#i just went 'can I help you sir? that's associate only'

[allllamasarenerds]

Oh yeah. Got sent to time-out at work today. The guy started it. Undeniable. Customer man went into pickup fridge clearly marked "associate only." That conversation ending "Well I'll never place another order here again!" was not the sting he thought it was. Good.

[soullessdianthus]

𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭 | 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 (𝐱 𝐊ö𝐧𝐢𝐠)

Summary: During the mission somewhere in Austria, König takes an interest in TF 141 medic. Little did he know, she's Lieutenants Riley's girlfriend.

𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟐

A/N: Possessive/Protective boyfriend Ghost? Yes, double and give to the next person. Also inserted Hank/Connor "lieutenant" reference, I just find it funny. Y/C ━ Your Codename (have fun, pick something babes) Poorly translated German ━ correct me if needed!

Warnings: nothing, reader is eastern european coded (we deserve more recognition as reader inserts ꃋᴖꃋ )

Word count: 1.8k

The tree line of the thick forest melted into the base of the rocky mountains. Your gaze traveled across its pointy shapes and up higher - there hadn’t been a single cloud on the sky that day, causing a slight heatwave.

You let your body slightly wag as the car passed over surface bumps on the earthen road. The dry lump grew in your throat as the dust hovered all over the convoy and all you could think of was a sip of cold, mineral water. 

Soon, you reached the small town in Austria, secluded from the ring roads. The cars were parked near the surrounding forest at the entrance of the village. Lieutenant Riley's sight crossed with yours as he helped you get out of the truck. 

He could be such a gentleman sometimes. 

A handful of soldiers gathered near the vehicles - some of them wearing a KorTac patch on their shoulders, the other ones (from your unit) a Task Force 141 badge. But besides those sigils, none of them were wearing full battle gear. 

There was no active fighting against the enemy at the moment. It was just a careful chase after the terrorists - following their footsteps, interviewing associates, gathering proof. Because at the end of the day, the military (or army related organization) cannot shed blood over a defamation.

But KorTac and TF 141? Quite an unusual partnership between the two groups, right?

━ Ghost, Y/C you’re goin’ with me ━ Captain Price announced, adjusting his hat as he closed the car’s doors behind him. ━ Gaz, you’ll stay here, is that clear? 

Captain heard a firm ‘yes, sir’ from your teammate Kyle who was to stay at the parking spot. Meanwhile the KorTac colonel gave an order to his soldiers in German. “Such a tough language” you thought to yourself. Only two of his people went along the wood road with the rest of you.

The Colonel. 

Exceptionally tall, Austrian man who served many years for his country. The one you found yourself in on the latest mission. 

Each time you wanted to look at him while Colonel König was speaking, you had to chin up. And even though, a black hood with a red paint on it covered his whole face besides his cold, blue eyes. He was lowkey intimidating with his massive size, but just like your captain, the Austrian’s rough looks didn’t reflect his character. At least to you and your comrades he was quite nice. 

Unfortunately, you couldn’t say the same about his teammates. 

You didn’t have to walk for long as the isolated, one floor house emerged behind a hill. By the quick peek at that building and the noises coming from the inside you knew, it felt like a warm home. 

As you approached the building, you heard a child’s cry. 

Price knocked at the front door and soon after a man with dark bags under his eyes opened them slightly. He was peeking through the crack.

━ Jakob Hausner? ━ The Captain asked with a playful smile under his mustache, his thumbs interlocked with the gear straps over his chest. 

━ Ja, wie kann ich helfen? [ger.: Yes, how can I help?]

━ Can you ask him if he speaks english? ━ John looked over his shoulder towards König, asking for a favor. 

━ Yes, I speak english ━ master of the house answered with a thick accent, before colonel could translate. ━ What do you want? 

He wasn’t trusting at all, well, how could he? You were all strangers at his doorsteps, two of your partners wearing scary looking masks. But it all had a purpose - they were supposed to look… intimidating, yes? 

A loud wailing made their ears hurt, it was that damn baby again. Jakob sighed loudly, his shoulder collapsing as he opened the doors a little bit more.

━ We just want to talk about the company you were working for. ━ Price continued talking. 

━ About them again? ━ Mr. Hausner frowned his eyebrows and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Poor man was exhausted apparently. ━ Okay, okay, ja, come in. 

The man let you all inside, however König told his soldiers to have a look outside the plot - to make sure it’s safe here and you’re not being watched. Poor Jakob wasn’t even fully aware (because of his state) that he let in a group of military people inside of his home.

As soon as you crossed the hallway into the dining room with a big, wooden table, you noticed a struggling toddler in a children’s chair. The girl was crying, her face red from the tantrum. 

━ I’m sorry, it’s just my daughter, she… she doesn’t want to eat her–. Lina, bitte. [ger.: Lina, please.]

Being a parent. Must be tough, huh?

Not when you were forced to babysit your siblings or cousins since you were a teenager. 

━ She’s not hungry. ━ You noticed the way the little girl pushed her plate away and how she tried to climb out of the seat. Christ, that man really had to be exhausted. ━ Can I?

You took a few slow and calm steps towards the sitting child - a warm smile painted over your face. Even your boyfriend Ghost was slightly… surprised? Seeing you drop the apathetic shell, then becoming more warm and gentle towards the little girl.

━ She’s our medic ━ your Captain explained to the worried father ━ let her take the kid and we’ll have a talk. In peace. 

Mr. Hausner let you take care of his unsettled daughter, so they could have a conversation about his former employers. You took the girl out of her chair and placed her over your left hip, pushing it outward. 

━ Come, Lina ━ you addressed the girl by her name, even though she probably couldn’t understand what you were saying ━ let’s leave the stinky men alone, ja?

You left the dining room and entered the seemingly endless garden behind the house. Since you took that girl in your hands she already began to calm down, perhaps a woman's touch was all she needed? 

“Where was your mother? Was she at work working a long shift? Did something happen to her? Did the bad men–” your thoughts seemed to take a rather pessimistic route, so you had to quickly change it. 

You didn’t know much German. Well, you didn’t know any at all. 

Fuck.

But at that moment you were thanking the heavens that your father watched movies about Hans Kloss or war on a regular basis. You were happy that your father was taught some phrases and somewhere in your subconsciousness he passed them to you.

You sat on the wooden bench somewhere in the garden not far from the building. Then, you placed the child on your lap and began talking to her - mostly in your mother tongue. Then you added some words in German that you knew, like: 

━ Schau, schmetterling! [ger.: Look, a butterfly!] 

Soon you grew more comfortable around the girl named Lina, even though there was a language barrier. Without your knowledge, your legs began to bounce her, pretending she was riding a horse. 

If anyone would point that out later, you would certainly deny it. You, getting soft for a child? No, no, no. 

You were so occupied with entertaining her that you didn’t even notice a looming, black figure in the corner of your eye. Watching the scene from somewhere nearby.

König was standing just next to the doors, leaving against the white plaster on the outside walls. He listened to your attempts to speak German, finding it… adorable? 

Never did he meet a woman in his profession so empathetic and gentle. Especially the one who managed to catch his attention. Let’s be honest, most of them were cold blood murderers and he was a colonel - he couldn’t let himself have such a luxury of having a family. 

Until now.

His imagination began to play a nasty and stupid trick on him - just because he saw you speaking German with a kid. What if it was you to take care of his children? Were your hands usually this delicate? Would you care for him as much?

The tall soldier was intrigued by you and his dreamy stare exposed him for it.

━ Don’t even think about it. ━ Ghost voice snapped him back to the reality. The British soldier emerged from the building the same way the colonel did after the conversation came to an end with Mr. Hausner.

Simon Riley wasn’t a fool. He noticed all the little peaks at his girlfriend other soldiers usually would take, she was in fact a pretty thing. So it didn’t take much to notice that the tall guy from KorTac took a liking of you. Too much liking in Ghost’s opinion. 

━ Verzeihung [ger.: Excuse me] ━ König apologized, flustered slightly by obviousness of the situation. He instantly understood the reference. ━ didn’t know she was… taken. 

━ Yeah ━ British lieutenant scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. His dark irises didn’t even dare to stare at him. His eyes were on you ━ she’s very much taken. 

There was a dead silence between the two of them - for a short moment, before Ghost gave you a heads up. 

━ Y/C, we’re moving. 

The rough and firm tone of Ghost’s voice made you snap back into reality. You were in the middle of something, right? Yet, you almost jumped on that little bench painted in floral patterns. 

━ Coming, lieutenant. ━ You declared quickly, before putting the little girl over your hip again and heading inside of her home. 

Ghost was a few steps ahead and so you had to pass the massive figure of König to go inside again. You pressed the child’s head into your cleavage as she was a little scared of colonel’s hood. 

Well, you would be too, if you saw his cold stare in the middle of the night from under that veil, right?

━ Don’t worry, he just looks scary. He won’t bite. Isn’t that right, sir? ━ You sent him a polite smile as you tried to comfort the petrified girl. Your hand caressing her golden locks.

But he was speechless at the moment. He couldn’t form a simple sentence. A fucking grown ass man. “So fucking pathetic”, he thought to himself. Your lips twisting into a wide smile for him. It wouldn’t be easy for him to erase that sight from his memory. König would have trouble falling asleep that night, thinking of you.

A/N: ♪ Two big guys and they grab on my thighs ♪

[bloop-bl00p]

Rewriting Sir Pentious justice for the snake boie

Doesn’t anyone find it weird how we’re gonna have the backstory of everyone in later seasons?

Not only do they hardly follow the redemption aspects but they also give us little to nothing about the characters. I can buy that Heaven is corrupt and/or unfair but rather than having Adam throwing curse words and profanities every five seconds, why not show it in elements of the main cast backstory?

Reveal that they were essentially in unjust situations where they had no other choice but sins to survive, the type of stories that’ll make the audience think “Is Heaven fair in its judgment?” then you have the reveal that the system is corrupted. It feels like common sense to me.

Anyway, Sir Pentious wasn’t that much of an asshole in my rewrite, we understand why he acted the way he did but he still fucked up.

Madhav Karmakar was born in 1858. He was an Indian migrant in England who wanted to follow a partnership in engineering. Studying hard and else he worked ten times harder than the other students due to prejudice regarding his origin.

He made his way into a prestigious university and went out with his diploma ready to show off his skill but generally still faced racial discrimination. Throughout his life, Madhav had to do everything in his power to completely suppress anything that tied him to his country, fully adopting British mannerisms and culture, suppressing his accent, and else. At 17, he became an apprentice and started studying Mechanical Engineering, ending officially his studies at 24.

His hardship allowed him to work alongside others to develop steam machines and various ways of transportation. Despite having clearly mastered, and even ameliorated his domain, Madhav still had fewer opportunities compared to his colleagues and was paid less than the other regardless of the amount of work he put in.

What was first jealousy due to the unfairness of his situation quickly became Envy directed at his white counterparts. He started slowly destroying the reputation of his associates mostly by secretly sabotaging their work in various manners, introducing faulty designs, tampering with documentation, sabotaging equipment and tools, and anything really just to make himself feel better.

It lasted for years until one of his sabotages cost him his life. In 1888 at 30 years old, he caused one structure to collapse and the debris fell on him breaking his legs, he died screaming for help under the remains and suffocated because of the dust.

A few years following his arrival in Hell, he used his ingenuity to create steampunk-style machines in order to conquer territory. Problems, most of the lands were already owned by powerful Overlords. Madhav overestimated his inventions a lot so he got his nonexistent ass beaten all the time. He even gained the nickname Sir Pretentious though he still tries and insists on being called by his real surname (nobody does.)

The dude persisted, gaining the reputation of the village fool. Surprisingly for everyone he finally managed to get his hand on a very small portion of a territory… only for it to be snatched away by a punk rookie a week later. It would be easy for any Overlord to step up but they have their own business to take care of and some find it funny to see those two quarrel all the time.

Bit of a fun fact:

→ If I had to redesign him, he’d be fit with a large figure, we’re talking of the man who built this alone…

.. I doubt the egg boys can lift things too heavy considering they are fragile. So yeah, Madhav isn’t a twink.

→ The egg boys aren’t literal eggs just small mechanical robots he built to be his minions, if they were to break they’ll be gears everywhere but he could still rebuild them later. He wishes he could make them a bit smarter.

→ Snakes are very often associated with lies and manipulation and everything related to it. That’s what Madhav has been as a human, an envious liar. But, snakes can also symbolize renewal and rebirth in other cultures, and since he’s gonna be the first redeemed it kinda fits. I don’t know if Viv knew this but shout out to her if she did.

→ Keeping the romance with Cherry, I can appreciate a really good Enemy to Lover but the way it was framed feels like Cherry only got interested when she learned he had two dick, which feels icky and disingenuous.

So, I thought of slowly making their relationship more of a “Are they fighting or flirting” type of thing. That and having Cherry make comments between their fight like “You’re getting better at this!” which flatters Madhav because he never really had recognition for his fighting skills or invention.

He’s still a bit stuck in the old-timey way of courtship, and considering those things could last 3 to 4 years, with him you can expect the slowest slow burn possible. Anyway, he still respects lots of British traditions, being a regular correspondent and sending letters and gifts. I can see him asking to go on a walk or organize Rendez-vous to learn more about Bomb when his rivalry gets more friendly.

→ His obsession with fighting Alastor comes from the fact that he didn't manage to get up the stairs as quickly as the deer did. So he’s envious and seeks to beat Alastor in a battle to prove he’s the superior one, but he loses every time. His last chance is to side with the Vees, but Vox doesn't even bat an eye when he is near. So just imagine how ecstatic he was when Vox proposed to him to be a spy. While the first weeks were fine, he found himself getting attached to the staff more and more. It was a genuine environment where few people actually recognized him as the brilliant engineer he was (I thought he could actually help with the hotel construction since the building is old and all) and they actually called him by his name.

Not siding with Vox will be the first step to his redemption, renouncing to act of his envious feelings and focusing on what he already had rather than seeking to destroy those above him.

→ His lisp gets worse when he’s lying, he obliviously maintains a whole evil British persona in his quest for respect so as he slowly starts to get genius he’ll slowly start to speak with more ease.

→ Regarding how he’ll appear once in Heaven, he’ll be a human. I find it strange that you don't get to get your human appearance once saved. Viv said it herself, the reason why sinners look like that is because their appearance is in correlation with their sins, life, and the ways they die. It’s a way to mock them.

If this dude or girl gets redeemed, they’ll stay on a couch and that’s just sad, imagine you die go to Hell redeem yourself and you're still a furniture. Anyway, Madhav will get his human form back but with hints of his demonic form.

Kinda like Lovesart23 you should go see her videos and rewrite.

[reallyromealone]

I am so sorry for requesting again before you had the chance to write my last request but I had the best idea. So bonten x son reader (platonic ofc) Trying to get a job and he ends up working at draken and inui's bike shop. I'm sorry if your busy. Please drink lots of water and I hope you are in good health ♡

Omg yes

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

"Can I get a job?"

The table went quiet as the Bonten men looked at (name), the teenager glancing at his dad's awkwardly "why?" Mochi asked bluntly "is the allowance not enough?" (Name) shook his head "it's not that, it's just I was told that having a job or an internship would be good for university applications along with volunteering" (name) said pulling out a folder he kept on the floor beside him "please look at these, I did the research on how it could help advance my chances in getting into good universities!" Bonten wasn't shocked that (name) came prepared, they always told him to be overprepared than under after all.

"As you can see, it would be incredibly beneficial for me to possibly have a part time job"

"What about your extra curricular activities and would this affect your grades?" (Name) tried not to perk up at the questions Ran asked seriously, all of the Bonten members in dad mode as they looked over the papers "I already have a plan for that! I would only be working weekends and my club doesn't run on weekends and I would do any homework on breaks and after or before work"

"You really have this planned out..." Mikey mumbled before looking at his son "thoughts?" Mikey asked the others and the rest glanced at one another before each giving a thumbs up, voting yes albeit a bit begrudgingly as they worried about their son.

They found voting systems worked best when it came to (name).

"Then...you can have a job, but the second your grades slip you quit"

"Thank you! I start this Saturday for training!" (Name) said getting up and giving his dad's a hug before running off to his room to no doubt text his friends the news.

(Name) kept to his word, keeping his grades up and come the weekend he started his first day.

"Thank you for hiring me Mr.Draken sir!" (Name) said enthusiastically, excited to start his first job as book keeper for D&D motors "no problem kid, we could use the help... Sadly my associate and I aren't the best with that sort of thing"

"Well I'm glad to be apart of the team!"

Draken enjoyed the teens enthusiasm, the young man reminding him of... Draken didn't want to dwell on that.

He noticed mi--(name) was really good at what he did, fixing their problems "my dad is really good at money management and taught me how to save, he said "you never want to be in a situation where you desperately need money but don't have enough"" (name) said happily as he and Draken ate their food, the teen doing his homework happily.

"That's solid advice"

When (name)s shift ended a black Rolls-Royce parked infront of the shop, none of the Bonten men coming to collect the teen after learning who he's working for as they didn't want (name) to try and be him and... Try and fix the unfixable.

So they had a driver collect him.

"I will see you tomorrow Mr.Draken!"

"Get home safe kid"

"I will sir!"

When (name) got home he was practically vibrating with joy as he made a beeline to the livingroom where his dad's were lounging and doing work "today was great!" (Name) practically yelled, going on a verbal rampage about his day and his dad's watching fondly, glad he enjoyed himself.

"That's good, you do your homework?"

"It's right here!" (Name) confidently handed Mikey his work and the blond hummed as he looked it over "good"

"Now, go shower you smell like motor oil"

[beevean]

I decided to break down down this absolutely beautiful poster because I love it and there is some interesting content to notice <3

Starting from the big character portraits:

The Hecboi being his usual badass self. You can spot his earrings which I love, it's such a cute detail <3

Isaac practicing his "step on me daddy" routine. yes sir i get it your boots are fabulous and your pants can't contain your d

I find highkey underrated how Kojima associated him with skulls in official artwork. I wish it didn't get lost in time lol.

Trevor, my friend Trevor :) much more serious than the sass master he is in the game lol

Julia taking care of Hector's Innocent Devils :)

Side note, while I love most of their designs in the game, I find Kojima's idea of what Hector and Isaac's Devils could look like very fascinating. I like how she draws dragons.

The big man himself, St. Germain standing in front of a clock, and Zead holding a four-leafed clover for good luck (+ Isaac again lol)

Now, the more minute detail, going anti-clockwise:

Not only we can see Dracula's Castle, but the figure in the center is the Devil Forgery lab in the PtR manga:

Another underrated detail of lore :)

Oh, this one is just. juicy <3 It took me ages to understand what's going on, but with some help I finally realized it.

So this is essentially the moment where Hector went to Dracula and was like "hey boss, would you mind if you stopped to order me to kill humans? dunno if you noticed but i'm human too and it feels weird. thanks", and Dracula was like "hmm. let me think about it. no. have a nice day :)".

In the PtR manga, it was depicted like this:

With Dracula threatening Hector with his extended claws, and then throwing him off the castle keep. i don't know what you were expecting, man

But in the poster, he's straight up holding Hector by his throat and stabbing him with the fingers of his bat wings! So much that you can see blood dripping from his mouth! Ouch!

This only proves my headcanon that Devil Forgemasters are superhuman and can withstand wounds that would kill a normal person.

also, between this and his sippy attack in the game proper, dracula sure likes to manhandle hector a little too much.

the besties going to work <3

You have no idea how much this little drawing pisses me off. This is the closest thing I have of a canon depiction of Hector and Isaac working as Devil Forgemasters.

I need to see them slaughtering humans together in my bloodstream D: not even NFCV had the courtesy of depicting a villain Hector actually doing villain things D: guys. guys the potential-

Aside from that, this also incidentally proves that PtR's interpretation of Isaac's fabulous outfit (being what is left of his normal Devil Forgemaster outfit after Hector destroyed it) is retroactive. My man was apparently already going shirtless just because he felt like it. Imagine being killed by Dracula's most loyal soldier and your last sight in life is his tiddies. King shit.

also

yeah it's stupid but that's the vibe i get lol

I get it, Kojima-san, you love your blorbo. understandable

A bit more seriously, I really appreciate how much Isaac doesn't have the certified Kojima Pretty Man face, he's instantly recognizable. I like his big nose :)

Hector practicing Devil Forging, a smaller version of this panel from the PtR manga:

I like how in the poster it looks like a typical yin-yang symbol, but also closer to the black-and-white motif of the Devil Forging crest :) they look like two lil dragons chasing each other.

why does isaac look 150% more naked without his shoulder armor

It's hard to tell which even this is supposed to represent. I guess it's his defeat at Hector's hands, if we take the black splotches on the ground as his outfit being slashed. Notice the crest on the floor, similar to the intro of the game!

The worsties fighting. Hector is pissed and Isaac is a troll, must be a day ending in Y. they're flirting

The End! Hard to tell if it's Hector's golden Devil or Abel, but it looks awesome <3

This one... puzzles me. I can tell that Hector is being attacked by some little devils and he's defending himself. But why is he using a small pumpkin as a weapon??

(what if this is him trying to defend rosaly from the mob who accused her of being a witch :<)

Hector angsting. Sadly I'm not sure of what kind of flower that's supposed to be, perhaps a dandelion? I wish it was a lily of the valley like in PtR.

Our friend Trevor again. Interesingly, in the full poster, Isaac and Trevor are directly mirroring each other.

Trevor being like "bruh are you for real" after whipping Hector's ass black and blue. (i hate his second fight so much...)

I would say "Hector's revenge", but actually it looks like he's bleeding and in pain. So... I think this the moment when Dracula nearly clawed Trevor's eye out.

Trevor and Isaac fighting! Love that scene in the game :D

isaac how are you even twisting yourself. what are you doing. you're showing off, aren't you.

Not sure about what location these ruins are supposed to be, but fascinating detail of the skeleton holding a scale of justice. It's close to Zead...

tl;dr i want to eat this poster because it's just so fucking good and a great way to summarize the game

[kiyans-corner]

The more I think about it the more I refuse to believe Tim is ~the only one who put it together based off of a flip~.

Were there perfectly sane, rational people that saw it, clicked the association, and went 'ok yeah but they were the only people that could do that flip... recognized OfficiallyTM' because it's absolutely COMMON AF in most sports for some rando doing some absolutely insane 'impossible' bs just like. in their spare time or in unofficial comps like the figure skating backflip thing? Yes. Absolutely. Kid was trained by The Batman, of course he can pull off some absolutely wild bullshit most people will never manage even with years of training.

Were there a few of gymnastics and aerial nerds that went "hey what the F U C K" when they did a little math and the kid is the right age with the right timing, and went yeah sure that's coincidental... Yes. But. The signature move they're most famous for? Not exactly the only unique thing the Graysons had in their repertoire. The unique things that this kid-who-is-the-right-age does effortlessly, smoothly in a way that doesn't happen unless you learn to fly and walk at the same time. The exact same sequences sometimes, from a few grainy clips that hit the 'net of him just goofing off bouncing between fucking skyscrapers. Doesn't matter what kind of training he got with The Batman, that kind of confidence in your body to do exactly what you want it to do every single time does NOT happen quickly. And tbh... The Bat just kinda sucks whenever he actually does flips. Better than most people, but not on a "headed to the Olympics for gold" good. Kid learned it somewhere else. ...oh gods oh fuck BATMAN is BRUCE FUCKING WAYNE what in the ABSOLUTE FUCK okay, okay, this is fine, I know what happens to masks if you unmask them, I'm not putting a kid at risk for that bullshit, and really they're taking care of things and helping in ways the cops just don't... ever seen a Gotham Pig help someone buy groceries or get a job? nah, The Bat is OURS and so is the kid. I Know Nothing.

Anyone who has ever run into Tiny Baby Dick literally anywhere, the kid doing the same stunts as Robin down to the finger placement... Well. (the kid literally hangs around doing Cool Things across from my office window half the time the Batsignal is lit, so I know for sure that's definitely Exactly The Same.)

The thing is most people just Carefully Did Not Realize this connection (even after they definitely did). "So... Hey did you ever notice that the Robin kid does a lot of the same stunts the Flyi-" "NOPE. No. Absolutely not. I don't know jack fucking shit, no sir, not me, and you'd better not either. You want to get a visit from some masked psycho for knowing that? And I'm including The Batman here, I'm not fucking with his kid. No? You don't? Neither do I, so We Know Nothing! Burn whatever notes you took, delete all your files, run your hard drive through the garbage disposal, and NEVER. EVER. BRING. THIS. UP. AGAIN. EVER."

Tim was "the only one to figure it out" because he was just the sort of arrogant that comes with being twelve-ish in addition to being smart enough to be really, really stupid.

[kissorkill16]

I Need Him (Stay Away From Him): A Hello Neighbor Fanfic

By JJ

Summary: Mr. Murtaugh's discussion with Trinity.

Just as the bell rang, Trinity was about to sprint out the room, when Mr. Murtaugh grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back.

"Ms. Bales, would you mind hanging back for a moment? I need to have a word with you about Nicholas."

Trinity was confused and looked at the science teacher with a puzzled expression.

"Mr. Roth?"

Trinity was still confused.

"Nicky."

The girl sat back down at her desk, "What about Nicky?"

Mr. Murtaugh folded his hands together. "He came to school with a dirty potato sack over his head, and he kept whimpering and begging for you to let him out. When I confronted him about it, do you know what he told me?"

Trinity's face turned pale. She felt like she knew why Nicky acted like that, but she shook her head, watching as the science teacher kept on that creepy smile he always wore.

"He told me that you and him went back into Mr. Peterson's house, and when he was triggered, you locked him back in the basement. How crazy is that?"

Trinity immediately stood up from her chair, "Sir, I can explain!"

"You don't need to, darling. I feel like I understand the situation pretty well.", said Mr. Murtaugh. The science teacher stepped forward to the girl, making her sit back down. "He told me he had to find his own way out after you didn't make it back for who knows how long. And you know what the saddest thing is? You promised to be right back for him."

As he said this, he walked in circles around the girl, like a shark cornering its prey.

Trinity didn't say anything, she just stared at her lap. "Why did he even talk to you about that?"

"Darling, while I may be his science teacher, I also happened to be his personal counselor. Weekly appointments are set up between me and him, and he's been telling me everything that's happened ever since he's returned. The bullying, the picture Finch took, how his own friends pushed him to a mental breakdown, etc."

Trinity still didn't say anything.

"I think it's best that you don't associate with Nicholas anymore."

Just hearing that made Trinity stand from her chair again. "WHAT?!", she lowered her voice a little. "But I need him!"

The science teacher scoffed, "Why? So you can unmask this Crowface creature?"

Trinity's eyes widened, "He told you about Crowface?"

"And the Forest Protectors, yes. Even with your little group of investigators, you won't find anything. Especially not while one of your friends is currently having their own problems, and either you children don't notice, or you don't care.", said Mr. Murtaugh.

"I do care!", said Trinity, "I do care about Nicky! Don't you dare say I don't! Nicky was the only one who listened to me when I felt anxious about this fucked up town, and I listened to him about Mr. Peterson. You're just -"

Mr. Murtaugh slammed his gloved hands on the desk.

"I'm just trying to keep him safe from having another episode like that.", he growled. "And here you are just making everything worse. First it was Finch, then it was Delroy, then it was everyone else but you, and now it is you. Nicholas is dealing with enough already without you and your little friends trying to force him to help you with this investigation."

The science teacher said this, all while maintaining eye contact with Trinity.

"I may not have cared about Nicholas in the beginning. In the beginning, he was nothing but a pain in the neck who made my job a nightmare. But now I'm finally listening to the boy and he's been holding in some very heavy things that he can't even tell his own friends because they're too busy with their own unimportant thing! I couldn't even believe it myself, but if anyone truly cares about Nicholas, it's me."

The two just stared at each other in a moment of silence.

"Have a nice day, darling.", said the science teacher, still holding his creepy smile.

Mr. Murtaugh pointed to the door, leaving no room for further argument. Trinity slowly got up from her chair and walked out of the room. She was about to make her way down the hall, but then she jumped up when she heard a loud screech. Almost like a raven scream.

"YOU WHAT?!"

[averagewriter-inthedark]

Family of Spies 🕵🏻‍♀️ | Everett Ross headcanon

Pairs with “Family of Heroes”

Marvel masterlist

Requested 📨: yes/no (for @autistic-solar-fandom)

——————

Avenger!reader & Ross’ kids sneaking onto a mission with their parents would look like:

How the heathens managed to find y’all is a mystery of its own. You don’t know how to react first: with praise or with anger.

To paint the picture, you and Ross are undercover in a conjoined mission between the Avengers & CIA. The target in question is someone suspected of harboring a fugitive with intel of the super soldier serum created in Madripoor. After Sam and Bucky had settled the issue in New York, you both were sent to recover the fugitive in a manner lowkey as possible.

What neither you--nor your agencies--could prepare for was your children tracking y'all down.

You may be an Avenger (highly skilled and known to put fear in God themself) but at the end of the day you’re a parent first. So, it is no surprise when you lose your shit on the children who infiltrated the highly classified mission you and your husband were on. "I don't want to hear it." "But we just thought--." "And now I have to hear it."

Like you, Everett was very displeased and had to hold his tongue. You already unleashed your wrath he felt maybe it was a good idea to calm the situation than escalate it further by grilling them. He did, however, make his frustration and disappointment known, "We raised you to know better. What the hell were you thinking?! This is not only dangerous, but illegal!"

Your daughter, who you both know had interest in working for Intelligence, immediately went into explanation mode. The excuse they gave--besides missing y'all and worrying about you both not coming home---was that she and her brother could help in the undercover mission. "How exactly do you plan to do that? You haven't even finished high school." "No, but we're already your kids. How hard is it to play the role of a family?"

For your son, he had always wanted to test out the gadgets he'd made. This was his opportunity, but your concern was someone getting hurt since they had not been tested in a concealed environment. Ross agreed, which only had your son pouting. "But dad, think of how useful they can be?" "Son, we're already expecting to go to jail for even considering letting you both help...but we will be sent to the Raft for allowing you to use those when they have not been approved by the Director."

Several times during the mission you about lost it when your daughter or son scurried off. They'd return with new information, completely shocking you both wondering just how the hell they managed to get it. "Where did you hear this?" "That man told the guy beside him. I pretended to read my book and sat at the table right next to them. They didn't pay me any mind."

At one point you did receive a message from Fury asking why his sources are telling him your son was spotted at y'alls location to which you played dumb and prayed he'd dismiss it. Which he did....cause Fury just wants the job done by any means necessary.

Eventually, after several minutes of going back and forth and deciding not to strangle your kids for being so irresponsible, you eventually agree to their plan. This decision of course came with some ground rules. "You will do as we say--and do not act without permission. The second you do something that results in either of you getting hurt, I will personally be calling the U.S military to get your asses out of here." "Yes ma'am/sir"

By some grace of God, the mission was a success. No one, thankfully, was hurt--except for the associates of the man you and Ross were looking for in a hand-to-hand battle that left your kids speechless from their hiding space. The suspect was contained and transported to the Embassy, you and Ross collected your children and had a dinner involving take out and sodas.

The adrenaline your children experienced was enough to confirm that both wanted to pursue careers in espionage and intelligence. Something you and Everett were concerned about initially, but after seeing them and realizing they were equipped the skills needed to be successful agents/spies, you both accepted the inevitable.

"We did good, didn't we honey?" Ross kissed your temple, clicking his glass with yours as you leaned into his side from your spot watching your kids reenact the fight between you and the bad guys. "We sure did. Who would've thought we'd become a family of spies after all?"

[kathystheoriesandmore]

I solved FNAF 1's Original Story (FNAF Theory/Long Post)

So, I made this theory because of the recent 10 year anniversary of the FNAF games, I have been in the fandom since the beginning and I know how crazy it is to create theories for this fandom, so I wanted to go back to the first game again and see if I could maybe figure out the original plot with small details without looking at the other games, since this game seemed to be a stand-alone before FNAF 2 and 3 came out and changed the story to the one we know today. So im only looking at fnaf 1, and nothing else! So please don't attack me with other game info-

Anyways onto the process!

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

To do this I decided to start with just making a list out the known information on Easter eggs and sounds in the game. This led to me also looking over the four News Articles as well as reading the 5 phone calls from the phone guy, (Including the broken static one)

When doing so, I noticed a few strange things in the articles and phone guy calls, that just didn't make sense to me.

The first attention grabbers came from the articles, mainly with wording with the two kids missing, saying the kids were there at “late hours”, which means that they were there, after hours when no one should be around at the pizzeria.

(Photo from fnaflore.com)

There was another part that also confused me with the “Local Pizzeria said to close” where it talks about the local place shutting down, but it seems like it's not just this local pizzeria, it's the entire company. I get this feeling with this quote:

“Despite a year-long search for a buyer, companies seem unwilling to be associated with the company. "These characters will live on. In the hearts of kids, these characters will live on." - CEO”

I might be wrong, and it could be because all the other chain restaurants in the company have closed, but because we can't use any other games to prove anything so im not sure, but I thought that was strange to talk about how this one place is closing, and in the process, the company was closing fully.

~~~

The other parts that caught my interest were when reading Phone Guy’s Night 1, and 5 Calls.

Night 1 has a lot of information, with info on how they do cover up dead bodies, The Bite of 87, and how the robots wander around because it is in their programming but they are buggy, causing them not to walk during the day anymore, as well as the info about how the animatronics are glitched and see humans “after hours” as an endo skeleton, and how being stuffed into the suit, is the thing that kills you, meaning the robots don't bite you, they just stuff you in and the suit-wearing kills you-

...

But, didn't they say someone was wearing the said suit?

Without FNAF 3 explaining spring locks and the way humans could wear the suits there was no possible way for them to wear them, so how could a human wear the suit? The suits, even without an endo, could kill you. So there is no possible way for a human to wear those suits!

With this new information, I then went back and noticed the “after hours” part with seeing humans as endos, and remembered one of the articles saying the kids being there during late hours, and made me think…

what if there was no human killer?

What if, the kids snuck in during late hours and got tricked by highly advanced but buggy robots, and were forced into the suits because they were thought to be endos, and were killed in the process of being put into the suits?

But then, why was someone arrested? And more importantly, why was someone randomly arrested? Well, I think the night 5 phone call can help. On night 5, the phone call quotes:

“Sir, it is lamentable that mass agricultural development is not speeded by fuller use of your marvelous mechanisms. Would it not be easily possible to employ some of them in quick laboratory experiments to indicate the influence of various types of fertilizers on plant growth? You are right. Countless uses of Bose instruments will be made by future generations. The scientist seldom knows contemporaneous reward; it is enough to possess the joy of creative service.” - Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda

From my understanding of the quote, it seems to give the info of a man talking to another about how his machines are highly advanced and they wished to use them in a few experiments to see how they will do, then talking about how if they do this, this could be very helpful to the future, even if you don't know who the creator is.

And this, I think, is our biggest hint.

If the bite of 87, did happen at that time, then that means that before 1987 they already had walking animatronics, which was pretty advanced for its time, you could even say sci-fi advanced. Mainly because at least from my research, (might be wrong), the latest a robot was able to walk in our timeline was in the 2000s. There were experimental ones in the 1980s, but even then, from my understanding, it was only old models that failed.

If the same is true for the FNAF 1 world, then that would mean these machines were either highly advanced… or released the the public to interact without telling anyone that they are still experimental. A highly dangerous situation.

If this was the case....

(Summary)

We have a story of a company, probably not on making pizzas, but on making animatronics, and wanting to be on top before everyone else. When doing so, they decided to use a pizzeria as their experimenting grounds and had many accidents, probably more than just the bite of 87, which caused a lot of lawsuits. One of these being kids going missing after hours. The animatronics were the killers and stuffed them into the suits out of glitched code. If this information came out, there could be a chance their entire company would have immediately shut down, but if they had a scapegoat… then there is a higher chance that maybe they could brush this under the rug and put the blame on someone else. So someone random was arrested, leaving the the company to struggle to cover it, and for a while it did work, but people kept thinking of it, causing a struggle to keep in business, making them shut down, leaving us to now.

If this is also the case, we could keep with the Sci-fi theme and say that everything in the game is not actual hauntings, but the robots just glitching out, we could go sci-fi and say it could be the kids as well. But I like to think it's fully just Sci-fi since Scott said in his latest interview with Dawko that he loves Sci-fi and always goes back to it.

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

With that, I would also like to say, that there is evidence of this with other media mainly with how we have Mr.Hippo’s speech of him saying “Don’t look too deep into the information” pretty much and with the fact of we recently found out the crying child's (Dave's) name by just looking it over again and realizing how easy it was to solve if we didn't dig too deep for it.

I wonder if all the other info is this easy, of just looking carefully at what is being said, instead of looking into the code and guessing who did the bite, and who the kids were.

[puffpasstea]

Random blurb idea - could you please do a blurb maybe where Matilda travels to surprise harry on tour, and maybe has her text notifs off bc of travel so harry is upset/concerned bc she’s not responding to his messages? Like a mix of angst and smut?

Sorry if you hate this and its nothing like you wanted.

Warnings: angst, smut, (brief) mentions of mental illness.

---

"I'm sorry, okay? but to be fair, I never said I'd come for sure. I only said I'd try." I adjusted the phone in my hand.

"I didn't say anything!"

"You didn't have to. I can practically feel you brooding all the way over here."

"'M not brooding. Know better than to expect you to just drive out cuz I happen to be playin' a show nearby. Even though we haven't seen each other in months."

"But you're not brooding or anything, right?"

"Right."

"I have to work, Harry! Not all of us can just change our plans on a whim and expect the whole world to accommodate our schedules, you know. Some of us have real jobs. Plus, you know I get anxious about this kind of thing. I'm not a professional rockstar-"

"No, you have a real job."

"C'mon, you know I didn't mean it like that."

"'S alright. I have to go, anyway. Sound check starts in a bit."

"Talk soon?"

"Bye, Matilda."

***

The wheels of my carry-on squeaked gratingly as I pulled it across the airport. I couldn't believe I was actually going through with this. I felt foolish. Like some love-struck teenager sneaking out of her bedroom at night for a boy who doesn't even know her name. Except I'm an adult. And Harry- well, it's complicated. But my therapist did say that I needed to start getting out of my comfort zone and doing things that I wouldn't normally do. Something about practice making things easier, or whatever. I've certainly never done this before. Granted I've arrived way too early for a domestic flight, and I'm sure I've overpacked for this weekend trip. Hopefully, the look on Harry's face will be worth it though.

A knot formed in my stomach every time I thought about how I spoke to him on the phone the other night. All he wanted was a chance for us to finally see each other again, but the thought made me feel threatened somehow. Like I'd admit to being attached to him if I were willing to come all this way. Of course, I could've been nice about it, or at least avoided implying that his job was less real than mine. All I can do now is hope that he doesn't still remember all that.

***

My fingers were shaky against the screen of my phone as I selected the "airplane mode" and plugged in my headphones. Perhaps getting four shots of espresso in my crappy airport coffee wasn't the sanest decision, or maybe the trembling was simply nerves, either way, I needed a distraction. Launching the music streaming app, I went for the "downloads" tab, and played "Matilda" as the pilot announced our take-off.

***

I ran across the airport, my squeaky luggage in hand until I reached the crowded escalator, regretfully bumping into the person in front of me before reaching a halt.

"E-excuse me, sorry." I whispered, but the man didn't seem to care. I peered beyond him at the long line of people. Damn was this thing crowded. I needed it to move faster. I needed to use the restroom. Airplane bathrooms gave me the creeps. And drinking soda with my stale complementary pretzels on the flight was a huge mistake with a bladder like mine.

hurry, hurry, hurry. I tapped my foot against my carry-on, impatiently, and earned a side-eye from the person in front of me.

"Again, sorry, sir."

***

I stared at my reflection in the foggy bathroom mirror. Gross airplane smell isn't exactly the scent I want Harry to associate with me. I took out my TSA-approved, mini-toiletries and began damage control. Freshening up, re-applying make-up, and spraying some perfume might help counteract the post-flight aroma and general vibe.

I promised myself that if this ends up going badly, my therapist is going to have to pay me next week.

The shorter the distance between Harry and I, the louder my heartbeat felt. It was practically in my eardrums by now. I hated keeping secrets from him, but I've also never surprised anyone before. If I was being honest, there was a tinge of excitement and anticipation about this, underneath all the self-loathing and embarrassment. No matter what happens next, I should be proud of myself for trying, right? I should...

***

At the arrivals gate, I deselected the "airplane mode" to access the internet and put in Harry's hotel address. The second that my phone caught signal again, my notifications were blowing up. It took me a minute to get over the vibrations and buzzing, and when the flood had died down, I look at my screen, blinking intensely.

Harry Styles, 12 Messages

Harry Styles, 16 Missed Calls

Harry Styles, Voicemail

Holy shit! What had I done? I worried that he'd been trying to reach me to let me know how much he hates me; how he's glad I never ended up coming out to see him after all. What if this whole thing was a mistake?

My brain froze. I hastily scrolled through his messages, too paralyzed by anxiety to process the words on the screen. Vaguely, I caught sight of "Apologize" "Just missed you" and "worried you hate me" across all 16 messages.

jumping in the cab, I relished in his voice messages and listened to them repeatedly it with a stupidly wide grin blasted on my face the whole time.

"Please don't ignore my messages. It's one thing to do that when we're within driving distance and I can just bang on your door and call your bluff, but I kind of hate when I can't do anything about it now."

"I'm really worried, and I know it's manipulative of me to say this, but, I really don't want to go onstage knowing that you're mad at me."

"okay, I'm starting to think that you do want to upset me. Don't be like this. I just missed you. Can ya blame me? The show was hell in case you care to know. I mean, I couldn't not sing Matilda now, could I? You know what I thought about the entire time I was singing it, though? Remember the one time you decided we should go to your place instead of mine, after filming? You made us dinner and I fucked you against the couch? left a nice bruise on your neck. Some of my best work, I must say. Have you been with anyone...you know, since... It's not like you can't be. Why stay celibate. I'm not your boyfriend or anything. I could be. But you don't want that, so... anyway, they're knocking on my door. Bye."

What a giant idiot.

*

It was a little past midnight by the time that my cab pulled up to the lobby of the hotel Harry and his band were staying in. I gave the receptionist the fake name he usually uses for reservations like this and they eyed me from head to toe a few times before finally confessing his room number. It was a large penthouse-sized space on their top floor. No doubt booked specifically with all his gear, luggage, and concert items in mind. During the elevator ride to the summit, it occurred to me that he might have brought someone back with him for the night. Or maybe gone out. He'd told me some stories, from the beginning of his performing career, when he'd go to afterparties, and after-afterparties and pick up women and smoke and drink and do things that I could only imagine. But, he's also told me that he has since turned in the opposite direction, opting instead, for a very structured routine on tour. He'd found that performing the very next day with a raging hangover and on very little sleep made his stage presence shaky and lackluster, and he felt it was his responsibility to always give every performance his full capacity. So, it was very likely that he'd be getting ready to go to sleep soon, but what if tonight is the exception? what if he'd decided, on a whim, to go back to his old ways, just this once?

how would I feel if I were to find his lips attached to someone else's neck right now? And before I could wait around to make up my mind about it, I found myself knocking on Harry's door.

the door creaked open, and, I could swear I saw the wheels turning in his head.

"If you must know, no. I haven't been with anyone else since being with you. Not that it's any of your business."

He went from barely looking at me through droopy eyes, clutching the middle of his bathrobe, trying to keep his chest covered to looking as if he'd seen a ghost, to grabbing the cross on his necklace, kissing it, and looking up at the ceiling.

"Thank you Jesus. God, thank you, thank you!!"

I frowned. "I didn't know you were religiou- ahhhh"

He grabbed me by my shirt collar, dragging me into the room and shutting the door behind us.

"Aren't you gonna- ask- why I'm here..." I attempted to remain cool and collected as Harry busied himself with separating me from my luggage, shoving me up against the wall and kissing everywhere his lips landed.

"Don't care" he whispered in between leaving a trail of kissing down the side of my jaw and neck. "Just care that you're here."

"H-harry, wait. I just got off a plane, there's like airplane germs all over me." I swallowed my giggles, feeling tickled by the stubble he appears to be growing.

Harry used, looking up at me through his lashes.

"Fine" He relented, his arms still around my waist, squeezing gently, as if to verify that I was really here. "You can take a shower. There's a very nice bathroom here."

"That'd be nice." I leaned in, kissing his cheek, and enjoying the blush it caused.

Harry's fingers danced down my body and took hold of my hand. "Let me give you a little tour."

"Ooo fancy!" I scanned his residence enviously, until my eyes landed on his massive, and unmade bed. "You were sleeping?"

"Not exactly....was about to. But that doesn't matter now. Cuz I've got company!" he turned around to face me, his hands cradling my face, his sparkling green eyes looking directly into mine. "are you really here or is this the dream I'm having after going to bed thinkin' about you and worrying that I haven't heard from you? Is my subconscious just makin' this up? if so, I don't ever wanna wake up."

My heart melted in my chest. I didn't know what to say, so I simply kissed his lips, causing his eyes to flutter shut and his feet to momentarily lose balance before he held onto me to steady himself.

"Ca-can I...join you in the shower?" he asked, looking down at his feet.

"Seriously, Harry? shower sex? do you know how impractical that is?"

"N-no! not shower sex." He looked at me, briefly, before sheepishly looking down at the floor again, his arms finding their place around my waist. "N-not that I don't wanna fuck you. Just-- uhh...I just wanna hold you. If that's okay? You can say no! I can just wait."

I was glad Harry wasn't looking at me because I'm sure my face would've given me away instantly. I grabbed onto the sleeve of his robe, leading him to the bathroom. "Fine. You can come." I could feel his excited gaze on the back of my head.

***

"Food'll be here in 40 minutes." Harry placed the hotel phone back in its place.

I nodded, my eyes on the tv.

"So..." He stood by the side on the bed, towering over my scarcely covered body. My hair was still damp and he insisted I wear his t shirt even though I'd packed my own pajamas. "How long are you here for?" he spoke as he crawled onto the bed, situating himself squarely in between my legs.

"just- for the- uhh- the \ weekend" I stuttered as Harry's hands slipped under the fabric of my clothes and found my breasts, his thumb and index fingers lightly running over my nipples.

"Mustn't waste time, then" he kissed a line of wet, open mouth kisses from my belly button, reaching the band of my underwear. "May I?"

"Yes. God, yes." My breath quickened. Harry's soft voice asking for permission always got me even when we were sleeping together every other night. Tonight, it downright melted me. "P-please." I mewled, instantly embarrassed.

"Eager, are we?" the grin was obvious in his voice.

"Yes!"

"Yes, what?"

My heart fluttered in my chest, skipping a beat. "Yes, sir." I corrected.

"hmm.." Satisfied, Harry hooked his fingers through the band of my underwear, slowly, teasingly, dragging it down my legs. "That's my good girl."

[cookiesandbiscuits]

Cookie's Writing Challenge Day Two: Sunflowers

Prompt of the day: Sunflowers

Pairing: Lucifer x Margarette Camellia Sanchez (OC)

Genre: Fluff

Summary: The Avatar of Pride buys his human her favorite flowers.

Warning: Might be a little OOC. The writer's craving fluff again. Grammatical errors ahead.

Cookie's 18th Birthday Bash Countdown Event

Cookie's Writing Challenge Prompts

< Day One: Sweets ••• Day Three: Rest >

Sunflowers. In the human world, it represents joy and happiness. A flower associated with the sun.

Bright.

Lively.

Shining.

It was a flower that she always adored. He remembered how her eyes sparkled as she gently caressed its petals with her thumb when he brought her one for the first time.

"You remembered that sunflowers are my favorite? It's lovely. Thank you, Luci!"

How can he forget? It was something that made her smile. And he can never forget the things that make his favorite human smile.

The sun never shines in the Devildom. It has always been like that. But when she smiled, it was like he was seeing the sunrise for the first time. Beautiful.

He vowed to himself that he would do anything to protect that smile of hers.

And that promise came to mind when he saw sunflowers displayed in front of a flower shop.

He was out in the human world for a business trip and was walking back to his hotel when he passed by the flower shop where the sunflowers were displayed. And before he knew it, he was already inside the flower shop talking to the florist.

"Hello. How can I help you today?"

"A bouquet of sunflowers, please."

"Right away, sir." The florist went inside to arrange the bouquet.

A few moments later, they returned with the bouquet in hand.

With a friendly smile, they handed the sunflower bouquet to him. "I'm sure your wife will love them, sir."

Wife. The two of them aren't married yet, but the prospect of her being called his wife doesn't sound so bad.

"She's not my wife... yet."

The florist's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were already married."

"It's alright. They're lovely. Thank you."

He left the shop satisfied with what he bought, and the only thing that's left is to give it to her.

.

.

.

"Lucifer! You're back!"

She greeted him with her usual cheery voice, a hug, and a kiss on the cheek.

"I'm back. The others?"

"Mammon and Asmo are out, Satan, Belphie, and Levi are in their rooms, and Beel won't be back until 7 due to fangol practice."

He smiled. He took the bouquet he was hiding and gave it to her.

"Oh, Luci, they're beautiful! But... why? Is there a special occasion I'm forgetting, somehow?"

He frowned at her perplexed look. "Do I need a reason to surprise you?"

"W-well, no... I was just caught off-guard. I'm not used to receiving gifts for no reason."

He chuckled before placing a kiss on her head. "Well, you better get used to it, my dear."

Sunflowers. They represent joy and happiness. And Lucifer had found his sunflower, shining brightly under the Devildom's endless night sky.

Tag list: @azulashengrottospiano @amberheavendremurr @aqua-beam @identity-theft-101 @officialdaydreamer00 @yourlocalgrass

[chibrary]

title: "F1WEEKLY PODCAST # 609" source: grandprixweekly.com format: interview (audio) season: 2012, karting

Full transcript:

F1 Weekly (00:00): Okay folks, we are in Vegas with Charles Leclerc from Monaco. Charles, welcome to F1 Weekly. How are you today, sir?

Charles (00:07): Very good, but very good because it's Las Vegas for sure. But then, uh, we had a bit of difficulties today, uh, at the second heat, at the third heat, at the fourth, at the second one, and, uh, 28 or 27 at the last one because a driver pushed me out. Uh, yesterday was a really good day because we did the poll and then won the heat. And, uh, we still go on tomorrow with a positive, uh, positive attempt because we were very fast. And our pace, pace in race is very good. So I think we can do well.

F1 Weekly (00:46): Is this your first trip to America?

Charles (00:48): Yeah, my first trip, yeah.

F1 Weekly (00:50): What is your impression so far?

Charles (00:53): Uh, I really do like the, the ambiance, the everything, I really do. Like, it's very, very different to Europe, but I really, I really like it.

F1 Weekly (01:05): Have you had your first hotdog?

Charles (01:08): Uh, yeah. Yeah, I had it <laugh>.

F1 Weekly (01:10): <laugh>. And how good was it?

Charles (01:11): Very good, very good. <laugh>

F1 Weekly (01:13): Good. Okay. I have a question for you. You are a very, uh, you're a young guy, but you're very smart. I understand you were five years old and you told your dad I am sick, a trick that I've also used, tell us about that story, please.

Charles (01:26): Uh, yeah, yeah. I was five years old and we go one day to, uh, to the track of, uh, Jules Bianchi in Brignoles. And, uh, I tried it and I, I loved it, so I told my father to buy a kart and then, uh, all the story went on that, we buy a kart, then do regional races, and, uh, it went pretty good. So then we decided to do the thing a bit more serious. Then we go in international. It was a bit harder at the start, but at the end it's, it's good.

F1 Weekly (02:01): Now, when you got your first, uh, the first two days in the car, were you really quick or was it just more for the fun of it?

Charles (02:10): Uh, the first two days in the car?

F1 Weekly (02:11): Yeah. Yeah. When you first started doing karting on your own, was it more for fun or were you really quick right from the start? 

Charles (02:18): Uh, I think I was quite fast, but it was, it was still for, for fun. It was, it was just because I liked it, so, but then it becomes a bit more serious and I still loved it the same way I did when at five years old. So that's the positive point. And then for sure it's a bit more serious <coughs>.

F1 Weekly (02:45): Take your time--

Charles (02:46): <laugh>. For sure, It's a bit more serious now.

F1 Weekly (02:48): Okay. Now, uh, you've been racing or at least practicing with one of our friends, Jules Bianchi. Uh, we've known him for a few years. Tell us about your association with him and how much did you learn from him?

Charles (03:02): Uh, yeah, I drive with him, but not in the same category. We just have rental karts on his track and just drive with him. And yeah, that was more for fun than to, than to learn something, but it was really cool. And yeah, he learned me lots of things too, which we, he tell me and which helps me a lot. And I say thank you to him to say, to do that.

F1 Weekly (03:27): Now, in 2005 you were in minikart, 18 races, all from pole and 16 wins. What happened in the two races you did not win?

Charles (03:37): Oh, I can't really remember everything, but I know that the French, uh, cup, I was, uh, second in the last lap and in the last corner, a driver cut the truck and push me out. Then the, the other race, I think I had the technical problem or probably something like that, but yeah, it was really good. Yeah, but of course it was only in 2005 and in Minikart it's, it's not the same level, but, but now that I'm in international races, no.

F1 Weekly (04:07): Okay. Were you surprised that you were able to win almost all the races?

Charles (04:12): Yeah. Yeah. Surprised, but I didn't really realize because it was really for fun at the start. I was, I was very young and I was seven years old probably. So, it was really for fun at the start then, then it becomes serious and, and I still love this. I still love it.

F1 Weekly (04:30): 2010, you became the youngest winner in Monaco Kart Cup, which is a very prestigious, uh, event. Tell us about this, uh, race and who were some of your biggest competitors?

Charles (04:40): That was an amazing race, really an amazing race because it felt really good there. The middle in the heats, we were, we had a bit of problems and difficulties, but at, at the end, in pre-final, we, we started 30, I think at the end of the, at the start of the final. I finished at the start at the, at the end of the pre-final, I finished seventh, which was quite good because in the street, it's difficult to overtake. And then from seventh, uh, I did first, but yeah, it was, it was an amazing day to and to win, especially on, on my own current country, even more special and, and amazing.

F1 Weekly (05:20): Last year you were KF3 world champion. How does it compare, uh, with the victory in Monaco Kart Cup?

Charles (05:27): Oh, of course, to be world champion is, is much better. The feeling is crazy, and I loved it. I hope to be a second time and all the time World champion, but yeah, it was amazing. It was amazing.

F1 Weekly (05:40): Okay. Like your friend Jules Bianchi, uh, you are also part of the All Road Management. Uh, tell us please how you hooked up with Nicolas Todt <Sorry?> You are with All Road Management, right? So how did you meet and hook up with Nicolas Todt?

Charles (05:55): Uh, we take contact with our management after the, after the, after the Monaco Cup that I won. Uh, we went in Geneva and uh, we meet with Nicolas Todt. Everything went very well. And, uh, now, now they are just, they are helping me a lot, a lot. And I say big thanks to them, very big thanks because, uh, if today I'm here in Las Vegas and if I won the World Cup last year too, it's because of them and no one else, of course, with, of my family too.

F1 Weekly (06:27): Now, Nicolas Todt has also started this ART Grand Prix team. Um, how challenging was it to work with a brand new manufacturer?

Charles (06:35): Uh, yeah, yeah, he did a, a new brand of chassis and I think it's, it's really amazing what he did because the first year of, of this chassis we are here and very competitive. We did first at the European Championship, second at the European Championship, won the <inaudible> fifth and sixth at the World Cup. I think it's, and second at the World Championship too. I think it's really amazing that what they did. And uh, yeah, it was a challenge to be at the start of the year to develop everything and everything, but it went very well and it was quite easy because everyone like, uh, give lots of work to the team and everything went well. So that's perfect. But yeah, we still have a bit to improve, but it's only the first year, so I'm su-- I'm sure next year there will be very good, very good.

F1 Weekly (07:27): For the young karting drivers you have raced all over Europe, America, wherever. Apart from you, who do you think are also some very good kart drivers?

Charles (07:36): Sorry?

F1 Weekly (07:37): Who are some of the best kart drivers who have, whom you have raced against your com-- com-- competition? Who are good drivers?

Charles (07:44): Oh, you know, in Europe, uh, I think all the drivers are very good. Probably not <inaudible> are, are not very good, but then there's a li-- a little more, which does the difference. And then there's, I, I can't say one to be competitive because if I say one I will say 100, you know? So yeah, lots of drivers are, are very competitive. Okay.

F1 Weekly (08:08): Cool. Talking of next year, I get the impression you look ready for Formula Renault, what's happening next year?

Charles (08:15): Now Formula Renault is a bit early because, uh, probably I look older, but I'm only 15, which is a bit early for me to go in Formula. So we will say we didn't decide yet, but normally it's not Formula Renault or it's pretty sure that we don't do Formula. We will still do karting, but we are not sure about the category yet. Probably KF1 or probably KF2, I don't know yet.

F1 Weekly (08:40): France has produced some, uh, very famous drivers. Have you ever met Alain Prost or, uh, Mr. Jean Alesi?

Charles (08:47): Uh, no, I didn't meet them. No, I didn't. But I'm from Monaco, which is not really like France. Yeah, it's really close, but yeah.

F1 Weekly (08:54): Okay, cool. Okay, uh, finally, um, Formula One season is coming to an end. We have a race in the United States this weekend. Uh, who would you like to see win Nando or, uh, Sebastian?

Charles (09:07): Uh, I don't really know, but the one which I will like to be in Formula One, the soonest as possible is Jules Bianchi, which is very talented, and I hope next year he will get the chance to go in it because he definitely deserve it to go in it.

F1 Weekly (09:21): Okay, great. I appreciate your time. Now finally, I want you to give a message to listeners. Some say something to our listeners. Tell them about your website, uh, a message in English and your language, français, please.

Charles (09:34): Oh, so I would like, first of all to say a big thanks to All Road Management, again, to all my sponsors, Richard Mille, and to Formula Medicine, who helps me, uh, which does mental training and physical training, which helps me very like a lot, a lot. And, uh, then yeah, I think my website. <Yeah, please.> The website is www  point charles leclerc point com and, uh--

F1 Weekly (10:04): And how about the same message in français?

Charles (10:08): Uh--

F1 Weekly (10:09): Whatever you want to say. Say,

Charles (10:10): Okay. [Speaks in french....].

[theradiowaves]

Did some deep discussion about traumatic experiences yesterday, and am reeling at some posts I saw just now, so I wanna... kicks dirt. Talk about it? Shrugs.

I was bullied, as a kid. As a teenager. As an adult. School was the most horrible time of my life. I was clearly mentally ill, but undiagnosed due to a father who was scared to think his child could have the same problems her mother had.

Bullying, straight up, is harassment. People don't think so because we associate it with children/being childish. But... that is what it is. It is abuse received from your peers. And it is so strange that people seem to not realize that when we have such large (and generally useless) anti bullying campaigns. When we have reminders of what being bullied can do to a child.

...

Anyways, I speak on it because the core of some of my plurality certainly blossomed from that. People will say they were imaginary friends, and perhaps that is all they were. But those imaginary individuals were real to me. They helped me survive when everyone I knew was against me. My fantasy world was my only safe space, and I'm always wanting to be there even now.

It definitely WAS due to that sort of harassment that my head mates began to properly appear. Ingo was Me, separating into his own entity because I needed stability during very stressful times. I have an old diary where I wrote about him, and he wrote back to me. To the diary itself.

I had headmates who warped and changed and merged over time. There used to be Snatcher and Wrathia here. They ended up merging with Dameta. He is still who he is, but we know that they became a part of him, even if he does not identify with them.

I had a headmate who represented the part of me that was evil and angry, who wanted to harm others for harming me. They've faded away, bits and pieces becoming part of those who are here now.

Maho formed because I needed someone who made me feel completely safe.

Al formed for many reasons. Most we don't like to share.

We don't remember what made Dimi form. But he is here and has been for years. Dimi likes taking the piss with others and having fun, while our own interactions are few and uneventful.

We used to have Sir Falspar. He is gone now, but we remember him clearly. I identify with him, so I think he returned to me in a way not unsimilar to that of Ingo or DMK separating from me.

There used to be others. Those when we were little. When things were the worst. Those who we felt at our side and lived life alongside us. Most have merged or disappeared. It feels weird. Kinda sad. But the brain does as it will.

... They are important to me. Everyone here, who has come and gone, who may eventually show up or disappear.

I'm not diagnosed with DID or OSDD. The things I experience are explained by other things I struggle with. Most of them, anyways. My alters formed from trauma or a dissociation of self due to my shaky identity issues. Or simply because one day they were there and I nodded and went okay, here you are.

I don't get amnesia. I don't leave the front. They join me there, speaking on rare occasions with others if they feel it safe and enjoyable to do so. (Not so much anymore because of being told we are fake or asked not to use system terminology despite how much we were hurt).

For years I described myself as a median system, and that is a term that feels the closest to correct, still.

But we don't focus on figuring it out specifically anymore. Of course, if we find something that fits? It is really, really nice.

But we're tired of having to have words for it. We are tired having to try to define or defend. We are ANGRY that we have been forced to question everything because we don't have solid memories and explanations or have unique brain quirks.

We ARE here. Whether it is because of trauma, loneliness, just showing up, or something else we can't explain.

I am me. We are Me. I want them to have a chance to express themselves if they do desire. I want them to be a part of what being Me is like to others.

We are not just me. We are the collective of us, even if the world doesn't know. Even if they don't believe us.

- 🌌

[dee-in-the-box]

i. may or may not have made a Dsaf oc/self insert type thing (it's both because, appearance and partially personality wise, xe's based off of me irl. but backstory stuff is pretty different).

named the little guy Morgan Bane. he's sort of the "Jack of All Trades" in Dsaf 3. he's kinda one of the only main workers in Jack's restaurant.

time for some background on this lil guy:

23

they're genderqueer. and just queer in general.

they've got that LGBTQ+ Christian Religious Trauma™

Autistic and an Utter Anxious Wreck <3

associated with the color blue.

left home after college and went to go stay with a friend for a bit.

got a job at Jack's restaurant because Why Not, and also because she was also considering doing something similar later in her life and wanted to get some first hand experience with how these places work.

xe views Jack as a mentor of sorts. which uh. Makes A Certain Version Of The Legacy/Evil Route For This Guy Particularly Fucked Up!

please ask me about the Morgan and Dave (Pre-Henry Trauma) parallels i could go on for hours please-

during the Legacy Route, Morgan will accidentally walk in on Jack and Dave about to murder the baby, but will stand in shock and horror, trying to stammer out a question to Jack "B-Boss, I- What in God's name are you-?!"

there's two versions of Morgan during the Legacy Route (well...technically four if you count the routes where he'd get framed, but we won't count those for this-): one where Jack and Dave choose not to get Morgan involved, and simply threaten him into silence (which works), or uh...well, Anyone Heard Of The Snowgrave Route From Deltarune Chapter 2-?

so here's how it works, right? Good/Neutral Routes = Morgan is generally friendly towards Jack, and is actually quite eager to talk with him! Legacy Route (Normal) = Morgan is scared of Jack and will actively avoid him, and will fidget nervously whenever the two do interact. at the end, after Phone Guy gets done with his lecture, Morgan will give a much shorter one: "I...don't really know what there is to say. Y'know, I'm not one to say this lightly, but I believe that you deserve to hear this: Don't keep the Devil waiting, sir." Legacy Route (Snowgrave Edition) = same as Normal Legacy Route, except Somehow Worse, and gets dragged into Even More Shit. this poor boy. he needs a hug. and a fucking break.

Morgan is just sending. so many distress signals to Harry. So Many. help it.

also, i thought it would be interesting if Morgan had a QnA thing like the Phone Guy does in the game. have some differences in dialogue between Good/Neutral Route answers and Legacy (Snowgrave) answers for a few questions:

"Tell me about your family."

Good/Neutral: "Oh, well...my family are rather loving people, don't get me wrong; they said they only ever wanted the best for me, sir. They just weren't quite...accepting, you see. We had some disagreements, you could say. I love them all dearly, it's just...they don't love me for who I am, you know? They don't hate me; God no. They're just...rather set in their ways and faith, just as I am in mine.

It's...complicated, shall we say. We haven't talked much since I left for college...."

Legacy (Snowgrave): "Oh, well...our relationship isn't perfect, sir. Not by a long shot...b-but we still keep in touch rather often, I-I assure you! I can promise you that I've certainly been keeping in touch with them regularly for the past three years!

...

Why are you staring at me like that? I'm not lying! I-I do!"

"Who's this "friend" you keep talking about?"

Good/Neutral: "Oh, they're the sweetest! We've known each other for years, ever since we were little. They actually gave me a place to stay while I got my life somewhat in order. I'll be forever grateful for it.

I...don't know what I'd do without them, sir..."

Legacy (Snowgrave): "Oh...the friend I keep talking about? Well...we talk often, I lived with them for a while during college, and I feel like I could tell them anything."

(I see. And what would their name happen to be, Morgan?)

"....W-With all due respect, sir, I don't feel comfortable telling you that.

I-I'm not risking.....Of all the people in my life, I can't lose them. Please, I can't..."

"What do you know about Henry, Employee?" (note: in the Legacy Route, this question would be purple and would have a smiley face at the end)

Good/Neutral: "...Henry? as in Henry Miller? Well...I'll admit I don't know much. I know he was the co-owner of Fredbear's Family Diner, he was a doctor of sorts (apparently), and that he went missing in 1983.

...I'll be honest with you, sir. I might not've been alive when he was, but all the photos I've seen...he's got bad vibes. I don't know what it is, maybe the smile...? Just...ugh, he gives me the heebie jeebies and he's not even alive anymore...."

Legacy (Snowgrave): "W-Why did you ask it like that, sir? And...why're you looking at me like that..?

U-Um, well, I-I know he co-owned this place called Fredbear's Family Diner and that he went missing in the early 80's...but that's about it...

...W-Why did you need to know? Why are you still looking at me like that, sir?!"

"Do you have any hopes and dreams?"

Good/Neutral: "Well, y'know how this place is? And Chuck E. Cheese? I was thinkin'...maybe I could open my own place like this someday. Y'know, not a Freddy's or Chuck E's, but...my own little place! You think I could do it?

(...Yeah, you seem like you'd do great, Morgan.)

Really?! I- Thank you, sir!"

Legacy (Snowgrave): "...Well...I hope to get a better job someday. Maybe get married to someone.

.....Why do you ask sir?

...Sir? Jesus, you really like staring at me like that..."

"What do you think of me and your job here?" (note: same as the Henry question during the Legacy Route)

Good/Neutral: "Oh, well...you're certainly blunt, sir. B-But I don't mean that as a bad thing at all! You're a great boss! And this job, while it's certainly...chaotic at times, it's still one of the greatest I've had!"

(...Really? Wow...I feel kinda bad for you, Employee.)

N-no, I'm being serious! I like making people happy, and what better job for that than this one?

...Sure, this place hasn't had...the best track record of making people happy, but I hope to change that!"

Legacy (Snowgrave): "...Well, that depends. Do you want the truth, or do want to hear what you want to hear?"

(The Truth, Morgan.)

"....Sir, I have blood on my hands that can never be washed off. I feel too scared to fall asleep, afraid that I'll see that poor baby's face when I close my eyes.

...I'm also scared that either see you or Dave one standing over me, ready to..."silence" me...but that's neither here nor there...

...But I also know that I'm in too deep to back out now.

...So what real choice do I have, sir?"

2. (Well, that also depends...how much do you value your life, Morgan? :))

"...Well, in that case:

This is one of the greatest jobs I've ever had! Love you and my coworkers! Yep! Definitely don't live in terror every waking (and sleeping) moment, sir! Nope! Not at all! Heh heh..."

(Morgan nervously fidgets with her cross necklace, nervously looking behind you towards the door of The Office.

It seems like they're ready to make a break for it at a moment's notice. He tries to smile wide, but it doesn't reach his eyes.)

anyway, please send some asks about Morgan i'd love to talk about my lil dude here!! :D

[babyboibucky]

The Match - Part 10

Pairing: CEO!Bucky x Fem!Reader

Summary: Sam helps you out in planning for the launch while Bucky is away.

Word Count: 4.2k (woopsies)

Warnings: SMUT is back, angry unprotected sex, spitting, a tiny hint at scratching and choking, some hurtful words thrown in yada yada yada, kinda intense asjkcackansk

A/N: STRAP THE FUCK IN BECAUSE WE BOUTTA RIDE A DAMN ROLLERCOASTER OMG I’m nervous for this because I found this part very intense while writing it. And I hope it comes across as that to y’all as well because my fingers ached from how hard I was typing this part lmfao. Team Bucky vs Team Reader/Team Sam here we goooo sksksk enjoy

The Match Masterlist || MAIN MASTERLIST

You didn't accept Sam's invitation to connect in LinkedIn. Not yet. But it did give you several ideas, like maybe submitting a resignation letter? Get away from Bucky and his toxic ass? He has Mackenzie now, he can easily have her take over your position anyway.

However, you were also torn because you loved your job at Bucky's company. It paved way for you to improve your skills and you experienced a lot of growth too. And well, Bucky's there too but god, you hated him right now. As much as you wanted to wave the white flag, you didn't feel like it was the right thing to do.

You wanted Bucky to learn that not everything he wants, he can easily get. And Mark was right, that you weren't just a trophy employee or whatever. You were so much more than what Bucky probably thinks of you.

And you were going to prove him that.

-

"Hey, Bev. Can you ring up your boss for me? Tell him I want to go over some of the plans I made for the launch before I discuss it with Mackenzie tomorrow." you asked.

Beverly was about to lift the phone up when an unexpected visitor arrived. None other than Sam Wilson himself.

"I didn't mean to eavesdrop but did I hear you correctly? You've already made some plans for the launch?" he asked with interest.

You chuckled, "Sort of. Well, it's a rough draft of my ideas. I just thought it would be nice to get a headstart." you admitted.

Sam nodded and was about to say something when Bucky stepped out of his office, his brows furrowing upon seeing you and Sam conversing. Bucky eyed you before glancing over at Sam, patting his shoulder gently as a greeting.

"You checking up on us or what?" Bucky teased with a chuckle.

Sam shook his head, "Not really. Well, kinda. I figured that another presentation would be unnecessary, I mean. I'd love to work on the launch with your team instead of being on the sidelines for approvals." he admitted.

You shrugged, "I think that's a great idea too. Less time to waste, less back and forth." you pitched in.

Bucky frowned a bit, his jaw clenching at how you backed up Sam immediately. "That's fine, but I have a meeting in a few. Might last the entire day. Mackenzie won't be here until tomorrow too." he said.

"She and I can discuss her plans today and maybe I can pitch in some of my ideas too. She can present them tomorrow to you and Kenzie." Sam suggested, gesturing over to you.

Bucky stared at you and Sam alternately, his hands balling into fists at his sides. You could see his internal struggle about leaving you and Sam to discuss about the launch, without his presence.

You lifted up the folder in your hand, "I wanted to go over these plans with you but I didn't know you have a meeting. Sam and I can just refine these today, would save us a lot of time. We don't want to be rushing anything for this project at the last minute." you told him.

Bucky swallowed but nodded anyway, albeit with hesitation, "Yeah. Of course. I'll just catch up on the both of you later."

And with that, Bucky walked away but not without sparing you and Sam one final glance. His eyes met yours for a brief moment and you weren't sure, but you saw a flash of worry in his eyes before it was immediately replaced by his usual stern, ice-cold gaze.

You turned to Sam with a smile, "We can discuss in the conference room." you said and led the way.

-

The planning was seamless and you were surprised that you had so much fun exchanging ideas with Sam, to the point of almost forgetting about lunch break. It was quarter past noon when the both of you realized that it was way past lunch time.

"Do you want to grab lunch or order something instead? I honestly hate working lunch, just so you know." Sam said with a laugh.

You groaned, "I hate that too, honestly." you admitted with a chuckle.

Sam nodded, "Great, we can head out for a quick lunch?" he asked.

It didn't even cross your mind to hesitate, so you immediately agreed and even asked if you can take Beverly with you. You'd grown somewhat attached to her in the short time you've known her. Poor kid was being treated like an outcast by the other office girls. She always waited for you to have your lunch break too, especially that Mark has been pretty busy lately.

Sam was kind enough to agree about including Beverly for lunch. The two of you were about to head out of the conference room when Beverly peeked in, worry etched all over her face.

"I need your help." she whined, "I think I messed up Sir James' schedule. Mister Nakajima is on the phone and said that he's going to be an hour late for a meeting today. I forgot about Sir James’ meeting with another company today!" she explained, almost close to tears.

You rushed over to her and held her shoulders, "Hey, calm down. Did you tell Mister Nakajima?" you asked.

"I did and he got mad at me! Today is his only free day and he said that if he doesn't meet up with Sir James, the deal is off." Beverly said, stomping her foot on the ground.

You heaved out a sigh, knowing that the deal was very important. Mister Nakajima owned an auto manufacturing company which produces world-class materials for cars. Bucky had been working on convincing Mister Nakajima to be his permanent supplier for quite a while now. Big fucking deal.

You looked back at Sam, "Hey, I'm sorry. Can you give me a couple of minutes?" you asked with an apologetic expression.

"Take your time." Sam nodded with a smile.

You went over to Beverly's desk and took over the phone call, without knowing that Sam trailed behind you. He watched you carefully as you talked to Mister Nakajima, your demeanor calm yet confident.

"Hi, Mister Nakajima. I'm the company's Marketing Head and I would like to apologize for the mix up. Bucky has been working really hard on improving the quality of our products, he's been in meetings in and out. That being said, would it be alright if I take over this afternoon's meeting instead? Bucky worked on an amazing presentation and I honestly would love to go over it with you and just show you how this partnership would be beneficial for both our companies." you asked.

Fortunately, you were able to appease Mister Nakajima while also saving Beverly's ass for her honest mistake. As soon as the call was done, you reassured Beverly that everything was fine now and that you'll take care of Bucky. By the time you looked back at Sam, he was merely smiling at you.

"You're really good with people."

-

Lunch break passed by quickly, with you, Sam and Beverly engaging in all sorts of conversations. Even Beverly felt comfortable being around his presence. He mainly talked about his experiences at his first job, giving Beverly a couple of tips on how to navigate through the corporate world.

Sam was very kind.

The planning resumed after lunch and by the time Mister Nakajima and his associates arrived, the launch plan was pretty much refined with a lot of details. Sam excused himself to give you time to meet with Mister Nakajima, however, he said he'll be staying until Bucky comes back.

Presenting to Mister Nakajima made you nervous as fuck, especially that he didn't really work closely with you which might affect his decision. Luckily though, you knew Bucky's presentation like the back of your hand due to the fact that he had gone over it with you for a couple of times back when the two of you were still, well, fucking around.

Ah, the good old days.

The meeting with Mister Nakajima went perfectly well because as soon as you were done with the presentation, the old man simply asked for the contract to seal the deal. Although it wasn't you who actually worked on the deck, you had a sense of fulfillment. You were proud of yourself and you couldn't wait to dangle it right in front of Bucky's face.

"Thank you so much, Mister Nakajima. We are excited for this partnership." you said happily as you led him and his associates out of the conference room, just as when Bucky arrived.

He looked confused when Mister Nakajima greeted him happily, shaking his hand and telling him how good his presentation was. Bucky looked over at you, as if asking what the hell was going on. You merely shrugged and headed back inside the conference with Sam.

Bucky followed shortly and for some reason, he looked agitated. He was about to speak up when Sam beat him to it, giving him a hard pat on the back.

"The launch event is gonna be really good." he said confidently before glancing at you.

"You're lucky to have her, Bucky." he said before bidding goodbye, giving you one last look and a wink as well, something that Bucky immediately noticed.

When Sam left, so did the light atmosphere inside the conference room. Bucky turned to you with a scowl, his footsteps rushed and heavy as he approached you.

"What the hell happened with Mister Nakajima?" he asked gruffly.

You smiled as you handed him an envelope, "The partnership is a go. He signed the contract and his team will be keeping in contact with us and our factory soon." you explained proudly.

Bucky took the envelope from your hand and went through the contract before placing it back on the table. "I thought my meeting with him isn't until Friday."

"Beverly mixed up your schedule and before you even reprimand her, give the girl a break. It's her first job and with the amount of meetings you've been having, mix-ups are inevitable. What matters now is that I took over the presentation and Mister Nakajima signed the contract." you explained with nonchalance.

Bucky shook his head, "The end does not justify the means." he said. "Beverly should have been careful. My schedule is not a joke and if I miss another important meeting, that can fuck up the entire company."

You rolled your eyes, "Calm down, Beverly surely learned from today's mistake. It's done. The deal is on. Everything is peachy. The launch details have been planned out, Sam is happy with it. All I have to do is to secure your and Mackenzie's approval for it and then we can start with the execution. You're welcome." you said all in one breath, handing Bucky a USB containing the details of the launch.

You brushed past Bucky to leave the conference room but you were immediately pulled back with his hand around your arm. He looked down at you with an angry look on his face, almost fuming. You couldn't understand why the fuck he was so aggravated with you today. Sure, he had been testing your patience lately but it was the first time he actually looked like he was going to snap.

Not at the situation, but at you.

"Are you trying to impress Sam? Taking on my responsibilities while he's around?" he asked, eyes narrowing at you.

You scoffed, unable to believe what Bucky was accusing you of. Pulling your arm back, you took a step back and looked at him with disgust. "You're unbelievable, Bucky." you said.

"Had I not stepped in, we would have lost the deal. You promoted me for a reason, and I believe part of it is my leadership skills. And no, I'm not trying to impress Sam. I'm simply doing my fucking job." you hissed and tried to side step Bucky, only for him to block your way.

"Did he offer you a position in his company? What the fuck was the wink all about?" Bucky accused yet again.

"Oh my god, Bucky! You're blowing things out of proportion. He didn't. We talked about the event. That's it." you explained, pinching the bridge of your nose because Bucky was getting on your very last nerve.

Bucky had been fucking with you too much now and you could feel the last bits of your composure slowly slip away with every word that was coming out of his mouth. Coming for your job was one thing, but accusing you of flirting your way to another company? That was a low blow.

"Don't lie to me, I saw the notification on your phone the other day. Seems to me like Tinder matches don't work for you anymore, you moved on to LinkedIn now to find connections instead?" he asked and that particular statement struck a certain nerve.

You let out a bitter scoff, "Do you even hear yourself, Bucky? At least Sam was being professional and didn't use Tinder to hire a fucking consultant to threaten my damn job!" you slipped, unable to hold back.

The look on Bucky's face was a whirlwind of emotions-- shock, wrath, exhaustion-- and you felt like you were supposed to get scared. Gone were the blue orbs that used to make you feel safe, his eyes only held anger in them. And the thing was, your eyes looked the same as you held Bucky's gaze.

You were so fucking tired of everything, of Bucky.

"How did you-- it doesn't matter." Bucky said, shaking his head. "How much did Sam offer you?" he asked.

Your jaw dropped at the implication of Bucky's statement, "You are a fucking asshole, Bucky. Sam didn't offer me a fucking job. You really don't listen, Bucky. You never listen." you huffed out exasperatedly.

"Okay, maybe he hasn't laid down his offer yet. Perhaps, you let him fuck you too?"

Your vision blacked out upon hearing that and by the time you regained your senses, all you could feel was how your palm stung. You had walked up to Bucky and slapped him right across the face, hard enough to make the corner of his bottom lip bleed. Your entire body was trembling from rage as you stood in front of Bucky.

He tilted his head as he wiped the blood off from his lip, looking up at you with lust-filled eyes. And then his hand gripped your neck, tugging you close for a bruising kiss. You grunted against his mouth and pushed him away, slapping him again. Before Bucky could even recover, your fingers wrapped around his tie pulling him down to you for another kiss.

Walls crumbled down, tension was broken and needs were being fulfilled. The rush of emotions blurred the line between fury and lust with the latter obviously winning. All you could think about was the throb that you suddenly felt within your core begging for relief.

Relief that was denied from you for the past few weeks of playing cat and mouse with Bucky.

And with the way Bucky was kissing you, you knew he felt the same. It had been too long and both your minds were too hazy to even care that it was only five in the afternoon and that there were employees working just outside the conference room.

Was the fear of getting caught going to stop you? No, not now. Because you needed release and you were sure as hell going to get it. This wasn't like the other times you and Bucky fucked. You didn't care about Bucky at the moment, how he felt or what was going on in his mind. You just needed to release all your pent up emotions and you were going to use Bucky to get what you need.

Bucky pushed you against the table, your tailbone hitting the edge with such force that made you groan from pain.

"Yeah, why don't you make some noise so everyone can see how fucking needy you are for me?" Bucky growled, gripping your face with one hand, forcing you to keep your eyes on him as his other hand bunched your skirt up to your waist.

You let out a chuckle, "I'm not the one going to make noise here." you warned before reaching down to palm his erection.

Bucky hissed and bit his lip hard to prevent himself from eliciting a moan. His jaw ticked as he squeezed your face tighter, forcing you to open your mouth as his eyes scanned your features.

"Watch your fucking mouth, baby. I still own you, you're fucking mine." he said through gritted teeth, his eyes lidded as he looked down at you like a predator.

You kept your mouth closed but as soon as Bucky's fingers found your damp panties, you weren't able to stop your whimper. Bucky took the opportunity and spit in your mouth before crashing his lips against yours in a messy kiss. It was all tongue and spit, the way he kissed you as his fingers rubbed at your folds through the thin fabric of your underwear.

He kissed you like he owned you.

"I'm not yours, Bucky." you said as your hands quickly unbuckled his belt, unzipping his trousers and pulling out his hard cock from the confines of his boxers.

The groan that reverberated from Bucky's chest as you stroked him made you smirk. His hand on your face slid down to your neck, holding you tightly as he pushed aside your underwear and then he slid into you with no prior warning. The lack of foreplay made it hurt when he bottomed out, but the pain quickly turned into pleasure when Bucky started moving his hips against yours.

No words were further exchanged from then on. Only soft whimpers and hushed grunts could be heard. However, it was clear that even up until now, there was competition. You didn't want to make noise, didn't want to lose to Bucky. You didn't want to give him the pleasure of knowing how fucking good he was making you feel right now, with how each drag of his cock was making your toes curl inside your heels.

Your hands held onto his broad shoulders as he fucked you against the table, the fabric of his suit bunching up against your fingers. Bucky kept his gaze on you and not once did you falter, not even when the tip of his cock hit your cervix, almost punching the air out of your lungs.

Bucky held the back of your thighs and lifted you up, sitting you on the edge of the table and bending forward so he could angle his cock in a way that you would feel it deep within you. Your legs automatically wrapped around his waist, one of your hands scratching at his jaw as he continued to pound your sopping cunt.

"God, fucking missed this pussy. Can feel you clamping down on my cock, you gonna cum soon?" he asked, pressing the tip of his nose against yours.

You clamped a hand over your mouth, muffling the wanton moan that Bucky pounded out of you. Not wanting to be the only one to make noise, you clenched around him hard. Bucky let out a growl at how your walls squeezed his cock, his balls tightening as his own orgasm approached.

"Cum for me, Bucky." you whimpered, tipping your head up to lick at Bucky's mouth as your legs tightened around his waist to pull him deeper into you.

Bucky exhaled heavily through his nose, the veins on his neck popping out as he fucked your harder on the table. He kept his hand wrapped around your neck while the other held onto your waist so tight, you could feel his fingers digging deep into your skin. Even with your clothes on, you were sure that you'll be getting bruises from how hard his grip on you was.

"Go on, Bucky. Want your cum inside, want to feel you fill me up again." you moaned against his parted lips, darting your tongue out to taste his mouth.

The needy tone of your voice sent Bucky to the edge first. He uttered a string of curses under his breath as ropes of his cum painted your walls with their warmth with triggered your orgasm. Your body convulsed as waves of pleasure ran through your veins, starting from your fingertips down to your toes. Bucky kissed you and swallowed your moans as his thrusts slowed down.

It took a while for the both of you to recover from the intense fucking. Bucky nuzzled your neck with his nose, his heavy breaths warming up your sweaty skin. There was a short moment of peace that followed, the tension gone and was replaced by a heavy feeling.

You swallowed hard and slowly regained your senses. The release cleared your mind and the memories of the heated exchange from earlier were quick to come back. Bucky's accusations echoed in your ear and they were so clear it almost felt like he was saying them to you again.

Suddenly, you doubted Bucky's intentions when he promoted you. Was he really impressed of your skills at work or was it because you let him fuck you?

"Get off of me." you said, pushing at Bucky's chest until he straightened up.

Ignoring the emptiness you felt when his cock slipped out of you, you hopped down from the table and started fixing yourself. In the many times you had slept with Bucky, it was the first time that you felt disgusted with yourself.

You turned your back to Bucky as you adjusted your underwear, pulling down your skirt and pressing your palms against the fabric to iron out the creases. Your breath was heavy as you processed what had just happened. And just like that, your reserve broke and the strong facade you had built crumbled down into pieces, leaving you vulnerable.

"Hey, are you okay? Did I hurt you?" Bucky suddenly asked when he heard your sniffing, the darkness in his features gone.

His eyes were back to blue and there was nothing but genuine concern when he saw the tears in your eyes. Bucky tried to approach you but you quickly backed away from him, your arms wrapping around yourself as protection.

"Did you hurt me?" you scoffed. "In more ways than one, Bucky." you quickly added, wiping away your tears hastily with the back of your hand.

You were about to walk out of the conference but decided that it was probably time for you to actually speak up about everything. How you felt for him and how much you hated him for coming at you like that.

"I was going to admit that I like you. I thought about it and figured that I was too proud and a bit selfish for not considering your feelings when I rejected you." you explained.

Bucky blinked in confusion, "What? When?"

You shrugged, "The day you brought in Mackenzie. And I was more hurt than mad that you did that. Because you knew how much this job means to me and you had used it against me. You basically took advantage of my weakness, for what? To get me to cave in? Even when I clearly told you how fucking scared I was of the consequences of whatever kind of relationship we have?" you huffed out.

You didn't allow Bucky to speak, not yet. Not until you were done making him understand why you had been so hell-bent on keeping things professional.

"I wasn't born into a rich family like you, Bucky. I had to work my way up to where I am. Unlike you, I have a family to support and if I lose this job, it's not only me who would suffer. And it won't be easy for me to find another one, not after the reputation I'd have once we get busted." you further explained.

"I told you about it so many times and I wish you listened. Because maybe we could've figured shit out. Or I don't know, maybe the fucking was too good and you only wanted me for that." you shrugged.

Bucky quickly shook his head, "No. God no, you're more than that."

You chuckled again, a fresh wave of tears flooding the corners of your eyes. "It most definitely felt like it when you accused me of fucking Sam."

"Fuck, I'm sorry. Let me explain, please? I didn't mean to, I was too--"

"No, Bucky. You didn't listen to me when I told you how I felt about us. Now you're going to know how it feels to not to get what you want." you sternly said before walking over to the door.

You turned back at Bucky and refused to let his expression get to you. He looked devastated, his eyes glassy from the tears he had been holding back, his lips parted as he finally realized what he had done.

"Expect my resignation letter by tomorrow. As soon as we're done with the launch, I'm out."

-

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[mochegato]

Even the Losers

Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Bruce watched Lucius, or more specifically his hands, with a well concealed hostility.  If you didn’t truly know Bruce or weren’t well versed at reading suppressed emotions, you could believe it was just another artificially polite expression.  But Lucius had known Bruce since he was a child and Marinette hadn’t spent years fighting an emotional terrorist for nothing.  “I haven’t seen you all night and now I find you coopting this beautiful young lady’s time,” Bruce observed, his mouth tight.

Marinette eyed him apprehensively, subconsciously taking a half step back.  Her whole body stiffening.  Lucius took note of the change and moved slightly between the two of them and laughed politely.  He wasn’t sure what caused the change in demeanor but he still wanted to try to cultivate a business relationship with the young lady.  When they got the fabrics working, they would need a designer and she was not only clearly the perfect candidate for the position, they had already been considering her before everything she’d said during their dance.  

“Sorry, Mr. Wayne.  I assure you I was not avoiding you in favor of a prettier face,” he chuckled.  “Although I’ve been informed elusiveness seems to be a quality I exude unintentionally.” He winked at Marinette who smiled weakly at the attempt.

Bruce chuckled with him, tight and short exhales, his eyes never softening.  “I wouldn’t blame you at all.  She certainly is lovely.”

Marinette’s chest hollowed out, all the breath in her evaporating out of her chest as though it had never been there.  “Kind of you to say,” she rasped out just barely looking up to meet his eyes.

“Just saying the truth,” he assured her with more sincerity.  His eyes finally managed to soften as he looked at her, but immediately hardened again when he returned his gaze to Lucius.  “I’m sorry if Lucius has been keeping you captive.  I know he likes to talk and it can be hard to get him to stop, especially when he’s taken a particular interest in something… or someone.”  His eyes sharpened on Lucius as he spoke.  Lucius only raised his eyebrow in response, leaning back slightly as if to see Bruce a bit better.

Marinette immediately straightened back up, her eyes hardening.  All evidence of uncertainty and unease shattering as she did.  She had been the one to approach M. Fox.  She had been the one to coopt his time.  She had been the one manipulating the situation.  And now M. Wayne was going to try to twist this on M. Fox, who had been nothing but gracious and kind.  “I was just discussing innovation and the application process with M. Fox,” Marinette responded coldly before Lucius could.  “He was polite enough to entertain my questions.  He has been quite polite and charming and professional.”

“Were you thinking of working for WE?” Bruce asks perking up slightly.  

“You couldn’t pay me enough,” Marinette scoffed out before she could stop herself.  She immediately mentally face palmed.  This wasn’t the time for this.  Now was about Max, not her.  The mission had been successful she wasn’t going to blow it now by letting M. Fox see her overreactions.  

She let out a breath and looked back up with an overly wide smile.  “As I mentioned to M. Fox, I’m not really interested in technology.  I couldn’t imagine anything more boring than staring at numbers and code all day long,” she laughed in the way she’d seen Adrien laugh at events like this, an empty, meaningless laugh meant to indicate a lack of interest in the topic rather than actual entertainment, leaning toward Lucius as she said it, hoping to pull him into the conversation and rescue her from.

“It’s not my favorite part of the day either,” Lucius smiled graciously.  “I imagine you would still be good at it,” he assured her, “but I can’t say I blame you. I would likely react the same if faced with bolts of fabric and thread.”

Marinette smiled politely, grateful to him for the reprieve.  “Well that sounds interesting,” Bruce interjected.  “Perhaps we can discuss what would interest you during a dance.” He motioned toward the dancefloor and held his hand out toward her.

Marinette glanced down at the hand, a weight settling in the pit of her stomach.  If she gave in he’d have her for the duration of the song.  One-on-one.  No escape without creating a scene.  Trapped by the same societal conventions she’d used against M. Fox.  “Surely you must have more important guests to attend to,” she offered instead.

“I do not,” he assured her, sincerity radiating from his eyes.

Marinette opened her mouth to say yes, resigning herself to her fate when she felt a hand on her hip.  “There you are M’lady.  I lost you in the sea of people for a moment.”  Adrien prompted her to turn slightly so he could look her in the eyes. “You okay?”

Her shoulders, she hadn’t even realized had worked their way up to almost touching her jaw, instantly relaxed.  She gave him a relieved smile and squeezed his hand.  “I’m good, Kitty.  Thank you.”

“Is this your date?” Bruce inserted, eyeing him coldly, but held his hand out to him.  “Bruce Wayne.”

Adrien gave him his practiced, social smile, perfect for galas with strangers and potentially hostile associates.  “Nice to meet you, sir.  This is a very nice gathering.  Very kind of you to do this for the orphans,” his tone was bordering on openly hostile but keeping to the socially acceptable side of the border. Marinette choked at the statement. She hadn’t really thought about the intent of the gala since she’d made the plan.  When she’d made it, the purpose hadn’t had any bearing.  But now…

“Thank you.  It is an important cause to my family and myself.”  He missed the way Adrien squeezed Marinette tighter at his words. “You mentioned talking to Mr. Fox about innovation at Wayne Enterprises.  Perhaps you would like a tour of the building.  I can arrange one personally for you.”

Adrien pulled his lips into a tight, sickeningly artificial smile.  “How very generous of you.  Unfortunately, we won’t be in town that long.  We are scheduled to leave town Tuesday.”

Bruce looked between the two, forcing his body to not stiffen at Adrien responding for Marinette.  “Tell me about yourself, son,” Bruce smiled stiffly, noting that he had artfully left out his name, not that Bruce didn’t know it already, although the physical proximity to Marinette was unexpected.

It took almost all of Marinette’s experience as Ladybug to keep a poker face instead of letting her jaw drop in offense.  “Why don’t you let these young people dance, Bruce,” Lucius interrupted, detecting Marinette’s increased discomfort.  “After all, it’s cruel to make the young have to endure making conversation with the old guard like us.”  He turned to Marinette and Adrien with a kind smile.  “Make sure you don’t miss your opportunity to dance tonight.”

Marinette smiled at him gratefully.  “Not at all, M. Fox.  I found our conversation very fascinating.  Thank you very much for sharing your time with me.  It was much appreciated.  But I will take you up on your advice.”  She turned to Adrien and motioned to the dancefloor.  “Shall we?”

“Always,” Adrien smiled.  “Gentlemen.”  He nodded to them and guided Marinette across the dancefloor, taking great care to escort her as far from them as he possibly could.  He glanced around to make sure the men couldn’t see them and pulled Marinette into a comforting, all-encompassing hug.  “How are you really?”

Marinette held him tightly and buried her head in his chest.  “I’ll be okay.  I just… Thank you for the save.”  She laid her head on his chest as they swayed to the music.  Her breath slowly shifted from shaky to more steady.  She lost track of the number of songs that passed while she found her voice again.  When she could breathe normally again, she stood straight and smiled at Adrien.  “It worked.”

“It worked?” Adrien asked excitedly.

Marinette nodded and had to stop herself from doing an entirely inappropriate victory dance.  “He wants to meet Max on Monday.  Well, me too,” she cringed slightly, not looking forward to being involved beyond what she had done already.  “But! But, he was floored by Max’s invention. Like completely floored!  And knows about Rabler now.  He did not look happy at all about the news.”  Her grin widened as she remembered the encounter.  “I think Max is really going to be taken care of.  It went so well!” she squealed.

Adrien grinned back and hugged her.  “We have to let Max know.”

Marinette nodded.  “He’ll call us when he’s done.  We just need to stay up until then.”

Adrien nodded.  “Coffee it is then.  Do you want to leave now or look around?”  Marinette looked around quickly.  By the time she looked back at Adrien, her eyes had lost their light. She looked exhausted suddenly, drained by the experience.  Adrien gave her an understanding smile and squeeze.  The mission was over.  She didn’t need to be in mission mode anymore, or at least not high alert.  She just had the meeting on Monday and she was done. Now she could stop blocking any potentially interfering emotions and actually let herself feel again.  “Let’s get out of here and find a coffee shop then. We can take it back to the hotel and watch bad movies until Max calls.”

Marinette gave him a weak smile.  “Maybe popcorn and candy and drinks instead,” she offered. She rested her head on his shoulder. “Sooooo many drinks and ice cream.”

Adrien laughed and slung his arm over her shoulder to help guide her and comfort her at the same time.  They wound through the crowd making their way to the exit and freedom, where Marinette could finally breathe freely.  They had almost made it to the doors when they heard someone call Adrien’s name.  Adrien looked around and cursed under his breath.  “Hey again.”

“Leaving so soon?” Tim asked.  He looked between the two with a concerned expression.  It was awfully early in the night to leave already.

“Yeah, I think so.  It’s a nice event but I think we’re ready to go home, take off the stuffy clothes, and drink,” he gave him a charming, conspiratorial smile. Nobody their age wanted to be here and they all knew it.

“Oh that sounds like a brilliant plan,” the blonde woman next to Tim grinned.  “I wish we could do that.  But we have to at least wait until the announcement.  And we can’t drink.  But it would help handle events like this.”  She gave them a wide smile and held out her hand.  “I’m Stephanie.  Nice to meet you.”

Adrien smiled politely back.  “Adrien.  Hi.”

Marinette smiled civilly.  “Marinette.  Nice to meet you.”

Stephanie’s smile widened.  “Oh Timmy, make sure to keep this one away from Bruce.  Black hair, blue eyes, looks beautiful but haunted. He’ll adopt her in an instant.”

Tim laughed and rolled his eyes, drawing Stephanie’s attention to him, both of them missing the way Marinette and Adrien balked and Marinette’s entire body went rigid again.  “Bruce’s breaking that habit with today’s announcement.”

Adrien paled slightly.  This could go nowhere good, but it was like watching an akuma hit someone when you’re too far away to help.  It was going to happen no matter what.  The damage would be inestimable and all he could do was watch as it got worse and worse.  “Oh?”

“Yeah, our new brother… or rather their new brother, I’m not officially adopted, just unofficially the favorite child,” Steph winked at them.  Tim huffed playfully but didn’t contradict her.  It was easier to just let it go.  “Anyway, the new Wayne doesn’t have blue eyes. Does have black hair, is beautiful and looks haunted, so maybe it’s just the blue eyes that don’t matter so much anymore.”

“N…new brother?” Adrien stuttered, struggling to keep his voice even and polite.  The normal reaction to such news would be interest and happiness.  Well, they certainly had his interest.  The happiness part though…  He pulled Marinette tighter as he sent her a furtive look.  She was doing an admirable job of masking her response but he knew her. He knew the signs.  He knew her lips were a bit tighter than usual.  He knew her jaw was clenched harder than was normal.  He knew her breathing was harder than average.  He knew he shouldn’t be able to feel her pulse from here.

“Yeah!” Stephanie enthused.  “Duke.”

“We were supposed to wait for the announcement,” Tim chastised with no real heat behind his words.  “But yes.  That’s what this gala is really for.  To officially announce the adoption of Duke Thomas.  So, yet another ‘poor orphan’ joins the rest of us,” he joked.  “I swear Bruce just can’t help himself.  He sees a kid and instantly feels the need to protect and help.”

“So thoughtful,” Marinette rasped out, pretending like her entire chest wasn’t breaking apart and disintegrating in front of them.  “You must all be so excited.”

Tim looked at her for a moment but before he could analyze her tone or body language, they heard someone tapping on a microphone.  “That’s our cue,” Stephanie squealed.  “Looks like you might make it for the announcement after all.  It was nice to meet you if I don’t see you after.”  Tim and Stephanie waved before making their way to the stage.

Once the two were gone, Marinette’s eyes bulged as Tim’s words reverberated in her head.  This whole thing was to introduce a new child, another new child he took in, another addition to his family, another child he wanted and brought into his life instead of throwing them out.  Her eyes darted among the family members as they all made their way up onto the stage.  All standing behind the new member, smiling at him, hugging him, eyes shining in acceptance for him.  One big happy family, not wanting for anything… or anyone.

Marinette didn’t realize she had stopped breathing until her body forced a deep gasping breath, knocking her out of her stupor. She tore her eyes away so violently, she stumbled back, or maybe it was just that her resilience had disappeared with the words.  They should not be here.  They… she should never have come.  This was a stupid, terrible plan.  She had no right to intrude.  She had no right to be here… for this.

Her heart raced out of control.  Her whole body started shaking.  She couldn’t breathe.  Why couldn’t she breathe now?  But suddenly there wasn’t enough air in the room.  Why wasn’t there air?  There had been air before, hadn’t there been?  She remembers being able to breathe earlier.  She thinks.  Maybe she made that up.  Maybe she hadn’t been able to breathe since she stepped in the room.

She stumbled again and reached out for support, never doubting it would be there for her.  Adrien responded instantly, bringing her into his chest and quickly guiding her out of the gala.  He whispered comforting and reassuring words as they moved, throwing empty smiles at anyone who bothered looking their way, as though helping his drunk date home, nothing scandalous or even unusual, nothing to look twice at.

They missed the eyes searching the crowd for them and the quickly covered up frown at finding them missing.

Chapter 3

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