#i wasn’t kidding when i said that i was gonna do two projects simultaneously

[shi-gut]

yeah i really be doing two things at once 👀

[whatifyoulivelikethat]

car ride, m | kth, jjk

pairing(s): taehyung x reader x jungkook

summary: You really know how to make a car ride, er... eventful. Maybe too eventful for Kim Taehyung and Jeon Jungkook. They try to punish you, but who are we kidding? The three of you are too busy being horny as fuck. Oh well.

warnings: rated M (18+) for language, (slight) exhibitionism; intense smut (fem reader, fingering, lil cock slapping, threesome, m-receiving oral, f and m-masturbation, double penetration/spit-roasting, cum eating; also you get covered in cum, yay!); fluff; non-idol!AU; noona!reader and you’re all nymphos, welp

Technically a continuation of just kidding and ii, but can be read alone.

–

Kim Taehyung said it first.

“She’s actually insane.”

Jeon Jungkook nodded tightly; jaw clenched as he tried not to stare at you through the rearview mirror.

Thirty minutes ago, you had called Taehyung, tone casual and light.

“Hey, could you pick me up? I think I missed the last bus.”

“Hm, sure.”

“Bring Jungkook with you, please.”

And then you hung up.

Taehyung had stared at his phone, frowning. Then he went to go collect Jungkook, who was in the middle of editing a music video. He edited videos for indie bands in his spare time, kind of for fun, kind of as a passion project. He did want to be a director or video editor, after all.

“Oi, our horny little seductress called.”

Jungkook had snapped his head far too quickly, long black hair cascading against his cheek, eyes glittering with interest. Too much interest. Taehyung would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little annoyed.

“Asked you to come, so you’re driving.”

Jungkook had grinned.

“Okay.”

Except it was not okay. Very not okay.

“You can sit in the front, Tae. I need space for my bag.”

So now the three of you were sitting in Jungkook’s car, Jungkook driving, Taehyung riding shotgun as you sat in the backseat. From this position, you could see Jungkook’s black sweater and Taehyung’s camel coat. You were wearing an oversized black parka with a nine-pointed star embordered on the chest, your black leather skull-shaped purse chilling beside you. Knee-high black leather boots.

Bare legs.

That should have been their first warning sign.

“What were you doing?” Taehyung had asked as you climbed in. Jungkook started the car, pulling out of the parking garage, into the night.

“Doctor’s appointment for my wrist.” You sighed, tapping your right arm. “Just a check-up.” You pulled down the sleeve of your large parka, showing the wrist brace. “I should at least sleep with it.”

Taehyung scratched his head. “Damn, I didn’t realize your carpal tunnel was that bad.”

You waved your hand. “It’ll be fine. I’m exercising it.”

“Where to?” Jungkook chirped, stopping at a red light.

Pop.

Jungkook’s dark brown eyes flickered to the rearview mirror, narrowing. His face was lit with red from the cars in front of him. Taehyung turned around sharply. You smiled, feeling the cold air on your bare collarbones. Pop, pop, pop. The silver buttons of your parka snapped apart, revealing skin. Bare skin, the gentle curve of your breasts and cleavage. Taehyung’s dark eyes widened, as you pushed the sides apart, your naked breasts bouncing as the light turned green.

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

A car honked very loudly behind Jungkook and he was forced to press on the accelerator as Taehyung exploded, his deep voice booming as he gawked at your tits.

“Are you insane?” Taehyung shouted.

You grinned, cupping your breasts and squeezing your nipples between two fingers, mouth open, tongue tracing your teeth from side to side.

Taehyung snapped back forward, searching for police.

“She’s actually insane.”

Jungkook clenched his jaw so tight that he couldn’t say anything, trying to focus on driving and only driving, and not the sound of you moaning as you played with your breasts, pressing them together and flicking your nipples.

“Do you want us to get arrested?” Taehyung hissed, sneaking glances at you in the darkness while simultaneously darting his eyes around for literally anyone who might be able to witness your sinful lunacy.

“Taehyung, she went to the doctor like that,” Jungkook gritted out.

That thought apparently hadn’t crossed Taehyung’s mind. He whipped his head around again, eyes so wide that you paused your heinous display of lust for a second, afraid they were going to fall out of his head.

“WHAT THE FUCK?” he roared.

You grinned, holding your hands up. “I didn’t have to take my coat off, if that makes you feel better,” you said cheerfully.

Taehyung did not look like he felt better. In fact, he looked like he was going to pass out. He lifted his head to stare at the sky, mouthing silent words, running a large hand through his dark brown hair and messing it up. Your mouth watered, seeing that hand, knowing what it could do. Jungkook’s knuckles were white with how hard he was gripping the steering wheel.

“So, where are we go–?” you began, far too cheerfully for the two men in front of you.

Jungkook cut you off tightly. “Ours. You are going to our place. Now.”

“Ah,” you exhaled, smiling. “That’s good.” You nuzzled back into your seat, tits still out, nipples hard from the cold air. “That’s very good.” You spread your legs, hands clutching both sides of your black parka.

Pop, pop, pop, pop.

Jungkook nearly veered off the road.

“WHAT THE HELL?”

Taehyung was going to get whiplash with how hard he kept jerking his head back and forth. “Where the fuck are your panties?”

You placed a finger to your lips, smirking. “Oh no, I think I lost them.”

Maybe it was time to pray because Jungkook was trying very hard not to fucking die, his eyes shooting from the road, to the rearview mirror, to the road, to the mirror, veins popping in his forehead, his black hair covering his left eye. You pushed the shoulders of your parka down, spreading it open, inserting your finger into your mouth.

“Noona, don’t you fucking dare…” Jungkook warned.

But you did dare, swirling your tongue around your finger, softly moaning his name, Taehyung slack-jawed as your lashes lowered. You ground your hips into the seat, pussy already glistening as you popped your fingertip out of your mouth, making Jungkook hiss, sliding your hand down your neck, between your breasts, all the way down, down, pressing your wet finger against your clit.

Taehyung’s voice went low, dangerous.

“Are you a bad, bad girl, noona?” he growled.

You bit your lip, pressing down on your bundle of nerves, gasping. “I’m a good girl sometimes… But it’s so hard...” You rubbed your clit slowly, pushing your head back into the headrest, locking eyes with Taehyung, rocking your hips into your hand. “It’s so hard when I want to be naughty for you, Tae…”

His beautiful lips curved into a wicked smile, voice so low it was tearing through you, burning you with arousal. “Yeah? Just for me?”

You cried out softly, adding more pressure. Your eyes flickered to the rearview mirror, to Jungkook’s panicked, blown-out pupils.

“No… For Jungkook, t-too…”

“Fucking shit,” Jungkook breathed, trying to drive slow and steady so he wouldn’t die while having the biggest hard-on of his life.

Taehyung yanked the lever of the passenger’s seat, pushing down the back to get closer to you. Jungkook slammed his palm against the wheel, snarling at him, but Taehyung completely ignored his outburst, sliding up the seat. You licked your lips and rubbed yourself faster, tipping your hips in his direction.

“Fuck,” Taehyung breathed, eyes roaming over your form. “You’re so fucking hot, noona.”

“Tae…” you whined, angling yourself to him.

“You want me to touch you, noona?” Taehyung purred; eyes even darker from the low light. He lifted his hand, flexing his long fingers. “You want me to touch that naughty pussy of yours?”

You whimpered, stroking your clit, chasing your orgasm, your dripping wet hole opening and closing, begging for his fingers. He dragged himself closer, fingertips dancing on your thigh. So hot, so close, fuck, you wanted him, Taehyung and his hungry eyes.

“I want to tell you no,” he whispered, gravelly and deep. “Shit, I want to tell you no and make you get yourself off, but you’re so fucking sexy, I just have to touch that dirty little pussy.”

And then he shoved two fingers into you, making you throw your head back and moan, long and wanton, Jungkook’s frustrated cries coming from the front seat as Taehyung’s fingers squelched into you, hard and fast and rough, not letting you get used to him, but you didn’t care, didn’t give a single fuck as you fucked your hips into his fingers. Gasping his name, rutting into his hand.

“Tell me when you’re close,” Taehyung demanded. “Be a good girl and tell me when you’re close.”

You nodded tightly, feeling the car slow as Jungkook pulled into the neighborhoods, nearing your orgasm, rubbing yourself fast as Taehyung thrust his fingers into you, your head pressing against the glass window. You panted, hip rising to meet him.

“A-ah, Taehyung, your fingers feel so good, so good, so fucking good,” you gasped. “Gonna cum, gonna cum just for you, Tae, all over your hand...”

Taehyung’s eyebrow rose, a smirk on his lips as he pumped his fingers into you, watching you come undone, seeing you hit the peak. Voice low, sexy, and authoritative.

“Oh, you wish.”

And then he ripped his fingers out of you as you screamed, your juices spilling out, pussy empty and clenching, orgasm hit, but wildly unsatisfying as Taehyung lifted himself up, grinning over you, fingers slick as he slid them into his mouth, licking them off. Your cum slid all over your thighs, dripping down, falling onto the carpet of Jungkook’s car.

“T-Taehyung!” you panted indignantly, sitting up sharply. “How could you!”

He cocked his head as the car stopped. Jungkook tore himself out of the seat, practically blasting his car door open to rip open your door, snatching you from the backseat. He slammed your nakedness against his black sweater and jeans, his hard body flexed against yours. You gasped at the sudden force, skin tingling with stimulation, the aftershocks of your orgasm still trembling through you.

“Noona,” he growled into your face, bringing his dark eyes to yours. “We have to teach you a lesson.”

-

Somehow, the three of you made it into the apartment without you flashing the entire complex.

Nice.

Getting you out of your clothes was easy. You were barely wearing any after all.

Taehyung shoved you against the hallway wall, tearing off his camel coat. You grabbed his white shirt and kissed him, hard, his musky cologne filling your nose. He whispered your name against your lips, grating and dangerous, smiling as you kissed him hungrily. You changed your positions, still kissing him, pushing him into the wall as Jungkook came up behind you, rolling his hard body into your back, sandwiching your nakedness between their clothed bodies. Jungkook grabbed your head and yanked your hair back, breaking your kiss with Taehyung to crash his lips into yours, forcing his tongue into your mouth and fucking it roughly, making you whimper.

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” Taehyung growled, grabbing your thighs and hoisting them up to hook them around his waist. You leaned against Jungkook’s chest, holding your upper body up Taehyung licked up your breasts, latching his lips to your nipple. You whined in Jungkook’s mouth, hands coming up to grab the black fabric of his sweater, back arching. Taehyung’s large hands found your ass, smacking it once before gripping it tightly.

“You’re so naughty,” Jungkook murmured against your lips, right hand snaking around your waist, in between your legs. Taehyung narrowed his eyes at him, but Jungkook was focused on you and only you, your panting mouth as Taehyung sucked on your nipples, switching between them. “Dirty girl, walking around the city without underwear,” Jungkook purred, watching you gasp as he slid his fingers in between Taeyang’s clothed stomach and your dripping pussy. “Were you thinking about us all day, desperate for our cocks to fill you up?”

Your arms encircled Jungkook’s neck as you moaned, head against his broad shoulder as he began to rub your clit.

“Y-yes…”

Jungkook’s breath so hot against your neck as Taehyung spread your nipples with his tongue. You rocked your hips into his stomach, so wet Taehyung’s white t-shirt squelched against his skin, Jungkook’s fingers rubbing you hard and fast, racing you to your orgasm.

“You’re such a bad girl, noona. What are we going to do with you? Should we give you cock?” Jungkook snarled, so low and dangerous that you shivered, crying out Taehyung’s name as he nipped at your nipple, sending shocks of pain through you.

“P-please…” you panted, eyes rolling back as Jungkook pinched your clit, your hips grinding into Taehyung’s shirt. “Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me…”

Taehyung removed his mouth sharply and you whined, nipples dripping with his saliva.

“You think you deserve cock, noona?” Taehyung barked, spanking your ass hard as he spoke, punctuating his words with slaps. “You’ve been such a bad, bad girl. Should we even let you finish?”

You were nearly sobbing now, knowing you were so close, so close, breath hitching as Jungkook violently stroked you to orgasm.

“P-please… Please, Taehyung, let me cum, please, I need to cum so bad, please…”

Taehyung smirked, locking eyes with Jungkook.

“Aw, too bad I’m not the one pleasuring you.”

And then Jungkook tore his hand from you, making you wail, orgasm met, but wholly unsatisfying as you leaked all over Taehyung’s stomach, legs shaking, almost slipping if it wasn’t for Jungkook’s strong arms catching you. You clenched Jungkook’s sweater, yanking hard.

“You guys are so fucking mean!”

Taehyung chuckled as your legs slid down, down, gently placing you on the floor. He looked down at his white t-shirt and shook his head.

“You made a mess.”

You glared at him and then at Jungkook, who gave you an arrogant smirk.

“Sorry, noona. You nearly killed us all with your antics, after all.”

“Are you saying it wasn’t fun?” you countered.

Jungkook’s smirk grew. “It’s fun punishing you too.”

You narrowed your eyes, but quickly became distracted with Taehyung stepping away from the wall, pointing to the door at the end of the hall.

“Go.” A command.

That wasn’t Taehyung’s room. You tilted your head. You’d never been in Jungkook’s room before.

“Now.”

Your eyes shifted to Jungkook and he cocked his chin in the same direction. You frowned but went, legs still unsteady. Jungkook began to walk after you, but Taehyung grabbed his forearm, stopping him.

“Jungkook.”

The younger man turned his head to look at him. Taehyung’s expression was very stern, almost cold.

“There can be no one else,” he said quietly. “I’ll kill you if you hurt her.”

Jungkook blinked. He had never seen Taehyung so serious over a woman. Sure, Taehyung dated and fucked around, but he let things go quite easily most of the time. Jungkook placed a hand over his, staring straight into Taehyung’s eyes.

“Okay.”

Taehyung’s grip tightened, eyes hardening.

Jungkook smiled, lowering his hand.

“Trust me, hyung, she’s more than enough for me. I don’t need anyone else.”

After a long moment, Taehyung let him go, turning away to go to his room. Jungkook looked after him, rubbing his arm. He turned away, gazing at his now open door. A weird feeling overcame him, a strange push and pull, before he brushed it aside and walked to his bedroom. Jungkook stopped at the doorframe.

And was greeted by the sight of you sprawled out in his gaming chair, holding one of his t-shirts against your chest, inhaling deeply as your eyes closed, right hand between your legs. Your wrist brace was making it difficult to go fast, so instead you stroked your clit slowly, breathing in the scent of his residual cologne that clung to his clothes, paying little attention to the fact that Jungkook was now watching you, amused. 

"You really are a horny little seductress, aren't you?'

You grinned hearing his deep voice, eyes still closed. You rubbed the fabric against your nipples, moaning at the sensation. 

“How often do you sit here, jacking off while thinking about me?” you wondered out loud.

Jungkook clicked his tongue, making you open your eyes.

“Too often.”

You licked your lips, purring his name enticingly. His lips curved into a lazy smirk.

Ah.

Jungkook was just so very, very sexy and he knew it.

Your eyes admired him for a moment. The right side of his hair pinned back, revealing his undercut. Long dark locks obscuring the left side of his face, hiding his angular cheekbone, framing his chiseled jaw and mischievous eyes. He stepped into the room, reaching down and crossing his arms, pulling his sweater up and over his head. You sucked in a breath. His toned torso, lean and tan. His right arm, covered in tattoos, flexing as he pulled the clothing over his head, mussing up his hair. It curled a bit around his forehead. Fuck, both his arms, shapely and strong, deliberately tensing them to make you gasp. Jungkook raised his right hand, tiny tattoos flashing as he beckoned you to him.

“Come here.”

You stood up from his chair slowly, his t-shirt sliding down your body and onto the floor. Light, careful steps as he circled the bed, putting it between you and him. You crawled onto the bed on all fours, hands digging into his slate gray sheets as he stepped to the very edge of the bed, undoing the button of his black jeans, zipping it down as you approached him, nearly moaning when you pushed them past his hips, pressing your face into his black underwear, breathing hotly against his erection. Your eyes traveled back up to him, tongue sliding out and pressing wetly against his clothed cock.

“Fuck,” Jungkook breathed. “You’re so fucking hot.”

You grinned as he pushed his underwear down, his cock springing up to smear pre-cum against your cheek, already dripping from lack of stimulation. You went from base to tip, swirling your tongue all over, watching Jungkook’s head fall back as you took him in your mouth, so wet, so hot, so tight. Took it all the way down, feeling him swell in your mouth deliciously, his strong hand gripping the back of your head, keeping you there.

“Ah, such nice lips…” he purred, releasing your head so you could bob up and down, slowly. “That’s it, noona, just like that.”

You did, keeping a measured but deep pace, sucking in your cheeks. He hissed at the added stimulation, rocking his hips into your face. Jungkook looked back down, seeing you observing him, crouching on your hands and knees, your ass up in the air.

“Look at you, noona,” he murmured, reaching down to tweak your nipple. “So good at swallowing cock, so good at taking it all.”

You whimpered, rubbing your thighs together. Jungkook took both your nipples and pulled, making you groan around his cock. He thrust his hips into your mouth and you almost choked, hands suddenly coming up to grab his thighs. He shushed you, rubbing your nipples soothingly as he pulled out of your mouth, cock slapping your chin wetly.

“On your back. Show me that pretty pussy of yours.”

You scooted back, spreading your legs. Jungkook went to his desk, opening a drawer, watching you as you gripped each side of your thighs, spreading them further, your glistening slit out in the open. You flexed your vaginal muscles, opening and closing, making him suck a tight breath as he rolled the condom on.

“Fuck, that’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

He climbed onto the bed, trailing his eyes up to your face and your half-lidded eyes, mouth open, panting his name.

“J-Jungkook, please…”

He smiled. “What is it, noona? What do you want?”

You wiggled your hips into his bed. “Your cock, please, Jungkook, I need it…”

He smacked his length against your clit, earning a sharp gasp. You pushed your head back into his sheets, whining as Jungkook slapped your swollen clit repeatedly with his cock, hard and fast, smearing it with lubrication from the condom. He was so hard that it almost hurt if it wasn’t for the lube.

“Is this enough for you?” Jungkook taunted. “Or does my naughty girl want more?”

“I-inside, please, a-ah, Jungkook, it’s t-too sensitive.…”

He stopped for only a split second before thrusting himself inside you, hissing as you sucked him in, previous stimulations already readying you for him. You rolled your hips, arching your back and gasping his name as Jungkook began, long, deep strokes that made you clench and shudder, aching for more. But before you could say anything, a familiar weight landed on the bed near your head.

Your eyes widened seeing Taehyung’s naked body, strong and handsome, tan skin glowing. His stoic, almost arrogant expression burned into your memory as he hovered over you, stroking his cock leisurely. He pressed it against your cheek, the warm, velvety head smearing pre-cum against your cheek. You tried to turn, but he used his free hand to hold your head still, shutting his eyes as he enjoyed himself.

“Fuck, even your cheek is so soft…” he murmured.

You whined but he shushed you, pressing a finger to your lips as he stroked himself faster, harder, Jungkook deep strokes sliding you up and down the bed. He used your face to stimulate the head, your lips, your cheeks, rocking his hips, smacking you in your face with his balls. Over and over as Jungkook thrust into you, watching your wanton expression as Taehyung’s pre-cum coated your skin. You could hear Taehyung’s breathing becoming shallow, clenching his jaw and closing his eyes.

“Gonna cum on your pretty tits, noona,” Taehyung murmured. “All over your tits, and then I’m going to fuck your mouth.”

You whimpered, watching his shoulders tense as he raised himself over you, Jungkook still fucking you agonizingly slowly, his thick cock stretching you out as Taehyung sucked in a breath, hissing your name tightly. You could only watch, breathless, as white strings squirted out, smacking you hotly in the chest with his thick cum, shuddering as you felt it spread out like fucking cake icing on your nipples and breasts. Jungkook moaned, watching the cum drip downwards, all over your skin.

“Open up,” Taehyung commanded and you opened your mouth. He slid in, readjusting himself so that he was above your head, legs on either side of you, facing Jungkook. He filled your mouth, almost too much even though he just orgasmed. You had to push your head up so he sank deeper into your throat, sticky from Taehyung’s cum soaking into your chest.

Oh, fuuuuck.

Stuffed from front to back, tits covered in cum, neck and back arched uncomfortably to accommodate the two cocks spearing into you, pussy throbbing and orgasming at the thought alone. And feeling it, oh God, feeling so full, so dirty, so used by both Taehyung and Jungkook at the same time made your eyes roll back into your head, tightening the muscles of both holes, muffled moans as you heard Jungkook grunt with effort and Taehyung’s hiss of pleasure. Taehyung controlled the pace as he fucked your face, carefully thrusting into your throat, staring at Jungkook’s dark hair bouncing as he fucked you.

Jungkook seemed to feel his gaze. He looked up.

Taehyung cocked an eyebrow at him.

Then he grabbed Jungkook’s head and forced it down, Jungkook’s eyes widening as he watched your cum-covered tits bounce back and forth, hard nipples swaying in the air. He rammed his hips into you and you whimpered, breasts bouncing harder so he fucked you even rougher, fascinated. Wet, lewd slapping sounds as he watched Taehyung’s cock disappear and reappear from your throat, covered in saliva, so messy that you were drooling down your chin, whining as you gripped his sheets. He felt liquid leaking down his thighs from your orgasms, your pussy clenching around him.

It was so much, so fucking much, Jungkook lifting your legs so he could go deeper, rubbing against your clit punishingly as Taehyung fucked your mouth, his tense thighs indicating that he was close. It made your entire body strain with effort and pleasure, head empty except chasing your orgasm over and over, smitten with the idea of being used like a fucktoy.

“S-so fucking good,” Taehyung groaned. “Such a good girl, taking so much cock all at once.”

“Fuck, I’m going to–”

But Jungkook didn’t get to finish because you wailed around Taehyung’s cock, pussy throbbing as you came, ripping his orgasm from him. He gasped sharply, slamming into you as his cock jerked into your walls, pulsing with you, gripping his entire length. So tight, but soft, his eyelids fluttering at the experience.

It only took Taehyung a few more pumps before he moaned your name, spilling down your throat, almost falling onto Jungkook as you sucked it out of him, swallowing greedily. He inhaled sharply as he snapped his head down to watch your throat constrict repeatedly, drinking it all and squeezing the head with your lips. Taehyung taped your side repeatedly, trying to get you to release him.

“Please, noona, too s-sensitive…”

You unlocked your jaw, gulping a huge vat of air as you realized you could breathe again. Taehyung pushed himself off you, falling against the wooden headboard as Jungkook carefully pulled out. You whined at the loss, back and neck aching. Every nerve hummed, brimming with pleasure, shaking you to your core.

It was glorious.

You panted, lowering your head to look down at Jungkook, dark eyes flashing as sweat from his angular jaw dripped onto your legs. He smirked at you, peeling the condom off and wrapping his hand around his still-hard, slick cock. Your breath caught in your throat as he began to furiously jack himself off, scooting on his knees to get closer to you, right in between your legs.

“J-Jungkook…”

The mole under his chin winked at you as he grinned. “Do you love it when you’re covered in cum, noona?” he panted, licking his lips. “Do you love it when Taehyung and I cum all over you?”

You moaned, your hands sliding up your breasts, smearing Taehyung’s drying cum even more, pinching your nipples as Jungkook gasped, pupils blown wide, eyes locked on your every move.

“Yes, Jungkook, I love it. I love being covered in your and Taehyung’s cum.”

He hissed, hips rocking into his hand as you made your lewd, obscene noises, body shaking as you waited for him. It didn’t take him very long before he groaned, towering over you as it shot out of him, showering you with creamy, salty strings of his orgasm. You dipped your fingers into it, scooping it into your mouth, sighing in satisfaction as Jungkook’s taste mixed with Taehyung’s in your throat, eating up as much a you could, and wiping the rest on your skin, relishing in the dirty act.

You were already prepared to do it again.

You heard Jungkook stumble off to the bathroom as you laid there, panting.

"Are you happy?" Taehyung asked, reaching down to pat your head. 

You grinned, bending your head back to look up at him upside down. He seemed surprised at your energy but smiled as you licked your lips, eyes clouded with lust. 

"So, so happy, Taehyungie."

He chuckled, dark eyes gazing into yours. You sensed a shift in his demeanor. For some reason, a calm, comforting feeling came over you when Taehyung looked at you. He bent down, his hands cupping your face, thumbs caressing your cheeks. He whispered your name, low and secretive, sending a shiver down your spine. You stared into his neck, watching his Adam’s apple bob as he spoke. His breath against your lips, tickling them.

"I’ll give you whatever you want."

You blinked slowly, lips parting. Now his lips were even closer, touching yours. 

"I'll do everything in my power to satisfy you."

And then Taehyung kissed you, intoxicating you with his touch, his scent, his intensity of his lips against yours, tongue thrusting into your mouth. You moaned, thighs rubbing together, clutching Jungkook's sheets, your body trembling as you kissed him. He held you protectively, fingertips pressing into your skin.

"Damn, do you two need a room?" came Jungkook's amused voice.

You broke the kiss softly, pecking Taehyung on the nose lightly before sliding down to Jungkook’s playful expression at the foot of the bed. He was holding a towel, raising at eyebrow at you. You sat up, grinning far too wide, making his smile falter a bit.

“Uh oh.”

“Come here, Jungkookie…”

“Please, we’re only men–gah!”

-

The next day, you dragged a seat next to Taehyung's gaming chair. He looked up as you sat down, still scrolling with his mouse. 

"What's up?" he asked. His voice was smooth, even. He gave you a quizzical look as you laid your head against his shoulder. "You want to fuck again?" he added, smirking. 

"No," you pouted, nestling your head on his shoulder. He was reading the new set of League of Legends patch notes. "Just want to be near you."

You saw the reflection of his smile in the computer monitor. He reached over and patted your head, making you hum in bliss. You two stayed like that for a moment, him scrolling periodically as he read, your head against his shoulder. 

Jungkook popped in, wearing a leather jacket over his white hoodie and jeans. He waved a USB drive.

"Gotta drop this off. I'll be back," he said merrily to Taehyung before leaning down to kiss you on the cheek. You turned your head, meeting his lips, and snuck your tongue into his mouth. 

Jungkook pulled back quickly, narrowing his eyes at you. "No. Bad girl."

You blinked innocently at him. "What'd I do?"

Jungkook glared at you, trying not to smile. "I have things to do. Let me kiss you normally."

Taehyung laughed deep from his chest, rumbling his shoulder you were leaning against. "Good luck with that."

Your smile widened. Smugly.

Too smugly. 

Jungkook backed away, pointing a finger at you. He was smiling too now, playful and mirthful.

"Later, you horny little seductress."

He left, winking. 

Taehyung patted your head again, his large hand massaging your scalp. 

"You sure you don't want to fuck?" he teased. 

-

continuation: christmas eve

--

masterpost

[drabbles-mc]

Like Father, Like Son

Neron ‘Creeper’ Vargas x F!Reader

Request by Anon: Could you do a fic with someone (idc they could all be my baby daddy lol) being a boy dad. Like helping him fix his bike, temporary tattoos to look like their mini me and just being lovey and protective over their mom like their dad

Warnings: talk of pregnancy, a whole lot of family fluff

Word Count: 1.7k

A/N: I would die for soft Creeper Vargas. Me and @garbinge had a mini idea-bouncing sesh about him as a family man and I have a feeling this will not be my last fic about Dad!Creeper lmao. Hope you enjoy!

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You heard the familiar rumble of his bike as he pulled into the driveway. Smiling to yourself, you slowly made your way towards the front door. You opened it as he walked up the steps to greet you with a hand on your ever-growing stomach and a light kiss on your lips.

“How are you two ladies today?” he asked as he gently ran his hand over your stomach.

You chuckled, “We’re alright. The rest of your pack, however, is up to no good.”

He smiled, “Oh so they’re my pack now?”

Trying to contain your smirk, you nodded, “Go out back and see what they’ve been up to. You’ll definitely agree that they’re yours today.”

You listened to the sound of his heavy, booted footsteps as he made his way through the house to get to the back yard. You followed a little ways behind, and sure enough moments after you heard the deck door slide shut, you heard the sound of your husband’s laughter filling the air. By the time you made it to the door, Creeper was already crouched down, taking stock of the entire scene in front of him.

“What’s goin’ on out here, lil man?” he asked as he sat down next to his son, who was very seriously looking over all the markers that were spread out in front of him.

“We’re gonna look like you!” your son had the proudest smile on his face as he waved his marker around in the air.

You watched as Creeper took in the sight of his three kids all actually sitting and getting along together. Your son was outnumbered by his little twin sisters, and the three of them bickered constantly the way that young siblings do. But the rare moments when they all really liked each other and got along made the rest of it worth it. You subconsciously rested your hand on your stomach—truthfully neither of you knew the sex of the baby, but Creeper was certain it was another girl. He was practically willing it into existence. You were both going to be thrilled no matter what, but as you stood back and watched Creeper picking out what color to use for his son’s next ‘tattoo’ you couldn’t help but to hope that you’d have another boy running around soon to even out the ranks.

“Who came up with this idea, huh?” Creeper asked the three of them as he carefully started doodling on the back of his son’s hand with a magic marker. The twins simultaneously pointed to their brother and Creeper couldn’t help but to laugh, “I should’ve known.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard them so quiet,” you spoke up as you watched the four of them, “I thought I might’ve lost them for a minute—that’s how quiet the house was.”

“You three? Quiet?” he looked back and forth amongst them, “I don’t believe it,” he put the cap back on the marker and motioned for the girls to come closer, “Lemme see your ink, lil mamas.”

Creeper smiled as he looked at all the designs and doodles that covered his children’s arms. All things being considered, it wasn’t the messiest thing the little crew had ever gotten into. He loved everything about being a father, but moments like this really made his entire heart swell. All three of them had their arms covered in stars and smiley faces, and his son had a very scribbly skull drawn on his knee.

“I like this one,” Creeper tapped his son’s knee lightly, “You do that?” He nodded proudly and Creeper pulled him against his side, “You’ll have to give me one later.”

“Girls?” you shifted your weight from one foot to the other, “Now that Dad’s home we can take the dogs out. Still wanna go?”

They leapt up, cheering happily with all the energy that six-year-olds usually had, as they ran inside to grab their socks and shoes. You laughed as you listened to the clamor they caused. Looking back at Creeper and your son, you couldn’t help but to smile.

“You’re more than welcome to come with us,” you rested your arms on top of your new baby bump, “But I figured you two might like some boy time.”

Creeper looked up at you from the floor, “You shouldn’t be doing all that, baby. You should be resting. I’ll take are of it.”

You shook your head, “Walking is good for me, Neron. And for the baby. We’ll be fine.”

“You’re sure?”

You nodded as you walked over and placed a kiss on the top of your husband’s head, “Positive. You two have fun. I love you both.”

“Love you,” they both called after you in unison as you walked away. You smiled to yourself as you made your way through the house to catch up with your daughters, who were already being half-dragged out of the house by the dogs they managed to clip the leashes onto.

“Well,” Creeper slowly rose to his feet, holding his hands out to help his son to do the same, “Now that your tattoos are all dry, wanna help me with the bike?”

“Really?” his eyes lit up as he set his hands into his father’s.

“Yea,” he pulled him up and instantly tucked the boy against his side, “C’mon, it’s been a while since we worked on it.”

The two of them walked through the house and made their way out the front door so thye could get to the garage. Creeper stood back, allowing his son to lift and push the garage door up as high as he could before his dad had to take over and open it the rest of the way. Running in, the boy went right over to the light switch and flipped it on. Creeper chuckled as he walked in, making his way over to the large sheet that was draped over his latest project that he’d been tackling little by little with his son.

With a flourish, he removed the fabric, and his son’s eyes instantly lit up. Creeper had always been a bit of a fixer—he liked having projects to plug away at to help him unwind. The bike had been brought to the scrapyard by someone who, “Clearly doesn’t know a fucking thing about motorcycles,” according to Creeper, because there was plenty of potential left for it. The bones were still decent, it just needed a lot of TLC. Creeper called dibs on it and no one was going to fight him on it. So bringing it back to life had been his latest task.

For as much as he enjoyed his solitude a lot of the time, having your son as a built-in assistant to help him with the bike had been a great experience for the both of them. For as young as he was, he was very interested in everything that his father could tell him about the bike, the parts, and the tools used to fix it all. The two of them made a good pair, your son sifting through the tool chest to get whatever his father needed, and Creeper showing him little tricks of taking things apart and putting them back together.

“Y’know,” he cranked the wrench as his son sat next to him, watching intently, “when we’re all done with this, you can choose the color for it if you want.”

His eyes were bright, eyebrows raised in excitement, “Yea?”

He nodded, “Yea. You’ve been doing a lot of work on this—it’s only fair,” he paused for a moment, “It can be your bike, when you’re old enough.”

“Mine?” his eyes were filled with wonder as he thought about what his father had just told him.

“Yea. Just,” he chuckled, “Don’t tell your mom that I said that. It’ll be our little surprise for her.”

“Don’t tell me what?” you were leaning against the garage doorframe, a soft smile on your face as you watched the two of them working together.

Creeper turned around quickly, clearly searching your face to see how much of the conversation you’d heard, “Nothin’, mama. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

You chuckled, not convinced, “Mhm. I’m sure,” you absentmindedly ran your hands over your stomach, “Just came out to let you boys know to start wrapping up—dinner’ll be ready in ten.”

You made your way back to the house to finish getting dinner ready and you could hear your two favorite men in the world behind you as they started to clean up their project for the night. It brought a smile to your face and put a warmth in your chest as you walked inside and listened to the loud laughter of your two daughters getting into some kind of trouble in their bedroom.

When they finally made their way inside, you sent them both to wash their hands and get ready for dinner. You could see the disappointment on your son’s face at the thought of washing all of his tattoos away and you had to chuckled quietly to yourself.

“I love you,” Creeper said quietly with a soft smile as he pressed a kiss to your cheek in passing while he made his way to the kitchen sink to wash up.

“I love you too,” you smiled over at him for a second before getting plates and cups down out of the cupboard above your head.

You were getting ready to lift the stack of plates when your son came sliding into the kitchen, skidding skillfully on the hardwood floor in his socks. He lifted the plates instead, beating you to it. You tried to take them back from him, not wanting him to drop the entire stack of plates and have them break, but he insisted.

“I got it, Mom,” he reassured with a nod.

“Honey, I don’t want you to—”

“Dad said you need to rest,” he turned and started walking towards the dining room table, “I got it.”

You chuckled as you glanced over at your husband, “Between the two of you, I’m never going to get to do anything anymore, am I?”

He laughed and kissed you lightly on the lips, “Maybe not. But it’s because we love you.”

You gently cupped his cheek and ran your thumb along his cheekbone, “I love you too.”

[theseerasures]

why is it so hard to defect from Atlas?

Barbara Dunkelmann said during Comic-Con at Home last year that this season’s theme would be “distrust,” but i’m wondering now if the more appropriate word is “discontent.” since Divide, we’ve had arguments big and small, teams splitting up and recombining, and of course, :( and :/ galore at all the war, all the crimes, all the war crimes, and all the general bad decisions (not to be confused with James Ironwood, General Bad Decisions). we’ve now had our first major defections of the season with Hazel and Emerald, which is...interesting to me; they’re both long-runners, certainly, but part of the reason they’re long-running is because their arcs have ALWAYS been on a slow boil. for the defection to happen around the mid-season mark, a lot of things (particularly for Hazel) had to happen very quickly, particularly since they both skipped out the previous season altogether. this is made all the more interesting by the fact that the Atlesian supporting cast who filled the time in season 7 are similarly discontented, but...well, a generous reading of it would be that they’re still “figuring things out,” but we’ve also been watching them “figure things out” for two seasons now, Winter and Marrow especially. why did Hazel and Emerald defect first when they work for the main villain, when Winter and the AceOps--who have taken up more screen time cumulatively during the Atlas arc--are still hemming and hawing to various degrees?

long discussion under the cut--but the tl;dr is: it’s because they live in a (narratively constructed) society

i’m actually gonna start with the discontent that DIDN’T result in defection, which is obviously the Yang-Ruby split. we’ve known that members of Team Protagonist--most notably Yang and Ren--have had doubts for a while now, and sure enough, when push comes to shove they pick a path separate from their implicit leader. as protagonists Yang and Ren are frequently our POV characters, so we’re predisposed to sympathize with them as they doubt Ruby’s agenda, root for them as they bring it up to Ruby in conversation, and...watch as they...regretfully but cordially agree to disagree...

wait, what?

that’s the thing about Team Protagonist, especially at this point in the narrative: everyone feels safe and secure enough in themselves and in each other to communicate openly, even when they disagree. every time Yang felt uncomfortable she talked to somebody about it, and even Ren--Mr. Weaponizing Repression himself--was able to express how he felt. even if it took some prodding from Nora/Yang, even if the direction of his emotions ended up misfiring and hurting his friends--they’re his friends. his family, even. Team Protagonist is able to act and stay together so effectively because they make open communication a priority: they follow Ruby’s lead, but they also trust that Ruby will LISTEN to them, even if she doesn’t always agree.

(the reason they had this disagreement at all is because of the time they couldn’t talk things through, and just had to uncritically back Ruby’s play--when they first entered Atlas. funny, that.)

Team Salem obviously doesn’t work the same way, and this season has made it particularly explicit just how much everyone lives in a state of constant fear and surveillance. what makes solidarity and eventual rebellion possible (though terrifying), though, are two things: first, Salem--being an upstart herself--actually encourages a level of individual initiative in her followers (well. encouraged; i have a feeling with the Hound being a success and Hazel and Emerald’s defection she’s about to change her tune). she’s a master manipulator, and uses people’s individual wants to sway them to her side; but she’s also not a mind-reader, which is kind of biting her in the ass right now.

second, Salem herself is so many LEAGUES beyond everyone else on her “team” that (unless you’re actively trying to be a tit) there...isn’t actually much of a hierarchy beyond “Salem’s in charge.” Watts and Cinder--both Atlesian to varying degrees, mind--are the two who try the hardest to carve out some authority of their own, but even Watts is at least convivial with everyone (except Cinder). to be on Team Salem you have to accept that this is her world and you just live in it, and that ends up equalizing people from very disparate backgrounds with very disparate personalities and skillsets. no one, not even Tyrian, is under the delusion that Salem cares about them, or will listen to their counsel. so when it comes to the least of her followers--Emerald, who (joke copyright @professorspork) is basically Salem’s grandpet, this gerbil who follows her around now for some reason and occasionally makes weird noises (”you mean crying?” Emerald asks, crying)--it’s actually quite easy for her to escape Salem’s notice until it’s too late, while firming up the solidarities that she has (Hazel and Mercury--not Cinder).

to defect, Emerald and Hazel need a degree of narrative interiority, some sense of security with each other (even if it’s just subconscious), and time. time to work things out from their point of view, pull the wool from their eyes. this season’s narrative has given them all that and more.

our Atlesian potential defectors...haven’t been so lucky, and the most recent episode has made that contrast very explicit.

i’m sure i’m not the only one who assumed, when Ironwood first floated the bomb plan, that we’d be getting some kind of Mission Impossible sneaky stealth shit. we’re used to seeing the AceOps do small squad missions, after all, and the timing felt right thematically too, since we left War with Ren literally expositing to all of them that they do, in fact, have feelings. an extended mission to themselves would give them a chance to air out those feelings away from Atlas’ own system of surveillance, figure out what to do together...

but we didn’t get any of that. instead, we got the whoosh laser kapow version of a Sassoon poem, and the AceOps barely talked to each other at all. the only points of view we got were from Marrow, and Winter.

this isn’t the first time something like this has happened to them this season, either--remember the Penny Retrieval mission that wasn’t? there were also hopes that Marrow and/or Winter would turn at that point, but then Salem invaded. Winter and the AceOps have had the potential to defect for a while now, but the narrative has been actively withholding opportunities for them to actualize on any of that potential. it’s been actively withholding opportunities for them to act as a team, period.

it’s possible to handwave this as writerly convenience--everyone can’t defect at the same time, the episodes don’t have room for it--but the ways that defections have been prioritized so that the Atlesians come after also points to a recurring motif with Atlas, which Elm says explicitly in Witch: you can deal with your issues later.

there’s always some kind of delayed promise at Atlas, isn’t there? the Amity project will help. Mantle’s Wall will get fixed (until it wasn’t). when Penny confronts Winter about leaving Mantle to die, Winter says first that they don’t have time, and it seems like they never actually do, except for in this imagined later, when they’ll reckon with every thing that they’ve done.

it doesn’t exist, of course. fascism is only able to remain effective through the engineering of crisis, and Salem might as well be a crisis perpetual motion generator. you can’t conscientiously object if your conscience is constantly stifled by the next emergency.

what the Atlesian scenes in Witch demonstrate is this: Atlas presses down all around them, at all times. even if the AceOps want to stop policing each other and work as a real team, they can’t right now, because they are now officers in a war, because they’re constantly looked to, because they’re part of an infinitely greater machine that demands their service. and right now lasts forever--you will NEVER have time to talk out your discontent...

and even if you steal time and perspective like Marrow does (like Emerald has been doing, thief that she is) with Winter, there is no guarantee of any solidarity. what makes their conversation so simultaneously fascinating and frustrating is that there is clearly some level of rapport, or at least recognition. Marrow goes to Winter because Winter’s in charge, but Marrow also goes to Winter because Winter might hear him out...and she does. Winter does what Winter has consistently done when a person seeks her out and earnestly asks to be heard, and responds compassionately. but at the same time, Winter does what Winter has consistently done when a person seeks her out and earnestly asks to be heard: she turns away. in a conversation that is supposed to be about a shared trust between the two of them, Winter cannot bring herself to trust Marrow. the Atlesian system is built out of these hierarchies within hierarchies, distrusts within distrusts (well i guess Barbara had a point after all), and Winter, abused kid that she is, has played this game all her life. so she defaults to rank and duty--what they have to do now--and the conversation goes nowhere. Marrow leaves it as alone and bitterly resigned as when he’d entered it.

so when is this moral inertia gonna go somewhere? IS it going somewhere? well, i’m still holding out hope that the AceOps will get some time to themselves as part of Bomb the Whale, and i’m certain that even if it doesn’t fall into their lap Marrow will eventually demand it. the fact that they still work well together on the field as partners should mean something. the question is, though: what will it take to bring that later to the present?

and at what point does it become too late?

[thran-duils]

Doll Me Up (P.8)

Title: Doll Me Up (Part Eight) Summary: Fem!Reader x Dark Mob!Tony Stark. On good days, you and Tony were a power couple. You, a perfect trophy wife with your hands in local charities to promote a wholesome image. Tony, business man but sullied with organized crime. He indulged in his illegal gambling, extortion, and political corruption. And he indulged in his escort business. Hell, that is where he had found you. You were a brat, and he loved a challenge. Words: 2,487 Warnings: Unhealthy relationships, smut, daddy kink, dom/sub, manipulation, death, violence, possessive behavior, drug use Author’s Note:  **More mentions of Tony doing cocaine and with RDJ’s past, that may be offensive to some! Head’s up! You have been warned**

Part Seven || Part Nine || Masterpost (mobile) || Fanfic masterpost

Three months ago (cont.)…

Tony was fidgeting in the seat next to you and you stayed silent, knowing he was riled up and giving him any type of poke was going to set him off again. Granted, you really did not have to do anything yourself to set him off; he was good enough at doing that himself.

His gaze fell on you beside him and he gestured fiercely at Mikhail driving in the front seat. “See? This is how you get faded and take a joy ride! Speaking of which.”

He pulled a baggy out of his pocket and muttered under his breath angrily. “So fucking stupid, Y/N.” He took a pinch out of the bag. “Don’t be a fucking idiot. Don’t get your rocks off and then fucking…” he inhaled the small bump and leaned back, stuffing the closed baggy back in his pocket. It took a few minutes for him to say, “Fucking take a car that I paid for. And then try to kill yourself!”

Angrily, you responded, “I didn’t try to kill myself! I was going to my friend’s! I just wanted to be away from you being a dick for a while!”

Tony pinned you up against the seat, his fingers digging in. “You are reckless! You drive me fucking insane sometimes! You are going to be on a very short leash, you understand me? And me being a dick? Because I told you no? You know, I am right telling you that! You can’t even conduct yourself well at home under supervision. What would you do if I wasn’t there to watch out for you? Huh?”

You tried to look away from him and his hand left your chest and came up to force you to look back at him. “You better count yourself lucky that there are people over cause that means I’m not gonna spank you just yet. When we get back, you’re going to walk that ass of yours out to the pool and sit right where I can see you. You got me?” You took more than a few seconds to answer, and he demanded again, “I said you got me?”

“Yes,” you forced out.

He let you go roughly and sat back against his seat, still glaring daggers through you. You turned your eyes away and you still felt him staring at you for a few moments before he shifted, and you saw out of the corner of your eye that he had pulled his phone out. Tony busied himself on his phone the rest of the way home and you sat with your arms crossed, staring out the window.

“Pull up out front, we’ll get out there and then you can go down into the garage,” Tony told Mikhail as he pulled into the driveway.

When you got out of the car out front of the house, Tony was at your side, holding on tight. Like he did not expect you to follow what he had ordered you to do. The music was still playing outside, and you heard chatter; the party was still going in the two of your absence.

Coming through the living room, the two of you met Happy coming back from what you assumed was the bathroom.

Happy looked relieved to see you. “Oh, so you found her.”

“Unfortunately,” you snapped at him, yanking your arm away from Tony, just wanting to walk on your own.

He was quick though and grabbed you back, turning and pushing you up against the wall, holding you in place with a hand on your chest, his other finger pointing in your face.

“You are being a fucking brat! Cut the shit! Shape the hell up. I won’t have you embarrassing me out there! I know you can act better!”

Tony let you go and gestured for you to walk on. You sucked your teeth and went forward, shooting a look at Happy who was watching you closely. He looked as unimpressed as Tony was. Tony was at your back as you walked outside, and you went straight for the alcohol.

“Yeah, good idea. More alcohol. But you know, maybe it’ll chill you the hell out,” he said quietly, annoyed to you. He took the bottle from you and poured the shots for you. Picking it up, he shoved one into your hand and took the other for himself. Clinking your shot glasses, he downed it, you following his lead.

His hand snaked around your hips and he gave you a push to start walking. You did not miss some of his men at the table watching the pair of you approach. He gave you a forceful shove to sit in one of the chairs at the poker table and you fell back into it. Hands gripping the arms, you did your best to not clench your jaw as he sat down next to you. Tony knew you would be embarrassed to be out here – no doubt everyone knowing something had to have happened if Tony and you both left, even if they were not privy to the details – and that was the form of punishment he was choosing for now. Everyone knowing that you had done something to piss him off and now you were being forced to sit there and be obedient.

<><><>

Later that same night…

“I still can’t believe she pulled that shit,” Tony spat, rubbing at his mouth furiously.

Him, Mikhail, and Happy were sitting around the fire pit. The party had long since died down and it was just the three of them outside in the dark, still having some drinks. Tony had sent Y/N upstairs an hour ago and told her if she opened the bedroom door, F.R.I.D.A.Y. would notify him.

“She’s got a wild streak,” Happy commented, taking a long inhale off his cigar.

“Something I’m simultaneously attracted to and also wanna smack her a good one over,” Tony muttered. He shook his head and sighed, “Fucking scared the shit out of me. The thought of losing her. Especially like that.”

“Get her pregnant. Lock her down,” Mikhail said simply. Happy and Tony stared at him and Mikhail rose an eyebrow. “What? She’ll have to be more cautious and then you don’t have to be worried about her going anywhere. I mean, another tie to you too.”

“C’mon. Tony with a kid?” Happy laughed and then noticed Tony was not sharing in on the laugh. His laugh subsided slowly, smile shrinking. He stared at Tony in disbelief, who was lost in thought. “What? Boss, really?”

Tony shrugged and took a drink. “We’ve been together for almost two years.”

“Tony, you had to go retrieve her after she went drunk driving today,” Happy said slowly.

“She’s not usually that rash. Isolated incident.”

Happy threw his hands out weakly, throwing a desperate look at Mikhail for help. Mikhail shrugged and Happy sighed sharply. He straightened up in his chair, “So if she’s not usually that rash, why the talk of a kid? Look, has this ever come up in conversation? Does she even want a kid? I mean, not to be completely rude, but do we think we can trust her to raise one?”

“I want a kid. At least one,” Tony said at the same time that Mikahil spoke.

“She won’t have to raise it by herself. That’s what nannies are for. Give the parents a break,” Mikhail chimed in and Happy set his jaw, looking like he wanted to sock him.

Tony nodded slowly, taking that in.

Mikhail continued, “Women think they don’t want it but if you get them pregnant, the hormones just take over. And they’re immediately momma bear.”

“I don’t think that’s exactly how it works,” Tony said cocking his head, giving Mikhail an odd look. “But I get your overall point. Just… give her some responsibility. Focus on her projects and a baby. Refocus her energy.”

Happy could see the wheels turning and he knew that when Tony set his mind to something, there was very little that could dissuade him from that path.

“Well, she’s already not on birth control,” Tony said, taking another drink.

“Are you joking?” Happy asked.

“She got the IUD taken out a couple months ago. Just been using condoms… most of the time,” Tony replied, smacking his lips. “She didn’t want to get another one. An IUD. Talked about pills. But never followed up on it…”

Happy blew a raspberry and shrugged, “Well… that’s fortuitous I suppose.”

“Yeah… seems like it,” Tony said, staring off into nothing.

<><><>

“So, I overheard something…” Happy said, trailing off.

“What?” Tony questioned, leaning back in his chair.

“I think you and the missus need to have a little chat. Just to nip something in the bud,” Happy said, tapping his fingers on the desk.

Tony had just hung up with a business partner and Happy was sitting across the desk from him. The meeting had been relatively short, about twenty minutes. Happy did not waste time to bring the conversation he had overheard between Pepper and Y/N to Tony. Especially since the meeting had gone well, he would be in a better mood to hear it.

“I only caught the end of the conversation but sounded like she’s trying to figure out how to… get rid of the baby.”

Tony was silent, staring across the desk at Happy. His expression was unreadable. When he did speak though, it was not a secret he was pissed.

“Who the hellwas she talking to?”

Happy sucked his teeth and admitted, “Pepper.”

“Pepper?”

“Yes.”

Leaning forward quickly, Tony slammed his finger on the call button for her office. “Pepper!” Tony barked into the intercom on his phone.

“Yes?”

“Can you come to my office for a second.” It was not a question. It took her a few since her office was down the hall but Pepper walked into the office, standing by the door, and Tony gestured at her saying, “Closed.” She closed the door behind her and turned back to him, looking curious.

“You got anything to tell me?” Tony asked. She stared at him dumbly, shooting a look at Happy. He was returning a blank stare. Tony gestured impatiently. “Here, I’ll help. About my wife.”

Pepper shot Happy another look and he was returning a hard stare now. She surmised that he knew that Y/N had talked to her – had overheard it – and she had no opportunity to lie here.

She shrugged, “About her talking to me?”

“Mhmm,” Tony nodded, his gaze burning into her.

“She wanted me to talk to you. She thinks you’d listen to me.”

“About?”

“Not having a baby,” Pepper said plainly. Tony’s mouth fell open in anger hearing it confirmed and she said quickly, “I don’t know why she thinks you would listen to me. But I told her that’s a conversation she should be having with you, not me.”

It took Tony a few moments to gather himself before he spat, “Does she have a plan?”

“Not that I know.”

“What else did she say?” Pepper bit her bottom lip, silent. Tony demanded, “What else did she say, Pepper?”

Shrugging, Pepper treaded carefully, “She’s worried you’re gonna divorce her after ‘her body gets completely destroyed’ and then she’s ‘just gonna be stuck with a baby that she has no idea what to do with’.” She noticed the baffled looks on both Tony and Happy’s faces and sighed. “I’m assuming you didn’t hear the entire conversation,” Pepper directed at Happy. His expression said everything, and she sighed heavily again, looking back at Tony. “She is extremely insecure Tony. I don’t get it. It’s actually a little alarming. Do you get off on that?”

“No, Pepper, I don’t ‘get off’ on that,” Tony said tightly, looking offended.

Pepper closed her mouth, recognizing the anger on his face. After a few moments, she stated, “She’s scared, Tony.”

Tony was silent for an uncomfortable amount of time, pique still evident in his expression. He cleared his throat, shrugging, “Sounds like it. Anyway, I wish you would have brought this to me unprompted.”

“Tony, that conversation just happened like a half hour ago,” Pepper told him slowly.

“And you didn’t come to me immediately?”

Unamused, Pepper said, “No. I figured if she was serious she would talk to you like I told her she should. And she told me she was going to. She hasn’t had much opportunity to do so though since then and now.”

Tony snorted, “Y/N is not one for mature conversations most of the time anyway. She’s got a flair for the dramatics and gets in these moods, has outbursts. Trust me. She’s a goddamn handful. I mean, you know! The running off and starting fights.” Pepper was staring at him incredulously and he noticed. He rose a brow in return, “What?”

“Nothing,” she said flatly.

“Hmm. Well..” he exhaled deeply, smacking his lips. “Looks like I’ll just have to have a chat. Thank you for being honest, Pepper. Even if it was forced. You’re a doll.”

“Yeah.”

She turned away from him and began walking towards the door. Pepper stopped her stride and exhaled sharply before turning back around to face Tony. “You know, Tony, maybe it would serve you well to listen to her.” Tony stared at her reproachfully in return and she added forcibly, “Seriously. She sounded worried.”

“You don’t think I listen to her? What do you think I do every day, Pepper? I might miss some things admittedly because it’s very hard to keep up with her. Sometimes it changes every hour. The only things she seems to be sure on are: cuddling with me whenever possible and her charity work.”

Pepper ended with, “Well, I don’t think her ‘outbursts’ come from nowhere.”

Without another word, she turned on her heel and walked out.

Tony’s gaze slid to Happy, the two of them locking eyes, put off by her attitude.

“What… the hell just happened?”

“I don’t know, boss,” Happy admitted.

“Fucking women…” Tony trailed off, looking lost in thought. He then asked curiously, leaning forward towards Happy, “Do you think I don’t listen?” Happy gave him a knowing look and Tony snorted, waving it off. “That’s what I thought. If anything, it’s Y/N that doesn’t listen to me. Well, I am not having any more unpleasant conversations on an empty stomach.” He leaned back across his desk towards his phone again. Clicking the button to his secretary, he said, “Angelica, tell Y/N I’ll be out in a second to go to lunch.”

“She’s not out here, Mr. Stark. But—”

“What?” Tony demanded.

“She’s not—”

“I caught that,” Tony interrupted irritated.

“But I can page downstairs. She went down there with Mr. Rogers.”

“Why the fuck is Star Spangled here?” Tony grated, shoving himself away from his desk. “And why is he taking her all over the building?”

~~~

Forever tags: @coconutqueen21, @undecidedsworld

Fic tags: @kvzctam @farihafangirls, @teenageregression @mrsnegan25 @lilacs-lavender @agustdowney @kind-of-crazy-butthatsokay @emmariexx

[greekgrad07]

i blame @deepestempathllamalawyer and @zitzboy for this but this post got me thinking about malconnor and now i can’t stop i’m sorry

malconnor headcanons

they had always been friendly with each other bc of connor and annabeth but nothing worth calling an actual friendship

they never really talked unless annabeth was around until one day after the battle of manhattan

so connor had a bunch of summer assignments he has put off for the last minute bc a.) there was a fucking war going on and b.) procrastination is a curse

he went to the athena cabin hoping to find annabeth for some help but when he got there the only athena kid in sight was malcolm (annabeth was out with her new boyfriend percy alhdkjdk)

so it would be awkward at first but basically it would go something like this

“hey, annabeth isn’t here.” “oh sorry, i was just gonna ask her about some homework, i’ll come back later i guess haha.” and like right as he turns around connor hears malcolm say, “i mean, i could help you, if you want. annabeth isn’t the only smart kid in this cabin, you know?”

and connor is FLUSTERED bc 1.) him and malcolm have barely said three words to each other alone before and now he’s offering to spend gods know how long trying to explain algebra to him, 2.) he’s pretty sure he’s just offended him and if there is one thing connor knows, it’s that you should never, ever, make a child of athena think you doubt their intelligence, and 3.) well, actually, he ain’t sure what else is making him nervous

so after that it gets to the point where connor starts to seek malcolm out for help on all of his assignments, and once they are done with that, connor starts to look for new ways to spend time with him

this boy has no idea how to make friends without pranking them but for some reason connor can’t talk himself into doing anything that may embarrass or hurt malcolm (he tells himself that it’s probably bc he feels indebted to him but...)

not to mention the last child of athena he became friends with was basically desperate for attention at the time, it was easier back then. but malcolm is new territory, and just like annabeth, most of her siblings are intimidating.

obviously he knows that malcolm is willing to help him so connor decides that the best way to insinuate friendship is by making a mountain out of anthill problems just to ask for the son of athena’s help

and this works. malcolm was willing to help connor with almost all of his minor inconveniences.

one time, connor “dropped” his lucky ring during a volleyball match. thankfully, malcolm just so happened to be there

“mal! hey sorry, but my ring fell off during the tournament. i think it’s in the sand somewhere, do you care to help me find it before your cabin starts the next game?”

it was a while before malcolm found the ring. the ring that just appeared out of nowhere at his feet after about thirty minutes of searching, cracking jokes, and avoiding the gaze of the demeter cabin glaring at the two boys to hurry up.

(needless to say, the ring was in connors pocket the whole time)

another time was when connor snuck out of camp with travis to go to the 7/11 down the street and couldn’t decide which snacks to get for the bonfire that night

this resulted in the first of many iris messages to malcolm

“flaming hot cheetos or takis?” “why not both?” “you’re after my own heart, pace.”

connor did not see the other boy blushing at his words (and he did not spend the rest of the night overthinking about that sentence thank you very much)

travis did end up teasing his little brother about it though

“what’s with you and children of athena?” “dude what are you talking about?”

but the best incident was when one of connors problems involved annabeth- or rather, finding annabeth. and he didn’t even have to make that one up

he and annabeth were supposed to train that day, but she was late. normally he would be worried, but a part of him was glad that he had an excuse to go talk to malcolm.

turns out, he didn’t have to.

right as he walked up to the cabin, the boy in question opened the door.

the two bumped into each other and connor wasn’t sure why his face started heating up or why malcolm was looking anywhere but his face.

the blonde boy stuttered out how he was just on his way to the arena to meet him.

“wait what? i just came here to ask you about annabeth.” malcolm’s cheeks turn a light shade of pink and connor doesn’t know why he finds that so endearing, “percy planned a surprise picnic for the two of them, so i offered to spar with you in her place so she wouldn’t feel bad.”

when i say this boy was blushing-

so they spar together and then decide, hey why not hang out for the rest of the day?

and oh boy when the day came that malcolm started coming to connor for help

let’s just say that he was beaming

not to mention it was something that connor was more than happy to help with

apparently some kids of hephaestus were being dicks to one of the younger athena kids and malcolm was pissed, so he asked connor for some pranking tips

they ended up sneaking into the cabin, sabotaging the campers newest projects, and covering all of their tools with honey and feathers

after spending all night hearing malcolm’s laugh and seeing his pale blonde hair in the moonlight as he dropped him off at the athena cabin, connor was sure that friendship wasn’t all he wanted with the boy now

one day, while connor was trying to think of a new excuse to talk to malcolm, the boy walked up to him and asked if he wanted to pick strawberries with him

“yes! i mean- yeah, yeah sound fun”

the two spent the day at the strawberry field picking -eating- strawberries while they talked and laughed with each other

at some point during the evening, connor started retelling a story about him and annabeth from their youth at camp. it involved a prank against clarrise and some glue, and it had both boys cackling by the end of it

then malcolm said “i’m sorry that you got stuck with a walmart annabeth that day, but i’m kind of glad that my sister wasn’t in the cabin when you were looking for help with your school work. i’m not great with getting to know people but i liked how easy it was with you.”

connor would have taken the compliment in stride if it weren’t for malcolms first comment “what do you mean walmart annabeth?”

the boys stopped and looked back at connor “just that, i know you and annabeth are really close, and she’s been busy recently. i understand that you would want to hangout with someone who reminds you of her. i’m okay with it, really. i like spending time with you.”

connor felt his heart simultaneously swell and break at the same time. not once had connor thought of malcolm as an annabeth replacement, nor would he ever. the two children of athena were similar yes, but a lot of siblings are, it doesn’t mean they are the same, and connor definitely never associated them as being such. so he told him that

“i like spending time with you, too. you as in malcolm pace, not an annabeth replacement. i’ve never seen you like that and i never would. plus, you’re not walmart anything, you’re full channel baby. children of hermes only steal the best of the best.”

“what exactly would you be stealing?”

connor just smiled and grabbed the boys hand.

that night, connor stoll made a list including all the things he liked about malcolm pace. he made sure to add the things he liked that he knew differentiated the boy from annabeth as well

some things on the list include how his hair was a more pale blonde compared to his other siblings. connor liked how it certain lights it looked white.

the fact that he was the same height as connor, which made it easier to look him in the eyes

his eyes which were a dark grey and could be considered scary if it weren’t for the gleam they always wore

the way that he always blushed when romantics were involved, no matter how innocent

or how loud he laughed at a joke that he found funny, despite how he tried to muffle it into the collar of his shirt

connor likes how willing malcolm is to help people and how brilliant he is

he likes that malcolm tries to follow the rules but still knows how to have fun and let loose

connor stoll likes malcolm pace

but it’s even better when annabeth finds out

“you and my brother?!”

“you liked luke for who knows how long, i don’t wanna hear it chase!”

[don-quixotine]

*slips you a twenty*

Hey kid wanna read some lit fanfics? 

I just updated my blog with a link to all my AO3 works

Also...... Chapter 8 of The Wall Between Us is up and it’d be cool if you read it or whatever, a bunch of us are gonna be there, we’re gonna cry and order pizza and suffer for the love square it’s gonna be cool 

Read Chapter 8 on AO3 Start from the beginning here

Or on this post below the cut! 

The Wall Between Us 

Summary: Marinette is left to pick up the pieces after losing her chance with Adrien and having Master Fu give up his memories to protect the Miraculous Box. She struggles to find her ground as the new Guardian, and finds unexpected support in Luka Couffaine. Simultaneously, Adrien is learning how to navigate his emotions and slowly growing into his role as future co-guardian, and in the process realizes important truths about his feelings for Kagami, Marinette, and Ladybug. When Ladybug tells Chat Noir that as the Guardian, she is okay with not only revealing their identities but also entrusting her secret to close friends of hers, things become unequivocally complicated for the superhero duo. Will Marinette and Adrien be able to sort through their feelings and do what’s best for the Miraculous team?

Chapter 8

By the time Gabriel and Natalie had returned from their business trip to Seoul–and really, Adrien wasn’t even sure they had been gone at all due to the fact Akumas were aplenty during their absence– he had already extracted a good volume of information to make a case for his suspicions.

He hadn’t found the evidence he needed to prove that his father was indeed Hawkmoth, but instead he had found years of badly-filed fiscal reports, personnel that had been hired and fired under very mysterious conditions, some sort of project for the mansion that his father paid millions for which Adrien had never seen, and the one that irked him the most: audits from France’s Child Protection Services, fines, and ‘cease and desist’ letters warning Gabriel that he was putting Adrien under too many work hours.

That, he discovered, was the real reason why Adrien had been allowed to go to school in the first place. It wasn’t that Natalie had made him a favor: They enrolled him so that Child Protection Services would get off the brand’s neck for forcing Adrien on a part-time job when he wasn’t even sixteen yet.

All of Adrien’s findings were pretty incriminatory, not to mention infuriating, but none were exactly what he was looking for. And yet, it was one of those things that once you have considered, you cannot help but keep seeing.

“Adrien, would you like to explain to me why you have been missing your extracurricular activities for the past two weeks?” Natalie said with a stern voice one morning, as Adrien meticulously chewed on his oatmeal breakfast.

The fiery urgency to flip a table, which had taken a hold of him lately any time Natalie or his father addressed him, surged like a geyser.

“I just didn’t feel like attending,” he said politely, without looking up.

Natalie was taken aback by his answer. “Excuse me?”

Adrien looked up this time. “I didn’t feel like attending,” he repeated. “You weren’t here, and I just didn’t feel like going.”

“You know if you start doing poorly, your father will have you homeschooled again and–”

“And what? He’s gonna lock me up again? Is that it? Wouldn’t people start asking questions?” he demanded.

Natalie blinked, completely caught off guard by Adrien’s sudden rudeness. “This is no way to be talking to your–”

“My what? My dad’s assistant? You’re not my babysitter, not my teacher, and certainly not my mother. I can do whatever I want.”

Natalie composed herself and marched swiftly out of the dining room.

“Kid, what the hell?” Plagg hissed from inside his shirt. “That’s a dumb way to get caught.”

“I’m sorry,” he muttered back. “I’m just… I’m so angry at them! I can’t stop thinking about all this stuff that I found, and just… the idea of them being–well, you know who. It’s making me see in red.”

He marched to the patio and went into his car, where, to his surprise, he found he’d be sharing a ride with his father.

He felt Plagg jabbing his little paws at him as if to say, “I told you so.”

“F-father. Good morning.”

“Drive, George,” Gabriel instructed. After a silence, he spoke again without looking at Adrien. “You think you’re so smart, don’t you? Disrespecting Natalie like that, blatantly disregarding your responsibilities, and giving the brand bad publicity.”

He threw a newspaper at Adrien’s lap. It was from a few days ago. Apparently his sudden outburst at the crowd of harassers in the skate park had made it into the news.

“I’m beginning to think it was a mistake to give you this much freedom.”

Adrien gulped, shuddering with sudden terror.

“Perhaps it will be better if you go back to being tutored at home. Or even better, I’ll send you to a boarding school where I don’t have to deal with your carelessness anymore.”

Adrien gasped. “Please… please don’t. Don’t send me away.”

“You’re not feeling so brave and boldened now, are you? Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Adrien didn’t move. He didn’t dare speak, breathe, blink.

The car had stopped already, they were at the steps of the school. His friends were all hanging at the entrance and had spotted him.

“Your lack of words doesn’t surprise me. You’re just a naive, spoiled little boy who can’t begin to understand the sacrifices I make for this family… You’re dismissed.”

Adrien opened the door, not yet getting off the car.

“Are you going to take me off school?”

“No. Take it as a gesture of good will, and a warning. Stay. In. Line.”

“I-if you send me away, people will start wondering what happened,” he said with a small voice. “They’ll ask questions.”

“And what sort of questions would those be, son?”

At Adrien’s silence, Gabriel sighed. “Close the door. Have a good day.”

He got up and stood in front of the car, breathing deeply so as to not give into the urge to cry.

“I can’t wait to be eighteen to get away from you,” he said and smashed the door close as hard as he could, then sprinted into the school building, afraid that Gabriel might order George to stick him back in the car.

Regrettably, all his friends, Marinette included, saw the display unfold.

It was Nino the one who ran after him.

“Hey, dude, everything alright?” Nino said, as he caught up with him in the locker room.

“Hey Nino, good morning!” he chirped with sunny disposition.

The sudden contrast between what he had seen at the school entrance and then, gave Nino whiplash.

“Erm. Yes, good morning. Don’t ignore my question.”

“Nothing happened,” he said shrugging. “Come on, we’ll be late for—”

Nino yanked the strip from his messenger bag and forced him to stop. “Cut the crap, Adrien. I saw. Is everything alright?”

Adrien’s mask of optimism wavered, but he fought hard to keep it in place. “Yes, Nino. Everything’s alright. I promise.”

Nino sighed, not impressed. “Okay, if you say so.”

As they went into the classroom, Adrien saw from the corner of his eye how Nino shook his head discreetly at the girls. He had been right not to tell him. He knew those two would also want to know what happened. He didn’t want to cause hysteria. However, a more pressing thought occupied his mind for the rest of the day.

Given his regrettable display of temper, and though his father said he wouldn’t pull him out of school, Adrien knew not to trust it. One could never anticipate what his father would do just to stay in control. It worried him that he may have crossed a line that would be difficult to come back from. His father might increase his security, might actually pull him out of school. Not ideal, if his hunch was actually right.

He had to tell Ladybug what he knew as fast as possible.

On the lunch break, he excused himself to the bathroom, taking the burner phone with him to send Ladybug a message:

I DECIDED I’M READY TO REVEAL MY IDENTITY. SOMETHING CAME UP. DON’T WORRY, I’M NOT IN DANGER. BUT WOULD IT BE OKAY IF WE MEET AT THE HANG OUT TODAY? PLEASE WRITE ME BACK AS SOON AS YOU GET THIS.

He kept inconspicuously checking the burner phone for the rest of the day, getting no answer from Ladybug whatsoever. It made him restless. What if she was in danger?

No, she couldn’t be. There would have been an Akuma attack or something.

Still, he was worried, and he knew he couldn’t afford to go back home that day without having told Ladybug about his suspicions, so he resolved to drop by the hang-out anyway later that day. Natalie and George would pick him up after fencing, which gave him enough time to swing there and come back.

It only occurred to him that this might not be the greatest idea once he found himself sans transformation, standing at the door of the hide-out.

What if she wasn’t there today? What if she’s shocked by learning who he is?

He shook his head. No. This was an emergency. He had to do it now, so he ringed the bell.

He texted: LB DID YOU GET MY MESSAGE?

Almost immediately, he got a text back: YES :) I AM HERE. WAIT A SEC. WILL OPEN THE DOOR SOON.

His heartbeat so fast he could hear his pulse. He was short of breath and felt as if his knees would buckle under him at any second.

He heard some voices, then someone approaching to open the door.

Adrien felt temped to open it himself just get over the painful anticipation. The seconds extended for an eternity.

And then, all of a sudden, he was greeted with a most confused Alya Cesaire.

“Alya?”

She crumpled her face, perplexed. “Adrien? What are you doing–”

From inside the house, Adrien distinctly heard the voice of none other than Marinette. “Alya? Is that him?”

It took him a fraction of a second to figure out something that had taken him two–almost three now– years to realize. It felt as if time had stopped and then abruptly resumed, pushing him into a turbulent shore of angry waves.

All of a sudden, it was hard to breathe, impossible to buoy to the surface for a gasp of air. His voice caught up in his throat.

He figured it out.

“Alya?” Marinette repeated from inside the house as Alya stood petrified in front of Adrien, realizing exactly who he was.

“Don’t–” he said gasping. “Don’t tell her,” he pleaded and then darted away as fast as he could possibly run, only stopping when the tears completely blurred his vision.

Back at the house, Marinette was trembling from the utter anticipation. She had requested that Alya come with her to meet Chat. She wasn’t sure she could take it by herself and she needed someone for moral support.

The seconds of wait stringed into whole minutes of silence and Marinette forced herself to march to the front of the house, where Alya was still clinging to the frame.

She was… were those tears? Was she crying?

“Alya?” she asked with trepidation. “What happened?”

“Chat— Oh, Marinette!” She gasped. “Chat was here. He was–he wasn’t transformed.”

Dread came over Marinette’s expression. “Where is he?” she insisted urgently, “What happened?”

“He– he’s gone. Mari, you need to talk to him. You–we… we know him.”

She blinked, too shocked to let fear take ahold of her. “What? Who is he?”

Alya shook her head. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why?” Marinette demanded.

“Marinette, I can’t tell you. You’ll never forgive me if I do… Just… You have to go talk to him, Mari.”

Marinette sprinted outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of ‘someone she knew’, but it was the beginning of rush hour and the streets flooded with commuters, anonymizing everyone. She called and called and called him. Left him voice mail after voice mail, message after message:

CHAT NOIR PLEASE PICK UP! I’M WORRIED, PLEASE!

CHAT.

CHAT PLEASE.

ALYA SAYS YOU KNOW HER, SO MAYBE YOU ALSO KNOW ME... I’M SORRY IF YOU’RE DISAPPOINTED IT’S ME. CAN WE PLEASE JUST TALK?

MINOU. PLEASE. TALK TO ME.

CHAT NOIR, I KNOW YOU’RE MAD. PLEASE, JUST… PLEASE PICK UP.

Chat Noir did not pick up the phone and Marinette, well, Marinette had not been this brokenhearted since Adrien had started dating Kagami, and that was saying something.

Adrien didn’t sleep that night. He hadn’t cried this much since he lost his mother, hadn’t felt this much either.

He never was one to give into negative emotions, but when they got the best of him, they pulled him deep into an abyss that was hard to crawl out of. If any butterflies came flying his way, he wouldn’t have known. Plagg kept guard the entire night.

“I can’t do this anymore, Plagg,” he confessed. “I can’t–I can’t be Chat Noir anymore. It hurts too much.”

“Kid don’t say things like that,” said Plagg as Adrien sobbed. “I’m sure there’s a way to fix this.”

“She loves someone else,” he cried. “I can’t… She’ll never love me, Plagg. It doesn’t matter if I wear the mask or not.”

“That’s not true,” Plagg said, fetching the burner phone. “Look at how worried that poor thing is for you.”

Adrien kept crying. “She doesn’t love me the way I love her. I won’t stand in her way.”

The next morning, Adrien had to put on very little effort to act indisposed for school. He hadn’t come down with anything, but he felt sick. At one point during the night, he had been so caught up in his crisis that he ended up emptying his stomach. In the morning he had woken up from the few hours of sleep he managed to clock in with an insulting headache and even worse nausea than before.

He called in sick and remitted to his room for the next couple days.

It was funny. He never remembered feeling safe or at home in his room. It was too big, too cold for him and somehow at the same time, too small, too stuffy. It was as if his dad had tried to fit in the entire world inside it in the hopes that he’d never want to see the real thing himself.

It wasn’t comfort what made him feel like he belonged there. It was the fact that for once, his surroundings completely matched his state of mind. This is how he felt: as empty and grey as the mansion had been since his mother disappeared, as much of a prisoner as his father intended for him to be.

He groaned at the sound of his civilian phone chiming non-stop with messages from Nino asking if his father had done something to him, Marinette offering him any help if he needed it–these were the ones that hurt him the most to read–, and finally, Alya, who was not sending messages so much as entire monologues begging him to answer at least Ladybug.

He turned off both his civilian phone and the one for Ladybug, hoping there would be no Akumas while he was in this state.

With Chat gone, Marinette regressed into the sort of grief that shut her down when she became the Guardian. She didn’t stop showing up to school, mainly at Alya’s pressing insistence, but it was evident to the class that something was going on with her again.

A few of her more curious friends and acquaintances ask her if everything’s alright with Luka, which only added  to her mortification. She hadn’t been herself these past days and she wasn’t exactly sure she’d be able to explain to Luka why she was so brokenhearted without giving her identity away; why Chat’s sudden rejection was way more painful than anything she ever had to go through. So, against her better judgement, she decided to ignore him for a couple days, at least until she was able to sort her head through the situation.

The truth is Chat’s disappearance–not only this one but every time he’s been convinced he’s not cut out to be her partner–hurled her into a spiral of helplessness not just because she couldn’t fathom doing this without him. There was another reason, one she always purposefully ignored.

It’s like she had told Alya: She had feelings for Chat Noir. It had become easier to ignore them with time, and especially when she could just invest all of her romantic attention on Adrien before Luka came around. But the thing with being in love with Adrien is that she was in love with the idea of him. The idea of being together if she could only one day bring herself to tell him. He was an outlet of sorts–more often than Marinette liked to admit out loud– to feelings she could never show, as they were forbidden.

The second reason why Marinette always fell into despair when Chat Noir surrendered or try to surrender his ring, was because she actually loved him. If she was honest, completely, absolutely honest, she loved him. But she could never tell him, it was Master Fu’s orders not to get involved with him, not to reveal their identities. She maneuvered through those restrictions by effectively fooling herself into believing that one day, in the far future when Hawkmoth was defeated and the stakes wouldn’t be so high, she’d tell him and then everything would be okay. She’d tell him the way you admit to a school crush on one of those high school reunions or unlikely encounters as adults.

Chat surrendering his ring always cut that fantasy short.

What is worse, Marinette realized, was that this time she wasn’t using the idea of someone to distract herself from the way she felt. She was using Luka. Luka, who has been nothing but supportive and absolutely selfless. Luka, who loved her, who didn’t deserve to be treated like this.

Marinette cried in part because this was Chat being typical Chat. But also, because she realized she would eventually need to let go of Luka, and she didn’t want to do that, no matter how wrong it was to keep him to herself. Maybe she just needed to try harder, maybe she just needed to shut down the idea of Chat as she had done before.

The problem was that ignoring him was impossible in this circumstance. Ladybug was about to lose her Cat for good.

“Mari,” Alya said softly as she rubbed her friend’s back as Marinette sprawled over her lap. They were in Marinette’s room. “I think he was just shocked. He’ll come around.”

“But what if he doesn’t?” she asked desperately. “I can’t do this without him, Alya. You-you wouldn’t understand. I can’t explain it… I just can’t do it if he’s not there.”

Alya gave her a pained smile.

Oh, this was all so rotten, Alya thought. And Marinette didn’t even know the beginning of it. Alya found herself wondering what would have happened if they had actually revealed their identities before things got complicated off and on the hero costume. It probably would have saved everyone a whole lot deal of pain.

“He will,” she reassured him. “Trust me, he will.”

Alya gave it a few days. But when the end of a week arrived and there was still no sign of Adrien, she decided she probably overestimated him. Nino was mad at him for virtually disappearing, Marinette was growing worried that something had happened to him, not to mention that his disappearance as Chat Noir was truly causing a number on her.

So, she did what she did best: take action.

She asked her teachers for Adrien’s homework worksheets and on she went Friday after school to confront what would be very possibly a mess even bigger than Marinette’s.

She sighed, rang at the gate of the Agrestes’ mansion and waited for the camera to activate.

“Yes?”

“Hello, Miss Sancoeur. I’m Alya, I’m in Adrien’s class. I’m here to give him his work for the week he missed.”

“Deposit it on the bin, please,” Natalie said, as an automated door slid open. to receive the packet of books.

“Actually, I was hoping I could see him? There’s a few things that our Social Studies teacher asked me to explain to him about a specific assignment,” she said, beaming.

“Adrien has come down with a bad case of the flu, I am sure it wouldn’t be safe for you.”

“Don’t worry ma’am. I got all my shots up to date.”

Natalie sighed and after a few minutes of deliberation, the gates opened. She met Alya at the front door and directed her to the floor where Adrien’s room was. “Down the hall, first door to the right,” she instructed. “I have to warn you. Adrien has specifically requested not to receive visitors.”

“Oh, I’m sure he’ll make an exception,” she said with determination in her eyes. “Thanks!” Alya flashed her a smile and once Natalie had returned to her office, proceeded to barge into Adrien’s room.

The blinds were all drawn, only letting in slivers of light. The air was stuffy, like no one had opened the windows in a good while. It also smelled disgustingly of spoiled cheese.

There were clothes and dishes and all kinds of things lying everywhere. Alya did not remember Adrien ever being this messy.

Both the three displays of his computer and the television were on with different shows each, mixing the occasional strands of yellow light from the windows with the morbid blue of the screens.

A lump, which she supposed was the culprit himself, lay buried in a mountain of blankets and pillows. It seemed he hadn’t noticed her–or in the very least, he didn’t care someone had entered the room.

“That’s it!” Alya announced, dropping her school bag unceremoniously as she huffed and puffed making way through the catastrophe of a room he had, to draw the curtains back and open the windows letting in fresh air and the sounds of the city. She then proceeded to turn off every screen and to yank, almost with unnecessary force, the blankets off of Adrien.

“What?” Adrien groaned.

“That’s it!” Alya said. “Get up. Get up this instant or so help me god, I’m going to toss you directly into your bathtub, clothes still on.”

“Alya?” He seemed confused. “What are you doing here?”

She proceeded to make piles of the different kinds of trash to make it easier to bag them later, and discarded plates and cups as she gagged at the smell.

“Seriously, what is that stench?”

“Camembert,” he explained, not finding it in himself to feel ashamed. “For my Kwami. He doesn’t eat anything else.”

Alya eyed him with disbelief and shook her head. “What are you doing there, just looking? Go take a shower!”

“But–”

“Go. Take. A. Shower. Adrien Agreste.”

A little afraid to continue questioning her, Adrien made his way to the bathroom and emerged a good twenty minutes later still in pajamas. Fresh ones at that, but still.

“You live like a pig,” Alya berated him as she took a seat in the couch in front of the television.

“I’m not– why are you here? Did you just come in to criticize me?” Adrien complained, joining her.

“First of all, no. I came in to make sure you were still alive, seeing as you decided to literally disappear off the face of this earth telling absolutely nobody. Nino is livid, by the way. Will love to see how you explain yourself out of that one. Oh, and there’s been Akumas, not that you’d even get the memo in this bunker, so I had to pitch in as Rena. You’re welcome.”

Adrien looked down.

“Second. I knew. I knew you were going to do this; lock yourself up here and wallow in your self-pity. And I knew somebody needed to come here to make you snap out of it,” she said, giving him a gentle slap on his head.

“Hey!”

“Am I wrong?” Alya demanded. Being met with silence, she nodded. “My point exactly.”

“Third,” she continued. “You think you have it bad? Try being Marinette for a little bit and have your oh-so-trusted partner of years now, suddenly bail on you with no explanation after realizing who she is. How could that possibly look to her, huh?”

“Marinette?” he said softly. “Is… is she alright? I didn’t mean to–”

“Shush. Don’t interrupt, I'll see that you get your chance to apologize to her, don't you worry your pretty face. Fourth. You sir,” she said poking her index finger at his chest. “Need to put on your big-boy pants and deal with your shit like the superhero you are.”

“And fifth,” she said, the fire in her eyes lightly subduing. “There’s homework,” she said pointing at her bag. “I brought it for you.”

Adrien became small in his seat as he took in Alya’s numbered series of complaints. Meanwhile, Plagg came out of hiding, knowing Alya already knew of his and Ladybug's identity.

“I like the way this one talks,” he said, munching a piece of cheese. “Finally, someone with some goddamn common sense!”

“You’re… Plagg?” Alya said.

“Have we met?” Plagg retorted. “Ah yes, Marinette’s friend on the door the other day. Of course. Either way, you have to know. I would’ve kicked him off the bed myself but well, I’m the size of a tennis ball.”

“I’m sorry, okay?” Adrien said quietly, gaining the attention of the pair. “I know… I know I keep messing things up. Which is precisely why I’m not going to be Chat Noir anymore.”

“What?” Alya said, widening her eyes.

Adrien brought his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on top of them. “I just make everything worse,” he explained. “I keep messing up. And I… I know she used to have a crush on me, as Adrien. I don’t want to get in the way of her and Luka…”

“Adrien,” Alya said softly. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but for such a smart guy, you’re pretty darn stupid sometimes.”

Adrien couldn’t help the sudden chuckle that escaped his lips.

“Why on earth do you think that would be a good idea? Have we not met the same Marinette, or, Ladybug in this case? For a reason that’s entirely beyond me, the girl crumbles if you’re not the one to help her up. It’s like… like she wouldn’t believe anything unless it comes from you. You should have seen the certified dumpster fire the last Akuma was. We were all over the place without you.”

Tears fell down his cheeks, and in that moment, Alya knew to knock down her tough-love strategy down a notch. Yes, this was Chat Noir. But it was also Adrien, and while Chat may react to confrontation, Adrien would do anything but.

She clicked her teeth. “Oh, Sunshine. Don’t cry,” she said as she pulled Adrien into a hug.

“I don’t think I can do it, Alya… I’ll make everything worse.”

“You keep saying that, Adrien. But why?”

“I–I think I know who Hawkmoth is,” he admitted in the quietest possible murmur, followed by a sob.

“What…? Adrien, look at me. What do you mean you know who Hawkmoth is?” she said, eyes wide with concentration.

“I figured it out,” he said, hiccupping as he tried to stop crying. “That’s why I went to the hide-out that day. I wasn’t ready to reveal my identity, but I had been stupid with my dad and I thought he might pull me out of school so I knew I had to tell her what I knew before my dad could lock me up or send me away. The first time she took me to the hide-out, I was browsing through some of the documents… Then I found this, this scanned page about the Peacock Miraculous from one of the grimoires and I knew I recognized it from somewhere.” He looked up with an ominous look. “My dad,” he explained. “He has this safe that I once broke into out of curiosity. And he had the missing grimoire in the set and also the brooch. I snuck in his office to investigate and they weren’t in the safe anymore. Then, I found all these documents… he’s been spending money in weird ways, making orders to companies that don’t exist… If he’s Hawkmoth and Natalie is Mayura… that’s–that’s why I had to tell Ladybug. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if she found out who I was and thought that I was part of it all. Alya I’m so scared… I don’t know what to do.”

“Oh, Adrien,” she said softly. “And why didn’t you stick around to tell her that?”

“Because I’ve been in love with her since I met her, okay? I panicked,” he said, now a bit more exasperated. “You– I don’t think you and Nino know what it’s like, it all came so easy to you. But for me… It was so hard to get over her as Ladybug, then realizing that I was really in love with Marinette, and now–”

“Wait, you’re in love with Marinette?” Alya interrupted, jaw on the floor.

“Did Nino not tell you?”

“No! We don’t gossip about what you guys tell us!… I mean, unless it's really important, but that's besides the point! Holy shit, this is so complicated,” she said with a long sigh, plopping her back against the couch. She groaned as she processed the information. “Why are you two like this?” she exclaimed, rubbing her face in frustration. “Okay, but about your whole theory,” she said, once she recovered. “I think that doesn’t prove much, Adrien. I wouldn’t worry if I were you.”

Adrien shook his head. “I know what I saw, Alya. He had the Peacock Miraculous.”

“But that could mean anything. It could be a replica; I’ve read a lot of studies tracking the history of each jewel. People have tried replicating them to scam others.”

“It’s Natalie, Alya,” Adrien said with less patience. “Natalie is Mayura,” he said. “I just know it…” He sighed. “I don’t know how to tell Marinette. I don’t want to make things complicated for her.”

Alya thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. “I got it. What you have right now is a lead, at best. We need to come up with a plan to prove your theories. And Marinette doesn’t need to know how you found it. I didn’t tell her that it was you at the door that day, so really, you could just tell her there’s reason to believe that Gabriel might be Hawkmoth. You tell her your sources is someone close to the Agrestes.”

“What if she asks who the specific source is?”

“We’ll get to that bridge when we cross it.”

“Half-baked plans don’t work on Ladybug,” he said, crossing his arms.

“Perhaps. But she won’t press if she knows your identity is at stake. And for what it’s worth, Adrien, I really do think you should just come clean. About your identity, I mean. It would make everything easier for both of you. I know it must be super scary but... At least promise me you’ll think about it, okay?”

-- “Well, you look like shit,” Juleka commented a bit amused as Luka joined for breakfast before school. He hadn’t been sleeping well and it showed. He simply gave Juleka a ‘I’m not in the mood to fuck around’ smile and begrudgingly served himself a bowl of cereal.

“What is it?” Juleka insisted.

“I really don’t wanna talk about it, Jules.”

“It’s Marinette, isn’t it?” she asked, sounding more like she already had an answer.

Luka sighed and said nothing.

“She’s still not answering your messages?”

Luka shook his head. “I don’t know what I did wrong.”

“Nothing, probably.”

Luka looked up at his sister, who shrugged at him. “Alya says there’s something going on with her family or something, and she’s really having a hard time with it. It’s probably only that.”

Luka appreciated the fact Juleka tried to cheer him up, but he already knew Marinette wasn’t answering because of family trouble. It had been no secret that Chat Noir had been absent in the last few Akumas. Coincidentally, Juleka had mentioned Adrien had been missing school the last few days, so he knew something must have happened between them. Maybe a fight, it was anyone’s guess. The only thing he knew is that he couldn’t bear it. He couldn’t stand that he couldn’t do anything about it, that Marinette wouldn’t actually tell him why she was hiding–to be honest, he also was unsure he even wanted to know. The prospect of her crying to him for a guy who has broken her heart not once, but twice now, did not appeal to him in the slightest bit.

Adrien Agreste was so stupid! He was an idiot! And yet, Luka couldn’t help but wonder if Marinette would ever cry for him like that, even if the last thing he’d ever want to do was to hurt Marinette the same way Adrien had. If she’d ever trust him as blindly as she trusted Chat Noir or love him just the same.

He sighed, trying to push the thought away. Lately, he had run out of strategies to keep his jealousy at bay and so, defeated, he simply tried to ignore his feelings as best as he could, not knowing what else to do. Giving into the feeling made him think horrible things about Adrien, which he was sure weren’t true. Confronting them brought up a proposition that made him break a cold sweat, which although extremely painful, had begun to make a case for itself. It was something he didn’t want to do, but that he suspected would be the best for both of them in the end:

Break up with Marinette.

[mcwriting]

call me, beep me

In which I wrote a Kim Possible AU :)

Ship: Tom Holland x Reader

Word Count: 3865 

Warnings: literally none lol it’s all fun and fluff

#

“Toooom!” you exclaimed in a loud cry. He had clumsily knocked over part of your science fair project, a diorama of the solar system. His misstep caused Pluto to pop off the wire and dented Neptune a little.

“Oh my gosh, y/n, I’m so sorry, let me get that-” he started to reach down and grab the littlest planet at the same time as you, causing both of your heads to bump together.

You each jumped back again, exclaiming “ow!” and rubbing your temples simultaneously.

Things had been off between you and your childhood best friend lately. 

You’d been attached at the hip since preschool, and though you had your ups and downs, had always stayed friends. You were partners in (fighting) crime, but now it was like you were out of sync and couldn’t figure out why. 

“It’s okay, Tom. Seriously. I can fix it myself. You need to work on your project anyways, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. I know. If it makes you feel any better, most people don’t even consider Pluto a planet anymore, so I kinda did you a favor.”

“You take that back! Pluto is so a planet!”

As you both laughed it off, a familiar four-toned beep came from your pocket.

“What’s the sitch, Jacob?” you asked into the phone, where your friend could be seen sitting at his computer.

“Hey, y/n. I was checking out Dr. Gyllenhaal’s purchase history lately, and well... tell me if this sounds fishy: 200 pounds of cherry flavored jello mix. That might not sound too bad except that he’s at the villain convention and just snatched the last 30 liters of mind-control juice. The first person you look at after ingesting some can control what you do unless you can reverse it. Oh, and he invited you and everyone else in town to a cookout at the park tomorrow.”

“Well, definitely doesn’t sound like any regular cookout. I’ll check things out. Give me location on the convention and we’ll head over,” you responded, annoyed that you needed to take a pause on your project that was due the next morning.

“I’m gonna ask him why he chose cherry. I mean, really. All the flavors in the world and you pick cherry!?” Tom said incredulously. You rolled your eyes in amusement and grabbed his arm.

“Come on, jello boy. Let’s go.”

#

The year’s convention was the place to be.

The villain counsel had gotten together and gotten a spot at the biggest venue in Rio, and everyone had been able to share conquests and victories along the beach.

Which is where Dr. Gyllenhaal was happily sipping on his frozen drink in the sun as his henchwoman, Daisy, lounged nearby.

“So you really think jello is the way to go, huh? Not a mixer at the club? It’d be a lot more fun that way,” she trailed.

“Y/n y/l/n and that... that... buffoon of hers are in high school. They cannot go to clubs. But jello! I mean who doesn’t love jello!?”

“Well... me for one. And cherry, really? Cherry? Couldn’t have at least gone for strawberry?”

“Cherry is the best flavor and you know it! Now let me enjoy my drink in peace before we head back to the lair.”

“Better sip quickly. I think that’s her and her little friend on the parasail that just disconnected from the boat,” Daisy said nonchalantly, sunglasses pulled down to see you gliding towards the beach.

“WHAT!?”

He threw the drink aside and sat up quickly.

You and your parachute were floating down gracefully as Tom was struggling. His naked mole rat, Tessa, was desperately trying to detangle him but to no avail, so he decided to bail, dropping into the ocean with a large splash. 

You couldn’t help but shake your head as you detached and landed on the beach, doing a somersault to break your fall. 

“Miss y/l/n, nice of you to arrive,” Dr. Gyllenhaal sneered as you stood. You were about to answer when Tom was clumsily thrown onto the sand by the crashing tide. 

“And you brought your little boyfriend, too.”

You looked down in surprise at Tom, who gave you the same deer-in-the-headlights look.

“We’re not- I mean he isn’t-”

“Y/n and I would never- What are you-” 

You both stammered. 

“Oh how cute. They’re blushing.” Daisy teased. “Now, time to kick your butt.”

With that you ensued in typical hand-to-hand combat along the beach, using your tumbling skills to narrowly avoid Daisy’s glowing fists along with other beach obstacles. 

“Where’s the juice!? I know you have it!” you exclaimed between handsprings.

“Isn’t that a funny question. You know I have some right here but-” Gyllenhaal pulled out a flask with the liquid to gloat, but tripped, the lid popping off and liquid beginning to splash out. “Oops!”

It was heading towards both you and Tom, so you turned to say, “Don’t let it get in your mouth!”

Some splashed onto yours and Tom’s faces. He cringed and ran towards the ocean.

“Tom what are you-” you couldn’t finish the thought, because as you were watching, a drop fell from your lips onto your tongue.

Suddenly, you felt inclined to do whatever Tom said. He was washing his face off with the salt water when you turned back around to look at your nemesis.

"Ooh let’s see if this works. Okay y/n. Tell me I’m pretty,” Gyllenhaal said, looking at you expectantly. You furrowed your brows. 

“Hmm. Maybe it needs to be an action. Y/n, go get me another piña colada.”

“What do you think I am, your slave?” you retorted sarcastically. His jaw dropped. 

“But I- I bought so much... WHY ISN’T IT WORKING?” he cried out.

Tom appeared next to you again.

“Hey y/n could you tell me if my hair’s messed up?”

You looked at him and without a thought answered.

“Oh yeah it’s parted weird. Lemme fix that.” You reached out and flopped a strand over. 

Dr. Gyllenhaal had a startling revelation.

“Oh no. Oh my gosh. YOU.YOU BUMBLING IDIOT. You’re the one who has the power to control y/n now? Oh dear. Daisy, we need to go at once!”

With that they sped off on a scooter, getting away once again. 

“What was he talking about? Oh hey, my shoe’s untied. Could you get that?” he asked. Usually it was a joke between you that you’d never tie his shoes, but immediately you were knelt down double knotting his laces.

You stood up, confused at what had overcome you, but quickly realization washed over your face.

“You...” you whispered. “I drank the juice, and now you get to control me until we can figure out a remedy...”

“What? No way, y/n. That’s crazy talk. If I had the power to control you, I’d tell you to eat an avocado and you’d actually do it.”

Ugh. Avocados.

One of your least favorite foods. They disgusted you, but without second thought you ran to find one, ravenously peeling off the skin with your bare hands and eating the soft fruit inside.

Tom looked at you in shock and horror.

“OH MY GOSH I”M CONTROLLING YOUR MIND!” he exclaimed, hands thrown upward onto his head. He started pacing and muttering to himself nervously.

You quickly finished the avocado, tossing the skin and pit aside. You wiped your mouth and immediately you were disgusted with yourself, the taste still lingering in your mouth.

“Ugh. That’s what I was trying to tell you!”

“Well call Jacob and figure out how to undo it!”

Immediately you pulled out your phone and rang him up, explaining the situation.

“... and it would really be nice if Tom could get me some water,” you muttered after telling Jacob what had happened.

“Why don’t you get it yourself?” Tom asked, prompting you to run to the nearest snack shack and grab yourself a water. You drank it in annoyance as Tom looked at you sheepishly.

“Well... here’s the problem... so far there’s no known antidote, y/n. Sorry. I’ll see if I can figure it out though,” Jacob explained. You groaned.

“Yeah, okay. Keep me in the loop. And while I’ve got you, could you send us a ride home?” 

“Sure thing, y/n. I’ll be in touch,” Jacob added, screen going black as he ended the call.

“Welp, y/n. This is going to be fun, right?” Tom asked enthusiastically.

“Sure. Fun.”

#

You were quickly putting together Tom’s baking soda volcano as he lounged nearby on your bed. He’d used his new power to get you to finish his project for him.

“As soon as we figure out the cure, I’m so gonna pummel you,” you said as you painted red drips around the rim and sides.

“Maybe it’s best that we don’t find that cure...” Tom started, until you shot him a glare. “Kidding! Kidding. Seriously though, y/n, I’ll repay you for doing this. It’s just, we all know you’re the smart one in this pairing.”

You perked up and looked at him funny as you continued to work.

“Pairing?”

“Well, yeah sure. I mean I couldn’t say couple, and well... I couldn’t think of a better word. Friendship doesn’t sound right either.”

You turned around, cheeks warm.

“What do you mean by that?” you asked quietly.

“We’re more than just friends, y/n. Everyone knows that. We’ve been at each other’s sides for forever. I just feel like only calling us friends doesn’t really encapsulate our relationship.”

“Oh... yeah. I see,” you said, a couple nervous chuckles leaving your breath as you moved on from painting lava to gluing fake trees around the volcano.

“What do you see it as, y/n?”

You felt the urgency to answer truthfully but wasn’t really sure how to. Like you’d said before, it was complicated.

“Well I... I don’t know. You’re my best friend, Tom. I’m not really sure what else to say.”

Tom looked down at Tessa, who was asleep in his hand. 

“Oh. Yeah. Yeah, of course. I mean, that’s probably how anyone else would describe it...” he trailed. You felt yourself deflate in the same way Tom did, but you’d been honest.

You kind of had to be, after all. 

After a few minutes of rare silence between you two, Tom spoke up again.

“Hey y/n? You don’t have to keep working on that. It looks incredible as it is and I owe you a million for it.” You stopped what you were doing and leaned away from the project. 

“You know, I think I’m gonna head home. Tessa’s pretty much konked out and I’m pretty exhausted, too. It’s probably best that you finish up your work and hit the hay after I leave.”

You knew his statement wasn’t supposed to be a command, but now you’d be doing just that as soon as he was out the door.

He got up to leave, stuffing the sleepy mole rat into his pocket where she often hid and you stood from your place on the floor. 

“I’ll get all this stuff in the morning when I come to pick you up, okay?” Tom said. You nodded, a slight, lopsided grin on your lips.

You both stood awkwardly for a second before you leaned in, giving him a hug like you often did when parting ways. His arms engulfed you.

“Good night, y/n.”

“Night, Tom.”

With that you parted and he was out the door. As soon as you heard the front door shut, you were back to fixing your solar system.

#

As you got ready in the morning, thoughts about the prior night came bubbling up.

You hadn’t really had much thought about it before, because you’d been “ordered” to do your school project and go to bed, not leaving much time for reflection.

Are we just best friends? Are we not? I mean we aren’t a couple but we’ve got more going on than the average best friend, right? Am I just saying this because we fight crime unlike everyone else? Do I like-

You were snapped out of your thoughts when your  younger twin brothers called up, signaling that Tom was at the door. A few moments later he appeared at your bedroom.

“Mornin’ y/n,” he said, chipper as ever. It seemed that he was going to put the previous night’s events behind him. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah, just a second. I forgot to take your project to my car before you got here.”

“Oh I can get mine,” Tom offered, stuffing a tri-fold under his arm and picking up the volcano with his hands.

“You- you’re not gonna make me do it?” you asked.

“What? Nah. I’m actively trying to not mind control you today. I feel bad about doing it.” 

“It’s going to happen eventually, you know. But come on. I don’t want to be late to the science fair.”

#

Yours and Tom’s displays were next to each other in the gym and for the most part, everything was going well. 

He’d slipped up a couple of times in the mind control department, but they were simple questions, so no one really picked up on it.

As you were preparing for the fair to start, you rolled your eyes as your co-caption on the cheer squad (and high school enemy) Zendaya walked up.

“Oh my gosh, y/n. What’s this? A solar system? That’s it?”

“I mean my dad’s a rocket scientist. And did you forget the fact that I’ve been to space? Maybe if you read my poster you’d understand that my project is about more than just some floating space balls.”

“Ugh. Whatever. Mine’s gonna win either way,” she bragged, earning another eye roll.

“Yeah we’ll see about that,” you grumbled. 

She flicked her hair and turned on her heel, headed back to her area. You huffed at her annoying arrogance.

“Don’t worry about it, y/n. You’ve got this,” Tom encouraged. Suddenly all tension left you.

Maybe this mind control stuff isn’t always bad. At least not when you’ve got the best kind of cheerleader by your side.

You looked at Tom with a soft smile. He was paying attention to Tessa, so he couldn’t see the way you were studying him. 

Over the years, you’d seen more of Tom than practically anyone else had, but yet you still found yourself trying to memorize every little mark and freckle on his face. You analyzed each curl of his hair. The way his lashes fluttered when he blinked.

You snapped out of it when he looked back up at you.

“You okay, y/n?” he asked.

“What? Oh, yeah. Just got distracted for a second. That’s all.”

Before he could press you further, your phone beeped. 

“Hey Jacob. Any updates?” 

“Well... I have an update, but it’s not necessarily the best news. There aren’t any known antidotes for the juice yet. I even emailed the seller under a fake name and he couldn’t give me a good answer. I got my hands on a little and will send some to the lab. Hang tight. Oh, and good luck with your project.”

You said some parting words and hung up.

“Well great. We’re no closer to solving this and we have to figure out a way to get everyone in town to not eat the stupid jello unless we can find a cure. This is shaping up to be just the best.”

“Hey. It’s okay. Just focus on presenting your project for now and beating Zendaya, okay? You can definitely do that.”

And once again, you felt yourself succumb to his words as the judging began.

#

“See. I told you you could do it,” Tom said excitedly as you carried a large trophy home.

“I had a feeling I would anyways, but I was kind of under order to win, so there was no way I’d take anything less than first.”

“Yeah, yeah. That’s my girl,” Tom said offhandedly, taking a second to realize the implications of what he may have said. “And- and by my girl I don’t mean my girl I mean you’re just my best... um.. you know...”

“Tom. It’s okay. I get it. We don’t need to start this again right now. Now we need to focus on stopping Gyllenhaal and finding a cure. Plus, I need to change into a cute outfit for the cookout.”

# 

Hours of brainstorming and you were still no closer to finding a solution, but most of town was now gathered at the park feasting on hot dogs, hamburgers, and all the chips and potato salad they could handle. 

The jello had yet to make an appearance on tables, and there was no sign of Dr. Gyllenhaal or Daisy as you and Tom approached the families chowing down and having fun. 

You couldn’t, however, ignore the large curtained stage on one side of the park.

After hanging out with Tom and some other friends, the curtain suddenly opened, revealing your nemesis on the stage, microphone in hand.

“Good evening, friends. I’m your friendly neighborhood Dr. Gyllenhaal, and tonight I’m going to be your musical entertainment. But first! We want everyone to feast on the finest dessert, so jello for everyone!” he exclaimed.

You stomach dropped.

“Tom we gotta act fast. You help stop people from eating the jello and I’m going to try to get him off stage.”

As you split up, you got another beep on your phone.

“Hurry, Jacob. I don’t have much time.” 

“Okay, okay. I think I just solved your problem. You remember that movie Ella Enchanted?”

“Uh, yeah. I don’t see the correlation.”

“Well remember when at the end, the only way Ella breaks her curse is by talking to herself in the mirror..?”

“Oh my gosh you’re a genius. If the first person you look at is yourself, then you’re still in control! Anyway you can hook us up with some mirrors?”

“Already on it. But first, you need to test it on yourself just to make sure. I think Gyllenhaal has some extra juice hidden behind the stage if you can get your hands on it.”

“On my way. Thanks, Jake. You’re a lifesaver.”

You sprinted towards the stage, now in a different pursuit than before. You darted around the side, looking around to see if there were any bottles you could grab a quick swig from.

“Oh no you don’t,” a voice called from behind you. Daisy.

“Look, I just want some of the juice for myself alright? Nothing else.”

Yet.

“Oh we’ve got a good girl gone bad, huh? I don’t buy that sister.”

She lunged at you and once again you were in typical combat, flipping around and swinging off stage rigs, trying to get to the lone bottle of juice that was resting in the bed of a truck.

After a couple minutes, you were able to outsmart Daisy and grab the bottle. You pulled a compact from your pocket and looked straight into the mirror.

“This better work,” you muttered, tossing back some of the liquid and looking into the eyes of your reflection.

You didn’t feel any different, so you swung up onto the stage and knocked Gyllenhaal over, searching the crowd for Tom as you tried to trap the mad scientist.

“Tom! Tom tell me to do something!” you cried out upon seeing him. He was furiously rushing between tables trying to prevent people from eating the jello.

“What? Like what? I don’t want to ruin the mission!”

“Just say whatever! Hurry!”

“Okay fine! Eat another avocado!”

Dr. Gyllenhaal looked up at you expectantly, but you had no desire to find the green fruit, not even a twinge. Instead, you continued what you were doing before.

Dr. Gyllenhaal, on the other hand, paled. 

“Oh dear,” he whispered nervously, realizing you had found a solution to the problem he had created.

“Daisy get the helicopter! Hurry!” he cried out, slipping from your grip and running away like he always did. 

You let him go to focus on helping anyone who had eaten the jello, those of which Tom was trying to round up so you could help them.

After getting everyone cured, Jacob had called the lab he was working with to get the jello and dispose of it properly, allowing them to run more tests, too, now that they knew the cure.

You stood aside, arms crossed in satisfaction, as Tom approached.

“So you’re you again? Nothing I say can affect you?”

“Well I wouldn’t put it that way, but I’m definitely not eating any avocados or tying your shoelaces in the near future.”

He gave a chuckle and you started slowly walking home from the park.

“Hey, um, now that you’re cured and everything, I’m really sorry about last night. I accidentally put you in a weird position and I get it if you’re mad at me. I’m okay just calling us friends and ending it there if that’s what you want,” Tom said. 

You thought for a few moments about his proposal.

“You know, I was technically being honest last night, but my answer has changed since then.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well... These past couple of weeks, things have felt really...”

“Weird? Off?” he interjected.

“Exactly! We’ve been so out of sync and I couldn’t figure out why! But after last night I realized that it’s because we aren’t simply friends. And I don’t know where you stand on this, but... I think I have feelings for you? And if you want to stay just friends I understand, but I just hate when we aren’t honest with each other.”

“Wait. You do?”

“Yeah. I really do.”

You braced yourself for him to shoot you down and put you back in the friend zone, but his reply surprised you.

“I guess now is the perfect time to tell you that I’ve had feelings for you for... well... ever.”

Now it was your turn to be shocked.

“You have!?”

“Well, yeah. Of course. You’re strong, smart, and beautiful. You kick butt like nobody’s business and above all, put up with me every day. You’re like the most incredible person ever. How could I not be into you?”

You felt yourself blushing as you approached your front porch.

“You’re amazing, Tom. You know that?” he jokingly waved you off, but then you were standing quietly.

“Sooo... monthly movie marathon tomorrow at my place? I’ll provide the snackage,” Tom offered, reminding you of your scheduled hangout. You looked down at the ground with a smile, then back up again, nodding.

Usually this was the part where you’d say goodnight and maybe hug, but this time you took it a step further.

You reached up and kissed him on the lips. It was only for a second, but both of you were stunned upon pulling back.

“I know I usually tell you not to bring anything to movie day, but could you please bring some more of those with you?” Tom joked once he snapped out of it.

“Oh my gosh,” you replied in amusement, giving him a light shove. “Goodnight, Tom.”

“Night, y/n.”

And with that, the man you realized you’d loved for years turned around and made his leave.

#

A/N: yooooo I actually really loved this. I really tried to fit the KP vibes but sorry if anything felt off. There’s just not much as iconic as the og Kim and Ron, ya know?

Anyways thanks for reading and as always please feel free to send an ask or message anytime!

Send a message or ask if you’d like to be added to my permanent or series taglists so I can verify you’ve been added!

Tag list: @readheadwriter, @jackiehollanderr, @one-big-fangirl, @agentnataliahofferson, @spider-babe,  

[goneseriesanalysis]

Caine Soren

Hiya guys, so here are my thoughts and opinions on Caine from my re-read of the first book. I was planning on writing this quicker but my ADHD told me no. I’m prolly gonna write up a bunch now though because I’m ✨in the zone✨ Also, apologies but this is another long one because I am physically incapable of being concise 

Spoilers for Gone down below

Original Opinion: Most of my criticism on him as a character came as a result of later development so I’m not quite sure whether that will change as of yet. But as far as his role as a villain, I really enjoyed his character and what he brought to the story.

New Opinion: I still maintain that Caine is a good main villain for this book. I found him to be waaaaay different and way less competent than I remember, but boy is he interesting. I have so many thoughts on Caine and it was a real struggle getting them all down.

1.) CAINE’S APPEARANCE:

Ok so we are first introduced to Caine in chapter 14 through Sam’s POV. We see him standing apart from the other Coates kids “wearing a bright yellow V-necked sweater instead of a blazer.” This is obviously done to set him apart from the other Coates kids, and (forgive me for going all English teacher on you) the colour yellow has connotations of corruption and deceit, which fit in pretty nicely with Caine as a character. Sam then goes on to give us a more detailed description:

“He was handsome, even Sam noticed that. He had dark hair and dark eyes, not much different from Sam himself. But this boy’s face seemed to glow with an inner light. He radiated confidence, but without arrogance or condescension. In fact, he managed to seem genuinely humble even while standing alone, looking out over everyone else.”

This is one of my least favourite descriptions in the whole book because it simultaneously manages to tell us almost nothing about Caine’s appearance whilst making me cringe so hard that my muscles start to atrophy. Seen as we get very little description of Sam, telling us that Caine looks like Sam is pretty much useless – although it nicely sets up the brother twist – and dark hair and dark eyes could mean anything. Are his eyes blue, brown, black?? Is his hair black or brown?? Who knows?? Not me. And don’t even get me started on his face glowing with an inner light. Because no. I hate this line so much it actually hurts. I thought at first it may be in reference to his connection with the gaiaphage. But that makes no sense. It reminds me of the scene in The Great Gatsby where Nick describes Gatsby’s smile for about half a page and he just sounds ridiculous. I will admit the last two sentences give a good example of Caine’s ability to charm and manipulate those around him but the rest is just aaa

We also learn that he is handsome, which is then followed by what I consider to be a writer’s greatest sin. “He was handsome, even Sam noticed that” – Every. Single. Time a male character describes another male character who just so happens to be attractive in any given book from any author, we get this line. It is the writer’s equivalent of saying no homo and I’m going to make it my personal mission to call them all out on it.

Ok moving on – sorry about that. Rant over.

Sam then says that “His voice was clear and just a little higher, maybe, than Sam’s, but strong and determined. He had a way of looking at the crowed before him that made it seem he was meeting every person’s eye, seeing every person as an individual.” This is good at further establishing Caine as a leader, and shows his relationship with crowds, it gives the reader some indication of his ability to control. He is able to easily win over those of Perdido Beach with his charm.

Caine gets referred to as being attractive by a few other characters throughout the book, but the last main description we get of him is from Drake’s POV in chapter 20:

“Caine sat in his over-large leather chair, the one that had previously belonged to the mayor of Perdido Beach. It made him look small. It made him look very young. And to make matters worse, he was chewing on his thumbnail, which made it almost look like he was sucking his thumb.”

This description is kind of reminiscent of the scene with Sam and the shirt that I talked about in my Sam Temple post. He has taken over the mayor’s chair but he is not fit to take on the position of mayor. Whereas Sam’s weakness in leadership stems from his insecurities and doubts, it is Caine’s narcissism and over-confidence that make him unfit to lead. Michael gives Caine the compulsion of biting his thumbnail when he is nervous. This is a habit that people often pick up to deal with challenging emotions is a less destructive way (as opposed to having a meltdown or getting angry) and works nicely for Caine’s character. It shows that while he does have his moments where he loses control, he is capable of controlling himself to a certain degree, making it seem more likely that someone like Diana might align herself with him. This also helps to further the idea that despite his narcissism and delusions of grandeur, he is still just a kid. And of course sets up the idea that Drake is somewhat resentful towards Caine.

2.) CAINE’S PERSONALITY:

Caine’s personality is a difficult one to analyse as there are two main aspects to it – the personality he projects in order to manipulate people and his actual personality – and sometimes the line between these blurs to the point where it becomes unclear which one we are seeing. One thing that I did notice is that in this book we don’t actually get a Caine POV until the Thanksgiving battle, so we mostly see him through the eyes of Sam, Jack, Drake and Diana, who all have very different relationships with him.

As I mentioned before, we first see Caine through Sam’s POV, where we are introduced to what I’m gonna call his fake personality. Michael uses phrases such as “Caine appeared interested” alongside Astrid’s commentary, which lets the reader know that Caine is not what he appears to be, but of course the general population of Perdido Beach are not aware of this. One criticism I had towards the way that Caine’s character is portrayed is that it is initially hinted that the reason he is able to gain such control over people is because of his proficiency in manipulation and his superficial kindness (such as when he comforts the kid who asks for his mum). And yet he manages to fool almost no-one?? Astrid, Sam, Edilio, Albert, Mary and Howard all immediately see through his façade, which makes it hard to believe that this is how he gained such influence over people. (And of course all the kids at Coates who were cemented saw through it too). In fact I found myself to be kind of confused as to why anyone follows him at all?? Is it just a fear of his power?? That’s… a little disappointing. He doesn’t become mayor because he charms the population. He becomes mayor because no-one else wants to do it, and no-one can be bothered to oppose him. And even when people start to become more afraid, they aren’t afraid of Caine. It’s Drake. Although, you of course have to take into account the fact that these are just children who want someone they can look towards for help and guidance. Perhaps Caine’s persuasive abilities are less about using his charm to completely win people over and more about him being able to take advantage of situations that are presented to him. He has just enough superficial charm and makes just enough beneficial changes (such as laying down rules and protecting the food) that people are willing to overlook some of the more sinister things that he does.

That being said, I think my main issue with so many characters being able to see through Caine so quickly, is what it says about or “hero.” Sam doing nothing to stop Caine, despite him clearly knowing that Caine is bad news makes him seem a little selfish?? His insecurities stop him from doing what is right, and while it is good to have a flawed hero, his willingness to allow Caine to terrorise Perdido Beach up until he threatens Sam personally seems less like a small character flaw and more like a pretty big lapse in morality and compassion. Would Sam have ever taken control if Caine hadn’t kidnapped him?? If Sam had been fooled by Caine’s manipulation that would imo have made both of their characters better fit their respective roles of protagonist and antagonist.

That being said one of my absolute favourite lines regarding Caine is “Then let’s go in together,’ Caine said. He turned and marched purposefully up the church steps. The rest of the chosen fell in behind him.” in chapter 14. I think this perfectly captures the contrast between what Caine says and what he does, and I really love it.  One of Michael’s strengths is adding little throw away lines that can perfectly sum up a character and their intentions. And this idea of Caine saying something but meaning something else is pretty central to his character – the biggest pay-off we get from this in book 1 is him promising to protect the little’s and then (horrifyingly) feeding them to the coyotes in the final battle. This was a scene that I did not previously remember and man did I feel some emotions when reading it. There wasn’t even a second thought, absolutely no indication of remorse. I know a few times it’s mentioned throughout the books that the difference between Caine and Drake is that Caine only does what is necessary – but the scene with the coyotes really contradicts that idea.

Caine’s ‘real personality’ imo is shown in little moments throughout the books. By Caine’s real personality, I’m referring to the part of him that we don’t really see at all in this book, the part of him that is only really hinted at by Diana, and occasionally Drake. Even when Caine is around Diana and Drake, he still tries to keep up a persona – this time that of a cold and detached boy with little to no emotions. But this isn’t really who he is. I think the ‘real’ Caine is an extremely emotional person (although I would like to clarify that by emotional I mainly mean angry and sometimes scared) and there are a couple of moments where this does shine through. There are a few times where Caine loses his temper with both Drake and Diana, using his powers to injure them and to reiterate the power he has over them. I think this shows how insecure Caine truly is, despite what he would have others believe. He only ever breaks character when his authority is mocked or threatened, even if the threat holds no real intention (such as Diana’s jibe after he kisses her). I do find it interesting that, at the core, Sam and Caine are quite similar. It is how these insecurities manifest and project themselves that really define them as different. Caine’s insecurities also shine through in these quotes from Diana:

“Yes. Sam is a four bar. And Caine would freak.” – Chapter 29

“Caine, despite his over-sized ego, his looks, his charm, was terribly awkward with girls.” – Chapter 39

Caine needs to be in control. He needs to be the most powerful person in the room at all times, and the only two people who can really be considered a threat to him in this way are Diana and Sam. Sam is his main threat and Diana, of course, holds a certain amount of power over him due to his feelings towards her. However, any time that Diana seems to be gaining or trying to gain more power (most notably when she makes fun of him for kissing her and when she tries to make him call off the coyotes) he reacts with violence. But I’ll go into that more when I make a post about their relationship.

Another thing that I noticed about Caine that I hadn’t previously remembered is that, he’s a bit of a coward. We first see this in chapter 34 when Little Pete frees the Coates kids “Caine was quick. He backed away, turned, and ran for the building.” The one thing that really got me about this is that he didn’t wait for Diana. He just turned and saved himself. Which kind of brings into question why Diana stays with him. Does he offer protection?? He certainly didn’t here. He literally abandoned her and ran for the hills. The other time we really see this side of him when he uses Astrid as a human shield in chapter 45. Diana even comments on this, telling him to “be a man for once.” I don’t have much else to say about this, but I think it’s an interesting aspect of his personality that certainly makes it easier to dislike him.

Now the last thing I want to talk about in regards to his personality is chapter 36 (the chapter where Drake gets his arm cut off). Caine gets in three good moments during this scene, the first one being:

“It’s not Diana or Chunk or even me,’ Caine said. ‘It’s none of us, Drake. It’s Sam. It’s Sam who did this to you, Drake. You want him to get away with it? Or do you want to live long enough to make him suffer?”

This is one of my favourite Caine moments in the book, and it’s really one of the only times that we see his manipulation actually work on someone. He knows exactly what to say to Drake in order to shift the blame in the direction he wants. Forget that I left you behind to deal with Sam and the escaped kids yourself. Forget that Diana is sawing your arm off. Just focus on Sam. And I think this line had such an effect on Drake’s psyche (which I will explore more in my Drake post) and really excellently shows off Caine’s ability to take advantage of a pre-existing situation in order to benefit himself.

The next two moments are where I really think the lines between Caine’s persona and the ‘real’ Caine blur to the point where it’s unclear which side of him we are seeing – and I think there is an argument for both although imo I feel like it’s his persona that we are seeing.

“It’s the only way to stop the pain,’ Caine said, almost showing some emotion, some pity. ‘The arm is done for Drake-man.”

“Don’t cut off my arm,’ Drake cried. ‘Let me die. Just let me die. Shoot me.           ‘Sorry,’ Caine said. ‘But I still need you, Drake. Even one-handed.”

So, we first get the idea that Caine, at least somewhat, feels sorry for Drake. Drake’s injury is horrific and it’s clear that other characters, such as Jack and Diana, who are usually nothing but hostile to Drake (and rightfully so) feel some sympathy towards the situation. Now it’s also important to note that this scene is from Drake’s POV so we don’t actually know if the sympathy Caine is showing is real, is part of his attempt to manipulate Drake, or isn’t there at all and is just something that Drake wants. (I think the last option is entirely plausible as Drake often seeks praise from Caine, so in a situation like this it makes sense that he would seek some empathy). However, Caine then goes on to refuse Drake’s plea for death… because he needs him. Not because he’s a friend – or even just an ally. Not because he doesn’t want him to die. But because he needs him. That’s cold. And it’s really cold to tell him that – which leads me to believe that the almost sympathy Drake sees earlier on was never there, or at the very least was just a manipulation tactic. Caine cares so little for the people around him and I find it quite funny that it was his treatment of Drake (the person probably most deserving of it) in this scene that really showed me how much of a villain Caine can be.

3.) CAINE’S MOTIVATIONS:

Why does Caine do the things he does?? Why does he need to be in control?? And while we don’t really get much insight into Caine’s head in this book, there are a few good moments which allowed a reader to speculate as to what his motivations are. The first moment that really stood out to me was in chapter 39, where Caine tries to open up to Diana about his parents:

“I always had the feeling, you know? That my family wasn’t my real family. They never said I was adopted, but my mother – well, the woman I thought was my mother, I don’t know what to call her now. Anyway, her, she never talked about having me. You know, you hear moms talking about going into labour and all. She never talked about that.”

From this, we can see that Caine always felt like an outsider within his own family, he always felt like he didn’t belong. And this seems to be a pretty big motivator when it comes to Caine’s need to take over, to have power over everyone else. If he has control, then he will always have a place. He will always belong because the world will be his. Caine never fit in in the real world, his narcissism (and probably psychopathy) distanced him from other people right from the get go. But in this new world, in the FAYZ, Caine has a chance to be important, to be a ruler and he’s willing to do pretty much anything to get that. I think this idea, of his need for power and control stemming from the lack of acceptance and belonging he felt with his family, is emphasised in chapter 46, during the poof:

“Caine seemed spellbound, unable to tear his gaze away from the gentle, smiling face, the piercing blue eyes.                                                                        ‘Why?’ Caine asked in a small child’s voice.                                                             […]                                                                                                                          ‘Why him and not me?’ Caine asked.”

This is the only time I felt the slightest bit of sympathy for Caine during my re-read of this book. He is 14. A kid. He spent his whole life feeling like and outsider and now he knows that a woman he knew, a woman that he saw almost every night is his actual mother. That she also knew this and yet never tried to talk to him, to explain, to do anything. And now he’s looking at ‘her’ and all he wants to know is why. Why did she give him up?? He lacks empathy and many other emotions that allow healthy relationships with others, yet he still wants people to have that connection with him. He needs him and rely on him. So his solution is to gain enough power, enough authority and control so that people have to listen to him and have to rely on him. He doesn’t care how many people he hurts or pisses off, because in the end, if he gets what he wants, that won’t matter. He’ll be too powerful for it to matter because they’ll still need him anyway. And that’s why “All that matters is winning. So save it.” – Chapter 45

4.) CAINE’S INTENTIONS/ HIS ROLE AS A VILLAIN:

Caine’s intentions are pretty obvious from the very first time we meet him in chapter 14. And, of course, it is these intentions that really define his role as a villain. Now, in chapter 14, it never outright says that Caine’s intentions are to take complete control over Perdido Beach. In fact, Caine tries to make it seem like he wants to make a collaborative effort to help them all move forward. But once again, his actions contradict his words, most notably in these lines:

“Orc grunted, shifted the bat from right hand to left, and stuck out his thick paw. Caine grabbed it with both his hands and solemnly looked Orc in the eye as they shook hands.”

“But Caine grabbed his elbow and manoeuvred him into a handshake.” [Referring to Sam]

“Caine had moved confidently towards the altar.”

These lines subtly show that, whilst Caine talks about working together, he is really the one in charge. He is the one dictating what is happening and when it is happening, forcing Sam and Orc to shake his hand. Giving them jobs so that he can keep an eye on them (Orc) or keep them out of the way (Sam). And of course, he won’t stand with them in the church. They don’t sit around a table and talk as equals. Caine has to be up at the front. He also gets extremely angry when other people make demands, or give an idea that he can’t take credit for. The most obvious example of this being in response to Howard telling him that they wouldn’t be working for Drake.  “Sam saw a coldly furious expression appear on Caine’s handsome face, then disappear as swiftly as it had come.” This is then followed up by Caine ripping a 12ft cross off of a wall and launching it at them, so it’s safe to say that he doesn’t appreciate his authority being challenged.

Later in the book we then get more obvious examples of his intentions, as his role as the villain is fully unveiled:

“Caine, to the surprise of no-one who knew him, had taken over the mayor’s office.” – Chapter 15

“Number one says Caine is the mayor of Perdido Beach and the whole area known as the FAYZ.” – Chapter 16

After Caine basically walks into Perdido Beach, tells everyone what to do, and gets away with it, he begins to be more outright with his intentions. He immediately takes over the mayor’s office, and makes his new title of mayor the very first rule to be enforced. He isn’t really all that secretive about his intentions, at least not after the initial meeting. I think this is a measure of his confidence – he doesn’t feel at all threatened by the people of Perdido Beach. I think one of the reasons that Caine is such a good villain, is that when he is in control, he isn’t that bad?? I mean sure, having Drake as sheriff is less than ideal, but Caine himself is not a bad leader. He comes up with rules that both make sense and do actively increase the quality of life of those in Perdido Beach (minus the no magic tricks rule). It’s only what Caine is willing to do in order to get that power that actually makes him the villain. Once he has it, he’s not really a threat?? And then of course, we get Caine’s fantastic little speech in chapter 42 that really just sums up all these ideas in much less words:

“What was I supposed to do? Coates? That’s it? How do you not see what an opportunity this is? We’re in a whole new world. I’m the most powerful person in that whole new world. No adults. No parents or teachers or cops. It’s perfect. Perfect for me. All I have to do is take care of Sam and a few others, and I’ll have complete control.”

Because if it wasn’t for his ego, if he hadn’t attacked Sam, if he hadn’t used Drake to cause fear and enmity, he would have had it. He would have gotten his complete control, because no-one else really wanted to be in charge. The fool is his own worst enemy.

5.) CAINE’S POWERS:

So, the last thing I wanted to discuss about Caine, is his powers. To me, it seemed whilst reading that his powers are almost an extension of his personality. Caine is naturally a very domineering person, and so it makes sense that his power is the ability to control things with his mind. The first time we see Caine’s powers (also the first time we see anyone purposefully use their powers) is in the church:

“Caine sighed, raised his hands, and used both palms to smooth back his hair.                                                   There came a rumble, up through the floor and pews. A small earthquake…                                        […]                                                                                                                                                                   But then came a rending sound, steel and wood twisting, and the crucifix separated from the wall. It ripped free of the bolts holding it in place, like an invisible giant had yanked it away.                              […]                                                                                                                                                             The crucifix toppled forwards. It fell like a chain sawed tree.                                                                                                             As it fell, Caine dropped his hands to his sides. His face was grim, hard, and angry.                                                                                                 The crucifix, at least a dozen feet tall, slammed with shocking force down onto the front-row pew. The impact was as loud and sudden as a car wreck.” – Chapter 14

I like how, similarly to the way he talks, the first time we see a display of his power, he is hiding it – his body language is suggesting one action whilst he is actually doing something else entirely. This again makes me feel like the powers are an extension of personalities (and I will give other examples of this is later posts).  I also noticed that the use of his powers is almost always as a response to his anger, something that Sam also learns to do thanks to Astrid’s guidance. These two scenes are great examples of this:

“Caine’s smile was cold. He raised his hand, palm out. An invisible fist hit Sam in the face. He staggered back. He barely stopped himself from falling, but his head was reeling. Blood leaked from his nose.” – Chapter 21

“Caine reached back over his shoulder with one hand, not even looking back. He spread his fingers, bared his palms. The fallen portion of the wall came apart, brick by brick. One by one, as though each brick had sprouted wings, they lifted off and flew. The bricks hurtled past Caine’s head and through the open door as fast as machine-gun bullets.” – Chapter 31

Unlike Sam, who often uses his powers as a defence strategy, Caine always uses them as a method of attack. He attacks Orc’s gang, Drake, Sam and Andrew – not as a last resort, but as a warning. He likes to make a big display of his power in order to deter people from actually engaging in a fight. Although when it does come down to an actual fight, he tends to be a little less confrontational and a little bit more of a coward. I mean come one. Hiding behind Astrid was low. At least this is the case in book 1.

Next, is the development of his powers. Unlike Sam, we know that Caine did not discover his powers alone:

“Several of us developed strange powers, starting a few months ago,’ Caine said conversationally. ‘We were like a secret club. Frederico, Andrew, Dekka, Brianna, some others. We worked together to develop them. Encouraged each other. See, that’s the difference between Coates people and you townies. In boarding school it’s hard to keep secrets. But soon it became clear that my powers were of a whole different order. What I just did to you? No one else could do that.”

The Coates kids formed a sort of support group for each other, which is why they have such a good understanding of their powers, as opposed to Lana and the Perdido Beach kids, who either hid their powers or else didn’t discover them until the FAYZ began. One thing that I do find interesting about this, is that the Coates kids all seemed to develop their powers pretty late. Caine says that the powers started a few months ago, and yet Sam first used his 14 months before the FAYZ began. I think that goes to show how the Coates environment really gave Caine the ability to experiment with and foster his powers, which is why he has such control. He achieved in a few months what is took Sam over a year to do. (One thing that I think would have been nice to have is perhaps in a later book some flashbacks on the Coates kids working together to do this. But oh well)

Thank you so much again for reading, and please feel free to add your thoughts. Next up is Diana and I have a lot to say about her. :)

[clairvoyantsam]

#JUSTINDESERVEDBETTER talk & 13 Reasons Why S4E10 thoughts

So ... I’ve already watched the series finale, did it right after episode 9 but it was hard for me to watch and write my thoughts simultaneously because I was ugly crying the whole freakin time. Thus, I’m posting this now. Haven’t cried this much in a LONG while. My heart is fucking broken. I’m gonna start by talking about my favorite character whom the show did SO. FUCKING. DIRTY. JUSTIN FOLEY DESERVED BETTER. (obviously, OBVIOUSLY, it was gonna be MY favorite character who gets screwed over and dies a horrible death, just my luck, why did I expect a happy ending, I don’t even know).

Justin was the most tragic figure of the show. Raised by a junkie mother who never gave a damn about him, sexually molested as a little kid by one of her many drug addict & violent boyfriends, he often went to school dirty and hungry because of the neglect. He never had a positive influence in his life. He only managed to do better with Bryce’s help (Bryce was a bastard but he did care about Justin in his own way, that’s for sure). 

After the events of S1 with Hannah’s suicide and the tapes and everything that happened with Jessica and Bryce, he left his abusive home and lived in the streets where he barely ever found food and what money he got from charity or the men who paid (and hurt him) to use his body, he gave to drugs. 

In S2, Clay and Toni, found him and saved his life, helped him get back on his feet and he tried his best to set things straight with everyone. He even saved Clay’s life who came so close to killing Bryce and even worse himself. He didn’t hesistate to face the legal consequences if it meant helping the girl he loved. And Clay eventually became his brother as his parents decided to adopt him. 

In S3, he started going to school and doing well, got a job, tried to start his life over, this time in a safe environment with a real family and friends who supported him. He was doing exceptionally well, he looked much happier, he finally felt what it’s like to be loved by a mother and father and a brother and he got some sense of normalcy in his life. He was there for Clay when things got bad, believed in him and he had his back ALWAYS. (still emo about their scenes together where they told each other “I love you” & “I’d do ANYTHING for you”), Plus, he was one of Tyler’s biggest supporters stating Tyler deserved a second chance to be better.

Come S4 ... he’s fresh out of rehab, looking better than ever. His friends welcome him when he gets back but everything is different. EVERYTHING. And everyone has changed. THE ENTIRE SEASON, NOBODY, NOT A SINGLE PERSON gave a fuck about him except for the coach and to a point his adoptive parents. He had done so much progress, he wanted to make his new family proud so bad, he was clean, he was doing great at school, he even got accepted into college!!! And what did he get in return???? NOT ONE OF HIS FRIENDS HUNG OUT WITH HIM ONCE, NOT EVEN ONCE. Every time he tried to approach someone or help THEM deal with their problems, he was turned away and even insulted. They would tell him he shouldn’t be giving advice and that he would never change who he used to be. He confessed to the coach that he felt like nobody believed in him and frankly?? NOBODY SHOWED THEY DID!!!!!!!! Jessica brushed him off all the time because she was MAD he broke up with her so he could FOCUS ON HIS HEALTH!!!!!!!!!! WHAT??????!!!!!!!!! She kept parading everywhere with Diego when she knew this was hurting him deeply. Clay was so fucking MEAN to him and I didn’t understand WHY after their great bonding their previous two seasons. Sure, he had his own problems, but there was NO reason for this, absolutely none. He was jealous of the moments Justin shared with his parents and how he was doing well at school and sports and got accepted in college. He even told in his FACE that Matt and Lainie are his parents ALONE, not Justin’s when he knew Justin’s biggest need was to feel the love and warmth of a family. Justin wanted to go to a free college so that Clay could have the money go to the BEST one and so the Jensens didn’t have to spend any on him. And I’m 100% sure he never told them how sick he was until it was too late because he didn’t want to be a burden so he decided to die quietly and slowly without upsetting them. Clay had the NERVE to pin the positive drug test on Justin when Justin was fucking CLEAN and then went on to smoke POT at that party. It broke my heart in 1000000 pieces when Justin asked him why he hated him so much. Zack wasn’t better either, basically telling Justin that he’d be a junkie his entire life and he could never change. The others mostly didn’t give a flying fuck, focused on nobody else but themselves and stayed far away from him the entire season. His mom died of OD and he didn’t tell anyone but the Jensens and Jess and he had to deal with everything all on his own again. He only had the coach to listen and there was a limit to what help he could give. So, he finally broke. He stopped caring since nobody was giving him a chance, he started using again, he lost his job, he didn’t care about anything. Jess and Clay knew he was using again and did NOTHING to help except tell him “Hey, I thought you quit! I thought you were getting better!”. Wow, BIG HELP, ASSHOLES. They all left him alone on prom night, and Clay SAW how sick he looked but he preferred to go to prom rather than stay with his brother who needed him.

Justin, with what little strength he had left, got dressed and went to the prom towards its end, he looked so beautiful in his suit, like Prince Charming. He lived one last carefree moment with the girl he loved and then he collapsed. And THAT’S when everyone said “OH, NO! Let’s go see our sick friend!”. Well done, now he IS DYING, YOU IGNORANT IDIOTS. Now that he’s at death’s door, you want to be there for him but WHERE WERE YOU WHEN HE WAS SO DESPERATELY TRYING TO LIVE?????????? Yes, it was proven that he had HIV, probably from the time he lived on the streets and without the proper care it went on to become fully AIDS and he had numerous other issues with his health as a result of that and the drugs to the point that he could no longer breathe on his own. BUT. Had he shared his problems and told the Jensens how sick he was feeling for so long, his death could have been prevented. I know someone in real life who got HIV in his 30s and he’s now in his 60s and his life is perfectly fine. He has friends, he has family (didn’t get married), he travels, he does what he wants. Justin could have been saved if someone had NOTICED. Like HANNAH could have been saved if someone, ANYONE was paying attention. Needless to say, I fucking died during his scenes in the hospital, it was so hard to watch him waste away in that hospital bed. When they took the tube out so he could say his goodbyes to Clay, Jess and his adoptive parents ... I LEGIT haven’t cried so hard in SO long ... I still have a headache from all the crying. My poor CHILD, he was scared but he told them all how much he loved them and eventually died in his sleep, holding his brother’s, Clay’s hand. The episode was meaningless after that for me. I only watched to see how everyone’s stories would end, even though I didn’t care and knew that they’d get their happy (mostly) endings. The one character who TRULY deserved the best and happiest ending, got royally fucked and buried six feet under while everyone went about their lives like nothing had happened.

I really don’t have much to comment on the rest of the story. Clay did one final extreme act by walking in the police department, saying he had a gun. Not convinved he didn’t really want to die too after Justin but perhaps his psychologist was right and he was just trying to make people notice he was hurting. I’m happy for Toni for doing what’s best for him and deciding to accept the scholarship and go to college, same goes for Tyler, he deserved to be happy and I’m glad he ended up with Estella. Relieved that Jess and Diego tested negative for HIV but disappointed they were ready to get back together so soon after Justin. Winston decided to not use what he found out about Bryce’s death against Alex and the others and that made me respect him a little bit. (Winston and Ryan btw? hehe, I kinda saw it coming ever since I saw Ryan and Courtney at the graduation-did anyone also notice Bryce and Monty in the crowd too??lol). Liked the graduation and Hannah’s little cameo (although it was archived footage) but it left me with a sour taste because Justin wasn’t there among the rest, only as a ghost in Clay’s mind. Also that Heidi girl talking to Clay, uh, SO cheesy and unnecessary. Clay reading Justin’s college essay with Justin’s ghost in their bedroom and seeing how it was all about him and Justin calling him his brother ... IT DESTROYED ME. UTTERLY AND COMLETELY. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME. WHY WOULD YOU KILL THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER OF THE SHOW. THE MOST COMPLEX AND DAMAGED ONE. WHY COULDN’T HE HAVE A HAPPY ENDING LIKE THE REST OF THEM. IT’S FUCKING UNFAIR.

I’m glad the final scene was just Clay and Toni driving away, always enjoyed their friendship. Having no word exchange between them was pretty powerful because you only needed to read their expessions to feel the emotions.

All in all, a powerful season who dealt with so many important issues, well directed and full of action but disappointing for me where it mattered the most ... Right now, I don’t want to even touch another show for a long time, I need a break to recover from this, it was too much. I wish I didn’t get so attached to certain characters, but I do and it hurts me deeply when shit like that happens to them. Anyway ... Goodbye, show ... it was (mostly) good while this journey lasted ... I sure hope I see all these HUGELY talented actors and actresses in other projects in the future, especially Brandon Flynn (Justin), Dylan Minnette (Clay), Katherine Langford (Hannah) & Justin Prentice (Bryce). I also hope Brandon & Dylan get ALL the awards for their performances in S4. THEY DESERVE EVERYTHING. I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on all this, it was such an intense experience.

[brainlessacademia]

Interesting...

Pairing: Bakugo x Reader

~fluff~

Word Count: about 2k

Note: hey y'all this is my first ever writing. Please tell me what yall think and what suggestions you have. thanks!.

You hated school

Well mostly you hated English and how difficult it was.

But what definitely didn’t make it any easier was having him as your partner for your classes’ poetry project.  

Right when you heard that you two would be partners you couldn’t be more annoyed.

Bakugo seemed to have his same bothered expression on but with a little something else, you couldn’t place your finger on it.

Now you weren’t going to lie.. you did find him attractive. But you knew he wouldn’t go for you. He didn’t seem to reciprocate any kind of feelings. You weren’t even sure he knew your name. What also got you was-

“Hey”

His voice snapped you out of your daydream and brought you back to reality. Which was that you were working together in the library.

You suddenly felt super embarrassed and tried to hide your face from getting red but you don’t think it actually worked.

“Yeah?”, you replied as if you’d been paying attention the whole time.

“So are you going to show me what you ducking got so far or what?” Bakugo snaps.

That’s right you were here to work on the project after all.

You take out the papers from your bag and hand it to him.

As he’s taking the papers from you, his fingers brush over your hands and give you chills ever so slightly.

Why am I getting excited over just his hands touching mine. I’m so dumb. You think to yourself.

He starts skimming your paper.

“Well, can I see yours too?”  You ask.

“Mine are fine.” Is all he says.

You roll your eyes. Of course he thinks his is perfect and just wants to check if your work meets his idea of good.

You look around the library and notice all the other kids studying. You look around for a while just seeing if anything will catch your eye. You then look at Bakugo reading your work and you swear you see him look down really fast as if he’d been looking at something else.

Confused, you ask “Uh.. how is it ?”

You wonder if you were just thinking too deep into it. He couldn’t have been looking at you could he ?

“ it’s alright, but i think you should change the third poem thought”

“Oh really, and how about yours? I think I should see yours to know too”

“Mine are good dammit. But since you're being so goddamn annoying I’ll show you them.”

He takes out the papers from his bag and forcefully hands them to you. To your surprise they were actually pretty good. You're wondering how he got so good at English and especially  at writing poetry. You looked at him just above the edge of the paper and you swore he was trying to look like he hadn’t been staring at you.

“You misspelled irresistible by the way “ you huff as you give the papers back to him.

“Fuck you.” He says as he snatches them back with just the hint of a smile on his face.

You wonder if you’re just crazy but you can’t but help find him more attractive when he does that.

“I think we’ll only need to meet one other time. I think we got almost everything covered.” You say. You feel almost sad that you won’t really have a reason to meet with him anymore. Then you remind yourself that it’s useless anyway because he doesn’t feel anything.

“Yeah sure whatever.”

The next morning you were up pretty early. No one was in the kitchen yet so you enjoyed the quietness. You hummed while looking around for something to eat. You didn’t really feel like cooking anything so you decided that cereal would do.  As you were pouring you noticed that Kirishima walked in.

“ Hey”, Kirishma says

“Hey Kirishima”, you say back.

“Are you seriously just making cereal ?” Kirishima says laughing.

“Come on, I didn't feel like making anything else.” You say tiredly.

“Come on let’s make pancakes I’ll help you.” He says while smiling.

Of course you give in because who wouldn’t want pancakes over cereal. Also you wouldn’t be doing all the work so that’s nice too.

You ended up both making a mess of the kitchen laughing and throwing pancake mix at each other. You and Kirishma got along pretty well. He was always nice and brightened up the mood anywhere he was.

“Okay seriously let’s make a few more than finish up we’ve made a huge mess.” You say as you throw some more flour at him.

“Fineeee” he whines.

You were both laughing and playing around and it wasn’t till you felt a chill go through your body that you realized someone else was there.

You looked over and saw Bakugo standing at the entrance to the kitchen with an almost mad look on his face.

“Oh hey Bakugo want some pancakes?” Kirishma says as he’s pouring batter on the pan.

“What the hell are you guys doing” is all Bakugo says.

“Uhh making pancakes obviously? Need your eyes checked?” You say matching his attitude.

You couldn’t place the emotion on his face. He seemed mad but you wondered why. He was definitely trying to suppress some emotion but what was it? He seemed bothered but more than usual. But he’s always bothered so is there really any difference?  

“Just shut up and clean up this mess” Bakugo huffs. He walks and purposely bumps into you while walking towards the pantry.

“Soo you don’t want any ?” You say playfully as you hold up an extra plate with pancakes on it.  

“Hell no” Bakugo says while still looking in the pantry.

“Well I’m gonna go get ready for class today” Kirishima says. He’d been eating his pancakes while simultaneously making them which resulted in more of a mess but he actually cleaned it pretty well.

“See ya y/n , Bakugo.”

“See ya” you replied

Bakugo didn’t seem to want to reply, him still putting on an attitude while searching for food.

After Kirishima left, Bakugo turned around and started walking to the table you were sitting at.

“I’m only going to eat this because there’s nothing else to fucking eat.” He yells as he grabs the extra plate and sits across from you.

“Uh huh I’m totally sure there’s nothing else to eat.” You reply.  

 Later during class you were trying hard not to fall asleep. It’s not like Math was anything fun anyway. Soon the bell rang and class was over.

To your surprise Bakugo caught up to you as you were walking. “I think we should meet again tonight so we can finish the project for good. '' he says.

You were surprised he wanted to meet today when the project wasn’t due for a while.

“Oh sure, Um where do you want to meet?” You ask.

He didn’t reply which you took as he didn’t really have a place to meet. Which further confused you on why he asked to meet suddenly with short notice.

“Well Um we can meet in my room if you’d like ?” You posed. You couldn’t really think of anywhere else to meet, plus you only had little to work on so it shouldn’t take that long.

“Sure whatever, I don’t care. “ he replied.

He seemed not his normal self. Like something was bothering him outside of everything that already bothers him.

“Hey you’re the one who said we should meet what's with the attitude.”

“Yea yea whatever. See you there” is all he said. Before you could say anything back he was already ahead of you to your guys next class.    

Next class was science which you didn’t really mind because your lab partner was always high energy. Halfway through the experiment you and Kaminari realized you messed up completely and just created an utter mess of the table. You both laughed it off and tried to fix your experiment but cleaning it up was the worst.  

“Hey y/n bet you won’t drink this.” Kaminari laughed while pushing the beaker of god knows what towards you.

“Yea no way how about you I’ll give you 5 dollars ?” You pose.

“Omg 5 dollars you got it ?!” Kaminari yelled while “drinking” but you could clearly tell it was a dumb magic trick.

You roll your eyes.

“Shut up I know you didn’t actually.” You say laughing.

Something caught the corner of your eye. You turned and you noticed Bakugo staring at you and Kaminari with a glare on his face. Bakugo turned away before you had a moment to react. Was he actually looking at us? You thought to yourself. No way and was he mad? But why ? He’d been like this almost the whole day. Maybe something was bothering him. But what did it have to do with me ?

You ended up cleaning everything with Kaminari and class ended soon after.

Back in your room you looked at the clock. 6 pm. You completely forgot about meeting with Bakugo. You two didn’t discuss a time so you just got ready anyway expecting him to show up any moment.

Soon enough about 10 minutes later you heard a knock at the door. You got up to open and sure enough it was Bakugo.

“Thanks for setting up a time.”  You say sarcastically. You realize you’ve been smiling for a little too long so you stop and try to change the mood.

“So uh... are you going to come in?”

“Waiting for you to move out the goddamn way . He snorts

“Oh right” you reply. Embarrassed you didn’t realize you were blocking the entrance.

You both sat down at your desk. You assumed Bakugo wasn’t going to break the silence so you decided to.

“Can I see your poems so we can decide what order to put them in?” You ask.

Without a word he hands them over to you. You were surprised you didn’t get any sort of back talk or complaints. You decided not to question it and start reading through them.

“I think y-“.

Just as you were about to say something his lips met yours. You didn’t move. Was this really happening you thought to yourself? All the times you thought he didn’t even notice you and now this was happening.

You pulled away and said, “Bakugo what-“.

“I-I like you okay? I didn’t want to say anything about it before but I knew I had to today so there you go.” He said while avoiding your eyes.  

You leaned back in and kissed him. You thought he was so cute in this moment so vulnerable and shy, avoiding your eyes.

It gave you a sort of confidence boost.

Know he felt the same way as you.

“Aww why didn’t you tell me before Bakugo”. You said after pulling away.    

You noticed he got super red and you pulled him into a hug.

“Well after I saw how much fun you were having with Kirishma and Kaminari I knew I had too soon.”  

You pulled away from the hug with a smug look on your face.

“Ohh were you jealoussss ? Was that why I caught you looking at us today ?”

“You’re lying I was looking at you guys.” He said avoiding your eyes again.

“Oh my goodd just admit I know you were. It’s Cute.” You said.

“No I didn’t. Not at all.” He said while rolling his eyes.

“Okkkayy finee.” You said sarcastically.

You gave him another hug and you guys decided to get on the bed and cuddle for a while.

You were surprised he could be so soft and his usual fiery self at the same time. You guys stood like that for a while. You started scratching his head and he seemed to like it. He held you tightly and you wished this could’ve happened earlier.

You sat up a bit and met his eye level. You held on to his hand and questioned, “ waittt does this mean you lied to me ?”

“What do you mean I didn’t lie about anything?” He said. You noticed he looked concerned

So cute.

“You didn’t really wanna work on the project huh.” You said while putting on a fake sad face. He pulled you back down into his arms and ruffled your hair.

“Are you serious? We’re literally cuddling shut up” he said.

“Uh huh so you did lie.” You said playfully. You crossed your arms as if you were mad just to play around with him.  

“Fine you know what if you wanted that I’ll just leave.” He huffs while getting off the bed.

“Wait you know I was just jokingggg” you while pulling on his shift for him to come back.

“Exactly what I thought.” He said back while smiling.

“Now come on let’s cuddle. I'm cold without you.”

[eryiss]

Chapter Eight - The Smile

Summary: Freed and Laxus live incredibly different lives. Freed is a corporate lawyer in the capital city, and Laxus works as a handyman in a countryside hotel. Despite their differences, their lives collide when Freed inherits a house in Laxus’ village, and hires him to make the derelict building liveable. But the closer they get, the more they seem to offer each other. [Fraxus Multi-Chapter]

This was written as my admission for Fraxus Day 2020, hosted by @fuckyeahfraxus​. This is lighter than last chapter. Hope you enjoy it.

You can read this under the cut, on Fanfiction, or on Archive of Our Own. You can find the chapter masterpost here.

Chapter Eight – The Smile

"I get that this is your weird revenge," Bickslow grunted, arms flexing slightly. "But why isn't it just aimed at Freed?"

He grunted with a glare on his face, trying and failing to manoeuvre a double bed through a door far too small for it to fit. Holding the other end of the bed was Laxus, who was also glaring at the furniture while attempting to adjust the angle to get it through the doorway. Sitting atop the windowsill of the bedroom, was Evergreen, who was clearly doing nothing to help with the moving of furniture. In fact, she was absently applying lipstick.

"I made it very clear that I'm not helping move anything," She said as she glared at the reflection in her compact mirror. "Just here for the free pizza."

"We're not having pizza," Freed said from inside the bedroom, where he was placing his clothes in the wardrobe.

"What!" Both Bickslow and Evergreen exclaimed almost simultaneously.

"It's Sunday. Italian place closes on Sundays, and nowhere else serves it in town," Laxus explained, tilting the bed slightly and pulling at it. It slipped through the gap of the doorframe, and allowed the two men to get it into the bedroom. "The only other place is like an hour away, and it tastes like ass anyway."

"As opposed to the Magnolia's pizza," Freed said under his breath. "Which is award winning."

"You act like they poisoned you," Laxus grunted, turning to Freed. "It was a little greasy, that was all. It tasted good."

"There was more grease than there was dough, and it tasted like vomit," Freed met Laxus' eye, a challenging smirk on his face. "And we can't be sure that they didn't poison me, I have a high constitution and may have not noticed it. But I won't risk it again, which is why I chose to move in today, where there wasn't a chance of eating from the hellish place."

And thus, Freed and Laxus engaged into a playful argument between one another about the taste of a pizza they had apparently shared together at some point. Too engrossed in an intense discussion about the merits of thin crust vs deep pan, they missed the silent conversation of expressions between Evergreen and Bickslow. Looks of disbelief and a shocked shake of the head from Bickslow clearly showed just how exhausted with the two men they both were.

Because, although Evergreen had told Bickslow about their clear flirtation, he hadn't believed just how obvious it was. Somehow their argument had gotten to the point where Freed had invited Laxus to have a home cooked pizza Freed would make, on the pretence that he should know what quality food tastes like.

"Weren't kidding, were ya?" Bickslow laughed, and Evergreen shook her head.

"About what?" Freed asked, looking to Bickslow from the wardrobe while frowning. Laxus had a similar expression.

"What are we eating then?" Evergreen deflected, snapping her compact shut.

"Well, Laxus, Bickslow and I will be whatever we feel like from Fairy Tail's restaurant," Free informed her, closing the wardrobe, and walking to the bed, helping the other two men position it correctly. "You will get yourself your own food, and pay for it yourself, given that you haven't helped with moving at all."

"You are paying for my food because you insulted me-"

"I didn't insult you, I kicked you out of my house," Freed smiled. "Something I'm willing to do right now."

"You're awful at grovelling," Evergreen mumbled, jumping off from windowsill and looking around the bedroom which Freed would be staying in. "You really did make this place look great; I didn't think you could do it honestly."

Laxus grinned proudly at the compliment, chuckling quietly when he heard Freed claim he wouldn't have taken on the house as a project if he didn't believe he could make it a sound, high quality home. It was interesting for the blonde to watch as Freed spoke with his friends, as he acted quite similar to the way he acted with Laxus. It was a nice feeling, to be assured that Freed treated him with the same level of affection that he did with the only other people important in his life. Laxus liked knowing that Freed undoubtedly saw him as one of his friends.

Though of course it was perhaps more than that. Because, upon playing and replaying their last moments together in the fairground, Laxus had been sure of one thing. Freed had leant in, possibly to kiss him.

And Laxus had essentially run away.

He found himself pissed off every time he thought back to it, because that was perhaps the worse response to the situation he could have done. He couldn't explain why he'd done it, not even to himself, but he could be sure that it was a mistake. Freed's reaction had made that clear.

Even though Evergreen had assured him it wasn't Laxus' fault, and that Freed was going through a lot and didn't know how to deal with it, Laxus still felt guilty.

Because he really wanted to give Freed that kiss.

But now, all he could do was beat himself up over the fact he hadnt seized the moment when it had been there. He really didn't know why he hadn't. He'd kissed men before, taken a few of them to bed. He'd long since gotten over his internalised homophobia – as Porlyusica had called it – so it wasn't the fact that it was with a man. He'd thought about the fact that Freed was his boss, and found that it didn't bother him; a dark recess of his mind was slightly attracted to the fact. There was only one thing that separated Freed from all the other men he'd been interested in, and Laxus was slightly scared by it.

Freed didn't feel like he'd be a fling, to Laxus. Laxus hadn't ever had a long-term relationship, be it because he only wanted something casual or that he didn't like the guy enough. But with Freed, there was this feeling of… solidity with him. As if he had kissed Freed, the next part of his life would begin. A more adult part of his life.

That was a thought that Laxus pushed to the back of his mind. He didn't like dwelling on the fact he was in his early thirties, and still felt like a kid.

"Yo blondie, come back to us," A loid voice interrupted his thoughts, and he looked at the grinning face of Bickslow.

"Yeah?" He asked, blinking away the thoughts to focus on the other man.

"Freed and Ever went downstairs," Bickslow explained, and Laxus scanned the room to see that it was just him and Bickslow in there now. "We finished putting everything away, so they're ordering the food."

"We're done already?" Laxus frowned.

Freed hadn't brought a lot of his things to Magnolia, given that moving there wasn't a permanent thing. After talking for a while, he and Laxus had decided it would be best if Freed only really moved into the kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. That way not only would moving in and out be less of a chore, but it also meant they could move the furniture from room to room when they needed to decorate it. But still, even with the small amount of furniture – and shockingly large number of books – Laxus had expected it to take longer.

"Well, I guess it feels pretty quick when you're mooning after the handsome homeowner," Bickslow taunted, grinning. Laxus snapped his eyes to the man. "Oh relax, he can't see it. He's the only one though. But, now we're alone, I kinda wanna have a chat with ya about that."

"This ain't gonna be some 'hurt him I hurt you' crap, is it?" Laxus sighed, perhaps unwisely.

"Nah. If Freed wanted to hurt ya, he could do it himself. He used to fence, might have mentioned it," Bickslow shrugged, sitting on Freed's bed. Laxus joined him, anticipating this was going to be a long conversation.

"Once or twice," Laxus laughed.

"Shocked he didn't bring the trophy with him," Bickslow laughed, before his mood seemed to turn into something more serious. "Look, don't tell him I said any of this, but Freed… he's not the best when it comes to his emotions. He can sometimes kinda bottle his feelings up, not knowing he's doing it. And we kinda think that maybe that's what he's been doing, and me and Ever kinda wanted to ask if you can… keep an eye on him."

Laxus frowned. Freed not being in tune with his emotions wasn't a shock, really. It was why Laxus hadn't brought up what had nearly happened between them. Still, to have it confirmed wasn't the best feeling.

"I guess I can do that," He nodded slowly.

"Don't worry about him, though. It's not like he's gonna burst into tears if you say something wrong or anything," Bickslow hurriedly said. "When he says he's fine, he probably means it. He's not fragile, so don't worry about him. It was just… just make sure he's okay for tonight. He's a city boy, even if he won't admit it. He likes the loudness and the bright lights, and this is kinda the opposite of that. Whenever we stayed at hotels for work that weren't in cities, he used to bring this white noise machine thing with him. I'm sure he's gotten used to it with how many times he's been here, but can you maybe, I dunno, just make sure he ain't too closed off when we're gone. He'll probably be fine, but I can't help worrying."

"Of course," Laxus nodded, feeling a little better at Bickslow's assurances. "If it helps, he seems pretty strong willed. He should be fine."

"He probably will be," Bickslow laughed. "I just get a little worried about him sometimes, I get the same with Ever. They say I'm like their mother," Then he grinned, almost manically. "But he doesn't need his mother anymore, not when he's got his daddy."

Laxus spluttered, turning redder than he had been in quite some time.

Bickslow nudged him, cackling loudly.

"Fucking hell," Laxus muttered under his breath.

"Not that Freed's the type of have a daddy kink," Bickslow continued, as if he hadn't just given Laxus emotion whiplash to the point of speechlessness. "Well, he might like it if you called him daddy. You should try it out some time. Lay the seed, y'know."

"I don't think we're close enough for you to make these jokes," Laxus said, flushing harder now.

"Probably not," Bickslow grinned. "But Freed likes ya, and that means we're friends. And you ain't my friend if I'm not making fun of you at least once a week. Oh, and speaking of that, apparently Freed's gonna ask some hot guy that Ever likes to bring the food, so I wanna make sure I see him. Think the guy's name is Elf… something. I've got a lot of jokes about the elf giving her his package for package for Christmas. Real A-grade material."

He practically jumped off the bed, leaving Laxus alone. The blonde now had a clear understanding of what Freed meant when he said all his friends were forces of nature. He took a few moments to collect himself, both from Bickslow's teasing comments, and the request that Laxus make sure Freed was okay.

Bickslow really did know how to control and steer a conversation. Him being a lawyer made sense.

When Laxus walked to the lower floor of Albion House, he found that the food order had been placed – with Evergreen also getting a meal – and that Freed had been organising the kitchen. Laxus found himself shocked when he saw the number of spices that Freed bad brought with him. He hadn't taken Freed for a chef.

True to his word, Bickslow had quite a few comments prepared for when Elfman arrived to deliver their food. Freed too seemed to enjoy the situation, offering Elfman a tour of the house to extend his time around Evergreen. The poor man had no idea that he was being used to antagonise the woman.

The woman who very clearly had a crush on Elfman. Laxus would have to store than information for later, giving Elfman just as much crap as Evergreen had gotten.

As they ate, Laxus watched as the three friends interacted with one another, often bringing Laxus into the conversation as well. Laxus also began noticing the differences in how Freed treated the two of them compared to how he treated Laxus. With Laxus, in their most relaxed moments, there was always this spark behind Freed's eyes. Often it either led to a stupid competition, playful argument or even a request to learn a new skill. This spark wasn't absent with his other friends, but it seemed different.

With Evergreen, it led to teasing comments and these odd arguments that sounded like they were on trial. With Bickslow, he seemed to have this joyous sense of fun and an entire back catalogue of inside jokes.

It was nice to see him interact with them.

It was nicer knowing that he had his own special relationship with Freed.

Eventually, the two of them needed to leave before the last train left for Era without them. Freed had decided to drive them to the station, leaving Laxus to clean up the take-out containers that remained in the kitchen. As he did, he thought back to Bickslow's request of him and wondered how he would be able to fulfil it.

The obvious answer was that he should have a conversation with Freed, asking if he's okay and seeing if he needed anything from Laxus. But, with Laxus' experience with Freed, he expected that the conversation wouldn't go well. Freed was more of a man of action, and Laxus would respect that.

He spent the rest of his time alone thinking of how he would deal with the situation.

~~~

"I think I should spend the night here."

Laxus had to almost force the words out, having been thinking them over for a good forty minutes now. It was the only thing he could think of that would let him be in a position to be there for Freed, even if the idea itself seemed ridiculous without the context. That was proven concretely when Freed, who had been sitting at the kitchen table, watching the TV they'd installed on one of the counters, looked at him with furrowed eyebrows.

"You what?"

"I think that I should spend the night here," Laxus repeated. "For my own sake, y'know. If I managed to fuck something up with the place that we can only see by being here, I should be around to fix it. Even if it would be kind of funny to see you pissed off in the morning because a window wouldn't shut."

Freed, rather than laughing at Laxus' attempt at a joke, frowned. It worried Laxus.

The other man had been down since dropping Evergreen and Bickslow at the train station. Or at least Laxus was pretty sure that he was, it was entirely possible that Bickslow had gotten into Laxus' head and now Laxus was seeing things that weren't there. It wasn't helpful that, with Freed's habit of being insular with his emotions, Laxus had to look for smaller signs to see how he was feeling. Quirks in his expressions, a change in how he held himself, or differences in how he reacted to things.

But it made sense that Freed would be feeling down. For the whole day he'd been caught up in the whirlwind of moving, and with his friends being there to distract him he wouldn't have had time to think. But being alone on the ride back from the station would have taken any distraction away, possibly making him regret his choice.

"The house is fine," Freed spoke before Laxus could think further. "You've done a good job working on it, and I wouldn't have moved in if I thought otherwise."

"We don't know how it'll work long term though," Laxus continued, acting more nonchalant than he felt. "The heating, for example. We've tested it for like an hour, but never for longer. What if it goes off in the night? It's getting colder, I don't wanna come back here and find a Freed shapes ice sculpture."

"The heating has been on since half two and it's not broken," Freed rebutted, looking at Laxus with confusion. "And there's a fireplace in the bedroom I could use if needs be."

"Okay, but what about the shower," Laxus suggested. "Bet you wash yer hair every morning, right? What if the shower just doesn't work and you look like crap, and that's how the town sees you for the first time? The crazy weird looking guy living in the haunted cottage."

"They have seen me many times," Freed deadpanned. "And it's not haunted."

"There's rumours."

"You started them," Freed exclaimed, though he was fighting a smile now. "What's the real reason you want to stay? And if you make up a hypothetical situation wherein the roof falls in on me and kills me, I will run you over."

"That's a bit of a disproportionate reaction," Laxus mumbled, a grin pulling at his lips.

"You're deflecting," Freed stated.

Laxus sighed. It was perhaps naïve to hope that Freed would just accept that Laxus was going to be staying the night without any questions, but there had been a chance that it would work out. But of course Freed wouldn't just allow Laxus to invade his home, and would have one or two questions about the situation. Which meant that they were going to have a conversation about emotions, something that neither man would particularly be good at.

"Bickslow talked to me while you were ordering food," Laxus confessed, almost laughing at the narrowing of Freed's eyes. "He just wanted me to make sure you ain't too down about not being in Era. So I just thought the best way to do that is actually being here."

"For goodness sake," Freed snapped, rising, and taking out his phone. "Why are they so insistent-"

"Would've done it anyway," Laxus interrupted, thankfully stopping Freed from scrolling to Bickslow's phone number.

"Why?" Freed asked, his tone a mix of anger and confusion.

"Because I care about ya, fuckwit," Laxus said, laughing slightly. "And this ain't some patronising shit where I think you're vulnerable, 'cause I don't. But moving away is a big deal, and you might have been… lost. I mean I remember when I moved to my college dorms and I felt sick not knowing what to do. Era's a lot further away than that place, and a lot more of a culture shift."

"I'm not a college kid, Laxus," Freed sighed, sitting down again. "I'm a grown man."

"Yeah, and one who ain't letting anybody help them," Laxus rebutted, crossing his arms. "You ain't less of a man, and you ain't less independent if you let people look out for ya. Something I'm pretty damn sure you already know."

Freed looked as though he was going to say something, but the stern expression on Laxus' face must have stopped him. He sighed and looked at the table.

"Before my mother died, people were intimidated by me," He began, his tone suggesting this was going to be somewhat confessional. "I was at the top of my field, and that garnered me respect. And then, somehow, it became common knowledge that my mother died, and suddenly the reputation I had changed. I was the person who lost their mother, and I got sympathy. People I didn't know started to treat me as though I would shatter if they said the wrong word. It was infuriating. No, it was degrading."

Laxus could understand that, to an extent. He remembered that, after his mother had died, all the teachers who used to yell at him, give him detention and hated him started to treat him differently. Now their after-class talks weren't about him hurling spit balls and starting fights, they were suddenly inviting him to talk if he needed it. It was a jarring change.

"It feels as though, suddenly who I am isn't important. People would rather I be the victim so they can look after me," Freed leant back in his chair. "I suppose I might be guilty of lashing out at people with the best intentions."

Laxus could understand that too.

"You're allowed to lash out, Freed," Laxus assured him. "And as for people not seeing who you are, you don't gotta worry about that with me. You're the guy who swindled me outta dropping your ass into ice water."

Freed laughed a little at that, and Laxus grinned.

"I'm gonna get you back for that, by the way," The blonde continued, smirking. "But what I'm trying to say is, there are gonna be people who wanna get close because they're patronising assholes who wanna make themselves feel better. And then there's people who care about ya and wanna make sure you're doing alright. You need to figure out who's who, and not push away the good people."

"I know," Freed admitted, voice soft. "And I know you're in the latter group."

"Ah, not really," Laxus laughed. "You wouldn't be so charitable if you knew some of the other ways I was gonna get you outta your funk if I had to."

"Like what?"

"I put a lot of thought into wondering how mad you'd be if I was waiting for you to get back and took the hosepipe to ya the second you were close enough," Laxus grinned.

"How on earth would that have helped my mood?"

"How could you have been all sad and crap if you were standing in the cold, dripping wet, shocked because you don't know why it's happening?" Laxus shrugged, then smirked at his friend's amused expression. "If you do start feeling down at some point I'd be more than happy to take you outside and see how well it works."

"And your obsession with getting me back has nothing to do with that plan?"

"Didn't even entre my mind," Laxus lied with a wide grin.

"You're incorrigible," Freed chuckled, almost to himself. He looked contemplative for a moment before speaking again. "You don't need to stay here, Laxus. I understand why you think you do, and I'm fully prepared to admit that over the last few weeks I haven't been the best version of myself, but I really am fine."

"I know you are," Laxus said with a nod.

And he did. Because, as he looked into Freed's eyes, he saw a level of honesty that Freed usually hid through sarcasm and a quick wit. Laxus thought that, although it was only a small sentence and barely an admission of him not being in the best place, this was Freed's equivalent to a long and heartfelt conversation. And while Laxus hoped that, at some point, he could get more out of Freed, he knew that this was a good step. And Freed wasn't going to lie about that.

The mood seemed to relax after that, and after finishing the remaining food from Fairy Tail's restaurant, Laxus confessed he was getting tired and – as Freed was an awful host who wouldn't allow his friends to stay with him, something which Freed laughed at – would the lawyer mind giving him a ride home.

Freed agreed, and they were outside Laxus' and Makarov's home within the hour.

"You were genuinely going to stay with me, weren't you?" Freed asked, just as Laxus was reaching for the car's door. The blonde stopped, looking to his friends with furrowed brows. Freed's voice was almost… wistful. "If I needed it, you were actually going to give up your night just to make sure that I'm okay. That's a very kind thing to do, Laxus."

"It ain't that kind," Laxus laughed, sitting back in the chair. "Just decent."

"We perhaps have different definitions of decent then," Freed smiled slightly. "I don't know if I can say I'd do the same. Admittedly that's because I refuse to sleep on anything other than a bed, which wouldn't have been available for you."

"I lugged the fucking thing into the house, I would have been in that bed whether you were there or not," Laxus laughed, talking again before he could process what he just said. "You'd have been there for me, even if you don't know it."

"You seem very sure of that," Freed sounded amused. "I'm afraid I'd disappoint you in that situation."

"I know you better than ya think, Freed," Laxus shrugged, opening the door to the car and beginning to climb out. "You're a good person, and a kind person. You're just a dick a lot of the time so it doesn't shine through."

Freed laughed at that.

"I suppose that's fair," He chuckled, leaning slightly so he could look at Laxus as he left the car. Laxus lingered with the door open, resting on it. "Thank you, though. Both for offering to be there and for what you said. It means a lot to me."

"Don't think too much of it," Laxus smiled. "I'm only getting closer to you so that my revenge is that much sweeter."

"I'm sure," Freed grinned. "Goodbye Laxus."

"Bye Freed."

Laxus closed the door, giving him a short wave through the window. As he did, he saw a soft smile of contentment flash across Freed's face, something that he no doubt wasn't meant to see. He looked serein, relaxed, and so beautiful.

In retrospect, that was the moment he fell in love with Freed.

[the-uninformed-zennial]

Series: Dick’s Apartment

Chapter 1: Jason

Warnings: Mild swearing (because, you know, it’s Jason Todd)

Preface/introduction:

The first family member to stay the night at Dick’s apartment was Jason Todd, the new Robin. The new Dick. Or so the former protege had felt upon discovering that Batman’s sidekick was still active on the streets of Gotham and Bruce Wayne had gained a new ward. He didn’t speak to Bruce for about six months after that, and even after they finally had a conversation about what happened, it took him a while to be able to show his face around the manor. But once he got over himself, he found that Jason was actually a pretty cool kid. So, when Bruce found himself called off world for some league business while Alfred was sick, Dick didn’t entirely mind watching the little punk for the weekend...

Now the actual story...

Bruce dropped him off on the sidewalk in the late afternoon, barely giving the kid enough time to grab his backpack and cell phone before speeding off towards the nearest Zeta tube. Typical. Why bother waiting for your babysitter when the world was at stake? Whatever. Jason could take care of himself just fine, better than fine. I mean, he was fucking Robin. He took care of Batman when the situation called for it. Screw Bruce for even thinking he needed to be watched. Screw Dick for agreeing. He unzipped his backpack just enough to reach inside and touch the hem of his Robin suit. He was going on patrol, and he would just love to see Nightwing try and stop him. He slung his worn red backpack onto his shoulder and turned his phone’s location off, but just as he was about to bolt, he felt a warm hand grab his shoulder.

“Hey man, I was just on my way out.” Dick’s knowing smile just made Jason want to punch him in the face, “Looks like you were too. Wanna grab some pizza before you get both of us in trouble?”

“Fuck you man.” Jason spat.

Dick tightened his grip on Jason’s shoulder and pulled him into the doorway of the apartment building, away from the street and prying ears.

“Look, I get the whole tough guy act and needing to prove yourself to Bruce thing, okay? Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. But if you take to the streets before I’ve even had the chance to put some food in you I have a feeling Batman’s no-kill rule will be temporarily suspended. So, we can either do this the easy way, or we can break out in a brawl in the middle of the street, which do you prefer?”

As much as Jason would love to see if he could beat Dick in combat, he did have a point. Bruce would be pissed if Jason ran off before even giving Dick a chance, and pizza before patrol didn’t sound like the worst thing he could think of.

“Fine.”

“Great,” Dick’s smile returned to his face almost as quickly as it had disappeared, “just let me get my coat and we'll be on our way.”

Jason slumped up against the side of the building and whipped out his phone in response. By the time Dick came back downstairs he had already beat a new level in the stupid numbers game Bruce made him download to “build his deductive reasoning skills” or whatever. Dick was such a priss, sauntering down the staircase in a leather jacket that looked like it had just come off the manufacturers belt, while still having the audacity to refute Jason’s whispered taunt of “spoiled brat” with a, “then what does that make you?” in reply.

The pair decided to use a shortcut Dick had recently discovered that supposedly made the trip take half as long as usual. It cut through a couple of alleys, but what was the harm, I mean, they were Nightwing and Robin, afterall. Just as the thought crossed Jason's mind, he heard the click of a gun hammer pulled back.

“Stop.” came the growl from a voice behind them.

Dick quickly gave Jason a look that said to just play along. They reluctantly stopped.

“Turn around.” Man this guy was cocky. “Empty your pockets.” Jason almost felt bad for him.

But just as he was about to show this punk who was boss, Dick grabbed his arm, and he noticed that he had all his valuables laying out in front of him. Was he serious? Dick could take this guy down in his sleep, and yet he was just gonna roll over and give him whatever he wanted. No way. Then he caught a look at the guy. He wasn’t so much of a guy as a kid, a kid who didn’t look much older than Jason was when Batman found him trying to lift the tires off the batmobile. Not much older than Jason was when… no, he wouldn’t go there. Suffice it to say, life on the streets was hard enough. This kid didn’t need to be ruffed up by two literal superheroes, he needed a sandwich. Maybe two. So, reluctantly, Jason unbuckled his watch and took his phone out of his back pocket. There really wasn’t anything else of value he had brought with him.

The kid peered around the barrel of his gun, inspecting the pile, then motioned at Jason, “Backpack too.”

Shit. The backpack, the backpack with his Robin suit inside. Which, if found, would totally ruin the whole secret identity thing. Did Dick know? He glanced up at him, and yeah, he knew. Fuck, mental note, find a better way to sneak the Robin suit in and out of the cave. Jason subconsciously gripped the backpack more tensely.

“Uh,” Dick spoke up, thank god, “I don’t think you actually want that. See, my brother here was going to spend the night at my house so it’s just filled with an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush. Nothing valuable there.”

Jason could have facepalmed, right then and there. Dick obviously knew nothing about what was and was not valuable to a kid on the streets, because honestly, two years ago Jason would’ve killed to find a backpack filled with an extra pair of clothes and a toothbrush. Those things were hard to come by. And also, did he seriously just call him his brother?

Sure enough the kid motioned with his free hand, “Hand it over.”

Jason tried to hide the panic that was slowly spreading across his face, but Dick was too perceptive and he knew it. Fuck him. He was not handing the bag over, no matter what the little punk threatened. Somehow, Dick seemed to know that because before Jason could make a move, Dick had already done some crazy ass acrobatic flip that simultaneously knocked the kid out and disarmed him.

“How the hell--?” The words just kinda slipped out before Jason even realized what he was saying, “...Bruce is seriously holding out on me.”

Dick just smiled while he picked the gun up off the ground and put a twenty in the kid’s half opened hand.

As they began to pick up their valuables, he leaned over and whispered, “You know I was in the circus right?”

“Yeah?”

“And I was Robin for about a decade”

“Where are you going with this?”

The smile somehow glinted in his eyes, “Batman didn’t teach me that one. I created it myself.”

It took all Jason’s willpower to not drop his mouth wide open. How was that even possible? I mean, the mechanics of the move, how Dick had to launch his body upward just the right amount so that he could come down on the attacker’s hands and face with just enough force to cause them to release the weapon before firing, it was insane! Jason had to learn it. Just as he opened his mouth to ask, Dick raised his hand in silence.

“After pizza.”

So that’s what they did. They must’ve spent a good three hours at the local park just trying to get Jason to launch himself high enough in the air. As much as he hated to admit it, Dick was a lot more agile and Jason was quickly tiring out. After about the 500th failure, Jason lost it. He didn’t know what came over him, but the next thing he knew he was picking up the pieces of his broken phone off the sidewalk. Shit. Shit, Bruce was gonna be so pissed.

“Hey man,” Dick started.

God his cheerful attitude was starting to get really fucking old. Dick Grayson. The first Robin. The prodigal son. The dude who started beating up bad guys before he had even shaved for the first time. Dick Grayson who could fling himself in the air all day long and barely break a sweat. Dick Grayson, the guy he was just subbing in for.

Before Jason even realized what was happening, he felt his curled fist impact the side of Dick face. Dick stepped back a few paces, and instinctively hunched into his fighting stance while inspecting his face for blood. Jason was proud to say there were a few drops, thanks to a ring on his middle finger.

“What the fuck?” He asked, clearly confused.

“Just stay the hell away from me, okay?” Jason said quite a bit louder than he had intended, “I don’t need your help. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“I never said that you weren’t.” Dick dropped his stance. “Look, maybe we should take a break.”

A break. Yeah, right. Jason Todd, the kid who couldn’t even make it through an afternoon of training without having a complete meltdown. No way was Bruce not going to hear about this. With the way things were going, he’d probably be taken off patrol for at least a week. No. He wouldn’t let that happen. All he had to do was convince Dick that he was fine, he was better than fine, he was the real Robin.

Jason took another swing, and this time, Dick was expecting it. He grabbed Jason’s outstretched arm and twisted it behind his back. But before he could get the hold fully secured, Jason took his free arm and elbowed him right in the stomach, the diaphragm, if Dick’s sudden fit of coughing was any indication. This gave Jason enough time to yank his hand free of Dick’s grasp and try to land another blow. He decided to go for a kick to the right knee, a weak spot of Batman’s former protege he had learned about while reviewing old video tapes for training. But Dick saw it coming. Before Jason even had time to think, Dick had already grabbed his outstretched leg and knocked him off balance, causing him to fall into the soft dirt around them. Jason kicked and flailed, trying to get his leg free, but it didn’t work, and soon Dick was on top of him, pinning him to the ground.

Jason knew if he tried he could get free eventually, but after a while he just stopped. What was the point anyway? Surely Dick was going to call Batman as soon as he was back on world and tell him everything. He’d recommend Jason give back the Robin suit and retire from the vigilante business because he couldn’t handle the stress of learning a new trick. Then he’d be back on the streets, because what use would Bruce Wayne have for him if he couldn’t fight crime? At least this time he’d know how to defend himself.

Jason didn’t even realize he had started to cry until he was being held in Dick’s arms. It was strange and incredibly uncomfortable to be held by someone that was nearly his own size, but Dick was soft and warm and would not let go. So Jason just sat there frozen, tears silently running down his face as he tried desperately to hide the fact that he was terrified of what was going to happen to him now.

The two boys stayed there like that for a few minutes, until Jason had softened enough to meld into Dick’s arms a little, and the latest wave of tears had come and gone. When Dick finally did let go, Jason scrambled back up onto his feet, and wiped away any trace that he had cried in the first place. Then turned a stony gaze at Dick.

“Don’t tell Bruce.” He glared.

“Tell him what?” Dick asked innocently.

There he was, being a prick again. Jason glanced around the park that was now well covered in darkness looking for a space to stare at that wasn’t Dick. Anywhere but Dick.

“That I failed.”

“Excuse me?” Dick’s tone was sarcastic and somewhat offended. “Did you just say you failed?”

Jason nodded ever so slightly.

“Okay, no.” He sighed in a manner eerily similar to Bruce. “Jace, it takes time to master a move like this, like an insane amount of time, like years. You had three hours in a playground and you’ve already got the basic motor functions of the move down. I don’t know about you, but I call that impressive.”

Jason looked cautiously into Dick’s eyes, could he really mean what he was saying? “But then why did you say I should take a break?”

“Because I could see you were getting to the end of your rope. I mean, you threw your phone on the ground and punched me in the face. If that’s not a clear indication someone needs a break, then I don’t know what is.” He smiled reassuringly.

“So you aren’t going to tell Bruce what happened?”

“I mean, I don’t really think there’s anything he needs to know about, do you?”

Jason allowed the phantom of a smile to creep up on his face, “Not unless you can’t handle being punched in the face by your little brother.”

“Brother, huh?”

“Your words, not mine.”

Dick laughed, “Okay then, brother, what do you say we go get a movie and eat some popcorn? I’ve had enough training tonight.”

Jason narrowed his eyes, “Fine. But only if it’s horror.”

Dick just smiled and put his arm around his little brother’s shoulder as they walked out of the park and back to the apartment.

The boys stayed up well into the night, mostly mocking the movie they chose for it’s subpar acting and special effects quality. It was one of those “classic” horror movies that everyone has to see at least once in their lives, so of course it sucked. Still, Jason could honestly say it was the most fun he’d had in years. Dick was definitely an asshole, but despite his better judgement, he couldn’t help thinking that maybe, just maybe, Dick wasn’t as big a dick as he thought.

[havetheavengersdoneanythingwrong]

Biting the Bullet — For a Distant Comfort

The fearful master bites his tongue and moves forward — allied with the laidback Master Ritsuka, their servant Mash Kyrielight, and the Director of Chaldea, Olga Marie.

Even with allies, the road ahead is aflame with risk and fear alike—

But what other choice is there to be had?

At least a new friend is on the horizon — even in this fiery haze.

—

���...’

I could never forget what fear truly was.

Heroes in storybooks had reserves of courage to draw upon when times got tough — they raised their blade and fought with a smile where the average person would cower.

I always wanted to believe I’d be the same.

‘...Your wallet.’

Two words that I couldn’t forget. Even after that unknown voice whispered those words into my mind, they kept echoing in my head — louder, louder, into screams as sharp and painful as the blade threatening to slice right through my side.

No, true fear was — to be locked in place. Like a deer in the headlights. When your instincts decide that freezing up, and crying, would be your only path to survival. When that’s all you could do — your gut in your throat, your heart beating in your throat, eyesight flickering from the tunnel vision.

A ‘thunk’ punctuated by the clatter of coin on the ground. All the possessions I had, lost in a moment on the ground.

Left behind, the thief granted me one last parting gift before I’d left —

—Consciousness flickering, surely—

—The commotion of people watching in awe, the ringing of a phone after a heartwrenching few moments —

—The feeling of pooling, underneath the chest I now lay on.

—

“Cadence. Rested well?”

A hand shook me awake — loud gasping was all I could hear.

My own voice — my own breaths. Uncontrollably erratic, my heart pounding with fear.

Sitting up in a moment, I leaned forward and placed a hand to my neck — gently rubbing a finger up and down its right side, trying to calm down.

“...Something like that. As good as you can get in this hellscape.”

My eyesight cleared through the sleepy haze, resting on the black-haired Master before me. Ritsuka — of course.

They raised an eyebrow, perhaps noting my current state — but seemingly opted to ignore it for now.

“Olga’s talking fun stuff over the leyline. Mostly about what to do with you and your Avenger.”

Ritsuka stretched out from their current position — raiding his arms behind their head, yawning loudly. I’d waited until they concluded that show to chip in.

“...I don’t assume it’s anything good.”

“You can’t really blame her for not liking you much. I found her with a skeleton head gnawing on her ankle — of course she’s gonna be weirded the hell out when she sees someone she knew back there.”

‘Knew?’ I had to bite my tongue not to laugh. That lady was hardly the type to talk to people like me — the benchwarmers of Chaldea. Even so, a part of me sympathized with the woman’s plight — fear caused rampant irrationality in anyone, and it’s not as if I had room to judge.

“...Should I go over there?”

“Yeah, before Olga blows her top and becomes convinced you’re a disguised Assassin. Someone over there has ought to remember you.”

...Listening to the environment, sure enough, I could pick up some faint, frantic yelling. Distinctly Olga Marie-sounding, in fact — the sharp voice, drawing to mind an inflatable tube man wildly flailing about, while somehow simultaneously demanding a sort of respect that was hard to ignore.

Following it set me due east, from what I could tell, through a little bit more burning ground — up until I caught sight of Olga Marie and Mash, alongside a sort of communication device projecting a familiar face.

“—How are we supposed to trust this kid when he won’t even reveal his Servant’s name?!”

“—Slow down a sec, Olga! It’s just as likely that he just didn’t want eavesdroppers listening in—“

“And?! Surely he could take a risk and spill!”

...A familiar face, and the frantic, albeit mildly digitized voice of Dr. Romani. A little bit of sanity in this place, thankfully.

I approached the communication device as calmly as I could, as Olga Marie turned around to see me move towards it. Before she could speak, I forced in my own two cents.

“Hey, Dr. Romani. It’s nice to see a familiar face.”

“HOW DID YOU HEAR US TALK?!”

“...Hard to miss.”

I’d hold my tongue before I said anything further, stepping forward to wave Romani’s way — Romani himself returning the wave with an awkward grin and wave of his own.

“Hey, Cadence. Nice job surviving in this hellscape.”

The doctor at least seemed to recognize me. He continued, before Olga could cut in again.

“...Yeah, he’s fine, Olga. From what I can tell, he’s completely fine. The same Cadence from Chaldea.”

...Olga furrowed her brow, but I could hear a sigh of relief fall from her mouth.

“...Good. Cadence — tell us the name of your Servant. You’re an ally, so you should do so.”

...She was back to barking orders in a moment — but it felt more like distinctively Olga orders. Rude, but well-meaning, from what I could tell.

“...My Servant’s an Avenger. I’d rather let them tell you.”

...As if responding to what I said, Kagekiyo manifested from her spiritual form behind me — my heartrate suddenly spiking informed me that apparently give me one hell of a fright, and Olga’s sudden breath in told me I wasn’t the only one.

Even so — a hand on my shoulder was all it took to settle my heart, oddly enough.

“...Do you trust her? She is not Genji, correct?”

...The being stared through their blindfold, right into Olga’s eyes — as if, for a moment, peering into her soul.

“...No, she’s no Genji. She’s an ally. You can tell her your title if you choose.”

Olga furrowed her brow as I placed the decision in Kagekiyo’s hands — but despite her dislike of the situation, it seemed she knew it was hardly wise to demand things of an Avenger, least of all now.

“...Kagekiyo. I am... Kagekiyo. The killer of the Genji. That is all.”

...After a second, Olga Marie hastily nodded, and turned to Romani. The latter raised an eyebrow in thought, before breathing out slowly.

“How strange, your Spirit Origin is... Well, I suppose it hardly matters right now. Cadence — I want you to support Ritsuka and Olga Marie until we can get you out of here. The situation is...”

...The doctor trailed off. ‘Chaldea was just briefing about humanity’s distruction,’ I reckoned. ‘If Romani’s hesitant to tell me the situation, then...’

...I had to push the fear down my throat. I could cry — I could panic, scream, break down from the fear — but that could not come now.

...All that would do is ensure my death.

“...Yeah. I don’t suppose I’ll be let off after this.”

“Probably not, Cadence. But you and Ritsuka aren’t alone. We’ll be having them perform a Summon right now, actually.”

...Ah, so that was the case. I nodded — but just as I thought of turning about to find Ritsuka, they had just as soon came over, adjusting the belts on their combat uniform to account for the change in their proportions. I opened my mouth, but Ritsuka piped up first.

“Summoning, right? I can probably do my part. What do we need, Romani?”

The doctor smiled a little, seeing our colleague, and glanced to Mash.

“Simple, Ritsuka. You’ll need to use Mash’s shield as a catalyst to reach the Throne. Chaldea will take it from there.”

...The mage nodded, and clapped their hands together.

“You heard the man, kouhai! Can I count on your help?”

The Shielder, stepping forward carefully to avoid unnecessary burns, smiled back towards their ‘senpai.’

“Yes, of course! I’ll just place this here, and...”

...The woman placed her shield down upon the ground, ever-so-carefully, then stepped back as Ritsuka placed their hand on the shield. Their Command Seals glowed in the soft light the shield presented — as, suddenly, three glowing circles surrounded the circumference of the shield, almost enveloping Ritsuka in their light.

All I could do is watch — as shining lights and glowing sparks of magical energy formed a distinct ‘something’ before my eyes—

...A being, —

—...A young boy, in peasant’s clothes.

Perhaps those from an older Japan, staring up at Ritsuka, who raised their eyebrows in shock.

“...I’ve been summoned... I’m, uhm... Caster! I’m a Caster, and my name is...”

...The child seemed to struggle for a moment. A black haired, black-eyed child, no older than sixteen. His hair seemed damp, water dripping from its tips, and his shirt and pants still a little bit dampened.

“...Uhm, I think it’s easier just to call me Caster, for now, mister. You’re my Master, right?”

...Ritsuka stopped for a fair few moments. As if their face turned horribly solemn, for a moment, looking away almost in remorse — before returning their gaze to the child.

“...Yeah. I’m your Master. Stay with me, and I’ll keep you safe. Got it?”

[plus-ultra-oneshots]

Rainfall {BakugouXFemale!Reader}

Rainfall

BakugouXFemale!Reader Oneshot

"So rude....."

.:+:.

"...Bakugou?"

Your voice came out a little softer than you intended, but you were surprised to catch sight of the blonde a little further up the nearly empty street from you. Incredibly surprised actually, this wasn't anywhere near UA, and it was the weekend, so your projected likelihood of running into anyone from school had been small to nonexistent. Plus, this place was pretty out of the way, sitting on the edge of the city and almost rural compared to the rest of everything else.

You'd just stepped out of a bookstore and onto the street, putting the new book you'd bought away in the small bag hanging from your shoulder. The sky was a dreary grey overhead and the air filled with a stiff breeze that washed against your face the instant you stepped outside, making you involuntarily shiver at the chill. The scent of water on the air was enough to tell you it would be raining soon, and you were in the midst of making a mental note to hurry back home when your eyes landed on the familiar blonde.

You half-halted through the step you had started taking down the street when you saw him. He was standing on the edge of the sidewalk with one hand in his pocket and the other holding on to his phone as he tapped his thumb against the screen- typing something you would have to guess. He seemed oblivious or uncaring of the world around him until you said his name, and when he looked up to see who had said it he looked nothing but annoyed, before the expression lost a small fraction of that annoyance when he saw it was you.

"Eh? What the hell are you doing here?" He asked lowly as you cleared the small distance between you two. You came to a slow stop as he turned to face you all the way, his hand and his phone with it falling in his pants pocket and regarding you rather suspiciously. It was a less than friendly greeting, and that irked you just a bit.

Rude...

"I came to get a book." You replied lowly, your head tilting at him in question. "But why are you all the way out here? You don't live near here, do you?"

"Tch, what's it to you?" He grumbled, your jaw clenched slightly as you forced a silent, slightly calming breath.

You and Bakugou weren't exactly the most familiar of acquaintances. You'd only ever really met one another when you were both in the Sports Festival held at school. And even then, that 'meeting' had been little but you and him going at it in the start of the first event... You know, the one where everyone had been racing to get across the finish line in good time, in order to pass to the second event.

There'd been some heated words exchanged before it ever even started, and he proved quickly that he could piss you off to no end... He seemed good at doing that with everyone, actually. From what you'd seen of him, and how quickly he blew up when you two butted heads- he was the king of all hotheads- and that was saying something coming from you.

You had your moments, but it seemed that his moments were pretty much all the time. Like literally all the time, and because of that there'd been a fair bit of snapping at one another when he said something along the lines of;

'Give up loser, you ain't got a chance! Rejects like you in Gen Ed should just quit now!'

Now the fact you'd been dumped in General Studies instead of getting into the Hero Course was already a sore subject for you. And that loudmouth, rude as all hell boy screaming it at you like that just made you so. Damn. Angry.

So naturally it set you off, and you'd both been arguing back and forth, and got damn near close to getting into an actual fist fight. Your sudden retaliation just seemed to fan the flames for his explosive (quite literal, actually) temper, and you'd have probably ended up coming to blows if the event hadn't started and you both dashed to get ahead.

To Bakugou's credit, he got third. And to your credit, you got eleventh. And only because that Ice and Fire guy from Bakugou's class had covered the ground in ice and you fell on your face- which had cost you some time, and subsequently- cost you a few ranks.

I hate ice... I hate anything cold really

You'd been on Shinso's team for the Calvary Battle, and you'd passed on to the Individual Battles portion. You'd managed to hit out that Kaminari kid quite easily, but you got thrown out by Ibara Shiozaki when you faced against her. So you never got the chance to go against Bakugou, as satisfying as it would have been.

(Satisfying, but it would have likely ended in a loss for you, even if you would never admit so out loud. Despite that though, at the time the idea of slamming your fist into his face had been quite appealing....)

"It's just a question." You replied lowly, your hands falling on your hips. He clicked his tongue, looking away from you with an aggravated huff.

"Hmph, the Old Hag left me here while she went to go shopping." He muttered, you blinked.

"... 'Old Hag'...?" You mumbled,

"My stupid mother." He replied and you stiffened.

"You call your mother 'Old Hag'? What is wrong with you?" You grumbled, a vein ticked in his forehead.

"Screw you! I'll call her whatever I like!" He snapped, you growled under your breath.

"Fine, fine- whatever. I'm not gonna waste my time arguing with you." You grumbled, cutting him off before he had real chance to get going. He seemed all the more irritated to be interrupted, but you kept going. "I take it she'll be back soon then? It's gonna rain ya know."

"You think I can't tell that myself?" He hissed, "And again- what's it to you?!"

"Just trying to be nice. But my efforts are clearly wasted on you." You deadpanned, eyes flashing as you waved a hand at him and moved to start walking away. You headed straight passed him and he whirled around, scowling.

"WHO THE HELL SAID YOU COULD LEAVE?! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!"

You rolled your eyes, intent on keeping on walking, but you got halted when his hand snapped forward and grabbed hold of your wrist, stopping you.

"YOU HEAR ME, IDIOT?!" He snapped loudly and your jaw clenched, eyes flashing as you shot him a very annoyed glare and your hands balled into fists.

"I have a name, Bakugou. Learn to use it, before I smack you for calling me 'idiot'." you grumbled lowly, he grimaced at the reply and you snatched your hand back from his hold- and he let go, but not easily. You crossed your arms about your chest, returning the deadly stare he gave you with one of your own as silence suddenly stretched a bit too long between you... but only a bit before he huffed and looked away.

"I'll call you whatever the hell I want." He growled, you blinked, your eyes narrowing to slits.

"... You don't remember my name, do you?" You asked dryly,

"Fuck off!" He snapped hotly, and that was all the answer you needed. And if you were honest, you were not surprised.

"If you stopped acting like an ass for a minute, you could just ask. I'd be happy to tell you-" You muttered,

"I don't need to ask a damn thing!" He cut you off again and your fingernails dug into your palms.

"Oh really? Prove it then, what is my name?" You asked lowly,

"I'm not proving a damn thing to you, idiot!" He snapped hotly, and a vein ticked on your forehead at that- 'idiot'

"... Are you looking for a fight...?!" you hissed,

"You keep pissing me off, that's what'll happen- and I'll kick your ass!" He retorted, "Come at me loser, I'll wipe the floor with yo-!"

BOOM

Bakugou's voice got drowned out as the sky overhead suddenly rumbled, a flash of lightning arcing across the dark clouds and washing the world out in eerie yellow light. You couldn't help yourself and you jumped as the thunder rolled, your ears ringing with the deafening level of the noise that you felt in your bones, and your eyes reflecting the lightning as you glanced overhead. Bakugou shut up too, his mouth snapping closed and his red eyes narrowing at the sky as he growled. He looked none too pleased with the interruption, but his explosive agitation seemed to dim a little once he realized that the rain was soon to set-

Aaaaaaaaaand sure enough, you felt a cold drop of water splash against your nose, and it was quickly followed by many others. They felt like hundreds of icy bullets dotting against your skin, and it took little time at all before you felt the water seep into your hair and dampen your clothes- though not enough to soak through, fortunately... at least not yet. You tilted your head down to avoid the rain getting in your eyes, while simultaneously pulling your bag closer to you to try and shield it and the book you'd just bought from the rain.

"Lovely..." You muttered under your breath, one hand moving up to shield your eyes as you glanced toward Bakugou, and how unbothered he seemed to be by the rain. "Alright, look- I'm not fighting you, and I'm not staying out here if I don't need to, so I'm just gonna go home." You told him lowly, he blinked in surprise, but you were already moving to walk away. "Bye, Bakugou. Enjoy the rain while you wait for your mother." You called over your shoulder without actually looking at him, your steps hurried and purposeful as the rain continued on at a steady pace.

"Oi, wait a minute, (Y/N)."

His hand shot out to grab your wrist and halt you for the second time in the last few minutes, and your eyes widened in surprise at the sound of your name on his lips.

But I thought he didn't remember...?

You turned back toward him slowly, your expression showing your surprise rather clearly as he simply gave you nothing but a flat stare. His hold on your wrist remained firm and you didn't snatch your hand back like you had earlier, "... you actually remember my name?" You asked, he let out a sigh.

"Of course I fucking do, I never said I didn't." He replied a little tartly, your head tilted.

"... but you never said you did, either." You pointed out quietly, he frowned.

"Tch... yeah, well- whatever. It doesn't matter." He grumbled, he tilted his head in the direction you had attempted to go twice now. "You're headed that way, yeah?"

"... uh, yeah." You mumbled, "... my house is in that direction, so..."

"Fine. Then let's go." He said simply, letting your wrist go and stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets as he started in that direction, and left you behind as your feet refused to move under what shock and confusion rammed into you in the next minute. He paused after a few steps when he realized you had yet to move, and he cast a look back at you as he quirked a brow. "Are you coming, or what?"

You blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of the rain and giving your mind a chance to catch up with the situation. "... wait a minute, what?" You hissed, "What are you doing..? I thought you were waiting for your mom?"

"She ran into some of her stupid friends and I'm not about to wait on her, so I'm walking back to my house." Bakugou told you lowly, looking annoyed with the situation- and the fact he had had to explain himself to you at all. "It's raining, you idiot. I'm not standing in it for longer than I have to. Are you coming, or not?" he asked again, firmer now as you jumped a little, hesitating for only a few seconds longer before your feet took you forward to follow him before your mind had a chance to decide.

"Uh, yeah.. sure..." You mumbled, he huffed.

"Then hurry up." He ordered sharply, turning again before you reached his shoulder and starting forward up the street as you hurried to keep pace with him. You shot him a glance from the side, biting the inside of your cheek and eyes narrowed in thought and against the continual fall of the rain all around.

"... your house is in this direction?" You asked after a little while of just walking,

"What a stupid question. Would I be walking this way if it wasn't?" He replied hotly, you grimaced at the rude reply- but maybe he had a point, not that you would admit it out loud.

But damn if this boy has a terrible attitude... ugh

"That's not what I meant, I'm just surprised you live around here." You muttered, he glanced at you from the side. "I didn't realize, this is pretty far away from UA. You'd have a long train ride to get to school everyday if you do live out here."

"You do too, yeah?" He grumbled, his eyes dropping closed in what seemed like exasperation. "And what do you mean, you 'didn't realize'? You must be some special kind of dumb, I've seen you on the train about half a dozen times since school started." He grumbled, you stiffened in surprise. He somehow seemed to sense your shock with the assertion, because he let out a slightly annoyed sigh and shook his head. "Geez... you're a moron."

Your cheeks puffed up in agitation though, wiping away all shock and surprise that came with the words as you shot him a dirty glare. "Why are you so god damn rude?!" You snapped,

"Why are you so oblivious?" He replied without skipping a beat, you growled.

"Well if you've seen me on the train to school, why haven't you ever said anything?!" You asked, rounding on him a bit and sending an array of water drops cascading off the ends of your hair. You both kept walking though, uncaring of the rain or the cold that came with it as you both got invested in the conversation. Bakugou turned his head toward you, eyes narrowed and almost confused.

"Eh? Why would I?" He deadpanned, your eye twitched.

"Oh I dunno, maybe cause it's the polite thing to do?!" You replied hotly, "We go to the same school, it'd be common courtesy to at least say 'hi' to someone you recognize on the train or wherever the hell else!" He clicked his tongue, looking away from you.

"Just because we go to the same school doesn't mean I've gotta be 'polite'." He grumbled, "Besides, you ain't even in the same class as me, let alone the same department. General Studies and the Hero Course practically puts us on completely different levels."

There it was- that thing that had hit a nerve the first time- the fact that you were in General Studies and not the Hero Course, and he threw it in your face, AGAIN.

"Would you QUIT?!" You yelled now, your voice ringing through the drone of the rain and over the empty street around you both. You stepped up and planted yourself right in front of him, fuming and eyes glittering as anger and frustration sent energy flowing through your body like a rushing river. His movement halted as you barred his path and he blinked, his eyes narrowing at you and quiet as you settled him with a steely, fiery stare.

"I might be in the General Studies class, but that does not mean you get to treat me, or anyone else from that department like trash! You do not get to call us worthless, and weak, and losers just because we didn't get dropped into the Hero Course like you! We work just as hard as the rest of you Hero Course assholes, and we have just as much to offer as you do! Quit acting like we're the lowest of the low just because of what class we're in!" You yelled at him furiously, fists clenched at your sides. "It doesn't matter what department I'm in, I am still a human being and I don't deserve to be treated like I'm worth less than you are! And that means you should be nice and polite to other students and say 'hi' to them on the train regardless of what class they are stuck in!"

Your hand swung up as you pointed an accusatory finger at him and Bakugou did what you did not expect. He just stood there, quiet, even as you snapped his head off.

"And don't forget that I made it farther than a lot of the Hero Course students back at the Sports Festival! So quit treating me like I'm not worth a damn, and acting like I'm just some weak little girl!" You hissed, scowling still as you waved a hand at him dismissively and started to move off without him, absolutely steaming as you headed into the rain with the intention of leaving the blonde far, far behind.

"WALK HOME BY YOURSELF!" You yelled as you stalked away, seething and teeth gritted as you stomped through the small puddles of rainwater and headed up along the street by yourself. You didn't dare look backward to see if Bakugou had moved, and if you did and you saw him- you weren't sure if you could keep your frustration bottled up enough now that you wouldn't start and all-out fight.

He just... he just really pissed you off!

UGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

HE'S SUCH A ROYAL PRAT! HE GOES AROUND ACTING LIKE HE'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN EVERYONE!

You headed away from the main street and took a shortcut through a park, the lights dimmed by the haze of water in the air and wavering as their reflections danced on the water-ridden cement path. You were grumbling under your breath an incessant string of curses and whatnot, uncaring of the world around you or the rain even, you were just too wound up. You weren't even really paying attention to where you were going, your feet were taking you toward home unconsciously. You veered down a fork in the path and headed toward a set of stairs that lead downward a bit, and eventually toward the exit of the park, your hand reached out for the railing.

"Oi! (Y/N)!" Bakugou's voice sounded behind you out of nowhere, and a vein ticked on your forehead.

"KATSUKI BAKUGOU, I TOLD YOU TO FUC-!" You snapped, your head turning as you looked over your shoulder to try and see him, only to have your words cut off abruptly when you felt your foot skid over the slick concrete. And the quick step backward to catch yourself met nothing but thin air.

S-shit...!

You quickly tried to grab the railing, but your hand never got far enough and you had a few split seconds of seeing Bakugou a good three dozen feet away, before you fell backward and promptly tumbled down the stairs. The top of your back slammed against the concrete once, and the rest of the way you rolled backward, before coming to a painful halt when your back hit the ground at the bottom of the steps with a agonizing, and very loud SPLASH.

There was a massive puddle of water awaiting you at the bottom of the flight of stairs, that (thankfully) only consisted of a few steps. The impact with the stairs and the ground was painful, but being plunged into a puddle full of water that nearly covered you all the way up to your ears when you landed on your back was a shocking, chilly sensation that snatched your breath away and had you completely drenched in the matter of a few seconds. You gasped as you hit the ground, pain racing through your spine and the back of your head before being overwhelmed by the icy sensation of the water.

For a few seconds you didn't even attempt to move, your eyes snapped shut as you grit your teeth and you felt the rain fall against your face, and the water you were more or less all the way submerged in frothed around you.

Owww... Oww... That really hurt... And now I'm soaked...! This... This sucks...!

I can't believe I fell down the stairs... UGHH...!

"Oi, (Y/N)! You alive down there?"

Bakugou's voice was a bit muffled through the water you were in, but you heard him anyway and lift your head up enough to see him paused at the top of the stairs you had just fallen down. He seemed to bite the inside of his cheek as he caught sight of you, and there was a single moment of silence between the two of you, before you let out and aggravated breath and your head dropped back into the water.

"... Alive? Yes..." you replied, loud enough so he would hear. Your lips pulled sourly as you growled. "... Happy? No... Soaked? Completely..." You muttered to yourself, laying a few more seconds in the puddle before forcing yourself to sit up, and hissing at the ache of pain throbbing through your back and spine. You grumbled to yourself as your hand moved up to push the wet tendrils of your hair out of your face. Not that it did much good, mind you. You were still soaked to no end, and you felt the chill of the moisture setting in quickly.

You heard Bakugou's feet as he moved slowly down the steps, and glanced up when he paused on the last one and right in front of the puddle you were sitting in. He just looked down at you with the most neutral expression anyone could have, his red eyes trailing over your form and taking in what a wet mess you looked like now.

"Quit looking at me like that." you huffed, he blinked.

"It's your own damn fault, you're the one that ran off like an idiot." He replied flatly, you shot him a glare.

"Once again, Bakugou- go away." You muttered coldly, "You're just pissing me off more than you already did, and I really don't wanna-"

"Shut up for a minute." He cut you off with ease and you bristled at the interruption. "You stormed off without giving me a chance to reply, and look what happened. Now since you've stopped running away from me, listen for once." He murmured, his hands in his jacket. He let out a slightly annoyed sigh and his eyes dropped closed, "I know you ain't some weak little girl who can't handle yourself. You weren't half bad at the Sports Festival.... and I really wasn't expecting anything... But you were better than I could have guessed."

You went rigid, your eyes widening in shock as the anger you felt disappeared in an instant.

I-I'm sorry... What...?!

"...tch... I lumped you in with the rest of everyone else because I figured you'd flunked out of the Hero Course. And that meant you didn't have any shred of what it takes to be a Pro, and that your Quirk was weak as hell too." He grumbled, his eyes trailing away from you and finding something that just... Wasn't you. Like he was refusing to look at you now...?

"... But you're not weak, and neither is your Quirk." he muttered, "And after seeing that you and that Brainwash Weirdo got stuck in Gen. Ed. regardless of that fact, I don't think all of the General Course students are weak either... Just some of them." Your eyes narrowed, "But that don't mean I think any of you aren't worth a damn." he added lowly, his eyes finally moving back to you as he grimaced a bit. You heard him let out a low growl of frustration and his eyes flashed, "And I don't say 'hi' to anybody." he muttered, his agitation igniting again by just a little bit. "I don't waste my time on that stupid 'polite' shit even with the losers in my class. So don't snap my head off for not sayin' it to you." A vein ticked on his forehead as he seemed to try and hold back the bulk of his annoyance and keep his voice to something that wasn't a yell. "Tch... You're such an idiot. You get worked up way too damn fast."

So do you!

You bit the inside of your cheek though and kept from saying it out loud. Your eyes glittered as you simply held him in your gaze, and silence suddenly fell between the both of you after he finished with what he had to say. And all of that was... Well, you hadn't expected that. At all. And not from him.

... It... It almost sort of sounds like... An apology...? You know, without actually saying 'I'm sorry'...?

For all intensive purposes Bakugou just seemed like an ass. Like an ass all the time, and you wouldn't have thought him capable of apologizing (sort of), or even admitting that you weren't weak. And you couldn't really fathom the idea that he didn't think you were weak, if you were being honest... All of this just sort of seemed to come out of nowhere. And despite all annoyance you held for him, and how quickly he worked you up and pissed you off, what he said just now- he seemed genuine about it. That part you couldn't ignore, even if you were still miffed.

...... Did I maybe... Jump the gun a little? And judge him too early..?

Honestly you hadn't really given him time to reply earlier when you snapped his head off and stormed away... So maybe you had.

Huh... Okay... This is all... unexpected...

You were so lost in your thoughts, that for a few minutes you didn't even care or notice that you were still sitting in the middle of that puddle- and the rain didn't hardly seem to exist at all. You just kept your eyes on the blonde and he looked right back, steady and silent. You wished you could figure out what was going through that head of his, but he was unreadable to you.

But what the hell were you even supposed to reply to all of that? You did your best to come up with some semblance of... Of something, but words failed you and you just sat there like an idiot.

When the silence dragged on too long Bakugou frowned, his brow quirking at you and his agitation starting to boil, slowly but surely. "Why the hell are you just sitting there?" He growled, you blinked.

"... I just... I don't know what I'm supposed to reply...?" You mumbled softly, he huffed.

"You don't have to 'reply' or say anything. I said what I wanted, now just leave it alone and don't brood about it." He growled lowly, his tone slightly scathing as you bit the inside of your cheek at it.

You stiffened though, a cold chill falling down your spine that soon radiated out toward the rest of your body, and you trembled, violently. A tremble followed soon after by more small, faint shakes born of the icy cold seeping deeper into your bones. Your teeth grit, sucking in a sharp breath of air and your hands moved up to instinctively hug yourself as you grumbled.

You remember mentioning you hated ice, and anything cold?

Well you were soaked all the way through, and the rain was anything but warm. You could literally feel your body temperature plummeting a few degrees every minute of being in that puddle, and you were quickly starting to shiver, despite not wanting to. "... Tch... This sucks..." You muttered sourly under your breath, slowly letting your arms unwind and preparing to push yourself up out of the puddle. Not that being out of it would do much good, since the rain was still pouring, but getting up had to help a little, right?

Your hands pressed down against the ground and you started to straighten up, before you got stopped by an irritated voice.

"Oi."

You glanced up in surprise, your eyes locking onto the hand that was suddenly extended toward you by Bakugou, who had moved closer and stepped into the puddle without you ever being aware. He caught you staring at his hand almost dumbfounded, and he clicked his tongue, frowning. "Hurry up. You're making me stay out in this stupid rain way longer than I want to." He muttered lowly, moving his hand forward toward you another inch or so in clear indication for you to take it. You hesitated a second longer, before reaching out and locking your hand with his. He pulled you up and on to your feet with the most ridiculous ease,

"... Thanks..." You mumbled quietly, he didn't even acknowledge it, or the fact you said anything. He moved and kept hold of your hand, pulling you behind him and both of you out from standing in the puddle before he let go again. You were trembling involuntarily still, biting the inside of both cheeks to keep your teeth from clacking- in the moment he let go of your hand you crossed your arms over your chest, ready to spend the walk home freezing to death... But in some ways the fact you had fallen at all was your fault.

I whipped around like an idiot on the edge of wet stairs... So I can't really complain...

You grimaced, forcing yourself to take in a low and slow breath as your shoulders hunched a bit. There was the unpleasant sensation of a drop of water from your hair falling down your back, and you shivered a bit harder.

... I have now decided that I hate rain... Probably better to hurry and get home so I don't catch a damn cold or something....

Your eyes dropped down to your bag to see if the book you'd bought was worse for wear from the dip in the water, and thankfully enough the inside of your bag was barely damp at best. In the time you were checking on your book, you didn't really register the small pause that came when Bakugou didn't automatically start walking, or wonder why he had paused at all. You were grumbling a string of curses in your head with little a care nor notice of the blonde before something warm dropped down over your head and shoulders out of nowhere. You stiffened, blinking rapidly to get a sense of what just happened and what it was that was on top of you- it...

... Uh... This is Bakugou's jacket...?

And sure enough you glanced back to him to see he had taken it off, leaving him in nothing but a t-shirt and his hands already stuffed in his pants pockets. He caught your questioning and confused gaze for only half a second, before huffing and pointedly looking away from you.

"... You look like a drowned rat, you're gonna freeze to death before we ever get halfway back. And I ain't dealing with you being slow." he muttered, his jaw clenching a bit. "So hurry up and put the damn thing on, then start walking." At his own order he started forward, and you had little time to stand there in shock before you quickly threaded your arms through the jacket and hurried after him.

"... Ah... But aren't you gonna get cold too...?" You asked, your eyes trailing along his back and the ridge of his shoulders.

"No." was the short reply, and you sighed slightly.

"... If you're sure..." You mumbled, and he seemed to stiffen ahead of you. He shot a glare over his shoulder, scowling.

"Of course I'm fucking sure, now drop it." he snapped lowly, you growled under your breath.

So stubborn...

"Didn't I say to hurry the hell up?!" He snapped again, and you bit back at the angry retort you had planned. Instead you just did as he said, and your steps quickened enough to bring you to his shoulder, the both of you walking in prickly silence for awhile. Your eyes shift sideways toward him, but his attention was locked on the path ahead and nothing else, with ever some sort of sour look on his face that seemed quite commonplace for him. But for the moment he seemed content to silence, and you gave in and just let your thoughts wander instead.

... 'I'm not weak and neither is my Quirk', huh...? Somehow I get the feeling any sort of compliment is rare from him... And giving me his jacket seems a little unlike him too.

... Maybe he feels bad for pissing me off...? And that ended up in me falling down the stairs...?

Your eyes traced along the faint scowl etched into his features, and your eyes flashed.

... I doubt it.

With a silent sigh you shook your head at yourself, your hands burying themselves in the pockets of Bakugou's jacket and shivering less now. It was warmer with it on and the rain wasn't getting through the fabric to soak you further.

"... thank you for your jacket, Baukgou... and about what you said." You murmured softly, breaking the silence between the both of you as you left the park behind. "... you're less of an ass than I thought. So thank you, really." You saw his steps jerk slightly from the corner of your eye and glanced over toward him to see if he'd tripped or something. Your eyes widened when you saw his face flushed, his cheeks a shade of pink and looking disgruntled as all hell- woah, woah, wait a minute!

Is he... he's blushing..?!

Your jaw dropped in sheer surprise and he shot you a flustered glare, fuming now and still red in the face. "I told you not to say anything and drop it, damn it!" He snapped hotly, you blinked, your lips twitching at the corners despite yourself as you stared.

He's embarrassed! Oh my god!

You couldn't keep yourself together any longer and you laughed, and he looked ready to blow a gasket at the sudden change in attitude.

"QUIT LAUGHING DAMN IT!"

"Hehe, what's the matter Bakugou? Can't you handle someone saying thank you?" You hummed, his teeth ground down on each other in animation.

"SHUT UP!"

"But why? Are you always just too much of an ass that people never actually say thank you?"

"I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T SHUT IT-"

"Okay, okay.... calm down a little. Hehe..."

It'd taken a few more minutes for you to quit laughing, and he seemed incredibly annoyed with it- though the blushing barely died down until long after you'd both fallen into sheer quiet. It wasn't much a tense quiet though... it was content, somehow. Which was the biggest surprise of all maybe. Both you and Bakugou seemed to find some even ground between you two, and even if you were still cold, the walk home wasn't terrible, and in some weird way it was almost calming to have him at your shoulder near the whole way.

At the crossroads where you split off to go in your own directions, you attempted to give him his jacket back, but he clicked his tongue and turned his back on you. "Just give it back at school." He ordered sharply, before promptly walking off and disappearing around a corner. You watched him go all the way with a small smile gracing your lips, your eyes glittering in the dim and the grey of the rain.

He's so damn stubborn.... heh~

But you let it be and went home, shedding his jacket off your shoulders and washing it. And the next day as you stepped on to the train to take to school, the jacket folded under your arm- you'd barely managed to find a spot to stand before someone stopped at your shoulder out of nowhere, and you glanced left to see a certain hotheaded blonde boy. You hadn't even seen him when you got on the train, but he had apparently seen you... and the first thing he did was place himself at your shoulder in sheer, stony silence.

He didn't say hi, but he at least acknowledged your existence, and that was maybe more than you could ask for from him. So you smirked to yourself and called his attention to you by handing the jacket over, and he did little else but huff and take it from you to tuck it under his arm and let his eyes fall on the window and not you- not even once.

"Thank you again." You hummed softly, he frowned.

"...Tch..... whatever. Just drop it already, loser."

This time the insult didn't have the same ire behind it, and there was no rush of anger and annoyance that burned inside of you when he said it. In fact it had near the opposite effect than it had been having- and your lips pulled further into an amused smile. You caught a faint glimpse of his face for a small second, before he turned it a little to keep you from looking.

He looks like he's blushing again... just a little.

But you said nothing of it and let your eyes find the window his own had fallen upon. You let out a small sigh and shook your head, your voice filling with exasperation- though only just.

"So rude..."

.:+:. .:+:.

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[ficbynic]

T H E   M I S S I N G   P I E C E   -   Chapter 1

"Isla, look! It's Miss Annabelle!" "Sophie, stay here. You'll see Miss Annabelle tomorrow, we're in a hurry!" "Isla, honey, stop! We have to go!" "Didn't you girls want to bake some cupcakes at home?"

Story page | Author | Talk to me | Read on Tumblr only | 

"Isla, look! It's Miss Annabelle!" "Sophie, stay here. You'll see Miss Annabelle tomorrow, we're in a hurry!" "Isla, honey, stop! We have to go!" "Didn't you girls want to bake some cupcakes at home?" Their mothers' warnings and bribing weren't enough for little Isla and her best friend Sophie to stop making their ways to their favourite teacher. Scooting down the school's street pavement, the two seven-year-olds quickly caught up with the woman they elaborately said their goodbyes to just little over an hour ago. Annabelle Davies initially pretended she didn't hear her pupils gasping and talking about her when she walked the pavement along the street near school. Maybe this way, their mums would be able to hold them back. Finishing work early today, she wanted to catch the bus home as quickly as possible, allowing her with some more time to swiftly change clothes and head to the city as planned. It shouldn't have come as a surprise when she found the two girls' mothers had been unable to control their offspring. Strict parents were underrepresented at Wendlesworth High School, an independent, private school for girls aged 3 to 18, in South London. It seemed like the time they had with their children was limited, so whenever they were around, their girls could get away with pretty much anything. "Hi Miss Annabelle!" Sophie and Isla ran up to her, leaving her with no choice but to turn around and acknowledge them. "Hi girls. How was today's after school club?" Annabelle thought about the day of the week. "French today, wasn't it? What did you two learn?" She put her heavy bag on the pavement for a bit and checked the time on her phone inconspicuously. The girls didn't seem to notice. "Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq," one of them proudly chanted, a smug smile on her face. Blinking her eyes rapidly, Annabelle shook her head in pretend disbelief. "I have no idea what you just told me, Isla," she lied, "That is some great French vocabulary!" "It's not vocabulary! They're numbers!" called Sophie. Meanwhile, the girls' mothers who just collected them from school approached with apologetic looks on their faces. The looks told Annabelle they knew they should've been able to keep their daughters from running up to her. But the looks also held a spark of justification. Annabelle had seen The Look a thousand times by now and knew exactly what it meant. Every teacher at Wendlesworth knew. There was no way any of the parents gave their daughters a bath and put them to bed themselves every night. The fact that this afternoon, the mothers were able to collect their children from school was probably an irregularity. Normally, the girls' nannies would be taking care of that. Though that shouldn't be the reason of lacking healthy, parental authority, Annabelle thought. "I think it's time to say goodbye, girls. Miss Annabelle is on her way home, as well. We don't want to keep her up!" "I will see you two tomorrow, yeah?" Annabelle smiled down to the girls. "Remember what I told you today? There might be some snow when you wake up in the morning!" The girls' eyes lit up and they gasped again. "Is there gonna be lots?" Isla asked. "Mum, maybe we can use my sled tomorrow! Or we can go to Toby's and have a snowball fight!" With the girls' attention now diverted from herself to a much more interesting subject concerning the weather forecast, Annabelle smiled at her pupils' mums, simultaneously expressing regret for bringing up the possibility of snowfall knowing bloody well it would provoke a reaction and the girls' nagging about it could become annoying. The mums didn't seem to mind, gave in to their daughters suggestions, of course they did, and walked off.   It hadn't been another minute of making her way down to the bus stop when Annabelle was held up again. "Oh, Miss Davies!" It wasn't a pupil's voice this time, so she couldn't just ignore it. Annabelle closed her eyes for a brief moment before turning around with a contrived smile on her face. It was Mrs. Rodgers. Fiona's mum. Of course it was. She'd already recognised her posh accent. Not that any of the other parents' accents weren't posh, but Mrs. Rodgers' was something else. Annabelle had the pleasure of hearing it quite a number of times the past few weeks, as Fiona Rodgers was a new student in class. "I'm sorry to bother you, I apologise." Mrs. Rodgers walked up to her. "It's just that I didn't manage to see you this morning and wanted to ask you if there's a way we can rearrange the parent-teacher conference we set up last week." "Absolutely. That's no problem at all," Annabelle assured, already making a mental note. "Oh, wonderful. That's lovely, I was already worrying about not being able to make it this term." "Oh, no, don't worry, we can change the date. There's absolutely nothing to worry about, Fiona is doing fine in class. She's really getting adjusted to the other girls the past few days, it's great to see." "I'm pleased." Mrs. Rodgers let out a sigh of relief. "She really does seem to love you, as well, she talks about you all the time." Annabelle's smile finally reached her eyes. "That's lovely to hear." "I will contact you about the rescheduling. Again, I'm sorry for the inconvenience." "Not a problem at all, I'll be available. My phone number is on the school website, you can ring whenever you'd like." Mrs. Rodgers thanked her and Annabelle increased her walking pace to catch the bus she had aimed for. ~~~ "There she is, right on time! What's going on, has the school burnt down?" called Caitlin from the table, as she saw her friend entering. Annabelle rolled her eyes but smiled, arriving at their go-to pub in central London later that evening, making her way towards her friends. "Hiya, Anne, how've you been?" Valerie greeted, "Haven't seen you in ages." "It's been, like, a month, Val," Annabelle commented, kissing her friend's cheek and wrapping her arms around her in a hug. She turned to greet Caitlin next. "Besides, it's always you lot who are busy." She got out of her coat and sat down. "You two alright? What have you been up to?" "You know, same old, same old. Getting back to work. Already failing my new year's resolutions dramatically." "Where's Laila?" "Running a tad late. She just texted," Caitlin informed. "Ah, there she is already, great timing," Valerie pointed towards the entrance of the pub, and the three of them saw their friend nearing. "Look at you! Did you actually beat me this time?" Laila turned to Annabelle, "What's happened? Did the school burn down or something?" She smiled, making the others laugh. "Is this an inside joke I am somehow not aware of?" Annabelle raised her brows. "It's not, don't worry," Caitlin reassured, "Sit down, Lai, we've just ordered wines, how've you been?" "Quite busy to be honest," Laila blinked, taking off her coat and putting it on the back of her chair. "Also, Dave has been a total git the past week. We consciously make an effort to go over our weekly schedules on the weekend, but my lovely husband failed to mention he'd be off to New York City for five days." David and Laila were newlyweds, and despite their little fallout this week, they were still on the newlywed high after marrying last September. David, born and raised Londoner, works as a thriving project developer, accepting assignments all over the country, as well as abroad. Laila grew up as the only daughter of wealthy, Indian doctors, and had followed in her parents' footsteps by becoming a successful biomedical research scientist. Needless to say, money wasn't a worry on either of their minds. With Laila recently turning thirty and talking about cutting down her hours at the lab, Annabelle knew exactly where this was going. In about a year's time, she would probably be sat with her group of friends organising another adorable baby shower, celebrating a perfectly beautiful, soon to be born baby. She could already envision the amazing eyelashes on the kid. "No way! And he didn't tell you at all?" Valerie gasped. "I would go mad if Chris had to leave town unexpectedly." Chris and Valerie. Valerie and Chris. They were two peas in a pot, ever since they started dating in their early twenties. They had been together for over ten years already, four of them as a married couple, and were parents to two beautiful children. Annabelle and Valerie's friendship went back the furthest, having gone to uni together. Both of them were aspiring writers, majoring in English and journalism. It was quite ironic how neither of them ended up in that field. "It was more like a 'By the way, did I mention I'm off to JFK tomorrow evening?' kind of thing. Either way, it was stressful," concluded Laila, "Anyway, moving on. What are you ladies up to, how have you been after the holidays?" "Fine, I've been fine. Getting back into the programme at school. It always takes the girls a bit of time to get back into it after two and a half weeks off, but it's all going alright," Annabelle told her friends, "There's a new girl in my class, though. They moved to the area over Christmas break. It's going well, but some girls still have to get used to having her around, and I have to deal with the worrying mum every other day." Annabelle thought about Mrs. Rodgers and how she had to remind herself the appointment that was scheduled for next Tuesday would be off. She quickly grabbed her iPhone from the table to scratch it from her agenda and make a note. "I don't know how you do it all, babe," Laila complimented, "Just the thought of having any person interrupting my work... I'm so glad I'm pretty much in the lab by myself all day." "You girls wouldn't even believe what the kids get up to these days, it's pretty incredible," Annabelle added. Caitlin shook her head, her eyes slightly widened as to say she was glad she didn't have a clue. One thing Annabelle knew for certain, Caitlin Jones would never have children. "I know, right?" gasped Valerie, "I look at mine and I'm gobsmacked at times, wondering what is going on in their little minds. I can imagine what it must be like to look after twenty of them." "No! No, you can't, Val," Annabelle argued. "Evie is three, Charlie is ten months old, they don't get up to proper mischief. I'm dealing with six and seven year olds all day. Way worse." "Yet you call it your dream job and would go bonkers without any children in your life," Laila smiled. Annabelle couldn't disagree and therefore kept silent. As much as she liked complaining about her kids in school after a long and difficult day, she was more than aware of the fact that she loved her job. She loved establishing bonds with the girls. She loved being able to actually teach them stuff. She loved seeing the kids' development over a year's time. She was truly lucky to have gone into teaching, a career path she hadn't thought of once until the age of twenty-five. "Look at those sparkling, blue eyes!" Caitlin pointed out, "You love it so much, it's endearing to see." She paused for a second. "Astonishing, but endearing." "Speaking of," Annabelle subtly changed the subject, "I have that appointment tomorrow." "Wait. The appointment?" questioned Valerie. "Oh my God, so you went through with it. How are you feeling about it?" Caitlin's eyes were wide. "Alright, to be honest. It's probably just going to be some information about it all, isn't it?" "Yeah, most likely, yeah," Laila imagined, pretending her experience as a biomedical lab scientist was of any use regarding the routine of certain doctor's appointments. "Anyway." Annabelle blinked. "I've managed to get the afternoon off school. Didn't have to mention why. No one besides you three knows, by the way, and I'd like to keep it that way-" "You haven't told your parents?" "God, no." She turned to have a sip of wine, the mere thought of it provoking the need of alcohol. "What about Daniel or Julia?" "Nope." Although no one but her three best friends knew about the pending doctor's appointment, Annabelle did try to talk to her mum and younger sister Julia about what had been on her mind for quite some time when she went home for the holidays. However, the both of them didn't really react the way Annabelle was hoping for, so she promptly decided against going into detail. She didn't feel like telling her friends about her family's stiff reaction, so she just told them her family knew nothing. "Like I said, I'm just starting to read into things, I like to be properly informed, that's all. It's not like I'm off making drastic decisions before telling my family. I'm nowhere near that point, so it wouldn't even be relevant." "Of course. We know you're being smart about this and that you're just gathering information," Valerie said. "Which is the most sensible thing to do at this point," Laila agreed. "Let us know how it goes, though," Caitlin added, "When you've found out something new or when you've decided on going through with... something." "Yeah, of course. Let's meet up for dinner and wines soon. Are you girls free any time next week?" Annabelle asked, already knowing what was about to happen next. Her thoughts were confirmed when everyone grabbed their phone, going over their busy schedules. Sure, Annabelle was quite busy herself, but that was at work. Her evenings would be clear ninety percent of the time, and mostly spent by herself at home. Her friends, however, seemed to have every minute of their days planned out weeks in advance. Visits to the in-laws, appointments at nurseries, date nights with their significant others... Meanwhile none of those kinds of engagements could be found in Annabelle's schedule. As expected, the four friends couldn't find a time to meet up next week. Or the week after. But they agreed on seeing each other again soon, promising they wouldn't let another month go by in the meantime like they unwillingly had previously because of the holidays. The subject of their conversations soon shifted from Caitlin's second date with a rich banker, to what type of handbag Laila would ask David to buy her in New York, to Valerie's confession of wanting to spice up her love life with Chris. Caitlin surely had some tips and tricks for her. Dinner was great. Annabelle appreciated the girls' company, enjoyed the night and felt relaxed on the journey back home as the Northern Line tube brought her back to the south of the river Thames right before midnight.   | Next chapter coming soon > | | Story page | Author | Talk to me |