#and the scolding glare audrey is so good at

[owlsie-hoot]

*The eyes are the window to the soul*

(You cannot deny it: they have the best eyesex)

[gracies-baby]

Weenie’s Vet Visit

(Gracie Abrams x Reader)

——————————————————————————

Gracie wakes to the sound of Weenie whining causing her to groan.

"Weenie, stop whining" She groans before the whining continues, causing her to get out of bed to find her dog. She finds the dog laying on her couch surrounded by an empty chocolate packet.

"Weenie? Weens, did you eat this? Oh shit.." Gracie picks the dog up before running to her best friends room and waking her up.

"Audrey! We have to go to the vet; Weenie ate your chocolate!" Audrey rushes out of bed and changes out of her pajamas before getting into the passenger seat of Gracie's car, holding the dog while her roommate drives to the vet.

"I told you not to leave your chocolate out! Now look what happened!" Gracie stresses as she practically speeds to the vet.

"He's gonna be fine. It was only a little bit. Me and Abby ate most of it earlier" Audrey replies as she wipes the sleep from her eyes while petting the dog on her lap. Gracie parks the car before she rushes to the building after grabbing her dog being followed by Audrey.

"Hi! How can I help you?" The girl at the desk asks when she sees the brunette run towards the desk.

"Hi, my dog ate some chocolate and I just wanna make sure he's okay" Gracie replies as she nervously looks at her dog.

"Of course! Let me get your name and the vet will be right with you" Gracie tells the girl her name before taking a seat in the waiting room while glaring at her friend.

"This is completely unnecessary. It couldn't have waited until the morning? It is literally 4 AM, no normal person is awake at this time" Audrey groans as her eyes start to droop shut but before Gracie can scold her friend, they hear a voice.

"Gracie? We're ready for you now" Gracie looks towards the voice only to freeze when she sees the woman in front of her. She tries to speak but it only comes out as a whimper. Audrey looks at the girl before smirking when she notices her red cheeks.

"Gracie?" The woman repeats before Audrey stands up, pulling her friend with her.

"Sorry, it's been a long night. She's pretty tired" Audrey speaks for the brunette before the vet smiles.

"No worries, I'm Y/n and I'm guessing this is Weenie! Hi, I heard you had a little sweet treat. Don't worry, you'll be good as new in no time. Do you mind?" Y/n asks the brunette as she goes to take the dog from her arms.

"Uh, no, go ahead" Gracie speaks for the first time as she hands the woman her dog.

"You can come in but your friends gonna have to wait here" Y/n tells the brunette as she gives Audrey an apologetic smile.

"Yeah, that's fine. It's her fault this happened anyway" Gracie playfully glares at he friend causing an offended look to appear on her face.

"I told you; it was an accident!" But her words are drowned out when Y/n closes the door behind Gracie and herself.

"So, do you know how much chocolate he actually ingested?" Y/n asks while she begins to do the tests on the dog.

"Uh, no sorry, I don't. I was asleep" Gracie replies with a nervous look before Y/n smiles at her.

"Well, he's not vomiting. That's a good sign. He's had some water. You should be free to go now but I'll write down my number for you. Call me if you notice anything wrong" Y/n writes on a piece of paper before folding it and giving it to the brunette.

"Yeah. Definitely. I will definitely do that" Gracie stutters as she leaves the room with a light blush on her cheeks as Y/n watches with a soft smile before the two girls go back to the car while the girl at the desk smirks at her.

"You do realize she could just call the business, right? what'd you give her your number for?" She teases, overhearing the conversation that the other two women had.

"I just thought this would be more convenient. You know, because you never answer the work phone" Y/n replies as she playfully glares at the girl while using her hands to cover the blush on her cheeks.

"Don't bring my work habits into this. You were totally just flirting with that girl. By the looks of it, she was into you too. Did you see her face when you called her name? She looked like she was gonna pass out"

"I was not flirting with her. Just go back to work" Y/n tells her friend as she walks back to her office with a bright blush on her cheeks.

"Say what you want but you were totally into her!" The girl calls back teasingly causing Y/n to groan.

---

"What was that paper she gave you?" Audrey asks when they get back into the car.

"Nothing. Just a number to call. You know, in case Weenie has any trouble" Gracie replies only for Audrey to snatch the note out of her hands.

"Call me sometime <3 -Y/n and she gave you her personal number! I can't believe your awkward stuttering actually worked!" Audrey exclaims with a laugh as she reads the note out loud.

"It's just in case Weenie gets sick. Don't make it a big deal" Gracie replies as a smile takes over her face.

"Gracie, she drew a love heart. She wants you. I guarantee you, if you don't use this number, she's gonna feel rejected" Audrey glares at her friend before looking out the window, leaving the brunette to her own thoughts.

---

A few days pass and Gracie still doesn't use the number that sits on her shelf. As a result of this, Y/n goes to work every day with a never changing bad mood. Gracie has been stuck in her thoughts until Audrey has had enough.

"Just call the girl, you idiot" Audrey groans when she sees her best friend laying on the couch with a distant look in her eyes.

"I can't do that. Weenie's fine, there's nothing to call about"

"You are such a fucking dumbass. Come with me" Audrey takes her friend's hand and pushes her in the passenger seat of her car before driving to the vet's office.

"Audrey, stop!" Gracie groans when her best friend stops the car in the parking lot before Audrey pull her inside.

"Hi, is Y/n here?" Audrey asks. The girl at the desk lifts her head when she hears a voice only to smirk when she sees the brunette looking away with a shy smile.

"Y/n! Someone's here for you!" The girl yells out before Y/n walks out of her office and smiles softly when she sees Gracie waiting in the lobby. Audrey and the receptionist walk away, giving the two of them some privacy.

"You know, when I gave you that number, I expected you to use it" Y/n teases with a hurt look.

"Yeah, I just- I didn't wanna make a fool out of myself. If you only gave it to me to give you Weenie updates and I asked you out and got rejected, I don't think I could live with that. I mean, who could live with being rejected by you?" Gracie replies as she chuckles with embarrassment.

"Gracie, I drew a love heart for you. Of course I wanted you to ask me out"

"If it helps, I did add you to my contacts" Gracie tells the shorter girl with a soft smile.

"Okay, well, you're here now. I'm waiting" Y/n taps her foot teasingly.

"Okay, uh, Y/n, would you wanna have dinner sometime? Or see a movie if you're more interested in that" 

"I would love to go out with you Gracie. Just text me the time and place. Use my number this time please" Y/n replies with an excited look as she presses a soft kiss to the brunette's cheek before walking back into her office, leaving the girl to walk back to her best friend with a wide grin.

[emotionalcadaver]

Part 21: The Shadow of the Abattoir

Fandom: Peaky Blinders

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x OC

Summary: Lucy begins to worry over the intentions of a member of the family, and receives some sorrowful news.

Word Count: 6,376

Notes: Warnings for depictions of jealousy, minor sexual content, violence, blood, and references to minor character death, depression, and suicide.

Previous Chapter • Series • Fic • Next Chapter

Chapter 13: Traitor

“He was never the brightest. Or the most competent. But…he was such a good boy,” Audrey Changretta’s fingers clutched at her handkerchief. Just from looking at her, one would not have been able to tell that she had been crying just moments ago. Her eyes were dry, face as hard and as immovable as stone.

Luca rested a hand on his mother’s knee. “I know, Ma. I know. He was.”

He thought of his cousin, running rampant with them down the streets. Playing on the floor in his father’s living room when they were little. Of his wedding day, and how he’d smiled so nervously at Luca while he adjusted Alessio’s suit jacket for him. 

All gone.

They would not even be able to have a proper burial for him. Nor his wife or the two men who’d been guarding them. No open casket would be possible considering that the fucking heads of the deceased had been misplaced. 

His fingers tightened around the toothpick held between them. Fucking Shelby.

“It was her,” his mother said, lips thinning into a straight red slash across her mouth. “That red bitch. Shelby’s little whore. I know it in my bones.”

Luca shook his head. “It’s more likely that it was those savages from the mountains that Shelby has hired to do his dirty work for him.”

His mother shot him a glare. “You aren’t listening to me about her, Luca.”

He took a deep breath, reminding himself to be patient with her. Already she’d had to mourn a husband and a son. And now a nephew. How much more pain and loss would their family be forced to endure before it was enough?  

Deep down, he knew: as much as it took to put Thomas Shelby in the fucking ground.

“Winters is small. I doubt that she has the physical ability to kill and decapitate four fully grown people like that. Besides,” he added when his mother pursed her lips, “she never leaves Shelby’s side.”

“Your refusal to consider her a serious threat will be your downfall, Luca,” his mother warned in a tone of voice that reminded him eerily of being scolded in his childhood.

Luca chuckled to hide his annoyance. “I just find it hard to believe that one little girl could cause so many problems,” he put the toothpick between his teeth. “And if she does, we’ll mow her down like all the rest. I am being meticulous, Mother. You don’t need to worry.” Standing, he shoved his hands into his pockets while he approached the window. “You yourself told me that decapitation was never really part of Winters’s repertoire anyway.”

“She could be changing things up on purpose. As a way to trick you into not considering her a legitimate threat. She’s cunning, that one. Like a fox.”

Luca just hummed to let her know he’d heard her, peering out the window. It was raining again.

“Well, whoever it was, it’ll be taken care of. I promise. Alessio will not go unavenged.”

The clock on the mantle chimed, and he sighed.

“I have to go speak with Matteo,” returning to his mother’s side, he bent to kiss her on the cheek. But before departing from the room, he hesitated.

“There’s someone else. A secretary working for Shelby. Lizzie Stark. I remember Angel mentioning her in his letters. I was wondering if you know of anything that would be useful there. A grievance over Angel’s death that we could use, perhaps…” 

His mother’s face had gone dark. “No,” she said sharply with a bitter scoff. “No, you won’t be getting anything from that harlot. She’s loyal to the Shelbys. Always has been.”

Luca frowned. His impression from Angel’s letters had been that he and the Stark woman had been deeply in love. It had surprised him that she was still working for Shelby at all, after what he and his brothers had done to Angel. He’d hoped that she perhaps was looking for her own chance to take revenge on them. Or maybe was simply trapped into employment for Shelby due to economic reasons. That she could be truly loyal in her heart to him was…disappointing. 

The idea that his brother’s love for her may have been unrequited filled him with both sorrow and rage. As if she could do better than Angel Changretta. Had she misled him on purpose? Lured him into a relationship with her to give the Shelbys an excuse to come after him?

His teeth grinded against the toothpick with his thoughts. For a moment, he considered whether or not it would be worth it to pay the Stark woman a little visit. Probably not, in the larger scheme of things. At least not right now. But maybe after…once all the Shelbys were gone and their domain belonged to him…he and Miss. Stark could have a little chat about the way she’d behaved regarding his little brother. 

“Pity,” he said with a shrug. “But…there are still others in this city with hate in their hearts for the Shelbys that we can use.”

∗ ∗ ∗ 

“Well,” Lucy said, waiting until Mrs. Ross had left the office before speaking, “that may have just been the most obvious set-up for an ambush that I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Tommy made a sound of agreement, index and thumb rubbing together as he watched the door that Mrs. Ross had disappeared through, frowning. “Unless it’s intended to be that obvious.”

She leaned back, the leather in the chair creaking beneath her. “Why would Luca do that? If we all think it’s a set-up for Arthur, everyone will be near Mrs. Ross’s. Unless he were going to try to get the women during that time…”

“Or Michael.”

“Michael has guards.”

Tommy shrugged. “I think that you’ve proved quite soundly that guards can only do so much, love.”

“Mm,” she stifled a small smile. “Fair.” Her head cocked as she watched him, still staring at the door, mind working a mile a minute behind those pretty blue eyes. “What do you want to do?”

He finally turned his gaze to her. “I say we take the bait. See what Luca has in store for us,” he raised an eyebrow. “You think that you would be up for shooting some more people?”

She failed to stifle her smile, rising up out of her seat and stepping around the desk to him, setting her cigarette down in the ashtray. Tommy chuckled when she pushed him back lightly so that she could settle herself on his lap. 

“What do you think?” she asked with a cheeky grin, curling her arms around his shoulders. Tommy’s laugh rumbled in his chest, face tiling up to meet her kiss. His strong hands smoothed up her back, rubbing along her shoulder blades.

The door to the office opened suddenly, without even a courtesy knock in warning before it was wrenched harshly ajar. They both jerked apart hastily. While their relationship was no longer a secret as it had been during his marriage to Grace and the first couple of years spent together, they still preferred their privacy when it came to more intimate moments.

But it was just Lizzie, a mountain of papers clutched in her arms. Grateful that it wasn’t a client or someone else less familiar with their relationship, Lucy just shifted herself so that she was sitting across Tommy’s lap with her arm around his shoulders, his hand on her waist. Lizzie took one look at them seated behind his desk together, and scowled. 

“There’s a call for you, Tommy. And these,” she dumped the papers onto his desk unceremoniously, “all need to be signed.”  

Lucy raised an eyebrow at the chillness in Lizzie’s voice, frowning a little to herself. Apparently today was a cold day, as far as Lizzie’s feelings towards her went.

Her heart sank a little at that. And here she was hoping that perhaps they’d finally gotten past moments like these.

It made things so confusing, sometimes. Not to mention almost impossible to properly discern how Lizzie really felt about her. Did she genuinely want to be friends, or was she just putting up with her because she had to if she wanted to stay close to Tommy? Did she really hate her, or was it just bitterness and jealousy getting the better of her in the moment? 

Lucy had never been able to entirely shake the feeling that, if she had it her way, Lizzie would have happily erased her from all existence if given the chance. 

She felt bad for her, really she did. And she had tried to be more mindful of Lizzie’s feelings over the years, making an effort not to flaunt things between her and Tommy too much in front of her. 

But she had really thought, given Lizzie’s behavior and attitude shift towards her over the past year, that maybe she had finally gotten over Tommy. That they could be real friends. That she wouldn’t have to walk on eggshells regarding what she did or said around her for fear that she would unintentionally cause Lizzie to turn sour on her again.     

Apparently not. 

“Right,” Tommy said, picking up his pen and pulling the first paper towards him. “Transfer the call to the phone in here.”

Lizzie nodded, mouth set in a firm line, narrowed eyes fixed hard on them. Lucy shifted uncomfortably, wiggling out of Tommy’s grasp to stand up and move a few paces away from him. She caught him shooting her a puzzled look from the corner of her eye. 

“And call around to the boys, tell them I want to see them all in Charlie’s yard tomorrow morning.”

“Anything else?”

Lucy’s brows flew up at Lizzie’s tone. Even in her worst moods, it was rare for her to talk to him like that. Tommy blinked behind his glasses, looking more taken aback than anything else.

“No. That’s all.”

Lizzie shot Lucy a look that could have curdled milk, spun on her heel, and stomped from the room. 

“What the fuck is her problem?” Tommy asked soon as the door had closed behind her, his expression genuinely baffled. Lucy sighed, fingers finding the familiar pattern of her rings to fumble with. 

“We shouldn’t have taken her to the canal,” she bemoaned. Tommy’s brows pinched. 

“Why not?”

She sighed. For someone so smart, he could be quite daft when it came to things like this. “It must’ve, I don’t know, gotten her hopes up that maybe something was finally going to happen between you two or something.”

“From that?” he sounded incredulous.

“You were being very nice to her.”

“So? That doesn’t mean that I’m in fucking love with her. Besides, you were there too, so how could she think…” 

She shrugged helplessly, and he leaned back in his chair with a long suffering sigh.

“Fucking hell.”

“Who knows what really goes on inside Lizzie’s head.” 

He must have heard something in her voice, because his eyes snapped over to her.

“Hey,” he leaned forward, looping his arm around her hips and pulling her closer, “don’t let her bother you. It’s her problem if she misinterpreted things.”

“I always feel bad for her…” she said softly, even as she rested her hands on him.

“You shouldn’t. It’s not your fault.”

She bit her lip. Sometimes she wasn’t sure if that was entirely true or not.

But before she could say anything more on the subject, the phone on the desk started to ring.

“I’ll get it,” she said, “you work on getting all those signed.”

Tommy loosened his grip on her enough that she could reach over to pluck the phone from its cradle, but she could still sense him watching her carefully, probably sensing the confliction inside her that Lizzie’s behavior had triggered. 

“Thomas Shelby’s office,” she said into the phone professionally. 

“Lucy? It’s May.”

“May! Hi!”

Tommy’s head quirked up with interest at the name. 

“How are you?” Lucy asked, all thought or worry about Lizzie momentarily forgotten.

“Oh, alright. Busy, you know. It’s always hard work when getting familiar with a new horse.”

“Of course. How is she doing?”

“Actually, that’s what I was calling you about. I have a few things that need Tommy’s signature, so I was thinking that perhaps I could pop over to Small Heath sometime and give you both a full report.” 

Excitement bloomed in her chest at the thought of getting to see her friend again. “We’d both love to see you. When were you thinking of coming?”

“I have a few dates in mind. But really whenever works best for you and Tommy. I know how busy you can both get.” 

Tommy nudged her. “Tell her that I’ll send Charlie in a boat to pick her up from the station.”

Her brows rose. “May, can you hang on a second?” she covered the mouthpiece of the phone with her palm. “A boat?”

“Safer than having her come by cab. I don’t trust Changretta not to try to take her hostage should he find out she’s coming.”

“Okayyyy,” she removed her hand from the mouthpiece. “May, how would you feel about coming by boat from the station?”

“Boat?”

“Mhm. Charlie would come pick you up and you’d come in through the canals. It would be safer considering all the…trouble we’ve been dealing with lately.”

“You mean the mafia?”

“How do you know about that?”

“Curly let it slip when I came to pick up the horse. And a boat would be fine, if you think it would be safer.”

“We’ll talk with Charlie and I’ll call you later with the date and where you should go for him to pick you up.”  

“Alright.”

“Talk later.”

“Bye, Lucy.”

She set the phone back into its cradle, a bubble of excitement building in her chest. She had missed May.

“She said yes?” Tommy asked, eyes trained on the paper in front of him, scribbling his signature on the line at the bottom.

“Yeah.”

“Mm,” he looked up at her with dancing eyes. “Good.”

She took a step towards him, rubbing idly at his shoulder while she watched him sign another paper before setting it aside. “Something to look forward to, at least.” She bit her lip. “Maybe…you could book a suite for all of us while she’s here.”

His gaze snapped up to hers, cheeks twitching as he tried to hide a mischievous smile. “Oh? And what sort of things do you think we would do in this suite, hm?”

Her hands slid along the nape of his neck while he encouraged her back into his lap.

“All sorts of things,” she said, voice lowered. 

Tommy purred in deep approval, and brought his lips to hers. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

Lucy puffed on her cigarette, moving to push her curls more firmly underneath her cap. For not the first time, she cursed her dark red hair for its obviousness, silently wishing that she’d worn a wig to better conceal it. Tommy’s hand shot out to gently take her wrist, lowering her hand from her head.  

“You’re fine. Hardly anyone will be able to see us up here, anyway.”

She drew in a shaky breath, nodding silently and adjusting her grip on the rifle in her hand, peeking out the narrow window they were stationed behind, down to the square where Johnny Dogs was posing as a vendor selling meats. 

She had stood by quietly earlier at Charlie’s yard while Tommy had laid out the plan they’d come up with Arthur after Mrs. Ross’s visit to the office and the delivery of her strange invitation. Charlie had handed her a rifle that she leaned casually against as Tommy gave the other boys their instructions. 

“Don’t know what you think you need the rest of us for, Tom, when you’ve got this one with her deadshot and new fondness for lopping off heads,” Johnny had chuckled, reaching around the ruffle Lucy’s hair fondly. She had rolled her eyes at him affectionately, smiling to herself as all the men laughed. 

Would it be terrible to say that she had missed this? 

Her eyes fixed on the entry points to the square, muscles tensed and prepared to spring into action at the first sign of trouble. She could see Arthur climbing the stairs, heading in the direction of Mrs. Ross’s home. Taking one last long drag from her cigarette, she stubbed it out against the stone windowsill, bouncing once on her toes in preparation. 

Beside her, stress seemed to come off of Tommy in waves, his shoulder so tense where it lightly brushed against hers that Lucy was half worried he would snap like a rubber band. She leaned her side more firmly into his, hoping that the press of their bodies together would help soothe him a little. He just sighed deeply, reaching out a hand to smooth along the back of her skull, down her spine to rest on the small of her back, encouraging her to lean more heavily into him. 

They waited for what felt like an age after Arthur disappeared inside of Mrs. Ross’s home. A few beads of sweat rolled down Lucy’s back, her chest feeling tight with tension. 

They had told their men guarding Michael to be ready. And Polly, Ada, and Linda were all holed up at the betting shop, surrounded by a small army of their men. Just in case this whole thing turned out to be a decoy.

“Car,” she breathed out suddenly, spotting the nose of what looked like a Rolls Royce pulling up in one of the alleys. Tommy spotted it at the same time she did, a high whistle sounding from his lips in warning to their other men positioned around the square. She shifted the rifle in her hands, finger curling over the trigger.

The car idled in the alley, a man stepping out and leaning against one of the car’s doors while he lit a cigarette. Lucy narrowed her eyes, trying to discern if she recognized him or not from any of the photos of Luca’s men they’d acquired. Tommy raised a hand to Johnny and Isiah down below, silently ordering them to hold their fire. 

“Wait,” he breathed out, when she moved to raise her rifle and take aim. She raised an eyebrow, but did as she was told, keeping her rifle lowered.  

Another seemingly massive stretch of time seemed to pass. The man at the car didn’t move; didn’t do anything at all except smoke and stare at the wall.

A young girl suddenly darted out onto the street, a blue handkerchief clutched in her hand. She came to a stop at the mouth of the alley, waved it wildly over her head, and then took off running back the way she’d came. The man leapt back into the car and then it was reversing back, away from the square. Tommy shouted out the order to fire on it, but it was already out of their line of sight from the angle that the window was at. Johnny and Isiah opened up on it with their revolvers, but just based on the looks on their faces, she knew that they hadn’t managed to cause any legitimate damage. 

Beside her, Tommy was shouting to them that it was a decoy, ordering for the car to be brought around. He took her hand firmly, leading her along down the stairs. They took them two at a time, jumping into the car where it pulled up half on the curb.

“Who did you think they went for instead?” she asked, wiping some hair out of her eyes. 

“Michael. I can’t see Luca being dumb enough to try an all out assault on the betting shop with so many of our men working there. Michael’s the most vulnerable.” 

They took off speeding to the hospital, the horn of the car blaring to warn pedestrians and other vehicles out of the way. It was barely parked and shut off before they were piling out and tearing through the hospital’s front doors, footsteps clattering up the stairs, revolvers pulled from coats. 

Tommy pushed through the double doors first, coming to such a sudden halt that Lucy nearly collided with him.

The wall to the side of the door was splattered with fresh blood, dripping like crimson tears down the pristine, white paint. The body of one of their men was slumped on the floor, his head still oozing red in a sluggish river.

She and Tommy shared a look, and then they were rushing to the doors that led into Michael’s room. Arthur blew the lock off, and Tommy shouldered them open, hurrying to where Michael was half slouched against bed. His eyes were wide, face pale as a ghost. 

Tommy was by his side in a second, asking in a voice that was suddenly incredibly paternal what had happened. Lucy swept the corners of the room, fingers flexing on her revolver as she checked for any enemies that may have been hiding to ambush them. There was no one, but the door leading out the back way was hanging ajar. Michael was stuttering something about how the Italians had run away when they heard them coming.  

“Go,” Lucy ordered to Arthur, and he went racing through the door with Johnny. She doubted that they would be able to catch any of them, but it was worth a shot.    

Tommy collapsed into one of the chairs at the table in the center of the room, chest heaving as he caught his breath. Lucy uncocked her revolver and tucked it back into her holster, her own breaths labored from the mad dash from the square to the car and up the stairs. 

Her eyes landed on Michael, and the hairs on the back of her arms stood on end at the look she saw cross his face when he told Tommy that he was fine and unhurt. There was something in his eyes…something calculated and almost malicious. It made her stomach heave queasily with anxiety, instincts prickling in alarm.

There was something that Michael was not telling them. Something important.

Lucy suddenly couldn’t shake the feeling that while there may have been no Italians in the room with them, that did not mean that they were not in the presence of an enemy. 

∗ ∗ ∗ 

She waited as Tommy finished up his phone call to Charlie, arms crossed and finger tapping against her bicep while she waited. The exhale that he let out after hanging up and leaning back in his chair carried with it the weight of the world, stress clear in the frown melding itself to his lips. He sat there for a long moment, just thinking, and then rose to his feet, indicating with a small jerk of his head that he wanted her to follow him. 

Lucy had debated whether or not to tell him about the thing she’d seen in Michael’s face the whole way back from the hospital to the betting shop. A part of her had thought–hoped, was actually the more accurate word–that she was just being paranoid. But the feelings of uneasiness within her had not gotten better since they’d left Michael. It was as if something had shifted. The moment Michael decided not to tell them the thing that was of such importance, everything within him and between him and Tommy had changed. 

“Tommy?” she started carefully. He just grunted in response. “Did you notice anything strange about Michael when we were at the hospital?”

He just sighed, long and exhaustedly. “You noticed that too, eh?”

“It was strange, wasn’t it?”

“Mhm. Yeah, it was.”

She lowered her voice. “I had told Polly not to tell Michael about the plan to offer you up to Luca on a silver platter. Maybe it had something to do with that? Luca might’ve said something while he was in the room with him.” 

Polly had told them that when she made contact with Luca, she had asked him to spare everyone else if she handed over Tommy. To get his focus off of the rest of them for a while. Alleviate the danger somewhat, at least for everyone else. Nervous as it may have made Lucy, it was a risk Tommy was more than willing to take.

“Luca’s clearly decided to take the deal. That’s the only way to explain why Michael’s alive at all. I don’t believe that shit he said about the gun misfiring. We would have heard it.”

“We should have been able to hear them running, had they still been in the room when we made it up there and made and break for it only after we arrived. But I didn’t hear any footsteps at all when we got into the room,” she sighed, pulling a cigarette from her pocket and lighting it. “Maybe…if he’s pieced it together that Polly is the one who made a deal with Luca, he’s just trying to protect her.”

Tommy gave her a look. “Do you really believe that?”

She exhaled again, a plume of smoke flowing from her lips and up into the air around them. “Not really,” she considered whether or not to share the next bit, “I haven’t felt good about him for a while now, Tom. Not since he killed Hughes, actually. I thought…that killing the priest would help him. Like how killing Matthew helped me. But I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Not everyone can be like you, love,” Tommy said gently. 

“There’s this way that he looks at you sometimes, when he thinks you aren’t watching. I don’t like it,” chewing on her bottom lip, she watched the black smoke rise up from the factories around them, suddenly feeling very anxious. “Like he’s sizing you up.”

“Like he’s looking for weak points?”

“Yeah. He’s gotten more ambitious. Maybe…” she shook her head, letting out a breath, rubbing at her eyes. “I don’t know. But I don’t have a good feeling about any of it.”

Tommy hummed, considering as they walked. “We’ll just keep an eye on him for now.”

“Right.” She nodded, and reached out to thread her arms through his. She asked him if they could stop for some food, and by the time they’d eaten, ran some errands, and gotten to Charlie’s yard, it was nightfall.

The lantern swung precariously from Tommy’s hand, clutched in the one not interlaced with hers. They found the Golds waiting for them in the stables, and she left Tommy to the business of paying them for the men they’d killed while she cooed over a few of the horses currently being housed there. 

“Oi! I got four all on my own earlier!” she bristled a little, looking over her shoulder when Aberama suggested that, considering the lack of casualties inflicted by them today, that they’d been spending too much time pushing paper. Tommy just grumbled, pointing out that Aberama and his men had also allowed Luca to get away, even if they had managed to take out two of his men.

She made a movement to follow him when he snatched up his lantern and headed for the door, but froze at Aberama’s voice suddenly calling out to her. 

“Miss. Winters! Before you go, there’s something that I’ve been meaning to tell you,” Aberama called, and she and Tommy both hesitated. Her memory, of Aberama trying to tell her something at the last family meeting before she’d stormed off to kill Alessio, was promptly jogged. Jesus, with everything else going on, she’d completely forgotten that there was something he had wanted to say to her. “You remember our discussion at the house, earlier, I mentioned knowing your aunt and cousins?”

Something cold washed over her. “Yes.”

Aberama nodded, removing his hat and straightening his back, looking her squarely in the eye. “The last time that I spoke with Miri, it was but a few months ago. She said that your mother had been traveling with them since about 1920 or so.”

That sounded about right. Her mother had left their family home in London at around that time to rejoin the caravans. After telling Lucy that she thought it best that they never saw each other again. 

Aberama looked for a moment like he did not entirely know what to say, lips parting, an expression of what she realized after a moment was compassion crossing his face. “Your mother is dead, Miss. Winters. She died this past winter. I’m sorry.”

Her brows pinched, for a moment not entirely understanding. Her legs swayed slightly underneath her, suddenly feeling greatly unsteady. The world felt like it had fallen entirely away, and all she could see was her mother’s face. Her mother who, for all of her flaws and shortcomings, Lucy had never been able to entirely bring herself to resent. Mum had tried, after all. And there had been moments when she was successful in protecting Lucy from her father’s abuse and fanaticism. Her mother had been a kind person with a big heart. And when Lucy was young, everyone had always told her how much she was like her mother had been when she was that age. 

Mum had been what she would have become, had her father been successful in his attempts to force her into marriage with Matthew Sutton. A broken, abused woman, all fight and spunk beaten out of her through the years of horror that her husband had inflicted upon her. But she had loved Lucy and her brothers as best as she could. She had done her very best with all of them.  

Lucy let out a small sound, taking a few shaky steps towards the stall where the horses were. Her hand gripped the sturdy wood, using it to keep herself steady. One of the horses–one that belonged to the Golds, she assumed, since she didn’t recognize him–nudged his nose at her. She stroked it absently. 

“Love?” she heard Tommy’s voice distantly, almost as if he were underwater, and then felt his hand tentatively resting on her back.

“How?” she asked hoarsely. 

Aberama hesitated, and she knew from that alone that whatever he was about to tell her would not be easy to hear. 

“Miri said that she was unwell from the moment that she first arrived.”

Lucy frowned. “She always had problems with migraines…”

“Not that kind of unwell.”

She went quiet at that.

“Miri said that the melancholy would come and go. Some days she would be fine. Others, well…” he trailed off. Lucy sniffed, and could feel Tommy’s thumb rubbing circles into her back. Aberama continued. “It started to get worse, and last longer. It happened gradually, you see. And then, one night while the rest of the camp was asleep, Genevieve took a rope and found a tree–”

“That’s enough,” Tommy barked sternly. Lucy shook her head furiously, turning and taking hold of the hand that he’d been resting on her back.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. I need to hear it,” her voice came out as a cracked whisper. Tommy looked her over for a moment, and she was touched at the deep worry in his eyes, squeezing his fingers in gratefulness. She looked back at Aberama. He met her gaze steadily.

“They found her hanging from a branch in the morning. They burned her and her vardo. As she wanted.”

Sniffling, Lucy wiped furiously at her eyes, not wanting to be seen crying in front of strangers. 

Could they really still be considered strangers, though? After what Aberama had just told her?

“Thank you for telling me, Aberama,” she said. 

He nodded, fingers playing with each other. “I thought you ought to know.”

Wiping a clammy hand across her forehead, she blinked hard, barely keeping the bulk of her tears back. “Tommy, will you take me home?” 

He was there in an instant, arm wrapping comfortingly around her shoulders, steering her towards the exit with a gentle “come on.” She let him shepherd her along, pressing in closer to his side, suddenly feeling very cold and alone. 

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” Tommy said, voice deep and soft in the otherwise dark of night. She latched onto him like a child would a security blanket, suddenly terrified that if she let him go, she would slip away and be lost in the dark for good. 

He had to leave the lantern in the yard, and when they stepped onto the cobblestones without it, she was reminded horribly of her dream with the darkness rushing up to consume both her and Grace in one great swallow, the blackness washing everything away. But Tommy’s grip remained firm around her, guiding her through the dark with his warm touch and the soft murmurs of his voice. 

She didn’t start properly crying until they’d turned onto Watery Lane. Tommy ushered her quickly down the remainder of the street and finally into the house, and the moment that the door was closed and the lock latched into place, he was pulling her into his arms. 

He rubbed her back and stroked her hair gingerly while she cried. Not big heaving sobs but soft, spasming little whimpers, hugging him tight around the middle while her face buried in his chest. 

Her mother had killed herself. Had been so miserable and depressed that she hadn’t wanted to live anymore. Not even amongst the caravans and kin that she had always spoken so longingly of.  

Lucy had not wanted her mother to leave. She had wanted her to stay. Wanted to look after her. For her to get to know Tommy. The thought of how she would have no doubt doted over Charlie had another wave of tears springing forth into her eyes.

She’d let her go. Why had she done that? She could have forced her to stay. Could have insisted. But she’d let her go. And now her mother was dead.  

“Lucy?” Tommy asked tentatively once her tears had ebbed to just quiet sniffles, pulling back just enough so that he could see her face. 

“I shouldn’t have let her leave, Tommy.”

“Hey, no. None of that, now. This isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known,” at her unconvinced shrug, he took her by the shoulders, pulling back to look her sternly in the eye. “All you’ve heard is a greatly abridged version of what happened. There’s probably a whole lot of details that Aberama doesn’t even know about. And besides,” he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “You couldn’t have forced her to stay. She made the choice to leave. And what happened after is not on you. All right?”

She closed her eyes, nodding weakly, forcing herself to listen to him. Trying to believe what he was saying. 

“Come here,” he pulled her back into him, giving her a fierce hug that greatly helped to stifle the grief raging in her heart. 

“I didn’t expect it to affect me this much,” she mused after a couple minutes. “I mean…I’d more or less thought of her as already dead anyway…”

“Sometimes thinking and knowing are two drastically different things.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “I suppose that’s true.”  

“Lucy?” a soft voice asked from the doorway, and they both started. Charlie was standing there on the threshold that led from the front sitting room into the kitchen, dressed in his pajamas and rubbing at his eyes.

“Charlie, mate, what are you doing up?” Tommy asked.

“I heard noises,” he took a step towards them, big blue eyes focused on Lucy. “Why are you crying?”

She hastily wiped at her eyes, managing a trembling smile. “I just got some sad news, honey. That’s all.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, sweetheart. Everything’s fine,” she gave Tommy’s elbow a small squeeze. “Your dad’s taking good care of me.”

Tommy gave her a small smile, pecking her on the forehead. Charlie shuffled closer, until he was right in front of her, and then wrapped his little arms around her waist, hugging her almost as ferociously as his father had been a moment ago. 

“Don’t be sad, Lucy.”

Tears of a different variety pricked at her eyes. “Thank you, kiddo,” she said, stroking the soft blonde hair on his head. He craned his head up to look at her. 

“Do you want my stuffed horse? Squeezing him always makes me feel better when I’m sad…”

She chuckled, ruffling affectionately at his hair. “No, that’s okay, Charlie. You can give him a few extra squeezes for me, okay?”

“Okay!”

Tommy smiled down at his boy, touching his shoulder lightly. “Let’s get you back in bed, eh?”

“But I’m not tired!”

“Mm, but Daddy and Lucy are. It’s past our bedtime,” he scooped Charlie up, lifting him onto his hip. “Which means it is wayyy past time you were in bed.”

Charlie pouted, but seemed content to be carried back upstairs. Lucy followed her boys with a small smile into Charlie’s room, Tommy depositing the boy gently onto the mattress, letting him get situated, horse squeezed against his chest and head snuggled into the pillow, before pulling the blankets up around him.

“Goodnight, my boy,” he said, smoothing a hand across Charlie’s brow. 

“Goodnight, Daddy.”

Lucy felt her heart squeeze, trading places with Tommy to kiss Charlie’s forehead. “Sweet dreams, Charlie.”

“Goodnight, Lucy,” he mumbled, the yawn he released greatly undercutting his previous claims of not being tired.

She switched off the light and joined Tommy in the hall, closing the door gently behind her and following him to their bedroom next door. The moment they were inside, he inched in closer to her, wrapping his arms around her so she could rest her head on his chest once more. 

“What a fucking day.”

She hummed in agreement, turning her face to kiss the underside of his jaw. “I’m starting to miss home.”

“Arrow House?”

She nodded. “Mostly riding around the grounds with the horses. Camping out in the woods by the house…”

“When this is all over, we’ll take Sin and Wraith and go out together.”

“I’d like that.”

He kissed the top of her head, and they remained there, just holding each other, for a long, long time.  

Previous Chapter • Series • Fic • Next Chapter

Thank you for reading! Please consider leaving a comment, reblog, or like. I always appreciate feedback and love getting the opportunity to interact with you and hear your thoughts!

[justanotheruser]

Cloth swapping

Small attempt at writting below

Its was Kiwi's idea to swap clothes

When Audrey reluctantly gave them her scarf Kiwi couldn't stop giggling at how soft it was. Audrey was not having the same fun as wearing the bard's clothes. The caplet was small and the hat made her look… ridiculous, muffle snickers from the witch conforming her thoughts.

It was until then Kiwi went in front of their single audience they started acting like a "hero". Spouting vows and oaths to Miriam, making the witch giggle from the bard's antics. Audrey stopped them when they started their speech of honor, not wanting to hear anything more from them anymore.

Is this what they think heroes do? She questioned and just glared at the bard who just smiled in return. Annoyed by their foolery they scolded the bard with rhymes and verses that turned into belittlement of their profession.

Which agitated their only audience but Kiwi was still grinning as they listened to the new bard tell them her sentiment. Although they were most delighted to see Audrey participating with them even if her expression conveyed nothing but annoyance.

They notice Miriam's twitching finger tells them it's time to stop Audrey; it didn't affect them that much since they've been hearing what she says throughout their life. Although that didn't stop giving them a sense of warmth through Miriam's anger. It's nice sometimes, for someone to be angry for you.

But before Kiwi put a word out a loud "Booooo" was heard. Miriam heckled abruptly, successfully stopping Audrey. "You suck at being a bard, bring back Kiwi at least they can tell a story" she shouted as Audrey gave them an unamused stare. Okay I should stop this now Kiwi thought not wanting a fight between their friends.

Since the audience didn't like their conviction she changed it into a tale. A tale that no one she knew talked about. For it's a tale of a hero but what is so unique about this hero's journey? For there are countless tales depicting heroism… well it was her favorite.

Not like anyone would know.

The "bard" tells her tale. With her movements far more animated than before and with the additionally, use of emotion in her tone. Capturing both their attention with her words and charisma together. 

As she narrates her story, something itches the back of their brain. Something old and familiar, they couldn't help but recognize an old tale they've read within their childhood memory. They were unable to appreciate the story when they were younger, but now with the new bard, they are able to do so.

Miriam will admit the hero was good, but she won't tell her that. As much as the Hero masks her feelings with a smirk and inflated confidence. They see it, if Kiwi's attentiveness to the Hero's words couldn't depict it, then their wide grin will. 

They both see how much passion Audrey puts into the narrative they're telling.

The story ends with Audrey looking very smug at their only audience. Which brought her back to reality and realizing; this is Audrey, why in Eya's name was I complimenting Audrey?! She immediately grimaces.

"That's such a good story Audrey!" exclaimed the new hero and she puffed her chest.

"Although, what's that story's name again?" Kiwi ponder, a hand on their chin and looking sideward. 

Both were unaware of her flinch in response to the question.

Miriam made a sound of disapproval and raised a brow "You can read a book?"

Seeing an opportunity, she threw Kiwi's hat at Miriam and shouted "YOU THINK I'M ILLITERATE?!"

A surprised squeak past Miriam's lips, hitting directly at her face. Then a concerned cry was heard, then came loud bickering between the witch and the hero.

[quillsinkwell]

Sneak Peek for Chapter 13 of BTC!

So. It's been a while.

Y'all, I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I've been organizing stuff and trying to get my life together, and it's been a whole thing.

But! This chapter is gonna be a long one, and I enjoy it, and hopefully you all will too.

Also to any people who speak ASL, I'm really sorry if I described it wrong, I was going off of the online ASL dictionary and I'm sorry if it's inaccurate.

(Audrey’s point of view)

“You want me to do what?” Audrey asked, not quite believing what she was just told.

“I was wondering if you wanted to go looking for rations with me?” Alice repeated.

“I heard, I just assumed that, you know, none of us were allowed to leave.”

“Well, you know how Tom let Henry come with me and him to run errands a while ago? Well, that’s because you’ve all been on good behavior and Tom’s warming up to you all.” Alice explained.

Audrey looked over at Tom, who was sitting in a chair and giving her a death glare.

“...Are you sure about that??”

“Trust me. Anyway, Tom doesn’t want me to be alone with more than one of you at a time, so it's just going to be the two of us.”

“Wait, if Tom’s worried about what we might do, then why isn’t he coming with us?” Audrey asked.

“Well, we saw a strange glow when we came back, and it seemed to be coming from your and the Ink Demon’s cell, Audrey.” Alice explained.

Audrey froze. Oh. Right. Probably not the most trustworthy thing to see when getting back to your house, huh.

“Now I’m not one to press people for secrets, but until we get an explanation, Tom believes that your friends need a supervisor.”

“Alice, what you saw, it isn’t what you think it is.”

“Then what was it?”

“I- well- it’s-it’s complicated.”

“Like I said, I won’t press. Now, do you wanna go with me?”

“Sure.” She might as well.

“Great. Tom, we’re heading out!” She said to Tom, who was watching the others.

He responded by forming a fist, sticking out two fingers, and doing the same with his other hand and placing his hand on top of the first hand.

“I always am.” Alice responded.

Then Tom held out his hand, and poked it a couple of times.

Allison scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Then Tom looked her dead in the eyes and tapped his cheek with his pinky, pointed at her, shook his head and waved his hands in opposite directions, pointed his fingers out and curled them back towards him, put his hand out and then held up one finger in another direction, shaped his hands into fists and put them together, and pointed towards Alice.

And then he moved his finger against his throat.

Audrey gulped. She didn’t need to know sign language to get his message.

“Tom!” Alice scolded. “Audrey wouldn’t have any reason to come back without me, and you can’t just threaten people’s lives!”

Tom didn’t respond to Alice, but he simply pointed to his eyes and then her own eyes.

“Y-you know, Alice, we should really be on our way to get those rations.” Audrey said, feeling the sudden need to not be in the same room as Tom.

“I agree.” Alice responded, heading out the door. Audrey followed.

Once the door was closed, Audrey put her hands on her chest and tried to breathe.

“Are you alright?” Alice asked.

“I think the stress of living with Tom is gonna be what kills me, not something else in this sepia-tone hellscape.” Audrey answered.

How is it that I’m finding Tom more scary than someone like Bendy?

####################################

Most likely because you know Bendy doesn’t wanna kill you, and Tom definitely does.

Thank you to @preciouslittletoonette @theluckoftheclaws on Tumblr and @oil_spill04 on AO3 for your lovely comments, thank you to all of my lovely readers for your patience and liking and reading the fic, and I hope you have a nice whatever time it is in your timezones!

[sl-newsie]

Spelled (Carlos de Vil x Sanderson Daughter)- Ch. 7: New Wardrobe

After leaving the VKs to settle in, I decide to go give Fairy Godmother my report on their arrival.

“Hiya!”

A girl with blonde hair piled up into a beehive sticks her head out of the dorm across from Jane’s.

“You must be Magica! I just moved in last week!” She scurries out with a big grin on her face. “I’m Rosaline, daughter of Rapunzel! Like you can’t tell, right? Let me tell you it’s not easy to upkeep.”

I try to keep a friendly face, but in all honesty her energy is way too contagious and perky.

“Um, hi. I’m sorry but I have some errands to run-”

“Oh no worries I totally understand!” Rosaline quickly nods her head, but in doing so causes her beehive to come tumbling down. “Oh! Mind the hair! Mind the hair!”

I quickly rush down the hallway and am almost to FG’s office-

“Sparks! I need you a quick sec!”

I skid to a halt and turn to see Ben waving at me from down the hall.

“Real quick- I need you to help me with something.”

“What now?” I drone as I walk into his room. “I was just about to- oh God!”

Ben’s room looks like it was hit by a twister! Papers are scattered, the curtains are shredded, his bed is torn in half, and nearly every glass item is cracked and shattered.

“Ben, what in the name of Auradon happened in here?”

Ben sheepishly looks at the floor. “I, um… was trying out a new fencing move and things… got out of hand.”

“Got out of hand? Ben, it looks like you turned your room inside out! What do you expect me to do?”

“I donno- have you learned declutter spells yet?”

“Yes, but we’ve barely touched the basics. With my luck I’d probably burn the room down! But with the mess you’ve made that might be an improvement.”

Ben gives me a pleading look. “Please? Mom’s gonna kill me if she sees this.”

It’s true, she would. I’ve only seen Queen Belle angry a select few times, and it’s never pretty. I always pity the poor soul who faces her wrath. People say it’s King Beast who gave Ben his temper, but I say it’s his mom.

“Very well. But no more fencing indoors.” I point a scolding finger. Then I stand in the center of the room and take a deep breath.

One, two, three.

“Spick and span with the flick of my hand! Mess, stress, pests, be gone!” I swipe my fingers and the whole mess picks itself up with a pop! In less than a second the room looks like normal.

“Wow! Magica, that was amazing! You’re a lifesaver!” Ben thanks me as I rush back out to the hallway.

“No problem! Now I’ve got to-”

“Hey, Magica? There’s a leak in my dorm roof. You think maybe you could…?”

Ugh- it’s Chad.

“Chad, I fixed the leak last week. How in the name of Auradon is it leaking already?”

“I tried to mix some acids from chemistry with one of Fiona’s potions from her magic class. Nothing happened except that some got on the ceiling and ate away at the roof, so… it’s leaking again.”

I groan. “Chad, I swear if thou do one more dim-witted thing I am going to gut thy brain out!” I storm into his room, glaring at the gaping hole in the ceiling. “Make it swift and quick, get this mess fixed!” I snap my fingers.

Bang! The ceiling repairs itself, and as soon as it’s fixed I push past Chad before he can ask me to do any more chores.

“Freak! Find that flea bag of yours and get that filthy rodent out now!” 

It takes all my willpower not to strangle the drama queen right then and there.

“Audrey, you have another squirrel in your room?”

“Not a squirrel, a mouse! Make your cat get rid of it!”

I cross my arms and glare at her. “Why should I?” 

She lifts her chin at me. “Because if you don’t I’ll tell Fairy Godmother you failed to do a good deed, and you’ll fail your goodness 2.0 class!”

Ugh! It’s not enough I’ve got to worry about keeping my family tree a secret, but now I’m being blackmailed for grades?

“Just sit tight. I’ll go find Binx.” I head back to my dorm and begin searching. “Binx? Binx! Where are you?” I hastily look around the room.

“Here I am!” The black cat jumps up into the windowsill. “What’s wrong?’

“Everything, that’s what’s wrong! I’m trying to report to the headmistress, but everyone keeps asking me to do meaningless tasks! Speaking of which, could you run down to Audrey’s room and chase down a mouse?”

“Again? You didn’t hex her room again, did you?”

“No! She probably let it in on purpose just to nag at me! I don’t have time for this!”

Binx slips out the door. “Don’t worry, Magica. I’m on it.”

“Thanks, Binx.” I start heading towards FG’s office-

“Um, Magica?”

“WHAT?!” I screech, only to whip my head around and find Lonnie and Jane cowering in fear. Immediately my face shifts to surprise and apologetic, and I quickly cover my flaming hands. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I didn’t mean to snap, it’s just that I’ve been under a lot of… pressure to carry out deeds for Ben.”

“Seems to me like you’re just doing other people’s chores,” Lonnie points out gently.

I look down, ashamed. “I know, but if I keep them happy then they won’t bother Ben, and he won’t be stressed. That and… I really want people to like me.”

Jane gives me a hug. “You don’t need to burn yourself out for people to like you, Magica. Just… don’t yell so much.”

“No promises,” I laugh nervously. “Actually I was just on my way to see your mom to tell her about how the VKs are doing. They’re actually not that bad. Sure, a little rude and rambunxious at times, but nobody’s perfect. I was also going to show them to the dining hall.”

Jane tenses up. “I still don’t know about them. I’m not sure if they’ll ever be able to fit in here.”

I did.

“These things take time, Jane. Maybe they’ll surprise us?” Lonnie says hopefully.

“I guess so. If you want Magica, I can go tell mom about the VKs while you go bring them to dinner. But… make sure they don’t act out or make a scene.”

I want to keep defending the new students, but I hold my tongue. Their minds are just as stubborn as the villains’.

“Thanks, Jane. I’ll see thou later.”

Carlos’ POV

When we get to our dorms, the first thing I notice is the door next to Mal and Evie’s. It’s got a weathered look with black thorns and cat eyes drawn on it, as well as pink flames. Is this Magica’s room? Is she our neighbor?

Our dorm has a basic layout: 2 beds, 2 dressers, a few tables, chairs, and couches, and-

“That’s a big TV!” Jay cheers as he sets his bag down on the bed closest to the window. “I claim this bed!”

“Why?” I whine. “Can’t I have first dibs?”

“You snooze, you lose, Carlos!”

Jay starts looking around for things to steal while I start to unpack. While I do I can’t help but not stop thinking about Magica. It’s like every time she smiles I get a blissful mushy feeling, like I just swallowed a bottle of happiness. Not only is she drop-dead pretty, but she’s actually smart! I don’t think she’s like the others here… There’s something different about her, but I can’t think of what sets her apart.

In 20 minutes Mal and Evie join us, with Mal scrolling through her spellbook and Evie wondering out loud about changing Magica’s ‘look.’

“Mal, do you think Magica would look better in corset heels or ankle pumps? I’ve also thought of maybe a new skirt or dress with a sweetheart neckline? And maybe some patterned tights!” 

“Evie, we have more important things to worry about. Try thinking about the wand and not replacing someone’s wardrobe!”

“Oh, but she looks so- so… good. I want her to look wicked!” Evie complains.

“But I like how she looks already,” I argue. “What's wrong with her now?” I mean, she has the same preppy look everyone else does, but her bright eyes and blonde hair are a refreshing change from the rugged looks on the Isle.

“She looks like she’s 6! It’s about time that girl actually wore something that showed her full potential.”

“I still don’t trust her, or anyone here for that matter.” Mal frowns. “I swear she looks familiar…”

Just then, we all hear a knock on the door. Mal scrambles to put her spellbook away and Jay hastily covers his stolen goods.

Evie opens the door, and I see a familiar blonde poke her head in.

“Hey guys! Art thou settled alright?”

In response to her strange question we all give her confused looks, then she seems a bit flustered and rephrases her sentence.

“How are you settling in?”

“Oh! We’ve gotten along well so far. Thanks for checking up.” I give her a smile and she flinches her eyes away from me. Do I make her nervous? Also why did she speak like that, as if in a different time period?

“Yup! Just about to head off for dinner!” Mal says a bit too perky.

Magica smiles again. “I hear there’s pot roast tonight! And stuffing, candy apples, chocolate pudding-”

“You had me at pot roast!” Jay declares. “C’mon guys, let’s eat while the eating’s good!”

Magica’s POV

Carlos and Jay start to follow me out the door with hungry looks, but Evie motions for us to stay a bit longer. 

“Mal and I have some tips for you!” She says with a secretive smile.

“You… want to help me? You’re not gonna ask for favors or want me to fix anything?”

“Why would we do that? It’s just a simple spell, no big deal.” Mal shrugs.

“Wait- you can do magic? Huh. Ben never mentioned that…” I’ll have to keep tabs on it. “It’s just, all day people have been expecting me to fix their problems with my magic. But now you’re just being nice and it’s… a nice change.”

“No problem. Now let me think…” 

I frown as I see Mal glance at a book half hidden under a blanket.

“Lose the innocent pretty-in-pink getup, maybe try… aha! Ok Magica, hold still one sec-” Mal points to me and recites from the book: “By the powers of this bewitching book, change the clothes to a wicked look!”

She snaps her fingers, and I can feel my clothes shift. Shorter, slimmer-

I look down. “Oh my God.”

“That’s so much better!” Evie grins happily.

“It’s… different,” I try to appear grateful. My light pink Victorian gown has now turned into a low-cut dark pink sleeved corset with pink flames embroidered on it, complete with an above-the-knee red velvet skirt, black tights, and brown Victorian heels. I look just like Mother.

God, what’s Ben going to say now?

Carlos’ POV

On the way to the dining hall I walk next to Jay and he keeps making fun of my ‘goofy’ smile.

“I mean, your face when Mal spelled Magica’s clothes? Priceless! You looked like you didn’t know which way was up!

It’s true, I did kinda blank out when I saw Magica’s gown change. Wow- just… wow. I thought Magica looked pretty before, but now- one would say she’s too beautiful to be real! 

“She deserves more than just being everyone’s go-to cleanup maid. I can’t understand how people think they can just use her for her magic like that, it- it’s not fair.”

“You feel sorry for an Auradon girl? Break out the ice packs ‘cause Carlos is hot with lovesickness!”

“Shut up! I don’t love her!”

“You’ve never shown this much attention to a girl before. What’s different?” Evie asks.

I shake my head. “I donno, she’s… Smart, witty, funny-”

“Smoking hot,” Jay inputs.

“She’s gorgeous! But it’s not just her looks, it’s all of her. I- I can’t really explain it.”

“You’re in love, Carlos. Whether you like it or not.” Evie smiles.

I- I am? I never thought villains were supposed to get the girl, let alone fall in love.

“But she’d never go for a guy like me. I’m a VK, remember? She’d want someone like that Ben guy.”

“Don’t you remember? That Audrey chick’s all over him.” Jay rolls his eyes. 

“You could ask her out?” Evie tries to encourage me.

“No way! I just met her! Besides, I’d rather have her think I don’t like her than let her know I think a beautiful girl like her would ever fall for a deadbeat like me.”

“Carlos don’t beat yourself up. Any girl would be lucky to have you.”

I give Evie a pointed look. “Really? And what makes you say that?”

“‘Cause you’re not him.” Jay points across the room.

A blonde kid in a blue blazer keeps following Magica around, and she doesn’t look happy.

“Please? Just go on a date with me and then it’ll make Audrey jealous!” He pleads.

Magica turns and gets in his face. “Chad Charming, I have done multiple chores and favors for thou in the past week alone! I am not some pawn thou can use as a way to make Audrey jealous! How dare thou think thy can exploit me!”

That’s it, I’ve had enough!

“Hey!” I storm over and tap the guy on the shoulder. “Chad, is it?”

“Carlos, don’t make a scene!” Mal hisses. “We’ve got more important things to-”

“She wants to be left alone, so leave her alone.”

Chad turns around and gives me a grunt. “Huh. And who are you, tiny?”

“I’m Carlos de Vil, and if you keep harassing her like that I’m gonna make your life a living nightmare.”

Chad’s eyes widen and fear paints his face. “De Vil? As in Cruella de Vil? Ben, your villain freaks are threatening me!”

Magica’s POV

I can’t deny that Carlos sticking up for me is really sweet. At first I thought he was joking, but after Chad tried to shove him and Carlos socked him in the nose I knew it wasn’t fake. 

“Ben! He hit me!” Chad whines.

The man in question comes over and helps Chad blot the blood running down his face, followed by Jane and Audrey.

“Wait- Magica… Is that you?”

“I think he broke my nose!”

I roll my eyes. “Stop being a drama queen. That’s Audrey’s job. Just hold still-” I snap my fingers in his face and Chad’s nose returns to normal. “There. Now quit whining.”

“Magica- Oh my God, what happened to you?” Jane looks at me, horrified. “You look-  you look…”

I cringe. “Too much?”

“Gorgeous!” She finishes. “Where did you get those shoes? They’re wicked!”

“That’s what I was going for,” Mal shrugs like it’s nothing.

“Ah! What did you do?”

We turn around and see Audrey, who’s fuming.

“Why did you change your clothes? Now you look- you look-!” She looks around anxiously and hisses: “Almost better than me!”

“Well excuse me for actually wanting to look nice, Audrey.” I try not to look embarrassed by all the new attention I’m getting.

“You’re not the only pretty one here,” Mal says smugly. “Better get used to it. Evie’s talents could give you a run for your money.”

Audrey sniffs. “Just stay away from us, freak. And your little gang of villains too.”

With that she storms off to sit next to the other preppy populars while I’m left gawking next to Evie.

“Is she always this pleasant?”

I tilt my head. “When she wants to be. It’s a miracle I haven’t jinxed her hair orange yet.”

Mal ignores our complaints and confidently plops down onto the nearest table. “Forget her. Let’s eat.”

I turn to face Carlos, who’s nervously playing with his hands. “Carlos, thank you so much for that. Chad’s always been a real pain, and… no one’s ever actually cared enough to stand up for me like that. If there’s anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

Carlos nods his head. “No problem. I’ve dealt with worse back at the Isle. Besides, you’ve actually been nice to us and don’t deserve to have that jerk treat you like that. Um… Wanna join us?”

At first I want to accept their offer, but when I turn and see Jane sitting alone I remember my promise to her.

“I thank thou for thy kindness, but I have previous arrangements with Jane.” Before I can stop myself, I’ve already spoken in my Mother’s tongue.

Carlos’ POV

“Why do you talk like that?”

Magica seems thrown off by my question, and shakes her head as if to jerk herself out of a trance.

“I’m sorry, Carlos. I do it when I get nervous. It’s… a way my family speaks, so I’ve caught on a few phrases. If I do it again just point it out and I’ll rephrase.”

“I thought you were an orphan,” Mal says.

“I am, but my adopted family speaks like that. And I will not apologize for being proud of my family.”

At first I expect Mal to keep interrogating her, but she just nods her head. 

“I respect that. You want honor and glory for you and your family, same as us. Only you follow the rules.”

“Do ya still maybe wanna swing by later, trixie?”

Magica groans and rolls her eyes. “If I say yes, will you stop calling me that?”

“Nope.”

“Thought so. But… I haven’t met many people here who know how to have fun. Eh, why not? Sure, I’ll be over later.”

After Magica leaves I give Jay a wide-eyed look, which he returns with a smirk and 2 thumbs up.

“There ya go, bro. I just got you a golden chance to meet the girl of your dreams.”

“Jay, I… I don’t know what to say…”

“Just sit down and eat.” Jay yanks my arm and pulls me to sit down next to him.

But why would Magica ever want to hang out with a VK?

[science-fantasy-superheroes]

PE AU: Scene 28

Scene 28:

The VKs sit at a lunch table, Doug sits next to Evie, and all of them are in a bad mood.

Taylor, Akiho, and Amir see them and head over.

Taylor: “Hey, Jay, we’re sorry about what happened. Chad was totally in the wrong.”

Akiho and Amir nod in agreement.

Jay’s eyes never leave the table.

Jay: “You guys should go before you get hurt.” He mumbles.

They glance at Mal– her cold glare boring into them the whole time– back at Jay– still refusing to look at them– then, with great reluctance, they walk away.

Ben takes his chance to approach.

Ben: “I’m so sorry, you all. I…” He shakes his head, changing his mind against what he was going to say. “I don’t have any excuses for what happened. It was terrible and nothing less. But I will do everything I can to make it up to you.”

Mal: “Then you can start by leaving us alone.” She growls.

Evie: “Mal…” Evie half-heartedly scolds.

Mal: “Just be glad I haven’t made Doug leave. And that’s only because he’s quiet.”

Though hurt that she was implying threatening Doug, Evie gives her a piteous look.

Jane: “Ah! Chad!”

In the near distance, Chad is holding Jane’s hat over her head, revealing the sliced-up mess on her head.

Chad: “Ew!” He laughs.

Audrey: “Aw, Jane, what happened to your precious haircut from your precious Mal? Did it fall apart after you chose to side with evil?” She mocks her.

Jane shrinks into herself, but making eye contact with Carlos instills a bit of confidence in her.

Jane: “They’re not evil! You’re evil for doing this to me!”

Audrey: “Spreading lies, too?” Her eyes flare. “It’s your own fault your looks match your actions.”

Mal glowers until she’s had enough and searches for a spell.

Mal: “Beware, forswear, undo Jane’s hair.”

Carlos looks to Mal with horror, but, fortunately, the spell only returns Jane to her original haircut. (It still makes Lonnie touch her long hair in fear of losing it next.) It’s not the one she wanted, but it looks nice.

Mal stands up to face the group, a warning gleam in her eyes.

Mal: “There’s a lot more where that came from.”

Audrey: “Excuse me, who do you think you are?”

Mal: “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

Lonnie starts slowly backing away, but Audrey– and thus her entourage– remains defiantly in place. So, Mal starts flipping through her spellbook, scaring them into running off.

Jane glances at Carlos, who nods, signaling for her to go too. Taylor, Akiho, and Amir come up beside her in support so she feels safe and not alone.

Evie: “Maybe it’s best you and Ben go.”

Doug gives her an “Are you sure?” look and she nods. He hesitates, but he gets up and takes Ben, who tries to protest a bit but ultimately concedes, with him.

With them gone, Mal turns back to her friends with a malicious smile.

Mal: “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.” But she can’t even make that smile last. “Let’s grab that wand and blow this popsicle stand.” She says darkly as she walks away.

Her friends follow, not really having an appetite for lunch.

[I understand that this and the previous scene were meant to set up why the VKs didn’t give up on their plan, but it sure didn’t leave any reasons for them ultimately not to. It basically turned the conflict from “Can the VKs be good?” to “The Auradonians don’t seem to be good, so do they deserve to be overthrown?” And with how canon went down, I’m inclined to say yes.

Especially with Mal’s speech to her friends at the end not really countering my point. If the villains overthrew Auradon: Evie would still be smart, Jay could make a team, play sports, and have victory pizza with The Isle teens (after they settled into not living in scarcity), and Carlos could potentially keep Dude if he hid him or convinced Cruella that Dude was “his”. Even Mal could still go to school (after everyone settled into not living in scarcity), and potentially keep Ben alive by claiming he’s under a love spell (and with the way he acts, he’d probably still be in love with her, so she’d also get that).

My solution for this AU was to make the themes about second chances (to tie in with the 3rd movie too) and “What does it mean to be good?”. For the first theme, the VKs need to believe the Auradonians aren’t going to waste it (which includes freeing the other VKs), and for the second theme, they need to have more examples than Ben and Remedial Goodness 101. So, I gave them Ben, Doug, Jane, Taylor, Akiho, and Amir. (Taylor is named and has a one-word voice clip during the tourney tryouts; Akiho and Amir [mistakenly referred to as, “Come here!” in the Wiki transcript] are named during the tourney game.)

(Carlos cares about Dude as much as he cares about all his friends, but Dude can’t argue with him about bringing the villains to Auradon, nor can he back him up if he argues with his best friends, so his mind finds it easier to convince him that he can keep Dude safe and not let his best friends down. But Jane would argue with him, and she could back him up… if he could tell her… His mind is all too aware of the danger she’ll be in if he goes through with the plan.)

(Ideally, Taylor’s line would go to whoever of Taylor, Akiho, and Amir is the best actor, but Taylor already had a line– technically– so he gets to be the placeholder.)

Mal doesn’t restore Jane’s long hair because she knows Jane would likely get attacked again.]

Masterlist

[athyathye]

Tokyo!Rev characters with a bimbo girlfriend

(Inui, Hanma and Izana)

Warnings ⚠️: the usual curse words and violence but nothing too brutal.

Inui :

Pretty boy with equally pretty girl? Pretty couple.

No like, you both get stared at on the streets pretty frequently.

Though in exchange for being drop-dead gorgeous, you unfortunately have the thinking span of an 8-year old.

There was one moment where Inui had vowed to never forget when he was with you.

Both of you were studying in his room as he showed you how to solve a math problem.

“Y/n….you need to use pi” He pointed at one of the problems.

“Why would I need a pie?” You asked with an incredulous expression on your face.

“No… I mean, what's the value of Pi” He spoke gently as he tried to fight the urge to facepalm.

“....Like 7 dollars I think” You said with your index finger on your chin.

*bang!* He banged his head on the table you both were in front of.

“B-baby- you ok!?” “Fine.”

Sometimes I think he hurts himself when you say dumb sh*t because he has to either stop himself from laughing….or because he lost brain cells….and lost more from the constant hard face palms he gives himself.

He made it a goal to teach you something new each day just because simple things like the sun is considered a star or, some oceans or rivers are blue because they reflect the sky.

Though that probably goes through one ear and out the other.

Though if anyone were to comment about your lack of knowledge Inupi would immediately have a say on that.

“Hey pretty girl, wanna hang with m-” “I wonder what it was like before the world had color.”

The guy who tried to shoot his shot had a confused look on his face. “....Is that  supposed to be hypothetical or something?” He asked with a wobbly smile “Huh? Is that a food?..no. Imagine how pretty Audrey Hepburn would be if she had color” You looked up at him with a dreamy smile on your face that made him swoon and forget your earlier statement.

He had a suspicious look on his face as he spoke to you “Say, If we chilled at my house  just how they managed to live~” He held a hand out with a sly expression to which you returned with a happy one.

“Really? You know how they lived?? How? You weren’t alive back then!” You spoke too cheerily for your own good.

Though before he could respond with something your boyfriend had come back.

“Ahem” He cleared his throat with an unamused facial expression.

“Babyyy~ This man said if we hang out in his place we could see how Marilyn Monroe ate her sandwiches!” You grabbed a hold of his arm.

He looked at you, then at the man with a glare on his face.

“Taking advantage of girls now are we? How does it feel to have to resort into those kinds of methods just so you could pull someone?” He smiled, but not the friendly one, in fact it looked strained enough to be called a grimace.

The boy just started bowing and eagerly left.

“I can't leave you for one second, huh pretty girl?” He asked you who still had that dumb smile which made him and a lot of people swoon over.

“You can’t, pretty boy~!”

Mans was smitten with you honestly.

Hanma :

If you say stupid things, you will not leave without hearing him laugh at you. In the mocking way.

Speaking of which, This was how your first encounter went.

“Do you cut your hair? Or does it only grow that long?” For someone so stupid you looked incredibly cute right now, looking at him with a pout on your face. Your eyes wide and pretty as you held up both of your hands which formed fists near your face.

“...huh?” He rubbed the inside of his ears.

“You have pretty hair.” You reached up to touch his hair, before getting called by your friends who were looking at you and at each other with worry.

He was curious really, who were you and why did you not know him, but from the looks of it, it seemed like even if you did know him you’d still do the same.

As he looked at you who wobbled your way towards your friends where they began to scold you.

It looked like it happened fairly often so he just shook it off.

Though he met you once more while he was out doing gang-related stuff.

“....Like a pen or something?” “No, a black ballpoint, you know with the black casing that says parker?”

“....Uh huh, well you can have those at my house” He wrapped a hand on your waist as he now tried to forcefully drag you out.

“Woah-” you uttered, you didn’t expect that, and although you were very much an airhead you weren’t dumb enough to go with a guy this forceful.

You were about to ask him to stop touching you when Hanma came in, in full swing.

Hanma smashed a heavy fist on the guy’s face leading him to get knocked out, blood flowing down from his probably broken nose, and at least 3 teeth on the ground next to him.

“You really need to be careful who you speak to.” He said as he looked at you up and down then turned to leave.

Frankly, he didn’t even know why he saved you. yes you were beautiful, But he couldn’t stand people who were stupid enough to get themselves in danger.

Though what he didn’t expect was for you to grab his hand to prevent him from leaving.

“Thank you very much!” You said with sparkly eyes before hearing a clock make a sound to signal midnight.

You glanced back at him, before reaching for your pocket pulling out a pink cute band aid that you used to cover his barely bruised knuckles.

You bowed before you ran out of the place, leaving Hanma to curiously wonder if you did that to everyone you know.

He came home that night with some feelings of curiosity towards you, he hoped you could both meet again, that would mean it was fated? Right?

Well that was his belief, he stared at the Band-aid covering his hand. He treated it like some kind of memento that night; he also didn’t use that hand in hopes of not destroying it.

Mans was whipped from the first meeting.

Izana :

If you had the opportunity of being Izana’s significant other, you were probably someone he incredibly valued, and that you were!

Though you lacked the brains, you were charming enough to get his attention.

“Is that a storm or is that just night coming?” you asked as you laid on Izana’s chest, not bothering to look up to the moans and groans of pain you were hearing.

“It’s almost night time babe” He said as he cradled you away from the violence his gang committed.

To everyone else, they assumed you were just an eye-candy, a replaceable b*tch they could have once their boss was done with you.

Oh how wrong they were.

To Izana, you weren’t just some airheaded beauty that he’d have fun with. To Izana, you were the person who could solve problems in such a simple way that was idiotic to some but made sense to others.

Even though you looked like you weren’t listening, there were some instances where you would bring him just what he needed,  he just felt that you knew him well.

Better than anyone he’d known, you weren’t someone that would run away with him for a life of danger and fun nor were you someone who just wanted something from him selfishly.

Loving someone and them loving you back is not love, it is a mere trade, Izana had learned that from you.

You’d tell him off if something ticks you, wear your emotions on your face unlike the numerous snakes in the pit.

He liked that he could understand you easily as well.

While he had gone out for a while, you were chilling with Kakucho as he was your assigned bodyguard when Izana wasn’t with you.

Though when he was back, you both were acting fishy.

He reached his hand out to you, To which you glanced curiously at. Before putting your chin to it, with a bright smile that could lighten up anyone’s day.

Though you did this hundreds of times to him so he wasn’t really that fazed anymore.

“Give it.” He spoke with a hint of amusement in his tone, and with a face that contained a small smile “What do you mean?” you laughed nervously as you held both of your hands back.

*Bark!* A puppy barked to which Kakucho just face palmed and looked away.

“Hehe...hehehe looks like I’m a little bit gassy today” You sweatdropped as you heard someone slap their hand somewhere on a sturdy object.

He sighed as he just reached behind you to take the dog, but you immediately acted as small furry creatures were kind of your obsession.

You raised the puppy on top of you as you tried to run away. Only managing to get a few steps before the little puppy was taken from you.

“You can’t have the puppy, we’ve been over this.” He said as you pouted, looking away from him with teary eyes.

To which he just sighed at, before he gave you the little critter back.

A squeal echoed across the place as Izana and Kakucho just watched you with smiles on their faces.

You’re gonna give that dog to some rando huh?” “Shhh, She doesn’t need to know that.”

[billiebeanhoward]

Silence - Multi Character

A/N: hello this has been an enormous project for me to do. Thanks for @stayevildarling for the prompt and for the help with this. Apologies, it's a long one. Tenses are a bit fucked but just go with it.

Prompt: Each character receives a mysterious invitation to visit a Hotel Cortez in LA to prove they're not alone in their struggles

TW: alcohol, mention of murder / death, cigarettes, swearing, mention of character death, hints at suicidal ideation,

Word Count: 4480

Tag list: @stayevildarling @okpaulson @mrsdeanhoward​

Working at Kineros Robotics for the vast majority of her life, nothing really fazed Wilhemina anymore. Especially with the bullshit her bosses come up with daily, but when the redhead finds a strange invitation on her desk that morning, she never thought her life could get any stranger. The invitation that was written, well, typed, on very fancy looking stationary, held coordinates to a Hotel she never wanted to visit in her existence, but when she sees there is a list of nine other women's names, she assumes they're women, anyway; It piques her curiosity regardless and later that evening takes the rest of the weekend off work so she can drive the few hours to the Hotel.

Never been one for tardiness, the redhead arrives a mere twenty minutes early, the receptionist with ridiculous glasses asking her if she had booked a room to which she banged her cane and left towards the bar without a word.  Conversation, socialising has never really been her strong suit, you can really blame her mother for that. She had been isolated from the outside world for most of her life growing up. Thinking back, she's glad for it. People are despicable. The bar isn't too shabby, not that she could complain, dark, quiet, she quite enjoys the ambience. Her cane clanks, hitting off the floor as she makes her way over to the bartender.

"And what can I get you, this fine evening?" she, she assumes, smiles politely. Nice enough.

"Anything purple?" her nose scrunched at the ridiculous request that leaves her mouth and she scolds herself silently moments before the bartender points a finger at her.

"You know what? I have just the thing," she turns around to pour the drinks, Wilhemina watching her every move, "So what brings you here?"

"Is that any of your business?"

"Oh, no, not at all." she shakes her head, "Enjoy your drink," Wilhemina eyes the mysterious neon concoction in front of her momentarily, before spotting a straw holder in the corner of her eyes and she reaches out to grab one when a hand grazes over her own.

"Oh, sorry," a British woman with a blonde pixie cut says quickly, pulling her hand away. "You look familiar, do I know you from anywhere?"

"No, I assure you, you don't."

The blonde put the green straw into her whiskey? before sipping it, "My name's Audrey, Audrey Tindall. I know what you're thinking..." Does this woman ever shut up? "I'm not related to the royal Tindalls, no."

"Did I ask?" Wilhemina cocks her head a little towards her and she quickly shies away, "Get out of my sight," The blonde scurries off to the other end of the bar while Wilhemina tries to enjoy her drink.

-

"Mom, what's this?" Ally looks over her shoulder, her arms elbow-deep in her sink as she washes up the dishes from dinner.

"Not sure, Ozzy. Can you read it for me, Sweetheart?"

"To whom it may concern, You are not alone.

34.0443° N, 118.2508° W

Ally, Audrey, Bette, Billie, Cordelia, Dot, Karen, Lana, Sally, Wilhemina. What does it mean, Mom?"

Ally empties the sink and clears away the dishes before wiping her hands on a towel, "I really don't know, does it say anything else? Give it here," she holds her hand out and he passes it to her as she studies it curiously.

-

"Karen!" The woman turns her head towards the door at her friend with a little smile on her face, "Guess who has mail?"

Her eyes widen in anticipation, "No, you're joking! Me?"

"Of course you! Open it." Mickey smiles as he passes it to her. She excitedly rips open the envelope, careful enough not to destroy the contents and unfolds the paper curiously. "Well, What does it say?"

"A bunch of numbers and names, Mick I think this is just junk,"

"No, Karen, the first mail you get in years, it can't be junk. Let me see," she passes it to him and in the dimness of the room, he looks at the letter. "They seem to be coordinates for somewhere,"

"Like for treasure?"

"Exactly, well, you never know, but could be someone who wants to murder you for all we know. But look, it says You are not alone."

"Course I'm not alone, fuck face, I have you."

-

Cordelia sets aside her paperwork for the evening, cradling a cup of hot coffee in her hands, she sighs as she takes a look at the monstrous pile of work ahead. She nudges her glasses further up her nose as the door of her office swung open. "Madison, how many times have I told you to knock?"

The younger blonde rolled her eyes as her arms crossed against her chest, "And why would I do that?"

"I could have been doing... something." the Supreme says before taking a sip from her coffee.

"When exactly was the last time you got laid, Cordy?"

This time the Supreme rolls her eyes before glaring at the younger witch, "And when was the last time you got laid, Maddy?" she snaps back, Madison slumps her shoulders, the smirk that graced her lips disappearing quickly, "What do you want?"

"I forgot to give you this when the mail came this morning," she absentmindedly threw a letter down on the desk before storming out.

Cordelia once again rolled her eyes at the girl, eyeing the mysterious envelope before picking it up.

-

Wilhemina looks down at the watch on her wrist whilst trying to figure out who exactly she's supposed to be meeting. The bar is seemingly quiet, and she stays seated at the stools near the bartender, Liz, who had told her her name, although she definitely didn't ask. Liz is a talker and a very annoying one at that, although Wilhemina is quite enjoying her company right now, or rather lack of as she attends to other women at the bar. A thought enters her mind at that moment, the name Audrey did ring bells, although not any ridiculous royal ones. She pulls the letter out of her blazer pocket and adjusts the glasses on her nose. There. The second name. Audrey. Was that her? Great. Now she does have to actually go off and talk to the chatterbox. She rolls her eyes before sighing, picking up her cane as she makes her way over to where Audrey is sitting, she seems to be sitting next to a brunette who did look quite familiar.

"Oh, hey!" Audrey greets, getting up from her place at the booth seemingly for Wilhemina to seat next to her. Wilhemina quickly turns around grabbing a chair from behind her and drags it to towards the table closer to the brunette instead, "Oh," the blonde says before pulling out a packet of cigarettes from her purse. "Do you mind?"

"I do actually, yes," Wilhemina says and the brunette turns to her.

"Are you here because of the letter as well?" Wilhemina nods and the other woman brings out her hand towards her for her to shake it, "I'm Ally, Ally Mayfair-Richards?"

"You're the one that was in that cult weren't you?" Wilhemina says. This has got to be the most interesting thing that has happened all night.

"Oh." Ally pulls her hand away looking around slightly awkwardly, "So you don't know me from my senator work? How did you know about the -"

"I saw it on this silly show I watched on the True crime channel."

"Right. So must know a lot about me then," she sips from her wine and Audrey annoyingly, despite Wilheminas dismissal, lights up a cigarette. "What's your name."

"Wilhemina Venable."

"Oh your name is Wilhemina, it's such a -"

"I'd prefer to be referred to only as Ms. Venable." Fine. Wilhemina has now made this awkward, thanks mouth. Change the subject. "Seven more women to find," she states, looking at the two, her hand gripped tightly around her cane. "Is this some sort of gangb-" Nope. "Right, I'm going to get another drink, excuse me."

"Sally that girl, what can I get you?" Liz asks a blonde that is definitely stuck in the '90s. Her hair is fully crimped, her outfit choice, however, is far more ridiculous, fishnet tights, a very short skirt, revealing shirt. Stop staring.

"The usual," she mumbles before diverting her attention back to the woman beside her. "So, are you from Tennessee? You're the only ten I see," Wilhemina almost spits her drink out as she hears the conversation between the two.

"No actually, I'm from Massachusetts." the brunette says, nodding slightly, clearly slightly uncomfortable.

"Oh, it's pretty close though, right."

"No you blonde idiot, it's a 17-hour drive," Wilhemina says and the blonde turns to look at her and this time she looks at her face.

"Did I ask you?"

"No, course not. I just like correcting idiots,"

"Well, I'm sorry we all couldn't afford to go to private schools," the blonde then storms off somewhere else, Wilhemina genuinely doesn't care. The brunette, however, slides closer over to Wilhemina.

"Thank you," she smiles.

Wilhemina's face turned to one of a fish, "What for?" The other woman continued sipping from her drink before leaning a little too close for comfort to Wilhemina before taking a deep breath.

"Is this.." she pauses, Wilhemina only furrows her brows at her, "Is this a 'girl' bar?" she asks curiously, "I'm only asking because..."

"Good question," the redhead smiles as she looks around the room, only women are seated, mainly bundled together with Ally and Audrey," Maybe this woman is one of the names on the list too. "Surely hope not," she mumbles. She doesn't want to make conversation but it seems she needs to. "What brings you here?" she continues to drink the nuclear waste that Liz calls a drink and looks at the brunette. She seems familiar too.

"I... This is going to sound really weird."

"Not as weird as that, I assure you," she points behind her and the brunette turns around to see a woman with two heads walk through the door with the frizzy blonde talking to them.

"Probably just as... How is that possible? That's fascinating." The brunette brings up her purse and pulls out a notepad."I'm a writer, you may have read my book. It's quite popular among women." She speaks but Wilhemina isn't listening. Distracted by the definition of fucking weird that just entered the room.

"You girls here for the "meeting"?" the frizzy blonde asks them and the head on the left nods. Creepy.

"Nice," she grabs a cigarette, it hanging from her mouth lazily as she spoke. Ok, so far there are Audrey, Ally, writer girl, the one Liz called Sally, the two-headed beast... Wilhemina looks around and spots another blonde speaking to Audrey and Ally. So extra blonde. And a homeless woman sitting at the back end of the bar.

"If you're here for the meeting, come over here!" extra blonde calls out over to her table and Wilhemina rolls her eyes, her cane clanking loudly as she walks over to the table. "I'm Cordelia Goode. Supreme of my coven in New Orleans."

"Ally Mayfair-Richards, I came here from Maine. Had to find a babysitter before I drove all the way here,"

"Audrey Tindall. Had to get a flight back from England."

"Lana, Lana Winters." the writer girl added.

"Wait.." three heads turn to her. "How is that possible?" Ally spoke.

Lana shrugged, an uncomfortable smile gracing her lips, "What do you mean?"

"You're... young?"

"Oh, wow, am I that old?"

"I- no of course not."

"What's that?" Wilhemina turns her head towards the left of the beast as she stares down at Sally's cellphone.

"Oh, come on I've been stuck here since the nineties and even I know what it is." she rolls her eyes.

The right one furrowed her brows. "90s?"

The two of them stared into space for a moment, their expressions changing every so often as if they're in a conversation and Wilhemina shakes her head and diverts her attention to the homeless one toddling over to the rest of the group. She looks paranoid, looking over her shoulders as if someone is following her.

"The rest of the introductions?" Audrey says, bringing the letter out and Lana handing her a pen from her purse before she ticks off the names of people here. "What's your name, sweetheart?" she asks the homeless one but she doesn't answer, peeking into the massive tote bag on her shoulder before Wilhemina hits her ankle with her cane to gain her attention.

"I'm not telling you my name. I don't even know who you are," she states

"Why are you sitting with us then?" the right one says before the homeless one gives them a look.

"I know people like you, fuck faces, huge assholes," she mutters

"I'm Dot, this is Bette, "Right one says almost headbutting the other

"I can introduce myself, Dot,"

Dot turns her head to look at her, "Well you were taking your sweet time,"

"Okay, we're only missing Billie and Karen."

Sally chuckles, her cigarette still hanging from her mouth, "That's definitely Karen," she points over to a blonde with wavy hair, pink blouse, pearl necklace and a pencil skirt and fake nails. "I actually thought you were Karen until you said your name is Audrey," she looks to Audrey and Wilhemina purses her lips trying to stifle her laugh.

Audrey looked offended as if someone ran over her mothers already dead body. Her nostrils flaring as she leans over the table towards Sally, "And what do you mean by that?"

Before anything happens and all hell breaks loose in the Hellmouth they already were in, the homeless one squeaks up. "I'm Karen."

That's it. Wilhemina laughed. "What's so funny?" Cordelia asks the redhead who continued chuckling as she tried to drink her acid.

"Nothing, continue."

Lana finally pieces the puzzle together, "That's Billie."

"Congratulations, would you like a gold star. I'm sure Mommy senator here has plenty for you." Wilhemina chuckled at her own joke because it was funny. The other women did laugh too. Billie made her way over somewhat gracefully, her hands flaring as if she's trying to pick up a watermelon. Karen probably has one hidden in that Mary Poppins bag of hers.

"Good evening, girls. I'm Billie Dean Howard, Medium to the stars." she flutters her fingers around like one of those stupid ASMR videos that Wilhemina has not ever watched before and took a seat beside Bette and Dot.

"Were you the one who sent the letters?" Bette asked, her fingers fiddling with the hem of the dress she shared? with Dot before Dot slapped her fingers away.

"No, I assume you're all here for the same thing. As am I. Unfortunately, it had to be here though,"

Cordelia sighs, shifting uncomfortably in her seat seeming to know what the hell Billie was actually talking about. "I know, it's like they're screaming in the walls."

Liz comes over handing Billie her drink while giving a pointed look towards Sally, "What? I didn't kill everyone here, y'know."

"Your reputation says otherwise." she turns to the rest of the group, "Enjoy your stay,"

"Does anyone actually know what this is about... Wait I know you, I've seen your face on the side of a bus," Audrey says excitedly

"And I know you, Ms Audrey Tindall. Making a big name for yourself I see after My Roanoke Nightmare." Billie smiles at her and Wilhemina gives a look of impressive to the two blondes.

"Oh god don't. My shrink is still drilling it into my head that it wasn't real."

"What wasn't?" Lana asks curiously, her notepad in hand as she continued to write notes.

"You haven't seen the show?"

"What show?"

Wilhemina diverts her attention towards Ally's and Cordelia's conversation although it seemed to be about cheating exs so then she focuses on what Dot, Bette and Sally were saying.

"It's 1952 where you're from?" Okay, now that is interesting. "How did you get here?" Sally points her phone in their faces.

"Can you please get that thing out of our faces! It's scary," Bette says,

"We killed our mother and you're saying that's scary." Fine. She stood up and made her way to Karen.

"Don't want to talk to you." she mumbled, seemingly comfortable slightly curled up in the seat.

"I don't want to talk to you either." Hmm, maybe the homeless one isn't too bad after all.

After a few extra drinks, everyone seems to be in a better mood, laughing, joking, much to Wilhemina's dismay, and even still trying to make conversation with her. Which she has done. Gotten to reluctantly know more about those with who she was almost forcefully made to be made acquaintances. Sally stood up on the chair, wobbling slightly as she tries to regain her balance. "Ladies, Unfortunately, Liz is closing up for the night." most women whined but Wilhemina was genuinely happy she finally got to go home. Was this it? What exactly was this about? "But... We can take this party up to my room,"

Wilhemina almost growled to herself, the thought of being at home a lot more comfortable than being in a hotel room with nine other women. All women stood up and followed Sally to the elevators. Billie and Cordelia following behind as they chatted.

Wilhemina slowed her pace a little mainly because she felt like her back couldn't handle it but also because she wants to know what the two blondes are talking about. "If the letters weren't really from you, then who was it?" Cordelia asks

"I genuinely thought it was you, dear. Seems like a 'you' thing to be bringing in people of all backgrounds, especially lonely ones at that,"

"I'm not lonely. You don't even know me." Karen pipes up defensively, still holding her bag close.

"No, not at all." Billie shakes her head, "But I do know when one is feeling lost and doesn't know how to get back up," she says before rushing off to get to the others.

Wilhemina's steps slowed as she enters the elevator, not one for taking the stairs. She opens her mouth but Cordelia is quick to speak, "I like your hair," the redhead raises an eyebrow at the blonde, a hint of a blush rising on her cheeks.

"You're drunk, Ms. Goode,"

"Oh, please. Call me Cordelia. I'm nothing like my mother." she says before her expression turns somewhat sorrowful. Her mouth opened, slightly agape seeming as she wants to speak but she doesn't. So Wilhemina decides it's humane of her to change the subject.

"You know Ms. Howard?" she looks down at the floor, the elevator dinging indicating their arrival on the floor where Sally's room is located.

"Oh yes, she's not a witch though," the blonde slightly stumbles out, almost tripping on her heels when Wilhemina rolls her eyes reaching her arm out to catch her.

"I didn't ask," she states, although she is due for another awful round of dosed up fuckery that is her medication she fights through it, tries to anyway. Liz's miracle drinks seem to be working fine as an atomic type of painkiller. She allows Cordelia to loop her arm around her shoulder, hers around the blonde's waist as they walk down the hallway towards the room Karen just strangely snuck into as if she's there on a heist.

"You know of my story then?" Lana asks seemingly gobsmacked towards the other women, "And not from my book, from my talk show? One I don't even have yet?"

"How exactly did you get here?" Audrey asks curiously as she sits down on the bed, crossed legged like an elementary school child.

"I received the letter, like the rest of you. I took the train. Fell asleep, woke up at the station and everything was different but I couldn't really explain it. Then I asked around about the coordinates and someone guided me to this hotel."

"The same thing happened to us," Bette smiled at her but Dot was quick to scold her

"Don't listen to my idiot of a sister, we've never been on a train in our lives. We woke up, found the note at the foot of our bed and started to get ready for our show."

"Show?" Billie asks before closing her eyes for a brief moment. "Does the name Eudora mean anything to you?"

"We work fo-" Bette starts

"No, absolutely not. Bette, we're leaving."

"But we've been having so much fun, Dot."

"No,"

"She says she forgives you."

Tears well up in both their eyes for a moment as they sit back down on the bed. Wilhemina slowly helps Cordelia sit down on the armchair beside them and awkwardly perches on the arm of said chair.

"She forgives you Bette for what you did but," she closes her eyes before facing Dot, "She doesn't forgive you for what you tried to do to your sister."

An awkward silence filled the room, only to be heard are the sniffles from the twins and the lighting up of cigarettes before Sally broke the silence, "You know, I would probably do anything to have a sister and you tried to kill her?" Dot looks away ashamedly.

Bette, sweet Bette, she seems so childlike, she just smiles, "I would do anything to make my Dot happy,"

"I would rather kill myself than let anyone treat me the way she treats you." Sally rolls her eyes "And I'm dead," she brings her hand to the side of her mouth as if she's revealing a huge secret.

"At least she's not alone," Ally says, sipping on more wine. "I'd do anything for my son, the way Bette clearly would for her sister."

"And let her kill herself?" Audrey remarks, "That's not love."

"Wouldn't you kill for love? Fight for others."

"I'd rather be a lover than a fighter, because all my life, I've been fighting." Lana says, "I've lost the love of my life and had been through so much I ca-" tears escape her eyes and Audrey curls up beside her, wrapping an arm around her frame.

Karen opened her mouth wanting to speak, most of them probably expecting her spewing profanities but instead, her face was calm, "I've never felt a feeling of comfort. All this time, I've been hiding. Where I'm from the stupid fuckfaces who live there..." There we go. "All they do is just think I'm some mad homeless woman -"

"Aren't you?" Wilhemina blurts out, a smirk gracing her lips and Karen glares at her.

"That's not the point, you fucking, purple, fucking, dragon bitch."

Wilhemina tilts her head, impressed with the insult. "Carry on."

"I don't want to anymore."

"I never had someone to call my own," Bette says, her usual smile now a frown as she fights back her own tears

"I'm so used to sharing." Dot mutters, looking down at her fingers. Billie reaches out to hold their hands to comfort them.

"Love only left me alone," Audrey says,

"I've found peace in the violence, can't tell me there's no point in trying," Sally says, cigarette hanging from her mouth as she speaks, mascara running down her face

Wilhemina thinks it's her turn to speak, Cordelia looking at her intently from the seat. "I'm in need of a saviour," it feels like she confessed her deepest darkest secrets. Words she would have never thought she would say out loud to anyone. She sees Billie lift her head as if to speak "But I'm not asking for favours," she says, Billie nods understandingly.

"My whole life, I've felt like a burden," Cordelia pipes up, her chin quivering as she spoke. "I think too much, and I hate it"

Ally pulls a small face, finishing her wine before she spoke, "I'm so used to being in the wrong. I'm tired of caring."

"Loving never gave me a home" Karen speaks again, probably feeling a lot more comfortable with the group now. Which is surprising as she acted as if they would kill her.

"I'll sit here in the silence," Billie says. She hadn't said anything. She gave a small smile before lighting up a cigarette. Wilhemina only groans, now her clothes probably stank worse than an ashtray at the amount the four women had smoked like a chimney. "I'm at one with myself. I've been quiet for so long."

There's silence for a few moments. Not uncomfortable at all, surprisingly. Although plenty of tears, small sobs escaping and a few hugs. This was needed. Everyone felt seen, even in the silence of the room. They felt heard. They all understood and could relate one way or another to each other and, maybe the letter was right. You are not alone.

But the one question is... who was the one who had sent it?

Maybe someone out there who cared enough for each woman individually and knew their struggles maybe even up to a personal extent. Maybe whoever sent it just wanted the women to know that they are loved and people do care.

Maybe it was you.

-

The night was slowly coming to an end, the women started to say their goodbyes when Lana had an idea, "Sally?"

Sally lifted her head from where it lay on Cordelia's shoulder as the two blondes were almost fast asleep. "Hmm?" Wilhemina stood, collecting her cane ready to leave but Cordelia's hand stopped her, grabbing onto the hem of her blazer.

"Give me your cell number, I have an idea." the brunette gave Sally the pen and paper and Sally wrote her number down, passing it back. "If I remember you'd hear from me again," then the brunette vanished. Magic tricks aside, most of the women were either too drunk or half-asleep to even react. Sally's phone began ringing loudly, Wilhemina picked it up, disgusting fluffy case in hand as Sally snatches it from her.

"Hello?"

"Sally? It's me, Lana. Put me on speaker." the familiar yet different voice said. The women looked, Wilhemina observing from the door until she noticed Bette and Dot aren't there either.

"Lana, it's you?" Audrey says, tears in her eyes, "God I've missed you." It's been less than two minutes you dramatic blonde. Wilhemina rolls her eyes as Lana chuckles down the phone.

"I've missed you too, Audrey. It's been fifty-five years since I had last heard your voice."

Wilhemina, now confused, was ready to leave. She pried the sleepy blonde away and left. On the way back to her home, she magically bumped into Billie. "What do you want?" she almost snapped.

"We're wondering if you'd like to meet back up at the hotel again next week." the blonde smiles, of course, cigarette in hand. Wilhemina sighed, as much as she hates to admit it she really did enjoy the company in comparison to her lonely nights at home in the silence.

"Okay," she says, Billie, raising an eyebrow at her expectantly.

"Okay? That was easy,"

"Don't think it'll be any easier than this, Ms. Howard, I'm a busy woman."

"Hm, I'm sure."

"If Ms. Winters is.. a woman of age now, What happened to the Tattlers?" Wilhemina asks out of curiosity, Billie purses her lips as she thinks of an answer.

"They're gone. They're at one with the silence."

"Good night, Ms. Howard." Wilhemina opens the door to her car.

"Good night, Ms. Venable," Billie says but Wilhemina can literally hear the smile that's on her lips as she says it. "Oh, Cordelia wants me to give you her cell," Billie hands the redhead her number through the crack of the window. "Then you don't have to be at one with the silence for so long. Neither of us do. We have each other now, just remember that. All thanks to Y/N."

[descendantofthesparrow]

Held Back - Harry Hook x Ben’s sibling! Reader - Part 1

Note; before we start, “reader” is non-binary but since I've always imagined Auradon is pretty… old-fashioned and close-minded, they really don’t realize they are NB but know they don’t like being referred to as a “girl” or a “female”. Also, I know “realistically” Adam and Belle wouldn’t neglect their 2nd kid for the first n shit but it’s called a plot point and they are like that for a reason.

Tried to not use “readers” pronouns at all until we get to the good shit where they are like “oh, that’s what that is?”

Also, this will be a 2-part story, the 1st takes place in D2, while the 2nd will take place after D2 and into D3 :3

OH, slight smut in this fic….yeah…it doesn’t get detailed-detailed, but it gets…heated…yeah…if you don’t like even reading this that hint at sex then I’ll put warnings at the beginning and end of those scenes :3 otherwise this is a pretty “safe” fic

Enjoy~

=

Being the daughter, and the 2nd child, to Beast and Belle, wasn’t…what everyone assumed it was. Everyone expected that since you were their 2nd kid, one that wasn't in line for the throne, that you could do anything, get away with anything. That you could just shrug and say ‘oops’ and all would be forgiven. But it wasn’t. It was constant rules and upkeep, never able to run free and scrape your knee when you fell off the tree you had climbed, never able to just scream as you ran along the shoreline, soaking the seawater into your clothes.

Always sit up straight, never cross your legs, never run, never frown, never sneer, don’t talk back, don’t yell, just sit there and -

Be perfect

For the early years of your life, you had loved Ben. Ben your 5-minute older twin brother, Ben who always cared about you, Ben who hid the vase you had broken when you were chasing him through the castle halls when told not to.

Ben; who had refused to let you be pushed aside.

But resentment grew when your parents would always favor him, always praise him; for the bare minimum.

If he got a B in his project? Amazing! Take him out for ice cream.

You? Getting a B+? scolding’s and being told to do better next time, with your dessert taken away for the week.

While you held this resentment for him, you couldn’t hate him, not really, not when he would sneak you his leftover ice cream that was your favorite flavor, one that he hated but your parents didn’t know, not when he would run into your room on stormy nights to make sure you were okay.

Not when he obviously loved you so much.

But you wanted more, you needed more…just something to fill the gap that your parents were leaving. A gap that for some reason they couldn’t see was growing bigger every time they turned their backs on you and turned to Ben.

You were a loner too…most of your “friends” were actually Bens friends, Audrey being one of the few that usually hung out with you outside of Ben and Chad, she was petty as hell sometimes and pretty passive-aggressive to those she didn’t like but she had never seen you as “Bens sister” or “the second child of King beast and Queen Belle”

She just saw you as (y/n), her friend.

When the VKs came, it was almost a relief, finally, the attention was off of you. With Bens coronation and even your parents paying more attention to the new kids instead of picking apart what was wrong with your English essay.

You had tried talking to them, but all four of them were pretty off Standish, and in their own group almost all the time, but after they had chosen good, you and Evie had started talking and had grown a small friendship, one that was nothing compared to what she had with Ben and Mal but you didn't feel as lonely anymore.

Mal had…. acknowledged your existence…yeah, the two of you didn’t really interact much. And you were fine with that.

Especially after Ben told you she tried to memory spell him (you had almost stormed into her dorm guns blazing). Then soon after that, Ben and the other vks were going back to the isle, and you were utterly bored and needed to do something other than sit in your room and disappoint your parents by doing nothing so why don’t go to the isle and disappoint your parents for a good reason!

So now, you stood at the stairway below the core four’s hideout, happy you had taken your denim jacket with you as the isle chill set in.

“so?” Evie asked Ben as he solemnly climbed back down the stairs, his eyes at the ground “where’s Mal?” Ben shook his head, pushing past Evie and Jay and walking down the ally.

“she's not coming back” he muttered before disappearing. You kept your eyes on him in worry, ignoring the other three’s worry over Mal who was safe and sound in her little hideout while your brother, who knew how to hold a sword but sucked at hand to hand, disappeared into the alleys of the isle. 

You moved to go after him but stopped as a much taller, leaner shadow took Bens place in a blink and walked toward you. “hey!” you yelled, the vks stopping in their Mal rant and turning to you “Ben’s gone”

Evie's face melted from worry for Mal to worry for Ben as she stepped next to you and called for Ben as the tall shadow got closer “Ben…Ben!”

It seemed they thought the new shadow was Ben as Evie sighed in relief and looked away, setting her hand on your shoulder “Ben don’t scare us like that!”

“Don’ scare yeh~?” the tall shadow stepped into the light, the teens bright blue eyes sending shocks down your spine as you looked into them “That’s my specialty ~” he purred, his eyes flashing between you and Jay. Evie breathed out his name in annoyance.

Harry…what a nice name...

“what did you do with Ben!” Jay stepped in front of you, not liking the way Harry was eyeing you up. Harry seemed to no understand what Jay was asking before he gasped, turning slightly to point down the ally.

“oh~! We nicked ‘im~!” he nodded as if he was explaining something to a toddler “and if yeh want ta’ see ‘im again~ have Mal come to the chip shop tonight~” his eyes darkened as he gestured to the group with his hook “Alone…Uma wants” his tone lightened again, his eyes looking back at you with curiosity “a little visit~”

He looked at jay again and pursed his lips, looking up and down “aw Jay~” he tilted his head and gave a teasing grin “seems like ye’ lost yer touch~” Jay growled and tried to tackle Harry, but was stopped by Evie. Harry held his hands up and giggled, turning to you and bowing slightly “your highness~” he purred, winking at you and blowing a kiss as he walked away.

The vks mostly ignored his last few actions and Jay hopped up the side of the stairs to get to Mal, while you watched Harry disappear into the ally, your heart going miles a minute.

“wow” you muttered, shaking your head to get rid of the fluffy feeling in your head “get a grip (y/n), he just kidnapped your brother!”

You quickly followed Evie and Carlos as the gate door of the stairway lifted and ascended to the hideout.

-

Leaving you on your own in the hideout was probably the worst choice the vks had made that entire night, as you had nothing to entertain yourself with so you just left and traveled around.

You had somehow walked from the hideout to the docks, and if you remembered correctly, this was the pirate's territory. So, you spun back around to get your ass back to the hideout but stopped as two sets of lust-filled eyes stared back.

But unlike Ben, you smirked as you crouched into a fighting stance, you had taken almost every self-defense class you could. For more than one reason but mainly because even in Auradon there were still nasty people.

The bigger one of the two men rushed at you, but ultimately flopped to the floor as you pivoted on your right foot and swung your left leg around, hitting him directly in the temple and knocking him out.

You grinned at the other man and waved your fingers at him “come get me~” you jeered, laughing to yourself as he yelled and rushed at you.

But before he could take a step closer, a silver hook whacked over his head and knocked the second man out. You pouted and glared at the new person, not caring if it was the teen that had kidnapped your brother an hour ago “hey!”

“hey~!” he mocked back, a teasing smile on his face. He stepped over the two men and curled his hook under your chin, his eyes drifting over your face “now what's a little princess-” you twitched at the nickname “-like yeh traveling alone on the isle~ it's dangerous yeh know?”

You forced down the heat that wanted to cover your face and shrugged, mentally smirking as Harry rose his brow “well…they left me alone in the hideout and I got bored…can't blame me for wanting some excitement eh?”

He squinted at you for a minute, as if he was trying to figure you out…then he finally spoke “yer different than’ I thought yeh would be” he muttered softly, the cool metal of his hook drifting away from your chin and back at his side.

You crossed your arms and cocked your hip, giving the pirate a smirk “what did you think I was going to be like?”

“prissy, stuck up, wouldn’t touch the isle even with a hundred’ foot pole” he shrugged, licking his lips as you rolled your eyes and brew a lock of hair out of your face.

“well as you’ve just experienced, that’s not true” Harry laughed through his nose, looking up towards the barrier and running his free hand through his hair.

“aye…” his shockingly blue eyes drifted back down to meet yours. “so why even come ta the isle? Fer beasty boy? Malsy?”

You looked down at your shoes…you really had no reason to come along did you? Ben and the others could have easily handled getting back Mal without you…so why?

…

“because if my parents are going to disappointed in me it might as well be for a real reason” you muttered, letting your arms drop to your side.

You felt Harry's eyes on you as you stared hard at the ground, willing yourself not to cry. “that sucks” you looked at Harry through your lashes, seeing him staring at you with sad eyes “I thought…I thought all Bora-don parents loved their kids” he laughed uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his head.

“well…they are still human…and just because they are hailed as good people, don’t mean they are good parents” you sighed, crossing your arms again and looking away from Harry's eyes.

“wait…Bora-don?” you laughed, turning back to Harry with a grin. He seemed to be relieved of the subject change and a sharp grin grew on his face.

“aye, it's boring, so, Bora-don~” he giggled, rocking on his heels a bit. A few moments passed then he held his hand out to you.

You stared at it, then him for a few moments. “come on, let's give yer dumbass parents a real reason ta be disappointed in yeh” you smiled and took his hand, laughing quietly to yourself as Harry tugged you away from the docks and toward wherever he was taking you.

-

Your legs were in Harry's lap as the two of you cackled into the dead of night, hands stained with paint and rotten food. Harry had taken you for a night of chaos, destroying vendors with paint, pranking the twin sons of Gaston’s with balloons filled with rotting eggs, and just wreaking havoc in the streets of the isle.

Harry's arm went behind your back as you fell to the side slightly, his bicep pushing against your arm. “thank you Harry” you hummed as you finally calmed down, giving him a closed-lipped smile. “this…this really meant a lot to me” he stared at your lips for a moment before a soft, unsure, smile grew on his lips.

“it was no biggie princess,” your lip twitched at the title “I was kinda already planning ta do all those things anyway…thought it was pretty fun ta do it with someone instead of by myself” you laughed a bit, leaning back on your hands and closing your eyes.

“I get that”  it was silent for a few moments, just you and Harry on top of the abandoned building.

“yeh reacted when I called yeh princess” you twitched again “yeh did it again…is something up with the word?”

You sighed, then opened your eyes, staring into Harry for a moment then looking away “I…I don’t like being referred to like that…it’s not the title its…what it refers to… it's hard to explain”

Harry tilted his head, his hand going on your knee to gently push you to continue “is it the royalty thing?”

“no” you dismissed quickly “its…the princess thing…its…well…ugh” you took your legs off Harry's lap and switched to sitting on your knees, looking at Harry with serious eyes “I've never told anybody this and you have to swear you won't tell anybody else after I tell you” Harry blinked wildly for a moment then looked at you confused.

“lass” you twitched again, making Harry pause for a moment “darling, unless it’s something that will help bring down the barrier or take over the world, I won't tell a soul” you snickered for a moment before you took a deep breath, preparing to tell a person you had just meet that day, one that had kidnapped your brother no less, your greatest secret.

It didn’t help that you felt more comfortable with him in five minutes than you had with your parents for the last 16 years. “I…don’t like it when I'm referred to with girl-like titles or…pronouns” you winced, hands going to block anything that might come your way.

“oh, yeh don’t like she-her pronouns where they are used in a way to refer ta yeh?” Harry clarified, you looked at him slightly odd, expecting some sort of relation or comment, but…it was as if you had just told him you didn’t like a vegetable instead of you not being comfortable with your gender pronouns?

“uh…yeah basically?” you rubbed the back of your head, the other hand picking at the loose threads on your pants.

“yeah, it's not that uncommon ‘ere, I think Desiree is non-binary and one of the other crew members is gender-fluid…not that it's not a big deal but…why have yeh never told anybody else about that? Not even yer brother?” your wide-eyes looked away, hands clenching into your shirt “Darling?”

“um…Auradon isn’t really…accepting of most things…I didn’t even know that…non-binary and gender-fluid were a thing…what do they mean?” you looked back at Harry who seemed to be very surprised “what?”

“nothin’ I'm just surprised tha’ the place of happily ever after’s is kinda…shit?” he laughed, rubbing the back of his head “okay lemme remember what Desiree told me um…Okay non-binary is when you don’t…identify as the gender yeh were at birth so say…okay take Desiree as an example, they’ve been told they’ve been a girl since they were born but they’ve always felt like that didn’t fit, but being a boy didn’t feel right either. so that’s what non-binary is. It's that yeh are neither male nor female yeh are…well you, and most of the time, as far as I know, they use they-them pronouns instead of she or he. but I think some of them use she and they, or he and they…just depends on who uses the pronouns n stuff.”

That…that sounded right…you had never liked female pronouns on you, and ages ago, when you tested male pronouns to yourself, that never felt right either…could you be non-binary? “um, what about gender-fluid?” Harry took a deep breath and looked up.

“Okay, I’m not as knowledgeable on that since the one who actually told me about it didn’t tell me everything…anyway, its under the same...umbrella i think its called as non-binary but genderfluid is when you are both genders, not at the same time…I think, but one day yeh can be female, the other a male, sometimes neither, but that’s what gender-fluid is. They don’t have a fixed gender”

While that sounded interesting…it didn’t feel right to you, you never felt like a girl, and you never felt like a boy… “I think I’m non-binary” you breathed, feeling like a weight was lifting off your entire body. You grinned as Harry smiled.

“awesome, welcome to the club darling” you let yourself fall forward into Harry’s chest, who stiffened slightly and slowly wrapped his arms around you.

“thank you” you muttered quietly, rubbing your cheek into his collarbone. His entire body was still as you cuddled into him, before he relaxed and laid his cheek on your head.

“yer welcome darling” he whispered back, one of his hands going up to cup the back of your head, thumb gently rubbing back and forth.

You jumped as a sudden loud noise crashed below you, and you further ducked into Harry, yelping slightly as he tipped back and the two of you ended up in an odd pile on the rooftop.

Harry tightened his arms around you, his entire body tense again as he listened for any threats. He let out a soft sigh as the high-pitched yowl of a cat rang from where the loud noise came and the animal scuttled off. “yer fine” he whispered, letting his head hit the roof as you sat up and looked around “jus’ a cat”

-smut starts here so if you don’t want to read anything that either includes it or hints at it just scroll till you get to another warning, but this does has some plot points in it soo scroll at ur own risk-

You nodded slightly, twisting around to look at the bleak buildings of the isle. you felt something beneath your legs and you glanced down, feeling heat creep into your face as you realized you were straddling Harry's thigh, it seemed he didn’t fully realize you were doing it as well, his leg rubbing against…well your…area.

You squeaked as he pushed his leg up further and tipped forward, your hands reaching out and slamming next to Harry's head to catch yourself.

His eyes flashed open, red building on his cheeks as your faces were suddenly only two inches apart. “um” you looked to the side, biting your lip “s-sorry” Harry glanced down, the blush spreading to his ears as he realized what the pressure against his leg was. He laid his leg flat and let out a short laugh.

“uh…” you locked eyes again, and a strong shiver was sent down your spine as you looked into his sparkling ocean blue eyes.

You could feel an ache between your legs begin to grow as you lifted yourself back up and hovered over Harry's hips. Harry slowly sat up, stopping inches away from your face, his eyes drifting to your lips for a moment then looking back up at you. “I-“ you whispered, biting your lip as a devious idea came to mind “I have…an idea”

“oh,” Harry whispered back, leaning a bit closer, his hands sliding forward on the ground and resting on your thighs. “Wha’?”

“you know what would really disappoint my parents?” you grinned, your hands reaching up from your sides and gripping onto Harry's jacket, pulling him toward you a bit.

He grinned back, looking down at your lips again “wha’ would tha’ be?”

You leaned in, lips only an inch from his “sleeping with someone they would hate” you could almost feel the wide grin that spread on his lips.

“sounds an excellent idea~” he purred, hands flashing up to your shoulders as yours curled around his neck and pulled him into a hard kiss, teeth clashing and faces warm.

Harry's leg arched up against your butt and forced you forward again, your lips parted with a gasp as Harry leaned back with you. he wrapped his arms around your torso, pressing your chest into his and leaning down to nip at your neck “Harry” you breathed, pressing your lips together as Harry's hands drifted down to your butt and pushed it against his hips, an odd hardness pressing against the ache between your legs. You let out a low whispering moan as he ground against you, his lips smirking against your neck as you started to meet his hips in tandem.

“that’s it darling” he purred, trailing up your neck and sucking on your jaw “jus’ like tha’” you whimpered, ducking your head down and burning into Harry's neck as Harry's hips started to go harder and faster against you. You let out small gasps as your hips twitched and ground back down into Harry's, who let out small groans against your shoulder.

“hang on hang on” Harry grabbed your hips, stopping you and sitting up. One of his hands reached up to the back of your neck and pulled you back, lips crashing into yours in a bruising kiss. His hips started again, the heat between your legs almost becoming unbearable as you trust against them to get rid of the ache.

Harry nipped at your lip, smirking as you opened at his request and tilted his head to deepen the kiss. He sucked at your lip, dragging your tongue into his mouth. You sighed at the feeling, tightening your grip on his jacket as you let him just play with your tongue.

He pulled back, smirking at the trail of saliva that still connected your lips. “shall I take yeh to my apartment yer highness~ yeh should be taken in a place of privacy, not a damned rooftop.” Your hazy mind yelled at you to go with him and you nodded, yelping slightly as Harry grabbed your thighs and stood with ease, your legs locking around his waist. “I’ll take good care of yeh darling~”

-

You let out a breathless gasp as your back hit his bed, the larger teen pouncing on top of you, not waiting for you to stop bouncing, and pressed another bruising kiss to your lips.

You heard him unzip his jacket and throw it across his room, the chain across the back making a loud sound as it hit the wall. He pulled away from you for a moment to rip off his sword sheath and shirt. You felt your face burn as his pecks and abs came into sight, slowly reaching out to trail your fingers against his scars as he pulled his shirt over his head.

You felt him shiver as you brushed your knuckle over his perked nipple and gripped onto his bicep, biting your lip at the look in his eyes as he smirked down at you.

“before we start” he rasped in a low tone, making you press your thighs together to relieve the ache that pulsed “do you really want ta do this?”

“yes” you answered immediately, smiling at his question, good to know that even after you had gone this far, he still asked for consent. He smiled back and leaned down, pressing his forehead to yours, noses touching.

“Jus’ tell me ta stop, and I will” you nodded and pulled his lips down into yours, immediately opening your mouth and clashing your tongue with his.

Within seconds your jacket was taken off and Harry pushed your top up above your breasts, unclipping your bra from the back and pushing that over your breasts as well.

You pushed at his chest, Harry immediately pulling away and raising his brow, laughing slightly as you sat up and discarded your top and bra. You pulled him back into the kiss, groaning into his as his hips dipped and pressed into yours again.

He pulled away for a split moment, making you whine in objection and tug on his hair. He leaned down and whispered into your ear, lips brushing against your skin.

“I'll make sure yeh won't be able ta walk properly tomorrow~”

-

Harry started up at the ceiling, his fingers gently trailing up and down your back. Almost every inch of him ached, from the reddening hickeys on his neck, torso, and hips, the scratches on his arms, back, and torso, to the bitemark on his neck.

He looked out his window, noting it was pitch black outside. He sighed and turned his head into you, curling his other arm around you and tugging you tighter into his side, breathing in the scent of your (fav shampoo).

He didn’t know why, but from the moment he had first seen you, your curious eyes peeking from behind Jay's shoulder, he had felt something flutter within him. He wasn’t able to stop thinking about you from then on, even as he taunted Ben in the lost revenge’s brig, unable to get those hypnotic (e/c) eyes out of his head.

He couldn’t ignore the genuine happiness when he saw you again, taking down those goons with ease and confidence. He couldn’t ignore the feeling in his chest when you laughed, the intense fluttering when you smiled at him.

The way heat rushed to his cheeks when you hugged him.

The passion he felt as he looked down at your writing body as he was deep inside you.

-Alright! Yall who don’t like reading smut/stuff that hints at it are good! You may continue reading!-

He shouldn’t feel this way, not for the child of the king that had sent his father to the isle, and dooming hundreds of kids to a floating prison just for being the children of villains. He shouldn’t feel this way about the sibling of the king they had kidnapped and were holding for ransom.

He had only heard of this type of feelings from stories of the heroes of Bora-don, how they had somehow fallen in love within seconds of meeting the other. He had never understood it, calling it stupid that someone would fall in love with someone they just met.

He understood it now, the ache in his chest when he thought of you being hurt when the villains took over the world after Uma got the wand and freed them all. He only had one word to assign it to.

Love.

His grip on your waist tightened, and he buried his face in your hair. He didn’t know if he would ever see you again after today, so he would treasure the moments he had with you now.

You groaned slightly in your sleep, your hand that wasn’t trapped under his pillow reaching up and curling around his neck, pulling yourself further into his neck, your nose pushing into the dip between his shoulder and neck.

He pressed a kiss to your head and closed his eyes, huffing slightly as he realized he felt completely content by your side.

-

You grumbled as beams of light pushed through your closed eyes, you pushed off Harry's chest and glared at the window, reaching to close the curtain that half covered it, huffing as you realized you couldn’t reach it from your spot buried in Harry's side.

You stilled as Harry's arm reached past you and closed the curtain, leaving the room in calmly lit darkness. He put his hand on your head and pushed it back onto his chest, thumb gently caressing the back of your head. “morning” you rasped, tilting your head to rest your chin on Harry's pecs and smiling at the slowly awakening pirate.

“morning darling” he rasped back, his sleepy ocean blue eyes staring back at you. He slowly sat up, shifting you to sit in his lap as he shook his head to force himself to wake up. “wha’ time is it” he grumbled, raising his brow as you reached behind him for your pants, that were hanging off his bed frame, and pulled out your phone.

“8:30” you set your phone on the nightstand and flopped back into Harry's chest, tightly wrapping your arms around him. “what time is the…thing?”

“12” he hummed, pressing his cheek to your head and holding onto you “so…”

“three and a half hours” you did the math for him, pouting as he pulled you back slightly and looked into your eyes.

“Uma wanted me at the ship at nine darling…” you sighed, looking at your lap as you realized your time with the handsome pirate was almost up.

He pressed a kiss to your head and pulled his blankets around you, covering your nakedness and getting out of the bed, aware of your eyes on his butt as he walked over to his dresser.

“Please tell me it wasn’t just me” he paused as he slid his underwear over his hips and looked over at his shoulder at you, eyes widening as he saw a droplet of water appear from behind your hair and fall onto the blanket “please tell me it wasn’t just me that felt something”

He was silent for a few moments, biting his lip as his heart raced with the realization that you felt the same way he did.

He stared at you for a few moments before turning back to his dresser and opening the small box on top and pulling out a necklace.

He turned and walked towards you, giving you a soft smile as he sat in front of you and gently lifted the tread around your neck, trailing his fingers down it and holding the small charm in his fingertips.

You glanced down at it and gasped, the charm was a small metal hook with a small red gem in the middle of the bulb. “this is something I’ve had fer awhile” Harry whispered, looking back up at you and bonking his forehead into yours “Gil made it for meh a long time ago, but it…it didn’t feel right on me…but I kept it cause it felt like it had a purpose…I guess that purpose was ta be on yeh” you sniffed as your vison blurred “what I’m saying is…yes, it wasn’t jus’ you, I felt something too”

He tilted your chin up with his finger, softly smiling at you and leaning in slightly “a feeling I’ve only heard in yer Bora-don tales” you gasped slightly at that, heart going a thousand miles a minute as you realized he had felt the same way you did since you had first seen him last night in the ally “it sounds stupid” he chuckled, looking off for a moment “I never believe those tales of love at first sight or that type of shit but…” he looked back into your eyes, hand trailing from your chin to the back of your neck “I was proved wrong”

He pulled you into a sweet, soft kiss, your eyes closing as he slowly moved his lips against yours, his other hand coming up and taking your hand that wasn’t holding the blanket.

Your mind went hazy as the world around you melted away at the taste of Harry's bruised lips, giving you the softest kiss you had ever gotten from anyone.

He pulled back for a moment, pressing another soft kiss to your lips before sitting back and opening his eyes, smiling as you kept yours closed and swayed slightly “(y/n)” he whispered, realizing he had to go very soon if he wanted to make sure you got back to the core four safely, and make it to the ship on time “ye have ta go now”

You slowly opened your eyes and pouted, tilting forward and hugging Harry tightly “I know, but It's too dangerous for yeh here love, get dressed, and I’ll walk ye back to the hideout” you shook your head against his chest but obeyed after he clicked his tongue and picked one of your legs up and let it drop on the floor.

He pressed a kiss to your forehead and stood, grabbing his clothes that had been tossed around in the night and quickly getting dressed, grumbling about his belts that had somehow disappeared.

“under the bed” you snorted, laughing as Harry paused and dropped to his knees and looked under the bed, muttering some curses to himself as he pulled out the two black-brown belts and attached them to his hips.

You sighed as you ran your fingers over the purple hickeys all over your neck and torso, whistling slightly at the dark bite mark on your ribs. You mentally thanked your past self as you pulled your turtle neck over your head and smoothed it down. “yeh ready darling?” you nodded over to your shoes and picked them up, walking over to Harry's bed to put them on.

You finished lacing them up and jumped slightly as Harry's hand appeared in your vision. You looked up slightly, biting your lip as he was fully geared up, a tricorn hat on his head, and a blue headwrap hiding his fluffy back hair. He had lined his eyes thick making the blue pop. You took his head and stood, the two of you walking out of his apartment and towards the hideout.

-

You stopped just a little less than a block away from the hideout, Harry taking off his hat and holding it in front of your faces as he pressed a soft kiss to your lips “I’ll see yeh later yer highness” he whispered with a smile, he took a step back and bowed low, flipping his hat on his head as he stood.

You shared a sad smile and Harry walked away. You watched him for a moment before you called after him, he turned with a raised brow “stay safe…please” you smiled as he nodded.

“as yeh wish” he turned away and walked toward the wharf, leaving you to return to the hideout alone, the cold metal of the hook charm against your chest reminding you that you might never see him again after today.

-

You never did see him again that day, being forced to stay with the car as the others went to get Ben.

It had been a week since cotillion, and you stared at yourself in the mirror, dark bags under your eyes as the clock read 2 am.

It had been hard…hearing yourself being referred to as “she” or “her” or “the sister of king ben” when you had finally found out who you were.

After you had gotten back you had scoured the internet to look up the terms Harry had told you. Non-binary…’Non-binary people not only do not identify as the gender they were assigned at birth; they do not identify with the male or female gender at all’

You were non-binary, and it was so hard to hear yourself be misgendered after years of feeling uncomfortable being referred to as a ‘girl’ then finally figuring yourself after meeting Harry. you thought of telling the core four, but you were scared that they would ask about how you found out, and then you would have to spill the beans about Harry.

You didn’t know what it meant to be non-binary but…this was your journey right? As long as you felt it was right…it had to be the right path…right? You glanced at the scissors on the counter, then back at yourself in the mirror, frowning at your long hair that your mother had demanded that you never cut dramatically, in fear that you would be seen as a boy.

…well fuck that.

You grabbed your scissors in one hand, your hair in the other, and pulled it to the side. You closed your eyes as you held the scissors over your hair.

*snip!*

You hardly looked as you chopped off your long hair, the locks falling on your feet and bathroom floor as you did.

You took a deep breath as you set down the scissors again and quickly looked at yourself, breath-stopping as you did.

“oh” you breathed, leaning forward towards the mirror and reaching up to touch your choppy short hair “...there you are” the cut was ugly and rough but…it felt right…you smiled, running your hands through your hair.

A thought came to mind, and you ran into your room to grab a baggy button-up shirt you had stolen from Ben months ago and quickly threw it over your tank top and buttoned it up.

You took a deep breath and stepped in front of your mirror, your eyes burning as you felt like you were seeing yourself for the first time “there you are” you whispered again, reaching up and grabbing the hook charm as you closed your eyes.

Your name was (y/n), and you were non-binary.

And if that disappointed your parents? Or anyone else in Auradon? Fuck em.

If you were proud of yourself that was all that mattered.

-end of part 1-

2nd parts gonna be after d2 and into D3 with (y/n) telling Ben and the C4 about them being NB and doing things to help themselves feel more like themselves…yep :D hopefully, I did this fic right and represented those who are non-binary correctly, I used the knowledge I had and did some research to make sure I didn’t type any stupid shit.

Oh also enjoy this little sketch dump I did while writing this, it's not (y/n) exactly, but just how I envisioned the “character” if it wasn’t a blank slate “character” lol, and yes they do got a pirate look going on…that’s the point XD they take inspo for their fashion from Harry/pirates.

permtaglist

@queer-cosette @sephiralorange​

@lunanight2012 @daughter-of-the-stars11

@musicarose @random-thoughts-003

@remembered-license @jatp-rules-my-life 

@rintheemolion @thecaptainsgingersnap

@verboetoperee @imtryingthisout

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Satisfied, Part 11

First

Previous

Next

Person: Lol there’s immortals and they’ve come back to life multiple times, why is anyone surprised magic exists Me, who hasn’t read the comics in years and has forgotten everything: not canon anymore. I’ve decided

~~~

She looked around at the soft browns and reds of the café. The scenery was pleasant, but it had very little overlap with any styles she wanted for any of her customers.

This vague looking around quickly morphed into staring blankly at her sketchbook for almost an hour straight.

Marinette groaned and rested her head on the table, closing her eyes.

“Need more coffee already?” Came Tim’s voice.

She gave a tiny shake of her head. “Need new scenery,” she murmured into her arms.

Somehow, though, Tim heard her. The sound of his fingers on the keyboard stopped for a moment in surprise, and the café almost sounded incomplete without it.

He reached over and ruffled her hair. “Has anyone given you a tour of the city yet?”

“Nope,” she said. She’d gotten a pretty good look at the place on patrols, but he couldn’t know that.

There was a shifting sound and she looked up to find Tim taking out his phone. “What’re you...?”

He put the phone to his ear and tipped his head back as it rang. Eventually, he said: “Hey, I’m going to take the day off.”

There was a long silence from the other line. She winced as the person on the other sound screamed, she hadn’t wanted Tim to get scolded for missing --

“Yes, I’m fine. No, it’s not a prank. I’ve met someone -- not like that, Jay -- and I’m giving her a tour of the city. She just got here from France a while ago.”

The bit of chatter was cut off abruptly by a smashing sound from the phone. Tim didn’t seem all that concerned about it, though, so Marinette just listened in anxiously.

The man’s eyebrows knit together. “Yes, I met her at the coffee shop, Dick. What does it matter?” Then he blinked. His eyes found their way to her for a second and then he gave a short laugh. “You’re insane. Can I have time off or not?”

The chorus of ‘Yes!’ Please!’’s was so loud that Marinette heard it from across the table.

Tim grinned and set his phone down. “Guess who has a free day now.”

Marinette tapped her finger to her chin thoughtfully. “Who knows.” She stood slowly and glanced at their coffees.

He rolled his eyes and got them each another cup. With that, they were off.

“So, I guess I should ask what colors or ideas you have going.”

She sighed. “I’m thinking of green for Adrien. Yellow, black, and white for the Bourgeois-es. And for Jagged...” She waved her hands vaguely as she tried to think of how to translate the word. “A lot-ness.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Flashiness?”

“Sure.”

He closed his eyes and thought for a minute, then nodded to himself. “Right, I have an idea for Adrien’s.” His face reddened slightly. “I probably should have asked if you were willing to come, first, huh?”

Her head tipped to the side as she considered this. She really had only talked to the man a few times, could she really trust him? He’d gotten her coffee a few times without spiking it, which was a plus. He was also very obviously rich, which meant robbing her wouldn’t do much for him.

Her mind wandered back to how he’d dodged a punch the other day, though. His reaction time had been as quick as, if not faster, than hers. He was pretty well built, too. He had to know some kind of self-defense.

Still, he’d taken a day off of work for her. From the sound of the people on the other end of the line, this wasn’t a common occurrence. She chewed on the inside of her cheek and nodded.

He smiled and reached out to ruffle her hair.

Then, they were off.

Within a few blocks was the gardens dedicated to Poison Ivy. They stepped inside and Marinette went to her bag to pay on instinct, but Tim walked straight past the ticket counter and waved her along.

She frowned confusedly. “Don’t we need to pay...?”

“Nope, c’mon,” he chirped.

She glanced at the salesperson, who was a teen boy. He’d barely been awake when they walked in, but now he was wide awake. They had gone bolt upright at the sound of Tim’s voice, and were now stealing glances at the pair of them anxiously.

She slowly stepped towards Tim. Just who was this guy?

These nerves dissipated the moment she stepped into the atrium. She’d seen it from above a few times, but that was nothing compared to the way it was to be within it. Her eyes filcked from flower to flower as a wide smile stretched across her face.

She went to the nearest bench and started sketching for Adrien. Clothing for guys is always easier, they’re always expected to be in a suit, it’s just what you do on the suit that matters.

Tim was leaning in the doorway, absently scrolling through messages. His face was getting more and more tired by the second, but that wasn’t particularly weird for him so Marinette didn’t bother to question it.

Besides, if she didn’t get her ideas down on paper soon, she’d probably forget them.

She finished and kept walking through the rooms, smiling to herself. She’d gotten an idea for Jagged and Penny’s outfits in a room with bioluminescents. Then, after seeing an almost golden flower, had been able to get some inspiration for both Audrey and Chloe’s.

She beamed at all the designs. She was sure to change them over the four months, but it was good that she had general ideas for what she wanted to have them look like early on.

Finally, she looked at Tim. He’d been following her through the rooms at a casual pace, his face stuck in his phone.

She rolled her eyes and pulled the phone down, snapping him from his haze.

“This is your day off, remember? Stop working.”

He sighed. “This is my personal phone. My family is just being stupid.”

She gave him a skeptical look and he finally let go, letting Marinette check for herself.

Her eyes scanned over the messages without really paying attention to what the words meant and she nodded slowly. The tone was far too casual for anything for work.

She had started to hand back the phone when she finally processed some of the words she’d seen.

“’Bring her to dinner’?” She questioned, whipping the phone back around to scroll through them more thoroughly.

He gave little more than a weak shrug. “They think that you’re some kind of miracle since you got me out of work and want you to meet everyone.”

“Everyone?”

“In my family. There’s a lot of them. Don’t worry, you’re booked for at least the next twenty years from what I’ve told them.”

She raised an eyebrow and continued looking through it. “They’re good people?”

“Sure, but that doesn’t mean I want you to -- hey!”

She had started typing. They sprinted in circles around the tiny atrium, Marinette still struggling to type with all the movement and Tim trying his hardest to catch her off-guard so he could get his phone back.

She hit send. The moment he heard the text tone, he stopped cold. He groaned. “Noooooooo.”

Marinette grinned. “I’ll see you at dinner in two days.”

“Nooooooo.”

“Yeeeees.”

Tim glared at her for a few seconds and swiped back his phone to check that the text she had sent had said that. He pouted a bit when it was, then whipped his head around to look at her, a dangerous look in his eyes: “I’m not paying for your coffee anymore.”

“Nooooooo!”

~~~

Taglist~

@comet-kun @thatonecroc @trippingovermyfeet @swiftie-miraculer13 @nickristus-dreamer @moongoddesskiana @i-am-ironic @indecisive-mess-named-me @thebooki3h @insane-fangirl-of-everything @deepestobservationwombat @theymakeupfairies @fatimaabbasrizvi @clumsy-owl-4178 @fanofalittletoomuch @iamablinkmarvelarmy @nathleigh @lilkymilky @silvergold-swirl @dino-lovingreen-angel @thestressmademedoit

[gracies-baby]

hey!! could you write somewhere where gracie and y/n are together but have to keep it secret from everyone? and y/n gets super upset since it's gone on for so long and gracie keeps promising her that they'll be able to go public super soon but she always breaks that promise.

i love your writing and would appreciate it a lot but no pressure! thanks!!!

The Secret of Us

(Gracie Abrams x Reader)

——————————————————————————

"Y/n, I'm sorry but I just can't right now! It's not the right time!" Gracie exclaims, exhausted by the conversation.

"It's never the right time, is it? You've been saying we'll go public for like a year now Gracie! I'm sick of it! I'm sick of seeing these stupid articles about you and whatever friend you're supposedly dating now! I can't do this if you don't stop keeping me a secret!" Y/n yells, tears running down her face as she glares at the brunette.

"We'll do it soon, I promise. Everything's just so chaotic right now, but I'll tell everyone soon, okay? Everything's gonna be okay baby. I promise" Gracie replies as she pulls the shorter girl in for a hug, letting her cry into her shoulder. A few hours later, Gracie leaves her sleeping girlfriend in bed while she goes to the living room.

"Gracie, you need to do something about this. It's not fair on her. If you don't fix this, she will leave you. For good reason" Audrey tells her roommate as she sits on the couch after hearing the other girl's argument.

"I can't Audrey. As soon as I tell everyone, they're all gonna be in my business. Y/n won't even be able to go for a walk without people following her around and asking questions. I won't do that to her" Gracie replies, sitting on the couch with her face in her hands.

"Gracie, she wants you. She doesn't care about all that other shit. She just wants you. You say you love her but you won't do the one thing she asks? Fix it Gracie" Audrey scolds before going to her room, leaving Gracie with her thoughts.

--

"So, there's been some rumors going around about you and a certain actress. Can I ask how true they are?" Jimmy asks the brunette during their interview causing Gracie to chuckle.

"Not true at all. We're just friends" Gracie tells the man as he nods.

"Well, is there anyone else on the horizon? Anyone caught your interest?"

"No, it's just me and Weenie right now but if anything happens, you'll be the first to know" Gracie jokes as the two of them laugh. An hour later, the interview is finishes and Gracie goes to meet her girlfriend out the back.

"Hey babe, ready to go?" The brunette asks with a smile as she goes to take Y/n's hand, only for the shorter girl to snatch it back and go to the car, leaving the brunette confused.

"Are you mad at me? Did I do something wrong?" Gracie asks as she drives, breaking the silence that had been going on for the last 15 minutes.

"Just take me home"

"Home? You mean to our place, right?" She asks nervously.

"No. To my place. I need to be alone right now"

"Y/n, come on, what's wrong? What did I do?" Gracie asks as she puts a hand on her girlfriends' thigh.

"That was the perfect opportunity for you to tell people about us and you still didn't do it! I can't do this anymore Gracie! I can't be with someone who's ashamed of me!" Y/n yells as she pushes the brunette's hand away.

"I'm not ashamed of you! I just- if everyone knows about us then what do we have left? They would just change everything!"

"We would have a future, Gracie! I'm done. I'm done with you, Gracie" Y/n mumbles just as Gracie pulls into her driveway. She storms out of the car, not looking back. Gracie sits in the car for a few minutes, tears streaming down her face before she starts the car again, driving to her parents' house.

"What's wrong? Gracie? What happened?" Katie asks when her daughter walks into the house, eyes red from crying.

"She broke up with me. Y/n's gone mom. I lost her" She cries into her mother's shoulder, Katie rubbing her back. A few minutes later, Katie guides her daughter to the couch, so they have a place to sit down and talk.

"What happened?"

"Um, we had been fighting a bit lately about me not telling the public about her. And I guess she just had enough. I can't blame her. I just- if everyone knew then they would just want to take her from me. They would talk about her online and I know how hard that can be. I don't want her to have to deal with that"

"Gracie, I'm not accepting anyone other than Y/n as my daughter-in-law. You need to fix this. Yes, things will be different when people know but that doesn't mean it'll be bad. Don't you want to be able to take her out on proper dates?" 

"Of course I want that. But she made it pretty clear that she's done with me. I fucked up" Gracie sighs sadly as she throws her head back against the couch cushion.

"Maybe not. You have a show in a few days, don't you?"

--

After Gracie finishes playing mess it up, she puts her guitar down before walking up to the microphone.

"So, I've got a secret to tell you guys. I'm sure you've all seen the rumors about me and my friend. But they're not true. At all. Actually, I've been keeping something from you all for a year now. I'm in love. I fell in love with the best, most perfect girl in the world but I fucked it up a little bit. We're not together anymore. I was a bit selfish and kept her a secret from all of you and I regret that more than anything. But Y/n, if you're hearing this somehow, I promise I won't keep you a secret anymore. Actually, there's one more secret I have for all of you. My new album, Deep in Love, comes out in a few months and it's filled with songs I've written this past year about my relationship. Thank you all so much for listening to this and thank you for coming tonight. I love you all so much" Gracie waves to the crowd before walking off stage only to see her ex-girlfriend backstage.

"I heard you, Gracie. Thank you. I love you so much" Y/n says with a wide grin as Gracie smiles back before pulling her in for a big kiss, both of them smiling into it.

[eviesmyspiritanimal]

Pool Pandemonium

Summary: When the gang decides to spend a day at the pool, some rather interesting events transpire. Lonnie's trying to steal Jay from Audrey, Carlos is caught in an interesting situation and Ben's sleeping through it all while Mal and Evie do their usual sisterly stuff. Plenty of familial/friendship feels with everybody with some Jaudrey, Huma, Bal, and Jarlos dashed in.

  “Don’t you think it’s kind of weird that Ben is over here tanning with us?” Evie questioned, gesturing to the sleeping boy nearby, and Mal raised an eyebrow as she gave Evie a onceover.

  It was a nice, hot Saturday afternoon that Mal, Evie, Uma, Audrey, Jane, Carlos, Jay, Harry, Gil, Ben, and Lonnie had all made their way to the pool. They had scheduled it since the summer days had been so hot recently that they were nearly intolerable even with air conditioning. At this point, almost everyone had come out and joined them at the pool except Audrey, who was no doubt ensuring that she looked perfect before being seen by everyone.

  Of course, Mal herself did not particularly want to get into the pool, but she did want to spend time with the others. Therefore, as a result of Mal’s choice to abstain from swimming, Evie resolved to join Mal on the poolside in hopes of getting a tan and also to keep her favorite person in the world company.

  “First of all, out of the two of us, you’re the one tanning. I’m the one taking cover under an umbrella. Second of all, just look at his pale butt, E. He needs a tan more than anyone here,” Mal pointed out, raising her eyebrows as she looked between Evie and Ben. Ben was soundly asleep, enjoying the warm sun against him as he snoozed.

  “Yeah… You guys are like a couple of vampires, aren’t you?” Evie asked, and Mal scoffed, narrowing her eyes at the bluenette who even this early in summer had a gorgeous tan covering her skin. Of course, Evie was always that way. She always turned an absolutely beautiful shade of golden.

  “Well, look here, golden nugget, not everybody can get a tan,” Mal bantered with the other girl, and Evie barely held back her adoring grin as she gazed at her sister.

  “Yeah, especially not you,” Evie commented teasingly with a giggle, and Mal simply glared at her. Evie just snorted hard, holding her stomach as she laughed unashamedly.

  “Don’t make me push you into the pool,” Mal pointed a scolding finger at Evie, and Evie just reached her hand out and grabbed the finger as she persisted in her mirth, seeing right through Mal’s words to the joking undertones.

  “Hey, I can arrange that,” Uma suddenly piped up, emerging from the pool water as she rested her arms on the edge and looked at the two best friends with a mischievous glint in her eye. Evie quickly pulled her legs up to her chest, her laughter slowing significantly as she quite obviously took Uma’s threat seriously.

  “At ease, Blue. I ain’t targeting you just yet,” Uma waved her concerns away, but Uma’s last words still stuck with Evie, so she decided to keep away anything that Uma could potentially grab onto.

  “Watch out, ladies, coming through,” a voice suddenly declared, and Uma raised an eyebrow, a slight smirk pulling at her lips as Audrey suddenly came through in her hot pink bikini.

  “Look who they let out of the circus,” Uma commented aloud, referencing Audrey’s bright colors, and Audrey just rolled her eyes, ignoring the pirate captain.

  “Wow… Is there some reason you’re dressed in a bikini?” Mal questioned, wrinkling her nose a bit as she took in the vast amounts of skin that Audrey was displaying. Of course, most of her disgust was simply disguised envy. Mal did sort of wish that she could get a tan like Audrey and Evie could.

  “Hey, what’s wrong with a bikini?” Uma questioned defensively, and Mal almost grinned as she remembered that Uma had one on as well.

  “Yours is functional. Audrey looks like she came out of Victoria’s Secret,” Mal pointed out, and Evie immediately chuckled in response to Mal’s statement. Mal just shrugged as Evie’s hand snaked around her own and squeezed it tightly.

  “That would explain her lacy underwear, though, wouldn’t it?” Uma acknowledged slyly, and Mal cackled wickedly.

  “Ugh… Anyway, to answer your question, Mal, besides the fact that my bikini is absolutely the most stylish, Lonnie is going to be here with us today,” Audrey stated, and Uma looked at the princess confusedly, trying to decipher this enigma.

  “What? You trying to impress Lonnie with your ability to tan or something?” Uma asked cluelessly, motioning toward Audrey, and Audrey huffed in aggravation.

  “No! I’m trying to outdo her! Jay’s right over there, and I do not intend for Lonnie to get his attention!” Audrey explained her logic behind her mode of dress as she gestured in the general direction of the opposite side of the pool. Uma turned her head, following Audrey’s hand movement, and the pirate’s eyes widened a bit as she realized the scene that was occurring in that direction.

  “Well, don’t look now, Princess, but it looks like she’s over there trying to get his attention right now actually,” Uma spoke, and Audrey’s eyes snapped to where Lonnie was getting much too close to her Jay. Jay was just talking to her happily, grinning and laughing as they conversed, and Audrey felt her insides catch on fire with the pure infuriation she felt at the entire ordeal.

  “She’s trying to steal my guy!!!” Audrey declared, and Uma pursed her lips, nodding her head.

  “Sure looks that way.”

  “We’ve got to do something, girls!!! Help me!” Audrey cried, and Mal squinted as she gazed at them.

  “Just chill out, Thorn. I recognize that body language from anywhere. He’s not into her,” Mal waved the princess off, and Audrey narrowed her eyes as she clenched her teeth in her anger.

  “But she’s definitely into him,” Uma commented, and Audrey almost growled underneath her breath. Uma looked up at the princess, raising an eyebrow.

  “Hey, you want me to whoop her butt for you?” Uma offered, and Audrey knew that the pirate captain was being completely sincere with her words.

  “Well, no! We’ve got to use finesse! We can’t just charge in like some kind of rabid pack animals!” Audrey almost screeched, trying to keep her voice down at least a little so Lonnie would not hear her.

  “UGH!!! She infuriates me sometimes!!!” Audrey practically snarled, and Uma looked between the princess standing nearby the pool and the two people at the far-off end of the area.

  “Welp… Finesse or not, there’s only one way to fix it,” Uma told the princess, and Audrey paused. However, just as soon as she did, Uma surged up and grabbed Audrey’s arm, yanking her into the pool.

  “You got to get in and get started!”

  Audrey squealed just before she splashed heavily into the water.

  Mal and Evie flinched, squealing a bit as they tried to shield themselves from the incoming water. However, Ben never even reacted, simply snoring as he relaxed in the seat.

  As soon as Audrey came up to the surface, she was sputtering and looked nearly feral.

  “WOULD YOU STOP DOING THAT?!!!” Audrey screeched as she went into a coughing fit, and Uma cackled evilly. Mal could not help but smile and laugh with the pirate. Evie tried diligently to avoid laughing too much, but she was failing miserably.

  “Hey, consider yourself lucky. At least this time it wasn’t gnarly old pond water or Enchanted Lake water. It was all fancy and chlorinated just like you like it,” Uma leaned into Audrey’s space, moving her fingers to accentuate her words, and Audrey leaned away from her, wiping her face hard with her hand.

  “Yeah, which is why my eyes are burning now!” Audrey whined, and Uma rolled her eyes with a deep sigh.

  “Nothing is ever just right for you, is it, Goldilocks?” Uma questioned somewhat rhetorically, and Audrey squinted angrily at Uma.

  “Hey, don’t call me that! My hair is brown now, you know. I stopped dying it blonde a while ago,” Audrey pointed out, coughing a little as she tried to get the last of the water out of her system. Uma rolled her eyes, completely unimpressed.

  “Sure thing… Anyways, let’s go get your dude,” Uma waved her off and took the princess’s arm as she guided her through the pool in the direction of Jay and Lonnie.

  Mal looked at Evie, raising an eyebrow. Evie gazed back at her.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Mal questioned somewhat tiredly.

  “We shouldn’t have let everyone get together in the same pool,” Evie questioned in a manner that was more of a statement.

  “Precisely,” Mal agreed, and Evie shook her head slowly as they watched Uma and Audrey head toward Jay and Lonnie.

  “Alright, now how’re we playing this?” Uma questioned, and Audrey huffed as they grew closer to the two.

  “I don’t know. The sudden stunt you pulled a few seconds ago seems to have taken any ideas I could have had,” Audrey snidely remarked, and Uma grinned widely.

  “Oh, well, in that case, I’ll just dunk her and him and be done with it,” Uma proclaimed with false cheer, and Audrey groaned and shook her head.

  “Just follow my lead.”

  “How did I know you were going to whoop out that bossy streak?” Uma asked aloud, and Audrey just shot Uma an ungrateful glance before forcing the most overly happy and sweet grin that she had in her considering her current emotions in regard to both the situation at hand as well as Uma’s irritating ways.

  “Hey, Hottie,” Audrey greeted, and as soon as Jay looked at her, she planted a giant one on his lips. He made a small noise of surprise, but before he could get into it too much, she pulled away, looping her arms around him as she rested her head on his shoulder. He smiled at her, despite the fact that he was terribly confused at the moment.

  “Hey, Foxy.”

  “Oh, and Lonnie! How are you?” Audrey questioned, and Lonnie grinned a little, somewhat put out by Audrey’s sudden appearance.

  “I’m pretty good. It’s really been a while since we talked, hasn’t it?” Lonnie replied, and Uma nodded.

  “Yeah, it’s been too long,” Uma piped up, keeping as much cordiality in her tone as she could. At this moment, it was all Uma could do to keep from dunking Lonnie and fully submerging the girl in the water. After all, Uma was rather protective of Audrey and her feelings, despite the fact that Uma would sooner die than let anyone know that.

  “So what were you two talking about? Uma and I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Audrey innocently spoke, and Uma barely held back the smirk at Audrey’s wicked ways. Sometimes Uma could not help but think of how Audrey would have excelled as a villain kid.

  “We were just talking about my upcoming spot in Men’s Health magazine,” Jay pointed out, and Uma could almost feel the jealous rage emanating from Audrey. However, the princess quite admirably kept it together.

  “Oh, yes, my Jay is such a hunk, and as soon as I heard he was going to be in the magazine, I could’ve just popped. I’m so proud of him,” Audrey noted as she kissed his jaw, stroking his chest gently with her fingers as she spoke. Jay looked at her strangely, but grinned anyway, honestly not quite sure what was going on, but enjoying the attention nevertheless.

  “Yeah. I imagine you are pretty proud of him,” Lonnie awkwardly acknowledged, and Uma almost laughed at the strain in Lonnie’s voice as she spoke.

  “Yep,” Audrey agreed, and Uma nodded along with the princess. The energy was just overwhelmingly territorial at this point, and Uma could have sworn that she saw claws coming out, despite how subtly.

  However, not too far from the scene unfolding with Jay, Audrey, Lonnie, and Uma, Carlos and Jane were sitting next to one another on the edge of the pool as they peacefully talked.

  But they were soon joined by Harry and Gil.

  “Hey, Wee Laddy. Lil’ Duckling,” Harry greeted, and Jane shrunk back just a little as she moved a bit closer to Carlos. Carlos took her hand protectively, looking at Harry with as much confidence as he could possibly muster. Especially considering the fact that Harry was significantly outdoing Carlos with all of Harry’s rippling muscles and barely clothed form. Carlos could not help but feel a little intimidated, and he really hoped that Jane did not like what she saw with Harry.

  “So, I’ve got a bit of a… Proposition for ye,” Harry spoke, the beginnings of one of those maniacal grins for which he was so infamous. Carlos furrowed his brow, not liking where this was going. He really hoped that this idea had nothing to do with Jane.

  “Alrighty, so me and Gil were thinkin’.”

  “You could go get up on the high dive and jump,” Gil excitedly declared, smiling dopily as he glanced at Harry for approval. Harry nodded along with a crazy look in his eye.

  “And why would I want to do that?” Carlos questioned, furrowing his brow, and Harry shrugged.

  “Well, I just thought ye might wanna prove that ye aren’t totally chicken. After all, if ye refuse, Janey ‘ere might ‘ave to find ‘er a real man, eh?” Harry explained, and Carlos frowned a little at the thought. Jane shook her head.

  “Don’t listen to him, Carlos. I wouldn’t think any less of you if you didn’t jump off. Even I wouldn’t jump off.”

  “Oh, it’s alright, Carlos. Don’t cry, pumpkin pie,” Harry teased relentlessly, making his voice more high-pitched as he tried to goad Carlos into going along with his plan.

  “I’m not doing it,” Carlos declared, and Harry gasped in mock surprise.

  “Ooh!!! Chicken boy, chicken boy!” Harry declared, and he started to make chicken noises. Gil wasted no time in joining in with the sound. After several moments of this, Carlos groaned.

  “Fine! I’ll do it!” Carlos conceded, and Harry grinned widely, reaching around Jane and clapping Carlos on the back.

  “There ye are! Go for it!” Harry encouraged, and Carlos swallowed hard, getting up before Jane could say anything as he headed for the high dive nearby.

  “Oh, no… Carlos, don’t go!!” Jane called after him, but Carlos kept going. Harry grinned at Gil as he slid into the pool. Gil followed him quickly, and they headed out to the center of the pool to get a better look at the spectacle.

  Carlos climbed up the ladder carefully, working his way up to the top. Soon enough, he was at the diving board. He carefully stepped up on it and started to head toward the end of it. However, as soon as he got somewhat closer to the edge, he suddenly realized that it was an exceedingly long way down and that the water did not look nearly deep enough for him to safely jump into.

  So he froze up and he carefully got down on his knees, aiming to back up toward the ladder safely. But he found that he was completely frozen with fear, so he grabbed onto the diving board with his arms and shut his eyes tightly, clenching his teeth as he tried to keep his terror at bay.

  “Oh, no,” Carlos whimpered, hanging on tightly to the diving board.

  Down with the others, Jay was fully distracted by how Audrey was practically hanging onto him like a koala as Uma stood to the side, looking as if she might bite Lonnie’s head off at any moment.

  However, he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. Jay turned around to look, and he was met with Harry’s wild eyes.

  “Hey, tell yer baby brother to hurry up and jump,” Harry spoke, and Jay furrowed his brow as the rest of the group turned to look at him.

  “What? Jump from where?”

  “The high dive!” Gil pointed out, and Jay immediately looked up. His eyes went ridiculously wide as he gaped at the sight of Carlos clinging to the diving board.

  “Carlos?!” Jay cried, but the boy did not reply. Jay just stared at him for a long moment before Audrey started smacking his shoulder insistently.

  “Don’t just stand there! Go help him!!!” Audrey exclaimed, and Jay was jostled into action. He quickly swam through the water, pulling himself up onto the edge as he hurried up the ladder to where Carlos was currently stuck.

  “Whoo!! That’s my man!!!” Audrey yelled loudly, and Uma smirked a little, knowing that the words were just a flex on Audrey’s part as she tried to rub her ownership in Lonnie’s face.

  Mal and Evie soon hurried over to see what was going on.

  “What is happening?!” Evie demanded, and Mal shook her head swiftly.

  “And why is Carlos on the high dive?!” Mal questioned frantically. Uma laughed a little as she looked at Harry and Gil.

  “Y’all wanna explain why he’s up there?” Uma asked, and Harry smirked widely.

  “Me and Gilly dared him to!” Harry told the both of them, and Gil smiled widely as he gazed up at Evie with adoration.

  “He was chicken! But I wouldn’t be chicken. I’d jump right off of it,” Gil proudly announced, staring at Evie. The blunette was immediately uncomfortable as she crossed her arms before her, trying to resist the urge to shudder in reply to his attentions. Mal immediately sniggered at the ordeal. However, her attentions were soon brought back to the matter at hand.

  Jay had finally made his way to the top, and he carefully walked out on the diving board, his eyes fixated on the form of his little brother.

  “Hey, Frosted Flake,” Jay greeted, and Carlos just trembled a bit.

  “Get me down from here!” Carlos begged, and Jay nodded slowly.

  “Alright, come on backwards,” Jay coaxed, but Carlos shook his head swiftly.

  “I can’t move!” the younger boy expressed, and Jay groaned a little.

  “C’mon, dude, you gotta get down,” Jay told him somewhat softly, pulling at his shoulders as he tried to get the younger boy to move. Jay was quite honestly somewhat afraid that they would both fall in at this rate.

  Jay kept working at the younger boy, trying to persuade him to release the diving board and come with him. However, despite Jay’s tugs, Carlos would not budge a single bit. In fact, the more Jay pulled, the more the boy glued himself to the board.

  “Hey! Do you need me to turn into a dragon?!” Mal suddenly shouted, and Jay shook his head quickly, gesturing dismissively.

  “Oh, no, no, that won’t be necessary,” Jay called in reply.

  “Carlos, come on! This is embarrassing!” Jay told him, muttering the words under his breath in stern tones. Carlos was seriously starting to get aggravating. He would not move no matter how hard Jay tried to make him.

  “You don’t have to jump, okay? Let’s just back up carefully, alright?”

  “I can’t, Jay, I can’t!” Carlos quivered, and Jay groaned deeply.

  “Jay, do what I do!! Stroke his head and tell him that he’s going to be okay! Cuddle him if you have to!!!” Evie yelled to the both of them, and Jay laughed loudly.

  “I am not doing that,” Jay declared, and he then began prying at Carlos with a renewed vigor.

  From below them, Audrey could easily see that they needed help. So she looked to Uma, hoping that the pirate would put away her initial wickedly mischievous urges in favor of helping the two.

  “Uma, can you please help them get down?” Audrey questioned, and Uma nodded eagerly. Audrey immediately knew that asking Uma for help was undoubtedly the worst idea she could have had.

  “Sure! I’ll help them down,” Uma replied, and Audrey winced, already having a strong inclination of how this was going to end.

  Uma headed up the ladder quickly.

  “Dude, would you move? It’s not that far!” Jay aggravatedly addressed the boy. Carlos just shook his head.

  “Hey, boys, how’s the weather up here?” a voice suddenly questioned, and Jay looked behind him quickly only to see Uma as she held onto the ladder, the mischief swirling in her eyes.

  “Nice enough, I suppose,” Jay hesitantly replied. Uma nodded easily in reply.

  “Well, that’s just peachy. Now, look, you two, this is gonna end one of two ways, but whichever way you choose, you’re getting into the water,” Uma told them, getting down to business immediately as a wicked smirk played across her face while she held onto the ladder carefully. Jay glanced between Carlos and Uma and sighed deeply as he realized that Carlos was just going to have to jump.

  “C’mon, Frosted Flake. You gotta jump.”

  “WHAT?! I thought you said I didn’t have to jump!!!” Carlos cried hysterically, and Jay groaned.

  “You’ve got to. Uma’s going to push us if you don’t,” Jay informed him, and Carlos glanced in the direction of the ladder. Uma smiled at him, full of false cheeriness as she offered him a little wave.

  “PUSH HIM, PUSH HIM, PUSH HIM, PUSH HIM!!!” Harry and Gil chanted, and Uma blew them a kiss with a waggle of her eyebrows.

  “Would you two stop! That’s terrible!” Audrey cried, and Harry and Gil just kept going. Lonnie shrugged.

  “Honestly, I kind of want to see her push them in,” Lonnie noted with a laugh, clapping along with Uma’s first mate and prized barnacle as she cheered Uma on. Audrey rolled her eyes.

  “Of course you would,” Audrey huffily pronounced, and she placed a hand on Jane’s shoulder as the girl gaped up at the high dive in horror.

  Realizing he had no other choice, Carlos swallowed hard, shakily standing up. Jay held out an arm, trying carefully to balance on the high dive as he attempted to help Carlos to his feet. As soon as Carlos was standing, he looked down at the water and Jay could see him tense up in fear.

  “I can’t do it!!” Carlos proclaimed, and Jay shook his head.

  “C’mon, dude, be a man.”

  “I’M NOT A MAN!!!! I’M A BOY!!!!” Carlos screeched, and Jay shook his head, almost feeling Uma’s energy as she was readying herself to push them.

  “Well, there’s no better day to jump into manhood with both FEEETTT!!!!!” Jay yelled as he was suddenly shoved forward and ran into Carlos as they both lost their balance and descended into the deep water.

  They both hit the water hard, but Jay soon emerged, dragging Carlos with him. Carlos was coughing violently, and Jay patted his back as he glared up at the high dive.

  “WHOO!!! That was AWESOME!!! WHAT’S MY NAME?!!!” Uma cried excitedly, and Harry and Gil whooped with pure enthrallment. Lonnie even cheered a little, and Jay rolled his eyes, allowing himself to laugh a little with the entire ordeal. After all, it was a bit humorous.

  Jane swiftly swam over to Carlos, placing a hand on his back as she fretted over him. Jay released him, allowing him to join Jane as they headed back over to the edge of the pool. Audrey moved over to Jay, and he wasted no time in grabbing her waist tightly. She placed her hands on his chest.

  “So, do I get a kiss for my heroics?” Jay questioned, raising an eyebrow, and Audrey rolled her eyes but leaned in nevertheless as she gazed at his lips.

  “Who says you’re deserving? I didn’t see a hero. I saw you two have a great fall like Humpty Dumpty,” Audrey commented, and Jay smirked at her wickedly as he kissed her suddenly. Audrey gasped a little but giggled in spite of her shock and kissed him back vigorously.

  However, they were suddenly interrupted by an enormous splash. Audrey gasped as she recoiled in Jay’s arms. To her surprise, Uma suddenly emerged, coughing hard as she wiped her eyes.

  “Uma?” Audrey gaped at her, and she suddenly realized that Uma looked totally disheveled. Audrey almost laughed as she suddenly realized what must have happened.

  “Did you fall off the high dive?” Audrey questioned her voice wavering with the barely contained giggles, and Uma immediately stopped as she stared at Audrey.

  “No!” Uma squeaked as she suddenly started coughing once again.

  “Oh, she did, alright!” Lonnie cried excitedly, and Uma flashed her an irritated glare.

  “She danced right off the side of it,” Mal added with a wide smirk. Audrey just stared at Uma for a long moment.

   “What happened?” a voice suddenly piped up and they all turned to look at the source of the voice. There before them was Ben standing there, his skin practically glowing red as a beet as he gaped at all of them.

  They all shared a glance before bursting into laughter.

[buckybarnesthehotshot]

my escape iii - deal or no deal (disney’s descendants x marvel crossover)

A/N: the story will move to more marvel aspects soon, I promise

Series summary: Astrid Lokisdottir (OC) grew up on the Isle of the Lost with her father, Loki Odinson. Plagued by nightmares, she’s presented with an escape plan and memories of a woman, memories which aren’t hers.

series masterlist

Series warnings: spoilers, swearing, mean Loki, kidnapping, I’m not following canon timelines, all characters except for Astrid are not mine, Loki is kind of OOC, the story focuses more on (spoiler alert lmao) Astrid and mother!reader’s relationship

character relationships if that’s a thing: Astrid x Harry Hook, Astrid x dad! Loki, Loki x wife! reader, Astrid x mom! reader, goddess of hysteria! reader

       “What exactly do you need help with?” Astrd sighed in defeat, cringing at herself as the worlds spilled from her lips. Mal smiled, pleased at Astrid’s decision.

       “Audrey, Sleeping Beauty’s daughter, took my mom’s scepter and the queen’s crown. She’s trying to use those to take over Auradon,” Mal explained the ironic situation to the taller girl. Astrid broke out in a fit of laughter as the purple-haired girl explained everything.

       “Auradonians are idiots. I mean seriously, did those fools not think it wise to deploy more guards in the museum guarding Auradon’s most prized possessions? Hel, why put it on display in arm’s reach?” Astrid laughed uncontrollably, unable to stop herself.

        “People’s lives are at risk, but sure, laugh,” Mal rolled her eyes at Astrid’s behavior. Hades found himself grabbing a bow of popcorn and eating as he watched the exchange take place.

        “That’s exactly what I’m doing,” she smirked before further making fun of the situation Auradon was held up in, “I mean seriously! You too her boyfriend and her crown, of course she’s pissed! To put the icing on the cake, she took your place as Maleficent’s heir!”

       “Who said she was my mother’s heir?” Mal sassed, glaring daggers at Astrid. Astrid implanted a feeling Mal didn’t have before Astrid brought it up. She didn’t think Audrey was trying to take her place as Maleficent’s daughter. Ah, she could hear her mother’s voice whispering, ‘Audrey had the guts to do what you couldn’t, kiddo? You gonna top that?’

       “Ah, it appears as though I’ve struck a nerve,” Astrid grinned before continuing with her torment, “But of course, your mother would approve of Aubrey, biological daughter of not. She’d succeeded in most of everything you failed to do.”

       “None of it was right, Astrid! I couldn’t hurt the innocent people of Auradon!” Mal scolded Astrid for her words. She was sick of being compared to Audrey.

       “I highly doubt they’re innocent, Mal. I was born in Asgard. My dad took me down to Auradon for a stroll, do you know what they did to him? What they did to me? They sent us to the Isle, Mal. They’re far from innocent,” Astrid snarled, fists clenching as she stopped herself from wrapping her hands around Mal’s throat and watch her gasp for air.

       “Your father was a war criminal, Astrid,” Mal hesitated before responding to the girl. Mal forgot to realize Astrid was the only child on the Isle who was not born on the rock. She pitied Astrid. Since she was taken to the Isle, the girl hasn’t seen her own mother for twenty years.

       “What do I get from saving Auradon?” the girl’s brows furrowed. Hades rolled his eyes; had she not been paying attention?

        “Did your dad not teach you how to negotiate? You get off the Isle for good!” Hades exclaimed angrily, his blue locks starting to burn up again.

       “I didn’t ask for your input!” the black-haired girl yelled in frustration, turning to face the former God of the Underworld.

    “Why are you so bitter about this, Astrid?” Mal rolled her eyes at the antics Astrid was pulling.

       “She’s Loki’s daughter, she’s always bitter. Not everything has to be about you, Mal,” Hades cut in, rolling his eyes.

       “You can talk to dad that way, but you can’t talk to me like that. I am not my father, Hades,” the girl was glaring daggers at the older god, a chill ran down his spine. The Goddess of Chaos was terrifying.

       “If you somehow prove that, we can arrange for you and your father to be pardoned for all war crimes. You’ll be freed from the Isle and you can move freely to Asgard,” Mal huffed out one big empty promise. She didn’t know whether or not Astrid could read through her act—well, she could—but Astrid needed to take a chance.

        “Are you seriously leaving me out of the deal, kid?” Hades raised a brow at Astrid whose face softened.

       “If there’s a chance my dad and I are getting off this Isle, the people need someone in charge; someone to scare the crap out of them, someone to give them hope to get off this damned rock. So, yes, I’m leaving you out of the deal,” Astrid admitted, shocking all three people in the room. They knew Astrid was burdened with concern for herself and her father, but they didn’t expect her to care so much for the citizens of the Isle.

       Sure, they feared her, but Hades, Loki, and Astrid were their lifeline. They were the ones openly fighting for the Isle’s freedom—when they weren’t terrorizing it at least.

         “So, do we have a deal, Astrid?” Mal questioned, raising a brow at Astrid as she crossed her arms over her chest.

       “Yes, we have a deal, Mal,” Astrid nodded confidently at the girl.

         “Since you seem to be so close with Hades over here, can you convince him to let me use the ember?” Mal requested, Astrid grinned as she faced Hades. He already knew what was about to happen as he rolled his eyes.

       “Uncle Hades—” before Astrid could continue the sentence, Hades huffed, pulling out the blue crystal from his jacket pocket.

       “Here, kid. You and your father deserve to get off this rock. You deserve to finally see those golden towers you’ve always dreamed of. Most importantly, you deserve to see your mom,” Hades smiled at his ‘niece’ as he set the blue crystal in her hands.

       “That was easy,” Astrid mumbled in shock, tightly gripping the crystal in her hands. Astrid silently made her way to Mal before handing her the crytal.

       “Thanks, dad. Thanks, Astrid,” Mal smiled, observing the stone in her hands.

        “Anything you wanna tell Mal before she misuses the ember?” Astrid smiled, knowing damn well how the stone worked—at least she knew how it was supposed to work.

      “If it touches water, it’s game over,” Hades warned them, earning a nod from both girls.

       “Don’t tell dad about this. I want him to know when I’ve succeeded,” Astrid grinned before walking away with Mal and Celia.

[kazimakuwabara]

Memory Seed

Summary: Some truths are revealed after a memory altering plant is attached to Kuwabara. (romance/drama/angst, about 1900 words) (inspired from @intobarbarians amnesia works)

***

Hiei raked his sword across his opponent's belly, a breath of hot air hissing past his clenched teeth, as he pushed all his strength behind his blade. His opponent’s hand flew to his body, before the entire top-half of him slid over towards the left, while his legs fell right.

Behind him, Yusuke and Kurama were trying to tear a plant off of Kuwabara’s face.

Kuwabara hadn’t even wanted to come on this mission.

***

“What do you mean you don’t want to go?” Yusuke asked, his eyebrows high into his hairline as he stared at Kuwabara in shock.

Kuwabara uncomfortably looked away, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. He opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it when nothing came out.

“You’re normally begging to go on more missions with us,” Hiei rumbled, red eyes trained on Kuwabara’s uncertain expression.

“Your abilities would be very useful on this mission Kazuma,” Kurama pointed out, before placing a gentle hand on Kuwabara’s back, “With you and Hiei’s combined efforts, this mission would go a lot smoother. What has you worried?”

“I dunno,” Kuwabara mumbled an immediate lie. 

He sighed, closing his eyes tight, before opening them again and continued to speak, “I mean... I do... know. It’s... this guy throws a seed on you, and it makes you forget the person you love, and you know... the plant gets worse. It keeps eating the victim’s memories, and turns them into a zombie.”

“Which is why we’ve got to stop him!” Yusuke affirmed, punching his fist into his hand.

“If he’s defeated, the victims should return to normal in twenty-four hours,” Kurama said, and with some hesitation added, “That’s the theory.”

“Theory. No one is sure,” Kuwabara muttered, his ears red.

“Is your love so special, your fear of forgetting will prevent you from taking this case?” Hiei mocked, eyes fixed on Kuwabara’s inflamed ears.

Kuwabara’s eyes flickered over to Hiei, a light shining out of them from deep within, “...Yeah.”

***

Hiei turned from his defeated enemy and stormed to stand over Kuwabara, watching helplessly as Kurama and Yusuke tore the now wilting vines from Kuwabara’s face.

“Was this the Memory seed?” Hiei found himself asking.

“From what we have heard... yes,” Kurama said bitterly, his eyes focused on his current task. 

“But we... we stopped that guy super quick! Hiei sliced ‘em up good! He’ll be fine, right?” Yusuke asked, ripping the last of the vines from Kuwabara’s face. Kuwabara’s eyes were closed, his skin ashen. It didn’t even look like he breathed.

Brown eyes wide with concern, Yusuke reached down and cupped Kuwabara’s face, the human still beneath his touch.

“Kuwabara! Come on, wake up buddy!” Yusuke pleaded.

Yusuke turned to Kurama, “It... it’s not that fast right? He’s not gonna forget who he loves right? He’ll remember her?” 

Kurama nodded, assuming he knew who Yusuke meant, and who Kuwabara loved, “Yes, it’s... there’s a chance it didn’t... but even if... either way Koenma thinks those afflicted will gain their memories back within a day!”

“But... we don’t know for sure!” Yusuke sounded helpless, regret dripping in every word.

Hiei closed his fist tight.

***

“...but the mindless Zombie things sounds shitty too,” Kuwabara added, looking away from Hiei’s stern gaze.

“It’s not like we’re just going to let one of us get hit by a seed, and go all Audrey Two on everyone!” Yusuke sighed rolling his eyes. He smiled and dug his elbow into Kuwabara’s side, “We’re all at risk buddy, but we can put a stop to him easy And with your psychic abilities you can help predict his movements and find him!”

Kuwabara sighed, pushing back against, Yusuke after the shorter man elbowed him. He rubbed a big hand over his side, and glanced back at his friends, his eyes landing on Hiei last. Kuwabara shrugged, and the muttered, “I... I just kind of have this bad feeling.”

“Get over it,” Hiei snapped losing his patience.

“Hiei-” Kurama began to scold.

Hiei growled, glaring at Kurama as he spoke, “He is either with us, and useful to this team, or he stays here and protects the memories of his precious love. She probably doesn’t even feel the same about him anyway!”

“Hey!” Yusuke snapped, “Quit being a fuckin’ asshole!”

Kuwabara had flinched, but his eyes remained on Hiei’s face. Hiei didn’t look away.

***

Kuwabara’s eyes snapped open violently, and he took in a sharp choking breath. He coughed, rolling on his side facing Yusuke, his breaths loud and rattling.

“Holy shit, man!” Yusuke exploded, startled by Kuwabara’s sudden abrupt awakening. His hands moved from Kuwabara’s face, to smoothing down the length of his back, his face full of relief as Kuwabara coughed himself awake.

“Are you alright? Hey!” Yusuke tried, a hand shifting to run up and down Kuwabara’s arm.

“Help him sit up!” Kurama ordered, hooking his arms beneath Kuwabara, and with Yusuke’s assistance, forced the large man to sit up. Kuwabara coughed a wheezy little breath, spitting out several tiny green leaves.

“Oh, gross...” Kuwabara choked, voice tight.

“Kuwabara! Hey! You with us?” Yusuke asked, practically shouting in Kuwabara’s face.

Kuwabara looked at Yusuke, then to Kurama, and then to Hiei. Hiei noticed Kuwabara titled his head for a moment when his eyes landed on him, but then Kuwabara was back to looking at Yusuke.

“What... what happened?”

“He hit you in the face with one of his Memory seeds!” Yusuke answered before immediately asking, “Who is Yukina? You know who that is, right?!”

Kuwabara squinted at Yusuke as if he was crazy.

“Yeah, Yukina, beautiful ice maiden. Sweetest smile, and lives at Genkai’s shrine,” Kuwabara answered with a laugh, wiping his hand over his face. He coughed again, and pulled another piece of a plant from his mouth, shaking his head in disgust.

Kurama’s and Yusuke’s shoulders sagged with relief, and they both laughed, exchanging relieved looks with each other. Hiei relaxed his stance, though he could still feel a tension between his shoulder blades. Hiei shook his head, muttering about Kuwabara’s carelessness.

And then, loud enough to be heard, Hiei snapped, “Next time you push someone, make sure to dodge yourself.”

“Who's the little angry guy?”

***

Their opponent had not been exceedingly powerful. 

What made him a nuisance was a satchel of seeds he kept at his waist. The seed merely had to touch someone, and it would burrow towards the victim’s brain and steal away the memories of their loved one. In anywhere between three minutes to an hour, the victim would then turn into a zombie, obeying the only person they could remember-the wielder of the seeds.

By the time the spirit detectives had found him, he had amassed hundreds of mindless victims, which he used as shields to hide behind. This was where Hiei and Kuwabara came in. With Hiei’s Jagan he could see through the zombies, and find their foe, and Kuwabara could track and predict his movements so they could cut him off when he tried to run.

It was a good plan... the fucker was just so fast!

There had been many close calls between all four of them. Seeds tossed at them, to land on the ground and burrow deep in the earth. An explosion of vines would shortly follow after, the force of the eruption crumbling the ground beneath the group’s feet.

The ground near Hiei had shifted unexpectedly, and their enemy appeared before him, smiling and eager.

“HIEI!” Kuwabara’s voice had been painfully close to his ear, and Hiei was shoved away.

He didn’t see the memory seed land on Kuwabara, to know that was what happened. Before he could turn, Kuwabara made a strange sound behind him and then choked. Hiei turned, heart frozen, and watched with wide eyes as vines shout out Kuwabara’s mouth, and wrapped around his head, rapidly cocooning him behind a wall of green. 

Kuwabara had been looking at Hiei terrified just before his face was enclosed by the vines growing out of his own mouth.

Hiei didn’t remember how he got the upper hand on his opponent. All he knew was that their enemy needed to be dead before Kuwabara hit the ground.

***

Kurama and Yusuke had frozen in their places next to Kuwabara. Sifting slowly they turned to look at Hiei, who was staring at Kuwabara, his brow furrowed and mouth open.

“Wh...what did you just say?” Hiei asked, his voice working before his brain could give it permission.

Kuwabara made a face, glanced at Kurama and Yusuke, and then looked back at Hiei, “Um... who are you? You help us out?”

Hiei dropped his sword.

“Kuwabara... Kuwabara, that’s Hiei,” Yusuke said, his hands coming to Kuwabara’s shoulders, “You... You’re fucking around right?”

“Hiei?” Kuwabara repeated, no recognition in his voice. He squinted at Yusuke’s rigid face and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Am I... AM I OKAY?!”

Kurama’s hand came to Kuwabara’s chin, and he directed the man to look him in the eye. Kurama’s green eyes bore into Kuwabara’s eyes and slowly Kurama spoke, “Hiei. You’ve known him over three years now. You know him... right?”

Kuwabara made a face, and shrugged Kurama and Yusuke off of him. Standing up quickly, he began to dust himself off, muttering uncomfortably, “You guys are freakin’ me out. Stop it!”

Hiei had Kuwabara’s shirt in his hand, and had forced the towering man back on the ground.

He could hear Kurama and Yusuke shouting at him, and feel the pair trying to tug him away from Kuwabara. Kuwabara was looking at Hiei with blind confusion, fear, and anger. But the anger was not familiar. Kuwabara didn’t know who Hiei was.

“You know me,” Hiei said, voice weak and fighting to be angry.

Kuwabara’s hands were clamped around Hiei’s wrist, trying to push his hand away from him, “Get the fuck off’a me, you weirdo! Let go!” Kuwabara slammed his fist as hard as he could against Hiei’s forearm, his effort only mildly stinging Hiei.

“Kuwabara,” Hiei’s voice sounded like a plea, even to his own ears, “Kuwabara, you know me.”

Kuwabara looked at him, his eyes blank and empty of that small flicker Hiei used to look for. Kuwabara smashed his skull into Hiei’s nose, a burst of Kuwabara’s spirit energy at the forefront to give Kuwabara’s attack an extra boost. Hiei’s eyes stung as he was temporarily blinded from the flash, and his nose ached dully.

Kurama and Yusuke were holding Hiei by an arm each, sputtering nonsensical words as they tried to speak. When Hiei could open his eyes and look at Kuwabara, the human had gotten to his feet again, and had pressed himself flat up against a tree. His face was flushed with anger, and his chest was heaving as he took in anxious, exhausted breaths.

“Keep that little freak away from me!” Kuwabara snapped, a shaking hand rubbing at his throat, “Who the hell is that guy?!”

Yusuke, Kurama, and Hiei could only stare with numb shock at Kuwabara. Kurama and Yusuke looked at each other, and then uncomfortably between Hiei and Kuwabara.

“I...I... thought... Yukina...” Yusuke muttered weakly.

Kurama made a sound in the back of his throat, remorseful and understanding.

Hiei looked at Kuwabara, a few of the human’s concerned words coming to the forefront of his mind:

“...I just kind of have this bad feeling.”

[mistressofallthingsgeeky]

As Yet Untitled

AN: So, this is the first little tidbit of my Haven story that I have written down. It’s totally unedited, just stream of consciousness on my part, and I hope you guys like it. Thanks to @juliawrites98 for kicking me in the butt and telling me to post what I’ve got.

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She wasn’t sure when it started. Was it the flash of oceanic eyes under sooty dark lashes? The crease of a little seen dimple on his cheek? The strength of his arms wrapped around her after a nightmarish case? She couldn’t tell you when she fell in love with the small town sheriff, only that she did, and at the worst possible moment.

Five months earlier. . .

Allara didn’t know what drew her towards Maine, the farthest north she’d traveled in almost 2000 years, only that whatever it was, it was good. She’d missed the cold sea air tousling her already unruly curls, the smell and the taste of salt. She sighed, shaking her head as if she could dispel the memories of frigid winters and hulking giants, the smell of ozone and snow. Reminiscing of the old country wouldn’t do any good, it wasn’t like she could go back. 

Shoving the memories of warm sunny days with her sisters and the electric rush of her battle song, she stepped out of the tiny little B&B she’d found on Main Street and made her way towards the center of town, passing quaint little flower boxes and the newspaper, smiling and returning Dave and Vince’s waves as she passed, enjoying the scent of flowers and sun mixed with the earthier, richer notes of sea and storms. She’d rolled into Haven a month ago, and she was surprised at how quickly the quirky little town began to feel like home to her, after so many years of not belonging. She huffed a quiet laugh, she’d picked up on the strong undercurrent of magic in the town, and at first, she’d thought it was the call of the Troubles that drew her here, but no. There was something else keeping her here, and the not knowing of it all was driving her mad. 

As a supernatural creature herself, she was loathe to intrude on the privacy of her new neighbors, the general air of, “The Troubles are a myth” carrying like a shout. After all, she mused, sitting on a whitewashed bench, how could she expect someone to trust her with the town’s secret when she couldn’t even bring herself to share her own? No, it was better to keep a low profile. She snorted. How low a profile could she keep when Duke freaking Crocker kept dragging her out for drinks every night, insisting she become part of Haven’s night life? A shadow fell across her lap, and she jumped.

“Good morning, Allara.” She look up, meeting the startlingly blue eyes of Nathan Wuornos, her surprise giving way to a thrum of subdued interest tempered with a tinge of annoyance. 

“Nathan. I really wish you’d stop sneaking up on me like that, you’re going to give me greys.” A sardonic smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he motioned towards the empty space next to her, sitting when she nodded. She peered at him from the corner of her eye, her heart doing uncomfortable things in her chest. Stop it, she scolded, he’s just lost Audrey, and you’re not looking for that sort of thing. She cleared her throat, turning to face him, casting around for something, anything to break the awkward silence.

“Any new troubles plaguing the town?” His eyes narrowed, and she could have slapped herself. He laughed, the sound harsh and bitter, scrubbing a hand over his face.

“How the hell did you find out about those, Miss Strom? Was it Vince? Dave?” He growled under his breath and shot to his feet, “Those damn interfering pains in my ass. . . ” Allara had risen from the bench as well, lengthening her stride to keep pace with him, panic making her bold. “Nathan!” She reached out, her fingers circling his wrist, ignoring the heated echo of power and home racing up her arm, and he froze, turning wide, grief-stricken eyes on her. Swallowing hard, making a mental note to explore just why exactly he looked like she’d shattered something priceless after she drowned herself in a bottle of whiskey, she gripped his hand and tugged him into the shade of a large tree. 

“Well? How did you find out?” She really wished his eyes weren’t so damn expressive, anger and fear for the town swirling with something other, something dark and delicious, and it was that darkness that made her stumble over her words.

“They didn’t tell me anything, I-” she dropped his hand, wrapping her arms around herself and looking at his chest, rather than his eyes. “I can’t really explain how I know?” His eyes flashed, and she winced. “It’s a-” she cleared her throat, “a difficult topic for me to to discuss, and certainly not one I’d like to discuss in the middle of the town.” She ended on a whispered hiss, spinning to stare up at him, and gesturing at the curious looks they were getting from passersby. He flushed slightly, the tips of his ears just barely tinged pink, and she relented, resting her hand on his bicep and smiling, hoping to god that she didn’t look like a besotted idiot. “If you need me, or want my help,” she stepped a little closer, drawn in by the warmth and sense of belonging radiating off of him, “you just have to ask.” He blinked down at her, brows furrowed in confusion, and just for a moment, the glacier ice in his eyes melted, the blue swirling with vivid gold and green, and her heart stuttered. 

“Ally! You coming?” Allara closed her eyes and huffed a breath out through her nose, silently reminding herself that murdering Duke would not be the best way to stay in Nathan’s good books, then snorted. He’d probably give her a key to the town for getting rid of him, but that was besides the point. She glanced over her shoulder, flashing a smile at the tall dark haired man, “Yeah, Duke, just gimme a sec.” She turned back to Nathan, frowning when he jerked his arm out of her grip, the moment of camaraderie evaporating.

He scowled. “I appreciate the offer, Lara, but for right now, it just looks like this is going to be a stronger than normal storm season, no trouble at all.” A sarcastic lilt soured his voice, “But if you could manage to take time out of your busy social life,” he glared at Duke who had finally come to stand behind her, his caramel brown eyes narrowed slightly as he considered his life-long friend warily, “to come to my office and explain to me just how the hell an outsider came to find out about our town’s troubles, and, maybe, just maybe, whatever it is you’re running from, I’d appreciate that.” Allara flinched back like she’d been slapped and gazed up at him, her normally kind features hardening into an icy, dangerous mask of fury, and Duke had to grip her shoulder in his hand to keep her from snarling something she’d regret.

“She’ll be there, Sheriff. Now, we’ll leave you here,” he tugged her into his side, “and Nathan, you should really work on pulling that enormous stick out of your ass,” he winked down at Allara, grinning when she rolled her eyes. “Ally, head over to the bar, yeah? I need to have a word with my, “ he clapped the other man on the shoulder a little harder than necessary, “friend here.” 

“I’m drinking your whiskey, Duke!” She called as she sauntered away, and he sighed, waiting until she was out of earshot before smacking his friend upside the head. “What the hell is your problem, Nathan?”

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So there it is, folks! The first bit of my story. I’d love to hear what you all think, so feel free to send me an inbox or an ask, or whatever. I’m really happy with how this turned out.