#and started thinking about the names of his ships but accidentally said them aloud and the dragon was like 'i like justinian thanks'

[johnbly]

WIP game!

i was tagged by @tortoisesshells ✨

so i have two fics going one rn: 1) in the boat purgatory in at world's end, james comes across gov swann and the two have a final conversation together (not using that for this since i haven't done too much but something to look forward to i guess) and 2) bolt's "what if james had a dragon" fic and subsequent discussions and questions has me now doing a "what if hornblower had a dragon" fic so here is an excerpt from that:

“Who are you?”  The dragonet is speaking French, and internally Hornblower swears. Is French the only language the creature knows? It’s no issue for him, of course, but how can it be expected to be a British dragon if it only knows French? “Captain Horatio Hornblower, most recently of the HMS Sutherland,” he replies, also in French – awkwardly so, because it’s a ridiculously formal introduction to make to a dragon, but in light of never having conversed with one before he’s fallen back on the old habit of saying more than is necessary. “That is not a French name,” the dragon says. In English. “Non – no, it is not. You speak English, then?” “I do.” Pause. “That was a long introduction. I hope you don’t want me to use it whenever I want to call on you?” The idea of a dragon wanting to call on him at all is no less ridiculous than having a conversation with one, but it – he? The voice is deep – has a point. “You can call me 'Hornblower',” he says.

i don't remember who all is writing things that hasn't already been tagged, so if you see this and are a writer, feel free to share!

[cocoswriting]

This is for the Clingyduo because i miss them! But heres the idea!

There is a clip of Tubbo and Tommy where Tommy is on the ground and Tubbo jumps and goes

"Catch! meeeeee!!" And he does and they are all excited about it

Its based on that were Tubbo Randomly Jumps at Tommy and yells

"Catch meee!!"

And he caught him and both of them are on the grass and Tubbo refuses to get off of tommy so the big man himself pokes at his best friends sides and when that doesn't work just wrecks him until he gets off then Tubbo gets his revenge and its a whole adorable tickle fight

:]

Catch me!

• • • • • • •

Summary; Tubbo thought that jump-scaring Tommy and then refusing to get off of him was a good idea. It wasn’t. [THIS IS PLATONIC. DO NOT TAG AS SHIP] (Also I changed the idea a little bit, hope you don’t mind!!)

Warning(s): This is a tickle fic! If you don’t like that kind of stuff, then I recommend you just scroll past.

Tubbo crouched down to his knees once he entered the tall grass, shifting closer to the gravel path which ran through the field while keeping an eye on the barely visible ground beneath his feet to make sure he wouldn’t tread on something that would give him away. The grass was thin, but taller than he was, so it would do well at hiding him until his target got too close. But that was good enough for him—all he needed was a good area to prepare an ambush.

“Tubbso!” He heard a familiar voice call his name and sank further into his hiding spot, peaking through the blades of grass in an attempt to spot his friend. It took a few seconds before Tubbo could catch a glimpse of him, but when he did, he grinned when he saw Tommy unsuspectingly walking along the path, growing closer to where he’d planned to jump out. “Where’ve you gone off to?”

As the blonde approached, Tubbo prepped himself to leap out at him as soon as he was close enough. And as Tommy reached the part of the path which was directly in front of where Tubbo had hidden...

“Catch me!” Tubbo jumped forward, with Tommy spinning around just in time to catch his friend before tumbling back from the force of being launched at. He fell back off the path and into the grassy fields, which was thankfully soft enough to keep both of the boys unharmed, but also dirty enough to ensure that they were both dead when they got home. Worth it. “Yehehahas! Yohou did it! You caught me!” Tubbo beamed, shuffling around on his spot on top of the blonde, humming as he attempted to get comfortable.

“Tubbo! You fuckin’ prihick!” Despite his annoyance, Tommy was unable to bite back the amused giggles that spilled from his lips. He half-heartedly pushed at Tubbo’s shoulders, groaning when the brunet didn’t even move an inch. “Get off, you don’t deserve any hugs after that stunt,” Tubbo fake whined at that, smirking up at Tommy and shaking his head. “We can’t just stay like this! Tubbo, move!”

“We can stay like this,” Tubbo said and wrapped his arms around Tommy’s waist, making it as clear as can be that he would not be moving away any time soon. “You’re very comfy.” Tommy squirmed beneath Tubbo’s weight, attempting to get himself as comfortable as his friend was, only to huff as he miserably failed.

Tommy eventually gave up on his wriggling and idly tapped two fingers on Tubbo’s back as he tried to think of alternative solutions to this silly little situation he was in. “I’m comfy? Great, well you’re heavy, so move,” he teased, eliciting a mock offended gasp from his friend, accompanied by a poke to his side. He flinched, and that’s when it clicked.

If Tubbo wasn’t gonna move on his own, then Tommy might as well make him.

“How dare yo-hohuhaha—!” Tubbo’s joking response was shortly cut off by a flurry of high-pitched, hiccupy giggles as he felt Tommy begin to deliver fast and random pokes ranging from his hips up to his ribs. He jerked his torso away from the feeling quickly, before remembering his goal to stay atop his friend’s torso. So instead he gripped onto Tommy’s shirt and buried his head into the fabric, his body shaking as he used all the willpower he could muster up to force himself not to move. “Thihis— ihihisn’t fahahair! Thihis ihihihihisn’t fahahair ahahahat ahahahall!”

“How is this not fair, Tubbso?” Tommy’s words accompanied by his effortlessly teasy tone was almost enough to elicit a squeal from the shorter boy, but he managed to bite back any new noises that may have otherwise slipped, not wanting to embarrass himself any further. He flipped himself around so that he was laying against Tommy on his back, as if that would help his situation at all. “This is what you get for being such a little provoker. You get tick-tick-tickled!”

“Ihihi wahahahasn’t prohohovohohok-ING—!” Butterflies erupted in Tubbo’s tummy as he felt Tommy switch techniques from poking to light scratching with two fingers, focusing the tickles right on centre of Tubbo’s sides. The boy attempted to curl up, bringing one hand down to half-heartedly push at the offending fingers as helpless giggles poured from his lips. “Tohohommihy plehehehahase!” His squirming only intensified the longer Tommy’s hands remained targeting that one spot, feeling himself become more and more sensitive the longer it went on for. It felt like hours had passed before Tommy finally decided to change spots.

“How aboooout...” Tommy thought aloud, hovering his hand over Tubbo’s different spots as he exaggerated deciding which one to attack. Every now and then he would stop and wiggle his fingers over a certain area, making Tubbo squeak with the belief that was the spot that would be attacked next, only for Tommy to go back to his search a few seconds later. But then, finally, Tommy rested his hands atop Tubbo’s ribs and began scratching the space in between the bone. “Here,”

It didn’t take long for Tubbo to fall into hysterical giggles at the soft scratches, bringing his legs up for a quick moment and then sharply back down again, stomping his feet against the grass. “Ooooh~ you like that, don’t you? You like this spot~?” The tingles Tubbo got from the teases only made him giggle harder, and he couldn’t decide if he loved or hated it. He was relishing in all the affection, but at the same time, it was oh-so flustering. His frantic giggles evolved into soft laughter as Tommy began to vibrate both of his index fingers into the spaces between each of his ribs, and he squirmed side to side, still making an effort not to accidentally roll away from his spot on top of Tommy. Both because he was determined to stay there, and because he was afraid the tickles would stop if he moved away.

“Are you gonna move away yet?” Tommy asked, and despite his uncomfortable position from laying on the grass with his best friend on top of him, he felt strangely content with the situation he was in. He didn’t slow down or stop his current tickle attack, keeping it the same, as a way to warn Tubbo of what may come next if he still doesn’t listen.

Tubbo took a moment to answer, still in a ticklish daze from all his giggling. But once he fully processed the question, he slowly shook his head, the dopey grin on his face growing bigger as he felt the anticipation of what was the come next building. “Ihihihit’s cohohohomfy hehehere,”

Even though Tubbo was looking down and unable to see his friend’s face, he swore that he could feel the smirk that was so obviously on Tommy’s face at that moment. The rib tickles slowly came to a stop and his hands lifted away from the brunet’s skin. Tubbo squeezed his eyes shut, biting his tongue to prevent anticipatory giggles from escaping his lips as the seconds ticked by and his mind wandered, imagining all the possible tickly scenarios that could be happening now.

And then his train of thought was cut short.

“AAA— NOHAHAHAAA!” Hiccups and loud cackles spilled from Tubbo’s mouth as he felt both of Tommy’s index fingers start scratching at the flesh right around the rim of his bellybutton, and for some reason, despite the gentleness of the attack, he could hardly bear it. He arched his back involuntarily and flailed, babbling out incomprehensible pleads through his loud laughter as he did anything in his power to lessen the horribly ticklish shocks. But it seemed that no matter how hard he laughed or squirmed, Tommy’s fingers always stayed scratching in that same spot, never relenting. It was torture. But he loved every second of it.

“You ready to give in yet?” Tommy tried to ask over Tubbo’s cackles, but to the lee, all he could hear through his own laughter was a small mumbling noise. A little under a minute had passed of Tubbo’s cackles until he finally reached his limit and backed off, rolling himself away from his position on top of Tommy. And even as the blonde retracted his hands and cheered in mock celebration, the tingles never left Tubbo’s tummy, and the grin never left his face.

“Ihihi’m... soho getting you back fohor that,” Tubbo threatened, though he didn’t seem all that threatening when curled up in a ball, red-faced and giggling.

“Yeah, yeah, suuuure you will.”

[starshipsofstarlord]

Fame With No Shame | Part Three

A/N; I think at most there will be one more part to this series, and that will be the reveal of Luke and the readers relationship to the public. Thankyou for all of the requests for this series, please enjoy xx

Summary; in the midst of an interview, there is talk of (Y/N) dating a member. The interviewer is keen to find who is the lucky gentleman within their ranks, but can Luke remain steady though the enquiries about his girl?

Brushing his hands down his black clothed legs, Luke sat upon the seat, eyes interpreting his composure. His face was slightly flushed, aware that his hair was a bouquet of messy curls, the state of his redress had not gone unnoticed by the hostess nor his curious band members. All were wondering of whom he had hassled sexually with before this set, but nothing was mentioned, at least not yet.

A small part of him wanted to let the world know of his relationship status, and more importantly, whom he was entangled with. But it would all be released in due time, he would just have to remain both vigilant of letting anything slip and patient. The rumours could manage to infuriate and humour him all at once, so many fans had claimed to know the identity of the woman in his life.

There were many suspicions, although they were only proven by the hope and dedication of all kinds of people on sites such as tumblr and wattpad, that his lover that was concealed to their eyes was not a lady at all. It was perceived that it was a bandmate; a dear friend of his, that he was sleeping and taking midnight strolls with.

That of course was not the truth, the shipping had been dragging on for years, he sometimes wished that the guesses could be correct all by their own. (Y/N) however was amused by how much it infuriated him, and all of his frustrations would dissipate at the sound of her glorious laugh, and in the end, all that was left was for him to join in and relax.

Things between them were certainly going good, to say the least. He had never felt so elated to see someone pour themselves a mug of coffee, or tie their shoelaces. It wasn’t hard, and hadn’t been difficult for him to admit the facts – he was in love. If there was any evidence that they existed, he was sure that he had found his soulmate.

She understood not only his emotions, but his springs of motivation, the ideas that would creep in the middle of the night or whilst he was in the bathroom for songs. His process was normal to her, because she experienced the same waves of inspiration, the urge to write what flowed to mind and execute lyrics until they were sure enough ready and sounded right to be released to the rest of the world.

And together, that was like the universe had combined the two creators for a reason, to make a beautiful sound, an eternal symphony that would play on forever and a day. If people knew about them, it could disturb the state of their peace, the security that they found within their relationship. And that would be the most tragic and morbid interference that either of them could ever experience.

Hate online was strong, and (Y/N) suspected that neither of them were prepared to take the mixed responses to their newfound and blooming romance. Each of them individually received the expressions of resenting opinions, through messages, through posts, through the loop of the internet. It was never ending, the trolls were headstrong and stubborn, they didn’t want to be stopped, and any reply that they got in turn only made their day, encouraging them to cackle away at the fact that they drew a celebrity’s attention and time away from more important matters.

“And we’re live.” The hostess of the radio show confirmed, settling more comfortably into her plush, swivel seat, as she set her digging eyes into the men that were seated around the platform of a small, recorded station. “My name is Heidi, and we are here on HotRadio, with the one, the only, Five Seconds of Summer.”

Luke adjusted his headset, leaning closer to the microphone so that he was close enough to allow his reviews and answers be heard better than when he was reclined back, awaiting the start of the recording. “So now tell me boys, how was it working with (Y/N) (L/N) for your new single, Flashes.” He gulped at the mention of her name, this wasn’t the best situation, considering that he could accidentally allow some classified information slip, and spiral through the channels of the web.

“She was amazing!” Michael blazed in with his initial impression of her, a jolly grin spread across his lips and chin. “We’ve been fans of her work for so long, it was a dream to finally work with her.” His hands waved as he spoke, confirming his excitement, although working with (Y/N) had already been and gone.

“Yeah.” Ashton bobbed his head, agreeing with his friend. “She is such a talented woman, we don’t do many collaborations singing with other people, but all four of us can definitely admit that she was such a great sport. She put so much work into the song, from lyrics and notes, there is a bright future ahead of her.”

The boys speaking of her made Luke want to purposely trip in his secrecy, they had no expense from gushing over her in such an idealistic way. However if he were to join in, he’d risk the exposure of the relationship. (Y/N) would be mad at him if he were to do that, so he rubbed his chin, feeling the growing prickles of stubble against his guitar picked hands.

Heidi smiled, they were eager to tell her their what appeared to be honest opinion. Yet there were still more details that she and the fans sought; answers. There were so many questions that were lingering, waiting to be spoken aloud in the recorded air.

“Was there any romance sparked between one of you and (Y/N)? How about you Calum?” It was typical, the enquiries about the song itself, that was supposed to be the main attention of this interview , it wasn’t about love, or feelings or whatever.

The thought that Calum, out of all of them, was the one considered to have gained her affections made Luke bite the inside of his cheek. Sure, Calum was single, but so was he, or at least was in the media’s eyes, and before he met (Y/N).

Luke’s frown was subtle, but it was still there! And everyone was oblivious to his disconcerting expression, all because the spotlight shined on the bassist, and the idea that he, out of all them, was privileged enough to have possibly shared a bed or the exchange of numbers in the static noise of the track.

Cal cleared his throat, ruffling the collar of his shirt, as though there were a reason for him to be fanning himself. “I mean, I’m not one to disclose that personal information.” That son of a bitch, Luke thought. From his response, something had obviously occurred, it was too bland for an answer.

That was until said boy began to laugh, spewing a humoured chuckle from his mouth whilst looking Luke dead in the eyes. The opposing man could only frown, his face hardened by the strong crease that went down the centre of it.

“Too bad she already has a boyfriend.” Michael chipped in, the guitarist’s attitude and statement not only making Luke paranoid, but also worried. What if he were not the only one that had grabbed the affections of (Y/N)?

 To begin with, it was clear that she was a bit of a player, and he had no problem with it, there was nothing wrong at all with a woman embracing her sexuality, it was even kind of sexy. But now they were partners in a relationship, and he could only trust her to be faithful.

Mikey’s words had not only drawn the intrigue of the lead singer, but also Heidi, who was leant forward in her seat, the dimples in her face prominent as she was presenting glee from hearing first time news, that was broadcasting on her radio channel.

“Are we permitted to be told who the lucky gentleman is?” How she hoped that the revelation would be unconcealed during this very interview, personally the woman was curious herself, but also the thought of the views skyrocketing encouraged her desperation for an answer.

Ash smirked, his eyes fluttering through his trio of bandmates, this was certainly entertaining for the rest of them also. Except one from the looks of it, Luke was gnawing on the outer portion of his lip. This was getting to him, just as they wanted. They knew, all along, what was occurring between Luke and the talented lady.

She had been a crush of his for a long time, and it seemed that she shared that affliction of interests, by being attracted to the natural blonde himself. It was noticeable to the boys from the first time that (Y/N) had entered the studio, their eyes navigated to the sight of the other, and their attention had to be drawn for the pair to look away from one another.

“One of us.” The eldest member replied, and Luke realised that in that moment, he had not been as discreet with the entire dating ordeal as he thought he had. They’d quickly realised that there were strings attached when Luke began to miss their nights out clubbing, and said he’d prefer to stay in and watch a movie – alone.

However, it was not a solitary activity, and binging television was not all that the promiscuous man was partaking in. The symptoms that brought light and revelation to Luke and (Y/N)’s involvement was matching marks of red suction bites around the circumferences of their throats, that eventually healed and could be concealed, however the boys could see right through their efforts.

And then there was the undebatable evidence of smeared lipstick scorned across their lips, a shade which consisted perfectly against one another, from nudes to striking reds, the pigment that streaked against Luke’s vigorously hungry lips consisted to be suspiciously similar to the original prominence that was lined and filled on (Y/N)’s own petalled mouth.

“Oh.” It appeared that the prying interviewer had not even put any efforts into hiding her pleasantly condemned grin, every detail that was slipping through the teeth of the men gave her some kind of joy.

She had somehow hit a gold mine with the answers that her pay check curiosity had earned her. There was so much going on behind the scenes that had never been revealed, and it seemed that all would be exposed, on HotRadio! “Are we granted to know which one of you is the lucky man?”

Luke shifted in his chair, gripping onto the arms with his painted nails. He was prepared to hit rock bottom in this deep deep ocean that he had swam himself into, yet a snicker left Cal, bringing all afraid and all too alert attention to him.

“I think not, we can keep a secret for a little longer.” His eyes paced slyly over to Luke, sending him an all knowing wink.

He sighed, he lived to fight another day.

[moved-to-void-kissed]

Flowers Hiding Thorns

Telanthera’s involvement in a plot to overthrow a cruel nobleman and distribute his wealth among the rest of the court is accidentally revealed to none other than the head of the nobleman’s household servants, Camellia. Luckily, the situation finds itself working out much more smoothly than either woman first expected. (1256 words)

tag list: @thatslikesometaldude | @garchompp | @beeon | @tex-treasures | @catake | @tartaglialovemail | @kalliopi-ships | @lilacslovers | @blackbirdcrime | @dragonsmooch | @vilehusband | @kissofthemoonrabbit | @childrenofmeyneth | @strawberryshipz)to be tagged in what I make, please click here!)

Made it just in time for this to be my piece for the twenty-first day of sapphic September!! This is also the first piece of content I’ve created for my selfship with Camellia, who is an OC created by @vampking! Technically, this takes place before our relationship actually starts, but.. it still counts, right

Reblogs of my work are always okay, and appreciated, but by no means required! Comments should be enabled on the document (which is how I recommend reading it) if anyone wishes to leave any comments, but a transcript is also available below the readmore.

The estate’s regal presence was clear even in the depths of night-time, as the shadows of imposing buildings loomed ominously over their painstakingly-managed grounds. Only a few lonely figures could be seen moving through the mansion, as all those who were awake would have been lowly servants restoring the halls to their peak condition for the apparent benefit of the noble’s guests. Such effort on their part was only a small piece of a grand social affair, designed solely to impress to excess - and the woman holding the wax-sealed letter was sick of it.

“You know I can’t abide by his needless extravagance,” she was muttering in a low voice to a tall man standing in the corner of the room. “All this has to end, for the benefit of all of us.”

“And it very well will, with your assistance in this affair.” replied the man, similarly quietly.  “The weightier the fool’s throne, the harder it inevitably crashes down when he sits upon it, no?”

“Yes, quite true,” the lady nodded, before stepping closer to hand over the letter she was holding. It contained a long list of the observations she had made of the estate the two were currently staying in, little insights and quirks of the buildings or the servants’ paths from her perspective. Although they were not perfect, given the lady’s position as a noblewoman, they were nevertheless more useful than anything her peers could have picked up on if asked to, since her early years were spent in a position much closer to a servant than their master, and even despite rising into the higher ranks of the social circles, she always maintained a courtesy and gratitude towards those who assisted her in some way.

“You’ve made the right choice here, Telanthera.”

This remark earned the man a glare that was only half-obscured by the low light, and the lady’s response came in a much less smirk-filled tone. “I suggest you don’t use any names here unless you want a listening ear throwing a spanner in all your well-planned works.”

“Oh, but of course, my dear. Now then, on the note of such, we’d best leave it here, don’t you think?” he asked, stepping back off of the curtain he had been leaning on with the merest sound. “It’s in all our best interests to have you here to assist.”

The man left the room with the smug confidence of one who has always known power and fortune, closing the door behind him silently. Telanthera felt she had done what she needed to, and after taking a moment to compose herself, she also opened the door and stepped out into the corridor. It was long and sprawling, still somehow retaining an air of pompous grandeur in the relative darkness, but the darkness gave it an ominous nature, as well.

As the noblewoman carefully tried to keep her movements quiet yet without provoking suspicion, her mind decided to worry about the consequences of her actions. What would she do if someone caught her out of her bedroom this late at night? One of the most low-ranking servants might be tirelessly cleaning or adjusting the curtains; she supposed she would have to try and emulate enough menace to convince them not to talk about seeing her, though she doubted whether such a tactic would work. It probably would, given that those kinds of people were thought of as expendable and nameless by the tyrant - which is what she tended to call the man whose estate she and other nobles were currently staying in, the man a small selection of those other nobles (which now, as of this night, included herself) were planning to topple and seize the numerous assets of. He was not their direct ruler, so she hesitated to think of these acts as revolution - but he definitely acted like he owned everyone and everything, and at the end of the day, seeing him crumble was all that was important.

That plan should work, she thought to herself, nervously. As long as I don’t run into someone more loyal to the tyrant, someone higher up in the hierarchy, I’ll be alright.

At that moment, the exact sort of person Telanthera hoped not to meet appeared in front of her.

The woman’s bright green eyes seemed heartless and icy in the low light, and her expression belied no hint of surprise or of being caught off-guard. Despite the late hour, her dark brown hair was still tied tightly in a long ponytail, as if she was always on-duty and ready to act. Her dark suit was impeccably neat and proper as well, matching the unmistakeable air of authority she was exuding.

“Camellia Smith, head of the household, in charge of managing household affairs and new servants.” Telanthera had written this down a short time ago in the letter of information she had just handed over, and the fact she was extremely unsure of what to do caused her to absent-mindedly state these facts aloud.

“..That’s correct. I doubt most of my liege’s guests would take the time to recall that as well as you apparently have.” replied Camellia, now also somewhat unsure of how to respond. But such feelings never lasted in someone as well-trained as she was, and she quickly regained control of the situation, standing steadfastly before the nervous noblewoman.

“Might I ask what has caused you to be awake so late at night, my lady?”

“It’s- I-” Such a loss for words was something no person of noble birth should experience, having painstakingly practiced the finer details of etiquette and proper composure from a young age. However, Telanthera was not well-accustomed to the position the Amaranth family had recently reached, and some would argue this meant she was not well-fitting for it, either.

Camellia pressed on, and in the process, confirmed Tel’s worst fear. “If I may, it would not be wise to leave the door of your room ajar with writing implements visible on the table.”

She knew about their plans! Surely someone so important within the tyrant’s servants would expose them!

“Every step should be taken to keep confidential matters and business out of the knowledge of those they do not concern. Surely you understand why this is important now?”

Again, Telanthera was lost for words, though this time because the servant had said something she was not expecting. Was this some elaborate method to try and get more information out of her?

Then something even more unexpected happened.

“I trust you can make your own way back to your room, my lady?”

“I- That is true, yes. There’s no need for you to accompany me, Miss Camellia.” Telanthera asserted, still rather nervous.

Something about this brought the tiniest hint of a smile to Camellia’s face. “Very well then. I wish you a good night’s rest, my lady.” With this said, she began to walk away, in the direction Telanthera had come from.

“A-And the same to yourself, Camellia. However, regarding what you may have seen-”

“Don’t worry.”

What?

She turned to face the lady with the confidence of any noblewoman. “You may already have noticed this, but my brother is also a servant here. Whatever loyalties you believe lie with my liege, are reserved only for him.”

And with that, she turned the corner, seeming to disappear in an instant.

Telanthera hurried back to her own room, still confused, but now wearing a smile of relief.

Perhaps her plans were not ruined at the first hurdle after all.

[seeds-and-sins]

On the Fly

Pairing: Homelander / Reader

Rating: T (Language, lots of bad language)

Description: You are a loud mouth New York cop that doesn't give two shits what anybody else thinks. Homelander is the hero of America, the stars and stripes of justice. The fans ship you two together so bad, and it was all your fault. If only you had kept your mouth shut.

It was such a cheesy, stupid idea that the Vought marketing team had developed. One single interaction between Homelander and some tiny, pathetic little officer goes viral, and all the fans want more of it, ALL of the fans. You were just doing your duty that day, Homelander and Queen Maeve intervened when your partner and you were about to lead a huge drug raid that had been planned for months. You, always having been the more forward one, approached Homelander, when she just so happened to be addressing the news about the incident.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" His eyebrows rose up at the sight of you, a fleshbag at most, badgering him. Your hair was loose, the NYPD vest fastened tightly on your torso, toned biceps flashing, gun at your side, he was absolutely confused at first. No officer just straight up approached him unless they wanted an autograph, or a handshake. You wanted neither. And you were so angry, your New Yorker accent was shooting out of from your lips without restraint.

"Excuse me?" He then snorted, reminding himself that you were both being watched.

"This was my raid, not yours, you don't just come fucking barging in without notice. We had planned this for months."

"And I understand that, um..." He forced a smile, although he really wanted to just break your neck. No one had ever had the gull to speak to him that way. "You are the real heroes."

"Oh, like that fucking shit is going to cut it, huh?" You pushed Homelander, although it was almost like pushing a wall, you did it anyways. Everyone around you both made a resounding gasp, even some of the emergency services crew members in the backdrop paused what they were doing. "Listen buster, I trained for this shit show, and what did you do? You were born with the power to fucking fly and shoot lasers from your eyes? Big fucking whoop!" Homelander's jaw went taut and he sighed agitation.

"And don't you know who you are talking to? I saved your lives and made your jobs easier." You crossed your arms, lip pouting out.

"I didn't become a cop so that you could make it easy for me. I knew what I signed up for. Next time, mind your own shit! I will keep you on stand by."

"Next time, I will still do what heroes always do." He stated firmly between clenched teeth, then bowed down closer to you, perhaps in an attempt to intimidate you, but to his surprise you didn't even flinch. You came straight forward, faces an inch from eachother as you kept a hard eye contact.

"You fucking come into my establishment again, I will have your ass." You growled, fists at her sides.

"And we'll see how well that goes for you, officer." He snarled right back, then you were storming off. Even though you truly wanted to be the last one standing, you had work to do.

The next day you did the usual routine. You went on your six miler, hit the weights at the gym, and then got ready for the day. You didn't think anything of it, got your coffee, grabbed a whole of the daily paper and walked to work in uniform. As soon as you showed up to the department, it was a shit storm. People were flying back and forth, colleagues of yours sent you stares without replying to your greetings, the whole place was in disarray. Then you saw him, and your blood only boiled more, he was standing with the commissioner and several unfamiliar faces. When the commissioner saw you, his entire expression lit up in that face you knew all too well, the 'I am trying to hide how pissed I am so I will smile' face.

"Officer (L/N)! Come over here!" He exclaimed with feigned excitement, he scurried the lit of you into his office, where you took your usual seat. You had been here before, you weren't usually very good at following the rules as it was. This blonde woman took the seat beside you, two others standing behind her with clipboards. She had this eerie grin on her face, not much different from Homelander's.

"Officer (L/N), its a pleasure to meet you." She held her hand out, you didn't accept it and tilted your head towards your boss.

"What the fuck is going on?" As the woman retrieved her hand, the red head behind her replied in an all too chirpy tone.

"The fans love you! They want you in a team up with Homelander." She explained, you rolled your eyes and then stood with a sigh.

"This is a joke. I am not doing it."

"You have no choice, (Y/N)." Your boss said and he said it all too sternly, surely he would have your badge if you disagreed.

"I don't believe this, why me? Huh? Because I said what everybody else was thinking?!"

"Here are some of what the fans have been saying." The other one handed her clipboard to you, the blonde still staring in silence with that polite and cringy smile. You squinted as you read over the list of comments, particular on the viral video between Homelander and you.

"Aww, they are like an old married couple?!" You read aloud, "What the fuck?!" Then down to the next one. "Why don't they just get a room?! Team up?! What the fuckety fuck?!"

"It appears the two of you have had some chemistry, I suppose." The blonde finally spoke coolly, you then raised your glare to Homelander.

"Do you think we have chemistry? Huh? 'Cause I think you are just a fucked up, flying monkey asshole."

"(Y/N)!" Your boss chastised, you crossed your arms with a sigh.

"Whatever, lets just get this over with. People will get sick of it eventually."

"Perfect, we will have the cameras on you, as soon as within the hour." Your jaw dropped, and you wanted to speak in protest, but the words wouldn't leave your lips. As everyone left the room, Homelander was the lsst one to tap your mouth shut, he grinned.

"You're a celebrity now, (Y/N). Get used to it." You thought you could, but it was so much work trying to ride this out. The cameras followed you for weeks, allowing Vought to post short videos of your encounters with Homelander. Homelander replaced your partner for that period of time, which only drifted your friend and you further apart. The short videos became so popular, soon the two of you had your own TV show every night at nine. It was originally called Justice.

"Do you think we could film your workout routine, (Y/N)?" Vought was insufferable in their addiction for the show, it had gotten a lot of publicity and was a number one hit for the industry. Homelander accompanied you on bank robberies, house calls, domestic disturbances, etc. Meanwhile, the both of you disagreed over everything and the banter only made the two of you more popular. Vought started making t-shirts and memorabilia that selled like crazy. The two of you posing, your playful remarks, and almost all of the words that left your mouth:

Flying Monkey Motherfucker!

It was like a fucking hillbilly porno!

Go fuck yourself with some bullets!

Listen, I have bigger balls than this two bit motherfucking laser machine!

That was when the true name of the show was born:

"Yeah, like you think I am going to be like you, fucking on the fly-"

"That's it!" One of the producers shouted from behind the cameras. Homelander and you glared at him, annoyed that anybody would interrupt the very imoortant argument you both were having. From that point on the show was named 'On the Fly', it ran like crazy, and despite its popularity, Homelander and you still hated each other's guts. The fans expected the picture portrait chemistry off screen, and neither of you really understood what they meant. Until Season 8, that is...

"There's about twenty of them." Homelander stated, as he eyed the side of the warehouse.

"Perfect! Half and half." You cocked your guns and the both of you started towards the double doors, leading in through the back. There was a body cam on you, one on Homelander, and a cameraman, one of several as some of them had been 'accidentally' into the mix of shoots and dangerous fights.

"Last time you said that, you killed one of my guys." Homelander stated, pointing a finger at you in warning not to make the same mistake again.

"We'll just separate everyone as we go, okay?" You stood back as Homelander kicked the chained doors open, the shots started firing almost instantly. One thing Homelander could respect you for was that you kept up very nicely, for a meatbag that was. You were fit and vigilant and would have made a fantastic hero, if you had powers.

Homelander grabbed you by the back collar of your vest, tossing you gently up to a catwalk that crossed the warehouse, where you easily shot at four of the criminals. Homelander skillfully did his work, lasers flying around, punching threw chest and throwing people out of the roof. You both finally came to the last guy, he was unarmed. You were out of ammo and mags. You holstered your gun and grinned at him.

"Is this one mine?"

"Sure is," Homelander cringed a bit, the guy was bit and hefty, twice your size. "Unless you want me to handle this one." The man's eyes widened and he shook his head, then raised his fists toward her.

"Nope, I got it." As always, you struggled fighting against the bigger ones, but you always caught up. Homelander stood off to the side, herring you on even as you got your face punched or as you were thrown against a storage container.

"Keep going, (Y/N)! Just shout if you need help." He would mock, arms crossed, that one camera man looking in in horror. Finally you grabbed the back of the guy's head and drilled your knee into his face, he dropped to the side unconscious. Breathing heavily, bloodied face, fists clenched and sweating pooling off your skin, you kicked him one last time. You nearly fell back if Homelander hadn't been there to prop a firm hand against the middle of your back. "I knew it." He grinned, wiping a hand across the bruise on your cheek. "I could have done better, but..."

"Oh, fuck you, you pile of heroic shit." The both of you started to walk side by side back out of the front, where several cameras waited and the camera crew stood to finish the episode. You both turned to eachother and stared, you placed your hands on your hips.

"Not too bad, supershitter." You said with a huff after finally catching your breath.

"You too, officer, you too." But it felt dull, something was off, the air was thick and the wind was a bit too breezy for your taste.

"Cut!" The director came forward from the crowd, smiling with that off smile, he could feel it too. "We are going to run this ending again. Why don't you guys kiss, or something?"

"What?!" You narrowed your eyes on the director, that was where you drew the line.

"No. Not happening." Homelander chuckled, like it was some joke. You didn't know why his denial offended you right then and there, but it did.

"What am I not pretty enough for you? Fucking jerk." The director slowly started to back peddle, gesturing to the cameras to start rolling again. Homelander held his palms up in surrender and shrugged.

"You have blood and shit all over your face, why would I want to kiss you?"

"Oh, so if I didn't have shit on my face, you would do it?" You saw Homelander hesitate for a moment before returning to that same confident swagger of his.

"No, I never said that."

"Well, then what the fuck is the problem?! Why wouldn't you kiss me? Hmm?"

"Why does it bother you so much?" He jested, hands now on his hips and he stepped closer. He had to tilt his gaze down to consider your tinier self.

"Why does it bother you that it bothers me?" His eyebrows furrowed to contest.

"It doesn't bother me." He spat, you crossed your arms and smirked evilly, only really wanting the last word. It didn't matter if he kissed you, or not, right?

"I think it does. I think you are lying." You teased.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because if it didn't bother you, you would just kiss me and get this shit over with."

"Fine." You didn't expect him to just go with it, your eyes widened as you stared up at him, hands dropping to your sides. Then you shook your head, pulling yourself back into thst glare.

"Fine, then." And you both leaned into each other, tight lips pressing together, and you hated yourself but you enjoyed the contact more than you'd like to admit. Everything was quiet, so quiet a pin could drop on the asphalt and everyone would be able to hear it. You gasped when Homelander's hands snaked around your waist, and your own hands found his biceps for support as you were slightly lifted off the ground. The gasp opened your lips and Homelander's tongue slid through and the kiss deepened as your mouths opened up and fought for dominance. Homelander held you tighter as he then ascended thousands of feet up into the sky. You gripped him harder and cried out, cheek pressing to his, now too high up for the cameras to find you.

"Hom-John, what the fuck, man?! Put us down!"

"Shut up." And he kissed you again, then soaring you both through the sky towards a destination unknown. You were so lost in the kiss at that point, that it didn't matter where you were going. This was the last thing you expected to happen, ever, in a million years. But you weren't going to complain...

Meanwhile, the camera crew and director stood down below in shocked silence. The silence was soon broken by the director's words:

"That was absolutely fucking perfect! Cut scene!"

Master List

[singingvio]

LEGEND OF MANGA LISTS: Top 5 SADDEST Moments in the Zelda Manga Series!

((NOTE: Twilight Princess mangas and the Skyward Sword excerpt in the Hyrule Historia are excluded from the mangas considered in this list.))

1. Volvagia’s Demise (Ocarina of Time part 1)

In chapter 3 of Ocarina of Time, part 1, the story depicted is titled “An Old and Beloved Friend.” This chapter mostly depicts Link and Volvagia’s fight, along with their backstory depicted solely in the manga and not in the game, as it isn’t canon. The chapter starts with Link’s bow out, a single arrow ready to be embedded in Volvagia’s skull, only for Link to falter. The dragon burns Link and nearly kills him, only for Link to be healed by Sheik.

Link insists to the Goron Link that he can’t fight Volvagia. Sheik makes a fairly robotic comment while playing his harp that the only way to subdue Volvagia is to kill him, and Link loses it, yelling at Sheik, “That’s easy for YOU to say! There must be some way to make him remember me!” Sheik shows him exactly what disasters are happening due to Volvagia’s tantrum, Kakariko and Goron villages close to destruction, and Link sadly recounts the story of how he and Volvagia met before his inevitable battle.

Link saw him as a baby, locked in a cage with a price of seventy rupees in Castle Town. Link bought the dragon and set him free, only for Volvagia to bite his hand and burn his hair with his flames. Link tries to ignore the dragon later, when it follows him, but then Volvagia ends up burning a Stalfos that had been sneaking up to kill Link. Link then befriended the dragon, and Volvagia said his name aloud, and the memory fades as Link is brought out of his story by someone warning him that the volcano is about to erupt.

Link, in a futile, heartbreaking effort to make Volvagia remember him, yells out, “It’s me! Link! Remember me!” Seeing as this does nothing, Link drives his sword into Volvagia’s flesh, beheading him. At his final moments, Volvagia remembers Link and starts to cry, calling his name out one last time to an expressionless Link as he dies.

2. Ghandi’s Defeat and Link’s Following Despair (A Link to the Past)

In Act 3 of A Link to the Past, Sacrifice, Link and Ghandi (a character created to be Link’s friend and travelling companion exclusively in the manga) travel through the Dark World, saving its inhabitants from fates worse than death to pay for their sins. When Link talks to a gossiping monster of a swamp, it is revealed that Zelda is at Turtle Rock, and Link heads there immediately. Ghandi, however, stays behind.

Ghandi claims that a bandit can’t risk her life just to save someone else, and Link argues that he only got this far because of her helping him. They inevitably split up, and Ghandi worries silently about Link and confesses to herself that she’s had a crush on him and can’t bear to see him reunited with Princess Zelda, as he clearly loves her instead.

Meanwhile, Link makes his way to Agahnim at Turtle Rock, to free Princess Zelda. Agahnim calls on a giant, firebreathing hydra to stop Link from saving Zelda, and Link, thinking nothing of it, defeats the monster with ease. Link comments on the monster’s strength, saying, “It’s kinda weak, for such a big…” and then he realizes. The monster vanishes into smoke, revealing the broken body of Ghandi, who isn’t dead, but very close. Link is heartbroken, and immediately hatred fills his heart as he turns on Agahnim for making him fight Ghandi.

Agahnim points out what Link is becoming, a hateful wolf, and Link watches his own body transform in horror as he cries out in agony. Zelda  manages to break free of her crystal cage, and heals Link from his beastly form. Together, they manage to heal Ghandi before she dies as well, and the two are properly reunited.

3. Pirate Captain and His Lady (Oracle of Ages)

In chapter 7 of Oracle of Ages, The Pirate Captain, Ralph and Link are stranded in an unknown body of water on a raft, trying to get back to the mainland to rescue Nayru. They’re rescued by the Pirate Captain, a man worn away to only soul and bone, as is his crew. Ralph and Link ask him how long he’s been sailing, and he replies that he doesn’t know and is very tired.

The Captain and Link discuss Link’s sword and its fine craftmanship, and then the Captain notices Ralph holding the Harp of Ages, and asks for a song. Ralph obliges, playing a traditional waltz, and the captain is happily lost in the memory of when he was in Labrynna, dancing with a fine lady under the stars. He says, “I remember this song from when I danced with her! We were in love, and the world was ours. Until it ended, and I set to sea to forget. But I could never forget… not her.”

He then makes a bold declaration, one soon revealed to be one of many when Link reads his logbook, that he will make it back to Labrynna to reunite with the lady he still loves to this day. As the ship is caught up in a horrific storm, Link gets his hold on the Captain’s logbook, reading in horror the logs there. “Day 23: set sail for Labrynna. Encountered a storm. Day 145: Storm. Day 317: Storm… They’ve been stuck in this storm forever!”

Link and Ralph attempt to escape the ship in their fear that they won’t be able to, and the Captain attempts to stop them. Link manages to tell the Captain that if he lets them go, he can fix things for him and his Lady, and the Captain, on the brink of tragedy as he lets Link and Ralph go, his final words are a request to Link. “If y’see this lady on your journeys, lad, tell her… the Knight who set sail… will love her for all eternity.” He shows Link a picture of Queen Ambi, and with that, he disappears without a trace, and is never shown again.

4. Shadow Link’s Final Stand (Four Swords part 2)

In chapter 12 of Four Swords part 2, The Four Sword Forever, we see the Four Links’ final stand against Vaati in order to save Zelda. Previously in the manga, Shadow was resurrected using the power of the Dark Mirror after a crushing betrayal from Vio, the smart, collected side of Link he’d thought to be his friend before his temporary defeat. The Dark Mirror is the source of all dark magic, including his life force. Shadow was resurrected right in front of Zelda, who was staring sadly at him, and he yells at her angrily to not take pity on him, as he hates it.

Zelda is then enshrouded in a dark cloud, and Shadow panics, asking Vaati what’s happening to her. When he realizes Vaati is going to kill Zelda, he completely breaks down, taking a quick detour to help the Links by disguising himself as Vio before going back up and grabbing a chair Zelda had been sitting in prior to her slow poisoning in the cloud, throwing it at the Dark Mirror with a scream and breaking the center of it.

Finally, in the final chapter of Four Swords part 2, the Links are almost where Shadow, Zelda and Vaati are. Shadow is incredibly weak, putting almost all his weight on the side of the Mirror. Vaati panics, yelling at Shadow that if he destroys the mirror, Shadow will die too. Shadow grins at Vaati, before saying, “That’s all right. I came out of the Dark Mirror. And with it’s power I woke you. How fitting that I use it to destroy us BOTH!” And with that, he shoves the mirror to the ground, successfully killing Vaati.

The other Links find his body lying next to the mirror, thanking him, and Shadow starts to close his eyes when Vio yells at him to “hang in there!” Shadow then calmly recounts what his life is like as Link’s shadow. “A shadow… usually only ever follows its body. It never gets to lead the way. Today I faced the enemy… on my own. It felt pretty good, but that still doesn’t make me… part of the body.”

Green (the leader and most ‘Link-like’ of the four) tells him the opposite, telling him that he’s their friend, and Shadow, with newfound energy, gets up and reaches towards the other Links, only for him to fade into the light and disappear, dying permanently and for the last time as the other Links stare at where he once was.

5. Skull Kid’s Backstory (Majora’s Mask)

In chapter 9, Fierce Deity Link, the Moon is stopped by the four Giants in Termina. Link sees Tael and Tatl reunited, and notes how sweet it is before thanking the Giants and joking with Tatl about how long it took for them to arrive. Skull Kid, meanwhile, shakes in the background, knocked to the ground and not getting up. In a moment of clarity, the mask not having control on him in his moment of emotion, Skull Kid despairingly recounts his tale.

Skull Kid sadly says that he didn’t mean for this to happen, only wondering why the Giants left him. A flashback is then shown from Skull Kid’s point of view, the Giants getting ready to leave as Skull Kid desperately tries to hold them back. “Why?! No! No, you mustn’t! Hey… Wait! I said wait! Don’t go! Hold on! I said wait! Don’t go! Can’t you hear me?!”

He cries out, many times, sometimes even trying to forcibly hold the Giants back and failing drastically. He ends up falling off a cliff, still trying to catch up with the Giants as he’s battered and bruised, still crying, “Don’t go!” He’s then seen travelling across the desert, tripping and folling multiple times, when he accidentally steps in a bird nest. The birds immediately attack him, yelling at him to watch where he’s going and that it’s fun to hurt him by pecking him.

Skull Kid shakily reaches a hand up to keep going, but gives up as rain pours down on him, tears pouring down his face as he stares at the ground in defeat. The flashback fades out, as Skull Kid says a truly heartbreaking line before being taken over by Majora’s Mask once more, initiating the final battle. “I guess… we never really were friends… after all. They didn’t even say goodbye. Nobody likes me. But with this… Everyone will do what I want! This MASK is my only friend!”

RUNNER UPS

Mask Creations (Majora’s Mask) - The deaths of Darmani, the Goron, and Mikau, the Zora, when Link dons both masks to fulfill their final wishes. Darmani, to see his son again and make the child happy, and Mikau, to spend at least one more concert with Lulu and the other members of his band.

Great Mayfly Fairy’s Transformation (Minish Cap) - The transformation at the hands of Vaati of a lovely singing fairy, with a beautiful voice. Link wistfully mentions that she looks a little like Zelda and Vaati, in a fit of mild hysteria at this point, transforms her into a horrible moth creature. Her transformation is shown to be painful and heartwrenching, as is her defeat.

Deku Tree’s Death (Ocarina of Time part 1) - The famous death of the Deku Tree, in manga format. Link is told of his quest by the Deku Tree, and that the Deku Tree is going to die in the next few minutes. Link cries and even punches the tree in a fit of anger and sadness, crying that the Deku Tree can’t leave him until the Deku Tree inevitably dies and Link must leave on his quest.

Green’s Defeat Against Vio (Four Swords part 2) - When the four Links are finally reunited, Green, Red, and Blue face Vio and Shadow in a battle to the death with Green fighting Vio. Their battle comes to a close as Green falls to the ground, seemingly stabbed through the gut as Vio walks off victorious. Red and Blue yell at Vio and cry over Green, until it’s revealed after Vio and Shadow leave that it was all a ruse and Green was only knocked out.

Zelda and Link’s Meeting (A Link to the Past) - Link finds Zelda in a dungeon, and Zelda tearfully recalls how she had almost given up hope of rescue, stating that she thought she had been all alone until Link had finally found her. Link then embraces her, stating that he heard her voice and she was never alone.

[first-and-last-neocount]

Whumptober Day 6

While still falling under the definition of whump, I intentionally aimed for something a little less soul-crushing this time, since I figured I would be evoking some Feels with that last one. XD 

This one isn’t directly tied to anything else, and it shouldn’t be so heart-wrenching; it’s just me projecting pandemic feels all over poor Damien, because I’m an introvert who isn’t physically affectionate with more than a handful of my closest friends anyway, but even I really felt it when we all had to go months on end without touching another human being. Not fun, dude. 

Day 6 - Theme Chosen: Touch starved

Theoretically, it should never have happened. With the way their journey had gone so far, when he thought about it, Damien was almost surprised it hadn't happened sooner.

Trapped aboard the God's Glory for months on end, isolated from the crew by their enduring wariness of the Hunter and his companions, unable to hasten their progress and weighed down by the growing fear of what would be waiting for them when they made landfall again, Damien was slowly driving himself insane. With every day that passed, the knot of frustration and dread pulled tighter in his gut. His temper shortened in response, and by now he had grown so tense and snappish that he couldn't even blame the crew's avoidance of him entirely on Tarrant; he knew he wasn't exactly great company anymore.

The death of the girl from the Eastern Continent had only worsened his already foul mood. The toxic mixture of guilt, resentment, and panic that had filled him upon realizing what her death meant – that he himself would have to go back to feeding his dark companion, at least until they made landfall in Faraday – still lingered, even though it had been two days since Sisa's suicide. He'd been given those two days as a grace period, time to mentally prepare himself as best he could, but the Hunter had given him clear warning; tonight, the nightmares would start again.

All of this meant that, when Damien laid down in his bunk that night, he was wound tighter than a springbolt at full draw. He had fully expected the turmoil in his mind to keep him up for hours, but with the forced inactivity of being at sea came a paradoxical lethargy, and he wasn't alone with his circling thoughts for more than an hour or so before he gradually sank into an uneasy slumber.

The dreams came almost at once.

Vivid as all the Hunter's carefully-woven nightmares were, Damien could feel the awful wrenching shudder that went through the ship as the hull ground onto the unforgiving rocks, hear the shattering of wood and the screech of metal as they collided with the outcropping of black stone that had been masked by the thick fog lying over the turbulent waves. Terror ran like acid through his veins as the deck tilted under his feet, the ship listing badly as water flooded through the gaping hole in the bow; he grasped the rail to keep himself upright, the screams of the crew ringing in his ears – but as he stared down into the churning black ocean, something sparked in the back of his mind.

The dark waves. Drowning. A girl.

Sisa.

His awareness that it was a dream blended with the hot spike of rage at the thought of another innocent life lost to the Hunter's insatiable hunger, and the scene around him shattered like glass. The deck was level again, the ocean calm; the stars glimmered down from a cloudless night sky, the ship deathly quiet and seemingly deserted around him.

You're resistant tonight.

The Hunter's voice slithered through his mind, soft and thoughtful, edged with hunger – and reality bent around him once more.

The village of the Terata. The hideous corruption that had lurked beneath its veneer of normalcy. The acid sting of desperation in the air as the villagers made their supplication to their sadistic god. The illusion of childhood's innocence, and the terrible reality that it hid -

But the sight of the children made Damien's thoughts turn to Jenseny, and the grief that rose up and choked him was so strong that it nearly brought him awake, a cry of pain catching in his throat as the image of the village dissolved around him. Tarrant's will wrapped around him and pulled him back under, an almost soothing tenor to the thread of fae that stroked his mind.

Too raw, still. Perhaps...

Another shift, then another. Scenes of terror from Damien's memories, or half-formed fears of the future, woven into shape by Tarrant's power. Every vista that presented itself, though, Damien fought against; though his awareness of what was happening was subsumed at the beginning of each dream, his mind rebelled continuously, breaking through to lucidity each time and shredding the delicate fabric of the nightmare in the process. As one dreamscape dissolved and reformed into another, there was a moment where Damien surfaced enough to actually feel a bit guilty; he'd agreed to this deal after all, once in the rakhlands and again after Sisa had killed herself, and he didn't even know why his mind refused to settle enough to be fully immersed in any of the scenarios Tarrant was weaving.

That moment stretched as he lingered in unformed darkness, as though the Hunter had hesitated. Finally, new scenery shimmered into being. Still caught in that state of half-awareness, Damien watched the dream come to life around him, willing himself to just let go and fall into it -

The chamber that formed around him was the throne room of the Undying Prince's citadel.

Nothing else had taken shape yet. There was no time for it. Before any figures could form, before a single sound had echoed through the room, Damien's mind spun out of control. The terror he'd felt, realizing that he was once again powerless before a mortal tyrant with the power of a sadistic demon backing them; the utter grief that had devastated him when he realized that Jenseny was gone; the gutting betrayal of believing that the Hunter had betrayed them; the sheer blinding fear, realizing that Tarrant had still been an ally after all, and that he might pay for that with his life before Damien could reach him -

Damien snapped awake violently, breathing so hard that his chest ached and the room spun violently around him, nausea thick in his throat and his skin drenched in ice-cold sweat. He sat bolt upright in his bunk, clenching fistfuls of his sheets with shaking hands as he stared blindly at the wall of his cabin, adrenaline still coursing through his veins.

Before he had even coaxed his breathing back to something resembling a normal rate, there was a firm but quiet knock at his door.

Damien let his head fall forward, biting out a soft curse under his breath. It didn't take much luck to guess who would be knocking at his door at this hour – he was fairly sure he hadn't actually cried out aloud when he'd catapulted himself back into wakefulness, which meant there was only one other person likely to even be awake right now.

“Come in,” he said hoarsely.

The door opened, then clicked shut again. Damien didn't look up, his gaze still fixed on the crumpled bedclothes he was gripping with white knuckles, but he didn't need to visually confirm the identity of his visitor; he could feel the shift in the air, that insidious chill that the Hunter wore like a shroud. Swallowing back the bile that still roiled in his throat, Damien beat back his pride enough to offer a quiet apology.

“Sorry. I didn't do that on purpose. I don't know why I couldn't just...”

“I could hazard a guess.”

Startled, Damien finally looked up. Tarrant had stopped only a couple feet away, and was leaning against the cabin wall with his arms folded across his chest, regarding Damien thoughtfully. Despite the lack of hostility, the Knight still shivered a little under the scrutiny of those cold silver eyes. Cocking an eyebrow questioningly, he stared back at the adept.

“Alright, then. Let's hear it.”

Of course, the Hunter couldn't simply state his theory. He studied Damien a moment longer, then murmured, “You haven't been sleeping well, have you? Even before tonight.”

Damien frowned at him. “Not particularly, no. Why?”

“You're unable to settle yourself. You've been sleeping poorly, your mind is in turmoil, and don't think I haven't noticed your shortness with the crew – or forgotten your outburst the other day.” Damien winced a little at the reminder of how he'd blown up at the Hunter immediately after Sisa's suicide, but there was no judgement in the adept's tone or expression, only contemplation. “You don't have any close connections to most of those aboard, and if you'll forgive me the observation, you don't have an... intimate companion, this time around.”

Damien was drawing a breath to snap at the Hunter that he didn't see how, exactly, his relationship with Raysa was any of the adept's damn business – when it abruptly clicked in his head, and he deflated, staring at the adept.

“You're blaming touch starvation.” The words came out flat, more statement than question but tinged with disbelief. When Tarrant inclined his head slightly, Damien huffed out a humourless chuckle. “You can't be serious.”

“Why not?” Tarrant asked coolly, his gaze still locked on Damien, piercing and assessing. “It's a scientifically documented phenomenon. We've been at sea for months, and I doubt you've had more contact than accidentally brushing arms with one of the crew since we set sail. The common symptoms are irritability, anxiety, and depression. It strikes me as an entirely likely explanation.”

“Fine, then what the hell do you suggest I do about it?” Damien snapped, hating himself as he did so, because his fuse had never been so short and by the look on Tarrant's face he knew it too. “In case you failed to notice or give a damn, Rasya's dead, and I don't exactly have a long lineup of friends at hand to hug it out with. I guess you're just going to have to work a bit harder for your dinner.”

Tarrant's face had gone utterly blank for a moment at the mention of Rasya's name, and for a split second Damien wondered almost hysterically if he actually had forgotten – but the horrified thought was cut off when the adept said, in a tone as bland as one might use to discuss the weather, “There's another option.”

Damien stared at him for a moment. Tarrant gazed back, unruffled. Finally, the Knight said slowly, “Now I know you're definitely just messing with my head. You're not suggesting what it sounds like you're suggesting.”

“No need to look quite so scandalized, Vryce, I'm hardly propositioning you,” Tarrant said dryly, his tone infuriatingly amused. “You're correct, however, that skin contact is the only cure and your options in that department are limited. If you'd like, I certainly could continue mentally assaulting you for sustenance – you were undeniably producing enough terror and distress earlier, though I suspect you'll find that sort of feeding even more exhausting that the usual method, and I'll have to draw from you more frequently to compensate for the additional effort I'm expending.” He watched Damien pale, then quirked one fair eyebrow up, mouth twisting into a rare, wry grin. “Or, you could budge over a few inches.”

Damien hesitated for a moment longer; then, he groaned and shuffled himself sideways, pressing closer to the wall and leaving the outer edge of the bunk free.

“I hate you,” he announced flatly, watching the adept prowl gracefully across the small cabin toward him.

“Your feelings have been noted, Reverend.” In a few smooth movements Tarrant had kicked off his boots, slid his long frame elegantly onto the bunk, and reached out; caught completely off guard by the manhandling, Damien let himself be tugged almost effortlessly down and arranged to the Hunter's liking. He found himself facing the wall, a lean form pressed close against his back and one of the adept's arms a cool weight draped across his side. “Now get some sleep.”

A thousand replies crowded to the front of Damien's mind, but sheer confusion stayed his tongue from a sharp retort. As the initial shock faded, he realized how incredibly comfortable he actually was. He had certainly missed the weight of another body in bed with him over the last months; he had rarely slept alone since reaching adulthood, since he had almost continuously been in a relationship of one degree of seriousness or another and had always been the type to stay the night. He usually slept by himself only when he was travelling, and that had never been for as long a stretch of time as this voyage. Finding himself as the proverbial little spoon was considerably more novel, Damien's senses jangling a bit at the strangeness of being the one held instead of the one holding another – but as his instincts accepted that he was not in fact in any danger and relaxed, he found himself almost unwilling comforted. He could feel the Hunter breathing steadily against his back, and the deceptively human sensation unwound tension in his shoulders that Damien hadn't even known he had been carrying. Even though the adept's body was considerably cooler than a mortal human's would have been, he was still there, and Damien could feel his own skin tingling with a kind of sensory euphoria everywhere that the Hunter's weight rested against him.

Maybe there was something to the touch starvation theory after all, as much as it pained him to admit it.

The window to reply to the Hunter's comment slipped away, and Damien said nothing, just shifted and settled his head a little more comfortably onto the pillow. Tarrant's arm tightened a bit further around his waist, an undeniably grounding pressure, and Damien sighed without meaning to as a tiny panicked voice that had been babbling in the back of his mind for weeks went abruptly, blissfully quiet. He was far from ready to say that this had been a good idea, but he supposed it wouldn't hurt to stay this way for a few minutes, let Tarrant think that he'd at least given it a fair shot before he kicked the adept the hell out of his bunk...

Between one breath and the next, Damien fell asleep.

[bonsaiiiiiii]

100 Weird AU's? Yes.

So, I had these AU prompts on my phone for quite a while, and I was actually thinking about using them. And what better way to do it than using them with the Tracy's?

Reading and reading these prompts again (and under the gentle guidance of @willow-salix ) I thought that these prompts doesn't exactly match the brothers' everyday situation, but what if we push it past its limit? Yes, biting more that you can chew can be a little difficult, but I don't think it will be impossible. And that's where this challenge is born!

Get the Tracy's out of International Rescue's bubble and let them live an everyday situation as normal people! They can also be medieval nobles or even futuristic robots, the choice's up to you! You can choose from soo many things others don't even think about (and not even me, for a while)!

Many thanks to @tag2060 for the cover and @willow-salix for the support (both emotional and 'fic-ical'. I love both of you💚

NOTE: THESE PROMPTS AREN'T ALL MINE. I TOOK THEM FROM A GIRL I'M NOT IN CONTACT WITH ANYMORE, BUT I WAS TOLD I COULD USE THEM. ALL CREDITS FOR THESE AU'S GO TO HER, WHATEVER IS HER NAME (lmao). THE GOLD MARKED ONES (7, 11, 20, 23, 39, 47, 63, 64, 70, 83, 89, 91, 93, 96, 100) ARE ALL MINE, IN SUBSITUTION OF A FEW THAT WERE THERE, SO CREDIT FOR THE GOLDEN MARKED ONES GOES TO ME, BUT NOT EVERY ONE OF THEM.

NOTE²: SOME OF THE PROMPTS CONTAIN STRONG THEMES, LIKE DEPRESSION AND SEXUAL CONTENT. IF YOU'RE SENSIBLE TO THESE THEMES, DON'T DO THEM, NOBODY FORCES YOU IF YOU DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ:･ﾟ✧(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ:･ﾟ✧(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

To participate in this challenge, all you have to do is take one of the AU prompts from the list, one or more (or all) Tracy characters, and post your fic (can be a ficlet, or a series) under the tag #100weirdTracys and #100weirdAUs.

If you don't want to participate, please don't harass/bully me. I made this challenge just for fun, and I don't want for it to feel like something bad. In fact, I don't even regret doing this thing, even if it's strange.

Ah, I almost forgot: this challenge will be over in December, so you have 4 months to choose a prompt and make a fic about it. On December I'll review all the fics, but I'll always be reblogging and reading during these 4 months lol.

If you want to tell me something, hit me up on DM's! I hope you have fun with those prompts and those bois!

(づ￣ ³￣)づ(づ￣ ³￣)づ(づ￣ ³￣)づ(づ￣ ³￣)づ

TO RESUME:

• Swearing is allowed.

• You can write as many words as you want!

• Oc's and muses can pop in too!

• Make sure to tag your fic(s) under the '#100weirdTracys' and '#100weirdAUs' tags, so that I can find them easily.

• Always tag or contact me if you need help with anything! I'll be more than glad to help you!

• If you decide to do the mature prompts (19, 90, just to state an example) please refrain from using a too mature language and don't go further than making up. I don't like that kind of language, so it would be peachy to just avoid writing so they make wild sex behind a bush. Any kind of very mature fic or language won't be read by me, I'm sorry. You can still use those prompts, but don't work their bed life too much.

• Any dialect or first language apart from english is more than welcome in this yard! I would love even to read snippets of foreign language in fics, as long as there's a translation near it, but you're not forced to write in another language. If you don't feel comfortable doing it just don't do it, even if I'm telling you. (For the record, I love Irish so much I could listen to a person speaking this language for hours and you won't hear me complaining).

• I will accept this challenge in whatever form it takes, be it a fic, a drawing, a song, etc. I’m open to anything and I watch everything that comes before me!

φ(．．)φ(．．)φ(．．)φ(．．)__φ(．．)

That said, you can find the prompts down here:⬇️

 #1 I saved you from drowning!AU

#2 I broke into your house at two in the morning because I was drunk and I thought it was my house!AU

#3 I am a door-to-door seller please buy something!AU

#4 I grabbed the wrong luggage at the airport!AU

#5 I know we hate each other, but a wedding would be more convenient for both of us!AU

#6 I accidentally poured you a love potion!AU

#7 I sent you 12 messages but you left me on read!AU

#8 I am your secret admirer and I leave you anonymous cards!AU

#9 Sorry, but I was first in line!AU

#10 We don’t know each other but let's pretend to be together because someone is bothering me!AU

#11 We pack up to do a funny trip but we end up in Bolivia without fuel!AU

#12 Locked in quarantine and we're bored! AU

#13 I do everything to find out the identity of this superhero and you try to mislead me because it’s really you!AU

#14 I got into a taxi just to find out it was already occupied!AU

#15 I called the wrong number!AU

#16 I got into the wrong car OMG I'm ashamed, but while you’re there why don’t you give me a ride!AU

#17 I found a wallet and my business is to find the owner and return it!AU

#18 I am a street artist and you complain that I play in front of your house at night!AU

#19 I caught you watching porn!AU

#20 We're two strangers that start chatting while waiting for the bus!AU

#21 Nosy and sloppy roommates!AU

#22 Old childhood friends who come back after years!AU

#23 I got shot to the arm/leg but you're there to save me and OMG ILY!AU

#24 We’re sitting next to each other on a plane and please don’t throw up on me!AU

#25 We accidentally switched phones!AU

#26 We are both contestants in a reality show and let's pretend to be together because the audience will ship us!AU

#27 I am a wedding planner and my ex’s wedding had to happen to me!AU

#28 I learned sign language to communicate with you!AU

#29 Professional model and novice photographer!AU

#30 Sorry I ran you over!AU

#31 We make out and then I find out that you are my roommate’s boyfriend!AU

#32 I’m quoting aloud the last book of a series and I’m spoiling you!AU

#33 It is a universally acknowledged truth that a bachelor with a large fortune must be looking for a wife!AU

#34 I am a Partisan and you are a fascist!AU(Italy during World War II!AU)

#35 I am the blood of the dragon!AU (Iron Throne!AU)

#36 Your dog is hitting on mine!AU

#37 I’m depressed and I decide to call a hotline!AU

#38 You are my soulmate but I am in love with someone else!AU

#39 Strange encounter at tattoo shop!AU

#40 On my mark, unleash hell!AU(Roman Empire!AU)

#41 I am an Elf, don’t look at me for ears I am ashamed of!AU(The Lord of the Rings!AU)

#42 Maybe my life should be more than just survival!AU(The 100!AU)

#43 I am an activist and I am trying to convert you to the cause!AU

#44 We are occupying the school but you are a spoilsport!AU

#45 All our friends are drunk and we're not!AU

#46 We’ve been together for three months and now you’re telling me you’re a werewolf!AU

#47 X has to go into a rocket to the moon and Y has to train X!

#48 Knight in shining armor and damsel in distress!AU

#49 We reluctantly team up against the zombie apocalypse!AU

#50 I’m a vampire and your smell is driving me nuts!AU(Twilight!AU)

#51 Monsters have attacked the Earth and the only way to save humanity is aboard giant robots piloted by two people who must maintain a mental union!AU(Pacific Rim!AU)

#52 My timer stopped as soon as I saw you!AU(Soulmate!AU)

#53 I need a lawyer and you are the best!AU

#54 I’m a Viking and I plundered your ship!AU

#55 I’m a classic dandy from the Regency Age and you’re just a silly girl from the lower middle class!AU

#56 I’m a policeman and you’re an intrusive journalist and I really shouldn’t give you any information about the new murder!AU

#57 You are a wannabe actress and I am a theatrical director who is losing patience and health!AU

#58 Due to a computer error, X and Y become college roommates!AU

#59 X wants to see the world of Y, how he lives and what he usually does, and ends up spending a night in prison!AU

#60 I attend the yoga course just to watch how flexible the instructor is!AU

#61 I am a bounty hunter and you are my prey!AU

#62 I am a secret spy and pretend to be your friend only to get information about your father!AU

#63 I discuss with you about a thing but you have in mind another!AU

#64 We are forced to be best friends just because our moms were best friends too but you're too bossy for me!AU

#65 We broke up but I never changed emergency contacts and now I’m in the hospital and they called you!AU

#66 I am an angel and you are a demon!AU

#67 I hit you on the balls during a game of paintball and oh my god I am so sorry!AU

#68 We live in a dystopian world where your partner is chosen by society!AU(Matched!AU)

#69 I’m a dragon trainer I’ll prove to you that they are peaceful creatures!AU(Dragon Trainer!AU)

#70 Date at japanese restaurant!AU

#71 You’re a cheerleader and I’m a punk and we live in two different worlds!AU

#72 I was a zombie and I was "re-animated" but you treat me like I’m still a monster!AU(In the Flesh!AU)

#73 I am your son’s teacher and I am calling to talk to you about his conduct, would he also come to dinner with me!AU

#74 I am an Achaean warrior and you Trojan and we are fighting the Trojan War!AU

#75 I met my asshole boss at the bar but I found out he’s pretty cool!AU

#76 It was not my intention to touch your ass, it’s just that the bus is crowded, it’s not my fault ok!AU

#77 I went fishing and accidentally fished a mermaid!AU

#78 I just committed a crime and I need to use you as a hostage!AU

#79 You’re the bastard who always parks in front of my door and in spite I’ll scratch your car!AU

#80 I accidentally went back in time and fell in love with you, too bad you’re a barbarian!AU

#81 I urgently need you to fix my computer but please don’t judge me for my chronology!AU

#82 I work on the cruise ship where you are spending your holidays!AU

#83 I'm out in the rainstorm without an umbrella because the weather forecast was sunny!AU

#84 I hugged the wrong person from behind!AU

#85 Celebrity on the run and ordinary citizen confused!AU

#86 Stuck in a ranch cleaning horse poop but it doesn’t matter because that cowboy is a badass!AU

#87 We got married in Vegas, but we’re total strangers!AU

#88 But, officer, I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I was just smoking a joint, want a hit!AU

#89 X is an astronaut and Y is a weird but funny alien that likes to scream, overreact and laugh!AU

#90 I slept with you for a bet but I loved it and I’d like to keep seeing you!AU

#91 I reveal to some friends that you wear boxers/underwear with green aliens on them but you're behind me and oh gosh total shame!AU

#92 Oops I accidentally entered a busy dressing room!AU

#93 You're a stranger but I keep crossing paths with you and I'm kinda confused right now!AU

#94 X is a medium and Y a ghost!AU

#95 X is a guardian angel and Y wants to die!AU

#96 X accidentally enters in a cat and Y has to rescue it from up a tree!AU

#97 X risks losing the house because Y’s company wants to buy the land!AU

#98 I’m an artist and I need a model do you want to pose for me!AU

#99 I’m not really sick but the new doctor is so beautiful that I found out I have a disease with an unpronounceable name!AU

#100 A strange job application!AU

φ(．．)φ(．．)φ(．．)φ(．．)__φ(．．)

If you find them more practical, I also have some photos down here with all the prompts organized:⬇️

That said, enjoy! Hope it brings you joy and makes you happy while you do it!💙💚🧡💛❤💜💖🖤

[foreverfangirlalways]

What’s Your Name? (Chapter 2)

Chapter Title: Coffee, Cafes, and Conversations

Summery: Logan talks with Remy, and Virgil tells Patton about his encounter. Remy and Virgil also have a very interesting phone call.

Ships: Analogical, RemyxCriticxEmile, Moceit

Warning: teasing, threats, foreshadowing, pastshadowing(?), obvious gays being oblivious

-let me know if I need to add more warnings-

(please give some love to my wonderful cowriter @star-crossed-shipper, as well as @kuroyurishion, who has given me quite a few ideas for future chapters!)

/I totally projected my best friend and I’s dynamic onto Remy and Virgil’s dynamic, incase anyone is wondering why they act like they do!\

<A super mega thank you to @winterknight1087! They give me ideas on Remy’s partners and certain plot points for this chapter, including the bit about why Logan got a job working for Remy!>

*if you want, message me or comment with theories of what happens next! I’ll credit you of course, I just want readers input on how the story should go!*

—-

Logan had just finished restocking the sugar racks when Remy came busting through the door.

“What’s up bitches? Your favorite insomniatic slut is here and just got two cuties to love and cherish!”

Remy sat on the counter and Logan handed Remy his specialty coffee, totally not trying to butter him up or anything.

“Ah, my favorite employer. You have returned. So, how did your romantic endeavors go? Was my guess of woe correct?” Logan asked, watching Remy take a big gulp of his drink the sigh.

“Nope! It was what onderful! He was so sweet, likes cartoons, and even helps people! He’s an angel. I’ve been friends with him since middle school, and we were just catching up. His boyfriend is just like him, and we were actually partners in a few classes when I was still in college. We all met at the park and then went for brunch. I commented on how they look like such a happy couple and I wish I could have that, and then they invited me to join in their relationship! They both confessed to liking me and long story short, I am now in a polygamous relationship with my childhood friend Critic and my psychology partner Emile!”

“Wow.” Logan said, looking faintly surprised. “I’m impressed. You got two boyfriends and I didn’t even manage to get his name.”

Remy whipped around and hopped off the counter. He set down his drink and leaned over the counter with his chin atop his hands.

“So Logie,” Remy smirked, “whose the guy? You told me that you pride yourself on being able to make people trust you enough to get names from them without using your fae magic. That’s the whole reason you wanted this job. Well, aside from having the privilege of working for me, of course.”

Logan nodded. “I know. People typically throw their names at me way too trustingly, but I don’t think he trusts very easily. It’s a shame, he is extremely aesthetically appeasing. I even tried to non-magically charm him and it still didn’t work. He definitely has walls.”

Remy nods like he understands, but the smirk has yet to leave his face.

“Ooo, so Logan, who’s the hottie that evaded you and your flirting? Was he a regular?”

Logan shook his head. “I’ve never seen him before but he said he knows you.”

Remy raises his eyebrow and takes a sip of his drink.

“The name he gave me was Anxiety.”

“SPPPTTHTT!” Remy spewed out coffee. Logan looked alarmed, but Remy more so.

“No shit?! He visited? And I missed it? You think he’s hot? Oh, oh Logan. I’ve known Anx my whole life, he’s like a little brother. All I can say is good luck. And be patient.”

Logan wipes up the mess and responds. “I shall take your words into consideration. I’ll admit, I got frustrated because he has been the first to give me a false name, and I really wanted his name, but if it takes time for me to break down his walls it shall be time well spent.”

Remy nods and a very serious look passed over his face. He grabs Logan by the tie, pulling, and Logan is so startled he drops his rag.

“It will be time well spent because if you even so much as accidentally put too much foam into his ‘Damnit Karen’, I will fire you in more ways then one. Am I understood?”

“Perfectly.” Logan said while straitening his tie. He then got an idea.

“Say Remy, what did you say his name was again?”

Remy tilts his head.

“Anxiety?”

“No, you called him by another name.”

Remy thought for a moment the made an ‘o’ with his mouth.

“Anx? Yeah, that’s just a childhood nickname I gave-“

Remy looks at Logan slightly disappointingly and crosses his arms.

“...him. And if you want his true name, you can make him trust you enough to get it without using your magic. And if you try with any of your tricks, keep in mind that I know just what type of paralyzing  nightmares to send your way.”

Logan blinked and picked up his rag. Despite his particular stand as a fae, he does not like people to know of it, and he does not like to use his magic on people.

However, Remy knows of Logan’s standing and magical capabilities, and is the only person that can truly intimidate Logan.

“I can tell that Anxiety is very close to you. And you are extremely protective of him. I never had any intentions of using magic on him, and if anything, that decision has just been solidified.”

Remy looked satisfied with that response. He started to walk away, and in a burst of nervous energy, recklessness, and perhaps a slight death wish, Logan called out.

“Remy, wait.”

Remy turned around and raised his eyebrow.

“Yes?”

Logan swallowed and adjusted his glasses.

“I promise I will never use magic on him unless I have your permission and his consent, but I was wondering if you would mind if I... try to get his name using different tactics?”

Remy crosses his arms and steps forward. “What tactics?”

“... uhh, well, charming him? If that is approvable.”

Remy swiped his hand over his face and huffed out a laugh. Then the laugh got stronger and he flopped into the nearest chair.

“So let me get the stra- let me get this gay, you want my permission to flirt with my little brother?”

“Yes...?”

Remy rolled his eyes. “For such a smart person, you are a complete dumbass. Do you remember when I told you about one of my friends that I basically adopted and we were roommates before I opened up shop?”

“Yes, you told me that we would be a cute couple and your ‘otp’ ?”

“Uhuh, the friend is Anxiety.”

Logan’s mouth dropped open in shock. Remy shook his head, still chuckling.

“Yes, I give you permission to flirt.”

“Thank you Remy. Would you like me to keep you updated? I could ‘spill the tea’ as you say.”

“Oh, absolutely! Now, excuses me, I have a brother to call and get his side of the story. And we are going to talk afterwards too, so don’t go to far! I’m sure you want to know if he finds you hot too.”

Logan finished up an order and smirked. “Oh, he does.”

Remy walked to his office and laughed. “I can’t wait to hear this.”

-_-_-_-

Virgil left Bitchin’ Brews, he headed straight to Sunshine Daycare.

‘Alright, so, Patton gets off at 12, five minutes. He can give me advice...’

Virgil stood beside the entrance, and waited. Patton exited, saw Virgil, and ran to him.

“Virgil! Hi! What are you doing here?” Patton asked while hugging him.

“Hey Pat. I was wondering if you wanna have lunch together? I kinda want to talk to you about a few things...”

Patton nodded and looped his arm through Virgil’s. “Sounds perfect. Let’s go to The Mindpalace Cafe and chat!”

Once they were seated and ordered their drinks, Virgil cleared his throat.

“Ok, so, I wanted to talk to you and get advice about this thing that happened this morning. I went to go see Remy, but he was not there. There was the really attractive barista, and he told me Remy was out, getting a boyfriend or something.”

Patton nodded along, but was slightly confused.

“Ok I get that, but I don’t understand what’s wrong?”

“Well... he’s fae. He asked for my name, got upset when I said Anxiety, and completely blanched when I called him out on being fae.”

Patton instantly became concerned. He grabbed Virgil’s arm, started checking his pulse.

“Did he enchant you? Your pulse is normal, but did he? Is that what this is about? I’m so sorry Virgil, I can’t believe this happened aga-“

Virgil leaned over and pressed his hand to Patton’s mouth.

“No, nothing like that. He didn’t enchant me or anything, he just got a bit frustrated with me for not giving my name.”

Removing his hand and seeing that Patton’s still confused, he continued.

“I need you thoughts and advice because... he flirted with me to get my name. No enchant, regular flirting. I didn’t give it to him, of course, but how do I go back? That’s my favorite coffee shop, Remy is there, you are laughing. Why are you laughing?”

Patton composed himself and shook his head. “Virgil, sweetie, as one of your best friends I say this to you with the upmost respect... you’re kind of stupid.”

Virgil looked as insulted as he felt.

“Please don’t be offended Verge, I just don’t understand your problem. A person you find attractive, flirted with you, didn’t enchant or take advantage of you in anyway, and only got slightly offended. I see nothing wrong.”

Virgil couldn’t believe his ears. He rubbed his forehead, trying not to groan aloud.

“Seriously Pat? I’m anxious about everything! I don’t trust the fae, and I don’t know if I can trust the barista. How can I go to Remy’s if I can’t trust the person who works there?”

Patton pondered that. After a few moments, he held up a hand.

“Oh! I know!”

“Yes Patton?”

“Talk to Remy. If he has done nothing wrong, simply ask Remy if you think it would be wise to stay in contact with the cute barista. He will understand your concerns.”

Virgil was amazed. He fiddled with the edge of his sleeve and looked up.

“That’s great advice! Uhhh, I should have thought of it.”

Giggling, Patton patted Virgil on the head. “It’s ok, here’s a Patton pat. At least we get lunch!”

After lunch, Patton and Virgil parted. Virgil heads to his dorm, and his phone rings as soon as he shuts the door.

“Remy? Hey! What’s up?”

“Bitch, how the hell am I supposed to know? You never talk to me anymore!”

“Hey, don’t blame me, I came by today, and you weren’t there.”

Remy sighed. “Yeah, sorry about that. I was at a brunch. Speaking of, do you remember Critic?”

Virgil removed his boots and jumped onto his bed.

“The Critic you wanted to ask to prom but chickened out? Both years?”

“Yes you asshole. That Critic. I thought I said we were never to mention that again?”

“No, you said you wouldn’t. I just got more ice cream for you.”

“ALRIGHT! Enough about that, anyways, the reason I asked was because I am now dating Critic and his boyfriend Emile.”

“The sa-“

“Yes! That Emile.”

Virgil laughed. “Alright, congrats dude! I’ll give them the brother talk next time I see them.”

“No, please don’t. Changing subject, what happened when you came to the shop?”

Taking a deep breath, Virgil prepared himself. “Well, I met your barista. He’s fae. And he asked for my name.”

“What happened? He didn’t do anything wrong, did he?” Remy asked, knowing full well what happened but still getting ready to commit murder if Virgil said yes.

“No no, nothing like that. He was a bit frustrated that I gave a fake name, but other than that everything seemed fine. I just don’t know what to do. He’s really attractive, but he’s also fae, and he works for you...”

Remy huffed out a laugh. “So, you think he’s attractive?”

“Really? That’s what you got? That I think he’s hot?”

“Yep!” Remy responded, popping the p.

Rolling his eyes, Virgil decided to take Patton advice. “Yes, but I’m not sure I can trust him. I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I don’t think I could continue to go to Bitchin’ Brews if I can’t trust the barista.”

“Verge, I’ve talked to him. I already knew about the meeting. He was a bit irked having not gotten your name, but that’s just because you were the first person to not freely give it to him. He has already swore to never enchant anyone at my shop, and he told me that he will never use any magic on you unless you ask first. It is up to you, but I think he’s a good guy.”

Virgil sighed, relieved and grateful for the good report.

“Oh, and one other thing,” Remy said, smirk evident in his voice. “He finds you hot as well.”

Virgil groaned and Remy laughed. They continued talking until around six, when Virgil was promptly told to, “go get some damn food in you, ya twig!”

Virgil eventually went to bed, and had decided that he would give the cute barista a chance, but definitely make him work for the name.

----

Gen Taglist-

@dragonwithproblems

@five-falseh00ds-ph0nated

@thefingergunsgirl

@kawaiikat54

@sanders-sides-with-quinn

@007ardra

@yikesdodson

@nerdycupcake559

@softestvirgil

@teacupfulofstarshine

@impatentpending

@star-crossed-shipper

@ravenivy2079

@rainbowemonightmare

@ladyartemisia28

@moose-boi

@resident-trash-goblin

@parx-boiiz

@ninathepancake

@kuroyurishion

@funkyfreshfatherfigure

@pattoncake-and-eyeshadow 

@drewwwbydoobydoo

@sure-i-exist

@sophiexteresa

WYN? Tagist-

@tranquil-space-ninja

@antiredhuman

@enby-phoenix

@tired-yeetling

@gothfoxx

@grouptalekindnesssoul

@pricklyfish777

[vicunaburger]

Motel Sleezey

Fandom: Beetlejuice (1988) Pairing: Beetlejuice x Miss Argentina (Beauty and the Beetle) Word Count: 1,600 Warnings: M for Very Adult Content, NSFT my dudes

Notes: One very special request for a fellow sinner~ @clairjohnson See the amazing art that inspired this whole ship here!

The neon sign sputtered obnoxiously above her, several letters burnt out probably eons ago and no one bothered to replace them. People knew what kind of place this was; knew what they were there for. No one expected a fancy marquee and a red carpet.

Miss Argentina glanced down at the hastily written note in her hand, the scrawl barely legible in the dim light of the orange-red glow of the sign. It was a room number and the name of the motel: nothing else, not even a name attached. It did not need more detail to be honest, having been not-so-subtly slid across her desk that afternoon by the person who wrote it.

Rolling her eyes, the beauty queen followed the signs around the building, finally coming upon the one indicated in the note. Smoothing out the front of her satin cocktail dress, she knocked quietly on the door, trying not to attract the attention of any passerby. Doubtful that any of them would make a fuss about seeing her around this part of town late at night, but there was always the fear of a co-worker starting up the rumor mill before her next shift.

The door was practically ripped off the hinges in haste; the occupant of the motel room looming over her with a toothy smile.

“Well, ain’t you just lookin’ like a little snack cake?” Beetlejuice gave a low whistle, eyeing her wolfishly. “Can’t wait to unwrap you.”

“Oh shuddap, you are ridiculous.” Miss ‘Tina brushed past him into the room, “I regret so much of this already. Spending my night off with such a fool.”

Not that he would ever breathe a word of it aloud, but hearing her berate him in that soft accent of hers maybe his insides liquify like jelly, “Hey, you could’ve said no. You said no plenty of times, sweetheart.”

The room was decked out in gawdy reds and purples, heavy drapery obscuring the windows, and dozens of pillows haphazardly stacked on the bed. Lit candles were sporadically placed on various surfaces and furniture, casting the whole room in flickering candlelight. Miss ‘Tina balked slightly when she noticed flower petals leading from the door to the bed.

Icing on a truly tasteless cake.

“This is supposed to be… what? Romantic? It’s cheap.” She thought about taking off her heels but realized what could be lurking in the shag carpet. “Like you.”

He pretended to take offense, “Ya wound me, darlin’. Here I tried to be nice’n’classy, and you don’t appreciate my good taste.”

Taking the pins out of her hair, the beauty queen went over to try and calm her nerves on the bed. As she sat down, the bed wobbled underneath her, and she had to ungracefully balance herself with the motion. Beej snorted in laughter, jumping on the other side of the bed to further fluster the redhead.

Miss Argentina managed to use the momentum to get out of the bed, grabbing one of the pillows and striking him with it. She punctuated each strike with a few choice words in her native language, which BJ could only assume were not very ladylike.

“Aww, babes, don’t be like that. I promised you a waterbed, and damned if I didn’t deliver.” He rolled over, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling her close with his hands on her hips. “Only th’best.”

Beej flashed her another smile, his hands sliding down the smooth fabric of her dress until he reached the hem, catching it between his fingers. One of her meticulously styled eyebrows raised in question, her weight shifting in response to his touches. Taking advantage of the movement, he lifted her off her feet with ease, tossing her onto the pillows, the bed swaying with her added weight. His hands immediately busied themselves with sliding her dress up over her hips, sloppily mouthing over the newly exposed skin.

“I didn’t think you could deliver on the bed,” she admitted, giving him a half-lidded stare. “Impressive, I admit.”

“Listen: when I promise somethin’ to a beautiful woman, I keep it. It’s my motto.” Beetlejuice bit her pale blue flesh roughly, earning him a sharp gasp.

Miss ‘Tina propped herself up on her elbows as best she could, fascinated with watching him soothe over the bite he made with that tongue. Her mouth felt dry, and she felt a warm blush spread across her cheeks. It was hard to imagine that just a while ago, she would not be caught - to pardon the expression- dead with the ghost guide in any situation. His terribly unsubtle innuendo, accidentally grabbing at parts of her as they passed each other in the hallways… it should have disgusted her.

Yet, here she was, arching her hips off the mattress in order to help him remove her embarrassingly plain underwear. Death was funny that way.

“I think it’s my goddamn birthday,” BJ snickered, sitting back on his heels, and taking a long, leering look at her half-naked body. “Gonna take my time with this present~”

“Either you shush or put that mouth to better use.” She pouted, but the corner of her mouth twitched upward in a smirk.

To emphasize her point, she slowly slid her the toe of her high heel along his thigh, the muscle tensing beneath his striped trousers. Growling deep in his throat like an animal, he dipped his head down to brush his cheek along her inner thigh, then bared his teeth again to bite down on the flesh. Choosing to scatter more bites over her thighs and hip, carefully avoiding the junction between her legs, his jagged teeth had yet to pierce skin; merely pinched hard enough to leave bruises.

The ghost adjusted himself on the wobbly mattress, using the momentum to move in closer. The glint of her slick juices in the soft candlelight provided a momentary distraction, and BJ had paused his marking to lean in to lick at her folds; his long, cold tongue penetrating her suddenly, causing her body to jerk in surprise.

In truth, the beauty queen was surprised at how aroused she had already become, not having noticed the wetness between her legs until now. Was it simply because of his thorough attention, or had it been before that? His unnaturally long tongue lapped at her folds, and her hands found their way into his grimy, blond hair, holding on with an iron grip. She felt him groan against her, the sound vibrating deep into her core, which earned him a sharp tug on his locks in return.

His tongue was doing deliciously wicked things inside her, unnatural length of his reaching places that made her whole body shudder in pleasure, curling upwards to make her shout in surprise. It was messy, and she could feel it. How much of it was her own wetness, and how much was her partner’s saliva coating her inner thighs. His sharp nails digging into her skin as he held her legs apart, leaving angry red lines that turned purple against her blue skin.

Beetlejuice dislodged himself from her grip, moving up her body to pin her hands above her head with one hand at her wrist. The other hand picked up where his mouth had left off, two fingers slipping inside her without much finesse. ‘Tina’s back arched off the mattress, her features flushed with a red hue, eyes wide and dilated. A soft moan escaped her lips, eyes fluttering closed as she started to fully give in to his ministrations.

“Oooh, Missy, who would’a pegged you for such a vocal little thing. You’re singin’ like a litle bird for me.” He leaned down, licking a wet trail across her collarbone, casually adding another finger to join the other two. “Everyone’s gonna hear you. Everyone’s gonna know how dirty you are.”

She shook her head, feeling little beads of sweat upon her forehead, her stomach tightening up like coiled spring, “You… you talk too much.”

Laughing, he could feel her starting to come undone, and started whispering into her ear, “Yeah? But you like when I talk about you, don’t you Missy? Feelin’ just how soaked you are for me when we haven’t even started? I got the room for a whole night, babes. You’re all mine. Gonna have you achin’ for me for days after I’m through with you.”

Miss Argentina had wanted to yell at him; wanted to deny him the satisfaction of getting to her with his filthy mouth, but she couldn’t. She liked being talked to like this, being treated so delicately and yet so rough… it was enough to tip her over the edge. Her entire body shook like a leaf beneath him, her muscles clenching rhythmically around his fingers as he kept pumping in and out of her, working every last drop of pleasure he could from her and more. Her mouth hung open in a strangled, wordless cry, hearing him mumble what sounded like praise against her neck.

After a few moments, he let her go, dragging his fingers away and making a show of licking them clean one by one. Miss ‘Tina brushed some stray hair that had been sticking to her forehead with sweat, her hazy vision focusing on him as he started taking off his suit jacket.

“Ah… I was going to say, you are far too dressed.” She laughed breathlessly, still coming down off the high.

“Can’t just give ya the goods all at once, babe.” Beetlejuice loosened his tie, staring down at her with a wicked look. “We have all night.”

Tagging: @mr-geuse @horneyjuice BECAUSE THEY KNOW WHY.

[speeding-fox]

Crushed! (Part 1 of 2)

~~~~

Author's note: "~~" means the scene changes, while "--" means a different perspective of the same scene.

~~~~

Plot Synopsis: Porukabon finally summons the guts to confess to Shianbon, but his heart gets broken. Unable to handle the rejection, he storms off somewhere, only to wind up captured by the Neo Musketeers and subsequently corrupted, now he's out to destroy his heart breaker! Will it be possible to stop him?!

~~~~

[In the Main Base's living room]

Beautiful music plays as two biidaman, and man and a lady, walk to the bow of a ship. The man then raises the lady into the air, as he does so, she stretches her arms out to seem like she's flying, what a very familiar sight. "I'm flying Jakkubon! I'm flying!"

The camera then pans to Polka and Tosukana on the couch, sobbing at this scene while they're holding tissues. "*sniffle* Th-That's s-so... BEAUTIFU-U-UL!" Polka bawled, his tears shooting like a water spout, before blowing into the tissue he was holding.

"This is *hic* too sweet!" Tosukana hiccupped as he tries futility to wipe away his tears with his tissue.

They both continued to cry as the sliding doors to the living room open and Sora walks in, wanting to know what's with crying. "What heck are you guys bawling about? I can hear your crying all the way down the hall." He turns to the television to see the romantic scene in question, then grimaces. "Eugh, you guys are watching a romantic movie? Gross." He looks back to the two. "Why the heck are you guys watching a romantic movie?" After saying that, Tosukana throws the tissue box he had next to him right at Sora, and it hits him square in the face, leaving a perfectly rectangular red mark across his face. "OW!"

"None of your business!" Tosukana yelled at him. "And it's not gross, it's beautiful!"

Sora rolled his eyes as he gently rubs the red mark. "Whatever. Anyway, did you guys really have to watch this at my place and not at Tucker's house?"

"Does it matter?" Tosukana inquired with a raised brow.

"Yes! Because mushy lovey-dovey romantic stuff is gross!" Sora argued.

"That's not a good reason." Tosukana contended.

"Yes it is!" Sora countered.

Now it was Tosukana's turn to roll his eyes, he then lets out an exasperated sigh. No point in continuing this argument, it's pointless anyway. He turns his attention to Polka when he hears him giggling. "Huh?"

His giggling also caught Sora's attention. "Porukabon?"

Polka didn't catch his name being called, he was too preoccupied in his own fantasy to even hear him. He fantasized about the same boat scene, but with him and Shian, and Shian is the one holding him up while he outstretches his arms as if to fly. "I'm flying, Shianbon! I'm flying!" He was so caught up in his daydream that his failed to realize he actually has his arms outstretched while now standing up on his tiptoes.

"Porukabon? Porukabon??" Sora tried calling out to him, but it fell on deaf ears. He slightly puffed up one of his cheeks and grumbled. He went off-screen for a moment, then came back with a comically large megaphone. 

"Oh no." Knowing what Sora was going to next, Tosukana preemptively covers his (invisible) ears.

Sora raises the large megaphone, inhales, then screams into the speaker. "HEY! EARTH TO POLKA!"

The moment Polka heard the booming of Sora's voice through the megaphone, he lets out a shriek, and jumps up high into the air. "YAAAAH!" He then falls back down onto the floor and lands with *THUD!*. "AGH!" His eye is now a swirl. "Ow..."

Sora snickers. "Welcome back, Porukabon."

When Polka recovered from his mild daze, he swipes the comically large megaphone from his hand, jams the loudspeaker onto Sora's head, then picks the megaphone up by the handle, and yells into it. "DON'T FREAKING DO THAT AGAIN!"

The yell powered up by the loudspeaker sends Sora flying and crashing into the wall, leaving a Sora-sized indentation in said wall. "N-Noted..." Sora uttered in a pained, squeaky voice while dazed.

"Hmph." Polka scoffs as he tosses the megaphone away, then crosses his arms.

"Sheesh..." Tosukana uttered as he stared at Sora, he felt kind of bad for him, but he did deserve that for surprising Polka like that. He then shifts his gaze to Polka to ask him something. "Anyways, what happened there, Porukabon?"

"Huh?" Polka glances to him. "What do you mean, Tucker?"

"I mean, what were you daydreaming about just then?" Tosukana questioned.

His cheeks gain a pinkish tint. "Daydream?" He turns away and denies it. "I wasn't daydreaming."

Tosukana smirks. "You sure you weren't imagining that boat scene with yourself and Shianbon just then?"

Polka's cheeks got redder, did he actually say her name aloud while he was fantasizing? How embarassing! "N-No! No I wasn't!" He snapped back.

"Yes you weeeere.~" Tosukana sung teasingly.

Polka turned and snapped at him. "SH-SHUDDUP! I was not! I don't like her like that!" 

"Polka, I know you crush on Shianbon, it's obvious. No point in trying to deny it, especially with that reddish-pink face of yours." Tosukana stated slyly.

Polka wanted to keeping denying it, but he couldn't figure out a retort to fire back to try to prove to Tosukana he's wrong. After sputtering for an answer, he finally conceded. "Okay fine! I have a crush on Shianbon, alright?! Will you knock it off now?! God!" He huffs, crosses his arms once again, and turns his back to him.

Tosukana snickers a bit. "Okay okay, I'll stop." He pauses for bit, then asks him. "When did you start crushing on her?"

Polka took a moment before responding. "After she saved me from hitting the ground after I fell out of that tree..."

Hearing that answer, Tosukana flashbacked to the time where he and his friends were playing a game of baseball, he accidentally hit the baseball into a tree, and Polka offered to go get it. He climbed the tree, and crawled onto a branch, and he was about to grab it when said branch snapped from under him, lucky for him, Shian managed to catch Polka right before he hit the ground, and unlucky for Sora, the baseball fell and bonked him on the head. Tosukana noticed Polka was blushing, but Polka himself told him it was just the shock of suddenly falling out of a tree. Tosukana knew there was something more to that, but at the time, it wasn't appropriate to point it out given the circumstance. "I figured that would be why."

Sora walks back over to the two, rubbing the spot where the baseball fell onto his head. "And I still feel that pain every now and then. Owie."

"Heh, I guess you really *fell* for her, didn't you, Porukabon?" Tosukana joked.

Polka groans. "Ugh, that's a joke my dad would make."

Tosukana laughs. "Sorry, couldn't help myself."

"Ugh, how cheesy." Sora remarked while turning away. Tosukana glared to him and throws another tissue box at him, and this time it hits him on the side of his head. "Ow! Stop that!"

"Anyway..." Tosukana began before turning to Polka, him still having his back facing him. "Why haven't you told her how you felt yet?"

It took Polka a couple seconds to reply. "I... I don't think she'll like me back..." He answered hesitantly.

"Not like you back?" Tosukana stood up and went over to him to place a hand on his back. "Dude, you won't know until you tell her how you feel."

Polka gazed to him and sputtered. "B-Bu-But I-I'm too afraid to tell her!"

"Then let me help you!" He offered. "I've watched enough romantic movies to know exactly what to do!" 

"Are you sure..?" Polka asks, uncertain if Tosukana would really help him with this endeavor.

"Positive! And trust me Polka, I can help you win her over!" Tosukana insisted. "What do you say?"

Polka mulls it over for a bit, then lets out a sigh and agrees to his offer. "Fine, I guess you can help me confess to her."

Tosukana squealed in delight, then grabs Polka's arm. "Great! Now let's get you ready!"

"Ready?" Polka uttered in bewilderment.

"Yeah! We get you into a nice suit, then find a nice bouquet of flowers for you to give to her!" Tosukana turns to Sora. "Sorabon, do you want to help-" He stopped himself when he saw that Sora was no longer at the spot he was just standing at, then stares to the door to find it open and him standing in the hallway.

"Nope! I told you, romance, not my thing, plus, I have more important things to be getting to, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go play video games- I MEAN, go do heroic stuff with my dad! Later!" With that said, Sora zooms off, and the sliding door closes, leaving Polka and Tosukana on their own.

"Well, I guess that just leaves the two of us." Tosukana turns to Polka. "Now let's go get you spiffied up for your big moment!"

Polka didn't want to do this, something in the back of mind feels like something is going to go wrong, but if Tosukana says he knows what to do, then he trusts his judgement. In addition, it's probably better he tells Shian that he likes her now rather than wait until later, just to get it over with. Surely this cannot go horribly arwy, right?

~~~~

[Later at Biida Park.]

After getting Polka all nice and fancied up, and finding a nice bouquet of cyan flowers, him and Tosukana head to where Shian said she'd be, Biida Park, and they find her chatting with Tiiru and Dot, aside from them, others were just minding their own business a fair distance away. "There she is, but she's still with Dottobon and Tiirubon..." Polka mumbles.

"She did say she's hanging out with them." Tosukana states.

"Ye-Yeah, but... I-I was ki-kinda hoping they would b-be off doing something else while sh-she waited, a-and no one else would be around..." He stammered. "I-I don't want t-to humiliate me-myself..."

Tosukana places a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Polka, everything will be fine, those biidaman are a little far away to pay you any notice, but I will be watching from the bushes just incase something does happen." He lightly pushes Polka forward, then hides in the nearby bushes, once in there, he shoots him a quick thumbs up. "Go get her, bud!" He then ducks into the foilage, only his eyes are showing now.

Polka stops and just stands there, shaking for a bit. Oh gosh, he is really going to do this, he is really going to confess his feelings to his crush. He wants to turn back, but it's too late for that, he's here now, may as well just get it over it and hope for the best. He takes in a deep breath, then breaths out. "You can do this, Porukabon. Just tell her how you feel. Be confident!" Clad with his suit and with bouquet in hand, he wills up the courage, and approaches over to the three. "Uh, he-hey guys." He uttered sheepishly.

Upon hearing him, the three turn to him. "Oh my goodness Porukabon! You look so nice!" Dot exclaimed.

"Whoa, I agree!" Attested Tiiru. "You look pretty good in that."

Polka blushes and rubs the back of his head, but he looks aside and doesn't say anything. "I'll say, you don't half-bad in that suit." Shian's compliment makes him blush deeper. "I gotta ask though, what's the occasion, and what's with the flowers?" She asked with a slightly raised brow.

Polka gulped. This is it. 'Don't back out now, Porukabon, you've wanting to tell her for a long time! Just say it!' After internally urging himself, he faces her, and shakily holds out the bouquet for her to take. "A-Actually S-Shian, th-they're for yo-you."

"F-For me? Wha..?" Shian needed a second to process. Why would he give her flowers? What would she even need them for? Pop's garden back home? He's probably allergic to some of these.

Dot's eyes glimmered and she put her hands together at Polka's gesture. "Awww!"

Tiiru is simply stands there, unsure of why Polka is gifting their sister flowers. They know that Shian is not really into flowers that much. Were the flowers even hypoallergenic? They wouldn't want "Mom" to get allergies if they weren't and Shian chooses to take them home.

Meanwhile, Tosukana is watching from the bushes. "This is already going well so far!" He muttered excitedly to himself.

Polka shakes his head and clears his throat to compose him, he then gets on one knee, and outstretches the bouquet a bit more, and speaks in the most "handsome" voice he could muster as he also pulls off the "handsome face" he learned from Shirobon. "Shianbon, after you saved me after I fell out of that tree that fateful day, I have had feelings for you, and I can't keep them boxed up anymore. Shianbon, I like-like you. Will you accept me as your boyfriend?"

"Oh my gosh!" Dot squeaked. She knew of Polka's crush on Shian, and she was so glad he finally got the courage to tell her how he felt about her.

The realization finally dawned to Tiiru. "Oooooh, that's why you're giving her the flowers." 

Meanwhile, Shian just... couldn't figure out what to say right away. She didn't think Polka liked her like that, he gave her no indication that he crushed on her, actually, now that she thinks about it, those weird looks he sometimes gave her and how he sometimes blushes near her makes a lot more sense now. How the heck did she not connect the dots sooner? It was kinda obvious.

She felt... awkward, to say the least. She doesn't return those feelings, and Polka needs to know this. Better to rip off the band-aid than to lie about reciprocating his feelings.

"Porukabon, that's nice and all," She lightly pushes the bouquet back to him. "but no, I won't."

Polka felt his heart shatter. "N... No..?" The flowers in the bouquet wither. "Wh-Why..?" He shakily asked as his eye began to water.

"Bro., I'm not into you." She tells him bluntly. "I like you and all, but not in that way."

He stares to the ground, tears falling from his eye. She didn't like him back... Polka sorta expected this to happen, yet, the truth still crushed him.

Seeing Polka in this state, Tiiru glares and whispers to Shian. "Shianbon, you didn't think you could've let him down more gently than that?"

"What?" She whispered back. "He needed to know I didn't like him like that."

"Did you need to be so blunt about it?" They ask.

Dot chimes in hushedly. "I'm with Tiirubon. You could've told him more nicely."

"I still got my point across, didn't I?" Shian inquired. "I already told you guys, I'm into someone else." She says, not realizing she said that aloud.

Hearing that, Polka gazed up to her. "Someone else..?"

'S**t, did I say that out loud?' She cursed internally. "Uh, no. I didn't say that." She tried to bluff.

Polka was not buying it. "No, I heard you loud and clear." He stands up. "You're into someone else." His grip on the withered bouquet tightened, and his voice raised as he continued speaking. "Why didn't you tell me sooner so I didn't waste my godd**n time?!"

With Polka getting aggressive, Shian reacts in kind. "Because it's none of your godd**n business!" She snapped. "Plus, how was I supposed to know you liked me? You barely made it obvious!"

Tiiru stepped forward a bit, hands held in a "calm down" gesture. "Please calm down you two."

"STAY OUT OF THIS!" Polka screamed at them.

Shian got defensive. "DON'T YOU YELL AT THEM!"

From the bushes, Tosukana didn't expect things to take a sour turn, nor for it to become a scene. "Oh no, this got ugly fast. I should step in before it gets even worse." He comes out of his hiding spot and rushes over to them, hoping to diffuse this situation while feigning obliviousness.

Tiiru sees him running over all of a sudden. They stare at him bewildered. Where did he come from? "Taka?"

"Hey everyone! I was on my way here when I heard yelling. What's going on this time?" He asks, pretending to act like he doesn't know what's happening.

Polka swiftly turned to him. "Don't you pull that crap!"

Tosukana flinched, not expecting Polka to turn on him suddenly. "P-Porukabon, what are you-"

Polka cuts him off. "Don't you pull that fake obliviousness BS! You know full well what was happening!" He jabs a finger into Tosukana's chest. "Why the FREAK did you not warn me this was going to happen?! With all the romance movies you watch, you should've known something like this could happened, now you made me a fool of myself! You got my hopes up for nothing!"

"You tried to help him, Tucker?" Dot questioned him.

"I-I..." Tosukana stammered, trying to come up with a good answer. He decided to drop the oblivious facade at this point, no need to keep it up any longer. "I... I tried to-" He was cut off adruptly when Shian grabs his arm and pulls him away from the enraged Polka, then stands infront of him protectively.

"I don't know what the heck you're talking about, but you need to f*cking lay off and leave him alone!" She bellowed.

The hand that held the withered bouquet clenched tighter. "You f*cking know what?!" Polka slams the bouquet down onto the ground. "SCREW YOU! I DON'T YOU NEED YOU!" With that he storms off, crying until he was out of the group's eyesight. Silence soon followed. The whole scene caught the attention of some of the biidaman at the park, but they all went back to minding their own business once the scene was over, trying to act like that didn't happen.

Shian takes in a deep breath before sighing. "Oh my bon..." She then turns to Tosukana. "Tucker, you have some explaining to do."

"And after he's done explaining," Tiiru added while glaring at their sister. "*We* need to discuss some things."

She raised a brow. "What?"

In the bushes across from where Tosukana was formerly hiding, the Neo Devil Trio, or Neo Musketeers, watched all the drama go down, no one noticed they were there. "Ooooh, draaamaaa.~" Dandylion sung quietly. Once the show was over, the three ducked down and sat upon the ground.

"That was like a scene from a movie, except it was actually good." Lucifer commented.

"Pffft, yeah. She straight up shot him down. I *almost* feel bad for Porukabon, but not really." Hades remarked.

"Oh poor Porukabon's little heart, and I thought *we* were the bad guys here." Dandylion says with fake sincerity while shaking their head. "What a shame."

Hades brandishes some kind of black and dark red device. "What a shame indeed."

Lucifer raises a brow upon seeing the aforementioned device. "What are you planning to do with that, sis?"

"Oh, just a little something that will, shall I say... "assist" Porukabon, and make Shianbon regret turning him down." Hades answered somewhat sinisterly.

"You're going to use that on him? Hades, hasn't he been through enough?" Dandylion questioned, partially concerned, but mostly not.

"Nope." She replied. "Despite how One-Eye feels about Ms. Blunt right now, convincing him will not be an option, so I have a little plan to rope him in." 

The siblings huddle together to discuss said plan. "Oh come on, do I really have to wear *that?*" Dandylion whined quietly.

"You're the second tallest here. You have to for the plan to work." Hades states hushedly.

Dandylion groans softly. "Fiiine."

"Why are we whispering?" Lucifer asked whilst whispering.

There was a pause before Hades shrugged. "I don't know, we don't know who's listening I guess."

~~~~

Somewhere at a clearing in the far outskirts of Biida Park, Polka was venting and taking out his frustrations on a rather large rock. "God freaking DAMMIT!" He screamed as he managed to punch an indent into the stone. "What a waste of my godd**n time! I figured crap like this was gonna happen, yet I held my f**king hopes up! I'm such a f**king IDIOT!" He punches another indentation into the rock, causing some pebbles to fly, before resting against it, and began sobbing into his knees.

He didn't cry for long as he heard a little girl shrieking. "Huh?" Polka looks up to see what he thought was a chubby dark green little girl getting chased by a large kumaron. "HELP ME!" She cried out. Guess Polka has to put aside his self-appointed pity party for later and help this little girl out!

She trips over a little rock, then turns her body to face the kumaron that was towering over her, it roars as it moves in to attack her. She screamed as she braced herself for its attack.

"HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Polka yelled to the kumaron, making it stop in its tracks and turn to face him. It roared once more as it began charging at him on two legs. 

Polka was a bit scared, but he plants his feet firmly into the ground, put his hands around his biidama, and fires off a biida shot at the rampaging kumaron. The biida shot made a direct hit on its head, and it knocked it right out. "Ha! Gotcha!" He then rushes to the girl to see if she's alright, and holds his hand out to help her up. "Are you okay?"

She takes his hand and helps herself up. "Yes I am. Thank you so much for saving me! That thing decided to chase me for no reason!"

Polka smiled a bit. "Heh, it was no problem I guess." As he was talking, he was unaware someone was approaching him from behind. "I gotta ask though, what're you doing out here? Did you get lost or something?"

He never got his answer as he was suddenly snatched up from behind by an armored-up Lucifer. "GAH! What the?! LET ME GO!" Polka tried to break free from his hold, during his struggle, he caught a glimpse of his holder. "Lucifer?!"

"Yeah, it's me, and I suggest you stop your struggling." He raised his armored talon until it was barely touching Polka's chin. "That is, if you don't want to get your new suit ruined."

Polka could care less about his suit right now and cares more about what their motives with him are. He tries to chomp on Lucifer's wrist to get himself free, there was an audible *CLANG!* of metal, then he cries out and starts spitting profusely. "AUGH! Ow! Yuck! Pft! Pfffft!"

"I don't know why you thought trying to chomp me was a smart idea." Lucifer remarked.

"Bleh! That wasn't just a cry of pain, doofus! That was mostly a cry of how disgusting your armor tastes! It tastes as bad as those Bontendo Switch cartridges! Do you ever wash this thing?!" Polka spat back.

His insults ticked Lucifer off, but also baffled him somewhat. Who in their right mind would taste those bitter cartridges? Not like Lucifer would know, not like he tried doing that or anything- oh nevermind that, he was insulted, that what matters at the moment. "How about you shut up and watch your tongue before you lose it, punk!" He threatened as he moves the claw to touch Polka's chin.

Polka gulped at this and froze, then he glances to the girl with a pleading eye. "Don't just stand there, help me!"

"Oh Porukabon, I would, but..." She undoes her disguise, revealing herself to be Hades!

"HADES?!" He shouted out.

"Is there really a need to shout out my name?" She quipped.

Groaning is heard from the kumaron. It sits up, then takes off its head, revealing it to actually be Dandylion! They rubbed the newly formed bump from where Polka's biida shot hit on their head. 

"Owwww..." They whine before standing up and turning to glare at their siblings. "Next time, one of you guys is wearing the tacky costume and getting hurt!"

Hades rolled her eyes. "Oh quit your whining."

Polka growled. "Grah! Enough of the chatter, and let me go right now!"

"Oh, what would be the fun in that?" Hades inquired. "Especially if we need you for something."

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you guys right now! I've already had a bad enough day as it is! I don't want any part of your scheme!" Polka hissed.

"Oh, we already knew that, getting crushed by your crush and all that." Hades gets out the evil-looking ray gun-like device. "And we weren't intending on asking you."

"Y-You saw all that- YOU THREE WERE SPYING ON THAT?! YOU NOSY PIECES OF-" Polka adruptly stopped his bellowing upon seeing the device in her hands, he went from raging to worried when the second thing Hades said began to sink in.

"What's that..?" He asked hesitantly, not really wanting to know the answer.

"What, this thing?" She raised the evil ray gun up from her other hand before lowering it back into it. "Don't worry about it, actually, you wouldn't have to do any worrying once I'm done using this Dark Energy Ray on you."

"DARK ENERGY RAY?! WHAT?!" He shrieked.

"Hold him still!" Hades commanded Lucifer as she tries getting closer to Polka, evil device in hand. Lucifer nods, and his hold on Polka tightened.

Oh heck no! Polka wasn't going to let himself become their test subject! He resumed his struggling, he kicked his feet about as he tried to forcibly remove Lucifer's arm from around his throat to try to pry himself free, grunting and shouting as he did so. "NO! AGH! LET ME GO! LET. ME. GO! I'M NOT GONNA BE YER GUINEA PIG! ARRGH!" 

Lucifer growled as he started having difficulties holding him still. "Knock it off you brat! And stop your screaming! You're too far out here for anyone to hear you! Just let it happen!"

"NO!" Polka refused to let up, he couldn't afford to let them win! Eventually though, he wound up exhausting himself, Lucifer is much stronger than he is, all his efforts to escape ended up being futile.

"You seem like your about done." Without wasting another second, Hades sticks the device onto Polka's biidama. "Don't worry, this won't hurt you... much!" She turns it on, and the Dark Energy Ray began transmitting dark energy into Polka through his marble.

When she said it wouldn't hurt him much, she lied. He closed his eye tightly as he began to writhe, grunt, and cry out as he felt the dark energy course through his body. He used what reach he had to grab the sides of his head as he felt the dark energy begin to take hold, he then painstakingly moved his hands to cover his face. "Ggh! N-No! NO! AAAGH!"

The device soon shuts off, having run out of dark energy, not long after, Polka fell quiet, his hands fell from his face, and he became eerily still. Hades removed the device from his biidama, which was no longer blue, but is now almost completely black. She gestured for Lucifer to put him down. "The transfer's done, you can put him down now."

Lucifer sets him on his feet and gets next to Hades as Polka slightly hunches forward and softly groaned. "Is he just about done complaining yet?" Dandylion questioned as they just about get their other foot out of their kumaron costume. "Such a tacky thing. Ugh, never again." They mumble before stepping over to their sister.

Hades turned to her sibling to answer. "Yup, he's quiet as a snail." She turns back to Polka to give him a simple command. "Porukabon, open your eye." He obediently does so, his eye color is no longer sienna brown, it is now a very pale brown, it no longer had an eye-shine, and he has an evil, hateful glare, though this look wasn't because of what the siblings had done. He began growling lowly and doing the motions of wanting to beat someone up. "Tell me, Porukabon, how do you feel?"

"...ANGER..." He replied robotically and darkly.

"Anger, eh? I see." Dandylion stepped infront of him, knelt down to meet his eye, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Anger over what?"

"...BROKEN...HEART..." He answered robotically and lowly.

"Ooh, that is something to be angry about, huh?" They comment. "And we certainly know whose fault that is, don't we?" Polka didn't answer, but he responded by making a low growl-like noise, then hisses the name of his heart-breaker. "SHIANBON..."

"Mm-hm, and since Shianbon is the one to break your heart," Dandylion raised their fist in front of him, then clenched it, a bone-cracking sound effect is heard after they did so, and speaks a bit darkly. "Destroy her! Crush her like how she crushed your heart! Make her regret ever rejecting you!"

Polka growled and nodded, then spoke lowly. "YES, MX...." With that, the Dandylion ushered him off to fulfill his mission as he continued to slowly punch his own palm.

Lucifer and Hades stare at Dandylion, slightly stunned. "Geez Dandy, you sure can get... "dark" when you want to be." Hades acknowledged.

Lucifer nodded. "Yeah. Your name may be Dandylion, but you sure get sinister when we least expect it." He smirked. "I like that."

"Me too." Hades attested.

Their siblings' compliments made them blush and hold their cheeks. "Aww, thank you! You two flatter me." They lowered their hands and did a little clap. "Now how about we go watch the show go down?"

"H**l yeah!" Shouts Lucifer.

"Great idea. I can't wait to see the annoying cyan one get crushed!" Hades exclaimed. "Shall I get some popcorn?"

Dandylion bounced. "Ooh! Yeah! Let's have the big bucket!" 

"By the way Dandy, how did you manage to make that sound effect anyway?" Lucifer inquired. "Hope you didn't actually hurt your hand.

Dandylion opened their palm they made the sound with to reveal a joy-buzzer-like thing strapped around their hand. "This sound buzzer! I found it in a gag shop."

Lucifer chuckled. "Heh, nice."

~~~~

Back with the main group, Tiiru and Dot just finish talking to Shian about how she should've taken Polka's feelings into consideration instead of just being straight up honest. "So you rather have me lie to him?" Shian inquires.

"That's not what we were saying." Tiiru objected.

"What we we're trying to tell you is you should've let him down gently. Something like "Polka, I like you, but I see you more like a friend than a boyfriend. I'm sorry you had to learn this way, but I hope we could still be friends." would've been a better response, other than just... being outright honest." Dot explained. "He might not have taken it as badly..."

"And not saying you were into someone else would've also helped." Tiiru muttered snidely while looking aside, but Shian clearly heard that.

"Shut up, Ti! I didn't think I said that out loud!" She snapped, then turned back to Dot. "And Dotto, when you put it like that..." She pauses, then sighs. "Yeah, I could've worded it better. Porukabon probly wouldn't be as pi-" She briefly stops to correct herself. "-'as upset' with me right now."

"This is all my fault." Tosukana admitted. "I encouraged him to confess to Shian and got his hopes up."

"Yeah, and not only that, you forgot the "G" part in "GBs," Tucker. How could you ever forget that part??" She questioned him, rather upset that he forgot the "gay" part in their best friend duo name.

Tosukana looks away and gazes to the ground. "I guess I got so eager to try to help Porukabon gain the courage to confess to you that it just... completely slipped my mind somehow... I'm sorry Shian..." He lets out sigh afterwards. "I didn't mean for this mess to happen..."

"Bro," Shian puts a hand on his shoulder. "while I am kinda upset at you for forgetting, your heart was in the right place for Porukabon, though with all the romance movies you watch, you should've considered this mess happening as a possiblity."

Her remark made him let out a little chuckle. "Yeah, I should've. I didn't watch too many romance movies where that happened, but I still should've known better."

Shian nodded. "Maybe you should lay off those kinds of movies for a while, dude." She joked.

Dot spoke up to ask Shian something. "Shianbon, if you don't mind me asking, um, what does "GBs" stand for?"

Shian replies with: "It's an acronym for me and Tucker's duo name. We'll tell you what it stands for later." She rests her hands on her sides, then raises one of them up. "Alright, enough talking, I think now's the time to go find Porukabon. Anyone know where he could've went?"

Everyone went silent as they start hearing the crackling of electricity. It was barely quiet, but it began to sound like it was getting closer. Tiiru voices their concern "Uh, no, but does anyone else hear a crackling sound getting closer." Their question made everyone turn to the source of the noise, and see a yellowish-orange electrified shot heading towards them!

"LOOK OUT!" Tosukana shouts to everyone.

Luckily everyone, including Dot (whom used the spring function of her wheelchair) dodged it. The area where the group once stood crackled with electricity for a bit. 

"Where the did that come from?!" Yelled Shian. Her question was soon answered when Bolt-Striker flies in, Polka is armored up within it, and is staring her down with an evil, angry glare while growling lowly. "Porukabon?!"

They have a stare-off for a moment, then Polka utters lowly and robotically. "DESTROY... SHIANBON..."

"Wait, WHA-" She was cut off as Bolt-Striker began firing three more biida shots, all aiming directly at her. "S**T!" She barely manages to avoid getting hit and the following explosions.

"Shianbon!" Dot, Tiiru, and Tosukana all call out at once.

After evading Polka's attacks, she swiftly turns towards to yell. "Dude, what the FREAK do you think you're doing?! I get I broke your heart and all that, but does that really warrant destroying me?!" Polka answers by getting much some smaller biida cannons to come out of the main one and firing some more biida shots at her. "GAH!" She gets out of the way of the attacks, but she starts making a run for it as Polka chases her down.

"I don't know what's gotten into Porukabon, but we have to help Shianbon!" Shouts Tosukana.

"Right!" Tiiru takes out their phone with an open app. "Time to call Tenacious-Tealer!" They press the button on the app, but nothing happens. "Huh?" They press it again, same effect. "Why the heck isn't it-" They check to see why it wasn't working and quickly found out the problem. "Low phone battery?! Are you kidding me?! This is the worst possible time for that to happen!"

"Why didn't you park it somewhere close-by?!" Tosukana exasperated.

"I didn't think Polka would start attacking Shian, Tucker! Plus, we aren't allowed to park around here!" Retorted Tiiru.

Dot speaks up. "I have a way to get to our mechs quickly, Tiirubon."

They turn to her. "You do?" Shortly after their inquiry, Dot presses a button on the handle of her wheelchair that makes handlebars and a footrest come out of her wheelchair's backside. Tiiru stares wide-eyed in awe. "Whoaaa! What's this?"

"A new feature I added." She replied proudly. "Now hop on!" Tiiru nods and hops on.

Tosukana takes out his phone. "While you two go get your mechs, I'm going to call Sorabon for back-up!"

They both nod simultaneously. "Alright!"

Dot looks ahead. "Hang on tight, Tiirubon!" With that, they both take off, Tiiru yelling "WHOAAA!" until they were out of earshot.

"Now to call Sorabon for his assistance!" Tosukana tries to call Sora, but after waiting a bit, it goes to voicemail. 'Sorry, your hero is busy! Try calling again later!' He tries calling him again, same effect. "C'mon, pick up!" Third times the charm. He tried calling him a third time, once again, same result. "Why isn't he picking up?! What could he even be doing at a time like this?!" Tosukana shouts in frustration.

----

Meanwhile, Shiro and Sora were in a heated video game battle, lots of button mashing was heard, until...

"WINNER!" The video game announcer announced.

"DANG IT!" Sora bellowed as he stood up and stomped his foot. 

"I win once again kiddo." Shiro remarked.

"Grr, you cheated! Best 8 out of 10!" Sora demanded.

"Heh, you're on! Huh?" Shiro noticed Sora's phone going off on the nearby coffee table. "I think your phone's going off, Sora."

Sora glanced to his phone to see it was Tosukana trying to call him. "Tucker's calling me."

"Aren't you going to answer it?" Shiro inquired.

"Nah, he's probably calling to ask me to help him with Polka's "romantic interest" thing eugh." Sora answered.

"Ooh, Polka has feelings for someone, eh?" Questioned Shiro, very much interested.

"Yeah, but I ain't about to go into that. Romance is not my thing nor my business, it's weird and gross." Sora states, then makes a proclamation. "Back to the game! And I WILL win this time!"

----

After failing to reach him a third time, Tosukana groaned and decided to leave a voicemail. "Sorabon, we're having trouble over here, and we really could use your help right now! Please get over here as soon as possible!" 'End of message.' "Hopefully he'll get that one, but I'm not going to stand here and wait for him!" Tosukana goes off to find his mecha as well.

Via a spy camera and a portable TV monitor, the Neo Musketeers watch this all go down from the safety of behind a conveniently large boulder while munching on popcorn out of a comically large bucket. "Oooh, this is getting good!" Dandylion says before eating some more popcorn.

"C'mon, destroy her already!" Lucifer shouted, then stuffed more popcorn into his mouth.

Shian kept running away, trying to not get hit by Polka's barrage of attacks, until an explosion from a biida shot that barely missed her grazes her leg and causes her to fall forward. "WAAH! Oof!" She winces and grabs her injured leg. "Gah! Frick!" She turns her body around, wincing as she does so, to see Bolt-Striker looming over her, charging up for another attack. "PORUKABON STOP!" She screams, then makes eye-contact with him. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?! I get it, I messed up and I hurt your feelings, and I should've worded what I said better, but you shouldn't have to destroy me over this! Snap out of it, dude! Do you really think you have to kill me over this?!"

Polka stares at her silently, after what felt like a minute, he replies. "YOU DESTROYED MY HEART... NOW I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOU!" He fires the charged shot at her.

[Continued in Part 2.]

[creative-frequency]

Cal Kestis x Reader: DEAR STAR SYSTEM Ch. 02

Word count: 1585 Pairing: Cal Kestis x Female Reader Summary/Contains: The Mantis lands on Bogano. Greez is very particular about his eggs. Friends to lovers, mild angst, (partial) canon-rewrite. Notes: I’m still getting into the Star Wars lingo, so if there’s any words/terms/slang etc. you think sound off or know a more canon-ish counterpart, please don’t hesitate to let me know! This is the first time I’m actually writing for Star Wars fandom despite loving it for so long.

Previous Chapter

My Writing Masterlist

DEAR STAR SYSTEM // 02

During the years you’ve known Cere, you’ve never seen her playing an instrument. There must be a reason she keeps those things around the ship, often gazing at them longingly or sitting still with one on her lap. When she does, that sad, almost haunted look befalls on her. You’ve never had the courage to ask about it. It’s too personal.

Something invades your mind, twining to the aerial calculations of a piercing weapon’s throw line. The imaginary blade disappears mid-air as your focus shifts. You turn to the side on the bed.

A sound. Background noise. Music?

At first, you think it’s inside your head but before you can concentrate on listening, it stops. It’s silent again but your earlier thoughts are lost to curiosity.

Cere and Cal are sitting by the round table, talking in low voices. One of her musical instruments is leaning to the table, confirming that the chords you heard weren’t just imagination. The tone of their conversation is somber aka something you don’t want to accidentally eavesdrop. But before you can take even a step to go back, Cere’s familiar words command your attention, coming through loud and clear and hitting home on your end too:

“And you’re not alone. Not anymore,” Cere reassures the young Jedi and places a hand onto his shoulder.

You hesitate by the door, to make your presence be known or to withdraw back into your cabin.

You know something about the situation Cal is in. His old life is behind, all ties severed and while for you it still might be possible to go back, it definitely isn’t for him. Fairly certainly neither of you wants to go back.

Greez’s voice cracks over the comms, saving you from a decision on which direction to move:

“We’re comin’ up on our destination.”

Cal bolts up and heads to the cockpit with resolute steps. Cere’s hand stays hanging in the air where his shoulder was before she follows him and you wait for a moment or two before going after them. You’ve arrived on Bogano.

//

“How do you think he’ll do?” you ask Greez in the cockpit, both of you watching Cal’s retreating back into the grassy planes.

Greez shrugs and makes an indifferent “meh” sound. “I just hope whatever he does, he does it fast.”

He stretches three of his arms and scratches his belly with the fourth. It’s lunch time and yesterday’s scraps will make an excellent omelet with some gartro eggs.

“But not too fast, am I right?” you comment, knowing what the Latero has on his mind. The eggs are a Coruscantean delicacy Greez has been treasuring for some time. And he isn’t into sharing his eggs with some random Jedi kid.

“Have faith,” Cere remarks just as she steps back inside. The ship doors close with a sizzle. The plating carries the scar from the Second Sister’s lightsaber and Greez has been silently going mental about repairing it.

“What’d he say?” you turn to ask Cere. They exchanged words outside before Cal took off.

She holds a mysterious smile. “He’s out there and that’s enough for now.”

Her often frustrating Jedi-ism deserves a dramatic sigh. “Somehow I knew you’d say that.”

You plop to sit down on the sofa next to her, subjecting yourself to Cere’s sharp, inspecting look. Idly, you inspect the instrument leaning against the table. It has seven strings. The design is simple, yet the materials used look polished and expensive. It has seen better days. You wonder does Cal know how to play or was it really Cere earlier.

“What about you?” she asks.

“What about me?”

“I’m asking how you are,” she clarifies with a strained smile.

You think about replying since you’re not doing so badly at the moment, but just shrug and move on. There are more interesting things to discuss.

“He”–you nod towards the exit–“seems like a decent person,” you say casually.

“Yes, he does,” Cere agrees.

You’re not sure what to make of Cal yet. He keeps a lot inside, hidden to protect himself, or maybe others. On the outside he’s an upright person whose features would be a better fit for a smile than any expression you’ve seen him wearing so far. It’s also been a while since you met another human about your age even though your lives so far couldn’t be more different. It’s probably biasing your judgment.

Also that he’s kind of cute. You didn’t think you were into gingers.

“Secretive, but that’s a Jedi thing, right? One of those with lots of layers you can’t quite reach,” you say and add, “Not that I tried.”

Cere’s smile turns into a warning look. When she took you under her wing, you agreed to not play your tricks just for a show.

��I heard what you said about trusting him and I agree,” you continue despite her, “but my gut is telling me he’s okay. And he isn’t gonna open up until we can trust each other. All of us.”

Greez is busy with his eggs in the kitchen nook and is, at least seemingly, not paying attention to your discussion.

“I think your gut feeling may well be right,” Cere says after a moment and reveals that annoying knowing smile.

“If you say anything about the Force, I’ll throw you with one of Greez’s eggs.”

“Hey! This is non-negotiable: My eggs are off limits!”

You and Cere laugh. Whatever Greez is cooking, smells delicious. He prides himself in being an able cook but you’ve never had the heart to tell him when he doesn’t succeed so well. He almost single-handedly takes care of the catering aboard the Mantis and that’s enough reason to pinch your nose and keep your culinary opinions to yourself. The Laterons like their spices in weird mixes.

“Any thoughts, Greez?” Cere inquires.

Greez humphs, again, as is quickly growing into his norm when talking about Cal Kestis. For some reason it makes you smile.

“Saw him pawing at the grass the moment you turned your back. Hmph. What a weirdo… and he was talking in his sleep.”

“He was?” Greez grimaces at your surprised glance. Guess you shouldn’t be surprised to hear an escapee Jedi suffers from nightmares.

“Yeah, you didn’t hear that? The kid was yelling a name… Prof or Praf or, I don’t know! Something. Why’re you both looking at me like that?” Greez spreads one pair of hands in frustration. The other pair stays with the eggs.

You turn back at Cere, excited words on your lips.

“No,” she says deftly before you can even open your mouth.

“But I can help him,” you argue right back, “That’s not showing off. Let me be helpful for once.”

Cere sighs. “You know I can’t stop you if you ask him and he agrees to it, but please, learn to know him first.”

You slump deeper into the couch, sulking like a child. You both know you don’t need permission from her but you respect Cere too much to act behind her back. Ever since learning of your talents, that she persistently claims to fall under Force-sensitivity (yeah, right), she has been wary, constantly warning you about how influencing the mind can have devastating effects. It’s hard to argue against that since in your previous life the subjects usually didn’t live long enough to experience side-effects.

“I understand… I just want to help,” you mumble.

Cere takes your hand and squeezes it lightly. “I know you do. Let’s discuss this later.”

She doesn’t let go until you nod.

While Cal is out, there’s not much you can do besides pester Greez about some omelet and wait until finally the comm device cracks into life. Traveling in hyperspace is dull but at least you’re moving. You’ve always hated the waiting game. It’s the first time you realize you’re not as patient as you thought you were. Saying it aloud amuses Cere.

The comm snaps and Cere hurries to the control desk – you right at her heels.

“Think I found what you wanted me to see.”

“Be-bee-boop?” a familiar-sounding droid replies confused.

So that’s why Cere sent Cal on wild bogling hunt on Bogano. It starts making sense. You’re trying to keep your nose out of the Jedi business, often just offering understanding hums when Cere wants to talk your ear off. Fortunately, she has a fresh set of ears now in Cal.

Cere smiles relieved. “Sounds like you did. We’ll be waiting.”

“Finally!” Greez rejoices. All the gartro eggs are long gone and who knows when is the next time he can procure such delicacies.

It doesn’t take long for the Jedi to track back to the ship with his new friend.

“You passed the test,” Cere welcomes him.

“So you knew about BD-1?” Cal points to the droid on his back, who twitters in excitement.

“Come on board, we’ll talk inside.”

Cal is positively radiating. Sunshine and fresh air did some good to him. The shadow you first met is gone and he is relaxed, smiling. Your heart is fluttering from relief. You were right about his features being better suited for a smile than a frown.

Greez freaks out when BD-1 jumps on his precious potolli-weave fabric sofa and you swear it’s the last time you’re staying behind when Cal treks out. Based on what he learned about some Jedi master on Bogano, he will have to go and get his hands dirty again on another backwater planet.

//

Next Chapter

[thevioletjones]

36 and 58

Looks like these involve a lotta meet-cutes. Lmao. Ok, I scrapped the #36 “Established relationship,” because it didn’t fit with any of the other requests really. I’ve combined #58 with a request from @tarantula-teeth for #16, which gives us...

Space AU / Innocent Physical Contact

“God… fucking… dammit!” Ian cussed as he smashed his finger into the same button over and over and over again. He then moved to toggling the switch next to it on and off and back and forth fruitlessly. “Piece of shit… motherfucker!”

Somewhere over his shoulder, a mellifluous, sarcastic whistle sounded long and loud as it approached. “Problem officer?”

“Officer?” Ian asked incredulously before turning around in his chair. “I’m not an officer, I’m a pilot.”

The guy in front of him was short, with dark hair, but pale skin, and he was wearing a maintenance jumpsuit.

“My bad. This is my first gig on this particular spaceship. All you different crews have your own titles and semantics, but it’s none of my business really. Just tell me what you want me to call you.”

Ian’s brow furrowed. “Who are you and why are you talking to me right now?”

The guy pursed his lips and scratched at his eyebrow. “Think it’s pretty obvious that I’m a repair guy… from engineering?”

“I didn’t call for a repairman.”

“No, but your boss did,” the guy replied, thumb indicating an older gentleman across the deck.

Ian bent his head around and caught the captain’s eye, receiving a cheeky smirk and a knowing nod. Ian looked back at Mickey and rolled his eyes.

“Look…” he raised his eyebrows questioningly.

“Mickey,” the maintenance guy answered.

“Mickey… I think I can handle this. I’m about to run some diagnostics, and in the meantime,” he glanced at his co-pilot to the right, “Russ here has perfectly good control of the ship.”

“Uh huh,” said Mickey with a condescending little smile. “Well, that’s not really gonna work for me, see… the captain is the captain, and he ordered my boss, the head engineer, to send someone to fix this for you. Guess that means he knew you couldn’t handle this sorta repair on your own. Anyway, you can make yourself scarce for a while, since you’re not actually flying anything.”

Ian’s mouth dropped open. He was usually treated with reverence aboard the ship. At the very least, people respected him. He was the fucking pilot, after all. They put their lives in his hands every day. Yeah, he was part of a team, but he was like the first in the frontline whenever shit went sideways. Maybe he wasn’t the captain, or the commander, but he still couldn’t help but silently think of the craft as his ship. And he wasn’t about to wander off on a long break and let this yahoo he didn’t even know have free reign of his gear board and equipment.

“If you think I’m going anywhere while you work on my station, you’re outta your fuckin’ mind, pal.”

Mickey chortled. “Pal? What’re you gonna call me next? Buddy? Champ?” He casually pushed past Ian and dropped his case to the floor. “You wanna hover around over me, be my guest, but keep your damn trap shut and let me do my job, alright Sparky?”

Ian tried his best not to fume, but he wasn’t entirely successful. Still, he managed to stay quiet as he watched Mickey arrange his tools and open the circuit board beneath the console. He was actually fascinated with the mechanical guts of the spacecraft, but he’d always been terrible at anything remotely mathematical, and couldn’t make it into engineering school no matter how hard he’d studied. When it came to ships, he could work it all, but he didn’t know exactly how it worked, and that was frustrating as hell at times like these. Knowing the theory wasn’t enough.

Mickey worked quietly for over an hour, never daring to say a word to Ian, despite his watchful presence. Occasionally, he would accidentally brush against Ian’s leg, and that sent him into a tailspin thinking about how long it’d been since he’d gotten any, followed by wondering why the hell he was thinking about sex just because some repair guy grazed him through his clothes, culminating in deep frustration that he had no prospects to speak of on this entire ship-full of 2,000 plus people.

If his horniness was making him long for this random dude that clearly didn’t like him at all, he was definitely in a bad way.

“I’m gonna need to solder this, and I didn’t bring my kit for that, so I’ll be back in like 15. Think you can handle it, coppertop?” Mickey said, breaking Ian’s reverie.

“My name’s Ian,” he responded tersely. “See you in 15.”

Mickey smiled at him then, and it didn’t even seem sarcastic. Ian didn’t know how to react, so he just blinked and turned away to grab his handheld computer. He spent the minutes waiting on Mickey answering messages from his family back on New Earth.

Once the soldering was about to be underway, Ian was eager to observe again, and Mickey tossed him a face mask without a word before he got started.

Another hour later, and everything was patched up and properly reassembled, the little buttons and switches working the way they were supposed to again. Ian still had a few hours left on shift, and Mickey hung back to watch as the control was shifted back to the main board, from the co-pilot’s station.

After a good ten minutes of smooth sailing, Ian switched to auto and stood up to reach out for the engineer’s hand. “Looking good. Thank you, Mickey.”

Mickey gave him an almost coquettish once over. “Same, Gallagher.”

“Oh, so you know who I am now?”

Mickey shrugged. “You’re the pilot. I knew who you were before I came down here.”

“Coulda fooled me,” said Ian, noticing that their hands were still clasped. He looked down at them, then back up into Mickey’s eyes. They were a sparkling, pretty shade of blue.

“Act like a dick, get treated like one,” Mickey replied.

Ian gasped and let his hand fall. “You were the one being a dick, not me.”

Mickey rubbed his nose and reached into his pocket, pulling out a genuine piece of paper and a pen. Ian hadn’t seen anyone use those in years.

He scribbled something down quickly and handed the paper to Ian.

“Block E, number 492,” Ian read aloud.

“That’s my cabin number, pilot boy. Maybe you wanna come over for a nightcap later.” His impeccably arched eyebrow left no room for misunderstanding.

Ian tittered breathily. “I think I just might.”

[seriouslyhooked]

Lost Souls and Reveries (Part 25)

25 part AU written for @cssns​. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5,Part 6,Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24. Story available on AO3 Here and FF Here. Banner created by the amazingly talented @shipsxahoy​!!

Killian Jones is a wolf shifter without roots, without plans, and without a pack. He’s a rogue, someone humans should avoid and shifters should be wary of given his lineage. But one night years back set him on a path he didn’t realize he was taking, a path leading to a future he is destined for. That future is tied up in one woman – a human named Emma Nolan. Together Emma and Killian will find not only answers, but a love that’s truly fated. But will love be enough to set them free, or will past demons win out in the end? (Answer: love always wins – I am writing this so despite some tiny pockets of angst it’s basically a fluff-filled insta-love fest). Rated M.

A/N: Hello everyone! So as promised, I have left the drama and the angst behind us and for this chapter. Instead of lingering in anxiety, I am just giving us all some much-deserved wedding cuteness and (because so many of you asked) a little wedding night smut. This has been the longest story I have ever written, and WOW does it feel like time to write a wedding. As such, I will delay no longer. Hope you enjoy, and thanks so much for reading!

All this time I kept saying the details didn’t matter, but now I know they really do.

Emma didn’t utter those words aloud, but she held them close with her as she went about getting ready for this long-awaited moment. The thought had been floating in and out of her mind all day, like when she woke to her favorite childhood breakfast of cereal and pop-tarts, or when she first got a look at her bouquet. The arrangement of flowers was immaculate and lush, with ivory petals and little pops of color thrown in, and it matched the tasteful flowers she was wearing in her hair, and the ones her bridesmaids donned for the ceremony and reception. Everything was so in sync, woven together with ease and with grace, but none of it was accidental. This was all a reflection of the hard work of people who loved her, and reminiscent of dreams she never realized that she had.

Looking at her hands, Emma noted her engagement ring, a glimmering stone gifted with love and fidelity. Killian had asked her for forever in a way he hadn’t planned, but it was perfect, and the only thing missing was a wedding band to complete the set. Today that second ring would come, and Emma would keep them close and safe as long as she lived. Other unexpected gifts had been coming in all day too, starting in the morning and leading up to now. Little things and big things, thoughtful notes and precious keepsakes. All of it was wrapped in love, and every time one found its way to her, Emma craved their wedding more. It was so damn hard waiting, but she grounded herself in how lucky she was to have this. After all, she’d gotten her most powerful wish - laughter, love, excitement, and joy. These were the ingredients of her wedding day so far, and Emma knew they would be the same pieces that defined her life from now until forever.

“Okay, honey, it’s time to get your dress on. Are you sure you don’t need help?” her mother asked, pulling Emma from her reverie as she gazed into the mirror. Emma shook her head and stood up, careful to keep her robe closed as she did.

“I’ve got it, Mom. It’ll only take a minute.”

Retrieving her dress from her mother’s arms, Emma moved behind the screen to get dressed, trying to soak up this moment despite how breakneck the pace of her day had been. It had been nonstop since the morning, when Emma woke up in her old bed in the apartment above the clinic. She hadn’t slept so well, being unused to a night without Killian, but she’d had company. Anna and Elsa were adamant that they would all spend this night together, three sisters having a final hurrah. They’d invited Ruby too, an honorary member of their special little tribe, and her final ‘night of freedom’ was spent watching cheesy rom coms, eating way more than they should have, and drinking more than a little wine. At first her mother resisted on the idea, insisting that a bride-to-be needed her beauty sleep, but, as was their custom, Elsa and Anna found a way to win her over. Emma was glad for it too, because despite missing Killian, she’d had a blast, and that good humor had carried all through today as the lot of them got pampered and prepared.

Even now, as she slipped into her dress, Emma couldn’t help her smile. There was no mirror back here, but she knew how good she looked. Her hair was glossy and shone brighter than it ever did when she did it on her own. Her makeup was flawless, highlighting her natural features with a little bit of pop. Add to that that she was radiating happiness and she knew she was beautiful, but that wasn’t enough for her. Underneath her robe she’d chosen a white lace set designed to drive her husband more than a little wild, as if he needed any reason to get that way. The barely there lingerie left little to the imagination, and she warmed through just imagining how Killian would react. It was thrilling to think about, but that desire was tamped down slightly by her awe at the dress itself. An incredible gift from her mother, this dress had been passed down from her grandmother originally. Each wedding it had seen saw some alterations, but never enough to undermine the beauty of the gown. As such, the garment was in wonderful shape, and Emma’s smile grew when she thought about one day sharing this treasured dress with her daughter too.

As she’d promised, dressing didn’t take long at all and soon enough she moved from behind the partition into full view again. She saw everyone looking at her, but was drawn to her own reflection. Stunning was the only word that she could think of, and even that choice reminded her of Killian, but it was right. It was truly a lose-your-breath moment seeing herself like this, and all the emotion at this impending union bubbled to the surface as it suddenly became all the more real.

“My cousin is seriously going to lose it when he sees you, Emma,” Ruby said with a tone of glee.

Emma looked over to Ruby, who appeared thrilled at Killian’s potential reaction, and Emma, though quieter in her hope, was dreaming of the same. She knew the figure that she made for in this dress. It might be an heirloom, but it was tailored in a way that was uniquely her. The dress was a delicate cream color with a perfect blend of silk and lace. It was still classic, but also current, and though it had been made for another, it felt designed with only Emma in mind. It fit every curve of her body, accentuating her shape while still feeling very free, and that was compounded by the fact that she’d ditched the veil and gone for flowers in her golden curls instead. Looking back at herself she felt beautiful and whole, though much of that had more to do with who she was marrying and less to do with what she was wearing.

“You’re gorgeous, Ems,” Anna agreed, tending to the dress and making sure every last detail was in place. “A true princess.”

“No, better than a princess,” Elsa countered, smiling at Emma in the mirror as she hugged her from the side. “Better because you’re you.”

“You guys need to stop,” Emma said, but there was no real bite in her voice. “You’re going to make me cry and I am not crying today.”

“Oh, Emma, I think that ship has sailed, don’t you?” Elsa asked, gesturing behind them, and the four of them looked back to where Emma’s mother and grandmother were both wiping away their happy tears.

“It’s just like I always imagined,” her mother said, the weepiness seeping through her voice and threatening to make Emma cry as well. “You’re so beautiful, Emma.”

“Mom,” Emma said, and as her mother came over to her, her friends made space for them to share this special moment.

“I know you’ll say that I’m too sappy, but I can’t help it Emma. You are my baby,” she said, her hand coming to Emma’s cheek as she smiled at her. “Your father is my heart, but you and your brother are my whole entire soul. I love you so much. I’ve loved you your whole life and even before, and it’s like I blinked and we were here. All those years are gone so quick. You’re so grown up and I’m just…” her voice cut off as she cried a bit, but she rallied. “I’m so proud to be your Mom and I’m so lucky to have a daughter whose so brilliant and so sure. You are amazing, Emma. My brave and beautiful little girl.”

“I love you, Mom,” Emma whispered, unable to say more, but knowing her mother understood her. She felt the same luck and joy at having her mother and her father. They were incredible and loving, supportive in every way, and a constant reminder of what it meant to be good and what it meant to choose love no matter what life may through their way. She pulled her mother close, hugging her tightly and enjoying this special moment that would only come once.

“I hate to break this up,” her grandmother said, drawing them back into the fray once more. “But if it has to be broken, I can think of no better reason.”

“What she means to say is we’ve got to get moving. If we even think about being late, Killian will find us and drag you away, and then we’ll have planned all of this for nothing,” Ruby exclaimed, grabbing her bouquet and heading towards the door.

“Wouldn’t want that, would we?” Elsa teased following suit with Anna close behind, but Emma flushed, thinking it might not be the worst thing to be swept away by her mate. Still, she wanted this moment, to be married in front of all their friends and family. It was something they’d worked so hard for, and she knew down to her core that it was going to all work out in the most wonderful way.

In the few weeks since coming home from their fight against George, Emma began to taste the dreams that she’d most wanted. A dose of normal and calm, stability and contentment, that was what she’d wanted, and since coming home she felt that. The doom and gloom of before felt largely lifted. She was centered and in love, grateful for all that she had, and full of faith that the things still yet to be rectified would be won out in the end. Gold was still out there, but for now they were safe, and while Emma and Killian had been focusing on themselves and on this wedding, her friends had begun to take over the hunt for their final foe. Emma trusted Elsa and Anna and Ruby to do everything they could, and that trust allowed her to feel free again, free from the weight of the whole world, and free from the worry that all the goodness in her life might someday disappear. Right now she was grounded in belief that their darkest times were past them, and on this picture perfect day, she had no space for demons. There was just her and Killian and the people they loved most, celebrating the love that they had found, and taking one last step together towards being man and wife.

In a flurry of excitement her friends and her Mom and Grandma helped her down the stairs, and as they descended Emma felt the pitter-pattering of her heart begin. A million little butterflies took flight inside of her and it was like all of her firsts with Killian wrapped into one. She remembered the first time she saw him, the first date they went on, the first night they’d made love. Her nerves were frayed from the rush of it all, but she wasn’t nervous, just impatient. She wanted to get to this moment so badly, but she reminded herself to be present. This was a once in a lifetime thing. She’d never do this again, never make these special memories, so she had to feel it all and witness it, for all its depth and beauty.

When she finally made it downstairs, and everyone was convinced that she was totally ready without a hair out of place, they began to move outside. One by one her friends marched forward towards the day, the warmth of the summer evening moving in, while a coastal breeze swept through, keeping things comfortable and cool. By the time Emma got outside, she was eager to get going, and then she saw her father, diligently waiting for her outside, prepared to escort her down the aisle.

“Honey, you look…” her Dad trailed off, his words caught in his throat and she saw the tears misting in his eyes. Oh crap, if her mother had threatened tears for Emma, then her father was the final blow. She couldn’t hold back when he looked at her like this, like being her Dad was the most important thing to him. “You look perfect.”

“Thank you, Dad,” she replied, taking his extended arm and leaning into him. “Any final words you want to hit me with? I’m not going to lie, I half expected you to have the car packed and a bug out plan in place.”

She teased him, needing a lightness in this moment, and she was rewarded with her father’s warm chuckle of amusement. It wasn’t so off base to think that her Dad might do that. He’d threatened as much her whole life, and always told her that no one would be good enough for his little girl. But despite those once held feelings, Emma knew the respect that her father had for Killian. They shared an understanding between them, and whatever her Dad might think of Killian’s worth, he trusted him beyond the shadow of a doubt to love Emma and protect her. Her father saw Killian for what he was – her fated mate and perfect partner, a man who would build her up and keep her grounded. He would make her strong and stand beside her, and he would do so with honesty and integrity and grace. And at the end of the day, what more could any parent ask for when it came to any of their children?

“Trust me I thought about it,” he quipped and Emma raised a brow, playing along with his joke. “But then I reminded myself that as much as that man loves you, you love him just the same. You’d never choose a life without him. Besides, he makes you happy, and you deserve all the happiness in the world.”

“I love you, Dad,” she whispered, kissing his cheek before wiping away a rogue tear that somehow slipped past her defenses.

“And I love you, Emma. Now let’s get going before I change my mind and hightail it out of here.”

Emma smiled at the last of the jokes, and realized it was their queue to head down the aisle. They had a hedgerow blocking them from view to come around first, and Emma felt her breathing even out. Things felt like they slowed down, and her actions kept in line with the beat of the music playing her way to her future. She and her Dad moved in time together, taking one step and then another and another closer to Killian. Finally, when they cleared the greenery and he came into view, Emma almost stopped moving, struck by how handsome he looked and the look of love in his eyes. He never hid his feelings for her, no matter what their situation, but seeing that uncut adoration filled her with sunshine and bliss. Happy was the word her father used, but this was so much more than that. There was no way to express it except to say she felt complete. Everything was clicking into place, and as the space between them closed, and her father handed her off to Killian, kissing her cheek before leaving her there at the altar, the rest of the world faded away. It was just her and Killian, coming together to pledge their hearts for now and always.

“You’re everything, Emma,” Killian whispered to her, and she smiled, feeling how the opening of her heart opened her mind to him too. The feelings he had and the things that he thought about her were warm and good and true, and she felt the same. It overcame them both as they looked at each other in front of all their friends and family. In fact, she was so caught up in him she missed the part of the ceremony where they were supposed to say their vows. Luckily Killian did the same, and when the officiant cleared his throat, everyone laughed, including Emma and Killian.

“Right. Well I know we said short and sweet, love, but I hope you’ll forgive me for making a few changes.”

“Oh here we go,” a voice that sounded like Liam’s said from the audience, and then just after there was a whooshing sound let loose, like whoever had spoken got a swift jab to the gut. Emma laughed, but didn’t need to look to know Elsa was managing things. Then Killian stepped closer, breaking the tradition of holding both hands so one came up to cup her cheek as they stood flush against each other. Everything fell away again, and all that remained was this man and his beautiful words.

“I, Killian Jones, take you, Emma Nolan, to be my wife and mate forever. To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, for now and for always. I pledge to honor and adore you, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, in good times and in bad.  My love for you will never waiver, it will grow stronger every day. I vow to protect you, to fight for you, to never leave your side. I vow to choose you and only you for every day that I live and every day thereafter. All I have is yours, my heart, my soul, and all the rest. You have me, Emma, all of me, and you will have me forever.”

Hearing those words wash over her, Emma had never known such bliss. The feeling of rightness that came with his love was effervescent and she knew in her heart that these words were such a small glimpse into his love for her. He could go on forever about he felt, but this was perfect. So perfect, in fact that she reiterated as much of it as she could.

“I, Emma Nolan, take you, Killian Jones, to be my husband and mate forever. To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, for now and for always. I pledge to honor and adore you, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, in good times and in bad. My love for you will never waiver, it will never break, it will never fade. I vow to protect your heart, to fight for our happiness, and to never leave you. I promise to choose you and only you for this life and every other. All that I am will love you eternally, for all that you are and so much more, and all that I want is to be with you forever. You have me now and you have me forever.”

Again their shared intimacy meant they missed their final queue, or rather that they jumped the gun so to speak, for the moment the words were out of her mouth, Killian closed the space between them, sealing their love with a glorious kiss. In the background she heard the officient finalize their promises, proclaiming them man and wife, and the cheering of her family and friends, but even when they pulled back, she only had eyes for Killian, the love of her life, her fated mate, and now her handsome husband.

………..

Everything it took to get here was completely worth it.

Swaying with his wife as one of her favorite songs crooned all around them, Killian truly understood why weddings meant so much to people. Despite his original instincts that mating was enough, he knew that this was a remarkable moment. This day was a gift for which he’d be forever grateful, and as long as he lived he would carry the memories of his beautiful Emma tying herself to him in one final way.

All day it had been hard to catch his breath. It started by being away from his bride. To say he hated separation would be an understatement, but he wanted to honor Emma’s wishes and the wishes of her mother. He told himself hundreds of times that this would be the last time they’d ever need a night like this, but it didn’t do much good. His sleep was troubled and his eagerness for time to pass was undeniable. It felt like a very long wait to get to the ceremony, but once they were there time sped to an almost alarming degree. Seeing Emma as a vision in white, watching her walk towards him, making their vows to each other – he memorized every moment was shocked at how quickly it all came and went. Now they’d celebrated properly, with dinner and drinking and merriment, and after hours on the dance floor, the night was winding down and it was nearly time to bring his mate home.

“Part of me never wants this to end,” Emma admitted, her words laced with a happiness that was infectious and sublime. She looked up at him, her jade eyes glittering in the light, her smile making her all the more beautiful. She was gorgeous and surreal, and when he took the chance to dip her in the dance and she let loose a full-throated laugh she was even more amazing.

“And the other part?” he asked, genuinely curious as to her feelings.

“The other part wants us to get home so you can finally see what I’m wearing underneath this dress.”

And that was it – there was no pulling back now, and from the expression on Emma’s face she knew exactly what her words would do. All day he’d been strong, never breaking, despite his want to claim her. Okay, actually there was that one brief interlude in her bedroom upstairs… but that was over far too quickly and he’d stopped before they could really get carried away, knowing when he claimed her as his wife he’d need a very long time before they were ready to resurface. Now, however, he moved with swift assuredness, sweeping Emma up into his arms so she let out a squeak of surprise before laughing again. He looked to the others and thanked them all for coming, but told them all they were headed home.

“Are you going to carry me the whole way?” Emma teased and Killian thought about it for a minute, but realized it would probably be best for the sake of the humans in attendance if he reined himself in only slightly. Instead he put her in his brother’s car without so much as asking to borrow it, careful to see Emma was cared for while also trying to move as quickly as he could. He looked to Liam, but didn’t have to bother asking. His brother was two steps ahead of him and he threw his keys from across the lawn. Killian caught them, started the car, and they drove away to the sound of everyone wishing them well and saying goodbye.

“Wow was that really all it took to make you break?” Emma asked giddily, thrilled at her ability to move him towards their wedding night like this. “I thought I’d have to do more to tempt you.”

She shifted in the chair and the slit that was part of her dress edged up her thigh. Killian groaned, driven by a need to get her home but a deep seeded yearning to pull the car over and have his way with her now. She was a bloody siren and she knew it, but all he could do right now was cover her hand with his, holding firm to keep her from tormenting him more.

“Some would call my show of control today heroic, love. Men have died from less.”

“Is that so?” Emma teased, but then it was his turn to flip the tables. He allowed their link to be more open between their minds and he let his fantasies run wild of what he’d do with her tonight. He spared a glance at her, knowing it could only last a second as he was driving, but the blush on her cheeks and the way she fidgeted in her seat spoke to her need. He could smell her arousal, practically taste it on his tongue, and only the thought that soon he’d taste it in the flesh kept him halfway sane. By the time they made it home he was ravenous, and now Emma was with him, clinging to him as he carried her inside and over the threshold for the first time as man and wife.

He didn’t stop moving until they made it upstairs, and only when they were fully inside their bedroom suite did Killian place her down so her feet would touch the floor. In the time it took to get up here, Emma had regrouped and the vixen in her came out to play. Her smile was almost wolfish as she teased him, slowly kicking off her heels as her hand came to her side to unzip the hidden fastener on her dress. Inch by glorious inch, Killian watched, as she bared herself to him, releasing herself from the tight fit of this blasted garment that drew him in all night. It fit her to perfection, making his mouth water even as his heart seized in his chest. On the outside she was pristine and classic – a constant allurement but classily encased. There was nothing too revealing, nothing too ostentatious, but because it was Emma it was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. Well at least until the moment she let the dress fall in a pool of satin and lace at her ankles. Then he saw what she had on underneath and he lost it, springing towards her like a wolf coming in for the kill.

“I take it that you like what you see,” Emma whispered, her words hoarse but confident, speaking to her lust and need.

“I’ve never loved anything as I love you, Emma,” he said, tracing her skin with his fingers, toying between gentle caresses and a more firm grasp in a way that made Emma’s breathing falter. “You’re gorgeous to me every moment of every day, but now… now you look good enough to eat.”

“This would be the perfect time to make a big bad wolf joke…” Emma said, but her words cut off with a cry of pleasure as his lips touched her neck and he nipped at her skin, maneuvering her back to the bed, knowing that soon there would be no words between them – only magic and desire.

“All right then, love, I’m waiting.”

He gave her the chance to make her fairytale reference as he stepped back, shedding his dress shirt and pants that he’d donned all day. Instead of forming words, however, his wife’s eyes stayed locked on his motions, and the almost feral hunger he felt at seeing her was replicated at her seeing him. He could almost feel her touch already, and it was excruciatingly delightful anticipating this coming together.

“Waiting?” she asked, clearly already forgetting what she’s said mere moments ago.

“You were saying something about me being a big bad wolf,” he growled out as he came above her on the bed, boxing her in. “And I assure you I can be all those things if you so choose.”

Killian’s smile ticked up at the way her heartbeat pounded and the instinct she had to grasp him close and not let go. In a moment like this more words escaped him, but instead of trying to find them, he ran his hands along her smooth, creamy, skin and savored the feel of her heat and the way her breathing slowed when he traced absent minded designs along her flesh.

“Yes, I want that,” she said, giving him the green light to have his wicked way with her tonight. His animal and he were thrilled at the prospect, but he had to make sure.

“It’s your call, Emma. Do you want me doting and gentle…?” She shook her head, before he could get the other option out.

“No, I want you with me, which is out of my mind with wanting you.”

Their lips crashed together then and both of them dueled for the best taste of each other. Killian felt her hand go down from his jaw, to his chest, across the slope of his abs to grip around his achingly hard cock, and the motion pulled a growl from deep within him. If that was how she wanted things, he would not disappoint. Still he stopped her progress, removing her hand, instantly missing it, but needing to take things in a different direction. Both parts of him demanded that – the man and the wolf.

“On your knees, love. Facing the headboard.” The flash of excitement and arousal that sparked in her made Killian growl low, but before she could follow his request he halted her motions. “Wait.”

“Wait?!” She cried out as his hand came to her sex and he felt the slick heat there beneath the barely there scrap of lace. His love was beyond need at this point, and from the simple, almost innocent contact she moaned, arching towards him, seeking any kind of release.

“Tell me you’re mine first, Emma. Mine now and always.”

“I’m yours,” she said immediately, clearly desperate to comply. “Now and always.”

“And you know I’m yours, just the same, don’t you, my love?”

She nodded as his fingers continued to tease her but he knew it wouldn’t be enough. Finally he caved and ripped the lace straight off of her. Then he pulled her towards the edge of the bed, giving him better access to what he wanted most. Emma didn’t argue now, and as he kissed down her body, disposing of the last of the fabric on her skin, her eyes sparkled with white hot need. By the time he tasted her sex she was desperate, and the keening cry of her need only spurred him on. There was nothing slow in this. He was starved for her, wound up to distraction, and simultaneously calmed and crazed by the taste of her. He felt her shake and quiver as a climax claimed her, but it wasn’t enough. He took another, and then brought her damn near a third before relenting, maneuvering her to her hands and knees and reveling in the enthusiasm she showed at being taken this way.

He got her into position, knowing this way would be deeper and that, as with their mating night and more heated nights before, he could claim her in a manner that appeased the man and the beast within. When she was ready, his hand moved down her back and he took his place behind her. With deft hands, he positioned her and though he wanted nothing more than to take her, he couldn’t help but to tease her. His hands traced over her, purposefully hitting each point he knew would drive her crazy.

“Fuck, Killian!” She shifted slightly trying to urge him on and Killian nipped at the back of her shoulder.

“Keep your hands where they are love.”

She immediately returned them to their original place and Killian continued to pay attention to her breasts until her squirming against him signaled that she needed more. With one of his hands, he traced down her chest over the abdomen that in a few weeks time would be swollen with the presence of their child. A low grumble emanated from his chest at the thought of Emma carrying such a gift. He and his wolf loved that idea, and already knew there’d be many more children between he and his mate. Eventually he allowed his hand to go lower, finally ending up between her spread legs, and finding her dripping sex, even more needy for him. As soon as he made contact with her clit, Emma again moaned his name.

“Why are you torturing me?” She asked breathily.

“Torture?” He asked, and she nodded, but he knew that this was in some ways a lie. Yes she might be in a suspended kind of agony holding on, but the longer he waited the more she’d enjoy every bit of this. Time had shown him that before, and he intended to make use of that knowledge tonight. “I wouldn’t call this torture, my love. I’d call it destiny. I was made to claim you and you me. Every night, just like this, as long as we both shall live.

“God, yes. Killian, please.” Killian kissed at the juncture of her shoulder and neck as he thrust inside her and the impact made him bite down to keep from groaning. Emma made no such attempt, and the sound of her pleasure fueled him on. Their pace was rough and frenzied, both of them chasing a high, and when they found it, they luxuriated in the feel of it. Of course it was hardly enough, and through the night they came together more than once. Sometimes he led, something she did, but every time one truth remained – their love was eternal and would always endure.

Finally, after hours of energy and exertion, sleep came to claim them both, and when it did, they dreamed of each other, of their child, and of the life that lay in store for them. And though there were still a few questions that lingered, and some unknown spots along the horizon, they both fell asleep knowing something beyond the shadow of a doubt: no matter what happened and no matter what may come, they would always have each other and their family to fight for, to honor, and to love forever more.

Post-Note: So there we have it. This is the final chapter of Lost Souls and Reveries. However, I am so so thrilled to announce (or rather remind you all) that I have signed on to this years CSSNS and my story will actually be a sequel to this story where the gang takes on Gold! It will be told in many character’s POV (think Elsa, Anna, Ruby) BUT it will start with Emma and Killian and end with Emma and Killian AND I promise there is lots of CS thrown into the mix. We’ll get to see them and how they’re doing, and we’ll see them get closer to the birth of their daughter as well as eventual bonus epilogues about what happens when all is said and done. That’s coming out this summer, so keep an eye out if you’re interested. That being said, I am so grateful for each and every one of you who commented, reviewed, and reached out about this story. This has been a labor of love that has taken nearly two years to complete and it is the most out of my wheelhouse story I have ever written. This story challenged me and inspired me, even while it infuriated me and eluded me. My muse played so hot and cold, but the end result, I hope, is something that has made you smile and been something you enjoyed. The goal of all my stories is to spread happiness and fluff, and at a time like this, I think that’s exactly what our fandom could use more of. Anyway, thank you all so much again for your support. I love you all for cheering me on and telling me what you think. It always makes my day to know you like a story, and I truly cherish each kind word. Wishing you all health and happiness in these trying time! – Emily

Tag list: @jennjenn615, @kmomof4, @winterbaby89, @teamhook, @ultraluckycatnd, @resident-of-storybrooke, @artistic-writer, @snowbellewells, @snarkycaptainswan4, @allofdafandoms-blog

[ks-caster]

The Future is Infinite (Chapter 7)

Start || Previous

Chapter-specific warnings: Mild suicidal ideation

“Slow down,” the man who’d been introduced a few minutes ago as Nick Fury demanded, “and start from the beginning.” Octavia resisted the urge to scratch her still-healing burns as Natasha and T’Challa took turns catching the man up on what had been happening with Thanos. According to Bruce (after he’d bravely suppressed a gag at seeing the state of her body) she was healing up at a phenomenal rate, and should be back up to 100% by the end of tomorrow. 

She had taken that as an official release from medical, and had grit her teeth through a painful and ill-advised shower, pulled on another pair of soft pants and a shirt, and had wandered into the introduction and briefing of the former director of SHIELD. She figured it wouldn’t hurt to listen in, if only to get caught up on everyone’s names.

“Shortly thereafter,” Thor was jumping in, “Thanos attacked my ship, carrying the remainder of Asgard’s people as refugees. He slaughtered about half of our number; the other half escaped in pods. While Loki, Hulk and I held them off…”

According to both Wong and Tony, Strange was going to lose it when he woke up and found out that they’d prioritized saving his life over retrieving the time stone. Octavia’s mind replayed those moments over and over, trying to find another angle she could have swung her sword or a way she could have caught up with the fleeing wizard. While she didn’t regret the decision to choose the life of a comrade in arms over an inanimate object, she did know how bad of a thing it was for Thanos to have it. Particularly if the wizard Mordo could use it the same as Strange had.

“...While Wanda was trying to destroy it - we almost lost Vision,” Natasha continued. “If the ship from Phyra hadn’t shown up when it did…”

Steve had looked like he was going to either hug her or cry when he’d caught sight of her upon her return. She’d made a joke about Venus being too hot for a vacation, and when it fell flat, reminded him that the infinity stone made her able to heal. Eventually she’d managed to push off some of the attention on Peter, pointing out how he’d bravely saved her and Valkyrie at the last moment. 

Tony had alternated between worried scolding and beaming pride, and something about the way he and Steve no longer flinched at each other’s presences made her think that someone had forced them to come to an understanding. Maybe it was Shuri, she thought tiredly. She was just glad it hadn’t been her this time.

“And you must be Miss Blake,” the woman who had come with Fury addressed her, holding out a hand to shake. Octavia took it. “Maria Hill, former agent of SHIELD, current hero-wrangler with Stark Industries.”

“Octavia Blake,” she responded, “current human infinity stone.” 

“What abilities does it give you?” Fury asked, somehow managing to look like he was staring her down both with his eye and the patch on his left side.

“So far, I can survive having my ribcage crushed by a titan, and a walk on the surface of Venus; if someone touches me and I don’t want them to, they get thrown across the room” she listed tiredly. “And bonus, when I wish that the floor would open up and swallow me, it actually does.” She focused hard on staying where she was, not wanting to accidentally give a practical demonstration right then and there.

“So in general, not a combatant,” Fury summed up. Half the room raised hands and voices to correct him. Octavia smirked while Fury raised an eyebrow, first at the room at large, and then at her.

“Untrained, then,” Fury corrected himself. Octavia inclined her head, allowing that.

“You happen to have a course available at SHIELD?” she checked, half sarcastic, half wondering what resources they might have. “How to use your infinity stone in 10 days or less?”

“A course, no,” Fury shook his head. “But,” he added thoughtfully, “I do know someone with experience in that area.”

“Actually, so do I,” Rocket realized aloud. Everyone turned to look at him. “Well, not a lot of experience.” he backtracked quickly. “And he can’t do it anymore. But he did pretty good for himself at the time. And he needs something to do anyway.”

“My option is on the other side of the galaxy,” Fury shrugged. “It’ll take her some time to get here.”

“Mine’s holed up in his room down the hall,” Rocket responded.

-0-

Peter Quill was a horrible teacher. 

First, he had no idea what he was doing. His experience was limited to two days living on a planet that was also his biological father (she wasn’t 100% clear on the details there and wasn’t sure she wanted to be). While his ability to control his surroundings sounded a lot like the descriptions she’d gotten of the reality stone’s powers, he understood them about as much as she did - which wasn’t much. 

He also insisted on expressing himself in metaphors based on a culture that Octavia had no context for, and didn’t become at all discouraged by her blank looks and complete lack of understanding. 

“Once again,” she growled, “I don’t know what the force is, or how to use it, I’ve never heard of Krypton, my name isn’t Daniel-san, and I still don’t understand why the thing you want me to do with the power of the universe is bend a spoon.” She held the piece of cutlery up and waved it back and forth between her fingers, thinking that she could easily bend the metal with only her hands. Hardly a god-like feat.

“Look,” Quill growled right back, “the only time you’ve been able to use it is when you were emotional - you wanted to fall through the floor, you didn’t want the King Panther dude to touch you, you were upset and lashed out. Now when I had my powers, they were tied into my emotions too - you don’t fly the arrow with your head,” he choked off, and Octavia bit down on the inner corner of her lips to try to prevent a scowl.

“I don’t know that one either,” she sighed, but stopped there, noticing that he was tearing up. Rocket had warned that he wasn’t terribly stable - his girlfriend had been killed by Thanos hours before he’d landed on Earth. He’d also described the man as funny, irreverent, friendly, and kind of an idiot. A good friend.

Like Jasper, she thought, heart twisting as he tried to make another joke to smooth over whatever he’d been saying about arrows.

“So what you’re saying with all of this is I need to get emotional,” she summed up.

“Not exactly,” he sighed, rubbing a hand across his eyes, ostensibly in frustration, but clearly also to remove the evidence that he’d started crying. “According to Thor, when his ex had it, it protected her when she felt she was in danger. Now the times you described that you used it, you were in danger too - or thought you were. But you’re not in danger here in this room.”

“So I need to… recreate what I was feeling at the time that I used it to defend myself,” she summed up.

“Yes, exactly,” Quill exclaimed. Octavia could feel herself shrinking on the inside. That toxic combination of fear and despair wasn’t something she wanted to relive.

“And you’re absolutely sure that this is the only way?”

“I’m absolutely sure that this is the only way I know of,” he responded, flinging his arms wide, “since I was only a damn deity for about two days, and I’ve only had my hands on an infinity stone for about thirty seconds. And I barely survived both of those things.” He gave her a confused, awed, pitying look with which she was becoming familiar as the people of Terra-Earth learned the various things she’d survived.

“Something something evolutionary next step ,” she said, waving the spoon dismissively. Then she glared at the curved metal, willing it to bend - for the hundredth time that morning, but this time focusing on the fear and pain she’d been feeling when she ran from the medical wing. 

The spoon glinted defiantly at her, a perfect, smooth curve. 

She forced herself to go back into the darkest recesses of her head, tracing the thoughts lurking at the edges of her consciousness, threatening to flood in and consume her if she let her guard down.

Functionally immortal. She’d gone from comfortably courting death, knowing that her final rest was on its way and having faith in all the good that would do her people, to possibly never being released from this life. She’d never see Ethan again. Or Jasper. Or Lincoln. Or her mom. And her people would never truly be free of The Dark Year. The last of the human race wasn’t even the last - just an abandoned test colony. It had all been for nothing, she’d given up her soul for nothing… 

“-Tavia! Octavia, geez, stop! Stop!” Her eyes snapped to Quill’s wide, terrified ones. The spoon stood, perfect and unbothered by her inner turmoil.

“What?” she began to demand, irritated that this man would demand she tear herself apart with emotional pain only to interrupt her before it did any good.

“I think maybe your problem is less about power, and more about… aim,” he explained quietly, pointing off to the side. Turning her head first one way, then the other, Octavia found her eyes going just as wide as his had. 

The columns supporting the room’s roof had all bent down, doubling over in response to her command. She glanced up, noting the red mist holding up the ceiling, and then following the long tail streaming off of it to its source of Wanda Maximoff’s hand.

“Nice catch,” Quill thanked the woman as he stood and dusted bits of plaster off of himself.

Octavia exhaled slowly, making a concentrated effort to calm herself down.

She was accustomed to power. She was accustomed to scaring people.

She was not accustomed to being unable to control those things.

‘The sword doesn’t care what you meant,’ she remembered coldly admonishing Illian, lifetimes ago. ‘It just cuts.’ This power was far more destructive than a sword or a gun, and for the first time in her life, she wasn’t sure if she could stop herself.

“Hey,” Natasha greeted them from the doorway, and three heads swiveled in her direction. “Strange is awake.”

“Awesome,” Quill responded dryly, “he can take over as Mr. Miyagi.”

“About that,” the red-haired agent sighed. “There’s been a complication.”

-0-

“Mordo’s spell was intended to remove his magic at the source,” Wong was explaining as they arrived. “Thanks to Octavia’s timely intervention, he didn’t succeed, but the damage is extensive - and it seems to have reset his memories back to June, 2016.”

“Look, Mr… whatever your name was,” Strange was trying to growl, his hands shaking even more uncontrollably than usual as his voice cracked. “I don’t know who the hell you people are or how I got here, but if someone could quit talking about magical miracle bullshit for ten seconds and call a real hospital, that would be great.”

“I take it June 2016 is prior to him becoming the master wizard we all know and loathe?” Tony sighed, pressing a half-full glass of something brown to his temple.

“Right before,” Wong confirmed. “The last thing he remembers is going to look for Pangborn. We think that that since Mordo’s spell was meant to remove his magic, and said magic is obtained through study and practice, he had to suppress the relevant memories..” 

“What the hell kind of hospital allows this many visitors to pile in at once?” Strange grumbled. “What country is this? And who’s in charge here?”

“Well that’s an unfortunate twist,” Octavia sighed, scrubbing her hands down her face as Shuri introduced herself and started to talk about chemical memories and a bunch of other scientific stuff that the warrior didn’t pretend to understand. They were short one time stone, one wizard, and she still didn’t have a competent teacher. 

Fear froze through her at the familiar thought that she might be on her own in this, carrying a power she neither wanted nor fully understood, again. Was it too much to ask of the universe that she not be alone to carry such a burden? She squeezed her eyes shut, breathing deeply as Wong had instructed her to do when she felt her mind start to slip down that path. 

In, out, Strange’s voice was relieved as he began to realize that Shuri really actually did know what she was talking about.

In, out, this wasn’t her earth, there was no more bunker, no more Blodreina.

In, out, Tony and Steve were discussing how this would affect their plan in low, stressed voices.

In, out, she just needed someone who understood this, who knew what the hell they were doing, she needed she needed she needed she needed so hard that the universe was warping around that need.

She swallowed, clenching her fists against her forehead. Too much, too much power, too much need.

In, out, Rocket was quite vocal about how screwed they were now. Strange was quite vocal - and in a much higher register - about the fact that a raccoon was talking.

In, out, she could feel the power flowing through her, infinity crying out to infinity, the whole universe beneath the soles of her shoes and more, answering her call as it had every time she’d felt cornered and afraid so far. 

Her heart pounded, once, twice. 

Their hearts pounded, once, twice.

In, out, a green-skinned woman was waking up, breathing herself for the first time in a long time, blinking in confusion at the light coming in through Quill’s window as she threw back the curtains and stared at the city below, trying to get her bearings… 

“Octavia!” The hands on her were Wong’s and she realized that she could feel the stone’s power about to throw him off, and reined the impulse in with an iron will, the same as she had the impulses to murder and maim so many times when she was queen. She felt the power rising against her, but she opened her eyes, aiming her fist at the window and letting the burst of red power shatter it. Wong’s hands left her shoulders out of sensible caution - not because she’d hurt him. 

Progress.

“I think I’m getting the hang of this,” she commented blandly.

“So the light show and broken window were on purpose?” Rocket snorted.

“That window could withstand a missile blast,” one of the red-armored warriors who followed the princess around said, her eyebrows up. “If that was on purpose, I’d hate to see an accident.”

“Who the hell gave me LSD?” Strange choked.

“Some guy named Mordo,” Octavia responded flippantly, “I’m sure Wong can fill you in. Rocket, Nebula, with me please.” She turned and walked out of the room, knowing and not knowing where she was going all at once. She felt the stone singing beneath her skin, felt another pulling at her, felt a third pricking at the edge of her consciousness, wanting to wake...

“Uh, where are we going?” Rocket demanded, standing up from all-fours after he’d caught up. 

“Quill’s room I think,” Octavia responded, turning left and descending a flight of stairs.

“Why?” Nebula shot back, not trying to disguise the irritation and disgust in her tone. Octavia threw open the door to the guest hallway, and came face to face with the green woman, dressed in what were probably Quill’s spare clothes, holding two halves of a broken stand lamp like batons. For a long moment, no one spoke. No one moved. No one breathed.

The poles clattered to the floor as Nebula flung herself at her sister.

To Be Continued... 

[trndsttr0961]

Rogue - Chapter Two

“The first rule of going on the run is don’t run, walk.” I calmly state as I notice Steve picking up his pace.

“If I run in these shoes, they’re gonna fall off.” He retorted

I snorted at this and when I looked at Natasha, she was also trying to suppress a smile from showing. We quickly looked away from each other, avoiding eye contact.

“Where are we going anyways?” Inquired Steve, breaking the silence. 

“The Apple store, duh.” I responded, rolling my eyes. We’d already gone over the plan numerous times, except someone here decided to not pay attention.

~ Flash Forward ~

“The drive has a level six homing program, so as soon as we boot up S.H.I.E.L.D. will know exactly where we are.” I stated, hacking on one of the computers in the Apple Store.

“How much time will we have?” Steve asked.

“About nine minutes from... now.” I say, inserting the flash drive into the computer.

I begin hacking into the flash drive, and I pull up the schematics for one of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Helicarriers.

“Fury was right about those ships,” states Natasha as she looks over my shoulder. “Somebody’s trying to hide something.”

“That’s strange,” I absentmindedly say aloud.

“What is it?” Steve demands.

“This drive, it’s protected by some sort of AI,” I say. “It keeps on rewriting itself to counter my commands.” I was beginning to get really pissed off.

“Can you override it?” Steve demands once more.

“The person who developed this is slightly smarter than me.” I snap at him. “Slightly.” I emphasize.

The corner of Natasha’s mouth twitches as she resists the urge to smirk at me. 

“Well that’s a first.” She sassily replies; a ghost of a smirk on her lips.

“Oh go fuck yourself Nat.” I say, accidentally calling her by her past nickname.

We quickly look away from each other, red forming on both of our cheeks.

“Language, Stark!” He snaps at me, not noticing my shoulders tensing. I hear a sharp intake of breath from Natasha.

Before he can even process what’s happening, I have a knife at his throat and a blaze in my eyes.

“Call me that again and I’ll do more than have you at knife point, super soldier or not.” I threaten him. 

As quickly as I pulled it out, I conceal my switchblade back inside my hoodie- disguise pocket and continue trying to hack into the S.H.I.E.L.D. database, ignoring the intense heat of Natasha’s emerald glare.

Suddenly it hit me.

“I’m gonna try running a tracer,” I announce. “This is a program that S.H.I.E.L.D. developed to track hostile malware, so if we can’t read the file maybe we can find out where it’s coming from!” I happily inform them.

My happiness soon came to an end when a voice came from our side.

“Can I help you guys with anything?” A blonde Apple employee in his mid 30s asked us.

“Oh, no, my fiancée was just helping me with some honeymoon destinations,” I respond quickly, thinking on my feet. I grab Natasha’s hand and she only looks a little surprise. Steve’s face however is priceless. “And my brother-in-law here, Simon was our ride here.” I say, painting a bright smile on my face.

“Oh congratulations guys- uh... I mean- gals?” He said, making a fool out of himself.

Natasha and I faked a painful laugh. 

“Haha, yeah. We get that all the time, no worries!” She joyfully says, reassuring the man.

“So where are you guys headed?” He asks, changing the topic. 

“Um...” I respond, my eyes flickering to the computer screen not wanting him to see it.

Luckily, it’s Steve who saves us.

“New Jersey.” He responds, although slightly unsure.

“Oh.” He simply responds, silently questioning our honeymoon destination choice.

All of the sudden he started walking towards us even more, and his facial expression appeared to be... wonder? Realization? Had he recognized the infamous Captain America? Were we found out? All of these thoughts swam around my brain as I internally panicked, although my face showed no sign of emotion. 

“...I have the exact same glasses.” The salesperson exclaimed in awe.

“Wow, you two are practically twins.” I sarcastically remarked, a fake smile on my face, still gripping Natasha’s hand.

He gave a hearty laugh. “Haha, yeah I wish! Specimen.” He gestured towards Steve’s obviously hot body. I couldn’t help but smirk at Steve’s awkward reaction. 

“Well if you guys need anything, my name’s Aaron.” He told us, thinking we were buddies now or something.

As he walked away, it seemed as if Natasha realized something.

“You said nine minutes, come on.” She said urgently.

“Shh, relax.” I reassure Natasha as I stop tracing the file to gently squeeze her hand.

“Ahem.” A cough comes from Steve as he tries to hurry me up. No one hurries me up.

With newfound determination, I continue furiously hacking the file and tracing its encrypted program. Soon enough, I feel a triumphant feeling make its way throughout my body.

“Got it.” I smirk. Throwing a glance towards Natasha to see her smiling with praise.

I zoom in on the file’s origin location, and see that it’s coming from a town in New Jersey called Wheaton.

“You know it?” I cast a glance towards Natasha and Steve.

A reminiscent expression flits across Steve’s face. “I used to.” He simply says. “Let’s go.”

I quickly pull out the flash drive and we briskly exit the Apple store, hurrying down the Mall’s hallways.

I subtly take in our surroundings, looking for S.H.I.E.L.D. or should I say HYDRA agents. I throw a brief glance to my left and notice that Natasha is doing the same thing. Classic Black Widow.

“Standard Tac Team.” She notes, acting as if there was nothing wrong.

I look around once more and notice two more agents coming towards us.

“Two behind and two across,” I remark nonchalantly. “And two coming straight at us.” Natasha and I both say at the same time. We both try to act as if we didn’t have a care in the world, but I could feel the heat creeping across my face.

“If they make us we’ll engage. Steve, you hit the south escalator to the metro.” Natasha says, looking at Steve and I.

I can see the two HYDRA agents looking around for us, and sooner or later they would see us.

“Shut up and put your arm around me,” I order Natasha, seeing the HYDRA agents getting closer. “Laugh at something I just said.”

“Wait, what?!” Steve glares at me. “What are you talking about?!”

“Do it.” I tell Natasha, ignoring Steve.

She complies, and does exactly what I told her to do. She fakes a laugh that sounds so genuine and familiar I almost stop and blankly stare at her.

As casually and quickly as we can, the three of us make our way towards the escalator with Natasha and I in the front and Steve in the back. (He’s totally third wheeling) When we get onto the escalator, we can hear a gruff and agitated voice speaking into an earpiece, so subtly that the people passing by wouldn’t be able to tell he was even speaking at all. 

“Snake the upper levels. Work down to me.” He firmly orders his Tac Team. as he walks onto the escalator next to us, going up.

As our escalator went down, I knew that he would be able to see us and he would directly engage, endangering the public. I could only hope that our hoodies and Steve’s glasses would be able to fool him. 

Almost immediately after I saw the Tac Team leader, Natasha spotted him as well. Thinking quickly on her feet, she turned around and whispered to me in her silky voice,

“Kiss me,” She orders me. Funnily enough, the tables have turned. 

“What?! Are you guys like dating or something?!” Steve randomly asked, again.

“Public displays of affection make people very uncomfortable.” Natasha tells Steve in a bored voice, as if what she just said was common knowledge.

“Yes, they do.” He mutters under his breath. Natasha and I choose to ignore him.

Understanding where she was going, I nodded and whispered okay back. When he was close enough and looked over to us, 

~ Warning: Smut ~

Natasha gently grabbed my face, and leaned down even though we were both the same height, seeing as I was one step on the escalator below her. I melted into the passionate yet soft kiss, succumbing to her fiery kiss. I draped my arms over her shoulders, and clasped them behind her neck. 

 I could feel my heart beating faster than normal, and my pulse quickening as our tongues fought for dominance. I barely was aware of my surroundings, and my eyes were closed in bliss. I felt her soft, pale fingers gently brush back a lock of hair that had fallen out of my messy bun. I softly moaned in her mouth as her silky fingers brushed against my face. I unclasped my hands from behind her neck, and gripped her fiery locks with them. I felt her soft purr vibrate through my throat and mouth, and I felt a sense of pride at pleasuring her. Nat began to deepen the kiss when a throat cleared from behind us.

“Ahem.” Cap coughed, looking, to my amusement, very uncomfortable. 

I smirked back at him and threw him a wink, causing him to turn red. I looked down and noticed we were almost at the end of the escalator. I could just feel the tension in the air around us after me and Nat’s intense make out session. We looked at each other and had to keep from bursting out laughing. It was just like old times, before S.H.I.E.L.D. and before the Avengers.