#expresses her interest in cloud and getting to know the real him before anyone else can see through his persona

[aeirithgainsborough]

i am afeared that aerith and clouds play-up in the trailer was a psych-out and that her and zack will be together post her death, or whatever happens instead. do not want this to be true. but i am scared

There is no part of me that believes this will happen.

[kittyt-hexxed]

Book Two of Hexed - The Fury of Zaun (Vi x POC!Reader) - Ch.17

Next Upload Date: January 22nd

Act 2: Chapter Seventeen - Smoke on the Water

Word Count: 7.5k

Warnings: Explosions, Murder, Beating Up someone for Revenge, Blood, Bruises, Tying someone up, Dying Teenager, Family Reunions

Summary: The first place to suffer Zaun’s wrath is the one place that No Zaunite should be. Vi struggles to come to terms with her upcoming life changes, and gets an interesting surprise. And, the Undercity may be a tough place but not everyone living there is heartless.

Author Note: Only one chapter instead of two because I’m very sick. But, hopefully your holidays are better than mine! I’m sending love to anyone who may not being having a happy one.

The atmosphere for tonight seems fitting for what’s about to happen. Lightning strikes the air while thick, black clouds block the moonlight from showing through. It was also rapidly cooling down with winter approaching, so there was a deep chill out on the water. You knew that Janna was angry from what she heard, and it seems like even she was joining the mission. Huge waves were hitting the island Stillwater was on and you pitied any ships out on the water. They’d be begging for Janna’s mercy.

“That’s the target.” Heather puts a hand on her hip, “That stupid old rock.”

“You ready to have some real fun, Magpie?” You smirk underneath your mask, nudging her, “With no more shimmer refineries and Silco goons to beat up, you must be bored.”

“Definitely.” Heather giggles, “I know everyone else is feeling the same way. Being able to get back into the action is exciting.” She motions to the group waiting for Ekko’s cue. They’re all talking and moving around with jitters. The Firelights and Furies were teaming up to do this takedown properly since your brother was very good with time. He demanded to come with you, and you had planned on dragging him along anyway. But, it was nice to have him with you on his own. Your friends in the Firelights all requested to join, and who were you to tell them no?

“Fishbones can’t wait to make that building go BOOM!” Jinx laughs, skipping over to you, “I definitely feel the same way! What about you, My Lady?” She throws her arms around you.

“I can’t wait to watch it crumble into the sea.” You smile darkly.

“I’m feeling good about this. We’ve got twenty minutes before the next ship is due to pass the building.” Ekko looks up from his watch, “It’s time to start.” The group's energy immediately sparks up, excited muttering filling the air as you all approach the edge of the Sun Gate. This was the first official act to prepare for the war. People who’ve been locked up unjustly will be getting their freedom and the Hold will be no more.

“Would you like to do the honors, Owl?” You ask your brother.

“Lady Janna, please bring in the fog so we may approach undercover.” Ekko requests. A harsh wind kicks up as a thick fog glides in over the water. Your visibility of the place disappears as the fog becomes as thick as The Gray. No Enforcers on patrol will be able to see you coming. You snap your fingers and a little blue light appears in front of everyone. You had already told them about the plan, but you’ll remind them on the way in. That way everyone has it fresh in their minds.

“Five seconds.” Ekko holds his stopwatch, “Four, three, two, one. GO!” You launch yourself off the edge of the Gate, picking up momentum from the fall, before the chemtech kicks in. You rocket forward into the fog, losing visibility except for the lights that everyone is following. You could feel your anger bubbling beneath your skin ready to burst forth, and the loud screeching of the wings felt like it was expressing your feelings for you. The cry of death Jinx so lovingly calls it.

“Remember, there are forty floors. Take control of the alarm room. Then, we’ll move through the building and kill every Enforcer in sight. Once the people are evacuated from your floor, plant the explosives and continue forward. As long as you keep the time in mind, you should be done in time.” You explain the plan once more, getting confirmation calls back.

“It’s night so all of the inmates are sleeping in their cells.” Heather continues, “Kill the ones that need to be killed first, then wake the others. You must give the all-clear for your floors.”

“I’ll be blowing that baby sky-high once I’m given the all-clear! So, you better make sure your butts are out of there by the end of the twenty minutes if you don’t want to end up in pieces!” Jinx laughs. You see the building coming into view so you straighten up, the wings folding in before your feet hit the ground and you duck into a roll. You spring up onto your feet and you’re sprinting to the large doors with Sevika and Jinx in front of you. They smirk at each other, Jinx’s eyes flashing pink as they whip her Chompers out and yank the pins out with their teeth. ‘The two of them have been bonding very well.’ You think in amusement. The chompers go flying and you signal a warning for the impending explosions, but don’t stop running. Multicolored smoke fills the air as the doors are blown off their hinges, not built to withstand the corrosive chemicals Jinx used in these bombs.

Surprised exclamations come from inside and you use the smoke screen to your advantage. An unsuspecting Enforcer gets his throat sliced with your fans as you dash past him. The others would be taking care of the ones on this level so you didn’t bother going out of your way to take any down. If they were on the way to your destination, then you gleefully sliced into them. Your personal target is the Warden, a man Vi and Caitlyn had told you about when they first arrived at the Grotto. You whistle to get Jinx’s attention and she follows you down the hall to the Warden’s sleeping quarters. More Enforcers are sliced or shot to death, except for the one Jinx stuck a Chomper on. The two of you pause outside his door, listening to see if the commotion had woken him up. The sound of snoring is the only thing you hear and you motion to the door with your head. Jinx smirks, taking a few steps back before lifting her leg and kicking the door in.

“What the fuck?!” The Warden shouts in alarm, scrambling out of his bed in a deliriously tired state.

“Surprise!” You hear Jinx cackle as she rushes toward him with a bundle of rope in her hands. You observe the room as the Warden fights to get Jinx away from him. A pile of letters sits on the desk and you take the time to go through them, raising an eyebrow at some of the illegal correspondence. ‘Is this stuff you can use against Piltover?’ Umbra questions curiously. ‘It should be. Only the Warden has access to this room. This would be where he’d hide the things he doesn’t want anyone to see.’ You drop those letters into a rift and something in the corner of your eyes catches your attention. The silver figure at the top had been glinting in the light coming in from the hallway. ‘This is his staff.’ You casually pick it up, rolling it in your hand and noting that the top of it matches some old marks on Vi’s body. A growl leaves your lips and you whirl around to face the Warden.

“Hello, Warden.” You take slow, measured steps toward him, “A lovely night, isn’t it? The perfect night to blow up a building.” Jinx had tied him up quite skillfully, making sure he couldn’t move any part but his head. You were itching to drive your fans into his stomach but you couldn’t. He wasn’t going to die by your hands.

“Who are you?! How’d you get in here?!” He shouts, struggling in his restraints, “Take off those stupid masks!”

“We’re no one special.” You shrug, resting the end of the staff against his chest, “Well, actually… we’re the nightmares that will torture you for the rest of your short life. You see, we’re here on behalf of a friend. You’ve made a very bad decision, Warden. We’d like to have a chat with you.” You tap the staff against his chest, taking a step back and handing it to Jinx. She had begged to be involved in this. You had said no at first, too blinded by your rage to realize that it would only make sense for her to do it. That changed after you calmed down and you decided to give her the first go.

“Don’t cha worry, this’ll only hurt ya a lot, toots!” Jinx chirps darkly, letting go of the death grip she had on her mind, “This is for my sister!” She snarls and brings the metal end of the staff down on him. You lean against the wall and watch as Jinx hits him. The occasional call from the others comes in through the comms and you keep track of the progress. It seems like everyone is doing really well and you’re not needed for any assistance. Five minutes pass before you call Jinx, and she has to force herself to stop. Her hands tremble with the staff clutched so tightly you’re surprised it hasn’t snapped.

“Can I cut in, Crow?” You hold your hand out for the staff and she gives it to you after a pause.

“Be my guest.” Jinx hums, “He’s still conscious.” You stare at him, hearing Vi's words repeat over and over in your head. You were going to make sure it hurt him to even breathe. With an angry yell, you slam it into his ribs. Your mind went hazy as you repeatedly hit him, knowing that he had caused your love so much pain. Umbra had to warn you to stop right as Jinx grabbed your wrist. The Warden was barely conscious at this point, face swollen and bloody, as you angrily took ragged breaths.

“Ten-minute warning!” Ekko’s voice sounds, “You should be starting your final floor now!”

“He deserves what’s coming to him.” Jinx hisses, “Letting him live is not a mercy.” You nod in agreement, too upset to say anything as the two of you grab him and push him into a rift. You knew that she wanted to kill him as much as you did, but that would allow him to get away with what he’s done. And, as angry as you were, neither of you could allow that.

“Every second of it.” You agree, finally finding your voice, “I’m going to start rigging the floor. You’ve got this, Crow?” You put a hand on her shoulder.

“I’d rather do this alone.” She looks at you, cracking her knuckles, “I want to get artistic with it.”

“Have fun.” You chuckle, watching her step into the rift, “See ya in ten for the grand finale!” You call right before it closes. You hum to yourself trying to ease the tumultuous mix of anger and glee that was in you. You carefully place the bombs in place, making sure to stick them in the weak points of the structure. Chrissy had given you a copy of the blueprints for Stillwater Hold a week ago. Thanks to Zara breaking it down and explaining it properly, everyone knows where all of the support beams are for each floor. This place was going to crumble like a piece of wet paper and you were looking forward to it.

Time passed a lot faster than you thought it would and soon the official all-clear came through. You knew they would be moving away from the building so you continued where you were going. Instead of using a rift, you took the elevator down, watching as the counter rolled up to forty. You take a deep breath as the gate opens and you walk down the hallway, taking in the line painted on the floor. You pause in front of the last cell and hold your hand out, the metal of the bars warps and bends, ripping open to give you a view of the inside.

“Solitary?” You pause in the middle of braiding her hair.

“Yeah. The cell is on the bottom floor. Forty. I was in there more than my original cell, so it ended up being my assigned place in solitary. They even carved my inmate number into the bars.” Vi chuckles, leaning her head back to look up at you, “One of the walls has a dent in it because I was always punching it. There are doodles in the concrete after that one time I managed to sneak a pen down there… then, there are the bloodstains…” She sighs.

Your hands tremble as your firelight illuminates the cell, showing everything Vi mentioned to you. You swallow hard, crouching down at a large bloodstain in the cement, and run your fingertips over it. A sharp gasp leaves your lips as a wave of pain and grief washes over you. The sound of Vi’s scream rattles in your ears and you fall over in shock. You grit your teeth and your fists clench so tightly that you think you might break your fingers. You stand up and place the last of your bombs right in the middle of the room.

‘The rage you’re feeling right now would be enough to ignite these bombs.’ Umbra says dryly. You chuckle, feeling anything but amused as you step out of the cell and straight into a rift. She was right. All you can feel right now is rage. You knew what Vi was talking about was horrible, but to see it? To see the cell that she spent the majority of the last six years in? To feel the emotions stuck to the room like a bad odor. ‘I’m going to burn Piltover to the ground.’ You growl. You drop through the sky, seeing the glow of the other wings hanging around a safe distance from Stillwater. Your wings activate, slowly descending until you’re in line with the others and you greet them.

“My surveillance is done.” You say to Jinx who does a little dance.

“Alright, everyone! You have ten seconds!” Jinx shouts, slamming her hand down on a glowing button, “Get ready for the fireworks!” She throws her arms up. Not even a second later, there’s a loud boom and the building gets blown apart. You all shout in joy as more explosions sound and then the fireworks go off in the sky to signify the war starting. Various colors of smoke fill the air and you watch as Stillwater Hold crumbles into the ground.

“Piltover will no longer be able to imprison our people.” Sevika says and even though her voice modifier makes her sound emotionless, you all knew how liberating this felt. Zaun was able to handle its own. Always has been. The fact that Piltover didn’t allow that and shoehorned everyone into Stillwater Prison regardless of a petty crime or not was disgusting. With the Dredge being cleared through, there’d be more than enough space for any new residents.

“I used to wish I could use my winds to knock it down. I couldn’t. Not with Zaunites inside.” Janna’s voice sounds out around you, “Thank you for freeing our people from Piltover’s grasp. I can now breathe a little easier.”

“This is only the beginning.” You say, watching the smoke mix in a beautiful display of anarchy, “We’re going to do what they did to us. Put them in a hole they can’t get out of without our help.”

The current weather is perfectly describing the way Vi is feeling. A harsh wind is blowing, whistling through the breezeway of the Sun Gate, and complimenting the crashing waves. Vi had seated herself on the railing with her back to the support and let her legs dangle over each side as she watched the water. Cassandra had her sit down yesterday and create a schedule that included etiquette lessons, her Enforcer duties, and meetings with the Council. Vi hadn’t said much, not wanting her mouth to get her in trouble. Then she’d be stuck with more etiquette lessons and it would've been more trouble than it was worth. After that, Vi went up to her room and thought through everything that happened with Y/n. There was something that was bothering her, but she couldn’t place her finger on it. She was angry and upset, but it didn’t feel like it was entirely her emotions.

“Hey, Vi!” Kevin comes over, waving enthusiastically, “I didn’t expect to see you out here this late at night! Are you in the doghouse with the Sheriff?” She frowns slightly, not really in the mood to talk but the kid was always nice to her despite her prickly demeanor. He liked to hang around her when he knew she was on duty, and she never questioned why.

“No, I came out here on my own. I find it easier to think during this time, and I didn’t want to go to sleep.” Vi shrugs, “So, here I am.”

“You know, that’s why I prefer the night shift. Nothing really happens at night, and it’s just a time I can enjoy the relatively quiet evening.” He leans against the support across from her, “The other Enforcers like that they can just goof around with each other.”

“Yeah. The past few nights I’ve been out here, I’ve overheard them cracking jokes and playing some stupid game.” Vi glances down the breezeway, seeing vacant spots where the others are supposed to be, “You all seem content.” Kevin lets out a heavy sigh that catches Vi’s attention. The guy was always very cheerful around her. It was unusual to hear him be so upset.

“Sometimes I think being an Enforcer is too easy for what we’re supposed to be doing.” He raps his knuckles against the railing, clearly agitated. ‘I guess I’m not the only one in a contemplative mood.’ Vi observes him as he fidgets. The Enforcers were too relaxed around her since she was supposed to be in Caitlyn’s pocket. She found it interesting, considering the fact that a vast majority of people in Zaun are terrified of her. ‘Piltovens don’t know when they’re in danger, do they?’

“And what’s that?” Vi spits, glaring out at the distant figure of Stillwater Hold in the distance. She wished that building would disappear. Every time she was forced to patrol this gate, it taunted her about all of her failures. The marks on her body from that place could fade, but the painful memories wouldn’t.

“Maintaining the order and safety of the people, enforcing the laws, and preventing, detecting, and investigating criminal activities.” Comes his robotic answer, “But… there’s been nothing since I joined. You’d think there’d be issues in the night but there’s nothing.”

“You want there to be conflict?” Vi narrows her eyes at him.

“No, but it’s so annoying seeing the others act like it’s not even a job. They do whatever they want and don’t even patrol or do their other assignments. I just wish there was something that made them realize it’s not some cushy free time.”

“Careful what you wish for.” Vi snorts, watching as thick fog rolls in and hides Stillwater from her vision, “You never know if that one is the one to come true.” A loud, eerie screeching noise fills the air that makes Vi’s adrenaline spike. She snaps into awareness, looking around her for the source of the sound but she can’t see anything. ‘The fog is too thick. All I can see is the damned light coming from the Hold.’ She scoffs but her body doesn’t relax. There could be a threat out here and without being able to see it makes her extremely uncomfortable.

“What the fuck was that?!” Kevin shouts and Vi shushes him. She listens intently, trying to find out if she can hear something else or if that noise repeats itself. The crashing of the waves and occasional lightning strike is all her ears can pick up. ‘That’s unsettling.’ Vi frowns. ‘I haven’t heard anything like that before. Maybe it’s a bird call?’

“Whatever it was, it’s gone now.” Vi shrugs, “So, you were complaining?”

“I’m not complaining. I’m just frustrated.” Kevin huffs, turning to look at her, “Besides, what made you join the Enforcers? Someone mentioned you’re supposed to be helping with the Jinx problem, but you’re never with the squads that go into Zaun.” Vi bites her tongue to keep herself from snapping at him. ‘He doesn’t know that he’s talking about my sister. Relax, Vi. Don’t let your temper get the better of you.’ She takes a deep breath and looks back out to the fog.

“Sorry, kid. That’s something way above your rank.” Vi snorts at the irony of her words, “But if you must know, I’m here to protect someone. Not for any heroic shit or whatnot.”

“From Jinx?” Kevin presses.

“Keep asking questions and we’ll find out how long it takes before you hit the water.” Vi says dully and Kevin’s jaw drops. They fall into silence for a while and Vi didn’t care that he was there as long as he was quiet. Her mind wanders to the conversation she had with Tobias in the evening. He made it a point to bring her a cup of coffee when he didn’t see her in the library. The first time he did it, he asked that she keep it a secret because he wasn’t supposed to be drinking coffee. It gave him too much energy. It has slowly become something she looked forward to, especially when she found out that his favorite brand was her mother’s favorite. Vi had cried when she realized it, the loss of her mother stinging harder now that she needed a nurturing hand. Yesterday evening, he told her how he had come to appreciate her presence. It made him feel less lonely, and he had earnestly told her that her sister was more than welcome to stay with them. Vi didn’t know how to take it. He had no clue who he was inviting over, but his words were genuine. That was an appalling thing to Vi. Tobias was so kind and Cassandra was… not. She couldn’t wrap her head around it.

An explosion sounds, jolting Vi out of her thoughts and she nearly falls onto the breezeway with how fast she jumps up onto the railing. The fog had been thinned out by whatever exploded and was rapidly fading away as more explosions went off. They were clearly at a distance from how muted it was, but the fact that she can hear it meant it was a big one. It wasn’t long before the fog had given away to show her a view of the bay and Stillwater Hold. Or, where Stillwater used to be. The bright light that used to be there was gone and although it was nighttime, she was supposed to be able to see the building clearly from the Sun Gate. It wasn’t there.

“HOLY SHIT! SOUND THE ALARM!” Kevin screams and Vi can hear him running to the others, “STILLWATER HAS BEEN BLOWN UP! GUYS! GUYS!”

Vi is frozen where she is. Multicolored smoke rises into the night sky in a mixture of yellow, green, pink, and blue. It was so vibrant it was hard to miss, especially as fireworks burst in a silent display. ‘The prison is… gone.’ She thinks in disbelief. The colored smoke could only point to the one person she knew that used it. ‘Powder… What have you… Why would you…?’ Vi’s feet carry her down and away from the railing in her haze. She starts running, sprinting down the breezeway, down the stairs, and towards the launch point that was used for Stillwater. Her gaze kept leading back to the smoke in the sky whenever she could see it. It was like a message from her sister. But why?

Vi stops suddenly when she reaches the launch point. She can clearly see the smoke in the distance, undeniable proof that it’s coming from Stillwater. But, on the end of the dock is a sight she never expected to see. A group of Enforcers is standing there in shock as they gaze up at the Warden of Stillwater, tied up and dangling from some poles. She slowly moves closer, taking note of the familiar oil pastel doodles that depict the man as a monster. Words were written all around, calling out the man as corrupt and an abuser of power. Vi can feel too many emotions flood her body, forcing her to sink her nails into the palm of her hand to ground herself. Seeing the man who abused her like this, who allowed others to beat her until she was unconscious… she was completely and utterly gleeful about it.

She chuckles as she stops at the front of the crowd, her lips twisting into a feral smirk. A flash of white in the corner of her eye has her turning to see a piece of paper falling toward her. She almost wrote it off as trash before she remembered that it’s not common in Piltover. Vi catches it and sees her Hellhound symbol on the front which prompts her to open it. ‘To my slug-eating crab, I hope you like this gift!’ Her heart constricts in her chest and she hurriedly stuffs it into her pocket before anyone notices. ‘I’ll finish reading this when I get somewhere private.’

“Yeah, I’ll leave this one to you guys…” Vi laughs, backing away from her little sister’s masterpiece, “That’s some amazing rigging work though. So, good luck getting him down!” She waves and starts walking back up the dock. None of them even acknowledge her, too appalled by the sight to do more than stare. Vi can hear shouting and the pounding of boots as more Enforcers rush this way. ‘Did she… blow up Stillwater for… me?’ Vi thinks in surprise, glancing at the pocket the note was shoved into. ‘There’s only one way to find out.’

“Vi!” Caitlyn’s voice makes her stop in her tracks. Vi sighs heavily, not wanting Caitlyn to ruin the joyous mood she’s in, before plastering a smile on her face. She whirls around to see Caitlyn marching over to her with a sight frown on her face. The normally put-together woman was hurriedly tying her hair up, most likely woken up by the news. Vi was impressed with how quickly she made it down here, considering she’d have to run all the way from her mansion.

“Cupcake!” Vi says cheerfully, “What can I do for you?” Caitlyn grabs Vi by her bicep and yanks her onto a secluded area of the docks.

“If you wanted to kiss me in private, you could have just asked.” Vi teases her, making Caitlyn quickly let her arm go.

“We need to chat.” Caitlyn says sternly, crossing her hands over her chest. Vi’s hand twitches slightly before an amused smile flicks onto her face. That was another word that had a different meaning in Zaun than in Piltover.

“You don’t have the hands for stabbing.” Vi pats her shoulder in fake sympathy.

“...What?” Caitlyn’s voice goes up in pitch as her face twists in confusion.

“No worries, I won’t get in your way.” Vi puts her hands up in surrender and slowly backs away, “I’ll see you when the boats get here, Cupcake!” She hurriedly walks away as Caitlyn shouts out her name. By this point, she should understand Vi’s tactics to get away from her, but it continued to work every time. ‘Sorry, Cait, but I have a note from my sister to read before we go to see the damage done. Normally I wouldn’t want to go back there, but… Powder did this.’ Vi finds a quiet area and gets comfortable, tugging the note from her pocket. Her Hellhound symbol was something she hadn’t seen in a long time. The sight of the demon dog made something in her ache.

To my slug-eating crab, I hope you like this gift! We weren’t going to do it so soon, but you know how convincing anger can be! Don’t worry, no innocent people were harmed in the explosion. But, are you proud of me?! It’s my biggest BOOM, yet! Hahaha! This is my way of telling you that… no monster is going to get you as long as I’m here. That’s my job! With Love, Your Slug Monster!

Vi flinches when a tear hits the paper. She hurriedly wipes her tears away, but more start falling as she does. The few times she’s seen her sister since being released from Stillwater Hold have been… not so great. To see that Powder still cares about her after everything that has happened is some good news she desperately needed.

The sound of laughter and happy chatter greets you and your team as you approach the Temple. A group of children is playing with a bouncy ball out front while some acolytes watch them and talk. After blowing up Stillwater Hold, your group broke apart and got to work. Half went back to Zaun to talk with the people freed from the Hold and the others waited for the ships to come in. You had returned to Zaun and addressed the people you freed. You were direct about why they had been released but told them that they had a choice. They could remain in Zaun and prepare for war or they could leave for another country. They all chose to stay. Fue had come back in high spirits, rambling about how fun the raids were. It was challenging yet fun to sneak around the Enforcers out on the water. Landon had remained as a lookout - making you feel nostalgic about that role - while everyone else rushed the ships. The haul this time around was much greater than the last and everyone was feeling very proud of it.

“Lady Hexxit! Ekko!” One of the acolytes grins widely when she sees you, “Welcome to the Temple!” The children gasp when they realize who you are and excitedly run over to greet you. You laugh, place your box on the ground, and crouch down to hug the children. They zip around, giving hugs to everyone and asking what you’ve brought them this time. It warmed your heart to hear them cheer when Ekko said it was more food and clothes.

“Good morning.” You greet the acolytes as the children run back to their games, “We’re here to drop off some gifts. Is the Priestess in today?”

“Yes, she’s in the middle of a blessing so please be respectful if you’d like to go in during this time.” Another acolyte responds, “Lady Janna has granted us her presence as well.”

“We will be respectful, as always. Thank you, ladies.” You nod your head and they bow, opening the doors with welcoming smiles. You’re immediately greeted by another acolyte who leads your group through the temple. Although this wasn’t your first time coming through, this was just how they treated their guests. No guest was to feel unwelcomed as long as they weren’t there to cause harm. You’re being led past the blessing chamber when you pause by the door. Laying across an altar table is a teenager no older than sixteen, dozens of black candles surrounding him as the Priestess waves her staff over him. Off to the side is Janna, her staff clenched in her hand as a frown darkens her face.

“He has Lung Blight.” The acolyte says softly, “He’s an orphan we’ve been looking after. Parents died of the same sickness recently. Lady Janna tries to guide the air through his lungs, but they are weak and failing him.”

“Just like Ty.” Heather mutters. You glance behind you to see everyone gazing into the chamber with sad expressions. People were still dying, and although you were making progress on cleaning the air, it felt like it was going too slow.

“He doesn’t have long left, I’m afraid. This blessing is for his safe passage into the afterlife.” The acolyte sighs, shaking his head, “It never gets easy.”

“Could you save him?” Jinx steps forward, nudging you, “You brought me back to life. Maybe you can… heal his lungs?” She questions.

“I-I don’t know. I don’t even know how I brought you back, flower. I don’t know if I can heal him.” You frown and turn back to the sight. You gasp softly when Janna suddenly appears in front of you, grabbing your wrist with a pleading gaze.

“Please, my sweet breeze. Please, try to save him. I cannot watch another one of my people die.” Janna begs you, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

“Lady Janna, I-”

“I shall assist you with my magic. Please. I witnessed you bring Jinx back to life. I believe that you can do this.” Janna says passionately, making your heart clench.

“Okay. I’ll give it a try.” You nod. With those words, Sevika takes your box and Janna leads you into the chamber. The Priestess looks up, giving you a curious look and you give her a soft smile. You can hear the boy’s raspy breathing as you get closer and it makes your heart clench with sadness. The memories of Ty flash into your mind.

“Hello there.” You greet him, his eyes widening when he sees you, “I may be able to help you breathe again, but I will only attempt to do so with your permission.”

“H-How- can you- do- that?” He struggles to speak.

“I have magic.” You whisper, letting a flame flicker to life at your fingertips, “Do you wish to have a chance at life once more? I can’t guarantee you won’t get sick again, but-”

“Yes!” He gasps out, grabbing your hand, “Pl- ease!” You squeeze his hand and nod.

“You don’t mind, Priestess?” You double-check with her.

“Please.” She motions to the teenager, “Do whatever you can.” Janna walks around to the other side of the altar and grabs your other hand. There’s a quiet understanding between the two of you as she places her hand on his chest.

“Close your eyes and do your best to relax.” You instruct him. He stares at you for a moment before closing his eyes and allowing his body to relax. You take a deep breath and allow your eyes to slip shut as well. ‘Dig deep, Y/n. You’ve got this. You can do this. Whatever you did before… do it again.’ You feel your mind sink deeper, focusing on your heartbeat and then the feeling of their hands in yours. A cool energy washes over you from your left hand, like a refreshing breeze on a hot day. It travels through you and feeds your magic, soothing it and allowing you to focus on pushing it into the teenager. Another wave of energy flows into you, making you gasp as it burns your nerves like electricity. You’ve got this. Somewhere deep inside of you recognizes it as the Arcane. As your magic enters his body, an image of it appears in your mind and you can see that his lungs are almost dead. A stream of your magic fills his lungs and you watch in awe as it begins to heal the damage. Your eyes flutter open, the low candlelight stinging your eyes for a moment before you gaze at the boy. His chest was rising steadily with no signs of a struggle and you realize that he is asleep.

“You did it!” The Priestess gasps, her hands flying up to her mouth. Janna grins widely, appearing next to you and sweeping you into a tight hug. You can hear the others cheering in the background as your mind starts to process what you did. ‘I did it… I… did it.’ You feel tears sting your eyes as Janna puts you down. ‘Thank you for your belief in me.’ You think, hoping the Arcane heard you. You glance at your friends, catching sight of your guest nervously fidgeting in the back. ‘Right, one last thing before we start sorting through the supplies.’ You hold your hand out towards the group and beckon the man forward. His eyes widen as the group steps aside for him, revealing him to the other women in the room.

“Dad?” You hear the Priestess whisper in disbelief.

“Marigold...” The old man breathes out, walking into the chamber in awe, “Look at you… you’re- you’ve… grown.”

“Dad!” The Priestess shouts, running forward to embrace her father, “But, how are you here? Y-You were sent to Stillwater for life!” She wipes her tears away, glancing around the area at all of you. A wide grin crosses your face as the others do the same, happy to reunite the loving woman with her only parent. She shared her heartbreaking story about her father working hard to raise her on his own when she had gotten into some trouble. At the time, she wasn’t a fighter but her friends had begged her to join them as a scout in case something went wrong. They were jumped early in the morning by a group of Pilties who had thought it would be fun to rough up some Zaunites. She pleaded with them that she didn’t want to fight, but they didn’t care. Her father had saved their lives, but it ended with him being sent away to Stillwater for the crippling injuries he gave the Piltoven teenagers.

“Your friends surprised us in the middle of the night, telling us that they were freeing us and the dead Enforcers were quite convincing.” He chuckles.

“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have snuck out that night-!”

“-Don’t apologize. I’m your father. I would do it all over again if it meant that you survived to see another day.” He shakes his head, “I’m here now, and I’d love to hear about how you got into such a prestigious position.”

“Of course!” She nods, then turns to you, “Thank you. Thank you for bringing my father home. I-I could never repay you for this.”

“How about helping us distribute more food and clothing?” You smile sweetly, “There’s suddenly more people who will need assistance.”

“Let’s get to work then.” She nods. You all leave the room while some acolytes tend to the teenager. You were still in shock that you managed to do that. Both times you’ve done magic like that you were either guided or in a very distressed state. You had thought those two times might’ve been a stroke of luck or even something you couldn’t do on your own. You even tried to redo something like that when Auvern had broken her wrist, but nothing happened. To know that you can still do it brings you some relief.

After a few hours of work, Ekko grabs you and the two of you change before heading up to Piltover. You had quietly discussed the progress on cleaning up the pollution in the Undercity and learned that they had run into a snag with the systems they were trying to create. With the two of you being so busy with other projects, there was no way you’d be able to assist with it. That’s when Zara suggested approaching Viktor and Sky once more. They hadn’t taken you up on your invitation to live at the Grotto or the Rapids, but you continuously kept in touch. You planned to go and see them in their lab today as Y/n and Ekko Pyre as a way to have free access to them… without scaring them every time.

So, you and your brother went for a stroll through Piltover. There was a bit of an issue getting into the city since Enforcers were guarding the entrance, but you got through without killing anyone. The IDs your uncle had given you proved extremely useful in that circumstance. You and Ekko tried hard not to smile when you heard people talking about the tragic explosion of Stillwater Hold. You hadn’t heard anyone mention Jinx’s name, so you assume that they were still keeping her a secret from the citizens. Their excuse for the explosion at the Councilor’s Building was that an experimental device had gone wrong. You found it ridiculous that the people accepted that, but you had to give credit for the quick thinking. It wasn’t hard to find the location of Jayce and Viktor’s shared lab. Their lab was in the heart of the city, so you picked up some fruit smoothies - then had to fight your brother over getting to drink your OWN - and headed inside.

“Good afternoon!” You’re greeted by Sky whose eyes widen when she looks up from her desk, “Oh! Y/n, Ekko, you’re here!” She gets up from the desk and rushes over to hug you.

“Hey, Sky!” Ekko chuckles, “We’ve brought food and drinks for our hardworking friends.” He lifts the bag which has sandwiches from Molina's, the butcher cafe in Zaun that you knew they loved.

“Thank you.” Sky smiles, accepting the two drinks from you, “Vik’s in his lab, so I can take you there.” She leads you down the hall and into an elevator.

“How are the two of you?” You playfully nudge her, “Any new relationship information we should know?”

“Not yet.” Sky laughs, stepping out of the elevator. The rest of the journey is quiet, as you don’t want to talk about anything too sensitive where it can be heard. Sky knocks on the door to Viktor’s lab and it slides open with a soft woosh. Viktor brightens up when he sees his fiancee and then grins when he sees you and Ekko.

“If it isn’t two of my favorite inventors!” Viktor says happily, accepting the drink from Sky, “Impressive work on Stillwater by the way. I overheard Jayce muttering about how it’s irreparable and I thought he was going to pop a blood vessel.”

“We had some inside help.” Ekko smiles slyly, “Now, we brought some food to eat, so take a break from whatever you’re doing.” He reaches into the bag and tosses a sandwich to him. Viktor catches it, smiling at the sticker on it that said Molina’s when he sees it. The four of you take a seat on the floor away from his work and enjoy a nice lunch. You talk about what happened with Stillwater and the process that you went through. They tell you that no official statement has been reached, but Jayce has been running around all morning. It won’t be long before they’re releasing a detailed statement on what happened.

“So, Viktor. Sky. I wanted to extend another invitation to you two about staying with us in Zaun. We’d love to have you back home, especially because we need someone with your expertise.” You state, tucking your trash back into the paper bag.

“What do you mean you need our expertise?” Viktor furrows his brow.

“We’ve run into a snag with the purification process on a machine being created to assist in cleaning up Zaun. The only person we know who can help is you.” Ekko responds, “We need you.”

“Can I… we… get back to you on that?” Viktor hesitates, sharing a glance with Sky, “We’re trying to get things settled here without causing any issues.”

“Of course. You could just show up at our front door if need be.” You shrug.

“Thank you.” Sky says sincerely, “We really appreciate how welcoming you’ve been.”

“Sky, you’re-” Ekko gets cut off as the door opens. You all look up to see the Man of Progress himself walking into the room. He gives you and your brother a curious look before turning to Viktor.

“The Council needs you to sit in on this meeting about Stillwater.” Jayce says, “And, who are your friends?”

“Jayce, this is Heiress and Heir Pyre. They’re friends of mine that I met a while ago during Progress Day.” Viktor introduces you to him. Jayce’s eyes nearly pop out of his head at that and you can see how fast he’s thinking.

“It’s nice to meet you, Heiress and Heir Pyre.” He reaches out to shake your hands and you begrudgingly do, “Actually, would you like to come to the Council meeting? We could use your expertise and perspective.” You blink in surprise. ‘Did someone talk to him about me? Either way, this is not something I should be passing up.’ You and Ekko share a glance and he nods at you. He signals to you that you should be the one to go while he hangs back to talk with Sky. You nod at him before addressing Jayce.

“If the Council would be okay with that, but my brother has a prior meeting with Sky.” You answer, making Jayce nod.

“Meet me in the lobby in five minutes.” Jayce says before exiting the room.

“Does he talk to you like that all the time?” Ekko questions, appalled.

“Yes.” Viktor and Sky chorus.

“Can I strangle him?” Ekko asks seriously.

“Only after I do it.” Sky huffs, crossing her arms.

“Please don’t strangle him. He, unfortunately, writes my checks.” Viktor sighs, standing up and stretching. You do the same and clean up the mess of the food wrappers on the floor. You weren’t expecting to waltz into a Council meeting but here you were. It looks like your new identity is already getting you into places you’ve never been before.

[mitsukui]

late night experiences | g.w.

Pairing: George Weasley x female reader.

Summary:  learning new things is always better when it is done with someone else.

Word Count: 2,7k.

Warnings: smut! Masturbation, mentions of innocence kink.

Disclaimer: none of the pictures used in the edit below belong to me; I simply put them together.

A/N: please, leave me some feedback if you feel like it! My askbox is open for your opinions, thoughts and requests. Thank you so much for your time and attention ❤

Masterlist!

Your last year at Hogwarts rushed into your life without warning — and so did your sexual hormones. You swore to Merlin you could feel them tingling all over your body whenever you solely looked at George Weasley, your majestic boyfriend. And apparently, he felt the same way towards you. Wondering the reason behind it all, you were quick to blame the fact that the two of you had just turned 18.

You had been together for a little while now: around nine months or so. But nothing had ever happened, and you were not quite sure why. You two had, supposedly, everything needed: steamy make-out sessions, wandering hands, lustful thoughts, privacy, and all that jazz. Yet, there you were: ground zero.

However, things were about to change even though you still were unconscious about it.

“Psst!” Your favorite quill stopped scribbling your Herbology notes. “Oi!” Your eyes gazed at the direction from which came the voice only to realize it was one of your classmates, Angelina Johnson. “I’ve discovered something last night which I thought you might be interested in.” A mischievous smirk painted her lips as you leaned in closer, already feeling eager to listen to whatever she had to say. She was one of those people who made anyone pay attention to them whenever they said something.

Her hushed whispers filled the existing silence between you two in the Study Area once more. “The boys were talking in our common room last night, and rumor has it George can’t keep his hands off of his cock whenever he thinks of you.”

Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet giggled like little girls when she finally finished her speech. You could feel your cheeks getting embraced by a deep and violent warmness. Uh-oh.

Your mind suddenly produced images by itself: George’s chest going up and down quickly as he moaned under his breath. He had his long and slender fingers wrapped around his dick and, sweet Merlin, he was big. Big and thick and veiny. His eyelashes fluttered as his hand pumped up and down a few times, precum leaking from his tip.

Heaven probably looked like that. What a lovely sight. You would give anything to actually see the great George Weasley in such a position. But, again: ground zero.

Still, the possibility of him pleasuring himself at the thought of you seemed to awake something new inside your chest and offer you a novel tingling sensation. You felt a burning flame in your loins, and it was almost as if your entire body were on fire.

You wanted him to jerk off thinking of you. You wanted his hands to get dirty from his own seed because of you.

You gulped. Snapping fingers brought you back to reality. “Girl, it’s high time you gave that poor lad some love, you know.”

The next few days felt slow and eternal. George Weasley and George Weasley’s thick dick were the only things occupying your mind. Of course, you had fantasized about him before; but it had never been that vivid. Things are always better when they are real, after all.

And you wanted to do something about it. Your soul ached for him to share his hidden and erotic reality with you. Your flesh longed to be painfully close to his. Your body and your hands desired to tease him and give him something to be unbearably hard over. You obviously would not feel in peace until you got what you wanted.

That is why the suggestion of a late night meeting in the Prefect’s Bathroom came to life. It was discussed during another of your studying session with Angelina, Alicia and Katie, being first brought on by Angelina, of course. That girl had many wild cards up her sleeve.

“I happen to know the password. Got it from a Slytherin guy, after giving him a few galleons.”

“And a blowjob, too.” Alicia responded with her eyebrows raised and a mischievous grin hanging on her lips.

As the three other girls laughed carelessly, seeming to be extremely relaxed and confident to talk about such a topic, you chewed on your bottom lip. Jittery feelings bubbled up within your veins while concern clouded your mind. You had a severe lack of inexperience when it came down to anything sexual.

Your temporary anxiety was sharply noticed by Katie, who positioned her hand over yours in a comforting act. Her fingers soothed your skin, her next words slipping out of her lips as motherly advice.

“Don’t feel pressured to do anything, honestly. George is one of the most understanding people I have ever met. But I think a little bit of intimacy would work wonders on you, both of you.” Her grip on your hand became a bit tighter, and her warmth was incredibly pacifying. “You know, just suggest going to the Prefect’s Bathroom tomorrow night. He will surely accept, once he is heads over heels for you. Get in the warm, bubbly water. Kiss him, if you feel comfortable enough for that. And just see where it goes.”

Your other two friends nodded, assuring you everything was alright and that you could always count on them for support and advice. The conversation went on for a little longer, they sharing intimacy tips and encouraging you.

Luckily enough, the next morning was one that you had classes with George. You brought on the subject in the end of the lesson, while he gathered his material quietly.

His lips opened up in a bright smile in the moment you appeared in front of him, but his expression was soon destroyed by your visible tensed posture.

“Hey, gorgeous. Are you alright?”

You sighed shortly, trying to relieve some of your internalized insecurities. The suggestion came out of your lips in a mere murmur, but he was smart enough to grasp onto all of your words. His eyes noticed your dodging gaze and your fidgeting fingers, playing with the hem of your tie. You looked absolutely adorable to him.

“See you later tonight, then. Prefect’s Bathroom, 12AM sharp. I won’t be late.”

The rest of the day felt like an eternity. Perhaps, it was the uncertainty of it all, given that there was no way to predict how the scenario would take place later on. But the time for your meeting agonizingly came, and you were forced to leave your dormitory.

The weather was unpleasantly hot, and it was hard for you to tell whether it was due to the time of the year you were going through, or to the fact you were walking towards your own doom.

You had been curious and tempted to get to know his darker and more lustful façade but, at the same time, you were ashamed of how much you craved him despite being your first time feeling anything like that. Those same novel tingles from before returned to your loins as your made your way to the fifth floor.

Underneath your favorite carmine red pleated skirt and a muggle band T-shirt, you wore a set of lingerie that had not received much attention when previously picked out, which was a simple white bra paired with white panties, covered in tiny pink strawberries. When you were about to reach your destination, you came down to the realization of how childish your underwear looked. You inhaled sharply, concluding you had ruined everything.

Eventually, you and George met, and entered the bathroom hand in hand.

Although you had heard of its wonderful interiors, seeing everything with your own eyes for the first time made you gasp. Your gaze traveled through the place, and you wished to engrave every detail in your heart. The white marble grandness awoke a sense of greatness and admiration inside you, and you almost fell to your knees right then and there.

A tad of small talk was exchanged between you and your boyfriend, until he approached you at last. His big hands cupped your delicate face, and he leaned down to kiss you.

His lips were so terribly gentle that they sent butterflies to your stomach. He showed no shyness in the second his hands roamed down your body and found your back, giving your ass a light squeeze. Unable to control yourself, you moaned and pressed your body against his.

A steamy make out moment was held between the two of you until the moment for the truth hovered over your heads. He rested his forehead against yours, and looked at you with loving eyes as his thumb ran over your lips.

“Tell me why we are here, darling.”

“It’s just that…There had been this rumor, you know?” A shy chuckle escaped your lips, and you closed your eyes, trying to block out all the filthy images suddenly appearing in your mind. “People have been saying that you jerk off thinking about me. But I’m not sure if it’s true or not, because we have –“

“It is true.” The coolness in his voice caught you off guard, and you blinked at him in a mixture of shock and self-induced accomplishment: your boyfriend touched himself at the thought of you.

Your eyelashes fluttered until your eyes were shut, and a sigh escaped your lips. Your mind knew no restrains at that moment, and the images you had been blocking out came to life all at once, violently crashing against your insides, almost like agitated waves at a beach.

Silence embraced the two of you again, but neither of you felt bothered by it. You took your time to let the sinful images sink in, and he took his time to study your face. You had been clearly affected by the truth he had just spilled out, and he secretly enjoyed such thing. He could read you like the palm of his hand, and he knew you were thinking about him with his dick out.

As he breathed heavily, fearing air would forever leave his lungs after what he was about to do, he prepared himself for what was about to come. His thumb ran over your slightly swollen lips but, this time, he parted them with a gentle tug on your lower lip. George timidly shoved his thumb into your mouth, and you, with your eyes still closed, took all of it.

Your tongue swirl against his finger, the feeling of your saliva dancing against his skin sending electrical waves down his spine. You continued on sucking him until your cheeks finally hollowed, and he pulled his finger out with a low ‘pop’ noise.

You opened your eyes in a deep frustration, but he could no longer take it. His cock was hard inside his trousers and it battled for its freedom. He breathed unsteadily and with a bit of difficulty, his mind starting to wonder how your lips would feel wrapped around his tip.

The realization that you two had never done anything before hit him hard, and he felt himself twitching while precum started wetting the fabric of his underwear.

Would it be selfish of him to think he would probably be the first one ever to taste your cunt? The first one to penetrate you, the first one to end your innocence for eternity, the first one to feel your walls clenching around him, the first one to make you cum.

George was forced to step back and groan in bitterness. He really wanted to fuck you, but he would never disrespect you or your limits. Plus, on top of that, he really did not know how he could express his urges.

“S-Sorry, darling. I-I-I don’t know what’d gotten into me, I guess I just lo-“

“Can you show me how you touch yourself?”

The question hung on air for one or two moments. You could not believe what you had just said. You were drunk on a new dizzying and exciting sensation, one that left your panties secretly wet and your clit throbbing, and one which made you ask your boyfriend to masturbate right in front of you.

So he did it. Apparently, Katie was right: George Weasley would gladly accept anything you asked him.

After the enormous bathtub had been filled with water and bubbles, he undressed and you lost all of your senses for a bit.

His fair skin carried grand amounts of both freckles and small scars. His entire silhouette was outlined by groups of yet developing muscles, but each one of them caused more wetness to pool in your strawberries ridiculously covered panties. George was so tall, his shoulders were so broad, and his dick was indeed so big.

When all of his being finally became bare in front of you, you rubbed your thighs together, the need for friction creeping inside your body for the first time ever.

You stood still exactly where you were, but he made his way to the tub, sitting on the edge of the white porcelain. He lowered his dark eyes to his throbbing member and his touch caused a relieved sigh to leave his lips. His hand moved up and down a few times until he looked at you again.

There was something different on his face. His eyelids seemed to be a tad heavier, and the sounds slipping out of his slightly parted lips were the most delicious thing you had ever heard.

George Weasley was jerking off right in front of you. He was moaning only for you. And you hoped he would cum just for you, too.

As the minutes slowly went by the two of you, you watched him quietly. However, it was impossible for him to keep quiet. By now, his moans were loud and shameless. He whispered your name every now and then, the thought of you bouncing up and down his dick providing all the fuel he needed to orgasm only for you.

That was entirely new for you. You felt so dirty, so sinful, so misbehaved, but you were living for it. You wanted more of him, and you also wanted to give George more of you. And that was exactly the reason why you said your next sentence out loud.

“Can I touch myself?”

His ears convinced himself that he had heard it incorrectly, but the way your fingers tugged on your T-shirt, and your thighs rubbed together, he knew he was not mistaken. A new rush of pleasure ran through his veins and he pumped his hand faster. Unable to form coherent sentences, he mumbled something along the lines of ‘please’ and nodded vehemently.

In the blink of an eye, both of your bodies were unclothed and both of you played with your intimacies. George’s right hand applied all the pressure that could possibly resemble your tight cunt wrapped around his cock, and your fingers helped the squelching sounds coming from your wetness to echo in the bathroom. You had never thought that so many lustful sensations could occupy your body all at once and, yet, there you were: masturbating at the sight of your boyfriend doing the exact same.

By now, you also had problems breathing and the tight knot inside your body screamed for a break. You pulled your hand away from your dripping cunt, but you remained connect to your womanhood by a very thin and almost invisible string of your juices.

George obviously noticed that tiny detail and it was too much for him. He announced he was close and, soon enough, his skin was stained by the pleasure you had given him. His eyes were closed as he felt his heartbeat increasing and the images of you still haunting his mind.

The way he accepted and let his orgasm work on his body made you move your hand against your clit faster and you followed him in a matter of seconds. Your body trembled and you could not stop whining.

You had never experienced something so astonishingly sensational.

Your pants filled the bathroom for a little while before his body finally slipped into the still warm water. The comfort offered by the setting relaxed his existence and he weakly called and asked you to join him, which you happily agreed with.

He touched your hips and pulled you closer, placing your body against his chest. With his lips pressed against your temple, he whispered a series of ‘thank you’ and ‘you are the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen’.

However, his final words changed the mood completely and you hated him for it.

“That’s a nice pair of panties, by the way.”

Tag list! ❤️  @efyra​ @writingsomewrongs​ @kellsslut​ @pineapplesandpinas​ @fiction-is-the-new-reality​ @hufflepuff5972​ @amourtentiaa​ @emmaev​ @asthmax​ @anchoeritic​ @eunoia-kth​

[randomshyperson]

The Scarlet Witch Prophecy - Chapter 13 - The Sixth Year (Part Three)

My dear friend @abimess, I keep stealing your gifs and making updates without telling you. I hope you never get tired of it.

Summary: As the youngest daughter of Howard Stark, you have ordinary expectations for your years at Hogwarts. Little do you know what adventures await you when your destiny is intertwined with the legendary Scarlet Witch.

Warnings: +16. Adaptation of the Harry Potter Saga, Magical Thematic, Prophecies, Mentions of Violence, Torture and dark magic, Language (swearing and minor/major offenses), manipulation of will, Underage kissing, insinuation of smut with minors, Smut (overage), descriptions of death, aggression, obscurity, angst, fluffy, soulmates analogies. || Chapter Warnings: Magical torture with minors, cursing, angst, ptsd, derogatory thoughts and behavior, dark magic.

Chapter Words: 8.486 K

A/N> Yes, I've gone for a month without warning anyone, and yes that might go on, but at least i'm near ending this (I'm already writing chapter 21). Once I'm finished, I'll just programe tumblr to upload them all for me because i'm lazy. I hope anyone like this yet, i don't even know what i'm doing anymore. Good reading!

Series Masterlist ||  Read on AO3 || All Works Masterlist

Chapter 13 - Part XIII - The Sixth Year (Part Three)

Gossip really starts to irritate you when you go to lunch after potions.

"You want to say something to me, girl?" You charge impatiently when you hear the giggles behind you again, coming from a group of students sitting at Ravenclaw's table.

The group turns around with wry smiles on their faces, and you notice the editions of the Daily Prophet in the hand of one of the boys. It is Hope Summers, your classmate, who speaks first:

"We're just sharing some theories, Stark." She says in a provocative tone. "Some of us find it an interesting coincidence that just now that Mephisto is back, you and Maximoff are losing control of magic."

You frown.

"What are you talking about?" you ask in surprise, referring to Wanda, but Hope thinks you want her to keep mocking you.

"It's just suspicious that no one knows what happened to you in that dungeon, or at the ministry of magic." Hope counters. "And now you two are blowing things up, and we have a dark wizard on the loose."

"Fuck you, Summmers." You curse as you stand up, leaving the girl in shock at your aggressiveness.

The same auror from the first day stands in front of you as you try to approach Slytherin's table.

"Students must respect..."

But you interrupted his speech with a loud shove that sent him staggering backwards, and drew the immediate attention of several people.

You were seeing red by now, the man's wry smile only making you more irritated.

He drew his wand, but so did you. And the room held its breath.

"Put your wand away, Miss Stark." Warned the auror angrily, but you didn't.

Wanda stood up as she noticed the confusion, rushing to reach you, but the auror put his arm in her way.

"Now, miss." He warned again, and you grunted in irritation.

"Get your hands off her." You retorted, feeling your body fever with hatred.

"Stark." The man said, his arm reaching down to push Wanda back, and you exploded.

You didn't even finish thinking about the spell, the magic exploding out of your wand.

The auror masterfully blocked it, and you dropped your wand to jump on top of him.

It was a confusion of shoving, other bigger students pulling you away from the man and he away from you.

" Never fucking touch her again!" You warned snorting in anger, Thor Odinson stopping you from jumping on the man's neck.

"I just pushed her away from the line of fire, you crazy bitch!" The auror retorted indignantly and angrily. "Go to the headmaster's office now!"

"Fuck you!"

Thor pulled you out of the hall as the crowd of students whistled in celebration, excited about the whole fight. The auror was too busy dissipating everyone to follow you.

"Hey, hothead, calm down." The blonde warned as he released the grip of you by the courtyard. You grunted angrily, wishing you could break something.

"Fuck this school, fuck that asshole." You complained aloud, as Thor looked at you curiously.

"You have quite a rage, Stark." He comments, and you grumble in irritation.

But Wanda catches up with you the next moment, and she looks even angrier than you.

"What the hell was that?" she asks and you roll your eyes, running your hands through your hair.

"I think you are going to be fine for now on." Thor comments, smiling at the thank you Wanda says to him before leaving you two alone.

"So?" Wanda insists, arms crossed. You bite the inside of your cheek as you look at her.

"What do you want me to say?" You retort angrily.

"You just started a fight for no reason! Again!" She accuses. "Only this time it was with a wizard who could kill you. I want to know what's going on!"

"I don't know, Wanda!" You exclaim angrily. "Why does everyone expect me to have answers? I don't know! Do you understand that? It feels like I'm going to explode in frustration any second, neither you or Gamora seem to get it. I don't understand what's happening to me!"

"Because you won't talk to us!" She shouts back, just as annoyed as you are. "You're pushing everyone away! Even me! We can't help you if you don't talk to us!"

You grunt impatiently, turning around. There was a strange throbbing in the back of your head, a strange whisper. Like a voice telling you that no one was telling you the truth, that your friends expected too much of you, that Wanda didn't care...

This last thought made you sob. Wanda softened her expression immediately, taking a step toward you and touching your shoulder, but you pulled away from her touch as if burned, wiping your tears away quickly.

"Leave me alone, Wanda." You mutter between teeth. She hesitates, raising her hand toward you again.

"Please."

"I need some time from you." You insist, pushing her hand away, and walking away.

A part of your brain is begging you to go back and make things right, but there is a cloud of anger and irritation that keeps you walking.

//-//-//-//-//

You roll over in bed in discomfort.

Nightmares. Again.

It has only been five days since you had your fight with Wanda, and you are getting worse every day.

With Summers' teasing, you end up noticing other things too.

How the school really found the theory that you and Wanda were somehow related to Mephisto, because the minister had covered up what happened in the dungeons and in the ministry, and everybody thought it was strange that two students were showing an increase in magical potential with the return of a dark wizard.

Unlike you, who were failing considerably in any simple execution of spells, Wanda was demonstrating exceptional abilities. Kaecilius was more than willing to make her the face of progress at Hogwarts, you heard the gossip about bringing in reporters to share the news of the new direction.

You know that the only reason Wanda hasn't come after you yet was because you're running away from her like the plague.

And you couldn't even explain why.

You were also blocking out your real health condition from her. Just like you two practiced during the summer.

Besides hiding this from Wanda, you have kept your friends away too, isolating yourself from everyone else in search of a little rest, only succeeding in taking a nap when you are running away between classes.

And the detentions with Kaecilius keep increasing as you skip classes.

You begin to consider learning to write with a different hand, just so the bruise has time to heal, but at this point you don't even care about the scar anymore.

"You really must like pain." Loki teases wryly as you sit in an empty room, waiting for the aurors' shift change again after your detention.

You don't ask him what he's doing on that floor again, and he doesn't ask why you haven't spoken to your friends in two weeks.

"Sure, that must be it." You joke back, massaging your injured hand.

He assumes a pensive expression for a second.

"Are you sure you haven't been cursed by someone?" He asks, causing you to frown in shock and confusion.

"Excuse me?"

He gives a little chuckle, settling himself better against the wall.

"Everyone's been talking about you being sick." He says. "I heard some of the Ravenclaw people theorize that you became a werewolf over the summer."

You laugh helplessly, massaging your temples lightly.

"I guarantee that's not it." You say making Loki smile.

"If you are sick for no reason, it could be a curse." He says. "I wouldn't be surprised, the way things are."

"But how do I find out if I've been cursed?"

Loki takes a thoughtful stance.

"I don't know." He says. "But I'm sure you can learn that in the no longer reserved session of the library."

You laugh at the joke, but soon you both return to silence. When that hallway's shift ends, Loki sighs, getting up and helping you to stand.

"Still can't perform spells?" He asks, already drawing his wand.

"Only if I want to blow things up." You scoff making him laugh.

"Fine, I'll enchant you." He says. When you are transparent, he looks at you with an amused expression. "See you next Saturday, troublemaker?

"Don't worry, I plan on skipping DADA, maybe I'll be here tomorrow." You retort in the same tone before turning to leave.

//-////-//-//-//-//

It takes three more days for Wanda to finally corner you.

You are skipping class in an empty room on the seventh floor, trying to doze off, and almost fall out of your chair with fright when the door opens and Wanda comes in, looking annoyed.

You grunt impatiently, without lifting your face from the desk.

"I told you I needed time." You complain, but tense up when you notice the tears in her eyes as she moves closer to sit at the table next to yours.

" You want to break up with me?" She asks in a whisper and you raise your head immediately, feeling your chest tighten.

"What? What are you talking about?"

Wanda gives a humorless laugh at your expression. "Why are you acting like this is an absurd idea? You've disappeared. You've been avoiding me, not even talking to me anymore."

You shake your head quickly, feeling the urge to cry.

"I don't want to break up with you." You say. "I..I would never want to be away from you."

"You just said you need time away from me." Wanda retorts with annoyance, and you feel your stomach clench as she sighs. "I don't know what's going on with us. And I miss you, but you won't let me near you."

You are exhausted. So you cry.

You rest your head on your arms, and let your sobs fill the silence, hoping that the tears will take this bad feeling away.

It's Wanda's gentle touch on your back that helps.

"Babe, tell me what's wrong." She whispers to you, her tone concerned.

It takes many minutes for you to calm down. But when you do, Wanda holds your hand, kneeling on the floor beside the chair you are in.

"I can't do magic." You breathlessly tell her from crying, "And I can't sleep. I've been sick for weeks, and I'm angry all the time. Healer Cho doesn't know what's wrong with me, but everyone at school seems to have a theory about it. I think I'm going to suffocate, Wanda. I'm messing everything up. Between us, between my family, and at school." You sob as you finish and Wanda shakes her head, her hand coming up to your cheek.

"Don't say that." She urges. "You didn't ruin anything. Hey, look at me. I love you. Your sisters love you, your friends love you. We'll figure out what's going on."

Wanda hugs you tight, and you sob, shaking.

You want to believe her words, so you push the intrusive thoughts away, and believe it.

//-//-//-//

Wanda takes you to a door in that same floor you two were before, but you have never seen that door until that moment.

And you are very surprised to realize that it is a bedroom.

"How...?" You ask confused as she closes the it.

"Welcome to the Room of Requirement." She says with a smile, pulling you by the hand around. "We hold our Avengers meetings here." She counters and you frown.

"In a bedroom? Interesting choice." You comment and she giggles.

"No, my love." She says. "That's how this room works. It is charmed to meet your needs. That's why I asked you to come in first."

"Oh, that's pretty cool." You say looking around. Wanda smiles at you, and then you both reach the bed. "The room thinks I have to sleep?"

"I do too." Wanda retorts, pushing your shoulders gently for you to sit on the bed. "Go on, nice dreams."

You hesitate. "You gonna leave me here alone?"

Wanda denies with her head, pointing to the chair that probably just magically appeared next to the bed. You frown.

"Can't you sleep in the bed with me?"

She giggles. "We don't have much time for you to sleep. If I lie down, you'll want to kiss me. So I'll be sitting in that armchair, studying as I should." She explains seriously, and you pout.

"Stupid rules." You grumble moving your hands up to her waist. "Lie down with me."

"Babe..."

"Please."

Wanda sighs, then nods. You smile, quickly removing your shoes as she does the same. You quickly adjust yourself on the bed, opening your arms for her to lie on top of you, and she gives a little giggle before doing so.

"Are you cozy, sweetheart?" You murmur against her hair, and Wanda squeezes her arms around you.

"Yeah, your boobs are good pillows." She teases, making you laugh with reddened cheeks.

Your eyes begin to heavy quickly, fatigue catching up with your body relaxed by the comfort of the moment.

"Go to sleep, babe." Wanda whispers. "I'll be here when you wake up."

You smile with your eyes closed, surrendering.

It's the best sleep you've had in weeks.

The problem is that as soon as you start to wake up again, you are feeling sick.

You touch the emptiness in the bed, mumbling softly. When you open your eyes you find Wanda sitting in the armchair, the darkhold in her lap.

"Damn it, Wanda, this book again." You complain in a hoarse voice, but she just sighs.

"Why the attitude?"

"I hate that book." You grumble sitting up in bed, massaging your face lightly. "Why do you keep reading it anyway?"

"It's interesting." She says, closing the item to look at you. "Agatha really told me a lot, but there are also things I didn't know."

"For example?"

Wanda bites her lips, appraising you.

"Scarlet witches are forged, for instance." She says and you frown in confusion. Wanda sighs. "Many powerful witches, born scarlet witches, never got to fulfill their destiny because the forging didn't happen."

You straighten your clothes uncomfortably, pensively.

"What exactly does that mean?"

"What the headmistress did last year was my forging." She clarifies and you swallow dryly, feeling your stomach turn. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" you ask confused.

"Everything." She says upset. "I know we've talked about this, but it seems like all I do is cause you problems. With the bond, and with the forge. If Agatha didn't want my powers, she wouldn't have taken you to the dungeon and you wouldn't have suffered."

You poke at the knot of your tie, feeling yourself suffocate slightly. Wanda is speaking, you blink to focus on her words.

"I'm sorry, could you say that again?" You ask out of breath, sweating. You blink to find Wanda's concerned gaze on you.

"Babe, what's wrong?" She asks worriedly, her hands around your face.

You feel your head spin, and everything goes dark before you can answer.

//-//-//-//

You smell the scent of grass when you wake up.

Then you blink in confusion, getting used to your surroundings to realize that you are in what looks like a ward bed.

"Hey, all right, take it easy getting up, Miss Stark." Asked Professor Strange with one hand on her shoulder. In the other he held a potion that you imagined he had given you.

"W-what happened?" you mumbled confusedly, sitting up in bed. Only now did you notice Professor Munroe and Wanda standing in front of the bed, both with worried expressions.

"You passed out, but you're better now I imagine." Stephen explained gently, but you were still feeling very weak.

"Professor, she simply blacked out." Wanda commented in a tearful voice. " Don't you have any idea what's wrong?"

Stephen sighed, and then pointed at the chair, the darkhold.

"Where did you get that book?" He asked, and Wanda frowned, taking a step toward the chair in a defensive posture.

"What does that have to do with my question?" she retorted dryly, and Stephen looked at you one last time before standing up.

"There's a reason it's called the Book of the Damned, Miss Maximoff." He says."It damns its readers."

"That's ridiculous." Wanda retorted, crossing her arms. "I've been reading it for weeks and nothing has happened."

"Not with you."

Wanda hesitates, widening her eyes. And then she takes a step back, swallowing her cry as she reaches out to grab the book and hand it to Stephen.

She turns her gaze back to you, and lets the tears fall.

"I am truly sorry." She says with a mixture of guilt and shame before turning to leave the room.

You call out to her about three times, but she leaves and you don't have the strength to go after her.

"Damn, couldn't I have said that in a different way?" You complain angrily to Stephen, who just sighs, exchanging a look with Professor Munroe. "How come you two are here anyway?"

"It was Wanda." Professor Ororo replies. "She asked the room for someone trustworthy to help her with you. Then there was a door opening in the potions room. Stephen was there with me, and we both came."

"Great." You mutter annoyed, thinking about how you are going to talk to Wanda and convince her that you were not angry with her. "Would either of you happen to know how to make me better now?"

"Sure." Stephen comments by raising the book in the air, and with a wave of his hand, the item dissolves into several pieces until it is gone. "I didn't destroy it, if that's what you're thinking. I just put it away, to prevent something like that from happening again."

"Congratulations." You grumble wryly as you straighten up in bed, the same migraine from before is now weaker, but it's still there.

"You know, you had a better attitude when you didn't have a magical doom on your spirit." Stephen complains, causing you to frown, but Professor Ororo gives a chuckle.

"Thanks professor." You comment wryly, making him laugh. He sits back down beside your bed, and pulls out of the cover a small notebook.

"Now that Miss Maximoff has stopped reading the book, I suppose you will get better." Stephen says, making you sigh.

"You suppose? That's encouraging." You say moving to stand up.

"Where are you going, Miss Stark? You need to rest." Warn the professor, but you ignore him, and ignore the weakness in your body as well.

"What I need, Strange, is for people to stop lying to me."

"No one is lying, Miss Stark." Professor Ororo states next. "We really don't know the extent of the magic the darkhold carries."

"And why is that I imagine?" You sneer. "Because someone omitted the truth from you, and it's been passed down for generations, isn't it? Well, that's over now. Because we've finally studied everything in this place, including a book that condemns anyone who reads it." You exclaim impatiently, stooping down to put on your shoes. "If you two will excuse me, I'll figure out how to get better on my own. But first I'm going to explain to my girlfriend that none of this is her fault."

Ororo and Stephen are silent, but you wouldn't have been paying attention to anything they said anyway.

Soon you are up and out of the requirement room looking for Wanda.

//-//-//-//

She seems to have disappeared from the castle, so you must concentrate to use your instincts.

The hardest part is dodging the aurors, but you finally reach the astronomy tower.

You're a little out of breath from the run, but it's the image of Wanda standing on the edge, the sunlight in her hair that leaves you breathless.

"Hi." You say in a low tone, your hands in your pockets as you approach. She startles slightly, wiping away tears as she keeps her gaze forward.

"What do you want here?" she asks in a husky voice. You sigh.

"That you stop hating yourself and listen to me." You say and she lets out a short laugh.

"And what do you think you can say?" She questions turning her body toward you. "All I do is hurt you."

You shake your head, but Wanda lets out a tearful laugh.

"No you don't understand." She says. "Since I met you, you have only brought me good things. Affection, happiness, hope. You've been that kind warm feeling that I need on my worst days. Hell, you're even the memory for me to cast a patronus." She confesses with emotion, her face wet with tears. "But me? All I bring you is pain and suffering. And now I even bring sickness. This is wrong, I hurt you. You need to see this, and understand that we can no longer happen."

"Don't say that." You ask, reaching up to touch her face, wipe away her tears. "That's not true, Wanda. I love you, you make me..."

"Stop it." She interrupts with a sob. "Don't make it any harder than it already is."

"Please, Wanda, listen to me." You plead, resting your forehead on hers, your hands on her cheeks. "You make me happy, you are the only thing that makes me happy, I love you, please..."

Wanda kisses you hard, and you respond with the same intensity, both of you gasping into each other's mouths.

But then she is pulling away, thrusting you farther apart.

"I'm sorry." She cries, taking a step back. "We're over."

And she's running away again, and this time you don't go after her.

//-//-//-//-//

Without Darkhold's being consumed, you really start to improve in terms of physical health.

The only problem is the emotional ditch you find yourself in.

Gamora, Nebula and Mantis find you, again in the Room of Requirement, skipping class.

"My god this is worse than last time." Gamora remarks as she looks around at the mess of junk food and pillows. The room had been transformed into a "comfortable place", which basically had the appearance of a living room, with several soft armchairs, and lots of unhealthy food. "Why did you guys break up this time?"

"Please don't talk to me." You grumbled, your voice coming out muffled because you were lying on two soft puffs, your face buried in the pillow, your hand inside a bag of muggles snacks.

"I bet you five bucks they'll be back together before the end of the month." Nebula commented and you sniffled against your pillow, hearing a noise that sounded like Gamora hitting her sister.

"We talked to Wanda." Mantis said. "And with Professor Stephen, too. We're sorry about everything, but have you decided you're not going to study anymore?"

"I don't care about school." You grumble against the pillow. "Leave me alone, I want to cry."

Nebula gives a short laugh, and Gamora elbows her.

"Stop hitting me, you crazy." Nebula complains loudly, moving away from her sister to approach you, taking the bag of snacks you have, and making you complain softly. "And you stop being such a drama queen. Aren't you two like soul mates or some shit? It's just a fight, you'll work it out. You're acting like you've never broken up before."

"Your sensitivity is admirable." Gamora scoffs, pushing her sister away to sit next to you, stroking your back until you look up at her. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

You feel the urge to cry arise again. "Wanda thinks she is bad for me." You say. "And she doesn't want to be with me anymore, and I want to die."

You start crying again, stuffing your face into the pillow as Gamora strokes your hair.

"How did this happen anyway?" Nebula asks, confused, chewing on salty snacks."You barely slept at home over the summer to be with her, and now you guys are breaking up. It's hard to keep up with this relationship."

"Merlin, Nebula shut up." Gamora asks impatiently, and her sister raises her hands in surrender with an ironic expression. You want to scream against your pillow, but all you do is try to control your crying.

"You can't keep disappearing, sweetheart." Gamora says as she runs her hands through your hair, trying to calm you down. "Kaecilius has already noticed. He's trying to figure out where you're going, and eventually he'll figure it out since you can't stay here forever."

"Maybe I can." You mumble making Gamora laugh softly.

"Come on, I'm sure you miss a decent meal." She says. "Why don't you join us for lunch?"

"I can't sit at your table."

"Who said anything about a table?"

This is how you end up on the edge of the great lake, at a picnic.

Mantis gets several dishes from the house elves, and since lunch is a free social hour, nobody seems to mind that you are eating outside.

Your sisters are not the only students who, over time, have learned ways around school rules.

You grumble slightly as you feel the sun on your face, but lie back on the grass, closing your eyes.

Your mind wanders back to last summer immediately, the memories of Wanda, and you feel horrible. You just want her back. And then you swallow the urge to cry again to accept the juice Mantis offers you.

"We wanted to tell you that we've found a way to help you, too." Gamora says after a moment, causing you to raise your eyebrow. "About the darkhold, and the eternal damnation thing."

"Light topic." You sneer, throwing your arm over your face. The day is hot. "I appreciate the help, of course."

Gamora giggles. "Merlin, I had forgotten how grumpy you get when you're upset."

"I'm not upset, Gamora." You retort angrily. "I'm frustrated."

"Sexually." Nebula sneers, making you grunt in anger, but Mantis holds back a laugh.

"What's your problem with my feelings lately?" You accuse the girl with irritation.

"Not everything is about you, you know." She retorts and you sit up quickly, looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Nebula laughs, rolling her eyes. "In case you haven't noticed, there's a war going on." She says. "We're all stressed and scared. And the three of us have been in the same classes as you, having to watch the same things. But you only have time for Wanda. And now you've broken up, again, because there's some mortal danger, again, that she's caused for you. So, I don't know, but maybe she is right to break up. Ever since you guys started dating everything has been about her, and the trouble she causes!"

"Fuck you, Nebula!" You exclaim angrily, advancing against the girl in front of you. Gamora and Mantis quickly separate you.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Gamora shoves you. "Were you really going to hit her?"

"Fuck this." You curse angrily, taking a step away. "I didn't ask any of you to come after me. I don't need you. I just need Wanda. Fucking leave me alone."

You turn back to the castle, cursing the wild on your way.

//-//-//-//

Loki is the only friend you have now.

You wouldn't call him a friend exactly.

Kaecilius has put you in detention for three days a week, including Saturday, but mostly you just clean the castle. But when he takes you to the seventh floor, and makes you scrape sentences against your own skin, you don't worry about being alone anymore, because Loki is always on that floor.

It takes a week for you to tell him about the requirement room.

" You could have mentioned it earlier, we would have stuck around here." He comments without sounding upset.

Soon it doesn't take long for you two to start seeing each other even when you're not in detention.

You are not surprised that Loki also skips classes, he has always been quite mischievous, but the reason is different from yours.

He knew dark magic. Much more than you or your classmates. And he has no interest in practicing it in class.

"It's stupid." He comments as you are sitting in the armchairs. "Most people will never have the courage or willpower to cast a death curse. It's useless to learn."

"Is that the only reason you don't agree with the teaching at Hogwarts now?" You ask in surprise, setting up the chessboard for yourself as Loki shrugs his shoulders.

"I feel like you're judging me, Hufflepuff." He sneers but you smile, rolling your eyes.

"Honestly, I don't give a damn."

And you really didn't care.

Wanda was avoiding you in the halls, and you were doing the same with your friends and family.

When Iron delivered the mail to the Slytherin table, including Nebula's birthday presents, you wanted to throw up, but all you did was walk away from the Hufflepuff table toward the requirement room.

Without the darkhold, you didn't feel sick, but the anger didn't go away.

Your magic hadn't stabilized, and you were failing at everything, but you couldn't bring yourself to worry about it.

Erik wrote to you, commenting on the importance of you and Wanda practicing magical balancing together, and you burned the letter while crying on the carpet.

And at this rate, time went by.

It was almost the middle of the school year when things started to take a turn for the worse at Hogwarts, and in the wizarding war as well.

Mephisto is getting stronger, and the order is losing. And Kaecillius must be under some pressure from the ministry, maybe for answers from organizations like the Avengers, which are forbidden, because his detentions get too horrible.

It is Saturday again, and you drag yourself to the room where you are supposed to fulfill your detention, but unlike the other days, Kaecillius locks the door.

You only notice because he seems tense and distracted, and there is no feather or book.

"Professor, what will my punishment be today?" You ask confused, and he is nodding to the center of the room as he stands in front of the desk, a few feet from you.

"Miss Stark, today I want to ask some questions and I expect honesty." He declines as he turns to you.

You hiss softly, putting your hands in your pockets.

"Shoot."

Kaecillius doesn't even mind your lack of formality, looking at you with an impassive face.

"What is Mephisto's location?"

You choke in surprise and disbelief. "Excuse me? Why do you think I know that?"

"The ministry has reason enough to suspect that the Order of the Avengers is nothing more than a cover for the death walkers.Your brother, whom I had suspected of being part of that order of delinquents, is no longer at Hogwarts, but you will have to serve." He speaks and with each word you become more outraged. "Now answer me, where is Mephisto?"

" Did you just fucking call my brother a delinquent?" You mutter incredulously. "I have no idea where Mephisto is, what's your problem?"

But you widen your eyes when the professor draws his wand, and you barely have time to swallow dry before the spell hits you in the chest.

It's the cruciatus curse. You know the second it hits you. The sharp pain fills every cell in your body and you scream, not having the strength to stand or with your eyes open, hugging yourself.

"We must not tell lies, Miss Stark." Kaecillius says as soon as he stops enchanting you, the pain disappears in the same instant, but you continue to tremble.

In complete shock and fear, you sob.

"I will ask you again, where is Mephisto?"

You let the tears flow, and shake your head. "I don't know, professor."

Kaecillius lets out a sigh of disappointment. "Some cases are more difficult than others." He comments somberly, taking a step toward her. "Did you know that the record for enduring the Cruciatus curse before madness is six hours? Incredible, isn't it? It happened during the first war, with a muggleborn. You're a half-blood, maybe you can take longer"

He has a devilish grin as he finishes, and you clench your jaw at the threat.

"I don't know where Mephisto is." You repeat, but the professor points his wand at you again.

"My bet is seven hours."

And then the pain returns.

You don't know how long you stay in that room.

But it is long enough for your consciousness to begin to fade. The pain gets so severe that it gradually fades away. You begin to gasp breathlessly, not even able to scream anymore.

Someone help me. Please, help me. Help me. Wanda.

Between the tears you see the floor of the room, and between a twinge of pain, a red light. And everything is dark again.

//-//-//

“Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Warcraft and Wizard is arrested in flagrant by aurors from the ministry of magic this week, full coverage on page..."

You blink confusedly, your eyes getting used to the clarity, while the headline of the Daily Prophet was the first thing your vision caught.

And then you shifted in bed, realizing that you were in a hospital room , and whoever was reading next to you put the paper down when they heard you, and you could behold the curious look on your brother's face.

"Tony?" you whispered confused, and he smiled as he stood up quickly, the newspaper forgotten on the armchair.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" He asked as his hand reached for the loose strands of hair on your face and put them back. "You scared the hell out of me."

"What happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

You thought, and then sighed, closing your eyes for a moment.

"Kaecilius."

Tony bit his lip nervously before speaking.

"I'm sorry." He said, lowering his hand to his own. "I came here as soon as I got the howler from Professor Strange, but honestly, I didn't even need it, because all the newspapers are talking about it."

"What...?" You started in confusion, but Tony hurried to explain.

"Wanda found you, Y/N." He told. "She, well, wasn't exactly happy about the whole thing. I think she lost control. Kaecilius is lucky to be alive if you ask me. She almost destroyed the seventh floor, it was a huge mess. And then the aurors interfered, and soon there were reporters everywhere. I guess now everyone knows she's a scarlet witch."

You widened your eyes, straightening to sit up and grumbling a little in pain. Tony looked at you with concern, asking you to take it easy, but you were already asking about Wanda.

"She's at the ministry of magic." He clarified. "Kaecilius is going on trial for torturing a student, and she will answer for putting everyone in danger."

" What?" you ask incredulously, and Tony sighs.

"Yeah I know it's unfair." He says. "But the minister of magic seems to be looking everywhere for people to blame for his lack of control. The problem is how much of that information will get to Mephisto. The whole ministry seems to be full of walkers."

You ran your hand across your face, frustrated.

"I'm so tired, Tony." You confess in a whisper. "It feels like everything is falling apart around me, and things are only getting worse."

Tony squeezes your hand. "I'm sorry, I really am. This whole situation sucks, and I wanted to help you. I'm trying, sister. I haven't been talking to you as much as I should, but I didn't want you to think you're alone. I'm working on breaking the bond. To free you and Wanda from the prophecy, and the wizarding world from dangers like Mephisto. I'm sorry I haven't been by your side."

You swallow your cry, and nod, trying to smile at Tony. He reaches up to hug you, and you gasp softly, taking a few seconds to relax and let the tears flow.

When you calm down, Tony tells you that he is going to get a Mediwizards to check your situation.

You lie down again, sighing softly. The memories come back with full force, and you choke softly, feeling your body tremble.

It's as if you can feel the curse again, sense the pain on your skin. Opening your eyes and shaking the memories away, you swallow dryly and reach for the glass of water on the nightstand.

You just want Wanda by your side telling you that everything is going to be okay.

//-//-//-//-//

You stay under observation for two days.

Doctor Hank makes a joke about you enjoying St.Mungus more than you should since you keep coming back, but Tony doesn't laugh.

Then you' re going back to Hogwarts by train, because the doctor thinks you shouldn't use magical means of transportation for a few days, and it's weird to take the empty express, but as soon as you arrive at the station, Gamora and Nebula are waiting for you with boxes of candy bought in Hogsmeade, and tight hugs.

You are not surprised by the stares you receive from the other students, but you ignore them as your sisters escort you around the castle to the Hufflepuff communal hall.

"Did you get to talk to Wanda?" Gamora asks as soon as you sit down on your bed, sighing with exhaustion from the train ride. The mention of the other sorceress' name doesn't help.

"Not yet." You say. "And I wouldn't be surprised to hear that she's ignoring me."

Nebula exchanges a look with her sister before sitting down on Mantis' bed, who is hugging her knees and looking at you.

"Honestly, I just want to finish this year without any more problems." You confess as you take off your jacket. And there is a moment of silence before you swallow dryly. "I also wanted to apologize to you guys."

Gamora frowns slightly, but says nothing. You take a deep breath.

"I know I was under the influence of an evil book, but that was still no excuse for treating you guys like that." You begin. "Tony told me about how things are in the wizarding world. Everyone is going through something, and it was selfish of me to think that only my problems matter. I'm sorry."

"Really, Y/N, it's okay." Nebula says, surprising you a bit. "We were all stressed, and well, I think an evil book is a pretty fair excuse." She jokes, making you smile. "Maybe things will get a little better now that Strange is the director."

"Oh, that's right" You comment just then remembering the things Tony updated you on while you were at St.Mungus. Like Kaecillius' resignation, and the position being passed on to Professor Stephen. "But honestly, I won't be at peace until I hear from Wanda."

"The trial isn't until Friday. And the way things are going, we won't get any news until it's over." Gamora warned as she sat down on the bed next to you. "I think the Maximoffs are probably too busy to write."

"What do you think will happen to Wanda?" You ask as you tug at the loose strands of the comforter. Mantis sighs lightly.

"I don't have a good feeling about things, Y/N." She confesses and you frown in concern. "And the stars never lie."

"Thank you, Mantis." You mock softly, and Gamora runs her hands through her hair.

"Let's not be pessimistic, okay?" she says. "Maybe the predictions are about, I don't know, the school finals? It doesn't mean something bad is really going to happen."

You grumble unhappily, grabbing a pillow and sinking your face into it. Gamora strokes your back.

"I'm sure things will work out, Y/N." She says. "Wanda will write as soon as she can."

"Do you guys think Kaecilius will be sent to Azkaban?" Nebula asks next, making you raise your head curiously.

"I wouldn't be so sure." You grumble. "I was actually surprised that he was put on trial at all."

"Well, with the whole mess that happened, it was bound to happen." Gamora said. "More than half the school became aware that he used the cruciatus curse on you, and then the daily prophet. And I didn't even know they were in the castle."

"It was because of Wanda really, wasn't it?" Mantis added. "Kaecillius caused his own ruin. He called the journalists to show what he called progress and decided to torture a student while they were in the castle. Then Wanda destroyed the entire floor and the next morning his arrest was all over the pages."

"I'm just really outraged to know that if no one had seen it, he would probably still be at Hogwarts." Gamora says angrily, and you sigh, agreeing as well as the others.

"Well, you must be hungry, shall we go to the great hall? It's almost dinner time." Gamora comments next, pulling you by the hand. You grumble softly, but agree, and soon you are leaving the communal hall to join the rest of the students.

//-//-//-//-//

You are tapping your fingers gently against the desk as you wait for the History of Magic class to begin.

It is Friday, finally.

You have barely slept because of anxiety about news of Wanda's trial.

Things at Hogwarts have changed a lot this week, all because of Strange's administration.

He restored the old classes, banned the teaching of dark magic, the scandal at the Daily Prophet being enough of an argument that the Minister of Magic no longer had a defense over this kind of teaching at Hogwarts. The restricted session of the library was also put back, and the seventh floor was off-limits because of the destruction Wanda caused, and you unfortunately lost access to the Requirement room.

Mantis was writing what looked like a lunar calendar for the divination class while Professor Okoye didn't arrive, and you started whistling distractedly.

And then Thor Odinson was poking you in the back to get your attention, and you turned around in your chair.

"Hi, Stark, what's up?"

"Fine." You grumbled suspiciously. "Can I help you with something?"

Thor looked almost unsure. "I was just wondering if you know of anything going on with Loki."

You frowned. "Excuse me?"

"I mean if you know if he's sick or something." He explains. "We had a fight, and well, he's not talking to me. And I've noticed that you guys have been kind of close lately, and I was curious if you knew anything and..."

"No, Thor, I'm sorry." You interrupt with a sigh. "Maybe you should ask him that."

Thor assumes a sad expression. "I would, but he's ignoring me. I think it might be about our mother."

You make a confused expression, and Thor looks surprised.

"Our mother, she...died earlier this year, Y/N." Thor counters, and you widen your eyes. "Our family is a name of reference against Mephisto. With the war, the walkers came to our home. She was there while we were here, and Dad was at the ministry."

"I'm so sorry, Thor." You whisper to him, still shocked by the information. He shrugged.

"I thought Loki told you."

"We don't talk about things like that, I guess." You say. "Sorry, I wish I knew how to help you."

"No, it's okay." Thor says with a sad smile. "You being his friend this year is more than enough. I don't like seeing him all alone out here."

You nod lightly, settling into your chair as you notice the teacher entering the room.

Mantis exchanges a look of understanding with you, having overheard the conversation even if accidentally, but she says nothing, and soon you are hearing about the witch hunt in the United States, and you try to focus on that rather than curiosity about how Wanda's trial is going or Loki's current emotional state.

//-//-/-//-//-//

As soon as lunchtime begins, you join the Slytherin table, where some of the students have placed a radio on the table, equally with other students from the other houses, to listen to the trial.

You are not surprised that a student's trial is such an interesting topic for everyone, but after the school started talking about Wanda being a scarlet witch, and the theories circulating around the halls, it was to be expected.

So you sit back while biting your fingertips and listening.

"And now directly from the Ministry of Magic, the trial of seventeen-year-old witch Wanda Maximoff, daughter of legendary witch Erik L-"

Your attention is slightly diverted from the narrative when loud laughter catches your ears.

They are Gryffindor and Slytherin students, exchanging coins. You don't need to hear the conversation to know they are gambling about the trial, the mean laughter and glances in the direction of you and your sisters are enough.

And as if she could feel your growing fury, Gamora touches your shoulder gently.

"Just ignore them, Y/N." She urges and you clench your jaw. " Everything is going to be okay with Wanda."

"I hope you're right, Gamora." You grumble, turning your attention back to the radio.

The narration of the newspaper is generic, and you discover that the audience has been closed off to the reporters.

You take a deep breath, concentrating.

No strange feeling, so Wanda is safe.

You wonder if Erik and Pietro are by her side during the whole thing.

It is only at the end of lunchtime that you have the result.

"It's amazing how things unfold in the ministry this afternoon." Counted the reporter with almost excitement. "After a unanimous vote, the witch Wanda Maximoff was found guilty of endangering her fellow students by not registering as a scarlet witch to the ministry of magic, after it was proven that her father, the sorcerer Erik Lehnsherr knew of her condition, as well as the affiliation with the criminal, Agatha Harkness was also mentioned. The ministry finally decided on Wanda Maximoff's expulsion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizarding"

You felt your stomach plummet.

And everything became a little muffled around you, a soft whistle in your ear. You think Gamora and Nebula were calling for you, but you were getting up, feeling the room getting too small.

Stumbling out, you loosened the knot of your tie, finally stopping in the courtyard as you leaned your body against a pillar.

Wanda had been expelled from Hogwarts, publicly exposed as a Scarlet Witch, and tried as a criminal. You wondered if they would break her wand. Banned wizards led horrible lives.

Your sisters and friends caught up with you quickly, and you let them hug you.

In a few minutes Director Strange is catching up with you as well, and you release Gamora's grip to talk to him.

"Professor, I need to..."

"You cannot leave Hogwarts, Miss Stark." He interrupts with a wave of his hands and you frown in confusion, ready to protest but he is already speaking. "Tony sent a patronus as soon as the results came out, he already figured you'd want to see Miss Maximoff. The ministry is a mess, and Wanda will be staying with her father there for the minister's final decisions. You should stay here, where you are safe."

"That's not fair!" You squawk angrily. "Wanda needs me, I must-"

"She needs you to be safe." He interrupts again seriously, and then lowers his tone slightly as he notices the curious looks of the surrounding students. "Be rational, Miss Stark. Now that the Wizarding community knows the nature of Wanda's powers, how long before Mephisto has enough information and discovers your identity as protector."

You swallow dryly, clenching your fists begrudgingly. Stephen is right. You look away, and he sighs, placing his hand on your shoulder.

"Wanda will be fine, even without her NEWTS, she is an extraordinary witch." He says. "And the year is coming to an end, soon you will be able to see her again."

"She needs me now." You grumble annoyed, turning away from the professor's touch. He looks at you for a moment and then clears his throat.

"I'll see what I can do, Miss Stark." He says."In the meantime, focus on your studies, and be careful."

You frown at Stephen's words, but he is already turning and leaving before you can ask.

As you turn to your friends, Gamora has a worried look on her face.

"Are you okay?" She asks, and you sigh, agreeing to hug her again as you mumble no.

"I can feel how upset she is, Gamora." You grumble against your sister's shirt, wishing you could hug Wanda now. Gamora squeezes you against her arms, and you thank her for her intention even if it isn't enough.

The next few days are like a blur for you.

Many letters arrive, as do many editions of the Daily Prophet.

When the picture of the day Wanda's wand was broken comes out on the front page and you see her tired face, you have to run out of the common room to keep from crying in front of your colleagues.

Everyone writes to you, even Carol, everyone but the Maximoffs.

It is frustrating, and honestly, it breaks your heart in many ways.

The news of a Scarlet Witch after a century is almost as bombastic as Mephisto's return, and you're not surprised that many of your colleagues would start to comment on the possibility of Wanda working with him or against him.

It's overwhelming how everyone talks about her, but all you can feel is how much you miss her around the castle, around you.

You couldn't even remember that your magic is stable, and with everything that has happened, you haven't had time to figure out how to fix things.

Stephen tried to help, but he didn't know what was going on. At least the theoretical part of magic you were able to master, and you hoped to get at least an acceptable score in some subjects.

Only almost a week and a half after the trial, Professor Strange interrupts the potions class to talk to you.

Ignoring the curious stares and whispers of your classmates, you ask Professor Munroe to excuse you, and leave the room.

"What is wrong, professor?" You ask curiously as you close the door, watching Stephen with his hands in his pockets.The dungeons feel emptier without the ministry aurors around the castle.

"Saturday, in the Astronomy tower, nine-thirteen at night." He says as he hands you a small gold key, causing you to frown in confusion. "You will have exactly one hour, Miss Stark. Not a second more."

You stare at the object in your hand, and understand. A portal key. To Wanda.

"Thank you, Professor." You say, and Stephen nods before leaving.

You turn back to potions, the object in your pocket. You could barely contain your anxiety.

//-//-//-//-//-//-//

Tag list> @imapotatao / @aimezvousbrahms/ @ensorcellme/ @helloalycia || @mionemymind / @abimess / @stephanieromanoff / @yourtaletotell / @tomy5girls / @justagaypanicking / @thegayw1tch / @idek-5 // @myperfectlovepoem // @helloalycia // @ENSORCELLME // @AIMEZVOUSBRAHMS // @drpepperobsessed // @sighsam // @olsensnpm // @sxfwap // @table57 // @madamevirgo // @causeitswhatjesuswouldfreakingdo // @emptysince18x // @xastrydx || @yuhloversxx || @ymzki-haruki || @wouldirunofftheworldsomeday || @lostandsearching || @lezzzbehonesthere || @musicinourlips || @chaekhan || @diaryoflife || @nervoustrack || @aquamarinescarlet || @cristin-rjd || @idamaemann || @fortunatelynerdylight || @iliketozoneout || @blackwow34 // @tiny--freak || @spongebobtentacles || @cyberbonesworld ||

A/F/N> Place your bets for my next comeback (a week, a month or tomorrow?). If I delete the blog, and you're in love with this story for some reason I don't know about because there are so many better things to read, know that I'll post everything on AO3 if I ever do.

[heloisedaphnebrightmore]

Deception [Benedict Bridgerton x Reader]

Title: Deception Pairing: Benedict Bridgerton x Female!Reader Word count: 4.5k Published: 21 March 2021 Author: Heloise Daphne Brightmore Summary: Violet's constant search for a wife for her second eldest son has become too much for Benedict. The only escape he sees is to ask you to pretend to be courting each other. But how long will it work for with your feelings eating you up from the inside. Bingo: [x] This is part of my Make me feel Bingo Card by @girl-next-door-writes​​​

Square filled: Fake dating

Bridgerton Masterlist | Masterlists

Make me feel Bingo Masterlist

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Benedict Bridgerton was a very capable man. He had a tremendous amount of talent in capturing the real beauty of the world in his drawings. He was confident, but still genuinely kind and caring for his loved ones. He also had a rather playful side to him, a somewhat child-like behaviour, one that the ton would not have appreciated in their society, but Benedict had the privilege to show his real personality to those who loved him, ones that never judged him for who he was.

However, there was one person he felt utterly useless around. When it came to you, he turned into an adorable mess, a clumsy one at that, even stuttering on occasions. Should you have known the reason for his unusual behaviour, it would have brought a rather large smile to your face, but Benedict dared not to reveal his feelings for you.

For someone who has been friends for so long, you both seemed to have found it hard to show your true feelings for one another, as though both of you were clueless. For Benedict it seemed you only spared as much attention to him as a friend would, whilst you thought he was merely looking out for you as a brother figure.

You sat in the ballroom, watching as he grimaced at his mother, who might have slightly forced her second oldest child to dance with one of the many stunning unwed ladies. The one he was forced to dance with however seemed to enjoy Benedict's company. He didn't talk, nor did he look at the woman, still she shined brighter than a diamond in his arms, proud to be so close to such a fine man.

Heaving a heavy sigh, you watched as he held his hand firmly on her back, leading her around the dance floor, making her giggle by just being close to her. Your heart ached at the thought of ever having to give up on him, at the thought of seeing him with another, someone he would choose to love, ignoring to see your longing gazes forgotten on him. How could he have seen, he never dared to look when he felt your eyes on him, nor did you dared to look when he forgot his on you.

Standing up from your chair, you walked towards the terrace, needing fresh air, trying to clear your thoughts as the slightly cool, windy weather stroked your cheeks. You knew you shouldn't have thought of him romantically, but you would have been a fool not to notice the handsome and caring man he has grown into. Watching Lady Bridgerton trying to find a wife to her son hurt both emotionally and physically and you couldn't wait for the season to end, to leave the balls and play-pretend behind you, running away from the inevitable.

"Help me!" you heard his desperate voice, but before you could have turned around, you felt his hand lock around your wrist, gently, but in a haste, dragging you after himself.

"Benedict, what are you doing?" you asked in confusion, trying to understand his chaotic behaviour as he pulled you along, passing corridors by corridors in the gigantic mansion.

"My mother," he sighed as he stopped his steps, breathing heavily. "My mother is becoming—" you waited for him to continue, but he seemed to have been stuck in his thoughts.

"Are you alright?" you asked, frowning at his frozen state, as though he couldn't find the words and his thoughts overruled his actions. You watched his hunched back as he fought to get enough air in his lungs, his eyes focused on a certain point on the marble flooring, completely out of the present. "Benedict!" you called him again, this time firmly, attempting to catch his attention.

"I know it!" he exclaimed, making you jump slightly at his unexpected enthusiasm as a rather wide smile spread across his face.

"What do you know exactly?" you inquired.

"It might sound foolish at first and I do not blame you if you think I have lost my mind, but I need your help," he explained, leaving you even more curious.

"What would I need to help you with?" you asked furrowing at the man as if he has forgotten to include you in his grand idea.

"My mother has been adamant in finding me a wife and there is only so much I can do to prevent her from continuing her crusade. I know I shouldn't ask you such a thing, but I can't possibly think of anyone else who I trust enough," he continued in a secretive manner.

"Benedict, you must be clearer. I don't understand what you wish for me to do," you attempted to push him to finally reveal his idea.

"I need my mother to stop searching for a wife and the only way I can do that is if I already found someone I am interested in," he started. "That is where I would need your help, if you agreed. Should you agree to pretend I am courting you, my mother would surely stop this nonsense and leave me alone," for a mere second you felt overwhelmed by the hope of his interest in you, but that was only until your brain processed his words. "Pretend" being the main focus of your attention, shattering the small shimmering light of hope within you.

You took a shaky breath, trying to compose yourself, attempting to hide your disappointment. "Surely you didn't think this through. Your mother isn't a fool, she would see through us immediately. You can't possibly think it's a good idea," you tried to reason with him, but instead of thinking it through again, he quickly shook his head.

"But it is. Think about it. You have said so yourself, you don't want to marry just yet and nor do I. It would be the perfect option for both of us, solving our issues," he added enthusiastically as if his idea was anything, but brilliant. He could clearly see the weary expression across your face as he stepped closer and reached for your hands, engulfing them in his large and warm palms. "We would only have to pretend for a short while, I promise," he tried to reassure you. Whilst you knew it was a foolish idea, the thought of being able to stay close to him even if for a short period of time, seemed to cloud your better judgement.

"For how long?" you asked looking up at him as a mischievous grin spread across his dashingly handsome face. One that you adored so much. "I wouldn't want to be a spinster, Benedict," you sighed heavily.

"I would never let that happen," he shook his head quickly, his previously playful smile long gone from his face. "Let us do it for a few weeks and we will see how my mother reacts. I'm sure if we work well together, you might even catch the attention of some very noble men too," he winked jokingly, trying to lift your dull mood.

You haven't had much time to contemplate, maybe a few seconds until you ran through all the options you have been provided with, which was basically none. You heaved a heavy sigh and shook your head, offering a sceptical look to Benedict. "Fine," you said, earning a surprised expression from him, your answer shocking him for a second, before he wrapped his arms around your waist and lifted you up, twirling you around happily.

"You are my saviour," he chuckled as he hinted a small kiss on your forehead, stopping himself as he realised what he had done. "I apologise, I didn't mean to—"

"I understand. You are simply happy I have agreed to such a scandalous idea," you rolled your eyes, but you couldn't hide the happiness you felt. Even if for a short while, Benedict was to belong to you, and it meant more than you could have possibly expressed. You knew you couldn't have him forever but having him for a couple of weeks made you feel like the happiest person alive.

"I owe you! I didn't think you would agree," he grinned happily, a childish warmness radiating from his stance as though he had won a grand prize.

"I still don't understand why I did. Surely, I'm a fool," you added quickly with a silent chuckle.

"We both are," he replied as he started leading you back to the ballroom with your arm linked around his. His gaze focused on the way ahead, but your eyes were rather resting on his attractive features. He was a stunning man, and you were sure if he had turned to look at you, he would have seen the amount of love you were harbouring for him. But as many times before, no one of you has ever turned.

Weeks passed by and if anyone, Violet Bridgerton was the happiest person to see Benedict growing closer to the woman, you, she had envisioned beside her second eldest son. She has made it very clear that a wedding should soon be happening, wanting nothing but a little baby in her arms. You never wanted to crash her dreams but hearing her talking about a future between you and Benedict was beyond painful. The thought of you waking up beside Benedict, his arm resting across your waist, his neck hidden in the crook of your neck, his breath tickling your skin made your heart ache, knowing it was impossible.

You stood in Somerset House, one arm hooked around Benedict's as he watched the paintings, his face focused on one particular art with dark colours and shadings, slightly depressing as if the artist tried to capture a horrible emotion. Art was always something that you found beautiful, but never really understood. When Benedict talked about the meaning behind each piece with a childish happiness across his face, it made you feel content. Although you didn't understand much of what he was saying, the adorable expression he wore was worth each and every moment you spent listening to him.

Looking at his handsome features as they relaxed into a content smile, made you mirror his expression. You couldn't look at him and not smile. As though his mere presence made you feel at ease.

"I feel your eyes on me," he chuckled with a mischievous smile, knowing that you have indeed been staring at him for the longest time.

"I'm sorry," you quickly turned away, feeling your cheeks and ears heat up in embarrassment. "I couldn't stop watching you. You were really focused on that painting and it seemed as though you were here physically, but not mentally. You unintentionally make this face when you enjoy a painting," you smiled shyly.

"A face?" he furrowed, not knowing of his own reaction.

"Yes, as if you were completely captured by the painting. You have a certain content smile across your face and even forget to blink at times," you giggled, placing your hand in front of your mouth, remembering his facial expression.

"Don't hide your smile," he said as he reached for your wrist and gently wrapped his fingers around your arm, pulling your hand away from your lips. "You are even more beautiful when you smile," for a second his words made you hope, as though he meant more than he let on. His eyes seemed as if they could see through you, reading each and every single thought that crossed your mind. For the shortest of time, it felt your feelings weren't as unrequited as you thought. However, you quickly had to remind yourself that your imagination was playing a painful game with you, one that would surely end in a heartbreak.

You quickly turned away, trying to shake those foolish thoughts away, before you decided to dwell on them any longer. Clearing your thoughts, you turned back to him with a phony smile across your face, biting your bottom lip to calm yourself. But his deep frown left you confused. "Are you okay?" you questioned as he tilted his head as if he was studying your face.

"You were biting your lips again," he replied. "You do that when you are nervous or feeling uncomfortable," he added, stunning you. Biting your lips was indeed a nervous habit of yours, one that you couldn't stop as it made you feel slightly at ease when you felt as if even your own thoughts betrayed you. You never thought Benedict even realised those irrelevant, minor details.

"I'm fine, Benedict," you tried to reassure him with a smile that you wore confidently but could not fool Benedict.

"Should you feel the need to talk, I'm here," he said, drawing tiny circles on the back of your arm that he was still securely holding onto, reassuring you that he was by your side whenever you were in need of him.

As happy as it made you, you couldn't shake the feeling of disappointment as you thought about the heartbreak when he would finally want to end your foolish little game and find himself a wife that he could cherish forever, leaving you with the most horrible heartache one could cause.

You knew it was inevitable, you knew it would kill you, but you loved Benedict and you would have never forced him to stay beside you for any longer than he wanted to. You were ready to give him up, to be happy even if with someone else. The thought of letting him go hurt, but you weren't sure of your own strength either. Thinking about how long you could stay beside him pretending to be a mere friend left you with just as much pain, if not more. But you were ready to sacrifice your own happiness even if to be able to spend one more second with him.

Days passed by since your slightly awkward encounter in Somerset House. You have pretended to be a couple so in love that you couldn't possibly stay away from each other. Lady Whistledown didn't miss to write a paragraph or two about the two of you, already planning your wedding, one that you found slightly excessive, but dared not to mention to keep your act believable.

As much as you enjoyed the first few weeks of your play-pretend, it was hard to keep it up for long. You loved every minute you spent with Benedict, but the longer you were beside him, the more pain you felt. You wished to make him happy, to continue your act, but you also knew that it wasn't forever, and that tiny little thought suffocated you.

You sat on a bench in the park, right after promenading with Benedict. He joined his brothers whilst your maid brought you a glass of water to refresh yourself. You watched as Benedict laughed with his brothers, a wide, adorable and carefree smile sat across his face. Weeks ago, you would have smiled at his happiness, but then and there, sitting on the bench, watching his happy form, you felt miserable. Each time you looked at him, your stomach jumped nervously, your breath caught in your lungs as he touched your arm. These tiny little details meant nothing to him, but for you they meant the world. He couldn't have known the effects his advances left on you, he couldn't have predicted to hurt you unintentionally, but in the end, he unknowingly caused you pain.

Standing up from the bench, you started walking towards the Bridgerton brothers. Heaving a heavy sight, you lifted your arm and tapped Benedict's shoulder lightly, trying to catch his attention. He turned around with a wide smile, looking at you curiously. However, your face must have forgotten to oblige as his smile quickly disappeared and concern took over him.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he nodded to his brothers and reached for your hand, placing it on his arm, leading you away from his family.

"I must talk to you," you started, your voice unusually grim.

"Go ahead. You are worrying me," he added impatiently. Trying to collect your thoughts, you stopped, halting the man beside you whose worried eyes didn't seem to want to leave you for a mere second. "Talk to me," he attempted to reassure you.

"I am really sorry, but I can't possibly do this anymore," your words earned a confused frown from Benedict, before he finally understood what you meant. "I know I promised to help you and I wish I could have done it longer, but I honestly can't do this anymore," you added as you fought against your tears, trying to keep them in place for as long as you could. You couldn't let yourself cry in front of so many people, you couldn't let that happen. Benedict straightened himself in front of you, trying to hide your face from the curious eyes.

"I understand. I am sorry for forcing you to do this. I never thought it could be this hard on you. I would never hurt you, you know that, right?" he asked, trying to contain himself from wrapping his arms around you, fidgeting with his hands beside his thighs.

"I know and you didn't hurt me, it's not your fault. It has just become rather difficult recently and I don't think I'm capable of pretending anymore," you tried to reassure him, making him feel less guilty. "I'm still your friend and I will always be your friend," you added with a phoney smile. Your own words were a lie. You didn't know how long you could pretend to be his friend, but you knew he needed to hear that, he needed not to blame himself. "I will be going home now, but surely I will see you later," you smiled up at him as you curtsied and nodded towards your maid, ready to head home, completely oblivious to the pained gaze he was watching your slowly disappearing form with.

Whilst you sat in your carriage, letting your tears finally run down your cheeks, leaning on your maid's shoulder, Benedict stood confused between Colin and Anthony, his eyes fixed on the ground, his thoughts filled with you only.

"Brother?" Colin called for him with concern in his eyes. It was unusual to see his brother unresponsive, without a playful smile. "Are you alright?" he asked, earning a frown from Benedict.

"I shouldn't have dragged her into this," he replied, but his words were directed more to himself than his brothers.

"What do you mean?" Anthony asked, seemingly more interested in their conversation.

"It was all a lie," Benedict replied, his gaze still fixed on the carefully cut grass.

"What was a lie?" the eldest Bridgerton brother asked again.

"All along we were pretending to be courting, so mother would stop trying to force me to marry," he scoffed, finally understanding the weight of his idea. "She said she can't do this anymore. That it was too painful to bear," he shook his head, guilt overcoming him.

"You really are a fool," Anthony replied with a sceptical look across his face, earning a confused look from both Colin and Benedict.

"How do you mean? Is it because we have been pretending?" Benedict questioned his brother. "I know it was foolish, but she agreed, I didn't know it would be particularly hard on her," he added with a deep frown.

"Brother, can you not see the way she looks at you? Always trying to make you feel happy, bringing a smile to your face even when she, herself is struggling to do so? Are you really that blind?" Anthony raised a questioning brow, as though he couldn't believe how oblivious his brother was towards your feelings.

"Should I understand?" he asked tilting his head innocently, searching for the right explanation. "We have been friends from a very young age, I am certain we have always tried to make each other smile in a difficult situation," he added, earning an eye roll from the eldest Bridgerton brother, ignoring his manners.

"When you said you were courting her, I thought you finally realised that you weren't the only one with feelings beyond friendship. However, after hearing about this foolish idea of yours, forcing a lady to pretend to love you, when in fact she has feelings for you is beyond stupid, brother, and I'm quite disappointed in you for not realising it yourself," he shook his head disapprovingly.

"Are you telling me she has feelings for me?" Benedict asked in disbelief, his brother's words lighting a weak hope within him.

"Indeed, took you long enough to understand," he scoffed.

"I have to talk to her," Benedict added quickly, heading towards the carriages in haste, carefully planning all he needed to tell you.

The ride didn't take long, 20 minutes at most, before he stood in front of your house, his hands shaking slightly, nervousness running through his whole being. Knocking on the door, a maid opened it for him, asking him to wait to announce his arrival to you.

You laid on your bed, cheeks swollen from crying, bottom lip red as a result of the constant biting of your nervous state. A knock on your door brought you out of your misery as your maid walked into the room.

"Mr. Bridgerton is here to see you," she said with a saddened tone, knowing of the arrangement between the two of you. Your eyes widened in surprise, you weren't ready to see him, especially not in your current, heartbroken state. "Would you like me to ask him to leave?" she questioned, looking at the panicked expression across your face.

"No, it's fine. Please take him to the drawing room," you instructed her and headed to the bathroom to make yourself presentable. Your eyes were bloodshot, your face was slightly swollen, and your clothes were beyond wrinkled. Attempting to straighten your dress, you stroked the material over and over again, but it didn't seem to work, nor did the cold water you washed your face with to remove the evidence of your miserable state. At last, you gave up and walked to the drawing room, knowing you wouldn't be able to do anything else with your appearance.

"We have just parted, Benedict," you said to the man as you stepped inside the room and took a seat across the sofa he occupied.

"I needed to see you," he replied, standing up from his place and taking a seat beside you. "I—, I talked to my brothers after you left," he started, stammering over his words, something he only did in his nervous state. "I am a fool and there is no excuse for that. I can't possibly imagine how hard it must have been for you to pretend—"

"I have told you already, I am completely fine," you tried to reassure him with a faux smile, one that this time Benedict didn't believe to be genuine.

"But are you?" he asked, earning a confused frown from you. "Do you know why I thought this foolish idea to be brilliant in the first place?" he raised a questioning brow, but instead of replying you shook your head. "I wanted to be closer to you. I merely thought it would be my chance to spend more time with you. Surely, I had no intention to marry anyone, and I wished my mother to stop, but my primary concern was you. I wanted to be near you at all times, but I couldn't possibly tell you how I felt, knowing you would only reject me," you couldn't control the surprise sitting across your face, your lips parted in shock, his words seemingly part of your most precious dreams. It seemed surreal.

"You are confusing me, Benedict," you spoke up, trying not to hope once again to then fall painfully.

"I'm saying I love you. I have loved you for so long, I can't remember when it started. I never imagined my feelings could be returned and I turned to foolish ideas to be beside you. I needed my brothers to open my eyes and scold me for being childish, for making me hope that I might have your heart even if only half as much as you have mine," he reached for you hand, gently squeezing it in his hold, reassuring you that he meant every single word of his.

"I love you," you blurted out, astonished by his speech, your own words surprising you.

"You do?" he asked, afraid to believe the words he has longed to hear from you.

"I do," you nodded, this time with more confidence, earning a wholehearted smile from Benedict as he leaned closer and wrapped his arms around you, embracing you in his arms.

"I made you cry, didn't I?" he asked as he pulled away slightly, enough for him to be able to look in your eyes as he placed his hands on your cheeks.

"It wasn't you. I was emotional, because I wasn't sure how long I would be able to stay beside you as a friend before it became too much to handle," you giggled awkwardly, feeling as if you have said too much.

"It was still my fault. I didn't consider your feelings," he shook his head, disapproving of his own actions. The tip of his thumb gently brushed across your bottom lip, leaving you with a ticklish feeling. "Have you been biting your lips again?" he asked as his eyes focused on your mouth. His attentiveness, his attention to detail and his closeness made you swallow nervously.

"I might have," you whispered, not daring to raise your voice any louder. Feeling his breath on your lips, the proximity between your faces, his warm palms on your cheeks made you feel intoxicated.

"You shouldn't do that. From now on talk to me when something bothers you," he spoke in a low tone, his voice soothing, making you feel safe. "You are doing it again," he chuckled, his eyes completely captured by the way your teeth bit on your lip, but this time it wasn't nervousness, but excitement. His closeness affected every tiny part of your body. "It really makes me want to kiss you," he breathed, completely mesmerised by your lips, as if an invisible force was pulling him towards you. You felt your heart beating at a dangerous pace, almost as if threatening to escape your chest and you could swear Benedict heard it just as well.

"Hmm," you hummed in a reply, incapable of creating a coherent sentence, before closing the gap between the two of you, a certain confidence rush taking over your actions. Instead of the surprised reaction you expected from Benedict, a playful chuckle left his lungs.

"Impatient, it seems," he added, before he returned your kiss, pulling you closer to himself, enjoying the feeling of your body in his embrace. He has imagined over and over again how it could feel to kiss you, to hold you, but none of those made-up scenarios could ever compete against the reality and the content it filled him with. "I wish to genuinely court you this time," he added as he pulled away from you.

"I very much hope so," you giggled happily, earning a playful eye roll from Benedict, before he captured your lips once again, wrapping his arms around you securely.

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[tteokdoroki]

hello! if you’re still doing these could i please request 7 with Bakugou?

if you’re not taking them pls delete !! 💕

katsuki bakugou x gn!reader.

tteokdoroki teaparty event masterpost!!

♡ prompt #7  —  reader has a secret admirer, character of choice doesn’t know how to confess.

♡ genre: everyone, fluff + slight angst.

♡ word count: 1.8K

♡ warnings: cursiing!

♡ author’s notes: thank you for requestiing my lovely !!

yet again, warmth spreads underneath your skin and across your chest at the sight of the chocolates displayed cutely across your desk. for the last week or so, you’d received a flurry of gifts from an unknown admirer— each attached to a sweet note, written with such deep feelings that every time you read one your heart thumped loudly in your chest.  

“let me guess, another one?” mina swoons from your right, joining you in the empty classroom for the day ahead. pink hair tickles at the junction between your head and your shoulder as she reaches for the box of sweets in your grip— you don’t bother putting up a fight, knowing she’d take it from you anyway. “that’s like the third time this week, yn.”

bowing your head shyly, you run your fingers over the small note that lays unfolded on your desk. ‘for you, i’d do anything.’ it reads and you wonder for the umpteenth time; you out of all of classmates is capable of writing such a thing. “i know, i really wish i knew who’s sending them— no ones ever quite done something like this for me before.” you voice is quiet and hopeful, a contrast to the bustling energetic babbles that come from your third year classmates as they filter in for the day ahead. you scan them all to look for a possible source, knowing that your heart could belong to anyone of them.

“it’s gotta be deku!” kaminari cuts through your train of thought like a knife through butter— throwing his arm around your shoulders as he plucks the box of chocolates from mina’s grip, much to her annoyance. “he’s like the sweetest dude in the class, there’s no way it could be anyone else. we’re not capable of cute shit like that.” you roll your eyes and allow your friend to tear open the box for a morning treat but let your gaze slip over to where izuku chats animatedly with ochako. not him.

jirou is next to speak, ripping the box from the blonde to take it to her desk beside yours. kaminari whines as the girl divides up the sweet snacks for, taking one for both herself and mina. chaos is ensuing and yet again, your friends are the centre of it. “nah, my bet’s on sato...how else would yn be getting so many sweet treats every day?”

the group falls silent, mulling over the choice as you finally take a seat and swipe one of the chocolates for yourself. popping it into your mouth, you huff in frustration.

“doesn’t make sense, everything gifted to me so far has been insanely exclusive or expensive...some are even my favourites from abroad and— i don’t speak to sato enough for him to know them...“ you admit, pawing your cheeks with embarrassment.

“maybe it’s kirishima then! you guys are always together and he kinda seems like the romantic type..?” your pink haired friend suggests and the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. it was true, you were both always together— even if it was in the presence of others like bakugou and kaminari— and had more than enough in common, from music tastes to gaming. you could see the hardening hero as someone you’d go for as well, eijirou was an obvious choice. “what do you think, bakugou?”

you peek up from the note ( neatly folded ) and box of chocolates ( now returned ) that sit on your desk, catching the arrival of your final three friends. bakugou, sero and kirishima himself. you feel body flush with warmth as you catch the latter’s ruby eyed gaze and give him a small wave accompanied by a smile; that kirishima quickly returns.  

the blonde however, tsks at mina’s question before making his way to his seat. you considered yourself and katsuki to be good friends; it was usually quiet whenever you too were around one another which was a nice change of pace from his usual rowdy personality— but the majority of your time with each other was spent with him teasing you for your quirk.

“‘m callin’ bullshit. whoever this is should hurry up and face how they feel. the candy shit is stupid.” bakugou growls out, throwing his backpack onto the desk; ready to begin class. in all three years of knowing him, he’d never showed any signs of romantic interest towards anyone in your class, especially you. meaning that your admirer, definitely bakugou.

you turn away from him and your group of friends to face the board, ignoring how they scold him for his harsh words. “right, stupid...” you sigh quietly, just as aizawa enters the room.

ever since your brief conversation with the explosive boy himself, bakugou had been increasingly rude to you throughout the day and it was starting to get on your last nerves. at first, it had been subtle— bumping you in the corridors between classes, pretending he didn’t have an extra pen for you when you knew that he carried spares for your friends who often forgot and then he’d straight up ignored your invitation to study during lunch like you usually did.

you figured that the blonde was having a bad day, bakugou was never usually this harsh to you and you could talk it out with him later. this behaviour was something you hadn’t seen from your friend since first year, and you almost believed that something else had been bothering him— until he almost blew you high into the sky during hero training that afternoon. of course you called him out on it, yelling at him in front of the entire class as your frustrations finally bubbled over but bakugou remained straight faced— leading to your current predicament.

aizawa thought it was best for the two of you to work things out over cleaning duties after school— something you thought you’d been well past seeing as you were third years now. mature, grown up third years who knew how to talk about their problems. apparently, katsuki bakugou was not one of them. even while you rearranged chairs and swept under desks, he still managed to crawl under your skin with petty remarks and hums of disapproval.

it’s only when you realised that katsuki had been actively trying to avoid your gaze or rather, your entire presence— that you snapped, dropping the broom you held in your hands and letting it clatter to the floor beside him, ultimately grabbing his attention.

“are you fucking insane—?”

“what the hell is your problem, bakugou?” you slice right through his words, a quiet rage flooding your bloodstream as you glare down at him. the boy himself looks dumbfounded, having never heard you talk to him in such away, before and stops shelving the books he had been holding. “did i do something to you?”

“like I’d let you do anythin’ to piss me off.”

god, he infuriates you. you step closer to the blonde, who stands at least half a head taller than you and shove at his chest as best you can— needing an outlet for your frustrations. “then why have you been acting like an asshole all day? first you blow me off and then you quite literally blow me up, and now? you’re avoiding me?” your fists curl in his untucked shirt, tugging at it as all of your emotions spill out into the space between you. “i don’t know what i did, but it doesn’t mean you get to treat your friend like shit, katsuki. you’ve been so mean to me today!”

bakugou looks away, avoiding your eyes that cloud with a sadness he can’t bare to face. you tell yourself not to cry, hating the way your bottom lip wobbles at his change in attitude. “’m mean to everyone, there’s nothin’ special about you.” he excuses himself, trying to step away from you.

“but not to me, you know that,” your voice shakes, everything you’d held back finally slipping through opened cracks. why was he treating you this way? what had you done to deserve this? you glance up, trying to find his vermillion eyes and the answers that may lie behind them. “you’ve been acting so...so off, since this morning, when mina asked about my admirer. you called it stupid. is it so hard to believe that someone, that kirishima might even like me?” the grip you had on bakugou’s shirt loosens but you remain leaning against him, neither of you daring to breathe. “why should i even care what you think? you’ve never been one for romance...u-unless you count the manga that you read but i don’t know how that would...”

and then your babbling stops, realisation washing over you in heavy waves. bakugou appears visibly tense before you, fist clenching and unclenching by his aides as you process your own train of thought. he hadn’t been mean to you for the sake of it, he had been because he didn’t know how else to express his feelings of jealously. it wasn’t kirishima that had been sending you notes, no— it had been bakugou all along. “how that would relate to me...” you think out loud, feeling him flinch beneath your grip. “k-katsuki...do you have a crush on me?”

“...don’t...” the blonde warns, heat rushing to his cheeks at your very accusation. a smile comes rushing to your cheeks, the familiar warmth finding its way back into your chest. “don’t look at me like that, fucker. i-i’m not good at this emotion shit, you know that and this was easier than talking— yn, stop fucking lookin’ at me like that.”

the almost whine that slips from between katsuki’s lips makes your tummy fill with affectionate butterflies, causing you to finally let go of his poor shirt and throw your arms around him in a tight hug. bakugou hesitates for a moment, trying to decode the situation and decide for himself if this was real— but you decide to do the talking and tell him foot yourself. “can’t help it, not when i feel the same way about you, katsuki.” you knew that no matter who was behind your little gifts and love notes, your heart would belong to your admirer and your admirer alone. with a rush of adrenaline after feeling katsuki return your embrace, you lean up to press a soft lingering kiss to his chapped lips.

he tastes like honey and smoke, feels warm like a soft summer breeze but as your lips love together and speak a thousand unspoken confessions, the pair of you realise that you never want the moment to end. “i meant what i said in that last note,” bakugou hums softly, pressing his forehead to yours and holding you close as if you’re going to disappear or suddenly realise your feelings for him aren’t true. “i’d do anything for you...”

“anything?” for the second time that day, you swoon at the blonde’s words and peck his nose gently.

he nods once, lost in thought before speaking again. “except for buy you those fucking chocolates again. they’re fucking expensive, cost a shitload.”

you snort at that, leaning up to lock lips him again— who needed chocolate when you could kiss katsuki bakugou instead.

[hannah-the-red-head]

A Third Submission to the Imagines Society”

(League of villains meets an Autistic child with a quirk that is the definition of too good for this world and then some)

You were a tiny thing when Twice, Toga and Magne stumbled across you at the park, staring intently at what looked like your shoes with your back turned.

Magne summarized that you were most likely around 5 or 6 years old based on the kindergarten uniform you wore, the adorable hat hanging on your back while your (h/l), (h/s) (h/c) was out and about. Usually, the tree would lose interest after a while and go about their merry way.

But there was something about you that made them stay, Toga’s curiosity getting the best of her as she skipped over to where you were on your knees, she then peeked over a shoulder to see you staring in awe at butterfly that was softly moving it’s wings while resting on the petals of a blossom planted in the nearby garden.

It was one that she had never seen before, well at least in real life, but the sandy blonde remembered that she had once seen it on the internet somewhere.

It was a monarch butterfly, and last she or anyone else knew, the species were hanging by a thread and close to extinction over the last 56 years. She had admit that the pictures were close to nothing compared to the real thing as Toga watched with starry eyes at how the orange colors splashed with black and white glowed in the sunlight.

Magne herself, followed by Twice then decided to follow toga’s lead when she began to giggle like an actual schoolgirl instead of the blood obsessed vampire they knew and loved. The two peeking at the sight of both you and Toga being the surprising perches of a collection of what looked to be more Monarch butterflies that seemingly appeared out of no where.

And one of them was perched right on the tip of Toga’s nose.

Meanwhile, you had taken notice that you had a butterfly watching buddy the second you felt her crouched down next to you, your glowing (e/c) eyes staring at her with curiosity before deciding that she was interesting enough for you to deem her harmless, despite not knowing the truth.

Because in your young and innocent head, anyone that appreciated butterflies as much as you did was a good person and/or possible friend in your book.

She looked at you when she felt your eyes on her and gave you a big smile, which from what you learned meant that she was happy. So that meant that she likes you too. You smiled widely back and a series of bright rainbow colored balls of light lifted themselves off your little form, your quirk creating more butterflies from them while your new friend’s eyes sparkled.

Your quirk was called Wonder, the specialist who gave it that name having been inspired by the same emotion felt after witnessing you use your quirk at first hand to bring a rat back to life after it had been killed by a mousetrap, and later on when they returned back to the room to see that it had been filled with butterflies flying beautifully above them.

Nowadays, you mainly used your quirk to create butterflies.

Why?

Because butterflies made you happy, they made you calm, they took your worries away... and watching them was akin to what your therapist at the orphanage called stimming, your hand movements if you easily became overwhelmed resembling a butterfly flapping it’s delicate wings.

You were also fond of anything that felt like the texture closest to what you thought butterfly wings looked. However, this obsession was also the reason why your were ostracized by the other children, ignored completely by them at the worst despite how hard the workers at the orphanage tried to explain what your condition was.

You didn’t understand why the workers had the need to get the other kids to like you, if you wanted friends, you’d get some yourself on your own.

And you never understood why you had to take speech therapy, wasn’t writing in your notebook enough? You hated loud noises, they scared away things, things that are... nice.

Things like butterflies and rats and rabbits and deer, which meant that you couldn’t appreciate them anymore if they left.

So, why was there a need to make noise or let alone talk? You could never control how loud your voice was anyways. You didn’t care about how sometimes you overheard the caretakers at the orphanage whispered things about how alien you acted.

Which led to where you were now, little you having completely forgotten that you were separated from the other children heading back towards the orphanage after school had finished when you eyes spotted a flower that looked familiar until your quirk manifested the butterfly.

They sounded as if you were broken as a human.

When in reality you weren’t, you weren’t broken and needed to be fixed. At first it made you believe those words, but the moments where your eyes caught onto anything relating to those paper thin wings that radiated with the colors of the rainbow, you’re mind went to an alternate world where those who spoke about your strangeness were nonexistent.

It was then that you remembered seeing the same flower from the picture book at your school, the pink and green flora being the type of chosen roost for the orange, white and black insect to rest on if they got tired.

You never knew how much time passed when you felt your new friend’s presence near you until you turned around silently to see a schoolgirl older than your smiling peacefully at your creation, who then smiled at you.

Smiles meant something good, right?

Your quirk activated instinctually, your subconscious telling you to make your friend happy again by creating more things that made her happy, like how butterflies made you happy. You watched as the manifested insects flew over to the girl and rested on her shoulders, two nestled on the wild hair of her twin buns and one on her nose, the sensation of it’s delicate wings tickling her skin bringing a giggle out of her.

You copied her, giggling as well as you knew that laughing is what friends did. The exchange between you two led to a pair of others appearing behind your friend, the both of them watching in awe at how gentle you were.

Meanwhile in their perspective, Twice and big sis Magne were in awe.

This was a side of Toga that the pair had never seen before, so their interest in you grew steadily as they approached you both, seeing that the number of butterflies had grown the closer the became, the same orbs of light appearing to change into other species before the skies above the park had clouds of multicolored wings flying above like a piece of artwork created by nature.

It felt like a blessing to witness a sight like this, a much desired peace accomplished after so many months of being on the run from heroes and the police.

Twice jumped up and began to comically twirl about among the flocks of winged bugs, his splitting personalities having been silenced by the Nirvana he felt surrounding him, only stopping when he heard a few giggles left your mouth while you tried to keep up with him and Toga’s free styling dances without a care in the world.

The four of you not caring that you were getting strange looks and even scowls from those who crossed your paths in order to get a better look at the butterflies conjured by your beautiful quirk.

By the time the sun had set, you and your new friends had collapsed onto the grass, laughing in between breaths from all the fun you shared in those hours of innocent fun.

And you were the one to give that sense of childhood purity of fun back to them without realizing it. In your mind, you were happy that you had finally made friends by yourself as with a kick of your short legs you sat up and turned to the one closest to you, a tall woman with sunglasses and short hair the other two called “Big Sis Mag”.

You poked her cheek and she turned her face towards yours. Taking a deep breath, you decided to try something new that you hadn’t done or were comfortable with.

You: (Yy...yourrr n....nnamme!).... (Your Name)!

It was hard at first, being silent for most of your childhood being the reason as to why you sounded like a newborn attempting to say their first word. But the pride you felt as you pointed to yourself when you said your name clearly on the second try was amazing.

“Big Sis’” eyebrows shot up in surprise, and you understood why she was shocked as the only noises you made were giggles and squeals.

You: (Your name)!.... B-big sissy... Mmmmmag! Fr...friends! T-t-too...Toga! Fri..ends! Twi...Twice! Friends!

All three had unknown expressions present while you gave them a wide toothy grin that you had never given anyone except for your mama.

Twice: I think I’m gonna cry.... No, I’m not! Grow a pair!

Twice cartoonishly wept through his mask, tears that would only exist within an Animé pouring from the eyes of his black and grey mask before stopping almost immediately, his face changing to that of a stoic man drawn in comic books.

Toga just smiled at Twice, before a weak tug on her cardigan pulled her attentions to you, your arms held out wide and with an excited glow to you. You always remembered the warmth your mother’s hugs were growing up, how safe and loved you felt when your adorable self tackled her leg in a weak koala hug before she pulled you into her own arms.

Toga: Oh does (y/n)-chan want a hug?

You nodded and tackled the blonde, arms wrapped around her neck with you cheek pressed against hers, something your mother called “cuddle bumps” as you hated it when someone kissed you.

You: C-cu-cuddle bu-bumps!

Twice: I want cuddle bumps! No, I don’t that’s weird!

You nuzzled your cheek against hers, the teenage girl internally squealing and hugging you back as she was overcome with a sense of some maternal need to protect you and the light your little self emanated, both figuratively and literally as your quirk caused you to glow a warm pink color.

Toga playfully stuck out her tongue towards him, when an idea came to her.

—————

Shigaraki: And the most logical thing that you could ever think of in that moment.... was to bring this brat home?!

Toga’s cheeks puffed up as she hugged your little form from behind while you fiddled with your quirk, a manifested butterfly perched in the palm of your hand. You loved the feeling of your big sister’s soft cardigan as she hugged you.

Toga: Of course, Shiggy! I mean they’re an orphan left behind by those “caretakers”, we even waited to see if anyone would come looking.

Twice: Yeah, it was so nerve wracking! I was bored beyond belief....

Shigaraki let out an aggravated sigh, knowing that you had wormed your way into the hearts of the most in the league, Dabi being the first to cave when you used your quirk to soothe the pain in his burnt skin. He didn’t know why, but the fire quirk user’s eyes softened when you gazed up at his skin and your smile faded, a look of genuine worry that he possibly never experienced in some time as your tiny hand went up to hold his hand with the both of yours.

The rest of the already shocked league watching as an aura glowed from your small form, the glow then moving up your arms and finally covering Dabi in the glow before then pulling away into orbs that popped like soap bubbles filled with fireflies.

Dabi reacted in a way that not even he could describe as all the unbearable burning pain his scars brought him disappeared, a strange surge of.... calm washed over him.

It was the kind of calm that one would feel when a powerful storm dissipates, allowing the warm sun to bathe the earth once again. 

And it was the type of calm that brought a heavy exhale out of Dabi, almost as if he had finally learned to breathe, tears falling down his cheeks and startling him, a hand shooting up to touch his wet face and pulling it away to see what was falling from his eyes.

This... made the tears fall harder.

Dabi had long forgotten what it felt like to cry actual salt water tears instead of blood. A relieved upwards tilt pulled at his lips as he fell to his knees before you, no words exchanged, just glances and a gentle grip of your joined hands.

You: No pain?

Your concern overweighed your struggling speech, your free hand raising up to hover next to his cheek. He chuckled softly, allowing you to place your hands onto his face.

Dabi: No pain. All better.

Your quirk was befitting for such a gentle, caring and kind being as you.

To put it simply, you could restore a person’s injuries, negative outlook on life due to traumatic experiences, and even their lost sense of morality via through your touch, being in your presence, or even by witnessing your creations first hand.

This was your power, a quirk that purified the evil living within this cruel world.

You could literally restore a person or persons lost sense of morality, your quirk changing a sociopathic killer into a saint seeking redemption just by spending an hour with you. 

Your quirk also allowed you to heal any kind of wound or cure any illness, it could even replace missing limbs and the like as long as you kept your focus.

And it was meant to be protected.

Which is why you were taken into the protection of the league of villains, the only group of people who were the first to actually care for you after your mama’s passing, and didn’t speak badly of you or your condition.

Because they didn’t mind that you were autistic, they didn’t see you as broken or wrong. How did you know that they didn’t ostracize you?

They told you.

Twice: You, broken? Ha, that’s fresh! At least you don’t have more than one voice in your head...

Toga: My quirk needs me to drink the blood of the person i’m going to transform into in order for it to work, and because of that, I was pushed away by everyone for how creepy it made me look.

Magne: Anyone would be proud to call you their kid with a drop of a hat. So what if your special needs, it doesn’t make you any less human, sweetie.

Dabi didn’t say anything when you asked, in your broken speech, if you were broken. Instead, he just ruffled your hair and let you wear his jacket all day.

Compress: This world is filled with imperfections, but who is to say that imperfections are ugly and unwanted. To me, imperfections are where true beauty lies as it shows that despite their flaws, they try again and again to make themselves better.

Spinner: Kid, I am a walking talking lizard with pink hair and a desire to follow Stain’s path to create a society where only those who embody the traits of true heroes like All Might are allowed to become heroes.

You didn’t know how to react as he continued.

Spinner: If anything, you are the most normal out of all of us, so don’t go hating on yourself because you’re brain is wired differently. You’re perfect just the way you are.

Magne: Aww, that’s so sweet of you to say, Spinner!

Spinner: BIG SIS MAGNE?!?! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN THERE?!

Toga: Enough to know that you give the best pep talks!~

[hotchscvm]

i do

Warning: language, major character death, violence, angst

Word count: 3.4k

Summary: Soulmate AU where the last words you will ever hear from your soulmate is written on your wrist so you won't know it's them until you've lost them.

Staring at the words on your wrist, you held back another sigh, tracing the black ink with your finger, dread and sadness washing over you. You shuddered at the words, unable to rid of the lump in your throat.

I do.

Born with the words on your wrist, no one knew when they would meet their soulmates, unknown to who your other half was until they died. It was cruel, knowing the last thing they'll say to you would cause you immense pain. Horror stories stemmed from the agonies of other's pain, movies made out of the tales that would become famous.

Some, those who were protective of their hearts, buried themselves away from others, but fate always led them to their soulmate. No matter how short the time would be stretching from the duration of your life to a single second before you'd lose them. The best outcome to happen was when two lovers let go, and spend their lives together, to die at when they were to, finding out they had spent their lives with their one and only. That possibility was becoming more and more realistic with modern technology and wishful thinking.

Yet, there was some tragedies. The unfortunate ones would have their sentences written on their wrist, knowing they'd only know their soulmate for a short time, or not at all. “It's nice to meet you.” "What's your name?" "Can I get your number?" "Sounds like a date." Not knowing them at all was, to most, was worse than to know them at all.

A few rare situations when your soulmate would die young. Parents told horror stories, reading the words off their kid's wrist. "We're playing dodgeball in gym!" "I didn't do my math homework." "You can come to my birthday party. I'm turning seven next week!"

Then there were the most terrifying stories. They were the ones turned into thrillers, a real life story turned into a disrespectful horror movie. They'd lose each other, aware there was nothing they could do. "I thought you locked the door." "I don't think we're alone." "Behind you!" "Someone's in the house."

Thankful none of the situations applied to you, you still couldn't get the words branded in your wrist out of your head. It lingered, whispering the last words before your heart would be torn, only healed when death came for you. Some looked on the positive side, knowing meeting their soulmate was inevitable.

Natasha broke you out of your reverie as she tackled you down on the mat, leaving you breathless at the sudden attack, confused to how you've become acquaintances with the ground. You spit your hair out, grimacing in disgust as a few strays stuck to your lips. With your hands tied behind your back, and crushed against the former assassin's body, you turned your attention on her smug smile, glaring daggers.

"Okay, get off before Tony pictures us scissoring again." you grunted, too tired to push her off of you. Natasha laughed, letting your wrists go as she shifted her weight off of you, sitting next to you on the thick mat. You rolled onto your back, closing your eyes in exhaustion. "That was unnecessary, Nat."

Spending the day at the gym with Natasha seemed like a good idea after being beaten by Clint the day before. You knew you were getting rusty, without all the life threatening missions and people to save, your skills wasn't needed. Besides, you loved yourself too much for Steve to convince you to join him on his suicide runs. He woke up before the sun rose, and it only took a few runs to realize that even you couldn't keep up with his fast pace. ("Although, I would love to see his fast pace in the bedroom. Ow, Sam!")

After tying the score—despite the lack of training, you and Natasha still tied when it came to hand to hand combat—you had sat down on the bench, which was now sweaty, and sulked, sighing over the words written on your wrist.

Natasha rolled her eyes, leaning on her elbows as she eyed your expression, eyes narrowing when you didn't return her smile. "What's with the sad face? Are you thinking about your soulmate mark again?"

"You know I only allow myself to think about it once every other month." you replied. Natasha made a noise in respond but you ignored it. "Shut up, I know I'm pathetic. No need to voice your opinions."

"You're not pathetic, just compassionate." she whispered, her eyes sparkling with remembrance. Natasha had lost her soulmate on a mission a few years before the Avengers were formed, but it didn't stop her from living her life. You hoped you could follow her path when the horrid time came. "Out of curiosity, if you had to guess, do you think you've met your soulmate by now?"

You've given it much thought, coming up with a good theory that even Tony Stark would be impressed by. Of course, you didn't share it with anyone, giving Nat the simplified version of it. "With the amount of people I've met, I like to think so."

The playful smirk returned to her lips, a wiggle of her eyebrows as she digested your words. "And do you think a certain blond, big-hearted, super soldier might be it?"

You reached for the nearest water bottle, throwing it at her only to have it hit the wall behind her as she dodged it. Natasha laughed, putting distance between you, sensing an attack. You scowled at her but it lacked real annoyance. "Oh my, God. I have, like, the smallest crush on him and you're already planning our children's proms."

"I'm thinking: under the sea." Natasha joked, grinning when the corner of your lips curled up. The both of you burst out laughing, thinking about Natasha in a ridiculous kid-friendly dress as she chaperoned yours and Steve's future offsprings.

As if summoned, Steve chose that moment to enter the training room, freezing in his tracks when he saw you and Natasha cackling. His expression made Natasha double back into another round of laughter while yours subsided in giggles. Steve cleared his throat, looking down as a slight blush decorated his face.

He murmured your name, walking up towards you, his blue eyes eyeing the ground with too much interest. "Did you hear about the party Tony is making all of us go to?"

Natasha stopped laughing immediately, jaw clenching at Tony's betrayal. They had a truce where Natasha would stop hacking into his system to play Spice Girls—with the help of Bruce, of course—and Tony was to stop throwing parties every month. It's been three months since the last party, the one where Natasha has almost killed the billionaire. Tony couldn't hold off any longer. She stood. "I'm going to kill him."

Before either of you could get a word in, Natasha was already out the door, her stance deadly as Tony Stark awaited his death. The door slammed close behind her as Steve sat down beside you on the mat, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.

You admired his ruffled hair, blond strands hanging down on his forehead. You had mentioned to him that he looked sexier with his long hair, and it seemed like he was following your advice. Dressed in a simple black t-shirt and gray sweatpants, Steve Rogers was every girl's waking fantasy. It truly was unfair how good he could look in sweats.

"Hey." you greeted, smiling sweetly at him. Being happy around Steve was as easy as giving Pepper Potts presents. He returned the smile, grinning from ear to ear as he looked away, his cheeks reddening even more. "What can I do for you, Stevie?"

"Thor wanted to have some kind of Asgardian contest that may or may not level the top floor. I thought you might want to do something else, have a peaceful night instead of risking our lives to one of Thor's games?" he asked sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Not letting excitement cloud your senses, you grew cautious, eyes narrowing as you looked around the room, trying to search for a hidden camera that would allow Tony to get you back from ruining his thousand-dollar crocs. Steve Rogers was not asking you out in no way.

Steve saw your expression, quickly backing off. "Only if you want to. I'm sure you missed Thor and all. It's okay, I can suffer a few third degree burns—"

"No!" you shouted, making Steve flinch at the suddenness. You cleared your throat, cheeks heating up. "Uh, I mean, yeah. I wouldn't mind missing the party. Where did you plan on going?"

Slightly surprised, a smile crept on his lips. He ran a hand across his face to hide the cheeky grin. "Wherever you want to go."

You threw him a smile, unhealthily giddy. If Clint were here to comment, he'd compare you to a happy school girl with a massive crush. "Oh. Okay."

A voice interrupted the short silence, scaring both you and Steve. You suspected the AI, Friday, had been invested in your conversation. "If I may make a suggestion, I advise you both to leave sometime in the next hour before Mr. Stark ropes you in. I'm inclined to think Mr. Stark won't be above blackmail."

"Thank you, Friday." you murmured. The AI said it's goodbye, far too amused for your liking.

Steve got up, offering his hand for you. Both of you were smiling like idiots, cheeks hurting from the too-big smiles that adorned your faces. You had a suspicion you somewhat embodied a clown. The super-solider kept his hand wrapped around yours. "Would you like to leave at this moment, or get changed?"

You shook your head, liking the warmth of his touch. "I'm good. Let's leave."

Steve Rogers was a gentleman, that was confirmed by his acts and the influence of being raised right. Despite that fact, he was a savage in the bedroom. Or half the time, out of the bedroom. You had been surprised, yet pleased, when you fell into his bed halfway through the second unofficial date. After that night, Steve finally built the courage to ask you to be his girlfriend—a term he found silly but otherwise a happy milestone.

After years of being friends, Steve was ready to begin the rest of your lives together. No one was surprised, besides you, that he had proposed three months after the first official date. Being head over heels, you excitedly agreed, only to blanch when Tony started a petition to let him plan the wedding with you. Pepper had stopped him.

No one knew what happened the night of Thor's and Tony's party. Though, Steve made a smart choice to ditch it when you both found a floor of the tower littered with blackened metals and slightly burnt walls. The team wouldn't speak of the incident, not that neither you or Steve cared. You had both been too jubilant to interrogate them.

The wedding day came. Steve had been stopped by Thor, failing to sneak into the room you were in. No matter how strong he was, Thor wouldn't allow any bad luck to happen especially after you had lied to him about naming your firstborn after him. Steve tried, and failed, to tell him you weren't going to name his son after the God of Thunder. Bucky was too busy arguing with Sam about the flower decoration to help out Thor.

Dressed in the lavender bridesmaid dress, Natasha burst into the room, a smile adorning her face. She had thanked you multiple times for not dressing her in those ugly dresses she had seen on Pinterest. "You getting cold feet yet?"

"Mine are toasty warm." you mumbled, hands trembling at the thought of declaring your love in front of a crowd. You wondered if it was too late to get ear plugs so no one would hear all the gooey, cheesy vows you would utter to Steve.

"Very convincing." Natasha teased, taking a shot of the wine laid out on the table. Placing the flute down, she eyed the door, prepared to attack Steve if he managed to get away from Thor. "Alright, what're you worried about?"

You bit your lip, messing up the fresh layer of lip gloss Pepper had put on. Glancing out the window, you saw the crowd settling down in there chairs. The anxiety built up inside you. "Um, falling down the aisle. Accidentally saying the wrong name. Messing up in my vows. Dying of embarrassment."

"You'll be great, I promise. No one's going to die. You won't trip because Tony wouldn't let you. You won't say the wrong name because Steve's is practically implanted in your brain and you'll be too busy staring into his ocean blue eyes that you won't mess up. Now, are you still worried?" she asked, laughing when you managed to trip over your wedding dress.

"If anything, Tony's going to purposely trip me." you muttered, tempted to take a swig of some liquid courage, but the fetus in you held you back. The ceremony would start soon, and being too nervous, you hadn't eaten any breakfast. It was probably a good thing considering the nausea you were feeling. Why call it morning sickness when it didn't happen in the morning?

"You're being paranoid, everything will be great." she sighed, turning to the window, staring directly at the green hybrid. The Bruce and Natasha thing was unsurprising but kind of weird, especially with the whole sex thing. You had gagged at the thought of Bruce trying to fit inside of Natasha, and stopped altogether. "I'll be right back, I gotta do something."

She left the room before you could address her, groaning when she left a tiny crack in the door. Natasha knew how much it annoyed you when people left the door open when you originally had it closed. Heaving a sigh, you went to close the door, only to be met by a small force. Steve stuck his head through opening, his worried frown turning into a dazzling grin as he spotted you.

Without a word, he took you in his arms, his hand cupping your cheek as he pressed a quick kiss on your lips. You smiled into the kiss, closing the door behind him as your arms wrapped around his neck.

You pulled away, wiping the lip gloss smeared across his lips. Steve did the same, smirking at his handy work. "Hello, Mrs. Rogers. How do you feel?"

"Like I want to tangle myself around you in every way possible." you whispered, pressing another kiss to his lips. Steve chuckled, his thumb drawing small circles on your back. "How about you, Husband?"

"I've been waiting for this day for a very long time. You can't imagine how jovial I am." said Steve. He gave your nose a quick peck, and you giggled. "I know it's suppose to be bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony but I couldn't bear it."

Giggling, you pulled him closer, your lips meeting his neck as you sucked softly at the sensitive skin. "Hmm, I can't wait until I'm officially yours. Do you think we have time for a quickie? It'd really help with my wedding nerves."

Steve laughed, but the sound came out a little breathless. Even with the thickness of the wedding gown, you could feel him on your hip, smirking when he shifted. "While that's a very tempting offer, both Natasha and Pepper would kill me for ripping apart this beautiful dress."

"But Steve—" your whine was cut off by Natasha pulling Steve out of your arms.

The redhead glared at him, pushing him towards the opened door. "You, out, now."

"I'll see you—" Steve began to say, only to be cut off when the door slammed in his face. Natasha turned to turn her death stare on you.

"Look at your makeup. I can't believe he snuck in here with Thor on his ass." Natasha complained, pushing you towards the vanity, quickly applying the tube of lip gloss on your lips. You blinked back the tears as she practically poke your eye with the mascara wand, trying to fix Steve's touch on your slightly smeared mascara. "You look like you're going to puke."

You shook your head, taking a deep breath. "I'm good. Where's Tony?"

"Right here." he answered, entering with a velvet box in his hand. The billionaire set it down on the vanity before eyeing your stance. "Wow, you look ..."

"Like I'm gonna throw up all over Steve's suit?" you finished, panic rising.

"I was going to say gorgeous but now that you mention it, you do look a little green." he teased, earning himself a nudge from Natasha. Tony rubbed his ribs. "If you want to ditch, I have the car running in case you want to make a quick getaway."

You rolled your eyes, wishing you hadn't let him talk you into such a big wedding. All you wished at the moment was to take Steve with you and elope. "Thanks for the offer but I'm good. Let's get this over with."

"And here I thought you weren't romantic." Tony joked, handing you the bouquet of flowers.

Natasha checked her watch, the music audible. Morgan, the flower girl was already walking down the aisle along with Pepper's nephew on her heels. The former assassin opened the door, grinning. "Wait a few seconds before you follow me."

And with that, she walked down the short hall before stepping outside, the aisle was cleared by flowers adorning the sides. Weeping willow branches hung down from the huge tree, creating an illusion of fantasy, the little arch at the end of the aisle was created of leaves and even more colorful flowers. You were surprised no one was sneezing with the amount of pollen.

You took Tony's arm, taking another deep breath. Looking at him, you swore he was a bit proud. He smiled at you. "I hope you know I take full credit for the union of your two souls."

Ignoring his mini jab, you raised an eyebrow. "And how so?"

"There was never a party." he informed, grinning cheekily. He pulled you towards the opened door, walking down the hall. "I made it all up so Rogers would get the balls to finally ask you out."

"Then what the hell happened to the tower?" you asked, confused. People were beginning to stand but your curiosity became more important than your nerves.

Tony winked. "That's for me to know, and for you to dot dot dot."

"God, you're such a nerd." you mumbled, turning your attention ahead as your feet hit the white carpet that moonlighted as the aisle. The nerves began to bubble, and you gripped his arm tighter in fear of falling face first.

The ceremony was a blur, Steve just as nervous as you had been, becoming more and more braver as he spoke his vows. By the end of it, you could barely see him through the tears brimming your eyes. If it wasn't for the waterproof makeup, you were sure you would've cried your face off.

You had just finished your vows when the priest had asked if you would gladly wed the man in front of you for the rest of forever. You whispered a soft "I do."

The priest turned to Steve, the super-soldier happy beyond belief. He asked him the previous question he had asked you. Yet, Steve, being eager, had almost cut him off near the end.

His eyes bored into yours, filled with love and warmth. "I do."

Then everything turned black.

You awoke in the Medbay, needles puncturing your arm, a tube tied to your nose. Every single inch of your skin hurt, your eyelids heavy as you opened your eyes, only to close them once again when the bright fluorescents shone. You felt someone squeeze your hand, a finger brushing along your wrist.

Turning your head, you glance at the person, finding out it was Tony. While he was relieved you were awake, something in his eyes made you believe he wished he had more time to prepare you for the worst. At the moment he uttered those words, you wished your ears had been damaged in whatever hell Hydra had dropped on your wedding.

"Steve's dead."

[angelicimagines]

(Regular Ask | Any Mod) Taka, Makoto, Sonia, and Shuichi (Platonic) coming to the Ultimate [Grief] Counselor after their close friend's (Gundham/Kaede/Et Cetera.) trial for help and comfort through it?

Sad, I like it. Shout out to this request for solidifying what we all want to do to the danganronpa characters, help them. Sorry it took so long to get to your request Anon, there was some stuff that needed to be taken care off behind the scenes. Here's your request. –Mod Shuichi

Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Makoto Naegi, Sonia Nevermind, Shuichi Saihara getting comfort from the Ultimate Grief Counselor (Platonic)

Kiyotaka Ishimaru📚

📚 The light show began dying down as reality stabbed it's dead cold hands into Ishimaru. Mondo Oowada is dead. 📚 He couldn't believe it, he trusted the guy, hell they were best friends, and then he went and committed a murder? Though he couldn't bring himself to blame Mondo, the situation they were in didn't leave much choices to take. 📚 He was feeling so much, yet so little. He didn't know what to do, he didn't want to do anything yet he wanted to do so much. But he couldn't, and that was the worst feeling. 📚 And so, all of those emotions eventually got out. Kiyotaka started screaming his heart out, silently cursing whatever entity had allowed for this to happen. 📚 He continued this for a while until his throat was sore and began walking to his room with a still pain ridden heart. He kept replaying the trial and execution in his mind, no matter how uch he wanted it gone it was still there… 📚 His thoughts diverted when he remembered you in the trials. Ultimate Grief Counselor, maybe they could help. 📚 Ignoring everything else in his surroundings, Ishimaru knocked on your door trying his best to stay and let himself get help. No matter how much he didn't want to…his own safety would be in jeopardy if he didn't turn to you fast enough. 📚 You opened the door and let him in with a sympathetic expression on your face. You knew you couldn't begin to understand what he was going through, but you did know how to help him navigate through his grief. 📚 Ishimaru was not a very touchy person, you knew that, so you settled for asking him various questions about himself. He didn't know how this was helping and he wanted to be angry, but he still answered them to the best of his ability. 📚 Eventually, you asked him to tell you about Mondo and all of the memories they shared together. Ishimaru managed to tell you a lot of them through tears before his sobs butchered up his words. 📚 You offered him some tissues and gave him a present of sorts. It was a heart-shaped locket. You told him that whenever he was feeling sad about Mondo, he should rub or hold the locket close to his heart. 📚 You advised him to try it now if he wanted and he skeptically agreed. While he was doing so, you pressed one hand against his chest, covering the locket, and told him that is where Mondo is. 📚 You told him that Mondo, while dead physically, will remain with him in spirit as long as Ishimaru still remembers him. Everyone lives on through memories, especially fond ones, and since the two were such good friends, Mondo would basically live forever. 📚 It took awhile for him to process the words you said, but once he did he smiled at you through tears, thanking you for changing his perspective on the situation and saying he'll come to you if he needs to again. 📚 You knew his grieving process wouldn't stop there, it is very difficult to forget a friendship that strong, but you could rest easy knowing you had set him in the right direction for recovery :]

Makoto Naegi☘️

☘️ Why? Why why why why why why why? Why did Maizono have to die?! ☘️ This couldn't be real, there's no way that she was gone. There's no way he couldn't have noticed her behaviour or at least kept her some sort of company so this wouldn't have happened. ☘️ Naegi didn't want to believe it, but the sound of the baseballs being shot out of the machine solidified his fears. It was permanent, there was nothing to be done but move forward. ☘️ As much as he wanted to, the memory of Maizono attached itself to him like a chain, preventing him from moving forward. ☘️ Kirigiri noticed this behaviour and reasoned with Makoto to go and visit you. He was of extreme help in the trials and if he continued to self destruct over Maizono it would be detrimental to everyone. ☘️ And so, Makoto found himself sobbing at your door pleading for your help. You let him in without a second thought and wiped away his tears. ☘️ The first order of business was getting out his distress, so you experimentally hugged him and let him cry into your shoulder. he took that offer almost immediately. ☘️ You did notice that there were times where he tensed and untensed while he was letting it all out. Ah, he was feeling guilty about what happened. ☘️ You moved one of your hands up to his head and began scratching it and playing with his hair. You could feel his sobs dying down to sniffles and hiccups while he hugged you tighter, like if he let you go you would disappear. Just like Sayaka… ☘️ He began apologizing after calming down enough, but you shushed him. You began talking to cover up his objections and to reassure him that it was okay to seek help, especially in a situation like this. ☘️ Makoto listened intently, knowing it was dumb to disagree with you. You advised him to wash his face and collect himself before going back to his dorm, not before telling him that your door is always open whenever he needs it. ☘️ You left him with one final piece of information: you will be there for him as a friend, not only as a counselor. ☘️ He smiled at you, tears threatening to spill again as he thanked you and gave you one final hug as a thanks and as a goodbye. ☘️ Makoto left your room and walked down to his. When he was gone, you sighed softly to yourself and began wishing him luck. ☘️ You saw hope in Makoto, you say potential for a great leader. You just wanted him to see what you saw :]

Sonia Nevermind👑

👑 Sonia refused to believe the outcome of the trial. What he did was heroic for sure but, why did it have to be Gundham, why him? 👑 Sonia was holding back tears. She had gotten so close to the Animal Breeder that seeing him be so brutally executed broke her. She couldn't go on like this, the memories the two shared only brought forth heart-racking sobs for the princess. 👑 She kept reasoning with herself, she needed to be strong. What good of a princess could she be if she didn't keep a brave face for the rest? The future queen can't let emotions cloud her judgement, how pathetic of her. 👑 She didn't raise her sight from the suddenly very interesting sand below her and bumped into you. She didn't want to look at you in fear that any sight of sympathy might make her break down even harder. 👑 You understood why she wasn't looking you in the eye and instead settled for standing by her side and rubbing circles on her back. Sonia was surprised by this action, but she couldn't bring herself to turn away. 👑 She needed help processing her grief and even though it hurt her to admit it, she needed it if she wanted to survive in the killing game. 👑 You spoke to her firmly yet softly, slow and clear. You offered her your help and a night in your cabin. You knew she wouldn't be well on her own. Sonia numbly nodded at your offer and let herself be directed to your cottage. 👑 You got to your cottage and she sat down on the corner of your bed. You grabbed a chair and sat down in front of her, grabbing her hands as a way to keep some of her attention on you. The last thing she needed was her head up in the clouds. 👑 This made her look at you, eyes full of sorrow and cascading tears. You softly smiled at her while rubbing your thumbs over her knuckles. She wobbly returned your smile, it was nice seeing at least some positivity to clear her mind. 👑 You took that as a sign to continue. You took a deep breath and began talking to Sonia. You made it clear who you were talking to. You were talking to Sonia Nevermind the person, not Sonia Nevermind the princess. 👑 That hit her hard. She began abandoning her princess façade and let herself grief properly. Others didn't want her to put on a brave face, others wanted her to be okay. 👑 She jerked forward suddenly and hugged you, spurting out various thank you's and sobbing into your shoulder. You reminded her of Gundham in that sense, someone who didn't look at her solely for her title, but for who she is as a person. 👑 You hugged her back and started lightly humming a tune while stroking her back. She needed a space where she could grief properly, and you were more than happy to give her such. 👑 Eventually, Sonia tired herself out from crying and layed down on your bed. She knew that she should've gone to her own cabin, but she wanted to feel human connection one last time before she went to bed. 👑 You acted like her guardian angel, so if she let herself be saved by you she was bound to become a guardian angel herself right :]

Shuichi Saihara🔎

🔎 Gone. Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist, was gone. 🔎 Nobody wanted to believe it was her, he didn't want to believe it was her. Unfortunately, all the evidence pointed to her and Saihara is a detective, his job is following the evidence. 🔎 He didn't know where to go from there. Kaede had been a consistent light in the void that was the ever growing void of the killing game, so without her it was useless to keep going. 🔎 As he was walking to his room, he passed your door. Ultimate Grief Counselor huh? 🔎 As much as he didn't want to socialize with anyone or risk getting too vulnerable with a near stranger, it was also better than being left alone with his thoughts, especially his self blame. 🔎 With what little strength he had left in him he knocked on your door. It was decently late and he wanted to make sure he wasn't bothering you. 🔎 You opened the door and let out a tiny gasp when you saw Shuichi. It was clear to you he was trying to keep a stone cold exterior, maybe as protection or as a way keep himself reliable. Whatever the case was, you knew why he came to you and you were determined to help. 🔎 You let him in with a nod and a warm smile, just like Akamatsu. He shook off that thought and sat on the edge of your bed, eyes downcast and looking at the floor. His hat was still covering his eyes, shielding him from being too vulnerable. 🔎 You put your hand on his back and started gently gliding it up and down. You were hesitant at first, but when you saw him start to calm down and become less tense, you continued. 🔎 This went on for a few minutes until you saw he had let his guard down. You got closer to him and half hugged him, softly stating that while Kaede was physically gone, she would always be there spiritually. The ideas she gave him, the motivation she radiated, the promises she made. 🔎 You reassured him that it was not the end of the world, even though it felt like it. Kaede will always be there for him, and so will you, so will most everyone. He's not alone, even when it feels like it. 🔎 Shuichi was trying to remain stone-faced, but you made it impossible. Tears began pouring down his face as he tried to muffle his sobs with his hand. 🔎 You hugged him tightly and whispered a soft "It's not your fault Saihara, it's not your fault.". He wanted to say otherwise, but you kept repeating that phrase every so often, making him listen to reason. 🔎 Once his emotions cleared up he could listen to your advice with a clear head. The feeling was bittersweet, he was glad you had helped him because lord knows what would've happened if you didn't, but he also didn't want to forget Kaede. 🔎 Then again, he wasn't forgetting her. You did say that for one flame that burned out there are bound to be others offering warmth, who's to say he couldn't find another :]

[taechaos]

I was thinking how would a day in the Family of the Jeons looking like? Could you make a drabble of it? Of course only if you want to :)

OOOOO OK OK OK I LOVE THAT

Jungkook hasn't cracked a single smile throughout the whole day. You tried comforting him before his ride back home for the majority of the spring break, but nothing can save his depression from being around his mother. There isn't one good memory that involves her presence in his life.

He was willing to stay in his dorm throughout the whole three weeks of vacation, but tough luck, there was a cockroach infestation a day prior to his holiday. Only his dorm. Fate has different plans for him, and he's not religious or anything, but Satan might just be lurking around him.

Your house isn't available because of your strict mother, his friends are leaving town and staying with Taehyung is arguably worse than temporarily living with his mother. At least he doesn't have to share a room with her.

The scowl on his face only deepens when he comes face to face with his first home. It's like ripping off a bandaid when he opens the door, unlocked as usual, before entering.

The living room greets him with crickets. Utter silence and empty with no one around. The walls are chipped, the couch is washed out and the hardwood flooring has scratches on them. He enters and makes the effort to not make a sound as to not summon his mother, but like clockwork, the moment he steps foot inside, she appears from the kitchen.

"Jungkook!" she gushes and tackles him into a bone crushing hug. Her eye makeup is smudged and her outfit is merely a black nightgown.

He knows her excitement will wear off soon enough; they're bound to argue in a matter of minutes about his "disrespectful behavior." She's unpredictable in that regard, but it's clear that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

He groans and yanks her arms away. His greeting is merely a question, "Is anyone else here?" He knows his mother like the back of his hand: incapable of being alone and constantly searching for her next soulmate. The only serious relationship he's had was with his father, who is basically missing.

"Only my boyfriend and his daughter." She leaves room for him to take off his shoes and throw his bag full of necessities on the floor. "She's really pretty by the way," she whispers.

"Not interested."

"Oh come on, you haven't even met her–"

"Babe?" A stranger with a gruff voice steps out of the master bedroom while fixing his bed hair. It's 2 PM and he looks like he just woke up.

"Good morning sweetie," his mother brightly grins at the man before introducing her son. "This is Jungkook, my boy I was telling you about. Kook, this is Jinyoung." She leans into him threateningly, "Be nice."

"How fucking old is he?" he whispers back, perplexed.

"Thirty-seven."

"Are you serious?" he groans and stands straight before picking up his bag. "Good luck," he plainly greets the man before walking off to his bedroom.

Upon opening the door, a young girl sitting on his bed with music blasting from her earphones enters his sight. She squeals when she looks up to see the intruder and yanks the buds out in panic.

"What the fuck? Mom!" he whirls around to find her in the kitchen again. "Why is there someone in my room?"

She doesn't look up from the stove where she's practically burning scrambled eggs and her calm tone contrasts his angry one. "That's Yeri, the girl I was telling you ab–"

"I don't give a fuck, why is she in my room?!" The chaos is already making his head hurt.

"She's been staying there for a while now."

Jungkook slaps a hand on his forehead and inhales until his lungs hurt. He stomps back to his room with a death glare. The girl hasn't moved an inch out of surprise and the music continues to come out of the earphones. "Get out. You're taking the couch."

"A-Are you Jungk–"

"Out."

She shoots out of the bed and scurries to the living room with a fearful expression. He sighs and kicks a stray bra lying on the floor out of his way before dropping his bag with a thud.

This sucks. He considers running off to Taehyung in a moment of desperation, but he hasn't reached the level to go through with it yet.

He starts unpacking and ignores his mother's announcement of breakfast. He collapses on his bed with a grunt and massages his temples, but even one second of peace is not an option in this household when his mother barges in to repeat her announcement.

"I'm not hungry," he spits.

"At least sit with me. I've missed you so much–"

"I'm tired."

"Stop being a brat and come."

She leaves no room for argument when she slams the door shut. "You're so annoying!" he shouts past the thin walls before smacking his head at how childish he sounds. Is this Hell?

He shoots you a quick message before trudging to the dining room.

♡ the love of my life ♡: kill me

He slumps down on the only idle chair next to Yeri and leans back without even glancing at the dish. He lost his appetite the second he came here.

No one's touched their food yet, presumably from waiting on Jungkook, and just as Jinyoung picks up the utensils, his daughter nervously chimes in, "Let's say grace!"

The couple is surprised by her words. "You're the one who always whines about it," her father states quizzically.

His mother scoffs playfully. "She wants to hold Jungkook's hand, sweetie," she nudges her boyfriend with her elbow.

Yeri blushes and looks down at her lap as Jungkook mutters exasperatedly, "Jesus fucking Christ..."

He crosses his arms when she meekly holds out a hand to him and her father, and his mother frowns upon the action.

"Jungkook," she drawls.

"I'm not fucking Christian!"

"Just hold her hand!"

"I don't want to!"

"When a girl is interested in you, you're expected to respond accordingly."

The other family in the table stare at them in bewilderment, thrown off by their bickering.

"Yeah, I'm responding with rejection."

"Get over this I-hate-girls phase already, you're twenty years old!"

"I have a girlfriend!"

"Oh please," she dismisses him with a flick of her wrist, "I'd love to meet her in your dreams."

"She's real," he growls with a snarl, "and she's certainly not a kid." He gives Yeri a pointed look.

"I'm seventeen!" Her father clears his throat uncomfortably.

A notification from his phone disrupts the conversation, and he checks it to escape this mentally draining interaction.

You: oh baby what's wrong:((

♡ the love of my life ♡: mom is breathing

"Who is it?"

He scoffs at his mother without looking up from the screen, "My girlfriend."

Yeri whines with a pout as his mother jumps from her seat to take a peek.

"What the hell are–"

She smacks the back of his head after reading his last text in a millisecond. "Mom is breathing? You brat! Who is this girl? Show me a picture," she gushes excitedly, completely forgetting her earlier attempt at matchmaking.

"None of your damn business," he hisses before he gets another notification. Him and his mother immediately look down at his phone.

You: i'm trying to make the best of staying with my mom >_< you should try as well!

♡ the love of my life ♡: with this woman?|

She coos as she snatches the phone out of his hand. "Hey!"

"She sounds so nice! Take her advice, you imbecile–"

"I'd rather die," he deadpans as he tries not to hurt her while reaching for his phone.

"Listen to me," she uses her authorative tone that has Jungkook pulling back with a frown. Old habits die hard, such as rebelling against his mother before she becomes genuinely intimidating. "You're stuck with me for a month. Don't make me turn this house into a living hell."

He resists the urge to say it already is.

————

Smoke swirls in the open air from the lit joint that hangs off Jungkook's lips. Finally, some peace and quiet in the balcony. He came prepared with a stash of cannabis for when things get too overwhelming in the house, and it's only the first day.

The sky is bland with no stars or clouds, a boring view of midnight black from the balcony where he leans against the railing. He enjoys watching the busy street instead, and he feels less shitty about his current living situation.

And yet his newfound happy daze fades too soon when the joint is snatched from his fingers. "Give it ba-" he pauses when he sees his mother taking a puff from his stick. He looks away lazily.

"Don't worry," she blows out the smoke, "I'm not here to scold you for smoking weed."

"I don't care."

"You're old enough anyway." She follows his line of sight and takes another drag. It's quiet for a minute until she asks, "You met her in college?"

"Yep."

"Truth be told, I can't imagine you asking out a girl when you're so spiteful. How did it happen?"

He can't believe he's having this conversation, or why he's responding without being so snarky. He chuckles instead. "I didn't really ask her out. She made a deal with me where she does my homework and I pretend to like her back or whatever."

She laughs quietly. "You used her feelings for you to your advantage? You take after your mother," she jokes.

"She offered," he shrugs with a smile, " and I was struggling with my courses. I chose law as my major when I was mad at you so I could sue you or something, but it's so fucking boring."

"Oh, how much you love your mother," she huffs with a giggle. "I deserved that. Being a single mother didn't exactly work out for me."

"You were no mother," he scoffs, "all you did was ignore me or insult me when you weren't introducing me to my next step-dad. Did you know that this is my first relationship?" he glances at her with a bitter lopsided grin. She turns to look back at him and passes the joint. He inhales the filter before continuing with a mouthful of smoke, "I didn't want to date anyone because I didn't want to turn out like you. I didn't want to have relationships that only last a week before moving onto another one. I can be alone."

"Let me guess, you didn't believe in love either," she mocks in a silly deep voice.

"Fuck off."

She sighs as a peaceful silence settles over them aside from the running engines. The truth hurt.

"Tell you what, son. You turned out a lot better than I did. My parents didn't exactly raise me either, only left me with more issues than I can bear." Jungkook listens intently without reacting. This is the only normal conversation he's ever had with his mother. "I have practically no redeeming qualities, and having sex is the only way I can pass the time."

He groans. "I did not have to know that."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want me to tell you about the birds and the bees first?"

"I get it, you're a prostitute with no salary."

She whacks his head before bursting out in laughter. He suppresses his own laugh and merely chuckles through his nose.

"You would've been a better mother if you were high all the time."

"Nah," she shakes her head, "I just needed to be more present throughout your childhood. It's too late for me now." She shrugs as her lips fall into a hard line. Jungkook's smile falters and he doesn't say anything.

When she feels tears welling up in her eyes, she blinks repeatedly and lets go off the railing. "Good night, Kook. I'll see you in the morning."

He nods at her and watches her leave. Beats staying with Taehyung.

"Night," he murmurs to himself before putting out his joint and entering the living room. All the lights are out, but he's still familiar with the layout of the place.

When he passes the couch, he flinches at the sound of Yeri's voice. "G-Good night–"

"Shut up."

Before jumping on his bed, he checks his phone to see if you've sent any texts.

You: good night and sleep well baby!! i love you sm <33

♡ the love of my life ♡: gn and ilym

♡ the love of my life ♡: lets meet up tmr

[thetriggeredhappy]

can I request sniper and scout planning a little secret symbolic wedding for themselves? its just self indulgent, since they wanna have this connection so they do a tiny intimate thing for the two of them but then all the two teams show up, ms pauling, sniper's parents and scout's family to celebrate too, and they all have a happy day

i dunno if this one will be coherent or and i dont have a joke for ya so thats where we’re at today

(no warnings)

-

He notices Scout looking at things just a little longer. Scout was a man of motion, of emotion, of elation, so seeing him pause, ever, for any length of time, was enough to pique Sniper’s interest. It had to be a big deal, of Scout was looking at it, and he prided himself on being observant.

So seeing the things he paused in front of—jewelry stores, boutiques, flower shops, at first it confused him, but then he saw what Scout was looking at in them. The flower shops had pretty arrangements right in front, labeled vaguely in some with phrases like ‘arrangements for your special day!’ and less vaguely in others as ‘wedding arrangements available’. The boutiques often with white dresses towards the front, and pictures of smiling couples nearby.

Little cards in the display of the jewelry store window proclaiming ‘engagement rings’.

It didn’t take long to piece together.

A number of issues were present. The concept of legal marriage alone was a big one. First because they were two men, one of whom was shaky in terms of immigration and two of whom were shaky in terms of being legally defined as criminals of the highest degree, potentially legally dead in some ways, and certainly smart enough to not walk into a courthouse. Besides that, the paperwork involved, the idea of getting either of their families around when Scout’s family was constantly on the wind in at least one corner and his own hardly on speaking terms with him, the heartbreak—

But Scout paused when he looked at the engagement rings.

Sniper was increasingly exasperated and helpless against the little voice in his head that seemed to watch out for Scout’s well-being, that said, well, couldn’t he at least try and figure something else out?

So it took some thinking. Some rehearsing his words in his own head. Some justifications being made, torn down, analyzed and readdressed with a clearer mind. And he came to a decision.

And when he next got the chance, he called his mum and had a talk with her about a lot of things, so many of them at least a decade and a half in the making. And she didn’t understand, not at all, not on that first phone call, not on the second. But on the third she took care to assure him that she would try, she really would, she really would, and finally gave him permission to use the old family heirloom engagement ring.

And it was subtle and sudden when Sniper proposed. Scout was sat on the steps of the camper, using Sniper’s pocket knife to pick mud out of the soles of his shoes, and Sniper took a seat next to him, plonked a pair of bottles between them. Scout leaned over to bump their shoulders together, grinning at him, and Sniper smiled too, started drinking his own.

Out clear on the horizon line, most of the clouds hadn’t quite blown far enough to obscure the sun. It would be setting soon, and then Scout would be off to eat with the rest of the team and Sniper would get to his own routine. It was a nice night, though.

Finally Scout flicked the knife closed, tucked it into his pocket best he could, reached for the bottle still sitting next to him, popped it and started drinking before it could foam over (he didn’t know how it always did that, he just had awful luck, apparently).

Sniper finished his own drink before Scout could get very far into his own. Stared out across the desert.

“You good?” Scout finally asked, picking idly at the label. “You seem, uh... I dunno. Sad, maybe. One’a those?”

“No, er... just...” Sniper tried, cleared his throat. Now Scout’s eyebrows were raised. “Nervous, is all.”

“Oh, one’a those,” Scout said, and frowned when Sniper shook his head again, drawing a hand down his face, taking a deep breath. “Is... is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Sniper nodded, took another deep breath. “Yeah. Just...”

He paused for a long few moments. Reached to fish through the pocket of his vest, held his closed fist out to Scout. Scout freed up a hand to hold a hand out, palm-up, still frowning, and pulled it back to look at the item Sniper had dropped in his palm.

Blinked. Blinked. Sniper gulped, wishing he had a drink still, something to help with how dry his mouth had gone all of a sudden, watching Scout’s expression carefully.

“Oh,” Scout whispered. Barked a laugh, like shock more than humor, the volume abrupt. “Oh.”

Sniper gulped hard again, looked away, looked back. Scout’s expression didn’t change in the time he wasn’t watching it. “You seem, er... surprised,” Sniper said carefully.

“Well, yeah, duh, yeah, I didn’t—“ Scout said all in a stumbling rush, and took a breath, and seemed to hold it. His eyes hadn’t moved from the ring since he first saw it. He blinked a few times, barked that laugh again. “I didn’t think you’d want...”

“I do,” Sniper said, voice tight, and Scout looked up at him for the first time in a while, and his eyes widened in even more surprise.

“Oh, shit,” he said quickly, seeming to finally register the nervousness, the fear, the worry, and he surged forward, hands on Sniper’s shoulders, one wrapped in half a fist around the ring. “I, yeah, yes, I, yes to the—yes! I’m—“

And then he kissed Sniper, hard, almost bruising, and it didn’t get particularly far before it was broken by another huff of air against Sniper’s lips, and when he pulled back Scout’s grin was a little weak.

“Just never thought you’d ask me, not in a million years,” he admitted.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to cry,” Sniper teased, entire body awash with a sense of relief.

“Oh, fuck off, you’re the one with the watery eyes here,” Scout scoffed, and kissed him again.

And they both made sure to note that they knew there were more conversations to be had, but those could wait until both of them had a clearer head again, which took damn near a week and a half, both so much more giddy than they’d expected to be, then another week when Sniper next saw the ring, hung on a little chain usually tucked beneath Scout’s shirt, worn around his neck apparently since the day he got it.

He liked the word fiancée more than he’d expected to, and he’d expected to like it a lot, and even then, Scout seemed to like it even more.

And Scout admitted half his surprise up front had been because he himself had no real idea how this was going to work, it was just that the idea of being married made him really really happy. He liked weddings, loved weddings, loved the idea of... of settling into something. That really, marriage was the only kind of settling down that he’d ever liked the idea of. And even if it was just... just something quiet, just the two of them, that was fine by him.

And Sniper had nodded, and there had been a pause, but then suddenly Scout spoke up again with a ‘but, I mean, my Ma is always going on about wanting to see me get married, so I kinda have to invite her to whatever we do’.

That was a good start for the plans they had. No particular pressure on it, really, considering they decided not to tell anyone at first. Sniper started trying to figure out where might be a good place to hold... something, maybe not a whole ceremony, but something. Scout started trying to figure out where to get a suit, and where Sniper could get his own tailored, but they weren’t in a rush, and a few months passed without making much progress at all, nothing even feeling like it had changed except that now Sniper would catch Scout fidgeting with the chain he kept the ring on and grinning.

The first real change came when someone else noticed too.

Pyro, stood in-between matches and pointing at the chain around Scout’s neck as he switched into a less charred shirt and mumbling a question, made Scout stammer. Scout stammering made most of the team turn to look. Then more of them saw the chain there, saw the ring there, and some of the more perceptive ones pieced together a few things rather quickly. It was Demo who first said something, outright asking ‘is that an engagement ring?’.

A beat of silence where all were frozen, then the voice over the intercom rang out telling them they had ten seconds until battle, and Scout was off like a shot towards the gate.

In his absence, eyes turned to Sniper instead, who proved to be even less helpful in that he stuttered his way through all ten of those seconds and the team had no choice but to follow Scout’s lead and leave it for later.

Sniper was hoping that he’d be able to escape the team’s questions after battle if he could make it through the Resupply room before everyone else did. But he realized very quickly that would also mean throwing Scout to the proverbial wolves, and besides that, he couldn’t run from this forever. So instead he kicked around the Resupply for a few minutes waiting for the team to come back from chasing down the other team in the humiliation round, and wasn’t entirely surprised when Scout was one of the first back, expression tight with nerves up until the exact moment that Demo and Soldier came wandering in, elbowing at each other and chatting at well above speaking volume.

Neither of them, apparently, had much to say, besides Demo clapping Sniper hard on the shoulder and proclaiming that it took them long enough, and Soldier brushing off their ‘fraternizing nonsense’ in favor of continuing his argument with Demo. Pyro was in the room next, talking and gesturing enthusiastically, and while Scout was trying to translate to Sniper the Engineer came in and shoo’d Pyro along, telling them to mind their business, albiet with what Sniper would almost refer to as a proud smile aimed in Scout’s direction. Medic and Heavy were in the room next, and all that Heavy seemed to be confused about was the legality surrounding marriage between anyone besides a man and a woman in the United States, with Medic attempting to explain but also largely clueless to the actual logistics of the thing. Spy only stuck around long enough to quip that it was a little ridiculous for any of them to worry about legality of all things, which Sniper wasn’t entirely sure how to interpret.

Demo, across the room, in the middle of trying to unstick his jacket from himself with all the mud coating one side of it, quipped that he’d better be invited, and asked what he had to do to get the best man position. From there, a series of what Sniper interpreted as mostly jokes followed, the team chiming in about their attendance, including a number of them laughing that they weren’t exactly allowed in any churches and Pyro insisting that they wanted to be the one throwing the flowers (and no they would not in fact set any on fire) and Heavy saying that if they couldn’t find a good glass to stomp on then Medic had plenty of spare beakers that he wasn’t using for anything, much to the doctor’s protest.

This became the team running joke for a while, was everyone constantly bringing up the wedding. When Spy stomped into the room fuming because of another perfectly good shirt ruined by the base’s washing machine, the Engineer quipped that oh no, what would he wear to the wedding now? When Soldier got into an argument with Pyro, Demo referred to it as a spat between groomsmen. When Sniper was acting particularly cranky one day (not his fault, the base’s coffee machine was awful and they really needed to replace it one of these days), Spy muttered into his tea that it was a shame Scout had to put up with such a bridezilla, a joke Medic chortled about well into the afternoon.

It might have gotten out of hand around the time that poor Pauling had to hear about it, just trying her best to oversee delivering a set of brand new weapons and explaining their assorted bells and whistles, accosted through her entire explanation by jokes that this was a bit extravagant for a wedding gift, that hopefully she’d at least get time off to attend the reception, that competition for maid of honor wasn’t exactly steep but she’d probably be winning anyways, until finally she snapped that if Sniper and Scout were actually going to get married then they needed to note that on their upcoming contract renewals but to otherwise stop talking to her about it so damn much.

This, Scout said, is when he started feeling bad for not talking to his Ma about it yet. Miss Pauling knowing he was getting married before his own mother felt wrong, he said, and so he spent the afternoon steeling himself to make the phone call.

From the combination of relief and vague dismay on Scout’s face when he came back, Sniper could tell something was up, and it was with a number of pauses in the middle of speaking that Scout explained that he’d barely gotten through the news before Ma had started calling over various brothers to tell them the news too, each taking a turn on the phone to get halfway through some kind of third degree that they needed to pass along to Sniper before actually congratulating him, each asking when they’d need to get down there for the wedding in turn. Apparently he’d accidentally called when some of his brothers were over for dinner, and so he explained to Sniper that word was as good as out, because as much as he loved his brothers, not a single one of them could keep their mouths shut to each other.

And so they both sat down with a calendar and had to pick an actual date for a wedding.

Altogether, the date they picked was a little over a year since Sniper proposed, which felt appropriate, and only a few months from then, just long enough for Scout’s brothers to get time off of work. They decided against a whole entire proper ceremony with a priest and vows and all, mostly because legality being an issue, they didn’t have much a reason to stick to tradition. A few things would end up sticking, though. They’d have seating, because Sniper’s mum wasn’t up for standing around for long periods of time anymore and one of Scout’s brothers had that bad leg and cane from his time in the army. They’d dress up for it, because Scout was truly looking forward to that part, to looking nice on the actual day. Vows weren’t necessarily going to be on-script, but they’d both take a moment to say something to each other, and there would be a kiss, and then they’d have a bit of time set aside for if either of their families brought up any traditions they truly wanted to do. And, of course, there’d be some kind of party afterwards, because they both knew that the team would make there be a party afterwards either way.

What they didn’t expect was how quickly the team jumped to help as soon as they mentioned they’d set an actual date in stone to some degree. The Engineer was quick to offer to help with setting up chairs and tables, carting things around if they needed it, having a truck and all. Soldier was happy to offer suggestions for if they wanted catering, having eaten at and subsequently been banned from every eatery in the county, and Pyro started baking at an until then unprecedented clip as they tried to find the exact right recipe for a good wedding cake because they had to have a wedding cake and it had to be perfect. Heavy, to his credit, pointed out a few logistical issues with having the wedding, namely that it couldn’t be anywhere on the base and that they weren’t allowed in the town of Teufort, and Demo was so kind as to offer up his own house and property, given that it had so much space and he knew his mother wouldn’t mind it and besides that, it was a very pretty place.

And then Spy found in the mail the magazines Sniper was looking through when trying to pick out something suit-adjacent, and he could tell Spy was gearing up to really lay into him about it before Sniper pointed out that Spy should really just stop snooping through other people’s mail, and by the next day he found a pair of order forms in his camper on the table, almost entirely filled out except for a few of the fields regarding things like the color of the suits and payment information.

And then he and Scout were trying on suits, and figuring out which hotels were close enough for Scout and Sniper’s families to stay in, and looking at flowers, and figuring out how many days they should schedule off of work and whether the team would be doing the same—

—and then it was the week before, and one night Sniper found himself standing in the camper with Scout, late at night, half-exhausted and stressed out and more terrified than he’d expected to be, arms tight around Scout’s waist. And Scout held on just as tight, and inhaled, and exhaled, shifting with that breath in Sniper’s grip. And Sniper found himself breathing out apologies, so quiet they didn’t quite catch against the grit in his voice, for causing such a fuss about all this, for things getting so out of hand. And Scout had laughed, had squeezed him tight in arms usually used for hurting people to instead give him so much comfort in that moment, and said that he wouldn’t want it any other way. Anything else and it wouldn’t exactly feel like them.

And the two days before the wedding stretched out infinitely, a mix of terror and impatience lacing his every move, and then the day of the wedding itself felt like it took no time at all.

The sun didn’t quite beat down upon them, a blessing even with them wearing simple vests as opposed to full suits, a scattering of cloud cover making the heat bearable and throwing the sunshine out away from them. And the grass around the DeGroot residence was slippery in the morning, slick under their shoes, and Sniper watched nervously across towards his mum and dad as his dad squinted suspiciously around at things and his mum patted him consolingly about only god knew what. And one of Scout’s brothers had brought a camera and was dashing around taking pictures, and most of the team had managed to dig up assorted formal wear, and the Engineer bustled trying to make sure everything was set up just right as Soldier helped Pyro with carrying the frankly ludicrous cake towards the table somewhere. And on one side was Scout’s family, all rowdy, and on the other was the team, even rowdier, his parents squashed between and being vaguely protected from the team by the more generally responsible ones (namely Heavy, who Sniper’s father clearly approved of in some way for being so imposing, and Spy, who Sniper’s mother approved of on the basis of him being entirely polite). And Miss Pauling was there much to Sniper’s surprise, claiming that she was meant to oversee off-base activities (although he suspected she just wanted the time off and was glad to watch the final nail go into the coffin of Scout’s long-gone infatuation with her). And Medic was so kind as to let Sniper know the other team had left a present at the base for them that morning—assuring him, at his alarmed look, that it was merely a prank dummy bomb set to tick as loudly as possible within the packaging, and a note thanking them for the free time off. That was as much a relief as the cloud cover.

And then the ceremony itself happened, so long before Sniper was ready, as if he could ever truly be ready. And he’d seen Scout’s vest already, but not worn, not standing across from him with a glitter in his eyes and a watery smile and hands fidgeting nervously with grip tape that wasn’t there, face red. And Sniper’s hands were sweaty and clammy, and his voice cracked from the very first word of what he had been rehearsing in his head over and over since he proposed, but the way Scout’s expression shone with pride and love had made so much of that nervousness disappear, and he couldn’t find it in him to be nervous, to worry about the team.

He didn’t have it written down, felt that note cards would make this feel stiff, and he wasn’t all that good at writing down his thoughts regardless. But Scout was sniffling by the end of it, and his own voice had gone rough as he just barely kept it together, so he at least knew he was doing something right. 
And Scout didn’t have anything written down either, and when his turn to speak came, there were a few long moments where Sniper worried he’d blanked, forgotten what he wanted to say. But Scout got there, voice surprisingly steady, surprisingly level. And he didn’t remember all of it, but he remembered some in the middle.

“I still can’t believe you love me, that you wanna stay with me for as long as we can, that you trust me and care about me,” Scout said, “but I’m gonna try, I’m gonna try so hard, and I’m gonna do whatever I gotta do to make sure you know I love you too, every single day, and to earn it. I promise. That’s what this is, is me promising. I promise.” 
And that’s when Sniper broke, the first tears falling, needing to wipe at his face gingerly with his sleeve and accompanied by a general ‘aww’ and chuckles from the crowd of loved ones gathered there, and Scout smiled all the wider.

And Sniper did end up stomping on a glass (not one of Medic’s beakers), and both of them were all but showered in assorted confetti by the family they’d somehow gathered over the years, and there was eating, and dancing, and drinking, and dancing, and by the time the sun started to set down beyond the horizon line he found himself stood there with Scout in the middle of it all, kissing him over, and over, and over again, each and every one a promise that he very much intended to keep, come what may.

“I love you,” he said, again, again, and Scout never once stopped smiling.

[kikyan]

Betrayal

Yandere Amon x Female Reader

TW: Non-con, dub-con, degradation, 18+ themes, choking, etc. This is a pretty dark NSFW Drabble so please keep that in mind. 

Shit. Shit. Shit. This was bad. After the avatar Korra stormed the equalist rally and attempted to expose Amon as a water bender, he took off his mask to reveal horrific burn marks. The story behind them was that his family was murdered by a Fire bender and only he survived, his scars being living proof that bending should not be accepted. 

This was an issue, [Reader] was a bender who managed to line their personal beliefs with the equalists. The worst thing? The [Reader] is a fire bender. They traveled to his room before sighing, this would certainly betray Amon. They raised their hand to knock but hesitated slightly. Yes it's true, they have a physical relationship and there is nothing other than sex but they really want to expand more on it. It may have started as just sex, but who is to say that it can't be an actual relationship. 

If she goes in and speaks about this, if she comes forward with her real identity, any chance she could have had on expanding the relationship is killed off. Something stirred within them, they lied for so long so it doesn't matter what they say. However, if they keep lying it will look worse on their part as opposed to coming out now with the truth. They shook their unwavering thoughts and decided to go through with their initial plan. A simple knock on the door and a stern, "Enter", soon followed. 

[Reader] was sweating profusely, swallowing the saliva back in fear. She placed her hands together by her lap, looking down. 

" W-w-well, Amon I wanted to talk to-" 

" I've mentioned countless times, [ Reader]. When you're in my presence and alone you should refer to me as always. Or do you need reminding?" 

" No of course not, Master." 

"Speak, slut. I don't have all day and I'm quite concerned with what happened today." 

" It's about today actually...is it true? About the fire benders attack?" 

" Do you doubt my words, [Reader]?" 

" No master, of course not. If that is true then I have to admit something as well." 

Amon was currently faced away from her, staring at a window. Though his interest was very peaked by what his loyal slut had to say. 

" I-I-I'm sorry, b-but I've been hiding a horrible secret Master! I'm a bender! One of the benders you're trying so hard to erase from this new world! Worst of all, I'm a fire bender! The same ones who've hurt and scared you! Please forgive me, Master!"

[Reader] got on her knees and started to let out small tears. 'There goes my relationship with him, there goes living a life with Amon-!' Silence loomed over the room, the feeling of uneasiness and fear washed over [Reader].  Suddenly, the sounds of Amon walking interrupted their fear. They flinched when he stopped in front of them, his stern voice echoing when he spoke. 

"On the bed, slut." 

[Reader] perked up slightly at his tone, it was nothing new as he was rough all around. She looked up, tears already spilling from her eyes before tilting their head in confusion. He grabbed their face with his hand and harshly squeezed her cheeks. He raised them off the floor, their feet dangling off the floor. 

"Did you not hear what I said? On. The. Bed. Now. Filthy slut." 

Fear and panic spread all around their body as they panicked, tears staining their cheeks as her tears rolled. This wasn’t small tears, a simple roll of them, [Reader] was full-on sobbing at this point. 

" Y-yes! I'm sorry master!"

Amon released them, [Reader] falling with a loud 'thud'. They quickly scrambled to get on the bed, Amon smirking at their pitiful form under his mask. They got on the bed and awaited orders, Amon walking over to them. He grabbed them by the throat and squeezed, their airflow being heavily restricted. Slight gasps and wheezing was heard as that was almost what they could produce. He threw them off the bed and let out a slight chuckle when he heard them gasping for air. 

"As if you deserved the bed. On your knees bitch." 

She scrambled to get to her knees, breathing heavily and rapidly as she crawled to him. She knew what he wanted, his eyes burned holes into her figure. She hesitated a bit, before letting out a shaky breath and her hands floated above his crotch. She shakily undid his trousers and undergarments, revealing his thick length. 

She grabbed it and slowly started to move her hand up and down, though she knew what she had to do, fear was present. That's what made her hesitant to stop, if it were any other day she would gladly listen to him but today was different. This was different. He was mad and needy, those didn't mix well. 

She hesitantly opened her mouth and took his cock. Her tongue lapped his tip, going down his length until a harsh thrust shook her. She let out a muffled noise in response, before looking up and meeting his harsh glare. 

" Don't play with me, just do what I want." 

They nodded before starting to meet his thrusts, his hands harshly gripping their hair. Tear-filled eyes met his, drool escaping their filled mouth. Without asking, he took his cock out of their mouth before slamming it back in. Cries escaped her mouth, [Reader] struggling to take him fully. What they couldn't fit in they had to stroke. Every time he pulled out, their tongue touched the tip, licking up the pre-cum. 

" Look at my fucking slut. Is she enjoying this? Is she enjoying my rage, does she like it when I use her mouth? Does she like being used as nothing but a toy? Fucked until she passes out until the only thing she remembers is the feeling of my cock in them? So fucking greedy, what a pig." 

His speed increased, [Reader] gagging at the feeling. She couldn't breathe and it didn't help that he kept trying to fit everything inside. There was just no way their mouth could take all him. His thrusts becoming erratic and harsh. Their eyes filled with tears with a fucked-out expression. The drool pooling at the bottom, his grip on [Reader's] hair tightened and he bucked his hips one last time. Cock twitching as he released into her mouth, it was a lot but before they could do or say anything, his words beat her to it. 

" Swallow it, bitch. Don't you fucking dare spill a drop." 

They nodded and swallowed everything, one huge gulp and they stuck their tongue out to show that they obeyed. With his hand in their hair, he dragged them onto the bed. Throwing her lightly, he grabbed her throat and his other hand opened her mouth. He spits in it and let them go, she swallowed it with no hesitation. He removed only her bottoms, throwing those out the way. He took off her panties and well, and without a wanting aside from "Squeal for me pig", he inserted his cock into her warm cunt. 

Harsh and deep thrusts, skin on skin echoing in the room. [Reader] let out a loud gasp before breathing rapidly, there was no prep so the only wet they got was when they were aroused from sucking his dick. It wasn't enough for his size, so they certainly let out a scream when their main pain was directed somewhere else. It was more pain than pleasure, fear in their eyes. 

" Aren't you enjoying yourself? You typically moan like a bitch in heat when I fuck you. No "more Master?", it's what you deserve." 

His pace was fast. He was groaning and grunting as he kept going. His harsh grip on her thighs had her crying in pain. Her legs spread open as he fucked her tirelessly and with so much rage. He went to choke her, screaming at her. 

" You filthy slut getting drunk on my cock. What other secrets have you kept from me? You fucking someone else is that it." 

"M-M-M-Master….I-am not f-fucking anyone else-" 

" No of course not, my piggy might be a slut but she's loyal. She knows only my cock can satisfy her fully. That's why she squeals, push all the right buttons and you'll be a mess. My mess, my dumb fucking pig." 

Her walls began spasming to his thrusts. Their breath short and hitched. They were close, he was close as well. His grip on their throat never left and neither did the one on their hips. He was in a frenzy, rage clouded his judgment as he growled. He didn't care if they come or not, what mattered was that they understood that he isn't playing games. With one final thrust, he came inside them. They came moments after. 

He reached and touched their head, a slight pain left them before they looked up and saw him. He had done what he always did take. He took away their bending, [Reader] is no longer a fire bender.

" There, now you can't ever leave me. After all, what can you do, [Reader]?" 

A/N: So I can’t really write NSFW or smut as well as some authors, though I take requests it’s to help me be able to write it more efficiently. If you guys would like to help me and leave suggestions, I’d appreciate that! 

[krabmeat]

heyyyy, just wanteddd too seee ifff youu cooulddd writteee sommmeee karlll x time!travel readerrrrr, itt coouuullddd beee flufff orr anggssttt. whateeeveerrr youuu wantttt :] (morreeeee iiinnnffooo: reeaddderrr allsooo hasss the abillitttyyy to time travelll and karlll and themmm manageeedd tooo bump intoo each otherrr innn the innbetweeeennnn. bothhh offff themm telll storries aboutttt theiir adventuresss tooo one anotherrr and arreee having a gennuinely goooddd timme! tttheeeyyyy meeet agggainn in theeee lllooosssttt cittttyyyy offff mizzzuuuuu annnnddd youuu caannn dooo whatteeeveerrrr affftteerrr thhhatttt)

sorrryyy fooor myyyy tyyyypingggg ssstyyyleeeee (cccaaaannnn i beeeeeee "beeeee annnooonnnnn" bbbutttt wiithouttt theeee draggged outtt letttterrrssss? I ussseeeeeee beeeee/aviannnn/hiveeeee/boottttleeeesssss prrroooonnnnnouuunnsssss)

𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚜

𝙺𝚊𝚛𝚕 𝚡 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚛!𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 (𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚌)

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜: Karl(Isaac), Ranboo(Charles), Dream(Ranbob), BadBoyHalo(Benjamin), Quackity(Cletus)

𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚜: they/them

𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: brief mention of suggestive content, death, murder, explosions, glass breaking, cursing, weapons, water

𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎:

I HAD SO MUCH FUN WRITING THIS HOLY CRAP!!! firstly, welcome "bee anon" (bee/avian/hive/bottles) to my account! its lovely to have you here and thank you so much for the request! i hope this adds up to what you imagined and i hope you stick around! :]]

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

The In-Between. Any entity that normally roamed around there knew the place well. If you visited there, you visited often. Karl regularly roamed around the in between. The only face he saw there was his. Karl’s from different timelines traveled to the In-Between as well, but ever since he had found those ominous books that told him to steer clear of the “alternate Karl’s”, that’s exactly what he did. So seeing a new face there while roaming the brick-white palace startled him.

The stranger didn’t even get the chance to introduce themselves when Karl briskly grabs them by the arm and starts running to the room under the tree. 

“Woah-! Wait are you-“

But before the mystery person can finish their sentence, Karl cuts them off as quickly as possible.

“SSHHHH! Please hold on a second, I’ll let you know when you can talk.”

The mystery person nods and stays silent as they make their way under the big tree.

Once they arrive, Karl flops to the ground exhausted from the running.

“It’s the safest down here, no one can see what we’re doing. But that’s besides the point! Who the heck are you and how did you get here?!”

The mystery person slides down against the wall and onto the floor besides him. They think for a second, trying to recall how they had arrived. 

“I’m Y/n, I’m a time traveler and somehow I got HERE instead of the place I was planning on going to. I was walking around and I saw a bunch of the alternate versions of you around the place but I figured that if one of them were to- yknow, drag me away and under the tree, that’d be the one I’d need to talk to that isn’t a fake.” 

Karl nods in understanding before he realizes. 

“Wait- how did you know about the safety room being under the tree? Or the ‘alternate’ me’s not actually being from other realities?”

Y/n looks at Karl with a deadpan expression and leans back into the wall. They swing their arms out in front of them for dramatic effect.

“Well duh, I have an in between! You aren’t the only one, yknow. Did you get a bunch of those creepy, contradicting books from all around the place? The one that told me the useful information was in all caps, and the other one was talking about how great the place is and constantly used smiles. Not the traditional one though, like, it used the brackets instead of the parenthesis.”

Karl shoots up in surprise, they had gotten those too?! He was never aware that there were other time travelers that existed, let alone were able to get into other peoples in between! He nods, eager to ask them questions.

“So, where were you planning on going? You said you didn’t mean to come here, right?”

Y/n nods, remembering where they were trying to go previously.

“Yeah! I forgot the name, but I know that it’s some place underwater. An abandoned city or something. Enough about me though, one of the main reasons we both time travel is to tell stories, right? So tell me about the places you’ve been! Also, what’s your name? You got mine but I never got yours.”

“Ah, right- I’m Karl-!”

Karl turned around and flipped up his hoodie to show his light gray initials embedded onto the white hoodie. Y/n had a long, white robe with vine-like accents on the hems. The ends of the sleeves had Y/n’s initials on them as well.

“Well… the first place I’ve ever visited was this place I like to call….’The Town That Went Mad’! Ever play the video game ‘Town Of Salem’? It was basically that and I was like the host of it, sorta.”

Karl proceeded to explain the different personas and people to Y/n, there were people like Cornelius the Wise, Helga, Miles Memeington, Mayor Jimmy- Helgas husband, Robin the Orphan, Bob (he’s a builder, yknow), Catboy (very deep voice, no one knows why but it’s a strange contrast to the ears and tail. Mutant or furry??), and Jack the Farmer. He explained from how the orphan had tricked the entire town that he was a murderer when he was instead the Jester, to explaining what the word “dunderhead” meant in Helgas context after explaining how she ruthlessly and openly got her husband executed and then soon proceeded to sleep with Bob. 

Both of them were crying tears of laughter, listening and recalling their own stories. By the time Karl had finished telling his story, Y/n was on the ground wheezing from how funny they thought the story was.

“And your telling me they all just, DIED?! That’s so anticlimactic, I love it!”

It’s been maybe 3 hours or so of them discussing stories and laughing. As much as these two travel across the fabrics of the universe, they would have never imagined being able to finally tell someone about their travels and experiences! 

Y/n then started talking about a Sky Dynasty that lived up in the clouds in a kingdom called The Kingdom Of Synnefa. When they had dropped in, they would have fallen straight through the clouds if a kind man by the name of Galen hadn’t found them hanging off a building ledge for their dear life! Galen let Y/n drop into his wagon and he took them to get Skywalkers, shoes specifically make for walking on clouds. 

Y/n had then explained how a very old looking man who looked to be a pig hybrid approached them, asking them if they were new. Apparently the old pig man was the guardian of the Grand Library, saying how he adored the Kingdoms Greek history and fables. The funny part is that his name is Icarus, a very unfortunate demise that Icarus had in the past but apparently that was a sensitive subject for Icarus and he would get very upset if anyone brought it up.

Another 3 hours went by of this time Y/n telling their stories of their travels to The Kingdom Of Synnefa! Both Karl and Y/n were having a wonderful time chatting with one another about both the confusing rivalries between the carnivores and herbivores of the kingdom, as well as how the kingdom was slowly dying due to the mass amounts of pollution damage the “ground dwellers” have been inflicting on The Kingdom Of Synnefa.

Soon though, Y/n had to jump into their next travels- as well as Karl. They said their goodbyes to each other, both obviously upset about having to stop the fun and interesting chat. 

“Look, when I leave I’ll figure out how I got in, okay? If I don’t figure it out, it’s been a real pleasure Karl Jacobs. Anyways, off to the abandoned water city I go!” 

Karl nods and waves his hands frantically at them, eager and hopeful for Y/n to visit him again. 

“See ya around Y/n!”

Y/n then proceeds to take out a small book and pen from inside their robe. They open it and quickly scribble something down before closing it and putting away. Y/n gives Karl a last friendly smile before disappearing in a snap. Before that, they manage to give him one last message.

“Hopefully!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Isaac wakes up in his bed by the sea docks. Meeting what seems to be his friends and roommates, Benjamin, Cletus, Charles and Monroe. Distant arguing can be heard from the docks. One of the voices sound oddly more familiar than the others to Isaac. Isaac walks over to the dock and finds two people arguing. 

“What’s going on here? Why are you guys arguing so early in the morning!”

The two people stand up and point at each other.

“MONROE DOESNT GIVE ME BACK THE F*CKING FISHING ROD!”

“BECAUSE THE LAST TIME YOU CAUGHT A FISH YOU KILLED IT, CLETUS!”

Monroe? Their voice sounds oddly similar to someone else’s, but Isaac can’t quite put his finger on it. He looks down ignoring the minor situation, when he sees a small leather book- then it clicks. Monroe is Y/n! But before Isaac confronts Monroe (Y/n), he picks up the small leather book. It isn’t the one that Y/n had when they left Karl’s In-Between, but it instead had what looked like the directions and coordinates for The Lost City Of Mizu!

“CHARLES! GET THE F*CK OVER HERE SO YOU CAN GUIDE US TO THESE COORDS!!”

Charles walks out of the shared dockside house alongside Benjamin, I hand him the book and start heading for the boats when Monroe stops me. They whisper loud enough so that I can only hear.

“Karl? Is that you?”

“Y/n?! You recognize me!”

We get on the same boat while the others get on theirs as well, and set off following Charles to The Lost City Of Mizu.

“Okay first, we call each other Isaac and Monroe, okay? Don’t break character.”

“I don’t even know HOW I remember! Usually I don’t until I leave!”

“Well that doesn’t matter right now, just try to act like Isaac and not Karl.”

And that’s what they did. Karl was Isaac and Y/n was Monroe. 

Once they found The Lost City Of Mizu, they met a man named Ranbob. Ranbob was the last resident of the city, and offered to show the group around. Rooms and rooms of full on history! It was like a huge museum filled with information of a place Ranbob called The Dream SMP, and Karl and Y/n were eating it up. Ranbob had suddenly disappeared, but the group didn’t pay much mind of it as they were trying to get into the Tree Dome. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Tree Dome room was as marvelous as it was big. The tree was absolutely beautiful, and was also the supply of oxygen for the now abandoned city- though the tree still looks to be thriving tremendously. The group spots a chest on the tree and nominates Cletus to go and retrieve it. Branch after branch and he’s finally up there! But soon after fallen and blown into oblivion because in suddenly appears Ranbob with loads and loads on TNT. Placing it all around the tree and the room, all he says is

“No one survives when they come here.”

And 

BOOM!

He sets off the TNT in the tree, Cletus. Before he died, Cletus luckily tossed the group the book he essentially died for so before reading it, the group ran out of the room and shut the iron doors.

The rest of the group had also found a book that had a key to a “Secret Room”, and very soon after they were making they’re way down a certain “Secret Room” only to be met with another book and a room to the side full of lava parkour. Apparently the last person to try and make it past the lava parkour failed, but they know the key or next clue HAS to be there, so Benjamin is nominated to do the lava parkour, failing and falling into the lava on the final step. Bravely after watching his friend die, Isaac (Karl) decides he’s gonna take a go at the parkour, and succeeds! He gets the key and directions to the final room before they can escape and heads to the final room with Monroe and Charles.

The final room is...strange, to say the least. Black brick walls and flooring, the walls lined with diamond armour and weapons. At the end of the small hallway rested what looked like a terrarium. One of the walls were made of glass so they could look in, and what they saw wasn’t what they were expecting. A normal flat biome with grass blocks, a mini cave in the corner that had a few gold ores in it if you looked hard enough, and the strangest of all was the statue of a looming, smiling, green figure in the very center. 

“Everyone had a person they idolized.”

Ranbob suddenly appears, interrupting the 3 taking in the room.

“Ranbob? Dude what the f*ck?!”

Y/n reaches for one of the diamond axes lining the wall, when suddenly Ranbob unsheathes a netherite sword. 

“Don’t touch anything.”

That’s enough to get Y/n to back up from both the weapons AND Ranbob. 

“How are you even here? We thought you DIED!”

But Ranbob didn’t seem to be bothered nor wanted to be bothered by such minuscule questions, and instead walked towards the glass of the terrarium. 

“This is my idol. His name is Dream.”

“Was he a good person..?”

Karl questioned hesitantly. He didn’t wanna anger or irritate Ranbob after seeing what he said to Y/n.

“Hmm, yes, he’s a good person. Depending on what you think.”

Karl walks up to the glass and shatters an opening with his elbow. He, Charles and Y/n step into the terrarium, observing the statue and its habitat more closely. But they didn’t get the chance to say much more. Ranbob unsheathes his sword for the last time, trapping everyone inside the terrarium. 

“No one makes it out alive.”

GASP!

“What the- where are we?”

…

“Y/n…? Y/n! Your back!”

[heartbaz]

Magpie's happy ending (Renegade)

Of all the calls she imagined, Magpie never thought she would receive one from Tamaya Rae herself asking for help in reorganizing the items in the old weapons and artifacts department.

After "Supernova", the renegade headquarters was closed for months. It was no longer necessary to have a superhero building when superheroes no longer existed. Despite not being such an important issue, some rumors and theories spread, mostly saying that the tower would be demolished at some point.

But apparently that would not be the case.

From what heroin told her, they wanted the renegade headquarters to be a kind of museum on the second floors, which would display the artifacts stored, as well as the costumes of heroes of the old Council, photographs, news and all those things that she found it a waste of time and space to display and risk someone stealing them just like that, especially the dangerous artifacts that were in that place, but the opinion of an 11-year-old orphan girl was not so important.

When he entered the building he studied the place, which was being remodeled. He expected them to build statues of the Council, the Sketch team, a large painting, or something extravagant and flashy, typical of the renegades, especially Hugh, Captain Chromium. But he was surprised to see that it was the same as before, except that everything was new, in fact the quarantine was still under reconstruction, even Max Everhart himself was tidying up the glass city.

She realized too late that she had been staring at him for too long, a certain interest welling up in the girl at the tender expressions the boy was making as best he could arranging a four-story building near a park. Max had looked up for a second and noticed that the little blue eyes were watching him. Before receiving any gesture of greeting from the blond boy, she turned a little blushing and followed his path with a hurried step to enter the elevator and descend.

When the doors opened she could hear in the distance a conversation coming from the room of the dangerous artifacts, the voice was of two girls. when she got a little closer she realized that it was a dispute between Monarch and Nova. Nothing serious, they were just talking about some glasses and their use, something that did not interest her, she was coming for the jewelry and to see if there was something interesting and relevant so she could steal it without anyone noticing her absence.

She looked around and then stood still, she was struck by the silence that reigned in the place, and that was very strange. Something was clearly missing. Rather, someone was missing. Callum's obnoxious voice talking excessively about artifacts was missing. His lips formed a grimace without realizing it.

"This place is so different without him."

She startled to hear a voice behind her. When she turned around she saw Tina staring down the hallway. Maggie wasn't an expert at deciphering people's feelings through their eyes, but she easily saw the sadness and melancholy reflected in them, accompanied by pursed lips, clearly holding back tears.

Maggie looked at her for a few seconds before she began to feel uncomfortable.

"uh... where do I start?"

Tina shook her head and looked at her again.

"Oh right," she cleared her throat, "You need to help Sketch, Red Killer and Smokescreen sort some paperwork in the reception area, I'd assign you something else like sorting the jewelry or some artifacts, but those guys have a lot of work to do."

Magpie let out a grumble but said nothing by way of protest and headed for the reception area. It was chaos, full of papers piled up on the floor. Adrian was already reading and sorting some papers, but the other two present, Ruby and Oscar, were just flirting with each other. He grimaced. He had no idea how he was going to deal with such displays of affection during the day.

...

They had spent almost two hours among all those piles of papers organizing one by one. they were all tired and bored, but that didn't stop very interesting topics of conversation from arising among the four boys, and although at first the redhead didn't have the slightest interest in talking to them, it was inevitable for her to listen and laugh at the crazy stories Oscar had. A circle of trust was created in which even she told them some of the weirdest objects and her most risky adventures when she worked for the renegades. At this point, they were each telling the origin of their power, their faces dumbfounded as they listened to Ruby and Oscar's horrific experiences, even if hers may not have been any prettier than theirs. They had mentioned that both Sketch and Monarch were born with their powers.

"We could say that Nova was also born with one, the gift of putting others to sleep by touch" Ruby mumbled.

Magpie stared at the girl, waiting for her to continue with the explanation of how Nova managed to never sleep, but she did not. She never liked her, neither being Insomnia nor being Nightmare, she still didn't forget what happened the day Agent N was going to be released, but at that moment she aroused her curiosity and she wasn't going to stay with her.

"If he was born with the power to put people to sleep just by touching them, how did he get the power to never sleep?"

Adrian tensed, but decided to tell her.

"When Nova was 7 years old her uncle, Ace Anarchy, had her entire family killed, even her sister who was only months old. She was only saved by putting the man to sleep when he was in front of her. Ace found her and turned her into an Anarchist," he paused a little to put some papers he had just read, "Every time she tried to sleep she repeated the scene in her head, after that she could not sleep until a few months ago when she slept for 24 hours.

An uncomfortable silence reigned in the reception area. Maggie took a few moments to process it all. For a moment she felt a bit like she could relate, she too had lost her family, but she couldn't imagine how it would feel to remember everything that had happened for the rest of her life. For the first time she felt pity and empathy for the ex-villain.

"It's your turn, Urraca" said Oscar to break the silence "how you got your powers."

She grimaced as she didn't know the story for sure.

"I was too little to remember, but at the orphanage they told me that the landlord found me crying, full of blood," she took out her amulet, a bullet, from her pocket and showed it to everyone present" I had the bullet in one hand. Only the bodies of my parents were found, but there was no sign of my sister.

"Was your sister taken away?" Adrian asked, as shocked as she was to hear Nova's story.

"I don't know. For a long time I waited for my sister to come looking for me at the orphanage, but she never came. No one ever came to pick me up. I came to the conclusion that she either didn't want me or she was dead" the last thing she said in a whisper, but loud enough for those present to hear.

"What about the Renegades directory" Oscar pointed to the computer.

"I already tried, there's nothing," sighed the girl."

"Maybe there is something among all these papers of old files and cases?"

Adrian was interrupted.

"I found it!" exclaimed Ruby, who throughout Magpie's story had been sifting through the piles of papers and was now holding up a set of three sheets held together by a rusty paper clip. all she could read was "Maggie's case" and the last name was blurred, someone had splashed coffee on it.

Oscar snatched the papers from his girlfriend's hand and ran. She chased after him while feigning anger. During the two hours those two lovebirds were expressing their love through flirtatious gestures and small frolics. Maggie put up with them all the time without complaining so much, but in those moments she didn't feel like putting up with their romantic idiocies and apparently neither did Sketch, in fact he spoke first asking for a little more seriousness in the matter and for them to read the case quickly. Oscar obeyed without first letting out a "boring" along with a small cloud of smoke straight into his opponent's face.

"Let's see what it says," he began to read, "he has no birth certificate.... His name was chosen by Captain Chromium, what an honor! ... Her parents were killed in the domicile where she was found... only she survived... her sister is missing... she had a bullet in her hand..." Oscar and Ruby read without interest, but as they turned the page they wrinkled their foreheads. "Artino case"

Adrian made the same gesture with his forehead and quickly stopped to read the case. Magpie didn't understand anything but felt excitement anyway.

"Who is Artino? Is that my sister's name?"

Everhart shook his head slowly as he read over the other boy's shoulder.

"No. That's Nova's last name"

The girl sighed wearily. For a moment, the illusion returned that her sister would find her and take her with her to her new home, but it was just a stupid childish fantasy she had. Of course in those papers she would find nothing important about her life before the murder of her parents, much less anything about her missing sister.

When they finished reading, the renegades' gazes turned to her.

"Steaming saints..." Oscar was very overwhelmed. his hands went slack and he dropped the pages. Adrian picked them up with extreme gentleness.

"Margaret White Is that your real last name?"

The named woman looked at him strangely.

"I don't think so, my parents never registered me or anything like that. I was named Margaret White at the orphanage when, supposedly, they got the wrong information."

The Boy looked at her for a few moments and knelt down in front of her. she hated it when they did that. To her it was a sign that something was wrong.

"Your last name doesn't appear on these papers because they are smudged, but," he sighed, "but I believe your full name is Evelyn Artino and your sister..."

He paused for a few seconds that Maggie felt like hours. She already knew what the Renegade's next words would be, but she needed to hear it or she would think it was all just another one of her crazy fantasies.

"Your sister is Nova Artino."

She stood still and wordlessly, processing the information. She just didn't know what to do, feel or say, should she run and hug Nova or leave the place, pretend she never heard all this and believe that her sister was just a figment of her imagination?

All he could manage to do was shout a resounding "How!" at the renegade. Such an action scared him off and he backed up a few steps. Seconds later Nova and Danna arrived to see what had happened.

The girl's small eyes fixed on the shorter of the girls and she lunged at her to attack, but before she could reach out to touch her Adrian grabbed her by the waist and lifted her slightly off the ground. That brought back memories.

"How could you!" shouted Magpie trying to free herself from the Renegade's arms, but it was useless, "You abandoned me!"

Nova looked at her strangely and then at her companions. Ruby handed her the papers. She skimmed the first page, but still didn't understand.

"Look at the second page."

The red-haired girl listened and began to read. Seconds later she covered her mouth in amazement and her eyes filled with tears.

She also began to cry.

"For years I've been waiting for you to come and get me, but you never showed up" she said in a whisper, now calmer.

"But how..." she said in a choked whisper.

"She told us the origin of her powers, or at least what she knows" Adrian replied, "She was found covered in blood with a bullet in her hand, her parents were killed and her older sister disappeared. Read well, everything is very clear."

The renegade picked up the old papers and went back to reread them more patiently, perhaps looking for some word or name that contradicted her boyfriend's words. But judging by her look of disbelief and the tears that began to fall down her cheeks, there was nothing to rule out the theory.

"Why didn't I have any idea about these papers?" asked Nova with her eyes on the sheets, although it was obvious that she was addressing her partner "How come no one remembered such information?"

Adrian looked at her for a few seconds. She, still holding her head in the air, sensed that he was looking for signs of anger. And part of it showed.

"I'm not really sure, but back then they didn't trust computers, so they used paper to file all the cases" he motioned to the mountains of paper scattered around the room.

That was the last that was heard. No one knew what to do or say, and the silence was so thick and uncomfortable that it was becoming unbearable. After a few minutes Oscar decided to give them space and leave the place together with Ruby by the hand, they were also followed by Danna, who still didn't understand what was going on.

The last to leave was Adrian. He went down to Maggie -or Evelyn, she didn't even know what to call herself anymore- and gave her a squeeze on the shoulder, as if giving her strength or a signal not to run out of the building. He walked over to Nova and cupped her face to wipe away her tears. He said something she didn't hear and kissed her on the lips before leaving the room and closing the door.

It was time to talk, but apparently none of them were willing to start. At least Urraca didn't want to.

"I don't know what to say," Nova finally spoke, she had stopped crying a few moments ago, but her voice was broken, "You have no idea how happy I am knowing you're alive."

Magpie wiped her tears and snot with her sleeve.

"I asked you something earlier, why did you abandon me, did you even look for me?"

She shook her head.

"I never looked for you" said Nova, "I didn't because I thought you were dead.... That you had been murdered that night and I couldn't protect you because..." she couldn't continue speaking because a sob escaped from her throat.

Evie grew tired of pretending to be strong. She burst into a disconsolate cry and ran to hug her sister tightly. she hugged her sister back just as tightly. at that moment they couldn't talk, she knew it, the lump in her throat barely let her breathe. She had no intention of admitting it, but the warmth of an older sister along with a strange and curious sensation it brought back an old feeling she had thought she had forgotten, one she had not experienced for years. That of being safe, of having a home.

[iamtheblondestblonde]

The Clark Kent Effect

Part Four

AN: I finally did it! I’m getting back into writing after weeks of no thoughts head empty yay!! I’d really love to hear your thoughts on this one, I’m really excited for you guys to read it. It’s kind of important, ya know. God I wish I could say more but I don’t want to take away from anything. Also I love this gif of Mat, thank you @gabelandeskog​ for blessing our timeline with it.

Song: Slow Hands - Niall Horan  (spoiler sorry)

Word Count: 5.6k (oops)

Warnings: explicit language, smut (also spoiler, sorry)

Masterlist / One / Two / Three

With the playoffs approaching January was a busy month. Time in between games was stretched thin but somehow that still didn’t stop Mat from showing up at your door from time to time, usually after an exhausting game or the end of a roadtrip. Despite the voice in your head telling you that this wasn’t a good idea you couldn’t find it in yourself to turn him away.

The two of you would watch nature documentaries together, sometimes talking about his games if he was in the mood and other times you’d simply do your best to take his mind off things. Not in the way one might think though.

The sexual tension between the two of you was palpable, but neither of you acted on it, choosing to bask in each other’s company instead of addressing the issue at hand. Nothing besides getting cuddled up on your couch ever happened but it was clear that neither of you were able to keep yourself from doing something stupid much longer.

Something was bound to happen sooner or later but for now the two of you managed to hold everything together. Sort of at least.

One night Mat had taken off his hoodie - not for obvious reasons - but because two people underneath a fluffy blanket generated a lot of heat and he’d simply gotten too hot. You honestly hadn’t even thought of it until Emily had stood next to your couch, said dark grey hoodie with Mat’s number and last name clearly visible on it in her hand.

“How did this get here?”, she’d asked and for one second you contemplated making up a bullshit excuse before conceding, knowing full well she’d be able to see through your lies either way. Maybe you’d even benefit from hearing a second opinion right now.

So you explained what had gone down in the weeks since New Year’s, leaving her speechless.

“I wanted to tell you about it, I promise, but I haven’t even figured for myself what it is. I wouldn’t even know where to start explaining”, you rambled further, taken aback by your friend’s silence following your confession.

Emily was many things, but quiet definitely wasn’t one of them. It only lasted a couple of minutes though, as she seemed to gather her words before speaking up:

“I don’t even know what to say to you.” That much was obvious. “All I know is that you’re bound to get hurt if you don’t talk to Tito about this. You like Mat and he likes you just as much I can tell. If Tito is as much of a good friend as you think he is he won’t stand in the way of your happiness, no matter who it is with.”

She had a point of course, but somehow you couldn’t bring yourself to tell Tito, not yet at least. You weren’t even sure what you were holding out for, maybe some magical moment that would give you the clarity you desperately needed but for now you weren’t going to say anything.

It wasn’t like Mat had said anything either though and his role in this – whatever this was – was just as big as yours after all. Both of you would be risking an important friendship if you were to pursue each other, wasn’t it reasonable that you wanted to be 100% sure about things first?

However life as usual didn’t hold out for you, leaving you no choice but to finally make a decision after all.

Said decision came under the guise of a party invitation, an invitation you couldn’t possibly turn down. But first you had to attend a game, the last game before bye week and against the Rangers of all teams. Emily and Rafael were having dinner with Rafael’s parents so it was only Dana and Mariah who were able to join you for tonight.

The three of you had only been able to get some mediocre seats because you hadn’t started looking for tickets early enough, thus disappearing in between the masses of Islanders fans that had made it out to the Garden as well. This time Mat definitely wouldn’t be able to find you in the stands after scoring a goal, you were barely able to find him on the ice after all.

They came out on top though, something you were grateful for because a loss wouldn’t have set the right mood for tonight. This time you watched the masses pile out of the arena before getting up yourself because you’d have to wait for the boys either way so it wasn’t like you had to beat any traffic. The plan was to meet in front a back entrance and you were grateful that you’d grabbed a warm coat to protect yourself from the freezing January air as you and your friends waited for the rest of your group.

You could hear them long before they made their way through the door, Mat’s cackle bouncing off the walls and making you smile as well, his laugh nothing but infectious. Only four of them would go out with you tonight, the rest understandably either going home to their kids or flying out early the next morning. Greetings and congratulations were kept short, everyone too excited to finally get to said party to dwell on such trivial things.

Tito had met this fancy music producer a couple of weeks ago and because famous people apparently liked to associate with other famous people he’d been invited to his fancy housewarming party. Tito had then proceeded to snag invites for the rest of you as well and you for one couldn’t wait to see the promised freshly remodeled penthouse suite in Williamsburg. Having friends among New York’s elite certainly paid off.

After finally entering said building the lot of you piled into the elevator and Tito pressed the button at the very top, accompanied by oohs and aahs from Dana, Mariah and you. You’d thought that arriving at a party without ever meeting the host beforehand would be awkward but it turned out that Nick, said music producer, was actually a really nice guy who immediately introduced you to some people after showing you where the drinks were.

The guys got recognized almost immediately and while they were bombarded with hockey questions you grabbed Dana and Mariah so you could dip towards the bar, needing alcohol in your system. You grabbed some drinks for the boys as well, a rum and coke for Mat and beers for the rest of them, carefully dancing around intoxicated party guests so you wouldn’t spill anything on what you imagined to be a very expensive carpet.

As the hour got later and everyone inside proceeded to get plastered you stepped out on the terrace, wrapped tightly in your coat and enjoying the view of the East river, the Brooklyn Bridge to your left and the Manhattan Skyline in the distance. The apartment was beautiful, really, but not even the tasteful interior design could compete with the view it provided.

You could still hear the faint beat of the music thumping but besides that and the ever-present sound of the city that never sleeps it was quiet. Everyone else was inside, avoiding the cold like any reasonable person would and in turn giving you some time by yourself to sort your thoughts.

You were so lost in them that you didn’t even hear the glass sliding doors open and close, didn’t notice that someone had joined you outside until Mat stepped beside you, making you jump a little.

“Jesus, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Sorry”, he just chuckled, taking another step closer until your shoulders almost brushed, resting his hands on the railing. He looked out to the city and you looked up at him, suddenly not interested in the twinkling lights in front of you any longer. It was hard not to after all, his soft expression and tousled hair practically demanding your attention. He looked good tonight, still dressed in his game day suit which was now covered by his jacket though.

“You’re not usually the kind of person to just disappear, why are you outside by yourself?”, he asked, his breath creating white clouds in the air.

“I’m not by myself right now, am I?”, you responded and he just smirked, eyes still focused on the skyline though. “It’s quiet out here, I came out so I could think.”

“And what is that pretty head of yours thinking about?” At this point you weren’t sure if your cheeks were this rosy because of the alcohol you’d consumed, the cold, his words or a combination of all three things. You did however blame the alcohol for your next words.

“You. Us, I guess.”

You could tell he stopped breathing for a moment, the steady rhythm of white clouds interrupted as he turned towards you.

“You are?”, he asked quietly, his eyes portraying a vulnerability you hadn’t seen in them before.

There it was, the cumulation of everything that had happened over the past few weeks.

There was no taking it back now, you were long past the point of no return here. Maybe it really was the alcohol in your system that had finally gotten you to admit your feelings to Mat but everyone knew that the drunk mind only speaks sober thoughts.

“Of course I am, you should have figured that out by now. I don’t watch nature documentaries with anyone after all.” That got a chuckle out of him but it did nothing to the look of absolute adoration that had taken over his features. Now it was your turn to hold your breath as you waited for his next words.

“Why thank you, I feel honored. But this certainly makes things easier, because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you, about us, either.”

This was real. This was the magical moment and while it didn’t exactly provide you with an omnipresent clarity it finally solidified where either of you stood in this situation. You only wished that it wasn’t happening on the terrace of some guy you still barely knew with your friends inside, able to walk in and ruin said moment.

“Don’t worry, Tito is too busy following Dana like a lost puppy to come out here”, Mat said, seemingly able to sense in which direction your thoughts were going.

“He knows she plays for the other team, right?” In fact, you were pretty sure that there was something going on between Mariah and her but you weren’t about to pressure either of them for answers before they were ready, especially with Mariah only being in straight relationships before.

“As long as it keeps him busy I won’t tell him if you don’t.” The accompanying wink made you snort a little but the sound quickly died in your throat when he placed his hands on your hips, carefully walking you backwards towards the edge of the terrace. Here you were hidden from the people inside, invisible to possible curious onlookers. He was shielding you with his body as well, the two of you practically pressed together from head to toe as he crowded you against the wall of the building.

He then reached up and placed one of his hands on your cheek, carefully tracing your bottom lip with his thumb. All you could do was stare up at him, frozen in place and unable to move. He looked at you with absolute reverence, like he’d never held anything this precious in his hands and you honestly wouldn’t be surprised if your heart straight up decided to leave your body and be with him instead.

“Please tell me I can kiss you right now”, he whispered and you didn’t trust your voice so you only nodded, not a single doubt left about your decision.

He leaned down towards you, and after months of pining for each other your lips finally met.

It was sweet and soft, his lips still tasting like the rum you’d seen him drinking all night and yet it was perfect and right. His hand moved up into your hair, holding you close as the two of you explored each other for the very first time. It wasn’t like you were going anywhere though, not even an apocalypse would have gotten you to stop kissing Mat right now.

He pulled back eventually - after what could have been seconds, minutes or hours - both of you breathing heavily as you tried to fill your lungs with the oxygen they’d just been deprived of. Your heart was running a mile a minute, beating so hard against your ribs that you were convinced Mat could feel it as well, despite all the layers that currently separated you. You weren’t done with him though, so after catching your breath you pulled him down to you again.

This time there was more force behind the kiss, the initial phase of careful exploration over. One of his arms found its way underneath your coat, wrapping itself around your waist and pulling you even closer while the other one was still buried in your hair.

Mat licked along the seam of your lips asking for permission, which you gladly granted, allowing him to deepen the kiss. In a second the entire mood shifted. He dropped his hand then, tightly grabbing your ass and groaning when you rolled your hips against him. By now you weren’t feeling the effects of the alcohol anymore, instead intoxicated by his kisses. You could get lost in him forever.

As you slowly came back to your senses you realized that might not be the best idea however, as the two of you spending hours out on this terrace might raise suspicions, despite Tito apparently being distracted by Dana right now. So you pulled back, reluctantly, slightly pushing Mat off of you. He must have taken it as you rejecting him and his brows were knit together in confusion. You quickly spoke up before he could get a wrong idea of the situation:

“We should take this back to my place.”

His lips, those beautiful lips, swollen from all the making out formed a surprised ‘o’ and you almost laughed at his reaction.

“Unless you don’t want to, that’s totally fine as well”, you quickly continued, not wanting to push any boundaries. That seemed to finally get to him.

“Of course I do. I’ve been thinking about that for so long and now there’s no chance I’m leaving here without you”, he beamed at you, his smile so bright that the New York skyline behind him paled in comparison.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah”, he confirmed, leaning down for one last sweet kiss.

“Wait, before we go back inside though, your hair is a mess.”

“I wonder whose fault that is”, you responded, your voice dripping with sarcasm. He actually had the decency to blush, an adorable pink tinging his cheeks as he reached up to try his best at untangling your hair.

After he deemed your hair situation presentable again you followed him inside, instantly greeted by the party sounds again. It took a while until you managed to spot your friends and you had to stifle a laughter once you realized what was actually going on.

Tito was sprawled out on one end of the couch with Mariah and Dana on either side of him. By the looks of it Mariah was trying to get him to drink some water but he was just giggling up at Dana, who looked anything but amused by the situation.

“Oh my god”, Mat groaned, covering his face in embarrassment for his friend.

“What happened? He didn’t drink that much, did he?”

“No he didn’t but he took a space brownie from this random dude, saying something about how he needed to make the most of his week off. I don’t know how much was in there but he’s been like this for almost twenty minutes now”, Dana said with an eyeroll, Tito simply giggling again. You’d never seen him like this.

You knew that the reasonable thing would be to take him home with you since he didn’t live that far from your apartment, but you also knew that if you did that nothing else would happen with Mat tonight. Maybe you were being selfish, but just for this one night you allowed yourself to be.

“Could you guys take him home, please?”

“Oh come on, he lives way closer to your place”, Mariah protested immediately, obviously and understandably not wanting to be responsible for a greened out Tito.

You gave her a look, taking a step closer to Mat – who hadn’t said anything so far – and putting your hand on his shoulder. It only took a couple of seconds until realization dawned upon your friends and Mat just blushed, coughing awkwardly. You didn’t care that they knew now, it was only a matter of time anyway. Tito hadn’t noticed anything though because he’d closed his eyes and leaned his head back, blissed out and lost in his own world right now.

“You owe us”, Dana mouthed and Mariah nodded before motioning for the two of you to leave, which you gladly did. Mat called for an Uber as soon as the two of you stepped into the elevator and it was as if your streak of luck wasn’t over yet because the closest ride wasn’t even three minutes out.

Even traffic didn’t seem as bad as usual but maybe that was because Mat kept distracting you by rubbing small circles on your thigh. He’d pulled you close as soon as you’d settled into the backseat and was now making small talk with the driver, who was apparently an avid Islanders fan. On the one hand it was sweet to see him interact with a fan of his, on the other hand you’d rather kiss him senseless but apparently that part would have to wait.

“I can’t wait until I’m all alone with you”, he murmured in your ear when there was a break in the conversation, seemingly able to read your thoughts yet once again. The driver asked yet another question though before you even got the chance to respond, making you bury your face in Mat’s shoulder. He simply squeezed your hand, a lazy smile on his lips.

You’d never been so happy to see your apartment building before and you were even inclined to do a little happy dance when the car finally came to a stop in front of it. Despite all that you still thanked your driver, wishing him a good night and after Mat had taken a selfie with him you finally slid out of your seat. You were instantly greeted by the cold again but you barely even noticed it as Mat wrapped his arm around you, pulling you close once again.

“I swear I’m stabbing the next person who attempts to pull you into a conversation”, you grumbled as you made your way inside, leading Mat up the seemingly endless stairs until you finally reached your apartment door, unlocking it as fast as you could.

“But if you get arrested for attempted murder I wouldn’t be able to do this.” And with that he pulled you in for a kiss that was definitely worth being sentenced to prison. He pushed you up against the back of the door, the two of you instantly picking up where’d you left off on the terrace.

“I just wanna say that it’s cute you’d think I’d only get charged with attempted murder. This right here is a badass bitch”, you butted in after pulling away shortly but because you were still breathless it didn’t have the intended effect. He only giggled again, pushing your coat off your shoulders and then closing the distance between you once again instead of giving you a response. Not that you were complaining. Maybe you’d never be able to complain about anything ever again, not if he kept on kissing you like that.

It was a bit of a struggle to kick off your shoes with his lips distracting you but somehow you managed and he followed your lead before pulling you towards your bedroom. He knew the way by now, having changed in there many times after his games, which probably the only reason why neither of you smacked into any walls because it was pitch black in your apartment.

“Fuck, I can’t see shit”, he cursed upon entering your bedroom and you stifled a giggle, the alcohol you’d consumed earlier in the night and his presence making you giddy.

“There’s a switch on the right side of the bed..”, you trailed off, pulling out your phone to illuminate the room with the dim display light and giggling even more when you could hear Mat rummaging around until suddenly soft lighting filled the room.

“Ahhh that’s better”, he sighed, softly looking up at you from his new position on the edge of the mattress.

“Nice to see you again”, you joked while placing your phone on the nightstand before softly brushing over his cheekbones with your thumb. He only hummed before wrapping his hands deftly around the back of your thighs, pulling you close until you were perched on his lap.

“Likewise. Wouldn’t want to miss seeing your beautiful face for the world.”

Your heart just about melted at his words but then he captured your lips again, your mind immediately going blank. For a minute or two the two of you made out like teenagers and Mat only abandoned your lips to trail kisses along your neck, leaving goosebumps in his wake. You didn’t bring him home with you to make out however, so you climbed off his lap, suddenly impatient.

He whined in protest but the sound died in his throat when you pulled off your sweater, leaving you only in your bra and jeans.

“Fuck. Wouldn’t want to miss seeing this either”, he said, pulling you close again until you were standing between his thighs and press open-mouthed kisses all over your cleavage, making you bury your hands in his hair. You were so lost in the feeling that it took you a couple of seconds to notice his hands working your jeans, quickly pushing them down your hips.

He cursed again once you were only left in your underwear but you stopped him before he could pull you back into his lap.

“What?”

“I think it’s not really fair that I’m practically naked and you’re still fully dressed in your suit.”

“And whose fault is that babygirl?”

The pet name almost made you forget your mission but somehow you managed to pull yourself together, his suit jacked and shirt soon discarded in some corner of your bedroom. He groaned when you sank to your knees in front of him, now eye-to-eye with his very prominent bulge. With quick fingers you made work of his belt and he helped you pull off his pants.

The image of him sitting in front of you now, only in his boxers, chest heaving, face flushed and with his hair all messed up would probably forever burn itself into your mind.

You took your time, lowering your lips towards his cock and mouthing along it over his boxers teasingly, unable to stop yourself. Mat squirmed under your touch, his breathing growing even more ragged as he buried his hand in your hair once again. He only allowed himself to enjoy this for a couple of seconds though before pulling you up to stand again, getting up as well and spinning you around before throwing you onto the mattress. You were tempted to make a WWE joke but your thoughts were quickly elsewhere when he climbed up on your bed, lowering himself between your legs.

By now you were so keyed up that the friction of his clothed cock against you had you moaning instantly. Mat groaned as well, kissing you fiercely as he rocked against you. When you arched your back he took the chance to unhook your bra, quickly throwing the lacey fabric over his shoulder as if it had offended his mother. He made sure to appreciate every inch of exposed skin, leaving you breathless.

Kissing his way down your body he hooked his fingers into your panties, looking up to ask for permission to take them off. You quickly nodded, watching him as he discarded the last item of your clothing, leaving you fully exposed to him. You weren’t nervous though, not with the way Mat looked at you like you’d hung the stars in the sky.

“You. Are. So. Fucking. Beautiful.” Every word was accompanied by a slow kiss, each closer to where you needed him most. He didn’t do anything but stare at you though, making you whine impatiently.

“Don’t worry babygirl, I’ll give you what you deserve soon enough. I just want to take my time. We’ve got all night after all.”

And with that he finally lowered his mouth towards you.

Mat being an amazing kisser should have given away the fact that he’d be amazing at other things, but nothing could have prepared you for the way he was eating you out right now. You were putty in his hands, begging for more as he traced slow circles around your clit with his tongue. Your legs were already trembling, face flushed as you arched your back off the mattress over and over again. To keep you from moving too much Mat had wrapped one arm around your stomach, pressing you against him, while his other hand was busy trailing up your inner thigh. When he finally sunk one of his thick fingers into your heat you almost came then and there but Mat noticed, of course, and slowed his movement even more.

“Please Mat, I need..”

“You need what?” He asked when you didn’t continue, stopping to look up at you. His finger kept pushing in and out of you, making it hard to form a coherent thought.

“More. Please, please, give me more.”

“God I love hearing you beg”, he whispered before finally fulfilling your wish, pushing a second finger inside you before wrapping his lips around your clit once again. He picked up his pace then, every move of his fingers and every stroke of his tongue bringing you closer to the edge until your body snapped.

You were a writhing and moaning mess beneath him, your legs shaking as he brought you through your orgasm, moaning himself when you pulled at his hair a little harder than you’d intended.

As soon as you came down again you noticed Mat grinding against the mattress and you moaned softly at the sight. He only winked at you though before wiping his face against your thigh and climbing back over you to give you a searing kiss, making you taste yourself on his lips.

He willingly let you roll him over until you were on top, helping you take off his boxers as well but ultimately stopping you when you moved to take him in your mouth, wanting to return the favor. He looked so tempting, all thick and long and with droplets of precum leaking out. You’d never wanted to suck a dick so badly before.

“Babygirl I can’t.. Otherwise this is going to be over embarrassingly fast”, he groaned, pulling you up until you were face to face again.

“Next time then.”

“I promise.”

You smiled contently at him before reaching over to your bedside drawer, fishing for a condom. Sitting on his thighs you reached for his cock, unable to stop yourself from stroking him a couple of times before rolling down the condom. You’d take what you could get with him.

“Ride me”, was all he said next and you eagerly moved up to align yourself with him, abandoning his thighs. For now at least.

Both of you moaned once you finally sunk onto him, welcoming him into your tight heat. It was a bit of a stretch and you took a couple of seconds to adjust to his size, Mat immediately sitting up to pull you in for a passionate kiss. With his hands guiding your hips and your arms wrapped around his shoulders you began to move slowly, unable to stop the moans echoing off your bedroom walls.

It didn’t take long until you’d found your rhythm and pushed Mat back to rest against your pillows, his hands on your hips still guiding you.

“You feel so good Mat”, you moaned as you leaned backwards, placing your hands behind you on his knees. This angle had him brushing against your g-spot with every move and it didn’t take long until you could feel your next orgasm approaching. Mat noticed, again, and raised one of his hands to let you suck on his thumb for a second before moving it towards your clit, circling it expertly. The added sensation had you shaking in no time, moaning loudly as you clenched around him, the waves finally crashing. Your entire body was tingling, heat spreading through your veins as you all but collapsed on top of him.

“You’re mesmerizing to watch”, he whispered in your ear and you smiled softly, unable to respond at the moment. He flipped you around without ever pulling out, now kneeling between your legs. His thrusts were slow until he could tell that you’d come down from your high again, only picking up his pace once you wrapped your legs around him.

Mat was wrong though, he was the one who was mesmerizing to watch. His hair was falling into his face, his lower lip was pulled between his teeth and his chest was glistening in a sheen of sweat as he fucked you with deep stokes. Nothing else would ever matter again as long as you got to see him like this, absolutely and utterly losing himself in you.

You could feel him getting close, pulling him in for a kiss as you wrapped your legs even tighter around him. His thrusts were picking up speed and losing their rhythm until he buried himself into you one last time, shuddering as he reached his own high with a moan, spilling into the condom.

“Fuuck”, he groaned softly and you chuckled softly, your legs still wrapped around as he continued to twitch inside of you. For a couple of seconds the two of you stayed like this, basking in the feeling until he reluctantly and carefully pulled out, rolled off of you and discarded of the condom.

He pulled you close then and you curled up against his side, slow hands trailing over his body. The both of you were quiet, each lost in their own thoughts. After a while you regretfully pushed yourself up into a sitting position.

“I should go pee, wouldn’t want to get a UTI or something.”

“Good idea”, he laughed and you smiled down at him. He looked so happy and blissed out, you couldn’t stop yourself from leaning down and kiss him one more time before hopping off the bed.

After finishing your business and pulling on your silk robe you looked at yourself in the mirror, smiling at how incredibly happy you looked.

Surely Tito would see that as well. 

Emily was right, he was too good of a friend to not want you to be happy. Even if happy meant being with his best friend. You’d ask him to talk tomorrow, unable and unwilling to hide your feelings any longer.

You splashed some water in your face, contemplating to run a brush through your messed up hair before ultimately deciding to fuck it. Mat wouldn’t mind, he was the one responsible for it after all.

“I’m grabbing some water, do you want-“

The words died on your lips just like your smile when you stepped out of the bathroom to see Mat hurriedly buttoning up his shirt. He’d already pulled on his pants, the suit jacked already thrown on your bed, where the sheets were still messed up from earlier.

“What’s going on?”, you asked with a shaky voice, unsure if you even wanted to hear his answer. He wasn’t meeting your eyes and in that moment you knew that you wouldn’t like his answer. He abandoned his quest of fiddling with the tiny buttons then, pulling on his jacket instead and looking like a gigolo with his shirt still halfway unbuttoned. 

“I gotta go. I still have to pack for St. Louis. Early flight and all that.”

You knew this was bullshit.

He’d asked you to come over to his apartment yesterday after you got off work to help pick out the suits he should take to the All Star Games. Hell, you’d packed half of his suitcase yourself after having enough of watching him haphazardly throwing in his stuff.

Why would he lie like this?

Before you could call him out on his bullshit though he was already out your bedroom door. You were left speechless, frozen in your spot and unable to follow him. You heard him shuffle in your living room, probably pulling on his shoes, until your front door closed behind him with a resolute bang.

He hadn’t even bothered to said goodbye.

-

Tagging: @jamiedrysdales​ @matbarzyy​ @nazdaddy​ @itrocksmysocks​ @yeeehaw-hockey @whitesummerx​ @teenagekook​

[starr-fall-knight-rise]

Emp-Ire, “Patriot.”

Still working and am still in a bit of a writing slump.

I have only been able to write the very few things that REALLY interest me right now. So thank you for your patience with me going off on the occasional tangent, ok maybe more often then not going off on a tangent, but thanks anyway :)

A crisp morning breeze needled his skin, the icy tendrils causing goosebumps to break out over Adam’s bare chest and shoulders. Overhead a layer of dismal grey clouds blocked the sky over an alien landscape.

He was so tired.

And he hurt.

All around him other bodies shifted in the cool morning air, and he would have sworn he could see their breath puffing out in great gouts of steam, though that might just have been his imagination. He was so cold, what the hell was wrong with wearing a shirt, or at least some real pants.

But no, apparently pants were reserved for those who earned them, everyone else was relegated to nothing better than short leather skirts, or underwear which he found mildly infuriating. Even some compression shorts would have been nice. Another cold breeze ran past him and he crossed his arms over his chest palms pressed flat over his freezing nipples in hopes that by warming them up they wouldn’t just fall off. 

Also his toes were numb, courtesy of the sandals he was wearing.

Looking around him, he could see that the other men and women didn’t appear to be nearly as cold as he was, in fact, they were probably being kept nice and warm by the sheer awesomeness of their big manly muscles or something.

Standing in a line with all of them he felt like the awkward nerd kid trying out for the football team. Each and every last one of them had washboard abs, or similar since genetics is more kind to some than to others.

And then there was him.

Chicken chest, noodle arm bastard that he was, with only the faint line of abs hanging out waiting for the moment he flexed intentionally to pretend his abs were bigger than they actually were. He hunched his shoulders just a bit, feeling very very small in comparison.

“Hey, how are you doing? Looking good everyone, looking good…. Hey…. hey.”

Adam lifted his head just in time to watch Ramirez strut up like he owned the damn place turning heads with the sheer gravity of his confidence. 

He walked up to stand Next to Adam, “Fuck you, dude.”

“What?”

“How can you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Strut up like you and I aren’t literally the most pathetic people here.”

Ramirez patted him on the shoulder, “Confidence is key my friend. If you pretend to be awesome, soon you’ll believe it and eventually it will be. Self fulfilling prophecy and all of that. The mind is a powerful tool. Also chicks dig confidence.”

“What about men?”

“Them too, I don’t discriminate.” he held his arms out wide, “Everyone could do with a little bit of Ramirez in their life.” He looked at Adam pointedly, “How about you?” He flexed, “Want some of this.”

Adam snorted, paused and then said, “You know what, if I swung that way, sure.”

Ramirez put his hand over his chest, “That is probably the nicest thing you ever said to me. But the Ramirez is an open door and I open both ways.”

“You’re not a swinging door, you're a revolving door.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I don’t know man, it just sounded good. But if you were a door, you would also open from the bottom up, I just couldn’t think of an object that opened on both the x, y and z axises.”

He tapped his chin, “Gotta love how my morning has mostly involved being compared to a door, besides I don’t open to just anyone, I am age restricted, and no pets allowed.”

Adam grimaced, “Gross.”

“No I am not gross, if I was pet friendly THAT would be gross.”

Adam paused, “How about…. aliens ?”

Ramirez shrugged, “If it’s sentient, I Will try anything once. You kno, can’t knock it till you've tried it.”

It was at this moment that Adam became acutely aware that they were the only ones talking. They may have been speaking rather quietly, but at some point the other men and women had stopped speaking. He paused and turned his head to look. Ramirez’s voice faded off into the silence as the two of them turned to find a tall, heavily muscled woman standing before them. Her hair was tied back and her midriff was bare. She carried a spear in one hand and a shield in the other, and she waited very pointedly for the two of them to stop talking.

The look on her face could have coagulated his blood in his veins.

He shrunk back.

She walked up, looked at the two of them and her face pulled into an expression of disgust. 

“Flabby.” She announced smacking Ramirez in the thigh with her spear. He yelped and grabbed his leg, “Soft.” The spear jabbed Adam in the belly driving the wind from his boy, “Pathetic,” She announced, “No weakness, not on my island.” She jabbed at him again and, on instinct, Adam caught the haft of the spear.

He knew pretty immediately he had made a mistake as her eyes widened, and then he was slammed to the dirt head ringing from the metal of the shield on his skull.

He groaned and rubbed at his head.

“Thank you for volunteering.”

Adam didn’t know what he had just volunteered for, but it sounded like he wasn’t going to like it very much. 

As it turns out.

He was right.

She announced immediately that they were going to play a game. He thought that seemed weird for the biggest badasses this side of fake Greece but ok. But it turned out her idea of a game was just a fun way of saying I am going to make you regret you ever lived.

They were the wolves, he was the rabbit. He had a two minute head start, and then they would chase him. If he got caught, they were allowed to beat him up for a few minutes, and then he got another two minutes head start.

This lasted all morning.

About two or three hours. He couldn't tell by the end.

He had never been so exhausted in his life, andhe thought training with the Drev had been hard.

By the end he determined that they were about the same amount of hard, but the Drev didn’t do nearly as much Running. Towards the end his two minute head start counted for almost nothing, and he was in a nearly continual state of getting the shit kicked out of him. Ramirez huffed and puffed at the back of the pack like the big bad wolf had asthma.

And Adam threw up…. Three times.

Three times.

By the time it was over he was covered in bruises and could barely walk. He thought, like during training, they would get a lunch break or something, but nope by the end of the day they were back to the sandy training field where it was either, wrestling, bare knuckle boxing, sparring, or some other ungodly torture. 

There was no stopping.

Occasionally, they were allowed to kneel on the dirt and have something to eat. He wasn't sure what the spartans had eaten back in the day, but this looked like meals clearly prepared by people who studied the science of getting jacked. Mostly protein and vegetables. Whatever drink they were using was some kind of water, but cut with something else he couldn’t have been sure about, probably electrolytes.

Either way he had a hard time keeping it down.

Ramirez on the other hand was part of the passing out gang.

The two of them together barely made a functioning human. And by the end of the day they crawled themselves back to what constituted as the barracks, which was just one long building with mats laid out on the floor. He was so tired that he slept like a log through the entire night until they were woken up to do it again the next day. He slept whenever he could, using anyone and anything as a pillow.

He became way more intimately familiar with Ramirez than he had ever wanted to be but at that point he was too tired to give much of a shit. Even Ramirez was too tired to say anything sarcastic or inappropriate.

He honestly couldn't have said how long they were there, every day seemed to bleed into the next with only the changing of the weather and the night to let him know anything was going on at all.

The change in himself was so gradual that he barely even noticed until one day…

“SHIELD WALL!”

Adam and Ramirez raced forward interlocking their shields with the group of men and women before them.  Others piled up behind bracing their spears over the shoulders of their comrades.

“Remember the wall is only as strong as its weakest member!”

Across from them a group of other trainees raced forward and slammed against their shield wall. 

Adam and Ramirez shouted their exertion.

“Push back!”

They pulled back slightly and then drove forward shoving the other recruits back and to the ground tossing a few of them bodily three or four feet back.

“BRACE!”

They returned to their interlocking position, spears bristling outward like some sort of demonic porcupine. 

They did that exercise once or twice more until ordered to break off, separating into individual units which charged the other groups' spears raised.

Adam Batted another combatant’s shield aside, slammed his shoulder into the man’s chest, kicked another oncoming from the left, dodging out of the way as Ramirez covered him from the right with a sharp jab of his spear which caught another woman by the bottom of the shield and sent her deflecting to the right.

They clashed on the training field for a good half hour of continual battle, when another group of fresh, armored combatants charged them. He was tired, but as the enemy charged inward, he shook it off, roared a battle cry and charged them.

“Shields!” He ordered without thinking, and a small group of remaining fighters bunched up with him and Ramirez. They managed their wall right before the new combatants hit, “PUSH!” And with a massive have they threw them back, causing them to trip over one another. They broke their wall to take on the remaining group now fractured.

Adam went straight down the middle with Ramirez guarding his back chagrin at the armored combatants.

They were fresh, and Adam had the distinct impression that they were also not trainees.

Three of their number had already gone down under the onslaught, but he brought up his spear, knocked the shield to the side and tagged the other man with a glancing blow in the throat. He staggered away holding his neck. He spun left clobbering a woman with his shield. Ramirez cut past him stabbing straight down the middle and catching another one straight in the breastplate.

Two more of their number went down to the right.

There was no way they could make an effective shield wall now.

One more went down on their right.

Ramirez went to his knees shield held up before Adam, who used the shielding to strike past with his spear.

Ramirez ducked and Adam leaped over him crashing into another line of men shield on one side spear on the other. 

The man before him went crashing to the dirt.  He caught incoming strikes simultaneously and ducked under both allowing Ramirez to take one while he dealt with the other. They were split off from each other in the confusion and he didn’t see what happened as he was blindsided by another shield.

The power in that was awful, and he went flying back at least two feet staggering until he skidded in the sand and regained himself. The armored man came charging at him with a roar, and they clashed shields again. The other man was clearly stronger, though not by much. Adam strained against him, feet digging into the dirt before suddenly slacking and rolling off to the side.

It nearly caught the other man off his guard, but he was good, and caught himself before he could fall forward.

Adam snarled as they exchanged a flurry of blows. All the other combatants had backed off so the two of them could fight. He advanced pushing the other man back, though it seemed impossible that he would be able to score a hit, the other man was just too fast. It went on for a while.

Adam got tagged in the right hip, but kept fighting, it was nothing compared to the beating he had received only yesterday. He cut in again slamming his shield against the other man to throw him off balance. It didn’t do it as well as he had hoped, but for a split second he saw an opening. He would have to time it perfectly.

It was probably as much luck as it was skill that he managed to pass the spear through the little hole between the shield and man scoring a long cut across the man’s left bicep. As soon as he did someone shouted the halt, and he froze in palace.

The man before him lowered his shield and pulled off his helmet to reveal.

The King!

Adam stepped back in shock, quickly raising his spear in salute.

“Sir!”

The man smiled grimly turning to look down at his bleeding arm. He turned back to look at Adam, “Exhausted, training all day, and you still managed to cut me, I think that is a good sign.”

The entire field was returning to rest position.

Ramirez climbed out from under his shield, dazed but somehow unscathed.

“How long have you been with us now, two months maybe more.”

“I can’t remember.”

“Two months of improvement I think, and today many of these men proved themselves worthy of being real soldiers….” He turned to look at Adam, “How about yourself, what do you think you deserve?”

Adam planted his spear against the ground, “I’m still standing aren’t I.”

James, the king of sparta, laughed, “Spoken like a true Spartan.” He turned to look at the others, “I tend to agree with your assessment.” He waved a hand at those who are still standing, which included Ramirez, to Ramirez’s evident surprise.

He looked down at himself then around then grinned nodding as if it was very obvious he deserved to be there.

Adam smiled slightly.

He supposed he did.

And now that he realized it the two of them didn’t look at all out of place in comparison to the other men and women there. He stood up straighter, “Thank you, sir.”

“Just right in time then. We set out for Argos tonight, one last test before I let you go.”

The men and women raised their spears to thor king.

***

It felt good, almost familiar, with a cloak fluttering at his back, a spear in hand and a helmet on his head. Granted it was almost nothing like the Drev, but it still felt good enough that he could forgive it. He was, in fact, very proud of his accomplishment as he now stood on the rocky outcrop next to the King of the Neospartans and an entourage of warriors, his sandals feet rested hard against stone and a bare wind tugged at the red plume on the top of his helmet, the same wind that caused the red cloak to flutter behind him in the breeze.

“What is in Argos?” He wondered allowed, not entirely sure if he was allowed to ask, but curious enough to risk it.

James looked down at him from the pinnacle of rock, “You know we dislike the New Athenians?”

Adam nodded “Yeah…. About that, is it just tradition… or…”

James shook his head, “No, nothing like that. We would be fine working with them. This is a real place with real people who have their own real beliefs. It isn’t just some elaborate LARP. No, I was here when this colony started, and there was no difference between us and the New Athenians but after a while there rose some… disagreements.”

Adam tilted his head, “And what disagreements are those?”

“Moral disagreements. I am a patriot, admiral. I may be the king of Sparta, but I was also born on earth and am a True believer in the unity of the GA. Division Will only weaken us. But there are factions among the New Athenians who don’t believe the same, which would be fine. I understand a group of people who disagree with the current political system. That should be allowed by all means, but the way they are going about it is just wrong.”

“What do you mean.”

“They Are supplying information, weapons, and lodging to rebel forces who wish to destroy the GA and everything it stands for. They aren't just doing it through protests and reforms, but through violence, and hurting innocent people. They don’t care how they win as long as they do, and that is something I cannot abide. I have on good authority that some of them are working with Kree operatives and anti-alliance forces to plan assassinations against key members of government.”

Adam’s eyes widened in shock, “Really!, than why haven't we heard about this.”

James shook his head, “Despite their radical ideals, they are a very small and mostly powerless group who don’t pose much of a threat to GA members themselves. In fact, most of them are all bark and no bite. I figure that it's my job to keep my little slice of the galaxy clean, and I have managed it so far.”

Adam shook his head in surprise…. “So the Oracle….”

James nodded, “She recognized you, and likely sent you here in hopes that we would kill you for being spies, which we have done before. She honestly should have killed you herself, but the New Athenians don’t like to get their hands dirty, they like to keep their hands clean and let others do their dirty work.”

He turned to look at Adam, “Based on my studies, you are an important piece in an intergalactic chess game, holding the GA together with a volatile humanity.” He turned his head back to stare out at the horizon, “Like I said, protests, petitions, and legislation is all well and good, but as soon as your course starts to hurt innocent people you lose my sympathy. You are no longer the heroic rebel, but you are a blight and you must be stamped out.”

The fire in the man’s golden eyes was enough to make Adamstand back a little.

“I see.”

“I am glad you do, you need to see what goes on at the small scale. You need to know that there are people here fighting for you and your ideals. You built what the GA is today, whether on purpose or not, and that is something I intend to uphold.” He pointed downwards, “And we are going to start here.”