#I saw the giant cracks on the bus she hit

[ladyylavenderrr]

A crater in the bus you hit is all that shows where you once were

And people sigh at the traffic jam, your suicide was quite the stir

But traffic jams will all clear up and your falling down is forgotten as well

Your life ends here, not yet begun, a fragile, newborn baby shell

But you don’t think of all these things, no you don’t think a thought at all

You sleep on the road, a nameless bag, a footnote to the cars you stalled

[atlas-plugged]

Atlas Shrugged Read-Through: PP 11-14

As far as starting your novel in media res goes, it takes pretty big balls to make your opening line the motif that will haunt the rest of the book. The story starts out right away with "Who is John Galt?" and clumsily tries to catch up to it.

Our introductory POV character (the story is told mostly in first-person limited with occasional dips into third person omniscient) is Eddie Willers, who is undoubtedly one of the more likable characters in the book. Eddie is 32, straightens his spine with "self-conscious discipline" and we meet him as he's giving a dime to a panhandler on the street.

I like Eddie for that. Eddie is unnerved by the man asking him for change, and is unnerved at the constant refrain of the city that seems to be cadging dimes out of the pockets of the well-to-do, but Eddie doesn't pause. He is uncomfortable, but he gets the dime out of his pocket anyway.

Eddie is walking the streets of New York at sunset, trying to figure out what is causing the anxiety that's preying on his mind. He eventually settles into the realization that twilight is making him anxious.

This is because, in the context of the novel, the industrial world is in its twilight.

And this is because Ayn Rand was the least subtle person on the planet.

Further evidence of Rand's earth-shaking unsubtlety is the giant calendar projected on the roof of a skyscraper that will become a way of marking Serious Happenings in the novel. The calendar also makes Eddie uneasy, and looking at it gnaws on him for a page or two until he realizes that the calendar has made him think of the phrase "your days are numbered."

As Eddie walks through the street we are taken on a tour of his anxieties; he is unnerved by the increased frequency of people asking for cash, disturbed by the coming darkness and the numbered days of the calendar, and the fading brightness of the city reminds him of a lightning-struck tree that he saw as a child, one that was already rotted from the inside by the time it was hit in a storm.

There's a paragraph here that I almost like for its language, and that I actually like because of what it says about Rand. The paragraph reads:

The clouds and shafts of skyscrapers against them were turning brown, like an old painting in oil, the color of a fading masterpiece. Long streaks of grime ran from under the pinnacles down the slender, soot-eaten walls. High on the side of a tower there was a crack in the shape of a motionless lightning, the length of ten stories. A jagged object cut the sky above the roofs; it was half a spire, still holding the glow of the sunset; the gold leaf had long since peeled off the other half. The glow was red and still, like the reflection of a fire: not an active fire, but a dying one which is too late to stop (12).

What I almost like about that paragraph is the way that it's written. When I say that I find Rand's prose compelling, this is part of what I mean. The image of a glass skyscraper with half its reflection gone dark because it was unmaintained after all the effort to build it is arresting.

What I actually like about that paragraph is that it's not quite a full page into the book and Rand is already telling you exactly how much credit she gives her readers. It is not enough for her to imply that the buildings are poorly maintained, or to later comment on the number of closed shops or the rusty mechanisms of the streetlights, she has to make sure that you understand that things are bad in Eddie Willers' world, and that the city looks like a dying fire.

Eddie continues his journey, passing a busy street in which only 20% of the shops are dark. He walks down the sidewalk and feels protective of displays of competence (bright vegetables on sale at a stall, an expertly steered bus) and advances toward a meeting that he doesn't want to have.

The text is very clear about what kind of man Eddie Willers is. He is a man who likes productivity, a man who unflinchingly faces unpleasant tasks with his head held high and the knowledge that his effort will be of use to the people (and one specific person) who rely on him. He is not a fighter, he is not a brilliant engineer or a great thinker: he is a man whose existence is "a quiet, scrupulous progression" (13).

In the next segment (Atlas Shrugged is divided into three books of ten chapters, or 30 chapters that average about 36 pages each; each segment is typically divided into several segments with differing points of view) we will learn that Eddie is the "Special Assistant to the Vice-President in Charge of Operation, and his main duty was to be her bodyguard against any waste of time" (25). Eddie isn't a man who gets things done, he is a man who clears the path for other people to get things done.

We are meant to appreciate Eddie, but I also think we're supposed to be contemptuous of his passivity. He is a little man living his life and (explicitly) trying to do what is right, and in Rand's writing that's not enough to make him admirable.

In the matryoshka of cuckoldry* that would be a love triangle in another novel, Eddie is the outermost doll.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Eddie is on his way to an unpleasant task: that unpleasant task is to tell the president of the company that he works for that they can't let a railroad line fail.

This is a novel about industrialists.

While it was written in the 50s it seems to have a kind of timelessness, or out-of-timeness to it. If it seems a little odd that the central conflict of a novel in the 50s would be about the failure of a railroad company, it is. The first recorded usage of "Jet Set" was in the late 40s to early 50s, and it seems, frankly, bizarre that a book published in 1957 would have trains this central to the story.

It is really, really difficult to over-emphasize how much trains matter to this book.

And, look, I get that transit is Super Fucking Important to how the world works - we have all recently experienced what supply chain interruptions can do to the world - but trains are more than transit in Atlas Shrugged. Taggart Transcontinental - the railroad that Eddie works for - is presented as a cultural symbol and a metaphor for freedom and UNIRONICALLY!!!!! an example of what determined individuals can do if unhampered by regulation.

So it doesn't read like a novel that is taking place in the 1950s, it reads like a novel that is taking place much earlier than that.

But: back to the actual text.

Eddie is determined in facing his terrible duty: speaking to his boss. Eddie walks through the Taggart Transcontinental Building, immediately comforted by its warm, productive atmosphere, and goes upstairs to talk to Jim Taggart, president of Taggart Transcontinental, who is the older brother of Dagny Taggart (the protagonist of the novel, and Eddie's direct supervisor).

Taggart's textual introduction is another example of Rand's writing actually being kind of okay:

"He looked like a man approaching fifty, who had crossed into age from adolescence, without the intermediate stage of youth" (14). That's good shit. It's evocative. It's followed by eighty words of description that undo all the wit of that zinger: "His posture had a limp, decentralized sloppiness, as if in defiance of his tall, slender body, a body with an elegance of line intended for the confident poise of an aristocrat, but transformed into the gawkiness of a lout. The flesh of his face was pale and soft. His eyes were pale and veiled, with a glance that moved slowly, never quite stopping, gliding off and past things in eternal resentment of their existence. He looked obstinate and drained. He was thirty-nine years old."

Everyone who has done even half a second of criticism Rand has noted that she is too wordy. It is practically a given. What people don't often discuss is that half of the words are good, they just get spoiled by the other half. Just like the dying fire example we looked at earlier, this description of Jim Taggart could be cutting, but she dulls her words by throwing too many of them at you. And that's not even getting into the weird body shit that will crop up again and again.

Or her obviousness.

Jim Taggart's sloppy posture is a misuse of his body that makes an aristocrat into a lout; Jim Taggart's misuse of his family's company makes him into a moocher instead of an industrialist. He is squandering his inherited gifts out of a sense of misplaced guilt over possession of those gifts; this is expressed in his physical person as well as in his business dealings.

Anyway, that's where I'm going to call it for today. We've met Eddie, we've seen the streets of New York, we're inside the Taggart Transcontinental building, and we've seen Jim but we aren't talking to him yet.

This chapter is called "The Theme" and that is apt because the themes are being laid out before we've even met or protagonist and before our antagonist has even opened his mouth.

There is one more thing I would like to highlight, though:

At one point in the chapter, Eddie remembers the answer he gave when asked what he would like to do when he grew up. His answer was "Whatever is right," and as he walks toward the Taggart Transcontinental building he reflects on this:

"He still thought it self-evident that one had to do what was right; he had never learned how people could want to do otherwise; he had learned only that they did. It still seemed simple and incomprehensible to him: simple that things should be right, and incomprehensible that they weren't. He knew that they weren't" (14).

Eddie knows that something is wrong in the world, and he attributes at least part of that wrongness to people wanting to do something other than what is right. Put another way, Eddie thinks that what's wrong with the world is that people want to do the wrong thing.

I think that Rand genuinely believed that a great deal of evil in the world was attributable to the conscious decision to do evil, and I think that that idea, that people choose to do wrong, is at the root of the flaws in her worldview.

One of the major flaws with libertarianism and/or objectivism is the unwillingness to concede that the choice to act in your own best interests may well do harm to others. This is remarkable, considering how terribly wounded the ideology is, and how much contempt it holds for self-interest in collective contexts.

*"matryoshka of cuckoldry" is the tag that will be used to mark posts that discuss the fascinating and bizarre world of sex and relationships in Rand's work. Eddie Willers is not Dagny's partner at any point in the novel but he is the most passive, distant, and mentally/physically/capitally weak of the men who love Dagny Taggart in the novel.

[yayeetsonny]

Always tell the truth~ USWNT x Baby Reader

A/N: Hi ya’ll, yes I’m still alive, I’m sorry I went MIA for Idk how many months. My life just got turned upside down and I got a job and I’ve just been so busy. But I’m officially back and will be getting to all the requests I’ve received soon. This wasn’t a request but I got this idea from another fic I read so I hope you enjoy - N

Y/N PRO//

At 18 years old I’ve got so many activities and responsibilities sometimes I wonder how I’m still functioning. I’m a senior in high school, an honor student, a theatre geek and most of all I’m a pro soccer player for the United States Women’s National team. Its amazing, I’m living out my dream of playing the greatest game alongside some of my idols and we’re like one big, goofy dysfunctional family. My parents, while they love me and support me, aren’t around much and aren’t the most attentive. But my teammates make up for it by acting like overprotective, hovering moms whenever we’re together. 

I’d just gotten to the facility where we were gathering for our first team training of this camp. I was extremely excited to see my teammates. 

 I walked into the meeting room quietly and I saw everyone just talking among themselves; they had yet to notice me, so I took full advantage of this. I walked up behind Mal, made a shh gesture to Alex who made eye contact with me and took a deep breath, then I let out an ear piercing yell. Mal and anyone else who hadn’t seen me jumped 10 feet in the air. Poor Mal was in a heap on the floor, clutching her chest while the others were laughing and trying to compose themselves.

“What the- Y/N!”

“That’s me!”

“Hey kiddo! Quite the entrance you made there.”

“I know, I apologize I just couldn’t resist. Sorry Mal.”

I helped her off the floor and wrapped her in a hug.

“You good?” I giggled

“Yeah, you just gave me a heart attack, no big.” She giggled back

I made my rounds, gave and received hugs and hellos and then I went to sit with everyone for the start of the meeting. I rolled up the sleeves of my hoodie and got comfortable since these meetings tend to be long. Alex was on one side of me and Mal was on the other. I didn’t notice the giant bruise on my arm but Alex did.

“Y/N? Where’d you get that bruise?”

“Bruise? What are you talking about?” I say looking at her like she had grown two heads.

“That nasty looking one, where’d you get it?” She said pointing at my arm but not breaking eye contact with me.

I looked at the bruise for a minute, studying it, trying to figure out where it came from. I genuinely couldn’t remember hurting myself or hitting my arm hard enough to leave a bruise

“Oh, uh I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Doesn’t it hurt?”

“No, not really.”

“Okay… are you sure you don’t know where it’s from?

“Yes I’m sure.”

“Okay well if it starts to hurt or gets worse for whatever reason let me know and I’ll get some cream for it.”

I could tell Alex didn’t believe the whole “I don’t know” response but its the truth and she let it drop anyways so whatever. 

Mal just looked at me curiously

“What was that about?” She whispered

“Oh nothing, Alex is just being overprotective as usual.” I whispered back

The meeting was long as I predicted but when it was finally over we were sent to change for practice. On the way there I let Mal hop on my back, once she was on and comfortable she yelled 

“Onward trusty steed!”

“Your wish is my command!” I said as we both giggled

I carried her all the way there and then gently set her down and went to get changed. 

I was talking to Christen whose locker happened to be next to mine and she was telling me about her dogs and how much she misses them, I was beginning to tell her about my dog and how much I miss him when I saw her staring at my arm.

“Hello? Earth to Christen?”

I waved my hand in front of her face trying to get her attention and after a minute it worked.

“Huh? Oh sorry, I don’t mean to stare, it’s just that bruise on your arm looks quite painful, what happened?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I can’t seem to remember.” I said shrugging

“You don’t remember? Are you sure?” She said looking at the bruise and back at me worriedly

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Okay.”

I could tell she too didn’t believe me but I’m not sure what else to say, I can’t just make up some story about what happened. Okay well I could but that would be lying and I’ve always been a terrible liar.

I decided to just forget about those two interactions for the time being and focus on giving my all this camp so that the coaches know I can be trusted to step up when they need me to. 

We started out with some warm ups, then did some sprints, passing drills, shooting drills, set piece work, PK practice and to wrap it up like always we had a scrimmage. My team consisted of, Chris, Alyssa, Crystal, Sam and myself, the other team consisted of Alex, Tobin, Ashlyn, Ali and Lindsey. 

The scrimmage was pretty normal, a few goals for each side my team unfortunately coming up short by one goal, as the other team celebrated my teammates and I pretended to be upset and pouted about the loss. 

“Oh cheer up guys, you’ll get us next time… maybe.” Ash said giggling

“Yeah, yeah. You guys only won because I got distracted by a butterfly on that last play.” Sam said 

Everyone just stared at her blankly

“What? It was really pretty! Didn’t you guys see it?”

We all just started cracking up at that. I was able to pull myself together enough to ask the question everyone was thinking

“You-you really got distracted by a butterfly during the game Sammy?”

“Yes, and?”

“It’s just as funny hearing it a second time” I said before laughing again 

“You guys are mean.” She pouted

“You love us.” Ali said, reaching up and ruffling Sam’s hair. 

After practice the team all got on the bus and went back to the hotel we were staying at. Vlatko booked out a whole floor just for us since he knows how loud we can be and didn’t want to deal with angry neighbors. Not again, after last time. This time I’d be rooming with Ali, we didn’t get put together often but I always enjoy when we do. It helps us bond and I’m always learning new things about her. 

I was going to meet them there later however because I had to go see my parents at their request, my dad said something about it being urgent. I got in a team van and went to see them.

After several hours I was finally able to go back to the hotel and be there for the rest of the night. My parent’s seem to have had a change of heart about my career choice, they went on and on about the sudden need for me to join the family business and how my only goal in life should now be to live up to their legacy. I hated every minute of it, I was so ready to get Into my comfortable clothes and head to get something to eat. When I got to the room I’d be sharing with Ali I opened the door to an empty room. She must be with Ash. I thought.

 I decided to get changed and see if I could find her. As I was changing I didn’t hear the door open and only knew my roommate had arrived when I heard a gasp

“Y/N… What happened babe?”

“Ali, Hi. What do you mean? Nothing’s happened.”

“ So that big bruise on your arm, the one on your shoulder and the one going all the way down your spine aren’t anything?” 

“What? What are you talking about?”

“You obviously know what I’m talking about.”

“No I don’t, I only knew about the one on my arm, after Alex pointed it out. Otherwise I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the mirror in the bathroom, spun me around and said 

“Those bruises, Y/N, where’d you get them?” 

“Oh… I don’t know.” 

“Yes you do.”

“No I don’t, that’s the truth.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and besides, we are soccer players, I probably just got them in practice.”

“Y/N… I’ll ask again, where are those bruises from?”

“I. Don’t. Know.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Fine then, don’t believe me. First Alex, then Christen and now you. This is just great, my teammates think I’m a liar. Well I’m not and I’m telling you the truth.”

I brushed by her and stormed out of the room, now determined to avoid my teammates so they’d stop asking questions and questioning my honesty.

I’m not a liar. I don’t know where I got the bruises, I don’t know why they won’t believe me.

A/N: Okayyyy... sorry for the sort of cliff hanger? I can’t type anymore for now because my wrists hurt too bad. (Work messed them up lol) so this’ll be a two part imagine, sorry!- N

Not really edited

[bright-eyes-strawberry-lies]

The Weather In PJO (brought to you by gods and demigods)

*alternating colors for ease of reading

**page numbers look weird because they're copied/pasted from ebooks

“Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I’d ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We’d had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn’t have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.” - TLT pg 33

“One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.” - TLT pg 65

“Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery. [...] Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten.” - TLT pg 156

“There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.” - TLT pg 176

“I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn’t dreamed that.” - TLT pg 491

“It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.

I had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me.” - TLT pg 520

“BOOOOOM!

The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof, but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.” - TLT pg 629

“The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert.” - TLT pg 988

“In the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from neighborhoods all over the city. There had been an earthquake, all right, and it was Hades’s fault.” - TLT pg 1191

“I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned.” - SOM pg 10

“After a few more minutes, the dark splotches ahead of us came into focus. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea-an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.” - SOM pg 598

“A storm raged that night, but it parted around Camp Half-Blood as storms usually did. Lightning flashed against the horizon, waves pounded the shore, but not a drop fell in our valley. We were protected again, thanks to the Fleece, sealed inside our magical borders.” - SOM pg 1045

“Sleet and snow pounded the highway. Annabeth, Thalia, and I hadn’t seen each other in months, but between the blizzard and the thought of what we were about to do, we were too nervous to talk much.” - TTC pg 11

“Old spirits are protecting the bad boat.”

“The Princess Andromeda?” I said. “Luke’s boat?”

“Yes. They make it hard to find. Protect it from Daddy’s storms. Otherwise he would smash it.” - TTC pg 210

“Clouds seemed to be swirling around its peak, as though the mountain was drawing them in, spinning them like a top. “What’s going on up there? A storm?”

Zoë didn’t answer. I got the feeling she knew exactly what the clouds meant, and she didn’t like it.” - TTC pg 751

“I will do my best to destroy his boat with storms, but he is making alliances with my enemies, the older spirits of the ocean. They will fight to protect him.” - TTC pg 886

“We were standing at the dining pavilion, just where we’d last spoken before I went on the quest. The wind was bitter cold, even with the camp’s magical weather protection. Snow fell lightly against the marble steps. I figured outside the camp borders, there must be a blizzard happening.”- TTC pg 915

“The wind whipped cold off the bay. In the south, San Francisco gleamed all white and beautiful, but in the north, over Mount Tamalpais, huge storm clouds swirled. The whole sky seemed like a black top spinning from the mountain where Atlas was imprisoned, and where the Titan palace of Mount Othrys was rising anew. It was hard to believe the tourists couldn’t see the supernatural storm brewing, but they didn’t give any hint that anything was wrong.

“It’s even worse,” Annabeth said, gazing to the north. “The storms have been bad all year, but that—” - BOTL pg 359

“I had no choice. I called to the sea. I reached inside myself and remembered the waves and the currents, the endless power of the ocean. And I let it loose in one horrible scream.

Afterward, I could never describe what happened. An explosion, a tidal wave, a whirlwind of power simultaneously catching me up and blasting me downward into the lava. Fire and water collided, superheated steam, and I shot upward from the heart of the volcano in a huge explosion, just one piece of flotsam thrown free by a million pounds of pressure. The last thing I remember before losing consciousness was flying, flying so high Zeus would never have forgiven me, and then beginning to fall, smoke and fire and water streaming from me. I was a comet hurtling toward the earth.” - BOTL pg 618/619

“Mrs. O’Leary howled. I patted her head, trying to comfort her as best I could. The earth rumbled—an earthquake that could probably be felt in every major city across the country—as the ancient Labyrinth collapsed. Somewhere, I hoped, the remains of the Titan’s strike force had been buried.” - BOTL pg 1005

“I remembered what Tyson had told me at the beginning of the summer. “The old sea gods?”

“Indeed. The battle came first to me, Percy. In fact, I cannot stay long. Even now the ocean is at war with itself. It is all I can do to keep hurricanes and typhoons from destroying your surface world, the fighting is so intense.” - BOTL pg 1066

“Then the entire sea grew dark in front of us, like an inky storm was rolling in. Thunder crackled, which should've been impossible underwater. A huge icy presence was approaching. I sensed a wave of fear roll through the armies below us.” - TLO pg 153

“I saw a bank of storm clouds rolling across the Midwest plains. Lightning flickered. Lines of tornadoes destroyed everything in their path— ripping up houses and trailers, tossing cars around like Matchbox toys. “Monumental floods," an announcer was saying. "Five states declared disaster areas as the freak storm system sweeps east, continuing its path of destruction." The cameras zoomed in on a column of storm bearing down on some Midwest city. I couldn't tell which one. Inside the storm I could see the giant—just small glimpses of his true form: a smoky arm, a dark clawed hand the size of a city block. His angry roar rolled across the plains like a nuclear blast.” - TLO pg 216-218

“Over the city, a thunderstorm boiled—a wall of absolute black with lightning streaking across the sky. A few blocks away, swarms of emergency vehicles gathered with their lights flashing. A column of dust rose from a mound of rubble, which I realized was a collapsed skyscraper. [...] Wind whipped her hair. The temperature was dropping rapidly, like ten degrees just since I'd been standing there.” - TLO pg 468-470

“She faltered as a mighty groan cut through the sky. A blast of lightning hit the center of the darkness. The entire city shook. The air glowed, and every hair on my body stood up. The blast was so powerful I knew it could only be one thing: Zeus's master bolt. It should have vaporized its target, but the dark cloud only staggered backward. A smoky fist appeared out of the clouds. It smashed another tower, and the whole thing collapsed like children's blocks.

The reporter screamed. People ran through the streets. Emergency lights flashed.” - TLO pg 470-471

“Listen to me!" I said. "Kronos's army is invading Manhattan.'"

"Don't you think we know that?" East asked. "I can feel his boats right now. They're almost across."

"Yep," Hudson agreed. "I got some filthy monsters crossing my waters too."

"So stop them," I said. "Drown them. Sink their boats."

"Why should we?" Hudson grumbled. "So they invade Olympus. What do we care?"

"Because I can pay you.” - TLO pg 654

“Water sprayed his face, stinging his eyes. The wind picked up, and Hyperion staggered backward.

"Percy!" Grover called in amazement. "How are you doing that?"

Doing what? I thought.

Then I looked down, and I realized I was standing in the middle of my own personal hurricane. Clouds of water vapor swirled around me, winds so powerful they buffeted Hyperion and flattened the grass in a twenty-yard radius. Enemy warriors threw javelins at me, but the storm knocked them aside.

"Sweet," I muttered. "But a little more!"

Lightning flickered around me. The clouds darkened and the rain swirled faster. I closed in on Hyperion and blew him off his feet.” - TLO pg 903-904

[lovingumi]

— requested.

— chaos.

⤷ Hi, dear!~ I’m so in love with your Inarizaki writing! Thank you really. This’s too soft~ Can I ask headcanons about Inarizaki in the training camp with their manager?

synopsis: being inarizaki’s manager HC

pairing: inarizaki & fem!reader

warnings: none

+ i’m so happy you love them!! only the best for my boys and lil anons <3333 i’m reposting this because tumblr hates me <3

since it was almost match season, you had decided to ask the managers of some other teams to have a training camp for a few days!

it included karasuno, fukurodani, nekoma and of course inarizaki!

after the schools had agreed to a date and schedule, you gathered the team and told them the plan.

they were pretty excited! especially aran and atsumu since they both would see their friendly rivals.

osamu didn’t have any different feelings, he only hoped for some good food. akaashi and osamu would be besties change my mind

akagi was very excited to play with the top libero’s like yaku, komi and noya!

it was safe to say everyone was looking forward to it.

and so, a week later the team stepped out of the bus in front of fukurodani academy where the training camp would take place.

the managers lead all of you around and told you where you could put your stuff down.

and after that, practice could finally start!

to say that atsumu was fired up was an understatement. i mean, he was going against a setter who was on top of the technical parts of setting, a setter who knew exactly what to do with minimal movements and a setter who knew his teams strengths and how to bring out the one hundred percentage out.

atsumu felt like he was on top of the world and he was thriving.

aran had a friendly banter with bokuto, forcing a smile on your face whenever you were in their presence.

you saw akagi talk with noya, yaku and komi, a hand on his hip as he laughed at something noya said.

you felt all fuzzy inside seeing your team interact with the others )^o^(

inarizaki won majority of the matches they played, the real challenge however being fukurōdani.

bokuto had this tiny blush on his face as he went against someone equally strong, a bright smile on his face as he did what he always did: get some points for the team.

akaashi had this lil smirk on his face when he baited atsumu with a dump, staring at the blonde male who had a pout on his face.

“eh, akaashi. you’re pretty good, aren’t ya?”

akaashi was about to respond if it wasn’t for bokuto suddenly entering the conversation and slinging an arm around his setter.

“akaashi’s the best, isn’t he?” his eyes were closed and his pearly teeth were on display, teasing his best friend who tried to play it down.

inside atsumu’s head while staring at the energetic ace: yeah, i’ll play with him sometime

after practice had ended, they showered, changed in to something comfortable and had some dinner all together!

oh how much i wish that this was real

akaashi, kenma and osamu sat at a table together, talking about all the different onigiri’s they wanted to try and make, except for kenma, he stayed silent and just played his lil game.

“akaashi, we should really meet up sometime and try a few out.”

kageyama and atsumu sat opposite to them and talked about some stupid shit. it was mostly atsumu talking and kageyama nodding with a tiny blush covering his cheeks. please tell me you guys have seen that atsumu and kageyama official art of them in the youth training camp

“tobio-kun, we should play a bit after dinner! i just know that we’d be a good team together.”

at another table were bokuto, aran, hinata, yamaguchi and lev. they were honestly just talking about volleyball and food, nothing else.

hinata, yamaguchi and lev just watched the two aces talk with wide eyes and brag a little bit, bokuto doing the latter a tad more than our sweet aran who just watched with a tiny smile and that lil sparkle in his eyes.

“if you guys wanna be an ace like aran and me, then you should definitely always cheer us on and ask us things you want some more insight on!”

bokuto my lil babie

kuroo, washio, suna, omimi and tsukishima were minding their own business, all smiling a bit while talking about some stupid shit. yes, even tsukki cracked a tiny smile.

“so that’s the story on how i made this one love volleyball!” kuroo smacked tsukishima’s back, forcing an ‘oof’ from the latter before mumbling a quiet ‘hai’, no energy left to go against the stubborn third year.

“yikes, that’s pretty lame.”

not the glare tsukki gave suna

daichi, ennoshita, konoha and kita were just talking about the hard life of being in a team that’s just pure chaos </3

“yeah, the twins aren’t exactly sane either. osamu may look like the sane one, but he’s just as bad. fightin’ and playin’ around all the time with atsumu.” daichi nodded, understanding exactly what he meant. “hinata and kageyama are like that too.” konoha just sighed, a hand on his hip as he shook his head. “we just have a giant baby who needs lots of reassurance all the time.”

and last but not least, our libero’s and their lil chaotic squad!

this one exists out of komi, akagi, yaku, noya, tanaka and suga. its just all chaos with probably just komi and akagi being the sane ones.

“hey, we should definitely meet up sometime and just hang out together!”

you on the other hand kept moving from table to table, receiving a little wave from atsumu when you passed their table, a smile from akaashi, a wink from bokuto with a bright smile from hinata and a loose side hug from kita who bragged a little about you.

“_____, she’s pretty amazin’, ain’t she?” you felt your cheeks warm up a little, giving the sign to get out of here with the sweet excuse of hearing your name get called by yukie.

kita has a lil soft spot for you in my manager head canons because i love him <3

and the next two days went like this one, only a few tables would change and the noise only became louder since everyone had become better friends!

so, mission succes! ^ - ^

+

bokuto had asked you a little favour of accompanying him and a few others in a late night practice, to which you obviously couldn’t say no to when he stared at you with those big golden eyes.

so, you sat on the ground and watched the ball go over the net repeatedly, the squeaks of their shoes on the gym floor echoing through the gym.

team one existed out of atsumu, akaashi, kageyama, hinata, noya and suna. while team two existed out of kuroo, konoha, tsukishima, osamu, bokuto and aran.

atsumu insisted on being with all the setters while bokuto really wanted to play with aran, thus, the teams ended up like this.

you watched with sharp, yet sleepy eyes the guys go intensely against each other. they truly were not holding back even a little bit.

“tobio-kun!” atsumu set the ball for kageyama who watched with big blue eyes the ball rotate in the air. he ran up and hit the ball with sparkling eyes and lips that were curved up into a smile.

konoha dived for the ball and brought it up, only for the ball to go in to the bleachers instead of staying on the court. he stood up, letting out a sigh as the sweat dripped down his face.

“you don’t even know how happy i am that you two aren’t in a team together.” kuroo reached for a water bottle and nodded, speaking after taking a big gulp, “i second that.”

“atsumu-san, your tosses are so easy to hit!” hinata stared at the setter like he put the stars in the sky, mouth wide open as the setter chuckled. “of course, sho-kun! only the best for my spikers,” he said with a grin on his face.

“these teammates of yours are pretty good, aran,” bokuto said, the rasp even more evident in his voice as he raised his head towards the ceiling with his eyes closed.

“could say the same ‘bout you, that setter of yours is somethin’ else.”

bokuto looked down and tilted his head, chuckling as his tooth smile made an appearance. “like i always say, akaashi’s the best!”

suna dropped down on the floor, waving his hand as a signal of stepping out. “i’m done, it’s over for me.”

and just like that, you heard all voices agree, tired smiles on their faces as they started cleaning out the gym.

[13uswntimagines]

A Misplaced Shovel Talk (Uswnt x reader)

Request: I was wondering if you could do one kinda similar but instead it's where the reader is the younger sibling of a really famous actor/actress (maybe Alycia debnam Carey but I don't mind you can chose who). And the reader is always so excited to watch their show that the team think they have a huge crush on them but then find out they're actually related when they come to either training or a match?

Hey dudes, so i decided to use Melissa Benoist because i’m currently obsessed with Supergirl, and I thought it would be fun to pull in a person from the team as the readers crush. I hope you enjoy and if you have an requests, feel free to hit me up. 

You loved the bus. It was generally noisy and loud but cuddled up to your bus buddy Alyssa, you had never felt more at peace. It was also the perfect place to catch up on all of the episodes of Supergirl you had missed. You were utterly obsessed with the show, and your teammates knew it.

“Oo Who ya smiling at rookie?” Kelley asked, popping over your shoulder. You startled slightly at her surprise presence, before settling back into Alyssa’s side.

“Just Supergirl,” You said offhandedly, smiling back down at the episode playing on your phone screen.

“Haven’t you watched them all yet? You’ve been binging it for like the past 8 camps.” Kelley asked, placing her chin on top of the back of the seat and watching the episode with you.

“Mmm,” You responded, not really paying attention to your teammates, instead, focusing on the blond-haired woman on the screen. You missed the looks your teammates shared. They thought your crush on Melissa Benoist was absolutely adorable, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t tease you about it.

“Maybe, she’s just not done watching the pretty blond,” Alex suggested, standing from her seat beside Kelley, also placing her chin on the back of the seat to watch the episode.

“That’s right. Our little rookie does have a type,” Kelley laughed, and a blush spread across your cheeks.

“I do not…”  you grumbled,

“So you’re not into superheroes?” Kelley shot back, raising her eyebrows.

“No, she’s into blonds,” Alex laughed, and your cheeks turned a bright shade of pink. Did they know about your crush? They couldn’t, right? You may have fallen for a certain blond midfielder, but you had been sure to not make it too obvious.

“You totally are!! Look at her cheeks,” Kelley giggled back, and you hid your face in Alyssa’s shoulder.

“Leave her alone guys,” She said, protectively wrapping an arm around you. The laughter quieted down, and you refocused on the storyline unfolding on the screen.

“Come on kid, we gotta warm-up before open practice,” Alyssa said, nudging you when she realized that you didn’t notice the bus emptying around you. You nodded, returning your phone to your pocket and heading off the bus. You were practically buzzing with excitement by the time you reached the locker room. Today was an open practice, which meant that your families had been invited to watch you train.

           You were incredibly close to your older sister, but you almost never actually got to see her in person due to her crazy schedule. She was always away filming in Canada, while you were stuck in Huston with the Dash. You knew that she tried her best to catch your games, and you never faulted her when she couldn’t. Sure it had hurt when she couldn’t make the world cup final, but you understood. You were thrilled that she would finally get to see your skills with her own eyes and that you would get to introduce her to the women who had become your family. You just hoped they wouldn’t tease you about your crush on Lindsey while she was there.

The girls watched as you spent the majority of practice glancing into the stands, an impossibly wide smile taking over your face. You had gone harder and pushed farther than you ever had during the scrimmage. You wanted to impress your sister, and with the 4 goals that you had scored for your team, you were sure you had.

The moment Vlatko blew the whistle to signal the end of practice, you were racing into the stands, right into the arms of Supergirl herself.

“You did so well out there munchkin,” She squealed as she pulled you into a tight hug. You sighed contently into her chest, your shoulders relaxing for what felt like the first time in forever.

“I missed you,” You mumbled into her shoulder, unwilling to leave her embrace.

“I know kid. But I’m here now,” She said quietly, placing a comforting kiss into your hair and squeezing you impossibly tighter. You leaned back suddenly, a wide smile breaking across your face.

“You have to tell me, do Kara and Lena finally get together, because there is so much chemistry there.” You rushed out excitedly, and she threw her head back laughing.

“Well,” she started, her cheeks turning a little pink and you laughed loudly at her.

Your teammates watched with shocked expressions as you leapt over the wall, and ran right up to the girl they had been teasing you about for months.

“Maybe it was more than a crush?” Pino mumbled as she came up beside Kelley, her eyes widening when you practically buried yourself in the woman’s chest.

“Damn, Kid’s got game, did you just see the look on her face,” Kelley laughed, taking in the way the woman wrapped herself around you and was blushing. How the hell had you managed to become so smooth? In their experience, you became a stuttering mess anytime anyone flirted with you. Yet there you were, flirting with your apparent girlfriend.

“She has to have something if she’s dating Supergirl. That woman is fine,” Alex Said from Kelley’s other side, wrapping an arm around her girlfriend and staring at you in shock.

“Is it just me, or is Supergirl looking at the rookie like you look at Perry’s kids,” Christen smiled as she walked up beside Tobin, bumping her shoulder and kissing her cheek.

“Definitely not just you,” Tobin smirked, wrapping her arm around Christen. They slowly made their way over to the tunnel, laughing when they saw you practically dragging your blond counterpart in that direction as well. Things were about to get very interesting.

“Hey kid, you going to introduce us to your friend here?” Megan asked as the team crowded around you and your sister. You shot her one of the brightest smiles they had ever seen.

“Everyone, this is Mel. Mel this is everyone,” You gestured wildly with your hands, too giddy to reign in your excitement. Mel laughed and kissed your cheek, and you blushed.

“Aw, you’re such a cutie pie,” Lindsey awed at you, pinching your cheek.

“I’m not cute,” You pouted at Lindsey, slapping her hand away.

“I’d beg to differ,” Lindsey laughed as Emily grabbed you in a headlock and messed up your hair.

“How many times have I told you not to mess with my hair. I’m going to kill you,” You yelled, laughing, as you began to chase Emily and Lindsey around the field. Your sister watched you chase after the women with a fond smile, and the women watched your sister with a very serious expression.

“What are your intentions with Y/n,” Kelley said after a few seconds, glaring in Melissa’s direction. Mel glanced at.

“I think we’re going out to dinner after this,” She shrugged, smiling as you finally caught up to Lindsey and tackled her to the ground.

“No. What are your intentions with her.” Alex said, crossing her arms and stepping directly into your sister’s line of vision. Melissa frowned, not understanding the aggression of the women around her.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding here,” She started, bringing her hand up to rub the back of her neck.

“There is no misunderstanding. Y/n is crazy about you if her obsession with your show is anything to go by. And it’s our job to protect the baby of the team.”  Kelley said, drawing out each word and accessing the women in front of her. If she was playing the baby of the team, they were going to have a massive problem.

“So we’ll ask again, what are your intentions with Y/n” Alex glared at her, slowly losing her patients with the woman in front of her.

 We’re not dating, she’s my little sister,” Mel blurted out, raising her hands in a pacifying motion, her cheeks turning a deep shade of red.

“Sister?” Alex’s eyes nearly popped out of her head, her arms dropping to the side. Her mouth opened and closed a few times.

“Yeah, sister,” Mel said, cracking a smile, unable to stop the little chuckle that left her lips.

“But she blushes every time we mention a crush,” Kelley said in disbelief. Mel nodded.

“She totally has a crush, just not on me.” She mumbled, watching as Lindsey escaped your hold, and you chased after her again, a giant smile gracing your lips, “That would be weird,” Her nose scrunched and she turned back to the women. The women laughed and followed her gaze. Maybe they had been wrong about the person who your feelings were directed with, but watching you with Lindsey, it became crystal clear.

“How did we miss that?” Alex said in disbelief, her eyebrows furrowing.

“I’m not sure, but if you want to join me for the shovel talk with that one,” Mel said, pointing to where you were leaning against Lindsey, trying to catch your breath. “You’re more than welcome. You guys are scary when you want to be,” She smiled at the women. She was happy that you had people to look out for you when she couldn’t. She had practically raised you, and it killed her that she didn’t get to see you all too often. Now, she could rest easy because you had 23 other people looking out for you.

“I think that sounds like a great idea,” Kelley smirked, a mischievous look spreading across her features as she linked arms with your older sister. This was going to be fun. Tobin, Christen, and Alex shook their heads. With Mel, they were cautious because they didn’t really know her, but all bets would be off with Lindsey.

[myelocin]

Redefining You | Kuroo T. , Miya A.

Summary: The three times you realize you love Tetsurou, and the fourth where you finally say it. A redefinition of the love that came to you, unanswered. 

Characters/Pairings: Kuroo Tetsurou, You, (Miya Atsumu comes on ch 2)

Warnings/ Genre: Mentions of alcohol (beer?), tattooed!Kuroo, Angst, Unrequited Love, Healing, Slice of Life

Word Count: 3.2k

a/n: I felt some things last night and thought about some songs, so therefore here is an angst that is near and dear to my heart. 

[Part 1] | Part 2  | Epilogue | Bonus

-

The first time the thought came to you was at age 13. You didn’t know what love was, never really felt it before, but as you stared at the way he hid behind his bangs and shuffled closer to his black jacket- you felt it. The first tap on your heart, first flutter of the butterflies, and the first kisses of an oncoming blush blooming onto the apples of your cheeks.

At thirteen, Kuroo Tetsurou said his hellos through cheeky smiles and light laughter. When he didn’t have volleyball, he’d be seated next to you in your orchestra class sharing a music stand, and engaging in small talk. He scoffed at your weird jokes, but he looked straight at you when you talked about your day. 

You remember thinking about him in the school bus on the way home.

In him, you saw happiness; felt it even. During movie “dates” where the two of you watched Bridge to Terabithia while video calling at one in the morning because actual dates at the movie theater weren’t allowed by your mom just yet. Now, in your older years, you still often think back to those moments and laugh to yourself at how you turned beet red at Tetsurou typing ‘ur cute.’ on the chat box.

And so at thirteen years old, though still innocent towards the idea of love, through your own definitions you decided that the only explanation was that you loved him. And so love him you did.

-

The second time was four years later. You had moved abroad after your mother’s passing, and hadn’t really thought about the boy with the seemingly eternal bedhead. You flowed into your new routine quite easily despite the stark difference in culture and environment. At this point, though you still had moments where your thoughts ghosted over Tetsurou, you concluded it to be the stage where it had become just a funny memory.

Except, of course, there was that one vacation your dad forced you to go on (it being his hometown), the one where you literally knew nobody and didn’t speak a word of the dialect, in some weird turn of event you found yourself pressing the call button next to his name. Long story short, there was a really awkward conversation about why you were calling him at five in the morning but he eventually cracked a joke that was so like him, that the conversation with him just flowed naturally afterwards.  

A call turned into two, and then before you knew it, despite on standing in the opposite sides of the world, a deeper friendship between the two of you grew. 

Phone calls between the two of you became a regular fixture of your day, something that you eventually looked forward to. Still keeping in contact with the same group of friends you and Tetsurou grew up with, sometimes it felt like you never left at all. You found out that he eventually left orchestra and instead devoted his time to the volleyball team in his highschool along with Kenma.  It seemed like a natural choice for him to leave. After all, you saw him often scowl at the orchestra teacher during breaks.

At seventeen, you had that feeling again. You felt the familiar flutter during every goodnight and good morning call Tetsurou slipped within your day. Snapshots within your day included a random selfie Tetsurou had sent you and various other text messages that updated you about his day. For almost three years, you saw him through a screen. You saw Tetsurou falling asleep while flipping through an algebra textbook, yelling with or at Kenma with a game controller, or just laying back in his bed tossing and catching a volleyball while you flipped through your own notes. The distance didn’t mean much to you because despite being thousands of miles apart, it felt like Tetsurou was right there.

Your favorite moments had to be the summer of your final year in highschool.

 It became a routine where Tetsurou, knowing that you completely trashed your sleeping schedule, you were more than awake at three in the morning for him to call. That summer he finally got his license and developed the habit of driving around with you, plastered on the screen of his phone, your voice blasted on the speaker instead of playing the music you knew he liked driving to.

 He’d stop by a convenience store to buy ice cream and eat it with you (having your own midnight snack) at a quiet parking lot some distance from the city. And the two of you would stay like that for hours. You’d muse about the three a.m. thoughts swimming around your head that night and he’d listen, with the occasional snarky comment (that became endearing to you over the years), and he’d talk about the three p.m. thoughts swimming in his.

And despite being on opposite sides of the world, you managed to watch the sun together. Though, the only difference was that as it rose on your corner of the world, he sat and watched it set in his.

“We’re watching the same sun, though,” he’d say, and in a way, it made the distance feel a little absent.

So your heart decided to beat again, during a Saturday evening that autumn: when you accepted the skype call at seven p.m. and waved a good morning to a sleepy Tetsurou. He replied with a good evening before settling back into his bed with a mug of coffee and his fleece blanket wrapped up to his head.

“If you were here we could have actually gone on a date instead of that shitty video call, you know.”

You looked at him, pouting into his mug of coffee, eyes still a little bleary from sleep and figure enveloped in a giant blanket. “I know.”

“I bet we’d look cute together, (y/n).”

You pressed your face into the heels of your hands and scrunched your nose towards the screen. “Tetsu, I would look cute. You’d look slightly cuter next to me.”

He scrunched his nose and retaliated with an equally snarky comment, but you didn’t mind. The same flutter in your stomach told you that you didn’t mind. The way your heart pounded a little faster as you looked at your best friend bathed in the morning light, hit the final nail in the coffin with the assurance that you absolutely did not mind.

-

The third came in scattered moments. 

For a while you had kept it as a secret for yourself, but eventually coming clean to Kenma one night as he drawled about how annoying Tetsurou had gotten over his new girlfriend. The blonde gave you a look through the screen before groaning, “My God, (y/n). I was rooting for you two.”

You couldn’t find it in yourself to hate the girl. Next to Tetsurou, she seemed like sunshine and you could see it. In the way his smile tilted a little higher and the way his eyes shone when she spoke. He often replied to her with a voice as soft as hers, so you yielded. “He’s happy, Kenma.”

Kenma looked at you with a flat look, so you took his silence as his response. Huffing out an exhale and pushing the controller to the camera’s line of vision, you met Kenma’s stare. “Another round?”

The realization didn’t come as a completed that came to you at once.

Slowly, even as you told yourself that you were okay, and whatever this was is okay, you knew convincing yourself was another story. The dynamic between the two of you didn’t change, or at least on Tetsurou’s part he genuinely thought that it didn’t.

The mornings and evening calls were still constant even though the duration had become shorter. Gone were the nights you’d idly sit and watch Tetsurou fight sleep during homework. But it was fine. You knew she must have kept him awake enough to finish the worksheets.

Jealously was an ugly emotion, you thought. 

You knew it didn’t suit you, but you couldn’t help but feel it bubbling during that one Sunday night he’d rang you up at five thirty in the morning, because he knew you wouldn’t hesitate to answer (you didn’t), and waved a hello before flipping the camera and showing his girlfriend shyly waving at you from the passenger seat of his car.

Your throat tightened when you looked at the watch, then looked at the screen where he forgot to flip the screen, showing the setting sun’s light cast on the two.

You laughed out your excuse of needing to catch up on a little more sleep before you clicked your phone off and turned towards the window.

The sun had risen, and your heart may have clenched a little at the thought that he was watching the same sun set with someone who wasn’t you, but Tetsurou smiled in that special way with the twinkle in his eyes, so even as you watched the sky light up from the first peaks of the sun’s rays, you decided that because you loved him—you didn’t mind.

-

The next year continued like that.  The friendship stayed although the dynamic you two shared changed. As the year progressed, you took note of the dwindling calls, and hasty text messages. You didn’t bother to keep up with how their relationship deepened, but still had the heart to like every Instagram post either of them posted during anniversaries. You held on to the birthday messages or songs he randomly sent you and listened to the words that you sometimes imagined were what he meant for you. Once in a while the conversation would last longer than the occasional greetings and things felt like they clicked back into place again. But the next day, there never came the nostalgic good morning, or the sight of him with bleary eyes in the morning light, so you tucked that little piece of memory and listened to the same three songs you imagined were for you.

And because you loved him—for that time it was enough.

Before the autumn of the following year began, you found yourself seated on a twelve hour flight back to Tokyo where for the first time, in over seven years, you stood in front of him. Tetsurou was beaming, and you felt choked up.

Tetsurou’s hello was made known through a tight hug and a, “Glad you’re home.” So for that short while, you wrapped your arms around him and breathed the scent of his jacket, because for the first time in seven years, in a way he felt a little like home.

So as he sat across from you and said, “You would’ve loved her! She had to go somewhere that’s why she can’t come. But maybe you can meet another time!” you didn’t have it in you to let your smile crack and instead reached forward to clap him on the shoulder.

“Tetsu, you’re whipped.”

He laughed but nodded at your comment, but again, you took note of his happy smile so you let yourself try to mirror the emotion he held in his. And because you loved him, you thought of the tunes of the songs you imagined were for you and searched for the momentary peace in that.

-

That one time where you finally broke your silence was when he walked into your apartment with a chipped smile. 

Another two years had passed where you watched Tetsurou grow into a new identity. He still cracked the same jokes from years ago, that you remembered, but his change was first subtle with the way he liked his coffee made to the resolve hardening in his eyes, and to the ink that wrapped around his arms. But he still had moments that made him reach out to you, and in those times you’d catch him animated about the most mundane things in early sunlight— you allowed yourself to love him quietly in silence.

“I have beer,” he said as he shrugged off his coat and rolled his sleeves up. 

From your spot standing in the kitchen, you eyed the fresh ink on his arms. “New ink?”

Tetsurou placed the pack of beer in the middle of your table before taking a seat in the couch. He threw his head back and looked at you. “Yup. Got it earlier. Come sit,” he patted the empty space next to him with a little extra emphasis, “I really need a hug.”

Grabbing the bowl of chips from the counter, you made your way to where he was and sat at the empty space next to him. Automatically he slumped against your form and began picking at the chips.

Your hands patted the spikes in his hair and you leaned back, Tetsurou warm against your side.

“I feel like I’m dying,” he mumbled in your side.

“You’re not dying, Tetsu. Your heart just hurts.”

“I really love her,” his voice didn’t crack like you expected it to but his hand fisted the hem of your sweater a little tighter, so you sunk your hands into his hair and began smoothing out the wilder pieces. This had always distracted him, so you hoped it worked this time around.

You gestured for him to sit up and follow you as you grabbed a can of beer as you sat up. “Let’s get you some fresh air.”

Tetsurou grumbled a little before grabbing his own can and following you to the balcony. You leaned against the railing, cracked the tab open and took a swig. Tetsurou joined you by the railings and clinked his beer against yours before taking his own sip.

Tokyo’s skyline looked beautiful in the night. You peered at the man standing next to you, his own can pressing against his lips. “What made you get a new tattoo?”

He shrugs. “Don’t know.”

He paused to sigh. “Just felt like it.”

“You know you’re a good person right?” you ask.

“I’m not as much of a saint as I wish I was.”

“None of us are saints.”

He tipped tipped the can back and gulped down the remainder of his beer. “Not many people have broken a person either.”

And after a little pause in silence, you reassured him, “You’re gonna be okay, Tetsu. In time.”

“I don’t think I’m in that mindset yet.”

“Yet.”

He looked at you and sighed again. You thought even with tired eyes he looked beautiful. “Yet,” he repeated back.

And somehow along that night, the hours stretched into a comfortable silence. 

This felt a little like déjà vu. With Tetsurou settled behind you, chin on top of your head as he enveloped your form in his, the both of you facing the east. Little specks of yellow lights began to dance around the sky.

Tetsurou’s voice broke through the silence as he said, “Have you ever loved someone?”

You closed your eyes and leaned into his warmth, already rehearsing the tunes of the song that brought you a false blanket of serenity over the years. “I have.”

“You did?” he asks, and his is tone sounded a little shocked, but you felt it in you that deep down he must have known, or suspected something even.

“Yeah. Eight years. I saw him in everything.”

“How,” his tone was a little more tentative his time, considering he was now dancing on unfamiliar territory, “how did you let go?”

“I haven’t yet.”

He stayed silent but he squeezed you a little tighter.

And then the two of you watched as the yellow of the sun finally broke through. 

Slowly, the morning light illuminated the outline of Tokyo. You truly felt like you were in some sort of déjà vu as you looked at Tetsurou, for the first time, bathing in the same light, from the same sun, where you fell in love with him all those years ago.

You thought back to when your friend had told you that experiencing déjà vu meant that it was the universe’s own way of telling you that you’re going down the right path. And looking up Tetsurou, who felt the warmth of the sun with his head tilted back and eyes fluttered close, you knew you were right where you’re supposed to be.

Which was why you traced the ink on the side of your wrist and in a steady voice spoke, “I love you.”

He stepped back and looked at you. “What?”

His expression looked a little confused and you smiled. Holding out your wrist to him, you spoke again, “I began to tell myself that every day.”

“I realized because he made up such a big part of my life, when he moved on I felt missing and stuck. Kind of like being in a loop.” You giggled and willed yourself to remember the meaning of déjà vu again before continuing, “So like, the times where he’d be gone, I just decided to replace them by telling myself that I love me. I told myself good morning, and goodnight, and kept snapshots of my day to remind myself that I’m living this life and moving forward.”

Tetsurou looked beautiful in the morning light. Confused, but still beautiful.

“I realized in those eight years, I lost so much of myself. And he looked so happy. His eyes were literally sparkling, Tetsu! I thought that shit only happened in anime. But that kind of love happened to him so I thought I deserved that too.”

“I got this tattoo a few weeks ago, see?” 

You turned your wrist to the side and watched as he traced over the inked bundle of baby’s breath. “I read somewhere that it meant everlasting love. I was in the middle of another sad girl hour moment so I thought why not give it to myself? It’s a start, right?”

Tetsurou’s lips quirked up at your words before he looked at you. “I’m proud of you.”

You looked back and met his gaze. It didn’t hold the same sparkle that it did for her but you didn’t mind. The feeling of déjà vu never went away so you inhaled a sharp breath. Tetsurou truly did look beautiful in the morning light, more so as he stands in front of you with a gentle look in his eyes. More than five of the eight years that you knew him had you spent dreaming about the morning like this where you’d stand with your hands in his own, eye to eye in the same side of the world looking at the same sun that lay witness to your growth.

You took him into his arms and buried your face in his chest, inhaling his scent. He smelt as familiar as he felt. And the moment still feels like déjà vu you feel like you could cry. Your heart constricts in the way that kind of hurts but also kind of doesn’t, and you feel his hand rub circles on your back, so you speak, “You’ll find peace, Tetsu. We’ll get there.”

His cheek presses against the crown of your head as he murmurs, “In time.”

And in that moment you realize that even though you love him, first you tell yourself a silent ‘I love you’ , and then echo, “In time.”

-

proceed to part 2 here!

[janetbrown711]

"Don't look at me like that. " warner sibs 🥺

To say Yakko was feeling anxious about his brother’s return home was an understatement. 

Wakko hadn’t given a return address on his last three letters, nor had he sent money, which meant things were very, very bad for him. Especially since there had been a long stretch of time where he didn’t get any letters anymore. Yakko had been worried sick when he didn’t hear from him for weeks. His mind had paced endlessly, thinking about what could’ve happened to him. After all, Wakko had just been at a farm with a stable job a few weeks ago, what could’ve happened in that time? 

His anxiety had then melted into relief when he got the first letter from Wakko in a month, but that then turned to confusion when the only think Wakko had written was an apology for not writing, and assurances that everything was fine. No details. No return address. No reason for why he hadn’t written. Nothing. 

Yakko had been angry after that. However, his anger had quickly melted when he accidentally took it out on Dot. He hadn’t hit her, but there was a lot of shouting that night, to say the least.

Thank goodness Dot was the forgiving sort and that he was back to cuddling with her by night time. He wasn’t sure how much he could’ve forgiven himself if she had stayed mad and maybe even-

Yakko still had a problem with jumping to only the worst conclusions. 

His anger had then faded into exhaustion and longing for his brother to return home. Dot had gone through two rough patches in his absence, and Yakko and Dot were both starting to crack without his optimistic outlook on life.

Yakko hoped that if anything, his optimism managed to stay with him after what he’d gone through. 

Then, his exhaustion had faded into careful optimism with his last letter- the letter before that seeming to only be a rehash of the first. In the last letter, Wakko had announced he had enough money to pay for a train ticket home. How his little brother managed to get the money was beyond Yakko, but he was relieved. For a moment there, Yakko believed his brother might never come home, and seeing the words written down on paper made Yakko feel renewed, though... also conflicted. He was furious, he was concerned, he was anxious, he was overjoyed, he was all of that all at once. Yakko didn’t think it was possible to feel so many emotions at once. 

And yet, here he was. With Dot curled up in his lap, clutching her purple blanket he had bought for her a few months back from the suspicious bonus Wakko had received, and waiting for the train. Yet again,  it seemed the entire town was waiting as well. Acme Falls had really fallen down on their luck in a year, little to no businesses were open and the only reason they survived was that they shared. If Wakko came back with money, it could help revive the community greatly. 

Yakko just hoped that whatever amount he brought back, it would be enough to cover Dot’s surgery. Yakko wasn’t sure how much more he could handle. And how much Dot could handle either.

God, Yakko was proud of his sister. She was easily the strongest person he knew. Sure, she would slip every now and then, who wouldn’t in her situation, but she somehow always managed to pick herself up. During her good patches, she went for walks, she picked flowers outside of their home, she was learning how to sew from Yakko- an idea that had sparked from when he had to sew her skirt with pieces of his scarf after getting a giant hole in it after tripping over herself. her resilience and want to keep living life was admirable to everyone who saw her. 

Yakko snapped back into reality when his ears perked up and in the distance, he could hear it- the train was arriving. 

Happily, he shook his little sister awake and she sprung to life. 

“Is he here? Is Wakko here?” She asked with a big smile. 

“Not yet, but soon,” He winked playfully. Dot then ran up from the bench and waited on the edge of the platform, practically bouncing from excitement. That was far more than what Yakko could manage- he hadn’t been able to sleep the whole previous night out of worries and thoughts. Still, he was happy for her, though his other swirl of emotions was still within him too. 

He couldn't help but laugh a little when Dot started telling anyone who would listen that her brother was on that train and he was going to come back with a fortune. Yakko winced at that, but tried to keep his smile. After all, he had been able to buy a train ticket. Hopefully, that left him with something left over. He didn’t want Dot or the town to be let down.

Eventually, the train got closer and closer, and Yakko went to join his sister by the platform. Slowly and loudly, the train came to an eventual stop, and steam filled the platform, and out of that steam came-

“Hi!”

“Wakko!!!” Dot ran and gave him the tightest hug she could muster, which Wakko quickly returned. They stayed hugging for quite the length, and when they let go, Wakko looked to the crowd and got a familiar look on his face.

Ever the showmen, Wakko grinned before greeting the crowd. "My friends of Acme Falls, I have brought my fortune! A ha’penny!” he displayed his ha’penny and the crowd cheered and Wakko was overwhelmed with greetings from old friends and people he had worked with as they all gave him suggestions of what he should spend it on. After all, ha’pennies were worth a lot more than they were a year ago. Yakko gave his own thoughts to his brother here and there but figured it was best he wait until after everyone left for a proper hug and reunion. Wakko was really excited about going shopping and figuring out what to buy anyway, Yakko could wait a little while longer. 

Plus he still had that emotional swirl to work through. 

However, he was distracted from that when Wakko announced to everyone that he’d be spending his ha’penny on paying for Dot’s surgery, which made Dot very, very happy. The town cheered for him, understanding; Acme Falls was good that way.

Despite the joy and relief the town was feeling, Yakko still felt something was off. He looked around at the crowd surrounding his brother and sister as they walked through and noticed Ralph was missing. Yakko’s eyes widened when he realized that could only mean- 

“Yes Wakko, we’re all thrilled about your good fortune- however, about your taxes...”

The Tax Collector, Thaddeus Plotz. 

Yakko hated that man more than most anyone else on the planet, though of course, Salazar took the number one seat on that. 

Everyone else in the crowd seemed to have the same thought, as the joy had seemingly been sucked out of everyone’s faces as they watched Plotz and Wakko. 

“Taxes? What taxes? I just got here! And before that I had to pay taxes at River Town,” Wakko fought back. 

“Oh? But that doesn’t matter, today is tax day in Acme Falls. Now, let’s calculate how much you owe- oh the King will be so delightful,” He grinned as he got out a piece of paper and started writing. 

“The King is a jerk,” Wakko growled. 

“Oh goodie, that qualifies you for the “saying-the-king-is-a-jerk” tax, how wonderful,” Plotz grinned wickedly. Wakko shot Yakko a look of helplessness and all Yakko could do was shrug. 

“...and that brings your grand total to... one ha’penny,” He said as he snatched the coin from Wakko’s hand and ran back into his stupid carriage he used as a shield, before leaning out the window and adding-

“Your federal government thanks you!”

“Wha..? B-but...” Wakko’s ears fell the lowest Yakko had ever seen them. Yakko grimaced, but knew there really was nothing to be done, no matter how terrible it was. The last thing any of them needed was the royal guard on their backs, so they had to accept this, no matter how crummy and unfair and terrible it was. 

With a heavy sigh, Yakko went over and patted his brother on the back and slowly guided him and Dot back home. 

“I-i... I worked so hard...” Wakko kept repeating while they walked, and Yakko was ninety percent sure he was crying. Hell- Yakko would’ve been crying too, but he put on a brave face for his little sibs. 

“I know Wak, I know,” Yakko sighed. “Let’s just get home, we can talk about what we’ll do then.”

And so the Warner siblings walked back to their home in silence. Yakko did his best not to look at either of them, for fear that he’d crumble into a million little pieces the moment Dot or Wakko looked at him. 

Eventually, they did make it to their rickety little home. Yakko showed Wakko where his bed was, Dot went to her own, and then Yakko sat down on his bed to think about what they were gonna do next. 

He couldn’t believe he had let himself believe that all of his worries would disappear with Wakko’s return. He should’ve known Plotz could sniff all happiness and money from 50 miles away and should’ve warned Wakko to put it away. Now they were never going to be able to-

N-never be able to-

Oh god...

Dot was going to die, wasn’t she?

Without the ha’penny, they could never afford the surgery a-and-

She was going to die. 

Yakko was going to have to bury her a-and then i-it would just be him and Wakko. 

Yakko buried his head in his hands and wept. 

He wept for Dot. He wept for Wakko. He wept for his parents and he wept for the promises he was unable to keep. 

After a very, very long time of crying, he heard a small knock on his door, and immediately tried to regain his composure. There was no way in hell he was letting his sibs see him like this. 

He took deep breaths, wiped his face on his blanket, breathed some more, and put on a weak smile before opening his door. 

“Yes Wakko?” He asked. 

“You said you wanted to talk about what to do next when we got here. We gave you some time a-alone and well...” Wakko looked at the ground. Yakko internally facepalmed, not believing he let himself forget. 

“Right, of course. lead the way,” Yakko gestured and the brothers walked back to the “fireplace” and sat on boxes. 

“S-so...” Wakko said. 

“So...” Dot said, glancing at Wakko, then Yakko, then at the ground. Yakko sighed. 

“Look, I’m going to be frank, it’s going to be rough, but-”

“-But i could go out again. To a different town this time! Maybe I could even leave the country- there has to be better opportunities-”

“No.” Yakko shut him down. “You aren’t going anywhere and I am not going to be persuaded this time.”

“Yeah Wakko, how can you say that?” Dot looked hurt. “We just got you back, you can’t leave!”

“But it wasn’t enough! I failed! I-i didn’t get enough money...” Wakko’s eyes filled with tears as he looked at the ground.

“Wakko, you didn’t fail,” Yakko put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Yes I did, I didn’t bring home enough for her surgery, which was the whole reason I left in the first place,” Wakko sniffled. 

“You left home to help provide for us, which you did. Look around Wak,” Yakko gestured around. “I was able to buy Dot a shawl to keep her warm in the winter, some hay for her bed, new blankets for all three of us. You leaving helped us a lot, even though we missed you every day, right Dot?” He looked at his sister for moral support. 

“Yeah Wakko! It’s because of you I’m still okay,” Dot smiled sweetly, but Yakko could see she was holding back a cough. 

“See Wak? Your sacrifice wasn’t for nothing, and we’re plenty glad to have you back, understand?” He said, distracting him from noticing what Dot was doing. Wakko slowly nodded, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. 

“Sorry...” Wakko apologized. Yakko sighed and stood up, pulling his little brother into a hug. 

“You did the best you could Wak. I’m really, really proud of you,” Yakko said. Wakko nodded, and hugged him back. 

Despite everything, Yakko smiled a little. 

It was good to have his brother back.  

Yakko waited until Wakko let go to sit back down. He drummed his fingers against his thigh and thought for a moment, before getting an idea. 

“I have an idea you two: While you’ve been gone, I’ve been working on making a special sled for Dot. I say tomorrow we take it out and have some fun in the snow, does that sound okay?” He asked. Dot nodded and managed a little smile. 

“That sounds like fun, right Wakko?” She asked, glancing at him. Wakko only nodded. 

“I’m gonna go for a sec... I’ll be back soon,” Wakko said, walking out of the home. Yakko nodded. 

“Try not to stay out past dark,” He advised, unsure if his brother heard or not. Guess he’d have to see. 

“Is Wakko okay?” Dot hugged Yakko’s arm. 

“Today was really rough for him, but I’m sure he’ll feel better after a good night’s rest,” Yakko hoped. Dot nodded. 

“I hope so,” She said. “He looks really tired.”

“I’m sure everything will be better tomorrow. Here, it’s getting late, you should get going to bed,” Yakko said, looking at the sunset. Dot agreed with a yawn, and together they walked into her room. She coughed a little as she laid down, and he tucked her in. 

“Goodnight Dot, sleep tight,” he whispered, smiling warmly yet tiredly.  

“Yakko, tell me the story,” Dot grabbed his arm before he could go. Yakko sighed. She had grown awfully attached to the story he had spun to comfort her about their parents and how they fell in love and eventually had Dot. 

“Okay,” He said, before grinning mischievously. “There once was a man from Nantucket-”

“Not that story,” Dot shot him a look and Yakko laughed a little. 

“Look Dot, it’s late. You should go to sleep,” He said, knowing that he was definitely going to lose this argument. 

“Oh come on, Yakko. Tell me the story... please?” She pleaded with her signature puppy dog eyes.

"Oh come on, dont look at me like that," He thought. Yakko sighed, he was always a sucker for her.

“Oh, alright,” He smiled, and rolled his eyes as Dot scooted over in excitement.

He then told the tale of how his parents met, how their father was a handsome knight, and there mother was a beautiful princes, and how they had two sons but wanted a little girl, and told her that she was born in the spring with the prettiest flowers. He then turned to face Dot and talked about how every night they’d ask “Who’s the cutest girl?” and Dot would reply, “Me!” and then they’d ask “how were you so cute” and she’d reply, “I was born with it.” He then said they’d demand for her to “tell us your name young lady” and Dot would list off her very long name with perfection. He’d then tickle her and she’d kick and giggle until she tired herself out and curled back into her bed.

“I like that story,” Dot smiled as she closed her eyes. 

“Goodnight sis,” Yakko smiled a little too.

Was it a story full of lies and half-truths? Yes.

But did it always manage to bring a smile to Dot’s face, even on the hardest days? Also yes.

And besides, Yakko didn’t mind remembering his parents in a positive light.

He then blew out the candle in her room and left, and stumbled into Wakko, who had been watching anxiously. 

“How is she?” He asked. Yakko shrugged. 

“She seems to be okay tonight, but who knows,” Yakko admitted. Wakko’s eyes felt to the floor as he turned away. 

“If only I had earned more...” Wakko muttered to himself. 

“Hey,” Yakko turned and put his hands on his brother’s shoulders. “You did your best Wakko. We’ll pay for her operation some other way,” he said, not really knowing how, but forcing himself to hope anyway.

“I guess,” Wakko sighed and went over to a springboard that he had somehow turned into a functioning harp. Yakko stared at it and admired the craftsmanship. 

Despite Wakko’s claims that his trip had been for nothing, Yakko knew it had turned into a skilled craftsman. 

“You turning in?” He asked softly. 

“To what?” Wakko didn’t look back at him. 

Yakko considered arguing with him for the snark, but was too tired. 

“Good question,” he said instead. “See you in the morning,” he added before going into his room. 

Once he did, he all but collapsed onto his bed. Today had been exhausting, and even worse, the swirl of emotions in his chest still hadn’t left. He was still mad at Wakko for not writing more often and not giving more of an explanation, but he figured he’d just have to ask him about that and more details about his trip tomorrow. For now, he’d have to try and get some sleep, despite how impossible it seemed. 

They didn’t have any money. Dot wasn’t going to get the surgery she needed. Things were looking bleak, and not just for them, the whole town- the whole Kingdom. 

Well, at least they weren’t alone in this anymore, Yakko supposed there was some comfort in that. 

Plus, despite everything, Yakko was still happy to see Wakko again, despite how much skinnier, tired, and worn out he appeared. He was confident his return would mean good things for them. 

It had to. 

Yakko didn’t have any other options.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11

[hallowed-be-thy-username]

Can you do J trying to surprise reader cause she had a rough day once she gotten off work and j thought of something that he think it'll make her sequel with joy

Thank you so much for your request @jokerslittlekeeper 💖❤️💕💜 I’ve had some really rough days lately myself so this was nice to write, I really hope you like it!!

Self-insert, Ledger Joker x fem reader, romantic relationship, fluff

Word count: 1,827

Warnings: light alcohol consumption

Dinner with a Show

Well today was shit. Nothing seemed to go right, everyone was in your face about something and on top of that, you didn’t get lunch and you were starving. People could probably see the dark cloud hanging over your head while you walked to the bus stop after work. You kept your eyes down to avoid eye contact with anyone and stared at the cracked pavement beneath your feet. You tried not to let things like that get to you but when one thing after another jabs you in the side all day, you start to break down.

Too tired to watch where you were going, you walked straight into a ‘road work’ sign, tripping over your own feet until you fell hard onto the sidewalk. You quickly stood and rubbed your sore knee, fighting the tears that gathered under your eyelids and trying to ignore people’s stares around you. You just had to get home and forget this day ever happened.

At first you wanted to be alone, just crawl under your covers and shut out the world outside. But you wished J was with you. Getting involved with the Joker certainly wasn’t something you could have seen coming but what started with you becoming a hostage when you went to deposit your paycheck at the bank, has turned into the strangest relationship you’ve ever been in. J knows what makes you cry, what makes you laugh, what brings you joy. You’d think he’d use this to his advantage and he does, but only to make you happy. Your smile seems to be the only one he takes pleasure in seeing.

You felt warm just thinking about him being near you and you pulled out your phone to type a message. You closed your eyes and sighed as you sat at the bus stop, hoping you’d hear back. The bus arrived as the street lights flickered on above you and when you got to your seat, the phone buzzed in your hand and you took a breath before looking at the screen to see a message from an unknown number.

‘half hour. your place.’

Your heart fluttered and a little smile pulled at your cheeks for the first time all day. The ride home was already easier just knowing he was coming to see you. You certainly can’t go on a typical date but he always seemed to find a way to put his own spin on a night out. You didn’t really know what you wanted but you just wanted him with you.

It didn’t take long after changing your clothes and freshening up for your phone to ring.

“Hey, doll.”

Your eyes lit up at the sound of his voice and you answered, “Hey, J.”

“Come downstairs, the usual spot.” he said before hanging up.

You quickly slid your shoes on and locked up before heading down the hall to the stairs at the back of the apartment building. Housing in Gotham proper was often a gamble on what you’d have to deal with. Whether it was rats, leaky pipes, or paper thin walls, it was always something. But you were lucky enough to find a place that just had creaky floors and as a bonus, a secluded lot behind it where J could pick you up. The back door of the familiar black car opened and you climbed in to be met with J’s lips crashing into yours while he pulled you close.

You melted into his touch as he held your face before gently breaking the kiss, your eyes still closed. “Rough day, doll face?”

Your eyes opened to meet his dark-rimmed gaze and you sighed, nodding your head. “Its getting better now, though,” you answered.

He chuckled and tucked a stray hair behind your ear before replying with a smirk, “Well I may have thought of something to, ah, cheer you up.”

You couldn’t help the big smile that grew on your face. You hoped he would say that. “Really?”

“Mmhm. Ya hungry?”

“Starving.”

He chuckled louder and said, “Let’s fix that, hm?”

The car pulled away down the street while the last of daylight disappeared behind the towering buildings. Your muscles finally began to relax as you leaned against J in the back seat. He hummed and put his hand on your thigh. Even through his glove it felt warm. When the car stopped you noticed it had pulled up in front of your favorite Italian restaurant. Your heart sank a little because you knew they weren’t open on Mondays and you tried to tell J but he’d already gotten out of the car.

When you closed your door you noticed him walking toward the alley on the side of the building, looking at you with a smirk before beckoning you to join him. You followed down the alley to see him knelt in front of the side door with a pick in the lock.

“Now I know your favorite place is closed on Monday, which just so happens to be ah to-day, but I still want ya to have a nice dinner.”

Before you could respond, he had the door open and disappeared inside.

“J! What d’you mean?” you called out as you tried to catch up to him, his purple coat swishing through the door at the back of the dining room.

Once you pushed the swinging metal door open, you saw him with his coat and gloves off and his sleeves rolled up. He started clanging pots and pans around underneath the stainless steel countertop and you giggled. “So you’re cooking for me?”

He grinned at you with a delighted look in his eyes and said, “I’m a man of many, uh, talents, princess,” before wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Your heart did a little flip as you grinned back, unable to hold back a little squeal of excitement. “Well I’ll just sit back and enjoy the show then.”

You looked around and spotted a stool by the door then pulled it up the the countertop to sit down and rest your chin in your hands, propped up on your elbows. He chuckled through his nose and set a large pot on the counter before sauntering over to the fridge. Opening the door to lean his head inside, he started humming to himself while he nonchalantly tossed various items over his shoulder in search of what he needed. You couldn’t help but laugh as vegetables, eggs, and containers of various sauces hit the floor behind him while he paid no attention to the mess he was making. He finally emerged from the fridge with his arms loaded up with ingredients.

Your stomach started to growl so loud he could probably hear it. “So what are you making?”

“Welll, what is it that you always get?” he asked in return.

“Chicken alfredo,” you answered without having to think about it, the order already at the front of your mind.

He clicked his tongue and winked, letting the items in his arms tumble onto the counter while you smiled at him. You were so excited to eat your favorite dish, and not to mention curious about whether he could actually cook.

J ignited the burner on the giant stove and poured oil in a pan that he put over the flame. The fact that J had it in him to produce a controlled fire and not let it grow out of control was already a surprise to you. He made you laugh as he made a big show of dropping chicken to cook in the oil and flinging spices on it, making an absolute mess. For his next trick, he threw butter and garlic in another pan then added heavy cream to make the sauce, pouring the cream from as high up as he could reach so that it splashed everywhere. While that simmered, he reached for the handle of an impressively large kitchen knife. You found yourself holding your breath when he started spinning it around, doing tricks and tossing it in the air to twirl around and catch it before swiftly cutting up the cooked chicken as you sighed with relief, making him chuckle. Then he stuck his finger in the boiling hot sauce before putting it in his mouth to taste it.

“J!” you exclaimed.

He shrugged with a smile, clearly unfazed by the burning hot liquid, and concluded that it was to his liking before grabbing a huge handful of prepared fettuccine pasta from a container. He slapped it into the sauce with a splash, laughing when he saw you got some on your face. Letting it all simmer together for a minute or two, he grabbed two plates and started searching the kitchen for something.

Just when you were going at ask what he was doing, he shouted, “Ah!” before coming back to the counter with a bottle of champagne and two glasses. He smirked at the huge grin on your face while peeling the foil from the top then aimed the bottle and popped the cork off, sending it whizzing through the air to hit a light switch, lowering the light in the room. You giggled and looked at him with your eyes sparkling like the champagne. A smug smile on his face as he could see you were clearly impressed, he tipped the bottle of bubbly to take a swig before pouring it in the glasses.

You sipped from your glass and next thing you knew, a big plate of alfredo-dressed fettuccine topped with delicious smelling chicken was placed in front of you. You looked up from the plate with a smile to meet his gaze with yours, heavy-lidded and full of admiration. He returned it and held his glass up for you to tap yours against it with a clink before you both dug in to the best chicken alfredo you’d ever had.

“You know this means you’re gonna have to start cooking for me all the time now, right?” you said while J drained the last of the champange down his throat, both of your bellies full.

He snorted and replied, “Mmm is that so?”

He laughed when you nodded with a satisfied expression then approached you with a sly grin, turning your stool to face him before putting his hands on your thighs and leaning in to kiss you. Your eyes closed while you savored it, the warmth and tenderness of it adding to the sleepiness that was making your eyelids heavy. After helping you down from your perch, he reached for his coat then wrapped it around your shoulders as you both headed for the door to go home. Before leaving the kitchen, he stopped in front of the dessert case and opened it to grab a huge chocolate cake while you giggled.

You fell asleep with your head on J’s shoulder in the back of the car, your hunger more than satisfied and your mind finally at ease.

[conant21]

Heart of Iron

So sorry for the wait, this chapter was kinda hard to write and I kept getting huge moments of writers block. This chapter is kinda important for the civil war chapter to come. As always i hope you enjoy!! Also who saw the final of Agents of Shield, I cried so hard at the end!!!

Prologue: the beginning  Chapter 1: Ophelia  Chapter 2: Viper  

Chapter 3: Insight

Chapter 4: Agent 

January 17th, 2014

You stood waiting on the SHEILD aircraft designated the Bus with Agent Simmons waiting for Fury to arrive with Phil Coulson and his team of agents. After rescuing Simmons and her friend, Fitz you recalled Fury mentioning earlier, you made your way to help bring the rest of Hydra down. Fury was going to continue in his journey and eventually regroup with Hill, but you wanted to stay behind and help Coulson stop the rest of Hydra. Even though you were undercover, the terrible thing you had to do in order to maintain you cover haunt your dreams most nights. “Um, Sorry to bother you but I don’t think I properly introduced myself, I am Gemma Simmons.” You looked towards her to see her hand extended and a small smile on her face. You could see she was nervous, but you couldn’t tell if you or her team being in danger. “I know Fury debriefed me on the way over I’m…” you stopped yourself Hydra was gone yet you hadn’t been Y/N Stark since you took your undercover mission. The longing was still there to reconfirm your identity even after all the time that has passed. The fear of your father finding out you were still alive lurked in the back of your mind yet the demons that followed your undercover name hanged just as heavy. Simmons was still looking at you waiting for your name and you decided no more hiding, “Agent Y/N Stark.” The look of surprise overcame her features and she opened her mouth to begin asking questions as the sound of tires came from the tarmac. Two black SUVs pulled up. You waited as Coulson, a female agent you heard stories of back at your days in the academy, agent Melinda May, another man who you assumed as agent Trip, and a girl Skye the brand-new agent gets out. In the second vehicle you waited as Fury got out. Both Skye and Trip paid you no mind and surged forward to Simmons. Coulson meat your eye as Fury whispered something to him; the flash of recognition was visible in his eyes, yet you have never meet him in person till today. You followed Fury and Coulson up the stairs towards Coulson’s office area as May began the process for takeoff.

January 10th, 2015 - One year later  

You had been on the team for a year and had never felt better. Coulson had asked you to help keep watch on Hydra since you had the most experience. The team had taken your past work details extremely well considering your alias, Ophelia Sarkissian was wanted in every major country, yet it had been the knowledge of your real last name that freaked out the others the most. Trip seamed cool about it he kept calling you his commando buddy which you found amusing considering your grandfather wasn’t a howling commando rather a friend of the group. Skye who you had become fast friends with was the most excited as she always had questions whether it was about your father or the Avengers even though you hadn’t been in contact with your father in years and had only meet two of the Avengers. Simmons was a close friend as well since it was your insight and instructions that helped her to maintain her cover within Hydra since it wasn’t clear if the organization knew of your betrayal. Fitz who was still having trouble due to his brain damage was nice, yet you stayed out of the lab as it wasn’t your strong suit even though you grew up in a similar setting. May who you helped with the new recruits since you two had the most experience with the field work and graduated the operations academy. She was still warming up to you, but you could tell that she respected you and trusted you enough to go on missions together. A few other agents had joined the team such as Agent Alfonso Mack who seemed nice enough yet there was an air of mystery to him that you had yet to crack and Lance Hunter who you found charming yet annoying.  

You sat in the lounge with both Skye and May waiting for Trip to bring back Simmons after her Identity was soon to be compromised thanks to your recent run in with Rainia. You had volunteered to go and help but Coulson had wanted you to stay at base. “So, what is your favorite memory with Tony Stark. I can only imagine,” came Skye’s voice form across the coffee table at the couch. “Well there are a lot of good memories but my favorite where when he would take me to Stark Industries, and I would sit in his chair in his office and pretend to be in charge.” A wave of nostalgia hit you as began to remember your time with your father. “You miss him, don’t you?” “Sometimes I do but I also think he is better off to think I’m dead. I did a lot of horrible things to keep my cover with Hydra. On the other hand, I would also like to see him in person again. It’s the little things you miss the most, like he used to give the best hugs,” came your reply. You could feel tears welling up in your eyes as May stood up and walked behind you patting your shoulder as she walked out to meet up with Coulson. “You know if someone were to say…oh I don’t know that I might have stood outside Stark tower in cosplay I would say they are lying.” Skye’s voice broke you out of your morose thoughts. You started to laugh in way you hadn’t since your academy days. “I don’t know Skye it kind of sounds like you did,” you replied through the laughter. Skye soon joined in, “You know it’s been a while since I had any real friends. I would like to think that you are one of them.” “Well I would be deeply honored to be friends with the great Y/N Stark,” came her reply. You could tell that it meant a lot to say you were both friends since this line of work came with so few. The two of you turned to the door as Tripp walked through. “Dang girl you already started the party without me” “You know it. How did the pickup go?” “Good I got Simmons and another Agent. Apparently, she is Hunters ex-wife, I left as soon as I could,” he replied as he sat down next to Skye. “Damm, do you think I would know her…” You trailed off as a brunette walked into the room arguing with Hunter. “Bobbi? Is that you.” The brunette turn to look at you, a big smile on her face “well, well, well if it isn't Y/N/N Stark.” You got off the couch running towards her for a giant hug both laughing at the sight of each other. Tripp spoke up from the couch, “And how do the two of you know each other?” “We were roommates at the academy,” Bobbi spoke up as you smiled both turning towards him “Yep she was like a big sister to me. You didn’t say you were married to Bobbi Morse,” you looked at hunter as he grabbed a beer out of the fridge nearby. “Oh, sorry I didn’t know the she-devil needed to be named.” Bobbie turned towards you rolling her eyes at his comment. Both of you returned to the couch as Coulson, May and Simmons walked into the room. You gave a brief smile towards her before Coulson began the briefing. “Agent Stark since you know more about Whitehall I would you to run through the information that Simmons has gathered. We need to know what his next order of business is going to be so we can stay ahead. Syke, and May will be running point on the obelisk till we can find it that is our priority one lets get to work.”

tag list:

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[j--meat-hook--j]

Round 1: Operation Smoked Ham

The assignment? Search and Destroy.

The target? Local Wolfsboone dog.

The location? A forest with a winding path.

The participants? A silent bacon-flavoured child and a flying, talking energy anomaly.  

Andrew was carrying boar around the arms, like a reverse piggy-back. (heehoo) The two were idly flying above the forest looking for the path to ambush the unknown two they were going against.

“D-o you shee them Boar?” Andrew asked his friend and roommate, Boar.

Some taps later from Boar later. N-O

“Whe-re else you wannananana try?” Andrew stunted out. 

Boar pointed to a deeper part of the forest and squeaked.

“Gocha.” Andrew followed Boar’s non-verbal directions. After some audible sniffs from Boar, they perked up and pointed. 

“There?” Andrew asked. Boar nodded so quick they jostled Andrew a bit. Boar pointed and Andrew saw it too, the dirt path that the “heroes” were trekking on.

“Foun da path.” Andrew commented. Boar gave a few taps in agreement. 

“Up or down?” Andrew asked Boar. Boar gave a few sniffs before pointing down the path, towards where the heroes would be starting. 

Andrew responded silently and followed in Boar’s directions. He lowered closer to the ground, Boar’s toes were just touching the highest branches.

S-E-E. Boar signed with urgency. Andrew stopped and dipped close to the trees to hide from sight. Andrew spotted the silhouette, nothing special about it. No notable heat, density or unique appendages.

“Who?” Andrew asked, info was key.

K-A-Y-A-K-I. Boar signed.

“Oh. Who?” Andrew asked, that info did nothing.

F-R-I-E-N-D.. Boar signed.

“Oh. Who?” Things weren’t going well for Andrew, he recognised the name but not the silhouette.

N-O  W-O-R-R-I-E-S. Boar signed.

“Wheres da ofer one?” Andrew struggled to verbalise.

A couple sniffs from Boar.

B-E-H-I-N-D. Boar signed.

“Drop you middle? Make lots of noise, I take care of dog.” Andrew asked. Boar nodded. 

O-P  S-H  I-S  A  G-O. Boar signed with enthusiasm.

“Lessgo.” Andrew flew above the trees again and right over the dirt path, trying to get the attention of Kayaki.

It worked. 

“Ki! We got incoming!” Kayaki called out behind her.

Andrew flew over Kayakii, he was looking for the other silhouette.

A double tap came from Boar, they spotted the other one. Boar gave three taps, then two, then one.

“See ya in a bit.” Andrew told Boar.

Operation Smoked Ham was a go.

Andrew let go of Boar, there was silence in the forest as Boar fell. Then came a loud CRUNCH as they landed. A small crater appeared where Boar landed, the sturdy kid was able to take the fall easily. 

“Ki! I’m gonna need a hand!” Kayaki called out behind her.

Even Andrew could hear the rumble of hurried steps as Kirai approached, the dog following him with a wagging tail. “It’s me, I’m here, where are they?” Kirai said, getting into a comical fighting stance.

Kayaki pointed to Boar up close and then Andrew out in the distance.

“There.” She said.

Andrew had a whole speech prepared for this occasion. High up in the sky Andrew puffed out his chest, rubbed his hands together and did a slight cackle.

“Hear me feebew heroes! It appears you’ve stumbled into our trap, for you see my associate and I have the brains and brawn to-”

Meanwhile on the ground, the other three were just staring up at Andrew. Kayaki looked towards Boar in an attempt to get some insight. Boar responded with a shrug.

“He does know we can’t hear him right?” Kayaki said to Kirai.

Boar tapped their fingers together a couple times.

“HA! He does do that.” Kayaki giggled at Boar’s quick wits and impeccable delivery.

Kirai’s face looked like a squashed up sponge of confusion and slight regret.

Back at the sky,

“And fli’ it uhsie-down. Prince of Bel-Air style!” Andrew finished his monologue with great gusto and a beam of light in the sky.

Boar was still staring up at Andrew in a mix of wonder and disappointment.

“Means go!” Andrew shouted down, that time it was actually heard. Boar pinched down on their nose and nodded in a muddle of frustration and disbelief.

Boar took a deep breath and activated their Quirk, a blood red aura surrounded their body. Boar’s eyes sharpened on Kirai and they charged.

“Wait Boar we can talk ab-” Kirai cut himself off as he pulled a quick 180 and ran.

“Duck and weave Ki! Duck and weave!” Kayaki advised Kirai.

“I’m ducking! I’m weaving!” Kirai called back.

Boar wasn’t the fastest person in Taiyuu, a decent pace could outrun them, but with all of Kirai’s unnecessary ducking and weaving it was a pretty close match.

With all of the commotion happening below him, Andrew ever the sneaky boy, snuck over their heads towards the Very Important Pubby. Andrew descended slowly towards the good boy who was doing little tippy-taps on the ground in excitement.

Andrew came face to face with the dog, his target. With one good hit Andrew could end the whole exercise, just easy as that. But that would mean this poor tail-wagging, paw-tapping, excitedly barking dog had to get hurt, Andrew couldn’t do that.

Meanwhile, at the borderline bloodbath not 20 meters away Boar had caught up to Kirai.

It was brutal, Boar sledged Kirai in the face and did a spinning kick to Kayakis' side. Kirai tried to give Boar the old what-for in the form of a punch. It connected.

“Ow.” Said Kirai.

Kayaki jumped on Boar’s back like a spidermonkey, flailing around grabbing and pulling at whatever part of Boar she could get her hands on. Boar reached around, grabbed her with one hand and hit Kirai with Kayaki.

Meanwhile, at the place where morals go to die. Andrew gathered a large amount of his energy into his hand. Andrew’s right hand was glowing and shaking with condensed power. He raised his hand, ready to strike.

“Nebula.” Andrew called out the name of his Super-move and began to strike the dog, the resulting explosion being more than enough to snuff it from this semi-mortal-plantlike-hivemind coil.

“Barf! Barf!’ The puppy barked in excitement.

The condensed energy in Andrew’s hand began to fizzle out but his hand continued towards the dog. The lethal amount of energy contained in Andrew’s palm slowly extended out and formed fingers. The ticking time bomb of Andrew Energy scratched behind the ears of the dog. 

“Who’s a goob boy.” Andrew said to the Booneswolf as he started scratching under the chin as well. The puppy responded by shaking its leg.

Meanwhile, at the beatdown of the century. Boar tripped Kayaki over with a properly timed leg sweep, Kayaki landed on her back with a thud. Kirai charged in for a kick to Boar’s ribs. Boar caught Kirai’s flying leg, raised it slightly and punched towards the man's Crown Jewels.

Across the island Wolfsboone let out a small breath of air through his teeth in sympathy.

A high pitched scream came from Kirai. Rip the homie. Boar shot their gaze over to Andrew and finally saw the tomfoolery that was afoot.

“Fech da shtick.” Andrew said to the dog and the boy threw the stick. The dog just looked at the thrown stick and back at Andrew with a small head tilt.

“Go on, fech.” Andrew encouraged.

Boar pulled out their handy-dandy phone for the first time today and frantically typed into it. Out of the phone came a flat sounding voice.

“God fucking dammit Andrew just kick the fucking dog.” The Text-to-speech said.

Andrew crossed his arms.

“Language.” He said.

An audible snap could be heard as Boar’s patience was through. The huffed over to Andrew and pointed at themselves and then the dog. Then Boar pointed at Andrew followed by Kayaki and Kirai.

“We swappin dance partners?” Andrew asked. Boar slowly nodded their head.

“Fine. But please don’t hurt Daisy too much.” Andrew asked his roommate and friend.

Kayaki dazedly looked up from the ground at Kirai.

“Hey, Kirai. You wanna do that thing where you get really mad and unlock a new power.” Kayaki said to the near unconscious Kirai.

Kirai let out a small squeak.

“Don’t you fuckin ignore me.” Kayak said, so done with this shit.

Andrew floated over to the two. 

“Pleash don’t ge’ up. Then I’ll hafta blast ya.” Andrew asked his two enemies.

“I’m gonna get up.” Said Kayaki. “Pleash don.” Andrew said.

“I’m gonna do it, and I’m gonna help Kirai get up too.” Kayaki said.

“I don’ wanna blast ya.” Andrew pleaded.

“You can just let us get up.” Kayaki said, slumping up from the ground. 

“No, bu’ I can’.” Andrew said.

“You can.” Kayaki said, getting onto one knee.

“I’ll havta stop you using my villanous teknees.” Andrew said.

“Like what?” Kayaki said, helping Kirai up onto his feet.

“I’ll, uh, leave a puddew so yah soc’s geh weh.” Andrew said so very evily. 

“You monster!” Kayaki said, having Kirai lean on her shoulder.

“....Now hol on. Haf I been blundered? Haf I been swindled? You were jus stallin for time wif dat whole convers-a-tion weren’t you!” Andrew stumbled out.

“Yeah.” Kayaki said. “Now Imma hafta blast ya.” Andrew said, the condensed energy in his hand swirling around and around.

“Okay, Kirai.” Kayaki slapped both sides of Kirai’s face. Kirai cracked open an eye.

“Yeah.” Kirai said, his voice noticeably higher than previously.

“Andrew’s gonna fire a giant laser at us, you need to absorb it and fire it back at him.” Kayaki informed Kirai.

“No. Cards.” Kirai said with a slight squeak. 

“Don’t worry, I brought leaves.” Kayaki said, shoving a handful of leaves in Kirai’s hands.

“Hate you. Hate you both.” Kirai said, leaning off of Kayaki and standing on his two feet.

Andrew's hand had finished condensing the energy, instead of the full fingered hand he had earlier it was now a swirling galaxy of an appendage.

“Quasar.” Andrew said the name of his supermove and let it loose at Kirai and Kayaki. A bright beam of light shot towards the two K-friends.

“Kirai, you have to try.” Kayaki said with emphasis.

“Kay. I’ll try.” Kirai said, holding the leaves out in front of him. He braced himself for the impact.

As Andrew’s laser neared Kirai’s bundle of leaves, the leaves emitted a black hole like effect and absorbed Andrew’s laser. The leaves in Kirai’s hands started sparkling a light Andrew Blue colour.

“Wha. Gib dat back!” Andrew shouted at Kirai angrily, that beam was technically Andrew.

“Oh, uh, okay.” Kirai said, just as surprised as Andrew. Kirai thrust out the leaves and the same beam Andrew fired out shot out of them.

“Oh, I get it.” Andrew said right before he got nailed in the chest by his own redirected laser. The impact sent Andrew flying back.

Kayaki and Kirai looked at each other, back at the knocked back Andrew, back at each other, back at the still out of control Andrew and back at each other. 

“I’m the best aren’t I.” Kirai said to Kayaki.

“Yep, mmhmm.” Kayaki responded.

Meanwhile, at the dog vs Boar action. Boar had just finished up with Daisy, the dog, whatever. They deactivated their quirk and walked over to Kirai and Kayaki. Kirai jumped back and hid behind Kayaki. 

Boar pulled out their phone again and started tapping away.

“Sorry about that, Kirai. No hard feelings? I’ll make it up to you.” The Text-To-Speech said on Boar’s phone.

Kayaki and Kirai looked at Boar suspiciously.

“You’ve still got a bit left to make up for Boar.” Kirai said, a cat in his lap and a cat on his head.

“I’m sorry, I just got lost in my anger.” Boar’s T-T-S said as the actual Boar took a sip of tea.

“You lost? You lost? I lost something.” Kirai said, taking a bite of one of Kayaki’s biscuits.

Andrew was still a little sad about Daisy, but Boar treated the group to a cat-cafe so overall today was a win.

[flowerslut]

DAY SIX: REINCARNATION Rating: T for language. Words: 2,436

The semi-supernatural meet-cute.

TO BE ALIVE

The noise of the blaring car horn was easily ignored as he crossed the street, not even acknowledging the car trying to make a right hand turn, letting them stew in their irritation at his refusal to wait for the crosswalk signal.

Once he was fully out of it’s way, the car pulled around the corner, and it wasn’t until someone rolled down the window and yelled “watch out, asshole” that he turned and watched the white Tesla speed away. He rolled his eyes before making his way across the street. The sound of hysterical laughter greeted him from a little further down on the sidewalk.

He never bothered to learn the guy’s name—a bum that frequented the neighborhood who was loud but harmless—but Jasper shook his head toward the guy and kept moving. He didn’t have any change or cigarettes to spare for the crazy old man that day, and it was too hot to make small talk. He lifted a hand in a half-wave and continued onward towards home.

It wasn’t until he was four entire blocks from the bus stop when he stopped and swore loudly. 

He couldn’t believe he’d left his skateboard on the fucking bus.

He paused for a moment, lifting his head up toward the sky and closing his eyes, concentrating on calming down before his temper got the better of him. After several long seconds he opened his eyes and sighed, knowing a lost cause when he saw one. Someone probably picked it up by now. It wasn’t like the MTA had a lost and found.

He swore again as he resumed his walk. Losing his board meant plenty of things. It would take him longer to get to work, it would take him longer to get home from work, and now he had to walk down the entirety of Spring street in the blistering summer heat.

Shaking out his blond hair he realized that if this was the case, a shorter hairstyle might be necessary. Or, he mused as he began the trek down the street that led to his home, he could grow it out a little more, and just tie it up in the back.

The walk would be almost enjoyable if it wasn’t so damn hot. Of course, the neighborhood had been better when Jasper was a kid. People were nicer. There was more of a sense of community when you walked down the streets. But with the gentrification of the area well underway it had lost a good amount of it’s charm.

Blinking ahead of him, he squinted his eyes into the setting sun. He knew he had a pair of sunglasses somewhere in his backpack, but he’d rather get home quicker than spend a good three minutes digging around in the cluttered bag for a pair of cheap shades.

As he approached a long stretch of road, he focused on someone standing on the sidewalk ahead of him. Directly to his left was a giant wall, separating the street from a highway exit ramp. It was a long, tall thing, stretching most of the street. It used to be prime real estate for graffiti artists, but in the past ten years the city had cracked down. Something about the wall being a part of some long-forgotten war memorial.

It was dumb as hell. The art along this walk used to look sick.

His mood—which was solidly bad but bordering on hopeless—suddenly lifted as he made his way further toward his house. Just ahead, a brand-new, giant mural had been painted on the wall.

He couldn’t hold back his grin as he slowly approached. After he got home and relieved the babysitter he’d probably take Kelsey and Austin back to look at it and take some pictures. Surely, the city had been alerted and it would be gone as soon as the weekend hit. He’d send a picture to Dad, too. Jasper was sure the guy needed something to smile about on his sixth twelve hour shift this week.

The closer he got, he realized that’s what the person on the sidewalk must have been doing; they hadn’t moved in a while. Probably one of the new residents of the newest luxury apartments across the street by the looks of it. She was wearing a white sundress and a yellow bucket hat, and her sneakers looked expensive.

He was barely twenty feet away when her canvas bag fell from her shoulder to the ground, sending all her belongings sprawling across the sidewalk. But as he made his way forward, cautiously now, the girl made no move to collect her items. She didn’t even acknowledge that they’d fallen.

A tiny alarm started to ring in his head, worry blooming abruptly in his stomach. As long as this girl didn’t hit the pavement, it would be okay.

“Um,” he spoke up as he approached, bending down to pick up an aluminum water bottle that had rolled it’s way toward him, “hello? You dropped your stuff.”

The girl didn’t react. At first, Jasper didn’t think she heard him. But then, he heard her.

Sniffling, that was. And when Jasper realized this random stranger was crying the discomfort struck him like a physical thing. “Miss?”

And when she turned toward him, she jumped as if she’d been snuck up on. Big blue eyes bloodshot red and full of tears. She blinked a few times, her mouth falling wide open as she studied his face, not once averting her eyes. Jasper didn’t know if it was rude or just bizarre, but it wasn’t until he found himself staring back when he realized something felt strange.

Familiar, almost. But the feeling passed quickly. Jasper was certain he didn’t know this girl.

But she kept staring at him, her eyes wide and stunned, her tears still falling.

He shifted her fallen water bottle from one hand to the next before his eyes began looking elsewhere. What he was looking for, he didn’t know. An escape route, maybe? A solution to this weird problem he suddenly found himself faced with? Instead his eye fell upon the giant mural, it’s colors blossoming across the wall in huge, arching floral patterns.

In the center, a line of elaborate text: “It’s a beautiful thing to be alive.”

The words were familiar to him in a way he couldn’t quite place. And suddenly a strange feeling of dejavu fell upon him as he stared at the art. He didn’t recognize the style, and there were no tags so he had no idea who the artist was. But, staring at this art, he felt something warm within him.

When he looked back to the girl, she jumped again, finally averting her gaze as she lifted a quick hand to wipe at her tear-stained face.

“Jeez, I’m so sorry,” she sniffled before laughing awkwardly. “That was weird. I don’t know what came over me.”

“You dropped some things,” Jasper spoke, still apprehensive as the girl wiped at her face and shook her head. He gestured to the ground with the water bottle he was still holding.

“Oh, goodness,” she was on the ground then, grabbing the bag and quickly shoving items back inside. Naturally, Jasper leaned forward to help, handing her a tangled pair of headphones, a few pens, and even her wallet. “Thank you so much, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he assured, feeling genuinely bad for the girl now. “It’s a little dented up,” he grimaced as she finally accepted the water bottle from him.

“It’s been like that,” she waved a dismissive hand and with the other reached out for the bottle, their fingertips brushing ever-so-lightly. Her eyes met his again, and she quickly looked away once more.

“It’s a very beautiful mural,” she spoke, the words coming out quickly as she found herself staring back toward the vibrant colors. “I just moved here and wanted to take a walk but then I got lost and then suddenly I saw this thing and I guess I was just overwhelmed and—god, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, really.” He shifted slightly on his feet. “You said you were lost?”

She frowned, nodding. “I have a vague idea where I am…”

“Where are you trying to go?”

“Spring and Alpine.”

Jasper looked at her strangely then. “Well, you’re on Spring. Alpine is just a few blocks that way,” he threw his thumb over his shoulder, pointing back the way he’d just come. “Right by the bus stop?”

“Yeah, by the blue building?” Jasper nodded. “Just moved into that.”

Jasper made a face as he thought to himself. As far as he knew that wasn’t a residential building, but he kept his comment to himself. “It’s not far up that way. I wouldn’t worry about finding your way home. I’d do it soon though,” he turned, surveying the nearly-empty street that gave off a misleading, quiet vibe. “The neighborhood isn’t very safe at night.”

The girl nodded, “Thanks for the heads up,” then, she sniffled again. “God, I don’t know why I’m such a wreck.”

“Are you okay?” He didn’t want to think about how weird it was, so he forced the offer out before he could truly let the impact of his idea settle. “Do you want me to walk you home, or?” Then the implication struck him, “Or I could just get you to Alpine—I don’t want to freak you out or anything. Just trying to help.”

“Um, if you could just point me in the direction, I think I’ll be able to figure it out.” She smiled up at him then, and Jasper felt suddenly like a creep for even offering. “Thank you though,” she stepped toward him, her smile softening, “I really appreciate it, really.”

Jasper cleared his throat, shifting awkwardly on his feet as he turned. “Well once you make it to the end of the block you’ll see the entrance to the highway. Then just turn left and Alpine will be up ahead. If you get to the CVS you’ve gone too far.”

“Thank you so much,” she sighed as she rearranged her bag onto her other shoulder, before peeking inside and double-checking the ground around her. Her eyes widened as she shuffled toward the curb and reached into the street, picking up a couple of discarded markers. “Whoops.”

“You got everything?” He asked, forcing himself to keep his feet planted as she wandered around, checking the ground for more of her items. He didn’t want to come off as menacing or scary to any degree, reminding himself that he was just some weird punk that had run into this normal-looking girl on the street. Anything to give off as much of a non-threatening vibe as possible. He even stepped back when she approached him again.

“This might be a bit forward, but can I see your hand?”

It was a strange request but Jasper didn’t even hesitate when he held his hand out toward her. At first, he thought she was going for a handshake—which was awkward enough—but when she grabbed his hand in her own small one, turning it palm-up, he froze when he realized she was writing something with one of her Sharpies.

“I know we don’t know the first thing about one another, but if you’re ever bored and feel like showing me the cool spots around here, that would be nice.” As she spoke she recapped her pen and tossed it into her bag, smiling brightly up at him. Then, she adjusted her bucket hat and began to walk down the street, waving happily toward him.

For several seconds Jasper stared down at his palm, the phone number (with a little fucking heart scrawled beside it) staring back at him, the ink feathering across the creases in his hand. Then, he spun toward where she was leaving. “Wait!” He called out, feeling silly. “I don’t even know your name.”

She turned as she walked, smiling back at him as she moved backwards. “I don’t know yours either!” She laughed, and when a breeze blew her dress around her slightly, the sun shining it’s golden beams to illuminate her face for him, Jasper felt his chest constrict slightly. 

“It’s Jasper,” he called toward her as she moved further up the street.

“Hi Jasper,” she paused long enough to curtsy, before turning back toward her destination. “I’m Alice!” And with a lifted arm she waved toward him, her introduction apparently serving as a farewell to their encounter.

Jasper took a few moments to himself, his eyes torn between three things: Alice’s departing form, the phone number he was quickly committing to memory, and the mural that had stood watch over the entire encounter.

Turning toward it, he whispered the words out loud, “It’s a beautiful thing to be alive.” And the words, no matter how cliche and how much Jasper would’ve typically mocked such a statement, somehow resonated with him. He turned again, watching as Alice’s form disappeared as she reached the end of the street and turned, following his directions, and felt a strange sensation within his chest.

Later, after he’d sent the babysitter home but before he cooked dinner, he grabbed his siblings by the hands and escorted the two nine-year olds back the way he’d come. But the wall on spring street was mysteriously and impossibly blank. His brother and sister stomped their feet, demanding to know what the deal was, but Jasper had simply stared, confused and shocked, assuring the twins that no, he wasn’t messing with them and yes, there really had been a giant piece of art there, hardly a half hour ago.

It wasn’t until that night when the twins were in bed and he was finishing the dishes in the sink that he paused, staring down at the number that was slowly fading on his palm. He made quick word of the cleaning before sitting himself firmly in a chair, opening his phone to type a quick message.

Alice? He sent the text, feeling solidly crazy ever since the disappearance of the art. It’s Jasper.

Her reply was almost immediate and brought him a level of relief and comfort that he didn’t know was possible—he hadn’t dreamed the encounter up, she was a real person. And if that was the case, then that meant that maybe he wasn’t insane. Maybe the mural had been there. Either way, he somehow knew that it didn’t even matter. He’d met this girl, and he had a strangely good feeling about her.

You’ve kept me waiting long enough.

[victory-cookies]

we were fools to think that nothing could go wrong (chapter 3)

Milo woke up from a restless sleep with a jolt, the sound of screaming still ringing faintly in his ears. His heart raced and he was breathing unevenly, each inhale and exhale shallow and shaky. He couldn't bring himself to be more than barely cognizant of the large boulder that had smashed through his bedroom wall at some point in the night, leaving a sizable hole that let the chilly morning air in.

He closed his eyes again, trying to steady his breaths, before he sat up and forced himself to get out of bed.

"C'mon, Murphy, you gotta get going," he murmured groggily, fighting back a yawn.

Once he had climbed down the ladder to the floor (thankfully without incident), he turned his attention to the boulder and let out a small, tired sigh.

It was a bit of a distraction, at least.

"Hey Mom?" he called as he walked to grab clothes from his closet, skirting the near-car-sized rock now sat in the middle of his room.

"Yes?" came her voice faintly from downstairs.

He pulled out a button-up, slightly beat-up body armour, and shorts and began to change into them. "Boulder came through the wall last night!"

"I'll call insurance!" she replied. "Also, breakfast is on the table whenever you're ready!"

"I'll be down in a sec!" He pulled on a sweater vest and grabbed his backpack, which he had packed the night before. "Alright, first day back to school," he said to himself. "Let's make it incredible!"

***

He tried to ignore how his voice shook a little on the last syllable.

"Milo!" came a chorus of voices as he walked up to the bus stop, hands tightly gripping the straps of his backpack.

He grinned as he saw who it was. "Hey Melissa, hey Za— oof!" He was cut off as Melissa rushed to embrace him, lifting him off the ground.

She put him back down. "Thank god you're back! It was getting so boring around here without you."

"Yeah, I think I woulda died if I had to sit through one more history class without anything catching on fire." Zack added. "You feelin' better? You had it pretty rough there for a while."

Milo rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I'm just a little tired. And my leg's still in a splint, of course, but at least I can walk without crutches now!"

"Oh yeah right, your leg! Didn't it break that when we got knocked out during the fight?" Melissa asked. She and Zack had been for a visit with Milo once while he was still in hospital care, but it had been cut short when a nurse had come in for a routine checkup and kicked them out. They hadn't exactly had time to discuss much beyond how Milo was out of his coma and how they all were glad that everyone was at least somewhat okay. Along with that, the fact that she was half-out when the whole leg-crushing event had transpired made Milo wonder if she had forgotten his leg had been broken entirely.

He assumed he was right, seeing her expression turn mildly embarrassed, as if she'd heard what she'd said and only then realized how it sounded.

He smiled softly at her. "Yeah. I was lucky that I only had my leg hit by that falling wall, unlike you two. That must've hurt."

"Yeah..." she replied, touching the back of her head and grimacing. "Good thing, too, because if you'd been out too we would have been screwed."

"Oh yeah, we heard about what you did, by the way, pulling us to safety after we got knocked out. Thanks for that, man. You... you definitely saved our lives there," Zack said. "And you did it with a broken leg."

"Eh, no biggie," replied Milo, laughing nervously, trying to push the resurfacing memories of the event as far out of his mind as possible. "All that matters is that you guys are fine."

"Dude, you saved us from some big-ass scary mechs while you had a broken leg! Don't sell yourself short," exclaimed Melissa. “If it weren’t for you, we would have been in some deep shit.”

Suddenly, a voice came from behind them. “If it weren’t for Milo, you wouldn’t have needed to be saved in the first place, you know.”

Melissa whirled around, glaring. “Shut your piehole, Bradley.”

Bradley leaned up against the bus stop signpost and shrugged. “I’m just saying, Milo's the whole reason stuff like that happens. Giant killer robots—"

"Mechs." Melissa corrected.

"—mechs, whatever, they don't just show up ready to go on a murderous rampage around normal people!" Bradley crossed his arms. "Half of downtown was destroyed, Melissa, and they're still cleaning up the robot—"

"Mech."

"Shut up. They're still cleaning up the robot carcasses and trying to find the bodies of people who died in the building collapses!"

Uncomfortably vivid flashes of memories from the battle were now rushing back to Milo, and he gulped. "Hey guys..." he said quietly, but he was cut off as Melissa took a step towards Bradley.

"So? None of that is Milo's fault!"

"Everything that could have gone wrong did, Melissa! Our city was invaded by robots from the future who, if I'm remembering their speech from the news correctly, were, oh right, looking for Milo!"

Melissa was beginning to look like she was going to scream. "Oh no, you do not get to blame Milo for this."

"Why not?"

"Because he's not responsible for anything that happened that day! In fact, he probably was the reason more people didn't get hurt! He's certainly the reason Zack and I aren't dead!"

"Guys?" said Milo again. "Could you stop?"

"Without him around there wouldn't have been people endangered in the first place! Him being there caused it!"

"Bradley, I will say this one last time: none of this is Milo's fault! He didn't hurt anyone!"

At that, Milo's face paled. He remembered Cavendish and Dakota's account of the post-battle destruction, remembered the mech he saw destroyed right in front of his own eyes, right after he'd hit it with a bolt of energy he still hadn't figured out how he'd created.

Oh, he definitely hurt some people. Maybe not the people Melissa was referring to, but still...

He wondered if he'd ever stop feeling nauseous whenever he re-remembered that fact.

Probably not.

"Well—"

"Will you two stop!?" Zack exclaimed suddenly. "Some of us don't want to hear it."

The two of them quieted and turned to face him.

He sighed. "Thank you." He then turned to Milo and placed a gentle hand on his arm. "You alright?"

Milo realized he was shaking a little. "Oh, yeah, I— I'm fine."

"Cool. Just take some deep breaths, okay?"

Milo nodded and did as he was told, slowly breathing in and out until he began to feel a little less shaky.

They all stood there in silence for a moment, Melissa still fuming, Zack maintaining a comforting hold on Milo's arm, Bradley repeatedly curling and uncurling his plant hand and sulking, until Chad eventually walked up to join them at the bus stop.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" he asked, breaking the silence.

Melissa sighed as the bus pulled up in front of them. "Shut up, Chad."

"What'd I say?"

***

The morning had been relatively uneventful, which Milo was grateful for, with only one thing in science class exploding when it wasn't supposed to. Sure, the blast knocked the mouse cage off the shelf and let the rodents free, but that was nothing that couldn't be easily dealt with. He could tell Melissa and Bradley were still mad at each other, as they had been intensely refusing to so much as make eye contact all class. He was also pretty sure he'd seen Melissa try to slam the safety goggle box closed on Bradley's hand.

As much as he appreciated her standing up for him, he felt a little bad, seeing as he was partially the reason the two of them were angry at each other. Plus, she'd been fuming all morning. That was never fun for anybody. Her fuming sessions were sparse but legendary, and he knew it would be a while before she'd even begin to consider making up with Bradley.

Cliche or not, he really just wished they could all get along.

He also knew from experience that having that safety goggle box slam closed on your hand really hurt. Even Bradley didn't deserve that.

Eventually, lunchtime rolled around, and he, Zack, and Melissa sat down at their regular table to eat. Milo rummaged around in his backpack for a second before pulling out his lunch bag, which was looking a little squished.

"Maybe next time I should pack the anchor nearer to the bottom," he mused to himself as he took his sandwich out of the bag. "Oh well, squished PB&J is just as good as regular PB&J."

"I'd even argue it's better," Zack commented, pulling out his own lunch. "It gives the sandwich character." He emphasized the last word with a quick, vaguely Italian gesture of his hand and a chef's kiss.

Milo laughed, and Melissa cracked a small smile before returning to her fuming.

They sat there, eating in silence for a few minutes after that, before Milo sighed and spoke up.

"Melissa, you don't have to keep being mad at Bradley. Sure, he said some not-so-nice things, but you know I'm used to that by now. Some people just don't get it, and that's okay."

She put down her sandwich and leaned her face against her hand. "I know, it's just—" she made a spluttering noise and waved her free hand around. "He's such a dick! None of that stuff was your fault! It's like he thinks that you control it or something, and then choose to let stuff go wrong! Which is so not true!"

"I know, Melissa."

"It's just— arrrrrgggh!" She pressed her face into her hands and muttered something that Milo couldn't hear but made Zack's eyes widen.

"I'm gonna pretend like I didn't hear you say that," he said, blinking incredulously. "Because holy crap."

"What'd she say?" asked Milo.

Zack shook his head. "I refuse to repeat any of those words." He then leaned as farback in his chair as he could, eyes darting around the room, obviously grasping to find something else they could talk about. "Sooo, uh, hmm... oh!” He leaned forward again. “Imagine if Milo really was able to control Murphy's Law, though! Wouldn't that be wild? It would be like a weird superpower!"

Milo felt like he was going to die, right then and there, but he forced a pained smile. "Yeah, imagine that..." He giggled nervously. "It would be pretty wild."

Melissa perked up. "Yeah, what if you could, like, shoot it all like—" She punched the air in front of her a few times, like she was blasting something. "—pew pew pew! And whatever it hit would get Murphy's Law'd, like with the mech suit you guys used on the pistachions but, like, smaller. And you wouldn't need the Flynn-Fletcher brothers for it." She grinned conspiratorially. "Maybe you could use it to give Bradley a little taste of his own bullshit theory!"

He didn't respond, unable to focus on the words, because for the second time that day, images of the battle with the mechs had begun to flood Milo's head, as hard as he tried to ignore them, only this time he couldn't help but imagine the consequences of hitting Bradley with a bolt of that energy too. Would he be crushed by a collapsing building? Flattened by a falling telephone pole? Would he spontaneously burst into flames?

Would he be hurt, just like every other person he'd hit that day?

"Ex-excuse me," he said, standing up abruptly and beginning to walk away from the table.

"Where're you going?" Zack called after him.

"Washroom," he lied, voice weak, as he hurried away.

By the time he reached his favourite obscured alcove under the back staircase, he could no longer keep the memories of the battle at bay. He leaned back against the wall for support, breaths quickening as the events played out in wicked clarity in his mind. He could see every blast at him and his friends, feel the panic as they were knocked unconscious and the helplessness that followed when he had to stop running and hide. And the last few moments of the battle? He got to see those play out with the knowledge of exactly what he was causing to happen in that moment.

Eventually the memories began to recede, but his heart rate only quickened as he realized he could still feel his hands buzzing uncomfortably. He slowly brought them up, heart dropping as he confirmed what he had feared: they were surrounded by that red glow, small sparks jumping off of them.

He began to feel panicky again. He hated being panicky, too. It made being able to swiftly respond to danger a lot more difficult. Ironically, that made him begin to panic even more. His heart clenched.

Then, without warning, he felt something akin to a static shock travel through him, and a burst of red sparks flew from his hands, a few of them striking things nearby while most of them hit the underside of the stairs above him. He watched one of them hit a light in the stairwell, and the cables attaching it to the ceiling broke with a loud snap, causing the fixture to immediately fall to the ground, knocking over a garbage can nearby and spilling its contents everywhere. Milo cringed, but his attention was quickly stolen by a loud cracking noise from above him. He looked up to see a large crack spreading through the underside of the staircase.

"Uh oh," he breathed, before diving out from under the stairs just as they began to give way. With a school-shaking rumble, the whole flight crumbled and fell to the ground below.

Milo pushed himself to his knees, staring at the rubble in front of him.

There was no denying it anymore. What he had done that day hadn't been a fluke, or a fear-induced hallucination.

That red energy stuff, that focused destruction? It came from him. And now, somehow, he'd unintentionally done it for a second time.

Watching the dust settle in front of him, with his still-tingling hands stuffed into his pockets and the memories of the battle still lingering in his mind, he became acutely aware of how much the idea that he might accidentally keep doing it again terrified him.

[selenaurrr]

You Found Me

REQUESTED: Yes

PROMPT:  “I thought I almost lost you.”

PAIRING: Matt Casey x Reader

WARNING(S): Kidnapping, Abduction,Swearing, Abuse & Violence.

— 

‘Ambulance 61, Injuries from a fall. 815 South Nebraska.’

"Something is bothering you and I want in it.” Sylvie said tapping her fingertips on the black steering wheel as she drove down the streets, I slightly shifted in my seat, leaning my head on the window a bit.

“I just... have a lot on my mind, that’s all.”

“Bullshit. Does it have something to do with Casey?” Sylvie flirty smirked at me, “Oh shut up.” I playfully shoved Sylvie’s shoulder, she gasped then playfully shoved me back. We were cut off just as we reach the call, a man laying on the ground screaming in agony.

I opened my eyes slowly unable to remember what has happened beforehand. Before I could gather my bearings, I was jolted sideways, crashing against a mental wall. I shook my head and steadied myself, trying to figure out where I was and what was going on. I knew deep down I was in the back of truck, I tried my best to get my wrist free from the tight rope wrapped around causing lost of blood circulation.

The truck came to a jolting stop, leaving me to imagine what comes next.

Sound of the vehicle doors slamming could be heard followed by low faint footsteps approaching the back door, once they opened the door I was blinded by sunlight, I squinted. They quickly placed a blindfold over my eyes and duct tape my mouth shut. Someone grabbed a hold of me and roughly jerked out of the truck, causing me to fall to the ground then re-picked up.

I tried to fight with them but they gladly through me down a flight of stairs, I groaned in horrible pain, as low faint footsteps came down the stairs then stopped in front of me. I whimpered in pain.

I was kicked in my stomach throwing me back against the floor, I groaned once more. He smirked licking his lips before bending down and grabbing me by the hair. I screamed muffled against the duct tape, pain shooting up through my scalp, he then dragged me down a narrow hallway; opening a door and threw me into a closed off room, where it had no windows or even a heater in sight. 

Black spots clouded my vision, my lungs felt like it was ready to burst any minute now, right as I thought I was going to black out, he pulled me head out bathtub. I gasp for air, coughing up some water I inhaled, before I could say a word he dunked me head back into the water, I managed to choke on some more water, I didn’t think should hold on much longer, but he pulled back out again, I gasped for air.

I was eventually thrown back into the room where I sat on the cold, hard floor beforehand, the only noise I head was the occasional drip of water coming from a nearby faucet. What have I done to deserve this? I thought to myself, as the sound of my quiet, painful sob muffled through my taped mouth. 

I slowly fluttered my eyes open. I had a killer headache and my eyes took a while to focus. I felt exhausted, like I had been hit by a bus. I had no idea how long I had been passed out. I was lying on a cold hard surface, probably the floor, and I could feel pain through my whole pain, my mouth was dry with thirst, and the temperature of the room was below average, making me shiver ever so much. The room was pitch black, so I couldn’t tell how long I had been out for, my guessing it was at least a couple of hours.

I could vaguely see a dark figure standing in the doorway, the man dressed in black, with a mask covering his face. He hasn’t moved or said a single word, he just continued staring down at me. Disgusting images filled my mind of what it could be, rape? Sex trafficking? Etc. I just didn’t know, I would just have to wait to find out and hope an opportunity of escape came soon or the intelligence squad comes and rescue me from this hell hole.

My mind tend to wonder away with me with so many different thoughts about what was going to happen to me. I couldn’t decide whether I was relieved they hadn’t killed me yet or not. If that was what they were planning to do with me, I hoped it would be done quick.

“Why are you doing this?” I croaked.

“Make yourself comfortable. You are going to be here for a while.” He grinned and shut the door as he left. The sound of deadbolts could be heard locking on the other side of the door. Leaving me alone in darkness again.

I couldn’t stop shivering, I was laying on the cement cold wet floor, the room wasn’t heated but you could still feel the cold air creeping into the cracks of the building, being scared didn’t help either. I wasn’t sure how long I had been left in here for, it felt like hours and hours, but I couldn’t tell for sure how long it had actually been. 

I managed enough strength to prop myself up on the elbows, wincing from agony from the excruciating pain that shot through throughout my whole body but despite the unbearable pain I felt, my head felt a bit clearer now. No more headache. I dragged my body to the wall, leaning against it, the cold air crept in between the cracks of the building; making me shiver. The growling in my stomach reminded me of one thing for sure, I was also starving.

Would they have found Sylvie’s unconscious’s body laying on the ground beside the victim who clearly passed out from blood loss? Did they realized I was missing in action? That I was taken? So many unanswered questions filled my mind thinking of the worst. 

“Ah, you’re awake. Good, it’s time to eat.” He set a plate in front of me in an oddly calm manner. My eyes instead flickered to the door he came into. It was big and heavy and there was no way I could’ve taken it down, not even at my full strength and much less drugged up and beaten harshly. “Don’t worry, it’s not poisoned. If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve done it already.” He spoke reading my untrusting look in my eyes. I shakily reached out and took the plate, and ate hating myself for every single bite I took, but if I was going to get out of here. I would need all the strength I could get.

 I didn’t have much time left, before I ended up just another one his victims.

I was battered, tired body full of cuts and bruises. When he came in, he didn’t expect me to be awake. I could tell, I pretended to be asleep worked perfectly in my honor. Without a second to spare, I lunged myself at him, kicking, scratching, screaming and hitting with all my force. I used everything I had in me, my fists, teeth, nails. I didn’t mind the pain, or the blood, I was used to it. If it meant getting me out of there, the element of surprise gave me the head start on what I needed, as I pushed the door open and threw myself out.

I tripped going up the staircase, it took a couple of seconds to adjust to the daylight after countless hours in the darkness, and I navigated through what looked like an abandoned warehouse, desperately trying to find a way out, or even at least a weapon to use to protect me.

I could hear him coming after me, I could feel my body slowly trying to give up on me, failing me in the most important moment in my life, and I pushed even more. I reached for the door knob, so close to the outside world, I screamed when his hand made contact with me, and then a piercing pain filled my whole body, and after that I couldn’t feel anything for a brief second, until I saw a red stream of blood leaving my body where the knife had impaled me, and then everything went black, and for a second I thought or wished this was it. No more pain. No more torture.

Just let me go.

The first thought that popped into my head was that I was alive. In a lot of pain, but steady breathing. But that quickly changed as the smell that invaded my my nostrils was that of dust and something else. Smoke. This son of a bitch was lighting this abandoned warehouse.

The building was engulfed in flames.

I was coughing and gasping for air, I groaned as I lightly touched my gushing open wound, dark blood pouring out of me, I screamed in pain. 

“Help me!” I screamed in pain.

Silences filled the room.

The roaring of the flames continued to get louder and louder by the second that time wasted being locked up in the basement of the abandoned warehouse. This isn’t how I wanted to die.

 I slowly felt myself go unconscious here and there, it was becoming harder and harder to breathe by the second.

“(Y/N)!”

A faint voice calling my name in the distance, my body lay unmoving on the ground, limped.

"Fire department, call out!”

“Here...” I gasped on my last breath before blacking out.

The sound of deadbolts unlocking the door, and revealing two firefighters standing in the doorway, Matt stopped dead in his tracks because that was when he saw her. Her body lay unmoving on the ground, he knelt down next to her still body. He didn’t know if she was alive, or if it was his worst nightmare had just come true, and if they were too late.

It took a second, because her breathing was so shallow; her pulse was so weak.

There was a giant gash on her side that made his breath catch in his throat for a split second. It looked like it was a stab wound, dark blood poured out. Her body was otherwise badly brutalized, it seemed, with cuts and bruises. It filled him with so much anger and sadness. The bleeding wasn’t stopping, she was suffering a major blood loss, and the only fact that the only thing she had on was a thin sweater and a pair of lacy underwear, had him tugging off his jacket, slipping it around her cold lifeless body. 

There was a brief second, where she slowly opened her eyes and found his, and all his anger was gone in the matter of seconds, and then his heart broke into a million pieces, and then slipped back into unconsciousness.

He was able to scoop her into his arms in the gentlest way possible, and carry her out of that place. He kept telling her she was safe, because he thought that maybe in some time of way that she could hear him and he wanted her to know it. He couldn’t even see the real extent of her injuries in the dark smoky building. He knew deep down it was bad, but she was still hanging on for dear life. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to her ever again. Not again.

They lay her down onto stretcher, and loaded her inside the back of the ambulance, “She’s been stabbed. Her breathing is really shallow, and she has lost a lot of blood.”

They placed a respiratory mask over her airway, and starting a line to get some fluids in her. It was a little bit hard to do so, since Matt wouldn’t let go of her hand, not even for a second, and if he did, he found a way to grab onto some other part of her. 

His heart broke, when he saw her badly bruised, and wounds, and her overall condition. He knew she must’ve gone through hell and back, he felt sick that he wasn’t able to find her before.

They wheeled her in on the stretcher, and that’s when Matt had to let her go. 

The whole fire unit and police unit was crammed into the small waiting room at the hospital. The nurses knew it was pointless, and didn’t even try to send them home, knowing nobody would move if they did. She was the beating heart of Chicago. If you want to see the stars, you must be willing to travel through the dark.

He stood up from the hospital chair, “How is she?”

“Severe dehydration. Multiple bone fractures, but mostly was the blood loss from the stab wound. The knife had punctured her liver, she bleed too much, but she’s stable for now.” 

Matt sighed in relief.

 I didn’t know where I was at the moment, I blinked a few times, until light quickly adjusted to my vision, and I then realized I was lying in a hospital bed. I realized my hand felt heavy, I turned my head to the other side of the bed, and a familiar figure came into view.

“Matt..”

“You’re awake!” He breathed out, sighting a relief.

“You found me,” I whispered feeling my throat was completely sore and dry, “Of course, I’m here.”

Matt didn’t know what else to say, he gave her a gentle kiss against her forehead, “I thought I almost lost you.”

[spookyspaghettisundae]

We All Pay for Power

Even at sunset, the yellow fireball in the sky was scorching hot. Not a single waking soul around for miles, save for a dusty old pickup truck roaring down the lonesome road. Its driver and passenger traveled closer and closer towards an even dustier, even older tour bus. The unforgiving desert winds swept over them.

Layers of grit and grains of sand caked the windows of what looked like a steel whale, beached in the Nevada desert. Far away from the road, in a circle of cacti, resting in a place invisible to natural eyes.

But the truck’s driver knew how to find it. The wheels spun and screeched as she veered off the thin strip of cracked asphalt, cutting through the landscape of red sand, sparse vegetation, and rocky hills. The tires found traction and dug into the dirt, carrying the truck closer to the old abandoned bus.

With each inch the truck drove closer to the bus, the sky darkened. Defying nature’s laws. Devouring the sun before it even set in due time. The black void of a nightly sky opened up overhead, and the darkness between the stars loomed ever-darker in between the tiny lights.

Watchful, and hungry.

The driver cut the engine. The pickup truck continued rolling until she hit the brakes and rocks and dust ground underneath the wheels, stalling the machine till it lurched forward and fully stopped.

She was the first out of the vehicle, grabbing a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun and slamming the car door shut behind her—the noise echoing through this pocket of Otherworld, hidden away in the desert. Paying no mind to how the starry sky had appeared before sunset and the sun vanished. This was not Kim’s first time of crossing over into another dimension that looked similar to our own on the surface.

Unlike Javier, who hopped out of the car next, leaving the passenger seat open. He stared up at the sky in disbelief.

“The fuck?” he asked. Getting no answer.

Kim did not reply. She approached the dusty old tour bus with steady steps.

Javi’s gaze wandered, coming to rest on the cacti nearby. Their thorns took the shape of wicked little knives; crooked and jagged and sharp-edged. Their stalks twisted to elongated, thin shapes that did not belong on Earth.

“Hey, Kim, seriously. What the fuck?”

He got no answer from her. She held the shotgun in her hand and slowed down before she arrived by the tour bus’ open door. Something echoed through space and time, as if it had just burst open mere moments ago. But now, the door leading inside the bus swayed gently in the wind. The metal of its hinges creaked eerily.

A dark presence waited inside. Palpable. Watching. Born from the void between the stars, coalescing in the bowels of this steel giant, taking familiar shapes. Silver eyes that peered outwards, that Kim could not yet see, but eyes that saw her clearly before she entered. Piercing through matter, through the veil between worlds.

Having spotted something that vaguely resembled a vulture, Javi backed away from the truck and towards the bus, following Kim without looking where he went. The winged creature on the rocks glared at him and he broke out into a cold sweat as their eyes met and the thing’s stare locked onto him.

It crept closer, like a four-legged predator, crawling over the bend of the rock, stopping on its perch and flapping its leathery wings twice. It didn’t look too much like a vulture anymore, owed to many sharp teeth in its beak and the eight eyes on its unfathomably hairy face.

Kim raised her weapon and entered the bus, oblivious to Javi’s panicked breathing as he stumbled backwards and caught up to her. He had his hunting knife and revolver out, ready for the winged thing to pounce, but it just waited. And watched.

Like the entity inside.

They entered the bus, back to back.

Plastic clicked, and Kim swept her flashlight’s cone of illumination across the darkened interior of the abandoned bus. The leather on the seats had been chewed up by time and tiny teeth. Piles of trash littered the place all over, making it look like a hurricane had hit someone’s belongings and scattered them about.

Someone had pinned vast amounts of newspaper clippings to one wall. Everything from serious reporting to lousy tabloids had found its way here. Reports of two missing men, Brent Carver and Rick Sutton, members of the indie rock band The Lost Number. The only remaining person in the group was Kevin, whose mugshot adorned one of the cut-out articles.

Kim remembered the story from her research: how two of the three band members vanished mysteriously out here in the desert, how no bodies were ever found, and how the police eventually released Kevin into the wild where he started a new life.

The punchline of the articles continued on from there, following Kevin’s ensuing career trajectory. The flamboyant, cross-dressing bassist player of a dead-end rock band had transformed into a successful stage magician on the Strip with a cult following. A snippet from a Rolling Stone interview book-ended the assortment of notes.

In red color, someone had spray-painted over the tail end of this creepy collage:

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

Javi gasped when something cracked and he spun around. The plastic of a CD case broke underneath his boot; an autographed copy of the EP, Sexy Vampire in the Basement by The Lost Number. He stepped away from it, stumbling over empty cans of beans and bacon and other assorted canned food, kicking loose a brief cacophony of clattering and clanking.

Kim glared at Javi, silently imploring him to stop being so jumpy.

The wind outside picked up, resembling a coyote’s howl. But unlike a natural animal’s howl, it petered out into a ghastly screech. Something flapped its horrid wings to underline the ungodly origins.

From the darkness, deeper inside the bus, silver eyes stared out, watching the two new arrivals.

“Did he live here?” Javi asked. His voice trembled. So did he—his entire body.

Even if he couldn’t see the presence, he felt it.

Kim refused to answer. This was not a place to answer redundant questions.

“How can anybody live like this?”

Kim set her jaw, shining the flashlight down the narrow corridor of the bus into its deepest parts, where the silver eyes awaited them.

Finally, she answered, “Power always has a price. We all pay for it in our own ways. And this—this was his way.”

Someone cleared his throat and Kim pointed her gun in that direction. The darkness swallowed the cone of light, though a set of two eyes reflected it back as they blinked. A man in black sat there, in the bedroom at the end of the bus. Lounging on the beds, legs crossed, hands folded behind his head. Not a care in the world.

Bright white, clean teeth bared, a wide grin plastered across a face of handsome features. Chiseled, sharp jawline, symmetrical. A glint of the devil’s own confidence in his eyes.

“Can I help you?” he asked. Smooth voice—like smoke and velvet rolling over sanded stone.

Kim and Javi approached with careful paces, stepping over the trash heaps strewn about the floor. Both of them had their guns pointed at the stranger.

He budged not one bit, sitting like he belonged here. Garbed in black leather boots, dark jeans, and a crumpled old duster over a fancy black cowboy shirt with red patterns on it, this guy had the air of both a rich man and a vagrant.

“Are you Michael?” Kim asked him.

“No,” he lied. His smile widened. His steel blue eyes turned silver for a split second of the flashlight blinding him. He didn’t even blink this time. Lapped up the attention. Drank in their anxiety, thirsting for their fear.

Sprawled out in front of him was a circle of odd objects. Kim scanned over them with a quick glance, not quite registering what all of them meant or represented.

A circle of rice grains outlined the circle clearly, framed by a square of metal legs broken off a chair. In a pattern inside these shapes rested a tourist trap postcard from the Grand Canyon, a coyote’s skull, a tiny crucifix fastened to an old-timey alarm clock, a pill bottle of Alprazolam filled with black-painted fingernail clippings, a spiked dog collar, a folded piece of paper stuffed with a dark powder spilling out of the seams, and a pile of paperback novel covers glued together. Blue paint chippings covered the various objects.

“Please, let me know how I can help. Are you looking for Kevin?” asked Michael. “So am I. Perhaps we can help each other.”

“Don’t listen to him. He’s fuckin’ lyin’,” Javi said. He emphasized that by taking a threatening step towards Michael, but Kim elbowed him to stop him in his tracks.

“Stay outta the circle,” she growled at Javi.

Michael raised his hands, displaying his open empty palms. He brought his hands together and steepled his fingers like some sort of discount villain.

“You might as well put those lil’ peashooters away. Even if you manage to waste me, you gotta deal with Smokey out there,” Michael said, gesturing at the way they had come from.

The cawing shriek pierced the air, followed by more flapping of the wings. Something heavy landed on top of the tour bus, thumping. Sharp claws scraped over the metal, and one of its many beady red eyes peeked in through an old bullet hole in the roof. It kept moving, thumping until it stopped, out of sight. Right above them.

Both Kim and Javi found they had been holding their breath all the while.

“You spill one drop o’ blood in here, then Ol’ Smokey’s gonna be all over this place like flies on shit. And none of us are gonna look pretty at the end of it,” Michael said. The smile slowly faded from his visage, lending credence to the visceral danger lurking just outside.

“We can find your friend if we join forces. Work together,” Michael lied again.

Javi’s lips curled into a sneer but he swallowed any remark, and Kim picked up on the subtle cue. He could sense Michael’s lying. He smelled bullshit five miles against the wind, which is why she had brought him along.

“Alright, whaddya got?” she asked the sorcerer.

Michael smiled again. Like the wolf inviting Little Red Riding Hood inside.

He raised a hand, index finger outstretched, cautioning them away from shooting him and indicating that he was not about to draw a weapon. Digging his other hand into his coat’s pocket, he produced a small silver object.

A flip-top phone from the early 2000s. He held it out for a second, and then gently tossed it across the room to the two. It clattered onto the ratty carpeted floor in front of Kim’s boot. She handed Javi her flashlight and picked up the phone.

Flipped it open. Didn’t question why it still had juice, because nothing needed to make sense in this pocket space adjacent to Earth. No network, all sorts of little arcane symbols blinking on the display. Memory full. The buttons triggered ridiculous little beeps as she thumbed her way through the phone’s storage, browsing through a set of photos.

Kevin was on each of them, striking different poses in front of a mirror, dolled up with make-up and wearing women’s clothes. She always knew him from his stage performances as a magician to pull off the androgynous look quite well, so it did not surprise her that he looked rather pretty as a woman.

Without looking up, continuing to click through them in hopes of finding anything unusual, she asked, “Anything else?”

Michael pointed to something behind the two.

“Yeah. What do you see in there?”

She clapped the phone shut and pocketed it in her jacket then followed the cone of light that Javi shone on the object behind them.

A heavy-looking safe with a digital lock, its display dull and deactivated, its door open. It was empty except for a mirror sitting in it, pushed up against the back wall of the safe’s hollow belly. Kim and Javi only saw themselves inside of it.

Then Kim spotted the silver eyes creeping up behind them, closer and closer. Shining out from a cloud of darkness, billowing out and growing and preparing to engulf them.

She spun around and the deafening shot from her gun made way for a vicious ringing in their ears. Kim frantically pointed the gun around, looking for a target, but she had hit no person, only blown a hole through the back wall of the bus where Michael had been sitting mere seconds before.

“This how you thank me for helpin’?” Michael’s voice spilled out. Everywhere, and nowhere at the same time. Like a voice in the back of their heads, like he was telepathically communicating with them.

“Run,” Kim breathed.

Javi didn’t need to hear it twice. He tripped over some of the junk on the way out but was out of the bus within a matter of heartbeats, kicking up sand as he sprinted towards the pickup truck.

The cloud gathered, swirling and pooling in the corners inside the bus where silver eyes opened in its center, staring at Kim.

“You’re just as messed in the head,” Michael said. His laughter erupted, revolving and booming and growing in volume like the stifling black fog that filled the bus.

Kim coughed and held her breath, stumbling away from the bedroom. The thing outside cawed. Thumped, thundered, as it climbed down the side of the bus. Claws sliced through steel, causing the metal to screech under the pressure of the creature’s tremendous weight.

Michael’s laughter swelled to a crescendo and stopped abruptly.

His voice right in Kim’s ear, “He tried to cheat his way outta the deal. And if you try to help him, you’re just gettin’ in on the cheatin’. And you don’t wanna know how I’m gonna deal with you. You girls don’t know what repercussions you’re lookin’ at.”

She fired another shot, blindly at where his voice had come from. The wind howled, and so did Michael, one of them expressing otherworldly hunger, the other incredible pain. He tripped and slipped on old magazines and fell. Blood had sprayed against the walls inside the bus and he coughed.

“Bitch—”

He groaned and held his side, collapsing onto one of the chewed up couches. In his hand he held a mean-looking knife—something straight out of a horror movie, all jagged and meant for unholy rituals.

“See you in hell,” Kim muttered, scrambling away from him. The junk around her clanked and she tumbled down the short set of stairs leading out of the bus.

The pickup truck’s engine roared and its wheels kicked up sand as it spun around, sliding to a halt next to her. Kim’s eyes went wide but she hoisted herself back up onto her feet. Ripped open the passenger door as it banged against the frame without engaging and Javi hit the gas pedal, making the ragged old engine growl and roar again.

The truck sped off before she even slammed the door shut, and the vehicle kicked up more sand. The distance towards the bus rapidly grew. The winged thing peered after them with its eight red eyes.

With trembling hands, Kim blindly reloaded both barrels of her still-smoking shotgun, craning her neck to observe what the creature would do next.

It defied her expectations—did not leap or fly after the pickup truck. It instead swung around the edge of the bus, moving like molten, living shadows. Folded its wings up behind its back and crawled inside the yawning door, leading into the bus.

Michael’s screams of agony pierced the heavens, louder than the wind, and the old tour bus of The Lost Number shook violently as a struggle for life and death ensued inside there.

The radio in the truck screeched, almost like the creature, followed by garbled static and white noise. Kim hit buttons on it until she silenced the device.

A gust of wind kicked up a huge cloud of sand, sweeping over the truck and causing both driver and passenger to cough until the air cleared.

The sky had changed, the starry night making way for the warm orange tones of the sunset. The natural one. Earth.

Kim and Javi looked into the rear view mirror, seeing no bus, no alien-looking cacti, no winged monstrosity that belonged in another world.

They allowed themselves to breathe, emitting sighs of relief, knowing they could put this experience behind themselves. Maybe get a good night’s sleep some day.

They wouldn’t even talk about it for the next ten miles. Dealing with these sorts of things took it out of you. The unnatural always gave you that extra little oomph to unpack later on.

For the entire ride back to Vegas, they failed to notice the disgusting, football-sized egg stuck inside the back of the pickup truck.

They would only find it after it had hatched.

—Submitted by Wratts

[souvercine]

hey y’all ! i’m jia and i’m super excited for opening; i have two super clingy cats in case any of you ever need a visual pick-me-up, i’m a uni student in canada and a big skincare and dark chocolate junkie, more than likely gonna be typing replies while indulging in either jsyk !

tried to keep it short since i’m a rambly bitch, but xan’s basic stats and a proper wc page will be up soon as i just got home from grocery shopping and we open in an hour as of typing this, the theme as a whole will get a refresh eventually and i’ll be posting a little tracklist for her playlist later ! and if tumblr ims are as much of a nuisance for you as they can be for me, you can add me on d*scord at genuinely sick of this shit#2030 if you’d like to plot ! anyways, without further ado:

( samantha logan , cis female , she/her, twenty-four ) omg ! i was walking yonge street downtown , and you’ll never guess who i saw . xanthe lowe ! i just saw a post about them on sixsecrets ! i think it said something like “ when they go high, she goes lowe ! xan spotted leaving a gala with her former friend’s ex, after last week’s reportedly tense exchange between the girls ” . isn’t that wild ? i guess it makes sense through , since they’re apparently merciless and imperious . but i’ve heard they’re also conspicuous and astute ! i’ll just stick to giving them the benefit of the doubt . i mean , it’s not like i know them personally — they’re a famous socialite ! you know , i’ve actually heard rumors that redacted , but they’re just rumors … i think . i dunno . if you happen to run into them , tell them i’m their biggest fan !

tw: drug mention

when i tell you that i have so many muse posts i’m holding back on for this bitch —

which, btw, will all slowly see the light of day soon enough bc god knows i can’t articulate my muses’ personalities as well as i’d like so that shit makes up for it fdgslk

her parents’ eldest child together, xanthe’s also the oldest out of her and her siblings

also, never call her xanthe. friend or otherwise, don’t take the risk dklgsjdlk

grew up with a silver spoon, her dad being a wall street giant and her mother being an entrepreneur with a love for art ( so much so that her two partners after separating from xan’s dad were artists themselves sdlkgj )

thus she split her time between toronto and manhattan even before her parents’ divorce, she merely spent more time jetting back and forth for special occasions and vacations compared to when her parents were still together

mind you, she was probably still in the single digits when that became a new normal for the brat

basically could’ve been a main character on gossip girl with her reckless antics and partying as a teenager…. and now, even sgdlkf

drk how to elaborate on that, aside from stressing that from her teen years onward she’s presented her own take of a rich bitch, and is a socialite/fashion week regular type if i were to describe where she stands rn

i think a good mix of references would be nicky hilton meets the delevingne sisters meets blair waldorf and sabrina pemberton’s lovechild

she attended an ivy league at the behest of her father so he had at least one child who could take a senior position in his company simply to keep it in the family

.. before he realized what a Mistake™ it would be to put that responsibility on xan and now has her slightly older cousin as a backup instead GDSLFJKS but nonetheless !

isn’t the most studious person, but she somehow wound up graduating with a major in communications and a marketing minor

she reasoned that, with her reputation in the gta and nyc, she’d need the bit of knowledge in how to clean up her messes. even if she wasn’t the one who had that responsibility

though.. the entire time has been spent sleeping with some of her rich friends, drinking and smoking pot, with the occasional hit of whatever clean enough drug that one of her friends had on them

as of now, she’s pissing off her neighbours with her house parties wherever she might be at a given time, staying in the good graces of the media as a budding, fun yet classy heiress — despite doing dumb shit the second she’s inside of a gala or club

uhhh ik i had something else to add but a quick break for dinner messed that up, rip LKGFSJD

personality and shit

her little blurb on my indie is: refined party girl still set in her ways with her future left uncompromised; detached and pretentious, she soaks up the attention that continues to roll in

which. we’ve basically been over already lkdfsg but still

if i were to use a label to describe her, she’d be the sovereign

she’s messy as hell, but puts on the façade of a poised woman who has some fun because she knows it bodes well

she’s not a complete dick per se, but she can be snide and boastful

big superiority complex, independent and lives lavishly with reckless abandon

probably jets back and forth between nyc and the gta as it’s her version of normal, so ig she hates the environment if it means not having things go her way !

non-committal as all hell and will abandon girl code if she drops you fgkljfs

.. fr, she’ll fuck an ex-friend’s ex if she technically saw them first, so being spiteful and resolving some past attraction ?? right up her alley !

hence the choice of headline gdfslkj

keeps her true inner circle small, but gets off on attention and likes to stay cordial with some people, so she’s got quite a few friends all the same

she’ll fight tooth and nail to protect her image and won’t hesitate to throw anyone under the bus to do so/in retaliation if they screw her over

which happens to mean that her family is to be protected as well. fuck with any of her sisters ?? you’re done ! try to call out one of her brothers on twitter ? she’ll quote it with a single clown emoji as a warning

there really isn’t much to expand on tbh, though i will say that her emboldened nature and need for a good time however she can get it comes out more than her uglier side ( except her vanity. that’ll never go away ksfdg )

some quick plot ideas

a childhood friend or two that she made in either of her main hubs or through events she attended when she was young, whether they’re still friends or not for x reasons can be discussed of course

could carry over into a trio type of thing depending on where she stands with either of them, or they’re a different couple of pals she’s made in the last few years

enemies are always fun ! probably rooted in a competitive streak more than anything else but i’m all ears for a more complex reason

ex-hookup(s), current hookup(s), throw it all at me klgfjd

a hateship/ewb would be fun with her too, oh my god sfdgklj

it should go without saying that they are all relatively wealthy or well-connected kids here, but that doesn’t mean that someone who’s using her for their fifteen seconds of fame, or just to get some perks out of their friendship, is necessarily a write-off — not that she cares too much about fake friends, face value hype and knowing they need her more than she needs them gives her too much satisfaction fkskgls

an ex-something, open to anyone. either someone her parents forced on her to straighten her out that she wound up liking…. after a good period of her telling them to fuck off sdglk or someone she’d been seeing for a while at her own accord. would’ve ended the same way: with her calling it off because she didn’t want to settle down, not even for a relationship ( and perhaps bc she’s scared of commitment with her cracked family dynamic that’s been a thing since age two, but that’s another story jsdfkg )