#absolutely normal amount of fic research i assure you

[mylittleredgirl]

The Zombies - This Will Be Our Year

i’ve been listening to a lot of music from 1968 and 1969 for a throwaway line in a new fic and i’ve fallen in love with this pure little upbeat tune

[set-phasers-to-whump]

breathe in breathe out

Prompt: delayed drowning

Whumpee: Nick Burkhardt

Fandom: Grimm

hey folks what’s up!!! brief fun announcement from me i finally got my drivers license today (only about two years late but shh) and i’m very happy ab that!!! anyway i hope that you enjoy this fic, it’s set right after the events of la llorona  and i did a Lot of research about delayed drowning for it!! (did you know that they no longer refer to it as things like ‘dry drowning’ or ‘secondary drowning’? i did not you learn new things every day up in here) anyway yeah i hope you like this fic!!!

They’re both fairly exhausted after the day they’ve had. Teaming up with a not-really-FBI agent to find a murderer, learning that ghosts might actually be real, saving the lives of three kids, and losing their would-be killer tended to do that to people. But it’s Halloween (sort of), and the both of them could do with a little winding down and trying to make sense of the events of the day. 

So they’re in Hank’s living room, talking about ghosts while a scary movie plays on the TV, muted. There’s a small bowl of Halloween candy on the table in front of them, and Hank is eating a kitkat. Nick is decidedly not hungry - his throat feels sore, which he supposes is a byproduct of his time in the river. 

He coughs, suddenly, startling Hank, who drops his candy. “You good?” he asks, and Nick nods. 

“Probably just a leftover from-” he starts, but cuts himself off with another harsh cough, and then another.

“You’re sure?” Hank asks. “Those don’t sound good. Do you feel sick?”

Nick waves him off. “I’m fine,” he says, and reaches for his glass of water. He takes a sip, hoping to calm the coughing, but instead nearly chokes on it, and feels, briefly, like he’s back in the river, fighting la llorona, watching her slip away…

And then the feeling fades, and he feels Hank thump him on the back. “I’m good, I’m good,” he assures him, discarding his glass in favor of putting his hands on his knees and taking a deep breath. 

“I don’t know, man,” Hank says. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, Hank,” Nick insists. “Probably just swallowed some water earlier.”

Hank doesn’t look convinced, but he stops talking about it, and Nick settles back into the couch, leaning his head against the cushion. He blinks and feels his eyes fight to remain closed. He checks the time - nearly one a.m.

“I think I should head home,” he says to Hank, who turns away from the TV and looks at him.

“You alright to drive?” he asks. “You don’t look too great.”

“I’m fine,” Nick says, for the hundredth time. “Really, I promise.”

He yawns, and once again feels his eyes slip closed for longer than they should. On the other hand, maybe he’d just fall asleep right here...Hank wouldn’t mind, right?

He decides that the answer to that question is no, and brings his legs up onto the couch, curling up as best as he can in the small space. 

“Hey, what’re you-” Hank starts, but he stops upon seeing that Nick has already fallen asleep. He sighs, muttering about how Nick better not get any dirt from his shoes on his couch. 

He doesn’t mind, though, really. Especially when he takes a good long look at Nick’s sleeping face - though being asleep has lessened the effect slightly, it’s clear Nick is absolutely exhausted. His face is paler than it normally is, and there are marks under his eyes. He’s long since changed into dry clothes, but his hair is still damp, curling slightly against his forehead as it dries. Hank gives him a smile and locates a blanket to drape over him, then turns off the TV and the lights and heads to his own bed.

--

Nick wakes up an hour or so later with a burning pain in his chest. He tries to take a deep breath to get the pain to stop, but feels it catch in his throat. He breathes in again, and feels the same result. 

A panic starts welling up under his skin as he continues to struggle to breathe - his lungs are burning and there’s no air in his body and he’s dizzy because he cannot breathe. He tries to shout for help but chokes on the words, and then coughs, and then he’s coughing again, like before, only unlike before because he can’t stop. He keeps coughing without a breath in between, and every cough feels like it’s tearing its way out of his lungs and his throat, and he can taste the river on the back of his tongue, and he doesn’t know what this is or why it is happening and he still can’t breathe. 

He tries to stand up, knowing that he has to get somewhere, find someone, but the second his body leaves the couch he’s pitching forward and he’s still coughing and he thinks he is never going to stop, and then - 

Then there is a pair of arms wrapping around him, easing him to the floor, and he still can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’tbreathe, and he reaches out a desperate hand which wildly misses its mark. 

He hears, over the sound of his own coughing, Hank’s voice, and he is saying something but not to Nick. He can’t understand what it is Hank is saying, and he can’t see him, either - the force of each cough is making his eyes water so badly the world is nothing but a fuzzy blur, so he knows Hank is there, but he doesn’t know where and he can’t think or process what is happening, but he is afraid and he can’t stop coughing and his chest is on fire. He wants Hank, and tries his best to call out for him. 

And then Hank is there, and his hands are on Nick’s shoulders and he’s saying something to Nick this time, but Nick still can’t hear, still can’t see Hank beyond a vague smattering of colors and light. Cough after cough tears its way out of him and he reaches out a hand yet again. 

This time, it hits its mark, and Hank’s hand wraps around his own, steady and warm, and he says something against the side of Nick’s head which Nick still can’t hear, and then Nick is aware that he is being moved, and then something thumps him in the chest and he coughs somehow even more harshly than before, and then his body instinctively turns to the side and he coughs up a small amount of water which burns horribly, and then he coughs a few more times, and then, all of a sudden, it stops. 

He takes a shallow breath, and then another. He feels himself being moved again, and something in his brain recognizes the motion - recovery position, he thinks, and then there is a hand between his shoulder blades and Hank’s voice, again, and Nick can actually hear him this time. 

“It’s okay, Nick, you’re okay,” he is saying, but he sounds scared, and Nick is scared, still unsure of what exactly had happened to him and why it had stopped and if it was going to start again. He feels himself start to cry, his eyes which had just been starting to clear up fogging over again, and he takes a shuddering breath that burns but doesn’t make him cough. He wants to ask what happened, but his throat feels like he’s swallowed a bucket of nails and crying is already aggravating it enough. 

He feels the hand leave his back then, and makes a completely involuntary noise at the loss of contact, feeling the pain in his throat spike. 

But just as quickly as it had left, the reassuring contact is back, in front of him this time. He feels Hank lie down next to him, feels a hand on his face, hears Hank say those words again: “You’re okay, Nick, it’s alright.” 

But it’s not alright, he is still scared and in pain and confused and so, so tired. His hand reaches out for the third time, and Hank knows exactly what it means, without Nick needing to say the words. He moves an arm to wrap around Nick’s body as best as he can in their current positions, and he pulls Nick gently towards himself. 

Nick leans his face into Hank’s shoulder, relaxes ever so slightly, and breathes.

hi idk if this was any good or not but i had a good time writing it!!! i am gonna be honest the stuff about whacking him in the chest is pure bs from me but i Wanted to include it so i did lmao. the rest of the stuff is pretty true to how delayed drowning happens tho!! its pretty wild like you can be fine for several hours and then boom. also i didn’t say this in the fic but dw hank was calling 911 and nick will be fine!!

[soviet-history-detective]

What is the cost of not respecting boundaries?

(For those who haven’t seen, Part 1 and Part 2) A quick rundown for the people who are wondering what’s going on: Hello, folks. I am one of the leading Chernobyl/Legasov researchers who runs this youtube channel. I found the audio fragments of Legasov tapes which became quite a hit and received praise from Craig Mazin. Legasov tapes, which the migty HBO couldn’t find with their Russian-speaking consultants and millions of dollars of budget. I found rare photos and pre-Chernobyl videos of Legasov, translated a substantial amount of documentary material on Soviet near history topics, a good chunk of that being on Legasov and Chernobyl.  I am a live and let live kind of person and I was willing to look the other way with the Valoris shipping business cause “they were shipping the tv show characters and fangirling about the actors” so I ignored it and posted historical information, answered questions, unearthed and translated documentary videos and text material.   Then I abruptly stopped and went quiet cause the shipper gang went too far and started writing gross shit, rape fantasies and dragging real people who weren’t even in the tv show into their godawful fics -one of them being someone I highly admire, respect and look up as an inspiration and role model notwithstanding. 

They didn’t stick to Valoris, they had to involve the people who were not in the script at all. People whose names they learned from me. They had the audacity to discuss their fucked up fantasies (which they call headcanons) right under my nose, they couldn’t control themselves since they are completely driven by base animal instincts and some of them are downright sociopaths with no boundaries: Rabid and depraved, driven only by the primitive sexual instincts, with a two digit IQ, no understanding of boundaries, ethics, morals, completely bereft of common respect and decency. It’s creepy as hell -run for the hills kind of creepy.  (When I say no ethics and morals I don’t mean only sexual perversions. One of them is notorious for plagiarizing other people’s content in multiple social media platforms and acting indifferent when called out.) So I got creeped out, grossed out, infuriated, disillusioned and went quiet. Blocked everyone who was associated with Valoris to avoid their gross thirst talks. Blocked the tag too. Stopped posting new finds after the last Legasov video compilation. Stopped translating videos and text material for a long while.

They are way past normal shipping. This is some seriously fucked up shit.  Here are a couple of examples (Warning: Gross content, rape fantasies, scroll past the images and continue reading below if you can’t stomach or are a minor)

Here is more rape:

Their biggest argument is “We are writing fics about the fictionalized tv show characters” which is total and utter bullshit, because:

Nikolai Ryzhkov was not in the tv show at all.

Neither was Vladimir Gubarev. Why are they in those fics?

This isn’t all, there are public posts here where they were bouncing ideas and coming up with the most abhorrent fantasies about a real person who was NOT in the tv show. I don’t have the time to search them, plus they are really gross, you are better off not seeing it. (A paranthesis here: I’m totally indifferent about explicit fics if they involve only fictional characters and not promote rape culture. Just to make things clear.)

If you are using the names of real people, you are shipping real people. Period. I can write a fic using the shipper gang’s names in an alternate reality setting where they are an evil gang of cannibalistic cunts who raid maternity wards and butcher all the babies then burn puppies ad kittens alive for fun. Or I can write a fic where they all get sodomized with saguaro cacti dipped in ghost pepper sauce by sadistic rogue KGB agents. It’s fictionalized versions of them in an alternate universe after all, so it’s totally ok. Right? Well, there really is no point arguing these things, and that is not even the point of this post. I’m just saying it’s fucked up, creepy and wrong in every way. 

Not to mention they bully and gaslight people who speak up against them. Grown ass women bullying a 15 year old and adding a transphobic comment after learning they are trans is NOT COOL. @ihatefandomsfuckyouall can testify as the target of their bullying. That’s wrong and creepy as hell. 

HOWEVER. Like I said in the previous post, this won’t be about a holy jihad against shipping or some big anti-shipper crusade.  Nope, nope and nope with nope sauce.

Ship away, ship all you want, ship till you drop, ship till you turn Fedex green with envy. I am not here to lecture sociopaths driven solely by primitive sexual instincts and bereft of any kind of boundaries, morals, common respect and decency. There is nothing I or anyone can do about it. Like i said, I have no intention of trying to talk sense into anyone or giving sermons. So rest assured that I am well aware it’s pointless and stupid to wage a war against shipping, however gross and vile it is. I can’t stop you from sexualizing anything that walks (or has been long dead) and spewing sick ass fantasies. I will repeat for those with two digit IQ: I know there is nothing I or anyone can do to stop you from doing what you are doing, absolutely nothing. So I will do NOTHING. Got it? Whoever claims otherwise is full of shit, I will do absolutely NOTHING, you got my word 100%.

Seriously I won’t hate on you, I won’t call for holy wars and witch hunts. So, rest assured, I will not make any move against any of you, nope. Besides I don’t have the time for that, I have a busy life and better things to do. No war, no hate, no screaming, no drama, nothing. Is that clear? Capiche? Comprende? Понятно? 

Well, now let’s get to the heart of the matter:

I have been quiet but not idle. I’ve been contacting people, sending queries, making phone calls, digging state archive repositories. I have been finding material and boy did I find material! I happen to be one of the very few people who are blessed with an extraordinary ability to find things no one else can find. You have seen what I can find by utilizing search engines and going through links. Even Craig Mazin himself was mighty impressed with my finds, the proof is out there in public view, I won’t bother digging it up now.

Anyway. It turns out I can find hell of a lot more than that by contacting people, sending queries, making phone calls and digging through state archive repositories. Some of it costs pretty penny but no matter, I don’t mind paying for never-before-published video footage that is not on the internet. Some of it is not even digitized so you gotta pay extra fee for digitization and it can be quite high depending on the video length and media.

We are talking about HD videos here. There is excellent AI video processing software out there which can turn even the most primitive 19th century videos to crystal clear 60 fps HD so we are good. (Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HbElEqm1TQ) I have photos that can’t be found by searching the internet. You’d drop dead if you saw some of them. I’m working on getting the full footage of Legasov’s IAEA presentation. It’s hella difficult, you have to personally go to Vienna and go through the seven hells and seven lower hells to obtain access. Also you need to be a research scientist with a reference letter. (All this info and list of requirements can be found on IAEA official site.) I won’t get into the details but I have it all sorted out, scientist and all. It wasn’t easy and it took a damn lot of time, effort, pulling family connections etc. Now the only remaining roadblock is this accursed coronavirus. As soon as the pandemic subsides a trip to Vienna shall be in order. The long Q&A session following Legasov’s report is unfortunately not available, but Legasov’s report certainly is (after fulfilling a laundry list of requirements.)

This is not all. There are photos (in addition to the publicly available ones I posted before) and video footage of Ryzhkov visiting Chernobyl, Legasov’s meetings, partial video of one Polituro meeting. There is this one precious footage where Legasov is laughing and drinking vodka. I won’t even say how many hours of work it took to find that. (Plot twist: I’m not the one who found it!) I have a pile of videos of Ryzhkov when he was the chairman of the council of ministers of the USSR, which are historical records of tremendous importance and not on Youtube. Buddies who have seen them had insta-man crush on him without even hearing my translation. Some of you would KILL for those, I know for a fact. For the Legasov drinking-partying video you would sell your soul to the devil (who wouldn’t?)

I have an IAEA report with an extremely rare photo you can’t find by searching. I won’t tell you who is in it cause I don’t want to supply anything you could use for your gross fics. Suffices to say one of them is someone you are drooling about and the other one is a big shot name that’s not on your radar and will unleash all kinds of fic ideas once you hear it. So nope. I ain’t giving you another Ryzhkov, I learned my lesson. I have video footage of that same man giving high praise to Legasov, talking with a tone of fondness, defending him against accusations. Such a sweet video. It put tears in my eyes. I can see you gang drooling a lake over that one so hell fucking no.  

Did I mention I started translating Legasov documentaries? Every single one on youtube. Including the entire Звезда Полынь. Also planning to convert some Legasov footage to HD using the aforementioned software tools. 

I have actually been posting videos and text material translations left and right, just out of your sight (nice rhyme, isn’t it?) 90% the material I listed above is either in the pipeline or in my hard disk.  @tryingtobealwaystrying can verify. She helped out a great deal with the IAEA business and I owe her one for that. We are both individually damn good at finding stuff but it turned out we can work wonders as a team. As a result, we have a treasure trove of the highest order in hand and in the works. 

And, here is the deal: YOU WILL SEE NONE OF IT.

N.O.N.E.

Not a shred. Not a pixel. Nothing. Ничего. Совсем нет. 

Get it now? “You didn’t see it cause it’s not there!” 

You won’t see it cause it won’t be there! 

So, this is it. I can’t do anything about your shipping scumbaggery but I can cut off your supply and deprive you of material and information. You will NEVER be able to find any of it on your own (let alone afford the fees for.) 

I will deprive you of the fruits of my labor. 

Indefinitely.

Of course that doesn’t mean I’ll keep it all to myself. I will share them but not in public. In fact I have translated and posted some videos you wanted real bad, one of them got 1000 views overnight but they are not public, for my work is not for the eyes of the wicked and unclean miscreants. I post them in shipper-free foreign forums you can’t find and send links privately to decent, wholesome people who are interested in Chernobyl and Soviet history for the passion to learn and admiration for the historical figures, not for spinning depraved fantasies and writing horrendous, projectile-vomit-inducing sex fics. And -as those of you who possess three digit IQ’s might have figured out!- I am not alone in that. (Plot twist FTW!)  Congrats, folks. You managed to alienate and drive away the top Chernobyl-Legasov researchers and translators with your hideous debauchery, extreme scumbaggery and abominable attitude. So, this is your punishment: NOTHING. This is the consequence you will deal with. This is the cost of your choices. 

A big nothing is all you will ever get from now on. 

See, told ya, there is absolutely nothing I can do about your gross shipping and scumbaggery so I will do NOTHING. 

Got the joke? LOL. I have awesome humor don’t I :) 

No more videos. No more photos. No more answers. No more translations. No more information.

You royally fucked up, people. You don’t get to eat the cake and the icing, especially not when you offend and insult the cooks, take a dump in the middle of the restaurant and masturbate while rolling in it. You could have kept it out of sight. You could have exercised some goddamn tact. But no, you had to behave like animals in heat. 

Well, you can continue obsessing over the TV show scripts until you get sick of it.  I will be posting translations of different parts of Soviet history like the WW2 era. You can ship Hitler and Stalin all you want. Get those headcanons rolling! I will even give you a prompt: Stalin cheats on Hitler with Mussolini. LMAO. 

You know what, I take back the not a pixel thing. We may post screenshots from the videos and low-res crops from the photos from time to time just to rub it in your face. 

Here is one where they are grilling Velikhov shortly after Legasov’s suicide. Oh boy you gotta see his face when they start bombarding him about Legasov’s death.... 

Here is the shot from a long video where the legendary Premier Ryzhkov is sporting the legendary 80′s Soviet glasses in all his superlative handsome glory. He is giving an interview about important historical turning points in this video and this isn’t even the best shot. You have to pay to get a copy but before that you need a superpower-like ability to find where it is in the first place. I scaled it up to 1440×1080 but not gonna put the high resolution version cause I’m such a darling.

  Here is Ryzhkov in the famous white work attire of the Soviet era. Looks familiar, yes? Do I need to tell WHERE he is and what he is doing? (Hint: The year is 1986.)

Oh man, oh man. How worried he looks, so heart-wrenching. The footage is only about 3 minutes but absolutely solid gold. I won’t say whether there is Legasov or Scherbina or BOTH of them appearing in this footage cause I’m such a sweetheart.

Unfortunately I am not at liberty to post any Legasov shots cause I am not the finder of the Legasov videos we currently have at hand. Too bad, so sad.  There you go. Enjoy your cold dish of nothing. Bon appetite. Adios amigas!  WHAT IS THE COST OF NOT RESPECTING BOUNDARIES? @tryingtobealwaystrying​ @the--arch @ihatefandomsfuckyouall​ @rarravai​ @weronikaisback​ @live-long-and-time-warp​ @tryingtobealwaystrying​ @chernobylgal86​ 

[mrs-dragneel-stark-solo]

Unforseen Chasm (part29)

Part 29 of Unforseen Chasm

Prompt: Two sisters fall for men that are absolute enemies. The love they have could tear all of them apart, or it could bring them together. Word Count:   4361 Warnings: language,flashbacks to NY, angst, fear, evasive memory search, mutation take over, fighting, unconscious shannon(OFC) Note: This is by far the longest thing I’ve ever written (including my other fic series). first major Collab with my best friend @thorne93 what was first a simple “what if” moment turned into a two year writing session and I’ve never been more prouder of myself than when i started my first series. goes through most of the MCU plots there are some changes to accommodate for what we wanted and there is a bit of a crossover between the MCU and other characters. I hope you guys enjoy reading this just as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Two days later, and you were back at the mansion, with most of the X-Men still in the training room. This time, they didn’t separate you and Shannon. Instead, they thought perhaps the powers might affect each other, they also thought if Shannon were nearby you wouldn’t feel as much like a lab rat or science experiment.

Steve and Logan stood on security detail, monitoring your every move. Jean and Charles were studying you. Remy and Scott stood on morale detail, trying to keep your spirits raised if you got discouraged, and to make you feel more comfortable since they were your good friends as well.

“Alright, Jean, whenever you’re ready to start I’ll go,” Shannon said waiting to see how they would approach both yours and her powers today.

Both Gambit and Scott had gotten closer to both of you and had begun taunting you two to see who would burst first.

“Shannon, how does it feel knowing your best friend can never walk in broad daylight again?” Scott had said to her, causing you to get upset that they would start like that. He had done some research on the attack and found a few videos of you attacking her, and who they believed was Loki being taken somewhere.

“Really, Scott? That's how you're gonna start things?” she asked, sounding a little disappointed and hurt. “She’s my best friend and knowing that she can’t go out with me for simple things hurts. It hurts more knowing…” she stopped herself, looking over at you and her heart broke a bit having to remember the events of that day.

For a moment they noticed that she went into a trance. Worried a bit, Scott got closer to see what was going on. Jean was curious as well and had begun walking towards her too, only to be blown back by a strong energy mixed with wind. Jean noticed that Shannon’s eyes had turned milky white and had hints of purple swirls in them. Scott jumped back when he saw her flinch in her trance and red beams came out of her eyes identical to his.

“Hmm, it seems as if she is in her memories are frozen in the time of the attack,” Jean said while dusting off her skirt. “Scott, try to get her to talk about what she’s seeing,” she instructed while looking at her.

“I’ll try my best but it’ll be hard trying to get close and not know how her mutation will react.” He cautiously inched closer.

Meanwhile right nearby, Gambit was trying to get some sort of reaction out of you. “So this Loki fellow, he all that? He really what they say he is?”

Your eyes flashed to his. “I’m not sure. I don’t know what ‘they’ say he is,” you informed.

“Some poor bastard who couldn’t keep his temper in check and only wanted to wreak havoc.” He smirked seeing that he’d started to get some sort of reaction out of you. “Sounds to me like a whiny brat looking for daddy’s attention.” He laughed at his own comment.

“Remy, don’t,” you warned, purple energy sparking on your finger tips. “He isn’t like that. He… he couldn’t help what happened to him.” You gritted your teeth. “It wasn’t like that!” you retorted, your voice raising.

Just then it seemed like Shannon had latched onto your emotion and had begun mixing with her own. The same purple energy that sparked from your fingers had begun to appear around her. She was no longer in a trance but her eyes had yet to change back into her normally dark brown hue. She began advancing towards Scott.

“Jean, I’m not liking any of this… Should I really be getting this close to her?” Scott asked, his voice wavering, and started moving away from her.

”Why are you running, Scott? Scared I’ll hurt you?” Shannon smirked as she kept getting closer. “You’re the first person to realize how much of a threat I could be.” She laughed.

“Shannon, relax, don’t do anything you’ll regret. You know this isn’t how I feel.... We’re good friends…  Remember that,” he had stuttered out.

“Oh, Scott but we are good friends, at least I’d like to believe we are…” She stopped talking. It looked like she was thinking of something. Jean seeing this was going nowhere looked inside her head to see what kept stopping her.

Over where you and Gambit were, you had been circling each other, he kept egging you on and he seemed to find it entertaining to mess with you. “All talk and no play huh, Y/N/N?” He had started charging som cards behind his back. “Is he like that too? Bet he gets annoying being locked up together, you two fight about him not completing his mission?” He asked you a million questions each one getting worse than the last.

“Not another word about him, Remy,” you cautioned through clenched teeth, your fists balling up. The purple energy charged all the way up to your shoulders.

“Alright, that’s quite enough, Gambit,” Charles suddenly interjected from his wheelchair.

Logan stepped up from behind Remy and gently pulled him back, not trusting you or your anger. He saw something in your eyes he hadn’t seen before.

Charles peered at you, and he could tell you weren’t registering anything around you now.  This put him on edge, so he jumped straight into your mind, trying to figure out just exactly what was triggering you, causing the problematic surge.

Was it watching Shannon be mocked or put in distress? Was it feeling trapped due to the amount of people in the room? Was it making you remember the traumatic events of New York? Was it pressing your buttons about being imprisoned? Or was it about the famed man who was your fellow inmate?

Jean had been in Shannon’s mind for a while but had found what had happened in New York. She saw how much pain she had gone through seeing what you had done to her when you kidnapped her and then the fight over a man she barely knew. Jean could see how much the events had affected her and figured it had something to do with this so called Loki… She’d have to speak to Charles about this for the next time you two came in.

—————-----

It was the next morning that Tony and Shannon were in the middle of their morning routine that Tony asked her, “Have you been by to see Professor X, yet?”

Tony was in the bedroom getting dressed when he asked, but Shannon stood in the bathroom, brushing her teeth. A feeling of guilt and dread clenched inside her stomach. Had he found out about breaking you out?

“Uh, yeah,” she answered a little hesitantly.

In a second, Tony was in the bathroom, about to slap on some cologne. “Babe, why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“We’ve both been so busy…” she said, averting some of the truth.

“But you’re getting help. That’s amazing. Has he said anything? Have they found out the issue?”

“They’re getting closer,” she informed before swiping on some quick, light makeup for the day.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek from behind. “That’s so good to hear, dear. I’ve got a board meeting today, and I’m going to introduce that new prototype, so I might be late for dinner.”

“That’s fine,” she assured. “I’ll be busy with work and errands. I’m going to see Charles again today, probably.”

“Sounds good. See you tonight?” he asked, walking backwards and pointing at her.

“Absolutely,” she responded with a grin. She hated lying to him, it nearly made her physically sick, but when it came to this… she knew Tony’s emotions would blind him and he wouldn’t see it the way she did. He would’ve have allowed you to leave, and get the help you needed.

Meanwhile, you were downstairs with Loki, trying to move past the argument you two had.

“Leaving again, are we?” he asked coolly.

You sighed, not looking up at him from where you made yourself a cup of coffee. “Yes, I am… to get help… you know, for the powers that were pushed into me against my will…”

Loki peered over at you, assessing you. By now, he knew you pretty well. The two of you had lived together for nearly two years, if you counted the imprisonment here and on Sanctuary. And he could tell that for once, it was his own insecurities getting in the way. He was concocting all of these terrible ideas and outcomes for you two. He worried you would sell him out. He worried you would strike a deal and never come back to that cell again. He worried that you only stayed close to him on Sanctuary because you were friends before lovers. He worried that now, now that you had a chance to get away, get far away from him -- you might.

But no… Something in the way that you still took care of him, still looked after him, still smiled when seeing him walk in a room let him know that just this once, he was being foolish and talking himself into lies he knew were not true.

“You think it’s really helping?” he asked genuinely.

You heard the change in his voice so you stopped putting sugar in your coffee to give him your full attention. “Yes… I do. As soon as we find out what’s wrong with this dark energy, maybe they can get it out of me, and I’ll be back home to you.”

Loki scoffed lightly. “You can’t really call this a home, can you?”

The tiniest of smiles touched the corner of your lips before you brought one hand up to touch his cheek.

“Home is wherever you are.”

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

Shannon had finally finished the gift she had for the two down below. It had taken a while but with the help of all the photos and videos that you had sent of Asgard, she was able to recreate a holographic version of what you two called home and inserted everything from all over the world so you could see wherever you pleased, hoping to make the room a lot less bleak and much more pleasant for both of you.

She made her way to the elevator with everything and the boots to one of Tony’s suits in hopes of getting it installed all on her own. Getting out of the elevator with the equipment, she could hear talking and hoped that they weren’t fighting.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything but I have a surprise for you two and hope that this will bring some sort of change,” she said to them looking hopeful as she hustled into the room outside of their cell.

Begrudgingly, you pulled away from Loki and cleared your throat. “Not at all, Shannon,“ you assured. “What's up?”

“I’ve finally finished what I had created for you two, that little gift I had been telling you about?” she asked, trying to get you to remember. “Well here it is. It might not look like much right now but once I install it, I bet you’re going to love it!” She pointed to the things on the trolley.

You lightly laughed. “Okay.” Shannon was… whimsical as always. That little gleam of mischief in her eye. Why were you drawn to people that were coy?

“All I need to do is get up to the top of this cell and connect a few wires to the main server and set up these sensors,” she explained as she put on the boots from one of the Iron Man suits, flying onto the top of the cell you ran to see where exactly she would land.

“How exactly will we be able to use this gift of yours?” you asked, wanting to know more about what she was doing.

“Once everything is installed and connected to the server it will work with just a few simple voice commands. I’ll show you when I’m done here.” She quickly got the sensors installed in all four corners of the room a well as one at the very top of the room. “Alright now if you two could please come to the living room, and close your eyes and tell me where exactly you wish you could see?” she asked you two.

You followed her orders, taking Loki’s hand and leading him to the stark white living room with black leather furniture. “I don’t know… Darling, what would you like to see?” you asked, peering up at him.

“I’m not sure… Anything is better than this cell,” he commented.

“Asgard?” you tried, speaking to both him and Shannon.

“If that’s what you both wish to see... Then if you could please close your eyes?” she asked, figuring that’s what you two would choose.

She entered the apartment and headed to the office to turn on the holograms. “Show me Asgard,” was all she said and behind closed eyelids you saw a flash. “You can open your eyes now.”

As soon as your eyes opened, you gasped -- a happy, shocked, thrilled gasp. On the walls that typically only showed gray concrete were splashes golds, greens, and vibrant blues, pinks, and purples. It was the foliage that was surrounding the waterfall you had gone to. It was the first place Loki had let you take his picture. Water fell from the magnificent cliff, making rainbows along the mist of the pond down below. Everywhere you turned it was an oasis.

But not an oasis that you made up or that Shannon pulled from the internet. These were real pictures of Asgard, stitched together. It brought a tear to your eye.

“This is incredible,” Loki commented.

“It truly is. Thank you, Shannon. This is amazing. This is the best gift,” you noted.

“The best gift would’ve been freedom,” Loki mumbled before you elbowed him in the ribs.

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

Today, the gang was the same. The same X-men, with Steve in there as protection, ready to take you down if need be. They had you and Shannon face each other. They had an inkling of what triggered both of your powers, and they were about to test it.

Charles got inside your mind, while Jean nestled inside Shannon’s, ready to monitor the thought processes as the team tested the triggers out. Before the women had arrived, Charles had given instructions to the X-Men to try and taunt you with New York, failings, and Loki.

“Hey, Y/N/N, good to see you again,” Remy said as he circled you, that charming smirk on his face. “Of course, if you didn’t fail in takin’ over the planet, we could be talkin’ like normal now. Instead of all this cloak and dagger business.”

The first cut was made, reminding you of your failings.

“Who says I failed?” you challenged. “Maybe I wanted to lose,” you retorted.

“Right,” he laughed. “Because sittin’ in a cell with a momma’s boy is so excitin’.”

“The way I hear it, he was given the best weapon in the galaxy, and still couldn’t wield it,” Scott added. “That’s just sad. Wouldn’t you say so, Logan?” he asked, intentionally being a prick, turning to Wolverine with his arms crossed.

“I’d say that’s pretty pathetic,” Logan agreed, a cocky expression painting his face.

Before you knew what was happening, you spun, your energy building up in your hands. The dark purple power was just about to shoot out of your hands but Scott shot you back with his the energy from his eyes, knocking you backwards. As soon as you were standing, Steve and Logan grabbed your arms to keep you from propelling your power towards anyone.

“Stop, please,” Shannon begged, her eyes becoming milky red, purple swirling inside them. Outside, thunder could be heard on what was a clear, bright day only moments before.

“Oh, come on, Shan,” Scott said. “We’re only messing with her. It’s not like she’s in jail for life for it… Oh… Wait…”

“Knock it off, Scott,” Shannon warned again.

“Why? Can’t take the fact that Y/N/N over here nearly killed you for a piece of ass she barely knew?”

With that, lightening began hitting the bunker, making everyone’s eyes look up to inspect the sound.

An almost animalistic sound came from you as they taunted you and her. The mocking of Loki and your relationship was not being tolerated well by you. Not to mention how they were bothering Shannon.

In an instant, the energy that was tingling up your arms nearly tripled, blowing the two men off of you. As soon as you were away from them, you started to go towards Shannon, the action making Steve worry -- but then you stood in front of her, almost as if to protect her. Just as you turned to fight off Scott though, the field between you two became stormy.

A dark cloud of purple energy ignited between you, making you two peer at each other in confusion.

“Just as we had suspected. The thing that triggers both of your powers happens to be whenever something negative is mentioned about the one person you care about,” Jean said pointing towards both women and their current state of emotion. “For you, Y/N, it’s when Loki’s spoken badly about. And for you, Shannon, it’s Y/N. She’s the main cause for the energy to manifest,” she explained and pointed at both of you. “But yours is worn out with increased highs or lows in emotional situations.”

It took you both a moment to realize that the conclusion they had made was true. You being talked to in any negative way caused the energy to spike and make Shannon weaker in strength. You tried not to believe that your dark energy would always be triggered whenever Loki was badmouthed to you.

While both of you were lost in thought, Logan and Steve took the opportunity to separate you so that Shannon couldn't feed off your anger and make her own worse.

“Logan! Let me go, put me down,” Shannon yelled making the room shake and caused the light to flicker a moment.

“Not until you’re far enough away from Y/N that you won’t have your powers go nuts,” he grunted as she made him struggle to move her away. “You know it's for your own damn good,” he sounded resolute having gotten her all the way to the other side of the room.

“I said, Let. Me. Go!” She was getting angrier by the second and her eyes went from a milky red to a bright purple with spots of red. The sky was completely blacked out and the only light was from the lights in the room.  Without realizing it, Shannon had lifted up one of the sharpest objects and had it facing Logan.

He stopped moving but wouldn’t let her go. “Now listen, kid, the only way you’ll get that thing to even touch me is if it goes through you too,” he said with a bit of confidence. Which only seemed to boost her anger even more. She had the object come flying at an incredible speed and she felt his breath hitch.

“You’re so wrong on that one, Logan…” She laughed, the object going through her as if she weren’t there and it stuck out the back of of Logan. “I can make it only hit you, my dear friend.” She smirked as she felt him loosen his grip. She slammed her head into his nose and got out of his grip.

“Shannon, stop this at once!” Charles warned her but she was being controlled by the dark energy inside her.

Steve did the same with you, pulling you as far away from his friend as he could. Not wanting to have you cause anymore trouble for Shannon.

“Steve, please let me go. You know I would never do anything to harm Shannon…” you pleaded feeling useless knowing you were at your weakest point. “I just want to get this dark energy out of me, you have to believe me.” You turned to look at him hoping he could see the sincerity in your eyes.

“I’m sorry but I can’t risk you hurting her again like the last time, and I know you want to get rid of it but it won't be enough until it's gone,” came from him, his voice full of sadness and pity. His response left you feeling defeated.

Hearing Charles warn Shannon, you and Steve look over just as she had walked away from Logan and watched him fall to his knees. Steve acted quickly by running towards her only to get pushed back by a strong wind and have objects pin his feet where he stood.

“Shannon, this isn’t you. Don't let those powers do something you’ll never be able to forgive yourself for,” Steve said, trying to get through to her but nothing seemed to be working.

They could all see that it was taking a toll on her as she began to look pale and although the energy was still strong, there were moments it would flicker. She began losing her balance and the room had begun to tip for her. Not wanting to cause her more damage you had a pillow positioned right where her head fell as she hit the ground. The purple haze had begun to fade but still surrounded her as if to keep her protected.

“I believe it’s time we take her to her old room to let her recover and run some tests on her while doing so,” Charles said, wanting to make sure that she was okay and there was no internal damage. He would also slip into her subconscious to figure out more. “Jean, if you and Scott could take Logan to the infirmary get him checked out?”

“Yes, Professor Xavier,” they both said in unison.

“I’ll need you, Y/N, to head to her old room and prepare the bed for her,” Charles said to you wanting you to do something to help.

“Right away, Charles…” You looked over to Remy. “Wanna walk me to her room?” you asked not feeling safe to walk the halls alone.

“Sure thing, darlin’,” was all he said.

“I’ll pick her up and take her there if you’d like?” Steve offered. “I’d like to stay by her side to make sure she’s okay.” He walked over to Shannon lifting her with ease.

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

“JARVIS, where is Shannon?” Tony asked when he wrapped up his meeting.

“I believe she has left to go to the Xavier mansion, sir, with Captain Rogers,” he responded.

“Ah, that’s a shame. I was going to go tell the prisoners down below some good news. Thought she might want to be with me, but I guess I can tell her later.”

With that, he quickly left his conference room and stepped into an elevator, descending down, deep down into the basement.

“JARVIS, remind me to tell Shannon the news that Fury has chosen to give them a chance,” he said as he was nearing the floor.

“Sure thing, Mr. Stark, anything else?” the Al asked.

“I’ll let you know if there’s anything else,” he told the Al.

“Hello there you two, how’s the view in here?” Tony joked as he walked into the room but stopped short when he looked to see the once gray concrete walls covered with the view of Paris.

“Hello, Stark. Always lovely to see your face.” Loki smirked seeing the look of confusion on his face. “What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Loki laughed at Tony walk around the room looking at the four walls.

“How in God’s name did this get here?!” Tony looked livid not knowing how to react. Why had this been done? How had he not been informed? “How is it possible that you’re looking at the view of Arc de Triomphe?” he asked, wanting to get to the bottom of this.

“Illusion?” Loki stated, his arms behind his back, a cunning grin cutting across is striking face.

“No, uh-uh. Thor told me what you can do. You can’t project images, not like this,” he said, pointing to his side. “There’s no way you’d know what this place is,” he added.

“I’m not sure what to tell you,” Loki said innocently. If Stark didn’t know about it, then clearly Shannon did not fill him in on her generosity. Loki felt it wasn’t his place to expose her.

“JARVIS! Bring me footage of when these images were installed in this room,” he yelled a bit trying to figure out what's going on or how the hell any of these things in the cell came about. Jarvis sent the footage to Tony’s phone. “You know what? I don’t have time for this. But if I find out you’ve escaped or tampered with this cell in any way I’ll --” He stopped, looking at the footage and seeing Shannon come in what looks like two days ago with a bunch of things. His blood boiled seeing her enter the cell and talk to you like it was nothing.

“You’ll what?” Loki mocked. “Keep me down here forever?”

Tony thought for a moment. Cells didn’t bother Loki, and he knew that he was a prisoner for life… He needed to leverage something that would truly hurt him.

“I’ll make it so you never see Y/N again. Separate cells, separate nations. So you better think of a real good alibi.”

As he turned, Loki’s face actually showed shock and worry.

“Did you come down here for something?” Loki asked, the anger and annoyance in his voice not wavering, despite the fear that was now nestled in his chest.

“Doesn’t matter,” Tony called over his shoulder.

Tony told his AI to get one of his faster cars ready for him. To blow off steam, he thought he would help support Shannon while she got these tests and trials ran on her. He quickly jumped into his car, and sped off for upstate New York.

Unforseen Chasm Tag list- @reigningqueenofwords @oldfreakything @weclassygirl @adefectivedetective​ 

@dontbetooobvious

Tag list- @cas-you-assbutt-dean-needs-you @winchester-writes @winchesterenthusiast   @deansdirtylittlesecretsblog   @sammysbuttcheek @misz-adrii @sandlee44 @womanxofletters @natsuccs @childishhoebinoo @expecteddifferent @girl-next-door-writes @fanaticfanfiction @dakotapaigelove @sassy-spn-knight-of-hell

[rogerina-deacon]

Looking Through the Eyes of Love // Part 1

Pairing: Brian May X American!Fem!Reader

Warning: Nothing really, there’s a bit of fluff and one swear.

Summary: When the reader moves in with her old host brother from when she was a foreign exchange student, her and a certain guitarist quickly hit it off.

Word Count: 1447

August 14, 1970

Early on in the brisk Friday morning, a cool chill taking over as the summer comes to an end, your 12 hour flight to Heathrow makes a steady decline. Awoken by what may be the most comforting, motherly voice you had ever heard, you slowly opened your eyes, happier than ever to be that much closer to the man who you call your best friend. During your junior year of high school, an opportunity to study abroad in England for your senior year was offered to you. You accepted immediately, and that’s how you met John. His parents had signed up to be your host parents, thus making John your host brother. You became best friends, but before you knew it, the school year ended. After taking a year off to travel around Europe, you decided to go to University. When you told John, he practically forced you to become his roommate. So you did, and here you were, about to step into the airport where he had gotten up at 6:00 AM to make sure he would arrive before your flight arrived. Thank god for cafes in airports, or he may not have survived the two hours waiting for you to arrive.

“Deaks!” you practically screeched, seeing him sat at a bar stool, his long hair a bit of a mess, a cigarette placed lightly between his lips. He instantly turned around, a huge smile already on his face. Any indicators that he was severely sleep deprived from shows and getting your room ready almost disappeared when the corners of his mouth nearly reached his ears. Putting out the cigarette quickly, he ran over to you, enveloping you in a warm hug before grabbing your luggage. He directed you out of the airport and into a cab, telling the driver his - your - apartment’s address.

“So, how were your travels! Worth putting off school for a year?” John asked, grinning like a madman, his hand clenching yours

“Absolutely! I have so many pictures to show you of every place I saw, every person I met, and even every meal I ate. I have more pictures than anyone should ever take in their life.” You respond, a giggle erupting as you finished your sentence. John just smiled, so happy to have you back, like a sibling coming home after leaving for the first time.

The drive was 20 minutes full of reconnecting, inside jokes, and anecdotes from your travels. You were almost upset when the cab driver pulled up to yours and John’s place, opening up the trunk for you two to grab your bags. John led you up, and fumbling for the keys with full hands. Stepping into your new home, you took everything in. John had sent pictures from before he decorated, and you almost didn’t recognize it. He had put a new coat of paint on the walls, freshening up the dirty white which had developed through the years of improper cleaning. He had a nice area rug positioned under the couch and coffee table up against the wall of the living area, in the shape of a rectangle, a fluffy array of various grays and dusty teal. A TV sat just out of reach of the rug, a small cacti sat atop the box-like electronic. In the corner sat two mismatched living chairs, one on either side of a bookshelf made of an old ladder. John definitely understood what you meant when you said “rustic bohemian.” He had a record player up against the wall on the corner leading into the hallway, stacks of vinyls lining the wall. Opposite the records was the kitchenette, a small dining table with four chairs around it the center of it all. The last you had seen of the apartment, it was akin to a ghost town, it’s past engraved in its walls. But, John had turned it into something you felt you could live in forever.

John quickly showed you to your room, a soft glow emitting from the single window placed opposite your bed. He had gotten you all the essentials, knowing you would know just how to make the space yours. A rustic, cherry-stained oak dresser was in the corner, and you began to unpack your belongings. He left you to do this while simply waited in the living room for you to be done, figuring that him trying to help may result in just talking and not actually putting your clothes away.

Just as you finished folding your last shirt, you realized the chatter coming from the living room. Knowing that you didn’t look presentable for company, you quickly changed out of your sweatpants and into a pair of jeans, and opting for a white tank top and knit cardigan instead of an over-sized sweatshirt with “ITALY” written in green, white, and red sewn patches you picked up in Florence during your travels. Walking into the living room, you’re greeted with all eyes on you, as if they weren’t expecting to see you. After a few moments of awkward stares, the blond broke the silence.

“Well done, John! Never expected to see a strange woman walking ‘round your flat!” He said, patting John on the back with wide eyes.

“She isn’t some strange woman, Rog, she’s my old host sister. Remember?” He said, getting up to introduce you to his friends. “Guys, this is Y/N. I told you guys all week that she was moving in today, remember?”

“Oh, how could we forget, darling. You hardly shut up about her. Roger here just has shit memory” the man with dark brown hair assured your friend that people did pay attention to him. He reached out a hand and finally introduced himself. “Lovely to finally meet you, Y/N. I’m Freddie, lead vocals for the band. That there, as you’ve probably caught on, is Roger, he drums, and that lanky poodle in the corner is our guitarist, Brian.”

“I think I can introduce her myself, Fred.” John groaned, wishing he could get a word in even when it came to his own best friend.

You had barely noticed Brian, he was so focused on his book when you walked into the room as he sat in the reading corner. But as soon as Roger teased John, his eyes perked up and didn’t leave you until Fred said his name. A blush crept onto his cheeks as he realized he was staring at you, immediately getting up to say a proper hello.

“Hi, lovely meeting you, Y/N.”

“Lovely meeting you too, Brian.” you replied warmly, making eye contact with the tall man. “I noticed you reading a book over there, what was it on? If you don’t mind my asking.”

He beamed, a toothy smile spreading across his face. “Oh, um, I don’t mind at all. They might though, Rog hates it when I go on rambles about this stuff. It’s, uh, on reflected light from interplanetary dust. Quite fascinating, really, though I haven’t met many people outside of class willing to hear me ramble on about these kinds of things.”

“Well, I’d love to hear more about it. I’m not normally much of a science person, but I’m sure you could find a way to dumb it down for me” you offered, a giggle escaping. “But of course, that means you’d have to deal with me and my psychology rambles.” As a passionate psych major, you had already read more than your fair share of books on various psychologists and their findings. With the amount of research you’d done, you could probably teach a course of your own with material to spare.

“I’d love to, although you’d have to dumb all of that down for me, as well. Maybe we could ramble to each other over some tea sometime?” He proposed, looking at you hopefully.

“That would be great, just tell me the time and place and I’ll be there.” You replied, almost too excitedly.

“Sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds, but while you two have been off being all smart together, we’ve been trying to decide on a place to go to for lunch. Any input? Y/N, your voice matters the most, as it’s your first day back in England since god knows when.” Freddie quickly grabs your attention, and you had to think it over for a minute. You had passed by quite a few places that looked good, but decided on a pizza place not far called Minnelli's. The guys seemed content with that answer, and John celebrated as he knew you would choose that place. You all slipped on your shoes and coats, walking out of the apartment and over to the pizza place.

A/N:That’s all for part 1! Please tell me what you think, I’d love to hear some feedback. Also, this is my first fic, so thanks for reading it at all! Until next time!

[hyrulehb]

A Test of Will and Responsibility

Okay, here is my third work for the Ajin series, this takes place after the end of the second season of the anime and has elements from the manga included in it. 

Origami10 edited this for me. Also takes some ideas from epic-potato-crisp’s idea. 

Kou continued to stare at the pale piece of paper in front of him in a state of shock and confusion. Was this real? Was it just a fucked-up dream, had Kei fed him some poisonous mushroom onigiri again? Tosaki was sitting across the table from him, leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other with his typical scowl on, but the way he had his arms crossed over his chest… It didn’t seem like his usual haughty way, no it almost seemed like he was trying to protect himself.

Swallowing hard, the ajin scratched the back of his head. If this was real, how was he supposed to answer? It had only been a short time after the final battle with Sato. Everything was still being squared away in terms of the remaining members of their team deciding how to move on with their lives. Kei had a family waiting for him, but Kou, he had nothing. Hell, he didn’t even know if his parents were alive out there somewhere anymore.

It was probably three months ago, when he had last seen them, it had only been in passing as well, them returning to the apartment to gather a few things and then whisking off again to do god knows what. During that time, he had only assumed they were still alive because the rent was being paid for and the landlord and police had yet to come knocking.

Death due to negligence, it could be argued that Kou hadn’t died because of his paralyzing injury from his stupid laziness, but from his parents never checking in on him like a ‘normal’ family would. Then again, maybe he was destined from the beginning to not be normal, being an ajin and all.

Still he hadn’t expected… well had never imagined this of all things.

The adoption papers stared back at him.

“Are you for real?” �

This isn’t a father-son fic, and it is not a TosakiKou fic, it’s just genuinely Tosaki trying and somewhat failing to be a better person. Happy ending.  

Kou continued to stare at the pale piece of paper in front of him in a state of shock and confusion. Was this real? Was it just a fucked-up dream, had Kei fed him some poisonous mushroom onigiri again? Tosaki was sitting across the table from him, leaned back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other with his typical scowl on, but the way he had his arms crossed over his chest… It didn’t seem like his usual haughty way, no it almost seemed like he was trying to protect himself.

Swallowing hard, the ajin scratched the back of his head. If this was real, how was he supposed to answer? It had only been a short time after the final battle with Sato. Everything was still being squared away in terms of the remaining members of their team deciding how to move on with their lives. Kei had a family waiting for him, but Kou, he had nothing. Hell, he didn’t even know if his parents were alive out there somewhere anymore.

It was probably three months ago, when he had last seen them, it had only been in passing as well, them returning to the apartment to gather a few things and then whisking off again to do god knows what. During that time, he had only assumed they were still alive because the rent was being paid for and the landlord and police had yet to come knocking.

Death due to negligence, it could be argued that Kou hadn’t died because of his paralyzing injury from his stupid laziness, but from his parents never checking in on him like a ‘normal’ family would. Then again, maybe he was destined from the beginning to not be normal, being an ajin and all.

Still he hadn’t expected… well had never imagined this of all things.

The adoption papers stared back at him.

“Are you for real?” Kou’s voice was soft as he finally peeked up at the older man sitting before him. Tosaki flinched at the words, though he tried to hide it under a scoff, “You don’t have to agree to it, in fact even if you did the sign the papers we could treat it only as a background formality. Our current working relationship wouldn’t change. You’d be free to leave and do whatever you please, you’d just technically according to the law, be under my guardianship. Japan is still so lax about these things that you don’t even need to change your family name to mine.”

“I doubt you want to be constantly correcting people by saying ‘Tosaki’ instead of ‘Tozaki’.” The researcher muttered, pushing his glasses further up his nose with a small look of distain.

Now Kou really did feel like he had stumbled into the Twilight Zone, did Tosaki just make a joke, at his own expense to boot?! He really didn’t know what to think or say at the moment, instead ducking his head down so the older man couldn’t see his expression. A mixture of amusement from the jest, but also mounting frustration as he tried to figure out if this might be some trap. When did he start thinking so negatively? Perhaps he had been letting Kei rub off on him too much. Still since they had started to work together, the dark-haired ajin was also starting to warm up. Maybe there was some kind of give-and-take personality system for ajin he wasn’t aware of.

“Is this ‘cause of my meltdown earlier?” Kou grimaced as the memories came back, sure it was probably a bit of his fault since he had been brooding and avoiding almost everyone as the time marched closer to when they would all be parting ways. To be fair there was a lot to deal with and it wasn’t like anyone else was exactly ‘celebrating’. They had lost four great men to Sato’s homicidal rampage.  Not to mention all the other innocent and not so innocent bystanders that had been slaughtered by the terroristic group of immortals.

What would be done with the aptly named ‘Traitor Trio’: Takahashi, Gen, and Okuyama, had yet to be decided. Currently they were being held under lock and key in the base. By that, it meant that all three were wearing tracking collars around their necks. Sure they ‘could’ remove them by decapitating themselves, but all three seemed averse to the idea and wanted to turn over a new leaf. They had got what they wanted in terms of ajin rights, but not in the way that they had intended.

Ogura was probably going to continue doing research on ajin, though it didn’t seem like he was keen to return to the United States after everything that had happened. Izumi seemed determined to remain as Tosaki’s assistant, citing that it was her life to do with as she pleased now. Kei was making plans to return to his hometown, back to his mother and younger sister. Tosaki was being made into some kind of big shot and go to person for any more cases dealing with ajin.

Then there was Kou, he had nothing, absolutely jack-shit to welcome him back. It seemed like all the others had a purpose or some goal. Only Kou was left stagnant, it felt stifling knowing he was being left behind. He should be used to it, but in his dreams lately, he had found himself more often than not standing in a dark room. Lights would illuminate familiar figures in the distance, but always… always they would wink out of existence before he could reach them. Kuroki, Hirasawa, Manabe, and Suzumura were always the first to disappear, but the rest eventually followed. Each time it did it felt like a bullet was ripping through his chest, a sensation he had unfortunately become familiar with.

In the end, he was left alone.

In that quiet, sad, and frustrated mood Tosaki had found him outside the base a few days ago.

Typically, the older man would have just turned on his heel and walked the other way. The human had wanted to keep himself as far away from teenage drama and from gaining an attachment to any ajin. However, he had failed both aspects long before this moment.

Taking a deep breath before popping a few more mints into his mouth he approached the athletic ajin. The conversation had been far from smooth. Tosaki had asked what was bothering Kou and the light-haired boy had said it was ‘nothing’. ‘Nothing’ was never nothing, no matter how old you got and Tosaki had only rolled his eyes and pressed the other again.

Apparently only one more push was all it took as Kou ended up screaming at the human to mind his own fucking business. That, no, he shouldn’t be worried about him just because he had literally nothing waiting for him now that all this was over, that he wasn’t torn up over losing a man that acted like a ‘real’ father figure for him and some men that acted like his mentors and older brothers, that he was going to be parting with an asshole that he thought of as possibly more than a friend, and that he was in no way babbling all this because he was too stupid to keep his emotions and thoughts in check like Kei could.

After that large amount of word vomit, his confession seemed to have managed to catch up to the panting Kou as he felt hot tears rolling down his cheeks. He was so weak and pathetic, he couldn’t cry over the past forever. He knew, of he knew for certain that Tosaki was just going to give him an earful about respect and moving on or some other bullshit.

He couldn’t take that right, Kou just couldn’t and he quickly got to his feet and shuffled back into the building. Internally grateful that Tosaki seemed to be too stunned to call him back or chase after him. It was better for him to be left alone, he’d have to get used to it again anyway the ajin had assured himself.

The next three days, Kou had been able to successfully avoid Tosaki, Izumi tried to talk to him about how he was acting but was shaken off by his simple answer of not feeling well. The woman not wanting to push the younger boy when he was obviously uncomfortable left it at that. However him ignoring the girl he once openly fancy spoke of the severity of the depression he had slipped into.

Kei… wasn’t so easily dissuaded. The other ajin had used his IBM to knock the door to Kou’s room down when he had refused to answer it for him. With a loud, echoing bang, the door fell and Kou was left with the sight of the other teenager nonchalantly standing on the other side with a plate of food in his hand as he declared boredly, ‘Dinner’.

Of course, the food had been a ploy, a tool that Kei used to try and get Kou to open up. The intellectual was hardly what one needed in a therapist. Knowing that Kou didn’t say anything, even under the threat of disembowelment from Kei’s murder happy ghost. How could he tell Kei if he was linked to his problems? He couldn’t expect the other to drop everything and stay by his side. Kou felt it would be too much of a burden to ask if he could stay or follow Kei back to his hometown. Eventually the dark-haired ajin was forced to give up and left Kou’s room with a huff and mutter of ‘dumbass’.

It took Kou an hour to fix the door.

Eventually, the inevitable happened, Izumi told Kou that Tosaki was wanting to have a meeting with him in regards to payment for his services with helping to stop Sato. Worded like that, Kou really had no other choice but to drag his feet forward and report to the man’s office.

He had already been planning on denying any kind of money, he didn’t feel like he deserved it. After all, it was Kei that did most of the work. Also, as the days passed, the victory had started to feel more and more hollow to the usually upbeat ajin. Kou REALLY hadn’t been expecting adoption papers to be placed in front of him when he sat down.

But that’s how they ended up in the present.

“I know I’ve been working under you for a while now and fought beside you, but you did attempt to kill me several times. You hit me with a car and shot me, to name a few,” The ajin’s voice was a little hesitant, unsure if bringing up the past would somehow make the version of Tosaki he had first met reappear and put a bullet through his head.

“I’m not asking you to forget the past, or the wrongs that I’ve done to you or others,” The pale man took a deep breath, trying to swallow his pride was akin to swallowing a bowling ball. “And no, your little episode didn’t make me suddenly take pity on you.”

Or at least it wasn’t the only factor for him to be doing this. “I am trying to take responsibility for dragging you into this mess, I was the one that spotted you in the surveillance tape before we tracked you down. I also feel like leaving you to your own devices would become a public health concern.

“You getting yourself killed in some stupid way might incite a panic among the populace.”

“Thanks,” came the sarcastic remark as Kou ran a hand through his hair, pulling at the roots slightly as the pain helped to assure him that this was really happening. Still he couldn’t help chuckling, yeah that definitely sounded like the cynical bastard he knew. “I mean you’re definitely not old enough to be my old man, unless that white hair is from age and not stress.”

“You’re supposed to be the stupid one, when did you get clever?” Tosaki sniped back, the hair comment definitely rubbed a sore spot for him. He re-crossed his legs, why the hell was he feeling so anxious? Nakano had basically already refused his offer so why was he still pressing him? Tosaki should feel grateful for being let off the hook so easily, but no… If he didn’t try more, he knew the guilt would tear through him like wicked claws for years to come.

“I may have around a decade on you, but no I don’t expect us to have a typical father-son relationship. I’ve never wanted kids to begin with. Threats to the double ‘e’s in my opinion, economic and emotional liabilities.” Tosaki wondered briefly if he was using too big of words for Nakano to follow, before continuing.

“But this is different,” How was it different, besides the awkward circumstances, it was different because the human decided it was so.

“Uh huh, sure one isn’t for ‘ego’?” Kou answered, one brow raised as he crossed his arms over his chest, mirroring the older man’s actions unconsciously. He’d gotten that joke from Ogura.

Rubbing at his temples Tosaki took a deep breath to compose himself before reaching into the briefcase that was sitting off to the side. “I’m also doing this in a sense of duty, I feel like I owe the man this much. Even if he was originally just a hired gun. “

Slipping the form out of the sleek black leather, the form was slid across the table to lay beside that of the adoption papers. The kanji was written with a hasty hand, but the word stared boldly back at Kou ‘遺言’. The meaning making his heart tighten in his chest as he muttered, “It’s a will, whose…?”

Muddy red eyes scanned the paper quickly, fingers not daring to touch it as if it might crumple into a million pieces. “It’s the old man’s… Hirasawa’s.”

Tosaki only nodded his head, explaining as he tried not to flinch at the fact that he could see tears welling in the ajin’s eyes. He REALLY wasn’t good at this kind of thing; the best form of action was to ignore it and continue stating the facts. The man was good at that after all, “We only recently found it while going through the teams’ things, it’s his hand writing no faking that. Any money that he made from the work he said should go into a fund for both you and Kei to do with as you please. He made a final request of me.”

His foot twitched and shook his entire leg, but Tosaki couldn’t sit still. Continuing after popping a few more mints into his mouth, fuck he really needed a smoke, he hadn’t been this tense since the last battle. “Hirasawa asked me to make sure that you were looked after. He knew Kei had a family he could go back to, but was aware of your situation as well.”

“How… I never told anyone about it besides Nagai?” Then the memories came rushing forth, the first time he had met Hirasawa and the other mercenaries was at his apartment. The place was a disaster zone with only him living there most of the time and it was more than likely they had done their research about him before hunting him down. He remembered how he had warned Hirosawa to either let him go or be electrocuted with him. No one on Tosaki’s force had had particularly good first introductions.

There was a lump in Kou’s throat as he brought a hand up to wipe his tears, he didn’t want to cry anymore. He’d already mourned, screamed, and cried enough. Or at least he had thought so. But the hot salty rivers continued to slip through his fingers as he leaned his head back. As if somehow the force of gravity would keep them inside. His lower lip was drawn between his teeth in an attempt to, literally, bite back sobs, a small trail of blood slid down his chin as he finally broke skin.

Too many emotions were rolling through him, the ajin finally grinding out as he kept his gaze on the ceiling, “I don’t want to be pitied.”

“This isn’t pity. You should know me well enough by now to know I don’t dole out such a thing to anybody.”

“Then what the hell is this?! You looked at Nagai and I like we were the scum of the earth for the longest time. I had never been given any breaks when it came to training, unlike him! Sure, I acted all friendly and stuff to all of them, but I didn’t think I had made that much of an impression.” Maybe this was just another sick twist of fate, maybe he would have been better off trying to isolate himself like the other ajin. But Kei had been just as rocked by their deaths, even if he didn’t show it publicly.

Kou had heard the dark-haired teenager’s sobs when passing by his room late at night. He had wanted to go to him, but Kei seemed like a guy who preferred to mourn alone. Honestly, Kou had been too afraid to open the door for many reasons. He believed that seeing the other break down might be a fatal blow for the athletic boy’s heart.

“It’s love,” the word tasted and felt strange in Tosaki’s mouth after going so long without uttering it. Kou’s hands fell at the word, hands dropping to his lap as he gave the man his oh so typical stupid-looking dumbfounded expression. Tosaki tried to be patient, really, he was, but now he was drumming his fingers across his forearms.

Closing his eyes, Tosaki remembered the faces of the men they missed, the creases to his brow relaxing slightly as he spoke, “Hirasawa and that whole team of hardasses, loved you. They should have had a distain for you being an ajin and a former target, but there’s something about you that makes people unable to hate you. Hell, even Nagai is tolerable to be around when you are.”

Tosaki adjusted his glasses as he mused aloud to himself, “Maybe we should ask Ogura if this is related to some strange ajin power, or if it’s just unique to you as a person.”

The ajin continued to stare at the other, warmth spreading throughout him at the odd praise, to hear he was appreciated, needed, loved, that’s all he had ever wanted. He had so often thought that he was an unnecessary person during and after his first death. He had continued to think so until he decided to stand up to Sato. Still the feeling was bittersweet, after all, those men were dead and gone. Still Tosaki was going through this trouble, and it was obviously not just because he felt it was his duty. Maybe that was what made him cocky enough to ask, with a smirk and cooing voice, “Do you love me, Tosaki?”

“I don’t hate you. But I could still dunk you in a tank of formaldehyde.”

That was the same amount of vagueness and bluntness that Kou had come to expect from the human. A small laugh coming from his lips as he knew this was absolutely ridiculous.

“And you don’t care that I’m an ajin?” the question was quick, eyes narrowed as he looked for any sign of lies. Not that he could pick out sarcasm half of the time. Still Kou would have to trust his instincts, he’d always been a good judge of people and better at reading emotions than analyzing words or texts.

“Honestly, you being a freak makes it more convenient for me, I don’t have to worry about you going out and literally getting yourself killed because you’ll just come back.” Tosaki reasoned, a smirk playing across his lips while the immortal looked a bit scandalized by the bluntness of it.

“Ouch, okay what about me being an idiot? Being such a Brainiac, it must drive you crazy, right?” Kou had dropped out of high school and felt like most of what he did learn had long bled out of his ears. He had common sense and a good body, it had helped secure him with a job when his parents started coming around less and less.

“I plan on having you tutored and finishing school online, I’ll force knowledge into that husk you call a brain if it kills you.” The ajin’s cheeks reddened with anger, chest puffing up in preparation to yell when Tosaki took the wind out of his sails, “You don’t get a choice in the matter, don’t you want to stand on par with Nagai?”

It was a low blow, but it had Kou slumping back in his chair with a whine.

“What about the fact that I’m-“

“That’s enough questions. I, Tosaki Yu, promise to accept you Nakano Kou as you are and promise to be your guardian in the honor of a great man and to make up for the sins I committed on your race. Happy?” That hardly sounded sincere, but it was probably the best that Kou was going to get out of the other.

Still even if the words were laced with exasperation and sarcasm, there was a firmness to his bright blue eyes that made the ajin believe that Tosaki was going to follow through on this promise. Kou had learned long ago it was better not to test his patience… or touch his mints.

“Now, are we going to play this depraved version of house in this secret base or not?” Having two ajin on Tosaki’s side would make matters dealing with others of the same species much easier. The government was still in a mess as it tried to straighten out everything that had been caused by Sato and the American forces. Trying to seamlessly secure rights for ajin was much trickier to uphold rather than say. After all, other countries could easily send in people that would try to capture and smuggle ajins out of the country to be used for their own profit. They were an expensive commodity on the black market.

Kou and Izumi at his side would hopefully make other ajin feel secure enough to come out of hiding so they could be registered and in doing so maybe protect them if they were found where they didn’t belong. Also, if there was an ajin criminal or, gods forbid it, another terrorist attack, having someone that couldn’t die, or well more accurately, couldn’t stay dead was definitely a useful tool.

Still even with all these political, social, and job related benefits, Tosaki would still accept it if Kou set a condition that he wanted nothing more to do with the darker side of the world. He deserved some peace after everything that had happened. The human’s musing was interrupted as Kou finally answered, voice firm and holding no hesitation.

“Okay.”

“Fine, it’s settled then.” Tosaki slid the pen across the table and watched as the younger male sloppily signed his name in each place that a pale finger indicated.

It was only once the document was completed and slid safely into his briefcase that Tosaki finally felt the weight on his chest and shoulders alleviate. That was far more stressful than he imagined it would be. Still it felt like it was worth it, sure Kou drove him insane most of the time, but after the ajin had become withdrawn and solemn, he realized the world was far more quiet and gloomy than before.

Tosaki had become accustomed to the energetic teenager’s presence, doing this also secured a continued sense of normalcy for Tosaki. How could he work without getting up at least twice in the middle of the night to yell at Kou to turn down his shitty music before he put bullet holes through his stereo? Yes, this was completely for the older man’s own benefit.

Of course, the peaceful silence between them had to be ruined.

“So, since you’re all accepting of everything about me and shit. You don’t care that I might have the hots for Nagai, right?”

“…You’re grounded.”