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l4verq · 3 years

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fight back | b.b

bucky barnes x enhanced!reader

in which bucky won’t lay a hand on you no matter what :(

tags : a little brawl, fluff cause icanthelpmyself, mentions of blood, john walker (idk if we're supposed to like him now ??) bucky is a cat lady okk

fic : one shot

a/n : inspired by that scene in the final ep of tfatws when karli is screaming at sam to fight back lol😳

|| gif by @unearthlydust ||

one world, one people.

you repeat it in your head one more time, when he comes into view, vibranium gleaming onyx with loops of gold.

you know that he knows you’re here, back to the wall a few feet away, peeking at him.

he doesn’t know that you let him know.

doesn’t know that you laid out a trap and just like the foolish mouse, he walked right into the lion’s den.

although you’re not sure who the fool actually is, when you meet his eyes, knees almost buckling at the sight just cause of how long it’s been without them.

“y/n.” he breathes out, almost in disbelief.

it’s been fourteen months since he woke up to an empty bed and a handwritten goodbye letter folded in a clean white envelope, tucked under a pillow still marked by the soft indentation of your head.

fourteen months since you took off in the dead of night, pulling your- his hood over your head, the cold wind nipping at your skin, almost like it was punishing you.

maybe, it saw what you did.

oh, but fred definitely saw what you did, that damn cat always followed you two around even though it’s owner was the blonde next door. her name wasn’t even fred, bucky came up with it after the third time it snuck into the apartment.

he swore he hated it but always seemed to have a treat lying around in case it did come.

and it did, a lot. neglected by it’s owner, it chose to seek comfort in the couple next door, and sometimes a meal or two.

“sorry, no treat today bub.”

fred scowled - honestly, you wouldn’t be surprised if an actual human was living in it - mewling as it came up to you for the usual chin rubs and cooes.

you sighed, caving into it’s antics, squatting to pet it.

cradling it’s head into your palm, she was purring, a very uncommon sight. fred doesn’t purr, she scratches and hisses at anything and everything that moves.

“you’re particularly nice today.” you commented, getting up. it mewled even louder this time but you turned on your heels and headed for the stairs.

you were already late.

your legs picked up pace quickly, easily crossing multiple blocks over in a few long strides owing to the blue serum coursing through your veins.

though your mind remained stationary, fixated on a single face, how it’d crumble at the sight of the letter, how he’d probably end up hating you.

“took you long enough.”

her auburn locks were tied into a loose braid that curved around her neck, the tip sat just below her collarbone, a piss poor job held together by a thin maroon colored band.

it was quintessentially her, the lack of utter patience to spend two minutes looping three knots of hair one over the other.

you jogged over to the other side of the black suv, noticing a stark white rectangle where a liscence plate should be.

“he’s knocked out cold,” you asked as soon as you grabbed the door handle open, “how?”

lazropthalein.

it came in the mail in a brown package, no return address. bucky wasn’t home, he had a scheduled therapy session down the block.

just a pinch is enough.

the text from the unknown number read.

it had no odour, a clean, white colour to it that blended in seamlessly with the flour.

“you baked without me?” bucky gasped, dramatically, hand covering his gaping mouth. his other hand carried two plastic bags, filled to the brim, a purple razor was poking out the top.

he even had to drop the poor bags on the floor, just to emphasize the utter shock he felt.

“i got bored.” you giggled, wiping the countertop with a wet cloth, remnants of flour on the sleek marble turning goopy under it.

“traitor.”

“it’s just cupcakes.”

“still a cake.”

you sighed, “you’re a five year old.”

he huffed, trudging towards the living room, shoulders hunched to really hone in on just how devastating this was for him.

“don’t i get a hug?” you held your arms out, making grabby hands, following him.

apparently, the devastation was to the point where he had to bring out the big guns, the sad baby blues.

the act lasted for another minute? at best. hours later, he was happily munching away.

“i know why it tastes so good.” he moaned, smacking his lips.

your smile faltered a little, did he kn- no, there’s no way he could have known. you burned that little plastic bag as soon as you dumped a pinch in.

“yea?”

he grinned, popping the last bit left in “it was made with your love.”

“how did it work?” your voice rose several octaves higher, amplified further by the cool, silent night.

drugs and sedatives don’t work on supersoldiers yet a certain blue eyed one was back home, unmoving even if you screamed right into his ears.

“dr wilfred, he invented it. the power broker wanted something to balance out our,” she flared her hands at both of you, “super-soldierness, so that we don’t have an upper hand when all’s said and done.”

would the either of you even be alive when all was said and done?

“look, i know you didn’t want to do this but james, he won’t understand. he’s not one o-..”

“yea, can we jus- let’s just get out of here.” you get in beside her, whipping the seatbelt over your torso.

the car was stuffy, felt like a choke around your neck that only seemed to tighten more and more.

“if we go now, there’s no coming back.” she glances at you, hand curled over the gearstick ready to position it in place.

she was giving you an out, one last chance. karli was a lot of things and having a heart inside that cold, bitchy exterior was one.

“i know.”

you sunk deeper into your seat, the hoodie had a faint smell of burnt toast and that cologne which was on sale, almost half off if you cut out the taxes.

it smelled like him, too much like him.

until it didn’t after a few days. but you still slept with it, just outright refusing to wash it despite karli’s snarky remarks about hygiene.

hygiene could go fuck herself, for all you know.

compared to the motels and basements you guys shifted around in, that hoodie was a doctor’s scrubs.

when the moon hung low on the black sky, you tried not to think about him too much. the silence didn’t help, you needed something to drown out your thoughts. that’s when the ‘socialising’ with the other flag smashers started. they were nice.

nice cause you were the leader’s little sister. but also a huge fucking liability because of a certain supersoldier hot on their heels in search of you, ruining every goddamn plan so their niceness was.. limited.

karli was a natural when it came to it, all of it. the talking, rallying of supporters - fuck, she just had a way with words. she could make you believe she hung up the stars in the sky.

probably how she convinced you that holding a room chock full of council members hostage right smack in the middle of nyc was a good idea.

the only idea, more precisely.

you guys had the upper hand, more than a handful supersoldiers at your disposal, capable of taking down the entire military force if you so pleased.

the only playing card they had was one supersoldier, who was better off distracted, kept off the field.

so who better to send to do the deed than the love of his life.

“fred had a baby. multiple babies, spawn of the devil if you ask me. always running around, thrashing the place up.” he takes small steps towards you, slow and calculated, as if a lion stalking around a prey.

“you shouldn’t be here.” you lie through your teeth, a tiny white compared to the ones that’ve rolled off your tongue before.

“i think the neighbours call me a cat lady now,” his eyes shift around and he leans in to whisper, “they haven’t even seen my knitting skills yet.”

“stop.” you think you said it or much rather whispered it, your voice was failing you. he’s getting close, too close for your liking so why aren’t you backing away from him?

“fred misses you, you know. she wonders where you went.” he smiles but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

the hairs on your neck shoot up, a slight twitch of your brow. the way bucky’s ear perk up, you realise it’s not just you and him here anymore.

someone else has arrived.

“i’ve got it handled, john.” bucky turns around, plants him directly infront of you, blocking john’s view of you.

sure enough, it’s john limping in, a nasty gash across his chest.

your blood runs cold because this isn’t how it’s supposed to go.

john isn’t supposed to be here, he’s supposed to be fighting.. oh god. you notice the various splatters of blood on his cowl, on his boot, on his shield.

it’s too much blood from a guy who’s barely bleeding.

“really? i was thinking you should do more than just talk.” he spits on the ground and wipes his mouth.

you notice, the spit’s all blood too.

“i’m giving you a chance to walk away, right now.”

john snorts, leaning sideways to get a view of you, neck craned out.

“and leave this prize all to yourself?” he grins, “i’d be an idiot.”

“you have a death wish then.” you lift your chin a little higher, praying your quickening heartbeat doesn’t give away your calm exterior.

john whistles, grimacing as he straightens, “so, she does talk.”

you scowl, crossing your arms.

he’s in bad shape. he has no chance, not that he ever did even in his best shape. he knows that too yet he’s still here. that sends a chill up your spine.

“go, i got this.” bucky tips his head, glancing at you.

“i don’t need you to save me.” you hiss at him, which comes out a little harsher than you intended. an apology dies in your throat as he flinches just the slightest.

“trouble in paradise?” john’s barely finished saying it before he’s reached behind his back and swinging the vibranium

you hear it before you see it stopped mid air by a gloved hand. then you charge.

it’s all a hazy mix of blue and red until your fist connects with his jaw, sound of something breaking ringing in your ear.

something pulls your waist back, a grip far too strong to be just flesh.

“go, i’ll ta-..” bucky’s barely said anything before an upward cut from john connects to his neck, violent coughs ensuing.

you grip john’s arm before he’s even retracted it back, jump up his back, settling around his neck and twist until you hear a crack and a bloodcurling scream following suit.

he whips his head back right into your stomach, seizes that moment when the wind knocks out of you to pull you by your hair off him.

“i told you to go.” bucky growls, kicking john right in the shin that makes him kneel and you almost fall off but you keep your fingers tightly looped around john’s hair, pulling as hard you can.

but he’s relentless.

your head hits something hard and you realise you’re on the ground now, legs loosely around john’s shoulders, him also on the ground.

it’s like the both of you realise at the same time but you’re quicker. your legs tighten around his neck, against the spot where a thick neck muscle throbs. he claws desperately around, straining for oxygen

soon, his hands lull down, the dull thud on the ground confirming his unconsciousness.

“are you hurt?” bucky’s hovering over you, seemingly unfazed by john’s neck in a chokehold by your legs right now.

you reject his hand he extends and push yourself off the gravelly concrete on to your feet.

“this was a mistake.” you trail off, saying it more to your own self.

you weren’t the lion, you were the stupid fox who thought it was.

stupid enough to believe you were over bucky and that everything wouldn’t come rushing back as soon as you laid eyes on him.

he whips you around by your hand and before you know it, he’s already caught your other fist heading for his sternum. you barely feel the grip, it’s soft, just so incredibly soft and fits so right.

you hate it.

rage bubbles inside you, mostly at yourself. partly at him because he’s not screaming at you or slamming you against the wall or jus- anything.

you wrench your hand away, land a swing which he does nothing to block. his grip on your other hand loosens and he still does nothing when another hit to the jaw leaves him staggering,

instead, he looks at you softly as if resigning himself to your anger, to let it simmer off.

“fight back!” you scream, outstretched palms pushing him back.

he stumbles a few steps back, hands reaching out to yours resting on his chest, fingers intertwining yours tightly.

“stop.” it’s a soft plead, tears spiking the corners of his eyes.

“hit me!” you’re practically begging at this point, thrashing your arms around.

his hands grapple at your shoulders, bringing you to his chest, “it’s okay.”

he smells so sweet, just so sweet that you almost believe him.

“i drugged you and i left you and i-,” you inhale sharply, “i killed so many people, bucky.”

the last fourteen months had escalated quickly from doing what’s right to doing what’s needed, lines blurred between moral ethics and survival.

“it’s okay.” he repeats, hand patting your hair, gentle and soothing. your body betrays you, sinking into his touch, his warmth.

“you should hate me.” you whimper.

you wouldn’t blame him if he did. you doubt he could hate you more than you already did yourself.

he pulls back, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, “i couldn’t if i tried.”

god, why does he have to be so.. bucky?

frustated, you spit out, “this? this was a distraction to separate you and sam.”

you don’t say it but it’s understood, understood that you wouldn’t have met him if not for it.

the inner corners of his brows angle up slightly, a ghost of a smile on his lips, “i know.”

your breath hitches, if he knows then wh-

“then, why..?”

you finally look up at him, vision blurry because of the stupid tears pooling at your eyes.

his thumb wipes away a tear dribbling down your cheek, the coldness of the metal a clear contrast to the warm moisture, “you know why.”

a/n : this one’s been sitting pretty, collecting cobwebs in my drafts so thought i’d take it out lol, also haven’t been posting fics in a whileeee cause im dumb and i’ve been working on multiple things all at once lol yea this is me rambling and also i just wanna say that i. love. folklore. sm. that whole album has me crying and sad and just :((

#bucky barnes #bucky #bucky x reader #bucky x you #bucky x y/n #bucky barnes x reader #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky fic #james bucky barnes #bucky fanfic #bucky imagine #fatws bucky #fatws #flag smashers #marvel #mcu

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a-libra-writes · 3 years

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okay so like what i thought of was basically it’s a stark reader(robb’s twin) like in the hc, BUT up until theon left to go recruit his father they had a kind of unspoken thing going on and we’re clearly in love with each other just neither one had the guts to say it(theon would even pick out whores specifically bc they looked like the reader) and so(like in the hc) roose bolton captures her and their direwolf at the red wedding to marry her to ramsay. who subsequently becomes slightly(but let’s be honest this is ramsay) obsessed with her, and one day her direwolf makes its way into the kennels only to find and lay next to theon. it refuses to come out and even snarls in a protective way if someone tried to get theon out of the kennel. the servants decide that the best way to get the direwolf out is with its owner, reader and theon have a ready reunion and he kind of snaps out of reek for a short period of time. butttttt then ramsay gets jealous and chaos ensues :))))) hope you like it!!!! yeah it is kind of based off of the hc you did lol

first of all how dare you anon???????? i thought about this ask way too much today and it HURTS

So lets start with this. Theon was ten when he was taken from his family, he’s witnessed his home be invaded and the castle walls destroyed. Heard about his older brothers being murdered. May have seen their heads on spikes. Taken from his sweet mother, and older sister, probably didn’t see his uncles and father??? there sure as shit weren’t any nice goodbyes.

Yes Ned didn’t approve of this whole thing, but he saw it as a better alternative to another war coming up. Robert saw it as mercy; he wasn’t destroying the whole Greyjoy line or burning their keep to the ground.

So with all of that, he arrives in Winterfell, where it’s freezing. Travelled with the man that may have led to the deaths of his older brothers. Meets this man’s wife, who clearly isn’t happy he’s there. And meets this man’s children, who are young and just staring at him and his strange clothes.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way....

I really like Theon and Robb’s friendship, and how it almost progressed to the level of Jon and Robb’s brotherhood, but not quite. I think that’s because he’s older by several years in the books, and while Jon is “at least” Stark, Theon is not. He’s a hostage. A potential danger. Catlyn likely doesn’t want her oldest anywhere near him but if Robb is going off to play with the Ironborn boy, why can’t Y/N? She’ll sneak out if she has to! She wants to talk to him and ask him questions. He’s annoyed by a stupid girl trailing him around, and tells her as much.

I like to think they have an annoying sibling relationship for a while, and Y/N is very fascinated with him, but she also has a great deal of empathy because she starts to realize his situation. She’s still a child, but she knows he was taken from his family and struggles to understand why her father would do that. Ned tries to explain it to her, but I think it’ll always feel wrong to her, so even if Theon teases her and she teases back, she’s always nice to him even when her mother tries to discourage them socializing.

And of course, my favorite trope. They get older and start to realize feelings, she grows into a beautiful lady and still wants to hang out with him and Robb. She still smiles at him during feasts and comes to watch him practice at archery and still glares at anyone who dares insult him. “You’ll do well to keep your words to yourself, especially where it pertains to matters you don’t understand,” She’ll sneer at lordlings who come in to gawk at the Ironborn. Theon loves it when she talks “like a lady” to annoying guests and lords. She speaks far more casually with him and her siblings.

His crush is intense!!!! It’s so much. It hits him early and puberty + Theon brain just makes it worse. Like you said, he absolutely picks whores that look similar to her - I HC he generally seeks whores at an early age bc 1) thats just an OK thing to do for young men in Westeros and 2) he’s really lacking in physical affection and acceptance in general.

He has no chance with a Lady Y/N Stark. Not a single fucking chance, but he still daydreams. When he was younger especially, when he hoped the Starks would accept him, when he thought he’d never return home - maybe they’d see him like a son, maybe, if he was good. Maybe if he was good enough, she’d ... but no. That’s all pipe dreams. The older he gets, the more he knows it, but knowing doesn’t help the bitterness.

I think it’d be even worse if Y/N saw him in a more romantic light than a familial or platonic one. The yearning. The pain!! The shared glances after touching each other’s hands, wondering if the other person knows or cares as much, but never knowing for sure because how the hell can you ask that? How would it ever be appropriate?

There’s so much to this. Ramsay just adds a dozen layers of angst and complications 😂

Obviously Theon’s betrayal and “death” would break her heart, among other things. The war is not kind to the Starks. She has a lot of pain by the time she’s married to Ramsay.

Also YOU’RE BREAKING MY HEART like the idea of her direwolf sniffing out Theon, even after all that, or just seeing him and instantly curling up. Theon’s half asleep, half delirious, but he feels the warmth of the fur and for a wild moment believes it’s Grey Wind. He feels the wet nose on his face and the wolf gently licks his wounds. This isn’t the hounds that snap at him and bring their fleas. The wolf curls up with him, and it’s probably the most peaceful sleep Theon’s had in months.

Later Y/N realizes her direwolf has been gone for hours and searches for it in a panic. She doesn’t want to go into the dungeons, she hates them, hates the sounds and the smells coming from them, but she doesn’t know where else to look. She’s sick to her stomach wondering why her wolf is down there, what if Ramsay -? No. He wouldn’t... would he?

And yes, Ramsay’s men have been trying to get Theon out per their master’s orders and can’t. The direwolf refuses. Theon has to crawl out on his own, all bones and scars and scabs and wounds, and the wolf sticks to his legs. Shows its teeth to anyone even looking at him. That’s when Y/N hears the commotion and comes down, she has no idea who this old man is - then... Recognition. Terrifying, heart-wrenching recognition.

When she holds him, she’s not sure who falls down first. It could be either of them; Theon from weakness and shock, her from heartache and relief. And he’s Theon again. He says his name, and her’s, and it’s hard for him to think straight and get the words out. But there is I’m sorry.

She demands an explanation from Roose. There’s no point in hiding it now. And she turns on Ramsay for it, and lord knows he won’t feel guilty about it. I feel like Theon would get slightly better treatment now, both because the direwolf is at his heels as much as Y/N’s and now she has a close eye on him. If anything else happens, she’s going to raise hell in the Dreadfort. All the anger and fire and outrage has been stoked again. Ramsay is not pleased with any of these developments.

And yeah if she and Theon had romantic feelings, this is about to get much more complicated :^)

#when yall see me answering an anon with a cut..........#you know whats about to happen #theon greyjoy x reader #ramsay bolton x reader #libra headcanons

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kaistarus · 4 years

Text

BitterSweet

Pairing: Itadori YuujiXReader

Words: 2.4K

Summary: How Yuuji makes his way into your life with brights smiles and shitty coffees

A/N: just in time for his b-day :3 i’ve loved this boi since before i even started jjk, so i’m glad I got to finally write for him lol

Masterlist

Bitter.

Bitter-with a hint of vanilla-was what you associated with Itadori Yuuji. His beaming smile at your first tutoring session forever connected with the pungent coffee he offered you.

You stared at the cup skeptically, “what is that?”

“Coffee?” Yuuji answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I thought every college student liked coffee.”

He wasn’t wrong, “but why did you get it?”

“Because you got up so early to help me,” Yuuji’s smile widened as he waved the drink around.

“Well I’m scheduled, so I would have been here whether you signed up or not.” You pointed out, glancing at the clock nearby that read too-early-in-the-morning and gestured for him to hand it over. He looked so pleased with himself that you were sure if he was a dog his tail would be going wild.

That was the only explanation you had for why you didn’t tell Yuuji it was the worst thing you’d ever tasted, hiding your full body cringes when he looked up after digging through his backpack.

“So, what are we doing first?” He asked excitedly, holding a creased notebook with uneven pages and a packed folder with papers hanging out. You stared at it wearily, but unfortunately he was far from the worst case scenario-a folder was huge compared to some you’d run into.

“I guess just give me your last exam and we’ll work from there.”

Yuuji chuckled awkwardly, fingering through the mass of papers in his folder before producing a packet marked heavily in red ink. You sighed at the single digit number at the top with a frowny face beside it.

Looked like you and Itadori Yuuji were going to be spending a lot of time together.

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

“You’re overthinking it, Yuuji.” You rubbed your temples having spent the last thirty minutes working through the same problem with no success. You were beginning to lose all hope.

“But it doesn’t make any sense,” he groaned, leaning back in his seat. “I’m supposed to figure out the probability of what movies were action movies, but how was she able to watch eighty movies in one week?”

“That isn’t the question.”

“It isn’t possible though!” He jabbed his eraser at the paper. “Did she sleep? I bet this Melissa chick fast forwarded or skipped.”

“Yuuji…”

“Can you go a full week without sleep? If she slept through some, are they part of the eighty?” He gripped his pink locks in frustration. “How do I know which she slept through? Is there a timeline?”

You deadpanned as he scanned the page stressfully like it was holding him hostage with its contents, “I don’t think they provide a timeline, no.”

“Sorry,” Yuuji sighed defeated, slouching forward to rest his chin on the library’s table. “I swear I’m trying.”

You leaned against your palm, eyes softening as he glared at the homework sheet under him. “Don’t apologize,” you slid the sheet from under his chin. “You’re my favorite session after all.”

“I am?” He perked up.

You rolled your eyes while circling a segment of the first word problem. “You can just make up wild backstories for each person. Melissa doesn’t have to sleep and can absorb movies abnormally fast or something.”

Yuuji blinked several times as his lips curved into a smile. “What about the guy who owns over four-hundred chickens?”

You forced down your own smile and shrugged, “he’s just lonely.”

Yuuji laughed, continuing down the page while spewing out ridiculous stories for the unfortunate names in the Stats problems. Your heart beat firm in your chest at how excited he was now while scanning the page. The ticking clock above you felt like a curse the closer it got to the end of your session.

You guessed you didn’t hate the mornings anymore if they were with him.

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

You tapped your pencil’s eraser impatiently on the booth's table. The smell of brewing dark roast drifting through the small cafe accompanied by the combined noises of workers preparing early risers beverages kept you from dozing off where you sat. Finally, after what felt like forever-probably a few minutes-Yuuji slid into the booth across from you and placed a mug in front of you.

“I can buy my own coffee, Yuuji.” You took the mug wearily, eyes darting around the near empty cafe you’d decided to meet at this week to ‘spice things up’ in his words. “People might get the wrong idea.”

“I didn’t think you cared about that stuff,” he said with a teasing smile that you returned with a half-assed glare. “It’s my payment for making me smarter.”

“I already get paid,” you pouted at the drink in your hands. “And you’re already smart. I just help you understand it.”

He didn’t respond and you glanced over, confused at his slack jaw expression.

“Oh,” he started shuffling through his backpack and you swore his cheeks were dusted pink. “Yeah, that-uh-makes sense.”

“Right,” you raised a brow at the weird response, but decided it wasn’t worth pursuing. There wasn’t enough time in the world to question every random thing Yuuji did.

“What’s on the schedule today boss?”

“Your exam’s tomorrow,” you said, pulling some sheets from your own backpack. “I printed your practice exam since I’m guessing you didn’t know it existed.”

“Hey,” he pouted. “I didn’t, but still...”

You snorted, sliding the packet across the table. “Just do the ones you can and I’ll help with the rest.”

He saluted you, unnecessarily scribbling his name across the top before getting to work-his tongue poking out adorably while his eyes scanned the words intensely. You felt your chest filling with an unfamiliar warmth as you watched him work and your hand drifted subconsciously toward the mug next to you.

You coughed, unprepared for the harsh flavor, only wiping the grimace off your face when Yuuji peered upward with an innocent head tilt. Your heart squeezed when you locked eyes too long with his dark hazel before a soft smile filtered onto his lips. You quickly dropped your stare, hoping that if you avoided looking at him you could avoid the weird feeling emotion rolling in your stomach as well.

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

You slouched up the library's stairwell, pushing through the second story’s double doors that led to your usual reserved tutoring table. The school really needed to push back your start time-seven in the morning was way too early for any college student to effectively teach or learn anything. The only person ridiculous enough to continuously sign-up for this time was-

You gripped your backpack straps as strong arms wrapped themselves around your midsection, picking you off the ground without warning. An unwanted frightened squeal left your lips before you recognized Yuuji’s laughter behind you and you relaxed as much as you could with him spinning you around in a library half-full of people.

“What are you doing?” You glared at him over your shoulder, cheeks warm from embarrassment at the scene he was causing.

“I got a C!”

You blinked several times before prying his arms off you, “are you serious?”

“Yeah,” he slid his backpack off, digging around before offering you a crumpled up packet with a seventy-four and a smiley written on top. You stared at it with a growing smile and without thinking too much you wrapped your arms around his neck.

“Yuuji, this is amazing!”

“I know,” he laughed, encircling your waist awkwardly given your backpack. “My roommate didn’t believe me. She’s doing my dishes for a week thanks to you.”

You weren’t sure you felt good about that after seeing his level of disorganization, but you smiled back anyway. “I’m so proud of you.”

Which was true. Your chest was swollen near bursting with pride for him and he’d only gotten a C. You told yourself it was because of your own skills as a tutor, but had you ever been this excited for someone?

“Hey, we should celebrate.” Yuuji stuffed the exam back into his bag. “Do you wanna-”

“Can you guys quiet down?” a guy with four crushed energy drink cans and food wrappers laying haphazardly around him asked. “I can’t focus and I just wanna go home, dude.”

“Sorry,” you whispered as warmth crept up your neck, turning Yuuji toward the exit as he stared at the guy in amazement. “We’ll leave you alone.”

“How long have you been here?” Yuuji asked in awe.

“Twenty-five… No, maybe eight...” The guy narrowed his eyes at the clock. “Time’s an illusion man.”

Yuuji nodded, impressed, shooting the guy a thumbs up as you pushed him toward the doors. Once in the stairwell you shot him a bright smile, “celebrate?”

He nodded excitedly. “We can get coffee!”

You turned away quickly to cover your panic, “or maybe anything else?”

Yuuji hummed, “I guess change can be nice.”

Your heart did a bizarre skip at the soft look in his eyes and you hurriedly started down the stairs without him. You spent more time that morning brushing off each reaction to Yuuji than enjoying your time with him. When everything was done you started thinking that you were having a hard time kidding even yourself.

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

You and Yuuji had been working in silence for the past twenty minutes-the longest he’d gone without needing help since he’d signed up for tutoring. It was a great sign that for some reason had your stomach knotting uncomfortably.

“You’re doing really good,” you complimented, admiring the delighted smile he gave you.

“Yeah, I used what you said about note taking for lecture.” He showed you his notes that were beyond chaotic, but apparently worked for him. “I actually understand what’s going on now.”

“That’s great,” you looked down at your Chem problems and attempted to keep your tone light. “You probably won’t need tutoring soon if this-.”

You heard his pencil snap and looked up to find him staring holes through his paper. He seemed tense as he pressed his pencil roughly against the notebook and you wondered what word problem would’ve caused that reaction.

“Are you stuck? Do you want me to-”

“I like you.”

You paused mid-reach for his textbook and locked eyes with him, his cheeks flaring up a dark pink. You opened and closed your mouth several times before mumbling out a weak, “what?”

“And I don’t want you to tutor me,” he looked frustrated with himself when you tilted your head at his contradictory statements. “I mean, I do, but not always. I just want to spend time with you and not talk about Stats because I hate Stats, but I really like you.”

That weird feeling was back. The one where your chest felt tight and your heart was beating too quickly and your stomach sort of felt like you might throw up, but all in a good way and that made everything weirder. It was a lot and not enough and that made you nervous.

“I don’t know, Yuuji.” You lied.

“That’s okay,” he smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “No pressure. I just sprung it on you, so I don’t blame you.”

You nodded, watching him dig around his bag for a second pencil while grumbling about organizing that you knew would never happen. Your heart ached in your chest as you watched him continue working casually, playing off whatever happened.

...but you weren’t sure you could do the same.

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

This was a terrible idea.

You swung your legs, perched atop a railing across from a building that Yuuji was currently taking his midterm. It didn’t matter how you got that information-accessing his schedule with the few perks your job gave you-all that mattered was you had five minutes to figure out what you were going to say to him.

This wouldn’t even be an issue if he hadn’t skipped tutoring a few days ago. You weren’t sure if he thought you hated him or if he was regretting confessing to you, but either way you needed to talk to him before your window closed.

If only any of the speeches you could think of weren’t absolutely humiliating. Three minutes now? That should be enough time for you to at least get the beginning-

“(Y/N)?”

Your head whipped to the side so fast you're sure you got whiplash, dumbfounded that Yuuji was standing there with his head cocked to the side.

“You finished early,” you said, face warming at his growing confusion. “Not that I would know that.”

“Right.” He gave you a once-over. “Whatcha doing here?”

“Uh,” your nose crinkled while searching for a reasonable excuse. You sighed when you came up empty. “You skipped tutoring.”

Yuuji’s eyebrow rose and he waved his hands around. “I accidentally slept through it.” Then you noticed the gears started turning in his head and you began shrinking in on yourself. “You came here because I skipped a lesson?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure if you were going to keep skipping,” you avoided his eyes, chewing on the inside of your cheek. “It’s a bad habit.”

He knew you were full of shit. You could tell by the way he was forcing down a smirk when you stared at your feet. This would obviously be going so much better if you had those three minutes to prepare.

“Thanks for checking in,” he smiled, fishing around in his pocket and holding out his phone. “We should probably exchange numbers so you don’t have to go through all this trouble next time.”

You eyed the phone and rolled your eyes, “makes sense.”

He looked overjoyed when you took it from his hands. Your heart felt like it would pound out of your rib cage while he watched you create your contact, your fingers shaking slightly under the pressure.

“As an apology, I should probably take you to get food too.”

You paused, looking up at his hopeful gaze before nodding shyly. “That seems fair.”

The smile that overtook his face was probably the largest you’d ever seen and your heart nearly exploded when he grabbed your hand, pulling you away from the building. You probably should have seen this coming the moment you began looking forward to your morning shifts with him. As he dragged you down the street you found yourself not caring where he took you-you knew you’d be happy as long as he was with you.

#itadori yuuji #itadori yuji x reader #itadori yuji fluff #yuji x reader #itadori yuuji x reader #jjk #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #itadori x y/n

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shima-draws · 4 years

Photo

Hiro is here!! We've all been waiting for him!!

You know the drill by now, all the yummy details about his background are under the cut ;) Also be warned it is VERY long I went a little feral writing his backstory lmao

Hiro

Age: 17

Hair color: Orange

Eye color: Pink

Element: Psychic & Forest

Okay so a lot of this is gonna be stuff I'm pulling from posts I've already written to make it easier on myself and so I don't have to repeat anything.

Before he was born, the Novune Forces approached Hiro's parents because they knew that he would be born as a dual elemental. Part of their goal was to raise several dual type children to become human weapons--they targeted dual type babies specifically because they're said to be more powerful since they can use more than one elemental type.

It was the perfect opportunity for Hiro's parents because at the time they were not ready for a child despite agreeing that they were going to have it. Ofc the Forces did not reveal their plans so to them it turned into a nice surrogate parent situation where Hiro's mother would give birth to him and he'd immediately be given up for adoption afterwards. It was definitely hard for them to part with him but they trusted he'd be in good care. Well. That turned out great, as you can probably tell :')

Hiro, along with Kaz and Mallary, became the Forces' iconic trio, with Hiro considered to be the golden child and the most dangerous between the three of them because of his high intellect and skill in combat. He grew up under a very strict regimen and would spend hours each day dedicated to training both his mind and his elemental powers. He's an extremely gifted psychic elemental and took to his abilities almost immediately--he’s able to read his opponents movements and set up traps before they can even get to him. He’s usually airborne for most battles he’s in; he finds it easier to strategize from a higher vantage point, and he also just likes to float around and dodge enemy attacks and act like an ass lmao. He’s a pro at immobilizing his enemies so they can no longer move, ending his battles swiftly and cleanly. Physically he’s not very powerful so he uses a magic staff to fight. His intelligence more than makes up for his lack of super strength!

He has a special power like Kaz’s extra dragon typing (and, like Kaz, he has a streak in his hair from the experimentation)—Hiro gets visions of death, basically predictions of the future, and his visions are never wrong. He’s able to see who dies in battle and the Forces use this to their advantage so that they can prepare around any casualties. Hiro hates getting these visions because he doesn’t like seeing people die, he witnesses their last moments and it’s certainly traumatizing for him;; and like Kaz, this power was something he only unlocked through lots of experimentation on him, so he usually passes out for hours after getting a vision since it’s not a “natural” ability he was born with.

As for his second typing, it was something he never really clicked with. Forest elementals have to be very attuned to nature and are generally more kindhearted and gentle people, but since Hiro grew up in a base with only limited access to the outside (and because he’s forced into acting as an antagonist), his forest elemental powers were repressed over the years. He’s already powerful enough as a psychic elemental so he doesn’t feel the need to resort to a second power, especially since his superiors viewed his second typing as useless and he never received proper training on how to use it. He's already a huge threat as he is so they said good enough. The Forces believe that if something is useless, throw it away, so they eventually abandoned any hope of him succeeding in bettering his forest powers, and focused solely on enhancing his psychic abilities and making his death visions clearer.

Before Hiro became the cold-hearted and snarky colonel that the Forces know him as, he was actually a very kind child with an aversion to violence, and cried often. That got forced out of him pretty quickly though--he learned right away that disobedience means punishment and the only way to pay for his mistakes is by verbal and physical abuse. Poor baby :'( He and Kaz and Mallary go through a LOT of unfair shit as kids. The event that really drove home his intense determination and flawless record was the first mission he was ever sent out on.

This happened when he was around 13. Usually members of the Forces don't get to go out on solo missions unless they have a high position or are old enough to, but he was the exception because of his talent and because it was an experiment to see if he could handle it. His mission was to infiltrate a small, family run guild and basically gather intel and find out what their agenda was, as there were rumors they knew of some of the Forces’ plans. Upon Hiro’s arrival to the town where the guild was situated, he ends up rescuing the Guildmaster’s daughter, Lorelai, who is around his age. Unknowingly, he triggered his forest elemental powers, which caused them to land in a field of flowers he’d bloomed. Because of this, Lorelai starts to call him Flower, since he couldn’t come up with a codename in time and he doesn’t have a real name anyway lol

A couple weeks pass and Hiro spends more and more time with the guild, growing closer to Lorelai and being lulled into a false sense of security. He becomes extremely jealous of how the guild lives, and is very emotional at how much of a family they are, and how sweetly they treat him. Hiro starts to ponder over whether or not he should be sneaking around behind their back, when one day the guild is attacked while he’s out. When he returns, the village is set ablaze, and when Hiro demands what’s going on, his superior informs him that he was merely a decoy to get their defenses down, since apparently the Forces had definitive proof that they knew of their plans. His superior orders Hiro to search the village and kill anybody who was left.

Hiro, panicked, searches for Lorelai, and finds her hiding in the forest nearby. He apologizes to her and has a mental breakdown, blaming himself for all of her misfortune. Lorelai realizes that he’s being kept in the Forces against his will and begs him to run away with her. Hiro knows that he’ll be hunted down if he does, and Lorelai could get hurt, so he tells her he has to stay with them. In the midst of this, they are confronted with the current colonel of the Forces, who encourages Hiro to kill Lorelai. Hiro refuses, and the colonel calls him out for insubordination. The colonel then decides to kill both of them in order to get a promotion. Hiro leaps to defend both Lorelai and himself, and in the scuffle, receives the scar on his head, and accidentally kills the colonel. Traumatized, bloodied, and terrified, Lorelai is the one to apologize to him as he cries his eyes out. Hiro numbly reassures her and tells her to run while she can. Lorelai admits that she loves him and bids him farewell, hoping that they can meet again, and that she’s sorry she can’t do more for him.

This is when Hiro decides to become the perfect agent—dangerous, cruel, and flawless, so that something like this never happens again, and so that he can have enough power to make the decisions rather than just following orders to mindlessly kill people. From then on out he does what he’s told without any complaints and has a record for never failing a single mission the Forces have given to him. Any enemy considers him to be absolutely ruthless because he does not hesitate in battles and will neutralize with no questions asked. He’s a cocky little bastard around enemies lmao he loves to snark them and tease them. He’s strictly against killing after what happened to the colonel, so instead, if it’s a high risk operation, he erases the memories of his targets to reduce the threat. Because he’s so uncomfortable with the thought of death in general he reasons that losing your memories is better than dying, and that makes it easier on the Forces as well since they’ll leave less of a trail rather than just killing people left and right.

Growing up, Hiro didn’t interact with Kaz very much, and they usually just saw each other in passing. However they both respect each other a great amount, and they sympathize with each other, being in the same sort of situation. Both the Hiro and Kaz hate their upbringing and hold a grudge against their superiors for their treatment and experimentation on them;; As for Mallary, Hiro became enamored with her because she reminds him a lot of Lorelai (who he later admits to being his first love). He finds her strength captivating and the way she doesn’t give a shit about other people’s opinions admirable. Hiro eventually falls prey to her manipulation and falls over himself to please her, which bothers Kaz because he knows Mallary’s just toying with him.

After the Forces’ plan to kidnap Ginni and use her as a hostage blows up in their face, Hiro finds out that Kaz had escaped with her, and commends him on the extremely smart decision to do so lol. He wonders if he should start considering leaving the Forces as well, seeing as he’s mature and responsible (and smart) enough to make it on his own. He’s ordered to retrieve Kaz which was a HUGE mistake on the Forces’ part because they didn’t realize Hiro’s loyalties lied more with people on the outside. Hiro meets up with Kaz and Kaz eventually convinces him to desert the Forces and work with him to stop their plans. Hiro agrees to work as a double agent for a while, leaking all of the Forces’ information to Kaz, Ginni, and the guild. In the midst of all this, Hiro meets Olivia, who pretty much calls dibs on him and she’s like “Listen Ginni got to give Kaz his name so can I give the colonel a name?? Please???” So she starts calling him Hiro! And finally baby boy smarts up and starts crushing on a girl that actually gives a damn about him and god dammit it’s the cutest fucking case of puppy love since Dusk/Nozomi. Hiro absolutely adores her, but he’s too nervous to actually do anything about it because he’s got huge abandonment issues (thanks again bad parenting! And Mallary!) and doesn’t want to ruin one of the only genuine friendships he’s ever had. But he is head over HEELS for Olivia and it’s so……softe.

Mallary finds out that Hiro’s acting as a spy, and retaliates. Hiro realizes just how awfully she’s treated him and defeats her, allowing him to escape and officially join up with the guild.

After that it’s a whole bunch of crazy action stuff as plans come together and they get to take down the Forces. Hiro falls harder and deeper for Olivia while she remains oblivious (at least, for a little while, until she finally starts noticing). He grows closer to Kaz and Ginni as well, and begins connecting with Kaz on a deep level because of their shared history. (They’re kind of like brothers, and Hiro considers him to be his best friend :’) )

Once the Forces are defeated, Hiro and Kaz both decide to go on a journey of self discovery in order to better themselves and learn more about the world they haven’t seen due to being locked up for so many years. Kaz and Ginni are already on the verge of forming a relationship, but with Olivia and Hiro it’s still tentative since she’s unsure and he still feels inadequate as a romantic partner. Olivia admits that she likes him and Hiro is so happy he’s ready to burst, but then he realizes it’s not the right time for them to be together so he gently rejects her. (Olivia takes this as an actual rejection tho not a “I’m not ready to be in a relationship with you yet tho I WANT to” and Ginni’s like YA’LL ARE SO DUMB I S2G).

Hiro and Kaz go their separate ways, and Hiro travels around for a while! He eventually settles in a lovely little village where he learns about his forest elemental powers and how to use them better. He’s finally able to connect with other people and essentially becomes way softer around the edges, revealing the true personality he had when he was a kid. A year or so passes and suddenly Kaz, Ginni and Olivia show up to reunite with him, and not long after that Hiro and Olivia FINALLY get together and start dating 😔👌 (Ginni: TOOK you look enough, god)

At some point the four of them go on a journey together and Hiro runs into his biological parents again…!! And he finds out he has a younger sister and they all reconnect and it’s SO EMOTIONAL

Other than that I think that’s all I have 🤔 Thanks for reading though this epic rollercoaster ride of a story plot lol!

Extra personality traits

-Hiro’s sarcasm and snarkiness is a defense mechanism to prevent anybody from seeing his vulnerable side, and also a way to trick the fear inside of him. Kaz is the one to point this out actually lol

-Despite that he does enjoy teasing people lightheartedly and being sassy, once he gets comfortable enough with them! There is a difference between his snarkiness towards enemies compared to that towards friends

-Is EXTREMELY loyal to the people he cares about. At first he tends to act prickly and kind of standoffish towards people he doesn’t know well. Over time he becomes more open to trusting others. Once you earn his trust and he deems you worthy of his friendship he instantly becomes softer and kinder haha, it’s like a switch

-Often dismisses people that he thinks aren’t worth his time or aren’t smart enough to hold an intelligent conversation with him

-Spends a lot of time reading and gathering knowledge. He is very book smart—but not very people smart :’D He and Kaz will spend hours in the guild’s library, since they’re both very thirsty for information outside of what they studied during their time in the Forces

-Touch starved as FUCK. He flips his shit every time somebody touches him in a friendly way, and will melt into a puddle if he gets hugged

-He can be very nosy and insensitive sometimes, prying into other people’s personal affairs if he thinks he can solve the issue

-Absolutely a tactics expert. He calculates all of his moves very carefully, and uses prediction tactics to leave no room for error. He enjoys coming up with mock battle situations to challenge himself.

-Very self-sacrificial;; he views the lives of those he cares about to be far more important than his own. He’ll lay his life on the line for his friends in an instant

-Is the person in the group who is the least fond of violence. If he can find a way around injuring someone, he’ll do it. He prefers to restrict his enemy’s movements or slow them down so they can’t fight back. He is VERY good at neutralizing opponents before they can even register it

-SUPER speedy. Due to his small size he’s very quick, most people don’t see him coming

-He’s really sensitive about his height fjmaksldmas he snaps at people who make fun of him for it

-Tends to levitate when he’s in deep thought. Olivia finds this very cute

-Blooms flowers when he’s happy/embarrassed

-He’s actually. A very talented dancer :0 During his year away from the guild he learned a lot of folk dances at the village he was living in, and when the others witness it they get really starstruck because it’s super mesmerizing!! He blooms flowers as he dances

-At his core he’s a very compassionate character!!

-After escaping from the Forces, he’s able to express his emotions more openly, and goes back to the way he was as a child. He’s a crybaby :’) He cries whenever someone he cares about gets hurt

-The only person in the group with the fucking brain cell, and the most rational one. Unless Olivia gets involved, then he gets stupid and flustered lmao

#This got SO long oh my god. I am so sorry. Except I'm not #My character bios keep getting longer and longer!! WHICH IS GOOD BC THEY ALL NEED GOOD DEVELOPMENT #OC #Original character #Character art #Character design #Character sheet #Character ref #Character reference #Art #Digital art #Long post #Shima arts #Shima's OCs #Among the Stars #ATS #Hiro #shima-draws

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crystalninjaphoenix · 3 years

Text

Reunions & Resistance

A JSE Fanfic

This one took me a while, but luckily, I was able to get it all done within the week, and do a lot of my homework too lol. Can’t wait for summer break, man. More time for writing. Anyway, a lot happened last chapter, and we’re mostly following up on that. I don’t want to say too much in case people haven’t read the last one, but basically we switch in between Chase and JJ’s points of view to see how they’re dealing with their respective...challenges. Hope you enjoy!

You can find the other stories under the pw timeline tag!

“Good night! I’ll see you later!” Chase stood on his front door and waved as the car pulled away from the side of the road. In the windows, a pair of small faces pressed up against the glass and waved back. Chase kept at it even as the car drove down the street, right up until the moment it disappeared around a corner. At which point he dropped his hand and turned around to head inside, smiling softly to himself. Halloween wasn’t his favorite holiday, but this? This was a good holiday.

He turned on the front room lights and was about to sit down when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Quickly, he dug it out to see a text from Marvin: Hey call me now please!

Perfect timing. Once he got settled in, he was planning on calling Marvin anyway, to tell him the good news. He guessed he could do it now. Quickly navigating to his contacts, he called Marvin’s number.

The other end was picked up on the first ring. “Chase!” Marvin said.

“Hi Marv. Are you out of court by now? You better be, it’s late.” He glanced out the window at the twilight sky. They ended up only going trick-or-treating for an hour, but the kids were still young and Stacy was worried, so it was fine. They’d go longer next time. “How’d it go?”

“Good, but Chase, there’s a thing—”

“So you won?”

“Yeah, that’s what I meant, but Chase!” Wait a second...Marvin sounded...frantic. “Have you seen JJ today?”

“Huh? No, not yet. I was gonna go over later. I was actually thinking about asking you if you’d seen him today. I expected you to rush right over after you got out.”

“I wanted to stop by home and pick up his present first,” Marvin explained. “So I did, and I went to his flat, but he’s not here.”

“That’s not too weird, is it?” Chase asked, wandering over to sit on the sofa. “Maybe he went out for dinner or something, it is his birthday, after all.”

“Maybe, but he would’ve told us, right? He knew that we were going to stop by.” Chase could hear the sound of Marvin’s nervous footsteps on a hardwood floor. “I’m still at his place, and the only thing that’s different is there’s these weird cupcakes on the counter. So maybe he did go out, but he has to have been here since then to drop them off, if that’s the case. I texted him a couple times, but he hasn’t answered any of them! There’s not even the little ‘Seen’ message popping up.”

“Whoa, Marvin, calm down a bit,” Chase said gently. “He’s probably just...maybe his phone is out of battery?”

“I don’t think so. He likes to keep it fully charged. Even has one of those portable battery things. Chase, it’s really weird that he’s not here,” Marvin insisted.

“Well, yeah, but there has to be an innocent explanation, right?” Chase wasn’t too sure himself, but he had to get Marvin to stop freaking out. He could hear faint thumping sounds on the other end now. “Are you hitting yourself? Marv, be careful, that could bruise.”

“R-right.” The thumping sounds changed, now more like knocking on a wall. Marvin’s breathing was shaky. “Should we call the police? I really don’t think he’d be gone, especially not today.”

“You can call them if you’re sure. Or I can, if you don’t want to talk.”

“Right. Right. I-I’ll text him one more time, just in case.”

There were a few moments of silence as Marvin took his phone away from his ear and started texting. Chase waited patiently, slightly amazed that Marvin’s phone could stay on a call while he needed to use it. He must have a more advanced model.

“Wha...?” Marvin made a small, confused sound. Then, after a slight pause: “Chase, his phone is here. JJ’s phone is here.”

“Well, no wonder he hasn’t been answering texts, then,” Chase said, trying to sound lighthearted.

“No no no, Chase, he wouldn’t leave his phone here if he was going out! He uses that text-to-speech app for people who don’t know BSL. A-and I can see his usual notepad on the coffee table, he didn’t take that either. He wouldn’t risk leaving both of those at home when he goes out!”

Chase’s heart slowly sank into a sea of dread. It was true; Jameson always made sure he had a backup way of communicating in case he ran into someone who couldn’t understand him. “The only way he would do that...” he said quietly. “...is if...either it was an emergency, or if someone...”

“I’m going to call the police now Chase!” Marvin practically shouted.

“Dude, do it! I’m hanging up right now!” And Chase did just that, ending the call.

It couldn’t be true, could it? Something couldn’t have happened to Jameson, right? He didn’t have any enemies or—

No. Wait.

“Shit!” Chase cursed. He was an idiot! The day had been going so well, he’d completely forgotten about Anti. He would certainly count as an enemy, even if he was Jameson’s brother. Maybe especially. Chase quickly sent a text to Marvin. WAIT I JUST REMEMBERED. Yo don thin kit could be that anti guy??.? Tell the police that too!

“God damn you,” Chase growled. “Fucking...Anti.” He’d never even met him, but he just kept making his and his friends’ lives hell, didn’t he? For over a year, now.

Would this ever end? Or would this cycle continue?

——————

Someone was driving a chisel into his head with a hammer. That’s what it felt like. His head was pounding, and each new spike of pain could have easily been in time with the smack of a hammer. He couldn’t even move, the headache was too overwhelming, tears leaking from his closed eyes. The moment it started to lessen up, he quietly drifted off to sleep.

Then, of course, he woke up with his head still hurting. But this time it was bearable. Still awful, but he managed to open his eyes.

This...wasn’t his room. This wasn’t his apartment. Nor was it a room in any of his friends’ houses. He didn’t recognize the pale yellow wall he was staring at, or the white blanket covering him. Slowly, he rolled onto his back, not wanting to make any sudden movement in case it aggravated his headache, but he didn’t see the ceiling. Instead, he saw wooden slats and the bottom of a mattress. A bunk bed? He didn’t know anyone who had a bunk bed. Where was he? Actually, what had happened before he ended up here? He cast his mind back, and—

Instantly, Jameson sat straight up, hitting his forehead against the oddly close bottom of the bunk above him. Crying out, he fell back and rubbed the spot of impact. That definitely didn’t help the headache.

Movement. Coming from the bunk above him, it sounded like, accompanied by creaking and the sound of fabric on fabric. “Wh-who’s down there?” A voice asked. “Are you—you’re awake?”

Actually, that voice sounded familiar. JJ pushed away the blankets and rolled over to the side of the mattress. He grabbed the headboard to help him stand up, since he felt strangely dizzy. Once up, he transferred his grip to the edge of the top bunk, pausing a moment to stop swaying. Then he looked up at the person on the top bunk.

“Wait a second. Jameson?! That’s you?!” It took JJ a moment to recognize Jackie, but once he did, he gasped. It had been almost a year since he’d last seen him, and in that time period, he’d changed a lot. Now he was a lot paler, his hair grown to shoulder-length, and his red hoodie was significantly darker, apparently not having been washed in a while. Jackie was holding onto the railings that surrounded the edge of the top bunk, dangerously leaning over. There was a metal cuff around one wrist, a length of chain connecting it to another cuff attached to one of the railings.

JJ slowly nodded, letting go of the bed to finger-sign. J-A-C-K-I-E?

“Oh my god. You too?! Why don’t we get everyone in here?! Fucking...Kidnapped party with the boys, hey-o!” Jackie laughed hysterically.

...Are you okay? JJ asked.

“Well, uh, relatively, I guess. I’m not, like, actively hurt or anything.” Jackie pressed a hand against his head. “Killer headache, though. You too?” JJ nodded. “Great. Fantastic. Probably from whatever drugs he used. Are you okay? What the hell are you doing here?!”

I’m fine. But it’s a long story. JJ looked around the room. The walls were all painted pale yellow. No windows, but he thought a square on the wall looked a bit different, so maybe the window had been bricked up and painted over. The bunk beds weren’t the only furniture. There was also a white wooden dresser and a similar-looking table, along with two chairs. A corner of the room had a mini fridge and several cabinets that looked like they belonged in a kitchen. There were two doors. One, open, led to an attached bathroom. The other door was closed. Though he knew it was probably a waste of time, JJ walked over there, staggering a bit with the dizziness, and tried the doorknob. Locked, of course. Do you know where we are? He signed, turning around to face Jackie.

“Where we are? No, sorry.” Jackie shook his head. “I’ve been held hostage in a couple different places by now, and this isn’t any of the previous ones. Or maybe it is. It could be in that first house, just in a room I didn’t get to see. But, uh. Yeah. We’ve probably been asleep for a while, judging by his usual style. So there’s no way of knowing.” He paused. “You, uh. Seem weirdly calm about this.”

I'm saving the emotional breakdown for later and looking for a way out now, JJ said, then idly tried the door again. He leaned down to look more closely at the knob. It looked normal. No loose screws when he shook it or anything.

“Oh.” Jackie paused. “Well then, fair enough, but I mean. You haven’t even asked who kidnapped you or why I’m here or what’s going on. Just where we are. I was expecting a bunch more questions.”

Well I already know all those, so I only wanted to know where. JJ tried to peer through the gap of the door. Weren’t there some locks that could be worked around if you slid something through there? Idly, he patted his pockets despite knowing there probably wouldn’t be anything in there. But then he had to stop. He didn’t have any pockets. What? Impossible. He looked down at his clothes, and noticed for the first time that they didn’t belong to him. Blue T-shirt, black pants, white socks. Strangely, he still had his pocket watch, now hanging around his neck. Also I want to know where my clothes are.

“Man, he gave you new clothes? Lucky,” Jackie said jokingly. “But anyway.” He returned to being serious. “What do you mean, you already know? That is what you said, right? You can’t already know everything.”

JJ turned around. Jackie wasn’t as knowledgeable in BSL as all the others, given how he’d been abducted before he could become fluent, so he signed slowly, finger-spelling occasionally. I know I’ve been taken by a man calling himself Anti, and that he took you back in December and Henrik in August. He’s a mercenary who has apparently started kidnapping and serial killing as a hobby. He made Henrik help him with some of that, and now Henrik is in a mental hospital because of all the trauma combined with previous issues. And I know Anti isn’t going to kill me.

That was a lot, and Jackie went silent for a bit as he processed it. “Well. Okay, then. You actually know more than I do.”

JJ tried to smile, then walked over to the dresser and started pulling open its drawers. More clothes, similar to what he was already wearing. No shoes, only socks. Jackie. Do you think you could get down from there, or are you stuck?

“Uh...I think I’m stuck, but honestly, I haven’t tried yet,” Jackie mumbled. “I woke up like. A few minutes ago. Oh hey, there’s a clock on the wall! That’s new. Man, this is the nicest place I’ve been captive in yet. Hang on, I’m gonna see if this chain is long enough to let me get down.”

The ladder to the top bunk was over at the foot of the bed, while Jackie was cuffed to the railing near the head. He crawled over, managing to put his feet on the top rung. But that’s where it got difficult. Spinning around, he could only reach the middle rung before he had to stop, arm yanked taunt to the side. “Yeah, no. Sorry, JJ.” He climbed back to the top bunk, sitting once again at the top of the ladder.

It’s alright, JJ said, frowning. But I can see several complications with that.

“Oh yeah, trust me, it all sucks,” Jackie sighed. “Uh...so. How do you know Anti isn’t going to kill you? I mean, honestly, I’m still not so sure that I’m...um...” He suddenly looked uncomfortable, and more than a bit scared. “A-anyway, you seemed like you definitely knew.”

JJ sighed. He walked over to the chairs at the table and sat down, taking a break to press his hands to his throbbing head. He should probably tell Jackie, right? After all, he’d told Chase and Marvin. And it would be good for them all to be on the same page. Anti is my brother, he explained.

“What?! Like, biologically? For real?”

Yes, unfortunately. He’s my older brother, I lived with him for seven years. Well, technically longer, if you count when we were kids, before we were put into the system. But I mean, he practically raised me from sixteen. Jameson paused. He wasn’t good at it.

“I can imagine,” Jackie muttered. “Wow. Wow, man. That...that sucks.”

Jameson nodded. I thought I’d never see him again, but then he appeared in this city, got involved with all of you, and...I guess it was only a matter of time before he...realized who I was. But I hoped...He squeezed his eyes shut against the sudden wetness in them. I hoped that this wouldn’t happen.

“Wait, did you know he was going to kidnap you if he found you?”

No, but I knew it was a possibility. JJ laughed quietly. That really says something about the kind of person he is, doesn’t it?

Jackie shook his head slowly. “I’m...so sorry, Jameson. Is there anything I can do?”

Jameson thought about that. Well, we need to get out of here. I know it’s going to be difficult, but if there’s anything you can do...

“Right.” Jackie glanced down at his cuffed wrist, then nodded. “Right. H-how about I start with...telling you everything I’ve noticed about him? Maybe if we know how he acts, that’ll help.”

That sounds like a great idea. It had been three years since he’d seen Anti, after all. A lot could change in that time. And I’ll tell you what I remember.

“Pool our information,” Jackie said. He took a deep breath. “Right. Okay, so to start from the beginning...”

——————

A day passed. The police looked over Jameson’s apartment, finding nothing suspicious. Marvin identified everything in the rooms as belonging to JJ except for the cupcakes in the plastic packaging, with their blue frosting. Normally, the police probably would’ve dismissed them, but once Marvin explained the situation—namely, that JJ was part of the friend group that included Dr. Schneeplestein and a missing private detective named Jackie Donovan, both of whom had been proven to have been kidnapped—they decided to run tests on them.

Two days passed. Chase finally got around to explaining the good news he’d received earlier on Halloween to Marvin. That cheered him up briefly, but he was quickly overcome with worry for JJ again. And Chase felt that same worry threatening to engulf him as well. Especially after the detectives contacted them both and said that the strange cupcakes had definitely been laced with illegal sedatives: namely, the strong, but slow-acting, variety. That pushed them to label the case as a definite abduction, with this strange Anti as the main suspect. The same detectives that were working on Jackie’s case took this one, as well, since it was so likely to be linked.

Four days passed. Marvin wasn’t doing so well. Chase was newly busy, but he made sure to check on him. A good thing he did, too, because there were a couple times when he walked in the house and Marvin was just lying in bed, clearly been there since he woke up that morning, often with a cat or two nearby and a bunch of tearstained tissues. Chase wasn’t one to miss the irony of the situation, having been in that position before with his friends being the ones to check in on him. But at least he knew what to do. Make food, insist on hydration, encourage movement, and offer distraction. And also feed the snake and the cats. That part was new.

A week passed. No news from the police. Chase had to admit that maybe there wouldn’t be news for a while, though he didn’t express that to Marvin. After checking in on his friend one more time, he headed out for his other business of the day, which was, incidentally, more visiting and checking in on people.

Chase had stopped by the hospital every day that week. Honestly, the routine distracted him, and it was good to see some progress being made somewhere. By now a lot of the staff were familiar with him, and didn’t even bother to ask him who he was there to visit. Though a lot of them still directed him to the appropriate wing. It was probably required to.

One short trip up an elevator and down a hallway, and Chase pushed walked through the open doorway of the room, making sure to put on a cheerful expression. “Hey bro. It’s me again.”

Jack’s eyes immediately opened at the sound, head swivelling over to look towards him. He managed a small smile—that was good, he was having trouble with facial movements—and a slight up-and-down hand motion that wasn’t really a wave as much as it was a flop. “Hhh...hhiii. Sha-ays.”

“Hi Jack.” Chase took his usual spot in the chair next to the bed. “You’re looking good.”

“Mmnh.”

“No, really.”

Jack reached to the side and hit the controls for the bed, raising it into more of a sitting position. He pointed towards the table next to the bed.

“Oh, right.” Chase twisted around and picked something up. A board about the size of a large school notebook, with rows of squares printed on its surface. Each square had a different word or phrase written inside, some accompanied by handy pictograms. This was a communication board. Dr. Emerson had explained it was meant to help people who had difficulty speaking normally. It looked a bit childish, with the pictures and color-coded squares, which made sense, because they were apparently primarily used for kids. But Emerson said that, since Jack was still having trouble talking and moving, this was a good alternative. “Here you go, dude.”

Jack dipped his head in a slow nod. He adjusted the bed a bit more, then propped the board up using an arm and used the other hand to point. Chase scooted a bit closer to look at the square he was indicating: How are you?

“Oh, I’m good,” Chase said. It was, of course, a bit of a lie, since he was still really worried about Jameson. But that was a complicated situation that he didn’t really feel like talking about. “What about you? How are you feeling?”

“Mmnn.” Jack pointed to a square labelled Bored.

Chase laughed. “You need a TV or something in here. I thought hospital rooms were all supposed to have them. Like, they came pre-installed with those old boxy models that hang from the ceilings.”

“Heh.” Another small smile, though this one was a bit weaker and quickly fell. Ater a moment, Jack pointed to a different square, this one simply labelled Phone with an accompanying simple picture.

“Yeah, I have my phone.” Chase pulled it out of his pocket. “Why? Do you want to text someone?”

The No box, accompanied by a slight head shake.

“Okay. Then...do you want to take a picture or something?”

The Yes box.

“Really? Well, I don’t know if you can hold the phone,” Chase said reluctantly. Jack was having trouble even holding a pencil, hence why he couldn’t write. “Here, we can take a picture together, okay?”

“Eeuh.” The Yes box.

“Alright.” Chase opened up the front-facing camera, then leaned over next to Jack. “Look at the camera.” Jack appropriately turned his head towards the raised phone, and gave one last small smile. Chase matched him with a big smile of his own, and took a couple pictures. “There we go. Look at us.” He showed the phone to Jack, swiping through the photos. “I like this first one, what about you?”

“Ffferr.” Jack tapped a box with the number One in it.

“Right? We look good.” Chase laughed a bit, then put the phone away. “Hey, none of those tubes got mixed up or pulled out while we were doing that, right?”

Jack turned to look around, then slowly reached up and touched his nasal cannula. I don’t think so, said the box on the board he tapped.

“You have a call button you can press, right?” Chase asked fretfully.

Yes box.

“Good. Good.” Chase let out a short breath. If anything happened to Jack after all of this, he would...he would...well, he honestly wasn’t sure what he would do, but it wouldn’t be good.

“Shhays?” Jack asked. “Wh...wherr Mahffin?”

“Where’s Marvin? Oh, uh.” Chase hesitated. “He’s been busy lately.”

“Mmmm?” I don’t think so box.

“You don’t believe me, huh?” Chase shrugged. “Well, it’s true. I don’t know that much about it, either. I guess maybe one of his holidays is approaching. That or he’s looking for a new job.” That second one was actually true. Or at least, it had been before Jameson disappeared. Chase knew Marvin had put in applications at a couple different places, but he didn’t know if any of them had been accepted.

“Mmnnh.” Jack blinked slowly. “Sshays? Whh...whhbout faays?” There was a worried edge to his voice. “Ffay Shays. Fffay Mhffin.”

“The fakes. Right.” Chase nodded slowly, swallowing back a lump in his throat. “I guess I did promise to explain that.”

“Eeuah.” Yes box.

“Well...” Chase hesitated. “Did...did the doctor explain to you why you were in a coma?”

Yes box. “Ssneeep.”

“Yeah, Schneep made some mistakes. I-I guess only you know what really happened that day.” Chase sighed. “And I guess you can explain that once you figure out how. Y’know, I...explained the whole situation to you a couple times, while you were asleep. I don’t know how much you heard. But...basically. What’s important when it comes to the matter of ‘the fakes’ is...” And he hesitated again.

“Shaays,” Jack said, sharply gesturing to the Now box.

“I know, I know, it’s just...it’s hard, bro.” Chase took a deep breath. “Okay. So there’s a criminal running around. Which is, I know, freaky. But basically, he’s one of the dopplegangers. Looks like us, you know? So ‘the fakes’ are when he...would pretend to be us. A-and I guess he came in to see you while doing that?” He shuddered. “I don’t know why. None of us do. But it’s going to be okay. The doctor knows, a-and he knows to make sure it’s me. Uh...because Marvin’s been...busy this week, he hasn’t come in to see you. And when he does, I’m gonna come, too. So...if Marvin comes in alone, that’s not him. But you, uh, probably shouldn’t indicate that. Um. Got all that?”

Jack stared at him for a long while, then slowly tapped the Yes box.

“It’s a lot, I know,” Chase said reassuringly. “It can be uh...do you need a moment?”

Another long pause. Then the I am okay box.

“Okay, if you’re sure.” Chase let out a breath. “What would even happen when ‘the fakes’ showed up? Would they just talk to you?”

Yes box.

“Probably not about normal stuff.”

No box. Followed by the I am scared box.

“Wha—” Chase coughed awkwardly. “Y-you mean he said upsetting things?”

Jack made a small sound, almost like a whimper. Yes box.

“Oh...oh no.” Chase shook his head. He knew from experience that it was really easy to talk to someone who couldn’t answer, to pour out everything you wouldn’t normally say because you knew they couldn’t tell anyone what you said. In the past, talking to comatose Jack had been a way for him to be honest when he felt terrible, but for an actual criminal to come in and talk like that? Those secrets would probably be a lot darker. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Jack blinked at him. Then indicated the How? box.

“...right. The board is good, but I guess it wouldn’t have all the words you need.” Chase nodded. “Well. I mean, later. If you want to talk about it, you can. I-I can teach you BSL, when you’ve got, y’know...better hands.” Jack wheezed at that, a short laugh that made Chase smile. “Yeah, JJ taught me. You remember me telling you about him, right?”

Yes box. “Hhee...sow-sounsss...nai-nais.”

“He is really nice. I think you’d get along.” Chase went quiet. What was happening to Jameson now? It couldn’t be good, not if Anti was involved. Damn it. He couldn’t let anything else happen to his friends! All of them have been through so much already. Marvin was breaking down, Schneep and Jack were in hospitals, and Jackie and Jameson were being held hostage by Jameson’s psychopathic older brother. Enough was enough! He had to do something!

“Shays?” Jack’s head listed to the side, and he tapped the How are you? box.

“O-oh. Yeah, I’m alright, bro, don’t worry, I was just thinking.” Chase shook his head. It was settled. He’d figure out a way to deal with this situation more directly. “Anyway, I was wondering. Can you, like, eat normal foods yet?”

No box.

“Aw, man. I was gonna offer to bring you coffee tomorrow.”

Jack’s eyes widened a bit. “Waa-aay. W-whhayy!”

Chase laughed. “Glad to see that hasn’t changed. But, well, doctor’s orders and all that.”

“Ahhhh.” Jack tried to frown, but only managed a twitch in his mouth.

“One thing to look forward to after all that physical therapy,” Chase reached over to squeeze Jack’s wrist. “You know, you’re already improving really fast. You might be out of here in a couple months.”

“Heh.” That definitely cheered Jack up.

Chase smiled, and quickly moved on. Later, he’d try to think up a way to deal with other situations. He couldn’t just abandon his friends, after all, and he was getting real sick of all this terrible shit happening. But that would need some more planning. For now, he’d focus on one thing at a time.

——————

They’d been stuck in the room for a week, and JJ was starting to get really worried. Why hadn’t Anti showed up yet? What was he planning? Luckily, they wouldn’t starve, as it turned out the mini fridge and strange cabinets had been stocked with food. But that had to run out eventually. What was going on?

The room was locked down tight. The door outside was solid, and that weird square on the wall that might’ve been a sealed-up window showed no signs of wear. There wasn’t a window in the bathroom, either. But on the morning of the second day, JJ did find a small key in the bathroom’s medicine cabinet, which turned out to unlock the cuff on Jackie’s wrist. “Thank god for that,” Jackie had muttered when JJ unchained him from the bunk. “Not gonna lie, though, it’s weird being able to actually walk around.”

Jackie seemed mostly bored with the whole situation, to be honest. Which probably made sense. After all, he did keep reiterating that this was the most comfortable captivity he’d been in since Anti took him. But Jameson just found himself getting more and more worried as time passed. He tried to distract himself by helping Jackie catch up on his sign language learning, but eventually that didn’t work, and he just kept pacing the floor, anxiety slowly growing with every passing hour.

When the locked door finally opened, JJ was almost relieved that the anticipation was over with. But that relief was quickly overshadowed when someone stepped into the room and shut the door.

It was Anti, of course. He didn’t look too much different from how Jameson remembered him. Same brown hair, same single blue eye accompanied by a fake green one. Same scars over half his face, though the long one across his throat was new. However, that watch hanging on a chain around his neck...that was not new. Jameson recognized that immediately, and resisted the urge to reach up and grab his own watch, around his own neck.

The moment Anti entered, Jackie went pale, sitting down hard on the bottom bunk and scooting back until he hit the wall. But Jameson couldn’t move. He stopped his nervous pacing against the wall by the dresser and instantly froze, eyes locked onto Anti. And Anti stared at him in turn, eyes occasionally flicking up and down as he looked him over. The room was silent enough for the three men’s breathing to echo in the air.

Then, slowly, Anti took a couple steps away from the door. He was still standing in between the other two and their only exit, but he didn’t keep guarding it. JJ then noticed that Anti was holding two plastic bags in one hand, which he then set on the ground. Finally, Anti looked away from Jameson, searching the room with his eyes before landing on Jackie. He frowned. “What are you doing? That’s not your bed.”

Jackie flinched. He scrambled up from the bottom bunk and towards the ladder, climbing up it to the top, where he resumed his position with his back against the wall. Anti nodded, then glanced towards the other end of the cuffs still attached to the railing. “Where’s the key?”

Nobody answered, but Jackie instinctively glanced towards Jameson before glancing back. That didn’t go unnoticed by Anti, who looked back towards him. Jameson still couldn’t move. He couldn’t if he wanted to. He was a statue with limbs made of cold, solid stone, a beating heart in his chest pounding loudly in his ears.”Well...I guess it’s fine, then,” Anti finally said, not looking away from Jameson. He went silent for a few seconds. Then: “Jamie.”

That finally broke the spell, and Jameson backed up. What was he supposed to do? He’d been so worried about why Anti wasn’t showing up, that he didn’t think what to do when he finally did. His mind was scrabbling for purchase on shaking ground. His pulse was racing wildly. He couldn’t think of a solution. It wasn’t even an option underneath the sudden appearance of emotion whirling around his brain. Fear? Grief? Dread? Surprise? Relief?

“Do you...like the room?” Anti asked.

It was such an absurd question that the only response Jameson could muster was a strangled choking sound.

“I-I mean, it’s not exactly a five-star hotel, but I tried to make it nice. You have to share it, unfortunately, limited space. Do you two know each other? You’re friends the rest of the group.”

He just had to respond to that statement. How do you know that? Jameson asked, signing shakily.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on them,” Anti stated plainly. “Didn’t realize who you were until I saw you signing with that long-haired one, Marvin. You’re not online, so I couldn’t figure it out from tagging or anything. Took some more old-fashioned work.”

You were stalking me, Jameson said. Weren’t you?

“I had to find out where you lived, didn’t I?” Anti said, ignoring the faint shake of Jameson’s head. “But you caught on. Hah. You always were a clever boy.”

What do you want? Jameson asked. Why did you do this?! He added, signs growing steadier.

“Well you were going to freak out if I tried to talk to you normally, weren’t you?” Anti’s voice was unnervingly calm. “And I was right. I didn’t want to do this, but you kind of made me. So here we are.”

I didn’t ‘make you’ do anything! Jameson protested. You never have to kidnap people!

“This isn’t a kidnapping.”

Jameson just pointed over at Jackie, staring at Anti significantly.

Anti hesitated. Then he laughed. “Alright, I guess it is. Like I said, you’re a clever boy, Jamie.”

Stop calling me that! Jameson signed sharply, feeling a rise of sudden white-hot rage. I hate it, I’ve always hated it, and it doesn’t make this whole thing better if you keep calling me by that stupid nickname! It doesn’t change the fact that you drugged me and took me to some place far away and are now keeping me here against my will!

“Against your will? Aw, you mean you don’t want to see your big brother again?” Anti tilted his head to the side and smiled sickeningly.

Jameson shook his head violently. No! You’re a murderer who just abduct—

“Because I’ve been dying to see you again,” Anti interrupted, walking closer. Jameson paled, but found he couldn’t back up. “Did you know I thought you were dead? Did I tell you that already? I doubt you planned it to look that way, honestly, you’re clever but you never plan ahead. So I guess it was just a coincidence that the note you left sounded like a...permanent goodbye. Why’d you throw your jacket in the river, though?” Anti slowly reached up and grabbed the watch around his neck. “Did you think about what that would imply?” he asked softly.

And once again, Jameson was a statue, petrified by Anti’s dual-colored gaze like a real-world victim of Medusa. God damn it, why did Anti sound actually hurt by this? Was he actually hurt? JJ hadn’t really been thinking when he’d dropped his old jacket in the river three years ago, he just saw his reflection in the water, and suddenly wanted to get rid of the jacket his brother had bought him. So he did, then fled with the suitcase he’d packed. It was true, he hadn’t really been planning ahead when he left, though he’d thought about how Anti would react. Sometimes he wanted to go back, hating to make him sad, but convincing himself he was probably angry. Still, he remembered almost doubling back at a couple different bus stops, thinking it wasn’t worth it.

Had Anti really thought...? Something like that would be upsetting to anyone, especially over someone who’d been under your care for years. He never meant to—

Why was he thinking about this?!

Jameson shook his head, and pushed Anti back. I don’t care what you thought, he said harshly. I don’t care how you felt.

“Of course you do,” Anti said. “I saw how you were hesitating. We’re brothers, Jameson, we care about each other. And you’re so sensitive, of course you can’t help it.”

No, no, no. Jameson continued to shake his head. I don’t care how you felt because you never cared what I felt. A seventeen-year-old shouldn’t be helping to dispose of a body. A twenty-year-old shouldn’t be afraid to go outside because his brother convinced him enemies would be after him.

“I didn’t want to get you involved in any of it,” Anti insisted. “But sometimes I had to! I couldn’t do it alone. Jamie—Jameson, it killed me to ask for your help. I just wanted you to be safe, but I was putting you in active danger out of necessity. So I had to make sure that nothing happened to you, especially when I was out and couldn’t protect you. I was just trying to keep you safe.”

You’re contradicting yourself, Jameson signed, keeping his face carefully expressionless. Keeping me safe, yet continually involving me in your work? You were a hypocrite back then, and you’re a hypocrite now.

“Oh my god, why can’t you just understand?!” Anti suddenly shouted. “No, of course! You don’t understand! You’re not even trying! It was so fucking difficult, Jameson, I did what I had to.” He took a deep breath. “Please, Jamie. You’re a sweet boy. Always have been. Why can’t you be now?”

Because you fucking kidnapped four people and killed thirteen! Jameson signed, aghast. Are we forgetting that? Or are you just trying to get me to?

Anti sighed, looking disappointed. “Alright. We can stop for the night.” He backed up, glancing over towards the bunk beds to make sure Jackie was still sitting there. “It’s a complicated situation, all of it. But you’re my little brother, and I care about you.” He reached the door, and grabbed the handle. “I brought you groceries, since I saw you were about halfway through them. I’ll stop by again.” And quickly, he opened the door and slipped out, the lock clicking behind him.

Silence.

Then Jackie let out a long, slow breath. “That was...that was f-fucking terrifying.”

JJ relaxed, letting out all of the tension he’d been holding. I told you he wasn’t aggressive all the time, he said, walking over to the plastic bags Anti had left on the floor and crouching down to look through them. A lot of dry foods. No drinks, but that was fine, since the mini fridge was full of them. He grabbed the bags and moved them over to the cabinet area.

“Yeah, but...it’s an entirely different thing to see it in person.” Jackie slowly inched back over to the bunk beds’ ladder, sitting with his feet on the top rung. “Mother of fuck. I thought it couldn’t get worse than the time he was strangling me, but that. It wasn’t exactly threatening, but it was...wow.”

Sorry, the time he what?! JJ asked, eyes wide as he turned to look back at Jackie.

“Oh. Uh...I-I’ll explain later, if you want,” Jackie mumbled. “What did he bring?”

Dropping the subject for now, JJ glanced through the bags again. Everything we need, he said. You’re right. He’s watching us.

Jackie nodded. “Of course. Wonder where the camera is this time.”

Jameson gave the room a sweep with his eyes. There wasn’t anywhere obvious, but then again, modern cameras were so tiny. It could be anywhere. A direct connection to Anti. He’d be always there, always watching...

Suddenly, Jameson’s legs gave out and he fell to the floor.

“JJ!” Jackie scrambled down the ladder and rushed over. “What happened?! Are you okay?”

“Hhhhnnn.” Jameson covered his mouth. His furious blinking couldn’t hold back the tears anymore, and a few slipped out. He got into a kneeling position, slowly shaking his head.

“Are you hurt? I-I mean physically?” Jackie reached out to touch Jameson’s shoulder, only for him to sharply pull away and shake his head harder. “I—okay. What’s wrong? What do you need?”

He just kept shaking his head, now trembling all over as he bent over and covered his head with his arms. It was just one conversation. One conversation, and in the course of that conversation, he had frozen up, gotten angry, then slowly started buying into what Anti was saying. He managed to catch himself this time but...It was going to go back to the way it used to be. There was no way to escape it. And now, he was physically trapped as well, unable to leave. He’d just keep listening to Anti. God damn it. God damn it! He couldn’t do this!

“H-hey, it’s...I mean, that looked really hard to do.” Jackie sat down on the floor next to him, crossing his legs. “But you did it, you know. It was really impressive, actually.”

Jameson looked up, and managed to start signing. I won’t be able to do it next time.

“What are you talking about? Of course you will!” Jackie smiled a bit, before looking grave. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s still going to be hard. But you’ve done it before. Hell, sounds like you managed to run away from the bastard in the past. When you were on your own, too. I probably can’t do much to, like, fight back, but I’ll still be here. Kind of have to be, ha. So...that’s different, I guess. Tell me if you need anything. Okay? I promise I’ll help.”

Jackie’s positivity was a bit awkward, but his tone was genuine. JJ found himself relaxing. He took a few deep breaths, then looked around the room. Things he could see: bunk bed, bags, bathroom door, mini fridge, Jackie. Things he could hear: his heartbeat, breathing, Jackie talking, slight humming from the lights. Things he could feel...he went down through the list.

“You...are you okay?” Jackie asked.

Better, JJ replied. But a bit drained. I think I’m going to take a nap.

“Alright. Go ahead. I’ll get these groceries sorted out.”

JJ nodded, and stood up, making his way over to the bottom bunk. Pushing the covers aside, he climbed in, turning to face the wall. His pocket watch was still hanging from his neck, and this time, he couldn’t stop himself from holding it. Then he took it off. Not around the neck. Somewhere different. To remind him that things weren’t the same.

Slowly, he fell asleep to the sound of Jackie rummaging in the cabinets.

——————

That hadn’t gone well. Anti sat down at his desk, replaying the conversation over. Where had he gone wrong? There must have been a couple places. Jameson clearly didn’t trust him, for obvious reasons. So, he’d need to find some way to gain it back. If Jameson wanted him to leave him alone, then he would. For a bit. Refine his conversation skills and what to say. Put more effort into it. He might have to lie at times, but that was fine.

He glanced at his phone. Some notifications alerting him to new messages in his...“work” email. Eventually, he’d have to answer some. That was how he got money, after all, which allowed him things like this new safe house.

What about Jackie? He’d been pretty quiet during that encounter. Good. If he was trying to gain Jameson’s trust, it would be a shame to hurt a friend of his. He’d let him be for now.

Anti looked over at the other item on the desk. A small turquoise notebook. After a few seconds, he reached over and picked it up, fanning through the pages until he reached one in particular. Then, he slid something out from between them. A keycard. He’d been reading this notebook for a while, and based on the contents, he could guess what this card was for. Why Marvin had it, he wasn’t sure, since it clearly belonged to that doctor woman.

And he wondered...should he make use of the card now? Or should he wait a while?

He played with the card for a minute, flipping it over his fingers. No, he’d wait. He already had enough to deal with at the moment. Maybe once he’d adjusted to the change. Still, it didn’t mean he couldn’t give the idea some thought. Bring it into solid reality.

Three at once might be a little much, but he could handle them.

And Jameson might like another friend.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticegos #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticeye au #septic egos au #septic egos #chase brody #marvin the magnificent #jameson jackson #jackieboy man #antisepticeye #brigid writes fanfiction #pwtimeline

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nott-is-brave · 4 years

Text

Freeze (Caleb x Reader)

Request: Could you write something where the reader is Calebs SO and they get held hostage during a battle and he and the mighty nein have to figure out what to do?

A/N: Thank you for the request :) I’m sorry for how long this took; a bunch of stuff came up as soon as I started this blog. Tbh I don’t think I could have picked a worse time, but that’s just life lol. I’m hyped to get back into writing tho!

It had been a long day of travelling through the rugged mountains, the harsh sun and jagged terrain taking it’s toll on everybody. By the time the sun fell, the Mighty Nein had grown weary from their attempts to maneuver the cart up the steep cliffs and narrow paths. Their moods were further dampened by the biting cold that set in at nighttime (except for Jester, of course, who chimed that it was the perfect temperature for cuddling).

It was maybe a few degrees colder than “perfect” you thought, but you couldn’t argue that sharing body heat didn’t sound appealing at the moment. You curled up next to Caleb on the cold ground, cursing the fact that there was no kindling to start a fire that could warm you. Even with his thick coat, you could see in the moonlight that his nose and ears were bright pink.

He turned even pinker when you shimmied closer, still not warm enough for your liking. Frumpkin found his way under the covers and nuzzled into you both. Some time passed, but you couldn’t quite fall asleep with the frigid air nipping at you.

You settled for listening to the night air. There were a few owls out and about, and some crickets chirping in the distance. It was a rather still night, and your eyes made their way back to Caleb’s face. He looked so peaceful. You watched for him a while, observing the rise and fall of his chest, the smudged dirt on his face, his soft eyelashes-

Caleb’s eyes snapped open abruptly. You were a bit taken aback as he pushed himself onto his elbows, looking around.

“What’s wrong?” you asked, sitting up as well.

“Somebody tripped the thread,” he whispered back, looking around. Fjord and Beau, who were on watch, looked over when they heard this and began scanning the area. Their hands slowly moved towards their weapons as all four of you looked around.

You had set up camp somewhere that had little to no cover. You didn’t see anybody around you, and the look Beau gave you told you that she didn’t either. Fjord leaned over and began shaking the others awake, who groggily opened their eyes and grumbled.

Caleb raised his hand to cast dispel magic, immediately ending the invisibility spell that was hiding about a dozen bandits with their weapons already drawn.

Absolute chaos followed. Adrenaline kicked in and within a seconds, blades were clashing and arrows were flying. These didn’t seem like the typical bandits you would run into; they were quite skilled and each had some spellcasting ability. It of course didn’t help that you were outnumbered.

Before you could even get a hit in, an explosion went off right next to you and sent you flying through the air. You hit the hard ground with a loud THUD, your vision going white for a few moments. Your ears rung loudly and you weren’t sure if you were breathing or not. You struggled to try and stand up, incredibly disoriented and dizzy. As soon as you made your way onto your feet, you were forced to dodge a punch from one of the bandits. The second strike narrowly missed, but the third hit you square in the jaw and knocked you out for good.

Despite their unusual skill in battle, the bandits could tell that they were losing. Their numbers began to dwindle as they hit the ground, unconscious. The Mighty Nein thought they had this in the bag before a loud voice called out to them above the noise of the battle.

"Stop fighting, or she dies!"

Caleb froze when he saw the bandit holding your unconscious body over the side of the cliff. He felt his mind go blank, a familiar sense of paralyzing fear filling his senses.The fireball in his hands fizzled out, and the rest of your friends stopped short as well. Everyone exchanged panicked looks as the bandits circled around.

"Drop your weapons!"

Nobody moved for several moments, before the falchion disappeared from Fjord's grasp and he raised his hands in surrender. Yasha slowly lowered her sword, allowing a bandit to take it from her. Nott set down her crossbow calmly (in comparison to Beau, who was seething in rage as a bandit pried her staff from her hands). The others dispelled their magic, looking at each other in fear before back to you.

The group could do nothing as the bandits raided their camp, taking their weapons and cart. The entire time they held you captive. After what happened to a certain lavender tiefling, they weren't willing to gamble on whether the threat was empty or not.

"We're leaving enough food for you to turn around and go back to the last town you came through. If you try to follow us, we won't hesitate to kill you all," the leader warned as they began leaving. The monk bandit set you down carefully, ignoring the burning glare that Caleb was sending his way, before rejoining his companions. Even though the Nein had lost all of their belongings, you were okay, and that’s what really mattered. Besides, you would get your revenge soon enough.

#critical role x reader #caleb widogast #caleb x reader #caleb widogast x reader

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one-leaf-grimoire · 4 years

Text

“illusion”

Chapter 13

Yo it's been a while! Sorry about that, I've been busy working on another fic (Triad, if you want to check it out). Anyway, here's the beginning of a fierce battle lol- things will not go as planned. I also forgot how to write fight scenes lol but that's okay bc the emotional moments here are nice. Anyway, enjoy!

WARNINGS: description of graphic injury. Also, I’ll be making an sfw version of this soon so stay tuned!

AO3 LINK (WARNING- THE WORK IS OVERALL SPICY MINORS DNI)

"There are injured civilians and Magic knights throughout the city! Some might be shipped out as POWs soon, but that's why we're here, to stop it! Our primary objective is to clear the area of innocents and the injured, then wait for reinforcements from the Silver Eagles to arrive and drive out the enemy. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir!"

There's barely a second to waste, so Captain Hervey barks out his orders to us as we shoot towards the border town, finally coming into view. My heart is pounding, my hands gripping the wood of my broom handle so tight I'm surprised it hasn't cracked. Alice holds onto me as I drive, bent over a bit to avoid getting a face-full of my hair as the wind whips through it. All of us are here on brooms, except Julius, who went off ahead by himself to scout out the area. His absence just makes me more nervous. I hope he comes back soon- what if they were waiting for him, and he gets captured, or worse-

My thoughts are (thankfully) cut off as Hervey continues his spiel. "Once Julius gets back with info, I'll split you up into groups, then deploy you. Remember, try not to attack the enemy until all the civilians are out of the way."

I nod slowly to myself, my eyes still transfixed on the city. There's smoke rising, and I can hear magic blasts from afar. This morning, the vague order came directly from the Wizard King: "The border town of Lullin has been under siege from the Diamond Kingdom for three days. They have finally broken through the Crimson Lion Kings' defenses. Your squad will hold them off until the Silver Eagles arrive as backup."

And that was it. The strange thing is, none of us knew about this siege, even though it's been going on for three days! We land on the outskirts, out of sight from any of the forces inside. The town was walled, as are many border towns, and the fight is going on within the pit. Was it kept secret on purpose? Whatever was going on here, it was now our problem. The Grey Deer were used more as a diplomatic squad, escorting royalty, nobility, and foreign visitors. Most of the battling was done by the Silver Eagles and the Crimson Lions. But today must be desperate, because here we are, nervous as can be, getting ready to jump into our first real fight in a while.

"Well, at least we get to kick some Diamond ass!" Nigel, of course, is rearing to go, even though I suspect this newfound confidence is just a way to cover up his own nerves. He does a few lunge stretches, which at least lightens the mood. "Giles, lets have a contest!"

Giles, who looks like a corpse right about now, nearly jumps out of his skin at the sound of his name being called. "Huh? I don't think this is the time for a contest!" he objects.

"No, no, it'll be easy!" Nigel smirks and hits his hand into his palm. "Whoever takes out the most diamond guys wins!"

"Take out? Like, KILL?!"

"No! Like- take out-"

"You didn't think this through, did you?" Alice asks, her face not matching her teasing tone. "Don't bother keeping count... just..." Her gaze drifts, and it's obvious that her next words are meant only for Giles.

"Don't... get yourself killed because you're distracted. Just survive." Her smile reappears, just a whisper. "Alright?"

Giles stares at her for a long second, the sunlight shining on his glasses. You can see the understanding start to dawn on his face, and even he manages to smile back, a smile meant to quell her worries.

"Of course. Right back at ya, Alice."

Suddenly, there's a loud whoosh and a CRACK in our encampment. We whirl around to see Julius land there as powerfully and gracefully as usual. My lips part for a moment in a quiet sigh of relief. He's back! And unharmed!

"Julius, what's the situation?" Hervey demands, turning to walk over to his Vice Captain. "How many are there?"

Julius takes a moment to catch his breath before answering. "A lot..." He shakes his head. "Maybe a hundred Diamond mages. Plus their General."

There's a worried murmur among the squad at the mention of the General. Instead of captains, the Diamond Kingdom army was led by their "8 Shining Generals," who were rumored to be as fearsome as they come. If one of them was here, and had already defeated the Crimson Lions, how on earth are we supposed to make any headway?

"Dear God..." Hervey twists his goatee anxiously, his forehead creasing at least five times as he considers what to do. "Do you know which one?" He glances up in time to see Julius shake his head. "Well, we're going in blind... perhaps we should stick to the perimeter-"

"The Crimson Lions are being kept hostage in the center of town," Julius cuts in before his captain can finish. "The General is stationed in there I believe. As for the residents, they're being kept in their homes in several areas of town. I don't know what the enemy plans to do with them, but I think we should try and evacuate them before the Silver Eagles arrive." He glances around at the rest of us. "We'll split into four groups. Three will sweep the houses and evacuate civilians. Me, Captain Hervey, and a few of you will head for the center and cause a distraction." His gaze hardens for a moment as the orders are issued. "We should be able to accomplish this quickly. I don't want any civilians to get caught up in battle once the Silver Eagles are here."

We all nod silently in agreement. Hervey opens his mouth to say something, but even he can feel it; When Julius spoke, everyone's nerves were eased, if only for a moment. For a moment... it was like Julius was the Captain.

With that, Hervey splits us up into groups and tells us to prepare ourselves. I get put into a group with Wren, Giles, and Martin, which I'm not thrilled about, but at this point I'm to jumpy to even care. Everyone is tense, their hearts pounding adrenaline through their bodies. Alice sits on a rock and taps her foot. Martin starts biting his nails. Malota and Hervey talk together quietly. Julius hasn't spoken- or looked at me for that matter- since we left the base. Now, he stands alone on the ridge overlooking the passage to town, his face turned away from me so I have no hope of reading it. But his shoulders are squared, his head held high, and his stance sure. Whatever lays ahead, he's ready and confident. My heart starts pounding for a different reason, but I shake my head to rid it of any intrusive thoughts.

I have to clear my head, to get ready for this... I have to focus more than anyone else here.

Using my Illusion magic is tricky enough, and even more so in the fray of battle. I have only seconds to read someone's face, cast my spell, and generate an image of something in their mind that will stop them from attacking me. Like with those bandits before, I'll probably go with injuries that will shock them. I squeeze my eyes shut taking in a deep breath.

Injuries... injuries...

It would be so much easier if I could see my own illusions, but by nature they only appear in the minds of my targets. I have to transmit that image as convincingly as possible if it's going to do anything. And in order to do that, I do... research. I have a box full of medical textbooks and trauma first aid manuals under my bed, which have some pretty realistic pictures inside. Every time I crack open a page, my stomach turns and I feel dizzy, but I force myself to look.

It hurts that much just to study... I can't imagine how it must feel to see that injury appear on your body.

But now I have to do just that. I have to hurt people again.

Maybe it'll feel nice... I suck in another breath through my nose, squeezing and releasing my fist a few times.

I've been hurt a lot lately... maybe it'll feel nice to finally hurt someone else.

I imagine what it'll be like, when enemies are attacking and I have no choice but to use my power. I already know, that every single one of them will have Lawrence's face plastered on in my mind's eye.

Before I can think to hard about it, I hear someone crying.

Blinking slowly, I remove myself from my trance and turn to see someone slumped behind a tree, their head hanging and their arms hugging themselves like they were the only real thing left in this world. "Um... are you okay?" I take a few cautious steps, walking into the treeline and realizing that it's none other than Cecelia who's crying.

As soon as she hears my voice, she looks up, her eyes already swollen and red. "Oh- uh- yeah-" She reaches up and starts to wipe her face frantically. "I-I just got really nervous for a second, I t-think I'll be fine now-" She lowers her hand and takes a deep breath. But, when she releases it, more tears burst out. With a whimper, she covers her face, her shoulders trembling.

She's scared. Well, we're all scared, but she lets it show on her face. Her eyes are overflowing with water and she bites her lip hard to keep it from twitching.

She's... so scared...

"Cecelia..."

Without really thinking, I walk forward and pull her into a hug. Cecelia freezes up for a moment, her face planted right into the fluffy shoulder of my robe. I give her a squeeze.

She's only 15... and yet she has to go to war with the rest of us.

"I don't really remember my first battle. I was your age though," I start to say, not exactly sure where I'm going with this. Lately, I'm the one who had to be comforted, so being there for someone else isn't coming as naturally as I would like. But I have to do the best I can. "I bet you won't even remember this in a few months."

Slowly, Cecelia nods and lets her hands come up to hug me back, but her crying does not cease. "Are you s-sure?"

...no.

"Of course." I stroke her hair gently, my heart clenching more and more.

Oh god... if anything happens to her...

"Hey, what's going on here?"

We both look up to see Alice peek around the tree, her eyes widening when she spots Cecelia's tears. "oh! CC..." Instead of being paralyzed like I was, Alice immediately melts into a grin before stepping forward. "Give me your hand."

Hesitantly, Cecelia, lets go of me and lets Alice take her small hand. Alice bends down just a little to look the girl in the eye, her irises glinting with golden determination. "You're nervous, right?"

Cecelia nods.

"You can say it, it's okay."

"I...I-I'm scared..."

"That's perfectly alright. But listen-" Alice clasps her other hand over Cecelia's. "You're in my group, right? So I'll protect you! No matter what. And you're going to protect me too!"

Cecelia's breaths are still shaky, but somehow she manages to smile as well.

"I will..."

"Promise?" Alice sticks out her pinky finger, causing Cecelia to giggle. They lock fingers and shake once.

"Promise!"

The somber air is gone now, replaced by something more hopeful. I let out a relieved sigh before turning to leave. I wish I was as good as Alice, I think sadly. She's so good at handling these types of delicate situations. She's always been my rock... Could Alice really be involved in my attacks? Was she really part of that plan?

... no. Of course not.

"Hey! You too!" I look back to see Alice and Cecelia looking at me. "Promise me you'll protect yourself, and everyone else in your team," Alice repeats.

"Well, maybe not Martin-" Cecelia pipes up, grinning as both Alice and I collapse into peels of laughter. "I'm kidding, guys!"

"Cecelia, never change-" I tell her through a giggle, reaching up to wipe my own eyes. "And yes... I'll protect everyone, I promise."

With that, there's only mere minutes before we have to set out. The fear in my veins is still there, but my new-found confidence beats it back into being silent. This is just like many fights and battles before. Maybe on a larger scale that I'm used to, but it's just another fight. A fight that I will probably forget within a few months. I leave Alice and Cecelia alone, stepping back out into the meadow. Once again, my eyes are drawn to Julius, still standing by himself on the ridge. Should I go say something? I gulp nervously, my heart fluttering a little. Part of me doesn't want to bother him, but at the same time, I wonder if I will regret passing up this one last chance.

"... hey."

Julius looks to his side as I finally walk up to him, my eyes fixed on the city in the distance. "Oh, hi. I was wondering if you were going to come keep me company."

I shoot a glance up at him to see him smiling, and my nerves melt away immediately. "Ah, I see... well, better late than never?"

"For sure." He closes his eyes for a moment before opening them again to study my face. "Well... it's been an... eventful day, hasn't it?"

I gulp nervously, glad that we're facing away from the others because my face is definitely starting to heat up. "Um, yeah, I suppose it has-" I let out a breath of embarrassed laughter, the memories of earlier this morning flooding back. These past few days were crazy, and something tells me it's just going to get worse. "I'm sorry, I guess-"

"Sorry? For what?" Julius winks. "I enjoyed myself, you know." I raise an eyebrow, my heart pounding a little. Between last night and this morning, things between us have... escalated. And now, on the horizon of battle, there's nothing I'd like to do more than throw myself into his arms and hold him one last time. I'm sure he'll be fine, but I don't want to die without that...

But we can't. I feel eyes burning into our backs, watching us closely. Malota, I know, is watching. She and Alice alone know about me and Julius, and any wrong move could set off an explosion.

"If anyone should be sorry, it's me." Julius finally speaks again, his eyes narrowing slightly as sadness pools within them. My breath catches in my throat at the look, and I almost want to start crying right then and there. "I... hope you don't feel like I'm taking advantage of your situation, because you're vulnerable. And I hope you know that I was serious about everything I said before, and-"

Suddenly, he's the one who seems desperate to confess something, even though he's been honest with me from the very start. I can't do anything but stare at him blankly, dumbfounded that he's apologizing, before blinking away my shock.

"You're special to me."

And Julius... you have no idea how much I want to love you.

My heart strains hard at the walls I put up around it, begging me to set it free and finally surrender it to someone on my own terms. But this isn't a good time... in fact, it's the worst time possible. So I keep it imprisoned just a little longer.

"Julius-"

He stops talking as I reach out. I want to touch him, to rub up his chest, to grab the collar of his shirt and shut him up with a big kiss. And from the look in his eyes, I know he wants the exact same thing.

But I don't do that. I just let my hand land on his shoulder, like a good comrade would.

"You have nothing to apologize for. Honestly." I offer him a smile, one that I hope comforts me just as he does.

Slowly, Julius nods, then reaches out to grab my shoulder as well. We stand there, still, for a moment, but any longer and people would start to think. So I let go, and he does the same. "We need to go." Julius inhales deeply, the sadness gone from his eyes. "Be careful, alright? There's a lot I want to talk about when this is over."

"Oh?" I shoot him a wink as I step away. "And a lot you want to do with me, right?"

Julius's eyebrows pop up in surprise, but he can't suppress a grin, a slight tinge of pink appearing on his cheeks and nose. "Of course, of course. I still owe you a reward, don't I?"

I open my mouth in mock shock, even though that one comment is sending my heart reeling once again. Oh my god, I better survive today! I'm not sure what Julius has in mind for that "reward" but something tells me that it's going to be something I'll remember for a long, long time.

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

As soon as we part, the world descends into a blur. Hervey is once again shouting orders, and everyone jumps onto their brooms, ready to go. In one swam, we lift off the ground, but then our groups break off to surround the city. "Hey! Loser!" I look over to see Alice grinning at me as she starts to zoom away. The wind muffles her words, but I can just make them out. "See you later!"

"You too!" I smile and give her one last wave before turning away.

Wren, Giles, and Martin fly behind me, silent but already with their grimoires out. I squint my eyes against the wind as I watch the center of the city like a hawk, where Julius and the others will be causing a distraction.

Any second now... come on-

It happens; the entire area grows cold, and a huge spike of ice rockets up out of the earth like some evil, jagged tower. "There! That's the captain's magic! Let's go!"

"Hell yeah!" Wren lets out a hoot as we start to spiral down to our assigned sector of the city.

"Hold on! Don't go so fast!" I yell over to him. "Someone's gonna see us, we need to give them time to get distracted-"

"So? We're here for a fight!" Wren smirks. "Anyway, it's not like you're in charge, I'm the oldest here."

"Maybe Giles should be in charge!" Martin pipes up. "He has glasses, right?"

"Martin, that's the dumbest thing you've ever said." I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing to God that I had been paired with Julius or Alice or anyone other than these two. "Fine, Wren, you lead us, but for the love of GOD, please don't do anything dumb."

Wren's ego is just growing by the minute, and he even does a fist bump in midair. I roll by eyes at him before looking back down at the city, and notice some soldiers running out of a large building and towards the center of town. "There!" I point out. "That's where-"

"Where the prisoners are being held!" Wren cuts me off rudely. "Martin, you head towards the closest wall and start making a hole in it. I doubt we'll have time to escort the civilians to the main gate. And you two-" he glances over at Giles and I. "We're going in hot, so get ready!"

"Aye aye!" Martin swoops away towards an abandoned section of the wall, his brown grimoire already flipping open. I don't have time to watch him activate his wood magic and land, because Wren, Giles and I start our dive. The wind whips around us, and the few Diamond guards still stationed at the building finally notice us. "Look out!" They start to open their Grimoires, but it's too late.

"Illusion Magic: Sudden Death."

There's seven of them, more than I expected, but the two that I don't manage to transmit the illusion to stand there shocked as their comrades suddenly start screaming and clutching at their stomachs. "Huh? What the hell? What's wrong?"

"Feather Magic: Harpy's Fury!"

They look up just in time to see a barrage of sharpened feathers shoot down at them. The projectiles cut and stab, until the remaining enemies fall to the ground in an unconscious heap, just in time for the three of us to make our graceful landing.

"That was awesome! Did you see me take those guys down?! Did ya?!" Wren nudges one of the fallen with his boot, getting no reaction in return.

Giles puts his broom down and frowns curiously at the enemy through his spectacles. "What did you do to them?" he asks me. "I mean, what did you show them?"

I shrug. "Not much..." I gulp nervously, forcing myself to shut the images away in a compartment of my brain. "Intestines usually does it."

Giles winces a little, but shakes his head. "Well, you distracted them-"

"Come on! We're going to be slower than the other teams if you keep chit-chatting!" Wren yells, already halfway through the door. Giles and I exchange an exasperated look before running after him.

To our surprise, the first halls seem rather empty. If I had to guess, this is some sort of common area for the town. Which means that there's a large, central room, perfect for holding a large number of prisoners. There's probably more guards stationed around there-

Sure enough, we turn the corner and come across an opening. There's a large double door, barricaded shut, with three guards in front. They seem surprised to see us, but we don't give them time to act. Well, more specifically... Giles doesn't."

"Horn Magic: Mighty Ox!"

With a loud yell, Giles balls up his fists and punches forward with both at the same time. Right on cue, two sharp, massive horns form around them, spotless ivory shining in the lantern light. As he thrust forward, the horns broke free, rocketing towards the enemy. With a resounding bang, they went flying back, breaking through the door and skidding to a stop on the tile floor beyond. "There!"

"Damn, Giles-" I can't help but say, my mouth twisting into a smile. Giles, soft spoken, bookish Giles, was a beast! No wonder Alice liked him so much.

Giles brushes off his sleeves before giving me an uncharacteristically confident smile. "Surprised? You've seen this magic many times."

"Yeah? And it still blows me away every time."

"GUYS?" Wren suddenly wines. "Come on, we have a shit ton of people to save."

I don't answer, just sticking my tongue out at him briefly before running to enter the great hall. Just as we thought, it's packed to the brim with people, frightened civilians who are huddled together on blankets and flimsy looking cots. "Y-You're Magic Knights!" one of them exclaims, tears edging her eyes as she realizes that they are saved.

"Yeah, yeah, we're the Grey Deer." Wren crosses his arms as he "kindly" addresses the crowd. "Everyone, get up and get moving! We've prepared an escape route to get you all out of here before the Silver Eagles get here to kick these guys' asses!"

There's a flurry of movement as people jump up, grabbing their meager belongings and scrambling to get ready. Wren gives us a worried look, his eyes narrowing slightly. I know what he's thinking: this is going a little too smoothly. Let's get out of here. "Giles-" Wren turns to address him. "Make a hole in that wall over there. It's quicker than walking all the way back through the building."

Giles nods, bringing out his grimoire once again. "Right!" He directs his attention to the wall, his back to us. "Horn Magic-"

Midsentence, I see it appear on his back. A ball of energy shoots between Wren and I to hit him, and on impact I see his body freeze in place.

My eyes widen, not quite taking in the sight, not before it's too late.

"GILES-"

"AAAAAAH-"

Giles's body crunches up, a quickly growing spot of green foam spreading over his back. His shirt dissolves along with it, and I see that his skin has been burnt an angry red color. With one last agonized cry, Giles stumbles and falls to his knees, shaking with pain.

What?! Wren and I finally react, spinning around to see a group of ten mages coming into the room behind us. One of them, the man in front, wears a fluffy black coat, his hair slicked back over his head, and a wide, cruel smile on his face. Three stones are embedded in his head, one on each cheek and another above his lip. His grimoire is an acid green color, matching the magic that hit Giles, and floats open in front of him. Wren and I stay frozen in place, our heart pounding as if we were in the sights of an apex predator.

Because... that's exactly what this man is.

Almost in slow motion, he speaks.

"Slime Mold Magic... release."

A shuddering breath is ripped from Giles's throat as the magic leaves his body, returning to this man's Grimoire. I glance back to see him sit up, still pale and shaky. Shit! Who is this guy?! I turn back to look at this new enemy. He's strong, I can tell... oh god...

"You three... Magic Knights. I can tell that you're young." The mage licks his lips. "And full of potential. We value that in the Diamond Kingdom. It's not something I should waste." The way the words leave his lips is akin to a hiss from a snake. "So, I'll give you one chance... leave now, and I won't harm you."

"No way!" Wren immediately answers, his hand on his Grimoire. His eyes hold none of their usual mirth; only shrewd observation as he takes in his options. I nod slowly along with him, still formulating a plan of my own. "We came here to save these people, and that's exactly what we'll do."

The mage laughs, the cruel sound echoing through the hall. A few of the frightened civilians behind us are whimpering in fear. "Foolish children... do you really want to feel the wrath of one of the Shining Generals?"

"H-Huh?" The threat takes me by surprise and I can't help but let the gasping word leave my lips. "But..." I glance at Wren, who has gone pale as well. "Wasn't the General supposed to be in the center of town?"

"Silly girl." The Mage laughs again, louder this time, his Grimoire already flipping to a new page.

"Did you think we'd only send one?"

ooooooooooooh noooooo MC has to fight a shining general now... with two questionable comrades lol. How will this turn out? Find out whenever I decide to update again lol!

#black clover #spicy #illusion #fic #julius novachrono x reader #julius novachrono

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shaydeoffical · 4 years

Text

Bright as a Diamond. Shinso Hitoshi x Fem Reader: Chapter Nine

Chapter Summary: Shota takes (Y/n) and Shinso to the USJ to get some specialized hostage training done. But things rarely go to plan, and (Y/n) gets to play the role of the victim to her dismay. But there is one thing she knows for sure, she’s not a tease.

Series Summary: When (Y/N)’s co-worker decided to send a picture of her making a diamond to the paper, her life was over. Gemstone based quirks weren’t all that rare, but being able to make a diamond put a target on her back. After years of hiding in the city, it’s time to hide in the countryside with her Uncle Shota Aizawa and his more than ‘roommate’ Hizashi Yamada. With the promise of training her to be self-sufficient, she’s ready to learn.

Author Note: Me updating two days in a row? Unheard of lol. Also this chapter is 5K, so enjoy the fest. I tried to make this some more wholesome, but also...I like to keep some action going.

Warning: Near drowning, avalanche, flashbacks

Last Chapter: Eight

Next Chapter:Nine

Hostage Training

It had been a few weeks since my run-in with Kira, and Hisoka's accident. Despite looking for the animal that hurt Hisoka, we found nothing. Just like the police still hadn't found Kira. It was unsettling but manageable.

I was sitting on the porch waiting for Shota to pick me and Shinso up for training. Hisoka was cuddled in my lap, lazily pawing at my exposed thighs. Per Shota's request, I was to wear my paired down training uniform and lose all the camo elements.

Still, I wasn't a big fan of showing off my body. Lately, I hadn't been so hard on myself about it, after nearly being kidnapped, I was thankful that my body was still my own. Grateful that Hisoka enjoyed my soft thighs and stomach. Thankful that I was able to even move and fight.

Mom would be happy that I wasn't skipping meals or hiding in my room all day. I should really try calling her, I just don't know what I'd begin to tell her. Maybe about Shinso?

"Why so contemplative Kitten? Trying to remember how to tie your shoes?" Shinso kneeled and did up my laces, double knotting the bow.

"No," I puffed my cheeks and pouted when Hisoka ran off to the koi pond. "I was just thinking about my mom is all."

"What about her?" Shinso sat beside me, leaning back on his forearms.

"She moved to a care facility around the same time I moved here. Her quirk lets her make burning coals, and for some reason, it's started activating inside her without warning. She lost one of her lungs not too long ago because of it. So she's partaking in a special quirk related illness program." I stopped myself. "That was maybe too personal. Sorry, I just need to call her at some point, that's what I was thinking about."

"Your mom is the Ash hero?" Shinso raised his brow.

"Um, yea. She was the ash hero, but she doesn't really like to bear the title anymore." I twiddled my thumbs, kicking my legs out to distract myself.

"She was pretty big in the underground. She rescued the same civilian twenty-seven times. It's a record."

"That was my dad." I laughed. "Mom said she married him just so she could find the spare time to breathe. They ran into each other so often, they just couldn't help but fall in love."

"I didn't know that. Your quirk makes sense, though, the coal mixed with the ability to make gemstones." Shinso hummed, sitting up to match my pose.

"Yea. I managed to hide my gem quirk till I was a teen, then- then things happened." I pushed my hair in front of my face.

Shoved in the back of a van. Gunshots. Taking a curve so fast, I bust my head open against the trunk.

I gripped the back of my head, a small bump remained. "You spaced out again."

"Hmm," I glanced at Hitoshi, his gaze focused on my hand.

"I said you spaced out again. You do that during training a lot. I don't want to push it, but you want to tell me why?" He slid his fingers over my scalp, tracing the outline of the bump.

My fingernails became the most exciting thing in my world. The way they were chewed to the quick, the cracked polish and rough cuticles poking through. "I was kidnapped a couple of times, actually. It turns out that the same people who liked to take my dad thought I would have his quirk too." I forced a laugh, pushing my cuticle down. "Of course I played dumb right up till they threatened to kill my best friend. It was like tv you know, they showed her on a camera and one of their goonies walking right behind her. Needless to say, I got so stressed sapphires started to sprout from my eyes."

"I'm sorry," Hitoshi scooted closer to me, his arm resting aginst mine.

"Don't worry about it, Lint ball. That was the easy time around. Besides, my mom saved me that time, and the group was so keen on keeping me a secret they didn't tell anyone. Plus, I never made them diamonds." I sat up and popped my fingers. "Looks like Sho is here, let's go. I'm going to wipe the floor with you today."

"Thank you for telling me that." Shinso stood, and I suddenly realized how much taller than me he was. His hand rested on my shoulder with a firm squeeze.

"Yea, like I said, it's not a big deal." I held my hips and smiled the best I could. My eyes stung, but I couldn't let anyone know.

"Let's go Kitty." He nodded for me to follow him to the car, and I did without fuss. Shinso was a strange man, but he was really decent under all the dry humor and teasing. I could try playing along for now.

"This place is huge." I gawked at the many different disaster simulation zones inside the vast building. The USJ was a top-notch training facility, and Shota had pulled his strings at the school to let us practice inside today.

"Listen closely." Shota walked to the edge of the stairs, turning to face Shinso and I. "Shinso, we're going to be working on search and rescue today. (Y/n), we are going to be working on hostage behavior. Since you are still healing, we'll be focusing on finding the best places to hide and knowing when to run."

"So, I'm learning how to be a useful victim?" I cocked my head to the side and blinked a few times.

"Basically." Shota sighed, looking out at all the different zones.

"This feels kinda sexist for some reason…" I mumbled. "Why can't I rescue Shinso or you?"

"That will be for another time. Just focus on how you can survive until help arrives today." I knew what Shota wanted from me, I knew it was a good plan, and I knew it was beneficial. But did it have to be a kidnapping scenario? After I confess part of my past to Shinso, now he's just going to be looking for me to zone out. Well, I'm going to rock this challenge.

"We'll start off with the desert." Shota leads the way. We passed several other biomes and just how vast the building was amazed me. Shinso smirked, nudging me so I'd keep up. I pushed him right back and passed him to walk by Shota.

At the desert biome, I got to go out into the sandy hell first. It made sense why I was told to lose the camo part of my outfit now. Shinso needed to be able to see me to "rescue" me. Shota was right behind me as I climbed up the hill. The humid air already doing things to my hair.

"If you turn your feet when you walk, it will be easier," he instructed, quickly walking through the grit.

"I'll try," I did as told and didn't slip as much in the sand. "How do I keep the sun from burning me out?"

"You need to wrap your head in a cloth, and possibly wet it with urine." Shota didn't sound like he was joking. Pausing my climb, I wait for him to say sike still.

"Noted, don't get caught in a desert." Shrugging my shoulders, I kept walking. Once at the top, I slipped on the dune and skidded down the other side. Rolling fast, hot sand filled my shorts, lighting my skin on fire. I stopped myself at the bottom and spat up the grains in my mouths. Ugh. Jumping to my feet, I bounced around till my shorts were empty.

"What would you do if that happened with a real villain?" Shota asked me, gliding down the slope. Not once jerking to regain balance.

"Run for my life?" I offered, sitting up and dusting myself down. Licking my lips, I laid back on the ground, resting my eyes in his shadow.

"That would be wise." Shota nodded, an underlining message with his words.

"You want me to run? But you're teaching me stuff?" I cocked my head but got to my feet once I saw him frown.

"At some point, I want you to run and hide. Give Shinso a real challenge in search and rescue. I can't tell you much about our current case, but if you can really give him a hard time, that would be for the best." He paused to give it some thought. "Really think about how a hostage would act in each scenario. How the elements affect what you're willing to do."

"Is this how you prompt him?" I asked, going deeper into the desert. While I lost my chance to bolt, I wanted to keep talking. This was not my biome to start getting active.

"Yes," Shota took my hand and pulled me up the incline. He grinned, tapping my forehead before shoving me down another hill. "Just have fun with it."

"Wha-"I squealed rolling like a soup can, but with more momentum. Sand-filled my shorts again, but it got past my undies too. After I stopped and got my bearings, I looked at the hilltop, Shota had a captured weapon around his hand. So Shinso had caught us super-fast.

Trekking back up the slope to help, I resisted the urge to sneak to the exit. I knew I was supposed to give Shinso a hard time, but this wasn't the biome that I wanted to use all my energy in. It was hot and draining; if I was a hostage, I'd be sticking it out with the villain.

"Oh, Mr. Hero, save me!" I put on my best American accent and waved at Shinso. Having fun, pretending to have been poisoned by the sun. Which wasn't hard to imagine at that point.

"Hold on-"Shinso tried to offer a comforting phrase, but was distracted long enough to let his guard down. Their fight went on for a while until finally Shinso got Shota down and tied in his scarf.

"My hero, you are so brave." I pretended to stumble into his arms and whack his chest. "I've been in the sun for three days. I can't remember my own name, surely you can help me find it."

"How will you handle this, Shinso?" Shota asked, not fighting against his ties. "What should you do with a delirious victim?"

"Delirium, that's my favorite drink. We should get drinks at some point." I don't know what it was about the accent that made me a flirt, but I was clinging all over Shinso, gripping his arms and making him blush. "Such a strong young man. Oh, how much do you train?"

"Don't worry, ma' ma, I'm going to get you some help." Shinso grabbed his scarf and my hand, dragging Shota and me behind him.

I looked at Shota with an evil grin and asked permission to make it even harder. Shota nodded no, and I held back my scheme of accidentally letting him loose. I could try again in the next biome.

It was the blizzard zone, and of course, I didn't have a jacket with me. Shota offered the bullshit answer that I needed to figure something out if this was real. I knew what he was inferring, but I didn't like it.

Goosebumps broke out over my arms as we took the ski lift to the top of the mountain. I held myself and followed behind him, using my coal quirk to heat myself. Shota turned and deactivated my power.

"As my captive, I'm not going to let you waste your energy on coals when I want diamonds." He reminded. "What is your best move?"

"Follow instructions till I see an opening." My teeth chattered, the snow wetting my socks as I trudged through. "Why did we go from a dessert to a blizzard. We're all going to get sick." I slid down a small section of the hill and grabbed a pine for support. Now I noticed the snow that had piled on top of the branch.

"I can't move," I pretended to tug on my foot, gritting my teeth.

"Come on, don't slow me down," Sho was onto my rouse, but I knew I could convince him.

"Then leave me to die and let my power go to waste asshole." I spat, making small grunts while pulling the large branch down further.

"Fine, come here, brat." He smirked, once in range, I let the limb go and sprinted down the hill. "Wait, get back here!" Sho yelled, covered in snow.

Saving my breath, I activated my quirk to create coals. The only place I could make coals was my hands, but that was more than enough heat to keep me warm if I was smart.

I spotted a small cave and did a few laps around it to cover my tracks. Jumping into the small hole, I slide on the icy bottom finally out of the wind. Wasting no time, I made a pile of coals and started to heat the cavern. This time I was doing really good; maybe I could even save myself in this scenario.

To be fair, I wasn't in the snow very long, but my socks were soaking wet. Now I was heating up, all the snow was melting and putting me at risk for hypothermia. Sighing, I took my shoes off and lowered the intensity of the coals. Shinso would hopefully capture Sho and be here to 'rescue' me soon.

How could I make it harder for Lint ball? Hiding was already a challenge, but what else… Maybe fake a broke arm or ankle. Well, I wouldn't want him to carry my big ass off a mountain, that wouldn't be fair. The snow crunched outside. I held my breath and waited.

"There you are." Purple hair and a faint smirk greeted me, his head poking in the hole.

"Who are you?" I scooted away from Shinso, picking up coal to 'toss at him.'

"I'm a hero. You need to come with me." He fumbled for his next words. "It's going to be okay."

"That's what the last guy said….how do I know you're a hero. You're not on tv." I reasoned, making another coal, and getting in a defensive position.

"Here's my hero id." He pretended to pull out a badge, and I exclaimed it. "We need to hurry before the villain wakes up."

"Hey, don't rush me, I've just had the worst day of my life." I reminded him. "Besides I can't go, my shoes are wet and I-"

"Come on," Shinso grabbed my hand and pulled me out, putting my shoes on. "It's a small hike to the bottom of the mountain. I can carry you, but we need to hurry."

"I can walk just fine-"I puffed, turning my back to him. His coat was draped around my shoulder, and he tied the sleeves around my neck. "Hitoshi-"

"We need to move." He used my confusion to his advantage and had me on my feet. He crouched and wedged his hips between mine, quickly catching me off guard.

Latching my arms around his neck, he adjusted me once and started running. It was dumb to go sprinting downhill with a victim on your back, but I trusted his reasoning.

"Why do we have to hurry?" I asked, wondering how cold he must be getting.

"There's a chance there might be an avalanche." He was panting, the strain of my blubbery body, and the cold stressing his lungs. The fast pace and quick moments made my head spin. My every muscle was stressed, trying to help him keep a good grip.

A scarf wrapped around my upper body, jerking me into the powdery snow. Shota held the other end and reeled me towards him. Kicking with all my power, I tried to get free. Shinso nose dived but was getting his baring again. "Hero, you forgot to make sure I was bond down." Shota grinned, tugging me back up the mountain. Changing my tactic, I dug my heels into the earth.

"Don't worry (Y/n), I'll save you." Shinso charged up the hill, ready to take on Sho. Only the mountain top rumbled. In the middle of the two men, I was about to be fucked up alone. I prepared to be at the mercy of the tumbling snow, praying that I didn't crush Sho or Shinso.

"You failed to keep her safe once, are you going to fail again, hero?" Shota was around four meters from me at this point. The snow working in my sandy shorts. The mountain still rumbling with a panicked fury.

"Run." I yipped, the snow moving like a wave overhead. Shota seemed startled, as well. Shinso ran up the hill at full speed. The wave already got Sho, but Shinso grabbed me just in time. He undid the binds, cradling me as the snow hit us.

I didn't know what came over me, but I created a swirling ruby, wrapping it around our bodies like a cage. The snow was able to get through the large cracks, but it kept us from hitting any trees. My stomach did flips, as my world was put through the rinse cycle.

Shinso had my head pressed in his chest, so I couldn't see if my ruby was breaking or not. All I could do was feel my essence in the gem, and keep pouring energy into fixing any impurities. Waiting for the avalanche to stop, I prayed. This was a simulation, but I knew it was not a joke.

Shinso squeezed tighter, snow impacting us from all sides. It would be hard to know which way was up or down. Still, we finally slowed down then stopped, the snow kept settling and getting heavier around us. "You okay, Hitoshi?" I mumbled, spitting out the ice. My legs were so numb from my shorts, I had to reach down to make sure I wasn't bleeding; it was so cold.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" he ignored my question, using one hand to dig up some headspace. I expanded the ruby, a headache coming on from the large gemstone.

"Peachy, now which way is up?" I rested my chin on his collar, taking shallow breaths. While training was making me stronger, I didn't have a lot of stamina built up. Even if I wasn't hurt, my body was stressed.

"This way, I think." He held up a twig and dropped it to test the gravity. With each breath, I brought my life into my palms. With two large coals, I turned up the heat, melting a path. Unfortunately, I had to straddle Shinso, but he was being a good hero and not teasing me.

I wavered for a moment and crashed back into our little cave. There was plenty of space, but the bottom was still tight. Shinso propped me up and pressed his hand to my forehead. "I'm fine, just worn out…here. Can you dig for a minute."

"Yea, I got it." He took the coals and used his scarf to wrap his hands before working on the exit.

With the cold air swirling in my lungs, I took deep breaths. Lifting my palms together, I pushed out even more coals. With the fresh supply, Shinso was able to break out faster. Without his coat, I could admire his toned arms digging through the packed snow.

Tugging me out of the hole, Shinso adjusted his jacket around my shoulders. "We need to find Mr. Aizawa." He pushed my hair back. "Just stay here, and look for signs of movement." he started looking around where we landed, and a hand popped up in the distance. "Mr. Aizawa." Shinso jogged to his mentor. Finding it in myself, I hobbled over. "You okay?" Shinso asked Sho, checking him over.

"Yea, I see you two made it out. That's some good work." Shota dusted the snow out of his hair. "Let's get ready for the next one."

"Wait I'm killed, can't we take a break?" I asked, seeing the exit was just a short walk away.

"We will, after this next one." Shota opened the door, and we both filed out.

I shrugged off Shinso's jacket and handed it to him. "You did a fairly good job at keeping the hostage calm this time. Though maybe lie about the avalanche in real life."

"Noted." He nodded, and when I followed after Shota, I swore his eyes scanned me up and down. I told him I was okay.

Still, Shota did let us use the body regulator before hopping into our next scenario. UA was really a top-notch school, I couldn't imagine how much money they floating around to pay for such high tech items.

"This time, we'll do the shipwreck situation. Shinso, give us three minutes and then come in; however, you see fit." Shota used a small boat to take us to the bigger one in the center of the pool. All I had to do was watch him row, and be a good hostage. It was honestly surprising that none of the training had triggered me yet. Shota was right, I was having fun with it…like I was above the reality.

Once on top of the deck, he tied me with his scarf till I couldn't move my upper body. "How did I do, Sho?"

"That's what I want from you. Make it different each time, give him a real challenge. But remember to save energy for the next." Shota looked over the side of the boat. "I enjoyed your little ditzy act."

"Thanks, I don't know why that accent made me take on a campy flirty character, but it was kind of fun."

"Here, he comes." Shota got into position and watched as Shinso decided to go headfirst into the fight.

When he got on deck, he was soaking wet, his hair still fighting off gravity. "Help help help, he's got a bomb on the ship!" I yelped like a child, wriggling against my ropes. "Mister, do something."

"I got this, don't worry," Shinso was in hand to hand combat with Shota. I noticed he was trying to get him to speak, but Shota wasn't going to fall for his quirk.

"Watch out!" I screamed, seeing that Shinso was dangerously close to the edge. Of course, he knew what he was doing, but I was challenging a scared kid.

What would a kid do if they thought a hero needed help? I stood up and ran full force to try to knock over Shota.

"Stay back-"Shinso warned, but I kept going, surprising even Shota. Still, Shota dodged and caught me before I could fall from the edge. He tossed me back the way I had come, but instead, I tumbled backward on my feet.

My ass hit the lip of the guard rail, and I dropped back. Headfirst, I crashed into the water below. Sucked down by my own weight,I kicked till my legs were underneath me. I was twelve feet deep at a guess. At least I had a good breath before going under, but I didn't know how long I'd have to wait. Well, a kid would try to swim up top, but my kicking isn't getting me anywhere.

Shota would see this as a great training experience. I hoped he knew I was moving at a turtles pace. Changing my tactics, I wiggled like a mermaid with more success, but it wasn't enough. Maybe I was deeper than twelve feet. Why didn't they look over the side, this is just a training.The tension in my throat was building … I wasn't drowning. There was no way that I was drowning. I stayed calm and kicked again to no avail. Seconds ticked by, then a full minute.

Desperately willing my body to the surface, I gasped, the air in my mouth floating above me. Did they not remember I was tied up still? Shit. They are going to wait for the last minute on this, or they just think I can float. Another bubble escaped last my lips. The burning spread down my throat and to my legs. I kicked slower but with broader motions, closer to the top but still too far. Then I put my legs together and did another mermaid kick.

Nothing. It wasn't working fast enough. Another bubble left my lips, and I took water in. The next gulp was deeper. The burning urge to cough and breath. I swam harder, trying to make the distance—finally, a splash.

Hitoshi's body was several meters from mine, but we locked eyes quickly. He made frantic motions and grasped my binding once it was in reach. I coughed, taking in yet another mouth full of water, and then another and another till my lungs were almost nothing but water. He clamped his hand over my mouth, swimming up.

Another gulp in, my vision was blurring, my muscles felt like they were ripping. Hitoshi pushed me up with all his might, and I broke the surface. A nasty gasping, retching, gurgle left me. I needed to retch, breath, and cough all at once. I bobbed under again, but Hitoshi got me in his arms, floating on his chest. He undid the scarf and started to paddle to a piece of the wreckage.

Hacking, spitting, and crying wasn't a good look on me, but I was finally calming down once we reached the floating mass. My arm held firmly on his neck.

"I'm sorry that it took too long." He rubbed circles on my back, turning me on my side so I could expel the water. "I finally got him to answer me, though. Then I lost sight of where you landed, and I figured you could swim."

I grappled with pulling myself up, then rinsed off my face. Still trying to catch my breath. "Thank you- for saving me. For the record, I can swim, but not like that. I knew you would help me, I just couldn't hold my breath any longer. I stayed calm, but a stranger would probably have flipped out." I flopped back against the wood and coughed up a little more water. "Well, I'm safe now. You should go make sure the villain is tied up."

"He's preoccupied at the moment." Shinso glanced up and then back at me. "Where are you hurting?"

"Well, my body slammed the water, so everything tingles. The good thing is the captured weapon must have reinforced my chest. So no broken ribs that I can feel. Though, I don't think I'll be able to donate mom a lung anytime soon. Not that we're the same blood type, but you get my point." I wheezed, rolling over onto my side, and taking a look at my torso… my bra was very obviously visible under my shirt. Covering my chest, I turned.

"I'm not looking." Shinso countered, treading the water.

"Then why do you know what I'm concerned about, hmm?" Glaring back at him, I pursed my lips.

"I didn't think you'd be a pink person." His face went red, he head hanging low.

"Then it's too late. Damn it." I shivered, a cold breeze from the blizzard biome drifting by. "Come on, hero, I wanna go home." I slid into the water, still holding to the wreckage. "Lead the way."

"Hold onto my back." He twirled, patting his shoulder.

"I can swim still." I raised my brow, still covering my chest. Of course, this was all just a drill, but I didn't like touching him so much.

"I need the practice; come on, Kitten." When he didn't move, I rested one hand on his back and took a deep breath. I assumed he'd bob under or realize that I was too heavy and awkward to swim with like that. But I was able to effortlessly hoover over his back. He used my floatation to our advantage and took long strokes towards the pool's edge. Of course, he was good at everything, that's how he got so smug. Working smarter and not harder, I couldn't blame him.

"You really are stronger then you look," I complimented, resting my head on his back. "Don't let it get to your head."

"Is that because you cooped a feel earlier?" He glanced back at me with a smirk.

"No, that wasn't me. That was an American socialite that had been kidnapped. Besides, I realized you were strong long before then. I just thought I'd remind you of how weak you look versus how strong you really are."

"So a backhanded compliment." He slowed his pace.

"Of course," I answered, biting my lower lip. "It wouldn't have to be so backhanded if you weren't such a tease."

"I'm the tease?" He reached the edge of the ship and twirled so we were facing each other. He pulled me flush against his chest. "Since when do I tease you?"

"Nearly every second we're together." I sulked, looking at the ship in the distance. "Like right now."

"Besides now, when have I been a tease?" His breath tickled my throat, his hair blocking my line of sight.

"Like when you make fun of me for going red. Or when I ran into a spider. How about when I forgot to turn the rice cooker on." I listed a few, feeling the heat work up my neck…no I wasn't going to turn red now.

"Don't I kill the spiders? Turn on the rice cooker. And make sure you're not getting sick?" His lips were inches from mine, the heat radiating. Water dripping from his hair onto my forehead.

"You do," I admitted. "But-" He bit lip his bottom lip.

"Do you want me to stop?" There were only millimeters between us. The thumping inside my ears clouded out my panting. Sweat pooled down the side of my chin. Fuck. I needed to focus on anything but his lips.

"No-." His hands gripping on either side of my waist. The smirk he always wore softening to a tender smile.

"We're going to the swell zone next!" We broke apart as Shota yelled from the top of the boat, dropping a rope between us.

"Shota, I need a rest," I hollered back, my entire body equivalent to jell-o. Treading water on my own, making it more apparent.

"One more." Shota climbed down the side of the ship and back into the little boat.

"I'll make it fast this time. How about that?" Shinso winked, offering me his hand, and I splashed him.

"Yea, I'd like to see you find me in under two minutes." I got out of the water and offered him my hand instead, which he took without hesitation.

"You got a deal," he shook my hand and caught a towel that Shota tossed his way. I grabbed my own towel and cocooned inside it. Shinso had entered my personal space; he made my heart race and got inside my head…He really was such a tease.

The rest of the training had been to plan. I no longer played the reckless child, and instead settled for a tired businesswoman. True to his word, Shinso found us in under two minutes, but he struggled to use his capture weapon in the windy zone.

Once that was done, we hit the showers at the gym, then loaded the car and headed home. Shota went over our strengths and weakness and made a remark that I should be paid to be a crisis actor. It wasn't a bad idea, the preliminary hero license was coming up, and I could use the cash since my jewelry gig was up.

"I could look into it," I mused, kicking my legs out in the back seat. Thankfully there had been a few old sets of school uniforms in the gym, so I was wearing a comfy jumpsuit home. "I gotta keep my payments up for school, and after the whole fake jewelry shop incident, I don't think I'm ready to face that industry for a while." I twirled the gem around my throat and chewed my lip.

"We should look into less dangerous lines of work first," Shota nodded, "it would be best for you to lay low till Kira is caught, but if you want to rush things, we can ask the school."

"I think I will start applying around, what the worst that can happen?" My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I saw a message from an unknown number. It never failed; every day at three, I'd get a cryptic message with a blurry picture.

I knew there was nothing I could do to prove it was or wasn't Kira to the police, but it was unsettling.

Shinso was watching me in the rearview mirror. As soon as we locked eyes, I turned my phone off and closed my eyes. Today it was a picture of a pomegranate and the letter C. There was no way I was going to change my number again over this. It would be the third time in three months, and that just makes life that much harder.

#bright as a diamond #shinsou hitoshi #reader insert #x reader #shinsou x reader #hitoshi shinso x reader #Shinsou #tw drowning #series #Shota knows what he's doing #freinds to lover #enimies to lovers #enemies to friends to lovers #ambershaydeoffical #my hero acadamy #eraser family #bnha x reader

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sheusedtobesassier · 4 years

Text

Day 10,413

Well. I’m going to let me write something nice about him. Something that isn’t submerged in remorse. Good parts. There was a lot of good.

While we were in love I told several women I trust that even if it wasn’t going to last forever, Omar was a perfect first. I was impatiently waiting around for such a long time and starting to believe maybe there wasn’t someone wonderful out there for me and then. Then there was him. Mm. And it was dreamy for most of it., well a lot of it. Glitter in the air sometimes. Such sweetness.

It’s been almost a year since we broke up and tonight I’m watching one of my favorite fictitious love stories. And like. There is an unspoken camaraderie in loving somebody and not ending up with them. I’ve been noticing it lately. When I’m driving around or when I see a really beautiful stranger or the light will hit a certain way and. Idk. For a lot of the beginning of the broken heart part I was truly feeling like um. Like I couldn’t make something special work that was supposed to work. That everybody else ever had found a way to make theirs work but I was too fucked up to figure mine out. But. I don’t feel like that as much now. Instead it’s like. Yeah. I don’t know how to express it fully right now but the gist is uh. What we came up with together was lovely in meaningful ways and also impermanent. And LOTS of humankind has experienced lovely meaningfulness with another person that didn’t last. THAT’S COMMON. Sure it’s sad. But. It isn’t unordinary. It’s human as fuck.

I just lol. I feel like. My head is clearing up. And I don’t want to keep acting like uh. Okay I write this so carefully because I’m not interested in sacrificing the pain I’ve genuinely suffered through in light of a gentler/softer moment. I don’t think I’ve been a fool for being overwhelmingly heartbroken at times. That was earned and I won’t be ashamed of it. But! Tonight I just feel like I could let him off the hook. Like uh. Lol. Alright I’m going to go for it. Here. Hahaha so like not really going for it but. Whatever. Next paragraph.

Dear Omar,

Thank you for the parts when you were loving me and were loving me back. That was really really fun, huh? The Most Fun. Um. I’ve come to a place where it seems right to make a certain decision as well as offer an apology. The decision is: I’m going to quit holding hostage the idea that we’re supposed be together. As if it’s what was Meant To Be and letting it burn out was a huge fucking mistake. That take is too dramatic. It’s too severe. Yeah I’ve been so severe for months and months and it cannot go on like that. We were in love and we broke up anyways. That is a sad story, but not an uncommon one. Lol mostly I’m suddenly remembering times we were tangled up in each other talking about how it might end eventually and wow I was SO INSISTENT that we’d both be okay eventually. Right? You’d say you were afraid of hurting me and I’d swear I could take care of me and be fine. I remember having different varieties of that conversation several times. Do you? God. I’m embarrassed. That was a wise and calm me in those moments. She was a good friend to you! I have not been her for quite some time. Mm. Okay yes here is the apology. I’m sorry for assuring you it was okay to go a dozen times and then throwing such a treacherous fit when you finally did. I don’t regret it because um. Well I was heartbroken and I won’t blame me for being more fervently devoted to you than I thought I was. But. I am sad ways I took out on you, sad for relentlessly messaging you as if it was your responsibility to uh. I don’t know. I’ve felt a lot of accusations towards you. I leaned hard into the narrative that what you’d done was reprehensible. I am sorry for that. Mm yeah I just wrote the other day, “I think you almost always wanted to go. I think with my words/head I was constantly trying to offer you an easy out, but with my emotions/heart I was making leaving seem impossible.” That wasn’t fair to you. I’m sorry. I believe you were doing what you believed had to be done. I believe it was hard to explain it to me in a way that wouldn’t be extremely painful for you and for me. Yeah I think the way it happened fucking sucked, but I guess I can’t really imagine an alternate version of breaking up that wouldn’t have fucking sucked. You seemed like you were in serious pain that final morning. So. I refuse to fault me for the ways I acted while I was in serious pain, so it seems pretty fair to quit faulting you as well. Alright.

I wonder often why the fuck I’ve never been brave enough to call him to actually talk. Like I’ve seriously come closer to asking to visit him multiple times rather than just simply figuring out his phone number. I think it’s because I’m convinced he wouldn’t answer. I’ve written so many tirades to him and felt consistently disappointed with his replies. Which. I rarely ever felt like he was in love with me when it came to our phones. Not even when things were great. It wasn’t his thing. He came off polite and/or disinterested. Even then.

It’s tiring to write long things knowing it’s unlikely he’ll write much back. Lol it feels like I’m stoning him to death honestly. Like he won’t defend himself and I’m just mercilessly attacking him. It’s not really an attack though. It’s more so begging I guess. Idk. Lol I said at the start that this would be a positive take and I’m drifting into the usual distressed territory. Pull it back.

Just. I feel like I’m far enough away from it that I can remember how to be that good friend to him again. THIS IS NOT ME SAYING I WANT TO BE FRIENDS AGAIN BECAUSE TBH I DON’T AND IT PROBABLY WOULDN’T TAKE LONG AT ALL FOR ME TO GET WORKED UP ALL OVER AGAIN. What I mean is I’ve settled down enough and the hurt isn’t quite so intense that like. I do remember promising him I would be okay and that I’m very competent at taking care of myself, haha. And like. I’ve reached there. Not 100%. But honestly mostly. I am okay. I’ve returned to taking care of me and I’m doing a decent job of it. A lot of good days. Regularing out. Even feeling stronger/healthier in certain ways that I did before.

Okay. I’ll be honest with you tumblr. I think the goodness of this night is giving me the courage to actually write up something to send him. Which. Goddamn. Lol. I’m gonna say it!! Hopefully it’s THE LAST CHAPTER. Or like, lol. The epilogue even. Hopefully it provides us both with a measure of closure. A sigh of relief. That’s what I want to write. My own sigh of relief in hopes that it’ll be a catalyst for his own haha. Okay, okay. Don’t want to lose this buzz. (Oh and to clarify I’ve been drinking tea. I’m currently very very bored with drinking on my own late into the night. No me gusta.)

#personal

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fandom-imagination-ss · 7 years

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AUTHORS NOTE: i want to first apologize how late this imagine is. AND to warn everyone this isnt proof read. I tried but i couldt read it well on my phone lol. This is my first desendants imagine it was requested by @princess-of-the-fandoms she requested this ☆~ okay ... so i had an idea of like the reader was dating ben but be choose mal over them. So they somehowg get onto the isle and they join Umas crew. So when the VK (villian kids) and ben go try to get Mal back. They see the reader ans they re dating Harry. Maybe you can choose the ending? ~☆ So i tried hard to write this. I seen both movies loved them but of course couldnt remember any bit of the movies while i wrote lol. Hopefully you enjoy. Sorry if it seems choppy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It happened unexpectedly. The isle kids, villian kids. The trouble makers. Mostly you call them the isle kids. They arrived to the prep boarding school due to the new kings first rule as King.. Saying they deserved a chance. Most people call him your highness or majesty you simply call him Ben. Or beast Jr. You got away with it since he was in love with you. Likewise you loved him. Which made him being your boyfriend the happiest thing in your life. You and Ben have been dating for six months. Dating Ben, you werr on the cheer squad, miss popular. That all changed when the infamous villain kids came to town. You welcomed them with open arms (mostly becuase ben forced you too) to your surprise. You became instant friends with Evie , Jay and Carlos.. Mal was a different story you always felt off around her. Probably because her mom sent your aunt into a slumber. (Your uncle married Aurora making you a princess) you did try to forget the fact her mom was a magical she- devil. Ben tried convincing you it was because of family history and Mal was a good person. You didnt believr that for A second. But you stayed friendly and kind. Jay was your greatest friend out of the isle kids. So when Ben announced he was breaking up with you (infront of the entire school) too date Mal you were devastated. Staying in your room crying eating chocolate and watching horror movies for days. Till Jay came bursting in one day. He tried to get your mind and heart off ben. It was Jay who told you about the love spell Mal put on Ben. You figured afterwards he would go back to you but. He choose Mel over you. Jay helped a lot. It was Jay who helped you run away. Your family was furious you lost the crown prince too a villain kid. Nothing was the same. You weren’t the same happy go lucky girl you were before. So Jay helped you go too the Isle. It wasn’t long until Uma took you under her wing and soon enough you met Harry and completely forgot about boring. Stupid Ben. MaL was hated on the Isle. Which made it easier for you to blend in. Several months went by you were at Uma’s mom place arms wrapped around Harry as you kissed his cheek. He smiled brightly. He was caressing your arm as Uma snapped “get a room!” you chuckled saying gladly. Harry chuckled as you both got up and left. Harry was a gentleman more or less he walked you home as you pushed him softly against the wall pulling him into a deep passionate kiss. He may be a gentleman but you werent. He gadly kissed you back holding your sides softly on the hips. You loved when he walked you home. The quite time away from Uma and the others.just you and Harry. Perfect moment What interrupted your perfect moment was loud gasping. Plus the voice from the past. “Y/N?” turning awaying from your devoted loving boyfriend to face your ex now offically King Ben. And his little villain friends. Evie, Carlos, and Jay. Stumbling backward surprised as Harry noticed the old villain kids . “ Well-well-well isn’t this a surprise. The traitors have returned and brought a little friend.” “Y/n! This is where you been all this time here?” Ben was in shock. His color disappeared seeing his former girlfriend who use to be all natural colors, with always a pretty dress on and wearing fancy designer cloths was now Wearing a pirates hat, bold pink hair. Tattered torn cloths. And ehich was more shocking his ex girlfriend. Princess Y/N wrapped around the son of captain hook. “you know this poser love?” Harry questioned it. But soon figured it out who was the stranger. the king. Grabbing Harrys hand you spoke up. “ only took 7 months to be found. What you doing here beast jr?” Jay and the others were surprised at your tone. Jay was your friend but Harry knew thr real you. But Ben knew the old you. Ben stepped forward worried about you. But first he had to question you about Mal. “Mal she ran away were trying to find her.” Nodding your head. Looking up at Harry curious if he would ever risk his neck for you like that. “have you seen her?” “trust us. If we saw miss princess we wouldn't be in a dark alleyway. Doing stuff your innocent eyes are not acustomed too” Turning to Harry he smiled brightly leaning over kissing your cheek. as he spoke, “well we probably would but. I know Uma will be excited to hear that traitor is back.” Kissing Harrys cheek you pulled back looking at them. “good luck finding her in one piece. Night Harry.” It was the next day you were on Harry ship. Uma called you onto the ship seeing Harry smiling and leaning close too Ben arm wrapped around him. Ben looked at you like he was torn insides. You were surprised to see Ben tied up. Surrounded by Uma goons. “look at that beautiful creature. What sort of mad man would choose to willingly leave her??” walking over to the two boys you asked what this was about. “easily were holding lover boy hostage until Mal and her little frirnds return with the fairy god mothers wand.” Looking at Uma you were in pure shock. She could destroy the peace with that wand. Turning too Harry he noticed your unsettlement as he spoke calmly “its ok beautiful" shaking your head. You walked over too the side of the boat. Letting it all sink in. Pulling off your pirate hat. Harry stole it for you the first date you had. You never took it off. Seeing the white feather you turned seeing Ben. Was he a great boyfriend? NO. Harry was ten times the boyfriend. But this was wrong. If Mel gave up the wand and knowing idiot Mel she would. All your friends and family back home would be in danger. You walked over too Harry pulling him into a kiss. He gladly accepted the kiss as you slipped his dagger too Ben freeing him. You and Ben barely escaped. Back in a Limo driving back too the villain free school. You didn’t look at Ben. He was quite the entire ride home. Once home you walked off catching sight of Jay as you rushed over to him hugging him. Crying realizing what you judo gave up. HARRY. Four weeks later you were sitting on a bench reading. Well trying to read you were heartbroken over Harry. Feeling something go on your head you grabbed it looking up. Seeing it was your pirate hat. Turning seeing Harry there wearing the official school uniform. You gasped getting up hugging him tightly. Pulling him into a kiss he smiled brightly as you asked what he was doing here. “ Mel convinced the King too let me come. To be with you.” Smiling as you kissed him again. Just reviled he didn’t blame you for Uma failed plan. “im so sorry" harry shook his head “No I am. Im so sorry Y/N I love you” you replied back with a kiss.

#desendants 2 #desendants #desendants imagine #harry hook #harry hook imagine #disney imagine #fandom imagine #imagine #king ben

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bokunoheroaheadcanons · 7 years

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headcanons for Izuku, All Might, and Sero with a new hero s/o that has a regeneration quirk? They tried to hide their quirk from villains, because they were worried villains would be able to work around it, and play it off like they have a strength quirk, but they get injured severely and everyone found out because they OBVIOUSLY couldn't let themself die? (sorry I rambled there, I hope you can understand the ask lol)

Anonymous: can you do a scenario where bakugou’s s/o has a quirk where she can regenerate any part of her body very rapidly so basically she can’t die, so one day she “dies” but then suddenly comes back to life ?? (i’m sorry if this doesn’t make any sense you can delete it if it doesn’t)

Since both of these have similar requests, I will include Bakugou into here.

Izuku Midoriya

Izuku would stand there silently as he stares and feeling petrified by the situation. The sight of them being tortured endlessly frightens and causes him to panicked, but he knows he should remain his composure. All the crimson liquid splattering though? His being started to feel queasy and he couldn’t handle it any longer now. “S/o!” But what surprised him is that their wounds started to regenerate, the missing part filling themselves. The villains took interested in this now. Izuku panicked and charged forward without hesitation. He’s grateful that they’re still alive, and still able to fight. He’s coming to the rescue.

Hanta Sero

Sero tries not to anger the enemies whenever he attempts to step forward, however seeing the anguish expression of his s/o overwhelms his being. He curses himself for this, what should he do? He’s not sure, but he’s figuring it out for himself. It’s his chance to be a hero now! S/o kept being tortured, the blood uncontrollably spilling from their stomach where they were stabbed. But as the wounds appear, another layer of skin emerged anew. Sero stares intensely, analyzing everything. The villains noticed their quirk now, “Regeneration quirk? Interesting…” A sinister grin etched on all their faces. Sero tape extended towards them, there’s no way they’ll take them. “Sero!” His classmates shout out. He can’t let this happen.

Toshinori Yagi

Toshinori is already fighting the villains right now while his s/o is held as a hostage. All their tattered and beaten body trembling onto the ground while parts of their limbs are disfigured into unusual places. The blood swallowed their figure whole, creating a pool of blood. They whimpered in pain, and Toshinori felt furious by the sight. “Toshinori…” With that, a snapped emitted from their legs by the villain. However… they were all surprised that it regenerated into place. That was a good sign though, s/o was going to be part of a piece for them. Toshinori used all of his strength to eliminate the villains all together, throwing few of them onto the others. “How dare you, villains!” He’s glad they have an advantage… of staying alive as possible.

Katsuki Bakugou

His heart shattered into a million pieces as he hold his dying love into his arms, their face becoming pale and engulfing of death. Bakugou felt himself staring for awhile, his pupils dilating uncontrollably and his fingers shaking. Their figure… there’s no longer warmth radiating from them… nothing. He lowered his head onto their shoulders and embraced their lifeless body against his chest tightly. “God dammit…” His teeth gritted. He couldn’t believe this at all. Why did this have to happen? The male sat there for awhile until their fingers flinched a little. He sulked silently. But something caught him off guard, “… Bakugou… is that…you?” His love whispered, flinching in pain, yet thy somehow manage to come back to life. “S/o… the fuck…?” He immediately departed and stare at their pale complexion, smiling weakly at him. “It is you… I’m sorry I scared you… I have a regeneration quirk…” They coughed harshly and tried to hoisted themselves. Bakugou shook his head and rests their weakening body on him. “Fuck, you did scare me… I can’t lose you… thank god, you’re alive.” He replied, his voice shaking yet he gazed his crimson hues strongly that was filled with happiness.

#I hope this was alright.#bnha headcanons #bnha scenarios #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #katsuki bakugou #toshinori yagi #izuku midoriya #sero hanta #ask #anon

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pherryt · 7 years

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@formidablepassion : Your dcj A/B/O hurt. I also want more I want the twins to get the other Alpha's scent off Dean's clothes and hunt them down

Maybe not kill them but rough them up and bring them bloody into the police station. Even if they have a right to kill them for what they did to their mate

You gave me feels

This continuation was held in hostage as requested till she got more written for our DRB :D (looking good!)

word count for this prompt is almost 3k!!! I apparently had to put more angst in there for the lead-up towards the request (I was tearing up writing it! Look what you did to me Foop!! lol) but I promise it has more hopeful/happy ending.

this didn’t end up exactly the way you wanted it - hope you like it anyway?

Part 1

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It hadn’t been discussed. Jimmy and Cas were afraid to bring it up. But for the next few days, neither Dean nor Jimmy went to work (Cas worked at home so no big deal there), and not one of them left the house. The celebratory dinner Jimmy had made was left untouched on the table, spoiled for having been left out for so long before they remembered it.

But something needed to be done.

They took what little they’d gleaned from Dean the first night and called in some backup. Charlie Bradbury, hacker extra-ordinaire, and Dean’s best friend. The twins felt weird about revealing anything so personal and traumatizing, but they needed her help.

Warning her that whatever she found wouldn’t be pretty, they told her what they were looking for. Castiel did the talking while Jimmy curled up with Dean. They daren’t leave him alone for a second – for his comfort and their sanity. Yet they couldn’t stay cooped up in the bed either, so they’d worked out a method for taking turns. It wasn’t unlike one of Dean’s heats, where one of the Alphas would get up for supplies and then swap with the other.

If only the circumstances weren’t so grim.

Dean was having nightmares now. It was so heartbreakingly painful to wake up to their mates’ screams and whimpers, to him thrashing and pushing them away until he calmed down enough to snap awake, to realize he was safe, that he didn’t have to fight.

That he was home.

It only deepened their resolve.

“So, you’re saying that…that after meeting up with me and Benny for drinks…someone followed him to his car and, and attacked him?” Charlies eyes were wide, her voice horrified. Castiel pinched his nose and was just glad he couldn’t scent her over Skype.

“Not just someone, multiple someone’s,” Castiel said flatly, betraying none of the anger seething through him.

Charlie looked sick, “Oh my god…” she whispered. “If only Benny and I…oh my god…”

“Charlie, this isn’t your fault. Or Benny’s. Just as it isn’t Dean’s either. And if we’re going to get Dean to believe us, then you need to believe this as well. Right now he’s…” Castiel couldn’t keep his voice even any longer, it cracked and warbled and he took a shuddering breath, his eyes closing, “right now he believes it’s his fault for not fighting back harder. That in some way he deserved it. He’s waiting for us to leave him and I – “

“Okay, okay Cas, I’m sorry. Just, just tell me what to do. How can I help you make it better?” Charlie pushed the words out in a rush, hastening to help in any way she could.

Cas swallowed and nodded, taking several deep breaths before he felt like he was able to speak without breaking again. “There should be cameras back of the Roadhouse. You know how he hates parking his car in the public lot, always afraid someone would do it damage.”

“Him and that stupid car,” Charlies voice wobbled as she tried to make a joke. Cas’s smile was wan and tight. “He’s not wrong – parking lot full of drunk people? I’d worry about leaving something as precious to him as that car out there too. Okay, so, you basically want to know who, is that it? Can’t you get the scent off his clothes?”

“We…we could, yes. But his clothes were nearly destroyed, not much left to them. And by the time Jimmy and I are willing to leave Dean to go after these guys, the scent will have long since faded. Plus, that’s leaving it to random chance. I don’t want to wander around and hope I’ll sniff these guys out. I want names. I want to know where they live and where they work. And I want proof I can send to the police.”

Charlie was silent as she listened to his strong, vehement words. “You’re gonna tell Sam,” she realized. He nodded, looking away. “Dean’s going to fucking hate that.”

“I know but…we don’t have much choice,” Castiel whispered.

She nodded, “Got it. I’m on it. I’ll call you as soon as I have anything.”

Dean knew something was up. It had been a week since he’d crawled home in shame, broken and bleeding. His Alphas had barely left his side in all that time. Most of his wounds were healing nicely, though it would take forever for the broken bones to heal. It was everything else that worried him.

He knew this had damaged him in invisible ways, ways that would lurk beneath the surface and strike at the worst times. He could already feel it.

And it wasn’t like before. Before, it was Dean dealing with years of repression of his Omega side, of denying part of himself because of his father. That was hard enough.

Now he was flinching at sudden sounds in the safety of his own home, causing his mates to walk on eggshells around him. Waking his Alpha’s with his bad dreams – his nightmares – and causing them all to lose sleep.

And today his Alpha’s must have decided they’d had enough, because Dean had woken cold and alone in their giant bed, the emptiness glaring. Slowly, he got up and limped out of the room, anxiousness curling through him. He sniffed the air but the only scent of the twins was stale, old. The must have left within the last hour for their fresh scent to fade so much.

Instead, he smelled Charlie and Sam. All out in the living room and he quailed at the idea of seeing them. He hadn’t talked to anyone but the twins all week. Jimmy had called him out of work while Cas had made excuses for all his standing plans.

He had no idea what they’d been told, what they would expect to see if he stepped out into the living room and made his presence known. The scent shifted and he realized they were already aware of him. Gathering his courage, he limped out of the short hall and over to the kitchen, avoiding looking at anyone as he searched for something to drink.

“Dean, do you need anything?” Sam asked hesitantly from behind him. Dean slammed the glass down on the counter and bowed his head. Fuck. They knew, didn’t they? They all knew what a fucking delicate flower he was.

A small body collided with his and he stiffened, his cracked – but not actually broken, thank god for small favors – ribs jostling painfully. Charlies scent hit his nose. She was sad, but not pitying and…and was she…? He turned in her arms to find her crying, self-loathing that wasn’t his own hit him.

“What - ?” Dean couldn’t manage a more coherent thought than that. Then he saw that Sam was wearing his uniform. “What the fuck? What’s going on? Where are Jimmy and Cas?”

“I disavow any knowledge of where your mates have gone,” Sam said quickly. “But if I weren’t on duty, I might hazard a guess and that it’s Charlies’ fault.”

Dean’s head slid to the side his eyes and mouth working as he tried to figure that out. Before he could get any further, Charlie spoke again, “I’m sorry, Dean. I know, I know it’s not my fault but I still feel like it is. If we’d walked you to your car or, or something else I don’t even know, something that could have helped.”

He winced. “I don’t wanna talk about it, Red, got it?” she nodded into his chest. He glared out at his brother, “I don’t want to talk about it to anyone, okay?”

Sam looked uneasy. “As your brother, I’d love to make that promise. But as…” Sam waved his hands at his badge, “I can’t.”

Dean looked between them and shook his head. Charlie had finally let go and he walked over to the couch empty handed, the drink forgotten. Lowering himself gingerly, he looked back a them. “So, what the hell are you doing here?”

“Cas and Jimmy had an errand and they didn’t want to tell you what they were doing, in case you talked them out of it, but they didn’t want to leave you alone and think that they’d deserted you so, here we are!” Charlie beamed at him.

Dean looked from Charlie, to his brother who was now covering his ears with his hands, then back to Charlie. “Charlie, what have you done?”

“Me? I didn’t do anything. Just looked something up for the Novak’s like they asked.” She looked at him nervously.

Before Dean could demand a clarification, Sam’s phone rang and he answered it – thereby proving his hands over the ears trick didn’t actually work. Dean would have normally snorted at the ridiculousness of it all if he hadn’t been so anxious.

Sam turned away so he couldn’t be heard. After a few moments, he sighed and turned back around to look at Dean. “I’m sorry man, but I need you to come down to the station and prove witness for me.”

“What for?”

“So your mates don’t get charged with kidnapping, assault and battery.” Sam explained, sliding his phone back in his pocket.

“I’m sorry, what?” Dean’s voice was incredulous and high pitched with panic.

“It’s an old loop hole, Dean, and it works in yours – and their – favor. Sooner we get this over and done with, the sooner you can come back home and rest. I promise,” Sam said gently.

Jimmy shifted anxiously beside his brother. They hadn’t been arrested and they weren’t in a holding cell but they weren’t exactly free to go either. They were currently sat alone in a room with one of those mirrors that everyone knew was a one-way window.

“Stop that,” Cas said flatly. Jimmy let out a breath and looked at the disheveled form of his brother. Cas was a wreck. Black eyes, split lips, possibly a broken nose. There was blood covering parts of his face, and his knuckles were beat to hell and back, scratched and bloodied. His clothes were mostly in tact but also covered in splatters of blood.

Jimmy knew he didn’t look much better. But tracking down Dean’s attackers and taking them down…it had been worth it.

By ancient law, Jimmy and Castiel had the right to kill each and every one of those men as long as they could prove they were in the right, that their mate had been hurt. And they had it.

In great deliberation, they’d decided not to.

Oh, how they’d wanted to. But Castiel had argued that it would be more satisfying to destroy their lives by making it known the type of men they were. But had agreed that they deserved to be beaten, to suffer even a fraction of the pain Dean was going through.

It was only fair.

And it had been so god damned worth it. Jimmy knew that he of all people shouldn’t take so much pleasure in anyone else’s pain, but watching them go down, hard and bloody, had been so satisfying in a way Jimmy had never experienced before.

By the light in Cas’s eyes, his twin felt the same satisfaction.

And that was after they’d made sure to mail a copy of the security camera footage to the families of each and every one of those Alphas. They’d debated the merits of doing that, too. Of the pain it would cause to show something as visceral as that to (likely) innocents.

But complete strangers couldn’t just stand there and tell those loving family members something they wouldn’t want to believe. It was amazing the kinds of behaviors some people would revert to when their families weren’t around. And their families could never think the worst of their husband/wife/mate or their son/daughter or whatever they were.

So Cas and Jimmy had compromised. They cut the footage before it got really bad. Just enough to show those families that Dean had been the one set upon unprovoked and that it had been 5 against one. Then one by one, they found each of those Alphas and took them down, giving them a fairer fight then Dean had had.

It was more than they deserved.

With Dean’s attackers in tow – Jimmy’s Continental had quite the space, especially that trunk – trussed up, unconscious and bleeding, the brothers had driven to the station and turned themselves in, explaining the situation and handing the cops both a full copy of the footage, and the keys to the car.

They’d given their report and then they’d been left alone.

They were gone longer than they’d anticipated.

Jimmy started biting his nails, only to spit violently because he’d forgotten his hands were splattered with someone else’s blood – their blood, tainted and disgusting. He shuddered and looked around the empty room again – table, 4 chairs and nothing else – hoping to find some paper towels and a sink or something.

“God, I gotta get this stink off me,” Jimmy muttered. “I can’t stand smelling them.”

“Agreed,” Cas sighed. Whatever else he was going to say broke off as the door swung open so hard it bounced off the wall. Dean stood there, looking better than he had a week ago, but obviously frantic and maybe a little angry.

“Dean –“ the Alpha’s said in unison.

Dean growled as he stalked over to them, the limp still noticeable, “What the hell were you two thinking?”

“We were thinking that we couldn’t let something like this stand, Dean. If it had been one of us, you know you would have done the same,” Castiel growled back.

“You could have been hurt – you are hurt!” Dean realized, actually taking stock in their appearance.

Castiel shook his head, “Nothing that won’t wash off, I promise.”

Dean snorted and traced a finger gently just outside the ring of black surrounding Cas’s eye. “Like hell it’ll all wash off.” But the Omega deflated and wrapped his arms around Castiel and breathed in deep, reassuring himself that Cas was here, that he was safe. Blindly he reached for Jimmy and turned his face to do the same.

“God, I just want this over. Let’s go home…” Dean whispered.

“I’m uh, not sure we’re allowed to just yet,” Jimmy said hesitantly.

“Oh, you’re not getting your car back anytime soon, but you’re free to go,” Sam noted from the door. “And as highly gratifying as it was for you, next time you feel the need to do something this drastic – come to me first, all right?”

“There won’t be a next time,” Castiel assured.

“Good,” Sam said with narrowed eyes. He watched as his brother didn’t let go of either Alpha, grounding himself, reassuring himself that they were okay. He saw the strength of the bond and knew the three of them would be okay. He stepped aside to let them by and they walked out of the interrogation room, pausing briefly for Dean to clap his own brother on the shoulder. “Thanks, Sam, for looking out for my family.”

“They’re my family too, Dean,” Sam huffed out and Dean nodded before moving on with his mates, meeting Charlie at the front of the station and hitching a ride in her small car back to his apartment, the three of them squished into the back, each of them surrounding Dean and none of them willing to let the others out of their sights.

As soon as they got back, they stripped and headed towards the bathroom. With care not to get anything wet that shouldn’t be, the three of them stood beneath the hot spray and helped clean each other off, washing away the blood. Dean watched as it swirled in the drain and disappeared and his heart felt a little lighter, knowing that his Alphas would do this for him.

Would risk everything for him, whether he felt he was worthy of their sacrifice or not. But they’d been right. If the tables had been reversed, he’d have done the same. He wouldn’t pity them, or blame them either. He’d understand.

If he could do that for them, then shouldn’t it stand to reason that he should do that for himself?

“What are you thinking, love?” Jimmy asked as the three of them toweled off with the biggest, fluffiest towels they had.

“How much I fucking love you two,” Dean said around a lump in his throat. The twins dropped their towels and crowded Dean, touching him gently, enfolding him into their arms lovingly. The scents were happy and Dean let it wash over him.

“Same,” Jimmy choked out. Castiel nodded against him, his fingers tightening briefly.

“C’mon,” Dean tugged after a few minutes. “I want a cuddle fest, some Doctor Sexy, and a pint of Chubby Hubby ice cream.”

They huffed a laugh against his neck and in his hair and they relaxed into each other further, none of them actually making a move to accomplish any of what he’d asked for, but just basking in the warmth of their love for each other, the scents so much more intoxicating and reassuring than mere words.

They had bad times and good times, worse times and better times – both ahead and behind - and Dean couldn’t believe he’d gotten so lucky to have them any more than they could believe they were lucky enough to have him.

And each of them would do anything to protect the other two.

Anything.

#prompt #formidablepassion #abo #DCJ #dean/cas/jimmy #assault #revenge #twins get revenge #omega!dean #alpha!cas #alpha!jimmy #healing #part 2

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