#Viper just kinda grabbed me but not any of my characters.

[eorzeanflowers]

I had a little free time yesterday, so say hello to two new flowers in my bouquet! The Hyacinth and the Amaryllis.

The Hyacinth

An Elezen Reaper from Garlemald, Eulanne aan Saforias was forced into this life by a powerful voidsent 'guardian.' She travels the realm trying to do good, and ignore the darkness that is trying to destroy her soul.

The Amaryllis

A traveler from Tural, Marisol Jahenna is the younger middle child of four. She trained as a Viper under her mother's tutelage, but longed for more. She stole away to Old Sharlayan when she was eighteen, and has traveled the world since. She enjoys immersing herself in the different cultures of the world.

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Rock, Meet Hard Place 2

Warnings: this fic will include elements, some dark, such as noncon/dubcon, and other untagged triggers. Please take this into account before proceeding. It is up to curate your online consumption safely.

Summary: your boss makes a deal that proves less than beneficial for you.

Characters: Nick Fowler, Lloyd Hansen

Author’s Note: This is what you asked for so don’t even.

Please feel free to leave some feedback, reblog, and jump into my asks. I’m always happy to discuss with you and riff on idea. As always, you are cherished and adored! Stay safe, be kind, and treat yourself 💜

“Nick the dick. How’s it hanging? Little to the left? I’m a bit to the right myself,” Hansen strides into the room 

His arrival isn’t a quiet one. Fowler’s men put up the alert at their approach and their fearless leader spent several minutes fidgeting in agitated anticipation. As his adversary turned ally walks in, Fowler is already standing, coolly sipping from his whiskey. You’re glad he got it together. You don’t need him cracking right now. 

“Hansen,” Fowler lowers the glass. “Safe travels?” 

“Ah, ya know, got here with my foreskin on,” the mustached man chortles. 

You stare at him. Somehow, you’re not surprised by the trim along his upper lip. He would be the type. You stand quietly by the wall, observing. 

“And this must be the viper,” Hansen points as he turns to face you, “don’t think I didn’t notice you over there, sugar lips. Mm, a bit older than I expected but I don’t mind a vintage.” 

“Hansen,” Fowler girds. 

“Say, got enough of that to go around,” he flicks his index in Fowler’s direction, “I could use a drink about now.” 

“Help yourself,” Fowler remains by the unlit fireplace as he nods to the decanter and an empty glass. 

“You know what, you’re not too bad either. Got them Sinatra eyes,” Hansen grabs the crystal bottle and tumbler and pours messily, dripping some down the side. He sets down the decanter and switches hands, shaking off his fingers. He brings his knuckles up to suck off the excess. “Hard to tell when you’re behind a barrel, you know?” 

Fowler’s eyes wander over to you. You nod and turn your attention to the visitor. He drink sloppily and lets out a belch.  

“Damn,” he glances at you again, “you get anything done around her with her just standing there? Sweetheart, why don’t you do a spin? Bet you’re fine from all angles.” 

“Leave her alone,” Fowler grits. “You know this isn’t chummy. This is business.” 

“Ha, come on, loosen up,” Hansen insists, “finally, the two of us, together. Nothing in this world could stop us--” He pauses and his eyes drift over again. “Can you tell her not to look at me like that? I swear, I just retracted half an inch.” 

He reaches down to adjust the front of his cream-coloured pants. You roll your eyes. Fowler sighs loudly. 

“Damn, baby,” Hansen struts towards you, “do that again. I like that. You got the kinda eyes I want looking up at me--” 

“Don’t come any closer,” you warn. 

“Or what, mistress? Where’s the whip--” 

“Listen to her,” Fowler warns. 

“Ah, come on, we both know who the dangerous one is,” Hansen chuckles as he reaches to touch your cheek. You catch his hand and bend his fingers back. He yowls like a wet cat and recoils. You twist before you let him go. 

“I told you,” Fowler laughs, his first show of ease. 

“Fuck me,” Hansen presses his hand to his stomach. “Vicious. Oh, kitty, kitty, I like that.” 

“I won’t stop her.” 

“I don’t need you to,” Hansen winks. “Let me tell ya, the balls dropped again. Their fucking heavy. I got an idea how to drain them--” 

“Stroke your ego a little harder,” you retort. 

“Oof,” he wiggles excitedly. “How is she in the sack? You a bottom Nicky boy or--” 

Your knuckles crack across his cheekbone and send him stumbling. It’s not the worst you could do but enough to get the message across. Fowler laughs louder than before. 

“I did warn you--” 

“Shhhhitttttttt,” Hansen snarls as he cradles his face. “Hell of a left hook. I thought you were a righty.” 

“I’m a professional, Hansen, so when you address me, it’s not sweet tits or baby or--” 

“Juicy jugs?” He adds. 

You lift your fist to examine your throbbing knuckles and he flinches away, “alright, ma’am. Mistress? Madame? Tell me what you want and I’ll take it like a good boy.” 

“You like to suffer, huh?” Fowler scoffs. 

“Not much else to do in this life,” Hansen retreats and drains what’s left of the liquor. “So, do I get the grand tour or the two of you leave the dungeon in shambles?” 

You shake your head as Fowler wrinkles his brow. He doesn’t answer right away. You feel like you should say something but no better than to take Hansen’s bait. 

“Guess I can take you around,” Fowler utters flatly. 

“I’ll put this away,” you volunteer as you stride forward and cap the decanter. 

“Oh, oh, Nicky, wait,” Hansen smirks as he leers in your direction, “damn, look at that walk. You ever let her step on you?” 

Fowler’s fingers flutter at his side and his nostrils flair, “as I was saying, this way.” 

“No fucking fun,” Hansen grumbles and rubs his reddening cheek, poking out the tick of his tongue at you. “Sweet-- Ma’am, why don’t you do a shot and come join us. Maybe it’ll make us a little less... strangers.” 

“I have work to do.” 

“Work?” Hansen echoes and glances at Fowler, “is that what she calls you?” 

Fowler’s jaw squares. Hansen chuckles and turns to strut up to the other man. He swings his arm back and slaps his ass, giving a squeeze, “relax, I’m having some fun. Not much chance to beat the meat in a convoy full of trigger-happy dudes.” 

You almost laugh at Fowler’s reaction. He recoils and shoves the other man away. He slaps his shoulder and coughs, flabbergasted by the assault. 

“Fuck,” Fowler exclaims. 

“What kinda glute workout you do? Those are tight.” Hansen says. 

“What the...” Fowler mutters then sends you a look. He gestures to you. Better you go. “Hands to yourself.” 

“Fine,” Hansen raises his palms and splays his fingers wide. “Goddamn, what’s a guy gotta do to get off around here?” 

[aberooski]

writer emoji ask!! 🤭🎉🌞✨🥺

Oh boy, here we go!! Thanks for the ask, pal!! 😄

🤭 - I think my favorite tag would have to be Never let Chazz go into the woods alone akakak I mean it's my number 1 rule after all lol. Of course the running bit is that it happens all the time and it really never goes well for him now does it?

🌞 - Do I have a preferred time of the day to write? Not really, I just kinda write when the desire strikes. Could be the day, could be 3 am, who knows? But I am more of a night owl, my brain kinda wakes up when I'm supposed to be sleeping so I guess in that sense I do write more during the evening/nighttime than any other time of day.

🥺 - Oh boy I could write a novel about moments and interactions that put me in my feels you have no idea 😭

This question's gonna turn this answer into a novel I'm so sorry akskskak

I think if I had to narrow it down to maybe a few things I could probably say akaksk

As far as interactions go, like ones that happen a lot every single time Hassleberry specifically is protective of or exhibits concern for Syrus I get very emo. Like I added more of those moments to the SBH re-release because I loved the moments I'd done in newer fics so much. But the one specifically that always gets me is the moment in chapter 11 of OUAD where Hassleberry goes to check on Syrus after coming out of his berserked state.

Also the entirety of Salt In the Wound. Hassleberry being worried that just touching him will hurt him because he's so strong and Syrus trying to reach/call for Hassleberry to reassure him but he's too weak and hurt but then Hassleberry says fuck it and grabs Sy's hand while he's just lying there hurt in Jaden's arms 😭 and Hassleberry being upset seeing Sy's scar from the duplicate Camula bite a personal headcanon of mine a moment shared in the re-release of Sustained by Hate that I love

Of course all the copious amounts of moments like that between Jay and Sy make me fuckin cry but when those two have moments like that it hits DIFFERENT and like not even in a shippy way I don't view their relationship that way, they're just cute 😭

And really just SITW in general. Sy is my baby, he's my favorite character and I've never felt more that I was the same person as a character before. Zane needed social consequences for hurting him so deliberately and I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I didn't defend Sy's honor. But also the fact that after all of that Syrus still loves his brother and calls out to him when he walks away despite everything just shatters my heart.

And speaking of moments between Jay and Sy I cry over them constantly but there's one moment in particular that kills me man.

There's this one specific moment in chapter 20 of Sons of The Stars where Jaden and the squad, with Axel's help, break into Viper's fortress and sneak into the dungeon to rescue Syrus, who was kidnapped by Axel in chapter 17. And when they get there and break open Sy's cell they have this moment:

It's the "They didn't hurt you, did they?" for me 😭😭😭

Oh yes and literally any Dad Crowler(tm) moment makes me cry. And I exclusively write Dad Crowler(tm) so I'm dead.

I'm almost done with this question bear with me a sec akskak

A moment I've done twice now in slightly different ways that makes me sob my eyes out is that I've given Chazz and Alexis a variation of this 7R Cloti moment in both SoTS and SBH

Of course for Chazz and Alexis the intent is purely platonic whereas I'm screaming and crying and foaming at the mouth because Cloti for life 😤 but tender, vulnerable moments between Chazz and Alexis kill me. I love seeing her caring for him because well, in the show their dynamic is......

But I've always loved the idea of them being close. They're platonic soulmates and she's his found family sister 😭

Also any and all moments where Alexis is protecting Atticus, I'm not okay. That is my favorite Alexis.

Also the entire scene with Chazz and Atticus in chapter 11 of SBH leading up to them holding hands that 😩😭

And real quick before I finally move on to the next question I'm so sorry the NUMBER ONE! Stormshipping moment that gets me all kinds of fucked up!

In OUAD. In chapter 5. We all know what I'm talking about.

🎉 - I honestly have had very unhealthy thoughts about what makes me consider a fic successful. I've felt at one time or another that every single thing I've done was a failure. That it was a flop and I wasted all this time and effort and brain power on ideas that no one but me gives a damn about. I attach so much of my own personal value to how many views and likes and comments my fics get, which isn't really a lot. So I get super bummed out all the time and it makes me not wanna write. But lately I've been trying to climb out of that hole and I've told myself this.

As chessey as it is to say, as long as one person finds enjoyment in something I do, then it wasn't a waste of time. If I find enjoyment in something I've created, it wasn't a waste of time. It was worth it. It was a success because I saw it through and I did it.

I still get bummed out when my stuff doesn't perform super well, well because I'm really excited about what I do and I want to share it with people and have people like my work. But I'm trying to be more optimistic about what constitutes success or not. Of course I still love comments and likes, they make my day and I get so few of them. But when I get sad I look back at the ones I have gotten and I remember that there are people who really do like my work besides me, and that makes me feel a lot better about it all. 😊

✨ - and finally, the hardest thing for me to do 😅

If I had to give myself a compliment for my work, I kinda have 2 I suppose. The first one is kinda a back-handed compliment but the second one is legit so it evens out I guess.

I legitimately think my ideas are good. My concepts for my plots and fics are great.

Camula coming back for revenge? Amazing. Stormshipping Sleeping Beauty adaptation? S+ tier. Whole ass fantasy au I built from the ground up?? Wow. Chazzerella??????? Inspired.

Crossover with GX and Fatal Frame 5???? And Stormshipping + Alexis Mario crossover??????? Literal galaxy brain.

And so on. But I also feel like my ideas are better than my ability to execute them. So I often feel like they're better in my head than how they actually turn out. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who has that problem with their work. And in that vein I also do the most approximately all of the time and it's kinda to my detriment. I could make writing so much easier on myself and not burn myself out every time I write a fic if I just allowed myself not to include every single tiny little thing. This is why I have such a hard time writing one shots and shorter fics akskksks

But okay, time for a legitimate compliment I guess 😅

I legitimately feel like when I write a character, I'm doing right by them. Like I feel like I do characterization really well, and every Fandom I've written for I've had at least 1 person tell me I wrote the characters really well.

I also think I write some pretty damn good dialog sometimes, and occasionally I'm actually funny or convey romance somewhat okay.

Like I'm good at writing villains. I really enjoy writing mean characters or just generally characters that speak more formally whether they're villains or not. I think that comes from my love of Final Fantasy 12 and how they like exclusively wax poetic in that game akskskka

I've still got a lot of areas I could improve on though, but I think I've at least nailed down a few 😅

[traumxrei-archive]

【 a day i can't forget 】

author's note: BACK WITH AN OCTATRIYUU FIC !! long time no them <33 this'll be kinda weird to explain, but in the octatriyuu universe, this comes after my two previous octatriyuu fics + the unwritten sequel to "three's a crowd". so if they seem closer, that's why ! it's bc they spent a lotta time around each other. nonetheless, i hope you enjoy !!

characters: gn! yuu, azul ashengrotto, floyd leech, jade leech, jamil viper, kalim al asim, grim

warning: book 4 ending spoilers + vague descriptions of being dragged into water

word count: 4.8k words (we love ~5k of octatriyuu content)

tags: octatriyuu woo, oasis retreat !!, octa gets yuu to swim without manipulation (NOT CLICKBAIT), a pinch of jealousy, jamil knows, lifeguard azul >:D, eelform tweels aka pool noodle bois, pranks (affectionate), it's literally them messing around jsdkjs

[ or read it on ao3 ]

This was not where Yuu was expecting to be after that grueling fight. After Jamil's overblot was over and done with, Kalim had the sudden idea to host a party, which— thinking about it now— was a very Kalim-like decision.

He had Oasis Maker-ed the small oasis into a full-blown lake and now, everyone was enjoying a little bit of time out in the sun. It was a welcome change from their strict schedule under the hypnotized Kalim's tyranny. Jamil had calmed down from his, ahem, outburst and he was now cooking various meats on a grill. And Grim had seated himself in the vicinity of where the food was placed.

With that, Yuu thought that this would be the time for them to relax too. Keyword thought in the past tense. Because as soon as they tried to sit down in one of the lounge chairs Kalim had so nicely pulled out, they were being picked up by the arms.

"Wh–"

"Shrimpy! Don't tell me you're gonna be boring like Azul and just sit~" Floyd was grinning brightly, his hands wrapped around their right arm. "Let's take a swim!"

Shit. They had almost forgotten that the trouble trio was here. That meant that to their left was...

"Floyd is correct, Yuu-san," Jade, who gave them his most innocent eye smile— one that no one should ever trust— "It would be wise to take advantage of this situation. Besides, when else will we have the opportunity to indulge in swimming in an oasis?"

"You really are horrible senpais," Yuu grumbled as they swung their legs in vain. Damn the both of them for being so tall. "I want to rest. My legs feel like they'll fall off any second, and- Wait a second, why are you carrying me closer to the edge of the oasis-!"

Yuu started to struggle as soon as the Leeches were calf-deep in water, "Pause! Wait!! I don't- I didn't bring a change of clothes with me-"

There was a chorus of laughter from the both of them before Jade spoke, "My, it's amusing to think that wet clothes would stop us."

"He's right, he's right~" Floyd giggled. "We learned to dry clothes off in land boot camp, so why'd it be a problem?"

They screeched when they felt the water licking at their ankles, "Stop, wait, okay, I'll swim with you guys! Just get me a swimming suit, please!" They desperately wrapped their legs around Jade's waist, narrowly missing the water by a hairsbreadth.

"It's a deal," They said in unison before smiling at them.

"Honestly, you three," They felt a surge of magic envelop them before they were floating through the air; back over to the shore where Azul was standing. "I told you two to wait while I fetch a swimming suit for them. And don't tell me you fell for their tricks again."

"Try getting picked up like a cat by them, senpai," Yuu sighed deeply, grabbing the swimsuit. "I'm not tall enough, nor do I have the magic to get away."

"Maybe if you didn't show them such an, mm, amusing reaction, let's say, they wouldn't tease you so openly," Azul was definitely hiding a smirk behind his carefully placed hand. The bastard. "Now go ahead and change. Or would you like me to give you some more incentive?"

"Seven's above, you three are annoying," Yuu muttered to themself.

They looked down at the swimsuit before looking up at the trio's expectant gazes. They wanted them to swim? Okay. Fine. As long as no one made them do laps, they could still laze around in the water. (Or so they hoped.)

As they were walking to the changing tent, they spotted Jamil watching them from where he was still manning the grill. There was this bluntly amused look on his face as they came over.

"Jamil-senpai, were you watching me the whole time?"

"I mean after you yelled out like that?" Jamil shrugged. "Who wasn't watching?"

"And you did nothing to save me?" Yuu gasped; mock-scanadalized. "Seriously though, I could've used the help."

"Look," Jamil said as he expertly flipped the patties into their buns. "Why would I help the very person who single-handedly ruined all my plans?" He held out a burger for them to take– and they had to admit, it looked better than any restaurant burger that they had ever had.

Yuu paused for a moment before accepting the burger, "Y'know I said this before, but you really are evil on the inside."

"Shrim~py!"

The taller eel suddenly draped himself over them, knocking them right into the table, "You're takin' too long!"

"Floyd," Yuu said after straightening themself out. Thank the Seven the burger didn't fly out of their hands. It would've been trouble if any of it hit Jamil.

Jamil hissed, "Floyd. I want you nowhere near the grill."

"I know, I know," Floyd's tone was light but there was something in his eyes that made Yuu think twice about pushing him off. "What were you talking 'bout to Sea Snake, Shrimpy? Somethin' fun?"

"Nothing much," Yuu brandished the burger half-heartedly. "He was just giving me one of these."

"Eh? Was it specially made for Shrimpy?" The pressure Floyd put on their shoulders increased slightly, to their annoyance.

"Well, no, he was making them for everyone, but–"

"Just to clarify," Jamil interrupted, holding up his spatula. "I have no intention on being friends with you from now on, Prefect. In fact, I find you annoying."

"Gee, thanks, no one asked," They said sarcastically at the out-of-nowhere comment. Yet there was no returning jab from either party. Instead, when they glanced up, Floyd seemed to be having an intense stare-off with Jamil.

He must've seen something that he agreed with because he beamed after breaking the eye contact, "Alright~ I believe you, Sea Snake."

Floyd then bent down, grabbing their wrist and taking the biggest bite Yuu had seen a human— or, well, an eelmer, in Floyd's case— ever take. Nonetheless, almost all of it was gone; fallen victim to the sharpness of Floyd's teeth.

"Just...just have the rest," Yuu said dejectedly, holding the burger up to Floyd's awaiting mouth. "Yeah, I wasn't hungry at all."

They felt a few stares being directed at them so they looked over to see Jade and Azul looking in their direction too. There was something steely in their gaze but as soon as they caught them, they both smiled brightly, having the audacity to even wave at them.

"Great Seven, I almost feel sorry for you," Jamil muttered, before turning back to prepare more food.

"What's that supposed to mean?" As soon as the question was out of their mouth, Floyd seized them by the shoulders. "I was still talking to him, Floy-"

"Nah, nah," Floyd's laughter echoed closely in their ears. "Sea Snake's just bein' funny. Don't worry your pretty little head over it, Shrimpy!" They were very eagerly led towards the changing tents, which Floyd kicked open before they stepped in. "C'mon~ I'll be waiting for you right outside."

"You better not peek," Yuu stared warily at him as they secured the tent flap.

"Mmm, I won't," Floyd's tone shifted to a serious one. "Respecting people's privacy's something Azul told me to do. Unless, they don't respect ours, ehe~"

Yuu sighed before changing into the suit. It looked more like a wet suit, which was probably for the best considering how much...sand there was. They were still deep within a desert after all.

"I'm done," Yuu announced before opening the tent flap. What surprised them was the absence of Floyd— and the presence of Jade, instead.

"My, that was very prompt," Jade held out a shirt in his hands. "I prepared this for you."

"A shirt?" Yuu took the shirt. It was a simple black shirt a few sizes too big for them.

"Mm, yes," Jade held a hand to his chest. "I noticed your, ah, preference for looser clothing. So I took the liberty to prepare this shirt for you. It's plain black because Floyd often disagrees with my fashion choices, so I thought the simpler the better."

Yuu blinked for a moment, clutching the shirt closer to their chest, "Thanks Jade-senpai. That's...really thoughtful of you." It was. They meant it.

They almost forgot that throughout the few months that they've been acquainted, they did take care of them when it mattered. Despite the dubious methods that they employed, there was still a modicum of attentiveness they held towards them. Like they knew that they couldn't treat them quite as roughly as they treated each other. As they slipped on the shirt over their wetsuit, they made a mental note to make a gift to thank them when they got back to Ramshackle.

Jade's eyes widened slightly, before those mismatched eyes curved once more, "With pleasure. Now let's not keep them waiting for too long, lest Floyd decides on a more explosive entrance into the water."

"Right," Yuu walked alongside him to the edge of the water. Floyd waved from inside the lake, already comfortably milling around in his eel form.

"Then excuse me for a moment," Jade said before walking off towards the bushes; no doubt getting ready to slip into the water.

A sharp whistling sound managed to make them flinch. They looked up to see Azul sitting on what looked like a lifeguard's chair. He had certainly dressed the part, with the hat and sunglasses perched on his head.

"No diving by the shallow end of the pool– er, lakeside!" Azul shouted into a megaphone, his voice carrying over the sound of Kalim's lively music.

"Are you supposed to be the lifeguard?" Yuu asked as they made their way over to the chair.

"Ahem," Azul cleared his throat, dropping the megaphone beside him. "Actually, it was–"

"I asked him to do it!" Kalim appeared out of nowhere, wrapping an arm around their shoulder. "I asked Azul 'cause, y'know, he's the best mage here. So I figured he could save anyone from drowning in a jiffy." They shuffled a bit in Kalim's hold, still not accustomed to his overly-friendly behavior.

"Are you going for a swim too?" Kalim said, finally taking note of their appearance. "That's great! I hope you have a great time."

"Kalim-san," Azul called out, pushing up his glasses. "I'm sure the Prefect would appreciate it if you'd take a step back." Always the perceptive one, Azul was. They shot him a quick glance before sending a tentative smile toward Kalim.

"Oh. Whoops! My bad," Kalim wheeled himself backward. "I'm still...working on that part, haha..."

"It's okay," They gave the Scarabia Housewarden a pat on the arm. "As you said, you're working on it. I'm gonna take a dip now."

"If you're drowning give a shout," Azul let slip a soft laugh. "Maybe saving your life will let me bind you into a more...lasting contract, fufufu~"

"Senpai, that is the worst thing I've heard come out of your mouth in a while," They sighed. "As long as you don't purposefully cause an accident, then do your worst."

Yuu stepped into the water then. The water was cool, lapping at their ankles from the furious movements of the other Scarabia student's activities. They saw everything, from beach— or should it be called desert— volleyball, to people outright just splashing each other with water.

Then they felt something yank at their ankle. Yuu slipped, dragged through the water to who-knows-where, all while sputtering in an attempt to breathe.

Fear flared inside their chest for a moment before clarity hit them. There were only two people that would do this. Surely this was the work of one of the tweels. They clamped their mouth shut, blinking their eyes to adjust their vision to being underwater.

Yuu was met with Floyd's saccharine grin, his claw-like hand firmly wrapped around their ankle. Of course it was him. A well-placed kick to his shoulder and Floyd finally relented, bringing them back to the surface.

"Ahaha~!" They could barely hear the ringing of Floyd's laughter through their water-clogged ears. "You shoulda seen the look on your face, Shrimpy! You looked real scared!"

They felt another set of hands grasp their shoulders, half-turning to see Jade there, "Floyd, that was dangerous." Yuu would've seconded the statement if they weren't so busy hacking up leftover water from their lungs.

"Eh~" Floyd scratched at his earfins. "But I made sure the Little Shrimp didn't drown, right?"

"Still," Yuu said when they finally managed to catch their breath. "That was a zero out of ten experience. Please don't do it again." They tried to calm down their heart as they searched Floyd's expression for any signs of remorse. There was a slight frown on his face. Clearly, he was thinking about his actions; or so they hoped.

There was a clawed hand on their cheek, patting lightly to soothe them, "Since Shrimpy asked so nicely, I won't. And 'm sorry. Besides, scaring's only fun one time anyway. Imma go over there now, be right back!" And with a twist of his tail, Floyd speeded off towards where some Scarabia students were tussling in the water.

A sigh tickled their ear and, oh yeah. Jade was still there. "I apologize for his behavior," Jade said, letting their back meet his slippery chest. "Here, why don't I assist you in relaxing?"

Yuu snorted, "No offense, Jade-senpai, but it's not like you can brew me tea out here."

There was a slight chuckle before Jade slowly drifted further to the middle of the lake, "Don't worry. I will be right here next to you, so please do not be so tense." They nodded slightly, leaning back against his front.

It was nice. They could hear Jade's faint humming, and the sound of what they assumed was his teeth or vocal cords clicking lightly. They noticed that their voices sounded slightly distorted, their vocal cords different in their eel forms. The water, and the way Jade gently guided them around...it was all a nice reprieve from all the noise and excitement Scarabia brought about.

One that came to an abrupt end as soon as Yuu heard an all-too-familiar scream, "HENCHMAAAAN!!" Their head snapped up immediately, following Grim's shouting to where he was struggling inside of a net. How he got there was a mystery but they couldn’t help but gape at the sight.

"He is fine," Jade said before adding. "In fact, it seems Azul has saved him." They looked closely at the scene and found that, yes that was Azul Ashengrotto holding on to the net's pole.

"Sevens, I can never catch a break, can I?" Yuu muttered before patting Jade's shoulders. "Could you take me there, senpai?"

"I can't refuse such a polite request from my suffering kouhai," Jade said with an edge of teasing in his voice. They held on tight to Jade's shoulders as they felt his tail flexing, pushing them closer to where Grim was causing a scene.

They arrived just in time to see Azul dumping Grim unceremoniously onto a beach towel. Azul unsuccessfully shielded himself from the water as Grim shook himself off. They murmured a small thanks to Jade before walking over to their troublesome little monster.

"Henchman!" Grim wailed, launching himself at them. "They told me I couldn't eat anymore! They were chasing me out of the food table." His little ears drooped, the fire in them out because he was so thoroughly drenched. He really did look like a wet cat.

"Well...how much did you eat?" Yuu asked, stroking the top of his head.

"Kalim said I could have as much as I wanted so..." Grim pouted. "I had five ribs, three burgers, two chicken breasts, six chicken wings, and-"

"And?" Yuu interrupted, raising a brow. "There's more?"

Grim's ears seemed to droop even more, "The Great Grim wants to grow, y'know!"

"But I told you to eat in moderation," Yuu reminded, ruffling the monster's head. "Now what did we agree on?"

"...After I finish one dish I wait for five minutes before getting another dish to eat," Grim said miserably. He was dry enough now that his ears were able to fire up again, but it still didn't make him any less hilarious to look at.

As Grim meandered back to the food tables, Yuu turned to the other person that was patiently waiting for them with an amicable smile on his face.

"I was beginning to think you had forgotten about me," He said, fluttering his lashes and putting on a show. "And after I worked so hard to save Grim-san."

"I assume you want compensation?" Yuu glanced over at the unabashed gleam in his eyes. "Okay. Follow me." For once, they had a plan. They saw the tweels watching them curiously from the corner of their eye; looking like a pair of crocodiles stalking their prey.

They got as close to the water as they dared, and seeing the relaxed way Azul held himself, they knew he wasn't expecting anything. Yuu positioned him so his back was to the water.

"So?" Azul placed a hand on his chest. "What kind of compensation are you going to–"

Yuu chose that moment to tackle him, sending both of them tumbling right into the shallows. They made sure to roll slightly, to lessen the impact on Azul. But he still struggled under them, and they had to grab at his lapels to make sure he wasn't drowning.

Blinking the water out of their eyes, they were met with Azul's face centimeters away from theirs. His mouth was agape, silvery hair hanging in drenched strands. They could vaguely hear the sound of Jade and Floyd's laughter mingling and mixing with the sound of Azul's harsh breaths.

"I...hate you." And his glasses chose that moment to fully slip off his nose, landing in the water with a soft splash. They threw their head back then, a loud cackle leaving their lips. Azul was still mumbling complaints as they felt something wrap around their ankle and tug.

"Shrimpy~ Man, that was great!" Floyd appeared, giggles still leaving his lips. "Azul's always so on guard, how'd you do it? Teach me, teach me!"

"I think you've been spending a little too much time with Floyd," Azul muttered venomously. "He's starting to rub off on you."

Yuu just patted his shoulder, "If they got me to swim it's only fair that I get you to join me too."

"Fufufu~ It was an equal exchange of sorts," Jade said slyly. "Those are the kind of deals you claim favor, right Azul?"

"Sevens, that is not what this is and— would you get off me already?" Azul said, his voice strung high from the...stress? Or was it the fact that he realized they were practically sprawled on his torso? Azul always reacted unpredictably to physical contact, so they took that as their cue to roll over.

"Don't be too angry," Yuu said, feeling Floyd's tail tugging them yet again. "You're an exemplary mage, right? You know exactly what spell to use to dry yourself off."

"...Just because you compliment me and your words have some merit to them doesn't mean I'll forgive you so easily," Azul tilted his glasses, finding no dry surfaces to wipe them on before giving up and folding them.

"Let's just enjoy it before you do go and dry off," Yuu suggested, wading deeper into the water. "How about a race? Two against two?"

"Oooh! I wanna be with Little Shrimp this time!" Floyd cheered, raising his hand. "Since, y'know, you got to play with them before, Jade."

"Don't go thinking me and Azul will go easy on you both, fufufu~" There was a predatory glint in Jade's eyes; begetting a flash of sharp teeth.

"I still have plenty of magic in me," Azul said, fake saccharine dripping from his mouth. "I hope that your ducking skills are as good as your tackling skills, Prefect."

Yuu shot him a small smile at that, patting Floyd's shoulders, "Let's go kick their asses, my trusty steed."

And when Floyd responded with a little "yeehaw" Yuu thought that maybe this wasn't so bad. Being dragged into relaxing this way wasn't the most horrible thing they've experienced. Sure, future-Yuu was going to have to deal with the added muscle pain of trying to avoid Azul's well-aimed water spells, but hey. That was for future them to worry about.

For now, their priorities were to enjoy the day to the fullest. For now, it was enough to wash away their worries with petty jabs and the sound of laughter. After all, this day was shaping up into a day they would never forget.

[ omake : a prolonged fascination ]

It was a slow day at Mostro Lounge. And a slow day at the lounge meant that there were three usually-busy people idling around. Azul has resigned himself to his desk, a stack of documents that need his signature to the side as he rhythmically tapped his pen on the table. It wasn't the most exciting work since it had nothing to do with amassing wealth, but it was necessary for the lounge.

Meanwhile, Jade had a stack of nature magazines next to him. They were no doubt filled to the brim with knowledge of land plants that he could potentially stuff into their dinners for the next few weeks. He was boasting about a trip to the mountains again in a couple of days.

And Floyd? Floyd was in a bad mood. Usually that would entail chaos for the other two, but he wasn't in an irritated bad mood, he was just...in a lethargic bad mood. Bored without any idea of what could potentially cheer him up. Thus there he laid, looking like a puddle of melted eel on the couch.

So the three looked up almost immediately when the door to the VIP room opened sans knocking. The head of one Ramshackle Prefect popped into the room, "Hey. Can I come in, or is this a bad time?"

Floyd was the first to react, groaning and melding even further with the couch, "Go away, Shrimpy. 'M not feeling like eating shrimp right now." Then Floyd threw one of the pillows in Azul's general direction, "'N the pen tapping's gotta stop before I bite you, Azul."

"I didn't- I wasn't offering in the first place," Yuu walked into the room, and already the lackadaisical mood was beginning to shift. "Anyway, I can't stay for long so let's make this quick." They sat down next to Jade, pulling out a paper bag, and consequently piquing Azul's interest. And he was kind of distracted after dodging that pillow Floyd threw, so he made his way over to the couch.

"What may that be?" Jade asked, putting down his magazine.

"Oh, it's just something," They shook the bag, letting the insides clink around. "C'mon, Floyd. Sit up for a second." Floyd let out a long whine before shifting so his face was turned towards where they were, cheek squished against the leather.

"I...wanted to thank you for saving me from the...incident over winter break," Yuu said carefully, and the three merpeople couldn't help but note the slight fidget of their fingers as they spoke. "You really didn't have to care, but, well you did, and you guys put yourself in danger too back there so..."

"Well if you'd like to compensate," Azul's silky tone made them flinch slightly. "I can think of numerous different contracts that could have your name on them."

There was an instant shift in their demeanor, and Azul noted the way their shoulders relaxed slightly when they spoke again, "Sevens, I knew this was a bad idea." Jade looked knowingly over at Azul, who was smiling lightly at his successful effort to relax them.

"Hey. Just get on with it already," Floyd griped, making grabby hands at the bag. "Wanna see what's in the bag." And that was the Schodinger's cat wasn't it? The little unassuming paper bag that supposedly held something inside that was for the three of them.

"Okay, geez, here," Yuu relinquished their grip on the bag, handing it to Floyd. "I made it myself, so don't you dare laugh."

Jade and Azul, though curious, simply kept watch over Floyd's reactions. And when Floyd's eyes widened, a smile suffusing his previously unsatisfied expression, it only enticed their fascination with what was in the bag.

"Little Shrimp this is like, hella dope," Floyd cheered, rummaging in the bag and pulling out a mug that had an eel painted on it. "Lookit. It's handsome like me."

The Prefect groaned as Floyd held it up towards the light, "Don't do that, ugh- Okay, I'm leaving."

They tried to stand up, but Jade had a firm grasp on their shoulder, "And where will you be running off to?"

"Jade's right, wouldn't you like to see our reactions to such a heartfelt gift?" Azul challenged and the frown that they pulled only served to make Jade chuckle.

"It's none of your business where I have to go," Yuu stood— successfully this time. "You guys...have fun with that. No refunds, no compensations, okay?" They were out of the door in seconds, with a "see you later" on the tip of their tongue.

"What else is there in the bag?" Jade asked, as Floyd was very thoroughly inspecting the painted eel with a wide grin on his face. He pulled out two more identical mugs, one with another eel and the other an octopus.

"Look, look~" Floyd cheered, falling onto the couch next to Jade. "Mine has a lil basketball and it has my sick shoes too!"

"It appears that mine has a terrarium accompanying the eel," Jade noted, gloved fingers gliding over the ceramic. "Oh, and of course there are some fungi."

"How quaint," Azul couldn't resist the soft smile that tugged on his lips. "It seems my octopus is holding on to a golden contract. And there seems to be coins all around them."

"Mmm?" Floyd tilted his head, hand still stuck into the bag. "Oh, there's sumn else."

It was a note, hastily scribbled in now-familiar handwriting that read:

To the three it may concern,

You guys aren't half bad to have on my side, and it's been nice working with you minus all the teasing and pranks. I'm looking forward to what trouble and fun you will bring along with you for the rest of the year.

So thank you. I mean it.

Yuu

The three looked amongst themselves, a feeling of acute warmth settling over them like a blanket. Floyd immediately stood up— but not before gently settling his mug onto the table.

"Where are you going, Floyd?" Jade called out as Floyd swung open the door.

"Gotta go squeeze Shrimpy now~" Floyd said resolutely. "You comin' with?"

Jade made an affirmative noise, "Sure, I'll accompany you to see Yuu-san. I have a few choice words I'd like to say to them."

"Let's make a field trip out of it. After all, the Lounge seems to be having a slow day," Azul said, his smile slipping from soft to sly in a matter of seconds. "It would be best if we brought a housewarming gift if we were to visit the Ramshackle dorms."

"Then," Jade brought a hand to his chest. "I shall go grab-"

"No," Floyd and Azul said simultaneously.

"No way 'm letting you poison Shrimpy with mushrooms," Floyd stuck out his tongue. "Imma get them some of that seaweed jerky we made."

"Oh, and do grab the tester desserts we made a few days ago," Azul called out after the taller. "Now then, let me lock up the vaults and put away the papers."

"I shall inform the staff that we will be leaving," Jade said before picking up the bag. "What should we do with the mugs..?"

Azul paused as he was straightening his papers, "Well...get those to our kitchens. Put them in the hidden shelves I had installed. It would be troublesome if our staff got their hands on it."

"Right away."

As they set off on their own devices they all couldn't help but smile slightly. It would always be amusing how they never seemed to stop surprising them. Well now it was their turn to show them how much they meant to them. A show of gratitude for a show of gratitude. That was definitely a good enough excuse to go bother them, right? 

A lull in the day may just turn as eventful as this one did. And they had one little Prefect to thank for that.

helloooo thank you for enjoying the oasis swimming mischief-making :D !!

if you'd like to see more octatriyuu, check out his own brand of comfort or three's a crowd ! and check out my masterlists for more writing <33

[kaylathekittykat225]

Carnival Ride of Horror // Steve Harrington x Reader

Carnival of Horror // SH

Warning/s: Cursing, laughing at inappropriate times, (very minimal) mentions/implications of abuse/stalking (just wanna warn, its super small but just in case!)

Word Count: 3.5k

Hey guys! It’s been a bit since I’ve written, lemme tell you, life has been kinda crappy and its just a little less crappy now! So I decided to start pecking at the keyboard again and this is what came of it! This lovely person requsted this work and I just got around to starting to really write because I had a free week. Anywhoodles, it’s good to write something again and I hope yall enjoy it!

Again thank you for this idea @seraphiiii

omg i came across your post about writing ideas in my feed and got so excited to see both steve harrington and young justice in the tags lmao. but i think a steve harrington x reader where reader and him go to an amusement park and reader is terrified of the rides so he’s like comforting her throughout them and encouraging her but also laughing (in a good natured way obvi) about how scared she is and stuff? i think that would be so cute!!

Here’s my Masterlist.

Enjoy.

-----

“Stevie, when we agreed to have a date night away from the kids, I didn't think we would be going into a mass of more kids.” As he pulled the keys out, you stared at the bright light shining machinery that had been set in the middle of a field outside the city. The annual summer fair had finally made its way to Hawkins, and it had left a buzz in the air as everyone planned when they would go, talked about what rides had come this year, who their ride buddy would be; it had been all the kids had been talking about for weeks. They put a day together the coming weekend to go as a group and they planned to drag Steve and you along on the off chance that they needed an “adult” to allow them on the rides.

Funny how they assumed either Steve or you knew how to adult.

“Cause I thought it would be a nice change from us just watching movies or having dinner.”

“Oh, so dino nuggets are no longer date-worthy for you.” Steve almost took you seriously, but he saw the grin that has graced your lips at your own comment. He relaxed a little knowing that you weren’t upset with his idea for date night, but he had always wanted to kiss someone at the top of a Ferris Wheel, and he would do anything to get you to the top of the rotating ride.

“So, you’re not mad that I chose here for tonight?” You shook your head and pulled at the door handle separating the two of you from the outside life.

“Of course not Stevie, I just thought it was an interesting choice.” The smile you chose to have was one that hopefully convinced him that you were okay with where the pair of you were going, even if you weren’t happy with the choice.

You can be happy with the idea of going to a carnival as long as you don’t go on-”Cool, so what ride do you want to do first?”

“Shit.” The world slipped out before you could stop yourself as Steve finished paying for your tickets and asked what you had said. “Nothing just kicked myself. Um…” You looked around frantically for something to do that wasn’t flashing brightly and spinning faster than the legal highway speed. “Let’s go over there!”

Steve followed your hand as he saw you point towards the stands of games that were rigged and way too fricking expensive, but he would do it for you. “Alright, starting out with some games I see, I like it.”

The two of you ran through a few of the games, most of them where Steve got way too into it and you had to step between them as he tried screaming that he deserved that stuffed bear/pony/cat/fish, because he almost had it every single time. He did beat out the basketball one, one of the last ones the two of you did on that strip, bolstering his confidence just enough to get him into a cheery enough mood.

“Alright! We played some games, and let the crazies test out the rides so I’m pretty sure they won’t break down on us. Which one should we do first? They got a drop tower, or how about the pit viper swings? Or, or, or how about we…” The night had been going enjoyable up until Steve turned to the rides you had managed to distract him from and pointed at the glowing and fast-moving monsters.

“How about we do the haunted walk over there?” Steve followed your pointing finger with a quizzical look, he hadn’t really taken note of the scary attraction before, never thought to really look to it with everything else going on. “I bet it won’t even be scary to us after everything we’ve been through right ha.”

You took off with a dry laugh without waiting for a response from him; his cries were head behind you, but the haunted house looked better than anything else around you. “Y/N.” He called you again, but you walked faster. By the time you got to the stairs leading into the building, you were practically running up them to get into the dark house with smoke billowing out of it.

“Y/N!” Your name was the last thing you heard before diving through the door and physically bumping into one of the scarers dressed as a zombie. He seemed nice, breaking character enough to ask if you were okay before you had already turned the corner and left him behind too.

Twisting and turning, you didn’t pay much mind to the screaming witches, zombies, skeletons, or anything that happened all around you; over the music and screaming, you could vaguely hear your name, giving you an indication that Steve followed you.

Not too far in, you found a quieter corner with only a couple cobwebs around it where you quickly ducked back into and tried pressing yourself into it deeper, hoping to watch Steve walk right by you.

Why the hell were you running from your boyfriend? You gained a sense of logic for a second where you paused. Why were you running? This was super childish of you and really had no reason. All Steve wanted to do was go on a few rides and you were being selfish and completely ruining what was going to be one of the few evenings you didn’t have to babysit the kids.

As the guilt started to swirl with your desire to not be found, you didn’t notice as the Frankenstein in the room had taken notice of you hiding in the corner and started to tromp over to you. “Hey, miss, you can’t be hiding in here, you gotta keep moving.”

“I’ll be out in a second, sir, let me just-” “You can’t be here-” “If you give me a second, I will leave as soon as I can-” “Miss you have to leave-” “Give me one dan minute-” “Y/N!”

Among all the screaming the Frankenstein and you had been doing was your name being called by a third and new voice along with a hand clasping onto your shoulder. Looking to the hand, you saw the unmistakable outline of the man you were hiding from. “There you are babe, why were you running off.” Just looking at the Frankenstein’s demeanor, you could tell he went into defense mode suddenly.

“Were you hiding from him miss? Are you okay? Do you feel safe?” The painted man moved to step between you and Steve in an attempt to separate you two.

“Whoa, whoa buddy, back off. She’s my girlfriend, chill out.” Steve tried stepping around the man o little success.

“Oh, your girlfriend? And she’s running from you? I don’t think this is looking very good for you, buddy.” The two were shooting back and forth at each other, getting chest to chest, and starting to cause a larger disturbance that started o be heard over the music and background scream noises. More workers it looked like started to slip into the room and try to get the two men to quiet down, going so far as to begin threats of throwing them out of the haunted house.

You were pulled away from the situation before being pushed away and into the next room, looking like it was on its way to the exit in the next two or three rooms: your destination.

-----

“Y/N?” His voice finally chirped up next to you as Steve took a seat next to you on the grass at the edge of the carnival. “You okay?” When he saw you sitting over here, he had quickly jogged over and took her in as he did so: sitting with her face pressed into her knees and arms wrapped tightly around her legs as she kept herself in as tight of a ball as possible.

You didn’t respond at first, only moving your head to look up at your boyfriend, the person you have embarrassed tonight and most definitely pissed off with your childish antics tonight. “I’m sorry.”

“Whoa what do you have to apologize for? I’ve been worried about you and wanted to make sure that you are okay.” His hand found its way to your back and began rubbing circles into your shoulder blade.

“I was really childish today and you didn’t deserve it, all because I was scared of the stupid rides.” Your words may have been mumbles, but he heard every word clearly.

“Hold on. Babe, did you say you were scared of the rides?” Your small and timid nod was enough for him to understand. “Why didn’t you tell me? I never would have brought you here if I knew that!”

Swallowing the thick feeling in your throat, you looked up at him and saw the disappointment and hurt in his face and that hurt. “Because you were so excited about it, I thought I could get through it and do at least one or two with you. But as we got closer, I guess my nerves got the best of me and I just...ran. Like a stupid child.”

“Hey, hey, hey, no.” Steve quickly shuffled to kneel in front of you and grabbed your hands, holding them in his own and your legs fell down to where you were now criss cross apple sauce. “I’m not gonna force you to do any of these rides if you don’t wanna. If you want to just go home, we can make this a movie night if that works better for you.”

“No, Stevie,” His mouth quirked up at this name. “You already bought the tickets; I don’t want you to waste the money you earned because I’m a scaredy cat.”

Steve took a second to think, racking his brain on how to salvage what has been an eventful evening. “How about…” He paused again and just stared at you with you staring back at him, waiting to hear what he wanted to say. “You can say no, how about we try a few rides, to try and get you on some. If you don’t like riding after one, we can go home, and you can at least say you did it.”

Mulling this idea over in your head, your eyes shifted from where your boyfriend sat in front of you to the bright and joyous scream filled rides were. “I suppose they don’t all look so bad.” You murmured to him, staring particularly at the giant Ferris Wheel that turned, a small memory from early on in your relationship popping into your head. Steve had mentioned a few times that his dream date would be to take a girl up on a Ferris Wheel and cuddle her and kiss her when they got to the top.

“Okay, we can try a few.” Though shaky, your voice was a little stronger this time and you gave Steve a small smile.

“You sure?” A nod. “Okay, I’ll let you choose which one we go on, okay?” Another nod.

Together, the two of you stood to your feet and approached the hustle and bustle of the carnival grounds again. “What did that Frankenstein do to you? I hope he didn’t get you in trouble or anything.” You asked as you laced your hand with Steve while the other went to hold onto his arm, squeezing it slightly as you got closer to the machines and your stomach growing heavy again.

“Oh him, he didn’t do much, just tried scaring me when he though I was some creep chasing you.” He chuckled at the short story, glancing over to you as you took in the carnival for really the first time, looking for something that didn’t freak you out. “How about we start with those spinning pods over there? All they do is spin around and if you want it to, we can make it spin on the inside too.”

Following his finger, you saw what he was referring to as it did spin around, the four small egg things with windows in them were spinning on the main machinery but also appeared to be spinning on their own. As you got closer and apparently joined the line, you could see inside one of them a group of middle school boys cackling as they pulled on the weird center disk that kinda looked like a pizza pan. “Yeah, we can give it a try.” The shakiness in your voice had come back and your grip on Steve tightened.

“Hey, you got this I’ll be right here with ya.” He returned the squeeze to your hand and fishes through his pocket for two tickets to hand over at the entrance. “Up ya go.” He mutters as he helps you up the three stairs leading into the egg ride thing you were entering before he stepped in behind you and took his place next to you. You were already holding a death grip on the center console when the door was shut, and Steve sat next to you. “You know what this is?” He asked gesturing to the disk you were holding onto with the vice grip.

“Something for me to hold onto?” You shocked yourself with how violently your voice was shaking as you heard something start to rumble around you. “Oh, shit its moving.” Steve let a quick chuckle out before he stopped himself and tried explaining the center console would cause the pod thing to spin. “Fuck no! Don’t you dare make this thing spin.” Bloody murder was not even near definitive enough of how much you were screaming.

“Babe, babe calm down, it’s fine! I promise, ha!” In comparison to your screaming, Steve seemed to be having the time of his life as he laughed; at least he wasn’t making the ride spin. “Babe, babe, babe, I’m so sorry I’m laughing, I promise I didn’t mean to, but you were screaming so much! And it was hilarious!” Steve held onto his sides as he nearly fell out of the pod and waited for you to follow his laughing self. When you didn’t step out, he turned back around and saw you still had your hands clenched very tightly to the metal plate, your eyes wide and your lips pursed together. “Sweetheart, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about the rides, do you wanna go home?”

Hearing him soften up got you to finally look at him and slowly let go of the wheel. “N-n-no. I’m…” You paused to catch your breath and steady your voice. “I’m good, I just don’t know if I can do any more of these kinds of things.” Taking his hand, you pulled yourself up and stepped out from the ride and have yourself a few seconds to remember how to use your legs.

“You okay?” You nodded at him and gave a shaky, but okay smile. “You sure you wanna do another one? Cause we can go-”

“No, no, I can do…” The carnival really did have more rides than just ones that wanted to make you die, but none that really made you want to jump on them. “Can we do the carousel? I know I can do that one at least, my mom took me on them enough as a kid to be desensitized to those ones.” Steve looked over and saw the carousel that was filled predominately by smaller children, but if you wanted to do this and it was because he bought the tickets, he couldn’t make her do something else.

“If that’s what you wanna do, then we can do the carousel all night long, babe.” You nodded at him and followed him as he took your hand and the two began the walk to the carousel.

The carousel ride was much less curse filled, thankfully. You and Steve had found a pair of horses sitting side by side and the two of you quickly claimed them. Like you had said, you did get to enjoy this ride due to having done it before and you were able to just chat between the two of you, talking about how the kids were cute, how excited you were to take the kids to the park and not have to rides. It was a fine ride, definitely better than the last one.

“You ready to go home, babe?” Steve turned to you with a smile on his face. Getting you to ride two of the rides was honestly enough for him, plus, he knew Dustin would ride all of them with him later, with you waiting at the end for him.

You were about to agree and leave this eventful evening behind you, but you saw what Steve was standing near and bit your lip. Should you do it? Could you do it? “Actually, I wanna do one more.” He gave a quick quirk of his head before he followed your eyeline and turned around.

“What? Babe, we don’t have to do that, you have been through enough today and you were great, you don’t have to prove anything.”

“But...you have been wanting to do it, you told me about it one time.” You responded a little shyly as you confessed that you were doing it back of what he told you that one time. “I just...I really want you to be able to do it.”

“You...you remembered?” Steve was kind of shocked that you remembered him mentioning it, he had told that to girls in the past, but none of them really went out of their way to think about it, hell, even to remember it. “Are you su-”

“Steve, yes, I wanna do it with you.” The grin on his face was immaculate and contagious as one grew on your face as he quickly took this well and pulled you towards the line to the Ferris Wheel and dug around in his pockets for another round of tickets.

As it went around, you felt your stomach grow heavy again when you finally saw how high it got and had to calm yourself down without causing another scene. “Come on, babe, looks like ours is up.” He gently tugged on your hand and pulled you into the seat next to him before the handlebar was lowered and locked in front of you. “And here we go!”

The squeak that left your mouth was nothing but surprise and terror as you clung onto the bar for your life, your knuckles turning white with the sheer force you were holding on. “It’s really stupid you know that the only thing holding us back from falling to our death is this small bar and it’s really stupid because was if I was reall-holy shit this is really tall!” You finally removed your hands from the bar and moved to press yourself in Steve.

You could feel him trying to stop himself from giggling as he moved his arm to wrap it around you. “You can laugh you know; I really don’t care. I’m the coward of an almost twenty-year-old who’s scared of a carnival.” A chuckle did come through as the ride kept rotating and you slowly moved closer to the bottom.

“I’m not laughing at you, babe, but the noises you are making are fricking hilarious.” His voice still held the chuckle as he pressed a kiss to the side of your head, and you responded with another squeak of shock as you started rising again.

Making it to the top again, you were waiting for it to hit its peak and for the relief of lowering the cart to begin, but instead there was a shudder before the ride stopped. “What’s going on, what’s going on, why are we stopped? Oh god we are about to die, fuck, shit, I don’t wanna die.”

“Babe, calm down, someone below us is getting off so they had to stop the ride for a bit. Remember when we had to get on? Same thing probably happened to someone else.” You nodded your head and just stared ahead to the tops of the trees you never thought you would have seen.

“It’s...it’s not too bad up here.” You finally mutter after a few beats of silence and getting your bearings. “I wouldn’t want to stay up here, but it does look nice.” Steve hummed in agreement and pulled you a little closer. “Hey Stevie?”

“Hmm?” He responded looking down at you.

“Thanks, tonight was fun.”

His face broke out into a grin again at your thanks. “Of course, thanks for giving a few of these rides a chance.” Smiling up at him, you sat a little straighter and caught his lips with your own, the two of you humming to the other that you were happy with your evening.

Though it was not as long as Steve would have wanted to stay in that moment with you (the ride started again and you broke away with another shriek), but he wouldn’t have traded that moment for anything else in his life.

[vendettaparker]

Where’s My Love: Chapter 2- A Second Chance [T.H]

Summary: Tom learns what it feels like to watch a flower die; though I suppose a heart that is broken is a heart that was loved. Harrison reminds everyone about the finality of death. 

Word Count: 4.7k of pure pain 

Warnings: Angst (like the most i’ve ever written; which is saying something), mentions of sex, mentions of alcoholism, depression, cursing, character death, unhealthy grieving, grief in general, very very small mention of/hint to suicide (it’s extremely brief and you might even miss it, but it’s there)

a/n: i lowkey am kinda sorry about how sad this is. i’m just now realizing how sad this series is going to be as a whole (today i came up with a new plot idea and it made me cry just thinking about it so...), anyways, technically you could argue that this has a happy ending, so theres that to look forward to :) also you’re my best friend if you catch the WandaVision reference! reblogs, likes, and feedback is extremely appreciated! this series hasn’t been doing great in the notes department :( i’m still gonna write it obvi, but anything helps with the motivation, thanks <3 ps. thanatos is the god of death

Series Masterlist| Main Masterlist

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     “Tom,” You smiled up at your husband, eyes shining in the moonlight and heart swelling with love. “We should go home soon. There’s still more to be done tonight.” 

     Tom smirked and tilted your face up, capturing your soft lips in a heated kiss, tongue slipping in and clashing with yours. He pulled away after a while of savoring your taste, lips pink and swollen, “You’re right, darling. There’s still so much to do tonight.” Tom lips travelled further down to your jawline, where he kissed, nipped, and sucked, leaving a dark pink love bite. 

     You whimpered and tugged at his unruly curls, bringing his lips closer to your sweet spot. Tom chuckled and littered kisses and marks all up and down your collar bones. You brought his face up to yours and kissed him, practically shoving your mouth onto his in a clash of teeth and tongue. 

     Tom pulled away and groaned, “You’re gonna be the death of me, love.” His eyes darkened with arousal and you smirked, knowingly. 

     Your breathing slowed and you giggled, pushing him away gently, “Then we better get to it, lover.” 

     Tom stood up from where you were both lying, holding a hand out to help you up as well. You placed your hand in his and basked in the warmth of his touch. Something so simple as holding hands was enough to make you feel electric. Bursts of tingles and butterflies filled your body. You felt like you were on fire, burning up with the desire to feel him, touch him, and just love him.

     All the while, an evil in the form of Aristaeus watched from the shadows, his disdain growing for Tom by the minute. He watched as Tom held you close, as he seized every opportunity to kiss you. His hatred for the son of Apollo only deepened when he saw how your eyes shone and how your smiled grew in his presence. How perfect you looked and how all the intimacy and love you possessed was now only for Tom. You were only for Tom, and Aristaeus just couldn’t have that. 

     Watching Tom’s smile and listening to his care-free laugh, he knew that he needed to feel that. He needed the source of that type of happiness. 

     Aristaeus waited in the shadows for his moment to take what he wanted. Dagger clutched in his hand and blade sharpened, ready for use. The moment he saw you and Tom stand up and begin the journey back to your villa, he knew the time was now.  

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     With your hand clasped tightly in Tom’s, you began the trek back to the villa you’d purchased for the two of you. You swung your hands up with Tom’s as you both happily made your journey in comfortable silence. 

     You reveled in the way his hand felt in yours. Warm, encasing your entire being in warmth. It was so simple, just his hand clutching yours, holding your hand and your heart. There are only so many ways to describe love, and his hand in yours said more than any empty words could. 

    Your peacefulness was interrupted when you heard a shuffling in the wooded area you were walking through. The bush you were passing shook and soon Aristaeus launched out of it, dagger in hand, aimed at Tom. You screamed and Tom pushed you away to keep you away from the evading blow. 

     Tom dodged the attack, swiftly throwing a punch to the offender's jaw, momentarily stunning him. Tom grabbed your hand, and began running through the woods. You could hear the shouts and curses of Aristaeus behind you, quickly gaining speed on the gravelly road. 

     In an attempted detour, you ran through the thicket, hoping the thick mixture of branches and thorns would diverge the route of the crazed man chasing you. The thrones pricked at your skin and scratched up your face. Tom was no better, hand slowly loosening up on yours due to the pain of the thrones scrapping up his arms. 

     “Tom!” You yelped, tripping on a small log. The momentum of the fall ripping your hand from his, leaving his cold. Tom, stressed and frantic, kept running, unaware of the fact that you were no longer behind him. 

     “Come on (Y/N)! We’re almost home!” Tom yelled back, seeing the light of a clearing just up ahead. Tom jumped through the last few branches, breathing heavily once he reached the other side of the woods. He ended up in a meadow, close to your home. Tom turned around to hug you and make sure you were alright, but you were nowhere to be found. 

     “Love, we made it! Look, our villa’s right over ther—” Tom cut himself off, realizing he was now alone. 

     Tom began walking back into the woods, a sharp shot of anxiety ran up his spine. Why wouldn’t she follow me? He thought, is she hurt? Tom continued, his thought quickly being interrupted by a pained scream. 

     “(Y/N)? (Y/N)!?” Tom ran where he heard the scream and then the whimpers. His heart dropping to his stomach, bile rising. He finally found you, laid out in a pile of daisies, leg purple and bruised, small drops of blood coming from two puncture wounds in your leg. 

     It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened, and the snake slithering away from your limp body told Tom all he needed to know.  

Aristaeus had fled upon seeing you. He too knew, and he even saw with his own eyes, what had happened. The viper dug in deep and long, the poison immediately taking effect on you. 

     “(Y/N)? Fuck, darling?” Tom crouched down to your still body. He didn’t want to believe what he was seeing, he didn’t want to believe the pained look in your eyes, or the tears welled up in his. “It’s okay, love. You’re alright. Can you move? Can you get up? Please?”

     Tom did his best to help you up, but you were limp, no movement in your entire body, only your eyes showed the fear you were feeling. 

     “Tom,” you mumbled, tears streaming down your cheeks, “I-I can’t feel anything.” You cried softly, your face almost stoic from the poison coursing through your veins. 

     “No, no, darling. You can feel me, right?” Tom grabbed your limp hand and squeezed, expecting a squeeze in return. Yet nothing came, your hand remained cold and limp in his.

     You choked out a sob, “I can’t feel you.” Tears streamed down the side of your face, soaking the ground beneath your head, leaving small weeds in their wake. 

     Tom let out a painful whimper at your words. “Darling, it’s okay, we’re okay. Yeah? We’re gonna go home, and then you can lay down and get better, okay? I’ll bring you tea and flowers and Paddy will come over and play chess with you. Doesn’t that sound nice?” Tom’s tears soaked into your now cold skin, momentarily warming it. 

     “Yeah…” you mumbled softly, tears slowing and breath hitching. 

     “Yeah, and t-then Sam can come over and bring your favorite meal, o-or maybe a cake? And Harrison can work on your garden, so it won’t be limp when you get better. And I'll serenade you every night, even after you’re well, because I love you. And we’re gonna make it through this, just hold on.”

     His words faded in and out, beginning to sound muffled and underwater. Your head tilted to the side, clearly seeing the immeasurable pain etched onto his features. Tom caught your gaze and still, still tried to manage a small, hopeful smile. Deep down Tom knew this was pointless, he knew you wouldn’t ever make it home to see the villa, or the gift he left in the garden. The golden potted plant—an orchid—was now going to be a constant reminder to what he lost. But he could fake it, and fuck, he was going to fake it like it was real. 

     He would trick himself for the rest of his life until he truly believed you were okay. But he wouldn’t have to wait that long, because sitting there, holding your near lifeless body in his arms, he was ready to believe anything that even remotely implied you were okay. 

     Just past Tom you could see a figure watching you from the shadows. His suit was black and his white hair was gelled back. He stepped out of the shadows and tapped his foot impatiently, as if waiting for your time to be up. And then it hit you. You knew this man—or rather this god. 

     “Thanatos…” you whispered, eye’s finally glazing over with lifelessness. The now once bright and vibrant eyes, now dull and empty. A mere shell of what they once were. 

     “No, no, no!” Tom screamed, his painful wails being heard by the whole town. “No! (Y/N), come back! Please, please, please, please, please…” 

     You were now standing away, a lonely spectator to the happenings in the woods on this mortal realm. 

     “Come, child.” Thanatos held his hand out, ready to lead you away. 

     “But I never got to say goodbye.” Your eyes welled up with tears, seeing Tom frantically shake your body, trying to bring you back to life. “I never got to live my life with him.” 

     Thanatos gave your shoulder a comforting squeeze, “We must go now. Don’t worry, little one. You will see him again.” 

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      Tom didn’t move. He didn’t eat, he didn’t sleep. He wished he didn’t even breathe. He sat in the villa and stared at the now dying orchid, limp and sickly, in the golden pot. You never even got to see it, he thought, you would’ve loved it. 

     All of Tom’s thought’s surrounded you, and how he could no longer hold you. He felt so cold, he found no joy in things he used to. And all he wanted to do was cry. But he couldn’t. He’d cried himself dry over the past three days. Now all he felt was pain, and he couldn’t even ease it with tears. 

     “Tom,” Harrison snapped him out of his daze, pulling his gaze away from the dying orchid. “It’s time.” 

     Tom let out a breath, pained and labored. Today was the day. The day your body would be laid to rest. The day that you would truly be lost to him. 

     “Come on, everyone’s waiting for you.” 

     Tom groggily pulled himself from the bed. He dressed slowly and carefully, wanting to look his best for the last time he’d see you. Every intake of breath hurt his head, another painful reminder that he was here and you weren’t. He was alive, and you were gone. 

     The clearing that he once found solace in was cold. The flowers around him were limp and dying, and the world just looked gray. The color was gone from his eyes and all he could think was, it should’ve been me.

     Paddy hadn’t spoken a word since he heard of your death. He hardly even looked at Tom, every time he did the young boy would tear up and look away, too embarrassed of his tears to let them be seen. But in the dark, in the comfort of his bed, he cried for you. His first encounter with death, and it had to be you. His heart hurt more than his young mind could comprehend; he could hardly imagine what Tom was feeling. 

     Harry and Sam were numb. They hardly knew how to feel. They loved you like a sister but only knew you for a few months. Was it appropriate to mourn the loss of someone you only knew for a moment? Was it ignorant to fein a stoic exterior when your sister was gone? In the comfort of each other, the boys mourned. They cried a bit, but mostly tried their best to remember the good times. Harry remembered how you always backed him up in an argument, even against Tom, and how you always expressed how blessed you felt getting to know their family. Sam remembered how you always volunteered to be his test subject for his dishes. How you were always sweet, but honest. You fit so well into their lives, it was almost impossible to imagine you wouldn’t be in them anymore. 

     Harrison couldn’t believe it, or rather he didn’t want to. He held Tom close, and tried to convince him that everything was okay. He was the rock the group leaned on in any way they could. 

     He was a rock, and he was cracking. He found himself alone in clearing multiple times, watering the flowers, doing his best to keep them afloat, and yet they still withered away. He tried to feel you there, so he could tell Tom that maybe you weren’t truly gone, but all he felt was the absence of your presence. 

     Tom looked at the patch of dirt you laid under. He looked at it and all he felt was anger. Anger at Aristaeus for leading you to your death, anger at the viper that sealed your fate, anger at the gods for letting you be taken, and anger at himself for living through it. 

     The ceremony was short; just him and his brothers, gathered around a patch of dirt, crying. 

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     Everyone was forced to cope. They all had their tricks to make the pain ease. Paddy would play chess by himself, wishing you were there for him to beat, but mostly remembering how many times you praised his amazing chess skills and made him feel special. Harry and Sam took on the duty of attempting to fix your garden in the clearing. They took shifts watering the plants and picking out the weeds.

     Harrison smiled whenever he saw wild daisies. They always reminded him of you, partially for your pure innocence, but also because when you first met him, you gave him a flower crown made out of daisies. The crown was now limp and wilted, but he would treasure it until the day it withered away. 

     Tom suffered the most, though. He lost not only his soulmate, but his best friend. His coping consisted of copious amounts of alcohol to help him sleep, then he would see you in his dreams, and he’d have to drink more to stop from feeling the constant pit in his stomach growing with each baited breath. 

     “Tom, this isn’t healthy.” Harrison chided each time he walked into the murky depths of his bedroom; which was at least twice a day to check on the poor boy. 

     Harrison sat on Tom's bed as Tom laid on his stomach, facing away from him. Tom would grumble, then sniffle and completely ignore the presence of someone new in his room. The bed would be musty, his hair would be in knots, and his eyes would have a constant red rimmed appearance accentuated by the dark circles that resided underneath. 

     “Tom come on, let’s go for a walk. Sam and Harry fixed up the garden a bit; I think you’d like it.” Harrison shook Tom’s shoulder gently, prompting him to face the blonde. 

     “It won’t be the same.” Tom mumble, voice hoarse and wobbly.

     “I know, but they worked hard on it. They’re grieving too, y’know?” 

     “Of course I fucking know.” Tom snapped, swatting Harrison’s hand away, “You think I don’t know how much of an impact she had on all of us? You think I don’t hear Paddy crying at night when he thinks he’s alone, or the way he refuses to look at me?” 

     “Tom—”

     “You think I don’t know that this is my fault?” Tom sobbed, burning holes with his harsh gaze into Harrison. “I know, Haz. I know all too well how we’re all grieving.”

     Tom broke down, heaving and rambling about how it was his fault, about how helpless you looked, and how broken he was. All Harrison could do was listen. 

     “She died in my arms, Haz. S-she curled up and just… died.” Tom spoke barely above a whisper, his crying ruining his voice. “She looked so scared and I couldn't help her. I couldn’t save her.” 

     “I know.” Harrison was crying now too, tears falling from his diamond eyes. 

     “It was supposed to be me. The attacker was after me. I-I should’ve taken the hit, and then she’d be alive.” 

     “No, Tom. You don’t know that that would’ve saved her from this fate.” Harrison scolded Tom’s reckless words. “She could’ve died a day later, or minutes later. Life is not a guarantee. Tom.” 

     “At least we would’ve been together.” 

     Harrison frowned, “In the underworld? And what type of existence would that have been?” 

     Some turned away from Harrison, “One where we would at least have each other.” 

     Harrison softened his gaze and held Tom close before he could protest, “You still have us. I know it’s not what we want right now, but it’s what you need. You can’t go through this alone; I won’t let you.”

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     As the weeks went by, Tom’s grief continued to eat away at him. Try all he might, he could never escape you. You were in all of his favorite things. His lyre now laid dusty and cold next to his bed, it hadn’t been touched since your wedding night. 

     He held it together as long as he could, but it was too much. The pain ripped away at him and ate him up. One day he reached his breaking point. He needed you to come home. He needed you in his arms. Nothing in this mortal world could ever compare to your sweet kisses and loving praises. Nothing would ever satiate him again. 

     How could this have happened? How could the gods have cursed him this way. He was a good man, he did all that was expected of him. He went above and beyond for his community, for others. He helped find and procure the fleece that placed Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus in Thessaly. His music cured lost souls, helped them find solitude and comfort in his songs. He did everything right. And yet the gods mock and torture him by taking you away. Ripping his other half from him, stealing you. The only comfort in his otherwise lonesome life. There’s no need for old age, sickness, or murder to take him away now; his grief will surely get the job done. 

     “Tom,” Harrison, spoke softly, taking in the man who’s broken soul was starting to shine through to his exterior appearance. His hair matted, eyes red and puffy, knuckles bruised from letting his anger out on the pillars over his home. What was supposed to be your home. Now the clay brick home was cold, your presence no longer there to bring natural warmth. “Tom, come on. You have to keep going.” Harrison put a hand on his friend's shoulder, giving it a hearty squeeze. “She wouldn’t want this for you. She loved you.”

     “Then why was she taken from me?” Tom burst, hands flying to his hair, gripping his unruly curls. “Why would the gods allow this pain? I’ve done it all. I was so good, I-I did all that they asked of me.” 

     “Tom, please just come—” 

     “No! Harrison, don’t you see? I can’t move on! I can’t think about anything other than what was lost, what I lost. There must be a way to get her back. I’d do anything, just to hold her one more time. To love her, like it’s all I was put here on this Earth to do.” Tom pushed Harrison’s hand away. “Help me. Please, find a way.” 

     Harrison sighed sadly, rubbing his face with his hands. Tom, the most deserving person of his happy ending had it ripped from him, and there was nothing that could be done. Almost as if it was fate, there were no loopholes. Expect maybe—no. It was too risky. The god of the underworld was not a merciful man. 

     “Harrison? You have something?” Tom looked at his friend, a glint of barely visible hope in his eyes, the type that only the thought of you could bring. The look on Harrison’s face clearly showed that the gears in his head were turning. This look always brought about Harrison’s best ideas, or in this case, his only one. 

     “I— well, it’s not plausible.” Harrison debated. “You’d need your father’s help, and even so,” he whispered the last part “you’d need to go to the Underworld and bargain with Hades.”

     Tom looked at his friend in shock? How could this be the only plan he’s come up with? A plan that would surely get Tom killed, or worse, turned into a lost soul. “What? No, no— there has to be another way. There are other gods—more merciful— who would help us.”

     Harrison shook his head, “I’m sorry, Tom. But death? That’s final. The only god with the power to bring (Y/N) back is Hades. And he always has a price.” 

     Tom debated his options, one being the clear winner. He knew he couldn’t go on without you, he wasn’t strong enough. If he were less selfish then maybe he’d find a way to find joy again. But he needed you more than he needed the air in his lungs. He didn’t care if he was being selfish, trying to bring you back to a world that had just gotten used to life without you. He spent his whole life being selfless, helping others. It was time to get what he was due, what he was owed: His happy ending. 

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     Tom paced and pondered, his restless mind a futile assistance in this matter. His thoughts only focused on you and how to bring you home. In the beginning, he took into account all of the risks he’d be taking going to the underworld and bringing you back. He’d need to enlist the help of his father, to persuade Hades to listen to his pleas. He’d need to safely get in and out of the Underworld with you entow, and the hardest part of all; he’d need Hades permission for you to come home. 

     It was not that Hades was cruel or unjust; he was just simply too fair. Death is final and Hades followed that order to a tee. He scarcely made exceptions and when he did there was always a price that needed to be paid. Usually, that price was worth the life of the soul being returned, a hefty sum. 

     Tom hardly worked out the intricacies of his plan before Harrison caught him, bag packed and determination scrawled across his face. 

     “Tom, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Harrison chided, standing in between Tom and the doorway. 

     “I’m getting her back, Haz. I need her home. You guys may be able to move on and be okay, but I can’t. She meant more to me than any of you will ever know.” 

     “You’re gonna get yourself killed, Tom.” Harrison spoke in a hushed whisper as to not alert the others to what was going on, “What happens then, huh? How do you think we will feel then? We already lost (Y/N), Tom; we can’t afford to lose you too.”

     Tom’s eyes glistened with frustration and unshed tears, “but I’m not complete without her…” he whispered, sniffling. “I have to do what I can.” 

     “No, Tom. I’ve let this go on long enough.” Harrison spoke sternly, “You have to move on. I’m sorry because I know it’s not fair. I know that this shouldn’t have happened. It broke all of us. But you need to come back to us, okay? You need to move on with your life. Paddy is thirteen, Tom. He has no father-figure, he needs you. Harry and Sam have been by your side since they were babies, they need you. And you're my best friend, I need you. You don’t get to walk out on us because of your pain, because we never walked out on you. We were hurting, yet we stayed by your side. You need to do the same for us.” Harrison gave Tom a tightlipped smile, “Please, Tom. Just try.”

     Tom had never seen such anguish in Harrison's eyes. He knew him and his brothers had also been struggling and he knew he was being selfish. He needed to do better. 

     “Okay,” Tom choked out, tears streaming down his cheeks, “I’ll try.” Tom placed his bag down on the floor and sat on the bed. He placed his face in his hands and sniffled out sobs. It was time for him to let you go. 

     Harrison left Tom alone in his dark room, shaking with anger. Once again the anger had returned, tenfold. Tom just wished he’d held your hand tighter, maybe then he’d be in your arms right now. Instead he was alone in his room, mind clouded with guilt and exhaustion. 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

     “Tom.” Your voice whispered in his ear, taunting him. Reminding him of what he lost. What he couldn’t save. The only one he couldn't save. The only one he needed to save. 

     “I’m right here, Tommy.” You never ceased. You constantly called to him as he tried his best to put his tortuous thoughts to rest. You stood over him, eyes wide in fear. You watched him, and you whispered. 

     “Tommy, why couldn’t you save me?” 

     You broke his heart all over again every night. 

     He sat up in his bed, body wet with sweat and eyes clouded with tears. 

     “(Y/N). Please, darling,” he begged, “I tried, please, I’m still trying.” You walked over and stood right above him, face inches apart. It was almost as if he could smell the sweet scent of flowers on you. The orchids and daisies you loved so much wafting over him, calming him. Until your cold, dead grip latched onto his shoulder. 

     “You failed, my love.” 

     Tom woke with a start, screaming and crying into the empty abyss of his room. You were nowhere to be found. He couldn’t take it anymore. He needed you back. You needed to come home and never leave his side ever again. If he had to spend one more day without you, he’d lose it. He’d become the monster he felt like on the inside. All the dark, twisty despair holed up in his heart would rush out in acts of unchecked rage and violence. He was never the villain, but he would be. 

     He couldn’t follow through with his promise to Harrison. He couldn't just move on and pretend that life made any sense without you, because it didn’t. Nothing made sense, and everything hurt. 

     Zeus created humans to have another half, and they would spend the rest of their lives if they had to, searching for it. You were Tom’s, and you were ripped away from him. That just won’t do. 

     He couldn’t spend another night lying awake, thoughts ripping apart his mind. He couldn’t sleep either, or else he’d see you. See what you’ve become. A ghost of happier times. A reminder of what never was and never will be. A figment of his ill fated mind. 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

     The next morning, Paddy went into Tom’s room to bring him breakfast, as usual. It’s been months since he’s eaten with his brothers, and the new normal was one of them toughing it out and giving him his food in his room, then listening to his cries form outside the door for a moment, just to gauge if he was getting better; he never was. 

     Paddy was about to knock but paused before, gently pressing his ear up against the door. He didn’t hear crying like he usually did, he didn’t even hear sniffles.

     Paddy hesitantly opened the door, afraid of what he might find. The silence was all too scary for the young boy. Once the door was fully opened Paddy got a good look around, not seeing Tom anywhere. 

     Paddy dropped the bowl of food on the floor and ran for Harrison. 

     “Harrison! Harrison! Sam! Harry! Anyone!” Paddy yelled out, running around the garden looking for the boys. He slammed into Harrison, who was just on his way to the garden. 

     The force knocked the wind out of a crying Paddy and slammed him into the ground. 

     “Woah,” Harrison breathed out, bending down to help Paddy up. Paddy gasped to catch his breath and attempted to stop the tears. 

     “What happened, kid?” Harrison rubbed his bruised back, “Come on, Paddy, breathe.” 

     “G-Gone…” Paddy wheezed out, “Tom’s gone.”

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

tags and moots: @justapurrcat @itsapeterthing @peterbenjiparker @kelieah @portraitoforion @ptersmj @princessofguineapigs @cherrytholland @waitimcomingtoo @rosyparkers @iovebug @hollandcrush @celestialbarnes @blissfulparker @starktonyx @asonofpeter @keithseabrook27 @devildisguiseasangel @felicityparkers​ @selfcarecap​

[falcor-thee-luck-dragon]

Klaus x Powered Reader

Summary: Reader is part of the umbrella academy but came when they were 12 due to parents needing help for them, ya know controlling powers and whatnot. They can shapeshift into any animal and their senses are heightened n such.

Warnings: bloody, fighting bad guys, bit of Klaus fluff

You know that moment in a movie where they freeze frame and then the character says something like “you’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.”

Yeah with Klaus you have those moments more times then you could count. In fact, if you had a dollar for every time Klaus has gotten you into a freeze frame moment. (And you’ve thought about this often.)

You could probably afford a real nice apartment with actual food in its fridge. Instead of living at the Academy with some apples and Klaus’ latest alcoholic beverage.

But alas, here you are in a back alley as Klaus’ bodyguard waiting for some Italian mafia members to come get their money that he owes them. Well that’s what you’re assuming but Klaus insists they’re just some moody tough guys. Okay sure.

You watch Klaus as he paces back and forth in front of you counting his cash for about the 50th time in the past 10 minutes.

Klaus stops abruptly and turns to you with a smile, “You know what I love about you, Y/N, every time I think things could get worse I look at your pretty face and I know you got me.”

Sighing in knowing annoyance you look up at him, “Are you short.”

Klaus snorts, “No actually I’m pretty long.” He says with wink.

You look up to the sky trying not to crack, you couldn’t give him the satisfaction even if it was funny, not the time or place. Especially considering his dumbass is short some cash he definitely owes very soon.

You look over to Klaus again and raise an eyebrow.

“Alright how much?”

He twiddles is fingers while avoiding your curious gaze. “Oh you know...a couple hundred or so.”

“So that’s why I’m here, emotional support my ass”, You say rolling your eyes a bit amused nonetheless.

Klaus may be an idiot but he’s funny and kind and you love him. Also you do enjoy beating up gangsters or whoever these thugs of the hour are.

Folding your arms while giving Klaus a smirk you tell him, “Well your friends better get their asses here cause when they do. I’m gonna knock their teeth in for making us wait in this shit ally. I’ve been suppressing the urge to vomit for 10 minutes.”

He nods in agreement, glad you’re not about to rip him a new one for his latest antics.

“Wait, does it really smell that bad, I mean the dumpster is at the other end of the ally.” He says in confusion.

You put your hands on your hips glancing at the dumpster and then focusing on Klaus.

“I’ve got the whole animal kingdom inside me Klaus, I know you can kinda smell that dumpster from here, but listen. For me it’s 1000x worse and let me tell you it doesn’t smell like a bath and body works around here.”

Klaus laughs scratching the back of his head, “Right, right, sorry.”

Suddenly a sketchy looking black car rolls into the ally, coming to a halt as three angry looking men walk out. Clearly hiding something within their coats, the “leader” it seems steps up and speaks.

“You betta have that 1,000 you owe us right fucking now you little theif, I don’t appreciate you takin’ my mother’s gold necklace, rest her soul.” He growls.

Klaus raises his hands up, “Listen buddy, you stole that from your own mother at her funeral...and let me tell you she’s not to happy about it.” He says looking to his left where you assume this guys dead mother is standing.

The bald guy behind him shakes his head and says, “So fuckin what? We needed that shit for other important purposes raccoon eyes.”

Klaus now lost as to where this situation is about to turn looks over at you clearly needing assistance. While mouthing “help me”.

Walking past him you hold your hands up showing you have nothing to hide, “Now that’s not very nice, a real shit personality, your mother would be very disappointed in how you’ve turned out. Cause let’s be honest it’s not like your looks are doing anything for you either.” You say snickering trying to see how they’ll react.

The first guy smirks reaching into his coat to pull out a nasty looking knife. “See this right here, I’m a good old fashioned man, I don’t believe in guns.”

You raise your eyebrows at him, “Oh well in that case we should all be quite relieved then.”

Looking behind him you notice as his two friends pull their own weapons out, which consists of a hammer and some type of meat hook.

“Klaus couldn’t have picked an easier bunch of idiots to fuck up then these psychos.” You thought.

The bald one begins to move brushing past the first guy looking like he’s seeing red.

“Jesus, man I didn’t mean to offend, I’m just making friendly conversation.” You muse.

Baldy begins to charge holding up his hammer ready to strike. “Come here you bitch, that’s my husband you’re talking to.”

He swings as you side step him, tripping him as he falls directly onto the concrete. Conveniently dropping the hammer in the process. Klaus being the ever troublesomely fantastic sidekick, picks up the hammer and throws it at you.

Gripping the hammer tightly, baldy rises from the ground faster then you’d expected mouth bloody and boiling with rage.

But in a hot second his bearded buddy in crime sprints towards you with his meat hook seemingly out of nowhere.

Klaus yells for you to watch out but you didn’t even need to look, this guys heart beat is louder then a firework and you’re faster then a viper, your senses on overload. As you turn around in record time to grab the guys right arm with the meat hook.

With your left hand tight around this guys beefy one you hold on and push his assault giving him more power. Effectively fulfilling your plan and leading the hook right into baldys chest. Who was fortunately running towards you.

A split second later with the hammer in your right hand you swing it forcefully into the guys shins. Hearing a sweet sickly crunch sound and the wild howls protruding from your assailants throat.

“Sorry I didn’t know you were married.”

“Fuck you!” He screams.

You look up hearing the sting of metal being swung in the wind, to see a knife heading straight for your throat.

With lighting reflexes you grab his wrist, the knife inches from your vulnerable skin.

Klaus gasps in the background terrified and relieved at not getting your throat slit.

You turn your fingernails to sharp cat-like claws that dig dangerously into his flesh, causing hot blood to drip out. The man drops the knife and grimaces in pain.

“I don’t know about you but I don’t think my boyfriend owes you three motherfuckers shit.” You growl, eyes beginning to glow an electric blue while the whites of your eyes shift to black, something that happens when you start to use your power.

“Fuck you, and fuck that thieving piece of junky shit crying in the corner.”

Your mood darkens, “Wrong answer.”

Letting go of his bloody wrist you grip his throat with your left hand lifting him off the ground. He begins to choke and struggles against your tight grasp.

“I know you’ve heard of me from other friends of yours, so listen very closely. If you touch Klaus again or anyone else around here who’s just trying to survive in this city. I won’t be so generous next time. Or maybe I should rip your fucking face off right now.” You squeeze tighter drawing blood.

“Y/N.”  Klaus says softly.

“Let’s go home.” He asks with pleading eyes and you snap back to reality smelling the iron scent of blood on your hands.

Sometimes you can get carried away feeling the rush of the hunt, a taxing side affect of your power, one you’ve always struggled to control.

Letting the man go he slumps to the ground coughing and sucking in straggled breaths.

“ Alright, me..me and the boys...won’t do nothing....you have my...my word....no bullshit nothing....I swear.”

“Good cause your friends are gonna need more then some stitches.”

You quickly leave the ally and start walking down the street towards the Academy.

Breathing heavily, you look up at Klaus who’s at your side as you start to feel a bit embarrassed that he saw you lose it a little.

He holds onto your arms stopping you, “Don’t worry, we’ll have a bath and watch some movies...hey you like that Museum one?”

“The Night at the Museum.” You say smiling still feeling off.

Klaus’ face lights up, “Yeah that one, with the big T-Rex skeleton and President Roosevelt on a horse.”

He links your arms together and you both begin walking again.

“Y/N, I’m not afraid of you, you know. I never have been, I actually find it pretty sexy of you to beat up bad guys for me and keep the neighborhood safe-er. Ben thinks so too, minus the sexy part of course. Only I get to enjoy that.”

You relax more into his side and once again start to feel a bit more at ease with yourself.

“Oh wait a second, here put these sunglasses on, your eyes are still playing mood rings with us. Don’t wanna freak out the civilians” He laughs.

“Thanks, I did wonder why that kid back there looked like he just saw a ghost.”

Klaus winks, “Maybe he did, cough cough..Ben...cough cough.”

“You’re an ass.” You say while rolling your eyes

“Yes indeed my love but remember I deal with the supernatural of all sorts, from ghosts to monsters, nothing phases me.” Klaus states proudly.

You laugh, “ Okay Van Helsing, this monster wants a bath with her hunter then.”

Klaus kisses your cheek, “That can be arranged my dear.”

Smiling up at him you hold him tighter and think to yourself how weird your life is, but you wouldn’t change it for anything.

- okay wow alright, first story ever I hope it’s good or at least some people like it. It was honestly fun to write ngl.

[brandstifter-sys]

Emerald Eyes

Chapter 3: Black Valentine       (Ao3)

Word Count: 1122

Characters: Janus, Patton, Roman

Ship: Royaliceit 

Rating: T

Warnings: food mention

Roman and his husband find Janus at work and explain everything over lunch.

----

The coffee was more bitter that morning than ever before. Janus really didn’t care, they had a job to do and no motivation to do it. They leaned against the filing cabinet behind their desk, behind a wall with a sliding window and sorted through the files for their bosses. Sanders and Co. Law Offices was a busy place and rather than letting them handle a few domestic cases, the higher-ups had Janus working as a secretary. 

They pulled the file they were looking for and went to the back to deliver it. They had no idea that while they were gone, a certain pair would come into the waiting area. 

Janus sat at the desk and adjusted their boss' schedule to accommodate for a doctor's appointment. They typed away on the computer and didn't look up when they heard the door open and close. 

"Good morning, welcome to Sanders and Co. Law Offices. If you give me just a moment I can get you checked in for your appointment." 

"We don't have an appointment," Roman said apologetically, "But we are interested in speaking with you if you have the time." 

Janus sighed and saved the schedule. They were not interested in being a homewrecker, a secret lover. But they had to keep up appearances for the company. 

"I'm afraid that's not company policy. Unless you have business you need to discuss, you may leave." 

"Well we do have a domestic dispute," Patton said, catching Janus off guard. They looked up at the pair, holding hands firmly. Roman was fidgeting awkwardly and Patton looked sheepish. 

"I can pencil you in for an intake interview in about three business days. If it's urgent I can guide you, in the cafe on the corner in about a half hour," Janus said with one eyebrow raised. Roman winced while Patton grinned. 

"It's very urgent!" he giggled, "Do you go to this cafe a lot? I'd like to know what you would order if you were going there for lunch." 

"The Caesar wrap and a sweet tea, but they have a wide variety. I'll be there in a half hour or less with some intake forms. Do find a table in the back," Janus hummed with a wry smirk threatening to cross their lips. 

"You got it, Sugar!" Patton grinned, "And please don't leave us waiting. Princey and I have some explaining to do." 

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

"How you manage to keep your spirits up in such a business atmosphere is astounding," Roman sighed and sipped his coffee. They were in the cafe, waiting in the back with their sandwiches and coffee and Janus' order. 

"Well I guess I'm just used to being outgoing and bubbly in those situations," Pat mused and sipped his coffee, "I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna be a mess where they get here. They're so pretty and smooth and my big boy working self goes out the window." 

"That's partly why we're both here," Roman responded, "I hope they can understand the main reason we're here." Patton grabbed his hand and offered him a reassuring smile.

"Well boys," Janus greeted them and sat down, aware that neither of them could have heard them coming, "Say your pieces. I don't have all the time in the world." 

"Jan!" Patton yelped and jolted away from Roman. Janus pouted and shook their head. Roman huffed amusedly through his nose and slid Jan's food to them. 

"Thank you for taking the time to hear us out," he said with a shy smile, "I don't think it's fair to leave you in the dark." 

Janus tilted their head and sipped their tea, "Please do shed some light on your ring." 

"Yes, that. You see, I do have a husband, I am very much in love with him, and we are polyamorous," Roman said and grabbed Patton's hand, "Patton is my husband." 

Janus glanced between the two and raised their eyebrows, waiting for more explanation. Patton flushed and shrugged. 

"Yeah, we're married and polyam. And I know I kinda guided you into talking to Roman but it's not because I wanted to trick you or anything." 

"You see, Patton kept telling me all about this one regular who makes him weak at the knees and makes his heart flutter," Roman smirked, "I told him that I just had to meet the person who he wanted to woo." 

"Patton?" Janus asked shyly and looked at him, brushing a stray lock of hair behind their ear. Patton winced and nodded. 

"I really like you and I talked to Roman about maybe trying to introduce you into our relationship if you wanted." 

"I was so upset when I didn't see you last night, or at least, I didn't recognize you," Roman added, "If I had known you could go from an alluring vixen to a dapper gentleman I might have proposed to you on the spot!" 

"You want me to be both of yours?" Janus questioned and eyed both men suspiciously. The charming prince of their dreams wanted to be with them while being married to the other man at the table. Moreover, the sweet bartender who could always make them smile and feel comfortable no matter how they looked, he was just as smitten if not moreso. 

"If you want to, yes. Princey is getting tired of my crush gushing," Patton giggled shyly. Roman rolled his eyes fondly and nodded. 

"Patton, Roman, if you think that lunch is enough to woo someone like me—" 

"Oh goodness no!" Roman gasped, "This is hardly the way to woo anyone! If you give us a chance, we would set up three dates, one with you and Patton, one with the most elegant restaurant in town, and one with the three of us, either parading around town and spoiling you or a cozy movie night." 

"That's better," Janus teased, "We can set up some time for that. In the meantime, I would hope my boyfriends would spare a quick kiss or two." 

"I don't know if you need any more sugar, Sweetie," Patton grinned, "But I don't see why not!" He leaned over and gently pressed a quick chaste kiss to their lips. Not to be excluded or outdone, Roman took their hand and brought their knuckles to his lips.

"You, my darling viper, can have as many kisses as you want." 

"He's lying," Patton interjected, "he said the same to me and I want infinite kisses." 

"Just one for now," Janus hummed. Roman cupped their cheek and kissed them sweetly. It was short but dizzying. 

"Hmm, I must be the luckiest person in the world," Janus said with a smile. With the soft looks directed at them, they were pretty sure that was the case.

(First) (Prev)

[roadtohadestown]

hadestown thoughts n’ things song-by-song

Y’ALL KNOW I SAW HADESTOWN A COUPLE DAYS AGO AND I GOT SOME THINGS TO SAY !!! these aren’t gonna be me fully describing how the songs play out (a couple times yes, but not from start to finish), but are me pointing out little things that i found very memorable or funny or were little “OH SHIT” kinda moments.

(i’ll also be referring to the characters by their actors every now and then)

occasionally i’ll refer to the fates individually by their actual names (clotho, lachesis, atropos); if you don’t know which actresses play who:

yvette -> clotho // kay → lachesis // jewelle -> atropos

———

ACT 1

road to hell:

the cast came out all at once and i swear my heart JUMPED when i saw them enter and wave at the audience !!!!

andré came in walking slowly over to his usual spot on stage right. while walking, he was holding the hands of some of the cast who were sitting at the tables.

the fates snapping a sassy look at hermes when he says “three old women all dressed the same.”

introducing orpheus, orpheus is literally a happy ball of sunshine running onstage, holding a red rag and a crate and starts wiping down the tables.

when hermes introduces eurydice, orpheus and eurydice bump into each other at the center of the stage. they stare at one another for the rest of road to hell and it’s so so cute and enchanting. sitting on orchestra left, i was just watching orpheus’s face, so awestruck and in love.

any way the wind blows:

fuck i am so gay for the fates

eurydice’s “anybody got a match ??” and hermes holding out a matchbox to her. she snatches it and says “gimme that.”

eurydice lighting the candle and clotho blowing it out.

lachesis gracing a hand on eurydice’s hair (and i forget at which lyric because my mind is Like That and Forgetful)

come home with me:

eva casually dragging her hand back and forth above the flame, playing with it because she’s not really the focus of the scene and needs something to do while reeve’s busy crumpling a newspaper to make a flower for her

hermes saying, “orpheus......don’t come on too strong”

and orpheus—directly after hearing hermes say that—says to eurydice, “coMe hOmE wITh ME !!!” featuring reeve’s wonky movements that make orpheus seem awkward, which is just plain cute

at one point, he sits on the table beside her

hermes taking the candle from eurydice’s hands and placing it aside on another table. this candle stays lit for a lot of act 1, then is later blown out because we need Metaphors and Symbolism

i love that eurydice crumples up orpheus’s paper flower, then stuffs it in her pocket

wedding song:

damn i love eva and reeve

damn i love this ensemble

damn that flower is red

epic i:

once hermes says “sing it again though” and hands orpheus his guitar, orpheus straps it on. he takes a little moment of silence before he starts singing—like he’s trying to prepare himself first. in that moment, he’s actually just staring at eurydice and smiling because he loves her so much—

livin’ it up on top:

I LOVE THE FATES AND THEIR FANS !!! EVEN THEY’RE SUPER HAPPY THROUGHOUT LIVIN’ IT UP

WHEN PERSEPHONE COMES BACK FROM HADESTOWN, ORPHEUS IS SO GIDDY !!! YOU COULD SEE HIM SMILING LIKE CRAZY AND HE’S A LITTLE JUMPY BECAUSE HE’S SO EXCITED SEPH’S HERE !! HE’S LIKE AN EXCITED LITTLE PUPPY !!! HE WAS SO EAGER TO TAKE HER COAT TOO !!!

orpheus juMP

he was literally throwing a couple silver cups to hermes (who caught them)

there were cute little john and eva moments, with john dancing around her at one point

persephone tried to shove eurydice in with the dancing ensemble to get her to join, but eurydice walked away waving her hands and awkwardly smiling as if saying, “no thanks, i’m not gonna do that,” (but obviously later persephone successfully drags eury into dancing, and she’s wonderful at it)

when hermes said “let the poet bless this round!” ahmad, while holding one of the wine bottles, puts his hands up as if to say “alright, he can do it”

after orpheus gave his speech and they drank from their cups, hermes actually coughed—like the wine was just too much for him asjhsnsj

all i’ve ever known:

persephone’s onstage during the little hermes introduction bit. when he mentions orpheus and eurydice, seph holds out her arms to each of them as he does (as if indicating who’s who) before sitting down at the side to watch the two lovers.

orpheus takes off his apron (finally), revealing him in full with his nifty suspenders 😩💕

when eurydice said “now i wanna hold you too,” she was frantically moving her hands, grabbing different parts of orpheus’s arms

that sex scene was beautiful (IT’S JUST A GRACEFUL INTIMATE DANCE BETWEEN THE TWO AND IT’S PRETTY !! ESPECIALLY WITH THE LIGHTING)

mwah

way down hadestown:

orpheus and eurydice dancing around as everyone sings about hades and hadestown (spoiler: they’re cute)

as hades and persephone descend, smoke comes out of the pit, and the ensemble is leaning in to look down there. ahmad’s in front of all of them—leaning too—but also has his arms outstretched to his sides, keeping everyone else back. they all eventually break apart, and honestly the thing i most remember is just afra with her knees on the table and her hands gripping the edges of the table, too, to peer down into the pit.

gathering storm:

me, watching afra hand eurydice her coat

orpheus takes out his tiny notebook and pencil from his pocket and goes to the side to start writing in it, because he “needs to finish the song”

eurydice clutching her arms as she says “we need food.......we need firewood.....”

“okay, finish it...”

she goes over to orpheus and places a hand on his arm, then leaves

epic ii:

AW HELL YEAH, THEY BROUGHT BACK THE “doubt that she’d ever come, dread that she’d never come, doubt that his lover would ever come back” LYRICS !!

orpheus uses present tense instead of past tense !!! it’s now “he thinks of his wife in the arms of the sun” instead of “he thought of his wife in the arms of the sun” and etc.

chant i:

the workers’ choreo is so mesmerizing. SO MESMERIZING.

reeve sings the la la la’s differently than the broadway preview audio i heard before, and i LOVE how he sings it now. his ending “la la la la la la” leads into the workers’ “low, keep your head, keep your head low” and oh my god i am so in love with that

“is it finished !?” eurydice asks hermes. “not yet,” hermes replies. she asks “is he always like this !?” and he nods.

hermes is now narrating in third-person about how orpheus is ignoring the storm rather than speaking to orpheus directly

i really don’t know how i feel about eva going lower when she sings “harbor me.” in the past she’s went higher; and because i used to hear that all the time, now that she‘s going lower my mind‘s thinking “c’mon, you can go higher !! i know you’re capable of it.” but regardless, eva’s voice is still the most beautiful thing i’ll ever hear 😩💓

the way the fates snatch away eurydice’s backpack and coat is so elegant, yet cool and pitiful

EVA I HOPE YOUR KNEES ARE OK FROM THAT FALL. I KNOW YOU DO IT EVERY NIGHT, BUT STILL.

hey little songbird:

hades casually putting on his shades

patrick’s juicy low notes are to die for

“see how the vipers and vultures surround you” reveals the three fates making their way closer to eurydice

when the chips are down (intro):

the little coin ( / ticket to hadestown ) hades gives eurydice

the way eurydice holds up both the flower and coin in the air as if contemplating which to choose

when the chips are down:

yvette, please step on me

kay, please step on me

jewelle, please step on me

please. step on me.

gone, i’m gone:

shoutout to andré off to the side making all the necessary sound effects.

hermes jingles a coin bag until eurydice comes up and puts her coin (“ticket”) in the bag, indicating she’s boarded the train to hadestown.

cue andré blowing the little flute thing to imitate a train whistle. again, thank u for ur sound effects.

wait for me:

orpheus finally looking up from his tiny notebook with a smile on his face, as if he’s happy that he’s made progress on his song and wants to tell that to eurydice. but when he looks up, he sees hermes from afar instead and (still with an innocent smile) exclaims “mr. hermes !!” before going up to him. (unlike the london production, he doesn’t look around searching for eurydice first before encountering hermes.)

orpheus drops to his knees as he says “no...” during his convo with hermes

the workers shining the lights around like they’re search lights is so COOL

THE FOG !!!

the lights actually swinging over people’s heads in the first row. wow. just,, wow.

FATESFATESFATESI’MSOGAY

THE SET OPENING UP !!! I KNEW IT WAS GONNA HAPPEN, BUT DAMN THAT WAS SO MUCH MORE EPIC IN REAL LIFE

the way reeve jumped off the platform !!! TBH KINDA HOT

i was watching him run along the turntable and it was an awkward little run LOL

“I’M COMING WAIT FOR ME !!!!!” “WAIT” “I HEAR THE WALLS REPEATING !!!” that scene was so GOOD and MUCH MORE INTENSE IRL !!!

i loooOOOVED the way the workers turned their lights at each “WAIT !!”

why we build the wall

the workers retreat to the sides of the stage and hades comes in. they’re so stiff just standing there and singing and i’m like—well fuck.

the saLUTE !!! it’s literally just them putting an index finger up, bUT STILL. FUCK.

eurydice looks around to see everyone saluting, and eventually joins in with them and does it too

the way amber dramatically turns around with her arms swinging about, pauses, then says, “anybody wanna drink?”

ACT 2

our lady of the underground:

“SSSSSSTEP INTO MY OFFICE !!!!” *intensely hip thrusts her way to hell (disregard that she’s already in it—)*

“i got the wind right here in a jar” *grabs her boob and jiggles it*

don’t we just stan amber gray

way down hadestown ii:

andré making the sound of “the pickaxe ringing” by banging a silver cup against the microphone on the stand

eurydice coming through the door and down the stairs. upon seeing the workers, she exclaims, “i’m eurydice !!” with a smile on her face like she’s ready to meet new people, but her smile fades away once she realizes no one’s paying attention to her. “doesn’t anybody hear me?” she asks the fates. and clotho responds, “oh they can hear! but they don’t care,” with a devious smile on her (and the rest of the fates’) face(s). “no one has a name down here.”

the fates proceed to tell eurydice how the workers have all forgotten about their lives before hadestown, and eurydice will turn out just like the rest.

lachesis says, “so what was your name again?” (no response) “see? you’ve already forgotten.”

flowers:

eva’s voice.........SO SAD

how she holds out her hand left hand to the side, as if trying to caress someone’s face who isn’t there.

come home with me ii:

yeah, orpheus comes in from the audience and climbs onto the stage as he says, “come home with me !!” and it’s ADORABLE

he puts his guitar down as he gets onstage (which i’d say is a metaphor for him choosing eurydice over his music)

she leaps into his arms, they embrace each other, and it’s the absolute most sweetest thing ever

papers:

“hades, i know this boy !” (persephone) // “one of the unemployed...” (hades) // “his name is orpheus—!” // “you stay out of this...” // and persephone gives him a look because he just shuts her down, and she knows she can’t do anything about it

as the fates approach orpheus, eurydice extends her arms out trying to protect him

clotho snatching orpheus’s guitar and mischievously examining it

mmmmm look at that fight scene

nothing changes:

ugh, i love that acappella and their voices are SPICY 🔥🔥💯🔥

the way clotho just holds his guitar above him while he’s lying there on the ground, beaten, like she’s teasing him

if it’s true:

eurydice retreating back to the turntable with the other workers, knowing full well there’s nothing she can do, and simply works away like the rest of them

“is this how the world is !? to be beaten and betrayed and then be told that nothing changes—will it always be like this !?” is my favorite

orpheus finally standing and is still in pain from all the workers beating him up

him pointing at each of the workers as he says “i’m asking me...and you and you and you!”

the workers each get up as they sing “we stand and listen” (or is it “we stand with him” ?? whatever, you get what i mean). but orpheus is giving them hope !!! yes !!!

how long:

persephone and hades standing on either side of the pit

they were staring at each other, moving in sync like a mirror; when persephone stepped with her right foot, hades with his left, and so on.

chant ii:

the workers and orpheus slowly rising up from the pit

“is it truuuuue ???” echoing in the back, then hades shouting “it’s the bOY !!”

when the workers say “i can’t look at my brother’s eyes,” afra and ahmad started getting up from the center and refused to make eye contact.

while i am still salty about them cutting persephone’s chant ii verse, i didn’t dislike hades’ new part. i liked it.

as hades shouts, “I CONDUCT THE ELECTRIC CITY !!!!” aLL THE LIGHTS IN THE THEATRE GO OUT AND IT’S WICKED COOL

epic iii:

sitting in my seat was honestly a perfect spot for me. hades was sitting in his stool and his back was to me, so obviously i couldn’t see much of his facial expressions, but it was literally like i was getting hades perspective as he viewed orpheus singing.

the most magical moment in the show tbh

when orpheus first sings “la la la” and hades says “where’d you get that melody ??” he gets up and starts walking towards orpheus like he’s about ready to fight and sue him for plagiarism

but persephone intervenes with a gentle “let him finish hades” before he takes another step. so he backs off.

when orpheus was singing about how hades “saw [persephone] alone there against the sky, it was like she was someone [he’d] always known,” eurydice steps up on the turntable. orpheus is in the center, with persephone and eurydice on either side of him—truly showing the parallels between orpheus and eurydice’s love with that of hades and persephone’s.

hades eventually gets on the center with orpheus, and the platform rises again. when everyone—workers and fates included—surrounds them on the turntable below, singing with orpheus, hades looks around at all of them, angry and confused

at the big “la la la la la la la” moment when everyone joins in with orpheus, the workers each get up in pairs as their side of the turntable finally faces the audience. they step up and remove their hats.

the workers finally make eye contact with one another

REEVE REALLY HITS THAT NOTE. AND IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL.

the way the flower just appears in hades hands after he sings “la la la la la la la...”

you can really SEE persephone crying

lover’s desire:

persephone putting the flower on his vest is so cute

SHE TAKES HIS HANDS

i love hades and persephone ok shut up i’m soft

KIMBERLY PUTTING HER HAND ON AHMAD’S ARM, THEN LOOKING UP AT HIM AND TIMOTHY. JOHN AND AFRA ARE SIDE BY SIDE, HOLDING EACH OTHER AS THEY WATCH HADES AND PERSEPHONE DANCE.

promises:

honestly i don’t remember too much of it visually because i was too busy crying.

i heard “i don’t need a ring for my finger, i just need a steady hand to hold,” and i just started BAWLING

i think i remember she takes his hand when he says “do you let me walk with you” though

“can we go?”

“i don’t know...”

word to the wise:

the fates dancing around hades was just. mmMMM.

his kiss, the riot:

he removes the flower on his vest. (oh, symbolism, we meet again.)

hades is beside hermes as he tells him “let there be one term to be agreed upon...”

wait for me ii (intro):

ah yes. hermes sitting on that stool as it slowly turns around on the turntable.

wait for me ii:

during my show, andré accidentally sang “that is the road to paradise and likewise the path to ruin.” which is alright. we all make mistakes, it’s okay fam 👏

i started crying again once eva and reeve harmonized on “wait for me...i’m coming” and looked at one another

“are we gonna try again?” “it’s time for spring...we’ll try again next fall.” “wait for me?” “i will.”

as orpheus is walking along the turntable, hermes, persephone, eurydice, and the workers are gathered in the center. near the end of the song when they’re all singing “waiiiit for me... i’m comiiiing, waiiiiiit i’m... coming with you” persephone’s holding out the red flower while eurydice has her hand outstretched to orpheus.

EVA JUMP

“I’M COMING WAIT FOR MEEEEEEEEEE I HEAR THE WALLS REPEATING THE FALLIN’ OF OUR FEET AND !! IT SOUNDS LIKE DRUMMIN’ !!!!!!”

it all goes dark as they sing “i’m coming !!!! (coming !!) (coming !!)”

doubt comes in:

IT’S LITERALLY AS GOOD AS YOU’D THINK IT IS

SO OMINOUS AND SPOOKY WITH THE FOG !!!!

eurydice’s following right behind orpheus, but he doesn’t know that. and the doubt and uncertainty on his face is heart-wrenching.

like. the STRESS on his face as he throws both his hands to his head and clutches his hair.

as the scene needs to focus on orpheus and his perspective of feeling alone, the spotlight is taken off of eurydice as she stops walking and lets the turntable turn until her full figure retreats into darkness. the spotlight is fully on orpheus and orpheus alone.

in the dark, three lanterns gradually rise up from the pit. as the fates start singing, their voices are hauntingly beautiful in the scene.

“doubt comes in...the wind is changing...doubt comes in...how cold it’s blowin’...doubt comes in...and meets a stranger walking on a road a l o n e . where is she ?? where is she now ??”

orpheus’s “who am i ?? why am i all alone ?? who do i think i am ? who am i to think that she would follow me into the cold and dark again.”

“orpheus, i’m listening—i’m right here !! and i will be to the end !! and the coldest night of the coldest year comes right before the spring.”

“i used to see the way the world could be...and now the way it is is all i see.”

orpheus’s realism contrasted with eurydice’s optimism just tugs at your heartstrings. orpheus, the once optimistic poet who “could see the way the world could be” no longer has that gift. eurydice, once a realist, has now been given hope that her lover can show her the way.

near the end of the song, the stairs begin to light up, and so does the exit. they’re so close to the surface—they’re almost there. and eurydice is so hopeful. she’s so certain they’ll make it that she doesn’t even doubt for a second that orpheus will turn around. but suddenly you hear a gasp. and you realize in the blink of an eye that orpheus had made a grave mistake. he’s turned around. his eyes are on eurydice, who’s frozen and in tears.

“it’s you...” he utters.

there’s a long silence

“it’s me...” her words are weak. “orpheus...?”

“eurydice...”

eurydice drops to her knees as she quickly descends back to hadestown. orpheus had scrambled his way to the edge of the pit, helplessly on his knees, staring down at where his lover had just been.

road to hell ii:

hermes’ “a’ight” after a long silence just brought me so many emotions. fuck.

as hermes is singing, eventually orpheus gets up and, with no other choice but to push on, continue his way up the stairs (to the surface), slowly and alone.

“‘cause here’s the thing: to know how it ends and still begin to sing it again...as if it might turn out this time...i learned that from a friend of mine.”

“see, orpheus was a poor boy—“ dressed in her act 1 clothes, eurydice reappears onstage saying, “anybody got a match?” hermes is still up front in the center, facing the audience as he holds out a matchbox in his left hand. “but he had a gift to give...” eurydice comes up and takes the box from him, “gimme that.” she sits down on the ground and takes out the candle from her bag, lighting the match, then lighting her candle.

from her pocket, she takes out a red flower and holds it to her face, sniffing it. a soft smile forms on her lips—like there’s some sentiment to this flower that she’s yet to know of—and puts it in her hair.

as the pit comes back up with all the tables and chairs, there’s persephone sitting on one of the tables.

at the end, orpheus returns back onstage with his apron and everything, stopping at one of the steps as he makes eye contact with eurydice. they’re staring at each other, lovestruck, just as they were in the beginning. “we’re gonna sing it again...”

we raise our cups:

persephone and eurydice’s harmonies 💞💓💖💕❤️💞💞

orpheus playing his guitar onstage even though all that shit just happened 😭 i cri

———

miscellaneous things:

act 1 was great, but the moment act 2 started i instantly knew it was gonna be my favorite. in the past when listening to audio, i always preferred to listen to act 1, with only a couple songs from act 2. so i always thought act 1 was my favorite act. but finally seeing hadestown in person, i think act 2 probably takes the cake.

once curtain call started, i was clapping like mad. when we got to the ensemble bowing, my hands were already dead but i was like, “FUCK IT, IF MY HANDS FALL OFF TONIGHT IT WAS WORTH IT BECAUSE I GOTTA APPRECIATE THIS ENTIRE CAST”

[forever-more-never-again]

Venom of a Viper (Scene Five/?)

Slow Burn : (Winter Soldier)Bucky Barnes X (Mutant!)Reader X (Black Widow) Natasha Romanoff

Word Count:1245

Warnings: none?

Scene Prologue / Scene One / Scene Two / Scene Three / Scene Four

Masterlist

The weekend crept up faster than you thought. And before you knew it, you were standing in front of the coffee shop that had become Bucky and your’s place with a suitcase packed standing beside you. Filled with stolen clothes, but oh well.

You had been unbelievably lucky. Your handler, Misha had been called back to central command and you had orders to watch and surveillance the Winter Soldier. So you hadn’t needed to tell them what was happening this weekend.

You felt kinda dirty. Lying to both Bucky and Cronus. Knowing that if either found out, you would most likely be dead. But the way your heart started beating erratically as you caught sight of Bucky, and his megawatt smile as he waved to you from down the street, had you deciding it was a risk worth taking.

“Hey, [Y/n]! Ready?” Bucky asked, as he grabbed your suitcase, his own duffel bag thrown over his shoulder.

You smiled up at him, a hand reaching up to play with his long brown locks, “Ready!”

Bucky’s eyes twinkled as he kept hold of your gaze and pulled you down the street to where the car was parked.

A half hour in and you couldn’t stop laughing from your spot in the passenger seat.

“It’s true! I see these history teachers who think they know what they’re talking about and they get in arguments with me before they realize who I am!”

Your laughter spiraled until you suddenly snorted. Gasping, you covered your mouth with your hands, eyes staring over at Bucky with horror.

But he was laughing just as hard, “You! That was adorable!”

Hands slowly lowered and you chuckled. Leaning back, you watched the scenery fly past through the windows.

Soft music playing from the speakers.

One of your hands started scratching at the sleeve on your left arm. You normally didn’t keep your scales covered for long. Being part Viper also meant dealing with the cold blooded tendencies that came with it.

With the sun shining and feeling the warmth through the fabric covering you, your skin was practically tingling and begging to be in direct sunlight.

Bucky seemed to notice you trailing off in silence.

“[Y/n]? Don’t go falling asleep on me, we have another hour and a half to go.” His voice teasing, but soft. Hesitant.

Your heart strings vibrated as you looked over at him. This gentle man who had only known you for a week. After spilling coffee on you.

The man who wanted to be known for something other than the Winter Soldier, who was working to be someone better.

And here you were, an assassin from the organization that tried to destroy and manipulate him. Planning his murder and trying to frame one of his teammates.

Guilt surged through you, but you kept your face calm. Years of training taking over so that no inner emotions would show.

“I’m fine. Just a bit tired. I’m really excited to spend this weekend with you.” A soft smile.

Bucky’s shoulders seemed to sag with relief as he returned your smile. “Sam said I was moving too fast. Inviting someone to a weekend getaway after just meeting them. But there’s something about you..” He glanced sideways towards you before returning his gaze to the road ahead, “I think it could be the start of an adventure.”

Your brain whirred as nauseating thoughts ran through your head.

Yeah, A new adventure. People sometimes called Death the last frontier. The things you were ordered to do to this man. And here he was, practically saying that he wanted to start a future. Damn Cronus. Damn Misha.

A shrill ring interrupted your thoughts. Startled, you jerked, your seat belt tightening in reaction.

Bucky raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his gorgeous lips as he clicked accept on his phone where it was perched on the dash.

“James. Have you seen my pistols? I swore I left them in my locker after our last sparring practice.” The silky smooth tone of Natasha Romanoff filled the car.

Bucky grimaced and mouthed a ‘sorry’ to you.

You waved him off. To him, you were merely a civilian. But the assassin in you automatically went into intel mode.

Returning with a worn out sigh, Bucky grumbled, “Tony said something about upgrades.” Before Natasha could reply with what you no doubt thought would be annoyance, Bucky continued, “I thought I left a note saying to not disturb me this weekend. I’m taking [Y/n] out.”

That grabbed your attention. Your eyes widened as you looked at Bucky. He had already told the Avengers about you? This was bad. If Cronus found out…

Again your thoughts were derailed as Natasha’s sticky sweet, obviously fake voice, filtered through the staticy phone, “Oh, was that what that note was about? Where are the pair of you headed? I don’t like it James. I don’t trust this [Y/n] character. And you never used to accept any of Tony’s gifts.” Suspicion and jealousy.

Easy for you to read. But Bucky seemed oblivious.

His sigh simply got deeper as he replied, eyes constantly seeking to portray an apology to you, “[Y/n] is a sweet girl and You were there for the..” He trailed off.

Your interest was piqued. She was there for the what?

But he simply continued, “And anyways. I’m not telling you where we’re headed because I don’t want you and Clint and Steve to show up suddenly and scare the poor girl. Goodbye Nat.” And he clicked end call before she could respond.

He rolled his shoulders. Shutting his eyes for a moment as the car rolled to a stop at a red light.

You reached over and rested a hand on his arm, “You okay?” He smiled, looking over at you, your hand was resting on his metal arm, and he never got over the surprise and hope that the small action instilled in him.

“Nat just..been tiring. I don’t know what’s been going on with her, but she seems more nosy and irritated than usual.”

You pursed your lips and made a sound of sympathy.

“What were you about to say to her? About her being there for something?” You asked, nonchalantly as if you were just curious.

The stop light turned green and the car once again began speeding towards New Jersey.

Bucky frowned, “I didn’t want you to hear that.”

Your heart stuttered. Mind frozen with terror.

“Tony wanted to make sure you weren’t a threat so he ran a background check on you in a team meeting. I’m sorry. I tried to make everyone leave, but they insisted on staying so...well now the Avengers all know that you were a band geek and honor student..” His little smile of abash and guilt was so cute you couldn’t help but giggle.

The giggle was also out of relief. You had forgotten about your fake identity that was public. All it took was a simple name change through Cronus’s servers to your real name, which you still mentally kicked yourself for that slip up, and suddenly [Y/n] was a normal citizen.

“It’s okay Buck.” You assured him.

“Anyways, back to lighter topics. I hope you packed a swimsuit because Tony told me there was a hot tub.”

You laughed, eyes watching the light catch the soft blond intertwined with the auburn of his hair. Inwardly knowing that you were so, so screwed.

FOREVER Taglist:

@sxph-t @mialeelavellan @rainydaysrnevergrey @platonic-plots @sociallyawkwardcircus-freak-hi @ayyidkeither @mcuimxgine @mythixmagic @chas-z @thefridgeismybestie @strangersstranger

Bucky Taglist:

@evyiione

Avengers Taglist:

@jadepc

Venom of a Viper Series Taglist:

@leslie2898 @negative-love @shannonr2003 @lostnliterature

[depressed-sock]

Kiyo: Thief part 5

A Fallen Hero Fanfic

tw: character has a panic attack

Thief part 1 ;part 2 ;part 3 ; part 4

Oh, there’s the plot

 “You should let me take you out to eat,” Ortega smiles at you and you find yourself almost faltering as you try to block one of the Shade twins attacks. A twisting mind of Chaos. It feels like every boost you’ve fought since Empress has had something wrong… wronger? with their minds.

 “Are you seriously asking me this now? Why do you always bring up weird conversations when we’re fighting bad guys?” Seriously, it’s already hard enough trying to keep up with their thoughts you don’t need the added distraction. You're going to end up stabbed at this rate.

 Ortega sends a bolt of electricity through the twin he’s fighting fully knocking them unconscious, “Why not? It’s not like you actually talk to me when we’re not fighting people.”

 “The answer is still no,” you flip the Shade twin over your shoulder landing a solid kick onto their face to knock them out. At least they were easier to fight than some of the others.

 “Come on, it’s just out for food. You’re looking a bit thin,” he’s got that annoying grin as he shakes his hands out a bit, probably trying to get the tingling out of them.

 You stand, stretching your back and letting it pop, “I hope you don’t say that to your girlfriends because if you do I can give you a hint as to why you fail at relationships.”

 “Why do you always attack my kindness with harsh truths,” he laughs, gently punching your shoulder.

 “Probably because the real reason you want to take me out is that you want to see my face,” you're not stupid. You know exactly what he wants, always too curious for his own good. Like the one time, he tried to taste test some weird gooey substance, turns out you were fully in the right to slap it out of his hand because it came alive and tried to taste test him instead.

 “I’m hurt you think I have an ulterior motive other than to feed my friend,” he pouts at you but you’ve become immune to that...mostly. Kinda... Fuck.

 You let out a loud sigh, it’s free food and no one said you had to show him anything. You could show up, grab the food, and run. “Fine, but no cameras or fancy restaurants.”

 He looks at you shocked like you just blew his mind away by accepting. There’s that irritating smile again, “It’s a date then.”

  You are definitely not blushing at that, it’s just the summer heat. That’s all.

 “Yeah, sure, whatever,” you shrug, waving him off as you run away because that’s what you always do. Run away from impossibilities.

….

 Tartarus watches the little mouse in the pink jacket, scurrying around, fighting another he has gifted. It runs his mazes thinking it is smarter than him, thinking it could find the end to the thrilling chaos he has given the gifted. It is a fool; it and the Ranger.

 Tartarus visibly quakes in anger, the name spit out like a viper strike. Ranger, how he despises the toys that pretend to be saviors. They are nothing, they are useless to him. The mouse though... the mouse could be useful. The Ranger follows it around, hoping to befriend it. Tartarus laughs, what a foolish thought.

 No, the Ranger does not deserve the mouse. Tartarus will have the mouse instead and he will make the mouse so much greater; filled with his maze of chaos. Then he will set the mouse upon the Ranger and take so much glee as the mouse bloodies its hands with the Ranger’s blood.

…….

   You flop down onto your pile of recently acquired blankets groaning in pain, being a vigilante sucks. You barely get any money or anything else in return for your ‘good deeds’. Maybe you should have continued down the path of villainy. Maybe you should of went from stealing wallets to running drugs for local crime lords. At least those guys might get some kind of hazard pay and you would have definitely handled the hazards well enough. Better than you’re handling being a ‘vigilante’.

 You groan into the blanket, that probably would have been too drastic a change, not to mention those people would probably sell you out in a heartbeat instead of three. Which immediately brings to mind Ortega, the persistent asshole. He shows up and makes you feel guilty enough that more times than not you’ve neglected to search the people you help him beat the shit out of for money. You don’t actually know if he would really care but you’d rather not take any chances.

  And then he asks questions he shouldn’t, dangerous questions and everytime he does you find yourself biting your tongue. He’s gotten you so used to him that you almost answer his questions unthinkingly. Like accepting an offer to go out to eat...

 Goddamnit, you shouldn't have done that, what would he think if he knew the truth? He’d hate you. You don’t want him to hate- Wait. When did you start referring to him as Ortega instead of Rubbleguy? Actually more importantly, when did you start feeling that? Fuck. Is this some kind of Stockholm syndrome without the kidnapping? Stockholm stalker syndrome? You should want him to hate you, to leave you alone, you can’t afford him or anyone else getting close.

 You wanted to be ‘normal’, having friends is ‘normal’. It’s more complicated than that! You can’t be ‘normal’ not until… later. You sit up with a loud sigh shedding your signature jacket, goggles, mask, and shoes. Later is a long time off so, for now, you should-

 C̸̱̘̖̝͙̺͔a̛͉͙n̛͎ ̸̮̪y̠͠o̲͉̰̰u͉͓̝̘̤ͅ ͉͈̭͉h̼̘̤̘̲e̲a̬r͓̼̺͈̣̺ ̬ḿ̥̪̖e̘͠?̛̞

 You freeze. Scratching. Steps, you hear steps echoing in the abandoned building you’ve recently taken up residence in. You jump up from your bed of blankets, reaching out feeling…

 L̺̖̹̞̘͡i̧͓̪̩͍͈t̝̖͎t͔́l̫͚͙͓̗͞e͉͉͈̱̫ͅ ̩͙͡M̘͖̫͎̺͖o̘̹͍͕̙̜̥u̵͔̠s̷e̻̖̦̮̼͖

   You recoil back in absolute terror. A mind so broken and warped, clawing against your mind. This is bad, this is very bad. Is it Them? No this is familiar but it’s definitely not them. It’s different, a maze of chaos, almost like… Like Lord of the Fucks, like Empress, like the Shade twins and like a dozen other’s you’ve fought this year. The center of a maze you didn’t even realize existed. It’s trying to claw you into pieces.

 Run. You need to run.

 Y͓̞̹͠o̢̱̞͓̙u̯̘̥̺͚͙ ͎͖̮ǹ͔̝e̤̳̤̲e̸̘̟͇̖͙̹̤d̬̟͟ ̱͓̬̬̣͟t̥ͅo̺̭̬̳ ͓̦̬̥̥̺̩s̷̬͇͓t҉̹̣̰̪ạ͡y͈

 You can’t move. You can feel him, hear him. Hot breathes against your ear. You turn fast, a shadow in your vision, backing away in fear blinking to find no one is actually there. Run, don’t think run. Instinct takes over and you’re running down the hall towards an exit, any exit.

 Through a maze of chaos.

 Ỵ̦̼͓̼͈̮͙ͨ̏ͬ͢͠o͓ͫ̿͊ͣͫ̀̚͟ŭ̶͙̼ͧ̈ͩͤͯ̈́̏ ̗͔̰͖̦ͧ̈́̃̈́̈́ͯ͑̒͡aͨ͐͌͘҉̭̤̫͚̩͉͙r̰̳̗̟̖̜̅̊̚͝ě̛̤͛̌̐ͪ̇͂̈ ̸̺̘̲̠̤̟̲̎ͦ͋̈ͣ̀͘m̵̥͓̿̐̾͞i̶̢̹̘͖̱̱͚͉̅͋ͩ͆ͫ̆ͫ̌̚nͧͨ̈́̇̋ͧ҉̡̣̠̹͙́e̫̱̯̹ͧ̉ͭ̚͟͟͠ͅ

   No you fucking aren’t.

 You skid out a door, into the street. He’s coming. You need to find somewhere safe to recoup, to plan.

 N͜o̝͋͒w̦͚̬̤̬͑ͩͭ̋̐ḥ̣ͥe̳͕̗̪̗ͦ̐̀r̪̞͓̺̣̠̆́̈ͅé̡͖̯̰̫̰͓͓ͣͨ̿̏̄ ̯͖͇̯̬̭͐̎̆͂͗͛ṫ̞͚̋̌̏̀ͣ͋̀ö̶͍̙̎ͪ̊̆̚ ̷͉̗͍͓͔̹̝͋r̭̩͎̹̉ͬu͐ͣ҉̮̼̗̥͓̣ņ̜̞̠̥̦ͅ

  There is a place. You really don’t want to go there... but you can feel him pressing closer, you don’t have a choice. You know the way, you’ve been there before to return their wallets. Now you're running back to them, from this… whatever this is.

Ť͎̻̼̓à̷̲̭̞̋͐r̺̙ͦͣ͜t̴͎͖̤͕̼̱̊ͫ͑̏̄ͤa̳̔̄̌̕rͮu̅ͫͦ͌ͨͪs̟͊ͫ̉̎͒̏ͫ.̴̘͔̱̰͉͖ͯͦ̈́̏ ͚̦̖̫̙͍̜̈͌̈ͤͪ͘

̗̘̩̭̍͆͆͛I͖̦͎̭ͮͯ͛̽̉ͯ͆͠ͅt̓́̂ͨ͂̋ ̹̠̳̱̥͔͐ͤͫͥ̚̕s̶͙͇̫̹͓̳̈́͂̋ͨͯ̚h̷̜̽̌͒͗͒̔̽o̘͉͈͍̔u̴̳̤͖̞ͨ͋l̬̗ͨ͘d̹͙̖̪͙̫̼ͬ̃ͤ̉̐̋ ̨ͤ̽k͙͓̘̘̤͖͂ͧ͐͗͛ṅ̺̰̓ͣͣͥ̃ȯ̲̦̫̍w҉̻̬̪̝̗ ̯͓̭̊̿͑͐̌̈́̀ị̤̮ͪ̈͒̊̉ͨṭ̢̖̙̟̲'̜̟̺̯̦̱̪̉̾ͣs̰̰̱̖͎͖̖ͥ ̵̘̻̳̼͓̙͑̅̀̎̑̿m̻̄̓̎̇ȁ͚͙͔̫̈ͮ̄̕ͅŝ͔͈̲̑t́ẻ̞̘̙̰̫̜͛̆ͧ̅̌r͎͙̫̱̗̦̣ͭͩ̏̚s̵̘̳͈̤̻̳ ̴̲̹̲͚̳͍͇͑ͤn̠̙͖̪͖͇͎͆ͫ͊̔ͩ̀ǎ̤̭̭̲ͫͪ̆m̑̅e̱͎͕̻͙ͬ͗̊́͟

  Tartarus… wow, that’s a fucking lame name, sounds like some kind of sauce. You can almost feel the anger crush you in response, it leaves you smiling hysterically. Anger it gives you such a clear thread of thought to follow. Like how much he hates the Rangers, it absolutely pisses him off that your first thought is to run to Charge. Well, that makes two of us fuckhead.

  You keep running, despite the growing pain and the fear. Despite the looks, people give you as you rush past. You don’t know how long it took or how you really found your way but you soon find yourself bursting through the doors of the rangers headquarters. You feel your legs give out from under you, you might be crying. You can still feel the claws of something trying to make you wrong.

 “Hey!” someone rushing to your side kneeling beside you, thoughts of worry. ��Are you okay?” No no no that’s not right you’re not here for thoughts. You push away the hands trying to help you. It’s not right!

 I̼̳̫̖̣̅͊ͦ̀ͬ̽̿t̪̩͙̼̓̋̀̑ͥ͗'̟ͤ̉̚s̻̹̪͚̼̲̻̑̎ͬ̆ͥͯͧ ̼̫̭͔̏ͫ̑t͍͚̯̳̻̺h͍̩̖̪̪͌̌e̪̹̘͋ͦi̼͓̣̹̙̩͙r̟̤̠̄̅ͬ̈̊ ͙̬͓͔͓̭̐ͫ̋̾ͫh͌ͦ͐ͨ̊a͇͋̋nͧd̳̺͒́̾s̯͖͒͐̄͋́̚

  Oh fuck, it’s Their hands on you again. You don’t want them to touch you again, you don’t want them to hurt you again. Panic. You attack blindly. You can’t go back, you won’t go back.

 Arms around you, you can hear yourself screaming.

 “I’ve got you,” whispered calmly in your ear. No thoughts, just a solid presence of nothingness. You let out a shuttered breath of relief. Safety. You lean back into him calming down, his words wash over you, almost soundless murmurings. Suddenly a question, “What’s your name?”

 “You already know it,” you murmur, you can still feel the claws but they’re losing their grip. He doesn’t really know your name though, does he...  You haven’t told him the name you chose so long ago.

 “I do?” he sounds so confused, it’s so funny. You let out a light laugh; he can keep finding your vigilante persona but he couldn’t figure out what you really look like? He’s such a dumbass, you look up at him to find he’s studying you worriedly. Why are you both sitting on the ground?

 Why are you here? Why are you In his arms? The sudden realization has you pushing back away from him out of his arms. You are not blushing. You are not fucking blushing.

 “No... sorry, I’m mistaken. I should go,” Why are you here?? You can’t remember… Oh, fuck you don’t have your gear on. He can see your face and.. Why do your feet hurt? You look down to find them bare and bleeding. What the fuck happened?!

 He holds his hands up in a placating manner, “I think you should stay here until the ambulance gets here.”

 “Fuck NO!” That’s a terrible idea, that’s an absolutely fucking horrible idea.

 “Okay,” he still holding his hands up, “No ambulance.” Liar, he’s such a bad liar.

 You need to tell him… you can’t remember what you're supposed to tell him. You're starting to shake, this has never happened before. “Something’s wrong,” Are you saying that, or did you imagine it?

 “It’s alright we can help you,” still so calm, you're starting to feel the others around you backed away so as not to send you into another panic. You can feel Steel trying to place you, he remembers but at the same time he doesn’t, Anathema is worried about you even though he doesn’t know you, and Sentinel… knows… he’s putting two and two together. You do your best not to look at him, you can feel his overwhelming worry and a little bit of amusement as he realizes he has actually saved you.

 “There’s something wrong,” you're sure you said it this time, your voice shaking and weak.

 “Can you tell us what’s wrong?” why is he so calm, when you’re clearly not. It pisses you off, he shouldn’t be calm because there’s something wrong!

 “I don’t fucking know what’s wrong!” You should know, you should remember what brought you here without your gear, without your shoes. Your gripping your hair now in frustration. What is wrong with you?

 “I think we should take him to one of the upper floors,” Sentinel is walking closer. He knows, he knows and you should run. Run away from them all, from this city because they’re going to come for you. The panic is setting back in, you try to get up and run but Ortega’s arms are back around you. Stopping you, imprisoning you.

 “Fucking let go! You rubble fucking asshole!” You can see the realization dawn on his face and suddenly he’s carrying you, walking towards the elevator. You're trying to break free, your punches weak against him. You can feel yourself sobbing again, panic building up because they’re going to take you back. Ortega looks so angry, he’s going to give you to them. You were right he hates you now that he sees the truth.

 “No one’s going to hurt you,” he says it softly and you want so badly to believe it but how can you when you know the truth, “Sidestep I need you to take a big breath for me and hold it until I reach the count of ten. Alright?”

 You don’t want too... You need too though. You nod your head and you try to breathe in but it’s so hard to breathe. Oh, fuck you can’t breathe.

 “Shit okay that isn’t going to work, You need to match my breathing,” he takes a deep breath and then lets the breath out slowly. You try to match him, your breaths are shaky and choked but by the time you're finally able to match his breathing you feel calmer more in control. He’s somehow made it to a room with a couch which he sets you on, giving you space to fully calm down. “Can you focus?” he’s calm, trying to make sure you're actually mentally here.

 “Yeah,” you swallow reflectively. “Fuck.”

  “Do you want to talk about what happened?”

 “I don’t know what happened,” claws against your mind. “I don’t know why I’m here.”

 “Okay, that’s fine-”

 “It’s not fine Ortega!” you look at him panicked. No calm down, focus. A maze, “Something about a familiar maze,” you murmur looking down, trying to reach for more but it slips from your grasp. You shake your head hands gripping your head again, “Fuck, I don’t remember.”

 “Alright, can you remember anything from before the memory loss?”

 “Umm, I was…” you were in your ‘home’. You shouldn't tell him that if he knows how you live he'll… he'll what? Realize how fucking broke you are? Try to track you down? He can't exactly track you down if you move. Constantly move. Never stay in one place ever again. “I was… getting ready to sleep.”

 “So you were at home?”

 “Yeah?” you cringe a bit. You probably shouldn't have made that sound like a question. He gives you an odd look but doesn't press the issue.

 He suddenly looks at you weird, studying your face, “So… this is what the famous Sidestep looks like,” he crosses his arms, a smirk spreading across his face.

  “Really? This is what you're going to focus on?” you glare at him but all that seems to do is make him happier.

  “Yep… you do look familiar though,” his face scrunches as he studies you. Weird. You don't think you've ever….

  Oh no, no no no. Did he actually get a good look at your face when you stole his wallet? How would he even remember that?! That was months ago, actually...fuck it was almost a year ago!

  He must think you're on the verge of another panic attack because his face suddenly defaults to concern. He kneels so that he's eye level but doesn't move to touch you again, “Focus, stay with me.”

 “I'm fine,” you bite out.

 He holds his hands up in surrender and then uses his right hand to point down, “You're feet aren't.”

 Oh… yeah, you had forgotten about that. “Uhhh,” you look down and wince. Shit, what did you do to them? Covered in bruises, blood and dirt, you must have ran all the way here barefoot. You… ran… Fuck, you live like 7 miles away. You ran 7 miles barefoot and most definitely through the roughest part of town. Fuck…

 “I'm going to go get medical supplies. Will you be okay by yourself?”

 “I'm sure I'll survive,” you deadpan. This is quickly becoming patronizing.

 He shakes his head with a smile, getting up, leaving the room, leaving you alone to wonder why you all you can remember is fear; claws scratching at the surface.

[megsironthrone]

Indifference

Based on this request:  Hi don’t know if this sent first time but can I req a fic lannister reader x euron; they marry for an alliance maybe she needs his ships and she’s the heir but although they’re kinda indifferent to each other at first they fall in love and are totally devoted to each other (kindalike Dany and Drogo)

Here you go! I do not own Euron. He belongs to George R.R.Martin

Warnings: threats, arranged marriage, treason?, a teeny bit of fluffy. As fluffy as Euron can be. And it’s a bit long. SLIGHT SEASON 7 SPOILERS!

Pairings/Characters: Euron Greyjoy x fem!Lannister(Baratheon) reader

You didn’t hate him. You didn’t have it in you to hate him, though you wished you could. He was crass, crude, and some of the things that came out of his mouth were downright disgusting. Still, you couldn’t seem to hate him. But you didn’t exactly love him either. He wasn’t the kind of man you could easily fall in love with. No, what you felt for him was far worse than either love or hate. What you felt for him was indifference. At least at first.

           When your mother Cersei told you that you would have to marry Euron Greyjoy, you threw a fit. You were now the heir to the Iron Throne and didn’t think you should have to marry anyone. But once your mother made a decision, it was no easy feat to get her to change her mind. She needed Euron’s fleet to go to war with Daenerys. Thus, you ended up being married to the King of the Salt Throne.

           You spent the first several months of your marriage basically avoiding any and all interaction with Euron outside of your queenly and wifely duties. Euron didn’t seem to mind. He came and went as he pleased, doing whatever it was the Iron born did, and you never once questioned him. All-in-all, it wasn’t a bad arrangement, But you were lonely. The only company you had on a daily basis was your handmaiden. She was sweet, but you couldn’t have the kind of conversations with her that you craved.

           "Y/N?“ You shook yourself out of your daze. You hadn’t realized you’d been staring off into space. You glanced up at your husband. "What?” He scoffed lightly, though it sounded a little like a laugh. “I’ve been calling your name for a while now. What could possibly have grabbed your attention so thoroughly that you would ignore your king?” You rolled your eyes. You never cared for Euron’s displays of power or when he felt the need to declare himself the king. It reminded you a little of Joffrey.

           "Perhaps, if my husband paid more attention to me and less to his ships and whores, I would pay more attention to him,“ you replied smoothly, your gaze never leaving his. Euron just stared for a moment. He wasn’t used to anyone speaking to him the way you did. Like you were his equal or even perhaps superior rather than someone lesser than him. "The ships are our ticket to glory. To the world.” He didn’t even mention the whores you knew he was bedding. You chuckled bitterly.

           "You sound like my mother. You should have married her. The two of you are going about this completely blinded by greed.“ You stood up and moved to leave the room. Euron’s hand shot out and grabbed your arm. "Let me go or so help me I will cut that hand off. Or perhaps I’ll cut something else off instead.” He released his grip.

           "What do you know of battle strategy?“ You smirked. "My uncles taught me more than you would think. Between Uncle Jaime’s skills in battle and Uncle Tyrion’s wit, I’ve learned quite a bit more than most women. And I am telling you that Cersei’s plan will fail. Maybe not at first, but it will fail in the end and we will all be dead. You, me, Cersei. All of us. And Daenerys will rule the Seven Kingdoms. Even if one of us manages to survive, I have no doubt that Daenerys will kill us all for treason.”

           Euron was silent for a moment. You could practically see the gears turning in his head as he thought about what you were saying. “So what do you suggest?” You grinned. “It is better to topple an empire from the inside. Get someone in her ranks, make her trust them, and then crush her from there. Not an easy feat mind you, but better than going into war against three dragons, the Unsullied, and the Dothraki. As well as the armies of Highgarden, Dorne, and the original Iron Fleet.” Euron contemplated exactly what you were saying. You were talking treason and sabotage, but it made perfect sense. “And who should we send in?”

           "Me of course.“ Euron shook his head. "Absolutely not. You are my wife. The queen of the Iron Islands. I will not risk losing any chance of you providing heirs for the throne.” You laughed. “Am I? Funny. You don’t act as though I’m your wife. You act as though I’m your concubine, here only for your physical pleasure.”

            Euron wanted nothing more than to wring your neck. He’d never been called out like this before. Most people were too afraid of him. But your gaze never wavered. You never broke eye contact with him. In all honesty, Euron found it rather enticing. You were holding your own against him and not letting him bully you. He liked that. He liked it a lot. In that moment, he realized just how much he’d come to rely on your presence in his life. Even if you didn’t speak much to him, you were always there when he needed you to be.

           "As for heirs, we have plenty of time,“ you continued as if you hadn’t just lashed out at him verbally, "Provided neither of us die in the war, I will provide you with as many heirs as possible…once Daenerys and my mother are dead.” That took Euron by surprise. “You want your mother dead?” You let out a chuckle.

           "Do you really think my mother is the best person to sit on the Iron Throne? She’s completely mad now that her favorite children are all dead. She will raze the world to the ground without a second thought as to who will be hurt.“ It was Euron’s turn to laugh. He never would expected that to come out of your mouth. He loved how brazen you were being about it. Now he was certain that he’d made the right choice in marrying you.

           From that moment on, Euron became the most attentive and devoted husband in the world. He spent every free moment he had with you. True, most of that was spent working on your battle strategy, but you still managed to have decent conversations here and there. You learned what Euron’s life as a pirate had been like and what his plans for the Iron Islands were. And he learned that you could be just as ruthless as he was and what you planned to do when you snatched the Iron Throne right out from under your unsuspecting mother.

           Then came the day when you would leave for Dragonstone where you would offer your services, and half Euron’s fleet, to Daenerys. "I hope you’re a better actor than you are a strategist, husband,” you told him as you fastened your cloak around you. You were preparing to leave, avoiding Euron’s gaze the entire time. You weren’t ready to leave him. Not now after you’d grown so close.  

           The sass was something Euron had gotten used to now. He knew that you typically used it to cover up your true feelings. You were worried about him and he knew it. “Let me worry about that. You just take the fleet and go.” You nodded and moved to leave the room. “And Y/N?” You glanced back at him.

           He crossed the room in three large strides and gripped your face in his hands. Before you could say anything, his lips crashed into your in a demanding kiss. “Be careful.” Nothing else needed to be said. After another quick peck to his lips, you scurried out the door. Euron moved to the balcony and watched as you sailed away with his fleet. If anyone asked, he would tell them that you had run off while he was sleeping and stole the ships and crew. All the while, in his heart of hearts where no one could see, he’d be praying you’d come back to him safely. The indifference you’d once felt for each other was gone, and only love stood in its place. Even if neither one of you was ready to admit it.

(a/n: This went in a completely different direction that I’d intended, but I really hope you like it. I had to make it believable that Euron would fall for her. There will undoubtedly be a part 2.)

@brewsthespirit-blog @gameofwinters @line-viper @etherealpotter @littlemisscaptainfandom @frozenhuntress67 @obsessedwithgot @cd1242

[clown-bait]

Interrupted

I wrote a very short drabble about the nature of Penny and Leech’s relationship. But really I just wanted to write gore and horror. I guess it takes place after the main plot? But yeah. Kinda NSFW. Actually yeah its NSFW. You’ll see.

Interrupted

The two college boys climbed the steps of the haunted out slowly and shakily. Their task was simple, sneak out past the curfew and go into the haunted house for one night. Then its sorority chicks and frat parties for the next four years. The door creaked loudly as the first boy opened it and they both almost ran when they saw the decrepit interior. The second young man took the first step being the braver of the two. They walked quietly through the entrance hall past the cobweb covered fireplace the phrase “Good Cheer, Good Friends” carved into it. They didn’t notice the modern pictures in the old frames and the horrible twisted looking characters sitting together and smiling like family. The first boy tapped the second on the shoulder and pointed to a christmas tree set up in the sitting room “Who do you think did that?” he whispered.

“Probably squatters.” the other said.

They jumped at the sound of a muffled whimper coming from somewhere in the house. “Dude listen…. is that jingling?” the one said to the other. Sure enough there was a soft jingling rhythm coming from the bowels of the basement. “Do we check it out?”

“I guess?”

They made their way down to the basement through the kitchen the jingling grew louder. A deep growl stopped them in their tracks as they reached for the door.  Something on the other side hissed and giggled.

The boys cautiously opened the cellar door and two pairs of glowing eyes snapped in their direction. “Uh…occupied?!” a voice nervously called out of the darkness.

“He-hello?” the braver of the friends called out to the occupants hesitantly he waved a flashlight around searching for the source of the noise.

“Shit pen humans! How the hell did you not sense them?” the voice hissed.

“Well pardon me for being a bit distracted!” a shaky male voice panted out an answer.

“Get off of me so I can grab them!”

“Ah Ah! I saw them first”

“How!? You’re not even facing the door you selfish idiot!”

“Um so like are you guys squatters or..” the boy shined the flashlight in the direction of the voices and suddenly wished he hadn’t. A seven foot clown and what looked like a living corpse under him both recoiled in embarrassment.

“DO YOU MIND!” the undead girl shouted and tried to cover herself with a tentacle coming from the chest of the beast above her.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!….. IS IT FUCKING HER?”

“Was, until you assholes broke into our house on our fucking honeymoon. Sheesh, so much for a weekend of privacy.”

“Will you stop calling it that?” the clown snarled.

“Look Pen, I am completely fine not doing the whole wedding thing but if I’m going to be your mate I am sure as hell getting a damn honeymoon and we have put this off far too long!”

“S-should we go dude?” the boys whispered to each other.

“How many times do I need to tell you it’s not at like a human marriage Leechie. Its more like…….ducklings?”

“Yeah, yeah imprints I get it. We got to do that part your way let me have this. I even kicked everyone out this weekend just so we could be alone!” she snapped at him and added in a lower tone “At least the damn duckling part is spot on…..clingy bastard.”

“Just keeping my precious mate nice and safe!” he purred at her and patted her head. “Speaking of-“ the clown snapped his head around like an owl his bones cracking and distorting in his neck till he was staring directly at the boys.

“W h e r e   d o   y o u   t h i n k   y o u ‘ r e   g o i n g??” the beast’s body followed its head making more sickening sounds. The clowns costume began stitching itself back together and the boys could see a horrible gaping mouth on its chest slowly zippering itself shut.

“RUN DUDE!” the first student said making a break up the stairs for the cellar door only to be stopped by a horrible upside-down cheshire wall of teeth. The creatures jaws opened and drool ran down her fangs. She let out an awful shriek and a twisted black claw shot out of the darkness around her. It wrapped around her victim’s head then violently yanked him up the wall his flashlight waving frantically till it fell to the floor. There was panicked screaming, a wail of pain followed by a terrifying crunch then stillness. The other college boy frantically grabbed the fallen flashlight and tried to raise it up to where his friend had been pulled away. What he saw was a waterfall of blood running down the door and dripping into a pool on the floor. The light followed the blood up till it stopped on his friends legs hanging limp and jerking haphazardly. There were disgusting squelching noises and a horrible churr filling the air a large chunk of flesh dropped to the ground at his feet followed by his friends watch. “OH MY GOD!”  The boy cried out and fell backwards down the stairs. He frantically tried to stand and grab his flashlight completely forgetting about the other un-fed monster in the room with him. When he stood with the light in his hand the clown casually walked into it and grinned. “Isn’t she beautiful?” he said gesturing to the creature devouring the young man’s friend. “How can I stay mad at her when she puts on such a fantastic little show!”

The young man took a step back, the clown grinned and took a much larger step forward. “Why don’t we give my mate a grand finale?” he let out a serpentine hiss and his teeth changed to fangs like that of a viper. A forked tongue flicked out and tasted the air drool and venom fell from his mouth onto the cellar floor. Serpents coiled around the young man’s legs restricting his movement and the clown’s lower half shifted and stitched together till he had the body of a snake instead of legs. Something bit the poor lad on the leg, his whole body started to go numb and limp as more snakes coiled around him restricting his movement completely. The clown-snake slithered up to him and threw his large coils around his body crushing the young man tighter. With every exhale and attempt at screaming the clown’s grip on him tightened till he was barely breathing. The entire time the horrible creature’s mouth unhinged and stretched open over the college boy’s head cold slimy globs of drool fell onto his face which burned his skin. The last thing he saw as his breath left his body were millions of fangs and two beautiful cold lights dancing in a hypnotic circle. The creatures jaws closed around his head and he was no more.

Pennywise crunched down and severed the head from the body wrapped in his coils. he dropped both and whisked himself back together with a satisfied chuckle.

“You know Leechie up there actually likes being restrained.” Pennywise said to the twitching body as it fell to the ground. He turned to his mate licking the blood off his lips flashing a devious smirk.

“Do not!!!” came the vampires voice from the dark.

“What do you call five minutes ago darling? A sexy hug?” the clown laughed and licked his lips again tasting the blood on them.

“F-fuck you!”

“Come back down and you can! Hahahahah!”

There was a moment of silence in the cellar between the two monsters the flashlight still clutched in the hand of the headless young college student flickered off briefly. When it came back on their lips were locked together claws raking against each others body’s and twisting in wild orange hair. The light flickered off again and after a few moments there was a ripping sound followed by something slithering.

“Really? the tentacles again?”

“Just picking up where I left off darling. Besides I have a point to prove now!”

Leech gasped suddenly when something yanked open her legs and slithered against her.

“Seeeeee you like it!” her mate hissed into her ear flicking out his forked tongue that he decided to keep for just a little while longer.

“Can you at least lock the front door this time before we go any further?” the vampire panted.

The clown huffed and rolled his eyes. He snapped his fingers and there was a loud hasty slam upstairs. Penny leaned in close to her.

“Any more interruptions?”

“Just one” Leech grinned at him and squirmed in the grip of his tendrils.

“What is it now?” the clown snarled.

“Love youuu!” she blew him a cheesy kiss as she wiggled more in his grasp.

Pennywise rumbled in pleasant surprise. A lustful grin grew on his features as he leaned in close his eyes lit up in the dark. His claws cupped her cheeks and a particularly slimy black tendril wrapped its self around his mate’s throat. “Love you too kitten.” he hissed and kissed her hard, making sure that this time no one was to disturb him and his precious mate.

——————————

They cute man. But also terrifying. Anyway they’re not technically married but more bonded. He imprinted on her like a horrifying murder duckling. Leech being Leech she has to have at least one thing her way and if its a winning situation for Penny he’ll usually go along with it. Let her call your romantic staycation whatever she wants clownboi you’re getting lots of extra attention don’t complain. I also wanted to do something for this naga Snakeywise I've seen some folks drawing. I hate to spread the fear of snakes (snakes are angelic noodles of love!) but I gotta admit I loved writing this.

[creativeashproductions]

Opposite Direction [Part Three]

Title: Opposite Direction [Part Two]// Teen Wolf and Riverdale

Summary: Escaping a program similar to the Black Widow program you begin a new life in a town where you’re aware isn’t exactly normal. Working in the Beacon Hills Sheriff’s Department places you in the eyes of Stiles but when Black Widow finds you with Captain America will you return the favour to her?

Characters: Reader x Stiles Stilinski , Sheriff Noah Stilinski (mentioned) , Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Archie Andrews, Ms. Grundy (mentioned), Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow), Steve Rogers (Captain America) and Sheriff Keller.

Words: 2665

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Wolf or Marvel. Nor do I own Riverdale when it does appear. This means I do not own the characters from these shows/movies either.

Warnings: Swearing, injury, past mention of Archie and Grundy.

Requested: @fandomnationwhore

Author: Caitsy

A/N: This is the end of Opposite Direction. I have to say I’m pretty damn proud of this short series. I’ve just moved back to my university so things are about to get hectic. Thank you for all the support you give our blog. We love you. Seriously.

Masterlist

Prompt List

ASK US A QUESTION LIST

Your eyes landed on the cell you used for your legit job in Beacon Hills to see that you had a message from an unknown person. There were few people that had that number seeing as other than work you didn’t talk to many people. Flipping the phone up in the air to catch as you shoved a piece of food in your mouth you unlocked it.

From: Unknown Hey Y/N, it’s Stiles. Um just wanting to know if your alive? You haven’t messaged my dad or emailed anyone. Your cards haven’t been used and you have no social media so uh…let me know?

From: Pest Stilinski It’s Stiles by the way.

From: Pest Stilinski Wait I said that already.

You rolled your eyes at the pain of boy that obviously didn’t see the wrong in breaking laws to find things out.

To: Pest Stilinski 1. I’m alive even though I don’t see how that concerns you. 2. I’m on leave. Your Dad knows if he needs me to contact me. 3. Did you seriously have to hack my stuff?? You’re a pest.

From: Pest Stilinski Oh thank god! It’s just out of nowhere you decided to leave without a word to me. You should really make a facebook account so I can make sure you’re safe.

To: Pest Stilinski I don’t see why I have to tell you and even if I made an account what makes you think I would send you a follow?

From: Pest Stilinski Friend request.

From: Pest Stilinski You’re thinking of twitter and Instagram. That’s where you follow people and Facebook is send friend requests.

You rolled her eyes placing your phone back on the small desk in the room you were staying in for the last little while. The house was now staged to fit the ‘normal girl’ act you were putting on for the town of Riverdale and if you were honest you had designed it to fit what you would have had if you were an everyday person.

In the week and a half you had been off duty you were itching to do something but following Steve’s orders were the biggest. You needed to prove to them that you weren’t the same person they fought before you faked your death. You could be afflicted with the team for sensitive missions.

“Guess it’s time.” You muttered sliding your arms into the dark denim jacket. You used to wear a leather jacket before it was destroyed and it was pretty cliche.

Everybody has to wear the leather jacket. It’s something that goes hand in hand with fighting and angst ridden people.

You silenced your phone from vibrating as you set out to stake out the suspect in the murder of Jason Blossom. You were pretty sure that one of the serpents had killed him in retribution for his family. FP Jones was the prime suspect with an unidentified accomplice.

“Steve? I’m going after Jones tonight.” You muttered into the phone to leave a message. You had managed to find a way to show Steve it was you. You would call three times quickly before staying on for the fourth time.

“Jones? As in Jughead?”

You blinked stunned that Betty Cooper had managed to successfully sneak up on you. You were rusty.

“No. I meant Jessica Jones.”

“No you didn’t.” Betty retorted with anger, “Either you meant FP or Jughead and I want to know why.”

“I don’t know what your talking about but I hope they chain you up.” You snorted twisting the key to lock the door only to see little knicks on it, “So is it a thing that you break the law often?”

“What are you talking about?” Betty nervously said.

“Trying to break and enter into my home?” You spat, “I think I need to make a call.”

“You can’t prove that it was me.”

“That muddy footprint can and fingerprints help also.”

“Please don’t.” Betty began to plead already seeing colleges react to the criminal record.

“No.” You stated firmly, “I do not let things go like this. Cheating on a test or making fun of a friend is different then violating my privacy.”

You dialled the police on your cell without looking as Betty gulped and looked around for an out to this situation. She had managed to get into your house only to discover the normalcy in it as expected from a new resident. There were boxes still and paint buckets were in the living room. Nothing was out of the norm and it irritated Betty but it seemed her suspicions weren’t true.

“Hi. I’m Adaline Kingsley and I came home to my home being broken into. I’ve only opened the door but it has knicks on the doorknob which is strange because it’s new. There are muddy footprints on the entry way but I haven’t gone in any further. I have the suspect beside me and I won’t let her out of my sight.” You explained to the dispatch.


“There’s an officer on the way.”

You kept your eyes on the girl as the patrol car rolled up flashing their lights to see you and Betty standing on your dilapidated porch. You scanned the new arrival to see that it was Sheriff Keller.

“What seems to be the problem, Ms. Kinglesy?” He questioned climbing up on the porch.

“Betty Cooper here broke into my home.” You stated staring at the girl.

“Is this true Betty?” Sheriff Keller asked shocked.

“Um…yes sir.” Betty sighed.

“Why don’t we go talk to your parents about this Betty. You should know better than to do this.”

“Sorry.” Betty muttered playing with her sleeve. Sheriff Keller gave you a tight smile before walking Betty next door with a stern talking to.

“So how did a teenage girl manage to break into the house?” Steve questioned from behind the door. You jumped again for the second time that night.

“Jesus!”

“You really are rusty.”

“It’s been a long day.” You groaned walking into the house ensuring to avoid the areas of footprints, “You hungry?”

“There’s food on the table. I managed to hid it in the stove and hide before she caught into the kitchen. She’s very determined, would be amazing police officer.” Steve replied turning the faucet to wash his hands off, “How’s the mission going?”

“Well other than Betty i’ve managed to build friendships with the other ones.” You replied setting your jacket on the back of a chair, “It’s shockingly easy to gain trust from them. All I had to do was join the cheerleading team and I became great friends with Veronica.”

“Lodge?”

“Yeah.”

“Nat did some research about this group. Veronica is the daughter of the incarcerated Hiram Lodge and his loyal wife Hermione.” Steve said pushing a file towards you, “Archie’s parents are nearly lawfully divorced, Fred being a construction company owner and Mary being a lawyer in Chicago. Kevin is the son of Sheriff Keller and has more…modernized relationships.”

“He’s gay.”

“So different from my time.” Steve muttered shaking his head, “Okay, Betty has an older sister that was sent away to a home for troubled youth. With some digging we found out that a lot of teen pregnancies are dealt with there. Polly is pregnant with Jason’s child giving Betty’s family motive.”

“Jesus.”

“Jughead Jones, odd name by the way, is the son of Forsythe Pendleton II. Parents are divorced with his mom living in Toledo with their daughter. They call his FP and he’s the leader of the Southside Serpents.”

“Wow. Is this tofu?”

“I needed a change. Wanda said it’s extremely good.” Steve hummed making a face when he tasted it, “But I fail to see the greatness in it.”

“Garbage?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think that FP Jones is the murderer?”

“No. He’s a drunken gang member of a gang that deals low level drugs. I don’t see him actually shooting the gun.”

“Do you think Hydra is involved somehow?”



“That’s the interesting part. I don’t.”

“So I’m free to go back to Beacon Hills.”


“No. I want to stay in the town for the remainder of the month.” Steve said scooping more rice onto his plate with a fury. You were confused at his response before he smiled a little, “I know you didn’t get the typical high school experience.”

“I don’t want that experience.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Have you seen teenagers? They tear into each other emotionally if not physically sometimes. I swear I saw a freshmen girl flip out because seven more people were wearing the same colour.”

“High school is better than taking on an army of Hydra.”

“No.” You furiously shook your head, “Not at all. The only evil in this town so far is the Serpents and this preppy boys murder.”

Steve sat there for another hour as you ate planning out how you would finish out the month and the amount of paper work that was in your future.

“You know as a member of the Vipers I never had to do paperwork.”

Steve gave you a cold look at your words before he grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair and slid his thick muscles into it. It was kinda like watching a sleeping bag being stuffed into the casing which somehow seemed like it had shrunk? Steve cleared his throat as he gripped the nondescript ball cap in his hand with an awkward smile.

“I’ve never had such a relaxed supper with a female before.” Steve chuckled, “Call if you need anything kid.”

“Take care Steve.” You whispered watching as the only adult concerned about you walked out the back door, “I should get a run in.”

The music was only lightly played into the earphones to lessen the potential hearing loss and keep you able to hear everything around you. It was your favourite time to run with it being dark and lonely outside to keep everyone one. That and every parent in the damn town refused to let their children out once the sun started to go down.

That didn’t stop you from seeing Archie Andrews running in the street with nothing other than his boxers on. Sweaty ones that too.

“Jesus christ.” You wrinkled your nose, “I feel like a fucking criminal. How am I almost the same age? Seriously, he makes me feel like an adult with a toddler in front of me.”

“Adaline!” Archie exclaimed shocked almost stumbling in his bare feet, “What are you doing out so late? It’s not safe.”

“Dude, this is the time I like to run. Besides I don’t have a helicopter parent.” You stated, “Oh and Grundy isn’t home at the moment.”

“W-what?!” Archie screeched almost, “I don’t know what your talking about.”

“Uh huh. See you at school.” You grunted. Shaking your head at him.

The next week or two were slow without any action going on. Seriously you were thinking bailing the entire mission before the first bite happened. Firstly it was winter when Grundy fled Riverdale without any prior behaviour indicating she would. Next you saw the Coopers were a little more cocky and with their heads up their asses just a little. Thirdly, Jughead Jones was the son of an incarcerated Serpent being charged with murder.

“Did you hear? Apparently Kevin is dating a Serpent.” Tina whispered to Chloe, another one of the cheerleaders. The entire squad was animated about the gossip.

“They should mind their own business.” Veronica huffed fixing her necklace of pearls again.

“That’s the thing I hate about high school.”

It was odd that you could almost feel that a plot twist was on it’s way in the form of words you overheard between Kevin and his boyfriend. There was a jump drive hidden away in a jacket in the woods and you were betting that the Riverdale Crime Fighters would be getting their quick.

“Alright Natasha. How do you want me to do this?” You urgently whispered into the earpiece resting in your ear.

“Didn’t you do this?”

“Yeah but after we did the item was destroyed via viruses.”

“Remember how you found the jump drive before you insert into the right side of the tablet. It’s the one that won’t show any detection of use on the item. It will take a few minutes so be patient and vigilant.” Natasha calmly said.

“Okay. I’m just waiting for the-“

“This is it guys.” The familiar voice of Veronica said echoing through the woods.

“Shit.” You grumbled rushing to finish the program.

“Wait. There’s a light near the jacket.” Betty hissed dropping low into the grass, “Someone’s here and I think I know who it is.”

“A maniac with a gun?” Jughead retorted, “Seriously we should get out of the woods.”

“No.” Betty said quickly.

You returned the jump drive back into the hole at the bottom of the pocket before slinking off out of the area. You knew they had seen a sliver of you and would immediately peg you as the person. That’s why you returned to your car before watching the short clip depicting something you wouldn’t have expected.

Jason Blossom was murdered by his own father before FP cleaned the mess up and went on to hold a secret.

“Damn.” You grunted forwarding the intel to Steve and Nat before driving off to the one place you needed.

The Sheriff’s office.

“I already know what’s on this.” Sheriff Keller said tucking the jump drive into the evidence bag and out of sight, “I would like to know how I’ve managed to get two jumpdrives the same night.”

“What do you-“ Veronica began.

“Adaline Kingsley.” Betty breathed shocked.

“She’s actually Y/N Y/L/N.” Sheriff explained moving a sheet up on the desk.

Dear Sheriff Keller,

My name is Y/N Y/L/N but you would know me as the high school student Adaline Kingsley living on her own. I’m not a criminal, anymore actually, as I was recruited by Steve Rogers to find out in Jason Blossom was killed by Hydra. It came to our knowledge soon that it wasn’t but by the time I was being released from the mission I found out about the jump drive. I’m sure somehow Betty Cooper will get her hands on this but I plead with you to leave my name out of everything. I was part of a bad group before I faked my death. I wouldn’t even be telling you this if it was a month before now but Steve’s made me to do this thing where I own up for my actions. This is me doing so. The number I gave you Sheriff is if you ever need my help. For free. Take care Riverdale teens because the storm’s only just beginning.

Steve’s number to corroborate my information: (xxx)-xxx-xxxx

Sincerely,

Y/N Y/L/N.

“That’s a plot twist I didn’t expect.” Jughead muttered gripping Betty’s hand in his, “It’s so obvious though.”

You felt at home sitting back in front of your desktop computer with a file opened concerning a teen that had burglarized a house last night. Beacon Hills hadn’t had any action in the time you had been gone but you were sure that Stiles had calmed down on his advances. Too bad because he was growing on you not to mention your short high school experience had shown that he was a lot more mature than you remembered.

“Hey.” Stiles said beside your desk, “Dad wanted me to give you this.”

“Thank you.” You smiled at the man before taking the envelope with Riverdale stamped in the return address.

“So would you like to get a coffee? Talk about how you know about Scott?”

“Sure but how about dinner?”

“li…like a date?” Stiles gulped shocked.

“Yeah. A date Stiles.” You smiled at the blushing guy in front of you, “Unless you don’t want to.”

“Hell yes!”

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[secretagentspydetectiveninja]

The Misadventures of Prince Kim - chapter 24

(aka the royalty AU story)

Be the change you want to see in the world, right? Well I wanna see more aro ace characters. So here, have a CANON ARO ACE CHARACTER THIS CHAPTER :D

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23] [AO3]

The weather was warm enough for Kim to sit outside at the fountain, doing his homework on the ground with the calming sound of water to focus his mind. Max was busy tutoring someone else at the moment so Kim was on his own. It felt kind of strange doing his homework without Max there to help if he needed it, even though he could usually do it by himself these days. Perhaps he was just getting too used to Max’s company. In any case, it felt somewhat harder to concentrate without Max, though he tried his best.

“Hello, Kim.”

He looked up to see Marchesa Lila walking towards him, a bright orange parasol in hand to protect her from the sun.

“Oh, hey Lila,” he muttered, then went back to working on his homework.

“I was just out here for a walk,” she said, striding right up to him and looking down at him with those enticing green eyes of hers. “I didn’t realize you would be here too, what a coincidence! This really is a lovely fountain, though. What a beautiful, romantic setting.”

Kim was very tempted to ask why she was very clearly hitting on him when he thought she was interested in Adrien instead, but he stopped himself. Lila always hit on everyone, it probably didn’t mean anything. He gave her a quick smile then tried to get back to his homework again.

“A day like this is too good for wasting on work,” she simpered, putting the tip of her parasol down on the sheet of paper and dragging it aside. “Would you like to join me on my walk?”

“Um, no thanks. I have to get this homework done, then I’ve got a football match, and later I was gonna go skating with Alix…”

Lila’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly. “So… you’re not afraid of her snake?”

“What? Pffff, no way, I’m not scared of snakes. Her snake totally loves me. We’re besties.”

“I’m not scared of snakes either.” Lila flipped her long hair over her shoulder. “My country has venomous cobras too, I’ve tamed them with my bare hands. And I like skating too, you know, I’m a real expert at it. Unfortunately I can’t show you because I recently hurt my foot in a dangerous stunt so my doctor said not to, so I left my rollerskates back in Rossi. Have you been there? You should visit, it’s iconic. The rich, powerful centre of the trade world.”

What? No, none of that could be right, surely. Kim remembered Max teaching him about half the things she just mentioned and… no, there was no way. If she was lying just to get his attention, well, she must have thought he knew nothing about global affairs whatsoever.

“Italia doesn’t have cobras,” he said. “Max said the only venomous snakes in Italia are vipers. And rollerskates are patented in Kubdel, which doesn’t trade with Italia so if you even have skates they must be illegal or directly from when you’ve visited, both of which are hard for a marquise. And Rossi only trades with the Italian mainland and doesn’t have much political power, though I guess it’s kinda wealthy compared to surrounding countries…”

He was impressed at himself by how easily he could recall these facts. Max really must have done a great job at tutoring, that was for sure.

Lila, on the other hand, looked as far from impressed as possible.

“Are you trying to make me look bad or something? I was just trying to be friendly!”

“Huh? No, nothing like that, I was just confused why you were lying…”

“I wasn’t lying!” she huffed, stomping her foot. “How dare you accuse me of being a liar? Because I’m not!”

“Then I guess you were just mistaken or something?”

“No, I know what I’m talking about! I’m much smarter than you, and–”

She stopped and took a deep breath, cooling her temper a little.

“Alright, fine, I might have been exaggerating a bit. I just wanted to have a conversation with you, that was all. I didn’t realize you were just as much of a swot as that Max guy.”

“Max is way smarter than me,” Kim said. “But uh… I’m guessing all the other stuff you’ve told everyone about Rossi this week isn’t true either, is it?”

“It’s kind of true!”

That was probably a lie too. “Lila, I won’t tell anyone you lied. I show off all the time too, it’s fine. But maybe tone it down a bit? If you keep lying then everyone else will realize too, and I don’t think they’d mind much either but someone like Chloé might, and she won’t be happy about that, especially since you’re not technically royalty… So if you want to make friends then probably stop making stuff up, it’ll be easier. I’ll be your friend if you want.”

“Thank you, Kim. But I don’t think I’m interested in being friends with someone who thinks of me as a liar and is going to be judging everything I say. I’ll keep your advice in mind, though. Have fun with your… homework.”

She whirled round and marched off.

Was she upset with him? Was she really going to stop lying? It hurt a little that she had assumed he would be so easy to lie to, and that she had been surprised that he wasn’t just some airhead who didn’t know anything. Was that really how people saw him?

It was probably how they saw him compared with Max, anyway. Anyone was an airhead in comparison with Max. Kim would just have to work harder to show everyone that there was more to him than sportiness and challenges, that was all.

As for Lila, he really had wanted to make friends with her – he knew perfectly well what it was like to want to show off in front of new people to make sure they liked you. But outright lying was something else entirely! He didn’t want a friendship based on lies. And if she didn’t want a friendship based on truth, then it probably wasn’t ever going to happen.

Poor girl… hopefully she would find someone who liked her for who she actually was, and she wouldn’t feel the need to lie to them. Everyone deserved someone to be their true self with.

The summer gala was quickly drawing nearer, and the end of the school year with it. It was going to be an informal, optional event, held in the large open square.

“I’m not going to this one either,” Alix said to Kim and Max after the lesson where they had been told the details about it. “If everyone’s at the gala then there’ll be no one around to tell me off or give me detention for doing all the stuff I’ve always wanted to do at this school.”

“What kind of stuff?” Max asked, looking rather sternly at her. “It’s not illegal, is it?”

“Nah, just stuff like skating down the stair railings and climbing those huge trees near the perimeter.”

“You will break your neck and die.”

“Jeez Max, who replaced you with Jalil? I’ll be fine! It’ll be way more fun than some stupid social event, you know I hate stuff like that. Anyway, if you guys are worried I’ll die then you are free to join me and supervise. As long as you don’t tell the teachers or anything.”

“I’m going to the gala, but Kim can keep you company,” Max said, giving Kim a pointed look.

“Fine. If he can keep up with me, that is.”

“Of course I can keep up!” Kim said. “We should have a race – who can climb the tree the quickest. Loser has to jump from like 20 metres up.”

“Let’s reduce that to 2 metres,” Max said hastily. “Anyway Kim, I need to talk to you about something, that thing to do with that homework thing, come on…”

Without waiting, Max grabbed Kim’s arm and pulled him away.

“What homework thing?” Kim asked once they had stopped.

“That was just an excuse to get you away, I need to say something without Alix being here. Listen – it’s been a long time, I’m getting sick of being wingman if you’re not even going to do anything. You and her not going to the gala will be your chance to tell her you like her, so do it, okay?”

Kim nodded. “You’re right, I’ll totally do it this time. I promise. Thanks, Max. You’re the coolest wingman ever. But… you don’t have to go to the gala if you don’t want to, seriously, I don’t mind if you’re there with us, it’ll probably help me not be such an idiot anyway because I’m always more sensible when you’re around–”

“I’d rather not interfere,” Max muttered. “I’ve already made up my mind, I’m going to the gala. You’ll be fine on your own.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. She must be on the verge of noticing you like her – you’ve asked her for a kiss more than once, you played her a romantic ballad on the day of the Cupid Festival, you were rather obvious about the sports bra incident, everyone else in the class has noticed already… Her obliviousness has to have a limit. And of course, if you just tell her outright, you’ll bypass that problem entirely.”

Kim sighed. “Yeah, I know. It’s just… every time I want to say something, I just remember what happened with Chloé! And I know Alix wouldn’t be like that, but I just can’t help thinking about it, and I’m just… I’m…” He lowered his voice. “…I’m afraid of being rejected like that again.”

“That’s fair enough. I suppose Chloé’s rejection affected you more than you realized. But things will be different this time, I’m certain. You can do it.”

“I can do it,” Kim repeated, trying to reassure himself. “Yeah, I can and WILL do it. I’ve totally got this. It’ll be fine. It’ll be awesome! Thanks Max, you’re awesome too!”

He gave Max a hug, then ran off.

The gala wasn’t much different from the other seasonal socials had been, though it was far more relaxed than the formal ones. Max stood alone by the refreshments table, drinking glass after glass of orange juice and wondering if it was possible to get drunk off it. Scientifically it wasn’t, but he could always hope.

He tried so hard not to feel sorry for himself. He was happy for Kim. He really was! Kim was his best friend, and Max would do anything for him. Even if it hurt a lot.

Juleka wandered over to him, dressed in the kind of bright pink that her sweetheart Rose would usually wear.

“Hi Max, you alright?”

Max shrugged. “Alright is certainly the right word. Not great, but alright.”

“Unrequited love hurts, doesn’t it?”

He almost spat out his drink. She was smiling at him in a somewhat sad, pitying sort of way.

“Yes, I can tell,” she said. “I have much better gaydar than Alya does.”

“Juleka, did you ever have crushes on straight girls?” Max asked suddenly, unable to help himself. “Or girls who just weren’t interested in you? How did you deal with it?”

“I had plenty of crushes before Rose, but I was too shy to ever do anything about it so nothing ever happened.”

“How did you have the courage to ask out Rose?”

“She was already my close friend, so I knew that even if she didn’t feel the same way about me, it wouldn’t end up weird between us. Rose is such a sweetie, of course she would understand. And also Kim kind of egged me on.”

Max couldn’t help but grin. “Kim has no subtlety whatsoever.”

“Of course he doesn’t. You’re much better at hiding your feelings. I think I’m the only one who’s noticed so far.”

“You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t. But maybe you should do something about it.”

“I can’t – Kim doesn’t love me like that, does he?”

Juleka shook her head. “Looks to me like he’s head over heels for Alix.”

“Maybe I should have done something much earlier. It’s too late now. They’re hanging out right at this moment. Probably already sweethearts by now.”

“I doubt it very much.”

“Really? Why?”

“Well, considering that Alix hasn’t even noticed yet that Kim likes her despite how obvious he’s been, she probably isn’t even remotely interested. And, uh, my gaydar is somewhat going off. At least, she’s not straight. I know that much. Same with Kim.”

Max tried not to put too much faith in that. Gaydar wasn’t exactly scientific, so it had to be taken with a grain of salt. Even if Juleka seemed to know more than she let on. Kim was bi, Max knew that, but Alix? What was she, then?

“Anyway,” Juleka said, “I’ll be off now, gotta go back to my sweet Rose and get her that drink she asked me for. Goodbye Max, and good luck.”

She took a drink off the table and walked away. Lucky her… she and Rose were together, and perfectly happy. Though they didn’t exactly tell people the nature of their relationship, no one was really fooled into thinking it was merely close friendship. Thankfully, it seemed that the royalty class at least all seemed to be alright with it. That gave Max a little hope for the future.

He took another swig of orange juice, feeling the fruity sugars imbuing him with hyper energy. Perhaps he shouldn’t have had so much of it. He could barely stand still, wanting to bounce up and down on his toes. His brain was going much too fast as well, coming up with all sorts of stupid thoughts and scenarios quicker than he could stop them.

Was it selfish to wish that Juleka was right, and that Alix didn’t love Kim back? But then again, he didn’t really wish that. He just wanted Kim to be happy, that was what. The problem was whether or not it would make him happy too.

Most of all he wished he had done something earlier. He should have told Kim the truth a long time ago. It would be too late to do that now, when things were so far along. But the longer he waited, the more painful it felt…

Meanwhile, Kim and Alix (and her snake) spent the whole afternoon being able to mess around without any supervision whatsoever, sliding down the railings, clambering up onto the school roof and trying to catch pigeons, throwing algae from the stream at each other, having rollerskate races, trying to avoid the school guards hanging around, jumping off dangerously high tree branches…

By the time the sun was setting, they were both quite tired and they sat on the warm grass under the trees, resting. The little daisies growing everywhere gave Kim an idea.

“Let’s see who can make a daisy chain flower crown the quickest,” he said, starting to pick a few flowers.

“I don’t know how to make those. All the flowers growing in my kingdom are artificial or for decoration, I’m never allowed to pick them.”

“Here, I’ll show you how to do it.”

Using his nail to make a little hole in the stem of one flower, he linked it up with another, then carried on. She watched with interest. Within a few minutes he had a full flower crown ready.

“Nice!” she said, taking off her headdress which the snake was curled up around, putting it down on the grass beside her. “Go on then, make me a cool hippie flower witch.”

He put the flower crown on her head, then sat back and had a look…

It didn’t suit her. Not even a little bit. Yet despite that, he was hit by a surge of longing so strong it made him feel dizzy. There was just something about the way she was smirking at him, her head tilted at that frustratingly cute angle, glints of gold from the setting sun lighting up her pink hair, the tank top leaving every muscle on her arms exposed…

He knew he should tell her how he felt. He’d promised Max he would do it, and he hadn’t yet. Now was the time.

He was just about to speak when she lay down on the grass on her back, looking up at the sky. “There are actually clouds in this country, it’s such a nice change. I can do that thing they do in movies where they look at the clouds and try to point out shapes. Never done it before. That one there, it looks like a… a snake! It’s totally a snake, right?”

Kim looked at the cloud she was pointing at. “Um… it l-looks like an earthworm to me b-but…”

“Gee, what’s up? You sound ill all of a sudden.”

He certainly felt ill – in particular, too lovesick to function properly. Maybe that was a good thing, though. Maybe she would finally notice. That might be better than outright telling her, which was still too nerve-wracking to properly consider.

“Can we have an arm wrestle?” he asked her suddenly.

“What, now? Sure, I guess, that’s kinda random but why not…”

She turned onto her side and lazily grabbed his hand. He was sure the adrenaline would give him enough strength to win easily, but he was still distracted enough to lose within just a few seconds.

“You’re off your game, dude,” she said. “Are you too tired or something? Because that wasn’t even a challenge.”

Just hearing the word “challenge” would ordinarily have snapped him back into action, but he was hyperaware of the fact that he hadn’t yet let go of her hand, and was sitting so close to her, and everything around them was so idyllic and peaceful, and it was just so overwhelming he could hardly even speak.

“Yeah, I’m tired,” he mumbled.

“You need more sleep. You’ve been working yourself too hard recently.” When he didn’t reply, she waved her other hand in front of his face. “Kim? You there?”

“Sorry, I’m j-just…” He scrambled to think of something to say that wasn’t cheesy. “Your hair… I don’t see it that much because… headdress… anyway it looks, um, really pretty…”

Whoops, that was definitely cheesy.

“Oh, cool, thanks.”

Phew, she didn’t seem to think that was weird.

“Can I stroke it?”

He wanted to smack himself in the face – what kind of stupid, weird question was that? Why didn’t he ever think before speaking?

“What is it with you thinking of me as a cat?” she said, grinning. “You did this at the sleepover too, remember?”

Oh thank goodness, she wasn’t weirded out by that either, despite the fact that it was definitely, objectively, weird.

“Well yeah, you’re really cute,” he said quickly, feeling his cheeks burning. “Not just like a cat, I mean, but like… cute. As in, pretty. N-not as much as me though! I’m the coolest, obviously, haha, but like… you’re second, so…”

She laughed. “You’re seriously the only person I know who has ever called me ‘cute’. Usually the word is ‘annoying’ or ‘intimidating’, but ‘cute’ is new. Clearly I’ve not been scary enough lately. Want me to pretend I’m gonna get the snake to eat you again?”

“If you want.”

“Seriously?” She laughed again. “Kim, you’re after something, aren’t you? You’re being so overly nice to me today! What is it you want from me, a telephone? More skating lessons? A less violent Monopoly game?”

“I’m allowed to be nice, aren’t I?”

“Oh yeah, I’m not complaining! It’s just so weird, like you’re trying to appease me or soften a blow or secretly in love with me or something…”

His heart skipped so many beats he was half sure he was having a heart attack. It must have shown on his face, since she frowned suddenly.

“Kim, are you okay? Did I say something? I was just kidding, I didn’t mean–” She let go of his hand rather quickly and sat up. “Wait a second… okay this sounds really weird but I’m just checking… are you in love with me?”

How on earth was he supposed to answer that? The honest answer was yes! But the way she was frowning, looking as if that was not the answer she wanted to hear…

Still, he had promised Max he would do this. It was now or never.

“Since September.”

He had hoped he would stay calm enough to not run off straightaway to avoid whatever the consequences of his confession were, but as soon as he saw the look of complete shock on her face, he leapt to his feet and tore off without looking back.

Kim did not sleep very well that night. He hadn’t even been down to have dinner, just munching on snacks in his room instead, and was seriously contemplating hiding away in here all of the next day too. He did not want to run into Alix. She probably thought he was a complete weirdo, a creep, she wouldn’t want to be his friend now…

In the morning there was a knock on the door. He stayed as silent as possible just in case it was Alix, but then he heard the reassuring voice of Max on the other side.

“Kim, are you in there? Can I come in?”

Kim opened the door. “Oh man, Max, I could not be happier to see you… How was the gala?”

“It was okay,” Max said. “But I’m actually here with a message. Alix wants to talk to you about something, but she wanted me to check first if you actually want to see her or not. I’m assuming you two left something on a bit of a cliff-hanger yesterday.”

“Yeah…” Kim sighed. “Okay, fine, I’ll talk to her. I may as well get it over with. I’ll tell you everything later, I promise.”

“Alright, I’ll send her along. See you later.”

Kim watched Max walk back down the corridor, feeling dread settling in his stomach. Hopefully this wouldn’t be too bad…

A few minutes later he got another knock on his door, and he reluctantly opened it and let Alix in. For once she didn’t have the snake with her – perhaps it had just eaten or something. Well, at least that meant he wouldn’t be killed with it, no matter what else happened.

“Ignore yesterday,” he said immediately, not really looking at her. “Just pretend that didn’t happen, I’m sorry, I was just being an idiot and I know you’re probably mad at me and–”

“What? No, I’m not mad at you.” She was looking at him with an expression that looked mostly like pity, though it was always hard to tell what she was thinking when she wasn’t trying to make it clear. “It’s okay. But I really have to tell you something, so just be quiet and listen.”

So she wasn’t mad, that was a good start. Hopefully the rest of whatever she was going to say wouldn’t be too bad either.

“At my oracle session, the question I asked Master Fu was if there’s gonna be a succession crisis in my kingdom after I die. He said there will be one. Most people would be really upset about that, but for me… it’s good. That was the answer I wanted. Do you know why?”

Kim shook his head. He had never really thought about kingdom succession very much before.

“It’s because if there’s no one to succeed me, it means I have no heirs. And the way succession laws work in my kingdom, it means I have no spouse either. As in, I never marry or have kids. And most people would be horrified about that, too, but…”

She was looking at the ground, as if she was ashamed or nervous to say it.

“…I don’t even know why, but I just… have this kind of… aversion to stuff like that. You know, romance and marriage and stuff. It’s never interested me. Boys, girls, whatever, I don’t care. I have no preference. As in, my preference is none. And because I’m a royal, I always assumed when I grow up I’ll end up forced into a marriage or something and pressured into providing an heir for the throne, that kind of thing, that always happens to people. But the idea of that… it terrifies me.”

Her voice was so quiet by now it was almost hard to hear. It seemed like this was the first time she was ever saying any of this out loud.

“So I was super relieved when I got Fu’s answer because it means I’ll get to live as the kind of pharaoh I want to, without having to marry anyone or anything, I can’t stand the idea of having to do something like that with no choice. I can just be myself. And I guess it’s kinda weird… that I don’t, you know, ever have crushes on people or know what it’s like to fall in love like that, but... maybe I’m not the only one? I don’t know, I’ve never met anyone else like me, but if as a pharaoh I can let the world know this is who I am then maybe other people like this will come forward saying they feel the same way and I’ll know I’m not alone…”

She finally looked back up at him, though she still seemed somewhat nervous.

“And so yeah, I’m not into you like that. But it’s not personal – I’m not into anyone like that. And I want to let you know that this doesn’t change anything, you’re still my best friend, okay? I mean, it’s actually kinda flattering that you like me. I never expected anyone to, I’m not really… I don’t know, conventional? Feminine? I’m just weird, I never thought anyone would be into me. What do you see in me, anyway?”

Kim’s throat felt so choked up it was a wonder he could even speak. “Honestly I don’t even know… you’re really cool, I guess? So spirited and carefree and the only person who can ever match me in a challenge… it’s inspiring, and awesome, and… uh, not that it matters too much, but you are pretty hot, so…”

She cracked a grin. “So are bossy, intimidating, hot girls your type? Because there was Chloé too, right?”

“Haha yeah, maybe… Did you really not notice I liked you before yesterday? I think the whole class had noticed already.”

“I really didn’t know,” she admitted. “I’m so oblivious when it comes to stuff like this. I mean, I did occasionally think about it. Like when you played that song for me on the day of the Cupid Festival, but then you said it was a friendship song, so…”

“It was a love song.”

“Ah, that makes more sense. And then at spring with the sports bra I wondered too, but I just chalked it up to you being a teenage guy and having a thing for sports bras.”

“Well, I guess it was a combination of all that...”

“Fair enough.”

“Anyway, um, for the record I totally do care about you as a friend too, I promise,” Kim said. “Like, platonically. So thanks for saying you’ll still be my best friend, and we can just carry on like normal… maybe now I’ve got this off my chest this crush will go away… I really just do wanna be your friend. You’re an awesome friend.”

“Yeah, you’re a… a… okay, this is going to sound really cheesy, but I have to say it, so just shut up and listen.”

She took a deep breath, folding her arms and looking at the floor again.

“Just because I’m not in love with you, doesn’t mean I don’t love you, okay? Because I totally do. You’re my best friend, and before this year I didn’t really have any friends, so you’re just… you’re really important to me and this friendship means so much to me, okay? And you’re so awesome and supportive and always there for me… a-and I will be your winggirl. You deserve someone amazing who loves you back. Anyone would be lucky to have you. You’re the best and I just want you to be happy.”

Kim didn’t dare say anything, since he felt sure if he even said a word he would just burst into tears on the spot. He was sure no one had ever said something so nice to him before – except maybe Max.

“And I have something to give you,” Alix said, unfolding her arms and looking up at him again. “I forgot about it ages ago but this all kind of reminded me. Anyway, kneel down.”

He kneeled, now roughly the same height as her.

“Now close your eyes.”

That sounded ominous. Feeling apprehensive, he closed his eyes and waited. He heard her footsteps coming towards him, then she took his face in her hands…

And kissed him.

He was so shocked he opened his eyes – though by that time it was over already anyway.

“That was left over from the mistletoe at the winter party,” she said, and he noticed she was blushing a little. “I thought I might as well do it, since you like me and everything. I guess we’d both forgotten about it.”

He tried not to freak out, though it was difficult when his brain felt like it had turned to mush, and his heartrate was so high he felt like he was going to collapse. He could still feel his lips tingling, though it had only lasted a few seconds at most…

“I hadn’t forgotten,” he admitted. “I just… didn’t want to ask… thought it would be weird…”

“Well yeah, it was pretty weird. But not bad, I guess. Anyway, I’m gonna go brush my teeth and hope I didn’t catch anything from you, so I’ll see you later. And you have my permission to tell Max everything.”

“Thanks.” That was something he was definitely going to do, alright.

“No problem.” She gave him a friendly punch in the arm, then opened the door and left.

Kim didn’t move from where he was for a few minutes, still reeling from the kiss. Memories of his oracle session suddenly came back to him, especially one phrase in particular: don’t get your hopes up.

This was what Master Fu had meant. It was clear now. Kim did indeed get a kiss from Alix, just like he wanted… but not for the reasons he wanted. It was a platonic kiss, if such a thing existed.

But at this point he didn’t even mind. Mostly, he was just relieved that Alix still wanted to be his friend. He was content with that. At least now he had nothing to hide from her, and he knew nothing would get in the way of their friendship. The thought made him feel so much better.

Yeah… friends. That would be for the best.

[heroineimages]

Gladiatrix AU

So I wrote another Korra AU thing. As a Roman History enthusiast, I suppose it was only a matter of time before I attempted some manner of Roman-era AU, so here’s what I came up with. My primary source for the gladiator research was Philip Matyszak’s Gladiator: The Roman Fighter’s Unofficial Handbook. 

The story takes place in Roman Spain during the late Republican era, just before the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey. Though I couldn’t find out if the city of Tarraco even had a gladiator arena, I chose it for the setting because it was a close major city to Ildera, where the Spanish legions were stationed. The events of Caesar’s Civil War will probably come into play somehow, though I haven’t decided in what way. A lot of this is still pretty open, so I’m happy to take thoughts and feedback. 

The one question I have is, how crucial is it to readers that I establish what part of the Roman Empire the characters come from? I have ideas for most of the characters, but is it important to readers that I establish this in-text? Or would giving the characters Roman-era heritages create a disconnect with their Avatar-verse selves? (NSFW warning for violence and gore)

To the screams and cheers of the Tarraco mob, Korra strode into the arena, bronze buckler in her left hand, spear in her right. The spear was nearly a foot taller than she was with a bronze head at its tip and a bronze spike at the butt. A dagger and gladius hung from her right hip. Smeared in dirt and olive-oil to protect from Iberia’s summer sun, Korra posed dramatically for the crowd wearing her usual bronze armor: a Greek-styled t-visor helmet, right-arm manica, left-shoulder pauldron, and left-leg greave. Beyond that, she wore soldier’s sandals, girding about her loins, and linen wraps around her breasts—more to keep them out of the way than any pretense at modesty.

Though she’d rather keep her hair shorter, the crowd preferred she have a long, tangled mane like some Gaul warrior or something. Thus it dangled out the back of her helmet for an enemy to grab onto in a fight. She knew it was stupid, but her job was to please the spectators.

A crowd favorite from Councilman Tarrlok’s ludus, this was Korra’s eighth fight since her training started a year and a half ago. It was repayment for her debts, she’d been told. Originally purchased by some infantry brothel for the legionaries, Korra had killed two of Tarrlok’s gladiators her former owner rented to ‘break’ her. Tarrlok took her as part of his repayment for the loss of his gladiators. Apparently he figured if she could kill two trained fighters with her bare hands in a brothel stall, she could learn to kill them with weapons in the arena.

In the arena Korra was called the “Thracian Amazon,” apparently based on some Greek legend or something, despite that she wasn’t Greek and had no idea where Thrace was. Though stocky, she’d always been strong. But the endless days of weapons training had made her stronger and broad-shouldered, with muscular arms, legs, and torso.

As she awaited her opponent’s arrival, Korra reflected that this fate was far better than that brothel. The brothel meant being pounded by an endless stream of Iberian, Latin, or Gallic infantrymen until she died from childbirth or something venereal. In the ludus, she spent her days training with spears and swords and her nights banging her choice of slave girls and the occasional adventuresome noblewoman. All she had to do in return was fight five or six times a year. And if she survived long enough to earn her freedom, she had decent job prospects as a gladiator trainer, enforcer for a debt-collector, or bodyguard for some patrician or wealthy pleb.

Today, however, Korra was called upon to carry out an execution, rather than a regular fight. Some thug who called himself “Shady Shins” or “Shady Shoes” or something similarly stupid had been sentenced to death in the arena, and Korra was selected to carry out the sentence. All she had to do was make it entertaining for the crowd.

The crowd continued to roar as the gates opened at the far end of the arena. The six-hundred or so spectators looked to be mostly native Iberian, though the legionaries and axillaries—on leave from the legion encampment at Ilerda—might instead be from Italia, Gaul, Africa, or even Greece. There was also a bunch of mercenary archers from someplace called “Knossos” who were apparently big fans of the arena and came to the fights regularly. While the nobles all got shaded seating, the soldiers and commoners had to sweat it out in the heat.

This didn’t seem to deter their enthusiasm for the kill.

“Get your hands off me,” Shady-whatever protested as the guards shoved him into the arena. A lanky, rather foppish-looking Gaul, the condemned had a short, sandy, possibly Roman haircut and a short beard that had probably stayed neatly trimmed prior to his incarceration. He made a show of dusting off his tunic before drawing his gladius.

“Now this…? This is just insulting,” Shady snorted as he and Korra advanced on each other. “I’m supposed to go out in some kind of blaze of glory in the arena, and they make me fight some freaking broad? I guess that’s provincial entertainment for ya.”

Korra continued forward, wary and scowling at his flippant behavior. While some arena fighters adopted a wisecracking posture as part of their on-stage persona, those condemned were usually less… collected in the face of an advancing gladiatrix.

So what did Shady here know that Korra didn’t?

“S’matter, Muscles?” the lanky fop mocked again. “No outrage? Not even a snarky reply? I’ll bet it just tears you up inside, having to snuff out a face this pretty, am I right?” His eyes darted about the arena for a second, as if watching for some hidden sign or signal.

Korra found herself tempted to throw her spear the last fifteen feet and finish him then and there. Something about Shady’s posture and expression told her that he was expecting something and that delay would work to her disadvantage.

“You’re expecting help!” Korra accused suddenly, dropping into a fighting stance and scanning the stands.

“Ah, I was gonna save that for the surprise, but since you figured it out…” Shady snickered. He raised his left hand to his mouth and let out a sharp whistle.

Korra grimaced as eight thugs leapt in from either side of the arena, drawing daggers and rushing to surround her.

“Check it out, Bro, it’s Shady Shin!” Bolin pointed out as the guard’s shoved the prisoner into the arena. “Remember him from Capua?”

Mako squinted and leaned forward to look, adjusting his baldric to keep his gladius from digging into his side. “Huh,” he muttered as he recognized the lanky thug. “I wonder what he’s doing out here in the provinces.”

“He probably traveled out here to escape the law, and it didn’t work,” Bolin chuckled. “Mako and I knew that guy when we were growing up,” he pointed out to Hasook, one of the Balearic auxiliaries from Afranius’s legions.

“Well, he’s in a lot of trouble, then,” Mako said, sounding satisfied.

“Yeah,” Bolin laughed his agreement. “The Thracian Amazon hasn’t lost a fight yet. Hey, remember that one fight where she was taking on two guys at once, and she had to beat that Punic guy to death with her shield because her spear broke and her dagger got stuck in the other guy’s ribcage?”

“Oh, yeah,” Mako recalled. “I think she started carrying a gladius as well, after that.”

The brothers sat amid a cluster of other legionaries and auxiliaries from Afranus’s legions, who were stationed in nearby Ilerda.

Bolin couldn’t hear what was being said over the cheering, but it looked like Shin was doing a lot of posturing as he faced the Thracian Amazon. The thought puzzled Bolin—Shin tended to cow away from any fight where he didn’t have either the obvious upper hand or some secret advantage against his opponent.

Before he could say anything to Mako, they heard a sharp whistle from the arena. As they watched, eight guys with daggers leapt from the stands to encircle the gladiatrix.

“Whoa-ho! These fights get better every year,” Bolin laughed. “They totally pitched this as just another execution fight. But this? This is some quality suspense-building.”

“Uh, I don’t think this is part of the show, Bo,” Mako pointed out. “Isn’t that Ping?” he asked, pointing to a familiar short, scrawny guy in a red tunic.

“Oh no,” Bolin murmured. “And that’s Viper over there,” he added, pointing out the gang leader.

Mako looked as grim as the thugs closed in on the outnumbered gladiatrix. The crowd continued to cheer, as if assuming this was all part of the show.

“Should we… do something?” Bolin asked, scratching the back of his neck. “I mean, it’s not our fight, but you and I both know what those guys can do, and she’s kinda all by herself out there…”

“And the arena guards don’t seem to be doing anything more than covering the exits,” Mako added. “But like you said, it’s not our fight. Plus, we’re already in trouble for that stunt with those Gaul cavalry warriors.”

“Oh, yeah, good times,” Bolin said, remembering.

Screeching one of her people’s battle cries, Korra charged one of her attackers in effort to get outside their circle. With no back protection, she definitely didn’t want them surrounding her. She made a leaping lunge at her target, thrusting her spear as a deterrent. Though startled by her move, the red-shirted thug easily dodged her hastily aimed attack.

She whirled around as she landed, backing toward the whitewashed arena walls. Too high to jump and too steep to climb, they didn’t afford much of an escape—and she didn’t really expect the spectators to pull her to safety.

Deciding she needed versatility and peripheral vision for this fight, Korra cast aside her buckler and helm. Taking her spear in both hands, she backed up a few more paces as the thugs closed in.

The nearest two thugs rushed in at once. Korra thrust her spear at one to make him flinch back. Dodging a blow from the attacker in the red tunic, she swung the spiked end up to catch him under the arm. She smiled as one of his ribs gave way from the hit. As the bastard stumbled back, Korra stepped in to stab him in the chest with the spike. The man clutched his bleeding chest, backing out of range.

Korra backed closer to the wall to stay out of their semicircle a little better. The crowd certainly hadn’t quieted any, apparently not realizing this wasn’t part of the show. Though, given that the guards hadn’t come to her aid, clearly the arena’s staff planned to play this off as part of the spectacle to try to save face if nothing else.

Which meant Korra was on her own.

“Get ‘er,” the boss thug ordered. Three henchmen surged forward, daggers ready while the others stayed back and fanned out to keep her from escaping.

Spinning, Korra stabbed to her left with her spear, catching one attacker in the shoulder. As she completed her spin, she kicked the center attacker in the gut and raised her right arm to block the right attacker’s stab with her manica. Spinning her spear like a stave, she slashed the head across the center attacker’s throat. Attacking to her right this time, she stuffed the spear’s bronze spike between two ribs on her right-most attacker. Wrenching it out, she turned and finished off the wounded attacker on her left.

Three of their number dead or dying, the remaining thugs backed off in surprise at Korra’s sudden onslaught. Red-tunic stayed back and continued to clutch his bleeding chest. Korra made a show of stretching her neck, first to the left, then right, much to the delight of the crowd and the annoyance of her attackers. If she was going to die, she might as well make her killers look foolish in the process.

Without further theatrics, Korra gave another cry and charged the enemy center, aiming straight for their boss. Though he managed to evade her initial lunge, Korra whipped the butt of her spear around to stab the back of his left leg as she spun by. Out the other side of the attackers, she noticed blood from a slash to her left bicep.

Behind her, Korra heard red-tunic maneuvering to take a stab at her back. She let him get within spear-length before spinning to her left to stab him through the chest again. Wrenching the spear from his wound, she spun back around—

—only to see all five of her remaining opponents charge upon her. She thrust a hasty stab at Shady, but the smug jackass dodged slightly and gripped her spear with his left hand. Though Korra let go in time to keep from being pulled off balance, his counter-stab still cut her to a rib. She stumbled back, managing to get her manica up to deflect a stab from one of the other thugs. Not letting up, Shady stabbed again. Though Korra managed to catch his wrist, his gladius still broke skin, cutting her left arm again. Before she could draw her own gladius, Shady stepped in to stab her with her own spear, cutting deep though she rolled with the attack.  

The blow made Korra stumble back again, letting go of Shady’s arm. Off balance, she tripped backward over red-tunic’s body, clutching her bleeding chest. She hit the dirt, not quite hard enough to knock the wind out of her. Rolling to her feet entirely by reflex, Korra staggered back as the remaining thugs closed in. Shady seemed to snicker at Korra’s hunched posture and the blood running over her arms as she clutched her injuries. He’d opened his mouth to say something when another voice interrupted.

“I guess some things never change, do they, Shady Shin?” the new voice mocked. Korra and her attackers all looked as a pair of young men in legionary tunics strode across the arena, gladiuses drawn. “Just like back home, eh, Mako?”

“Yep,” the other agreed. “I mean, have the Triple Threats ever attacked someone who wasn’t either outnumbered or unarmed?”

“Bolin, Mako, is that you?” Shady smug-face asked, facing them. “Kinda figures you two’d join Pompey’s mules out here in the provinces. What’re they payin’ you two mooks ta—?”

He cut off with a scream as Korra drew her gladius and slashed the bastard across the back in one motion. Pivoting, she stepped around him to slice his right arm off above the elbow.

Buggering the theatrics that had gotten her sliced up in the first place and using the distraction to her advantage, Korra cut into the remaining thugs without hesitation or mercy. Still covering her wounds with her left arm, Korra slashed the leader across his chest, then stabbed her gladius through his stomach and into his heart. Wrenching the blade from his wound, she slashed another attacker through the neck, taking his head most of the way off.

The crowd screamed and cheered as she dodged a counter-stab from one of her two remaining attackers. Stepping in, she stabbed him in the throat. The thug made hideous gargling noises as he fell. Korra parried her last attacker’s final stab by lopping his hand off at the wrist. Her backswing sliced his bowels open, dropping him screaming to the dirt beside his comrades.

“Thanks for the distraction,” was all she said to the two dumbfounded legionaries. Both just stared, but she noticed a momentary smile at the edge of the shorter one’s mouth.

Korra stepped over to where Shady lay on the ground blubbering and clutching his bloody stump. Bending over, she gripped him by the hair and yanked him to his knees before the crowd. Placing her gladius against his throat, she looked up at the crowd to decide his fate.

“No, gods damn it! No!” Shady begged as the mob unanimously voted to end him.

He gargled one last time as Korra cut his throat, letting his body collapse to the dirt with his friends and their failed rescue attempt. She nodded briefly to the two legionaries as she limped toward the gates. 

The world began to blur around her as the adrenaline wore off and the blood-loss began to affect her. She stumbled a couple times as she trudged back across the arena, one step at a time. Korra wasn’t sure when her gladius slipped from her hand, but she only passingly noticed she wasn’t still holding it.

The gate guards stepped back respectfully as she stumbled from the Spanish sun into the darkness behind the arena. Her trainer Tenzin and one of the medical staff managed to catch her as her body gave out. She felt Tenzin lift her in his arms as the last of her consciousness ebbed away.