#I’m just hoping for a mutual split or mike breaking it off

[heroofpenamstan]

—OC PROFILES: JOANNE & MICHAEL

tagged by the lovelies: @shallow-gravy​, @shellibisshe​, @belorage​, @honeysides​, @strafethesesinners​, @faithchel​, @blissfulalchemist​! thank you, dears! x since i’m tragically late to the party as per usual, not going to be tagging anyone since i assume most of my mutuals have done it, but if you want to go right ahead and tag me too so i can see! :”)) also, fair warning: 80% of the questions i answered at ungodly hours overmedicated on paracetamol and it shows because re-reading this in the morning was a Yikes

GENERAL

name: joanne burton alias(es): jo, annie ( mike exclusive ), burton, dep, jr. deputy, rook, traitor, sinner, wrath/pain in the ass ( john exclusive ), rabbit ( jacob exclusive ), heinous fucking bitch—( also john exclusive ), black widow ( new dawn au ) gender: cis. female age: 29 birth: 30th october, 1988 place of birth: meridian, idaho spoken languages: english; may or may not recite some hebrew lines over the holidays sexual preference: bisexual occupation(s): junior deputy of hope county, montana/menace to all cultists everywhere ( in a certain radius of said hope county, montana, anyway )

APPEARANCE

eye colour: brown hair colour: black height: 157cm ( 5′2 ), or approximately 7′11 when balancing on michael’s shoulders to peer inside john’s windows scars: split right eyebrow ( thanks, jake ), minor cuts and incorrectly healed bruises and gashes, scarred bullet wound on left hip ( you’re welcome, jake )

FAVOURITE

colour: orange or yellow or cyan, or whatever is more stupidly eye-catching and not at all fit for her current environment song: i’ve been thinking by handsome boy modeling school food: various stir-fries, fruits and protein ( or anything that she claims to be “healthy” when, truly, bitch is one step away from living off of instant noodles and canned pineapple and cigarette buds from dutch’s stash ) drink: beerherbal teas and infusions

HAVE THEY

passed university: no, but passing the police academy was already a pleasant enough surprise for her had sex: today? no. two weeks ago? probably had sex in public: probably said two weeks ago gotten pregnant/ someone else pregnant: yes, but we don’t talk about it kissed a boy: yes ( derogatory ) kissed a girl: yes ( affectionate ) gotten tattoos: yes, loads: most were practice scribbles for her ex-girlfriend, and the only true meaningful one she possesses is lydia, scrawled into her pinky in remembrance. otherwise, john seed do not even engage with that rusty ass tattoo gun— gotten piercings: yes, loads multiplied; if there’s a place for a piercing in her ears, she has them. also, an old septum piercing she hasn’t worn in a hot second been in love: yes, loads squared ( girl rents out her heart on the weekdays and cries about the scratches she notices on saturday, but still repeats it all over again come monday; falling in love for her is easy, but actually loving someone and getting over her self-loathing to do so is a whole different ball game ) stayed up for more than 24 hours: she’s probably on hour 31 as we speak ( someone knock her out pls )

ARE THEY

a virgin: whitehorse has heard enough horror stories in the break room between her and joey to last him a lifetime a cuddler: closeted cuddler, yes a kisser: most definitely; woman has to play up her natural assets scared easily: her response time is too lagged for that jealous easily: depends; she’s more jealous of what she should have/could have/would have had in a general sense than being jealous of a particular person or a thing trustworthy: in her own way, yes dominant: disgustingly so submissive: not in this lifetime in love: very much so single: very much so part 2

RANDOM QUESTIONS (tw for self harm/suicide mention)

have they harmed themselves: yes, but it’s more by means of unintentional yet severe substance abuse thought of suicide: not as often as one would assume; joanne has a very strong sense of self-preservation, but tends to run from her bleak reality by means of one harmful way or the other attempted suicide: once or twice during her lowest points in life wanted to kill someone: on the daily have/had a job: girl had juggled three part-time jobs; there is nothing she fears anymore have any fears: ( see above ) to fall back into old bad habits, loss of control, death, failure, a bad future, poverty, being abandoned and forgotten, long stays at a hospital, the judges, the bliss, the power of john’s hair gel

FAMILY

sibling(s): micah burton ( older brother ) parent(s): abigail burton née belman ( mother ); jim burton ( father ) children: asher seed ( daughter in new dawn au ) significant other: jacob seed ( circumstantial lover/”could do without” mentor/#prisonwife #prisonhusband #imkidding #kinda ) pets: boomer for the cuddles, cheesecake for the throttles ( bitch naturally attracts the judges but will forget her dog 101 and run away like what does she think will happen then?? )

GENERAL

name: michael scott-hughes alias(es): mike, mikey, mickey ( mary may exlusive ), mike the bike/fall’s end’s bicycle, resistance’s poster boy, manwhore, cassanova, the archangel ( joseph exclusive ), the antichrist ( also joseph exclusive ), war dog, hughes boy ( fairgrave exclusive ) gender: cis. male age: 30 birth: 6th july, 1988 place of birth: fall’s end, montana spoken languages: english, russian, basic chinese mandarin and turkish sexual preference: pansexual occupation(s): residential shady, shady man ( international arm’s dealer, most recently demoted to local resistance leader and occasional general goods store co-owner )

APPEARANCE

eye colour: green hair colour: brown height: 181cm ( 5′11 ), and 6ft on tinder jkjk man’s confident enough to not grasp for that extra inch, unlike someone ( john ) scars: heavily burnt left hand ( from trying to fish out his ex girlfriend’s boiling corpse r.i.p. to that steaming puss— ), gash on his right temple, nicely healed gun wound on left shoulder, not so nicely healed amputated right hand ( man’s not having the best time in my canon, is he ), various incorrectly healed cuts and bruises

FAVOURITE

colour: green and rustics song: wild world by yusuf/cat stevens food: unlike the faker above, michael actually likes to cook and eat healthy meals, so anything from salads to veggies to oatmeal to soups will do ( and meat; man’s been a vegetarian for a grand total of 4 days in his entire life ( or 14, if you count the time he got abducted to john’s bunker womp )) drink: sugary drinkswhiskey, fresh juices, “water can be so, so sexy, annie—”

HAVE THEY

passed university: no, though michael really busted his ass to self-educate on subjects that will be beneficial to his line of work had sex: we stopped keeping tabs and numbers nearly ten years ago had sex in public: we stopped blinking at these types of shenanigans nearly ten years ago too gotten pregnant/ someone else pregnant: yes? no? maybe? ( mike’s too afraid to even think about it, but hopes he hasn’t fathered any babies any time soon ) kissed a boy: yes ( affectionate ) kissed a girl: yes ( affectionate² ) gotten tattoos: yes: the sword of damocles on his left inner forearm, intertwined snakes running across his right ribs, a tiny smiley face on his ass lord save him gotten piercings: yes, and everyone hated his attempt to revive the 90s with his lil earring like c’mon you already have a reputation of being a sleaze— been in love: yes, but surprisingly not as many times as one may think ( truthfully, three times: mary may, lana, joanne mary may again ) stayed up for more than 24 hours: sometimes it just cannot be helped

ARE THEY

a virgin: maybe in a past life as an amoeba a cuddler: yes ( try to escape his hold during a summer night i’ll give you 5 bucks if you can break the deadlock ) a kisser: he just exists to smooch at this point scared easily: truthfully, he’s quite desensitized as is, so it’s really hard to truly rock him jealous easily: no; though he might get a bit petty and bitter if someone mentions merle and mary may becuase, like, c’mon, mary—merle briggs? trustworthy: one of his better traits, but past events have shown that boy tends to lose some of his morals for love dominant: yes submissive: yes part 2 man will accommodate and switch it up in love: often single: loosely, often

RANDOM QUESTIONS (tw for self harm/suicide mention)

have they harmed themselves: michael has bad mental health trips stemming from having a lot of insecurities as a child; these may evolve into bad habits and pure recklessness on his part to prove his worth thought of suicide: these thoughts don’t come often, but when they do, it’s harder for him than most to shake them off and recover attempted suicide: once, during the boiling pit incident wanted to kill someone: yes, but it comes more from need than want usually have/had a job: yes, though no retail until he was 30 and stuck providing hope county with slugs and bullets have any fears: loneliness, rejection, abandonment, repercussions and consequences, not being good enough, powerlessness, loss, the angel pit, the process of dying

FAMILY

sibling(s): none, but: jackson hughes ( uncle ) parent(s): jessica hughes née scott ( mother ), david hughes ( father ) girl i have his whole family tree drawn up like you wouldn’t believe children: andrew hughes ( son in new dawn au and maybe canon ) significant other: mary may fairgrave ( childhood sweetheart/awkward ex/once in a rare cosmic event fuck buddy/volatile lovers ) pets: peaches loves him she doesn’t; she just wants to chew on his hair

[trickstump]

52 + stanpat 🤓

(200 prompts + send them to me here!)murryn i love you. here’s some pain. 

--

Stan’s never been scared of his own front door before. Not since leaving Derry, since finding out that home didn’t have to be a place you dreaded going back to.

Not since Patty.

The front door is green- deep, emerald, picked out on a mutual whim. Patty had thought that the color was pretty, painted the door herself. Stan had thought that her love of the hue was everything, and he’d helped paint, a bit, if ‘helping’ meant kissing her and getting covered in paint.

He’s terrified of it, now. Frozen stiff, split between knocking and just falling to his knees on the front porch and sobbing until he couldn’t anymore.

He thinks of Patty- inside, alone. Alone, because of him.

He knocks.

It could be a second or an eternity before Patty opens the door and oh, oh, Stan had missed her so much. He’s only been- well, alive to do it for a few hours, really, but it’s been an ache in his chest since nearly the second he’d come up in the quarry, gasping for air. Even once he’s stopped gasping, sobbing like a newborn being thrown into the world without warning, he’d felt like his lungs weren’t filling properly. Like there was something more than air he needed to be able to breathe.

He inhales, when their eyes meet, knowing that this is what he was missing then. “Patty-”

The door slams shut in his face.

“Okay,” he says, blinking. “That’s- fair. That’s fair.”

It’s another long moment before she opens the door again, and the emotions flicking across her face make Stan’s chest ache. Disbelief. Hurt. Hope. Fear. “I know I’m not asleep,” she says, looking him in the eye like she’s scared that looking anywhere  else will make him disappear. “I haven’t been able to sleep for days. So, am I going crazy, or are ghosts real?”

“Babylove,” Stan says, because it’s the only thing he can  say, voice breaking. “I’m so sorry.”

The next few moves are a chain reaction: Patty says “oh,” and takes a step back, and Stan stumbles forward in the same move with a sob that shakes his whole body. He trips over the doorstep getting inside; it’s a step up he’s missed so many times before. Patty had always laughed at him, caught him before he’d fallen. Today, though, he falls to his knees and doesn’t stand. Can’t. He’s not sure his legs will hold him.

“Oh,” Patty says again as the door swings shut behind him. The sound of it makes his ears ring. “Stanley.” She sounds like she’s crying too, but Stan can’t make himself pick his head up to look at her. He’s scared again, pinning in place, eyes squeezed shut, forehead pressed against the cool, dark wood in the entryway. Another thing they’d picked together; the whole house used to be covered in awful yellow carpet. They’d torn it up together, hollowed out the whole place, really, and rebuilt it into something better, nicer. Something that was theirs. 

How could he have ever left?

There’s a hand, then, on his shoulder- and then another on the other, too, urging him to sit up. He does, and finds that Patty’s dropped to her knees, too, and she’s crying, shaking just as much as he is. He opens his mouth to apologize again.

He doesn’t even get out the first breath before she’s kissing him.

The kiss breaks him apart and sews him back together again a thousand times over. They’re both breathless when they finally pull away, and Stan isn’t sure if they’re laughing or crying. “You’re here,” Patty says, face pressed into the crook of his neck. “You’re really here, you’re home.”

“I never should’ve left,” Stay says, holding her like his life depends on it. It does. “I never meant to, I never should have, I’m sorry.”

“You’re home,” Patty says again, pulling back to look at him. She’s smiling now, even if she’s still crying, hands pushing into Stan’s hair, fingers tangling in his curls. “It’s going to be okay, baby. You’re home.”

They have to get up eventually, but neither of them are inclined to let go of each other any time soon. They beeline to the bedroom without having to say a word about it. Stan knows he probably smells disgusting- he feels disgusting. He’s still wearing the clothes he had been in in the quarry, and he hadn’t spent enough time in Derry to shower. He’d caught up with the Losers as much as he could, hellos, apologies, goodbyes, and new promises to meet had all been traded in a few scan hours. No one seemed to want to stay in town longer than they had to.

Richie had bought him his ticket home. “Tell her I said hi,” he’d said when he and Stan had parted ways at the airport, Eddie a few steps behind them, arguing with someone on the phone. “And, I call best man at the vow renewal.”

The flight had been long, too long, and he was drenched in sweat from the few minutes he’d spent out in the Georgia summer sun. None of that could possibly have made him smell nice. He needs to shower, soon.

The door to the bathroom is shut. Stan can’t even look at it without feeling sick.

So, instead, he lets Patty strip him out of his clothes, and he returns the gesture, and they fall into bed. They kiss- heated but without intent for more, limbs tangling for no reason than the fact that they need to be intertwined like they’d always been, need to be touching at every point to know that they’re both really there.

After awhile, they’re just holding each other, silent but not uncomfortable, even though Stan’s chest is still aching. It will for awhile, he knows- but. Not forever, not if he’s here. Not if he’s home.

“I thought I had almost-” Patty says after a long moment, but cuts herself off with a noise. “No. I thought I had really lost you.”

“I know,” Stan says, guilt tying his stomach in knots. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop saying you’re sorry,” Patty says, pressing a kiss to his jaw, hand stroking down his side, soothing. “I know you are, I know. You’re home, and it’s… it isn’t okay, now, but it will be. I just… I want to understand. What happened, how are you here, why did you k- why did you go?”

He takes a deep breath. “It’s a long story. I don’t know that you’ll believe me- shit, I barely believe me, and I know that it’s real.”

“I’m listening,” Patty says. She sits up, but doesn’t pull away. “And, I already believe you.”

When Stan looks up at her, there’s something fierce in her expression.

“I love you,” he says. She smiles, nudging him until he shifts, puts his head in her lap so her fingers can card gently through his hair.

“I love you, too,” she says. “I’m listening. I’ve got you.’

And, how she always knows just what to say, just what he needs, Stan will never know, but he’ll never stop feeling so, so lucky for it, either. He takes a deep breath, settles, and closes his eyes.

“What I was- geez, eight, maybe? I say next to this kid in class. He was… loud, and kind of annoying. But, he was nice, and funny- and, after awhile, my best friend…”

He starts from the beginning- the very beginning, meeting Richie- and tells her everything. He talks about growing up in Derry, the son of the rabbi, about meeting his friends, about the clubhouse and the early morning bike rides to the secret clearing out in the woods where he’d birdwatch by himself. He tells her about Georgie, and the painting; about It, and the sewers. About his bar mitzvah. About Neibolt, and getting the scars he’d never had an explanation for when she’d ask where they were from. About the most scared he’d ever been, seeing the Deadlights, the promise they’d all made- and, after. High school, wanting to leave Derry so desperately but never, never wanting to leave behind his friends. 

About graduating.

About their last summer, and then leaving. 

About forgetting against his own will, not knowing what he was losing, having his real family torn from him against his will.

About Mike’s call. About how scared he’d been, then, remembering what he’d seen in the Deadlights. Knowing what he had to do, knowing that no matter what, it had always been going to end like this.

“It didn’t end, though.”

Patty has been listening quietly, until he said that. Her fingers still in his hair. Stan opens his eyes to look at her.

“It didn’t,” he says. “I.. thought it would, though.”

Patty nods, her own eyes falling shut for a moment. Stan just watches, quiet. Lets her take her time.

“You saved them, then?” she asks, finally.

Stan hums. “And, they saved me. When they killed It.”

Patty nods again, once, and opens her eyes. “I’ll have to thank then, then,” she says. “For making sure you got to come home.”

Stan lets out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. “They all want to meet you,” he says. “Richie said to say ‘hi.’ He wants to be our best man.”

Patty laughs. It’s a bright, happy sound, lighting up her whole face. It makes Stan feel like he’s flying.

“We’ll invite them all down, sometime soon,” she says, leaning down to kiss him again. “After I’ve had the chance to have you to myself, for awhile.”

Stan grins up at her. “Babylove,” he says, because it’s the only thing he ever wants to say again. “You and I have got forever.”

Patty’s eyes are sparkling. “You promise?”

“I do,” Stan says, and that’s all he gets to say before she pulls him into another kiss, and reminds him of the last night they’d had after he’d made a promise like that.

He’s home, and unafraid.

[gwoongi]

ways to say i love you (04)

jeon jeongguk / reader genre: attack on titan au, angst rating: mature words: 3118 warnings: character death, gore, graphic descriptions a/n: levi is a nice guy and he’d totally bring u a cup of tea if he knew u were going thru it. example a: this fic. enjoy!! ((and sorry this is so late!))

imagine them choked out as hands race over skin, checking for injuries and begging for reassurance.

Captain Levi told every recruit when they first joined the Survey Corps that one of the most important things to remember whilst being a cadet was not to pay attention, or remember to tighten your harnesses before leaving for breakfast, but instead, he preached that under absolutely zero circumstances should you ever, if you can try, ever fall in love within the ranks.

It hadn’t seemed obvious to the cadets at the time, because wasn’t love good? Wasn’t love what fuelled the motivation to return? Surely, Captain Levi, this was good. But, the Captain stared back at the crowd of novice cadets and frowned, a pinched irritation between his eyebrows.

“Imagine going into battle and becoming distracted because all you can care about is the safety of that person,” Captain Levi had said, gently resting his hands on his knees, speaking as though telling from experience. Perhaps he was. “Imagine putting all your love and time into this one person, and then having that person ripped from your hands.”

Nobody had said anything, and only sat there with dawning realisation as Captain Levi stood from his chair and tucked it under the table quietly. “None of you deserve that pain. Do as I say, and you’ll thank me when it’s all over.”

Jeongguk had been there listening that day, sitting on a chair next to Kim Taehyung who had found himself a favourite of Squad Leader Hange. He had shifted uncomfortably under the judgemental gaze of the shorter captain, but as he walked away with his head tucked down and his chin on his torso, Jeongguk suddenly felt a new wave of respect for his Captain. Watching as Captain Levi retreated out of the hall without another word, silently dismissing everybody present, Jeongguk sucked in a breath when beside him, you nudged his elbow with a small smile.

“Good words of advice for a hopeless romantic like yourself,” you had said, wiggling your eyebrows at your best friend. Jeongguk swallowed the lump of guilt and confusion down and struggled to smile back. Somewhere, he hoped the feeling in his stomach was sickness and nothing else.

Jeongguk was not on your squad; despite joining the scouts as a siamese set of lost and mountainous kids from the outer walls, Captain Levi had made the decision to split you, with Jeongguk joining Captain Levi’s squad and Squad Leader Mike taking yourself. As the gates lifted at a chillingly slow speed, Jeongguk chanced a glance in your direction, and his heart paused when you looked right back at him.

Quietly he chuckled, the sight of a toothy smile hitting him in the face and then shyly retreating to look back towards the back of Mike’s head. Jeongguk watched for a moment longer and then suddenly looked away, meeting the quick glance from Captain Levi. His Captain said nothing, because he didn’t need to say anything. Jeongguk looked down quickly with a spreading feeling of shame at being caught, and frustration at being the first known Cadet to break Captain Levi’s golden rule.

Shiganshina District stood in spires of thick smoke, the distant growls of hungry and wandering titans filling the city as the squad rolled in, immediately falling into their formations. Nobody had ventured into this district since it had fallen, evident by the piles of chalky rubble and bodies and limbs littered like petals from a wedding, stained blood pools and flattened bodies underneath fallen boulders the size of small houses. Jeongguk clenched the reigns of his horse tighter, the skin of his hands turning bone white- the city felt eerily silent towards the west side that Jeongguk and the rest of his squad had moved towards. As always, and characteristic of his Captain, Levi was wordless, looking at the damage quickly, missing nothing. Jeongguk did the same, cowering as they passed the shadows cast by the passing buildings, jagged and reflecting like monsters teeth before the sun.

“Grumbling, east, Captain,” Petra said, her hair framing her collarbones as she looked in that direction and then back at Levi, who nodded with a grunt and continued forward. “We should investigate that. It’s getting closer, Captain.”

“The surrounding squads will do their jobs,” Gunter replied with a frown. “You should lower your voice.”

Petra’s eyebrows furrowed. “But-”

Her words were cut short, following the thunderous stuttering of heavy footsteps both beyond and behind the small formation of horses. Jeongguk’s stallion whinnied, standing up on two legs in protest and he quickly calmed him down, whispering hushed assurances as Levi looked behind them and towards two titans bounding towards them.

“Take those,” he said, already tightening his harness and adjusting his belt. Petra clung onto the reigns of her horse and called out his name with horror as he stood up off his horse and projected towards the group of titans beyond the formation. A passing glance spread through the group as two other members followed their Captain, leaving Petra, Jeongguk and Oruro to steer backwards, heading on horseback towards the two scurrying towards them, in an attempt to create a diversion.

“Left, Guk!” Petra screamed over the noise of the wind and the hooves of the horses, pointing out as if it weren’t already obvious by her command. Jeongguk paused and did as she said, making a movement left which alerted his horse to move in that direction, catching the attention of one of the titans. If he could just make it towards the end of this street, he’d be able to launch off and swing back around and-

As he planned his escape in his head, Jeongguk had no time to retaliate at the sight of another titan jumping in front of his horse, startling them both. He attempted to grip for dear life on the reigns but when his horse again rose, he flung Jeongguk up off his back and scampered between the legs of the titan, who crouched and ignored the mare to move towards Jeongguk. He hissed out a string of curses and launched between the space of his legs, following his horse down the end of the street and turning up and out, landing on one of the sloped roofs of a nearby house, out of the titans scrawny reach.

From his stance on the roof, Jeongguk could get a scope for the district; he paused to take it all in, the chaotic and destructive beauty of the fallen architecture and contrasting greens of nearby fields, spreading with dull flames and dry yellow grass dusted with brown and black. Jeongguk rubbed at his thighs, feeling an ache and when he happened to look over in the direction of the nearby fields, he froze.

The characteristic sight of Commander Erwin’s blonde hair screamed out amongst the burnt landscape and immediately Jeongguk’s body went cold, his eyes instinctively scanning the environment to look for you- for your hair, and your small frame, and the way your cape was too big due to sizes and stock being scarce. Your enrolment had been larger than usual, most likely due to the influence and impression of Eren, a year above yourself. He searched frantically, not even noticing his heartbeat increasing. Almost comically so, a large sigh escaped his lips when he spotted a retreating figure on foot, hair cut bluntly to their chin, the cape that had been pulled apart. Wait, on foot?

Jeongguk launched himself down from the roof and towards the scene, passing the rest of his squad who had joined further down the street. He prayed that Captain Levi hadn’t noticed him whiz past, but knowing Levi, he knew. In-fact, he watched with an almost pitiful look as Jeongguk soared past, failing to mention it to the rest of his squad who worried about Jeongguk’s safety. Because Jeongguk’s smart, Eld had said with a disbelieving smile, he knows how to get around, he’s fine.

Down on the ground, Jeongguk rushed past a pile of abandoned rubble and towards the meadow, however, he stopped dead in his tracks when the figure he had spotted rushed past him wearing a face entirely different to your own. His heart plummeted to the pit of his stomach, a sour taste in his mouth.

“Jeon?!”

Jeongguk turned suddenly, flinching when a senior cadet took down a titan near the river. Kim Taehyung ran towards him with a worried expression. “Where the hell’s the rest of your Squad? Is the captain okay?”

“I-I don’t know, a titan came and fuckin- look, have you seen Y/N?” Jeongguk replied, straining his voice over the volume of the chaos. “Is she okay?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know? I’m not on her squad!” Taehyung yelled, and before he left, he smacked Jeongguk on his shoulder and pointed in a vague direction: “Saw Erwin’s head of fucking precious yellow hair go that way. She could be down there? I don’t know, look, I ain’t got time for this, sorry!”

So suddenly, Jeongguk didn’t even care, or care to bid Taehyung a mutual farewell. Instead, he hurried across the dried and barren grass in the direction Taehyung had gestured to, parting the smoke with his bare hands like curtains as he ran. As he ran, and occasionally joined other cadets and soldiers take down loitering titans, Jeongguk couldn’t rid of Levi’s voice, taunting and judging and hissing and yelling, Jeon Jeongguk you’re a fucking failure, you couldn’t even follow the easiest instruction, and now look at you!

But he didn’t care. He couldn’t find it in him to care, as he ran towards where he noticed the body of Jung Hoseok, another member of Erwin’s squad. Jeongguk’s pace quickened, bounding towards him, and as his mouth opened to call out his name, Jeongguk stumbled back with a strangled cry when nearby rubble from a building came crashing down with the impact of an abnormal lunging at its structure, chunks of huge concrete and brick running down like a waterfall and suffocating Hoseok instantly, a halo of crimson running out from the underside of giant chunks of the nearby chapel.

All at once, Jeongguk felt like he couldn’t breathe, like his lungs had taken in too much smoke for them to continue keeping him alive. As he began to fall back to the man made jungle of the district, to collect a horse who stood tied to a post, raging to leave in panic, Jeongguk looked across the landscape one last time, about to give up. It was then when he noticed you- and it was you, there was no denying; you dragged a body from underneath a layer of stone towards a little shelter made behind a wagon, with two injured cowered underneath. Jeongguk’s heart wanted to jump out of his chest and he set off on a run, although lengths away. He tried calling out, Y/N! My Y/N!, but his voice carried with the wind, lost in whispers. You couldn’t hear him. You couldn’t see him. Actually, you couldn’t hear or see anything.

Jeongguk had never run so fast in his entire life. Still too far away, Jeongguk couldn’t avoid looking at the landscape, observing collapses and wincing at roars of pain and victory, and exasperated deaths around him. When his bloodshot gaze fell back onto you, Jeongguk’s eyebrows rose with horror when he noticed a titan creeping up behind you, an arm extending outwards with arthritic fingers curling near your cape. His voice rose in octaves in panic, and he was so close- so, so close-

Jeongguk nearly fell over his own feet with devastation when the titan’s fingers curled around you, yanking you back like a ragdoll. He didn’t stop to marvel at the scene- he ran faster, launching a grappler into the shoulder of the titan and swinging up, choking in the wind and the smoke and the stale smell of blood and sweat and tears, and as he curved and dug his blade unapologetically into the nape of the titan, his face wrangled up in pain at the sound of your screams filling the air. For a moment he caught his balance on the shoulder, doing nothing but watching with horror at the way you fell to the floor in what looked like slow-motion, a chunk of your body missing.

“Y/N! Oh my God, oh my fucking God, Y/N-” Jeongguk instantly moved to the ground next to you, his hands desperately scrambling at nothing- your left-side missing, blood pouring out like water between fingers. In haste, Jeongguk flung off his cloak and wrapped it around you, choking back on his tears. “Oh my God, oh my fucking God, Y/N, I’m so sorry-”

“No-” Your voice broke off with a wince of pain, and you clung onto his hand tightly. “Guk-”

“Oh my God, no, please, come on, baby, you can do it, come on, let me help, come-” His voice trailed off as he hoisted you up by your armpits, dragging you with laboured breaths towards the wagon that had been splintered by the titan’s fall. Jeongguk carefully laid you down, his eyes wide with panic. God knows how long you had left, your last few seconds hanging on by a breaking thread. He watched as your face paled and your soul struggling behind lips, fighting to be free. Jeongguk let out a whine, his head falling to your intertwined hands: “Fuck, this is so fucking unfair. Why did it have to be you-?”

“Guk, please,” you forced your voice to speak. Perhaps he was imagining you tugging on his hands bringing him down, but he did so anyway, his forehead rested just above your breasts. “Guk. It’s okay. It’s okay.”

He shook his head. “No. No, come on, Levi can help you- he knows what to do, he always knows what to do, we can save you, you’re not dying today-”

“I am. I am.”

“No.”

“Please, Guk,” you wept. Was the sky getting lighter or was that your vision. “Jeongguk.”

“No!” He exclaimed with fury. “You can’t leave me- you’re the only thing I have left!” After a loud and particularly painful sob left his mouth, Jeongguk moved with his thighs and picked up your head, resting it in his lap with his hands threaded in your hair. “You’re all I have left,” he whispered. “Please. You’re okay, you’re okay. It’s okay, yeah? It’s okay. It’s gonna be over soon, we’ll get you fixed up.”

He had no idea what he was saying. Nothing was okay. Nothing was ever going to be okay.

“I love you,” you croaked, bringing one bloody hand to his cheek and letting it fall back down, leaving a mark of agony across his face, “More than anything in the world.”

Jeongguk could feel the tears spilling down his face, his breaths becoming more uncontrollable as reality came down from the sky and sat on his shoulders, petting his hair. He cursed with his eyes closed and looked down at your missing left side, the blood that had soaked almost black with intensity, the grass painted with ruby. In his head, he dreamt ten thousand dreams; ones that included a recovery, one with a sunny future and front porch and cornfields and a baby, a little baby screaming Mommy and Daddy and a picture frame with the three of you, a snapshot from a wedding, oh a beautiful future he had with you-

When Jeongguk opened his eyes to look back down at you, the three words on his lips, his lips trembled with denial. Your face had paused, your eyes half-lidded and staring up at the sky with a vacant and ghostly expression, and then, Jeongguk’s heart sank, falling with a crash that shattered it into thousands of pieces.

With hands in your hair, on your face, running your body, begging for reassurance and screaming for a sign, Jeongguk cradled your limp frame in his arms, his sobbing face buried into the crook of your neck. Your body pressed against his rumbling crying, silenced by the Shiganshina District and the ghosts surrounding him, crouching to your body to pull at your hair and bring you up from the floor to a hug, walking you away across the barrens towards a golden light. Jeongguk watched nothing happen, cursing out the sky.

He hadn’t even said goodbye.

“Did you say everything you wanted to?”

Jeongguk sat with his legs swung over the side of the roof, not bothering to move when he heard Captain Levi’s voice call out from behind him, followed by the window being propped open and his smaller body moving to join him on the ledge.

“How’d you find up here? I thought we closed off that corridor,” Levi said quietly, looking at Jeongguk who stared ahead, wordless. Levi sighed. “Did you?”

Jeongguk finally blinked back a tear. “No.”

A beat of silence passed.

“What would you have said?” Levi asked, not pushing but inquisitive. If there was anybody in the castle who could keep a secret, it would be him, and Jeongguk knew that, carefully picking up his chin to look at the sinking pink sun.

“I-I would have told her what I wanted to,” Jeongguk started. “I would have told her that I loved her. That I wanted it to be me and not her. I wanted to tell her that she was the best thing in my life. That she was my best friend. That it really was me who ate the last of the cake at dinner last weekend and I lied and blamed Hoseok instead. I just- I would have let her know that I cared. That I’d miss her.”

Levi averted his gaze, looking down at the forests surrounding the castle. Such a lovely venue for such a dull affair, he thought, and in his head, he thought of that day, filled with rain and blood and complete and utter agony.

Levi licked his lips, swallowing his own lump. “They’re never really gone,” he said finally. “Not really. They’re still with you, one way or another.” He hesitated before pressing a palm into Jeongguk’s shoulder with a tucked in frown. “I think she heard you. I think she knows all of that.”

Jeongguk hoped so. He hoped that Levi’s words- words that could have been scolding I told you so’s and judgemental comments about how Love Finds A Way To Break Your Heart- were true, and he hoped that somewhere, somehow, you knew what your loss meant to him.

Jeongguk hoped under the sun, the palm on his shoulder, the pinks on his skin, and the bloody handprint on his cheek like a badge of disgraced honour.

[stozzierr]

Hey!!! I saw that you wanted requests!!! I haven't really got much of an idea at the moment but: Fluff-Angst thing with Stozier, involving hickeys and then trying to come up with a story like "I fell off my bike and bruised my neck" to the losers when they see them! Thank you so much!!!

author’s note: aaa!! oh my god, my first request! i feel so cool now, aw. i gladly did this oneshot for you! unfortunately, i was so excited for my first request, that my angst machine shut off for a little bit. but i mean, at least i got it done, right? i hope you enjoy this, whoever you are!

warnings: it’s pretty mild, even in the “steamy” parts. it’s not that bad i promise

ship: stozier, ofc

word count: 1.3k

“Do you think that the stork ever broke it’s legs carrying a fat baby to expecting parents? Because they’re just sticks and I don’t think they could hold a 20-pound baby.”

“Richard, if you don’t shut the fuck up, I will break your legs.”

A breezy February afternoon without Donald and Andrea Uris brought plenty of opportunities for two high school seniors. Richie Tozier, being Richie Tozier, had come up with plenty of “good” ideas on what they could do together, and unfortunately for him, they were all shot down quicker than you could say “Your mom” by Stanley Uris.

Stanley had other plans for the day, and that was getting some studying done. Mr. Parker was one of the hardest history teachers known to Derry’s high school. If they didn’t do their studying or didn’t do it thoroughly enough, they were surely doomed. And Stan didn’t want to fail.

Richie was easily the hardest person to study with. He chatted away aimlessly, and barely got any studying done on his part. And yet, somehow, he got better grades than all the losers. It was bullshit, in Stanley’s opinion.

But Stanley couldn’t help it, he wanted to study with Richie more than any of the other losers, Bill included. There was something about Richie, the two always had a strong buzz between them that got stronger when they came closer. It was addicting, and Stanley wanted it all the time.

Not to mention, Richie made studying fun. Stanley would never admit to it, but it was true. He was just such a fun person to be around, and you couldn’t help but smile in his presence. Plus, he was very nice to look at, with soft cheeks and big round eyes and plump lips. Yeah okay, Stanley was weak for the kid.

When he wasn’t chatting and he wasn’t reading his textbook, he would wander around Stanley’s bedroom. Ask about things he knew everything about already, just to hear Stan’s voice. It was.. endearing.

The thing that wasn’t endearing, however, was Richie playing with Stanley’s bird statues and pitting them against each other in a “battle to the death.” It horrified Stanley to think about what would happen if he accidentally broke the ruby-throated hummingbird’s wing, or the black-necked stork’s, well, neck.

Stan was getting real tired of Richie’s shit.

“Richie, please go put the statues back. I’m trying to study, you know, like we were supposed to. The others should be here soon with snacks and more material, they wanted to join us for studying.”

“Yeah yeah, keep studying. I’m just messin’ around..” Richie muttered in a British-like tone, making the stork poke at the hummingbird. Stanley stood off the bed, and began to walk over to where Richie stood at the shelf.

“Richard, you’re so fucking ridiculous. Put it back, now.”

“Oh, bite me, Uris.” Richie began putting them back on the shelf, when two sets of thin fingers wrapped around his wrist and pushed them to the wall.

“You’re so annoying and sometimes I wish you’d shut up.” Stan grit out. He watched a blush bloom on Richie’s pale cheeks, satisfaction swelling in his chest. He’s thought about this situation before, about how this would go down. This could lead to two things: one, Richie shoves him away, calls him a fag, and never talks to him again. Two, they kiss. Honestly, both gave Stan anxiety.

Speaking of his anxiety, his heart nearly stuttered to a stop in his chest as he heard a soft, “Make me,” come from Richie’s pouty lips. It was now or never, he decided. He surged forward, inexperienced and clumsy, and let his lips connect with Richie’s.

If he thought the buzz between them was strong before, it was like lightning bolts kept being tossed back and forth the longer their lips stayed connected. After about 30 seconds, Stanley moved his head away to watch Richie blink. Looks like he couldn’t believe they did that as much as Stanley didn’t believe.

They made eye contact with each other for only a moment before Richie’s thin arms were tossed around Stan’s neck and their lips reunited after the couple-second departure.

Stanley’s blood pumped in his ears as his eyes slid closed, lips moving in tandem with Richie in the sweetest rhythm he’d ever had the pleasure of feeling. His shaky hands found refuge on Richie’s waist as he pulled him closer, a small gasp being pulled from the shorter male.

He took his chance to gently poke Richie’s bottom lip with his tongue. This was how kissing worked, right? He hoped so. Even if it wasn’t, Richie seemed to have liked it, as his lips were parted and open for the curly-haired boy.

Their kisses, technically make-outs now that Stan thought about it, were soft yet passionate. Slow but heated. Stanley couldn’t think of something to make it better, until Richie oh-so-helpfully have him an idea.

Richie gently nipped at Stan’s bottom lip, whining a little as he realized the taller boy was drifting into his own thoughts instead of paying attention to him. Stanley smirked a little and reciprocated the little nips, making Richie sigh with content.

Stan’s head moved down a little bit, lips trailing down the other’s snow white skin. Little kisses were distributed up Richie’s jawline, making him giggle and fidget. Not quite the reaction he was looking for, the teen continued his descent down.

This time, instead of kisses, he provided gentle love bites to Richie’s neck, right below his Adam’s apple. “Fuck, Stan, come on, man..” Richie muttered as his breath hitched. It was Richie’s wildest dreams come true: Stan, showing him his true feelings. Which, he hoped was a mutual crush. If not, then Richie would toss himself off the Kissing Bridge. Not literally, but you get the point.

As Stan moved away to admire the purple mark branded onto Richie’s pale throat, the doorbell at the front door of the Uris residence rang from downstairs. Richie let out a small groan at that. “Way to ruin the fucking fun.”

“Saved by the bell.” Stanley said teasingly, an offended gasp coming from the glasses-clad boy still leaned up against the wall. He laughed softly and shook his head, pressing a small kiss to Richie’s forehead. “I was joking, Rich.”

The doorbell rung another two times before Stanley got annoyed. He straightened out his clothes to his desired fashion and moved down the stairs, Richie right behind him. The second the teen turned the doorknob, 5 teens of various sized stampeded in, big marshmallow-like Ben holding a grocery bag full of snacks.

The group of seven happily chatted away as they got settled in, Ben and Mike setting out the books and snacks while Beverly and Richie tried to swipe some gummy bears from them. All was going well, until Eddie’s voice split through the group and made Richie nearly choke on a pineapple-flavored gummy grizzly.

“Hey, Rich.. Why is your neck bruised?”

Stan gave a small snort and sat back on the couch, cheeks heating up as he stared down at his history book. This was gonna be funny as hell. “Yeah, Trashmouth, how did you get those bruises?”

A knowing look was passed between Beverly and Bill as they smirked. Mike snickered softly as he shook his head, and Ben looked like he was slowly getting the gist of it. Eddie, however, looked utterly confused. Sweet, innocent little Eddie.

“I, uh..” Richie scrambled for words, panic evident in his eyes. He did his best to slip into a southern accent. “Well, I say I say, I done fell off my bike! Yeah, I hit my throat.. on a rock! Yeah..” Even he didn’t believe that.

The group, minus Eddie and Richie, broke out into peals of laughter, which only grew in volume as Richie’s face burned a strawberry-red color. Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed as his eyes flicked between each member of the group.

“Why is Richie being clumsy so funny to you guys?”

[tinfoil-jones]

Motorcity: Join Me, Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own Motorcity or the listed characters Title: Join Me Rating: T+ Summary: AU, Chuck and Mike never met in Deluxe; Chuck is leader of the Burners and Mike is still Kane’s Commander. Despite being enemies, Chuck and Mike find themselves having feelings for each other, but are both too stubborn to leave their sides of Detroit. Pairings: MikexChuck, DutchxTennie, FoxyxClaire(implied) Warnings: Don’t read if you don’t like or are triggered by violence or dystopian societies Author’s Note: For the sake of the AU to work Chuck is OOC and some events have been slightly changed.

~~~

18: Fear and Loathing in Vega.

“Chuck, you’ve gotta lay off the alcohol.”

“I’ll lay off when I’m dead.”

Dutch and Tennie watched from the safety of other side of the room as Jacob tried (unsuccessfully) to stop Chuck from drinking himself to the point of blackout for the fifth day in a row. Dutch had gotten his girlfriend caught up on the news she’d missed out on, having not visited in over a month.

“Wowwww…. Just wow, he’s been like this for almost a week?” Tennie inquired, watching the usually zany leader of the Burners behave so depressingly.

“Yup.” Dutch confirmed with a sad sigh.

“Him and Mike…?” Tennie whispered as so Chuck wouldn’t hear her.

“Yeah… I kinda suspected it to be honest… But, I didn’t think it would turn out like this. Them break up and turning Chuck into a wreck. I mean, I know no one feels good after getting dumped, but I didn’t expect this from Chuck.” Dutch admitted.

“Is he still… Functioning?” Tennie asked “As the leader, I mean.”

“Well he’s kind of taken the metaphorical, and literal, back seat on this. He hasn’t even touched Blonde Thunder since what happened, now for patrols he sits in the back seat of Nine Lives because he’s too inebriated or hungover to legally drive. Not to mention the other day when we had to rescue Texas from Kane, he didn’t even come because he didn’t want to be anywhere near Mike.” The African American man explained, exasperated. Now, to say he hadn’t experienced breakup would be a lie, but he never quite turned into the mess that Chuck currently was. On the same side of a slightly different coin though, unlike the blond burner, Dutch was actually developed emotionally. Chuck had the emotional development of a brick. A brick that flirted with people and used flirtatious antics to mask his actual insecurity and social detachment.

“That’s troubling.”

“It is.” Dutch agreed, crossing his arms. “The only promising thing is that he’s still capable of decrypting under the influence, he’s getting through the chunk of data we collected the other day.”

Tennie looked around and noticed something different “Say, where’s Julie?” She asked, double life or not Julie was usually present during the day.

Dutch shrugged with his hands in his pockets “I think she said something about a meeting with her boss.”

~~~

For a long time she had seen the mutual attraction between her father’s right hand man, and her own leader. And she’s noted the obvious signs of them hiding something, and she’d long ago come to the conclusion that they must have been secretly having an affair of some sort.

Boy, oh boy did she sincerely hope that she’d been wrong. While she loved both of them to pieces, there was no logical way of such of relationship working out. They were both stubborn, and by extension very resolute to their respective allegiances, which were at conflict with each other. Chuck believed in Motorcity, and Mike believed in Deluxe. Mike was a high ranking military officer as well, he couldn’t do the same double-life thing she was doing, not without being recognized. The only reason that she could get away with it like she could was because there was only a small pocket of people that even /knew/ that she was the daughter of Abraham Kane. Even Mike didn’t know.

She hadn’t seen Mike following the wake of him and Chuck splitting, but according to Jenzen he’d been burying himself into work to the point of neglecting eating and sleeping; she didn’t need to guess that he wasn’t doing well. Mike buried himself into his work normally, but in the past few months had actually seemed to relax a bit (and now the reason why was apparent.) Now that his source of unwinding and freedom from his commander persona -Motorcity, and Chuck by extension- was gone, Mike coped by overdoing the very thing he sought refuge from.

Those two she knew for a fact were by no means stupid, really they were in her top tier of most intelligent men that she knew. However, the most ludicrous thing, the thing that made her want to pull out her own hair, was that they thought they could just pull a forbidden romance like that and be fine.

Her thoughts, but not her sprint down the hall, were interrupted by the familiar dopey voice of Tooley “Hiya Julie!” He greeted as she quickly passed him in the hallway, in a fast pace to get to her destination “Aren’t you supposed to be at the-”

“Can’t stop!” She cut him off as she rushed off into the briefing room, catching her breath and looking to the ground as the metal door shut behind her “I’m so sorry I’m-” she paused when a rather impatient-looking red hologram of her father popped up, rather than the man himself.

“Late.” He finished for her in a slightly scolding tone, his hologram turned and phased  ahead in the briefing room, to in front of the window.

She put on a mildly amused expression as she strode forward to the hologram “If I’d known we could have done it over comm screens I wouldn’t have been late.”

“What we’re doing here is important.” Her dad said, his hologram back still turned to here.

“I know, I know.” She sat down at the lone chair in front of the window.

He slowly turned around “If I can’t trust you to take these sessions seriously, how can I trust you to run this company when I’m gone?” He scolded, a rhetorical question really. He had his arms elbows bent for emphasis.

“Run it?” She echoed “Only like three people know I’m your daughter. I’m sure the employee’s would just love taking orders from some random intern.” Julie told him sarcastically, but seriously. Her dark gaze swept to the ground.

“If more people knew you’d become a target!” Kane repeated the mantra she’d be raised on, the one rule she was always to follow above all else. Something she couldn’t even tell the Burners, less she be accused of conflict of interest just like Chuck had. “I keep your secret safe to keep you safe,” his tone became more gentle, the tone he had reserved just for her “everything I do if for you.” But there was something else in his tone, not just the tone of a father speaking to his daughter. Something that sounded almost… Distraught.

“Dad, what’s going on?” She asked.

He looked away from her as he crossed his arms again “I had to leave the office for a few days, for, business.” His pause was questionable to her.

“Days?” She pressed.

“And it would help me to know, that if something should happen to me-”

“/Nothing/ is going to happen to you.” She interjected. She disagreed with her dad politically, especially when it came to his views on Motorcity, but he was still her dad, and she loved him, and would never wish harm on him no matter who from.

“But if it does!” He looked right at her sternly, then sighed to soften his tone again “It’d be comfort, to know that I’m leaving Deluxe in good hands.”

Julie stood up and looked up at him with a concerned gaze “Dad…” She trailed off, wishing he was actually there instead of just a holographic projection, so she could put a hand on his arm for comfort, as she did so often growing up. He sighed again, and his hologram phased out as he ‘hung up’ on her. “…Talk to me…” She sat back down and swiveled on the chair, and seemingly as soon as she did a comm screen call from Claire opened up.

Claire looked to be freaking out over something “Hey Jules! Foxy just called! Have you seen what just happened in Motorcity?! Some new guy just took on a whole fleet of your dad’s robots, and an ultra gollum; by himself!”

Surprised, and curious of the claim, Julie pulled up a restricted files access screen

~~~

Chuck groggily woke up to find himself lying on a stretched out cot, with a blanket over him, a wet hand towel on his forehead, and most importantly an IV line of 1000 ml of normal saline connected to his arm. Not to mention the less than pleased face of Jacob, who was sitting in a chair right next to the cot, watching over him.

“W-What’s going on?” The blond asked as he struggled to sit up, he wasn’t badly hung over like he usually would be, but he was still sore and his head had a dull ache to it. The increase of volume provided by the IV served to stave off the worse of a hangover. He weakly looked around and saw his blue jacket on lying on the nearby workbench, so his arm could be open for the IV tubing.

“We need to talk,” Jacob said, in a tone Chuck immediately recognized as the ‘lecture’ tone “all of this drinking and moping, it’s not doing you any good. I get your heart is broken, but wallowing in your own sorrow isn’t going to help anyone.”

Chuck chewed on his lip. He knew he was making an ass of himself, by drowning his sorrows in cheap moonshine from the Mama’s Boys gang rather than leads the Burners properly like he should had “I-I… It’s just…” He looked to his hands, which he folded onto his lap “It isn’t just the break up with Mike, okay? It’s… I felt like I let everyone down.”

“How so?”

“By literally sleeping with the enemy.” He almost huffed “I mean, I’ve got to be a real disappointment to the you guys - I’m supposed to be the strong leader here, supposed to protect my team, but I can’t even stand up to the charms of a cinnamon roll in cowboy boots.” He gripped the blanket. He was sad that he had to split with Mike. He really was, but something that upset him even more was when he saw the… the sheer disappointment in his teams face when he told them about his trysts with the Kane Co commander. “Am I even fit to lead if I get torn by a conflict of interest that extreme?”

“Regardless of what happened, you’re still the leader, and they still need you.” Jacob chastised, more gently than earlier “And even if you’ve disappointed them, you’re not going to prove yourself still capable if you’re drinking yourself near death and not using your vehicle.”

“I… I get it.” Chuck sighed, turning his eyes to the almost empty IV bag of normal saline, with a skinny frame like his he was naturally very vascular and could empty out an IV in little time. When the bag emptied out and all there was was a rapidly draining tube, he turned the knob to stop the flow of fluid.

“There’s a new face around these parts,” Jacob told him suddenly, piquing Chuck’s interest but just barely.

“Oh?” Chuck inquired as he picked up a 500 ml bag of lactated ringers and used it to replace the normal saline.

“A masked man in a car, defeated a fleet of Kane bots and metal gollums. ” Jacob explained, then brought up a comm screen that showcased a massive amount of collateral damage around Motorcity, mostly consisting of busted up bots.

Chuck quirked a brow “What could have done this much damage?”

“Dutch gave me some footage, take a look.” Jacob switched out the comm screen to a video of a masked figure in the car setting off electronic based attacks in a red steel car.

“You’re telling me one guy did all of that?” The skeptism leaked clearly into Chuck’s tone. “Who was the driver?”

“That’s where it get’s strange.” The door of the sick bay opened and Julie strode in, Chuck wondered how long she’d been waiting outside of the door “According to Kane Co, he’s a spy from an organization called Vega.”

Chuck thought of all the company patents and trade deals he’d witnessed while a programmer “I never heard of it.” He told the red-head.

Julie pulled up a comm screen from her wrist mount, a table of a map “Vega is an organization based in, get this; Cleveland.” She explained, alarmn bells went of in Chuck’s head.

“Cleveland?” He echoed, if memory served correctly it used to be a major city in the late state of Ohio. “I heard everything outside of Detroit was a wasteland…” Of course, there was always the possibility that was just propaganda from Kane. Remembering the file he still had to decrypt, Chuck brought up his own wrist-mounted comm screen and got back to work on that with his good hand, while still listening to the female Burners report.

“The real question is, what’s Vega doing in Deluxe?” Julie seemed to trail off, her head dipped down a little and a worried look flickered in her eyes, but only for a moment “Kane was acting kinda… different, this morning. He wasn’t mad it was almost like he was, he was worried about something.”

Chuck hummed at her elaboration on her own question, still trying to unzip the encrypted file “So, you can read his moods now?” He was slightly suspicious, but he quickly waved it off. Julie was a loyal Burner and friend.

“Uh, no, no, what?” She defended nervously then brought up another video of the masked man “Hey, look at this weapon, it was specifically designed to stop Kanebots.” The video showed him pulling some kind of cylinder out of the dashboard of his vehicle “What does that tell you?”

“That this guy came here looking for a fight.” Chuck deduced, still listening but not directly looking at her as he almost finished decrypting the file and also keeping a side-eye on the emptying IV bag. The lactated ringer’s making his mouth taste slightly sweet similar to how normal saline made his mouth taste salty.  The file finally decrypted, and as soon as he started reading it his blood chilled and his eyes dialated.

Jacob crossed his arms “That kind of tech wouldn’t be easy to build… Or cheap. A man like Kane’s got a long list of enemies.” The irony of Jacob being one of those men was not lost on Chuck or Julie “Vega could have some sort of score to settle.”

Chuck cut off their conversation “Uh, guys, you remember that encrypted file we grabbed yesterday? Well I decrypted it, and you’ll want to see this.” He inquired in a slight panic as he showed them the decrypted file. It was a threatening red color, and while it looked like a simple cube, in reality it was far more menacing, which was further highlighted by all of the caution, hazard, and beware pop up warning surrounding it.

“Genesis Pod…?” Julie read off the bottom of the file, biting her lip slightly at the sight of a file she had not seen “Any idea what it does?”

“Yeah…” Chuck replied, indignant “It destroys Motorcity.”

“It… doesn’t look so bad…” Julie offered weakly, although she was just as aware of the possible consequences as her leader was.

“Oh it’s bad, it’s shieded by pure polydenzium, it’s the worse thing Kane’s thrown at us yet! This things going to be operational before we know it.” He stopped the flow of the now empty bag and half-empty IV tubing and almost angrily ripped the IV line out of his arm. He quickly sat up and put a 2x2 gauze pad over the bleeding intravenous hole in his arm and wrapped coban around it to keep it in place. Groggily, the blonde almost stumbled off the cot to put his jacket on.

As he got up Jacob assisted him and tried to chastise him for rushing like he was, but Chuck didn’t care about his health at a time where there was such a huge threat like that looming over them. The sick bay door opened again and Dutch, Texas, R.O.T.H and even Tennie came inside, and Julie quickly briefed them over everything that they had discussed. And another discussion started around them.

“If our weapon’s can’t scratch it…” Julie started.

“Maybe Vega’s can.” Dutch finished. “You saw what this guy did to these bots, that kind of weapon would do a lot more than what we got.” He turned to Chuck, who was downing a large bottle of water, a refreshing change from the coffee he usually drank pot after another. “Chuck, we should find this guy before Kane does.”

Chuck finished the water bottle and wiped his sleeve across his mouth “Not to be crass guys, but fuck no.” A shocked  moment of silence swept across his team.

“Chuck are you still drunk?” Dutch argued “Nothing we have could even dent something like that!”

“Look I don’t mean to insult anyone’s intelligence here, but we don’t know this guy. And every time we think we can ask some unknown but powerful person to help us in the war against Kane, they turn against us. I mean, just look at what happened with Red, or with the Terra’s.” Chuck argued, more harsh than he meant to be, “We all have enough pattern pattern recognition to not make that mistake a third time. If this guy really is after just Kane, than more power to the resistance. We’ll find a different way to disarm the Genesis Pod, but we will not go after this Vega guy.” Chuck ordered, grabbing a bottle of aspirin and swallowing down two of them dry.

Chuck was a lot of things, and lot of those things weren’t necessarily good. But he was a programmer, and as such was a decent mathematician; pattern recognition was a basic skill of such a thing. Given their track record of what happens when they seek out unknown potential allies, the best thing to do was not to investigate Vega.

“Chuck…” Dutch began.

“Don’t, we’ll find another way. We always do, are you trying to imply that if this Vega didn’t appear we’d just sit here with our thumbs up our orifices?”

“You better drop that pretentious tone if you’re going to give us orders like that against popular opinion.” Dutch warned him, surprising the other Burners and Tennie.

Chuck paused, then sighed again “… I’m sorry, it’s just, we can’t blindly put our faith into an unknown entity again. I’m not risking our safety like that again, just… if we put our heads together we’ll find a way to destroy the pod just… Just trust me okay? I don’t have a good feeling about that guy. We can build our own weapon.”

There was some silence, and Dutch kept his arms crossed before he sighed in defeat “Alright man, we won’t seek out Vega.”

To keep up the comradery, Texas added “What’s the big deal about Vega anyways? I could totally take TWO fleets of grunt bots with one hand tied behind my shoe!”

As expected, Dutch rolled his eyes and gave his shorter teammate a look “You mean, your back?”

“Uh okay, my back tied behind my shoe. It doesn’t matter, Texas can handle it!” He struck a few action poses with his own sound effects as expected, the display made Texas groan aloud and Chuck smirk a bit.

Ah yes, he could never turn his back on them. Not ever again…

~~~

“I’m going to the Depths.” Chuck told Julie as he got his gear ready.

“Why…?” She asked, the Depths was part of the Duke’s territory, and Chuck… currently wasn’t a fan of the Duke. Not like he ever was, but ever since the stunt the Duke pulled outing him and Mike, only to be bluffing, Chuck really had some beef with him.

“I need to get parts for a weapon against the Genesis Pod, the best hardware is in the Duke’s territory but there’s a lot in the Depths we haven’t even touched upon yet.” This was true, the Depths covered a huge part of Motorcity, and had seldom been combed through or looted by anyone. Chuck checked over his vehicle slammed his fist against the hood in frustration (which didn’t harm the vehicle because it was very durable, and Chuck wasn’t very strong to begin with) “Damnit I told Dutch to fix my radiator this morning.”

“You didn’t ask him, you drank a bottle of moonshine, said you’d stop drinking when you died and then blacked out.” Julie corrected him.

“…I leave a note then.” Chuck grumbled and stuck a sticky note on his hood saying the radiator was out of order. “I’ll just take the extra then.” He said, referring to the green car that no one owned and was only used when one of their own vehicles was out of order for any reason. Chuck probably could replace his own radiator, but he preferred software over hardware and always deferred the more hands on stuff to Dutch. “Do you remember where the keys for it are?”

“Top drawer in the red tool box.” She told him, and he went over to it “How about I take you through the Depths? You’ve been my backseat driver for a the past couple of days anyways.” Truthfully, she didn’t want Chuck to go alone anyways, she doubted he was as stable as he said he was.

“Dutch and Texas are coming with me, but Julie-” He stopped himself so he could turn to face her “I’m going to need you to stay behind on this one.”

“What, why?” She demanded.

“I need you to find out everything you can about this Genesis Pod,” he began, but she cut him off.

“I can do it when we get back.” She countered, and he looked away briefly before back down at her.

“Julie I need you to not fight me on this one, you saw the kind of firepower Kane’s sending, if something happens to us-”

Julie cut him off again “Why does everyone keep saying that?” Chuck, not knowing the context of her statement, briefly wondered who else said that to her, but left it alone.

“Look, if something goes wrong I need to know there’s still someone who will fight for Motorcity.”

“Chuck, nothing is going to happen!”

“Will you do it?” He placed a hand on her shoulder, and Julie was both angered and softened by the familiarity of the situation. The redheaded teen sighed in defeat.

“Fine.”

The blond Burner mustered up a small smile “Thanks, Julie.”

~~~

“Chuck, the man, the myth, the… fashion disaster! Yow!” The Duke proclaimed with an arm wrapped around Chuck after stopping the Burners in their tracks in the Depths. It took every ounce of Chuck’s self-control to stop himself from turning on his fear inhibitor to a full ten and strangling the man where he posed.

He shoved the Duke’s arm off of him “Can I help you with something Duke?” He asked, his voice dripped with venom and noncompliance.

“It’s time for you to,” The Duke briefly twirled his staff “back off.”

“We’re just driving.” Chuck shot back.

Somehow Duke had appeared lying on the hood of the green car, twirling his baton up into the air. “Just driving yes, and I’m just, handsome.” Chuck had to disagree with him at that point “You’re going after our mysterious party-crasher and I’m afraid I can’t allow that.” The blonde assumed he meant Vega.

“The new guy? I don’t give a Cplusplus about that guy, we’re after equipment Duke. Kane’s about to-”

Duke appeared to not be listening to him and cut him off, also getting into his face again “The man is in MY territory, that makes him, and all of his toys, mine.”

“Are you also after the key’s to his chastity belt?” Chuck muttered to himself sarcastically, elaborating on the Duke’s statement in a crass fashion.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, nothing at all.”

The Duke’s security stepped out his limo, most likely to impose, but Chuck looked back to Dutch and Texas who likewise stepped out of their own cars in a threatening manner, while Chuck simultaneously pressed a button on the green cars keyfob to summon a torrent out of the hood.

“Don’t make this a situation, Duke.” Chuck warned him, and glared down at him. The Duke glared back in return, before Chuck noticed something behind the older man.

“Get back-!” The Duke shouted but to no avail as Chuck tackled him.

“Watch out!” Chuck shouted as they both tumbled to the floor, a laser beam from a Kanebot blasting at the spot where the Duke had been standing, and hitting his red sunglasses that became displaced from the tussle. Chuck hated the Duke, but he didn’t want him vaporized… Not yet, at least. “Burners, move it!” Chuck shouted as he rolled back onto his feet and ran to the green car.

Similarly, Duke ran off to his security force, who weren’t nearly as composed now that they were facing danger “Oh, you cowards! Get up! Get up and run!” As he ran to his own vehicle, he grabbed the back of the collar of one of his cowering men and dragged him with him as he ran, saving him from being blasted, which to Chuck showed just a glimmer of humanity in the Duke.

The green car, Whiptail, and Stronghorn started falling back rapidly “Texas, split them up!” Chuck ordered, and immediately following Texas fired at some of the fleet and drove off in a different direction at a fork in the road. Dutch was firing at the bots, and was getting bumped into by a nervously and likely unskilled driver of the Dukes, who soon after spun out of control.

Chuck felt his heart pounding all the way up to his ears, trying to best to dodge all of the blasts from the Kane bots, he maneuvered himself using the thrusters to get from one column to another, but he kept cursing himself because the green car just didn’t have the same maneuverability as blonde thunder had, even if it did have a more diverse weapon system and higher speed.

At one point her overestimated the range of the green car because of his unfamiliarity with it, and ended up not reaching a column completely.

“Motherfucker-” He cursed aloud as he fell down even further into the Depths.

~~~

“Urgh my aching…” Chuck groaned as he came to - he opened his eyes only to find it to be just as dark with his eyes opened as it was closed. He flipped a few switches to turn a few of the car lights back on. He looked around and could only see cables and rusted beams, recollecting his thoughts about what happened before he was out, he realized he was the bottom of the Depths.

He tried to turn his communication system, but unfortunately he was way out of range from any of the other Burners. He turned on his navigation system, but once again lady luck appeared to have metaphorically kicked him in the balls because there was no existing map for the Depths this deep down.

Smacking himself in the forehead, he did the only thing he could think of, something to do for the time being at least; he turned on his distress signal. Since the distress signal was electromagnetic based, and not completely electronic like his communication system, it had a much wider maximum range and efficiency range, and could be picked up by anyone with a radio or car, and even if it didn’t reach anybody, it at least gave him a quick comfort while he thought of something else to do to get out of his castaway situation.

Fifteen minutes later, and still no concrete plan, headlights appeared. For a moment he was elated to be saved, but his heart dropped when he saw it was a lone limo, and the Duke, who had produced another pair of red shades, and for some reason was still wearing them even in the depths of the Depths.

“Oh for fucks sake why couldn’t I have just died.” Chuck muttered to himself as he stepped out of his vehicle.

“That’s a mighty fine lady you’ve got there,” The Duke said with a wide, mischievous grin, admiring the green car Chuck was using. Chuck didn’t answer, and just silently questioned the Duke’s ulterior motives. “Need a hand?”

“You want to help me?” Chuck inquired, then glanced back at the single limo. No one else was there, besides his personal robot assistant, Cyborg Dan.

“You want to help me all of sudden, what’s the catch?” Chuck asked, but before he could allow the Duke to answer he reared up to his full height and got into the Duke’s face “Especially after that bluff you pulled, threatening to out me like that. I have half a mind to blast you where you stand.” Chuck had to admit, the older man was ballsy, to come down here and face him after what had happened, especially since this situation had a lack of witnesses besides the robot.

“Water under the bridge, my boy.” The Duke laughed and Chuck continued to glare “As much you annoy me with your lack of finesse, and lack of taste in men-” He grabbed Chuck’s arm lightly when he saw him reaching for his saber, an unspoken warning and plea at the same time “But I like you, just a little; you’re like the rebellious son I never had.”

“Dude you’re only like ten years older than me.”

“Nevertheless, we both need something; you need to get out of here, and I need someone to come with me while I confront our mysterious guest. Now, shall we get a move on?”

“We?” Chuck said skeptically, and the Duke put an arm around him again. And the younger blond really wished the Duke had more of a sense of personal space.

“Between you and I, my men leave something to be desired when it comes to… security.” With that the Burner’s leader had to agree, remembering how the Duke’s security had only cowered in the face of Kanebots, but this statement also made him to another conclusion as well.

The blond burner couldn’t stop a smirk from appearing “Duke, are you scared?” With that the Duke finally pulled away, a did a twirl.

“My boy, I’m not scared; I’m, an entertainer! Yow!” He then moonwalked backwards.

“That doesn’t really have anything to do with our current situation.” Chuck mumbled, ironically not entertained by the flamboyant man’s antics.

“In the end we both want something.”

“I told you before I’m not interested in the new guy. Besides, how would you know where he is?” The younger of the two men inquired, and Cyborg Dan started to walk up to them.

“No one get’s in or out of my territory without me knowing. No one.” He got into his face again, then turned to his robot “Cyborg Dan, if you would be so kind.”

“With pleasure.” Cyborg Dan said in its robot voice, then showcased a brief video of Vega’s fleeing vehicle up some kind of slope.

“We’ll find him faster if we work together.”

“Duke, for the last time, I don’t care about this guy. I just want to get out of the depths.” He exclaimed, exasperated. Why was the Duke being so pushy on the Vega issue? It was suspicious as hell for one thing, and uncharacteristic for another.

The Duke was now sitting on the ground criss-cross for some reason “Well you need to get out of here, and I need someone to help me find him. I the end we both want something, and we’ll find him faster if we work together. Don’t want someone else finding him first now do we. Then no one get’s his toys.”

The driver almost wanted to smack Duke upside the head, and also wanted to repeat that he didn’t care about Vega or his possible equipment, but pattern recognition told him that it would probably again go in one ear and tumble right out of the other “And what happens when we find him?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. What do you say? We don’t have to fight all the time.” Under normal circumstances, Chuck would leave. But doing so he would risk getting stuck in the Depths for maybe even days, and time was an especially important resource right now with the threat of the Genesis Pod.

“…Make sure you can keep up.” The blonde grumbled.

“Splendid!” The man and his robot got back into his limo, and turned on the tail lights for Chuck to follow. Chuck got back into the green car and nearly tailgated him out of the Depths.

~~~

The moment he was in range of the other Burners communications systems, he called Dutch. The pop-up head of the mechanic showed up, appearing frantic “What happened to you!”

“Took a nasty fall,” Chuck responded, keeping his eyes on the tail lights of the Duke’s limo “I got lost in the Depths and I was out of range, and didn’t have any maps that deep. I sent out a distress signal and the Duke ended up finding me. I… Had to make a deal, he apparently wants my assistance in finding Vega.”

“So we’re trusting the Duke now?” Texas chimed in as his pop-up head appeared as well.

“No way, which is why I’m keeping him close. This is too important. Besides, this gives me easier access to the junkyard.” Chuck replied.

“I don’t know man…”

“I don’t either.” Chuck admitted “I’m suspecting this is a trap, but I really need parts. If I don’t call back in like an hour, assume the worst.”

“Chuck!” Dutch almost yelled, aggravated at his leader nonchalance at the prospect of being double-crossed..

“I know it sounds bad but this is the only way. You guys hang back in case this /is/ a trap, I’ll check in when we get to point B. If something happens to me, I have files left on my computer on a plan for the Genesis Pod.”

“You have no idea what’s up there.” Dutch pointed out.

“Exactly, I’m not leading my whole team into a possible trap. I’ll call you if the coast is clear.” Chuck replied, his heart once again pounding and blood roaring in his ears.

He could hear something in the background of Dutch’s call, the all too familiar sound of a face palm. “Is that all you have to say?” The Whiptail driver retorted.

“Uh, hmm… Oh yeah. Also, if I don’t come back, please clear my browser history.”

~~~

The Duke lead him to a ridge, which only made him more suspicious. An isolated ridge with just the two of them bearing witness, yeah that wasn’t suspicious at all. As they climbed up the foothill of junk, Chuck spied the mysterious Vega’s car “Found the car,” He told Duke, and already started to back away “okay I helped you find the guy, now, I’m leaving, I’m taking some supplies on my way out.”

“Oh but there’s no sign of him is there?” The Duke inquired, grabbing his wrist and leaping. The surprising strength of the Duke made them both tumble down the ridge of junk into the crater where the car was.

“Duke what the hell!” Chuck shouted as they hit the ground no-so-softly. The Duke didn’t answer, just got back onto his feet.

Then, he could hear a faint zapping, a familiar and common sound around motorcity, but something about this particular buzzing made his blood turn to sludge.  He jumped onto his feet and turned to the sound, instinctively he turned his fear inhibitor all the way up to the ten setting.

“Well, well, well, hello Chuck.” Red said, surrounded by Kanebots and his fists alight with menacingly bright red electrical currents “Hope you didn’t miss me.”

“Not really, I hate when my past flames get clingy.” Chuck shouted back and drew up his saber, shoving the Duke away on the off-chance he wasn’t double crossing him “Get down!” He sprinted towards Red, and the Kanebots started shooting at him, and he hit the lazers with his saber to break up and absorb the energy through his weapon. When he hit and scattered a few of the bots, Red jumped at him attempting to hit, and Chuck just barely managed to dodge as the faceless man broke apart the car under them with the electrically enhanced fists.

Throwing his fist back far and powering up to what Chuck assumed to be it’s limit, Red threw a hard punch at him and Chuck used his saber to protect him. The electrical blunt force caused his weapon to not only fly out of his hand, but also caused it to reduce down to it’s baton form, and roll to the Duke’s feet. The Duke himself looked dismayed.

The blond burner was jumping around trying to avoid getting shot at “Duke, toss it here!” He shouted to the other Motorcitizen, holding his hand out ‘Please for the love of god surprise me in a good way here…’ he thought frantically. He saw the Duke pick the baton up agonizingly slow “Duke, toss it to me!” He repeated, and he thanked the data processor in the sky that Red apparently had the aiming skills of a stormtrooper and only managed to hit junk in his immediate vicinity, but not Chuck himself.

His heart sank when the Duke pocketed Chuck’s baton, and Kanebots flew from behind him towards Chuck, and the Burner was forced to run. The bots fire not only lasers, but missiles as well, and he war forced to hop, skip and jump around all of the junk.

He found a momentary safe haven under a metal sheet overhang, and looked over at Vega’s car, which was without its driver. With the green car parked at the cliff rather than at the ridge, the only option was the strangers car, sprinting he flung himself into the driver’s seat, and flipped the way-too-conveniently labeled weapons switches, and the cylinder poked itself out of the car. “Here we go…” He nervously said, and tried to push it down.

It didn’t budge, and he realized this was indeed an elaborate ruse. Before he could evacuate the vehicle though, Red jumped from a high vantage point and slammed his charged fists down right on the ground, causing a tremor that pushed up and flipped the car, Chuck was flung out of it and hit the ground, rolling quite a bit.

From the disturbed dust and weapons smoke ominously misting around him, he could see ‘Vega’ approaching him.

Narrowing his eyes as he weakly lay on his side, knowing this was all a setup, he looked up the the figure in a hood with glowing red eyes, the same figure that began to lowly chuckle, almost maniacally. A very familiar maniacal laughter bubbled up from the man’s chest.

Chuck flipped him off.

~~~

As Red punched him once again, Chuck’s back was slammed against the wall, and he coughed, trying to compose himself as his mouth filled with blood and his swollen eye tingled sharply. The faceless man chuckled at the suffering of his longtime foe “This is too much fun.” He said sadistically.

In spite of his current situation, Chuck grinned back up with him “I gotta agree with you there, I thought the chains were kinky enough, but hey I like it rough too.” Angrily, Red tightened his fists and slammed his face with yet another punch. Chuck’s vision went black and when he hit the wall this time he slid down to the floor, sapped of his strength. Panting, he looked back up at Red, refusing to give up his mind game “Yeah… Just like that.”

The door opened and Kane walked up, Chuck’s grin dropped when he saw a sullen Mike trailing not far behind his boss. “What’s the matter, lab rat? Not enjoying the view?” Kane mocked, Chuck looked up at him to avoid having to look at his ex-lover behind him.

“If you want me to validate that with a feeble violent response, you’ve got another thing coming.” Chuck almost hissed, staying where he was.

“You never give up do you?” Kane continued to mock, possibly references Chuck current lack of panic and overall confidence that things would be fine in the end “If only had just been a bit more… obedient, I might have given you a life sentence. But since you’re so nonconforming, I have no choice but to have you terminated.” He started walking away, and the announcement made Mike noticeably uncomfortable.

“Terminated? Really? You already fired me Kane, if you mean kill me at least say executed. We aren’t in a kids show.” Chuck corrected the overlords phrasing, mostly to attempt to antagonize him. It didn’t seem to work. “Even if you get rid of me, you won’t win,” the Burners leader spat, getting back onto his feet “Motorcity won’t stop fighting. With, or without me.” Chuck’s heroic speech didn’t seem to move Kane other than to amuse him.

“Oh but my dear boy, they already have.” The red-headed man told him, and on cue video screens appeared showing surveillance footage of Motorcity being overrun by Kane’s forces, and Chuck couldn’t keep a disheartened look off of his face at the display being presented to him “Look at them, fleeing like rats at the first sign of trouble. Does that look like civic pride to you. The people don’t care about Motorcity. No matter how much you like to pretend they do.” Overwhelmed, Chuck started sliding back to the ground, his mind racing at the thought of the safety of his team, and of his city “Now just sit back, and watch your city crumble.” Dramatically Kane and Red started walking out of the room, leaving Chuck alone.

Alone with Mike at least.

When the doors closed, Chuck looked up to the passive waste of a military commander that he used to be (and admittedly still was) in love with.

He flipped him off too.

~~~

Authors notes: Well Chuck handled that just a bit differently than Mike didn’t he… Well, the more things change the more they stay the same, I guess. - Fear and loathing in Vega is a reference to ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ Or ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream’ a book by by Hunter Thompson. Which was also adapted into a movie in 1998. -Lactated ringers is an electrolyte solution for IV use. -Cplusplus is a programming language -When the Duke says Chuck is like the rebellious son he never had, this is actually a reference to an AU called crazy=genius by @asktheburnersleaderandprogrammer, where Chuck is then adopted son of the Duke, and Mike is the adopted son of Rayon. -Chuck did not want to go after Vega like Mike did in the series because he’s less impulsive in his decisions, and in the series original he was against Mike’s decision of going after Vega with the Duke. The only way Duke was going to get Chuck to that ridge was basically to strike a deal, and Chuck tried to get away without approaching Vega anyways. And again after what happened with Red and the Terra’s, Chuck wasn’t going to place blind faith into a seemingly powerful stranger.