#Yo the map turning to match what direction your facing is there a way to??? Turn that off????

[thdorkmagnet]

The Great Christmas Tree Heist

Summary: A Turtle Tots Rise of the TMNT holiday special, where Raph, Donnie and Leo all steal a Christmas tree for Mikey and things go wrong like they always do.

Disclaimer: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle belongs to Andy Suriano, Ant Ward, and Nickelodeon. All rights go to them.

‘Twas the night before Christmas and down in the lair, young Mikey did ask for a gift oh so rare. 

Not games or toys or yo-yos to fling, in fact he asked Santa for just one little thing. 

A Christmas tree, a real one, with lights all aglow, like the children he'd seen have in all the holiday shows. 

And thus was decided by his big brothers three, this year they'd come back with a real Christmas tree. 

So they waited and waited till the youngest was asleep, then rose from their beds and up to the streets.

A manhole was lifted then pushed to the side, three heads popping up to view the outside. 

The snow was falling gently on the streets of New York, Donnie said something smart, Leo called him a dork. 

Raph did shush them and told them to wait, then rose from the sewers to make sure it was safe. 

With no humans around, blue and purple emerged and I'm going to stop rhyming now cause it's getting absurd. 

“Okay, boys,” Raph said in a whisper, unnecessary since the streets were completely empty this time of night. Normally it was far too cold for them to be out this late but they had all dressed warmly, wearing matching coats of their own signature colors, as well as scarfs, hats, mittens, and boots so there was (hopefully) no risk of catching a cold or getting frostbite. “You remember the plan?”

“Yes, Raph, we know what the plan is,” Donnie scoffed, rolling his eyes. 

“Stealing a Christmas tree!” Leo enthusiastically answered, giving his older brother two thumbs up. 

Raph chittered at his brother, correcting him quickly, “Not stealing, borrowing. And just for one day.”

Leo deflated a bit at that, while Donnie raised a skeptical eyebrow. Raph cleared his throat after a short awkward silence, before getting them all back on track. “Leo, you got the coordinates loaded up on your phone?”

Leo pulled out his cellphone, double checking the map was loaded correctly before nodding. “Yep!”

“And Don, you got the equipment?”

“Affirmative.” Donnie patted the large duffle bag he was carrying. 

“Then it's time to begin Operation: Get Mikey a Christmas Tree or Die Trying!” 

“Eh, too wordy,” Leo said in disapproval. “How bout we call it the Great Christmas Tree Heist! Now that rolls off the tongue.”

“It's not a heist,” Raph argued. “And I'm the leader so I get to make the names.” The snapper started down the street, not waiting for the other two to follow. “Now let's hurry up and get that present. We only got a few hours before Mike wakes up.” 

“Oh, fearless leader,” Leo's voice sang, causing Raph to flinch and glance over his shoulder. The twins stared at him with bemused expressions, the slider jabbing a finger in the opposite direction. “The tree is that way.”

The red turtle's face lit up in a blush, sputtering out an excuse as he shuffled past the two. “Right well, Raph knew that. I just got… turned around.” 

Leo and Donnie snickered as they fell in step behind their embarrassed brother. 

…

Under Leo's careful directions the three turtles arrived at the tree lot with no issues. However, they did run into a problem once they got there, a large fence and locked gate, the only things that seemed to pass for security in this place. None of this deterred Raph in the slightest. In fact the sight of thick pines peeking over the fenceline only fueled his determination and without any warning he rammed into the gate, trying to knock it open. 

He bounced off instead. 

“Uh, Raph, shouldn't we try not breaking the door down,” Leo logically stated. “Kinda a big clue somebody broke in.”

“It's fine,” Raph grunted, pressing his shoulder into the gate’s surprisingly tough frame and pushing into it, hoping for any give. “Donnie's got a fix for it.”

“Yes, because of course I’m carrying around an accurately sized replacement door in my duffle bag,” Donnie sarcastically quipped. 

“See, it's fine,” Raph said, too distracted to pick up on the obvious sarcasm. He dug his heels in and pushed harder. 

“Sigh,” Don groaned with a face-palm. “Oh well, I suppose just let him wear himself out. He won't be able to break it down anyways.”

“Yes I will!” Raph shouted back.

“So why'd we pick this place exactly?” Leo asked, looking at his twin in confusion. “I think there's easier places to rob.”

“Not robbing!” Raph yelled, the veins in his neck starting to pop out from the strain.

“A couple of reasons, actually,” Donnie began, completely ignoring Raph. “First, we all agreed we were getting a real tree not some plastic knockoff which really limited our options. Since this place was closer than the others and had no security cameras, it seemed like the best spot. Not to mention it's run by a man in his seventies so unlikely he'd be up this late to interrupt us.” 

“So we're stealing from an old man?” Leo asked in concern. “Isn't that kind of wrong?”

“It's not stealing!” Raph growled, feeling his strength start to waver with still no give on the door. 

Again the snapping turtle went mostly unheard as Donnie replied to Leo instead. “Yeah well, most people already bought their trees for the year so any leftovers are just taking up space. So really our quote, unquote, ‘borrowing,’” Donnie did air quotes in emphasis. “...is really more of a benefit to him than a crime.”

“Right, I'm sure the police would see it that way too,” Leo teased, winking and elbowing his twin.

Raph's muscles finally gave out and with one last strained scream, he collapsed against the door, panting and defeated. Leo and Donnie went over to check on him, the blue turtle tapping him on the forehead. “You good, big guy?” he asked when he received no acknowledgement from his exhausted brother. 

“Yeah,” Raph huffed, weakly batting Leo's hand away. “Just… gotta… catch my breath. Then I'll… try again.”

“Orrrrr we try something a little less asinine,” Donnie countered.

Raph and Leo shared a confused look. “Wha's that mean?” the older asked.

“I think it means epic,” Leo said with a shrug. 

Donnie groaned, running a hand down his face. “My point being, there is another way in which you neglected to notice.” He gestured at the wall with a pointed look. 

“Oh yeah, good idea, Dee! We can climb over!” Leo shouted, scooting over to his purple counterpart's side. “Boost me up!” He spread his arms and legs wide in preparation to be lifted but Donnie made no move towards him. 

“You are confident and have a great personality,” Donnie joked flatly, expression focused as he searched inside the bag on his shoulders. Though a small smirk did cross his face when Leo howled with laughter. 

Finally he found what he was looking for, pulling out a grapple line and hook. “But in all seriousness, how about instead of breaking ourselves trying to get in, let's do this the smart way. Or as I like to call it…” Donnie swung the rope around a few times before throwing it up towards the wall. “My way!” he finished with a dramatic flourish. 

Unfortunately, the softshell’s aim had been ever so slightly off, causing the hook to bounce off the top before plummeting straight down. Donnie was too busy gloating to notice it, the metal falling directly on his head, knocking him to the ground. 

“Dee, you okay?” Raph asked, trying to rise to his feet to check on him even though his legs felt like jelly. 

Donnie sat up and rubbed at the bruise forming under his mask, face flushed in embarrassment from Leo's hysterical laughter. The blue turtle was full-on rolling on the ground, feet kicking the air in delight, throwing snow this way and that with each frantic movement, creating a lopsided snow angel underneath him. 

“Yes, I'm fine,” Donnie finally muttered to Raph. “The only thing hurt is my pride.” He winced as the bump on his head throbbed. “And a possible concussion.”

Leo was kind enough to check Donnie’s head after he had recovered enough from his laughing fit to focus, using the light from his phone to check his brother's eyes for any dilation. Once he was sure it was nothing more than a light bruise, Leo picked up the grappling hook and tried his hand at it. He managed to catch the edge on his first attempt and was quick to rub this in Donnie’s face. “Huh, look at that. And with zero head injuries, too. You proud of me, Don?”

“No but I am considering asking Santa for a replacement twin,” Donnie rudely retorted. 

Leo snorted. “Bold of you to assume you got on the nice list, Dee.” 

“Knock it off you two,” Raph scolded before the twin turtles arguing could break into a fight. He forced himself to stand, testing to see if he could walk yet. His legs were wobbly but stable and he managed to join his brothers, positioning himself between them just in case they didn't get the message. “We're here for the tree, remember? So let's just focus on that.”

“Okay, I'll go first!” Leo exclaimed, racing over to the rope and climbing quickly. Donnie was still salty but he said nothing more, climbing up behind his brother with an annoyed frown. Raph clambered up after both, ignoring the subtle aching in his arms.

While the softshell and snapper took their time climbing, Leo rushed, thanks to the excitement and adrenaline pulsing through his veins. Once he reached the top he plopped down on the small ledge, leaning forward so he could watch his brothers’ progression. They were both only about halfway up and Leo couldn't help but tease them for it. “C’mon, slow pokes. I've seen grandmas that move faster than you two.”

“Shut it, Nardo,” Donnie snapped, sounding slightly out of breath. Out of the siblings he was the least athletic and wore out the quickest during playtime, so it was no surprise he was struggling here.

“Just be patient, Leo,” Raph added, watching the softshell closely. He would have been at the top with Leo already if not for Donnie, but he didn't mind. This way he would be able to catch him if his brother ended up losing his grip. Which seemed necessary since Donnie was clearly struggling, huffing and puffing tiredly. So Raph reached a hand up to help support him, only to be stubbornly kicked away. The red turtle let out a yelp, less in pain and more in surprise, watching stunned as Donnie wiggled up a few more inches on his own. Raph felt his chest warm at his brother's determination. Because while Donnie struggled to keep up physically with his siblings, he never stopped trying and refused help unless it had been made by his own two hands. 

Raph didn't offer any more assistance after that, letting his brother climb up on his own, but still watched him closely all the same.

Leo, meanwhile, was getting bored waiting, trying to pass the time by catching snowflakes on his tongue, legs swaying unevenly in the cold, night air. Eventually he got tired of this too and let out a loud groan. “Ugh, you’re taking too long! It's gonna be New Years before we find a tree!”

“Just wait, Leo,” Raph ordered, attention still focused on Donnie. “We're almost there.”

Leo groaned again, crossing his arms in annoyance. He was itching to do something, still hyped from his successful throw and record-breaking climb. He needed something else to try, something to impress his brothers, or at the very least entertain himself.

 But hopefully that first thing too. 

After all, he hadn't gotten his fill of showboating yet, he wanted to gloat some more. Which meant he needed to step up his game. 

A smirk stretched across his face as he was struck with inspiration, leaping to his feet a second later. He stood on top of the large stone wall, smiling superiorly down at his brothers. “Hey, I bet you I can do a backflip off of here.”

“Leo, no,” Raph said in a warning tone, eyes narrowing dangerously. But this only proved to encourage Leo, grinning wider as he started tensing and untensing his legs in preparation for the jump.

“Climb up here and stop me then Grammy Raph,” he taunted, looking quite proud of himself for the insult. Raph growled low, grip tightening until his knuckles turned white. He wanted to take Leo up on that offer, scramble up that rope and physically pull him away from the stupid stunt but with Donnie blocking his way, so he was powerless to do much beyond scolding or glaring. Both of which were ineffective weapons against Leo's impulsive nature.

“You're gonna fall and break your brain, dumdum,” Donnie commented. “If you even have one.”

Leo shrugged this concern off quickly. “Oh, come on, the worst thing that happens is I land in some snow. Big deal.” 

“Don't. You. Dare.” Raph hissed in the most intimidating tone he had, reserved only for when his brothers were threatened, either by some outside force or themselves. 

Leo actually seemed to think better of his idea, smirk vanishing off his face as he looked shamefully down at his big brother. He sighed. “Yeah, you're right. What was I thinking? I definitely shouldn't do this!” Then without warning, Leo leaped backwards angling his body so he'd do an arc in the air. Raph screamed his brother's name in a panic, starting to climb over Donnie in his haste. 

To his credit, Leo managed to do a full 360 flip before tucking into his shell to lessen the impact.

Donnie and Raph nearly jumped out of their shells as a crash sounded from the other side of the wall, accompanied by snapping and cracking noises that sounded just a bit too much like bones breaking for Raph's comfort. Donnie blinked, confused by the loud racket. That was far too loud for just falling into snow. There was a soft moan of “owww” on the other side that was unmistakably Leo. With renewed strength, Donnie scrambled up the wall, Raph right on his heels, the two peering over to check on the state of their brother. 

Leo's shell lay in a pile of sticks and branches all haphazardly stacked next to the wall. Many were broken under him and Raph practically gasped in relief that snapping sound hadn't been his little brother's limbs. Leo popped out of his shell, looking winded and face scrunched up in pain but otherwise unharmed. 

“Okay, I was wrong. There was something else besides snow down here,” Leo choked out, still struggling to regain the breath that had been pushed from his lungs. 

“Which is exactly why we told you not to jump down there Leo!” Raph yelled, unsure if he wanted to check on him or strangle him. 

“Did I at least look cool?” Leo asked hopefully.

Okay definitely that second one.

“Dumdum,” Donnie whispered under his breath. 

Once Donnie and Raph were safely on the ground and Leo had pulled himself from the pile of sticks (with thankfully nothing worse than some small scratches and a sore rump) the turtles got their first good look around. On the outside, it didn't look any different from any other part of the city but once past the fenceline, it was like stepping into a whole new world, one made of wood, branches, and pine, not the cluttered cityscape they were used to. Trees towered over the three, reaching high enough they couldn't even see the massive buildings stretching behind them. It was a forest, bathed in a layer of soft, white snow and scented in pine needles. They had been to the park before but the trees there were few and far between, now there were more trees than any of them could count, each varying in size and scattered about with no sense of organization or purpose to their placement. Some were already on metal stands, perfectly cut at the bottom. Others were still rooted in the ground. Still others were no more than sprouts. Stumps poked out from beneath a blanket of white, looking like craters on a dusty moon. A small gardener's shed was set up off to the side, old and rustic and practically crumbling into itself. Other than that there were no signs that man had ever set foot here and the turtles suddenly felt even more like intruders than they already were. 

Up to this point, none of them had even thought about why Mikey was so invested in a Christmas tree this year, they had just decided to get it without question because it was Mikey and he always got whatever he wanted. But now that they were here, standing in awe of the forest stretching before them, delighted gasps fogging in the chilly, winter air they finally understood what all the hype was about. 

“I know why we couldn’t bring him but I kinda wish Mikey was here to see this,” Leo's voice finally said, breaking the spell over them all as Raph and Donnie nodded in agreement.

“Okay, let’s get down to business,” Raph said once his focus had returned, hands clenched into excited fists. He looked around at the trees trying to select the right one. “Now which one of these guys is coming home with us!” 

“How bout this one!” Leo said, pointing to a monster of a tree towering high above them. 

“It’s taller than the lair, dummy,” Donnie replied with a roll of his eyes. He pulled out his phone, typing quickly before turning the screen so his brothers could see. “Besides, I already figured out which one to grab. I did some measuring and I think our best bet would be a five foot tree. It’ll be easier to move and fit perfectly in-”

“Or we grab that one!” Raph exclaimed, pointing out the tree that had caught his eye. 

He grinned and crossed his arms, feeling quite proud of himself for finding it so quickly. 

Donnie was less than impressed though, drawn-on eyebrows scrunching together as he looked the tree up and down, trying to measure the height in his mind. Once his calculation was done he gave his brother a skeptical look. “Raph, that one has to be at least seven feet tall!”

“Exactly!” Raph smiled brighter. “Mikey will be super impressed with it.”

“What’s the big deal? There’s enough room in the lair right?” Leo asked. 

Donnie sighed but nodded. “Yes but I really think we should just stick with mine. it’ll be harder to carry and I’m not sure how we’ll get it down the-”

“Great! Then let’s take this baby home!” Raph ran over to the tree, grunting as he tried to rip it out by the roots. Leo was quick to encourage him, yelling praises and cheers while Donnie just groaned in defeat and reached into his duffle bag, looking around for something. 

“Wait, Raph, before you hurt yourself let me try something,” Donnie said, gaining the snapper’s attention enough he actually stopped what he was doing to see what his little brother had in mind. 

“Oooo you got some fancy invention that’s gonna like pick it out of the ground?” Leo asked curiously, leaning over his brother’s shoulder to see.

“Yeah, like a Gravi Gun from Jupiter Jim and the Invasion of the Portal People!” Raph shouted, eyes glittering in excitement. 

“Oh man, that thing was so cool!” Leo agreed, fanboying as he thought of his and his brother’s favorite movie franchise outside of Lou Jitsu. “Please tell me you made one of those! I wanna lift stuff without using my hands!” Leo bounced on the balls of his feet, rocking Donnie with each little motion. 

“No but it is just as effective as one,” Donnie replied cryptically. His face lit up as he found what he was looking for. “Ah, here it is.”

Leo and Raph both flinched as Donnie pulled out not some futuristic-y gadget straight out of science fiction but instead a very real, very dangerous looking chainsaw, spray painted in Donnie’s signature color. 

“Whoa! Where’d you find a chainsaw?!” Raph asked, face going pale as he shuffled away in panic. 

“You’d be amazed what people throw away, dear brother,” Donnie replied with a dangerous smile, fingers tapping against the handles in vibrant anticipation. 

“Ohhhh, sweet, let me try!” Leo exclaimed, rushing to take the tool from his twin. 

Donnie twisted his body so that his brother couldn’t quite reach it, holding it as far away from Leo as he could. “Leo, no! You aren’t trained to use it!” Donnie hissed, trying to elbow his annoying brother in the plastron.

This didn’t deter Leo at all, in fact it only made him fight harder, arms flailing as he tried to maneuver around his purple counterpart, who just barely managed to keep it out of his hands. “Neither are you!”

“Scoff! Am too! I read the manual online!” Donnie managed to angle his foot so that Leo tripped and fell face-first into the snow. The red-eared slider was only down for a second though before he leapt at his brother, trying to snatch it away before his twin could react. Donnie had anticipated this though and managed to stop him with a raised foot to his plastron. 

“C’mon just let me try it already, Don! You're hogging it!” His arms flailed wildly, causing Donnie to pull it further from his reach. 

He shot him a warning look and pushed a little harder against Leo’s plastron. “No! You’ll probably cut your hand off or something stupid!” 

Leo grabbed Donnie’s ankle and yanked it up, causing his brother to lose his balance and tumble back. He let out a little yelp before hitting the snow, Leo snatching the chainsaw out of his loosened grip a second later. The blue turtle giggled in victory only to run head-first into Raph, who scooped his brother up with practiced ease. 

“Hey! Raph!” Leo wiggled in his brother’s grip but the snapper wasn’t shaken, holding the slider under one arm and the chainsaw in the other. “No fair! Give it back!” 

“Nuh uh, it’s way too dangerous for you to be messing with, Leo,” Raph said in an authoritative tone. He walked over to Donnie, who was busy wiping snow off of himself and his thick clothing, before handing him the chainsaw back. Donnie’s face lit up and mouth twisted into a superior smirk. 

“What?! No fair! Why does Donnie get to use it!” Leo whined angrily. 

Raph ignored him, instead giving his genius brother a nervous smile. “Here you go, Dee. Just… be careful okay.” 

“As if that were ever in question,” Donnie said dramatically, still eying Leo smugly. Leo, powerless to do anything else, just crossed his arms and pouted. 

With a few pulls of the cord, the chainsaw revved to life and Donnie’s face twisted into something wild, curious, and terrifying. The power beneath his fingertips was enlightening and he felt giddy with the possibilities. With slow, almost sinister steps he crept up to the tree, the vibration running through the chainsaw pulsing all the way down to his feet. Taking only a second to calculate the correct spot, he placed the sawblade against the trunk, resisting the urge to violently start cutting in. 

“Raphael, goggles!” Donnie commanded and Raph rushed to pull a pair from the discarded duffle bag, Leo still unhappily tucked under his arm. The eldest ran up to the softshell and slipped the goggles over his brother’s eyes. 

“Thank you, dear brother,” Donnie said, words polite even though his voice sounded mad with power. 

“Uh sure,” Raph muttered, backing away so he could give Don his space. His eyes jumped from the chainsaw to his brother then back, starting to regret his decision already. “Y-You sure you know what you’re doing, Dee?” 

“Oh yes,” Donnie replied in a steady whisper, tone dripping with bloodlust. “I know exactly what I’m doing.” 

He gave a small chuckle which slowly rose in volume as he finally pulled the trigger, the spinning sawblade slicing through the tree like it was butter. “Evil laugh!” Donnie howled, before breaking into a cackle again. 

Raph and Leo could only watch the whole display with growing concern, this new side of their brother terrifying them down to their core. “I think we just created a monster tonight,” Leo whispered. 

Raph just nodded dumbly as the tree toppled to the ground. The chainsaw was off a second later, Donnie planting a foot atop the new stump and draping the tool over his back in a triumphant pose. “Well, how was that?” he asked, looking back at his two awestruck (and slightly unnerved) brothers. 

“That was, uh,” Raph began before losing his voice halfway through. He didn’t know how to begin to describe what he just witnessed.

“The most terrifying and cool thing I’ve ever seen,” Leo admitted, eyes sparkling in admiration. 

Donnie rubbed a hand against his plastron before blowing on his nails arrogantly. “Why thank you, I try.” 

Raph finally lets Leo go, who rushes over to examine the fallen tree with his own eyes. “Whoa, you took it down in like two seconds!” he gasped, staring up at his twin in disbelief. 

“Seventeen actually but who’s counting,” Donnie replied, smiling proudly. 

Raph bent down to check the tree too, running a hand over the bottom. It was completely smooth all the way across and he couldn’t help but be impressed by it. “Nice work, Donnie. Though I’m not sure you should keep using that thing. Seems a little… dangerous.” 

Donnie rolled his eyes. “Scoff. Well yes, Raph, it’s a chainsaw, it is made to be dangerous.”

“No I meant… you seem a little dangerous.” 

“Nonsense.” Donnie dismissed the notion with a wave of his hand. “I was just having a little fun, but not like worrying fun.”

“And the evil laugh?” Leo asked skeptically.

Donnie’s face twisted into the same sinister smile. “Dramatic effect.” 

Despite how concerning that look and response was they were still on a time crunch and so Raph decided to drop it for now, focusing back on the task at hand. “Alright, knuckleheads, let’s hurry up and get this back to the lair and decorated,” he proclaimed. 

Donnie fetched some rope and tied both ends to the trunk before handing the middle over to Raph. The snapper looped the rope around himself and dug his feet in the snow, pulling against the tree with all his might. He could feel the strain in his muscles, the dull ache in his limbs from before but he just continued to tug mercilessly against the rope, willing it to move despite his body's protests.

With a sudden lurch the pine followed, Raph so surprised he nearly tripped over his own feet, turning back to his brothers to grin widely. Donnie and Leo gave a thumbs up and quickly took up the rear to help push. It made little difference but Raph still appreciated the help. It was hard work and slow going but none of them minded all that much, even Leo not bothering to complain about his own impending exhaustion. Their thoughts were elsewhere, already imagining Mikey's smiling face when he came downstairs on Christmas morning and saw the fruits of their labor. They could already hear his little squeals of delight and feel his warm hugs as he celebrated the ‘Christmas miracle’ with them. 

That thought alone was worth any amount of work, no matter how tiring. 

But they were all abruptly snapped back to reality as Leo noticed something they had all neglected to consider, staring at the sealed gate and towering wall in horror as he asked dumbly, “Um, guys? How are we gonna get the tree out?” 

…

It took less than a minute for their calm discussion of escape to turn to a full-blown argument, Raph and Donnie both insistent that their plans were better and the others nonsensical. Raph wanted to try his original plan of busting the door down which Donnie reminded him would only expose their crime and lead to more trouble down the line. Donnie tried to explain the practical applications of a pulley system only to be shut down by the eldest that it would end up taking too long. Leo tried to pitch in that the whole argument was taking too long, only to be shot down by both before they went back to fighting again.

Leo sighed deeply. He could tell this would last a while, so seeing no other alternative he decided to just wait it out. He plopped onto the fallen pine, an elbow propped against his knee and head resting in his hand, drumming his fingers against his cheek. He watched for a while in growing boredom, finding the whole thing pointless and stupid. It was a waste of time in his opinion, neither of their ideas were good and they were both right in pointing it out. Raph's idea was too reckless and Donnie’s too time-consuming. If they wanted to get back to the lair before Mikey woke up they needed a new plan, not continuing to argue the same moot point. 

But it seemed stubbornness was a family trait and neither was going to admit defeat without some kind of outside interference. “Guess its up to me,” Leo muttered, hopping off the tree. 

He stepped over to the gate, examining it up and down for any weaknesses or ideas. It was made of sturdy wood, though the red paint was peeling and fading with age. Off to the side was a rusted metal handle, a small keyhole just beneath. And that gave Leo an idea. 

He remembered seeing someone lockpick in a Lou Jitsu movie and it had looked simple enough that Leo was sure he could pull it off. The only problem was that they had used some kind of hairpin to do it and that wasn’t really a viable option for a mutant turtle without hair. 

Guess he'd have to improvise. 

Leo ran over to his brothers, tapping his purple counterpart on the shoulder to gain his attention. “Hey Dee! You got something in that big bag I can pick a lock with?” 

Donnie snapped his attention onto his blue brother, seemingly confused by the interruption. “What? No, go away, Leo. I'm talking.” He shooed his brother away with a wave of his hand, before focusing his attention back on Raph. The two had ceased their argument and were now discussing the effectiveness of attaching a rocket engine to the tree. Because of course Donnie had one of those in his bag but not a hairpin. 

Or maybe he just wasn't listening. 

Both were likely options. 

Leo huffed dramatically and crossed his arms, pouting bitterly. When this also went unnoticed he stomped his foot and loudly declared, “Fine! I'll just go find it somewhere else then,” before turning his back on his brothers. 

The somewhere else ended up being the only other place Leo had to search: the gardener's shed, which was thankfully unlocked. Leo poked his head inside, squinting into the dimly lit room looking for something useful for lockpicking. He saw many tools stacked inside but most were too big for his purposes, stepping inside to get a closer look. He scanned the nearly empty shelves for something usable before his eyes landed on a small brass key. 

Leo's mouth dropped open and he quickly snatched it off its hook. “It couldn't really be that easy. Could it?” he wondered aloud, slowly turning the key over in his hands. 

Leo was out of the shed in an instant, racing past Donnie and Raph (who didn't even look over to acknowledge him) and right up to the gate. He stuck the key in, letting out a sharp breath as it slipped easily inside. So far, so good. 

He turned the key until he heard a noticeable click, smiling widely and pumping his fists in the air in silent victory. Oh boy were his brothers about to be jealous. 

Donnie and Raph at this point had exhausted every option that came to mind, frowning in mutual defeat as they stared at the ground instead of each other. “Hey guys!” They both turned to see their brother leaning against the gate with a knowing smirk. Before either could question the look, Leo stood straight and declared, “Check this out,” before pulling on the handle. The door opened with a loud creak and the turtles’ jaws went slack. 

Raph was speechless, eyes bouncing between Leo and the opened gate and back. Donnie, on the other hand, had many things he wanted to say, none of which could quite leave his lips, thoughts spinning around his mind in a jumbled mess. So he settled for the most important one at the moment, “How?!” 

Leo shrugged, the smug grin never leaving his lips. “Told you I knew how to lockpick,” he replied, making sure the key was stuffed deep in his pocket where his brothers couldn't see. 

…

They were all in high spirits as they made their way back to the sewer entrance, the tree much easier to pull now that they were on the slippery sidewalks, the icy ground doing most of the work for Raph, which his sore body was thankful for. They sang Christmas carols the whole way there, sometimes together, sometimes singing over each other in a competitive game, but always with a bright smile on their faces. 

Finally, they were back where they had started, the manhole cover still pushed to the side, though now covered in a thin layer of snow. After a bit of maneuvering the boys managed to get the tree positioned next to the underground entrance, Raph holding the pine upright and sliding it over until it dropped into the hole…

… and stopped. 

Raph’s smile vanished in an instant as he stared down at the manhole in confusion, spotting the culprit instantly. The trunk fit in easily but the pine branches had caught on the sides, thicker around than the entrance itself. “Wait, what?!” he exclaimed, grabbing onto the tree and trying to push it down. The thick tangle of branches refused to be manhandled, popping back up the second he let go. “No, no, no!” he whined, forcing more and more of his weight on it but only managing to stuff a few limbs through. “This can’t be happening!”

He continued trying to force it down before switching to light little shoves against the pine branches, trying to bend them into a shape that would allow it to slide past. It stayed stubbornly in place. 

He tried flipping it over in the hopes that the top of the tree went down smoother. It didn’t. 

He tried jumping onto the tree and wrapping his legs around it, ignoring the way the pine needles itched against his skin, hoping his weight might be enough to make it fall. It instead tipped to the side, causing Raph to slip off and hit the concrete hard. 

With each new failure, the snapper's frustration grew. Until finally out of options, Raph sat back and stared up at the tree hopelessly. It was still wedged tightly in the manhole, hanging limply to the side, seeming to mock him with its very existence. Raph stared down at his feet sadly, tail wrapping tightly around himself to provide a little comfort. He was so distraught he didn’t even notice Leo sitting down beside him until his hand was on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Raph. I’m sure Donnie will figure something out,” he assured him softly. 

Donnie plopped down on Raph’s other side, arms crossed and expression flat. “Yes well, I wouldn’t need to if you had just listened in the first place. I tried to tell you something like this might happen but you were so insistent on this tree I couldn’t argue.” 

“Not helping, Don!” Leo hissed. 

“Luckily…” The softshell continued pointedly, shooting his twin a look. “I do have a solution. I just need to trim it down some on the sides. It won’t be as big but it will fit.” 

“Wait, really?!” Raph gasped, giving his genius brother a hopeful look. “You can do that!”

Donnie nodded, a smirk tugging at his lips. “Of course I can. I’m a genius, afterall.” 

Leo’s eyes lit up like Christmas lights. “Does this mean you're gonna use the chainsaw again?!” 

“Indeed,” Donnie replied with a short nod. 

Leo whooped before jumping to his feet. He was at Donnie’s side in an instant, digging inside the bag for the deadly tool. “Let me use it this time!”

“Absolutely not!” Donnie snapped, ripping the bag away from him. “Not until you’ve watched every safety video about chainsaws known to man, Leo.” 

Leo huffed but relented, turning his back on his brother just to be rude about it. 

That was when Leo noticed lights in the distance. Two bright lights, yellow and low to the ground.

And coming right towards them. 

Leo’s heart dropped as he shouted, “Car!” his brother’s swerving on their heels to see. The second his eyes landed on the fast approaching vehicle Raph scooped his brothers up into his arms and dove for cover. He managed to get behind a trashbin just before a semi-truck drove by, going far too fast for the frosty streets. It plowed into the pine tree, snapping the trunk in half and sending the rest tumbling over the top. Each collision caused wood to snap and pine needles to explode in all directions, tearing the poor tree apart with each violent roll. 

Finally, mercifully, the tree tumbled off the back of the semi, landing broken and heavy on the icy streets. The truck didn't even slow down, undeterred by the destruction it had just caused, and was soon gone around the next corner. 

Raph, Donnie, and Leo all peeked out from their hiding spot, eyes wide with horror as they saw the state of their beloved Christmas tree. It was in shambles, loose branches hanging from severed limbs, its once smooth base now torn into jagged edges and sharp points. It looked dead, murdered. The messy street looking like the site of some vegetated massacre, bits of wood and bark scattered about and everything coated in a layer of pine needles, more of which seemed to be on the ground than the tree itself. 

The boys were left speechless by the sight, faces twisted into expressions of disappointment, confusion, and defeat. Finally it was Leo who broke the depressive silence, giving his brothers a lopsided smile. 

“Well, on the bright side, it'll totally fit down the hole now.”

Raph said nothing, instead banging his forehead as hard as he could into the metal bin. 

…

“Y'know it looked bad before but now that we've got it in some light…” Leo paused, smile wilting as he stared at the broken, mangled mess of a tree now sitting in their living room. Donnie had already attached a metal stand to the bottom but it didn't make it look anymore presentable. It was still as sad and pathetic as it had looked on the surface, maybe even more so since now they could fully see the damage. 

“It looks worse,” Donnie finished for Leo, voice a cold monotone. 

The tree looked empty and barren with only clumps of pine needles dotted about its branches. Most limbs were in tatters from the nasty tumble it had taken. Large cracks ran up its center, looking like veins. If Mikey was to see the tree at that exact moment he probably would have burst into tears of empathy for the shabby shrub they had brought home. The exact opposite response they were all going for. 

“It doesn't really look like the trees in those movies,” Raph admitted, cringing at the mental image.

“Understatement,” Donnie commented sarcastically.

“Maybe we can grab another one?” Leo weakly suggested.

“Well it's already after four,” Donnie pointed out, silently running the calculations in his head. Past data proved Mikey was an early riser, especially on Christmas, so statistically there was a good 98.5% chance of him waking up around 6. That left them with very little wiggle room and knowing their luck they would only end up with more complications and delays that would absolutely get them back too late. So he felt confident in saying, “By the time we’d get back Mikey would already be awake and probably completely given up on his belief in Santa.” 

Leo and Raph hung their heads low, hopelessness draping over them like a dark cloud. It felt like a punch to the gut after all the hard work they'd put in to making their little brother happy. All the pain and exhaustion and fighting and stress, all amounted to nothing in the end. The only thing they had to show for their efforts was a sad, broken tree that looked as miserable as they all felt. The three all sighed as one, each lost in their own gloomy thoughts. 

After about a minute of wallowing though, Raph decided he needed to say something encouraging. His brothers were sad and Mikey was still without a Christmas tree and as the big brother it was his job to fix these things. So no matter how much he wanted to curl up into a ball and cry, he forced the bad feelings down, shoving all the sadness, guilt, and worry way deep inside him and made himself smile at his bros. It was small and pathetic but he did his best to back it up with confidence, using the best big brother voice he had. “Well what’s done is done. We’ll just have to use what we got. And hey, maybe with enough decorations Mikey won’t even notice the tree’s all banged up!” 

Donnie highly doubted that but chose to let that thought go unspoken for the moment. Instead, he said, “I’ll go get the decorations,” and started for the door. 

“I’ll help and I’ll carry way more than Donnie will!” Leo boldly declared, sounding lighter now that there was a plan in place, and jogged after his twin.

Raph listened to them bicker until they were out of earshot, then let out a massive sigh, thankful his words had actually managed to cheer them up a little. He hadn’t really expected it to work but he was glad it did. Feeling a swell of pride and accomplishment, he turned his attention away from the tree and got to work on his own task. 

Although the Hamato family never owned a Christmas tree it was always a family tradition for them to each make their own ornaments out of clay, which they would lovingly hang on the walls to greet Santa each year. Only this year, Raph was gonna see to it that they had a proper place to hang. Especially Mikey's. 

He carefully took each one off the wall, setting them delicately next to the tree, taking only a moment to admire the designs. 

Leo had tried to model his off of Lou Jitsu but it barely resembled their idol, looking more like a lumpy egg with stick arms and legs attached. The head was a small lump, the top part painted black for his hair, with a yellow triangle in the center for his signature sunglasses. Donnie had tried to make Atomic Lass in an effort to match his twin but had quickly gotten frustrated when the clay didn't work the way he wanted it to, so had instead switched to a simple candy cane with purple stripes. He had spent hours making sure the lines were all even and symmetrical, using a ruler and protractor to carefully shape each section until it pleased even his critical eye. Raph had made a teddy bear with a red bow, though it more closely resembled Leo's in quality, mostly due to his massive hands struggling to shape small clay. 

Mikey's was easily the best one out of the bunch. It was ironically enough a Christmas tree as it seemed the box turtle had been on a bit of an obsessive streak. Although the lines weren't quite as smooth as Donnie's, there was still a delicate precision to Mikey’s sculpting that could only come from an inspiring artist. The painting process was where he truly shined though, a glossy green coating littered with small dots of every color for the lights. The trunk was brown with some light texturing to make it look like real wood. Mikey had even added a small present at the bottom and a golden star at the top. It was still clearly made by a kid but there was talent there thanks to all the time Mikey spent drawing and coloring and painting the walls. It was clear his baby brother had a passion for all things artistic and Raph couldn't be prouder. 

He had even started baking, at least what he could since he was still too young to use the oven or stovetop without Splinter present. Though even that did little to stop him, as more often than not his puppy eyes were more than capable of getting their dad out of his chair and in the kitchen to help. Raph wished he had that kind of power over their pops but he was glad that at least Mikey got the extra attention. 

Mikey and Splinter had been hard at work baking the whole day, making all kinds of gingerbread treats which the whole family had been snacking on endlessly. Mikey had been careful to save some back for Santa, three cookies stacked on a plate off to the side with a tall glass of milk and a little homemade sign reading “For Santa: Leo do not touch”. Raph smiled at Mikey's crooked handwriting before snatching a gingerbread man and biting off its head. 

It felt a bit weird to be taking their dad's place as Santa, even if it made sense with the plans to get the tree. It had always been Splinter's job and it felt strange taking that away from him, even if he had seemed more than happy to pass the task onto his eldest children, telling them how excited he was to retire early on Christmas Eve rather than having to wait up for four excited kids to finally fall asleep. But Raph was pretty sure that wasn't entirely true as he noticed their four stockings which had been empty before they left were now notably bulging. So it seemed their dad wasn't quite done playing the role of Santa just yet.

Though it did make Raph wonder how many more years of being Santa he had in store. 

Mikey was now the only Hamato who didn't know Santa wasn't real and they were all eager to keep it that way. Raph had found out the truth pretty early on thanks to being the oldest and Donnie had never bought into such beliefs even if he thankfully never said so out loud. Leo, however, had only found out earlier that year, when he discovered their dad's secret present stash and was shocked to find ‘From Santa’ on some of the gifts. Leo had been pretty devastated at first but sworn to keep it a secret from Mikey. 

No one wanted to be the one responsible for ruining baby Mikey's innocence, even the loud-mouthed Leo.

Leo had since changed his tune, especially when he found out he could stay up Christmas Eve so long as he promised to help. The slider hadn't brought it up since, so it was safe to say he was over it. He'd even jokingly suggested they dress up for their little excursion: Raph as Santa, himself as an elf, and Donnie as the reindeer, which his twin had vehemently protested.

Raph had just finished his cookie when the others got back, Donnie using a remote-controlled hovercrate of his own invention to carry the heavy boxes. Leo followed behind with nothing but a shoebox, looking none too happy to be upstaged by his brother. “Uh oh, what happened?” Raph asked, Leo looking away with a pout. 

Donnie rolled his eyes before stating flatly, “Nardo almost dropped everything trying to carry more than me.”

“At least I didn't cheat, Smellatello!” 

“Well I needed some way to carry everything since my helper couldn't be trusted, Nerdo!”

“Okay, enough guys!” Raph scolded, making sure his tone was louder than their arguing. “You're gonna wake up Mikey.” 

Both boys begrudgingly obeyed and went quiet, though Leo couldn't resist sticking his tongue out at Donnie, who retaliated by twisting a knob on his remote so that the cart suddenly flew towards Leo. It stopped just shy of bowling him over, the slider screeching and lifting the shoebox high over his head, balancing on one leg as he tried to lean away from the dangerous hovercraft. 

“Hey, watch it! This stuffs breakable, remember?” Leo snapped, cheeks flushed red from embarrassment.

“Hand slipped,” Donnie responded simply. He slowly started twisting the knob again and Leo quickly moved to hide behind Raph. 

“Knock it off, Donnie,” Raph began in a warning tone, grabbing the shoebox from Leo before anything else chaotic could happen. He peeked inside to make sure nothing was broken, the box half-filled with homemade ornaments from previous years. A toothy grin spread across his face as memories of past Christmases flashed through his head.

Leo, in the meantime, finally noticed the plate of gingerbread men, gasping in delight. “Mikey’s cookies! Raph why didn't you say something?” Ignoring the sign, Leo picked up a gingerbread man and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth, chewing loudly. “Mmmmm, I love being Santa.” He washed the whole thing down with the glass of milk, swallowing it all in a few quick gulps. 

Raph snatched up the final cookie before his brother could devour that too, taking it and the box of ornaments over to Donnie. He handed him the gingerbread man and the softshell nibbled on it absently, focus on the mangled tree beside them. Raph could tell by the way his false eyebrows were pinching together he was worried. 

“Do you really think this is going to work?” Donnie asked, eyes not leaving the tree. 

“Not sure,” Raph admitted with a shrug. “But if we don't do anything then we've already let Mikey down, so we gotta at least try.” 

Donnie finally met his eye, still nibbling away at his cookie. Raph noticed he actually ate the gingerbread man from the bottom and worked his way up and held back a little smile at that information. “I suppose you have a point there,” the softshell muttered between bites. 

Now Raph actually smiled, bright and cheerful. “Besides Mikey won't even be able to see the tree through all these decorations you bought.” He gestured over to the four stacked boxes no doubt filled to the brim with Christmas stuff. 

Donnie grinned, clearly pleased with the praise and Raph felt his chest warm. “Of course, I'm nothing if not prepared.” Donnie puffed his chest out proudly. His face turned sour, however, as he added, “Although Leo called it overkill.”

“It is!” Leo defended from the other side of the room, trying to subtly dig inside his stocking to see what he got. “It looks like you bought out an entire store's worth of stuff!” 

“Scoff. Four boxes is hardly equal to a store's worth, Nardo. I just didn't know what we wanted so I got one of everything.” 

“Well I say we use all of it!” Raph enthusiastically exclaimed, throwing open the shoebox and pulling out clay figures to hang on the branches. Before he could though, Donnie jumped between him and the tree, arms spread wide to try and better block his brother's path. Raph froze, giving his brother a wide, confused look.

“Whoa, Raph, what are you doing?! You can't just hang up whatever! What are we, savages?!” 

Donnie sounded as if it should be obvious, but Raph really had no clue what he was doing wrong. Wasn't the whole point? To put stuff on the tree. Wasn't that why he bought all of this? Why would Donnie suddenly not want that? Maybe it was because Raph was using the homemade ones? But he had seemed enthusiastic about using the clay ornaments when they talked about it. 

On top of that, Raph had absolutely no clue what ‘savages’ meant but Donnie looked like he should know, so maybe that was on him. For a lack of anything better to say, he stumbled out a very hesitant, “Uhhhh, we're… turtles.”

Donnie slapped a hand to his forehead, making Raph flinch. “Groan. Metaphors are lost on you dumdums,” he murmured unhappily. Then in a much calmer tone, he explained, “You need to wait on that stuff. There's a system to this. Lights first, then garland, then ornaments.”

Leo let out an annoyed groan of his own. Of course Donnie would ruin their fun with rules. 

But Raph was just relieved he knew what Donnie was upset about now, seeing no issues with following his lead. He knew way more about this, anyways, so who was he to question his little brother's method. He slipped the ornaments he was holding back in the box, saying, “Sure, Dee. You're the expert.” 

This only further inflated Donnie’s ego, turning to his twin with a smug grin. Leo just let out an irritated huff, pointedly ignoring his twin as he started rummaging through one of the boxes for something interesting. Donnie was lucky this time. Leo would have been more vocal about his grievances if Mikey wasn't asleep just a few rooms over. 

“I'm so glad to hear you say that, dear brother.” Donnie started shuffling backwards towards the pile of boxes, keeping his gaze and grin on Raph. “Because I have something that's gonna really dazzle our little brother.” 

Uh oh. Raph knew that tone. That smile. That look. It meant Donnie was trying to get away with something, playing innocent in hopes Raph wouldn't notice. 

Raph braced himself as Donnie reached into a box. 

He was expecting mechanical snowmen that shot lasers from their eyes or bombs carefully concealed as ornaments or any number of dangerous things his genius brother was no doubt capable of making. 

So it caught him more than a little off-guard when Donnie pulled out a seemingly normal string of Christmas lights, grinning that pleased grin reserved for when he made something cool and impressive. “Behold, the future of Christmas!”

Raph cocked his head to the side, trying to see what was so special about them or why Donnie was being so sketchy about the whole thing. “Does… it shoot lasers or something?”

“No,” Donnie said with a frown. “That would be highly inefficient.” But the smile returned as he dove into one of his patented infodumps, carefully laying them out on a table to be better admired by his brothers. “What it is, Raphael, is a highly advanced lighting system that I invented. It's capable of glowing three times brighter than your average Christmas lights while using five times less energy. I also upgraded the bulb with a heat-resistant fiberglass, effectively eliminating the risk of it catching fire, making it a far safer substitute to traditional lights. It's cost efficient, energy efficient, and pleasing to the eye, a perfect combination if I do say so myself.” 

Okay, Raph only understood like half of that but it did sound impressive and maybe a little too good to be true. There had to be a catch. Otherwise why was Donnie trying so hard to get him to agree. It was more than a little suspicious. 

After some thinking, Raph realized what Donnie had failed to mention, something that made all the difference when it came to his inventions. “Did ya test it yet?”

Donnie’s eyes widened before forcefully returning to neutral, a few beads of sweat appearing on his face. His smile was just a bit too wide and posture just a bit too stiff, hands tapping against his legs in that distinctive Donnie way that only happened when he was nervous or overwhelmed. “It's functional,” he managed, eyes not quite meeting Raph's. 

Yep, there was no doubt about it now. Donnie was lying. Or more accurately, hiding the truth, since he hadn't really lied yet. But now his suspicious behavior made sense at least. “You didn't answer my question, Dee,” Raph pointed out. 

“Didn't I?” came the softshell’s timid response. It was almost ironic how someone who could be so good at concealing his emotions could be so awful at lying.

Leo gasped, hitting him with an accusing look. “You totally didn't. Test them, I mean,” Leo said, seeing through Donnie’s thinly veiled lies as well. That wasn't surprising since Leo was the resident expert on both Donnie and lying. 

The purple turtle let out a whine of guilt before reluctantly admitting, “Okay fine. I may not have had all that much time for testing.” His voice rose several octaves as he added, “But that's only because I was too busy planning for our heist!” 

“It wasn't a heist, it was borrowing!” 

Leo patted the eldest on the shoulder, saying gently, “Raph, you know we love you but you can't return something after it's been hit by a truck.”

“But it does work,” Donnie cut in, emphasizing each word so he knew they heard him. 

Raph hadn't doubted that, everything Donnie made worked, but it wasn't really the problem. Because even though Donnie was an undeniable genius, that didn't mean everything he made functioned properly. 

And normally Raph wouldn't mind that. In fact, under any other circumstances he would be more than willing to try out Donnie’s new tech, even if it sometimes turned the microwave evil or made the toaster explode. 

But Mikey’s Christmas was on the line! And that the one time Raph knew they couldn't take the risk. 

“Sorry, Don,” Raph said in the kindest, softest tone he had, careful not to say anything that might upset his sensitive little bro. “I’m sure what you made is really awesome and cool but this tree’s barely holding together as is. Let's not try anything crazy, okay?”

Donnie had known that answer was coming but it still didn't make him feel any better about it. Disappointment weighed heavy on his heart and he could feel his ego deflating as he pouted sourly. And even though he knew it was pointless, a part of him still wanted to argue and pitch a fit about it. He would have too if Raph wasn't looking at him with that annoying tender look that made it impossible to stay mad at him even if he really, really wanted to be. 

So, Donnie begrudgingly relented. “Fine.” And because he was still very much bitter he added, “But when Mikey isn't properly dazzled you'll only have yourselves to blame.”

Then, he set to work pulling out the lights they wanted from their boxes, making sure to ignore Leo's smug look as he did.

Raph and Leo joined him, helping sort everything into neat little piles. The mood changed for the better after that and they were all soon enjoying themselves again. Leo and Raph had fun looking at all the decorations Donnie had bought, showing off each one to the other and talking excitedly about it. Donnie just continued untangling lights, trying to pretend to still be annoyed even if his fond smile betrayed him. 

They were all having so much fun in fact, they didn't hear the padding of small feet approaching. 

“Raphie.”

The three turtles froze, recognizing the voice behind them in an instant as their baby brother. A quick glance over their shoulders and sure enough there stood Mikey in the doorway, favorite kitty plush pressed to his plastron.

Raph, Donnie and Leo were on their feet and across the room in a heartbeat, creating a semi-circle around Mikey to try and block his view. “Hey, little man~”  Raph began in his baby voice, reserved for Mikey alone. “What are you doing out of bed?” 

Mikey took a second to process that, eyes glassy and half lidded. He rubbed at them tiredly before glancing between his brothers’ smiling faces in hesitant confusion. It was clear he had just woken up. “Klunk and I were thirsty,” he muttered drowsily. He squeezed his plushie a little tighter. “And you weren't in your room.” 

Mikey was still too little to reach the cup cabinet, so always went to Raph whenever he needed one. The snapper gave him an apologetic smile, saying gently, “Sorry, Mike. I was, uhh-”

“Making sure no rats got into the cookies!” Leo, the naturally born liar, said it as if it was as easy as breathing. “Well, non-dad rats, I mean.” 

Mikey blinked lazily, a tiny smile tugging at his lips from the joke. “Did Santa come yet?” he mumbled, trying to look past his brothers but Leo moved to block his path, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Nope! Not yet!” he said quickly, spinning him around and giving him a small push. “So you better hurry and get to bed so he can!” 

“Don’t you need to sleep too?” Mikey’s words came out slurred, eyes starting to drift closed again as he swayed unevenly on his feet. 

“We will,” Raph assured him, taking his little brother’s hand in his own. “But first let’s get you that water.” 

Mikey let out a noise of agreement, allowing Raph to guide him to the kitchen. Leo and Donnie shouted goodbyes to the box turtle but he wasn’t listening, burying his face in his soft cat plush and yawning tiredly. His eyes closed, trusting his big brother to get him there without any trouble. 

Raph glanced back at the twins, mouthing the words, ‘Start without me.’ They both gave him thumbs up and he grinned before returning his focus to Mikey, whispering gentle words as they walked. 

Donnie waited until they were both out of earshot before turning to Leo, not bothering to hide the mischievous glint in his eye or evil grin on his face. “Wanna use my lights?”

Leo’s eyes widened in surprise, before reflecting Donnie’s own look back at him. “Raph'll be mad,” Leo said, voice a hum. 

“Yes but he also isn't here to stop us.”

As expected, that was all the convincing it took. “I'm in!”

By the time Raph had Mikey tucked back into bed, the lights were done. Donnie was plugging them in when the snapper entered the room, mouth instantly going slack. “Donnie!” The softshell flinched, dropping the cord he had been fiddling with. He turned to his brother with a startled look. “I thought we agreed to use the regular lights instead!” 

“Yes but I figured once you saw them you would change your mind,” Donnie replied plainly, showing not even a hint of remorse. 

“So you went behind my back!” 

The slider slapped a hand over his older brother’s mouth, saying with a finger to his lips, “Uh, Raph, maybe try and keep the voice down. Mikester’s still asleep in the other room, remember?” 

Leo pulled his hand away before Raph could get mad and the snapper let out a huff. “You went behind my back,” he repeated in a whispered but still very annoyed tone. 

“Leo assisted me.” 

Raph directed his scolding glare at Leo, who let out an offended gasp and placed a hand to his chest dramatically. He didn’t bother watching his volume either as he cried, “You would betray your own twin so heartlessly!” 

Donnie shrugged. “I never claimed to be above such things, Nardo.”

“Oh you are so on the naughty list,” the blue turtle hissed, fuming. 

“Actually you're both on Raph’s naughty list,” the eldest declared, grabbing the back of Leo’s shirt and lifting him off the ground. “Now take those off and put on the other stuff.”

“That would be a huge waste of time, Raphael,” Donnie pointed out nervously. As quick as he could he finished plugging everything in, the lights flickering on and filling the room with a brilliant purple glow. “Besides they are already on and not malfunctioning so I vote we leave it as is.” 

“Uhhh,” Leo raised a hesitant finger in the air. “I vote for whatever won’t get me in trouble.” 

Raph shot him a look but set him back on his feet. 

The snapper sighed before saying in the calmest voice he could manage, “I'm glad it didn't mal- whatever but that's not the point. You didn't listen to me.”

“Only because you were trying to stifle my creative genius,” Donnie argued, folding his arms in front of his chest. 

“Um guys?”

“I just didn't want it to explode or something,” Raph retorted. 

“Should it be smoking like that, Donnie?”

“Scoff. It wasn't going to explode! The worst it could do is catch-”

“Fire!”

“Yes, thank you, Leo,” Donnie snarked, frustrated at his twin for finishing his sentence for him.  

“No, I mean it's actually on fire!” Leo screamed pointing at the tree in terror.

Donnie and Raph swiveled in place, spotting a flickering flame on one of the branches which quickly spread to the one above it and then the one next to that, until the whole tree was ablaze in a matter of seconds. Raph screamed, Donnie ran, and Leo grabbed the oldest's arm, shaking him violently. “Do something!” 

But Raph was too overcome with panic to think straight, yelling and running around, looking for something to put out the blaze. “Water! Water! Where's water?! Need water!!” 

“The kitchen!” Leo screamed in reply, snatching Splinter's favorite blanket off his chair. 

A second later the lights shut off, Donnie no doubt cutting the power in the room, explaining his absence. 

Raph flinched as everything went dark but another prompt from Leo got his legs in motion, leaving Leo behind to desperately try and fan the ever-growing flames. 

Once in the kitchen he dashed straight to the sink, yanking it on and cupping his shaking hands under the steady stream. He started to run back only for the water to sloosh onto the floor instead. He went back and collected more, only for it to spill before he even made it out the door. His thoughts were too scrambled to consider the plethora of empty cups, bowls, and pans he could fill instead, so went with the only option that came to mind…

Raph stuck his head under the running sink, filled his mouth close to bursting and dashed back to the blazing tree as fast as his legs could carry him.

Leo was clearly losing his battle to the flames, huffing and puffing with each labored breath, arms aching as he flapped the thick blanket up and down. “What took you so long?!” he screamed upon spotting Raph. The snapper didn't reply, instead sucking in a deep breath and spewed the water from his mouth, spraying the tree in the process.

“Ew, gross!” Leo wailed in disgust, shuffling backwards. “You couldn't have grabbed a cup or something?”

“Stand back!” Donnie shouted in warning, fumbling with the fire extinguisher he was carrying. The blue and red turtles backed away as their purple counterpart pulled the safety pin free from the handle. He took aim before unleashing a torrent of white foam to the blaze, snuffing it out quickly and effectively. 

He used the entire can, making sure every inch of the tree was coated in the flame-retardant substance, only stopping once he was sure the flames were out and the extinguisher was empty. Then he pulled the can to his chest like a lifeline, sighing in relief. 

For a moment the three boys just stood there trying to catch their breath, accessing the damage as best they could. It was hard to tell just how badly the tree had been burnt through the thick foam that covered it but it was clear the trunk was about half its size now, bark devoured completely by flames. The branches were now withered husks, curling up on themselves thanks to the pressure of the heat, while many others had crumbled into ash. The ends were gnarled and twisted into sharp points. Strips of metal wires and frayed electric cords all that was left of Donnie’s creation. 

The air was thick with smoke and the blanket Leo was holding was singed at the ends where it had been licked by flames, but other than that nothing else had been harmed. 

No one spoke or even breathed a sound, the three brothers powerless to describe the feelings of frustration, hopelessness, guilt, and lingering terror that tore at their frazzled heartstrings. Finally it was Donnie who broke the silence, finger tapping a nervous rhythm against the extinguisher as he cleared his throat. “I think I might have had the voltage too high.”

“Ya think!” Leo and Raph shouted as one. 

…

The boys salvaged what they could of their present, thankful Mikey had somehow managed to sleep through the whole fiasco. Donnie did his best to clean the foam off but he wasn't able to do much without compromising the tree’s structural integrity. Leo tossed Splinter's blanket, prepared to gaslight him into thinking he lost it should the need arrive. Raph swept up the ashes and lit a bunch of sweet-scented candles to hopefully drown out the smoky scent in the air. Then they all hung up the decorations, garland, and functioning Christmas lights (much to Donnie's ire), placed all their presents under the tree and went to bed. 

None of them managed to fall asleep though, even as exhaustion pressed heavy on their tired bodies, trying desperately to relieve their aches and pains by pulling them into unconsciousness. Their minds were a buzzing hive of worry, fear, and dreaded anticipation. No one knew how Mikey would react to seeing the Christmas tree but it could hardly be a positive one. 

After all, Mikey was imagining a perfect, movie-accurate tree, not the burnt, mangled monstrosity waiting in their living room.

They could practically see Mikey's tears as he sobbed in disappointment. Would he reject Christmas after this? Would he hate Santa? Would they be forced to tell him the truth and then he'd hate them? Had they collectively ruined Mikey's innocence and Christmas spirit in one night?

It was admittedly a worst case (and more than likely impossible) scenario but it was difficult not to go to extremes when their thoughts were so clouded with negativity and they lacked the strength to fight it off. 

They each blamed themselves for the situation they were currently in: Raph wished he'd listened to Donnie and taken the tree he'd picked out, Donnie wished he'd taken the time to check the wiring and voltage so it had never caught flame, and Leo… well, honestly Leo couldn't think of anything directly he'd been the cause of. Still he wished he'd been a little less obnoxiously antagonistic all night. 

But there was nothing that could be done now, the turtles could only wait for the youngest to wake. After about half an hour, Raph heard shuffling and giggling outside his door and pretended to look fast asleep, shoving the guilt and fear deep down inside him as he did. 

He heard little feet scramble across his room before a weight plopped onto his bed, tiny hands tapping his cheek. “Raph. Raph, wake up. It's Christmas,” Mikey squealed, not even bothering to lower his volume in his excitement. 

Raph let out a hopefully convincing yawn and opened his eyes, giving his baby brother an affectionate smile. “Morning, Mike,” he said, rubbing at his eyes to try and sell the bit. “Merry Christmas.”

Mikey beamed sunshine, eyes shimmering despite the dim lighting. He was wiggling and bouncing in place, incapable of holding still for even a single second. Donnie had once joked that if he turned Mikey into a battery he'd be able to power the whole city and despite knowing nothing about science, Raph believed it. 

“Can we open presents now?!” Mikey asked enthusiastically, ignoring his brother’s greeting. 

Raph felt his stomach churn with worry and hoped it didn't reach his face. “Let’s get everyone else first, okay?” 

Mikey sprung off the bed and was out the door in the blink of an eye. Raph smiled despite his anxiousness. 

…

Mikey plopped down on top of Donnie, foregoing the gentle approach in favor of hurrying things along. Despite only pretending to be asleep, the softshell still jumped at the sudden physical contact. He sputtered to try and make sense of it all. “What? Angelo? Why did you-”

“It's Christmas, Dee,” Mikey emphatically informed. 

“Yes, and?” 

“And that means you gotta get up now so we can open presents,” Mikey continued, hands on his hips as he tried to mimic his brother's know-it-all tone. “Don't you wanna see what Santa brought you?”

As curious as he was to see if his dad had gotten him those computer parts he needed, he was much more worried about Mikey's present. All he really wanted right then was some coffee. But since he couldn't say any of that without arousing suspicion, he instead went with a simpler response. “I suppose I should get up then, since it seems I'm not allowed to sleep in.”

Mikey nodded, pleased he'd convinced his genius brother. Donnie tended to be grumpy first thing in the morning. “Yay!” Mikey cheered, hopping off him so he could stand. Despite the impatience bubbling in his chest he waited for his brother to climb out of bed, just to make sure Donnie didn't fall back asleep without him there.

Once he was on his feet, Mikey took his hand, leading him away from the warm, inviting bed and into the chilly hallway. He followed along limply, looking like a puppet being pulled by its strings. 

Raph met them in the hallway and Mikey waved and released Donnie's hand, leaving his brother swaying unevenly. “I’mma get Leo,” Mikey said cheerfully. “Make sure he doesn't fall back asleep, okay?”

It was weird hearing Mikey give orders, especially since it was clear he was trying and failing to mimic Raph's ‘big brother’ tone, but the snapper just nodded in assurance, putting a hand to Donnie's shell to help keep him steady. “I will.” 

Mikey, satisfied with that answer, grinned and trotted off for Leo's room, humming a Christmas song as he went. Once he was out of earshot, Raph leaned down and whispered, “You think he's gonna hate us?”

Donnie paused, trying to consider that carefully but it was far too early, his brain was far too tired, and emotions were something he struggled with on a good day. So instead he just groaned, leaned up against Raph's plastron and fought to keep his eyes open. “Ask me again once I'm awake.”

…

Leo was the most convincingly asleep, his covers strewn about, the muscles in his face and body relaxed, he even let out little snores so close to the real thing that Raph and Donnie might have actually believed he was sleeping, if not for the fact that Mikey couldn't seem to get him to wake up and Leo was notorious for being a light-sleeper. 

To his credit, Mikey seemed to realize this too, getting more and more irritated as the slider refused to acknowledge him. He tried everything he could think of, he called his name, he patted his shell, he hit his shell, he told bad jokes, he tried to peel his eyes open, until eventually he was trying to physically push Leo out of the bed, whining bitterly. “Come on, Leo! I know you're awake! I wanna open presents!” 

Leo yawned in a distinctively fake way, rolled over and pulled Mikey to his chest. “Hmm what's this new teddy bear I found,” the blue turtle murmured and Mikey let out a few angry chirps, fighting his hold.

“I'm not a teddy bear, I'm a turtle! And let me go!” Mikey kicked his little feet around, knocking the last of the covers to the floor.

Leo's mouth twitched as he fought back the grin. “Oh it's so noisy, it must be an electronic one,” Leo continued, squeezing his brother tighter to keep him from escaping. He finally peeked an eye open, looking over at his two brothers in the doorway, both of them grinning at the whole display. Mikey just continued wiggling. “Hey Raph, I think Santa gave me your  present by mistake.”

Mikey finally managed to jerk a hand free, retaliating by tickling Leo behind the neck, where he was most sensitive to the attack. Instantly, Leo burst into laughter, releasing Mikey so he could try and pull away. But the box turtle wasn't having it, flopping on top of him so he couldn't escape easily, then tickled his neck with both hands to help add to the torture. 

Leo tried to push him off but couldn't muster the strength as his lungs burned and his limbs turned to jelly. “Okay, Mikey! I give! Uncle!” he shouted between bouts of laughter but the baby turtle just tickled harder. 

“Nope, this is my revenge,” Mikey giggled. 

“Raph, Don, help!” Leo screamed, waving his arms desperately to get their attention. 

Neither of them moved to do anything, Raph saying smugly, “Nah, you got yourself into this mess, you can get yourself out.” 

“Come, dear brother, let's wait for them in the kitchen,” Donnie added with a mischievous but still tired grin. 

“Let's,” Raph replied and the two started off together. 

“Traitors!” Leo yelled after then, still howling with laughter.

…

The four eventually made it to their dad's room, Leo carrying Mikey piggyback, but were shocked to find it empty. Their confusion didn't last long however, as a sweet scent in the air led them to the kitchen, where they found their dad and five steaming mugs. “Merry Christmas, my sons,” Splinter greeted them kindly, taking a small sip from his cup. “I trust you slept well.”

“Did Santa come? Did he bring me what I asked for?” Mikey asked, bouncing a little against Leo's shell. 

Splinter chuckled. “I'm not certain. How about you drink your cocoa and then we'll go check.”

“Yay! Dad's hot cocoa!” Mikey exclaimed, jumping out of Leo's arms. Splinter handed him a cup and he settled down at the table to enjoy, sipping slowly so he didn't burn his mouth. 

Splinter set his own cup down and picked up the three remaining mugs (using his tail to carry Raph's) and brought it over to the boys. “Here you are, my sons. For all your hard work.” He made sure to keep his voice down. 

“Thanks, pops,” Raph said, rumbling softly as the warmth spread through his fingertips and up his arms. It felt nice.

Donnie leaned against his twin for support, still fighting for consciousness. He glowered at the mug in his hands, wishing it was coffee instead of cocoa. He barely even liked cocoa.

Leo looked more awake and alert than his brothers but was still sporting a nasty pair of eyebags. “Did you go into the living room yet?” the blue turtle asked, half curious, half confused. 

Splinter gave him a suspicious look. “No, why?”

Leo's eyes widened and he quickly looked away. “Um, no reason,” he nervously muttered, bringing the cup to his lips so his dad wouldn’t ask anymore questions.

But he jerked away a second later, sticking his tongue out in disgust. “Ugh, why is it so bitter?” 

Splinter leaned forward and whispered, “Ah, that would be the expresso I added to your drinks.” 

Donnie swallowed the entire cup before even needing to take a breath. 

Raph and Leo followed suit, drinking greedily as they felt the edges of exhaustion slowly creep away. By the time they were done, they all felt lively and energized again, a comforting warmth filling their insides, making each of them sigh in contentment. 

Splinter smiled as each of them thanked him and handed back their cups. “Yes well, I had a feeling you’d need some of my ‘Santa special’. The only thing that got me through some years.” He winked then returned to his own simmering cup of cocoa. 

Mikey jumped to his feet a second later. “Okay, I’m done! Now onto presents!” 

“Yay,” Leo, Raph, and Donnie said as one. They tried to sound enthusiastic, with varying degrees of success but the box turtle didn’t even notice as he led them towards the living room. 

The walk there was nerve-wracking for the older turtles, dread pooling in their stomachs as they watched their little brother. Mikey was skipping and singing and beaming ear to ear, blissfully unaware that every step only brought him closer to crushing disappointment. Leo tried to think of some way to stall him. Raph wondered if he should say something to prepare him for what he was about to see. Donnie was strongly considering setting off the emergency alarms just to get them out of the lair long enough for him to finish burning the tree to the ground. Anything to keep Mikey from stepping inside and seeing his disaster of a present. 

But before any of them could implement their plans, they arrived. 

Mikey slipped inside without a second thought and the three had no choice but to follow. The box turtle gasped loudly, causing his brothers to violently flinch, grimacing at the sight of the tree.

Somehow, despite all common sense, it looked even worse than before.

Raph, Donnie, and Leo nervously crowded around Mikey, trying desperately to interpret his shocked expression. His eyes had grown wide and mouth hanging slack, but it was impossible to tell if it was out of disappointment or not. 

Still the boys couldn't imagine him liking it, suddenly feeling like the worst big brothers in the world. Their bodies stood tense, bracing themselves for the crying and screaming and rejection of all things Christmas to begin. 

Instead, Mikey squealed, the shrill noise making their ears ring. “He came!” the box turtle exclaimed and his brothers froze on the spot, staring down at him in confused silence.

“He came! He came! He brought my gift!” Mikey was a giggling, joyful ball of energy, fluttering around the tree like a moth would a flame, trying to see as much of it as quickly as possible. His tail twitched and his eyes shone like diamonds as he pointed to the tree emphatically. “Guys! Guys! Look! Santa did it! He really did it! He got me a Christmas tree! And it’s decorated and got lots of presents underneath and everything!” 

Slowly, the shock turned to relief and then to joy, Mikey’s big brothers pleasantly surprised by his reaction. Leo gave Donnie and Raph a thumbs up, the snapper letting out a soft sigh before beaming, while the softshell felt his heart swell with accomplishment and pride, lips twitching into a fond smile as he watched his little brother. 

Splinter stepped into the room and Mikey was at his side in a heartbeat, grabbing him tightly by the hand as he bounced up and down. “Dad! Dad, look! Santa brought me a tree, just like I wanted!” 

The rat opened his mouth to reply, only to be taken aback by the sight, turning to the others, who were suddenly very interested in staring at the walls, ceiling, and floor. He plastered on a smile, managing to say, “It’s very, um, unique.” 

“Uh huh! It’s even got snow on it!” 

“I would refrain from touching that,” Donnie spoke up but Mikey wasn’t paying attention. 

He went back to admiring it up close, squealing at every little thing he saw. “Ohmigosh, he even put our ornaments on it! Come see!” He gestured them all over and they happily gathered around. 

“Huh, how about that?” Raph said with a hopefully straight face. 

“There’s mine,” Leo said, pointing it out. “You can tell from how cool it looks.” 

“Yours is subpar at best,” Donnie retorted. 

“Ohhhh someone’s jealous that mine are all higher up than yours. Guess that means that Santa likes me better.” 

“What does height have to do with anything?” 

“Just admit you’re jealous.”

“Why would I admit to something so obviously not true?”

“Can you two please not argue on Christmas,” Raph sighed in annoyance. 

Mikey tugged on Raph’s arm and the snapper immediately dropped into a crouch. “Can you lift me up, Raphie? There’s something I wanna do.”

Raph nodded, picking his little brother up like he was nothing and setting him down on his shoulder. As the snapper stood, Mikey reached into his hoodie pocket to pull something out. Raph tried to peek up but the orange turtle put his foot over his eyes. “Don’t look, it’s a surprise!” 

The snapper lowered his gaze again, staring at the ground. Once Mikey was sure it was safe, he went back to fishing his surprise out of his pocket, tongue sticking out in concentration. Out of his peripheral vision Raph could see Mikey putting something on the tree. 

After a moment, Leo and Donnie took notice of their little brother but when they moved to see Mikey ordered them to cover their eyes, which they immediately did. Finally, Mikey was done, nodding once in satisfaction as he climbed down Raph’s arm and onto the floor. “Okay, you can look now!” he shouted to the family. Everyone glanced up at the tree, spotting Mikey’s surprise in an instant.

Just below the star were five clay ornaments, clearly the work of the little box turtle, each hung on different branches. Four of them were turtles wearing a separate color each: red, blue, orange and purple. Mikey had even added small details like Raph’s spikes, Donnie’s glasses, Leo’s eye stripes, his spots. The final one hung in the middle of the four, a rat with a bright smile on his face. 

“Awww, Mikey! You made ornaments of us!” Raph cooed, cuddling his brother close to his plastron. 

“Uh huh,” Mikey replied proudly, little tail twitching in joy. “That’s why I wanted the tree so bad! I wanted them to have a special place to go! Plus, it looks really nice!”  

Raph felt tears in his eyes and Donnie and Leo quickly joined the group hug, tucking into the snapper’s sides, placing warm hands on Mikey’s shell. Splinter took his place at Mikey’s back, hands wrapping around to hold all his young sons. They were getting steadily bigger, by next year he doubted he could hold them all like this, so he decided to enjoy it while he still could. 

“You shouldn’t have, little bro,” Leo said brightly. 

“Yes, but we appreciate it, nonetheless,” Donnie added, tone gentle. 

“You are too good to us, Orange,” Splinter murmured, nuzzling a cheek against his head, making the box turtle giggle as the whiskers tickled his leathery skin. 

Mikey just beamed and said lightly, “Merry Christmas, you guys!”

“Merry Christmas, Mikey!” his family echoed to him. 

And as the Christmas lights twinkled, the small family held fast, knowing this feeling would stay and would last. 

The hug lingered and lingered, not one pulled away, the celebrating could begin a bit later that day. 

And the big brothers three, though had feared it a mess, declared this Christmas mission a rousing success.

For the youngest sung praises to Santa with joy, his spirit unbroken, a greater gift than a toy. 

Now the heisting was over, a word Raph would protest, so they could relax now and catch up on their rest. 

Until Mikey declared with stars in his eyes, “Maybe next year he'll bring me a real reindeer that flies!”

Thank you for reading! I hope everyone enjoyed! I barely managed to finish this one in time for the holidays but thankfully I got a last minute burst of inspiration when I got to Mikey's part so I was able to get it done in time. I think I just really like writing Mikey back when he was a baby, hehe. But then I like writing all of the family and their shenanigans give me so much life XD

Can't believe this is my first official Rise fic! I've still got lots of ideas for the series as it's become my most recent obsession, haha. In fact, I'm wanting to make a whole series of little Turtle Tot one shots, among other things. So yeah, if you enjoyed maybe consider giving that one a read whenever it's ready. 

For now I'm gonna go and enjoy my holiday! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! Or Happy Holidays, regardless of what you celebrate!

[starlessea]

Move-in Day (Daryl Dixon/Reader)

Pt 3/3. Mini-Series Masterlist

Prompt: “If he so much as looks at you again, I’ll put him in the ground.” Requested by anonymous​, numbers #12 and #26 from this post.

Summary: Your ex boyfriend gives you trouble, and your current one sorts it.

Words: 3040

Warnings: Language, Violence, Past toxic relationships.

Usually, you were someone who preferred to solve their own problems. Whether it was stubbornly trying to carry all of your shopping to the car, back when the world was how it had been, or still trying to figure out where you'd misplaced that other sock - almost a week ago now. Even when the issue was a bit more serious, you would rather keep to yourself than ask for help. This time, however, you were left with no choice.

You felt the deputy's eyes on you, and nervously shifted your weight onto the balls of your feet. You were ashamed to ask him such a mundane request. The prison was a luxury in this new world; you had running water, your own room, plenty of food. Yet, you still pushed for that little bit more.

"I'm sorry to be a bother, Rick." You stuttered, and scratched the back of your neck shyly.

The man shook his head, but still wore a soft expression. He placed a hand to your shoulder, and you thought it was his own attempt to try and comfort you.

"Don't say that." He chided, but the look in his eyes remained warm. "We can sort something out for you, no problem."

The way he spoke reminded you of that night you'd eavesdropped on him consoling Daryl. He had that type of manner - one that could instantly make people open up, and trust him completely. You gave the man a smile to show your gratitude, and he squeezed your shoulder once more before removing his hand.

"Thank you." You said quietly. "It means a lot."

The officer hummed in response, but you noticed his gaze flicker above your head.

"I think someone's here to see you." He noted, his lips turning into a teasing grin.

You whipped your head around to see Daryl leaning on the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. He appeared to be waiting for you, but you hadn't even heard him come in. You thanked Rick a final time before excusing yourself, following the other man out of the room.

It seemed like he'd just come back from the run. He went quite regularly, and it had almost become a tradition for him to find you as soon as he returned. He'd always make some excuse as to why he needed to talk to you, but it was nice just to have the reassurance that he was safe.

As the two of you rounded the corner, out of view, you felt him slip his hand into yours - and you interlocked your fingers together.

"What was tha' about?" He asked, stopping at the end of the hallway.

He leant against the corner where two of the walls connected, and pulled you closer to him so that your chests almost touched. This seemed to be part of your unofficial ritual, too. He always liked to hold you after you'd been apart, and you always let him.

"I asked Rick if I could move to another cell block." You answered, stroking over the back of his knuckles with your thumb.

The man had his other hand around your waist, and he was so close that you noticed the subtle change in his expression instantly.

"Why's tha?" He mumbled.

His eyes were locked onto you, running over your face like he was trying to map every detail there. You tried to reply, but felt unsure of the explanation you should give. Daryl must have noticed the way you bit your lip, or glanced to the side every now and then, and you felt him rub circles over your hip to try and coax an answer from you.

"He's harassing me again." You finally admitted, your voice small and quiet. "Whenever I come back."

It wasn't often that you spent a night in your own cell, but every time you did, you'd find your ex linering about outside of it - like a reminder of what you'd left behind. You even locked the cell door on those nights, shuddering before you fell asleep like you could almost feel his eyes through the walls. Most of the time, he just leered, but sometimes he made remarks that left you feeling itchy.

"Thought it would be better to just put some distance between us." You added, awaiting Daryl's response.

It was just as expected. The man's jaw clenched, and his eyes flickered over your shoulder as though he was looking for someone.

"That bastard." He growled out lowly.

"It's okay." You reassured him, pressing your chest further against his.

You gave him a sweet smile to try and conceal your own worry, but he didn't seem completely convinced.

"Out of sight, out of mind." You told him. "I'll be gone soon."

The two of you stood in that little corner for a few more minutes, secluded from the rest of the prison as you enjoyed each other's company. It was rare that you got to spend a lot of time together during the day - which is why you often crept over to his cell when the night rolled around.

"Why don't ya jus' move into mine?" The man mumbled after a while.

You weren't sure whether you'd heard him right, so you took a small step back in shock.

"What?" You asked dumbly, and the man shook his head.

He suddenly seemed a lot more nervous, possibly out of fear of you rejecting him.

"Well, yer there every other goddamn night." He grumbled.

"Sorry." You whispered back, offering him a sheepish smile.

It was true. Oftentimes, the part of your day you looked forward to the most was slipping into his cell after everyone else had fallen asleep. You’d wait to be able to lie together in an entanglement of limbs, and feel his warm breath over your cheek as he drifted off.

You looked up at the man, but he glanced off to the side shyly.

"Didn't say I minded, did I?" He corrected himself.

Daryl seemed almost as flustered as the night you’d confessed your feelings back to him. His fingers had stopped tracing patterns over your waist, and he could barely meet your eyes when you looked at him.

"Are-" you whispered, before clearing your throat. "Are you sure?"

He certainly looked sure, but you wanted to check. Daryl Dixon was too caring for his own good sometimes, so you wanted to give him the option before he was stuck with you for good.

"Wouldn't ask if I weren't." He replied, more confidently this time.

You couldn't help the grin that spread over your face, and hooked your arms around the man's neck so that you could pull him down to you. Your foreheads were almost touching, and so you pressed your nose against his and smiled against him.

"Okay, then." You said, finally giving him that kiss he seemed to be waiting for. "Guess this is officially moving day."

You felt giddy as you packed your belongings into boxes. There wasn't that much, but Daryl was like a magpie when he went on scavenging runs - collecting any small trinket he thought you might like. After he'd asked you to move in with him, he'd left to go and inform Rick that you wouldn’t be needing another cell. He still had a few things to do, but he'd promised to come and help you carry your things once he was done.

You picked up a small, metal keyring and placed it into the box. It was shaped like a dog, and the tail wagged backwards and forwards if you flicked it. Daryl may have thought it was tacky, but after you'd told him that you liked animals, he'd come back from his trip with it. You laughed at the memory, before turning around to retrieve a pile of clothes.

"Where'd you think you're going?" A voice slurred, but you didn't need to look to know who it was.

He sounded like he'd been drinking. You wondered where he had even gotten the alcohol from - since he was too cowardly to ever tag along on runs himself.

"It's really none of your concern." You snapped back, not even glancing over your shoulder to look at your ex.

You folded a t-shirt in your hands and placed it into the box, but he caught your wrist before you could pick up the next one. You could smell some sort of spirits on his breath even from where he stood, and cursed yourself for not remembering to lock the cell door when you came in.

Finally, you looked in his direction - staring at him in disgust. You hadn't come face to face with the man in almost a week, but the sight of him still made you shudder. It was like whatever you had seen in him at one point, back when you were young and naive and just didn't know any better, had all faded away.

"Don't be like that." He chided, wearing that familiar smirk that never failed to get under your skin.

With his other hand, he tilted your chin up forcefully - so that you looked directly into his narrowed eyes.

"You always were much too pretty for your own good." He muttered to himself, holding your jaw firmly between his fingers.

The words made you feel sick, and you wasted no time in slapping away his hand. The sound rang out and echoed against the walls of the cell, and you saw that ugly scowl plague his face like thunder as soon as you had done it. You knew what followed thunder, so you took a nervous step back in anticipation. You hadn't wanted to give him the satisfaction of cowering in fear, but you'd done so on instinct - like it was an action well out of your control.

Except, nothing came. No harsh words were spat at you, nor did harsher hands grab you. You let your eyes flicker open carefully, and slowly dropped your arms from in front of your face. Your ex was no longer looking at you. Instead, his eyes were staring straight over your head - resting on the entryway where Daryl was now standing.

You barely had time to react before he stalked into the room, immediately positioning himself between you and your ex. He shot him a glare, before turning around to face you.

"Did he touch you?" Daryl asked, but it sounded more like a demand.

Each of his words came out harsh and gravelly as he said them. You suddenly felt overwhelmed by the intensity of his voice, and the stare that matched - so you looked away.

"Did he fuckin' touch you?" He barked again, even less patient than the last.

His chest heaved, and you decided that it would be best to spare your ex from Daryl's wrath - no matter how much you thought he deserved it.

"No." You choked out, glancing at the other man in the corner of your eye. "He was just leaving."

Your ex scoffed at your warning, but you had more confidence now that Daryl was there to back it up.

"You best quit botherin' her if ya know wha's good for ya." Daryl added lowly, and turned to face the other man as he said it.

Daryl stood slightly taller than your ex, but was more intimidating in a number of ways. Yet, the other man didn't seem to realise it in the slightest - and bit back before Daryl had even finished speaking.

"Listen, man. This isn't anything to do with you." He quipped snarkily, and eyed you where you stood behind Daryl.

You shook your head at him, hoping he'd take the hint.

"Nah." Daryl shot back. "She ain't nothin' to do with you no more."

Your ex left out a laugh, probably due to the liquid courage whichever beer bottle had given him. Sober, he definitely wouldn't have the audacity to meet Daryl's gaze - let alone answer back to him. This time, however, he addressed you as he spoke.

"Oh, I get it." He said with a smirk. "So this is the new guy you're fucking?"

Daryl didn't like that in the slightest, and you heard him growl at the tone your ex used with you. Despite how familiar you were with it, he wasn't.

"Going to move in with him after, what?" He continued, taunting you some more. "Two minutes?"

This time, you were the one to snap.

"Just stop. Get out and let me pack my stuff." You spat, narrowing your eyes at the man who you were once convinced loved you.

He seemed surprised for a moment, and took a step away - like he was physically taken aback that you’d spoken up for yourself.

"No." He countered, once he regained his composure.

Daryl hadn't put a stop to the confrontation yet, but you could practically feel the anger radiate off him where he stood - and knew it wouldn't be long before he did.

"Remind me how long we were dating, again?" Your ex remarked sarcastically. "Only for you to leave me so easily for some scruffy redneck who acts like he owns you?"

You saw red. You pushed past Daryl's shoulder so that you could get into the other man's face. No more would you bite your tongue where he was concerned; especially if he ran his mouth about the person who treated you so much better.

"You fucking hypocrite." You accused, through gritted teeth.

He took a step forward in return, and raised his voice at you in a way you'd almost forgotten.

"Who the hell d'you think you are speaking to me like that?" He yelled, and you could almost taste the alcohol on his breath from how close he was.

"Do you need to be reminded of your place?"

Then, Daryl punched him.

You should have seen it coming, really. Though, in that moment, you'd almost forgotten that the man was even there - so wrapped up in your own anger.

Daryl had stuck him square in the jaw, and your ex stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet. He hit one of the boxes with his elbow, and it spilled to the floor - scattering your neatly folded clothes. Daryl pushed him against the stone wall of your cell, and you heard your ex's back hit it with a thud.

"Daryl-" you called out, but he was too far gone to hear you.

He got up into the other man's face, so close that he barely had to whisper for him to hear what he said.

"Listen 'ere, ya prick." He growled, dangerously low. "You're the one who needs to be reminded of yer place."

He had his forearm pressed up against the man's throat, and you could hear him gasp. Daryl had his back to you, probably trying to shield you from the sight - but you could still hear it perfectly clear.

"She ain't yours." Daryl said. "Hell, she ain't even mine."

Your breath caught at that, but he quickly continued.

"She's no fuckin' object for either of us to own."

Those words stung you deep. Not because you disagreed with them, or because they hurt you in any kind of way - but because they made you realise just how wrongly you'd been viewed by all the men that came before Daryl. And perhaps, how wrongly you'd even been viewing yourself.

"But she did tell ya to leave." He went on, before his voice got quiet. "An' ya ain't gonna like me if you don't."

Daryl finally took his arm away from the other man's throat, and let him drop back to the floor. You watched as your ex pressed his fingers tentatively to the skin there, before looking at you in disbelief. You snorted, wondering whether he actually expected you to back him up like he'd always made you.

"You heard him." You said, ignoring his expression and looking towards the door. "Get out."

For once, the man listened to you. He stumbled out of the cell without even a second glance back. In the seconds to follow, you and Daryl stood in utter silence. He seemed a lot more calm than he had been, but his eyes were still fixed on the doorway in case someone was to appear at it again.

You slipped your hand into his, and only then did he look away. The man had a guilty expression, like he'd expected you to be disappointed at his actions. He was a little skittish, and quickly glanced away like he couldn't quite meet your stare. You lifted your interlocked hands, noticing his knuckles that were already starting to bruise.

Slowly, you brought his hand to your lips, and placed a gentle kiss there. It was tender - enough so to coax Daryl to meet your eyes and notice the warmth behind them.

"Thank you." You whispered, and you truly meant it.

Never before had you had someone fight in your corner. It had always been you trying to defend yourself the best you could - even if that meant appeasing those people who caused you problems. But, now Daryl had given you the confidence to truly stand up for yourself.

"If he so much as looks at you again, I'll put him in the ground." He said back, letting his eyes trail over his hand, which you held against your cheek.

After a few seconds, he pulled away. The man got on his knees and started to collect the strewn clothes from the floor, and you crouched down to help him. It was the simplest gesture, but it reminded you what it was like to be treated as an equal. Despite everything that had gone down, you thought that this moving day was one of the best days you'd ever experienced.

Daryl lifted the box once it was full, and held it under one arm as he walked towards the door.

"C'mon. Let's get ya outta here." He said, and you nodded in return.

A/N Reader wasn't dating Bob lmao, just wanted to use this gif. Also, I’m sorry I didn’t post this last night like I said - I wasn’t in a good place (but I am now!)

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Tag List:

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[detroitbecomeyandere]

Spirited Away

It was going to be "the road trip of the century", or at least that's how your friends put it when they were trying to convince you to do something for summer break other than working. 

"Come ooonnn y/n, all you do is work and study! You have to join us, you're gonna die of boredom at this rate!" Audrey whines and throws herself over your shoulders, almost making you drop your overpriced coffee. 

"Not everyone has a scholarship or parents to pay for their degree Audrey, some of us have to work to be here. I can't afford to take two weeks off if I want to pay for the semester." Taking a sip of your coffee a grimace crawls across your face as the sugar hits you full force, "Remind me never to take a coffee suggestion from Rosie again." 

"She's a sweet girl so it makes sense she'd drink liquid diabetes, but stop trying to change the subject you have to go with us this year!" The red head pulls the cup from your hand to take a swig then makes a face that matches your own before dumping the coffee into the nearest trash can. "Girl, you haven't gone on any trips the entire time you've been here. Live a little for once in your life, we are just driving up to Bentley's family cabin. What's the worst that could happen?" 

After some more relentless badgering from your three friends and a promise of paying for this semester for you all four of you set off, and as you sit and listen to Bentley and Audrey bicker about if Chris Hemsworth was hotter than Chris Pine you were glad you came. All the windows were rolled down so you guys could enjoy the fresh air, and to help you with your car sickness. Your head was almost out the window as you tried to push the nausea away, the trees rushed by making you feel more sick. You shut your eyes hoping it will help and doze off. 

By the time you wake up the sun is setting, the car is parked and your friends are outside, unbuckling you get out and join them. "Man Bentley, your parents really let their house go, look at all these trees." 

"Yeah I've been meaning to tell them trees are so last century. Rosie got us lost and I'm trying to figure out where we are." Bentley was hunched over the hood of his car staring at a paper map. The blonde huffs and crosses her arms, "It's not my fault the phone signal crapped out, you should have downloaded the map!" 

You check your phone and sure enough you were in a dead zone, slipping it back into your pockets. "Bentley, you come out here every year with your family, how could you get lost?"

"I don't drive when we do! Get off my back and give me a minute, okay." 

Rosie opens her mouth to tease him too but is interrupted by Audrey shouting for you three to come see what she found. With a huff Bentley folds the map as the three of you make your way to her. Audrey was standing in front of a large man-made tunnel hidden behind old oak trees. The stone pathway looked old with grass and wildflowers growing wildly between the cracks, in the entryway of the tunnel stood a small stone tower that seemed fragile enough to fall over in the wind. Parts of the tunnel wall crumbled under Rosie's hand as she ran it across the plaster. "This place has seen better days. Who do you suppose put it here?" 

Bentley scratched his chin, "If I remember correctly, some company was building a theme park out here, but the project was scrapped when they realized no one would drive this far out to see it. Guess they laid some of the foundation before then."

Just then a gust of wind blew behind you inching you all closer to the entrance, "It's like it's pulling us in. Let's go check it out!" Aubrey states as she starts walking through the tunnel Bentley and Rosie follow right behind her. 

"Guys let's just head back to the car, I'm exhausted and could really use a nap."

"Come on y/n, how often do you get the chance to sneak into an abandoned amusement park? Let's make some memories!" Aubrey yells back at you from halfway through the tunnel, with a huff of annoyance you stuff your hands into your shorts pockets and start down the pathway. The tunnel was longer than you thought and the further you went in the more run down it looked. Maybe it was the darkness or the fact you were walking through a structure that could collapse in on you at any second, but something about this place made your hair stand on edge. There was just something unsettling about it and you seemed to be the only one to notice, your three friends just chattered on without a care in the world and ignoring all the possible danger.

The four of you emerge into the blinding sunlight, standing on top of a hill your group gets a glimpse at the abandoned theme park in the distance just barely able to make out the roofs of the buildings. "Ah man, what kind of amusement park doesn't have rides?" Rosie whines in disappointment and crosses her arms while she pouts. 

"Maybe it's more of a reenactment place than a park?" Aubrey reasons, ever the leader she walks on towards the park and the rest of you follow. You walk through a long dried creek bed and into the village setting, now that you have a closer look the buildings seem to have been Japanese inspired. "Maybe this place never opened because of cultural appropriation." Bentley clicks his tongue in mock disappointment and a little chuckle at his joke. 

"Shut up Bentley." The three of you say in unison.

The four of you walked around for a while just taking in everything, the buildings while old looking seemed to be in pretty decent shape and some even had little fountains that still had running water on the side of them. In the distance the sun was starting to set and you suggested heading back to the car so you wouldn't get lost on the way back. "Hang on y/n, there is still more to see. Worst case, we crash here tonight." Rosie replied. 

"Yeah worst case we sleep in an abandoned park in the middle of the woods where no one else knows where we are. That's a wonderful idea." You grumble back to her. You all continue deeper into the town until you smell fresh food wafting through the air and in perfect unison your friend's stomachs growl.

"Maybe this place isn't so dead after all, come on, that food smells amazing!" The three of them take off in the direction the smell is coming from and soon find a restaurant-like building filled with fresh hot food. "Hello! Is anyone here?!" Rosie yells out but gets no answer in return, "Must have just stepped out for a second." She says with a shrug, three of them sit down and start to fill plates with some of everything in their reach. "Guys I think we should wait till they come back, you can't just take this food it might be for something." Aubrey waves you off and stuffs a dumpling into her mouth, "We can pay them later, I have cash and Bentley has his family's card. You have got to try this y/n, this is the best food I have ever had in my life!" 

"No thanks, I'm gonna see if I can find the owner before we get in trouble." Walking off you hear your friends rave about the food as they cram it into their faces. The sun is setting below the trees, normally you would find the dusty oranges and pinks to be comforting but in a ghost town it gives you the creeps. You stop halfway on a bridge and look off into the distance, in the dusk the town was certainly pretty and you kind of wished you could have seen this place open. Lost in your own thoughts you don't hear the footsteps approaching you. 

"What are you doing here?" The question jolts you out of your zoning out and you turn around to find a man staring intently at you. His brown eyes almost glowed in the dim light and his short brown hair seemed to be slightly out of place. "You need to get out of here, now!" "Look if this is about the food I'm sorry but you don't need to yell at me, we can pay for it." 

"No that's not the… they're lighting the lanterns already. You need to get your friends and get across the river before it's dark. Go, now!" The strange man lunges at you and you bolt back the way you came from, you turn to see if the stranger is following you only to run flat into someone. You look up to apologize only to see a huge shadow creature, your heart stops when it growls at you and before it can grab your arm you duck around it and run as fast as you can. All around you more shadow creatures start to appear out of thin air as the once dead village comes to life, the darker it gets the more solid the beings become. 

After a final turn you arrive back at the restaurant only to find three massive pigs in place of your friends and before you can even understand what's happening a large frog-like man appears behind the tables and starts to wipe the pigs at the table. Once again you take off, screaming your friend's names as desperation fills you. By the time you reach the creek bed the sun has completely set and the only light comes from the lanterns from behind you. The once dried river is now filled with a fast current and while you were a strong swimmer you knew you couldn't make it across. Your knees buckle and you crash to the ground skinning your knee in the process and the pain only cements the fact that all this is real. Your friends are missing and you are stuck in this place that shouldn't exist. As the adrenaline wears off, tears start to roll down your face as the panic sets in, you go to wipe your face only to find that your hand is see through now. A full blown panic attack ensues as you watch your body start to fade away, shutting your eyes and wrapping your arms around yourself one last time, all you can think about is how your family would never know what happened to you. 

"You didn't make it across, you were so close." Your eyes snap open to see the man from the bridge and you try to stand up only for your legs to be cemented to their place. You reach out for his pants only for them to phase through him, "What's happening to me!!" you scream at him. The brunette kneels before you and pulls a little red pill out of his pocket. "Open, you need to take this before you disappear completely." You keep your mouth firmly shut not trusting the man before you, with a sigh he slips the pill into his mouth before pushing his lips against your own. His tongue pushes past your lips and forces the pill into your mouth and down your throat, he lingers longer than he needs to, probably just making sure you actually swallow it. By the time he pulls away your arms are no longer see through and you can feel your legs again, taking your hands in his he carefully pulls you to your feet. You open your mouth to question him when he suddenly pushes you against the wall, your face starts to heat up as his body pushes against you. After the initial shock wears off your eyes travel from his chest to search his eyes for any ill intent only to see that he wasn't even looking at you, instead his eyes were cast over his shoulder. 

"I'm sorry for your friends and I'm sorry you're stuck here. But we don't have time for me to explain, he knows there's a human here and he's looking for you. Hold onto me, I'll keep you safe." numb from everything you just nod and slip your small hand into his. 

In a flash the two of you are flying through the now crowded streets dodging every strange creature with grace. You glance up at the man next to you, his brows set in determination and he focuses on the route. Without warning he stops and you slam face first into his back, the two of you are standing behind a couple of bushes next to a bridge where dozens of monsters are crossing. "You need to take a deep breath and hold it until we cross over, it's very important that you don't exhale while we are crossing." 

"But why?" 

"When a human holds their breath on a crossway in our world they are invisible, if they see you they'll eat you. We have to go now, hurry, take your breath and stay close to me."

You take a huge gulp of air and grab his large sleeve and huddle close to him. The two of you make your way across the bridge to the massive, brightly light building ahead of you. Monsters of all shapes and sizes were flooding into the building. You pass one monster whose body was still a shadow but you could see that he was one of the more humanoid ones. His blonde hair was the only defined feature of his as his face was covered by a white and purple mask. Despite you still holding your breath you felt like he could see you, making you grip on your dark haired savior tighter. 

Your lungs and throat start to burn and your eyes water but you were nearly there, peeking up you see that at the entrance stands dozens of women whose heads were at least three times the size of a normal head. Their waving stops as they spot the man you are with and run over to him, they reach out to grab at his arms but he takes a step back shielding you from their accidental touches. "Master, you're back! We are so pleased to have you home, come in, come in!" They continue to crowd around you two stopping your journey and even though you try you can't stop yourself from taking a breath. The moment you do the women start to shriek as you start to materialize in front of their eyes, your savior lifts his hand and casts a spell on the women freezing them in place before taking your hand in his again and quickly leads you away. 

This time the two of you stop in a secluded garden area where he allows you to catch your breath before saying anything. "Those damn women, always clawing at me. You'd think by now they'd learn I'm not interested." From the inside of the building you hear people run around and start calling for the man, he looks up at the door and gives a tired sigh. "They're looking for me now, I need to go or else they'll find you too." Having finally caught your breath you apologize to him, "I'm sorry for causing you trouble like this, I just couldn't hold it anymore."

Turning back to you he pushes a strand of your hair behind your ear with a gentle smile on his face, "You did wonderful, I'm just sorry I couldn't have been more help. Now listen carefully, once things have calmed down go out that door and down the stairs to the boiler room. In there you'll find Hank the boiler man, you must get a job from him. He will try to send you away, trick you, but you can not leave until you get a job from him. That is the only way Elijah can't harm you." 

"Elijah? Who is he?" 

"He's the witch who runs the bathhouse, you'll meet him soon enough. I have to go now, be safe until we see each other again." Taking your hand in his for a final time he brings it to his lips and places a gentle kiss, he turns to leave only for you to grip his sleeve again. "Wait, you never told me your name."

He smiles softly at you, "It's Connor."

[scribble-blog]

Soulmate AU part 15 (finally) ((oops)) !!!!!

First  • Previous  • Here  • Next

Oh my god you guys. I’m really sorry for saying yesterday and then not making the update (But on a better note I passed that final!!!!!!) and because of how hellish this week promises to be i’m not gonna make any other attempts at promising updates. I will say that my school isn’t normally near this hectic, so things should calm down come Sunday. Hopefully.

Enjoy!!

Red Hood was the first to speak, lowering his head in a wince. “Damn, kid. Sorry.”

“We had no idea.” Red Robin said quietly. “I hope you can believe us about this, at least. If the Justice League — or even just us- had known about this at any point for the last four years, we would not have let you face it alone.”

Gravely, Batman spoke. “What measures are you taking to find Hawkmoth?”

Adrien and Chloé both looked to her and she suppressed a sigh. As the Guardian, she supposed she actually did understand the most about this. 

“One of the powers granted by the Miraculous is a mask of anonymity. How do you think five teenagers have managed to keep their identities all this time? The magic around the jewels keeps us from being recognized in our superhero forms, and that includes the leaps of logic needed to puzzle out who the person behind the mask is. It’s why I felt safe enough to come ask for help from the supposed best detectives in the superhero world. It would take me detransforming right in front of you to reveal me.”

“That’s all well and good,” Robin said. “But what measures have you taken to find Hawkmoth? You don’t necessarily need to find his identity to track him down.”

Marinette tried not to scowl at his patronizing tone. “Due to how his powers work, we’ve been unable to do anything other than figure out a general area that he operates in. If you’ve found the blog, we’ve been using the maps generated during each Akuma attack to figure out his general range. But we think he may have either multiple places, or that he might be transforming out of his lair and sending Akumas out like that to mess with our data. And we aren’t exactly able to track the butterflies when they can fly through solid objects.”

“And you’re teens, with busy lives and no actual support system for superheroing, so it’s insanely difficult to devote much of your actual time to being proactive against him, other than the patrols your videos mention,” Red Robin summarized. Marinette nodded, Chloé and Adrien echoing the motion.

Batman just sighed. “I’m unsure of how wise it would be to actually send one of us to Paris to help you, if Hawkmoth targets those with dark emotions. But we will dig into this, and I promise we will do anything we can to assist you in your fight.”

“Oracle and I can start working on something,” Red Robin suggested, and the other three nodded. 

“If you need to contact us-“ Marinette pulled out her yo-yo, and opened it up to the screen. “This is how you can contact me. I’ll be notified of any messages or calls even outside the suit.” She offered them the yo-yo, extremely secure in the knowledge that now matter how they try to bug it, it would never work.

Red Robin took it, and after fiddling with it for a moment, looked back at her. “Isn’t this also your weapon? How does that work?”

He sounded distressed by it, and his expression only dropped further when Adrien laughed and said, “Magic.”

“Do you mind if we stay a bit?” Chloé asked, “If you want to accompany us, I wouldn’t mind, but I was kind of interested in seeing Gotham.”

Marinette caught Robin smirking, and wondered why, before Batman opened his mouth.

“I—”

“—Can run some kids around Gotham for a little bit,” Red Hood cut him off. “C’mon, Bats, let ‘em live a little while they’re visiting. I won’t let them get lost.”

Batman sighed. “Robin, you go with them.”

“Tt.” The other teen moved forward again, up to Batman’s side. “If you insist.”

Marinette wasn’t enthused, but she held her jabs in. 

“Awesome,” Chloé breathed, and as she took a look at her, Marinette recognized some of the way she used to stare at Ladybug. Chloé was trying her best not to actually fangirl over getting to spend time with some of the Gotham vigilantes.

It brought back vivid memories of Chloé running around in her Ladybug suit, pretending to save the day. 

And then Chloé gave her a dirty look that said she knew exactly what she was thinking, and leapt straight off the tower.

“Abeille!” Marinette scolded, running over to the ledge. Chloé was hanging below, laughing. 

“You’re too uptight, Ladybug, live a little.” A hand rested on her shoulder and she turned to see Red Hood. “Hey, Bee-girl. Race you to that blue roof.” 

“Me first!” Adrien yelled, bounding past them, propelling himself with his staff out into the open air. Red Hood shot his grappling gun and swung after, and Marinette sighed.

“I work with children,” she grumbled, only to be met with laughter from Red Robin. She turned back to them. “Thank you, Batman, for what you’re doing for us. It means- a lot.”

He nodded at her, and then to Robin, before he and Red Robin flung themselves from the side of the roof, both heading in the opposite direction from her partners.

“You and me, then,” Marinette said to Robin. With a thought, she smirked. “Bet you we can make it to that rooftop before they do.”

“Tt, Red Hood has probably already gotten distracted by another passing fancy.” Why did the way he said that sound familiar? “But I believe you are correct.” And he rushed off.

She matched him, swing for swing. And silently, they stole through the sky, listening to Chat Noir baiting Red Hood about something, Abeille snarking over his comeback, their teammates laughter covering the sound of them thoroughly catching up and then, without warning, surpassing them.

“Hey!” Abeille called, and suddenly it was an actual race. 

Marinette gave Robin one look and he, by some miracle, seemed to understand. They split around a building, and Marinette was on her own. 

Each swing brought her higher, each view of Gotham new and beautiful and confusing, until she heard it. 

On the streets below her, a raised voice.

“Chat,” she called as loudly as she dared, knowing that he would hear her. And then she dropped down.

“Please, please, just let me go-“ the woman cried, clutching a bag to her chest.

“Where are you gonna go, huh, Cynthia?” The man asked, looming over her. “A fucking homeless shelter? You gonna sleep on the streets? You know none of your friends are gonna put up with your goddamn bullshit the way I do—”

“Anything’s better than going back with you!” Cynthia shouted, looking terrified. Marinette couldn’t stop herself from stepping in. 

“Madame?” She moves out of the shadows and into the narrow beam of lamplight that covered the street. “What is the problem?”

Cynthia raised her wild eyes to Marinette and dashed towards her, cowering behind. “Please, please, don’t make me go back with him, I can’t. I can’t.”

“Listen, Red,” the man spoke to her. “This ain’t your business. Let me take my girlfriend home, she’s got meds that keep her from doing shit like this-“

“I don’t,” she spat. “Don’t fucking lie, I don’t have meds, you just-“

“Sir,” Marinette said calmly, her pulse like a jackhammer on the inside of her ribs. “If this really is a simple disagreement, perhaps some time apart will help you both collect yourselves. I’m sure—‘

“You ain’t sure of nothin’, bitch,” the man sneered. “That’s my girl. You’ll hand her over to me or you’ll face the goddamn consequences.”

Marinette’s hesitation was her downfall. There was no way she was going to let the man take Cynthia, but she was torn between getting the woman away quickly or trying to talk down the boyfriend. And in the second where she waited, the man chuckled. 

“Please, no,” Cynthia whispered. Marinette turned her head to assure her. The woman looked stricken, eyes wide over Marinette’s shoulder.

The gun she didn’t see him pull went off.

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[serendipitioussurvival]

They Call Her Alpha - Pt 1

Fem!Stiles/Peter Hale

<Next>

“They call her Mother, Destroyer… they call her Alpha.” she was supposed to instill fear into all who opposed her, hope in all that worshiped or called for her. She was supposed to be powerful, not this twig of a teenager giving him the most pitiful glare he’d ever received in his life. “They swear by her like she is a Goddess. She leaves no enemies alive, no records of her face or what she looks like, and all her people are unfalteringly loyal. The only vague description we’ve received of her looks is from the Oracle.” what, exactly, was so inspiring about the little sparkling in front of him? 

She wasn’t too attractive - her hair had multiple hues of red, honey brown, black, and chestnut but was much too oily - though he did find himself sort of enthralled with mapping out the moles and freckles dotting the expanses of fair skin he could see. 

“It’s not rare for scents to be shared.” he reasoned while turning to face his sister, completely dismissing the almost human in front of them. “She doesn’t exactly strike fear into me, sister dearest.” when she seemed unable to stop staring at the girl he let out a small, irritated growl that was quickly answered by a flash of her ruby red eyes. 

“I would remember my place, brother.” she snapped dismissively then turned her attention back to the young woman in front of her. “Isaac,” a young man with cherubic features and curly blonde hair to match stepped forward, hands shaking ever so slightly as the only indication that he was nervous - much to Peter’s pride. “Take the tape off her mouth.” 

Peter had severe doubts that this strange wannabe witchling was the dreaded spark they were looking for, those doubts all flew out the fucking window when Isaac moved into her personal space. Whiskey eyes turned almost beta gold, her anger simmered into something calming and comforting that had his inner wolf prowling from underneath his skin. When Isaac pulled the duct tape off of her lips he did so with steady hands and in a fluid motion that he quickly bowed his head in apology for. He blamed biology for paying close attention to the pink tongue that came out and wetted peach lips. 

“Pretty sure Kidnapping is still illegal, declared or otherwise.” if his wolf was prowling before it was now right underneath his skin, ready to pounce so it could get closer to her. “Heard rumors that the new queen was a ‘were, guess this war has been beneficial to you and yours.” the few Enforcers of the Hale Pack stepped forward with claws extended the moment their Alpha Queen snarled, Isaac - still relatively new to the pack - and Scott - another new addition who was the same age as Isaac - both shrunk back. Peter did not miss the way the supposed ‘Mother, Destroyer’ glanced once towards them before settling back on his sister with a tight anger that he, strangely enough, understood. 

“No war has been formally declared,” Talia reasoned after recollecting herself. 

“Oh? Might want to tell the victims that then. Humans and traitors to both sides are the casualties of your ‘peace’ war with the Unseelie Queen and her geriatric psycho fuck Pappy.” a snort of amusement escaped him before he could even think to control it. “Oh?” her eyes centered directly on him, unnerving and pleasing at the same time. “Think the death of traitors and humans is funny, do you?” she tsk’ed and eyed him up and down, “Bad dog.” 

“Then you are the ‘Alpha’?” Talia snarled while drawing her Enforcers back. 

“Alpha? I’m no wolf,” she snorted and leaned back against the chair, “You mean The Mother, though, don’t you?” she sighed heavily and rolled her shoulders. “Might as well just kill me now then, won’t get anything useful out of me.” Peter sauntered forward, grinning wide when her attention focused back on him. 

“Why’s that sweetling?” he actually laughed when she recoiled away from him in disgust. 

“Ugh, okay Uncle Bad touch, let’s just keep you over that way.” she actually did a ‘shoo’ motion with her foot, “You could totally make Creeperwolf over here a torture method,” she remarked casually to his sister but centered her gaze directly on him when he took another step towards her. “No, go away, shoo.” 

“You’re really not attracted to me,” he murmured, amazed, even as he leaned into her personal space to get a good whiff of her scent. 

“Yeah, no dip Sherlock. Yo, Queeny, what the fuck? Can you tighten the leash or something on him, this is totally borderline sexual harassment.” She was amusing, no one - aside from powerful Dark Fae - ever spoke to his sister like that. For that alone it was almost worth keeping her alive. 

“You will watch your tongue when you speak to the Seelie Queen, ant.” ah yes, cousin Andrew. How Peter adored the fanatic cousin that believed devotedly in his sister. 

“Hmm, Ant, new one. Well, your ‘Oh, most powerful light fae, Seelie Queen, unmatched in lighty goodness’-” He had to turn away from her lest she see his grin. Little tart was a mouthy one wasn’t she? Damn, he was already half smitten. “What can this humble Spark in training do for you?” 

“You’re the Alpha, the Mother.” she actually laughed for a spell before she realized that no one else was laughing with her. 

“Oh my - okay, open your lil wolfy ears and hear me when I say; I am not the Mother, Alpha, or whatever the hell else you’re searching for.” that fact that her hummingbird heartbeat remained steady and that her scent remained clear of deceit had Talia deflating just a little. “There, okay, can I go? I know it may seem hard to believe but I’m not exactly overflowing in the friend department. I’ve only got one and we kinda got a codependency goin’ on, so if you don’t mind?” she wriggled so the chains keeping her confined to the chair would jingle. Peter liked her, mouthy brat she was. 

“You were fighting a Strigoi from taking two Pup’s, why?” the girl sagged back into her chair and eyed Talia with a fatigue that dulled her vigor. 

“Because they were full shift wolves and the bastard wanted to enslave them and sell them back to Psycho Bitch Barbie and her cult of meanies.” Peter couldn’t help his laughter even if he wanted to - which he definitely did not - when he registered that she was calling Kate Argent, current Queen of the Unseelie Court, a Psycho Bitch Barbie. That took balls, it took either a tremendous amount of stupidity or courage and this little sparkling didn’t seem all that stupid. Evidence to the contrary. “Is that why you thought I was the Alpha? ‘Cause I did a little whoop ass on the Dark side Jackasses?” 

“You fit the description we’ve received, vague though it may be.” Peter’s warning growl for her at giving too much away was cut off by intrigue when she leaned forward, smelling of vanilla joy and curiosity. 

“I did? Itty bitty badass me?” Talia’s eyebrows pinched in frustration. Either because of her or because of the case of mistaken identity, Peter couldn’t tell. 

“We were clearly mistaken,” she shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts and murmured something to Scott. Nearly all watched as he left the room before they centered wearily on her. “Were you declared before?”

“Before I sided with the humans and those abandoned by both sides? No.” she settled back with a huff and kicked a single leg out to test the strength of the chains. He adored the way her grin was just a tad blood thirsty when Andrew growled warningly at her, Beta blues flashing as a warning. 

“What is your name then, Spark?” 

“Polish, you can’t say it.” She sighed and looked around, clearly bored with the current conversation. “Also an Orphan, so no known surname. Life’s a bitch, innit? You can call me Stiles, if you want to try niceties, but I’m not declaring Seelie.” 

“It is an honor-” Andrew started vehemently, drawing twin eyerolls from both Peter and ‘Stiles’. 

“And now I know that I will be avoiding you at the next siore.” he didn’t know what enticed him more, the fact that she said soire so perfectly or the fact that she could clearly speak multiple languages. 

“So, French and English. What about Polish?” he crouched in front of her, knowing that his jeans hugged his thighs and ass just right when he did so. Little tart didn’t even glance. 

“Well well, Uncle Bad Touch, you ain’t so bad at sleuthin’. So I got three languages under my belt, care to guess at which one is my native one?” he grinned and leaned in closer, ignoring his sister’s warning call of his name. 

“I’d rather get under your belt myself,” she tsked again and sighed as if disappointed with him. 

“As much as I like trading barbs with you, Uncle Bad Touch, I will have to gracefully decline. Her head tilted to the side, exposing her pretty neck and the trailing of moles that he wanted to trace.

With his tongue. 

“You wound me,” he joked, hand clasped dramatically over his heart as he rocked back on his heels. 

“I’d like to,” she glibly returned, eyes gleaming her joy and flooding the room with her vanilla pleasure. 

“Enough!” Talia snapped, drawing him back to her side by his wolf. He hated when she did that, when she took his control and snapped it to achieve her own goals. “Enough. As an undeclared you are not bound by our laws. We will let you go,” she rose her hand to quell the disagreements that rose from her decision, “but we will be keeping an eye on you. If we so much as suspect that you play a bigger part than what you seem to then we will collect you again. Make no mistake, Spark, if you so much as move a foot in a direction I deem suspicious I will make you declare a side to either be punished or governed as seen fit.”

“You know,” the Spark mused as Scott began unlocking her confines. “You’re not so bad, Queeny, but you’re hopelessly misinformed about the actual state of things. I’m sure your Seelie losses have been big,” dainty fingers rubbed at the red indentations on her wrist, “If you were aware of the actual losses your ‘not-war’ has caused-” she trailed off as she got lost in her own thoughts. “Well, whatever. Can I get dropped off where you’re people kidnapped me from?” A better man wouldn’t have taken the time she was walking away to check out her ass, a better man would’ve probably felt sympathy for the sparkling. Peter was not a ‘good’ man, but he wasn’t a bad one either, so when she looked back at him from over her shoulder he tore his gaze from her tempestuous ass to wink at her. Of one thing he was certain, she was either on the cusp of her twentieth year or she soon would be. She was much too interesting to kill or enslave, he hoped she stayed that way. 

“Peter, I want you to keep an eye on her.” sweet, sweet victory. “She’s hiding something but I feel we’ll have a better chance at finding out what when she thinks she’s not under scrutiny.” 

“With pleasure, sister.” 

[boku-no-biatch-academia]

Willing To Ride | Izuocha

Summary: Izuku and Ochako spend an afternoon at the fair together.

*****

Inko Midoriya ignored her son’s tears of pain as she dampened his hair with a spray bottle full of water, “Do you know what you guys are going to do at the festival tonight?”

Using a hairbrush, she tugged at her son’s tangled mop of hair with all her might, determined to brush out a stubborn knot. Izuku’s face was locked in a painful grimace as she pulled. With a hard plunk, she successfully defeated the knot, then opened a tub of gel and scooped some out with her fingers.

“Erm, I’m not sure. I think we’re just gonna walk around and probably shop or something,”

That evening, a local winter festival was taking place. Mr. Aizawa had told Class-1A that a number of hero agencies would be appearing there with seminars containing information about the pro hero business. He also told them that they would get extra credit if they attended the event and wrote a paper about what they had learned. Upon hearing the idea, Ochako Uraraka giddily invited Izuku to tag along with her since they were both free that weekend. Excited about the prospect of hearing from the pros, Izuku agreed to come.

“Ooh, sounds fun! Remind me again, who are you going with?”

“Uraraka,”

Oh, right!” she stopped for a moment to smile to herself, “Your little girlfriend,”

“G-girlfirend?!”

“Well, isn’t she?”

Izuku opened his mouth to respond immediately but found himself making incoherent noises.

Inko gelled up one of his curls and smoothed it down with a comb. With great care, she continued to work on his hair until it was slick and handsome-looking. It took quite a lot of work considering the amount of hair on top of his head, but in her eyes, it was worth the effort. He went from looking like a green nappy mophead to a classy, groomed boy that even Best Jeanist would be proud of. Satisfied with her work, her eyes gleamed as she watched him check his reflection in the mirror, commented on how handsome he looked, then suddenly rushed to find the extra hold hairspray she had forgotten to use.

Izuku’s face contorted a bit as he inspected his mother’s work. It wasn’t necessarily an expression of disgust, but he felt that it may have been a tad too formal for the occasion. For some reason beyond him, his mother decided that he should dress up before meeting with Ochako that night, rambling something about the importance of making a good impression on a girl when taking her out, looking like a gentleman, and so on and so forth. Heat rose in his freckled cheeks. He had never been invited out by a girl before, especially one as charming as Ochako Uraraka. Her smile had a radiance that lit up every room she walked into; it also had a tendency to ignite a spark within Izuku’s chest that made him feel sort of uneasy, but, in a good way. He gently tapped his fingers against his hair. Smooth and damp. Without his mother’s hairspray, he was sure that his disobedient curls would eventually pop right back out before the end of the night. As he turned to inspect the side, another thought popped into his head. What would Uraraka think about it? Not that it truly mattered in the grand scheme of things. His mom was the one who assumed they were going out on a date, not him, nor Uraraka. Right? Right. Of course. There wasn’t any reason for him to assume it was a date. Furthermore, there was no reason for him to be worried about her taste in men’s hairstyles. But it was a thought that came into the forefront of his mind anyway.

Ding dong!

“Oh! That must be her, I’ll get it!” Izuku saw his mother scurry past him with a can of hairspray and excitedly open the front door.

“Hello, Mrs. Midoriya! How are you?”

Ochako’s unmistakable voice could be heard from the doorway. Almost immediately, the realization of her presence in his home froze him in place. He didn’t dare to turn around, acting as if looking straight at her would set him ablaze. So, he stayed put and pretended to be invested in his reflection, sneakily stealing glances at the other two through the mirror. From his position, his mother blocked out most of Ochako’s figure, so all he could see was the swish of her brown hair.

“Oh, Deku! There you are,”

She came up from behind and circled around in front of him.

“Sorry I’m late. It took a little bit longer than expected to get ready, so I missed the first bus here,” she went for her bag that she brought with her and began to search in it for something.

Izuku took advantage now that she was distracted and actually looked up at her.

She had on a purple coat that was somewhat snug around her form and whose sleeves were a tad too short. It was most definitely something she was quickly growing out of. She probably couldn’t afford to buy a newer jacket with her tight budget, so she made due. There was also a cute black scarf wrapped neatly around her neck to match her black leggings. What stuck out the most to him was the cherry hue to her lips, which was either from some kind of lipgloss or a result of spending a little too much time at the mercy of the crisp, fall wind.

Seeing how nicely she dressed put him somewhat at ease, but not enough to take away his self-consciousness about his hair.

“It’s no problem,” he said.

“Oh, by the way, here’s your ticket!” Uraraka pulled out a stub of paper and handed it over to him. “I saw that they were selling them online, so I just decided to get them so we don’t have to wait in line.”

“Oh, sweetheart, you didn’t have to do that! Izuku could have bought his own ticket,” Inko said.

Uraraka waved her hand and bashfully responded “Oh don’t worry, it’s my treat,”

Coming up behind Izuku, Inko placed her hands on his shoulders. “Well, isn’t she sweet?”

Sensing that his mother was about to say something that would embarrass him, Izuku stood up and put the ticket in his pocket.

“Well, I think we should go. It would be a shame if the lines for the rides got too long.” As two teenagers made their way out, Inko waved them off with the usual parting message of “Be safe!” and “Don’t stay out too late!”

About 20 minutes later, when they stepped off the bus, Izuku and Ochako were completely bombarded by the liveliness of the festival. Glimmering fluorescent lights buzzed in competition against traditional paper lanterns. A loud, roaring hum of festival-goers, moving parts, footsteps, chirps and barks and meows, and squeals. The scent of fresh, piping hot street food filled their chilly noses as the wind blew harshly against them. Filing through a crowd of people, they found themselves at a loss of what to do first. Should they go straight for the rides? Eat a snack? Watch one of the local street performers?

“Okay…let’s see what we’ve got here,” said Ochako, scanning with a hand placed over her brow. “We’ve got two immediate options: In this direction, we can play some games or grab a snack. But if we go this way, we can go straight for the rides….ahh, such hard choices!” she said, shaking her head. Then she wrinkled her face and stared at the ground for a second, and after that, she turned towards him.

“By the way, how come your hair looks like that?”

“Hm? Oh!” Izuku’s hands shot up to his hair and he patted it, remembering what it looked like. “I-it was my mom, she thought that I should something different with it…s-so,” his cheeks reddened. He was suddenly reminded again that a huge part of Ochako’s personality is her tendency to say exactly what’s on her mind, regardless of whether or not she was aware of it.

“Oh. Well, it’s definitely an interesting change, hehe.” she smiled at him before turning to walk towards a map of the festival grounds a few yards away. Izuku followed closely behind, and as they passed a food truck he stopped at one of the windows to fluff his hair back in its usual curly state.

They eventually decided to tackle the rides first, then loop around until they reached the main stage, where the hero agencies would be holding their seminars. It seemed the most sensible plan because it allowed them to grab a bite to eat without worrying about puking it all up on a rollercoaster. First, they hopped on some teacups as a starter, then a wood coaster that felt a little too old to still be in use and which threatened to crack under its own weight at any second, then a spinning vortex ride where the riders stuck to the walls, which Izuku claimed was his favorite so far, but gave Ochako the same nauseous feeling she got when overusing her gravity quirk.

They decided that they needed a break from all of the adrenaline, (and agreed that if Uraraka were to ride anything else in the next ten minutes, she would puke) so they decided to head towards the main stage where the hero seminars were taking place. When they stopped to scan the bleachers for an available seat, an excited, manly voice called out to them.

“Yo! Midoriya!”

They two whipped their heads around to see Kirishima running up to them with a toothy smile; his face was lit up both with excitement and the six glow stick hanging off of his neck.

“Hey! I didn’t know you were gonna come today! Gee, you must have had a lucky streak all day today, huh?” said Uraraka, motioning towards the bundle of stuffed and blown up prizes clutched in Kirishima’s arms.

“You bet! Check this out, this one’s my favorite.” He revealed a small plush Sumo wrestler.

“Oh, it’s Bakugo!”

Silent, blonde, and obviously grumpy, Bakugo strutted his way over to Kirishima with his eyes fixed to the floor.

“It took a lot of convincing, but I got him to tag along last minute,” Kirishima threw an arm around his friend’s shoulder.

“Get your hands off me, broom head!” Bakugo barked.

“Oh shut up and eat your taimaki,”

The boys waved them off (well, Kirishima did, Bakugo completely ignored them) and went to go sit down. Ochako discovered that another one of their classmates, Tsuyu Asui, was sitting by herself near the middle. After determining that the seats on either side of her weren’t taken, Izuku and Ochako went and sat with her. Not long after, the seminar started. It was set up as a sort of panel with a few heroes from different agencies sitting at a table to take questions from the crowd. Of course, Izuku was one of the most engaging audience members, raising his hand every other minute or so and piling notes upon notes into a notebook that he carried along with him. At some point during the seminar, Ochako’s attention drifted from the heroes on the stage and she became fixated on her friend. The way that his hand shot up in the air when another question popped into his mind was incredibly amusing. His beaming, goofy smile and the spark in his eyes sent a flutter in her chest. There was something magical about it, the way he broke free from his shell and let his inner confidence shine through every time he got the chance to talk about heroes. It was strangely intimate, almost like she was peeking at him through a window during a moment of privacy. It felt dangerous. And yet at the same time, she saw herself in the room with him. Absorbing every word he said with genuine excitement and attention. And then, maybe, his hand would fall onto her lap. And as he spoke, his mop of forest green hair invited her, dared her, even, to run her fingers through it.

Then all of a sudden he was facing her. Ochako quickly swung her head away from his direction and focused her eyes to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him look her up and down for a brief second before turning his attention back to the stage. Her face burned horribly. Although it was just a quick glance, just the thought of him possibly catching her staring at him was enough to make her flustered beyond belief.

“Erm, Tsu, could you come with me to the bathroom?”

Once the girls left the crowd and turned the corner around a food truck, Ochako let out a sharp exhale out of exasperation. She threw her face into her hands.

“Gah, I feel like throwing up,”

“Then go to the bathroom.”

“What? No, no I don’t actually need to use the bathroom,”

Tsuyu turned her head inquisitively.

“One moment I feel fine, and the next I can’t think straight. And I try so hard to not do that, but every single time it just…comes out of nowhere!”

Tsuyu brought her finger up to her chin and tapped it a few times as she formulated her words in her head, then turned back to Ochako.

“Well, if you bury everything inside you’re just bound to explode,” she said in her usual matter-of-fact tone. Tsuyu always spoke with a laidback, thoughtful presence, and everything she said always seemed well thought out and reasonable. This quality of hers garnered her much respect from her friends and came in handy when she found herself in precarious situations.

Her words seemed to rattle something within Ochako, and suddenly there was a glimmer of recognition behind her eyes. She jolted upright and took on an expression of a mix of shock and embarrassment. She met Tsuyu’s eyes with a pleading expression as if asking if she knew, to which Tsuyu returned a confirming look. Ochako’s cheeks colored.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“If you’re comfortable, just talk to him. It’s better, to be honest than to keep anything a secret, especially if it involves your close friends, ribbit!” said Tsuyu, “Besides, the worst thing that could happen is that he doesn’t feel the same way. And if that’s the case, at least you’ll be able to move on,”

Ochako’s face contorted as she processed Tsuyu’s advice. Pushing down her feelings certainly didn’t work, and as time went on it became harder and harder to maintain her emotions for Izuku. Her friend was definitely right in what she should do. But it’s not that easy! How would she even begin to explain such a thing to him? Especially after all the time they had known each other; her feelings have only grown stronger day by day. She had been burying them inside and piling them up for months on end. And with this combination of burying and piling, they mixed and twisted into something incredibly foreign to her, something so much deeper than just a schoolgirl crush. What if she found herself at a loss for words trying to express herself? Or worse, overwhelming him with her feelings?

The panel had ended while the girls were still “in the bathroom,” and as the crowd dispersed, they made their way back to find Izuku. The three chatted about the seminar for a few minutes, and then Tsuyu parted ways to head home early. Checking the seminar off their list of things to do, Ochako and Izuku went back to strolling around and amusing themselves with the diverse array of activities that surrounded them.

After a while, they passed by the giant Ferris wheel, which towered over everything else in the park, save for the giant spinning swings. Ochako immediately lit up at the sight of it, encapsulated by the bright, rainbow lights decorating the spokes, which flashed in crazy patterns in sync with the music being played by some speakers attached to the base.

“Ooh! Let’s go there!” she said, grabbing Izuku’s arm and dashing towards the line.

After they had gotten on the ride, Ochako leaned forward a bit to lean against the protective bar, pulled the cuffs of her coat up to cover her cold hands and gave them a blow of warm air from her lips before resting her face on them. Izuku watched her do this with odd fixed attention. Her puckered lips were still as cherry red as before. For some reason, he felt the urge to start a conversation with her, but as his mouth moved to form words, he realized he didn’t have anything interesting to say. So, he bumbled a bit and spat out something along the lines of

“s’cold, isn’t it?”

Ochako turned towards him and the expression on her face told him that she didn’t catch what he had said. He colored.

“...Ya know, I know that this was kind of an assignment for class, but I’m really glad you came with me today,” she said.

“Oh. Really?”

“Yeah, really. It’s funny, I wasn’t expecting you to actually come. Well, actually I was, but I wasn’t at the same time. Yeah I know it’s confusing, gah!”

Ochako turned away and hid her face behind her hand in a motion that made their seat swing a little bit. Startled, the two quickly grabbed onto the seat in an effort to stabilize it. In doing so, their hands touched each other accidentally as they clasped the protective bar. Ochako quickly snatched her hand away, then did a double-take at him.

“Woah, your hands are so warm!” She said, clasping his right hand in between both of hers, like a hand sandwich.

“Are they?”

Izuku pretended to be unaware, but he knew that the cause of it was because he had been in a nervous sweat the entire evening. It was actually a relief to feel her cold touch against his burning palm, at least it was for a few seconds. Because he felt them get clammy as he noticed how long she had been clasping it. Finally, she let it go.

“I wonder. Do you think Todoroki has warm hands or cold hands? Or both?”

“I’m not sure,” he replied. Then he went on to contribute to the thought, only to be interrupted by a sudden commotion from below. There was the sound of a gross, manly screech that echoed from some unknown origin. Startled, the two looked around themselves, then on the ground below, and couldn’t find a thing. There was a beat of silence. Then they looked at each other, and then they both broke out into laughter. For some odd reason, the strange noise provided the catalyst for a release they both desperately needed. And they laughed hard, until the point where their sides hurt. Ochako had a hand on his shoulder and was grabbing it to keep herself from falling out of the seat. Their cheeks went sore from smiling for so long and for a moment it seemed like they had forgotten what had even caused them to laugh in the first place, but they didn’t care.

Izuku wiped a tear from his eye, then looked ahead and beamed as he realized that they had finally reached the top. Ochako followed his gaze. Since they had arrived, the time had droned on in the background, and at that moment they just realized that the sun had finally set and it was dark outside. So, the lights and lanterns that shone wild colors were even brighter than before. It was mesmerizing. A draft of cold wind snuck up on them and licked at the back of Ochako’s neck. She shivered harshly and pulled her slightly undersized coat tighter around her. Noticing that it hadn’t really given her much relief, Izuku asked her again if she were cold. This time having understood him, she nodded with a grimace. He then, with a quick moment of hesitation, scooted closer to her and tried to reach and put his arm around her.

KaBOOM!!!

Before he could touch her, the ride trembled in the shockwave caused by a sudden explosion. Their seat swung violently and they were thrown into each other. Screams of terror emerged from other riders and Izuku himself. He looked about and saw a commotion a couple of yards ahead. Twenty yards across was the stage where the hero seminar was held, although now it was set up for some magic show and there was a gust of smoke on stage from which a figure in a maroon cloak and an animal mask emerged.

“Oh ho ho! I admit, even I jumped a little with that one,” the cloaked figure’s voice boomed through a microphone.

Izuku’s mouth hung open in disbelief and he clutched his heart. Ochako was holding her mouth shut in an effort to contain her laughter. She turned and cupped his cheeks with her hands, making sure to keep both pinkies off of his skin in case her anti-gravity quirk activated.

“You’re such a dummy,” she said.

His mouth curled into a crooked shape and he shrunk down. His nervous sweats came back full force as his cheeks turned into red blotches.

The ride was over and once they hopped off they decided that it was time to leave. On the way out, Izuku bought Uraraka a snack from one of the food trucks as a treat and a thank you for inviting him along. Then they boarded the bus and rode it all the way to Uraraka’s street. They hopped off and walked until they found her apartment complex.

When they reached her door, she turned towards him. She let her hand fall upon the side of his bicep and she gave it a friendly squeeze.

“I guess this is where we part ways,” she said.

Then her hand traveled down until their fingers met. In an impulse she took the opportunity to fully grab onto his hand, first cupping it, then intertwining her fingers in between his. His hands were warm. She smiled.

“Goodnight,”

She kissed his cheek, squishing her lips against his cool skin for what felt like the blink of an eye.

A jolt went through Izuku’s body and once she pulled away he immediately reached up to touch the spot her lips touched. Blood rushed into his face as the sensation lingered.

The slight stickiness confirmed that she was, in fact, wearing cherry red lipgloss.

He opened his mouth to say something but she had slipped into her apartment and closed the door before he could.

For a moment he stood there alone with only the sound of the wind blowing by. His heart fluttered inside of his chest. And he forgot to breathe for a few drawn out seconds. He eventually broke out of his shocked stiffness with a very slight, almost unnoticeable smile. A light chuckle escaped his lips and he shook his head as he quickly walked off in a stupor.

((Hope you guys liked it!! This is my second BNHA fic and I really liked how it turned out. This may have a part two, idk yet. Hope you enjoy!!))

[gambissanctum]

PART 2 Black Lighting: The Book of Fortitude:Chapter one:Brandon’s Duplicity

Authors note: Here’s part 2 guys! I don’t know how long this “book” will be but everything within “ThebookofFortitude” will be tagged as such so you can find it.Ignore typos and weird wording I got kinda tired lol Enjoy!

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

Brandon’s apartment 

“Aye, you got a hoodie?” Jennifer asks as she stands up ready to investigate. “Yeah” Brandon replies running over to his closet grabbing two hoodies. He throws one over to Jennifer. They both zip up and put on the hoods trying to conceal their identities. Brandon opens the door and its chaos.Residents in the apartment complex  are evacuating while Brandon and Jennifer are going the opposite way. Brandon nods his head directing Jennifer to a staircase towards the end of the hall. They keep their heads down as they rush to the floor above them.Once they reach the floor its completely abandoned. There’s debris shattered around the halls and broken light fixtures. Jennifer takes the lead and walks forward looking for the location of the sounds. Brandon follows behind her. She walks two doors down and apartment 301’s door was completely kicked in. 

Jennifer motions for Brandon to come forward. She sees soldiers sprawled out on the floor.” Yo, Jenn be careful” Brandon says as Jennifer gets closer to one of the bodies. A few of the soldiers have their helmets missing. Jennifer inspects their faces. Their eyes are completely black and there seems to be prominent black veins covering their faces.”Looks like Markovians”she says. “Maybe we should go” Brandon insists.”Hold on” Jennifer stalls as she squints to get a better look.”It looks like some kinda venom” she says turning to Brandon. “Jenn” Brandon says trying to get Jennifer to come back to his apartment with him. “You scared?” Jennifer asks chuckling. “No!” Brandon says unconvincingly. “It’s just not safe, how do you know they are really all dead?” Brandon questions. Jennifer lets out a sigh.”I can see electrical impulses, trust me I know the difference…...I can feel it”. Brandon looks saddened by that new insight. A vibration comes from Jennifer’s back pocket. She reaches back and grabs her phone. “ Ugh, it’s my dad” Jennifer huffs. “I gotta go but you think you’ll be okay without me?” she questions. “Come on, you’ve seen what I can do” he assures her. Jennifer rolls her eyes “uh huh”.

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

Anissa’s Loft

Anissa and Grace are in the kitchen area. Anissa is holding Grace from the back as she cooks some breakfast.”Shonda, play Never Too Much by Luther Vandross”.Anissa tells to her smart house. The record starts to play throughout the loft. Grace chuckles as she places a lid on the food she cooked. Anissa starts to sing along to the track holding Grace’s hands. “oooooohhh my love....a thousand kisses from you is never tooo muchhh”. Anissa sings. They both start to dance and laugh. “Let me see what you got! Grace  says as she shimmies her shoulders.”You don’t know nothing about this!” Anissa breaks out the robot and turns around in a circle. “Woooowww! I hope don’t!” Grace laughs. Their gazes are fixed on one another while Grace bites her lip. Grace felt safe and happy....very happy.... so happy that at times she was scared to be so happy.She felt like as soon as she really got into the groove of being comfortable in the feeling, it might get taken away. But for now she was trying to just live in the moment. Anissa pulls her closer grasping Grace’s booty. “Don’t start nothin you can’t finish” Grace teases. “Oh you know I can finish it” Anissa says confidently while kissing Grace’s neck.

 The music turns down as there’s a knock on the door.” Gambi knocks on Anissa’s door again. “ Anissa, your uncle Gambi is at the door” Shonda announces. Anissa and Grace roll their eyes as their moment is interrupted. ”Shonda, pause music, open front door” she says. Gambi walks through the door with a briefcase and looks at them both. “Am I interrupting something?” Gambi asked. Anissa and Grace glance at each other and smile.They consecutively and sarcastically say “Nope”. Gambi gets the hint. “Sorry to interrupt but I have some important news but first Anissa how are you feeling?” Gambi asks. Anissa is looking much healthier than before her run in with painkiller. Anissa responds  “Honestly a hell of a lot better, between whatever it was you gave me and Grace helping me... I’m feeling a lot more like myself.” 

 Gambi nods and brings the briefcase with a computer inside over to the table. “I’m glad to hear that because it seems that we might have a problem that hits close to home that we may need you to help with.” Gambi explains. “What do you mean?” Anissa questions. “Remember how I said the venom was ten times more potent than a sample I had before? Well it took some time but I was able to match the samples.” Gambi taps the screen revealing information about the sample and a digital photo of Khalil. Anissa hesitated with her response.”Why is there a picture of Khalil?”.“Khalil like your sister’s boyfriend that passed?” Grace furrows her brows. “That’s what I mean.... I was able to match the molecular structures with the sample I already had from one of his darts. Anissa it’s match.” he explains.” “But we buried him!” Anissa shakes her head in disbelief.“ And I know that, so heres the other thing.... I went by the graveyard Anissa... and.... he’s not there.The plot is empty.” He explains sternly. “Someone dug him up? Why would he attack me?” Anissa’s mind thinks of a million questions. “Not just someone, my thoughts point to Odell, and the why I’m still trying to figure out.More then likely with what he did to you, Odell has weaponized him to do his bidding.” He explains further.” “Does Jenn know? My dad? Mom?” Anissa asks. “ Your mom and dad know. I haven’t had it in me to tell Jennifer, your mom said she would talk to her today.I just wanted to warn you and Grace. Although Odell is still recovering I’m sure he has contingency plans so be very careful.

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

Brandon’s apartment

Brandon sits at his computer desk looking at a map. He presses the escape button and there’s photos of Khalil and Jennifer. As if he’s been doing some research on them, particularly Khalil. He gets a text message from Jennifer.

 TEXT BEGIN

Jennifer: Hey, you good?

Brandon: I told you, i’m good.I can handle myself lol

Jennifer: hmmm Just checking. It’s been like a week.Didn’t know if whatever that was came back looking for you or something.

Brandon: Nope, I’m good. You still coming by today?

Jennifer: I can’t. My mom wants me to do something but maybe later if it doesn’t take forever.

Brandon: Aight, bet

TEXT END

-------

Pierce Residence:

Lynn walks in as Jefferson is headed down the stairs. The tension is heavy between them. He looks over at her wanting to talk. “Lynn-”Jefferson is interrupted. “Jefferson, if this is not about our daughter, I don’t wanna talk about it. I already have to have a very difficult conversation with her today. So this... whatever this is between us is gonna have to wait.” She snaps. She walks further in the house. “Jennifer!”she yells out. Jefferson rolls his eyes and throws up his hands. His face is almost healed from the beating he took at the school. He didn’t want to argue with Lynn at-least not now. She gets closer to the staircase and calls out “Jennifer” once more. Jennifer yells “coming” from her room upstairs. As Lynn turns to head back towards the door a small valve falls from her pocket. She doesn’t notice but Jefferson does. Jefferson reaches down to pick up the valve as Lynn is looking towards the door awaiting Jennifer. Jennifer rushes down stairs. “Ready?” Lynn asks Jennifer. “Lynn?” Jefferson says confused about all the recent animosity coming from her lately.Lynn ignores him and rushes Jennifer out the door. Jefferson looks at Lynn and Jennifer get in the car wondering how things got back to this point. He closes the door and bangs his fist angrily. His eyes illuminate and the lights in the house flicker.He inspects the valve with a green substance inside in his hand. “Is this....?”

-----------

Car

Jennifer and Lynn walk towards the car. Jennifer see’s a figure in the backseat. “uh, mom?” Jennifer says. “It’s okay, it’s Gambi.” Lynn explains. Since Gambi is still thought of as dead to the outside world he is using the cloaking device he created allowing him to take the form of a ASA agent. “Mom, what’s this about?” Jennifer questions. “I’ll explain, just get in the car”Lynn says checking over her shoulder. They both get in the car and Lynn starts to drive.

 “ You guys are acting super weird, what’s going on?” Jennifer asks searching for a motive. “Well sweetie-” Lynn stops, searching for the right words to say. “What? Did someone else die? That seems to be an every day thing now. Just tell me I can take it.” Jennifer affirms. “Jenn, It’s not that.....”Gambi takes a breath.. “.Lynn you have to tell her.” “Well, you know I’ve been working a lot at the lab and how your sister had a run in with a meta trying to bring back Tavon. Well we connected the venom sample to someone.”Lynn explains .“Okay?” Jennifer shrugs. “We connected it to..... Khalil......The DNA matches..it took some work but Odell has been hiding him at the lab for some time now.I hadn’t seen anything like it before.” Lynn struggles to get it out. “What! Mom, Khalil’s dead! Is this a joke?” Jennifer snaps. “Baby calm down,I...know...this is alarming news but were being 100 percent  honest with you...I haven’t quite figured out how they did this but what I do know is Khalil isn’t like he use to be.There’s a chip thats been implanted in him and I haven’t figured out how to remove it without damaging his brain or whatever’s left of it. “So, he’s alive? I can’t handle this right now” Jennifer yells. “Yes and....I’ve finally stabilized him enough for him not to try to kill us”.Lynn expresses. “What?!”Jennifer eyes light up.”Baby girl, I know...I know... this sounds crazy. It’s like some Lazarus project, gone wrong but try to calm down, at-least until we get to the lab.” “That’s where we’re going? you’re taking me to him?!” Jennifer questions. “Yes, put this on, you may be his last hope. ” Gambi replies with an empathetic tone. He hands Jennifer a cloaking device.

-----------

The lab

“While agent Odell is in the hospital I have a little more free rein in the lab.We still have to keep this under wraps though.” Lynn states to Jenn and Gambi. “This hall is secret and the only area that I know the ASA agents don’t have access to without Odell.With him in the hospital I made sure the cameras in the room aren’t functioning.”

Gambi and Jennifer turn off their cloaking devices.

Lynn takes Jennifer to the side briefly. “Are you sure you can handle this?”.Jennifer nods taking a deep breath. “I just wanna see him.” Lynn gestures okay as she presses a button on her lab pad opening the door. 

Painkiller is laying down in a relaxed state wearing nothing but grey shorts.They walk in and he sits up. It was like he was in a trance. “Dr.Stewart” he says nonchalantly.

Jennifer couldn’t believe it. The initial sight of him sent a surge of feelings through her. It was like she was seeing a ghost. She felt like she was waiting for her heart to catch up to her eyes .Her heart was in a dark place and she wanted to make sure this wasn’t a dream. She didn’t know if she could handle it if it wasn’t.Jennifer and Khalil stare at each other briefly. His glare was cold and almost lifeless.Jennifer gets teary eyed as she approaches Khalil. “Be careful” Lynn warns her. “I gave him something to subdue him but the chip is still functioning,” she explained.Even the way he blinked was robotic. Jennifer touches his face. “I can’t believe this” Jennifer cries observing his face. Lynn and Gambi look at each other empathizing for Jennifer.Jennifer’s tears flood her face. “What did they do to you?” Jenn voice cracks. Khalil looks puzzled at the emotional reactions of Jennifer. Khalil stares at her trying to gather any memory of her. “Do I know you?” Painkiller asks with a slight attitude. Jennifer’s heartbreaks at his words.She knew he wasn’t himself but this was a lot to handle.The disappointment read strong on her face. She had hoped maybe their connection was strong enough to trigger something for him. “You really don’t remember me?” Jennifer inquires.

photocredit @blacklightningriverdalerants​

Will Jennifer be able to help Khalil? Is he gone forever? What’s Brandon up to? find out in part 3.

Thanks for reading! Remember comments, reblogs and likes are appreciated!

[spiltscribbles]

Taste Like Coming Home

 @Notes: Huge thank yo to @ravens-world who made this so much better than what it was!!! <3<3

A REBLOG IS WORTH A THOUSAND STARS<3

.-

Adam’s always appreciated the light thrumming of life that buzzed in Washington, even in the middle of the night. It’s nowhere near as loud as Boston had been, but still, it distracts Adam from floundering in his own thoughts that even now threaten to swallow him whole in an ocean of insecurities and doubts (that had first bore to life in the precarious stillness subsequent Robert’s fists and his mother’s impassive gaze) . ((Adam had lost count of how many nights he'd spent like this, wondering if he’ll ever be good enough to earn his parent’s affections, Gansey’s friendship, Blue’s warmth, Ronan's-Ronan's everything. )) Adam is always questioning if he’ll ever be good enough to deserve the near reverent way Ronan regards him, has always regarded him. To deserve the soft touches and encapsulating kisses and the way Ronan looks at Adam as if he’s the answer to his every question, as if Ronan could find what he’s looking for whispered between the space of Adam’s lips.

Adam tries not to linger too much on the latter anymore, because he knows he'll never find a sensible answer. Knows that he’s never deserved Ronan and all Ronan’s brought to his world. He'd transformed the muted grayscale of his carefully methodical outlook into vivid tones of impossibilities come true. No matter how much he loves Ronan, how he never wants to be without him. Ronan has become a fixture in his very soul that he could never fathom existing without, and yet Adam is still so very inept. Still can’t tell him his feelings in so many words— more often than not opting for gentle caresses and tender kisses that can bring his feelings to life— and he knows he still comes off distant and cold during their more real arguments, despite how sparing they might be. Adam can’t ever contort his mouth in the right ways to speak out loud words of comfort and vulnerability he was so deprived of once upon a time. But still, he tries. Adam tries because this is Ronan, and he wouldn’t be true to himself if he didn’t give Ronan— give them— all he had.

“It’s not your fault,” Adam says, flicks off residue from one of the bright blue creepy-crawlies that had followed Ronan into the real world, from his legs.

Ronan’s only response is an incredulous huff.

Looking at him now, Adam can’t help but marvel at how beautiful and sincere and unshielded he truly is. The dark shadows paint across his face and the light spills over him so that his profile is nothing but flat planes, made all the more sharp, and pale eyes shifting to a haunting, stormy grey rather than the icy oceans Adam has always known and has always ben able to see through. Eyes he’s been enthralled with for forever, even when  he only viewed Ronan as the savagely handsome best friend of Gansey’s who infuriated him in ways Adam never was able to completely comprehend.

“Don’t. Don’t do that,” Adam tells him, moving so that they’re shoulder to shoulder. “Don’t push me out because you’re mad.”

“I’m not,” Ronan says, hurried and stubborn, his face morphing into something desperate. 

“Ronan,” Adam says, but actually means bullshit, and the translation seems to have gone through if the decidedly ceded expression that passes over Ronan’s rough but handsome features is anything to go by.

“I hate that I can’t control it, no matter what I do.”

“Hey,” Adam laces their fingers together and squeezes. “Nothing happened.” He kisses Ronan’s shoulder right then, is relieved when he feels the slight loosening of tension there. He’s suddenly, acutely thankful to all the stars above that Ronan can understand the spaces of words that go unspoken between them.

“Yeah, this time,” Ronan sours, eyes flickering to their closed door and Adam understands him completely. Understands that Ronan doesn’t care if those poisonous arachnids had bitten him, Ronan never cared. The only thing Ronan cares about when concerning bringing back his uncontrolled dream things is the possibility that they could hurt any number of the three people he loves more than breathing. One, Adam, who sleeps right besides him every night. And the other two— their set of twins— are just right across the hall.

“It could so easily go wrong.”

“It won’t,” Adam says with more steel than even he expected.

“How do you know?” Ronan asks chargingly. Hesitantly. Imploringly. Like someone would ask a prophet.

“Ro,” Adam says, quiet and tentative while he runs the pads of his fingers down Ronan’s cheek, tracing the outline of his nose and lips and jaw. His fingertips land on the hollow where Adam could feel his heartbeat,  and he swoops forward to press an open mouthed kiss to it. He revels in the sensation of Ronan carding a hand through his hair, nails lightly scratching Adam’s scalp. “I’m here for you, always. I won’t ever let anything happen to you or the kids, and I know you won't either. Stop worrying, okay? ” Another kiss on Ronan’s mouth, arms wrapped around his waste to pull him even closer. “Else you’ll start getting wrinkle lines and I’ll have to find myself some new arm candy.”

“Pff,” Ronan snorts, rubs a ginger hand down Adam’s naked back. He can feel the cool scrape of the golden wedding band Adam’s got a matching pair to. “If anyone’s the trophy husband here it’s totally you.”

“Fuck off.” 

“Lynch farms just got another expansion, fuck face,” Ronan preens, and Adam loves him like this. Boasting and teasing and always, always so soft whenever he peers down at Adam. “Me and my herd are gonna blow fucking Wisconsin right off the map with our Dairy prowls.”

“Actually, I think California’s now the state to beat for title of Dairy capitol,” Adam corrects with a nonchalant shrug.

“What the fuck ever,” Ronan snipes, words full of humor.

“Come back to bed.”

“I shouldn’t,” Ronan frowns, and Adam doesn’t miss the fear, fear that’s only ever directed at himself, that ghosts across his face. Adam parts his lips to argue and chide at him that he needs to trust himself, but Ronan must’ve seen that coming from a mile ahead because he stops it with another resounding kiss that Adam can feel to his core.

“Had to be up anyways,” Ronan explains amidst heavy breaths that mirror Adam’s own. “Me and Opal were gonna check out that Farmer’s Market back in Henrietta and Declan wanted to join.”

“Fine,” Adam gripes, follows him out the bedroom to help collect the things he’ll be needing, partially because he’s too riled  up to go back to bed now, but mostly because he knows that if he leaves now, Ronan won’t be back until late afternoon. He always misses him so achingly during these long trips away from their home.

God does Adam love that, the idea that he’s got this. He’s got a home that he gets to share with the man he loves more than any other and his two kids that he would willingly lay down his life for. Sometimes he has to stop and just take it all in, climb out of the memories of crying on the steps of the trailer wondering if anything was worth existing for in this world and thinking that the kid he was finally found that worth.

Adam passes Ronan a thermos  of coffee for him and an herbal tea for Opal, sends him off with one final peck of farewell. 

“You should welcome me home with a martini,” Ronan goads, grin gone sharp and slightly feral. “Put on a slutty genie outfit?”

Adam pinches his forearm, hard.

“I will never play out some kinda  I Dream of Jeannie tableau for you dickwad, get over it.”

“You can’t blame a man for trying,” Ronan shrugs, goes off to kiss the tops of the kids’ sleeping heads. He gives Adam one more kiss before he has to finally head out to the BMW.

Sometimes Adam forgets that these long days apart are just as hard for him.

.-

“Is it Daddy’s birthday?” Livvy asks, eyebrows hiked, and lips pitched. 

“No,” says Adam while pulling out spare mixing bowls from the cupboard— it's a miracle that he even knows where they are, if he’s being at all honest. In their household, the kitchen is largely Ronan’s realm of expertise and all Adam’s good for is washing dishes and the  occasional  toasting of bread.

“Are you graduating again?” Gage— a near spitting image of his sister, with all their trappings of dark hair and intense eyes and thin lips, asks  owlishly.

“Not that either.”

“Then why on God’s green earth are we baking cupcakes?”

Jesus fucking Christ, do these kids have some mouths on them. Adam would like to blame it totally on Ronan’s frame of mind that unfiltered speech is the only way he’d speak around his kids, but Adam knows that ever since they had first brought them home, ten months old and just barely crawling, that they’ve gotten just as much of his cynical outlook than what Adam would’ve liked.

“Because, squirt,” Adam pulls out his phone to search for a decently simple recipe he both had the ingredients to, , and one that wouldn’t turn out an utter mess. “Daddy woke up a bit sad this morning and I thought that if we made him this, it would show him we're thinking bout him and he wouldn’t be so sad anymore.”

The twins look suitably cowed at that, both pairs of eyes going pleading and chorusing a thousand questions on whether Ronan’s okay and when he’ll be coming home and how they could help.

“He’s fine, kiddos, just was gonna miss you guys when he went out with Opal and Uncle Declan today. But he’ll be home any minute, so I wanna make sure this is done by then, kay?”

Gage nods with grave certainty, wielding a whisk like a weapon of war, but Livvy still looks a bit unsure.

“Aunt Blue says that your cooking should be considered a weapon of mass destruction.”

“Like a nuke!” Gage tacks on helpfully.

“Or mustard gas.”

“Ooo! Or like—“

“Neither of you are ever allowed to say the names of weapons out loud again! Not ever!" Adam scolds with no actual heat.

“Hey, but what about,” Gage points to Chainsaw, who’s perching atop the refrigerator watching them. 

“Not my problem.”

They both roll their eyes but don’t press him on it.

“Papa, are you sure you can do this?”

“It’s baking, Liv, not cooking a full course meal," he says, only slightly indignant.

“Ms Gomez says that baking is just like science and that’s why it’s way harder than just normal cooking.”

Adam’s expression goes flat.

“You get to crack the eggs,” he tells her in lieu of a response.  

“Oh, yay!” Livvy crows. Gage howls with the unfairness of it all.

.-

An hour and a half later finds the white marble top island of their spacious kitchen splattered with batter and oil and substances Adam is almost positive he doesn’t recognize. There’s a tray of a dozen cupcakes in the oven but Adam isn’t quite sure that they’re meant to be staying flat, refusing to rise even once the halfway mark passes— that along with the fact that the toothpicks literally are stuck once used to puncture doesn’t bode well. The sink had overflown about a dozen times because one of them keeps forgetting to turn off the water once they’ve rinsed a dish.

All and all, it probably could’ve been worse.

“Aunt Blue’s always right,” Livvy says sagely.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Adam can’t help but agree while frowning at the mess, his heart contracting the moment he hears the front door swing open and the recognizable thudding of Ronan’s farm boots.

“Oh joy,” he mutters as the kids dash off to the front parlor, leaping into Ronan’s arms, batter splattered hands and all.

“Mother of God, Parrish,” he bellows, obviously in a better mood than this morning. “What are these changelings doing here and where are our actual kids?”

Adam can’t help the way his mouth dips down into a small, delighted grin, his heart doing palpitations at the sight of the three people he loves more than anything all together in one spot.

“No, Daddy!” Livvy squawks. “It’s us!”

“We were making you cupcakes because we thought you were sad and we hate it when you’re sad and we love you and Papa is really bad at anything in the kitchen, but he tried.”

“Thanks, Gage,” Adam ruffles a hand in his hair, tugs softly on Livvy’s pigtail, before kissing Ronan hello.

“You taste like shit that’ll rot my teeth.”

“I’ll take it as a compliment.”

Ronan’s answering laugh is something splendid. 

“You guys didn’t have to go through the trouble.”

“We love you, Daddy,” Livvy argues, kissing the back of his hand and making Ronan’s expression go gentle in the way it only ever does for them.

“Thanks, princess. I love you more, though.”

Livvy sticks out her tongue, contentious, and Ronan follows suit by pulling a face at her that makes it so she’s cackling.

“Look, I’m sure your Pops has made the kitchen a living nightmare,” Ronan says, and Adam glares at him, affronted. “So what about we go out to grab something sweet? Sit out on the peer while eating it?”

Livvy and Gage  chorus excited words of affirmation and Adam refuses to let Ronan in the kitchen till it’s cleaned up.

“Fuck, it looks like World War III or some shit in there, doesn’t it?”

“One more crack at my cooking resembling a war zone and I swear I’m filing for a divorce,” Adam threatens.

Ronan just laughs and something deep in Adam’s chest blooms, pleased that at the very least the cupcakes had their intended effect.

[springwritess]

Temporary Alliance | Roronoa Zoro

anime: one piece

word count: really long lmao. it’s more like a mini fanfic than an actual oneshot

notes: i came up with this idea while trying to sleep. it’s a zombie apocalypse x one piece crossover.

tags: angst with happy ending, zoro fluff, recruitment, swearing, sarcastic, both of you try to gain the higher ground during conversations, some blood

There were a horde of zombies coming closer and closer to you. Groans and moans came from their open mouths, wanting human meat.

Fuck.

You ran as fast as you could. You could feel your temples pulsing and your lungs burn as you ran through the forest. Branches constantly attacked you, scratching your ankles. The leaves crunches underneath your feet and big brown logs seemed to appear out of nowhere as if they tried to stop you.

You were camping in the forest after being driven out of your home. You took what you could find and left the city as fast as possible. You needed to get away from people as much as possible. Staying alive was horrible, but you fortunately you found some edible plants. You couldn’t stay there forever. You needed to get off the island. You were planning your next moves, and then the zombies attacked.

You continued to run with your heart in your mouth. Then you stopped. It was a dead end. A mountain of rock blocked your escape route. The wall seemed endless. There was nowhere to go. You collapsed to the ground as they started to surround you.

Is this how I’m going to die?

Then a miracle happened.

A man swooped in and instantly cut all the zombies. They all fell to the ground, like lifeless dolls. He sheathed his swords. You stared at him. He had bright green hair like moss and a scar over his right eye. He stared at you with eyes as cold as the ocean.

“Oi.” He thundered. The man’s voice was extremely deep and threatening.

You jumped back out of surprise, hitting the back of your head on the mountain of rock. Ripples of pain vibrated throughout your head. You rubbed to try and soothe the pain. You got up and grabbed your bag, which contained a first aid kit, a pack of matches, a map, a reusable water bottle and a bit of food.

“Where are we?” He asked. His tone softened at bit.

“We’re in a forest a few hours from the closets city. Are you heading somewhere?” You asked.

He rubbed the back of his head. “I’m trying to find my ship and crewmates. We were separated by a storm. The ship is near the ocean coast of this place. I just don’t know where.”

You frowned. A crew huh...he’s probably a pirate. Anger churned deep within you. You despised pirates after everything you’ve been through on this island. An idea popped into your mind. You could probably use him for a bit. He didn’t seem to be the brightest either, so it’ll be easy to trick him.

“The nearest ocean coast is extremely far from here. It’s about a week on foot. You’ve been walking in the opposite direction actually.”

He groaned. “Are you fucking kidding me? Alright I’ll just go back to where I started.”

The man was about to turn around and leave, but you called out to him.

“Wait! Before you go...how about I show you the way? You’re new to this island aren’t you? I’ll just lead you to your crew. I can also cook meals, tend to your wounds and keep watch at night.” You said.

He narrowed his eyes and stared at you. You stood there patiently, waiting for him to take the bait. There’s no way he wouldn’t.

“This is all for free?”

“If you’re willing to protect me, then I’ll do my part.”

He was silent for a moment, but finally seemed to agree. “Fine then. Show me the way girl.”

“It’s (f/n).” You have gave no last name, because you weren’t planning on getting close with him.

“It’s Zoro.”

Knowing the man’s name, your little adventure began.

***

You created a route so you could get back to the coast. There were many zombie-infested cities. You’d stay away from those cities, but that’ll increase the walking time. You guys were going to leave the forest tonight because it was no longer safe. You grabbed some sticks and shrubs for a fire and a few of those edible plants the two of you could eat. The plan was now set in motion.

Again...that’s easier said than done.

You rubbed your temples at the swordsman’s stupidity. “You’re going the wrong way idiot! How do you not know your right from your left!”

“Eh? No this is right!” He shouted and continued to walk left.

You grabbed his hand and started to drag him like you were his parent. “How are you still alive?” You grumbled to yourself.

“Oi what are you doing?” He asked, ripping his hand out of your grasp.

You glared at him. “Just listen to me damn it! You’re making this harder for the both of us.”

He rubbed the back of his head and sighed. “You’re a troublesome women.”

“You’re a troublesome swordsman.” You retorted.

***

Zoro and you finally left the forest. You guys were in an open field, heading for the city. The sun already dipped into the horizon and the sky was turning dark.

“We’re in the open. Zombies could attack any time. It’s going to be a long and cold night.” You explained.

You turned around to find the swordsman already laying down to sleep. “I missed my afternoon nap.”

You sighed and sat down next to him. “You really are a kid huh...you need afternoon naps.”

Zoro gave a grunt in response and turned to the other side. He didn’t feel like picking a fight with you again. You guys were arguing all day.

You grabbed the sticks and shrubs from your bag. You used a match to light the fire and sat down next to him.

“We’re going at a slow pace. If this keeps up it’ll take about forever.”

Zoro didn’t answer. You looked over to see that his eyes were already closed. His chest was slowly rising and falling. He was fell asleep already.

You poured some water over the fire and it came out. You let out a sigh. That was a lot of water that went to waste. There was no fresh water source in sight either. Hopefully, you’d guys would make it to the city by tomorrow night to restock on supplies.

You looked up to the sky. It clear black canvas. No stars were to be seen that night. The darkness was so thick that if it wasn’t for Zoro’s soft snores, you wouldn’t know he was there. Hopefully no zombies would be there either.

You felt goosebumps raise on your arms as a cold breeeze passed through your body. You shifted closer to Zoro for some warmth. He didn’t seem to take notice. His body was radiating with warm energy. It was comfortable.

You let out a stifled yawn and sat there bleary-eyed. You wanted to sleep but couldn’t, not yet at least.

Thankfully there were no zombie attacks that night.

***

You guys headed towards the next city the next morning after breakfast. It was just raw plants. It didn’t seem to fill you up however. Zoro probably felt the same way too. He didn’t say anything though.

You frowned as you looked at your tin of water. It was running low. You used a lot of water to put out the fire last night and to wash the plants this morning.

“We’re running low on water.” You told him.

He shrugged. “We’ll figure something out.”

“The next city is about a day on foot though. We’ll have to make it there tonight. I want to take a shower and grab some fresh clothes too.”

You didn’t have the luxury of the small river you used to bathe and wash your clothes in. Your hair was tangled and in a messy ponytail. Your jeans and shirt were caked with dry mud.

He sighed and started to walk. “Alright then women. Let’s go.”

“It’s (f/n), you shitty swordsman. You’re also walking in the wrong direction. We’re going forwards, not backwards.”

He stopped walking. “Eh? I’m going the right way.”

After a whole day of walking, you guys were just outside the city. Unlike the previous day, there were multiple attacks. Dozens of zombies surrounded you. These ones were slightly smarter than the others you’ve seen. They had weapons - mostly guns and swords.

If it weren’t for the swordsman, you would’ve died. Zoro protected you while you cooked and did the navigating. You had your job, and you had yours. The trip was filled with silence this time. He wasn’t really the social type.

You looked over and noticed a wound. Zoro’s arm was dripping with dark congealing blood. He didn’t seem to care.

“You’re hurt.” You said.

He glanced over to his arm and shrugged. “It’s nothing. A bullet grazed me.”

You stopped walking. You grabbed some bandages from the first aid kit. “Let me get that.”

“I said I’m fine.” He grunted.

“Come on. You’re hurt. It’s my job to help you out. You got hurt protecting me, so let me return the favour.”

He sighed and held out his arm. You wrapped the bandages around his arm and tied them into a knot.

“This should stop the bleeding for now. Let’s get going.”

You both stopped walking as your eyes drank in the awful sight. The colour drained from your face. The inside of the city looked like a battlefield. There were endless piles of dismembered buildings. Roofs were torn off and cars were abandoned. Bodies were littered everything like garbage. The ground was stained with blood, and turned into a deep red. The pungent smell made you almost throw up. You felt your heart sink. This was your hometown. You grew up here, but it was now reduced to rubble.

Zoro wrinkled his nose. “It smells disgusting here. What the hell happened here? Did the zombies really do all of this? They don’t seem that smart. The ones here are even weaker than the ones on Thriller Bark.”

“It wasn’t a zombie.”

“What was it?”

“A pirate.”

“What do pirates have to do with all of this?”

“A group of pirates brought this virus to the island. Their crewmate was dumped here. He was rushed to the hospital.” You explained. “He survived, but the virus seemed to induce range and the need for human meat. He bit the nurse that was treating him and she started to act the same. I’m not sure, but I think the virus probably travels through saliva.”

“They’re still human? They certainly don’t look human anymore.”

You ignored his last comment. “Let’s go. I want to go somewhere.”

Weaving through the rubble, you went to your old home. It barely resembled the home you retreated to after a long day. The roof was reduced to rubble. The walls were still intact however. The door was ripped off its hinges and nowhere to be seen.

Sadness clouded your features. “This is where I used to live.”

The swordsman said nothing. You walked in, with him following you. You tried turning on the light, but there was no electricity. You turned on the faucet in the kitchen. The water seemed to be working. Couches and chairs were flipped over. Cupboards were open but no items were to be seen. You opened the fridge. It was empty. The house was most likely ransacked by burglars.

“There’s nothing in here.” Zoro stated.

You rolled your eyes. “Thanks Captain Obvious. I’m not fucking blind you know.”

He glared at you, but you didn’t notice. You scanned the entire home, but all three of them were gone. Your mother, father and brother were nowhere to be seen.

You clenched your fists and gritted your teeth.“If it wasn’t because a pirate...my mother would be alive.” You whispered, your voice shaking with anger. “My brother and father would be alive too. My whole city would be intact! I hate pirates. I hate all of them.” Your voice grew louder and shaked with wrath.

The swordsman said nothing.

“I hate pirates. I hate all of them!” Your voice was loud, but steady.

“Why are you helping me then? I’m a pirate. Did you think I was a tourist?” He asked. Zoro didn’t seem affected at all from your outburst.

You clenched your shirt. “I want to leave this island as soon as possible. I know I’m weak, but if I stay close to you I’ll be able to leave.” Your voice grew quiet.

“Where do you plan on going to? Do you have a ship?”

“No...I’ll find one. I can stowaway on one if worse comes to worse.”

“What about your family? Where are they?”

There was a long and dreadful silence. You finally answered.

“Dead.”

The swordsman didn’t say anything after that. Instead, he sat down and let out a stifled yawn. “I’ll keep watch. You should sleep. You haven’t slept last night and we walked all day.”

You looked at him in disbelief. “I just told you I hated you. Now you’re telling me to go to sleep? Do you plan on leaving me? Surely you know that’s suicide.”

He gritted his teeth. “You’re not the first person whose told me they hated pirates. I have a crewmate who told me that. Go to sleep idiot.”

You shook your head and started to shake even more. “No.” You tried your best to make your voice firm, but it was shaky.

“Why not?”

Your eyes shifted to the side. They became glazed with a glassy layer of tears. You blinked, and they slid down your cheeks silently. “I...can’t.”

Zoro’s face turned crimson red. “Oi are you crying? Stop crying idiot! Shit...why?“

Your lower lip quivered as words slowly made their way out of your mouth. “Because...” You began, “of nghtmares.”

There was another silence. “Is it about your family?”

You didn’t answer. You felt a knot form in your stomach as the memories of that night started to resurface.

You watched as the zombie ripped out your mother’s throat. She fell to the ground like a dummy, lifeless. A hord started to gather around you, your older brother and your father. Your father cursed.

“Run (f/n).” Your father said.

You blinked in disbelief. “I can’t leave you guys-“

Your brother cut you off. “I said run!” His voice boomed like thunder.

With that you took off, running as fast as you could with tears in your eyes.

“Oi (f/n).” This was the first time he said your name. There was a lick of concern in his voice, barely noticeable.

You quickly wipes your tears. “Did you see your family’s dead bodies?

You shook your head. “Only my mum. I don’t know about my dad or brother.”

“Then you can’t be sure they’re dead. They could still be alive somewhere. You just have to find them.”

“I guess.” You wipes your tears away. “I’m going to go take a shower. Maybe I’ll find some fresh clothing.”

Zoro noticed a den den mushi on the table. The burglars seemed to leave that. “Can I call someone? I want to see if my crew is fine.”

You nodded. “Yeah whatever.”

You walked into the washroom and stripped down. You stepped into the tub and turned the faucet to high. You let the water beat over your head in steamy rivulets. You closed your eyes as the water and heat soaked into your skin. It took your mind off everything for awhile.

You looked through the cupboards in the washroom. Much to your surprise, they were mostly full. There were shampoo and conditioner bottles. You used them to wash your hair. You grabbed a bar of soap to scrub the dirt and grime off your skin.

Once you were finished, you turned off the faucet and stepped out of the shower. You found a towel to dry yourself off with. You went to grab clothes, only to realize you didn’t take any with yourself to the bathroom.

Zoro was standing right outside too.

Shit.

You sighed and put on your dirty clothes. You slipped out of the bathroom and went to your room. Zoro didn’t seem to notice. You frowned when you opened your closet. Most of your clothes were gone. You managed to find a sweater, a t shirt and some sweatpants. Thankfully, you were also able to grab a bra, some fresh underwear and socks too.

You went to your parents room to see if their clothes were still there. Your parent’s clothes were still there. You grabbed some of your mom’s stuff as extra clothing for yourself, along with one of her backpacks. It was much bigger than the one you stole while leaving the city. You also decided to grab Zoro some fresh clothing too. He was about the same height as your father, so it should fit.

You went to the main room where Zoro was sitting. He was currently on the phone with someone.

“Oi marimo you better not be doing anything to that women! I’ll kill you!” A voice on the other end screamed. It sounded like a male.

“Give me the phone you idiot!” Another women snapped. There was a loud thump on the other end. The man went quiet.

“Alright Zoro. We’ll meet up in a few days. I’m glad that you’re alright.”

Kacha. The snail went to sleep, and with that the phone call ended.

You tossed Zoro his clothes. “Your friends seem...eccentric.”

“That shitty cook is not my friend.” He growled. Zoro picked up the clothes you gave up. “What are these for?”

“Fresh clothes to change into. You can go take a shower. Don’t get lost on the way in!”

“Hmph.” Without any objections, he got up and left to take a shower.

You laid down on the floor, using your backpack as a pillow. You looked up to the sky. Unlike the night before, the sky was painted with stars. It was a beautiful sight. Exhaustion overtook you, and soon you were fast asleep.

It was the first time in awhile you were able to sleep peacefully.

***

Your eyes fluttered open. You felt the rays of the sun but your face. You sat up and stretched. You let out a yawn. Your gaze shifted to the swordsman who was sitting with his arms and legs crossed. Zoro had a solemn expression. He was also wearing the clothes you gave him last night.

“It’s already morning?” You asked, rubbing your eyes.

“We reached here late last night. Let’s get going.” He got up.

“Wait!” You called out. “We need food first. We don’t know the next time we’ll end up finding food and a fresh water source. There should be empty houses around here with food. We could also find a shop.”

Zoro sighed. “Alright let’s go.”

You grabbed Zoro’s hand as you left the house. His hand was surprisingly warm. They were rough too, dotted with callouses.

“Oi what are you doing?” He sputtered out as he turned crimson.

You rolled your eyes, but you could feel your own cheeks heat up. “I did this before. Why are you complaining again?”

“Stupid women! This is embarrassing...”

“Shut up and follow me. You want to get to your friends right? My name is (f/n) by the way, mosshead.”

***

You guys made it into an abandoned shop not far from your old home. The store was wedged between two taller buildings, both in shambles. You felt a sharp pang in your chest. You went there often, to grab snacks or do the groceries for your parents. You let go of Zoro’s hand.

“Alright we’re here. Let’s grab some non-perishable foods. That means anything packaged or canned. I also need a pot and some bowls and utensils too.”

“I’m going to go grab some sake and water.” He said.

“We need food not alcohol.” You grumbled. “Don’t leave the store if you get lost. Shout for me once you’re finished. Don’t trust yourself.”

“I’m not going lost.” He walked off.

You let out a sigh. You grabbed a cart and walked over to the non-perishable food aisle. It consisted of canned and boxed food. You grabbed some boxes, mostly crackers and canned soups. You grabbed pasta and some tomato sauce. You wanted to spice things up a little for your little journey.

“I should grab some water too. I also should check if I could find pots, bowls and utensils.” You said to yourself.

You walked out of the aisle. Your pupils dilated as you stared at what appeared in front of you. It was a zombie. Aside from the missing patches of flesh and the torn clothing, the drying blood and white and red eyes, it looked normal. It’s eyes snapped to you, and made a low growling moan. It spotted you.

It lurched forward, with the intent to kill you. You turned around, leaving the cart and ran. It followed quickly after you. This zombie was much faster than the other ones.

“Oi Zoro! There’s a zombie! Help me!” You screamed out.

“There’s a zombie? Wait there. I’ll come to you.” He called back to you.

Loud footsteps trail behind your fleeing form. You swore. It was going to kill you before Zoro could get to you - that’s if he could anyway. You had to fight.

You ran into another aisle and started to scan the items on the shelves, to see if there was you could use to fight with. You found a broomstick and window-cleaner spray. You quickly grabbed it and continued to run.

You waited for the zombie to be right behind you. Then you spin around, with the spray bottle in your hand. You squirted some right into it’s eyes. It staggered back. The zombie let out a blood curling scream and flailed its head around. Now! You grabbed the broomstick and whacked it on the head, hard.

Your attack didn’t seem to work, and it recovered shortly after from it. You try a second time, aiming for its gut instead. The zombie dodges. It grabs your wrist and twists it to the side. Grunting, you throw your leg out, but it dodges that too. You howl at the force crushing your wrist.

The zombie opened its mouth, saliva dripping from it. It’s teeth were filed to points. It’s breath smelt like rotting human flesh, which made you gag. It leaned in and was about to bite your arm off.

“Rengoku Onigiri.”

The zombie was cut into two perfect halves, along with everything else in its radius. Shelves were knocked over and in pieces. Your cart too, was crushed under the shelves. You collapsed to the ground. You stare at the mess, with your mouth agape. You balled your hands into fists. It took one hit for the zombie to be dead. You struggled massively with it, trying various ways to take it down.

Zoro sheathed his swords. “Are you alright?” He extended a hand, but you ignored it.

You let out a sigh. “I’m weak.”

Zoro sat down next to you. “That’s fine. You have your job and I have my job. We’re all good at something.”

“I’m too weak.” You twisted the sleeve of your sweater. “You’re not going to be here forever. If I’m going to stowaway on a boat. I’m going to need to be strong if the people find me. My family sacrificed their lives for me. I need to survive.”

He threaded a hand through his hair. “You don’t seem weak to me. You did plenty enough damage to the zombie. You managed to blind it.”

You snorted. “That didn’t do shit. It almost broke my wrist.”

“Well...what are you good at?”

“Hmm...I’m not sure. I can do a lot of things, but I’m not particularly good at anything. I’m resourceful I guess. I can sneak around and gather information too. That’s about it.”

There was a long silence. You looked up at Zoro. He was lost in thought. “...You can be our scout. I’ll have to talk to Luffy though to see if you could join.”

You raised your eyebrows. “Scout?”

“You can join our crew. I’m sure Usopp can make a weapon that suits you.”

Your eyes widened. “You...want me to join your crew?”

He shrugged. “You have nowhere else to go. It seems like a pretty good offer to me. I could just leave you here on this zombie-invested island.”

“...That’s actually not a bad idea.” You finally said.

He flashed you his trademark grin, filled with both confidence and cockiness. “It’s your choice. Will you take it?”

***

a/n: i made the the ending is ambiguous. i enjoyed writing this so im probably going to write some more zoro fluff in the future.

[erintoknow]

Adrestia

i started this fic over a month ago and only recent finally figured out how to actually write it dang blast

fallen hero: rebirth, no spoilers, ~1.9k words

“Watch out, that’s Puppetmaster!”

A spike of adrenaline courses through you and you can’t help but cackle as you dive feet first through a a stack of boxes, sending crates of delicate electronic equipment everywhere. “Out of the way losers! I’ve got a a timetable to meet!” You can hear alarms sound around you as the factory  goes into full alert, the clanging of barring gates. You grin under the mirror sheen of your helmet. That suits you fine, keep the small fry penned up and out of the way? You’re too kind.

The wall in front of you collapses into dust and you tear through the office, grabbing at papers at random. What you take doesn’t actually matter, compromising their records is the goal here. Still you make sure to capture as much as you can on your in-suit camera so you can review everything later. You never know what kind of dirt you’ll find.

Damage done, you refer to your map, dissolve another wall and follow your thread out, back to the main entrance. As expected by this point, its Lady Argent, hands at her sides poised to rush you, a half-circle of rent-a-cop security goons behind her to block you in. “A factory, Puppetmaster? This a step down for you.” She hunches down, fingers lengthening into sharpened claws.

Your face twitches under your helmet. “Don’t read the papers, Argent? It’s Banshee.” You hiss. Your voice, filtered through your helmet has a hollow reverberating sound, like a bell. You take a quick count of Lady Argent’s back-up, who’s most pliable to tying up the rest. None of the officers seem to trust Argent. Good. That makes this easier.

The metallic woman looks unimpressed. “Can’t say I care what you call yourself.”

That does it.

One of the rent-a-cop’s guns goes off ‘prematurely’, firing wide to your left, the rest follow in blind panic as you dive to the side. Argent is too focused on you, but with the Rat-King’s help you’re able to pull the rest of the goof troop into your song, pulling their attention in random directions. One of the shots dings Argent in her shoulder, bouncing off to through ground and to her credit she doesn’t look for the culprit, making straight for you.

You run your hand along the ground as you move, leaving a split in the asphalt as the Nanovores chew through material. Lady Argent tries to cut you off so you encourage two of the goons to stumble into her way as you continue your circle around them. You can’t afford to move slow enough for a deep groove, but if this works as planned, all you need is to prime the cut.

If it works.

Argent huffs, shoving one of the men the side, only for the another to conveniently take position between the two of you. “Get out of the way!” It doesn’t slow her down long, but it’s enough for you to finish the circle. Under your helmet you grin, heart pounding. 

All that’s left is the magic word. You give the Rat-King the command to pull the strings and yank everyone back in.

You dash forward and slide down, just under the swipe of her claws. She turns to stab down at you as you come to halt. You roll out of the way and kick her arm aside on your way back up. 

You check to make sure everyone’s inside the circle you’ve carved through the asphalt. “Look alive boys,” is all the warning you give before an explosion rocks the ground under everyone’s feet. You leap back as the asphalt caves in under their feet. The coast is clear enough for the moment that you can risk taking a quick check of everyone’s mental state; a lot of fear and alarm, but the headcount is still the same. You think.

Hopefully.

You shake your head. Focus. Don’t get distracted.“Well, that’s not supposed to be there!” You call down to Argent, exaggerating the sarcasm in your voice. You watch Argent and the rest pick themselves up, clear rubble off their buddies. You have to steel your heart against it, remember who they are, what they represent. You admit though, Argent makes it easier, she’s staring up at you, a single silver middle finger outstretched.

You try not to laugh. Focus. Remember the goal. Don’t get distracted. “Maybe instead of chasing ghosts you should take a look around down there, hrm? Might be surprised what yo-“ You cut yourself off, the Rat-King pulling your attention away just in time to sidestep Herald's dive.

That’s a surprise, is Herald's back in action already? Weren’t they keeping him on the press circuit while his leg healed? Well, that’s his mistake to make, you suppose. You strike at his back as he goes past and send flyboy spinning head over heels down into the hole. Is he strong enough to carry Argent out? You don’t intend to stick around and see, it’s time to make yourself scarce. 

You don’t need to hear the stomping of boots in the hallway to know your time is almost up. You seal the envelope in your hands and push it across the desk to the man in the three piece suit cowering before you. “Looks like the party has arrived. Do consider what we’ve talked about, won’t you dear?” He hesitates so you reach into his mind and give him a push before stepping away. By the time the riot police have broken down the door the envelope is gone, inside his vest.

You watch the police fill the other end of the room, shields up and guns drawn. The idiots. They’ll kill your hostage if they shoot like this. You don’t see or sense any of the Rangers. That’s just fine with you, if maybe a little strange. The man in charge steps forward, hand on the trigger finger. “Banshee, you’re under arrest. We have you surrounded.” You don’t need to read his mind to know from the look on his face and the way he’s holding his gun that the man is regretting coming in to work today. What does the LDPD think they’re doing? They’re no match for you. Sure, you aren’t immune to bullets, but when has that ever stopped you?

You reach out to his mind and encourage him to lower his gun before he sets off the whole room. “Banshee?” You laugh, the distorters warping it into a shrill, discordant noise, then say innocently, “Don’t know anyone by that name.”

You crouch down, bracing yourself, placing a hand on the floor. You’ll only have a second before the tension of situation wakes them up again. “I’m just a ghost.” There’s a moment where it seems like nothing is going to happen and then the nanovores eat a hole in the floor directly beneath you, dropping you down. You grunt, letting the armor absorb most of the shock, though the landing still plays hell on your knees. You’re going to regret this in the morning.

Above you the room erupts in shouts of alarm and someone fires their gun, setting off another gunshot, then another. You grimace in frustration and reach back up to give them a metaphorical shake of the shoulders. You can’t have them killing your new plant.

You break into a run, following your thread to the nearest elevator shaft and breaking the door open with a mixture of force and nanovores. As you make your escape sliding down the elevator shaft you can’t stop yourself from humming a few bars, the chittering of the Rat-King creates an accompaniment in the back of your head. 

Hitting the basement level you barely manage to clear the doors when Lady Argent is on you, all knives and quicksilver. Her claws dig into your arm before you’re able to get her to back off with an uppercut to the head. Argent flexes her jaw and gives you a predatory grin. “I had a feeling I’d find you down here Ghost.” 

You study her face, waiting for a sign of any sudden movement. Getting predicted like this is embarrassing but you need to save the over-analysis for when a woman capable of opening you up like a can-opener isn’t staring you down.“Ghost? I– I wasn’t being literal up there.” You’ve got to reassert control of the situation. You make sure to put an edge to your voice, “It’s Méabh, sweetheart.” You just came up with that one on the spot. You kind of like it. “If you’re going to play lap dog, at least remember to fill in the incident report form correctly this time, will you?”

Argent’s grin turns into a scowl. “Ugh. I don’t actually care,” and she moves in.

The subway tunnel shudders, loose bits of concert drizzling down. An abandoned pet project from a self-obsessed billionaire thinking they could revitalize a city located on fault line with an underground rail system. Rich people. It had been a good hideout for a while. Now?

Now you can feel your heart pound in your throat as the two of you exchange blows. When you try to slide past her, Lady Argent is ready for you, raking claws against the side of your armor, trying to find a point of purchase to pry you apart. You grab her wrist and pull her down on top of you. It’s a stupid move, and you pay for it with razor filings running down your sides but because it’s stupid she doesn’t expect it and you’re able to knee her in the gut and kick her away.

You hate fighting Argent in an enclosed spaces like this. It’ll be a game of attrition as to whether you can get away before she can land a clean hit. The two of you are back to circling each other when you bump up against a support pillar.

Maybe….? You mentally check your map.

You’ll need to stall Argent. “Well! We met again, Lady Argent.” As you talk you rest your hand on the concrete pillar beside you, coaxing the nanovores to get to work. “Accosting a private citizen in the sanctity of their own home? People are going to talk.” 

Lady Argent narrows her eyes, “Méabh.”

“You remembered this time, I’m touched.”

There’s a shark-toothed grin and the distinct feeling that she’s sizing you up. “You haven’t changed your name yet?”

“Oh, still thinking it over.” You give a theatrical flip of your hand. “I don’t suppose you have a suggestion?”

“My only ‘suggestion’ is bringing you to justice..” She keeps her focus trained on you, ready for the moment you make a move. Part of you is surprised she’s still letting you talk. Is backup on the way? That’s not Argent’s style.

“That’s a good thought about justice.” You rap your armored fingers against the pillar, testing to see if it’s hollowed out yet. “There’s been a distinct lack of it in this city, don’t you think?” …Maybe you should go with your first choice for a villain name? You’d been resisting because it seemed, well, too obvious. But nothing else was feeling right. 

“Oh please, is boring me to death with clichés the best you can do?”

“See, it’s that kind of thinking that’s the problem. Lets the real bad guys stay on top.”

Argent finally notices how you’ve kept your hand pressed to the pillar, and growls. “What are you up to?”

“Are you talking about, like, in general or just right now?” You can’t help it, you cackle. “Because I’ve got a list.” You push hard against the concert. The stone breaks like glass and the ceiling sags from the sudden lack of support, tiles crashing down around you. “Right now?” You drop your voice for effect. “Adrestia is cleaning house.”

[this-fucking-shit]

Out of Place pt. 3

          You had reached the edge of the town Ban talked about and least to say, you were utterly confused. Before you had been too focused on the fact that this giant had refused to stop touching you. It's as if he noticed that the subtle hand on your back was bothering you, so he amped it up the notches or something. This made you totally forget that none this place actually looked familiar to you.

          You stopped in your place entirely shocked at the old timey village before you. This was definately not on the map. It had never been on the map as far as you knew. Your town wasn't exactly small, but it was small enough to know that there was nothing even close to this in the surrounding area of that hole.

          In the distance you saw a massive castle. This was like some sort of fairy tale. Or fever dream. Probably a fever dream.

          You were snapped out of your thoughts when you felt a slight pain in the middle of your forehead. You looked up to come face to face with Ban. This man seriously had no personal space. He was way to close for your liking causing you to lean back. You had come to the conclusion that he had flicked your forehead when you saw him lower his hands. 

          "You just gonna stand there an' stare all day?" He asked with an annoyance in his tone. He wrapped an arm around your waist and guided you towards the village. 

          You reminded yourself that if he sees you uncomfortable with his touches then he'll just crank them up more. It was incredibly difficult keeping a straight face though when this dude you just met is holding you as if you'd been dating for months.

          Walking through the village had brought you back to the reality of things. Getting flustered over inappropriate touches was the least of your problems. Hell, even the fact that your lungs could be filling up with fluid currently wasn't ask concerning as the question of your whereabouts was. There were no telephone wires, no paved roads, no cars, not a single person pulled out a cellphone- it was like these people were stuck in the medieval ages or something. 

          "Hey, Ban." You grabbed said man's attention before continuing, "Where are we?

          He scoffed at your question as if it weren't obvious. "You really can't tell? Just how dim are you?" He laughed at your dispense. "This is the kingdom of Liones."

          You reached to your back pocket to grab your phone. As if by some mirical it had gone undamaged by the pond water. You'd never heard of any place called "Liones," especially so close to you where you thought a certain area of your town was supposed to be. You'd probably have to turn data on, but you were determined to look this place up.

          As your phone screen lit up, Ban leaned on close to the device in your hand asking, "The hell's that thing?" He grabbed it from your hand holding it above his head squinting it, an attempt to examine it.

          "It's a smart phone..." you trailed off.

          "What's it for? Where's the light comin' from?" He'd occasionally glance away from the phone to look at the road ahead of him. He twisted and turned it in his hand. It was like a baby playing with keys.

          You snatched it back out of his hands before he could do any damage to it and went to your browser.

          "What're you doin' with it?" He asked leaning over your shoulder.

          "I'm looking up this place 'cause I've never heard of it before." You typed in your search into the bar and hit enter.

          "What does that mean?" Yet again you ignored his question.

          Your search came up with nothing. Literally. The screen wouldn't even load. Yoh looked up at the top of your screen to find that this place had absolutely no cell service. You couldn't have been that far from civilian, could you? At this point, it felt like anything was possibly.

          A sigh escaped your lips as you turned off your phone and stuffed it back into your pocket.

          "So you're not gonna answer me?" The man child next to you practically whined. 

          You shook your head before responding, "I don't wanna have to explain something that I thought was common knowledge at this point in history." 

          A frustrated sigh escaped the man beside you along with a grumble. A few moments of silence had passed unti Ban stopped in front of a small stone shed on the outskirts of town. Was this the where the doctor he was taking you to was located? Doesn't seem very ideal for medical practice. His arm left your waist finally as he reached out and knocked loudly on the wooden door before you.

          A soft rustle could be heard inside and seconds later emerged what you thought was the literal definition of a thot. A tall and slender woman stood in the doorway wearing nothing but a small pair of purple panties and long full length jacket of matching color. You wondered if the jacket had been pastied to her boobs. It would explain why her breasts hadn't spilled out yet. Although all the important parts had been covered, the amount of exposed skin she was comfortable showing had you blushing.

          "Yo~" Ban gave a quick wave and shoved his way past the woman and through the door. She didn't seem to care much about his rudeness. No, she was focused on you, a smirk clad on her face.

          "Who's the girl?" She asked, not bothering to look towards the man she directed her question at.

          "Kid's name is (Y/N). She almost drowned and says her lungs are gonna fill up with water or some shit." Ban responded not sparing her a glance just as she'd done to him as looked around at all the things this woman had laying around.

          She turned to look at him with a raised brow, leaving one hand on the door. "Excuse me?" She pushed for a further explanation.

          You stepped forward from your position outside and spoke up. "If a person has had a near drowning experience such as I did less than a half hour ago, there's a chance that their lungs can fill themselves up with fluid." You explained. "I just wanted to get checked out and see if I was okay."

          She looked over at you, hip jutted out and a hand atop it she asked, "What leads you to think that happens after such an event?"

          Her eyes seemed to bore holes into you causing you to become nervous. Great, she already doesn't like you. Fiddling with your hands you responded, "Well, modern science and medicine has determined so..." you trailed off.

          She glared at you for a moment or two before saying what you assumed was meant for Ban, "She's an odd one, isn't she?"

          Ban turned back to the entrance with a chuckle, "Yeah, you should'a heard the stuff she was sayin' earlier. Oh- Show'er the box thingy!" He was now looking to you with excitement in his eyes like he was showing off a new toy to his friends.

          You complied and pulled the phone from your pocket once more. You turned it on and explained, "It's a smartphone-" not being able to say any more as the woman pulled your phone from your hand to examine it.

          Brows furrowed, she turned it over, around and upside down as she examined it just as Ban did. She tapped it a few times before her eyes widened. She looked to you again with furrowed brows and questioned, "When were you born?"

          Ban had glanced over as well, curious to see where this was going. You swallowed a lump in your throat, not fully understanding why she was asking. "Um- (month/day)."

          "What year?" She pushed.

          "(Year), why do you ask?"

          Whatever Ban was holding in the background had been dropped to the floor and completely shattered spilling its contents. 

          "And that explains why this 'smartphone' says that the year is two thousand eighteen." She delicately hands you back your phone.

          With a still quite shocked face, Ban places himself next to the woman and said, "Wait- Merlin, does that mean-"

          "She's from a very-" she glanced back over at you, almost sizing you up. "very distant future."

          Did she say very very distant future? 

          Is that supposed to mean that you're-

          "Good find, Ban." The woman that Ban had called Merlin pat him on the shoulder and walked back into her cabin.

          Fistbumping the air, the giant man child hollard, "Hell yeah!"

          "As for the fluid in your lungs-" Merlin came back with a bottle in hand. The contents were of an unnatural blue color. "This should fix any problems you have." She reached out and dropped the vile into your hand before pushing the seven foot tall man out of her abode. "Tell me what becomes of this one. Truly is fascinating." She said before fully closing the door.

[j-diamond]

Compete (Jerome x Reader) P. 1

This is only part one. Part two will be out soon, if all goes well of course.

  “C’mon Y/n.” Your friend says as they pull you towards an abandoned building, “I know you said you hate him, but I think he’s pretty cool.” You stop, baffled,

  “What are you talking about idiot?” You ask, slightly irritated, they pause.

  “Well. why you were off doing whatever,” you smirk knowing what they was referring to, “I found some people like me.” You shake your head,

  “My interest is piqued.” You say holding out your hand, which they quickly begin to pull on.

  “This way.” They tug you, and sure enough, there were countless people, all wearing similar outfits. You stifle a laugh,

  “This is ridiculous.” you say, and they frown,

  “Just wait.” they say, and you do, a whirring sound is heard, and an image begins projecting, him. You frown,

  “You brought me here for this?” You ask, they look away sheepishly

  “Well and this.” they say, as they smile and pull you up some stairs and through a doorway, “This is where he lies.” You look down, and sure enough, there laid his limp body, and you let out a chuckle.

  “I’m leaving.” you say as you compose yourself, “You guys are ridiculous. He’s dead, and frankly, he was never great to begin with.” Your friend frowns,

  “You’re just jealous.” they murmur and you face them,

  “Jealous?” you ask, something snapping, “you think i’m JEALOUS of THAT ROTTING BODY who could only wish to be half AS GOOD as ME!” They back away a bit, slightly scared. You raise an eyebrow, and they look around avoiding eye contact,

  “Well…” they start, still searching for something, as your breathing begins to slow again, “Dwight… said... that he could bring him back.” A smile creeps on your face,

  “Bring him back you say?” your voice slightly sinister. They nod, agreeing and you stand up straighter, “Well let him know I look forward to his arrival.” You turn on your heel heading back to the exit.

  You shoot up out of bed, shutting the alarm off. You check the time, prepping yourself. You shove your tools into the bag, sneaking through the hallway. You begin hurry as the liquid sloshes on the floor, making sure to stay just ahead of it. Once empty you skillfully hide it in the corner. You breathe in slowly as your hand reaches for the doorknob. A small inkling reminds you about your mask and you rush to grab it.

  ‘You’re just jealous.’

  You grip the mask tightly, you’d prove them wrong. You throw it on the floor, letting it soak, as you walk out of the building. You smirk, laughing inwardly.

  ‘This’ll show ‘em.’ you think to yourself, lighting a match and tossing it. Your laughter grows louder as you retreat, the warmth of the raging fire decreasing against your back.

  “Excuse me?” You call to the nearest person as you turn the corner. You hurriedly approach them, “That apartment building is on fire!” You look at them, eyes watering, pretending to be anxious, “All my stuff is in there!” You cry, deepening the effect. They shove in their pockets, grabbing a phone to call the police.

  “I think I see them.” You say pointing in a random direction, “thank-you!” You run off, smirking to yourself. It was time to start anew.

  “I don’t know who I think is worse.” He says as he places down his hand. His partner frowns,

  “What do you mean?” he asks as he also l places his hand, slightly snickering, “I win.”

  “Jamen.” He says looking at him, “I think you’re cheating.” They both glance at the cameras quickly,

  “Well you always do Kayje.” Jamen responds, dealing out the cards again. Kayje rolls his eyes,

  “Do you think she’ll go through with it?” Kayje ask as he picks up his cards, glancing at the cameras, “I mean Jerome never did.” Jamen looks up at him briefly,

  “She’s just a copycat.” He states as he pulls a card from the deck, also glancing quickly at the cameras, “We don’t need to worry about her.” Kayje shakes his head,

  “I don’t know.” he says as he grabs another card, “She seems worse?” This makes them laugh, “Maybe not.” A card slips from his hand and he rolls his eyes, “Don’t look at my hand.” He bends down slightly, then shoots back up, “I mean it Jamen!” Jamen turns around, laughing slightly,

 “Promise I won’t.” he says, as Kayje picks up his card.

 “I don’t know though,” he says, not entirely paying attention to the second sound of laughter, “She does seem a bit formidable.” he looks down at his gun, “I mean obviously not enough to beat us though.” He sits up adjusting his chair, “She is just a copycat after all, ri-” He pauses, seeing his dead partner, fear beginning to flood through his veins. The laughter becomes evident to him as it grows louder.

  “Copycat?”A voice calls through the laughter, “That's interesting.” The laughter stops, and he spins around, trying to find the owner of the voice.

 “Over here.” You say snickering. He turns to fins you sitting on his dead partner’s lap, “Wanna finish?” Kayje pulls out his gun aiming it at you,

  “You are going to come with me...” He says, voice failing in between words. You pout, slightly displeased,

  “But I had such a good hand.” you whine, waving Jamen’s cards, “I probably could’ve won.” He hurriedly turns off his safety and you frown,

  “You wouldn’t really shoot me.” you ask sadly, “Would you?” he motions for you to stand up, “oops.” you keeps your eyes on the camera,

  “Come on.” he says, confidence growing in his voice,

  “But what about them?” you ask, eyes glued to the camera, “The calvary wouldn’t appreciate that.”   “What?” he ask, eyes peering towards the camera, only to find hundreds of people with drama masks on.

  “Shouldn’t have looked away.” you say, your voice going darker. On cue, the lights flash and when dark you attack.  He whimpers as he lie crippled on the floor.

  “Say something nice.” you say and he looks up, eyes wet with tears, which you laugh at. “You’re quite the funny person.” You pull out your gun, aiming it at him. He shakes his head, closing his eyes tight, bracing for death. You sigh. “No.” you sit your gun on table, “I can’t.” A smile creeps onto his face,

  “You really mean it?” he asks and you nod. You looks at him sympathetically,

  “I can’t.” you say a smile stretching onto your face, “It’d be so much more funny to shoot you with your own gun.” His eyes widen in fear as you grab his gun from the floor. You giggle as you cock it, “This is MUCH better.” you aim and shoot. His muscles relax and you shrug tossing it to floor as the people storm in. You clap as they come in,

  “Here.” one says as he approaches you. You stand on the table,

  “THE TIME IS NIGH!” you shout as they cheer, “LET’S SHOW THEM WHO WE ARE!” One approaches you and turns around, his back facing you. You hop on giggling, “ONWARD!” you give directions to the person carrying you as you and the group dash through the halls, killing anything that moved. When at long last you reached the vault, you blew it open. “GRAB ALL YOU CAN.” you order, “AFTER ALL...”

  “IT BELONGS TO THE CITY.” they shout and you shrug. So they were then inner city gang. You stare off at the city through the vaults newly made opening. There were nothing worth conquering for you. You toss your bag out the hole in the wall, you were bored. You needed something challenging. You jump through, landing on the cushioning you placed there previously. You pull out your microphone,

  “SO LONG FOLKS! IT WAS NICE WORKING WITH YOU GUYS!” you shout to them and they cheer, making you laugh, “BE CAREFUL OF THE POLICE!” you say as you toss a tear bomb through the opening. You snicker as shouting can be heard as you run off. A plan forming of the mischief you’d make tomorrow.

  “So they had all been caught?” you ask looking up at Gordon through your thick framed glasses. He nods,

  “Yes, in the middle of a bank heist.”he responds and you scribble it down,

  “So another successful capturing by our saviour detective Jim Gordon.” you say smiling, then you begin muttering under your breath, “Thank you for your cooperation with Gotham’s Lead Newspaper, Power Grid. It’ll be in yesterday’s newspaper at eleven.” He nods, obviously off in thought, “Thanks again, Jimbo.” you leave out, returning through the back entrance. You toss off your disguise hoping Gordon had gotten the clue. You were gonna rat out Jerome’s cult, and have them run to you for protection. That’d be the best revenge. You sift through evidence, finding the map Dwight had carried on him. You circle the warehouse where they usually meet, and returned it to its previous position.

  “How do you know Jim!?” The familiar shout of Officer Bullock rang through the connecting hallway. You dashed for the exit but the door opens and you hide in the cabinets,

  “Who else calls me Jimbo?” Gordon replies as he tears things of the shelf, “Plus she said the power grid. There is no newspaper called the power grid.” Harvey groans,

  “And what if it’s a trap?” he asks,

  “It’s a risk i’m willing to take.” Gordon replies having found the map, just as you predicted. His eyes begin searching until they ran across the thin circle, “They must be gathering here.” Bullock scoffs,

  “Lucky guess.” He says, and there steps begin to retreat, but stop suddenly. You pause,

  “She’s still here.” Gordon whispers, and you can hear their soft steps. You frown, how did they know? Then your mind shifts back to when you had tossed the disguise on the floor and you mentally curse yourself. So like a magician you pull your last rabbit out of your bag,

  “Hi Jimbo.” you say, throwing your voice across the room. You could hear them turn on their heels, to where you’d thrown your voice, “Looking for me?” They whip around again, unsure where your voice was coming from,

  “Come out, and we just might let you live.” Bullock says sternly and you begin laughing, throwing it around, engulfing them as you crept towards the exit. You can hear a gun cock behind you and you turn to see Gordon, and you smile, your maniacal laughter still bouncing off the walls. You stop staring at him,

  “It’s too late.” you say, staring deeply in his eyes. He raises his eyebrow at you, his gun aimed at you, but you return it with a closed eye smile, “Chaos always win.” With that you slip away, leaving him yet another clue.

  “Hello!” you greet, the guards stare at you as you approach the news station, “I’m here for my interview they say it would be here at…” You pull out a notepad, feigning ignorance, “11.” They flip through their sheet of what you assume were guest. They nod in confirmation and let you through,

   “Wait here, and Make-up will get to you soon.” One says as they leave again. You smirk,

   “What idiots…” You say, laughing at their ignorance, as you proceed to change into your signature outfit. As you throw your old clothes under the desk you hear the door open and you turn to them a smile on your face,

   “Let’s play a game.” you say pulling out a gun, “It’s called: You scream, You die.” You motion to the chair, to which she sits in,

  “What are you--” she starts but you shush her,

  “Chaos wouldn’t be chaos without a little improv.” you whisper as you pull out your bottle of chloroform. You laugh at her tearful eyes, “No one’s going to come save you. I promise.” You hold up your pinky but she’s already out like a light. You duct tape her mouth for when she wakes, and then tie a grenade to her hand, a string to the pin and to the the closed door, “let’s hope no one tries to open this door right?” you pout seeing no response. You climb through the vent to the other room. You go up to the door and pull it softly just to make sure there was resistance, which there was. You hear distant screaming, alerting you that it had started.

  “People of gotham…” a voice broadcasts, and you roll your eyes. You weren’t a copycat, whoever that idiot is, was the real copycat.

  “How unoriginal.” You state, as the broadcast ends. All eyes shoot over to the corner, where you were hidden. You see guns pointed in your direction, and you smirk, chuckling lowly. “You really think you did well don’t you?” The man you recognize talking earlier lifts up the literal face mask he was wearing revealing who you knew to be Dwight, “Desperate much?” You giggle at the attempt,

  “We have the upper hand.” He starts, “Surrender or die.” you could tell he was hesitant, you smiled,

  “No need.” you say as you slowly step out of the shadowed corner, “I’m simply here to help.” He eyes you skeptically, “You’ll need it.”

  “Why?” he asks, and you smirk,

  “Gordon.” you say simply, already bored with the conversation, “He doesn’t think much of you.”

  “He fears us!” he shouts and everyone shouts in agreement, you laugh dryly,

  “No spunk,” you say as you walk to him, “No spazazz,” You shoot his lakey as everyone aims to shoot, “No reason to save you then.” You turn smiling.

  “What do you mean?” he asks, only loud enough for you to hear. You chuckled, he had no guts, if jerome had been here, he’d never last.

  “Watch and learn.” You say as you dash in front of the camera, “HELLOOOOOO LOVELY, LOVELY CITIZENS OF GOTHAM!” You smile at the camera, and you could hear the police cars pulling up, “Let’s play a game.” You back up clapping your hands, “It’s called I spy. You all know it.” You reach in your pocket, “Except there’s only one thing you need to find,” you pull out your grenade, “The bombs!” you laugh tossing out the window, hearing an explosion. You make an ‘oops’ face, “I guess that means there’s only five left now.” You laugh loudly, “GOOD LUCK GOTHAM.” You look directly into the camera, your voice lowering, “you’ll need it.” You walk off set, smiling at the cult, “Also, Gordon should be here soon. Byeeeee~” You leave, walking into the large window area where they were holding a dude hostage with duct tape and a grenade, you roll your eyes. “Copycats.” you see gordon and smile, walking up to the window, waving. Noticing you, he frowns, converses with Bullock and just stares at you. You smirk, and motion for him to come closer, which he does. You grab a sharpie from the desk and begin drawing backwards so they can see it properly. You finish looking at it, and all the police officers are looking at it confused, to which you sigh. You point at the one and then point at the grenade, smiling immensely. You then write ‘four left’, taking one of the strings connected to the grenade and dashing out of the room. After reaching the end of the string you look around, you were far enough. You yank it and jump as you hear the explosion, you were still closer than you thought. You begin dashing, once you hear the footsteps approaching. A few minutes later you hear an explosion and you smile, someone had opened the door and now there were three left.

  You smash a bat into the tv, he was back. He just had to steal your thunder. You sit almost defeated, you hear beeping, alerting you someone had been intruding. So you wait, pulling out your trigger for the other three bombs, hiding it in your top. The door is broken down and you can hear a gun click, alerting you he was here.

  “So this is the famous Y/n!” You could hear the laughter in his voice and you force yourself to not smile. “I thought it was just a coincidence” He steps closer, “But it isn’t is it n/n?” You can’t help but laugh,

  “n/n?” You ask, in between laughs, “She died a long time ago.” You looked up at him, you eyes traveling the staple line, “Along with whatever this is.” You smirk, seeing he was speechless. Your exit was cut short, with the sound of laughter and a goon blocking your path. You turn to look at him,

  “Y/n…” he says, a smile still on his face, “Can’t we just be friends?” He places an arm around your shoulder, “Just like last time?” You chuckle,

  “You haven’t changed a bit.” you mutter, chuckling. You look at him, placing your hands on his face, your fingers grazing his staples, “You’d really like that?” He nods and you stare into his eyes, you faces inching slowly closer. You could feel the almost purring like sound he’d make whenever he was happy. You smirk as your lips lightly grazed his, “No.” you whisper as you walk out of the apartment room, away from him.

[trick-or-stab]

Hey y'all! So this is from the contest I held earlier this month, and this fanfic is for @spiderson-peter :D I really hope you enjoy this!

Prompt: Umm I love the "Peter goes on a field trip to SI and proves his internship" trope so if u could write one of them in around 1000-1500 words that would be great!!! I don't mind what happens or how it happens but they are my fav sooo yeah thx a lot!!!!

Word Count: 1,094

Character Count: 6,061

Peter Parker was on his way to the Stark Industries. It wasn't his first time, but the jitters wouldn't die down, no matter how hard he tried. He was packing his backpack, and thoughts of seeing Mr. Stark again ran through his mind in flashes.

There wouldn't be any reporters this time, he hoped. Happy would probably be delighted to see him back. And maybe, just maybe, he could get Mr. Stark to sign his Iron Man collectible— the one that was in mint condition.

"Peter! Hey, how's yo- where did you get that collectible from, dude? That's sick! Are you gonna get him to sign it?" Ned interrupted, watching Peter hastily dump the collectible into his backpack to avoid further interrogation. Ned chuckled at the sight of a flustered Peter, and clapped him on his back approvingly. "I was just kidding, dude. Let's get going, eh? I guess Mr. Stark's getting antsy about meeting his favourite Avenger."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Ned."

——————————————————————————

The area was enormous. In fact, saying that it was enormous would actually be an understatement. Peter wondered if the place had a Google maps of its own, or at least a tour guide. He ran his sweaty fingers through his brown locks, hoping that he wouldn't come across as a weird fanboy when Mr. Stark took over.

The students met Happy at the entrance and needless to say, Peter's face lit up at the sight of a familiar face. Dressed sharply in a suit, Happy greeted the group with a warm smile, his eyes twinkling as soon as he recognised Peter Parker. The kid had to be protected at all costs, and his eyes darted towards the note he held in his hands. Stark better have something good planned, Happy thought.

He showed them around the widespread campus and entertained a myriad of questions from the hopeful individuals. Happy introduced the group to the major infrastructural regions, and while the rest of the students stared in awe at the magnificence of the Stark Industries, he winked at Peter, and cheekily handed him a note.

"Is that for me?" Peter asked, grasping the folded paper firmly between his fingers. Happy nodded assertively, and continued to lead the group towards an array of facilities on the campus.

Hey kid,

Meet me in my office as soon as Happy hands this to you. It will be impossible for me to come down there, but I have to discuss something important with you.

Stark.

——————————————————————————

Peter knocked apprehensively on the flawless wooden door, and jumped back in surprise when it opened immediately.

He grinned at the sight of a posh Tony Stark, and replied, his voice suddenly cracking, "Hey Mr. Sta-"

"Kid! It's so good to see you again, and yes, this is going to be quick because I have to run to meetings after this", Tony said, and turned around to show him the one thing that he had spent months creating. He drew the velvet curtains, because he's definitely extra, and revealed the finished prototype.

"Wow."

"Kid, is it fine? Does it fulfill everything you asked for? It's taken me time, but it's everything I could have possibly added."

"Mr. Stark, I love it! It's so cool, and what's even more amazing is that you and I have matching suits now!"

Peter ran his fingers over the breathable material, unable to take his eyes away from the updated suit that Mr. Stark had designed. Tony failed to suppress his smile at Peter's words. "But Mr. Stark? What about your suit? Did you update that too? You know, after everything that happened. I don't wanna lose you, especially after that stunt in New York and-"

Crash.

Peter turned around quickly to see Tony on the ground, clutching the edge of the wooden table for dear life. He remembered his words, and gasped. "Mr. Stark, I am so sorry, I didn't realize I said it. Please, just, take a deep breath. I'm so sorry, Mr. Stark, I swear I didn't mean it, please just let me make it up to you-"

Tony simply nodded, trying to breathe deeper and at a slower rate. The kid did not realize it, and it's not his fault. He was just concerned. But nevertheless, he mentioned it. Yeah, but he wanted to take care of you, Tony.

Peter put his arm around Mr. Stark helped him sit up straight, whispering, "I just wanted you to be okay, dad." Tony looked at the Spiderling with a curious but glassy gaze. Had he really called him dad? Was he hallucinating this?

The phone rang. Tony's gaze drifted over to the telephone, fully aware of the fact that he was in no condition to answer it. Peter looked at Mr. Stark decisively, and picked up the phone.

"Hello? No, this is Peter. Peter Parker. I'm afraid he's a bit occupied at the moment. Mr. Stark will be there in some time. You can have the documents sent to his office."

Peter rang up Happy and told him about what he had accidentally done, all without mentioning 'New York'. Happy directed him through the procedures and the steps he should take, and Peter complied without cross questioning him.

A smile tugged at the ends of Tony's lips as he observed the Peter corresponding to something he wasnt trained for previously. It was clear to him that Peter would make a fantastic addition to Stark Industries, and that he truly deserved to be here.

After all that Peter had been through and had put up, he did not only deserve the internship, but also the title of being an Avenger.

Tony gave in and smiled, putting an arm around Peter and hugging him gently. "Thanks ki- son." A flustered but content Peter grinned from ear to ear, not wanting to let go of this moment.

Tony saw the silhouette of someone behind Peter and reacted immediately by putting his arm in front of the Spiderling in order to protect him. He leaned forward to see who it was and muttered quite softly, "Kid? What are you doing here?"

Peter turned his head around, contorting his face as he looked at her. "MJ?"

MJ crossed her legs to sit more comfortably and chuckled, the tip of her tongue slightly sticking out of her mouth— a sign of intense focus. Her hand movement was fluid as the pencil moved smoothly across the purposeful curves. She looked up and gave the pair a compassionate thumbs up.

"Hey guys. Sorry, I just like drawing people in crisis."

//I really hope you liked it, and remember to send me prompts in my inbox if you liked this one! :D ❤

[boogiewrites]

Summer of Hopper Ch.3

Chapter 3 - June

Characters: Jim Hopper x Reader

Word Count: 3400+

Summary:  Hopper is in pieces after coming back to Hawkins after Vietnam. How long will you be able to be the strong one if you are also on the edge from taking care of him? If you both break…then what happens?

Warnings: Angst.Fluffy fluff, Night terrors, depression, anxiety.

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

You can check out my other work on My Masterlist.

A/N: For and with the help of my boi @jaegeeeeer

Tagged folks are at the bottom, if you’d like to be added or removed, just leave a reply and I’ll see it! Any positive feedback or messages are appreciated. Thanks!

Not just between the two of you but, you as your own person felt different. You'd bolted the doors, shut off the lights, pulled the curtains and taken the phone off the hook after you brought him home. You'd both slept 16 hours straight. A personal record for you both. You would've stayed in that bed with him another 16 hours if you'd had that option.

Within a week you're on the road to a secluded cabin in the woods. You'd taken out most of your savings and crossed off everything on your list of things to take care of before you left. You shoved everything into the back of your jeep. And by everything, you mean your whole life basically. Wanting to be over prepared for whatever a summer-long trip to a secluded lake house in the deep woods could bring, you'd meticulously planned a list to accommodate as many foreseen circumstances as you could.

Jim would say, "You're sure a girl scout." every time you'd mention adding something to the list. You were trying to pull the Jeep equivalent of sitting on top of a suitcase to shut the hatch as Jim strolls up behind you and with his hands alone on the back hatch.

"Show off." you mutter playfully.

The mood was lighter now. Not perfect but you felt rested and relieved to get away.

You put away the map finally, you're on the outskirts of the National Forrest, you take your aggression out on the map by foregoing folding it and shoving it forcefully into the glove box. "This road straight to the cabin." you state, laying your head back against your seat. The drive was too long for your liking and it made you feel impatient. By some twist of fate, the place Jim had remembered was still there. By some miracle, it'd been renovated by the new owners and used to rent out. Due to its secluded location, you had by, yet some divine intervention, been able to secure the rental of this place for the summer. After that, the rest of the planning hadn't been such a miracle, but you forget about that once the place started coming into view.

You see the lake, sun shining on its surface as you make your way down the curved driveway to the cabin. It was breathtaking. The green trees covered the hills that rested on either side of the lake.

The cabin is at the end of the driveway now. Jim's face is neutral, he wasn't the least bit stirred by the drive or the trip. He'd even talked himself into looking forward to all of it. Not like spending the summer in a cabin in the woods with a beautiful woman who loved you to a fault would ever sound like a bad plan.

He takes in the sight before him, a lake in a little valley, behind a log cabin. The dock bobbing in the water, splashing against the waves. It was the only sound you could really hear as you both step out of the car in silence.

You both turn to look at each other, your hands reach out over the hot hood of the Jeep, coming together to stand side by side in front of it. Your expressions of various forms of relief mirror each other, both taking in the scene before you. Your home for the summer.

You squeeze his hand, holding up the keys to the cabin, shaking them and nodding towards the cabin.

You're walking up to door, keys in hand as you crack open the heavy wood door. A humid heat hits you and your face screws up in a very unpleasant way. You immediately go in search of an air conditioner, the owner said it fully air-conditioned, something that you knew you couldn't live without over the summer. You try to turn the light switch on, it doesn't work. You'll need to switch the power on, you recall. You decide to open up all the windows first, you could get a good look at everything that way. The place was cozy. The light shines through the windows as you open each one, pinning their matching curtains back. The place wasn't pre-historic and for that you were thankful. It was at least 2 times the size of your apartment it felt, with a bigger TV to boot. The full kitchen was decorated with various farm animals, most of which were dressed as a chef in some way or another. It was corny but you didn't hate it. You see a deck out the kitchen window and move to find the key to the back door. You use your shoulder to shove it open, propped it with the hedgehog door stop you saw waiting to be helpful. You stand in the doorway to an open to a deck and backyard you just knew Jim would love. There was a grill in a corner, a hot tub underneath an adorable pergola with torches surrounding it. You nod in approval as you peek under the lid and find no dead animals and no gross smells. You're glad the place was so far, worth the money. You walk down the steps to the lush fenced in back yard. A cute, unassuming shed off to one side, a hammock between two ancient trees.

You walk to the line of the fence separating you and the small beach that leads to the dock of the lake. You drag it open and your feet start to crunch the rock and sand beneath them. You happily swayed in the wind, sighing with the crashing of the waves. You couldn't help but feel hopeful that this was what Jim needed. You decide you need to deal with the house before dipping your feet into the water.

You shut the gate and head back in, seeing a small bathroom window you'd left shut on the first floor. A half bath sits in the corner of the open floor plan downstairs, underneath the floor of what you're assuming is the master bed and bath. You start to climb the stairs and realize you've still not seen Jim.

You walk back out onto the porch, covered in a thin layer of sticky sweat. You start to head down the front steps but you stop as you see him. You lean against the big wooden post that forms the banister. He's found a porch swing, but it sat under a huge tree, hanging from one of its massive limbs. His eyes are closed, hands clasped in his lap together. His jaw was unclenched for the first time in a long while. Your heart is in your throat as you watch his feet lazily moving back and forth, swinging himself slightly. He takes a deep breath and slouches against the back of the swing. You take a mental picture of this moment and swallow hard, composing yourself. You decide to join him.

His eyes delicately flutter open as you get within a few feet of him. You sit next to him in silence, taking in the view. He lays his arm over the back of the swing, his thumb lazily rubs your arm. You let out a content sigh. You decide to close your eyes too. You feel the wind against your bare skin, the rustling of the leaves that follows. A woodpecker in the distance does what his name suggests. The birds sound like they're talking to each other, their various songs swirl around you.

"You couldn't have made a better choice." he whispers, his mouth against your ear. You get a chill from his lips ghosting over your ear and the wind chilling the sweat that covered your skin. You open your eyes, there's nothing but trees as far as you can see in any direction opposite the lake.

"You like it?" you ask, resting your head against him.

"I love it." he says softly, pressing his lips against the top of your head. You were hoping there would be entire afternoons spent just existing together like you were now. You look up at him, his eyes looked clear and bright, a lot like the color of the lake. You had the place for 3 months. You'd decided to just go for it and seclude yourselves for as long as you could. It was already paying off. "You interested in seeing the inside?" you suggest, "Staying right here is also a choice." you smile, feeling even your most tense muscles start thinking about relaxing. 

"Yeah, let's try to get settled in before it gets dark." he kisses your forehead. He moves his hand back, wiping away the sweat from your skin.

 "Yeah, it's a sauna in there. I opened all the windows but could you get the power on for me?" you bat your eyelashes.

"Anything you want." he whispers, electing to kiss your lips this time. You hum against him as you reluctantly lift yourself out of the picturesque moment and start back into the cabin.You feel a little dizzy from the most romantic contact you’d felt from him in awhile. You’d been running on fumes for so long, functioning for survival only. Being able to even feel that tingle he gave you trickling up and down your spine from his words and lips felt almost overwhelming.

At the top of the stairs, you creak open the bedroom door. The light from the bay doors floods the room. The wood was painted a muted grey, white sheets, white curtains. Even before the breeze entered the room from the windows you opened it was clean and crisp and made you want to melt into the bed and never leave. You push on the bed with your hand hard, testing it. You then smirk, walking back to the door way, you tie your hair back and then you take a short running leap, face first onto the California king-sized cloud you'd be sleeping on.

The sheets shoot out a poof of air as you land face first into the bed. It reminded you of playing in the snow as a kid, all the white surrounding you in rolling hills. The whirring of electricity brings you back into the moment. You look up to see the ceiling fan above you starting to slowly spin. The power was on. The air vents bow and make metallic booms fire off throughout the cabin as they boot up. You hear the steps creak over the buzz off the power.

You hear a small chuckle from Jim behind you, you enthusiastically move your head so you can speak.

"Stop laughing and try it." you say in a taunting voice, raising yourself up and rolling to the foot of the bed. He shrugs and walks over, falling onto his back on the bed, the sheets give his large form a much louder poof than they did for you. He smiles and turns his head towards you.

"This is the biggest bed I've ever seen." he remarks.

"Big enough for both of us." you roll next to him, laying on your stomach, propped up on your elbows, looking out the double doors to the balcony.

"Man this thing is nice." he sighs out, closing his eyes. You sneak in a quick kiss to his lips before heading off to open the patio doors. The wind rushes into the room. You stand in the way of it, your loose hair whipping around. You slowly walk out and place your hands on the railing. The view was amazing. Jim comes up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist. "This place is perfect, honey." he rests his chin on your shoulder. "Thank you." he kisses your ear, his face falling into the bend of your neck. You raise your hand to mingle your fingers in his hair as he gives you a small kiss on your neck. You feel that tingle again. He can feels your pulse speed up under his lips, he hums contently, squeezing you tighter. Your eyes close as the feeling overtakes more than just your spine. Your breathing picks up and he smirks against your skin as he feels you shiver in his arms. “I know you’re not shivering because it’s cold.” he teases, a low laugh fades after he kisses your ear and pulls away from you slightly and you turn in his arms.

“Well, duh.” you were too flustered to think of a good response.”Those shivers are always your fault.” you say, laughing and pulling out of his arms. You turn and see an entire end of the balcony filled with what you're assuming was supposed to be a bench. You pat his chest and move to inspect it. He grabs your wrist and pulls you back to him. His arm wraps up your back, his eyes are moving across your face and you see that spark behind his eyes. Before you can feel heartfelt about it, he smoothly closes the space between you, pushing his lips against yours. Your knees very literally go weak as everything else fades away around you. You feel dizzy again, your hands go to his body to steady yourself. You wait to open your eyes after he kisses you, trying to pull yourself together. You always thought the first kiss after he’d come back couldn’t be topped but that one was a top contender.

“Sorry. I know we’ve got stuff to do but I couldn’t help myself.” he sighs out, his hands running through your hair as he pulls his hands away from you and puts them in his pockets. 

“If you ever apologize after kissing me like that again I will leave you.” you both laugh at your dazed tone. “I will come back but I will leave for like, 5 minutes.” you start to giggle as he hugs you and then turns you back towards where you were headed in the first place. 

You move not incredibly smoothly over to the corner of the balcony. You lift the lid on this big wooden platform and quickly realize it's another bed. Well, kind've. There are billowing cushions and pillows protected under the hard, wood cover. There are strings of lights spanning around the nest and across the outside of the walls of the balcony. 

"This place might be perfect." you whisper to yourself. You have one last room to inspect. You give him a sweet smile as you pass him to slide the door to the master bath open and you almost start laughing like a woman possessed. "Alright! This place is heaven!" you shout towards Jim, still by the railing of the balcony. The bathroom mirrors the bedroom in it's white and grey decor. A long counter top with a huge sink in the middle sits in front of a giant mirror on the wall. There's a bathtub that takes up an entire corner of the room and across from the vanity sits a built-in shower with a shower head dropping out of the ceiling. "This is ridiculous," you say under your breath.

"You can say that again." Jim walks in, whistling at the setup. "I think there used to be more bedrooms up here." he mumbles, looking around.

"There's a bench!" you shout from inside the cavernous shower. Your voice echoing off the stone walls. He can see your silhouette through the foggy coated squares of glass that served as the door for the shower. It was like a little walk in ice cave and you wanted to be buried in it. "You can leave me here, I've found my spot." you laugh, looking at the different knobs.

"I don't know if I've ever wanted to live in a shower before." his eyes roam around the expanse of the shower that was almost as big as your entire bathroom back home.

"It's even tall enough to where you don't have to hunch over!" you enthusiastically say, reaching your hands up towards the shower head. He walks over to you and stands under it.

"Well I'll be damned." he says looking up at it. He's not felt normal sized in a shower since before he hit puberty. "Got room for one more to live in here with you?" he huffs, shaking his head.

"I think so yeah." you nod and beam up at him. You exit the shower and didn't even notice how the toilet had its own little cubby, tucked behind a half wall. You're going to sprain your neck from shaking your head so much. You had gone from questioning how much money you'd spent to thinking you got this place for cheap. Your stomach rumbles, taking you out of your fantasy of buying the cabin.

"Let's get this stuff in so I can cook." you hit your hands together to show you're ready to work. On the way down the stairs Jim suggests, "You bring in the kitchen boxes and get food going, we're gonna be starving after all this." he heads to the porch, your trailing behind him happily. "I'll bring in everything else." 

"Deal." you hold out your hand to him for a shake, making a goofy grin at him. He lets out a small laugh, he pulls your hand from your spot on the top of the stairs, he catches your waist and sits you on the ground, finally returning your handshake. He turns from you and to the car with a lazy grin. You swooned at him as he moved away, you felt like you were getting him back.

You have the water working, inventory was taken on what you and the cabin had all together, and everything that could spoil was put away in a rapidly growing colder fridge. You turn the oven on and throw in the pre-prepared chicken and potatoes to warm them back up. You grab a can of peas and slide it down the counter to heat up later. 

You wipe your hands, watching Jim stomp in and shut the door behind him. He's sweaty and out of breath, making his way over to you, you offer him the hand towel, he takes it and rubs it all over his head and neck. 

"Everything from the car is in." he huffs out, sitting at the counter stool, his elbow resting on the top. 

"Just waiting for the food to heat up and we're good. You gonna eat before you shower or after? you ask, leaning your elbows on the opposite side of the counter as he was. "You get dibs on christening it." you chuckle, playfully shoving his forearm with your fingers. "I'm jealous." you grin at him. 

"Yeah I'll take you up on that." he nods, his upper lip raised as if he's still thinking about taking the opportunity. 

"Make sure you tell me everything about it when you get back." you laugh as he starts to walk away. You reach your hand over his sweaty forearm, pulling him towards you, he is easily swayed your way. 

"I'm all sweaty." he warns as your arms start to wrap around him.

"I know that's part of it, handsome." you say holding him against you. He actually laughs, a true honest laugh and you hum in content at the sound.

"You're gonna be a happy woman if you like me sweaty with this summer heat." his amusement is still obvious in his voice.

"Oh, I've already been thinking about it." you swoon, your fingers lingering on his sides. 

"You're gross. Very cute! But also gross." he shakes his head, holding your face. He keeps kissing you as you laugh into his mouth. 

"Go shower big bear, dinner will be done when you are." you return his kiss and pull out of his reach, heading back to grab a pot to heat the peas.

 "If you insist, honey." he grabs a box marked bathroom and smoothly turns around and his long legs carry him up the stairs quickly. 

It isn't too long before you hear him triumphantly yell from the shower, you can't help but laugh at the sound. You knew that this upwards mood swing was just temporary but that didn't mean you weren't going to try to allow yourself to enjoy every second of it you could. -----------------------------------

You had finished eating. Jim had stayed downstairs to try to figure out the entertainment system set up as you took your turn in the shower. It really was a near magical experience, you knew you were going to have to find reasons to take more showers. 

You dig through the boxes by the label, piecing together something to sleep in and to wear in the morning. You'd put your boxes in the bathroom and Jim's in the bedroom for now, there wasn't a ton of room in the bedroom so you didn't want to crowd the space. Your hair is partially dry by the time Jim makes his way upstairs. You're rubbing lotion on your legs as he takes off his shorts and crawls into bed, pulling the comforter up over him. He sits against the headboard watching you. 

"Bedtime then I guess?" you laugh, turning your head towards him at the head of the bed.

"I drove and moved those boxes, I'm beat." he says, yawning. You walk around the room, closing the door, leaving one window cracked, making sure Jim locked everything before you turn the overhead light out. The low light of the bedside lamp let you see your way to crawl in the bed. You turn to shut it off after getting under the covers. His arm is already around your waist, pulling you from the edge of the huge bed towards him, you squirm trying to wiggle yourself across the expanse of the bed.

"You're so far away." you laugh, rolling over and into his arms.

"Huge bed." he mumbles into your shoulder. You smile and adjust your pillow. He settles directly behind you, his face pressed against the base of your neck. You lazily rub his forearm that weighs heavily on you. He groans at the light scratches you trail across his skin. 

"Night Jim." you whisper, bringing his hand up to kiss it.  He moves to let your shoulder fall back so he can lean down and kiss you properly. He pulls back after he hears your content sigh. 

"Night, honey." his voice low and tired. "Love you." he plants one kiss on the nape of your neck, he feels you shiver and smiles to himself, burying his face in your hair. 

"Love you, big bear." you sigh out, letting a yawn escape before falling asleep easily for the first time this year.

@whatmakesmebeme-tblr @sleepylunarwolfh @elevenofmages@alahmorah @norcula @undiscl0sed-desir3s@atari-writes@jobean12-blog @missharleenquinzel-blog​ @kiwiphroot@ashphoenix105 @ambeazyyy @riotguuuurl​ @warriorqueen1991​ @misbehaving-f0r-days @divadinag​ @wefracturedmotivation@flamehairedwritings @earinafae​ @beltzboys2015-blog@gettinjoyful @lucifer-in-leather@nerdysuperchick @kathrinebutterlover​ @dragongirl420​ @fangirlinginspace@xxdragonagequeenxx  @the-bitch-gotham-deserves​ @hopperholland​ @lil-tea-cup​ @darthnerd25@davidkharbours @mrslydiaholden @tit-punch02@thedaydreamerrrrr @yedi16 @jess2464@scrunchinn @thatisthemagic @maddieisaboredable @bloom005-blog @mcxmarti

[17caratstorytime-blog]

You Were My Fairytale

Member: Jeon Wonwoo

Words: 2.85k

Genre: Angst with some fluff

Warnings: none~

A/N:  This was actually a story idea I had a little while ago and out of nowhere I was like “oh shoot, Wonwoo would fit this so well” so I went back last night and wrote it up and there you have it folks~ I hope you guys enjoy! Lemme know what you think~! 

This was never meant to happen. None of this. I was never meant to be at the bookstore until closing hours. I wasn’t supposed to have fallen asleep reading another novel, the cup of coffee from before long forgotten and cold. I don’t remember what I had been dreaming, but I remember waking up to find a red leather-bound book glistening from one of the bookshelves. As soon as I blinked, it was gone. Despite every neuron firing in my body, screaming at me not to touch that book, to walk away and pretend I never saw that soft flickering light, I couldn’t fight the strong pull of my heart leaping towards that book. That was how I found myself in his word for the first time. Granted being pinned against a shirtless, very disheveled young man amongst a room of about a dozen other young men in the middle of what seemed to be a dinner plus drunken brawling was not what I was expecting but it left a strong impact on our friendship. At first, he didn’t believe me, labeling me instead as another alien from somewhere in the galaxy out to take his throne, but as I began to appear and reappear out of nowhere, it started to hit him. As for me, I realized eventually the red journal would teleport me to his world every time I opened the book, the memories of our adventures with a pre-written destiny bewitched into each piece of parchment. That was how Jeon Wonwoo and I first met.

“Wonwoo, you’re so dead when I get my hands on you ” I seethed as I blindly stumbled through the cavern, the damp coldness sticking to my body like a second skin. Behind me, heavy footsteps caught up with mine, snickers spilling out of the lips of the men accompanying me.

“This should be interesting to watch,” one of the mages behind her cackled. “Wonwoo’s told us of your anger issues but seeing you take it out on him is going to be the best yet.” Normally more silent and nonchalant, Lee Jihoon was fairly ecstatic to see one of his best friends be turned from unbreakable to shattered china.

Next to Jihoon were Jun and Soonyoung, the two also beaming with mischievous grins. Before any other words could be spoken, a burning ball of flame flew past the group, barely missing them before another flew right at them. Jun immediately snapped into action, dropping to his knees and slamming his palms into the ground. As he began to mutter words, a pale mint force field surrounded the four of them. Jihoon closed his eyes, mapping out their location and finding the source of the flame as Soonyoung and I deflected any flying flames that Jun couldn’t stop. Just as sudden as they came, the flames stopped. A few terse minutes of silence ticked by, not even our breathing audible. Until...

“(Y/N), look,” Jun whispered, fingers pointing at the dark floor barely illuminated by their torches. At first I noticed nothing, until the stone Jun was pointing at jumped. Soon, the entire cavern was shaking, from the small pebbles on the floor to the ominous stalactites hanging above. Jun’s force field kept them safe. Otherwise they would’ve been turned into human kebabs for whatever flame breathing monster was headed their way. But before that...

“WONWOO?!” the group collectively yelled at the stumbling figure that appeared, the edge of his cape still alight with dying embers. Rather than explaining, Wonwoo grabbed my arm and began to run.

“There’s no time to explain,” he panted out. “Let’s get out first, and avoid being eaten alive.”

That was all we needed to run alongside him, the thudding footsteps of whatever beast Wonwoo messed with much louder and faster than before. We barely managed to find the exit before a massive shadow flew over our heads, knocking us into our backs.

“Shit,” Wonwoo hissed as he stood up, hands glowing a bright red as he unsheathed his sword, Soonyoung and I right behind him as Jun took rear with Jihoon.

I glanced at Wonwoo from the side of my eyes and found my heart pounding. His eyes were set on the beast, focused and sharp. Smooth skin with a sharp jawline. Rosy lips set in a straight line. It was something I could never get used to.

“Something on my face, (Y/N)?” Wonwoo asked, a smirk overtaking his features.

I huffed and instead turned my head to stare back at the yellow serpentine eyes staring us down, thankful the dark made it very hard to see the red creeping along my cheeks. “Nope, just planning on how exactly to murder you when we get out just to bring you back and murder you again for being an absolute moron,” I retorted. He chuckled, a deep sound that made my heart skip.

With that, the creature charged at us. Jun’s force field kept us just out of its reach but the light glow illuminated on its body, scales lighting up in shades of sapphire. It’s long, massive body was covered in scales. Sharp teeth, heavy feet, large webbed wings...

“YOU MESSED WITH A DRAGON?!” Soonyoung just about shrieked as we all turned to stare at Wonwoo with shock and horror decorating our faces.

Wonwoo was undeterred by the outburst, eyes instead going back to me. The sudden seriousness made me take a step back. “(Y/N), didn’t you say you always wanted the scales of a sapphire dragon?” he asked me, to which I could only nod. His serious expression was then replaced with a soft smile. “Well, I’d been meaning to find a way to confess the right way and w-“

Before he could complete his thought, a burst of fire charged towards us. The five of us all split up in five different directions, moving out of the dragon’s reach. Jun and Jihoon took front, immediately launching an array of spells as Soonyoung charged up his sword with magic. Wonwoo found his way to my side, worry etched over his faces.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he grabbed me by the elbow and helped me up.

For some reason, this small action was enough to make me shy away from his touch, his unfinished confession ringing through my head. “I’m fine, Wonu,” I mumbled, looking at everything except his eyes. His hand reached out to cup my cheek, inspecting a cut I didn’t realize I managed to get as I had dodged the debris. His thumb gently ran across my cheek, my breath stuck in my throat as our eyes met. It was fairly dark, yet I could feel his eyes on me, taking in what he could. Time seemed to slow down around us, everything forgotten but the two of us. Well, until a screeching Junhui went colliding into a wall near us with Soonyoung following moments after. Our heads then snapped back to the situation at hand, the cavern full of dancing shadows and ferocious flames as the livid beast rampaged.

“We would very much appreciate it if you two lovebirds would help us out here for a bit,” Jihoon screamed as he jumped away from the dragon’s tail only to be launched back by a gust of wind from its wings.

Wonwoo chuckled before leaning over and kissing my forehead. “I’ll finish what I was going to say when we get out of here,” he promised. All I could do was dumbly nod and watch as he ran to help the rest of the group. I shook my head, pulled myself out of my reverie and joined them, doing my best to focus on the task at hand. The rest was history. We defeated the dragon. We went home. We confessed and were harassed by the rest of our friends. 

It had been a good few months since that day. The dragon scale had be forged into a small ring, one I never took off, one that matched Wonwoo’s charm. For some reason, my heart was aching when I woke up in the evening from a nap. I hadn’t seen Wonwoo in a few days, not having been called into the book, but today the book glowed fiercely bright, the red harsher than an angry setting sun. Slowly, I walked to my desk. Sweat trickled down my neck. Saying I was nervous was an understatement. The book then flipped open, and it was then that I realized the amount of pages I had already taken up.  

My eyes flitted word to word on the page, the scene of flying dust and raging shots of condensed magic filling my mind. All I could think of was him. As though reading my thoughts, the pages of the book flipped themselves, stopping at yet another blank page. “Are you okay?” the words imprinted themselves onto the word without a sound escaping my mouth, my mind penning down the letters instead. A few long moments passed before he wrote back. “I don’t have long left,” he solemnly wrote. “We’re at the end of the book you know.”

And with those words, I was yet again transported to the space in between. This time it was the edge of a cliff, the sun slowly kissing the horizon as the sky began to drown in inky purples and pale pinks. His dark calculating eyes looked into my worried ones, a small bittersweet smile on his face.

“Remember how earlier into the book, when I first fell in love with you…I said to you ‘Please, don’t close the book. I don’t want to die’ and you listened, kept the book sitting there and open for days as the story wrote itself?” Unable to speak, I simply nodded and silently urged him to speak. His eyes broke from mine to look back at the sun, the dying rays making his eyes shine. But when he turned back to me, I realized it wasn’t just the sun that made his eyes shine. It was the tears he was trying to hold back. His large, calloused hands grabbed mine the way fear was grabbing my heart. “I need you to let me go,” he choked out. My knees gave way and suddenly I was kneeling in the dirt. Pebbles bore into my skin, but the pain was nothing compared to the sensation of my heart being slowly ripped apart. He kneeled down in front of me, one hand holding mine and the other cupping my cheek for the last time. “This book, this world, this is my home. This is where I am from, where I will live, and where I will exist. This is my world. You have your own. Where magic doesn’t exist. Where humans drive mechanical vehicles and fly in the large machines from one place to another. You do not belong here,” he softly said, the tears making their way down his cheeks. “I want to be selfish. I want to keep you here. I want to travel with you across the worlds, build a home with you, a new life…a family, but…” he managed to choke out.

“But, I don’t belong here,” I finished for him. He slowly nodded.

“You and I both know how this story will end,” he gently said, his hand wiping away my tears as they fell. “I love you. I love you very much and I will love you until my last breath. This…this is my last mission and after that, I too will be gone. The book is ended as we speak. So, this…” he trailed off, unable to find it in himself to say those words.

I decided to say it for him. “This is the last time we will ever see each other. You’ll cease to exist and I…” I let out a bitter chuckle. “I will have to live the rest of my life pretending you never existed.”

He pulled me into his arms, cradling me as my tears turned into sobs. “I’m sorry, my love. I truly am sorry,” he continuously whispered. He pulled back, his hand grabbing me by the chin, eyes scanning my face as my own scanned his, desperate to memorize everything there was about him. And with the last light of the sinking sun, his lips descended on mine, soft and gentle, full of love and apology. Before he pulled away, his hand pushed a small, cold object into my hand. Little by little, his body disintegrated into ashes, flying away in the wind. The last to fade was his face, one last “I love you,” escaping his lips and as the sun finally vanished, so did he and once again, I was all alone on my bedroom floor, my only solace the cold gripping my body and the locket he bought months ago in the arabic market, inside it the only image I would ever have of him. I watched as the last words of the book imbedded themselves onto the parchment. And as the reality finally sunk in, I sobbed. The love of my life was now dead and for him, I would mourn. This was it. This was goodbye.

For months afterwards, I was unable to continue the way I did before. How was I supposed to? No one knew of us. Our story. Our love. I could tell no one. Who would believe me? Soon enough, the journal was packed away and hidden from sight. I had reread our story many times, tears littered across multiple pages as the memories burned my heart, the embers liquefying and falling from my eyes. The day I locked it away, I sobbed. It was like saying goodbye over again. I moved to a new apartment at the opposite end of town, a new job and a new setting. The clothes, random trinkets, the dagger Wonwoo forged for me...I parted with them all, each item placed deep in the back of storage. I was able to put everything away except that locket and the ring. No matter how hard I tried, I was never able to put those away. Eventually a year flew by and the unbearable pain dulled into an ache, the ache a dull throbbing. I was able to smile, go out, actually live my new life. I did try my hand at dating, but found myself comparing each to him. Maybe I wasn’t ready just yet.

The autumn air this morning was fairly chilly, the promise of winter on its heels. It was an off day, streets buzzing with the sounds of the city and its inhabitants. Today, I found myself wondering about Wonwoo. For the first time in weeks, my heart was back to that initial suffocating heart break where my lungs were unable to take in air and sobs were threatening to escape my lips. That was how I found myself wandering around the city, my feet stopping in front of a familiar bookstore. As I opened the door, the scent of book pages and fresh coffee hit my nose and immediately I remembered that day. Sad smile on my lips, I went to order the same sweet concoction I had that day. I slipped the red boom out of my bag, fingers running across the unblemished red leather. Taking my coffee and thanking the old lady behind the counter, I found a small, secluded seating area and began to read with a fond, bittersweet smile on my lips. Time ticked by without me ever realizing.

“May I take this seat? All the other ones are taken I’m afraid,” a deep voice questioned, snapping me out of my reverie. My eyes flicked up, immediately widening in shock as I took in the appearance of the young man before me. Dreamy brown eyes, dark messy hair, a sharp jawline, those pink lips...it can’t be. I could only nod as I stared at him, speechless. The man gave me a grateful smile before taking a seat across from me, ignoring my presence as he sipped his coffee and read another book, the velvet blue cover matching his calm persona and oddly enough the suit he was in. I took a deep breath. It’s just a coincidence, I told myself. He’s not real. This is someone else.

Silence ticked on between us as we eventually engrossed ourselves in our respective stories. I was rereading the day Wonwoo and I confessed to one another when I heard the man close his book and clear his throat, gaining my attention. Our eyes met before his flickered to the red journal in my hands as mine looked at the blue one gingerly held open by his hands before we once again looked at one another. He gave me a small smile before reaching out his hand, a sapphire scale charm peaking from his sleeve.

“My name is Jeon Wonwoo and I believe we’ve met before.”

-Admin 🐯

[harleyquilt]

The Sin of Greed (3/??)

Summary: It’s the night of Touka’s next task to steal data for Kaneki. However, question is whether she’ll be able to pull it off or not…

Words: 5,278

Notes: I’m so happy that people are enjoying this series and I hope you continue enjoying it with this and future chapters. Feedback is appreciated~

Touka stared at the building before her, this new mansion with long white pillars that surrounded the crowded porch. Kaneki joined her side and linked his arm through hers, Touka swallowing the lump stuck in her throat and held onto his arm like they were some couple. Disgusting.

They walked down the paved path that led up to the white planked porch, Kaneki walking past the line of guests, that wasn’t much of a line at all, and went straight to the entrance. The doors were already wide open with two bouncers stood besides them with a list in their hands. One caught Kaneki’s eye and gave him a small nod, directing them through the doorway and into the entry hall.

It was a smaller area with red velvet floors and dark maroon walls where many portraits of unrecognisable people hung. In the centre of the room was a small rounded table with a large glass vase filled with white flowers of all sorts. At the end was another door to the next room with a metal detector placed in front and another few guards.

“Whose place does this belong to?” Touka asked in a hush voice to Kaneki. He glanced down to her with an amused look before he spoke.

“The Doves.” He whispered into her ear. “The mafia gang that owns the CCG police force.”

“Wonderful.” Touka squeaked and unconsciously squeezed Kaneki’s arm tighter.

“I promise I won’t let anything happen to you, Touka.” His voice sounded sincere, but she pouted instead, her nerves suddenly getting the best of her.

As they neared the other guards, Touka suddenly halted in her step and gripped her clutch tightly, Kaneki pausing to turn back to her, noticing the strained expression she wore.

“Ah, cramps.” Touka made a subtle signal for Kaneki to step closer and luckily, he caught on and stood closer as she leaned up to his ear. “They’re going to check my purse.”

“I see.” Kaneki nodded. “No problem.”

He then turned away from her and handed one of the men a pad of money, pressing it discreetly into his hand and he gave a firm nod and smile. He then took Touka’s hand and gave her clutch to the guard who looked inside briefly before handing it back to her after she passed the metal detector tests. With a tensed nod, she takes her purse and Kaneki guided her through the doors into the main hall.

“See, no problem.” Kaneki chuckled. “Trust me at least a little, little bunny.”

“I don’t see the point in trying when all mafia gangs are filled with nothing but sly dogs.” She hissed.

“Ouch.” Kaneki laughed, a hand pressed mockingly against his heart. “This bunny has a nasty bite.”

“I’ll claw your other eye out of you don’t quit with that name.”

“I’d love to see you try.” He wrapped an arm around her waist and she was about to shove him away until she realised she was meant to act as his pretty plus one. “Now listen closely. I’ll be showing you which of these people are a part of Dove and who to avoid.”

The main hall was beautiful, a warm light from the golden chandelier and candles on the wall, the dark wooden flooring smooth with all kinds of elegantly dressed people that danced across it. The long arched windows revealed the dark sky outside, white drapes pushed to one side to show the garden and pool on the other side. To one side of the room was a buffet table and the other was a band on a small stand, classical music filling the room as the guests danced along.

“You like this place?” Kaneki grinned at the awestruck look on Touka’s pretty face. “It has its charms, I guess.”

“What?” Touka smirked. “You jealous-”

“Mr. Koutarou.” Kaneki nudged Touka and she straightened, stepping closer to Kaneki with a pleasant smile she often used to charm those she pickpocketed from.

A man, a very well built man, with a stern face and dark hair approached the two, his eyes immediately set on Touka with a suspicious look that set Touka on edge.

“It’s been a while, Kaneki.” The man said, turning his attention away from her. “I didn’t expect you to come here of all places.”

“I was invited by your boss, believe it or not.” Kaneki pulled out a small card Touka assumed to be an invitation, but Koutarou scowled at the sight. “From what I’ve heard, he had to step out for last minute business-”

“That’s something I’m willing to discuss in a more private area.” He said quickly in a lowered voice and Touka gave him a weird look. “I see you have someone new with you yet again.”

Again? Not a surprise…

“Ah, my apologies.” Kaneki laughed politely and turned to Touka. “This beautiful woman is Touka Kiri-”

“Just Touka.” Touka cut in, slyly kicking Kaneki’s foot. “Nice to meet you..”

“Amon.” He took Touka’s hand and planted a soft kiss. “Amon Koutarou.”

“And where’s Akira?” Kaneki asked and though he had a pleasant smile, his tone sounded…tense.

“Had other business to attend.” Amon’s eyes darted around them. “I’ll fill you in later.”

“Then our business is done here. If you will excuse us.” Kaneki pressed his hand lightly against Touka’s back and guided her away. “Just an old friend of mine.”

“Who’s also a Dove?” Touka raised a brow and Kaneki gave a small nod. “Like I said, sly dogs.”

“It’s called business, darling.” He spun her around, lifting one hand and held it in his, his other moving to her waist. “Speaking of which, we should probably blend in before you get started.”

“Why?” Touka leaned her head back, her nails digging into his shoulder. Kaneki grinned, tugging her closer until her body was pressed against his.

“I haven’t found the person I’m looking for. Once I find him and have him distracted, you should be able to slip away.” He tilted Touka’s chin up and she flinched away with a snarl. “Humour me, won’t you?”

“I’d rather not.” However, the music began to play again and they started to move. “W-Wait, I don’t know how to-”

“It’s okay. It’s simple, just follow my lead.”

He glided smoothly across the dance floor, Touka carefully making sure not to step onto his feet and her grip on his hand and shoulder tightened as she held in her breath.

“Relax, Touka.” He whispered into her ear. “Don’t be so afraid. I’ll catch you if you fall again.”

“I hate you.” He chuckled and slowed his movements to make it easier for Touka to catch up. “Can’t believe I’m dancing with some psychopathic murderer.”

“You’re enjoying it though.”

“Shut up.” Why didn’t she disagree? “Is that guy here yet?”

Kaneki looked up, his eye scanning the crowd around them until they widened briefly with a dark smile formed on his lips. Looking down, he stepped back and placed her hand onto his arm, leading her away from the other dancers.

“The man you will meet right now is called Ui Koori, the right hand man of the leader of the Doves and his girlfriend, Ihei Hairu. Be careful of her, she’s a trained assassin.”

“Great.” Touka grimaced but quickly replaced her expression with a warm smile when she saw the couple Kaneki spoke of.

Ui Koori was a lean man, his hair a black bowl cut that gave him a quite feminine appearance along with his cold, round eyes and defined jaw. He wore a simple black suit and grey waist jacket that had a faint pattern of roses. Well, he was certainly flamboyant for a mafia boss’s right hand man, but then again, there was Tsukiyama.

To his left was a gorgeous looking woman with short pink hair, two longer strands that hung at either side of her rounded face. Her downturned eyes were a light grey with long lashes, small lips and a cute button nose. Her outfit complimented her features nicely; it was a long slim gown that was a pastel pink that matched her hair, a long slit on one side to show off her slender legs in black stilettos. She may not have looked like an assassin, but she certainly gave off a dangerous aura.

“Mr. Koori.” Kaneki shook his hand, but Ui gave him a suspicious smile that seemed uncomfortable at best. “And Miss Hairu, it’s a pleasure to meet you two again.”

“Such a warm greeting.” Ui remarked, withdrawing his hand and instead placed it around Hairu’s waist. “I’m sorry that my boss wasn’t here to meet you in person.”

“Please, don’t think anything of it. In fact, there were a few things I wanted to speak to you in person.” He gave Touka a quick glance that Touka took as her signal to move.

“Ah, Kaneki.” Touka switched to her now worried expression and took his hand into hers. “I need to go use the restroom.”

“Now, darling?” Kaneki gave a small smile and Touka had to force back a shudder and nodded. “Down the second hallway on the left.”

With another cheerful nod, she walked away, but not before she caught the eye of the Ihei woman, who smirked back in response. Touka’s stomach tightened and a deep sense of dread hung on her shoulders, but continued on her way with no hesitation.

Once she pushed herself through the crowd of socialites and aristocrats all complaining about the petty occurrences of their lives, she moved down the hallway and past the toilets that were busy, allowing Touka some cover in case anyone decided to keep an eye on her.

She wandered further down the hallway and took the next turn to a quieter corridor, the music and chatting crowds growing distant. After checking her surroundings, she slipped a hand into her clutch and grabbed the earpiece Nishiki had given her before she got out the car. With a few adjustments, she switched it on, checking her reflection in a nearby mirror to see if the earpiece was visible.

“Yo, bodyguard.” Touka said, her voice lowered.

“You’re still alive.” Nishiki sighed, Touka’s face scrunching up at the comment. “Wait, let me bring up a map…”

After a few minutes with Touka giving details on her location, Nishiki directed her through multiple similar looking hallways, the mansion more like a maze as Touka began to forget her way back. With a worried glance behind her, she carried on until she was in what looked like a living area.

“You still there? It’s possible the laptop could be in this room.” Nishiki said and Touka started to search the room as quietly as she could. The heels didn’t help. “Make sure you’re paying attention so you don’t make the same mistake like you did back at the King’s place-”

“Shut it, four eyes.” Touka hissed, taking in the more dark, unnerving appearance of this area of the mansion. “I could easily beat you like I did last time too.”

“I’d love to see you try.” Nishiki scoffed. “You simply got a lucky opening.”

“There’s no such thing as luck. I thought you would know that as well as I did.” She walked over to the large stone fireplace, some pictures and ornaments placed on top. “Nothing in life comes easy.”

“That’s certainly true.” Touka’s eye caught a particular picture. “You’re pretty wise for an annoying rodent.”

However, despite his comment, Touka’s attention was completely focused on the picture she now held in hand; it was an image of three people, one of a gorgeous, elegant woman with long violet hair and glasses, another man with a wide grin and a distinctive beauty mark under his left eye and the final person was of a smiling lean man with raven hair and beautiful grey eyes. It then struck her that she saw those eyes before - it was none other than Ken Kaneki.

“Oi!” Nishiki yelled and she almost dropped the image, gritting her teeth and carefully placed the picture back in place. “You do realise that there are patrolling guards around this place, right?”

“Whatever.” Touka forced her eyes away from the image, a rush of different question running through her mind but she thought it best to ignore it until later. “There’s no laptop here. Let’s move on.”

Nishiki guided her through some more rooms until she reached one locked door. The lock didn’t seem like something she couldn’t handle, but unfortunately for her, she didn’t have the usual resources she carried with her and her hairpin wouldn’t be enough.

“It’s no use.” Touka shook her head, straightening but her eyes still set on the keyhole. “Is there a key nearby?”

As Nishiki spoke, Touka froze, her head bolting up to see a man walk down the hallway. Before Touka could slip away, his eyes were already set on her. Shit. Her hand hovered over the opened clutch she held in hand when she saw the man begin to approach her, her heartbeat slamming against her chest whilst she tried to focus on grabbing on the dagger rather than the gun.

The man stopped suddenly and when Touka looked down, a small fluffy shiba jumped besides him, leaping up and barking cheerfully. The dog then ran towards towards Touka, who tensed up as the dog sniffed her, his tail wagging quickly. The owner simply walked over and picked up his panting dog, Touka staring wide eyed at the man before her. Was…was he even a guard?

“Sorry.” The man bowed slightly. “He seems to like you.”

Touka didn’t even speak, her eyes wide and jaw clench at the plain looking man - he was simple in looks with short brown hair and a dull, stoic expression and was dressed in a long grey trench coat and trousers. He held no weapon in hand and hardly looked like someone involved in any kind of mafia, though she knew appearance didn’t necessarily match up with professions in this line of business.

“S-Sorry.” Touka stammered, trying to conjure up some kind of excuse. “I got lost and-”

“Do you want to go into the office?” His voice was as bland as his appearance, but he showed no aggressiveness. Then again, she shouldn’t let her guard down.

“I was told to meet here. Ken Kaneki said so.” If Kaneki was able to hold some influence over the guards before, perhaps it would work now.

“Ken Kaneki?” The man thought for a moment whilst Touka’s eyes remained on the dog he continued to hold in hand. This situation couldn’t have gotten any weirder than it was now. “I suppose that would make sense. Let me help you out.”

He moved past her and grabbed a key from his pocket, unlocking the door and opened it for her. She stared, perplexed and cautious, the situation way to easy for this not to be a trick.

“I’ll leave you to it then.” The man nodded, walking back down the hallway. “Make sure you’re more careful next time.”

Touka took a moment to stare at the opened door, her eyes roaming around the doorway for any traps before she hesitatingly took a step into the room, tensing up in apprehension for something to happen. Nothing. With a relieved sigh, she peeked back round the door for the strange man, but it seemed he was already gone.

“The fuck was that?” Touka asked Nishiki, tossing her shawl aside and closed the door behind her.

“Take Hirako.” Nishiki told her as she began to walk around the dim lit room. “He’s a freelance assassin as far as I know, but according to our informant, Chie Hori, he was apparently hired by the Doves to hunt down some guys. He doesn’t seem to show much loyalty to the Doves though.”

“Works for me.”

Touka searched through the different cabinets and shelves across the walls, looking behind each of the beautifully painted artworks that were hung up and finally made her way to the desk at the far end of the office. For a mob boss, the desk was surprisingly unorganised, different files and papers scattered across and a map hung off the edge.

Out of curiosity, she lifted the map, half of the city highlighted in blue and the other half of the area was bordered with red markings. Within the area marked in red, there were different places circled with small scrawled out notes besides them along with different images of what Touka assumed to be rival gang members. One of them included Kaneki, a dagger slammed into his photo right between the eyes.

“I’m guessing there’s a reason the Doves have something against you lot.” Touka raised a brow, moving past to look through the desk drawers. “Especially Kaneki.”

“To put it simply, Goat tried to keep the peace, but then some drama occurred between the King and the leader of the Doves and well…It didn’t end well. Doves tried to move and take our territory by any means possible.”

“How horrible.” Touka said sarcastically. “I can only imagine how much blood is spilled when your boss gets a little pissy one day.”

“That’s why it’s our jobs to make sure it doesn’t get to that point.”

“I don’t see why you would choose a life like that.” Touka sat down onto the large leather office chair, lifting the papers carefully as to not misplace them.

“We all have our different stories. Some have no choice, others know no other life and some think it’d be a fun way to pass the time.” He paused for a moment, Touka waiting for him to continue. “It doesn’t matter. Besides, you’re a part of us too, little bunny.”

With an annoyed shudder, she clenched her hand and was about to snap, but she then felt something beneath her roaming hand, pushing aside the papers to find a silver laptop rimmed with gold on the desk.

“Bingo.” Touka smiled, grabbing the memory stick from her purse. “Oi, bodyguard. I found the laptop.”

Static.

“Nishiki?” There was only more static with no response. “Shit. Lost contact.” She tugged the earpiece out and switched it off, dropping it back into her clutch and stood up, waiting for the memory stick to download all the needed data. “Hurry, you piece of-”

“You should really watch your language.” Touka then felt a cold blade pressed against her throat and gasped, her body tensing with fear. “Or maybe I should just cut off that tongue of yours. I’m sure your boyfriend won’t miss it all that much.”

The woman behind her raised the knife to the edge of Touka’s mouth, dragging the tip slowly across her cheek. In the corner of her eyes, Touka noticed the tip of the pastel silk dress she saw earlier on Ui Koori’s girlfriend - It was Ihei Hairu. Didn’t Kaneki say she was a skilled assassin? Great…

“Now, why don’t tell me what a little rat like you is doing all the way in this restricted area.”

“O-Oh, I hadn’t realised it was restricted.” Touka squirmed slightly, Hairu pressing the blade harder against Touka’s cheek. Her eyes stayed focus on the memory stick that was almost done downloading all the data.

“Don’t act so coy. I don’t think you realise the situation you’re in.”

“Perhaps.” Touka’s voice was strained and she winced at the knife that bit into her skin. “But do anything to me and you’ll have an even bigger threat to deal with.”

Hairu tutted and grabbed Touka by the back of her hair, slamming her head down onto the edge of the desk. Touka’s vision became blurry for a second, everything hazy as her head began to throb with a deep ache. Hairu kept her head pressed against the desk and stood in Touka’s line of sight, who noticed a wide grin on the assassin’s lips.

“You think I care if you’re the King’s whore?” Hairu giggled, but her eyes then caught the memory stick that lit up to signal it had finished it’s download. “What’s this-”

With Hairu distracted, Touka grabbed the dagger that was stuck into the desk where the map was and slammed it into Hairu’s hand and through the laptop, the woman screaming in pain as her grip loosened from Touka’s hair. She took this opportunity to step away, shaking away the slight dizziness she felt and grabbed her clutch for the gun, clumsily pulling it out.

She held it up with trembling hands whilst Hairu pulled out the dagger from her hand with agonised grunts at the pain she must’ve no doubt felt. Touka’s eyes immediately fell onto the blood gushing out of Hairu’s wounded hand that made Touka feel the bile rise up her tight throat. She tried to avert her eyes, but she couldn’t help but stare, her palms sweating and stomach clenching.

Now isn’t the time to panic.

“Don’t move!” Touka ordered, trying hard not to show the fear in her voice.

“Or what?” Hairu smirked, but she was breathing heavily, the blood from the wound spilling down onto the ground at a rapid pace. “A little scared rat like you wouldn’t be able to-”

Touka then moved her aim and shot a bullet into Hairu’s thigh, another scream escaping her lips as she buckled down onto the ground with quick gasps. Out of shock, Touka dropped the gun and took a shaking step back, watching the woman cling onto the desk with the blood staining her exquisite dress.

“W…why did I do that?” Touka leaned against the wall for support, her nausea growing at the sight of Hairu’s pained expression. “What’s wrong with…no, I need to go…before backup.”

Touka stumbled her way to the usb and tugged it out of the port, grabbing her clutch and headed towards the door. It was then she heard footsteps a small distance away with a rush of different voices. Too late.

“Ha…Looks like…you’re too late.” Hairu slid to the floor and when Touka went over to check, she had fallen unconscious.

Panicked, Touka scanned her eyes across the room for another exit, noticing another door besides one of the shelves and quickly made her way through it just as the guards flooded into the room. With no hesitation, she moved on to the next hallway and down another before she was certain she was at a safe enough distance.

She took a moment to catch her breath, breathing heavily as she leaned her back against the wall and brushed her hair back. That was too close to comfort and Touka’s heart could not settle from the sudden panic of the situation.

Opposite to her was a mirror and she caught a glimpse of her reflection, noticing a bruise was already beginning to form just above her brows. She adjusted her hair to try to cover up the injury and smoothed the creases out of her dress, moving back towards the main hall.

The mansion may have been a maze of hallways, but she relied on the music and chatter from the hall to guide her until she finally found herself back where she was before. She kept her eyes opened for any Doves or guards, keeping close to the crowds until she saw the back of Kaneki some distance away. Despite the spite Touka felt towards the man she now worked for, she couldn’t help but relax a little upon seeing him, relief flooding through her.

Or at least, that is until she saw him pull out a gun and press it against Ui’s head.

She froze along with the other large crowds of people who started to scream and ran away from the two, others just pausing in shock and anticipation.

“That idiot.” Touka hissed and shoved through the other guests and closer to where Kaneki was.

Once closer, she could finally see his face - he was scowling, his face twisted in rage and murderous temptation. He held Ui up by his collar, but the other man seemed almost amused, taunting Kaneki to pull the trigger. All the while, other guards started to surround the two, also holding up their guns aimed towards Kaneki’s head.

“Kaneki, what the fuck are you doing?” Touka snapped and he glanced over to Touka once before his grip on Ui tightened, his finger already pressing down on the trigger.

“Do it.” Ui hissed, glaring at the man that held him. “Do it and see how much of an idiot you are then.”

“Kaneki, shoot him and you’ll be giving the Doves what they want.” Touka tried to convince Kaneki and he seemed to hesitate then. “He just wants to make you mad. Don’t give in to your impulses.”

Kaneki looked over to Touka again and his look softened, changing from the blind rage from before to a more defeated look of shame. He then threw Ui down onto the ground and pocketed his gun. Ui then called off the other guards with a satisfied smile.

Brushing his hair back, Kaneki returned back to how he was before, his relaxed expression filled with confidence and arrogance. It was almost like nothing had occurred. It was almost frightening how quick the change was.

“My apologies.” He said to no one in particular. “It seems I lost control of my temper for a moment then. I’ll be taking my leave. Come, Touka.”

He wrapped Touka’s arm through his and they made their way out of the mansion, Touka glancing back once to see Ui smirk with some delight.

“Please, come back anytime when you have the guts to actually finish what you started.” He called out and Kaneki paused for a second, his head lowered and his breathing heavy.

“Ignore him.” Touka whispered. “It’ll do you no good if you give in to your anger.”

“Right.” Kaneki didn’t seem convinced though. “Let’s leave.”

In the car, Kaneki seemed even more agitated, his foot tapping impatiently and his fingers digged into his knee. Touka sat there awkwardly, glancing back towards him every now and again during the journey.

“I…” Touka’s voice cut through the awkward silence and Kaneki looked back towards her, his gaze heavy and uncomfortable. “I got what you wanted.”

She took out the memory stick and held it out for Kaneki. He stared at it for a moment, as if he didn’t even remember what it was he needed but then smiled pleasantly, taking the device from her hand.

Before she could take her hand away, Kaneki took her wrist, his touch gentle and soft, sending goosebumps up her arms whilst he leaned down to plant a light kiss on the back of her palm. She was certain she was a blushing mess at this point with her heart fluttering and butterflies in her stomach.

“Thank you, my little bunny.” He pulled away, Touka quickly taking her hand back. “You’ve done me a great service.”

She was about to speak, but no words left her. Instead, she awkwardly hid her flustered face behind her hand and nodded. It was then Kaneki frowned and he leaned in again, Touka’s breath hitching as he brushed away her fringe, his brows furrowed.

“What’s this?” His fingers lightly brushed the bruise on Touka’s head and she winced slightly from the pain. “It was that Ihei woman, wasn’t it?”

Touka turned away from his hand and worried eyes. What’s with him with all this sudden concern…

“I handled it.” Touka mumbled, staring out the window, shuddering at the memory of the blood. “No problem-”

“I said I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.” Kaneki sighed with frustration. “I’m sorry. I’ll take better care of you, I promise.”

“I’m not yours to take care of.” Touka glared, but her words didn’t seem to affect Kaneki. “Why would you care anyhow?”

He only smiled then and Touka felt her cheeks heat up again, stubbornly looking back through the window before he could see.

He didn’t answer her question though.

They eventually arrived back at his mansion and Touka noticed it was already past midnight, her own fatigue starting to take over.

“It’s late, you should sleep here for the night.” Kaneki suggested and Touka knew that she had no real choice in the situation and only nodded.

Getting out of the car, she noticed Nishiki standing some distance away. He seemed to be waiting to speak to her.

“What happened?” Touka immediately started, her arms crossed. “You suddenly lost contact.”

“They seemed to have figured out you were communicating with me somehow and blocked out the signal.” Nishiki scratched the back of his head, avoiding Touka’s eyes. “Sorry.”

“You better be.” Touka sighed, noticing the guilty look on his face. “It’s…fine. Just make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“I mean, you’re not dead so it’s fine, right?”

“That’s not-”

“Come now, darling.” Kaneki started to guide Touka away, but not before she saw the guy give her an amused smirk. “You’re going to catch a cold if you stay outside for too long.”

“You can d-drop the act now, idiot.” Touka shoved him away and headed towards the entrance herself.

“Who said it was an act?” Kaneki chuckled as he walked besides Touka.

“I did.”

The mansion was quiet when they entered, the lights dimmed and the servants by the door ready for whatever their precious King needed. Touka kicked off her heels, regardless of their price, and ruffled her hair, a wave of exhaustion going through her.

“Would you like me to carry you to bed?” Kaneki whispered into her ear, his sultry voice sending shivers down her spine.

“Piss off.” Touka walked up the stairs and straight to her room, ignoring the persistent calls from Kaneki behind her. “How irritating.”

She slammed her new bedroom door shut and dumped herself onto her bed, the mattress soft and comforting. Touka lets out a sound of satisfaction as she just lay there, relishing the moment of complete solitude and peace.

So much had happened tonight and yet all Touka wanted was for the heavy pull of sleep to take her. She sat up and quickly removed the jewellery and makeup she wore, taking off her dress and pulling on one of the silk red nightgowns from her wardrobe. Pinning her hair back, she got under the covers and sank into the many pillows that surrounded her.

It was then she felt something hard against her head and she lifted herself onto one arm to notice a gift wrapped neatly with a red bow and a note on top.

‘A welcome gift from your favourite boss.’

She scrunched up the note and was tempted to throw the gift away, but her curiosity got the better of her and she opened it up to find a small silver box with small blossoms decorated on the top.

Opening it, she saw a plush bunny inside - it was white with floppy ears, it’s eyes two violet beads and the stomach, paws and feet a purple velvet.

In all logic, it would make sense for Touka to become annoyed with such a teasing gift, but instead, she admired it as she held it delicately in hand. She’s hardly ever received any gifts before, but to think he’d actually buy something like this for her. Even if it was to tease her, she couldn’t bring herself to toss it aside and chose to place it on her bedside table instead, her eyes still on it whilst she drifted off to a deep sleep.

Did he really only see her as a tool to use? Or did he really…care?