#Why does he track how long Tom has gone without smiling WHY

[platypotoo]

"I haven't seen you smile in, like, six hours!"

[hollandsmoose]

the way home

A/N: This was just supposed to be a tiny blurb, but once I got started, I just couldn't shut up again. So here you go, my loves, here's 1.6k of pure friends-to-lovers fluff!

—————

You should have brought a jacket. You realize that the second you step out of the pub, Tom a few meters ahead of you and therefore unable to see the way you shudder when the cool air hits your skin.

It's just a short walk home from the pub, you'd told yourself, I don't need a jacket. God, you'd been wrong. Curse your past self for not trusting your instincts. It may be mid-July, and it may have been pretty warm when you left your flat earlier, but you should've known better than to not bring a jacket on a night out. You really should have learned not to trust the English weather by now. Tom doesn't seem to be struggling with the weather as he turns around to face you, but that makes sense. He's got a nice, pretty thick denim jacket on, and here you are, bare arms exposed to the elements.

"You ready to go?" Tom asks, nodding in the general direction of your flat. When you give him a nod back, he grins and offers you his arm. "Lead the way, miss." You can't help but giggle, your cheeks warming as you close the distance between the two of you and accept his offer.

"What a gentleman," you tease him, trying to ignore how mushy holding his arm like this makes you feel. As you start walking, you gently nudge him with your shoulder, making him look at you curiously. "Thanks for walking me home, Tom."

He merely shrugs, a small smile on his lips. "You don't need to thank me. I'm just making sure you get home alright,"

You squeeze his bicep. "Well, it still means a lot,"

It's not that this is the first time he's walked you back to your place from the pub after a night out together, but, usually, it's been somewhat of a group effort. Tom and the other boys, his housemates who you're lucky enough to call your friends too, would normally walk you home together, but, tonight, Tuwaine, Harry and Harrison seemed like they were only just getting started by the time you were ready to leave. So Tom had very kindly suggested that he could walk you home himself, and the lads had whistled and cheered at that - like the idiots they are. You told them off and called them dickheads, but there was no denying that your mind had gone to a similar place for a second too. It was just wishful thinking, though.

Tom is your friend. Just your friend. And yes, perhaps he's a friend you've been hopelessly in love with for months now, yet he's still just a friend. And yes, he calls you 'darling' and flirts with you, and he calls you when he's abroad, just so he can hear your voice, but that's just how he's always been with you. That's just how he is, really. It doesn't have to mean anything.

You haven't got very far when the cold begins to really affect you, every small gust of wind feeling like a thousand tiny icicles stabbing your skin. Granted, basically being snuggled up to Tom helps, his body quite warm, but it's not enough. So you can't help it when a violent shiver runs through you, making you hiss. Tom immediately stops dead in his tracks, unlinking your arms, and you're just about to ask him what he's doing when he gives you the answer without saying a word. He slips off his jacket and holds it out in front of you, and when you realize what he's implying, you have to protest.

"Oh, no, no," you say, shaking your head adamantly. "You'll get cold!"

"Well, you're already cold!" he argues and chuckles at the way you scoff at that. "And besides, I'd rather be cold than be an arsehole."

You know there's no point in trying to deny him. You know Tom, and you know he won't budge. So, with a sigh, you turn around and let him drape his jacket over your shoulders. A warmth spreads in your body, and you know it's not just from the extra layer. The jacket even smells like him - that sweet mixture of his cologne and the shower gel he uses.

He smirks as you face him again, giving you a once-over. "You always look great in my clothes," That's all he says before offering you his arm again, and, absolutely fucking dumbfounded, you just take it. God, you complain to yourself, why must he say shit like that? Can't he see what it does to me?

Tom doesn't seem to notice, however, happily chatting away about something that happened on one of his walks with Tessa. You do notice how he seems to pull you even closer to him, though. It's just because he's cold. That's what you tell yourself. But then he pulls you so close that you're completely pressed against his side, and it just feels… different.

You look around, acutely aware that anyone could see you like this, but the streets seem fairly empty, save for a few late-night joggers and dog walkers. So you let yourself relax into Tom, enjoying how it feels to be with him like this. You can't keep yourself from imagining how it would feel to be like this forever.

It's not something you get to fantasize about for a long time, though. Because then you turn the corner onto your street, and you know your time with him tonight is running out. You hate that you'll have to let him go, your two bodies having basically melted together at this point. And when you reach your house, you almost whine as Tom disentangles the two of you. But, even then, he doesn't really let go of you, taking your hand in his. You feel the heat creeping into your cheeks when he steps a little closer to you, and you gulp as he squeezes your hand.

"I've missed you, darling," Tom tells you, exhaling shakily. "More than I think you know."

"I've missed you too, Tom," you reply, trying not to think too much about what he just said, but his words are already haunting you. "Probably more than you've missed me."

You don't know why you say that. The words just fall out of your mouth, your filter seemingly gone. His brows draw together in confusion as he takes in your answer, and then he shakes his head gently. When he releases your hand, you feel like you've really fucked up.

He tilts his head slightly. "What makes you say that?"

You shrug, willing away the tears forming in your eyes. "I don't know,"

"It's okay,"

"I'm sorry,"

"Don't be," Tom assures you, smiling softly. "But you're wrong," His hand comes up to cup your cheek, and when his eyes flicker down to your lips, it's like it really dawns on you what he's trying to say. "Because I've missed you so... so…" He leans in a little until his breath is intermingling with your own, and you're trembling in anticipation, your eyes half-lidded. "Much." As soon as Tom finishes talking, he closes the distance, and then his mouth is on yours.

You're not surprised, but you are a bit stunned - everything you've dreamed about seemingly coming true. And for just a second, you find yourself worrying that this is just a dream; that none of this is real. But it is. His scent filling your nose is real. The touch of his hand on your face is real. His kiss is real.

And then you throw yourself into it, your hands settling on his chest and your fingers grabbing the fabric of his shirt quite desperately. Tom sighs, contented, his one arm wrapping around you as he presses his lips to yours again, far less hesitant this time. There's no stopping the soft gasp that leaves you then.

It feels like your bodies can't possibly get any closer, yet you still find new ways to melt into one another. Your tongues begin to explore each other, and your hands start to do the same to each other's bodies. You can scarcely breathe, but you can't bear the thought of parting with his kiss. And if worse comes to worst, death by kissing seems like a pretty good way to go.

You arch into Tom when his hands travel down your back, and the movement knocks off his jacket that had been draped over your shoulders. You barely sense it, but there's an audible thud as it lands on the pavement behind you. That, you can't help but notice.

He chases your lips as you pull away, but he doesn't protest against the separation. You're both breathing as though you've just run a fucking marathon, and you can't even get out a few simple words to tell him what happened. You just loosely gesture to the jacket on the ground, a sight that makes Tom giggle.

He's the one who picks it up, and you're kind of expecting him to put it on again. He probably has to get back to the lads at the pub, you lament to yourself. But Tom doesn't move. He just stands there and looks at you, eyes dark as he takes you in. He's kissed you into a complete mess, and you're sure you must look like one too.

"I should get back to the pub," he says, but Tom still doesn't move. The grin on his face is more than enough proof to you that he doesn't want to go anywhere. "Unless… unless you want me to stay?" You know what he's really asking. And you do want that, of course, but you still pretend like you actually have to think about it for a few minutes, biting your lip as in thought. You give him a nod.

"I do. But on one condition," you bargain, smirking mischievously, and his eyes light up. "You have to kiss me like that again." And that's an offer he can't refuse.

—————

taglist: @spideycents @linanilssonfurberg @to-the-road

(hit me up if you wanna be on the taglist!)

[ptergwen]

Hey could you write one where the reader helps tom, who's heavily drunk, get home? Somehow tonight he's a sad drunk and cries about random things to the reader it amuses the reader, but later surprised when tom cries saying that he thinks the reader is dating someone else because he saw the reader going out with a guy days before??

warnings: lots of drinking mentions and swearing

a/n: woah this is pretty long 😭 got a little carried away heh enjoy

-

“you’re where?” you ask into the phone, eyebrows furrowed as you try to make sense of tom’s drunken speech.

he seems to have gotten himself into a little bit of trouble. all his critical thinking skills blocked out by the alcohol, he ended up calling you. you’re now determined to find out where your friend is and help him home. tom has a track record for doing stupid shit when he’s drunk.

“th’ pub,” tom slurs back. “you wanna join me? have a drink?” you can hear the smirk in his voice. he’s leaning on the bar, but his arm slides and draws an oh, shit out of him. so he doesn’t hear your giggling, you put a hand over your mouth. “y/n/n, you coming?” he asks sort of desperately once he has his balance.

“yeah, tom. i’m on my way,” you reply and head to your front door, keys already in your hands. “hurry,” he commands, then takes a sip of beer from his nearly empty bottle. he’s not making this easy for you. the drunker he gets, the harder it is to drag his ass out of there. “i am, i am. see you soon.” you hang up with a sigh.

it doesn’t take you long to get to the pub, which is a good and sometimes bad thing, this time good. you find parking and speed walk inside. your eyes instantly scan the place for your buzzed best friend. he’s not hard to find in one of his signature white t-shirts, hair slicked back. he’s hunched over in the stool, and his head is down. that’s concerning.

the bartender is cleaning up a spill nearby him when you approach the bar. tom whines out a series of, “i’m sorry, i’m so sorry, i’m really sorry,” to him. he’s crying. weeping would be more accurate. his whole body moves while he sobs into his arms. you sit down next to him and put a hand on his back.

he looks over at you with tears falling down his cheeks. “tom, what happened?” you frown, already turned to face him. his eyes water again. “i- i spilled my drink and it got all over and i feel so bad, y/n,” tom tells you in a high pitched tone, the bartender placing down another beer in front of him.

you shoot him a glare because he’s clearly had enough. he swings the rag he was using to clean over his shoulder and shrugs. isn’t part of his job knowing when to cut people off?

“thank you,” tom mumbles to the guy, who gives him a nod before tom grabs the beer off the counter. you snatch it away from him. “oh, no. that’s enough already.” you put his drink down on the other side of you. that encourages tom to cry some more, hiding his face in his arms for a second time. “no fair!” he yells and sounds like a child while doing it.

“you’re gonna have a really bad hangover, or puke this all up, or both,” you explain your confiscation to him. “probably both.” tom lifts his head up, eyes sad yet hopeful at the same time. he grabs your hand with both of his. “will you take care of me?” the question, mostly how he asks it, makes your heart clench.

“of course. let’s get you home, okay?” you stand up and loop an arm around his back. tom follows suit, you pulling him towards you and grabbing his jacket off the stool. “no, i wanna stay with you.” he insists, stumbling forward as you lead him towards the exit. you’re hoping he already paid because you don’t feel like that sketchy bartender coming after you.

“sure, you can spend the night. we haven’t had a sleepover in a while,” you agree, pushing open the door with your foot, arms preoccupied with tom. your offhanded joke makes him emotional again. there’s more to it, though. “it’s- it’s been so long,” tom sniffles out. “aw,” you chuckle and tighten your arm around him.

he used to stay over your place a lot before he moved in with the boys and harry. he misses being able to crawl into your bed and snore while you lay in his arms. you also miss it, so it’s funny how neither of you have said anything.

the tears in tom’s eyes make his vision blurry, which in turn makes him trip over a rock. “sorry, man,” he apologizes to it, you steadying him and letting out another laugh. he’s funny when he’s so far gone. “we’re almost at the car,” you let him know with a tiny smile. “‘mkay,” tom nods and wipes his tears away, leaning into you for the rest of the way there.

tom does fine for most of the car ride. there’s an incident where he gags and you almost pull over, but he ends up not needing it. he feels so awful he nearly puked in your car that it makes him cry yet again. you promise him it’s fine, that you don’t mind and everything is fine. you’ve never seen drunk or sober tom act like this.

you bring him straight to your room when you get home, dropping him on the bed and huffing. tom falls onto his back. he closes his eyes and purses his lips. “do you need anything?” you pant, answering yourself before he does. “you should have some water.” “ok,” tom mumbles and drags his tongue along the inside of his cheek. “ma’am,” he adds.

rolling your eyes, you make your way to the kitchen to get him a water bottle. you start to wonder why he got so plastered in the first place. seeing him in this state beyond worries you. you love tom too much to watch him fall apart. you really love him.

you come back to your room and flick on the lights. tom throws an arm over his head, mouth agape and a groan escaping it. “shit, sorry,” you giggle, shutting the lights off. “you’re a madwoman,” he rasps back. he sounds slightly more aware of himself now. “well, you’re a madman. here.” you toss him the water.

tom obviously doesn’t catch it, so it lands on his stomach. he rips off the cap and goes to take a sip while laying down. he’ll throw up for real this time if he does that.

“tom, tom, tom,” you murmur to yourself in a playfully disapproving tone. you take a seat next to him, tugging at his hand to get him to sit up. he smiles lazily and brings the bottle to his lips, watching a smile spread across your own face while he takes a sip. the two of you make eye contact for long enough that you notice something visibly shift within him.

tom looks down at his lap instead, taking his mouth off the water with a pop. he then exhales through his nose rather reflectively. you take notice of that, squinting at him in the dark. “what?” you wonder aloud. a few seconds go by without tom saying anything, deciding if it’s worth bringing up. he figures he might as well say it because it’ll come out eventually.

“the other day,” tom starts, voice deep and alcohol still in his system. “were you out with someone? a guy?” you’re not quite sure what he’s referring to. “huh?” is all you say back. “harry was picking up dinner, said he saw you on a date at the restaurant.” he gets quieter during the second part, almost upset. you sit up from the comfortable position you were in.

“harry was there? i didn’t know that,” you tell him as you try to piece together the story. tom takes that as confirmation. “so, you were on a date?” he caps the water and throws it somewhere on your bed. “i need another drink.” “it wasn’t a date- hang on.” it finally clicks with you why he was getting wasted by himself in the latest hours of the night.

“you were drinking because you thought i went on a date?” you ask tom softly, another smile pulling at your lips. “um...” he blows out of his mouth and nods, still nodding as he speaks. “yeah. made me feel shitty.” what you said now registers with him. he perks up ever so slightly. “but, you said it wasn’t a date?” “no,” you quickly dismiss. “he’s in one of my classes.”

“we were working on an assignment, and i thought having him over would give him the wrong idea.” you’re grinning by the end of your explanation because of what you feel is about to come next. tom beams back at you, moving closer to you on the bed. “good,” he affirms and brings a hand up to your cheek. his wide pupils search yours, thumb brushing your skin.

“‘cuz i like you, and love you.” his voice drops to a whisper. “love you a lot.” “i like you too,” you breathe out, enjoying the way his warm hand makes your skin tingle. “and, i love you.” “wish i knew that before i got fucking pissed,” tom mumbles, but seems unbothered because he leans in to kiss you. you’re met with his beer breath before giving him a push back.

“speaking of, you’re still drunk,” you laugh and comb your fingers through his matted curls. “i’m not,” tom protests, ducking away from you. scoffing, you retract your hand with a knowing look. “you are. i can smell it. we should go to sleep, tom.” he caves and lays down, letting his head fall in your lap. “fine. can we at least cuddle?”

he’s relentless.

but, you say yes.

[facegodandwalkbackwards]

I’ve decided that Renesmee is a trans boy <3

He figures it out in his fifties. Before then, he just figures he’s like his Mom, a little tom-boyish, a little butch. He’s not like other girls, he says. His Mom tells him that’s normal, she was like that, too. And if he feels a longing for the boys in his classes, well, that’s also normal, she says. Wanting someone is the first step to a happily ever after.

Renesmee thinks that sounds trite, but he’s young and doesn’t quite have the exact words to describe why he doesn’t like it. Why ‘happily ever after’ feels confining.

When he reaches his twenties--in real time, and not just in growth--he asks Benjamin about happily ever afters, because he knows his Mom is young, too, by their people’s standards. Benjamin has come to visit every now and then, not for them--he’s not especially attached to them--but because Jacob sometimes drives to Oregon or Idaho to meet up with him and have coffee. He tells Renesmee that they might be possible, but Amun thinks there’s really only ‘happy for now’s. He admits he feels that way, too, sometimes--that he wants to believe happy can be forever, but he knows some day Jacob will stop coming to meet him, and he, too, will die.

During the events of Breaking Dawn, Jacob told Benjamin why the wolves phase, and Benjamin--worried that his presence there might bring more pain--decided that if they were going to be friends, he would never come visit Jacob on his land. Renesmee wishes he could convince his own family to stay away, but ‘the weather’s just too good for us, there,’ he is told. ‘You’ll understand when you’re older. We can blend in with the humans easily there. Besides, we’re never there long enough to do any real damage.’

Except wasn’t he living proof of that being a lie?

His Mother doesn’t see it that way. ‘They weren’t forced to help us,’ she tells him. ‘Jacob, Leah, Seth--they wanted to help. They chose to.’ And he isn’t so sure that’s true, either, but arguing with his Mother never gets him anything productive. Especially when his Father always, always takes her side.

In his thirties, the family--the coven--wants to return to Forks. Renesmee says no, but is overruled by a vote. He goes along at first, but he doesn’t stay. Three nights into their arrival, the aging and grey-haired Taha  Aki--Billy Black, as he’s known, now--comes to visit the house and all but begs them to leave.

Paul and Quil and Embry had just stopped being able to phase, he tells them. If you come back now--are you really going to make them go through this, again?

And Renesmee thinks that maybe his Mother will finally understand. They’re not supposed to be here. But Edward says they won’t stay long enough for it to matter--just three years. That’s all. And when Carlisle and Esme agree, Bella’s convinced.

He doesn’t make a decision right there; he can’t. He’s learned that Alice is too conniving for Renesmee to get past without careful planning.

That night, he leaves. The note, hastily scrawled, tells his family he’s going to live with the Denalis. There are phone calls and tears and accusations. How could he do this to his Mother? Doesn’t he understand how hard it is for them all, living somewhere they aren’t wanted? Doesn’t he understand that he’s still too young to get why he should just come home and ignore Billy? It doesn’t sway him one bit.

Tanya and Carmen try to convince him, themselves. Your family is just worried about you, they say. They just want you to have a good life. Don’t be too hard on them. He knows it costs them nothing to say that.

And he misses them, if he’s honest with himself. Nostalgia is a drug and he wonders and wonders if he made the right choice, but he thinks about the fear in Billy’s face and feels sure.

In those three years, he grows to resent the Denalis. Every conversation that isn’t about why he shouldn’t feel bad for the pack--for the people who killed Laurent (and nevermind that he was hunting on their land, nevermind that he broke the rules, first)--is about how much his family misses him. It’s maddening. Renesmee is mad.

It’s Garrett that gives him an out. You know, he tells Renesmee one cold winter night, days before the Cullens planned to come up north for a decade or so before beginning their standard rotation again, you don’t need a coven. It’s nice to have. They’re helpful if you’re in trouble. But there’s nothing so freeing as going solo, bound to nothing and no-one, going wherever you like as it strikes your fancy. Good way to avoid making decisions, he says, and the little smile tells Renesmee that it’s an invitation. Go, it means. I’ll take the blame for you.

Kate isn’t thrilled when she gets a call from Alice, frantic that Renesmee is gone--just gone, heading west? No--south, now. No--now he’s leapt into a river she doesn’t recognize and she can’t make out what direction he’s going in. Garrett’s been in trouble, before--he knows if he waits a few months, it’ll be fine.

The years on his own are more than Renesmee could ever have hoped for. They’re freeing and wild and beautiful. He hunts in forests and deserts and oceans, and learns how much he can love himself--and still, something feels off. A sour note in the song. Something not quite fitting.

At first, he imagines he’s lonely. He’d always been with his coven, after all, and maybe that’s just what loneliness feels like. Except even in cities, even in the busiest cities in the world, he feels out of step. It’s something deeper.

He grows to resent the name he was given; when he was younger, it had felt weird. Like he was the stand-in for the people whose names he held. Now, he wondered how much truth there may have been in that. When Renee had died, Bella had leaned on him so much, fretting and trying to care for Renesmee as she had once for Renee.

He thinks about being called EJ if he had been a boy, and what that would have meant when Jacob eventually became mortal again. He decides he hates that name, too--but it does feel closer.

Renesmee goes through names like seasons, circling around an answer, reaching ever closer to it and yet feeling so far removed.

It’s in Brazil that he finds it. He’d lost track of seasons and finds himself there in the middle of Pride, and he sees men with breasts. Men with soft faces. Men with scars and furred chests and socks stuffed into their pants. He sees men in the vibrancy of transness and falls in love.

Rio, he decides, is a much better name. Rio feels like home. Rio is learning that he can bind all he wants; his bones don’t bend like a human’s do, and it’s not like he needs to breathe. He experiments with hormones, different dosages, different types, things he’s stolen off supply trucks in the middle of the night. For a long time he thinks they won’t do anything, that he’s too vampiric to use them until one day he wakes up different.

For his best guess, the venom pushes on one side or another of absolutes. Rio thinks he’s built up enough testosterone that the venom corrected overnight. His chest aches and his thighs ache and his chin and throat hurt like he’d been punched hard enough to knock him out.

When he looks in the mirror, what looks back feels right. He’s no taller than he had been, before, but his face--there’s fur, there. A thick beard and mustache and sturdy eyebrows. He’s got fur on his chest where there once were breasts. He’s got straight and narrow hips, and hairy legs, and he cries because his body has never felt so much like home.

If he ever meets the Cullens, again, it’s long after he’s remade himself. There’s a vampire in Georgia, he’s heard, that has the power of granting shields, an echo of the forcefulness with which she protected others in life. He doesn’t need to do much to convince her to place one on him. They’re alike--so similar they could be family. She’s not so human as he is, but she knows what it is to want a different body.

Her shields are different that his Mother’s were. One moment, Alice can see him--the next, he’s gone.

Rio stays in Georgia for a while. It’s lively, there, and he enjoys the company. There’s no spark--no romance--just a desire for kinship. When Berta chooses to leave, he follows her. It’s not a coven; they’re not bound to each other. They split apart sometimes, come together again decades or centuries past. And Rio stays away from Forks.

And he is happy for now.

[hoodieofholland]

Okay, what Im requesting really angst so I get if you don’t want write,

boyfriend!Tom starting to feel things to his co-star while y/n is waiting for him to come back to her and when he coms back he tells her the turth. She runs pf with tears and have a serious car crash and Tom regrets what he did and blames himself for her injures.

(Oh god I love jerk Tom so much)

(love your writings <3)

a/n: took a little while to write this, but it's done, finally! Hahah. Feels like ive been writing a lot of angst lately lol, what you guys think? Thanks anon for requesting, hope you like it!

Warnings: angst, mentions of cheating, heartbreak, mentions of blood, car accident, language.

Broken. That’s how you felt, staring into those brown chocolate eyes, full of regret, guilt and fear. Your heart clenches inside of your chest, desperately trying to find some sort of comfort while your heartbeat only seems to increase each second you pass looking at him.

“What?”, your voice is cracked. Your eyes are glistening with the threatening tears.

You still can hear the reverberation of his words inside of your head: I think I’m having feelings for someone else. Someone else. His co-star. Tom had just admitted to you he was having feelings for his co-star.

You and Tom have been in a relationship long enough to know this would inevitably break your heart into pieces. Those words didn’t even make sense to you. Though both of you were feeling a little off lately, like your relationship wasn’t the same anymore, you were sure this was just a phase, you were willing to bring you two back on track. But right now you could see you were the only one with hope and this made you feel ashamed of just standing in front of Tom, feeling extremely exposed and weak.

He sniffles, averting his gaze to the ground. “I- I’m so sorry, y/n. I didn’t mean to blurt it like that, it’s just-“

You blink your tears away, your whole body shaking slightly, not under your control anymore. Your hands close into fists as you try to control your emotions and the unbearable pressure on your chest. “What is it, Tom? What is happening? I- I can’t understand, I thought-“, you didn’t even know what to say. You bite your lips to prevent you from crying. “Since... since when, Tom?”

He breathed out, cheeks buffing as he runs his hands through his curls. “I don’t know. Honestly”, his voice was full of sadness, “I just- I realized it today”.

You feel your knees getting weaker. “Did you-“, you gulp, too afraid to ask, “Did you cheat on me, Tom? Did you do something with her? Did she touch you? Did you touch her?”

Though you knew pretty well none of that was important anymore, that betraying your feeling while still together was equally as bad as kissing or sleeping with someone else, you couldn’t ignore the feeling that physical contact would make the whole thing worse. You couldn’t stand the thought of being there, waiting for Tom to come home and maybe have a nice dinner so you could enjoy time together and make things work out again, while he was out there fucking another girl.

But he shook his head no, and you released a sigh in relief. He had a frown between his brows, genuinely hurt by the path of that conversation. “I’d never, y/n”, he rubbed his eyes. “I know this doesn’t make me a better of a man, but I- I swear to God I just realized it now. It was today, when we were filming and... and I couldn’t go another minute without telling you this. This is so fucked up and I am so fucking sorry, but I thought that it would be better for both of us if I just told you this and-“

A sob coming from your parted lips breaks his attempt to explain, watching you fall apart for something he has done. Tom didn't stop loving you. It felt different, but he still cared about your feelings and how you'd deal with the fact that your relationship wasn't working anymore. He felt guilty and even disgusted at himself for breaking your heart. But that didn't stop him neither.

"Can we talk about this, darling?", he mumbles, trying to reach your hand, but you step back, body trembling as you fight back the need of giving in to his embrace.

"Don't. Don't call that", you cry out, letting the tears fall freely on your cheeks now. "Fuck, Tom, what did I do? I didn't deserve this. I- I was by your side, I never left. I knew this day would come, but I was trying my best..."

"It's not like that, y/n", he mutters, feeling defeated. He didn't intend to take it this way. He never wanted to make you cry. He promised he would never make you cry. "I've tried. And I love you, I love you so fucking much, but I... I don't know what happened".

You wipes the tears away furiously, too frustrated to care about the look on your face right now. You just didn't want to look fragile, or broken, or weak - all of the things you actually were feeling like.

You look at him clearer, the man you so desperately love, the man you most felt affection to. Tom was everything you always dreamt of. If there was a man you could say you trusted in, it was Tom. And he betrayed your feelings.

It wasn't his fault and you had to admit that. He fell for another woman. He just didn't feel the same about you anymore, and though you were suffering, you couldn't blame it on him. It was just human nature. Life itself, playing tricks on you, when you so certainly believed to have found the love of your life.

"I know", you say through hoarse voice. "I can't blame it on you. It's not your fault. I just- I thought we could work this out, y'know? Thought you wanted this with me". You give him a sad smile and couldn't help but let more tears roll down your face. You felt pathetic and you were sure you looked just like that.

Tom swallows the thick knot on his throat, chest aching at the sign of you. He wanted to say something, but couldn't think about anything good enough.

Ashamed of your position, you nod a couple of times for nothing in special and make your way to the front door.

"Wait! Y/n, what are you- where are you going?", Tom shouted, eyes wide as he tried to take your arm. You pulled it from his reach and raised your hand to prevent him from coming any closer.

"I'm leaving. What else do you expect me to do, Tom?" With bloodshot eyes, you stare at him, lips pressed tightly in a thin line, holding everything in you to not make even more a fool of yourself.

"I don't know", he almost whispers.

You can't seem to contain the growing anger inside of you for his words, sobbing a little more as you try to come up with the right thing to say. Why does he have to do this to you?

"Guess what? I don't know neither. All of a sudden, my long-term boyfriend told me he is falling for another girl. Do you know how much it costs me to look at you right now, Tom? I can't even- I fucking hate you right now and I know it's not even your fucking fault, but I can't help it!" You scream, hand covering your mouth as you try to regain some composure. "Just leave me fucking alone, Tom!"

Without another word, you run to the front door, yanking it open and slamming it shut, letting your whines finally scape through your gritted teeth.

---

Tom checked his phone one more time before slipping into the covers and lay down on his empty bed, facing the ceiling for a long enough time to get sick of it.

His mind was running wild, thinking about the things he said to you, and the thing you said to him. It was hard to face the fact that he made you cry and feel miserable. Tom never intended that. He knew both of you were slipping apart, gradually giving your relationship an end, but that was a whole different level.

He closed his eyes, thinking about the moment you stormed out the door, thinking about the feeling he had previously in the morning, while working with his co-star. It wasn't the strongest thing he felt in his life, it wasn't even near to the things he felt when meeting you, but he knew he should be honest with you from the moment he realized there was something going on.

But even know, he felt like he messed it up real bad.

Tom has been calling you since you stepped out of the house, but you never answered, or called back. He left a message in your voicemail, asking you to come back home so you could talk. Aware of the fact that this had no coming back, Tom just needed to look at you one more time and apologise for being a dick. He couldn't afford to have you out of his life.

And then his phone rang.

He was quick to pick it up and press to his ear, waiting to hear your voice, but what he heard was something much more unexpected.

"Hello, can I please speak with Thomas Stanley?", an unrecognizable voice came to the phone and Tom sat on his bed.

"Uh, yes, it's me. What's the matter?"

"I'm calling because you're at Miss y/n y/l/n's emergency contact. She was brought to the hospital after an accident, a car crash. Miss y/n is passing through an emergency surgery right now and I need to inform someone in the family..."

The woman kept talking, voice too steady for something so breath-taking. Tom was surely out of breath. For a few seconds, he felt like he had gone blind, not able to see anything besides a black spot in the darkness of his room.

He couldn't believe he was hearing that. It couldn't be real. He tried to come up with any excuse, with some explanation, but everything that ever crossed his mind at the moment was the sign of you laying flat on some ciment busy street, blood coming out of the corner of your mouth and eyes wide open with no brightness on them.

"Sir?", the woman spook again and Tom was snapped out of his thoughts.

"Can you give me the address?", he jumped out of bed and started to look for his keys frantically. The woman gave him instructions and he quickly made his way to the living room.

"Fuck... where 'my fucking keys!" He yelled desperately, throwing the pillows on the sofa go the ground to look better. "Fuck!"

Tom sat on the couch, heavy breathing making his whole body shake. His hands holds his head and his eyes go wide. He felt a heat rise in every part of his body, but mainly on his chest.

It was his fault, he knew it. You were supposed to be at home, you were supposed to stay with him. You were going to have dinner together, and you wouldn't be driving before having a car crash.

Why did he mess up? Why did he say those things to you? He shouldn't have let you go outside in that state. He shouldn't

Tom heard the front door crack open, and he raised his head with silly hopes of you stepping inside and all of this being a fucking cruel joke, but instead, it was Harrison passing by.

"Tom, I was just going to- Dude, what happened?" Harrison puts a worried face when he saw the bloodshot eyes, trembling lips and shaking hands, all parts of Tom's nervousness.

He almost couldn't put his voice to work, and if it wasn't for the fact that he needed to reach out the hospital in no time, to make sure you were fine, maybe he wouldn't be able to say a single word.

"You gotta drive me. I can't- I can't find my keys. And she needs me. I need her. I need to find her, Haz. She- fuck, she needs me and I can't find my fucking keys", he said in desperation, letting himself become a sobbing mess in front of his friend.

---

There was no small talk between the two of them whilst the drive to the hospital. It seemed like you have done a long way from home; the distance was killing the eye browned boy.

All that was on his mind now was the thought of you - moments you've spent together, days of happiness and things that he loved about you. He remembered the first time you met, the day he asked you out and the first time he heard you say you loved him. He questioned himself when was the last time you said that, when he heard his name coming out of your lips with an "I love you" next. He couldn't remember and he felt disgusting for that too.

Because Tom realized in the way to the hospital that he couldn't live without you. If you were gone, there would be nothing. He never thought about this day, never thought that one day he'd be losing you, but the bare possibility of this happening made him realize he wouldn't stand it. He needed you, in more ways than just one.

"She'll be fine, Tom", Harrison told him for the third time, when they were sitting in a corridor, waiting for a doctor to call for Tom when you were brought to the room.

"'S all my fault. Shouldn't have fought her. Shouldn't have let her think I didn't love her", Tom muttered more to himself, voice hoarse.

Tom was bouncing his leg rapidly, eyes closed tightly an heart aching for every second he spent without any medic information.

"Mr. Holland?" A voice came next to him, a doctor, a comphreensive smile on his face, which eased Tom a little bit. "Miss y/n is in her room now, you can check on her".

Tom got up immediately, rubbing his sweaty hands on his jeans while walking down the aisle with the doctor to your room. When he reached the place with white walls, white sheets and an audible beep from the machine that was monitoring your heartbeat.

"She's asleep right now, might wake up in about an hour or so. Then a nurse should come check on her", the doctor says, reading through some papers on his clipboard. He sighs lightly and look at Tom, whose eyes are glue on you. "I might say she was lucky, Mr. Holland. It was a serious accident, and others victims didn't have as much luck as Miss y/n", he friendly pats Tom's shoulder. "Don't know what you believe in, but I think you should be thankful. She's a strong girl, she'll be fine", he smiled and after a few seconds, left Tom and you alone in the room, closing the door behind him.

Tom was hesitant, taking small steps towards your bed as he looked cautiously every part of you body. You had some big injuries on your face. There was a bandage on your nose, which was broken when you entered the emergency. Your lips had cuts and there was a purple spot on your forehead and around one of your eyes.

Tom felt sick to his stomach thinking about how much pain you had gone through the last hours. He stood beside your bed, taking your fragile looking hands on his. It was bruised too, and Tom pressed a very light kiss to your palm, letting a silent tear roll down his face till reach his chin.

"I'm so sorry, my love", he whispered with a croaky voice. "You'll be fine, it's gonna be alright", he reassured, more to himself than to you, who was drifted on sleep now, too far from the chaos that was going on outside.

Tom sniffles, rubbing a hand on his wet nose, and blinks a couple of times to get rid of his tears. "I didn't mean for this to happen. I know it's my fault. And I was wrong".

He breathed out, looking at the ceiling as he remembered your conversation that evening. "There's no one I love more than you, y/n. It was dumb of me thinking that there's anyone I might be in love with besides you. It's only you, love, you're the person I can't live without".

Tom felt like a kid, crying over your hand, squeezing it ever so lightly and praying that you might hear his apologies and his pleas.

"And it was unfair of me not putting as much effort as you in this relationship. This is my fault too. But I love you, and I don't care about anything else, your love is the only thing I'm going to focus on when you wake up".

Tom realized that nothing was more important than your relationship to him now. Not even work, which has taken so much of his time that he was slowly slipping apart from you. Not even whatever feeling he fooled himself to believe in. It wasn't true. It was his fear of not being in love with you anymore, of being too far to bring you two together again. But by that moment, Tom knew he couldn't be afraid of nothing else than losing you. And now he just prayed that you could forgive him and the things he said, while he left himself fall in tears and regret.

********

Taglist:

@dreamy-clousds @pinkrockstar19 @onyourgoddamnleft

@spideyspeaches @miraclesoflove @heavenlyholland

@zspideyy @marlenetough @nsxvision

@xoxohollands @siriuslyslyslytherin @mathletemadison

[whispering-about-loki]

A Little theory regarding the Loki series

Warning! Image-heavy!

I am going to preface this by saying that this won’t happen. Well, maybe it won’t. Most of it won’t. Maybe some of it will. So SPOILER warning, in case it does. 

I’ll put some of my thought process in a note at the end.

---------

After Loki is arrested and brought before court to be charged for his part in certain time crimes, Mobius M. Mobius takes him “somewhere to talk”. He shows Loki snippets of how his life would have gone if he hadn’t skipped out with the Tesseract, then he tells him that he needs his help. Someone has been causing changes throughout history, making a myriad of variant timelines. Mobius believes that someone is taking advantage of their position in the TVA to cause this chaos; but his superiors refuse to believe that any of their ranks would behave in such a manner. So Mobius figures that if you want to handle chaos, you need to embrace chaos, and without consulting his superiors about it, he offers the God of Mischief a deal: help him find and bring back the rogue agent, and Loki will get his freedom. 

It is, of course, against the rules; but Mobius is willing to bend the rules a bit, if it means ending the time incidents. Loki agrees, thinking he will be able to use the situation to escape. But Mobius understands Loki’s thought process and warns him that if he strays from his assignment, he will be brought right back to the TVA. Loki being Loki, though, does try to skip out; but after he is zipped right back to the TVA a couple times, he doesn’t try it again.

Loki then does what he agreed to, slipping through time with Mobius and looking for the cause of the chaos. Disconcertingly, though, Loki’s power and strength begin to diminish, to the point where simple attacks he should have been able to easily counter are enough to take him down. Mobius says he doesn’t know why it is happening.

After a while Mobius's superiors suspect he is up to something, so he begins sending Loki out on his own, staying behind at the TVA to keep the others off his trail. Loki still doesn't like being in someone's "servant", and he resents being kept on such a tight temporal leash; but he continues reporting back to Mobius. While on assignments, Loki occasionally ends up preventing disasters that the “Agent of Chaos” had set in motion; though he also can’t help but make some “small” changes to the timeline, himself.

Mobius tells him to be more careful, or he might cause unforeseen effects. When Loki scoffs at this, Mobius asks him if he wants to see the world where he “won” the battle of New York. Mobius doesn’t wait for Loki’s answer, but immediately ships Loki off to an apocalyptic-looking New York City. When Loki gets there, the air is cold to the point where he can see his own breath, and it is utterly silent. A result, it appears, of not only the Chitauri attack, but of the bomb that the Humans used to try to wipe out the invading army. Apparently, the only ones that got wiped out were the Humans -- Avengers and all.

Loki wanders around the desolation for a while, until he is at last found by a roving group of ragged men. They seem to recognize him and he is brought to the leader of the city, who happens to be himself. Boss-Loki has gone a bit around the bend, though. He has been stuck in this place for years since the attack, and has carved himself out a little “kingdom” in the ruins, based in an old arcade. Our Loki is shocked and almost disgusted to see how far he has fallen. When Boss-Loki’s men turn on him because of this other Loki’s presence, though, our Loki gets caught up in the fighting. He calls out to Mobius that he has made his point, and to get him out of there.

Loki goes on doing his “job” then, being more careful with time. At long last, he finds a strange object at the scene of one of the chaotic events, and he brings it back to Mobius, who recognizes it as something he had taken from one of the young agent recruits, a girl named Sylvie. Mobius explains that some of the agents in the TVA are clones (like himself), but that some are recruited at a young age by the TVA because they show special abilities. Sometimes these recruitments occur from outside the main timeline, which is where they found Sylvie. Not only was she a gifted individual, but the TVA records showed that she should not have existed in the first place; so they took her in to train her, and also so that her presence would not disrupt the flow of time. 

Mobius and Loki go to confront her in her room, but she is gone. Mobius feels responsible because it was he that “recruited” Sylvie. Additionally, he knew that she had a habit of slipping through time on “joy rides” and coming back with souvenirs, which was strictly against the rules. She always seemed innocent, though, so he went easy on her about it. Hidden in a drawer in her room, they find other “souvenirs”, and Loki notes that some of them have Asgardian runes on them. Mobius says that Sylvie is human, according to her genetic code, so he doesn’t understand what she is doing with the runes. 

As they ponder the meaning of this, an alarm sounds in the TVA headquarters, and they know something terrible is happening in some variant timeline. They leave Sylvie’s room to try to get to the portals to take them to the time-incident; but on the way, some TVA agents try to stop them. They claim that Loki is the rogue element that has been causing all of the chaos, and that he needs to be “erased” as soon as possible. 

Mobius pretends to be on the agents' side, then sets them off-guard so Loki can get to the scene of chaos. After fighting his way through the Minutemen that are guarding the portals, Loki arrives when/where Sylvie is--at a quarry mine--the moon is shattered and the fragments are falling to the Earth. 

Loki runs to get to safety, and the ground opens up as the mine before him collapses, blocking him off from the now-adult Sylvie, who is staring up at the falling moon. She turns and looks at him just as the ground completely falls out from underneath him.

Suddenly the world around him stills and he lands hard on the ground. He struggles to his feet and looks up to see that everything has frozen around him. As he is standing there, gaping in disbelief, he turns and sees Sylvie standing beside him. She is wearing clothing very similar to his old Asgardian outfit, and she is smiling at the destruction and chaos before them.

“Hello, Father,” she says. “Have I made you proud?”

-------

-------

Notes: 

SPOILERS below.

My main thought was that since Cailey Fleming is listed as playing “Young Sylvie”, that would imply the presence of an older Sylvie. Otherwise, she would have been listed as “Sylvie”. Sylvie Lushton being the girl that Loki, in the comics, empowered and/or created, and who later became a version of Enchantress. 

That is who I think Sophia Di Martino is playing as an adult, rather than Lady Loki, like I used to think. Her hair is the wrong color to be Loki, for one thing; and she has been shown filming in the same location as Tom Hiddleston, who was wearing an Agent outfit at the time. I’m not gonna put the set photos here, but you know the ones... the pictures where she is wearing just about the same outfit as Loki has in the past. And we know that this character is the one that is causing the chaos, because in those set photos she is wearing a certain pair of boots and fingerless gloves, both of which are freeze-frame bonusses on the “mystery figure” in the trailer (when she drops the lantern and lifts her hands to her hood).

I’d also like to point out that she is wearing what appears to be a sword on her hip:

Anyway, I figure it goes something like this: 

Sylvie exists because another version of Loki had adopted her when he discovered that she had talents close to his own. He had begun training her how to use magic; but he was not so good a teacher as Frigga was, and the training was complicated by her wily and independent nature. Loki in that timeline died, though, leaving Sylvie alone. 

The TVA (specifically, Mobius) took her in, but because of her abilities, she was naturally able to slip through time, create illusions, age herself up and down, etc. Eventually, she decided she would “make her father proud” by sowing chaos. The thing is, she has grown stronger and more chaotic since Loki showed up at the TVA, because she has been inadvertently drawing his power and life force from him -- basically depowering him to charge herself up (c’mon... he gets laid out by a Roomba...). In fact, the draining of his life-force was what killed her “father” in her own timeline, though she didn’t know it.

Additionally (and on another note), the Loki series is said to be a “crime thriller” with sci-fi aspects; so while Loki tracking down a rogue time-agent seems to be a pretty straightforward idea, it could be given a nice twist at the end by having the rogue element not be an agent, but someone of Loki’s own making. And it would be one hell of a cliffhanger for the next season.

And... that’s all I got for now.

[consumeconstantly]

Speak My Name In Tongues

1| 2(you are here) | 3 | 4  

Summary: Bruce Wayne is determined to get his daughter to safety and aid (read: take over for) the Parisian heroes in capturing their supervillains of over six years. Unfortunately, these two goals are in direct conflict. (all of biodad bruce things can be read as stand alones but I do post in chronological order)

________________________________________________

Let it be said that Bruce Wayne is a persistent man. 

When he wants something, he does not stop on the first or second failed attempt. It doesn’t matter if the world believes something to be impossible. It doesn’t matter if he fails spectacularly to achieve his goal multiple times, in fashions that would likely result in any man of lesser wealth becoming the laughing stock of the global community for months. In order for him to cease his pursuit, he must come to the realization that whatever he’s pursuing is not worth the effort. This is a very rare occasion. Most times when Bruce comes to this conclusion, his decision can be traced back to the trauma of his parents death and the subsequent consequences of his vigilante life style (read: not pursuing Jason’s death, letting Barbara get shot.)

Thus, when Marinette turns down his offer of a safer life, he will not take her rejection at face value. A lesser man might. But Bruce is not any such thing.

Anything that Marinette is involved in-- and he finds that she does a lot-- all oh-so-coincidentally happen to be things that Wayne Enterprises invests in as well. He marks down each and every charity event and gala that she is scheduled to attend and makes an appearance there as well. When he finds that she supports all of her collége friends in their pursuits, he attends too.

Somehow, she manages to skillfully evade being drawn into any long conversation with him and always ensures that there’s a third person involved when he even says hello. If Bruce weren’t trying so hard to have a talk with her, he’d say that her ability to do so was really quite impressive and spoke to the reach of her network. But again, Bruce is trying to convince his daughter that he’s not safe in Paris by herself when the League most likely has a bounty on her head. If Talia finds out that he had a daughter not borne by her-- she’s certainly changed in recent years, becoming more volatile and much less like the woman he fell in love with all those years ago.

He half believes that with Marinette’s wit, intellect, and escape abilities, she may even be able to hold her own against the League. Unfortunate that the League has weapons training and she does not.

“Marinette,” Bruce approaches her at a Bourgeois evening party. She has friends in high places, that’s for certain. Chloe Bourgeois works at her company in the public relations department as does Adrien Agreste, which definitely turned a lot of heads in the fashion industry as nobody expected the boy to work for anybody but his father, nor did they expect him to stop his modelling career in the prime of his life. For modelling works, she turns to Juleka Couffaine and occasionally Olympic hopefuls Kagami Tsurugi, Alix Kubdel, Ondine and Kim Le Chien.  Thanks to her connections to Rose Lavillant, she’s produced an entire line of scents that go with MDC’s evening wear. MDC is extensively covered by Aurore Boreale, one of the youngest talk show hosts in the industry, Alya Cesaire, a young journalist who’s won international acclaim with her writing, and Nadja Chamack, a Senior Executive producer of TVi. Though Bruce is rather impartial to the music industry, she’s well known for working with international singers Jagged Stone, Clara Nightingale, and Luka Couffaine as well as an up and coming EDM artist named Nino Lahiffe. In the film sector, she works closely with Tom Astruc and Graham Industries, with Adrien’s cousin, Felix. 

As the saying goes, Who you know is everything.

Marinette smiles, teeth bared. Even the way she stands is sharp. 

It’s difficult reconciling the girl in front of him with the pictures he saw while doing background checks on her, or even the girl he saw at the bar just three nights ago. At least, it’s difficult for Bruce to reconcile her when she’s around him; Marinette seems to be very much the same girl around her friends, which is almost just as frightening. When she’s with Adrien or Alya of Kagami, it’s as if her parent’s death didn’t even happen. All smiles and sunshine and good will. She still attends all of the charity events she signed up for, has increased the amount of hours she spends volunteering at homeless shelters and akuma shelters-- and Bruce has no clue in hell how Paris’ supervillain situation has gone unchecked for so long, but he already has several agents tracking down Hawkmoth and the Miraculous team to no avail-- and goes to work on a normal schedule. Since Tom and Sabine’s death, she’s taken no time off. 

In the presence of Bruce Wayne, however, there’s a great shift in her demeanor. There is nothing warm about her, and despite the fact that Marinette is his daughter and that she’s more than a full foot shorter than him, he finds himself wary of her. That says something, considering the types of people he faces down as Batman near daily.

For the first time, she allows him to approach without dodging him. 

“M. Wayne.” Marinette begins to meander to a less public place, all while maintaining a pretty media smile and waving to acquaintances as she passes them. The moment the door closes behind him, a flip is switched. 

“Leave me alone,” she growls. “I don’t want or need your protection.”

“Your parents were murdered.”

“You don’t think I know that? I was the one who found their corpses.”

“They’ll come after you, next.” The League of Assassins never leaves their jobs half done. Marinette is more of an achilles heel than Tom and Sabine were-- despite not being in her life, he cares for her. He can’t deny that if she were murdered, he’d probably get caught up in a fit of rage. The Lazarus Pits have not been good for his mental state over the years.

Marinette crosses her arms, sleeves fluttering around her. “You think you know who did it.”

“I don’t think I know; I’m sure who did it.”

“No,” Marinette says in a strangely detached tone. “You think you know who did it. You don’t actually know, do you, Dark Knight?”

Bruce’s stomach fills with dread. Something about her statement makes him feel nauseous. Queasy, even. “I do. The League of Assassins--”

“You think everything revolves around you, don’t you? Bruce Wayne and Batman are not the only ones with enemies.”

“You’re suggesting that you have enemies who would be willing to kill your parents?” Bruce isn’t sure how to take this. Marinette does have a fairly large following, runs in the most powerful and influential Parisian circles, and has money to spare. But as far as his research told him, she didn’t do anything to egregiously offend anybody, besides maybe one Lila Rossi and Chloe Bourgeois, though the latter of the two rectified their relationship eventually. 

“I don’t,” Marinette denies. “But Ladybug does.”

“The superhero.” Is his age finally catching up to him?

“The superhero,” Marinette agrees, looking at Bruce contemplatively. 

“Ladybug and I-- we’re close,” Marinette settles on. “Close enough for our bakery to become a safe house of sorts for the Miraculous team. Hawkmoth--no, Pavona. She either acted out of anger for her past with me or just wanted to strike a blow at the Miraculous team.”

Bruce feels a migraine coming on. It’s on days like this when he wishes he were a drinking sort of man. “Why would Pavona be upset with you?”

Marinette laughs, humorlessly. “World’s greatest detective, huh? Maybe you’ll figure it out eventually.”

He gets the feeling that their conversation is quickly coming to a close, and figures that whatever issue Marinette and Pavona have is something he can decipher later, “It doesn’t seem like Pavona has done much with this information. The Miraculous Team seems to be in high spirits, and there haven’t been any akumatizations in the past two weeks.”

Another dry laugh. “Wrong move at the wrong time. And besides Ladybug and you, nobody else knows.”

Marinette pushes past him, back to the door, back to the party. She pauses at the door. “I’ll put the two of you in contact. Until then, keep a lid on you and your operative’s emotions. I’m sure trained agents like yourselves can restrain yourself from feeling anger or sorrow for a while.”

Bruce is left with two horrifying realizations: Marinette is in a situation where she’s in over her head, and Sabine and Tom’s deaths have not been publicized.

#

Batman and Bruce have never liked magic or metas, and Ladybug seems to be both. It doesn’t help that she’s so high strung and seems to be inexplicably angry at him from the moment that he steps foot at their prearranged meetup.

“I sent you the ground rules if you want to operate in Paris. Forward it to your operatives. Follow the rules or leave.”

“I’m here to take down Hawkmoth,” Batman says with a bone-weary tiredness. 

Ladybug crosses her arms in a fashion that’s achingly familiar. “I know that. That’s why I’m giving you and your people the ground rules and a chance. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be allowed here.”

“Ladybug, you and your team have failed to catch Hawkmoth for six years now.”

“You and your team have been fighting the same set of villains for over thirty years. I wonder which one of us is really worse off.”

Batman grimaces. 

The heroine looks out at the night sky and sighs. “Look, this is a very stressful situation. Pavona acted out in one of the worst ways possible, and even though she and Hawkmoth seem to be MIA, it’s still not ideal.”

He remembers that Marinette said Ladybug and her parents were close. Batman stumbles over his words. He’s never been the best at comforting people, and healthy coping mechanisms simply don’t run in the family. There’s definitely a reason why he and all of his children take to vigilantism so well. “Tom and Sabine-- they were great people.”

Ladybug stills. 

Batman doesn’t know how old she is, or how old any of the Miraculous team is, besides from Chloe Bourgeois, who used to be Queen Bee. Something in the way her shoulders hunch, how her jaw trembles, and eyes water makes Batman feel like she’s just a child. But she can’t be. Not if she’s been protecting a city for six years. If he had to guess her age, he’d put her in her mid to late twenties, maybe even early thirties. 

“They were the most loving people I’ve ever known,” Ladybug says. “It was a privilege to know them.”

He’s not sure who made the decision to not release Tom and Sabine’s death to the public, but Batman recognizes it as a tactical decision. It only took a short amount of time to hack into security cameras near Marinette’s residence and filter through the sighting of the Miraculous Team at Tom & Sabine’s Boulangerie, stopping to chat with Marinette or one of her parents, sometimes eating there, sometimes staying the night, using their living room as a gathering point. From there, it’s not difficult to realize that Marinette or Ladybug is keeping this information from the rest of their team in order to ensure that their civilian or superhero identities don’t get compromised by an akuma or a sentimonster.

In comparison to the Scarecrow, who makes his victims fight their worst fears, Batman can’t help but think that turning people into their insecurities and angers is worse. At least with Scarecrow, there’s a chance that people can win against whatever they’re fighting. Once a Parisian is turned into an akuma or sentimonster, they just have to hope that somebody else will come in and save the day. Victimhood with the cruelest twist, similar to when the Joker tried to make Dick into the Joker Jr.

“Pavona. What’s her deal with Marinette?” 

Ladybug’s laugh is hollow and familiar. “Didn’t Marinette tell you to figure it out on your own?”

“I need to know,” Batman insists. “I want to protect her. I don’t want her to get hurt like that again.”

“You have noble intentions, Batman,” Ladybug says quietly. “A kind heart. But you are mistaken in thinking that Pavona can hurt Marinette anymore. Even if Pavona tries to, she won’t be able to. Tom and Sabine-- they were the weak link. Everyone else she loves is safe.”

Ladybug pauses, looks sideways at Batman, then stares out at the Parisian skyline again. “Everyone except for you. You’re not safe, here in Paris. You know that, don’t you?”

“She--” his mouth dries. There’s a lot of information to process, but he focuses on one thing. “She loves me?”

He doesn’t think he’s heard those words come out of any of his kid’s mouths. He knows that all of them do love each other in their own messed up ways and knows that his sons and daughters are more likely to show their affection in actions instead of words, but Marinette is a biological child that he’s never interacted with before this month. How can she love him when all he’s done is push her away?

“She loves you.” Ladybug closes her eyes. “But that makes her a fool. She’s clung to the hope that she’d get to know you for years. Look where that’s gotten her. She gets to meet you at the price of her parents' lives. So please, don’t mess this up. The best way to protect her is by making sure that you’re safe. Really, I’d want you to leave Paris and forget about her. She’ll be okay. We’ll keep her safe.”

Batman says nothing for a time. Ladybug is right in thinking that Marinette shouldn’t love him, but she’s not right in her belief that she can protect her. After all, Tom and Sabine are still dead. “But I can make sure no one hurts her. I may not be someone she interacts with normally, but I can’t see her die.”

Ladybug makes a keening sound in the back of her throat. “I know, Batman. We’re not as trained as you and your team. I know you want to keep her safe. That’s why I’m letting you and your team help us. Because we’re just not enough.”

“You’ve done a lot to keep this city safe.” He wants to be mad at her for involving a civilian family, but he can’t find it in him. She seems so young. Does she have parents? Do her parents know that she’s Ladybug?

“But not enough.” She wanders to the edge of the building, yoyo in hand. “When this is all over-- maybe the two of you can spend some time getting to know each other.”

Batman stares at the spotted heroine. “Maybe someday.”

“That’s not very convincing.” Ladybug turns so that he can’t see her face. “Be kind to her. She’s alone.”

“She has you. She has your team.” Neither Bruce nor Batman has been very good at comfort during a time of loss. 

Ladybug fiddles with the chain around her neck. Two rings as a pendant. She clenches her fist around them and goes still for a moment. “We’re too similar to comfort each other. And we both agreed that telling the team… it would be disastrous. Tom and Sabine were parents to all of us. Pavona is scheduled to come back soon. If we tell them now, it might end in another mass akumatization. That’s something we have to avoid.”

Pavona is coming back? How did Ladybug even know that she left? How— 

Batman stills. The muggy Parisian warmth is only alleviated by a brief breeze that makes Ladybug’s hair ties fly in the wind. Anger wells up in the back of his throat, and he feels the Lazarus in him spike, knows that behind the white film of his cowl, his eyes are turning green. “You know who Pavona is. Why hasn’t she been brought in yet? Why—”

Ladybug could have prevented Tom and Sabine’s death. She could have saved Marinette the loss of her parents. 

Marinette could have retained her innocence. Been kept out of the world of superheroes and supervillains, been kept safely on the sidelines if only Ladybug weren’t so selfish, wasn’t so foolish to bring in a civilian family with no training and no background.

“Marinette and I have known for a long time,” Ladybug cuts him off, and he’s ready to put his hands to her throat, but no. Justice, not vengeance. He will make sure that Ladybug’s wrongdoings are brought to light. He will right her wrongs.  “For four years, it was Hawkmoth and Mayura. Once Pavona showed up, we thought-- we thought that between her and Hawkmoth that she’d be the lesser of the two evils. We had no clue who Hawkmoth was, but we knew that they were working together. Pavona was left free to roam in hope that she’d lead us to Hawkmoth. That we could finally end the fight.”

 Ladybug’s back straightens. She turns, and her eyes are all blue steel and pain. It’s then that Batman realizes that Ladybug truly did love Tom and Sabine with her whole heart.

“I see that I was wrong. Hawkmoth kills indiscriminately. But Pavona-- her grudges run deep. Mayura was the kindest of the three. The reason Pavona killed Tom and Sabine was petty.” Ladybug’s voice crumples, as do her legs. She hunches in on herself, hugging her knees. Batman watches on from a distance. 

What was it she said? That she and Marinette were too similar to comfort each other? One day, Batman may find himself furious at Ladybug for making the decisions she did. But right now, all he sees is a child. 

“I’m sure you’ve looked into Marinette’s past,” Ladybug starts. 

Batman makes a noise of affirmation, but she clearly wasn’t looking for permission to go on. She was trying to collect herself in order to tell a story.

“There was a transfer all the way back in collège. She was very popular amongst her classmates. Beautiful, well connected, charismatic. There was no way people wouldn’t love her.” 

Ladybug glances back at him. “Come, sit, Monsieur. I do not know you well, but I don’t bite.”

Bruce— Bruce does not want to sit with her. But Batman says that he has to hear her out. To give her a chance, at least. Batman has made mistakes over the course of his career as well, his actions and inactions affecting too many for him to keep track of. He would be a hypocrite if he didn’t let Ladybug speak, even if Sabine and Marinette are two people he never would have dreamed of involving. Still, he keeps one hand firmly on a batarang. The videos shows that not much damage can be done to the superheroes when they’re suited up, save for attacks with magic, but nothing is absolute. There’s always a way to bring an opponent down. “Is it that shocking of a story?”

“No. Not at all. If anything, it’s a typical story of teenage drama, except perhaps a bit more than that. But I need the reassurance that you won’t run off once I finish.” She lets the two rings go, gentle thud of the two rings pressing against each other and her collar bone. The rings seem familiar. 

Batman sits, albeit warily and at least five feet away from his companion. Ladybug hasn’t proven untrustworthy so far, but she is still part meta and a magic user, from what he’s gathered. He wouldn’t put it past her or one of her team, particularly the one who creates illusions, to do something. He just doesn’t know what.

“This beautiful, charming classmate easily swayed Marinette’s class to her side.” Ladybug peeks at Batman through her bangs. “Understand that the classmates are children. Children in a class where power means that trouble and responsibility never stick. They learned that taking action meant you would be blamed.”

Batman wonders how Marinette and Ladybug met. Maybe it was through this very class she’s talking about now. If that’s true, it does not bode well for his perception of her.

“Marinette recognized this classmate for what she was. A liar. She promised all sorts of beautiful things-- things that played to their classmate’s biggest dreams. Working with their favorite artist. Meeting olympic athletes and musicians. Trips to impossible places. Perhaps if Marinette wans’t who she was, she would have believed her, too. But this classmate lied about two things Marinette knew were false. She lied about being a hero. She lied about me.”

“How do you and Marinette know each other?” It was incredibly difficult to find the video evidence of the Miraculous team going to Tom & Sabine’s Boulangerie. Batman had to call in a favor from Zatara and avoiding her questions as to why— he’d much preferred it if he were able to go through any normal channel instead. 

“We’ve known each other since the beginning.” Ladybug fiddles with her yoyo, refusing to look him in the eyes. “Marinette tried to get her friends to realize the truth. But everybody wanted what she was saying to be real. It’s hard to say otherwise when everything they ever wanted could be found in a single person. And Marinette didn’t pick the smartest ways to try to reveal her lies. 

“That beautiful, charming classmate didn’t like Marinette trying to debunk her entire persona. She grew to be very cunning. She hurt Marinette in so many ways. I lost track over how many times Marinette got suspended or temporarily expelled, only for her to be brought back at the behest of the one other person in her class who knew the truth. Her designs were stolen. The boy she loved grew into a shell in order to protect himself. Her friends drifted away-- not that they were cruel or anything,  they were taught inaction above all else, to not say a word about whatever happened in class ever since ecole-- but Marinette was really lonely. 

“It was sort of a blessing in disguise. During this time, a lot of the Miraculous Team went on a break of sorts, and it was only Chat Noir and I. We had to get stronger and smarter and Marinette and her family provided relief and moral support. If her friends were close to her during that time, things may have ended really badly. Hawkmoth may have caught on to more secret identities than he already knew.”

“Does Marinette know who you and Chat Noir are underneath the mask?” To put the weight of their alter egos on a civilian is cruel. It’s why his own was so closely guarded. He’s not a fan of Marinette knowing his existence as Bruce, let alone Ladybug. 

“The more people who know our identities, the greater a chance Hawkmoth has at taking our Miraculous.”

A non answer. Clever wording on Ladybug’s part. Although he can imagine Sabine agreeing to put up a bunch of teenage superheroes in her bakery, he knows that it’s impossible for anything to escape from her eyes for very long. He’d bet anything that she figured out the majority of the team’s identities. And by extension, anything that Sabien finds out, Marinette is bound to find out as well; her past indicates that she has an equal, if not higher level of intelligence and creativity that Sabine had.

Had. They went for so long without patching anything up. Why was he so foolish? So Hard headed? She offered him so many chances to reconnect, to connect with Marinette, to be a second father to her. She didn’t have any romantic feelings for him left, that much he knew, what with how utterly in love she was with Tom, and he was happy for her. Happy that she found somebody more stable than him. 

If he and Sabine were closer, could he have prevented their deaths? Would he have been clued into the situation of a magic supervillain in Paris sooner? 

He can’t be mad at Ladybug. Not when Batman, a hero with decades of experience on her, failed to step in. Refused to look old problems in the eye. Let loved ones die for his own inability to communicate. 

“For a while, Marinette didn’t fight back. She didn’t want the boy she loved, her best friend, to get in any more trouble than he already was, trying to protect her. She laid low. But the classmate was very interested in this boy as well. The classmate tried to break him to get him to love her.”

Ladybug smiles wryly. “You can imagine that was the end of her rope. Marinette thought that the only person the liar was targeting was herself. After three years of bearing the weight, she finally snapped. She started using the resources she had. And the wasn’t any grandiose thing, though in retrospect, perhaps it should have been. She wouldn’t have ended up in prison, no she’s too young, and one of the two main victims was under lock and key, and Marinette was never hurt to the point where the liar would face real consequences for her actions. All that happened was a restraining order and her removal from Marinette’s school.”

“The girl’s name is Lila Rossi. She was already a suspect for working with Hawkmoth at the time by helping him turn people into akumas. Then Mayura stopped showing up and Pavona took her place. Pavona was clearly targeting everything and anything near Marinette. I should have seen the signs, but I had years of experience on her, and the Miraculous Cure--” Ladybug breaks off. “From one point of view, even Hawkmoth is better than her, because at least he didn’t cause any irreversible deaths.”

The Miraculous Cure is cruel. It only reverses the damage done with a Miraculous or while Ladybug is transformed. When Tom and Sabine were murdered, Pavona and the Peacock Miraculous were nowhere in sight.

Batman can’t say whether Pavona is better or worse than Hawkmoth. But Lila Rossi-- he recognizes the name. He knows what she looks like, since her image came up when he was doing a background check on Marinette. It’s quite possible that she has some type of mental disorder. Now is not the time to think about that. Hawkmoth’s identity needs to be revealed, and quickly. “How did you connect the two with the magic protecting your identities?”

“I used a little magic of my own.”

Beneath them, more and more lights begin to flicker out. Even though Paris is nicknamed the City of Lights, due to the extensive drain on energy, shops are required to turn off their exterior lighting after 1AM. 

“Please,” Ladybug says. “Please help me find Hawkmoth. Please help me put them in prison. I-- I’ve been fighting for so long, and it was a duty I didn’t even want for the longest time. I just want all of this to be over. I want to be able to scream and cry and mourn without Hawkmoth and Pavona trying to manipulate me. Please.”

Batman has never been one for physical affection, but he pats Ladybug awkwardly on her back. She launches herself into his arms, curling into him and sobs as he awkwardly rubs her back. He keeps his eyes trained at a distance, watching for any akumas or amoks.  

“Please,” she warbles, eyes watery. “Be good to Marinette. Be a good father. Be someone for her to lean on.”

His muscles tighten. He’s never claimed to be a good father, let alone a good man. He tries to do right, but Marinette is different from all of the other kids he’s taken in over the years. She’s not from Gotham. She had parents who were kind and stable and normal. He doesn’t think he can be a good father to her.

Somehow, Ladybug guesses exactly what he’s thinking. “You just have to be yourself. It may be stupid and foolish, but she loves you. She really does.”

For a long time, the two of them stay on that roof, Ladybug buried in the crook of Batman’s arm.

_____________________________________________________

@biodad-bruce-month

Maribat tag list(to be added onto this pls send me an ask/dm): @our-precipreciousss @my-dear-friend-anxiety 

Who Are You (and what will you become) tag list (to be added here just comment): @anjuschiffer @theunquiet-dead @certainmuffinbagelcalzone @cresentmo0n @allulily @myazael @zalladane @rebecarojas07 @keepingupwiththemalfoys @frieddonutsweets @all-mights-asscheeks @thornalchemist23 @trippingovermyfeet @jiso-lee @redscarlet95 @ira-sairain @screechingflapbiscuitpeach @ramos123 @cutechip

also if i missed you please just lmk in the appropriate place again! and is it a me thing or a tumblr thing that some of these tags just wont WORK AUGH. thank you all for the support on the fics i’ve posted so far! i’m quite bad at posting regularly because all sense of time has been stripped away

hahahaha consistent chapter length? what’s that? (jokes on you these aren’t chapters just loosely related chronologically told one shots. what even makes a cohesive story a story)

[dc41896]

The Whole Time?!

Pairing: Jake JensenxBlack Reader

⚠️: Maybe a tiny bit of technical angst (🤷🏽‍♀️ lol), fluff💕

“P-Pooch?,” you stammer unable to fathom that your supposedly dead brother was standing in front of you and his wife who was about to give birth to their son in any minute.

“Hey peanut,” he smiles stepping further in the hospital room. “I’d hug you, but I’m w-,”

You didn’t even let him finish before immediately wrapping your arms around his neck and burying your face in his shoulder. Good thing he was already wet from the rain, your tears would just be a welcomed addition.

“Wait. D-Does that mean-”

“Hey babe,” the all too familiar voice speaks making more silent tears fall as you lift your head. Just as soaked as Pooch, he nervously smiles removing his hat to reveal his spiked frosted tips. He pretty much looked the same as you last saw him. Toned arms and chest shielded by his dripping jacket along with your personal favorite, his black circular frames bringing even more attention to those crystal baby blues.

There were plenty of times you thought about what you’d do if granted this moment. Cry, scream, maybe jump into his arms clinging onto him like a koala on a tree. Possibly all three even. Now, finally being granted your wish after all these months, there was one main thing on your mind.

“Wow,” he smiles as you slowly move closer to each other. “I didn’t think it was possible, but somehow you’ve gotten more beautiful.” Just as the words left his mouth, the back of your hand connecting with his abdomen in the hardest hit you could muster nearly knocks the wind out of him as he keeled forward.

“And apparently stronger too..,” he coughs.

“How could you?!”

“I didn’t do it on purpose! We had to so we could go after the guy who set us up. And why didn’t you hit Pooch?! He was in it too.”

“He’s got one coming after my nephew safely enters the world, right now though it’s your turn,” you glare before smacking him again.

“Told you she had a strong backhand,” Pooch states quickly closing the room door before his sister decided to direct her rage at him.

The rest of the team merely watch in entertainment as your hits move to his shoulders and biceps until Jensen can grab your wrists pinning them by your sides.

“I’m sorry for putting you through all that, but it’s not like I completely left! I could still see you.”

You tilt your head in confusion ready to ask what he was talking about, until seeing Clay nervously scratch the back of his neck as he and Cougar shift their gaze clues you in on what he meant.

“SERIOUSLY JAKE?!”

“Wha-? I-,”

“Did you really think that would make me feel better?!”

“...Honestly at this point I’m afraid to answer.”

Annoyed groan falling from your lips, you tried to escape his grasp, but his larger hands slightly tightening their grip on yours, along with him following your every movement, keep you in place. “When we go home I can explain everything.”

“Will you? Or are you just gonna lie some more?”

“I promise I’ll tell everything,” he whispers, leaving a chaste kiss on your temple before flashing one of his ‘please don’t stay mad at me forever because I love you’ smiles. So far, it’d gotten him out of any argument you had. Including this one.

Darn those good looks of his.

“Fine,” you reply as you cross your arms, leaving him to find a seat in the nearby waiting room.

“Any tips here Colonel?,” Jake sighs.

“I’m probably not the one you’d want relationship advice from.”

Another heavy sigh leaves his lips as he follows your path down the hall to sit next to you. That is if you’d let him.

“Okay, is anybody else stuck on the fact that Jensen actually has a girlfriend?,” Aisha states breaking the momentary silence and making both men chuckle.

———

It’s the happiest he’s ever been to walk into his small, outdated apartment. Things weren’t exactly the same as he left it with your few new decorations and pieces of furniture trying to make the place a bit of your own, but of course he didn’t mind. It actually warmed his heart that although he was “gone” you still chose to stay, sticking by his side when you easily could’ve moved on with your life.

“Jeez, the faucet always drip that loud?,” he lightly chuckles shedding his coat and placing it on the small hanger by the door.

“It started a bit after you left,” you sigh kicking off your shoes. “Think it’s loud now, it’s even louder when you’re just sitting here alone.”

Following you to the bedroom feeling like a dog with its tail between his legs, he sits at the foot of the bed looking down at his hands as you move about the bathroom getting yourself ready for bed. Your words were like the sharpest sting as his mind vividly showed an image of you just sitting in this apartment with nothing but thoughts of loosing your brother and boyfriend along with the hum of the AC. He knew for the sake of their mission, and the team, he couldn’t say anything, but it still didn’t take away his guilt of what you went through mentally and emotionally.

“I tried to write you.”

“What, your computer go down and you couldn’t watch me anymore?,” you counter over your shoulder before rinsing the soap from your face.

“That was only once okay? I was watching my niece’s soccer game and then I thought about what you were doing and kinda sorta hacked your office’s cameras, which yes I know was wrong. Speaking of, they really should update their software, a fifth grader could easily hack into it just guessing the password,” he answers making you roll your eyes with a chuckle.

“And who’s Tom?”

“Tom?”

“Yea. Curly brown haired guy, cubicle across from yours. Big head you can see a mile away.”

“I’m sorry are you somehow trying to turn things on me when you’re the one that’s supposed to be explaining why I’ve thought you were dead this whole time?,” you ask wiping the remaining moisturizer from your hands before crossing them in front of your chest as you step closer to the now nervous looking man.

“N-no, of course not! But I mean since he’s been mentioned...”

“He’s just this guy at work that apparently likes me and asked me out but I said no, because a small part of me kept hoping that you’d miraculously come back. Happy?”

“I-uh...y-yes?”

Sighing, you sit beside him tucking your bare legs under you and taking his hand in yours to trace the lines on his palm. You never knew how or why you started, but it was something you occasionally did while you two were talking or just lying next to him enjoying each other’s company. It brought a smile and giddy feeling to Jensen, just as it did to you.

“Listen, I’m sorry I’m giving you a hard time, I know you didn’t have a choice, and understand. Selfishly though, I just missed you so much and wish I could’ve known. It definitely would’ve saved some sleepless nights and tears.”

With his other hand, his thumb and index finger gently grab your chin guiding you to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry for everything I put you through having you think I was dead. The second we threw our tags in that fire you and my family were all I could think about. Like I said I wanted to write and give you some sign that I wasn’t gone, but I could never figure out how to start. Plus Clay threatened to cut off little Jensen if I did send anything back home once he found out, which only made it tougher.”

“Yea we wouldn’t want that,” you softly laugh following a short sniffle you were trying to hold back. You really were done with crying, having done so since you got that devastating call so long ago, and just wished your tear ducts would shrivel up already. “Sorry, I thought I was done with the tears.”

“Shh, don’t be.” Leaning forward, his soft as clouds lips meet the single salty droplet in the middle of you cheek erasing its presence before moving to yours in quite possibly the most delicate, tender kiss you’ve ever experienced. Any other time, you’d probably call it painfully slow, trying to take the lead to move things along. But as you both sat there taking everything in from each other’s scents to the feel of how one’s lips and mouth felt on the other, you couldn’t feel more connected.

Just barely pulling away, his swollen lips rest centimeters above yours ready to take them again as soon as he caught his breath.

“I don’t know if I should be embarrassed at myself or amazed at whatever powers you have,” he starts, a light chuckle escaping him. “But I think you just made me-,”

“Jensen!,” you laugh, playfully smacking his shoulder. “Way to ruin a romantic mood.”

“If it’s romance you want, say no more,” he smiles taking your hand in his and placing it on his chest as he clears his throat. To the best of his ability, he begins singing the opening lines to your couple’s song, as Jake proclaimed it, instantly making you fall back on the bed in laughter.

“You actin' kinda shady, ain't callin' me baby, why the sudden change. Say my name, say my name!”

“This is definitely not a couple’s song,” you laugh feeling his forearms rest on either side of your head and chest vibrate from his laughing.

“I’ll admit lyrically wise..yes, you’re right. But it’s still ours which makes it special.”

You’d never forget that day in the grocery store trying to find a pint of your favorite ice cream as the song played overhead. Without really looking, you thought you were on the freezing aisle by yourself and began singing along as you gently bobbed your head. Suddenly hearing a voice singing the background vocals made you slightly jump turning to see the taller man in a grey sweatshirt, blue and white basketball shorts, and sneakers holding up his hands.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you. I-It’s Destiny’s Child, I couldn’t resist.”

“It’s okay, and I mean who can?,” you respond, both softly laughing before shyly looking back at your respective sections to get your frozen desserts.

“Soo...you like ice cream?,” he asks interrupting the momentary silence.

“Yea, um my favorite’s moose tracks,” you answer briefly holding up your pint with a smile.

“You know who has a good moose tracks? Bennie & Bailey’s downtown. They make it from scratch and I don’t know what all they put in it, but it’s amazing.”

“Oh, okay thanks. I don’t think I’ve ever been there.”

“Well you should definitely go one day. I mean if you want,” he nervously chuckles.

“Will do,” you smile. “Only if you’ll take me though?”

At first, being met with his shocked, speechless expression made your newfound confidence falter thinking you might’ve been too bold with the cute stranger, whom you hadn’t even asked if he was single or not. However seeing his eyes shine bright and adorable smile grace his pink lips, your excitement returned as he moved closer handing you his phone.

Years later, the rest is history as you lie in bed with the man you were sure was the love of your life.

“Hey what’s going on in there?,” he asks brushing his fingertips across your forehead noticing you become quiet. Lightly scratching his goatee, you feel your eyes start to water again causing you to blink a few times trying to keep them at bay.

“I just don’t want you to leave again,” you whisper, moving your fingers to card through his chestnut and blonde mixed strands.

“I’m not going anywhere unless you ask me too.”

Taglist: @fumbling-fanfics @honeydulcewrites @honeychicana @lady-olive-oil @themyscxiras @lovelymari4 @melinda-january @maxcullen @literaturefeen @damnitaa @curlyhairclub @plokyu23 @fullofmelaninsarcasmandepression @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover @chaneajoyyy @scoop93535 @secretmysteriousperson

If anybody wants to be tagged, has asked to be tagged but don’t see your name, only want to be tagged for certain people I write for (can be found in masterlist), or no longer wish to be tagged just let me know🤓!

[mihidecet]

SBi d&d AU: Tubbo

Aka: Tibi’s MCYT WritingTober, day 20!

From @the-only-gamer-gost ‘s list of prompts, another entry for “Fanmade AU” ahahah And as requested by a super cool anon: “ i'd love to see more of tommy's backstory in the d&d au! especially if we can meet tubbo?” :D

Ask and you shall receive! You can also find Tubbo’s reference sheet made by the wonderful @whatimevendoinhere here! Also, @rigatonipastaroni made a super sweet comic about the reunion, waaay before the chapter was even posted!!

There is nothing quite as sad as a bard with a broken guitar. 

It happens during a fight, a sadly-not-that-unusual spar with a rogue elemental that had decided to mess with a village just because they had been bored. 

Absolutely unrelatable. Tommy's patron had commented, the absolute hypocrite.

Still, the overall business had been quite straightforward: get to the outskirts, find the bad guy, kick their ass, profit. 

Nothing they hadn't done before. 

And like everything they expected to go smoothly, things went wrong. 

Tommy would say that thankfully nobody had gotten hurt, and everyone was perfectly fine, and they'd gotten a particularly big reward for something that standard. 

Wilbur would say, instead, that his guitar had been irreparably damaged, its neck snapped in half and body ripped apart, shards laying on the ground like blood, a gruesome heart-wrenching sight that would haunt him until the end of times. 

Tommy's patron had warned him that his second-degree cousin was a bit dramatic, but maybe it was just standard bard behaviour.

To be fair, the guitar was mostly gone. 

Wilbur had picked up as many pieces as he could and stuffed them in its case, but no amount of mending cantrips had been able to fix it. Phil had tried, but he didn't know how guitars worked and it was hard to discriminate where each shard needed to be placed in order to mold it all back together, like a freakishly hard jigsaw puzzle. 

And Wilbur had been extremely proud of his guitar, as apparently it had been a gift and a memento of his grandiose adventures. Sentimental values and such. 

Not that Tommy could say anything about it, not after the friendship bracelet incident.

For about a week, every time they stopped by a town, they looked for a carpenter first, a musical expert second, and an arcane expert third. 

They never managed to fix it. The thing was, it happened to be a weirdly specific and skill-needing task, so nobody they found was either confident enough or prepared enough to do it. 

So they moved on, and the bard's lament continued.

It gets to the point where one night, the innkeeper approaches their table during one of Will's performances - the tiefling had insisted in keeping the tradition of offering his musical entertainment in each tavern they resided in, now with just his voice and sometimes his flute, but being unable to have music as he sang and vice versa was truly different. 

That night, Wilbur is singing a ballad so sad and tear-jerking that the innkeeper actually approaches them and asks if everything is alright. 

"Oh- oh, yes, my apologies, everything is alright. -" Phil instantly responds, looking quite awkward "- It's just that his guitar broke, and we haven't been able to find anyone to fix it. It was of great personal importance." 

The innkeeper nods understandingly, an expression of deep empathetic sadness on their face, before their eyes light up. 

"You know, I might just have what you need. You guys are lucky, the Fixer Upper just arrived a week ago! If he doesn't know how to fix it, nobody will." 

After obtaining a brief explanation of where to find this infamous "Fixer Upper", who apparently works for free and will probably ask for food, shelter or protection as he moves to the next town over, the innkeeper leaves them be, assuring them that it'll be the solution to all their problems. 

Phil finds himself, despite the overall skepticism, feeling a bit of hope. If nothing, at least he might be able to convince Wilbur to buy a new one - make new memories. 

Even Wilbur is less enthusiastic than usual when they tell him, but after all they've been redirected to plenty of miracle workers that turned out to be unable to do anything.

The only thing that feels a bit off, is how Tommy's patron keeps giggling in his head - the way he does when he knows something Tommy doesn't. It's a bother, but Tommy's too tired to try and investigate.

The "Fixer Upper" is staying in a farm just outside the village, apparently sleeping in the barn. 

He comes to the village every couple of months, apparently used to circling back around the same couple of dozen of places, constantly travelling from one to the other and helping out whoever needs something fixed. The innkeeper that recommended him apparently had him fix their son's prosthetic leg, which has been working better than ever. 

The fact that he never asks for compensation is what keeps them all on the defensive: nobody does anything for anyone without coin on the line, so Wilbur is already somewhat expecting to find yet another old relative making deals with young children. 

Yes, he is still a bit bothered by the fact that his second degree cousin spends half of his time inside Tommy's head. 

No, he's not going to bring it up. 

 Approaching the barn, an increasing cacophony of sounds greets them, and Wilbur starts looking less and less convinced and more and more like he wants to leave - not to blame him, the noises are definitely not reassuring. 

They enter the barn, where one side is perfectly fine and the other has a bunch of mechanical and metallic parts strewn on the ground. 

At this point, Techno has a hand on Wilbur's arm, either to instill some confidence in him or to keep him from running away with the shattered guitar.

Then all of them stop, frozen in their tracks, as something completely out of the ordinary appears from behind a wooden wall - that is quite an extraordinary feat, considering the peculiar array of people they are. 

There's a huge block of metal, vaguely rectangular shaped and painted black and yellow, floating towards them. It has what looks like the spinny part of a windmill rotating at embarrassingly high speed over it, and the noise it makes vaguely resembles that of a low hum, or maybe a buzz. 

Two large semi-transparent circles - its … eyes? - emit a soft light that shines against Phil's palm as it bumps against him, the elf cooing with an adoring expression. 

"Hello dear, you're not one of nature's children but you are alive, aren't you?" 

Even Tommy, who has no idea how magic or nature works - he made a pact with a demon for a reason, alright? - can see that it's an impressive display of craftsmanship. 

Wilbur is looking quite confused on Phil's right, but he's no longer needing Techno to keep him from bailing on the whole thing. And to be honest, if somebody's able to make … this, maybe they'll be able to fix his guitar. 

"AH- Visitors! Sorry, I hadn't heard you coming in-" a short figure stumbles in sight from behind a pile of apparently garbage.

The short man, who appears to be human, had wild brown hair, somewhat darker in certain spots where black oil seems to have gotten stuck. There seems to be oil and soot all over his clothes and hands, where bandages cover his fingers.

On his head reside a pair of goggles - multiple lenses of different thicknesses and colours appended to its sides - and he's holding a wrench as if they'd interrupted his work, which would explain the worrying noises. 

The mechanic has a bright welcoming smile on his face when he appears, which immediately falters the moment he sees the infamous mercenary group, expression turning to fear. Which is understandable, given their fame of being quick, efficient and rather costly, unless they're working for the good of all.

Then it turns to shock, when Tommy takes a tentative step forward from behind Phil's back. Which is less understandable.

"Tubbo?" Tommy's voice calls, almost breathless. The boy takes off his goggles and blinks. The wrench he was holding clutters to the ground.

"Holy shit, Toms."

The warlock lets out a strangled yelp, then blinks out of existence in a puff of bright red smoke, reappearing right in front of the other boy and picking him up in a bone crushing hug as he laughs - more joyous than Wilbur's ever heard him - and the two of them fall to the ground.

When Tubbo is still a teenager, he loses his best friend to the prejudice and scorn of their hometown. 

All they need to see are the buddying horns on his forehead, the flames licking at his fingertips, the reddening skin around his eyes, and they banish him. 

They come for him, in the middle of the night, and find nobody but his parents in his home, because Tommy has always been smarter than he let on. 

Half a day earlier, Tommy had said his goodbyes to the last few people that deserved to know where he was going; never once asking for his parents' forgiveness for something he always knew he was going to do - Tubbo had never seen his best friend more sure of anything, even at the worst moments, when the ritual was about to begin, or the few first weeks when he had to use all his coins to buy salve for burns.

And so Tubbo was left alone, left behind. 

It lasted for one day.

Tubbo had never been particularly gifted in the craft his parents had tried to teach him - glass blowing was definitely not his forte, his hands too strong, his grip too tight - and he'd never shown any latent arcane power. Books on the arcane were long, boring and complex, the glyphs all looking the same and mixing with each other on the page. 

But that didn't mean anything to him: he was going to do great things, with or without magic, and he was going to find his best friend again. 

Fate wanted to keep them apart? Tubbo was going to stare Fate in the face and laugh. 

If the glyphs and arcane chants of the mages weren't going to cooperate, he was going to force his hands into the fabric of the arcane plane and pull magic out by himself. 

And again, why stick to prayers and dealings with other entities when he could just make it himself?

To be fair, it does take him a lot more time than the couple of weeks of research and half-and-hour-deal that was Tommy's experience. But Tubbo's always been a quick learner.

The day he finishes his big project, he leaves his home, ready for adventure. 

He has a map of the coast, enough coin to pay for emergencies and a backpack full of the tools he needs to offer his assistance to whomever will need it. 

His marked path will bring him around the same towns. Tommy is bound to pass by at least one of them during his travels. 

Tubbo's going to be alright.

Tommy's eyes are absolutely not, under no circumstances, shining as he tries to squeeze the life out of his best friend. 

Tubbo is just laughing, which is quite rude in Tommy's personal opinion, he should be struggling to breathe due to his impressive strength.

"Look at you! You made it!" The mechanic cheers, squeezing tighter - which, ouch, when did he become strong, it must have been all the working with metal, this is the worst possible outcome. Tommy lets him go for a moment, leaning back to splutter and wave wildly at the mechanical bee still intent on bumping its head against Phil's hand. By the Nine Hells, Tubbo made a living bee with the attitude of a puppy out of metal. 

"I made it?! You made bees!" Tommy protests, feeling a swell of pride for how far his best friend has come. On a completely unrelated note, there must be light shining insistently in his eyes. 

"I know! Aren't they cute! Ah! Let me introduce you to them!" Tubbo exclaims, hurrying to stand up - nearly elbowing Tommy in the gut - and grabbing his hand so that he can drag Tommy towards the bee from earlier. 

Then he stops in his tracks - which makes Tommy slam into his back and get oil stains on his favourite shirt - as he realises there are three other people in the room, all staring at them with varying degrees of amusement. 

"So, what just happened?" Wilbur asks, looking quite shell shocked. 

[hufflepuffhollander]

apocalypse: tom holland imagine

a/n | this is my second submission for @hollandsrecs​ 1k bingo event! truth be told i hardcore fell in love with this as i wrote it and lowkey want to dedicate more parts/lil featurettes to it... 👀

summary: a toxic storm that has wiped out most of the world’s population has you taking shelter and fighting for survival with an unexpected ally.

tom x fem reader | contains alluded family/pet death, mentions of depression, angst, language, and generally morbid themes, but also fluff, love and hope so there’s that | word count: 2.7k | enjoy!

Ever since the rain, you’d lost everything.

That dammed day the skies turned black, your family had been one of the Burned. But you’d been stuck inside with a cold instead of going out with them that morning, and you didn’t know then that you’d never see them again. You’d woken up to earth-shaking thunders and faint shrieks, opening the windows to find torrential rain that resembled pure tar pouring from the sky. The power had gone out, and without any streetlights, you couldn’t see anything in front of you past your windowpanes, even though it was only noon. Without a clock, anyone would’ve looked outside and thought it was midnight. The only thing you had was a crank-powered radio your family kept for hurricanes, and you listened and learned through static and horror that the rain falling wasn’t rain at all — it was acid. And nobody caught in the first storm had survived.  

It rained black for a week straight, and you had to ration what food and water you had as you glued yourself to the radio, hoping to hear that maybe, just maybe, somebody had turned up saying they’d survived the rain, and that there were other survivors taking shelter elsewhere until they could safely come home. But the whole of England had been swallowed by the storm, and there was no hope for clear skies ahead. Yes, you were safe, but you couldn’t go outside. You couldn’t see outside. And you were completely, entirely, and wholly alone.

With each passing day you spiraled down further, darkness of the earth encroaching deeper within you, realizing that your family wasn’t coming back. Nobody was. You fell asleep in the dark listening to the thrashing of the rain that you had gotten used to, tears streaming down your face, and cursed your unsteady heartbeat for mimicking the rhythm of the weighted raindrops hitting your roof.

On what would’ve been day eight of the rain, you awoke to a dull orange light bathing your bedroom walls. You shivered under the pile of quilts you’d amassed as it was autumn in London and electricity was a luxury of the past. Confused at the image of your own hands in light, you bolted upright at the complete silence and stillness in the air. You moved your curtains aside to see the world painted in a bleak tangerine mist—and there was no black rain falling from the sky.

Your breath hitched in your throat and you clambered over your bed to reach your radio, tuning station to station, disbelief ringing in your ears.

“...it appears that the rain has ceased...”

“...the storm has lifted over London-”

“Officials have yet to deem it safe to go outside as we continue to track where the rain could have possibly gone, and if it is coming back...”

You felt unable to take your stare off the outside as your mind raced. Could you finally open your door, try to find other survivors? Was it safe? Did you even care? The stiff air in your house had you going stir crazy, depressed, out of your mind with delirium. Your heart was racing with no hope of slowing down; you had to try to go outside.

Without thinking you opened the front door, holding your breath. Your eyes still hadn’t adjusted to the light and you felt blinded, falling against the doorframe. Taking uneasy, slow steps onto the street, you shivered into your sweatshirt and peered through blinds of unmarked houses to see if anyone else had made it through, knocking on doors and waiting on silence. Cars were left with doors open, remnants of daily activities frozen in time in front of you, and just the sight sent another wave of chills through you. Was there anyone left?

Only a few houses away did you hear faint footsteps, getting louder and louder, were they...running? You whipped around in all directions but couldn’t see past a few feet in front of you due to the lingering mist in the air. The footsteps became increasingly menacing, and within half a minute you heard a voice.

“Hey, are you fucking crazy?”

Who was that?

You felt a strong pair of hands take hold of your shoulders and pull you into an empty garage, closing it behind them, shining a single beam of light in your eyes so you so all you could see of them was their orange-inspired silhouette.

“Gotta take cover...” he muttered in the chaos.

“Hey, you can’t just grab-”

“What do you think you’re doing wandering around outside?”

“You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“...I’m sorry.” his voice became a thousand times softer. “I...I haven’t seen anybody else in a week.”

Your own heart sank further in your chest than it already was.

“Neither have I.”

“You don’t have any family?”

“They were burned.”

“...right.”

“Sorry, who even are you?” you asked, shaking, the reality of the situation hitting you with a bolt of fear.

“Right, I’m Tom, Tom Holland. Sorry. I live a few streets down.” Strangely, you didn’t feel at all threatened by him.

“Why are you outside?”

“I’ve...I’ve been by myself, my dog was in the yard when the storm came. When it was quiet this morning, I thought I heard him bark...I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t go looking. It’s stupid, I know. He’s gone.”

“Where’s your family?” you mirrored his weary interrogation.

Tom looked down, stifling back a soft whimper. He crossed his arms tightly over his chest and quickly changed the subject, trying to regain his composure. 

“Look, I don’t know who else has made it through the week, but from what I’ve gathered, there aren’t many survivors, at least not around here. And since we’re both alone and the rain is coming again, I think we should stick together-”

A pang of fear. “Wait, how do you know it’s coming again?” A pulse of trepidation. “I don’t know you and I don’t trust you.” Tom grimaced at the inevitable struggle this was going to be—he didn’t care about who you were, he just wanted to survive—and flashed the light up onto the ceiling so you could see each other better. 

Synchronously you both let out a breath of relief that you were likely the same age, neither of you looking too much like a serial killer, both of you...well, beautiful, actually. But he’d never tell you that. 

“Does it matter? Half the world is dead. And you found someone else who survived, accidentally, and you’re about to turn around and flee back to face whatever comes next alone?”

You pondered what he said and reluctantly realized he was right. You would be absolutely crazy to willingly go back to where you were before and keep on going alone. How long could you survive like that?

“Okay, fine. But there will need to be boundaries.” You felt a sense of relief thinking about having another body nearby if another wave of darkness ever came, but you tried to push that thought out of your head before it could manifest.

“Whatever. Can you grab some of those batteries over there? The roof of my house is starting to give, so we’ll have to go to yours after I pick up some things.”

You nodded and found a box to fill up with anything you could find that looked useful. Tom opened the garage door again, eyebrows scrunched together in worry, and looked back at you. 

“Stay on my left so I know where you are if the mist gets in the way. Try not to get any water droplets on your skin. If you hear or see anything, tell me.” And with that, he was off. He seemed much more suited to the survivor lifestyle than you did.

You started walking with a huff. “And my name is y/n. Thanks for asking.”

~

You made it back to your house a long time later, and you were exhausted, feeling as though your lungs had been filled with toxic fumes from being in the mist.

Tom set his things down and walked around your house, weaving in and out of rooms like he was on a mission.

“What are you doing?” You stared at him puzzled as he stood on the couch and moved his hands in weird patterns along the ceiling.

“Trying to see if there are any cracks that water could get through,” he said, deep in concentration.

“Can you get off the couch?”

“Sorry.” he coughed.

You spent the next two days mending any loose boards or fixtures in your house, running into a lot of awkward conversation and sleeping at opposite ends of the house at night. The headspace you were both in was a hard one to shake, but you couldn’t deny that having someone else to navigate this new meager existence with helped tremendously. And you could tell Tom had a soft side that would show itself the more that you both sat on the couch together, wrapped in your own blankets, listening to the radio static for the hourly news updates on the storm tracking. In those moments, you would look at each other when you heard the voices come on, a glint of hope passing between your eyes, growing closer in the cold, pale air of your living room.

One night, the broadcaster put on a song in between updates, letting Nocturne No. 2 by Chopin flow through the speakers, and you and Tom danced to the simple melody together, just content to feel that warm feeling of a smile again. The change of pace was more than welcome, and you held each other close and spun around the living room as if it were a regular evening in a regular life; as if you hadn’t collided running from the apocalypse.

“You never told me you could dance,” you smiled at Tom.

“You never asked.”

On the fifth morning that Tom woke up in the guest room across your house, you were the first thing he thought of as his eyes fluttered open. Being in your presence had been his only refuge since the rain had come, and he had been on the brink of mental collapse before he ran into you wandering the streets that day. In a way, you had saved him from himself, and he still barely knew you outside of a few soft moments you’d shared. 

He noticed you were still in your room with the door shut instead of out on the couch, listening for news and reading like you usually were, and went to knock on your door when he heard muffled cries from behind it.

“y/n, are you okay?”

You sniffled and hurriedly wiped away the streamlines of tears that had streaked down your cheeks.

“Yeah, fine. Sorry.”

“Can I come in?” He opened the door without waiting for a reply. You were sitting against your bed on the floor, with a photo album spread open on your lap, looking at pictures of your family. You looked up at Tom through blurry eyes. “I miss them.”

His whole expression softened and he came to sit on the floor next to you, moving closer than he’d ever been to you. You took a leap and leaned into his chest, and he put an arm around you, pulling you in closer. You let out another silent cry, and he lightly rubbed your arm up and down with his hand.

“I know.” 

You reveled in his embrace and warmth, and tried to close the album, but he held it open.

“Tell me about them.”

“You don’t want to hear about that,” you sniffled.

“Yes, I do.”

He took a blanket off of your bed and wrapped you both up in it, sheltering you from the cold in the air, and you pointed at each picture and gave him an anecdote about every one that was taken, already feeling like they were stories of a past life. You smiled and laughed and even cried together, sitting for hours exchanging stories about your childhoods that weren’t really all that different. Before you knew it, it grew dark.

The house felt more sultry then, with the lantern you used at night burning its oil and the connection between you growing more palpable with every passing second. But you were both shortly jolted out of your trance by a loud alarm screeching out from the radio. It was choppy and hard to decipher.

“...there appears to be activity-”

“Reports are flooding in-”

“Red alert; we repeat, red ale-”

You and Tom stared at each other shell shocked for a moment before he hurried over to the windows.

“It’s dark, y/n.”

“It’s nighttime,” you tried to reason.

“Look at the clock for me,” his voice was shaky.

You felt your blood run cold as you did.

“It’s...3:30 in the afternoon.”

You both thought it was nighttime, but it’s only because the sky had turned black.

“Tom...”

The radio tuned on again.

“If anyone is out there listening...it appears....that the rain has returned. We do not know how long this second wave will last, or when we will be able to broadcast again. We urge you all to stay sheltered and not to go outside. May god be wi-”

Another loud beep, and the signal had disappeared.

You let out a panicked whimper and Tom ran to and hugged you like he would lose you if you didn’t.

You heard a clash of thunder, and your windows shook. Then, the unmistakeable, dreadful sound of a torrential, violent rain. A tornado siren tolled in the distance, filling the watery noise with an abysmal blare. You could see nothing but the lantern in front of you; your body going into shock as your outside was warmed by Tom’s embrace but chilled to the core with fear.

"We need to go take cover,” Tom said quietly, lacing his fingers with yours. The storage room attached to the garage was the only one without windows, and you had set it up days ago with blankets, pillows, candles and food just in case you needed it, all while praying you wouldn’t.

Your legs barely carried you to the small room and Tom helped you to settle down on the mattress inside. He went to sit on the floor next to you, but you refused to let go of his hand.

“Tom...stay with me. Please.”

He silently obliged and laid down next to you, covering himself with the same blankets, pulling you close into him and wrapping his arms around your body, and he smelled like home. You closed your eyes and tried to take in every molecule of him, felt your whole chest sink down, the pressure that filled your head dissipating. Wrapped here in his arms, you could’ve almost forgotten that, on the other side of this wall, the world was ending all over again.

He breathed you in all the same, thanking anything that was left that he had you to cling to.

"We’ll be safe here,” he almost whispered.

“I’m scared, Tom.”

“I know.”

You took a breath to speak, and he pulled his head back just enough so that he could look into your eyes. They searched yours frantically, like he was just seeing you for the first time, only by the light of the lantern.

“But I’m a little less scared with you.”

He let out a slow sigh, attempting to steady his pulse, and rested his forehead against yours, bringing a hand up to idle in the crook of your neck. You didn’t know it, but he needed you as much as you did him in that moment.

“We’re in this together, y/n. You and me.”

A window shattered somewhere outside, followed by what sounded like a loud, shrill scream. You looked away in horror.

“Hey, hey. Look at me. Focus on me.” he spoke softly and turned your chin back with his thumb, rubbing your cheek in slow, calming circles. “We’re gonna survive this.”

“H-how do you know?”

“Because I’ll be damned if I was only given a week to know you.”

“Tom...”

There was another vicious rumble of thunder, and your body shook involuntarily. It sounded like the heavens themselves were opening up onto your ceiling. Tom squeezed you tighter and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead.

“Talk to me, love.”

“About what?”

“Everything.”

You stayed that way for countless hours, until the lantern ran out of oil, until you both were lost in dreams of days where the sun shone again. Maybe, one day you would be able to see it together.

tagging some mutual pals :)

@peterspideysstuff​ @living-life-underoos​ @chloecreatesfictions​ @londonspidey​ @parkersroses​ @marvelhoesworld​ @tomhollandsmut​ @sad-thinker-over​ @marvelousnat​ @bunbun9396​ @thegreatestlovesofalltime​ @spideysquackson13​ @photoshopart15​ @sailingintothenight​

[words-for-holland]

Happier (5) | T.H.

Summary: Harry and Harrison made it to New York without witnesses. One secret is revealed and a relationship could be broken up for good. What will the future hold for Y/N and Tom?

A/N: Everybody buckle up and grab your tissues, we’re in for a bumpy ride. Lemme know how you feel after this! Was it what you expected??

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

Guilt

It’s one thing to keep a secrets, but it’s another thing when you’re hiding it from the people you love. For Kate, she was becoming consumed in her own guilt as each day passed. Everyday her breaths would shorten, her heartbeat quicken, and her conscience relentlessy invading her inner thoughts. Kate tried to find all the possibilities to avoid the truth, and make everyone happy...but it didnt matter. One way or another, someone was going to get hurt.

Kate stood in front of Harrison and Harry at her doorstep. While she was relieved and excited to see them, a slight tinge of fear was present. “How are you going to find out the truth?” She asks calmly as Harrison and Harry made their way into the apartment. Kate picked up her phone, checking for an message. None showed up.

“Well, we might have found something. A clue maybe, but we’re not sure.” Harry explained as he picked up his macbook, turning it on.

“Is Y/N here?” Harrison asked, and as if on cue she appeared, heavy bags under her eyes.

The moment Y/N laid eyes on the two, she couldn’t believe it. Her hands quickly rubbing the sleep from her eyes, almost convinced it was a dream. “What? Harry? Harrison? What are you guys doing here?” Y/N excitedly asks. She made her way towards the boys giving them a long awaited hug. “I missed you guys.” She whispers.

“We want to help you.” Harrison says as he pulled away. “The unknown number? We might have an idea.”

Y/N looked at them suspiciously, checking her phone for cryptic messages. “Does anyone know you’re here?”

They both shook their head. “We didn’t tell anyone back home. As far as anyone knows, Harrison and I are going on a 3 day hike with little reception.” Harry reassured her with his boyish smile. Y/N look at him with admiration. He may not look like his brother, but his tone had Tom written all over it.

“Great. Just make sure your location is off on your phones..they could be watching us.” Kate warned as she checked her phone again.

Harrison looked at Kate with sympathy. In the years he’s known her because of Y/N and Tom’s relationship, she always seemed to be the sweetest most loyal friend out there. He was happy that Y/N had someone like Kate in her life. Not to mention it was also a plus that she was fairly pretty, even with the worry written all over face, she was still beautiful to Harrison.

“Hey.” Harrison spoke out for Kate’s attention. “We’re gonna figure this out. I promise.” While Kate nodded, she silently knew that this was not going to end well.”

“Wait...so Tom? Is he—?” Y/N asks the boys with anticipation.

Harrison knowing, exactly what Y/N was asking before she could even finished answered swiftly. “No! Of course not!” He laughs as if it was the silliest thing to answer. “Y/N, Tom loves you. He still does.”

“But the pictures..”

“Was a PR stunt set by Natalie’s publicists.” Harrison finished. “He’s doing a project that Natalie somehow got involved in, and they wanted a PR relationship to sell it. He didn’t want to at first, but then they showed him pictures of you and some div.”

“Hey he’s not some div! Matt’s a good guy.” Y/N defends. “Sweet actually, but I turned him down at the end of it. We’re just friends.”

Then it clicked. “Wait. You said that Tom saw the pictures?” Y/N asked trying to piece it together. “How did he get pictures?”

Harry and Harrison took a moment to think it through. “Well...Natalie’s publicist showed it to Tom.” Harry answered.

“But we don’t know where she got the pictures from.” Harrison added. “My money was on Natalie...still is.”

“Cmon mate. There’s no way she could have gotten pictures in New York and suddenly fly back to London.”

Kate slowly made her way to her own room, no longer wanting to be part of the conversation. They were getting too suspicious, and the more they questioned, the more nervous she got.

“Well maybe the unknown number sent it.” Harry said as he continued to be deep in his thoughts. “Or they found out on that fan account you found Harrison.”

“Wait? Fan account? They know?!” Y/N freaked out. Three years into making sure she was kept in the shadows, and it went all down the drain. If it there were fan accounts then it would only make it harder to finding out who really did sabotage her relationship. Let alone everyone’s lives.

“We don’t know yet, but Harrison found a fan account that was posting about Tom and you. Not together at least, but seperately. The weird part is...barely few people follow it, so we’re not sure what it means.” Harry explained, as he tried to pull up the account. “Oh no.”

“What? What do you mean ‘Oh no’?” Harrison panicked.

“I cant find the account.” Harrison said as he tried to pull it up, but the page disappeared.

In the nick of time, a message was sent to all three of them.

Unknown

Looks like you’re back to square 1 ❤️

“Shit! How did they know?” Harrison questioned in anger. “We were this close!”

“It’s okay Harrison. I appreciate that you guys tried, but it’s a lost cause.” Y/N consoled him, rubbing his shoulder.

“It won’t be. We’ll find another way.” Harry encouraged as he hugged them both. “By the way, where’s Kate gone?”

All three looked up to notice she was missing. Y/N waved it off, assuming it was just one of those days. “She probably went to bed early. Kate gets tired easily, nowadays. It might be because of her new job on top of watching out for me. Its a lot to take on for a person.”

The reasoning seemed valid enough Harrison and Harry. Plus it was Kate they were talking about, she always had Y/N’s back from day one, she wouldnt blackmail any of them or ruin Y/N and Tom’s relationship..right?

Late in the night, Harrison had trouble sleeping because of the jetlag. Since it only was a medicore 2 bedroom apartment, Harrison and Harry slept in the living room on the sofa bed. Luckily it was big enough for the both them and they didnt have to resort to cuddling. Harrison lied on his back as he looked out to the NYC view, thinking about everything and nothing at all. He smiled, thinking about it all. For a very serious couple, a lot of shit has gone down and yet here he was with trying to save it. He cared about the two so deeply, they were his family and family never turns their back on the other.

Then he heard something, whispers coming from the hall. Harrison didn’t dare to make a move but he trained his ears to listen carefully at the voice.

“Im telling you they are getting suspicious.” The voice whispered into the phone. It sounded like Kate’s and Harrison continued to listen in.

“No.No. I sent the damn pictures to you for a reason. No one told me that they would come here. I wasn’t prepared for that.” Kate continues as she paces in the corner.

Pictures? Harrison was awake more than ever, as he quickly shook Harry, and told him to stay quiet. They continued to listen.

“Look I did everything I was told to do. She got what she wanted, now —” Kate stopped in her tracks as she saw Harry and Harrison in front of her. Immediately she dropped the call, her lips moving, unable to find the words.

“How could you?” Harry said his brown eyes glaring at at the girl who just betrayed her best friend. “She was your best friend! How could you?!” He spoke louder.

Kate tried her best to quiet them down, but there was the point. She knew this day would come. “You don’t understand.” Kate whispers, looking at the ground. “I was only doing this to protect Y/N.”

“Protect Y/N? Blackmailing her? Sending pictures of her and a guy to Tom, so he would turn against her? That’s protecting her?” Harrison questioned, hurt by her actions. If he was hurt, then surely It would hurt Y/N far worse.

Y/N comes out of her room as she sees the three gather together, glaring at each other. “Hey..w-what’s going in?” She asks nervously.

“Why don’t you tell her Kate?” Harry spits out as he gestures to Y/N. Kate looks into her best friend’s eyes tears welling up. Y/N had fear struck into her face, afraid of what she had to say.

“I’m so sorry.” She cries. “I didn’t have a choice. She would have ruined our friendship if I did.”

“Kate. What.Did.You.Do?” Y/N asks, emphasizing each word to the question.

Kate shook her head as she let out a deep sigh. “Im the reason your pictured with Matt got out Tom.”

Y/N shook her head, tears streaming. She didn’t want to believe it. “Please tell me you’re lying.”

“Im sorry Y/N. I swear I didnt mean for this to get out of hand. I was threatened that if I didn share them, then they would say something that could ruin our friendship..and...I didnt want that to happen.” Kate frantically explains, sobbing at her no good explanation.

Y/N shook her head, her face switching from sadness to anger. “Looks like you didn’t need them to ruin it at all for you. Now you’re gonna tell me what you know and then Im packing my stuff and Im moving out.”

Kate sobbed as she try to plead to her ex-bestfriend to stay. “Look I’ll tell you everything okay, but it’s not much.” She takes a deep breath before she continues. “I was the one that started the rumors and created the fan account Harry and Harrison saw.”

“Why?” Y/N asks, her disappointed face unchanging.

“I was jealous of you at the time. Y/N you had everything I could have ever wanted in my life. A job, a boyfriend that doesn’t leave you, a family that loves you, and the fame which you didn’t even want to accept with open arms. You were always a step ahead of me at something and I was tired of it. So when you told me you felt uneasy about Natalie when she first moved in, I sold that info online and twisted the story so that it looked like Tom liked Natalie and they were a potential couple.”

“Oh my god.” Harrison said as he let his head down. “You made Natalie think that Tom was in love with her secretly thats why she had become so persistant.”

Kate slowly nodded as she took another breath. “As for the fan accounts I can’t tell you much because I was just asked to create them by the Unknown number.”

“Wait so you’re not the unknown number?” Harry asked confused.

Kate shook her head. “I don’t who it is. Im just a vicitim as much as you guys are.”

“No cut that bullshit. It’s because of you that all of our lives are a mess. It’s because of you that I had to lose the most important thing in my life. So don’t say you’re a fucking victim when all you really did was try to save your own ass.” Y/N yelled.

“You didn’t have to if you were so confident in your relationship with Tom.” She spat back.

“I love Tom with all my heart, but I was referring my best friend. I never want to see you again.” Y/N states, emotionless. No one had ever seen Y/N like this. In fact no one had ever seen her mad as she was on this very day. The day she lost her best friend.

Y/N went to her room to quickly gather her belongings, stuffing them back in the bag. Her phone was ringing and she didnt hesitate to pick it up.

“Tom...” she answers, holding back her sobs.

Taglist:

@hollanddolanfangirl​ @ifilosemyselfagain @hevjadams @averyfosterthoughts​ @fangirl-with-a-mission @drishtisikarwar @eridanuswave​ @ifntelyinspirit​ @trumpettay @astridcommings @parkershoco @racewife2004 @sleepybesson

[spidernerdsblog]

Love Is The Biggest Spell : Chapter Two

A/N: Chapter two is here. They meet, they part. Fate has put forth a test will they pass through it? Hope you like this chapter . Feedbacks and suggestions are always welcome.

Pairing : Warlock Tom Holland x half mortal reader

Summary : Witches are forbidden to fall in love with mortals. But what if your long lost love returns to you as a mortal, can you defy your heart? Any spell any magic seems useless in front of the magic of love. Let’s join our lovers in their magical conquest beyond life and death as they fight for their love unravelling dark mysteries of the past along their way.

Warnings : none.

Mini Playlist : Find you by Nick Jonas.

You turned to find a young handsome brunette most probably of your age you assumed, his soft hazel brown eyes could gaze deep into your soul. He was a man of expensive taste as you noticed his Louboutin shoes and Prada ensemble he was wearing. You found it quite extravagant for a walk in the forest but who are you to judge plus he was kinda cute too if you aren’t to lie. You gave a puzzled look when you heard him address you as Amber. 

For Tom time stood still, his eyes transfixed on you. Is this a dream or is it really you? Amber, his Amber after so many years when everybody told him to move on, he still kept his hopes alive that one day you will return as you had promised to him 25 years ago at this exact spot. And here you are again standing in front of him looking at him with those ever curious eyes and that adorable face. He was broken out of the daze as soon as you started speaking. 

“Uh I think you are mistaken I’m not Amber" 

"Huh!.. He blinked his eyes a few times. "sorry you just look quite similar to someone I know.. I mean knew.” he stuttered.

“It’s ok, happens sometimes. Umm can you help me to find a way out from here? I’m kinda lost actually.”

“Sure love why not. It’s this way.“ Tom showed you the way. You lifted your leg to walk as a sharp pain in your right leg made you wince. 

"Oww!” you cried out. Tom looked back and hastily came back to your aid. 

“Is everything okay?” he says with concern. 

“Yeah it’s actually I think I twisted my leg.” you scrunch your face. 

“What!? let me see.” without a second thought he crouched down and lifted your leg in his hands. You were a little taken aback as you leaned on him holding his shoulder for support. 

“uh it’s.. It’s okay you don’t have to, I can walk slowly.” But he did not listen as he took off your shoe and examined your ankle. 

“Trust me I can make it right. Just close your eyes” you closed your eyes and he recited a healing spell in his mind gently rubbing his hand over your ankle. He understood from the very beginning that you don’t remember anything so not to raise any suspicion in your mind he gripped your ankle firmly and gave it a little twist. 

“Does it hurt now?” he asked. You rotated your ankle and you were shocked that the pain had magically gone away. 

“Wow how did you do that?!" 

"Told you. I learnt that when I used play football in highschool" 

"Great!" 

"So now we are ready to go I guess?" 

"Yes,all thanks to you.” both of you strolled side by side along the uneven path of the forest. 

“So if you don’t mind may I have the pleasure to know the beautiful lady’s name?”

“Yes for sure.” You giggled

“It’s Y/N.. Y/N Warren. By the way what is my saviour’s name?" 

"Thomas.. Thomas Stanley Holland you can call me Tom." 

"Thanks Tom for helping me out." 

"Oh it’s my pleasure." 

You continued walking, occasionally stealing glances at each other. Every time you looked at him your heart clenched, a weird feeling creeping inside you as if you have known him for ages but everything now seems to be a blur. On the other hand Tom was feeling restless. A thousands of questions bubbling inside him waiting to erupt. For him you seemed to be unreachable, far away in spite of being so close. He could see the path coming to an end leading you out of the forest which meant you will be gone and he did not want that to happen. He wanted to stop this moment forever, he just wanted to touch you, hold you, kiss you, never letting you go again. 

Atlast you were out of the deep forest. Your friends caught sight of you and came rushing towards you

"Oh! Y/N! there you are.” Jane heaved a sigh of relief. 

“I was so worried baby. Where were you?” Cole hugged you planting a kiss on your forehead. 

“I got lost then this gentleman helped me find the way.” you turned to find no one. 

“Strange, he was right behind me.” You frowned. 

“Leave you are safe, that’s all it matters." 

"Can we go now? We are already late. ” Tony quipped. 

“Yeah.” You absentmindedly followed them constantly looking back eyes searching for your mystery saviour. 

Tom saw you go from behind the trees. He went back to the Academy of Mystic Arts. 

He walked past the halls as Jacob saw him walking briskly with a frown on his face . He minced his way towards him and stopped him midway

“Tom I know you’re angry but can you leave Remy for today?” 

“I don’t have time for all your nonsense so just go away." Tom said irritatedly. "And yes tell him if he ever thinks of harming her again he will see the worse of me.” Saying so he raced to the library. 

“What brings you to the library Thomas? You’re the best warlock of this academy where did you find difficulty in spellcasting?” Charles the librarian asked.

“I need everything you have on ancient magic of rebirth, soul transfer, spirit channeling and bring them fast” He demanded. Charles handed him all the books he asked for. 

He took the books and rushed back home. After reaching home he ran to his room and placed the books on his bed with a loud thud. He frantically searched the books, he desperately needed to know how were you able to take birth as a human. He completely lost track of time as he paced along his room turning the pages of the book. And suddenly Tom’s eyes went to a dusty guitar kept at a corner of his room as memories flashed back. 

“I really love it when you play the guitar. You said with admiration in your eyes.” 

“These hands will only strum on these strings just for you and no one else. He said.” And as he had said he literally stopped playing guitar after he lost you. 

But something today urged him to hold on to it again. He picked up the guitar as he dusted away the dirt that had collected on it all these years and sat on the window sill of his room. He strummed on the guitar playing the chords looking at the night sky. Amid the starlight was the ever glow of the moon, that mother of the sky whom watched over every beating heart, steady and true. He sang.   

I look for you in the center of the sun

I took a pill but it didn’t help me numb

I see your face even when my eyes are shut

But I never really know just where to find you

Your smiling face flashed in front of him. He felt content as you felt like a beam of sunshine radiating love and happiness which filled the void in him. 

I taste the words that keep falling out your mouth

You got a logic I’ll never figure out

If I could hold you then I’d never put you down

But I never really know just where to find you

Where to find you

Where to find you

But I never really know just where to find you

Every time you spoke it felt like music to his ears. He didn't knew how much starved he was to hear your voice until now. 

Try, try, try, but I

Try, try, try, but I, but I

Try, try, try, but I

But I never really know just where to find you

You think you know how to get under my skin

It’s good for now but it’s never permanent

Knock on the door but there’s no one listening

And I never really know just where to find you

He reminisced about the time back then when you knew him. 

“Amber! Amber!” Tom called out he could hear your distant giggles echoing in the forest. 

“C'mon love this ain’t funny!” You tiptoed behind him and covered his eyes with your hand from the back.

“Guess who?” You whispered. A smile spread across his face. 

“My little witch.” He held your hand turning around. 

“I love to see you get all riled up.” you giggled. 

“Ha ha very funny.” 

“What will you do if I really vanish one day?” You wiggled your brows playfully, Tom immediately placed his hand over your mouth.

“No, don’t say that ever again and even if that happens I’ll find you with everything I have.” 

“Where will I find my solace anyways other than these arms? You slipped your hands to his back embracing him and pecked his lips. 

But you had left him. Though it wasn’t your fault. You were taken away from him by those treacherous mortals.

You live for love but you never really tried

You say it’s not but it’s always on your mind

Keep chasing gold but you lose a silver line

But I never really know just where to find you

Where to find you

Where to find you

But I never really know just where to find you

You were never a person who used to express her feelings openly, maybe that had to do with you being a fire witch. But with Tom you were a different person he had this calming effect on you that made you feel safe and happy.

You were sitting under a tree reading a book, Tom was lying down his head resting on your lap. 

“They told me not to play with fire, and I should’ve listened because I got burned by your soul and you left me in the ashes.”

“What sort of cheesy pickup line is this?” you snorted.

“I’m trying to be romantic here, love.”

“As if you aren’t already?” Keeping your book aside you knelt down to his face and kissed him. 

Try, try, try, but I

Try, try, try, but I, but I

Try, try, try, but I

But I never really know just where to find you

Maybe I’m chasing a feeling

Maybe I don’t even need it, but

Maybe you’re looking for me tonight, tonight

Though are these feelings legit anymore? When he knows that he doesn’t exist in your memories. His heart pangs to know that there is another man in your life. 

What kind of twisted game fate has put you both into. He wanted you back but not like this where you don’t remember him. Where he is not anymore part of your life. 

I look for you in the center of the sun

I took a pill but it didn’t help me numb

I see your face even when my eyes are shut

Meanwhile you were back at home as you looked out of your window in your room. The sun had set and the full moon was shining in the clear night sky, radiating its soft light over the earth. Since childhood you had a strange attraction towards the moon. You gazed at the moon intently. 

But I never really know just where to find you

Where to find you

Where to find you

But I never really know just where to find you

Try, try, try, but I

Try, try, try, but I, but I

Try, try, try, but I

But I never really know just where to find you

Tom stared in the direction of the moon and he saw a glimpse of your face.

“Whenever you feel lost just look at the moon. You’ll get your answers.”  

You once told this to Tom but he didn’t understand the meaning behind your words back then. Witches can see future and you must have known what the future holds for you. And now it was clear to him what you had meant. You are the answer to his questions. Only you can solve the mystery of the past, your past.

“You seem to be quite in a good mood. Really good to see you playing the guitar after such a long time. What’s the matter?"  Harrison walked into his room.

"It’s Amber, Harrison! I knew she would come back, she can’t break her promise.” Tom exclaimed.

“Wait, wait what are you talking about?" 

"I saw Amber today in the woods!" 

"Tom are you sure you weren’t hallucinating? We can call the doctor if you want” Harrison gave a puzzled look.

“Harrison trust me." 

“So where is she then?And where was she all these years?”

“I don’t know.” 

“What do you mean you don’t know?” 

“I didn’t have the time to ask her anything and she doesn’t seem to remember anything. And also her name is not Amber, it’s Y/N.” 

“So how will you find her again?”

“I don’t know but I’ll find her.” 

You had zoned out looking out of your window and suddenly you had a blurry vision 

“Promise me you’ll come back.” You saw two broad hands holding yours and then the person raised one of his hands to caress your cheek, you lifted your eyes to meet his and you had a glimpse of your mystery savior from the forest as he knelt down to kiss you. You shook your head to bring yourself to reality, blinking your eyes a few time as you exhaled deeply. This was weird, you never had a vision like that before, not when you were awake and why did you see Tom. 

……………………………

Next day was a busy day for Tom and Harrison. For the first time in 25 years they had stepped in the mortal side of the town in search of you. They inquired about your whereabouts to some of the people in the town and they got to know about the coffee shop you work in. 

“Sometimes I hate the fact that you are my best friend and I can’t even say no to you. What are we doing in this stinky mortal world Tom?! Bloody murderers!” He scoffed opening the door of the cafe to get inside. 

“To find Amber!”

“How do you know that we will find her here?

“I just know, I feel her.” You were busy placing the utensils in the dishwasher at the back of the store as you heard the bell chime that hung on the door

“Just a moment coming!” You shouted from the back. You quickly fixed your dress and walked back to the counter wiping your hands with a towel. 

“Sorry for keeping you wait… You stopped in the middle of your sentence as you saw your new customers sitting near the counter engrossed in their phones. Tom cocked his head up from his phone. You noticed today he was quite informally dressed in a plain white t-shirt paired with blue jeans. 

“Heyyy.. it’s you!” You said excitedly. Your eyes met as Tom’s whole face lit up, he quickly glanced at you in a baby pink uniform  with a white apron tied around your waist. The uniform hugging your body perfectly, accentuates your features. You looked cute, he thought. On the other hand Harrison’s jaw dropped in shock. 

“Tom right?” 

“Yup.” 

“I was looking for you but you just vanished, didn’t get to thank you for helping me.” 

“Uh sorry I had got some emergency.” 

Harrison was still staring at you intently. Your attention shifted to the blue eyed blonde sitting beside Tom and you felt intimidated. 

“Umm have we met before?” You asked. 

“Uh.. no you just look quite familiar to someone I know.” He stuttered. 

“This is the second time I’m hearing this.” you looked at them skeptically and again turned to the blonde 

“So you are?”

“Harrison.. Harrison Osterfield.”

“Never seen you guys in this town though, new here?” They looked at each others faces .

“Umm not new but we moved here recently after finishing our studies from London. Our family owns the Runeshire winery.

“Holy shit!! You are the Hollands that is why I was thinking that I heard the name somewhere. 

“I always wanted to go to London though.’’

‘’I can take you if you want.’’ Tom offered innocently.

‘’That will be so kind of you Thomas.’’ you bent down on the counter resting your chin in your palm.

“So what would you London boys like to have?’’ 

“What would the damsel in distress recommend?’’ He shot back. 

“That will be just for one time Tommy boy I’m more than a damsel in distress.”  you arched a sly brow.

“And I would like to recommend our Fall special ‘Vanilla, earl grey, and lavender latte’ is that ok with you lads?”

“More than okay, darling” he grinned. You pursed you lips with a sly look in your eyes straightening yourself over the counter. You went to get their order. Tom turned to Harrison who was still recovering from the shock of seeing you. 

“So what do you think? Or are you hallucinating too?’’ Tom grinned. 

“Shut up! I still don’t think that she’s Amber.’’ Tom was about to say something as he stopped seeing you coming.

“Here you go.’’ You served them their orders and slided two plates of cheesecakes. 

“This is on the house.’’ You winked. “A little thank you gesture for the other day.’’ 

Cole dropped in after sometime. You excused yourself and went to him. 

“Hey babe.’’ He wrapped his arms around your waist pressing you tightly against his chest. 

“Hi darling.’’ You smiled as he knelt down to kiss you pressing your foreheads.

“Jeez guys get a room!’’ Jane came out from the back. 

“At Least someone is getting it.’’ Cole quipped

“Whatever..’’ She rolled her eyes. 

“Aww don’t get disheartened sweetie we have two new hot lads straightway from London right over there.” you pointed to the direction where Tom and Harrison were sitting.”Wanna take your chance?’’ You smirked quirking your brow. 

“By the way I really like the brunette he was the one I was talking about the other day. He’s cute don’t you think?’’ you both started gossiping totally ignoring your boyfriend standing right beside you hearing you crushing upon some random bloke. Cole cleared his throat to make you aware of his presence. 

“I’m still here.”

“So what? As if you don’t check out other girls when I’m not with you.’’ You sneered. 

"I think I'm gonna give it a shot." Jane chirped looking at their direction.

"You got this girl! Go get some! You patted her back encouragingly.

Tom’s was looking to your direction with a hardened gaze his jaw clenched. He was fuming from inside seeing you with Cole a tinge of jealousy and possessiveness creeping inside him

“I think Amber is quite intelligent enough in her new life and decided to move on.’’ Harrison teased. 

“She just doesn’t remember anything.’’ Tom reasoned. 

“Tom, how can you be so sure that she is Amber? She just looks like her.’’

“Would you like to order anything else?’’ Jane interrupted them. 

“No thank you, love.’’ Harrison said in his British accent and Jane felt butterflies inside her.  It was love at first sight or to be precise voice. She gazed at the blue eyed boy with sun kissed hair with heart eyes. Tom noticed that, a smirk forming on his face. He motioned Harrison with his eyes signalling him to carry on the conversation to dig some more information from her. 

“How long have you girls been working here?’’ 

“Oh it’s just me who works here part time, Y/N and her aunt literally owns this shop; it’s her family shop you see.’’ Jane answered by tucking her locks behind her ear. 

“So what else do you do?’’ 

"Still studying. Part time journalism at the city College. We all are classmates ’’ 

“Great! By the way nice tea.’’ 

“Thank you.’’ Harrison and Tom got up to leave.

“Maybe we can talk a little more over a cup of tea when you are free some other day. See you again, Jane Miller.’’ He read out her name from her name badge and gave her a subtle wink. Jane was swept off her feet, she felt dizzy her cheeks heating up blushing profusely, heart beating faster than usual. 

After getting out of the shop they teleported themselves to Tom’s house. 

“That went well.’’ Tom remarked. 

“These humans are petty creatures. A little sweet talk makes them swoon over anyone.’’ 

"I think she really likes you.’’ 

“What’s there to not like about me anyways?” Harrison sassed. 

“But your Amber likes someone else, what are you gonna do about that? Tom as your best mate it’s my advice that you forget her. Even if she is Amber she is a human and you know the rules. This time your love is truly forbidden.’’ 

“I don’t care about some stupid rules the only thing I care is what Amber wants. Unless she says that she doesn’t want me in her life I’m not giving up on her.’’

“Tom she’s a human now totally powerless even if you are successful to make her remember everything. The coven will not let her be alive. You will be putting her life into danger.”

“She was much more powerful than all of us and I’m not ready to believe that she has lost her powers.’’ 

“But I don’t see any signs of powers in her.’’ 

“I have seen back at the forest how the branch that Remy tried to throw on her dodged away from her. It has to be a protection spell.’’ 

“Or just sheer luck.’’ Harrison taunted.

“By the way she was a fire elemental witch, you touched her ankle right? Did she feel feverish?’’

“No but maybe it is different when you are reborn as human. She was a Hecatean witch who knows.’’ 

“Tom we know very little about them. And moving forward with just our assumptions will be just useless.’’ 

“We don’t know but the Hecatean witches will know.’’

“Tom have you gone insane?! Amber was the last one of their clan.’’

“Harrison you are in such a state of denial that you have forgotten that we can perform seance. We can summon Helena the mother of elements, Amber’s great grandmother.’’ 

“But for that we need something that belonged to her to perform the summoning spell for the seance.’’ Harrison pointed out. 

“I have her hairpin Amber used to wear that every time. It was given to her as a family heirloom.’’ 

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get started. By the way when we are doing a seance why don’t you just ask her if Amber is alive or not? That will clear a lot of things in the first place.’’ 

Tom and Harrison drew a pentacle in the middle of the room and placed candles around it. They sat down closing their eyes as they concentrated and summoned the spirits. 

“Spirits below and above, spirits in between, caught in the fabric betwixt worlds, we ask that the veil be lifted and that you send forth the spirit of Helena. Helena, you’re welcome to this house, to this circle. If you’re here, we ask that you make your presence known.’’

A gust of wind started blowing out of nowhere, shallow whispers filled the room

“What do you want from me?’’ A celestial voice echoed in the room. 

“Oh mother of the four elements we wanted to know about your great granddaughter Amber, is she alive?” Tom reckoned. 

“No, Amber is no more; she was meant to be the best of us and to fulfill the prophecy and her destiny she had to die to be reborn from her ashes just like the phoenix.’’

“Does that mean she still has her powers? Tom asked. 

“She is a half witch, mortal blood runs in her veins but once she turns 25 she will get back all her powers.’’ 

“But how do we know if she has her powers? Please enlighten us with the knowledge of elementary magic.’’ He requested. 

“Elemental Witches are the first witches that have existed on our planet, even long before the first humans. It is said that they were created by nature to control the elements and create a peaceful nature, so that the mankind can live on Earth.”   

“Amber was fire elemental, fierce and powerful. A Fire Witch is a rare and dangerous creature, who can cause great healing or great destruction with their magic. A fire witch’s temperament is fickle at best, swinging from a warm disposition to raging inferno at the slightest provocation. Rage runs in her blood that she channels through her magic. I think now you understand what you need to do to reveal her true form but be careful the fire witch is able to hold congress with flames as easily as a pet and is able to cause mass destruction in its manipulation. Being a half witch she isn’t aware of her powers and might lose control over herself so be extremely cautious with whatever you do.” And with that the whooshing sound of the wind stopped blowing out the candles the room went dark and an eerie silence prevailed in the room.

“So we have to make her angry. And how do you plan to do that?’’ Harrison broke the silence.

“First I need to get close to her and know her again. And that can only be possible if we.’’ Tom puckered his eyebrows thinking.

“Please don’t say you are actually thinking of doing that.’’ 

“Yes you are right, get ready to  become a university transfer student, mate.’’ Tom winked.

…………………………………………………………………..

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Taglist:To be added send me an ask or message I’ll be happy to add you in the following chapters.

[prettywordsyouleft]

Maybe

Prompt: #203 for anon – “Do you expect me to carry you all the way?”

Anonymous said:

Jinyoung x reader #203 prompt,,, pleaseeee for the youxidol

Pairing: Park Jinyoung x reader

Genre: enemies to lovers / co-workers / fluff

Warnings: none

Word count: 1874

You were already mortified enough, or so you had thought. Yet when Jinyoung’s sentence tumbled out of his mouth with a groan, you grew more frustrated. “What did you just say?!”

“Do you expect me to carry you all the way? We’re nowhere near the car yet.”

“So drop me then,” you exclaimed from behind him, thumping your hand down on his shoulder, earning a hiss from him. Repeating the action, you expected the man giving you a piggyback ride to drop you.

Instead, he swore loudly and hoisted you up in his grip. “Stop hitting me!”

“Well put my heavy ass down!”

“I never said you were heavy,” he grumbled through gritted teeth, rearranging you again. “I just asked if you expected me to carry you the whole way.”

“It’s not as if I asked for this, Park Jinyoung. Believe it or not, I’d be more enthralled to be carried by anyone else but you right now.”

“Is that so?”

“Mark wouldn’t complain like you are,” you pointed out and he let out a breathy laugh. “He wouldn’t!”

“He also wouldn’t have carried you this far and given up by now.”

“Jackson then! He has arms of steel and a broad back. He would do it!” Jinyoung huffed and you smirked. “He’d even be concerned about me in the process. And he’d move faster than you are.”

“What a shame Jackson wasn’t out here then, huh?” Jinyoung lamented sourly, and you were certain if you could have seen him face on, he would be rolling his eyes right now.

You sighed dramatically. “Anyone but you.”

“What would you have done if I wasn’t there?” he wondered and you grimaced. “Face it, I saved you.”

“It’s just a twisted ankle, I’m sure. In fact, I’ve told you multiple times to put me down. I can walk.”

He stubbornly hoisted you up again and exerted a heavy breath in response.

“You were in an area of the forest where no signal would reach your phone, and in an hour it will be completely dark. You would have to wait there until the early morning exercisers started up the track and found you.”

“I would have hobbled down by myself,” you answered, shuddering at the thought of had been up there by yourself.

You didn’t want to admit you were entirely grateful that you and Jinyoung had been assigned to do the report together. Although you hated how cocky he was, he was excellent at his job and you had successfully interviewed all that those you needed to about the new track opening for walking and running enthusiasts at the local national park. And technically this was all your fault. Had you not wanted to watch the sunset before going back down, you wouldn’t have tripped on the tree root sticking out in the path since the lighting had already started making shadows around you.

And Jinyoung wouldn’t be carrying you down on his back either.

Maybe that was the real reason why you were mortified.

Because you were clumsy enough, everyone knew that about you back at the station. You had caused so many accidents whilst out reporting over the years that you had grown immune to the jeers of others and the exasperation you felt in the moment.

But you hadn’t ever found yourself receiving a piggyback from Jinyoung before either. His back was broad and you could feel the muscles he was using to hold you up. Your hands had gripped onto his shoulder far too long now to deny you liked them.

You liked all of this.

Jinyoung grunted. “You’re silent. What kind of scheme are you thinking of now?”

Whilst you admired him physically, you were acutely aware of just how much Jinyoung bothered you every time he opened his mouth. You couldn’t think of any other incident in your career at the news station where Jinyoung had done anything for you. He was always full of accusations, priming you until you went off at him for annoying you. You were dubbed the Tom and Jerry of the team after all.

You had a role to maintain. Of course, you would bite back.

“What scheme are you rolling with? I’m pretty sure I’ve asked you to put me down enough that anyone else would have listened by now. Still, you carry me despite outwardly exclaiming how much of a burden it is. I’m worried you might be planning to kidnap me!”

Jinyoung laughed heartily then, throwing his head back a little that you could see how the skin around his eyes wrinkled up with his delight. “You know, that’s a good idea! I could bury you up here and be done with you once and for all.”

“Except you have no gloves to hide the evidence or shovel to dispel me with. A shame, really.”

“A true shame,” he echoed with another chuckle.

You groaned as you looked ahead at the path. “I’m hungry.”

“Says the person getting a free ride down. Once we get back to my car, of course, I’ll be ever so gracious to feed you. Shall I take you to the hospital too? Or home? Anything you need, Your Highness.”

You let out a hearty whine. “How does anyone put up with you? No wonder you’re single! Why did you even bother to stay and watch the sunset with me?! You could have just gone back down with the filming crew and leave me up here alone!”

Jinyoung came to an unsteady halt, your weight throwing his sudden change in movement off. You shrieked and tried to right both your balance so you didn’t fall again. Jinyoung snapped his head to glare over his shoulder at you. “Put up with me?!”

“You’re an asshole!”

“And you’re not any better! Here I am doing you a favour and you’re insulting me?! ”

“It’s not an insult when it’s fact, Jinyoung.”

“I’m single, that is a fact,” he muttered, his hands moving to hold your legs more securely.

You blew your hair out of your face. “As is the reality of our situation. You could have gone down but you didn’t. Why not?”

“I don’t have to answer that.”

“No doubt you were doing something to bring up in front of the team tomorrow morning,” you grumbled and Jinyoung remained silent. Your annoyance softened. “You weren’t?”

“Maybe I should have.”

“Then why? I didn’t take you for a nature-loving kind of person,” you mentioned and he still didn’t answer. You slapped his shoulder again and he gripped your legs tightly.

“Stop hitting me!”

“Then answer me! It’s not that hard to-”

“You’re so god damn clumsy! It’s like I knew something would happen. Imagine if I hadn’t of caught you when you started sliding down further!”

“You were worried about me?” you breathed and Jinyoung laughed once.

“Don’t flatter yourself, I just didn’t want the boss to go at me for leaving you behind and getting injured again,” he attempted and now it was your turn to fall silent.

You sighed, resting your head on his shoulder. You were getting tired of being so bothered by this whole situation. The fact was, your leg hurt but it could have been much worse without Jinyoung.

He had saved you, after all.

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear that,” he replied and you groaned.

“Thank you for staying behind. I’m not sure what would have happened had you not.”

You saw his lips twitch as he tried to suppress his satisfaction. “Well, you’re welcome, Y/N.”

His tone was different and it made you lift your head away from his shoulder to gain some sense of clarity. Nothing seemed to help, so you looked around yourself desperately, gasping and pointing to the view ahead. “We’ve almost made it back to the parking lot now, I can see it! You can put me down, I’ll walk from here.”

“It’s not that far, I’ll carry you back to the car.”

“Is there a reason you don’t want to put me down, Jinyoung?”

“You’re injured.”

“I’m always injured,” you shot back and he cleared his throat awkwardly. “Shall I expect you to carry me around in the office when I’m injured in the future too?”

“Should I?”

“Hey!” you exclaimed, though he didn’t laugh as you expected. You stared at the side of his face suspiciously. “If you keep this up, I’ll start to think foolish things.”

“Oh yeah, like what?”

“You’re enjoying this,” you commented and Jinyoung’s step faltered. “You like having me need you.”

His lips pursed together. “Now why would you-”

“Maybe you always annoy me like a little boy does because you like me,” you continued and Jinyoung didn’t answer you, moving more quickly towards his car. Once there, he backed up to the trunk of the sedan and sat you down on it. Before you could do or say anything, he whipped around, moving in between your legs and smiled.

“Maybe I do.”

“Don’t toy with me, I said it as a joke,” you warned and Jinyoung cocked his head to the side.

“What if I was doing just that though? I am single, after all.”

“You like me?” you breathed, eyes round as saucers.

Jinyoung smirked. “Who knows? I just carried you for almost an hour. It’s the longest we’ve been so close. I could have had a change of heart.”

You rolled your eyes. “Stop being such a-”

It was swift. You knew he had to be to throw you off and take the situation for his own. His lips pressed into yours that had turned to stone, frozen in time as your gaze became unfocused. He moved his mouth against yours and it was the catalyst needed for you to snap your eyes closed, kissing him back with a hunger you had never expected to have over anyone, let alone Jinyoung.

And when he had rendered you speechless, he pulled back, pleased with how dishevelled you must’ve looked. He wiped along his now swollen bottom lip before patting your thighs to break you out of the reverie.

“Why did you just kiss me?”

“That’s for you to think about all night long, Y/N.”

“Park Jinyoung, you are absolutely-”

“A jerk, an asshole?” he prompted and you shook your head, winding your arms around his neck again.

“Going to have to let me kiss you again.”

“W-What?”

You smiled at his stunned expression. “Well, you carried me all the way down here, shouldn’t I pay you back for your efforts?”

“If that’s the case, I think more than a kiss might be needed.”

“Maybe you’re right. Being one of the top reporters in our field, I know you wouldn’t be cheap for your time.”

He nodded, shifting closer again. “I think dinner after a hospital visit to see if your ankle is alright is definitely on the cards. It might get too late and you’ll have to come back to mine.”

“Do you have ice packs, medicine?”

Jinyoung shook his head, his lips almost against yours again. “No, but they say there are other ways to relieve pain. Maybe I could distract you enough from it.”

You kissed him briefly before replying with another smile. “Maybe.”

_________________

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[hollands-poppet]

Don’t Make Me Choose// Chapter 5

Mob!Tom Holland and Mob!Harrison Osterfield AU series

A/N: YO!!!! It’s been so long since I’ve posted anything!! I hope everyone is doing okay and is well! Due to COVID, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands!! I hope you guys are still reading and want to catch up! Talk to me, I’m free haha -Amy 💛💛💛

Word Count: 3.3K 💛

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 

playlist

Warnings: angsty, alcohol abuse, italics is flashback,cussing, I didn’t proofread this at all  

-

“Listen Haz,” he blows out another puff. The two make eye contact as the wind blows through there stiff, gelled hair. “I just want you to know that, I never intended to marry Y/N.”

Haz’s heart stops dead in his tracks as he hears his friend fessing up. He decides to take another sip at his tea, not believing what he is hearing right now.

Tom continues as the sunflowers in the back move slightly as the wind blows, the aesthetic helping the energy stay calm. The brunette clears his throat as he looks at the flowers, not being able to keep eye contact with his own best friend.

“I know you wanted her first and I just never thanked you for letting me keep her.” Tom confesses as he looks back at Haz who is already choked up.

This was a lot for for Harrison because his best friend usually never fessed up to anything. It was almost a healing process for him as well, a huge open wound that is healing slowly. It was a big deal for both of them because of the fact they have been on different wavelengths and it was like Tom wanted to fix that.

Harrison cracks a smile, “Thanks man. And I’m sorry for being a mess and thank you for being there for me.”

Tom sets down his cigar on the tea plate and nods his head, “Before we all get mushy, we have a problem..”

Tom leans forward and brings the cancer stick in between his lips, “It’s getting serious, mate.”

Haz watches his best friend in fear that he might have gotten the wrong idea about him and Y/N. There is no Y/N and I.

“What’s the problem?” Haz asks as he sits up straight in his seat.

“Well,” Tom removes the cigar from his lips. “It seems as though one of our clients up in Newcastle had a problem with one of our shipments.”

Haz then again adjusts himself in his seat while fixing his blazer collar while he responds, “What does this mean?” The seriousness of the matter still hadn’t hit the blonde as his best friend questioned his oblivion in his thoughts.

“What does this mean?” Tom replies in an almost sarcastic laugh and runs his thumb across his bottom lip. “It means that the crew’s leader in Newcastle put out a public threat against me.”

Haz nods in response, he still didn’t think much of this only because Tom ran most of the country between the gangs. He was the main guy, so he still wasn’t understanding the big deal. Tom had gotten threats before and with his status..he was untouchable.

“Alright Tom, so what do we do now? Do we send out James to do a couple of hits?”

Tom exhales deeply, releasing a puff of smoke that moves around between the two of them. “The problem is that we don’t know who is going to be hired to actually do the deed against me.”

Before Haz could even respond Tom continues, “We have an even bigger problem than that to be quite honest.”

In the blonde’s head this was wild because hits happened all the time whether it was against him or Tom or even one of the guys on their crew. It was inevitable, it was almost like a norm within the community. It was the name of the game, being marked wasn’t a secret in this lifestyle

“What is it mate, I don’t understand how being marked is a big deal, no one will touch you.”

“Y/N is marked.” Tom gets up from his seat and unbuttons his blazer. Even saying that out loud made him uncomfortable, how could he let that happen? “She’s fucking marked, Haz.”

Haz gets up from his seat and runs his hand through his hair worriedly, “What do we fucking do?”

Tom takes one more puff from his cigar, the smoke escapes his mouth as he speaks. “What we’re not going to do is tell Y/N, we can’t scare her...not before the ball.”

“Are you kidding, Tom?! Fuck the ball!”  

Haz now understood why Tom was so worried. Y/N was marked and if the boss’ wife was set to be wacked then there was a huge problem. A public threat like that is usually against retaliation for Tom’s title and whatever he did to piss of the mob boss really put Y/N in danger. A public wife wack on his wife is a huge fuck you, so what was the real plan?

“The ball is what Y/N waits for every year, we- I can’t do that to her. We’ll-” He sighs. “We’ll figure out.”

“But Tom-”

A quick shove to his chest causes Haz to lose a gasp of air, he didn’t even get to finish his sentence.

“But nothing.. don’t forget your fucking place, Harrison.”

An awkward silence floats around between the two, tension so thick it could be cut with a knife.

Tom sighs, “I’m going to check on Y/N, we’ll discuss this later.” He turns his back on his best friend and begins to make his way back into his home. He felt slightly disrespected, he felt threatened and not for his throne. He knew Haz meant well but he wasn’t going to let him try to tell him how to run things.

He knew the ball could easily be canceled but he feared that Y/N would leave him. And literally cancelling a ball should be no big deal considering he is trying to save her life but this lifestyle has been an issue since they met. If she knew the reason it was getting canceled...she would leave. She almost left before.

When Y/N found about Tom’s lifestyle, the money, the notorious fame.. the killing, that was something she could never really settle in her stomache. She loved him, so she stuck by his side no matter what baggage he came with. She didn’t even know if she could live with mob wife status but she compromises with it everyday.

Tom’s back face his friend as he makes his way inside, he turns around once more to catch Haz worriedly running his hands through his locks.

In those few seconds, Tom could feel something was wrong. He wasn’t stupid or an idiot. He felt the vibe that he had walked in on between Haz and Y/N. That was something Tom wasn’t going to believe. It was something that he didn’t want to believe..even if it was a gut feeling.

“Y/N is the best thing to happen to me, I won’t screw this up...I can’t.” Tom says as he presses his lips tightly together, and then he turns his back on his friend again.

FUCK. That’s all Haz could think, did he reveal himself without even knowing? A drink would be really good right about now.

_________________________________________________________________________

Later that night for dinner, Y/N and Tom had invited Bella and Harrison for a double date. To Y/N’s confusion, Tom insisted they stay home and would just hire a caterer for dinner. Without her knowledge, it was for her own good and safety.

Even though dinner was going to be in their home, she dressed up as if it were a fancy cocktail and not because it was because she wanted Tom to want her that night. She knew Tom wanted her every night but she had been recently hit with the baby bug.

Y/N has always wanted to be a mommy but these days she’s had baby fever. Besides, she felt like Tom would make a really good dad, and possibly leave this lifestyle that she had a love/hate relationship with. She knew it was a big ask and she herself loved the lavish lifestyle but at what cost.

She’d rather live in a flat, and be with Tom and start a family. That sounded like pure heaven to her.

As she loses herself in her thoughts while applying perfume behind her ear, she feels two arms come around her waist, “Mr. Holland, you’re terrible at trying to scare me.”

Tom lets out a breathy laugh into her neck, good chills come up her spine. “I wasn’t trying to scare you darling, I just couldn’t resist not touching you.” She turns around while in his arms, “You know Tom, tonight I was thinking we could-”

Before she could finish her sentence, he interrupts with a single kiss. “And then some?” He grins as he holds her by the waist tighter.

She nods, “Yes.. I mean always but..” She hesitates but decides to just ask. “Maybe we could work on a little Holland?”

Tom’s energy immediately changes, and she knew he didn’t like the question. He even knew the possible consequences that came with a baby. They’ve had these discussions before Y/N could never change his mind, and the answer was always no but she never gave up and she was going to try again.

He drops his head while letting out a sigh, “Y/N-”

“I know what you’re going to say but I feel like a little one would be good for us, don’t you think?” Her hands move from his shoulders onto his chest and back to his face and lifts his head. When his head comes back up, he is slightly confused.

“Good for us?” He asks. “What the fuck does that mean? It sounds like you’re trying to fix us.”

His hands drop from her waist and to his sides, “What are you trying to act like we’re broken, Y/N?”

A scoffe escapes her lips, “You’re fucking kidding right? I’m not trying to fix us, I just want to expand us. Imagine how much more perfect we would be with a little one here-”

“No!” Tom yells, his veins peeping through his neck. It didn’t even take a second for Y/N’s tears to flood her eyes.

She pulls it together for a few seconds, “Please, I-”

“Y/N, do you understand the amount of pressure I’m constantly under over your safety?” He begins to pace side to side, his hands running through his silky brown hair. “ I can’t bare to lose you, imagine my head if we had a kid?”

A single tear manages to escape her eye and roll down her cheek, “I’m just- lonely...I’m lonely when you’re gone, Tom.” She swallows the ball that burns her throat.

He takes a moment to pull together his thoughts, “It’s alright, darling. I forgive you.” His right hand comes up to her right cheek as he wipes away her tear.

Y/N with no hesitation immediately removes his touch by quickly moving his arm. She looks him dead in the eyes, “ I am not apologizing for wanting a family. You’re not listening to me, Tom.” She sighs as she looks back at the ground, “Just- just leave me alone.” She makes her way past him and her shoulder knocks his, she’s pissed.

“Y/N, wait!” Tom yells out as he turns around to catch Y/N stop right at the door.

She turns around, she doesn’t respond. She crosses her arms waiting for her husband to say what he has to say.

“You’re everything..I can’t lose you.” He says defeated.

Y/N looks at Tom, his temper quickly turns to near tears but she couldn’t let him control what she wanted. She loved him, she truly did but she wanted more than this.

She sighs as she looks at the rock sitting on her ring finger, “You might have already have.”

Y/N looks back up at Tom, and without hesitation leaves the room. She doesn’t even get to see Tom’s temper turn into heartbreak.

_________________________________________________________________________

Dinner went on as planned and it was as awkward than anyone can have imagined and not for the reason being that Y/N and Tom had a fight but Haz was late to the double date.

Bella had been crying for about 15 minute now, she couldn’t believe that Haz had stood her up. She wipe her tears as she move her spaghetti around with her fork.

Tom looks at Y/N who doesn’t make eye contact with him, he didn’t know what he could do to even fix what had happened between them earlier. He play around with the spaghetti in front of him with his fork and clears his throat, “You know..Haz should be here any minute now. He’s never usually late.”

Bella doesn’t even acknowledge Tom’s comment but continues to move spaghetti in front of her plate too. Her tears drops trickle onto the table as she sobs, “We’ve been here for over an hour.”

Y/N looks up at her friend and avoids her temptation to look at Tom through her  peripheral vision, “He’s probably caught up in something babes, I’m sure he’ll have a good excuse.”

Bella drops her fork and grabs the cloth that rest on her thighs and wipes some of her tears away. “I’m just embarrassed, I guess you could be right.” She grabs her wine glass while trying to holding in her tears, “Tom, how about a toast...hm?”

Tom sets down his fork as he lets out a smile, “Sure..why not?” He looks over at Y/N who is still avoiding him but she picks up her wine glass. She raises it but keeps her head down, no interest to even look at her husband.

He clears his throat and continues to look at his wife despite her cold vibe, “A toast to Y/N and possible new beginnings.”

And with that, Y/N’s head shot up to look at Tom so quickly. Whether he was referring to a baby or not, change was going to happen. It was a little hopeful for her but still maybe Tom would be willing to compromise. As horrible as this sounded, she couldn’t wait for Bella to leave so she could talk to him.

“I would like to quickly add something,” Y/N inserts as she raises her glass a little higher. “I just wanted to toast to Bella who still came out to dinner and is joining us tonight.” Y/N lets out a hopeful little smile to her hurting friend that she cares about.

Even though she was emotional, Bella appreciated her friend’s gesture and raised her wine glass high as well.

Just before their glasses were going to clink, the dining room doors swung right open to cause a huge banging sound.

“Hi, welcome to chili’s!” Haz blurts out as he catches himself on the door handle.

Tom can’t help but laugh at his friend and his random burst at the door. Bella on the other hand isn’t very amused, she shoots up from her chair and makes her way to the blonde.

“Haz, how dare you stand me up!” She crosses her arms, she’s so upset. She is so mad that her cheeks become so red that it enhances her blush, “Why the fuck are you late?”

Y/N turns around in her seat to watch the two talk, she doesn’t realize that something is wrong yet. None of them do.

“I, honestly..where am I?” Haz finishes the question with a burp, he stands against the door holding onto the handle for dear life.

Bella becomes emotional again, she couldn’t believe the way she was being treated and she couldn’t believe the way he was acting. She couldn’t believe that she had fallen in love with him, “Goodbye, Haz. Call me when you’re ready to grow up.” She walks right by him, not even looking back.

Tom takes a sip of his red wine, “You really fucked that one up, mate.” He laughs into his cup. Y/N looks back at Tom and gives him a stink eye, “Nice.” She rolls her eyes and turns her attention back to Haz.

This is when she begins to notice that something is really wrong. Haz can’t even keep his balance, and she begins to get up from her chair. “Harrison, are you feeling alright?”

The blonde nods and smiles, “I-I’m just hung-“ and before he could even finish his response he lost grip of the door handle and he falls straight onto his left side of his body and a big pop is heard.

“Harrison!” Y/N yells and Tom jumps from

his chair from the moment he seen his best friend tipping.

“FUCK!” Haz yells out, he tries to turn face up but he can’t even move. “I-I think I broke something.”

Y/N and Tom are kneeling over their friend as he lies in pain.

Tom’s hands over his body and is panicking, “Haz, man! Let me help.” As soon as Tom get closer to his friend, there was no way to hide smell that was coming off of the blonde. Y/N reaches over to see if she could help him move over on to his back but that’s when she smelled it too.

“Harrison..” She stopped because she didn’t want to ask in front of Tom because this wasn’t the time for a fight. “It’s going to be okay. Tom, go call for help. I’ll watch him while you go.”

Tom nods in response, he’s visibly upset. There is so much going on and he himself knows that his temper can get bad, he knows this isn’t the right time to pick an argument. He gets up from the floor and makes his way to his phone which he left up in the room.

Y/N removes her heels and moves closer to Haz, “You’re wasted aren’t you?”

Haz is breathing heavy at this point, sweat dripping down his head from the pain, “That sobered me up really quickly.”

She touches his right arm which is face up to the ceiling, “I can smell the bourbon... what the hell were you thinking?” She remarks as she moves to a kneeling position. “Let’s try to get you on your back.”

He nods no and flinches in pain, “I couldn’t help it..I felt like a-alone.”

Y/N’s jaw slightly drops because she’s surprised to hear what Haz says but before she can reply, he continues.

“I can’t feel my shoulder, it feels detached.” He lets out with a heavy breathe, he cries a bit.

She nods and just tries to stay calm so that she won’t scare him more, “It’s okay, we’ll wait here for help. Here, hold my hand.” She brings her left hand to his right hand, and holds hand tightly. “Tom is probably calling an ambulance, you’re going to be alright.”

Even through all his pain and his heavy breathing, he manages to let out a panting smile.

“Why are you smiling?” Y/N asks as she runs her hands through his hair trying to keep him calm.

“I love you so much, Y/N.” He lets out a slight grunt from the pain, any tiny movement really hurt. He thought maybe more booze would probably help numb the pain.

“Harrison, stop. You’re drunk.”  

“I’ve loved you from the first moment I seen you.” He rests his head on the floor, he’s noticing that she’s becoming more blurry. “You-you...” And he closes his eyes, the pain so severe it causes him to pass out.

-

-

A/N: Wow, I can’t believe I finally posted something again hahaha💛 anyway, let me know your predictions, thoughts, questions! ANYTHING! LOVE YALL. -Amy💛

p.s not everyone that is on the taglist asked to be tagged but if you want me to remove you let me know!!

Taglist: @ladybirduris​ @thedaydreamingwriter​ @a-walk-in-silence​ @tomhaz​ @mischiefmanaged49​ @tomshufflepuff​ @smexylemony​ @musicgirl234​ @spidey-pal​ @greenarrowhead​ @superheros-and-others​ @captainbuckyy​ @kawaiigothfishpasta @hollandechart​ @thollandx​ @glader-witch-wolf​ @amren-rhyssecond​ @peteryesparker​ @hazhasmycoffee​ @the-queen-procrastinator​ @hollandroos@spiderboytotherescue @hotsterfield @thedaydreamingwriter

[quicksilversquared]

Stealing from Supervillains Ch 2

S3 Finale AU

In a timeline where Hawkmoth didn’t lose the Miracle Box almost immediately after getting it, Marinette has to get the Miraculous back some other way, even if that means stealing them back one at a time. Her first target is Chloe, Hawkmoth’s one known ally, and failure is not an option. When Hawkmoth brings the Miracle Box along with him- well, Marinette is determined to get all of the Miraculous back, even if she needs to burn down the entire hotel to do it.

Companion story to Luka and the Jewelry Heist

links in the reblog

It didn't take long for them to figure out what they were going to do.

All three of them would grab a Miraculous to use- Alix gravitated straight for the Rabbit, of course, Marinette stuck with the Bee and its yo-yo-like trompo, and after a bit of deliberation (and some apparent surprise that it was even in the Box, which...uh, Marinette wasn't going to look at that too closely at the moment), Adrien went for the Dragon because of its sword and his experience with fencing.

"Can I quick use the bathroom before we go?" Alix asked, raising her hand. "Since we're just going to use the Rabbit to go back in time and get set up in Mr. Agreste's office before he gets back anyway?"

"Go ahead," Marinette assured her. It wouldn't be a bad idea for her to do the same, actually, but mostly so that she could have a moment to talk to Tikki. It wasn't ideal that she was going to be going into the final battle with an unfamiliar Miraculous but, to be fair, if something went sideways she could always just add on her Ladybug transformation on top of the Bee. That would mean that her friends would know her identity, but, well.

She was the Guardian now, no one was going to be taking her Miraculous away. Besides, Hawkmoth's defeat was more important.

"Fantastic!" Flashing Marinette a grin, Alix darted out of the room, heading downstairs. Fluff floated eagerly after her, clearly excited to get to explore a bit.

A minute passed, and Marinette was starting to get jittery. She didn't like just sitting around and waiting and not getting something prepared. After a second, though, a light bulb went off in her head and Marinette stood up. "I'm going to go get some snacks for the kwamis. Alix is going to have to recharge Fluff after we jump back, and if anything drags on longer than we planned..."

"I'll come with!" Adrien volunteered, following Marinette towards her door. "It'll give me something to do, at any rate, beside just wondering what- what's going to happen to me once Father and Nathalie are in jail. Like, I have my aunt and cousin as family, of course, but they don't exactly live nearby and I don't know how much I would want to stay with them."

"We have a guest room," Marinette told Adrien as she pulled open the fridge. She knew that Fluff liked carrots and Pollen was a fan of honey in particular but anything sweet was good, and- well, the kwamis might prefer certain foods but they could eat anything, and so Marinette just had to get stuff that was easy enough to bring along. Outside, another fire truck zipped past. "And I know my parents would be willing to have you, too. They like you a lot."

A smile finally reappeared on Adrien's face. "I like them, too. I'd like that."

"All right, I'm back!" Alix announced, bounding back into the room. "Let's go kick some Hawkbutt-"

"You're doing what now?"

All three teens froze as Mrs. Cheng's voice rang through the room, and then Alix whipped around, wide eyes giving away the fact that she apparently hadn't noticed Marinette's mom following her back to the living room. Pollen and Longg vanished behind Adrien and Marinette, and Fluff followed suit a little too late. Mrs. Cheng's eyes followed the white blur, and then narrowed. "What was that? And why am I smelling smoke? And- oh good, Adrien, you're all right, thank goodness."

Marinette and Adrien exchanged a look, and Marinette could feel her heart racing. Her mom wouldn't want them going after Hawkmoth and would call it too dangerous- which, okay, maybe it was a bit dangerous, but they could do it just fine- but they couldn't not go, now that they knew. It would be more dangerous for Adrien to have to go back to his father's house when he had the information that he did. If he got upset by the betrayal again and his father decided to akumatize him...

That would be super dangerous. If Hawkmoth could get any information from an akumatized Adrien, Marinette and her parents- and the Miracle Box- would be at risk.

No, they couldn't do that. Surely, if they told her parents- and there was going to be no lying to get out of this one, her mom was definitely on their tracks- they could understand that, and let the three of them go.

Maybe. Possibly. And that comment about Adrien being all right- well, maybe that meant that they had been allowed and their attack was attracting a bit of attention. There was no other reason why her mom would say that, right?

"We found out that my father is Hawkmoth," Adrien blurted, apparently having come to a similar conclusion. "And we, uh, were going to go confront him."

"With superpowers!" Alix added quickly, pulling Fluff out. "Not, like, as regular people, that would be crazy. And we're going back in time to ambush him before he expects it, and- oh, Marinette already took Mayura down, so it would be three against one. In theory. Unless she's stayed an akuma and somehow un-froze."

Mrs. Cheng had gone pale, managing to make it over to the kitchen table before sinking into a chair. "Your father- Hawkmoth- Marinette did what?"

Alix cringed and mouthed 'sorry' at Marinette.

"Did I hear something about Marinette taking Mayura down?" Mr. Dupain cut in eagerly, appearing around the doorframe, and Marinette narrowly restrained herself from facepalming. Of course her dad would be super-excited about that. "Or did my ears deceive me?"

"And Mr. Agreste is Hawkmoth," Mrs. Cheng said weakly. "And these three want to go attack him."

"Well, they have the Peacock now, don't they?" Mr. Dupain asked, ignoring the look that his wife shot him. "So they have a Miraculous to use-"

A small smile slid onto Adrien's face. "Marinette stole the Bee from Chloe and an entire box of other Miraculous from Hawkmoth, too, so we have a bunch of Miraculous to choose from."

Her parents' gazes immediately shot to Marinette, a combination of horror and glee. Mr. Dupain reacted first.

"Can I come along, too?"

"Tom!"

"Darling, think about it!" Mr. Dupain implored. "If there's more of us, then there's a better chance that we can overpower Hawkmoth safely. And if he's without his backup, then the chances of us succeeding..." He paused, then continued. "And think of how much safer Adrien and Paris will be without Hawkmoth out and about."

Mrs. Cheng wavered. "But Tom, they're kids."

"And you've commented before on how young Ladybug and Chat Noir look," Mr. Dupain reminded her. Mrs. Cheng finally sighed.

"Okay. I'll permit it if we can use a Miraculous as well."

"Marinette, your parents are so cool," Alix said, a wide grin spreading across her face. "C'mon, we can explain the Miraculous we have to you and you can decide what powers you want to have. We could definitely use someone on defense." She paused. "And, uh, is it just me, or am I hearing a lot of sirens nearby?"

  It didn't take long for them to get Marinette's parents set up with Miraculous. Her dad went for the Turtle- "A shield is always a good thing!"- and her mom for the Snake, just in case.

"Having a redo button puts my mind at ease," she told them as they gathered in the middle of Marinette's room, all transformed and ready. Bunnyx was double-checking times so they would arrive while Mr. Agreste and Nathalie were out. "I won't be trigger-happy Marinette, I promise, but if I see any blood..."

Bumblebee nodded. That made her more relaxed, too, since so much of her team was made up of rookies.

With one last check to make sure that everyone knew what their powers were, Bunnyx whisked them into the past. As quietly as possible (and with a little bit of a struggle to get the transformed Mr. Dupain and his shield through Marinette's skylight), they took off through the sky, heading over to the Agreste mansion. They landed on the roof, glancing around for a way in. Mushu spotted an opening first.

"There's a hole in the roof," Mushu announced, waving them over. He peered inside before dropping in. His voice echoed up from inside. "And it's full of butterflies, and-" His voice turned disgusted. "Oh, of course he has spooky mood lighting. Of course he does."

Bunnyx snorted. "Adrien, couldn't you have looked inside before jumping in? Just because Cobra has resets doesn't mean that you can stop thinking before you leap."

"I told you, it's Mushu!"

"And I already told you, you have to think up a name that isn't just a rip-off from a Disney film or I'm just going to call you by your normal name!"

"Kids, let's please just get in before someone spots us," Cobra said with a sigh. Bunnyx sighed back as she hopped down into the lair.

"Okay, wanting to be inspired by famous dragons I get! But why go for Mushu when you have Smaug as a possibility?"

"The color scheme doesn't work!"

"Oh my god, you're such a dweeb. Bumblebee, tell Adrien he's being a dweeb."

Bumblebee couldn't hide her giggle. "I think it's cute- I mean! The name, and the connection, and, uh, the costume is also nice but- um." She cut herself off before she could start flailing too much. They needed to focus. She might not have her spots right now, but she needed to be in superhero mode. She took a deep breath, then continued. "Okay, so when Hawkmoth returns, he'll be coming in from that window, presumably. He'll have Nathalie- and she's been akumatized, but if he comes back fast enough then in theory Sting won't have worn off yet on her, so she'll be more of a hindrance than a help."

"Right," Mushu said right away. "And he'll probably drop in like-" He hopped up on the wall, demonstrating. "So if we stand by the wall here, then Hawkmoth won't be able to see us and he won't have any heads-up about our ambush."

"I feel like I should be concerned about how prepared you two are for this," Cobra said with a sigh, but followed Mushu's instruction. "Just was are they teaching you kids in school these days?"

Bunnyx grinned, even as she found a corner to hide in. "Battle strategy is all the rage in Paris classrooms right now, don'cha know?"

They fell into silence, all waiting anxiously for Hawkmoth's return. Bumblebee flipped open her top, pulling up a live news feed. There would no doubt be a little delay between when the fire started and the news broke out, but there should be something fast enough that they would get a bit of a heads-up-

"Bumblebee, I can see your past selves on my Paris map," Mushu piped up, coming over to stand next to her. "Can you tell by the way they're moving when Hawkmoth would be leaving the hotel?"

"If Bumblebee and Bumblebun are showing up at all, he'll be leaving soon," Bumblebee said at once. "All of that went pretty quickly. I mean, from transformation to grabbing the box to leaving..."

All of them fell quiet, listening anxiously and pressing themselves back against the wall to try to make themselves as hidden as possible. Bumblebee's eyes scanned around the room, trying to figure out if there were any hidden traps or anything else they needed to watch out for. That seemed like a very villain-y thing to do, to have his lair full of traps and other things just in case the superheroes found him. Nothing stuck out, but it was possible that things were just hidden.

She was very, very glad that her mom had picked the Snake. If anything went wrong, they could just reset and Cobra could give them a heads-up on the traps.

"It's been over five minutes," Mushu whispered. He shifted next to Bumblebee, his nerves clearly rising, and she reached out to take his hand. "He probably decided to hide, so that the Sting would wear off and they wouldn't be so obvious coming back. Otherwise they would be back by now- the Grand Paris is literally next door."

Bumblebee nodded. "There's so many people outside the Grand Paris right now, and all the lights there are on. The chance of someone seeing him come back, especially with what's essentially a human-sized board..."

It made sense. Maybe she had been surprised at first, but if Hawkmoth had gone directly home after leaving the hotel, she and Adrien would definitely have heard something on their walk back to her house. After all, Marinette didn't live that far from Adrien, either.

"So we'll have two supervillains to contend with instead of just the one," Tanker filled in. He was still in his action stance, shield out in front of him. "Five against two, not bad!"

"Tom."

They fell into silence again, listening closely. Bumblebee checked the news on her trompo again, watching the live coverage of the Grand Paris fire. It was well under control now, with just a few flickering flames still being stomped out, and Chloe had been rescued from her balcony. She had clearly moved from fury to shock and fear.

Bumblebee tried her best not to smirk. Now Chloe knew that someone out there knew that she had still been using the Bee, and it was only a matter of time before the police found out, too, and Chloe's perfectly perfect world would fall apart.

For Adrien's sake, Bumblebee hoped that Chloe would get the help she needed to be a better person. Marinette had seen a glimmer of hope at one point there, but then Chloe had decided to regress straight back to her old ways. With some actual punishment...

A thud on the roof made all of them startle, and then Hawkmoth was dropping in through the window. Even with the awkward angle and low lighting, Bumblebee could see the stress written across his face.

"The Box and the Bee and the Peacock, all gone," Hawkmoth was muttering as he landed, akuma-Nathalie right on his heels. "At least I thought to bring along a butterfly in case- gah!"

Bunnyx led the attack, followed by Mushu and Tanker. Bumblebee followed, getting her trompo into a yo-yo-like spin. Hawkmoth staggered backwards for a second, taken by surprise, but recovered soon enough, both him and Nathalie recovering fast enough and countering as best they could.

Well. Trying to, at any rate. Hawkmoth had been able to knock Bunnyx aside, which wasn't a surprise considering how much experience (and height) he had on her, but Nathalie had found herself well and truly bowled over by Tanker, thrown to the opposite side of the room. Mushu had stepped into Bunnyx's place, and was holding his own much better, even pushing his father back a little bit.

Hawkmoth ducked a blow and reached for his pocket with his free hand, snarl on his face. "Thieves!"

"Oh, that's rich coming from you," Mushu quipped, dealing another strike. Bumblebee circled around him, looking for a good angle to strike. They were moving too much right now, and she didn't want to accidentally hit Adrien. "Isn't your entire thing trying to steal the Miraculous from Ladybug and Chat No-"

"Missiles in the walls!" Cobra yelped suddenly. "Mushu, fry them!"

"Lightning!"

Bumblebee couldn't help but yelp as all of a sudden, fire filled her vision and the floor buckled as- from what she could gather- dozens and dozens of missiles exploded aimlessly. All seven of them tumbled down, dodging chunks of metal and concrete and wood. Bumblebee kicked into autopilot, kicking off of debris as she turned her downwards tumble into something more controlled. Her parents and Bunnyx weren't faring nearly as well, which wasn't a surprise, akuma-Nathalie seemed too stunned to dodge, and Mushu was still in lightning form, which just left Hawkmoth.

Hawkmoth, who hadn't seen active combat nearly as much as Ladybug had. Narrowing her eyes in focus, Bumblebee vaulted over one last twisted chunk of metal as she called for her Sting. Mushu rematerialized on Hawkmoth's other side at just the right time, distracting him, and Bumblebee slammed in for the hit, her aim true.

Success.

"Victory," Mushu announced grimly, snagging the Butterfly off of Hawkmoth's chest and then bouncing back out of range automatically- not that it was necessary, with Hawkmoth immobilized. Behind them, Bunnyx and Cobra were digging Nathalie- who was still akumatized, thankfully, and therefore protected- out from under the debris, with Tanker helping with the larger pieces. "You're finished, Hawkmoth."

"Hell yeah, team!" Bunnyx cheered from where she stood. "Take that, Hawkbutt!"

"I'm calling the police," Tanker called, holding his shell-shield up to his ear. It looked a bit awkward, but he didn't seem to mind too much. "They can take these two off of our hands. And- oh gosh- uh, there's a couple places that have caught on fire. Mushu, those are electrical fires, I think, so we should probably-"

"I know where to find fire extinguishers!" Mushu offered. He pocketed the Butterfly and caught Bumblebee's hand, pulling her along. "D'you think that Ladybug's Cure would fix all this, since Nathalie is technically akumatized right now?"

Bumblebee could only shrug. Honestly, she didn't know. Technically, the akuma had nothing to do with the giant, gaping hole in the Agreste mansion, but the Cure had taken liberties with fixing things before. It was worth a try.

For now, though, they had to put the fires out.

It didn't take long for emergency personnel to arrive, probably because so many had been practically next door at the Grand Paris and the lair's explosion hadn't exactly been subtle. Fire trucks pulled past the gate, rather harried-looking firefighters hopping out with police cars not far behind them. A police helicopter circled above, and beyond all of the emergency personnel, Bumblebee could see reporters pulling up, no doubt itching for their second fire-related story of the evening. They kept their distance for the time being, but no doubt would be pouring in the second that the police gave an all-clear.

"We have two people for you to take, sir," Tanker told the first policeman pleasantly, pushing Nathalie through the rubble in front of him. The stiff form of Mr. Agreste was slung over his shoulder. Behind them, Cobra helpfully contained the fluttering akuma in a jar that she had found, miraculously undamaged among the rubble. "Hawkmoth and Mayura. The Peacock Miraculous was recovered earlier this evening, and we got the Butterfly just now."

"Oh, uh..." The young policeman floundered for a second, clearly thrown by the new superheroes and the information. His hands reached for his belt, automatically pulling the handcuffs off. "R-right, of course. But, ah, I'll need to take statements-"

"Of course." Tanker smiled, clearly not about to give an inch. "Cobra and I can do that. The kids need to go- they've all used their powers, you know how it is. But I can tell you what I know."

Bumblebee nodded when her dad shot a look her way. It was obvious that he wanted Adrien out of the area, before the adrenaline from the fight gave way to realization of the full extent of his father's betrayal and he could actually react to that, or to the also emotional realization that his home was in ruins at the moment, the entire center blasted to bits by the misfiring missiles.

Maybe it could be fixed with a Miraculous Ladybug later, but it had to be a bit of a shock to see the familiar entrance hall to his house in such shape. Bumblebee briefly considered leaving Adrien with Alix once they got back to the house and returning as Ladybug to help with the arrest and see what could be done with the house, but it only took a moment before she decided against it.

Adrien needed his friends right now. With the Butterfly back in safe hands- well, everything else could wait.

 The news of Mr. Agreste's arrest and secret identity as Hawkmoth broke the next morning as the sun rose over Paris. It spread quickly, one news outlet after the updating the breaking story and changing the explosion at the mansion from a general interest piece to a headline. The motives were still unclear (or at least unconfirmed; anyone with a brain could look at Mr. Agreste and then at the case of his missing wife and see that that was a pretty obvious motive) and his secretary had also been taken into custody, confirmed as Mayura.

And, strangest of all, it hadn't been Ladybug and Chat Noir who had brought about his defeat. It was a team of completely new, never-seen-before superheroes, which was causing considerable amounts of confusion, speculation, and even outright alarm.

The Miraculous, of course, had (almost) all been seen before- the Bee and the Snake and the Turtle and the Dragon, and there were a couple people who swore that they had once seen a version of the Rabbit, too, just taller- but the people wielding them were all different.

Were they connected to Ladybug and Chat Noir, or independent operators? Where were the city's superheroes? Were the new superheroes connected to the fire at the Grand Paris? What if these new superheroes weren't actually superheroes and had just stolen the Miraculous for their own means?

Alix snorted at that last bit. As if Marinette would ever used the Miraculous for unsavory reasons. She was far too straight-laced for that. And Adrien- well, he had insisted on coming along to help defeat his father, determined to help right some of his father's wrongs. It would be hard to get much more noble than that, which meant that the speculation in some of the less-reputable tabloids about how much Adrien might know was even more infuriating.

Alix was going to start throwing hands at anyone who suggested that Adrien might have known about his father being Hawkmoth. It was just- it was disgusting. She had to wonder if Adrien would end up revealing exactly how involved he had been with the final battle (the final ambush?), or if he would decide that going in a different direction to thoroughly prove his innocence would be a better idea. It probably depended on what the press was saying about him, and if the journals that the police had found in their overnight search of the mansion about Mr. Agreste's on-the-side activities said anything about who did and didn't know about his identity.

(Alix was also really, really hoping that the journals had some record of who was going to get Miraculous from Hawkmoth. If Adrien and Marinette were right about Lila...well, things like that couldn't just go unpunished.)

(Speaking of which... well, presumably Marinette (or Bumblebee, in case she didn't want to deal with Mr. Bourgeois trying to press charges for arson, because he totally would) would be turning over the footage from Chloe's meeting with Hawkmoth today, and then that could get punished, and Hawkmoth's comments would open the path for the police to search for that second name, if they hadn't already found it.)

The breaking, ever-updating news was the reason- aside from the fact that she wasn't emotionally exhausted like Adrien, or naturally a late sleeper like Marinette- Alix was already up, sitting with her back propped against Marinette's giant stuffed cat and scrolling through her phone, resolutely ignoring the way that the class chat was blowing up. It had been going strong ever since the fire at the Grand Paris, and now- hours and hours later- the messages had piled up like mad.

She had glanced at them briefly, but exited out pretty quickly after she saw Lila trying to claim partial credit for Mr. Agreste's discovery and the formation of the new team of superheroes. At least Alix would be able to catch Adrien and Marinette up to what was being said once they woke up.

With that thought, Alix glanced over to the side. Next to her, Adrien and Marinette were still fast asleep, curled up next to each other in a tangle of blankets. Marinette's bed had been a bit cramped with all three of them sleeping in it- it was clearly meant for one person, not three- but Adrien had clearly needed to be near people and it could have been a little weird if Marinette and Adrien were in a bed together by themselves. Besides, Alix hadn't exactly wanted to leave after the excitement of the previous night, either, and she wanted to be there to help in case Adrien got nightmares or something, which- well, if she was in his position and helped get her dad arrested and blew up half the family home and found out that her dad was Hawkmoth, she would definitely be getting nightmares.

At least Marinette had been the recipient of most of Adrien's thrashing around when he was getting settled. She was way more patient than Alix would have been if she had been the one getting kicked that much, and it was honestly a bit of a wonder that she had been able to drop off at all.

Maybe Marinette had just been too tired to care. After all, while Alix had been involved with the whole Hawkmoth takedown, that had been pretty short compared to Marinette's earlier stakeout in Chloe's room, plus the double dose of excitement with stealing the Miraculous twice over with an assist from the Rabbit. That must have taken a huge amount of focus and on-the-spot planning and confidence that she could do it- and not an ounce of hesitation in her step, or she would have failed.

Alix had expected that Adrien would probably be pretty kickass with a Miraculous even if it was his first time out, thanks to his training, but Marinette had been crazy amazing, taking to it like a natural.

Alix knew that she was going to be a permanent future Miraculous holder with Ladybug and Chat Noir, but she was going to have to petition them to see if Adrien and Marinette could be holders, too. If they had been that good for their first time out, she could only imagine what they might be like with a bit of training.

At that thought, Alix's eyes narrowed, watching as Adrien burrowed deeper into Marinette's embrace, his hair long since mussed out of his normal tamed style and into the messiest of bedheads. Or had it been their first times out? There were too many things that didn't quite sit right with her about their explanations, things that were rushed past and never fully explained or waved off with the world's thinnest excuse.

How both Adrien and Marinette separately found out about Chloe's meeting with Hawkmoth. How they already seemed to know about what Miraculous had what powers, even ones that hadn't ever been used. How they knew about kwami names and- in Marinette's case, with Bumblebun- kwami fusion.

Some things, of course- mostly Marinette's knowledge- could potentially be explained by Pollen telling her things quickly in order to get the Grand Paris Ambush pulled off successfully. But that much information, in as much detail as Marinette clearly knew, wasn't exactly a fast field briefing. Add in the fact that both Adrien and Marinette seemed to automatically know that Alix would go for the Rabbit, when only Ladybug and Chat Noir had been close enough to see and hear everything with Future Bunnyx- and had she ever actually told them what name she wanted to use, or had they just assumed?

Almost subconsciously, Alix's eyes slid down to Adrien's hand, where a silver ring sat on one finger, then up to Marinette's ears, where plain, dark earrings sat. Maybe it was just a coincidence, of course, but Alix knew that Marinette had always rotated her earrings before Ladybug's appearance, either wearing none at all or trying out experimental ones that she had made herself, and that ring looked like it was pretty much the same size and shape as Chat Noir's Miraculous. Add in the fact that neither Ladybug nor Chat Noir had showed up to the final battle, even though their team definitely hadn't been subtle about it with the whole blow-up-half-a-mansion thing, and the fact that both Adrien and Marinette were crazy (or driven) enough to separately come up with the idea to steal the Bee from Chloe, and their curiously timed absences...

Well. It might be a coincidence, but something told Alix that she was probably on the right track.

Smiling to herself, Alix went back to scrolling through her phone. She wasn't going to confront the other two, not right now. Adrien was already reeling from the dual reveal from his father and Nathalie, plus the arrest (and Alix wouldn't be surprised if there was probably more news about his family to come), and Marinette's full energy was focused on helping with that. Alix also wasn't going to breathe a word of this to anyone.

(Unlike Alya, she actually understood the importance of keeping secret identities, and not just her own secret identity.)

Hawkmoth's arrest and his identity reveal was going to be the news of the month, if not the year. Alix was sure that new breaks in the case and speculation about the other superheroes would dominate the headlines for a while, keeping it fresh in the city's mind. Their entire class (minus, of course, the wannabe supervillains) would have to rally around Adrien, she suspected, and make sure that no one bothered him. Alix could arrange that, maybe, and let Marinette focus on helping Adrien heal.

Alix glanced down at her sleeping friends one more time, smiling as she did. They looked so innocent and peaceful right now, not at all like the fierce heroes yesterday who had played such a giant role in taking down two supervillains. They would have to go out again later, no doubt- the police still wanted to talk to all of the superheroes involved in the takedown, and of course Marinette had evidence to turn over (and, if Alix was right about her assumptions, they would have to make appearances as Ladybug and Chat Noir later on)- but for now, she would let them sleep.

After everything, they deserved it.

[bluepenguinstories]

Happiness Overload Chapter Sixty-Four

I bobbed my head to and fro. Then I decided to practice my speech in front of the designated villain:

“So you have me in your sights. Nowhere for me to run. You can complete your goal, become all-powerful, and more than anything, be satisfied.”

“Something doesn’t feel right,” he muttered as if he were in a Tom Waits song. “I’m supposed to work for this. You’re just giving in.”

“Are you mad that I haven’t experienced the full extent of despair and hopelessness? But you should have known that me having Euphoria within me, that it would be impossible for me to feel anything other than happy.”

“That’s not it. I need to earn it.”

He spoke with such clarity as if all of his jumbled thoughts had been formed because during every moment of his existence, he longed for the one he found himself in.

“You have! You’ve worked very hard and your efforts should go rewarded! You should know, vore isn’t one of my fetishes, but I’m open to try new things.”

“Heh,” his smile once again rest plastered on his face, and I could make out a faint whiff of a chuckle. “It’s as if our personalities have reversed.”

“Not at all! I am, after all, the blank slate!”

“I don’t get it. I must have won. I already know you won’t try to resist. I’ve done everything up until this point and once I devour you and take your power, I can finally rest. But then...why does it feel like I’ve lost?”

I shrugged my shoulders. I almost wanted to shout with glee, but it wasn’t quite time yet.

“I’d say ‘sometimes you just gotta take that L’, but...it’s not really like that. As we speak, The Flashbulb is dissolving. They were an enemy of yours, weren’t they? And if not for the events which you orchestrated, their plans for this world wouldn’t have been foiled. So you won.”

In fact, seeing as things were about to end, I was more than a little curious how things were going back there now that I wasn’t able to support Velvet or any of the other friends I might have made along the way.

That was it, huh? Blanc was gone once again, and in their place was the reality of the situation: that things weren’t quite over yet. No, I already knew that. I was a fool to believe that things would be so easy. As soon as Blanc left, the fight was back on, with a glint of smugness in the eyes of the Flashbulb members. I knew I had to act, but I was still trying to process everything. My friend, gone once more. How many times has it been? Hell, it didn’t even matter. The impact was the same each time.

“Now that that’s out of the way, let’s go ahead and turn back time,” Dr. Humble declared, and that was the moment when I was broken from my trance. I jumped in front of the two Flashbulb members, and whether they were in charge of the whole operation or not didn’t matter much to me. In its own twisted way, it seemed like every member was equal measure all powerful and powerless against the other members. Less a check and balance and more two magnets in the same direction, unable to connect.

Look, the metaphor was better in my head.

Either way, I snatched it out from Dr. Humble’s grasp, and while Dr. Asparagus (or Modest. Potato, tomato. Same difference) tried to fight back and restrain me, I fought back and shoved my elbow into his stomach and stomped on his shoe. Both of them gasped now as I held their device in my hands, and I retreated back toward Coriander.

“What’s the deal?” Dr. Humble protested. How ironic, considering the position of power they held.

“You said yourself that you couldn’t turn back time until the ‘celestial’ or whatever you wanna call it this time is dies along with Earth!” I fired back at them. I didn’t know how to use their time travel device, nor did I care to. Perhaps if my endeavor proved fruitful, however eventual, Coriander and I could work together to find a new purpose for the device. As much as I didn’t want to fixate on it, there was a certain air that things were much less certain ever since Blanc departed.

“Please, that world of yours will come to an end whether we create a new timeline or not, so why not just start now?” Dr. Asparagus argued, his voice with the same smugness one would expect from a moldy piece of asparagus.

“I’ll be the one to decide that!” I declared, and maybe I didn’t have a reason to and maybe he was right, but damn it, this wasn’t just a battle over time preferences, but a battle over power.

When Coriander finally spoke, having been in the background the whole time, motionless, just as dazed as I was sure that I was, she sounded the least confident of all.

“What are we supposed to do now?” She asked. “I wanted to be able to return to the world.” She sounded like she was about to get choked up.

Now’s not the time to lose confidence, I wanted to tell her, but it wasn’t like I was any more hopeful.

“Velvet?” Her voice came in once more.

As soon as Coriander said that name, a screen popped up in the air with my likeness, as well as a series of writing.

“Ah, so that’s who you are,” Dr. Humble was now the one to sound smug. Quite a big deal of humblebragging, I’d say. “You’ve been a nuisance throughout your adult life, haven’t you? Governments have embellished stories of you, making you out to be some larger than life threat, when really, you’ve just spent much of your time with reckless impulses. All of your feats seem to be nothing more than lucky breaks. So insignificant to us, that when figured into the dangers of humanity, you’re not even a thought.”

Sheesh. You get your own Wikipedia page and all of a sudden everyone thinks they got you figured it out. Much of what that profile says about me could be applied to The Flashbulb themselves. Embellished? Check. Larger than life? Check. Nothing but lucky breaks? Also check.

“Is any of that wrong?” He asked me, as if he already thought himself correct.

“I mean, sure, I’ve definitely thought that way about myself,” I shrugged. Maybe it was the whole “nothing left to lose” attitude, but hearing such an amusing report gave me quite the ego boost. “People thinking I was some badass secret agent, when really, I just got where I was through a series of fuck ups. It could be that everything that has brought me here was due to countless lucky breaks, as well.”

They both laughed. I didn’t dare look through the corner of my eye, but I suspected there was a great fear and apprehension from my dear lover.

“I can’t believe this! We were scared over nothing! Nothing!” Both of the two men began to cackle, less like witches and more like they just discovered fire. An ever-widening crooked smile crept on Dr. Humble’s face as he spoke: “I’ll tell you two, hell, if Dr. Katsushika can hear us, I’ll tell that damned wild card as well! We as an organization are eternal! Countless others before you have tried to defeat us, all ending in utter failure to the point where we started to view having enemies as routine! And with that in mind, you thought you had a chance?”

True, they had an impressive track record against their opposition, but something about their speech of villainy just irked me.

“You’re right on that count, too,” I conceded. “We may not survive, either. Hell, I’m willing to bet our chances are slim to none.”

“Velvet!” Coriander scolded. Or maybe that’s what I interpreted from her tone. My head could be a real mess sometimes. But I knew why she would have scolded me, if that was the case. I mean, she didn’t want to die. Nor did I. Plus, it probably sounded to her like I was giving up or admitting defeat. Easy mistake to make, especially when I was less focused on communication and more focused on what should come next.

“That said, even with low chances like those, I’m still going to try and I’ll keep trying so long as I live. You’re probably thinking that all my luck has run out, but I have to ask: are you willing to test yours?”

Without so much as a reaction, Dr. Mumble (err...not Humble, but the other one) reached for one of the buttons on their console and spoke into it.

“Guards, dispose of these two intruders at the front.”

“Loud and clear,” a guard at the other end responded. At once, my heart both ceased to beat, for even just a second, and then it beat way too fast.

“It shouldn’t take them more than a few minutes to get here,” Dr. Microbe (like hell I was going to dignify that Flashbulb goon with their name) explained. “Especially with their numbers. You made a valiant effort, but when all is said and done, it won’t be so much as a footnote in a small section of our history.”

“How?” I balled my fists. They shook and I had to be careful not to crush the time travel device I held in my hand. It wasn’t like I knew how to use it, nor would I turn back time. As lucky as I may have been at times, I still preferred to do things on my own terms. “Popsigirl should have disabled all communications!”

“You’ll find that much like the code to Dr. Etna, much of our system constantly rewrites itself and corrects any errors along the way. Even if communication was temporarily cut off, it was never going to last long.”

Tenser than before, Coriander once again asked, “what do we do now, Velvet?”

I turned to her. As I did, I noticed something else. Call it keen eyesight, or potential for yet another lucky break, but I had to take any chance I could.

“I’m not going to ask you to trust me,” my words were just as shaky as hers had been. “Not when things are looking the way they are. But I will ask for you to check that wall next to you. If you find a panel, well, you know what to do.”

At first she gave me a baffled look, like “English, motherfucker!” But then she nodded.

“Are you sure?” She asked.

“You’re as capable a hacker as I.” While I knew her specialty was more hardware than software, there was a certain amount of blind faith that I had to employ. Not to say I doubted her abilities, but that I had my doubts that anything could have helped us at that point.

While Coriander got to work with visible frustration, it appeared that Humble and Modest (screw it, just this once) weren’t living up to their names.

“Even if you two manage to figure a way out of here, what then? Like always, the predator becomes the prey, and here you are, on the defensive,” one of them spoke. Did it matter which one? I sure as hell didn’t think so. “Even if we were to lose all of our members, we could just recruit new versions of those same people in another timeline! You could kill us right now, in fact, and so long as one of us lives to bring new members in, what can you do? You’re fighting a losing battle!”

Talk it up. Every second you guys waste running your mouths gives me that much more time.

“Got it!” Coriander declared. I turned to see an opening beside us. Hell, as soon as I saw that, I couldn’t help but show off a sly grin.

“Well, not to be as cliché as you guys have been, but as they say, ‘we’ll deal with you later!’”

I shoved the time travel device into my pocket and ran into the opening along with Coriander. As we did so, the wall closed behind us and the two of us were surrounded in darkness. I’ve spent many nights by her side with the lights off, so that moment seemed like nothing to me.

“Good job, bae,” I put my thumbs up. Being as dark as it was, I had to be careful not to stick my thumb up her nose on accident.

“I’m surprised I managed to figure out something, I mean, it was tricky and even then, if we hesitated even just a second more, it might have closed on us.”

“Ugh,” I felt nauseous with what I was about to say next.

“What?”

“It really is the case that every second counts,” I said, just as I knew I would. Oh, the cliché. Oh, the disgust that was mediocre dialogue.

“Oh yeah. Gross,” she dismissed. “I think we’ve got more on our plate than rhetoric.”

We continued to move forward as we spoke. Any second, those guards would enter the room, and I was sure that both her and I knew that it would only take an instant on their end for that same wall to open up for them. We had to be on the move and figure out a strategy. I was aware of the real possibility that they could hear and catch every word we said, but I think our greatest asset was that we didn’t really know what we were going to do next. Really kept them on their toes.

“We can’t return to the world we knew,” her worries spilled forth. “It will still end, regardless of what we do. We can’t even get rid of the angel without having the world be destroyed in the process. I can’t stop thinking about this. How there’s nothing we could do. Bitterly, I already knew that, but I wanted so bad to believe there was a solution where we could reverse course and come out victorious. So what now?”

I gulped. My, how easy it was to give in to despair. I didn’t think she was quite there yet, but I wouldn’t have blamed her if she was.

“It’s easy,” I spoke up, at last thinking that I had an answer. “I know we didn’t get the most satisfying outcome, so now we try for the next best thing.”

I couldn’t tell whether she nodded in agreement, or if my words didn’t inspire much confidence, as with the total darkness, there was any number of ways one could interpret silence. Regardless, we continued to move forward.

We were on our way to bear the bad news when we both heard the announcement. It meant nothing to me, but it shook Dr. Hepburn to her core. She did a little jig, then turned to me and began poking my shoulders with such intensity and I was left wondering why I kept letting her.

“Hey. Psst! Hey.”

“Yes, HR lady?” I smiled. I couldn’t help but imagine that if I were in her position, I’d act the same way.

“You know that feeling when you go around giving people false hope but then you find out that hope is even more false than you realized?”

I shook my head.

“That’s how you’re feeling right now, huh?” I replied.

“Yeah!” She pumped her fists. “Everyone wants to be Grandmaster Flash, but there is no Grandmaster Flash, so everyone’s been vying for a false position at a false top!”

“Right, and I only like true tops,” I joked.

“Sorry,” she looked down and shook her head. “I’m not a fan of hierarchy. In fact, in some ways, this is quite a relief to me.”

“How so?”

“Because now everyone’s morale will be shifted from super low to super high...in your guys’ favor! They’re probably all pissed right now, like they’ve been cheated! Well, the ones who weren’t driven to despair, anyway.”

“Hmm...that’s one way to look at it, I suppose,” I wasn’t sure if that’s how things worked with people, but it seemed like a possibility.

“You know, I was always rooting for you guys,” she snapped her fingers.

“You were?”

“Well, once it turned out you guys were winning, anyway. If you guys were on the losing end of things, I’d be like ‘I wish they’d protest in a way that didn’t affect us’.”

“Gee, thanks,” I scoffed.

“Don’t mention it!” She held her thumb up and grinned.

Soon we entered a room and Dr. Hepburn had me sit next to her as she addressed a group.

“Greetings, I hope all of you in the Design Department are well,” she began. “I regret to inform you that going forward, your department will be laid off. The Flashbulb wishes you all the best in your future endeavors.”

All around the room were blank stares. I’m pretty sure I could be counted as one of those blank stares.

“All right, Hepburn. Cut the bullshit,” one member finally spoke up. Some gruff guy with a gray pompadour haircut.

“No, no, she’s serious,” I waved my hands out. That proved to be a mistake as the guy turned his attention toward me.

“First of all, no she isn’t. Everyone knows none of us get fired or laid off here. We’re stuck here ‘til the day we die, which usually entails us getting killed by someone. Second, who are you?”

Before I could answer, Dr. Hepburn tapped her pen away at her clipboard until his attention turned toward her instead, to which she took over.

“She is my auntie assistant,” she explained.

“What kind of sick roleplay…” I heard him muttered. I wanted to defend myself and go, “It’s not sick! It’s perfectly healthy!” But why would I when it wasn’t even roleplay?

“Anyway, I don’t know why you’re wasting your time with such an excuse when we already know the big secret. Hell, now that the cat’s out of the bag, a big lot of us are asking ourselves, ‘what was ever the point?’ I mean, the obvious point should have been, ‘to help each other improve one another’, but with this sham of a competition, it’s clear we’ve not really been a help to anyone, let alone ourselves.”

Hepburn’s tapping continued with such a frenzied intensity that I imagined she would make a great drummer, if she wasn’t already one to begin with. Maybe if I got the chance, I could convince her to take up the drums. But then maybe she wouldn’t be into that sort of thing. It’s the thought that counts, anyway, right?

Then the tapping stopped and she smiled a big smile.

“Good! Now you know why you’re being laid off!”

“Oh for crying out loud!” He got up from his chair and flew into a rage.

“Anyway, now that you’re no longer with the company, wanna burn it down?” Dr. Hepburn suggested.

He froze in place.

“You know what? Yeah. I do. I’m sick of all the micromanaging and the way every department can’t seem to help but do more harm than good. Worse, I’m sick of hearing ‘Grandmaster Flash told you to’ when no, no they didn’t. That’s just an excuse to make me do something you didn’t want to do.”

I was glad he seemed to be on our side. Now there was just the matter of the rest of the Design Department…

I shot my hand up.

“Hey, is there someone here named Dr. Oz?” I looked around and asked. One of the members, a sheepish looking young man with mutton chops and a wool sweater turned to me.

“That me,” he bleated. I couldn’t help myself, I was beaming at the prospect that I could be a matchmaker.

“I met Dr. Phil!”

His eyes widened, like he had just seen a wolf. Jeez, I didn’t mean to put him on the spot like he was some sacrificial lamb.

“Did he say anything abaa-t me?”

“Yeah! He said that he thinks it would be great if you two worked together to rally up more departments! He said his department’s sick of this shithole and he bet he isn’t the only one!

“Did he really say that?” The pompadour guy interrupted, ever the skeptic.

He said some of those things. Look, I’m improvising here.

“Sure did! Who are you, anyway?”

He grunted. “I’m Dr. Toto. What about you? No more games, either.”

I bless the rains down the yellow brick road – no, now’s not the time for that. I have to think of how to answer. Probably not a good idea to make something up, but what else can I say?

“Dr. Hepburn, go ahead and tell them the truth. I’m still a little shy,” I tugged on her sleeve.

She looked down and smiled. She must have known just what to say.

“The truth is, Juniper is best girl.”

I just about fell back in my chair. I was rooting for you, Dr. Hepburn! We were all rooting for you! “Back in her original timeline, there was a contest all around the vote all around the world, and it was decided at the end that she was best girl. The company caught wind of this and just had to find out what all the hype was about, and so she was brought here. There was a raffle in the cafeteria with the grand prize being to meet her. Needless to say, I won.”

That had to be the among the top ten most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.

“Yeah, okay. Seems legit,” Dr. Toto grunted as he nodded.

There were two other members of the Design department, one of which had long, flowing fuchsia hair, and the other had short, iridescent indigo hair. Both of them were pretty, but if I had to choose one over the other...no. That wasn’t what I was there for.

The one with fuchsia hair turned to me.

“How did you do it? Become best girl?” Fuchsia’s voice was soft and soothing.

Way to put me on the spot, Hepburn.

“By starting a revolution!” I declared. Hey, if Dr. Hepburn was going to make a bold claim, so was I.

“Cheers, sis, I’ll fucking drink to that,” Indigo added, and if Fuchsia’s voice was beautiful, then Indigo’s voice was hot, with the way it was husky and self-assured. Still, I didn’t mean to compare the two.

“Anyway, we gotta get a move on and lay more people off. If you guys can work on getting the word out, we should at least have a few more departments on our side,” I explained. Dr. Hepburn gave me a pat on the head.

“You did well as an auntie assistant,” she told me.

“Thanks,” I blushed, though really I didn’t want my hair messed with.

As we left the room, we heard the siren call of an alarm.

“The guards…” I heard her mutter, and before I could react, she took me by the hand and we ran.

Well, wasn’t that just swell?

I mean, I should have expected it, really. If it happened just as planned, then I wouldn’t have found it to be such a masterpiece, just a simple work of art, instead. So revise, improvise. After all, you couldn’t spell painting without ‘pain’ and you couldn’t spell drawing without ‘aw’ and without a doubt, you couldn’t spell revolution without ‘vore’.

Once the alarms outside of my head went off, the alarms inside my head did as well.

Soon, I could hear the click-clack approaching the door to the command room I was in. Which command room? Did it matter? Why did we have so many command rooms? Beats me, but I was sure going to miss this place once it was all over. Which, ‘over’ was just an anagram of ‘vore’. I felt that was worth pointing out.

“Wah! Ha! Ha!” I let out a proud laughter as the door to was busted down and fine chiseled armored specimen stormed in with their suits of shiny metal and their heavy weapons. Each of them fell before they could even pull their itty bitty triggers. Turns out I was right to hold on to Cilantro’s laser backpack. That thing could pack a PUNCH with a capital ‘UNCH’.

As the three guards lay on the ground, I stood over them in triumph and announced:

“It’s just like the tools of the ruling class to be anti-creator. Well I’m here to tell you that I’m pro-creator, and I plan to procreate for as long as I live!”

I couldn’t just stand there over them, as much as that would have made for a fine work of art, as I wasn’t quite sure if they were dead. Yes, I could have fired another shot or three, just to make sure, but there was a beauty in the uncertainty of it all that I just had to relish in. I sniffed the air, which mostly smelled of the smoke produced from that laser blast.

“I was really hoping to catch the whiff of a charred corpse,” I sighed with disappointment. That mood didn’t last, and soon I was back on the drawing board. “Anyway! As they say in Spain, Seeyanara!”

If my calculations were correct (and while some may have thought calculus not to be my strong suit, they would be wrong, as not only was I not good at calculus, but calculating was an art, so being good or not was irrelevant) then Velvet and Lil C should be close. Good! I could return the cute backpack to its rightful owner.

We were still alive, but at a disadvantage. Sure, I could hack into stuff as well, although if someone were to ask me, Velvet was still better in that department. She could roll with the punches and think fast on her feet. Me? I needed total concentration.

At the moment, as we moved forward in pure darkness, concentration was the one thing I did NOT have. It’s not like I wanted to admit it, but it was the reality we were in: at any moment, the walls we found ourselves between would be blasted open and the two of us, shot down. It got me thinking about what our impact would have been. The “close, but not cigar” in terms of success stories of those who went against The Flashbulb? The little clone that could, until she didn’t? It’s not like I cared how I was remembered, if I was remembered at all, I just expected a little more.

Well, my worst fear came true: in front of us, a blast tore through the walls and we both jumped back.

We’re gonna get raided and we’re gonna get shot down without so much as a fight and we aren’t going to have any romantic last words between us it’s just going to be violent and bloody and –

Instead of an army of guards, only one figure entered, one who I wished I didn’t have to see again so soon: that mad artist.

“Smart thinking, you two! Making out while the enemy’s looking for you!” Were her first words upon us meeting, and I was not amused. In fact, I’m pretty sure I growled without so much as a word.

“Ha. I wish,” Velvet joked back, though by now I could tell that was just how Velvet acted when she was tense.

“Anyway, you two should get out of there. Don’t worry, I took care of the guards that were after you. Though there’s going to be a buttload more.”

“Is that the scientific term or…?” Velvet shot back.

Disregarding the useless small talk, we walked forward, through the new hole that was formed. Velvet first, me just behind her. There was no way I was going to trust that popsicle stick lover. Then again, she hurt Velvet before, too. Ugh. Just the thought of either of our wounds was enough to send shivers.

Light illuminated us (get it? Because...oh, who gives a shit?) as we stepped out. I still wanted to keep as much distance from that...you know. I selfishly wished that Velvet would do the same.

“Jeez, I can’t believe you guys didn’t defeat the bad guys yet? How hard could it be?” You-know-who (or you don’t, and if you don’t, lucky you) began questioning. Although not quite accusatory and more playful in tone.

“Gee, I don’t know. Army of guards, code that self-corrects, time travel devices, the list goes on,” Velvet was incensed, no longer playing around.

I didn’t look that artsy fartsy helper in the eye, but I was still compelled to speak up.

“I-It’s not just that!” My fists were balled. We didn’t have time to stand around and argue, but dammit, someone had to set the record straight gay. “So long as one Flashbulb members wishes to stay in power, then we may as well consider the whole thing a loss! They can always go back in time! This is the problem with the organization as a whole! Those guards may as well be members too, because even if they aren’t official members, they have a vested interest in killing anyone who threatens their power! What’s to stop them from forming a new Flashbulb? We can’t just go 75%!”

I began to huff and puff. Hyperventilate. Even though I didn’t see her face, as I refused to, I could just tell that she smiled in return.

“I see your point, and that’s why I’m saying, it’s easy to beat them! You just gotta send them back to their own time and leave them nothing in their possession! I don’t see what’s so hard about that!”

I didn’t give her a reply. I never wanted to speak to her, or around her again in the first place. But I spoke once and that was already too much.

“Now, this is a big organization, so there’s bound to be plenty of departments that don’t care about the lack of a Grandmaster Flash. In fact, they might have been elated when they heard that! You guys will probably have to deal with them. Well, you guys, or the ones who defect. I suspect there’s been a few departments who have been unhappy with this company for a while now, and probably want to tear the whole thing down. So you got that going for you.”

I heard every word, but none of them meant anything to me. Maybe they held significance, but I just let them flow in and out.

“I’ll be real with you guys, you’ll probably still need to kill some guards, unless you can strip them naked and send them flying to some deserted island. Either way, their bodies will have to go somewhere. I’m going to go help out these other departments who are on your side! I’ll be sending plenty of doctorates flying home!”

I looked down and noticed Velvet reach into her pocket and pull out the time travel device that she stole from Dr. Humble.

“I see what you’re saying, but I don’t even know how to use this thing,” she must have pointed to said device as she told Dr. Popsicle.

“Well gee, I’d help you figure it out, but I can already tell there’s more guards approaching.”

That was weird. I didn’t hear any. But then, I heard a little tap-tap sound in the back of my mind, and that could have been them in the distance.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out. You’re good at figuring things out under pressure. In fact, you should go back in that room you were in and kick those two men out.”

“Really? After we just left with our lives?” Velvet interrupted.

“What better way to practice a craft? As for you, Coriander…” Popsigirl spoke, and I felt like screaming for her not to say my name, but instead I said nothing. “I’ve come to return your backpack.”

I didn’t take it. Instead, Velvet took it and handed it to me. For what seemed like an eternity, I stood in place. Then, arms wrapped around me, the familiar arms that I’ve felt many times before, and I looked up.

“I get it,” Velvet whispered while still in her arms. “She’s gone now. You’re safe.”

“Right,” I nodded. “Let’s just go back there and show those two what’s what.”

At least if Twee-humble and Twee-modest wanted to put up a fight, I could fire my lasers. So for their sake, they should have played nice if they knew what was good for them.

In all my years, I never understood the hype with Audrey. Katharine, however, she was worth all the hype and then some. Really, where was the Katharine fandom when you needed them? If they wouldn’t show up, I would just have to be Special K.

Okay? Okay. Focus. OK? Right. Rikki-tikki...tic-tactile.

My auntie (no relation) assistant, Dr. Not-a-Doctor Juniper was right beside me as someone who just happened to be right beside me. Where were we? I think we were in hiding. In a closet or a broom room. Something about guns and guards and not wanting to die. That sounded about right.

“You look scared!” Junie B. Jones commented. Really, I heard that name somewhere before. Probably in a newspaper somewhere during some time period.

“I’m more than scared,” I assured her. “They probably don’t like traitors, just like they don’t like intruders.

“Well...that makes sense, I guess,” she gave it some thought. “I’ll be honest, I wish I had some kind of plan. I thought things were going pretty well back there with the Design Department, but now I’m losing hope again.”

“I know what you mean. It’s like a civil war here. Flashbulb vs. Flashbulb. It’s like we’re trying to pin each other down, but neither of us wants to be underneath the other.”

“...Did you have to phrase it that way?” She sounded concerned. I didn’t understand, and more than that, I didn’t think there was any other way to phrase it. It was just the reality of the situation.

Even in the darkened room, I could tell Juniper was sullen.

“The truth is...it seems like everyone’s doing their part, but I feel like I haven’t really done anything.”

“Don’t think of it that way! You came up with suggestions that probably wouldn’t have been implemented! I can tell you have a desire to help others, and sometimes that desire is good enough!”

“Gee, that’s real nice of you to say, but…” she looked away. “Is that really enough?”

I shrugged. “Who knows, but sometimes it is, so maybe one of these days, it will be!”

I pressed my ear against the door. From the sound of things, it seemed like all the commotion died down. Though the alarm kept sounding, there was nary a threatening aura to be heard.

I opened the door.

“I think we’re safe for now,” I told her.

Then, as if I just tempted fate (which hey, if I did, that’s pretty cool, I mean, it would have been bad for us, but it would also be just like one of those ironic lines in a movie), other faces met ours.

“Dr. Phil?” Juniper noticed one such face. Some chubbyish guy who looked ready to hit the hay. That was, until he smiled a big smile and right next to a human-shaped hay pile was Dr. Oz.

“Hey! Dr. Juniper! Look! Dr. Oz and I are a couple now!”

Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz shared a passionate kiss and everyone in the Marketing and Design department cheered.

“Don’t worry, I’m not a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Dr. Oz reassured us. “In fact, Dr. Phil and I have been spreading the word, just like you suggested, Juniper! We’ve got the Agriculture, the Housing, and the Clothing Department coming over to help us with possibly others on the way!”

Juniper smiled and I thought I saw a tear roll down her cheek, but she wiped it away, whatever it was she wiped away.

“I’m glad for you guys. I’m glad to have made some friends, even when I thought I’d make enemies and be scared for my life.”

I watched as those two departments and Juniper shared a hug with one another. Meanwhile, I had a No. 1 pencil in my mouth (a rarity. Most of them had been eked out of existence in favor of the inferior No. 2).

“Yeah, yeah, soak it in,” Dr. Toto cut the heartwarming moment short with a cross of his arms. “But we still gotta deal with those guards, as well as the departments that don’t want to defect.”

“Right. Good thing Dr. Glinda and I have constructed a shield to block any artillery,” Dr. Ozma declared.

“Dr. Glinda?” Juniper asked.

I pointed my tender pencil at the member of the design department with fuchsia hair.

“Oh! Fuchsia! So who is indigo?”

I wanted to burst into laughter. I never thought to call Dr. Ozma ‘Indigo’ before. I couldn’t help but think, “my name is Indigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to –” but I didn’t know where I was going with that.

“That’s Dr. ozma, Junebug.”

“Oh! Junebug! That’s a cute nickname!” Juniper grinned. With much brighter spirits, we charged on. I thought to let everyone know that it seemed like none of us had a clue where we were going, but I kept my mouth shut because nobody liked a buzzkill.

Anyway, things seemed to be going pretty fine and dandy. Some guards rushed in and after warning us to go back to our departments. Dr. Glinda and Dr. Ozma raised the protective barrier around the two groups. The next logical thing was the guards opening fire, but after their artillery was depleted, Juniper seemed to gain a new set of confidence and declared:

“We have gay and anime on our side!”

Those same guards ran up to us and tried to break the shield down by bashing their weapons against the shield. It seemed like that was actually working as I noticed our shield start to break. But before it broke fully, each of the guards fell to the ground. Dr. Toto looked confused, but once everyone saw who had taken the guards down, we all froze in fear: the dreaded Dr. Katsushika stood, with several giant marionette dolls beside her.

“Who let her out of her cage?” Dr. Glinda asked as she trembled.

“Coming out of my cage and I’ve been...doing...just…” Juniper muttered, her teeth chattered. Must have been a nervous tick of hers. Cute.

“Nice revolution you have there. Shame if something were to happen to it,” Dr. Katsushika grinned. We all got ready to scream and run, until that same artist laughed. “I’m just messing with you guys! I’m on your side! Let’s go!”

Relieved, we followed behind her. I recall Juniper asked Dr. Katsushika something like, “why’s everyone so scared of you?”

To which Dr. Katsushika replied, “People tend to think I’m evil, that’s all.”

“Aw, I’m sure you’re not that bad. You’re probably just misunderstood.”

“Right!” Dr. Katsushika agreed. “Just give me five, no, ten years, and I’ll be a full-fledged artist!”

It was really nice to see everyone come together, even if it was for the purpose of making us all break apart. Would our organization really be no more? And if so, what would that make me, then? That thought was fraught with a frailty I couldn’t fathom. Some eternal entity, falling. I hoped at least one of us could see the end, if not me, but for the moment, I chose to close my eyes and wait for whatever outcome.

Two figures sitting. Both of us humanoid. Both of us eager for it all to end. Neither of us human. Well, one may be, but at times I knew better. Then at times I knew worse. Even to the bitter end, I couldn’t keep myself consistent.

“I never really cared whether The Flashbulb was defeated or not,” I said once I managed a split hair of clarity. “I always considered them too easy a target. Anger was fine, but anger wouldn’t last me. My true frustration was finding something that would.”

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, or none of the above, looked down on me. Not with pity, not in contempt, but just because they sat on a rock while I sat on a flat surface.

“Is it frustrating?”

“I can’t...be happy...if I don’t find something...that will last me...until death...but...being immortal...makes things...all that more...difficult.”

I didn’t need to space out all of those words. I think I just wanted to for dramatic effect.

“I see, then!” That bright light beamed.

I couldn’t help but smile, even after everything that happened. All that I caused, and all that I didn’t. What I let happen and what I perpetuated. I still never found what I thought to be happiness. Soon, even the dissatisfaction would be gone.