#IT LANDED RIGHT IN MY CAMERA AND GAVE ME A LIL JUMP

[skyplayssplatoon3]

BIG SHOT JUMPSCARE

[owaowabetch]

Minecraft Part 2 (Sykkuno x F!Reader)

Oneshot (maybe part of a series??? at this point probs): Chaos in the server, Will a deal entice you to become part of the comfy cartel? Or will you resist the temptation of the deal and side with the resistance? Friendship and a lil romance (oohhh things are starting to heat up)

Warning:Non beta (cuz we baddies purr); part of Uh-oh & Impasta

You had been streaming Minecraft for about 4 hours when you decided to end it for a small meal break. Though ending stream didn’t stop you from continuing playing with your friends. Unfortunately, Sykkuno had not been on while you were streaming, since you did so quite earlier than usual, but you wanted to remodel your minecraft home; turning the once pink wooden home to a white quartz block using the obscene amount of quartz that Jae gifted you as to entice you to join his faction in the sever. It was a nice bribe gift, but you have yet to align yourself with the ressistance or the comfy cartel. 

So, while gettin gifted quartz blocks was nice, hearing that Toast gave Lily a gun enticed you more.But you doubt Toast’s whole character arc will entrust you with one. You maybe be living with his ‘right-hand’ man, but he seems to be slowly on a downward spiral. Kind of like a crazy wacky scientist- he’s doofenshmirtz. 

Anyways you had completed the finishing touches on your remodeled, when you saw in the little chat that Sykkuno was on. “ OH!OH!OH! SYKKUNO!”

You were excited to show him the newly made house. The house was three levels to your house, but you’re mostly wanna show him the basement area.

You saw the iconic teal shirt paired with the green stripped scarf boxy figure making their way towards you. You emoted the cheering pose and happily called out to him “Hi Sykkuno!” 

“Hey, Y/n!” He cheered back coming closer “I have something for you!” 

You start jumping up and down “Present!” You like getting free things, especially if it comes from someone you like....as a friend of course. Yup yup, just as a friend. As, he stood in front of you he laughed “What are you doing?” watching your character wave their arms around

You laughed back at him “Just happy to see you!”

“Well, I’m always happy to see you!” Sykkuno chirps out and adds on with a slight stutter “C-cause we’re friends! I’m always happy to see such a great friend!”

Feeling the high of him telling you how he was always happy to see you was crushed by him reminding you that friends is all that you both may only ever be. So with the disappointment lingering and the excitement wearing off, you just mutter a reply back. “Yes! The bestest of friends!”

“Yup, yup. Anyways have some water mills” He throws some black blocks with blue markings on them “Follow me!” You both ran near your home “Claim this bit of land” and you did so. “Now, dig like a 3 by 6 hole and place two water mills close to each corner and one in the middle bottom”(1). You followed his instructions “Ok, so im just gunna place the water” You watched him do so “Ok! I think it’s all good and ready to go!”

You crouch and inch around the hole “What is it?”

“Ok well you know how I got you that green lasso that has you swinging and jumping all over the place with the slime boots?” Sykkuno asks crounching up right beside you 

“Yea yea!” You crouch and uncrouch in circles around him

“Well I have something even better!” He cheers “Eh” he grunts and throws a ring on the floor. You awe and oh as you put the ring in your hot bar “How cute! It has little wings on it!” 

“Yea! It’s a special ring” Sykkuno tells you 

“Special ring?...Are you proposing to me! OMG Sykkuno” You joke 

“Wah?” Spluttering out in confusion but deciding to play along “I mean are you accepting?”

You laugh “Woah, Sy! How bold of you sir”

He giggles back to you before teaching you how and where to put the ring. “OK do you have it on?”

You jump up and down in response allowing the slime boots to spring you up higher. “Yup Yup”

“Ok so, why don’t you take off your slime boots and then press the space bar” He jumps up and down, which you do. You gasp as you are lifted into the air “Sy! Look! Im flying!!” He is in the air next to you “I can see! Cause I am also flying!”

“How are we doing this! This is so fucking cool!” You laugh as you start moving around in the air “WAIT! Are you streaming? I’m so sorry!”

He laughs as he starts following you around in the air “It’s fine, but the ring I gave you is an angel ring. As long as your wearing it, then you can just fly around”

“Wow! Thanks Sykkuno!” You cheer and you walk around in the air “Clean! Clean!” 

“Yea, Of Course! It’ll be alot easier for you to get to places faster” He explains once more “Now, my chat has been going crazy and telling me that you redid our house?”

Excitement lit through you as you were ready to show him the remodeling works that you’ve done “Yes! I did! I’m so excited to show you” You move your camera out of first person and notice your character wearing a pair of white wings on your back “Oh my god! Sykkuno! I didn’t know that there was actual wings that appear on your lil person!”

“uh yea! I didn’t know if you wanted to have or not, cause mine are invisible” Sykkuno says flying next to you as you make the short distance back to your home “but i remembered you saying that you wanted to buy fairy wings. I could’ve made them pink to look like them, but i thought the white ones would suit you better”

“Cause i’m such an angel?” You tease as you reached your front door

“Well uh you are um a nice person” Hearing the shyness in his tone made you think that he was being sincere and it made you blush “Thank you Sykkuno, you’re one of the best people i know!”

He clears his throat “uh well um, look we made it!” trying to divert the conversation away from the compliments. You made a mental note to yourself to compliment him more, so that his confidence rises up and he no longer shies away from them.

“Yup!” You open the door “come on in!” He oh’ed as he came in, seeing the kitchen area first “As you can see Sy and chat, I have created a kitchen with actual fucking oven and fridge! How crazy is that! These mods are cool!”

“So, yeah! Kitchen area, though I doubt we’ll use it” You comment

“Wow! a fridge! Neat!” He opened the fridge and looked at the decor of other kitchen appliances 

You laugh at his wording “ Yup! and this is our living room slash library” leading him further into the house and showing him the sitting area with a bunch of bookcases surrounding the fake chairs “and right next to this is the ‘dining room’ where more seats were placed with a table and a cute flower in a pot atop the table. “So, yea this is the first floor!” 

“This is cool! Oh! it’s [y/f/flower] on the table” He notes and you nod feeling your cheeks flush a bit before admitting “of course! It’s actually the flower you gave me on our first day...”

“thats, thats really cool that you kept it” Sykkuno replies and there is a bit of silence between the two of you. Not awkward but almost in a content kind of way. Peaceful if you will. 

“Ok! Now lets head upstairs! It’s where we sleep!” You say walking up the stairs showing him the green beds placed next to each other “I didn’t know if you wanted to sleep next to each other again, but i did it anyways lol” 

He walked around the room and admired the little decor spread around the walls and opened chests in the room. He laughed awkwardly “it’s fine, it’s just a respawn point so its no biggie!”

“Yea to sleepovers!” You cheer 

Clearing his throat he noted how much he liked the room, causing you to smile and thank him “But i know what you’ve been wanting to see the most!”

“What do you mean?” He questioned and looked at you 

“The basement! Dun Dun DUN!” You jump at him scooting him down the stairs

He laughed in disbelief “What was that? Did you just hit me?”

“Nope” Emphasizing the p “ I just jumped at you which caused you to go down the stairs! I could never hurt you Sy!”

“Well I could never hurt you too” He mutters back and you pouted at how cute his response was

“Oh! You could just make your way down there! I forgot that Jae wanted me to give him some quartz back!” You gasp remembering what Jae had told you

“What do you mean?” His character looks back at you

And you look back at his and think “hmmm I don’t know if I should snitch or not, but Jae gave me an obsence amount of quartz blocks to build the house! I knew it was a little hard for you to get some, so he offered to give me some”

He hummed back “I see....” 

You noted how the atmosphere tensed for a split moment until Sykkuno happily noted that it was nice of him to give you something he couldn’t, but it sounded a bit off to you. Though you didn’t pay much attention to that since you didn’t want to reveal the resistance, as you have yet to align yourself with any of the two factions, well soon to be three since you believe that Sydney is doing some witchy stuff.

“Well, why don’t you go do that while I check the basement and give something to toast really quick!” He tells you 

“Ok!” You reply back to him rifling through your chests to find the remaining the blocks to give to Jae “I’ll see you in a bit, maybe toast too!”

With that you made your way back to Jae to hand him the quartz back, though it was quite an ordeal since he made a whole rant on how evil the comfy cartel were and how you should join them and become a spy cause apparently Toast is planning on doing something that could affect the entire server....

So you just ignored all of that and made your way back home, to have Toast and Sykkuno greet you at the front door.

“Hey guys! Im back” You cheer at them

“What did Jae want huh?!?!” Toast immediately questions you “Did you tell him any of our business huh? Should we be trusting you huh? huh? HUH!?!”

“Whoa Toast” You back up as he was getting all up in your face

“Wow Toast, are you okay?” Sykkuno places himself between you two 

“Im doing just fine” Toast answers back and you notice his full gear armor “Just wanted to know if we have a rat here”

You tsk “wow Toast, I see how it is. I see. By the way you look like a Power Rangers villan, just sayin”

He takes out his gun and points it at you “Well you won’t be sayin much Motherfucka!”

“I won’t say anything at all if you give me a gun to join the comfy cartel” You hit Sykkuno away and hear him utter an ow “Cause I don’t have an allegiance with anyone at the moment. So I’m a free agent and I can talk to whoever whenever” Throwing his words back at him and implying that you can speak to anyone without repercussions.

“AH right you are not part of the comfy cartel yet” He nods to himself “Well I wont give you a gun to join the group cause frankly I know that you’ll just shoot me”

You sigh “Then i’-”

“Instead!” He interrupts you “I’ll give you something better!” 

You pout “but i wanna cap a bitch”

“Instead of cappin’ you’ll be rackin’ cause you’re gunna have to collect taxes from people and in exchange you get the left hand of my right hand” He moves closer to you, that statement throw you through a loop ‘left hand?right hand?’. You were confusion. “Capiche?”

“What do you mean?” You question and he evil laughs and hits sykkuno.

“Wha? What was that Toast” Sykkuno also confused as to why Toast hit him and what Toast meant.

“I’m saying that you can have Sykkuno!” He evil laughs once more 

Sykkuno splutters “Wha? What do you mean Toast?!?!”

You were shocked at what he said. Giving you Sykkuno? “What do you mean?”

“You can marry Sykkuno” He repeats himself once more “You are both important to each other, why else live together? This way I’m keeping you both in check” and once again with the evil laughter

‘I’m glad im not streaming otherwise some of the more entitled fangirls would 100% send hate comments to me’ you think to yourself

You hum “Will I still get a gun?”

“Only if you can become my number one marksmen and execute the people I tell you too” He offers you

“Deal” You nod to yourself 

“Wha? [Y/N]?” Sykkuno sputters out “You’re ok with this?” and nodding to yourself you reply with a yes and asks him if he is also “Well I- uh I” he continues to laugh awkwardly “I mean uh sure?”

“Neat!” You reply throwing a diamond at him “Here’s your dowry lol”

Though before another conversation could happen Toast butts in once more “This was a test and you both passed” and throws a gun at you “Here take this one, prove yourself and I’ll get you a better one”

You put the gun in your hot bar and place it in your hand. “Clean!” You start point it in different directions “Thanks! Toast!”

“Don’t betray me or else you gets the hose!” He starts walking backwards then comes back up to you “Oh, also your target is Leslie, be sure to collect her taxes before killing her.” Walking backwards once more before coming back “Oh Sykkuno hand me the diamond [y/n] gave you.” He does so “Ok that’ll be your last tax payment until I have you look for materials for a special project” He evil laughs as he flies away

“OK! Great talk!” You call out and emote the happy one, with your arms lifted up and shaking about “Awesome! I get a gun muahahahaha!”

You hear Sykkuno clear his throat “so uh, you were ok with marrying me?”

“Yea! so were you!” You say as you move you camera around trying to find a good angle to see it properly

“Because you were!” He replies back and that took you aback a bit as you didn’t realize how uncomfortable it may have been for him.

“Well you didn’t have too if you didn’t want to” You felt a bit embarrassed at the fact that he did it because you wanted to but not he himself personally

“Wha, well I didn’t think you were being serious” Once again laughing awkwardly “Cause you know girls aren’t in- OW”

You shot him with the gun in annoyance.

‘Bitches are into you Sykkuno’ You screamed in your head ‘I‘M BITCHES!’

 Author’s Note:

Side Note 1 - I dont know if this is correct lol

No cap but i had written half of this like 3 days after writing Part 1 but I got lazy lmao sorry! Also this is gunna be a slowburn story cuz lets be real our smol bean and all of our asses are awkward as hell and kind insecure in the romantic aspect, so realistically it would not be fast paced.

So here it is Minecraft pt.2/4

Tags: @sushiims

[combat-wombatus]

Crimson Snow

Pairing: Hawks (Takami Keigo) x Fem!Reader

Genre: angst :’) (a lil bit of fluff thrown in here and there)

Warnings: mentions of blood, character death. 

WC: 7.8k. am i sorry? no.

Summary: Childhood friends doesn’t always equal lovers in the future. You wished that was the case, but ever since Keigo disappeared, you found it hard to believe in love again. 

(A/N): this was. i had to write this. it wasn’t up for debate. finishing this at 4am in the morning aldksjfhajshd. spent a grant total of 2 days brainstorming & writing this fic. not proofread at all. heavily inspired by the song 小幸运 by Hebe Tien. i strongly suggest you give it a try and listen to it as you read this :p (for all my chinese speakers out there...let’s see how you deal with this heartbreak :’) so yeah. i’m actually...really really proud of this fic. i tried a new format with this, and i think i kinda like it. also i left the ending up to interpretation if you don’t read the epilogue. enjoy! 

credit for this au goes to @wafflesandkruge​

here’s the link to the music :)

The one constant in your life.

The boy who’d always been there for you, through the dark days and the cold nights, holding your hand through it all.

The one who’d held you when you broke down.

The one who’d tucked you under his wings as the skies crackled with energy, rain pouring from the heavens, and told you that no matter where you went, he’d stay with you. He’d keep you nice and dry, snuggled close to his body as he shielded you from the storm.

The one constant in your life.

He’d left quietly in the night, not stopping by to say farewell.

In his place, he’d left a lonesome letter, tucked away beneath a boulder on your special hill.

“I’ll come back for you. Wait for me, okay?”

And from within that plain white envelope, a single red feather floated out, carried on the autumn winds, drifting aimlessly.

Almost as if it were lost.

And in that moment, you felt as if you’d lost a part of yourself, a little piece of your soul.

You weren’t sure you were ever going to get it back.

Years passed. You waited. There was no sign of him

Not in the skies, not on the land, and even though you’d sometimes see him in the reflection of the water, sitting next to you as you told him about your day, he wasn’t really there either.

I won’t give up on him.

I’ll stay strong.

He told me he’d come back for me.

Against the test of time, your resolve never withered. It only grew, strong as steel, taking over the crevices in your heart where he’d left his mark.

I’ll wait for you, Kei.

But please…come back to me.

“Hey, (Y/N)!” Your friend called out enthusiastically from her position on the couch. “Come look!”

“What?” You stepped out of the kitchen, only to be greeted by a familiar face, smirking on the TV screen.

“Look at him! He’s this new hero, and he’s only 18! (Y/N)! He’s our age! Isn’t he hot?” She pointed at his flickering image. “His hero name is Hawks!” Squealing, she turned to you. “Isn’t that so cool?”

You stood in shock, the glass of water that you had been holding slipped from your fingers and shattered onto the floor. Liquid pooled around your feet, soaking your slippers, but you made no move to step aside.

“Woah! (Y/N), are you okay?” She jumped off the couch, rushing towards you. “Hey, (Y/N)? He’s cute and all but…this is a little bit much, isn’t it?” She looked at you with concern, eyebrows drawing tighter when you didn’t respond.

“(Y/N) …what’s wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

Shaking yourself from your daze, you averted your eyes. “Ahh, I’m sorry. Uh…I just, I never thought I’d see him again.”

“Wait, you know him?” Your friend looked at you, surprised. “(Y/N) …did he do something to you?” She asked softly. “If he did, I don’t care how cute he is, I’m gonna kick his ass to high heaven if need be. Someone like that shouldn’t be a hero.”

You shook your head, chuckling a little. “No…no, there’s no need to do that. It’s just…it’s been a long time, and I just didn’t expect to see him.”

“Ahh. Well, step out of that puddle! Come on, let’s grab you some paper towels.”

Hey!

It’s me, (Y/N). I…I saw you on TV today. You look…different. In a good way, I suppose. You’ve bulked up a bit.

You never used to smile like that though. Not like…like you were smiling for others. Seeing you smile for the camera, well…it made me sad.

But I’m happy that you’re ok. I think it would probably be hard for you to find me, since obviously I’m not on the news. So I’ll come find you instead, yeah? What do you say we catch up sometime?

I miss you. I’m in college now. I’m doing pretty good. You’re an overachiever, aren’t you? 18 years old and you already have your own agency.

Not that I’m complaining. Thanks for making it so easy for me to find you :)

So…let’s meet up sometime, when you have time? Maybe for some coffee? I know a quaint little place. It’s not too far away from your agency, three blocks to the right, turn left, and walk to the next intersection. It’s the corner shop. You can’t miss it.

I’ll wait for you there this Saturday, okay? I’ll do my work there. You can walk in whenever you have the time.

Your chicken, (Y/N)

Saturday came faster than you could prepare yourself. You checked your reflection repeatedly in the mirror, double-guessing your outfit decisions.

What if he doesn’t like it?

Is this too formal for a coffee date?

“Hey, (Y/N)!” Your friend barged into the bathroom. “I saw all the clothes on your bed! Are you going on a date?”

“Uh…just a meeting with an old friend. To catch up,” you explained.

She looked at you suspiciously. “Old friend…is it that guy on TV? Hawks?”

You grew flustered. “Err…yeah. If he got my letter.”

She looked you up and down, then dragged you into her closet. “Good thing I just went on a shopping spree last weekend then!” She pumped a fist excitedly in the air. “I’m giving you a makeover!”

Two hours later, you stood in front of the bathroom mirror once more. Your friend had put you through every single possible combination of outfits using both your closet and hers, and you had to agree that she had impeccable taste.

“Come on, you’re going to be late!” She shoved you out of the bathroom.

“I didn’t set a time!” You protested, laughing.

“Well, get your ass out of here! My boyfriend’s coming over!”

“So that’s the real reason you want me gone, hmm?” You teased her.

“Shush! Get out!”

Hawks was on patrol. You had been on his mind the entire week. Ever since your letter had reached his desk, he couldn’t stop thinking about you.

Thinking about you brought back happier times, and he wasn’t masochistic enough to give himself false hope.

No, it would be better for you to forget about him, and vice versa.

Still, he couldn’t stop himself. His body flew of its own accord, ignoring the sensibilities of his mind that screamed at it to stop.

Go back! The reasonable voice inside his head yelled.

Fly back!

His body refused to listen.

He found himself gently landing on a rooftop, right across the little café you told him to meet you at.

He even debated going inside. Just for a second. Just for a cup of coffee, to warm myself up in the chilly late-afternoon breeze, he told himself.

Then, he scoffed. Who was he kidding? If he went inside, he wouldn’t have the resolve to step back out before he saw you.

Shaking his head, he flew away as quickly as he could.

If he’d stayed a moment longer, he would’ve seen you walk down the street, humming a little tune to yourself.

Maybe then his resolve would’ve cracked.

Too bad he’ll never know.

Sitting alone at a table for two was an unpleasant feeling. Especially when you’re on your third drink, the waitress keeps eyeing you with pity, and you couldn’t concentrate on your work.

“Miss?” The waitress stopped by your table again. “Sorry to bother you, but we’re closing in 15 minutes.”

You checked the time on your laptop. Crap. It was already 5:15.

“Oh yeah, uhh, sorry to bother you!” You chuckle awkwardly. You quickly packed your books and laptop, dropped a $20 bill on the table, and hurried out the door. Walking home in silence, you tried your best not to feel too disappointed.

Maybe he just didn’t have time?

It’s ok. You’ll just ask him again, another time.

Another time.

You sent him countless letters. For the first year, at least. When he ignores all of them, you visit his agency in person.

As you walk through the glass doors, there’s a man sitting behind the reception desk.

“Hello, miss. How can I help you today?” He asks in the customary polite tone.

“I’m looking for Keigo. Hawks,” you answer, trying to hide your nervousness.

He looks at you suspiciously. “How do you know his first name?”

“We…we were childhood friends,” you tried to explain. “I…well, I haven’t seen him in a while.”

He took a closer look at you. “Can I ask for your name, miss?”

“(Y/N). (Y/N) (Y/L/N).”

He sighed. “I’m afraid that you’ll have to leave the premises, Miss (Y/L/N). You’re not allowed to be here.”

What?

He hadn’t kicked you out before you told him your name.

“Why-” you started, but he cut you off.

“Miss (Y/L/N). I’m afraid that I have to ask you to leave, and don’t come back. Should I call security to escort you out?”

Holding back tears, you clutched your purse close to your chest and hurried out the glass doors, wishing nothing more than to shatter them into pieces.

You didn’t send any more letters after that.

Years pass. Every year on your birthday, Keigo gave you a feather.

“So I’ll always be with you,” he joked.

His feathers are extra durable, but time can wear down even the strongest things.

The last feather you got from him was ten years ago.

It can barely be considered a feather at this point, and you keep it in a special glass case so it can’t get any more worn down.

Ten years.

You’re turning 25 tomorrow.

Ten years of waiting around for him turned into ten years of watching him date other women. Ten years of hiding your pain every time another picture of him kissing a new girl graced the covers of the tabloids.

The first time, you cried yourself to sleep.

It wasn’t the last time.

Again and again, he breaks your heart.

By the third year, you convinced yourself to stop looking at the tabloids and the gossip sites.

By the fifth year, you scold yourself. You vow to stop crying over a stupid childhood crush.

By the seventh, you told yourself that you needed to forget about him. Step back into the dating ring, make out with someone else, and remove his presence entirely from your mind.

That didn’t work out.

Ten years.

It killed you to finally harden your resolve, but you told yourself that you couldn’t spend your whole life waiting for someone who was never going to love you back.

You’re turning 25 tomorrow, and you’re going to go on a date.

He’s watching you. He always is.

It makes him feel like a creepy stalker, but he can’t help it.

He watches you as you step into the restaurant, decked out in formal wear that looked amazing on you.

Going on a date. With someone who wasn’t him.

He stays on the rooftop, watching you through a window as you ate and laughed.

He wishes that he was the one making you laugh, that he was the one helping you order food from the menu, that he was the one sharing a dessert with you.

He’s selfish like that. It never does him any good.

He’s scared, really. Scared of commitment, tarnished by his time spent in the work program.

He sees you as the one thing in life that they can’t take away from him. You have this innocence, this purity that you always carry around with you, because you’re a part of a time when his life wasn’t so complicated.

He doesn’t want to shatter that illusion.

He never reached out to you because he’s scared.

He’s scared that he’ll break you.

He stopped sending you feathers, heart splintering every time your birthday comes around, hoping you’ll eventually forget him.

You don’t.

It’s not that you didn’t try.

No one else really interested you.

That is, until Masaki came along. He was bright, happy, always upbeat. He could find the words to cheer you up, to make a bad day that much better. He was attentive, caring, sweet.

He was everything that most people would look for in a partner.

And slowly, you began to open up to him too.

You fell into his embrace easier. You got a little happier when he came over for dinner.

You felt just a little safer when you were wrapped in his arms, a luxury you never thought you’d have.

Two years later, during a picnic date, he proposed.

You always had a love for picnic dates. Maybe because your first date, with Keigo, was a messy picnic affair during the spring, on top of a little hill where wildflowers bloomed and birds pecked at your leftovers.

“Stop!” You giggled, whipped cream smeared all over your cheeks. “You’re going to get it on my clothes!”

Keigo laughed, then popped another strawberry in your mouth. “You can wash that off later, silly! Just have fun!”

“It’s not fun when my clothes are all sticky,” you whined. “You try it! It feels gross!”

He smirked. “Oh really?”

Taking a strawberry, he dipped it in the container of cream you had brought, then stuck it down his shirt.

“Ha! Take that!” He gloated.

You stared at him in shock. “Did you just–”

“Yes I did! And it’s not gross at all, see?” He plucked the strawberry back out and shoved it in his mouth.

“Eww! Kei, that’s disgusting!”

“No it’s not, it still tastes like a strawberry! Mphm!” He chewed, licking his fingers.

He regretted that decision later, when bees swarmed the front of his shirt.

“Eek!” He shrieked, hopping backwards.

“Kei, take off your shirt!”

“It’s so sticky!” He yelped, trying to peel the front of his shirt away from his chest.

“I told you!”

“Hey, now is NOT the time for the ‘I told you so’ speech, okay?” He finally ripped his shirt off.

You couldn’t help it. You cackled.

“What now?” He looked at the bees feasting on his ruined tee.

“I told you so,” you teased him.

Taking one look at the devious glint in his eyes, you scooped up the picnic supplies and raced down the hill.

He followed, wings beating, taking off into the air. He reached you within seconds, tacking you to the ground.

“Hey, that’s not fair!” You struggled against him. “You know you’re fast when you fly!”

He looked at you mischievously. “And what about it?”

“You can’t race me like that when I’m on foot!”

“Who said we were racing?” His eyes locked on your lips. “I was just trying to catch up to you.”

You blushed, suddenly realizing how close his face was to yours.

“Kei–” you started.

“Can I kiss you?” He interrupted you, then quickly blushed. “I mean, only if you want to-”

You wrapped your hands in his hair, interrupting him with a kiss.

He tasted like the remnants of strawberries and cream, sweet honey on a beautiful spring day.

And it was a beautiful spring day.

Perhaps the last beautiful spring day you’d ever have, for the next spring, he was gone.

Beautiful spring days were few and far between. You’d learned that the hard way.

But today…you were inclined to think that it might be another one of those days.

Your boyfriend of two years had proposed on a beautiful spring day reminiscent of one long ago.

You supposed that this marked a series of firsts.

First date. First kiss. And now…a proposal.

You accept his proposal, tears in your eyes. He thinks that they’re tears of happiness, and in part, they are.

You don’t tell him that this was the one thing that you never thought you’d do. You feel like you’re betraying Keigo.

You have to remind yourself that he betrayed you first.

Half a year later, you have a wedding. It’s a small wedding, with only your families and close friends. You considered reaching out to Hawks’s hero agency, but decided to spare yourself the pain.

He’d moved on. So would you.

Unbeknownst to you, when the ceremony rolled around, Keigo was standing on a nearby rooftop, the wind blowing away his tears.

He couldn’t believe how beautiful you were.

He knew that he couldn’t have you, but didn’t you know that he was a sucker for pain? Watching you repeat the vows was like getting punched full-force in the gut, but the wind never returned to his lungs.

He felt empty inside. Something essential was missing, and he knew what it was, but he also knew that he couldn’t ever have it. Not if he wanted you to stay alive.

As the ceremony finished, he flew away into the sunset, and you caught a glimpse of his crimson wings, purely on accident. You shook your head in disbelief.

“Now I’m hallucinating too,” you muttered to yourself.

But no matter how hard you tried to convince yourself you imagined the whole thing, that final view made it so much harder for you to forget him.

Another year passed, and the seasons changed as they did. Spring flowing into summer, summer fading into autumn, autumn slowly drifting into winter.

Gradually, your new life engulfed you, the comfort of it all slowly draining away your doubts. Your husband was a good man. A faithful man. A caring man.

He held doors open for you and snuggled you on the couch. He played with your hair and made you breakfast in bed. He made it difficult for you not to love him.

You weren’t entirely sure you wanted to resist, anyways.

One night, you woke up in your shared bed, screaming in pain. Your lower back burned, almost as if you were getting branded.

Your husband woke up to the commotion. The bedsheets were stained with blood. Fresh, crimson, blood, all of it coming from you.

Whimpering, you laid limp as Masaki set you on your belly, trying to figure out the source of the injury. Taking a clean paper towel, he gingerly wiped the blood off of your raw skin, showing a tattoo emblazoned in gold ink.

Written in elegant cursive were three simple words.

Three words, but they hurt to look at.

(Y/N) …I’m sorry.

Your husband stared in shock. This didn’t happen. This couldn’t happen, could it? The only way someone got a tattoo like this was if their soulmate died, and, well…he was still very much alive.

He wasn’t your soulmate.

In this world, quirks weren’t the only strange thing.

Soulmates existed. But most never found out until it was too late.

When your soulmate died, their last words would be tattooed permanently on their other half’s skin in a bloody and painful process.

Their last moments would flash before the other’s eyes.

Nothing you could do. Nothing you could be sure of, until it was too late.

Fires blazed everywhere.

Building after building, it ate away at the crumbling city, tearing down everything in its path.

“Help!” A voice choked out, raspy from smoke intake. “There’s a beam—ugh—on my leg. I can’t get it off!”

A winged figure crouched on a burning rooftop, out of breath and utterly exhausted.

Backup wasn’t coming.

The whole city was burning.

Standing shakily, he sent the last of his feathers off to help the trapped woman.

“That’s it for me then, I suppose,” his smile wobbled slightly. “My work here is done.”

He couldn’t risk jumping off of the roof. His wings were stubs on his back, and only a single feather remained.

“That’s not enough for me to fly off, now is it?” He chuckled mirthlessly. “Oh, if only you could see me right now, (Y/N). You’d be proud. Saved more than 500 people today, you know that?” He sighed, sitting down on the roof. “Lost count somewhere around there. You were always proud of me, weren’t you? The only one that believed in me when I told myself I couldn’t fly.

You’re the one that taught me to fly, remember, chicken? Those were the good times.

Look at me now. Talking to myself. Don’t even have the strength to fly down anymore.” He coughed into his hand, blood staining his palm. He grasped tightly onto a keychain around his neck, smearing the metal with crimson.

“I never did thank you. Guess it’s too late now.” He stared up at the sky, hues of orange and gold dancing across the horizon.

“Never did treat you right.” He plucked his last feather off of his back, twirling it around in his fingers.

“You were always too good for me. Too good for anyone, really.” He laid down on the roof, back no longer sensitive to the burning heat.

“I lost the right to love you a long time ago. I’ve got no business crying over you.” He chuckled bitterly. “But is that going to stop me?”

Letting go of the keychain and his feather, his hands went limp.

“(Y/N),” he sighed, closing his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

The roof collapsed, the hungry flames licking at the bottom finally swallowing him whole. His comms fell out of his ear, the plastic melting in the heat.

A single red feather floated down to the ground, charred and blackened.

The only remains of his body they’ll ever find.

You were sobbing uncontrollably. Keigo.

He was your soulmate.

The boy you loved.

The one who’d abandoned you.

The one who you tried to forget.

He was your soulmate.

Your soulmate, who was dead.

“Turn…turn on the TV,” you whispered weakly. “Turn it on. I need to see.”

Masaki reached for the remote, flipping it on to the news channel.

“Earlier tonight, a bomb was detonated in Nagoya prefecture. Top heroes were on the scene, including Endeavor and Hawks, but their quirks are ill-suited to fight the conflagration. Endeavor has resorted to using brute strength to rescue people from the rubble, while Hawks hasn’t been seen since the beginning of the night. We are now reporting his status as MIA, and will continue to look for the Winged Hero, along with updating our reports on the status of missing civilians–”

You shut the TV off. You’d heard all you needed to.

Throwing on a mishmash of clothing, you sprinted out the door. Hailing a taxi, you hopped in before it had even screeched to a full stop.

“Hawks Hero Agency.” You told the driver, not bothering to mince your words. You hadn’t bothered to wipe all the blood off of your back either, so it was gradually staining your coat a deep crimson, a mocking parody of the way that Keigo’s feathers used to lay against his back.

His feathers that were burnt, charred, turned to ashes, no longer able to bring you the comfort they once had when they wrapped you in a warm embrace.

The driver looked concerned. “Miss, do you know what happened today? Hawks isn’t–”

“Yes, I know. Drive.”

You pressed your forehead against the window, breath steaming up the glass. It reminded you of one winter, when the two of you had been building snowmen, and your mother called you in for dinner.

“Kei, I have to go,” you tugged at his hand.

“Aww, (Y/N),” he kicked at an unfortunate stone with the scuffed toe of his boot. “Why can’t you stay a little longer? We haven’t finished his head yet.” He pouted.

“I can’t, Kei,” you tried to make him release his iron grip on your hand. “Mama’s gonna get mad.”

“Then I’ll make you stay!” He boldly declared, wrapping his little arms around your frame, tackling you to the snow-covered ground.

The two of you giggled, engaged in a tickle war, your mom’s voice fading into the distance.

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N)!” Your mom yelled, marching over to where the two of you lay, tangled in a heap. “Do you want to get a cold?”

“No, Mama,” you said, slowly getting up and dusting the snow off of your parka. “I’m coming.” You turned around and poked your tongue out at your friend, letting your mom drag you back into your house.

Keigo sat in the snow for a while longer, not exactly excited to go back to his house.

Suddenly, an idea popped into his head.

He beat his little wings as fast as he could, half flying, half stumbling to your kitchen window.

Sneaking a peek inside, he saw you staring questioningly back at him. Not bothering to hide his mischievous grin, he puffed out a breath, steaming the window, took his little glove off, and started writing.

“D O  Y O U  W A N T  T O  F L Y  W I T H  M E ?” He painstakingly wrote out.

You shook your head, and his grin quickly dropped from his face. Looking down, he almost missed the words you mouthed out.

“I can’t read it!” You tried your best to sign. “It’s backwards!”

“Oh!” He tried his best to write the mirror image of what he had just written, making sure that you could read it from your point of view this time. You read his little message, a grin taking over your face.

“Y E S!” You mouthed. “YES, YES, YES!”

Quickly scarfing down your dinner, you waved a hasty goodbye to your mom, racing out the back door, only to get tackled into the snow.

“Come on, let’s go!” He took ahold of your hand. “Race you!”

“You can’t race me if you’re holding my hand!” You shrieked in delight. “Stop it!”

He paused, turning around. “Hmm. Well, maybe I don’t want to race you then,” he looked at you with a small smile on his face. “I wanna try something new!”

“Oh?” You asked, seeing the way his eyes lit up with delight. “What is it?”

“I wanna fly! With you!”

Giggling, he turned you around so that your back was facing him. He circled his arms below your armpits.

“Hang on!” He flapped his wings as fast as he could, kicking up a storm of snow around you. To his surprise, he actually managed to lift the two of you off the ground for around 3 feet or so. He wasn’t expecting it to work on his first try, but the two of you really were flying!

Sighing, you turned away from the window.

Happier times, you chuckled mirthlessly.

Isn’t it sad that I’m only remembering them now?

The car screeched to a stop at the front door to the Hawks Hero Agency.

You stepped into the lobby, the fluorescent lights blinding.

It’s the middle of the night, but they don’t seem to mind, you thought. Everyone was bustling around the place like it was normal.

The receptionist had changed since you’d last been here.

She spotted you and hurried over, most likely because of the blood staining your clothes.

“Miss, are you hurt?” She gave you a once-over. “Can I help you?”

You stared at her in shock for a moment. What were you here for again?

“Oh…uh,” you wrung your hands nervously. “I’m here for Hawks.”

Her expression of concern melted away into one of annoyance. “Another fangirl. This one appears to be married too,” she scoffed at the band adorning your left ring finger. “People these days…” she muttered underneath her breath, already hurrying back to her desk, where the phone rang incessantly.

“No. I’m not a fangirl.” You lifted your head. You might be in pain, but damned if you were going to let a stranger strip you of the remaining shreds of your dignity.

“I’m his soulmate.”

The way you said that phrase with such conviction made the lady pause.

“Soulmate?” She questioned. Girls had tried this trick on her before, but…when asked to prove themselves, they merely responded with “oh, it’s just a feeling,” or “I just know it.”

Never once had anyone said this phrase with such confidence.

“Yes.” You shut your eyes, defiantly holding back tears. “You have comms, right? What did he say before the comms died?”

The lady stared back at you, a pang of sorrow shooting its way into her heart. You weren’t joking around, were you?

“I…yes, yes we do. What’s your name, miss?”

You sucked in a deep breath. “(Y/N). (Y/N) (Y/L/N).”

She stared at you for another moment, then quietly pulled out her comms.

“He said…” she choked a little. “He said, ‘(Y/N) …I’m sorry.’ We weren’t sure who he was talking about. We assumed it was a civilian he wasn’t able to save,” she pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. “Oh God…”

Quietly, she choked out another question. “Was it…was he talking about…you?”

You didn’t want to reply. You’d heard enough.

The lady didn’t try to stop you as you ran to the elevator, your fingertip pressing the “up” button so hard it bruised.

Quickly looking at the directory, you found his office.

“420.” You choked out a pained laugh. “He always did like messing around with people.”

Collapsing against the corner of the elevator, you wrapped your arms around your knees and lowered your head. You felt so goddamn tired.

Why did it have to be you?

Why couldn’t he break someone else’s heart?

Someone who was stronger?

Someone who could take this in stride and move on?

Why did the universe choose you?

The elevator bell dinged, rousing you from your thoughts. You stood up slowly, a trail of blood staining the place where you once sat.

Crimson, like the trail of feathers he’d (perhaps intentionally) shed during that game of hide and seek.

You buried your face into your hands.

Goddamnit, Keigo! Why does everything have to remind me of you?

You made your way into his office, most likely the messiest of all the top pro-hero offices. Paperwork was scattered everywhere, jackets strewn across the floor. You even saw a shoelace string laying on the carpet next to his desk.

It’s almost as if he’d always expected to come back.

Stepping cautiously over the objects that littered the ground, you came face-to-face with a cabinet next to his desk.

Snowglobes. So many snowglobes.

Snowglobes occupied every shelf of the cabinet, and the glass doors made it easy to examine the contents.

You squinted closely at them. They were all…different angles of the same scene, you realized.

The snow park above your houses.

He’d had snowglobes made.

They immortalized the place where the two of you played all day in the snow.

The place where he first learned how to fly, gliding off the hills like a paraglider.

The place where he’d picked you up and learned how to fly with another person’s life in his hands, hugging you close to his chest, reveling in your warmth.

In the spring, it was the place where he took you on your first picnic date.

The place where the two of you shared your first kiss.

The place where he left you his goodbye note, tucked away under the grounding weight of a boulder you used to lay on, basking in the sun’s warmth.

He’d had 12 snowglobes made. Your lucky number.

12 different angles that showcased the same scenery.

Suddenly, your legs wouldn’t carry your weight anymore. You leaned back into his chair, still smelling faintly of his scent.

How can someone’s scent not change over 13 years?

You closed your eyes, and quickly opened them again when you saw a pile of letters on the corner of the desk.

You weren’t sure why they caught your eye. They weren’t anything special, really. Plain white envelopes addressed in plain black print.

You took a closer look.

That was your name on the envelopes.

You leaned closer, quickly shuffling through them all.

Each and every single one of them was addressed to you.

Each and every single one of them was dated a year apart.

Each and every single one of them was marked for your various addresses over the years, his handwriting steadily improving.

You couldn’t resist your curiosity. Taking a paper cutter, you tore through the seal of the earliest envelope.

A single red feather, beautifully preserved, floated out.

You stared in shock. He…he didn’t forget.

He never forgot.

He just chose not to send it.

Hurriedly opening the remaining envelopes, you acquired more feathers, each fresher than the last.

By the end, you had a pile of 13 crimson feathers, right next to 13 shredded envelopes.

You looked around, confused. Why hadn’t he left a note? Any note?

Did he…did he never write letters?

You knew that you had sent him letters.

Maybe they did throw them out as spam.

Your curiosity piqued, you pulled open drawer after drawer, but none of them held anything of personal importance.

Finally, you came upon the bottom right drawer.

It was locked, you realized.

You carefully place the feathers back in their respective envelopes. Sealing them up once again, you carry them in a stack, making your way downstairs.

The agency workers saw you with the letters in your arms, not sure if they should stop you or not. When you looked to the receptionist and murmured a quiet “thank you”, they stood their ground. If she was okay with you walking away like this, then there shouldn’t be a reason that they wouldn’t be.

The taxi driver who took you here was still waiting outside. Seeing you arrive, he stomped out his cigarette butt and opened the backseat door for you.

“Rough night, miss?” He looked at your back, pity obvious in his expression. “Do you want me to take you to a hospital with that?”

You shook your head. “They can’t fix that. Do you remember the way we came?”

“Aye, yes I do,” he stepped into his own seat. “I’ll take you there right quick, miss. Don’t you worry.”

As you rode back home in silence, you couldn’t stop thinking about the cabinet in Keigo’s office.

The feathers, folded away safely in the envelopes you were holding.

If he never forgot, why did he never reach out?

The car door slamming shook you from your daze. “Miss, you’re back home.”

You stared at the man, realizing that you didn’t have your wallet on you.

“Do you mind waiting a second? I’ll go get my wallet now–”

He shook his head. “I know where that blood came from. See here?” He rolled up his sleeve.

“Got mine when I was 22,” a melancholy smile framed his face. “Rare, right? I never did find out who she was.

But the hospital staff helped me that day. Looked for deaths around my age, and then when I tried to pay ‘em, they refused. Said ‘twas only the right thing to do. Now I finally get to repay the favor. Don’t you go tryna pay me now. Won’t ‘ccept it.”

He leaned back against the hood of his car. When you opened your mouth to object, he merely saluted you, hopped back into the driver’s seat, and drove off into the night.

You turned to your house. The lights were still on inside, meaning your husband was still up. He probably couldn’t sleep, not after what had just happened. You couldn’t blame him.

Stepping inside, you heard muffled sobs coming from the kitchen.

“Masaki?” You leaned on the doorframe. He looked up at your voice.

“(Y/N)?” He rose from the table. “You’re…you’re okay,” he wrapped you in a hug.

You cleared your throat. “…yeah. Yeah, I’m okay,” you hugged him back.

I’m okay, you tried to convince yourself.

“Where did you go?” He looked at you curiously. Finally seeing the envelopes in your arms, he paused.

“Babe?” He asked softly. “Did you…did you know him?”

You buried your face into his chest. “Yeah…yeah, I did.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked softly.

“Not really…not now…” you replied.

He patted your back lightly. “That’s ok. I understand.”

The rest of the night went by in a blur. The letters were scattered on your nightstand, your husband helping you into the shower. He’s changed the bloody sheets already, but the stains on the mattress were stubborn and refused to come out.

Crimson stains, in the shape of wings.

Days later, some people from the agency stopped by your house.

“Is there a (Y/N) (Y/L/N) at this address?” The receptionist from your earlier encounter knocked on the door.

“Uh, hi. Yeah, that’s me,” you answered, not bothering to change out of your bathrobe. Your complexion had grown waxen, face shallow. Your hair formed an unkempt nest, spiraling around your face.

She gave you a smile, pity etched in her face. It disgusted you, really.

All anyone ever gave you nowadays was pity. Pity cards from your coworkers, although you weren’t sure how the information leaked out. Pitiful glances from your husband, who insisted on doing all the chores around the house.

Pity, pity, pity.

“What is it?” You asked her.

“We have some…documents for you.” She waved over two guys, each lugging a large crate of…paper?

“Wait…all that? For me?” You were confused. There was no way that that bottom drawer, even if all it contained were letters, had that much paper in it.

“Yes, (Y/L/N)-san. It’s all for you.” The men dropped off their crates at your door.

“What’s going on?”

“These were stored in the records house. Hawks filed them. They were all addressed to you, so we felt that this was the proper treatment.”

“We’ll leave you to go through these in your own time.” She started down the steps. Then, as if remembering something suddenly, she paused.

“You know…he was a good man,” she smiled gently. “We all knew he had a secret someone. We just didn’t know who they were. I’m glad he found you. Hero work is dangerous, especially for top heroes like him.

I hope that you find joy in those letters.” She turned back and finished her journey down the steps.

You turned around and looked at the crates.

Found me?

You smiled bitterly, a brittle coldness taking over your heart.

He never really did find me, did he?

Sighing, you sorted through the crates, looking for the ones that were dated the earliest. You carried the oldest set of letters into the bedroom and tore open the first envelope.

Hey, (Y/N). It’s me, Kei.

I hope you haven’t forgotten about me. I mean, I’m not an easy person to forget, I suppose, but it has been a while. Three years, to be exact.

Three years can do a lot to a person.

I should know.

How are you doing? I hope you managed to keep Timothy alive. You were always prone to overwatering him.

I’m not sure how long cacti live, but…if you nurture something, anything can happen, right?

I’m a hero now. I’m sure you know. My debut was broadcasted all over national television. They just can’t resist making themselves look good, can they?

At least now I’m allowed to write. I hope you understand why I haven’t written to you in so long.

I didn’t forget about you. How could I? Even though we were only 15, how could I forget someone like you?

I missed you. I don’t think you understand how much. It felt so empty, living without you by my side. Like…like I wasn’t ever warm enough, even bundled in the tightest blankets. I was always missing you.

Sounds like a curse, eh?

But don’t worry. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I just wanted you to know that.

Yours, Kei.

Ripping open letter after letter, you realized that you held his entire life story in your hands.

Hey chicken. It’s Kei again.

Realized I’ve been treating these letters as a kind of diary. I guess it’s…therapeutic? Even though I know I’ll never send these. I don’t want to put you in danger, you know?

Do you remember when we were kids?

We had all the time in the world to do whatever we wanted.

I miss that time.

Not as much as I miss you though.

I check in on you every so often, but I make sure you never see.

False hope is a dangerous thing. It shatters your soul into pieces, and when you try and piece them back together, it cuts your heart so badly you wish you’d never started.

But, you see, you’re like a drug for me.

I can’t seem to stop myself. No matter how bad it hurts, I…I still come back.

You wouldn’t know, of course.

I suppose there’s a reason it hurts when you stare into the sun.

I’m already broken, yeah? I don’t want you to break with me.

The thing is, I know you’d want to. I know we promised we’d always come back for each other. We promised we’d always be here for each other.

But some promises were meant to be broken.

You can’t be here for me, birdie. You’ll get hurt.

That would hurt me more than anything else, (Y/N).

So for my own safety, and yours…

This is the last time I’ll write to you.

I have to move on, or else those pieces of my soul?

They’re already in splinters, but if I keep going like this, they’ll be nothing more than powder, and I don’t think I could go on like that, yeah?

I love you, forever and always.

Kei.

Ha. Guess what.

What I said in the last letter?

A fucking lie.

I physically. Can’t stop.

The thought of not writing to you breaks me more than the thought of never being with you, and that’s a milestone I never thought I’d be able to pass.

So here I am again.

You’ve already heard my entire life story.

I wish I could be there to hear yours.

I saw you tonight, standing on your balcony. You know, the stars were so bright tonight. Reminded me of your eyes the first time I flew with you around the whole field, yeah?

Sparkling. You never stop sparkling, do you?

You know…do you ever wonder who your soulmate is?

I know that the world is cruel. I know that we don’t know exactly who our soulmates are until one of us dies.

But…do you ever think about it?

Who’s out there, just waiting for you?

Because I do.

And sometimes, when I’m at rock bottom, I’ll imagine that we’re soulmates.

I’ll create scenarios in my head. We’d be happily married. I’d spoon-feed you ice cream.

We’d play tickle wars with my feathers, have pillow fights, binge TV shows.

We’d watch horror movies, and you’d hide your face in my chest the whole time.

But…those scenarios always make me feel worse after I wake up. Because they’re not real.

And I…I so desperately want them to be real.

But you can’t always get what you wish for, yeah?

Going on a big mission soon. Undercover. Cool, right?

You’d be proud of me, I think, if you saw me.

I have to go now. But I’ll come back safe for you, yeah?

I know you won’t wait for me. I want you to wait for me, but…I know it’s not in your best interests. Probably not in mine either.

Sometimes I try and convince myself that it’s okay to be selfish. I want what I want, and you only live once, right?

But then I realize that you’re the one I’d be putting in danger.

And that’s when I realize you can’t ever stay with me.

It’s okay. I’ll watch from afar.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stop loving you.

Yours,

Kei.

You put the letter down and rummaged through the second crate, desperately trying to find the last letter that he wrote.

Hey birdie. Long time no see. Ha.

13 years and I still can’t forget about you. Doesn’t seem normal, does it?

I’m convinced that we’re soulmates, but then again, I may have convinced myself. You know…I used to hate the idea of soulmates. Sharing your life with another person, seen as incomplete without them?

Sharing my soul?

Bunch of crap, right? I like making my own decisions. Wasn’t ever much of a rule-stickler. But…you know…I’m starting to warm up to that idea.

But only with you.

And that’s why I’m convinced that we are, in fact, soulmates.

You don’t know how my heart breaks every time I see you. Manual is a good guy. I know he’s treating you well.

That’s the only reason I’m letting you stay married to him, really. If it was anyone else, I would’ve busted their ass.

But…you deserve someone like him. Someone who can give you their all.

Someone who, if you date them…they won’t lead you into danger.

Soulmates are a finicky concept, yeah?

So…I guess we’ll never know ‘till one of us dies.

Yours,

Kei.

Epilogue

Rainy winter days were the saddest days of the year.

Especially today.

Strolling through the park, you held a black umbrella in one hand and clutched a glass case tightly in the other.

You stopped in front of a marble headstone.

“Hey there,” your voice cracked.

“Miss me?”

A whistling wind, scattering powdered snow and frozen rain across the landscape, was your only answer.

“Kei, I–” You collapsed onto your knees, uncaring of whether or not the cold would seep in. It couldn’t get colder than your soul now, anyways.

“I…I didn’t go to your funeral.” Tears rolled down your cheeks, leaving a silvery sheen in their wake. “There were too many people and I…I couldn’t handle it.”

“But…Kei…” You choked out an ugly sob. “Why didn’t you send me the fucking letters?”

“I don’t care how dangerous your work was. You can’t get anywhere without taking risks in life, Kei!” You screamed at the marble façade, willing it to crumble.

“You can’t–”

“You can’t make my decisions for me!”

“I should be the one who gets to choose who I love!”

Your screams attracted the attention of several bystanders, who quickly averted their eyes and walked away when they saw your distraught state.

“You shouldn’t have tried to choose for me!”

“And now–”

“You’re dead, Kei! What am I supposed to do now?” Your tears pooled on the frozen ground, marking little dents in the snow.

You slammed your fists into the ground, the glass case in your hand cracking.

Another ugly sob made its way out.

“Kei–” you whimpered.

The glass shattered, splintering into thousands of tiny pieces, each fragment glittering like diamonds.

Slivers found their way into your palm.

Crimson blood, the color of the worn-out feather freed from its enclosure, splattered the snow-white ground.

“Kei,” you whispered, carefully placing the feather on top of the chiseled marble.

“Wherever you are, I hope you’re happy.”

Masterlist

[ohnopoe]

Potential Breakup Song | Jack Daniels

Ship: Jack Daniels x Reader Summary: It’s your birthday, and all you want to do is have a few drinks with your boyfriend, but when he doesn’t show, your coworker, Jack, takes it upon himself to check on you Word Count: 2.2k+ Tagging: @the-purity-pen​  Author’s Note: Ok so this... idk how this happened tbh. BUT I’d kind of love to write more for these two, I have some slight ideas, but idk... so if you’d like to see something more please let me know!

Sitting there alone at the little booth you had claimed over an hour earlier certainly wasn’t how you had expected the evening to go. You had been happy, excited even, when you finally grabbed your coat to leave Statesmen for the day, readying yourself for a proper, fun night out with your boyfriend.

Sure, you’d had to remind him twice already to meet you at the little bar you liked that was not far from work, and sure maybe it would have been fun to invite some friends too, but this was your birthday, and even having a few drinks with your man seemed better than nothing.

But the day had seemed to drag on, as if it knew you were anticipating the well-needed break.

With every knock on the door, a part of you couldn’t help but hope for something, although you couldn’t quite tell what.

Would it have been nice if your coworkers had realised what day it was? Sure. But then, hiding it off facebook had been your decision, and you couldn’t truly blame them for not knowing when you were so careful about keeping things separate between work and home. But with each interruption to your work came a following disappointment. Reports were required, devices needed testing, and not one person seemed to have anything but more work to add to your pile.

Dread was dancing in your periphery, but you refused to give into it.

You had decided this. You had been the one to do that damn stupid idea and hide your information in some desperate plea that someone would remember you even without the irritating little notification Facebook offered. You couldn’t blame others for your own actions, no matter how much it hurt to feel so damned forgotten on your birthday of all things.

But, as you sat alone in the booth at your favourite bar, well, that dread sure was starting to egg away at you.

Another glance at your phone, a silent reminder of just how long you’d been waiting along with the lack of any explanation, only helped solidify your negativity. What if he wasn’t coming? What if he’d forgotten too?

The drink you’d been nursing for the better part of an hour sat before you, the ice had melted into the mix, making it weak and watery as you took a hesitant sip once more. If he wasn’t there by the time you finished, you’d leave. That’s what you’d said to yourself some thirty minutes ago when the drink had arrived. But even you could see you were drawing out the inevitable now, taking slow sips in the hopes of prolonging what little chance there was.

“Either that’s the worst damn drink you’ve ever had, or somethin’s on your mind,” a familiar voice almost cooed from above you, amusement tangling with something you couldn’t quite place as the silhouette of Agent Whiskey blocked out a good portion of the bar.

Offering a half hearted smile, you took a determined gulp of the drink in your hand, stubbornly meeting his gaze as you did so. There was always something about the agent that brought out a fierce competitive side in you, and maybe it was the sheer determination to not appear as pathetic as you felt, but you found yourself offering a smirk as you placed it down on the table without a word, silently challenging him.

“Alright, maybe not,” he offered a chuckle, lips pulling into a smile and drawing out that dimple that caught far too much attention.

“Something I can help you with, Whiskey?” and damn it, that didn’t come off half as harsh as you had hoped. Hell, it didn’t even come off sarcastic. The usual fire in your tone seemed lost, and you could only hope he didn’t hear the way your voice broke ever so slightly with the question.

You weren’t used to this. You’d kept your private life private for a reason, kept yourself away from the work functions and the celebratory drinks in the hopes of distancing yourself from the people you worked with for the most part, and now, having him in front of you out in the real world, when you were already so damn close to breaking… it wasn’t something you were quite prepared for.

“You looked like you could use some company,” he answered simply with a shrug, and if his eyes hadn’t blazed with that intensity you’d seen so often when he was in the field, you might just have believed he was as nonchalant as he attempted to appear.

But his statement brought another thought, more harrowing than the last, and you had to take another sip of your drink to wet your suddenly dry throat as it plagued you.

“How long have you been watching me?”

With a sigh, that playful smirk you’d seen so often slipped from his lips. With a quick point to the opposite side of the booth, he waited until you nodded your consent before slipping in with yet another sigh, but still he didn’t answer your question.

“Don’t see you around here often,” and it almost sounded like a line, were it not for the curious way his gaze took you in as he spoke.

Your shrug was an attempt at something casual, but you knew he was too damn good at reading people to fall for that. “Maybe it wasn’t my idea,” it was. “Maybe someone asked me here,” they didn’t.

But he seemed to read more from your words than you thought you had offered, his attention falling from you to the drink in your hand, before darting around the room and landing on the door.

“Well, he’s a damn fool to leave you waiting,” he huffed, and, while you still felt on edge being around the agent you worked with day in and day out, a small, albeit genuine, smile broke through your demeanour.

It was just a line, just a statement anyone would make upon hearing someone had potentially been stood up. Your mind was screaming at you to remember that it didn’t truly hold the weight you desperately wished it did. But your heart clung to those words.

Were you really this desperate for someone to actually care about you on your birthday that you were clinging to hollow words said out of propriety? Damn, maybe you were. Maybe Ginger had been right all along, you really should go out with her some time, maybe having some real friends at work wouldn’t be all that bad after all.

“Alright, what about this,” Jack broke your harrowing line of thought with that charming smile he had down pat. “I buy you a drink, we relax, have a good time… if he shows, he shows, and I’ll leave y’all to it, if not, well, hopefully I’m not the worst company.”

A laugh, the first you’d managed all day, escaped your lips as you shook your head at the cowboy’s poor attempt at humility.

“Why would you do that?” the question sounded meeker than you would have liked, and you had to glance away when his confused gaze met yours. But the bar was filled with distractions, even if it wasn’t particularly busy, and you quickly clung to them as you regained some sort of a backbone. “You know damn well half the bar is eyeing you off, you don’t need to waste your evening on me, Jack.”

If his breath caught at hearing your slip up, hearing you utter his name for the first time in far too long, well, he was damn good at hiding it behind that playful smirk. But there was still that shine to his gaze as he watched you so intently that you could feel it even as you focused on swirling the small remainders of your drink.

“And leave you to this lot?” he questioned playfully, raising a brow as he gestured around you both comically. “Honey, I know all too well what these types would do to a pretty lil thing like you, all alone.”

“You would know,” you scoffed a laugh, and, damn it, how was it so easy to relax around him? You’d known him for years, sure, but never personally, always keeping that carefully concocted professional appearance in place.

“Darlin’, are you implying something here?” there it was, that playful lilt to his tone that he always seemed to offer at just the right time, almost cracking your hard exterior more times that you’d care to admit.

“You forget, Whiskey,” you pause, giving him a pointed look that didn’t quite have its usual impact as your lips desperately struggled to hide that playful smile that wanted to break free. “I’ve been on the other end of the comms during far too many of your missions. I know all too well what you’re capable of.”

The smirk he gave in response held a twinge of danger, his eyes lighting up as he leant forwards just enough to capture your full attention. This was a side of Jack you had seen through his glasses many times, a side he hadn’t shown you since you shot him down cold at the very beginning of your working together, and it was a side that could thrill even the most cold hearted of individuals, you were sure.

“Oh, darlin’, you have no idea.”

Well, that certainly shouldn’t have affected you as much as it did.

You’d been working with Whiskey for years now, you knew all too well what he was like, how much he liked to flirt and mess around. You’d watched through his glasses camera on numerous occasions as he flirted his way into the beds of targets, each time rolling your eyes to yourself because you’d surely never fall for something so cheesy.

But then, you’d always been safely seeing things from his perspective, hadn’t you? You’d never seen that intense gaze he offered along with those words, never watched as his tongue darted out to wet those plush lips… damn, maybe you weren’t as strong as you had always thought.

“Babe, hey!” a puffed out breath came from beside you, drawing your attention away from the perfect cupid’s bow that was hidden behind that neatly trimmed moustache.

You almost jumped at the sound, turning quickly to see your boyfriend standing there, looking none too happy to see you sitting there with another man, and, despite the fact you’d been waiting for, was that two hours now?, you felt guilt creep in.

“Hey!” you offered the brightest smile you could, even if it felt somewhat off as you glanced between the two men.

They couldn’t have been more different if they tried. One, the epitome of the suave cowboy, the other in what he so affectionally labelled ‘prime casual fashion’, or, as you secretly called it, jumped up t-shirts that had no right to charge as much as they did. Jack was leaning back in the booth, exuding comfort and confidence, while your boyfriend stood there glancing between you and Jack with a tense jaw. In fact, the only similarity between the two seemed to be the intense fire that sat in their gazes as they eyed one another up.

Oh good, yet another display of stupid macho masculinity. With a roll of your eyes, you cleared your throat, quickly gaining the attention of the silently feuding men. “Jack, this is my boyfriend, Tim-”

“Timothy,” Tim interjected, standing up even straighter, as if the use of his full name would hold some form of power.

Closing your eyes to avoid rolling them once more as you watched him look down his nose at Whiskey, you ignored the interruption. “Tim,” you started once more, more than a hint of irritation in your tone at the fact the same man who had left you waiting for so long was now trying to play some kind of stupid game. “This is Jack, we work together.”

It seemed the two didn’t particularly care about introductions, or, for that matter, manners, as they continued to stare at one another in silence for a long moment.

“I’ll leave y’all to it,” Jack spoke suddenly, breaking the tense atmosphere with a nod as he moved far too smoothly out of the booth. How he always seemed to move with such elegance had often caused you to wonder. It didn’t seem to match the macho cowboy exterior he gave off, but worked so seamlessly when he was in a fight. It was a part of him, small and subtle, that had caught your attention more times than it ought.

Only when Tim sidled up next to you, pushing you further into the booth did your mind fall back to reality with a frown. Words were already falling out of his mouth, mentions of his day, of the clients he had dealt with, and not a word of apology for how late he was, and that same resignation you had felt earlier seemed to sweep over you once more.

“Happy birthday, Y/N,” Jack spoke softly, the words somehow a farewell. His smile was gentle as he met your surprised gaze.

And then, just as suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone, leaving the bar’s doors swaying after him as your boyfriend clambered for your attention.

[generallybrontidefeelings]

News for you

A/N: OKAY, gave myself a break to write this lil thing because I needed some fluff from the angst pit I dug myself into. Written for @221bshrlocked #maggies17 writing challenge! Thank you for the prompt, madam, I had fun with this :) also any mistakes belong to me!

Pairing: Javier Peña x reader, Javier Peña x you

Summery: Javi and Steve recruit you, a humble photographer, for a hop, skip, and a jump of a mission. It goes sideways. 

Prompt: 66 “I’ve decided to write a how-to manual and you’re going to be the ‘what not to do’ example.”

Warnings: unbeta’d. T rating, a swear word? Tension, adrenaline! fluff, hiding in the trunk of a car? Protective DEA agents. A smooch! A very self-indulgent comfort fic

Words: ~3K ish

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“Javier-ommph.” His shoulders bonked your nose as he turned himself over and around in the trunk of the bronco, further squishing you between himself and Steve. “It’s been three hours. If no one shows up, I’m going to kill you!”

“Okay, honey, later,” he mumbled, looking past you out the rearview window. Low yellow light from the Bogotà street lamps hit his eyes and left the rest of his face in the shadows. His chest rose and fell as he scanned outside, past your head. Behind you, you hear Steve fiddling with his sidearm, clicking the cylinder into place. It’s the lowness, the calming choice of words that make the situation really click for you. 

You had stayed as still as you could on your side, sandwiched between the DEA agents’ shoulders. Imagining yourself cartoonishly small helped the awkwardness of having to choose between your ass bumping Steve’s hip, and your thigh lying against Javi’s. The three of you lie very still, listening. 

This wasn’t your job. Your job was to sit in the CIA designated office, walk files back and forth between offices, and develop crime scene photos. That was it. It was not as Javi had phrased it ‘doing us a huge favor’ by playing ‘date’ for the evening so he and Murphy could discreetly plant a camera in a hotel room across the way from some sicario’s hideaway. Without thinking too much about it, you tucked your nose against Javi’s shoulder and worked on compartmentalizing what was happening around you. He smelled like faded vetiver, the orange he’d eaten while waiting for Steve to install the tiny camera, and sweat drawn on by the humidity. He met your eyes, glowing sharp and dark under the lamplight, and you saw his apology in them. 

The back of the bronco opened you inhaled sharply and squeezed your eyes shut, yelping as Javi’s whole body lands on you, and preparing for noise.

“It’s clear, agents, you can come out.”

The image Carillo found when he opened the trunk would have been comical. The gringos bodies squished impossibly in the trunk of the Bronco; Murphy and his dumbass long legs curled upward like a dried-out harvestman blinking in the flashlight glare, and behind him, Peña practically lying on top of a you - a woman he vaguely recognized from the embassy if he squinted. And it didn’t look like the way Peña normally lied over women. Your face heated up under the warm flashlights and your own welling relief. 

When the car door started rattling, Javier had tried to crawl over you and push you behind him, or under him, somewhere not as vulnerable. But in the cramped quarters, he’d only gotten as far as moving his back completely on top of you so you were the big spoon - a big spoon who was near suffocating and panicking. His ass fell heavily into your hip bone, sending a shooting pain down your leg. All you could see was Javi’s shoulder, and the blinding flashlights of the Search Bloc men. 

“Did you get the camera installed?” Carillo asks, as you try to stay still under Javi’s deadweight.

“Yeah, it’s in.” His voice reverberates through you, and you want to smack him for dragging you into this situation. 

“You better get up, Peña, or you’ll suffocate that poor woman.” Your eyes popped open, and you gave in, smacking Javi on the shoulder until he moved. You hissed when you tried to sit up, your hip burning and calve cramping at the same time. The flashlights died, and you were back to sitting in the orange hued shadows inside the Bronco trunk. 

“All right, lady?” Steve asked, hanging his legs off the trunk of the car. Men with rifles stalk around the vehicle, one reporting to Carillo, another two keeping sharp eyes out. It’s quiet for the amount of bodies milling around.  

“Yeah-ow. I’ll be okay.” Javi was moving quietly, looking apologetic, glancing between your sore hip and your face. 

“You’re heavy, Peña,” you say, more to let him know you’re all right, all right enough to give him shit. His lips quirked up a little, and he let his body stretch out, leaning on the trunk ledge. You gently massaged the area that hurt while Javi and Carillo talked together, only catching a few words here and there. It feels like forever later, you sandwiched again sitting on the edge of the trunk between Steve and Javi, swinging your sneakers in little arcs, trying to control your facial expressions. You see Carillo jerk his chin at you, and Javi looks you over before answering. In an unexpected display, Carillo smacks Javi on the shoulder as well, saying what you guess is an expletive before turning and gathering his men. 

“Okay, here’s where we are.” Javi leans on the trunk bed again and bumps your shoulder with his. “The camera is on and transmitting, which is good. Bad news is the sicarios are on alert. Search Bloc wants to escort us home while they keep up the hunt.” 

“Do you own a gun?” Murphy’s question breaks your staring. 

“No, not yet. I meant to…” you trail off as he shakes his head. You know it’s stupid of you not to have any protection. This is Colombia, and you’re a single woman on American government paycheck. You finish lamely, holding your elbows: “I meant to get one.” 

“If they saw her they might be looking for her. Have her stay with you for the night.” 

Javi’s eyebrows raise imperceptibly. You want to say ‘no thank you’ and ‘let’s do it’ all at once. He got you into this mess anyway. 

“Sure, that’s fine.” You let out the breath you’re holding, actually relieved. You didn’t want to go home to your lonely, dark apartment after this. Not for a little while. 

Search Bloc escorts the three of you back to the apartment complex, and you’re ushered inside the building one group at a time. 

“Play nice,” Steve mumbles as he steps out of the bronco for his turn into the building. You watch him saunter in under the harsh lamplight. 

The driver calls back some directions, then takes off driving. You turn to Javi in the backseat, distress written across your face. 

“He says we’re going around the block a couple times then they’ll take us in. Relax,” he suggests, and without preamble, slips his hand around your folded ones in your lap. 

It’s a tense ride. Every corner you close your eyes and take a slow controlled breath. And every time Javi’s hand squeezes yours, the other wrapped around the grip of his sidearm. When the Search Bloc boys bring you back to the complex your sneakers scrape against the pavement up the stairs, then against the hardwood until Javi’s door clicks shut behind you. Then, only then, do you give in to your body's demand to breathe deeply. 

You gather your surroundings - it’s a cushy place, raised kitchen leading back to a bedroom and recessed living area. It would be homey if not for the messes on every surface; mostly cigarette packages, cassette tapes, half-empty glasses. The domesticity distracts you from the reality outside, of tire treads rushing through water run-off along the road. Headlights sweep across the edges of the ceiling to illuminate and fracture the room. It’s exactly what you expect for Javier Peña.

“Is your hip all right?” Javi is lighting a cigarette, but watching you intently. You lift your left leg a bit and shake it. Only a lingering ache remains. 

“It’s fine. A bath will help it,” you say. He nods and puffs out the smoke. You don’t know what to do, so you reach behind you and hook your fingers into the waistline of your skirt and look anywhere but him. The swish follows you down to the couch where you sit, and absently fiddle with the fabric. 

“I know that was more than I asked of you, and I appreciate it.” He pushes his stacks of magazines back into tissues and a crystal ashtray so he can sit on the coffee table. “You did well under pressure.” 

“I belong in a lab, Peña,” you say, leaning your chin on your knuckles. “I’m glad I could help, but don’t ask me to do that again. Ever.” 

“Cross my heart.” 

You smile at him. He’s stupidly handsome; he’d caught your eye the day you’d begun working in the embassy halls in the CIA rooms. You did your part, telling him ‘no’, and pulling confidential files out of his hands, and exchanging barbs daily. But that didn’t stop the tender flame of attraction that grew; you knew it wasn’t your place to harbour it, especially when the rumors of how he behaved with informants reached your ears. It didn’t matter, you decided. It didn’t dissuade you, so you let that little flame smolder freely, content to do your work and content to treat him as Agent Peña. Now in his living room, in the fluorescent kitchen lamplight, you wish all that would go away so you could sleep on his couch in peace. 

He didn’t help, calling you ‘honey’ and leaning on your desk to sweetly ask for specific rolls to be developed before others. He didn’t help at all, jamming his foot in the dark room door before you locked it, asking in his softest voice if he could get a look at them before anyone else did. And he helped the least when in his enthusiasm at whatever break he found in the photos, he’d draw you in by your shirt sleeve and press a grateful kiss to your temple before scribbling down whatever connection he had made. You were always grateful for the red lights hiding the heat that rose under your skin. 

“Do you have any spare blankets?” 

He looks around, like it’s the first time anyone’s asked him. “No, I don’t.” 

“Not even a throw?” Exhaustion leaks into your tone. It’s nearly midnight, and you just want to sleep. Javi stands and shrugs his jacket off. He extends his hand and you take it, letting him lead you down the hall to his bedroom. It’s neat, smells faintly of his cologne and smoke and soap. Before you knew it, he was pushing a big t-shirt into your hands and sitting himself on the bed’s edge to undress. You took the opposite edge, gingerly taking your sneakers off and groaning at the relief of being able to wiggle your toes. 

You decide modesty is for people who don’t identify drug cartel hired guns for a grocery money, and slide into Javi’s bedsheets in your underwear and his borrowed t-shirt. The light in the room clicks off, and you listen to Javi rustle around getting comfortable with your eyes closed. His hand lands on your thigh over the blankets. 

“You’re okay,” he says low, and you respond by resting your hand on top of his wrist as you drift into sleep.  

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

How you got here

“It would just be for a couple hours,” Javi had said, standing over your desk with Steve and your supervisor. Murphy did his part playing skeptic, arms crossed, and his striped tie on too tight. Your supervisor mirrored him, glaring at Peña for asking for such a favor. A big favor. Dark room specialists don’t grow on trees, and you had rolls of film to get processing today. 

“Why can’t one of your informants do this?” your supervisor asks. You raise your eyebrows at Javi. 

“Well, an informant you have to pay.” Murphy tilts his head to the side. Uncle Sam’s purse strings had been a little tight this quarter. “And she’s already on payroll.” 

“It’s up to you,” your super says, leaving you under the hopeful stares of Javi and Steve.

“Look,” Javi leans on your desk, getting low enough to make the conversation private, “you don’t have to do anything dangerous. All we need is to use the hotel room to set up a camera looking into an apartment across the street. You would give us a plausible reason to be entering the hotel, and could help us identify the guy if he shows up. So we’re shooting in the right direction.” 

You squint at Javi. He’s playing the biggest puppy-dog eyes you’ve ever seen. Crossing your arms on your desk, you lean forward so you’re even closer to his face, close enough to smell the last cigarette he had was at least an hour ago. “Do you need help setting up the equipment?” 

The twitch in his cheek tells you everything, just as Murphy answers “yes.” 

“Okay, I’ll bite, fellas.” 

“It will be in and out, honey. Shouldn’t be more than two hours.” His eyes are reassuring as you grab your handbag. 

The hotel clerk speaks with Javi as Murphy stands at your side with a hand lying stiffly on your waist, an appropriate distance from anything intimate, and just firm enough to give the impression of a pleasant couple. 

He gets a key, and the three of you reach the room without a hitch. You help Murphy get the little camera up and transmitting. Javi keeps an eye by the window, looking out the translucent curtains. 

“Bad news. Fuck,” Javi murmurs, and it makes your blood go cold. Murphy stops packing up the bag your equipment had come in and kicks it under the room bed. “We gotta get to the car.” Murphy reaches for the phone, dialing. 

“What’s wrong?” you ask anyone. It’s too vague, you can’t tell what the private language of partners is communicating to one another. 

Javi left the window, signaling to Steve to hurry up with his phone call. “Someone ratted on us, we need to get moving.”  

“I thought you said this wouldn’t be dangerous,” you hiss at him. You see him huff in frustration, and immediately feel bad. “Javi…”

He smooths his hand under your elbow. “Honey, I’m sorry.” 

The three of you make a graceless exit out the back service stairs into the Bogotà twilight, street lamps already on painting things in hazy greens to the humming of cicadas. Your sneakers whisper on the pavement, one hand gripping the back of Javi’s jacket; you feel silly doing it, but you don’t want to lose him, even if he’s inches in front of you. Steps away from the car, your heart is beating loud enough you barely heard the agents agree on where to lay low.  

“Trunk?” Murphy whispered. He had one hand hovering on the center of your back, the other on his revolver. 

Javi flicked his head to his partner, nodding. “Trunk.” 

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

Where you ended up

You woke up because something radiating heat was just downright uncomfortable in the already unbearable Colombian humidity. You wiggled into cooler sheets, only it followed you. 

You realized it was because it was an arm, thrown over your middle. As carefully as you could, you looked over your shoulder to the owner of the arm. 

Light trailed in through the gauzy blue curtains, backlighting Javi’s features and bare chest, laying shadows across his slack face. Uninterrupted by his chatting and clothing, you let yourself take him in; a soft chest inflating rhythmically, and a broad shoulder that collapsed on itself, either from weight, or it’s reach for your own body. You turned back over and nuzzled into the pillow, happy you’d led him lead you to his bed to sleep next to him. You couldn’t imagine being able to sleep soundly without someone there after hiding for your life for hours. A shudder runs through you at the thought, triggering Javi’s breathing to hitch and he draws you closer. 

“Javi,” you murmur in warning. He’s really too warm. He groans back at you, palming your hip but not removing his arm, and you push a little into his hand. “Is there a manual for making quick exits?”

“You gonna run away, baby?” You preen a little under the name, and compensate by pressing your heating cheek into the pillow. 

“No,” you say, letting your eyes fall closed and just enjoying the feel of his thumb brushing over the back of your hip bone through his old shirt. “But I’ve decided to write a how-to manual and you’re going to be the ‘what not to do’ example.”

He shuffles closer to you so you’re leg to leg. “Yeah? For what?” 

You send your top leg out so he can rest his bare thigh between yours. You start in a sing-song voice: “‘What not to do for an effective escape: don’t bring an extra person with you when your means of escape is a car trunk that only fits two bodies, not three.”

“You fit just fine,” he says, and you shiver at his nose bumping your clothed shoulder. 

“I was squished.” 

He snorts. “I got news for you: you lived. Even if you got squished. That’s what I call effective.” You hum when you feel him lift over you and press a kiss to your temple, then your cheek. Turning your head you graze his lips with yours while finding his eyes. They’re still sleepy, not quite open all the way. You don’t even have to lift your head to press your mouth to his warm pliant one, and he returns it gently; it’s different from the excited affectionate ones he plants on your head in the darkroom. You just want to let him know you are alive, and grateful. It’s fleeting, and you know in a week or so it will crack your heart a little more.He breaks it first, pressing a second, then a third into your lips, telling you he understands. 

He lies back behind you, pulling your frame against him, into his warm chest. “Go back to sleep, honey.” 

You pull the sheet around your chin and enjoy the sensation of being held by Javi, if only for a couple more hours. 

Tomorrow you’ll be back at the embassy, explaining your role in a DEA operation turned Colombian military operation to your superior, and you’ll be thinking about how Agent Peña is a much better big spoon than you are. 

[icouldntfinditsoiwroteit]

Lost and found (1/2)

Inspired in @lil-medic's post "Horror", go read her post, it is incredible and very fun to read.

(F/N) = First name

"" = Dialogue

** = Thoughts

"You know that staring is rude, right?" Crosshair's eyes snapped at the right of the counter where the voice had come from, it was one of the girls that had entered the store a few minutes ago, she was quite tall, Crosshair hadn't noticed her approached him, he glared.

"(F/N), the car is ready!" The togrutan girl who had been outside filling their car up shouted.

"Your friend already paid," Crosshair concluded that he must have been too busy examining the girl outside that he didn't notice this one.

"And I want to buy these," He looked at the counter where a pair of lollipops and a package of gum were laid.

He ranged her up and she handed the money.*He noticed that her arms were covered in scales*. She took her stuff and shoved it on her jacket's pockets except for one of the lollipops, they never broke eye contact.

"Anyway, keep your eyes to yourself, creep," She gave him a sideways glance before leaving the store.

Crosshair sneered, he hated teenagers.

"Ahsoka, is that a kid?" (F/N) noticed from the shotgun's seat.

The car slowed down and just like (F/N) had said, there was a kid on the side of the road alone.

"What is a kid doing there?" Ahsoka questioned

"Don't know, stop the car I'll ask if she's okay," (F/N) said as they came to a stop beside the kid and she rolled the window down.

"Hey kid, are you alright?" The kid turned towards them surprised.

"Umm, I........ " The kid looked away.

"Are you lost, how did you get here?" (F/N) asked gently.

"I got lost," They looked down as if embarrassed.

"Where do you live dear?" Ahsoka asked.

"I........um....." They looked uncertain.

"Hey don't worry, if you want we can take you to the next town that is a few miles away from where we have signal and you can call your parents with our phones," (F/N) offered.

"I.......I don't know their numbers," They looked away again but seemed to be starting to tear up.

"Don't worry about it, it happens to everyone," Ahsoka reassured.

"Do you want us to wait here until they find you?" Ahsoka offered.

"No, my brother can't leave the house due to being sick, he won't be able to get here," The kid explained.

Ahsoka and (F/N) looked at each other with worry.

"Would you maybe like for us to drive you to your home or near it?" (F/N) finally offered.

"Would you do that??" The kid's face lightened with a hopeful smile.

"Yeah, if you want to," Ahsoka agreed and unlocked to car's doors.

The kid quickly entered the car.

"Thank you so much," They gave a huge smile.

"Don't worry about it, you can call me Ahsoka and this is (F/N),"

"My names Omega, thank you for helping me, my brother must be so worried,"

"Then we better hurry and take you home, would you mind telling us where it is?" (F/N) asked as she took the GPS.

"It's not in the town, it's near it though," Omega explained.

"Okay then, you will be our guide then," Ahsoka cheerfully said as the car started to move again.

"So, how did you get lost?" (F/N) asked.

"I ventured too far into the forest, my brother has told me not too but I....."

"You didn't listen?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yeah," Omega whispered just loud enough for them to hear.

"We've all disobeyed something we've been told before," Ahsoka gave a sympathetic smile.

"But you should know that it most probably is there for your safety, the woods are no place for a kid," (F/N) added.

"I know," Omega looked out of the window.

"But the good thing is that you are on your way back, do you want some gum," (F/N) offered with a small smile, Omega accepted the piece of gum.

They stayed silent for a while until Omega broke it.

"It's there, my home's entrance is that one," She pointed at a dirt path that they took without much of a second thought.

"The path ends here," Ahsoka stopped the car beside a grey pickup.

"My house is at the end of those stairs," Omega pointed to some stair made of wood that went up, if Ahsoka and (F/N) squinted they could see a house.

"Do you want us to walk you to the door?" Ahsoka offered.

"Yes please," The three got out of the car and started to follow Omega.

"I bet my brother will want to thank you both," Omega said as they approached the house, but that is when (F/N) noticed something.

"Hey kid, where is your hairband?" She asked.

Omega froze for a moment, Ahsoka worried that something was wrong the moment Omega froze was short.

"I must have left it in the car, I'm sorry," Omega gave an apologetic look.

"Don't worry about it, I'll go get it, you keep climbing the stairs I'll catch up," (F/N) said and before anyone could say anything she was jogging down the stairs towards the stairs, Omega and Ahsoka kept going up.

When they were a few steps from the door Ahsoka took a breath from the long stairs.

"Those were some long stairs," She chuckled.

"Yup," Omega walked to the door.

"So.... what is your brother's name again,"

"Echo," Omega said as she opened the front door and there stood a short thin man with goggles.

"No he's not," Ahsoka whispered as her eyes widened for a moment.

"Pardon?" Not Echo asked, fortunately not having heard what Ahsoka had said.

"Oh....nothing, you must be Omega's brother?" Ahsoka asked.

"Yes, I was so worried about her, how did you find her?" Not Echo asked.

"She was lost and we found her in the road," Ahsoka explained.

"Omega, what have I told you of not wandering in the woods?"

"Not to,"

"I am so grateful you found her, would you like to come in, I can at least offer you dinner after bringing her home?" The man offered.

"There is no need, I'm just glad we could help, but we need to get going," Ahsoka explained.

"But (F/N) said she was going to bring my headband," Omega said.

"Right.....I forgot about-"

BANG!!!!

A loud gunshot echoed through the woods.

Ahsoka turned to where the sound had come from and it was where the cars were parked, she was about to run toward where (F/N) had been but she felt someone moving behind her and she ducked feeling something graze the top of her montrals.

She rolled out of the way and when she looked around she saw a man with a tattooed face with a baseball bat, clearly what had been mere inches from hitting her head.

"You still need practice in improvising Omega," The man informed as he started to approach Ahsoka.

"Sorry Hunter," Omega apologized as she took out a knife.

*What the hell!!!* Ahsoka thought as she considered how to escape this situation.

"Hunter, if you could I would much appreciate for them to be left alive," The thin man who Omega had said was omega spoke.

"I'll see what we can do," The bloodlust on Hunter's eyes made Ahsoka decide that running was the best option at the moment, and so she did, she took a large jump to cut the stair and land as far away from them but she felt a knife graze her left montral.

"KRIFF!!" She let out a pained groan, she had experienced injuries to her montrals but the pain never became any more bearable, she swallowed another pained moan a began to run, she wouldn't waste any time with the car, she didn't need to be a genius to know that it was useless.

She saw (F/N) footprints leading into the left side of the forest.

*To the left it is,* She thought as she started to run towards the left, she could feel the man Hunter and Omega following her at a slower pace.

*Trackers, there must be traps in the forest,*

(F/N) held her injured arm with her left arm, even if the boulder of a man had some good strength, she had almost got the upper hand in her small fight with him but.....

*They have a damned sniper,* Even if a slugthrower couldn't penetrate her arm's scales it still hurt, and the boulder man punch wasn't helping.

*I need to get rid of the sniper if I want to find Ahsoka in one piece,* Fortunately she had found a hollow tree where she had taken refuge in, it was a good place to think of a plan, they couldn't let these people stand in their way.

As (F/N) thought of a way to get out of there she heard footsteps.

*Those are heavy footsteps.....but they don't belong to boulder boy, he's were weirdly quiet, and these ones are too.....sluggish?* She decided to take a peek out of her hiding place and was met with a disgusting view.

What looked to be humans with machine parts?

*What the actual kriff??!!* (F/N) scrunched her nose in disgust.

*Whatever those things are, they are already rotting,* She scrunched her nose in disgust at the smell

(F/N) could cut those things in half easily but with the sniper out there she is going to need to be stealthy.

Two hours before

"What did you say she looked like?" Tech asked.

"She has scales in her arms, legs and they cover part of her face," Crosshair explained again.

"You said she had a tail too?"

"Yes...."

"What color were the scales?"

"Tech," Hunter reprimanded.

"Alright, so we have a Togruta and a Naklid...."

"What's a Nakild?" Omega asked through the com.

"They are a species that share similarities with Trandoshans and humans, although unlike humans and trandoshans they possess a long tail. They are also able to run as bipeds or as quadrupeds due to how their legs are formed, this also makes them taller than many species, faster, and their scales are incredibly resistant although they don't cover them completely in their belly, chest, their front neck and most of their head, both targets are going to be hard to kill, but I want the Nakild alive," Tech informed.

"I don't even want to know what for," Crosshair sneered in disgust.

"I've already informed Wrecker and Echo of the species from our new prey," Hunter said.

"Are you in position Omega?"

"Yup"

Current time, with Tech

"Wrecker, the Nakild is heading towards sector E-West, some of my experiments will lure it out, be careful with the legs and tail, those are the strongest parts of a Nakild, especially with the females," Tech explained as he saw the screens that showed what every video camera caught.

"The what?" Wrecker asked, he had clearly ignored Tech's warning.

"Where you play with my failed tests, you can trap it in the ditch but I want it alive," Tech explained after sighing loudly.

"I'll see what I can do, that girl is going to be fun," Wrecker's voice sounded amused and excited.

Tech just rolled his eyes before he caught an orange figure dash through one of the screens.

"Echo, the Togruta is heading your way, Hunter and Omega are going after it, but it's more probable that you will reach them sooner, just make sure that it doesn't get out of your area and be careful of its bite, they possess a mortal venom,"

"Understood," Echo quickly answered.

Ashoka had been running for a few minutes before she had to dodge a trap.

*That's a nonlethal trap, whoever these people are they seem to like to keep their victims alive,* Ashoka realized as she remembered that the man with the tattoed face had been aiming for a lethal blow either.

But something made her come to a complete stop, a faint smell had reached her, a smell she knew but, it was so faint that it seemed to have been replaced with the metallic smell that had accompanied it, the only reason that she had noticed it is that she had known it like the back of her hand once.

*Echo's sent, that kid had also used his name,*

Before Ashoka could investigate the sent any more she heard the tattoed man and the kid getting near her, she knew that he had to be close in some kind of way so she concentrated and used the force to sense the place around her, there was...

*Nothing, there must be some kind of Force blocker in this place,* Ashoka concluded when she could barely reach the force, she had noticed that the force jump had been harder but not that something was interfering with her connection.

*Whoever is here, they know how to hide from a Togruta,* Ashoka scowled, she would need to find (F/N), these people knew Echo in some way and they would get answers.

A/N: The Nakild species isn't canon or anything, it is just a species I've thought about and decided to use in this post for the reader.

If anyone wishes to know more about the Nakild species, I will be making a post about the species and its culture.

[fungifaggot]

Polaroids

Request: You write for LiS ^_^ i would love to read m!reader x Nathan if you'd like to write about him :) perhaps something with reader taking photos of him constantly and pissing him off which leads to sexy times? 

Warnings: lots of swearing and suggestive themes.

A/n: Loved this request, I didn’t write full on smut (sorry bout that) because that’s all I've been writing so far. Even if its a lil janky I hope it’s close enough to what you wanted. Thanks for requesting

!Feel free to send constructive criticisms and requests are open!

_____________

*CLICK*

“Jesus Y/n, again? Seriously?” Nathan scoffed after being met face to face with the lens of your Polaroid for what felt like the hundredth time today.

“Aww what, is someone angwy~” You said as you jutted out your bottom lip, laughing when he rolled his eyes. You pulled out the image and shook it for a bit before rolling over to add it to the comically large pile you had created on the side of his bed.

“You’re annoying you know that right?” He stated bluntly.

“Yeah, and you’re hot. What about it?” You said turning your head towards him to send a wink, hiding the smirk that crept onto your face when you noticed the light shade of pink that dusted over his cheeks.

“I can’t stand you” he muttered

“Tch- oh c’monnn, you know you love me” you giggled out while nudging your elbow into his lower back.

What you didn’t know was that; Yeah. He did. Quite a lot actually.

Despite the contrast in your personalities, Nathan had fallen head over heels for you. For the longest time he didn't know why and he didn't want to believe it either, but with the way you made that boy blush, stutter, and trip over his own words like a fool, he knew he was fucked and that there was no denying it. 

He couldn't help but to think about you all the time. Think about the way you actually listened to him, the way you genuinely enjoyed his company, the way you made him laugh like no one else could, or even just the fact that you  genuinely cared for him as a person. 

Whatever it was, he liked it about you. And you were the exact same way. 

You had liked Nathan for a while now. When you first met him you knew right off the bat that he was attractive, but the more you talked to him and the longer you knew him, the harder you fell and the harder it was to be around him all the time. 

As much as you loved being around Nathan, controlling your emotions eventually became hell. And no matter how many flirtatious jokes you made or how close he was to you, it was never enough. You wanted him to be in your arms (and in your bed). You wanted him to be yours.

And for now, he wasn't. 

You sat back up and began to search through your pile. A lot of them were actually quite good, there were pictures of him from inside his truck, some from when you went to the Two Whales Diner, and a few that you had taken on campus. 

While looking you laughed abruptly when you came across multiple photos where he was very clearly pissed off or in the process of trying to snatch your camera away. This caught Nathans attention and he turned around immediately

 “What?” He asked with furrowed eyebrows.

“Nuthinnn~” You replied with a snort.

“Don’t be an ass, just show me.”

“Me being an ass? Nathan all you ever are is an ass” You sneered, yanking the picture away when he attempted to reach for it. 

You knew this wasn’t going to end well, but there was no way in hell you were just going to let him win. In a rush you quickly gathered the pile and stood up. You both stared at each other from opposite sides of the bed, awaiting each others next move.

“They’re pictures of me, if anything I should be the one who gets to look at them.” He said, pointing a finger at you accusingly.

“Yeah yeah sure, but how are you supposed to do that if you don’t have them.”

“Just give them to me.” he growled

“Hell no.” you said, laughing at the way his eyebrows raised in a brief moment of shock. You on the other hand stood there with a shit eating grin waiting eagerly for his response. 

What you weren't expecting though was for him to jump up onto the bed and lunge directly at you.

“Oh n-”  You started, dropping all the pictures and going to catch him instead. As soon as he landed in your arms, you tossed him aside like trash and raced towards the fallen pictures. As soon as Nathan got onto his feet he did the same, shoving you to the floor in the process.

He frantically grabbed as many as he could. That is, until you picked him up from under his armpits like a toddler, body slammed him down onto the bed, and belly flopped on top of him without a second thought. 

“ACK- Y/n you fat asshole get off of me!”

You perked your head up at that, gasping heavily while placing your hand on your chest clearly pretending to be offended. 

“How dare you” you said mockingly

“Oh my god Y/nnn, seriously just get off of me I can’t breathe.” he groaned out.

You laughed and finally lifted your body weight off of him, now trapping him between your legs as you hovered over him instead.

You couldn't help, but notice his flustered cheeks and disheveled hair. Or the way his chest rose and fell as he tried to catch his breath from his tantrum. 

Shit. You were really turned on.

You looked into his eyes and noticed him staring right back at you, and maybe you were just imagining things, but for a split second his eyes drifted down to your lips and back up to your intense gaze. Neither of you spoke for what felt like hours until Nathan finally chimed in 

“Keep staring at me like that and I might just think you’re in love with me or something” He said following it with a dull laugh. 

“Who says I'm not?” You ‘joked’ raising your eyebrows up and down, making him roll his eyes once again. 

“Y’know, that’s what I can’t stand about you Y/n. You’re always joking around and I can never tell when you’re serious.” He mumbled, sounding genuinely upset.

He roughly shoved you in the chest, making you sit up straight and just about straddle him.

“What, do you want me to be serious?” you asked.

A few moments of silence passed by and he didn’t bother to respond. Instead he tried to wiggle his way out from between your legs, stopping instantly when he felt the warmth of your hands on his face. You cupped his cheek and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. When you opened your eyes back up he looked damn near paralyzed. 

“Oh... No? I just thou-” You started to rush out in a panic before getting pulled back into a kiss by the collar of your shirt. You placed a hand on the back of his neck, and the other on the headboard in order to maintain balance.

His lips were impossibly soft and tasted of vanilla from the shakes that you had drank earlier. As cliche as it is, in that very moment you swore that you could feel sparks fly inside of you.

What had started out as a gentle kiss quickly became one full of desperation and need. His hands gripped your shirt pulling you as close to him as possible. You bit on and pulled his lip before going back in, this time forcing your tongue into his mouth. He whined into the kiss as your hand danced along his sides and then down to his ass, where you gave it a firm squeeze.

You both pulled away, breathing heavily. You looked him up and down, analyzing everything about him. Analyzing the way his shirt was lifted up just enough to expose his v line, the way he had spread his legs further apart, and even the way his pants seemed to be much tighter than they were before.

You looked back at his flustered face and smiled at him softly, leaning back down to kiss him, but before you did so you shifted so that your knee was up against his crotch, making him moan out loud. His cheeks turned a deep red and he turned his head, unable to look you in the eye. You took a hold of his chin and directed it towards your face, running your thumb over his bottom lip before giving it another kiss. 

You moved down to his jawline, trailing kisses alongside it while he tilted it back to give you more access. You nipped at his ear before proceeding to make your way down his neck, sucking and biting as you did so. You pulled his collar down and began to leave marks. He arched his back and rubbed his chest up against yours before pathetically moaning out

“Y/n, please just fuck me already.”

You pulled away from his neck and looked him dead in the eyes before responding nonchalantly with

“Nah."

His eyes widened in a mixture of both shock and anger. He sat up immediately and pushed you so that you were no longer hovering over him.

“You bitch, and why not!?”

“Cause we’re not even dating.” You replied as if it were obvious. 

He knew that you couldn’t care less about whether you were dating or not and that you were obviously just trying to get on his nerves. And goddamn were you succeeding at that. 

“You’re such an asshole” He muttered, much too horny to bother yelling at you.

“Yeah yeahhh, but I could be your asshole.” You countered, chuckling a little at how stupid you sounded.

He scoffed and turned away. 

“Yeah. Sure. Whatever I guess.” he mumbled while crossing his arms. 

You smiled widely and peppered kisses all over the side of his face before crashing next to him on the bed and pulling him against your chest.

“Just put your fucking third leg away, its distracting.”

________

Tags: 

@katsukispicycaramel @marvelgbtposts @ablake-x082 @myfeetkeepdancing @eliotsbambimargo @jerod-writes @malereaderinsert @dis-boi-be-a-gay-peter @malereader-inserts @hotjellycow @baldsaitama @sodapopblogs @smygarding @luv-hqs @skysyama @sowa534 @that-bi-bitch-writes

(Don’t be afraid to ask to be removed if it bothers you.)

[bittybattybunny]

Day 13!!! Fairytale!!!

Today i went for a storybook style since instead of a fairy tale au instead the two are discussing Fairy tales and why a certain wolf doesn’t seem to ‘fall’ for the Prince like in the books and she points out she’s a wolf not a princess

Plus a Bonus doodle from post discussion

Ficletttt timeeeee it’s a lil long sooo read more

“Hrm.” the ghost frowned as he set the book back on the shelf.

“Something bothering you?” Eclipse tilted her head as she leaned around the shelf startling him.

He gasped with her sudden appearance and gripped his chest with a heavy sigh, “Don’t do that! I could have… well no but. Don’t spook me.”

She giggled as she hopped down from the ledge and looked at the book he put back, “Ah!” she lit up with excitement, “Fairy tales!”

He turned a light yellow, “yeah. I was reading to the minions again.” he rubbed his ‘neck’ with a huff, “Just was thinking about some things while I did.”

“Oh?” she flipped through it with a small smile, fangs peeking from her lips.

He stared at her and shook his head as he felt himself almost shift to human form as he stared. He chuckled, “yeha just. Um. Prince has been rather… confused lately. So I thought fairy tales may have answers because they often have a Prince.” he scowled, “and just. You know a Prince with a prince problem and all that.. Stupid stuff.”

“Fiction and reality rarely correlate like that.” she pointed out as she looked up from the book, “What’s wrong, if you can talk about it? He doesn’t talk to me much about things he’s worried about, just gives me flowery words and is s-u-p-e-r touchy.” she laughed. She paused in thought, “Well no we do talk sometimes but. Most of the time he’s just trying so hard to be that stereotypical prince…”

He turned yellow and looked away, “To be honest… it’s you.” he mumbled.

She frowned and pointed to herself, “me? What’s the matter? How should I change? Did I make him upset?” she sighed, “sorry.”

“N-No you shouldn’t change! You’re… adequate as you are. Best assistant I’ve ever had. You didn’t make HIM upset. Far from it.. Just. Confusion.” he huffed, “Just. I guess he’s so confused about the fact you don’t fall for those words. Or the whole… Prince thing.” 

The ghost sighed as he thought about it, “In books and his past, normally people just.. Fell for the prince for being a prince. With his flowery poems and kindness. He likes you. A lot. And last time he was with someone she loved the Prince thing...”

“And look where that got them...I told him when we met I like someone else.” she hummed as she went back to the book and sat on the wall as she did. She brushed her hair from her face as she read the worn pages, “I’m not going to simply fall for someone else when I’ve liked the same person for a few years. Prince or not. I’m not a princess.” she gave him a small smirk but he was looking away.

She sighed and laid back on the stone, holding the book to her chest, “If he thinks a fairy tale is what I’m after he’s wrong.” she waved a hand, “I don’t care about that. I CAN’T care about that.”

“Y-You don’t?” he frowned slithering over to stand above her, “Then what is it you care about….ah…” he turned yellow as she reached up,  rubbing her hands over his ‘cheeks’ with a soft smile. He smiled back and put his hands over hers.

“I just like who I like for who he is and the time we’ve spent. That’s all. Nothing fancy. No flowery words, no false pretenses. Just a little snarky, a little mean, a lot kind.” she snickered before gasping as she was scooped up. 

“Snatcher!” she laughed as she was held in his arms and he picked the book up and sat in her spot.

She gave a heavy sigh as she leaned against him, “Besides…”

“Besides?” he repeated.

“I’m not a princess like the books.” she pointed out, “In fairy tales. The prince always falls for a princess…”

“Ah… Not always. Sometimes she came from a poorer birth but…” he ran over the fairy tales he knew by heart, “Ah…”

“Exactly. I’m not a princess, I’m far from it.” she played with a curl of his fur.

“I could argue but I won’t.” he teased making her chuckle.

“I’m a wolf Snatcher. I’m not a princess. So you can tell Prince that. I… I am as far from a princess as he’ll ever get…” she gripped at her scarf with a sad smile, “So a fairy tale… it’s not possible… the wolf always loses. So if he thinks I want a fairy tale. He’s dead wrong. I don’t.. I’d love to be a princess but I will never be. I’m the wolf with claws and fangs. Who dances with the dead.”

He frowned and shifted, nuzzling her face, “You’re talking to an undead law school drop out who eats souls. I don’t think that’s an issue he’s got.”

“Indeed!” she gave a smile as she rested in his fur, “I don’t want a fairy tale and I won’t fall for a prince just because of his title. Titles don’t mean much to me.” she teased looking at him as he turned yellow, “And know I’m the big bad wolf of Subcon Woods.” she bared her fangs making him laugh loudly. 

“Eclipse. Thank you.” he smiled softly and nuzzled against her, “I’ll… let prince know if that’s fine. I’m sure that will help his confusion.” he chuckled, “A big idiotic, kind-hearted wolf.”

She watched his face glow and felt her cheeks go warm. She laid against him with a small smile, eyes drifting to the fairy tale book. She gripped at her scarf, “Anytime…”

-------

“SNATCHER!” Hat laughed as the ghost jumped in his chair. 

He gave a sharp scowl, “What?”

“What’s up with Eclipse?” She crawled on the arm, tumbling into his lap as he caught her.

“Ah… I don’t know. Why? What’s she doing?” He looked at her worried.

“She just seems… down? Like she’s smiling but…” hat frowned, “Did you do something weird as ‘Prince’ again?” she narrowed her eyes.

“I didn’t. I haven’t even taken my human look today.” he leaned on his arm and gasped, “ah… our conversation earlier… I wonder if it...upset her….”

“What did you do.” Hat sneered as he sighed.

“We were talking about… Fairy tales and princes and stuff…”

“Wow. Subtle.” She snickered as he shoved against her face.

“Keep it up I have more death wishes if you want brat.”

“Bring it old man!” she cackled and wrapped her arms around his hand, “So why’d she get sad?”

He lifted the kid up as he thought about it. Running over her words he gasped, “She’s being negative again! Dammit I didn’t catch her this time!” he fumed, “She hid it so well with the conversation and I was so wrapped up in myself!”

“Shocker.” Hat kid frowned, “So what happened?”

“Well i was… to be blunt reading fairy tale books to see if I was doing something wrong making her fall for Prince instead of…” he gestured at himself.

“Riiiighhhtt. You could just. Tell her the truth.” She leaned on her hands as she laid on his head.

“That defeats the purpose of this...act…” he turned light yellow, “She SHOULDN’T love a dead soul stealer…”

“You realize you’re still a dead soul stealer even as prince right?” She pointed out.

“That’s not important, she doesn’t know that!” he argued, “But point is we were talking and she.. Got hung up on she’s not a princess… She’s a wolf. And the wolf always loses…” he recalled her phrasing with a scowl.

“She could be a wolf princess. I watched a movie like that! She was wicked strong and pretty! Like Eclipse!” Hat beamed, “I have an idea! I need scissors, glue, paper, glitter and crayons!”

He moved her down as he slithered to get her craft supplies from the shelf, “I’ll do the scissor work kiddo. I don’t need you bleeding in my house.”

“Righhhttt says the guy who keeps killing me.” She rolled her eyes as she went to sit at the table and began her master plan.

“What are you doing?” He watched as she colored and slathered glitter down, “Ah!” He saw the shape and gave a small smirk.

“You’ll need to take your prince noodle form. I think it’ll work.” She grinned handing it to him, “Cut please!”

“Alright.” he shifted down as he held the scissors humming as he cut the crown out and taped it in a circle, “Good work. Looks decent. Sloppy but you’re what 6?”

“I’m 8 but go on.” She snickered as she raised her arms, “Carry me! I wanna help give her it!”

He chuckled, “Fine only because you made it. Where did you see her last?”

“Putting up spider lures in the west area.” She snickered as he flew out of the treehouse.

It didn’t take long for them to find Eclipse as she stood high up on the nearly invisible branches, the gentle chiming noise heard with each step.

“Eclipse!” Hat kid shouted up causing her to look down. She waved and jumped, landing in front of them.

“Hey Kiddo! Prince.” She nodded to the man who gave a soft smile, “What’s up?” she clapped some dust off her gloves.

“We made you something!” Hat grinned, “Snatcher helped us!”

“Oh?” she looked between them confused as the man set the paper crown on her head. She turned bright red, “W-what are you D-Doing?!” She gasped as he kissed her cheek.

“Sometimes. Fairy tales can be rewritten.” he admitted, “And the wolf can be the princess.”

She felt her whole face grow hot as she stammered, unable to get any words out.

Snatcher grinned, it was the first time he was able to get that sort of reaction from her while he was Prince. He set the little girl down to catch Eclipse as she started to trip backwards in her red faced stupor. She stared up at him as he held her back and smiled at her. She covered her face with her hands ashamed.

Hat pulled her camera out to snap a photo and grinned, she couldn’t wait to tell Bow their plan was working.

[sleepdeprivedheretic]

Those Shoes (Ch.1)

Notes: The title is referenced to a song by The Eagles, it’s a classic song about exotic dancers, as well as a popular song to play in the clubs. Rita, or @youtubequeens and I brainstormed this piece, and I was so excited to finally write it :3

Warnings: Language, Exotic Dancers and their life, talk about sex, Trigger Warnings!!!: Mentions of and non-consensual acts such as groping and touching, and other horrors.  

Notice: Dancers should be treated with respect, and this is not a fic to downgrade them, nor to spread false truths. It sheds light on what can and does happen in real life, and how that it can be a dangerous job. The warnings are here for a reason. Thank You.

 “Honey, I neeeeed your help!” Your mother whined through the phone. You sighed loudly as you sat on the bed. You’ve just finished with a hefty amount of homework, two tests, and you had another coming up, soon. Not only were your friends squealing that they need to celebrate your upcoming graduation, but your mother had called you, needing something. Again.

“Before you hang up!” She started as your thumb hovered over the red button. “I know that you’ll be graduating college, soon, and you’re needing a job, asap, sooooo, I was wondering if I could hire you, soon?” She baited, and you felt a chill of dread down your spine.

“No way in hell.”

“Oh, Come on! You know that you’ll need a job! I can’t find decent hire, anywhere. How about I hire you until you find a better job? Please? These outfits need to be patched up, and I need makeup expertise! Other than my own!” She added.

You felt your stubborn nature wilt as common sense pile drove in. Your mother was a crafty, sneaky, snake, and she knew that you were needing money to make end’s meet, especially when you were about to move to a better apartment. There were good businesses waiting to hire, and some even were willing to sponsor you, but of course it could take months until you could officially land a good job.

Unfortunately, your mother knew this.

“Above minimum wage, and I get to wear what I want.”

“Deal.” She didn’t even hesitate.

“Fine. I’ve got tests…and the girls are throwing me a surprise party, of all things at the end of the month, so I’ll see you when I see you.” You breathed out, and your mom giggled.

“Oh, a surprise party? Maybe I could send-”

“Mom, no.” You blurted out, and she laughed.

“Oh, my baby girl!” She cooed. “You don’t need physical experience to enjoy-”

You clicked the red dial, ending the call as you sighed with defeat. How did your life turn out like this?  More than likely, she’ll gather your small group of friends and convince them to try to get you to loosen up. It was not only your graduation day, but also your birthday, coming up.

 Your mind froze with fear at the memories of past birthdays. After you’ve turned eighteen, she tried multiple times to send out one of the male dancers, scantily dressed in an ice cream sundae uniform, holding a card that basically said “to pop your cherry”.    

Yeah, you didn’t really had any contact with her, really.

…………………

“Surprise! Happy Graduation and Birthday, Girl!” Your friends screamed with joy as you entered your apartment. Finally. After years of hard work and several job offers that will get back to you within a month, you were a certified beautician with a knack to patch and design clothes. Sure, it wasn’t your first idea of a job, but it grew on you. Dying hair, painting nails, mastering different techniques of applying makeup, and seeing the sparkly eyes of your patients as they admired your hard work, had won you over.

Of course, your mother had a major influence over you. Although you weren’t into dancing, you were happy to practice makeup and help patch up certain outfits. As you grew older, you went with what you knew, and soon, your school had paid for your college due to your good grades, and you made your way up, ever since.

“Oh hey, girls! Where’s the cake?” You wondered, and they wasted no time with mischievous giggles. You stilled.

“What-”

“Don’t worry, Babe! It’ll be here, soon. Try this cucumber Sake!” Rumi grinned as she held out the small cup. The white-haired woman had been your friend since late high school, the only one knowing about your mother’s business back then. She and your other friend, Keigo, had now opened up a pet store. Said man who had bird-like perception wasn’t here, right now, but your more…flirtatious friend, Nemuri, was here with her girlfriend and your attention-seeking friend, Yu. Both girls had worked for your mother, and although you were close, you were weary of their similar antics.

“You’re hiding something.” Your eyebrows furrowed. Nemuri smiled coyly as she slung an arm around a giggling Yu.

“It wouldn’t be called a surprise if we weren’t.”  

“True.”

The four of you had cut up and were laid back, enjoying small talk and stories that you all missed out on. Nemuri and Yu were doing great with the future wedding funds, Rumi had admitted that Keigo was trying his best to win over some goth from Hot Topic, and you, well, you were still doing the things that you loved to do, despite a busy schedule. Rumi smiled, knowing fully well that your more secretive hobbies had leaned towards being more humanitarian, despite your busy schedule.

You wanted to do things that you wanted to do, not gain attention from them, yet your close group of friends had known of your little skits: Feeding not only stray cats, but taking time to volunteer to help with the homeless and the orphanage. The conversation had quickly turned to about working at the strip club, and you were relieved that the subject had changed.

“Ugh. I hate it when they get up. They’re suppose to sit, and be obedient.” Nemuri huffed.

“Isn’t that against the regulations?” You wondered, and Yu nodded.

“Yeah. I heard that one girl in the private room was far into her dancing, she didn’t notice the guy standing up. Luckily there’s cameras, and so when the staff noticed that he pulled his dick out, they broke into the room and threw him out. Hah, he didn’t get his cash back or anything.” She finished, and you couldn’t help but feel sympathy.

You weren’t raised in the club, but your mother had told you plenty of stories, and dropped off the outfits or brought home a “dummy” to practice makeup on while she told you to never let your guard down. It wasn’t until you were nineteen when you fully knew what she had meant as you were working as a hostess at her building.

Although you were dressed in bartender clothes, it didn’t stop anybody from trying to make a grab at you. You were lucky that your mother had hired good bouncers, and she herself was like a tiger who prowled upon those who didn’t belong there.  

“That’s awful.” You admitted, and Nemuri nodded in agreement.

“Yeah. It’s especially gross when you’re giving them a lap dance, and you feel something gross and sticky on the back of your thigh.”

“Or when they kept saying that ‘you’re too pretty to work here’. I know I’m pretty, and I want the attention and attraction to work here. Just because I dance, doesn’t mean that I’m easy. I’m in a committed relationship for six years, thank you.” Yu bantered back while Rumi and you listened quietly.

“You girls go through a lot. Damn. Poor birthday girl had to wear a miniskirt while handing out food and drinks.” Rumi piped up, offering to say what she knew about the subject. Nemuri sighed.

“I remember that when Yu and I first started. Her mom’s not too picky when it comes to help, especially when it’s low pay and her own kid. Like a lamb in a den full of lions, I tell you. Luckily our ladies and gents knew how to swoop in to the rescue.” She finished, and you felt yourself blushing.

Everyone jumped as the doorbell rang, and you watched the Grinch-like grins spread on Nemuri and Yu’s faces, as Rumi let out one that was almost feral.

“Cake’s here.” They said, and you couldn’t help but feel a case of dread as Nemuri didn’t hesitate to waltz over there, and sling the door open, and you couldn’t help but to swallow thickly.

“You did not.” It was a whisper that died on your throat.

Of course you should have known. Of all things-

 He stood in the middle of the door, holding a prettily frosted cake, but it wasn’t the cake that caught your attention.

 Tall, blond, muscles, was sporting thin square glasses that were about to fall off of his nose, a sleeveless white vest with a loosened tie and one button undone. His pants were no better, the zipper and buttons were undone as it snagged nicely on his hips, leaving a blond treasure trail for the world to see, and of course, sleek black and orange high heels that looked as if they cost more than your rent.  

“I’m here to teach our Birthday Girl a lil’ lesson.” Came out the smooth purr as he twirled a red sucker in his mouth, and damn it did that not help you. You hated to admit it, but he was the handsomest ones that you’ve ever seen, and of course you knew who sent him. Pretty amber irises stared at you, drinking you thoroughly as if he was silently contemplating something.  

“Name’s Fatigue, Sugar.” He grinned, lolling the sucker within his mouth as Nemuri took the cake from his hands and set it down on your living room table.  

“Don’t work our girl too hard, Tai. Poor thing gets a little flustered, easily.” She giggled, pinching your cheek rather playfully. You gave her a small glare despite that your ears were burning, now. Tai, or “Fatigue”, let a slow, lazy smile stretch his face as he looked down at you with a cocky look mixed with hunger.

“Jus’ sit back an’ relax, ‘nd enjoy the show. You deserve it for workin’ so hard.”  He cooed with what seemed to be affection, and you swallowed thickly and nodded. Sure, you could do this. Giving an affirmative, he didn’t give you much time before he took out his phone and pressed some button, instantly music had started playing as he started.

He was like a magnet, snapping your attention to him in awe as he spread his legs wide, letting himself sink low to the floor, heels perfectly grounded into your carpet as his glasses stayed neatly perched on the crook of his nose. He grinned at your amazed stare, as if eating it up. Of course he had a bag full of tricks, and you couldn’t believe that you were finding yourself eager to know each one.

He didn’t fail to deliver, hopping back up with a dive of his hips, sliding a hand down to the side of his pants, palming his thigh as he bent low, ass in the air. Each movement was in sync with the beats, and was absolutely filthy as he used his body to curve and twist into movements that oddly made you feel hot and your throat dry. Who was he? Where did your mom even find somebody this good?

Your friends were no better. Rumi had sported a look of stupor, and to your own surprise, Nemuri and Yu looked impressed, a rare sight for you knew that their technique was high dollar and quality, too.

He was all over you, not touching, but close, not letting you take your attention away from him as he ran his hands close to his hips and inner thighs, his sharp focus was only on you as he gauged your reactions, seeing which little movements brought a spark to your eyes or a flush to your face.

Then, like his routine, he did another unexpected move. Taking your cake, he set it neatly on your lap. Not giving you time to really question anything, he gingerly took your hand, dipping your fingers into the frosting, and brought it to his mouth.

Hot. You couldn’t help but feel hot all over as your lips burned on how he licked and sucked at the frosted digits, lolling his tongue over each one as he gave you such a dirty, heated look, and you swore that you heard him groan. Or was it you? You couldn’t tell as he gave your digits one final suck, letting go with a wet pop as the last song ended.

“Delicious.” He purred, and you couldn’t help but bite your bottom lip at how he sounded it.

“Holy shit.” Nemuri broke the silence.

“Language, young Missy.” Fatigue tutted, waving his finger at her, laughing lightly as she gave him one of her own, before turning his attention back to you.

“Didja enjoy the dance, Sweetling?”

“Yeah.” You admitted in  choked voice, and he gave a small laugh of affection as he walked towards the door.

“You have a Happy Birthday. I do hope that I can see ya, again.” He gave one last final look at you that you couldn’t decipher, as he headed out.

Silence enveloped you girls, before Yu started laughing.

“You were so blushing! He looked as if he wanted to eat you up!” She noticed, and you could feel your lip starting to hurt from biting it constantly.

“Woah, did he even know that you’re the boss’s kid?” Rumi asked, and Nemuri shook her head.

“Nah. We hired him yesterday, and her mom didn’t say anything, other than that she had a very special job for him. Heh, I didn’t know that the new meat was this good.” Nemuri explained, staring at her nails.

“’I do hope that I can see ya, again’.” Yu mimicked before giggling with glee. “Somebody’s has taken a shine to our homebody.” She grinned and your face flushed with realization.

“I gotta go see my mom.” You blurted out, instead, and was rewarded with grins and knowing smirks.

“It’s so cute how you’ve finally began to open up, my little touch-starved Chickadee. A stripper, of all things, huh?” Nemuri laughed at the irony, and you couldn’t help but join.

“I guess that it’s time to admit that I don’t have to live my life as the Lone Wolf, anymore.”

“And finally get laid, right?” Yu said it ever so casually, and you rolled your eyes.

“Ah, leave her alone. It’s nice that those brick walls are falling down.” Rumi grinned, slinging an arm around you and you smiled.

“It’s getting late, ladies. I got to see my mom early, tomorrow. Before you leave, take some cake with you.” You admitted.

“Will do! I’ll tell her that the new guy had done the impossible, by gaining your heated stare.” Yu giggled as she wrapped an arm around Nemuri’s waist.

“Hah, Kei’s gonna have a laugh at this.” Rumi smiled as she got up, leaving for your kitchen to grab the plates and forks.

….………….

After cake was cut and eaten, and the girls hugged you and kissed your cheeks before heading out, you were now laying on your bed, face flushing furiously as your heartbeat quickened. A stripper of all things shouldn’t have done that to you. You grew up with your mom’s flirty attitude towards strangers, and from an older teen, had been working in the club in a vest, shirt, and miniskirt with low heels, being constantly flirted with.

You didn’t know what made him to be so different, but like a magnetic connection, you were pulled, and despite you loner, homebody attitude, you kind of did wanted to see more of him.

…………..

He sighed, slipping off the expensive shoes as his feet and body ached for a hot shower. She didn’t know him, but he knew somewhat about her. Although the two of them shared the same college, he’d never shared a class with her, and she had lived in the apartments that was near, but not the dorms. Yet, he seen her almost everyday while either to or from his way to classes, work, or in general.

She tried to hide it, but he knew of the little empty cans of tuna near the dumpster that kept the stray mother cat and her kittens fed, was from her. He could hear her cooing to this day, smile rivaling the sun, as she looked down at the bunch with a touch of softness, not noticing the world around her as he took the same route past the alley every day.

 Of course, he was a little intrigued. He had a sweet tooth, and despite his refusal in ever taking a bite, he wanted to drink in on what this strange woman was doing. He knew that she was busy, if the bags underneath her eyes indicated anything, and yet she still took time to do small and big things. Picking up littered cans and tossing them in the recycling bin, helping struggling students study, and he’d even seen her face at the soup kitchens, pouring generous amounts of soup into the bowls which were held in the hands of the hungry.  

All around. She was all around and yet tried to make herself small and trivial. Others didn’t really notice, but he did. He couldn’t help it. Like a little magnet, she pulled him in, and she was unaware of it. Honestly, he felt like a stalker, yet he knew that he wasn’t. She was just…all around. Existing, helping, laughing, and smiling. It cut through a crack in his dark little world.

Of course, then she graduated, and he was surprised on how much he had missed her laughter, the softness in her eyes as she handled the kittens or gave out food. He didn’t know her. Didn’t speak to her, never went to the same classes, and yet, he felt a little empty when she was gone. It boggled and irritated him.

The literal icing on top was when he had finally gotten hired, the smirking woman telling him that he had a special job, and he couldn’t help but look in surprise at the address. The same door number that he seen her excitedly rush out from while he was on his way to class, was written on the address sheet with instructions. He had already met her friends, who were surprising her on her birthday. To be honest, he was surprised that the woman had friends such as Nemuri and Yu, but he didn’t question it further, as he felt the excitement build up.

Then, he couldn’t help himself when the two of them had finally met. He suppressed a shiver. He had a no touching rule. He didn’t want to touch, and he didn’t want to be touched, but something broke in him. He wanted to be touched by those shy inquisitive fingers, wanted to be stared at so innocently, and yet so dirty, and he couldn’t help himself. She was so sweet, and he didn’t mind letting himself having a taste, for once.

He really did hope to see her again

…………  

[alexandenigtscreations]

Chapters: 1/2 Fandom: The Penumbra Podcast Summary:

What if Juno didn't have time to heal properly from the soul incident before he and Ransom went on their first mission in the Aurinko crime family?

__________________

“I recommend we turn our walk into a run.” Nureyev said, not daring to look at the scene Miss Nova Zolotova was making.  “A very fast run, Go!”  and gave a gentle shove to the small of Juno’s back as they broke into a sprint, Juno hitching up the golden skirt as they fled.  His footsteps fell farther and farther behind, glancing back Nureyev saw his face twisted into a grimace “Quickly now Detective!” he called.

“I’d like to see you run in 6 inch heal-ahh!” he stumbled and Nureyev grasped his elbow to keep him upright at the very least.  He’d have to have a chat with Buddy about practical footwear later.  Hopefully. 

The security was closing in fast, one of them even throwing a flashy prop blaster at their retreating backs; the shot went wide.  It was no matter.  There was their ride up ahead, hovering just over the precipice of the floating mansion.  He’d rarely been so glad to see a car.

“When I say jump-”

“What are you crazy?! I’m not gonna-”

“Jump!” 

The pair dove into the transport’s open door, Nureyev never loosening his hold on a screaming Juno’s arm as they fell into a heap in the back seat.  

“Hello.” said Jet “please fasten your seatbelts.”

“A little busy- at the moment.” Nureyev disentangled an arm to pull the door shut.  “For now, might I suggest we make our getaway.”  Several drones shot out of crevices.  While the security inside had to meet aesthetic requirements, there were no such restrictions on the outer team.

“I’m merely pointing out that our escape may be bumpy.” said Jet, nonetheless plugging their route on the controls. Doing a complicated maneuver to avoid a hasty trap.  Juno hissed as the pair were jostled about, clinging to Nureyev in a peculiar fashion “The security is different from the schematics Buddy provided.” Jet grunted, pulling hard on the steering console.  

“They updated the security system at 2 a.m.” Nureyev supplied, throwing out a hand to brace against the car’s side.  

“2 a.m.?  A last minute security switch then.”

“Quite, not the most organized affair, but a switch nonetheless.” It was Juno that found that out, Juno that had saved his overly cocky self from being caught by the cameras.  He was still rattled from the whole affair.  

The lady in question was unusually quiet, the quietest he’d been all evening.  Huddling into Nureyev’s side where he’d landed; a hand wrapped around his middle, breath coming in fast and shallow.  Nureyev was reminded of Juno's less than favorable reaction to their joy ride in the Ruby 7.  Was this his motion sickness?  or- something else- concern welled up in his chest.

“Juno?” he asked softly, struggling into an upright position moving the other with him “You didn’t get hurt, did you?” 

“Wha?  No- it’s juss-'' he pushed away and leaned over “hard for a lady to catch his breath in a get up like this.  Besides'' he winced, reaching into the folds of the skirt “landed on something kind of hard.” and produced the Gilded Globe of Reaches Far with a weak smile, that made Nureyev’s nerves flutter.  The golden circuitry and intricately carved gems glinting in the faint light of the floating mansion.  Nearly losing it after a sharp maneuver from Jet.

“Might I suggest you put that away until we are back in the carte blanche?”  

Once back, they were informed to make a showing for the family meeting to debrief the others on the mission.  Juno disappeared to change, hobbling into the meeting room a half hour later looking morose. 

“So kind of you to make it darling. I was just about to send Jet after you.” Buddy greeted.  

“That dress is a nightmare to get out of.” he shot back.  

“Yes, well, if you need help, all you have to do is ask.  Ransom,” Juno made a funny sort of cough “has just been telling us the details.  It worked for the best this time, but for future reference, when you have an account filled with fake credits, best not draw too much attention to it.”

Juno sighed, collapsing into a seat.  Something seemed to be weighing on the detective, something other than the disaster of a mission the pair had endured.  Nureyev kept glancing over, noting the way Juno sat hunched over on himself, the tired way he recanted the mission, the way he tore their performance to shreds.  They had finally started to work as a team near the end, but before then- well, they both had a lot to say about the faults in their plans.  The only thing Buddy scolded them for was failing to keep her in the loop, and chastising Nureyev for not relying more on Juno.  

They had successfully retrieved the globe but it did not feel like a victory.  

Later, after the debriefing and a private word with Buddy, Juno came to his room to talk.  Well, Juno talked, a long winded apology Nureyev barely managed to listen to as his mind whirred with the information Buddy left him.

“Point is I’m jus- sorry.”  he stopped, eye over bright and wide in anticipation.  

Nureyev couldn’t think of what to say, it was clearly his turn, as it were, clearly the time to speak, but….

“Juno-” his voice came out soft and strained.  

The other man stood unsteadily “I-I’m too late aren't I, damn it, I- I should leave-” 

Nureyev swallowed, catching Juno’s hand in his “Not too late, Juno, not too late at all.” he gave a short humorless laugh “In fact, I can’t think of anyone I would want to stay with more than you.”  

Relief washed over Juno’s face as he pulled away.  “Hell, don’ tell me that’s it!”  He started to laugh, there was something off about it though, “You know how s-scared I was of-of this?  Of us?  Of- ahhh-'' he doubled over clutching his stomach for the second time that day.  

Nureyev dashed to his side “Juno?  Juno what’s wrong?” He grasped his shoulders trying to get him to look him in the eye.  They sank to the floor, Nureyev pulling him close like he had done in Miasma’s compound.  

That’s when he realized what was so off putting about the situation, Juno was in pain, serious pain and had been for quite some time.  Only he’d been too caught up in his own stupid thoughts to notice it before.  Just like the mission.  

The last instance he saw Juno this bad off was during Miasma's experiments in an old Martian Tomb.  

“Juno!”

“N-Nothin- jus feelin a bit woozy-”

“Woozy?” Nureyev pulled him closer, ghosting a hand down his side and- there was something damp there, sticky even.  

“Yeah, being swept off your feet has that effect on a la-ahh!” he curled tighter into his chest, like he did in the car, breathing far too hard.  “Don’ touch.”  Nureyev wasn’t paying attention now, thoroughly distracted by the russet smear cross his fingers.

“Juno you’re bleeding.”  His mind reeled.  Juno had been hurt, but when- how?  Why hadn’t he said anything.  

“Oh yeah, what do you know?  Thanks for the update.”

“Let me have a look.”

“N-no, it’s fine.”  He struggled to push himself upright, “shouldn’t be here.”

“Oh don’t be such a baby.” he pushed Juno back gently so he was resting against the dresser.  Juno let him, leaning his head back and closing his eye in exhaustion.  Lifting his shirt elicited a soft “ohhh-” from the thief.  

He was covered in injuries that couldn’t be more than a few weeks old, judging by the angry red and pink of the lacerations.  The corset couldn’t have been doing his healing process any favors.  Some of the wounds had opened, and Juno had placed large Band-Aids over the top.  Those would need tending to, but the one that was most concerning was one where a bandage was wrapped around his lower ribcage, blood dying the once pristine fabric a deep red.  

“May of had a lil’ more f-fun than anticipated today-”  

“Juno, what happened?” Nureyev cupped his face, gently stroking a thumb over Juno’s cheek bone.  He felt hot to the touch.  It only added to the concern.  

“Stupid really- I hit some space junk- and-” he paused, pulling in air “it hit back.” 

“Space junk-? Never mind that, why didn’t you tell us?”

“I did-”

“What? When?”

“At the meeting family thing.  Wasn’t- feelin my best-”

Nureyev thought back to the family meeting hours ago, he hadn’t been paying attention.  He remembered Juno supporting his resume and spilling his coffee moments after a defiant declaration to Buddy he could drink it.  The situation had been comical at the time, but he remembered how his hands had shook-  Same when he tripped on the carpet to the galla.  

Juno was many things, but he wasn’t a novice to heals or an elegant gown, his performance on the dance floor spoke to his skill.  His impatience to end the auction, and the way he’d bulled him over when he tried taking the globe prematurely.  The way his face had twisted, and how tightly he squeezed Nureyev-  Was that what had done it?  Or was it when they escaped to the transport-   

The truth was, Nureyev hadn’t been paying attention.  He didn’t pay attention and Juno was hurting because of it.

“Wasn’t feeling your best?  Juno, these are serious injuries.”

“N-not anymore-” Juno sighed “And we needed- the map- the Cure Mother-” he drew in another ragged breath “It could do a lot of pe-eople a lot a good.” 

Fear coiled in Nureyev’s gut as he thought of the words Buddy had said to him mear hours before ‘We are not legends- legends are dead things-’

How many times had Juno almost become a legend himself?  How many times had he tried to sacrifice himself for the greater good? 

“I’m going to get Vespa.”

“N-no!” Juno gasped, grabbing hold of the other’s wrist “Nureyev, please- I- I don’t want her to see me- right now.  Don’t need it-”

“Detective, you need more than I can give you.”

“It’ll stop- soon-” he was almost pleading “please, jus’ stay.” 

Nureyev looked at Juno Steel for a good long moment- he loved this man- it was a simple truth that he’d tried to run from- even going so far as to let him walk away on those soft feet in the dead of the night all that time ago-

He could live without Juno Steel- but it was getting harder and harder to understand why he’d wanted too.  

“Oh- have it your way Detective.  But you’re going to let me patch you up at the very least; I will not have you bleeding out on my watch.”

Juno gave an exhausted, wicked grin “Thanks Toots.” 

Nureyev relieved Juno of his soaked shirt and unwounded the bandage; careful as to not interfere with the clotting blood to reveal a truly evil wound.  A jagged V carved into the side of his ribcage, deviating into the vulnerable flesh of his stomach; half-healed bruises blotching his skin.  It wasn’t hard to believe Juno lost a fight with space junk.  The stitching had torn apart, none too neatly either.  

It wasn’t wise to stitch him up again, best let the doctor do the proper patching.  But, maybe, he could hold it off till morning.

He cleaned it best he could, Juno occasionally letting out little piteous sounds as he worked.  It was intimate, he could feel every stuttering breath under his long fingers, every twitch and tensed muscle.  He had him like this before, under more enjoyable circumstances, delighting in the honesty that played across his face-  But now- there were only gasps of pain and watery smiles.  Worry settled heavily in his chest, he’d just gotten him back, and now this-

Fresh gauze packed tight and back the bandage went.  Juno’s feverish head resting in the crock of Nureyev’s neck as he wound it tightly around.  He was given a fresh bed shirt, the largest one Nureyev had packed.  Juno was more muscular than he was, smaller in stature but broader of shoulder.  He was lucky to find anything to fit him at all.

“Okay, to bed love.” and pressed a kiss into his curls, marveling at how easy the term of endearment slipped from his lips.  “You’ve got a doctor’s appointment in the morning.” 

“I- don’ want too-” Juno whined, but placidly allowed Nureyev to maneuver him to the mattress.  He curled on his good side, laying his head in the hollow point of Nureyev’s arm.  

Nureyev found himself hoping that this time, he would stay.  

In the morning- he’d see Juno treated and that would be that.  He ran his fingers along his back in a soothing fashion and fell asleep to his lady’s gentle breath.  

 It was that same breath that woke Nureyev some odd hours later-

[stonerbughead]

Maria watches friday night lights (#34)

And we continue with 5x11, the stage is set for quite a playoff episode, and i am HERE FOR IT.

my reactions / recap / flailing under the cut

Omg there are “welcome home Tim” signs up?? Poor Luke is jealous of Becky and Tim talking.

Damn, Tim definitely seems fucked up from prison from just that convo with Becky about the Landing Strip alone. Tortured boy.

Aw, we love to see excited Eric with a bunch of excited East Dillon Lions in the locker room after a winning playoff game!

Anddddd here come the budget cuts to burst the bubble. “Anyone need a donut? Some of you won’t have a job next semester.” Damn worst he’s seen it in 27 years? “Anyway, uh...pray.” Damn.

“Where’s the union in all of this, you know?” damn, they have a union at this Texas school? That’s good, but it seems like a weak one, which i’m not surprised about because, again...Texas.

OOOOH Tami’s getting recruited to a Philly college and they’ll fly her out to interview her?

LOL the dudes are yelling “state, state, state!” jumping up and down in their front yard? “Get out of my front yard, you’re making me look bad!” this is so wholesome.

Oh jesus poor Vince, his dad is trying to bring alcohol home when his mom is a recovering addict? What a selfish fuck! “I just don’t know.” OK BYE.

Ahhh Smash Williams is on the TV, playing football in a professional game while Tim Riggins works at Buddy’s bar...this show is just *chef’s kiss*

Oh he sounds so sad and “meh” as Buddy tries to make small talk about Smash’s success. Oh my poor Tim.

OH Jess noooo you taped another team in the division? The fear and drive in her eyes as she nervously tells a very stressed Eric she wants to be a coach herself...I love that.

REALLY? One of the coaches had to do the laughing and “you’ll never be a football coach.” “What, because I’m a girl?” “I didn’t say that.” “Yeah, you did.”

OMG I’m dying, the subtitles while Luke and Becky make out on the coach say SMOOCHING. Adorable!

“Don’t stop for me.” Wow, growth for Becky that Tim is the one walking in on her relationship now. “Use protection this time.” MUST YOU TIM?

Oh shit, football is “revenue neutral.” Truly wild that Tami, Eric, and Levi are having a convo about the whole program possibly being cut while the team loudly celebrates making it to the quarter finals all around them! The visuals in this show are superb.

The sound of “all the way to state, all the way to state, all the way to state!” in the background as the camera focuses on Tami and Eric, watching over everything with sighs on their faces. They carry so much for this town and this team.

Oh shit it’s Bryn Mawr she wants to interview at? And omg they want to interview on the Friday of the semi-final. It’s all happening!

Oh yes some high-stress practice in the pouring rain while Eric has budget cuts and Tami’s interview on his mind!

Okay i get you’re stressed Eric, but calling Jess a “pest” for showing you an article of a female football coach is not it! Although it is WILD Jess took a physical newspaper clipping out to show Eric in the pouring rain. I love her.

Yes, Billy, you are def on the chopping block with these budget cuts. But LOL at him making fun of that dude who repeats everything everyone else said

Tim is so much quieter and more stoic. It tracks. Billy, are you really surprised he doesn’t want to relive his former glory days rn? (Although i have a lil feeling Tim will show up at this game at the last minute!)

Oh shit they’re on Billy’s front lawn now? This is so cute, the parallel moments of “wait a minute, I hear something” and coming outside to find this team with so much heart!

Oh wow they are getting BOOED at this away game. You know they’re good now!

“You never saw so many people so quiet.” I love Vince and his mom’s relationship so much, my heart.

Oh god is daddy all drunk kissing up on his wife who is SOBER? Sir, what do you not understand about sobriety?

Oop and he’s got “gifts.” What shit is he back into?

Wow, hands on the mom and he’s clearly dropped the drugs he’s flipping. There it is.

Yes to the BBQ people asking if the MOM is alright and kicking the dad’s sorry ass out. That’s how we do it.

I really love the way they’re transitioning through this period of playoffs—the locker room updates to their progress with the radio in the background, the chants after each win — then making way for Eric dropping Tami off at the airport. Semifinals are here.

“The time when I need you the most?” “You really gonna bring this up now, on the way to the airport?” Tami’s right, she’s been nothing but straightforward all along! Tami supports you, Eric, let her have her fucking moment.

“Well, you’re kicking my ass.” “Yes, that’s right. Your ass needs some kicking.” “Who’s going to cook dinner for me?” “Oh, poor baby. Gracie.” LMAOOOO yes Tami! Get him! I’m dying.

Okay, Eric, you are forgiven—he looked up the female football coach to talk to Jess about but got the last name wrong!

“14,000 high school football coaches in the country, and that’s one. One out of 14,000. You like those odds?” “No, I think they kind of stink.” “So do I.” Awwww.

“I’m not asking to play.” YES JESS! I love the growth she’s shown over her two seasons. Now she knows what she wants! And her persistence is paying off—Eric’s gonna let her shadow him?! My heart!

Damn Tim is VERY bothered by Becky working at the family business (The Landing Strip.)

Oh God what i feel like Tim sees in “one of Becky’s regular customers” is someone he has an excuse to let out his aggression on. He’s clearly just so fucked up by his life not being what he wanted it to be—and by even the life of those he loved and left behind on the outside not being what he wants for them.

“She’s 17 years old!!!! A high school junior!” I mean, FAIR. Fair fucking point.

Oh fuck this emotional scene between Tim and Billy in the parking lot...DAMN that was a hard punch in the face Tim just gave Billy.

WOW Tim is gonna hold onto taking the fall for Billy for a long time. Fuck. “For the rest of my life, if that’s how I feel it needs to be.”

Billy looks so fucking sad on his knees in the parking lot.

Regina changed the locks! Yes gurl, do not let that man back into your home!

He’s trying to break down the door...oh honey, no. “You’re blowing it, Pop!” I’m so proud of Regina for standing up for herself and Vince.

The visual of Luke riding up next to Tim’s car, and then driving past Becky and Tim fighting, as they pause to watch him go...ART. Also, why is Tim so resolutely like “I got to go. I got to go.” Intrigued.

“There’s only gonna be one football team in Dillon next year.” “Well, which program are they cutting?” “That’s next week’s fight.” DAMN. So much is happening in one night!

Yep, Eric just summed it up to that reporter: “One of those teams is going to state. And i don’t think you’re gonna eliminate a team that goes to state.” They’re fighting for the very existence of their team AND the state championship in one! This show!

Oh wow Luke does NOT want to hear Becky’s apology. Oh nooo!

Aw Regina and Vince communicating about how she needs to “take a meeting” so she can’t come to the game and him saying that’s more important...again, the growth! My heart!

OH they made up Braemore? Really sounded like Bryn Mawr LOL. Go Tami!!!

(These white dudes do not want to hear a woman saying they should rethink their approach. STOP YELLING AT HER, SHE’S RIGHT.)

Oh Mindy, crying at Tim not to go, about how much Billy cries at night, how much they both love Tim. IM EMOTIONAL

“You’re different, you know that?” “Yeah. I am.” ABOLISH PRISONS.

DAMN this semi final game is a NAILBITER

They did it at the last minute, YES!!! Nothing beats the excitement on the team’s faces as they embrace!

Damn Tim returning to his old trailer? Drinking beers alone and doing very not well as he listens to the radio static. Sigh, poor angsty boy.

Aw the woman who interviewed Tami is so kind. Telling her she did well at dinner.

I literally gasped then went AHHH! when the college dude came to dinner and Tami’s all politely like “thanks for the opportunity!” And the guy’s like, “yeah yeah i have two kids to put to bed, anyway we’re offering you that old asshole’s job.” “Dean of Admissions???” YES QUEEN

Damn Eric and Tami are BOTH killing the game, what a fucking power couple.

Eric has the whiteboard on the bus to accompany this “we’re going to state” chant. Amazing.

“We missed the field house.” “We’re not going to the field house.” OMG all their fans are waiting outside to cheer for them as they return?? How beautiful!

Oh my poor babe Vince, all he wants is to know his mom is safe.

YES he found his mom! My heart dropped when Vince’s face betrayed some fear he couldn’t find her. I’m so glad they can celebrate together, oh my heart.

And then you see Eric looking around for Tami, lost because she’s across the country contemplating a life-changing job offer...WOW. Two episodes left and the deck is truly STACKED. This show is art.

[startrek-writings-for-the-soul]

(Y/N) the Red Shirt. | Reader insert

Words: 2,570

Female!reader adventure, a lil bit of reader x kirk later on.

You watched the ceremony from the door of the servants entrance. They bustled by you, serving the dignitaries and representatives of different regions. The room was incredible. High beams of polished wood and granite held up the tall roof and sheltered the rows and rows of dining tables. Every seat was occupied by citizens who more or less appeared from the same species, that is, not including the members of the Enterprise that resided at the High Table.

Among the fleet's representatives were Captain Kirk, Spock, and a very enthusiastic Uhura. She was chatting the planet's officials ears off and Kirk definitely found it hilarious.  It charming too, very much like her, to try and get everything she can out of this meeting. You weren't supposed to be at the table, but you were supposed to be nearby. So you stayed in the background, where you could observe and obstruct.

You grabbed your comm, feeling comfortable enough to use it here, and asked, "All units report."

Crackling met you as, one by one, the security team reported a clear and safe evening. A sigh escaped your lips as you leaned back against the wall, crossing your arms and waiting for the night to end. 

Diplomatic missions could go one of two ways; exciting and tense or boring and peaceful. This one was boring and peaceful, since you landed two days ago till now. And when time passed by slower and slower, you even checked up on the ship. Everyone was safe, everyone was enjoying their brief days of rest, and nothing was wrong.

A figure had approached while you were caught up in the ship's well being. A tall, male looking member of the species. They themselves weren't naturally that tall, closer to the human average, but you had spotted a few that surpasses anyone on your ship. His face, like all the others, had distinct black eyes and long horns that curled in on themselves, on the top of his head. Unlike the officials here, he was younger and wore his black hair in a long ponytail.

"Good evening, Miss." He addressed you, offering their version of a bow, a simple tilt of the head.

You returned it, "Good evening, Sir."

He flushed. "Would you be willing to accompany me at my table? We have an extra seat, and would love to have you join us."

You figured he must've thought you were standing back here because there wasn't room for you with the others. But you didn't see the point in explaining that you were a security officer, when they had plenty of guards all over the place, themselves. A moment of hesitation, and then you smiled and nodded.

"I'd be honoured to join you." 

He smiled back, as if unsure what a smile meant, and then began leading me through the rows and rows of tables. As we walked, I kept an eye on the group and reached for my comm.

"Heads up, I need two of you to take over my watch. Don't ask, just do it. Thank you." You whispered, so as not to disturb the people enjoying their feast and having discussions.

You were sat at a table on the far side of the room. There was no way of seeing your team from here, but you rested easy knowing two people had come to replace you. The food was delicious, to say the least. You had never had such delicacies before.

According to Ora, the dignitary that invited you to the table, every member at our table was either a foreign dignitary or some sort of international official. The whole meeting earlier, which has been paused to have this banquet, was a renewing of an ancient peace treaty between every nation in attendance.

"There are only two nations who do not participate in this treaty, but they are peaceful and not a threat." He explained. You found it bizarre that they required a renewal of this peace treaty if they hadn't had conflict in centuries. Or perhaps that was thanks to this treaty.

"Why don't they sign it?" You asked.

A few people started to eye you around the table. Specifically a short male with large horns and a permanent scowl, and a tall female that more or less looked like Ora's twin.

Ora shook his head and went back to eating. The female gave you the traditional greeting, which you returned, and then started to answer your question.

"They would bleed us of our resources if we let them sign."

"Oh. Does the treaty require you to share your resources?"

The man answered this time, and completely forgoed the greeting. You didn't like the sound of his voice.

"Our planet has many different types of resources that we depend on to live. Years ago, and I'm talking centuries, they started this peace treaty and offered up an alliance to Caja. Caja is Maki's home country," He nodded to Ora's twin. "But those two nations simply took whatever they could, and offered up none of their own resources."

"I see. But that was so long ago... I can't imagine they would do that again."

"We don't invite them because that is what they always try. You would too, if your home was filled with useless resources." He scowled.

You nodded, "I understand." You didn't want to push them any further. They already seemed so tense.

"Don't be mistaken, we are grateful to have our first interplanetary alliance with your Federation." Maki said, feigning a smile.

"Thank you, we are excited by this partnership too." But you weren't interested at all. This was just one of many that the Federation had procured.

A hum of silence fell between you and the others at the table, who quietly ate their food and observed the other tables. You got the sense that you should return to your post. A quick thank you to those you spoke with, you excused yourself and starting to make your way by all the tables. Ora was strangely quiet when you left. as if your talk about the other two nations had upset him. You hoped that wasn't the case, he was very kind to you.

You headed for the servants entrance at the back wall again, but noticed there was no one there on lookout. At first, it was irritation you felt. How could your team ignore this command?

"Units. Report." No one answered you. 

"Hello? Team, report." Nothing.

You called the ship. "Anyone have eyes on the security team?"

But there was still no answer. And now your heart was pounding and your palms got all sweaty. If you left the dining hall to go find them, you risked losing sight of the three people you were stationed to protect, but how else would you check on the others?

More servants moved past you and through the entrance with empty platters in hand. No one else was concerned, not even the Captain who had just told a joke and made the whole table laugh.

You stopped a servant. "I'm sorry to bother you, could you do me a favour?"

The servant agreed to check outside the hall to see if your officers were still there. You thanked him and went back to standing against the wall.

You tried your comm again, and again, and again! You hoped it was just broken, but the servant came back and said she hadn't seen them. And then she grabbed you by the wrist and pushed you through the entrance and into the servants kitchen.

"What the hell-"

You twisted your arm out of her grip, but two more hands grabbed you from the back and pulled. Your hands went for your phaser, which was set on stun, and shot at whoever was behind you. The hands dropped you and yelped. The female servant tried to wrestle the phaser from you, but you managed to kick her right in the abdomen. She doubled over in pain and you turned around to see your other attacker, a small female servant, rubbing her leg.

You jumped to your feet and put some distance between you, pointing the phaser at the first servant. "Care to explain why you did that?"

"Quiet!" She roared. Eyes going to the entrance, which was wide open.

More servants were starting to head back this way. They eyed your phaser as they warily entered.

"What's this? Should we call a guard?" They murmured to each other.

"Do any of you know why these two just attacked me?"

"We didn't do anything!" Cried the little one, "She attacked us for no reason! Call the guards!"

Shit.

"That's a bold fucking lie. You got cameras in here?"

The servants started to chatter nervously, one shook their head to your question and another began backing away.

"Look, I'm a security officer with the Federation." You put your phaser away and lifted your hands. "I'm here to protect you just as much as I am to protect my people."

There was a confused silence, until one said, "But Miss, they've already left."

"What." You pushed past them to step out into the hall. They were right, all three had left.

You whipped around and stomped up to the one who spilled the news, "Where did they go?!"

"Um, sorry Miss, we don't..." She trailed off as your eyes went to the two that attacked you trying to flee.

"Don't let them leave!" You bolted after them but they had already disappeared through another door in the kitchen. Following them, you found yourself in a long hallway with storage freezers and pantries. The little servant was limping, and you took advantage of this to pounce on her. She yelped as she fell to the ground. You put your phaser to her head and watch her partner stop.

"Please, just-"

"Tell me where they went." You gritted out.

She hesitated. "Let her go and I'll bring you to them."

You force the little one to stand, moving your phaser on the back of her head.

"Take me to them first."

Another hesitation, but when the little servant whimpered, the other servant nodded and swallowed her pride. 

She brought them through the hall to a fire escape door and deactivated the alarm. As you walked through the door, you heard footsteps running up behind you. You turned around too late, getting forced up against the wall. 

Ora's voice whispered in your ear, "Drop the weapon, Miss." You let it fall to the floor.

"What's going on, Ora?" You seathed.

"Just don't resist." The little servant came over to you and started to blindfold you. You didn't bother resisting, you were way overpowered at this point. Then your wrists were bound and the Ora started to lead you away.

"Where are you taking me? To my Captain? Ora. Tell me what's going on, please."

"I was hoping you wouldn't put up such a fight." He sounded genuinely sincere when, but it didn't answer your questions.

He was silent the rest of the way, gently you guiding through corridors and down stairs, to a cold room. The atmosphere felt wrong, and you could tell that, were it not for your comm not working, you wouldn't have been able to get any signal this far down in the ground anyways.

Ora started to speak in a tongue you didn't know, and another pair of hands pulled you away, with much more force. The hands pulled off your blindfold and shoved you into a cell, locking the door behind you. Ora gave you a final look, and you could see that, despite his betrayal, he was not an evil person. Something else was going on, and you were just a side character in the mix.

The cell was nice. Plain, beige walls and a cement floor. There was a cot in the corner and a large window on the metal door. Your wrists were still bound, but they were easy enough to break. You wondered if the others were also in a cell, wrists bound because they hadn't been trained on how to break them.

The second person stuck around and paced outside your cell. He was murmuring something in the language you didn't understand. You also didn't recognize it, you realized, and you had been grilled by Uhura on knowing all the different languages that would be spoken at this meeting. You wondered if Ora and this man were from one of the two nations not allowed at this meeting.

A man's voice piped up from the cell to your right.

"Hey, Mr. Chatterbox, got any water? I'm fucking parched." 

The alien growled, understandably annoyed by the distinct voice of Kirk.

"Captain!" You cried out, lunging at the door, as if you could possibly see him from here.

"(Y/L/N)!?" His voice echoed against the walls of your cell.

Relief had flooded your senses and you broke out into a smile. 

"Captain, is Spock and Uhura there, too?"

"No, they're on the ship, getting the hell out of dodge -" 

A slam, and then silence. The growl of the alien neared your cell. Out of fear, you took a step back. His face appeared in the window. He looked nothing like Ora and the others. His face large and flat, his eyes pierced at you with animalistic intent. But from the horns protruding rudely from his head, you knew he was from this planet. Maybe this is how the other nations looked.

"You… Will… Quiet!" He spat, his teeth bared. Clearly this male wasn't a dignitary, because all dignitaries spoke some variation of the universal language. This alien knew only fragmented pieces.

"Did you… hurt him?" You breathed, voice wavering.

The male shook his head, and then began laughing at your pale face.

"It… Lives…" He said.

You nodded and went to your cot, taking a tentative seat, eyes trained on the window. He smiled to himself and walked away, heading to Kirk's cell.

"You… Wake… Now!" The alien roared.

You heard some shuffling and a groan. The Captain was alive.

"Fuck… Let's talk this out, I am from the Federation and I want nothing to do with your nation's affairs, if you won't release me than release my colleague-"

"...No!.." His word was final. The Captain dropped it. You wanted to applaud his efforts at meeting a diplomatic solution.

You spent the next hour sitting on your cot, too scared to try and reach out to Kirk. It calmed you to know that Uhura and Spock had made it away unharmed, but you wanted to know more. To know what happened to them and what was going on and why it had to be you. Not that it made a difference to you. Your goal stayed the same. Escape, get Kirk, and fucking leave.

You were sure that Kirk was going over the diplomatic ramifications this will have and what they're going to have to do to fix this. But you just wanted to leave. After enough time in silence, your thoughts turned to guilt.

You were intentionally led away from your position and as a result, you were now a captive. The security team you worked with all year was now missing, at least to your knowledge, and you had no way of communicating with the crew on the Enterprise. 

This is it, you thought. This time, I die.

End of Part One

[sofhyuck]

Cracked Up

Genre: domestic!Mark, fluff, being mean to Mark

Word Count: 2.1k (another lil baby I have no time for long)

Excerpt: “Is it be mean to Mark day or something?”

“Every day is be mean to Mark day.” 

Masterlist

A/N once again an au that stems from a riveting conversation with @cinanamon about how Gross Mark is and yet we still love him

Hair tickled your nose and you brushed it out of your face, bringing your hand back down to rest on Mark’s arm. His chest rose and fell softly with each breath, heat radiating off of his bare skin, warming your own. With each breath he took your head moved up and down, burrowing your nose into his chest. Every once in a while you placed a kiss to his skin, his hands tickling at your sides as he rubbed small circles on your waist. His sweatpants clad legs intertwined with your pant-less ones and you found comfort in the soft fabric of his pants against your legs. Days where Mark had off were one in a million, and the two of you always made sure to make the most of them. For you and Mark, that meant mainly spending your day in bed.  

Suddenly recalling a story Mark had offhandedly told you last week, you spoke up. “Is Doyoung still on your ass for trying to scare the dreamies?”

“It was Halloween and it wasn’t even that scary! Besides, it wasn’t even my idea, I was just forced to participate.” Mark pouted into your hair, still sour that he was the only member feeling the wrath of one Kim Doyoung.

“That’s what you get for being dumb.”

“Can’t we go one day without you being mean to me.”

“It’s out of love Mark. I wouldn’t be mean to you if I didn’t actually like you.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“You know I love you stupid.”

“…I love you too.”

Silence once again settled across the room, Mark’s right hand moving to stroke along your back. Soft kisses were pressed into your hair every few minutes, Mark humming out of happiness. Nuzzling your nose into his neck, you inhaled deeply, prepared for a breath full of his familiar scent.

“Oh, jesus christ Mark are you serious?.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about babe.”

“Yes you fucking do Mark.”

“No clue.”

“Stop farting I swear to god I’m going to kick you!”

Mark reeled back, feigning shock at your accusation.

“How dare you ever assume that I would fart in your wonderful presence.”

“Bro you’re stinking up the room oh my god.”

“They don’t smell that bad!”

“So you admit that you are farting then.”

“Maybe so.” He mumbled, a pout settling across his lips.

“God how are you so disgusting yet incredibly lovable I don’t get it. It’s not fair”

“Hey, my farts prove that I, too, am human, no matter how perfect I may seem.”

“I really don’t know how to feel about that. Couldn’t you choose a less smelly human flaw?”

“They smell lovely, like flowers.”

“Sure buddy, keep telling yourself that.”

“Well what about this one then.”

You heard it before you smelled it.

“Let me go Mark oh my god I’m going to suffocate from the smell.” Mark’s arms only tightened around your waist, a mischievous smile on his face.

“Sorry babe, no can do. My arms seem to be somehow stuck in this position right now and I can’t let you go. There’s nothing I can do about it, sorry.”

“I will punch you.” You narrowed your eyes, already curling your hand into a fist.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, you know I would. In fact, I probably hit you more than I kiss you.”

“Yea and I have the bruises to prove it.”

“They’re punches of love.”

“The truth hurts.”

“Now let. Me. go.”

“No. Way.”

Mark’s arms loosened and he let out a heavy grunt as you landed a sharp fist on his stomach. Finally free from his grasp you rolled off the bed, ready to sprint out of the room. Before you even had the chance to turn the doorknob Mark had already recovered, his arms once again wrapping around your waist to pull you away from the door. His laughter filled the air as well as your groans of protest.

“I’m sorry for farting so much.” He whispered into your ear, laughter lacing his voice.

“I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for being so gross.”

“I’m not that gross.” He whined, turning you around so that you could see his pout.

“You leave your dirty clothes everywhere so that I have to clean them up, you literally fart the most out of all of NCT, and might I add you rarely shower after practice.”

“Well when you put it that way…”

“In fact, you could use a shower right now. I’m pretty sure you didn’t shower after practice last night and you certainly haven’t showered yet today.

“Gee mom, sorry, guess I stink too much for you to love me.”

“You got that right.”

“Fine. But I think you could use a shower too.”

“Excuse me mister but I showered this morning.”

“Yea, but I think you could use another one. You know, with me.” He added a wink at the end, already pulling you along with him to the bathroom.

“You’re an idiot.” You rolled your eyes, allowing him to drag you behind him.

“Yea but I’m your idiot and you loooove me.”

“I guess.” You huffed. The bathroom door closed behind the two of you and Mark pulled his sweatpants down, your shirt following suit. Ready to take off your underwear, you felt a pair of hands land firmly on your butt. Rolling your eyes, you leaned back into your boyfriend’s chest.

“What do you think you’re doing.” You said with a raised brow, making eye contact with him through the mirror in front of you.

“I’m just loving my baby.” He grinned, bringing his left hand up to grope at your chest.

“You’re such a pervert.”

“Hey, what do you think of this one? Ass and tits, good shit.”

“Genius Mark, you should put that on a T-shirt.”

“Maybe I will, I could make bank off of them.”

“I’m sure SM would love to hear one of their idols made a shirt like that.”

“They’d probably try to trademark it so that I have to give them all the profit.” He laughed, finally pulling his boxers off and stepping into the shower. You followed suit, joining him under the already warmed stream of water. His bangs had already flattened on his forehead and you pushed them off of his forehead, laughing at how his eyes squinted from the warm water.

“You’re such a cutie Markle.”

“Says the cutie, cutie.”

“Ew, gross.”

“Hey, I’m literally in the shower right now how can I be gross.”

“Correlation? None.”

“My logic makes perfect sense.”

“Sure, maybe to a five year old. And it’s quite a coincidence that you have the mindset of one.”

“Is it be mean to Mark day or something?”

“Every day is be mean to Mark day.” You laughed, pinching his cheek.

“You’ve wounded me. Now you have to kiss it better.” Rolling your eyes, you placed a quick peck to his cheek. With a pout he shook his head and placed a finger under your chin, swooping down to place a lingering kiss to your lips. You pulled away slowly from the kiss, reaching over to the shelves to grab the shampoo. About to open the bottle, Mark reaches out to stop you. You gave him a quizzical look, confused by his actions.

“I want to use yours, it smells nicer.”

“Have you been using my shampoo Mark? For how long? No wonder it’s been running out faster than usual.”

“It smells better than mine, plus it reminds me of you.” He whined, grabbing your bottle from the shelf.

“God I wanted to be mad at you but you’re too cute.” You took the bottle from his hand, squeezing some onto your hand, rubbing your hands together to create a light lather. Mark gazed at you fondly as you reached up to massage the shampoo into his scalp.

“Don’t get any into my eyes.” He mumbled.

“I would never! Now wash it out and make sure you don’t get any into your eyes. I know you do that almost every shower.”

“I do not.”

“Keep telling yourself that bud.”

Water ran down Mark’s back, some of it washing over you as well. After washing the shampoo from his hair, Mark turned off the water. You grabbed a towel for the each of you and handed one to Mark, wrapping your own around your body. Stepping out of the shower, Mark followed close behind, towelling his hair. The both of you got dressed and headed towards the living room, Mark practically hanging off of your back the whole way there.

“Hey are you hungry?” He spoke into your ear, nipping lightly at the skin.

“Hmmm, yea. Should we call out soon.”

“I was hoping you’d cook.”

“I’m tired Mark.”

“I know but I miss your fried rice.”

“Ugh, fine, that’s easy enough.” You removed yourself from his grasp, grabbing the necessary ingredients from your refrigerator and pantry. Mark reached over to grab the carton of eggs but you slapped his hand away before he could.

“Ow what was that for?” He whined, pulling his hand away to soothe it with his other.

“There’s absolutely no way I’m letting you touch those, I’ve seen your track record.”

“At least let me try, babe. You know what they say, practice makes perfect!”

“Fine, here I’ll give you a good example.” Placing a frying pan onto the burner, you turned it on and waited patiently for it to heat up. After you deemed the pan sufficiently hot, you carefully took an egg out of the carton. Tapping it on the counter, you brought the egg over the pan and pulled the shell apart at the crack, allowing the egg to fall gracefully onto the pan.

“Did you see that? No broken yolk, no egg shells?”

“Yep, got it. I’m gonna do this.”

With a deep breath, Mark held out his hand. Shaking your head, you placed an egg into his outstretched hand, watching him carefully for any sign of dropping said egg. You held your breath, scared of any wrong move.

“Wait!” Mark interjected, causing you to nearly jump out of your skin. You had been so concentrated on the egg, you had nearly forgotten about the boy holding it. “I want you to film this just in case I actually do it.” You grimaced as he fished around in his pocket for his phone, his other holding tightly onto the egg.

“Don’t hold it too tightly it might break.”

“Shhh, I know don’t worry babe I got it.”

Handing you his phone, you swiped over to the camera app, still wary of Mark’s hold on the egg.

“Ok, are you ready?”

You pressed the record button and flashed him a quick ‘ok’ sign with your fingers. “Yea, go for it.” You held your breath as Mark gently but firmly tapped the egg on the counter. You followed his every move and he pulled open the egg. The egg fell with a satisfying ‘plop’ and you moved closer to the pan with his phone.

“Oh my god.” You breathed. “Oh my fucking god mark you actually did it!”

“I did? I-I mean I did! Look at that, unbroken yolk and no egg shells!”

“I’m so proud of you!” You laughed, throwing your arms around his neck and placing a swift peck to his lips. Moving away from you, Mark grabbed his phone from your grasp and focused the lens on himself.

“Uh, yea, this one goes out to all my haters. You all thought I couldn’t but I did it. Yea, no matter what you know I’ll win it”

“Stop rapping you weirdo. And what about me, I believed in you!”

“Of course, c’mere.” He wrapped his arm around your waist, pulling you into his side so that you’d be in frame. “This one also goes out to my baby, my number one supporter. I love you so much.”

“I love you too dummy.”

“You can only refer to me as the egg master from now on, sorry baby.”

“Don’t let all the fame get to your head, big head.”

Mark stopped filming and gave you a deep kiss. “Thank you so much for supporting me through such a perilous endeavor baby.”

“God, you’re so annoying.”

“Let me send this to the boys, they’re gonna be so impressed.”

“Mhmm, this is a really big milestone for you. I’m so proud of you.”

Mark pulled you in for another kiss, only pulling away to send the video. He smiled down at you, tweaking your nose out of adoration. Dings suddenly filled the room, his NCT group chat blowing up with texts of disbelief. There were a few texts of disgust at your pda sprinkled throughout, most of which came from Donghyuck.

“Hey, do you smell something burning?”

“Oh fuck the fucking eggs!”

[sincerelymarinette]

A Recorded Life - Miraculous Ladybug (1/50)

Words: 1493 Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng and her friends are in their final year of Lycee (High School), and they are all 18 years old. Marinette has a very busy life between trying to graduate from school, help in her parent's bakery, and protect France. On top of it all, she is also a very popular YouTuber who creates fashion videos and vlogs. As her popularity increases, she has more to deal with, including how her fans react to everything in her recorded life. Author’s Note: omg. I had this idea from a headcanon I created a few months back and I haven’t really stopped thinking about it. I also didn’t really think I was ever going to post it, but why not give it a shot to see if people like it. This is the first part, so it is really a big introduction to how everything works in this lil AU. If I post more, it does get less introductory and becomes more of a story haha. I have a few more parts written, but it is nowhere near done! Let me know if you would like to see more :)

Will also be posted on Ao3 and Wattpad within the next few days, depending on timing.

NOTE: Canon from season 3 does not apply in this story unless stated otherwise, as this is being written at the time of season 3 being released.

NOTE 2: the chapters are mostly titled like YouTube videos would be. Except for the chapters where a video is not recorded/talked about, so if they look weird, they're supposed to look like YouTube titles!

Next

Are We More Like Ladybug or Chat Noir?

---

"Hey guys, I'm Marinette!" She began the video. "And welcome back to my second channel. You may notice the person sitting next to me..." Marinette gestured. "Alya's back. Like she is in almost every video over here."

Alya smiled and waved. "Hey, guys! Guess what I convinced her to do today," Alya winked. "Well, you probably read the title. We're quizzing to see if we're more like Ladybug or Chat Noir."

"Which I don't totally understand because do we actually know them?" Marinette asked, hoping she wouldn't get Ladybug.

Alya rolled her eyes. "So, if you're from a different country, or have never seen the news, or never even watched a video without me in it, Ladybug and Chat Noir are the superheroes and protectors of Paris. They protect us from the villain Hawkmoth, trying to collect their powers and take over the world. Or something. We only know he wants their powers, we don't know why," Alya shrugged. "But forget about Hawkmoth! Let's take the quiz."

Marinette giggled at her excitement. "Alya runs a blog that follows all things Ladybug and Chat Noir. I'll leave a link on her face, and in the description," Marinette reminded. "First question?"

"When confronted with an Akuma, what do you do? Punch it without a second thought, run away screaming, come up with a plan, or make a pun?" Alya asked. "Wait, I can't tell which one would be Chat Noir?"

Marinette glared at the camera. "He would make a pun," She said, getting a confused look from Alya. "Remember when I had to work with him for the Evillistrator? And when he ran up to me after Puppeteer turned you back into Lady Wifi? Oh my god, the puns!" She groaned. "I would probably," Marinette stopped for a second. She didn't know if she should tell her initial instinct, or try to stay away from the Ladybug answers. "Probably run away screaming."

Alya cocked an eyebrow. "You'd probably come up with a plan to take the Akuma out, Mari, be honest here," Alya said and clicked the one she didn't choose.

"Now, if your best friend was in danger, would you: let someone else save them, find a way to save them yourself, record it for the internet- okay, that one would probably be me if it were anyone but you- call for help, or work with your partner to get them out," Alya asked. "Speaking of, where were you when the Pharaoh tried to sacrifice me to the Egyptian gods?"

Marinette's jaw dropped. "Hey! I told you, I got caught in a time slow bubble. It was terrible!" Marinette defended herself, but little did she know she actually did save her best friend. "Considering Nino would probably be there too, since you really only get in danger when tracking down Ladybug and Chat Noir, we would have to work together to save you,"

"That's fair."

The questions continued and Alya kept calling Marinette out whenever she answered incorrectly. "You got Ladybug; I knew you were more like her!" Alya said.

"Why do you say that? I'm clumsy, and stutter sometimes, and I'm just not like her," Marinette shrugged. "I'm not even like Chat Noir. His confidence is insane, and I'm nowhere near that."

Alya put the phone down. "Girl, you sell yourself short. You're the class president; you stand up for people, you're creative. Those all sound like Ladybug things, don't they?" She raised her eyebrow. "I think that's all we have for today, right, Mari?"

"Yeah, thanks for watching! Other social media and information in the description, see you in the next video!" Marinette ended the video.

She edited out the part where Alya gave her reasons why she was like Ladybug. She cut it off at "Girl; you sell yourself short." Marinette watched the video she was editing for what the hold have been the fiftieth time, to make everything was done right or wasn't dull, but she had to postpone the editing. She set her main channel video to upload, and transformed into her alter ego to meet Chat Noir.

Marinette had a small, contained YouTube channel for a few years. It was popular, thanks to her incredible talent and young age, people enjoyed watching!

"Hey, Chat," Ladybug called when she saw him on the roof, sitting down and laughing. Even though they had been partners for two years, and now older, she still got a little nervous when starting patrol.

"Hey, Bug!" Chat Noir said. "You know Marinette, right? That girl you had me watch over because of an Akuma about a year ago?"

Ladybug nodded. "Yeah...why?"

"She has the best YouTube channel."

Marinette was flattered, but also confused. Chat Noir watched her YouTube? "She's...pretty cool," Ladybug walked closer and sat next to him. "I didn't think you would be one to be interested in a designer."

"Oh yeah, she's so talented! And her videos are great. I love watching the sped up designs and watching them all come together," He gushed. "But her second channel is just as good. It's more relaxed, and I guess you could say her main channel is the more professional side, but the second channel is where she does a bunch of videos with her friends. And look at this one!" Chat Noir showed her his baton, which was somehow connected to YouTube. Marinette recognized the video, as it was one of her most popular. It was the video Nino suggested when he asked "What's in your sketchbook? I've never seen everything, and I'm really curious."

And of course, Alya thought it would make for a perfect video.

Alya was behind the camera when Marinette recorded it, making some comments that would add to the comedic point. "Look, she said this one was inspired by me!" He paused the video and pointed to the design Marinette spent way longer on than she'd admit.

"That's awesome, Chat!" Ladybug said, a smile plastered on her face. She only wished she could thank him formally for all this gratitude, but she couldn't reveal herself. "When I see her next, I'll relay your love."

A smile flashed across Chat Noir's face, and he closed his baton. "Don't worry, milady, my heart beats for only you."

"Charming," She smirked. "Let's go; I've got a thing to do after patrol!" She said and swung her yo-yo. Chat Noir chuckled, but followed anyway.

---

Marinette edited her video until she was sure it was perfect. Even if it was for her second, less popular channel, she wasn't going to put out less than quality content.

Since she got home at nearly midnight after patrol, and edited for an hour and a half, she was exhausted.

Marinette, about to fall asleep at her computer (which she has done before), clicked the YouTube shortcut and set her video to process (and hopefully upload) while she slept.

She was expecting to wake up to her alarm, or the sun hitting her eyes, or her mom yelling that she was late for school. Instead, Tikki was screaming and jumping in an attempt to get her up.

"Something's outside!" She said, pointing to the window. Marinette was hoping it would be morning, but it was still dark.

"Shh," She told the Kwami and slowly got out of bed. Marinette peaked out of the window, not seeing anything. Deciding it was safe, she walked up the ladder and opened the hatch. "Is someone out here?"

It was cold, and Marinette was only in her pajamas, so she wrapped her arms around herself to try to warm up. "I swear...if she woke me up because it was wind, or a bird-" Marinette stopped her mumbling when she heard something move. "Hello? Please, it's too late for this. I'm too tired to kick ass-"

"Please don't call the cops," The black figure landed in front of her.

"Chat Noir? It's the middle of the night! What are you doing here?" Marinette whisper yelled.

Chat Noir looked down at the ground. "I was patrolling with Ladybug about an hour ago, and I didn't want to go home, so I was just walking. I saw something strange in the window and decided to take a look. It was bright red and seemed to be glowing- I thought it was something that wanted to-"

"It was probably just my...cat," Marinette said. "Yeah, he heard something outside and nudged me. His collar is red and reflects some of the lights I have in my room so it wouldn't surprise me if that's what you saw," Marinette nodded, hoping her lie would go unnoticed.

Chat Noir nodded and stepped up to the ledge. "Well, as long as you're safe," He said. "I should be off," He got ready to jump away. "Oh, I don't know if Ladybug told you, Marinette, but I love your videos," He flashed a smile and jumped away.

"Thank you!" She called after him, unsure of if he heard her.

---

Let me know if you would like to see the second part!

[fereality-indy]

Firstly (Pt 2)

Flashback To Earlier In The Evening

"And that does it!" Dipper says as he pulls away from the computer McGuket built for him when he headed to college, "The last bit of editing is done and it looks great."

"I hope so, it's one fifth of our final grade." Tambry said from the chair next to him.

"It will, Tambs. Between your great camera work and the editing we've done..." Dipper said as he turned to look at his violet haired roommate.

"Geez, Dip. I'm messing with you, dork." She said as she pulled him into a hug.

"Hmm, am I interrupting something here?” Wendy said from the door more than a few moments later.

Tambry practically jumped out of her skin as she backed out of the hug. “What? No!”

“We got our project finished.” Dipper said as if he hadn’t noticed Tambry’s action.

“I could tell, there wasn’t any grunts and groans coming from in here.” Wendy teased, watching Tambry blush frantically.

“Well there really wasn’t too much physical effort to be done on it, mostly editing and computer work.” Dipper said seemingly oblivious to the true intent of the comment.  

“We should do something to celebrate.” Wendy said as she joined them in the small room.

“Well I have been working on a new D, D, & More D adventure.” Dipper replied. When he noticed a lack of an enthusiastic response from the girls he added “Or we could do a movie night.”

“We’ve got a movie night planned for tomorrow. How about going out and getting some Chinese?” Wendy suggested as she placed an arm around Dipper’s shoulder.

“Well a guy in my film theory class told me about a party his roommate is throwing tonight. I told him I’d think about it but I had other plans, mostly working on this project. But since we got it done, I kinda feel like partying.” Tambry said as she watched them doing that standing snuggle some couples do. Maybe she could find someone who could distract her from them for a little bit.

“You know what, Chinese sounded good but we haven’t partied since your birthday.” Wendy said as she gave him a playful lil squeeze “How about it, Dip?”

“Sounds good, but I’m driving.” He replied as he kissed her cheek, “Just in case there’s alcohol.”

“Always the responsible one, dork.” Tambry said as she poked him in the forehead. She then headed out of the room saying, “I’m gonna go get out of these sweats and toss on something a lil more party appropriate.”

When came out she was wearing black jeans and a light purple spaghetti strap camisole. Dipper was still in his grey jeans, but had tossed on a Weird Al tee and a blue flannel. And Wendy was still in her green flannel and jeans.

The ride to the party was uneventful, well except for some DJ on the college’s radio station trying to bring ‘Straight Blanchin’ back to popularity which cause Wendy and Dipper to chuckle a little bit. Once they arrived at the party, it was pretty much what they expected. They saw a few classmates they recognized and talked for a bit, but mostly Dipper and Wendy hung out by themselves. At first Tambry was with them for a bit, but she eventually made her way through the crowd gregariously. Dipper had just excused himself to hit the rest room when Wendy saw Tambry working her way back to them with a guy she didn’t recognize in tow.

“Hey guysh. This is Leon, Leon these are my roommatesh.” Tambry said as they walked up. It was evident that the drink in her hand was not the first she had had tonight, though Wendy had known her long enough to know that she was playing it up for some reason. “Wait a minute, where’s Dip?”

“Sup. Nice to meet you.” Wendy said as she gave the guy a once over. He was definitely not the type her friend usually went for. He looked somewhat like a nerd who had tried to dress preppy by following his mother’s ‘They’ weekly magazine on the latest fashion trends. She wasn’t real sure she liked this guy and not for the usual reasons she didn’t like her friend’s dates. Something was just off here. Turning her attention back to Tambry, she tossed her thumb up towards the back of the house and said, “Dip had to hit the head. Too many cans of Pitt.”

“Ah.” Tambry said with a nod of her head, then she continued. “Leon here ish in my poli-sci clash. He always hash the clash notesh if you need them.”

Leon looked like he was about to add something to the conversation when a big, meaty hand landed on his shoulder. It belonged to an equally big and bulky bruiser. He was almost as tall Wendy and mostly muscle.  

“Hey Leon, I’ve been looking all over for you man.” The big guy said as Leon turned towards him.

“Oh, hey Rodney. What’s up man?” Leon asked looking up at the bigger guy.

“Not much, just checking on my roomie. Should’ve known I’d find you with a beautiful young lady or two.” Rodney said as he looked over at Wendy and Tambry, "You gonna introduce us?”

“Oh, yeah. Ladies, this is my roommate Rodney.” Leon said as he motioned his way, turning towards the girls he added “And Rodney, this is Tambry and her roommate, umm, I don’t think I caught your name yet.”

“It’s Wendy. Nice to meet you guys.” Wendy replied as she tried to look around the two to see if Dipper was on his way back yet. She was really not liking these guys for some reason and she was thinking that between the two of them that they could talk Tambry into leaving.  

“Hey Leon,” Rodney said, catching Wendy’s attention, “I thought I taught you better than this.”  

“Huh?” Leon replied craning his neck at his friend.

“The ladies’ drinks are empty.” The big guy said with a wave of his hand in the general direction of Wendy and Tambry’s cups, “Be a gentleman and go get them a refill.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary.” Wendy said at the same time that Tambry said “Thanksh, I’ll take another one.”

“You sure?” Leon asked as he started to pick up Tambry’s cup. Tambry flashed her a quick puppy dog pout and so Wendy relented with a nod. As Leon left to get the drinks Rodney started in on the importance of a proper diet to exercise.

Dipper was walking back from the bathroom when he noticed this preppy geek dropping two pills into a set of drinks he had just filled from the party’s main keg. He was just about to confront the jerk, when he quickly righted himself and briskly started back through the throng of the party. He decided to just confront him in font of his intended victims. He just hoped Wendy would be able to see him if things went south and he needed her help.  

He caught up with the gaudy geek as he handed the rinks off to the girls. Quickly he called out, “Wendy! Tambry! Don’t drink those, he dropped something in them.”

“And you,”  Dipper said as he grabbed Leon by the shoulder and turned him around roughly, “It’s bad enough that you were trying to roofie someone, but you royally fucked up trying to do it to my girls.”

Leon attempted to punch Dipper, but he dodged. That was when Dipper threw a right cross that would have made Stan proud if he had seen it and Leon fell to the floor. The next thing anyone knew Rodney punched him so hard Dipper lifted off the floor almost a good foot high. Before he could get another punch in, Wendy tackled him. Tambry had fished out her phone and began dialing nine-one-one.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” Wendy yelled as she proceeded to rain punches down on Rodney.

Two more guys about the size of Rodney rushed out of the crowd and tried to join in the fight. Dipper had regained his footing by then. Tambry noticed that he had shifted his right leg so it was pulled back. As the first guy made it to him, Dipper slammed his right knee into his breadbasket. As he started to fall back Dipper continued the move by snapping his foot out and catching him under his jaw. Wendy Met the other guy with a kick that caught him at the knee. As he started to go down she grabbed his head and forced it onto the floor. Rodney attempted to get back up, but Tambry busted a vase over his head. By the time the cops arrived the four jerks were tied up waiting on them. Leon ended up spilling the beans after the cops found enough pills on them to knock out half the party.

And Now We Return To The Present

“Tambry, you don’t have to fuss so much over me. I’ve taken worse shots breaking up gnomish bar fights.” Dipper said as Tambry finished checking the bruise on Dipper’s stomach. “Besides, I’m more worried about Wendy’s knuckles. That big guy’s face seems to have given them quite a beating.”

“You scoff, but they are a little sore.” Wendy replied with a chuckle.

Dipper noticed these attempts at humor did not seem to be amusing Tambry, “Are you ok, Tambry?”

“Yeah, I’m goo…” She started before seeing the worried look on her friends’ faces, “You two aren’t buying that are you?”

“Nope.” Wendy replied with a smirk as she placed a hand on her shoulder, “Spill.”

“You know we’re here for you.” Dipper added as he placed a supportive hand on her other shoulder.

She looked at the floor for a moment, savoring the contact before she started. “I’m so sorry guys. Going to that party was my idea. And because we went, you two got hurt.”

“Don’t be sorry. It was a good thing that we were there. If we hadn’t been, who knows what those four would have gotten up to. We saved someone from having the worse night of their life. ”  Wendy said as she pulled Tambry into a hug.

“Yeah, this was a good night in my book.” Dipper added as he joined the hug.

“I do have to say, it seems like you sobered up quite quick.” Wendy remarked after they broke the hug.

“Oh, well. I wasn’t really as drunk as I seemed. I only had the one drink before I ran into Leon. But he always seemed like he was the type who didn’t think a cute girl would talk to him, let alone dance with him, so I played it up a little bit to boost his ego.” Tambry explained as she sat down in the center of the apartment’s couch.

“But why?” Wendy asked as she joined Tambry on the couch. She had one leg under her as she sat facing her friend.

“I dunno. He was there.” Tambry replied as she picked up her phone and began absentmindedly fiddling with it, “I was lonely. I mean, yeah. I’m always here with you guys, but I feel like a third wheel some of the times. I guess I was just feeling a little jealous and wanted someone to show me some attention.”

“Wait. Why?” Dipper said as he joined the girls on the couch. And then in a voice that didn’t have any of the confidence he had shown earlier he added, “You don’t have to feel that way. I mean, you know you’re not a third wheel. Right?”

Tambry chuckled at how much he sounded like he did that first summer, “Well you two are the couple, I’m just the camera woman.”

"What. No. You mean so much more than that to us.”  Dipper stammered out.

“What Dip, is trying to say is that we’ve never thought of you as just our camera woman. You are one of us. We care deeply for you.” Wendy said. She scooted a little closer to Tambry as she continued, “For the longest time we’ve wanted to talk to you about it, but we were afraid you would reject the idea and so we were content on just keeping our friendship.”

“Wait, is that what you meant when you told Leon that he 'royally fucked up messing with your girls’?”  Tambry asked Dipper.

“Uhm, well, yeah.” He replied rubbing the back of his head, “I mean, I know no one person ever belongs to another. But you two are two of the most important people in the world to me. If something had happened to either of you, I don’t think a even a gremgoblin would want to face me.”      

“You mean it don’t you?” Tambry asked as she looked between the couple. Here she was between the two people she had been crushing on for the last couple of years and they both seem to actually be into her too.

“Yeah, we do.” Wendy said as she gently placed a hand on Tambry’s shoulder.

“And we completely understand if you don’t feel the same way.” Dipper added with a smile that practically melted Tambry’s heart right there. “We just had to get it out in the op…”

He was unable to finish as Tambry pulled him into a kiss and he nearly melted there on the spot.

“Well I guess we have our answer.” Wendy said as she watched her boyfriend being kissed by, well, their new girlfriend.

When Tambry released Dipper she turned back towards Wendy and said “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you.”

She then leaned forward and gave Wendy a kiss.

After they separated and Tambry had caught her breath she said “You guys don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“Well then, let’s not wait too long to do it again.”

[cksmart-world]

The completely unnecessary news analysis

by Christopher Smart

February 18, 2020

BERNIE BROS BE PISSED & WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE ERA

Supporters of Bernie Sanders are more than a little chafed at other Democrats who are taking an “anyone-but-Bernie” stance and they're letting folks know in no uncertain terms: “you A-holes.” Supporters of Bloomberg, Buttigieg, Klobachar, Warren and Biden say Bernie can't beat Trump because the Name-Caller-In-Chief will label him as a Marxist dog and scare the bejesus out of voters. Many also say Mayor Pete can't beat Trump because he's gay. Rush Limbaugh already has started in on Buttigieg for kissing his husband in public. Oh, Lordy. Evangelicals are hugging their Bibles. Elizabeth Warren has dropped in the polls, largely because she has a plan for just about everything and that's confusing to American voters who hate details. They're more into stuff like, “Make America Great Again.” Poor Joe Biden has hit the skids, too. Old Joe's jokes have gotten stale and aviator sunglasses have gone out of style. Amy Klobuchar is a good, Midwestern woman with a nice smile who knows how to milk a cow. But she's a little too nice and doesn't have the money that Michael Bloomberg has. And now we find out that the New York billionaire had the horribly racist “Stop-N-Frisk” policing policy when he was mayor of the Big Apple, so he can't get the African-American vote. And it's just been revealed that Bloomberg hates babies and puppies. But hey, don't lose hope: The staff here at Smart Bomb has come up with a bumpersticker for Dems: “Miracles Do Happen.”

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE ERA

It's been 48 years since the Equal Rights Amendment was submitted to Congress in October 1971. It passed both houses and was ratified by 35 of the necessary 38 states. But it died after a decade of fierce debate. The arguments in the Beehive State were as contentious as anywhere. In the end, Utah did not ratify. Why not? What's wrong with an amendment that seeks equal rights for women and men? Our crack research team here at Smart Bomb dove into the archives to find the answers then and now:

1 – If the ERA becomes law, women will have to use urinals.

2 – If the ERA becomes law, men will have to wear bras and lipstick and fix dinner.

3 – God created special roles for men and women: men wear pants and drink beer; women wear skirts and drink tea (and don't belch).

4 – If the ERA passes, women will have to go into combat and share foxholes with horny men without condoms who are trained to kill.

5 – If the ERA is ratified, women can become president. Yikes!

6 – If the ERA becomes law, workplace sex could cease to exist.

7 – Or, it could mean that workplace sex would get out of control with women jumping men in the utility closet. OMG.

8 – If the ERA becomes a reality, young Mormon women will go on religious missions.

9 – If the ERA is ratified, women will become astronauts and orbit the Earth and feel superior to men.

10 – And the very worst part of the ERA, according to Utah Sen. Mike Lee, is that it is part of a “radical pro-abortion agenda.” Yeah, damnit, it's “an Orwellian mischaracterization of what it would do,” Lee said, because it will allow women to have abortions but not men.

HEY, ALEXA, GET OUT OF MY FACE

Your friend Alexa, who helps you play music, turn off the TV and put on the bedroom lights, may not be as warm-hearted you think. Amazon has big plans for its virtual assistant. Sooner than you think, Alexa — or one of her siblings — will be directing our lives — it’ll interpret our data and make decisions for us, according to Rohit Prasad, the scientist in charge of Alexa‘s development. George Orwell was distressed about Big Brother, but he couldn't imagine we would willingly invite him or Big Sister into our lives with such giddy anticipation. The aim is to turn Alexa into an omnipresent companion that shapes our lives. You might find yourself in an argument with Alexa on what music to play or what to watch on TV or which car to buy. Yep, it's “2001: A Space Odyssey” all over again. HAL has collected all your data and now, there is no real reason for you to exist — well wait, Alexa does want your money, but you don't have to worry your lil’ head about that, she'll tell you how to spend it.

BILL BARR: I WON'T BE BULLIED

He's a strong, independent attorney general. President Donald Trump doesn't tell him what to do (except sometimes). Sure, there was that little thing with the Mueller Report that looked to nonpartisan legal beagles like a roadmap to impeachment that Barr announced was vindication. And there is that little matter of reviewing Michael Flynn's case, where he pleaded guilty to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. And just because the attorney general determined that Roger Stone's recommended sentence was far too harsh, doesn't mean he isn't independent.  The fact that Trump tweeted the same thing 12 hours earlier was just a coincidence. Bill Barr is a man of great integrity, depending, of course, on how you define it. OK, maybe critics, who say the Department of Justice is being politicized, have a point. But as President Trump insisted, he can do whatever he wants, including interceding in criminal trials, so it isn't corruption. Whether Bill Barr is an independent attorney general or not, really doesn't matter. (Well, actually it does matter but WTF.) And the president wants to know why that slut Andrew McCabe is off the hook. And why aren't James Comey, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page in jail along with Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff? Where is the justice?

Post Script — That was the week that was. And man, was it strange — that is to say, about normal for the age of Trump. Still, there is no better time to be a “Hooker For Jesus.” (We are not making this up.) DOJ officials rejected grant applications from Catholic Charities and Chicanos Por La Causa. Instead, according to Reuters, it gave more than $1 million to the Lincoln Tubman Foundation and Hookers for Jesus. Don't tell the Evangelicals, they'll freak. Speaking of sinners, Jim Jordan, the rabid congressman from Ohio, is about to be caught up in a sex scandal involving his old wrestling team at Ohio State. Bummer (no pun intended). And the hits just keep coming: Michael Avenatti, who gained fame representing Stormy Daniels, was found guilty of trying to extort $25 million from Nike. But unlike Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, he can't expect a pardon from Donald Trump. Down on the southern border, those darn coyotes already have come up with a new “camouflage ladder” to smuggle people and drugs over Trump's new border wall. The contraptions, made of old, rusted construction rebar, make the climb easy and can't be detected by cameras. Meanwhile, Trump has diverted another $3.8 billion in military funds for his signature achievement. (Mexico won't pay. Duh.) There's more — Trump is dispatching border patrol agents to Sanctuary Cities to root out them horrible immigrants who are doing all our scut work. Adn last but far from least, here in Utah, state legislators are feeling oh so generous after increasing from 0 to 25 percent Salt Lake City's share of property taxes from the Inland Port. That's better than a jab with a sharp stick, but not so charitable when you consider the city should get 100 percent of taxes from its own, damn land. And so it goes.

OK, Wilson, maybe you and the band can take us out with a little something hopeful for our immigrant friends and all the Democrats and everyone else who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the age of Trump:

Well, the oppressors are trying to keep me down / Trying to drive me underground / And they think that they have got the battle won / I say forgive them Lord, they know not what they've done / 'Cause, as sure as the sun will shine / I'm gonna get my share now, what's mine / And then the harder they come / The harder they fall, one and all / Ooh, the harder they come / Harder they fall, one and all...