retrieve a flat wrapped parcel from her bag.

He took the gift from her hands. “What’s this for?” She shrugged. “Nothing in particular. Just that I love you and this just kinda fell in my lap. And I thought you would like it. And if you don’t, well, you can give it back to me because I love it!”

He tore off the tissue paper, his curiosity piqued. He revealed the charcoaled drawing of Carapace and Rena Rouge. She was leaning in towards him, about to kiss. Carapace was grinning in anticipation with a supportive hand on her waist. The curve of Rena’s jawline, her foxtailed hair, her gloved hand laying gently on his chest, the joy in Carapace’s eyes were rendered in astounding detail.

“Wow,” was all he could think to say. He was going to have to make Alya like the most epic remixed hip hop playlist to say thank you for this.

“I commissioned Marinette actually,” Alya explained.

He grinned, his eyes taking in each carefully constructed detail. “If we ever get a place together, this is going up on a wall!”

“Moving in together?! Moving a little fast for a turtle there, aren’t you?”

Nino shrugged. “You haven’t thought about it?” he countered.

Alya’s cheeks darkened, and she glanced away.

He grinned, carefully set Marinette’s latest masterpiece on his desk, and then slowly pulled Alya to him with a hand on her waist trying to enact the portrait. Today was looking very up!

...

Plagg phased through a park bench, glanced around to be sure no one was around, and floated upward to nestle next to his other half. She currently perched quietly in the naked tree branches. They were somewhat exposed, but anyone looking from a distance would no doubt just see what they expected to see - two birds sitting on a tree branch rather than two kwamis overlooking their chosen.

The two teenagers were sitting side by side on the park’s bench eating ice cream despite the freezing temperature. Adrien tipped his tower of cream until it just briefly made contact with Marinette’s nose.

She shrieked in objection. And then promptly shoved Adrien’s Ladybug themed ice cream back into his own grinning face.

“Aren’t they sweet together?” Tikki commented with a deep sigh of contentment, her bulbous eyes sparkling in pure joy at the innocent scene below them.  

“Is that why you haven’t ratted them out to Fu?” Plagg asked. He wasn’t teasing. He needed to know where his partner stood on this. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the kwami of creation said airily, her eyes never straying from the children below who were now lost in a fit of giggles.

Plagg snorted. “Right, and camembert is the worst kind of cheese on this planet.”

“I knew you’d see sense eventually!” Tikki squealed, “Would you like to try one of Marinette’s macaroons? They come in every flavor you could ever want and every one of them is amazing!”

He gagged.

And then whipped in front of her. “Seriously Sugarcube, you’re not going to ruin this for them, are you?”

Tikki did the kwami equivalent of a shrug. “Order is important, and rules are necessary to maintain order. But nothing is more important than love, Plagg. Plus, it’s really nice to see her get these moments of happiness. She is too young for this burden.”

Plagg relaxed, and allowed himself to settle on the branch. Tikki wouldn’t say anything. “You always say that.”

“It’s always true! Plus, they are doing a remarkable job of pretending they don’t know.”

Plagg laughed. “No, they’re not. They’re pathetically obvious. I’m shocked that blogger girl hasn’t figured it out.”

Tikki sighed. “I just mean that they haven’t explicitly said it out loud even to one another. And until they do, there is a small sliver of doubt. And I can’t ask because if I do, I give it away. So, until one of them actually says something, there’s no reason to mention it to Fu.”

Plagg grinned. Tikki had a way of rationalizing and twisting the letter of the law into her favor when the spirit of a law didn’t suit her. Plagg also suspected that if the kids did completely slip up, she still wouldn’t say anything to Fu. She was more likely to pretend she had fallen asleep and missed whatever incriminating thing had been said.

Plagg grinned again and nuzzled up against his other half. “I knew you’d come around to my way of thinking eventually! Rules are made to be broken. Maybe someday you’ll even be able to appreciate the amazingness of camembert.” “Keep dreaming, stinky sock!”

…

A/N: Thanks for taking this journey with me. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Reviews/Comments/Reblogs are love!

[addicted-to-dc]

I’m Supposed To Be Fighting You (Jason Todd/Red X X Reader)- Part 7

Welp, here it is as promised! Sorry for the lack of tags, but I think I’m just not gonna do that anymore. I still can’t find my list... whoops. Anyway, enjoy and please leave some feedback!!!

Warnings: Angst as usual, mentions of torture and death, violence, etc. 

Word Count: 1747

Robin had the team searching all over the city for you, searching for any indication of your whereabouts. Luckily Cyborg was able to put together a tracking device of sorts, built mainly to detect the energy disturbance you create while teleporting. Landing on a roof, Cyborg quickly walked over to where you had been. He sighed, shaking his head towards the team.

“This is two hours old, (Y/N) could be anywhere by know,” he said, pocketing the tracker. “If we want to find her, I need to increase the distance this tracker can cover.”

Robin scowled, walking over to the edge of the building. Where would you go? That’s one thing that he hated about having a new team member, the lack of information he knew about you. You kept your secrets well, and his reluctance to push any further has come to bite him in the ass. He took in a deep breath, trying to calm himself down enough to think. As soon as he smelled it, he knew how they could find you.

“Cyborg, can you track Xenothium?” Robin asked, turning back towards the group. “It has a less subtle energy disturbance than (Y/N)’s.”

“Why do you want to track Red X?” Raven asked. “This is about (Y/N), not-”

“I’ve got a hit,” Cyborg interrupted, a shocked expression appearing on his face. “It’s here, but that means-”

“(Y/N) is with him,” Robin revealed, staring at the group. “How could I be so blind?”

“We could be jumping to conclusions,” Beast Boy said, looking around the group. “He could have kidnapped her, saw it as an opportunity to capture a member of the team.”

“Friend (Y/N) would never do such a thing,” Starfire stated, flying over to Robin. “Robin, what should we do?”

“We’ll find out where they are, and whether she is allied with him or not, we’re going to get answers.”

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

At first it was odd to stay with Jason, but the more you experienced with him the more you understood why you preferred it here. Here you did not have to map out your actions, your words, hell, your own thoughts in order to belong. It felt freeing to be able to drop the filter, but there still was the fear of the loose ends you had. How Gizmo found your classified file was a mystery to you, but if a bratty HIVE agent is able to identify you, there was no doubt that your past will indeed come to kill you soon. You got sloppy, and now that will cost your life and the lives of others as well. Now you not only had the Titans most likely looking for you, you were going to have the government back on your trail as well.

“I need to disappear,” you blurted, making Jason freeze.

He placed his tools down, “Is this about the Titans or something else?”

“Everything, concerning every single person that I have ever interacted with,” you said, cursing your stupidity. “The group I was apart of so many years ago will be looking for me now that they know I’m alive, I’ll be gutted like a fish if I don’t disappear soon, or worse.”

You shivered at the thought of working for them again, but that was pushing your luck. No, they would take you back to the very room you were supposed to die and subject you to every torture method they knew. If that didn’t satiate their blood lust, then they would do whatever they wanted to you for good measure. They may be a branch of the government, but they abide no laws or morals, especially when it comes to a traitor in their ranks.

“Then we’ll disappear,” he said, “and leave this city behind. There’s nothing holding us back from leaving right now, but there is one thing that I want to know before we do this.”

“What?” you asked, unsure what he was going to ask.

“Are you ready to leave the hero life behind?” he questioned you, grasping your hands. “You’ve worked so hard to build this, are you ready to come to the dark side for your survival? Are you willing to kill again to prove to them that you are not just a child soldier that can be used and discarded like trash?”

“Where is this coming from, Jason?” you asked, his words seeming too personal.

He sighed, “You aren’t the only one with a bad past, (Y/N)... I was once the Bat’s sidekick, I was a Robin, and I got killed because of it.”

“What…?”

You had no words, watching as Jason struggled with his words.

“I was killed by the Joker, (Y/N), and I was brought back by-”

“Ra’s al-Ghul,” you finished for him, tightening your grip on his hands. “You’re not the only one.”

You thought back on the night you were killed, your body feeling so numb and cold as they fired the last bullet. The only warmth you had was the cooling blood underneath you, but not even that could provide any relief. Your body was screaming, telling you to teleport out of there and find help. You were too focused on your wounds to notice someone had started dragging you into a body bag, the world fading to black as you finally felt peace. It felt like an eternity when it disappeared from your grasp. You remembered nothing but screams, the color green, and burning when you came back, your flesh repairing itself at an inhuman rate. You did not know how long you were in that pool of glowing green, but you knew that there was someone else in there with you. Now you know that someone was Jason.

“You were there, too, weren’t you?” you asked him. “That night when we both came back?”

He nodded, “When I saw your face next to the Titans’, (Y/N), I couldn’t stop myself from finding you. I’m sorry that I kept this from you, but I had to be sure-”

You placed a finger on his lips, “I understand, Jason, and the answer is yes.”

“You mean it?” he whispered, his eyes staring into yours.

You nodded, “It’s time for me to stop running from who I am, and with you, I feel like nothing can touch us.”

“I have a gift for you,” he said, removing his hands from yours. “It’s been ready for you for awhile.”

You watched as he grabbed a box a few feet away from you, returning to give it to you. Opening it, you grabbed the black helmet and examined it, the white skull on it contrasting greatly against the black. Placing it next to you, you dug deeper into the box and pulled out a uniform. The black and grey Kevlar and armor was better than military grade, that’s for sure.

He turned around, “Go ahead, try it on.”

Placing the box down, you quickly changed into the uniform, looking in the box one more time to grab the gloves, boots and other gear to grab what you missed. You cleared your throat, indicating he could turn around. He turned around, smiling at the sight of you.

“I knew it would fit,” he said, fixing a few spots of the armor before grasping the helmet. “This helmet is equipped with everything we need, and it will hide your identity.”

“I’m guessing you made yourself some upgrades as well,” you guessed, gesturing to the box that was next to yours. “Matching uniforms?”

“Hell no,” he replied, beginning to tear off his Red X uniform right in front of you.

You quickly turned around, your face burning as he chuckled at your response. It was a few minutes before he tapped your shoulder, allowing you to finally see what he looked like. He was wearing a similar uniform to you, but his helmet was entirely red, a black ‘x’ etched into the helmet’s exterior. He was wearing a black leather jacket, also holding one in his hand.

“You can’t complete the outfit without some leather,” he chuckled, tossing it to you. “It has a bunch of goodies and extra body armor included.”

You slipped it on, “You really thought of everything, didn’t you?”

He paused for a moment, “Yup.”

You grabbed your helmet and slid it on, watching as the many applications opened around you. As you looked around, you confirmed that the helmet tracked your eye movements. You were too focused on exploring the helmet’s capabilities to notice Jason snaking his hands around your waist, securing your utility belt to your pants. The clicks of him securing the holsters to your thighs kicked you out of your thoughts, watching as he secured the last buckle. You would have blushed, but all you could feel was excitement as he stood back up. He picked up two of the four guns from the table, holding them out for you to take.

“Are they lethal?” you asked, taking one of them.

“They can be either,” he replied, watching as you analyzed the gun. “They use Xenothium as power, you only need to adjust its concentration to make it lethal.”

You took the other, placing them both in their respective holsters before securing them, “How long do the cores last?”

“Depending on how many encounters we have? Probably a year before they run out of juice,” he replied, placing his own guns in their holsters. “You ready to go?”

“Always,” you replied, placing your hand in his.

Just as he was about to teleport, the wall behind you exploded, making the two of you take cover behind his work bench. Jason pressed a button on his helmet, quickly pressing one on yours as well. As soon as the display on your screen changed, you knew it was thermal vision. Your reflexes took control, making you grab your guns and provide cover fire for Jason, running to a pillar before rolling behind it. Jason teleported onto the second floor, his location appearing on your screen as you surveyed the area. Soon enough Robin was swinging his bo staff at you, the metal clinging off of the guards on your forearms.

“Above you,” you heard Jason, kicking Robin away in time to catch the staff Jason had thrown at you.

Flipping away, you avoided a few blasts from Starfire and Cyborg as you finally teleported to Jason’s side, preparing for the battle you dreaded ever since you joined the team.

[ladypyb]

Snowballing Into The Heart

Rating: T (for a little bit of cursing)

Relationship/s: USUK, Brotherly AmeCan

Tags: hetaliaxmasevent, Cardverse, Meet-Cute (First Meetings), and a lot of snow XDD

Day 4 of HetaliaXmasEvent: Snowball fight | Skiing | Christmas without snow

|ao3|

(Ooohh man, it’s past midnight in my place. XDD I hope you enjoy it!!!)

In hindsight, Matthew shouldn't have gone to fetch a towel and leave him, the Prince of Spades, bored and alone near the Mages' Tower. He should have just called a servant.

Time passed onwards, as usual, its pace made Alfred wonder if they have the capability to change it. How curious it made him. And how desperate he was to hurry for the warmer days.

The prince liked winter. He didn't hate it. He didn't like like it, either. This was when the power of their kingdom had significant growth, after all. But Alfred didn't love the long cold nights in the season. He didn't outright adore the fact that he had to wear multiple, thick woolen jackets and heat-producing amulets that hinder his movement and stealth. Not to mention the tales about the cold season his mother told him in his childhood. Bad things happen to everyone in winter. Terribly bad things. Brrr!

He liked the powdery snow, though. Its color and often ethereal shine made the scenery look so pure. The dusting they made on the landscapes made him grin and jump into the freezing powder.

It itched him to jump in right now. Anything to go distract himself while Matthew began narrating to him the activities he had for the day. Often, he found his brother's tone monotonous when in duty. No, definitely not 'often' but 'always'. Yes, that's the right word.

"Remember not to touch anything, you might get a curse for even holding a pen that isn't yours. Don't stray away from the floating white lamps and proceed to the violets, the Head Mage told me the young fae tend to use play-magic there. Mother would kill both of us if you tried to pick a fight with one of the mages-"

Bla Bla Bla. The prince slumped against the cold brick of the wall, crossing his arms. What was the point of visiting the Magicians' Wing if they weren't even allowed to enter their laboratories? What was the goal of even doing biannual safety procedures with Alfred, the future King of Spades, if he wasn't the one doing the procedures?

In his head, his mother would definitely reply to him in her babytalk: "Aw, sugarplum, you are only needed to show your face and let the mages do the rest of the checking. It's theirs, after all. You wouldn't want to ruin their threshold and be painted as the villain, would you?"

... Yeah... Listening to Matthew's nagging would be better than their mother's overly-sweet babytalk. Both were sadistic in their own way but his brother's words were blunt, unlike the queen's underlying threats.

"-To stop... Are you listening to me, Al?"

He groaned in his head. "Yeah, I was." No, he definitely wasn't. "How about this tower?" Alfred gestured to the one behind him but kept his eyes on the soft, beckoning snow at their feet. Hmm... He looked up to his brother so quickly he felt his neck crack a bit. "Can we at least have permission to rest in somewhere warm rather than in their freezing gardens?"  The garden wasn't biting in the least. He wore a heating amulet and multiple coats, Alfred was warm to the core and sweating inside his personal sauna.

Distract him, distract him, distract him. Alfred recited like a mantra in his head as he slowly crouched down to the soft ground, his eyes on his brother. As Matthew blinked at the tower's structure, the prince started to fist a ball of snow in his leather gloves.

Matthew studied the tower, contemplating. It was smaller than the other buildings on the property. The tower must be a storage room. The lights shining behind the elaborately framed windows stated otherwise, though.

"I don't know, Al. There might be someone important residing in the- Oomph!"

Something wooshed in the air! A cold and soft object hit the side of his jaw. Matthew paused and stared at the sitting and grinning person in front that was his brother. A snowball. Alfred hit him with a snowball. The prince guffawed heartily at his brother's expression of Thou-hast-betrayed-me-brother. Matthew's wide eyes turned into slits. This unbelievably childish tool-

Matthew bent low, scooped a handful of snow and-

"Hahahaha- Fwah!"

Bullseye into Alfred's mouth. Matthew smirked when the other began 'blech!'-ing and 'pswooh!'-ing out the melting snow out of his mouth. Heh, you aren't the only one who can throw snowballs, Alfred!

The blue-eyed prince stared at the violet-eyed ace with a sly look in his face. "You're on!"

Alfred scrambled onto the ground, embracing and creating a mound out of snow. He cupped a fistful and rotated it in his hands. He glanced back at his brother, crap, he's on his third ball! The prince started to quickly fist and cup the snow. The mound in front of him waned to his fear of losing.

No time! Alfred sprang to his feet and threw a snowball at his brother. On the face! Grunting, Matthew frowned and fired back at him. The prince dodged to the side as it almost hit his prized family jewels down below. Matthew cackled. Oh, man, this was war. A man doesn't aim for another guy's most sensitive area!

Then came the onslaught of the balls of snow. Missed and badly-aimed snowballs hit the walls, the hall near the entrance, and the plants carefully maintained in the garden. Bushes cracked and broke to the strength of their blows.

Passing servants and apprentices of mages paid them no mind as they passed by. It was no secret that both men in the royal family often behaved like children when they thought no one was looking. A few frowned at their display when they hit a third party, these occurrences were followed by a distracted 'Sorry!'.

Their roughhousing with the snow ended with a grand snowball from the prince to his brother on the stomach, sending poor Matthew falling on his back. Alfred fell to his knees, a goofy smile on his face in his triumph. He fell forward in exhaustion. Afterward, he moved to his side, panting.

Matthew managed to only hit him on his jaw and legs. Alfred hit him everywhere on his body with the help of his overzealous need to win every challenge and interest that crosses his path.

Matthew shuffled to stand, the other raised a brow at him, disbelieving. Alfred gave it all he had, ended up on the ground last and Matthew still stood up? What gives? He whined.

"Oh, don't be a baby. Stand up, you'll catch a cold." Matthew held his hand out to his brother which Alfred accepted. "Ugh," Matthew brushed off his clothes with his free hand, "I'm dripping. I'll never doubt these amulets, again."

Alfred flailed his arms like a dog, droplets flung everywhere. "Looks like it. Let's go ask for towels."

The older and logical of the two watched the other suspiciously. "No. You'll most likely slip away somewhere and get lost- "

"Impossible! I don't get lost."

"-Or cause some mischief on the way." Matthew crossed his arms, firm.

Alfred wiped his brow. "So are both just going to stand here? Baiting the cold and die of pneumonia?"

The ace pursed his lips. He clicked his tongue. "Fine," Alfred cheers at this, " But I'll fetch the towels. You," he gestured at Alfred, "Stay here."

The other pouted and kicked the accumulating snow below. Matthew enters into the open doors of the hallway. "Aww c'mon, Matt!"

"Don't. Go. Anywhere." The ace commanded as he eyed Alfred and continued down the hall.

Alfred clicked his tongue childishly. So what if he'd stray away from the directions sometimes, it wasn't like he'd easily die! The blessings from their clocks prevented that.

... He did oftentimes find himself suffering from a curse or two, managed to almost get assassinated, have been on the verge of death more than five times, and have been poisoned while eating street food. But Alfred survived!

He could almost hear Yao, the Jack, mumble beside his mother while tending his wounds or whatever harm he was inflicted, "With the amount of curiosity, and stubbornness you are born with, I could only pray to the Maker your rule would be as peaceful as it can be."

Alfred sighed, looking up he traced the flying bird overhead. The feathered animal circled the garden and perched atop a small roof of a window sill of the tower. He wished he was as free as the bird, free to go anywhere and able to do what he pleased.

He observed the little bird, bright orange stomach- A robin! How strange, robin birds weren't native to Spades, especially in one of Spades' northern areas. Alfred moved to spy under the windowsill, it was a few feet above his head but nothing could stop him.

When he craned his neck to observe the bird, he noticed a messy mop of golden hair near the windowpane. Someone was there- Oh Blessed Time!

Alfred ducked and made himself be one with the wall behind him. The windows opened with a clank! and the snow sprinkled on the prince's nose. His nostrils tickled. Ah- He wants to sneeze! Alfred pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth.

"-Damned pests. No wonder the potion did nothing! I should have known they'd place it in the wrong flask."

An accented voice of a man. It was so light and deep at the same time, it made Alfred wonder if the man swallowed a piccolo and a bass at the same time.

Light thumps and a resonating clink. "... What in the name of Time happened here?" The mystery man groaned. "Those freshmen! I can't believe- My roses!" The man stomped away from the window. The sound of heavy steps receded with a bang from a door.

The prince released a breath he was holding. That was so close. If the guy looked down, he'd see Alfred's nose and furred boots. He moved away from the wall. Finally able to ogle freely, he found two open flasks filled with mysterious liquids. One was changing colors rapidly while the other alternated between gold and silver.

The robin from before chirped and fluttered its wings. Oh no. Don't tell him the bird wants to- It glided down unto the windowsill with the two very open and unmistakably dangerous flasks.

"Oh, damn it!"

Alfred scrambled and raised his foot on the side of the brick wall. His gloved hands gripped the windowsill noisily, the robin squawked at him. The prince grunted as he set his elbows down near the flasks, he faced the bird's screeching. He shooed the orange robin with a dismissive hand.

It flapped its wings and nearly bit off his ears as it flew away from him and the flasks. He liked birds but he didn't like them mutated or dead.

Alfred banged his head and resisted to groan at the ridiculousness of his situation. His top half was rested atop a mage's windowsill in an effort to avoid an unwanted experiment. He didn't even know exactly why he ducked to be seen by one mage when didn't even bother to care for his image while playing in the snow with his brother.

He shifted an annoyed glance to the strange fluids. With their swirling and changing of colors, he thinks of them to be potions. They certainly resembled like potions. He sniffed at both of their opening; butter, lilies, and peach. Yep, definitely potions. There was no way liquids could change colors with just these ingredients.

"Hey! You there!" The same accented voice shouted below him. "What are you doing?"

There was disapproval in the voice. Alfred seemed reluctant to look at the man scolding him. He has had enough of it today! Alfred prevented a bird from destroying your potions. The prince turned his head to glare at the man, a scowl on his face.

Eh? His scorned expression dissipated into a daze.

Bright green eyes that were the shade of grass in summer framed by spun gold locks stood out from the man's white robe and soft snowy landscape. The guy had half of his face overrun with caterpillars- Wait, no. He just had large eyebrows. Surprisingly, it made the other look distinguished.

This guy must be the mage! The mage furrowed his brows and growled something Alfred couldn't hear. He raised his brow in confusion and held unto the sill with only an arm as the handsome man gestured his arm aimlessly... at Alfred?

What was he- Whack! Alfred's hold on the windowsill slipped.

"Aaaaaa- oof!" He crashed down on his back. Groaning, he placed his hand on his chest. Fragments of a snowball began melting to the power of the amulet under his coat. The dull pain that throbbed in his chest was nothing to the sharpness of blow to the side of his head. Did he hit his head when he fell...?

The mage's face swam into his blurry view. The expression of the mage full of concern was badly hidden through the annoyed curve of his lips. Alfred decided the guy was adorably handsome.

"... Are... kay... ?"

"Hn."

The green-eyed beauty touched his cheek. The prince moved into the chilled fingers. Aaah. He felt hot and cold at the same time.

"Hold... I... get...  elp."

The angel's face blurred. Huh, did... Did Alfred lose his glasses when he fell?

He tried to focus on the other's fretting on him. Alfred's eyes closed, losing its strength to even move an eyelid. Darkness swallowed him and his consciousness.

Hm. It seems the Cupid from Hearts shot him in the chest with a snowball, instead of an arrow.

//end

[jackpans]

J A C K  ♡ P A N

G E O M E T R I C S

↬ Full name ↫

Jack Darling Pan

↬ Nickname ↫

She hates being called Jackie but otherwise she gets Pan sometimes.

↬ Birthday ↫

June 3rd

↬ Birthplace ↫

Neverland

↬ Zodiac ↫

Gemini

↬ Height ↫

5′4

↬ Orientation ↫

Pansexual

↬ Social Class ↫

Middle Class

↬ Wealth ↫

Their parents don’t focus much on money and material things so neither has Jack. She’s always been comfortable.

A P P E A R A N C E

↬ Tattoos ↫

She has a bunch of little tattoos. A flower with stem on the inside of her arm, an arrow behind her ear, a constellation on her wrist, a couple drawn stars on the inside of her fingers. She plans on getting more.

↬ Piercing ↫

Jack has three ear piercings on each ear.

↬ Outfits ↫

She loves to experiment and wear whatever her mood is that day. There’s a lot of color but nothing that really fits the social norm of what is trendy, she goes with what she likes. Whether that’s a girly gingham dress with sneakers or chunky boots with a button down another, you never know what to expect from her but somehow it always works.

↬ Accessories ↫

Jack actually does need glasses thanks to the Darling side of the family but only wears them on occasion..again depending on her mood and outfit.

P E R S O N A L I T Y

↬ Normal mood ↫

She’s bubbly and quirky most of the time. Jack is someone who is typically happy and trying to just have fun.

↬ Temper ↫

She can be immature and pick fights when she shouldn’t so she can have a temper when she gets fired up.

↬ Discipline ↫

Oh she doesn’t know the definition of discipline. She struggles with being patient and following the rules

↬ Strengths ↫

Jack is confident and strong but her immaturity tends to make people underestimate her. She doesn’t really care enough to fight physically with someone but will try and hold her ground in another other fight. Although, it doesn’t usually end well for her and she usually puts her foot in her mouth.

↬ Weaknesses ↫

Her carefree attitude can be her weakness since people assume she doesn’t care. And lately Mr Henrizzle has become a bit of a weakness since she L words him.

↬ Drive/dreams ↫

Yeeeaaahhh....this is her struggle. She can’t commit to something to dream about it. She wants to explore and experience everything imaginable. (True flakey gemini just sayin)

↬ Fears ↫

Not much scares her. If anything the only thing that scares her is growing up.

↬ Likes ↫

Flying, exploring, Henry, wine, ice cream, Henry, pixie dust, swimming

↬ Dislikes ↫

Pirates, responsibility, driving

↬ Soft spot ↫

Henry :) And actually Jacob. She wouldn’t let anyone hurt him.

↬ Depression ↫

It’s very hard to get her depressed - she can’t even remember a time.

↬ Inspiration ���

Her parent’s story and Auradon in general. It’s a small part of the world but there’s so much to see and do.

↬ Role model ↫

Her dad but her mom too. She loves them and their relationship, she’s always looked up to them.

↬ Mental disorder ↫

She’s crazy but nothing that crazy.

↬ Habits ↫

She picks at her split ends when she’s bored.

R A T I N G S

(5 Stars means very high strength, 1 star means very low strength aka weak)

↬ Psychological strength ↫

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ - At least she thinks so. She’s very cocky.

↬ Physical strength ↫

⭑⭑⭑⭑ - Okay listen she’s not that strong but don’t let her hear you say that. SHE THINKS SHE IS OKAY.

↬ Leadership ↫

⭑⭑⭑⭑ - Jack was always in charge of all the kids who lived on Neverland. Is she great at it? No. Think about that bossy little girl who tells you what to name your dolls and how to play with them. But she doesn’t really care to lead but she can if she needs to.

↬ Wisdom ↫

⭑ - I'm just gonna go with no. Homegirl does not think before she acts. I’m sorry.

↬ Intelligence ↫

⭑⭑⭑ - It’s the classic case of ‘if she applied herself’ but she doesn’t. Jack actually knows a lot and picks up street smarts but she just doesn’t care enough to do anything in school.

↬ Confidence ↫

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑ - She’s got confidence up the wazoo. 

↬ Endurance ↫

⭑⭑⭑⭑ - Jack doesn’t have a lot of hardships but she actually thrives on change and can adapt quickly. She loves it since she gets bored easily.

R E L A T I O N S H I P S

↬ Father ↫

Peter, one of her favorite people in the world. He’s funny and has the best stories. Jack has always been close with him.

↬ Mother ↫

Wendy who is a little bit harder on her to do well in school and grow up a little bit. She looks up to her mom and wants to make her proud but the desire to have fun and be a dummy is stronger right now.

↬ Siblings ↫

Oh Jacob...she loves her little brother but he can be such a wet blanket. She wants him to loosen up and have fun but when he doesn’t she gives up and moves onto to something or someone else.

↬ Other relatives ↫

No it’s only the four of them. They don’t really see their uncles or cousins that often since they are in another area of Auradon.

↬ Enemies ↫

Carson but not really, Jack just thinks she wants Henry so that makes her MAD

↬ Rivals ↫

Same as above ya know

↬ Friends ↫

Henry, Sam, Mei, to everyone’s dismay Cora.

↬ Best friend ↫

Cora was always her best friend since becoming her roommate in Auradon Prep but truthfully they’ve grown apart. Jack loves magic and Cora is a scared little bitch. So Henry has become her best friend.

↬ Love interest ↫

Henry :)

↬ Marital status ↫

She be dating that hot, sometimes too serious VK boy

↬ Children ↫

Someday - Celeste & Sawyer

↬ Pets ↫

Not yet - she wants a dog when she moves away from Cora bc that girl has a lizard of sorts and it would eat it.

P A S T - T I M E

↬ Hobbies ↫

Flying, going to parties, exploring & finding treasures, practicing self care

↬ Talents ↫

Uh..truthfully not much. She’s good at talking herself into trouble?

↬ Sports ↫

Nah

↬ Classes ↫

She says she’s undeclared but she’s actually picked a communications major to appease her mother. Jack thinks it’s easy and broad enough that she could get any job whenever she does graduate.

↬ Occupation ↫

No job - she’s too busy flying around and being cute. Truthfully i think once she gets her act together will go into some kind of creative job with either fashion or maybe even home interiors. It’s a good way for her to express herself and still be creative.

H O M E   L I F E

↬ Location ↫

She lives in an apartment building with Cora in Auradon City

↬ House size ↫

It’s a fair size for two people. Cora pays more bc she’s a princess and asked for the bigger room.

↬ House type ↫

Jack has mostly decorated it - it’s a very fun and cute apartment. She had a lot of fun actually.

↬ Level of luxury ↫

It’s modest but newly renovated.

↬ Outdoor description ↫

It’s an apartment but the roof top is nice that they can utilize. Jack flies off of it a lot.

↬ Indoor description ↫

Jack decorated it similar to her style of clothes. Colorful and fun but random sometimes. She throws in random things she’s found around Auradon in her exploring. Cora keeps it neat and clean for them though.

↬ Bedroom description ↫

It’s colorful but cozy. A lot of throw pillows and art on the walls.

L I F E    S T O R Y

↬ Age 0-12 ↫

Jack’s world was mostly just Neverland and any adventures her dad would take them on. Their family and the community in their neighborhood was a great way to grow up. She learned a lot about pixies and faeries during this time. Even though Jack knew her dad and Jacob fought a lot, she didn’t think much of it and thought it was just a game they played.

↬ Age 13-18 ↫

Jack finally got to play with pixie dust on her own. She started to travel all over Auradon without the knowledge of her parents. Peter never seemed to care where as Wendy was always worried about her.

↬ Age 19-25 ↫

Living in Auradon City full time has been fun for her. She loves meeting new people and especially when the VKs really started to come over from the Isle. Eventually she started to see Henry and it slowly and slowly became more serious. Babies probs gonna move in together next - GOOD LUCK HENRY that’s all I gotta say.

↬ Darkest secret ↫

Jack lost her virginity to Kit

[kpopisthereasonihavenolife]

Blight | II

BTS

Jeon Jungkook/Reader [F]

Genre: Dragon/Shapeshifter AU, Magic AU, Enemies to Lovers

Words: 7k

@tamedandscripted @syubcandy @cencoroil @kathrynwynterbourne @fireflower90 @bluegreenguppyfish @queen-pharaoh-hatshepsut @mygukandonly

Jungkook wasn’t sure how long he’ been here. Resting alone in silence in his secret place.  It wasn’t like some sort of fort of anything, no.  Where he was was a beautiful section of flourishing forest.

It was a hidden area, a secluded patch of land.  One had to find a cavern entrance that hid behind thick hydrangea bushes to even begin to search for it.  Even then, finding the hydrangeas was a feat.  The cavern was hundreds of miles underground.  It was secluded and any possibility of it ever being discovered by anyone other than Jungkook was a rare chance. Man would never set foot here so help him.

A far off, desolate cliff in the middle of a mountain range untouched by man.  A rare feat.  A long flight up to the near peak of a mountain.  Find the large, wide hydrangea covered rock area and with them behind the vines is an opening.

Going through that opening and traveling through the rocky, vine-covered cavern walls the cavern opens. A giant hole, leading straight down into God knows where.  No human would ever try and explore, and if they did, they would for sure lose their life.  It was far too deep and far too dark. However, if one ever got down the entire trip that traveled the entire mountain and below the ground, they would come into a clearing. A clearing leading into a vast, almost completely different world.  

Enchanting was the only word to explain it.  A magical place, a lake an entire ecosystem were thriving inside this mountain.  Hydrangeas sprouting in mass with all sorts of wildflowers growing by its side.  Trees wept with green, low hanging branches and vines. Water flowed in a strong, brilliant waterfall in the side the of the rocky cavern, most likely from a lake or body of water on the surface. A crystal lake sits beneath, capturing the mirror-like water.  This lake had healing properties Jungkook had discovered in one of his many trips here.  Just standing in the water could heal any injury.  Finally, floating orbs of soft, yellow and blue lights kept the ‘jungle’ lit and navigatable.

This place must have been crafted long ago by magicians: witches and warlocks.  There was no other way to explain the flourish so far beneath the ground.  As well as the inscriptions on some cavern walls and glyphs that so depict an ancient civilization with ‘God’s Gifted Ones’.  

The other piece of evidence was a large rock island in the middle of the lake.  It was jagged and uneven but it had arches of rock and covered in vines that bloomed in deep, crimson flowers he couldn’t name. The arches were incomplete, the very tops of them open and staggered like a ray of magic just shot through them. Underneath the open arches was a single throne of rock.  Uncomfortable looking though it may be, the carving among it makes it seem like a seat for royalty. He’s never sat there, and something in his blood demands that he never does.

This place was the only thing Spellcasters had his respect for.

Jungkook sat in a small space he liked to call his own as he looked around.  He wasn’t the only living thing down here, no not at all.  There were small creatures and animals that resided down here in harmony.  Almost all herbivores he’s gathered as the only remains he’s ever found were caused by nature and time; not by some sort of predator.

He lay on his back, his hands clasped behind his head and one of his legs propped up on his foot as he looked up at the trees above him.  The weeping willow blew in the small constant draft that seemed to circle endlessly around the cavern.  It gave a nice, gentle chill.  For a hot-blooded, fire breathing, mobile furnace, the breeze cooled him and made him relax.  

If he closed his eyes long enough, he would think he heard bells in the distance, but knew it was only his mind adding onto the soft atmosphere this place gave him.  

Here, he was free.  He was a free man.  Not roped into classes and exams to ‘hone his abilities’.  He wasn’t stuck in the same boring lecture cycle of Masters and how he would need to valiantly and obediently follow his one day. He wasn’t just some jock who needed to keep his team strong and never lose, lest he gets ridiculed.  

He was just himself.  He was just Jungkook.  

Jungkook had never found a place so calming once he left home.  At home, it was his mother that warmed his breast and made him smile.  She loved him so, but once she lost her life, the candle she kept within her was snuffed out.  Taking all the light and warmth with it. Jungkook was lost for a time.  His mother gone, his father always a way for business and no siblings to try and connect with.  

Then he met Jimin.  Jimin ran into him when accidentally running into one of his living room glass doors that lead out into his yard.  He had been so distracted in chasing a shadow cat that he ran smack dab into the glass in his dog form.  Jungkook, startled into showing his horns and scales, watched as the dog changed into the form of a small boy not much older than himself.  

Somehow, after that, a friendship bloomed and Jungkook almost felt warm again. He and Jimin stuck together and eventually were both able to get into the main academy of Hearst.  However, they didn’t plan on being Ranked the same and pinned as classmates both in their first year and now, yet it was a minor chance of luck that Jungkook wouldn’t refuse.  

Yet, even with Jimin, the warmth wasn’t the same as it used to be like as his time as a small child.  So, he would explore every chance he got.  Transforming and flying miles upon miles away just to find something, anything to help the void in his chest.  The hole in which his mother’s death forged so long ago. Then, he found it in this place.  

He couldn’t remember exactly when or how he found this wonderful world of his own, but he didn’t care.  He found it, and it was his and he couldn’t be warmer.  

Somewhere along his visit, he drifted off.  He didn’t know when but when he woke up, his arms that stayed under his head were nearly numb.  He sat up and let the tingling pins and needles of his blood rush back into his arms and hands.  He sat looking around.  He could never tell the time of day in this place, that’s a given.  Yet, he decided it time to go once again.  

Working his way out from under trees and into a clearing he lept into the air and took off upwards with his wings that tore from his back.  Up the long drop that seemed to get shorter with each visit and out the cavern into the hydrangeas before soring into the sky of outside.  It was dusk.  The sun setting with each ticking moment below the horizon, kissing the daytime farewell until morning.   It was a beautiful view, yet a view that no longer captured Jungkook’s jaded perception.

He moved above the clouds until his nose picked up the scent of the school ground and soon descended onto the rooftop of the main building.  It was always much easier making a landing on the roofs than into the fields or courts.  Less chance of conflict.  

His feet touched the hard roof and breathed a content breath.  He made his way down and into his building where he went to his locker to retrieve the shirt he discarded and replaced it on his chest. Now fully dressed, he was lucky not to be caught and stopped by some random person who would definitely scream about some ‘nudist’ on campus.  It’s happened before and it was not fun.

He was finishing up grabbing whatever he needed for tomorrow’s academic courses when he heard a group of B Ranks who had just come from the upper floors, ready to leave for the day.  Jungkook ignored them as they soon passed and Jungkook slammed his locker shut.  They were talking about the Spellcaster Exams happening tomorrow.  They were to perform trail tests and magical limits to see if they were qualified for a Familiar.  

“Fuckin’ Spellcasters,” he murmured as he too left the building and soon the campus to his own dorm.  

XXX

The dorms were not laid out in any sort of system like the school itself.  Many students of different species and ranks lived among each other as neighbors or even roommates.  Had it not been for Yoongi needing a roommate and purposely waiting for you to enroll, you would’ve probably roomed with a Spirit, given a choice.

Currently, you were sat on the floor, nursing a bag of your newly owned chips - that Yoongi got as promised - completely drowning in worry.  The exams were tomorrow, just hours away and you swore you could tear your hair out.  You stared at the ceiling as your head was kicked back while your back rested against the foot of your shared couch with Yoongi in the main room.  

Said warlock had just leaned over the couch, catching your attention and making you crane your neck further back to an uncomfortable position and also drawing a headache to the surface.  

“You really shouldn’t worry.  It’s not that difficult of an exam and it’s held twice a year. You have way more than one shot going forward.”

“Easy for you to say, you’ve already passed.  You just don’t attend the ceremony to actually get a Familiar.”  

“Well, yeah.  Why would I do that when I can pick my own partner on my own terms?”  

You groaned and rolled your eyes.  “Yes, I get it.  You’re super advanced, rub it in why don’t you.”

Yoongi just shook his head at your pessimistic attitude.  Honestly, if he told the truth, he knew you had nothing to worry about.  You had magic storing down to a T and your ability to maintain and manage your magic was outstanding for a C Rank.  It was whether or not your execution of said magic would go as planned.  You, one might say, were a nervous test taker.

Yoongi rounded the couch, sitting on the cousin behind your head as you had taken to pushing your cheek against his knee.  He hovered his fingers above your head as the magic that gently came from them made your hair dance like static.  You were always emotional around exams or ceremonies, but he supposed in your situation that you had every right to be.

“Would you feel better if I waited outside the exam hall? Results won’t be posted until the next morning. We can go to that lame, gross ‘asethetic’ diner you like so much.” You rolled your eyes as you contemplated actually biting his knee.  

“That ‘lame, gross ‘asethetic’ diner’ makes me warm and fuzzy so shush your mouth you Dark Wizard.”  He tapped on your head, a bit reprimanded.  You strictly knew wizards were half-breeds between humans and magic users, a rare breed to be sure.  “Besides, when exams are over, we still have academic courses.”  Yoongi rolled his eyes.  

“Yeah, but they aren’t mandatory.”  

“I’m not ditching class, Yoongi.”  He sighed as you and he got quiet.  Sitting in silence he knew the reason you were worried.  He just didn’t know how to phrase it without making your mood any worse.  Though, it wouldn’t hurt, would it?  It was already floating around in your head, drilling into every corner of your thoughts like a nonstop drill with rechargeable batteries.

“Y/n,” he started, voice uncertain, “are you worried about your dad again?”  You were silent, still and unresponsive.  Perhaps you fell asleep?  You’ve don’t so before.  However, you soon nodded.  “Don’t worry about it,” he thought that might be the case.  

Your father wasn’t the most generous man on the face of the planet.  A big name for himself in your family history and hardly any people even knew he even had a daughter. 

Growing up he was earning awards and making headlines left and right and featured in reports and newspapers frequently.  Succeeding in classes of all kinds, magical or not and gaining his Familiar in his first year right off the bat when he entered and enrolled in Heart Academy for the Wicked and Supernatural.

That Familiar ended up being your mother.

Your mother lost her life when you were born.  It was normal, well as normal as being born a Spellcaster can be.  

Spellcasters almost always end up stealing the life of their mothers upon birth.  The magic gathered and stored into their small, infant bodies only obtained their powers from their mother’s life. They took the life energy from their carriers and converted it into magic to store and released that magic when they are born.  The only way to slimly avoid death is by C-sections, but it’s risky.  There’s always a chance that both parties would lose their life if the doctor is too unskilled.  

Once a Spellcaster, witch or warlock or even half-breed wizard, is born the father is either pulled in one direction of the other.  They are either completely overprotective and shelter their children until they can’t possibly shelter them any longer.  Or, they reject them absolutely.  

Your father rejected you. Absolutely. 

Yoongi has known you since childhood, and he’s seen the way in which your father completely overlooks you and your presence as a whole.  It wasn’t unnatural to guess your father grew up into a wealthy man, so the house was filled with staff that was directly in charge of raising you.  You were raised by interchangeable faces and fake gestures all because you were ‘the bosses daughter’.  The only plus was Yoongi’s companionship and friendship.  

His father was loving to him.  Waiting on him hand and foot until middle school when Yoongi was able to sit down and talk with him, telling him to back off and not to treat him like a fragile doll, but a person.  LIke his son, and his father listened to him.  Maybe it was because he was a boy, or maybe it was because his father accepted him from the beginning, you weren’t quite sure.  

That’s why you always tried so hard.  Whether it be in class, working on book smarts or building your magical properties.  Why you pushed so hard for a Familiar.  If you were to gain a Familiar, maybe he would finally notice you and all your potential you could build from now into the future.

Yoongi just pat your head and reached forward into the bag of chips to grab one and force it between your lips.  The salt stung slightly as you scowled at him.  He just messed up your hair before he stood up, making your body roll to the side and now lay on the ground.

“It’ll be fine.  Don’t worry about a 6-foot tall demon when you have me.”

“You’re literally 179 centimeters.  You’re a single inch off of 6 foot.”  

“That, my dear friend, is what makes me so much better.  I’m an inch smaller for travel convenience.”  You rolled your eyes as you watched Yoongi trot off into the kitchen, hearing clunking and removal of pots and plates from cabinets thereafter.

The rest of that night, Yoongi made it a top priority to keep your mind off the exam and most importantly your father. Throwing jokes, starting little skirmishes and even dabbled on the idea of getting you drunk so you could just puke and go to bed.  However, he took a miss on the alcohol, you did have a test in the morning.  Hangovers don’t work out for the brain and magic.  You could very well make something blow up if you're too hungover.

It was 11 when you finally crashed.  Spending so much energy just dealing with the back to back objects and tasks Yoongi threw at you.  Yoongi nodded in satisfaction before maneuvering you to throw you over his shoulder.  You know, like real friends do.  

Marching to your room with your body folded over his shoulder, utterly unconscious for the night, he moved into your room where he blew his lips and a small puff of light floated around to light the room.  There was a chance if he flipped the light switch on, you’d wake up and proceed to yell at him for carrying you like he was, a fact he knew you weren’t fond of.  The light, though small, was bright enough to show the path to your bed without running into anything or tripping on the journey from your door.  

It was a mystery, how your den and your bedroom had polar opposite vibes.  Your den, as he knew, was dark and felt like a cave when one stepped inside.  However, your bedroom was like how he could only imagine a child felt walking into a damn Build-A-Build store.  It was bright, and resemble your white magic specialization to a T.  Pastels from coral, to teal and even a nice shade of grey specked your room in the form of books or knick-knacks.  

Though, Yoongi wouldn’t say he disliked it.  His room resembled a monochromatic museum, that was just his style.  However, he would like to camp in your room with you if he ever needed a spark of color to lift a bad mood he felt on the horizon of his mind.

He carefully rolled you off his shoulder and put you, rather sloppily into bed.  Laying you sideways and having your feet hang off the edge of the mattress, but he couldn’t be bothered.  You were on the bed with no way of falling off unless you decided to fight in a war in the 6 hours you were going to be asleep.  He tossed your comforter over you and stretched his back.

You may be smaller than he is, and he may be a man, but that doesn’t make you any less heavy than the scale you complain about every morning.  I mean come on, the average weight for someone like you wasn’t something to get bent out of shape about.  Yet, it was often times he’d see you shove down rabbit food in the form of salads and greens before turning around and enjoying those chips you devour each chance you get.  Thus, prompting him to poke fun at you.

He turned to look into the mirror you had in your room.  It was large and wide as it sat upon your rather magnificent vanity.  The same vanity that Yoongi’s father and he helped pick out for you on your 18th birthday.  That was probably the first time Yoongi saw you actually cry in joy at something most girls had at the age of 13.  He smiled as he recalled the memory before he whistled lowly and the orb of light faded out.  

He followed the light from the hall that leaked in through the doorway to work his way out, one against without stumbling and took one final look back at you.  He smiled as he lifted his hand and created a small symbol.  It resembled a pair of doors opening inwards, hardly noticeable and small enough to hide in his palm.  He blew it out of his hand as it flitted over to you were it stuck your cheek.  

Then, he quietly closed your bedroom door.  He walked around the dorm and shut off all the lights and the TV before he retired to his own room.  He was still going to go to the stupid diner with you, even if he didn’t exactly like the taste of anything in there. Min Yoongi was many things, but he wasn’t a liar.  He promised to go with you, so he would.

You woke up the next morning to the sound of your alarm.  Annoyed you swatted your wrist at it, some force flinging from your fingertips to knock the clock off your bedside nightstand and against the wall.  Hearing the cracking of the cheap plastic, you lifted your head with squinted eyes before pushing your face back into the pillow.  Now you’d have to buy a new one, knowing Yoongi would refuse to fix another alarm clock from you.  This is the 7th alarm clock you’ve broken in the last 2 months alone after all.

Yet, none of that mattered as all you could think about is you had to get up.  You had an exam today.  

XXX

The morning trudged on as sparingly as you knew it would.  Getting dressed was the only fast part of your morning, racing against time on getting ready in your exam gowns.  It was a fundamental rule that when important eams rolled around, you were to where your school provided gowns.  They were simple, the female design much different than the male.  

The top was a black, almost violet undertone, fabric that ruffled and ran horizontally along your chest and hung below your shoulders around your bicep.  A hood and low hanging scarf were attached loosely to the back of the ruffled patch behind you that you looped around your neck and sat among your breasts.  The gown clung to your torso and the skirt divided at your thigh.  A centerpiece almost resembled a thick, old fashioned loincloth, covered your front (although just barely) while the rest of your skirt was cut off and fluttered behind you at your ankles.

It was flattering and charming sure, and even you were quite taken with how it looked from a mundane standpoint, but it was so exposing.  Walking around with it on, even if no one was around, made you feel too open.  And, of course, you ran into Jungkook.  

Yoongi was at your hip, glaring at any filthy minded warlock who tried to even think about peeping beneath your shoulders or down your legs.  It was actually Jimin, who stood at Jungkook’s side (as per usual) that flagged you both down.  It was a routine by now, one that Jungkook could frankly do without.

As you approached, clutching your spellbook to your front and keeping your eyes downcast, any other guy would probably see you as cute.  Cheeks red at the unwanted attention and quiet disgusting cat-calls threw your way.  You were quite the sight, much to Yoongi’s dismay.  It was like people were hitting on his sister to his face. 

“Wow!  Your exam robes look really good on you Y/n!  You look so pretty!”  You rubbed your bare shoulder with a free hand as you only managed to keep eye contact with the friendly Hellhound for a moment before staring back at his shoes.  Your own footwear was a pair of small, 3-inch, thick heels.  Also a stupid requirement of this damn gown.  

Jimin sensed your unease.  Sure, you were embarrassed by your gowns, you usually were, but you always tried to play it out with being extremely boisterous or over the top.  Overdramatic, so to speak. Today, though, you were different.  You were quiet, clammed up and he could practically smell the anxiousness pouring out of you with his heightened senses.  

He looked at Jungkook’s back; he had only glanced at you before he went back to swapping book in his locker to his bag.  Maybe an unexpected compliment would cheer you up?  

Jimin grabbed the back of Jungkook’s shirt, twisting him around and slammed his locker shut.  

“What are you doing you-?!”

“Don’t you think Y/n looks nice?”  He questioned.  You ducked your head.  You knew that Jimin only wanted to help cheer you up, the hound was always in tune with emotion.  No doubt he could tell your overly dramatic depressed mood.  Though, turning to Jungkook wasn’t the best option.  You were absolutely certain that the insult that was bound to roll off the stupid dragon’s tongue would push you to tears.  

You were too emotional this morning.  Fuck hormones.  

“Well?”  Jimin pushed a Jungkook remained silent.  He looked at you, but to him, you looked the same.  So what if you were wearing different clothes?  You were still you, the insufferable brat he’s put up with since he enrolled.  But, even he could feel the dread coming from you.  Jungkook wasn’t heartless.

“Jimin,” Yoongi starts, trying to avert a possible scene to keep you together, “It’s alright.  We’ll just-”

“Yeah,” Jungkook interrupts. Yoongi looked at him, almost insulted he was interrupted.  Jungkook just slung his bag over his shoulder as it rested on his back now.  He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he slouched to a leg.  The bangs that were separated off his forehead shook in the bounce he took to look at your smaller than usual form.  “You look nice.”  

Jimin and Yoongi for shocked, to say the least.  Sure, Jimin wanted him to compliment you, but he didn’t actually think he would!  Jimin broke into a smile and turned to you.  He quickly grabbed your hand that still rubbed your naked shoulder.  You snapped your head to him, cheeks still flushed as they seemed to lose their redness at Jimin’s over-enthusiastic form.  

“See!  Now, good luck on the tests!  You’ll do great! The best B Rank witch ever!”

“That’s what I told her too!”  Yoongi quips up to help lighten the mood.  And before you knew it, you busted into laughter.  You don’t know why you were laughing, you were still dreading the exam and you were still so nervous walking was a chore, but you felt better.  

You turned to Yoongi after you pulled your hand from Jimin.  “I’m ready to go now. Better rip the bandaid off, right?”  He nodded as he slung his arm around your shoulder.  

“That’s the spirit!”  

You quickly turned to Jungkook, looking at him as he watched all of this happened in silence.  He could’ve left, maybe he was hanging around waiting for Jimin.  He did every other time.  “Thanks,” you quietly say before Yoongi is dragging you off until you both are out of sight.  

“You’re welcome,” he muttered completely to himself.  Jimin looked at him.  

“Did you say something?”

“I called her stupid.”   

Jimin opened his mouth in astonishment.  “Come on!  You were just nice to her!” 

“Yeah?  Well, there’s a first for everything.  I still don’t like her.  Salem will still be on my ‘hate’ list, no matter what fancy garbs she puts on.”  He spun on his heel, working his way to his first class.  “Come on, we’ll be late.”  Jimin ran behind him, catching up.

“We’ve been late before!  Hold on!”  Jungkook only sped up, leaving his best friend to run in a chase.  Though Jimin easily caught up, he was a hound after all.

XXX

Yoongi sat in his class, watching the clock tick down second by second with a bouncing, impatiently knee.  He sat slumped with his elbow on his desk as his palm supported his chin.  Fingers tapping his cheek.  He wasn’t even paying attention, frankly, he hadn’t been ever since he sat down.  Once this class ended, you’d be out of your exams and he’d get to find out if you passed for the third attempt since your first year or not.

It was 14 minutes later when his class was dismissed and Yoongi literally just phased into a shadow.  Hiding his body and zipping through the halls along the walls and ceilings.  Traveling by shadows is the fastest, most efficient form of travel; at least for a dark warlock like himself who knows how to actually control it and now get stuck in the shadows like many have done before.  

The tactic was much more complex than you would think.  If not performed correctly, one could even suffocate within the shadows of something as small as a puppy.

He was down the halls, scaling stairs and zooming along the corridors of the outside courts before he quite literally flew out of a wall right next to the door of your classroom.  Your class had already started filing out, the hoods of robes being flung down and some stupid, over appreciated jocks even flexing the pride that is their passing grade.  

He waited at the doors until he peeked inside, still not seeing you exit.  Perhaps he came just a split second too late?  He leaned in the doorway to see you, standing in front of the professor as he spoke to you, waving his hands about. You nodded, talking back with him as Yoongi stepped inside. He was familiar with this professor anyways.

“Ah, Min Yoongi, what a pleasure,” the professor spoke.  You turned around, flipping down the hood of your gown as he moved briskly to your side.  Yoongi nodded to the teacher.

“Tihex,” he said.  He had long dropped any title from instructors names.  No Mr. Ms., or Professors for him.  Just using their names. Some found it endearing, others not so much. Tihex didn’t really care though, he was a young professor and rather open-minded.  Wanting to connect with each student of his in one way or another.  Yoongi looked at you as he opened his mouth.  “How’d you do?” 

You blinked up at him as you then looked to Tihex.  He smiled as he motioned to Yoongi basically telling you to tell Yoongi your scores.  The way that scoring works is that throughout the exam, your given a slip of paper for your professor to mark points on.  Whether to deduct or add on points.  Another is the class ranking.  On the wrist of each participant that passed the exams with high enough remarks and points were given a name stamped on their forearm.  That number places what magical standpoint they are in their class.  The Spellcaster with the number 1 on their forearm being the most excelling student as of the current standpoint.

You opened off your spellbook and handed Yoongi your point slip as he looked over the numbers.  High marks all around.  He smiled as you tilted your head in pride.  

“These numbers are awesome!”  He cheered, even stomping a little jig in excitement.  “What rank did you get in class?”  He was eager to know.  Y, u however, didn’t even know that yet.  

“I don’t know.  I was about to be stamped when you came in.”  The two of you looked to Tihex who was busy playing with his magic stamp.  Customized with stickers and even a little bow, of course, the stamp wasn’t originally his and he did have to pay the school board a hefty price once he started slapping stickers on it.  

He stuck out his hand to you.  “May I finally place you in the ranks now, Miss L/n?”  You nodded as you rolled up your sleeve and showed him your bare, blank forearm.  Yoongi looked over your shoulder, forgetting the idea of seeing your face before he knew your number.  

Professor Tihex took the back of your hand before he placed the stamp on you and with a small push, a puff of pink smoke and a few coughing fits later, he pulled the stamp away from you. There on your forearm was a pink, scripted 1.

Yoongi crashed into your back as he picked you up and flung you around, almost violently.  This is all he wanted, you to succeed.  He stopped shaking you around, yet he still held you off the floor, toes just brushing the tile as Tihex laughed.  

“You two are like a pair of siblings.”  Yoongi laughed as he felt you try to touch the ground, to which he lifted you higher. You had half a mind to place a weight spell on your body, but you knew he could counteract it with a relieving spell, so it would just be a waste of magic and time.

“We have a diner to go to!”  He cheered.  You grabbed his arms, panicking slightly as you raise your knees.

“Yoongi! No!”  You felt him start to shift his body to travel in the shadows again, only this time, he’s taking you with him.  “I’m still in my gowns!”  Then, he sunk into the floor, taking you with him and zooming out, leaving Tihex wondering if he’d bring you back to finish your classes for the rest of the school day.

The ceremony for passing Spellcasters was 3 days later.  Letters and messenger falcons (old school yes, but some folk refuses to conform to technology) were sent out to every parent of the successful students.  Many showed to see their children come back with signs of a Familiar.  Some whose child wasn’t shy even got to meet their child’s new Familiar’s first hand.

The robes for the ceremony were all the same style.  As opposed to exam gowns that differ between the sexes, ceremonial gowns were all the same. A completely black get up for dark magic users and completely white for white magic users.  Though there are some who dabble in both, they always lean more towards one than the other.  Yours, of course, were pure white.  

Long sleeves wide and rather comfortable.  Fabric layered overcrossing over the chest and waist in diagonal cuts.  Top piece cut into a square around the neck, and uncommon yet flattering attention to detail.  The bottom was cut into pant sleeves, yet most certainly aren’t pants.  They were large, fluttering and spacious.  Though divided, they moved around your legs and feet like the skirt of a dress.  Your hair was up, pushed into two thick hair ties, the handy work done by Yoongi himself.  Finally, each student wore a numbered necklace of their rank.  Yours was a golden 1 that rested on your chest.  

You were gathered in a room with your fellow classmates, family and friends outside in the courts yards out front, holding small conversations here and there as well as taking congratulatory remarks for being top. The feeling still hadn’t sunk in yet that you passed. Now, here you were about to get your Familiar that has been chosen by fate.  

Soon, a bell was chimed and each student went to their numbered chair.  Chairs were lined in rows in the main building as the Spellcaster head professor stood on a small stage in front of a door leading to a private back room.  The ceremony of Familiar and Master is entirely private, not even the professor may know unless the Master so chooses.

Interestingly enough, the order in which the students are called up to cast their spell and summon their familiar is from the bottom student to the top.  So, you would be the final student to summon.  Time ticked by, students going in and coming out with a neutral expression, some with mixed feelings and others practically dancing.  

“Spellcaster 1,” the professor speaks and you stand, making your way to the stage door, white gown flicking your leather sandal covered feet.  You stood in front of the door and took a shaky breath.  “Good luck,” the professor spoke without even looking at you as you pushed the knob into the room down and stepped inside.  You heard the door lock behind you as you looked around.

A summoning circle was in the middle of the room with a spellbook on an altar in the center.  Open and bookmarked on the page in which the spell you needed was open and ready for reading. The room was flicking with floating, uneven orbs of light and it was dark.  Black cloth hung from the ceiling covering the tiles from view as you stepped forward.  You stopped in front of the altar and looked at the spell.  

You knew this spell well, you had read and re-read it over and over again in hopes of one day finally being able to use it.  Now was that time.  You closed your eyes and took a breath, right before you opened your mouth and began to softly speak the incantation.

XXX

Jungkook was sat in his room in his dorm which he somehow got all to himself.  He was a late student to apply for a dorm room, so he was stuck with the last option, a one-person dorm with a single room, bathroom and kitchen.  He didn’t mind though, being on his own in his own space was actually preferred.  He sat at his desk, typing up an essay he had due for a class when he was dozing off.  

He was jerked awake and startled when he thought he heard someone mumbling behind him.  Spinning around in his twisting-rolly chair, he nearly flung himself out of it.  No one was there, there couldn’t be.  Wouldn’t be.  He lived in this dorm alone and even if someone got inside, he could hear them.  Turning back to his computer he left with a long line of ‘kkkkkkk’ after he dosed with his finger on the key, he backspaced and jerked when he felt a jolt of electricity shoot through him.  

Jungkook kicked up, pushing his chair behind him as he stepped away from his computer and looked around.  His body felt light and heavy, stuck in an uncomfortable balance.  It was like he was on the verge of getting drunk, yet still not there and haven’t taken any shots.

Another jolt of shock made him shout in annoyance as he felt himself phase between consciousness.  He rubbed his eyes, blinking once then twice before his wrist began to burn.  

Shrieking, he wasn’t used to the idea of burning, given he wasn’t supposed to feel heat.  It stung as he looked at to what he could have possibly done or what to see what was happening. A small burn was etching into the skin of his wrist.  Circling his wrist like a bracelet in red, angry, raised skin.  The pain made his body shift.

Breaking into a mid-shift form, his wings tore through the fabric of his shirt and stayed folded against his back. His horns twisted from the crown of his head as the scales on his neck and cheeks felt chilled.  His fangs bit into his lip as his golden eyes glowed and his slit pupils dilated.  

The burn soon finished etching it’s tribal pattern and ignited.  Jungkook shouted as he slapped at it, waving to put the random flames out.  Oddly enough, the fire engulfed his hand, yet it was only his wrist that continued burn.  Soon, the fire snuffed itself out and all that was left was a black, tribal tattoo around his wrist.  

“What the hell?”  He whispered, out of breath and confused. Voice shaking and looking around, he wondered if he was somehow hexed.

His eyes burned and watered as he rubbed at them.  Blinking once and then twice, he looked up to find himself somewhere that was most definitely not his dorm room.  He stumbled backward.  “What the fuck is happening?!”  He was in a room with black cloth and stupid lights of what? Gas?  

“Jungkook?”  He whipped around, more than ready for any explanation as to what in the everloving hell was going on only to have his face fall when he saw you.  Dressed in nothing but pure white garbs, you stared back into his half shifted form.  

“What in the hell are you doing here?   No, wait, where the hell is here?  Where am I?!”  He whipped his arms around as the short sleeves of his torn shirt showed his arms and wrist, to which you looked your eyes onto.  Jungkook saw you looking wide-eyed at his wrist.  He brought it up and pointed it at with his opposite hand. “Did you do this to me!?”  

“I-”  you started, looking around with a fallen face.  He seethed as he stomped towards you, grabbing the rectangular collar of your gown and pulled you to your toes.  “Jungkook, stop it!”  

“What did you do, Salem!!”  

“Release me!”  You demanded as his hand immediately opened, dropping you and he took two prompt steps backward.  As if he had lost his free will for a moment.  He shook his head as he looked at his hand then to you.  

“What did- did you just control me?”  You didn’t answer, only pulled up the sleeve of your gown to show him the same burned on tattooed on your wrist he had on his.  He looked at his wrist then to yours.  “What?”  He was so confused as the turn of events blew right over his head in terms of what was happening.  You sighed as you pointed behind him to the spellbook on the altar.  

He turned as he looked at the title of the incantation.  

“Summoning and Binding of a… Familiar?”  His voice shook as he read the title aloud. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”  He spoke with a breath of disbelief.  “I got bound?”  He turned around.  “To you?”  He spoke with wide eyes and a wrinkled forehead from his raised brows. He pushed his hair back, his claws scraping his skin as he remembered he was still partially shifted.  

He took a few calming breaths before tucking his wings back into his back and hiding his scales.  His teeth shortened and his eyes reverted back to their wide pupils and whites. He cleared his throat as you stood there.  

“What just happened was absolute subjugation.  I gave you an order unquestionably and you were forced to obey it.” You rolled your sleeve back down to lay against your fingertips.  “It’s a power that a Master holds over their Familiar,”  you muttered.  Jungkook cursed as he looked at his two sides.  

One door was to his right, outside it was a small murmur of chatting.  The Spellcasters must be outside that door.  To his left was another door with the light from outside slipping through the cracks.  He clicked his tongue as he stomped over to the outside door and opened it.  Seeing the courts behind the school.  

“You are not my Master, Y/n,” he spits as he stepped outside and slammed the door shut behind him.  Leaving you the Master of a Familiar who never wanted you.  Your one true wish crumbling at your feet. All good things, you feared, must always come to an end.

-TBC-

[afterspark-podcast]

G1 Episode 30: Transcript

Episode Show Notes

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Stinger]

S: Black, like it’s-

O: Yes, it's completely black. Like straight fucking coffee. It is the sludge from hell.

[Intro Music]

O: Hello, welcome to the Afterspark Podcast, an episode by episode recap of the Generation 1 Transformers cartoon.  I'm Owls!

S: And I'm Specs.

O: And today we're gonna be talking about episode number 30: Day of the Machines! Let's talk about giant robots today, shall we?

S: Yeah.

O: [Laughter] We start with, of course: Midnight, Quantum Laboratories, home of America's most  secret  inventions.

S: A security guard finds some um, “misplaced” items- ah, some very familiar misplaced items. [Laughter] Oh-

O: Hi, Soundwave! So the guard picks up- a picks up Soundwave along with a box and a guitar case and takes them to the Lost and Found.

S: It looked like it was in someone's office. Sooooo, why does the security guard uh, take it to Lost and Found? Why does he even do that? I mean, he says something about the absent-minded professor being at it again. Um, does this mean he just does this with anything that's left in people's offices? 

O: He is like the most passive-aggressive security guard ever. [Laughter] (Or whatever he is.) Because, like, oh that would be super annoying every time you come in it's like, where- where's my office plant? I guess, you know, Roger took it back to the lost and found cuz Roger is a jerk.

S: Yeah.

O: [Laughter]

S: Laserbeak and Soundwave transform and uh, Soundwave tosses a key to Laserbeak, telling him to release Megatron.

O: And, oh my god, Megatron’s in the frickin’ guitar case. Why didn't he just transform instead of them unlocking it? Why do they care about the structural integrity of this random guitar case?

S: Maybe it would be uncomfortable to transform and burst out of it? It’s- I don't know. 

O: Okay, so Megatron doesn't like being uncomfortable. Is that why he was in a plush guitar case?

S: Obviously. 

O: [Laughter] He’s gotta ride in comfort!

S: Once Megatron's free Soundwave grabs the box and Megatron blasts the Lost and Found, uh, door?-

O: Gate.

S: Gate-

O: They were like in a kind of gated, like, a clear fence area if that makes sense.

S: Yeah. 

O: Chain-link fence, that’s the word I’m looking for, sorry.

S: Yeah- Megatron blasts the a- chain-link entrance to the Lost and Found with his fusion cannon.

O: And yet the guitar case will survive this! It just gets left behind.

S: That's a lot of attention to detail for something that does not matter at all.

O: [Laughter] Right?! Megatron and Soundwave then subvert some tanks by flying over them undetected.

S: You know, in the gentle glow of the moonlight.

O: I'm sorry, I'm still stuck on the whole “Megatron being somewhat subtle” here thing.

S: It's Megatron, what can you do? 

O: [Snicker] 

S: So Megatron, uh, blasts a hole in the roof of the building that they land on. 

O: Well, okay, subtle for  him. [Laughter] We are then introduced to the most powerful computer on earth, TORQ III.

S: This implies the existence of TORQs I and II, so what happened to them? For that matter, why is it Decepticon-scaled?

O: No one knows, although I do love the image of TORQ I and II being shoved into, like, a broom closet somewhere. Probably rather glad they're in that broom closet, considering what happens to TORQ III after this.

S: Yeah. 

O: So, Megatron then... reprograms TORQ III to serve only  him  by using this really phallic looking thing that comes out of his helm. 

S: It's a literal mind fuck, guys. 

O: Literally! That looks like that is what is happening! 

S: Yes! 

O: Very, very much! [Laughter]

S: Yes, like you weren’t watching that bit when we scripted this and then I threw it out and then when we rewatched it and you were like, “Eeeaaaurgh!” 

O: Yeah, I was like, “Okay sure, mind fuck,” cuz I'm like looking down and typing and then I look up, when I had to rewind for some reason and I was like, “Oh my god!” [Laughter] And she’s like, “Yeah, that’s why I said it!” I’m like, I wasn’t looking. [Laughter] Well, that image will never leave my head. Great! 

S: And now it's in yours! 

O: [Laughter] Or it will be! We have screenshots. Anyway, TORQ begins blaring, “Illegal access! Illegal access!” 

S: Oh, that brings to mind so many bad things.

O: Yeah, it does! Yikes!

S: “It certainly is,” Megatron replies.

O: It's amazing. I love it.  [dissolves into laughter]

S: Oh god, the computers’ screen-face-thing is purple, so what were these people thinking? This is like Decepticon catnip. Did they hear it was purple and decided they needed to have it, in addition to it being the most powerful computer?

O: No,  Megatron  heard it was purple and decided they needed- needed to have it. [Laughter]

S: He would. So, Megatron, being himself, procedes to program it with his personality because what could be better? More of him! 

O: Okay, bu- but why does sticking his head-dick into the computer make it into a copy of him? I have so many questions right now, the first of which is, why would this be a good idea?! Did Megatron just forget he's a complete total bastard who doesn't like authority? 

S: Obviously, there's no one better than him so…

O: That's fine and dandy until the thing tries to rebel against you and, I'm like, it’s you, of course it's going to. 

S: It's a blind spot he has.

O: Obviously. Soundwave and Megatron, then open the box they had brought in with them, and put the microchips inside onto these really strange looking robots around the lab TORQ is in. 

S: Yeah, yeah, I mean what possible applications these robots have? How do they function? One’s got noodly arms that don't even- that they don't nearly seem like they should be able to lift anything. And they're all just sort of scattered around the lab higgledy-piggledy. 

O: Yeah.

S: In a line?  Or something, I don’t know.

O: It's weird. 

S: Once the microchips, apparently called ‘circuit linkers’, touch the other robots TORQ can control them.

O: He then uses Soundwave for target practice. Another lovely character for my shit list, apparently.

S: Owls is developing quite a shit list.

O: I am! I've got my hit list. The funny thing is there will be several that will die. Foreshadowing for the movie.

S: [Laughter]

Unfortunately, characters I actually like will die so I don't really think that gets me, you know, anything, honestly.

S: [Laughter] There's no net gains there.

O: There’s no net gains here.

S: And so, elsewhere, two scientists are working super late, wondering if they made TORQ- TORQ III even though it's not specified here- you know, too smart.

O: And TORQ could control the whole world, uh, whatever would we do if the wrong person got ahold of him, uh, you know, so, you mean, like right now, this very second! 

S: Ah, one of the scientists notices that it's, you know, fucking after midnight and says they should go home and get some sleep.

O: He says “we.” Are the scientists  lovers? 

S: It's possible. Maybe they're married? 

O: It’s getting spicy tonight, baby. Welcome to Dr. Love’s laboratory! And so as he turns to leave- or as one of the scientists turns to leave, the robot controlled door closes and locks them in. When they go to call maintenance, TORQ tells them that maintenance can't help them. 

S: This is why robot doors are bad, guys. 

O: Or, not having a secondary method in which to exit, at least, is very bad.

S: Yeah, the other scientist um, starts for rebuild- rebuilding his, ah, little TV phone into something that can call long distance in order to call for help because, I guess, TORQ does not control the phone lines. 

O: Or won't, if he rebuilds it? 

S: I guess? I don’t know. Elsewhere, by dawn's morning light, Megatron, Rumble, and Frenzy are flying around, putting more of the control chips onto some oil tankers because that's how that works, I guess?

O: Di- did you know oil tankers come in fleets, Specs? 

S: It seems like so much wasted effort went into the shot. They clearly drew all of these ships individually. 

O: Ah, the days before digital animation and coloring, I think.

S: But they could have just Xeroxed one of them and been done-

O: [Laughter] Or even traced! Maybe, I guess.

S: I mean, look at 101 Dalmatians, they did fuckin Xerox-

O: That’s true-

S: So many Xeroxed dalmatians-

O: Shit, that's right, there are a ton of Xeroxed dogs. [Laughter] Elsewhere, at the Ark, Teletraan warns Optimus that there's skullduggery afoot!

S: A bunch of oil tankers are converging near the Decepticon base which- is in the middle of the ocean? 

O: In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, according to this map. To which I have to ask, how the hell did Carly get in there a few episodes back? 

S: She chartered a plane, a train, and an automobile, and then teeny-weeny little boat.

O: Well, while I do certainly think Carly is capable of that, considering she's badass. I refuse to believe this map is accurate and they have to be in the Pacific Ocean. It just seems too close to the Autobot base in other episodes not to be. If, regardless, if they drove all the way to Washington DC no problem in that one episode. Either that or the platform isn't built on top of their base as the dialogue seems to imply and it's just, you know, one of their bases of the week. 

S: Which they do seem to have so many of those.

O: They do have a lot of those. 

S: Yeah and so, well, Optimus smells a rat named Megatron.

O: I mean, he's not wrong.

S: He really isn't and, uh, so Quantum Labs is finally able to get a hold of Optimus, I think, through Teletraan. I don't remember. 

O: Yeah, I mean, Teletraan 1 basically operates as their phone so-

S: Yeah.

O: -Yes.

S: Yeah. So, the scientists at Quantum Labs warns them about TORQ's sudden case of the evils.

O: And Optimus is ready to head towards the Lab. Hound offers to investigate the oil tankers all converging in the middle of the goddamn Atlantic Ocean.

S: You're not a boat, Hound. You're really not. 

O: It's ok, Skyfire’s gonna come. Skyfire and Spike. [Laughter] You know, the dream team! 

S: Optimus transforms and, um, Wheeljack, Prowl, Sideswipe, and Ironhide are suddenly right there! Right there! Where the hell did those guys come from? 

O: Through the power of camera angles they were there the whole time. 

S: Prime's group arrives at the Labs and Optimus rips the crossing barrier off so they can enter before, you know, being shot at by, you know, the robots. Or tanks?

O: They are attacked by all the tanks from before, that apparently don't have any humans controlling them.

S: Oh, oh so that's why they were so useless earlier.

O: Oh, yeah, probably. 

S: The Autobots are surrounded by this plethora of vehicles as Optimus channels Charlie Brown, “Good grief!”

O: Or Jotaro from JoJo's Strange Adv- Bizarre Adventure.

S: Yeah, Being cars themselves, they got the brilliant idea to, um, shoot out the tires on the attacking vehicles.

O: This only gets them so far, so Optimus Prime speed dials the Dinobots by pressing his abs.

S: Ah, ab cell-phone service. 

O: I mean, it was the 80’s. I mean, why not make the cell phone your entire ab if it's got to be huge? Might as well, right? I mean, at least, you save a little space, but that being said you would think it’s in his helmet considering the little antenna a few episodes back. But continuity? What's that?

S: And I’m just imagining someone going up and knocking on your grill while in truck mode.

O: [Laughter] “Optimus Prime call Dinobots! Dinobots smash gas station!” [Laughter] “Wait, no!”

S: So Peter Cullen talks to himself for a few lines and the Dinobots arrived with Grimlock in the lead.

O: Good thing Peter Cullen only does Prime and Ironhide because if we had to say that- if we said that joke for every time Welker talked to himself it would be absurd.

S: We'd be here all day.

O: We would be here all day! 

S: Optimus orders the Dinobots to smash here-

O: Which, obviously, being Dinobots they comply, there is much mayhem and explosions.

S: Yep. So, apparently, the doors are controlled by a computer but not the windows because the two scientists are able to shout to the Autobots from their open window.

O: I also am laughing because a lot of like ah, multi-story buildings that are, like, work places you can't even open the windows.

S: Especially now. You might have been able to in the ‘80’s.

O: Yeah. 

S: But, uh- but, uh-

O: Definitely be a question because probably not every place had AC either. 

S: Yeah.

O: So I imagine it would have been more common. Sludge gives Optimus a lift to the window and he helps the two scientists escape.

S: Optimus asks a question and then um, answers it himself with, you know, the answer, of course, being Megatron.

O: He's basically, like, a machine rebellion!

S: The scientists are confused as TORQ shouldn't be able to control things that aren't, you know, specifically designed for it. Then Sparkplug shows up to explain about the chips the Decepticons have been using them. Um.

O: Where did he come from? Why are characters poofing into existence so much in this episode? 

S: The power of convenience. 

O: The power of convenience. Optimus then takes the chip from Sparkplug and sticks it into his arm. 

S: Optimus, why would you do that? It's controlled everything else it's touched just by touching it.

O: But not him, apparently. The Autobots are led to TORQ’s hangar but the door is locked.

S: To quote Optimus, “Thankfully, I have a delicate lock-picking technique.”

O: That technique is blasting the door- [Laughter] 

S: And- 

O: Let it never be said that Optimus doesn't have a sense of humor.

S: Oh, oh god, he definitely has a sense of humor. 

O: It's just dad humor. 

S: Yeah, and so the Autobots are attacked by those funky looking machines that we saw earlier before we jet on over to Skyfire and company.

O: Apparently the Decepticons plan is to collect all the oil from the tankers and pump it down to their base but, oh no, the oil platform is protected by an unbreakable shield.

S: We've seen that one before. 

O: How the heck didn’t the Autobots see the Cons building this giant freaking platform in the middle of the fucking ocean!

S: They're just not paying attention to the goddamn oceans, I don't know.

O: The Sky Spy, you have Sky Spies! 

S: Yep, they land on one of the tankers. Hound and Spike exiting from Skyfire’s crotch hatch.

O: Of course.

S: They ask the captain to hide them so they can get, you know, through the shield and surprise the Decepticons. 

O: Hide him how? Skyfire is  huge!  How are they going to hide him? 

S: Mass-shifting? I don't know, somehow it works.

O: And at the boat docks, Megatron's supervising personally, for some reason, along with an incorrectly coloured Hook.

S: As the ship approaches, Hound and Skyfire jump out of a conveniently sized hole that was just on the ship's deck. I guess it's um, a hold or something? I don't know.

O: Yeah, but it was really large. Like, large enough for Skyfire to get into. I have no idea how realistic that is. And then a fight breaks out! Soundwave and some of his cassettes joining the fray as well and our dead-weight- I mean, Spike, is captured by Laserbeak pretty much immediately.

S: Yep. Megatron tells them to surrender or he'll have Laserbeak drop- drop Spike. 

O: [Sarcasm] Oh no.

S: Soundwave is standing off in the background like the strong, independent tape deck he is.

O: And, back at the lab, more of those crazy machines come out of the hole Prime blasted and attack.

S: Again, what were these made for? They seem, um, perfect for hunting Autobots. Optimus, were your friends planning on doing bad things to you?

O: Quite possibly. About those bad things, Optimus is captured by the kink machine- I mean, the bondage machine- oh, I mean, the one with the tentacles. [Laughter]

S: [Laughter] 

O: I’m serious, what else is that thing supposed to be for? Like, maybe that's what they were doing? Were they making a giant bondage machine for the Autobots? [Laughter] 

S: [Silent laughter]

O: I broke Specs, yay! [Laughter] I’m sorry!

S: Prowl can lift as he struggles to hold one of the robot’s mouths open, so it doesn't, like, crush him.

O: But then Ironhide just walks up to his opponent, plugs a hole with his finger and then it explodes. Welcome to the Looney Tunes, starring the Autobots. 

S: [Laughter] Sideswipe just makes his clap and that kills it.

O: [Laughter] Of course. So after, you know, um, all of that, they finally enter the hangar to find a maze.

S: Who designed this place?

O: I think TORQ’s done some redecorating overnight. He has had an army of, like, robo slaves at his disposal.

S: The funky-ass robots.

O: [Laughter] Kinkmatron. 

S: [Laughter] 

O: That’s it’s name now, no one can stop me! Optimus enters alone, uh, before we cut back to Skyfire, Hound, and Spike, who are in the Decepticon brig. 

S: When the Decepticons catch naughty Autobots, they go in the naughty Autobot hole. 

O: Dare I ask what that means for Spike? [Laughter]

S: [Laughter] God, there is a really terrible pun there. 

O: [Laughter] Yeah, there probably is!

S: God, I am not going into that. 

O: [Laughter] Nope, nope, we’ve talked about kink machines multiple times, I don’t want to get into anything else tonight!

S: Spike and his compatriots are trapped and waiting for rescue but, don't worry, Spike has a plan!

O: I feel like it's only fair, they're stuck there because of Spike in the first place. He should have a plan. 

S: Well, considering what his plan is, he was the only damn one who can carry out.

O: True. 

S: TORQ- Well, back with Optimus, TORQ continues to bait Optimus as, you know, our dad-bot makes his way through the maze and evil robots.

O: Optimus gets another circuit breaker- that wasn’t what it was called. 

S: Circuit linker-

O: -Circuit linker put on him and this controls him. [Laughter] You know, “controls him.”

S: I guess we should assume Sparkplug or Wheeljack disabled the other one, um…?

O: That makes sense. Although I- hmmm. So through this entire section, right, I was comparing TORQ’s dialogue to Megatron. You know, since Megs programmed his personality into this computer. You know, everything seems spot-on, I can hear Megatron saying all of this but then when TORQ captures Optimus he says, “Come to me, my pet,” and I have to admit it sounds like what Megatron would say in this situation, and I basically fucking lost it while we were watching it. But to make this even better! He says, “You're mine now,” two seconds later. Apparently, Megatron's thirst for Optimus transferred over, too! 

S: Yeah. Surprise! Optimus has been pretending to be controlled the entire time.

O: Of course! 

S: And that broken- broken circuit linker he had earlier was, in fact, there for a reason. He swapped it with the active one.

O: How he managed to do that without touching the live one is debatable but alright.

S: I don't have the time or energy to debate it so-

O: [Laughter] Fair.

S: Let's not. TORQ orders his robots to destroy Optimus but one well-placed punch by, you know, the Dad-bot makes TORQ explode.

O: Ding-dong, the TORQ is dead. 

S: TORQ I and II are probably very grateful.

O: [Laughter] I mean, TORQ III seems like a bastard. Certainly was a bastard there at the end.  Soundwave warns Megatron that TORQ is no longer in control of the tankers but Megs’ will control them with his radio transmitter he's conveniently holding.

S: Does it come with a funky hat?

O: We could only hope but, sadly, no.

S: Yeah. The scientists send Optimus and company off on, like, a super-fast boat. I think it's a hydrofoil, I don't know, as they head towards the Decepticons location. So, apparently, they were close to the coast.

O: Apparently. With Sparkplug driving, by the way. 

S: Oh, Sparkplug, most interesting man in the world. He knows how to do everything! He's been a ruby miner, an oil driller, a mechanic, boat captain, everything! 

O: Autobot liaison?

S: Yeah.

O: And back into the brig, uh, Spike has conveniently found an electromagnet just lying around.

S: I'm starting to think this isn't so much their brig, as it is their trash-pile room. 

O: Not to mention what the fuck they were using an electromagnet for or how.

S: I don't know. God, ygm Spike uses the electromagnet to magnetize the cassettes standing by the door to the walls- magnetize their guards.

O: Yes, essentially.  With the cassettes incapacitated, Skyfire burst the door down- bust the door down. I know what I'm saying. 

S: And through a five-second interlude we are told the Autobots in the boat are within sight, as Soundwave spots them.

O: But Megatron's not worried, they'll never get that shield, right? 

S: Jetfire, Hound, and Spike find the shield generator uh, so helpfully being guarded by Frenzy. 

O: Skyfire lures Frenzy away as Hound shoots the generator with one of his missiles. 

S: How did Hound get his ammo back? Because I'm pretty sure they were disarmed.

O: Shhh! They don't want you to think about it, they didn't, either. 

S: Well, that's true. The shield goes down just as the other Autobots arrive and, ah, you'll never guess how they do! The boat yeets itself out of the water and onto the platform and it’s horrifyingly entertaining cuz I keep imagining that the boat is gonna break.

O: Right? Another fight breaks out with Starscream, Laserbeak, and Frenzy joining Megatron and Soundwave.

S: And Megatron runs away and Optimus follows to destroy the radio transmitter.

O: Once destroyed, Optimus tells the tankers they're free to go. 

S: Megatron, you know, being a sore loser sets the whole platform to explode. 

O: The other Bots make it back to the boat but Prime runs to go find Skyfire and the others who who they presumably know are on there, for some reason? 

S: I mean, I think-

O: I mean, it's not the worst assumption to make but, I'm like, did they see them? I don't think they did.

S: I mean, they talked to one of the tanker captains? I don't know. 

O: I don’t know if they… They wouldn’t have had time. I- I'm gonna go with maybe they've all got GPS on them or something and roll with that, probably.

S: Yeah. So they all make it out on Skyfire once he's able to get, you know, out of the platform. 

O: And take off.

S: Yeah.

O: One of the scientists thanks the bots for their help and makes a rather unfortunate comment about unreliable machines.

S: [Sigh] 

O: You know, eating that entire foot.

S: Yeah, and he attempts to make a recovery but it's not really successful.

O: It isn’t very good.

S: And that's it! That's the end of the episode. Oh, but they brought the boat back to where it was from originally.

O: I mean, good for them for not exploding the boat, that was helpfully lent into them, I suppose. 

S: Yeah.

O: But join us next time for everyone's favorite holiday: Autobot Day! Wait... wait... no? Do we mean: Decepticon Day?

S: [Sigh] Parades.

O: [Laughter]

S: There are parades. 

O: Parades and I think this is a multi-parter, if I’m remembering properly?

S: Yep.

O: Cause, I think it's like Megatron’s Master Plan?

S: Yeah, I’m pretty sure that's what it is. 

O: It's a multi-parts-

S: It’s two parts, I’m pretty sure. And we have fanfiction recommendations. Due to the fact that I've been swamped, I didn't come up with any so Owls has supplied our fanfiction recommendations for today.

O: Wild-card fics yet again. These had nothing to do with the episode. All right, um, so I have picked two for today. The first one is “Cuck Rung” by… I think this is said, Evedawalrus.

S: Yeah, I think that’s what it is.

O: I think that’s accurate. I can’t remember what her username is on Tumblr but, um, it is IDW continuity, it is rated T. It's technically slash but let me tell you all the slash is relatively background, for the most part, and where it's really not the main focus but it has, um, Minimus Ambus/Megatron and uh, Drift/Ratchet. Our main characters, there are more than this that have popped up since, but our main characters are Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, Drift, Ratchet, Swerve, Megatron, and Ravage. 

O: Our description is: Rodimus creates a shipwide group chat. This proves to be a horrible decision. It is ongoing, it's not complete, it is multi-chapter and, let me tell you, it is hilarious. I laugh my ass off every time I read this. Um, because it is literally just a group chat with all of these characters and think of it very much like a discord where you have certain people who can, like, rename others and all this other shit. It's amazing, I highly recommend it. [Laughter]

And our second one is a “Shimmer of Hope” by NiCad? [Pronounced ny-cad]

S: Ny-cad? Nee-cad?

O: One of those.

S: The pronunciation’s debatable. 

O: Thank you, Internet! It is IDW, it's rated T, it’s Gen, uh, there are no pairings, and our characters are Verity and Springer. The summary is, “What did Verity write in that thank you card to Springer, anyway?” It's a one shot. I believe this is after- it's the last of the Wreckers trilogy from the IDW comics.

S: Requiem for the Wreckers, maybe?

O: I think that one. Uh, this is right after that. It's pretty short but, um, I really like Verity so I'm like Verity needs to be in more things, so those are our recommendations for today.

S:  And that just about wraps it up for us today, remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort as Afterspark-Podcast for any additional information, show notes, or links, we may have mentioned.  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at AftersparkPod (all one word).  And various other locations by searching for Afterspark…. Podcast- [Laughter]

O: [Laughter]

S: You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at AftersparkPod (all one word).  And various other locations by searching for Afterspark Podcast, such as AO3, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Youtube, just to name a few.  

O: Ah, feel free to send us questions on Tumblr, too. We actually, you know, have to do a mic check before we do any recording so, ah, it’s helpful for us. I have a list of questions but we're gonna run out eventually and I don't think I should be left to think of questions by myself. If you have a question about Transformers or whatever, feel free to send it to us on Tumblr and we'll probably use it for a warm-up and I'll try to answer it on Tumblr, too. 

S: Yeah or, I guess, in the comments on AO3, Youtube.

O: Yep, that also works comments on AO3, Youtube  Basically anywhere we respond back to which is mostly Youtube and AO3.

S: Yeah, uh, so till next time, guys! I'm Specs!

O: And I’m Owls!

S: Toodles!

 [Outro Music]

[cutie1365]

A Kid From Queens Part 8

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Info: CA: Civil War Era. Tony Stark enlists his daughter to find the web slinging spider in Queens.

Word count: 3.4k

Warnings: I don’t think there are any? Lmk if I’m wrong and I’ll add it.

A/N: Happy New Year! This is probably the longest chapter I’ve ever written lol, so you’re welcome. Reminder I crave validation so please comment and let me know what you think so I can keep this story going.

Masterlist linked in my bio!

A week had passed since your doctors finally released you to return to the tower. You thought this meant you’d finally get some freedom, but as far as your father was concerned, you were basically on house arrest.

He wouldn’t even let you in the lab, he had Friday lock you out. You were about to go stir crazy. You begged him for days to let you out of the tower, and he finally gave in.

“You can’t keep me cooped up here forever, I’m fine, I’m healing. I promise I’ll partake in no strenuous activities.” You pleaded. You were ready to get onto your knees for your father to consider your request.

“Just coffee?” Tony raised an eyebrow at you. He was always going to be suspicious of you, he knew you well enough by now.

“Just coffee and light shopping.” You swore, giving Tony your best rendition of puppy dog eyes for extra measure.

“Fine, but you’re going incognito.” He pointed towards a pair of sunglasses and a hat on the table.

“Ha! Right, like a hat and sunglasses is ‘incognito’,” You began, but he gave you a warning look, “Fine, fine, incognito.”

You slipped the hat and sunglasses on to please him, and promised once more that you’d be safe.

“I love you, give your father a hug goodbye, I’ve got to go back upstate and I won’t be here when you get back.” Tony spoke and you wrapped your arms around him. You felt him press a gentle kiss to the top of your head.

“I love you too.” You muttered, feeling a little guilty.

You slipped out the front doors of the towers, ‘incognito’. Your father was right to be worried. Of course you had other plans than simply coffee and shopping.

Spending the whole week in bed with your laptop had given you some time to research the mayor and Danny Rand. Danny Rand had tried to tell you something before the gala, and now you needed to know what he knew. You’d been tracking his whereabouts all week, so you were pretty sure you’d know where he was going to be at this time.

You found Danny near Rand Industries, as you’d suspected, and pulled him into the alley beside the building. You saw his stance change and something flash over his eyes. He was ready to attack, before you slipped your sunglasses off.

“God Y/N, I could have hurt you.” Danny sighed, taking a step back. You raised your eyebrow, you’ve fought bigger guys than him. Captain America trained you, and maybe Danny said some secret powers, but he didn’t really look like much.

“You were trying to warn me, at the gala.” You slipped your sunglasses on top of your hat, “Did you know what was going to happen?”

“I knew people were trying to get to the family. The mayor’s in deep. Deeper than mafia stuff. I think they’re dealing weapons, I’m not quite sure, but whatever it is it’s not good. I thought maybe they’d target you to hurt them.” Danny explained.

“Me? Why me?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest. Bad idea with broken ribs. You winced and returned them to your side.

“You do wonders for their public image. Without you no one would really care about them, he’d just be another politician.” Danny explained. So they’d just been using you? For press and publicity?

“How did you know about the mayor?” You asked, changing the subject.

“Because I’m trying to take him down. Are you ok?” Danny asked, pointing to where you were absent mindedly clutching your aching side.

“I’m fine, just some broken ribs and a few other things. Nothing too bad.” You brushed it off like it was nothing. Like you hadn’t just been involved in an attack that could have easily killed you.

“Well it’s a good thing Spiderman showed up. I saw the news footage, it looked like... like you knew him. And you’re a pretty good fighter.” Danny implied.

“I’m the daughter of Iron Man, of course I know how to fight and defend myself.” You tried to change the subject.

“And Spiderman?” He pressed.

“We all have our secrets, Danny.” You sighed, “Do what you have to do concerning the mayor, no one else needs to get hurt because of what he’s doing. Let me know if you need anything, tech, or otherwise. You know where to find me.” You offered to him.

“Thanks for the offer. Get better, and cut all ties with the mayor.” He warned.

“Oh don’t worry, I did. I should get back to the tower before they realize I haven’t just gone out for coffee.” You patted his arm as you turned out of the alley and back onto the street.

The sun began to set as you journeyed back towards the tower. Your mind was racing thinking about whatever these weapons were the mayor was involved with. A red blur landed in front of you, causing you to jump and place your hand over your heart.

“Excuse me ma’am, mind if I escort you home? It’s getting dark out.” The recognizable voice of Peter Parker spoke from behind the mask you painstakingly designed.

“You almost gave me a heart attack.” You breathed out, pulling him into the alley next to you, “Someone could see us.” You warned.

“Here, hold onto me.” Peter spoke, motioning you forward. You carefully wrapped your arms around him, and before you knew it you were flying through the air. Peter had shot a few webs and gotten the two of you up on the roof of the building you were hiding behind.

“What are you doing out? I thought you were under house arrest or something.” Peter asked, the worry was evident in his voice.

“I have my ways, Parker.” You smirked.

“That’s shady.” Peter joked, you tried not to laugh, knowing what it would do to your ribs.

“You’re one to talk,” You quipped.

“What were you up to?” He asked suspiciously.

“Shopping.” You lied.

“I don’t see any shopping bags. I also didn’t know they had stores in the alley next to Rand Industries.” Peter teased.

“Did my father tell you to follow me?” You asked, slightly agitated that he didn’t trust you, but then you remembered that you were indeed lying to him. But he never had to know that.

“Maybe. I was just watching out for you. What were you doing with Danny Rand?” Peter questioned.

“Can we talk about that later?” You asked, the whole ordeal had tired you out, but the thing that got you the most was that you didn’t have answers. You didn’t know why someone would try to kill the mayor, what he was dealing in, and how much at risk that put you.

“Oh uh yeah sorry. Do you want me to swing you home? It’s just a couple rooftops to the tower.” Peter offered and you nodded, latching onto him once more. He swung in and out of buildings, you had your eyes closed most of the time. Mostly because all of the sudden movements were making you nauseous.

Peter placed you gently down on the ground next to the Stark Tower, he was still hanging from his web. You didn’t know how he didn’t get dizzy or anything, swinging, spinning around, hanging upside down.

“Do you want to come up? Dad’s upstate so it’s just me.” You offered.

“Sure sure.” He nodded, you could tell he had a goofy grin underneath that mask.

“Meet me on that balcony, that’s my room, I’ll let you in.” You raised your arm to point to the ledge in question, trying to ignore the pain that shot up your side. “You probably don’t want to walk through the lobby like this.” You placed a hand on his suit.

“I guess you’re right,” Peter laughed, “I’ll see you up there.”

You made your way around to the front of the tower and through the front door. The security guards greeted you, and no doubt were about to update Happy about your return. You entered the elevator and pressed the number for your floor.

You slipped off your hat and sunglasses and placed them on your kitchen island as you passed it, making your way towards your bedroom. Once there, you drew back your curtains slightly to expose the door to the balcony.

As you slipped out into the brisk night air as you saw Peter sitting on the ledge of your balcony, facing the sunset.

“Best view in the city if you ask me.” You say, joining him and admiring the view.

“It’s not bad.” Peter joked, as you slid to sit next to him, turning your body as to keep one leg inside the balcony. You knew Peter would never let you fall, but you really didn’t want the situation to come up.

The two of you sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes watching the sun disappear from view.

“It’s getting cold Pete, we should probably go inside.” you spoke, rubbing your exposed arms. He nodded, silently cursing himself for forgetting he regulated body heat differently than you, ever since he was bitten at least.

Peter followed you inside of your bedroom, and he took a few seconds to look around. After you had closed the door and the curtain, he slipped off his mask. You moved to stand in front of your full length mirror, lifting your shirt slightly to fidget with your bandages.

Peter was still taking in all of your room: it was like a suite at a hotel. Everything matched the color scheme of your kitchen and living room. Very modern, white, clean, and sophisticated, with the occasional pop of color. Your large king sized bed sat upon a slightly raised platform, opposite it hung a tv nearly the size of the one in the living room. He turned to see your desk, large computer, and papers everywhere. This seemed to be the one disorganized place in your whole living area. Peter got a glimpse of the bathroom, with its marble and what appeared to be a rain shower no doubt. He then panned to the last part of the room, consisting of a large mirror leaning in the corner of the room where the walls met.

His eyes were met with you, fidgeting with your bandages in front of it. Pushing the thought of your exposed skin to the back of his mind, he rushed to help you.

“What’s wrong?” He asked quietly.

“It just hurts.” You whined. “I don’t know if it’s too tight or-.”

“Maybe it needs to be readjusted.” Peter suggested, “Here, let me help.”

You looked at Peter for a moment with apprehension. You realized he was probably used to this and more experienced than you were with tending to his injuries after a long night of crime fighting. You searched his face for anything like an ulterior motive, but only saw his genuine concern and want to help. You only saw him, Peter Parker.

You nodded and slipped off your tank top, he then began to unravel the bandage around your ribs and chest. You felt your heart beating slightly faster than normal and hoped he wouldn’t notice.

The more he unraveled the more he saw the large black and purple bruise from where the butt of the gun hit you.

“Holy shit, Y/N, I didn’t know it was this bad.” Peter nearly yelled, stepping back to take it all in.

“It’s fine its just a bruise-” You began to speak as he ran his fingers over it softly, you winced slightly cutting off the end of your sentence. Peter noticed how his touch left little goosebumps in his wake, he pushed that thought to the back of his mind, trying to refocus on the task at hand. He took one last look at your large bruise, hating that he could have saved you from this pain if he had been a little faster.

“I’m gonna rewrap it for you ok? Let me know if it’s too tight.” Peter’s voice broke the silence, as you watched his face, desperately wanting to know what was going on inside his mind.

“Ok.” You tried to say, but it came out barely above a whisper. You held the piece that was over your breast covering you. He began to wrap it gently around you, but tight enough to still serve its purpose.

“Is that better?” He asked, you nodded in response. You had noticed Peter looking at your clock a few times.

“You have patrols soon don’t you?” You asked, reading his body language.

“Yeah but-” Peter admitted, and tried to explain but you cut him off.

“You should go, I know you’ll worry if you don’t.” You smiled lightly.

“I know you’re right, but I want to make sure you’re ok first.” Peter said. You were surprised how easily it seemed he would stay with you instead of going out and being Spider-Man. You never wanted to keep him from that.

“I’ll manage. But... if it’s not too much to ask, could you maybe, come back when you’re done?” You asked nervously. Why were you so nervous? It was just Peter. That’s right, just Peter.

“It will be late but if you want me to I will.” Peter answered quickly.

“I mean, if you’re nearby, I uh- I just haven’t been sleeping, with the pain meds they’ve got me on, and everything else going on and I-, I slept really really well when you were here so I thought maybe. Ya know if I can finally sleep that would be great and if it’s gonna be another sleepless night then at least I’ll have someone to talk to.” You found yourself rambling, now standing in front of Peter, with no shirt on with only your bandage like corset to cover your top half. You must look crazy right now. But the way Peter was looking at you was if he hadn’t even noticed, he looked at you as if you were standing before him in a ball gown.

“I get it, I’ll be here, I promise.” Peter smiled, before he said goodbye, slipped on his mask and headed back outside onto your balcony.

It was maybe 2:30 when  you heard a soft  tapping on your glass. You stood from your bed, clicked off the TV,  and let him in with a smile.

“Hi, how’d it go?”  You smiled, as you locked up the door behind him.

“Good, slow night.” He slipped off his mask before replying.

“I guess the criminal classes enjoy a Friday night off every once in a while.” You joked.

“Seems to be the case,” Peter smiled before asking, “Hey, um, if it’s not too much to ask,  would I be able to shower really quick? It’s just, your room is so nice and clean and smells amazing, and I’ve been on patrol for 6 hours.”

“Oh, of course, of course.” You stuttered, what was wrong with you? You tried to compose yourself while pointing him toward the bathroom, “Everything’s in there, and I can go find you some clothes.”

Peter thanked you before slipping into the bathroom and shutting the door.

You journeyed to the floor above you, stepping into the deafening quiet of what used to be such a lively and joyous space. You could still picture Natasha flirting with Steve  in the kitchen, Bruce hiding in the corner trying to get some peace and quiet before retreating to the lab, wow have things changed.

You entered the first door on the right, stepping into the bare room. You found a bed  that hadn’t been slept in in years, the walls were devoid of any decorations. You pulled open the dresser drawer, thankfully finding some old clothes that were left behind in case their owner needed to return  for  a few nights.

You grabbed one of Cap’s old dri-fit shirts and some sweatpants. Thank god he wears his clothes super tight, you thought jumping back in the elevator to your floor. When you entered your room Peter walked out of your bathroom with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

Your jaw almost dropped, but you composed yourself. Jesus, you knew Peter was strong, he was Spider-Man, but boy oh boy you did not expect him to be that... well, swole.

“I um found these, I hope they fit, they were Steve’s.” You finally spoke, hoping he didn’t see you almost drooling.

“Steve?” Peter asked, graciously taking them.

“Rogers.” You answered.

“Oh my god these are Captain America's clothes?” Peter asked, beginning to fangirl- ah there’s the little nerd you know and love. Wait- love? You thought, that was an odd development.

“Yeah I mean they shouldn’t be too big on you he likes to wear his clothes super tight.” You joked, kind of dying on the inside though because Peter was still standing in front of you like that.

“They're great Y/N. Thanks, I’m just gonna go change.” He pointed back towards the bathroom.

“Sure, sure.” You nod.

When Peter comes back out, you’re sitting on your bed, with the TV back on. You were trying to calm yourself from what you had just seen. It really didn’t help that Peter came back out with that  shirt clinging to his arms. God help you.

You patted the bed next to you and he launched up and landed next to you, making you laugh.

“God this is like a cloud.” Peter joked, jumping next to you. You rolled back laughing at this little dork before you, wearing Captain America’s clothes.

“I didn’t know you were 5 Peter Parker.” You teased.

“Hey- I’m 17 almost 18 thank you very much.” He returned.

“Im shocked.” You joked, as he plopped down next to you.

“So... how’s school going?” You asked, Peter replied with a groan and laying back with his arms under his head.

“What does that mean?” You asked with a laugh.

“It’s just- there’s this party Ned and I were invited to tomorrow,  and uh Ned kind of let slip in gym class that I know Spider-Man and they want me to bring him.  So now I don’t know what to do. If I don’t go they’ll think I was lying, but if I show up without him it will be even worse. Spiderman isn’t  a party trick, I don’t know what to do Y/N.” Peter ranted to you.

“You could bring me.” You suggested.

“What?” Peter shot up, and starred at you like you’d just grown a second head.

“If these kids think you’ve never even met my dad, once they see you with me they’ll know you’re for real. I can be your hype man! We can just say Spider-Man was busy.” You explained.

“I don’t want to use you like some kind of arm candy? What would you even get out of this?” Peter asked, moving back until his back was against your headboard.

“Well I would get to go to a high school party. That would be a first for me, considering I was like 10 when I was in high school.” You smirked.

“Are you sure? You can back out anytime.” Peter said.

“It will be fine Pete. You deserve a night off anyway.” You smiled genuinely.

“Maybe you're right.” Peter smiled, hanging his head before shooting it back up and pointing to your ribs, “Are you feeling any better?”

“I took some more pain meds, I should be fine.” You shrugged, “I think some sleep would do me good but I don't know if that’s gonna happen.”

“I think I can help with that.” Peter smirked.

“Oh yeah? And how’s that?” You laughed.

“Just trust me, come here.” He motioned you towards him.

“Just relax.” He said, his voice getting quieter as you laid into his side.

Peter began to run his fingers through your hair, gently playing with it. It was the most relaxing thing you’d ever felt in your life, no five star spa could match the delicate fimble fingers currently guiding their way through your locks. You could  die right here and now and be happy.

Peter wasn’t surprised when he heard your breathing become shallow and consistent, he knew you had drifted off to sleep. After a few minutes he quietly asked Friday to turn off the lights and TV, all the while continuing to rub soothing shapes on your back. You looked so peaceful as he admired your natural beauty, soon he too found himself succumbing to the wave of sleep drifting over him.

Part 9 Coming Soon

Tags in the reblog because tumblr is trash lol.

Link to join my taglist is in my bio, or you can comment or send me a message/ask and I’ll get you added. Just tell me if you want to be on my Permanent Taglist, A Kid from Queens, or Peter Parker/ Tom Holland Taglist, or any combination thereof.

Also check out my other stories like Hello Detective- my Sherlock x Reader fic, Brooklyn- my WW2 era Bucky x Reader fic, and many more found on my masterlist linked in my bio!

[bellygunnr]

Train Run, Train Fast

A Commission for the ever-lovely @allonsymituna!

The two bounty hunters were a pair-- brothers, as far as human customs go; built together, activated together, they had never been separated before. It was only fitting that as they broke into this massive facility, they'd die together, too. Such were the tapestries. They only saw the possible riches this defunct factory could net them. They did not see the warning signs as the final lock in place lit up green and the doors slid down, down, down, permitting them access into their final resting place.

The room itself-- a laboratory of sorts-- was completely metal, unrusted but untouched. Pods lined the walls, most of them empty. The ones that were full contained a bright, glowing fluid, yet as the two brothers walked among them, they only saw skeletons inside.

Half-projects. Abandoned ideas.

“Look at this one,” a brother suddenly said. His name was Bruce. “It looks like a kid.”

“Human, do you think?” said the other, and his name is Miles. “Doesn’t look very human…”

“No, it has the triangle. A reploid kid…”

“Who makes a kid nowadays? Pretty sure that’s illegal, isn’t it?” Miles said with a frown. He taps the edge of the glass.

The kid inside does nothing. Completely inert.

“Must be why the facility’s abandoned. Man, we’re not getting anything out of here, are we?”

“Could save the kid, I mean--”

“Kids aren’t money, and that’s gonna raise a lot of questions. I doubt camp would be thrilled if we brought home a reploid kid. They’d send him to scrap!”

Silence falls between them. It’s true, but you didn’t need to say it out loud.

“Maybe we should just go,” Bruce says soberly. “I don’t…”

Just then, the building shakes. The wall across from them cracks. A single red eye can be seen through the shattered steel and brick before it all falls away.

“Mavericks? Here?”

“No, those aren’t ordinary Mavs. We must have tripped an alarm-- we have to run!”

Yet as they charged for the door they came out of, more mavericks appeared, their eyes crimson and indifferent. Guns whined and lit up the dark space. Their shots were too close to go astray-- Miles and Bruce, brothers and buildmates, were obliterated to shattered broken hulls within seconds of being discovered.

And the pod they had found began to leak.

Its glass cracked.

Others cracked with it-- a couple shattered. The steel floor became slick fast, covered rapidly with water or whatever protective fluid was in the pods. The mavericks stormed it indifferently.

“Look what you’ve done-- you’ve gone and broke the whole place,” a voice complained. A tall figure floated themselves down into the broken lab. “We were supposed to keep it intact… Jeez.”

“Don’t be so hard on them, Prometheus,” a second voice said. Their voice was slightly higher, smoother-- lilting. “Oh? That must be our target. Grey.”

The one called Prometheus settled themselves onto the ground and approached said target, still dripping from his time inside the pod. A shiver shoots down his spine at the look he is given.

“Pandora? We may have some issues. How troublesome!”

“I can feel it too…”

Grey. Grey is the only thing he could remember, even as he recounts his tale to Butch, the camp medical chief. He tells him about where he had woken up at, the strange… Reploids… he had met, and what they had called him.

“Grey,” he says flatly. “Greye,” he repeats, this time with inflection.

“Grey...e?” Butch replies.

“You get it,” Greye says, and he seems happy.

“Well, Greye… You’re welcome to stay here. You’ve had quite the journey for your first day.”

Butch leaves the sentence hanging. First day as a hunter, a kid, alive, of all things. That must be why there’s something off about him, he thinks to himself. Still getting adjusted to everything.

Greye smiles. “Thanks! Uh… I feel like there’s something I’m forgetting…” “Could it be the gun in your hand? Maybe holster that?” Butch says immediately.

A beat of silence.

“...Shit, probably. It’s out of ammo anyway.”

And he drops it on the floor.

Butch groans.

The camp gives Greye a few days to learn the area and meet everyone before asking if he’d like to work. Most folks, they say, are licensed by the Legion to perform special duties and missions. They’re offering the same benefits to Greye.

He naturally accepts the offer.

And starts that day.

“Help escort this package to the Legion itself, at the center of the city. It leaves from the train this evening so don’t be late!”

Greye frowns at this. That was awfully soon-- and awfully chipper.

“What’s in the package?”

“It’s a tool called a Biometal,” and the line goes dead.

Well then.

From there, Greye meets several other people-- even another reploid kid, though they’re younger than himself. This makes him frown, but he resolves not to mention it. They could be illegal builds together! Right?

Right.

“Once I get back, kid, we can play some games or something. I’ve got some sick tricks.”

Just then, the kid’s caretaker came back, scooping her high into the air and setting her on his massive shoulders. He smiled down at Greye with kind eyes and a rumbling laugh. “You’re the new friend, right? Grey, was it?”

“No… It’s Greye!” Greye corrected, puffing.

“Ah, forgive me. Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

Greye scowled and ran off-- he was going to be late for that train mission! What a pain.

+

“...This is the worst train ride ever. What the hell.”

Greye had been tasked with protecting the secret package as it made its commute between one mysterious pair of hands to another. That sounded simple enough by itself, but the folks had loaded him on an open-faced trailer, the wind howling and lashing at him. He clung to the box-- the only strapped down thing-- desperately.

“They’re trying to kill me,” he mutters. “What the hell…”

Each bump and shudder the train took shot up Greye’s spine. He grits his teeth against the unrelenting vibrations, fingers digging into the metal crate, threatening to dent it.

Let up on the box before you hurt yourself!

“Wh-- what was that?”

Oh, dear....

Oh, this was awful. First he was put on some kind of death trial mission and now he’s hearing voices! As if he didn’t have enough to deal with already!

My name is A. You’re not supposed to hear me!

The box shook violently.

Light burst from within it.

Greye, in a fit of self-preservation, tries to flee to the other end of the cart before he catches a face full of shrapnel. As the box breaks, nothing goes flying-- it peels back as if shorn. A single item floats up from inside.

Wow! It’s bright out here!

“Whhh- hey, A? You said you’re name was A? What the fuck was that?”

We don’t have time for that! Also, watch your mouth.

“What do you mean we don’t have time?” Greye demands, bristling. Then he hears it.

A Maverick drone dives down onto the open-faced cart, its bomb load thankfully released earlier, now armed with simple claws and a small blaster. Greye screams as he dives out of the way-- and screams again as A, whatever it is, dives onto him instead.

Just trust me! Megamerge with me!

Light flares again.

Biometal and Reploid merge.

+

Greye has little time to become accustomed to his new body as more Mavericks begin to swarm the train. He’s equipped now with not one but two pistols, and he wields both furiously, flinching back as debris falls apart around him. A urges him to climb onto the next train car.

What else can he do but listen?

I don’t really know what’s happening, but staying alive sounds pretty okay!

“A- Agreed,” Greye hisses, boots slipping as he hops onto the covered car. He crawls across it until finding the hatch that leads inside it, hastily dropping down.

It looks clearer here.

“Does this mean the train is under attack?” Greye asks out loud.

I guess it does! We should keep going before something bad catches up with us!

“Or we catch up to something bad… What are you, anyway?”

The two of them begin to pass through train cars, Greye fumbling around each time they met an enemy. Only with A’s sharp coaching and brittle humor did he figure out the trigger from the barrel-- these pistols were much different than the one he had handled before.

I’m a Biometal. My name is A. And I don’t know much else!

Now, the car they were inside looked fairly important, filled with gadgets and shining lights that Greye couldn’t hope to understand. As he begins to walk toward the front end, the roof suddenly peels back, and a massive machine drops down.

Flame jets out from the horns on its head.

“What the fuck?”

That doesn’t look very friendly....

With a wild scream, the new machine lunges at Greye, spitting words in a broken, slanted English.

“Defects must be destroyed or captured! Master wills it!”

Greye yelps, scrambling out of the way of the mad charge.

“D- defects? I’m not the crazy one here, buckaroo!”

The big machine stops and turns, arms crossing together. Three flaming bolts are fed to life-- and Greye cannot escape. He feels his armor and skin char from the centermost arrow.

That hurt! Who does this guy think he is?!

Greye, pull the hammers on our pistols. That should shut this guy up!

Through the pain and stinging, Greye almost doesn’t hear what Model A says. His hands shake as he tries to move his thumbs from the grip to the hammers, flicking back on each. Nothing happens for a long, silent moment.

“Master wills that you must be captured for the Great Game!”

Another series of bolts are charged.

Greye lurches forward, his energy tanks suddenly empty.

The world is plunged into a deep, whirling violet, and all that Greye and A thought they knew goes very dark. Beyond them, the violet dimension they summoned seizes upon the violent deer, ripping his armour to shreds. Flame spits out wildly and unchecked from the destroyed horns upon his head. Each breath leaks fuel and smoke from his chest cavity.

A is the first to wake up when the violet world is gone.

Buckfire is still very much at large.

Hhhey, big guy! Can you hear me?

Thankfully, broken as he is, the machine snorts smoke and looks around for the voice.

Good… This kid is pretty out of it, so let’s have a little chat. Who are you? What’s going on?

“My name is…. Buckfire. Pseudoroid in service of the Master. Must destroy or capture the defect.”

Pseudoroid, huh… Well, nice to meet you. We’re not the defects you’re looking for!

Greye’s eyes pop open.

Buckfire is screaming, charging at him from where he’s lying prone on the floor. Greye screams back.

They’re both screaming.

A shouts for Greye to just start shooting, aim for the chest, do you see that core-- wow, that’s a big core--!

He shoots at the core with both pistols. The rapid barrage quickly razes what little is left of Buckfire’s chest cavity. The big beast halts--

Run, Greye! Run!

Greye has nowhere to run, so he jumps, clawing his way out of a puncture in the ceiling. He jumps again onto the next cart, then the next, body thrumming wildly and clinging to the very last vestiges of energy and strength. A has latched on much more tightly.

Staying alive is a team effort.

The back end of the train explodes behind him.

And neither of them expects what happens next.

Standing guard in front of a huge castle, head inclining to the arrival of another of your kind-- the twins, Argoyle and Ugoyle. They give you high fives to the best of each of your abilities, laughing between themselves. They’re admitted to the Master’s chambers shortly thereafter.

Even though your gaze is straight ahead, you can’t help but peek at what the twins bring out with them a few hours later. A huge pod, supported on wheels, pushed along by both on their motorized peds.

You’re transported elsewhere. All you see is dancing green light awash in water. A single silhouette of a hand fills your vision.

“Dear son, when all is said and done, you shall be the King.”

Greye comes up gasping. His energy tanks are even lower than before and his head is pounding.

“A? What was that?”

I don’t know… I really don’t know!

Greye never makes it to the Legion that day. Instead, he scurries home as soon as he finds the means to, practically running on fumes. Butch saves him from having to send his mission report in, insisting that he sleeps and recharges, promising to run him through the repairs.

He doesn’t ask about the floating rock.

Greye is good with that. He’ll tell him more the next day.