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ronwestbreeze · 5 months

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take a bow

pairing: geto suguru x non-sorcerer!reader warnings: gore and maybe a little bit of angst summary: you smell like coffee...and geto can't seem to shake it. word count: 6.7k author's note: hiiii ;) as you can tell there will be about five parts to this mini series. nothing more and nothing less. i'm kind of excited for this and i've been really wanting to write for my husband so, i hope ya'll enjoy it! and i will not be doing a taglist for this one. sorry guys!

part 2 | read on AO3

There was a cute customer today.

And you were also sure you hadn’t seen him around before. Then again, you moved to this village two weeks ago, and you weren’t too familiar with the regulars yet. Perhaps he was just one you hadn’t seen until now.

You leaned over the front counter a bit, trying to get a better look at him as he moved down one of the aisles to the far left of the store.

He wore what looked like a school uniform, his dark hair tied up with a few strands framing one side of his face. Even though he was further away from you, you could see he was on the younger side, maybe around your age. Possibly older.

You hadn’t met many boys in your life—attractive ones especially—mostly because you were sheltered for half of your childhood and didn’t go outside. So when you did happen to stumble upon a few of them, you were left wondering what to do or say around them. They were almost alien to you.

It was the same with people in general your age. While you weren’t bad at socializing, you still adapted the best way you knew how.

“You’re being creepy.” Your co-worker, Tohru, said passively while scrolling through her phone. A very busy activity she had been at for an hour now.

“I’m not.” You cleared your throat, quickly looking away from the otherwise oblivious customer. “But you can’t deny that he’s pretty cute.”

Tohru drew her eyes from her phone and glanced toward the newcomer who was now in the snack section. Now it was her turn to lean over the counter, a look of interest inching onto her usual bored mask.

“Damn.”

“Told ya.”

“He’s definitely new. No guy that fine lives in a boring ass town like this.”

You hummed, “I wouldn’t exactly call this town boring—but you’ve been here longer than me so I suppose you have the better judgment over that.” Carefully, you snuck another peek at the customer who was studying the back of a bag of chips. “And if he’s that fine, no doubt someone already bagged him.”

“Ugh,” Tohru grumbled with a defeated expression on her face, “you’re probably right. The hotter ones are always taken.”

“Or they end up being a douchebag.” You added with a snort as you organized the stack of gums on the counter.

“Amen to that.”

“Newbie!”

You jumped with a yelp at the loud voice filling the otherwise quiet store. Glancing over your shoulder, you found your manager, a very old and impatient man, stomping over with a toothpick dangling from his mouth, “Are you pullin’ one on me, kid?!”

After getting over your short shock, you furrow your brows, “Um, pulling what, sir?”

“Where the hell is the leftover food from last week?! I told you to save it in the back storage!”

You gave a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of your neck, “Oh yeah, some of it went bad so I had to throw it out.”

“We don’t even do anything with them anyway,” Tohru grumbled under her breath which you tried not to acknowledge.

He eats all the leftovers. Despite his shop advertisement promising to send any leftover food to orphanages and charities.

“Look, newbie, I’ve been real lenient because you’re new. And I get it, you're in a tough spot but I ain’t pityin’ you no more! I have no problem tossin’ you the curb, you hear me?”

Your face burned in embarrassment, especially when his loud ass voice carried throughout the store. No doubt the hot guy heard every word by now. “Yessir.”

The old man huffed, “Good. Now stop messin’ around and help the damn customer! Poor boy’s been waiting for you to notice him!”

God, please don’t be him. Please let it be another boy who's been waiting for a while.

You chanced a glance over your shoulder, only to shrivel up when you found the hot customer standing at the counter, watching your interaction with a small absent frown.

Fuck.

“Someone’s gonna be on dishes tonight.” Tohru sang with a snicker as she disappeared in the back along with your manager.

With your face on fire, you went toward the cash register. You cleared your throat and gestured to the pack of cigarettes and the bag of chips, “Will that be all for you today?”

He seemed to have been lost in thought as it took a beat for him to reply, “Sorry, yes, that’s it.”

You nodded, trying not to look him in the eyes. God, even his voice was attractive.

After giving him the price, you began bagging his items while he fished into his pockets to grab his wallet.

You still had yet to look at him.

The last thing you wanted was to get chewed out by your bum boss in front of a guy that you’d possibly never see again. Before you had been dying to have a quick conversation with him, just to keep looking at him for a little longer. Now all you wanted to do was get him out of the store as soon as possible and hide away in a hole, never to be found again.

“Is he always like that?”

You placed his cigarettes in the bag before you realized he was talking to you. Which only made your cheeks even hotter.

“Uh, yeah, he’s usually getting high in the back, or napping.” You shrugged, glancing up at him every now and then, only to find him directly staring at you. Fuck, you were awful at this. “Only ever out front when the shop closes. He’s always the first out the door before anyone else.”

“Mmm,” By then you looked up to find him not too happy about that piece of information. “And he gives you a hard time to add onto that. Don’t you want to quit?”

At that, you smile, “It would be easy, wouldn’t it? I don’t know if you already heard—probably the whole block had heard him—but I’m not really in the best situation to be quitting a job just cuz I hate my bum ass boss.”

This time he looked sheepish, “Yeah, I wanted to pretend that I didn’t hear him, but I guess there’s no point in that. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” You chuckled before handing him his bag. “It’s life, you know? I just have to brave it out until I have a stable income of money. Then maybe I can consider the option of kicking myself to the curb from this trash can of a place.”

The male stared at you curiously, the disinterest that he had worn before was now long gone. He searched your face—for what, you didn’t know.

And then he smiled, “You seem to have it all figured out.”

It was infectious, his smile. Even though it didn’t reach his eyes.

“I wouldn’t say all that.” You returned the smile, anyway, hoping it appeared real enough for the both of you. “But I think it’s going to work out for me in the long run. That I can say.”

The male chuckled as he walked toward the store entrance, “I wish you luck then.”

He waved with another smile which took you off guard a bit. You didn’t have much of a chance to respond back to his wave, nor tell him to enjoy his time in town before he was already long gone.

It was now just you and your blushing face.

The back door opened, “Aw, you didn’t even get his number, did you?”

You glanced over your shoulder to find Tohru pouting at you. You grinned sheepishly, “Oops, guess I didn’t.”

“Tsk, tsk,” Tohru sighed, “You really need to learn how to flirt.”

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Regulars came and went. Your manager was passed out in the back. Tohru’s shift ended sometime before you and booked it out the front door before you had the chance to say goodbye.

Essentially, you had the shop all to yourself. And it was unfortunately horribly boring.

Later in the day is when fewer and fewer customers start coming in. Apparently, many of the people in the village were too cautious about going out once the sun started setting. There were a few rumors here and there, about mysterious deaths all over the village. You weren’t exactly sure how much truth there was to those rumors, all you could do was clock in and clock out and go straight home.

Just because you doubted the stories didn’t mean you weren’t going to be stupid.

You wondered if that hot guy knew about the rumors. It probably would’ve been neighborly to try and warn him.

The sky was filled with oranges and purples as the sun was slinking behind one of the mountains. The evening glow made the shop look almost ominous, especially with the indoor lights off.

You should probably turn those on by now. They would’ve been on throughout the whole day like regular shops but your boss was such a cheap stake with the light bill you had to keep it off until evening fell and you practically couldn’t see in the dark.

Just as you stepped away to turn the shop lights on, the bell above the door rang. You glanced toward the clock and grinned.

You moved back to the front counter and grinned at the familiar newcomers. Two young girls, who looked no older than five, stood at the entrance. “Right on time! Looks like someone’s excited for today’s batch.”

The brown-haired girl—you knew as Mimiko—with the stuffed doll approached the counter first. Standing on her tippy toes enough for her chin to rest on top of the counter, “Do you have any more rice balls?”

“You bet.” You gestured toward the two chairs next to the counter. “Why don’t you guys take a seat over there and I’ll go get the food. It’s a real treat this time.”

“Okay.” Mimiko nodded before grabbing her sister’s hand to drag her over toward the chairs.

“Thank you!” The blonde-haired, Nanako, called.

You sent her an adoring smile, “Of course, hon!”

You moved to the back, passing your knocked-out manager, as you grabbed the box of food in your locker and brought it back to the front counter. Mimiko and Nanako got up from their chairs and bounced over to get a better look, “I actually got these rice balls from this place in the city during the weekend. It’s way better than the crap here.”

“Really?” Nanako looked into the box, her eyes widening, “Wow! Those look really good!”

“Anything for my best customers.” You winked and allowed them to grab what they wanted from the box.

Both girls giggled as they grabbed rice balls and ramen from the box. You smiled and patted both their heads before allowing them to sit back down in the chairs and eat.

You hadn’t known the twins for very long. Actually, you met them on your first day at the store two weeks ago. They had been attempting to steal a few snacks when you discovered them. You couldn’t shake the way they were looking at you when you found them. Scared yet desperate for some food. Mimiko had been clutching her stuffed doll tightly in her hands as if she were about to tear its head off at that moment.

They were expecting you to berate them and kick them out of the store. Maybe your manager or Tohru would’ve done that, but you just couldn’t find it in you to turn them away. They were obviously hungry, so what else could you do but feed them?

So you took the leftover food from the storage and gave it to them. They were pretty tight-lipped about their home situation so you didn’t push. But it was pretty clear that they didn’t have a lot to eat, wherever they lived.

“Let’s make a deal.” You had said to them that day. “You guys come back at around five o’clock every day and I will feed you some stuff we don’t need. Hell, I’ll probably even cook and bring it over every now and then. As long as the two of you eat.”

They looked hesitant. The brown-haired girl—she told you her name was Mimiko—spoke first, “Will you really do that for us?”

You smiled softly at her, “Of course. You guys are hungry, right? Why wouldn’t I want to feed you?”

Her twin, Nanako spoke next, eyes cast down, “Most of the people here are scared of us. Because we’re different. So they ignore us whenever we do ask for food.”

You frowned, your heart breaking at the time. Of course, you had some questions about why a bunch of adults would turn a blind eye to two little girls who looked no older than five. You seethed at the thought that the only one willing to help them was a barely surviving sixteen-year-old, who couldn’t even make minimum wage.

Instead of crying for them—which you were definitely close to doing—you patted their heads, “Well, I’m not scared of you. And I don’t care if you’re different. Come back tomorrow and there will be food for you guys. Okay?”

The two girls were stunned at your kindness like it was foreign to them. But they both nodded, hints of a smile making its way to their lips. “Okay!”

“But you also have to promise not to steal anymore so you don’t get in trouble.” Mimiko pouted but you attempted a stern look. “I’m serious, girls. And we’re going to pinky promise on it.”

You held out your pinky. Reluctantly, the two girls took it. Giggling when they fought to cover your own pinky with their little ones.

After your pinky promise, Nanako’s nose scrunched, “You smell like coffee.”

You laughed and cleaned up the trash from their meal, “I get that a lot.”

And since then, the twins have kept coming back every day, after five o’clock. Sometimes you wonder where they went before that. Did they go to school? Did they have any parents taking care of them? Did they even have a home?

You supposed none of that was any of your business in the end. But sometimes you couldn’t help but worry.

If you had a big enough space that wasn’t one small box, then you’d take the girls home with you in a heartbeat.

Once Mimiko was finished with her rice ball, she walked over to you as you were counting through the cash in the register from today’s productivity. “Can I help?”

“Sure,” You hummed trying to find something for her to do. “Do you think you could stack those new packets of gum for me and place them in this small box?” You handed the little box which she took instantly. “Go get your sister to help if she wants, okay?”

Mimiko nodded and took the gum packets and the box back to her sister who was just finishing up her rice ball. You made a mental note to buy some coloring books for them in case they got bored. Sometimes they like to stay a little bit longer after they finish eating, to keep you company. And you enjoyed their presence. It was better than staring at the ceiling for hours on end, waiting for a customer to enter even though you knew they wouldn’t come. And then got done with their little task quite fast. Yeah, you definitely need to get those coloring books.

Thankfully, just in time as you heard your manager shift in the back, the two girls made their leave. Waving goodbye to you with the promise of returning tomorrow.

Sometime later your manager came from the back and left the shop, grumbling about you closing up.

And another hour after that, you leave the shop. Hoping to see the twins again. And maybe—even though it was probably impossible—you hoped to see that hot customer again.

It was delusional, you knew this.

But it didn’t hurt to hope.

“Ugh, why are you eating that shit?” Tohru made a look of disgust at your bag of coffee beans. “Now the whole place is gonna smell.”

That was what you were greeted with upon entering the shop the next morning, “Good morning to you too, Ru. And don’t you think it’s a lot better than cigarettes and booze?”

Surprisingly, it was pretty crowded which was a first for you ever since you started working at the shop. Of course, it was a bunch of older people—middle-aged to elderly—but it was busy, nonetheless.

You went around the counter as an older woman locked Tohru into a conversation, “Did you hear what happened to that little boy? Oh, what an awful thing, I can only imagine what his parents must be feeling right now.”

“It’s that demon terrorizing our home again.” An elderly woman standing in line shivered

A man huffed, “I tell you exactly what’s causing all of this. Those no good—”

You didn’t bother to stay and hear the rest as you made your way to the back to throw your bag into one of the lockers. It was the same old thing. A horrible incident happens at night—a few people die—and people are going on and on about the town being haunted. Something about some demon going on a killing spree in the dead of night. To be honest, you thought it was some sick weirdo having the time of his life and the people haven’t realized it yet.

“Gotta buy some new locks.” You mumbled to yourself as you shrugged off your jacket.

“How was your night?” You glanced over your shoulder to find your manager sitting in the office, the door wide open as he smoked.

“Good, sir!” You offered a friendly smile as you closed your locker. “My mattress was uncomfortable but all in all, I can’t necessarily complain! And what about you, sir? How was your night?”

He grunted but never gave a response, which wasn’t unusual. He never offered to talk about himself, even on his good days.

You nodded, took your bag of coffee beans, and joined Tohru back at the front.

“—This is the fifth incident this week! When will enough be enough?!” This was an older man scowling this time. Next to him was a woman—whom you had to guess was his wife—trying to push him out of the shop as he began his rant. “We need to hunt those monsters down! How many more have to die?!”

You watched the couple leave with a small frown, “Wow, it’s never been this bad before.”

Tohru sighed tiredly, “Yeah, they’re pretty fired up this time around. I wonder how much of this is gonna mess with my precious sleep schedule.”

You hummed, noticing the usual dark bags under her eyes.

“Hi.”

A bag of chips was placed on the counter. Both you and Tohru looked up to find the hot customer from yesterday standing at the counter with a friendly smile sent your way.

Your face both burned with being taken off guard and the fact that he was addressing you directly, “Oh—Hi! Welcome back!” Quickly, you manned the second register while Tohru sent you a side glare. You returned his smile, “To be honest, I didn’t think you were still here.”

“Really?” He raised a brow as you checked his item out. “How come?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the town’s kind of haunted.” You chuckled as you stuffed his chips into a grocery bag, giving him a sheepish smile, “Scares the tourists away. I should’ve probably warned you about it yesterday, sorry about that.”

He chuckled as you handed him his bag. This time he wasn’t wearing the black top he had on yesterday. The baggy pants were the same, just this time around he wore a white button-up. “Fortunately, I’m not afraid of many scary stories, but I appreciate the warning.”

“How brave of you.” You chuckled, ignoring the subtle glances Tohru kept sending you while attending to her own customer. “I can’t necessarily say the same for myself.”

“Don’t you live here?” His eyes twinkled as he tilted his head, “I’d say you’re a lot braver than me, you know. Tonight’s my last night here.”

You shook your head, ignoring how your chest fell slightly in disappointment at the new piece of information, “Then many would say you’re one of the lucky ones.”

“Oh yeah?” He hummed, his eyes never wavering from yours. Wow, he really loved making eye contact. You couldn’t figure out if that made him even hotter or a bit intimidating. And he was so nonchalant about it too, hand in pocket, stance somewhat relaxed. “What would you say? You count yourself unlucky then?”

The bell above the door rang, “Welcome in!” You called the new customer before replying to him. “Well, to be honest with you, I feel like I’m the luckiest girl alive. It’s not so bad here, you know, despite the obvious flaws of the shop and this town. I’m just grateful to at least have a job and a roof over my head. It’s not perfect but it’s everything I need right now.”

He was observing you again. Tohru was far too distracted with the other customers to notice and make fun of your bashful facial expressions. Or how you were practically malfunctioning on the spot from the way he kept looking at you.

“You know,” He leaned on the counter with a smile turning into somewhat of a smirk, “I’ve never met someone as optimistic as you. I almost think you’re unreal.”

“Don’t we all,” Tohru commented as she made her way to the back. “Your turn to man the front counter, newbie. The last customer nearly made me pop a vein.”

“Sure thing, Ru!” You called, trying to ignore how hot your face was at the moment.

Of course, the hot customer saw this and gave a soft laugh, “I didn’t mean to sound like I’m making fun of you, I promise. It’s endearing. You wouldn’t have a hard time finding someone to marry, that’s for sure.”

Steam was probably coming out of your ears at this point.

“I-I-uh, thanks?” You searched the store to try and distract yourself and prevent further embarrassment. Only when you didn’t find anything, you smile sheepishly, “I-uh, I think it’s a little too soon to be thinking about marriage—uh but thanks for the compliment?”

You watched as his nose twitched, raising a brow, “You smell like coffee. Like a lot.”

“Yeah,” You gulped with a nervous smile, “I get that a lot.”

Another laugh left his lips. He was far too amused now. Meanie. “I’ll see you around.”

With that, he left the store. The bell rang in his wake. You watched him go through the window. He waved to you as he passed. And you waved back.

Once he was finally out of your sight and you out of his, you groaned and dropped your head onto the counter, “I’m such a loser.”

The back door opened and Tohru poked her head out, shaking her head disapprovingly, “Yeah, you can’t handle all that man.”

“Shut up, Ru.”

You were the exception, not the rule, Geto Suguru realized a block away from the store.

He’d never really met anyone like you. It was so rare. Pure. So unheard of in this world.

But it didn’t change how the world was. A bright light like that would be snuffed, almost instantly. You would become exhausted at some point, smiling so genuinely like that.

It would make your fall much harder. Much, much worse.

More curses wreaking havoc through villages. More curses to swallow down, leaving the bitter taste of vomit in his wake.

You, Geto decided, were just like everyone else in the end.

Applause.

He wondered if he would ever stop hearing them clap.

Around the late afternoon, your manager sent you out to pick up a delivery of chips that apparently couldn’t make it. Something about a mix-up with the trucks—you weren’t entirely clear on the details. But your boss was pissed about it and you were left with driving to the city to retrieve the box of chips. The only thing you didn’t like about it was the fact that the drive to the city took almost two hours.

You just hoped you’d make it back in time to meet up with the twins.

So half your day was spent rushing through the city, trying to track down that missing shipment of chips, bringing it back to your car which was almost towed because you happened to park in the wrong place, and then driving back to the village while the sun was beginning to set.

The drive back wasn’t as bad as the drive to the city. But you arrived back at the shop twenty minutes past five. Which wasn’t too bad but you were still late, nonetheless.

“Sorry, I’m late!” You called as you entered the store from the back with the box still in your hands. “I got coloring books this time, hope you guys like to draw!” You brought the box to the front, expecting to find the twins.

Only you stop and find Tohru and your manager there instead. Tohru stared at you in confusion, “Who are you talking to?”

You blushed in embarrassment, “Um, sorry, I thought you were…” Quickly, your mind raced. “Did you guys happen to see two girls walk in at around five—that’s what the coloring books were for, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.”

“Two girls?” Tohru frowned, appearing even more confused. “Did you hit your head or something?”

Just as you were about to quickly explain what you meant, your manager blew out another puff of smoke, “She means those unlucky twins.” At this, you furrowed your brows, opening your mouth to ask what he meant, only for him to continue as if you had already asked the question. “Those two have been poisoning our town ever since they killed their parents. It’s about time they get what they deserve.”

Your eyes widened, heart, falling to your feet, “W-What does…what happened to them? What do you mean get what they deserve?”

“Oh yeah,” Tohru said while hoisting herself up to sit on the counter, “now that you mention it, there were two girls that came in here. They didn’t stay for long, some of the villagers barged in and took them. I think they mentioned taking her to the old temple or something like that, I don’t know, I had a headache and they were all being annoying. They went on about them being the cause of all the deaths happening in town—whatever that meant—”

The box fell from your hands onto the floor, spilling the bag of chips. Your heart thundered with panic and disbelief, “You…You just let them take them?” Surprisingly, your voice wasn’t quivering like the rest of your body. Instead, it was full and firm with distraught. “They didn’t even do anything! They’re children! They’re—oh my god, they’re just babies!”

Tohru rolled her eyes as if you were the one being dramatic and unreasonable, “Dude, relax, they’re probably not going to do anything that bad to them. Maybe send them off to another village. Look, who cares? At least there won’t be any more deaths—hey, where are you going?”

You ignored her, threw off your work apron, and jumped over the counter. “This isn’t right! None of this is fucking right!”

“Hey, you still need to clean your mess up—hey!” Tohru’s voice became further and further away as you bolted out of the shop and ran through the street, heading further into the village.

Tohru had mentioned something about an old temple. You quickly searched your mind until you remembered there was a temple on one of the hills. You always passed it whenever you went jogging on your days off. Yes, you knew exactly where they were.

Running wouldn’t get you there fast enough, you soon realized. So you thought quickly. In front of a flower shop, you spotted a bicycle sitting at the front. Quietly apologizing to whomever this belonged to, you took the bike, got on, and pedaled your way up the hill.

In your haste, the world was silent to you.

All you could think about was those poor girls. All you were worried about was saving them before the townsfolk did something that no one could possibly come back from.

The world was silent to you.

You didn’t see the people running by in terror, even when you nearly ran into an older man who had dashed out into the street in a fit of panic. You didn’t see the smoke in the part of the village you biked through. You didn’t see the blue flames consuming the houses and the people around you until there was nothing but burnt ash left.

This chaos was nothing but white noise.

The world was silent to you.

You ignored the large shape flying over you, spewing the blue flames onto another part of the village.

All you cared about were those girls. Mimiko and Nanako.

You should’ve brought them back to your home. You should’ve taken them in. You should’ve pressed for more information about them. You should’ve known that they didn’t have anyone taking care of them.

You should’ve known. You should’ve done more.

“My god,” You gasped, fear tearing at your heart as the temple finally came into view. “have I failed them?” There were no flames consuming the temple. Strangely enough, it was the only place that wasn’t on fire.

When you were close enough, you jumped off the bike and dashed for the entrance. You slammed into the double doors, attempting to pull it open. Only they were locked and wouldn’t budge.

You backed up, not willing to give up. Not willing to let those two die for this fucked up town. And with all your might, you kicked the doors open, causing them to slam against the walls inside the temple.

“Mimiko! Nanako!” You called as you entered, searching around for the two girls.

Smoke filled your nose and caused you to cough just as small voices responded back to you. Calling your name with childlike desperation. It sounded like it was coming from above you. Like there was a second floor.

The stairs were on your right. You dashed for them, skipping two steps at a time until you made it to the second floor. Until you made it into the first room you spotted. Until you found them both locked in a cage together. Beaten and bruised and scared out of their minds. Until you found the two bodies lying in a puddle of scarlet right in front of the cage.

You didn’t rush toward the cage right away. Struck frozen at the sight of the blood. At the sight of the two bodies. It made the once quiet world around suddenly become loud.

There were screams outside of the temple. There was smoke, so much smoke.

Then there was the blood.

Blood.

There was a small call of your name, snapping you out of your frozen shock. The two girls were pressed against the cages, Nanako reaching through the bars for you…

“I’m coming, it’s okay.” You said, finally snapping out of your shock before rushing over toward the cage. You ignored how your shoes were stained with scarlet as you walked through the puddle.

You tried at the cage for a bit until you roughly yanked it open, breaking the lock that kept it closed. Both girls ran out of the cage and hugged your waist, nearly knocking you over. Their sniffles were muffled in your sweater as you ran your hand through their hair in an attempt to comfort them.

“It’s okay, I’m gonna get you out of here.” You promised while glancing over your shoulder at the bodies. “Nanako. Mimiko. What happened to them?”

Mimiko buried her face further into your waist while Nanako spoke, “Everyone thought we were the ones behind the deaths so they took us and tried to make the man kill us. But he didn’t, he saved us!”

You nodded as you both listened and led them out of the horrific room. The three of you went down the steps. Just from looking through the wide open doorway of the temple, you saw the flames hitting the village had gotten so much worse. What had caused this, you had no clue, nor did you have time to stop and wonder where it all had come from.

Mimiko tightened her hold on your hand, forcing you to stop, dozens of steps away from the front door, “The man told us to stay put and that he would take us away from here.”

On your right, Nanako nodded, “He said the curses won’t hurt us and that we’re special.”

You let go of their hands and turned to face them, your back to the entrance. Carefully you knelt down in front of them, “Okay, slow down. Before I even think about touching the curses part, I just need to know what man are you guys talking about. There wasn’t a third body in that room.”

“They mean me.”

At the sudden voice, you spun around to find standing at the entrance a male. A familiar one at that.

The same male who had bought chips from your store. The same male who had that gentle smile on his face—similar to the one he wore now but colder. The same male who had laughed at your fumbling and embarrassment just a few hours earlier.

“You.” Was the whisper that fell from your lips.

He stepped forward and instinctively pushed the girls behind you protectively. His brows raised at this and he chuckled.

“Mimiko. Nanako.” His voice was slow, silky, and calculated. “It’s time to go. Those people won’t hurt you anymore. Just as I promised.”

You watched him warily but the girls after a beat started toward him, surprising you. Mimiko was the one who stopped while Nanako went to the male’s side and grabbed his hand. She looked at you and then the male. She then grabbed your hand and tried tugging you forward, “Can’t she come with us?”

Something flickered across his face and instantly disappeared in the next second as he smiled, “Why don’t you two wait for me while I talk to the nice lady?”

You didn’t let go of her hand right away, “Mimiko.”

She looked at you and smiled reassuringly despite one of her eyes being swollen shut, “It’s okay. He’s a nice man. He saved us, remember?”

With that, she followed her sister out of the temple. The male didn’t move from the doorway. The blue flames were menacing in the night, his shadow tall. The heat was just as overwhelming as the smoke.

“Who the hell are you?” You finally muttered.

He started walking toward in slow leisurely steps, “A sorcerer.”

Instinctively, you wanted to back away as he got closer. But you stood firm, “And you were the one that killed those two people upstairs?”

“Yes.” He was now in front of you with very little space left between the two of you. The obvious question was at the tip of your tongue but you never voiced it. Yet he replied anyway, “I’ve decided it’s time I’ve stopped serving non-sorcerers. All they’ve done is create more problems for people like me. I figured I cut the problem down from the roots. For all of us.”

There was no smile on his face now. No traces of the friendly face, of the sheepish boy you met back at the shop. Just someone else entirely.

He leaned forward, staring at you with that same look he had back at the shop. Like he was trying to see right through you. Accusatory. Blame.

“What good are you to me?”

You glared now, clenching your hands into tight fists, “It sounds like you’ve already made up your mind. I don’t see a point in proving a damn thing to you.”

He stared at you for a moment longer and then smirked. ��Too bad you’re human.” He turned and walked back to the entrance. “I would’ve liked you a lot. I do like you a lot. But if my new world is going to be without non-sorcerers…”

The curse flew past Geto and into the temple. It was large enough to cause irreparable damage to the temple. It was deadly enough to crush any target in sight. Even your screams were swallowed whole in seconds. That’s how efficient it was. That’s how easy it all became.

Geto didn’t look back at your body. Nor did he watch you get killed by his curse. Instead, he continued out of the temple with a few more curses following him at his tail.

“There are no exceptions.” He muttered to himself.

Applause.

He wondered if he would ever forget that coffee smell.

Applause.

Hours later, once the flames had long settled, you sat up in the rubble. Some of the most severe wounds were nearly done healing. But the only pain you felt was the tight twists in your stomach.

You were starving.

Applause.

Your sweater had been burned off and your skirt was ripped as you dragged yourself away from the ruins of the temple. Saliva dripping from your mouth that you tried to ignore.

For a while, you kept going. Pushing yourself through what used to be a lively village. But now it was filled with ruins and dead bodies alike.

You kept your composure thought. Especially when you pass fallen body parts, scattered along the streets.

Applause.

Eventually, you made it to the store, just on the outskirts of the village. The same one you worked at. The one place that had your coffee beans.

The bell above your head rang as you lugged your way over to the aisle where you knew the coffee beans were. Ignoring the calls of your name—which was just background noise to you.

You were hungry. Really, really hungry.

Just as you found the coffee beans, you grabbed one of the bags and tore it open.

“You know you’ve been fired, right?”

For some reason, your hand never reached into the bag to grab a mouthful of beans and tossed it in your mouth. Instead, you just stared down into it, saliva dripping from your mouth as Tohru continued her taunt.

“Boss’ pretty pissed with you taking off like that. And now I’ve gotta miss my concert because of you.” In the corner of your eye, she sneered, “I hope it was all worth it.”

Applause.

“Risking your job for a bunch of girls you don’t even know. What did you even try to do?”

Applause.

“Hmm, judging how quiet everything is, my guess is they probably finished the job.” Tohru sighed and leaned against the shelf, “Well, at least I can get better sleep.”

The bag of coffee beans fell from your grasp and spilled onto the floor.

Tohru gasped, looking down at the mess, “Hey! You fucking idiot! How many more messes are you going to leave for me to clean?! Ugh, you’re such a brat—hey, what the hell is wrong with your eyes?”

Applause.

Fuck it.

Applause.

The next morning, the shopkeeper was found dead in his office. Half of his face was gone, along with a gaping hole in his chest, where his heart should’ve been.

The girl was behind the front counter. Missing a leg, her organs spilling out of her abdomen. Blood everywhere.

It was a horrid sight.

At least, that’s what you heard.

Applause.

You wiped the blood from your mouth.

“I’m done lying to myself.” You mumbled. A giggle left your lips. “What the hell is the point?”

Applause.

With that, you took your final bow.

“Things will be different this time.”

#jujutsu kaisen #geto x reader #geto suguru x reader #geto suguru #suguru geto #getou suguru #jjk geto #jjk imagines #jjk x you #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk headcanons #jjk season 2 #tokyo ghoul #geto suguru x you #[ *take a bow ]

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mercurialrain · 10 months

Text

I Couldn’t Have, I Was Playing Hopscotch with Hawkmoth

Felix slid into his seat next to Dupain-Cheng, wondering what would happen today.

It seemed that her new policy of dealing with Lila’s lies and the simultaneous ire of the class was to say whatever crazy thing popped into her head whenever they accused her of something. It had been rather entertaining, to say the least.

The first time she’d done it, their faces had been so comical that it had made Felix wish he’d brought his camera to school.

“Marinette! How could you shove Lila into the lockers?” Kim had stood in front of the crowd, his arms crossed in what was clearly meant to be an intimidating pose.

Marinette had looked up with a blank expression.

“I couldn’t have, I was playing hopscotch with Hawkmoth. He’s a really bad loser, so I had to leave before he had a full-on temper tantrum.” She had said it with the blandest tone he’d ever heard her use, which only added to the effect.

Everyone’s mouths had opened and closed like a fish’s, trying to figure out how to respond to her answer. It was obviously not true, but how did someone respond to that?

She’d held Kim’s gaze, no trace of amusement on her face.

It had worked exactly how he suspected she intended; they hadn’t managed to come up with anything before Bustier had come back in the room, breezily instructing everyone to turn to page 294 in their textbooks.

The next time, it seemed that they had come a little better prepared, allowing Alix to lead the charge. She was notorious for having a witty retort to everything, so it made sense. Unfortunately, Marinette had also come with a plan.

“Marinette! Care to tell us why you sabotaged Lila’s project in the art room?”

Marinette had held up a finger, digging in her backpack. The class had watched with interest, as this was the first reaction that hadn’t been outright hostile or bland.

She’d pulled out her tablet and typed something before turning it around.

Can’t talk. I lost my voice after too much yelling at the heavy metal concert I went to last night.

Alix had blinked at the idea of sugar-sweet Marinette attending a heavy metal concert, but recovered quickly. “Ok, so type out why you destroyed her project!”

Some more typing, then a response. Couldn’t have, I was helping scientists extract DNA from mosquitoes in amber to make dinosaurs.

“That’s the plot of Jurassic Park!”

Where do you think they got the idea from?

Alix had stared for a moment more before throwing up her hands. “This is useless, she’s clearly gone off the deep end!” She’d stormed out, leaving the rest of the class behind, unsure of what to do now that they’d lost their ringer.

Again, Bustier had made the decision of what to do for them, coming in with a reminder of the worksheet they had due at the end of class.

Needless to say, Felix believed that this was a very good use of her creative mind. Watching her outsmart the idiots of the class in her own way was endlessly amusing and had quickly become his favorite part of the day.

Today, before the daily confrontation, Bustier had assigned them a project, a partner project with their deskmate. For Felix, that was Marinette. Since they’d been working on the project all day, Lila hadn’t had the chance to leave and lie about anything, pushing the confrontation to likely after the lunch break. Felix could hardly wait to see what she said this time. Maybe this project would allow him to get to know and understand her better.

“So for the project I was thinking that we make a PowerPoint-” Marinette cut herself off, staring at him with a puzzled expression. “You’re almost smiling at me. Are you feeling alright?”

Felix immediately wiped his expression, mildly mortified that he’d outwardly shown his amusement, but forged ahead. “I see you got your voice back. Was the heavy metal worth it?”

“What? Oh, that. I’m fine.”

“Oh, I know. Your recent interactions with the class have been thoroughly entertaining.”

“Glad you’ve been enjoying it. Confusion is certainly better than outright hostility.” She sighed, suddenly looking very tired.

“It’s about time that you started retaliating, even if it’s just by scrambling the two collective brain cells they have left. I don’t know that I could’ve put up with Rossi’s bullshit for as long as you have with the patience you’ve had.”

Her eyes snapped to him. “You know she’s lying?”

He scoffed. “Please, don’t insult my intelligence like that. Of course I know she’s lying.”

Marinette was silent. He could almost see the burden on her shoulders getting lighter with the realization she wasn’t alone in knowing Rossi was a liar and was about to comment further on it when Marinette smiled. It was a mischievous smile that promised trouble, which immediately intrigued Felix. He hadn’t seen much of her troublemaker side except for the few glimpses from her last interactions with the class, but he had a feeling there was one hell of a wicked streak somewhere underneath that cotton candy.

“You wanna help?”

He considered for a moment. Was it worth getting involved in? On one hand, it was enjoyable to just be merely a spectator. On the other hand, he wanted to know more about this side of Marinette and it was always enjoyable to see idiots put in their place.

“I’m in.”

- - - - - -

After school, Felix and Marinette were at their desk, waiting for the confrontation.

And like a bad penny, the class came back to try again. It seemed that they were shuffling who was leading the ‘Marinette how dare you’ brigade, and this time they had chosen Adrien. Felix knew about her crush on him, so he supposed that it was a rather strategic move on their part, if he wasn’t able to see the barely hidden disdain for the boy on her face.

“Marinette, you know that it wasn’t kind of you to throw Lila’s backpack down the stairs while she was in the cafeteria. That’s not the everyday Ladybug we all know and love.”

Ah, the guilt trip method. Usually foolproof on someone as empathetic as Marinette, rendered useless by Marinette’s developing apathy towards the class.

“It must’ve been someone else. I spent the lunch break teaching Mr. Ramier’s pigeons how to moonwalk. I wouldn’t have gotten back in time if Felix hadn’t realized the time and dragged me back.”

“Now, Marinette, don’t lie about it.”

“I’m not. Felix?”

Felix nodded, pulling up a video on his phone and showing it to the class. In it, Marinette stood next to some pigeons, clearly demonstrating how to moonwalk. The pigeons looked on curiously, occasionally pecking at her shoes and awkwardly waddling backwards. Mr. Ramier sat in the background, alternately cheering or throwing birdseed to the pigeons. The video clearly had the timestamp of about ten minutes before their break ended, so they would’ve had to rush to get back to class. There was no way they could’ve done anything.

Marinette looked back at Adrien and folded her arms. “Well? I’ll take my apology now.”

Felix snorted at the flabbergasted expression on Adrien’s face, casually putting his arm over Marinette’s shoulders. He didn’t really know why he did it, only that it felt right. Apparently she didn’t mind, since she just readjusted to be a bit more comfortable. “Give him a minute, he’s rebooting.”

“Wait, are the two of you dating?” He blurted out, then immediately looked like he regretted it.

This time, Marinette snorted. “Because the only reason he’d support me was if he was my boyfriend? No, that’s what friends are meant to do, Adrien.” The last sentence was laden with poison that Felix didn’t know the context for, but Adrien did, because he flinched.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, turning away.

As soon as the class turned away, her head fell on his shoulder, her face crumpling in pain. He didn’t know what to do but hug her shoulders tighter. He’d seen that her love language was physical touch, so maybe it would help? After a while, her face smoothed and she lifted her head, seemingly doing better.

“Hey, thanks for backing me up.”

Felix shrugged. “It was fun.”

She turned to look at him. “No, I’m serious. It’s been a long time since anyone’s had my back, even if it’s just to mess with someone. Thank you.”

Why did he suddenly feel all warm inside? “So what’s the next plan?”

Marinette looked surprised. “You want to be involved in the next one?”

“Sure, why not?”

She looked away, her cheeks turning a light pink. “Maybe we could, well, I don’t know, I don’t want you thinking that I’m just saying this because Adrien said it because I promise I’m really not, but maybe we could, um, discuss it on a date?”

“But we hardly know each other.” What did she see in him that she liked? Sure, he’d helped her once, but that was hardly grounds for someone liking someone, was it?

“That’s the point of the date. To get to know someone. Besides, I want to see if you’re as nice as I suspect you are under that prickly exterior.” She was looking at him again, cheeks now a bright red, but with determination in her eyes.

Well, hadn’t he wanted to get to know her better too? “Sure.”

#felinette #felix graham de vanily #marinette dupain cheng #genuinely keep forgetting to post my fics on tumblr #crack fic #lila salt

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ily-fictional-women · 9 months

Text

Rumors

Summary: A Russian. A cold-blooded killer. An assassin. Or at least that’s what they say about the new recruit in SHIELD. And the worst part is, Y/n will have to work with her without knowing if these rumors are true.

Pairing: Natasha Romanoff x fem!reader + platonic!Maria Hill x fem!reader

Warnings: None that I know of but if I should add anything let me know.

Word count: 3526

a/n: Y/n/l is for your last name since y'all voted for that one the most. Also this was supposed to a be a quick one shot but I kind of got carried away. (Reblogs are welcome and critiques/advice are heavily encouraged, but please no translating.)

Y/n lugs her duffle bag over her shoulder before jumping off the helicopter and feeling the adrenaline from her mission finally subside. Already going on autopilot to her bunk, she’s suddenly stopped. Y/n rubs her eyes, “Maria? What do you want? I’m trying to go to my bunk right now.” Maria holds out a file to Y/n, “Fury wants to talk mission prep with you.”

Taking the file reluctantly Y/n gives her a tight-lipped smile, “Thanks Maria.” As Y/n walked off towards Fury’s office she could hear the other woman holler, “And for the last time L/n, It's Hill. Agent Hill.” Y/n laughs out loud, “And last I checked Hill we’ve been friends way before SHIELD.”

Maria slowly follows Y/n with a grin, “Then as your friend, I should tell you that apparently you’re working with the new rookie everyone’s been talking about.” Y/n immediately stops mid-step, turning to face her friend. “Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” Y/n groans. “I already don’t like working in teams, but a rookie who’s an emotionless assassin is crossing the line.”

Maria lets out a soft laugh at Y/n’s dramatics. “Just go talk to Fury, Y/n.” Y/n gives her a sarcastic shocked look, “Whoa whoa whoa now. I thought we were on a last-name basis, Agent Hill.”

“Stop stalling and just go Y/n/l.”

Y/n lets out a deep sigh, “Fine”

Finally making it to Fury's office Y/n knocks on the open door. “ Agent Y/n/l, good of you to finally join us.” Us? Y/n thinks to herself. Peering her head through the doorway she sees a woman with fiery red hair turn her head to look at her. “Agent Y/n/l stop standing around and sit your ass down.”

Sitting down, Fury clears his throat, “Before we talk about mission work we’ll talk about the elephant in the room. Agent Y/n/l, this is Agent Romanoff, you’ll be working with her on this mission. Now Y/n/l I’m sure you’ve heard plenty about Miss Romanoff, and I honestly don’t care. You two need to work that out yourselves.”

“But I don’t-” Fury cuts Y/n off. “Y/n/l, you’re doing this mission. You gotta learn to work with people.” Out of the corner of Y/n’s eye, she could see the redhead tense up slightly, grip tightening around the arms of her chair.

“Moving on, if you review your mission files you’ll see that your mission is taking place in an underground Hydra laboratory in the White River National Forest. Your goal is to take samples of a new super soldier serum Hydra is attempting to make. Then destroy the lab.”

“And what do we do with the rest of the samples and the laboratory?” This was the first time Y/n heard Romanoff’s voice, she’d heard rumors that Romanoff is Russian but the American accent caught her off guard. “You both will be given explosives with a personal detonator. The faster you get out of there the better. Are we clear on everything?”

Y/n closes her mission file getting up from her seat, “Crystal, sir.”

Hearing a quick knock, Y/n opens the door to her room with a yawn, “What do you want, I have a mission tomorrow can’t-” squinting her eyes she realizes it’s Maria. “I was going to ask how the meeting went, as your friend. But I feel like this is a bad time.”

With a huff and another yawn, Y/n pulls Maria into her room before flopping onto her bed. “She’s weird, Maria.” Maria sits next to her on the bed with an amused smile, “And how exactly is she weird?” Y/n throws up her arms dramatically, “She was just so quiet! It was off-putting.”

“That’s not really fair Y/n.” She sits up, “How is that not fair Maria?” Y/n could see a huge grin grow on Maria’s face and already knew what she was going to say. “Rember boot camp? Before SHIELD?” With a dramatic whine, Y/n quickly flopped back down on her back, “I knew it! I knew you were gonna bring this up.”

“It’s a valid thing to bring up, Y/n!” Maria tries to shake her arm to get her attention which results in a quick scowl. “Don’t look at me like that, you know I’m right. You didn’t talk a lot or have a lot of friends then. Now you have me and I can’t get you to shut up.”

“Ha ha Maria. But how is that supposed to help me?” Maria lets out a stressed sigh. “Do I really need to spell it out for you?” Y/n shrugs, “Yeah, please. I’m tired, and I have to wake up early tomorrow.”

“Just try not to treat her like everyone else does. Be nice to her.” Rubbing her face into her pillow, she closes her eyes and lets out a soft, “Okay.”

The loud rumble of the helicopter was muted by the headsets Y/n, Romanoff, and the pilot wore. Looking down at the view through her window Y/n could see small flakes start to quickly pile up on the trees below her. “Hey, are you sure it’s safe to fly in these conditions? It’s starting to snow pretty hard.”

The pilot presses on her own headset, “Shouldn’t become a problem as long as there’s no delays, Y/n/l.” With a quick sigh, Y/n presses on her comms headset again, “Copy that Agent May.” It takes another irritatingly quiet silence to land a safe distance from the Hydra base.

After everyone takes off their headsets one by one, Agent May pulls out a tablet with an overview of the base. Turning to face the two she gestures to the defenses of the base. “About half a mile from here is the south entrance, which is closest to the ramp leading to the lab you need to go to. The lab is the most heavily guarded part of the base, so be prepared for that.”

The two quickly nod, slinging the supplies in their duffle bags over their shoulders and trudging through the snow as the helicopter started to lift up into the sky again. Making their way to the entrance, two soldiers guarding the front immediately started firing at the two agents.

Reaching for her sidearm, Y/n manages to shoot one in the shoulder while matching Romanoff’s sprinting pace. On the other hand, Romanoff manages to hit the other guard with a blast from one of her wrist tasers, then sliding on one leg sweeping the guard off his feet. Examining one of the guards' bodies, Y/n pulls off their ID card.

Moving slower and quieter, the two make their way to the ramp leading to the lab– the entrance only being a large cement wall and a steel door with, as predicted, an ID scanner beside it. Y/n begins sliding the ID card but pauses, looking over to Romanoff. “Do you have anything besides those taser things?”

Romanoff pulls out her own sidearm and holsters it, "I’ll be fine Agent Y/n/l.” Sliding the card the rest of the way, the two agents are met with seven guards on the other side of the door. Three on each wall of the narrow hallway and one last extra burly soldier in front of the last door that leads to the laboratory.

One of the soldiers smirks, inching closer to the two and slowly raising his rifle. “Now who let you pretty ladies wander down here?” Immediately Romanoff taps something on her wrist, sending the man into a greater electric shock than the last. Romanoff looks down at him, “We let ourselves in.”

“We?” Y/n asks with a smile, following her lead shooting at the guards.

“That’s what I said,” Romanoff replies plainly as she picks up the rifle the soldier dropped, shooting at the other guards.

Now the only one left is the burly guard who started charging for Y/n. Trying to shoot at him, Y/n’s gun only makes a clicking noise. “I’m ou-'' Before Y/n can even finish her sentence Romanoff taps her wrist again, shooting the man which causes him to immediately fall to his knees and land flat on his face.

Finally taking a moment to breathe, Y/n feels a sharp pain in her shoulder, touching the most painful part and feeling blood. Romanoff looks at her with somewhat of a false calm look, “You okay to keep going?” Y/n nods painfully, “Yeah, yeah. The padding took most of the hit. Just a flesh wound.”

Giving Y/n a hesitant look for a moment she moves forward toward the lab, Y/n following suit. Opening the lab door the two are met with a mess of a lab and an obviously panicking scientist. She immediately breaks a glass beaker, lunging at Romanoff. “Y/n grab the vials!” is the last thing Y/n hears before Romanoff starts wrestling the other woman on the ground.

Searching the tables of the lab, there’s no visible sign of the Hydra super soldier serum. “Agent Romanoff, there’s nothing here.” Romanoff manages to straddle the scientist, slowly inching the broken beaker towards her. “Well then keep looking!”

“I will not have my work seized by some spy scum!” The scientist manages to flip Romanoff over, inching the broken glass closer to her chest. “Romanoff! Catch!” Y/n slides a large sharp piece of glass towards the other woman before getting back to looking for the serum.

With the new shard of glass, Romanoff manages to toss the other woman to the side, stabbing her. But in the process of doing so getting stabbed herself.

“Romanoff! I found some vials! We need to plant the bombs and go-” her voice goes quiet as she notices the wound- “right now. Shit.” Romanoff pulls the glass out of her side, putting pressure on her wound. She grits, “Plant the bombs first, worry about me after, Y/n/l.”

For a second she hesitates wanting to help her, but ultimately she listens to Romanoff’s instincts. Shoving the samples in her pocket, Y/n takes off her duffle bag and begins unloading the explosives. Four explosives, one for each corner of the lab– ensuring that everything is destroyed.

Lugging her bag over her shoulder, Y/n pulls Romanoff off the ground before swinging the agent’s arm over her uninjured shoulder. Hobbling out of the lab, Romanoff groans in pain, “Y’know you don’t need to do this. I can walk fine on my own.”

Y/n manages to let out a pained laugh, “Save your energy and stop complaining, Romanoff.”

Managing to get out of the laboratory is one thing, waiting for extraction will be another thing. Sliding against the cement wall, both Y/n and Romanoff sit down. Looking out in the distance Y/n noticed the snow, there was so much more of it compared to when they first landed.

Pulling out her phone, she called her last resort, Fury.

“Come on, pick up, pick up.”

“Miss Y/n/l, I was just about to call you.”

“Don’t Miss Y/n/l me Fury, where’s extraction?”

“As I was saying Agent Y/n/l, I was about to message you stating that because of an incoming blizzard, it isn’t safe to bring extraction to you. But there’s a SHIELD-owned cabin that Hydra doesn’t know about 2 miles West of your drop-off point. I suggest you start heading there.”

Not having the composure to reply to anything Fury said Y/n just hangs up on him. “Romanoff. Come on, we gotta start walking. Fury said there’s a place we can stay for a bit.” Y/n was met with no reply. Slapping the redhead’s cheek lightly a few times wakes her up. “Good, I can’t have you falling asleep on me Romanoff. Let’s go!”

“The bombs Y/n/l,” Romanoff nearly whispers. “What?” Y/n asks more focused on making it to the cabin. “The bombs,” Romanoff says louder one more time. “Shit, you’re right.” Y/n immediately comes to a stop, nearly causing Romanoff to trip. But with the bomb being set off they needed to move fast.

“In SHIELD training there’s similar exercises to walking long distances with partners. What they don’t account for is the snow, injuries, and trees! So many damn trees. I don’t know why I’m rambling, you've probably gone through SHIELD academy.”

Romanoff hisses in pain, “I haven’t, and you can stop complaining about the trees-we’re here.” The outside of the cabin looks practically abandoned, with the paint peeling and wood rotting. When touching the rusted handle though, an automated voice appeared. “Access granted. Welcome Y/n Y/n/l.”

Unlike the outside of the cabin, the inside looked nice. It wasn’t luxurious looking but it worked. And most importantly, there was a fireplace. Easing Romanoff onto a nearby chair gave Y/n a moment to look through the drawers of the cabin. “Matches! Finally.”

Flicking a lit match into the pre-placed pile of wood in the fireplace, Y/n starts rummaging through her duffle bag, grabbing a first aid kit and kneeling in front of the other woman. “Okay, Romanoff this is gonna sound super weird but I’m gonna need you to unzip your jumpsuit.”

“I- It’s too cold.” Y/n stands up, wrapping one of Romanoff’s arms over her shoulder once more. “We are going to sit on the floor in front of the fireplace then, because I can’t have you dying on me here.”

Y/n eased Romanoff on the floor, quickly sitting in front of her looking for the right supplies. “Your shoulder.”

“What about my shoulder Romanoff?”

“You’re bleeding through your jacket Y/n/l.” Y/n shrug,s finally pulling out the right supplies from the first aid kit. “I told you already. I’m fine.” Y/n flashes a quick smile, “Now you need to unzip that jumpsuit so you can stop bleeding. Please.”

With a painful groan, she unzips the jumpsuit, revealing a black sports bra and a nasty wound not so far below it before tying the upper part of her jumpsuit to her waist. “Okay, you shouldn’t need that many stitches. Can you lean back a bit?”

Leaning back, Romanoff could already feel the sharp sting of alcohol. She was in pain, but trying to hide it. “You wanna talk?” Y/n asked, managing to keep her focus on cleaning the wound. “What do you mean talk?” Y/n shrugs, not breaking her focus, “Anything,” she glances up at the redhead. “It usually helps me forget about what’s happening.”

Romanoff lets out a dry chuckle, “I don’t think I’m in a talking mood.”

“What if I ask questions and you just answer them? It’s less effort,” Y/n grins. “And it’s the least you could do for me after I dragged you for two miles in a snowy forest.”

“I told you I could walk fine on my own.”

“Yet you didn’t bother to stop me once on the way here.” Romanoff lets out a deep annoyed sigh, “Fine. Only five questions though.” Y/n glances up at her one more time with a subtle smile, “Deal. First question, what’s your name? In situations like these, I usually like to be on a first-name basis.”

“It’s Natasha, Romanoff.” Y/n pauses immediately, before tossing a cotton ball to the side with a playful smile plastered across her face. “Can I call you Nat then?” Natasha cracks a genuine half smile with Y/n’s being too infectious. “We’ll see, but that does count as one of your questions.”

“All right, all right, fine.” Y/n continues cleaning the wound. “So, third question, your accent, is it real?”

“No, but I’m sure it’ll become real over time.” Starting the first stitch Natasha winces, but Y/n just keeps talking. “So if you fake your accent, is that why you don’t talk a lot? So you don’t slip up.”

“I’m not afraid of slipping up. I think it makes things less complicated. Less questions are asked, usually.” Y/n slips out a loud sarcastic laugh finishing the second stitch. “Wow! I think you just made a joke!” Natasha smiles to herself, “I think I did. But you’re on to your last question.”

“Okay, why did you join SHIELD?” Y/n can see Natasha bite the inside of her cheek, regretting the question. “You don’t have to answer or anything I can-” Natasha stops her, “No, no it’s fine. Um, long story short I was part of the red room. Then I met a guy who gave me an opportunity to clear some red from my ledger and take down the red room. So I took it.”

“Have you thought of reclaiming the title Black Widow then? Maybe clear the red of the title itself, make it something good?” Natasha gives Y/n a mock shocked look, “I thought you agreed to just five questions?” Y/n shrugs with a smug grin, “I mean I finished up when you were talking about clearing your ledger. I figured I might be able to sneak one more in.”

“How about this, you take that jacket off and let me look at your shoulder that’s ‘just fine,’ then I might answer it.” Y/n collects all the bloody materials used to clean up Natasha’s wound, throwing them away. “And I told you it was just a flesh wound, Nat. I’m okay.”

“And flesh wounds still should be disinfected Y/n, sit down.” With a loud reluctant sigh, Y/n sits in front of her, unzipping her jacket and exposing the bloody shoulder with a small hole made by the bullet. After leaning back a little, Natasha Immediately starts cleaning the surrounding area of the bullet wound.

“What about you?” Natasha asks as she continues cleaning the wound. “What about me?” Instead of avoiding eye contact this time, Y/n keeps her eyes on Natasha. “Why did you join SHIELD?” Y/n smiles, “No, nope. You didn’t answer my question first.”

“Fine, I’ve thought of it. Now what about-” Natasha quickly pulls out the bullet in Y/n with tweezers, “you.” Y/n yelps in pain pressing a hand against her shoulder for a moment before letting Natasha get back to work. “Okay, next time give me a warning.” Natasha grins to herself, “You should hope there isn’t a next time.”

“You knew what I meant. Anyways, when it comes to your question I joined SHIELD because my best friend did. Before SHIELD her and I, Maria, we served as Marines together. But Fury realized could do more, be more if we joined SHIELD. And she saved me enough times back then for me to trust her.”

“Do you trust me?”

“Considering you are finishing patching up the shoulder I got shot in, I'd say yes. Not with my life though, yet.”

“Do you plan to trust me with your life?”

“I don’t see why not. Having just one person to trust like that is limiting.”

“Trusting me like that is dangerous though.”

“Sometimes you need to live life a little dangerously.”

“That was a good debrief Romanoff, although I think you could have left out the part about me complaining about the trees.” Natasha grins, “Maybe don’t complain about trees the next time we’re in a forest then Y/n/l.”

As Natasha starts to walk off to her bunk Y/n stops her, “Nat, wait.” Natasha has a faint smile visible on her lip. “Did you need something Y/n?”

“Not really, I was just wondering if you wanted to maybe train together sometime. You could even teach me that leg sweep move you did.” Natasha crosses her arms looking Y/n up and down for a second. “Yeah, we could do that. Just prepare to fall a lot.”

“Am I interrupting something?” Both women jump a little, Y/n specifically turning around to see who it is. “Oh! Maria! Ehm um, I mean Agent Hill. Did you need something?” Natasha starts backing away, “I think I’ll leave you two to whatever is going on.”

“Okay, I’ll talk more about that move tonight?” Natasha smiles, “Yeah. That works.” As Natasha walks out of earshot Maria immediately starts giggling. "I told you to be nice to her Y/n/l, but not that nice." Y/n looks at Maria with a slight blush coming onto her face. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"

Maria shrugs with a suggestive smile on her face, "Y'know what forget that, how'd the mission go." Y/n smiles bashfully, "Uh it was good, it went really well actually."

"You like her don't you?"

"W-what no. It's not like that." Maria smiles knowingly, "Oh it totally is like that." Y/n slaps Maria’s arm in embarrassment, "Shut up."

"For what it's worth," Maria glances over Y/n's shoulder, "it looks like she likes you too."

#natasha romanoff #natasha romanoff x reader #natasha romanoff x female #natasha romanoff x you #natasha romanoff fanfic #natasha romanov #natasha x reader #maria hill x reader #maria hill #nick fury #marvel fancic #marvel imagine

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happy74827 · 8 days

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Butterflies

[Harvey Specter x Female!Reader]

Synopsis: You know you’re screwed when you feel them fluttering in your chest {GIF Creds: jeysuso}.

WC: 717

Category: Fluff

For all my Harvey lovers out there, I made a cute fluffy quickie (I’m seeing a lot of my fics being swarmed with love so why not add to it 🤗)

『••✎••』

It happened over a bottle of bourbon. A spilled bottle, actually. But a bottle of bourbon nonetheless, and that is important to note.

You didn’t mean to spill the alcohol all over your date, but he had made some comment about how you shouldn't be wearing a dress with a plunging neckline, so you just… happened to tip the entire thing over him.

The man was furious, of course, but he left pretty quickly after that. And you were left with a mess on the floor and a waiter hovering at the side, asking if you wanted another bottle.

You told him no. You just wanted to go home.

You didn't want a new date; you didn't want to sit at this stupid table with the stupid white tablecloth, the stupid, gaudy candlesticks, or the stupid waiter with the stupid, expectant look on his face.

"Miss?"

"No, thank you," you say, a little more firmly, gathering up your things and leaving as much cash as you can on the table. If you were smart, you'd have brought an umbrella, but you're not smart, so you'll just get drenched like an idiot.

But, fortunately for you, the person calling your name knew you well enough to know you weren’t that smart.

Before a drop of water could even hit your hair, a tall, dark figure steps out in front of you and blocks the downpour. Some might consider this a gentlemanly action, but you knew the man, and he was hardly ever a gentleman.

"You're welcome," Harvey says, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"You're a pain," you reply, but you're grateful for the cover.

"And you're dateless. So, I see two options: we can have dinner and a drink back at my place, or we can do dinner and a drink back at mine."

You can't help but laugh. "Did you use this on Scottie? I see why she left. That line was bad."

"You're not going to ask how I knew you were here?"

"Nope. You probably had Louis stalk me."

"Don't talk about the puppy like that."

"So you did have him stalk me!"

"I prefer the term 'make sure you were alright,'" Harvey replies, and he holds out his arm to you. "Guy was a douche. Let me buy you dessert to make up for it. And I don’t mean in the biblical sense, although that can be arranged, too, if you'd like."

"Harvey, you’re such—"

You turned to him, ready to tell him exactly what you thought of him, but the words died when you met his eyes. Those same eyes that allured you into taking his offer at Pearson Hardman. The same eyes that made you agree to work with him on the case despite your better judgment.

In a flash, you saw the whole thing: your first meeting, the cases, the laughs, the looks, the touches. And now, the moment.

When you were younger, the term butterflies had never really made sense to you. The idea of feeling them in your stomach seemed ridiculous, and yet, there you were, feeling them for the very first time.

They were all fluttering around inside of you, and all you could think was, "Oh, no."

And as if the universe had heard you, it suddenly stopped raining, and you both stood there in the middle of the street, the moon casting a warm light on your faces.

Harvey noticed it, too, and his expression softened. His usual cockiness was replaced with a gentle concern. "You okay?"

You nodded, biting your lip. "Yeah."

Harvey reached up and brushed a strand of hair away from your face, his hand lingering a moment longer than it needed to. He gave you that signature grin and asked, "You look like a velvet cake kind of girl. Am I right?"

He was right.

Goddamnit, he was right.

And as he swaddled you in his coat to keep you warm as you both went back inside, the anger and confusion you felt earlier melted into a quiet, warm glow.

Date night had not gone according to plan, but when his lips met yours and your hands slid through his soft, brown hair, you realized that, perhaps, sometimes, it was good to deviate from the plan.

The butterflies seemed to agree.

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bloatedandalone04 · 3 months

Text

Wrapped Around Your Finger - Part 0.9

Series Masterlist | Original Fic

➪in which anakin makes the mistake of not listening to his manager’s words and breaks his promise to both himself and to you, while you finally reach your breaking point with everything.

PSA: strongly suggested to read the warnings before proceeding.

WC; 4.2k | Do not repost this anywhere, reblogs are fine ♡

“Dance with me,” Liz whined as she tried to pull Aankin away from the bar he was leaning against. When he just shook his head, she rolled her eyes and held up her empty drink, signaling to the bartender for another. “Don’t be so boring, Anakin, we’re here to have fun.”

Anakin huffed and pushed his own drink aside. He was really getting sick of going out with Liz every night, but he felt like he didn’t have much of a choice as she threatened to go without him and insinuated that she was planning to drink hard and do drugs and he knew that if something were to happen to her, he would feel awful and partly responsible.

“This isn’t very fun to me anymore, Liz,” he mumbled as she finished his drink, making him roll his eyes as he pulled out his wallet and paid for the two drinks he ordered.

“Oh, come on, rockstar,” she scoffed. “You’re young, you’re hot, this is what you’re supposed to do. Let go of all the worries and stress and just live in the moment. What’s holding you back?”

“The fear of disappointing my manager and friends more than I already have,” he answered and she rolled her eyes again as she grabbed her new drink.

“The guys are busy with their own lives,” she brushed off his words and wrapped her fingers around his wrist, covering up your writing as she did so. “And as for your manager, she’s too stuck up her own ass to be worried about what you’re doing.”

That was a lie if he ever heard once since Helena just rightfully called him out on his bullshit a few days ago, but he was too exhausted to argue with the drunk photographer. “Don’t talk about her like that,” he still defended her as he tugged his wrist free, pulling out his phone afterwards and checking the time.

1:03 AM.

God, what is he doing here?

“So defensive,” she teased and took multiple sips of the drink as if that wasn’t the fifth one she’s had during the two hours they’ve been here. “I’m just joking, relax, Ani.”

The name sobers him up pretty quickly, even though he wasn’t even tipsy to begin with. “Don’t call me that,” he says sternly, making Liz’s smile drop as she stares up at him. “Do not call me that, okay?”

You were the only person that was allowed to call him that. You always have been and you always will be.

He hated that nickname for years until he met you and then fell in love with the way it sounded coming from you. You didn’t tease him about it, weren’t at all condescending or poking fun at him whenever you said it. It was simply the nickname you had given him, and you were the only person he liked hearing say it.

Even Vinny knew better than to call him Ani, and that’s saying something.

Liz’s stare turned into a hard glare as she stood up from the stool beside his. “Okay,” she said in a monotone voice. “You know, maybe you should go back to the bus if you’re going to be miserable all night. You’re ruining the fun, Anakin.”

He looked up at her for a few seconds before huffing and standing as well. “Fine,” he said back. “I guess I’ll see you later.”

As he made his way to the exit, his brain tried to go back to the first night he went to a bar and when exactly it became a habit. A bad habit that would probably end with him having severely bad health problems if he were to continue down this path.

Helena was right, he had been spending too much time getting drunk at all these unfamiliar bars and clubs and he definitely has been spending way too much time with Liz, who was clearly a bad influence on him.

Really, what business did he have getting drunk with the twenty seven year old tour photographer when he was barely twenty two?

His head was killing him from all the loud rap music he’s listened to at all the bars, and even more from the live music he was performing multiple nights a week on different stages.

His sleep schedule was non-existent and the circles under his eyes were getting more prominent by the day. He had lost at least fifteen pounds since he would rather drink than eat after every show.

He was becoming the stereotypical rockstar, and that was something he never wanted to do.

It was Tuesday now and Evan was still being cold towards you.

While you weren’t sure what you did wrong, you still wanted to make up for it somehow. But, as Kenneth was going over this week’s assignment, he held up the papers you submitted to him last week and stood from his chair. “Like the following assignment, this week’s is about something personal. I want to read about your proudest moments, your most embarrassing moments, a moment you felt lost, and I want to read about it in vivid detail. I want to feel like I’m experiencing it right along with you,” he looked over at you and you felt a sense of dread fill your body. “Miss Y/l/n did a great job on the previous task. You should be looking out for this one.”

He nodded at you, and Evan, who was sitting silently beside you, stood up with a huff and left the room as soon as Kenneth excused the class. A few other students gave you smiles and pats as they walked by and left as well, and you bit down on your lip as you debated on whether or not you were going to go through with calling out your instructor for supposedly favoring you.

Evan said he has a soft spot for you, and you could see why he would think that since the praises you have been getting have been pretty excessive in comparison to the other people in the class, but you didn’t feel any more special than the rest of the students around you.

Clearing your throat, you put your books and laptop in your bag before standing up and walking over to his desk. “Kenneth, can I talk to you for a second?” You ask, feeling a hell of a lot less confident than you sounded.

“Of course, Miss Y/l/n,” he said back, pausing his task of cleaning up his desk to give you his full attention. He was so nice, you wanted nothing more than to turn around and walk away before you possibly messed things up with him, but you stood your ground. “What’s up?”

You swallow harshly and shift uncomfortably as you try to think of what to say. “I….appreciate all of the boosts of confidence, but I think….I think it’s happening a bit too often,” you start and watch as Kenneth’s brows raise. Before you could go back on your words, you quickly add, “I don’t know why you seem to favor me over the rest of the class, but I think you’re being a bit unfair when you should be treating us equally. I’m no better than anyone else here, and I think you know that, so I’m not sure why you’re so…sure that I’m doing so great when everyone is doing just as well as I am. It’s a bit unprofessional.”

You shut up after that and hold back your urge to run out of the room and never look back. Your heart was beating loudly in your ears and you were a bit out of breath as you grip the strap of your bag tightly.

Kenneth’s brows drop and his face relaxes as an unreadable expression takes over his features. “Is that so?” He asked lowly and you felt sick. More dread fills your body as you try to think of something to say that would lighten the mood, but you feared you had already pushed it way past the point of no return.

Evan convinced you that Kenneth was being unfair with you, so you felt obligated to call him out on it instead of ignoring - something you were deeply regretting as he leaned back in his chair and cleared his throat.

“That piece you did on your boyfriend, Anakin, was it? The rockstar?” He asked as he reached for a framed picture on his desk. He turned the picture around so you could clearly see it, and it was of a woman who looked to be on a stage, a guitar in her hands and a microphone in front of her. “This is my wife.” He informed you and you felt your heart drop a bit.

“Your….” You couldn’t finish your sentence as he nodded and set the picture down, his wife still in perfect view as he turned back to face you. Why had you never noticed that?

“Yes, my wife. She’s going into her fourth month of touring in a few days, and when I read your piece about your boyfriend, I related to it more than I have related to anything in quite some time,” he said and you felt your face heat up even more. “I know how tough it is to be with someone who is constantly in the spotlight, and who sometimes steals that spotlight from you, even if unintentionally. My wife, Marissa, she’s amazing; one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, but she’s got this whole separate life from me. I often feel disconnected from her, despite us being married for nearly fifteen years.”

You were left a bit speechless as you stared down at the picture. A feeling of nausea washed over you and you bring a hand up and place it over your stomach as you hold back a noise of pure embarrassment. “I….oh,”

Kenneth gives you a forced smile as he moves the picture from your view completely. “Yeah, oh,” he mumbled. “I felt for you, Miss Y/l/n. I didn’t pity you or favor you, I just knew what you were going through since I have gone through it more than once, too, and wanted to assure you that you are just as talented as your boyfriend supposedly is - like how I wish someone assured me all those years ago. I didn’t want you to think you were always coming in second when compared to your partner.”

You wanted to cry as he stood up and grabbed his jacket. How the fuck did you read that so wrong?

“Maybe I was being unfair to the rest of my students, and if that’s the case then I will do better,” he stated as he packed up his bag. “But I never meant for you to think that I’m favoring you or that you’re the best in the class. You’re an amazing writer, Miss Y/l/n, and I think you will do amazing things in your future, but I will gladly keep my thoughts to myself if that’s the way they come across.”

You stare down at the floor as you fight off tears. “I’m so sorry, I just, I thought-” you cut yourself off as you hold back a sob. “I’m so embarrassed.”

Kenneth sighed as he placed his bag onto his shoulder. “Well, maybe you can use this feeling of embarrassment for this week’s assignment,” he offered and walked around you, leaving you to follow after him as he made his way to the door. “Have a good night, Miss Y/l/n.”

He locked the classroom door then took off down the hall. You cover your mouth as you pretty much sprint in the opposite direction, pushing open the exit doors before grabbing your phone and calling Anakin.

It rang for a few beats and you were about to hang up and call him again when it finally connected. “Hey, baby,” he greeted in a tired tone and your heart ached even more.

“Ani,” you cried, walking across campus as quickly as you could since you didn’t want anyone to see you like this. “I messed up, Ani. I fucked up. Oh, my God, I’m so embarrassed.”

“Slow down, Y/n,” he said in a much more alert voice. “What’s wrong, pretty girl? Why are you crying?”

You felt like crying harder at the fact that this was the most concerned he’s sounded about you in weeks. “I fucked up,” you barely manage to get out.

“Fucked up what?”

“Everything,” you cry as you fumble around in your bag for your keys. “Evan still won’t talk to me, and I accused Kenneth of favoring me after class today when he wasn’t trying to do that at all, and I- I’m so embarrassed, Anakin. I feel so terrible.”

Anakin sighed and the sound made you let out a quiet sob. “Baby….I’m sure you didn’t fuck things up, princess. Just give it a day or two-”

“No, Ani, I completely messed things up,” you cut him off as you struggled to unlock your dorm’s door. “I accused him of something he wasn’t even doing when he was just trying to show that I don’t come in second when it comes to you and how-”

“What is that supposed to mean?” He cuts you off this time and you pause your attempts on the door.

“What?”

Anakin was quiet for a few seconds before he asked, “What does that mean? You coming in second to me?”

You try to control your breathing and focus your attention on the door again. “Nothing, it means nothing, Anakin. He was just trying to make sure I know that you and I are equal and that we’re both-”

“What, and you didn’t know that before?” He cut you off again and you could feel your embarrassment turn into anger.

“Of course I knew that before, Ani, I just,” you trailed off as you thought back to all the times you’ve called him for comfort or reassurance since he left London and how he hadn’t provided it whatsoever. “You know, Anakin, I called you because I needed to feel the comfort I always feel around you, but you haven’t given me that in weeks.”

He scoffs and you feel your anger rise a bit at the sound. “Sorry I haven’t been able to comfort you when I’m thousands of miles away,” he sarcastically replied and you furrow your brows as you push open the door to your room. “I’ll try harder next time.”

You take a deep breath in an attempt to calm yourself down, but it really didn’t help much as you threw your bag onto your bed. “See, there you go again. It’s like I can’t say anything to you without having you get pissed off at me or give me some sarcastic reply,” you say and hear him laugh on the other line, though it sounded humorless. “I need you, Anakin, I need you to be there for me even if you’re not right next to me.”

“Yeah, well, I could say the same to you,” he muttered and you just about lost it.

“Fuck, Anakin, I’m sorry I’m not with you on tour right now, but keep in mind that I was with you every single night of the last one. I basically gave up my second year of college so I could be there with you and so we weren’t apart for months at a time,” your voice raised with every passing second, but you were so pent up, you didn’t have much control over yourself right now. “And you keep saying that you’re proud of me but you’re not showing it at all. You said on the very first day of me submitting the application for this program that you knew I’d do well because I’m so smart and talented, but you’ve only cared about yourself from the second I started it.”

Anakin was silent after that and it only irked you even more.

You pull your jacket off with a huff and throw it onto your bed as well. “You’ve been acting so selfish lately and I pushed it aside because I knew how stressed you’ve been and how caught up you probably were at being back on tour, but I can’t have you acting nice towards me one minute then like a dick the next,” you vent and angrily wipe your eyes that were still producing tear after tear. “It’s not fair.”

You cry silently after that and listen to the quiet breaths from the other end of the line. “Y/n,” he trailed off and you only cried harder. “Baby, I’m sorry.”

“It’s not okay!” You sobbed and pace around your room. “For five years I’ve been your number one supporter for everything, and you say you’re mine but I feel like every time I have something exciting to tell you, you make me feel like an idiot for getting excited about it in the first place. I just….I can’t.”

“Y/n,” he tried again but you just shook your head.

“I can’t,” you mumble. “I called you because I needed you, Anakin, but clearly that was a mistake since my problems aren’t important to you anymore.”

He sounded a bit desperate as he said, “Of course they’re important to me,”

“Yeah, well, you’ve done a bang up job at showing it,” you nearly whisper. “I have to figure out if I’m going to drop out or not, so you can go back to doing whatever it is that you do nowadays. Call me later if you have time to.”

Then you hung up and threw your phone onto the carpet next to your desk before falling onto your bed and crying for God knows how long.

To say Anakin is having a bad day would be an understatement.

He and the guys had just finished being scolded by Helena about the lack of effort they’ve been putting into the tour lately and the sudden pause on getting new music out, and he really didn’t blame her for reaching her boiling point.

Then you called him in tears and sent his heart that was already running on adrenaline into overdrive and he managed to make your own bad day even worse, and now he felt like the most pathetic excuse of a boyfriend.

A few weeks ago he felt like he was on top of the world, and now he felt like he had hit rock bottom and didn’t deserve to have any of the things he currently has.

So, when Liz texted him the address to a local club in Berlin, he regretfully agreed to go.

He was being a total bore again as he sat at the bar and went on about how he felt fucking awful about his phone call with you, and he knew this. Still, he didn’t try to lighten the mood in any way.

Anakin was three drinks in when Liz, who he was sure had long since grown sick of his bitching, revealed the plastic bag of small, white pills and offered him one. He rejected it and ordered another drink, but an hour passed and he still wasn’t feeling the numbing effect alcohol usually had on him by now.

“I think they water down the drinks here,” he observed as he pushed away the glass that had more ice cubes than liquid in it.

Liz laughed as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder. “Of course they do,” she said. “They gotta make money somehow. The more watered down the drinks are, the more you’ll have to spend to actually get drunk.”

Anakin scoffed, “Highway robbery,”

“You’re telling me,” she agreed and placed one of the pills on her tongue. “You’ll spend a fortune here, Anakin. It’ll take a lot more than four drinks to get you drunk.”

He sat up straight and looked over at her. “What do you suggest I do? Go back to the bus and give up on trying?”

She raised a brow, her red lips turning upwards as she pulled out the bag again. “You could always try other methods,”

Anakin eyed the bag with a tired gaze. He was tipsy and has never in his life done drugs, but he’s heard that they can make you feel like you’re on cloud 9, but only for a little bit. And for once that actually sounded pretty appealing to him right about now.

Liz must’ve known he was conflicted about her offer as she took one pill out and gave him a lazy smile. “It’ll make you forget about everything that’s stressing you out right now,” she said and took the pill between her thumb and index finger. “You’ll be numb to everything, Anakin. Trust me, you’ll feel so much better. And you only need to take one.”

If he was completely sober right now, he would’ve pushed the pill away and left, but he wasn’t. So he opened his mouth and let her place it onto his tongue. She lifted up his drink and held it out to him, not letting him set it down until it was finished.

Then she ordered him another one and practically forced it down his throat as well before pulling him away from the bar once he was beginning to feel lightheaded. “I should sit,” his voice sounded muffled to his own ears as she tugged him through the crowd of people and towards a secluded area of the club.

Liz shook her head, and the movement had his own head spinning a bit. “No,” she murmured, running her hand up his abdomen, pulling his white shirt up with her as she did so. “You need to relax. Let me help you.”

“Liz,” he tried to push her away but he felt numb. No matter how many times he tried to blink away the blurriness, he still wasn’t able to see clearly. He wasn’t feeling any happier, in fact he felt worse, but at least his chest wasn’t aching anymore. “I should call Y/n. I need to tell her that I’m sorry.”

“Shh,” she hushed him, pushing him up against a wall before crouching down in front of him. “Pretend I’m Y/n.”

Anakin shook his head and felt his eyesight worsen at the fast movement. “I can’t,” he begged. “Liz-”

“I’m Y/n,” she persisted, beginning to kiss up his abs, surely leaving behind bright red lipstick stains in her path. “It’s Y/n, baby. Just relax, Ani, let me take care of you.”

Her lips on his skin felt foreign and he tried to push her away again but she seemed to be a lot stronger than he is right now. His head was spinning and his body felt like it was on fire as he looked around the dark area. “Y/n,” he weakly called out, hearing a laugh come from below him that sounded a lot like yours.

“Yeah, baby, I’m here,” if he really thought about it, he could almost picture that it was you in front of him. It was you who is kissing up his chest, you who is pushing away his black jean jacket in order to trace your tongue up his ribcage.

Anakin looked down and could’ve sworn that it actually is you. You had come here for him after your terrible phone call earlier. You were here with him, making him feel like he was the most important person in the world. “Y/n,” he rasped, reaching a hand out and tracing his knuckles along your jaw. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too, Ani,” it was even your sweet voice that responded to him. And if he squinted, he could almost make out the A you had tattooed on your wrist. “Am I making you feel good, baby?”

He leaned back against the wall you had pushed him against and felt his head pound a bit as the high took over his body. “I’m so sorry,” he murmured, caressing the sides of your face as you stood to your full height. You seemed a bit taller than before, even in heels, but he wasn’t able to question you on it before the distance was closed and your mouth was pressed to his.

Except it wasn’t your mouth. And it wasn’t your hand gripping the back of his neck. It wasn’t you.

Anakin pulled back instantly, the feeling of Liz’s lips on his own making bile rise up his throat as he stumbled away from her. The high came crashing down quickly, making his head ache worse than anything he’s ever felt in his entire life.

Guilt and shame hit him at full speed and his eyes burned with tears as Liz invaded his space again.

His heart thumped wildly in his chest and his ears were ringing as he pushed her away when she tried to grab onto his arm. “Get away from me,” he muttered, watching as she shook her head.

“You’re coming back down, Anakin, you’re probably feeling kind of dizzy right now. Just hold onto me and we’ll go sit somewhere,” she offered but he just squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to hold back the bile rising in his throat at what he had just done.

195 notes · View notes

sweatervest-obsessed · 5 months

Text

Never Gone

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

WC: 3.8k

TW: S4 Stranger Things triggers, drams, blood, injuries, migraines, Swearing

A/N: Based off of this request. I had a lot of fun writing this request! Thank you so much for asking me to write it. I haven't written Steve in a hot minute, so that was really nice to revisit him <3

When Steve heard that you had headaches, he almost didn't think anything of it---keyword is almost.

You had always been one to get migraines, and this was exactly that time of month anyways. First of the month, migraine. It was like clock work.

Which was ironic to you considering it felt like ticking was nonstop in your head the past week.

Luckily for you, it was a Saturday, and you could stay in bed. You hadn't been scheduled at the library, and your dad was running around, chauffeuring your sister, so the house was empty and you could die slowly in your bed from your headache.

Steve didn't even knock, he just slid the window up, and crawled through to your bed.

"Hey gorgeous."

You hummed a response as he took his shoes off and slid into your bed. He was dressed in his yellow sweater and sweatpants. He knew he was coming over to lay in bed with you all day, and nothing else.

When he wrapped his arms around you, you moved in closer to him, your face against his chest. The sound of his heartbeat was calming---sometimes it felt like it was melting the headache away.

"How's your head baby?" His voice was soft and low, as he ran his hand up and down your back.

"Feels like it's pulsing my brains out of my ears, so nothing new."

He placed his lips on your forehead.

The two of you stayed like that for a while, listening to one another's heartbeats, just enjoying each other's company.

“Steve?”

“Hmm?”

“How’s Max doing?” You whispered to him.

He tensed up a little bit. It’s not that he wasn’t thinking about the red headed girl down in the Wheeler’s basement, it’s just that you didn’t exactly know what was going on with the kids he ‘babysat’, and he didn’t want you to find out either.

“She’s–uh, She’s been better. She’s still, uh, sick. Really bad head…..” His voice trailed off as he stared down at you.

You gently called his name as he trailed off into thought.

His eyes widened as his heart started to beat a little faster. This was just your usual monthly migraine right? You always got these—there was nothing out of the ordinary….right? Were you hearing ticking? Were you having nightmares? What if you—-

“Steve?”

His eyes were wide, and you could feel how shallow his breathing was. “Hey–hey, I’m sorry I brought her up.”

He shook his head and looked down at you. “How’s your headache?”

You shrugged and slid your hand up to cup his cheek. Your thumb ran gently across his face, looking into his eyes to see if you could find anything wrong.

“I wish you’d stop ignoring me and answer.”

You furrowed your eyebrows and paused. “Steve I did…”

“No.” He huffed and pulled away. “All you did was shrug. That’s not a real answer.”

“Steve.”

He sat up and moved away from the bed. “I shouldn’t have come here today. I have so much shit do today other than to sit in bed with you while you bitch and moan about your head.”

Steve had shocked you into silence as your eyes began to well with tears.

“Oh great. And now you’re crying. Did you ever realize how fucking annoying it is to constantly have to cheer you up all the time. Don’t you think I have other things going on in my life that need me more than you do when you’re sobbing about fucking anything.”

“What the actual fuck steve.”

Steve was sliding on his shoes. “You know what, y/n? I don’t need this bullshit. I don’t need your bullshit.”

“Wait—”

“No Y/n. Wake up.”

You froze and frowned. “What?”

“Y/N!”

Your eyes shot open and you were suddenly back to your position where you had been previously, laying down, tucked securely in Steve Harrington’s loving embrace.

“I–” You went to speak but you noticed Steve’s eyes were suddenly filled with that worry from before, but there was something else starting to cloud over—fear.

“What did you see?”

“What?”

“What. Did. You. See.”

“Fucking pushy harrington.” You grumbled as you pulled away slightly.

“Y/n…”

Your eyes rolled as you looked up at him. “It was just a daydream Steve. A bad one. W—We were, uh, arguing.”

“About?”

You shook your head. “Nothing Steve, really. Just something stupid my brain made up.”

“I–.” Steve bit his lip and sat up. “I need to make a call real quick.” He was out of your bed before you realized what was happening, and was suddenly across the room at your desk where your phone was. He picked it up and quickly dialed a number. All the while, you were sitting up on your elbows, watching him. Your headache was not going away which wasn’t uncommon, but rarely did they stay this bad for this long.

Steve was muttering into the phone, clutching it really tightly. Every now and again, he’d look over at you. You’d furrow your brow and he would seem to get even more worried than before. You had caught some of the words, like Max and No Absolutely Not, no I’m serious Dustin it’s not happening.

You were beyond confused as to why Steve was talking to the kid he babysat, or why he even called him in the first place, but all you knew was that your head hurt, and Steve, who was usually your rock, was getting all jumpy and acting really fucking weird.

Once he hung up the phone he gave you a sheepish smile. “So, uh…”

“What’s going on Steve?”

“We’re taking a field trip.”

You snorted laid back down, not entertaining this anymore.

“I’m serious Y/n.”

“I think you’re delusional but okay.”

“Please.”

You sat up once more and looked at him. Something about the concern he felt about your little maladaptive daydream, made you slightly worried about your headache. But he loved you, and if it would make him feel better about it, you’d humor his worry.

“Fine. But we’re stopping by the diner and we’re getting food and shakes before we go where we’re going because I want something to eat.”

“Okay but, we really don’t—”

“No Steve. That’s my final offer. Either I get my milkshake, or I’m staying in this bed.”

He huffed from across the room, but walked over and sat down next to you on the bed, taking your hand. “Fine. If it will get you out of bed.” He was feigning annoyance, but you could see the mild relief in his eyes at you agreeing to indulge his anxieties, with little to know explanation from him.

—-------------------------------------------------------

“Seriously Steve?”

“Please, just…”

“Just what? You bring me to the Wheeler’s basement, filled with a bunch of children, including your ex-girlfriend and my former best friend, all the while knowing I have a raging migraine happening, and then you expect me to not ask any questions.”

“Well–”

“No Steve. Seriously. Then you go and try to tell me that you’re going out with a really weird group of people, no offense guys.” You didn’t even glance at the group staring at you both. “To go what…traversing into the woods to look for someone who has serial killer allegations, and you want me to come with you, with not a single explanation as to why.”

“He’s not a serial killer–” Dustin tried to cut in but you shot him a glare.

“If you heard me Henderson, I said allegations. Might want to turn on those listening ears.” You turned back to Steve. “Tell me what’s going on, or I’m just going home Steve. I’m seriously not in the mood to deal with this.”

Steve was just looking at you, alongside the rest of the group. This felt so out of character for you to be so openly bitchy in front of people, and you had never had an issue with Nancy before. You’ve actually always really liked Nancy so why now?

“Y/N. Please…”

You scoffed and shook your head. “Drive me home or I’m walking.”

“You can’t be serious right now.”

You didn’t even dignify that with a response, you just turned around and walked right up the stairs. Steve, who was just as exasperated as you, looked between his friends and they all were unsure what to do. It’s not like they wanted to drag someone else into their messy world, but they didn’t want you to die just like the rest of those poor high schoolers.

When they all heard the front door slam shut, Steve jumped at the sound and then quickly ran up the stairs and followed.

Y/n

You could hear as Steve called your name, but you kept on walking. You were so in your own world, you completely missed where you were walking. You fell and hit the ground hard. When you looked at your hands, they were covered in dirt and grime, which was unexpected for Mr. Wheeler’s lawn, but you didn’t think anything of it until you looked back up and the sky was red. You heard your name again but it wasn’t Steve’s voice, it was grovelley and at least four octaves deeper. Yet you still called out for Steve anyway, hoping he might be there.

Why would he chase after you? He doesn't care about you.

You looked up at the..thing…in front of you and shook your head, trying to escape whatever hellscape your mind conjured up.

But the voice wouldn’t leave you alone. It said your name again, and you got up off the ground, taking off. You didn’t dare to look behind you as you ran through this wasteland. Your heart was beating irregularly fast and you went and hid behind a building, trying not to breathe heavily as tears slid down your cheeks. When you looked around you realized you were close to Steve’s neighborhood. It was some sort of fucked up version of Hawkins.

You really think I can’t find you Y/n?

You whipped around, coming face to face with one of the grossest things you could possibly imagine. It was like all of his flesh had been burned off and the skin that grew back, grew back like vines, twisting flesh and muscle. His eyes were the scariest part, since they looked right at you, as if you were a piece of meat.

You slowly backed away from whatever this thing was, but your heel caught the curb, and down you went—landing hard on back, your head hitting the ground. There was definitely going to be bruising afterwards. You landed on your wrist, causing you to scream out in pain.

Whenever you were little and had sleepovers with your friends, your favorite game was “Never Have I Ever”. It’s not that you were boring, you actually enjoyed showing off how much you had done as you got older. But your starter was always “Never have I ever broken a bone”. Not anymore.

The crack was audible.

“Y/n!”

Your eyes opened and you were on the ground in front of the Wheeler’s—your wrist bruised, and head pounding. Steve was crouched in front of you, one of his hands on your cheeks and nothing but pure fear in his eyes.

“Holy shit.” He whispered, yanking you into his chest and holding you tightly. He felt you start to shake as you silently cried into his shirt, overwhelmed by the pain you felt and by what you had seen.

“Shit shit shit.” Steve’s hand was fisted in your shirt and his hand in your hair.

Your head was on his shoulder, and as you opened your eyes, you made eye contact with Max. Her walkman was in her hands, as if she was ready to shove it at someone. Max didn’t look like everyone else in the group, she seemed sadder, more resigned. Something you felt you could resonate with.

You couldn;t see them, but you knew the group of kids on the other side of Steve were whispering to one another. Dustin cleared his throat.

“Why don’t we go back inside, yeah? We need to look at her wrist.”

Steve muttered something in agreement, and pulled back slightly, both hands still holding onto you. “Are you okay?”

“My wrist.” you whispered, flinching just thinking about it. You decided you’d tell Steve about what you saw later. Right now, you really wanted to wrap your wrist up, and lay down.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Steve, you've got to be joking.”

Usually when Steve would huff out of frustration, you’d find it cute and endearing, but right now you found it annoying.

“Why would I lie to you about this?”

“I-I don’t know but I think you’re hanging out with kids too much—no offense.”

The kids muttered various forms of protest and agreements, but it was Robin who spoke up next.

“You have no idea how much I wish he was lying—like when I first found out it was in a secret russian base and I honestly didn’t even know what was happening and then we got tortured and—all that to say–it’s real.”

“Is this the shit Eddie was telling me about? The new strain or whatever, that ‘hits different’. Are you giving kids drugs Steve?”

Steve let out a groan and dragged a hand down his face. “I can’t.”

You crossed your arms, which was a bit more difficult considering your arm was wrapped up tightly with gauze, and fitted in one of Mike’s old wrist braces. “You have to hear yourselves right? Think about it from my point of view. You’re telling me you're friends with this…girl, who has telekinetic powers, and that's the reason that Byers kid went missing, and then you’ve fought different otherworldly monsters each year since? And now, you’re fighting this Veneca, Vatican, whatever bullshit guy, who is actually murdering people and the town drug dealer is taking the fall for it?”

Everyone in the basement was silent.

“She’s got a point, we sound fucking crazy.” Max was the first to speak up.

“Language.” Steve muttered. He hadn’t taken his eyes off you the whole time you’ve been down here. He was watching you as if you’d disappear.

“I don’t know what you want me to say. You all sound crazy.”

Steve looked over at Robin, and they had one of those really annoying silent conversations. You looked between the two, trying to figure out whatever they were thinking.

Just then, Robin got up from her seat. “Alright kids, let’s head upstairs for a moment. Give these two some time to figure this shit out. “

The collective of children groaned, but Nancy helped to corral them, giving you a sympathetic smile as she went up the stairs behind the gaggle, closing the door softly.

Steve had moved to sit down next to you, pulling you down so your head was in his lap. And before you could make a snarky comment about it, his hand was in your hair, playing with it, but also massaging your head. His other arm rests across your stomach with his hand on your hip, rubbing his thumb up and down soothingly.

The two of you stayed like this for a couple of minutes: you were destressing, and him reassuring himself that you were alive and in front of him. He was humming your favorite song under his breath, causing you to smile a bit.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I swear it’s true.”

“I want to believe you Steve but…”

He sighed and nodded. “Remember last summer?”

You closed your eyes and nodded slightly, images of Steve’s face and body flashed across your mind. His entire face was bruised, and his torso…you didn’t like to think about it. You draped your arm across his and took his hand, squeezing it tightly. “How could I forget Steve. You looked like you were beaten to death.”

“It was from the Russians Dustin was talking about.”

You frowned and looked up at him. “Steve….”

“Look, you don’t have to think it’s real, you can call me fucking crazy for all I care, but I really just need you to trust me—humor me if you have to. But I can’t….I can’t lose you y/n. So please just…indulge me and….”

“Does it really mean this much to you?”

Steve nodded. “Please.”

“Alright baby. What do you need me to do? “

_____________________________________________________

You didn’t see Steve for the next forty-eight hours, and it worried the shit out of you.

You were not one to believe in all that bullshit story Dustin and the others were trying to tell you about, but you knew something was wrong since Steve had literally disappeared.

You were still having headaches, but you listened to your favorite song over and over and over again, as much as you could. Luckily for you, you had a few blank cassette tapes, and a new stereo that held up to four cassettes. So you loaded your favorite song on a loop onto three of them, and then your favorite album onto the fourth, to add some variety. And you had been playing those on repeat for the past two days, just like Steve had told you to. When he didn’t show up the next day like he promised, you grabbed your walkman and your stereo, and drove over to Steve’s house, just to find it empty.

So you stayed there for the next twenty four hours, and that’s when the earthquake hit. It was terrifying, waking up and watching as everything went crashing to the ground. All you could do was think about your parents, think about Steve.

It wasn’t until eleven pm when you heard the front door open. You had been sitting on the couch, wrapped up in one of Steve’s sweaters, near the fireplace since the power had gone out because of the earthquake. He looked up at you, and you swore you could commit murder at the sight of him.

“Oh my god Steve. What the fuck happened to you.” You were by his side before he could even respond. Your fingers gently flit around his face, taking in all of the scraps, and then moving to his neck, where you could see the angry red skin flowering with bruises underneath.

Steve loved you for so many reasons, but right now, he loved you the most for not asking questions. You didn’t ask him about the weird combat outfit. You didn’t ask him why he was covered in dirt. You didn’t ask him why his neck looked like barbed wire had been around it, and you didn’t ask about the fact that he was limping.

You just slowly cupped his face in your hands, and kissed him softly. There wasn't any sort of push to make this kiss more than it was. It was just simply to tell him you love him. A reminder he’s with you.

“Can you make it up the stairs?”

He nodded and you took his hand, taking into account how bruised and scraped up his hands were.

“I was so worried about you. They kept finding bodies and then….the…”

He nodded, still not speaking. If he opened his mouth he would start sobbing, and never stop, and he didn’t want to burden you with that just yet.

You opened the bathroom door in his parents room, and walked him inside. You both were smart enough to make him take his shoes off before making your way upstairs, one less thing to clean up. But you made him sit on the toilet, as you slowly took a look at his injuries in a better light. You slowly helped him out of his jacket, noticing that it took a lot more effort than usual, since he was wincing, and even hissed out in pain during one particularly sharp movement.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Harrington, I’m seriously not in the mood for how you downplay everything.”

He bit his lip and shook his head. “I’ll be in bed in a few minutes. Why don’t you go get ready.”

You raked your eyes over him, not enjoying the sheer amount of blood splatter on his clothes and shook your head. “No I’m—”

“Please.”

When his voice cracked, you caved. You leaned over and kissed his forehead. “If you need me for anything Steve, and I mean anything ... .Please call for me.”

He nodded and took your hand in his. “I’ll be five minutes max I swear.”

You whispered an okay to him before you left him alone in the bathroom, heading back downstairs. You grabbed the bottle of vodka from the cabinet along with some of the cranberry juice Steve had bought you at the beginning of the week, and then a bag of his favorite chips, and headed back upstairs. You had a gut feeling he hadn’t eaten in a while, and that he was in a lot of pain.

Ten minutes later, he appeared in the doorway. You were in his bed, under the covers, head resting against his pillows, softly in sleep.

He tried to quietly get into bed without waking you up—he failed. Not because he was loud, but because you always knew when he got into bed next to you.

“Sorry sweetheart.” he whispered, his voice hoarse.

You shook your head and went to curl up in his chest, but he shifted slightly and adjusted your hands so they weren’t touching his stomach. You decided to continue to hold in your questions once he had gotten some sleep.

“How’s your headache?”

“It’s gone.” You whispered, kissing his shoulder. “You need some sleep Stevie.”

“I–..” He closed his eyes and licked his lips. “I was so worried I was going to lose you today.”

“Steve…”

He shook his head, and you let him finish. “And then…I thought…I was going to die without ever telling you just how much I fucking love you.”

Tears filled your eyes immediately. “Steve. I–”

He kissed your lips softly, not letting you get your words out. You could taste your tears in the kiss, but then you realized you werent the one crying. You felt a sob wrack his body, and you immediately kissed him back with more force, more love.

When you pulled away, you rested your forehead on his. Whatever he had just endured, whatever he was going to tell you about when you both woke up, was an issue for later. Right now, all you had to do was hold him in your arms, and be so grateful that you could.

But while Steve fell asleep, you just played with his hair, staying up for the second night in a row. Every time you closed your eyes, all you could see was that creature, looming over you and laughing. The clock still ticking in the back of your mind. You could hear his laughter as he told you to give up.

#x reader #steve harrington imagine #steve harrington oneshot #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x reader angst #steve harrington x reader one shot #steve harrington x reader drabble #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington fandom #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington x fem #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington x y/n fluff #steve harrington x y/n #Steve harrington x y/n angst

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feybarn · 10 days

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I'm not going in any specific order, just in the order in which these prompts nudge at me. This one is from @bolithesenate. Not entirely sure this is what you were imagining... the crime got replaced by Dooku being... Dooku-y and judgmental. It also got a little longer than planned... But I kind of want to play with Komari and Obi-Wan some more... so maybe???

*tosses Komari & Obi or Rael & Obi as Master-Padawan pairs here and runs away real quick*. I just like imagining the total chaos these would bring. Especially the Komari & Obi,,,, what crimes would they commit.

Yan stared down at the tiny thing—an initiate in pristine white tunics, staring up at him with wide, guileless eyes—in front of him. “What is this, Komari?” he asked, edging away.

“My new padawan,” his apprentice informed him, tone nearly belligerent.

Yan sent her his most censuring look, but Komari didn’t quail or retreat. Instead her jaw jutted out in sheer obstinance. It was… unusual. Komari had always been nearly desperate to keep him happy with her, but in this moment, such thoughts seemed to be the furthest thing from her mind.

“You are a padawan,” he informed her. “And still several years away from your knighting.” He glanced back at the—oh Force—child, who was still watching him silently, those wide eyes making Yan entirely uncomfortable.

“Well, he will be my padawan,” Komari informed him, not even the slightest bit deterred. “His name is Obi-Wan Kenobi. I found him and a padawan crawling through the air ducts trying to get into the kitchens.” She sounded disgustingly proud. “I’m going to teach him how to do it better.”

Yan wanted to know what, exactly, Komari had been doing investigating the air ducts, but decided that was a lesser concern at the moment. “And where is this other initiate?”

“Quinlan’s a padawan, Master Dooku,” the initiate corrected him. “Master Tholme took him on as soon as he turned ten.”

Tholme. Tholme was from Qui-Gon’s creche clan, he remembered. A Shadow. Yan had heard that he’d taken on some sort of rapscallion apprentice, but he hadn’t had a reason to be introduced. “And how old are you?” Yan asked the initiate.

The initiate shifted on his feet a little. No sense of confidence, Yan diagnosed. They’d have to do something about that.

Force, no, there would be no doing something about anything. Because this was not Komari’s future padawan.

“Eight,” the initiate told him.

Five years until the child was thirteen. It was possible that Komari would be knighted by then. But highly unlikely.

Yan narrowed his eyes at the child, who didn’t look away. Perhaps he didn’t lack confidence entirely; Yan was aware that many of the younger generations considered him… intimidating. An impression he had done nothing to try to alleviate.

“Well, Initiate Kenobi, I’m afraid that Komari is mistaken. She will be returning you to the Initiate Quarters immediately.” He turned his gaze on Komari, making certain that it was perfectly clear that he would not take her insubordination on this matter.

Komari glared at him, but wrapped an arm around the Initiate’s shoulders. “Come on, Obi-Wan. I’ll take you back to the Initiate Quarters. For now.”

Yan shook his head as she left with the initiate in tow.

Her future padawan indeed. Yan thought not.

5 years later

“Where is Knight Vosa?” Yan asked, searching through the ranks of Jedi. Galidraan’s air was cold against his skin where his robes did not protect him. They were preparing to approach the Mandalorian encampment with orders to surrender, but he could not find his former apprentice.

Knight Thriff winced. “Uh, the padawan said something about a bad feeling?” Thriff said. “Knight Vosa decided they needed to investigate. They left before dawn. No one knows where they went.”

Yan had not expected for Komari to be knighted so soon, but finding Initiate Kenobi five years ago had lit a fire inside of her that he hadn’t been able to temper. She’d been determined to be knighted in time to take Initiate Kenobi on.

She had dedicated herself so entirely to her training that Yan had run out of reasons to keep from Knighting her three months before the boy’s thirteenth birthday. She had arrived at the Council Chamber the day after her knighting with Kenobi in tow and the first bead already picked out for his braid.

The council had agreed unanimously to allow the partnership, despite Yan’s own concerns on the matter. Mace had actually gone so far as to tell him that the shatterpoint between the two of them was bright and beautiful and that Mace expected great things from them.

He had not wanted her to bring her new padawan with them to potentially fight Mandalorians. But Komari had been adamant that she wasn’t leaving him behind at the temple.

His comlink chimed.

He pulled it from his utility belt. “Master Dooku,” he answered curtly.

“Master.” That was Komari’s voice. “There’s a second encampment of Mandalorians in the southern quarter to blame for the death of the civilians in this quarter,” she informed him. “Death Watch.”

“How do you know this?” he asked, surprised. “We had no intel—“

“Well, Obi-Wan and I found the intel,” Komari said. “I’ve left Obi-Wan with the True Mandalorians—“

Horror filled him. “You what?”

“—Fett and I are investigating this second encampment. I’ve negotiated a temporary truce between our group and his.”

”You—“

“See you soon, Master.” The comm call cut out.

Yan felt the wind curl around him as it blew. He was not sure whether it was that or the sense that Komari was falling further and further from his reach that sent the chill down his back.

“Your Master is going to be okay,” Mand’alor Fett comforted a shaking Padawan Kenobi where the boy hovered over Komari’s sleeping form. Yan stood a few steps away, staring down at his unconscious former padawan, bacta patches over her side where a slug thrower had ripped into her.

Yan knew that it was likely his responsibility to comfort his grandpadawan, but he had never been good at comforting. Nor could he bring himself to do so when it was, in many ways, young Padawan Kenobi’s fault that Komari had been hurt.

If she had just listened to Yan and left the boy at the temple… But no, the boy had run into the battle against Death Watch despite orders to stay out of it.

“She’s a fighter,” Fett continued.

“It’s my fault. I should have stayed out, like she told me, too,” Kenobi whispered.

“You should have,” Fett agreed, not bothering to soften that blow. “Kyr’tsad isn’t the place for an ad, but you saved Myles’ and Alena’s lives. We won’t forget that.” Fett rested a hand on Kenobi’s shoulder. “You were trying to protect people, your Master is going to be proud of you for that.” He stood from his kneeling position. “Come on, I told Vosa that I’d keep you safe until you were off planet. Let’s see what we can do about teaching you to use a blaster in the time we have left.”

Yan watched as Fett led a reluctant Padawan Kenobi away. Yan looked down at his former apprentice. He remembered when she had been entirely devoted to him. But that hadn’t been the case in nearly five years. Now her devotion lay elsewhere. Yan had never thought he’d yearn for those days. But at least then, she’d have listened to his words of caution.

Still, perhaps she would listen now, when he cautioned her about her padawan.

If the two of them were not careful, they would stain the legacy of their lineage.

10 years later

“You trained her well,” his Master said, voice low and cruel. “Perhaps, too well.”

“She is a credit to my lineage,” Yan said, keeping his voice even. He hadn’t been pleased when Komari had been chosen to go to Naboo to spring the trap that his master had set. It could be no coincidence that it was one of his own apprentices sent. He knew that his Master was attempting to ensure that his ties to the Jedi be more… permanently cut.

A sickening part of him had just been grateful that it hadn’t been Qui-Gon that had been sent. Qui-Gon who, when he was honest with himself, he could acknowledge as loving most. But then, if Qui-Gon had been sent, then perhaps his Master would not be quite so displeased with him. Qui-Gon had always been something of a maverick, but a maverick who could be depended on to follow certain expectations.

Qui-Gon would have removed the Queen from the planet, would have gotten her to Coruscant to plead her case.

Komari and her padawan had never been quite so predictable. Galidraan had been the start, but not the end, of disobeyed orders and unsavory partnerships. Yan had fought constantly with the horror that could not quite stop the pride he felt when Komari and Obi-Wan became known as the team to send before the boy had even turned seventeen.

Perhaps Yan should have known that Komari and Obi-Wan would have ruined his Master’s plans now. But, neither he nor his Master had expected for Komari and Obi-Wan to join forces with the Queen, her handmaidens, and a force of Mandalorians to take the planet back.

Yan wasn’t even sure how they’d gotten word out to the Mandalorians that they required aid. But then, his former apprentice and her apprentice had always been remarkably capable and entirely unorthodox.

He had tried to caution Komari against maintaining the friendship she had built with Jango Fett ten years ago on Galidraan, but she had retained it regardless. Had done worse and encouraged an impressionable young Obi-Wan’s own friendships with the two Mandalorians he had saved on that Galidraan battlefield.

The fruits of that relationship had borne out now. Naboo relieved from their blockade before his Master could use the circumstance to gain the power he desired and his Master’s more brutish apprentice—Darth Maul—captured and contained.

“A credit to your lineage,” his Master repeated, disgust cool beneath the words. “There will be consequences to this setback, Tyrannous.”

“I understand,” Yan said evenly. He steeled his heart. He knew what this would require

He had lost Komari fifteen years ago, when she had arrived in his quarters with an eight year old initiate with wide, guileless eyes. It had been a gradual loss. That his new Master sought to make it permanent… Yan had made his choice.

But perhaps…

Yan did not allow his new Master to see the small kernel of hope that burned in his chest that maybe his former apprentice would subvert his expectations in this, just as she had in everything else since that day fifteen years ago.

#fey's writing #star wars #obi-wan kenobi #komari vosa #dooku #not at all relevant to the story #but Jango has an absolute crush on Komari #the rest of the true mandalorians laugh at him #Komari has a crush back #whenever they meet up they flirt by teaching Obi-Wan to be deadly and dangerous

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beanjang-draws · 1 month

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Plague Ponies - Research

CONTENT WARNINGS: no gore

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Summary:

Twilight doesn’t want to admit it, but things in Equestrian haven’t been in tip-top shape recently. It looks like even Princess Celestia has judged that the news cycle has been too grim as of late, as she’s instructed Twilight not to make a public statement about the number of ponies who fell ill after the Everfree attack.

With the help of her number one assistant, Twilight tries to figure out how exactly to quietly prep for an epidemic when they both remember: Granny Smith is super old! She must know what to do? Wait, Pinkie? What are you doing here?!

Twilight and Pinkie end up going to Sweet Apple Acres together, where Twilight is given a book that just might contain the answers she needs. Now to decide her next course of action…should she go back to the orchard and head home now, or should she indulge for just a second in Apple Bloom’s request to check on her project?

Transcript below:

Twilight Sparkle: Thank you for understanding, Doctor. I’ll send word immediately if anything changes.

Greymare: Of course, Princess. We appreciate your generosity. Everything should be ready within the week.

Twilight: Of course. If you’re in need of any more funds, tell the distributors to contact me.

Doctor Greymare bids his farewells to Princess Twilight and takes his leave. Twilight heads back inside the library, where Spike is looking on with concern.

Spike: Twilight…are you sure we shouldn’t tell everypony now? If everypony in Ponyville really is infected, shouldn’t they all know?

Twilight Sparkle: I don’t like delaying things either, Spike, but you read Princess Celestia’s letter out yourself. Our priority is to avoid panic until we know we can answer their inevitable questions.

Spike: I guess that makes sense…hearing about another disaster after the last string of disasters would make everypony totally freak out!

Twilight Sparkle: Spike!

Spike: What? Im agreeing with you! It’s a bad idea to tell everypony about an epidemic after a discord came back, got better, accidentally caused the princesses’ kidnappings, delayed the Summer Sun Celebration—

Twilight Sparkle: SPIKE

Spike lets up after Twilight’s outburst, looking amused as she takes a breath to collect herself.

Twilight Sparkle: Maybe things haven’t been the most…stable, lately, but the princesses have everything under control. Plus, I’ve been reading up on epidemiology and it’s normal for new pathogens to crop up every few decades. We just have to be prepared for them!

Spike: Oh, perfect! You’re the most prepared pony I know!

Twilight loses her composure entirely.

Twilight Sparkle: BUT I’M NOT PREPARED! I’M THE ONE WHO’S SUPPOSED TO TAKE CARE OF PONYVILLE NOW, BUT I CAN’T EVEN KEEP IT SAFE. ALL I’VE DONE IS LEARN TO FLY AND MEMORIZE PRINCESS ETIQUETTE. THAT’S NOT GOING TO HELP ANYPONY!

Spike: Hey, you’ve been busy saving all of Equestria! You didn’t prepare for that either, but it went fine in the end because of your friends.

Twilight Sparkle: I guess so…

Spike: If these diseases pop up every now and then, Ponyville must have had some experience with this sort of thing before. You just finished talking to Doctor Greymare, right? Maybe he could help.

Twilight Sparkle: That’s just the thing, Spike. He said he hasn’t heard of anything like this before, at least not while he’s been running the hospital.

Spike: Is there anypony who might know what happened before him?

Twilight Sparkle: You would have to be ancient to remember anything further back than that. You’ve have to be…

The cogs in Twilight’s head begun to turn, and she and Spike come to the same conclusion simultaneously.

Twilight Sparkle and Spike: Somepony old like Granny Smith!

Twilight Sparkle: Spike, you’re a genius!

Spike: Bah, this is just a run of the mill performance from your number one assistant.

Twilight Sparkle: We should head to Sweet Apple Acres right now—

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie bursts in out of nowhere.

Pinkie Pie: TWILIGHT!!!! SOMETHING BIG IS COMING!!!!!!! THE FATE OF PONYVILLE DEPENDS ON IT

Spike: Pinkie, could you bring down the volume a little? My ears have been sensitive lately…

Pinkie Pie: Oh, sorry, Spike! The fate of Ponyville depends on it!

Spike: Thanks

Twilight Sparkle: Is it your Pinkie sense? Can you feel something bad coming?

Pinkie Pie: Yes! It’s big! Huge! Even bigger and huger than the time you believed in my Pinkie sense!

Spike: Wow, that IS big.

Twilight Sparkle: Well, if it’s so serious, we should tell everypony to stay indoors for the time being.

Pinkie Pie: Waaay ahead of you, Twilight! I already warned everypony not to take any unnecessary journeys on the way here.

Twilight Sparkle: Thank you Pinkie, you’ve saved us a lot of time. Now we can—

Pinkie Pie: —consult Granny Smith for her firsthoof account on Ponyville’s history of health and safety protocols?

Twilight Sparkle: …I won’t even ask. Yes, Pinkie, we’re doing just that.

Pinkie Pie: That’s a great idea, Twilight! Lead the way :3

Twilight Sparkle: Alright, let’s get to Sweet Apple Acres.

Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle begin to clear out to head to the farm. Twilight notices Spike hasn’t made moves to join them, so she sticks her head back inside to check on him.

Twilight Sparkle: Spike, aren’t you coming?

Spike: You know, Twilight, if staying indoors is so important, I think I’d better stay here and…make sure Owlowicious doesn’t go wandering around while you’re gone.

Twilight Sparkle: Alright, number one assistant! I’m leaving the library under your watch. We shouldn’t be gone too long.

It looks like most Ponyville Residents have caught wind of Pinkie’s warnings! Twilight and Pinkie only see a few ponies out and about on their way to Sweet Apple Acres. this far out, the news hasn’t yet reached the Apples, who are occupied with a busy apple bucking season.

Applejack: Howdy y’all! What brings you down to the farm?

Pinkie Pie: My Pinkie sense has been going off all morning! Im not sure what this one means!

Twilight Sparkle: But I think I could figure it out. AJ, could I talk to Granny Smith?

Applejack: Sure thing! She shouldn’t have hunkered down for her afternoon nap just yet.

Twilight Sparkle: Alright, girls, I’ll be right back.

Pinkie Pie: I’ll stay with Applejack and lend a hoof with the apples!

Applejack: You know what, that’d be mighty helpful of you, Pinkie! Big Mac’s been sick, so I’ve been buckin’ these trees all on my own!

Twilight goes off to see Granny Smith on her own.

Twilight Sparkle: Hello, Granny Smith! Sorry to barge in on you like this..

Granny Smith: Not at all, dearie. In fact, you ought to visit more often! I hear so much about you from Apple Bloom, you really should stay for supper one of these days and tell us about your lessons yourself!

Twilight Sparkle: Thank you, Granny. I’ll make sure to visit more often. Unfortunately, I didn’t come by just to say hi today. I actually did have a few questions for you.

Granny Smith: Of course! Ask away, dear, I’m all ears.

Twilight Sparkle: Have there ever been any emergency health and safety protocols in Ponyville?

Granny Smith: Emergency what now?

Twilight Sparkle: Have there been any outbreaks of sickness in Ponyville in the past? Did the town have a way of dealing with them?

Granny Smith: Oh! You just mean the plague ponies. Hold on dear, I know I’ve got a book back here somewhere…it’s been sitting collecting dust! A sign of better times, I reckon…now if only I could find it…

Granny Smith begins rummaging around the house looking for the aforementioned book.

Twilight Sparkle: I think this might be just the thing I need! I haven’t heard of plague ponies before. None of my books mention them at all.

Granny Smith: Oh, your fancy city books wouldn’t have anything on this.

Granny Smith returns with a beat up looking book on hoof.

Granny Smith: I knew I still had one laying around!

Twilight Sparkle: Thank you, Granny. Um, what it is?

Granny Smith: It’s a home remedy book! Back when the town was first settling, we had all sorts of sicknesses popping up. Prob’ly from all the different ponies coming together. Without much of a way to reach Canterlot yet, we couldn’t get aid from the big city for any fancy doctor magic.

Twilight Sparkle: Oh…I had no idea that happened.

Granny Smith: Heh-heh…I’m not surprised they didn’t teach you this in your Canterlot history classes…What city pony aid we lacked, we made up for in home remedies. We each of us came together and pooled our knowledge in books like these. Here, you take this. This one’s got some of my own notes in it. Maybe you could add your own!

Twilight Sparkle: I couldn’t possibly take this from you! It’s a part of your history…

Granny Smith: It’s yours, too. And it’s doing nopony any good collecting dust with me. Just promise me to read every bit of it.

Twilight Sparkle: …Thank you, Granny. I will.

Granny Smith: Alright, now I’m off to hit the hay. Apple Bloom, you should show Twilight your plant project in the barn!

Granny Smith turns to go and take her afternoon nap. Apple Bloom appears, eager to get her turn talking to Twilight.

Twilight Sparkle: Ooh, have you figured out how to get your subjects to multiply?

Apple Bloom: I sure did!! I made the adjustments you told me to and added a little something of my own! You’ve gotta come and see it!!

POLL: Should Twilight go see Apple Bloom’s Project?

RESULT: Yes

End transcript

#aaaand there’s episode 2 #sorry for the weird order ?? but things should be more linear from now on..#plague ponies #mlp infection au #mlp grimdark #mlp #mlp fim #my little pony #my little pony friendship is magic #my art

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icxxnic · 1 year

Note

Imagine minjeong getting the dirtiest thoughts about you, the new bodyguard. She fantasies about you using your strength with her, pound her with your strap while saying praising her, or she gets horny when you protected her from a paparazzi or a fan who was getting too close, like, they would try to touch her or would say something disgusting and you would litelary punch them straight on their face, while min is just there looking at your muscles flex and your angry expression feeling her pussy leak so much.

i’m gonna lose my mind because of this anon really 😵‍💫

your ask is already perfect what else can i say… poor minjeongie touches herself in her bed thinking about you every night and oh gosh she wants you so bad, to be pinned against the wall with your strong hands, to make out with you when no one can see and to feel your fingers in her. her mind went crazy when she saw your serious facial expression and how you pushed that rude fan away when they were trying to touch her hand at the airport. at that moment she just wished she could lock both of you somewhere to fuck, she was so wet already. but what can she do? exactly, nothing. gonna live with those fantasies who knows for how long.

even tho she doesn’t know one small thing, one time when you came to their dorm to talk with their manager about work related stuff and you two were sure aespa girls went somewhere to spend their free time, you heard some odd noises from her bedroom while passing by. when you got closer to hear better what was going on, a quiet moan sound came from the room accompanied by whines and mumbling of your name. after understanding what was happening you quickly left not to get in any trouble.

#kpop smut #aespa smut #aespa x fem reader #winter smut #winter x reader #anon pls spill more you are great

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v3nusxsky · 11 months

Note

Would you do dovesso x reader but with like…Dovey being more dominant & no straps/daddy kink? Your preference on sub!Reader or sub!Lesso.

-A

Miss mommy| NSFW

*Authors note~ a very gay threesome to distract me from what is simply a hellish party where everyone pretends we don’t all dislike each other. And it went horrid but I’m almost home at like 2 am so having this one*

Trigger Warnings~ dom Dovey, sub r sub Leo mommy kink punishment for Leo being a brat vibratior praise kink overstimulation kink orgasm forced Leo watching Dovey x reader degrading kink? punishment oral and fingering

Prompt~see ask^^^^^^

✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿✿

You love your girlfriends, that is obvious but what isn’t is that Clarissa was the dominant one in your relationship while the dean of evil was nothing but a mere submissive like yourself. The dynamic took some getting use to but once you had it made perfect sense, and things were going well. You both had rules from your mommy, they weren’t too bad really, don’t cum unless mommy says you can, don’t touch what’s mommys, be polite, eat and drink when you should, no bad language and most importantly remember your safe words and limits.

You were more of an obedient submissive than Leonora that much was obvious. Leonora often managed to earn a punishment she would attempt to drag you with her. Only succeeding every now and then. You thrive on being mommys good girl more than anything, you quickly learned it was better to behave for Dovey, you were more likely to be pleasantly satisfied than being on the receiving end of her punishments. She may be the Dean of Good but she wasn’t shy on ensuring all her rules were followed exactly how thru should be.

You and Leonora had been sent to lay on Clarissa’s bed, you completely oblivious to the reasoning for why, but Leonora seeming uneasy and shifty. So she’d broke a rule, but why would you still be here? If you were good you often were rewarded away from Leonora’s prying eyes. “You should touch yourself Yano? Mommy won’t mind love” lesso whispered to you only to be met with a firm resistance from you, “no Leo, you’re gonna get me in trouble like last time!”

As your bickering back and forth continued, Leonora trying to convince you to break the rules while you remained firm in your choices, Clarissa was stood outside the door witnessing it all. A proud smile on her lips as you continued to fight against Leonora, she knew how hard that is for you as you were so easily pushed around into submission by anyone really, it didn’t help that Leonora was above you in professional situations which meant you feel like you have to obey her. You are doing your mommy proud and you’d be reward for that but on the counter side Leonora would be punished for trying to corrupt mommy’s precious bunny.

Leo soon snapped her mouth shut when she heard Dovey come in, “strip you bratty little whore” was all the dean for good could bark at Leo before coming to give you a sweet kiss and whisper about how much of a “good girl” you are for her. Of course Leo’s beady eyes caught the kiss and couldn’t help but whine in protest. Where was hers? “Oh no only good girls get mommy, you my darling slut are getting nothing but my new toys I ordered, now sit on the chair.”

Leonora did as asked and was expertly bound hands to her legs, her cunt on full display to Clarissa which happened to be in your view as well. You most certainly were not going to complain. Only then did you catch sight of the pink little oval shape in her hand, Leonora seemed to follow your train of thought as you saw a slight smirk adorning her lips as Clarissa carefully attached it to her pretty pink clit. “Mommy?” The red head whimpered hoping to get some clarity on what was going to happen to her. “Oh no Leo, you aren’t whining your way out of this one, be a good girl and I swear to the lords above I will make you regret it” Clarissa practically growled at the red head before turning the toy on and turning her back on the other dean.

“Hi pretty girl, thank you for being such a good girl for mommy baby” she practically purred, a sharp juxtaposition to how she spoke to Leonora. You beamed up at her before she gently placed a passionate kiss on your lips. It was slow but so passionate and you didn’t want it to end. Buy air is a necessity so you both separated but left your foreheads touching one another.

Her lips began their path down your body as she tore through your clothing distracting you from all the whimpers and whines Leonora was producing thanks to that little toy stimulating her clit. “Mommy! Mommy please please” she whimpered as her orgasm tore through her. You were so distracted by the Leonora’s sounds or Doveys lingering touches that you honestly didn’t know what to try and focus on first. But when you felt the tongue of your mommy against your drenched folds it was clear what would override the other. “Oh mommy please feel so good” you whimpered as she teased your needy cunt.

It was almost as if you and Leonora were having a contest in who could scream the loudest for mommy. Leonora pleading with her to stop the torment on her puffy swollen bud as she was forced into another of her countless orgasms, while you were happily mewling for her as she brought you to the edge of pleasure with just her talented tongue. It seemed that Leonora’s moans filled with pain and pleasure from overstimulation only fuelled the brunette to give you what Leonora clearly wanted. You both know your lover is extremely jealous and possessive so this punishment would be hitting her where it really hurts.

“Mommy mommy god please make me cum wan be good girl p’ease” you mewled causing Rissa to give you more, make you cum just anything and everything. And because you’re her good girl, of course she took great pleasure in slamming two fingers into your dripping cunt. Your strangled fry surfacing at the same time as Leonora’s scream of pain and pleasure. By now the blondes babbling incoherently and trying squirm away from the toy.

You almost felt bad for your submissive girlfriend but then you remembered she choose to be a brat. And you were being reward for being a good girl so why not enjoy every single thrust of her fingers as her mouth locked against your pert bud and harshly sucked on it. Once again your crys mixing with Leonora’s as you came together again. The smile one Clarissa’s face along with her whispers of praise had you slipping further into your groggy sub headspace. With a kiss pressed to your head Clarissa made her way to the red head and looked down at the mess of sweat tears and cum she is.

“Oh so my slut can be a good girl hmm? Want mommy to turn it off baby?” She teased as Leonora sobbed a yes before pleasure cut her off. “Too bad, you’re such a whore you can give me another” she commanded only to be met with fearful eyes from the fiery dean. “N-no m-o-rrre m-oooo-my” she cried for Clarissa to stop the punishment only to be ignored as another orgasm was forced from within her glistening cum soaked cunt. “Shhh Leo, Leo baby breathe your done. You’re all done darling” she murmured coming to shut the toy and free your over sensitive clit from the toy. The bindings were next, only then was she transported to the bed next to you in your fucked out blissful state, while she remains sore.

Leonora was given a few moments to calm down before Clarissa diligently cleaned other her babies up before laying in between the pair of you and allowed you to snuggle up on her chest. And that’s how you all fell asleep.

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hogwartsandhawkins · 10 months

Text

Prove Me Wrong

Chapter 4: Looking For Good

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Summary: Telling Steve she has a new ride to school doesn't go so well.

Warnings: Swearing (but what's new) Billy bullying Max briefly. Also, Billy pressuring reader (Jess) into letting him give her a ride. (I include this because the reader says no after second-guessing her decision, causing Billy to push back, which can have some underlying themes for some, and I wanted to be sensitive to that.) As always, please let me know if I miss anything.

Word Count: 2.4K

Author's note: I know I know, I haven't posted in forever. Moving back to the States was an EVENT, to say the least. I have also been working on this for a while, many chapters are already written and I'll post them as soon as I feel they have been reread enough for them to be slightly okay.

Jess awoke that Sunday morning as she did every Sunday morning: already thinking of an excuse to not attend church that her parents would buy into. Luckily, she didn’t really need to think of one for long as she already had plans to invite Steve over to finally “help” him with his physics project. She was surprised her parents haven’t taken the hint by now, considering that she has been avoiding that place like the 10 plagues of Egypt ever since she experienced the capabilities of the upside down, and of course, Eleven. But since skipping downstairs and laying out why she refused to go was a blatant impossibility, she merely explained that Steve needed her help. Thankfully, she didn’t have parents like Steve. Instead of the guilt trip, she received a slightly disappointed “tisk” from her mother, who then told her they’d miss her.

Jess watched as her parents exited through the garage door, which was located next to the pantry in the kitchen, then proceeded to dial the Harrington’s line. She knew Steve would be up, as his parents were always explaining how if he wouldn’t go to church, he at least needed to be productive on his Sunday mornings, which involved him getting up at the same time as Mr. and Mrs. Harrington, at least when they were home.

“Yup?” Steve’s voice was groggy and laced with what Jess sensed as resentment, most likely caused by his mother’s usual “seize the day” spiel followed by her opening the blinds that shielded Steve’s bedroom from the unwelcomed amount of light.

“Good morning to you too, Harrington.”

His voice seemed to pick up a bit when he heard who was on the other side of the phone. “Oh hey, Jess, how’s your morning been? Better than mine I hope…” Steve’s voice lowered to a whisper at the last part he added.

Jess ignored the question and went straight into asking him to come over so they could finally get his physics project out of the way. With the promise of Steve being allowed to hide out for the rest of the day at her house and an afternoon nap, he quickly agreed and was knocking on the Logan’s door in no more than 20 minutes.

Steve set the box full of different shaped and sized lenses, stands, a light, and everything else Steve was instructed by Jess to bring. “So. How was Friday with Hargrove?” He visibly tensed as he said his name, shaking his head in disgust after thinking about it for too long.

“It was fine.” Jess tried to avoid eye contact as she began setting up his quick focal point experiment, bringing out the ruler as she set up the first lens.

“Fine? That’s all you have to say about a day with Hargrove? Fine?”

She couldn’t help but laugh at Steve’s response, “What did you expect?”

“Really?” was all he could say. He flipped the switch of the battery-powered light to “on”, and then gave Jess a knowing, disapproving look. She didn’t even have to look back at him to know exactly what Steve was expecting: a disaster.

“I mean, he, unfortunately, has a thing for my mom, I’m pretty sure. But it’s Hargrove. He’s gross. That’s about it.”

Jess didn’t know how to tell him that it really wasn’t that bad, or worse, that she may have had an okay time studying with him this weekend. She was also now realizing she didn’t know how to tell him that Billy Hargrove was under the impression that he would be taking her to school tomorrow morning.

She decided maybe the best approach was to do so while Steve was distracted, so as they continued replacing the lenses and repositioning the stand, she started out slowly. “So… you know how Max and Billy live, like, right down the street?”

“Uh-huh…” Steve didn’t look up from his notes, working out the equation for the last lens they set up.

“Well, Max and him were wanting to give me a ride Monday… To school I mean.”

Unfortunately for Jess, he was well aware Max and him just meant him, so he looked up from his notes, amused at the thought of Jess turning him down. “Ha! Did Hargrove throw a fit when you told him ‘No’?”

“He didn’t really accept ‘no’ for an answer…” Not that I exactly tried hard enough to tell him “No”.

Steve dropped his notebook on her coffee table with a plop and then turned back his attention to Jess, who was now holding a tight-lined smile on her face, ready for the anticipated ridicule she was about to receive. “Oh come on. You know, kid, you really need to grow a backbone.”

“I honestly think you’re making it out to be worse than it is. I mean, Max will be there. Plus, it’d save you the time and the gas. I’m like the opposite direction of school for you anyways.”

Steve considered this for about a millisecond before shaking his head rapidly, “I’m sorry, call me crazy, but it seems like you want him to pick you up.” When Jess didn’t answer right away, he continues, “Oh Jesus H, you’re not serious!”

“No! I don’t want him to, but I mean… I think he just wants to study one last time before school, you know, for the quiz and stuff…”

“Look, I don’t like the idea of you around him. When I came to that night in the back of that car and you weren’t there, I freaked.” He then lets out a sigh before continuing, “You just need to be careful with him is all I’m saying.”

“I am.” But that was a lie. There was nothing careful about what was going on. There was nothing careful about him coming over to her room, being able to look through the intimacies of her life. There was nothing careful about spending time at his home, alone with him. There was nothing careful about allowing herself to laugh at his jokes, or allowing him to buy not only her but her parents dinner. And there was nothing careful about getting in the car with him, giving him permission to take her wherever he wanted.

As if reading her mind, he ducked down slightly to meet her gaze, “Jess. I promise. You’re looking for good where there isn’t any.” He then gave her a sympathetic smile and picked up his notebook, continuing to jot down what he thought was the correct answer to the equation.

After a few hours and many corrections made by Jess, they were finally done with the physics lab. She assured Steve they could pick up the materials later and allowed him the couch to take that nap he was promised, and after she made sure she heard him snoring, she grabbed three muffins from the container in the fridge and walked over to the Hargrove/Mayfield household.

As it was three in the afternoon, she wasn’t sure whether Billy would be home from work, but seeing his Camaro in the driveway answered her question of whether or not to knock on the door. It seemed as though Max and Billy were the only two home, something Jess was grateful for considering her first run-in with Mr. Hargrove was not as pleasant as most of her run-ins with other adults. When Max opened the door, she looked excited to see her, but immediately looked behind her and shut the door, holding in her excitement until she was sure Billy couldn’t hear.

“Hey! Oh, you should have seen Dustin’s hair Friday! It was insane.” Max then realizes Jess is holding not one, but three muffins in her hand, and cocks her head to the left. “Are all of those for me?”

“Well, one is, but I’m actually here to talk to Billy for a few seconds. Is he here?”

Max took one of the muffins, bit into it, and then proceeded to talk in between bites. “Ew. Why?”

“It’s about him taking me to school on Monday…”

At this, Max’s distaste turns back into excitement. “Wait, we’re taking you with us?”

“Well, no, not anymore, I was thinking I’d stick to Steve taking me to school.”

“MAX! WHO’S AT THE DOOR?!”

“NOBODY!” Max rolled her eyes before continuing, “Please, please, pleeeaaasee let us pick you up tomorrow. He might actually not be such an ass if you’re there.” As she finished her pleading, the door swung open, with none other than Billy Hargrove standing at the entrance.

“Hey, princess, couldn’t wait to see me?” It was Jess’s turn to roll her eyes as she handed the remaining two muffins to Billy.

“Hey! Why does he get two?”

Jess ignored Max’s annoyed expression and proceeded to change the subject. “So I’m just going to ride with Steve tomorrow. Don’t worry about picking me up.”

Before Billy could respond, Max continued from earlier, “Tell Steve we’ll bring you to school in one piece.”

“You heard the little shit, we’ll make sure to take real good care of you. Plus, I need you in the morning.”

“Why?” Max’s look of disgust made a return, which seemed to irritate Billy as he coldly looked back at her and ordered her back inside.

“She can stay if she wants to stay.” Jess began to remember why she took a disliking to him in the first place. It was easy to forget how… awful... Billy could be if he wasn’t sitting there joking with you, actively trying to be nice to you. You’re looking for good where there isn’t any. The thought made Jess clench her jaw only slightly, but enough to make Billy notice. “Yeah, I’ll just ride with Steve. See you, Hargrove.” She then allowed herself to give him a short smile before heading back in the direction of her home.

He had only watched her walk away for a second until he decided he needed to catch up to her, not liking how that conversation ended. Billy pushed the muffins at Max without thinking and started striding after Jess. “Hang on there, Logan,” he mocked the way she spat out his own last name, “You gotta help me study before the quiz.”

“I don’t gotta do anything.” There it was: the attitude that Billy was sure they have gotten passed. It made him pull his body back in recoil, being discomforted by the thought that she may not have been warming up to him this weekend after all. Sure, it really had only been two days, but he was enjoying her company, considering it was better compared to who usually kept him company, and he could have sworn she felt the same, at least a little bit? “Look, I already promised I wouldn’t say anything about our reading sessions or your dad, okay? You don’t need to keep an eye on me. I’ll see you for our next project.”

“Keep an eye on you? Did I do something wro-“

“I don’t like the way you talk to Max.” She blurted out, which surprised both her and Billy, and when Billy couldn’t think of anything else to say, she continued, “I don’t like the way you talk to anyone actually. Or about anyone. Or with anyone. You- you’re just. You don’t…” Jess didn’t know any other way to say it, “You’re not a nice person, Billy. And I don’t have time for that. So thanks for the offer, but I’m not interested.” She stayed looking at Billy, who refused to look anywhere other than his feet. He began to run his tongue across his top row of teeth, mouth shut and downturned, and began to nod, as if he was thinking about what was said. He then looked up, still not at her, but to her house where he saw a familiar vehicle in her driveway: Pretty Boy’s BMW.

Makes sense. He thought to himself. “So I’m guessing King Steve didn’t approve when you told him, huh?”

The question irritated Jess even more. Not just for the mere fact that Billy didn’t believe she could make her own decisions, but just hours ago Steve accused her of the same. “I can decide for myself who takes me where. Thanks.” Silence. “Did you not listen to a thing I said? I said I don’t want to be around you because you’re an asshole, not because Steve said ‘no’!”

“Oh no, I heard you, Jess. It just seems weird to me that last night you were completely fine with me taking you and now when Steve’s over, you tell me to fuck off.”

“When did I ever say I wanted you to take me to school? When you asked me, or excuse me, told me you were taking me, did I once say, ‘yes’? Did I once ask you to take me to school?” Billy was now looking at Jess with an expression she didn’t recognize, which made her uncomfortable enough to look away.

“Can I take you to school tomorrow, please?” But the softness in his voice jerked her gaze back to him, trying to analyze him, to see if there was any hint of insincerity. He quickly looked over his shoulder before continuing. “You’re right. I didn’t ask. And I’m sorry. You don’t have to say yes, but shi-Max wants you to come with, and, I… want you to too. So.” This made Jess furrow her brows. In some ways, he was right. She had every intention of going with him until this morning. She wanted to help him study, considering how much work he put into their reading sessions this weekend. But of course, Steve was also right. There was no way around it, Billy was a dick. To his sister, to his sister’s friends, to her friends, even to his own friends.

When it was made obvious to Billy she didn’t seem ready to respond, he sighed and continued, “Look, I’ll be at your house at the same time I told you last night, if you don’t come out then I’ll leave, okay?”

“I’ll help you study.” Is all Jess said in response to his offer, and began to walk back to her house. Billy took what he could get and nodded after she had already turned away, and did the same, returning back to his house. Billy didn’t realize that Max stayed out by their doorway, attempting to watch the whole thing. Before he could give her shit for being nosey, he replayed Jess’s words in his head. “Give me those,” is all he said as he took the muffins from her hands and went back to his weights.

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove fanfiction #billy hargrove stranger things #billy deserved better #billy hargrove imagine #billy hargrove x reader #billy stranger things #billy x reader #billy hargrove antis dni #antis dni #stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things 3 #stranger things 2

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celestiall0tus · 12 days

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Tales of Bloody Bug and Chat Noir - Chapter 26 - Reverser and the Return of Evillustrator

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Alix stared up at a blank wall. She tossed a spray paint can in her hand as she raked her brain with ideas. She felt eyes burn into her that flared her annoyance. She sneered under her mask and latched onto it. She put the can down and reached for the red. She covered the blank canvas in it before she went for the black and tagged the red canvas.

“Well, this is… something, Miss Kubdel,” Mr. Monlataing said.

“Is there a problem with it? I thought art was supposed to be an expression of the soul,” Alix countered.

“It is, but why is your soul so angry? Violent even.”

“A long list that I don’t have the patience, energy, or fucks to give to go through it.”

“I see. And just how long have you been penting up all this rage?”

“Why do you care?”

“Because it’s hurting you, isn’t it?”

Alix tsked. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Alix-,” Mr. Monlataing started.

“Excuse me. Mr. Monlataing? Can I get your input on this?” Nathaniel asked.

“Hmm? Oh, yes. What do you have here, Nathaniel?”

Alix glanced over at the recent page of Nathaniel’s Bloody Bug and Chat Noir comic. She noticed a new character that looked exactly like when Nathaniel was Evillustrator.

“It’s Bloody Bug and Chat Noir teaming up with their latest companion, MightyIllustrator,” Nathaniel said.

“You mean Evillustrator?” Alix asked.

“He changed his name after Bloody Bug saved him. Now he fights for justice.”

“A bad guy that becomes a good guy. I like it. You’re getting better at your storytelling.”

“Too bad the rest of his writing sucks,” Alix remarked.

“Miss Kubdel, I’ll allow a lot of things in my class, but we don’t bring down other artists. We must give them the confidence to continue their craft,” Mr. Monlataing scolded.

“And when does that encouragement feed into arrogance? Do we stop then, or do we keep going until we have an insufferable monster?”

“Sounds like someone is projecting,” Nathaniel retorted.

Alix snarled. She reared back her arm and threw the spray paint can she had, but Mr. Monlataing caught it.

“Alix, I think you should head to the counselor. Whatever is going on is clearly eating away at you. I think you should talk to someone who will listen.”

Alix opened her mouth when Rose ran over.

“Mr. Monlataing, I have a better idea to help calm Alix,” Rose said.

“Oh, this gonna be good. What do you have that could help me?” Alix mocked.

Rose smiled, took her headphones off, and put them on Alix. Alix opened her mouth to complain until she heard the rock music playing. Alix snorted, rolled her shoulders, and took a seat on the floor. Rose took a seat next to Alix and scribbled on the notepad, then showed it to Alix. Alix tilted her head as she read it.

I’m sorry, but I had asked Adrien if you were ok. You have been angrier these past few weeks. He didn’t say much, just that you needed time to dwell and not talk about it. I don’t understand what is going on, but I’m here to help in any way I can.

Alix’s face softened as she smiled. ‘Thank you,’ she mouthed.

Alix leaned against Rose and Rose leaned against Alix. Rose wrote down song lyrics while Alix watched the room. Mr. Monlataing went around the room, checking on everyone and their projects when a new kid peeked in through the door. Marinette ran up and dragged the guy in and introduced him to Mr. Monlataing, then Nathaniel. Alix watched them until the guy ran out.

Alix hummed, curious of what that was about, but ignored it. She jammed out to the music until she saw Marinette return with a black journal. She raised a brow when Marinette erased something in it, then gave it to Nathaniel. She furrowed her brows as Nathaniel lost himself to the book. She took off the headphones to confront him when the bell rang. She growled and handed the headphones back to Rose.

“Thanks again.”

“Alix, would you like to join Mylene and me on a walk after school? It’s been a while since we’ve talked. But only if you want to.”

Alix considered then nodded. “Ok. I’ll see you after school.”

Alix headed out to her next class. She moved through the rest of the day on autopilot as has been her norm for the past few weeks. It worked well enough until someone annoyed her, which wasn’t hard to do. She didn’t like how easily agitated she could be, but it was the price of all this. If she was to get to the root of her problems, she needed to face it alone. No amount of talking was going to help her.

The final bell rang, and Alix made her way outside. She waited until Mylene, Rose, and Ivan joined her. She was hugged by Mylene and Rose while she fist bumped Ivan. Mylene and Rose each grabbed one of her arms and dragged her along as Ivan followed.

“I hope we weren’t going for a long walk. It’s really cold now,” Alix remarked.

“Oh, not at all. Just a short one. We wanted to hang out with you and, well, make sure you’re alright,” Mylene said.

“I’m not, but I appreciate it.”

“Adrien said you didn’t want to talk about it. Why is that?” Rose asked.

“I… it’s stupid.”

“C’mon, Alix, nothing is stupid,” Ivan encouraged.

“Fine. Look, I… I want to get better, but I can’t. There’s this… issue at my core that has a death hold on me. I’m trying to get to the root of it, to confront it, but whenever I talk, I feel like I’m running away from it. I can’t let that happen anymore. So, I’m not going to talk as it festers so I can reach it.”

“But look at what you’re doing to yourself, Alix,” Rose chided.

“Something needs to be done, Rose. I need to get to the root of all this. My anger, my trauma, everything. Talking hasn’t helped, so I’m not talking anymore until I figure it out.”

“Alix, you’re going to self-destruct if you do that. And when that happens, Hawkmoth will make you his pawn like he did with all of us,” Ivan warned.

Rose and Mylene nodded.

Alix stopped and turned on her heel to face Ivan, Rose, and Mylene. “Do not put me in the same group as you lot. There is nothing Hawkmoth could offer me that would convince me to become a villain. At least, no more than I already am.”

“Alix, you’re not-!” Rose started.

“Don’t lie, Rose. I know better. I’m a little monster. I don’t need an Akuma to make me one. I’ve done nothing but hurt and turn on the people that try to get close to me. And when I think I’ve let someone in, they turn around and betray me. I just… there’s just no point. I’m a monster and that’s that. Nothing will change that.”

Rose, Mylene, and Ivan all exchanged glances while Alix trudged on ahead. They followed behind her as they arrived at Places des Vosages. Alix glanced over to see Nathaniel and the new guy from earlier. She looked away, then back at them as Nathaniel held up the black book and tore apart the pages, devastating the other guy.

Alix’s eyes widened as red threatened her vision. Her attempts to fight it were in vain as she caved to the rage. She turned into the park and up to Nathaniel. She pushed him down as he tried to leave.

“Hey! What’s the big-!” Nathaniel yelled.

Alix grabbed Nathaniel’s coat and pulled him up to her face. “You fucking bastard! What did you do?”

“I don’t see why you’re yelling at me. That fraud toyed with my feelings with his stupid scribbles. Then has the gall to want to work on my comic with me.”

“That’s not true. Marinette said she’d help me, but I didn’t want to do this because of this exact reason. Everything is ruined now,” the guy said.

Alix’s temper wavered seeing the guy’s distress before it ignited again as she glared down at Nathaniel. “You are nothing more than an arrogant little fucking bitch. You are the fraud here, not that poor boy. I think you need to cool the fuck down, bitch!”

Ivan, Mylene, and Rose yelled out for Alix to stop, but she ignored them. She grabbed Nathaniel’s arm and threw him over her into the fountain, soaking him to the bone in the freezing air. Mylene and Rose stepped between Alix and Nathaniel while Ivan helped him out. Marinette came running to help Nathaniel.

Alix took several deep breaths as she glared at Nathaniel. Memories resurfaced and mingled with the present as she saw Nathaniel as she once saw Chloe, beaten, bloody, and battered. Her rage shifted to terror as tears fell from her eyes, her heartbeat quickened, and her breathing came in short, rapid gasps. She turned and ran away. She heard them call her, but she ignored them. It happened again. She told herself she wouldn’t let it happen again, and she did. She had to get away to keep the others safe from the monster that refused to be caught.

Adrien arrived home and headed up to his room as he got a call from Rose. He raised a brow and answered it.

“Hey, Rose, what’s up?”

“Oh, Adrien! Thank goodness. Alix is missing! Something happened, she got mad, and then she ran off and we don’t know where she is!”

Adrien’s eyes widened as he heard yelling in the background between multiple parties. He opened his mouth when he heard screams tearing through the air.

“Rose? What’s going on?” Adrien demanded.

“There’s a pair of-!”

The line cut off.

“That’s no good. Plagg, Stompp, we have to go. Plagg, claws out!”

Plagg disappeared into the ring and transformed Adrien. Chat Noir jumped out the window and searched the city for the villains when he came across a guy in a black and white outfit riding a personal paper airplane.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Reverser. You’re a strong, fearless hero, but not for long.”

Chat Noir’s eyes widened as Reverser summoned a small, black paper airplane. He readied to attack it when a green shield came in and destroyed it.

“What the-?” Reverser yelled.

The green shield rebounded and knocked Reverser off his ride. Chat Noir beamed when he saw Carapace.

“Perfect timing, dude!” Chat Noir yelled.

“Always, my dude. Where’s his Akuma?”

Chat Noir looked down at Reverser’s ride. He grabbed and broke it, releasing the Akuma. He activated Cataclysm and destroyed the Akuma.

“Carapace, can you bring the boy that Reverser was. I believe him to be one of a set of Akumas.”

“Uh, I can, but I need to help some dudettes out first. One of their friends ran away and they can’t find her.”

“Is it Alix?”

“Yeah. How’d you know?”

“Because that’s part of why I’m out here. It was also in response to the Akumas.”

“Heard. Well, let’s look together.”

“I actually know where she’d be.”

“What? Then lead the way. Let’s go.”

“Give me a minute. I need to recharge.”

“Oh. Right. Go on, dude. I got the Reverser boy. Just don’t take too long.”

“Don’t worry, I didn’t plan on it.”

Alix lay curled up on the freezing ground of her mother’s grave. Tears froze to her face and sealed her eyes closed. Tikki and Ziggy tried to get rid of the ice, but she swiped them away.

“Alix, please, you need to get home, or transform. You’ll die in the cold,” Tikki squeaked.

“I don’t care,” Alix muttered.

“What? What did you say?” Tikki gasped.

“I. Don’t. Care. I lost it again. I hurt someone again. The monster came back out and retreated before I could stop it. All because I am that monster.”

“That’s not true. You were caught in a moment of passion. You defended that poor writer from that awful red-haired boy. You weren’t a monster. You were a hero.”

“But a hero doesn’t hurt people. A monster hurts people. And you can’t say if it’s for a good cause, then it doesn’t matter. The means never justify the ends. And in the end, I was a monster.”

“I stand by what I said, that’s not true. You are a passionate person, and passion burns bright. Sometimes too bright, yeah, but bright nonetheless. You did the right thing.”

“No, I didn’t, and nothing will change that.”

“But-!” Tikki started.

“Just go. Leave me alone.”

Tikki and Ziggy exchanged glances before they crawled into Alix’s hood.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Ziggy stated.

“That’s right. We’re here and you can’t get rid of us,” Tikki said.

Alix opened her mouth, but let out a choked gasp when Evillustrator grabbed her and thrust her up.

“There you are. I’ve been looking for you, Alix,” Evillustrator hissed.

“Nathaniel?”

“Not anymore. Evillustrator is back, and I’m here to make you pay for your insults.”

Alix’s breath caught. Evillustrator’s threat struck her but filled her with sickening hope. Bile rose to her throat as the promise of seeing her mother crossed her mind. She tried to fight it off, to live, but the desire consumed her. She let her body go limp as she stopped fighting him.

“Make me pay,” Alix begged.

“Oh, I will, but only in a way fitting a monster like you.”

Evillustrator threw Alix over his shoulder and headed back to Place des Vosages. He scared off the people in the park as he erased it and replaced it with a giant fountain.

“Let’s see how much you like being plunged into ice cold water in the middle of winter.”

Evillustrator threw Alix into the bone-chilling waters. Alix’s body seized up as the cold shocked her entire system. She stared blankly up at the dim winter sun as she lost the feeling in her entire body. Darkness closed in around as the water vanished and she felt herself on solid ground. She saw the figures of Chat Noir, Gallic Chick, Porcelet, and Carapace. They yelled at each other until an Akuma slipped by them and into Alix’s wristwatch. Their yells were drowned up and replaced with the voice of Hawkmoth.

“Timebreaker, I am Hawkmoth. You face death, but it need not be like this. You can reset everything back to the moment with your mother. You can save her and see her once again. All I ask in return is Bloody Bug and Chat Noir’s miraculous.”

Alix spurted and coughed. “I don’t… need you. I’ll see my mom soon… in death.”

“What? You can’t-!”

“I’ll see… I’ll see her soon. Good-bye, little butterfly.”

Alix let out a gasp and her body went still.

Alix opened her eyes to a dark road with little light. She roamed around it until a blinding light shone brightly. She shielded her eyes and blinked against it. It faded as her mother’s spirit stood across from her.

“Mom!” Alix called.

Alix ran down the road to her mother, but slowed when she neared her. A lump caught up in her seeing the disappointment and sorrow in her mother’s face.

“I’m here. We’re together. Everything is as it should be.”

Alix’s mother shed an ethereal tear as she looked away.

“Wait, please! I miss you. I need you. Please, don’t leave me!”

Alix’s mother ignored Alix’s pleas, walked into the darkness, and vanished.

Alix cried out and reached for where her mother’s spirit once stood. She was stopped as she heard the crow of a rooster. She turned as a majestic, fiery rooster wrapped its wings around her and pulled her back to the world of the living.

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