#enter a new chapter in their lives and really start thinking about what they wanna do now that they plan to live and have a future

[dracaelus]

Not enough writers exploring the idea of bruce retiring from batman and becoming the bats new tech guy once lucius fox dies/retires. Like, bruce is actually pretty good at coming up with new gadgets and incorporating new/alien technologies into the bat stuff so really, I think it would be really cool?? Also, he could help oracle on his free time, and I feel like this would work really well with his paranoid and controlling tendencies, and he would be thriving in a job like this. Not to mention that he would still be helping the league with strategies, research and the diplomatic stuff, so no need for him to stop working with them. And he still has his charity work as bruce wayne.

So my point is, while of course we can all agree that everything bruce does as batman is important, I wouldn't say that activelly being on the field is the most important of his tasks, especially by the time he gets old and has dozens of allies doing it with him. I mean, he already trained a lot of heroes to work in gotham and there's a few of them who are just as skilled as him, some who are even better, so really, him retiring from that and focusing on his other duties as he gets older feels very natural and a much more compelling plotline to follow than just yk killing him off and then having the batfam fight about who's gonna take the mantle (i don't even think someone needs to)

[beskarandblasters]

For You, I Would Ruin Myself

Part Four of Time, Wondrous Time

Cooper Howard/The Ghoul x F!Reader

Main Masterlist | Cooper Howard Masterlist | AO3

Series summary: You’re California Crest Studios’ newest production assistant, getting the opportunity to work on the hit movie, The Man From Deadhorse. But when you meet the movie’s lead, Cooper Howard, you fall head-first into a secret affair. Enter a war, a cryogenic freezer, and a two-hundred-year time jump. And yet despite all that, you just might run into him again.

Chapter summary: An end and a new beginning. Big feelings come to the surface at the The Man From Deadhorse premiere and Reina offers you a deal you can't pass up.

Word count: 2.7k

Warnings: reader is able-bodied and wears a dress/makeup, oral sex (F receiving), semi public sex, vaginal sex, pull out method, pet names (sweetheart, love), angst, no use of y/n

It’s been four months since you’ve seen Cooper at Emil’s house. And to say you’ve been going through withdrawals would be an understatement. You’ve been so busy since then, diving headfirst into a new production at the studio, one without Cooper, of course. The only benefit of the new production is being there right from the start. You luckily made a small group of friends so you’re not forced to eat lunch alone anymore. 

And even though things are looking up in your career, you can’t help but miss those wild nights with Cooper in his trailer. January can’t come fast enough. 

-

Before the holiday season gets intense, you decide you need to shop for a dress for the premiere, thinking about calling Reina and asking if she wants to go with you. You haven’t seen her in a while so you figure this time would be nice for you two to catch up. Plus, getting a second opinion on the dress would be nice. It’s a nerve-wracking night littered with celebrities and cameras; if there was ever a time to be self-conscious about your outfit, it’s the night of the premiere. 

You call up Reina, hoping she’s free this afternoon. Ever since she started working for Vault-Tec you’ve been hearing from her less and less. Cooper made it sound like Barb was busy all the time, too. What is it about this company that pulls people farther and farther away from their personal lives?

“Hey, are you free today?”

“For once, I am.”

“Wanna go shopping? I need a dress.”

“Sure. Give me like an hour to hop in the shower and then I’ll come get you.”

“Sounds good!”

After getting ready you wait for her outside, swiftly hopping in her passenger seat once she stops the car.

“So what do you need a dress for?” she asks, getting straight to the point. 

“The Man From Deadhorse premiere.”

“You were invited?! That’s amazing!”

“Emil gave me a ticket as a thank you for joining the production so late.”

“When is it?”

“Not until January but I figured it’s better to get the dress now before the holiday season.”

“Smart.”

The afternoon is spent with your best friend, trying on copious amounts of dresses and catching up. Once again, you get the urge to tell her about Cooper. It’s less risky to tell her now since production for The Man From Deadhorse is done. And considering you haven’t seen him in four months…

Still doesn’t hurt any less.

But something in your gut tells you that you shouldn’t tell her. You can’t help but listen. 

“So how’s work?” you ask, coming out of the dressing room with a sleek black gown. 

“First of all, that’s the best one you’ve tried on so far. And second, I love it but it’s sucking the life out of me.”

“How so?”

“I’ve been working nonstop on this one experiment.”

“What is it?”

She looks around and takes a few steps closer to you, whispering, “Cryogenically freezing people.”

“For what reason?” you ask, your eyebrows raising. 

“You know… In case there’s a war and we need to freeze people in the vaults.”

“Do you think that’s really gonna happen?”

“I hope not… But we can never be prepared.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks,” she smiles. “We’re about to start the process of looking for test subjects.”

“What does that entail?”

“Right now, we’re looking at freezing test subjects for a week.”

“Interesting…”

“Well?! What do you think?! I think this is the dress,” she says, changing the subject.

“I think so, too,” you say, turning and looking at yourself in the mirror. 

-

After buying the dress and having lunch, she drops you back home. You try on your dress again and think about Cooper’s reaction to see you in it– his slack jaw, eyes wide, trying to hide his reaction from Barb. You think about what he’ll be wearing: a black suit with his hair slicked back. God, you can’t wait to see him like that. January can’t come soon enough. 

-

A relatively normal holiday season passes and the premiere looms over your head. You spend the entire week violently anxious, thinking about all the people, all the cameras. And in the middle of all the commotion is Cooper, your calm amidst the storm. 

When the big day rolls around you spend hours getting ready– eating, hydrating, taking an everything shower, perfecting your makeup. You look over your appearance one final time in the mirror before the cab arrives– perfect, flawless even. You grab your ticket and slip it into your purse, putting on a brave face for the big evening.

-

Flashing lights. Paparazzi yelling from all angles. Your senses are overwhelmed. You’re not even someone “important” and yet they’re trying to get your attention left and right. You can’t imagine what it’s like for someone like Cooper.

But once they realize you’re not an actress you’re quickly ushered down the carpet. An enormous roar erupts behind you. You glance over your shoulder and your jaw drops. Somehow he looks even better than you pictured all those months ago. All black attire, slicked back hair, a confident saunter in his step. And beside him is his arm candy for the evening. You can’t deny she looks beautiful, wearing a floor-length red dress that compliments her skin perfectly. You’re feeling a weird mixture of jealousy, envy, and longing. 

The pair splits so Cooper can get solo pictures. Barb notices you and smiles, immediately heading in your direction. You freeze, your entire body going stiff with fear. Her smile is unsettling like she knows something you don’t. But you put on your best fake smile, hoping it’s coming across as genuine. 

“How are you?” she asks.

“I’m good. How are you?”

“Vault-Tec’s working me to death. It’s a miracle I was able to come with him tonight,” she says, gesturing toward Cooper. 

“It’s a big night for him. I’m glad they gave you the night off,” you lie. 

“It’s a big night for you, too. Celebrating the first film you’ve worked on.”

“Thanks,” you sigh, starting to relax a bit. That part felt genuine, at least you hope. 

“Of course,” she smiles. “Enjoy yourself tonight,” she says, heading inside the theater. She doesn’t wait for Cooper to finish his photos, which strikes you as odd. 

You walk inside and get situated in a seat, waiting for the movie to begin. Cooper eventually heads inside, sitting in the same row as you a few seats down. Barb is on the other side of him, staring directly out in front of her, not glancing in his direction. Another weird occurrence. It’s like they’re not even a married couple, only putting up a facade when the cameras are out. 

When Cooper finally looks over at you it’s right there and then you get the reaction you’ve been daydreaming about ever since you picked out your dress. His eyes look like they’re pleading with you, begging you to save him. You turn your head and glance at the back of the theater, looking for an exit. Hoping he’ll catch your drift, you get up and head into the lobby once the lights go down, looking for a bathroom. 

A faint glow of a single-stall bathroom sign is your beacon of hope. You make a beeline for it and close the door behind you, hoping he follows you. A faint knock and a whisper of your name confirm your prayers. You open the door and usher him inside, swiftly locking it and turning to face him. 

His hands immediately gravitate to your waist, pulling you close. His lips attach to your neck, muttering “I missed you” over and over again to your skin. He pulls back and looks at you, the same look in his eyes like all the times before. You reach your hand out and cup his cheek, stroking his clean-shaven face. 

“I missed you, too.” 

“I know it’s risky but… I need you. I haven’t stopped thinking about you for months.”

“You could’ve called.”

“I didn’t want to risk getting caught.”

“I get it,” you sigh. 

“I just miss what we had before, back when we were shooting.”

He’s right. Everything was so much easier back then when everything you wanted was within reach. The premiere feels like a symbolic end to this chapter of your life. But you’re not dwelling on the past tonight. You’re focusing on what’s right in front of you.

“But at least we have right now,” you smirk.

“That’s my girl… But you’re gonna have to be quiet this time. Think you can do that?” he teases.   

“Make me,” you shoot back. 

He grabs your hips and spins you around, prompting you to bend over the sink. He hikes up your dress, pulls your panties to the side. You watch in the mirror as he drops to the floor and soon enough you feel his tongue licking your cunt from behind. You fight the urge to let a moan slip past your lips, thinking about what he said, thinking about where you are. 

You clutch onto the sides of the sink for dear life, knees buckling underneath you as his tongue makes a mess of you. His hands grip your thighs, fingertips sinking into your soft flesh. You bite your lip as he works you up to the edge, tongue flicking around your clit expertly. It all comes to a head as your orgasm spills over, cunt clenching around nothing and begging to be filled already. You bite your lip harder, trying your best to stifle your whimpers and sighs. 

He stands up when he’s done, wiping his face with his fingers and tasting your wetness like he always does. He delivers a swift slap on your ass, pulling his cock out of his pants before collecting your release on his hand. He lubricates his cock and grabs your hips, pulling you into him. He expands your walls, sighing at the feeling of your warmth wrapped around him once more. You watch him in the mirror, his forehead already slick with sweat while he thrusts in and out of you. His perfectly slicked-back hair threatens to let loose with the movement of his thrusts, exerting primal energy as he fucks you. It’s so hard to stay quiet. You want to moan freely, letting everyone in this theater know who owns you, who’s making a mess of you, who’s making you feel pure euphoria. 

“Bet you missed this cock so much, huh, sweetheart?” he smirks, voice coming out as a gravelly whisper.

You know better than to open your mouth right now so you eagerly nod. 

“Then show me,” he says, leaning forward and whispering in your ear. “Cum on my cock like a good girl.”

As if his words have that much of a hold on you, you cum around him. Your walls clench and release him erratically, tears brimming on your lash line, almost rolling down your cheeks. God, you want to moan and scream, putting on a show for him like a good girl. But you know better and you keep silent, riding out your high in total bliss. 

He holds off his orgasm for as long as he can before pulling out and painting your ass with his cum. He curses under his breath, his voice low and filled with arousal. As good as that was, it almost felt like an end, a goodbye of some kind. He reaches for a paper towel and cleans off your ass, helping you stand up straight and smooth down your dress before returning his cock to his pants. 

“You look beautiful tonight,” he says, grabbing your hand. 

“Thanks,” you smile. 

“Give me a spin, sweetheart.”

You giggle and twirl for him, holding onto his hand the whole time. You wish you could do this for him out there. You wish could just be his. 

“I missed you,” you say again, looking at the floor.

“I know, love. I missed you, too,” he says, his voice somber. 

Love. 

Love.

Love!!!

It’s as if that new nickname triggered something within you because you decide to say fuck it.

“I have to tell you something.”

“Of course.”

“I want… more than this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want to be more than your dirty little secret. I want us to be real.”

“Oh, I-”

“I think these past few months without you made me realize how much I need you.”

“Sweetheart… You know I adore you but I can’t give you that.”

Oh.

“I have a family to think about… I have a reputation to think about.”

“I know but I-”

“Think about this. This would affect your reputation, too. You’re just getting in the business.”

“Right…”

“You should be with someone who can give you the things you want… the things you deserve.”

Tears roll down your cheeks and they’re not showing any signs of stopping. What he’s saying is logically sound but it doesn’t hurt any less. The man you’ve gotten to know over these past few months is nothing more than a passing fancy. You were destined to be just a dirty little secret, one he’ll most likely take to the grave. But your heart is louder than your mind. And your heart is telling you to get far away from the man whose words are hitting you like a thousand tiny cuts, the reality of the situation breaking the facade with everything he says. 

“You’re right.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“Don’t-” you say, voice cracking. 

You turn to leave but he grabs your hand. His other hand grabs your chin and forces you to look at him. There are tears in his eyes, too. He kisses you one last time, this one feeling different than any other kiss he’s given you. 

“Goodbye, Cooper,” you say, letting go of him for the last time. 

You leave the bathroom and race to the exit, power-walking as fast as your legs will carry you. Fuck the premiere. You need to get home now. You hail a cab and head home, trying to keep your meltdown at bay until you’re in complete solitude. 

Sitting on your bed you crumple into yourself, the weight of reality crushing you like a ton of bricks. It was foolish to think he’d ever give up his wife, his family, his reputation, all just for you. What you had was nothing more than passion, lacking the real love and intent behind a solid relationship. And now that the affair is over and done with, the clarity is setting in. You were doomed from the start. 

You fall asleep with your eyes in pain from all the crying. But at least it distracts you from your heavy heart. 

When you wake up in the morning, everything feels numb. You’re left in a puddle, feeling sorry for yourself. You call out of work for the day, giving a flimsy excuse so you can wallow in self-pity. 

But your phone’s ringtone rips you from your brooding. The overly optimistic side of hopes it’s Cooper. But the realistic side of you knows that it isn’t. You roll over and pick up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey, I need to ask you a question and I need an answer quickly,” Reina says, her voice frantic. 

“…Okay?”

“Do you remember the cryogenic freezing experience I told you about?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“Vault-Tec’s looking for people to test it out. You’d only be frozen for a day or two. If you say yes you’ll be paid a thousand dollars cash and you’ll be guaranteed a spot in the vault later on.”

“Oh wow. I-”

“Yes or no?”

The same impulsive urge from earlier kicks in and you decide to say fuck it. 

“Yes.”

“Great, thanks! I’ll pick you up tonight at seven.”

“Okay. See you then.” 

What could possibly go wrong? 

Part five

End note: Only one more part left!!! Part five will be coming on Monday! I just wanna thank @clawdee for beta reading this every step of the way. And I wanna thank all of you for reading! Stay tuned for a little surprise announcement at the end of the final part 🤍

If you like my work, consider supporting me on Ko-fi 🤍

Check out the series playlist! 🎶

Fic notifs: @beskarandblastersfics

Dividers: @saradika-graphics

Tag list: @widowmakerow @bisasterbisexual @wowitsem @vegetarianvamp @celestial-vomit @ghoulsimper @anyzandy @justfoxymuffins @hobnob2020 @fallout-girl219 @ipostwhtifeel @awhoresjourney @chiyo13 @valkyreally

[dawnisdreamlanding]

CHAPTER 1

Ghost x Reader x Konig

(Neighbour!au and Roommate!au cause I can't get enough of them hehe)

Also like for this fic just don't mind how this would actually never happen in real life + don't think too much about the logic in this story. It's all purely fictional and for your entertainment :)

You want to go home.

Your apartment keys jingle as they hang from your fingers. Room 409. You sigh. It’s been a long day, to say the least. All you want to do is to just relax and unwind like you would any other Friday with a glass of wine and that dumpster fire of a Netflix show that is ‘Emily in Paris’. You let out another long sigh waiting for the elevator to reach the lobby. At least Emily lives a much more exciting and drama-filled life than you did with your 9 to 5 job.

You stare at your feet, trying to find something to pass the time that seems to drag on for forever. Your feet are already killing you from your high heels that you’ve been wearing for over 9 hours. Usually, you would be home by 7 — it’s 11 — especially on a Friday. Laura, a close coworker of yours went on pregnancy leave, meaning you’re working more hours to cover her absence.

Your phone buzzes with a reminder from your calendar app — oh great, it’s already 12. ‘RENT PAYMENT DUE IN A WEEK.’ You haven’t found a roommate to occupy that extra bedroom in your apartment even after 2 months of your listing being put online. Granted, you should’ve started looking for a new roommate the moment your previous one told you they were moving out, but you were too busy for that! You tap your foot impatiently. How long does it take for an elevator to travel up 2 floors from the carpark to the lobby?

The elevator doors open with a ‘ding!’ and you’re met with the giant of a man that is this mysterious guy wearing all black. His brown hair and matching brown eyes make him dashing and the scars littering on his face adds on to his good looks somehow. “’s rude to stare, love.” His gruff voice snaps you out of it. “R-right, sorry.” To say he was intimidating was an understatement, but god was he good looking.

When you’re both in the elevator, the usual smell of the clean, bleached scent is replaced with the smell of cigarettes and an undertone of gunpowder? Whatever it is, you much prefer it over the smell of bleach you’ve been used to for months. The elevator ride is silent and you both get off the same floor to go our separate ways… except he was following you!

You get a little bit nervous as anyone would if a tall, maybe 190cm buff guy was following you a few steps behind. “What apartment you in?” You say with panic filling your body with each step. Oh god, you don’t wanna die yet! “410.” He responds. “Oh.” Well, that makes more sense.

“I’m your neighbor then! Nice to meet you.” You smile and introduce yourself. He hums in response. “Simon Riley.” He says, nodding at you in acknowledgement. You would like to chat with this guy more, but he doesn’t strike you as talkative, as if his short replies didn’t already tell you that.

You both turn the locks on your own apartment doors. “Next time, you should really run if you think you’re in danger.” He chuckles a little to himself. You turn to look at him in shock, only to find he’s already disappeared into his apartment. So he did know! Asshole. You shake your head and enter your own apartment.

After showering, you scroll your phone on Instagram mindlessly when a notification pops up on your phone. Oh my god, someone responded to your listing! You waste no time in responding to them, despite it being ass-o-clock. You arrange to meet up with them in the afternoon, and you head to sleep hoping whoever this guy is will be a good roommate for you.

When you wake up, you’re a little behind schedule. Scrap that, VERY behind schedule. You haven’t cleaned up the apartment and made it presentable to your possible roommate yet, and you’re gonna meet him in 20 minutes downstairs! You hurriedly stuff all the clothes you find lying around in the living room into your own bedroom and clean the kitchen counters — you know the drill.

As soon as you’re done arranging the last piece of furniture in the living room, you rush out of the door, bumping into that neighbor you met last night. You give him a quick, “Morning, Simon!” before rushing past him, not even giving him time to greet you back.

Somehow by the grace of god, you’re right on time to meet the guy. You agree to meet him at the café right across your apartment complex, and holy fuck. There’s no way this 2 meter guy is your roommate. You both stare at each other awkwardly before you decide to go up to him. “Konig?” I say, and he nods. Oh he is.

[justaghostingon]

Marionetta Theories:

Do you want to know if Tonny is evil or not? Do you wonder why Julia was chosen to kill him? Have I got the two connecting theories for you!

I don’t have a lot of evidence, since we’re only 28 chapters in, but i wanna get these out there to see if they come true!

@jay9marie this is for u. As only other mutual i know reads this comic.

Theory 1: The Custodian

I do not think Sahed is right about Tonny. I don’t think Sahed’s completely wrong either, but he’s missing an important detail: Tonny is not their jailer, he’s the custodian.

When we first meet him, he describes himself as the manager for someone else, not the one who supplies the magic. And this has been true since before the circus even existed:

If you notice the language here, he’s called custodian. Which means he takes care of the one who is truely in charge, the monster in the attic.

Now there’s a lot we don’t know about Tonny’s position. By the wording “allows” he seems to have limited power to invite others to join the castle. Which given how horrible it is inside, is not a very good deal. But we honestly can’t tell if the contracts is something he was told to do or not. We just don’t have the info.

My guess is Tonny has an awareness of the price of his contracts. Look at his face when he makes the contract with dotty:

He’s exhausted by the bags under his eyes, and clearly unhappy, but his set expression tells us he is still going to do it. He’ll doom them to eternity with him, with only the fine print to warn them of what that really means. And again, we don’t know how much of a choice Tonny has, but that’s still not okay.

But! Dotty and her husband bring new life into the castle. And Tonny starts to change.

He’s smiling, leaning against the door in a relaxed posture. His arms are still crossed, suggesting he’s not completely at ease, but he’s happy to see his people smiling again. He’s thrilled his people can be happy in the first place. And when Rainah speaks up and points out it won’t last, he’s willing to bring Dotty and her husband into the very secret that keeps this place running, something i don’t think he’s supposed to do given how even the ever talkative Dotty refused to mention it by name.

And now in the circus, we can see the contract has changed. They still have to stay in the circus, they still live eternally, but now they have to work - which keeps them focused and active, stopping them from falling into the despair of before. But most importantly:

Tonny is no longer confining them to the castle to waste away. He is actively trying to make this situation the best he can. He’s no longer just a monster’s puppet, but a leader dedicated to his people.

And yes, he’s still trapping people in these contracts, which is not good. Sahed (who i suspect escaped whatever research center/prison was keeping him) has a reason to be angry. But now where he can be, Tonny is kind. He’s taking care of his people to the best of his abilities instead of leaving them to rot. All because Dotty and her husband taught him he could.

Which leads me to my second theory:

Theory 2: Julia’s fate

So i’m pretty sure that Julia’s contract was made with the monster in the attic, not Sahed. When we see Kamela go through her contract signing, she is physically near both Tonny, whom she is making a bargain with, and Sahed, who helps her enter the spirit realm.

Given her smile, her trip is pleasant and short, she frays a bit, but nothing like Julia.

Her experience is terrifying, nothing is explained except the contracts own words, and if she resists she’s punished with a nightmarish experience. Neither sahed nor tonny’s deal with kamela goes like this. It’s frightening and inhumane.

But most damningly of all, when Julia wakes back in her body, she is directly under the monster in the attic.

There’s the contract, directly before Julia, but Sahed is nowhere in sight, unlike how it was when he was helping Tonny. This makes it pretty obvious that while Sahed definitely wants Tonny gone, he’s not the one who struck the deal. It was the attic monster.

By why would the attic monster want to get rid of its custodian? Especially when he still takes care of them and provides contracts.

The answer, i suspect comes from theory 1. Tonny has been putting the people of the circus first more and more, adding new clauses and promsing to make their lives pleasant. With all this attention diverted, the attic monster is no longer getting what it thinks it deserves. It is no longer first in Tonny’s priorities, and the priorities of all the circus folk.

It wants a new custodian to focus all their attention on it. To feed it with despair and contracts, and prioritize it alone. And it has chosen Julia.

[princessbubblenumbsblog]

Hi so the first chapter of this fic (which is the first one I've ever decided to post) is already on ao3, but I figured since I'm posting the second one I might as well post it here for those who don't wanna read it on ao3! Enjoy!

Title: One And The Opposite

Rating: Teens and Up (swearing, mentions of sex)

Summary: After filling the shoes of his alternate self in a parallel universe, Miguel O'Hara swiftly discovers that embodying a different version of himself is far more challenging than he initially anticipated. As he juggles with the complexities of family dynamics, with a wife and daughter who both expect him to be the man they remember, he tries to stay afloat, grappling with the pros and cons of navigating two lives simultaneously.

OR

A domestic Miguel trying his best.

Chapter 1: A new earth

Getting there was definitely the easy part.

Miguel, having now crossed the portal, found himself in a version of his own universe that felt both eerily familiar and distinctly different at the same time. The air crackled with an energy unique to this reality, and the surroundings hinted at subtle variations from the world he knew. 

The place smelled like blood, car fumes, and rain.

All there was left to do now was dispose of the body, which he quickly and painlessly did by sending it to a post apocalyptic earth where humans didn’t exist anymore, but not before searching him for all his belongings, and taking a last look at the dead stranger with his face who laid motionless on the floor.

Once that was done, he carefully examined the possessions he had salvaged. All of them served as a reminder of the life his alternate self had left behind, which he now would be occupying. 

A wallet with a photo of his daughter, a couple credit cards and all his documents. No money, which could suggest that currency might differ in this version of reality, a detail he filed away for later consideration. A set of keys with a keychain of a child’s drawing encased in clear resin, to protect it. 

It resonated with a heartfelt sentiment: He couldn't help but think about the child who had created that drawing. Her life, her experiences and her dreams so far. Briella.

And last but not least, His wedding ring, which thankfully fit him snugly. Commitment.

A tangible connection to his past and a reminder of the choices he had made. Miguel contemplated, for the nth time that day, the significance of his decision to enter this reality, wondering if it really offered a true escape, or a mere variation of the challenges he planned on leaving behind.

As Miguel began to scan his surroundings, he noticed subtle differences in the architecture, technology, and even the people bustling about outside the alley. Their clothes looked different from other earths, but not completely unlike his own to the point where he couldn’t blend in if he wanted to. 

He was used to crossing multiple universes on a daily basis. What he wasn’t used to, however, was having to accept the fact that he would be actively living in this one.

He also couldn't ignore the extremely likely possibility that his alternate self might have faced different challenges in the past, family or no family. And this knowledge only added layers of complexity to his quest for a fresh start.

Armed only with his memories, belongings, and the unique perspective of being himself in this alternate universe, he ventured forth into the unknown. The portal behind him closed, severing the connection to his original earth for good. 

Miguel embraced the uncertainty, a deep inhaling of this air bringing about a new kind of determination previously unknown to him.

And so, for the very first time, he grabbed his keys and went home.

Read it on ao3

[asherthehimbo]

Always Black Cats And Bitter Coffee: Chapter 5 [part 2]

Chapter 5 [part 2] : Sanni

[Next -> CHAPTER 5: part 3 ]

warnings: Sanni, malnourishment, assult, bad legal talk, kidnapping, kinda? talks about previous assult/abuse, Minho being down bad, panick attacks, hospitals, mention comatose state, mentions of passing out, mentions of being drugged, a lot of other things I cant think of

word count: 2.6K

You don't remember much before waking up in Minho’s arms. You remember getting to work, you remember seeing familiar pink hair outside the cafe, you remember starting to panic, you remember bolting to the back of the cafe the moment Sani had reached for the door. As if she wanted to try and enter the cafe.

You don’t remember going home. You don’t remember getting into bed or changing your shirt. You don’t know why Minho is here, nor why you're using him as a pillow. You realize it's dark out when looking out the window and bolt upright in a panic, Minho doing the same. “Hey, woah, calm down.” he puts his hands on your shoulders, a way to try and keep you grounded.

“What happened? Why am I home? I- The cafe, I need to go and close. What are you doing here?” Questions flew out of you at warp speed, worry overtaking you. You could feel your throat burning, and you started coughing right after your words left your mouth. You brought your hand up to grab your neck only to feel bandages covering it. Minho quickly gave you a bottle of water. You didn't know where he got it from. “Calm down, breathe for me. You had a panic attack, and you fell asleep afterwards, Mei called me, and I was close, so I came to help you. Mei already closed the cafe, Star is in the living room, and everything is fine. I’m here because I didn't wanna leave you confused.”

You slowly nod your head at his words, taking everything in. You tried to speak again, only for your voice to come out scratchy. You drank some more water before pointing to your neck questioningly. “ Oh, uhm when I found you, you kept scratching your neck, it's not as bad as it looks, I just couldn't apply the bandages well since you were sleeping and I didn’t want to wake you with too much movement.” Minho supplied, you nodded your head.

That had happened before, back when you had regular panic attacks scratching your neck was normal. “Do you want to- Actually nevermind. What happened? I understand that you may not want to talk about it, but you really scared me and Mei, and If I’m gonna have to keep this a secret from the others I need to know the full story” Minho was right, you did need to talk about it, but hearing his words reminded you of something.

“Where are Seungmin and I.N ?” You asked worriedly. If they were here when Minho brought you home, you knew it wouldn't be long until this information would be relayed to Hong Joong, who would then tell Mingi and Yunho “I called in a favor with Felix, so they’re having a sleepover at my place, I guessed you wouldn't want them to worry about you” you breathed a sigh of relief at Minho’s words before starting to fiddle with the cap of the bottle of water in your hands. “And um.. My shirt?”

“When I got to you your shirt had been ripped up, you seemingly tore through it in an effort to get to your neck and chest, Mei said you had an extra one in your bag so after I put on your bandages I put it on.” Minho supplied before standing up, walking to your dresser before picking up some new bandages, and what looked like a salve. “I know you're tired, but I need to apply some of this and then re-apply the bandages correctly. Do you think you can tell me what happened while I do that?” His voice was so gentle, so caring, you didn’t think you could deny him.

You nodded your head before standing up to go sit on the chair by your dresser in front of him.``Umm it’s a bit long and triggering, so if there's something I mention that makes you uncomfortable, could you please tell me?” Minho’s heart broke at your words. You were worrying about him even though this was your story, even in your current state. “Ofcourse, could you take off your shirt? The bandages go around some of your collarbone as well” You complied, albeit a bit hesitant, “I um have some sca-” he interrupted your words, “I know, I found you without a shirt, remember? You don’t have to tell me about them if you don’t want to, although I am curious.”

“It’s kind of connected to the story, so I don’t mind telling you, it happened a while ago, so it’s not as triggering for me anymore, I kind of got over it, besides they’ve started to heal, you can only really see them up close, remember a month ago when Felix and Hyunjin freaked out when we had that measuring with Innie? I had thought it was because they saw my scars, but quickly brushed that off, cause they were too far away, and they started giggling, so I don’t think it's that. I trust you, though Minho, despite only having known you for a little over 2 months, so I don’t mind telling you.” You smiled up at him as if you were trying to comfort him despite you being the one affected by whatever happened.

He processed your words for a moment before remembering the moment you were talking about, when Felix and Hyunjin were being weird because they saw your scars, only they didn't see your scars, they saw your soulmark, and they didn't tell him. That added another conversation he needed to have to his list.

“I’m happy that you feel comfortable with me” was all Minho said before he slowly started unwrapping the bandages, because what else was he supposed to say? You took a deep breath before starting to talk.

“Only Seungmin, Innie, and Chan know about this here. Although they don’t know the full story, they know the jist of it. So when I was about 15, this girl came up to me and my friend, she was really sweet and I guess I developed a soft spot for her? I kind of saw her as a younger sister and then about two weeks into our friendship she comes up to me saying she’s my soulmate, she had the same tattoo as me and everything -’ Minho’s hands stopped their motion of unwrapping the bandages, You didn’t seem to notice, “-obviously I was excited, I mean my soulmate was someone I was close to, but something still felt off I guess? Like the feelings I had for her were nothing like what my friends, Nugget, and his soulmate had for each other, I’ve told you about them before, right?” Minho hums in agreement because yes, you have told him about your friend Nugget and his soulmate, Yuyu.

“So I talked to them about it, and they said that maybe it's just different for everyone, I mean she had the same soulmark and everything, so we brushed it off thinking it was just nervousness. So life went on, me and her dated for 5 years Minho, 5 years of my life I spent caring for her, loving her, and feeling guilty because I felt as If my love wasn't enough. I did love her, but I couldn't bring myself to love her as much as my friends described their love for their soulmates. Do you know how much that hurt me? Everyone talked as if they were in love, and I only talked as if I loved her, not as if I was in love with her. I don’t know if that even makes sense, but that's how I saw it. We broke up at the end of my first year at uni when I was still in Kq. It was a messy ordeal, but basically she had class with one of my friends, she dropped one of her books when walking out of class, my friend had picked it up, and wanted to give it back to her, but his boyfriend had stopped him, he was nosy and wanted to find out what it was I guess. One of the only times his curiosity might have been for the best. I still remember when they showed me the book. It was blue, almost the same shade as my hair, it looked so plain? On the outside, but opening, it is still something that haunts me to my core.” Minho felt you shiver under his fingers. He didn't know if it was because of the memory you were reliving or the salve he was applying to your scratch marks.

“The book was basically like a log of me, she had everything wrote down, my schedules, my friends, how much she hates said friends, her plans to get rid of my friends, everything was written down, but worst of all was, she admitted, in this stupid little journal she admitted she wasn't my soulmate, her tattoo was fake fake Minho, she faked everything, she had fake tattoo’s custom made when she was young, and got a real one as soon as she turned 18, she had special markers that she would use to color in the little heart based on my moods too, because that’s something my tattoo does, it tells me how my soulmate feels via colors, fuck she even based her mood on the color of my tattoo.” You were crying now, and Minho didn’t know what to do. He was so unbelievably angry and yet all he wanted to do was cradle you in his arms, he gently wrapped the last of the bandage around your neck, before squatting down so that he was looking up at you, eye’s soft, his had placed on your cheek and thumb wiping away your tears, you leaned into his touch.

“ I- I confronted her about it obviously, my friends wanted to come with me, told me she was dangerous and despite it being true I didn’t want to believe it. I mean it made sense yes, why our love always felt forced, felt wrong, but I still didn’t want to believe it, she was such a big part of my life, I didn’t want to believe someone who I loved, someone who I trusted, would do this to me. As you can guess, it didn't go so well, the scars I have, they- they” You had struggled to speak further.

“Hey, hey it’s okay, calm down, take a breath, you don’t need to tell me if it's too hard for you” Minho’s voice was calm and reassuring, “No I want to tell you, I need to tell you. I trust you” You took another deep breath before continuing. “Turns out she was much more dangerous than I thought, she had this thought that if she could make me look at her, look at out bond-” You spit the word out as if it was repulsive, as if it burned, as if it was the worst word in the korean vocabulary, and Minho couldn't help but agree.

“- that I would understand we were meant to be. The scars, they aren't self-inflicted despite the looks of it. She did it, she made sure to leave the mark unharmed, something about how now I had no choice but to look at the tattoo that had been the same as hers, and how now that I was scared nobody else would accept me. That now I was truly hers and how she’s been waiting years to do this. She waited years to scar my body just so that she could feed into her own delusions. Eventually, my friends had found me, about a week later, she had hid well. The thing is, I had already passed out due to lack of sustenance, blood loss, and the shock of it all. I was in a comatose state for about 2 weeks before I woke up. According to my friends, she had been arrested on the spot, but the police were having trouble keeping her because the only evidence they had, me, was unconscious. Eventually, after I gave a statement, they could keep her on second-degree assault since there was no intent on murder. Things had gotten rough after that. Everything reminded me of her. I had frequent panic attacks, I couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, eventually, when I had passed out for the 4th time due to malnutrition, the school had consulted my parents and let me move schools. My parents aren't really around, so they don't know everything that happened either. Things had started to get better, but about 4 months ago I got a call from the officer that was handling my case, They let Sanni, the girl, go because the prison was overcrowded and she had good behavior, I started panicking a bit when hearing that, but foolishly felt safe enough because I was in a new school, I kept to myself, and I have a fucking restraining order against her. Guess that doesn't mean shit, because today that pink haired bitch showed up to the cafe, I guess it just sent me back, I’m sorry for worrying you”

Minho had taken a moment to process your words before he just leaned forward, wrapped his arms around your waist and hugging you as tight as he could, his cheek placed right on the tattoo you two shared, was he crying? Yes, but you didn’t need to know that. You looked down in surprise before placing your hand in his hair. “Don't ever apologize for making me worry, worrying about you is a conscious decision I made, and it's something I plan on doing a lot more after what you've just told me because holy shit [Name], the fact that your still standing is something I'm so glad about. I am so sorry that you had to go through that and that the police are too incompetent to realize she should be locked up for life.” Minho looked up at you, eye’s glossy and tear tracks on his cheeks matching your own. “From now on I’ll protect you, okay? From now on you come to me if anything happens” He smiled up at you, a loving smile, as if he was looking at the most precious thing in the world, and you would be lying if you said it didn’t make you feel things.

“Why do you care so much?” you asked, only after realizing that it may have come off as rude, but the question was based on nothing but pure curiosity. “{Name], I care because-” This was his chance, his chance to tell you that he was yours, that he was the one you shared a bond with. “- I care because I’m your friend” you smiled down at him. “I think you’re bumped up to my best friend now” you chuckled, “Would your Nugget be okay with that?” Minho responded back to try and lighten the mood. “He’s just going to have to deal with it.” You responded, “Now come on, all this crying made me hungry” You stood up after Minho released you, putting on your shirt before walking out of the room, motioning for him to follow.

He could have told you, could have become yours, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. You needed a friend right now. You didn’t need a soulmate to add to this mess, so for now, he would be your friend. If you were happy, he was content with staying here. Protecting you from far away.

But with the realization that Sanni saw him and knows where you work, he thinks it will be much harder than he expected. He whips out his phone sending a message in the gc he has with the two idiots, before putting the device back in his pocket and walking out of your room, following the sound of your voice cooing at Star.

abc × 2 masterlist | soulbound masterlist | Stray kids masterlist

Current Taglist[7/30]: @i-dont-know-me-either @gaysontheprince @skzhoes @xavi-in-kpopland @moonlight-894 @foxilsdenn @conwunder

note: Okay, so the legal talk in this is bad, but we move on. Please tell me what you all think of the story so far! also tell me what u think of Sanni😈 cause we are going to be seeing a lot more of here after this. Also, just a reminder, the way Blue handles trauma in this smau is not a reflection of the only way to deal with a trauma. Everyone has their own methods

[mklegends-smokescreen]

MK LEGENDS: BLOOD BOUND

Chapter 12: Night out in Town

Nico, after a couple of hours of training, Nico heads off to his room to get some things before he heads out.

ROBIN: Hey, General, do you mind if I go to town? Given it seems like I have no work due soon?

Sonya would not her head, and then give him a deadline.

SONYA: Just be back by 10 pm, otherwise you're doing the dishes for punishment.

ROBIN: Sure thing, General Cage-Blade. 

He said, as he left and got on the nearest taxi and drove off to town. As he got out, he paid his driver and then kept walking like a normal citizen through the streets. Eventually, he would stop and sit on a park bench to eat a sandwich he bought. As he chewed on the sandwich, a girl walked over, carrying a schoolbag with a notebook in it. Nico would notice her blue hair, her emerald green eyes, and blush a little bit. He barely even realized she was going his way.

GIRL: Hey, do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full.

ROBIN: Huh, oh, no, of course not, go ahead. Don't mind me, please.

GIRL: Thankiee.

Nico would scoot over, almost falling off the bench. As the girl sat down, he could feel his heart start to race. He couldn't think straight. She took out a notebook, full of drawings that she drew of outfit designs. She would notice the crusader looking at her drawings. She would get nervous and try to hide the pages he already saw. Nico noticed her shyness and decided to introduce himself.

ROBIN: Sorry about that. I didn't mean to be an inconvenience, I was just curious. It's nice to meet you, I'm Nico.

He said, extending his hand to her. The girl would smile and chuckle, and shake his hand.

MELISA: It's no problem. Melisa Wilson. I like to do fashion and character design... You, wanna see--

NICO: Yes.

Nico was as red as a stop sign and responded faster than my Tumblr mutual's ability to hit the reblog button whenever I post some new art.

MELISA: Damn, and I thought I was a fanatic. So, what are you doing?

Nico, finally able to control his speech,clears his throat and responds.

ROBIN: Well, I'm taking a small break. Just walking through the city for my free day.

MELISA: Really? What do you do for a living?

ROBIN: You wouldn't believe me. You'd probably call me a lunatic at most.

Melisa would look at Nico and chuckle.

MELISA: Whatever it is, I've heard dumber things.

ROBIN: I'm Special Forces.

She would look at him, raising an eyebrow.

MELISA: You were right, that's the fakest shit I've heard in a long time, and I've heard politicians speak.

Nico, glancing at her with the signature look of superiority, takes out his wallet and shows his ID. She looked at the card, and looked up at the masked moron.

MELISA: Well, I'd be damned. This chapter has really taken a turn.

ROBIN: Sorry, did you just break the fourth wall?

MELISA: No, I've always known it existed, it's just that the writer doesn't seem to mind. Or give a shit, really.

ROBIN: Oh my god, your crazy matches my crazy.

MELISA: Aaaand, that's from Deadpool. On the bright side though, Marvel or Disney can't get us, because big money corporations don't care about lowlife brain rot stuff like this, so we're safe.

Nico would chuckle and look down with his hand on his face. He would then ask her.

ROBIN: Anyways, uh, wanna get a coffee together some time?

MELISA: That would be nice. Just don't forget to come back and tell me about the adventures of a masked vigilante.

Nico would laugh and the two would walk away, but not before Nico receiving a light pat on the back, blushing intensively. He would then head back to the base. The second he walked in, he didn't notice Sonya literally at the door.

SONYA: Have fun, Ghai?

ROBIN: Uh, yes, yes, ma'am. Sorry for being a little late, I went places.

SONYA: Drinking? 

ROBIN: I prefer not to say. 

Nico would head back to his room, but before he entered, Sonya interrupted him.

SONYA: Oh, Nico, before you go to sleep....

Nico would bend back, and Sonya would tap on her watch, showing it's actually 21:59.

SONYA: You aren't late. I'm impressed.

ROBIN: Ma'am, Thanks, ma'am.

SONYA: Now, sleep. you earned it.

The caped crusader would salute Sonya, and then close his door. As he closed the door, he would take a big sigh, jumping in bed. As he lays down, he looks up and says to himself.

ROBIN: Oh lord, I finally found a perfect match and God knows how many people still ship me with Amara... Oh fuck, what am I gonna do...? Writer, what the fuck do I do?

Look man, I don't fucking know. I didn't intend for people to ship you with the daughter of the man who caused you pain. I love you with all my heart, but you gotta figure it out yourself.

ROBIN: ... You know what? You can suck it. I'll see ya next week.

He said, as he turned to the wall and snoze off, wondering what horrors await in the future.

[shwoo]

Doing the final edit of this fanfic did not take me as long as I thought it would. First half is done!

(Filbo's dad isn't the greatest parent, but he's not abusive and Filbo isn't scared of him, just to be clear. Filbo just doesn't like to see people upset, especially loved ones.)

TItle: Just Dropping in (part 1 of 2) Summary: Filbo has lived with his dad almost all his life, but now that he's back from Snaktooth, he's decided to stay with some journalist who wasn't even part of the original expedition. Filbo's dad has some suspicions. He has a lot of suspicions. (Also on AO3)

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Chapter 1: Keep It Under Wraps! Chapter 2: Don't Spill The Beans!

The door to Theobe's apartment still appeared to be closed and locked. That was a good start, they guessed. They'd half-expected to come home to find it wide open. At two months, the Snaktooth trip wasn't exactly their longest ever, but…

They shifted their grocery bags to one arm and opened the door, to an untouched front hall, and sighed. All right. Back to the real world.

Filbo followed them in. "Wow, Buddy, you live here?" He stopped to admire the hat rack next to the door. "A hat rack? You really thought of everything!"

Theobe smiled. Almost back to normal. They made a detour to the kitchen to drop their groceries on the counter -- they'd put them away in a second -- and headed to the living room to lie on the couch.

The living room was as immaculate as they'd left it, which knowing them, was probably going to last another five minutes. They gave the main couch an experimental push, and it once again failed to sprout cockroaches. Disappointed, they flopped backwards onto the couch cushions.

They were going to order pizza later. The two of them had decided on pepperoni, and Theobe could almost feel the crispness of the crust and the chewiness of the base. And the cheese… Soft and melty, but still semi-solid. And real tomatoes in the sauce, tangy without being covered by overwhelming sweetness…

Filbo entered the room from the kitchen, with the same boundless energy he'd had since they'd left Wiggle's play. "Whoa, that is a lot of books, Buddy," he said, pointing at the bookshelves. "And did I see a coffee machine back there?" He sounded hopeful.

Theobe tried to shrug. "I am a journalist." They'd had some pretty tough deadlines in the past. They did sometimes like to sleep, though, unlike some editors they could mention.

Filbo crossed the room to the hall door. "And what's through here?"

Reluctantly, Theobe rolled off the couch. They probably should show their new guest around. They could rest after that.

They showed Filbo the bathroom, the bedroom, the spare room, and then the office, which Filbo seemed particularly impressed with. He seemed impressed with everything, but Theobe had learned to pick up on the nuance by now.

"I wish I had a whole room just to work in," he said, as they headed back to the living room. "Not that I… have any work to do." He laughed weakly. "Uh… too bad Beffica didn't wanna stay with us, huh?"

"I think she wants to live on her own," said Theobe. She was going to have trouble finding a place on such short notice, but they knew how much she hated having to rely on someone else's goodwill.

Also, all three of them knew that she wouldn't enjoy living with Filbo, and Filbo would enjoy it even less, so it was a little weird that he'd been the one to suggest it. For someone who was always telling Theobe to look out for themself more, he wasn't good at taking his own advice.

"Well, she'll be fine, I guess," said Filbo. He looked at the phone sitting on the corner table. "Oh, and we better make sure Cromdo got in touch with his sister." He cleared his throat a couple of times. "Speaking of which… I kinda gotta call my family. You know, let them know I'm not… dead… Can I borrow your phone? They're a little far away, but I'll pay you back! I'm… good for it… Heh."

"Don't worry about it," said Theobe. They weren't rich, but they owned their apartment outright, and a long-distance phone call wasn't going to break the bank. "Call your family!"

"Hey, thanks, Buddy!" said Filbo. He picked up the phone and hit the keypad, mumbling to himself. After a few seconds, someone picked up. "Aunt Susma! Hi! It's me, Filbo!"

Theobe sat in the armchair closest to the corner table. Filbo had talked a little about his family, but never in much detail. This could be interesting.

"Nope, still alive, haha," Filbo responded. "We had to cut things a little short, but I'm staying in New Gr-- Oh, hi, dad!"

Theobe cocked their head. Filbo had said several things about his dad, Miglo. Positive things, mostly, but Filbo could say very positive things in very concerning ways. His dad was, at the least, a bit overprotective.

Filbo's expression had turned slightly nervous. "I was just telling Aunt Susma I was gonna stay in good ol NGC for-- No, I'm okay, really! Still got.. all my limbs…" He looked at his left arm as he spoke. It was currently part banana and part jerky, but Theobe had to agree, it was still there.

Theobe could faintly hear Filbo's dad over the phone. He sounded agitated, but they could have guessed that from Filbo's half of the conversation. They couldn't really blame this Miglo guy for being upset. Filbo had been gone for a year, and Snaktooth Island did have a reputation.

"Actually, I'm staying with a friend?" Filbo continued, with a glance at Theobe. "They're a journalist, I met them on Snak-- Well, no, but Lizbert invited them after we got there, and…" he chuckled, "they did save my life a couple times--" He winced, and held the phone away from his earhole.

The chattering from the phone had got louder. Theobe could almost make out words, but not quite. And they guessed they shouldn't pry, even though they really wanted to. Filbo looked stressed enough as it was.

"Dad! Dad, please calm down. I'm fine, I swear! We got out there… Huh? Oh, right." Filbo smiled. "Their name…" he said proudly, "is Theoblab."

Theobe had a bad habit of forgetting to introduce themself by name, and when Filbo had started calling them "Buddy", they'd assumed it was a generic nickname he used for everyone. And at first, that had definitely been true. He'd called everyone Buddy, often several times a day. But as Snaxburg had repopulated, Filbo had begun to stop using it as much, until the only person he stilladdressed that way was Theobe. By the boat ride back, they'd had been on the verge of asking him if he thought they really were called Buddy, when Filbo had finally, sheepishly, asked for their name.

"Uh…" Filbo continued. "Hang on, dad." He covered the receiver, and turned to Theobe, squinting. "Buddy? What's your last name, again?"

Theobe couldn't be surprised that he'd forgotten already. Besides, it was an easy one to mix up. "Rumplerun," they said.

Filbo uncovered the receiver. "Rumplerun!" he said into the phone. "They're writing a story about Snaktooth Island-- I'm staying to help them out, like they helped all of us out on--" He paused. "Well, I can't just come home on such short notice… Besides, I promised." He listened again. "I wanna see more of the city. And uh, broaden my horizons…?" Another pause. "Yeah, but I don't really remember much from back then… Uh, I'll ask them." He put his banana-y paw back over the receiver. "My dad wants to talk to you."

"Sure thing," said Theobe. "I'm a little nervous," they added with a laugh. They weren't, but talking to hostile sources wasn't their favourite thing in the world.

"Aw, don't be!" said Filbo, handing them the phone. "He's not… uh…" He scratched his head. "Well, he's all the way back home!"

Theobe took the receiver. "Hello? Theoblab Rumplerun speaking…"

"Miglo Fiddlepie," snapped the voice on the other end. "Now, what are your intentions with my son?!"

"Um…" said Theobe. Maybe that meant something different where Miglo lived. He didn't seem to have an accent, though. At least, his accent wasn't any different from Theobe's. "A roof over his head while he's in town?"

Miglo grunted. "Are you even a real journalist?"

"What?" said Theobe. "Of course! I work for GNN…" They hoped that would be true for longer than it took to write their Snaktooth story.

"Well, Theoblab Rumplerun who works for GNN," began Miglo.

"That's me," Theobe put in.

"Watch yourself," said Miglo. "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this."

There was a click, and a dial tone.

Theobe looked at the receiver. "He didn't say goodbye…"

"Heh, yeah," said Filbo. "Sorry about my dad, Buddy. He can be… a little intense."

"I've talked to worse," said Theobe with a shrug. They hoped Miglo had fun trying to get to the bottom of nothing in particular. They had a couch to go lie on.

.

Theobe sorted through their pile of drafts, which by now was threatening to take over their entire desk. They had plenty of raw material, and it was far past time to start putting it all in order. They were definitely starting the story off at the mysterious door, just before Filbo and Eggabell had finally managed to open it, and then they were going to switch to their arrival on the island. They'd retooled the giant moth made of pizza into gale force winds, and they'd done enough research on balloon accidents that they were sure it could stand up to reasonable scrutiny.

But then what? Then they profiled someone, but who did they start off with? Filbo? And after that, did they go back to their fall into the "lava tubes" under the mountain? Or did they continue with profiles and village life, and save all the Lizbert stuff for the end? Theobe had become sure that the real key to selling stories about mysteries was to emphasise the Grumpus element, so the village life was vital.

But they still needed to spice it up with action, and since they were leaving out the Snak hunts, a lot of that action was right at the start or the end of their trip. They might be able to get away with adding the expeditions they'd conducted with Triffany, but how non-linear could they get, before Clumby started complaining at them again for alienating their audience?

Most of what they'd written was still technically debunkable, but at least this time Theobe knew it. And if someone else got close enough to Snaktooth Island to force a retraction, then everyone had bigger problems than Theobe's job security.

There were muffled sounds coming from down the hall-- voices. Mostly Filbo, but there was someone else, too, and it didn't sound like the radio. And Filbo seemed to be squeaking a lot, and he'd been doing that a lot less lately. Theobe scribbled a quick note about event ordering on some scrap paper, and jumped up to investigate.

Filbo was in the front hall, talking to someone over the intercom. "I'm not really dressed to go out--" he began, then turned to Theobe with a smile. "Buddy! I was just about to come get you! My dad is, uh… here."

"Your… dad?" repeated Theobe, confused. Their first thought was that he couldn't be. He didn't live here, he lived in some small town near Grumpney. Or according to Filbo, not that near. But obviously, he didn't have to stay there, any more than Filbo did.

"Hey!" said the voice from the intercom, who did sound a lot like the grump Theobe had spoken to on the phone a few weeks ago. "I hear you! Let Filbo down here!"

"I'm not stopping him," said Theobe into the intercom. They tried to think. As usual, Filbo was wearing only his mayoral sash, and it seemed clean, but he did still have a Razzby instead of a right foot, and the Inchwrap he'd eaten the day before the party had migrated to his left arm. So in that sense, he'd been telling the truth. He really wasn't dressed to go out. Maybe in few more days.

"I'd really rather stay up here, dad," said Filbo quickly. "Uh, that's why I didn't get dressed properly today. I'm not feeling too great. I think it's something I ate." He chuckled slightly. "M… maybe you can come up here?" He looked at Theobe as he spoke.

Theobe got the question in his expression. "Sure, why not?" It seemed like Miglo wasn't going to go away unless they gave him at least something. And despite his hostility, Theobe was getting very curious to meet Filbo's dad. He'd had a hard life, Filbo had said.

Filbo looked relieved. "Because if you came up here, you could see that everything's fine. I'm just having a fun vacation!"

Miglo grumbled for a second, then said "Fine. But people know where I am."

"Uh," said Filbo. He gave Theobe a confused look. "That's… good?"

"I'll see you in the lobby," said Theobe, and turned off the intercom. See how he liked not being said goodbye to.

Filbo grabbed his head. "Oh, grump, what are we gonna do? Why did I invite him up here?" He lowered his arms. "No, no, we'll get through it. He's gotta see me, or he's just gonna worry. And maybe… call the police again."

"Again?" said Theobe, intrigued. But now wasn't the time. "How are you gonna hide the Snakifications? We could get out the cloak." Filbo usually wore a cloak when he had to go outside, but it would look really weird to wear one indoors. They were more of a poor weather thing, if anything.

Filbo seemed to have recovered. "That won't be necessary, because I have a secret weapon!" He ran out of the room, and returned with a large bag of gummy grumps. "Ta-da!"

Theobe inspected it, noting the speech bubble above the cheerful Grumpuses on the front, which declared that "We're 100% Sugar-Free!"

"Hey, try not to eat too many of those." One time, Theobe had eaten a whole bag in one sitting, after reading an article in Grumpus Health and getting curious. It had been the second least pleasant post-food experience of their life. Worth it for the fact check, though.

Filbo smirked. "That's the whole point, Buddy! I figure I can get rid of… at least one of these?" He looked at his Inchwrap arm, then his Razzby leg.

"Ah," said Theobe. He was trying to speed up his next detransformation. That would do it, but it only ever seemed to work on one body part at a time. Something about programmed cell death in Snakmatter and digestive capacity? Floofty had started to describe it, but they'd spent just as much time complaining about the loss of their research, and wondering aloud if Eggabell's notes had survived, so they didn't seem to know much more about it than anybody else. And then there was their leg…

Theobe was a little grossed out by Filbo's plan, but they guessed they couldn't talk, with their own experiments. And that favour they'd done for Wambus on Snaktooth.

They grabbed their keys from the side table next to the door, and said "See you in a few."

Filbo ripped open the bag and tossed a couple of gummy grumps into his mouth. "Uh, try not to let my dad get to you, Buddy." He swallowed, and tossed in a few more. "He's just… protective. He can't find out about Bugsnax, or he'll freak out even worse."

Theobe smiled. "Don't worry, Filbo, he won't hear about them from me."

.

Theobe had been half-worried and half-hoping that Miglo would leave before they could get downstairs, but there in the lobby was a Grumpus with a very familiar build. He also had lilac-coloured fur and a slight overbite, but otherwise, he looked a lot like Filbo.

The Grumpus looked up as Theobe approached, and scowled. "So you are who you said you were."

It was definitely him. Unless the city was hosting a soundalike convention in the hotel across the street or something.

"Uh, yeah," said Theobe. "Listen, can you call ahead next time? We, uh, weren't expecting anyone today." Theobe had never been very sociable outside of their job, and this was the first time they and Filbo had had to figure out how to host someone not in on the secret.

Miglo followed them to the elevator. "I shouldn't have to call to see my son."

Theobe was pretty sure that being related didn't exempt him from giving them a heads up, but they didn't say so. Nothing Filbo had said had given the impression that Miglo was a violent grump, but he did seem to be barely restraining himself from… something.

After a few seconds of silence in the elevator, Miglo cleared his throat. "Why would you agree to put up someone you just met, anyway?"

"What?" said Theobe. "Filbo? I didn't just… We met on Snaktooth! Didn't he tell you?" They were pretty sure they remembered him saying that.

"Hmp," said Miglo.

"Really," said Theobe, who was getting the sense that Miglo didn't believe them. "He got the town running again-- If he hadn't been there, we don't know what would've happened."

Filbo usually attributed Snaxburg's revival to Theobe, but Theobe didn't see how. All they'd done was catch Bugsnax and listen to people, which they'd had to do to keep their job. They'd spent so much time exploring the island and catching Bugsnax that they hadn't even been in town half the time. And meanwhile, Filbo had made sure to check on everyone every single day.

Miglo chuckled. "Ah, so you don't know him at all."

They reached Theobe's floor, and Theobe thought better of what they'd been about to say. "I think you're selling Filbo short," they said instead.

They were beginning to have some suspicions about the way Filbo always put himself down.

Theobe unlocked the door to find Filbo waiting for them in the front hall. He'd changed into rain boots to hide his raspberry foot, and was holding his left arm behind his back. "Dad!" he said, with what sounded like genuine enthusiasm. "Great to see you!"

Theobe's rain boots were going to be sticky after this. It was a good thing that their allergies only seemed to respond to living Bugsnax.

"Filbo, you're all right!" said Miglo, sounding relieved. They hugged briefly, Filbo only using his right arm. Then Miglo added "Uh, what are you holding behind your back?"

"Well, I'll bet you're tired from your trip," said Filbo, beckoning him with his right arm. "Buddy has a really good coffee maker."

Miglo narrowed his eyes and looked around. "And who is Buddy?"

"Oh!" Filbo laughed sheepishly. "That's Theobe… It's kind of like an… inside joke…?"

Theobe waved. There was something bizarre about hearing their real name come out of Filbo's mouth.

Filbo walked sideways through the door to the dining room, and Miglo followed.

He frowned, then sniffed. "Seems clean enough."

"I vacuumed just this morning," said Filbo proudly.

Miglo turned on Theobe so fast that Theobe jumped. "You're making him do all the housework? Just because he's unemployed? Hasn't he been through enough already?"

Filbo ran between them. "It's okay, dad, it's okay! We split the chores. We even have a chore wheel." He took a step back to hide his arm, and pointed at the fridge in the kitchen nook.

"Yeah, over here," said Theobe. They hadn't really seen the point in having a chore wheel for just two people, but Filbo had insisted. He'd decorated his side of the wheel with a paw print and a smiley face, so Theobe had put their own, slightly smaller paw print on their side, as well as a doodle of a pencil.

While Miglo was looking at the chore wheel, Filbo put his right hand behind his head, smiled, and tried to make some sort of gesture with his lettuce arm. He glanced at it, and whipped it behind his back again.

"Hmp," said Miglo, and headed back to the dining area.

Theobe bit back a sarcastic comment about whether he'd finished his inspection, and said "So, how would you like your coffee? Would you like some music?" They gestured at the tape deck in the corner of the room.

Miglo glared. "Regular coffee. No music. Quit trying to suck up to me."

"Uh, dad, shouldn't you have soy milk, or creamer…?" said Filbo.

"Oh, yeah," said Miglo quickly. "Soy milk, please."

"Sure thing," said Theobe. Filbo was lactose intolerant as well. They also had oat milk, for Shelda, though she preferred flax milk. "Or we have oat--"

"Soy," said Miglo. "Don't even try to get on my good side. My daughter-- Filbo's little sister-- she had a teacher who tried that once."

"Dad…" said Filbo, sounding a little exasperated. He glanced at Theobe, and shrugged.

"No, they need to hear this," said Miglo. "She's a film-making genius-- so good her tenth grade media teacher tried to enter her final assignment in a contest as his own!" He paused.

Theobe could tell he wanted them to ask what had happened to them. They considered pretending to be completely absorbed in measuring coffee into the filter, but they were a little curious. "Okay, then what?"

"I made some calls," said Miglo happily. "Now he's blacklisted from teaching for life! Filmmaking, too. I have connections."

"Yeah…" said Filbo weakly. "That sure was… a thing that happened." He didn't sound sarcastic. Just like he'd heard this story too many times.

Theobe wasn't sure they believed what Miglo was saying, although Filbo clearly seemed to. "You did all that just because he tried to get on your good side?" they said, as they turned the machine on.

"You have no idea who my stepfather is, do you?" said Miglo. "Of course you don't."

Theobe wanted to say that Filbo had somehow forgotten to give them an itemised list of all of his relatives on the day they met. Instead, they said "Nope."

"Not even a guess?" said Miglo.

Well, at least he was enjoying himself now. "The head of the Grumpinati?" said Theobe.

"Ever heard of Barolb Heavytreat?" Miglo continued.

"The senator?" said Theobe, legitimately surprised. He might as well have been the head of the Grumpinati, for the influence he had. Heavytreat definitely was married, but they couldn't remember what his husband's name was.

"Dad, please don't be so hard on Buddy-- I mean Theobe," said Filbo. "They're just a great Grumpus. They helped everyone on the island!"

Of course they had. Filbo had asked them to. "Even Cromdo." Theobe didn't actually dislike Cromdo, but he'd been hard to deal with before he'd stopped hiding his interests.

The coffee maker was starting to give off a delicious smell. Theobe had spent so much time trying to imagine what Bugsnax must smell like to the others that a lot of normal food smells still set off the memories. But never coffee. Maybe there was a coffee Bugsnak someone on the island, but if there was, they'd never encounter it.

"Filbo, you don't need to cover for them," said Miglo, more gently than Theobe had heard him speak so far. He hesitated. "Wait. Are they the one who made you wear that ridiculous sash? Is that part of their 'help'?"

Filbo picked at his sash. "It's not ridiculous…"

"Or was that Lizbert?" said Miglo. "Good thing you never married her. I had her totally wrong!"

"Still mad, huh?" said Filbo, half to himself.

"You and Lizbert dated?" said Theobe, surprised. Given what they knew about their age difference and when Lizbert had left home, they weren't sure when that could have even happened.

"No!" said Filbo. "Never. Dad's just…" He looked at his dad and laughed nervously.

"Thinking about your future," said Miglo.

"Well," said Filbo, "The sash was, uh, my idea. People kinda kept forgetting I was mayor, so I… But I wasn't really mayor, nobody elected me, so I was kind of like… honorary mayor? Nobody else wanted to do it, so…" He laughed again.

"You did a great job, Filbo," said Theobe.

"Aw, thanks, Buddy," said Filbo, sounding as touched as he did every time Theobe told him that. "Dad, I hope you'll forgive Lizbert one day. She didn't even really…" He frowned suddenly. "Oh, gru-- uh, gosh. I gotta go. Excuse me!" He rushed through the living room door.

Miglo jumped to his feet.

"He's just going to the bathroom!" said Theobe. Obviously the gummy grumps had kicked in. Right when the coffee was ready, too. Oh well.

(Important author's note: I know about Joey Quickbeans. But apparently, in this story Theobe does not)

(Next Chapter)

[anonymityisfunwriter]

The Twin Flame - Chapter 16: "Anti-Hero"

"I'll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror. It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero..."

"Here," Sharon offers, tossing some clothes on her bed for you. She juts her thumb to the shelf lined with shoes. "Take your pick. And try to keep them on this time."

"Ha," you chuckle, picking up the clothes off the bed. "You're so funny, Sharon. I missed that about you."

She raises her eyebrows, offering a tight smile. Without another word, you pad around to the other side of the partition and start to change. She waits a moment, taking a large gulp of air, "So.. you've just been with Sam since you've been back? You Blipped, right?"

"Sure did," you humorlessly snicker. You don't really know what it is, you considered Sharon a friend, not a particularly close friend, but a friend nonetheless. In spite of that, something in the very recesses of your mind was telling you to keep your answers vague and nondescript. You're about to dismiss that gut feeling when you faintly hear Nick Fury's reminder to always trust that gut feeling, it's never wrong. You quickly respond, "And yeah, mostly at Sam's sister's house."

"Oh," she hums. 

"But you've been in Madripoor? That sounds like fun!"

"Something like that."

Your eyebrows furrow at Sharon's strange response, but you shake it off as you finish pulling on the borrowed jacket. As you pull it on, you notice the fresh blood staining the white bandage on your arm. You quickly look away, ignoring the pain radiating throughout your entire upper arm.

After pulling on a pair of her shoes, you both make your way back to the living room where Sam, Bucky, and Zemo await. 

"Much better," Sharon quips at a shirtless Sam as you both enter the room to see Sam choosing his clothes for Sharon's party. 

"Gross," you mumble under your breath, taking a seat on the couch but leaving a sizeable amount of space between you and Bucky.

"What's going on, Sharon?" Sam asks, tugging on a dark turtleneck. "You don't ever wanna come back home?"

"They'll lock me up if I set foot back in the States. Madripoor doesn't allow extradition," she tells Sam, pouring herself a very generous drink.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't call, but after the Blip and the chaos, I just..." Sam trails off.

"I mean, you know the whole hero thing is a joke, right?" Sharon bluntly interjects. "I mean the way you gave up that shield, deep down, you must know it's all hypocrisy."

"He knows," Zemo agrees, hiding his signature smirk behind his own drink. "And not so deep down."

"By the way, how is the new Cap?" Sharon asks.

Sharon's question is a reminder of yet another point for contention between you and Sam: he gave up the shield. You wanted to respect his choice, but the whole thing felt wrong. Steve was someone you cared about deeply, someone you would always care about, and watching someone tote around his legacy was shocking to say the least. 

"Don't get me started," Bucky quietly grumbles.

"Please," Sharon scoffs. "You buy into all that stars and stripes bullshit. Before you were Zemo's pet psychopath, you were Mr. America, Cap's best friend."

"Wow, she's kind of awful now," Bucky tells you, briefly noting that you've remained oddly silent this entire night. 

He hadn't really been able to talk to you one on one yet, but he sort of figured that you were going to be more than a little upset by the stunt Zemo pulled at the bar. It couldn't have been any easier than him pretending to be the Winter Soldier. 

He was just lucky that he got a front row seat to Sam chewing Zemo out for ambushing you like that.

Bucky saw it, how painful it was for you. You didn't think he saw it, but he did. The wince as the words left Zemo's mouth: asset. The way your eyes sunk to the floor. The way you curled into yourself like Zemo left you completely vulnerable in the middle of the bar with one word. 

More than anything, Bucky wanted to kill Zemo in that moment. And he would've if he it wouldn't have put you all in even more danger.

Even more danger. And since Sam had spat those words at him in Berlin, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. It was driving him crazy. None of it was adding up. And it felt even worse because he knew it was his fault that he felt like he didn't know anything about you anymore. 

"This Sunshine serum, it's dangerous. People shouldn't have that kind of power," Sam cautions.

Sharon nods at you. "Except for her?" 

"She didn't ask for it," Sam defends. 

"So because she didn't ask for it, she's 'worthy'," Sharon vaguely mocks. 

"Can we stop talking about me like I'm not right here?" you rhetorically ask the room. Then, you turn to Sharon to defend yourself, "And I don't think anyone should have it. But more than that, I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Now, she," Sharon starts, pointing at you. "She still buys into the superhero bullshit."

"I'm not naive, Sharon," you retort, gently grazing your throbbing arm in an attempt to assuage the shooting pain radiating up and down your arm. "But this isn't right. And the Power Broker, they're trying to create this serum for a reason. And I don't think it's to make superheroes."

Sharon shrugs, raising her drink to take a drink, "All I'm saying is maybe you guys should steer clear of all this stuff, for your own safety."

"We know it's a risk," Sam tells her. "But we're not going to leave until we find the one who cracked the code."

"We got a name: Wilfred Nagel," Bucky adds.

"Nagel works for the Power Broker," Sharon informs the four of you. 

"We need your help, Sharon. I can get your name cleared," Sam offers.

She tilts her glass at you, raising her eyebrow. "Like you got her name cleared?"

You freeze, her words washing over you like a bucket of cold water. You weren't even sure how she knew that, but in this moment it doesn't even matter. And maybe you're just going crazy, but you have to press your lips together to keep a chuckle from bubbling out of your mouth.

You almost laugh. You actually almost laugh. Not because anything is remotely funny, but because it seems like all your emotional wounds from your entire life on the outside are out and open for discussion and dissection, a complete open season on all your dirty laundry for one night only. Each poke and prod adding insult to injury. Salt in a wound that won't stop getting torn open. 

It's like you're stuck in a constant loop of getting older but never wiser. And now it's clear why you shouldn't be left to your own devices, it's because you were the problem. And everyone already knew it. 

"That's a different situation and you know it," Sam curtly retorts. "And this isn't about her, it's about you, and getting your name cleared."

"So you're haggling with my life?" Sharon counters.

"Not like that."

"I don't buy that. You pretending like you can clear my name."

"Okay, maybe it is hypocrisy. Maybe you're right. What happened to you, but I'm willing to try if you are." Sam offers once again. Sam's voice drops, speaking only to Sharon, "They cleared the bionic staring machine, and he's killed almost everyone he's ever met."

"I heard that," Bucky grunts, still carefully watching you in his peripheral.

"I don't trust charity," Sharon vaguely declines. 

"Alright, a deal then. You help us out, and I'll get your name cleared," Sam proposes, extending his hand to Sharon. 

She hesitates a moment before taking his hand. She drops his hand with a firm shake, taking another long drink before standing off the couch. "Well, I sell to some pretty connected people. Lay low, blend in, enjoy the party. Try to stay out of trouble. I'll see what I can find."

"Done."

"Blend in," she repeats, eyeing you specifically.

Zemo playfully shrugs, his drink still in hand. "Trouble."

"Why'd she say it like that? Do I not blend in?" you ask, looking to Bucky and Sam for a response. You scoff, "I blend in just fine." 

"Anyway..." Bucky lilts, avoiding the question. "We should probably head down."

You nod, standing up off the couch. "Agreed."

"Hey," Sam's voice stops you before you can start for the elevators. His voice drops, looking to you with an expression filled with concern. "You good?"

You're not even sure which part of the night he's talking about. You're not sure which part of the night was more rattling. And though you're deeply unsettled by the events that occurred tonight and by old emotional wounds that won't stop being prodded, you don't want to tell Sam that.

Because here he is, once again, cleaning up a mess that he wouldn't even be involved in if you hadn't walked into his life. Another reminder that you're the problem, you're the monster on the hill looming over the unsuspecting town. You shrug your shoulders, "I'm fine."

Sam roughly sighs in defeat, clearly unhappy with your response. Through a clenched jaw, he coldly replies, "Great."

"Good."

"Hey," Bucky interrupts, watching you watch Sam walk away, another cold, curt interaction that left him even more confused at what was going on - and why no one was speaking about it.

He knew in actuality he'd only known you a few months, but still he felt incredible close to you, like you understood him.

And maybe that was irrational of him, but he couldn't talk himself out of that feeling. It didn't matter how many times he tried, and he tried so very hard. No matter how he tried to deny it, to cut ties and run, you'd gotten to him, worked your way underneath his skin, just like Steve said you would.

He thought back to some of those conversations then and none of them were equating to the way you and Sam were getting along now.

You stop in your tracks again. You turn around again, and for the quickest of moments he sees an exhausted, somberly disheartened expression on your face like the fighting with Sam was taking more of a toll on you than you wanted to admit. And he watches the way you come to life again, the way you turn back on.

You shake your head, pulling a tight smile on your face. It's jarring, the way you so quickly and so brightly smile like there's not a problem in the world.

Right now, that's not his question. Right now, he can't stop thinking about Sharon's cryptic comment about your pardon. He just can't stand the thought of some imminent danger looming over you while he stood to the side doing nothing. "What was Sharon talking about? About your name not being cleared?"

You keep the same tight-lipped smile on your face when you respond, "It's nothing."

"It didn't seem like nothing."

"Bucky-" you start, his name just a sigh leaving your mouth.

"And will you quit calling me that!" he abruptly exclaims.

"What?" you question, your eyes wide at the sudden outburst.

"You have never called me that. Ever!"

He can't even bring himself to care that he probably sounds like a crazy person. He doesn't even want to discern why he cares about a name this much, but he does. He really does.

Before, you were the only person that he knew that called him by his first name. And now you called him the same name everyone else did. It was eating at him for reasons he'd never admit.

"By your name?" you scoff, though you know exactly what he's talking about.

"Yes!" he frustratedly groans, his fists clenching mid-air as a meager attempt at not pulling out his own hair. "You're- you're Sunshine! And now- now, you're keeping secrets, fighting with Sam, calling me Bucky, and I want to know why!"

An incredulous chuckle leaves your mouth as your expression changes to pure disbelief. "Why?"

"Yes, I want to know why!"

You take a long, deep breath. And though your words are gentle and soft, they cut Bucky deep, "Things change, Bucky. I think you of all people should know that." 

And with those words, you walk away.

It's him, he decides in that moment, he's the problem.

Because though he'd just faced bullets raining down on him, a bounty over his head, and was now stuck in a city where most people wanted him dead, he finds himself stunned for the first time all night. He finds that there's not enough bravery in him to go after you as he watches the elevator doors close behind you.

He just looks back to a night when things seemed so much simpler:

-

"You know, you're not that bad when you're not trying to kill me," you tease, your voice just above a whisper as both Sam and Steve snore from across the Quinjet. 

He rolls his eyes with a huff of amusement. "Thanks."

"And you know what else? I've decided on your nickname," you gleefully tell him. 

"Do I even want to know?"

"I'm going to call you James."

His eyebrows furrow as the smile he so desperately tried to keep at bay finally surfaces. "You know, I hate to burst your bubble, but that's my real name."

"But everyone calls you Bucky, so it'll be my nickname for you." You gently nudge his shoulder with yours. Bucky is more than a little shocked at the physical contact. It was even more surprising than when you plopped yourself down in the seat beside him when there were plenty of other open seat. You sat by him, of your own volition. You were joking with him, laughing with him, teasing him. And you'd given him nickname, even if it was his real name. "It'll be our own little secret."

And he's not really sure why, but the idea of having his own personal secret with you left a strange, warm fluttering sensation in the pit of his stomach. The feeling wasn't familiar to him. And there was a big part of him that was terrified of it. An even bigger part that relished in it.

The rational side of him knew that a few conversations and laughs didn't mean anything. Steve had told him, you were here because Sam was here.

You were just being nice.

And he was seeing things that weren't there. 

-

By the time he regains enough composure to move from where he remained frozen, you were already long gone.

A blank, emotionless expression remains on his face as he drags himself down to the party. He can't even pretend he doesn't feel numb, like his heart didn't just sink to his stomach. 

"You've got to be-" Sam hisses, stopping as Bucky takes the space next to him in the club.

"What?" Bucky asks, his voice as numb as he felt. 

Sam juts his chin over to where you stand with Zemo. "Look."

Bucky swears in that moment that he's going to break his teeth from clenching his jaw so tightly. "What the f-"

Bucky decides that it doesn't matter how pissed you are with the two of them, he's not going to just stand there and watch as Zemo does what Zemo does best. He takes one singular, purposeful step forward when Sam clutches his shoulder. "I wouldn't do that. Blending in, remember?"

"You're joking, right?"

"Let's just be thankful we can keep an eye out from here," Sam grits.

You look back at Sam and Bucky standing there with matching anger-filled, tense expressions on their faces.

"Hm..." Zemo hums, twirling you once, his tempo as he sways you around not even matching the fast beat of dance music thumping throughout the club. "I'm honored you choose me to keep accompany you this fine evening."

"Well, someone's gotta keep an eye on you," you quip, focusing your attention back on Zemo. "You're the one that wanted to dance."

"It is a party after all."

"Or you want to antagonize Sam and Bucky some more?" you guess, allowing him to twirl you around again. 

"Two birds, one stone."

"Tread lightly, Zemo," you warn, planting your hands on his shoulders to stop him from further taunting Sam and Bucky.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Does it matter if I tell you no?"

"Your relationship to James?" he probes with a knowing smirk. 

You shake your head, giving him a tight, unconvincing smile. "Friends."

"Hm..." he hums, a pensive look on his face that you know never leads to anything good.

"What?" you sigh.

"Nothing, I just assumed you would be more honest than your counterparts. I suppose we all have our faults."

"That was the truth," you retort, the two of you swaying back and forth around a small corner of the dance floor. "I already told you before, you shouldn't believe everything you hear."

"What about what I see with my own two eyes? You say it's untrue, but from the way he's watching me, I don't think so."

You look over his shoulder to where Bucky and Sam stand, both looking incredibly unimpressed as they glare at you and Zemo. There's a particular look of intensity in Bucky's eyes like you'd personally scorned him. And maybe you had after your short conversation upstairs. "Friends look out for each other, that's all."

"Perhaps."

"Hey, guys," Sharon calls, breaking up Zemo's inquisition. "I found him."

"Here we go," Sam mutters. 

You sigh deeply, "Let's go." 

The Twin Flame Chapter List AnonymityIsFun Masterlist

Please let me know what you think! 💛

[super-unpredictable98]

All Shook Up | Killing Bono AU

Chapter 1: Hello, Neighbors

Warning: Strong language, drugs and alcohol

(General Masterlist) | (All Shook Up Masterlist)

"Crying again, Joy?" Gloria huffed as she walked into the apartment. "Come on, it's been five months, if you didn't wanna move out of your parents' why did you come to London anyway?"

"I did wanna move out, I just didn't imagine it would be so hard," the girl wiped her tears with the collar of her shirt. "I just keep thinking I let them down you know? They wanted me to be a doctor or something, but now I'm a failed musician living with a failed actress..."

"Hey! Who are you calling failed actress?" She gasped. "Anyway, disappointing your parents to make your dreams come true is a part of life, everyone does it. Parents just like to shove their dreams onto their kids thinking they'll get to live through them, but that's not how it goes. Maybe one day you'll have your own kids and want them to be musicians, but they'll run with the circus or something."

"Wow, you really know how to comfort someone, Gloria."

"I don't exactly have time to comfort you right now, call your mom- actually no, don't call your mom, that'll make it worse. Talk to Karl, or the new neighbors, I don't care."

"Since when do we have neighbors?"

"Since today, a couple of guys pretending to be gay, but the older one wouldn't stop checking me out," Gloria laughed. "The younger one looked like a malnourished 14-year-old boy, but he was cute."

"A cute malnourished 14-year-old? Really?" Joy was finally able to smile for the first time that day.

"With curly hair too, you like guys with curly hair, right?"

"Stop, I'm not doing that, I have to focus on getting a job. I can't think of boyfriends now."

"Who said anything about boyfriends? I'm talking about sex."

"I don't wanna have sex with a curly-haired malnourished 14-year-old!"

"He's Irish too."

"Okay, I might think about it," she tilted her head.

"You're such a slut... Are you coming tonight? The party? I can't stay for long, but I think it'll be good for you. Nothing like getting drunk to forget about your stupid parents in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma."

Gloria wasn't wrong, Joyce was born in the middle of nowhere, on a watermelon farm in Oklahoma. Her parents got the farm from her grandparents, and that's how it had been for over five generations. 

Her brother, Lenny, would be the one taking over one day, so her parents had big plans for her. Going to the city, becoming a doctor, and marrying some rich guy to have lots of kids that would eventually work on the farm. 

That story wouldn't exist, though, if Joyce followed their plan. Truth is that rock had been running through her veins for as long as she could remember. 

Being the punk-rock princess she was, what better place to start her new life after graduating high school than London? The Beatles, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Queen! Those were the people she wanted to be like, not a doctor who would one day die and have no one remember her name.

"Yeah, I'm going tonight."

—————————————————— 

"Hey, Karl!" Gloria greeted as they entered the club. It was a completely new scene for Joyce, she had no idea what these people were about, but maybe it would be nice for her to forget about everything else and have fun for once.

"Hiiiii," Joy ran to give him a hug. 

"My favorite girls," Karl held her tightly. He knew how much she had been hurting ever since leaving her home and her country, so it made him happy to see her smile. "Meet your new neighbors."

"Hello neighbors," Gloria grinned in that charming way she always did.

"Hey, I'm Joyce, you can call me Joy," she studied both men. They were definitely trying to look extravagant... Both of them were handsome, the older one had an arrogance she couldn't get over, but the younger one didn't match at all the description Gloria gave her. 

He was a bit scrawny and baby-faced, yeah, but he was also incredibly cute. He looked like an angel almost, and his eyeliner only accentuated those beautiful green eyes he had. His smile could light up the entire town, or maybe it was his Irish lilt that had her hypnotized. Didn't matter, what mattered is that she was soooo happy she decided to come.

"You're American," the boy gave her the most innocent look. Oh, he's sweet, he's really sweet... she thought.

"What gave it away? Was it our accent?" Gloria teased.

"Sorry, this is Ivan, sometimes he acts like he lives in a field," the older introduced, clearly trying to impress the girls.

"Is there something wrong with living in a field?" Joy laughed uncomfortably. "I grew up there, it was pretty nice."

"N-no! That's just something we say back home, it's not like that!" 

"And this is Neil," Ivan smirked. "Sometimes he acts like a massive knobhead. I'm sorry."

Joy was left wondering why someone as nice as Ivan would be hanging around (and pretending to date) someone as presumptuous and stupid as Neil. 

"Gloria used to be in your game, the original punk rocker," Karl gestured toward her. "And little Joy is currently fighting for a record deal as well."

"Really?" Ivan's face lit up. "Do you play something?"

"I play the bass and sing sometimes... I'm looking for a band, but it hasn't happened yet."

"Neil! That's perfect! Joy can join our band!"

"Don't be stupid, we are the band," Neil scoffed.

"Back in Ireland we had more members," Ivan grumbled.

"And they all abandoned us like the massive twats they are, so now it's just us. And no offense, but we don't even know if she's good."

"You do know I'm still here, right?" Joyce muttered. "I would be more than happy to audition..."

"B-but you're a girl!" Neil yelped.

"Wow, thank you for pointing that out, I never noticed before," she shook her head before marching away, not wanting anyone to see how close she was to crying.

"You're such a fuckin' cock! She was sweet and you're a massive dickhead like always!" Ivan grumbled, following after her.

He tried to catch her attention, but the place was too noisy and he couldn't go after her in the girl's bathroom, where she entered to wash the back of her neck with cold water and hopefully calm down.

It was no news for Joyce that people in big cities were assholes, but from what she could tell, they were not from the big city. They were newcomers just like her, shouldn't they all help each other out? They needed musicians for their band, she was a musician looking for a band, was it really that much of a stretch?

The feeling of impending doom, that twisted sickly sensation in her stomach telling her that everything would always go wrong in her life and her dreams could never come true was getting too overwhelming and every day that doubt would grow more and more. Going back home and following the plan her parents imagined for her seemed to be her best option sometimes. 

"Why are you so stupid?" Joyce screamed at herself, staring in the mirror, fanning her eyes trying not to let her tears ruin her eyeliner that took at least fifteen minutes to perfect. 

"You aren't," a tiny voice came from the other side of the door.

"What?" She winced, thinking she had finally gone nuts from all of her delusions and stress.

"You are not stupid, he is."

"Ivan? How long have you been waiting?" She opened the door to find him leaning against the wall. "Oh, you have coke on your-"

The young man quickly wiped the tip of his nose with the back of his hand, most certainly cursing himself for looking like some junkie idiot in front of her. Great first impression... 

"I just wanted to say you are not the problem, that's just how Neil is sometimes. Most of the time. He likes things to be his way or no way, and that usually gets me fucked over somehow, he has the worst decision-making I've ever seen! I didn't even wanna come to London if I'm being honest. I had my friends, my family, I had a girlfriend. And now I'm here, without a job, pretending to be gay in a nightclub and doing drugs, my mum would kill me!"

Joyce couldn't help but laugh, which made Ivan laugh as well, happy to see her smile again. He seemed genuinely nice, she didn't understand how he could possibly be related to someone like Neil. It was the only explanation as to why they were hanging out together in the first place. 

"Why are you pretending to be gay?"

"We thought Karl would be more open... it would be easier to get the flat. He just assumed we were a couple and my brother didn't bother correcting him."

"If it makes you feel any better, I really like your look. It's really sexy, especially the makeup and the earring which-" she pulled it and it came off easily in her hand. "Yeah, I knew it was fake. Pity, it really suits you."

"What I heard from all this is that you think I'm sexy?" Ivan asked hopefully.

"You're all coked up, kinda drunk... I'm definitely not sleeping with you."

"Why not? Maybe a kiss? I can put the earring back, I'll even pierce my ears for real!" He pouted.

"It's not it," Joyce shook her head. "If we ever kiss or have sex, I'd want you to remember it and be fully aware of what you're doing."

"Jesus, you're really sweet..." he cried.

"Thanks, you are too. Or you might just be in comparison to your brother," she teased. "Also, Karl would've been fine knowing you're straight, he doesn't care. He's literally the nicest person I've met since I arrived in London."

Ivan narrowed his eyes in thought, an idea taking place in his mind. He never stood up to Neil, not when he stopped them from accepting help from Bono, not when he messed up their big gig, not when he dragged him to a whole new country against his will. Maybe it was time to take a risk. 

"You're gonna audition to join our band," he blurted out. "I don't give a shit, you're gonna audition. If you're bad, then fine, Neil is right. If you're good, you're gonna help us get where we need to be."

"What about-?"

"Don't worry about him, I'll deal with him later. I wanna hear you play, tomorrow night at our place."

"Sounds good," Joyce grinned, leaning against the wall next to him. "Thank you, Ivan. If you weren't on drugs, I'd definitely kiss you."

"I'll never do drugs again," he huffed a soft laugh. "Can't risk missing out on the chance... Would you at least dance with me? It's a start innit?"

She smiled even wider and hid her blushing cheeks behind her hands. Maybe, just maybe things could work out after all.

"Fine, I guess a dance wouldn't hurt anyone."

Tag List: @salvador-daley @seanfalco @elliethesuperfruitlover @firstpersonnarrator

[euryalex]

Joey tries her best to get used to Raccoon City, but it seems trouble - both old and new - seems to try and get her.

Series Masterlist | AO3 link

Let me know if you want to be tagged when the next chapter releases!

Chapter 3: When The Past Comes To Haunt You

The red plastic basket of fries felt hot to the touch when Kevin handed it over to her. Joey immediately put it in her lap as she dipped a fry into the small bowl of ketchup while Kevin jumped back into the driver's seat.

"So, what do you think of Raccoon City so far?" he asked before taking a big bite from his hamburger.

Joey hummed. "I'm not sure yet," she confessed, "I've lived in Montana all my life, so this is different."

"Good different or bad different?"

"I haven't decided yet," she chuckled, "How much do I owe you?"

Kevin waved his hand, "My treat, to welcome you."

"Damn, really trying your best to make me love this city, huh?" she laughed, and he snorted, "Can't blame a man for trying, can you?"

Joey missed her friends from Great Falls – and her colleagues. But, most of all, she missed Danny. He wasn't just her partner against crime. He was her friend. She could count on him, and he could count on her. Simple as that. No one could ever replace Danny. Not even Kevin.

But that didn't mean Kevin was a lousy partner. If anything, he was great. So far, they'd only worked together for three days – if you can even count Joey's first day, which ended poorly.

She should've expected that Chief Irons wouldn't be any nicer at the end of the day, but Joey felt like she had to report what happened at the motel. At first, she wanted to inform S.T.A.R.S., but the office was locked when she tried to enter. Thus, she decided to take her chances with Irons, no matter how much he seemed to dislike her already.

And as she predicted, Chief Irons wasn't exactly happy to see her. Even less so when she told him about the situation at the motel. He went from claiming she was making up a story to insinuating she imagined the whole thing due to sleep deprivation.

So, if there was a chance Irons didn't completely hate her guts by then, he sure did now. The feeling was mutual.

Unlike Irons, though, the rest of her co-workers were nice. Just in case, Rita had already given her phone number (although Joey was convinced it was mainly because Rita was glad to have more women on the force), and Marvin was a tough yet kind boss. Kevin was a great partner who seemed to make it his duty to ensure Joey felt at home in Raccoon City, and she'd be lying if she said it wasn't working.

Once they finished their lunch, Kevin drove them back to the precinct, ending their relatively calm patrol. Life in Raccoon City (so far) was peaceful. Alarmingly peaceful. Tens of thousands of missing person posters littered the city streets, but when Joey asked Kevin about them, he made it clear that Irons forbade them from looking into it. Allegedly, they were all dead ends that couldn't be tracked, or they were flukes, or… Irons apparently had a lot of reasons.

"So the West Squad is going out for drinks after work today," Kevin announced as he parked the car, "Wanna join?"

"On a work night?" Joey snorted, to which he shrugged, "We don't get drunk. Just… hang out and make sure no one's hangover the next day."

"Sure," she eventually decided, "I'd love to."

Yeah, she was lucky with colleagues like them.

The police station was as calm as ever. The officer on front desk duty had made himself comfortable in the black leather office chair by kicking his feet up on the desk. Kevin put his finger over his mouth, a cheeky grin on his face, before sneaking over to the desk. Then, after making sure the officer was still sound asleep, he started banging on the desk, chanting, 'Wes, wake up!'

Poor Wes was startled awake, nearly tipping over his chair. "Jesus Christ," Wes gasped, resting his head in his hands from the shock.

Kevin laughed, "Sleeping on the job?"

"Fuck you," Wes cursed, which was then followed by a chuckle.

"Sometimes I wonder why we're even here to begin with," Kevin sighed, "Look at this place. It's empty!"

His friend sighed, "Pft, you wish. Eric and Elliott were called for a dead body just a few moments ago. From what I've heard, this time, it was cold-blooded murder – none of that Spencer Mansion bullshit."

Joey had heard of the Spencer Mansion before – at least, some things. The Spencer Mansion was a large home built in the Raccoon Forest. While there were different accounts of who lived there, one thing was known: the Trevor family was last seen visiting the mansion before they went missing. She may have also caught a rumour or two about how the mansion is used as a front to hide sinister experiments. Joey wished she could brush it off as a dumb conspiracy theory, but after what happened to Danny, she couldn't help but believe it just a little bit.

"And they sent Eric? He can barely figure out how to put his shoes on in the morning, let alone solve a murder," Kevin rolled his eyes.

Joey probably would've scolded him back in Montana, but it seemed Kevin's attitude had started to rub off on her.

"Yeah, well, he's the only detective around," Wes frowned, "That's right, Emmett quit."

"Wait, what? Since when?" Joey asked. She hadn't really known Emmett well because he was part of the East Squad, but she'd run into him a few times, and he seemed to love his job. Not only that, but he was a great detective – the type who'd see details no one else sees. So while she didn't really know him, she understood he wouldn't just quit out of nowhere.

Wes shrugged, "Just heard the news this morning. So, Eric's all we got."

"As if we don't have enough cold cases already," Kevin grumbled, walking past Joey to return to the West Office. Before Joey followed, she eyed the computer behind Wes. It was mainly used to check cases whenever someone came by to ask questions, but with the Sunshine Motel still in the back of her head, she wondered if she could find something.

"Hey, mind if I look something up real quick?" she asked, nodding towards the computer.

He followed her gaze and shrugged, "Go ahead, just don't tell Irons I slept on the job, alright?"

She chuckled, "You got a deal."

Joey walked around the massive desk and unlocked the computer. She opened the search engine and began typing in the motel's name, followed by the city's name. Once the results loaded, Joey clicked on the first link that caught her eye.

'MOTEL BURNS DOWN: Fifteen dead, twelve injured'

She looked back behind her to make sure no one was watching her. Sure, she trusted Wes, but she preferred not to take risks. Once the coast was clear, she clicked on the link.

The site slowly loaded, and Joey could feel herself grow more nervous with every second.

'RACCOON CITY, Illinois – Early Tuesday morning, a fire broke out at the Sunshine Motel, just outside of Raccoon City. Fire officials claim faulty wiring in a desk fan is to blame. So far, there have been 15 casualties, and twelve people are still in the hospital. The motel's owner, Courtney Golden, was amongst the 15 casualties.'

Tuesday morning, Joey realized, not even a full day after she informed Irons. Something was up. Maybe she knew that already, but she was forced to confront it this time.

The door slammed open, and, in a panic, Joey closed the browser. A man with gaunt grey eyes and thin, light blond hair ran to the front desk, leaving the main entrance wide open behind him.

"I-I received a call- did you find her?" he asked, breathless.

Wes stood up from his chair, leaning closer to the man, "Sir, calm down and tell me who you're talking about."

Joey had to give credit where credit was due – Wes knew how to handle stressful people. When he wasn't sleeping, at least.

"Clarissa, Clarissa Myer," the man said, "I got a call th-that she's been found. Is she alright? Where is she?"

Wes stayed quiet for a while.

"Joey," he finally said, "Would you mind taking Mr Myer to Officer Hamilton in the East office?"

Joey muttered a quiet 'of course' and began to lead Mr Myer to the East Office. That was another big difference from working in a smaller Sheriff's office. She was used to knowing everything about every case. Now, though, she was told to do things and couldn't even know why. Case in point: she had no clue why this Mr Myer was so important.

"I don't get it," the man stammered, "I just want to see my daughter? Why isn't she in the hospital?"

"Sir, I promise you, Officer Hamilton will answer your questions," Joey replied, smiling despite the awkwardness. Luckily, it seemed to calm the man down enough until Joey introduced him to Tyler Hamilton. When she returned to the main hall, she immediately made her way over to Wes.

"Who was that?" she asked, and he leaned closer to whisper: "Clarissa Myer? The girl he mentioned? It was her body that was found this morning. She's his daughter."

Joey gasped, and he nodded, "Yeah, hope he has some info 'cause he's a suspect right now."

"In that case," she murmured, "I hope they find her murderer soon. Anyway, I should get back to work. Bye, Wes."

She left rather quickly, but Mr Myer's distraught face still haunted her. She knew she should've expected the city would bring more gruesome cases – the most she'd seen so far was a family murder that ended in a murder-suicide. It shocked the entire town at the time.

But Raccoon City had seemingly seen its fair share of murders and worse crimes. Joey knew she had to be prepared for that. But what she didn't know was why these cases were treated like this. Something fishy was going on, and Joey wanted to get to the bottom of it. She had to find a way to do it without Irons finding out because she felt he wouldn't appreciate her snooping around. 

When work was done, and Joey changed back into her regular outfit, Kevin waited for her in the parking lot. He waved at her from his car.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked as she jumped into the passenger seat.

He started the car and said: "Bar Black Jack, it's only a few blocks away."

He was right. After barely a five-minute drive, he parked the car on the side of the road. Joey recognized the street because her apartment building was only a short walk away. Part of her was relieved. She could probably walk home later. In between the many buildings stood one establishment, marked with a neon sign that said 'Bar Black Jack' 

The bar itself was small, but it felt cosy. There were only a handful of tables and a single booth next to the kitchen where Rita, George and Marvin were waiting. Once they noticed Joey and Kevin, they waved them over.

"There you are!" smiled Rita, "About time."

"Yeah, yeah," Kevin rolled his eyes, "You guys ordered yet?"

Marvin shook his head, "No, we were waiting for you. First rounds on me, though. What do you want?"

"Ah, you know me," Kevin replied, "Just a beer for me."

"Got it," he said before turning to Joey, "You?"

Joey took a quick glance at the laminated menu and decided: "Just a Coke. Hold on, I'll help carry the drinks."

Rita snorted, "At least pretend you're not kissing ass!"

"Haha, fuck you," laughed Joey as she followed Marvin to the bar.

Joey slowly got used to Raccoon City. Work wasn't as good as she expected, but her colleagues sure were. For the first time since arriving in the city, she stopped thinking about Montana. About Danny. But she'd always remember why she came here in the first place: to find out what really happened to Danny.

It was about eleven PM when they called it quits – at least Joey did.

"It's been fun, but I should head home," she yawned, putting on her jacket. Kevin immediately stood up as well, "I'll take you home."

"Oh, you don't have to," Joey shook her head, "I live a few minutes away. It's fine."

"No, no," Kevin insisted, "It's late and dark outside. I'm just making sure you get home safe."

Finally, she relented and let him lead her outside.

Right outside the bar was a bulletin board with more missing person posters. Joey had grown accustomed to ignoring them, but one poster partially covered by others caught her attention.

'HAVE YOU SEEN ME?: STEPHEN MCDANIEL'

Familiar eyes stared back at her. Stephen was, in fact, an old co-worker of hers. He was the Chief Deputy Sheriff of Great Falls, but he quit shortly after his wife passed away. No one had ever seen him since.

"Joey?" Kevin called out, joining her side, "Oh, him. His daughter would come to the R.P.D. once a day to report him as missing, but Irons always shut her down. She stopped coming a while ago."

Joey took a step closer and brushed another poster aside. Next to Stephen McDaniel was a woman in the same picture, smiling brightly as she hugged him. Joey recognized her too. It was her best friend in high school before she left for Helena.

Evelyn McDaniel.

[luescris]

OTHER SIDE.

WARNING: This fic will have depictions of horror (slight death but no major characters, injuries, eldritch entities), slight reality triggers (forget what it's called augh) and angst. Read at your own risk.

With that being said, have this slightly self indulgent TMNT 2012/Backrooms fanfiction you all asked for. :) If there is any form of critique you all can give me (on character interaction, pacing, or just comments in general), it'd be much appreciated if you could send it through asks!! And title names for the fic too bc the one I have now is a work in progress and I'm not sure if I like it very much fhfhfh Also, it starts with Leo, but I PROMISE it won't be Leo centric. He's just my favorite that's all HDHDHDHDH

This chapter starts off a little meh, but the next ones will get better, I promise. :D Enjoy the angsty suspense!!!!

aaaaa also @misteria247 and @endless-exhaustion tagging just in case since y'all wanna read it or something i hope y'all don't mind Zhfhdhdhdhh

LEVEL 0: ENTER.

Reality. Definition:

The state of things as they exist.

Or, the state of things people believe they think is existence. Ideals that are simplistic, that "make sense" in the collective eyes of many. Science, experiments, simple opinions; all attempts to prove that what they see, what they believe, is right. And the lengths humans go to prove their stories can be.. Exaggerated, at best.

But there are many "proofs" out there. Of gods. Of other alien beings. But none of it truly connects. None of it forms a singular path to the answer.

And maybe it never will.

So then the question now becomes: what truly is reality? If it has yet to be shown, then does any of these ideals really matter? And if this is not the reality that we seek…

Then what is??

—---•••••••••_______

A year had passed since the defeat of Kavaxas. There was silence from the streets, at least about as silent as you could get when it came to New York City. The only thing that had been "exciting" in that time was the Purple Dragon's feeble attempts at stealing and plundering unsuspecting stores.

Of course, the attempts never turned out to be successful. And there was one group of mutant turtles to thank for that.

It was also thanks to them that the streets were so quiet for so long in the first place. No one else had attempted–nor wanted–to take Shredder's place on the "throne" left vacant since his death, and the Turtles had made sure to keep it that way for as long as possible.

But alas, the peace could never truly last.

A new band of gangs calling themselves Black Rose had sprung up about a month ago, causing unexpected chaos. These newcomers were definitely more efficient than the Purple Dragon's, both in skill and further in numbers. The plans were more intricate, thought out, and though they posed a much bigger threat..

Their skills still had no match for the city's unknown heroes.

Even so, they were large in numbers, and their hiding spot had yet to be discovered, so every few days, sometimes weeks, there would be some form of robbery or explosion that the Turtles would rush to stop, and if it weren't for the fact they would most definitely tell the cops about mutant turtles living in the sewers, Leo would have thrown them all in jail by now.

This time, the Black Rose had attempted to hit a new store that was slowly gaining popularity, and it was lucky the turtles were there in the area to stop them. They had only been a few miles away when the echoes of alarms blaring reached their ears, and without a sound they had run to the area to check it out.

Now, a 22 year-old Leonardo leaned over the edge of a building slightly with his brothers waiting patiently and silently behind him for the orders to move. Surprisingly enough, it did not take much for them to get to this part of the training after Tiger Claw's last attempt to get rid of them; the part where they were completely silent and still, blended perfectly into the shadows. Even Mikey had gone full ninja mode, not a sound peeping from any of them.

Something told him Splinter would be proud of the achievement, and the thought absentmindedly pulled at his heartstrings.

His eyes flicked, watching for any signs of movement as the alarm blared on. Besides him, he felt Raph move just a bit closer, gripping his sai with anticipation.

Then, the alarm was silenced. Cut short, the final ringing note echoing through the alleyways like a toll bell.

"There." Donnie spoke up suddenly, pointing to the right. Leo followed the direction quickly and found four figures running from the side of the store, bags in hands.

The leader in blue stood, nodding. "Alright. You know what to do."

"Go time." Mikey grinned wolfishly.

Barely a whisper was heard at their departure.

It didn't take much time for them to catch up. If anything, the Turtles had seemingly chased them just for the thrill. But it didn't last for more than thirty seconds before the four split in opposite directions, jumping or flipping off of fire escapes and walls until they landed in front of the thieves, boxing them in,causing all four to freeze in their tracks. Leo landed last and in front, katanas already held in an attack position with a smile.

It had been easier to smile recently, so he took any chance he could to do so.

"Turtles." Hissed one of the four, and each one dropped their bags to reach for their own weapons.

Weapons that seemed far too fancy for them to be of unimportance, and it was then Leo realized with a start: These were not their normal enemy.

One carried a kuwa with a deep green, long handle, the steel for the flat blade strong and new. Another carried metal tonfas with blades running along the bottom, a bright blue ribbon wrapping around the handles. The third held an odachi with a black handle and gold hilt, and the last with a saihai. Each had intricate markings and details, and it was hard to tell if the studded yet few jewels on each weapon were real or not.

Each one seemed as if they were meant to counter the weapons each turtle carried, and the semblance did not slip past Leo, nor his brothers. Raph scoffed lightly at the sight, albeit weariness still edged into his voice.

"Pft. Nice weapons. Where'd you steal 'em from??"

"We did not steal them." Spat the furthest left with a kuwa in their hands. "We earned these weapons by training and discipline. Something you lack."

Leo narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Then that shows how little you know about us." He motioned his head towards the store they robbed from. "Why steal from a place that has little to no money in it?"

The gang member (although Leo was starting to think they were more than just that) with the odachi slipped into their own defensive position, eyes trained solely and dangerously on the blue cladded turtle. "That is none of your concern."

Perfect. Cryptic answers. Leo thought somewhat annoyedly, gripping his weapons tighter and watching for any sign of distractions or openings from their opponents. Just what we need.

"Well," Came Donnie from his right, almost sounding bored or discontent. "At least this fight will be more interesting than ones we've had recently."

No one moved for a few short, tense moments. Then the members of the Black Rose surged forward with a surprising amount of speed and strength.

The sound of weapons clashing echoed around them, and the battle commenced.

The metal of Leo's katanas met the wide arc of the odachi wielder, a ring vibrating down into his arms uncomfortably as he gritted his teeth, meeting his new opponent's black, angry gaze. One of their eyes was milky, a scar cracking over the skin of their face.

"Freak." Spat the gang member through a black fabric covering their mouth and nose. "You will rue the day you stepped foot in our path."

Leo couldn't help the smirk that split his lips apart–it wasn't even cocky, he just found the statement amusing at this point. "Yeah, no offense, but I've kinda heard that one like a million times already to the point where it's almost not funny anymore. I mean, you do know who we are right?"

His opponent narrowed their eyes. "We do. We know your defeat of the Kraang, and of the Shredder. My leader respects you because of your.. Victories. I however," Somehow, the malice in their eyes strengthened. "Do not."

Well. That's surprising. The leader in blue thought somewhat distractedly yet genuinely; just how did news like that get out in the first place? Those were things people weren't supposed to know about.

"Well, feeling's mutual I guess." He pushed away his thoughts and pushed harder on his blade, meeting the person's glare with his own. "After all, I can't fathom why you'd go through the trouble of robbing a store that doesn't even have money in the first place other than to be jerks."

Leo could tell the gang member was smiling with the way their cheeks crinkled, and their eyes glinted maliciously, immediately setting off red alerts in the turtle's mind. Their voice came dripping with malicious humor. "Who said we were here for the money?"

Before the mutant had a chance to ask what that had even meant, he was suddenly pushed back with a startled yelp at the unexpected surge of strength the odachi wielder had used. He only had a second to recover 'til the blade came whistling at his left and Leo parried quickly, twisting himself around. From the corner of his peripheral vision he could see his brothers finishing off their sides of the battle, and a surge of slight relief and confidence in their abilities spread through him before he allowed himself to focus back to his own ongoing battle. They seemed to be holding their own pretty well, no need to jump in yet.

But if he had turned just another inch more, he would have noticed a lone figure slipping into the shadows of the alleyway they had been fighting in, clutching an odd, square shape to their chest and pressing it to the corner of the wall where it was hidden from sight, and disappearing just as fast as they came.

Leo danced away from his current distraction on light feet, simply on the defensive, the smirk from earlier still present. It was a little more cocky now, sure, but it was at least a bit deserved. The Black Rose member charged with an aggravated shout and again Leo dodged, only to gasp with slight surprise as the person's foot followed the odachi's strike within a millisecond. If he had been a year younger, the leader in blue would have fallen for the trick. Instead, he sidestepped the attack, his katanas singing as he brought them to an arch, nicking the human's thick black clothes.

He hadn't been aiming to cut skin—he swore he never would again after having endless nightmares about what it felt like running his blade through Shredder's neck. But it was a clear, dangerous message, one that was understood as the human gripped where they were cut, dark eyes meeting dangerous, piercing blue eyes.

There was no winning this.

For a moment both sword wielders traded blows with their gazes. Then, the human gave a mirthless chuckle, shaking his head.

"You wanna know what else I heard??" Leo could tell by the tone of voice they were sneering. "You may have won against the Shredder, but you had also lost to him as well. All this bravado you are showing is fake."

The logical side of him knew he shouldn't engage. It screamed at him to leave it be, to turn away before things got worse.

But Leo's hands clenched against the hilts of his katanas as his glare grew colder. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

The human rose his chin. Almost as if he had gained a victory. "Your innocence, for one. I heard that those scars you carry now come from the Shredder, and at the young age of sixteen. In my opinion, he should have left you there to rot."

It felt as if he had been struck in the chest by a large truck. Like he was under cold, bone-chilling water and couldn't breathe. Yet the Black Rose member only continued on despite the silent warnings he was being given. A knowing, victorious glint in his eyes. The river continued to take the breath out of Leo's lungs.

"I also heard he had taken the life of what you called your father, who was just as disgusting and worthless as you. I'd say good riddance." The human's scarf dropped to reveal a large, vicious grin. "One less rat to kill in this vermin-infested city."

Never before had he let insults control his actions. But all he saw then was red.

Leo hadn't registered he had moved until he felt wind pelting his scaled skin, a slightly hoarse shout escaping his throat as he lunged. The attack that was meant to kill (and a part of him later would be relieved for this) never landed. Through his anger, he could not see his opponent move into a defensive position, and again–this time literally–he felt the wind rush out of his plastron as a knee struck him where his stomach would be. There wasn't even time to give a pained shout before he felt himself fly into the wall with an surprising amount of force, the shouts of his brothers calling his name barely registering through the ringing of his ears. Then the wall behind him turned invisible, and he gave a shout as he fell backwards, falling for just a second before landing on solid ground again on his plastron.

Something metal, which he registered as his katana, clattered to his side as he took a moment to ease the spinning of his head, bringing a hand to the top with a low groan. He lifted his head, squinting and blinking at the ground, only to stop, brows furrowing slightly with confusion.

Old, dead looking carpet replaced the ground underneath him. Before he could even attempt to look up to gather his bearings, however, three other yelling bodies crashed into his shell, sending him back down to the floor, voices mixing together chaotically with groans and grunts of pain.

"Guys." Leo wheezed, one arm awkwardly trapped underneath the weight of his brothers. "Get off."

"Sorry Leo.""Sorry.""Oops." Came his brother's murmured responses all at once, and each turtle worked to untangle himself from the rest, all except Mikey, who stayed sprawled over Leo's legs in a dramatic fashion that made the oldest roll his eyes somewhat fondly.

He turned his attention to Raph, who had sat cross legged and held a hand to his head still. "Are you all okay?"

His hot headed brother blinked incredulously for a second. "... Are we okay?? Leo, you were the one that fell through the wall. Plus, we landed on you. Are you okay?"

"To be fair," Donnie cut in with a finger raised in the air, sitting against the wall they had just been tumbled through. "We all kind of did. And we land on each other all the time anyway."

"True." Mikey murmured. It was then Leo's right knee twinged uncomfortably, so he carefully slipped his legs from under the youngest, who protested with a quiet, "Hey."

Again, the blue cladded turtle rolled his eyes at the antics before turning again to Raph. "Either way, my question still stands. Just want to make sure no one is badly hurt, that's all."

"... We're fine, Fearless." Raph responded after a beat of staring at Leo with an expression he couldn't quite read. "So long as you are."

Leo sighed softly, then reached for his katana and rose to his feet. He took a moment to look for the other pair, only to frown upon not seeing it there. Which meant it had been left on the other side of the wall. He tried not to let the sting of losing the heirloom of his clan hurt too much as he straightened up to gather their surroundings; there were other things to worry about. "I will be, once we figure out where we even are and how we're getting- Out..."

His voice died in his throat as his brain attempted to comprehend what exactly he was seeing in front of him.

His brothers had fallen suit, standing to their feet, and not a word was said between any of them for a suddenly tense, long moment.

Everything… Everything was yellow. A sickly, green yellow. The walls, the carpet under their feet, which felt more like sandpaper than actual soft fabric. The spaces winded in an undistinguishable pattern, looking as if they were meant to hold office spaces. Every which way looked as if the building stretched on forever, and the lights above buzzed loudly like the bugs in trees on the hottest days in New York, the heat already felt on his skin despite being at least two feet in the air.

It was.. Unnerving. And almost indescribable in its strangeness. The feeling of this place–as if they were being watched–did not help, and each mutant turtle felt it.

As if speaking any louder would awaken something unseen, Raph hissed a quiet, "What… In the hell…?" He brought his sai close to his person, shoulders tense and high. "Where the hell are we?"

Leo didn't turn to him. He felt if his gaze left the depths of his surroundings, something would come barreling forward and attack. "... I don't know."

"This place is giving some seriously bad vibes." Mikey's voice quivered just slightly. The oldest felt his baby blue eyes bore into his shell. "Leo, we need to get out of here. Now."

"I know. But like Raph said: where even is 'here'?"

"... Nowhere."

The hoarse sound of Donnie's voice was what made Leo's attention snap to the tallest of his brothers immediately. He found him staring at his T-phone with wide eyes, almost horrified.

"Come again??" Raph asked. The hothead of the group didn't bother to hide the high franticness in his voice.

"We're… We're nowhere." Donnie repeated, and finally looked up at his brothers, matching their wide gazes with his own. "There's nothing. No signal, no service. It's.. It's just.."

He turned the phone to them, showing them the completely black screen. Not even their reflections were showing on the face of the device.

"Blank."

[arthurconanstark]

A STUDY IN LONDON

Summary: Alexandra Stark is trying to make a new life for herself in London, she's trying to move on. This new life takes a turn when she crosses path with the only consulting Detective in the world.

Warnings: Foul language , mentions of PTSD , character death, violence.

CHAPTER-2

Today has been a good day so far. She woke up on time, had an almost decent breakfast, and is now on her way to work with two warm coffees in her hands and plenty of time to spare.

As she entered the building and started walking towards Anderson's office she was stopped by Inspector Lestrade.

"Oh - good morning Detective Inspector."

"Morning Miss Stark. Listen , you'll be under my supervision from now on , not Anderson."

Whoa! Am I hearing it correctly?

"I'm sorry, what? Why? I mean I'm not complaining. But why ?" She asked excitedly. She couldn't believe this was actually happening. It didn't make much sense,unless of course, Anderson had refused to mentor her. She scoffed internally.

"Well, I just felt that you'd learn better this way...........alright,  Sherlock suggested it , but don't tell Anderson. You can meet me in my office in 10 and we'll discuss how this will go." And with that he disappeared in the morning office rush leaving her stunned and extremely giddy.

THE Sherlock Holmes got her out of Anderson's boring coffee job. It was hard to believe but Lestrade won't lie about this. She decided to say thank you to the brunette Detective the first chance she gets. Well this day just got a whole lot better.

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

"Come in!" Yelled the gravelly voice owned by the Detective Inspector. "Ah. Miss Stark. How are you doing today?"

"I'm good , sir , thanks for asking." Alex said, "and you can call me Alex. Or Alexandra, whatever you prefer."

"Alright Alex, well lemme just tell you first that I took a glimpse at your files and .....well....I'd like to ask a few questions if you don't mind. You don't have to answer them of course."

Uh oh.

If there was one good thing about being in the supervision of Mister Anderson was that he never asked questions , he just wasn't interested. And that was comfortable.

"Uh.......yeah sure." Alex said, feeling extremely unsure.

"You've had a good education. You're somewhat of a prodigy. Your father is the richest man in America. What are you doing in Scotland Yard?"

There it is.

"If you're asking me why I chose this field it's because I genuinely love it. I guess........ I just needed to get out of my dad's shadow. It's important...I think....to grow." She said , only half lying.

"Okay but why London?" Lestrade pressed .

"I wanted to live in a monarchy ?" She laughed , clearly trying to change the subject.

Getting the hint , Lestrade gets up from his chair extending a hand towards the girl, "Well , I hope London's treating you well then."

"So far so good."

"Good.", he said smiling , "well Miss Star- Alex , I look forward to seeing you here on time everyday, and hopefully teaching you a few good things , certainly more than Anderson." He laughs at his own joke , "don't tell him I said that."

"I don't snitch, sir" , Alex laughed.

"Alright well. I've got a half day today. My wife wants me home for her birthday shopping. You can go ahead and take the rest of the day off. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you, sir" She says, "um.....I need a tiny little favor from you sir."

"Yes ?"

"Can I get Mr. Holmes's phone number ? Or an address maybe ? I just wanna say thank you."

"Well he doesn't really .....you know what .....why the hell not ? I'll text you the address and phone number. Thank him all you want."

".........thanks? Bye Inspector Lestrade."

"Goodbye. And call me Greg." Said the Detective  inspector as he left his office.

---------

"Sherlock Holmes , 221B Baker Street

+44*******"

She received the text a while ago and decided to stop by on her way home....well..... if you can call it home.

---------

Maybe she was a little bit nervous when she knocked on that black door , but it wasn't too surprising. You don't knock on Sherlock Holmes's door everyday. Was she fangirling? Big time. Did she care? Absolutely not.

The door was answered by an old lady dressed in a purple blouse and matching skirt. Her short blonde hair with a considerable amount of Greys peaking through gave her a welcoming appearance.

"Hello, I'm here to see Mr.Holmes."

"Oh, you'll find him upstairs dear."

"Alright thanks."

She jogged up the stairs to be faced by a door and took a deep breath before knocking.

It took a while and a little bit of commotion inside for the door to be opened by John Watson.

"Hi! I'm Alexandra......from the station ......maybe you don't remember me, I - "

"Oh no I remember you. Would you like to come in?"

"Yes. Thank you."

She walked in behind him.

To say the inside of that apartment was a mess would be an understatement. She had always been observant, eyes scanning every room as soon as she entered it and boy did this one have things to observe. The green walls, brown wallpaper, an old red carpet , some papers stabbed to the table with a knife on the mantle , a music stand holding some sheet music, a skull and a blue eyed Detective.......who she just realized she's been observing a little too long.

"How can I help you ?" The deep voice snapped her out of her 'observation'.

"Hi...sorry I- ..you don't remember me but ..."

"Oh I remember you. I just asked you why you're here."

Wow okay.

'Yes sorry. I just ....I found out that you asked Inspector Lestrade to replace Mr. Anderson as my supervisor , and I just wanted to say-"

"Thank you? Yes. That's appropriate."

"Okay ....um.....thanks", she said , not knowing how to take the conversation forward.

"Why don't you take a seat Miss Stark?", John asked.

"Oh ....alright"

I've never been this awkward.

"So..... how long have you been in London ?"

"Umm.....abo-"

"A month and a half, obviously" spoke sherlock, cutting her off.

"Did Mr.Lestrade tell you that ?"

"No Ms. Stark, I'm a detective."

Cocky asshole.

"Yes. Of course."

John speaks up again breaking the uncomfortable silence, "So where are you from?"

"Born in California, my family then moved to New York when I was 7....but I lived with my mother in India till she was....um.....yeah.......I did middle and high school there and then went back to New york for college."

Oh my god shut up. He didn't ask for your life story.

"Well you've been around." John laughed. "How's London so far?"

"Good! Really good. Maybe a little bit lonely." Shut up. "Plus my apartment is kinda far from the station so it's like a 20 minute drive everyday. Cabs are EXPENSIVE and trains are confusing." SHUT THE FUCK UP! "But no.... yeah everything else is good. And these are trivial problems. It'll get better with time." She stops talking, cursing herself for having said that much.

The two men weren't surprised by the display of vulnerability from the stranger, if they were, they didn't show it. But Alex was silently convincing herself otherwise. In her mind, she has already established herself as a weirdo in front of the Detective and his friend. Embarrassed, she stood up with a sigh.

"Well I should get going. Thank you for your time. And for the recommendation Mr Holmes, I'm so so grateful."

Alex didn't want to leave. A sadness always came over her at the thought of returning to the apartment. She had never been an extrovert, never had a problem with being alone, Infact she thrived in solitude. Even back in New York, she'd only ever hang out with her best friend. But here, she had no one. No one she could talk to over lunch after a tedious week. For the entire time she had been in London, Alex hadn't really spent time with anyone outside of work.....until now. But now that she'd ruined it, she couldn't stay.

She was halfway out the door when the Detective spoke up.

"The apartment upstairs is empty, if that's more convenient for you."

What?

"What?"

"It's closer to the station than westminster. And considerably smaller than your current apartment." said Holmes. At that John speaks up "Oh that's a brilliant idea! Mrs Hudson would love that. She'd been complaining for quite a while about having it empty."

Alex was still trying to wrap her head around the conversation as it carried on. Is that really possible? She did just move in a month ago and half her stuff is still unpacked. And it is convenient, plus she already knows two of her neighbors....well sort of.

"I'D LOVE THAT!" she said, louder than she'd meant to.

"Well in that case, you should talk to Mrs Hudson, soon as you can. She'd be delighted." John said.

"I....I will.....thank you so much Mr watson, Mr Holmes." She said with the widest smile she'd worn for months.

"You know if we're gonna be neighbors, I think John and Sherlock should be fine." John said with his usual warmth.

Alexandra left shortly after that. Choosing to walk a little before getting a cab, she looked around at the roads, the people,  the buildings, all very similar and very different to New York all at once. Having made her mind about the move, she no longer felt bad about going back to her place. This truly felt like the new beginning she came looking for. As she finally sat in a cab , she remembered.....she didn't tell Sherlock about living in Westminster or that her apartment is big.

She laughed to herself.

Brilliant Cocky asshole .

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

Chapter-1

[nella09archive]

Marriage. 64

Chapter 64: Teach me

My baby is look stress out lately, and he won’t tell me why. When he gets home, from a long day of school and crimefighter, he looks so worn out. I try to make my boys the best meals, and make sure they leave full and sleep full. But I’m starting to feel it’s not enough. Goten at least tells me about his day, but Gohan seems off. I even feel bad when I ask him to run errands, when he gets home. But what can I do? I can’t really send Goten. Not yet, anyway.

As Gohan sits for dinner, I notice he’s wearing a smile this time. I wonder what got my boy smiling like that. “What’s with the smile?” He just tells me how he has a group project to do, and it’s on his favorite subject. But somehow, I don’t feel that’s the reason for the smile. Ever since his first date, he been spacing out a lot. Almost as if, he’s thinking about something or someone. Maybe that’s it. Maybe my baby is heartbroken, and is trying to hide it. That’s it. I’m making his favorites for lunch tomorrow, and I’ll make extra for snack when he gets home.

…

Another day, and she’s following me again. What is with her? So what, if I so happen to not be in class when Saiyaman shows up. So what, if I live five hours from school. Why all of sudden she wants to know my every move? I rather she follow me as Saiyaman, since I get to mess with her. Like this I have to be careful. I have to be the closes thing to human. But that’s getting very hard.

Another weekend of catching robbers. And she’s following me. Wow! She cut me off, for once. I can get out of here easily, but I’ll humor her. I can’t believe it! I touched her cheek. My hand was gloved, but still. I touched her cheek! All I was trying to do was take dirt off it. I don’t know why I did that. I also don’t get why I’m excited about it. Now that I think about it, I didn’t touch Angela during our date. Maybe that’s why I’m excited. Probably because it’s my first time touching a girl, that isn’t my mom.

I can’t believe I was still smiling, and mom questioned it. I wasn’t lying about the group project. I am excited about it, but I didn’t want to admit my other excitement. Mom would probably yell a lung if I told her. Now I can’t sleep. I wonder what Videl cheeks feels like without my gloves. They look soft. CRAP! So, what about how her cheeks feels like. That’s not important. If I have the energy to be up, I’m going to start on the group project. I wonder if Videl would like my idea for the project. I just slapped myself. What is wrong with me?

…

Gohan is smiling today. It’s probably that girl. Why did he say it’s because of a project? Is Gohan lying to mom? I can’t wait to tell Trunks. Whoever this girl is, is sure making Gohan smile a lot. I can’t wait to meet her. I wanna know what’s so special about her, that got my big brother acting weird.

Today school is close for a teacher’s meeting, whatever that is. So, mom is allowing me to go play. I’m going to visit my favorite pterodactyl family. Even Gohan is free today, and is joining me. If Gohan is right, the baby should have recently born. I want to go see, and play with them.

When we get there, no one in the nest. This is bad. Baby pterodactyls can’t fly yet. But Gohan says it’ll be already. That maybe Chobi is with his parents. Maybe Gohan is right, but I have a bad feeling about this. When we get home, Gohan decides to put on the news. He’s been doing that more since becoming a superhero. As we watched the news, we see Chobi. I just knew something bad happened. He’s being held by a mean circus, and I just look at Gohan. “You just gotta save him. You just have to!” Even mom agrees with me. And Gohan promises he’ll do so, first thing in the morning.

…

She just had to figure it out. Now not only do I have to enter a tournament, but teach her to fly. I tell this to Bulma and she’s laughing at me. Then something both amazing and shocking happens. It’s dad. DAD! He tells us that he’s coming back to the living for a day, and even joining the tournament. Dad is coming back! DAD IS COMING BACK! For that moment I completely forgot about the whole issue with Videl, and rushed to tell everyone about dad. Vegeta is even joining the tournament. Forget the tournament. I get to see my dad again! Mom gets to see dad again! Goten get to… to… MEET DAD!

This is so incredible! When I tell Krillin, he’s super trilled. 18 ask if Krillin is even joining, since she’ll join. Mostly due for the prize money. Krillin doesn’t want me to tell Piccolo, but it wouldn’t be fair. As I fly home, is when I remembered one little problem. I haven’t even asked mom if I could even join. But I have to join, or Videl will tell everyone who I am. What could I say that would convince mom to let me join?

As we eat, I tried to tell mom about the tournament. I then mention how if I win there will be huge prize money. She gets all excited, and talks about how it’ll go to my college funds. As I take the next bite of fish, I finally tell her about dad. Now mom is beyond excited. She’s even in her own little world. She’s even hugging Goten to death, saying he finally gets to meet dad. Now for the million-dollar question. “So, you don’t mind if I take a few days off, form school, to train?” She was in the middle of talking about how she’ll get all pretty for dad, and then stopped. She gave me the face that usually came before a no, and instead yes.

…

Well, here goes nothing. Oh wow, is that Gohan’s voice. Wow, it’s deeper than I remembered. He sounds so happy to hear me, and even more from hearing the news. With that out the way, I could finish my last bit of training. I really wish Baba would just let me see how everyone looks. But same time I’m glad she doesn’t. Soon, very soon.

King Kai had been doubling my weights every month, and I’m up to 10 tons each. It feels great training like this. But I feel I could do more. Either way, I can’t lose focus now. It sound like Vegeta stood on earth, after all. So, now I know for sure I’ll be getting a good fight back home. Another thing to be excited about. I finally get to see my kids! I get to finally lay eyes on my perfect Chichi! I get to hold my family! And now, there’s a little rematch I get to look forward to.

…

I get to meet dad. Wow. I’m scared. What if he doesn’t like me? What if what Gohan and mom say about him isn’t true? What if they only say those things to make me like him? But what if they telling the truth? And if he’s as nice as everyone tells me, then what do I have to fear? Maybe the fact that I don’t know him. Everyone is so excited about him coming, and I feel left out in the excitement.

At least I got to spend more time with my big brother. Mom was allowing me to enter the tournament, too. Maybe I could make mom proud and make it to first place. But then I remembered that Trunks was now going to enter. So, if I could make it to top two, than I would be happy. I get to show mom how much stronger I am. I get to make mom and Gohan proud of me. Even though, they say it, but I want to do something that would make them proud. And I will even get a chance to show dad, too. Now there’s a thought.

What would dad think of my fighting? Will he praise me? Or will he be like uncle Vegeta and tell me where I went wrong? Maybe even point out my weakness. Gohan and mom do say that dad is the strongest man in the world, maybe the whole universe. Gohan say that even though Mr. Piccolo was his first real teacher, he learned way more under dad’s teachings. Mr. Piccolo taught him by beating him every day. Dad watched him, and pointed where to work on. Then showed him the proper way. Almost like how mom been teaching me. She shows me, and then when I try it, she corrects me.

That thought got me excited to show dad what I can do. Even though he’s only going to be alive for a day, I’m going to try to learn as much as possible from him. I’m going to watch all his moves, and try my best to memorize everything. Maybe if he got time, he could watch me and point out where I can improve. “Earth to spurt!” That’s when I finally looked at Gohan. “Hey, bro. You ok?” I nod. “Are you ready for our sparring match?” I got into my stance, and began.

…

Just as I’m telling Goten that I’ll teach him to fly, his classmate decide to make herself know. She’s flying to my home. Oh great! I almost forgot all about her. Well, time to face her wrath. Somehow, I’m actually can’t wait to see her angry face. I don’t get why that excites me. I race Goten back to the house. Of course, I can win, but I let him beat me this time. When I get home, she’s arguing with mom. Great, just great. Wonderful first impression. It took me a moment to tell mom about Videl, and how she’s the one who convinced me about the tournament. Mom is allowing me to teach her to fly, thank goodness. Now, I can’t stop laughing at mom and Videl making faces at each other. This is just too funny.

Sadly, we have to go to a field near the house, since Videl can’t keep up easily. Goten keeps looking at her, and then back at me. He then gives me this evil smile, and runs ahead of us. What was that about? I don’t like this. I stop a moment, to let Videl catch up. When she does, I continued walking. She asked how for is the field. “Not that far now. Just pass a small creek, and we’ll be there in no time.” She then asked where is Goten. That’s when I quickly sense for him, and he’s behind us. “I don’t know, but if he times anything funny, it’s not my fault if something goes missing.” That’s when I feel him stop. Jerk. Don’t push it squirt.

When we get to the meadow, I tried to explain that you use ki to lift yourself up. It took Goten to show what ki was, and she still didn’t believe it. After some more explaining, and sending Goten off, I tried to teach Videl about ki. For the first time in a long while, I had to think back to how dad taught it to me. I was so happy he taught it to me like that. It was somewhat easy to explain to her. When I did the ki ball, she was coming really up and close to me. I was feeling nervous.

She’s super close. Close enough for her scent to pass my nose. This is the first time I smelled it so clearly. It was nice. Even the smile she gave me was nice. She never smiled at me like that. Well, since I’ve known her, she rarely smiled. When she did, she looked angry or ready to beat someone up. This smile made her eyes shine. I found myself wanting to see it more often. And the way her voice sounded with that smile, was really wonderful. CRAP! Need to focus!

I told her to try bring her ki out. It took a while, and she look like she’s forcing herself. She looks so sad that she can’t get it. Did I just see a tear? We can’t have that. I told her to relax, and let it come out naturally. To not force it. “Just relax, and feel it being pulled out.” After a while she finally did it, and the smile she had after left me speechless. We then went home for lunch.

There Videl made a comment about mom’s cooking, and then mom made a comment about me marrying Videl. “WHAT THE HELL MOM?” I swear I was going to die from that very comment. Goten even comment if that meant that Videl is his big sister now. I swear my family is trying to kill me. What made it worst was that Videl didn’t say no or fight back what they were saying. That’s it. Today I’m going to die. If not by my family, it’ll be because Videl killed me.

As we went back to the field, I dragged my feet. I can’t believe mom did that. Now Goten is walking along Videl, and talking about it’ll be so awesome if she was going to be his big sister. Dende kill me. My family is embarrassing. Wait, why hasn’t Videl snapped yet? Could she being waiting to give me an ear full? Or didn’t want to be rude to mom, since she cooked? Either way, I’m a dead man. I hope I live long enough to see Goten’s face, when he meets dad. Now that I think about it. What would dad think of Videl? Wait! Why am I even wondering that?

“Earth to Gohan! Is someone in there?” The moment I stopped I fell into the creek. This day is sucking the more it continues. Now I could stay in these wet clothes, and go back home and change. Forget it. I’ll just deal with it. I got up and watched, a now angry looking, Videl walk my way. When she reaches the edge of the creek, she reminds me to pay more attention. That angry face is starting to grow on me, for some weird reason. As we continue our walk, I found myself just looking at her. Doesn’t she ever relax?

[dailyaudiobible]

11/13/2022 DAB Transcript

Ezekiel 27:1-28:26, Hebrews 11:17-31, Psalm 111:1-10, Proverbs 27:15-16

Today is the 13th day of November, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian and it's great to be here with you, as we move into a brand-new, shiny, sparkly week and move our way through the center of another one of our months together and we only have one more after this one, before we complete this revolution through the Bible. I don't want to start thinking about that just yet though. We got a ways to go, a lot of territory to cover and what a joy it is to be able to gather around the Global Campfire every day and move forward together. So, we got a brand-new week, it’s out in front of us, how we live it will be the story of this week and the story of this week will combine with all of the other weeks of this month and we’ll tell the story of this month right, and then all those months are gathered together and tell the story of our year. But here we are with a brand-new week in front of us. So, let's walk the path of wisdom and let's continue to immerse ourselves in the Scriptures each and every day. So, it’s a brand-new week, we’ll read from the New International Version this week and will go back and pick up where we left off, which takes us back into the book of Ezekiel. Today, we will read chapters 27 and 28.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for this brand-new week that we have entered into, we thank You for all of the weeks of our lives and Your faithfulness to us in all of it, even when we were anything but faithful, we love You, Lord. There is no love like Your love and through faith, we have this relationship intimately with You, as we are learning as we read through the book of Hebrews and walk down all of these examples of how faith was the irreplaceable part of this story, that this story couldn't have happened without faith and that is true of us. Our story couldn't have happened without faith and so we put our faith and our trust in You. Our loyalty and allegiance is to You. Come Holy Spirit, and lead us into all truth, we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Hello, my sisters and brothers, this is Sunset Cindy, calling November 9th. And I just listened to Taylor, bless your heart sweetie. You are in despair; you’re having such a time that you’re just tired and you wanna go to heaven. And I just wanna tell you that Jesus does love you, God loves you so much. He sent His Son for you, to die so that that would prove to you how much He loves you and there’s nothing you can do, to end that love or fall out of favor. So, I just wanna say, when you’re feeling like you just don’t want to go on, if you could just pray to Jesus, all you have to say is His name. Say His name, over and over. And you know how the Israelites, those people, they just kept falling down too. God’s chosen people just kept falling down. He kept picking them up and they would head off on another journey and He would be with them. And that is your case as well, sweetheart. You just, you’re on a very hard struggling journey, right now. And I want you to stay strong and do not leave this world by your own hand. Your daughter, she will just be in total agony. All, all of the people that love you and I know this from this happening to my children when their father left by his own hand. They’ve been struggling now for over 30 years. Jesus is walking with them though but let me tell you, it’s a struggle. Please, just leave when Jesus takes you home. Okay, not on your own and just call out to Jesus and see yourself holding His hand. Jesus, hold my hand, just, and He’ll lift your head up and walk with you. I love you; we all love you.

Hi, this is Grateful in Tennessee, yeah, I haven’t really called in. I’ve been a part of this community for a few years, from a standpoint of listening and praying but not really calling in. But I’m very grateful for each and every one of you guys. It thrills me whenever you guys come on and share and talk and pray. And I couldn’t imagine not being a part of this community. But my, my best friend called me yesterday and he said that his mom, she’s got cancer in her eye, and it’s gone back into her sinuses and it’s just a matter of time. She’s been kind of hard to deal with. She was, I mean, she was like my second mom growing up and she always called me her son number two. But she’s gotten, you know, kind of cranky and onery, and he said you gotta realize now that she’s so isolated now and she can’t hear that well or see that well and she’s kind of stuck in her house, so she kind of understands why she might be a little bit like that. But she’s also such a, such a joy. I mean, she was always so good to me, so good to us. As from, you know, being rambunctious teenagers, to street preachers, to whatever else we’ve tried to do. But anyway, I told him, I said I would make sure that I got you guys to pray for her cause I know that you will. And her name is Sue and she’s, she’s a believer, she, she helped me so much in my younger days learning about, about Jesus. So, if you guys could pray for Sue and pray for her comfort and peace. And just, that she feels a connection and connected. And pray for my friend Tom, that he, that he has the patience that he needs to help his mom out and all that. You guys are awesome, and I appreciate that, and I know that you will do that. This is Grateful in Tennessee. Thank you.

Hey family, it’s JC from Washington. Don’t really know how to ask for this prayer other than just to say it, not, no real way to sugar coat it. But my middle stepdaughter's kind of been estranged from, I’ve had a little bit of contact with her over a few years. But she’s definitely been estranged from her mother for seven or eight years. And I’ve been in touch with her here and there and just kind of these cryptic interactions and kind of new something was up. But last weekend we found out she had gone to jail for some threat chargers among other things. And then, we found out from her boyfriend’s mother that she had been basically crashing in their basement for the last year or so. And she’s on fentanyl. Then we found out that she’s living with this dude in Kirkland who’s potentially trafficking her and she’s 18-years-old. So, she’s you know, he’s got her phone, he’s kind of monitoring all her texts and calls so, I haven’t been able to get ahold of her. So, it’s a pretty dire situation. And it appears there’s nothing we can really do about it. You know, so, and I know I’ve kind of expressed to her multiple times, without accusing her of you know, being an addict that you know, I’d be willing to help her. It’s just, she’s not really acknowledging that she needs help. So, I know, when it comes to addiction, there’s, if they’re not reaching out for help and they haven’t reached rock bottom you know, there’s nothing we can do. So, I know this fentanyl the kids usually end up dead. So, just prayers for her, God knows her name. Thank guys, love you. Bye.

This is Kathy from Kentucky. I continue to need your prayers. It’s a difficult time for me just trying to work at my age and keep up with inflation on gas and groceries, maintain my health. I keep my home together, getting in ready for winter. I think I’ve got rid of the bed bugs and mice. Just a lot of different things happening in my life when I look back over the last four to five years, I’ve lost six family members. And then we had COVID and now we have inflation to deal with. It’s not easy to live alone. And sometimes it’s very lonely and very hard. And I ask your prayers for me. Thank you. Kathy from Kentucky, in Jesus name.

[deru-shigaraki]

Yandere Leviathan (obey me one shot)~Smut warning

You weren't happy with the arrangement. It was ridiculous that your mother was moving in with her new boyfriend so soon. Not that you didn't believe that she was happy. You've never seen your mom act this way. She was like a dizzy teenager, so love struck. Their honeymoon phase was striking hard and it cute yet somewhat disturbing. You hadn't minded them spending all of their time together. It gave you the opportunity to indulge in a new found freedom. Your mother used to be fixated on your social life, making it hard for you to do your own thing. However that beautiful privilege was going to be taken from you. It was cold the evening you had finally gotten settled in. You weren't the type to complain. You were a go with the flow type of girl. However going from your usual carefree lifestyle to having to share a room with someone was the icing on the top of a fucked up cake. Leviathan was the son of a friend of your mothers boyfriend. He had been staying with him for a few years due to family drama. When you ended up coming to stay as well, there were no other rooms, meaning that the two of you, practically strangers, had to share a living space. You had met Leviathan multiple times before, but it could hardly be considered meeting, given the fact that he hadn't made any effort into speaking to you. Even now as you made busy organizing your side of the room, he only glanced. You realized really quick that he rarely took his eyes off his game, but when he did, his glaze was fixed on you. It was creepy to say the least. You didn't like him already, and him acting creepy wasn't helping you adjust at all. Levi did his schooling online, meaning that when you left for classes during the day, he stayed behind. It hadn't crossed your mind that something weird could happen until you started noticing that a few of your things had gone missing. Articles of clothing mostly. You doubted he was stealing your clothes to wear them so you had dismissed it as being your imagination but even so, it placed a heavy bit of doubt in you. Coming home from school was always awkward. Both of the adults worked late and then would stay out together even later, meaning that it was just the two of you for hours until you went to bed. Today was no different. You sat in your bed, reading a book. Levi was on the floor in front of his tv, playing video games peacefully until the my hero academia theme song sounded off on his phone. You chuckled at his cute ringtone. He blushed lightly, glaring at you as he answered. "That mom and dad?" You asked and he shook his head standing up. "Girlfriend." He muttered before leaving the room for more privacy. You didn't think anything of it. You knew that he had a long distance relationship with some chick on the internet. That was it. He wasn't much of a talker in the first place so opening up about his love life wasn't something you had expected. Much like the sob that interrupted your chapter. You looked up from your paper back and stare in the direction of the slightly cracked door. Out in the hall you could hear Leviathan's voice. You were surprised, never hearing him get so loud. His tone was distressed, whatever she was telling him must not have been good. You didn't want to eavesdrop but a part of you was way too interested in what was going down. You put a piece of scrap paper into your book and set it down before sliding off of your bed silently. You didn't want to alert him. It would just be a little listen and then you'd hurry back to your bed before he even knew it. Though you wish you hadn't had that idea. You couldn't quite make out with what his girlfriend was saying but after hearing Leviathan response with: "Why? What have I done? Please don't do this! Think about it, you love me, and I love you." Listening was one thing you could have scolded yourself on, but you ignored even that and took a peak out the cracked door. Leviathan was pacing back and fourth, his body trembling in what you guessed as anger or maybe intense sadness. As soon as the call was over, he dropped his phone before balling his hand into a fist, striking the wall with an aggressive punch. You gasped as he repeated the action, again and again. As soon as he started to use both of his hands, you decided enough was enough. You rushed out into the hall way and grabbed his shoulder. He pushed you back. "Stay away from me brat!" He shouted and you paused. Your eyes were wide, staring at his bruising knuckles. You glanced back and forth from his hands to his eyes, feeling like you were about to cry with him. Leviathan sighed, closing his eyes and tucking his hands in his hoodie pockets. He muttered an apology before pushing past you, entering the room. You followed him, not trying to get in his face but you wanted to help, or at least wanted to know the drama. Leviathan was laying down on his bed, body sprawled out on his back. He was obviously suffering over what had happened. You weren't exactly sure what you were going to do about it. You sat yourself next to him. He glared at you before reaching up to cover his face with his hands. He tried to hide his wet eyes and red face but you could clearly see the way he was trembling. You didn't want him to be upset. It was going to be a few hours before you were going to bed and you didn't want to have to sit an awkwardness. You scooted closer to him before laying down next to your roommate. You waited a moment before speaking. "Sooo, do you wanna talk about it?" You asked and her growled before turning over onto his side, facing away from you. He gave a few angry sniffles before letting his guard drop just a small bit. "My girlfriend broke up with me..." You gave a little nod to yourself. "Yep...Do you-" "She said I was too clingy! How!?" Levi rolled over, startling you as he continued. "How could I be controlling her from across the ocean?! How big does she think My bank account is that she's accusing me of hacking her phone!?" You attempted to throw in your two sense, however he wasn't giving you the chance, continuing to get worked up, his body was leaning into your personal space more and more. "It's not hacking if I correctly guess a password to something!" You quirked an eyebrow, slightly amused by his tantrum. Leviathan then started getting a little too close, his leg swinging over your body. "If I was hacking her, she would have never even known!" He added, now straddling your hips. For you that was crossing the line and you had reached up to push him off before he caught your hands in his. "I would have done anything for her! I deleted her friends to protect her, I leveled up by body!" He growled the last part, lifting up his shirt, surprising you with actual abs underneath his layers of clothes. He forced your hand up against him and your face flushed with confusion as well as embarrassment. "This was going to be hers." He tipped his head back in thought, closing his eyes and moaning softly. His fingers were firm, holding your hand securely against his body. You were starting to shake, not sure how to react to this. Your mouth twitched, wondering what to say. He was getting a bit lost in his own mind. His hips were relaxing into you, making you feel even more uncomfortable. You had to stop this, it felt out of place, wrong even. You cleared your throat and pulled your hand away from him. As this he responded with a look of realization. He looked down at you for a moment before sighing deeply and dropping his hoodie. "I'm sorry...." He dropped his upper body down, his arms holding him up as he stared down into your face. You nibbled at your bottom lip. "It's fine, Just try and take your mind off of it, how about we play your games or something?" You suggested and his cheeks brightened up. "You'd play with me?" His voice cracked slightly, but you pretended not to hear it. He sat up, rushing to get controllers for the two of you. It was possibly the oddest night of your life. Levi was attached to your hip, leaning up against you while you both played on the tv. It wasn't that bad, you figured he just needed a friend to get his mind off of the breakup. It wasn't that much of a hassle to look after him. It only started getting really weird when it was getting later into the night. You were feeling a bit sleepy and he noticed. "Bed?" He asked and you nodded, standing up, and grabbing a set of clothes to change into. You went to the bathroom, slipping on a pair of shorts and a tank top. Coming back you caught a glimpse of Levi stripping. You scolded yourself for peaking. It was so wrong to spy on him. You just couldn't believe that he was that fit. You never seen him exercise, where did that body come from. You waited for him to put on something more than a tee shirt and boxers. After a minute or so of him just waiting there, you realized that he wasn't planning on putting on pants. You were confused as to what he was up to. He always slept with a hoodie and sweatpants. This was the least amount go clothes you've ever seen him in. Not only that but he was also fixing his hair. It was incredibly strange but that didn't stop you from walking in to your room. You tried to act like you didn't notice his eyes staring at you as you crawled into your bed. He stood there, in the middle of your room, rubbing at his wrist nervously. You laid there on top of your covers waiting. "Um...You can turn off the lights, I'm just gonna crash-" "Could we talk some more?...I mean if you wanna sleep that's fine, But I'd like to vent a bit more." Your eye twitched, out of exaughstion and of slight concern as to where this was going to go. You decided not to be rude and said sure. Much to your surprise he slapped the lights off and threw himself into your bed, his body scooting in close to you. His face was blushing as hard as yours was. "Wouldn't you be more comfy on your own bed? Mine is kinda small." You suggested but he didn't make a move to get up. He only scooted towards you, pressing his legs against yours. You closed your eyes, tight at first, just embarrassed by him acting weird towards you. However after awhile you found yourself leaning into his hand as he stroked you hair, opening your legs so that he could tangle his with yours. You were far too sleepy to put up much of a fight as he wrapped himself around you, hugging you in your sleep. It was warm, so warm and so comfy. Your head against his chest, his heart beat steady and soothing. You passed out soon after he started to hum to you. In the morning you woke up alone. You sat up and rubbed your eyes, for a split second wondering if maybe you had dreamt up that whole thing. You carried on with your morning runtime. Gettin ready for school, putting on makeup, getting dressed, doing your hair. It seemed like a normal morning, until you walked down the stairs. The smell hit you instantly. The sweet aroma of syrup and the yummy scent of waffles greeted you as you entered the kitchen. You were completely shocked seeing Levi standing there. He had his back turned to you, unloading waffles from the maker. He was listening to a soft anime soundtrack playlist as he cooked. He was wearing the boxers he had slept in, but now he had on a shirt. When he finally turned, you realized that he also had on an apron as well. It was a purple one, a shade lighter than his hair. He had a plate of waffles in one hand and a bowl of fruit in the other. "MC! You're up! Good, I just finished breakfast." He set the food down, offering you syrup and a glass of juice. You sat down, a little concerned with his rapid change of pace. He was never up this early, you had stepped over his sleeping body a dozen times before in the morning, yet here he was. For no reason that you could see other than that he wanted to feed you. You watched as he made you a plate. He took his time in placing fruits in certain spots in your waffles, covering them with syrup. He then set the plate in front of you, taking the seat beside you. You reached for your fork, noticing how Levi was staring at you. Trying not to let it bother you, you just started to eating. After a few moments of stuffing your face and looking at your phone you looked up, Levi coughing you off guard. He leaned into you, closing his eyes as he licked the side of your mouth. You panicked, pushing him back and getting off of your chair to avoid him. Levi also stood and rushed towards you. "MC, What's wrong?!" He looked concerned, trying to get close to you, but you refused to let him in your space. You circled the kitchen's counter. "N-no, stay back." You told him and Levi gave a hurt expression, his hands holding his chest as if you had stabbed him in the chest. "You're...mad at me?" His voice was quivering, almost making you feel sorry, but you couldn't. "You licked me." You hissed, crossing your arms over your chest. Levi frowned. "I was just..." He brought his hand up to his forehead, rubbing it angrily. As he continued to speak, you noticed how his voice was getting lower, almost more threatening. He cleared his throat, eyes closed tight as if he was trying to hold back a ton of aggression, and yet you could hear the frustration in his voice. "I'm sorry..." He spit out, taking a breath, finally looking up at you with glossy eyes. He slowly started to inch closer towards you. "You just looked so, cute...I couldn't help it." He mumbled and you shook your head. "N-no, Levi, come on. You're being really weird, I'm just gonna go to school ok-" "No! You can't." He rushed towards you. You weren't fast enough to escape, his hands gripping your wrist, as he used his body to force you up against the wall. You yelped, hitting your head, not too hard but you cringed, making him curse. "Fuck! Are you alright?! I'm not trying to scare you, I just need you to understand." He panicked and you shut your eyes. "L-levi, You're just upset over your ex. I know that you're messed up right now, but you can't take out your feelings on me, you need some help, maybe you should talk to mom or someone-" "NO! Don't tell anyone, please, I only trust you. If you tell mom and dad, they are going to split the family up, they'd be so disappointed...You'll ruin the family." He threatened and you stared at him shocked. You struggled against him, Levi growling. "Stay home from school today, let's just stay in bed, cuddle like we did last night." he cooed, his hips now pressing into the lower half of your body. You started to tremble in fear, "Stop it Levi!" Your cries for mercy didn't do a damn thing, he just continued to grind himself against you. His face held a mixture of embarrassment and pleasure. He was ashamed of what he was doing, a bright blush on his cheeks and apology in his eyes, but his growing erection was proof that it didn't matter to him, his body was reacting positively to you being defenseless against him. "MC, stay home with me~Please stay, please be with me." he begged and you just shook your head. "Leviathan, I-" He cut you off with a kiss. It was passionate and messy, his mouth forcing it's way inside of yours. You were panicking, the only way you knew how to stop it was by biting down on his tongue. You flinched as he drew back, stepping away from you as he spit out blood. "You....You hurt me..." He mumbled under his breath. You stood there, watching in fear as he thought out the situation. "You're such a bitch...I've worked so hard to be here with you...And you've ruined it." He glared at the table where your plate was still sitting along with the other breakfast supplies. "I had it so perfectly planned." He sounded heartbroken, his voice cracking slightly. He then turned back to you. "You're not even sorry...You ruined our breakfast together, and then you bit me!" he shouted, scaring you into backing away. He stalked towards you. " I didn't want it to be this way, I was so excited...there's only one thing that I'll except as an apology." He said darkly and you bolted. It was no use fighting him. As soon as he caught up to you, it was over. Levi was so much more stronger than you, and quick too. He's whole demeanor changed, his sweet persona new replaced with a cruel alter ego. He was treating you like a naughty pet, which was even stranger before in order for you to earn his forgiveness, he had wanted you to dress up for him, so that he could take pictures. You were terrified of the older boy in front of you. He was humming happily as he did your hair, putting it up in pigtails, adding on some cat ear clips to finish off the look. You looked up at him with a pleading expression, but at this point, he was in his own reality, not registering the situation at all. That's what made him unpredictable. "So cute!" He beamed, offering you his hands so he could pick you up off the floor. You glanced over to the mirror on the wall, gasping as you seen yourself. Levi had fully dressed you. You had a two piece on, a black and white maids top and a matching shirt, thigh highs going up your legs. You also noticed the tail that was pinned you your shirt. Levi was putting in some final touches. He crouched down in front of you, making sure your thigh highs were up all the way. He looked up at you with almost a loving expression. He then wrapped his arms around you legs, hugging you, his face burying into your thighs. You blushed as he held you. "I'm so glad it fits, I bought it a month ago, I figured you were a medium but by the way your curves are popping out, mm you might be a large~" He mumbled still snuggling you. You caught his words. "A month ago...You bought this for me?" You asked and Levi nodded. "Of course, I thought-...ha..." He stood, up his face red, caught in a lie. You frowned at him. "A month ago, you were still with your girlfriend...What do you mean you bought this for me?" You asked, your hands crossing over your chest. Levi scratched the back of his head nervously. "I had to make you comfortable with me...I knew that it was going to be hard, you moving in with a boy. I thought if I had a girlfriend, you might warm up to me faster, knowing that I wasn't going to do anything..." You stepped back, shocked. "I heard her on the phone, this whole time? You mean you faked it this whole time? I don't understand, why would you-" "Please don't be upset with me! I did it for you, I wanted you to relax before we got closer." he explained and you shook your head. "Levi, you're insane." You mumbled and he grabbed your shoulders. "MC. I'm in love with you. Ever since I seen your pictures, I knew I liked you, and getting to spend all this time, so close to you...It's not enough, I need you. I need you to accept me." he begged and you just shook your head. "This is crazy, you lied this whole time, to what? Make me your girlfriend?" He looked ashamed as you shook your head. "I don't like you that way...I have other boys I'm talking you-" "No." He growled. "I won't let you, I worked too hard." He wrapped his arms around your neck, pulling you into him. You closed your eyes as he kissed your forehead. "Promise me, that you're mine...." He hugged you tightly. You shook your head. "No, Levi." You whispered and he started to laugh. You pushed away from his as soon as his hands released you, scared that his personality had switched. You yelped as he grabbed your wrist. He sat himself down in the chair in front of the mirror, pulling you onto his lap, without much effort. He had one arm wrapped around you, keeping your arms at your sides. You of course struggled but it was no use. He sighed, his other hand lifting up your skirt so the two of you could see the reflection of your panties in the mirror. You closed your eyes, not wanting to see yourself so venerable, so paralyzed in fear. He moaned, you yelping as his dick started to harden underneath you. "I refuse to let all of my hard work go down the drain. I won't let you get taken away from me by some fucking piece of garbage. Only one person deserves you and that's me." he growled in your ear. You were shaking, terrified as his free hand slipped underneath the skirt, his fingers dancing along the fabric of your panties. He felt the lips of your pussy through them, a wetness beginning to form. You hated yourself for getting turned on by his hands. His chin rested on your shoulder, kissing the side of your face as he watched himself in the mirror. "Lift your hips up for me~" He whispered into your ear. You were hesitant, but didn't have a choice, lifting yourself up, Levi making quick work of taking himself out of his pants, his dick free, now placed between your legs. Your pussy flooded at the feeling of his thick cock rubbing against the insides of your thighs. He pulled it up closer, urging you to close you legs around him. He then used his hips to push up into you, fucking your thighs, his mouth letting out little grunts as he fucked up into them. You felt so dirty, his precut dripping down the tip of his dick and leaking down onto your thighs. The slickness traveled down in between your legs, offering his cock more lube to go faster. He buried his face into your shoulder, groaning desperately. "Oh my god, you're so soft~Squeeze your legs tighter together." He ordered and you did as you were told, just hoping it would be done quicker. Your pussy was burning at the friction of his dick. You bit your lip, trying to hold in your own moans, you didn't want him to know that there was a portion of you that was really enjoying this, the way he felt, how big he was. You peaked at yourself in the mirror, seeing how much of a mess you were. Levi's eyes were closed, head tipping back as he moved his hips faster. "Fuck! I'm so close." He paused his movements, grabbing your thighs, and forcefully opening them, his hand grabbing your panties and pulling them aside. You started to panic! "Levi no! Not there! Please not there!" You begged, but he kept you held still, as his cock forced itself inside of you. You screamed feeling him bottom out, his dick twitching inside of you, your body not excepting the lack of movement, You needed him to move. You couldn't take it, you shamefully began to wiggle your hips, Levi's arm releasing you, your hands pressing against the mirror in front of you, your hips lifting and dropping onto his cock feverishly. You couldn't stop yourself, you didn't know what you were doing but the pleasure drove your movements. Levi was just as surprised, his face twisted in intense heat. He grunted as he thrusted up into you, meeting your pace. You were a moaning mess, screaming for him like a slut. You were so caught up in the feeling, that you hadn't noticed him pulling out his phone, taking pictures and short videos. When he felt himself again get close, he threw his phone down, giving your ass a hard slap before grabbing your hips, forcefully holding you down onto his cock as his orgasm gushed into you. You struggled against him, your body shaking, tears falling from your face. You looked at yourself in the mirror, completely embarrassed. Levi leaned back in the chair, his head tipped back, his cock still giving your spurts of lust, his cum starting to overflow your pussy, leaking down your legs. You looked over your shoulder at him with exhausted eyes. He smiled at you, giving a light pat to your thigh, "Up baby." he ordered, his voice soft as you struggled to stand. His dick made an obscene sound as you stood up. He tucked it back into his boxers. You whined as he lifted you up, carrying you to his bed. You clasped into the sheets, grabbing one of his pillows instinctively. You hugged it close to your chest, too sore to move. You felt so messy, so slutty. Levi on the other hand was acting as if nothing was happening, turning on his game, sitting on the bed next to you. You whined, getting his attention. He looked back at you, his hand resting on your head, petting your hair, taking out the cat ear clips. "You can get undressed if you'd like. I'm done for now." He explained. You used the last bit of your energy to strip from the outfit he had put you in. Levi looked back at you and smiled. "Sore?" He asked and you nodded. "You'll get use to it. I won't go so hard next time." he explained, making your stomach do flips. He was going to do this again...you really did belong to him.