#except judge he's in prison or dead

[pooks]

Sanji, enters his All Blue restaurant: Alright, it's baby time! Pants off, Mosshead! Ichiji, standing by the fridge and looks very disturbed: ... Sanji, very awkwardly: ...didn't see you there, 'chiji.

[shanklin]

For the very sad realitivity falls au

I was thinking it really needed some comfort.

Which got me thinking about Soos, if Soos became like a son figure to Stan, maybe the opposite in realitivity falls?

Maybe Soos becomes like a father figure to Stan (dear lord that poor boy needs it especially with the whole Filbrick situation)

Stan: *sighs* Look I better go, I don’t want to burden you anymore than I already have.

Soos: Nah it’s fine dawg, c’mon, sit down with me. This cool new show is about to come on!

Stan: But, aren’t I selfish for wanting to spend time with you? Wouldn’t you rather do it with Ford?

Soos: Dude, you are being too hard on yourself. I want to spend time with you dawg, because you’re an awesome dude! *ruffles Stan’s hair*

Stan: *trying to hold back tears* I uh-have dust in my eyes.

Soos: There, there dude, let it all out. *hugging Stan*

Stan: *sobbing* I just want to be loved, but I—

Soos: I’ll be here for you

Selfish Shellfish AU - Masterpost

Rejoice, dear Anon! You’re getting out of prison early on good behavior!

Soos becoming a father like figure for Stan broke me. Haven’t stopped thinking about this since. I love it dearly.

This ask also made me realise a couple of things

I have no idea what Soos’ role usually is in Relativity Falls AUs

I don’t care. Don’t tell me. Soos is Soos. Maybe a tiny bit older than in canon. 30ish?

I imagine Stan to be like 15 in this for extra angst. He still hasn’t gotten a proper growth spurt yet and definitely has no drivers licence.

…I forgot what number four was. I was too preoccupied in outlining a fic in my head that I’m totally never gonna write. Don't look at the word count

Okay so, comfort? Sure! Dad!Soos! Perfect! Tonal shift with slight crack components incoming? More likely than you’d think!

Where did we leave off?

Filbricks dead, yaay!

Mabel, Dipper and Ford are currently having multiple breakdowns over how much they failed Stan.

And Stan? Stan’s on the run. He’s a murderer now and certain the police are after him and actually let’s say he’s right about that one. It doesn’t help that Filbrick had friends in the police force or at the very least used to pay them off on the regular.

One moment Stan stands above his fathers unmoving body looking at his hands - he really needs to wash his hands.

The next he's a state over in the middle of nowhere in a stolen car that's running out of gas with no money, no food and only the clothes on his back.

He’d curse himself for not taking supplies with him but what the point? He deserves this. He’s a murderer. A selfish, rotten, evil person. He should turn back and surrender. Get himself locked up and pay for his crimes.

But that would mean he’d have to face Ford and the rest of his family. They would come and judge him. See how bad he really is. He can’t do that. He can’t face them. He’d rather die than face their disgust and disappointment.

And yet somehow. Something in him still wants to live. The selfish part of him that refuses to shut up and let him be. That makes him do awful things and hurt others.

Everyone was right about him. So there is no point anymore in trying to be better. He might as well embrace it. It’s easier than thinking about Pa staring at him with dea-no no no no. That doesn't matter. Nothing matters except his own survival.

His car runs out of gas near the woods. It’s dark and cold and the wind howls in the distance. Stan's fight or flight instinct goes into overdrive. He desperately looks for a weapon to defend himself with. After a couple of minutes of frantic searching he finds a small pocket knife in the glove compartment. This will have to do.

There are headlights in the distance coming ever so slowly closer and Stan grasps the knife tighter.

Go away go away go away, Stan silently begs but the car comes to a halt behind him and a large man steps out.

Stan gulps and tightens his resolve. He's a criminal. A- a- murderer. He’s already done the worst thing imaginable to survive. And he will continue to survive. 

Even if that means he has to hurt and kill others. Stan steels himself and decides to do the unforgivable once more. He will kill this man, take his car and money and only live for himself.

A knock on the window. Stan lowers it, ready to strike. One swift stab in the neck and it will alll be over.

“Sup little dood! Need some help there?”

Stan falls over, he drops the knife and stumbles back shaking.

The man chuckles and picks up the knife. This is it. This is how Stan will die. Killed in the middle of nowhere by a gopher like serial killer. No one will never know what happened to him

“Here you go dude. You lost your knife. You need to be careful with these things. Could’ve accidentally stabbed me or something.”

The man holds out the knife and Stan snatches it up and moves back further, holding it protectively over his chest.

“What- what do you want?”

Stan's voice is hoarse. He hasn't used it in days, he realises. And the last time he did, he was shouting before before-

“Saw your car parked here in the middle of these creepy woods and thought you might need some help.”

"Well, I don't. So f-fuck off.” 

Stan flinches. It never ends well when he gives adults attitude. Shit. Shit, why did he do that?

Luckily the man doesn’t react to his mistake. Maybe he didn’t hear him?

“Aw dude. I’d feel bad leaving you all alone. Is your dad here somewhere?”

The man looks around for Stan's…dad. Stan's throat feels like sandpaper.

“No. He’s gone.” Stan whispers and the man's eyes soften.

“I’m sorry du-”

“Gone to get some gas!” Stan exclaims all of a sudden, shoving all his terror, anxiety and guilt into a dark corner in his mind. He needs to put on an act if he wants to survive.

“He’ll be back soon so you can just. Go.”

“Ah no. That’s alright. I’ll wait with you until your dad comes back. It’ll be great. I’ve got some snacks in my car and we can play I spy. See, I’ll start. I spy something green!”

“A tree?” 

"Woah, Dude! You’re like super good at this.”

Is this guy for real? He’s clearly mocking Stan, only. Not. He seems way too sincere. Stan hates it.

“Well this was fun, but you should really go. Stranger Danger and all that”

The man's eyes widen in shock.

“Totally forgot! Sorry, Dude! I’m Soos.”

He holds out his hand. Stan eyes it suspiciously.

“You’re not going to leave are you?”

“Not until you’re safe. Can’t leave a kid like you out here all alone. Your dad, like, shouldn’t have done that. That’s not cool dude.”

Stan might be stupid, but he's not an idiot. The guy is most definitely gonna turn out to be a creep and/or serial killer. The moment Stan lets his guard down around him he’s done for. He should insist the guy leave or better jump out of the car and run away. As starved and tired as Stan is he’d be no match for a big dude like Soos, even if he uses his small pocket knife, but he could probably outrun him in the woods.

There is no way for Stan to come out of this alive.

Either he will piss the guy off by insisting he leave and get murdered or he runs into the woods, gets lost and dies of exposure far away from civilization. 

His only other option is to wait with the guy and play his stupid games until he realises no one will come for Stan and he’s free to do as much axe murdering as he pleases.

No matter what he does. He’ll end up dead, abused and broken with no one to grieve for him. He’s sick and tired of feeling like this. Helpless. No, he needs to stay strong. Strong and selfish.

Stan takes the outstretched hand and shakes it firmly. Just like Pa taught him to do. The firmer your handshake is, the easier it will be to make a deal in your favor.

“Steve Pinington and actually I don’t think my dad will come back anytime soon. He probably got lost and is waiting for me in the next town over. Would it be okay if I hitch a ride with you?”

It was surprisingly easy to convince the man of his lie. Apparently if you get lost you should always stay exactly where you are until you’re picked up. Stan is pretty sure it doesn’t work like that for adults but he won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

New plan.

Make the creep think Stan is just a helpless, innocent and naive kid

Wait until he falls asleep and slit his throat

Take all his money and leave the country. Or something. Stans will figure it out later. Maybe he could  steal a boat…

The drive is nice. There’s food, water and warmth. It makes his hands tingle. He didn’t notice how cold he was before.

Stan gets forced into playing silly road games and when his answers become slower and he feels his eyes droop Soos turns down the music and puts a blanket around him.

Stan tells himself he's just keeping up the act and will only pretend to fall asleep but is out cold a moment later anyway.

***

He wakes up with a scream and swings fist at the nearest object which happened to be the face of his kind of kidnapper.

A crunch. Blood. A body lying at his feet. His hands. He needs to wash his hands.

“Sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I’m sorry-” Stan can’t breathe. There’s blood on his hands. Where is he? He’s sorry.

“Hey, hey, it’s fine dude. I Shouldn’t have woken you like that. It’s just a nosebleed, see?” 

Soos smiles and holds his hands up as the blood drips down his face, over his teeth and onto his shirt. It’s not a pretty sight. Stan looks away.

“You know, one time I tried to see how many hot dogs I could eat at once but I choked and pieces got stuck in my nose. I bled out sausage chunks for like a week straight.”

A weak chuckle escapes Stan's throat. “Eww that’s disgusting.”

Soos clumsily wipes off the blood from his face and holds out some fresh tissues for Stan. He takes them gratefully. It’ll have to do until they find a proper bathroom to clean up.

“I’m really sorry.”

“It’s alright little dude.” Soos replies and ruffles his hair. Stan tenses up but lets it happen. He feels the phantom touch long after it’s gone and it takes all of Stan's self control not to trace it his head. He flashes in embarrassment. It felt…safe.

Oh, the guy really knows what he’s doing. Stan will do the world a favour by killing him.

***

To the surprise of no one Stan’s “lost dad” is nowhere to be found. They spend the whole day exploring every inch of the town and asking people if they’ve seen Stan's dad. Stan makes a game out of it, trying to see just how outrageous he can make the descriptions until people think he’s lying.

Soos never once questions his stories.

Eventually they have to give up their search and get ice cream instead. It's the best day Stan had in years. He feels sick.

***

Soos gets them a motel room and opts to sleep on the floor when it becomes clear that only single bed rooms were available. 

His kidnapper is really bad at this, Stan ponders as he watches the man snore. At this rate he’s going to develop Stockholm syndrome and fall in love with him or something. Stan grimaces in disgust. Yep. That’ll do it. He needs to kill him now and proof once and for all that he can survive on his own.

He sneaks out of bed and quietly leans over the man, knife in hand. There’s drool on Soos' face and his nose looks swollen. Stan did that. He hurt him. And Soos didn’t care. He laughed it off with a silly story and distracted Stan until he could breathe again. 

Soos grunts and Stan flinches. The knife falls out of his hands and onto the carpet, nearly missing Soos’ neck. For a moment Stan's heart stops and when it beats again it's racing. With shaking hands Stan pushes the knife into the farthest corner of the room and curls up next to Soos.

He failed.

***

The next morning he wakes up in bed all wrapped in a warm blanket.

Soos greets him but Stan isn’t listening. 

It's all over. He can’t do it. It makes no sense. Why can’t he do to a stranger what he did to his own father, intentionally or not. He can't remember. It doesn’t matter. It changes nothing.

Stan is stuck. He knows, logically, he could just make up an excuse and escape, but he doesn’t want to. Soos feels - it's not safe. No one is safe. But he feels harmless and he's a good distraction. As long as Stan focuses on Soos won’t have to think about anything else.

“Hey, Soos.”

"Yeah?"

“I don’t think we’ll find my father here. He probably left town already. So, eh, can I just come with you?” Stan fiddles with his hands. They always look wrong. Always a finger short. “It’s to look for my dad of course. I’ll be gone before you know it. I promise I won’t be a bother and I can help out with things! I’m good at following orders and I-”

“Dude! Dude! Say no more. I’ve so gotchu. We’re totally the same. I’m also looking for my dad.”

“What?”

At Stan's befuddled expression Soos picks up the briefcase he's been carrying around and sits now next to Stan.

“You see, my dad left as well when I was little. Littler than you even and I’ve always wanted to meet him, but he never came. All I got were some postcards.”

Soos opens the briefcase and pulls out a card. Stan ignores it in favour of staring at the rest of the content in the case. Holy shit. That's a lot of money. Soos continues undeterred.

“Well, it’s always been my dream to play catch with my dad and I almost gave up on it but then I got this!”

Soos hands Stan a plain looking card.

“Son, 

I’m in a bit of a pickle and I could really use some help. Meet me at this address and bring 50 grand with you. You’re the best, champ.

Love, Dad.”

Stan stares at the card. Then back to Soos. Then back at the card. 

“You know this is a scam, right?” Stan waves the card in front of Soos who, stands up, grabs it and puts it back in without meeting Stan’s eyes.

“Perhaps,” Soos mutters. “But I still gotta try. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. I mean I had my Abulita and she was great, but it wasn’t the same. And now she’s in heaven and I’ve got no one else left besides him. Maybe he needs the money for a fresh start and will come back home with me!”

Soos sniffles and rubs his eyes. “So yeah. Maybe it’s not the smartest thing to do, but I have to try.”

Stan hugs his knees and is quiet for a long moment.

“In my experience, money is the only thing that will make a dad like you, so it might work out after all.”

Stan peeks at Soos but it looks like his attempt at comforting the man failed. He looks even more heartbroken than before. 

***

Despite Stan's failure Soos agrees to take Stan with him and even suggests their dads might be at the same place. Who knows. They could be part of a secret run away dad club and play a very long and drawn out game of hide and seek.

Stan manages to muster up a smile at the suggestion and helps Soos pack their things. Not that they have much to begin with. Most of Soos things are still in the car and Stan suddenly becomes acutely aware that he still only has the clothes on his back with him. He’ll need to find a way to steal some while Soos isn't looking.

They’re about to leave when Soos spots something in the corner of the room and moves to pick it up. It’s the knife.

“Here you go. We almost forgot it. Be careful not to lose it. You never know when it might come in handy!”

“Thanks…”

Stan almost tosses the knife out right then and there, but instead he puts it back into his pocket. Soos is right. He should stay vigilant.

***

The next couple of days pass by like a dream. Most of the time in the car is spent playing silly word games and arguing about music. Apparently Stan has the taste of an old man. Which is ridiculous. He just prefers the classics, which are classics for a reason! They won’t be forgotten in two weeks like Soos top 20 hits.

[When was the last time Stan listened to music just because he can? How come he’s feeling so strongly about it? Music should be just a way to attract customers and nothing else. Certainly not fun. STOP HUMMING BOY]

At some point the car breaks down and Soos has Stan help him with the repairs. He makes a show of opening the hood and explaining what he’s doing. 

It’s awkward and the nervous energy Soos gives off as he keeps checking if Stan is still listening puts him on edge.

He briefly wonders if Soos is trying to place a bomb inside, but then he holds the tools out to Stan and asks him to give it a go.

Confused about the whole thing Stan does as instructed and finds himself grinning as the engine roars back to life.

“Well done!” Soos cheers and holds his palm out into the air. “Up top!”

Stan blicks and lightly taps the hand in a high six, blushing at the praise.

Soos throws an arm around Stan and guides him back into the car.

Maybe this isn’t a dream. Maybe the last three years were just a bad nightmare and he’s actually been travelling with Soos and having the time of his life, while Ford is off studying weird stuff with Grunkle Dipper.

So Stan pretends he’s just on a fun extended road trip with his friend Soos. It’s great! They eat all the junk food they can get their hands on, sing loudly to bad songs, stay up and sleep as long as they want to and visit every bad tourist trap they come across.

Those are Stan's favourites! The attractions are clearly fake and nonsensical but also the best things Stans ever seen!

Some are just a normal object but big while others try a bit harder to keep your attention with fake curiosities and stories.

There even was one Tax Education Center and Fun Park where you learned everything about the history of taxes and how to file them correctly. Or how to avoid them, if you’re like Stan and know how to read between the lines. 

Eventually, Stan managed to piss off another kid hellbent on becoming the most esteemed IRS agent the nation has ever seen. 

The fist fight that ensued will be retold for generations to come! 

Or at least got them both a lifelong ban from the museum. Stan forgot how much fun fighting was when the opponent is not double your size and responsible for your basic needs.

He leaves the kid with a short “See ya!” and starts running as the kid shouts after him in rage.

“I won’t let you get away with this, Steve Pinington! Mark my words! THIS ISN’T OVER!”

Stan is full on belly laughing when he meets up with Soos.

“Made a new friend?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

Stan grins through his split lip. That felt amazing.

***

“Here Soos look!” Stan exclaimes as he shows off his fake abominations that he made out of junk from a nearby trash can.

This tourist trap thing is easy!

He gives Soos the grand tour around the little stand he built on the car and makes up fantastical and true stories of wonder and mystery about the items and tops it all off with the little broken toaster he found. He gave the toaster some cardboard eyes and legs that move with the help of hidden strings and voilà!

The Footbot 9000!

It even talks! Stan’s bad attempt at ventriloquism earns him some snorts and a wonderous “Woah, mommy mommy it speaks!” from the little toddler at the front of the crowd.

Wait. When did that happen? Where did all the people come from?

Stan looks around in alarm and finds Soos farther in the back watching him with glistening eyes. Is Soos crying?

Stan needs to get out of here but there's no good opening and then clapping starts courtesy of Soos.

With no escape in sight Stan takes a bow and thanks his audience.

“How much for the Footbot?” The mother of the toddler asks.

“30 Bucks.”

“10”

“20”

“Deal.”

One firm handshake later and Stan is the proud new owner of a crumpled 20 dollar bill with more to come as more suckers have already shown interest in some of the other junk he put out.

In the back there are people whispering and pointing at Stan. He better hurry up and get out of here before he gets them kicked out of town for selling broken toasters and literal trash.

***

“You know I think I’ll open my own tourist trap in the future” Stan says and takes another bite of his burger. “That was fun.”

“You were amazing! I was totally entranced by your wondrous tales of mystery. You’re like a genius at this, dude!”

A genius? Him? Stan’s not a genius.

Then agaaain. Ford is supposed to be a genius and he wouldn’t be able to put on a show like this.

A giggle escapes him and he kicks his legs under the table.

He can’t wait to tell Sixer and see his dumbfounded expression. Stan the genius. HA! That'll show him for staying home and missing out on the road trip of a lifetime!

***

Stan hands over the money he’s earned as soon as they arrive at the motel. Stan did so well today. He’s still giddy about it.

He found himself a plan for the future, made money AND got praised. The day couldn’t have gone better.

It’s almost a shame he has to go to sleep. But alas. Them's the rules. With a quiet hum under his breath Stan starts to get ready but is stopped by Soos, who is still holding the money.

“What’s up?”

“You don’t need to give me this.” Soos looks pained. 

“I don’t understand. What else am I supposed to do with it? The room has already been paid…”

“No, little dude. You can keep it for yourself. Your company is payment enough.”

Stan shakes his head. This isn’t right. Soos is taking care of things so Soos gets to keep all the money Stan makes. It’s only fair.

“No! You keep it. I don’t want it” 

“It’s fine dude here” Soos takes Stan’s hand and pries it open trying to return the bills. They fumble around and Soos won’t let go forcing it back into Stan’s hands. Stan can’t have the money! It isn’t right. But Soos is stronger than him and refuses to let it go.

“It’s yours. I don’t want it!” Stan repeats, runs to the bathroom and turns on the shower to cancel the noise from the outside.”

Stan needs to pay Soos back for taking care of him. He already wasted so much money on Stan. On food and clothes and sightseeing. Oh. Oh no. Was the money not enough? That's why he didn’t want it, right? It was basically an insult. Here I give you two drops of water back so forgive me for tuning the ocean into a desert and wasting it all on me.

There’s a knock on the bathroom door. Stan flinches with every bang. 

BANG

BANG

BANG

“Just come in!” Stan shouts to make the noise stop.

The shower turns off and in the absence of water pouring down on him he becomes acutely aware of the wet clothes sticking to his body, dragging him down.

Soos wraps him in a towel.

“I’m sorry dude for pushing. I’ll keep the money for now and we’ll talk about it later, okay?”

Stan nods and hopes later never comes. 

Soos gets him a change of clothes, helps him dry up and guides him to bed. Stan lets it all happen. He’s too tired to think and following orders is easier. More familiar. 

Stan falls asleep to a comforting hand stroking his hair.

***

Life is great! Stan decides as he jumps out of bed the next morning with renewed vigor. Yesterday evening was just a bad dream and he’s ready for a bright new day.

Who knew food, sleep and good company was all you needed to be happy?

Soos throws him an odd look before leaving to get them some breakfast.

Stan shrugs it off and turns on the TV. Soos is a weird guy so weird looks aren’t out of the ordinary.

He flips through the channels not looking for something particular. It’s been a while since he last had time to sit down and watch something.

He’s about to give up and do something else when the picture on the news is stopping him dead in his tracks.

It's him. It's Stan. 

15 year old Stanley Pines wanted for questioning in relation to the murder case of Filbrick Pines. The authorities ask the public to be vigilant as he is suspected to be armed and dangerous.

There's even a reward out for tips leading to his whereabouts.

The world around him shatters.

His little game of make belief turns into shards cutting into him and leaving nothing but sharp and cold reality behind.

Just what the hell has Stan been doing?

A fun road trip? Making plans for the future? Is he actually insane?

He fucking killed his dad. Let him bleed to death on the kitchen floor as he just watched in silence.

Exactly like he planned to do to Soos.

There is no future for Stanley Pines. Or Steve Pinington. Or any other name he’s going to come up with in order to trick people into liking him for a short while.

The moment Soos finds out what Stan has done it will all be over. Soos will be just like the rest of his family and see Stan for what he really is. A rotten and selfish child. A murderer. Someone not deserving of the love and care Soos showed him.

Maybe he can trick him into believing it’s some other child on the news. Soos is pretty naive sometimes. He could make it work!

Stan shakes his head. 

No. Stan is done pretending.. Eventually someone.will recognize him and then Soos will be in trouble as well for harbouring a criminal.

Steps in the hallway. No time to think. Stan needs to escape. Now!

He puts on his shoes, grabs the jacket and Soos’ briefcase and sprints out of the door.

If the money goes to waste on a good for nothing criminal anyway it might as well go to Stan instead. Really he's doing Soos a favour.

Someone runs after him but Stan is faster.

“Dude, wait! It’s alright, don’t go. Stan, STANLEY WAIT!

Stan is already out of town before he realises that Soos called him by his real name.

To be continued

This was supposed to be just a quick summary or a couple of bullet points about how Stan and Soos could become family in this AU.

And it was also supposed to be a bit more unserious and ha ha, so what if Stan tried to constantly kill Soos and couldn’t get rid of him. But it turned out quite different and not as bullet pointy as I set out to do.

I’m still a little bit in denial about that. But Stan is in denial for most of this as well. So it fits.

I wanted to completely finish it before posting but that’s gonna take too long and I've got no time. So for now have a sad ending for the sad relativity falls AU.

Don’t worry though. It will have a very sweet happy end. With lots of comfort. Maybe.

But for now let's all imagine Stan once again all alone and on the run :D

[sweetfirebird]

So Chief Roberts stepped in (when he did not have to step in) to pause the order a lower court gave for the federal government to return Kilmer Abrego Garcia, the man sent to El Salvador by ICE and Rubio and Bondi despite no evidence he was a criminal. (And to be clear, I am not supporting sending criminals to El Salvador either. This is about this case.)

Chief Roberts stepped in personally, probably because Trump asked him to.

The lower court judge ruled that the decision to deport this man without so much as even a hearing, with no evidence, was "wholly lawless." And gave the government a deadline to return him.

Then Roberts stepped in and paused this order.

Now. Now. Here is where the constitutional crisis would be--except that Trump jumped in again to keep to the appearance of legality. Which is fascinating. And by Trump I mean his people. That guy is probably golfing.

Trump's people are pushing for no checks and balances and total power. They said they would and they are. But so far, each time this happens, where a judge or a state governor says no, they make a bunch of noise and try to bully, but don't take the final step.

I'm not sure why. They want to be more certain before they do this? Project 2025 has them itching to declare martial law and then never revoke it so they can have nearly unlimited powers. Yet they've hesitated again. And I wonder why. What are they waiting on? They still want us, the people, to make the "wrong" move first? Why? They've made it pretty clear they don't care about the world's opinion. Do they not have the widespread support they are pretending they do? Dissent in the ranks already? Is their rich daddy Peter Thiel stopping them? I doubt they care about the one or two elderly Reagan Republicans still kicking around and pretending to give a shit about the rule of law.

Did they expect less resistance? Like did they believe their own "mandate" story and finding any resistance at all has made some of them hesitate?

Did they expect MORE resistance? Like, immediate riots across the country even though they are still touting the mandate from the voters (and Musk, allegedly)?

But anyway, so Roberts did as Trump said and stepped in, and temporarily paused the order.

There are a few theories as to why:

this poor man is already dead. Killed in the hellhole prison or by ICE while in custody. And it will look bad to say so and they know it (see above as to why they would care, at this point, and yet they might.)

the government in El Salvador truly lost this man in the system already. which also does not look good.

the government in El Salvador is ignoring the Trump administration... which makes them look weak and they don't want to admit to it.

they don't want to back down because backing down weakens your public image of strength, but know they have no legal case to do so, because the arguments they already tried were legally speaking, stupid as hell. so the delay is to give them time to think up some new bullshit OR to distract everyone in America and hope we forget.

(you know, forget the death of due process. but sure.)

Still don't get why they are hesitating, but here we are. They are hiding behind Roberts, who has offered at least this much shelter. But does he want to be the 'death of due process' guy? I don't think he does, although he might do it because he is... like that. Some suggest he stepped in when asked to please Trump but is just hoping the DOJ comes back with a better argument.

And I am sure Bondi is screaming at her underlings to find a "better" argument.

For the appearances of legality.

Which, again. Fascinating, in a horrible way, that they are bothering. *Something* is still keeping them from coming out in the open and I'd like to know what it is.

If they wanted us plebs to riot, then one would think finally openly ignoring the courts would be a step they would take. So... are some of them balking behind the scenes? Rubio is fine giving speeches on TV but still does not want to be the killer of America in the history books? Does he have that much self-awareness? Are there rumblings among the military and the lower-level DOJ staff? Hegseth and the others were out committing (alleged) war crimes and violating national security without the president even being aware(or giving a shit). And they probably still are. But it's secret so it's fine?

Are they just waiting for DOGE to finish stealing our money to control us first? Only DOGE is using AI to try to code, so that might take a while?

Edit: Roberts clearly does not want to be the death of due process guy but also doesn't want to anger Trump, so he is sort of side stepping the issue for now, but the administration is gonna try again. So he is waiting for a better argument except they don't have one. Not a legal one anyway.

ICE admitted they made a mistake. Even the government is saying it was like a clerical error. But they are claiming they a) have the right to ship people off to foreign countries but also b) do not have the right to ask for those people back from those countries, even though they have already asked for El Salvador to return some of these people and El Salvador did.

The 18-whatever wartime law the government has been citing to justify this, is a wartime law, but also even the people back in the 1800s got hearings, btw.

It really should not be on the courts to be the remaining check, btw. Republicans in congress bowing to Trump gave up their own power, and I don't think all of them realize it. They think they can step forward again when it pleases them, and that is not how power works.

[spaceofentropy]

Thank you, @ihni , for the baton! Without further ado, here's my contribution to the Harringrove Relay Race!

It's a little fic (that I'll post on ao3 later, when I'm awake and cosplaying as a functioning human) and that is very cleverly (not really) titled...

A Pirate's Life For Me

Billy's always known he wasn't lucky in life and this, right here, is the culmination of it all.

Not even two months at sea, working his ass off for a meager pay in the hopes of earning enough to exstinguish the debts his father and Chrissy's father put on their shoulders before dying, and his ship gets captured by pirates.

Worse: captured by the Dread Pirate Roberts, who has a reputation as a great swordman and a ruthless bastard who doesn't leave survivors.

Billy did his best in the fight, but he's just a farm boy turned deck swabber, his swordmanship goes very little further than "the handle goes into your hand, the pointy part goes inside the enemy". So now he's kneeling, hands raised, on the deck of the Panthaira, along with the rest of the surviving crew and passengers.

Well, with all the survivors except Captain Loman, who's huddled against the main mast. The Dread Pirate Roberts is crouched in front of the captain and talking to him in a low voice while the captain clearly draws his last breaths, shirt painted a vivid red with the blood gushing from the puncture wounds in his chest. Loman was a petty tyrant, so Billy is not exactly bawling his eyes out at the prospect of the captain being gone soon. It's just the principle of the thing that counts. The Panthaira has been captured, and, to put it mildly, Billy is fucked.

There are too many pirates keeping them under threat of more stabbing, and also no damn place to go even if he were able to escape the ship. They're in the middle of the ocean, nothing but water in every direction for hundred if not thousands of miles.

So Billy stays where he is.

And looks either at the back of the Dread Pirate Roberts or at the slow rising and falling of Loman's chest.

He waits and hates how his arms are getting heavier and heavier by the second. Soon, he'll be dead and, back home, Chrissy will have to mourn her best friend too, not just her parents.

Captain Loman's chest at last goes still and Roberts extends a careful, gloved hand to close the man's unseeing eyes, before turning towards his prisoners in one swift, elegant movement.

Robert's dressed all in black and wearing a mask, just like the stories say. He has long brown hair tied in a low pony tail, and dark eyes that sweep the crew and passengers of the Panthaira like he can weigh the wort of each of them with just one look.

Billy lets his hands fall down, tired of this charade. If he's gonna die anyway, what good comes from obeying? Might as well die with some feeling left in his arms.

Someone shouts at Billy to raise his hands again and he just ignores him. Roberts is walking their way, his steps slow and his attention pointedly fixed on cleaning blood off the blade of his sword.

Somewhere behind Billy, a woman starts weeping. One of the crew members pleads for his life. Another offers all the money he's got to be spared.

Bunch of cowards.

Roberts stops in front of Billy, ignores everyone else.

"You're not pleading," he says in such a voice and cold tone that the people around them fall silent, too scared of what's happening.

"I don't plead."

"Aren't you scared, boy?"

"To death."

Roberts grins. It makes the moles on his cheek dance.

"Should I bestow on you the sweet mercy of death, then, or not?"

Billy licks his lips and grins back.

"You should let me live, sir."

"And why should I make an exception?"

That's the true problem. Both Billy and Roberts know it, judging by the predatory look in his eyes.

Why, indeed.

"True love?" Billy tries.

Roberts laughs.

"She must be an exceptional lay, to make you believe someone will let you live only so that you'll be able to bed her again!"

"Wouldn't know, I've never wanted to fuck my best friend. Is there truest, purest love than the one that's never been tainted by lust or carnal needs?"

The Dread Pirate Roberts laughs even more and then shakes his head.

"Unbelievable," he says in a stage whisper. "What's your name, boy?"

"Billy."

"Well, Billy, I find myself in sudden need of a personal attendant." Roberts pauses for a beat, cocks his head to the side. Predatory is now an understatement for the look in those dark eyes. "Do a good job and one day you'll be able to return home to your best friend. Do a bad job, and your friend will never see you again. Are you interested in the position?"

Billy grits his teeth and never lets his gaze waver from Roberts.

The decision is so simple he doesn't even need to think about it. He nods and Roberts smiles.

Billy doesn't know what's in his future, but he'll do all he can to survive whatever Roberts throws his way and then return home. His best friend is waiting for him.

And with this, my installment of the race is done and it's time to head over to @liverditty in an hour for his contribution! I can't wait to see what he created for this beautiful event! In the mean time, thank you for reading, fair tumblr users, and thanks for organizing this, @harringrove-relay-race ! ❤️

[rachetmath]

Jaune's Last Man

(Hi sorry this has been my head and I completely forgot about this so let me end this with a kicker. A rap you may say. If you need a recap or you don’t know what this is about....he links here.;

Part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/rachetmath/681709097493659648/ilia-blake-i-want-to-come-with-you-blake-ilia?source=share

Part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/rachetmath/683991434179805184/can-we-please-get-a-sequel-to-the-post-about-jaune?source=share

Part 3: https://www.tumblr.com/rachetmath/688883250974916608/so-i-know-ow-you-said-you-dont-normally-do?source=share)

Jaune: Mercury.

Mercury: Vomit Boy. How’s it hanging?

Jaune: I’m doing fine.

Mercury: Really? I mean since you killed your friend. Your girlfriend dead. And Atlas. I would think you be in a site of depression.

Jaune: Yeah. Except I’m in state of rage.

Mercury; Oh.

Jaune: I mean I haven’t seen my family in years to where I can barely remember their faces. I watched thousands of innocent people die. I was betrayed by someone I wanted to call friend. All because of my stupidity.

Mercury: Wow finally admit it. You don’t know what your doing.

Jaune: Still don’t… but I’ll take my chances.

Mercury: So what are you going to do torture me.

Jaune: Haha no. Of course not. Ladies.

Neo and Ilia walks into the room. Neo before she took a seat on the table, she gives Jaune a kiss on cheeks while Ilia a has weapon to Mercury’s neck. Mercury was still shocked with Neo.

Jaune: Alright. Let us begin. I’m here to make a deal.

Mercury: A deal?

Jaune: You bet. I want you on my team.

Ruby: What?

Jaune: Yes.

Mercury: Why?

Jaune: We need someone like you on our side. Guys like you come in very short supply.

Mercury: That doesn’t give me much of a reason. Why should I give you allegiance?

Jaune: I’m willing to give something that can’t refuse.

Mercury: Please, your not even giving me a right to choose.

Jaune: *sigh* Ilia.

Ilia removes her weapon and sits down.

Jaune: Fine, I’ll play by rules. Look, I understand. Your father he was bad man. But brother he’s dead.

Mercury: I know.

Jaune: I know it was by own hands. I get it wasn’t easy but you fail to get-

Mercury: Is?

Jaune: That you can be better. So much clever. Do really want to stay in his shadow forever?

Mercury: Please. Who are you to judge me? If I recall correctly didn’t you cheat. You went to a school filled with talent. With nothing to show but empty promises and values. You talk a big game but you can’t measure up. Face it bud, your only here because of luck.

Jaune: …. ….

Mercury: Got nothing to say. Guess the fun is over. No more debates. I guess I’m done now prison await. Besides Salem offered me world on a plate what’s better than that?

Jaune: Okay, little man, so what’s your plan?

Mecury: What?

Jaune: Yeah, little man, what’s you plan?

Mercury: I mean-

Jaune: What’s your plan? Tell me, little man, what you gone do when you got the world in your hands? You get all money and get some respect. You make yourself sound like you really are a threat. Yes its true, your right about me. I did what it took to follow my dreams. But now look at me. I am all three. Money, Power and respect. A threat guaranteed. I lost many people but yet I still breath. Yet I still believe in what we can achieve.

Mercury: … … …. What are you saying to me?

Jaune: We’re nothing like them.

Mercury: What do you want from me?

Jaune: Show me your bravery. Leave it all BEHIND and make history.

Mercury: But I-

Jaune: You’re nothing like him.

Mercury: I’m-

Jaune: You can still be better.

Emerald: *burst in door* And if your not sure we can explore it together. We’ll have each other.

Jaune: And if you believe-

Mercury: Believe?

Jaune: In yourself.

Emerald: And me.

Jaune and Emerald: There’s nothing you can’t achieve.

Mercury: Really?

Jaune: Right.

Emerald: You can fly. Again. Sore the sky. Again.

Jaune: Away from sun. Together with us. We can make history. Forge our destiny. Our story will be legendary. So-

Jaune: *pulls his hand out* What do you say?

Mercury: Hmm. Well-

Jaune: Yes, you will paid.

Mercury: And?

Jaune: Yes, come man, what do you say?

Mercury: *shakes Jaune’s hand* Alright you got a deal compadre.

RWBY: Dang.

Oscar: They went play by play.

Nora: So Jaune? Tell us, what’s now the team’s name?

Jaune JMNI. What do you all think?

Mercury: I got say, it’s got nice ring to.

Ilia: I accept the team name. No mistake.

Neo: *agrees with smile*

Jaune: Guess we agree. But before we celebrate we have demonstrate, how useful we are, leave no trace to debate. So let’s start on our first case. What do you say?

Mercury, Ilia and Neo(with a sign): Bring it.

Jaune: Oh this will be great.

Nora: Can we stop rhyming.

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

The Fight: Final Part

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~3k

Summary: After a weird encounter with your parents and friends, you try to get to the bottom of it even if you don't like the answer.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Season Five Masterlist

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them.

x

You join Emily and Mick Rawson who is on the Red Cell team. They're standing over the recent victim while SFPD is closing off the park from everyone else.

"Hey, I came as fast as I could," you say. "Do you have any gloves?"

Emily hands you a pair and you slip them on over your own hands. You kneel next to the body and touch the wounds on his face. His spiritual energy flies out of his body and swirls around you, putting out a video that plays out in front of you of his last moments. There is an empty pool with two people inside, one of them being the victim. Both of them run at each other before fighting. There are tons of blood stains all around the pool, telling you that many people have fought there. A man sits on the edge of the pool looking down at the two men fighting but the only thing you're getting from him is that he's white. That narrows it down... Not. You stand up and remove the gloves.

"So, the only thing I'm getting is that he and another man were inside this big empty pool and they were fighting each other. The unsub was sitting on the edge watching them but the only thing I saw was that he's white." Mick stares at you like you have two heads and you stick your hand out which he shakes. "Hi, I'm Y/N, the on-call psychic."

"Not the weirdest thing I've come across," he shrugs.

"British, huh? I know a girl who has a thing for accents," you grin and look at Emily who blushes.

Mick smirks but he doesn't say anything about it.

"So, the Tenderloin is full of junkies who would be easy to control, but the first victim had no drugs in his system and this geezer looks pretty healthy except for the whole dead thing. There's skin under his nails. Didn't the first victim have scratch marks on his chest?"

"The victims are fighting each other," you say, "not the unsub."

"Exactly," Mick agrees.

"I take it you're about to wow us with a theory?"

"The first victim is dumped before the fathers and daughters are taken. Why?"

Because he wants to send a message to the wife that he means business, to make sure she doesn't call the police."

"It also sends a message to the prisoners he already has. If you lose a fight, you die." Mick leans down and points to the welts that are on the victim's back. "What do those welts look like to you?"

"Wounds from rubber bullets?"

"This is the same as how they used to control rioters or prison inmates. I think the unsub's been locked up. It's where he's learned to control his own prisoners."

"Well, if he's learned how to dominate them, why are they fighting each other?" Emily asks.

"It has to be part of his plan to watch them beat the hell out of each other. The loser is executed."

You take out your phone and call Hotch.

"Hey, we might have the profile on this guy." You tell him everything Mick told you. "How do you want us to do this?"

"If what Rawson said is true, the profile will need to be given to San Quinten Prison."

"Hotch, I can't go there," you whisper.

"I'm not asking you to. I'll have Rossi and Sam go there. Get back to the station so we can give it to SFPD."

"Thank you."

Rossi and Sam go to the prison, Derek stays with Jane's mother, and the rest of the team is at the SF police station to deliver the profile.

"We have a serial killer on our hands. We think he might have done time in San Quinten Prison. It's very likely that this unsub has a prison record. He's white, and judging by the age of the people he abducts, most likely in his thirties. Considering the terrain in which he's dumping the bodies, we think that he's imposing or at least very physically fit," Hotch begins.

"He also has access to a space that's large enough to house and control a number of prisoners, all without disturbing the neighbors. Look for places that have big pools, most likely abandoned," you say without telling them about your gift.

"This guy keeps to the same hunting ground and same dumpsite. He's a control freak and really organized. Also, in prison, he would have been obsessed with the guards and their methods of controlling the prisoners, especially in the yard."

"This dude kills folks the same few days every year. There's no way he's that obsessed and he's not talking about it," an officer scoffs.

"We think the man has a daughter of his own, most likely a brunette like Jane. The dates he chooses probably correspond to an event involving his own daughter. Our guess is that he lost his daughter in some way and it's symbolic of him not fighting for her in the first place."

"A lot of times, killers choose victims that are surrogates for someone, like a wife or a mother. In this case, we think his own guilt is making him choose surrogates that represent himself."

With the profile in mind, it's time to do some scouting on the streets. You know his energy. You'll be able to spot him out in a crowd if he's around. Emily and Mick joined you on the mission with Mick up above in the clouds. He's a very good sniper and can see more than you and Emily might. The place you hit is Chinatown while everyone else scouts other cities the unsub might hit.

"So, what are you wearing?"

You smirk when you hear Mick's voice in your ear. You look at Emily to see her smile, and you know she heard him, too.

"A gun." She chuckles. "Hey, Mick, explain something to me. How come we're out on the street and you're sitting on your butt on some roof?"

"Do you really want me to expound on my own prowess? It's undignified. Stay on your headset. All his victims are coming from this four-block radius."

Emily looks at you and sees the look on your face.

"Don't start."

"I didn't say anything." You remember Friday's mishap and look at Emily with a slight frown. "So, how's that dating profile of yours coming along?"

She tenses next to you. "Good."

"Come on, Emily, you know I know you two were lying. Why did you lie? I'm not mad, just confused as to why you felt the need to. Do you not like my parents?"

"It's not that," she sighs. She hopes she can leave it at that but then she sees you staring at her, waiting for an answer. "I don't know. I felt something when he looked at me."

"What do you mean?"

"Y/N, please drop it."

"No, Emily, what do you mean? Did you feel unsafe?"

"No, nothing like that. There was something about him that made me uncomfortable."

"Was it something he said?"

"No. I'm sorry. It was the way he looked at me."

"Oh," you say softly.

"I'm probably reading too much into it." You nod and continue to walk in silence. "Are we okay? I don't like fighting with you."

Whatever happened on Friday wasn't Emily's fault. Your dad must be under a lot of stress and his look might have come across as creepy when it had nothing to do with Emily. You look at her and give her a reassuring smile.

"We're not fighting. We're okay. I just wanted to know, is all. In the future, you don't have to lie."

"Okay," she chuckles.

"If you two are done, I think I've got something," Mick says from above. "I don't know if it's anything but check out the guy in the southeast corner. See the guy clocking the junkie?"

"Care to expand on that? All I see are guys clocking junkies."

"Gray shirt."

You two look where Mick is directing you and see a man following closely behind another man who looks like he's cracked out. Emily is about to follow them when you stop her.

"That's not him."

"What? How do you know?" Mick asks.

"Look, I'm a psychic. I see energies and I've already seen the unsub's energy through the victims. His energy doesn't match the unsub's. Everyone has their own unique aura and that guy isn't ours."

"I trust her with my life," Emily backs you up. "If she says it's not him, it's not him."

"Put a little trust in me, Mick."

"Alright, I do," he says after a pause.

"He was never here. Tonight was a bust."

The next morning after a restless night, your team meets the Red Cell in their domain. It looks like a storage garage that one would go to if they wanted to get their car fixed. Only there are no cars but computers and other tech equipment everywhere.

"Did your analyst get us the data?" Sam asks JJ.

"Yeah, I can lay it out for you."

"Good. Let's cross-reference it against our potential suspect pool."

One of the agents, Johnathan Simms, takes out his phone once he hears it ringing.

"Hello? ... Yeah, we can be there." He hangs up and looks at Rossi. "You up for a ride to San Quentin?"

"Lead the way."

"Okay, what do we have?" Mick asks once the two men are gone.

"The profile says he's spent time in prison and probably lost a teenage daughter in a way that corresponds to the dates he abducts and kills his victims. We have the dates in question divided into four specific subsets." Spencer points to the different groups as he explains. "This group is teenage girls ages thirteen to sixteen who were removed from their fathers' care. This group are deaths of teenagers the same age. The remainder are men arrested for violent crimes and anyone serving a prison sentence during the same window."

"The stressor's in here somewhere. Let's find something that looks promising so we can start running background checks. I want to get inside the girl's head. She's the key. Any insight could help break this thing. We need to understand why he took this girl at this time," Sam says.

One of the prisoners who asked Rossi and John to come overheard a story about this big white man who was in this prison at one time. Supposedly he's all kinds of crazy. When he found out his daughter died, he went all commando--boxing, working out, and challenging everyone in the yard saying that he'd fight them to the death. Sounds like it could be the unsub. It got so bad that he started to beef with the officers when they finally put him in solitary confinement to serve out the rest of his term.

Derek, while with Jane, finds something about Jane that sticks out to him. There is a collage in her room that doesn't have her parents in it like she's trying to hide them or keep them from her life. He finds her diary which is filled with typical teenage stuff like rants about her parents being unfair and talking about some boy named David. He thinks it's odd that she'd have a diary when she comes across as a very private person. The diary only goes back nine months, and Sarah reveals that the family counselor suggested she start one. His office? In the Tenderloin District.

"Okay. Got it. Good work, Morgan," Hotch says when he called. He hangs up and looks at the team. "The Mcbride family went to a therapy center in the Tenderloin. The place also did evaluations for social services."

"We profiled that the unsub may have had his daughter taken away from him," Emily says.

"If he was processed in the same place, then he would know how to target the fathers and daughters. Can I talk to your analyst?" Sam asks.

"Sure."

Hotch calls Penelope and places her on speakerphone for all to hear.

"Penelope Garcia."

"Sam Cooper here."

"Sam Cooper?" she gasps. "As I live and breathe, and here I thought you were a story someone invented. What you got?"

"Here's what I need from you. Has anyone been processed by social services who ended up losing a daughter? I don't care how big the list is. I can cross-reference it against my others."

"Roger that. Gonna hack like the wind. Prepare to be wowed, sir." She is silent for five minutes. "Alright, my tribe, I have a list of parents evaluated by social services who ended up losing custody, but as Cooper predicted, it is a lengthy tale of woe."

"We'll use it to cross against the teenage girls who died on some of the dates in question. I'm gonna start reading names. You tell me if they're on your list. Maria Salter, Carla Denny, Joyce Collard, Dawn Sparrow--"

"We have a name," Sam says while checking a text. "John Vincent Bell."

"One of the first who died was named Mandy Bell."

"Garcia, run the name John Vincent Bell against the family therapy list."

"Shazam. Bell and his wife divorced then the wife died. Bell was declared incompetent to have custody of the daughter due to a host of mental health issues."

"They got that right," Sam scoffs.

"Oh, Lord, when social service agents showed up to remove the girl, Bell beat one of them to death and was given seven years for manslaughter. During this time, his daughter was in a car accident. It looks like she survived three days on life support but eventually died of brain injuries."

"Bell is making these men fight to the death just like he did. He's trying to prove he did what any father would do."

"Do we have an address?" Sam asks.

"The only listing I have is a gym on Hall Street in the Tenderloin. It belongs to Bell's family. It hasn't been operational for years."

"Gyms have pools," you say, remembering what you saw.

"We got him."

You take two cars to the place and get out once you arrive. You sneak inside the darkened gym quietly. You come across the main room where there is a big pool with tons of blood stains in and around it. There is a body inside the pool... dead. Half the team searches the gym while you stay in the main room.

"See? Told you I saw a pool," you mutter to Mick.

"I will never doubt you again," he chuckles. Someone moans in pain from the left side of the room, and you see Ben McBride chained to the pole with cuts and bruises all over his face. "I need paramedics immediately to 631 Hall Street."

Pictures of Jane and Bell are scattered around the floor on Polaroids and she looks terrified.

"Sir, where's your daughter?" Sam asks.

"He took her."

"How long ago?"

"A few minutes ago. Find her," he begs. "Please find her."

"The place is clear," JJ says when she comes back.

"He's on the street. He's got the girl."

"I'll stay with the father."

Hotch takes out his phone and calls Penelope.

"Garcia, I need vehicle information For Bell. Tell police we need an APB."

"I can hit the rooftops," Mick offers.

"Good. Go," Sam says and Mick runs off. "I need a helicopter."

"Garcia, tell San Francisco PD we need a chopper." Hotch looks at you. "Can you track Jane?"

"Yes."

"Good. Do it."

This is the way you prove yourself. You need to feel like your old self again. You're done letting others control your life. Both Jane and Bell's energy is everywhere inside the gym but her panic causes her energy to wisp through the gym and out the back door. You immediately follow the wisp until you reach the street. The wisp flies down the street. You don't think twice about running after it. Hotch, Rossi, and another Red Cell agent take the car while Derek and Emily run after you. You don't stop running until you reach the end of the street and watch as the wisp flies down the sidewalk toward a public parking garage. You keep running and enter the garage with nothing on your mind but Jane. You run all the way to the roof of the garage where you see Bell practically dragging Jane with him to the ledge.

"John Bell, FBI!" Derek yells with his gun out. "Put the weapon down!"

"Don't shoot me!" Jane pleads.

"Drop the gun!"

"It's over! Look around you! You know what it feels like to lose your daughter. Do you really want to hurt somebody else's?"

Bell shoves Jane away and jumps onto the ledge. He's going to jump.

"Get off the wall!" Derek yells.

Bell smirks and jumps off the wall without a second glance. You and Emily rush over to the wall and look down only to see Bell with a gun pointed right at you. He jumped onto a ledge and waited for someone to come so he could take out one of you. Your eyes widen but you don't have to think about your life ending. A shot rings out but it doesn't come from Bell. Mick zeroes in on him through the scope of his sniper rifle. You two look at him and he waves to show you that he's got you.

This calls for a win. Strauss can be pissed all she wants but if it wasn't for Sam and his team, you'd have never thought fathers and their daughters were going missing. For your last night in San Francisco, Sam opened his shop to your entire team for a small party to celebrate.

"Thank you for what you did," Emily says to Mick.

"Same here but I'm sure she'll do enough thanking for the both of us," you wink at Emily whose cheeks redden.

"You guys wanna watch out for this one. She's gonna have a hard time getting over me," Mick smirks.

"Like kicking a virus," she grins.

"You know, I could have just missed."

"With your ego? Not a chance," she chuckles.

Spencer walks over to you with a cracker that has a dip on top of it. He holds his hand underneath it so nothing falls on the ground.

"Open." You open your mouth and he puts the cracker inside. You chew it happily and nod to him to let him know you think it's delicious. "Good, huh?"

"Yeah," you smile and swallow.

"I see you're doing better," Rossi smiles and nudges you.

"Doing better, Rossi, and feeling better. I think... I think I'm going to be okay."

In fact, when you got home, you didn't have a single nightmare.

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[anonymousmink]

GUESS WHAT???? TASERTRICKS! (shock and surprise for all)

Eitherrrrrr Pre-Wedding Jitters or Being Adopted by a Cat

Justhere my love, have one of the literal SEVENTY different ideas this ask gave me! I hope you like it and I’m sorry it’s so rusty!💜

Pairing: Tasertricks || Rating: T || Words: 700ish

“Hey! Don’t be nice to him!”

The doorframe is solid beneath Darcy’s hand as she grabs onto it, grounding her as her heart threatens to pound right out of her chest. Two hours of searching, of huffing up stairs and breaking into vents and he’s… he’s here of all places!

Sir Isaac Mewton, Professor of Science, has escaped her lovely Stark apartment with all its toys and kibble bits only to sneak into a top secret, surprisingly under-guarded prison cell and plop himself down directly onto the lap of a would-be alien dictator.

“Why not?” The voice is soft, a little rough around the edges as if he doesn’t get a chance to use it often but otherwise entirely ordinary, “he seems a fine enough fellow.”

Sucking air into her suddenly shrinking lungs, Darcy forces her eyes up, “I wasn’t talking to you.”

Green. He has green eyes, preternaturally sharp and set in red circles like stop signs. She hadn’t known that. They’d looked blue in the footage she’d seen, bright, burning blue like they were lit up from behind as he rode ahead of an army of monsters.

He’s in limbo here, facing crimes in two worlds - three maybe, she’s not sure - a whirl of intergalactic politics going on behind the scenes as Thor plays keeper to his brother, keeping him locked up here with magic cuffs and steel bars right under the Avengers noses until the trial can be held.

There’s talk of mitigating circumstances - she’s heard Thor and the others arguing about it when they think no one can hear. Something about a Titan and a stone, lies and mind control - it doesn’t make much sense to her but she eavesdrops anyway. Because of course she does.

Still, mitigating circumstances or not - it doesn’t change the fact the city still isn’t whole yet. People are dead. Buildings are gone. It’s the reason she has the Professor at all, unable to walk past the desperate posters and over-stuffed cages of the local cat shelter day after day without cracking and bringing one home. The grumpiest, rattiest, most pathetic creature they had.

She wants to rescue more but Sir Isaac doesn’t like company. He doesn’t like anything really, or anyone, except her - and now apparently…

“Oh,” Loki sighs, long fingers scratching idly behind the beast’s ears as he lounges in his cell. Even caged up and corralled he carries himself like a king, Asgardian breeding she thinks. Or not as his case may be, “I see.”

This close it’s hard not to be struck by exactly how handsome he is, it’s unfair really. The long dark lashes and sharp cheekbones, Thor’s a babe, sure, but Loki… he’s a sculpture by one of those horny old Italian guys come to life. He’s also, she reminds herself, like super dangerous, potentially evil, and currently in possession of her cat.

Sir Isaac for his part seems blissfully unaware of her fears, settling himself more comfortably in Loki’s lap and making a sound like an engine rolling over as he paddles his fuzzy little paws happily into his new friend’s thigh. And here she’d always thought cats were better judges of character than people were.

“Traitorous beast,” she mutters darkly, adjusting her glasses on the bridge of her nose as she tries to figure out a way to get her cat back without causing an intergalactic incident. Should she call Thor? Or Tony? Or-

“Him or me?” The question is mild but the look in Loki’s eyes when she meets them is anything but. There’s a sharp edged hopelessness in him that makes her throat squeeze shut, a desperate, caged animal kind of exhaustion that she hadn’t been expecting from someone so outwardly poised. Like despite everything one more blow will shatter him.

Like one kind word might break him too.

He looks… he looks like every cat in the shelter that’s been there too long. Like he’s just waiting for the needle.

Sir Isaac chirrups, bumping his head into Loki’s hand when he pauses in his petting for too long. The sound pushing her back into herself as she turns her head away.

“Him,” she clarifies, swallowing awkwardly as she struggles to hold his gaze, “I guess the jury’s still out on you. Come on Sir Isaac, we’re leaving.”

The look follows her as she steps away from the bars, the cat doesn’t.

[thebrickinbrick]

End of the Verses of Jean Prouvaire

All flocked around Marius. Courfeyrac flung himself on his neck.

“Here you are!”

“What luck!” said Combeferre.

“You came in opportunely!” ejaculated Bossuet.

“If it had not been for you, I should have been dead!” began Courfeyrac again.

“If it had not been for you, I should have been gobbled up!” added Gavroche.

Marius asked:—

“Where is the chief?”

“You are he!” said Enjolras.

Marius had had a furnace in his brain all day long; now it was a whirlwind. This whirlwind which was within him, produced on him the effect of being outside of him and of bearing him away. It seemed to him that he was already at an immense distance from life. His two luminous months of joy and love, ending abruptly at that frightful precipice, Cosette lost to him, that barricade, M. Mabeuf getting himself killed for the Republic, himself the leader of the insurgents,—all these things appeared to him like a tremendous nightmare. He was obliged to make a mental effort to recall the fact that all that surrounded him was real. Marius had already seen too much of life not to know that nothing is more imminent than the impossible, and that what it is always necessary to foresee is the unforeseen. He had looked on at his own drama as a piece which one does not understand.

In the mists which enveloped his thoughts, he did not recognize Javert, who, bound to his post, had not so much as moved his head during the whole of the attack on the barricade, and who had gazed on the revolt seething around him with the resignation of a martyr and the majesty of a judge. Marius had not even seen him.

In the meanwhile, the assailants did not stir, they could be heard marching and swarming through at the end of the street but they did not venture into it, either because they were awaiting orders or because they were awaiting reinforcements before hurling themselves afresh on this impregnable redoubt. The insurgents had posted sentinels, and some of them, who were medical students, set about caring for the wounded.

They had thrown the tables out of the wine-shop, with the exception of the two tables reserved for lint and cartridges, and of the one on which lay Father Mabeuf; they had added them to the barricade, and had replaced them in the tap-room with mattresses from the bed of the widow Hucheloup and her servants. On these mattresses they had laid the wounded. As for the three poor creatures who inhabited Corinthe, no one knew what had become of them. They were finally found, however, hidden in the cellar.

A poignant emotion clouded the joy of the disencumbered barricade.

The roll was called. One of the insurgents was missing. And who was it? One of the dearest. One of the most valiant. Jean Prouvaire. He was sought among the wounded, he was not there. He was sought among the dead, he was not there. He was evidently a prisoner.

Combeferre said to Enjolras:—

“They have our friend; we have their agent. Are you set on the death of that spy?”

“Yes,” replied Enjolras; “but less so than on the life of Jean Prouvaire.”

This took place in the tap-room near Javert’s post.

“Well,” resumed Combeferre, “I am going to fasten my handkerchief to my cane, and go as a flag of truce, to offer to exchange our man for theirs.”

“Listen,” said Enjolras, laying his hand on Combeferre’s arm.

At the end of the street there was a significant clash of arms.

They heard a manly voice shout:—

“Vive la France! Long live France! Long live the future!”

They recognized the voice of Prouvaire.

A flash passed, a report rang out.

Silence fell again.

“They have killed him,” exclaimed Combeferre.

Enjolras glanced at Javert, and said to him:—

“Your friends have just shot you.”

[viceconnor21]

Soul Keeper Aka Mumza (Kristin)

Minecraft x My Little Pony AU

Personality traits (short version):

Goddess of Death

Guides souls to the correct afterlife

physical form stuck in the dimension between life and death (the void/her kingdom)

wants to help the souls stuck in limbo, trapped in prisons of their minds where even she can't reach them but is not always successful, as the souls can only help themselves

motherly love for all living things

related to the Goddesses of the sun, moon, and sun.

ancient being

bat pony

time is relative (no day and night cycle)

Loving husband visits her in his dreams

She likes to make him tea

giant lady

when seen in the overworld, it is only part of her consciousness

fell in love with Crow for his kind heart

Husband- Crow Keeper Youngest son/only bio child- Tripwire Middle son- Day Shaker oldest son- Note Weaver/ Final Sonata Frienemy- Anarchy Reign (the God of War)

Backstory: Soul loved her job. How could she not, being a Goddess did have certain advantages. Though she did miss the sun and does get lonely from time to time. Unlike her cousins, the Goddesses of the Sun and the Moon, she could not spend her time in the mortal realm, instead stuck in the place between life and death. Not the overworld nor the netherworld. And still, the purple light of the Kingdom of Limbo still brought her down some days. Today especially, she could not get the wailing of the lost souls out of her skull. It wasn’t like there were thousands of lost souls in limbo. She wouldn’t be a good Death Goddess if there was. But sometimes she was unable to reach a soul after death. It was rare but for unknown reasons, sometimes no matter what she tried the soul was trapped, isolated in that unbreakable prison. Truly a fate worse than death. Other times, no matter how long she followed the cries, she could never find them. And well, creatures were always dying and it was her job to lead them through limbo. She was just glad she was not one of the ones who judged souls. That was too much pressure. In her eyes, a life a life, and a soul a soul. However, she still played the most important role in the afterlife. Just getting some souls through limbo could be a struggle. There were plenty of creatures and demons that would love to snack on an unprotected soul. And she took pride in her job. However, the business of death was not always pure and wholesome, and “circle of life” crap. It could be hard on her motherly heart. On days like this, after her shift of guiding the souls to their respective afterlives, she just needed a break. She trotted down to the banks of the Styx. The inky black water shimmered and reflected the purple and green light of the large luminous gems and crystals growing out of the ground and from the cliffs. Soul Keeper was grateful that a portion of the Styx’s warm waters ran through her territory. She specially built her castle on this cliffside so it was only a short walk to a cozy blend in the river. She waded into the water, and let the water ease the tension in her shoulders. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Yes, her job could be difficult but tonight in only a couple of hours she had a date with her husband. While he was in the mortal realm, under the right conditions, he could visit her realm in his sleep. Tonight is one of those nights. Even better still, it was their anniversary and She could not wait to see his smiling face.

Soul Keeper is the six-winged Alicorn Goddess of Death. She guides the souls of the dead from the living plane to their final rest in the underworld. She is a caring being that does what she can to make the transition for the spirit easier. He also protects the spirit against harm in limbo. Legends tell of a ghostly vision that can be seen after a deadly battle or disaster of a terrifying yet motherly specter dressed in purple and gold.

Many mortal creatures know of the tender being that guides you to the afterlife but don’t actually know who she is. That is all except the hippogriff, Crow Keeper, who is in fact married to the Goddess.

Crow and Soul do not exist in the same realm. Crow can see and speak to his love only in his dreams or sometimes in a meditative state. She can send messages to him through the birds that follow Crow Keeper around. When Crow married his wife he became immortal to the point where he does not age and illness can’t seek him. However, Crow can still die by accident or injury. When he does, Soul Keeper will finally embrace him and they will rule limbo together.

In addition, in her truest form, she is a giant goddess with immense power, however, she usually appears to souls only slightly larger on average. She likes to take on the role of maternal figure to the lonely. When not guiding new souls through limbo, she spends her time searching for lost souls in her kingdom. Sometimes she is successful and can free them from their personal hellscape to bring them to the proper afterlife. Souls that become unreachable by the goddess usually experience a traumatizing action upon death or through dark actions in life that corrupts the spirit. The soul can sometimes recover while others do not. Soul Keeper weeps for those she cannot save.

Soul Keeper thinks it is funny that no creature believes her husband about her existence. Crow Keeper is constantly trying to find a way for Soul to enter the living realm. So far, however, Crow has only found a complex ritual that allows Soul to visit the mortal realm by possessing his body.

The God of War, Anarchy Reign, also knows the Goddess personally but Crow doesn’t know that.

P.s. If you made it this far- I did make this design last year, but I am not looking to redesign this one. In addition, I'm not a writer so I apologize for grammar or spelling errors.

[blacklegsanjiii]

Okay uh- the same anon from Warlord!Sanji+Ichiji, but this time for a Good!Niji and Good!Yonji au.

Good!Niji is pretty much the same as Good!Ichiji, he never beat Sanji up and always intent to subtly stop the other two. He runs away with his young brother and is saved not by Mihawk from the rock, but for the Whitebeards. So this turns into a Shirohige!Sanji+Niji thing.

Good!Yonji is similar too, instaed Sanji is his older brother. He is saved alongside his sibling from the rock for Jinbei. So y'know, Fishman!Sanji+Yonji.

(All if them have Acesan, though. And obvisiously they're protective as hell with Sanji)

I love the Good!124ji. I love Sanji having good siblings. Also Shirohige!Niji coming back like in the blue! series.

Niji and Sanji being brought to the Shirohige and Sanji is still the baby because he's a few minutes younger and Niji is modified. I personally headcanon that Niji has poor eyesight hence the goggles so he is given real glasses while Sanji is stuck in sunglasses from the glare of the ocean. They are both the last brats and the last babies aboard and everyone is smitten with having them around. Marco is of course giving them the best care he can White Beard does carry them around a lot. Like an absurd amount truthfully. This does however encourage the others to also do this but it's really fun when they're in Marco's talons and being flown around.

When Ace joins Niji isn't particularly fond of the new guy calling his little brother 'blondie' or how flustered it made Sanji. Despite them both already having hefty bounties for new pirates, Ace is still relatively green and when he comes up as a commander Niji and Sanji join the Second Division and when Teach kills Thatch they're all off on the hunt. Niji understands that Ace and Sanji are dating but refuses to acknowledge it most of the time. Except at Marineford when they all think Sanji died.

When the three of them officially join the Strawhat Pirates and Ace and Sanji are given their own room again Niji full cocks Sanji for the dead thing. After Niji is calmed down about that Sanji is like 'wanna see a new trick' and starts sky walking. Niji immediately tries to shock his little brother. Ace is laughing so hard he's choking and wheezing. When they meet Jinbei for real Ace is like 'this is my husband, Sanji. This is his older brother, Niji. Sanji can set himself on fire without a fruit and Niji has electric powers without a fruit.' and Niji thumps Ace so fucking hard for that.

Good!Yonji who finds his older brother and gets him out without Judge finding them but he can't get the helmet off of Sanji. Sanji keeps telling him not to worry about it because Sanji is his older brother and he's supposed to be protecting Yonji. Then they're found by the fishmen and brought to Fishman Island. Jinbei is of course startled by them but does quickly take to the boys and raises them. They're introduced to the royals and are welcomed to Fishman Island officially.

They both train in Fishman Karate and haki and everything become prodigies in their own right. They are pretty inseperable but Sanji insists he's going to find the All Blue and Yonji is more than happy to stay with Jinbei and help with the relations and politics. Yonji is doesn't know what to do when Jinbei is in prison and then he watches his brother's captain lose his brother without knowing where any of the crew is. When the Strawhats come by a couple years later Yonji rips Sanji to him with his winch hands and the crew is ready to fight despite Sanji trying to calm his younger brother down. Jinbei is trying to calm them down and Sanji is threatening to kick Yonji with fire.

It's a whole thing. The crew is very confused as Sanji is explaining to them that this is his little brother, yes he's taller, that's not something they're going to talk about. When they're done on the island and leaving they're waving and promising to see each other again. THen they find out about Sanji and the promise to help Luffy that Jinbei has they decide fuck it and go. When they arrive to help get them out the Vinsmokes are staring at them because unlike Niji, Yonji does not have a wanted poster and has stayed out of the news. So the other Vinsmokes are confused that he's there with Jinbei and calling him 'dad' with Sanji.

They join the crew and in Wano Sanji jokes that he has two moss patches to take care of now which makes both Zoro and Yonji go for him.

[sadlynotthevoid]

I think we need at least one more bnha x dc crossover in a fusion AU way with bad parent Bruce just so we can have Trained Assassin Teen Jason go to UA in a rehab way (because I doubt bnha proheroes are really against killing in certain cases and Jason would flip that shitty distopia from inside out if given the chance, which he should have) and Stain go after Bruce's ass.

Outside Jason's interrogatory room:

Random diplomat: —and so we decided to consult with yourself, since this is... an exceptional case.

Nedzu: I knew there would be trouble to decide a punishment for the Red Hood, but I wonder what makes everyone so uncomfortable.

Random diplomat, who I'm going to call Jeff: Well, that's— why don't you take a look at him for yourself? *Activates one way mirror function*

Jason, a literal teen: *bored out of his mind, spinning in a swivel chair*

Nedzu, not a human but also in charge of a whole full school of teens: Ah. He's younger than I expected. Though that explains a lot of things.

Jeff: It does?

Nedzu: The decision of making Batman face the Joker to force him to kill him, despite his well known irrational protest against killing in all cases, instead of killing him himself makes more sense coming from a traumatized teenager in seek of safety and certainty.

Jeff: I see. Anyways, his age is one of the three reasons why it's nearly impossible for us to come to a conclusion.

Nedzu: Having in count his young age, I assume his life circumstances is other?

Jeff: Yes. The kid was interrogated by an agent with a range truth-type quirk before and— He was murdered. And resurrected, violently. Then spent a year or so under tha care of assassins.

Nedzu, smiling wide: Oho. So that's the reason.

Jeff: For his last antic, yes. Knowing this, it's hard to judge him because no one has gone under similar events before. Specially because his previous life wasn't exactly a normal one either.

Nedzu: By the way, what is the other reason?

Jeff: ...his fans would burn us alive if they discover we put him, a traumatized teen who almost got killed by his father, in prison for killing people who— under any working system— should end in life sentence or penal death.

["Sir, the crowd outside doubled its size."

"Again Ramírez? This is the third time already!"

"There's nothing I can do bout it. They aren't doing anything illegal."

"Anf onef ovf them gahve me a muffin."

"Johansson! Not eating during guard duty."

"He didn't have breakfast, sir."]

Nedzu: So that's the real reason.

Nedzu, already taking the legal papers: If we agree in a few things, then I'm willing to have him in UA to rehabilitate him.

Jeff: Of course.

Aizawa: *enters to Nedzu's office*

Tsukauchi, Jason and Nedzu already there: *turns heads to him at the same time*

Aizawa, a single father of twenty children: Oh no. What did they do now?

Tsukauchi: As far as I know, nothing yet this time.

Nedzu: Aizawa, take a seat. This is Jason, he's going to be part of your class starting today.

Aizawa: Isn't him a bit old?

Jason who has never been normal for a single day in his life: Apparently, I'm seventeen...ish. You should have seen me a week ago. I looked like 19 years old.

Tsukauchi: The doctor said it could be good for him if he could look at himself and see his real age, so recovery girl made a call.

Jason: It was a therapist. I've never had one of those before. And oh boy, wasn't she right? I only jumpscared myself twice this week.

Aizawa, already resigned to parent this kid: Hahhhhh.

Todoroki, going downstairs after a nightmare: *stops*

Jason, in the middle of a stress-baking session: *looks at him dead in the eyes while whisking cream*

Tokoyami, sitting in the dark for no reason: Revelry in the dark.

Jason, finishing yet another cake: More like a feast. Black forest, you two?

Todoroki: Sure.

Dark Shadow: Me three.

Aizawa: Class, due to recent events, you will have a new classmate joining you.

Jason: Sup.

Aizawa: This is Jason. He is—

Todoroki: An excellent chef. Thanks for the cake.

Aizawa, too used to their bs: —technically a criminal. But there were extreme circumstances and the global government agreed to let him free and give him a hero license if he graduates from Nedzu's hellish rehab program. Good luck.

Jason: Meh. Can't be worse than digging myself out.

The whole class: Hiiiih—

Aizawa: I was talking to them. They have a terrible low terror resistance and you can traumatize anyone who talks with you for more than ten minutes.

By the way, in this AU Jason has a healing quirk. Because he deserves it and I like it how it goes with his name. Plus, the angst of baby Jay trying to heal his mom even after she had already died and it's only her corpse.

I was thinking it seemed like a normal healing quirk, but after he dies, resurrect and is thrown into the pit it evolves. As time pass, Jason finds more and more phoenix resembling features in his quirk.

[crusty-chronicles]

Not So Bad (Hiei x Apprentice Reader)

Part 1

Synopsis: The gang find a small, frazzled reader after being sent to stop a demon trafficking ring. Upon arriving to the location, they quickly realized everyone was dead, everyone except you. Reader is taken in and becomes attached to a particular demon with three eyes.

An: maybe it's because I've recently watched Nimona, but I absolutely live for the 'Scruffy Hard-ass man going soft and adopting a daughter' trope. Might explain my obsession with Dilfs 💀

*****************

When Yusuke originally took this case on for Koenma, he thought it'd be a little like when they went to rescue Yukina from Terukinae. But he was quickly proven wrong the deeper they all went into the estate.

It was supposed to be a simple mission. Stop some rich assholes from trafficking demons in order to keep the peace between Demon World and The World of the Living.

There was just so much blood.

The coppery smell was so strong even Kurama with his advanced senses couldn't pick up on anything else. And the bodies, God the bodies. It seemed like everyone they came across was horribly mutilated.

Like everybody was already dead before they got there.

Hiei used his Jagan to try to find any survivors, but even he struggled to locate any life energy.

Then they all heard a noise.

A small scuttling sound, but it was there, and as they turned a corner they saw a smaller being leaning against the wall.

Said being was caked in a crimson liquid. In their hands was a small dagger. And they looked...scared?

"What the hell happened here?" Yusuke mumbled out, catching the demon's(?) attention.

They immediately tensed up and held their weapon out in front of them.

"Did you do this?" Yusuke tried a little softer and took a step forward.

"Stay back! Just stay away from me!" They were shaking now as they jutted out the dagger a little more. Judging from the sound of their voice, they were pretty young.

A scared demon was never a good sign.

Kurama, the least intimidating looking, thought he'd have a little more success calming them down. He gestured for Yusuke to back away.

"We're not here to hurt you. We just want to know what happened here, if you'd be so willing to tell us?" His words did little to relax the frazzled demon, but at least they didn't make you any more scared.

"We shouldn't be wasting our time with this. We should just kill them since they've clearly shown themselves as a threat," Hiei commented.

Your eyes widened and the stiff pose you had became aggressive.

"Please just go away! I don't wanna hurt anyone else, so please just leave!" You were near tears by this point.

"Way to go Hiei, you made em' worse," Kuwabara grumbled.

"Giving them sympathy will make it easier for them to kill you."

Kurama blocked out their bickering in favor of taking a tentative step towards the now teary-eyed demon.

"So you did do this?"

They pointed their dagger in his direction.

"They did it first! They always-! They always-!" The demon shook their head as if trying to clear it. "They always hurt me first." Their voice lowered, along with their guard.

Kurama took another step forward.

"You were their prisoner, correct? Well, you're safe now. We came here to help by order of Spirit World. Do you know what that is?"

Another step.

The small demon nodded, weapon lowered slightly. But they didn't get aggressive as Kurama neared.

A good sign.

"We promise we won't hurt you. Don't mind what Hiei says, you were just trying to protect yourself, weren't you? It'll be okay, just let us help."

They didn't notice the plant blooming behind them, much less the sleep toxin it produced. But what they did notice was their eyes getting droopy. They struggled to take in the fox demon's words, Kurama's voice lulling them to sleep.

★★★★

You awoke on a surprisingly comfortable surface. Opening your eyes, you found yourself in an unfamiliar room. The last thing you remembered was the red headed demon....

You shot up from the soft surface and scooched back until you were flush against the wall. Sure enough, there was that same demon along with the other ginger haired boy.

Were they going to kill you after all?

You stared with scared eyes at the two of them.

"Did you have a good rest?" The red haired one asked.

You looked around the small room, trying to find the other two from before. They didn't seem to be here. Your frightened eyes met the fox demon's.

You shook slightly as you spoke.

"Where am I?"

The human was the one who decided to answer your question.

"My house. You're lucky my sister doesn't mind letting you stay here for now."

You tilted your head in confusion.

"House?"

He lived here? They brought you to a home. Not a cell.

The human nodded.

"Yeah. Which reminds me, are ya hungry?"

Your guard lowered just a smidge, back moving slightly away from the wall. You were not expecting this. Shelter and food? There had to be a catch. No humans were ever this kind to you.

"Why?"

They both seemed a little caught off guard by your question.

"What do you mean 'why'? Did you think we would just leave you there or something? We're not like those other guys that locked you up, got it!"

You flinched away as the human pointed his finger out. He looked between himself and you, concern etched into his face.

"Geez, what did they do to you?"

You shook your head rapidly. You didn't want to think about that right now. You didn't want to remember everything that happened.

"Perhaps we should give them some time before we question them." Kurama could see your discomfort start to rise. It was best to let you relax and take your time adjusting. Whatever had set you off before they found you, he wanted to make sure never happened again.

Spirit World would not be so lenient if you happened to act out again.

"Now then, how about we get you fed and cleaned up, little one?"

★★★★

With a little more coaxing, you had completely lowered your guard and followed the duo deeper into the house.

True to their word, you were sat at a table with a plate of something placed in front of you. The scent coming from it was sweet and it's shape a circle.

How bizarre

You lifted one of them up to get a better sniff. You couldn't smell any poison. At least, none of which you were familiar with.

Carefully, you took a bite.

This....

This was heavenly.

The next few seconds were of you stuffing your face with the remainder of the food on your plate. It was a funny sight to see.

You ate using purely your hands, the utensils left out going untouched. You also didn't chew after your first bite. Each pancake practically being swallowed whole. They only stopped you when you went to eat the plate because 'they're both circles, so they should both taste the same.'

"Hey! You'll die if you eat that!" The human scolded. He yoinked the plate out of your hands before you could bite down.

You frowned up at him and made grabby gestures with your hands. His resolve broke almost immediately.

"Okay, okay! I'll make you some more. Don't cry."

And a part of you softened at his unintentional words.

Don't cry

They didn't want you to be upset.

Maybe they didn't want to hurt you after all.

You felt something soft being wiped across your face. Looking to your left, you saw the fox demon with a piece of white cloth.

"You're a messy one, aren't you?" There was something teasing in his tone. Despite that, his eyes showed nothing but kindness.

You let him wipe your face once more before speaking.

"Where are the other two?"

You weren't too scared of the greasy one, but the other demon.... He made you weary. He did say they should've killed you.

"Yusuke went to inform the ruler of Spirit World about what happened. And Hiei," there was a slight pause as if the fox were thinking of something.

"Hiei returned back to Demon World since he has no obligation to stay anymore."

You were back to frowning. Maybe a small part of you thought it was unfair you couldn't return home too.

"He was the one who wanted me dead." Your voice was quiet.

"Don't mind him, he's just a big jerk!" The human shouted from his place at the stove. Your mood lightened slightly.

He was just a jerk. Yeah. He wasn't evil, just mean. And if all four of them weren't like the others, then you supposed you could trust them.

At least for now.

"I remember my name from before." You mumbled.

"Do you mind telling us then? I'd be nice to have something to call you while we wait for further orders." The fox encouraged.

You decided then you liked these two. They were nice. They didn't hurt you. And now that you thought about it, your previous wounds were all healed.

"I'm Y/n."

★★★★

After a lengthy discussion with Koenma, (which was really Yusuke making the case that you were just a kid who had probably been tortured beyond belief) it was decided that you'd be under the group's care to ensure no further harm was caused.

They were to make sure you never killed another human, lest you risk the wrath of King Yamma.

You would be swapped around between the four of them to enforce this policy. And even though the threat of what you did was still very much fresh in their minds, they just couldn't believe that you'd do it again.

When Yusuke watched you, you were always laughing at his stupid jokes. Always smiling when he'd pick you up onto his shoulders to carry you wherever he went. Always embarrassed when he would brag to the moms at the park.

"My kid's better than yours. They don't bite and pick their nose." Followed by offended gasp from the mothers.

When Kurama watched you, you would tell him everything that happened that day or the day before. You'd seek him out for comfort if you had nightmares and woke up crying. You would hold his hand when something startled you.

"It's okay little one, nothing will ever harm you again."

When Kuwabara was with you, you were babied and spoiled. Always out shopping for new clothes and shoes because 'You've grown an inch since the last time. We can't have you wearing clothes that are too small for you.' Always feeding you and watching your eyes light up when he slipped you a piece of candy. You'd always let him ruffle your hair and beam when he praised you.

"Look at you! You're all skin and bones, Did Yusuke even bother to feed you!?! You're lucky you have an awesome brother like me to take care of ya!"

And Hiei...

When Hiei would watch you, he would simply observe you from the trees. He'd watch you sit in silence and pluck the grass. He'd watch you startle at any noise that was too loud. You never talked to him, never asked anything, never looked him directly in the eye.

You were always silent and scared.

"What a pathetic excuse of a demon."

The conclusion drawn by all four: you weren't a threat to anybody. You'd had a slip up, but it was out of fear rather than aggression. You were completely harmless.

★★★★

Out of the four of them, Hiei couldn't give a damn about you at all. He didn't understand the other's softness. He understood their sympathy, but not why they bothered keeping you around. The mission was over and the observation was complete.

You were weak and skiddish. Afraid of your own shadow and any new faces. Too pathetic to even be called a demon. Too frail to ever lift a weapon and strike.

You were no longer their responsibility.

Just a burden. One that he would not worry about anymore.

Or at least that was what he told himself until the responsibility was once again forced upon him.

Yusuke had a special mission for Spirit World that he just couldn't get out of.

Kurama was having family over that would surely be suspicious of the smaller being attached to his hip.

Kuwabara was being forced to attend some out of state event with his sister.

All of these events would take a week at the least, and a month at worst.

Which left Hiei....

The demon who momentarily thought to dump you off at Genkai's.

It was thanks to that damn Detective's taunt that he hadn't.

"What's wrong three-eyes? Can't look after a kid for a few days? Scared because they're stronger than you?"

And damn his pride for falling for it. But even though he was forced to care for you, he would not be forced to stay in the human world when he did it.

You would come to Demon World with him so he could fulfill his proper duties.

★★★★

He half listened to Kuwabara's rant of what you could and couldn't eat. That oaf was too attached to you.

He didn't pay any attention when Yusuke told him what would make you smile and laugh. What possible reason did he have for remembering that?

But he did listen when Kurama pulled him aside to talk before he left.

"Their safety is the first priority. Do not let anything happen to them." There was a flicker of gold in his eyes. You had too much importance in their lives.

He took off with you the day after. But not without giving a warning of 'If you're too weak to keep up, I won't come back for you.'

You nodded, but kept silent. At least he wouldn't have to worry about listening to any idiotic ramblings.

The journey to Demon World was quiet. Too quiet, with the occasional sound of your missteps behind the three eyed demon. Not a word was spoken. If he hadn't felt your presence besides him, he would have assumed you weren't there.

Good.

You wouldn't be snot nosed brat and give him trouble.

But as the two of you reached the entrance, the lingering silence was disrupted.

"I haven't been home in a long time...Do you think my friends will remember me?"

It might've been the first words you ever spoke directly to Hiei. They were soft but hopeful. And if he had been anyone else, he would've assured you. Would've let you carry on the conversation and engaged.

But he wasn't.

And truthfully, your question irked him. Didn't you know it was survival of the fittest here? And friends? Demons didn't have friends. You were a naive dope who wouldn't make it five seconds by yourself.

"They're probably all dead if they're anything like you." Weak like you.

You didn't speak anymore after that.

You looked upset, but didn't cry. You just continued to follow Hiei to Mukuro's territory.

★★★★

You'd forgotten how thick the air was here. How tense it felt with the spirit energies clashing for dominance. You wished you'd stayed behind at the strong old lady's house now. Home didn't really feel like home anymore with the amount of time you spent in the world of the living.

Not only that, but you were in a foreign place with a demon who you were also unfamiliar with.

It wasn't exactly your fault. Hiei had never really been welcoming to you. He'd never really been nice either. You figured it was best to stay out of his way and vice versa. And maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't want to kill you anymore.

Maybe he'd be a little nicer.

But it just felt like he hated you even more for sticking around.

You looked up at the makeshift building he led you in. It was huge with walls that seemed to stretch forever. It made sense, you supposed, for a former Demon King to still be so well off. And while a compound like this housed many demons, you never felt more alone with your own kind.

One familiar face that belonged to a stranger.

You didn't like it here.

But you couldn't voice that opinion. You didn't want Hiei to think any less of you than he already did. Because then, the others might start to hate you too. So you sucked it up and persevered.

You stood right next to the three eyed demon as he conversed with Mukuro. Both of them catching up on the current events surrounding the Maki Barrier, and how to decrease the amount of humans trickling in. You'd never seen him this friendly before. The scowl that you thought was permanent had practically vanished.

He really did hate you, didn't he?

"So who's this little one? A new recruit?" Mukuro lightly jested.

There was a scoff before Hiei answered.

"A nuisance that I'm unfortunately stuck with. They're of no help here, so try to ignore them."

"Don't be so crass. I'd expect you to be kinder considering you have a little sister of your own." The former ruler scolded.

You hardly registered she kneeled down in front of you until she started talking. She most likely wanted to address you eye to eye.

"What is your name, if you don't mind me asking?"

You almost answered, but you thought against it. You'd only be here for a few days. After that you were never coming back here. You'd jump into the arms of whoever was back first and let them comfort you. Be able to feel safe and content again.

"Don't feel like talking? Well that's alright. Can you fight?"

You shook your head.

"No? Then it's best you stay here for the time being while we're gone. We have important work to do and it'd be a shame to be distracted. Can you fend for yourself, or do you need a guard accompanying you?"

You raised a finger up, signaling the first option. She smiled at you before getting up. And when you looked over towards the other demon, you could see him scowling again.

"We'll be off, let's go." Mukuro ordered.

Hiei let her go for a second before addressing you.

"Stay put. I won't go looking for you if you disappear. And stay out of trouble."

You didn't understand why he had to be so mean all the time. Nevertheless, you nodded. Sitting up against the wall and watching him head off.

Now you truly were alone.

Perhaps if you had one of those rectangular human devices, you'd be able to communicate with Kurama. Ask for advice on what you should do here. Or just convince him to come get you.

Maybe you could've convinced Yusuke to take you with him. At least then you'd be laughing the whole time. You wouldn't feel as small as you did now.

You should've asked Kuwabara to stay with you. He probably would have folded immediately. But you didn't want to do that. He wanted to spend time with his own flesh and blood. Who were you to take that from him?

You shook the thoughts from your head. There was nothing you could do about it now. You'd just have to wait things out.

And wait them out you did.

For hours.

Watching the daylight slowly dwindle down.

Just how long had you been waiting?

Your eyes drifted shut.

"Hey! Hey brat! Wake up!"

They snapped open at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. You were met with the sight of a group of demons. Hostile demons. Who lifted you up by the collar of your shirt.

"You're Hiei's pet, aren't you? One of the ones who saves those filthy humans instead of feasting on them? The disgraceful bastard."

Your first instinct was to call for help. But you knew nobody would hear you here. Nobody would care. So you struggled and kicked your legs.

"Quit it! Why don't we show that traitor what happens when you go against the natural order of things?"

The other surrounding demons laughed and nodded vigorously.

★★★★

A whole day. Hiei spent the whole day out there sending humans back through the barrier. A whole day dealing with those idiots and erasing their memories.

Maybe he should have let you come. It had to be the most irksome and repetitive task he's ever done. Simple and easy.

And maybe he had been a little cruel with you. But you were a demon. You shouldn't be acting like a wimp. You needed to grow up and deal with it. Softness only led to injury here.

Which reminded him....

Where the hell were you?

You weren't at the spot he left you at. Didn't he tell you not to move. Why of all times you chose to be disobedient, he didn't know. You always did what you were told. So why now were you being a brat and hiding.

He undid the bandage on his forehead and opened his Jagan, using it to search the compound for you. Room by room, hallway by hallway.

But he couldn't sense you.

And only then did ice run through his veins. You weren't here. He left you and told you to stay put, and now you were gone.

Did you run away?

No, you loved the others. You'd want a way to go back to them.

Did you leave to find him?

No, you didn't like Hiei as far as he knew.

So what could it be?

What could have possibly explained your disappearance?

Were you taken?

No.

That couldn't be it. Because if it was, he was screwed.

It would be his fault.

Whatever the hell had happened to you...

If you were dead or injured, it was his fault.

And he knew the others would never forgive him for it. Hell, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if your body was found somewhere. He said he would watch over you. He gave his word you would come back unharmed.

You were just a child.

And if you were dead....

He made his way outside and used his Jagan to search for any trace of you. Anything that would give him a clue to where you were. He got wind of a spike of spirit energy.

His body already on the move towards it. And in his third eye, he saw you screaming. He pushed his limits as far as they would go to get there faster.

★★★★

He didn't know what to expect when he got there. But it wasn't this. A sight he never thought he'd see again.

You were splattered with blood, but alive. The demons around you were dead or on the verge of it. You were backed against a tree with your dagger jutted out. Tears streaming down your face while you shook uncontrollably.

He tried to approach you, but you just cried harder and curled in on yourself. Mind so frantic, you didn't recognize him. Or maybe you did and you just didn't want him near you.

He really shouldn't have been that cruel to you.

There was nothing he could do about that now. He needed to bring you back, but as he took another step towards you, you lashed out at him.

Taking a precise swing he barley avoided. A warning to keep back. Just like the one you gave back at that trafficking ring. You were cutthroat like this. Fear making you stronger.

Despite his reluctance, he used his Jagan to put you to sleep. The only other option besides knocking you out. You'd been through enough today. Kurama would deal with the rest. You liked him the best anyways.

He picked you up carefully and quickly made his way back towards the barrier. The sooner you got out of here, the better it was for everyone.

What was it that detective said? Try to make you laugh? He couldn't do that. He doubted you would have listened anyways if he tried.

The oaf! What was it about you and food? You liked the sweet concoctions the humans made. The ones that would turn your teeth to dust. But there was no way you would ever take anything from him.

And Kurama? He was incapable of showing the same softness that fox did. Of being that vulnerable. He had a feeling he'd just make it worse.

The only thing he could do now was keep you under until he reached Genkai's little shack. Then he'd be able to get Kurama to deal with you.

The small home was in sight. He pushed himself a little further as the sun peaked over the mountains. Making rapid knocks against the door frame until it slid open.

"What do we have here? I don't suppose you're here to see Yukina?" The old lady greeted.

Then she noticed the frantic state Hiei was in. The stoic demon had lost his composure. And in his arms was a smaller being who looked to be having nightmares.

"Whatever you did, good luck explaining that to the other three boys."

★★★★

Kurama was furious to say the least upon spying Hiei outside. You weren't with him, which meant one thing.

"What happened?" Emerald eyes flashing an eerie golden.

"I'll explain on the way. They aren't harmed physically, but I...I don't know how to handle this."

That was all it took for the fox demon to rush over. Eyes falling on your curled up form when he got there with Hiei following suit.

Puu had you enveloped in his feathers. Making soft cooing sounds at you while you thrashed in your sleep. Trying to calm you down. He was part of Yusuke's soul after all.

The Phoenix hissed as Hiei and Kurama approached.

"It's okay. Let me help them, then they're all yours until Yusuke gets back." Kurama coaxed, inching towards where you were sleeping.

Puu begrudgingly sat still and let him get closer. A type of flower bloomed from Kurama. He held it up to your nose, and all at once your body went limp. Relaxing against the nightmares that plagued your mind.

He lightly moved around your face, checking for any injuries. There were none. He released you and let Puu tuck you back in.

The next few days the process would repeat. Kurama would soothe you whenever you started thrashing around in your sleep. And Hiei would watch from the side, guilt starting to consume him.

You didn't deserve this.

You had never done anything to directly spite him.

And the one time you tried to talk to him, he dismissed you.

He was only hard on you because he wanted you to stop being weak. He wanted you to be strong and stop getting scared by everything. Turns out you were just scared of him.

When you awoke a few more days later, Kurama pushed for him to leave. To give you some space to adjust. And while he physically left the room, he still kept his Jagan on you.

"Are you okay?" Kurama asked.

You shook your head and started crying. You were pulled into a hug by the fox demon. Sobbing into his stomach as you remembered what happened.

"If you want, I can make those bad memories disappear. If you don't want to see them anymore, then you don't have to."

And you shook your head once again.

"I-hiccup- don't wanna forget. I don't like what happened, but forgetting is even worse!" Your words barley comprehensible, but understood nevertheless.

"Okay. Just try to relax for now. Kuwabara and Yusuke will be back soon."

That seemed to calm you down for the time being.

And it was then Hiei realized you were not as weak as he had previously thought. You were bearing the burden of what happened. Something that you didn't even verbalize to Kurama. You'd also managed to defeat all those demons by yourself without being injured. Your power unpredictable than what you'd been showing these past few months.

He doubted you would forgive him, but if you did, then he would train you to protect yourself. Give you better control of your strength so you'd be ready if this ever happened again. It would never happen again.

Maybe then this awful feeling would finally go away. The feeling that had him lingering here instead of attending to his duties in the Demon World. The one that made him feel like scum everytime he caught sight of you.

★★★★

Safe to say, Yusuke and Kuwabara were not happy when they got back. Both fussing over you with the former wrestling you away from his spirit beast.

"What happened? Whose ass do I have to kick?!?!"

You shook your head and looked away from him. It was just like when they had first met you. All that progress of having you come out of your shell gone.

"You don't look so great. How about I take you back to mine and I'll cook you up a big dinner? You can take all the blankets if you want, too."

But despite Kuwabara's encouragement, you still shook your head.

"Wanna stay here. It's safe." You finally responded.

"You sure?"

You nodded this time.

You really didn't feel safe being out in the open again. And you had no doubt Hiei already told them it was all your fault. He was probably waiting to chew you out for not staying put.

"Well in that case, guess I'm sleeping over. What about you?" Kuwabara's question directed at the greasy haired boy.

"My mom won't give a damn either way. I'm good to be here for a few days. Which reminds me...."

He pulled a small penguin plushie from his bag.

"I got this for you, you little squirt. Hug it tight and it'll get rid of all your nightmares."

You took the toy from his hand and immediately squeezed it in a hug. It took all of about five seconds before you started crying.

"Hey! What's wrong!?!?"

"I love it so-hiccup-much!!!"

You were bonked softly on the back of your head.

"You had me going for a second...Now, give me names and addresses. Somebody needs to pay for making my kid cry."

"I'm with ya, Urameshi! Let's teach em' a lesson!"

You were finally able to crack a smile after that.

★★★★

So it began again. The three of them volunteering to stay with you while you rested at Genkai's. A certain three eyed demon watching from afar. No longer upset by your presence, but worried.

You were okay now, but if something like that happened again, Spirit World would surely do something about it. You were already under enough scrutiny as it was.

Right now, you were currently conversing with Yukina, of all people. Both of you talking in hushed tones.

"It's nice to have another person around. Genkai's nice, but it's not the same."

You nodded at her words.

"Yeah, I like the others but they can be rowdy at times. It's nice talking."

You decided you liked her.

But her eyes looked familiar. Like Hiei's.

But there was no way.

Right?

"Why did you leave the demon world? Don't you miss your family?" You asked.

"I left to find my brother. He was cast into the sea by our people. As for them, well... They were too set in their ways. Hearts as cold and frozen as our land. I didn't want to be apart of that anymore."

You put a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh. I'm sorry for asking."

Yukina smiled at you with a soft expression.

"Don't be. That chapter of my life is closed now. Though I do still hope to come across my brother one day... What about you? Where is your family?"

"I was taken from them by some humans a few decades back. They trapped me and...It wasn't pleasant, what they did to me. But they're gone now. That part of my life is closed too. Now I'm beginning again with people who treat me with so much kindness, it feels like I'm dreaming."

You two had more in common than Hiei would have liked.

He really shouldn't have been so cruel to you.

It was decided. He was going to train you. Maybe swallow his pride and apologize.

It wouldn't be easy convincing the others, but he was going to try. The first obstacle was Kuwabara. That oaf wouldn't let him near you without a fight. And while he understood, it was for your own good.

"N-O! The answer is no. Last time we left you alone with them, they were kidnapped!!!"

"They need to get stronger."

"No they don't! We'll protect them from anything that happens!"

"You weren't there the last time."

It was like arguing with a brick wall. Eventually it circled back to him and Yusuke being the ones that would train you. To which Hiei brought up the point they'd be too soft with you. They'd hold back and go easy.

It was enough.

The next obstacle was Yusuke. Whose first response was to fight at the suggestion. Another troublesome task to deal with.

"You didn't even like them a few weeks ago! Why the hell should we trust you again!!!"

"You can check up on them."

"Like that puts me at ease! You'd be too rough with them! They're just a little kid!"

And Hiei has to bring up the point of your power going unchecked. If spirit world found out about this, you'd probably be executed. But if you learned to control yourself, that possibility would never happen. If you got stronger, you wouldn't get hurt.

It didn't take much convincing after that.

The final obstacle was Kurama, who would be the hardest to convince without consequences.

"Let me train them."

He received a glare in response.

"No."

Flat and simple.

"They need guidance."

"You couldn't guarantee their safety upon arrival. Am I supposed to believe you won't scar them further?"

He offered up the only thing he had left.

"My life. You have my life they'll be safe with me."

"Very well, but it's not me you have to convince."

It was you.

And when he approached you, you looked down and silenced yourself. Tensing up like he was going to yell at you.

"Have you recovered?" It sounded more like a command than question.

But you nodded anyways.

He used to like how quiet you were. Now he despised it.

"For five months you will train nonstop. You will get ahold of your spirit energy. And you will be capable enough to defend yourself without crying. Do you understand?"

But this time you did say something in return. Something unexpected.

"No. I don't want to go."

He had never been nice to you before. Never wanted to spend time with you. So you were suspicious. And maybe you secretly believed he left you on purpose for those other demons to find. That he set you up in the hopes you'd be dead when he got there.

You squeezed the penguin you were given. It really did calm you down.

You didn't want to give him a chance anymore.

"It's for your benefit, not mine." And he internally cringed at what was to come next.

"I apologize for my behavior, let me do what's right."

If anyone besides you heard that, he'd kill them. But for now he was awaiting your response.

You tilted your head as you thought of what to say. This was different. Hiei never apologized for anything. Least of all you. And you were sure this is the most you two have ever talked.

"Are you really sorry?" You still didn't believe him quite yet.

"Yes." And he further swallowed down his pride for your trust.

"And you won't be mean anymore?"

"Yes."

You took a deep breath.

"Okay."

★★★★

[nonclassyparty]

man with the plan (j.wy) - chapter 3

Summary: "Don't forget Pretty, I'm serving life plus one. So if I get busted for attempted escape, I'll throw in a homicide in there as well with no problem, that’s like a parking ticket to me." When your brother ends up in jail for a murder he didn't commit, the only thing left for you to do is to find a way to break him out. But after a perfect plan is set in motion, you don't expect a romantic variable to get added into the equation.

Pairing: jung wooyoung x fem. reader, jeong yunho x reader (but if u squint)

Status: in progress

Word count: 11.2k

Warnings: cursing, mentions of blood, violence, death

Taglist: @tinyjuni @hazysan @atinytinaa @tenebrisirae @doggopepper @dazzlingstarrs @lavishloving @cherrypandora @silentcry329 @jeagerist-20 @myunvillage @manipulatedstars @bitteryu @maru-matt @bubbleteakittyy @joonsthethicc

my main masterlist // playlist // moodboard // ao3

chapter 2 // masterlist // chapter 4

Chapter 3; Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods?

"I went through all of it five times by now, every appeal is denied, I keep getting brushed to the side every time I just so much as mention it to anyone in the courthouse," Yeosang sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration with one hand while he twirls his drink with the other. "I'm telling you, Y/N, someone made sure the lack of evidence was brushed under the rug, they were stressing his previous record, you saw it yourself that day in court!"

You nod silently, eyes falling to the table filled with, by now, empty plates in front of you both as your voices carried over the pleasant jazz music playing in the background of the restaurant.

"Someone wants Jongho to go down for this and made sure that he never sees the light of day again outside a prison cell." He continues and your gaze flies to his face which was filled with anguish.

Jongho and Yeosang loved each other once upon a time. Highschool sweethearts that you imagined would stay together through thick and thin.

When everything between them fell apart, Yeosang claims it was Jongho's fault and Jongho claims it was the opposite (you think it was both of them), you barely saw Yeosang again unless it was at a crowded college bar somewhere, a  smile of familiarity exchanged between the two of you but nothing other than that.

But he was the person Jongho called when he needed an attorney and Yeosang did his best, you can vouch for him, but there is so much a simple attorney can do against people at a much higher security clearance.

And yet, after doing everything that was in his power even still stubbornly investigating the case when all was said and done, his guilt is palpable.

"No murder weapon, no actual motive, nothing except the footage from the security cameras of him walking up the front steps of the house. It doesn't make any sense, it's obvious he was already dead when Jongho walked into his office." Yeosang runs another frustrated hand through his hair before taking a sip of his drink.

"I know." Is all you can quietly say, why? 

Because you've spent a good portion of the last eighteen months trying to drill the same thing into the heads of anyone that was willing to listen. Judges, attorneys, police officers...and it all fell onto deaf ears so now, your brother was stuck in a cell for life for something he didn't do unless you do something about it.

Which you are.

"I mean...it has to be someone from the higher ups orchestrating all of this." He voices out with a frown before scoffing, "The governor went on live television and said if the death penalty was still allowed, Jongho would be the first one sent to the chair. Who says that nowadays?! With so little proof..." He trails off, eyes falling downwards in defeat.

Your hands clench at the mention of the governor, the image of his precious son in his scrubs and white coat coming to mind. You wonder if Jung Wooyoung sees the actions of his father as something admirable or does he detest him for it.

"Do you visit him regularly?" Yeosang breaks you out of your thoughts with his quiet question and you straighten up in your seat, hands wrapping around your own glass of gin.

"Yeah, every Friday." You answer with a faint smile, deciding to retain the information that you see Jongho every morning as you work at the prison, from Yeosang for the time being.

"H-How is he? Does he look okay?" He asks, fingers playing with the napkin laying on his empty plate.

"He's fine." You respond with a solemn sigh before forcing a smile, "He bulked up a lot. I guess when there's not much to do, working out gets fun."

"Ah." He nods, eyes still on the napkin.

"You should visit him sometime." You state lightly, knowing that your brother would love to see him but Yeosang just shakes his head.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Yeosang chuckles humorlessly, scratching his nose, "Besides, Soobin and I got engaged and...well, I don't know how to tell him that. It's just best if I stay away."

You nod in response with a heavy heart, knowing that your brother deep down always hoped he and Yeosang would get back together once Jongho got his head screwed on right and stopped messing around. That train has passed now.

"I get it." You tell him, not wanting Yeosang to think that you resent him for anything regarding your brother. While he may be Jongho's ex-boyfriend that's getting married to someone else pretty soon, Yeosang has been there for you almost your whole life. 

When all you had was your brother to lean on, there was also pretty and quiet Yeosang with his gentle nature and short but meaningful words by your side.

"I'll keep working on his case though, I'm not letting it go that easily." Those words hit a nerve inside your brain and you bite your lip.

"I don't think you should." You express quietly, avoiding his questioning gaze.

"Yeosang, whoever the people that did this to him are, they're dangerous. They have connections and they obviously have the power, snooping around could put you in danger." You disclose, shifting uneasily under his hard stare but it had to be said, "I don't want for something to happen to you. And Jongho wouldn't want that either."

"So, what? We should all just let him rot in jail?" Yeosang questions, cheeks heating up in anger as his eyes shift into a glare towards you.

"I'm not saying that-"

"Then what exactly are you saying, Y/N? Because he's not getting out any other way." He utters before declaring; "Just because you gave up on him, doesn't mean I have to as well."

The harsh words make you flinch, reminding you of the night you found out Jongho was taken to custody and everything you said to him.

The only time you've ever given up on your brother were the ten minutes between speaking to him for the first time in jail and before speaking to Yeosang afterwards and for the last year and then some, you've been trying to repent for the words you've said to him that night.

Yeosang's way of getting Jongho out includes legalities, courthouses, attorneys, re-listening over and over again to people calling your brother a murderer and in the end losing because you're up against bigger fish. You've given up on that.

Jongho is getting out, Yeosang, just not your way but mine.

-

The cold air nipped at the skin of your cheeks as you inconspicuously made your way across the gravel towards the wired fence surrounding the yard.

As the days go by, you're starting to learn the routine of the correction officer's occupying the guards room near the yard so by now, you had the gist of when it was safe to walk closer to the fence without anyone seeing you.

Anyone but the inmates themselves that is but so far, apart from a couple of catcalls and whistles, they didn't seem top pay much attention to you.

Your brother would wait by the same corner every morning, back turned to you until he heard your footsteps, this morning was no different except this time; Jongho wasn't alone.

"Gentlemen." You give them a sarcastic greeting, eyes stuck on the back of his cellmate who you have yet to exchange a single word with.

"Hey." Jongho nods at you with squinted eyes and when he notices your eyes on his new 'friend', this Coin guy, he nudges him with his elbow.

The guy turns around and you gauge his face properly for the first time.

He's taller than Jongho with messy hair hidden under a beanie, sharp eyes and plump lips that were currently twisted in a scowl as he glances back at you. "Hey."

His voice is deeper than you expected.

"I'm Y/N."

"Yeah, I know." He leans on the fence with one shoulder, eyes always on lookout towards the yard. "Coin."

"Your real name." You tell him, skipping formalities and Jongho glances between the two of you, already opening his mouth to reprimand you most likely. You're quicker, not backing down. "I don't deal with stupid nicknames, your real name."

Coin glances back at you, annoyance evident in his eyes before he looks towards Jongho and returns his gaze back to the yard, sighing with an eye roll. "Song Mingi."

You let out a breath of relief, making sure to remember it while Jongho mumbles something about finally knowing his real name.

"How are you doing? With the digging?" You mutter, stuffing your hands in your pockets as you try to inch closer to the two of them without anyone noticing anything out of the ordinary.

"I can't get through the wall leading to the tunnels." Jongho mutters back, foot kicking at the grass below him. You frown, glancing over your shoulder to check if the door to the guards room is still closed shut.

"What do you mean? I told you how to do it-"

"No, I know how to do it but I just don't have the time." Your frown only grows. They're locked up, in your books, all they have is time.

His cellmate, Mingi notices your confusion and he answers your unspoken question; "Count."

Your brows raise at that as you glance at Jongho, who only nods in agreement.

"Constantly coming back up for count won't let me do what I need to do to break through that wall." Your brother voices out.

"You don't understand, I planned this on a schedule." You explain to them as quietly as you can, worry displayed on your features, "You have as much time as I'm here which is a month, two at most if I drag it out but it's less likely because my boss will pull me out of here as fast as she can. If you're not through that wall by the end of the week, we'll be behind on schedule and that means you're not getting out of here."

Both of them stay silent, glancing at each other before their eyes fall down to the grass with no obvious ideas of a solution.

You sigh in frustration, already sensing a bigger problem surging up from all of this. "Is there a way to stop count from happening?"

Mingi looks at you like you've lost your mind. "There are three things certain in life; death, taxes and count." 

You pursue your lips, looking over your shoulder to check the guards room all while working your brain for a possible solution.

"Well, actually..." Mingi starts again after a moment of contemplation and both you and Jongho swiftly turn your heads to him in anticipation, "The only way to stop count is...." 

He trails off, looking over his shoulder. The two of them were huddled by the furthest corner of the fence, the rest of the inmates too busy either playing basketball or working out.

Mingi shakes his head, "Never mind, it's a bad idea."

Jongho cocks an eyebrow, "Worse than the idea of losing Jiyeon to your cousin?"

Mingi gives him a sharp glare which seems rather intimidating but if Jongho says it so freely than you think it's safe to say that Mingi is all talk and no action, he's rather harmless.

He presses his lips, turning to you with a sober expression on his face; "Lockdown. We get Gen Pop locked for a day and he'll have all the time he needs, there's no count, the CO's don't even come around."

Your eyes light up at the genuinely good idea, half thrilled at the solution and the other half at the fact that this Song Mingi guy has half the brain to come up with excellent ideas after all.

Your brother wasn't stuck with someone completely daft at least.

"Okay." You nod, hope filling you up to the brim. You glance between them, "How do you get a lockdown?"

Jongho turns to Mingi again who seems to be deep in thought as he fiddles with the beanie on his head. He straightens out after a moment.

"Can you get to the prison's heating system unit?" He asks you and you take a quick moment to think, trying to picture the blueprints in your head.

"Maybe."

"You want to get a lockdown?" Mingi glances over his shoulder before huddling closer to the two of you, "You'd better get the inmates riled up. And if you wanna piss of the meat in concrete, turn up the heat."

Your eyes sparkle, Song Mingi will most definitely be useful. "Got it."

"Y/N, you better be fucking careful." Jongho murmurs but you're already stepping away from the fence.

"Don't worry." Is all you tell him and with one last rushed smile, you start heading back inside the building where your office is located.

-

You carefully glue a piece of wood to the beautiful model in front of you, the warden is quietly working next to you as well, gently touching it like it's about to crumble under his calloused fingertips.

"You know, my wife and I didn't have kids but if we did, I think I'd wish for them to be something like you." His confession takes you by surprise as your head turns to him sitting on the uncomfortable chair next to you.

Well, he's about fifteen years too late for that, where was he when you and Jongho were getting moved from one foster home to another?

Still, the confession makes you chuckle softly, cheeks warming up although the guilt you feel is already unbearable. You didn't expect to spend any time with this man.

And the warden, you have to admit, was a nice man. A good man.

You can't really say you could imagine him as your father because you still have memories of your real father and none of them are good but...maybe a grandfather.

"That came out of nowhere, forgive me but I just wanted you to know that I really appreciate you helping me with this." He chuckles, holding another piece to the model and keeping his hand there to make sure it stays intact. "And I know it must be awfully hard to know your brother is so close yet you can barely speak to him. I backed into some information about you, how he is your only family left."

You swallow, a hand that was holding the tiny wooden pieces falling into your lap as you turn to him, not awfully fond of speaking about this to anyone in this place. 

It means opening up and opening up meant getting attached.

And you can't get attached to anyone here. Not when you're knowingly using them.

The warden must take your silence for something else because he continues with a deep sigh, "What I'm trying to say is that I've seen you speaking to him through the fence and...in a way, I'm deciding to turn a blind eye to it."

Your lips part at that, blood rushing to your face at the thought of getting caught.

"Partly because Jongho is well behaved in there. He's only had one misconduct and that was when he first was brought it and partly, it's because, as I said, I can't imagine what it must feel like to see your brother in a place like this..."

Your eyes burn, half from the pure gratefulness and half from complete and utter guilt that weighs you down.

The warden is a good man. And all you've done so far is feed him lies with a deceiving smile on your face that leaves him blind to your true selfishness.

"Thank you." You whisper, in complete honesty with a smile, fingers playing with the small pieces of wood in your lap.

"Don't mention it." The warden shakes his head, he hesitates for a moment with his eyes set on the model in front of him before; "I followed his trial closely and my personal opinion is that he was just a man that found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time..."

You almost gasp at that, shocked that he'd actually say it out loud. Many people might share his opinion or not but they're not allowed to discuss it.

"But my jurisdiction doesn't go beyond the walls of this compound, so I'll do my best to make sure he's treated fairly at least in here."

There's the guilt again.

You shove it down, simply murmuring another 'thank you' in the sincerest possible way you can muster up before going back to work.

-

Your eyes follow Doctor Jung as he moves across the room, carrying with himself a tray with the insulin shot and your mouth can't help but perk up when he catches your eyes and looks at you in question, biting back a smile of his own.

This game you play with him is starting to become a bit too fun.

"What?" He asks as his brows furrow as though he wants to whine but refrains himself from doing so, eyes focused on preparing your shot as you roll the sleeve of your shirt up. You chuckle lightly.

You already poured the corrosive down the grate for today, you can relax for at least this once around him.

"You wear glasses." You comment simply, eyeing the thick black frames sitting at the bridge of his nose. He glances at you, lips still pressed together, still trying to hold back a smile, as he takes your arm and runs a damp cotton ball over it.

"My eyes were too irritated for contacts this morning." He shrugs with practiced ease but you notice a little shyness to his expression, as if he's embarrassed of his glasses.

He shouldn't be. They look good on him.

"Long night?" You ask with playful eyes and he hums in question, eyes trained on the needle sinking into your skin, "Irritated eyes. Were you up doing something til the late hours."

The insinuation hangs heavy in the air and he stays quiet, as he pulls the needle out.

"If by long night you mean laying on my couch with a box of Chinese food watching re-runs of Friends, then yeah, I had a blast." He answers with a sheepish smile, glancing up at you as he presses a clean cotton ball to your hand which you hold instead of him, your fingers brushing in the process.

You hum, teasingly cocking an eyebrow, "So, no girlfriend?"

His eyes catch yours again and for the first time, he looks like you're close to driving him over the edge as he pokes the inside of his cheek with his tongue.

Wooyoung shakes his head, lips pulling in a smirk as he almost returns your flirtation, "No, no girlfriend."

You don't expect a guy like him to be single. Even though it goes in your favor, still, it's a bit surprising.

He seemed like the type who got along with women amazingly, you didn't hear much differently from others.

But Jung Wooyoung seems awfully shy in your presence. Always slightly avoiding your eyes before a great moment of braveness and then an immediate retreat back to his shell.

He just doesn't fit the profile of the serial womanizer and party animal you've been told about when you tried to ask around about him to your old college friends.

So, either Jung Wooyoung is one heck of an actor and all of this was a performance to get into your pants (and you'd be a hypocrite to judge him for it) or you made him shy.

And if it was the latter, well, it's fucking adorable.

You only nod in response as you roll the sleeve of your shirt down, glancing at the grate to your right and feeling the empty tubes in the pockets of the coat digging into your back as it hangs over the chair you're sitting on.

Just a little bit more, and you'll be able to break through the water pipe below the grate.

"You?" Wooyoung's voice brings you back to reality and you turn to him in question as you're too caught up in your own agendas to keep up with the conversation. He sighs, albeit a little embarrassed before he jokingly asks; "Do we have any admirers?"

"Me?" You ask, innocently pointing to yourself before nodding, "Oh, yeah. I have six of them. Currently looking for a seventh so I can have one for each day of the week."

"Ah." His brows raise, a smile threatening to appear as he's obviously catching onto the fact that you're bullshitting him, "You have your hands full, then."

"I manage." You shrug keeping up the act for a couple of seconds more before letting out a chuckle which he joins into, "No, I didn't really have time for any of that in the last year or so."

He cocks his head to the side, observing you with a small smirk, "Career woman, huh?"

You chuckle bitterly because he truly has no idea.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Your eye contact lasts longer than necessary and you snap yourself out of it, noticing that you've been just sitting and talking to him for a long moment after the shot was done and sleeve was down.

You clear your throat, breaking the eye contact and standing up from the chair.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Same place, same time." He smiles and it causes these pretty little indents to appear on his cheeks that do something ridiculous to your chest.

"Right." You nod, bidding him another smile and you're out the door.

-

You fix the mirror in front of you to align with the mirror behind you hanging from the door of the old closet in your office, your shirt unbuttoned and hanging off of one shoulder as you adjust the mirror so you can see the tattoos on your back.

When you locate the lines that are supposed to represent where the heating system runs through the compound, you carefully trace them with your eyes down to the one common square where they all connect on your lower back.

With a nod to yourself, you quickly get dressed, close the closet shut and make your way to the staff bathrooms on the first floor, right next to the infirmary.

Getting near the prison's heating system doesn't present itself as much of a problem, all you do is kick open the grate leading to the air vents in the locked bathroom stall and crawl up by climbing onto the toilet seat.

The heating room isn't much further away, you crawl through the vents until you reach where it's supposed to be and after stilling for a moment to check if it was empty, you lift up the grate and carefully slink down until your feet touch the dirty floors.

The room is stuffy and dark but it's empty, not a soul besides the scarily looking furnace in the middle of the room. You approach it with caution and check the thermostat located on the pipes near it.

Before reaching out and cranking the temperature to the highest possible setting.

With hurried movements, you carefully climb back up the air vent using a rusty shelf for extra boost and return the same way you got in.

Once you're back in your office, slightly sweaty from all the exercise, you can't help but smile lightly at the intense rise in temperature already that you have to crank open the window in your office to make a little bit of a breeze.

If it must be this hot already in here, then you can't imagine what it must be like in the cells.

-

"Alright that's it, lockdown! Everyone back to your cells!" Jongho's head picks up at the voice yelling from down below amongst the ruckus and shouts of the agitated inmates. They've been going at it for the last hour, calling out for some AC until one of them snapped and started causing trouble with the correction officers which inevitably made a dozen of them act up as a result, "I said everyone back to your cells! Now convicts! Lockdown!"

Jongho's eyes light up in relief, he was sweating buckets because of your little trick but it just might be worth it.

"Damn, your sister really turned that furnace up." Mingi mutters from the top bunk, sweat gliding down his brow as he jumps down the bed and watches the cell door glide shut as the yelling outside continues. "Well, you got your lockdown bro, do your thing."

Jongho shakes his head, "You're coming with me."

"What?!" Mingi's head whips back from where he was fixing the sheet up to protect their cell from the outer view. "No, no, no. I'm the lookout man, that's it."

"It's a two man job, I need your help to kick down the bricks." He explains to his doubtful cellmate, already kneeling down and using the bolt which you told him to get from the benches in the yard to unscrew the fitting holding the small metal sink attached to the wall. "It'll be quick, then you can come back out."

Jongho moves the metal sink to the side and the hole which he broke through a day ago is revealed and he slinks through it with Mingi cautiously following behind him before pulling the sink back in it's place from the outside, to cover the hole in the wall.

Mingi gasps in wonder at the small tunnel they find themselves in, darkness surrounding them from all sides.

"How do you know which side we're supposed to go?" He whispers to Jongho who is already moving through the darkness with practiced ease.

"Y/N told me." He simply responds, never questioning his sister's directions. "After we break through this wall we'll be connected to the main tunnel and have all the access we need."

"And then what?" Mingi asks, following behind him careful not to trip up on any of the rubble beneath his feet.

"And then...we wait for what Y/N tells us to do next." Jongho says reaching the main wall where he was already picking apart the mort on the bricks.

"You really trust her? That she can pull this off?" Mingi asks after a moment of silence, already joining Jongho's side to pick at the bricks with a nail he found on the ground.

Mingi's obvious distrust in his sister made Jongho angry.

Maybe he didn't think you were competend because you were related to him and to be fair, Jongho was in prison. But you two couldn't be more different.

Where Jongho only excelled in sports and woodshop (when the teachers didn't piss him off), you were amazing at everything. Math and physics being a highlight in your academic records, a structural engineer later on as a career.

That wouldn't mean much to a stranger. Nowadays, anyone could graduate college.

But Jongho knew you. And he knew just how smart and resourceful you could get with just about anything, especially if you put all of yourself in. Which with this project in particular, he could tell you have.

Jongho turns to him with a serious expression. "I trust her with my life."

Mingi gives a doubtful shake of head, muttering while he punches through the wall, "You're trusting her with my life as well."

The bricks slowly start to give out.

-

You stare at the devil's face which you traced from the side of your arm onto a piece of paper, folding it and gliding it in the pocket of your jeans, making sure everything you need is tucked into the back of your jeans before you walk down to the entrance of the building, nodding at the officers standing by the front door and make way to the sick bay located near B-building.

The sick bay is filled to the brim with inmates suffering from heat exhaustion. Wooyoung is working in a rush, tending to each new patient that they bring in with his face pinched in concentration, not even noticing you passing by.

Which is good. Logistically, you have no business being in the sick bay but it was the only building connected by underground tunnels to A-building where your brother's cell was and the chaos of the self-induced heatwave was a perfect opportunity to slink through the building and to the storage room with an air vent unnoticed.

Finding the tunnel that lead to the cells in building A was harder than you thought, the sounds of the riot above didn't exactly help with the tension you were feeling inside. 

It took a lot of wrong turns and roaming in the dark damp tunnels with a flashlight in your hand as your only source of light before you heard a loud thump somewhere to your left followed by what sounded like bricks and gravel falling to the ground.

Cautiously, you stepped around the corner with your heart stuck in your throat, not knowing what you will walk into before you breathe in a sigh of relief when you spot two familiar heads peering through the gap in the wall, surrounded by rubble.

"Thank fuck." You mutter, slightly jogging towards them as Mingi kicks at the lower part of the wall again to make way for them to get through.

They seem bamboozled to see you there.

"How in the hell did you-" Jongho starts but you quickly interrupt him, the chaos from above making you on edge.

"We don't have time, come on!" You tell them, already moving back down the dark tunnel, the dust accompanied by pure stress making you feel choked up.

You can hear their footsteps, quietly following after you as you lead them to a bare wall that you place your palm on.

You start walking backwards, recounting your steps and then stop, rolling up your sleeve and flashing the light over it so you can look at the tattoo and make sure your calculations are correct. 

Placing your arm against the wall, you mark a dot on it.

"This is it." You voice out, remembering the wall from the blueprints, you turn to face Jongho and Mingi who hang onto your every word; "Somewhere on the other side of this wall is a drainage pipe to the prison's old sewer system. If you can get through this wall, you can get into the pipe. If you can get into the pipe you can get into the infirmary. If you can get into the infirmary, you can get out of here."

They look like they have more questions but obviously decide that this isn't the time nor place. They seem slightly impressed, maybe even a little giddy as they smile at each other, Jongho steps closer to the wall as he runs a hand over it. 

"That's one big pile of concrete." He whistles, turning to you, "How do you know where the pipe is?"

You shuffle a couple of steps away from them, propping a light against a couple of leftover bricks sitting by the side of the other wall and place the small paper you've tucked into the pocket of your jeans against the head of the light.

"We've got someone to show us where it is." You answer, pulling out a small piece of duck tape from your pockets and making sure the paper sticks to the flashlight.

"Oh, really?" Mingi asks, albeit a little sarcastically as he crosses his arms over his chest, "Who?"

You turn the light on, immediately facing the wall and smiling in relief as the image on the paper is projected onto the concrete wall.

Jongho and Mingi follow your gaze, the latter jumping a bit once he comes face to face with the devil from your tattoo staring back at him, reflected onto the wall. 

Mingi does a quick sign of the cross across his chest.

"Sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" Mingi exclaims, inching further away from the caricature. You would've found it funny if your mind wasn't preoccupied with the current task at hand.

Just as you open your mouth to tell them the plan and loud screech from above interrupts you and all three of your heads snap up towards the ceiling above you.

The screech isn't what worries you (maybe it should but you digress), it's the fact that it didn't sound dulled enough for it to come from the prison cells. No, this screech was a bit too apparent.

Almost like it came from the place connecting the cells with the tunnel.

You glance at Jongho with worry to find him already looking at you.

"I'll go check what that was." He says quietly and you open your mouth to stop him, scared for him to be leaving you. He doesn't let you get a word out, "Y/N, don't worry. Stay here with Mingi and tell him what to do, I'll come back."

You glance at Mingi who stays quiet by your side giving you a nod before you turn to Jongho with a somber expression. "Be careful."

He nods with a small chuckle, "Always." 

And he turns around and disappears behind the corner.

-

Jongho crouches down to get through the fresh hole in the wall and as quietly as he can before walking down the tunnel and heading over to the hole covered by the metal sink which leads to his cell.

He carefully places his ear against the surface, a frown growing on his face when he hears footsteps up and down the cell.

His heartbeat immediately spikes up, fear of someone finding the hole in the wall turning into anger at the potential problem if someone else were to find out about your plan.

With one quick mustered breath, he shoves the sink away and as fast as he can, crawls through the whole to grab whoever it is on the other side by surprise.

"Relax! It's me!" A familiar voice chokes out as Jongho already managed to have his hands wrapped around the collar of the sweatshirt. He blinks at Kim Hongjoong's face in confusion, eyes falling to the drawn up sheet covering the, now, opened door.

"What the hell is going on?" He releases Hongjoong, walking towards the opened cell door to peak outside, just to see the inmates going positively ballistic on both floors.

"All hell broke loose." Hongjoong explains, standing in front of the sink that was moved to the side, "When they called for lockdown, about twenty cons didn't back down so they locked the cells while they were still out. They scared away the CO's and got ahold of the keys to the station, unlocked the rest of the cells from there."

Jongho sucks in a sharp breath, observing the pure and utter chaos happening outside. Screaming, fighting, maniacal laughter echoing from the walls. Not even the wildest of animals behaved like this.

"I saw your cell empty when I was passing by and put two and two together. Can't really disappear into thin air from a locked cell so I figured, I'd keep watch." Jongho turns to the older man who shrugs when their eyes meet, "I wanna get out of here just as much as you do and apparently, you're my golden ticket out of this shithole and I can't have anyone catching you, Choi."

Jongho stays quiet, the noises overwhelming him along with the fact that he most definitely did not trust Kim Hongjoong. The man was a flight risk, he could put all of you in danger.

"So, this is it, huh?" Hongjoong asks, staring down the hole with his hands tucked deep inside his pockets. Jongho notes that the older man looks like he just discovered a gold mine.

"Yeah." Jongho brushes past him and pushes the sink back the way it was, concealing it from the outside world. He can't risk going back there today, Mingi will have to do the job and Jongho will keep watch. "This is it."

"What is the plan, exactly?" Hongjoong questions, leaning back against Jongho's bunk bed with his arms crossed.

Jongho glances over his shoulders to check if there's anyone loitering around his cell but he's relieved to see everyone is more occupied with either going batshit crazy or sticking to their own cells to not get hurt or killed.

"Coin is down there, drilling a hole into the wall separating us from the pipe leading to the prison's old sewer system." Jongho explains to his best ability, hoping he got the order of the words right. 

You were always the smart one out of the two of you, he was just the muscle.

"Alone?" Hongjoong cocks a brow in curiosity, although Jongho has a feeling that the older man already knows he's not alone.

"No. Not alone." He says through gritted teeth, sending the man a glare.

"Who's with him?" Hongjoong doesn't intend on backing away as he tilts his head at him.

Jongho sighs, giving away the fact that you're down there seems like such a bad idea. Kim Hongjoong was dangerous and Jongho really didn't want you anywhere near him. In fact, he would feel much more at ease if Kim didn't even know you existed.

"The person who planned all of this." He reveals with a shrug, eyes trained on the wall behind Hongjoong's back as he slowly sinks to sit on the floor.

"You mean that girl?" Jongho freezes at that, eyes snapping towards Hongjoong's face that now sports a smug smirk, "The one that visits you in the yard each morning."

Jongho stays quiet, deciding to not comment on anything but just keep staring at the wall with his jaw clenched.

"At first, I thought it was a bit of a reach," The older man continues in faked thoughtfulness "I was like, 'there's no way she'd be brave enough to pull something like this' but then I remembered that it all started from the moment the construction work started back up again and their new pretty supervisor stepped inside these walls."

"Shut up." Jongho interrupts, his temper starting to get tested as he glares at the older man, "We made a deal, you and I, so respect that and don't talk about her. At all."

Hongjoong holds his hand out in faux innocence, not being able to bite back a grin before dropping his hands.

"I'm just saying, whoever she is to you, she cares about you a lot if she's willing to go through all of this just to get you out."

Jongho pretends like he doesn't hear him.

-

It's been awhile since Jongho left you alone with Mingi and your nerves are starting to become visible the more it takes for him to return. What if something happens to him up there? You know it's a lock down but so many things could go wrong in matter of seconds in a place like this.

 Mingi sighs next to you, obviously sensing your concern; "Let Jongho worry about the noise, he can handle himself. You worry about how you are gonna drill through a six inch concrete wall with what used to be an eggbeater."

You glance down to the modified eggbeater you snuck inside your bag this morning and carried through the tunnels tucked at the back of the waistband of your jeans.  "Ever hear of tensile strength? Hooke's law of elasticity?" You ask him, deeming the object in your hand now sharp enough to use as a drill. Mingi gives you a bland look from where he stands, leaning against the wall with the devil caricature splayed over him, "What do you think?" You sigh, turning to him. "If we drill holes in strategic locations, we compromise the load carrying capacity of the wall."

 Mingi turns to you like you just spoke in French, "How about speaking in normal people words?" You roll your eyes. "We'll be able to break through the wall." Mingi eyes you stepping closer to the wall in curiosity, taking a stand right next to you as you point at the image of the devil's face on the wall. "We go in through the tip of each horn, the eyes, the end of the nose, the bottom of the fangs, end of the braids, makes a sort of X." You explain, handing the eggbeater to him. "Let's get to it."

Mingi gives you a reluctant sigh before getting to work, placing the tip of the eggbeater to the concrete wall.

He works in silence for the next ten minutes, you keep glancing towards the direction of the tunnel where Jongho disappeared off to as your foot keeps tapping the floor from the nerves.

After another minute, Mingi speaks again being much more talkative than you expected from when you first meet him. The morning before, that is.

"I got a question for you." You turn to him from where you leaned on the opposite wall and watched him work, "What if you do all this work and the pipe turns out to be 10 feet the other way?" "It won't." You shake your head. The confidence in your voices makes Mingi look over his shoulder at you with a scowl, "What, you got x-ray vision?" You sigh again (it's all you seem to be doing in his presence), glancing to see if there are any signs of Jongho coming back before stepping closer to where Mingi was working, "I calculated the drill point co-ordinates, hid them in my tattoo and projected them onto the wall. Everything's been worked out so the image hits the right point of the wall. It's just math."

"Okay, nerd. What if your math is wrong?" Mingi questions without missing a beat, not even taking his eyes away from where he was drilling. You roll your eyes again, getting annoyed by his questions and you bluntly reply; "You'll drill into one of the dozen gas lines behind the wall. There'll be an explosion and we'll be burnt alive." Mingi's hand slows down until it rests to a full stop as he gives you a careful glance; "But you're good at math right?"

Your mouth perks up in amusement but you refrain from answering and just nod to the wall. "Keep drilling."

With another sigh, Mingi goes back to work and you glance at the watch on your wrist.

"Hey, I need to go back." You tell him, attention on the direction where Jongho disappeared off to. Mingi turns to you in question. "I need to get out of here if it's a lockdown, it means all the staff will be together if the CO's won't come around."

He pursues his lips, attention focused on the wall. "Yeah, okay."

You hesitate, "Do you know what to do?"

"I'm not stupid, Y/N." He scoffs, glancing at you, "Keep drilling at the horns, eyes, tip of the nose and so on. Form an X. Go."

Your eyes stay stuck on the tunnel, hoping Jongho would finally come through just for a second. Just for you to know that everything is okay. You feel your heart clench in anguish.

"Hey," Mingi brings you back to reality and you turn to him, "He's fine. He was here for over a year before you showed up, it's not his first rodeo. Go."

After a moment of contemplation, you nod and glance one last time towards the tunnel before turning around and disappearing down the other end.

-

It's deadly silent on the first floor of the building where the sick bay is when you step out of the storage room whose air vent you just dropped out of.

You quietly close the door shut behind yourself, feeling a chill of unease run up your spine at the deserted floor that was busking with people when you first walked in.

 At first, you think they evacuated all staff but Jongho and Mingi would've mentioned that as a procedure during lockdown. 

You walk down the empty halls of the building's left wing, trying to figure out where everyone is with your defenses so high up that the crunch below your feet makes you jump a step back as your eyes fall to the floor.

It's glass...broken glass.

Well, that can't be good.

Your head turns to the side where the commercial wood door is located, looks like it's glass lite was punched through with something. You feel your heart pound in your chest and without further thinking you pull the sleeve of your shirt to cover your palm before grabbing a large piece of glass that looked sharp enough to be used as a weapon if needed.

Quietly, you continue heading down the hallway, remembering a spare exist located on the first floor of each wing of the building.

Only you don't make it too far.

Shuffling to your right makes your head snap to the direction in surprise and you come face to face with an unknown man standing a couple of feet away from you.

Your heart drops when you notice the dark blue pants and a grey sweatshirt, a trademark for inmate fashion at Chungju's Detention Center but also, the pair of cuffs hanging from his left hand. His face twists in a nasty grin at the sight of you and that's when you knew; you needed to get the fuck out of there.

You don't even think twice about it as you start running up the staircase, having no idea where it leads or who is up there but it's the last thing you think about when you hear footsteps behind you.

"Hey! The pretty bitch is here!" You hear a deep voice yell behind you and your heartrate spikes as your legs carry you as fast as they can up the staircase.

Once you near the top, you glance down both corridors to your left and right before noticing bar doors on the entrance of one of them, feeling a dozen of footsteps enclosing in on you. Swiftly, you run down the corridor and through the bar doors before slamming them shut and locking them with the pair of keys stuffed into the lock on the other side of them.

Just as you're about to pull the keys out, a hand reaches through the bars and grabs you by the hair, slamming your head twice against the bars on the door which makes you cry out in pain.

"There you are." The inmate breathes heavily as he holds you against the bars, hot breath heavy against the skin of your cheek as you struggle against him and you know he's muttering things in your ear that you even refuse to acknowledge, too busy blinking through the pain in your head that leaves you disoriented for a second before you fling the keys out of the lock and sent them gliding down the corridor as you sink in the piece of glass you held in your other hand into the man's shoulder so hard that it pierces through your shirt and into your own hand.

He screams loudly, losing his grip on you and with a pained grunt you rip yourself away from him, eyes growing wide as you see a dozen of inmates surrounding the bar door and rattling them, all yelling at you, mockeries, catcalls accompanied by a bunch of other adjectives you'd rather not repeat.

A noise you're not even aware that you make escapes you of out of the pure fear and panic as you start running down the corridor, checking each room just to see that they're all empty. 

Noticing camera monitors stacked up on a desk in one of the small offices, you immediately run into the room and slam the door shut, locking it with the emergency lock before dragging the bookshelf that was in the room to rest it against the door.

You look around, trying to find something to wrap around your bleeding hand before pulling out a kitchen towel that someone must've left after lunch on the desk and wrapping it tightly around your palm.

You can barely catch your breath, your hair flowing down your shoulders as it must of come lose when the inmate grabbed you by your ponytail, as you come closer to the monitors for the security cameras heart dropping at the sight that greets you.

The left wing, you can recognize the halls where you entered from the storage room, is seemingly empty. But the right wing, where the sick bay is, is in shambles, convicts are running down the halls as they please, breaking stuff and rummaging through the medicine cabinets. There are smashed doors and windows everywhere but what almost knocks the air out of your lungs is the monitor in the left corner.

It's one of the rooms in the sick bay surrounded by glass windows from all sides leaving it completely vulnerable as inmates bang against the bulletproof glass like animals trying to break it and in the middle of it, banging against the window connected to the outside is Wooyoung.

By the looks of it, the glass won't last for much longer. You can already see that they managed to break through a small hole on one of them. You glance through the window from the small office noticing officials armed to the teeth waiting outside...yet no-one was coming in.

He'll be killed if you don't do something. You have to get him out of there.

You glance at the air vent above your head and without further contemplation, drag the desk with the monitors under it before climbing on top and kicking the vent open. With a grunt, you pull yourself up inside the vent and start crawling in the direction where you've memorized the sick bay to be.

It's a maze of small tunnels but when you catch sight of a portion of it turning into a slide, you guess it leads to the lower levels and as gently as you can, you remove the screen and slide down with the help of the pipes running down it, careful to not make too much noise.

You're sure you're above the first level now, the first indicator being that the noise volume is much higher. You can hear the yells and you slow down your breathing as you near one of the grates to peer down.

You can see some of the inmates running around and you crouch lower to see the familiar glass windows that they're all banging against. Bingo.

Carefully, you crawl through the vent in front of you and stop by the grate before peering down. Your breath hitches when the top of Wooyoung's head greets you. He's stomping over a book that was lit on fire and you assume they threw it in through the hole in the window, trying to smoke him out.

As quick as you can, you work on opening the grate, pulling on it as hard as you can until it pops open and you push the lid to the side before lowering your head and a hand down and holding on to a pipe behind you with the other hand for stability.

Once your head is dipped inside is when you realize just how terrified Wooyoung must feel. The inmates screams are loud enough to pierce an eardrum, the banging and smashing against the glass enough to rattle anyone. The room is starting to get filled with smoke, obstructing your vision.

And the new side of you, unusually protective over him, feels like she'll do anything to get him out of there.

"Hey! Hey!" You yell trying to wave to Wooyoung, who fails to hear you as he's more focused on putting out the fire by covering the smoke with an empty garbage can. "Wooyoung!"

His head snaps up at that and his eyes grow wide in recognition when he sees you, immediately running  to stand below the vent.

"Come on!" You hold your hand out but not before pointing to the small table pushed near the window, "Drag that over and climb up on it! Come on!"

Wooyoung hesitates but only for a second before he's jumping on the task and quickly pushing the table towards the vent before climbing on top of it. 

His fingers wrap around the opening of the vent and you pull him up to your best ability until he's able to hang by his elbows and pull himself up the rest of the way through the opening, crawling up to plop himself down  on the pipes next to you, heaving for air as you pull the grate back over the opening of the vent.

You both lean back against the pipes behind your backs, breathing heavily as the yelling from below is heard until he finally breaks the silence.

"What the fuck is going on?" He whispers, still out of breath as his head turns to you. He discarded his white coat and was just in plain scrubs now.

You close your eyes, still leaning your head against the pipes before they flutter open again, "All hell broke loose."

You know there's no time to waste so you get back to crouching on your feet, turning to Wooyoung, "See these pipes? We're going to stay on them. They go through the wall and over the hallway and they're going to get us out of here. All you have to do is follow me. Okay?"

Wooyoung still looks positively shaken but is trying to calm down. He nods. "Yeah."

As quietly as you can, the two of you start crawling on top of the pipes with you taking the lead careful to not make too much noise to alert the inmates roaming below you.

It works for a good couple of minutes before you start hearing Wooyoung getting slightly breathless behind you.

You glance over your shoulder to him.

"Are you alright?" You ask him softly and he picks his head up, dark hair falling into his eyes.

"I'm okay....I'm fine." He breathes out and you hesitate for a moment before deciding it's for the best to keep moving.

So you do. You move a couple of feet down the pipes before you hear Wooyoung again.

"You know what, I need a minute. I'm sorry." Wooyoung says, the words rushing out as he sits on the pipes and runs a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath and probably trying to calm himself down.

"It's not much further." You try to reassure him, thinking that the mention of safety will bring some comfort to him and stop himself from driving into a panic attack.

"Just a second, please." He breaths out, swallowing loudly as he looks around the dark vent.

"Okay, we can stop if you want. Catch our breaths." You nod in understanding, sitting down on the pipes as well and hoping he won't think that you're bothered by the sudden break.

He glances at you, remaining quiet before eventually nodding, "Okay, yeah. I could use a minute."

A long silent moment passes between the two of you. You can hear footsteps accompanied by yells running up and down the halls below the two of you.

"Things should be winding down around now. Pretty soon, the police will break in and it will all be over. It's just a matter of time." You voice out, deep in thought as you stared through the vent right in front of you where you could see the grey tiles of the floor.

"How the hell did this happen?" Wooyoung questions, hand gripping the pipe running at the side of the small airway tunnel.

You pause, knowing exactly how it happened; "I don't know. But...I think if we stay up here we'll be okay."

"I can't believe this shit." He mutters, inching closer to you to peer down through the same grate of the vent.

You both fall into a silence, you can feel that he's still shaken up. Heck, so are you but him being here managed to distract you.

It's only fair if you return the favor.

 "You ever been to Baja? Mexico?" Wooyoung looks at you like a second head just sprouted from your shoulder, you just keep talking in hopes of distracting him; "There's this great place down there. Twenty bucks a night. Hammock on the back deck. Beers are fifty cents. Twenty five cents at happy hour."

He smiles at you lightly and it causes a smile of your own to appear. You sniffle,

"You ever been to Thailand? Thailand's great." You comment with a sigh and he snorts from beside you.

"Y/N, if you're trying to calm me down, you're doing a terrible job." Wooyoung comments but it's with a smile on his face which makes you giggle.

"But I am trying."

The two of you fall into light chuckles that dissipates into the air quickly.

"Why are you here?" He asks quietly, smile fading as he turns to stare at you.

You look through the grate just so you wouldn't have to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"Crawling around in the ceiling, risking your life."

"You needed help, and uh," You sniffle, looking the other way so he couldn't see your face, "I came to find you."

What was that about getting attached, Y/N?

If Wooyoung is surprised by your admission, he doesn't show it instead his brows furrow, "How'd you know where to go?"

You still at that, vision trained on the pipes running across the wall opposite of you. "I, uh, was hiding in a station that the CO's left empty and saw you on one of the monitors." You spare him a glance, hoping he doesn't notice the way your eyes shake when you lie, "I saw the blueprints for the whole compound when I started supervising the new construction site, the ventilation system is ancient, I took a lot of time studying it because you don't see a system like that in buildings nowadays and so I was sort of familiar with the layout."

You flinch when you feel him brush a piece of hair out of your face, thumb gently gliding under your eyebrow. He whispers; "And how did this happen?"

You look at him in confusion but your lips soon part as you notice the blood on his thumb and you reach out with your own hand, only then noticing the blood sliding down your cheek from the gash on your eyebrow.

You gulp, avoiding his eyes, "When everything went off, I, uh, went to the first floor of the left wing and a couple of convicts spotted me." His eyes widen before roaming over the rest of your body and stopping on the badly bandaged hand laying on your lap, you chuckle trying to play it off as nothing. "I ran to the second floor but one of them banged me pretty hard against the bars on the door."

"Oh my God." He mutters, jaw locking as he seems to internally scold himself. For what, you can't know. "Are you okay? They didn't do anything else, did they-?"

"No. No." You quickly shake your head, uncharacteristically touched by the concern. "I'm fine."

Wooyoung stays quiet for a second and you sigh lowly, looking through the grate to see that there was still people running down below.

"Wait." Wooyoung speaks up again and his curious eyes make you face him again, "What were you doing in this building in the first place?"

You freeze at that.

Because truly and honestly, you don't even have a lie for that. You haven't prepared one not for your lack of effort, you just simply could not think of a single one. 

Your trip to this building should've been a breeze. Just sneak your way to the storage room, crawl up the ceilings to where it connected with the A-building, show Jongho and Mingi the wall and return back, unnoticed. You weren't supposed to be met with a fucking riot in here when you returned.

You don't have a lie to tell him.

So the next best thing you can think of is; just act like you never even heard the question.

You turn away from him, crouching on your feet again, "We should keep moving."

After a quiet moment, you feel Wooyoung move after you again.

You crawl through the ceiling for a minute or so in silence before you glance at him again, "The door to the visitation room. Did you ever use it?"

"Not usually, but my access card should work." He replies, seemingly moved on from your avoidant mannerisms.

You nod, forgetting that he can't see you properly before turning around to respond to him. Instead, you freeze when you see someone lifting the vent screen and motion for Wooyoung to be quiet. 

The convicts....they're looking for Wooyoung and now, undoubtedly, you as well.

In confusion, he follows your eyes and sees the back of someone's head poking through the opening. 

Swiftly, Wooyoung moves over and kicks the guy in the head with his foot, making the inmate fall back down with a yell of pain before pulling the screen back on as more ruckus explodes from below, banging against the ceiling intensifies as do the mocking yells and taunts of the convicts that are hunting you down.

"Come on, let's go." You declare in a rush as you both continue to crawl up the space. 

You don't how long you move but you come in front of an opening where you can see the prisoners who have been stubbornly on your tails, looking around for the two of you.

Once the prisoners pass through, you two find yourselves peering down into the room for a short moment, making sure it's empty.

"All right." Wooyoung sighs, getting down first from the vent, carefully standing on top of a bookcase before jumping to the ground. He holds his arms out, to help you get down.

With a shaky breath, you follow after him, standing on top of the bookcase and looking at the distance towards the floor in slight anxiety. "O-Okay."

"Here," Wooyoung nods reassuringly with wide eyes, arms still held out below you, "I got you."

You place your hands on his arms for at least some type of leverage before sucking in a breath and leaping down, your body slowly thudding against his as his arms enclose around you with a low grunt.

His nose brushes your jawline as he lowers you down to the floor, in one piece.

You pull away from him and your gazes meet for one solid moment before you pull yourself away, reminding yourself that now is not the time nor the place to be sharing romantic moments with the man.

Suddenly,

"Hey Doc, you gonna keep her all to yourself?" Your heads snap towards the inmate standing in front of you two, staring at you specifically with a smirk that sends chills down your spine.

The moment he starts advancing towards you, Wooyoung surprises him with a fist to the nose and an arm around his neck to suffocate him and you're shoved into the wall as the two start to wrestle across the room. You can barely breathe.

Your fear only heightens when another inmate runs in to help his pal, trying to pry Wooyoung off of him but he doesn't notice you huddled in the corner.

You, on the other hand, notice his bandaged up leg and without even thinking about it, you run up behind him and wedge your foot as hard as you can into his injury three times as he wails in pain and falls to the floor, clutching onto his injury.

The prisoner in Wooyoung's hold finally gives out, passing out in his arms and falling to the ground.

On instinct, you latch onto Wooyoung's arm and start pulling him after you, "C'mon. This way."

You keep running down the hallways before Wooyoung pulls on your hand, brows stitched together in confusion, "This isn't the way for the visitations room."

"We can't make it through there, there's another exist here." You've seen the blueprints, you know!

He hesitates, "Y/N, if you're wrong...."

"Wooyoung, we don't have time!" You can hear footsteps and yells behind you and you turn to him in desperation, sweat dripping down your back, "Trust me."

Wooyoung stares at you before looking down both ends of the hall and then finally, giving in and following after you.

You run down the halls that are all starting to look a bit too similar but you know that there's an exit located somewhere near from the view outside the windows lining the walls. You pull Wooyoung through a small room that seems to be used a break room that, like the maze it is, leads to a storage room and finally...

"This is it." You say pointing to the door at the end of the room. You can see the grass through the glass on it as well as armed officers with their guns pointed towards it waiting on the other side.

The footsteps behind you appear to be coming nearer and nearer and you and Wooyoung share a look before you're running towards the door and flinging it open.

You immediately raise your hands up in the air, yelling "Don't shoot!"

All you can process is yelling until you realize that you're being pulled behind the line of fire and you and Wooyoung get separated as you get led away by unknown officers. They recognized you as staff members.

The entire outside space of the compound is surrounded by officers and even soldiers, cars and army trucks are pulled up nearby along with ambulance trucks.

"Wooyoung!" You hear a male voice call out as you're being led to one of those ambulance truck and your head turns to the direction it came from to see a familiar figure that Wooyoung runs to.

"Dad!" He yells back, collapsing into the older man's arms and you feel something in your chest ache.

You don't know if it's from seeing a person be comforted by a parent after a traumatic event as you've been abandoned by both. Or is it from seeing the governor, one of the main advocates for the highest possible sentence to be given to your innocent brother. Or maybe, it's simply from seeing Wooyoung be so vulnerable and small in someone's arms.

You don't know.

-

"Thank you." You tell the paramedic that just finished wrapping up your hand with a small smile and get a nod in return as he lets you have a moment to yourself, sitting in the back of the opened ambulance truck with a thin blanket wrapped around you.

Your fingers brush against the bandage on your brow, the wound all cleaned and covered now. It still doesn't make you feel any less sticky and gross.

You quietly watched as the officers advanced towards the buildings, you could hear shots fired inside and it all made you feel sick to your stomach.

"Hey." You hear a voice to your left and you look to see that Wooyoung has snuck in to sit besides you, his scrubs replaced by a pair of jeans, sweatshirt and a thick jacket.

"Hey, you okay?" You ask quietly, not even being sure if you can bring the volume of your voice up at this point.

He nods, "Yeah." before his eyes roam over you once again, just like they did when you were crawling up in the ceiling.

"All bandaged up." He notices jokingly, eyes focusing on the wound on your palm

"Yeah, it wasn't anything too bad." You reply, noticing that his father left awhile ago, "Your dad was here?"

Wooyoung chuckles, face flushing red immediately as his eyes fall to the gravel below your feet. "How embarrassing, my dad coming to check up on me like I'm a child."

You hum, eyes tracing over his side profile and the pretty lines of his jaw, "I don't think it's embarrassing, I think it's nice that he cares so much about you."

Wooyoung looks at you, something unrecognizable swimming in his eyes. "You have anyone to check up on you?"

You chuckle bitterly. The only family you have is stuck in the building across the compound. "No."

"Oh." Wooyoung lets out, face contorted into an expression you hate the most. Pity.

You open your mouth to jokingly scold him about it but all the words get stuck in your throat as you see someone get carried out in a body bag from A-building. Wooyoung notices your attention somewhere else and looks over his shoulder to see what caught your attention.

He presses his lips together, turning to you. "You didn't hear?"

Your eyes immediately snap towards him, feeling your throat close up, "Hear what?"

"Someone killed the new officer that started working here two weeks ago."

It feels like a bucket of cold water washed over you and your eyes follow the black body bag that gets placed into a vehicle. His colleagues carrying him seem downright heartbroken.

You didn't know who the new officer was, neither one of you was here long enough to meet each other but it still didn't stop the guilt to burn through your chest like acid.

Your eyes burn. You did this.

"He had two daughters in middle school." Wooyoung adds, eyes plastered on the same thing as you. The man's dead body. "They found several stab wounds in his abdomen."

A sound so guttural leaves you before you can even reign it in and Wooyoung's head turns to you, his eyes softening immediately once he notices the hot tears streaming down your cheeks.

Such a violent death. An innocent person.

"Oh, Y/N...." He utters softly, placing a gentle hand on your shoulder. "It's okay, you're okay."

"Someone died...?" Is all you can say through your sniffles as you bite down hard on your lip, not even being aware of the words that leave you, "An innocent person?"

An innocent person with a wife and kids waiting for him to come back from work tonight.

The guilt almost doubles you over, hits you like a train going at full speed.

You never thought your plan would affect anyone this much that it would result in a life getting lost.

But you turning up the heat this noon, something that was supposed to be so simple and just cause a lock down in A-building, started a chain of events that ended up taking someone's life prematurely.

This is on you. 

You might not be the one that stabbed him but you were the one that created a path that led to him getting stabbed.

"Hey, Y/N-ie." Wooyoung softly consoles you, hand now brushing the skin of your cheek, "Why are you crying?"

You barely register the nickname he calls you with but his touch is soothing, warm.

You obviously can't tell Wooyoung the truth, you can't tell him you were the cause for all of this. Instead, you have to let it fester inside of you, slowly eat away at your insides until there's nothing left.

But you have to tell him something. So, you go with the second truth;

"I was scared." You whimper, the events of today finally crashing down on you as you softly sob, "I was so scared."

Wooyoung surprises you by pulling your face into the crook of his neck, his arms coming up around you as he pats your back. But you melt into the warmth of his body and the smell of his clothes.

"I was scared too." He confesses softly in your ear, hand still patting your back over the blanket, "It's okay to be scared. I don't think you'd be human if you weren't scared in a place like this."

You stay in his embrace despite hating to be touched most of the time, until your tears cease and turn to soft sniffles against his sweatshirt.

It feels nice, you think, to have someone check up on you.

-

On the drive back home. When he enters his apartment. Sits in his living room and later on in the night, lays in his bed;

Wooyoung can't stop thinking about you.

[low-budget-korra]

My comments on Arcane s02 e7-9

- Not everything going to shit while Ekko is living the best life in some alternative reality (except Vi is dead in this one). It is so weird to see Jinx as powder.

The way he ran to hug Benzo...He is strong cuz Idk if I would come back to a shitty reality after be in one were basically all my dreams came true.

And for a moment I thought the sex scene was gonna be about Ekko and Powder 😭

Not Jayce carrying his weapon like he is Pyramid Head and no wonder he came out that way, damn. Everyone was judging him but I knew there was a good reason for all that in episode 6

Is Heimerdinger dead?

-IN THE FUCKING CELL. OMG IT REALLY HAPPENED. IN THAT FUCKIN CELL. My depression is officially cured y'all

The way Caitlyn was like, telling about Maddie and Vi couldn't care less abt 😭😭 I love it for them

I wish we could have a scene like this with Korrasami, imma right Korrasami nation ? And Since Bryke couldn't care less about Korra now, we won't be getting any scene, let alone a sex scene one

- Damn Mel... You looking good.

Nah bruh, leave Vander alone. Let him rest. Viktor too

Okay, this glorious evolution doesn't seem nice and he is teaming up with Ambessa. That woman, I forgot her name, leaving Viktor now that he is turning evil, is so symbolic.

Viktor being the one that met Jayce as a kid, everything is a cycle. Not only them but Silco/Vader and Vi/Jinx. And it's fair to say that Viktor is the love of Jayce's life, as they are bound to be together.

-Damn Jinx, we never saw her so vulnerable and depressed. It's weird to see her in the same position Vi probably was for years in that prison. Being the older sister is hard.

At least she didn't go homicidal. She is THE big fat hero. Zhaun and Piltover fighting together. Hell yeah!!

And what a wonderful redemption for Jinx, but I'm in PAIN!

Vi always tried to save Jinx and in the end, was Jinx who saved Vi. 😭😭

- Not Vi reviving the trauma of Vander death, only for losing Jinx as well. IN THE SAME FUCKIN TIME.

She wasn't that present in this act, other than some fighting scenes. But something felt off about her in the end. We don't know how much time has passed but she was just too chill. Like? She fought so hard to have her sister back, only to lose it.

- That scene, with Caitlyn and Jinx was the closure Caitlyn needed. look so hot with that eye patch. I'm sorry. How is she gonna shoot now tho?

Caitlyn is tough man. What a fight against Ambessa and with a stab wound. And in order to win, she had to sacrifice her eye. There's a lot in sacrifices in Arcane really.

The pupil fighting against the master troope is perfectly done here and served as Caitlyn's redemption for her actions against Zhaun, as she fought, bled and defeated the monster who took advantage of her pain and "made" her do it all that.

-Damn, that battle was tough. Ambessa using Kratos blades of chaos was dope af.

RIP Loris, you were a real one. RIP Heimerdinger. RIP Jayce

FUCK YOU MADDIE . MEL YOU'RE A MOTHERFUCKING G and so are you Ekko

Daughter fighting mother, former besties in opposite sides of a apocalypse, two sisters fighting the beast that once was their dad... And all of this was perfectly built. High stakes at their best.

Never expected to see Sevika in the council, that wasn't in my card but it was nice.

-WTF was that ending. Is it all??? They took hours to make that open ass ending?? Why was Caitlyn looking at Hextec shit? Who was in that balloon? The scientist? I need answers cuz this felt too much like a season finale and not a series finale

[subdee]

This tattoo thing is scary... another piece of evidence they used for another Venezuelan man was that he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat. A Chicago Bulls hat. In Chicago. Someone should tell the Chicago Bulls that they can't sell their hats to Latino men anymore or they'll be accused of belonging to a criminal gang....

This really is the new Qanon, taking totally innocuous things and making them scary symbols of a secret conspiracy so the (MAGA) cultists will see evil gang members everywhere they look. Dems are all pedophiles and Latino men are all gang members, right? So definitely don't talk to any of them and find out they are regular people who might tell you something different from what the cult is telling you...

Of the 238 Venezuelan men sent to supermax prison in El Salvador, btw, the majority (75%) had no criminal record. Only a dozen had been convicted of a violent crime. None of them had a hearing to confirm they really were gang members.

And now the Trump administration is blowing off a 9-0 Supreme Court decision that it has to "facilitate the return" of Kilmer Garcia Abrego, a Sheet Metal Union apprentice with three kids who was shipped off to El Salvadore because of an "administrative error."

Just evil, evil, evil. No process before these people were shipped off and no way to bring them back. If it's even possible to bring them back, if they aren't dead already. This isn't a normal prison, you understand? It's a gigantic compound where people are warehoused 10 and 20 to a cell with no sheets or mattresses, lights on 24 hours a day, average of 6.5 square feet per person per cell, no books except the Bible, no education except Bible study, only leave the cell for one half hour per day for exercise, no rehabilitation, no natural light, no one who's thrown in there ever comes out again. These conditions would be illegal in the USA.

All of this sounds exaggerated, but it isn't. Easy to look around and conclude nothing has changed because the USA is such a big country and you don't personally know anyone who's been affected (yet) by the lawlessness of the current government. But it is coming, it won't stop with the immigrants and students and scientists and federal workers and judges and lawyers.

[sinfulequity]

Thinking about how what the implications are if "(Not) A Devil" is Mikoto's third trial song.

Specifically, about these two lines and how they contextualized the song as a whole.

It's preceded by these lines

My radiant halo is closing in around my neck It loosens when I lie, the “Mayday” I can’t call out Let’s cover-up in white paint, get lost in the part and play It gets easier when you lie go on, try it

And as we can see here, their lines are dyed in the others' colours, while brown/gold is them in unison.

(Incidentally, I decided to look up what patrician means, and uh.

That is certainly A Definition, when tied to Mikoto)

This implies that the angel's claim that they're dead and gone is part of the lies interwoven in the song. Isn't this a claim that sounds familiar~?

Mikoto: Please, forgive Boku. If you don’t… I’m sure he won’t be able to deal with this any longer. Es: “A sin committed by another personality isn’t a sin”... you’re telling me that’s how I should judge? Mikoto: Yeah. If you forgive Boku… I’ll disappear. Es: … Mikoto: That’s right. I’ll have to disappear eventually, anyway… Disappear, and take all of it with me. I… was born to protect Boku, after all. Es: You were… born for it… Mikoto: Yeah. If it’s for Boku, I’ll… do anything.

You see, I don't think that he will disappear?? We know that there's still a third trial. I doubt that Mikoto wouldn't be stressed by the prospect of being voted guilty for a second/third time. It would be one thing if it was a longer period of voting, or one vote equating to instant freedom. But the prisoners are fully aware of the fact that it's not one and done (and if they didn't before, I'm sure that Haruka's interrogation would give them that insight). As it stands, there's a very real possibility that the more guilty you get, the less likely you'll be allowed freedom. Furthermore, it's also a possibility that it's a two out of three system. Or, to draw on his relation to baseball, three strikes and you're out.

Mikoto would probably be able to piece that together, and even if he isn't outwardly stressed next trial, I'm sure the idea of that would linger subconsciously. You know, the thing that brought out "John" to begin with. This is regardless of the outcome of this trial.

A tangent, but the lines

this is just a silly joke song

(just kidding~)

(who cares~)

would also feed into the continued insistence that this is all just a dream/bad joke that needs to end. That, and this aspect of Mikoto's character that has been showcased repeatedly

Mikoto: It’s pretty tough, isn’t it? (laughs) Ever since I came here, so much has been happening that I don’t understand… Es: … You really… do laugh when you’re suffering, huh? Mikoto: Huh? Es: You don’t get angry. You don’t scream. You laugh, like it’s a minor inconvenience. Mikoto: Ah… I guess so. I might have that kind of trait. Es: … Mikoto: Usually, if you just laugh and pretend, things work out in the end, right? I’m pretty good at that. Making things work out to the best of my abilities. Es: Is that so… Mikoto: (laughs) …But… it’s not coming to an end. All of this. With things I’ve never even heard before, the whole ti—

His reaction to stress is to diminish it, or treat it as something ephemeral. Something that doesn't truly exist, just ignore it and keep going. Except as we've seen, it's not working in Milgram, and I'm pretty sure it didn't work in the circumstances before his murder too. And I don't think it will work as he wants, even if he's voted innocent this round.

I need to specify that this isn't a thing to sway the vote in any direction, just something I thought was interesting. And honestly, I may be interpreting it all wrong too! I'm not always great at looking at the evidence and drawing the right conclusions- sometimes I can convolute something that's really simple. Or to put it another way, miss the forest for the trees.