#how to stop some one to access your wifi

[burning2know]

i made the mistake of looking up Temu on tumblr

[rynwrites4fun]

Across The Hall (7) | Michael Robinavitch x Neighbor/Teacher ! Reader

Michael Robinavitch x F! Neighbor/Teacher ! Reader

Summary: Michael can’t stop thinking about that night with you. Conflicted but unable to ignore his feelings, he opens up to Jack about what you mean to him. Meanwhile, you receive an educational award, a recognition of your dedication and impact. There’s going to be a ceremony, and Aiden promises he’ll be there to support you.

Word Count: 8560

Warning: Age Gap (Mid 20s/ Early 50s)

Authors Note: Hi! Very sorry, I’ve been out of the country for the past week. I’m headed back home. I’m sitting at my gate in the airport as I type this out lmfao. Thank you for being patient. I worked on it when I had access to wifi. Omg when I saw that this part has 28 pages on Google docs. I’m shook lol. I know the slow burn is killing some of you (I’m a sucker for a slow burn I’m sorry not sorry), but buckle upppp bc it’s a long one! Enjoy - ryn

“Hey, are you doing okay?” Jack asked as they stood in the hospital elevator together.

Michael shoved his hands into his pockets. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Jack gave him a look—flat, skeptical. “I’m not talking about work. I already know how you’re feeling about that. I mean… other stuff. Personal stuff.”

Michael’s gaze stayed fixed on the ground, but Jack didn’t let it drop.

Dana had come to Jack during one of the shift changes, asking if he knew what was going on with Michael. She said he’d been off all week, distracted, withdrawn, not quite himself—ever since the Pitfest incident.

She knew how heavy that night had been—how hard it had hit him. Robby was tough; she’d always known that. She knew the kind of trauma he carried, the way he shoved it down deep and locked it away where no one could see.

But it was something other than the trauma he carries.

Jack had shrugged it off at the time. “Robby being Robby,” he’d said. “You know how he gets sometimes.”

But he’d noticed it too.

Michael was present, technically. He clocked in, saw patients, cracked a joke here and there. But behind his eyes, there was nothing. Like the lights were on, but no one was home. And Jack knew Michael, he had known him for years. He knew how he operated, knew the rhythm of his moods.

But this? This was different.

That night with you, it had been eating at Michael. He couldn’t stop replaying it in his head, the way you’d found him crying in his sleep, how gently you’d woken him, how you’d led him, half-asleep and half-broken, back to bed. And how you didn’t leave.

You didn’t ask questions. You didn’t judge. You just laid beside him, quiet, steady, grounding. You curled up like you belonged there, the two of you wrapped in each other’s arms. And for the first time in what felt like months, maybe years, he let himself be held.

It had already begun to blur the lines between friendship and something more. But it wasn’t until the next morning that he crossed a boundary he couldn’t ignore.

You’d been looking through his old photos together, laughing at stories from his med school days, the two of you joking, flirting even. And then, the moment turned. Michael leaned in, hovering over you, too close, too much.

Michael, he didn’t say anything.

But that silence said everything.

And from that, Jack knew something was up. Something Michael wasn’t talking about.

So he shifted gears.

The elevator doors slid open with a quiet chime. They stepped out and made their way to the staff room, heading straight for their lockers to grab their things.

“Hey,” Jack said, casually, “the Steelers game is on tonight. Wanna come over? Hang out? Pizza, beer?”

He tried to keep his tone light, like it was just a regular night. No pressure. No expectations.

But the offer wasn’t really about football. And Michael knew that.

He hesitated, just for a second. Then gave a small nod.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Yeah, okay.”

—

They sat in Jack’s living room, the game playing quietly in the background. The pizza box sat open on the coffee table, half-eaten slices growing cold, a few empty beer cans scattered nearby.

At some point during the second quarter, with the game half-forgotten and the beer flowing a little too easily, Michael started talking.

Really talking.

He told Jack everything, from the beginning starting from the night Aiden flaked on you at Bella Notte to last week, and all the moments in between.

“I’m sorry, you did what now?” Jack laughs in disbelief, nearly choking on his drink. “You were hovering over her? In your bed?”

Michael groans, rubbing his hands over his face. “I’m not repeating what I said.”

“Oh, I heard you loud and clear,” Jack says, grinning like a kid who’s just been handed gossip gold. “But you, Michael Robinavitch, pulling moves? Moves that are—”

“Nothing happened,” Michael snaps, a little too fast.

Jack smirks. “Uh-huh. Right. Except something was clearly about to happen… if it hadn’t been, you know, interrupted.”

“I wasn’t thinking,” Michael muttered.“It just… happened. One second we were joking around, and the next… I don’t know. The lines blurred.”

“Oh, you were thinking,” Jack said, raising his brows and taking a sip of his beer. “Just not with your brain.”

Michael shot him a look. “Quit it,” he said, annoyed.

But Jack only laughed harder.

“I’m only teasing,” he said, holding up a hand in mock innocence. “But you’ve gotta admit this is wildly off-brand for you.”

Michael didn’t respond. He just took a long sip of his beer and stared straight ahead at the tv.

“So,” he said, quieter now, “is she still with her jackass boyfriend?”

Michael exhaled through his nose. “Yeah. As far as I know.”

Jack’s eyebrows lifted again, this time with something softer behind the grin. “Man. That’s rough.”

Jack leaned back into the couch, his teasing finally turning into something closer to concern. “You really like her, huh?”

Michael crosses his arms across his chest and leans back into the couch. . “Yeah. I do…a lot actually.”

Jack let out a low whistle. “That’s… complicated. Especially if she’s still with that guy. What’s his name again?”

“Aiden”

“Right, Aiden the jackass. Pfft, you could take him. I’d back you up. Oh! Or maybe our medical power tools—”

“Jack,” Michael muttered

Jack held up his hands. “I’m kidding! …Mostly.”

Michael shook his head, but the corners of his mouth twitched despite himself.

“I mean,” Jack went on, leaning forward with a grin, “I’ve seen you mad. It’s intense.”

“Jack, I’m not going to fight Aiden… or scare him with power tools. This isn’t high school,” Michael said flatly, shooting him a look. “We’re too grown for that—and you, of all people, should know better.”

“I don’t know…. you sound like a lovesick teenager.”

Jack just grinned. Michael thought he was absolutely ridiculous sometimes. They were both middle-aged men, for god’s sake—but he also knew Jack was half-joking. Mostly.

“Oh come on,” Jack said, undeterred. “You’re not gonna fight for her? I mean, you already blew the whole ‘just neighbors… just friends’ boundary out of the water.” He gave a crooked grin. “Might as well do something about it.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “It’s not that simple.”

“No,” Jack said, his voice softer now, more serious. “It’s not. But neither is sitting on this, torturing yourself every day while she’s across the hall and you pretend like nothing’s changed.”

Michael went quiet. His fingers tightened slightly around the beer can.

Jack watched him for a beat, then leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “You’re not a villain for having feelings, Robby. It’s not like you planned this.”

“I didn’t,” Michael said quickly. Too quickly. His jaw tensed. “But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s a mess.”

Jack shook his head. “You can’t control who you fall for. The heart wants what it wants.”

“I don’t want to be the reason she leaves someone,” Michael said quietly.

Jack gave him a look. “And what if staying is making her miserable?”

Michael’s mouth opened, then closed. He had no answer for that. He swallowed hard, the weight of Jack’s words pressing down on him.

“She deserves to be happy,” Michael finally said, voice low. “But… I don’t know if I’m the one who can give that to her.”

Jack leaned forward, eyes steady. “Maybe it’s not about being the one. Maybe it’s about giving her the chance to find it, whatever that means.”

Jack let out a quiet sigh. “Look…from what you’ve told me? The way you treat her, the way you look out for her, talk about her… You can make her happy. Hell, I think you already do. You just don’t see it.”

He gave a crooked smile, voice softening.

“I know I’m getting sappy here, but I’ve known you a long time. Years. I know your heart, man. And it’s a good one.”

Michael looked at him, something raw flickering in his eyes.

Jack shrugged. “Don’t let fear convince you she’s better off without it.”

He paused, then added with a sidelong glance, “And just because she’s young and you’re… seasoned—”

“Hey,” Michael cut in, shooting him a look.

Jack smirked. “—doesn’t mean you don’t deserve something real. Something good. If anything, it means you’d know how to appreciate it.”

He leaned back, his grin fading into something quieter, more sincere.

“You’ve lived enough to know what love really takes. That’s not a flaw, man. That’s exactly why you’re the kind of person who could make it last.”

—-

You were standing in the elevator when the doors began to close—only to stutter open again as Michael slipped through at the last second.

“Hey,” he said, settling beside you, towering just slightly, looking down with a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes.

“Hi.” You offered a small smile.

It was awkward, thick with everything unsaid from the past week and you didn’t like it. Neither did Michael.

Since that night, the two of you hadn’t spoken or seen each other much. And yet, just like him, you hadn’t stopped thinking about it that night.

“Were you stuck staying late on shift?” you asked, it was almost midnight.

He shook his head. “Nah. Normal twelve-hour shift, thankfully. I was over at my buddy Abbot’s place. We caught the Steelers game.”

“How about you?” He asks.

“Dinner with some coworkers,” you replied, then added with a faint grin, “And don’t worry, I’ve got my keys this time. I’m sober. No passing out in the hall tonight.” You tried to make light of it, referencing the last time you’d seen each other, hoping humor might smooth over the awkward edge that still lingered.

Michael chuckled under his breath, the sound warm but still a little guarded. “Good to know.”

“Any occasion for dinner?” he asked.

And just like that, the awkwardness began to slip away, the two of you falling back into your familiar rhythm.

The elevator chimed softly and stopped on the sixth floor. The doors slid open, and the two of you stepped out, walking side by side down the hallway.

“Actually, yeah,” you said, a shy smile tugging at your lips. “I’m getting an education award from the state.”

Michael’s eyes lit up. “Congratulations!” His smile was bright, genuine and proud. “That’s amazing.”

“Thank you,” you said softly, your gaze brushing before flicking away.

“There’s gonna be a ceremony for me and other educators receiving awards,” you added, voice light but a little unsure. “Dinner, speeches, the whole nine.”

Michael looked over at you, still smiling. “Wow. That sounds… fancy.”

You laughed gently. “It is. I guess,” you murmured. “It’s kind of surreal. It’s in a couple of weeks. I’m just not used to being… celebrated.”

“Well, you should be,” he said, voice gentler now. “You work your ass off. You care. That matters. Seriously, You deserve it.”

Your heart gave a small squeeze. “Thanks. That means a lot.”

The elevator opened on six, and the two of you stepped out in silence, walking side by side down the hallway.

“I haven’t told anyone yet,” you admitted, glancing down at your keys. “Nobody knows—besides the admin and staff at school.”

You hesitated, then added with a faint, ironic smile, “I haven’t even told Aiden.”

Michael’s brow lifted. “Really?”

“Yeah.” You nodded. “And now that you know, you’re officially the first.”

You reached your doors.

Michael didn’t say it, but he was glad—quietly, deeply—to be the first. He fought the smile threatening to give him away.

“I’ll see you later,” you said, unlocking your door and stepping inside.

The door clicked shut, and Michael stood there for a beat, staring at the door like it might open again. His conversation with Jack played on a loop in his mind—the way Jack had looked at him and said, “You already blew the ‘just neighbors…just friends’ boundary out of the water. Might as well do something about it.”

He didn’t have the courage. Not yet at least.

Then he turned to his door

“Michael, wait!”

He paused, glancing back. “Yeah?”

You reappeared in the doorway, holding out a small folded bundle. “Here—the clothes you let me borrow.”

“If I didn’t give them back now, I’d probably keep them.”

He smiled, a quiet kind of smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Would that have been so bad?”

You opened your mouth, then closed it again—unsure what to say.

Why did I even say that? Michael shifted his weight, silently cursing himself. Real smooth—just keep making it more awkward.

“Thanks,” was all he said.

“Goodnight, Michael.”

He nodded once. “Night.”.

And when your door closed behind you, you leaned against it, pressing your hand to your chest, trying to slow a heartbeat. The flirting he’s done has been throwing you in for a loop.

—

You settled in for the evening, the steam of the shower still clinging to your skin as you stepped into fresh clothes. Aiden had come over not long after, casual as ever, his arms wrapping around you like nothing had changed.

You told him the news.

“That’s great, babe,” he said, planting a quick kiss on your lips without really looking up from his phone.

“The ceremony is in a couple of weeks,” you reminded him, watching his expression carefully.

“I’ll be there,” he said casually, finally glancing up.

“Really?”

Your eyes lit up with cautious hope, the kind that had been disappointed before. You wanted to believe him, needed to, but part of you couldn’t help preparing for the letdown.

“Yeah, of course,” he said with a grin, slipping his arm around your waist like that was enough.

You hesitated. “But… what if something comes up at work? You’re not gonna forget, are you?”

He smiled, brushing a thumb along your cheek like he was soothing a child. “You want me there with you, right?”

“Yes,” you said softly. “More than anything.”

“Then I promise—I’ll be there.”

You nodded slowly, forcing a smile even as something uneasy settled in your chest. You wanted to take his word at face value, but it didn’t feel quite real. Not yet. Not until he actually showed up.

“Are you sure?” you asked again, needing to hear it once more.

He laughed lightly, almost dismissively. “Yes, I’m sure! I promise I’ll be there.”

You let out a breath and nodded, trying to lock that promise away like it meant something permanent. And for a moment, just a moment, you let yourself believe him. You let yourself picture him there, smiling from the crowd, clapping as your name was called. Like he was proud of you. Like he saw what this moment meant.

But deep down, a voice you tried to ignore whispered: you’ve heard this before.

—

It was the night of your award ceremony.

Michael knocked on your door, shifting as he stood there, the bouquet of tulips hidden behind his back.

When you opened the door, he nearly forgot why he was there.

You wore a simple, elegant dress—nothing flashy, but it suited you perfectly. You looked breathtaking. It reminded him of that night at Bella Notte months ago, when Aiden hadn’t shown and something quiet but undeniable had begun to bloom between the two of you.

You blinked, slightly startled. You’d thought it was Aiden. But instead, there stood Michael, in his glasses, a t-shirt, hoodie, and jean. Completely casual. Completely him.

Michael blinked back, his mouth parting slightly. Speechless.

You furrowed your brow, half amused. “What? Is there something on my face?”

He shook his head slowly, like he was trying to clear it. “You just…you look beautiful.”

“Oh…” your face flushed, heat rushing to your cheeks. “Thank you.”

“I, uh—these are for you. Congratulations again on your award” He pulled the bouquet of tulips from behind his back, holding them out with a sheepish smile tugging at his lips.

Your expression softened instantly.

“Michael….” you sighed, the word tender, almost breathless, as you took the flowers from him. Tulips, your favorite.

You held them close, smiling up at him. “Thank you, they’re lovely”

“Aiden’s going, right?” Michael asked, his tone casual—but his eyes gave him away. There was skepticism there. Maybe even hope. Hope that, for your sake, Aiden would finally show up when it mattered.

“Yes,” you said, nodding. “He’s meeting me there. I’m catching a Uber”

Michael frowned before he could stop himself. Meeting him there? Catching an Uber? He wasn’t gonna pick you up and take you?

That didn’t sit right. Aiden should be arriving with you. Standing at your side. Proud. Present. Steady.

He didn’t say it, but it lingered behind his quiet response. “Right… yeah.”

You held the bouquet a little tighter, fingers pressing into the stems as if they could anchor you. You pretended not to notice the way Michael was still watching you—his gaze steady, searching.

There was so much Michael wanted to say to you things that had been sitting heavy on his chest for weeks. But he knew this wasn’t the time, and it certainly wasn’t the place. This moment wasn’t about him. It wasn’t about how he felt for you, or how much he hated the way Aiden kept letting you down.

Tonight was about you.

About your heart, your commitment, your quiet strength. About everything you’d poured into your students, your classroom, your community. You deserved to be celebrated—for the impact you made every single day, often without thanks.

So he swallowed the words he wasn’t ready to say, and instead, stood beside you in quiet support. Because that, at least, he could give you tonight.

“I’m uh- heading out actually,” he said gently, nudging his head toward the elevators. “I can walk you outside?”

You turned toward him, surprised but grateful. “Yeah… yeah, okay. My uber should be here soon actually”

You carefully set the flowers down inside your apartment, then grabbed your purse, keys, and phone. Michael waited patiently, offering you a small nod when you were ready.

The two of you made your way to the elevator. When the doors opened in the lobby, you stepped out together into the quiet of the apartment's entrance.

Outside, the air was cooler, the sharp contrast to the warm, crowded hall above. The city hummed in the distance, cars passing, faint music spilling from nearby venues, but it all felt muted, like the world had turned down its volume just for the two of you.

Michael glanced over at you, hands in his pockets. “You sure you don’t wanna cancel your uber? I can just take you” he says, taking his keys out of his pockets ” he offered gently. “I don’t mind.”

You shook your head with a small smile. “No, it’s okay.”

“You sure?”

“Mhm,” you nodded. “Thank you, though.”

He didn’t press—just stood there for a moment, watching you. Then he said, “I’ll wait with you, then. Until your Uber shows up.”

“Michael I’ll be okay, I don’t want to hold you up.”

“Like I’m letting you stand outside alone at night.”

Your phone buzzed. You glanced at the screen. “The Uber’s like… ten minutes away.”

“Michael, the Ubers gonna be here in like 5 minutes”

“5 minutes is enough time for something to go wrong,” he said, then added, “Or for nothing to happen at all. Which would be ideal.”

You knew arguing with him wasn’t going to change anything. He was going to stay—because that’s who he was. The kind of person who looked out for people, even when they didn’t ask. Especially when they didn’t ask.

You fought back a smile, despite yourself.

The sound of a car pulling up broke the quiet.

Michael stepped forward without hesitation, opening the door for you. “Here,” he said softly.

You slipped inside, the warmth of the car a relief against the chill night air.

Your hand lingered on the door handle.

“Thank you,” you murmured.

“Yeah of course”

Michael gave a small nod, his eyes steady on you for a moment before he stepped back.

The door closed gently, and the car began to pull away.

——

Aiden never showed.

You reminded him. Weeks before. Days before. The night before. You called, texted him.

And still… he never came.

Your coworkers asked where your boyfriend was or if you were there with someone, their smiles were polite but curious.

You gave a soft excuse. One that could have been true—Something came up, a family emergency.

You accepted your award, the weight of it grounding in your hands as the applause echoed around you. You stepped up to the mic, gave your speech—clear, heartfelt, steady. A smile touched your lips as camera flashes sparked across the room, capturing it all.

But inside, your heart was breaking.

You scanned the crowd instinctively, even though you already knew. Aiden wasn’t there.

You’d told yourself it wouldn’t matter—that the night would still mean something. That the recognition, the moment, would be enough.

But you felt completely empty. Alone.

After accepting your award, you made up your mind—you were leaving. You knew you should stay, celebrate the other educators being honored, but you just didn’t have it in you. The disappointment sat heavy in your chest. You had let yourself believe he was actually going to show… that this time, maybe, he meant it.

Clutching your award tightly, you made your way down the stairs of the entrance of the banquet hall, each step echoing your resolve to go home and forget this night.

Then you saw him.

Aiden was rushing up the stairs—out of breath, eyes scanning—until they landed on you. Both of you froze.

You didn’t say anything. Neither did he.

“I—” he started, but stopped himself. He looked down, noting the award in your hand, then back at you. “I’m late.”

You blinked, slowly. “Yeah.”

“But…I’m here…”

“Only after the fact”

“I tried to get here in time. I really did.”

Your fingers clenched a little tighter around the award. You swallowed the lump rising in your throat and forced yourself to stay calm. “But you didn’t.”

He took another step closer, hesitant. “Something came up with the case. It wasn’t what I planned.”

You nodded, lips pressed together. “It never is!”

“You said you’d be here! I actually believed you this time. God, do you know how embarrassing it was? Everyone had someone supporting them, by their side— I was completely alone!” Your voice breaks

“I said I’m sorry!” he snapped, moving toward you. “I’ll go to another one. Come on, there’s gonna be others—”

“Others?” You stared at him. “Are you kidding me? This was it! I was awarded by the state, Aiden. This isn’t some participation ribbon! This was a big deal! A moment to acknowledge my dedication—”

He cuts me off “Okay, dedication for babysitting kids all day?”

You froze.

“Babysit kids?” Your voice dropped to a whisper, sharp and stunned. “Is that what you think I do? Seven hours a day, five days a week, 10 months out of the year?! Babysit kids?!”

Your voice rose. “Are you fucking kidding me?!” You wanted to throw your award at him for saying that.

“What do you want me to say?!”

“That you care! That you understand! That you see me!”

The words shot out of you like they’d been waiting, burning, buried for too long.

“That you love me…” your voice breaks into a sob

“I do love you!”

You shook your head, swiping at your cheeks with your hands.

Without a word, you continued down the steps, heels echoing against the stone until you reached the pavement at the base of the stairs, just outside the building.

Aiden followed you down the stairs, running a hand through his hair, frustrated. “I’m doing the best I can—”

You took a shaky breath. “I don’t need perfection, Aiden. I never did. I needed you to show up. And you couldn’t even do that for me.” You turn to face him.

“You’re being dramatic—”

“Dramatic?” you echoed, your voice shaking. “For wanting to matter? For wanting someone who actually sees me?”

Aiden exhaled sharply, looking away. “You always twist things—”

“I twist things?” you said, your voice rising with disbelief. “You forgot my award ceremony, Aiden! You said you’d be there. You flaked on dinner, never fixed the window like you promised, and you bailed on Career Day! Michael wouldn’t have—”

The second his name slipped out, regret slammed into your chest. You hadn’t meant to say it. You didn’t even know why it came out—but it had. And now it hangs between you like a lit match over gasoline.

You froze, breath caught in your throat. Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “Michael? As in your neighbor? What about Michael?”

You looked away, shame creeping in.

“What about Michael?!” he repeated, louder now, voice sharp. “You clearly meant to say it. So what—how long have you two been hanging out behind my back?”

“He’s my friend,” you said, trying to stay calm.

“Friend?” Aiden scoffed. “Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“Yes. Just a friend.” Deep down you knew he was something more.

He shook his head slowly, the pain in his expression unmistakable. “Feels like more than that.”

“It’s not,” you said, your voice strained. “It’s not like that.”

But it was.

You knew it, even as the words left your mouth. A lie—small, desperate, meant more for yourself than for him. You tried to deny it, to push the truth back down that you felt something for him where it couldn’t reach you.

“Then why bring him up in the middle of our fight?” Aiden shot back. “Why compare me to him?”

You exhaled, voice quiet but unwavering.

“Because he’s there, Aiden. He shows up.”

Aiden stared at you, stunned. “So that’s it? That’s the bar now? Just, showing up? What do you think I’m doing now?!”

“It’s not the same!” you snapped. “He remembers things I tell him! He asks about my day! He listens when I talk! He sees me!”

“Oh, and I don’t?” His voice was rising again, hurt curdling into anger. “Now I’m the bad guy because some neighbor with too much free time knows how to make small talk?”

Aiden's eyes locked on yours, hard. “So what, you want to be with him?”

You blinked, heart pounding. “I want to be with someone who treats me like I matter.”

That stopped him. His jaw clenched, but he didn’t speak.

You kept going, your voice quieter now—measured, but unwavering. “This isn’t about Michael. It’s about us. About how I’ve felt completely alone in this relationship. Like I’m constantly waiting…waiting for you to remember, to care, to just try! And in the meantime, someone, anyone, treats me like I matter, and it makes the distance between us feel even bigger.”

His expression shifted, guarded now. “And I’m just supposed to accept that this epiphany of yours, this sudden hunger to be ‘seen’—has nothing to do with him?”

A bitter laugh escaped him. “Come on. You’ve thought about it. About him. Don’t insult me.”

You hesitated. Just for a moment. But it was enough.

For a moment, he looked at you and something shifted in his face. A flicker of recognition, a crack in his defenses. But it didn’t soften him. It hardened.

He scoffed, shaking his head like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Wow. So that’s what we are now? A placeholder until someone else makes you feel seen?”

You flinched. “No-”

“No?” His voice was sharp, brittle. “Because it sure as hell sounds like you’ve already made your choice.”

Your chest tightened. “I haven’t made any choice. I’ve been asking, begging through my actions, what I do—for you to be present, to care about something that matters to me.”

“You think I don’t care?” he snapped. “I’m drowning in this case! I’m trying to build something—”

“And in the process, you’ve left me behind,” you said, the ache in your voice undeniable. “I needed a partner. Someone who shows up, even when it’s inconvenient. Someone who chooses me, even when it’s hard.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it, eyes dark and unreadable. For once, he had nothing to say.

You swallowed hard. “Michael didn’t take anything from you. He didn’t steal your place. You gave it up. One forgotten moment at a time.”

The silence stretched between you, thick and unforgiving. Aiden looked away, jaw working, emotions warring behind his eyes.

He shook his head slowly, voice low. “So that’s it. I screw up one night—”

You cut him off, fierce now. “It’s not one night, Aiden. It’s all the nights before this. The missed dinners, the forgotten promises, the way I’ve been begging for scraps of your attention while you bury yourself in work.”

Your voice broke, raw and honest. “Aiden, I’ve been right here, trying. You’re the one who’s been miles away.”

Aiden’s eyes burned with anger, jaw clenched tight. “So that’s it with us?”

You swallowed hard, your heart twisting. “No… I don’t know what this is anymore.”

“And what about Michael?” He spat the name like a challenge.

His eyes narrowed, voice low and fierce. “So all this time, you’ve been hanging around him? Thinking about him? While you’re still dating me?” He scoffed. “Unbelievable.”

You shook your head, your voice barely more than a whisper. “I don’t know what I’m thinking anymore! Part of me still wants to fight for us—for what we had in the beginning. But…” Your throat tightened. “I’m scared I’m holding onto a version of you that doesn’t exist anymore.”

For a split second, something flickered in his eyes, maybe, but it was buried just as quickly beneath the weight of his anger.

“I can’t keep doing this alone,” you added, almost pleading.

Aiden turned toward the door, jaw tight, ready to leave—but you stepped in front of him, blocking his path, desperation bleeding into your voice.

“Aiden, wait. Don’t leave like this. Please.”

He froze, but he didn’t soften. His fists clenched at his sides as he stared at you, his voice tight with frustration. “Maybe I should. Maybe that’s what you want anyway.” He paused, bitterness rising. “Someone like Michael.”

The name hung heavy between you—too loud, too sharp.

Your breath caught. “That’s not fair.”

“Isn’t it?” he snapped, stepping back. “You say you don’t know what you’re thinking, but you sure seem to know where to run when things fall apart.”

He didn’t wait for a reply. Just turned and started walking, fast.

You hesitated for a second—then followed. “Aiden!”

He didn’t stop. Didn’t even look back.

By the time you caught up, he was already in his car, yanking the door open like he couldn’t get away from you fast enough.

You hurried after him, heart racing. “Aiden don’t walk away! Just talk this out with me’”

“Talk?! Is that what this is?! There’s nothing to talk about!” he snapped, one leg already in the car.

“Aiden, please—” you reached out instinctively, desperate, your voice cracking under the weight of everything falling apart.

“Don’t.” His voice was sharp. Final.

And then he slammed the door.

The engine roared to life, headlights flashing, and without another glance in your direction, he peeled off—tires screeching as he disappeared down the street, leaving you alone on the sidewalk, breathless and hollow.

The sob tore out before you could stop it. Another followed, harder this time. Your whole body trembled. Each breath came jagged, raw. All the pain, all the emotions you’ve been harboring inside your heart finally made its way out.

You didn’t know how long you stood there, crying. The world blurred and shifted around you, cars passing like shadows.

Without thinking, you set your award down on the curb and pulled out your phone, fingers trembling as you dialed his number.

Aiden’s words echoed in your head—You sure seem to know where to run when things fall apart.

And maybe he was right.

But right now, you didn’t care.

Because with Michael, you felt safe. You didn’t have to explain every feeling, or hold yourself together for someone else’s sake. You knew you could rely on him. And tonight, more than anything, you needed that comfort.

You needed him.

—

Michael was at the bar with a mix of day and night shift crew, the usual haunt after a long, draining week. Some still had shifts ahead of them, others were finally off for the weekend, but for now, they were all crammed around a long high-top table, half-empty pint glasses and plates of shared appetizers scattered between them.

Laughter rippled through the group as John Shen, a nightshift attendant, launched into another story from his med student days—something about an embarrassing moment he had in med school.

Michael sat in his chair, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he took a sip of his water. He was just starting to relax when he felt the buzz of his phone in his jeans pocket.

He fished it out, still half-listening to the punchline, until he saw the name on the screen.

His smile faded.

Your name flashed across the screen.

Sliding his finger across to answer, he pressed the phone to his ear, covering the other with his hand to block out the bar noise.

“Hello?”

“Michael?”

Your voice was soft, shaky. Just the way you said his name made something twist deep in his chest.

Something was wrong.

“What happened? You okay?” he asked, already leaning off the barstool.

“Alright, who wants another round?” Mateo Diaz, one of the dayshift nurses called out as he stood.

“Blue Moon!” someone shouted.

“Vodka soda!”

“Whiskey, neat!”

“Dr Robby, drink?” Mateo asked, raising his nearly empty beer glass toward him.

Michael shook his head, hand pressed tighter over his free ear to hear you better.

The voices on your end were quieter—but over the bar’s noise, he could still hear your breath catch.

You hesitated. Then, hearing the laughter and clinking glasses on his end, you spoke again, your voice barely above a whisper.

“Shit… right, you’re busy. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just—”

He heard it then.

Not just the words, but the way your voice cracked on the last syllable, small and raw. You were crying.

He tried to keep it light, just enough to steady you. “Changed your mind about the Uber, huh?”

He knew it wasn’t the best time for jokes, but maybe—just maybe—you’d give him the faintest laugh.

“Something like that.”

He closed his eyes briefly. He didn’t want to assume—but his mind was already jumping to the only explanation that made sense.

Aiden.

“Yeah. Text me where the ceremony is,” he said, voice low and steady. “Hang tight—I’m on my way.”

“Okay.”

“Hey—don’t wait outside for me, alright? Stay in the lobby. I’ll come get you. I’ll see you in a few”

He hung up. Michael headed back over to the table grabbing his hoodie from the stool he was occupying moments ago.

“Hey—everything good?” Jack asked, frowning as he turned toward him.

Michael shook his head, jaw tight. “Jackass Aiden…I don’t think he show up for her award ceremony”

“You’re kidding,” Jack muttered, equal parts disbelief and disgust.

“Just- something happened. I’m gonna go get her.”

“Wait—damn. I was supposed to be Mohan’s DD tonight,” Michael said, suddenly remembering. “You think—?”

“I got Samira. I only had one—I’ll call it a night on drinks,” Jack said.

“Mo!” Michael called out across the table.

Samira Mohan, still in her scrubs with her hair pinned back, looked up.

“I gotta head out. But Abbot’s gonna give you a ride, okay?” he said, giving Jack’s shoulder a squeeze.

Samira glanced between the two of them, then nodded. “Okay.”

Jack offered her a small smile, nodding. She returned it, soft and understanding.

Jack looked away from her gaze, still a little embarrassed about the time he’d awkwardly tried to flirt with Samira—right after a heart procedure, during the chaos of the PittFest incident.

It hadn’t landed.

She’d just stared at him, confused, like he’d spoken a language she didn’t understand. The whole thing had gone completely over her head, and honestly… he was still recovering.

There was a quiet admiration he held for her, one he didn’t quite know what to do with.

“Dr. Robby leaving already?” Mel King, a resident, sat back straight on her stool with her club soda in front of her.

Trinity Santo, an intern at the edge of the table, arched a brow at him. Next to her sat Dennis Whitaker, a fourth year med student.

“Something came up. I gotta head out,” Michael replied, already pulling on his hoodie.

Mateo returned just then, balancing a tray of drinks. He paused when he saw Michael slipping away.

“What? No way! It can’t be your bedtime already, Dr Robby!” Mateo cracked, handing out bottles and glasses with a grin.

Michael rolled his eyes. “Get home safe, all of you. Make good choices!”

A scattered chorus of “Later, Robby!” And goodbyes followed him.

Princess Dela Cruz and Perla Alawi leaned toward each other, whispering in Tagalog, eyes tracking Michael as he left.

“What, are you too gossiping about now?” Jack raises his eyebrow.

“Nothing” they say at the same time.

Trinity, who’d been quietly sipping her drink, looked up with a smirk. “Apparently… rumor has it Robby has a girlfriend.”

Both Princess and Perla snapped their heads toward her.

“Traitor!” Perla hissed.

“What?” Trinity shrugged, totally unfazed. “You know I speak Tagalog, And anyway, it’s not like you guys were being subtle. Everyone in the ER was gonna find out eventually. Might as well start the betting pool now.”

“Aww, Dr. Robby has a girlfriend?” Mel cooed, genuinely delighted. “That’s sweet.”

“No way Robby has a girlfriend,” Mateo said flatly, shaking his head. “I mean it’s Robby. He’s been lone wolfing it for a while”

“You’d be surprised. He dated Jake’s mom—Janey—but that was ages ago,” Princess pointed out.

“I heard from someone that he had dated Dr. Collins,” Samira chimed in.

“Did he really?” Dennis asked, brows furrowing in surprise. “I thought they just…butted heads each other.”

“I think they did,” Perla said, lowering her voice with dramatic flair. “There was a lot of tension between them back in the day. Like, a lot.” She nods knowingly.

“But he's attending and she’s a resident…that is not allowed?” Mel speaks up

“We’ve seen a lot of things—but hey, that’s none of our business.” Princess says

“Yeah, but you still gossip about it.” Trinity side eyes Princess.

“Well, we work twelve-hour shifts. Gotta keep ourselves entertained somehow.”

“Entertained?” Samira snorted. “You practically run the hospital’s rumor mill.”

“Oh my god, would you all quit it?” Jack cut in, laughing. “We’re really sitting here dissecting Robby’s dating history?”

“If anyone should know his dating history it’s you! You’re his best friend! He tells you everything,” Princess said, pointing her straw at him.

“Not everything,” Jack said, holding up a finger.

“Eh, but mostly everything,” Perla teased.

“So tell us,” John said, looking straight at Jack. “Robby got a girlfriend? Is that who he’s ditching us to run off to?”

The entire table went still. Drinks paused mid-air halfway to lips.

All eyes locked on Jack.

He sighed, leaned back in his chair, and gave them that maddening, unreadable expression.

“I can neither confirm nor deny.”

There was a beat of silence—

Then Trinity slapped her hand on the table. “Twenty bucks says he is.”

“I’m in,” Dennis said quickly, already pulling out his phone to keep track of the amount and who was betting.

“Are you guys serious right now?” Samira laughed, raising an eyebrow as the table lit up with energy. “We’re betting?” Samira raised an eyebrow, but she was smiling.

“Thirty says she works at the hospital,” Princess grinned.

“Fifty says she doesn’t even work in medicine,” Perla added.

The table erupted into overlapping chatter and laughter, everyone talking over each other, money getting thrown down, wild theories flying left and right.

Mel, sitting back, shook her head with a small smile. “You’re all ridiculous. Leave the poor guy alone.”

“We should get more staff in on this. You know who’d be all over this? Becky from pre-op. She’s got spreadsheets for this kind of thing.”

“Oh God,” Jack groaned. “Please don’t start a bracket.”

“He’s gonna have your asses when he finds out you’re making bets on his relationship status,” Jack warned.

“Well, he doesn’t need to know… now does he?” someone quipped.

“This is good for group morale,” Perla added innocently. “You know—bringing us together as one.”

Jack just groaned, rolling his eyes—but he couldn’t help the chuckle that slipped out.

——

Michael saw you.

You were sitting on the steps outside, arms wrapped tightly around yourself like they were the only thing holding you together.

He called out your name, voice laced with concern.

You turned, eyes swollen, face streaked with tears.

“Michael,” you breathed. You stood up.

Without another word, he closed the distance between you and wrapped you in his arms, gently pulling you into him.

“I told you to wait inside,” he said softly.

His arms encircled you—steady, warm, protective. His grip was firm, grounding you as you broke down against his chest. One hand stroked your hair, slow and soothing, while his chin came to rest lightly on the crown of your head.

He let you cry, saying nothing. Just held you, patient and silent.

After a while, when your sobs had softened, he finally spoke.

“Hey,” he murmurs, voice low. “Look at me.”

But you only cling to him tighter.

“Sweetheart,” he says, softer now. “Look at me.”

The term of endearment catches you off guard. You sniffle and glance up at him through damp lashes.

He brushes a strand of hair behind your ear, his thumb gently wiping away the tears on your cheek.

“Are you hurt at all?” he asks, pulling back just enough to assess you, the ER doctor flickering through in his careful gaze.

You see the worry in his eyes..

You shake your head.

He studies you for another long moment.

“You sure?” he asks, dipping his head slightly, trying to catch your gaze as your eyes dart away.

He searches your face, quietly, carefully—looking for the truth. For any flicker of doubt or something unsaid hiding behind your eyes.

You nod, “Yes, I promise”

You hug him again, as you continue to cry.

Then he nods, gentle and certain. “Okay…okay Shhh. It’s okay, sweetheart”

He pulls you into him again, his arms wrapping around you protectively. His hands rubbing your back. Swaying the two of you softly.

—-

Michael took you for a walk, helping you regulate your emotions.

The two of you didn’t speak, walking in silence. Your crying had subsided, but your eyes still felt heavy, the weight of everything pressing down on you. You wished you could say something—anything—to fill the quiet, but the only sound was the gentle rustling of leaves as you walked side by side.

Neither of you was in a rush. The walk stretched on without a clear destination, and you weren’t sure how long you’d been walking—only that the coolness of the evening air had begun to settle on your skin.

Eventually, you reached a small park tucked into the city, just across the street from Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. It wasn’t far from where the banquet had been held, or where Robby had parked his car.

The two of you sat on a cold metal bench near the park’s aging fountain. The water trickled softly behind you, barely masking the distant blare of horns and the occasional echo of a siren cutting through the night. But here, in this spot, Michael felt like everything felt quieter. Slowed.

A breeze passed, lifting a few strands of your hair. Michael didn’t say anything. He just sat beside you, elbows on his knees, waiting, holding space, letting you have the space to speak, if you wanted.

Michael and some of the day and night shift staff sometimes hung out in this very spot to decompress. They’d pop open a beer or two, leaning back on the benches or sitting in the grass. It was their go-to when they didn’t feel like heading to a bar—when they wanted something quieter, more intimate. A laid-back place to breathe, unwind, and just exist for a while.

“Let me guess, Aiden didn’t show,” he mutters. That’s another thing to add to the growing list of disappointments since Aiden became friends with you—flaked on dinner, jammed your window, missed career day, and now your award ceremony. What’s next?

You nodded your fingers gliding over your award.

“He did… but he showed up late. We got into this huge fight. I just blew up at him. I told him how important this was to me…and then I brought up…”

You stop, debating whether to tell him he made it into the argument.

You decided not to.

“-everything I’ve been feeling just poured out…”

You sit the award beside you on the bench.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “That he wasn’t there to support you… to cheer you on. I’m sorry he keeps breaking promises. And for not being there in the way you needed him to be.”

You were shivering and a cool night breeze blew.

Without a word, Michael shrugged off his hoodie and gently draped it around your shoulders. The warmth of the fabric—and of him—seeped into your skin. He held the collar for a moment longer than necessary, steadying it on you, steadying you.

You looked up, and he didn’t look away. The air between you shifted—soft, fragile, electric.

Neither of you moved at first, but then, slowly, as if pulled by something, you both leaned in. Your breaths mingled, noses nearly brushing, his eyes flicking to your lips. And then, just before they could meet, you stopped.

Instead, you rested your forehead against his, your breath catching.

He didn’t move away. Didn’t pull back. Just stayed there, his hand still on your shoulder, grounding you.

His voice was barely audible, but it cut through the quiet. “Why are you with him?”

He paused, and in that quiet, you felt the weight of everything he wasn’t saying—his confusion, his hurt, maybe even jealousy.

Then, he gently pulled his head back to look at you. His brows were drawn, eyes searching yours like they were trying to find the answer you couldn’t give.

Slowly, he reached up and cupped the side of your face, his palm warm against your skin. His thumb moved in a slow, tender arc across your cheek—a silent comfort, a wordless plea.

“I just… I don’t understand why you stay”

You didn’t answer right away—because the truth was, you didn’t know anymore.

“I don’t know,” you whispered. “I just… part of me wants things to work. It wasn’t always like this in the beginning. But now…”

You looked down, your voice faltering.

“Now it’s like he’s a stranger. Like I’m holding on to someone who isn’t even there anymore.”

“He’s a man, Michael. He’s just… complicated.”

Michael’s jaw tightened. When he finally spoke, his voice was quiet, but firm.

“Aiden’s a boy—not a man. And there’s a difference.A man won’t make you question whether you’re loved,” he continued. “He won’t make you beg for affection, or feel like you’re asking for too much just by wanting to be seen.”

You stood there, breath caught somewhere between your chest and your throat, heart pounding with everything he was saying—and everything he wasn’t.

Michael looked at you for a long moment, then shook his head softly, almost in disbelief.

“You’re so kind,” he said, voice low. “So damn funny, so smart—God, the way you light up when you talk about the things you love…you deserve so much more than this. So much more.”

His eyes softened.

“Thank you, Michael. For everything. For always being there for me. You’re… a great friend.”

You didn’t see him as just a friend. Not even close. But the moment didn’t feel safe enough—you didn’t feel safe enough—to say what you really meant. So you pushed it down, wrapped it in gratitude, and handed it to him like it was all you had to offer. But you said it anyway. It killed you to say them.

And it killed him to hear them.

But he just nodded, eyes steady, even as something in him quietly broke.

The two of you drove back home in silence. When you stepped into the elevator, he stood beside you, hands in his pockets, close but careful.

At your door, he hesitated.

“You gonna be okay?” he asked gently.

You nodded. “Yeah.”

You leaned in, brushing a soft kiss against his cheek. His eyes closed for the briefest second, like he was memorizing the feel of it.

When you pulled back, his gaze lingered on you. He looked like he wanted to say something. Like he wanted to close the distance and kiss you, really kiss you—but he didn’t.

Instead, he just looked down at you, a war in his eyes.

“Goodnight” he whispered

“Goodnight”

You stepped inside your apartment and closed the door quietly behind you. The stillness inside felt heavy, like even the walls were waiting for you to say what you didn’t. You leaned back against the door, eyes closing as a slow exhale left your lungs.

Regret pressed down on you.

You should’ve told him the truth.

That he wasn’t just a friend. That he never had been. That the way he made you feel, steady, grounded, safe, was unlike anything you’d ever known. With Michael, you felt seen, heard, understood in ways you hadn’t thought possible. He made space for you without asking for anything in return. And still… you’d called him a friend.

But you said it anyway.

Because you were scared. Not of him—God, no—but of what it would mean if you let yourself fall for someone like him.

Someone who showed up. Someone who didn’t run. Someone who looked at you like you were worth something.

And deep down, you didn’t believe you were. You told yourself he deserved better. That he could do better.

But none of that made the ache go away.

It only made it worse.

Then came a knock.

Your heart jumped.

Maybe this was your chance. Maybe it wasn’t too late to take it all back, to say what you meant instead of what felt safe.

Maybe you could change it all.

If you were brave enough.

You opened the door.

“Aiden.”

Tags: @im-nowhere-but-also-somewhere @beebeechaos @antisocialfiore @delicatetrashtree @xxxkat3xxx @homebytheharbor @woodxtock @letstryagaintomorrow @livingavilaloca @elkitot @annabellee88 @hagarsays @emma8895eb @the-goddess-of-mischief-writing @jazzimac1967@lafemme-nk @kmc1989 @whos6claire @harrysgothicbitch @trustme3-13 @qardasngan @silas-aeiou @k3ndallroy @ohmystrawberrycheesecake @ay0nha @404creep @dantemorenatalie @obfuscateyummy @steviebbboi @alliegc28 @catmomstyles3 @ardentistella @madprincessinabox @circumspectre @the-one-with-the-grey-color @thatchickwiththecamera @violetswritingg @valutfromlune @baileythepenguin @galmorizethechaos @capj-1437 @airgoddess @nah2991 @interestellarprincess @laurensfilm @peachjellyy

Across The Hall | (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

[gemjewlerybox]

♡ Go Go Magical Girl! ♡

chapter 1

There’s a new app on your phone

There were already a lot of apps on your phone, gaming, social media, tutoring apps, and you were prone to still having apps on there you forgot you had. You wouldn’t have noticed it really, if it wasn’t smack right in the middle of the screen

You may be messy but at least it was organized, kinda. 

You were in the middle of homework, struggling with math as usual. What's different? Just mind numbing stress. 

What took you out was hearing a bell sound. 

You paused for a moment, then continued back to your work. So maybe hours of stress isn’t the greatest. Maybe you should take a break a small break, you were hungry after all- 

Ding

There it was again. You look around the room for the sound, did you have a wind chime somewhere? Just swaying in a enclosed space- 

Your eyes did a quick sweep of your desk, and just for a split second you saw the screen of your phone shut off. 

Weird, you weren’t on it for a good while, why would it be on?

You grabbed it and it flashed back the lockscreen, the familiar faces of an older woman and smaller child popped up as the background. What wasn’t familiar was two notifications from an app you didn’t know of.

Child born from the pinkest of clouds, welcome to your life! 

….huh?

What app did you download recently? You can’t even remember- 

Hey, are you there? There’s people to save!

The second notification displayed, leaving you even more confused. Okay what cheaply made microtransaction ridden app did you download?

You opened your phone intended to dig through all of your apps to see who the imposter was, but instead you were greeted by it smack on your homescreen. 

It was a pale pink app, with a small heart in a darker shade in the middle of the icon. It was a simple looking app, one that you still don’t recognize. 

Eh, it didn’t really matter too much right now. Someone from school must have mentioned it when you were around and you downloaded it and forgot. You're too busy right now for an app to be sending notifications, so you decided to go and turn them off. 

Its just, when you tapped on the app, it didn’t open. 

Okay, maybe it was a mistap- nope it didn’t open again. After a good while of rapid tapping and rapidly growing annoyance, the app still didn’t open. 

You huffed a little, and then remembered you could totally turn off notifications via the settings app. You swiped around a bit and opened the settings app and scrolled more to locate and access the app itself- 

You can’t find it

You scrolled top to bottom, back and forth, the apps category. Hell you even went through other settings to see anything related to the mysterious app. Nothing 

…oh my god did you download spyware???

Panic started to spread through you. Your phone literally had access to everything about you, your name, your emails and passwords and banking information- oh god are you on the manor’s wifi?? CAN A VIRUS SPREAD VIA WIFI????

You turned your phone off and threw it on your bed. After a brief moment of spiraling about how you just gave some hacker the Wayne’s manor personal information on a silver dish, you grabbed your computer to quickly look up how to stop a virus attack before hearing a knock at the door.

You heard the formal title of your name after it, Alfred. You look at the clock on your wall, it is dinner time. You felt a grimace form on your face. 

You did not want to go down to that dining table. 

“Sorry Alfred” you called out from inside your room,”I think i’m just going to skip tonight’s dinner-”

“Tonight is the monthly dinner, miss. Everyone is required to attend.”

Fuck- you really don’t want to go down there now. Just to be ignored again?

“I’m…just not feeling so good right now.” you lied, well kinda “It’s probably from school stress.

Plus like, it's not like my presence is…needed y'know?”

You winced a little from that last part. But honestly you can’t deal with the uncomfortable, unwanting, atmosphere you’ll be prone to at that table. 

You couldn’t hear anything from the other side of the bedroom door, but you looked down and still saw a shadow showing from the gap of the door to the floor. He’s always been persistent with rules- 

“But really I don’t think my stomach can handle anything, so I’ll just be there pushing food around. I don't want to waste any food!” good this was such an awful lie

“Well then when you feel a bit better, be sure to come down. I’ll wrap a plate for you, please be sure to eat before retiring for the night.” A lie he brought

“Ahh thank you!” for not dragging you down, “And I’ll be sure to eat something before bed!”

“Well then, have a good night, and please don’t stay up too long” Alfred said before you could hear the footsteps of his polished shoes grow dimmer and dimmer. You felt the coils in your body release as you let out a sigh before collapsing on your bed. 

It’s so hard talking to these people in this manor, even Alfred. It seems like it hasn’t gotten any better since when you first came here

….you didn’t want to think about that time. 

Instead, you thought about your phone and potential malware that’s on it. 

You slowly went and grabbed your phone and said a little prayer before turning it back on. No flashing lights, pops ups, or random numbers messaging you your location, and nobody banging on your door. That should be a good sign…right?

…you quickly checked to see if you were on the manor’s wifi. Thankfully you weren’t, you sighed out in relief. The amount of stress you put yourself through is going to kill you one day, you can swear it sometimes. 

Clicking on the pink app again, and again it didn’t open. You laid on your back with your phone up in the air by your raised, just staring hard at it. As hard as you thought, you can’t even think of an app that even looks like it, nor any that won’t even let you access the thing. 

A new notification popped up on your screen, which scared you just enough to where you dropped the phone square on your face. Mid forehead rub, you read the notification, from your messaging app?

V- Hey, me and a few friends are going to the arcade now that its reopen. If you wannnnttt you can totally come with us! 

You looked at the message before switching your phone off again. Maybe you should bathe before continuing to your work. That sounds nice right now. 

The car ride was, as always, unbearable. Nothing has even been said since you entered the limo yet you can feel the sheer animosity from Damien across the car. 

You just sighed silently to yourself, you ran out of the energy to deal with him a long time ago. 

You spent the rest of the previous night in an endless battle of math homework, social anxiety, and doom thinking inside your room. The night ended with you crashing on your bed in defeat, completely forgetting to go down to the kitchen to eat dinner…your stomach sure didn’t forget. 

As Alfred continued to drive you both to school, you retrieved your phone from your uniform pocket. Fingers faster than your stomach rumbling, you open the chat messages between you and a classmate, Viviane, to see if she had anything on her person for you to munch on. 

You stopped when you saw the leftover message from last night. 

Thank god you turned off read notifications from your chats, you can just feel your phone going repeatedly from Viv seeing the unanswered read notifications. 

….Maybe it was better to wait to ask her when you get there. 

Clicking off the messaging app, your eyes were greeted with the cursed app. It was the first thing that you locked in on as you opened your phone in the morning, and after spending the entire morning getting ready and scouring the internet for any pink, heart, pink heart or whatever apps that ever existed. Nothing 

And, of course, when you clicked on the icon, it didn’t open. 

“What the fuck” you sighed out, what you thought was quietly

It wasn’t, you can eye on you from the opposite side of the car. 

“Where were you last night?”

“Hmm?” was all that was left from you as you turned towards your younger brother. It wasn’t often now that the two of you talked, thanks to you deflecting any attempts of his verbal abuse. You still gave polite, short answers and made quick getaways from conversations.

Lucky he seems too busy in recent months to follow and continue with the stream of taunts and venom, but there are times, like car rides to school, where you two have to be in the same space. 

 “Last night was a mandatory dinner and activities, yet you were nowhere to be seen.” 

“I…” Damien eyes bore into yours, one of intimidation, as if to convey his importance to you. His ego is fit for the blood son of a major billionaire such as Bruce, your collective father.

It kinda does make sense for him to think of himself highly, still you can’t help but feel exhausted with whatever power struggle he has had with you since you arrived at the manor. 

“ I just had work to do.” is all you said, simple. What's the point of getting into the specifics when he’s just looking for a reason why you're in the wrong and how you're a failure. 

Though, with the way he rolled his eyes and snorted came out, your sure that wasn’t a good enough answer for him

“Can’t do your duties as a family member because you can’t do simple schoolwork? It amaze me on how you can be worse” 

You can just feel yourself tuning him out, it was too early in the morning for him to start this with you and expect you to pay attention. You turned your attention instead back to your phone, scrolling through your social media for a distraction. Seems like there's a new arcade? 

You wanted to learn more, but Damien had other plans since in a blink your phone was no longer in your hands. 

“Wha- Hey??” you reached over on his side of the car to reach for your phone that was in his hands, but due to the seat belt you were in you couldn’t reach as far. 

Guess Damien didn’t have his own one on, because in the next second his hand was wrapped in your collar shirt, where he then pulled you towards him hard. 

You gagged as the seatbelt pushed against your neck and chest, your own hands grabbing at his. 

“I’m talking to you and instead you scroll through your phone?” he asked as if this was a slight against his name. 

“God, you're so insufferable,” His hands tighten its grip on your collar as he pulls you closer towards him, causing the seat belt to choke you further, 

“What? Can’t speak?” he taunted, now your hands left from his and you were scrambling to undo your seatbelt “Why do you even need to since obviously you think your too important than to interact with-” 

He didn’t get the chance to finish whatever rant he was going with, you unbuckled yourself and with the force he was pulling, you tumbled into him. You both smacked against each other and the car door.

You couldn’t even reach to nurse your injuries before the limo came to a screening halt, causing you both to jump from your seats. 

The car door on Damien’s (and now yours) side opens up, and thankfully you didn’t cartoonishly spill out the car. Damien had to brace himself on his seat so he didn’t fall out.

You looked out to see Alfred, the one who was driving you both to school, is the one who opened the door. He didn’t look the least bit pleased. 

Looks like you both made it to school though. 

You looked around and found your phone on the car floor, you grabbed it and your bookbag and quite literally climbed over Damien to get out, revenge for the shit show he just pulled. You didn’t bother to listen to whatever lecture Alfred was about to use nor the enraged look Damien must have. You simply climbed and hopped out the car and made a beeline to the gates of the school and merging with the other students. 

As you gathered your bearings and assessed yourself to make sure you were decent after that car ride, you switched on your phone to make sure no damage happened to it. Nothing physically, and switching it back on shows it was still working. The sigh of relief that left you, god.

What was all that about??

You rubbed your neck, it still burned from the strap. You can feel your eyes burning too.

No, no tears. The mascara your aunt gave to you was expensive and you will NOT let it run down your face in front of all these people. 

Its so stupid, all of this was stupid. 

“....I wanna go back home…”

“Why.Didn’t.You.Answer.Me.” ahhh, it was inevitable you’d fall for your faith. Being poked and propped, literally, by an angry Viviane in English. It's what you get for ignoring her messages. 

After cooling off in the last three class periods, you were waiting for your 4th one to begin. The teacher has always been known to run late to classes, so the class was loud with chatter.

Your assigned seat was near the back of the class, and your deskmate was poking at you to annoy you. 

Funny, in the start of the year when you realize this class has seating partners, you tried your best not to bother her, giving her space and scurrying away when classes were over.

That didn’t stop the girl from messaging you a week after classes started. 

To this day you still don’t know how she got your number. 

“I must have not seen it-”

 “Liar,” Viviane cut you off. “I looked and you turned in the winter museum column at 11:45 last night. You were awake when I sent that text.”

Okay stalker. 

“Yeah well,” you began your lie as you pushed her poking nail away away from your face, “I was really focus on Mr. Lopez work-” 

“Ugh, I can just hear the excuses coming out before you even say them.” she sighed dramatically, “I thought I turned notifications on on your phone?”

“...yeah you did.” you gulped, turning away from her so your face doesn’t betray you, suddenly you were very interested with your notebooks on your desk. 

“......did you turn them off-”

“I put them on silent” You can hear her groan out your name, “Why did you do that, huh? What would have happened if there was news worth coverage near your area that I needed you to get to at that moment?” “On a Tuesday night?”

“This is Gotham. God if I had a nickel for each time I said that to you-”

Viviane, president of the school’s newspaper and the co-owner of the schools unofficial news account on social media. You joined the club this year back in the fall as a photographer initially, but some days you find yourself writing a column or two some weeks.

She has been trying to reach out and cover news outside of the school grounds, hence the want for all club members to have notifications on and ready. She likes to be ready, and she has a knack of calling bullshit. 

Or maybe you weren’t a good liar. 

“Hmmm” she eyed you up and down, her lashes low, the look made you fidget around a bit. “Well, there really wasn’t anything that happened last night anyways.” she admitted, “I was inviting you out.”

“Viv-”

“God you're such a hermit.” she said as she resumed the poking, this time at the back of your head. If she wasn’t fond of long decorated deco nails, you may be able to ignore it, “A once in a lifetime chance the club goes out as a group and you want to miss out on it?”

“You mean the new arcade that just reopened after it was basically demolished from some Joker attack?”

“......” it was Vivaine turn to look away embarrassed, all for like two seconds 

“I’ve never seen you do anything fun, well that wasn’t photography-” “I like photography,” you pointed out, you finally stopped shuffling in your bag and gathered your materials for the class,

“Yeah, but when was the last time you did it that wasn’t for the school newspaper.”

Okay so she got you again. But that doesn’t mean you still didn’t find running around Gotham fun…..dangerous but fun still. 

“Well, even still the arcade is back and running! The club needs some much needed fun with all the shit we go through.” “The ish you put us through?”

“WE go through” she corrected, “We all are going, I’m making it mandatory”

“Oh COME ON-” you quickly quieted yourself, feeling eyes on you from your loudness. You shank back into your seat

Embarrassing 

“Just listen,” her voice was lowered to the point where you had to scoot closer to listen 

“Isn’t it weird how the place was practically demolished in a police vs drug lord setup, and now it’s back running in a matter of weeks??” Ah so this isn’t the R&R trip she’s trying to make it. 

“Oh my god viv-” “Mandatory~” she sang, grabbing your closest hand to her and swinging it. “You’ll have so much fun, I'll make sure all my friends have fun!” she giggled

“....” 

“Oooo wait I got the chance to read the segment of the museum you wrote, why didn’t you tell anyone you went…” You weren’t really paying attention to her or her hand holding at that point, partly because the English teacher finally came in to start the class but also….

She said you were her friend. 

God you should have dropped out of the club…..okay maybe that was extreme. 

But your feelings of wanting to go back home were also extreme. 

Here you were, Viviane successfully had gotten you to come to the arcade, by which of refusing to let you go back home (good cause you didn’t want to deal with the mess that was waiting for you), and instead dragged you to her own her own place before it was time to meet everyone here. 

Even for a weekday night, it was loud with games blaring and kids screaming and running around. You almost tripped over one of them when you first entered. 

Though, you can’t complain of the lack of games and activities around the place. The owners had probably gotten a huge settlement from insurance or whatever, because they were not short of excitement. 

Maybe you were being a sour wuss, this place is probably really fun. Too bad you're really awkward. 

Not all the members came, so much for it being “mandatory”

Viviane as soon as you all got there, immediately went off, probably sweet talking whatever kid at the counter space for information about the owners. Which left you and the three other members that came.

You don’t know how it even happened, but the two guy members suddenly started having a showdown on whoever could win the most tickets. And somehow that led to you being dragged as referee and scorekeeper.  

Right now you three were at the basketball hooping machine, a game you made them play twice already cause mid way through the first go arounds the balls ended up being thrown at each other rather than the hoop.

You were hanging in the back leaning against a wall, your phone out with tally notes and Alfred’s messages. 

“You seem to be having the time of your life.” huh? 

You looked around to hear where that voice came from, only to turn to your side and see it was the 5th member that joined, Aurelia. You were leaning against a wall that was behind the two members playing fighting. “You seem way more relaxed than how you were when we came in”

“Oh…you could tell?”

“Girl” they slid next to you on the wall, that's when you noticed the ginormous cone of cotton candy they had gotten, “You literally went rigid as soon as Viv dipped. Thankfully these knuckleheads didn’t seem to notice as they dragged you away.” Aurelia chuckled watching the other two starting to go at it.

Thank god for the cloud of sugar that was big enough to not show your embarrassed face. 

To be honest, you completely lost track of them. They just ghosted the group as soon as you all got there, and to be honest that was pretty on brand for Aurelia. 

Aurelia wasn’t technically a member of the newspaper. They were, way before you joined. What did they do? They were the gossip column’s writer, basically. Vivaine herself will always say what Aurelia wrote was simply speculation, but others would beg to differ. Vivaine also probably considered she made them use a pen name. 

A school like Gotham Prep academy was one that didn’t want any to damper its reputation, they were a well, highly acclaimed and decorated school. Its students went on to be great scientists, politicians, business owners, and more. The school, though, is still in Gotham, and it sure did have its skeletons. 

You don’t know what for sure put the nail in the coffin, if it was the story of the underlining steroids problem in the school being started by a gym teacher, or how certain high elite parents were paying teacher’s off to pass their kids. 

No one knows how Aurelia got those bank statements to this day. 

Whatever it was, the school put an immediate stop to it, either Vivaine kicked out whoever was writing the columns, or all members got kicked and a whole revamp of the newspaper crew. 

Aurelia voluntarily left, but the next day an account under the same penname popped up. 

“I’m not finished with this thing, literally please take some.” 

“Okay okay” you reached over and grabbed a piece from the cloud and ignored how you just saw a ball get thrown somewhere that wasn’t the hoop. Cotton candy was more important, and also your phone which began to vibrate, signaling a new notification.

As a teenager in your day and age you went for it immediately to check your message, a grave mistake since the notification showed your extremely low grade in your math class. 

“Oh you take Mr. Lopez class too?” Aurelia asked, you hadn’t noticed that your phone and bad grade was on full view for them. 

“Oh- ah..” you quickly put your phone back in your pocket, feeling embarrassed “Yeah, this class has been terrible and the semester isn’t isn't even over.” 

“Have you ever thought about getting a tutor?”

“Hm?” a tutor?

“Yeah, I also was taking that class and it was legit busting my ass. I knew that first month I needed a tutor.” they whipped out their phone and scrolled a bit before finding what they were looking for 

“Here,” they brought their phone up to you, it showed a list of their grades in the same class.

The first few grades were…..less than ideal….but during the later fall months, their grades had gotten better, like way better. 

“Oh my god-....a tutor helped you with this?” 

“Yep” you must have had a questioning look on your face because Aurelia seemed to get a bit flustered by it, “oh- no I definitely didn’t pay this school money to fix this. Please god- I'd rather just fail.” they snorted out the last part before laughing. After a moment, you began laughing a bit too. 

“Yeah no, wait, so what tutor did you even get?”

“Oh, she's amazing. And not like one of those that comes from like a tutor company or anything. No, I literally found a flyer on the school bulletin board.” Aurelia continued to ramble as they brought back their phone to scroll around more. 

“She’s like a college student- okay this is getting too much.” 

What was getting too much? Well you completely forgot that you were in an arcade opened to the public, some kid around the corner spotted the cotton candy you both were eating and began screaming about wanting one. 

“Ugh, come on.” Aurelia grabbed your arm and pulled you away from the wall. You were led around the arcade until the two of you found an exit that led to outside. The cold wind pierced against your exposed skin, the chill already reaching your bones, but it was quiet. 

Good. 

“Ahh that's better” Aurelia said as they stretched their arms out, “I love the cold, it's so refreshing-” they turned towards you

“oh-oops. Guess you don’t like it as much huh” 

“Nooo, what are you talking about?” you asked through your teeth. You can even tell that you were shivering ass off. 

“Well, let’s just make this quick then.” they said as they tossed the cotton candy away before pulling out their phone again. The pang in your heart hurted at the sight. 

“I wanted it to be quieter so I can hear your number.”

“...Number?”

“Yeah, I’m totally going to try and hook you up with my girl! Well tutor, but she is a life saver.”

Oooohh

“Plus I never even got your number, and you joined a bit ago, no?”

….honestly it makes sense to you. You recited your number to them and they tapped in it, a few seconds later your phone buzzed, you opened it up again to see a new message from an unknown number

Unknown- It's me, Arii 

“Oh, do you need me to spell out my name for you” you asked as you save the new contact, 

“Nah, your under ‘Camgirl’”

“....what the-”

“Come on let's go back inside before Viv sniffs us out”

Im introducing a taglist for those who wants to read my story without the shitposting that is 90% of this blog. You can either comment, dm or send an ask if you want to be part of it

[ducksido]

Hai! Evil evil Idia anon back😝😝😝 okay so Idia with a pommefiore reader, like a super duper pretty reader, on day someone tries to hit on reader in hallway (think pick up lines like « hey, are u wifi, cause I feel a connection ») and reader’s just staring at them with disgust, but here’s the catch, Idia has access to the school camera’s cause ofc he does and he can’t see readers face from the camera angle and he closed the cameras before finding out if reader accept the random hoollagins flirting, so later reader goes to idia’s dorm and idia’s all like « how’s ur new boyfriend » and being emo as hell, so reader has to comfort Idia and be like « ew I would never date that guy, ur the only Apple of my eye 😘 »

Yayayaayyaayayayay

(welcome back you menace [affectionate])

It was a normal day in NRC.

Translation: chaos in the form of enchanted books throwing themselves off shelves in the library, some Spelldrive brawl in the quad, and a tragic soul trying to hit on you in the hallway.

“Hey… are you Wi-Fi? ‘Cause I’m really feeling a connection.”

You blinked. Slowly. Once. Twice.

The Pomefiore aesthetic was about elegance and beauty, and right now you were channeling utter disgust with the poise of a queen.

“…No.”

You turned and walked off without another word, your heels clicking with purpose, while the guy stood frozen in awkwardness behind you.

Meanwhile— In the depths of Ignihyde dorm… (Idia's room)

“Wha—who the HELL is that?!” Idia hissed, eyes glowing as he squinted at the grainy hallway footage on his screen.

The camera angle was trash. Of course it was. All he could see was the back of your head, silky and shining as always, while some… normie had the audacity to stand that close to you.

His fingers flew over the keys, adjusting zoom, replaying footage, enhancing audio, muttering like a man possessed.

“Why would they use that line?! That’s not even tier 2 flirt material—who taught him this? A middle schooler??”

He leaned in, cheeks burning. “No no no—don’t tell me—are you smiling? Did you like that? No no no no—”

He slammed the “off” button on the cameras.

He couldn’t watch this.

Later…

You showed up at Ignihyde dorm like nothing happened, knocking lightly on the door to Idia’s room. You’d gotten used to his delays in answering—he needed to prep his courage like a mini boss encounter.

When the door finally slid open, Idia didn’t greet you. He just swiveled in his chair dramatically, wrapped in his hoodie, blanket, and angst.

“Oh. It’s you,” he mumbled, eyes glowing a dim blue. “Shouldn’t you be with your boyfriend right now?”

“…Huh?”

“That guy in the hallway,” he said darkly. “Wi-Fi boy. Smoothbrain McGee. I saw everything. On the cameras.”

Your face contorted into a scandalized grimace. “You mean that dude? The walking pickup line generator?”

He didn’t reply. He just turned back to his monitor, whispering, “It’s fine… I always knew it would happen. I’m not main character material… I’m like the NPC you befriend on side quests before you get a real romance arc—”

“Idia,” you said, flat. “Idia, look at me.”

“…No.”

“Look. At. Me.”

He finally peeked over his shoulder. You leaned in, arms crossed, expression deadpan.

“I would never date that guy. He looked like he got his lines from a cereal box. I was five seconds away from using my Dorm Uniform magic on him.”

“…For real?”

“For real real,” you said, then added with a smirk, “Besides… you’re the only Apple of my eye.”

Idia.exe has stopped functioning.

You swore you saw his soul leave his body and ascend like a pixelated ghost.

“I—I—wha—you’re the one saying pickup lines now?? Is this a reverse Uno??”

You reached out and gently tugged the edge of his hoodie. “You’re lucky I like nerdy reclusive geniuses with surveillance access and low self-esteem.”

He slumped forward with a strangled noise, hiding his red face in his blanket cocoon. “I’m never emotionally recovering from this…”

You giggled, pulling him into a hug despite his dramatic protesting flails.

“Next time you see something on camera, just ask me. I’ll remind you who’s the only person I want to ‘connect’ with.”

“…Can I record you saying that?” he muttered from inside the blanket.

You raised an eyebrow. “For what, your emotional support audio folder?”

“…Maybe.”

You kissed his forehead, and he immediately short-circuited again.

Bonus: Back at Pomefiore dorm, you told Rook the whole story.

He wept.

“Magnifique! The beauty of your loyalty—and your devastating rejection of such a weak pickup line! Truly, your heart belongs to the one who sees you even through camera static!”

“…Rook please stop narrating my love life.”

[probablyasocialecologist]

Amazon’s recent decision to stop allowing people to download copies of their Kindle e-books to a computer has vindicated some of my longstanding beliefs about digital media. Specifically, that it doesn’t exist and you don’t own it unless you can copy and access it without being connected to the internet. The recent move by the megacorp and its shiny-headed billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos is another large brick in the digital wall that tech companies have been building for years to separate consumers from the things they buy—or from their perspective, obtain “licenses” to. Starting Wednesday, Kindle users will no longer be able to download purchased books to a computer, where they can more easily be freed of DRM restrictions and copied to e-reader devices via USB. You can still send ebooks to other devices over WiFi for now, but the message the company is sending is one tech companies have been telegraphing for years: You don’t “own” anything digital, even if you paid us for it. The Kindle terms of service now say this, explicitly. “Kindle Content is licensed, not sold, to you,” meaning you don’t “buy a book,” you obtain a “digital content license.”

[...]

Amazon is far from alone in this long-running trend towards eliminating digital ownership. For many people, digital distribution and streaming services have already practically ended the concept of owning and controlling your own media files. Spotify is now almost synonymous with music for some younger generations, having strip-mined the music industry from both ends by demonetizing more than 60% of the artists on its platform and pushing algorithmic slop while­ simultaneously raising subscription fees.  Of course, surrendering this control means being at the complete mercy of Amazon and other platforms to determine what we can watch, read, and listen to—and we’ve already seen that these services frequently remove content for all sorts of reasons. Last October, one year after the Israeli military began its campaign of genocide in Gaza, Netflix removed “Palestinian Stories,” a collection of 19 films featuring Palestinian filmmakers and characters, saying it declined to renew its distribution license. Amazon also once famously deleted copies of 1984 off of people’s Kindles. Fearing piracy, many software companies have moved from the days of “Don’t Copy That Floppy” to the cloud-based software-as-a-service model, which requires an internet connection and charges users monthly subscription fees to use apps like Photoshop. No matter how you look at it, digital platforms have put us on a path to losing control of any media that we can’t physically touch. How did we get here? 

28 February 2025

[graciecapital]

call your mom

pairing : jj maybank x older!sister!reader

plot : when you gave your nine-year-old brother a phone to call you with should he ever need to, he used to pester you with it- but, once the novelty faded, the calls came to a gradual stop.

foolishly, you took the peace for granted.

warnings : graphic description of child neglect

word count : 3,087

author’s note : this one is quite heavy- angst is my favourite to write, and i lay it on thick. just because i’ve written it, that doesn’t mean you have to read it. <3

(not proofread)

♪ ‘fake plastic trees’ - radiohead ♪

you collapse on-top of your boyfriend, breathing heavily; he grins something blissful, placing a hand on both sides of your head and manoeuvring it to his lips to press a firm kiss to your hair.

“i love you so much,” he declares, allowing your head to gently fall against his shoulder, resting his cheek against your forehead and allowing his eyes to close for a beat, releasing a long, slightly winded sigh. “feelin’ better, now, huh?”

you hum something noncommittal, slightly dazed, tracing light lines on the bare skin of his chest. “it’s hard not to, isn’t it?”

jj snorts, head flopping back against the pillow, eyes half-lidded and weary, an arm wrapping around your waist and squeezing ever-so-slightly. “i’m gonna get the best sleep known to earth, jesus christ. you know how to put a man through his paces, don’t ‘ya?”

“practice,” you muse, the corner of your lip quirking upwards.

“practice, huh? with who?” he asks, lifting his head to look at you mock-aggressively, tousled and slightly damp blond waves descending over his forehead. “you got somethin’ to tell me?”

“you’ll never know,” you tease in response- and he will never know, because it’s at that moment that your phone starts to blare on the nightstand beside you.

you groan exasperatedly, propping yourself up on your elbows to blindly tap around the wood surface for it- when you find it, the contact name is already greeting you, displayed in bold, unignorable white letters in the top third of the screen.

home.

you pick up the phone before jj so much as has the chance to ask who’s at the other end of it.

a few months ago, you gave your brother, max, a phone. nothing special- just one of your old, battered iphone 5s that for some reason you still had, with no wifi or internet because you point-blank refuse to give your nine-year-old brother unlimited access to the internet- just so he was able to contact you should he need to.

the oldest of your three siblings, he’s the one you trusted with it; eli’s six and lila’s only two, so you doubt either of them would really know how to use it, anyways. at first, after you showed him how, he abused it- calling you non-stop, day-in, day-out- but now, the novelty’s faded. he only calls you unless there’s a real reason for him to; and now, apparently there is.

typically, it’s to get information to relay to your mum when she needs it, or to ask when you’ll next be home, considering how often you’re out with jj and the rest of your friends- therefore, the last thing you’re expecting upon the call connecting is the sound of lila’s deafening cries, max’s voice, uncharacteristically feeble and timid, offering a small, “hello? are you there?”

you sit up instantly, tearing out of jj’s grip to swing your legs over the edge of the bed, sighing. “yeah, i’m here. what’s up?”

“sorry, is this a bad time? it’s just-” lila screams again, and max pauses, only regaining his voice a few seconds later. “we haven’t seen mum all day. we’re all really hungry, and i’ve tried ordering food but i can’t, and lila’s upset and eli’s not come out of his room for ages-”

“woah, hang on,” you say slowly, calmly, turning up the volume of your phone. “when’d you last see her?”

“last night,” your little brother responds instantly. “she left us some cash and a note saying to just order something in, but i’ve tried and i can’t, this phone won’t connect to the wifi and she’s taken hers with her, i think.”

shit.

“any idea where she’s gone?” you ask, turning back to jj and nodding towards the door- instantly, he gets the hint. he jumps out of bed, wriggling into his boxers as he jumps around the room in search of some clothes. you’re already picking a shirt up off of the floor, placing the call on speaker as you throw it on.

“nope,” max’s voice drifts through the room, popping the ‘p’. “she didn’t say anything, just… gone.”

and, like a fool, you’d never installed your mum’s contact on the old, battered iphone 5- originally, you didn’t want her to know that max had it.

you’d have told her yourself, if you’d been smart enough to consider a scenario like this.

lila wails again, and you can practically hear your brother’s wince on the other side of the phone.

“you said eli’s been in his room all day, yeah? is lila safe for you to go and check on him? where’s she at?”

“in her crib,” max says, and you can hear the creaking of springs, swiftly followed by small footsteps. “i’ll check on him now, give me a sec.”

the footsteps stop, and seconds later are replaced by muffled voices- max’s is still somewhat clear, but even though eli’s isn’t, you can hear the exhaustion in it.

“he’s fine,” your brother’s voice follows up a moment after, fully intelligible once more. “tired, though.”

“tell him he can take a nap if he wants to,” you say simply, shimmying into some shorts, jj doing the same behind you. “i’m coming, alright? we’ll be there soon, just hang in there. fifteen minutes, tops.”

“‘kay, thanks.”

“you’ve got nothing to thank me for, buddy. i’ll see you soon, okay? i love you.”

“love you too,” max replies, slightly steadier now. “i’ll- i’ll try to calm lila down.”

“good idea. i’ll be there soon, i promise.”

max is the one to hang up- for a second, all you can do is close your eyes and take a breath.

“she’s disappeared again, then?” jj’s voice comes, unfailingly determined, though you can hear a pinch of disbelief in it.

you sigh, opening your eyes and turning to look at him, something akin to exhausted exasperation swirling in them. “looks like it.”

“i’ll grab some chips for them, you get in the twinkie,” is the response you get, your boyfriend not so much as missing a single beat.

you can’t help but kiss him on your way out of the bedroom, sliding some shoes on your bare feet and snatching the keys for the twinkie off of the coffee table before swinging open the front door and bee-lining for the van, phone jammed in your pocket.

you’re years max’s senior, and even you have no clue where your mum is. you know things about her that they don’t- you know the sort of things she gets up to- but she doesn’t have a regular place to go. she just kind of… wanders. goes off with whatever man looks at her twice, doesn’t come back for hours- even days, when you’ve taken them off of her before, because you have. you’ve taken them to the chateau, time after time, and when she inevitably promises you that it’s her wake-up call, that she’ll change, you’re obligated to fold.

as soon as the circumstances are right, you’re sure you’ll get them out of there- but, until then, this is all you can do. be there when they need you- show max that he can and should call you, and that you’ll respond, you’ll show for him, them, when nobody else will.

jj joins you shortly after you put the keys in the ignition- as soon as the passenger door slams shut, you’re gone, flooring out of the land surrounding the chateau and veering off into the road.

you know full-well that you’re speeding but don’t care in the slightest; the speed cameras don’t work in this part of the cut, and police don’t patrol it. the road you live on is mostly quiet, just elderly people and the odd family, like yours, so there’s no reason for anyone to be over there- nobody to commit the crimes they police.

“i can’t believe her, man,” jj scoffs from beside you, practically vibrating in his seat.

one of the main things, if not the main thing, you love about your boyfriend is his love for your siblings. growing up an only child, he never really had anyone around, when he was young; nobody to bear it all with, nobody to even distract himself with by protecting. when you’re at work, or otherwise occupied, he’s the one picking up the slack- play-fighting with the boys, helping them with their homework as well as he can, getting lila to sleep, helping eli get into his pyjamas at night.

while you never plan on having kids- especially after all of this- if you did, you could see him being everything his own dad wasn’t to them.

“…ow many times has she said she wouldn’t do this shit again? just take off?”

“how many times has she promised she’ll change?” you snort bitterly in agreement, guiding the car down a corner, into a gravelly road a few minutes away from yours. “it’s bullshit. it’s all bullshit.”

“like, how can you even do that to your own kids, bro? i swear to god, i’ll-”

it all becomes white noise. you don’t mean to stop listening to him, but your ears take you back to that phone call: max’s weary little greeting, eli’s utterly drained voice, lila’s hysteria.

the last of which, you realise, is still continuing upon the front door of your house opening.

“hey,” you nod, smile something a little bit weak around the edges, bringing him in for a short hug. “told you we’d come, didn’t i?”

“hi- jj!”

“hey, big man,” jj grins, charming and outwardly unaffected as ever, as if he wasn’t just seething in the twinkie a mere forty-five seconds ago. “you holding up alright?”

you release max, ears turning up at the sound of your little sister.

“you guys go and pack some stuff and get eli, alright?” you call back to them, already stepping through the food wrappers and used plastic cups in search of her room.

as soon as you open the door of it, your heart breaks.

lila’s standing in the corner of her crib, wide and teary eyes rapidly darting around the room, as if perpetually searching- her eyes lock on you, and her face only seems to screw up further. she toddles as fast as she can to the front fence, omitting an almighty wail as she does, little arms outstretching as far as they can towards you, a new round of scalding tears pouring down her face.

you’re with her in an instant, lifting her by her sides and cradling you to your chest, her head instantly worming into your neck.

“hey, sweetheart- shh, you’re alright, i’ve got you. i know, it’s confusing, huh? you’re hungry?” you murmur as she cries, lowering a kiss to the top of her head.

poor lila can’t even speak, just gasp over another sob- you tighten her arms around her, rocking back-and-forth.

“i know, i know- shh, you’re okay. we’re gonna get you some food and new clothes, yeah?”

as carefully as you can with her still anchored to your front, you bustle around the room, grabbing a clean diaper, the last remaining clean pacifier and a single change of clothes- there are backups of everything else you’ll need at the chateau- and stuffing them into a small, pink rucksack in the corner of the room.

you sling the bag over your shoulder and press another kiss to her hair before swiftly exiting the room, eyes landing on eli, who’s currently fastened to jj’s back, your boyfriend’s arms with handles of bags hanging off of them looped around his knees; max stands just to the side, holding up the old phone.

“should i take this with me? or…”

“yeah, you should,” you nod, ruffling his hair. “you did a good job, calling me. i’m proud of you.”

max just smiles something slightly tired, and your heart promptly cleaves in half yet again at the expression. no nine-year-old should hold that much exhaustion, that much defeat; the curse that befell you is falling onto him.

“can we go now?” he asks, gesturing vaguely to the bags piled in jj’s arms. “we’ve packed, and everything.”

you take a look around the house- the slight smell of cigarette smoke permeating the air, the food boxes and other miscellaneous objects blanketing the floor- and nod again.

“yeah, we can. c’mon.”

as soon as you step out of the house, lights blind you- car headlights, specifically, and you quickly hand lila off to jj, who has by now gotten both of the boys secured in the twinkie and bags of chips in their hands, and request he do the same for lila before staring at the car as it comes to a slow stop.

your mum isn’t drunk when she steps out of the car- she learned that lesson around the time you turned fifteen- but it’s obvious that at some point recently, she has been.

“of course, you come back now,” you snort in almost incredulous disbelief, clapping sarcastically. “well done, mum. who’s this, then?”

you point to a man who’s gotten out of the car alongside her, all muscle and tattoos and outgrown hair; your mum rolls her eyes, black eyeliner smudged.

“it doesn’t matter who he is,” she says offhandedly. “where are my kids?”

“of course it matters,” you shake your head, wrinkling your nose slightly. “and they’re in the van. i figured that if you’re too busy to look after them, then i probably should.”

your mum seems to stop for a second, eyes roaming over you, as if she hasn’t seen you in years- and she hasn’t, you suppose. not for long, anyway.

and then:

“what, so you’re just going to take my kids?”

you hum, nodding. “pretty much. you can’t just leave them at home all day, mum, jesus. they’re kids. little fucking kids, and you just went off-grid.”

“i left them some money,” she protests, waving a hand, “to order food with. they were fine.”

“yeah, and how were they meant to order it, huh? with what phone?”

it doesn’t hold the fire that it used to; just the slight air of annoyance only achieved after repeating something so many times, and it not being listened to, that you don’t even have the energy to properly fight the point anymore.

“what, they don’t have one?” mum asks. “max is nine, i thought by now…”

“did you ever buy him one?” you ask, and after a beat of telling silence, “no, you didn’t, so they don’t have one. what, you think a nine-year-old is pulling a nine-to-five at the country club?”

max has an old, beaten-down iphone 5 that your mum doesn’t even know about, purely to be used in situations like these. that’s it. no wifi, no internet access in the slightest- just your contact and some games you had installed back when you were using it.

“i need to get them home,” you say when you get no response, sighing in bitter resignation. “they haven’t eaten all day, and lila needs changing. just… have fun tonight, yeah? with man number eighty-seven, or something, i don’t fucking know. no point in calling me asking for them back, i’ll decide on my own terms.”

you don’t even spare them another glance before getting in the twinkie- jj hands a now-whimpering lila to you, and you settle her on your lap, engaging her with the remaining chips in the small bag as your boyfriend begins to trundle out of the driveway.

the drive home is remarkably quiet. nobody really says much; eli’s dozing off, the side of his head smushed against the window, and max is just staring out of his own, face slightly clenched.

jj’s got a hand on your thigh, thumb stoking small lines into your skin, but it doesn’t do much- not when all that your little siblings have had to eat today is a bag of chips that two of them are still eating, lila clearly hasn’t been changed all day and your mum hadn’t been seen in so long that max had lost all hope in her returning and had called you as a last resort.

you feel sick to your fucking stomach.

eventually, though, the frame of the chateau comes into view. you step out of the twinkie as soon as it comes to a stop, grab lila’s bag and secure her to your hip, head inside- and, because food’s the top priority, you bee-line straight for the kitchen to make a placating sippy-cup of milk, giving it to her as you take her to your and jj’s bedroom to change her into something clean.

it doesn’t take long- you work with urgency- but, even then, you step back into the living room to the sight of eli and max sitting on the sofa, plates of leftover food on their laps- you press a kiss to jj’s cheek, mumbling a small ‘thank you’ as he hands you a bowl of berries for lila.

you sit on the sofa besides eli, watch with bitter pride as she progressively gets less and less fussy as she eats them, stare in exhausted awe at jj as he joins you and begins engaging eli in light conversation about his schooling, all casual and seemingly perpetually energetic.

later, when all of the kids are fed and changed into pyjamas, max grabs lila and places her between himself and eli, covers the three of them in a small, slightly frayed blanket- to which jj quickly rushes into your shared room and drapes the duvet of your bed over the three of them.

they fall asleep to you murmuring soft words to them, your hand slowly carding through their hair periodically; arms wrap around you from behind, and you turn your head into jj’s shoulder, sighing.

“they’re good now,” he murmurs quietly, placing a kiss to the curve of your neck. “you’ve got them, yeah? we’ve got them. they’re fed, they’re clean, they’re safe, they’re asleep. you’re done now, okay? you can rest.”

“thank you,” you whisper. it’s all you can say, really- he helped eli and max pack, carried eli on his back out of the house, had plates of food going into them within minutes of you returning; he’s there, a rock. “thank you, thank you, thank you.”

“no need to thank me,” is all you get in response, his voice firm yet simultaneously gentle, kind. “they deserve it all, yeah? ‘n you’re giving it to them.”

and, like he has been the whole night, he’s there, a rock, as you inevitably crumble.

[sgiandubh]

If my hubby would go on a trek in Nepal for weeks (?) I'd be SO anxious even if I'd know it's his passion. I do not know how C's feels about this but to me it s a big proof of Love and trust. Now I am wondering if that was maybe what S meant by trial separation. Is there even signals where they go hiking ? I am a total noob about hikes but I guess if they are busy walking from camp to camp with sometimes bad condition there is no time for call and texts ?

Dear So Anxious Anon,

Well, good for you then, since your own 'hubby' is most probably nowhere near such an endeavor, isn't it?

While I do agree this certainly looks like a 'big proof of Love and trust', I so wish people would stop projecting their own emotions upon two strangers they never met and/or never have anything else to share with than a very superficial fan interaction.

You can imagine I am no expert in hikes, treks and climbing (🥶). Still, let's see if Google is our friend, shall we?

We know from that terrible Flaunt Magazine interview what his likely itinerary is going to be:

Relevant info is literally just one click away:

[Source: https://www.acethehimalaya.com/wifi-and-internet-access-during-everest-base-camp-trek/]

As you can see, there are several reliable options which are very easy to access, if still on the expensive side. There has been a tremendous effort to gradually offer the best possible connectivity to the area, for obvious reasons: safety, security and access to help, in case of an incident. If you want to go even further, you'd probably find this short (but recent) National Geographic paper absolutely fascinating - it is even written in simple English and adapted to educational purposes, so very clear: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/meet-sherpa-bringing-wi-fi-everest/

Thousands of trekkers make video calls, post on Instagram and text while taking the trip. I don't see why S wouldn't do the same, in order to document what clearly is a dream came true and keep in touch with his family and loved ones.

I am sorry if this sounds perhaps less exciting than the usual fanfic this fandom has been plagued with since Day One. If you came here for reassurance, I can reasonably offer it to you: I know he'll be fine and that's all we need to know, for now. He is not alone, he does this with a friendly expert, he probably also does this for a lucrative purpose, in which case the trip will be properly documented (even if it is, as I am speculating, perhaps just a preliminary one). Factoring in all of the above, you can imagine it's not a stroll in the park, but not an ordeal, either.

Give the guy some credit. And stop acting like his mom, he's got one and I guarantee you she is a formidable person, who probably knows and trusts her son better than almost everyone else- I don't have to be Mrs. Graham to know this, just common sense at play, really.

[thelordofhats]

Murder on the W Express thoughts, heavy spoilers under the cut.

Faust is the easier one to talk about—she’s lost her wifi connection, can no longer access Faustcord or Faustpedia. She’s adrift, and we get to see her cope with that. And it’s very, very good.

I’ve seen people say that her every move is being like, tyrannically dictated by the Gesellschaft, and I don’t really think that’s accurate. At least, not in the sense that she’s some unwilling slave. I would describe it more as… Faust made a (Faustian) bargain (with Faust) to gain knowledge of (Faust) all things. After all—she values knowledge very highly! How could she pass up on this? And I wouldn’t be surprised if the asking price wasn’t even that high.

But what she didn’t really realize is how much she valued the *pursuit* of knowledge, of pushing against her limitations. But now, with all of the information she could possibly ask for at her fingertips, everything is just a matter of entering a couple of search terms, and there you go. It’s all been done before. Sure, there are some blind spots. But given that there are innumerable Fausts, she isn’t really going to be the right Faust for the job of uncovering that. And so, slowly, a lot of who Faust was as a person sort of atrophied. Just follow the wisdom of the collective. If you try and find it out for yourself, you’re just replicating work for no reason—what’s the point? Just follow the path. Embrace the comfort of absolute certainty. Nothing needs to be left to chance.

But the child has, briefly, fallen out of the flask. She doesn’t have that Certainty to fall back on, and it has reminded her of the Thrill of acting on her own initiative. Of not knowing what’s going to happen, and making a gamble. Of actual collaboration with other people, getting different perspectives on available information and sifting the truth out of them. She has, momentarily, returned to the Flask. But a seed has been planted, and is going to grow. A hungry seed, that wants *more* than this gray Certainty. That does not want to be that husk of a self.

(Dante doesn’t parallel all of that, but they definitely reflect on how easily they fell into Faust Knows, Just Ask Faust, and how dangerous that reliance was).

I like it a lot.

Don Quixote is Don Quixote. Not a lot more to say there—because the character to *really* discuss is, as I will refer to her, Alonso Quixano.

We don’t see all that much of her. But there are a couple of things we can say for certain:

1) She is Crazy Powerful. So let’s take it on faith given what we’ve seen that we’re working on World of Darkness rules here, and the higher your generation number the weaker you are. Don is almost *certainly* at least on par with Elena. “One of the last fights in LoR” Elena. “Star of the City who killed a Color Fixer” powerful. Alonso can straight-up tell a lesser Bloodfiend to fuck off and die, and boom, he is dead.

2) She’s comfortable with authority and hierarchy. I’m pretty sure she has an Arbiter silhouette for a reason—not because she is/was one, but because that is the feeling they are trying to sell. She doesn’t explode the guy because he’s a monster, she exploded him because he transgressed against the hierarchy. Also the way she addresses Dante—others are Beneath Her.

3) Her drip is impeccable. I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules.

Those are things we can state for certain. Past this is speculation on my part:

1) She fucking *hates* herself. She is, in her own mind, a horrible monster. And she views her own nature as being basically inescapable. She isn’t chasing redemption here, making up for past acts. She can’t be redeemed. She can’t change. She puts on the boots so that she can Stop Being Alonso Quixano completely. She *needs* to not be herself. Not a different version of herself, she needs to be somebody else entirely. It doesn’t seem like she shares Don’s memories at all. She wants to have nothing to do with herself.

2) She doesn’t actually believe that Fixers are the paragons of virtue that Don does. But she does very much like the *ideal*, all the same. She read a bunch of stories that were maybe children’s stories, maybe just press releases, and what she really loved was the idea of the kind of person who would believe in that, even though she never could. A pure heart believing in heroes, in chivalry, in Justice. So the persona of Don Quixote is carefully crafted to be that.

3) The Dream Ending is probably going to be some level of “sorry, you can’t just wish yourself out of existence like that”. Don isn’t getting full-on replaced by Alonso, but she is probably going to have some level of *awareness* of Alonso, and of her own nature. A gradual synthesis.

4) Alonso is a Blood Fiend. Don is… mostly not. I think Rocinante prevents Don from doing most of that kind of stuff (except, if I am reading this right, eating that one W Corp employee to recover).

5) I don’t think Dante can rewind bloodfiend stiff, judging by how it interacted with the Warp Train—if Alonso did go all out and needed to recharge, she’s gonna have to munch people, there’s no getting around it.

[k-s-morgan]

Hi, I don't know how to write this differently... I'm kinda, little bit, very very worried 😅 I don't want to make you feel obligated to answer this, with the electric outages and everything, but please just a little update if you're ok 🩷 Rusáci jsou kundy, přeji ti hodně sil 💛💙 srdečné pozdravy z Česka (Russians are cunts, I wish you strength, теплий привіт з Чехії*)

*I could only think of best wishes in English, which is not the same, so I hope google translated it with the same warm sentiment 😊

Ask from @princessgotham21: Hi Kat, we've not heard from you in a while so I hope you're safe and okay. I don't care about updates, I just genuinely want to know your wellbeing. Sending prayers and love 🤍

Ask from @seiji-amasawa: I’ve been following your stories for years now, and with news headlines about what’s going on in Ukraine has me really nervous for your well being. I hope you and your loved ones are doing well. You’re in my thoughts <3

Ask from @disappearinghills: You haven’t posted in a week, I hope you’re okay love❤️

-----

Hi! I'm finally home and with a steady connection - in fact, while I was gone, my Dad did some techno-magic, so now I'll have the Internet even when there is no power! Seeing all these asks made me so warm and happy, and cared for. Thank you all so much! I really didn't expect the connection to be this bad in the mountains. That place had WiFi, both of my cell operators were accessible, and yet nothing connected properly 99% of time. Not sure how it works. On the other hand, I took a really good rest from the war-related news, air raids, and other stuff. I heard just one explosion at a distance in over 2 weeks.

@jebemtimater7890, ah, I really appreciate your sentiment <3 Дуже дякую за такі чудові слова! It always warms me so much to know that so many people from different countries support Ukraine. Maybe it's the result of my vacation, but I started to feel a little more optimistic about the war than I have in over a year. Not sure it will last long, but it's such a relief to feel like this for now.

I went to the mountains with my Mom, and the place we were staying at had the loveliest cat who instantly realized I'll be more than happy to let her share my bed :D It was very hot for one week, and then it rained non-stop for the next one, so we got all kinds of experiences.

I'll miss the peace and quiet of that place, but being home is also good! I missed my set of silly pets, half of whom didn't immediately recognize me and tried to flee before figuring out who I am :D

The first part of a series of ATLWETD updates will be up in a few hours. I'm doing the last quick read - it probably isn't necessary, I've edited it already, but I can't help it, I always feel like I'll catch some more mistakes/unfortunate turns of phrases.

[lavender-butterfly-cookie]

I have some questions to ask you before I can start building up the idea in the future: 1. (isekai x self-aware) After the epilouge of Ep 1-2, do you want to focus on Beast-Yeast Episode only or would you like to make side stories such as visiting other kingdoms with shenanigans(Baker pranking/exploring/hang out with other Cookies) ? First stop could be Gingerbrave's kingdom but its up to you. 2. (Game Crossover, currently Roblox x CRK) Have you seen the idea I requested? If it didn't meet the standards or not good enough then may I ask what kind of roblox game and scenario you wanted to write so I can get some ideas to request it? 3. Would you like to try and write the reaction scenario? Like the cookies can hear voice of us human talking and see their reaction of our talk about the future/past (somewhat self-aware ig?) or some events in canon but with a change of their action(like my first request about Gingerbrave one). This is just a draft of self-aware reaction I have in mind but take a look. Dark Enchantress Cookie: Do you know the reason why, we cookies are created? Golden Cheese Cookie: What nonsense are you talking ab- Y/N: Made to be eaten. Yea, I heard that for like 10 million times already, White Lily Cookie. God, please skip this boring process so I can start gambling for Ancient Cookies with this fresh account. 4. I have an idea about Y/N (in human world) can visit Earthbread through their sleep(when they sleep they are teleported to Earthbread) with the knowledge of the game, so there are some options for it: A. You are normal human being, no superpower, trying to explore the beauty of Earthbread and go on adventure with Gingerbrave's gang. B. You can have power of any games you want (but only 1 game) or CRK Cookie's power. C. Same as A but it would be YOU(the reader) will VOTE which action would they take and you can write the scenario for it. D. You are like a ghost and only the Gingerbrave's gang can see you. Same as A (could be C too). That'd be all, I hope some of these ideas would give you some interest. Thank you for taking your time reading this and have a nice day!

Alrighty, wifi's back finally.

I'm perfectly fine with spreading to other stories like them going to kingdom. I'd say I'm just more accustomed to it being Beast-Yeast.

I don't have any asks regarding crk x Roblox, sorry.

A reactin fic sounds both fun and chaotic. By now if you've seen how I right self aware crk x Y/N cookie stuff, you'd know that I usually make Y/N cookie a menace. Them being able to casually break the story and having the cookies hearing them- oh witches I'm gonna have fun with that one

To be fair, option A. The moment option B, C or D are active I fear that Y/N cookie would be op. Keep in mind, access any power from any game. Do you know how I would abuse that?!

[ya-zz]

Okay, I've thought about this a lot. So it's going to be NSFW (sorry) and this time the tables flip. Basically, Talon attacks one of Overwatch's headquarters and reader is there, fighting to keep Talon soldiers away, completely unaware that Reaper is in this mission. Reaper somehow manages to separate reader from her team and she's like "Back for seconds?" and Reaper just wants to put her in her place (she's not opposed wink wink) but she keeps jabbing at him through it all. Calling him desperate, a slut, etc. Maybe at the end they both get caught by a Talon soldier? - Reaper's wifey

Praying this posts without any issue as wifi is shocking in my room. Apologies for the wait!

Reaper x Reader (gen) (as much as I could, but possible female traits)

Word count: 1770

Part 1

NSFW

The last attack was successful. Overwatch got what they wanted and Talon lost what they had. Tensions were rising as the days passed by and somehow the news got out that Talon was infiltrated, dedicated and stealthy heroes claiming another victory while Reyes and his crew suffered major losses. 

It irked him, anger rising in his cheeks as he slammed his fist onto the table, a low, dark growl escaping his throat as he shoves whatever was on the table to the floor, a single glass shattering amongst plans and blueprints, pens clattering and rolling under the cabinets. 

He was frustrated and in more ways than one. Not only was there the tension between his colleagues, but there was tension within him, something that he couldn’t sate, no matter how slow or fast he got himself off. 

Reyes had to do something. He could barely sleep at night as it was, but then you came along, torturing his very body with your words and hands and since then, the sleepless nights only got warmer, his hands roaming his own body in place of yours. That teasing kiss you left him made him crave you, a feeling he hadn’t felt for years. It’s like you had planted a curse on him and he hated it. 

The only way to see you again was to get into the Overwatch headquarters and seek you out. Of course, there were more logical ways to see you, but a retaliation attack deemed more sense to him, after all, he’d get what he had lost, and he’d get to have his way with you. 

While the others rejected his idea, he shook it off, exclaiming it was for Talon and their ideals, not a manhunt to get you underneath him, of course he kept that unsaid. He was already embarrassed enough that he was caught off guard and that he let you do those things to him. This time will be different, he thought to himself, preparing his team for the infiltration. 

There were multiple ways to get inside, brute force, disguises, or be silent and go through the different vents and windows scattered around the building. Reye’s chose all of the above, some going through the front, and while they distracted the guards at the front, they’d go through the vents and when inside, force would be used, not stopping for anything. The teams goal was to get their information back, but also disrupt their forces, taking whoever they needed with them. Reye’s mission was to get you, alone, and to punish you for what you did to him. 

When the alarm blared through the speakers, everyone was suddenly on high alert, weapons ready and gradually going into lockdown. Doors slowly locked, one by one clicking shut, windows joined soon after, rooms no longer being able to be accessed from inside or out. Attacks like these were rare, but precautions were made. 

One of the more secure wings was heavily guarded as it contained the more valuable intel. It was near impossible to get in without some form keycard… Unless someone where to let another in. 

Being one of the more trusted individuals at Overwatch, you were able to come and go as you please, with each entry logged within the system each time. Morrison had radioed you over to the wing to see to the manual lockdown of the doors. While on your way over, Talon soldiers stopped you, weapons raised, but you weren’t about to back down. 

A quick succession of punches had them both on the floor, disorientated and unarmed. With a sigh of relief, you hurried to your post, keeping an eye out for any unwanted guests in the process, however, one gaze never left your back and you never noticed them. 

With a swipe of your keycard, access to the wing opened up, doors only opening partially to let you in whilst there was an ongoing attack. Little did you know though, as you wandered forward, that there was an intruder lurking behind, watching you close and lock the doors one by one. 

He waited. Eyes watching your every move. 

Just as you were about to pull a door shut, hands grabbed at your body, forcing you inside, the door slamming shut behind you. 

“What the fuck-” You exclaimed, feeling nails like claws press into your sides, a sharp sting following. 

“That will be the least of your worries.” His voice was familiar, dark and low. It took a moment to click that the man holding you against the cabinets was the man you had played with the other week. A smirk crossed your face, a playful glint in your eyes as you craned your neck, looking back at the man behind you. 

“Well I’ll be damned, if it isn’t the infamous Reaper.” Your smirk never faltered as his hands gripped a little tighter. “Back for seconds?” 

He leans forward, pressing his body further into yours as he almost whispers into your ear. “You’re a bitch, did you know that?” 

“I’ve been called worse.” 

“Is that so?” His hands slowly work their way up your torso. One stops whilst the other keeps moving, grabbing at your neck and pulling your back into him, bodies almost locking together. 

“Oh?” A slightly amused laugh escapes you. “Someone is a little desperate…” You could feel him pressing against you, his dick growing harder by the passing second as he kept pushing, stifling a groan. 

“Shut up.” It sounded more like a command as he lowered his other hand, the other still gripping your neck, feeling your pulse. 

“And you call me a bitch?” Another cocky laugh. 

His hand stopped just short of your pants, fingers trailing the waist band and feeling you tense and shiver, a smirk of his own embracing his face. “Someone is a little desperate.”  He pressed his mask against your neck, as if wanting to kiss you, but he knew he couldn’t. He wasn’t risking someone coming in, especially an Overwatch agent. 

You huffed, embarrassment rising in your cheeks. 

“Be a good agent for me.” He chuckled, fingers fumbling with the button before he pulled your pants down in one swift motion, letting the fabric pool around your ankles. He removed his hand from your neck, trailing it down your spine and pushing your torso down, bending you over whilst your arms rested against the cold metal of the cabinet. 

He didn’t waste anytime in freeing himself, cock springing out and already leaking with a bead of precum. Rubbing the head of his cock across your slick, he groaned.

“Aw, who’s the desperate whore here.” You suck in a breath, looking over your shoulder to the masked man before he forces himself inside of you, eliciting a soft moan from you. 

“That… would be you.” He huffed, hips connecting flush against your ass. It felt like the air around you got thicker and warmer as he pulled back, ramming himself into you at a brutal pace, wanting it to be quick. His claw-like fingers digging into your sides as he fucks you raw, a bruising grip keeping you in place.

Soft whimpers and moans escape you with each thrust, the cabinet rattling as he keeps his pace rough, cock hitting deep inside as he spreads your legs a little further apart.

“My god, Reaper…” You moan out, walls squeezing his cock tight, as you listen to his growls. “You really… are a slut, aren’t you?” 

He moves one of his hands over your mouth, keeping you quiet as he pushes himself deeper inside of you, feeling your back arch. A smug grin appears on his face behind his mask as he has his way with you. 

“Keep quiet.” He tries to shush you, placing two fingers into your mouth, instantly feeling your tongue lapping away at them. “Such a filthy whore…” 

You mumble against his fingers, tongue still licking its way around his fingers. 

“Shut up.” He thrusts again, a lot harder and deeper, eliciting another moan from you. 

He could feel himself getting close, the way you were squeezing his cock made him want to fuck you more, but his bliss was coming to an end. He moved his fingers from your mouth, wrapping them back around your neck.

“Fuck…” You moan out breathlessly. “What’re you waiting for…? Cum for me… Reaper.” 

With another thrust, he did just that, coating your insides white as he buries himself deep within you, a low growl escaping him while he hunches over, masked face resting against your shoulder as he fills you up. His grip was tight on your throat and side, a bruising grip that was sure to leave marks when he lets go. 

The room fell eerily silent, save from the breathy gasps and whimpers. 

“Such a good boy…” You coo, almost sarcastically. You could tell he thought something of it, whether it was good or bad, by the way he gripped you harder, nails digging into your flesh, threatening to pierce your skin. 

He was about to speak up when the door opened, the light from the gap in the door illuminating the sight before the Talon agent. 

“What in the everloving fuck-” 

You both stared at the agent, eyes wide as your cheeks grew warmer while he hid his embarrassment behind his mask. His cock was still buried inside of you, cum slowly dripping down your thigh. 

After what seemed like forever but was in fact two seconds, the door slammed shut again, you and your masked enemy staring at one another. 

“I will never hear the end of this…” He sighed, pulling out in a teasing manner, smirking at your small whimper. 

You look back at him as you straighten yourself. “Guess you’re torturing yourself with this one.” 

“I will not hesitate to kill you.” He threatened. 

“Sure, but you won’t have this again though.” You wink at him before he gathers himself together, heading for the door before looking back over his shoulder, watching you bend down to redress yourself. 

He felt a pang of lust rise within him. Teasing bitch, he thought, opening the door and closing it behind him, heading back to the main attack site, a grin plastered on his face for only him to see and feel.  You stand in the room for a moment, looking around as you try to cool off. You notice a small slip of paper on the floor, something that wasn’t there before. Upon further inspection, it turns out that he left his number scribbled out on it, handwriting barely legible. Oh, this will be fun…

—

KOFI

[cookiesupplier]

Hell Ain't So Bad - Part One

pairing: Noah Sebastian x ofc (Ellie) 

warnings/tropes: slow burn, smut (eventually), angst, fluff, mentions of death, mentions of torture, thoughts of religious ideology, and swearing. – potential more to be added at stories progression

summary: Ellie is lost in the world, homeless and has been out of the world for so long in her mind she has no idea what to do and nowhere to go.. When the perfect opportunity falls into her lap, she doesn’t want to pass it up.. Turns out though, it might be a little bit stranger than she ever expected. Who would have thought that one day, she’d end up working in hell itself.. And what does this even mean?

author’s note: This first part was originally written as Reader/first person, but re-edited as Ellie/third person as its what's I'm used do if I missed anything please, feel free to let me know. Unbetaed, readers beware..

Warning, this is a slow burn... I scream at my computer with slow burns... so how well I will handle my own slow burn I have absolutely no idea... lol but as per my notes... I can't even promise Ellie will even meet Noah for um. a. few. parts. Don't lynch me.

ALL COMMENTS ARE WELCOME. (my replies are broken I will reply via reblog to yours)

tags: Tags are open if anyone is interested.

The day Ellie sold her guitar was the beginning of the end. It had been all going down hill for a long time. Ellie knew, of course, she knew. The whole world knew it to be honest, it isn’t just her that was struggling but she had dropped out of college and had been picking up work wherever she could find it just to get by and pay rent. Ellie had even tried Only Fans, but not even taking off her clothes and videoing herself for strangers on the internet had gotten her the money she needed to keep her from the predicament that she was in now. Not being able to even pay her monthly phone bill had put a stop to uploading the videos and images to continuing getting money from Only Fans for the bill, she had tried to get around it, but trying to access the free wifi at the library had been nixed the moment the librarian saw exactly what she was doing.

Boy had Ellie been banned there so fast anyone would think steam was about to come out of the librarian’s ears.

She didn’t blame her for that, but a girl had to eat, and eventually, when she stopped uploading the little content she had managed to get to her account, the money that she had had coming in from her subscribers, had dried up very quickly, and then she had nothing to even scrounge for the slightest morsel of food. Ellie hadn’t eaten a decent meal in what felt like…

Screw what felt like. She hasn't had even a scrap of food that hasn’t been begged, stolen, or fished out of the garbage in weeks.

Months since it was anything but dollar packs of noodles. Dry unless Jake let her borrow his camp stove to cook them.. She always shared if he did. He brought the kettle camp stove, and she bought the noodles and they ate huddled under the overpass, pretending they weren’t homeless, down on their luck, beggars.. Bound to get chased away, or worse, the next time a cop patrol came riding by. Jake was a good egg though, he could get into a shelter so much easier than her, but he never went, always saying there was too much noise, too many people. He was a veteran with PTSD, he’d lost the lower half of one of his right leg last time he was on active duty, and she was always willing to listen to the story, even if she heard it every time they shared a pack of noodles.

It had been a few days.

The overpass.

Ellie wished she could say that actually sleeping here was a new development, but it had been where she had been calling home for some weeks now. There used to be a tent city in the park for so many like her, but then the council had decided that was an unlawful assembly and chased them out. Sadly in that chaos, Ellie had lost the, admittedly flimsy, tent covering that had kept her at the very least dry of the night. That had been a few weeks back. Now, the overpass was usually where she spent her nights.

If she was lucky.

That’s right, if she was lucky.

If she wasn’t, she would go out and look to find a park bench. The other option was possibly huddled up somewhere random in a shop stoop and praying to whatever deity out there, if there was any at all, and hoped that it didn’t rain, and she woke up before the shop owners got in and chased her away the next morning.

Not that it really mattered. She could never get properly warm anyway, despite the fact Ellie was wearing literally every layer of clothes that she hadn’t sold. She just couldn’t stay warm, and that cough she’d had for weeks now just didn’t want to go away. If she couldn’t afford a place to live, it wasn’t like she could afford the treatment the doctors said she needed. The free clinic was pointless. No, sorry, that was horrible of her to even think. No it wasn’t, It had a point, but so far the drugs they’d given her only seemed to help much for a short period of time, but at least they did help, for a little bit. Still, the cough was relentless, it always came back despite the fact she always tried to do what they told her. She tried everything she could to stay as dry, and as warm as she could. Unfortunately every time it came back, and it made sleeping extremely difficult when every night she woke up feeling like she was trying to cough up her lungs from her chest, barely able to breath. It felt like something was sitting on her chest.

Today, Ellie seemed to have dozed off mid afternoon, she didn’t remember doing it, but she must have with the way she awoke with a start this afternoon. She hadn’t even realized that she’d drifted off, damn she was so tired, it happened when her coughing got so bad that she couldn’t manage to sleep more than tiny cat naps.. Probably about time to go back to the free clinic and see if they could give her some more meds and get just a little bit of relief, even if it was only for another short time, anything was better than nothing.

Waking up coughing, she raised a gloved hand to her mouth.

It was instinct.

Who didn’t cover their mouth when they coughed?

However, the pressure in her chest, the ache, the pain in her throat, then the drops of blood that she spots on her fingers when she struggles to pull a breath in and drop her hand from her mouth as the coughing eases slightly.. And her stomach drops.

Fuck.

That isn’t good.

Definitely free clinic time.

“Hey, you okay?”

Looking up from her hand, Ellie’s fingers closing in a fist quick as she swallows looking to the frankly clean, neat, man with bright eyes, a kind smile, more than a few tattoos, blonde short hair and is squatting down to her level,

“Ye-”

Ellie’s voice was rough, her throat feeling like a cheese grater from the coughing, but clearing her throat a little bit gently she continued,

“Yea, just really tired, I’m probably just getting a cold.”

Liar. Bold faced liar. She sees the man smile a little more, glad he accepts the white lie. Least she hopes he does anyway.

“Best get you to the clinic then.. Here, have a sandwich until then, fill that belly, and when you go, maybe check this place out too, it’s right across the street, I have a buddy over there, I think he could help you. Ask for Nicholas. He’s one of the nicer ones, I promise.”

That smile was winning as he stood up and walked the way he came. Ellie saw it then, the truck he was walking towards, he came from a homeless shelter.

She didn’t recognize the name though, that was weird. Looking at the card, the writing was fuzzy, like her eyes weren’t working properly for a second, and, and then the words formed. Oh, there it went. Huh. It was an unemployment agency. That’s funny, she thought she’d been to every single one in the city, she didn’t recognize this one either. That was really strange, he wasn’t acting like he was new to the area. New people had this way about them, she'd noticed, very buddy buddy, trying to be everyone's best friend. Now this guy, yes he’d been nice, but then he’d left her with the sandwich, holding the card in her hand, slightly blood smeared from her fingers, and then gone back about his work.. Like he was an old hand at this.

Looking down at the card, Ellie sighed. Nicholas.

Well, she obviously needed to go to the clinic anyway right. Even if she had a strange feeling about it, Ellie tucked the card into her ratty jeans pocket and opened up the sandwich. She’d only eat half now and save the other half for tomorrow, for before she’d go and see if she could get in at the clinic.

Ellie had been waiting hours to get in at the clinic.

Just her luck. There were too many people and she had already this morning been waiting there for so long that she knew she would end up sleeping on the front stoop if she continued on trying to wait to see a doctor. No matter how many times she tried to get the nurses attention, there was always someone who was yelling louder than her, and not even when she had another coughing fit did that get her attention..

It was late afternoon by the time that Ellie was finally taking a time out from the chaos and a short break to get some fresh air by the door, just trying to breathe, that you spotted the friendly man from the day before.. Waving at you from the building across the road.. That was where he’d said the agency was, across the road.

He was waving her over.

Glancing back into the clinic, she’d be waiting here for hours still and she knew it, and she wasn't even sure the nurse had ever put her name on the list of patients despite already being here, for hours already. Signing in this morning had been the strangest thing, she’d set the intake form down, and yet, nothing.

Walking across the street towards the guy, he was still smiling..

“I was wondering when you’d arrive.”

So, he was that sure she’d come, strange. Swallowing, her throat hurt so much from all the coughing, but she didn’t want to complain, not if she could get a job, any job right now would be better than nothing.

“Come on in, I’m Steven by the way, let’s find Nick, he’s the guy for you, I know it.”

Ellie followed him, she felt obliged to this time, not sure why, like she was being tugged along. The building wasn’t anything strange, just an office building.

“Ah, here we go, right though here.. Nicholas Ruffilo. He'll be able to help you.”

Well, here goes nothing. What did she have to lose right?

Dividers by @saradika-graphics

[aita-polls]

AITA in a falling out I had with a friend?

This is kinda heavy but has been weighing on me for years. Story happened a couple years ago but still has some effects on my friend group rn. Everyone here is early teens btw

I used to have 3 good friends, M, S, and J (all f). Out of all of them, I had known M the longest (around 2-3 yrs before this, i think), and became friends with J and S since we all shared a PE period. Also, I feel like it’s worth noting that J came up to M and I, and wanted to be friends first, not the other way around despite other events that may happen.

At first, the four of us got along fine, but problems soon started to arise after a month or so. I have self-diagnosed ADHD and anxiety (parents won’t take me to get tested), and tend to hyperfixate on a lot of different fandoms, but had almost nobody to talk to, and in my mind M was safe enough that I would be able to talk about fandom stuff with her. J didn’t like this, and used to punch me every time I talked about something that “pissed her off”-which was like literally everything I talked about- and would start talking about her fandom to all of us. With no warning. 

It got to the point that I would come home with bruises on my arms from how hard J hit me (J does taekwondo, she hit me hard several times a day), and one time she pushed me into the grass when she knew I’m allergic.

Other things I would do that reportedly “pissed her off” include:

Shipping my friends together, which sometimes included her, and not even seriously. Like in a “I think A and B would be cute together” sort of way. Also worth noting J participated in shipping her friends together as well, which included me a lot of the time, but I just tried to brush it off. (I no longer participate in this behavior. It was just a thing that was normalized at my school and I didn’t think it was wrong to do so until I thought about it and realized it was really gross to do that after this school year I am describing)

Making and sending memes about things that happen at school in a group chat the 4 of us had, most of which she liked and a select few that would cause her to punch me again the next day

Drawing. Like no joke she would insult my art, saying things like “your drawings are shit” and “I could do better”, and punch me, just because my style is more cartoony and than hers and less anime-like

One time I compared her to a character from my fandom that I really liked because his character arc really resonated with me (still does today tbh) and she came up the next day, punched me, and said “I’m nothing like that character bc I’m a girl and he’s a guy”

And apparently my reactions when she insulted the fandom I liked was funny

Eventually I got fed up with it, and so did M and S, and we’d go like a couple days of not hanging out with J and going back and back and forth. During this time, S or M (I can’t remember who) mentioned we could do something to “get back at J.” I didn’t really think much of it until S came back one day with a script she came up with one day to make J jealous of S by making her think S stole her crush (J didn’t have a crush. The guy S chose was literally a random guy in our PE that we talked to sometimes.) M was completely on board with this plan while I still didn’t really take it seriously. Somehow, J found out about this thing S and M were planning, saw that they put my name there (I did not help in the formulation of this plan at all, it was just S and M), and put all the blame on me. J then stopped talking to us for the most part, but we still texted online in our aforementioned group chat. Then summer rolled around and M moved away to a different city.

A couple weeks before the new school year started, we were all texting and I was kind of freaking out that I couldn’t access the website to check my new schedule. J sent me a screenshot of her website glitching out but my WiFi was terrible that day and nothing on my phone was loading, including the image J sent me. The rest of the interaction is copy pasted except for name changes:

Me: Even your pic is giving me errors J

J: (eyeroll emoji) do I look like I care?

Me: Who asked you?

J: ur mom

J: Tbh I wish it was you that moved away and not M -.-

M: that’s so mean-

M: I wish it was u who moved away and not me

M: then I could still hang out with (anon) and not u

J: (unamused emoji) I don’t get along with (anon) at all, I can get along with u

M: then u should have moved away

The rest of the convo was M and J fighting, with M saying J literally abused me and made it look like she was the victim, and J saying if we didn’t ship her so much, she’d be nicer to us, and saying we started it (we actually didn’t, J came up to us first, started punching me before I shipped her, and even then I feel this point is irrelevant because I can’t see jokingly shipping someone compared to possibly physical abuse)

I cut J out entirely after this, but still remain friends with S and don’t talk to M as much on account of her moving away. Some of my friends outside of S are friends with J, and they know I’m not on good terms with her but still talk to her anyway. However, I feel like I might be TA because my friends apologize to me every time I see them talking with J, no matter how much I urge them that it’s fine, they can have their own friends, etc. I also am not proud of the way I handled my friendship with J, particularly when it came to the shipping thing and near the end when I started getting fed up with her, but at that point I was legit scared for my own health and safety (I still am around her sometimes).

So Tumblr, AITA?

[itsbenedict]

From the beginning | Previously | Coin standings

Yes indeedy! That glue reminds you- just to the south of this market square in the medieval village, there's supposed to be a school of some sort. Since you VALUE LEARNING, you should head there next.

But first...

A DEMOCRAT spends a whopping 21 Coin and purchases a bevy of useful items from the fennec in the butterflies. How generous!

The WIFI ACCESS POINT can be installed in a particular area to gain access to the local network, allowing you to browse the files stored there and potentially communicate with users. Once installed, the access point can't be uninstalled, so choose your moment carefully- or save up for a new one.

DENIAL OF SERVICE is a gun! Wait, a gun?! Yeah, a gun. But like, a fake hacking gun that shoots highly concentrated packet bursts at glitches to overwhelm and stun them. It comes with six "bullets".

The SOFTWARE PATCH can be spent to increase your STINGY OUTLIER by 5% with no untoward side effects! It can even clear certain negative statuses.

You've also been delivered something from UBER EATS, a kind of overpriced food delivery app with a questionable business model. Still, beggars can't be choosers. What is this, tikka masala? It's pretty good!

But you are still hungry.

With all that out of the way, you make your way south.

You find something that might've been a school, once- but here it's nothing but a maze of overgrown ruins. Marble and brick buildings have been overtaken by gigantic trees that hungrily envelop anything they can get their roots on, and the halls, as usual, sit empty and devoid of life... that isn't a weird monster falling apart at the seams. You spot a toucan, except instead of a body it just has another beak, forming some sort of horrid banana that appears to be silently begging for death with two lungless mouths. Eegh.

What can you do here?

There's a couple of kids following you- creepy. These FILIAL TWINS are completely identical and finish each other's sentences, which is just plain spooky. Stop that!

There's someone else offering a tour of a factory that turns iron to sugary breakfast cereal. You don't know how that's possible, but you could find out on an IRON CANDY CHEERIOS TOUR.

Hey, an elevator! An elevator that's been booby-trapped to hell and back! WOO, LETHAL LIFT! You bet you'd be completely murdered if you got on this thing. Fun!

That mannequin's here, reminding you that you always have the option to use SECRETARY POSTURE to look your gleaming best for an EVIL DEVIL AGLEAM.

Continued

[randadrives]

How to: Handling your dog on adventures

Traveling with our furry, canine companions can be rewarding for so many reasons. I find nothing more peaceful in life than sitting outside with my dog watching a sunset or a campfire together. I fully believe dogs enjoy that just as much as their people. And I find my walks and hikes are more centered when my dog can come along. She makes me look up from my feet, stop to examine something interesting while she investigates the smells, she will see movement from a lizard or a bird and call my attention so I don't miss it. There is no one I would rather experience the outdoors with more. But with this privilege comes responsibility. As I've outlined before, it can be enough just to keep yourself safe while camping, hiking, or traveling; keeping your dog safe adds another layer to the information and tools you should keep at the ready.

My number one rule for myself when traveling with my dog somewhere new is to research ahead of time where the nearest emergency veterinarian office is located. I find looking up this information online and screenshotting it the best option for me, so if I don't have cell signal or WiFi I still have the address, phone number, and email. If you're afraid of running out of battery, writing it down somewhere you will have access to it, like in your vehicle, is also a great idea. This has been useful when I was exploring a mountain range near Moab, Utah and my dog had a fishhook stuck in her leg. I had no service to call the vet, but I knew where it was, and I spent the entire 40 minute drive descending in altitude calling, hoping I would get through to them before our arrival. Once I reached the bottom and my cell signal came back, I got through and let them know I would be arriving with my dog about ten minutes later, which luckily wasn't an issue. I know if I did not have this information, I would have more than likely sent myself into a panic about it. Removing the hook was a five-minute process, cost me about $35 dollars (bless that office for not charging me an outrageous emergency fee), and everyone was calm and happy. The technicians there came to know my dog by sight and name, as that was an accident-prone summer for her. So just as important as knowing where the vet office is, make sure to treat the staff how you want them to treat your dog. You might have to see them more than once!

If you choose to camp or hike in areas where you won't have access to a veterinarian office within a couple hour drive, there may be some things you need to learn how to do, and be comfortable doing, on your own for less-emergent situations. I suggest at least learning doggy CPR on YouTube and also having Benadryl at the ready for allergic reactions. When in Georgia while on a walk, my dog Eva (the same one with the fishhook, yes) and I both were bitten by red fire ants. We both broke out into the worst hives of our lives! I couldn't even drive her to the vet because of my own reaction. Fortunately, my neighbor had enough Benadryl for both of us, and I did not have to spend any money on a vet visit for Eva. Ask your vet or research reputable pet health websites for dosing, write the dosage down for your pet's weight and keep it somewhere safe like their medical file, or posted on the fridge. It is also worth mentioning that having enough of any medication (and your dog food!) your dog might be prescribed is important, as well as keeping vaccine records on hand. I have called previous vet offices we used to fax information to new vet offices; however, the operating hours don't always match up, or you may be in a different time zone, or sometimes technology just fails. Keeping at least a copy of the rabies vaccine is important for access to certain locations, or for the need to visit random groomers for a nail trim. If I know I'm going to be taking a big, cross-country road trip, I make an appointment for a checkup before we head out, just to be sure my dog is in a good, healthy condition for travel and is up to date on everything. Along with carrying medications and documents, having some extra things in your own first-aid kit is a good idea. Think about what you could possibly use on your dog in case of emergencies, such as extra gauze, and stock up on that.

How to drive with your dog in a vehicle is a controversial topic. Someone is going to tell you that you're wrong, no matter how you do it. My main piece of advice it to try to follow state guidelines if you can. Some states can give you a citation for distracted driving if your dog is in your lap, but even if they can't, it's not a safe way to drive. Some states require a dog to be restrained. There are harnesses you can purchase that work like a seatbelt for your dog in the rear seat - the air bags in the front are not made for dogs. In other states, a crate in the back seat may be the way to go. If this is what you're going to do, choose a crate that is large enough for your friend to stand, turn around, and lie down in comfortably. Strapping the crate in is ideal in case of collision. If you are going to travel with your dog loose in the vehicle, keeping their heads and limbs inside to prevent injury is a must. Also, keep in mind the dog is not aware of what "distracted driving" is, it's your responsibility to not be inattentive to the road. I frown upon traveling with your dog in the bed of a truck if you're not on your own land/farm. Many states have legislation on dogs in the bed of a truck needing to be restrained. At the end of this post, I will include a link to a trustworthy website outlining state laws on the topic.

Depending what type of activities your dog will be participating in, and also where these activities will be, will determine what type of gear you may want or need. A six-foot leash is a must no matter what you're doing and where you are. As a dog walker, I'm not a fan of retractable leashes because they don't give you much control and they break easily. A sturdy six-foot leash gives you much more control and some reaction time in case you happen upon other dogs or wildlife. Hiking with your dog off-leash in territory you're not familiar with is a huge red flag for me in the outdoor community. More than likely the people you run into doing this don't even have a strong recall on their dog, unfortunately. Keep your dog safe from hazards by keeping them beside you. Choosing a collar or a harness is a personal choice based on your dog. Having a tag with at least your phone number is desirable. I also make sure my dogs are microchipped, and the microchip company has up to date information on my account. It doesn't help to have a microchip if you change your phone number, then don't update that on the account. If you have the money and want extra security, a GPS tracker on the collar could be an investment for you. When it comes to purchasing new things, I really take into consideration what I will or won't end up using now. I originally bought my dogs all-terrain booties before heading west, because I was concerned about the temperature of the ground when walking them. Those turned out to be something I never once used, as if the ground was too hot in the daytime, we weren't walking outside together. I quickly learned they had to be walked in the morning before the temperatures soared, and in the evening when the sun set. The same will go for a purchase like dog goggles, or "doggles." Are you really going to be in situations where you think your dog needs them, like sandy high winds? I don't find that enjoyable, so I know my dogs won't either, so I opt to keep them inside. Reflective collars/harnesses, or blinking lights to attach are fun and nice for camping in the dark. I also do keep a sweater in case of cooler temperatures, but it's rare I end up in places where my dog needs it. Dog backpacks may look cool, but dogs should be trained to use these and not just thrown on for the first time on a hike. Personally, I carry whatever I might need for my dog on my person, such as extra water, a collapsable water bowl, and waste bags. If your dog is coming along for water activities like canoeing or boating, consider a life jacket! Aside from function, there is nothing more adorable than a dog in a life jacket (especially if it has a shark fin).

Some hazards to consider when adventuring with your dog are encountering wildlife, extreme temperatures, dangerous terrain, and toxic plants. I try to choose where to bring my dog based on these factors. For example, black bear encounters are usually pretty tame, but having a reactive dog can aggravate those circumstances. The same could be said for Bighorn sheep. We have yet to run into either, but we did share a path with a coyote. Cara is fairly reactive with other dogs, so for a moment I panicked at what could happen if she started growling and barking at this guy, but I think she knew it wasn't a dog and she kept herself quiet, allowing the coyote to walk in a different direction and observe us curiously. Also, when I hike with my dog, I no longer am worrying about snakes, or scorpions, or ticks for just myself, but her as well. Arming yourself with the knowledge on what to do in these situations is your best defense. The six-foot leash also helps, so Fido isn't sticking their snout in random holes in the ground. Regarding extreme temps, when I would want to expose myself to a hike on a 100-degree day at noon with limited shade on the trail, I would leave the dog at home. Learning the dog signs of heat exhaustion/stroke, like red gums, vomiting, quickened heart rate, is vital. Cara can handle most terrain better than I can, but there have been moments where I decided to carry her for a short distance through something so as to prevent injury. I might have been overly cautious, but better safe than sorry. I like to keep our adventures joyous, not stressful. I have considered purchasing a wearable harness for myself, if there were ever a situation where I would have to carry her miles out of a hike because she was injured or sick, but I haven't committed to it yet, and we have survived so far. She's at the age where I don't take her for more than a 5-mile hike at most, so if anything happens, I guess worst case scenario is I have to carry her in my arms for some of that distance. At 40 pounds, I don't stress too much about the possibility. And last, when it comes to toxic plants and the like, this is another way that six-foot leash comes in handy, as well as some basic training. The "drop it" command is the first thing I believe someone should teach their dog, because it can be lifesaving. If you cannot identify mushrooms or bugs that can harm your dog, they should not have the opportunity to snatch those things up into their mouths. Cara is a natural water dog, so avoiding standing water like puddles is something I do stress about. She loves to dunk herself and drink whatever she finds. If you're familiar with toxic algae, leptospirosis, or giardia, you know this can be dangerous. It's best to only let your dog drink water you trust.

I am full time in a travel trailer, and I know there are others who choose to live full time in vans or other recreational vehicles. There is a world of technology now that helps us make things more comfortable for animal friends. In drivable vehicles, window and lock controllers can prevent your dog from opening/closing the windows and from unlocking the doors. Window shades are a must, so no one tries breaking into your vehicle to "save" your dog. Remote start can keep your vehicle running, while still locked, for a specified amount of time, if you need to leave the dog in there for whatever reason. And I have been doing this long enough now that I love having a WiFi-controlled temperature monitor and a camera set up so that if I leave my baby behind, I can see what she's doing (definitely napping or staring out the window) and I have peace of mind that if the internal temperature of the trailer starts to go up, I can head back to let her out. This has been a game changer for me so I don't always need to be plugged into electric at an RV park and can have more fun boondocking.

If leaving your friend behind is not going to be an option whatsoever on your adventure, keep a list of activities to enjoy together. If it's too hot for what you had planned, find a dog-friendly brewery or patio restaurant to hangout in. If you need a break from the outside, there are many stores like PetSmart, Petco, and Tractor Supply where you can have your well-behaved dogs. I was even able to take Cara to the PIMA Air and Space Museum, because they have signs in the parking lot inviting your dogs inside instead of leaving them in the vehicle. In the event your plans go completely awry, and you have the means, there's nothing wrong with changing your mind about what adventures your dog is built for, and you can find a doggy daycare for them to hangout in for a day, or you can hire a sitter from Rover that offers daycare or boarding out of their home. As a sitter for Rover myself, I have actually been asked to dog sit for folks who booked excursions they could not take their dogs on, and I was paid to hangout in a hotel room or a rented cabin or Airbnb with the dogs so they wouldn't be alone.

It may seem like a lot of information if these aren't things you have done before, but I promise it becomes second nature the more you do it. With dogs being the new children, the nation is really opening up quickly to the possibilities of where you can take your canine companions. I hope more people decide to try new things and adventure with their dogs (responsibly!). Your dog may not be your whole life, but you are your dog's whole life, and the more you can fit them in, the better a life your dog experiences!

Does Your State Require Dogs Be Harnessed in the Car? - Orvis News

[jinlizz-dragondrama]

Chapter 18

Anata Wa Hitorjanai

https://youtu.be/JDMCHLpXkhc?feature=shared

(Watch this video during fight scene part)

"How could you do that? How could you just drive off and leave them?" Leo asks

"It's what Dad told us to do. If we'd stayed, we would have gotten crushed by Shredder. As long as there are Hamato there is a chance. " Raph says

"A chance to do what?" Mikey questions

"I don't know. I didn't get to ask him that. Don't worry I'm the big brother. The one who is the biggest. It's up to me to figure out how to defeat the Shredder.

"How? We've got no weapons, no lair, no sensei." Donnie retorts

"And no gram-gram," Mikey says while tearing up.

"All right we need to find somewhere distraction-free where I can come up with a plan to stop the Shredder."

We end up going to Todd's place where news flash is not quiet and plan-inducing.

"OMG, they are so cute!!" I gush over the puppies and giggle while they lick me.

While the boys are busy trying to come up with a plan.

"Raph is thinking really hard. I'm afraid he's gonna hurt himself" Mikey says

"I can hear you" Raph replies

"Oh, maybe we should try what gram-gram did and unlock our...what did she call it?" Leo says

"The Hamato Ninpo! That's it! Our family's ancient ninja art allows you to harness crazy mystic energy"

"But we need weapons for that, he said correctly and his family all agreed," Donnie says and I drop a pile of puppies onto him as they begin to relentlessly lick him.

"Weapons. Let's do those."

Todd volunteers to make some for us and they turn out to be gardening tools. Good thing I had an extra pair of my steel fans.

"Guys! Guys, guys, guys, guys" April shouts as she peddles on her bike towards us.

After she tells us about what happened to Karai the boys start their training to unlock their ninpo. Thinking I wasn't needed I decided to go do some training of my own.

"Hey," I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn around to see April.

"Karai wanted you to have these memories" April takes my hand and her body starts to glow green, then the green moves to my body, and soon it surrounds me until my eyes begin to glow. A flood of memories goes through my mind a child Karai and another training and playing, the little girl handing Karai half of a jade lotus flower pendant, them growing up together, and finally, them being separated when the shredder took the other woman into his Clan. After the flash of memories finishes I feel something in my hand opening it it is the same bracelet from the memories.

"Knowing your mother she would have been so proud of you," Karai says in my head

I start to open my mouth to ask a question but she beats me to it.

"Questions can be asked later, now we must help the boys"

Nodding I put on the bracelet and make our way up to the treetops with the boys.

"Karai says to access your ninpo you must be calm and feel connected to one another" April says

"Agh! Not feeling too calm up here" Leo says

Mikey, Donnie, and Leo are freaking out while April, Raph and I are completely calm sitting on the top of our trees. 

"How can I feel 'connected' when there is no wifi?" Donnie says

"Should we hold hands?" Mikey says while reaching for Donnie's hand which quickly gets smacked away.

Mikey whimpers in pain and I gently rub his sore hand.

April groans, "No. You know, like, connected in here. When you first open it, it'll feel like waaaaaah! And then it will feel like ooooooh. You know?" She demonstrates how it should feel with grand wiggle arm movements.

"No, I don't know. That makes zero sense! Explain it differently" Donnie exclaims next to me and I sigh.

While Donnie and April go back and forth I look over and Raph and see him struggling with something. He starts to sweat and clenches his eyes shut.

"Will you guys knock it off? We're running out of time! Everyone's depending on me. *sobbing* why can't I do this? I'm failing you." Raph says the last part Sadly and quietly.

Reaching over I put a comforting hand on his shoulder while his brothers look at him shocked by Raph and his very vulnerable moment. April also places a hand on Raph and the spirit of Karai communicates with Raph, but only April and I can see it.

"Anata wa hitorjanai," She says quietly

Raph hugs her and asks what the phrase means. She explains that it means 'you're not alone', that the Ninpo is inside us all. That it came from all who came before us.

"Trust us, like we trust you," April says

We all stand up and nod our heads.

"Don't worry Raph well figure this out" Mikey says

"I know. Because I'm not alone. None of us are. We're here for each other. Always." Raph smiles

"Raph?"

Raph leans back and starts to fall off his tree top, the boys and I rush to try and grab him. As we jump down our Ninpo is activated combining ours together we create a hand that grabs him pulls him up to us and we safely land in the river below. We all start to dance happily. I look at my body and several large pink Sakura flower designs appear on my shoulder blades and back of my hands. (One on each shoulder blade and one on each back of the hand)

"So pretty and fascinating," Donnie says while gently taking my hand and looking at it in awe. We hold hands and lock eyes and I give him a look that we are definitely having a talk later.

"Hey, don't you guys have to save your family?" Todd asks

"Yeah, and take out the Shredder.

We make our way back to the lair and see an opening for the hidden city.

"Looks like Shredder took Pops and Draxum to the Hidden City. But how do we find them?" Raph states

"There is only one person I can think of who can pull this off. Someone super intelligent. Someone who knows everything about the Hidden City. Someone who would do anything for Papa." Donnie says confidently

"Me-" He gets cut off 

Everyone but Donnie says "Big Mama!"

"Big Mama? Come on!" Donnie says hurt

I pat his shoulder and giggle, "I was rooting for you!"

"And yet you were so quick to say someone other than me" he pouts and folds his arms.

"ShadowFiend is that you?" Big Mama asks

Out of the darkness of Big Mama's hospital room, we appear landing on her webs. I cringe inwardly when my sneakers stick to the Spider webs. 'I. HATE. SPIDERS.'

"Oh it's you," She says unamused.

"We're not here to fight. We need your help." Raph says

"Even though literally everything we talk to you, you double cross us, kidnap us, or threaten to destroy everything we love!" Leo pipes in while grabbing Mikey and squishing his face.

"Maybe we are here for a fight!" Donnie says

"Guys!" Raph pushes Donnie's face and turns his attention back to Big Mama while I slowly pull Donnie away while covering his mouth so he can't say anything else as I awkwardly giggle.

"Big Mama. Shredders got Dad."

"Lou? How can I help?" She asks

"We need to find him," April says

We find out that they are more than likely on their way to the Crying Titan *Insert dramatic music sequence*

Meanwhile, the Shredder is doing what he does best Shredding his way into the monument Statue at the Crying Titan and he accesses the empyrean to use in extracting the Hamato essence from Splints. He starts the ritual and the essence of Splinter emerges and Shredder chains it down. We arrive in the knick of time.

"Hey, Shred head! We heard you were looking for some Hamato energy. Guys?" Raph says

"Oh, I think I got some for him," Leo says while using his ninpo and turning his small shovel into a sword.

"That's right. It's us and we have a bit of an upgrade" April says while pulling down her hood.

"Big time" Mikey exclaims while swinging his kusari-fundo

"And this time around..." Donnie says while activating his ninpo.

"We won't lose," Raph says

"Time to kick but like a boss" I smirk and pull out my metal hand fans and brush them together making knife-slicing sounds as I also activate my pink ninpo.

"My drill is out of Beta," Donnie says while his drill bursts from the ground behind us.

"Fools your clan is doomed! And yours is just beginning" Shredder points at me and I growl lowly while clamping onto my fans.

"You haven't met Hamato 2.0," Donnie says smugly

"Stronger"

"Faster"

"Turtlier"

"And ready for battle"

"Let's get it, guys!"

With lightning speed we attack at once, taking opportunities to use our new set of skills with our ninpo. (Warch YouTube video to get full effect)

"You think your puny mystic weapon can harm me?" Shredder asks

"Great point. Everything can be improved by some... Donnie Tech" Donnie fuses his tech-bo with his ninpo extending it to his drill, lifting it.

"Your turn gorgeous," Donnie says and I use my pink vines to snake around the drill and harden them.

"All yours Dee Man," I say playfully

The drill becomes bigger with both our ninpos combined and he smashes the drill onto Shredder.

The last of Splinters Ninpo is extracted but before we could get closer Shredder uses his power to push everyone off the hand of the Crying Titan. Except for me I used my vibes to hold on.

"With this power, this world will kneel before me" he extends a part of himself and starts to suck the essence.

"Cass let's do this!" I smile and reach a hand out to her

"Like old times" she smiles back with tears in her eyes

We jump onto Shredder's extended arm thing and stop him from continuing.

"You dare defy me, General?" He says flabbergasted

"My name is Cassandra!"

"And we think you've had enough fun!"

Together we jump and push him back kind with our feet, but before we can get another attack in Splints Lou Jitsu's essence form punches the Shredder and sends him flying into the water below. The boys come and break the chains.

"We must stop him"

All of us jump down to him and attack as one.

"I expected this kind of betrayal from them but not from you my prodigy" He laughs evilly. "What would your mother think of the person you've become".

Having flashback of the memories that Karai shared with me, tears roll down my cheeks and I yell. "She'd be proud of me!"

"Join your mystic powers!" Splinter yells

All of us grabbed onto the spear, trying to use it to pierce the armor but it was difficult. Calling upon the Hamato Clan and seeing Lou Jitsu's mom was a nice heartwarming touch. I even feel the warm embrace of someone familiar. Together we yell "Hot Soup!" A great burst of energy that you could probably see in space exploded from the armor once the spear collided with it.

We did it, we destroyed the Shredder armor and reunited Karai and her dad.

"We did it pops!"

"Let us go home my family"

"One last thing, hey Barry wanna crack this egg open and bring home the people of New York City!"

Draxum opens the egg and all of New York and its bustlingness returns to normal.

After Splints tells us how proud of us he is and drops a bombshell Leo is now the leader and we all gasp.

"Wait? What!" We all shout

"More on that later, Aqua don't you have a prom to get to?" April says butting in.

Getting the feeling that what we've been through is just the beginning. But snapping out of it and looking at the time on my phone I gasp. Quickly jumped off the building we were on and made my way to the now-destroyed lair. April and Casey follow after me.

Donnie goes to follow me but Raph stops him.

"Wait up bro. Forgetting something" Mikey pulls out a tux for Donnie.

A small smile appears on Donnie's face, he gratefully takes the tux and gets dressed. When he is done he also sees that his brothers are dressed well.

"Let's live it up baby because we deserve it!" Leo shouts

The boys head to the school.

Back at the lair, I'm freaking out trying to fund my dress and makeup. Thankfully my girls got my back found my dress and started doing my makeup. The girls also get dressed in their prom dresses and we make our way to the surface.

"I was planning on us getting a limo, but I think the turtle tank is more our style," April says while giggling as we pile.

Autopilot for the turtle tank kicks on and it drives us to the school.

"Honestly, k don't think Donnie will ever trust me to drive the tank" I sigh

April and Cass look at each other giving a knowing glance. Arriving at Prom we are swarmed by the yearbook photographers and a bunch of flashes go off. Quickly running into the school and shutting the door behind us. Catching our breaths, going into the bathroom to check on our hair and make-up, I grab my phone from my purse and text Josh.

Me: I'm here

Josh: ok I'm in the gym I'll meet you there babe ;)

After fixing ourselves we walk into the gym it's beautifully decorated with a huge disco ball hanging from the glass ceiling. Looking around for Josh I end up seeing him over by the punch table, I point to Josh and the girls wave me off happily while they go to the dance floor. Josh sees me and gives me his signature smile, smiling back shyly I wave and stand next to him. He's drinking a cup of very spiked punch.

"You look nice," He says his speech a bit slurred.

"How many of those have you had?" I ask hesitantly

"Eh lighten up, it's PROM." He downs the last of his drink, grabs my hand, and pulls me to the dance floor. "Let's dance".

'Sexy Lady by Shaggy' was blasting from the DJ booths speakers, we started dancing, and the lights from the strobe lights danced across the swarm of people, I'm so into the music that I didn't notice how close Josh got to me until I feel hands on my hips. I gasp a bit and try to break free, but he has a tight grip on me.

"Don't fight it" He says slowly in my ear, taking a long wet lick from my collarbone to under my earlobe with his hot alcohol breath making me recoil and gag inwardly.

"Let. Me. Go" I enunciate each word trying to not to have fear in my voice as I ball my fist trying desperately to not to use my powers. Looking around for a teacher chaperone to get their attention but to no avail.

He grabs me firmly by the shoulders and spins me around to face him, he smiles hungrily at me but before he can do anything else a three-fingered hand grabs Josh's shoulder, and a familiar face is lit up by a strobe light.

"I think the young lady has asked you nicely to let her go, let me help you with that".

Donnie POV

We make just when the party starts my brothers and I walk in and take in the scenery. It's alright looking definitely would have chosen a different shade of purple but hey this'll do. Noticing that Aqua hasn't arrived yet I decide to grab a drink before the knuckleheads decide to spike it. Soon music starts playing and more and more students spill into the gym.

"Still no sign of Aqua?" Raph says

"No not yet" I answer trying to hide my...disappointment

"Don't worry she'll be here soon" Mikey says trying to do what I assume is to relax

"Yeah cuz when she gets here she's gonna wanna dance with moi first," Leo says while pointing at himself

Raph and Mikey groan, while I roll my eyes and concentrate on taking sips of my drink. A few minutes go by exactly 40 minutes later but honestly, it felt like hours after trying out the photo booth, dancing a bit and eating the finger foods, Mikey pats me on the back and points in the direction of the entrance to the gym.

"Oh oh oh there she is!" Mikey loudly whispers with stars in his eyes

"Wow, she's-" I'm then cut off by my annoying twin

"She's smokin' hot in that dress, am I right?"

Raph groans and smacks Leo behind the head, ignoring him I pull out the purple rose and the corsage I made for her. My mouth dries up and I try to moisten my throat but swallow nothing in my air.

"You got this Dee," Mikey says encouragingly.

"Of course I do, gotta keep up my bad boy image" I start to lift my hand to wave at her but she makes her way over to someone else.

Seeing her smile and have fun with someone else gave me this horrible feeling in my gut and heart. Could I the Ultimate bad boy be...jealous? No couldn't be....maybe? April and Cass come over giggling and start chatting with us but I tune out of the conversation. I finally snap out of it when April pokes me.

"Hey, what are you still doing here? Aren't you gonna go over to Aqua?" She asks expectancy

"Why bother? She's having fun with "Josh" I say tightly

"Let. Me. Go"

I hear Aqua's voice and she sounds scared. Looking around the crowd for her I see her with Josh holding onto her. Gritting my teeth and clenching my fists I make my way over.

"Go get 'em' bro" Raph says while popping his knuckles.

Everyone moves out of the way as I make my way over to them. Once I reach them I place a firm hand on the dirtbag's shoulder.

I think the young lady has asked you nicely to let her go, let me help you with that".

I quickly punch the guy square in the face, he crumbles to the floor with a pitiful groan. April quickly hijacks the DJ booth and changes the song to get everyone distracted. Raph, Mikey, Leo, and Cass quickly take Josh and take care of him.

"Hey, are you ok?"

Y/N POV

After watching Donnie punch the living daylight out of Josh and him being whisked away by the gang I look at his fist and it has blood on it.

"Hey, are you ok?" I ask

"Hm? Oh yeah, I'm fine" I look at his fist and shake the blood off it. "But never mind me are you ok? What else did that creep do to you?"

"I'm OK, thankfully you showed up I was almost about to use my powers." I smile and tears fill my eyes

"I'll come rescue you whenever you need it," he says quietly as he pushes a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Promise?"

"Promise"

The song changes to a slow dance, we awkwardly look at each other. Donnie holds his hand out to me, I gently take it and we start to dance.

Cass rushes over and snaps a quick picture of the both of us and runs back to the gang.

"So um, I got something for you," He says shyly

Looking at him questioning what he's got for me as he slips something on my wrist I look at it and it is a not-bloomed flower. He gestures for me to touch it, so I do with the tip of my finger it slowly opens revealing a purple rose that's illuminated like a neon sign. My face lights up as I look at it in awe, when I look up at him again he holds a purple rose and I take it as well.

"Titanium?"

"Of course, only the best for you"

⚠️*Warning there be slight smut here read at your discretion* ⚠️

Leaning my head on his shoulder, I take in his cool body against my warm body it's refreshing, taking in slow steady breaths I smell his cologne and it compliments mine so well and isn't too overpowering. I see both April and Cass giving a thumbs-up up and I smile while I close my eyes and let him lead the dance. I hear him swallow, opening up my eyes ajar I see his Adam's apple Bob up and down , pushing away from his shoulder I glance up at him. Gently he puts his hand on my cheek and trails his thumb down to my chin tilting my face up more. His mouth parts slightly and I close my eyes once more as he moves my face closer to his. There's a kiss, awkward and tender. Once I start to reciprocat he grows confident and the kiss becomes more hungry. His warm tongue swipes my lower lip asking for entrance, slowly giving him access the kiss deepens, our tongue dancing together, exploring and tasting. I couldn't help a small moan from escaping my lips, a small barely audible churr rumbles from his chest. My core starts to heat up and rub my thighs together to lessen the tension I'm feeling. We don't break from the kiss as he tangles his hands in my hair and we continue to taste eachothers mouths, his tasted sweet like the punch. I know for sure my silk panties were soaked as I press my body against his pelvis. Not wanting to break the kiss but having to, to breath we pull away slowly with a trail of spit connecting from our lips. My fave is flushed and he has a dark blush on his green cheeks. My heart feels like it could burst from my chest from how fast and hard it's beating. Placing my hand on one of his cheeks I smile lovingly at him and he places his hand over mine.

"Hey Aqua, there's something I want to tell you, something I should have told you long ago"

"Yes?"

"I-"

A loud crash sounds from the glass ceiling, pink tentacles reach down and snake around my body squeezing tightly. I reach out for Donnie desperately as I'm lifted off the ground. Pure chaos happen as everyone starts to vacate the gym, teachers shouting for everyone to not push and shove, the gang yelling out my name.

"Aqua!" Donnie shouts activating his battle shell and flying to try and grab me. But another tentacle comes out of no where slapping him away breaking his mystic goggles and he hits the ground hard.

"DONNIE!!" I shout as I struggle to break free, I'm pulled outside but as my eyes adjust to the darkness I see the silhouette of a woman, my pressure point on my neck is pressed and I pass out.

Donnie POV

I reach the roof and there is no sign of her, we all reach all over the school and all that was found was my crushed corsage thar Leo found. I gingerly take it from him, holding it close to my heart as hot tears roll down my face.

Its been two years since then I'm 20 now and I still haven't given up looking for her. My family worries about me as I eat very little rely on coffee too much and never leave my new lab. But I can't sleep knowing she's out there somewhere. Looking at her picture from that day keeps me determined

"Don't worry Aqua, I'll find you"

(A/N Phew sorry my Dragons that this chapter took a while. I had this one finished for a while and was working on the next one but it didn't really make sense so I had to go back and change this one for the next chapter to make sense. Again I apologize for the wait to make it up to yall I have some art for you guys credit goes to the artists listed. Just imagine its y/n)

Art by @kaysdenofchaos here on tumblr

Art by @scrimblyteetlez on tumblr