#i can only imagine the reaction of the other team seeing all those guys return to the bears en masse | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

yourmidnightlover · 3 years

Text

no need to rush

summary - you and spencer are in a relationship and when you overhear morgan teasing spencer about something private, you decide to help spencer out a bit.

warnings - virgin!spencer, fem!reader, kinda soft dom!reader, fingering, oral (male receiving), unprotected sex, creampie. *let me know if i missed anything*

wc - 3,052

masterlist

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

you knew spencer was a bit touch averse. it only made sense with his germaphobic tendancies. the only thing is, you thought he had worked past those with you. so naturally, when he stops abruptly during a heated make out session, you got a little... insecure? worried? you weren’t quite sure just yet.

but you would find out.

you and spencer had been in a relationship nearing 5 months. everyone on the team found out about your dating each other entirely on accident, a story for another time.

when you walked into the bau late with spencer, derek had that smug, suggestive look on his face. you just rolled your eyes and went directly to your desk.

in reality what had happened was you both stayed up late, him explaining to you the concept of time in fluidity and a few different theories. you had both slept through each of your alarms, so when you woke up to your fourth one you had set, you immediately woke spencer up from his sleeping position on your stomach.

luckily it was only a paperwork day, so you could probably catch up on sleep anytime after you left.

on your lunch break, you were going to see if spencer wanted to go get some thai with you. finally unfocusing from your case files, you turned your eyes to your boyfriend at his desk, apparently talking with morgan about something.

he looked frustrated, and embarrassed. at first you didn’t understand what about, but you figured it was probably what morgan had said when you both came in late.

finally getting up to go save your boyfriend, you slowly walked up to his desk. you didn’t try to hear what was being said. you kind of just did.

“morgan, stop!” spencer exclaimed, neither of them noticing your arrival. you stopped far enough away to hear the rest of what they were saying.

“reid, look, it’s no big deal if you’re a virgin,” derek said. “i’m sure y/n would understand,” he said, trying to hide his laugh.

“it’s embarrassing. i’m a 25 year old virgin,” he huffed. “god! have you seen her? she’s gorgeous. imagine what she’d say when she finds out. what if she just doesn’t want me anymore? what if she wants someone who knows what they’re doing?” he ranted out, obviously worried about your reaction.

were you surprised? a little bit, yea. he’s gorgeous. there’s no question about that. how could someone look at him and not want to be with him?

but what really surprised you was that he was worried that you’d leave him if you found out.

you loved him, and he knew that.

you had been friends for a while before you finally admitted your feelings for him after the lila archer incident. he was shocked, saying he never thought you’d feel the same, saying that if he’d known he would have never kissed her back and that he really wanted you. then he got you. he never wanted to lose you.

and while he knew that you loved him, a part of him, the insecure part, was worried that you’d realize how amazing you are and leave him.

he’d seen a few of your past boyfriends, and there was no doubt in his mind that they were more attractive than him. they were more muscular tough guys.

but he didn’t know what total assholes they were. he didn’t know how much more attractive kindness made someone. not to mention the fact that he could carry on a conversation longer than all of them combined.

“reid, she loves you. don’t forget that,” morgan added before you started walking up, acting like you hadn’t heard anything.

“you’re right i love you,” you said as you wrapped your arms around his torso, standing on your tip-toes to place a kiss on his cheek. “what’re you guys talking about?”

“i’m sure pretty boy’ll fill you in on it later. right, reid?” morgan insisted, his eyebrows raising like a father getting onto his son.

“uhm... right. yea,” spencer nodded, lips formed into a line as he placed his arms around you, turning around to face you as morgan walked away. “i love you too, y/n” he placed a kiss to your hairline.

“i know you do,” you smiled, giving his torso a little squeeze. “lunch?”

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

a couple weeks later when you had gotten a couple days off, you were both laying on your couch watching doctor who. you had told him how you’d never seen it, so he insisted he guide you through the seasons.

you never brought up what you had heard, wanting him to open up to you about it first. you didn’t want to corner him about anything and make him feel insecure or trapped. so, you waited. you didn’t push.

as you were cuddled together, spencer moved his hand to cup your cheek, turning your face towards his. you smiled at his sweet action, him returning the same, love-struck face. he leaned in, placing a gentle peck on your lips, the smile on your face growing.

you kissed him back, bringing one arm around his neck as the other held his bicep firmly. the kiss slowly became more passionate, his tongue sweeping across your bottom lip softly, asking politely for an entrance that you gladly gave. you slowly sat back up with one another, not breaking the kiss. once you were sitting up, spencer pulled you onto his lap quickly, not missing a beat.

“mm, wait,” spencer breathed. “i-i um...” he trailed off.

“sweetie, what is it?” you asked, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck gently, trying to encourage him. “you can tell me anything, y’know. i love you,” you said, giving him a kind smile.

“it’s just that... i’ve never...” he took a deep breath. “i’m a-a virgin, y/n.”

“okay,” you smile grew even wider at the final reveal.

“okay? th-that’s it?” he asked in confusion.

“it’s just... nothing could ever change how i feel about you. and you being a virgin?” you scoffed. “spencer that’s okay. it’s nothing that i’d be worried about, or stop loving you over. i don’t care if you’ve never had sex with someone. hell, i don’t think i’d care if you’ve had sex with tons of people. because i love you.”

“so you don’t think i’m... weird for being a virgin?” he wondered.

“spence, you’re weird as it is. but that’s exactly why i love you. i love your little quirks. you being a virgin is just another quirk,” you chuckled. “and if you don’t want to have sex with me, that’s totally okay. i didn’t get into a relationship with you to have sex with you. i mean, it’d be a nice perk, but you certainly don’t have to or are obligated to.”

“i-i don’t not want to,” he rushed out, rubbing his thumbs along your waist. “have s-sex, i mean. i want to. i um... i wa-want to with you.”

“are you sure, spencer? i want your first time to be special. you know how i lost mine, i just don’t want you to regret it,” he did know how you lost your virginity.

essentially, your prick of a boyfriend in high school was making out with you, and it got really heated. were you absolutely ready to lose your virginity? no. did you necessarily want to lose it to this guy? not really. he was just there, and everyone else was losing there’s so you figured you might as well. so you did it. in a car. in the parking lot. after the last football game he played in. he was already sweaty, and finished after 75 seconds.

you didn’t want spencer to regret it like you did.

“it will be special. it’s you; how could it not be special?” he replied softly.

“you’re such a little charmer, spencer,” you said, bringing your lips to meet his once again, this time he was much more eager.

you gently tugged on the hair you were playing with, a low groan coming from his mouth into yours, something igniting within you from that sound. you slowly ground your hips against his, a little whimper coming from his mouth, creating a smile on yours.

“can-can we do it... like right now?” spencer asked eagerly, his hips stuttering into yours.

“shh, we’ll get there,” you mumbled against his jawline, your lips trailing towards his neck as you nipped gently at his skin, licking it afterwards to soothe it. you felt his breathing pick up as your lips connected to the flesh behind his ear. you gently ran your teeth along his earlobe, a groan coming from spencer as he exhaled. “you like that?”

“mmhmm,” he nodded, his hands finding your hips and grinding them against his in an attempt to find more friction.

“patient, bubs. be patient,” you said as you sat up off his lap, extending your hand to him. “bedroom?” he nodded eagerly, taking your hand in his as he trailed behind you into your room.

you both sat down on the bed and resumed kissing each other. you didn’t want to go too fast with him, you wanted him to be relaxed and enjoy this. he started trailing kisses down your neck, paying special attention to your reactions to everything he did.

“do you,” you breathed. “do you want to take off my clothes? or do you want me to?” you asked him quietly.

“ca-can i do it?” he asked against your neck.

“of course, baby. whatever you want,” you confirmed as he backed away from your neck.

he brought his hands up to your face, cupping it gently before pressing a firm kiss to your lips.

“i love you,” spencer smiled.

“i love you too,” you said as he connected your lips again, his hands moving towards the hem of your shirt.

he slowly slid his hands underneath the fabric, moving towards the peaks of your breasts and cupping them stiffly. you moaned into his mouth softly, pressing your foreheads together.

“that’s good, spence,” you whispered to him, giving him the confidence to lift the shirt up and over your head.

he leaned back to observe you like this, vulnerable and ready. ready for him. wanting him. you wanted him.

you wanted him even though you knew everything there is to know about him. you knew the bad, the ugly, the scary, the worrying, everything. and you still want him. you want him regardless. and that’s all he’s ever wanted.

“ca-can i?” he looked at your chest in waiting.

“you can do whatever you’d like,” you encouraged.

he connected his lips to one of your breasts, the other in his hand being massaged. he played with the nipple, flicking his tongue over it quickly and occasionally nipping at it before pressing a firm kiss and switching to the other side.

you moved to lay down on the bed as he began kissing further down your body. past your chest, naval, and right above the waistband of your shorts. he looked up at you to make eye contact, only to find that you never took your eyes off of him in the first place.

“go ahead, bubs. do what feels right, okay?” he nodded at you, now pulling your shorts and underwear down and off your body, throwing them in the corner of the room.

“i want, can i...?” he didn’t really know how to ask, he felt awkward asking anything in this situation.

“yes, spencer. you have full reign over my body tonight,” you confirmed.

he nodded at your response, his body moving up towards yours as his hand remained on your hip. he pressed a kiss to your lips as you felt his fingers spreading your pussy lips apart, his fingers wandering through your folds. you gasped into his mouth, your hips grinding into his hand as your hands held onto his shoulders and hair.

his middle finger ran over your clit gently, switching between going back and forth and in circles. he moved his middle finger down to find your entrance, slowly easing the one finger in, relishing in the way your pussy clenched around him. thrusting his finger in and out a couple times, he pressed gentle kisses along your jawline.

“k-keep going, spencer,” you moaned into his ear.

he took the encouragement and pushed another finger into you, curling them in just the right spot to make you squirm. he used his other hand to hold your body down so you wouldn’t squirm away from him.

“spence, fuck,” you whispered, feeling the tight coil in your stomach tighten. “you’re such a good boy for me.”

you heard him whimper into your neck at the praise, his ministrations picking up slightly.

he pressed his hand into your pussy, his palm hitting your clit perfectly with the way he was thrusting his fingers into your body. your hold on his shoulder tightened, surely leaving marks where your nails were, as you gently tugged on his hair.

“yes, yes! oh my god,” you exclaimed.

and just like that, the coil was wound so tight it snapped, releasing a flood of pleasure throughout your entire body.

“spencer! shit!” you gripped his arm as his hand was working you through your orgasm, helping you come down. “fuck. are you sure you’ve never done that before?”

“i’m a quick study,” he smirked before you smashed your lips against his eagerly.

“god, i want you inside me,” you pleaded against his lips.

“are you sure?” he asked, pulling back to look you in the eyes.

“only if you’re ready, spence,” you replied, your hands running through his hair.

“i’m ready. i’m more than ready, y/n,” he confirmed.

“alright. but first, can i do something?” you asked mischievously.

“what do you wanna do?” he wondered, his brows furrowing in confusion.

“just... if i do something you don’t like tell me to stop, okay?” he nodded. “i need words, bubs.”

“okay, i’ll tell you.”

“great,” you said, trailing your lips down his neck as he helped you shrug off his t-shirt.

you ran your nails gently down his chest, observing the red streaks your nails left behind. you kissed all the way down his torso and stomach until you got right above his waistband, you ran your fingers underneath them. he lifted his hips so you could pull them down swiftly.

once they were down, you trailed your finger along a prominent vein in his member, adoring the way it twitched against his stomach. you got onto your knees, grabbing his dick and licking that same vein slowly. his hips bucked up at the sensation, you pressed them down with a little giggle.

you ran your tongue along the top of his member, licking the precum off cleanly. you took as much of him in as you could, using your hands for the rest of what you couldn’t fit into your mouth - which was more than you expected.

“fuck, y/n,” he moaned at the feeling of your warm, wet mouth around him. “th-that fe- oh! that feels s-so good.”

you continued to bob your head up and down, you went as far down as you could, your nose hitting his stomach once you got all the way down, the sound of you gagging filled the room.

“fuck! you’ve gotta stop, y/n, please!” he exclaimed. you quickly got up off of him making your way back up to his face before he planted his lips on yours.

“are you okay?” you asked worried.

“yea, i uhm, i-i was about to uh, to cum,” he informed you with an awkward laugh.

“ohh, okay,” you huffed out a laugh. “so, how do you want to do this?”

“ca-can you be on top? like uhm,” he pressed his lips together for a moment in thought, “can you ri-ride me?”

“of course, bubs,” you kissed the corner of his mouth. “here, just lay back.”

you crawled on top of him, straddling his hips as you lined his hard dick up with your center. you made eye contact with him as his hands dug into your waist and hips.

“ready?”

“yes, please ju-just do something,” he begged.

you slowly sank down on his member, feeling yourself stretch to fit his cock as you gazed wondrously at his awe-struck face. once you were all the way down, you made sure to take a second to adjust to his length.

“oh my god, y/n,” he whispered quietly, his hands grasping at your hips as his jolted upward into your body. “please, please, please move.”

“patient, bubs. okay?” you placed your hands on his lower stomach to help lift yourself off his hips so you could slowly ease yourself back down. “fuck, spence.”

your hips rose slowly, slamming back down once just his tip was inside of you. once you found a steady pace for the both of you, you kept to it.

“it fe-feels so... good,” he groaned out, grabbing at your breasts as you moved your hands further up his chest.

“you like it?” you asked with a sly grin on your face. “do you like how my pussy feels on your big dick, spencer?”

“uh-uh huh,” he nodded, trying to maintain eye contact. “so we-wet and war-warm. so tighhht,” he mumbled out.

“that’s what you do to me. it’s all for you,” you said as you held his arms that were still up to your breasts. “fuck, spence it feels so good.”

“i-i think i’m gonna cum, y/n. please, oh my god, please!” he begged.

“mmm go ahead, bubs. cum inside of me. i want you to fill me up spencer,” you moaned, leaning down to his ear and biting his lobe gently.

“ahh fuck!” you felt the white spurts of cum shooting inside of you, covering your walls completely.

you continued to ride out his orgasm, wanting to get every last drop out. when you felt he was all done, you gently lifted yourself off of him, his hands immediately wrapping around your waist.

“spence, bubs, i need to go clean us up. okay?” you asked sweetly, running your hands through his hair.

“you didn’t... y’know,” he mumbled against your body.

“spencer i don’t always need to get off during sex to have a good time. besides, that happened earlier,” you kissed his hairline softly.

“but i want it to happen again,” he whined, placing a sloppy kiss to your collarbone.

“there’s no need to rush. we have all night, bubs.”

#virgin!spence #spencer reid smut #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #spence #spencer #mgg smut #mgg x reader #mgg fic #mgg fanfiction #mgg #spencer x you #spencer x reader

2K notes · View notes

iamcalmdammit · 3 years

Text

Matching his crazy — (3) For you|| [Jang Han-seok x reader]

Back when he had been diagnosed as a psychopath, Han-seok’s parents believed he would never have real friends or a girlfriend as he lacked the necessary social skill. In a way they were right—he had friends but those people meant absolutely nothing to him. Sometimes they were useful and certainly helped keeping his true nature hidden from the world. You, on the other hand, were different. In the past years he had leaned to love you in his own way, growing so attached to you that now he simply couldn’t imagine what not having you around would be like.

It wasn’t the kind of love normal people experienced, it was something closer to possession or obsession. He still got mad whenever you talked to other men but he managed to learn how to trust you. As long as you returned to him in the evening and didn’t keep secrets from him, things were working just fine. He was quite proud of himself actually—he would have never thought he could trust someone this much.

After an afternoon spent at the ice rink playing hockey on his own, Han-seok was surprised to spot a familiar face near your apartment. He was tired, but not too tired to handle a situation like this. Whoever these people were, they’d been keeping an eye on you for the past two weeks. A part of him hoped they would get what they wanted soon and leave, but now it was clear they were surveilling you for some reason.

“Why don’t you just come in for a cup of coffee?” he asked the man with a wide grin on his face. “I don’t know what you want from her but I’m sure we can discuss it and find a solution.”

The man gaped at him at first but then he began to walk away. But Han-seok didn’t want him to leave so he grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the door of the apartment. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” the man tried, although he didn’t bother breaking free. “Let me go.”

Once inside the apartment, he threw his duffel bag and the hockey stick on the floor then pushed the man into the living room. It took you a few seconds to fully understand that there was a complete stranger kneeling in the middle of the room, looking like he was on the verge of a heart attack.

“What’s going on?” you asked hesitantly.

“Oh, this gentleman has been following you for like two weeks now, and I’d like to know why,” Han-seok explained before turning to the man with an expectant look. “We’re listening.”

The man shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Letting out an annoyed groan, he picked up the hocked stick and said, “We can do this the hard way, but it would be easer for everyone if you started talking on your own.” To make it clear he wasn’t joking, he hit the floor only inches from the man’s body with the stick. “Next time I won’t miss.”

At first there was only silence in the room. But then, just when he raised the stick again, the man finally spoke up. “All right, all right, fine. Someone hired us to keep an eye on her family, especially those important to her father.”

“Who hired you?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never talked to them. Someone else keeps in touch with them, I swear,” he said.

Han-seok glanced over at you to see your reaction but there was nothing. You looked just as calm as you usually did. “What did you have to report about her exactly?”

“Her daily routine, who she meets—things like that.”

“What else can you tell us?” But instead of a proper answer, the man only shook his head. This guy definitely wasn’t a professional, otherwise he would’ve said a lot more. “Well, this was disappointing to say the least.”

He couldn’t leave the apartment because if he did, he would have alerted his boss right away. Han-seok glanced down at the stick then his gaze shifted back to the man. It had to be done, there was no other option. Slowly raising the stick, he readied himself, preparing for the first strike.

Even though he was now brutally beating up this man, you didn’t scream or run away, instead you pulled up your legs and took a sip of your coffee as you watched the scene. He loved this. The thrill of hurting someone so badly that they were bound to die in the end, and also seeing you being so chill about the whole thing. The man stopped breathing pretty soon, so once it was over, he tossed away the stick and sat down next to you.

“Better?” you asked with a knowing smile as you offered him the mug.

Han-seok grinned at you and took the coffee from you. “Much better. He won’t be a problem anymore,” he replied while he wiped away some blood from his face with the sleeve of his hoodie. “Do you have any idea who sent them after your father?”

“No, but I’ll have to call George to clean up this mess anyway. I don’t need a dead body in the apartment,” you told him with a shrug. “The more involved I’ll be in Dad’s business, the more often things like this will happen.”

He sighed and pulled you into a hug to kiss the top of your head. All he wanted was you to be safe, and he was willing to do whatever it took to make sure of that. After you pulled away, you picked up your phone and called the man who usually took care of cleaning up after your father. Even though he and your father had never really seen eye to eye, he couldn’t help but respect how well he trained you for this job. Not many people could remain this calm in such a situation.

In less than an hour George arrived with a team to take care of the body. While the others did their job, he questioned you about what exactly had happened. Everything went smoothly until Han-seok left to take care of a phone call. When he returned, he overheard your father’s friend saying something that truly enraged him, right to the point where he wished he could kill this man too.

“—man in cold blood. He’s dangerous, kiddo. Your father is right, you should leave him before you become one of his victims,” George told you worriedly.

You forced a smile on your face. “It’s fine, he won’t hurt me. Trust me, I know him.”

“Good girl,” Han-seok quietly said as he watched the to of you.

New chapters on @reallyverybored

#this isn't my best work #vincenzo #jang han-seok #jang han seok #jang han-seok x reader #jang han seok x reader #jang joon woo #jang joon-woo #jang joon-woo x reader #jang joon woo x reader

212 notes · View notes

yoshkeii · 3 years

Text

"𝙰 𝚜𝚑𝚢 𝚌𝚛𝚞𝚜𝚑"

࿐ character(s): Ushijima Wakatoshi, Daichi Sawamura, Kuroo Tetsurou

࿐ genre: sfw, soft/fluff, comfort, tiny angst if you squint

࿐ type: headcanons (hcs)? / imagine

࿐ requested by: @dumpsterfireinc

⌦ shymale!reader (he/him)

⌦ ‘if I can request comfort hcs for Ushijima, Daichi, Kuroo, and Oikawa who have a crush on as shy male!reader who thinks the boys should be with a girl and not him.’

A/N: i had to drop oikawa on this one since i cant seem to get his personality out?? i- uh-. i apologize- also my way of writing hcs is weird? idk why i like writing like that, but eventually they’ll shift- somehow- (i’ll probably make a proper hcs post if you want-)

1-16-2021: sorry in advanced if this took waaay to long. im doubting my writings. kinda shit but im just burnt out.

𝚄𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚓𝚒𝚖𝚊:

❀ Ushijima had a crush on you. of course he would, someone so soft, gentle, and shy. he actually found it cute you having those aspects. even though not a lot of people would enjoy such an introverted person at times.

❀ being shy would fit well together with his own personality generally. like being stoic and quiet himself. at some points he genuinely thought you and him were perfect. just two puzzle pieces that could fit together.

❀ he doesn’t know when he had a crush on you till Tendou or someone would bring it up. cause he always somehow had his eyes on you in the halls, classes, etc.

❀ adding on to his personality, he is very blunt and straightforward with his words. and when you heard those three words from the intimidating captain. made your heart skip a beat, muscles tense, and mind race.

❀ “..y-you.. like me??” the softened tone in your voice echoed within the empty afterschool halls.

❀ “Yes. I just stated that.”

❀ “..I heard you.. you dummy..” you muttered the last words softly. fiddling with your fingers nervously, he always found you fidgeting with something whenever you were nervous or put on the spot. your gaze kept low.

❀ the silence only just settled. making Ushijima await another word from your smaller figure.

❀ but he didn’t expect those words to slip out of your mouth. he never did.

❀ “Why.. Why would you want to be with me.. instead.” your voice still kept your softened tone, but it had a faint hint of sadness. the slight wavering of your voice gave way.

❀ “..isn’t it better to be.. with a girl instead? t-they’re better options. pretty. talented. i-i don’t.. have any of those.”

❀ Ushijima just stared, unsure on what to do. no one told him this would be a scenario or a possibility. thought it was simply just a yes or no to a confession, something quick.

❀ “You also won’t l-look.. weird.. o-odd.. with-” your voice cracked, tears gathered in your eyes. quickly wiping them away with a sniff.

❀ “F-fuck I’m sorry.. for c-crying..” softly cursing as you nervously laughed.

❀ “y/n,” Ushijima lifted your head gently with his hand making sure your eyes looked up at him, “..I don’t care, if people will look at us weirdly. I don’t care if they all knew or not.”

❀ he wiped the tears dripping from your eyes as you stared at him with disbelief.

❀ “I like you. No- I love you. That’s that. I love y/n, and nothing will stop that.”

❀ shortly, tears poured from your eyes from his words. softly murmuring apologizes for crying over this accompanied w/ a smile on your face. Ushijima just wiping your tears away for you, seeing how your face just melts in his hand in comfort. regaining composure after a couple of reassurances from him.

❀ “I-I.. I love you.. t-too.. Wakatoshi..”

𝙳𝚊𝚒𝚌𝚑𝚒:

❀ mans had a big crush on you ever since you both had multiple shared classes. especially same homeroom.

❀ Daichi and you had an decent relationship, it wasn’t as close like he has with Sugawara or Asahi. having the same homeroom, he always found you alone and minding your own business a desk or two behind him in the back.

❀ sometimes exchanging the simple hellos and small talk whenever Suga and/or Asahi dared him to. knowing how his eyes occasionally drifts towards your direction of the room.

❀ for someone so quiet.. he didn’t know it could be a cute feature. an adorable one if he would say so himself. just seems too s o f t .

❀ your gentle voice always made his heart skip a beat, it was so calming. a remedy to his ears. after a few small talks and interactions, you both managed to hang out a little more often. being invited on study dates sessions since you were also pretty smart in the academics (brownie points!)

❀ as of right now, his eyes were simply glued on you. just watching you talk about whatever subject. he really wasn’t paying attention... or at all. admiring your features from across the small table on the floor that was littered with notebooks, textbooks, papers and pens.

❀ he knew you were shy so he often kept things low and safe for you whenever you both hung out once in awhile. sometimes exchanging little sticky notes with each other to limit talking.

❀ once he confessed to you, through the last sticky note of his. not a manly way to really confess but he couldn’t figure anything else out for you. didnt want to scare you away.

❀ you stared up at the captain in slight doubt, going back to the note to reread the words written. ‘would you like to go out with me?’ tiny hearts here and there on the note.

❀ looking back up at him, you noticed the slight blush across his face. you realized he was serious.

❀ “..why would you want to go out with me?” your grip on the note slightly tightened, as thoughts began to flood your mind. “wouldn’t it be better- be better with a girl?? a-and.. not me.” you began to slip on your words, gaze slipping down to avoid his eyes as you noticed him looking up at you now.

❀ “..with.. a girl?” Daichi mustered out.

❀ “or.. anyone but... me. I’m not.. popular. I’m not.. p-pretty, c-cute.. handsome.. s-smart either...” you began to ramble, negative thoughts after another.

❀ “H-hey y/n. y/n..!” Daichi was closer to you now, his hands on your shoulders hoping to get you out of your negative trance.

❀ it successfully worked, making you stop but your gaze still remain low. hearing a sigh from Daichi made you tensed, you liked him too. you loved him. but you don’t know if it was best for him to date you. or be in a relationship in that matter.

❀ Daichi wrapped his arms around you, “Don’t be so harsh to yourself. I denied most of the confessions... j-just.. to ask you out one day you know. I’m confident I want you more than any girl.” he muttered.

❀ noticing you relaxing in his arms made him slightly smile, feeling you hug back. your hands grasping the back of his gakuran, mustering the urge to cry you hid your face on his shoulders. eventually muffling out your soft sobs and various ‘i love you too’

𝙺𝚞𝚛𝚘𝚘:

𝚊/𝚗: 𝚐𝚘𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚐𝚒𝚏 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚚𝚞𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐.

❀ it was obvious Kuroo was crushing on someone. and that someone was you. being one of the assistances, or at this point the team would’ve eventually called you their manager. often there to aid and help whenever needed so you stumbled by the gym many times to either drop something off for one of the members or coaches.

❀ always teasing and flirting with you, which wasn’t such an out-of-character of him. knowing him to be the master of provocation. but often when you weren’t there, he would start talking about you. unconsciously sometimes.

❀ which gave a big sign of his feelings, especially through Kenma. it wasn’t so hard to see, but you were dense and oblivious over it.

❀ he knew you liked him back eventually, seeing how you haven’t turned him down with any of his teases accompanied with the slight blush on your face each time. you were just too shy to say anything about it.

❀ he was aware that you were very shy and introverted. always seeing you staying back or infront of crowds in the hallway and avoided them at all costs. being observant he took note of it.

❀ always managing to catch you away from people or just a little people in the area, he used that time to talk to you more privately.

❀ you both began to get to know each other pretty well each time.

❀ exchanging interests and moments you’ve had in your life. often making you giggle at his silly retorts and remarks, funny moments of his teams and others. he was genuinely seeing a new side of you.

❀ never really seeing you smile brightly and laugh without holding back. it felt surreal and a literal dream.

❀ “Hey, y/n, have you dated anyone yet?” Kuroo looked over at you, eyes staring in curiosity with his common sly smirk.

❀ “I-.. uhh.. n-not yet?” you nervously laughed, messing with the sleeve of your nekoma track jacket.

❀ “Well then.. do you have a crush?” he continued on.

❀ “O-oh.. Ye-yeah! He probably won’t like me b-back though..” you murmured.

❀ “Wait- He!?”

❀ “H-hey,, Kuroo! Keep y-your voice down please..!!” you playfully punched his shoulder in return he faked an ‘ow’ “..b-but.. yes.. i like a guy.. h-he’s popular so i doubt he would like me b-back.” you looked up at him with a weak smile, hoping to not seemed phased by it.

❀ “Ahhh.. why’s that then.” his curious tone turned stern, tilting his head into his palm so it rested comfortably. “hmmm~?”

❀ “Oh.. w-well.. he’s popular with the girls.. a lot of them a-actually. I bet he l-likes them more than me.. girls are b-better for him anyways...”

❀ “What if they weren’t? He could be gay.. or bisexual... or pan and all that jazz y’know y/n?”

❀ “Thats true.. what about you kuroo-san?” you took a sip of water from your bottle aside of your thigh.

❀ “I have a crush too of course. And its actually you.”

❀ you choked on the water, coughing out a reply, “w-wait you.. you like me.. me- back?!” you only looked at him with disbelief, coughing slightly still.

❀ Kuroo only laughed at your off-guard reaction, “K-kuroo!! I-it’s not funnyyy..!” you whined, covering your face with your jacket. “hhhh.. g-god damnit..”

❀ after a few moments it went silently, peeking your eyes out from your hidden position Kuroo pecked your forehead. Suddenly aside of you, entwining his hand with yours.

❀ “Of course I like you back~ I want you to be my boyfriend you softie.”

#at-dusk;- 🌆#folder 📁;- 𝙷𝚊𝚒𝚔𝚢𝚞𝚞 #haikyuu x male reader #haikyuu x reader #x reader #kuroo tetsuro x male reader #daichi sawamura x male reader #ushijima wakatoshi x male reader #kuroo tetsuro x reader #daichi sawamura x reader #ushijima wakatoshi x reader #Ushijima Wakatoshi #Daichi Sawamura #Kuroo Tetsurou

443 notes · View notes

starryse · 3 years

Text

The Star Pitcher

Juyeon x Reader

The Boyz high school au!, 60’s au!, baseball team TBZ au!

6.8k Words

Summary: The perks of baseball season consisted of seeing your cute guy friends in their uniforms, soft pretzels, and the excuse to get out of your house and sit in the warm summer sun. The downside? One of your cute guy friends was also the team’s pitcher who you were madly in love with.

Masterlist

The neon lights cascaded across the line of skateboards and bikes outside of the diner, the shining glare reflecting onto the window next to your booth. The sky was darkening to a deep shade of purple, the street lights and passing by cars offering comfort in the oncoming night. Dusk was a beautiful time in the city, though the shadows that came from the groves of trees when you walked through the trails were disheartening to say the least. You weren’t as lucky as the rest of your bunch, not owning a motorcycle or your dads hand me down car- you weren’t even allowed a skateboard because it was “unfair” to your younger siblings. This made the long journey home after your daily hangouts quite dreadful; and as summer time grew closer, the nights became shorter, meaning the comforting blue sky disappeared twice as fast.

Your face scrunched in distaste as you focused on the increasingly dark outside, not registering the conversations going on around you. The boy next to you noticed your dazed state, his eyes glancing down to your hands as they twirled around the straw in your half empty milkshake.

“You okay?”

Blinking a few times, the dryness of your eyes slowly faded as you snapped your attention to your disformed straw in front of you. You hummed, “yeah why?” your finger gliding across the rim of the glass, strawberry cream coating your skin in result. Juyeon watched you wipe the residue on the bottom of the Jean jacket he let you borrow, his sharp eyes enlarging as he winced- his mom would surely kill him later. The slicked hair boy was brought back to his senses when you finally looked over at him, his mouth quickly stammering a response, “oh, I uh just thought you seemed a little out of it,” Juyeon awaited your reaction, continuing when you simply shrugged, “you know I can drive you home, y/n”

You groaned, pushing your back into the booths cushion while pushing your drink closer to the window sill, “Juyeon-“

“I know I know, you don’t have to tell me twice” the huffing man leaned against the table, resting his chin against his propped up arm. You rolled your eyes, poking your pouting friend in his side, causing him to jump and swat away your hand, “Don’t be a baby, baby. I can handle myself okay?”

“Yeah Yeon, don’t be a baby. Y/n has made it very clear she doesn’t want any of us to take her home because she’s embarrassed by our presence” Hyunjae’s mocking tone ceases your hands from Juyeon’s sides.

“Wha- not true asshat” you didn’t bother in defending yourself anymore when it came to Hyunjae’s smart remarks, it was a hidden show of affection between the two of you. Though it didn’t stop you from tossing the ball of straw paper into his open cup of coke. That particular action gave you a disgusted look from the brunette, his lips moving as you could only imagine the mimicking words that spilled out.

Daily hangouts with your group of angsty, sarcastic boys was your favorite thing to do when you needed a much needed break. At the end of a long day, seeing the familiar 11 faces waiting for you at the school entrance was just what you needed to relieve stress. Even if they were possibly the most annoying people you have ever had the pleasure of knowing, they were your favorite humans. Maybe except the current boy beside you who’s shoulders were shaking against yours as he laughed at Eric’s sly comment. He wasn’t as annoying as the others. Then again, the hearts that soared around your eyes as you snuck glances towards him were a dead give away you were a bit biased- the heart wants what it wants. And in this case, yours most definitely wanted the handsome baseball player, Lee Juyeon.

“Earth to Y/n. Hellooo? We’re leaving, dummy.”

“Huh?” Your head snapped up to meet the annoyed expression of Sunwoo, eyes following the boys that had been piling out of the booth as you sat confused.

Sunwoo looked to Eric for assistance, knowing fair well why you had been blatantly zoned out the last 15 minutes. Eric nodded at Sunwoo, ushering for him to head out the door with the others as he mouthed an I got this.

“Cmon’ pretty girl, I think me and you need a Juyeon free night. What do you say?” Eric grabbed the jacket you had shrugged off over the back of the booth, tossing it over his shoulder while he stood waiting for you at the exit. God you were really whipped, Eric was pretty damn sure of that as he watched the puppy dog look you sent his way in response to his question. Knowing the answer, Eric wrapped his arm around your shoulder, tugging you closer as the two of you made way back to the rowdy group.

Most of the boys had took off towards their houses, only Juyeon, Kevin, Sunwoo, and Hyunjae remaining. The boys were sat along the curb of the parking lot, shared glasses of coke being passed around while they waited for their two youngest to return.

Sunwoo broke the silence, his infamous evil smirk pointed at Juyeon and Hyunjae, “I wonder what Y/n and Eric are doing” Three heads turned to the sighing boy, eyes scrunched in curiosity as they awaited Sunwoo’s next words.

“I mean, it has been awhile right? And those two are quiteee close”

Antagonizing. That’s all he’s doing.

Did the two gullible idiots whom were currently gawking at one another realize this? No. No they didn’t. The muttering boys scrambled up from their spots on the ledge, untied shoes tripping against the pebbles that had loosened from the cement as they rose quickly to find the “quite close” pair. Sunwoo’s hand clasped tightly against his mouth, the urge to fight the oncoming cackles growing harder as he watched the gangly men run into the bike racks, their ego’s too high to even care while they bolted for the diner’s door. Kevin, not remotely amused, watched in disapproval, knowing fair well that the hyena sounding laugh near him was that of pure provoktion at the gullible dancers who, at their own expense, were a tad finicky over their youngest friend.

“You know why they’re like that, right?”

Sunwoo nodded his head, sucking in a breath as his laughter died down. Of course he knew why, whether or not he liked it, he knew everything about the diverse set of feelings in the group. He sighed, tucking a leg close to his chest while the other kicked against the pavement, “yeah of course I know. I think everyone does except Y/n herself.”

The coke was bitter in Kevin’s mouth, the acidic taste tingling against the cuts on his lips. Having enough, he set the coke by Sunwoo, using the drink as a sort of share of thoughts between the two. Uttering a thank you, Sunwoo was quick to down the rest of the fizzy soda, a grotesque burp following. Loud laughter once again surrounded the curb, though this time sounds of disgust and displeasure joined as Kevin shoved the guilty party farther away from him, his left hand fanning the air away from his nose.

“God Sunwoo-“

“What, it was a great drink!”

You and Eric finally rounded the corner of the parking lot, a fighting cat and dog duo following close behind as they beat themselves up for listening to Sunwoo, yet again. Hearing the noises behind them, Kevin and Sunwoo turned to the 4 of you, looks of relief washing over them. Sunwoo stood up, dusting the dirt off of his track pants in the process, “God finally you idiots show up, did you not notice the darkness surrounding us?? It is,” he checked the thick silver watch decorated on his wrist, a scoff leaving his lips, “8 pm”

Eric snorted, rolling his eyes in response, “okay grandpa, let’s go then”

You stood against the small tree near the end of the street, your arms crossed against your chest to shield yourself from the growing winds. The cars passing by offered some light against the darkening sky, the diner’s lights beginning to dim as closing time got closer. Summer time was supposed to be warm and bright, and yet here you stood waiting for your friends, shivers running down your body while you glanced around the city's streets. Interrupting your small bruising session, the feeling of a shoulder knocking against yours had you turning to look at the culprit, your nerves calming at the familiar face.

“Hi”

“Hey” you grinned back, eyes scanning the pretty man. The moonlight brought a look of innocence to his face, the blue fluorescents casting shadows across his skin leaving only the bundle of stars in his dark eyes to light up his appearance. Juyeon was a human of the finest features, and a stellar personality to match. The duality his eyes could perceive was always interesting to watch, you never knew to expect his sharp gaze or soft looks of adoration. Tonight, you found yourself hoping for the second option.

Juyeon reached for your hand, tugging it into his as he placed both of them into his jacket pocket. His thumb ran circles over your knuckles, the slightly rough padding of his fingers locking between yours. Your eyes peered down to his jacket, stomach knotting at the sight of your hand with his. This was okay, right?

“I figured you were cold”

You lifted your head, free hand pushing away the strands of hair that blocked your vision. Juyeons sight was casted on the other boys, watching as they fought over who got to ride with him instead of skating home in the dark, “I saw Eric with the jacket I gave you, so I kinda assumed you would be freezing your ass off by now”

Juyeon’s taunt was meant to joke around with you, and normally you’d scowl then proceed to pick at him right back. But maybe it was the way he looked under the stars, or the way your hand felt great in his as the feeling brought you warmth. Or it could be the proximity between you two, shoulders pressed against one another in comfort against the wind. Either way, the options had the same anxious thoughts of feeling the need to get over the stupid crush on your friend. Your heart tugged at the thought, it was hard to move on from someone who hid you snacks in your room every time he came over. But having a crush on your best friend who you just knew was too out of your league? That was even worse.

“Y/n, let’s bounce. I wanna start that new film series before my mom gets home from the pub!”

Oh thank God for Eric Sohn.

Mentally letting out a breath of relief, you loosened your grip from Juyeons hand, slipping away from his hold in the process. Bidding the boy goodbye, you waved over your shoulder before jogging to Eric as he began to skate back to his house. Juyeon, on the other hand, stood stone cold, watching the two of you exchange laughs and smacks on each other’s arms. He knew it was ridiculous to be pissed over two friends getting along, so why was he squeezing his jacket sleeves just a tad too hard? His jaw was slack, teeth nipping at cheeks as he yelled for the three idiots, who were still fussing over who got to ride with him home, to give him his keys.

Thankful that the trip to Eric’s was much shorter than what would have been your lonely walk home, you were pleased to already be walking up the steps of his farm porch. Knowing there was no formality needed to invite you in, Eric simply unlocked the door and waited for you to step inside before he relocked it.

Eric’s house, much like him, was always comforting. His house smelt of pine and vanilla, not surprising since he too smelt similar to that. Eric’s bedroom was on the 2nd floor, whereas his parents slept downstairs (which made for great sleepovers so you didn’t have to worry about waking his mom up who works 2nd shift).

Your shoes were tossed to the side of the wall next to Eric’s, knowing how strict his mom was when it came to keeping the house tidy, you had a designated spot for your shoes whenever you visited. Eric, who was now passing you one of the waters he grabbed from the fridge, motioned his head to the stairs, silently telling you to make way to his room.

For a teenage boy, Eric’s room wasn’t nearly as messy as one would think. His clothes were tucked away in his dresser drawers or hanging behind his closest doors, leaving the messiest thing to be his un-made bed. You plopped yourself onto the nearest side of the bed, making room for Eric on the other side. The radio that usually sat on his side table was tossed in between you two, Eric’s fingers nimbly flicking between the stations to find the baseball film he had been non-stop talking about. The TV downstairs was off limits until his parents were home, they were quite finicky as the cost for the larger box tv was a little too much to be accidentally broken by their energetic son.

Settling yourself into his pillows, you tugged the closest blanket over your torso, legs curled up to press against your chest. Eric’s sudden exclaim had you giggling at his victorious outburst, his arms fist pumping the air before turning the volume on the gadget up. Jumping beside you, the blonde shimmied to your side, wrapping one arm behind your back and the other behind his head.

“I cannot wait to watch this, Younghoon told me it was the best movie he’s ever seen!” Eric was going on and on, his eyes lighting up as if he were the same moon that glared down at Juyeon earlier. Juyeon. Right. Why did your brain have to bring him up? As if you couldn’t escape the mere presence of him, he was filling your thoughts just as often.

Noticing your lack of response, Eric craned his head down to see you pressed against his shoulder blade, eyes stuck on the bed sheets beneath you. He should have known it would be nearly impossible to have a night without the pitcher of their own baseball team being brought up.

“I can feel you staring at me”

Eric scoffed, flicking the side of your temple while looking back at the radio, “yeah well I bet my sheets could say the same thing.”

Left hanging, Eric took notice real quick at the feeling of something wet drip onto his jeans. His inner baseball player came out as he swiftly moved you up to eye height, hands pushing your shoulders back to rest against his bed frame.

“Hey, look at me”

Before you even had the time to react, Eric was already gently lifting your face up to meet his. Your eyes raised to meet Eric’s concerned brown ones, though your vision was much blurrier compared to his you could imagine. His thumb was soft against your cheeks, blue sleeves wiping the few tears that escaped past your waterline. You felt terrible. Not just because of the unreciprocated feelings you had on Juyeon. But seeing the way your usual happy-go-lucky friend was looking at you as if you were the most fragile thing on the planet- man, that stung.

“What can I do to help, Y/n?” Eric’s voice was gentle, barely audible even. His palms never left their spot against your cheeks, his fingers lightly tracing across your skin to bring you ease.

The truth was, you didn’t know how he could help. Deep down you knew there wasn’t anything anyone could do to relieve the ache you felt every time you saw Juyeon; everytime you remember that he wasn’t interested in you like that, how his heart wasn’t set on you like yours was for him. Not only did you feel utterly helpless, but you felt the gnawing feeling that you were only being annoying, making a big deal out of a stupid crush.

With a shaky breath, you placed your hands on Eric’s before pulling them down to your lap, “I want you to help me move on.”

“Are you sure you’re fine? Because I have no problem keeping you here until you are”

“Yes Eric, I promise I’m okay” you slipped your shoe over your heel, “besides, I’ll see you at school tomorrow so you’ll know if I’m not, right?”

The pout on his face raised enough that he could mumble a Pinky Promise, as he tightened his pinky around yours. You laughed at his childish antics, pulling him over for a hug, “pinky promise,” you patted the top of his head, his chest huffing after, “don’t forget to be at my house before 6! Juyeon gets there around 6:15 so I want you there before he is”

Eric nodded, pushing you towards the door, “okay leave now because I have no self control and will definitely not let you leave if you don’t go now”

Mumbling strands of okay with giggles spewn between, you finally made it out the door and began the ever boring walk home.

**As soon as you stepped inside your house house, the weight that you thought was lifted off your shoulders came hurling itself right back, and this time it brought shame along with it. Normally when you felt like shit, you’d make yourself a bowl of cereal, turn on your radio, and listen to whatever Elvis Presley interview was on. This time, thanks to Miss Shame, that wouldn’t be enough to cure your self-pity moment; no, it was time to call in the big gun.

** “I’m sorry, you did what?” Sangyeon sat across from you, his legs tucked under his butt as he shifted his position so he could properly look at you.

“I had sex with Eric” your voice trailed off at the end, eyes glued to your hands that currently were tugging off loose string on your jeans.

The sound of silence only made you more tense, terrified of what your eldest friend was thinking, or even feeling, at the moment. Growing frustrated with the lack of response, you begin to try and explain yourself- though the assertive tone that Sangyeon had when he called your name out had you quickly pursing your lips.

Sangyeon went on a tangent for what felt like forever, his hands doing the dramatics besides the substantial amount of sighs he produced, “I- I just don’t think I understand why, emphasis on the why by the way,” his hands finally went down from their long phase of being tossed around in the air, “you would go and do something so stupid like that?”

“I told you-“

“Stop, I understand what you told me,” the frustrated man interrupted you, “I’m just failing to see why you both thought it was the correct solution”

Quite frankly you were puzzled about it yourself. Fucking your other best friend, and the one you didn’t have feelings for, definitely wasn’t in the itenery when you joined the odd bunch of athletes. You were frustrated. Depressed. And just tired of being the last choice. And in the moment, sitting there being comforted by Eric, you finally felt like you were the most important person in the world and not just the star pitcher of your school’s baseball teams groupie.

“Eric only did it because he knew I was hurting, he just thought he was being a good friend- which he was. As for me, well I. God Sangyeon I just-“ A tissue suddenly sat in your open palm, sangyeon softly smiling as pointed at your eyes. What the hell? We’re you seriously crying right now? Wiping the stray tears that had fallen, you took a long chug of your water before continuing, “I just wanted to be something important for once. I didn’t want to be the pathetic little girl that had a crush on her best friend, Juyeon, the popular pitcher who could have the hearts of any girl on those stupid bleachers. I’m sorry, Sangyeon. I fucked up, huh?”

“Pft hell yeah you did”

At times, you forget just how blunt your friend was, this being one of those times as you sat with your eyebrows raised in slight shock at his confession. Sangyeon noticed your look, raising his hand at you to signal you to just listen.

“But we all make mistakes, right? Sure your mistake was Eric’s dick, but I guess that’s just what you needed to figure things out. Which, you need to definitely do as soon as possible because I have a hunch things are going to work out just fine” Sangyeon opened his arms, waiting for you to thank him with his favorite hug (news flash, he loved your hugs a lot.)

You squeezed your arms around him, slightly shaking you both back and forth. The sound of your thank you was muffled by the white and blue shirt he wore, causing you both to laugh at the disformed words. You leaned back, Sangyeons eyes still partially crinkled from laughing, “thank you for being the best dad a girl could have”

Sangyeon scoffed, his grin widening even more as he shoved you back, “whatever, weirdo”

Mondays. Also known as Satan’s asshole.

Eric kept his promise, showing up before Juyeon could arrive to take you to school like normal. That, you were eternally grateful for. You weren’t ignoring your best friend persay, just simply giving him space until you could realize what the hell you were going to do about your feelings. And that was starting today, as you and Eric skateboarded (or in your case walked) past Juyeon as he made his way down your street. You’d be lying if the look on his face didn’t make you want to run back to his car and apologize endlessly, but you were raised to be strong, and that’s what you were. Kind of.

The perks of baseball season consisted of seeing your cute guy friends in their uniforms, soft pretzels, and the excuse to get out of your house and sit in the warm summer sun. The downside? One of your cute guy friends was also the team’s pitcher who you were madly in love with.

Since you were the boyz’s (ha) best friend, you had attended every game since they formed the team 2 years ago. And even today, as you sit front row on the cold, metal bleachers, you were still cheering them on despite the fact you had sworn you were going to distance yourself from Juyeon. Maybe you would have succeeded in that promise, but the way Juyeon looked at you right now as he struck yet another player out, well, it had you wondering why you even thought of such a blasphemous idea in the first place.

With only one out remaining, the opposing team was bound to have to forfeit as the gap between the teams was only increasing. You could only imagine the pride running through your friends’ veins as they got even more amped up knowing they were soon to claim victory. The amount of talent they had could match their love for the game, the two qualities mixing to create one hell of a baseball team; you were sure even the opposing team could see that as their energy levels drained with each strike or out they received. And while you wanted to feel bad, you knew there was no use- because even the team who knew they were bound to lose, had smiles written on their faces while they half-fived their teammates when running past one another.

The sound of bats clinking against dugout cement floors, helmets being tossed to the side of the field and the overlapping good games being said to one another signified the end of the short-live scrimmage. Watching the boys finish their lineup and run to do their large group hug was heartwarming, the other fans in the audience snapping pictures with their disposable cameras could agree. Your moment of proudness was cut short as Haknyeon and Younghoon yelled for you to join them on the field, their hands waving frantically at you to get your attention. Not wanting to cause anymore attention to flood your way, you quickly gathered your bag and rushed to your boys, an embarrassed laugh bubbling in your throat as you were welcomed into the hug. Loud smacks were heard, the cheering players aiming to slap each other in utter happiness over their win- of course you ducked between their arms in an attempt to hide yourself from said slaps (unfortunately for you your ass was not covered and they gladly gave you a few victory whacks.)

“God pretty soon you guys are going to win the championships, then imma be the biggest groupie ever” your comment had the group in fits, heads shaking in amusement.

“Yeah well you’re the best groupie ever” sunwoo pushed your shoulder, a cheesy grin lighting up his face. Hollers and whoops were made in agreement, the two closest to you (Sunwoo and Jacob) tugging you closer into their sides so they could ruffle your hair (leaving you very displeased as you spent quite a while that morning carefully taking the hair rollers out to have stable curls). Trying to tame your now frizzy hair, you weren’t able to control the smile that grew to match the boys’ around you.

Seeing you smile wide in happiness and hearing the laughs that you fabricated, Juyeon couldn’t help himself from staring at you. Watching your nose crinkle from the side pokes the boys littered on you, or seeing the way your eyes were filled with light as you joked right along with the others, it only made the man wish you were standing next to only him and not his attractive friends. Normally, he wasn’t one to be possessive or even jealous. Though when it came to you, someone who’s supported him at every game, waken him up at the crack of dawn to adventure to the sea side of town, and have feverishly grown on him over the few years you've known him? He’s positive he’d go to the end of the world for you.

With the amount of time he spent with you, attached to one another's hips, it was utterly impossible for him to not have developed feelings for you. You were beyond sensational. In his eyes, you were a stellar person- someone with a heart of gold who would probably sell their soul to protect the ones they loved. You had always been the first person he’d call when he needed someone the most, there was never a second of doubt that you couldn’t help him through anything he went through. When he tore the ligament in his elbow and couldn’t participate in 2 weeks worth of games, he was devastated. He had spent forever just trying to wrap his head around the fact he couldn’t be there for his team when they needed him the most, beating himself up over an injury he couldn’t have prepared for. You were the only reason he kept going after that, why he continued to get out of bed everyday to watch his brothers practice even if he couldn’t do so himself. Truly, Juyeon knew you were his foundation. His beautiful, intoxicating, better-half best friend who he had finally realized, as he stood across from you now watching you look as perfect as ever in his extra jersey he gave you to wear at games, just how in love with you he was. And he has absolutely no idea what the hell he was going to do about it.

You weren’t dense, you could feel Juyeon’s non-trailing eyes on you. You didn’t think you made it obvious you were trying (and clearly failing so far) to distance yourself from him, unless he was that intelligent he knew something was off already, so why was he very blatantly staring at you? You couldn’t stop the questions from piling up, your thoughts keeping you distracted from the winners high the boys clearly still had. To meet his eyes and stand your ground was what you should have done, but alas, you squeezed your arms together and slipped away from the sweaty, compact group. With a mix of genuinely overheating due to being stuck to the sweating boys and the gaze Juyeon had locked on you, you were quite aware of how hot you felt at the moment. You tried to escape as quietly as possible, wanting nothing more than to get back to your house and sob until you the tears stopped flowing. Unfortunately for you, your group of friends all had overprotective spidey senses over you, practically able to sense your every move before you could even make it. The moment you turned your back from the group, you were instantly met with whines from the boys, a hand tugging you back to the middle of the circle.

“Eh eh eh, where do you think you’re going missy?” Chanhee poked your stomach, earning a light tap to his forehead from you in return.

You groaned in response, “I was trying to leaveee.” Noises of complaints erupted from the group, sounds of why’s and no’s sounding from each boy.

“Uh sorry but you can’t”

You turned around in Chanhee’s hold, head cocking in confusion. “Uh why not?” you mocked his tone. Chanhee opened his mouth to respond, his eyes rolling at your taunt. Though he was cut off before he could he even begin,

“Because. We can’t celebrate without you, you’re my- I mean- our good luck charm” Juyeon stuttered, just merely missing total embarrassment.

You, who was very much not expecting Juyeon to comment something like that, were quick to shut up. The internal struggle of what to say was hounding you, your eyes looking anywhere but Juyeon. So you hid closer to Chanhee instead, stealthily sneaking your hand behind him to pinch his elbow in an attempt to get him to help you out. Chanhee, getting the hint, smoothly answered for you, “Y/n would love to come, but unfortunately she has our psych project to working, right Y/n?” The white haired male looked at you, his eyes narrowing while he nudged your side.

“O-oh yeah. The projects worth a lot and I can’t take another bad grade in that class” you voiced, gaze finally meeting Juyeon’s. It didn’t take a genius to see the soft glaze of disappointment that lingered in his eyes, even after he masked it with a smile.

Taking that as your cue to exit, you waved at the group, their previous wide eyes and grins much more tamed as they stood glancing between you and their friend. They watched you walk away, waiting until they couldn’t see you or thought you couldn't overhear them to start murmuring amongst each other.

“So that was obviously a lie” Changmin stated as if it were a fact, his sight still locked to where you walked off at.

Jacob, who could either be considered too nice for his own good or just gullible, furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, not understanding what the brunette meant. Changmin, who was more than pleased to explain himself, responded to Jacob’s puzzled expression, “I’m in her psych class, and there’s no project due. At least that I’m aware of, anyhow”

Chanhee felt his heart jump out of his stomach, his stomach buzzing as he was caught in the lie. He had to cover for you, and yet he had absolutely no idea how. They already knew he was lying once, they would surely realize it a second time. He could feel the pairs of eyes make way to him, his fingers drumming against his thighs to ease his nerves.

“Well what I meant was-“

“He meant to say Y/n had thrown up earlier and wasn’t feeling up to the whole party scene” Sangyeon covered for his friend, locking eyes with Chanhee’s grateful ones as he mouthed a thank you in which Sangyeon nodded his head in approval.

The boys seemed to believe their captains' claim, most of them backing up and leaving it as is wanting to just celebrate their victory. Of course, Sunwoo hadn’t believed a word of what Sangyeon said. The round eyed boy snorted to himself, knowing very well as to why you left in such a rush. And then there was Juyeon, and even Hyunjae, who couldn’t help but feel there was a hidden truth to the line. Both boys chose to not speak up, deeming it as just a weird feeling instead.

“Anywho, can we go get food now? The other teams already leaving and we’re still standing here like weirdos” the youngests outburst had the group in fits, loud laughs filling their ears once again. Whining, Eric let out strings of protest as his friends shook his head and left him taps of affection on his butt. Leave it to Eric to lift the sour moods of his teammates, even if he himself was a bit tense.

The team was sure to have made an appearance at your group's famous hangout, meaning snagging a burger and fries on your way home had been out of the question. You opted to just scavenge your cupboards, hoping to find at least something dinner worthy; unfortunately, you were sure you’d end up eating ramen again, as per usual.

You were correct, ramen was indeed the main dish of the night, you had been remotely blessed with packs of spam to fry up along with some eggs and rice. Though you had been content with what you were able to eat, the rising feeling of guilt couldn’t stop itself from making an appearance as you sat alone at your small kitchen table. You couldn’t help but to imagine your friends right now, knowing fair well they were probably messing around and eating the familiar greasy food you all had grown to love. And yet here you were, eating dinner by yourself, just because you couldn’t grow a pair and accept that you had feelings for Juyeon. Instead, you went to the measures of ignoring not only him, but the 10 other people who had been nothing but great friends to you.

It wasn’t like you could just call them up, the diner only had one wall phone and it was for emergency use only, and your wall phone was currently broken as your dog had chewed the cord. And God forbid you walked all the way to the diner at this time of night, your anxiety would have you running right on back to the confines of your rural home as soon as you made it down your road. Regret was a thing you tried not to experience, you tended to just live doing what you liked and that was that. But this time, it was eating you up.

The food in front of you had gone cold, not that you cared considering your mind was obviously worrying about other things- or people. Your thoughts had drifted off to Juyeon, specifically to him earlier. Logic wanted you to believe that he was merely looking at you because of where you were standing, though your heart had other things in mind. No matter how many times you told yourself there was no way Juyeon could have reciprocated your feelings, something always told you to believe otherwise. Sure you knew he could have practically any girl he wanted, he was absolutely gorgeous and his personality was even better. But was it so hard to believe he could maybe, just maybe, like someone like you? His teams #1 fan who went to all of their matches. Someone who not only had his back, but your shared friends as well? You wanted to believe that, you really did. But why else would you be sitting here, alone, not with Juyeon?

Continuous knocking on your door startled you, your previously sulking shoulder now standing straight as you made way to the abrupt sound. You hadn’t expected your family home until rather late that night, considering they were an hour away at your aunts house. The boys were all at the diner, so you had presumed, and you didn’t exactly have other friends besides them. Maybe it was the tofu cart?

The halt your feet made as you opened the door was sudden, your eyes enlarging at the man in front of you. The wavy tuffs of black hair certainly did not belong to the tofu delivery man, unless he had a strikingly good looking son who looked way too similar to Juyeon you didn’t know about.

“Can I come in?” Juyeon looked down at you, hands twisting the ring on his fair in a habit of anxiety. He didn’t expect you to say no, which is why he sucked in a deep breath of anticipation as he entered your home.

You were fairly shocked yourself, following Juyeon’s figure as he went to his favorite spot in your house- the bar stool Island in your kitchen. It wasn’t surprising he went there, though it only spiked your nerves more knowing he chose to sit there instead of your bedroom; the two of you considered the counter in your kitchen your “deep discussion” area, it was a place you had always found yourselves in the early hours of the morning, talking about the little things that been bugging you lately. Which is why you couldn’t help the way your heartbeat sped up as you sat across from Juyeon, moving the scraps of your dinner to the side in order to have no distractions.

You weren’t sure what to say, deeming it as Juyeon must have had plenty in the way he tapped furiously st the countertop before jumping straight to the point. Oh how you wish you didn’t open the door.

“Are you in love with me?”

You understood what they felt in the movies now. When the camera pans in on the character during the aftermath of the climax, the environment around them seeming to slow down with a blur. “I-I’m sorry, what?” You choked back the saliva that had gotten stuck, not feeling like haphazardly dying in front of your crush.

Juyeon sighed, drawing his fingers back to his lap as he glanced up to you, “Eric told me what happened”

Now normally you weren’t one for violence, in fact, you were rather just passive aggressive in all that you did. But at the moment, you wanted nothing more than to strangle the blonde haired snitch. Placing your hands over your face, you let out a long drawn groan, “that little bitch, of course he did”

Juyeon couldn’t stop the short chuckle that escaped his lips, “you didn’t answer my question”

Apparently the opportunity to confess then be brutally rejected was a lot closer than you had hoped. It was now or never. You’d much rather choose never, but it seems that your friend couldn’t keep his mouth shut to save his life.

“Yes”

“Yes what?” Juyeon spoke, unable to focus on anything but the way your mouth moved in response to the question.

“I’m in love with you. Did you really have to ask? I thought it was pretty damn obvious, myself” sarcasm rolled easily off your tongue as if it were a form of defense getting ready to face rejection.

Juyeon huffed, leaning forward to flick your forehead at your retort, “I had to make sure it wasn’t a one-sided thing, dummy”

The remark you had saved next was useless now, your tongue ostensibly getting caught in your throat. If now wasn’t a better time to choke on spit, what was? Juyeon jumped up from his seat, grabbing a water from the fridge to pass to your choking frame. You, unable to speak clearly, stuck a thumbs up in appreciation, to which he found incredibly cute.

After recovering from the fit, you finally made eye contact with the softly smiling boy in front of you for the first time since you (unwillingly) confessed, “does that mean I didn’t just get rejected?” Your lips were in a mix of a pout and smirk, your face resemble that of a duck.

“I love you too” Juyeon was grinning wide at this point, his heart pounding in his chest at the affectionate exchange.

You were beyond giddy, body quickly leaning close to Juyeon’s to press a soft, quick kiss to his lips. As you pulled back, neither of you could say anything, the fond gazes you had on one another and the heating of your cheeks conveying the right words for you. Juyeon, for one, was ready to do nothing but return the kisses- and that’s exactly what he did.

Note: Hi y’all, I’m back (kind of). This is my first full fledge AU, and I’m so happy it was for Juyeon! I’m a sucker for baseball tbz au’s, so I just had to make one myself! Stay tuned for a special announcement regarding Star Pitcher ;)

Extra Note: pls don’t be afraid to leave feedback (reply, message, reblog), it would help me tremendously and I’d really appreciate it! I love seeing what y’all think! :)

329 notes · View notes

thesunshinebunny · 3 years

Note

Hello! I've seen two asks with the first reaction of a Fem!Reader dancing in an erotic/sexy way. (One with the dorm heads and one with the vice dorm heads-)

So I thought I could ask the same thing, but with Cater, Jack, Floyd, Epel, Sebek and Silver. It's okay if it's breaking the rules or you're not comfortable with writing it! But thanks in advance anyways! Stay peachy!! ^^

I never thought I'd end up making a whole series of requests for this style, and to think that the dorm heads was my first order for Twst, what a great start.

Dorm Leaders reaction

Vice Dorm Leaders reaction

As always, all characters are +18 Enjoyyyyyy

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

Cater

Montero – Lil Nas X

I imagine Cater as a person who follows trends and is aware of the new music that comes out every single day, so I don't think it is weird to find him listening to the new of Lil Nas x (hiding it from Riddle obviously, knowing him that kind of songs would be strictly prohibited in the halls of Heartslabyul)

But as smart as Cater could get with social media and internet fashions, he didn't notice how you had gotten into music so much that you were mentally creating a choreography.

One specifically for him.

So, when you asked him to spend some private time in the comfort of his bedroom, he didn't expect at all that you would sit him in the middle of his bed just passing the threshold.

For a moment he thought you were going to give him a massage or a handjob, but when you told him to wait patiently, that you were going to change, his impure thoughts were dispelled, thinking that you were going to get more comfortable to snuggle with him.

How wrong he was. It was seeing you come out of the bathroom with a hoodie (that warm and purposeful had nothing), which barely covered your sports bra and shorts, half covering your butt, when all unseemly thoughts returned to his mind.

He stretched out his hands to pull you to him, but you stayed in place, saying you had another surprise.

Cater automatically took out his cell phone to record and take some occasionals photos.

Watching you dance so freely, doing a private show and personally for him made his heart race to a thousand an hour. Even his pants were starting to tighten.

It was seeing your ass and automatically biting his lips. In his mind he was wanting to place each palm on each of your cheeks and squeeze them as he held you against him, preventing you from moving, and his cock buried well deep inside you.

"Are you happy to see me?" your question brought him out of his reverie, realizing that your choreography was over.

He put the cell phone aside and pounced on you, wrapping his arms around you, capturing your lips and throwing you on the bed. Perhaps, among all the ruffle, he put his phone in recording mode and captured ... the entire subsequent session.

Don't worry, Cater would never divulge a video like that and if you want it delete it, he will do it immediately. If not, he will keep it in a folder with a password.

Jack

Solo – Demi Lovato

Jack tried multiple times to convince you to go train with him around the Savannaclaw arena, but each time you refused, stating that you liked being more in the comfort of the bed, covered up to your head, rather than get up at five in the morning to run.

He didn’t take it the wrong way, the way he trained was not for everyone, but he did advise you not to stay still and fall into a sedentary lifestyle, claiming that it would be harmful to your health.

Therefore, you decided to start training on your own, with your own time and doing a little of what you liked most; because remember: to be able to dance like divine goddesses, you need to train ... and a lot.

While he went out for a run, you stayed asleep, when classes ended it was your turn to train.

One day classes ended quite early in your case, allowing you to go to Jack's room to rest and wait for him; But the minutes grew long and what seemed like an hour of waiting turned into two.

So… loud music, more comfortable clothes and practice.

And what does Jack like more than training? See you give your best while doing what you like.

Finding you in his room dancing in sportswear was an image that he would like to print and keep in his mind.

He didn’t care that you were sweating or that the clothes weren’t the tightest to mark your figure, just seeing you move your hips was what he needed to have a smile from ear to ear.

Finish your dance calmly, that your gray wolf will be waiting for you at the door, smiling at you and with open arms to give you a big hug for the effort.

He would eat you with kisses and bites to show you how happy he was to see you happy. If this leads to more… spicy things, that's up to you.

What if I recommend you not to dance this same choreography in the training field in broad daylight, where everyone can see you. The results could be a bit possessive.

But, if you're brave enough, don't complain later if you end up with bites and marks all over your body.

Floyd

My oh My – Camilla Cabello

You walked into the gym expecting to find the basketball team training as usual, but there was no one in their place. Absolute silence.

You took the opportunity to place your backpack next to the roadways, change into comfortable sportswear and put on some music to improve the atmosphere.

When this song started to play, you elatedly stood in the middle of the gym, a sly smile on your face, completely ignoring the sound of rumbling footsteps and slowly approaching the gym.

You were in the middle of the choreography when you felt two arms gripping you tightly, leaving you gasping for air. You screeched as Floyd began to squeeze you more and more, making it impossible for you to move.

"My my, nobody taught you to pay attention to your surroundings when you're alone, koebi-chan?" that sceared the shit out of you.

"Can I dance with you?"

He pulled you closer to him, pressing your back against his torso and your hips against his, lifting you off the floor, and began to spin and sway to the rhythm of the music.

The situation made you laugh until you felt his hand pass over your chest and touch your breast. He settled you against the wall, now your pussy positioned on his erect dick, grinding it thanks to his arms that held you in the air.

At no point did either of you stop the music, letting the playlist roll on and cover the sweet moans coming out of your mouth.

Some freshman ventured into the gym when they heard faint groans creep through the large metal doors.

They got the scare of their lives when they saw Floyd pounding from behind you, staring straight at the entrance and throwing death threats with just his eyes.

Epel

Do it like a dude – Jessie J

Listen to me... you can't tell the only woman at NRC that she can't participate in a dance competition because "it's only for guys"

Uhhhhhhhhh, if I was in that situation how would break their teeth.

Buuuut, you were able to defend yourself in a better way… going to the middle of the training ground where the competition (led by Professor Vargas) was taking place.

I have to say that you left all the participants with icy skin? Other than making them feel like they have a small dick. Straight to the ego.

And Epel was no different. He wasn’t embarrassed by the fact that a girl had beaten him in steps that were recognized later is another matter not ashamed at all, not at all.

Which did bring his ego to the ground and his self-esteem was to see you give your all to overthrow sexism, while he could barely stand in the same line as those of Savannaclaw.

Either way, he enjoyed watching you dance, you seemed re-empowered and that gave you an aura of a strong and powerful woman.

If those who refused to let you participate didn’t give you the prize, rest assured that Epel will leave them in their place, perhaps with the help of Deuce.

He asked you how you could have so much confidence in yourself and that may have caused a butterfly effect ... he wanted to know, well you will teach him in bed.

Two or three tricks may have taken effect and in the next competition (or anything) Epel will give his best, even if he has you as an opponent.

Victory sex for whoever wins? Victory sex.

Sebek

Play with Fire – Sam Tinnesz

You were calm in the comfort of your bedroom, going over some class assignments, some background music, Grimm sleeping next to the bed. A normal day.

But quite boring.

You decided to go down to do a little stretching, so much time hunched over in bed looking at the notes it makes your back very bad. You took your cell phone and left the little cat sleeping comfortably.

Between those stretches you got the idea of practicing a little choreography, nothing too complicated or time consuming; maybe half an hour, forty minutes and that's it.

Well, it ended up being a two hour workout, doing one choreography more complicated than the other. Night had fallen and you were supposed to have a little "date" with Sebek right in your bedroom.

There were knocks on the door, but with the volume of the music you couldn't hear them, nor did you hear the creak of the door opening and closing.

Sebek found you in the middle of the living room, moving your arms around your body. He’s not stupid, he knew you were doing a choreography and he would have enough patience to let you finish it and show up.

What he didn’t expect was to see your figure fall to the floor and move in those ... eccentric movements

Indecent thoughts get out of this mind.

You finished dancing and Sebek was still standing in the middle of the hall, not knowing what to do, where to look, and if he was allowed to speak.

"Sebek are you ok? When did you came in?"

Completely taken out of his reverie, ready to continue the evening as if nothing had happened.

Inwardly he was dying of excitement.

Without telling you anything, with the "date" half finished, having a good and sweet dinner, he just ... slamed you against the wall and took you right there and there.

You both ended up scaring poor Grimm. He just wanted to come down to eat his tuna.

Silver

Maria - 화사 (Hwasa)

It wasn’t unusual to hear multiple and different songs in the corridors of Diasomnia, especially with Lilia as a member of the light music club; it was normal to hear all kinds of rhythms, even different languages.

Therefore, Silver didn’t find it unusual to hear Korean lyrics as he walked through the lounge of his dorm.

What he did think was strange was hearing footsteps and blows, which had a very peculiar resemblance to the rhythm of music.

In a corridor somewhat away from the common area, which led to a small meeting room and greater tranquility, you were there with the music blasting and dancing as if you were the owner of the place.

Don't get me wrong, Silver was 1000% okay with you dancing in his dorm, even if you wanted to do it on a table in the middle of the lounge room… be his guest.

What he couldn’t allow was his roommates seeing you so… free, sure of yourself, indisputably if you were wearing sports clothes or little clothes, leaving nothing to the imagination.

And if Malleus was among those people… ufff, a big no from our silver boy.

He would go to where you were and lift you by the legs, placing you on his shoulder and commenting that you could continue your dance in a more private place.

That place was his room.

"The way you dance is ... intoxicating"

If at any time the brilliant idea of approaching Silver occurs to you while you dance, take it for granted that he will grab you in his arms and throw you on the bed.

Nope, he's not going to let you finish the choreography. He has another type of choreography in mind.

Lilia put up a do not disturb sign on the other side of the door, proud to see his son a grown-up… apart from the fact that he would have a little “chat” with him immediately after the deed it doesn't matter if you’re still naked and pathetically covered with sheet, he would just *pufff*

#twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst #twst x reader #cater diamond #cater x reader #jack howl #jack howl x reader #jack x reader #floyd leech #floyd x reader #epel felmier #epel x reader #sebek zigvolt #sebek x reader #silver #silver x reader #silver twst

227 notes · View notes

rumblelibrary · 3 years

Text

The Diary of Doctor Laszlo Kreizler

Chapter 1

Synopsis: Alienist’s notes are private, sometimes gruesome, secrets of others and of himself.Those pages belongs to secrecy and decadence, have a glimpse to this world made of drafts, notes, accidents and reflections. Or maybe it is you the only person that should ever reach for it.

While you read this imagine Laszlo mostly at the end of his day, scraping the ideas and the thoughts, adjusting previous notes with additions, closing the day behind himself with a couple of sentences while sitting in his evening robe, a good glass of whiskey and his glasses bridged almost at the tip of his nose. Or maybe imagine yourself, you sneaky thing, reach for it from a far shelf.

Word count: 3k

Warnings: listen, this is the set of ideas and confessions of a man living in the 1890’s. Most of them will be outdated, rough, even deprecating in some analysis of the roles of men, women and social status, religion, etc.So be prepared, my point is to make Laszlo reflect upon those topics, but to be as faithful as I can to his time. Mention of death, mutilation, self harm and a minor depiction of a fight. Psychologically troubled young children ahead! Author’s note: I am a nerd for a good Victorian novel and a sexy Alienist.I have always been charmed by Laszlo’s mind and inner conflicts. So I took the chance and tried to have a run into that rollercoaster. The story is placed between season 1 and season 2.

Diary belonging to Dr. Laszlo Kreizler. This is a professional book of annotations over medical treatments of an alienist toward his patients. Do not disclose and send it back to the address if found: Kreizler’s Institute, xxxxxx, New York City (NY) L.K.

Samuel Griswold Goodrich, Illustrated Natural History of the Animal Kingdom (c1859). Contributed for digitization by University Library, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Schiller in his “Die Weltweisen” wrote: So long as philosophy keeps together the structure of the Universe so long does it maintain the world’s machinery by hunger and love. From the philosopher point of view sexual life takes a subordinate position in human’s life, from recent studies pushed by European philosophers, everything is about sexuality and its development. I like to think of the experience of being an alienist as the process of Queen Penelope that, while waiting for her husband Ulysses return, undoes her craftwork every night. I undo the fabulous constructs of people’s beliefs to go back to the rough sketch that stands at the beginning of their loss, their complex, their pain. Maybe that’s why working with children is so motivating and fascinating. They can be saved and yet, I am well aware, some of those sketches already traced in their young lives equal to scars that not even the most advanced theories could cure. But I can sooth them. I can prevent them the torment, the anguish, the recollection at night of those monsters. I feel like a poet would be a better alienist than a philosopher, but I have got no poetry nor philosophy in my veins, but the cold experience of the razor blade judgment of Life itself.

Today I observed a fight among the children at the Institute. Age range between 10 and 12. Boys. The fight was over the possession of a side of the playground, the territory of a pack of youngsters formed under the name of Steven. Peculiar lad, coming from a military background finds comfort in replicating the schemes he lived in his family. He takes the role of the Father/Captain of the team and subjects children that come from a similar background story, but do not posses his same attitude to the command. All quiet on the front, until the space he declared is own spot got affected by the presence of others. Intruders. I knowingly let the events unfold to see how Steven would react to his challenged authority. His reaction was, at first, worded, a sketch, a stage-play of an action he witnessed over and over, and he knew the part so well that some of the contending kids lowered their stance against him. Among considering to mildly intervene into this pyramid scheme of authority, another boy, Jan, calls himself on the role of the educator and hero of the masses and proceeds to unfold a wild and well assessed punch on the newly declared dictator face. Balance is established again. No need for me to arbitrate, once more the laws of nature seem to apply to children as in a state of nature.

Meet John Moore over lunch. His job at the newspaper is picking up, he is charmed by the spirits and the wits that he finds in his shared office with all the other writers. He mentions many, goes on and on over qualities and troubles, gossips and tendencies, and even little scandals here and there. To be aware of all those details gives me no interest, but to see a dear friend so invested clearly gives me something to pick up. To consider also the amount of details and the way he describes this or that member of the journal, I can do a small exercise of analysis. It is almost too easy because John is painfully genuine, even some of the kids at the institute would beat him hands down in a battle of lies. The more he likes somebody, the more he goes on about all the details and the characteristics, often letting aside the physical appearance. When he doesn’t like somebody he has a couple of adjectives for the wits and around four or five for the physical aspects that usually indulge on some repulsive idiosyncrasies. John is a man that painfully fits in the storyline of The Picture of Dorian Gray: to him physical beauty is spiritual beauty and, of course, the other way around. This part of him surely intrigues me, makes me want to tease more from him. But, as a friend, it concerns me as John is way too prone to purposelessly decide that somebody with good eyes is also a good human being, which is a very romantic and admirably naive way of judging matters. I noticed some names that keep repeating in his narration. I dread that it is synonymous of a soon encounter from my side with the objects of his admiration. Fetiches, I dare to say, that I will have to annihilate before they sediment into his mind, perpetuating a narration that soon sees John being mislead by others.

Reserved: Tickets for the Eroica, Symphony n. 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven. Thursday evening.

Note on the show: the first movement lacked the pathos needed to begin with, I am not sure that the guest orchestra really managed to portray the wider emotional ground needed to withstand the whole representation. As the evening progressed there were some outstanding performances by the cellists. Still not approving the choice of reprising the early quick finale movement against the lengthy set of variations and fugue that we are used to in presence of the Eroica. Underwhelming the performance of the horn and oboe, vital in the comprehension of the genius of Beethoven.

Niki is a new addition of the Institute, quite old for the standards. He is already 16, he will leave when summer ends to some expensive college his family meant him to stay. His parents expect me to make him “normal” in the time we are allowed together. He is Austrian and I let him act it out like I don’t understand German for the first week of hist stay until today. I believe I hit his pride, which is good, in the moment I answered back to one of his sneaky comments. Now he knows. He is not safe from me, he doesn’t like it. The young man has a tendency to danger, risky tasks and edgy situations. In his mother’s own words “Niki is not afraid of anything”. The phrase didn’t raise any excitement in the father, rather some sort of painful acceptance that is role as the alpha male of the house is probably not only being challenged, but already diminished, if not abolished. I have taken in consideration that Niki will break himself a bone or two in the process of the therapy, probably out of the spite of boredom or rebellion. It took him less than few days to turn himself into an outcast among the outcasts, which only drives me closer to analyse the complexity of his narcissistic wall of self defence. I gave him a physical challenge to lift a certain weight, he is a pretty skinny one, he didn’t like the challenge, but I am sure he will take it. He is a brainy guy, he hates to be questioned on unfamiliar ground. He won’t sleep at night thinking about it. A challenge, in this first phase, can only bring me closer to the ease of his pains. To continue the observation.

It is a sad privilege of medicine, in particular the one I practice, to be able to witness the weaknesses of the human nature and the reverse side of life. Nevertheless, I oblige this same privilege of the study as life moves into shades of darkness. To be aware of it gives more solace to my soul than to be victim of patiently waiting for the inevitable unfolding of the events. To be able to understand more about psychology would bring more comfort and elevation to any human being, the times might not be there yet, but eventually something will move into the direction of a more wholesome approach.

Dinner meeting with Sara Howard, at the restaurant Jardin Des Cygnes, 7 pm sharp. Do not expect to reach the dessert. Do not know if John will be participating due to undeniable tension among the two and the fatal despise of John over French cuisine.

The case that Sara unfolded tonight to my ears feels more and more like pulled out from some gothic book or from the mind of a Roman historian that needed to justify the godly origins of an Emperor. One killing, apparently random, a very constructed iconography over the body. Signs and insults, shapes and drawings. Is this a work of art? Does the killer wants his victim to be his Mona Lisa? His David? I am charmed and destabilised. If this was a murder like any other, then why to spend so much time into it? Based on the description the act of killing itself was quick: a sharp cut over the throat, almost like not wanting to ruin too much the surface to use as base for, what? I keep rerunning those symbols over and over as Sara described them to me, my mind is flooded with the designs of greek philosophers that needed to explain themselves why the sky is above our head and never collapses on us. Hilarious how, no matter the science advancement, in the mind of many the sky stands inevitably overt their shoulders, suffocates them, brings them to a death of the soul and not of the body. Is all this graphic charade indeed only a form to scream for attention? To stress the eyes of an unaware viewer? It seems ridiculously elaborate, a scream for attention would be quick, it would be like guided by instinct, not reasoning, craftwork. Any man with a knife can paint in blood red the walls of a room and that’s asking for attention. That is the primal howl: look at me! I am here! But this one. I don’t know yet.

Spent the early morning reading anew my copy of The Metamorphosis by Ovid. Didn’t touch it in a long time and I got bedazzled by the world of terrible sensuality, anger and selfishness of those gods and mortals. I think back at all the deviances and weaknesses of human kind and I try to relate it to all of those humanoid figures. Niki would be a minotaur, the lonesome son left in the labyrinth and his strive for success is his bull’s head. Or maybe a centaur, because of his wits and strategic thinking. I might keep up the process, maybe this is the way to understand my patients better, to understand the killer better. Must remember not to romanticise it. Greek gods were probably the first form of self indulging of a society that needed gods to be forgiving and allowing favours and punishments, but only in exchange of sacrifices. But the sacrifice never comes from the God’s will, but from the will of the man that perpetuates the act of killing. To sacrifice someone or something is the sadistic response to a lack of love deeply inherited in human mind that becomes neurotic. Is the killer giving the God of his own neurosis a body to feast upon?

I talked with Jan this morning. The young boy is about 10, but he acts like a full grown adult. I could easily asses that’s the reason why he could challenge Steven in that fight. Two children mimicking adults situations they know too well. Jan is son of an industrial man, but he is also son of the dialectics of the industrial revolution. He sounds like he swallowed some of those books about working class rights and communism, probably pushed by a resentful surrounding (mother?uncle? the midwife?) over the social role of his father. As much as incredibly smart and lectured, Jan lost most of his early occasions in life by spending a considerable amount of time using his fists. The anger ever present in the young boy always surprises me, he seems to be holding a power, a strength of a full grown man in those tiny arms. Nevertheless, he is already the tallest of the group. He is surely an idealist, which makes him also tragically fragile. His strength mixed with his heart of gold can make him the best of the heroes or the worst of the villains. He apologised for the fight, he specified how he didn’t like the sound of Steven’s voice, more than the sound, the level of pitch. I can’t stand somebody shouting orders, I just don’t listen anymore. He is so mature even about his own feelings, almost a gentleman in his chivalry toward the weaker children, honest with his open heart and resentful against any form of injustice. I am not spared by his ways, he would come at me whenever he feels like I was being partial over some of the kids, his sense of justice blinds him and transform a perfectly balanced boy into a ranging animal.

Ordered book, to be delivered around tomorrow evening: Introduction à la méthode de Léonard de Vinci by Paul Valéry. Suddenly feeling myself as a gross ignorant in art themes. I always regarded myself aware of the artistic personalities and tendencies of present and past, but this new amount of perceptions over the human figure and the human body leads me to document myself more. I could ask John for advice, but he wouldn’t take things at matter that seriously. I can almost hear him say how I can make gruesome a pleasant topic such as art. I should probably wait to see the body to push any further aesthetic study, but I find myself not being able to stop. I reckon, I can allow myself a vice or two.

Today I saw the body of the killed man, courtesy of the Isaacson's. To be fair, I had underestimated it. In Sara’s descriptions, probably due to her more analytic mind, all the charm of the representation got lost in favour of a less cryptic and reasonable understanding of the act. Sara got what some alienists will call a masculine mind, which I don’t perfectly agree on. If I apply that same approach John would be a very feminine mind, all wrapped up in romanticising even the ugliest. I guess that dividing the world in “fragile and gentle” and “strong and powerful” is just easier to explain the fluctuation of something that doesn’t need a real name or a category like human inclinations on thoughts. I got a feverish sense of patience by looking at the body. Each symbol traced with sapient slowness, dense of the time that the killer spent with the body. That is a work of hours, he had time and meaning. He had resources and was able to spend not less than the time he needed to reach, a vision? An ideal? A message? Is it the message meant to be understood? Am I supposed to unravel it or it is maybe just the way the killer communicates within himself? And if I do decifrate the code, will that bring me closer to him? Or to his next victim?

Reminder: ask John to replicate all the symbols on the bodies in the correct measure and order. It might be needed some hard convincing. Addition: scheduled meeting, his house, 3 pm.

It wasn’t a day like any other when I met you. Or maybe it was, and that’s why I got so struck by it and now I am here playing it over and over through what my memory clung on so desperately. In my own experience, life was often similar to swimming in a lake. Those rich, dense lakes in the north of (illegible cancelled word) were my father used to bring us during summer. I still feel the pull, the draw down toward the abyss. It ashamed me, in a way, the fear that such a simple feeling aroused in my young mind, unaware nevertheless, that such a feeling would follow me through all my existence. It was a prophecy and, like most of the prophecies, was a riddle. I cradle in my heart the charm of those days, the mindless happiness. The foolish feeling of freedom. Little I knew that freedom would be taken away from me that soon, that the body that used to navigate me over the dense waters, helping me to fight the haul toward the unknown, would become my own cage. That day. Today. The day where I met you, the day I was afloat. The child gasping for air felt the wrench become a gentle push and now he is floating on his back over the scary waters of reality and malice. It gave me relief and it gave me terror, because since that very moment I knew that I would never be able to move on from the sight of you. From the feeling of your eyes lingering on me. From the smile you so easily shone upon me. From the whiff of imported perfume that hit me when you turned on side exploding that swan like neck. And nothing, not even my stern look, could dim that wave of hope that your sole presence washed over me. The abyss roars, calls me to a home of damnation and terror and curses my name and yet you repeated that hell-bound name of mine after me and I felt safe.

John told me so much about you, it feels like I have always known you.

The rope is gone from my neck, the guillotine won’t fall on me, I am spared, I am free.

I have read your latest article, I am thrilled to help with the case.

I am in disbelief.

Your voice.

Dr. Kreizler

How dare you? How dare you to come into my life, to appear, like a vision, mystical, in a way I despised at University when all those theology students talked about the divine. In this very moment I can’t recollect much of what you said, something about the case, about going with John at the obituary. It feels confusing, I feel overstimulated, my memory fails me, I am not sure anymore. I write these few lines and it is passed the hour of the witches and I wish, I demand, to never see you again, because life should never grant hope to a condemned man.

#dr laszlo kreizler #dr laszlo kreizler imagine #dr laszlo kreizler x reader #dr laszlo kreizler x you #laszlo kreizler #laszlo kreizler headcanons #laszlo kreizler x reader #the alienist fanfic #victorian age #v writes #the diary of doctor laszlo kreizler

108 notes · View notes

luxwritesfanfic · 3 years

Text

Definitely Not Your Color

In true Sherlock fashion, he shows you exactly why green isn’t his color. Or, the one where reader can read auras and Sherlock is going through it at the sight of her new friend. AU!Bucky makes an appearance because I can’t live without him. Enjoy!

Sherlock Holmes/Reader

You were stood off to the side of the crime scene recounting your conversation with the last witness of the night. There had been yet another murder and Lestrade had requested Sherlock’s help for what seemed to be a serial killer in the making. Two murders in less than a week and Sherlock was thrilled and it was easy to tell. An array of yellows and subtle oranges surrounded him, engulfed him, as he explained how vacant Scotland Yard truly could be and how quickly he had figured out the killer’s M.O. He shined like the sun, and you swore you saw tendrils of sunlight shoot off of his fingers as he analyzed every aspect of the scene before him. All confidence, he paraded around the crime scene in a way you knew so well, pointing out things that even after working with him for months that you wouldn’t of picked up on. He was happy to be working again, to be playing, no, winning the game once more.

You were thankful no one else saw his colors like you did. Because as sure as you were that he was what they meant when they said, “let there be light!”, you were sure that others would gravitate towards him even more until it got to a point that there was so much in between the two of you that you would only be able to see his shine from between the cracks of other people.

Pulling you out of your thoughts of Sherlock and things that you couldn’t control, you turned your head at the sound of someone’s throat clearing.

“He’s seriously brilliant.” An officer who you hadn’t recognized before stood behind you, holding his cap in his hands and drumming his fingers along the rim. He looked past you to where Sherlock and John were, a laugh slipped out from under his breath. “Makes it look so easy.”

Your lips twitched at the statement, a warmth you knew too well for your liking spreading around you. If anyone else could see you, really see you, you’d surely be figured out. Sherlock Holmes was a great man, you were sure of it. He was as intelligent as they came and as handsome as the devil, and sure— sometimes he could be rude, and maybe a little ignorant, and sometimes you really wanted to slap the smirk off of his face when playing Cluedo (Because, Sherlock, it can’t be the victim!) but you wouldn’t change him.

They told you not to stare at the sun but you couldn’t help it. You needed to see what was really there because you refused to believe that a man who couldn’t feel a thing made the world look that vivid. You were the moth and he was the flame and if that meant dying a painful death just to bask in everything that he was, so be it. Evidently, there were worse ways to die.

Stealing one last glance like you couldn’t help yourself, you shoved your notebook and pen in your purse and made your way back to your conversation.

“He really is. You’re new, right? Lestrade mentioned he had some new guys joining the force. Can’t say you didn’t have an interesting first week.” You wanted to lighten the mood as much as you could because you knew this wasn’t an easy crime to see. You still couldn’t look at the body too long yourself without feeling the black sit heavy in your stomach.

“Don’t worry ma’am, I can handle it.” As if he read your mind, he gave you a warm smile and nodded. “My father, he, uh, he was an officer as well. Started me with the bad stuff early. Said it would give me a little more character and a lot more advantage. There’s not too much that can scare me away, I don’t think.”

You returned his smile. He was a cool blue, and it matched his eyes perfectly. It looked good on him, you decided. “Good. London needs all the help that we can get. Oh- I’m Y/N, by the way! I work with Sherlock and John sometimes. I’m not a genius or a doctor but I can take damn good notes.” And at that you both laughed, as he reassured you that the boys would have nothing to study from if it wasn’t for you. In turn it made you laugh even harder when you realized he hadn’t got the chance to see Sherlock visit his Mind Palace yet, where everything you could offer him he already had.

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m James, but I hardly ever use my government if I don’t have to. Please, call me Bucky.” He reached his hand out to you and shook yours, that boyish smile never leaving his lips. From behind you, you could tell subconsciously that it had gotten significantly darker. Like a light had went out. You didn’t think enough of it to turn around and investigate it.

---

You found it was easy to talk to Bucky and you had more things in common than you could have expected. He was polite and seemed to have seriously believed that you were an integral part of the team that he needed to get to know. You appreciated his kindness and how friendly he was, and it seemed like more than anything he was grateful you were giving him a chance to belong. You couldn’t figure out why.

It just so happens that from the angle you were looking, you saw Sherlock’s shoes before you saw his face. It looked like moss had grown through the concrete and saturated him so thoroughly that you thought he wouldn’t soon be able to move. It made you uneasy how sickly the green made him look. You had never seen this color on him before.

“If I knew all you were going to do was stand around and disregard everything I say, I would have brought Molly instead. She listens. Intently.” Sherlock spat and cut his eyes at you before looking to Bucky and giving him a once over before digging in.

“Generally, they say to try again and again if you fail. I would think that wouldn’t apply to something like the police academy. Third, no... fourth times the charm as they say?” The green fog spilled out of Sherlock’s mouth and continued to cover him, wrapping so tightly around his body that you thought he might have trouble breathing. Even though you were standing a few good feet away from him, you could feel how heavy the fog had made you, and you worried for Sherlock as it encompassed him. You almost made to reach for him because you were afraid you’d lose him under all the smoke.

“You’re a favored drop out who still lives with his mother, no, father. That’s where the drinking problem comes from I assume? One failed relationship too many and now suddenly your calling is keeping the streets clean of the people you used to run them with. Now, I know Lestrade has horrible taste when it comes to putting together a team but tell me, how did he get so lucky as to stumble across you? It can’t be the... no wait, it is because of-“

“Sherlock!” You say exasperatedly, looking at him like he’s he’s got three heads when you can’t even see the one he’s got as it is. He is solid and dark and lost in this feeling that you can’t name and he’s not him. Well, he is him, but weighed down so much by whatever he’s trying to carry through that you can’t imagine he’s acting this hateful for no reason. You refuse to believe it.

Bucky sighed and somehow still managed to twitch his lips upwards, a ghost of the grin he wore before. “Well, Mr. Holmes, you are what they say you are. Brilliant for sure. Hell, you haven’t even spoken a word to me prior and you know my life.” You were shocked to see Bucky’s reaction, most people would of blacked out on Sherlock for an outburst like that and this one definitely warranted it. “You’re right, about all of those things. I guess I’m just trying to play the best game I can with the hand I was dealt. I’m not one for feeling sorry for myself.” He straightened up and fastened his cap back on as he caught eyes with Lestrade and returned a knowing nod.

Turning to you, Bucky grinned as if it never phased him, like he had grown used to being talked down on. The blue never left him and that made you happy. You didn’t want him to feel bad.

“Goodnight, Y/N. I look forward to speaking with you again. Mr. Holmes.” With that, he bid you both a good night and headed towards his team.

“Sherlock,” you murmured when you turned back to face him. The fog was so dark that you couldn’t make out his features anymore. You felt the fear creeping up your neck while you were trying to figure out what was so wrong with him. “What’s wrong with you? I figured you’d be happy that you practically solved the case...?”

You saw it, he had been happy. And then you remembered his earlier comment about Molly. Maybe he wished she was here instead to celebrate his win with him.

“Listen... if this is about Molly, you know you can always ask her to tag along instead. I don’t want you to feel... obligated to invite me. She’s probably more useful in a situation like this anyway.”

You felt yourself internally deflate as you spoke, but you were able to make out Sherlock’s face once more under the city lights. The green began to thin out. He must’ve been relieved at your confession, you thought.

Sherlock visibly tensed for a second before quickly masking it under an air of nonchalance.

“I could care less about Molly or what she’s good for. All I care about is the work and that it gets done. You know that.”

You watched as time passed and you could start seeing more of him. You realized you’d been holding your breath for some time waiting for the green to dissipate and set your detective free. Sherlock was back with you, and whatever feeling tried to take him away from you was lost now. That’s all that mattered.

And, of course, because there were still pressing matters to finish attending to, your moment with Sherlock didn’t last long. You swore something had changed within him. Something you couldn’t name just yet.

You weren’t totally quite convinced that whatever had happened between you two back there wasn’t about Molly, or some strange feeling that Sherlock was having that he’d surely never talk about. Even still you continued to follow after him wherever he asked you to go, as he still always asked you to go.

And if he happened to stand a little closer to you the next time you worked alongside Scotland Yard, you were none the wiser.

160 notes · View notes

spooky-z · 4 years

Text

Leaving the Mask Behind

Warning:

This story contains language, OOC, Asian bamfs and moral ambiguity.

Maribat by @ozmav

9.3K

Translations for this story:

妹妹 (mèi mei) – young sister

姉貴 (aneki) – older sister

anh - elder brother / em – younger brother

混蛋 (hún dàn) – bastard

やりまん (yariman) – slu*

女武芸者 (onna-bugeisha) – female martial artist

瓢虫 (piáo chóng) – ladybug

竜 (ryū) – dragon

con khỉ - monkey

大人 (dàrén) - used for an official or a person in authority

meaning "chief" or "leader" - رئیس (raʾīs)

さま(sama) – respectful to higher rank person

悪霊(akuryoo) – demon / biblical type

▫▪▪

"I don't believe that... That... Ugh!" Marinette screamed angrily at the walls of her room.

It had been almost twenty minutes since she had been walking back and forth grunting in anger and cursing Lila Rossi's existence. Marinette couldn't believe the audacity of that freaking Italian! She really did that.

“妹妹(mèi mei)! What happened this time?” Kagami invaded the nervous girl's room, without bothering to knock on the hatch door, after all, Kagami Tsurugi was part of the family.

"She did it again, 姉貴(aneki)!" Marinette replied, throwing a paper ball into Kagami's hands. “That 混蛋(hún dàn)! If I get my hands on that Italian, I'll kill her!”

Ignoring Marinette's outbreak in the background, Kagami carefully stretched the paper, trying not to tear it. She thought it was just another bad joke that Lila had made again; like the one from the previous week, where she wrote a letter all in Italian offending Marinette and lying to the class saying it was a letter praising the girl.

Of course, not even in a million years, she expected to find the "ULTIMATE WARRIOR" in thick letters, painted in red and gold on top of the paper. Much less the words “SELECTED” and the names of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Kagami Tsurugi and Lê Chiến Kim.

Kagami had to read and reread what was written on the paper because she was too stunned by what she was seeing. She couldn't believe that Lila had the courage to enroll them in a combat competition program.

Even more because it was no secret that the program was the extreme of the extreme. Kagami still remembered a competitor who had to be forcibly removed from the competition, for having left three teams - nine people - disabled beyond measure; one of the victims had almost lost his leg movements because he was hit hard by the guy's blade.

For God's sake! Competitors had to sign documents exempting the program from any liability in the event of a fatality.

And Lila signed them up for it. Even though she knew everything, she signed them up because she wanted to see them suffer.

“That やりまん(yariman)!” Kagami spat, crumpling the paper again and throwing it to the floor in anger. "Let me get my 短刀(tantō) and we can cut her throat without having to get our hands dirty with her rotten blood."

Marinette sighed in devastation.

"I knew that defending Chloe from Lila's lies would have consequences, but that?" She pointed to the paper ball on the floor. "This is sadism."

Kagami sat on the chaise, pulling the girl with her. She was still simmering with anger, but remembered that she was the oldest there, by a year, but older. So Kagami had to show maturity and comfort her younger sister.

"What she’s doing- what did she did... This is no longer about revenge, mèi mei." Kagami put her arm around the girl's shoulders in comfort. “She's doing it all just to hurt you. Even if you didn't defend Chloe, Lila would find another way to attack you.”

Marinette dropped her head on Kagami's shoulder, tired of it. Tired of Lila Rossi.

“If it were just me, that's would be fine. I would accept it because it wouldn't make a difference to me, but it involved you and anh.”

Kagami laughed. The truth and certainty in Marinette's words made her happy. Knowing that she had a person beside her like Marinette - and Kim - was a gift that she would never be able to pay her parents.

"But at least it's me and em." She answered. "Have you ever thought if she put Chloe and that girl- Rose?"

Marinette snorted, imagining that. "That would have been a colossal disaster."

The two sat on the chaise in a comfortable silence. It was normal, when the two were without Kim, for silence to be part of their day. Both Kagami and Marinette expressed their feelings better through actions.

They were both sitting for a few minutes when the sound of doors slamming and heavy footsteps running downstairs caught their attention. Both recognizing the rhino that was tap dancing around Marinette's house.

It wasn't long before a very smiling Kim's head appeared in the open hatch.

He paced the room in a familiar comfort. Kim practically lived there.

"Mèi mei, aneki!" He said excitedly. "Why do you two looks like death?"

Kagami pointed the paper ball to the floor. "Read."

The boy frowned at Kagami's tone. She hardly spoke like that when it was just the three of them, keeping her cold behavior only to people outside the family.

He picked up the crumpled paper and stretched it without care, his eyes skimming over the written words.

Kim looked up at them. His expression was unreadable.

"You who signed us up, mèi mei?"

Marinette snorted insulted, and pulled her head away from Kagami's shoulder.

“Of course not, anh. This is the work of our dear and beloved, Lila Rossi."

'Hm' came from him. The eyes going back to the paper, analytical. Probably thinking about something that Marinette and Kagami hadn't thought of yet, as they were both too angry for that.

Many believed that Kim was a silly boy. Obviously, he made a point of acting like the jester with his classmates and in a way, he was, but no one but the family knew about the real Kim.

The smart, cold, strategist and merciless Kim. Of the three, Kim was the most likely to participate in a carnage and still make it look like a trip to the mall.

"I think we should accept this opportunity, 灌(Guàn)." He said clinical.

Kagami shuddered in surprise at the boy's words. Marinette beside the girl, had the same reaction. Of the three there, Kim was the most heavily camouflaged, so for him to suggest that meant...

"... You don't intend to pretend anymore." Marinette said Kagami's thoughts aloud.

The boy sighed, looking older and more tired. The paper was still firm in his hand.

"Technically, we are not pretending, just... not being completely sincere." He pointed. "But yes. That's exactly what I'm saying.”

"But Kim-Giáp, you know that as soon as we are 'sincere', things will change." Kagami said, hope growing in her heart. She hated having to put on a mask to leave home and interact with people. "There will be no turning back."

“There is nothing else for us here. Guàn has been suffering to remain civilized in order not to attract the attention of her parents, I am tired of having to make a fool of myself for those idiots and you, Kagami, also do not like having to put on the ‘girl without friends’ mask, to keep the peace." He sat down heavily next to Marinette. "Mars, if you agree, I want to do this."

Marinette stared at the floor, lost in thought.

Kim was right, of course. None of the three could take it until they were eighteen or finished the lycée to get rid of their classmates, Bustier or Lila. But Marinette also feared, because of the three, she was the person who would have the most changes in life.

After all, the agreement was that as soon as she decided to become Cheng's head, the engagement- her engagement, would be understood as accepted. And maybe Marinette was still a little afraid to leave the comfort, because she didn't know who her promised husband was.

But then she thought about the hell that Dupont was being and how just changing schools would not solve the problems of the three. They were suffocating being something they were not.

She lifted her head and looked at the boy.

"So, you better say goodbye to that blond hair." And smiled. Kagami practically vibrated with joy beside her.

Kim rolled his eyes before shoving her with his shoulder.

"At least I won't be forced to see those awful pig tails anymore."

"HEY!"

"He's right."

“Aneki!”

Now they just needed to finish enrolling for the program, let families know about the change in plans and what the expected consequences are.

They only had a month to settle everything and compete in the program.

▫▪▪

For a month the trio did not appear in Dupont.

In the first week, Lila was easily the first to notice the lack of a certain girl in the classroom, internally congratulating herself for breaking another one.

Next were Max and Alix, believing that Kim was sick. They went to the boy's house only to come across a “property for sale” sign. Needless to say, they came back to school confused and sad.

The third person to notice was surprisingly, Chloe Bourgeois. The girl only realized that Dupain-Cheng and Lê Chiến were missing when Lila started spreading lies about her and Marinette was not there to act as guardian of morals.

Nino and Sabrina noticed at the same time, but neither of them paid much attention because they knew the duo and knew that sporadically, Marinette and Kim (and Kagami) would disappear for a while and then return as if nothing had happened.

The rest of the class noticed at the same time as Bustier. One Wednesday, in the middle of the third week absent, the teacher entered the classroom with heavy eyes and hunched shoulders. The word "transferred" and the names "Marinette, Kim" were all they got before Alix became a berserker.

Alya didn't even blink at the announcement. Glad that Lila was safe now that her mother managed to get rid of her daughter's bullies.

Adrien failed to maintain the perfect model expression. When he arrived at the Dupain-Cheng bakery, he was greeted with employees never seen before. No sign of Marinette or her parents.

He also realized that Kagami was strangely absent from fencing classes and that the calls went directly to voicemail. The blood ran cold in his veins.

▫▪▪

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, on a strangely sunny Monday in Gotham; a letter with a thick envelope and sealed with a ladybug coat of arms arrived at Wayne Mansion.

They were all together for breakfast when Alfred, the butler, handed the red, black wax-sealed envelope to Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne's youngest son.

His father, his brothers and his almost brothers, curious about the unusual situation.

When he opened the letter and realized its contents, a deformed smile took over the face that until then, was always frowning.

Everyone was able to hear the ‘Finally’ coming from the boy, before he disappeared upstairs without exchanging a word with the family.

“Damian Al Ghul Wayne, we would like to announce that Cheng Guàn will finally be taking over the Cheng head next month. She accepted her role as head of the family and will be announcing through her participation in Ultimate Warrior, accompanied by the heads of Tsurugi and Lê.

We would like to challenge you one last time, as a demonstration that Cheng Guàn is more than able to walk and fight alongside you.

Best regards,

Cheng Hua.”

Not very traditional, but it would do.

As he read the program rules, the only thought in the boy's mind was that he and his brothers were going to have a lot of fun ending up with anyone who wasn't even minimally decent.

▫▪▪

Marinette was just finishing tying the laces on her boot when Kim fully armored came in with the phone to the ear.

While he was finishing talking to what was probably his ‘war assistant’ - if the Vietnamese indicated anything - she watched her brother well, now that he wasn’t trying to hide under the jester mask.

Giáp had dyed his hair back to its natural color, removing the blonde once and for all. He preferred not to cut his hair completely, leaving the sides and nape shorter than the top, combed with gel to the side. Like a businessman.

His tactical military suit was identical to that of Kagami and Guàn, only further reinforced in places of impact such as fists and knees. The face had full protection to prevent accidents, only the eyes uncovered, but only because he had taken off his glasses since they were not yet in the field.

He would fight only with fists at first.

Kagami was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, meditating. Her tactical suit was a little more mixed with her kendo suit, since she was wearing her armor over her clothes. The 胴(dō) on her chest, 小手(kote) on her wrists, 垂れ(tare) on her waist, and the 面(men) lying comfortably on the floor beside her, along with her twin 刀(katana) with red blades and the 十文字槍(jūmonji yari) that she had won for her sixteenth birthday last year.

There was also a cloth mask covering her nose and mouth, and sports glasses over her eyes to keep out dust.

Guàn wore the totally pure military tactical suit. A little more pulled into an anti-riot suit, but not as bulky, because she didn't want to impair her mobility and her mask was a totally black ballistic mask.

On the table in the tiny waiting room - a tent - there were two types of rifles: A Colt M4 and an Arctic Warfare; two Glock and a Revolver with tranquilizer ammunition ready to reload. The five were airsoft guns. In addition to two training Cold Steel. The armament just for her.

It was as soon as Giáp hung up the phone and Kagami opened her eyes, that a staff appeared at the door of their tent warning that the competition would start in five minutes, saying it was time to finish getting ready because they would soon come to pick them up.

The three looked at each other with equally bloody smiles.

▫▪▪

ULTIMATE WARRIOR is a war-type competition program.

With each team consisting of three (3) competitors, they will have to fight against each group in order to redeem the One (1) Million Euro prize. That is, the team must defeat all other teams in order to redeem the prize. Only one team leaves UW undefeated.

The competition takes place once a year and is hosted in ghost towns around the world and recorded live for TV channels. It has no minimum duration, with the maximum reached being 5h.

UW is a very prestigious event; participants are usually military or combatants of some kind.

The minimum age for participation is sixteen (16) and the maximum is thirty (30).

Non-lethal weapons are allowed.

Competitors are eliminated by voluntary withdrawal, if they are knocked out or by serious injuries.

Any type of aggression that results in fatalities or near fatalities is completely prohibited. The punishment for breaking the rule is jail.

▫▪▪

As the UW was something really important worldwide, almost like the Olympics or the World Cup, the day was given as a holiday by all countries in the world; then everyone would sit in front of their televisions and watch the competition cheering for their favorite or those from their country.

In Paris, the city hall set up a screen under the Eiffel Tower and the population came with their families to watch with the rest of the Parisians.

That was no different that year. Mlle. Bustier’s class all together, some accompanied by their parents or siblings and others - like Lila - alone or with their bodyguards - like Adrien -.

They were sitting on the lawn having silly conversations when Mylène's voice caught everyone's attention.

“... Isn't that Adrien's friend? Kagami? I guess." The blonde raised his head to look around, but couldn't find the girl.

"I don't see anyone like her." He replied confused.

"Oh." Rose sighed. “On the screen. It's Kim.”

And everyone turned to see that it was actually Kim, Kagami and Marinette on the screen, being announced as Team B.

"What..." Alix sighed in disbelief.

"... And in team B, we have Lê Chiến Giáp, only 16 years old." The camera focused on who Kim should be - they were not sure, as the person was completely camouflaged in tactical clothing and a mask, and the hair did not appear to be blond -, standing with a broad chest and quite intimidating.

Half the screen was divided, one that filmed Kim and the other with his info and a 3x4 photo of his face.

"He will be the fists of team B. The boy knows how to throw a punch, Will!" One of the narrators continued.

"Yeah, Smith! But have you seen his teammate, Tsurugi Kagami?" The camera started to focus on Kagami, dressed as a Japanese warrior, but also totally unrecognizable. There were two swords stuck in her back - camera showing details of the armor - and in her hand, a trident-like spear. "She is 17 years old!"

Like Kim, there was a 3x4 photo of her with the written info.

“The girl is a real 女武芸者(onna-bugeisha)!” The first narrator, Will, said excitedly.

"But let's not forget about 16-year-old Cheng Guàn!" The footage changed to the third person, fully dressed as a military soldier, a plain black mask that left only her blue eyes uncovered. She, Guàn, had two rifles attached to her back, a Glock attached to each thigh, a Revolver just below the Glock on her right thigh. In addition to a black knife attached to each boot.

The 3x4 photo of Marinette Dupain-Cheng appearing on the screen with the info.

"She'll be the team's sniper!" Smith announced. "This year's contestants..." And they started talking about the rest of the participants, but Mlle. Bustier’s class stopped paying attention.

They were unresponsive.

Or at least almost everyone.

"Wow, I didn't know they were going to participate." Nino commented surprised, but not shocked like the rest of the class. "Did you know that, Chloe?"

The blonde - who for some reason had accompanied them, even without being invited - looked at the boy shaking her head. "No. I was not informed that they would participate. Only that they wouldn't be available for a while.” She sighed. “Did you hear anything, ‘Brina?”

Sabrina looked up from the tablet, shrugging. "Only they'll be back in a week." She replied softly. "Mom has been getting busier and busier, but she told me that soon they would tell us."

Nino nodded, seeming to understand what Sabrina meant and Chloe leaned back in the beach chair she had taken. The conversation dying there.

"Since when are you close to Marinette or Kim?" Ivan asked confused. He never saw any of them minimally close to each other.

"And the ice queen." Alya commented acidly, eyes narrowed on Nino.

"Ah, our parents work for them." Sabrina replied disinterestedly.

"We've known each other since diapers, dude." Nino shook his head.

"What- and why I never heard about it before?” Alix asked with their disregard. "I'm Kim's best friend and he never told me about it."

"Maybe because he didn't want to tell." Chloe murmured, not loud enough for Alix to hear, but loud enough for Adrien and Lila, who were closest to her besides Sabrina and Nino.

Adrien winced at the sharp edge of the words. He didn't like that at all.

Lila, on the other hand, was excited to watch Marinette suffer live for the whole world, but was also a little irritated by the attention she was receiving.

"But I don't understand..." She sighed in delight; they were once again focused on her. “Marinette's parents are just bakers, Kagami's mother is just a fencer and Kim's... What do Kim's parents do? I don't think I've met them before.” She frowned.

She had never seen or heard of Kim's parents.

"Now that you mention it, I also never saw Kim's parents." Max said shocked. "Every time I went to his house, he was alone."

Alya looked back at the atypical trio. Chloe, Nino and Sabrina.

"You are going to tell us right now what is happening!"

Chloe raised her eyebrow, not liking Alya's demanding tone. "Or what, Césaire?"

Alya opened her mouth to reply, but Adrien was faster.

"Nino?"

“My bad, dude. It is not something I am allowed to tell.” The boy shrugged guiltily.

"Yet." Sabrina said out of the blue and everyone looked at the girl waiting for her to elaborate, but she kept quiet.

"-Oh, it's starting." Rose pointed to the screen and the students soon calmed down, their eyes avid on the screen.

▫▪▪

"... 竜(ryū) there are two heading your way." Guàn said in the communicator, her voice muffled by the ballistic mask.

The trained eyes on the street below her, providing cover for Kagami and Giáp to eliminate the other competitors.

"Understood." She heard Kagami respond through the headset. “Con khỉ goes on the right and I on the left. Do any of them have weapons, 瓢虫(piáo chóng)?”

She watched Giáp hide against the stone walls of the hut across the street and Kagami disappear into the hut a little further from where she and Giáp were.

“One unarmed and one with knives. I'm trying to find the third, but no sign of him." She breathed heavily. “Con khỉ the target is fast approaching. Ryū, target at ninety degrees.”

Guàn didn't need to see to know that both Giáp and Kagami had ambushed their targets, but even so, she didn't take her eyes off them.

It was always beautiful to see how gracefully Kagami handled the jūmonji yari or how Giáp did not hesitate to reach the pressure points on the enemy's body, never using too much brute force, only skill and knowledge.

That was why she was almost a little too late to notice the presence in the ruin in which she was hiding. But it was only almost.

The competitor - Team E, she read on the stripe attached to his arm, not much older than her -, didn't have time to react. She was flexible and had the knowledge. Even though he was a combatant, he was no match for her at full capacity.

Guàn was quick to take the knife out of her boot and throw it at him as a distraction. The sniper rifle forgotten in the previous post. She ran while he fumbled with the gun in his hands; she didn't think twice about kicking the back of his knee and when he fell heavily on the clay floor, she didn't hesitate to shoot twice with the Glock.

One dart in the thigh and one in the arm. Where protection was less effective, since the Kevlar did not cover and was just the fabric of the suit covering.

"The third has been neutralized." She said as she put the Glock back in her thigh holster.

"The second too." Giáp replied a little breathlessly. That mask was probably restricting his breathing. Even more because he was a heavy fighter.

"The first one gave up." Kagami said with a mocking tone. The girl hated it when she started to cheer up in a fight and then the person just gave up, for not being able to keep up with her.

“Calm down, Ryū. There are still three- “A siren sounded; the team alert cleared.

"Team E, Team A, Team C eliminated." The announcer's voice loud enough for all the competitors in the Craco ruin - Italy - to be able to hear. “We will have a ten-minute break for competitors to hydrate and replenish their energy.”

"What were you going to say?" Kagami snorted.

It hadn't even been an hour of combat and three teams had already been eliminated. They had taken team E and team A.

Team A was a bunch of filthy elitist pigs, acting contemptuously with them as if they were Asian, were worth less or were easy to beat.

Guàn loved to break the jaw of the leader of the three, Kagami may have stabbed the third a little more violently than recommended and Giáp may have broken the tibia of the second. But it wasn’t like they got a reprimand for it.

Perhaps the producers have turned a blind eye to the rules, only to see the three white supremacists having their asses delivered by three Asian teenagers.

"Okay, we have two to eliminate yet."

She expected them to be a little more challenging.

▫▪▪

In Paris, the class was at different levels of breathing difficulties, but of all, Lila was the most affected.

She didn't know that Dupain-Cheng could be so scary.

"How can she move like this, if she can barely walk straight without falling or hitting something?!" Alya seemed personally offended by Marinette's recent acquired skill.

Chloe snorted mocking the girl.

"Are you serious, Césaire?" She crossed her arms, without patience. "You said you were the girl's best friend for almost a year and you don't know that she can knock someone out with her eyes closed and her hands tied?!"

Alya opened her mouth, but nothing came out in her defense.

"Chloe!" Nino scolded the blonde and Alya felt her heart heat up for being defended by the boy. "It is not their fault that they are ignorant about Guàn's life." And Alya's heart ached with the harsh words.

"They can't talk about it, remember Chlo?" Sabrina asked sweetly, trying to calm Chloe.

The blonde turned her face in a tantrum. There was a pout there.

"I didn't know that Kim knew how to fight." Nathaniel said softly, almost without a voice.

“There is a lot that you don't know about Kim. Or Marinette.” Sabrina said enigmatically.

Adrien was starting to think that they didn't really know anything about the two classmates and the only three who did for some reason wouldn't open their mouth at all.

But he had faith that when the two returned, everything would finally come together. And he would have a very serious conversation with Kagami about hiding things from him.

▫▪▪

Damian was growing more and more impatient. Until that moment he had not yet found his fiancée.

Sure, he had a brief glimpse of her and the other two heads, but all three were armored to the top and he couldn't even make out what color her eyes were. Only that her hair was long and so dark that when the sunlight hit, the color changed to a deep blue.

He, Dick and Jason had eliminated two teams - C and D - with only team B missing. Her team. But somehow, they couldn't find the team anywhere in the ruins of Craco. It was as if they had evaporated with the air.

"I spotted them Demon!" Jason's voice came over the communicator. “They are at the highest point on the e-ek hill! Shit I almost got hit by a dart.”

Damian didn't think twice about leaving his post and running the streets of Craco, closer and closer to the top. On the way, he spotted Dick fighting the man of Team B.

He found Jason crouched behind a rock that was supposed to be the wall of one of the houses, trying not to be hit by the tranquilizer projectiles.

"I'm going up!" He signaled to Jason. "Cover me."

He ran to the entrance to the tower, barely avoiding the projectiles being fired at him. Jason right behind him and Dick alone fighting the other guy.

Damian barely stepped on the top floor when he had to block the yari's blade with his katana. He was fighting the Team B swordswoman and Jason going head to head with Cheng Guàn, Damian's fiancée. The two of them in a shooting contest.

▫▪▪

The Parisian population was quiet. All barely breathing with their eyes glued to the screen. The class was not much different from them. Even Nino, Chloe and Sabrina watched the final confrontation with glazed eyes.

They watched as both Marinette and the other competitor- Jason ran out of ammunition and weapons, without thinking twice about throwing themselves into a fist fight.

They held their breath when it looked like Marinette was finally running out of stamina, Jason taking more and more of the girl's escape routes. Until-

"Piáo chóng!" Kagami screamed, distracting Jason momentarily, while throwing the trident towards Marinette before blocking the sword of the other competitor- Damian, with her own sword.

The girl was not at all surprised by the call and took the trident effortlessly, looking used to the movement. And before Jason could hit her, Marinette threw herself out the window.

"IS SHE CRAZY?!" Surprisingly it was Juleka who screamed. The shy girl was paler than normal.

But no one looked away from the screen. Everyone watching the way Marinette stuck the trident in the clay wall of the house, stopping her fall and the way she landed on the shoulders of Team F’s third competitor-Dick, strangling him with her thighs.

"DO YOU SURRENDER?!" She shouted at him, squeezing his neck even tighter.

"..." Dick was still standing, slapping his hands on her legs and trying to dislodge the girl off him, but the guy had no chance.

As soon as he managed to loosen her grip and breathe properly, three projectiles hit one on the butt, and the other two on each thigh. He fell hard to the ground, Marinette barely having time to jump out of the man. Kim standing behind them with Marinette's revolver.

“Thanks, Con khỉ-“ She didn't finish speaking before running away from Dick's body, Jason arriving like a bull. "GIÁP!"

Kim threw the revolver at Marinette and she fired at the enemy without even thinking. They blinked in time to see five projectiles lodged in his neck before Jason passed out. Avoiding Dick's body for just a few inches.

"Wow, they were a lot more trained than the others." Marinette commented to Kim, neither of them looking worried about Kagami, who was still fighting Damian inside the house.

The split screen showing Kagami's fight and the street where Kim and Marinette were.

“Well, he managed to hit me five times. That means something.” Kim replied relaxed.

"Oh really? This is surprising.” Marinette whistled, impressed.

There was an awkward silence.

"Shall we help aneki?"

“Nah. Let her have fun.”

And the two sat on the floor, watching the group of rescuers on the show take Jason and Dick away.

"I wish I had brought a book." Kim sighed in disappointment and soon Kagami and Damian's fight took over the entire screen.

What the hell?!

▫▪▪

Tsurugi and Wayne were walking in circles, analyzing the level of danger and skill.

Kagami knew who Damian was, she knew this was Guàn's fiancé, because it was her idea to send the letter inviting him to participate in the competition. Because she wanted to make sure he was able to accompany Guàn when she demanded.

Of course, Kagami knew that it was impossible for Damian to be completely useless because he was the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia Al Ghul, grandson of Ra’s Al Ghul; but she wanted to personally test how good he was, because she would accept nothing but the best for Guàn.

Then she convinced Sabine Cheng-Cheng Hua to send the letter.

"I'm glad you accepted our invitation, 悪霊(akuryoo)." She said, the tip of the katana towards the ground.

Damian tilted his head, intrigued by the way he was called.

It was not popular knowledge the way his family called him.

"I'm grateful." He nods. "It’s always good to test my skills with experienced people."

"Let's finish this."

"D'accord."

▫▪▪

Damian had given up.

Damian Al Ghul Wayne had given up.

After Tsurugi declared defeat, Damian lowered the katana and said 'I give up' directly to the camera, leaving the clay house with her.

That was a shock to Damian's family. But Alfred's discreet smile said that giving up had a much deeper reason than just giving up a fight.

▫▪▪

Guàn and Giáp got off the ground as soon as they saw movements coming from the house where Kagami was fighting with the other competitor.

Guàn had the revolver hidden behind her back, cautious. Until the fireworks went off in the sky.

"Team B is the winner of Ultimate Warrior!" The announcer shouted excitedly. “For the first time since Ultimate Warrior debuted, a group of teenagers won the contest! What a day my friends, what a day!”

The announcer was speaking something, the program staff showing up from where they were hiding, Giáp was snorting with pride as he took off his mask and glasses, but Guàn was more focused on the teenager who accompanied Kagami.

In the middle of the dispute she barely had time to analyze him while running away from his teammate's punches, but at that moment, without imminent danger, Guàn's eyes were solely focused on him.

And he was not much different from her.

Guàn barely had time to pull the ballistic mask off her face before he was standing inches from her, forcing her to lift her chin so she could look him in the eye.

"It’s a pleasure to finally be able to meet my fiancée." The boy took her hand to his mouth, placing a kiss on her knuckles without caring about the glove. "You were magnificent against my brother." He said as he lowered her hand.

Guàn raised an eyebrow, a charming smile taking over her expression.

“Oh? I am flattered." She replied, the words sliding sweet as honey. "Cheng Guàn, head of the Cheng." Inclining her head, as an informal bow, Guàn didn’t look away from him for a second.

"Damian Al Ghul Wayne, current Demon’s head."

Demon's head, huh.

She liked the sound of that.

▫▪▪

Adrien was feeling strange.

Marinette's team had won and so she was fraternizing with the enemy in a very non-Marinette way.

"It’s a pleasure to finally be able to meet my fiancée.” And he kissed her hand, his greedy, sticky eyes on the girl.

They still had communicators, so everyone was able to hear what they were talking about.

"Fiancée? Did I hear that right?” Max murmured.

"Oh, so this is him." Chloe said disinterestedly.

"He still looks like a serial killer." Nino said, an amused tone in his voice.

"Cheng Guàn, head of the Cheng." Marinette's voice cut through the confused murmurs.

Cheng Guàn? Cheng's head? What the hell was Marinette talking about?!

Classmates seemed increasingly lost.

"Damian Al Ghul Wayne, current Demon’s head." The boy with Marinette replied.

... they were really confused.

And Adrien strangely homicidal.

▫▪▪

After receiving the check of one million-euro, Guàn, Kagami and Giáp were in the car driven by Bai, the driver of the Cheng family.

There was a car in the front with Cheng's bodyguards and another in the back with Tsurugi and Lê's.

After her fiancé introduced themselves, they talked for a while without tactical microphones, being formally introduced to his brothers.

The warning had been given.

Cheng's head was engaged to the demon's head and anyone who tried anything against either of them should expect retaliation from Tsurugi, Lê and Wayne. In addition of Al Ghul.

▫▪▪

It had been a week.

A week since Ultimate Warrior, since Kagami, Marinette and Kim won the competition exhibiting skills that no one knew they had.

The situation in the classroom was a little more tense than usual.

Alya having argued with Nino because he refused to say anything about what happened and ended up breaking up with the boy, thinking he would reconsider for loving her, but he hadn't even blinked twice before leaving the girl talking to herself.

Since then, he sat in the back with Chloe and Sabrina. The three of them sitting comfortably in one seat.

Adrien had tried to extract something from Chloe, using the excuse of best friend wanting to spend time together; but the girl was not fooled by the trick, dismissing Adrien as soon as the boy opened his mouth to speak.

Lila was strangely sulky and silent. Even Alya was unable to cheer up the Italian. She was constantly having to answer mysterious phone calls that only made her more and more furious. Nobody knew how to bring it up, fearing that she would fight with them for meddling in her private affairs, so they just kept their distance.

It was on a Wednesday, exactly a month and fifteen days after they disappeared from Paris, that the class got their first glimpse of Kim, inside a luxury car accompanied by three men twice as big as him. But it had been too quick for them to be sure it was really the boy, so in the end they ignored what they saw.

But it was on Friday, a month and seventeen days, that they actually saw Marinette coming out of the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

Alya didn't think twice before running up to her, dragging the entire class along - not that they didn't want to go -. She wanted answers and she was going to get it!

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, you're going to tell me right now what's going on-" She shouted at first, not caring how much attention she was drawing from the people around her, but the words died in her mouth. For the first time noticing what Marinette was wearing.

The girl was wearing something that Alya had only seen in the Chinese dramas that Marinette watched with her when they were still friends. She remembers the name, hanfu, when the girl explained the different types.

The top was pearly white, the neckline crossed in a 'y' shape. The pleated skirt was a light blue with embroidery of white roses on the hem, the length reaching above the foot - maxi, she remembered Marinette saying -. At the waist, the white lace of the skirt wrapped around the waistband, holding the skirt in place; the same embroidery on the hem of the skirt was also on the ends of the white fabric. Above the hanfu, a thin transparent peach tunic.

On her feet, white kitten heels and the hair, was loose reaching the middle of her back.

She looked ethereal.

"Oh, Alya." The girl sighed as if she had barely recognized Alya. "How are you?" She asks.

Besides clothing, Marinette's way of talking had changed abruptly. There was a delicacy, but also a certain kind of power. As if she were a very important person who had cleared five minutes of her busy schedule to exchange a few words with her classmates.

"Wwhy are you dressed like that, Marinette?" Rose stammered.

It wasn't a strange outfit, not really. It was very beautiful and sophisticated, but very different from what Marinette used to wear normally. Not even the familiar pig tails were in sight.

"Family business." Marinette replied without going into details.

Suddenly, a man wearing a black suit stepped out of the BMW parked on the sidewalk and approached Marinette nimbly. Not sparing even a glance at the group of teenagers around her.

“Guàn 大人(dàrén) I was informed that Al Ghul dàrén is on his way.” The man said to the girl. He put a finger to his ear, where everyone noticed a discreet phone - like those American movies about secret agents -. "Lê and Tsurugi dàrén are accompanying him."

“Thank you, Bai. I will wait inside.” She smiled softly at the man who, after a complete bow, went back inside the black BMW.

"Who is he? And why is he calling you that strange way?” Alix asked, annoyed. She was sure the man was talking about Kim.

Marinette looked back at the class, focusing on Alix.

"This is Cheng Bai, my driver and bodyguard." She responded politely. "I wish I could stay and talk, but I really have to get in." Marinette pointed to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

The girl didn't wait for anyone to answer, before turning around so she could enter the bakery. She was totally insensitive to her classmates.

"Dàrén!" They recognized Sabrina's voice before they even saw her leaving the bakery with Chloe and Nino right behind. “I have updates from- oh! Hey guys, what are you doing here?” She changed the subject when she noticed the class frozen on the sidewalk.

"... We saw Marinette." Juleka replied blandly. She was feeling super uncomfortable with that situation.

"Oh, I understand." The redhead waved mechanically, looking just as uncomfortable.

Chloe ignored the class completely, talking quietly to Marinette and Nino just waved from a distance, showing no desire to approach, even with Adrien in the middle of his colleagues.

Alya seemed to wake up when she saw the three around Marinette. A feeling of betrayal burning in her stomach, but not knowing if it was about Marinette or Nino.

“Girl, what's going on? Why did you disappear?” She asked. "You went missing for a month with Kim, came out of nowhere on a show that I didn't even know you liked, and you were acting different!"

Marinette stopped talking to Chloe to look at Alya. The blank expression, hard as marble.

“Does this have anything to do with Lila? Is that why you are doing this?” Alya continued, not caring about anything else. “We can help you, Marinette. If you leave us, we can help you get over it!”

Chloe, Sabrina and Nino had incredulous expressions on their faces. None of the three believed in Alya's lack of awareness. The blogger seemed unable to think rationally before acting or speaking.

Perhaps that was why Lila had clawed at her so deeply.

"Why would mèi mei need your help?" Someone behind the class asked and they turned around in alarm, only to find Kim, Kagami and- was that Ultimate Warrior contestant Damian Wayne?!

There were also five men and two women in the same style as the man before, Bai, following them closely.

"Kim?!"

"Kagami!"

"What the hell is he doing here?" Adrien murmured poisonously. The look piercing Damian.

The three newcomers were wearing traditional clothing from their culture, as was Marinette.

Kim was wearing slim fit pants, probably cotton, as it didn't look rough. Over his pants, there was a - ao dai, Alix thought. Having seen Kim wear them before, but the old ones were much simpler than what he wore at that moment - which reached knee-high, with buttons on the right side of his chest - like a chef's jacket - and golden embroidery along the sleeves, hem and along the left shoulder to the end of the rib on the right side. There were two slits, one on each side of the body. Derby shined on his feet.

The entire set was black, except for the golden embroidery of ao dai.

Kagami's style was vaguely similar to Marinette's, but with very noticeable differences and a little ‘heavier’. Kimono was the name? Ivan was not sure.

The top part was made up of two layers. The first was white, visible through the collar of the second, which was black with a floral print that varied between purple, white, pink and orange. Both 'y' shaped collars. The sleeves were relatively large, with pieces falling by the side even though the girl had her arm raised between Kim's. The skirt as well as the top was in two layers. The first was a dark green, only two inches showing and the second was red. Pleated and tied right below the chest.

It was less flowing than Marinette's.

On her feet, white socks and wooden sandals.

The third- Damian Al Ghul Wayne, the demon head, was wearing a... dress? No, Nathaniel did not know the name for that outfit, but he did know that most men in the Middle East wore it.

The fabric was pure white - looking quite expensive -; in the throat there was a detail that went down to the middle of the chest, it was probably hiding a zipper or buttons; there was a discreet pocket on his right chest and long sleeves, adjusted on the wrist with the same detail that was around his neck. The hem of the garment reached to the middle of the shin, where it was possible to see centimeters of cotton trousers also white and on his feet, beige Oxford.

Finally, he had a scarf squared with red and white, wrapped around his hair.

"I’m waiting, Césaire." Kim asked again, not looking happy with the lack of response. "Why would she need help?"

Alya snorted, annoyed by the question.

"For what else, Kim?" She asked petulantly. "I'm talking about this obsession and envy that Marinette has towards Lila."

While Kim kept a blank expression, Kagami raised an eyebrow, a scornful smile opening on her lips. Damian hadn't even stopped to greet them, he just walked right past them before pulling Marinette into a tight hug.

Kagami gently tapped Kim's arm that was wrapped around hers and he let her go, while maintaining his haughty pose.

"Why would mèi mei envy Lila, when Lila is just a cockroach?" She asked, Adrien winced at the hardness of her words. “Who is Lila compared to Cheng Guàn? No one. So, I don't know why you insist on this idea of envy.”

Mlle. Bustier's students were in various degrees scandalized. They were used to Kagami's abruptness, but she was always a blunt-non-aggressive type, where words came out rude without intention.

But here she was, being rude and deliberately aggressive.

Lila was soon putting on her best victim mask. With tearful eyes and a fluttering pout.

“Wwhy would you say something like that, Kagami? I never did you any harm, so why are you being a bully?” She sniffed, her voice shrill and fake.

Alya wrapped her arms around the Italian, Rose following closely, sandwiching the girl between them.

"Kagami, don't you think you're being too harsh?" Adrien asked, a pleading gleam in his eyes. "This is just a misunderstanding, isn't it?!" He smiled hopefully, believing that Kagami, like Marinette, would let Lila through without a hitch.

"Why the hell would it be a misunderstanding?" Kagami countered, her eyes growing colder and colder. Kim beside her had a disgusted expression. "She knows pretty well that she is on a tightrope, so she shouldn't be feeding Césaire's stupidity."

And Lila stiffened between the two girls, her face going pale.

"What does that mean?" Mylène asked.

"It means that mother Rossi found out about baby Rossi's antics after she was demoted from her embassy position." Kim replied, satisfaction dripping from his words.

Alya's eyes widened, Adrien gasped in shock and the rest of the class was incredulous.

"Did you dare to conspire against Lila's mother, Marinette?!" She turned to the girl who was talking privately with Nino, Sabrina, Chloe and Damian. Alya's voice caught their attention, again. "Have you gotten so mean, to the point of destroying an honest woman's career?"

Marinette's expression hardened, her gaze sharpening in a way they had never seen before.

"Have you ever in your life stopped to think before opening your mouth?" She asked acidly. "Eventually you're going to piss off someone not as benevolent as me and the results will be disastrous for you."

"... That seemed like a threat." Ivan murmured, his eyes darting nervously over the men and women in suits and possibly armed around them.

"The Cheng don't make threats, Ivan." Marinette looked at him. The icy blue of her eyes pierced him. "They just go and do it."

"That right there! What is this about Chengs, the Demon's head? Why are you acting this way? And why did you move out?” Alix asked, already irritated by everything. Frustrated by the lack of answers.

"You were born in Paris and live here, but have never heard of the Three Families?" Damian asked skeptically. "I understand that you don't know what the Demon's Head means, but not knowing about the Three Families is at least stupid."

"Is this about that legend of France's three richest families?" Nathaniel asked confused. ‘Three Families’ was no stranger to him, but he couldn’t remember exactly where he had heard about it.

“Not exactly... The Three Families are, as the name says, three families. The three main families of the global mafia." Max replied, his eyes wide as he understood the general situation. "The Three Families are composed of Tsuruchi- or rather, Tsurugi." He looked at Kagami. "Lien-Lê," He looks at Kim. "And the Chang-Cheng." And finally, he looks at Marinette.

"Alternative names have been used to hide the real identities of families, but valid information is available to those who are really looking." Kim nodded, enjoying Max's intelligence.

"And if I'm not wrong, the Demon's Head correlates with the League of Assassins, a highly trained clan of hired assassins." The boy spoke again, his eyes flicking over Damian.

Damian smiled scarily. "This and much more." He says in response. "It’s good that there is someone with brain cells in this class."

"So, you mean you four are part of the mafia?" Rose asked shakily.

"We are not part of the mafia." Kagami replied.

"We are the mafia." Marinette completed.

"Then again, why the hell would Guàn be jealous of an Italian girl who only gets attention by lying every second she breathes?" Kim crossed his arms, demanding a response from Alya.

The girl flinched, instinctively turning away from him and Lila.

"III-" She closed her mouth, not knowing what to say. For the first time using reason before emotion.

“Well, while this little meeting has been good, Guàn, Giáp, Damian and I have a place to be. So, if you would excuse us, we’d like to go now.” Kagami said rudely, before dragging Kim and Marinette by the arms to the bakery.

Damian, Chloe, Nino and Sabrina following behind with the bodyguards.

"Ah!" Marinette stopped abruptly, turning back to the class. "Adrien?"

The model jumped, surprised to be called.

"Yes?" He asked cautiously.

"Let Gabriel know that his presence was requested at an audience with the Three Families." She said. Adrien felt like there was a glacier in his stomach. "We have some pending issues to deal with."

Marinette looked at the model waiting for confirmation that he understood what she had said and he nodded mechanically. Fear licking his bones.

She smiled at him before looking at Lila, who was strangely pale next to Rose.

"And Lila?" The girl barely looked up to face her. "Behave. You and I know that you don't want my wrath.”

The girl looked down at the floor, completely subdued and Marinette went back into the bakery without looking back. Everyone coming in soon after, just Sabrina staying behind.

“Max, you will receive an email with important documents about Mlle. Rossi.” She said to the boy. "I hope you make good use of it."

Lila saw her reign collapse like a tower of cards.

And there was no way to escape because she knew she wouldn't be safe anywhere.

▫▪▪

"Cheng-さま(sama), was it really wise to expose yourself like that?" Tetsuya, one of Kagami's bodyguards, asked respectfully. "You are at risk of them opening their mouth to someone who might be really problematic."

Guàn smiled kindly at the man, finding his concern cute.

"They are not going to do that."

"How can you be so sure?"

"First because they are too scared of possible retaliation, second that they are too busy now tearing up Lila Rossi." She replied nonchalantly. "Sabrina sent a compilation of all her lies with evidence and facts to Max. They will keep themselves busy for at least until next month with this."

"The only persons we should be concerned with at the moment are Lila Rossi and Alya Césaire." Giáp said seriously. The hard line of his mouth showed how uncomfortable he was with the two girls.

"... Can't we just disappear with them?" Damian asked condescendingly. Caring nothing for the implications of his words.

"No." Kagami was succinct. "If they disappeared now, we would be the prime suspects and even if justice cannot touch us, we would be in evidence." The frown said how bitter she felt about it. "More than we already are."

Kagami would be the first person of the three to suggest getting rid of the problem, but because the three of them in evidence - for having participated in the UW -, that would not be possible.

"Why don't we leave Lila to the police to handle?" Sabrina asked uncertainly, everyone turning to look at her. "She's old enough to be judged by the justice both here and in Italy."

"Wait-" Nino looked at Sabrina in surprise. "Is Lila a criminal or are we planting evidence?"

"Oh, please!" Chloe rolled her eyes. “Rossi doesn't need us to do the dirty work. Her file is dirtier than the sewers in Paris.”

“So, we have a solution for Lila. Thanks Sabrina.” Guàn smiled at the redhead and the girl screeched, before hiding her red face behind the tablet.

Kagami and Guàn were two frighteningly charming young women and Sabrina's gay heart was too weak to withstand such direct attacks.

"Now we need something about Césaire and her gossip blog." Giáp said.

They all sat in silence pondering possible routes.

"Oh!" Nino sighed, an idea forming in his head.

"What is it, Nino?" Kagami asked.

"What is the best way to destroy a journalist?"

Everyone looked at each other in confusion until Damian smiled badly. "A journalist is destroyed by his reputation." He replied. "Spreading fake news, being a tabloid writer and things like that."

"Exactly." Nino nodded his head.

"If Alya tried to expose us, her blog would be enough for all credibility to fall apart." Damian continued. "I've seen one of my dad's associates use this to stifle any news about our... Activities, that escaped to the media."

"Not to mention that she is just a teenager." Qadira, one of Damian's bodyguards, said it out loud. She opened her eyes wide when she noticed everyone looking at her and then she lowered her head to Damian, her expression chastened. "I'm sorry for my boldness, رئیس(raʾīs)."

The sharp edges on Damian's mouth softened.

“Relax Qadira. We are among friends.” He replies and the woman straightens up, slowly nodding at him. "Now elaborate what you said to us."

She hesitated for a few seconds before speaking again.

“I meant that she is just a teenager. No adult will take her seriously, even if her blog is not brought as evidence of her inability to judge or check the facts.”

"Not to mention that she seemed to be a very troubled teenager." Oma, Damian's second bodyguard, pointed. “I don't think she is an immediate risk here. She’s too volatile to be taken seriously.” She shrugged.

"Well, it looks like everything is settled." Giáp raised his arm to check the time on his wristwatch. "Just in time for us to kick Gabriel Agreste's ass."

Marinette turned to Kagami's bodyguard, a sweet smile on her face.

"See, Tetsuya?" She said. "Nothing to worry about."

▫▪▪

"So mèi mei is engaged to the Demon's head." Giáp said suddenly. "That means we have to find our own, aneki."

He and Kagami were sitting on the leather couch, reading some important documents about companies belonging to the Three Families.

The girl looked up from the paper in her hands, no reaction beyond that.

"... I call dibs on Sabrina and Chloe." She responded quickly.

Giáp smiled conspiratorially.

"Great, because Nino is mine."

And then the two went back to reading the documents lying on the table.

... Totally ignoring the people around them, including the three mentioned, who were at different levels of embarrassment.

[tag list]

@justafanwarrior @ash-amg @neakco @g-arya @loveswifi @actual-disaster-human @wannajointhecrabcult @lozzybowe @iamablinkmarvelarmy @saays-bitch @xxmdsxx @nicknnie @damianette-is-life @thegirlwhosawdeath

#kagami x chloe x sabrina #kim x nino #ml salt #lila salt #alya salt #mafia au #maribat #daminette #ml x dc #miraculous ladybug

978 notes · View notes

bookishlyizzy · 3 years

Text

discussing the final season of carmen sandiego

*spoilers* umm....so yeah, i finished watching carmen sandiego, and i’m left in a state of perpetual sadness and despair. i feel like the ending of the show wrapped up wayyy too fast, and kind of left off on a bit of an unsatisfactory note for some of the characters. although i love the large and diverse cast of carmen sandiego, one of the drawbacks of having all those characters and arcs and storylines makes it harder to cram in a satisfying conclusion for everyone in a twenty-minute episode. so here’s what i would do if there was more time.

let’s start off with the threads that i think were tied off pretty well:

julia & chase devineaux: i wasn’t really a shipper of julia and devineaux but i actually really enjoyed their relationship throughout season 4. we see a lot of character growth from devineaux in the way that he interacts with julia and the world. julia pushes devineaux to become a better person, to see things with a broader perspective and from other people’s points of view. and he does really change a lot into an understanding person instead of the overconfident, arrogant detective we first saw him as in season 1. in addition, he also grows to respect julia as a person and partner, and it’s completely adorable how he looks at her while zari tells julia that they’ll follow her lead. also i love how he keeps wearing his lucky cat jacket from san francisco in season 4.

el topo & le chevre: okay, i was pretty much shipping these two the minute they showed up on the screen together. you can tell how much they care about each other throughout the series. whenever one of them gets hurt, you can really see how they prioritize each other over whatever thing vile is planning. when things are good, they’re so sweet and they have so much fun together. and they take dumb cute selfies. they’re so, so adorable, and this season definitely brings the shipping fodder. and they end the season moving on from vile and running a food truck together. the only thing i’m mad about is that we definitely needed more screen time from them.

shadowsan: i didn’t like shadowsan in season 1 but over the course of the series he really went through a lot of major character development and i love how he’s now basically a grumpy dad figure to carmen. the season ends with him finally reuniting for good with his brother in japan, and it’s a satisfying conclusion for his arc. i also love how he was the one to help carmen in the finale when she’s struggling with the brainwashing thing. which is way better than the brainwashing being resolved by some bs like true love’s kiss. (also carmen and gray are way too hurt and they’re super not ready for a relationship.) carmen sandiego is a show that emphasizes the importance of family with this father-daughter duo, and i think that’s something really valuable. also i’m interpreting that shadowsan isn’t permanently moving to japan, but rather just visiting his brother. he’s still definitely going to be there for carmen going forward when she needs him.

player & carmen’s friendship: i love this show for having a male/female friendship with absolutely no romantic feelings going on. it’s a solid friendship, and depicts a wholesome, supportive relationship. absolutely no qualms here.

and here’s all the stuff that needs expanding/fixing:

tigress: i actually really love tigress as a character, and i personally think that there should have been more of her in the series. i would have liked to see more depth and motivation to her, since she has a lot of character potential. i don’t really know how i would rewrite tigress’s arc, because it’s virtually nonexistent and there’s not too much to go off of. i don’t think she needs a redemption arc, but i would give her more of a spotlight. (also low key fictional-crushing on her.) i would like to include sort of a tigress-centric episode, which can also generally be more expansion on the inner workings of vile.

cleo & saira: villain couple. villain couple. they need to be a villain couple, enough said. i would rewrite season 4 to have include an emotional downbeat moment in which saira struggles with being able to fit in with society and humans and being completely awkward at it while cleo, in all her regal and ettiquite-esque manners, tries to help. this wouldn’t really help with the main plot, but it would be humanizing and provide character depth. i feel like this could be the b-plot in the tigress episode somehow.

coach brunt: you don’t betray family. at this point, coach brunt has lost the daughter she raised, who, in her mind, has basically backstabbed her entirely. coach brunt was also betrayed by shadowsan and left for the police to find, and in season 4, malestrom basically abandons her to drown. and it’s highly likely that somewhere in her backstory she’s been betrayed many times, likely by her own blood family, which would provide context for why she’s such a loyal person to vile, who she thinks of as her found family. in rewriting season four, i’m adding one extra episode that’s solely on the backstory of coach brunt. in this episode, we would explore brunt’s upbringing and the first time she is betrayed by someone she considers family. in my opinion, coach brunt was likely pushed to fall by another influence, but she also makes the conscious choice to choose revenge over moving on. potentially, we could also explore brunt’s budding friendship with the mechanic, who we never see again after that one episode, as well as a reflection upon this from her adult self.

gray & the freaking mind control thing & his moral struggles: *sighs* i can see what the show is going for, but i really just don’t see it in the execution. the way that gray struggles with morality is like it’s an on and off switch. he’s either graham, basic civilian, or crackle, basically evil. in that one episode, he flip flops between being overly heroic, even taking out time from his day to specifically track down a random kid to return his wallet instead of just dropping it off at the police station or leaving it where he found it. and then the flip side is like he’s just robotically relapsing into stealing mode, where he just suddenly has to impluse to steal literally anything. i feel like this flip flop wasn’t really a good portrayal of his struggle and didn’t really demonstrate many active choices made by him. and the way that he’s just like “i’m actually just evil” when he confronts carmen at the lab is just super one-dimensional. i just don’t buy it that he flips to vile so quickly in the span of a few episodes. i feel like there should have been more active reflecting and the decision should have been dragged out longer.

also it’s revealed in the finale that gray also changed his crackle rod to not go beyond a stun, and i think this was a nice touch, because it demonstrates his aversion to murder, which calls back to the first caper, in which he’s confronted with killing the archeologist at the excavation site. but he doesn’t end up having to make that choice, because carmen stops him. but this time, it’s his own choice to take that step away from vile ideals. i don’t think gray is ever going to be a “hero” of the traditional sense or have a complete redemption arc, because it just doesn’t fit him. to be honest, i don’t know what the future will hold for gray, but i definitely think of he will fall somewhere along the lines of red x (teen titans) or catwoman’s (in certain comic runs) gray morality. (and i think the way gray returns to vile kind of screws this up.) he’s still going to steal stuff sometimes probably, but he’s not going to straight up murder people. he would probably be the type to work for himself alone mostly, but be okay teaming up with the good guys sometimes. definitely no joining evil organizations tho.

gray & carmen & the “i know you’re in there somewhere fight:” i definitely ship these two, but i think they’ve got a long way to go before they’re really ready to admit their feelings for each other. i’m happy that the “i know you’re in there somewhere fight” didn’t culminate in a kiss scene being the thing that snapped carmen out of the trance. because that is just so cliche and not the message of the show. instead, it’s shadowsan who does. and that makes sense going along with the themes of family. i think the issue with this i dislike how there is no more elaboration after carmen supposedly kills gray. this is her best friend. i would imagine that the reaction would be greater, since he was also her friend and teammate during the months they were both working under vile. and then when carmen’s brainwashing wears off, she agonizes that she killed her best friend. but that’s it. the “i know you’re in there somewhere fight” is the last screen appearance of both of them together. then it’s directly cutting to taking down vile. there should have been a hospital scene where carmen rides with him in the ambulance and talks to him as he’s unconscious, and leaves behind a note for him to read when he’s awake.

i just really think there should be a “heart to heart” scene somewhere in this finale where they confront their feelings (not romantic stuff, but more about like shared trauma at the hands of vile and their broken apart friendship). this could happen at that sydney cafe. both times carmen and gray go on a “date” she leaves him sitting there alone, bewlildered. i think the finale should include a scene of them leaving the cafe together and then walking away and waving to each other. this shows development in their relationship, and that they are now closer, but it also visually shows that they still have differences as they walk away with a sort of two toned kind of environment angle that shows the different paths they have chosen. (and carmen calls him gray. and he doesn’t correct her.) it’s more of a see you later, than a goodbye though. we’re also getting rid of that part of when gray says he doesn’t want to complicate carmen’s life in the hospital scene. instead, he’s going to ask for a sheet of paper on which he will write an indiscernible letter to carmen. (the same letter will be seen in at the carmen brand outerwear hq a few scenes later for continuity, but unopened at the time, as if carmen’s not yet ready to read it. i feel like both of them need to heal a bit on their own before they’re ready to reconnect. gray knows he has hurt carmen in the past but he also knows it will hurt her if he disappears without a trace, so he’s leaving her with the choice if she wants to see him again instead of making the choice for her.)

ivy & zach & found family: carmen leaves a note behind for ivy and zach and leaves to find her mother. i feel like this did not handle team red’s found family very well. basically, the whole show is setting up this importance of family, especially found family not blood family kind of narrative. vile blood runs in carmen’s veins but she chooses to do good and find her own family. ivy and zach both choose carmen, their found family, over their racing career. i think that they should have stuck together, and when carmen goes to find her mom, they would have been totally onboard dropping her off at the airport and saying a “see you soon” or actually driving her to carlotta valdez’s house in lydia (the car). i just don’t think that splitting them up via a note is really a satisfying conclusion to the whole found family aspect. and in that time skip carmen really should have stopped by to say hi to the zach and ivy and the acme squad instead of maintaining the air of mystery. that would have definitely pushed the family feel, instead of the mysterious loner archetype.

that time skip thing: yeah, no. this part was completely not needed and unhelpful. instead, we’re going to have carmen hug her mother at the airport, and go to visit all of her friends and found family, especially shadowsan in japan and ivy and zach in presumably boston. and the time skip will be a few onths not two effing years. i think it’s natural for them to grow apart a bit and pursue their own personal goals in life after vile’s gone, but they’ll definitely be staying in touch and reconnecting and seeing each other pretty often. and lastly of all, carmen will meet gray at the cafe in sydney.

basically, this is how i would redo the episodes for season 4.

episode 1: the beijing bullion caper. (this episode remains as is for the most part, i would like more expansion on lady doksu and shadowsan's past since it seems like their pasts are more tied together than is revealed)

episode 2: the big bad ivy caper. (this episode remains as is for the most part.)

episode 3: the robo caper. (the scenes in which carmen first meets the robot and ivy runs it over with a truck can stay the same. where we start to deviate is with gray’s story with a revised, more complex, and in depth view of his moral struggles. instead of being unaware largely as gray flops between graham/crackle, he’s going to be a lot more aware. he’s still going to rob the house, but instead it’s because he feels hopeless that since he was previously a criminal, that’s all he’s ever going to be. gray doesn’t want to be a civilian, and feels like the only thing that he can do instead is be a part of vile. however, when he sees carmen again, he’s going to realize that if she got out of vile, then that means he has a chance to get out of it too. gray comes to a crossroads of deciding between carmen and vile, good and evil.

episode 4: this will be the episode that concentrates on tigress, with a cleo/saira b-plot. most of this episode will take place within vile, and give more insights on the workings of the organization.

episode 5: the himalayan rescue caper. (this episode is going to get a real makeover. with the insertion of episode 4, this creates more actual space between the last time we see gray grappling with his big choices, which makes it feel like more time has passed. so it actually feels like he had more time to think. carmen’s still going to try to rescue gray, and the part with player can stay the same. as gray is manipulated by malestrom, i think this episode should further emphasize how vile manipulates their recruits and amp up the shittiness of how malestrom is acting. i think malestrom should say something along the lines indicating that vile is gray’s only family left, this is what he was born to do, he belongs with them, and make up a bunch of bullshit lies about carmen. malestrom will portray this stuff as the “truth” and then say something like “we told you to the full truth, while carmen was hiding your past from you. didn’t you say you wanted to piece together more of your past?” (which gray did express interest in a previous episode.) since more time has passed, malestrom will play the “if carmen wanted to rescue you, she would have done so already. she abandoned you.” card. of course, it’s not easy to get into a super advanced vile facility, so instead carmen’s going to be having more struggles with getting in, which is the real reason she’s taking a while.) i want to keep the scene where he says that his name is crackle, not gray and not graham. i think this scene is particularly painful because graham/crackle is kind representative of the two sides of good and evil that gray thinks he has to choose between. gray will accuse carmen of abandoning him, both in the present but demonstrating that he’s still hurt by the time when she first left vile, and all those times when she kept secrets from him and disappearing in sydney. carmen asks him to leave with her, but instead of him being like “i’m bad, and i was always a villain,” he’s just going to be hurt and feel manipulated and be so conflicted. i feel like gray would choose vile, but not because it’s where he belongs but because he’s afraid of being brainwashed again if he doesn’t agree and because he just wants to know the truth, which vile happened to tell him first (and carmen had been hiding it from him for a while). why would it make sense for gray to willingly side with vile because he’s “throughly bad?” actions speak louder than words, and it’s clear that he’s definitely not evil enough for vile.

episode 6: the vile history caper. (we’re just going to keep this episode as is for the most part. but like more el topo and le chevre moments.)

episode 7: this will be the coach brunt backstory episode, piggybacking off of her hurt feelings about maelstrom’s intended betrayal.

episode 8: the egyptian decryption caper. (this one is just going to be as is for the most part. the cleaners kidnap carmen, but we’re going insert one more painstaking scene of gray learning of vile’s plan to kidnap carmen. he’s not going to know they are planning to brainwash her. he’s going to feel conflicted and try to protest, but then realizes that now that he’s stuck with vile, if he goes against them he’s probably going to get brainwashed himself. and the brainwashing was really traumatizing, so it’s understandable he’s really afraid of it happening to him again.)

episode 9: the viennese waltz caper. (mostly just keeping this episode as is, but more worrying gray scenes. i feel like he should have had a bigger reaction to seeing carmen so unlike her personality. carmen’s lack of empathy should have pushed himself to question if vile is really a healthy place for anyone if they’re so willing to brainwash his best friend in a greater capacity. i think gray should recognize how bad the situation is but he still won’t act upon it since he’s trapped in the nostalgia of their old squad and since he’s been abandoned by carmen before, he’s too afraid that reversing the brainwashing will result in a repeat of her leaving him again. and he’s still afraid of the brainwashing.)

episode 10 + 11 + 12. the dark red caper. (yeah, this episode is kind of just way too quickly wrapped up. i’m going to expand this into a three parter so we have more time to focus on everyone. basically, we’re going to expand this for the angst. and because this is the last season and i need more content. i feel like we can follow the general plot trajectory but with more nuance and include the improvements i wrote above about the finale. absolutely pushing the found family trope to its limits, and less vagueness since there’s not going to be another season. oh yeah, and the scene when carmen fights shadowsan, i feel like they could have amped up the emotional stuff and make it as much as about him being her dad figure as the doll because #foundfamily. and also the extra time gives more space for all of that other stuff like endings for all the characters, and more team red found family, and a bit about the non-jailed vile operatives, and the acme team, and also maybe a little infrastructure rebuilding montage, and also that carmen and gray moment.)

basically i just want a satisfying ending for gray, and i love him, and he can’t just stare out of the hospital bedroom and agree to stay out of her life while melancholy music plays.

231 notes · View notes

professorrw · 3 years

Text

The New Recruit

Pairing: female reader x Wanda Maximoff

Requested: Yes

Warnings: reader isn’t sure of sexuality/hasn’t come out, alcohol, partying, fluff, making out, mentions of human experiments

A/N: Requests are open for one-shots, headcanons, imagines, and drabbles for My Hero Academia, Harry Potter, and Marvel! My taglist is open so if you’d like to be on that just tell me! Please like, comment, and reblog!

After all the attacks that had been made on Earth in the past ten years the Avengers thought it was time to find a new member. Who better than a 24 year old girl that grew up in a lab? From a young age you were experimented on and eventually developed powers. Said powers being cloning. You can create duplicates of yourself for a limited amount of time, and during that time they do whatever you project them doing.

Your father, or the mad scientist that created your powers got arrested when you were 15, leaving you with your grandparents. You were kept under surveillance until you came of age 3 years later. You acted like everyone else, going to college and then getting a job. That was until you got a call from Nick Fury. He knew about the tests and experiments that were done to you and asked if you could control those powers.

That was how you ended up becoming an Avenger. It was exhilarating to finally use your cloning for good.

The Avengers became like your second family, Wanda especially. She was the closest in age to you, only being about a year younger. She too was experimented on and ended up with powers. The rest of the squad was weary of her. Her emotions were strong because of everything she had been through.

You and Wanda quickly became close. Like sisters close. But there was something there you were afraid to explore. You felt… attracted to Wanda in a way you hadn’t before. You weren’t opposed to dating girls. You’ve been with a few guys before but it never lasted. You could never confide in them your secrets, your power.

Your sexuality was something you’d never explored. But Wanda made you feel safe and warm. When she touched you it made your breath hitch and when she looked at you your heart ached. You didn’t know how to tell her, or how to tell any of the crew you liked men and women. But you could start with telling Wanda how you felt. You had an inkling that maybe she felt the same way about you.

You were hanging out with Wanda in your room, watching a romance movie that you found. You thought it was a romance movie but by the end of it you were both crying. It ended in tragedy, which you didn’t know.

You turned to Wanda who was crying. You both looked at each other and giggled. You reached out to help Wanda wipe her tears. You cupped her cheek and swiped your thumbs beneath her eyes. You didn’t retract your hands when you finished though. You realized the close proximity you were in. Your eyes flickered from her parted lips to her pupils. Without saying anything you leaned in and so did Wanda.

The kiss between you was electric. Fireworks went off and lights flickered (not literally). You kissed once, then again, then once more. You rested your forehead against Wanda’s while you both breathed. Wanda licked at her lips and wistfully sighed.

“What?” you whispered.

“I wasn’t sure if you…” she trailed off.

“Me either but I know how I feel about you. I like you Wanda.”

Now she was cupping your face, pulling you in for one more kiss.

That was the beginning of your relationship with Wanda. You both agreed to keep it a secret until you were ready. You didn’t want to tell the whole squad about your sexuality and attraction to Wanda just yet. You would kiss in private or hold hands when no one was watching. Little risks like those set your heart ablaze. You felt like a kid keeping secrets from your parents.

You kept this up for a while and you planned to tell everyone soon. Wanda was nothing but patient with you. She said she liked the secret looks and touches. You were still going with the whole charade when Tony announced his birthday party would be in a few days. You never experienced one yourself but Thor and Natasha told you how over the top they were.

For the party you dressed in a short dress with a low hanging neck that flattered your body. You also put on a pair of strappy heels, fit for the occasion. You could hear the music playing in the main living area as you went down in the elevator. You peered out the floor to ceiling windows and saw cars lining the street. Leave it to Tony to invite every single celebrity he knows.

You stepped out onto the level that the party was happening. The whole floor was full of people dancing, drinking, and lounging around the couches and pool table. You immediately spotted Wanda across the dance floor and you had to go all the way around to get to her. Your jaw dropped when you saw her. She was wearing a gorgeous deep red blazer and matching pants with a belt to cinch in her waist. To go along with it she had black glittering heels that made her taller than usual.

Seeing her like that and not being able to touch her was the hardest game of temptation you had ever played with yourself.

“You look amazing!” you yelled over the music.

“So do you!”

You both went to the bar to start the night off right. Natasha happened to be occupying the bartender position and made you the ultimate party drink to get you loose in no time. The drink had a satisfying burn as it went down your throat. You downed the rest of it, resulting in a wild laugh from Natasha. “I just know you can party!”

You took Wanda’s hand and pulled her over to the dance floor. You moved in time with the music, feeling yourself up as you danced in circles. Your girlfriend was completely hypnotized by the provocative way you were moving your body. She couldn’t resist anymore and put her hands on your waist. The alcohol was strong and was already clouding your thought process. At the moment all you wanted to do was dance.

Hundreds of sweaty bodies were moving and sliding around on top of each other. Wanda was behind you now and moving back and forth with you. You threw your head back on her shoulder and guided her hands up and down your torso. She had finally broken her resistance. She pulled you away from the party and into the empty hall that held the elevator.

“What-” She pressed you against the wall and crashed her lips against yours. She was gripping your hips, which had been tempting her all night. You were pulling her even closer by her neck, head turning this way and that as you tasted the drink on her tongue.

Heels clacking pulled you out of the kiss. You gazed over at the person who so rudely interrupted you and saw that it was Natasha. Oh fuck. You suddenly felt as sober as a saint.

“Natasha- I- We-”

She chuckled, “You don’t have to explain yourselves to me. I already knew. Don’t worry, I won’t tell.” She winked and returned to the bustling party.

You leaned your head against the wall. “Shit.”

“Hey gorgeous, it’s okay.” Wanda put her hand on your cheek and leaned back into you. “She said she wouldn’t tell. I trust Natasha.”

“No. It’s about time I told everyone. If you want to, that is.”

“Do whatever you’re comfortable with, baby.” You let out a breath with your nose and smiled at your girlfriend. She smiled too and then continued to kiss you.

You ended up leaving the party early, which didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the Avengers, who asked you about it at breakfast the next day.

“Why did you two leave last night? The party was just getting started.” Tony was drinking a green smoothie but put it down when you two came in.

Wanda looked at you, encouraging you.

“Um… we left. Together. Me and Wanda are… together.” You shifted your weight from one foot to another as you gaged your teammate’s reactions.

Realization dawned on everyone’s faces other than Natasha’s. Tony was the first to speak again. “Well I think this calls for a celebration.” He reached under the counter and pulled out a bottle of whiskey.

You laughed, in awe of your team. Of course they wouldn’t judge you.

Taglist: @bellamy1998

93 notes · View notes

detectivereyes · 3 years

Text

I Watched the Leaves Go From Green to Grey

Summary: When TK gets anxious, he gets into fights.

Notes: for the self-harm square on my @badthingshappenbingo card, or my interpretation of it bc i didn’t want to write a traditional “self harm” fic yk

beta’d by @marjansmarwani and also s/o to loml @seaoflittlefires for providing her objective perspective and fixing all my past/present tense issues 💗

word count: 2.3k

read on ao3

If you asked TK, the first time it happened was definitely an accident.

He wasn’t planning on getting into a fight, and he wasn’t even that high. Instead he found himself riding out the tail end of a high in some dingy bar in the East Village, trying to numb the pain with whatever alcohol the bartender would give him with a quick flash of his fake ID. At only 16, he knew he didn’t look 21, but the bartender didn’t ask or didn’t care.

It started with a simple misplacement of his elbow, brushing up too close against the glass of whiskey belonging to the burly man sitting next to him. He didn’t even realize what had happened until he heard the glass shatter on the floor between them.

He started to stutter out some form of an apology but not before he felt a flash of pain hit his face, radiating through his lower jaw until his body collided with the ground. Though he was caught off guard, the pain he’s feeling didn’t feel wrong. In fact it made him feel alive.

He hopped back up, managing to throw in a few punches of his own until more of the burly man's friends showed up and he couldn't decipher which direction the blows were coming from. But with each punch or kick, he felt more empowered. Each freshly formed bruise serving as a reminder that he wasn’t actually numb.

He was here, and he was alive.

Fortunately, he had managed to sneak out before the cops showed up. Unfortunately, the bruises did not go unnoticed by his mom or dad. Though they didn’t press too hard, he knew he would have to be more careful next time.

He never forgot the outlet getting into fights provided. A way to not only relieve the numbness, but relieve stress and have the pain on the outside match what he felt on the inside.

He didn’t get into fights that often, only when the pain built up too much and he needed to let it out somehow. Or sometimes he used it as a way to just quiet the anxious thoughts when substances no longer did the trick.

Even after he got clean, he would occasionally find himself back in some random bar that he hadn’t managed to get himself kicked out of yet. Every bar had at least one drunk asshole who he knew would be easy to pick a fight with.

He quickly learned the right words to trigger the perfect reaction. He also got better ducking and throwing his own punches, and hiding the bruises that did form on his skin until his parents no longer noticed or worried about him.

When he arrived in Austin, he figured it would only be a matter of time before he found himself in a dingy bar on the outskirts of town, opposite of the bar the team frequented to avoid any chance of running into a familiar face.

The numb feeling and colorless vision was too much and Judd’s words only served to exacerbate the pain he was feeling inside. He attempted to fight Judd, knowing his larger frame could do a lot of damage and would do the trick. But he should have known the other man wouldn’t fight back, instead holding him close so he couldn’t do any damage until Paul broke them up.

As soon as the shift ended, TK all but ran into the Uber. The tension in his body wound up too tight and he knew it wouldn’t settle until he got in a fight.

The fight itself was a blur, but what happened next wasn’t. As he walked out of the police station with his bag of belongings and busted lip still pulsing in pain, Carlos’ words rang in his ear.

You should talk to someone about why you felt compelled to do something so suicidal.

Was it suicidal? He always saw it as a way to remind himself that he was alive, not trying to die. But he'd also never met someone who cared so much about his well being.

The police officers he usually ran into during his fights never seemed to give a shit about why he did what he did. And if the guys he hooked up with noticed the busted lips or black eyes, they never said anything.

Carlos checked both of those boxes, yet seemed genuinely concerned with what TK was getting himself into.

That was when he knew things would be different here.

And they were for a time. For a while the color returned into his life and the pain that he had grown so accustomed to settled into a dull ache that he barely noticed.

But like everything else, the good could never last. And soon enough the pain grew more noticeable and he felt like he was going to jump out of his skin. He needed to know he wasn't numb. He needed to feel pain. He needed to fight.

So he found himself in another dingy bar, much similar to the one he went to when he got to Austin over a year ago. He knew he shouldn’t be there. He had to call someone. But Carlos was on shift and his dad was on a date and while both would have probably picked up in a heartbeat, he couldn't do that to them. And anyone else he could have called wouldn’t understood or known what to do.

He knew what he had to do.

On muscle memory he ran through his routine, spouting out the perfect words to trigger the reaction he craved.

After only a few blows to the face, the punches stopped and the fight broke up as the cops arrived. He scanned the area, letting out a sigh of relief when he didn't see Carlos’ familiar brown eyes, and managed to slip out the back before anyone noticed.

The Uber ride from the bar back to his and Carlos’ home passed by in a blur. If his driver noticed the purple bruises likely beginning to blossom on his face, she didn't say anything.

He made a beeline to the bathroom as soon as he walked through the door, hoping that the damage wasn't bad enough that he couldn't cover it up. There was no way Carlos wouldn't notice, but if cleaned it up a bit and came up with a good story, it might not be as bad.

Flipping on the light switch TK frowned at his reflection. While there were a few scattered bruises all over his body, the worst by far was the one forming around his eye, already turning a lovely shade of deep purple. Above his eye was a short but deep gash, stretching across his eyebrow.

Well, that definitely wouldn't go unnoticed.

TK sighed, rifling through the medicine cabinet until he found the box of butterfly bandaids. He knew it probably would need stitches, but if he could avoid a trip to the ER tonight, that would be ideal, and these bandages would do the trick for now. He carefully placed two on his eyebrow, hissing at the contact as the wound closed. He then shut off the light and settled on the living room sofa, waiting for Carlos to come home.

By the time he heard the jiggling of keys in the door, a few hours had passed and he had nearly fallen asleep under the soft blanket on the couch. He panicked for a second, not quite ready for Carlos’ reaction when he saw TK’s face.

On impulse, he ducked under the blanket before the door swung open. He could see the light switch on and Carlos’ outlined shape from beneath the cover.

“Babe? What’s going on?” he asked. TK could sense he had stopped in front of the couch but was refraining from coming any closer.

“Don’t freak out,” was all TK could manage to say, and he could only imagine the confusion painting his boyfriend’s face.

“I’m freaking out that you won’t tell me what’s going on,” he stated matter of factly.

TK sighed before slowly pulling down the blanket and peeking his head out, giving Carlos a sheepish grin.

Carlos’ eyes widened in concern as he sat down next to TK, gently running his fingers over TK’s swollen eye. “What happened, baby?”

“Combative patient,” the lie rolled too easily off his tongue. “Woke up while we were treating him and took a swing at me.”

“I see,” Carlos nodded slowly. “And these other bruises?” he added, trailing his hand over the blossoming bruises on TK’s neck and arms. When he reached his torso, he didn't miss the way TK winced at the contact. TK hadn't even realized how sore he was.

“Must have fallen a little bit in the scuffle,” he shrugged.

Carlos hummed along to TK’s response. TK tried to get a read on what Carlos was making of his story. It was a pretty good one if he gave himself any credit, but he couldn't shake the feeling that Carlos just wasn't buying it.

“You know how people get when they’re caught off guard,” he quickly added, panicking when he realized he should be adding more details before Carlos could doubt him anymore.

Carlos though remained silent, studying him carefully.

“We’re here to help them but they don’t always realize that right away,” he laughed nervously, hoping Carlos wasn't catching on to his anxious rambling.

“TK,” Carlos trailed off, his eyebrows pinching together in worry. He knew something was off, and there was no getting out of it.

Before he could dig himself into a deeper hole, he decided to dam break. He launched into the whole story about how he felt so on edge after his shift and he didn’t know what else to do, which is why he fell back into old habits. Carlos listened intently as he explained what happened when he showed up at the bar and instigated the fight, and ducking out he could get caught.

“I’m so sorry, Carlos. Please don’t be mad,” he said at the end of his rant, still shaking with adrenaline while he waited to see how Carlos would handle hearing the truth.

Carlos sighed, gently rubbing TK’s shoulder. “I’m not mad at you, TK.”

“You’re not?” TK said, sniffling.

“No, but I am concerned at why you didn’t think you could call me. And then why you felt like you had to lie about it.”

TK shrugged. “I’m just kind of used to bottling it up, I guess.”

“But you should know you can talk to me about this kind of stuff.”

“I do! But sometimes it just gets to be so much that I don’t know what else to do and I need a way to let it all out.”

“What gets to be so much?” Carlos cocked his head to the side.

“Everything,” TK quickly responded, as if that clarified anything he was saying. He knew he wasn't making much sense and Carlos was trying his best to understand. But TK didn't know how else to describe the way he was feeling. Like a row of tightly wound string, one pluck away from snapping.

“TK, what happened that made you want to get into a fight tonight?” Carlos asked.

“I,” TK started to answer but stopped himself when he realized he didn't even have a good answer. He'd never stopped to consider the reasons for why he felt this way. All he knew was that he felt like he was about to explode and he needed a good way to release it. “I don’t know.”

Carlos nodded, and TK could only admire the patience his boyfriend had with him. The tears started to well up in his eyes and he took some shaky breaths as Carlos pulled him close into a hug, letting him sob into his broad chest.

“It’s okay if you don’t know,” he whispered softly into TK’s ear. “But I think it is important to examine why you do feel this way. And to realize when it starts to get bad so it doesn’t happen again.”

TK pulled away from Carlos’ embrace, nodding and wiping back the tears while doing so. “It just feels like there’s always this pain, and sometimes I don’t notice it but other times it’s so much that I need to do something about it. And I can’t do the other stuff I used to do to deal with it, but getting into these fights… I don’t know, it helps. Which probably doesn’t make any sense but it’s better than some of my other coping mechanisms.”

Carlos gave him a sympathetic look. “TK, it might not be drugs, but you are just as likely to get hurt.”

TK looked down, nervous squeezing his hands, unsure of how to respond to Carlos’ observations.

“It’s not healthy,” he continued. “I need you to promise me you will call next time. It doesn’t matter what time, or if I’m on shift, or I’m asleep. Talk to me about it. And talk to me about what you’re feeling all the time so we can try to prevent it getting this bad. Okay?”

TK nodded in agreement.

“Hey,” Carlos tilted TK’s head up so they matched each other's gaze. “I’m here for you. Whatever you need.”

“I know,” he gave Carlos a small smile. “I appreciate it, and your patience with me.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that. We’re a team, and I want to help you in whatever way possible. I love you, TK”

TK melted under Carlos’ soft brown eyes and genuine smile. “I love you too, Carlos.”

#bad things happen bingo #badthingshappenbingo #self harm #911 lone star #911lonestarfic #my fic #userjillian #userbones #tuserpaige #usermaximus #userjilly #userkimmy #moviegeek03 #also hey anon if you have an issue with this fic #you are welcome to discuss it with me off anon #bc that function has been shut off #so you now must show your face (so to speak)#but i am 100% open to hearing you out on what you think the issue is here.

52 notes · View notes