#K Amusement Leasing

[catsteeth]

The Caged Bird & The Leased Dog

Sandor Clegane x reader

+:✿ Chapter - 12 ✿:+ War and Atonement 

Chapter Index | next chapter

Summary: You are the daughter of Jon Arryn, you and your father travel to King's Landing with the intention of arranging a marriage for you. You catch a glimpse of The Hound during your first night in Kings Landing and it creates a mutual fascination even if he won't admit it. 

CW: MDNI, NSFW themes, VIOLENCE, threats of non-con, major character death, minor character death, mention of animal death, misogyny, angst, the boltons, mentions of being drugged, emotional unavailability, emotional vulnerability, The Hound being abrasive, mention of death, blood, threats of violence, mentions of arranged marriage, 

A/N: SEASON FINALEEEE (week long break) all I am gonna say is… yeesh. It’s a little long and it's really sad. K BYE!! SEE Y'ALL LAATERR

Word Count: 8.9K

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱ 

Sandor gripped his ax in his hand tightly as he stalked through the woods. Finding the men who killed Ray and the rest of the Sept was not hard. 

The lot of them were in the woods loudly shouting about something Sandor couldn’t care less about. As he marched up behind them, a few of the four men noticed him. They startled easily looking at the giant lumbering man charging towards them with an ax in hand. 

With a furious rage fueled growl he cut and slashed through three of them men with ease. Chopping through their neck, or their heads. 

Finally he approached the last man, a bald older man. He took his ax and with one blow he buried the ax into the man's cock. 

The man cried out in pain, dropping to his knees. Sandor took hold of the man's head, forcing him to look at him, 

“Where are the other ones? The one with the yellow cloak.” He questioned, unaffected by the violence he’d just afflicted on the other men.

“Fuck you!” The bald man screamed, 

“Those are your last words? Fuck you? Come on, you can do better.” Sandor mocked,

The man stammered for a moment unsure of how to reply, “Cunt!” he screamed.

“You’re shit at dying, you know that?” He said as though he had grown tired of his attempts. 

He raised the ax high above his head and threw it down. The man screamed but his screams silenced as the Hounds ax buried deep into his skull.

He pulled his ax out and continued on, starved for the only satisfaction he’d left. Violent revenge.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

In the Eyrie, Baelish was restraining your men from returning to your aid. He closed the Bloody Gates and forced his men loyal to him and his claim to prevent any of yours from leaving. You were left in Winterfell with only nine men.

In Winterfell, you’d spend most of your time training. 

You and Ser Varys’s swords clash against one another again and again. You were able to knock Varys off his own balance and land him on the ground. You pointed your sword at him,

“I didn’t ask for you to go easy on me, Varys.” You said with a huff, out of breath.

He shook his head, “I am not, my lady. It seems as though you’ve improved remarkably, and quite quickly.” He smiled at you as he stood, “You’re a natural.” He nodded, 

You smiled and looked down, you sheathed your sword, proud of yourself. It was the first time you’d felt that feeling… Pride in your accomplishments. Before you could allow yourself to soak in that feeling, a low and gruff voice from behind you spoke. 

“Aye, I’d say so. A real killer. You can see it in her eyes.” You turned with a furrowed brow around to see a tall wild looking man. He wore furs of different origin, and his hair was the brightest red you’d ever seen. He looked at you with wide and excited eyes, “Pretty murderous eyes-“ You let out a dry chuckle, 

Varys Cole however found nothing amusing in it, he stepped forward and in front of you holding onto the hilt of his sword. “If you wish to speak to the Lady Arryn, you’ll learn to do it in a more respectful manner.” He spoke sternly.

“Who are you?” You asked, 

His eyes went from Varys to you quickly, he smiled at you, “Tormund.” He flashed his eyebrows at you.

“From beyond the wall?” You’d never met a Wildling but you’d imagine this is what they’d look like.

“Aye, you don’t like Wildlings?” His gaze narrowed at you slightly, 

You shook your head, “I am of no opinion.” 

“No opinion?” He asked with a raised eyebrow,

“I’ve never met one before.” You held in a laugh at this man's obvious attraction towards you.

“Aye well, now ye’ have.” He took one step closer, He looked over towards Varys pointing at him “I don’t think he likes wildlings much.” 

Varys took another step closer to him, you raised your hand to signal for him to step down, “It’s alright. I apologize for Ser Cole, he is quite protective of me.” You said softly,

“I’d be too if you were my woman-“ He said with his head lowered but his eyes still on you.

“She is the Lady of the Vale. I am her sword-“ Ser Varys Cole interjected. 

“You’re a sword?” he asked confused, never hearing the expression.

“Her protector.” Varys said sternly.

“The way she holds that sword I don’t think the pretty crow needs one. But a woman should have a man.” His voice was lustful, not seductive but lustful.

“You have a gift for subtlety.” You scoffed, holding in laughter.

“Aye, and gifted at many other things-” He took another step closer to you but Varys blocked him. 

The two men stared at one another attempting to intimidate the other. Before you could interject, Jon did. 

“Enough, come on, we've got things to do.” Jon said, pulling Tormund away. 

As the both of them walked away and into the Lord Commander's quarters, Varys looked at you with annoyance and you held in a laugh.

“He won’t relent if you encourage it.” He said walking towards you, 

“I found it amusing.” You shrugged. He’d no power, and you knew you’d never be with another man so long as you were without Sandor. Besides, waiting for your armies was getting dull.

“You shouldn’t allow people to speak to you like that.” He lectures, sounding like your father.

“Are you my advisor now?” You asked with a furrowed brow.

“I have been, it would seem.” He said, you couldn’t really argue because he was right.

“Perhaps.” You looked down, then back to him, “You are right. But I don’t wish to earn respect through men in armor flashing steel. That is not respect, it’s fear.” 

“Some may say they are one in the same.” 

“Some. Not I. I know the difference.” You said sternly, “Respect forged on the soil of fear will grow anger and contempt. Respect forged on the soil of kindness and compassion grows loyalty and trust.” You removed your belt that held your sword and handed it to Varys, “Soon the rest of the Knights left in the west will remember that.” 

Varys softly smiled and nodded at you, surprised but pleased with your wisdom. You smiled back.

Suddenly you could hear the guards shouting, “Open the gates!” the men shouted, 

You watched as the gates to Castle Black opened. Three people on horseback made their way in. Two of them were a mystery to you but one you recognized immediately. A tall and beautiful girl with red hair, your cousin.

As she dismounted you stepped closer towards her, unable to believe your eyes that it was her. You thought for so long that you’d never see her again.

“Sansa?” You asked softly, she looked at you, you could see a dark and tired pain in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around you, and you wrapped your arms around her in return. 

“What are you doing here?” She asked you, still wrapped around you. 

“I could ask you the same.” You said. 

You felt her arms loosen around you. As you pulled away to look at her you noticed she was looking behind you. As you turned to see what she saw, you saw Jon standing there. He was in as much disbelief as you were, maybe even more. You let go of her, and she ran into Jon’s arms. 

As they embraced, the man who rode in with Sansa walked up to you. 

“Lady Arryn?” He asked in a hush voice, 

You turned to better face him, “Do I know you, Ser?” you asked.

He shook his head, looking at you with curiosity and the same disbelief Jon looked at Sansa with. “Not very well. I was in the service of Lord Tyrion Lannister during your time in KingsLanding.” You then recognized him, you looked down and swallowed hard. “He thought you were dead, it took him some time to admit it but he did. Thought Stannis’s soldiers during the blackwater killed you, then he thought the hound took you. But when I saw him he didn’t have you, so I knew that couldn’t have been right.” He rambled mindlessly as he stared at you still examining you in disbelief.

Your eyes widened when you heard he’d seen Sandor, “You saw him?” You asked quickly.

“Before we saved Lady Sansa from the Bolton’s-” 

“The Boltons?” You interrupted him.

Petyr had threatened you with the prospect of giving Sansa away in your place. But she was in King's Landing, married to Lord Tyrion. You thought surely she was safe. You felt your stomach drop as you realized he’d done it, and it was your fault.

“Lady Brienne fought him while we were looking for Lady Arya.” He continued without answering your question.

“Fought him?” Your eyes went even wider, you felt your pulse quicken.

“And won, he fell down the mountain in the Vale.” You felt as if a wave of cold ocean water had crashed against your body. You felt your heart sink and your stomach turn.  “We were there looking for Arya, thought she might have been hiding within it.” You didn’t even pay attention to the last bit he said, your ears rang and “How did you get out?” He asked, you did not look at him. Couldn’t bring yourself to. You looked down, and you muttered, 

“Another time.” As you walked with hast back to your chambers, 

Your eyes began to well with tears and your face was hot, your breathing picked up and you couldn’t help but feel yourself begin to crumble.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・  

You slammed the door to your chamber closed, you collapsed onto your bed. 

You felt every part of your body ache, your heart felt hallowed out. Your breathing labored from your sobs. You couldn’t bear the pain, it was new. When the others you loved died, your body went numb but now, now you felt entirely too much. You felt far far far too much. You’d never felt your heart break, felt your heart truly cry, until now.

You sobbed into the furs of your bed, silencing your cries as best you could. But soon you heard your door open and close quickly as you looked up. It was Varys.

“(Y/N)?” He asked softly, he approached your side by your bed. “Are you alright?” He kneeled by your side, placing a hand on the side of your head as you laid there in agony.

“He warned me. He warned me and I did not listen to him.” You whimpered as you sobbed gently. 

Varys rubbed his thumb against your temple, “It was your life or hers, you couldn’t be made such a choice-” 

“But I could have. I didn’t give it because I thought she’d be safe… I thought he’d come back for me.” You angrily wiped your tears.

“He did-” 

“And he died for it. This whole time I waited and wished” You snapped angrily before your sorrow overtook you again, you threw your head back against the bed as you said,  “Gods, know I have been selfish and I have been spiteful. I wished to see the downfall of Littlefinger enough to overlook it willingly.” You shook your head, “It should have been me there. She is good, and I am nothing but nausea, nothing but a longing, nothing but disgrace, nothing but a piece to be moved about the board, nothing but a daughter who was meant to be a son.” Your numbness finally set in, you laid there, your tears falling from your eyes and your lips swollen, nose red but at least you didn’t need to feel it anymore. 

Varys took in your words, “Child. You are discerning, wise, and well reasoned. Those are traits of your father. You are also strong-willed, audacious, and above all loyal. Those are traits of your mother.” He shook his head, “When you were born, your mother and father could not have held greater contentedness. Since that day I have watched you create (Y/N) Arryn in wonder.” He smiled at you softly. 

“What of your family, Varys?” You felt silly for never, during this whole time, asking him such a simple question.

“I had a daughter once, for just a moment. When I was much younger.” He smiled at the memory, “My wife, Helena. A beauty she was, and as sharp as a dagger. She died, attempting to give life to our daughter. She was far too small for life to not slip from her. They both perished in her efforts.” His eyes welled up in tears but his smile persisted, “She would have been your age now.” He held your face in his hand “Since that day, I have only looked after one child my whole life.” He swallowed back emotion, he looked at you understandingly, “You’re in a dark period in your life,” 

“It seems as though my whole life has been a dark period, aside from a few days of either boredom or even fewer of happiness.” You spoke softly as you sniffed your runny nose. 

He shook his head, “You’ve lived a life within the rules of others. Soon you will live by your own. I am as old as your mother would be, I know these things well enough. You will be remembered, beloved, and respected. Soon the light and wisdom will come to you. You’ll be happy, child.” He smiled at you, he knew what he was saying and meant every word of it. 

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

As Sandor stalked the woods, tracking down the rest of the men who’d slaughtered the sept. He found them, only they were standing on logs of wood with their heads in nooses. 

The men surrounding them were the members of the Brotherhood. The very men who’d abducted Sandor and who’d separated he and you.

Thoros looked over at Sandor marching over, bloody ax in hand, “Clegane, the fuck you doing here?” He asked, 

“Chasing them. You?” Sandor asked confused,

“Hanging them.”

“Any particular reason?” He questioned

“They’re our men. Or they were. They attacked a nearby Sept and murdered the villagers. Why do you want them?”

“Same reason. I was helping build it. They killed a friend of mine.” He said as he walked closer to them three men in nooses, with a cold look in his eyes.

“You’ve got friends?” Thoros asked mockingly, 

Sandor shook his head, “Not anymore. They’re mine.” He said, still walking closer.

Beric stopped him, “It’s the Brotherhood’s good name they’ve dragged through the dirt.”

“Fuck your name, they’re mine.” Sandor tried to step forward again but Beric’s hand stopped him, Sandor looked at him with dark eyes “I killed you once before, Dondarrion. Happy to do it again.” He narrowed his eyes, “Drop that arrow you bloody girl. Tougher girls than you have tried to kill me.” He threatened without looking away from Beric. Once the archer didn’t relent he turned to him and began to walk towards him, ax ready in hand. 

Beric interjected, “You can have one of them.”

Sandor turned around, “Two.” He haggled. 

Beric considered it, then finally nodded in approval. 

Sandor walked towards the first man, drew back his ax behind his head and as he was about to swing, Thoros grabbed it, stopping the swing. 

“No, no, no. We’re not butchers. We hang them.” Thoros said,

Sandor pulled his ax away from his grasp, “Hanging? All over in an instant. Where's the punishment in that?” He sighed, “I’ll only gut one of them.” trying to haggle again. 

“No,” Beric said firmly, 

“Chop off one hand?” Sandor asked

“We gave you two out of three out of respect for your loss. That’s generous.” Beric reaffirmed,

Sandor huffed, “Bunch of nancies.” He dropped his ax, “There was a time I would have killed all seven of you just to gut these three.” 

“Getting old, Clegane.” Thoros teased

“He’s not.” Sandor said before kicking out the wood logs from underneath the two men he was granted to kill. 

As they thrashed around, he stole the boots from one of the men. As he tried on the stolen boots he turned to the Brotherhood who were staring at him, “Got anything to eat?”

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

As you sat at a dining table with Jon, Edd, Tormund, Brienne, Podrick, and sat beside you was Sansa and to your otherside, Varys. 

You all sat together eating some sort of meat. It was awful but it was no worse than the food you and Sandor were forced to endure while you were on your own. 

It was awkwardly silent. The unspoken trauma that you and Sansa had experienced separately that lingered in the air was certainly to blame. Nor did your disdain for Brienne. You had to keep it hidden though you couldn’t help but scowl at her from time to time. You knew she most likely had no choice but to kill him. Your man did not relent, it wasn’t his nature to stop. When he fought he fought to kill. Still, it was hard not to feel resentment. But the hungry looks Tormund flashed your way certainly did not help ease tensions either.

A member of the Night's watch walked into the room, “A letter for you, Lord Commander.” breaking the tension for a moment.

“I’m not Lord Commander anymore.” Jon said, bringing back that same tension. However he conceded and took the scroll from the man.  He opened it breaking the Bolton’s wax seal, he did so nodding at him allowing him to go. 

You felt ill once you noticed the wax seal. 

Jon read a little of it, then began to read it aloud. “To the traitor and bastard Jon Snow. You allowed thousands of wildlings past the wall. You have betrayed your own kind, you have betrayed the north. Winterfell is mine, bastard. Come and see. Your brother Rickon is in my dungeon, his direwolves skin is on my floor, come and see. I want my bride back or the traitor to the east as was betrothed to me. Send one to me, Bastard, and I will not trouble you or your wildling lovers. Keep them from me and I will ride North and slaughter every Wildling, man, and babe living under your protection.” You knew very little of the Boltons, but now you understood just how cruel they were, how much pleasure they took in it. And you knew just how much of a dangerous and sadistic environment Sansa was forced into, it made you feel a red hot rage. “You will watch as I skin them living. You–” Jon stopped, looking at both you and Sansa.

“Go on.” Sansa said, full of conviction. She had grown so much since you’d last seen her. Forced to anyway. 

“It’s just more of the same.” Jon said, looking away.

Sansa grabbed ahold of the letter when he wasn’t looking. She continued on reading, “You will watch as my soldiers take turns raping your sister and cousin. You will watch as my dogs devour your wild little brother. Then I will spoon your eyes from their sockets and let my dogs do the rest. Come and see. Ramsay Bolton, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.” 

“Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.” Jon said cautiously,

“His father’s dead. Ramsay killed him.” She looked down, worried. “And now he has Rickon.” 

“We don’t know that.” Jon shook his head in denial.

“Yes we do.” Sansa said sternly, 

“How many men does he have in his army?” Tormund asked Sansa,

Sansa thought about it for a moment, “I heard him say 5000 once when he was talking about Stannis’s attack.”

“How many do you have?” Jon asked Tormund, 

“That can march and fight? 2000.” Tormund estimated.

“And you?” Jon turned his attention towards you.

You looked over to Varys next to you, wanting him to break the news rather than you. “Ser Cole?”

“Half the knights are divided evenly. 3000 so far on our causes side.” Varys said, confidently.

“That's an even fight, but where are they?” Jon questioned,

“Lord Baelish has denied them leave from the Eyrie. The other 3000 keep them at bay within the confines behind the Bloody Gate. Only 50 have escaped, and should, if all goes well, be here within a week's time.” Varys finished. Jon looked at him, then you could tell he was incredibly disappointed and for good. 

“I’ve only nine men with me, another 50 coming, hopefully.” You looked at Jon with lowered eyes, knowing it was hardly anything at all. 

Sansa remained unmoved, “You are the last son of the last trueborn Lord of Winterfell. Northern families are loyal they’ll fight if you ask.” Sansa gripped onto Jons hand as if she was begging him to see reason. “A monster has taken our home, and our little brother. We have to go back to winterfell.” 

Jon nodded, knowing there was no other option than war.

As you sat there you contemplated your options, contemplated what move you could make next.

You turned to Varys, “Ser Cole send a raven, I will attempt contact with Lord Baelish. I will set our… differences aside… momentarily.” 

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

Sandor ripped into a piece of pork while he sat around a fire with the rest of the Brotherhood.

Beric stared at him, as it ate it, “You ought to join us. We could use you.”

Sandor wasn’t too pleased with the prospect of joining a new group. He was only with the Sept to heal, and repay his debt to Ray. He wanted to get on with it and find you already. “Last time I went with you lot, it didn’t work out for me.” He faked a smile for a moment and dropped it swiftly as he dug further into their food. 

“Clegane, we're here for a reason.” Thoros said, trying to convince him, he clearly knew something he didn’t. “The Lord of Light is keeping Beric alive for a reason. We are part of something larger than ourselves.” 

“Lots of horrible shit in this world gets done for something larger than ourselves.” Sandor shook his head, not allowing himself to believe it. He was skeptical, and even if it were real what he said, if it meant he had to leave his plans to find you behind… he wouldn’t do it.

“Cold winds are rising in the North.” 

“And you’re going go to stop them?” Sandor asked mockingly. 

“We need good men to help us.” 

“Last time you saw me you wanted to execute me. Got me separated from my woman, she could be dead now. Why would I help you?” His eyes narrowed. 

“You can find another woman along the way.” Beric said, trying to comfort him in a way.

If he had said that to Sandor even a fortnight ago he would have beaten him for even suggesting it. But he flashed furious eyes at him, then looked down, “Don’t want another.” he said, sulking in his own misery.

Beric nodded, “True enough. But the Lord of Light gave you the power to defeat me. Why?” 

“I beat you, because I’m better than you, Beric. I was better than you before you started yammering about the Lord. And I’m better than you now.” Sandor said with confidence. And he was right, there were very few who could best him.

Beric chuckled, “Aye, you’re probably right. You’re a fighter, born a fighter. You walked away from that fight. How did that go? Good and bad young and old. The thing we’re fighting will destroy them all alike. And if that lady love of yours is still out there, that just will happen to her too. You can help a lot more than you’ve harmed, Clegane.” Beric finished, finally convincing him. 

Whatever threat was coming, if it meant you would be in danger, he would do everything he could to stop it. Even if it meant he would be apart from you longer, as long as you were alive, that would be enough.

He nodded, agreeing to whatever journey they had planned for them. 

As he did, a large and beautiful Falcon came and landed in a tree nearby, it loudly cawed at him. It was the very same Falcon that stayed with him while he was dying in the mountains of the Vale, the one that had gone missing since. 

“Fucking hells…” Sandor grumplied looking at the bird.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

You, and Varys rode up to meet with Lord Baelish just outside of Mole Town. 

You sat on your horse about twenty feet in front of Baelish on his own horse. He had with him two other Knights of the Vale. 

“My beloved Niece.” Baelsih said, smirking, “I hear you have come to a change in heart.” 

You showed no emotion, stoic in your response, “No, a momentary delay. I have to request the aid of your army.” 

“It is certainly unusual. We are meant to be at war are we not?”

“We are, though I need numbers in another fight.” 

“Another?” He raised an eyebrow at you.

You didn’t indulge him in an argument, “I know what you did to Sansa.” You said, darkness growing in your eyes.

He attempted to rationalize his actions quickly, “She wished to return to Winterfell, and I aided her in her effort.”

“She escaped, Baelish.” You interjected quickly, “You should have seen her.” You held back emotion, swallowing it down, “They have threatened war, and we don’t have the numbers. They are going to kill her, kill her brothers, and they will take me in her place. You might believe that to be a good thing, for me to be gone from you. But with his power he will want the Eyrie just as badly, and we both know his cruelty.” 

He considered your words carefully, “How do I know you tell the truth? How do I know I am not sending men into a trap where you plan to slaughter them?”

“Because I am the Lady of the Vale. I would not lie to these men.” You looked at the traitors who accompanied Baelish. You could see shame in their eyes as they avoided your gaze. You turned your gaze back to Baelish, much harsher and cold, “Do one good thing. You’ll want Lady Sansa on your side, you’ll want her favor, you’ll want the north’s favor, and you’ll want my mercy.” 

“Lady Sansa knows I would never wish ill will onto her. She knows I did not kn-” 

“Ask her yourself.” You interrupted before riding off and away from him.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・ ꒱꒱

Once you returned to Winterfell, you received a raven from Baelish. The message read that Baelish would meet with Sansa and offer his aid to her, and her alone. You were determined to convince him. Determined to not let the world take another loved one away from you. You couldn’t take another loss. It would crush any bit of warmth within you that was left, leave you cruel and hateful.

When you entered Sansa’s chambers, you noticed her sewing something. 

“What are you working on?” You asked as you walked closer towards her.

“A cape for Jon. The same as our Father wore.” She said as she sewed. 

You sat beside her, “He was a good man.” you said, smiling softly at her. 

“He was.” She said with a sorrowful smile. As she raised her hand up, pulling a needle through the leather and fur of the cape. Her sleeve fell slightly, allowing you to see bruising. 

You held her wrist in your hands gently, stopping her from sewing. You swallowed hard, observing the bruise, feeling both guilt and rage serge through your blood. “I must know what you endured.” You said, sweetly and softly. Like a mother.

“I don’t want you to look at me differently.” She shook her head, and removed her hand. “Besides, I still don’t know what happened to you.” She said looking down shamefully.

You positioned yourself to face her better, “Littlefinger might have taken a child from me. I don’t even know if I have the right to cry over it, because I don't even know if I was, or was not. He took the only man I loved away from me, he took your sister from me. He killed my aunt. He might have killed my father.” You shook your head. “I don't even know that for certain either. The uncertain is worse than the certain, it was almost part of the torment. Kept me in a castle, fed me isolation until I never left my chambers, only thought of the uncertainties. Until he drugged me and sold me to the Boltons. But Varys Cole saved me and brought me here.” Her eyes fell on you, soft and warm. Sympathetic, not pitiful. You smiled through a growing emotion, “See, you’ve not looked at me differently at all.” 

Sansa, put down her needle. She looked at you, and with courage she told you all of what she’d endured. Since the moment you had left King’s Landing she had experienced every tragedy you had narrowly escaped. The things the Bolton’s had done was the worst of it. Your blood boiled with hatred. But soon the rage subsided with the overwhelming feeling of guilt, and sorrow.

“I seem to have left you my fate, inadvertently, twice now I am sorry.” You tried to hold back tears, though your voice wavered “Very, very sorry.” You held her hand, “I’d not look at you differently. You are my blood. I’m going to help you kill those men.” You took a breath, “Though there is one thing that you can do.” You said handing her the message Littlefinger had sent for you.

She took the letter and read it, “Littlefinger…” She whispered, “How far is Mole Town?” She asked you.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

The dreaded moment came, a war consultation with Ramsay Bolton the morning before the battle. 

Smalljon Umber, and Harald Karstark were there to accompany Ramsay. You and Varys were there alongside Jon, Sansa, Tormund, Davos, and Lyanna Mormont. All of you on horseback on an open field. 

Ramsay smiled and spoke confidently, “My beloved wife. Thank you for returning Lady Bolton home safely. Now dismount and kneel before me. Surrender your army and proclaim me the true Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. I will Pardon you for deserting the Night's Watch. I will pardon these treasonous Lords for betraying my house. And I shall give Lady Arryn the men to fight for the Vale.” You remained stone faced, and stone hearted. As did your companions. Ramsay then continued, “Come Bastard. You don’t have the men, you don’t have the horses, and you don’t have Winterfell. And she doesn’t even have the Eyrie.” He smiled at you, you only scowled.  “Why lead those poor souls into slaughter? There’s no need for a battle. Get off your horse, and kneel. I am a man of mercy.” He said, it made you feel ill.

You said nothing, only holding back your desire to stab him in the eye.

“You’re right. There's no need for a battle. Thousands of men don’t need to die. Only one of us. Let's do this the old way. You against me.” Jon said, you held back a smirk, knowing Bolton would never agree.

Ramsay “I keep hearing stories about you. The way the North tells it you’re the greatest swordsman who ever walked. Maybe you are that good. Maybe not. I don’t know if I can beat you. But I know my army will beat yours.” His eyes were wild and wide. 

“Aye, you’ve the numbers. Would your men want to fight for you, when they hear you wouldn’t want to fight for them?” Jon said, it made you smirk.

Ramsay smiled, angrily “He’s good, very good. But are you going to let your little brother die because you are too proud to surrender?” 

“How do we know you have him?” Sansa said, without fear. 

Ramsay smirked, then nodded to one of his men. The man threw towards Sansa the decapitated head of Rickon’s direwolves head. Sansa looked upon it with cold and emotionless eyes. 

Ramsey continued, “Now if you want to save–” 

“You’re going to die tomorrow, Lord Bolton.” Sansa interrupted coldy, “Sleep well.” She said riding away. You watched as she left, you understood the feeling she had all too well. 

Ramsay smiled, “She’s a fine woman, your sister. Just as fine as your cousin.” You looked back at Ramsay, your gaze was hateful and cold, “I look forward to having one of them back in my bed. In the morning then. Bastard.” Ramsay said as he rode away.

You watched them ride off, “If it comes to it… I’ll take her place.” you said to Jon beside you.

Jon shook his head, “No, you won’t. We need every man we can get. Send some ravens.” He said pulling on the reins of his horse, riding away. 

You sat there for a moment, thinking of how furious Sandor would be. Furious that someone would have even threatened such actions towards you. Furious that you would even suggest taking such punishment if it meant someone else didn’t. Furious that you’d even gotten in this war. He would have killed Ramsay then and there. But Sandor wasn’t here anymore, only you. So you’d have to kill Ramsay yourself. 

You then followed after Jon. You’d a war to plan for.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

Sandor and the rest of the Brotherhood rode through the Riverlands. It was snowing and cold. And Sandor was irritable for good reason. They were going to the Wall, and in Sandor’s mind that was the last place you would be. Of course he would be wrong in that, but you never thought you’d be there either.

“Bad night to be outdoors,” Thoros said, observing the obvious weather.

“You got real powerful to figure that out. Did the Lord of Light whisper that in your ear?” Sandor said mockingly, “‘It’s snowing, Thoros. It’s windy. It's gonna be a cold night.’” He said in a deeper voice mimicking the Lord Thoros served.

Thoros scoffed, “You’re a grouchy old bear, aren’t you, Clegane?” He held out a bottle towards Sandor as a peace offering “You want some rum?”

“Don’t like that shit, It’s too sweet.” Sandor said with a disgusted expression.

“Why are you always in such a foul mood?” Thoros teased,

“Experience.” Sandor replied

Above them a Falcon flew, Sandor saw it and huffed to himself. He thought he’d seen the last of it but the bird continued to stalk him. 

“There goes that bird again. Maybe cook it for supper…” Thoros said thinking out loud.

“No.” Sandor snapped quickly before regaining composure, “No one's eating that bird.” He grumbled.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

You laid in your bed. You watched as the sun began to rise over the wall. In solitude you could be weak, devastated, and useless. You could let yourself sink and drown peacefully in your grief and sorrow. Allowing it to wrap you in its cold embrace. Until you heard the horn of war blow. Now you had to hold your head high, you had to be strong, you needed to be relentless. 

You pushed yourself out of bed and sat beside the fire in your room. 

Varys walked into your chambers, “The war horn has been blown, My Lady.” He said as he closed the door and approached you.

“I know it.” You said staring into the fire.

“I have something for you.” He said softly, you looked over towards him, “I had it made for you here.” You took the metal from his hands. It was black armor, fearsome looking. “Now I do not wish for you to fight. However, this is the first fight you shall lead into Battle.” 

“I lead only nine men.” 

“59, my lady. The men arrived late last night.” You felt a wave of relief but also a great weight of responsibility and duty, “Even if it were nine men, It is your first fight. You should lead in armor. Your father always wore armor, not in silver and blue but black.” You looked at the armor in your hand, it was a deep and dark black color, like a night sky. “He wore black to show the enemy that his presence, his army's presence, meant death.” You ran your hand over the falcon that was imprinted on the breast plate, “And of course there's a falcon, because there has to be a falcon.” He smiled, 

You smiled softly in return, “Thank you.” 

He placed a hand on your shoulder, “Are you frightened?” He asked ready to offer reassurance in your ability.

“No.” You said with strong conviction. You had no room to be frightened. You knew you would succeed because failure was not an option. 

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・

The Battle Began. Your men alongside the Stark forces were stationed at a treeline, to be sure you couldn’t be taken from behind. It was made known prior to the battle that the Stark army would not charge first. You had the least men, so you needed patience on your side. 

Across the field is the much larger Bolton army, who have placed archery distance markers with burning, flayed corpses attached to them. You had never seen such a grotesque scene. Though it only made your rage grow bigger. 

Ramsay rode out on his horse to the front of his own army, bringing a tied up Rickon Stark. You saw Ramsay dismount and walk towards Rickon with a dagger, you worried for a moment that Ramsay would slit Rickon's throat, but instead he cut bonds. Ramsay pointed at Jon. Rickon starts running in a straight line toward Jon. 

Jon, confused, watched as Ramsay pulled out a bow and arrow as Ramsay pointed it at Rickon. 

Jon, terrified for his brother, rode out alone onto the battlefield charging towards his brother. All the while Ramsay shoots and misses again. Your heart raced, watching it. Just when Rickon is about to reach Jon, however, Ramsay's final shot hits Rickon in the heart, killing him almost instantly.

“Gods.” You whispered to yourself, 

“Prepare to charge!” Davos announced, 

You looked over to your men and Ser Varys Cole, you nodded to them to prepare.

Jon you could see across the field. Your heart ached for him, you’d seen your own brother die with only the Gods to blame. And now Jon had one man to blame. So it did not surprise you when Jon charged full tilt at the Bolton army alone, who immediately lost their arrows on him. Alarmed, Davos ordered the Stark forces to charge after their commander. 

You commanded the same of your men, Varys gave you one last nod before riding into battle. 

Jon was thrown from his horse when it was shot out from under him, Jon prepares for his last stand by drawing his sword and facing the Bolton army alone. However he was saved by the Stark army, and the battle became a chaotic mess of blood, arrows, horses, and swords. Men were killed so quickly that they began to form small hills of the dead.

“It’s a slaughter. Where is Lady Sansa?” You asked Davos, he shook his head at you not knowing. You huffed and looked back to the battle in front of you. 

Ramsay ordered his own archers to shoot at the battle. Killing both the Stark forces and his own army. Instead of doing the same, Davos led his archers to join Jon Snow and the others into battle. 

You being left alone at the treeline where your armies first deployed you fled to a high hill to get a better view of the battle. 

Once you did you could see that the arrows Ramsay ordered out had killed both Stark and Bolton men, and soon the small hills of bodies had become a wall of the dead. It was then clear what they were planning. It was a sadistic way to prevent his enemy from retreating. The remaining Bolton army manage to surround the remaining Stark army and close them in with a shield phalanx. 

You watched horrified as the phalanx acted as a noose, tightening around the Stark forces, who by now are dying in droves. Any of them that attempt to retreat toward the wall of dead men, they trample the wounded and squeeze so tightly in the confined space that they are unable to properly move. Smalljon leads a small force over the wall of the dead to ensure that none are able to escape.

Finally you heard the sounds of Horse hooves behind you. You saw a sea of silver Knights being led by both Sansa and Petyr. As they approached you, Petyr looked at you with contempt and explained, “Knights of the Vale shall ride for Lady Sansa.” Making it clear they were not there for you.

You couldn’t argue, there was no time for that. You pulled the reins of your horse Lika. “They will follow me into battle then.” You said with strong conviction, Petyr nodded to them. 

The knights looked at you, “There is no time for motivation, no time for a speech. Your men are down there already dying. These men will kill you. So we will kill them first. Now circle them, take them from behind! Blow the horns, and Charge!” You shouted as you rode into battle. 

In the battle, Jon was suffocating, just when all hope seemed lost, he heard a war horn sound off in the distance. Around the bend appears a large mounted army of the Knights of the Vale, led by you. The newly arrived Arryn reinforcements quickly circle the phalanx. The Vale knights are able to attack on the Boltons' undefended side, wiping away Ramsay's phalanx and freeing the Stark soldiers. As you led them around, an arrow shot into Lika’s heart, she dropped to the ground and tossed you off and onto the ground. 

Disorientation from the fall, you looked up and saw a man in silver armor, laying against the wall of the dead men. As your eyes steadied you saw he was breathing labored, and coughing blood. As they steadied more you saw an arrow in his throat, and as they steadied even more you noticed the man was Varys Cole. You grunted as you crawled towards him on your elbows. 

“No,” You whimpered, you pulled yourself onto him, you held his neck, bleeding profusely, “NO!” You cried, 

Varys coughed up more blood, “(Y/N), you must leave here” he wheezed, 

“No, no, no,” You sobbed gently like a little girl as you held onto his wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

He took your wrist in hand “Leave me-” 

You interrupted him, continuing to sob, “Don’t leave me-”

“I am dying.” His eyes were low, and he spoke tiredly. 

“You cannot!” You shook your head and shouted as you cried

“All men can.” He removed his belt and sword along with it, handing it to you. “My sword is yours, child.” 

You continued to sob, “Varys-”  

He whipped your tears with his bloody hand, “It’s been yours long enough.” You held the hand he caressed your cheek with until it went limp and fell to his side.  

“Varys-V-V” You stammered as you sobbed, “Varys!” Clinging to his armor, as his eyes faded. Your numbness didn’t come as it often did. But sadness did not either. A rage fueled blood lust unlike anything you'd ever felt overtook your body.

Enraged and maddened with grief you took Varys’s sword in hand, you stood and charged into battle, eyes puffy and red swelled from the tears that fell from them, your nose and cheeks red and slashed with heat from emotion, you breathed deeply but your sobs made you choke on your own breathing. 

You managed to strike two men down with your sword. Grunting and screaming out in grief as you fought. All in which you endured to this moment flashed before your eyes. It only fueled your rage. 

After you striked down your third man an arrow flew and struck you in your thigh. You overpowered your body’s instrict to hunch over in pain. As your hands reached the arrow in your leg, a man came up behind you and grabbed you.

He placed his hand over your mouth pressing you against his body. His other hand held a dagger, he swung his arm around to stab you in the belly but you grabbed ahold of his forearm before he could make contact. 

You bit his hand as hard as you could, nearly taking off his finger completely. The man dropped the dagger and shouted out in pain.

Within an instant you broke the end of the arrow in your thigh off and pulled it through your leg. You then turned around and used the arrow to stab through the man's eye. Killing him.

You looked over to see Tormund staring at you, in awe, “Fuck you doing here?” Tormund asked,

“Fighting.” You responded, eyes still puffy and red. Mouth still stained with the blood of the man you’d just killed. You took back your sword and looked over to see Ramsay, now without a fighting force, decides to retreat to Winterfell to hold out in a siege. Your eyes found Jon nearby, “Jon, He’s fleeing!” You shouted. You and Jon ran following behind Ramsay alongside Tormund and the giant Wun Wun. You ran despite the horrid pain in your leg. 

Before you could reach the main gate. Ramsay closed them. However it didn’t last very long when Wun Wun was able to break down the main gate, allowing the Starks and Arryns to pour through. 

Your army along with the remaining Starks and Freefolks kill all remaining Bolton men in the castle. Wun Wun collapses to his knees after being hit by arrows, bolts, and javelins. Before Jon can comfort his friend, however, Ramsay kills the giant with an arrow through the eye. 

Ramsay, refusing to surrender, “You suggested one on one combat, I’ve reconsidered, I think that's a wonderful Idea.” He taunted Jon,

Ramsay then began shooting arrows at Jon unarmed. You threw a shield from a fallen Mormont soldier. Jon grabs it while boldly advancing, blocking all of Ramsay's shots. When he reached Ramsay, he smacks the bow out of his hands and knocks him to the ground. With Ramsay down, Jon pins him and proceeds to beat him savagely. 

You smiled as you watched it, tears falling from your eyes. You feared you may laugh.

Though it seems as if he will kill Ramsay, Jon stops. Jon then ordered for Ramsay to be locked in the kennels. The Bolton banners drop to the ground in a cluttered heap while the Starks banner is raised above Winterfell for the first time in three years.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・

You entered the Kennels. Looking upon the bloodied and beaten Ramsay, tied in a chair. 

He looked at you, “Are you waiting for me to speak first? Man does not normally introduce himself to his former betrothed.” He said mockingly

“Ramsay.” You stated quietly and coldly.

“You do remember, how lovely.” He laughed to himself, “You look wonderful. The crimson of violence suits you well. I knew it would.” He said, attempting to goad you.

“I understand who you are now. A broken little boy who cannot bear the pain of the world, so he becomes it. But cruelty is easy and you are not special for choosing it.” You took out your sword, you placed the tip of the blade against his chest, “I’ve wanted to bury my blade in you for a long time.” You said, fighting the urge to push it in,  “Only, it’s not my blade to hold.” You said, looking behind you, seeing Sansa standing here. She nodded to you and you nodded in return as you opened the kennel doors and stood with her on the outside of the kennel’s cage.

“Oh, Sansa.” Ramsay smiled, “Our time together is about to come to an end. That’s alright, you can’t kill me. I’m part of you now.” He said trying to torment her one last time.

Sansa however remained unfazed by his attempt, “Your words will disappear, your house will disappear, your name will disappear, all memories of you will disappear.” She said coldly as Ramsay’s starved dogs fled their cages and circled him.

“My Hounds will never harm me.” Ramsay said, with a growing fear in his voice.

“You haven’t fed them in seven days. You said it yourself.” Sansa said emotionlessly as she watched them circle.

“They’re loyal beasts.” Ramsay said, uncertainty present in his voice.

“They were. Now they’re starving.” 

“Down!” He shouted at the dog, instead of listening the dog began hungrily sniffing and licking his bloody face. “Down! Down! Down!” He shouted and shouted until his shouts became screams. Overcome by hunger, the hound proceeds to savagely maul his face and the others follow suit. As Ramsay is devoured alive by his own dogs, Sansa turns to you and you both lock arms as you and she walk away. Though you limped mostly. You both savor the sounds of his screams. You turn to look at one another, you both softly smile at one another.

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

In Winterfell, A day had passed since the battle. You laid in your bed recovering from your physical injuries. Though you spent most of your time laying there sulking in your own misery.

That night Sansa entered your chambers with a cup of tea, “How’re you feeling?” She asked, handing you the cup as you sat up.

“Like I’ve had an arrow through my leg.” You said stoically as you took the cup.

She smiled, though her smile faded, “I am… sorry for your loss.” she said earnestly. 

“And I yours.” You said, just as earnest as she was. 

“I’ve come with good news.” She said trying to brighten your spirits, “Once they were left unattended at the gate, your armies fled the Vale, they are coming here, to Winterfell. And I hear some of Baelish’s Knights have left his side to join your ranks. You have shown great bravery, and great loyalty to your men. No one shall forget it.” She smiled at you.

“It wouldn’t have happened without you. They rode for you.” You smiled back, 

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

During your recovery Jon continued his mission in defeating the White Walkers. He had traveled to Dragonstone to persuade The Dragon Queen to allow him to mine for Dragonglass. While there, Jon received a letter regarding the army of the dead approaching Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. Tyrion who was acting as Daenerys hand, proposed a plan to capture a wight to prove to Cersei, the existence of the White Walkers. Jon agrees and departs with Davos, Jorah, and Gendry.

Once at the Wall, they met with Tormund with whom they shared their plan.

“Isn’t it your job to talk him out of stupid fucking ideas like this?” Tormund asked Davos, unconvinced that their plan was wise.

“I've been failing at that job as of late.” Davos teased, making Jon smirk.

“How many queens are there now?” Tormund asked Jon,

“Two.” He responded, 

“And you need to convince the one with dragons or the one who fucks her brother?” Tormund asked crudely but accurately. 

“Both.” Jon held back a laugh,

“How many men did you bring?” Tormund asked again, attempting to understand how bad of an idea this was.

“Not enough.” Jon said, this had become a recurring issue. 

“Not the armored woman?” Tormund asked like a whiny puppy, hoping you’d be joining.

Jon smiled and shook his head, as you were still back in Winterfell.

“You really want to go out there again?” Gentry said, “You’re not the only ones.”

The men at the table looked at him confused,

꒰ ୨୧ ─

Upon reaching Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, Sandor and the Brotherhood were taken by wildlings serving alongside the Night's Watch, and were held in the ice cells below the castle.

“My scouts found them a mile south of the Wall. Said they were on their way here.” The man said, 

Jon looked at Sandor in the cell, “You’re the Hound, I saw you once at Winterfell.” Recognizing him instantly. Sandor sat up in his cell, not responding.

“They want to go beyond the wall too.” Gentry said angrily, untrusting of the Brotherhood.

“We don’t want to go beyond the Wall, we have to. Our Lord told us that the Great War is coming. It doesn’t matter what our reasons are, there is a greater purpose at work. And we serve it together, whether we know it or not.” Beric said standing, ready to give a speech, “We may take the steps but the Lord of Light–”

Sandor couldn’t take it anymore and interrupted, “For fuck’s sake will you shut your hole? Are we coming with you or not?” 

꒰ ୨୧ ─ ・┈ ・ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ─ ・┈ ꒱꒱

NOTE: Hmmm seems like our pookie bear might just be approaching…. I hope you like this. I am treating it as a season finale bc there won't be an update until maybe 6/30.

K love you, xoxo

Bambi

Beloved Tags: 

@dontfollowjuststuff @merfic @broadsdrinkwhisky  @vikingswhore0

@the-queen-of-sorrows @eddiesbongwater @not-neverland06  @symonedoesart 

@wyvernnest @bdudette @frosch-thefrog @patrick-hockstutter

@drymushroomfics @dream-a-little-nightmare 

[baileyjane3769]

Original Copy is on Quotev, for a better viewing experience and chapter by chapter reading head on over to my Quotev page @BobbyWolf3769 or click the link here

***

When a game is over and all hidden things have been found, what is there left to do? Move on. That's what you would have liked to have done after finishing the disappointing secret ending of a popular otome game. But when the story is over, and all things were said and done, you find yourself trapped in that very game. Faced with the task to keep everyone alive, can you make it to the end without falling in love?

Long read ahead

Chapter Seventeen

According to Plan?

Some time before Emi’s confession.

“Do you think she can do it?”

“Shh! We don’t want them to see us, Y/n-chan.”

“Why are we in the bush again?”

Not wanting to leave anything to chance, you decided to watch Emi’s moment from a distance, with her knowledge of course. Yuki just decided to tag along and she dragged Akui with her, so now you three were hiding in the bushes from a good distance while observing the interactions between Emi and Suzuki. Perhaps you were being overly cautious, but this was someone’s life you were talking about, the matter was bigger than a simple confession.

“Wait, he keeps looking at her!” Yuki excitedly whispered, tugging on your arm.

“Sshh, I can see that,” you whispered back. “This… this is a good sign.” A sigh of relief escaped your lips, but you weren’t letting your guard down just yet.

With bated breaths, you continued to watch the two from afar, hoping with everything you had that one of them would make the first move already.

“So this is what you’ve been up to.” A voice teasingly said from next to your ear.

You gasped and almost fell back when your head whipped around only to find yourself almost nose to nose with Kaneko Fuyuhiko, who snuck to crouch next to you. “Eep–!” You had to quickly slap a hand over your mouth before you gave away your hiding spot.

“You-!” Yuki was about to explode on Fuyuhiko, but luckily Akui had quickly placed a hand over her mouth.

“K-Kaneko-kun?!” you exasperatedly whispered. “What’re you doing here?”

Fuyuhiko simply gave you a closed eyed smile, completely ignoring how Yuki looked to be being held back by Akui, before nonchalantly responding. “Well, I’ve noticed how your little group has been acting rather peculiarly this week.” He then turned to look on at Emi and Suzuki, an amused twinkle in his eyes. “I guess this is what had you so distracted. Playing matchmaker is see.”

The words lumped in your throat, unable to escape as you sputtered. You did not expect for Fuyuhiko to show up and bust you like this. “W-well, actually…uh…” You were at a loss to respond. You weren’t even sure why, it’s not like you were committing some crime or anything, but the cheeky smirk plastered on Fuyuhiko’s face made you feel like you just got caught with your hand in the cookie jar. ‘Focus, Y/n! Emi and Suzuki are the priority here.’ “The details… aren’t important. But, yes, technically I have been trying to set those two up together.” You finally responded.

“Interesting. Didn’t know you knew about the affairs of the heart, L/n-chan,” he teased. “Though, I’d say you’re doing a decent job.” He looked back up at Emi and Suzuki as they both continued to silently tend to the gardens. Fuyuhiko observed as Suzuki would occasionally sneak glances at Emi. “He’s definitely interested in her.”

His words pique your interest while Yuki simply scoffed out of spite. “Puh-lease. What do you know about love?”

Fuyuhiko turned to her, a challenging grin on his lips as his eyebrow arched up. “Ha, do you realize who you’re talking to? I know the affairs of the heart, and besides, I am a guy after all.”

His words got you thinking. Fuyuhiko has had plenty of experience dealing with romantic feelings, so he probably has a better reading on what Suzuki is feeling than you did. Which is why before Yuki could utter her snarky come back, you said, “Kaneko-kun, would you mind sticking around? Our goal is to have him confess today, and you being here would be a big help."

“Y/n-chan?!” Yuki exclaimed in mild confusion.

Fuyuhiko chuckled while nodding his head. “I suppose I can offer you my assistance. After all, what’re friends for?” he responded, the hint of his signature boyish smoke still lingering on his lips.

“We are not friends…” Yuki quietly grumbled under her breath, to which Fuyuhiko promptly ignored.

“Our Lover Boy is clearly interested, but if that interest is enough to get him to confess is another story,” Fuyuhiko told you.

“Yeah, I figured as much,” you thoughtfully said, thinking about what you'll have to do if Suzuki never makes a move or straight up rejects Emi. “Let’s just watch and see.”

For a few minutes longer, your little group continued to watch with bated breaths as you all observed Emi and Suzuki as they went about their gardening club duties. A watchful silence fell over the group as they stared on at the two, looking for any sign that one might make a move.

“What are you all up to?” The voice of Akihiko suddenly announced his arrival. He stood standing obviously over your group of teens crouching behind some bushes, peering down with a raised, suspicious eyebrow. His eyes shifted over to Emi and Suzuki, but before he could comment any further on what you all were doing, you quickly pulled him down behind the bush, joining your little group crouching on the ground. “What’re you–?” he started to say with a mildly surprised expression as he was pulled down.

“Shh,” you gently quieted him. “I know this is a bit… unorthodox, but trust me this is for a good cause.” You tried to explain yourself. And you were quick to elaborate at Akihiko’s arched brow.

“What good cause could possibly justify hiding in the bushes and spying on our classmates like this?”

“W-Well, Emi-chan knows that we’re here at least,” you halfheartedly countered. “She originally wanted us here for moral support because she’s interested in Suzuki-san and wants to confess, but then Kaneko-kun showed up, and he said he’d gauge Suzuki’s reactions for us, and… well… now you’re here…”

Akihiko’s perplexed expression softened slightly, a curious and more understanding gleam replacing his skepticism. "I see, so if I'm understanding this correctly, you're trying get our two classmates together, and you're here behind this bush to wacth how it pands out because. . . she asked you too?" he squestioned, still whispering, "you're all hiding in the bushes to play matchmaker?"

“You see, that’s what I said,” Fuyuhiko chimed in.

“You guys!” Yuki suddenly called for attention. “He’s making a move!”

All attention snapped back to Emi and Suzuki, watching as the aforementioned boy tucked a strand of hair behind Emi’s ear.

“Ooh, real smooth,” Fuyuhiko whistled.

Your heart pounded within your chest in anticipation as you watched the scene unfold. You could see Suzuki’s lips moving but couldn’t hear what he was talking about as you had chosen to be at a good distance to give their conversation some privacy. Emi looked bashful as she apparently responded to something he said before a look of confusion overtook her features at something Suzuki said. She reached into her skirt pocket to pull out what looked like a hair tie. She handed it to him before hesitantly turning around. You were glad that you told her to let her hair down for today, knowing it should play well into your plan. It wasn’t supposed to be like one of those ‘she’s pretty once she lets her hair down’ situations, it was more sp supposed to be not only a conversation starter but also to spark curiosity in him.

Yuki was practically squealing as Suzuki gently combed Emi’s hair back into her usual style. His movements appeared slow and deliberate as to not hurt her, and from here you could see how both of their faces were slightly flushed. Once he was done, he didn’t step away immediately, instead staring down at her intently, an internal war in his eyes. You held your breath as you wondered if this was the moment he would confess, but your heart almost sank when he stepped away, muttering something as he looked away with a red blush on his face.

From next to you Fuyuhiko sighed. “No, I doubt he’ll confess right now. He might not even realize that he has some attraction towards her.”

You had to bite back your disappointment as you watched Suzuki go back to the gardening work, watching as Emi stood still, looking on as Suzuki went to work. She must be just as disappointed as you were, but you had a plan for this scenario, and now it all relied on Emi and her confidence.

“Wait, is she saying something…?” Yuki squinted.

Emi did in fact say something, her words calling for attention from Suzuki as he stood to now look at her head on. What she said caused his eyes to go wide as a noticeable blush took over his features.

“Did…Did she..?” Fuyuhiko could barely speak his question as he was actually surprised.

“She did,” you responded, not taking your eyes off the two, trying to figure out what Suzuki’s reaction would be.

The boy stood motionless for a second before a gentle smile crossed his features as he bashfully turned away, stretching his cheek. He opened his mouth to say something, and it seemed that whatever he said caused Emi’s expression to slowly morph into that of elation. Suzuki faced her again, before confidently nodding his head. Your heart was able to relax as the two shared a tender embrace that anyone could tell was now between two individuals who were more than just friends. 

You felt your shoulders relax and all tension finally left your body. As the scene unfolded before your eyes, you could feel a collective sigh of relief and excitement from your group. Fuyuhiko let out a low whistle, a satisfied grin forming on his face. 

"Well, I'll be," he muttered under his breath. "She actually did it. Impressive."

Akihiko pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “I’m still unsure what exactly I just witnessed, but I presume this outcome was favorable,” he admitted.

Yuki was giddy and shaking with excitement. The next thing you knew, you stared with wide eyes as she was jumping up from the hiding spot, Akui unable to catch her in time, a jovial grin on her face. “Whoo-hoo!! She did it!” she blithely exclaimed, throwing her hands up, gaining all attention on her.

The entire group froze in surprise as Yuki's exuberant exclamations broke the relaxed silence that had settled after your friends' embrace.

Emi and Suzuki both turned their heads towards your group, their faces displaying a mix of surprise and confusion as a fiery blush settled onto their features. Emi had been so engrossed in her moment with Suzuki that she had temporarily forgotten that you and your friends were watching.

Fuyuhiko facepalmed himself with a loud groan. "Remind me again why you’re friends with her?" he muttered under his breath.

“Well…”

Sensing her mistake, Yuki quickly went to compose herself, a pink blush settling on her face as she sheepishly smiled. “Oh…sorry.”

You, yourself, wanted to facepalm along with Fuyuhiko as the feeling of second hand embarrassment you felt after witnessing that. The point of hiding was so Suzuki didn’t know you were there watching the interaction. Akui shook his head with a subtle smile, finding Yuki to be endearing while Akihiko simply sighed. Slowly, you rose to stand next to Yuki.

“O-Oh, hey…ha ha…haa…” Boy did you feel awkward.

Emi starred in an embarrassed mortification as, slowly, the rest of your group rose to stand along with you and Yuki. She quickly snapped her head to Suzuki, wanting to explain your group's presence even though she was confused by the appearance of Fuyuhiko and Akihiko, but the words seem to die in her throat. “Uh, ehh…” She could only stare up at the boy, waiting for his reaction.

Suzuki stood there, blinking in confusion as he took in the sight of the five of you standing there, having now been seen by both him and Emi. His confusion was evident on his face as he glanced back and forth between the members of your group over to Emi. The atmosphere was tense as everyone seemed to wait for a response from the raven haired boy.

It was a breathy, amused chuckle that left Suzuki that eventually broke the silence. “I see your friends are as eccentric as ever, huh, Nakano-chan,” he casually said in a friendly manner. He placed a hand on her head and gave it a light ruffle. “Guess you needed some support.”

Emi looked both relieved and embarrassed, flushing redder at the contact of Suzuki’s hand to her head, a bit of sheepishness mixed in. She shakily chuckled and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I guess they can be a bit much sometimes,” she remarked, though her eyes held a slight fondness. She thought back to the start of this week, you and her weren’t close but you gladly offered to help get her long-time crush to notice her, even enlisting the help of your own friends. It really was forward of you, but Emi couldn’t be any more grateful now that Suzuki has agreed to a date with. “But they really do mean well.”

Suzuki stared down at her, a fond look in his eyes. He was glad to see her make such supportive friends. “Do I even need to ask what you all were doing in that bush?” Suzuki asked once he turned to look back at your group, an amused look in his eyes.

While you and Yuki fumbled to come up with a response, Fuyuhiko, ever the sly talker, spoke up. "We were just making sure everything was going... smoothly. But you look like you have things handled here, so,” he wrapped an arm around your shoulder and began to collectively shoo your group away. “We’ll be taking our leave now.”

The rest of your group, relieved by his quick thinking and smooth talk, quickly followed his cue and began to retreat. Yuki was pouting a bit, clearly still not completely over her embarrassment. Akihiko pushed his glasses up, his expression neutral as usual. Akui was simply following Yuki as he gently patted her back to reassure her from her embarrassment.

You couldn’t help but glance back ever so often as your group retreated, Fuyuhiko’s arm mostly forgotten. “Looks like things are going well between them, right?” you nervously said to no one in particular.

Fuyuhiko chuckled while nodding in agreement. “Yep. I’d say our work here is done.”

You couldn’t help the lighthearted scoff that escaped you. “Your hard work?” you questioned with a bemused expression as you nudged his side with your elbow. “I’ve been busy all week trying to set those two up.” The light banter allowed for you to momentarily forget about your worries regarding their date tomorrow, which was technically the date marked for Suzuki’s death.

Yuki was too moppy to really notice your close proximity to Fuyuhiko, but Akihiko was more than lucid enough to see it. He wasn’t sure what this tight feeling was as he watched you interact with the school’s notorious womanizer. Surely you weren’t falling for his same old tricks like every other girl, you were much too smart for that… right?

“Ha, come on, I know I only just joined the Emi x Suzuki ship, but I did my part,” Fuyuhiko replied, unbothered and rather amused by your jab.

Akihiko, meanwhile, continued to discreetly watch your interaction with Fuyuhiko, feeling an unfamiliar tightness in his chest. It was a strange feeling, one he hadn't experienced before. He couldn't quite place it, but it was there, and it only seemed to strengthen as he observed your easy banter with the flirtatious boy next to you. Were you and Fuyuhiko always this close? You both have started interacting more ever since your slip in the bathroom, perhaps that’s when the closeness started.

Before Akihiko could think about it anymore, Yuki seemed to recover and quickly went to catch up with you and Fuyuhiko, leaving behind Akui as she gently broke the two apart. Gentle only for your sake.

“Do I need to always remind you to not be so touchy with her? She’s much too innocent to see your true intentions!” As usual, Yuki stressed with a huff as she effectively broke the closeness between you and Fuyuhiko. On the other hand, Akihiko's eyes lingered on you for a moment longer before he silently followed after the group, his earlier pensive expression replaced by his usual neutral one.

The blond flirt managed to keep up his usual charming smile, but there was an unnoticeable tightness to it now, the slightest hint of frustration in his features. “What intentions? I’m simply bantering with a friend, is that so wrong?”

Yuki scoffed. “You don’t have female friends that are just 'friends'.”

Sensing the rising tension, you quickly came up with a conversation changer. “Yuki! I, uh, just realized that you never joined a club. I’m sorry, you’ve been so busy helping me and Emi that I forgot.”

Yuki, caught off guard by your sudden subject change, looked at you in surprise. A pout formed on her face. “Oh…you’re right.” she admitted, her voice tinged with a hint of disappointment. “I guess we’ve been so busy that I forgot,” she spoke again glumly

“Do you think there’s still time to join one?” you asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Not likely,” Akihiko finally spoke up.

Yuki quietly huffed. “I see four eyes is still here…” She mumbled quietly under her breath causing you to nudge her.

Akihiko’s eyebrow twitched as he resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “As I was saying, since it’s already the end of the fourth week since school started, many club advisors tend to deny late requests since it’ll be hard to get the new members to catch up.”

“Man, guess I really won’t get to join a club this year.” Yuki bemoaned.

“Excuse me, did you say you were looking for a club to join!?” A chipperly excited voice suddenly said as a short girl dashed in front of Yuki.

“Woah!! Oh My Goodness Where'd You Come Out From?!?” Yuki shrieked, jumping back slightly in surprise. Your whole group actually looked surprised.

“I couldn’t help but overhear you mention you’re looking for a club to join,” said the very short girl with long, messy hair, and who had large brown eyes that were hidden behind her round framed glasses. “Well look no further!” she announced.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that you recognized this girl. She was none other than the club leader of the failing photography club, Hayashi Anju, a side character that many tended to forget about or found to be just plain annoying when playing the game. She acted more as an assistant and guide for the player who was only found in the photography clubroom. That clubroom acted as a home base for the player whose game mechanic acted as the place to store in-game pictures and story evidence.

“The photography club is alway open to new members!”

A/n: Whew, finally got this chapter out. Not much happened but we did get a new minor character as well as some stiring emotions in both Fuyuhiko and Akihiko. My hearted flutteres writing Emi and Suzuki, just love those two so much. Also, I don't know if you can tell, but judging by the fact that each chapter is taking longer and longer to get published I can confidently say I am starting to feel some sort of burn out. Like I said awhile back, I'm wanting to go on a brief hiatus to prepare for the next stage of my story as well as take a break and go back and edit my previous chapters. It has only recently occured to me that I've been writing non stop since February when I published this book, and before that I was working on the first chapter since last november. I am so proud of what I've wrote and accomplished but I think I am deserving of a break. I'll probably be back in about two months, maybe? I'm not too sure yet, but I'll definitly be back to writing before the end of November. I'll publish the 400 heart once we reach that milestone and then that will mark the official start of my hiatus. Guess ya'll guys will have to wait till late november to read about the date between Emi and Suzuki. Till then, I hope everyone continues to take care of their heath and enjoy life, see you all again when I'm back.

Fun-fact #4:  The feelings Emi has for Suzuki can be summarized by one song. A song called 'I Do Adore' by Mindy Glendhil. I was listening to it the other day and the whole time I was like "This is Emi in a nutshel," lol. It really captures the image I have for Emi and her affections for Suzuki, summarizing her emotions perfectly.

[gmlocg]

433.) 2020 Super Baseball

Release: September 20th, 1991 | GGF: Arcade, Sports | Developer(s): SNK Corporation, Pallas | Publisher(s): SNK Corporation, Electronic Arts, Inc., K. Amusement Leasing Co., Tradewest, Inc., Electronic Arts Victor, Inc., D4 Enterprise, Inc., HAMSTER Corporation | Platform(s): Arcade (1991), Neo Geo (1991), Genesis (1993), SNES (1993), Neo Geo CD (1995), Wii (2011), PlayStation 4 (2017), Xbox One (2017), Nintendo Switch (2018), Windows Apps (2018), Antstream (2019), iPad (2022), iPhone (2022)

[abandonwave]

STED: Iseki Wakusei no Yabō (NES), 1990.

[ceciliablossoms]

Rainbow Anon~

Since your requests are still open, I thought I'd send another one in! Could I request a Kaeya, Xiao, Gorou and whoever you wish for the 4th character,(separately ofc) reacting to their crush that has no actual fighting skill, but manages to defeat enemies anyways? They literally look like a mess while battling, but still manage to get the job done regardless despite the lack of actual fighting skills or special abilities~

Baizhu it is!

I've queued this because I'm grieving. You can still send asks, but it make take me a while to get to them.

-

Kaeya

Finds it kind of amusing

And even if you are dog water at fighting he laughs it off and praises you

Nothing too big, just a good job here and there in his own special way

Probably the least likely to step in next to Baizhu

Not because he doesn't care

But because he knows you can handle it

Will absolutely step in if you need it though

Doesn't explicitly offer to help you get better

But will leave little bread crumbs to try to get you to ask

Teases you in the heat of combat

Especially to try to get you riled up

It's his form of motivation

Is extremely confident in your abilities no matter how bad they are

-

Xiao

STOP

YOU ARE GOING TO KILL HIM

He worries about you an ungodly amount as is

So if you get into a fight when you're dog water at combat

He will have a heart attack on the spot

Is most likely the type aside from Gorou to step in

And will be hesitant to leave you afterward

Will scold the shit out of you

May even cry

Like, I think this is the most you've evee hears him talk all at once

Will try to teach you how to at the very lease defend yourself properly

Still worries about you

Feels a strange sense of pride when you manage to defeat them even when being a horrid fighter

-

Gorou

Extremely over protective

And mostly never leaves your side

Especially with the Shogun's goons lurking about

Knows you can handle it

After all if you couldn't you'd probably be dead by now

But that doesn't stop him from worrying

2nd most likely to intervene

Mainly because he already never leaves your side unless he has to as is

And ally support is never unwelcomed on both sides

Going to try to make you get better at combat

Will train you himself if he has to

Good god

Feels nothing but relief when you defeat them

-

Baizhu

Is extremely worried

Mainly because he doesn't have a much physical strength as he'd like

So he can't exactly protect you

Of course he could always treat your injuries

So long as you don't die that is

The least likely to intervene

But he'll root for you

He couldn't intervene if he wanted to though

He wouldn't be able to handle it, much less win

He'll take great care of you if you get hurt though

Very worried for you

Flinches every time you take a hit

Will praise you a lot when you win

He's so proud

-

Tag List: @reina-dragoness-aka-rei @fictionalcharactersthatsit @kurokuroshit @youaskedfurret @nagatorou @seiiblue @dai-tsukki-desu @dilucs-claymore @duhsies @tempehlust @yoimimi @mika-zuko @clouds-rambles

idek if most of y'all follow me anymore. I know I haven't tagged a lot of you in a hot minute, and I apologise.

If you want me to remove you from the list let me know

[birdy-bat-writes]

Headcanon- Kon Kent Things

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Just Conner Kent being Conner Kent. or Konathan Kent for that matter.

Requested: By @comicsandhoney and I think @offendedfishnoises and @catxsnow not sure though. Taglist is at the bottom. Feel free to message me if you would like to be added to the taglist :) Love ya! Here we go! 

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-       In Titans tower, far too many people have had near-heart attacks because they got up at night to get water and saw a floating body in the kitchen.

-       “AhhHHhhahaha!!” everyone rushes to the kitchen to see poor Garfield shuddering on the floor.

-       Tim: “What’s wrong?”

-       Gar: “Possessed! Its possessed!” He points to an unconscious floating body, clinging to a blanket in the middle of the kitchen.

-       Tim: “Ohhh, don’t worry about him. Conner sleep-flies.”

-       Yes, my friends, Conner Kent sleep floats. Now to prevent this, Tim has started tucking him in very tight. Bart once resorted duct taping his legs to the bed.

-       Kon will never invade your privacy by reading your thoughts but he will on occasion plant gift ideas into your head around a friend’s birthday or his own for that matter.

-       He just happened to be walking by Cassie when she was struck with a perfect gift idea for Tim’s birthday.

-       Kon has 16 leather jackets and one of them has rhinestones on it. His favorite one is the custom leather jacket that ma and pa Kent got for him and Jon. They have a matching set of 4 and there’s a picture that Kon keeps of Ma Kent, Pa Kent, him and Jon in a group hug, wearing their matching leather jackets.

-       He gets along really well with Jason Todd. People don’t notice it.

-       The two aren’t best buds like he and Tim are but Conner really admires Jason. Once when Tim was running late to the manor and Conner showed up early, he and Jason went for chilidogs on vine street. Thanks to Jason, Kon knows the best local places in Gotham.

-       Kon was afraid that when Jon was born, he’d be left behind because Clark and Lois finally had a son they asked for. Kon and Clark’s relationship started out a bit rocky and he was worried he couldn’t be like real family to them.

-       When Lois went into labor, Kon was right there. He called Clark and took Lois to the hospital. Clark, Ma and Pa joined along the way. When Jon was born, all the fear left Kon’s heart because all he could see was this little angel.

-       Lois: “Conner, I want you meet your baby brother,” He felt so happy. He wasn’t replaced; he was an older brother now.

-       Lois had Kon hold him and he was so scared to. She had to reassure him “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

-       Kon had never felt as happy as he did when baby Jon held his finger. They didn’t even know yet if he had powers but boy did that baby have strength in his left hand. He was so small.

-       When Lois and Clark saw Kon holding Jon and rocking him, they said out loud “I love our family.”

-       Conner and Jon have weekly water-gun fights.

-       Jon has once called Conner out for his crush in front of them. “You like that person! Talk to them.” Toddlers are loud and they definitely heard. They found it cute though. Jon was a little wingman.

-       Conner really loves corn.

-       He is very amused by the way humans perceived aliens before they knew about superman and Martian Manhunter.

-       Just for trolling, he will hover over meadows and lay down the grass in perfect circles to freak people out and Clark will try to scold him but start laughing while trying.

-       He and Tim have sleepovers that are basically just games of ‘Can I actually get Tim to sleep tonight?”

-       His favorite color is red, but not just any red. He likes cool-toned deep crimson shades.

-       Kon loves Ma Kent’s rhubarb pies and Pa Kent’s hamburgers. Those are his comfort foods.

-       He has a minor fixation on foreign television. This boy will sit in a room and watch a 4-hour Bollywood movie in one sitting with nothing but subtitles, popcorn and very dramatic facial expressions. “Shah Rukh did WHAT?”

-       His K-Drama marathons take up a lot of his mental capacity.

-       “No, Tim, Park Seo Jun is was really her hero all along. He’s the main love interest! ...Puh-lease! They have so much more chemistry than that other guy! He doesn’t deserve her!”

-       Conner loves math.

-       He had learned how to paint nails over the course of Lois’s pregnancy to help her paint her toenails and now he paints Ma Kent’s nails once a month.

-       Kon is a big love bug.

-       He’s actually really good with pickup lines.

-       He’s awkward with opening up about feelings but he gets there eventually.

-       He takes Jon to Build-A-Bear too often. There are over 30 in Clark’s house now. Jon’s favorite is a white dog dressed as superman that they named Krypto. Jon has an entire justice league of stuffed animals by age 6.

-       Wonder woman is a bunny. She finds it endearing. Green arrow is a monkey and he’s amused by that.

-       Kon loves dogs and volunteers and rescue shelters.

-       Conner has cut his own hair only once and never again. Tim tried to fix it. Never again. They eventually went to the parlor.

-       Kon cooks really well.

-       We will ignore the time he had Jon try to heat up food with his eyes. It may or may not have ended up with custard on the ceiling. Luckily, Lois doesn’t look up too often. Clark on the other hand…well, he kept the secret.

-       This boy is a big goofy sweetheart.

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Taglist: @anothertimdrakestan @offendedfishnoises @comicsandhoney @river-bottom-nightmare @catxsnow @cries-in-fangirl-23 @batarella @idkmanicantenglish @sonofrobin16 @l-horizon11 @subtleappreciation

[trashyswitch]

Afton's Disturbing Pet

William and Henry are removing stuff from Freddy Fazbear, when Henry jumps back at the look of a big spider. Henry, however, learns not only is William not scared of spiders, he befriends them!

WARNING! This plot includes mentions of arachnophobia and features a slight spider character. If you hate spiders as well, you can either click off and look for another fanfic, or read at your own risk and enjoy the relatable moments. Besides that, I hope you enjoy!

Henry was fixing up Freddy Fazbear for the next week of birthday parties coming up. After opening up the belly plate on Freddy Fazbear, Henry took a quick look inside to make sure there weren't any lost and found items hidden in Freddy’s machinery. Funnily enough, there were about 6 different items in Freddy Fazbear this time!

“Gosh...When will children learn to keep their stuff to themselves?” Henry asked.

William chuckled. “When they’re too old to come back, probably.” William replied.

Henry rolled his eyes. “I mean, look at this!” Henry told him. William walked up to the Freddy Fazbear animatronic and looked inside. “A kid lost a pair of shoes! What parent lets their kid leave the restaurant with socked feet?!” Henry exclaimed.

William smiled. “A parent that probably doesn’t care.” William replied.

Henry sighed as he grabbed the pair of shoes out of the machinery and threw them into the lost and found bin. “Hmm...I see a toy car...a paper airplane…Hey look: a Chica bobblehead.” Henry reacted, showing him. William took the bobblehead, flicked the head and watched the head bobble around.

“...UUUUH…WILL, HELP.” Henry yelled suddenly.

William put the bobblehead in his pocket and looked up. “Yes?” He replied.

Henry slowly walked himself backwards and grabbed onto William’s arm tightly.

“Spider. There’s a spider. K-Kill it.” Henry ordered.

William smiled and chuckled at him. “That’s all?” William started walking up to the suit. “Come on man...It can’t be that big a d-” William took one glance at the spider and widened his eyes. It was HUGE! “Wow...okay! That’s pretty big, I’ll admit.” William reacted, leaning forward and bringing his hand towards it. “Hey buddy. What are you doing, hiding in the big bear?” William asked, flattening his hand so the spider could get on. The spider moved its front 2 legs back nervously, but slowly brought its legs back and walked onto William’s hand. William smiled and brought the spider out of the suit’s middle and looked at it closer.

Henry yelped and jumped back, while William watched the spider crawl around on his hand. It was a black spider with beige dots lining the bottom middle body, and 8 thin legs spread out to keep it crawling. The spider was using those legs to crawl around on the back of William’s hand. Somewhat slowly, the spider crawled itself up William’s shirt, onto the wrist and lower arm. “I think I’m gonna call you...AJ. For Afton Junior.” William told him in a slightly high-pitched voice.

Henry was both amused by the strangely adorable scene, and also cowering at the idea of a spider being less than 3 feet away from him. “Why don’t you name him Willy?” Henry asked, still the slightest bit of fright in his voice.

“Cause Willy is just a dirty version of the name William.” William explained. Then, William smirked and looked at Henry. “Or i can name him Henry Junior…” William mentioned.

Henry’s eyes widened as he let out a whimper. “Mmmm-no. Bad idea. Please no.” Henry told him.

William’s smile grew wider and wider as the spider scaled his forearm, crawled past the elbow and skittered up the side of his bicep. “You’re almost there buddy. Come on…” William cheered.

Henry looked like he was going to lose his mind. “HOW, can you just...sit still! While that spider is just-” Henry threw his arms up and just gave up on reasoning. “You know what? No. not even gonna TRY and figure that out.” Henry decided.

After a few more skitters, the spider successfully reached William’s shoulder. William chuckled at Henry’s reaction as he started admiring the big spider on his shoulder. “Look...I have my own little spider friend!” William told him.

“Mm hmm...fascinating. Quick question: how are you so calm?” Henry asked.

William chuckled. “It’s simple, really:” William started as he reached his fingers out to his shoulder to pick up the spider. “I'm not afraid of spiders.” WIlliam explained.

“But HOW?! That’s a wolf spider! They bite!” Henry told him.

William laughed at the irony as the spider crawled on his palm. “You say you hate spiders, and yet you’re perfectly willing to find a book on spiders that are harmless versus spiders that bite.” William reacted.

“That was meant to help my fear of spiders. And you know what? It helped a lot more than you expect!” Henry reacted.

“Did it now?” William asked.

“Yes...actually it did.” Henry told Will. “It helped me learn what spiders I shouldn’t be afraid of, and which spiders I should be afraid of.” Henry explained.

“Interesting.” William told him half-heartedly. Then, William started giving the spider very gentle pats on the head. “Look at you! Such a big strong boy!” William said as he patted its head some more.

Henry nervously watched as the spider moved its front legs around on William’s upper wrist. Suddenly, William jolted and widened his eyes for only a few moments. But his surprised face quickly turned into slight anger as he leaned his head closer to the spider. “You little bastard…” William muttered.

Henry widened his own eyes in surprise and worry. “What just happened?” Henry asked, fearing the worst.

“Well, I think Junior just bit me.” William replied calmly.

“WHAT?!” Henry shouted in horror.

Henry grabbed William’s hand and attempted to pull it closer. “OW!” William shouted, pulling his hand away and holding it with his back towards Henry. “Careful! It hurts!” William yelled, rubbing it.

“You’re gonna infect it! Just let me look at it!” Henry begged.

“No! You’re gonna infect it more than I will!” William exclaimed as he carefully put his spider into his shirt pocket.

“No I won’t.” Henry grabbed the back of William’s right hand and gently brought it closer to himself. “See?” Henry asked. William nodded and relaxed a little before finally letting a smile show up on his lips.

Henry looked around William’s upper and lower wrist. But weirdly enough, there were no marks on there. “I...don’t see anything.” Henry commented as he checked the rest of his hand. His entire hand was completely markless. Henry lifted an eyebrow in confusion. But everything quickly clicked into place when William let out a single snicker.

...Excuse me?

“You...little SHIT!” Henry proclaimed in anger. William finally let the facade fall and bursted out laughing. Henry growled and pushed him away. “Why?!” Henry asked.

William continued to laugh at him. “Cause it was funny!” William told him as he lifted his hand up with the spider on his fingertips.

“I was worried!” Henry told him.

“For 5 seconds, but that’s it.” William replied.

“5 seconds too many.” Henry added.

“It was just a small prank. Can’t you handle a small prank?” William asked.

“Not a prank that potentially risks your life.” Henry shot back.

Despite the laughs, William was feeling a bit of guilt as well. As he calmed down, William tried to come up with what to tell him. He could tell him he regretted it, but...that would be straight up lying because that prank was fun to do despite the angry reaction. He could tell him he was sorry, but...he was worried that wasn’t enough in this situation. He could at least start with that, but he needed something else to say, in order for the apology to flow into something nicer.

William decided to let the first part out and let the second phrase come out naturally.

“Listen: I’m sorry, Henry. I’m sorry I freaked you out and made you worry over nothing.” William told him. But his snickers were still slightly showing through his apology, so it most likely couldn’t be taken like he hoped.

All that left Henry, was a scoff. William figured he would say that. So...he used a bit of logic. “Listen...Little Junior may have fangs. But as long as you don’t threaten it, it won’t bite you.” William explained.

Henry’s attitude seemed to slightly improve, but he was still annoyed. “You patted its head. I’m surprised it didn’t actually bite you.” Henry responded.

“I’ll be honest, I’m surprised by that too.” William said, pausing for a moment. “But there’s something I want you to know:” William added. Henry turned his head towards William with his frown somewhat softened. “Your reaction broke me.” William told him.

Henry narrowed his eyes and let a smile show up on his face as he turned more to face his friend. “How so?” Henry asked.

“Well...It made me happy to see just how much you care.” William said briefly, but nicely.

“...Wait, really?” Henry reacted.

“Really!” William replied.

Henry let out a laugh and shook his head with a smile on his face. “Wow. So you’re not exactly the most heartless being on the planet then…” Henry joked.

William gasped and placed a hand on his chest. “Ow! I’m offended by that statement!” William exclaimed dramatically.

“Oooh! Being sassy now, huh?” Henry clarified with a smirk. “I may need to punish you for that.” Henry warned.

William guffawed. “Puh-lease...What are you gonna do? Put me on a time out?” William joked.

Henry took one look at William’s pocket and smirked. “Hmmm...Nope!” Henry replied before looking towards the dining tables. “Chica! William stole something!” Henry told her.

Almost immediately, Chica’s eyes glowed and his body moved to face her creator. Quickly, Chica walked herself over with Carl the cupcake in hand and stared at Henry the whole way while she walked. “You reported a thief in the pizzeria! Please name who may be a suspect.” Chica ordered.

Henry chuckled, but went along with it. “William Afton.” Henry told her.

Chica turned to William and pointed at him. “You are being suspected of stealing. If you stole something, please give it back or I will have to body search you.” Chica ordered.

William sent Henry a disappointed expression. “...Seriously?” William asked.

Henry nodded his head. “I wanted to test this out, anyway. And since were being a douche a few seconds earlier…” Henry explained before trailing off.

Chica scanned William with her eyes and stared at his shoulder. “There’s a spider on your shoulder.” Chica mentioned.

“I know.” William said.

“William Afton has a bobblehead in his pocket. I will remove it for you.” Chica told him.

William shook his head and zipped up the zipper on his pants before his pocket was touched. Chica picked up William with one hand and attempted to pull the pocket open.

“Thahat’s not how it- WHOHOhohohohoa! Chihihica, cahahaharefuhuhuhul!” William jumped suddenly. Chica ignored his pleas and only continued to try and get into the man’s pocket. William doubled over and continued to laugh and giggle. “Plehehehease stahahahap ihihihihit! Yohohohou’re tihihicklihihing mehehehe!” William protested.

Chica’s hand seemed to have stopped for only a moment. The lens in both her eyes started to zoom in and out as Chica went through an animatronic version of ‘processing’. William must’ve noticed a change in her eyes, because the man quickly became weary and defensive, despite the height and weight difference between the two.

Chica brought William closer, turned him around so Afton’s back was facing Chica’s beak and started squeezing William’s hips. “AAAAH! NAHAHAHAHA- NOHOHOHOHOHO!” William shouted.

“Mr. Afton refuses to give back the toy. So some persuading is needed to convince him…” Chica explained as she continued to squeeze his sensitive hips.

William’s laughter grew and died down with each and every squeeze, leading to some very interesting and amusing reactions. Not only was his happy face genuinely fun to watch, but his giggles and instinctively kicks of the feet seemed to present a more...cuter side of William.

Henry smiled happily at his friend. “Ain’t this an adorable sight to behold? It looks like William over here, is very ticklish!” Henry reacted.

William laughed heavily with his head tipped back. “IHI’M GOHOHONNA DROHOHOHOP AHAY-JAHAHAHAY!” William begged. Chica didn’t listen though, and continued to squeeze his hips in patterns.

Quickly, Henry ran up to Chica. “Chica! Stop!” He ordered.

Upon the command, Chica stopped squeezing and looked to her left side. “Yes, Mr. Emily?” Chica greeted.

“That spider on William’s shoulder...is AJ.” Henry explained. “William befriended it.” Henry told Chica with a slight shudder. Chica looked towards the spider and offered her hand to it. Funnily enough, the spider grew to trust Chica super quickly because before long, the spider was sitting still on Chica’s big hand.

Chica turned towards Henry and brought her hand closer. “Can you hold this for me?” Chica asked.

Almost instinctively, Henry jumped back and nervously held his arms up in defence. He shook his head profusely. “No. No no no no no. I hate spiders. That-that thing can be set free, for all I care.” Henry said, stuttering a little bit.

William frowned. “Hey! Be nice!” William warned.

Henry moved his arms into the surrender position. “What?! You’re lucky I can actually control what comes out of my mouth!” Henry reacted.

“Let me guess: you wanna set it on fire and let it burn alive?” William guessed.

Henry hung his head guiltily. “...I mean…” Henry muttered.

William scoffed and shook his head. “Knew it.” William replied in a slight annoyed voice.

Chica placed the wolf spider onto the stage and almost immediately tried tickling William again. William squeaked and bursted out laughing as he struggled to get her hand away from him. Finally, William decided to give up.

“Ohohokahahay, ohohohokahahahahayyy! Ihihi’ll gihihihive ihit uhuhup, just STAHAhahahahap!” William shouted at her.

Chica smiled and stopped her hand. William took a moment to breath before he unzipped his pocket and pulled the bobblehead out. Chica opened her jaw in surprise as she grabbed the bobblehead and stared at it. “Wow! It’s me!” Chica declared happily.

“Yes it is.” William replied.

Chica placed William down and walked away with the bobblehead. Henry walked up to William and started poking him in the sides and squeezing him in the hips.

“Wahahahait, Henry nohohoho! Yohohohou-” William giggled as he attempted to return the pokes. But Henry didn’t react at all, and only doubled his poking! “WHAHAHAHAT?! YOHOHOU’RE NOHOHOT-”

“Nope! Not ticklish there!” Henry declared triumphantly as he started scratching and squeezing the jackpot spots.

It didn’t take long for William to fall onto his knees in weakness. When that happened, Henry moved in front of his friend and happily increased the tickles dramatically, forcing William to fall onto his back in hysterics. The best part (or the worst part for William), was that Henry couldn’t be tickled back no matter how much William tried! And trust me, he tried EVERYWHERE!

The sides were no good, the ribs just hurt slightly, and the armpits were utterly pointless! His belly was a bust, his belly button was just as useless, and his hips didn’t even increase Henry’s smile. He was insensitive to a tee, and it left William frustrated as he laughed, squealed and cackled.

But finally, as if Chica was given empathy, Henry screamed and stumbled back, halting the tickle attack altogether. William looked at him in confusion, before realizing the reason when Carl winked at him: Chica (or Carl) must’ve grabbed AJ and shoved him down Henry’s back! William bursted out laughing at the hilarious moment. Soon though, pity finally overtook William and helped AJ get out from under his shirt. By the time AJ was back in William’s hands, Henry was trembling like a flame and stuttering from the feeling of 8 legs crawling all over his back and shoulders. William ended up having to give AJ to Chica so he could hug the poor man. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for Henry to go back to his old self and resume the tickle attack. And with William in his arms, Henry had proudly trapped a wild Afton in his fingers forever!

...Or, until he lets him go, of course...

[littleredroseonthevalley]

Road Trip to Georgia

Summary: Drake wants to do something nice for Riley, and so takes her on a road trip down south.

Rating: K - Intended for general audience 5 years and older. Content is free of any coarse language, violence, and adult themes.

Notes: So... I did a thing. I’m mostly reblogging on Tumblr, having mostly moved to AO3 and FF.Net. In any case, enjoy!

Drake had been awfully and uncharacteristically excited when he had bound into their shared bedroom, woken her up with a kiss, caffeine and some gentle shoving. It was, after all, quite early, but he knew they had to make good time on the road.

He had woken up early, filled with anxiety and put into action what he had planned out over the last few months. He walked over to the convenience store around the corner from their hotel and gathered everything that he knew they could want.

For every road trip needs its snacks and drinks to keep them going.

He had looked on various maps and guides of the East Coast, planning out where they could stop for an actual meal for lunch and knew roughly how long it would take both with and without traffic. However, junk food was, according to Riley, part of the fun.

She had said during the Social Season that she had always wanted to just get up and jump in the car to go somewhere. “Anywhere, really. It doesn’t even matter. Sometimes I just wanna open up a map and randomly place my finger and go there.”

It was actually why she had jumped on the opportunity to come to Cordonia when Maxwell offered. Growing up with little money, earning minimum wage, she did not own a car, nor had the resources to just take a vacation somewhere. She longed for adventure, for a place far away she did not even know what it was, and in this regard, they were very much alike. The words had echoed in his mind and he could not shake them.

After the end of the Social Season, and with their obligations in Europe coming to a close, Drake asked if Riley wanted to go back to America for a short visit, with the interest of tying up some lose ends. She had accepted it, hoping to pick up some items of sentimental value from her apartment and closing the lease on it.

It was all a ruse, of course. He had not wanted to just pick a random place on the map, like she said, but somewhere he knew they would be comfortable going to, that had some relevance and that was far away enough both to make a long weekend of it and to lose some of the more pesky press that followed them across the Atlantic.

He wanted to do this while he could. Drake’s job at the Attorney’s Office in Cordonia was rather profitable, not to mention his “services” to the Crown, made him want to little in terms of cash, even if he was not in the business of flaunting it. However, their schedules were tight during the year, having little but a month in the Summer off.

He had called by Starbucks on his way to the hotel from the store and grabbed some pastries, breakfast rolls, hot drinks and woken her, trying to bribe her to wake up with a nice breakfast.

“What are you doing?” She had croaked, her voice still thick with sleep and her eyes refusing to open. “Baby, it’s too early. Leave me to sleep.”

“You can sleep in the car if you want, but if we want to stick to the schedule, we’ve got to leave now.”

“Go where?” This had peaked her attention and she couldn’t help but ask.

“Georgia.” He had grinned and circled the drink under her nose, allowing the aroma of it to pull her from her lingering slumber and out of the bed. “Get dressed.”

She looked at him as if he had grown another head. “Georgia? Why Georgia?”

He smirked sideways. “I miss looking at my horses. C’mon, let’s go.”

“You have horses?!” She shouted after him, but he ignored her, giving her space to change, laughing at her frustration.

________________________________________________________________

Eight in the morning, as Drake had planned, the two of them hopped into the rental car he had procured for the trip and left the mid-range hotel they were staying at and left, heading south.

Riley tried to crowbar some other piece of information out of him, but he was cagey and awfully amused by it, so by the time they reached Delaware, she had already given up, preferring road games he had little taste for, but humoured her all the same.

After they had been on the road for over three hours, Drake decided to pull over at a gas station in Virginia, rumoured to have the best milkshakes in the state. After using the services toilets, the two of them sat by the window, grabbing something else to eat as lunch.

“Sometimes all you need is a greasy burger.” Riley had declared while waving a ketchup covered fry at him.

“Oh, do you?” Drake said, as she nibbled the end of it off and dunked it in his milkshake. “You’re disgusting.”

“Drake, honey, I’m feeding the heart. The heart wants what it wants and right now, it’s French fries in your milkshake. Deal with it.”

“Why can’t it be in yours? It’s the same flavour.”

“Yours tastes better because it’s now forbidden.” She managed to swipe another bit before he moved his glass with a grin. “Thank you for doing this. I’d forgotten I’d said anything about it, but you didn’t. That makes me smile.”

“I’d do anything to see your smile, you should know that by now.”

“Except give me your milkshake for my fries, I see.” She pouted at him. With a roll of his eyes, Drake slid his glass nearer to her again. She grinned and dunked once more. “Losing its appeal now I can have it. I appreciate the gesture though.”

Drake laughed. If anything, even though they would get lost twice when Riley insisted on taking the scenic routes through small villages, spending this time with her will certainly be worth it. It is these times that he will remember. These moments he will remember when he is away, overworked and buried in documents for some stupid thing Liam wants to do, and unable to see her. It is these smiles, jokes and her playfulness that he will miss.

While the early morning was a killer to do, being here and doing this made it worthwhile.

[badassbaker]

Private Security-Chapter 10

We know what Nea and Matthias have been up to, but this chapter gives us a look at Ben and Nea’s dad. Dad’s POV. Enjoy!

As I floated in and out of consciousness, I could hear and feel things happening all around me.

At first, there was pain-sharp and intense. It seemed to start from my leg and radiate outwards. I could feel hands on me, but I was too sluggish and disoriented to figure out who it was or what they were doing. I kept wanting to ask for Nea, but my tongue seemed weighed down in my mouth. It reminded me of the feeling you experience when waking up from surgery. I couldn’t make my muscles form the words that my brain was desperately trying to utter. Time seemed distorted.

But now I was waking up.

I could tell that I was in a car going very fast; and as the world around me came into focus, I could hear someone singing. Through the haze, I could make out a baritone voice, seemingly oblivious to my discomfort in the backseat of whatever vehicle we were in. If I wasn’t currently fearing for my life, I would have found the song choice highly amusing…

Impossible, for a plain yellow pumpkin to become a golden carriage! Impossible, for a plain country bumpkin and a prince to join in marriage. And four white mice will never be four white horses! Such fal-der-ol and fid-dle-dee dee of course, is— Impossible! But the world is full of zanies and fools, Who don’t believe in sensible rules, And won’t believe what sensible people say. And because these daft and dewey-eyed dopes keep building up impossible hopes, Impossible things are happening every daaaaay!

“Help me,” I uttered weakly. “Help me, please…”

I could feel the car slowing down and pulling over before coming to a stop. The driver, who I still couldn’t see, swiftly exited the front seat and opened the rear door. I wasn’t sure how I could possibly defend myself if I needed to, but I mentally started going over scenarios anyway.

The door opened, and a muscled, tattooed arm reached its way inside, followed by a beard and a big grin.

“Well, hey there. It’s about fucking time you woke up, bitch.”

I blinked twice, attempting to clear the fog. I knew that arm…and that beard.

“B-Ben…?”

“Fuckin-A right, sir. How are you feeling?”

“My ears hurt.”

Immediately I felt large hands at either side of my face, turning my head from side to side in examination.

“Sir, everything looks ok. Can you describe the pain for me?”

Sluggishly, I replied, “Singing. Your singing was hurting my ears.”

A lazy smile crept across his features.

“Ah. So you’ve got jokes now? Well, I’ll have you know that the composer/lyricist duo of Rogers and Hammerstein was one of the most influential and successful pairings in American musical theater history. So, you can just eat my ass. Sir.”

I chuckled and attempted to shift my weight, which only resulted in a wince as sharp pain shot up my leg.

A focused expression replaced Ben’s trademark smirk; and he seemed to, in a split second, shift into a different gear.

“Sir, no more fucking around. Can you rate the pain for me? We’ve got about 20 more minutes to go, and I need you to hang in there until we get to the safehouse. I’ve got supplies there. I did some triage on scene and got you stable, but if you can’t make it the rest of the way, you need to let me know now. From my quick examination, I don’t think there are any implanted fragments, but you’ve gotta tell me if you have intense amounts of pain anywhere other than the entry or exit sites.”

In my head, I wondered how he knew to help. From the words he had used…”fragments…entry site…exit”…I knew I had been shot. But his confidence in what he was doing put me at ease. Reaching down, I felt a belt cinched very tightly just below my groin and a large gauze bandage wrapped around my leg.

“I’m…I’m ok. Just uncomfortable. Can you help with that?”

Ben nodded and reached down where a blanket was folded on the floor of the backseat. He balled it up and gingerly placed it under my calf to keep my leg elevated.

“That’s the best I can do for now, sir. I don’t want to give you anything stronger than a local for the pain until I’m sure you’re not in shock. Do you think that this can get you through the last part of the drive? Like I said, it’s about 20 minutes.”

“Yes. Yes, I think I can.”

Ben began to retreat, but I grabbed his hand as he was pulling away.

“Nea! How’s Nea? Is she ok? Where is she?”

Ben nodded, understanding my panic.

“Sir, she’s with Matthias. She’s ok. Physically unharmed. A bit shaken up, but otherwise ok. They’re on their way to the other safehouse.”

Immediately, tears sprung to my eyes and I leaned my head back against the door. The armrest dug into the back of my neck, but I didn’t care. My baby was alright and she was with the man who had become my trusted protector. Just like he had kept me safe…I knew he’d do the same for my girl.

“Ben, I need you to do something for me. Are you in communication with Matthias?”

“Yes sir, I am. But only in code.”

“That’s fine. What I need you to send is just two words. If you want to translate them into the code that you and Matthias use, that’s fine. But it’ll be easier for everyone if you can just send what I tell you. Do you think you can do that?”

“Depends, sir. I can’t compromise our location or theirs. But if your two words don’t do that, I’m game.”

“It won’t compromise a thing. I would never do that to my daughter.”

As I spoke, Ben already had his phone out and was ready.

“What I need you to send is: ‘Oklahoma. Kansas.’”

“Oklahoma Kansas. You got it, sir. I could have just sent the word, ‘Ok’…but I’m assuming that it means more to send it this way.”

My mouth fell open.

“You understand the code? How?”

“Because I’m not 12 years-old, sir. ‘Oklahoma Kansas’…’O’ ‘K’. It’s not rocket science. This is the reason that I came up with the code that Matthias and I use. He’ll tell people that we came up with it together, but that’s horseshit. I’m the brains of this operation. He just sits there and looks pretty.”

Almost instantaneously, Ben’s phone dinged with a response.

Ben turned the phone to me. The message said, “She says ‘Thank you’”.

Swallowing, I nodded at Ben and reached out to gently pat his arm.

“Ok, son. We can go now. I’ll be alright.”

Ben shut the car door and returned to his spot at the wheel. He started the car in silence, allowing me a few moments to calm myself and process everything that had just come to light.

After about 10 minutes, he turned over his shoulder and asked with a smile, “Want me to sing again?”

**********

The safe house was located in an old plaza. There was a mix of old office buildings and smaller single storefronts. Ben pulled into a space in front one of these smaller brick structures and parked the car. From the street, it looked like just a strip mall with some offices for rent. Little did I know, it was so much more.

Ben managed to get me out of the car fairly easily. Quite the feat considering my injury, but he’d probably had to move injured people before in his line of security work. We walked (or hobbled, in my case) slowly up to a non-descript entrance with a “For Lease” sign in the window. While it didn’t look like much, I quickly realized that the door was biometrically programmed to open using a fingerprint as Ben reached his hand up above the doorjamb and pressed his thumb to a small, hidden panel. I assumed it would only allow Ben or Matthias to enter.

Inside the main entrance was the oldest, most outdated, boring, generic office I’d ever seen.

“What kind of business is this? How could anyone do any work in here?”

Ben chuckled. “You’d be hard-pressed to get any-fucking-thing done in this room, sir. These computers turn on, but that’s about it. This is just a front. If anyone were to look through the window, they’d see absolutely nothing going on. And if they were to get really stupid and call the number on the “For Lease” sign, they’d be calling my cell phone. And let me tell ya, no one who’s ever spoken to me has wanted to go ahead and rent this shithole at the end of the conversation. The real magic of this place is in the back.”

We walked through a door and into a completely different world. The room in the back had a bank of surveillance monitors, leather chairs, a flat screen television with an impressive sound system, and an old couch. This couch is where I was deposited as Ben walked around checking locks and flipping switches to bring the room to life. Rummaging through a closet, he came back with a very large duffel bag chock full of medical supplies.

The jovial Ben that I’d come to now had been replaced by a man on a mission. Without preamble, he took a pair of scissors and sliced up the entire length of my suit pants to expose my leg. In surprise, I attempted to pull back, only to be held still by a pair of very strong hands. As he unwrapped the gauze from my thigh and loosened the makeshift tourniquet, my wound started to bleed in earnest.

Immediately getting anxious, I began to squirm under his examination.

“Sir, you are awesome and I love working for you. But if you don’t calm your ass down and sit fucking still, I’m going to let you bleed out just for some peace and quiet.”

“That’s some ‘bedside manner’ you’ve got there, son,” I said, wincing as he probed my thigh with his gloved hands. He grabbed a bandage from the bag and pressed it firmly to what looked to be the worst part of the wound.

“With all due respect…and I do mean that… Right now, I don’t give a shit what you think about my ‘manner’. I’m trying to save your fucking life. I promise I’m a nice guy. And once I know you’re out of the woods, we can sit around and talk about our feelings and shit all night. I’ll even give you a cuddle. But until then, let me do my goddamn job. Sir.”

“How do you even know what your ‘goddamn job’ is, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Momentarily tensing his heavily tattooed forearms, he confidently said, “Sir, I’m the best fucking combat medic you’ve ever met. I could probably be a world-renowned trauma surgeon by now if that life had held any interest for me; but I chose to travel the world with my best friend instead. You’ve gotta relax and trust me, ok? Gunshot wounds are no fucking joke; but from what I can see, this pressure bandage is doing really nice work of getting the bleeding to stop and the area isn’t rapidly swelling, so I’d say that you are one lucky son of a bitch. That bullet didn’t break any bones or nick any arteries. When we get the fuck out of here, you’re gonna want to play the lottery.”

He really was something else.

“So I’m out of danger?”

“Eh, not quite yet. We’ve got to get the bleeding to stop completely and watch that bastard for infection for the next 48 hours. But I’m amazing at what I do, so yeah…you’re gonna be fine.”

I did my best to relax and just allow him to work for a few minutes. It was disconcerting to see how many bloody pieces of gauze he was going through, but each new one took longer and longer to become saturated. When it finally looked like the bleeding was stopping, Ben began to search in the medical kit. I could hear mumbles of ‘bitch’, ‘needle’, ‘fucker’, and ‘syringe’…and knew that stitches were likely coming. Not overly thrilled with that prospect, I attempted to momentarily distract myself by asking Ben something I’d had on my mind.

“So, Ben, I’ve got a question for you.”

“Shoot. Pun intended, by the way,” he answered with a grin, as he continued to search for the needed supplies.

“Is Matthias in love with my daughter?”

Without a moment of hesitation, Ben looked me right in the eye and said, “Oh yeah. 100%.”

Shocked by how quickly he answered, I responded with, “Has he said that?”

“No, sir. I’m actually not even sure if he knows it yet. That motherfucker can be pretty stupid. But he’ll figure it out eventually. He’s never been in love before, so I think his head is pretty far up his ass on this one. But what I can tell you is this: no one in this fucking world will take better care of her or love her more, even if it were to cost him everything he is.”

Surprisingly, I wasn’t upset about anything he said. If I were to choose a man for my daughter, I couldn’t imagine a better fit. At some point, I’d be having a long heart-to heart with my head of security, but since that wasn’t an option right now, I did my best to stay still and allow Ben to finish his work.

Shifting gears, I asked Ben, “So are they in an office like this one?”

“Oh fuck no. This safehouse is one that we’ve only recently set up. They went to one of our oldest. It’s out past the state park, far from the city.”

As I continued to allow Ben to work, my thoughts consumed me.

Ben tied off the last stitch and re-wrapped my leg; and as the events of the last few hours began to catch up with me, I found myself drifting off. But not before thinking about Nea again.

My little girl, alone in the middle of the woods with a very handsome bodyguard who also happened to be madly in love with her…things were about to get interesting.

Finally succumbing to sleep, I could hear Ben, once again singing as he busied himself in the room.

In my own little corner In my own little chair I can be whatever I want to be On the wing of my fancy I can fly anywhere And the world will open its arms to me…

 Cinderella. Again. I’d have to remember to get him tickets once all this was over.

**********

@virgosapphire79, @iammarylastar, @son-of-a-bbitch, @lostinvoyage, @vaisabu, @thehound-and-thebird, @dean-67-impala, @alexandrajackson93, @darebearxox, @mimigemrose, @hows-my-hair, @nickysurfer28, @queensoybean, @emmysrandomthoughts, @to-hold-me-and-to-hide-me, @inkinterrupted, @captstefanbrandt, @niktwosixteen, @vitaevandal, @b-j-d, @angelswannawearmyredshooz,  @beautifulramblingbrains, @bonjourmyloves,  @allnewimaginecharliehunnam, @smoothdogsgirl, @elfwriter1088, @mycapt-ohcapt, @ziuthings, @theycallmebecca, @heather-lynn, @bloggingfromherbed, @nomadicpixel, @prplprincez, @saffreelove, @whostheblondegirl, @winters-beauty

[petri808]

We Met in Cyberspace

Kiribaku AU Parts 1 & 2 here

@complete-utter-trash23 @chipsandchaps this is for you 😊

Once they’d aired their feelings privately, Kirishima and Bakugou’s relationship had hit a comfortable rhythm of encouragement. To the outside world they simply looked like close buddies, but now to a handful of their closest friends, they were a bonafide couple. Mina had been the first to congratulate them followed by Denki, one of the few Baku trusted with the secret.

It was okay for now, both of them agreeing that work should stay a platonic environment anyways. But at home, things slowly heated up as Kirishima introduced Bakugou to life as a couple. Curling up on the couch after work with a movie, or game nights with online friends became a routine. It was amusing to Bakugou that Kiri’s choice of drink was wine to his lager, but it matched the sweetness of his boyfriends personality.

But the thing that Kirishima helped with the most was physical touch. Bakugou wasn’t used to it at all, even hugs were foreign in his mind. So, while it wasn’t easy at first, a lot of stiff reactions slowly melded into fluid affairs. Kiri’s gentle coaxing made all the difference and now, Bakugou loved their intimate times. Not sex, not yet, he wasn’t ready, but they’d managed with lots of kisses, cuddles, and other foreplay activities.

After a year of officially dating, they’d even moved in together when Baku’s lease had come up for renewal. That small move made things so much easier and sweeter, feeling as natural as the sun rising. Waking up in each other’s arms, knowing it wouldn’t come with a see you later at the end... just made Kirishima blush at the thought. It even made sense for them to choose Kirishima’s place since he lived closer to their workplace.

Their home life was definitely looking up. But speaking of work, with the addition of Bakugou to the team, they’d made a huge advancement towards a new drug that could help people with mood disorders that had less side effects as current drugs on the market. There was still a lot more work to be done, clinical trials to get underway, but everyone was excited. In fact, Aizawa was able to gain additional funding because of the progress and decided to put a part of it into hiring another researcher.

It was a normal step in the process to add to the team as necessary. That’s how Bakugou got his position after all. Besides, research companies were always on the look out for bright, up-and-coming graduates because you wanted to get your hands on them before a competitor swooped in. Sadly, the guy they’d hired on seemed nice at first, but it didn’t take long for his true colors to show.

He couldn’t tell if Neito Monoma was being serious or just joking around, but frankly he was past the point of caring. If he made one more stupid comment about Kirishima’s sexuality, Bakugou was ready to throttle him! He was just happy that none of the others in their team were playing along cause that would have made things worse.

“Aww come on Eijiro,” Monoma hangs over Kirishima’s shoulder grinning like a fool. “Isn’t it weird? I mean, two guys fucking? Or did girls scare ya off so bad you couldn’t get up for them anymore?”

Kirishima tries to push Monoma away, “can you just stop! What I do in my personal life is none of your business!”

“Ooh, tough guy now huh?” Monoma snickers. “Never thought a pansy would fight back!”

As other co-workers rush to get their boss Aizawa, Bakugou slams his fist into a table and growls. “Monoma, you better shut the fuck up and leave him alone!

“Seriously?” Monoma tips his head back in a cackle. “Why is a straight guy standing up for this fag?!”

That was the last straw. Bakugou punches Monoma in the jaw. As the bigger of the two men, Bakugou’s hit sends Monoma to the ground. “I warned you,” he stands over the prick, his red eyes flashing in anger while Kirishima holds him from advancing again. “Don’t you ever fucking come at me or my boyfriend again or a split lip will be the least of your problems!”

Gasps are the only sounds in the room as everyone, including Aizawa who’d arrived just in time for the announcement, process what they’d heard.

“K-Katsuki?!” Kirishima was shocked that his boyfriend had just admitted to everyone in their workplace that they were dating, and ergo he was gay too. “You just came out, like that... I don’t know what to say!” Tears pooled in his eyes. “You protected me.”

“Oh, brother.” Monoma rolls his eyes. For a guy who just beat, he still didn’t know when to shut up.

But before Bakugou could retaliate, Aizawa yanks Monoma off the ground, “that’s enough out of you, it’s time we had a chat.”

“What?! He’s the one that hit me and I’m getting talked to?!”

Aizawa pushes him out of the room, “it wasn’t right, but you deserved it.”

“Eijiro,” Bakugou caresses his boyfriends face, “I didn’t plan to come out, but I wasn’t gonna let him keep bullying you like that.”

“Oh, Katsuki,” Kirishima leans into the touch.

Their co-worker Izuku Midoriya taps Kirishima on the shoulder. “So... um, you guys really are a couple?” Kirishima nods.

“See, I told ya Midoriya,” Shoto Todoroki chuckles. “I was wondering when you guys were gonna say something.”

“Wait you knew?!” Both Bakugou and Kirishima blurt out at the same time.

Shoto just shrugs, “it was pretty obvious something was going on.“ He smiles and pats Bakugou on the back before heading back to his desk.

“Well I think it’s really sweet!” Ochaco Uraraka smiles before dragging her partner Midoriya back to their station. “Congratulations you two!”

Kirishima turns his attention back to his boyfriend. “Does this mean we’re going public now?”

“Yeah I guess so.”

“We don’t have to if you’re not ready, Katsuki.”

That’s when Bakugou shocks his boyfriend with a very unrestrained kiss, seizing upon Kirishima’s lips as if for the first time... and maybe in a way it was. “It’s okay Eijiro,” he sweeps his knuckles over his boyfriends cheek and smiles, “I don’t wanna hide anymore.”

———————

From @love-me-a-good-prompt ‘s list I used a variation of this:

[hiswhiteknight]

1,000 Contests

Summary:  Reader and Bucky turn competitive, much like Legolas and Gimli from Lord of the Rings. It gets goofy and annoying to everyone else. It becomes unbearable, until someone steps into stop their games and points out to them there might be some underlining themes to their antics.

I wrote this for Paige’s 2k challenge @occasionalfics #paiges2kbash - “Stop pinning this on me! You started it!” I really waited last minute for this one. It has been a crazy month. Hope it’s not too late!

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Words: 2,500 (sooooo long)

Warning: Angst, playfulness, a curse or two, and implied smut

Our group was surrounded by enemies, a sea of murderers and thieves. This was supposed to be a simple opt. And even if we are surrounded by low lives, it was still going to be simple opt. The four of us, Bucky, Sam, Natasha, and myself had to be circled by 75 odd people inside and out.

“I bet I’ll take more down,” you whispered to the group.

Their faces all turned to you, “Are you serious,” Sam mumbled, “Are you serious right now?”

“Y/N,” Nat whispered, half amused, “This is not a boring mission. Let’s stay focused. We don’t need any more excitement,” she sounded like the true leader she was.

You rolled your eyes, leaving a smirk on your face, “That’s fine if your scared, I understand my skills are intimidating.”

Pushing your arm, a little bit, trying to get you focused “I’m serious, Y/N,” Nat mumbled more harshly than the first.

You didn’t get time to respond because suddenly you all were being ambushed. Again, you remained calm and did your job with ease, “15,” you heard next to you. You lost your focus for second, looking at Bucky, in surprise, “Someone needs to bump you down a peg.”

“And you were so generous to step up, big of you, Barnes,” you yell back, taking a hit before taking him down, “17.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, “In all your talking, I’m at 21.”

You grew angry and focused your full power, counting loudly in the air as you took people down. Sam and Natasha stopped when they realized you and Barnes were out of control. You even shoved Sam away from a pair fighting him, so you could take them down, “Animals,” he mumbles.

When everyone was taken down, you all grouped together. Nat spoke up, “Barnes, Y/N,” she waited for you both to step up and apologize for the unprofessional behavior.

You spoke first, “29.”

“34,” he smirked at you.

“You’re a liar,” you shout at him, point you finger at his chest, “There is no way Sam and Nat only took down like 12 people.”

“15,” Sam said causally, “We stopped after we saw you children running around.”

Nat looked from Sam to you, “Let’s go home.”

You push Barnes with him pinching you back. Then Barnes turns to Sam, “So 15, you were counting,” he teased.

“Fucking animals,” Sam whirled past him onto the jet.

The next days that past, Bucky found ways to tease you. And because you had a long conversation with Nick and Maria about professional behavior, even in the simplest occasions, you tried your best to not respond.

It took a few days for you to snap. You just got out of a shower and looked to the mirror. The steam had fogged it up, except for a big 34 with a circle around it. You gripped your towel tight and stomped to the common room where Bucky, Steve, Clint, Natasha, and Tony stood around the island in the kitchen, “It’s fucking on like Donkey Kong, Barnes.”

Barnes remained speechless looking at you in a towel. Steve looked away, while Clint sat back on his chair amused. Nat watched everyone’s expression, rather amused with Steve Rogers uncomfortable mannerisms. The only one to speak was Tony, “Lady, you’re in a towel. I’m not complaining, but you’re naked in a room full of clothed people, eating,” he said plainly.

You remained unphased, staring daggers at Bucky, “We’re going to dance old man, you and me – I’m going to make you cry.”

“You’re going to dance, naked, right now,” Tony looked around the group, “Should we leave or is this a voyeurism thing?”

Natasha slapped Tony’s arm, “Y/N,” Bucky had remained silent and still the entire conversation, “I think it’s time to find your clothes. I speak for everyone. You can beat Bucky up, when your clothed.”

“Oh no, she doesn’t speak for me,” Tony said.

Clint raised his hand, “Me either, get on with your bad self, girl,” he smirked.

Finally, you looked around the group, “I’m going to find my clothes now,” you say to the room. You turn around and stomp back to your room.

Steve clapped onto Bucky’s back grabbing his attention, “When you said you thought you liked the lady, I didn’t think you’d take this angle.”

He looked at his friend puzzled, “I am not as charming as I used to be,” he smirked at himself.

Clint jumped in, “Well, you got the girl’s attention, that is very clear,” he started to get up, drinking some water, “She is going to kick your ass Barnes,” and walked away down the hall.

Suddenly, it was every hour of everyday Y/N was doing something to try and one up Bucky, “How many languages can you speak?”

“What does it matter,” he said, merely eating his cereal. You continued to stare at him, “Seven?”

“Ha,” you said yelling in his face, “I know, nine.”

He stopped chewing to look at her, “I can beat you at chess.”

“Fat chance, that’s all about brains,” you leaned into the table on your elbows, really getting a look at his facial expressions, “No offense Barnes, you are all hunky brawns.”

Bucky didn’t blink, but simply squinted his eyes looking at you strangely, before leaning back, putting his hands behind his head, “Lead the way, princess.”

You squinted at him and stomped down the hallway, with him leading the way. He couldn’t help checking you out as you growled.

He beat you at Chess, shooting, obstacle course, and scrabble. You beat him at a pancake eating, swimming, battleship, and strangely enough chugging a beer. Technically no one won monopoly because you had flipped the board and Bucky was too scared to argue anything different. And it continued for about two weeks, relentlessly with no letting up. You nearly drowned because you wanted to see who could hold their breath the longest underwater.

After your loss to Bucky to see who could build and load up their gun, Natasha had a conversation with you. You were mumbling to yourself about losing, “You either have some form of obsessive compulsive that our psych evaluation missed or you have a crush on Bucky.”

That pulled you out of your thoughts, “I’m a grown woman, I don’t have crushes Nat,” you say with a sophisticated sound, “And Bucky, puh-lease.”

She pointed at your face, “There,” she smiled, “There it is. You do like him.” You eyebrows furrowed with annoyance, “Stop dancing around it and just ask him out. You can admit it, he has very pretty features.”

Rolling your eyes, “I would rather lose a thousand contests before admitting my likeness for Bucky Barnes.”

She chuckled before her attention went to her buzzing phone, “We’ve got a mission, come on.”

You and her ran to scramble into your uniforms and onto the quintjet. Bucky ran onto it next to you, “Barnes.”

“Princess,” he smirked, “Are you over the-.”

“Shut it, pretty boy,” you growled, “I don’t want to hear it,” you put your hand in his face before waltzing past him and sitting next to Clint, who started to whistle the ‘Sitting in the tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G’ song. You were too flustered to notice, but Bucky just shook his head at him, taking a seat up front with Steve.

The mission was a tricky one, several targets to take down, but the one you were all worried about was the bomb. Bucky had a plan to take the bomb and deliver it to a safe zone, but you had another plan, “Tony, I can disarm it.”

“I’m taking it,” Bucky said over the comms. You both were working your way towards it.

You were spinning and taking people out left and right, “No,” you yell back into the comms, grunting with each person you hit, “I got this Barnes.”

“There isn’t enough time,” he argues back.

“Rolling your eyes, more determined than ever, “Want to bet?”

“Alright kids, this isn’t a contest,” Steve said over the comms, “Make a decision, so we can plan accordingly.”

You both got to the bomb at the same time, “Back off Barnes.”

“Y/N,” he looked sincere and annoyed, if that was possible, “I’ll take it from here.”

You flipped him off and sat next to the bomb. He went to grip it and yank it from you, “I will rip your arm off,” you growl. And suddenly you ripped a wire out, “Can’t be moved.”

He stepped back, pulling his arms in the arm, “Are you kidding me?” You stuck your tongue out at him and began to work. Bucky called into the comms, “She has to disarm the bomb now, clear the building Steve.”

“Copy that,” you heard, “Work fast, Y/N.”

“You got it Cap,” you said back, “Get out of hear Barnes, help clear the building.”

He looked at you unphased, “I’m not leaving you to this bomb. If you can’t disarm it, I’m tossing you out the building and hoping to god it doesn’t kill you and anyone else.”

“Besides you,” you grumble back, “Now shut up.” You took a few seconds to really look at the bomb, slowly taking parts away before you could get to the core. You read two minutes, people were talking on the comms about building clear and to get the hell out of there.

“I’m giving you 45 seconds before we can see who can throw the furthest,” Barnes said from behind you. You continued to ignore him and focus and suddenly it came to you. Thirty seconds later, the bombs lights turned out and you slumped back, “Jesus,” Bucky breathed, “All clear, Steve.”

“A minute and fifteen seconds left, I think that is a new record,” you turned back to smile at him, “Does that mean I win?”

Shaking his head, tossing his hands up a little. He was clearly annoyed, but it didn’t compare to Nat and Steve, “That was pretty reckless, Y/N.”

“Get to the quinjet now,” Nat yelled. It was a silent on the way back, “Meeting, the four of us. Fifteen minutes, Meeting Hall.”

“What is the big deal,” you yell after them, “I did it. I did my job.”

She put her hands up, motioning the number 15. You rolled your eyes and made your way to your room to change and wash up.

Fifteen minutes later, your hair was down and wet. You had changed into your gym ware. You’d need to work off some steam after this whole day. When you walked into the meeting room, Bucky was already sitting in a chair waiting, “This is all your fault.”

He sat up, “Are you kidding me,” he stood up, “You almost got yourself and everyone around you killed. For what, you damn need to prove yourself and win.”

“Stop pinning this on me! You started it!”

He waltzed up to you, “Me,” he questioned, pointing to himself, “You’re saying I started all of this,” pointing quickly between the both of you, “You are crazy as they come.”

You were about to yell at him some more when a voice came over the speaker, “You both are locked in until you deal with what is going about between you,” Tony said, “After right now, your silly competitions will not be allowed on or during Avenger time. Get comfy,” he murmured on, “Oh, and there is no cameras in the room,” he added before he went silent again.

Looking at Bucky, you mouth, “This is all your fault.”

You sat for what feels like hours, “Alright FRIDAY, I call a truce. I will never be competitive again, please let us out.” You have said something like this every thirty minutes.

“I’m sorry Ms. Y/N, Mr. Stark has very specific conditions, which I cannot discuss.”

Bucky chuckled, “Nice try Princess.”

“Could you not,” you toss your head back. After a minute you mumbled to him, “You know, most of the time I thought this was just fun for us. Letting off some steam, not once until today I thought you didn’t believe in me.”

“Excuse me,” he sat forward, trying to meet your eyes.

You finally looked at him, “Today with the bomb. You were so willing to kill yourself being a hero, but not once did you believe I could do it. You want to talk about reckless, it’s you.”

“You thought I was trying to be a hero, so I could beat you,” he asked in disbelief. You just huffed out, not wanting to continue, “I like you,” he said, standing up to sit in front of you, “It’s not that I didn’t believe you could do it. I didn’t want to risk your life.”

“Excuse me,” you look at him, really look at him, “You like me?”

“And I think you like me too,” he smirked at you, leaning closer to you, “And I am willing to bet on it.”

You sat back, not knowing what to say or do. And then it hit you, “What would you like to bet?”

“If I’m wrong, I’ll give my arm to the talking raccoon,” he said confidently, so confident he got out of his chair, put his hand on your neck gently, pushing his lips very close to yours, but not touching it, “So who wins, you or me?”

You smiled, looking into his eyes, “Maybe, deep, deep, deep down in my subconscious I have a thing for you,” you chuckled, loving his gentle and quiet expressions, “But you see, I said to Natasha that I’d rather lose a thousand contests to you than admit I have a thing for you.”

He could tell you were still playing with him, “Guess we’ll call this loss number one,” before he pulled you into his lips. You kissed back instantly, putting one of your hands on his cheek and the others through his hair. You moaned a little before pushing him back on his seat.

“You are clear to leave,” FRIDAY announced to the room, “Good day Ms. Y/N and Sergeant Barnes.”

“Never mind FRIDAY,” you mumbled against Bucky’s skin, “Lock it back up.”

Bucky grinned into your lips before deepening it.

[kjack89]

33. On a post-it note (exr, always)

33. On a post-it note

Because one of my all-time favorite playwrights, Neil Simon, died today, and because one of my favorite lines in one of my favorite plays of his, The Odd Couple, involved leaving notes for someone and subsequently driving them crazy...

“I can’t take it anymore.”

Enjolras’s voice was bleak and Combeferre arched an eyebrow as he glanced up from his textbook. Enjolras was sitting across from him at the Musain, head in hands, gripping his hair. “Problem?” Combeferre asked mildly.

Enjolras shook his head slowly. “It’s Grantaire,” he sighed.

“Color me shocked,” Combeferre said under his breath, so low that Enjolras almost couldn’t hear him. He sighed as well and closed his textbook. “Lay it on me. What latest crime against your fragile living arrangement has Grantaire committed now?”

Grantaire and Enjolras had started living together almost on accident, after graduation and expired leases had left both scrambling for an apartment. Everyone thought they were nuts to think they could live together — the two could barely stand to be in the same room on the best day, and Courfeyrac, as the unofficial arbiter of all bets amongst Les Amis, set the over/under on how long they’d last at two weeks.

But to everyone’s surprise, Enjolras and Grantaire had somehow scratched out a tentative truce and managed to survive as roommates. To absolutely no one’s surprise, roommates had turned into lovers, though with the same tentative truce keeping their living arrangement civil.

Thus far, anyway, though as Combeferre eyed Enjolras, he couldn’t help but think that the truce might be up.

“It’s the post-it notes,” Enjolras said, and Combeferre blinked.

“The—”

“Post-its,” Enjolras groaned, putting his head down on the table with a dull thump. “He leaves them fucking everywhere, these passive-aggressive little reminders and notes as if we’ve somehow lost the ability to use our goddamn words.”

Combeferre bit back a laugh. “What kind of reminders?” he asked.

Enjolras waved a dismissive hand. “Stupid shit, like ‘dinner’s ready’ and ‘empty the dishwasher’. And it’s not like he just leaves them when he’s on his way out — though again, he could just use his goddamn words if that were the case — but when I’m in the next goddamn room.”

He looked so insulted that Combeferre couldn’t quite stop his laugh that time. “Is it when you’re asleep?” he asked, his tone turning teasing. “Does he leave you little notes on your pillow?”

Enjolras glared at him. “I don’t see why you find this funny,” he said through gritted teeth. “And no, it’s not when I’m asleep — or at least, not just when I’m asleep. Half the time it’s when I’m working!”

Combeferre could see where this was going and he sighed, flipping his textbook open again. “Enjolras, what’s the number one thing that’s most important to you?” he asked with as much patience as he could muster.

Enjolras blinked. “I don’t—” he started, but Combeferre cut him off.

“Your work,” he said. “The Cause.”

“So?” Enjolras asked.

Combeferre gave him a look. “So Grantaire is trying not to interrupt your work,” he said, losing what little patience he had. “He’s been tip-toeing around and making you dinner and leaving you little post-its because he doesn’t want to disturb you. Because he knows you, and he knows that you hate getting distracted.” He paused, his voice softening. “He’s trying to be considerate — to show you he cares.”

“Emphasis on trying,” Enjolras grumbled, but something had shifted in his expression.

Combeferre sighed and shrugged, deeming the situation out of his hands. “I’m just saying, you could offer him the same courtesy.”

He went back to his book and completely missed the contemplative look that crossed Enjolras’s face.

“Hey,” Grantaire said, glancing up from where he was lounging on the couch, scrolling through his phone. “How was your meeting with Combeferre?”

Enjolras didn’t say anything, just crossed to the desk under the window and dug in the top drawer. Grantaire tracked him with his eyes, his eyebrows raised. “O...k…” he said slowly.

Enjolras bent over the desk and scribbled something before turning around and walking over to Grantaire, handing him the post-it note in his hand. Grantaire glanced down at it and blinked. “What’s this?” he asked, somewhat amused.

“An apology,” Enjolras told him. “And the truth. I know that you leave me post-its because you don’t want to disturb me, and I’m sorry that I ever made you feel like you were disturbing me.”

Grantaire’s expression softened. “That would be somewhat more believable if, you know, you didn’t tell me that I’m disturbing you like three times a day.”

“Still,” Enjolras said stubbornly.

“Well in that case, there’s nothing to forgive,” Grantaire told him, reaching out and pulling Enjolras into his lap. “Though I hope you realize this means I’m going to be disturbing you twice as much as usual.”

“Yeah,” Enjolras said with a laugh, kissing Grantaire. “I probably should’ve expected as much.”

As Grantaire kissed him back, the post-it note in his hand fluttered to the ground, the scrawled words ‘I love you’ standing out starkly against the bright yellow.

[hxseok-honee]

2 4 ANS 13 HEHEHEHEH2HEEHEH2H2H2UYUHUHUHUY

HELLO BBY SORRY IT’S SO LATE I HOPE YOU WANTED A GHOSTY HOBI BC THATS ALL I COULD THINK OF S M H THIS SHIT TRASH-

_____

2. “I hate you.” “Why? I’m lovely.”

4. “Hold on, you died.” “Yeah, well it didn’t stick.”

13. “Did you just agree with me?” “Oh I wish I could take-” “Nope! You said it! No take-backs!”

-

When she first signed the lease to the apartment, she figured she could finally be on her own, finally be away from a family that managed to simultaneously neglect her as if she weren’t there and suffocate her with their expectations as if she were their biggest concern. She was finally free, free to be on her own and live her life with no one watching over her. Nothing could kill her mood. Nothing, except maybe a fucking ghost sitting in her bedroom.

Marching proudly into her new room, she was ready to start her new life. It seemed, however, that the apartment was not ready to let go of its previous tenant. She was just stepping through the door when she was screaming her head off and pointing at the man that was sitting in the middle of the floor smiling at her. He frowned when she started screaming, rising to his feet to mimic her and scream back. When she finally stopped her loud behavior, he stepped up to her and bent to be eye level with her.

“So you’re the new one? I was wondering when this place would see life again.” He laughed at his own joke, unbothered by the fact that she was staring right through him, frozen with fear. “You can calm down, I’m not here to possess you or some shit. I’m just trying to live my life peacefully- well. I guess not live my life- hm, I’ll have to think about that one. What’s your name?” He said all this in one breath, effectively flustering her more than she was before.

“U-uh- sorry, what? Who are you?” He sighed, walking through her on his way out of the room and ignoring her scream of shock.

“I’m Hoseok. As you can see, I’m not exactly supposed to be here, but it’s been like 4 years since my dumb ass fell out that window and I’m still around so it looks like you’re stuck with me.” He could hear her following him into the kitchen, trying to sneakily poke him to see if her finger would go through him. She screamed again when he made himself solid and her finger met cold skin. Retracting her hand and staring up at him when he paused by the sink to look back at her, she hesitated.

“How did you-”

“I’m solid when I want to be, spooky ghostly when I want to be. It’s a pretty flexible gig.” He shifted between solid and transparent for her a few times, enjoying the confused expression that settled on her face. When she reached forward again and tried to poke her finger through his transparent torso, he made his hand solid and smack her wrist away, laughing when she shook her hand out and glared at him. “You’re awfully comfortable considering you’re in the presence of a ghost.” She just shrugged at him and leaned against the counter, looking down at her feet.

“I’ve had worse ghosts than you in my past.” He scoffed.

“Was that supposed to be edgy?” Her eyes flicked back up to him and she took a swipe at him, stumbling when he yelped and sank through the floor to get away from her. Before she could fall over, he materialized behind her and grabbed her by the waist, keeping her from bashing her head against the counter and spinning her around. Wrapping a cold arm around her shoulders and guiding her into the living room, he sat her down on the couch and stopped her from taking another delayed swipe at him. She just grumbled under her breath before thinking of something and raising a finger to point at him again.

“So what are you still doing here?” He rolled his eyes at how close her finger was and pushed it away.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m stuck here. I know it’s not what you wanted when you signed a lease to live alone, but here we are.”

“Hold on, you died. Aren’t you supposed to be in like hell or something?”

“Yeah, well it didn’t stick, but thank you for assuming I’d be going to hell, I really appreciate that.” She shrugged and turned away.

“So I really am stuck with you then?” He frowned and stuck his arm through her head, smiling evilly when she shrieked at the sudden brain freeze. “You’re an asshole, you know that? I hate you.”

“Why? I’m lovely. Who wouldn’t be thankful for my company?”

“You’re a grumpy ghost. Why couldn’t I get stuck with a nice ghost?” He rolled his eyes for the millionth time, clearing his throat to get her attention. When she turned, she was stunned into silence by the bright glow that was emitting from him as he smiled sweetly and blinked innocently at her. She almost lost her train of thought at the beauty that was coming from him, only regaining power over herself when he dropped the shimmer and went back to staring at her with amusement in his eyes.

“I’m glad I have that effect on you, sweetheart. It’s been a while since I used it- hey so can I stay here with you?” She blinked once, twice, before tilting her head at him, not unlike a small puppy.

“I can kick you out?” He grimaced at the floor.

“Technically? But if you do I’ll be out on the street and at the mercy of those weird demon bloodhounds looking to drag ghosts to the depths of hell. Like police K-9 dogs but with fire in their eyes, it’s not cute. You really don’t wanna see me running from a fire dog.” She watched him ramble, wondering why the hell he hadn’t tried being nicer if he knew she could kick him out if he annoyed her too much. Yet, there was no part of her that actually considered getting rid of him. He belonged to the apartment, and she’d already gotten used to the chaos he created.

“I mean, when you put it like that, it doesn’t sound like an event I’d like to experience.”

“... Did you just agree with me? You don’t think I could take on a fire dog? I gotta say I thought you’d support me a bit more-”

“Holy shit I wish I could take-”

“Nope! You said it! No take-backs, you basically implied I could stay! Thank god, as much as I hate it here I kinda feel like nothing is worse than getting dragged to hell by an evil puppy.” They stared silently at each other for a few moments before she was standing and moving to her room. She called out to him as she made her way through the door, closing it as she spoke.

“You’re sleeping on the couch- do ghosts sleep?” She mumbled the last bit to herself, missing the incredulous glance he sent in her direction. He was still staring at her closed door when she opened it again, poking just the front of her face out and glaring out at him.

“And can you maintain a solid form please? This whole spooky ghostie thing gotta go, pal.”

[one-deranged-son]

John Monsoon Should Die

JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE. 

The bottom page of the diary said. It's written in thick, black letters, and the ink stains until the next three pages. One, two, three. JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE. In every three pages are the same sentence after a long log of almost intangible handwriting. Same thick, black letters. Same ink stains that last until the next three pages. Same scrawny, anxious hand. Same person. Same shit again.

The first time John Monsoon found the diary, he didn't say anything. Heh, figures. He's an asshole, he guessed. Countless pussies and dicks had told him the same thing with different varieties. Drop-dead. Go to hell. You fucking ass, cock-sucker, scum of humanity, up-to-no-good SON OF A BITC—— 

John Monsoon closed it. He walked away, whistled, and left the book. 

JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE. 

He found it almost amusing how the writer can have this much consistency. Logging a fucking diary every day is amazing enough for him, but adding the same curses? If he doesn't know any better, he might've thought that this person has a huge crush on him. 

But John Monsoon KNEW better. He knew exactly what he did to get the same four words in every three pages of this shitty, old diary. Heck, his neighbors knew, the lady in the Chinese gift shop knew. The fucking FBI, the fucking CIA, the goddamned ‘Muricans all across the God-forsaken country knew. He laughed, flicked his cigar, and turned the page again. Today's entry is about the writer's wet dream, and he almost pissed himself laughing at the absurd narratives. Huge tits, tight pussies, and dicks bigger than their will to live? God, this person is MAD.

At the bottom of the page, there were the same four words written again. John Monsoon closed the book and placed the diary back to where he found it. 

JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE. 

The same, boring four words are now on every page of the book. He read it, paused, his laughter rang through the empty spaces of the building. There are some smudges at the corner of the page, there are some wet spots here and there. The writer had been crying, John laughed. He flicked the pages and read through the whole entry again. He HATES reading, loathes it, even, but this one is an exception. He's now lying on his stomach and his legs swing like a little girl reading her sibling’s super-secret diary. He felt giddy just by knowing that he's going to see his name.

But then, things got better. 'Cause in the latest entry, there wasn't any new story. It's just the same four words again. JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE filling the whole paper. 

John Monsoon laughed, hard. 

JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE. 

"What did ya say, sweetheart?" Skins against skins, skins against skins. His hand around their throat tightened, squeezing softly before it felt as if he was trying to c-c-c-crush their fucking windpipe. His hips made a wet, obscene, almost disgusting noise when it came flush against their fucking ass. His mouth made a low, snarling sound as he pushed in deep, deeper. He pulled his fucking dick just enough before slamming back in until the body underneath him made a pathetic, choking noise. 

"Fucking. Die." 

John Monsoon laughed. John Monsoon threw his head back and howled. John Monsoon looked back down and his pupils shrunk and his smile reached to his ears and he laughed. And then he squeezes their throat h-h-h-HARDER until their eyes rolled back and their face turned into an ugly shade of blue. 

"Is that what you want?" S-s-s-squuuueeeeze. "Is that really, REALLY, what you wanna do to me, kid?" H-h-harder, harder, HARDER. The body underneath him trashed and convulsed, their hand clawed his wrist until the skin turns angry red, tears, digging d-d-deeeep until blood drip and drip and—— 

"John Monsoon should die," John Monsoon said, "John Monsoon should fucking die, right?" and then he started pulling back, slamming back in, taking his time slowly like he's making love. It's a mocking gesture, baby, he knew. His face inched closer and the body underneath him struggled harder. Claw, claw, claw. Fucking pathetic. Claw, claw, claw as he thrust in deep and s-s-s-smiled. The body went limp, their hand fell to the sides. John Monsoon screamed. 

"I wish it's that easy, kid." 

And then he let go of their throat. And then the body underneath him BREATHES. Greedy lungs sucking air like it hasn't tasted one in years. And then he pulled out. And then he reached to his dick, achingly hard, achingly close. Stroke once, stroke twice. He's a fucking bitch on heat. He's a maniac broken loose. F-f-fucking. shit.

His cums stained the bed, someone’s chest, and then his sweat too. Sticky, wet, fucking. disgusting. The mattress reeked of sex, sweat, and at the corner of his eyes, he could see red somewhere in the sheet. 

"Clean this up, kid." 

He zipped his pants, pulled his shirt back on. He's reaching for his gun when someone said, "How did you..." 

"Yeah, I read your stupid diary. Real cute, kid. You obsessed with me that much?" 

JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE. 

Except, that's not what he reads. And for almost two weeks, he didn't see anything new from the book. In fact, some pages are gone. Some pages are torn, too bad. Some of his favorite entries like the one about the Church Father or the girl down the streets, are gone. John Monsoon pouted, feeling disappointed, but made no comment about it. 

Oh, well. 

There's nothing new. He's getting irritated. It's been a month. 

The sex is getting bad. He's not as excited as before. He's more mad than anything else. He finished quicker, asked (demanded) for too much fucking stuff until sometimes they ended up with bruises on their faces and gun pointed at each other's heads. On your knees, turn around, sit up, I wanna try something new, fuck me, choke me, k-k-kill. me. You wanna do that to me, baby? Oh, PUH-LEASE. 

"Are we in love, babe? I feel like we are," he said, two hands raised mid-air, one gun pointed right at his forehead. 

The boy in front of him pulled the safety trigger o 

"Hate to tell you that whatever you fucking think we are, it ain't mutual," the boy said. His eyes are more gray than blue. Whose gene did he get that from? It sure ain't his, but then, his mommy's eyes are brown so it couldn’t be her... Or is it green? Fuck, he couldn't remember. 

"Come on, don’t be so cold to your old man." He grinned widely, teeth stained with blood. The air was cold against his dick, how the fuck is he still hard? 

"Shut up. You ain't my dad." 

"Honestly, I'm not sure either, but your mom said so, and really, you can’t deny that we can see some resemblance." 

His grip almost falters. There was a pause—— 

Trembling: "I hope you die." 

John Monsoon should die. John Monsoon. Should. Die.

"Me too. We gonna fuck now?" 

JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE. JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE. JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE. JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE. JOHN MONSOON SHOULD D— 

Oh, shit. 

He came. 

There wasn't any new entry, he's getting bored. He didn't bother to snoop around to search for the book again. Three months ago, the book was stored underneath the matters, underneath the floorboard, hidden in the ceilings, buried in the garden. Now? It's on top of the table. Unmoving. Bland. Boring. Deteriorating. 

Forgotten. 

The FBI is getting close. They're getting way too close. The CIA is involved? What the fuck, is that possible? He's not sure if he's getting sloppy. He's pretty sure he still got it. He pulls his hair, what the fuck. He made sure he left no trail. How did they know? Is there a rat? No way. Ain't no way, ain't no way. What the——  

John Monsoon looked up from his floor plan. His eyes darted to the worn-out book. He flicked through the pages. 

JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE, JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE, JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE, JOHN MONSOON SHOULD DIE, JOHN MONSOON SHOULD D— 

John Monsoon will die. 

He placed the book down, walked, and opened a door. 

"Isaiah, what did you do?" 

From a couch, a boy with eyes that are far too gray than blue looked up from where he was lounging and stared right at him, confused at first, but then it hit him. 

And his smile was sickeningly sweet, but everything else was just, 

Predatory.

[casinoindia01]

Rules for winning big at online gambling platforms

Betting may be a fun side interest. It gives you a chance to elude. You'll disregard approximately work and other commitments you might not be so energized almost. It’s sort of like observing TV, or playing video recreations, but with the possibility of winning money. Sounds extraordinary, definitely? It is – but as it were on the off chance that you are doing it right. Do it off-base and betting will expend your life. Think Gollum, but with a space machine rather than a ring. Presently, I’m no Moses, but I’d like to think the rules I’ve come up with underneath will not as it were permit you to have a incredible time betting online or off, but will increment your chances of coming out the other side in one piece. You’re not assumed to drive whereas tall or tanked since drugs and liquor impede your capacity to think and respond. You gotten to be a threat to yourself and those around you when you’re beneath the influence. If that’s the case, why the hell would you bet whereas inebriated? In case you can’t think or respond, chances are you’re planning to do something doltish. Don’t bet with cash you’re assumed to utilize for something else – such as paying your contract, auto advance or school lunches. Gambling may be a diversion most individuals lose playing. So, knowing that, why would you chance cash that’s assumed to put a roof over your head, nourishment on the table or get you from point A to B? Sheer idiocy, that’s why. Another way to look at it – betting could be a frame of excitement, like planning to the motion pictures.

Would you hazard your lease cash on popcorn and a movie? Most individuals would jeer and say “no way, that’s dumb.” So why would you think it’s affirm to do it with gambling? Gambling to recover losses is senseless. Each house amusement is setup so players lose within the long run. There’s a reason you lost your cash within the to begin with place. But, for a few reason, individuals get it in their head that another time will be diverse. Or, that they as it were got to get fortunate once. Or, that they have this modern fool-proof strategy. Hate to burst your bubble, but nope – that’s not genuine at all. For that reason, you ought to see each dollar you spend as cash misplaced. In case you win a few cash, incredible – truly – but never lose locate of the truth that each dollar bet is as great as gone. For that reason, you ought to never attempt to recover your misfortunes. Since chances are you’re as it were getting to lose more cash within the process. Which is how it works out for most individuals who attempt. I see gambling sort of like how I see nourishment – it’s great in moderation. But once you do something out of boredom, it ordinarily leads to undesirable side impacts. On the off chance that you eat at whatever point you’re bored, you’ll get fat. In case you bet when you’re bored, the best-case situation is you’ll lose money. The worst-case situation? You’ll bet to soothe boredom, which strips absent all the fun. This too sounds like somebody heading down the dull and turned way that leads to compulsion.

Most casino games’ chances are stacked against you. So why not take each opportunity you'll to diminish the houses’ edge? Like learning essential strategy. Basic procedure is an ideal way of playing a specific diversion. You learn what hands to play, when to play them, and frequently when and how to measure your bets. Blackjack may be an awesome case of a diversion that contains a fundamental methodology. It’s not sufficient to dispense with the house edge, nor will it diminish it as much as learning to check cards will. But fundamental methodology is Distant less demanding to memorize than tallying cards. You'll be able to discover fundamental technique for most recreations online (a few you’ll discover on this location). Either way you go, the reality is you abhor cash on the off chance that you don’t learn and utilize essential technique at whatever point the casinos let you. It may as it were shave a couple of rate focuses of the house edge, but each point includes up. Particularly over the long run in case you’re somebody who wagers hundreds or thousands of dollars per round. It’s one thing on the off chance that you connect a web casino not knowing they’re progressing to take advantage of you. That’s not your fault. But a few players need to bet so badly, or need this or that tremendous reward so severely, that they’ll sign up in any case of the site’s notoriety. I cruel, think almost it. On the off chance that a location includes a notoriety for settling their recreations or not paying their clients, what makes you think they’ll treat you reasonably? What makes you think they won’t take your store and run? The truth is, they won’t. And there’s no deficiency of frightfulness stories online demonstrating this point.

Tip to successful betting

Are you trying to find sports wagering tips that work? We have fair the thing: our few tips and traps are here to assist you make more brilliant choices and dodge mistakes. Many wearing fans may wagered on their top choice sports, be that as it may, as it were many of them are successful within the long run. All bettors have to be aware that when it comes to sports wagering, there's no ensure for victory but there are ways merely can increment your chances and diminish the likelihood of botches. Since wagering may be a diversion of chances, your victory will be affected by your level of information when it comes to choice making, as well as, the ins and outs of the wagering prepare. Here are our best wagering tips for nowadays that will make strides your wagering victory. Sometime recently you'll take portion in any wagering, you first require a wagering account. You will be disallowed to as it were one account per bookmaker, be that as it may, nothing anticipates clients from opening accounts with several wagering suppliers. This permits you get to all the leading wagering sorts and reward deals. It is exceptionally unlikely simply will come over a bookmaker that does not offer modern clients a welcome reward.

Typically a common offer merely will nearly continuously be given one upon joining a modern supplier. These rewards tend to be very grand in arrange to advance the likelihood of fruitful wagers. Reward offers cruel that you just are more likely to put wagers which clearly implies that your chances of victory are way better than not being within the diversion at all. Rewards are incredible; be that as it may, you wish to continuously examine through the prerequisites and conditions some time recently tolerating an incredible looking offer. In case the deals prerequisites are intense to meet, at that point your encounter will be disillusioning, and you may more likely not be fruitful in claiming the reward. Usually why being intensive and inquiring about offers could be a must as rewards are implied to be advantageous. If your goal is to be effective within the world of sports wagering, you ought to not as it were know the essentials. This can be not to say that the essentials are not important, they are, be that as it may, they are not all you should be educated approximately when it comes to sports wagering.

To extend the probability of getting to be a successful bettor you would like to be able to bargain with the subject, managing with modern wagered variants, guarantees, seeking after improvements, etc. The foremost imperative portion of wagering is the likelihood of victory. The whole handle of sports wagering includes various conceivable outcomes that are communicated by wagering chances. Unused clients tend to as it were see the multiplier for their potential win within the chances. Though players that are more progressed see a likelihood that the wagering supplier partners with the specific wagering occasion. The trap here is to memorize how a quantity increments and what the increment implies for you. What are the right shares? Effective bettors frequently discover themselves fruitful due to being in ownership of an advantage over the bookmaker – progressed information. This implies that you simply would have get to later news with respect to perspectives like a vital player or how a group is looking, fundamentally data that relates to the result of the amusement. Such pieces of information have not been taken into thought by the wagering supplier when making the standard. On the off chance that you've got made a wagered based on the gathering of such data, this would be known as an esteem wagered. The perusing and inquiring about news with respect to the don is where the esteem comes in.

Out of the foremost common three wagering sorts: framework wagers, aggregator bets, and single wagers, the foremost well-known wagered could be a single wagered. With the notoriety of gatherer wagers dependent on the player, most experienced bettors will concur that framework wagers are not as pined for. For this reason, single wagers are more commonly utilized. It may take a small luckiness and broad information, but these wagers tend to be worth it. When it comes to live wagering methodology, live bets often offer energizing opportunities which make considering sharing in them a great thought. On the off chance that you're somebody that can examine a diversion well and have an thought of which way the amusement will go, at that point typically the kind of wagering for you. Live wagers permit the user to respond instantly to current occasions. In the event that you turn out to be great at foreseeing the results of live diversions, at that point you'll discover extraordinary victory. Be that as it may, be cautioned that typically a challenging procedure to choose up. Rather like in other businesses, time is money within the world of betting. This can be why we have made this list to assist you make well-researched choices that diminish the chances of time-consuming botches. Other than knowing the esteem of your time, another time-sensitive angle of sports wagering is when the wagering chances ended up accessible on the advertisement. The sooner you hop on the more alluring wagers, the superior. In the event that you miss your window, these wagers may as of now be settled.

With this in mind, be mindful that early wagers hold their claim dangers at the same time. For occurrence, in the event that a player injury happens after you've got made your wagered, the result of the diversion, as well as, the esteem of your investigate may be influenced. A great tip is to be substance with indeed the littlest of benefits. This can be a basic thing to keep in mind as no matter how little – a benefit is still a profit. A great way to begin on the off chance that you're modern to the world of betting is to have more than one little bet on different diversions, this may not make you wealthy, but you may learn to urge a feel of how things are done, as well as, learn a number of lessons without risking large amounts of cash. When it comes to sports betting, it is imperative to know that quick comes about regularly lead to quick misfortunes. In the event that you're trying to find a get wealthy fast conspire, this can be not it. On the off chance that you're willing to have persistence and learn the tips of the exchange, at that point you're more likely to see a benefit. Fast wagers are regularly careless wagers, keep your head clear and you'll maintain a strategic distance from a part of botches. Once you get into the swing of things, sports wagering gets more fun and energizing.

Other than the excitement of winning cash, there's a surge that players get when they have made the proper call that's best portrayed as exhilarating. Man winning playing and winning online in his garden even in spite of the fact that sports wagering is fun, you ought to remember that it is implied to be a pastime. To guarantee simply don't get as well devoured, you ought to set a restrain on the amount of time you spend on sports wagering, counting the inquire about and analytical steps of your wagering prepare. Keep in mind that there's such a thing as well much of a great thing. There's a bunch of other reasons that relate to your wagering victory as well so take our word for it, donate yourself a break and let your intellect rest – your wagering methodology will be all the superior for it. With the correct approach, everybody has the potential to be fruitful in sports wagering. Take after these tips and traps and you'll be well on your way to turning a benefit. Keep your head within the diversion and keep in mind to be logical, sports wagering begins to urge truly fun after you know what you're doing.

[goldencos]

░ °◖ the town of 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍, 𝐂𝐎 is happy to welcome NATASHA! if you could just initial here & here on your lease within the next 8 hours, we can get things rollin’. see you soon ! ↬ LIA JOHNSON is now taken.

* one man’s trash is now at capacity. 

╰ °● ❬ LIA JOHNSON, 23, She/Her ⋯ you’ve gotta be kidding me, is that NATASHA WARNER ? they’ve been in golden for like, 5 YEARS now but you’d never be able to tell. i’m pretty sure they work at ONE MAN’S TRASH, i always see them there STYLING OUTFITS FOR HERSERLF through the front window. i heard they have a tendency to BE A LITTLE DISCONNECTED. someone once tried to call them the PARIS HILTON of golden, which i can see because they’re very FRIENDLY and AMUSING, but also a little AIRHEADED. if you ask me they remind me more of the SPOILED RICH GIRL type. anyways, one fact you absolutely need to know about them is that SHE IS OBSESSED WITH CRYSTAL HEALING.  ⋰ k, est.