#i'm an insurance agent

[radiosummons]

Real talk: Does the Jedi Order have a tax exempt status?

I know it's somewhat of a meme to make jokes about how the Jedi don't know how to pay taxes, or rather questioning whether they get paid or make any income at all. And, yes, this question is kinda dumb in the sense that whether the Jedi Order has tax exempt status or not, it doesn't effect the over all story or any actual SW lore in any way that actually matters.

I also know that tax exempt status works differently in other countries besides the US (yes, hello, I am American. I hate it here, too). But for the sake of taking this very dumb question at face value, would the Jedi Order:

1) Count as a religious institution in the eyes of Republic law?

2) If so, would their status as a religious institution have any impact on whether they attained tax exempt status from the Republic?

3) What standards and regulations would the Republic IRS have in place regarding tax exemption?

4) Do the Jedi even have an accounting department?

I would peronally argue that, yes, the Jedi Order is in fact a religious institution. On the account of the obvious connection to the Force and heavily coded (if not just downright) religious practices that the Jedi follow.

However, even if the Republic were to grant the Jedi Order the status of a lawfully recognized religious institution, I'm not sure if this would actually lead to them a guaranteed tax exempt status.

According to United States IRS standards and regulations, the Jedi Order could and would also be seen as a religious institution. However, one of the biggest stipulations for retaining tax exempt status is that the religious institution does not attempt to or make any influence on legislative or attempt to influence political campaigns.

(Palpatine voice: Ironic).

Now, if the Republic had similar stipulations, I would argue that, no, the Jedi do not get tax exemption. Mostly because one of the longest known duties associated with the Jedi Order is their role in assisting with galactic diplomacy. It would be literally impossible for them to not get involved in some capacity, especially when their aid is often directly requested (whether by a Republic aligned planet or not).

That being said, this is all going by the standards of the IRS. And at the risk of sounding too jaded, there are hundreds if not outright thousands of religious institutions in the US that should have lost their tax exempt status decades ago. And yet ....

Obviously, this all ultimately depends on what standards the Republic would theoretically have in place for situations like this. And while I would never actually want George Lucas--or any other writer for that matter--to attempt to give us a canon answer, I can't help but wonder.

Even if the Jedi Order was completely self-reliant--which I personally don't think is possible due to them, well, living on Coruscant for thousands of years-just as an example. It just doesn't make sense to me that the Jedi would limit themselves to only what they make in house when they could have easy access to other local businesses, ya know?--whose to say that they wouldn't still be required to pay for taxes like regular citizens?

The Jedi Temple, again, has literally been there for thousands of years. I don't think it's entirely out of the realm of possibility that the Republic wouldn't have sent their own SW IRS agent at least once to audit the Jedi Order.

I honestly wouldn't even be surprised if that Jedi Order would be given a slight form of tax exemption, but only if certain conditions were met. Like, I don't know, what if an official member of the local Coruscantii/Republic government were to make a direct request for the aid of the Jedi. Maybe they'd get a tax write off for all the transportation and housing (or vehicular damage) they'd acrue while on this government sponsored mission?

Or what about this? Business institutions in the US get tax write offs for charitable donations (which the fuckers exploit to hell and back, fuck me). I have to wonder if there was a point in time (maybe the early years of the ye Old Republic) where someone had to bring up the fact that a lot of what the Jedi do could count fall under charitable tax deductions. So if they wanted to continue taxing the Jedi Order, they'd probably have to change up the definition or something.

Idk, man, I'm sort of spit balling random thoughts at this point.

I'd also like to say that I believe the Jedi do, in fact, have an accounting department. Just to keep thing running smoothly in regards to the Temple budget and so on. It would be kinda hard to keep a place that big with that many occupants still around and for that long without having someone keeping a close eye on the Order's spending.

Mostly, though, I just find the idea of the Jedi being audited absolutely hilarious.

[hellsingmongrel]

Man, so I'm not normally the biggest fan of Modern AUs, nor am I overly fond of fiction focused on kids, but...last night, my sleeping brain decided to concoct this Trigun (Stampede-flavored) Modern AU that now is living rent free in my damn brain! I want to get it out of my head and into the ether. I don't know if I'm going to do anything long-form with it, and I'm having to translate dream weirdness into more coherent storytelling, but here we go.

So it's modern day Earth, like 2024 or some shit, right? And that's when this version of Earth had just begun fucking around with Plant cloning. It's early enough that the SEEDS project hasn't even left the planet, the scientists haven't yet figured out how to put Plants in bulbs and use them for fuel, none of that! But they've already had Tessla happen, and the boys have already been born. Since they're not in space, even though they had to have found out about their sister, Nai hasn't had a chance to literally nuke humanity from orbit, and I guess Rem has had a chance to try and curtail some of his trauma, so he's...more stable? Ish? Stable enough where he's not actively trying to murder everyone. And the boys are "older," like we see in the flashbacks for the time Vash encountered Nai during the Last Run, so probably around 6 years old but looking 16 or so.

Rem has managed to fudge their paperwork so they've started going to school with human kids, to try and give them a normal childhood. Nai isn't as eager to play ball with the whole "being human" thing as much as Vash is, but Vash has got so many friends, Meryl and Milly and Lina are there and they're like the cutest, most stupidly adorable group of friends, just a bunch of little goofballs, like kids that age are. And the school has a field trip to a theme park (it was Disneyworld in my dream because my school actually did this, but ours was a band trip) and Vash manages to convince Rem to let him go. Vash and Nai and Rem are still paranoid about humans figuring out who they are, so you know, he's told to be extra careful and take care of himself, and Nai gives him one of his blades or something for self defense, just in case something happens. Even though Vash would never, that boy has trauma around knives and trying to defend himself, if you've read Trimax, iykyk. But he takes it anyway, and somehow, he manages to sneak it into the park. Maybe the metal doesn't register on metal detectors or something, who knows.

But he's a kid, and kids are dumb. Especially when they're 16. Especially if those 16 year olds aren't actually 16 and don't have the actual lived experience to know better. So he starts playing with the knife in front of the girls, showing off and just being a silly little guy. And then the knife slips. Bad. We're talking "this is how he probably lost his arm in this AU" bad. Blood everywhere, the girls are panicking and take him to the school chaperones and it's like "HOLY SHIT WTF DUDE, We're taking you to the ER, someone call his mom!"

And he hears that, pictures the doctors finding out he's not human, remembers what happened to Tessla, and panics. Boy does a runner like only Vash can do, and he manages to get away from them, out of the park, and escapes from security. And when parents get involved in trying to find him, the authorities start looking into the incident, and someone in the government overseeing the Plant research is able to recognize the elemental make up of the blade he dropped, and they start having suspicions. So the feds get involved, and it just goes from bad to worse, right?

Meanwhile, loopy from blood loss and panicking and a little sobbing mess because he feels dumb about slipping up and he's afraid he'll never get to go home to his mom and his brother again and is spiraling the way kids do when they panic, he gets lost in the city and ends up stumbling over teenage Wolfwood, who lives on the streets and has a few street kids that he looks after on his own with Livio. They never got to live at the orphanage, but that also means that the Eye (in whatever form it takes in this AU) never got ahold of them, so yeah, shits fucked for them, but it's actually a whole lot better for them than it might have been. And it's Wolfwood without all of the EoM trauma, so you can just imagine what he does when this delirious, bloody, terrified, severely injured kid runs him over in the street, sobbing about being caught by the adults and taken away.

Big Brother Nico do what Big Brother Nico do.

At that point, I ended up waking up, but damn if my brain didn't give me enough details to come up with a dumb AU idea that I kind of love and want to do something with, but I don't know if I have the time or spoons to do so.

Ideas I'd had following this beginning to flesh itself out in my head; Luida and Brad are Plant researchers brought onto the project to help the feds figure out wtf is going on with this whole situation, and when Luida is told to talk to Rem, because she's not giving them anything they can use, the two of them reach a secret accord to bring Vash home safe and sound and cover everything back up nice and squeaky clean the way it should have stayed.

Vash's arm is bad enough that he can't really heal it very well on his own without medical care, Plant healing or no. He's doing better than most kids would, but it still begins to go septic, and it forces Nico and Livio to make the really hard decision to find adults they can trust to bring him to so he can get the care he needs. He still ends up losing his arm, though.

At the end of everything, Melanie ends up taking Nico and Livio and the other kids in, so they still get to have their momma figure, even if she comes in later. Maybe she's the one that they find to help them. Is she maybe someone they've known was mostly safe but was never able to get them to stick around long enough to take care of them? Either way, the boys get Vash to her, and it starts the process of getting him home and the kids finally staying at the orphanage.

Meryl, Milly, and Lina all end up sneaking away when they realize that Vash is in more trouble than the adults are letting on, trying to go find him, since they know him better than anyone other than Rem and Nai. Eventually, they meet up with Nico and Livio while everyone is trying to avoid federal agents.

Obviously it's lovey-dovey Vashwood and Insurance Girlfriends and Polygun-flavored, but in the "these kids are too oblivious to think about sexy things, yet" sort of way, because I really do headcanon that at least Vash is ace, Wolfwood is probably demi, and also I am not writing children getting intimate like that. >8/ But kids having little crushes on each other is adorable and I can't not have Vashwood and Insurance Girlfriends be the eventual outcome, once those idiots all grow up and get their heads screwed on straight.

Also, because Nai hasn't had a chance to murder everyone, Rem's managed to work with him enough that he's very slowly overcoming his trauma and regaining his ability to trust that he's not in permanent danger. He'll probably grow up to be a Plants Rights activist or something, lbh. Or a politician. But he's not going to murder people, so either way, it's a win/win!

Because Nico's been living on the streets with him, Razlo either hasn't had to manifest as strongly for Livio, or hasn't manifested at all. Livio is still the sweet, shy, crybaby teddy bear we see, and maybe Razlo only comes out when the feds start getting closer and almost managing to grab the kids, and because he's been able to bond with Nico and the other kids so well this time, Livio is close enough to them that the thought of them getting hurt or taken away is enough to make him want to protect their little group instead of just Livio.

Wolfwood absolutely grumbles about how alike Vash and Livio are. Both a couple'a crybabies, geez, what the Hell you two??? But he also is very much a teddy bear who gives the best hugs when one of his little band of gremlins is upset, so he probably spends more time in a cuddle pile than anything else, now that there's two of them to lose their shit at the drop of a hat.

Vash was totally the one very sweet boy in a clique of girls that everyone who'd known him realized, when they were adults looking back, that he was very much the sweet gay kid hanging out with the girls because it was safer to be himself around them than it was to be around the other boys. (This isn't meant as a stereotype of gay kids, this is based on actual kids I grew up with. My friend group honest to God adopted them because we were all a bunch of momma bears.)

Vash is also...not trans? Because he's a Plant and Plants don't work the same way humans do, but he's also not what humans would think of as a cis boy. He expresses a masc presentation, but probably the closest equivalent would be an intersexed kid. Nai, too, tbh, though he's probably more of the "I don't give a fuck" opinion when it comes to his own gender identity. He uses he/him because that's what humans think when they see him, but he doesn't care any deeper than that.

[clonerightsagenda]

Well, my first full manuscript request from an agent didn't pan out because I am just too good at query letters apparently. (The guides say to focus on the conflict and hook but alas it came across as the book being more consistently tense/action-oriented versus that really only kicking in near the end. I was afraid this would happen. Now I have to figure out how to tone it down without making the query super boring. Still, getting a full request on my first try is pretty good!)

[everchased]

i have a growing list of criticisms of stampede compared to og trigun but the biggest one thus far is where the absolute goddamn fuck is milly

[jontheredrc]

I watched the SAW movies when I was in high school, but they got really samey and lost my interest after awhile

but I do kinda miss how unhinged it is, because Jigsaw claims “ooh, I’m not a serial killer, I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you, you had every opportunity to not be chopped into salsa by my custom-made kill-collar that I made and then strapped on to you, you whizzed the opportunity right down your leg, you made your choice, I didn’t do anything, I’m not touching you”, and people start genuinely agreeing with that? both in the movie universe and out? fuckin genius comedy tbh

[dozenssporks]

wolfwood, on the phone: you found broom-head where?!

meryl: Like I said, the luggage compartment of a bus heading to North Dakota

vash, shoving his face next to meryl’s so he can shout into the phone: I was gonna see the world’s largest buffalo!

meryl: get off me, dimwit!

*meryl pushes vash away he trips backwards and hits a shelf, several books falling and hitting his head as he slides to the floor*

vash: am I hitting the books or are the books hitting me??

meryl, turning around and ignoring him: he’s jet-lagged out of his mind but he’s hopped up on caffeine or something and won’t take a nap

wolfwood: well, if you’re making him sleep in the motel tub again . . .

millie, who had been passing by with a cup of tea and paused to listen: oh no! we don’t do that anymore, his snores echo in there! Hi, mr. priest!

wolfwood: hey, big girl. What’s he been drinking to get himself so hyper? You know his weird system only gets sleepy when you give him coffee

meryl: there were a lot of cans in that luggage compartment and I did not and do not want to know what they were. Do you have any idea how to get him to sleep that isn’t hitting him on the back of the head with a laptop?

wolfwood: y’see spiky doesn’t like to nap when he’s jet lagged, it--

vash: IT GIVES ME THE HEEBIE-JEEBIES

meryl: stop using your freakishly sharp hearing to listen to our conversation!

millie: mr. vash, be careful! if you jump around like that you’ll spill your tea!

wolfwood: yeah like he said, gives him the heebie-jeebies.

meryl, pinching the bridge of her nose and letting out a long frustrated sigh: what, pray tell, are the ‘heebie-jeebies’?

wolfwood: he has like these weird dreams about spiders an’ stuff crawling on ‘im and he can’t move. Or lizards. I can’t remember.

vash: they take turns! sometimes it’s rats! once it was butterflies drinking my blood!

millie: aw, no wonder you don’t wanna sleep

vash: thank you millie you are the only valid person

meryl: i have very kindly been restraining myself from wringing your neck so shut up!

wolfwood: er. there is a thing that might work.

meryl: please tell me. I’m beginning to remember you get the reward money even if you bring him in dead.

wolfwood: okay, but if you laugh at what I’m about to say you’re a bad person

meryl: I will take that risk. hit me.

wolfwood, sighing: hold his hand while he falls asleep

meryl:

wolfwood: you’re a bad person.

meryl: I didn’t say anything!

wolfwood: I can hear you thinking! Look, hold his hand and after he’s asleep stay in the room. if he starts making noises in his sleep just kinda quietly say his name until he stops.

vash: I refuse to hold hands! I’m saving myself for marriage! that was non-consensual hand-holding!

meryl: okay, two questions. One, how do you know this? Two, does it really work?

wolfwood: it works on the kids back home, I was on the verge of beating his spiky head in, I gave it a shot. Not a hundred percent success rate but fairly high.

meryl: Urgh. I guess it’s easier than getting rid of a body.

wolfwood: that’s the spirit. welp, since this isn’t my problem I’ll sign off. have fun and God bless!

meryl: drop dead!

*meryl hangs up and whips around. vash in the act of trying to climb a shelf freezes in place*

meryl: millie

vash: no. don’t.

meryl: grab him

millie: yes, ma’am!

vash, kicking and flailing in millie’s grip: noooo! you’re so mean! you’re still the only valid person but you’re so mean!

[quaranmine]

BITING AND KILLING. i just received a $170 dentist bill for a visit except i have dental insurance and the dentist is in network and the plan explicitly states that preventative visits is no cost, up to 1 or 2 per year. so. what happened

[bread-and-roses-too]

sorry I haven't been on top of sharing news about what's going on in Palestine I've been going through a lot personally (I'm ok my brain is just full)

[zhuhongs]

mouuu channnnn

[the-music-keeper]

Well, Objective #26 is kind of done. They made me use a chat, and now I'm worried because I haven't received an email like the agent said I was going to and when I logged out of the chat, the account had my mom's name on it. So ... now I'm scared I accidentally changed the address on my parents' policy.

[fratboykate]

I'm totally in support of the writers in theory but I'm trying to understand more of what you're fighting for because I've seen some people on twitter claim writers make more money a week than most of us make in a month so I'm trying to understand what the issue is. Also if that info is accurate. This is a genuine question. Not trying to have a "gotcha moment". I really want to hear from a writer.

people have always had wild misconceptions about how much a writer earns because of their lack of understanding of how the industry actually works. there's so many posts about how "you guys make 5k a week. what more do you want?!" yeah...let's do some math on that.

5k a week for 14 weeks (and that's a long room. a lot of rooms these days are 8-10 weeks. those are the dreaded mini-rooms we're trying to kill) is $70,000. for roughly three months of work. you'd think we're cooking with gas...BUT HOLD UP. that's gross! let's see everything that has to come out of that check:

10% to our agent

10% to our manager

5% to our entertainment attorney

5% to our business manager (not everyone has one but a lot of us do. i do, so that's literally 30% immediately off the top of every check)

most of these breakdowns ive seen downplay taxes severely. someone made one that says writers pay 5% in taxes and i would like to ask them "in what universe?". that doesn't even cover state taxes. the way taxes work in the industry is really complicated, but the short of it is most of us have companies for tax reasons so we aren't taxed like people on w2s/1099. if we did we'd be even more fucked. basically every production hires a writer's company instead of the writer as an individual. so they engage our companies for our services and then at the end of the year we (the company) pay taxes as corporations or llcs (depending on what the writer chose to go with). my company is registered as a "corporation" so let's go with those rates. california's corporate rate is 9% and the federal corporate tax rate is 21%. there's other expenses with running a business like fees and other shit so my business managers/accountants/bookkeepers have recommended i save between 35-40% of everything i make for when tax season comes.

you see where the math is at already??? 25-30% in commissions and then 35-40% in taxes. on the lower end you're at THE VERY LEAST looking at 60% of that check gone. 70% worst case scenario. suddenly those $70,000 people claim we make are actually down to $28,000 as the take home pay. and that's if you're only losing 60%. it goes down to $21,000 if it's 70%.

lets pretend you worked a long 14 week room (that's the longest room ive ever worked btw) and let's also be generous and say you only have 60% in expenses so the take home is $28,000. average rent in los angeles is around $2,800-$3,000. if you're paying $2,800 in rent that means you need AT LEAST $4,000 a month to have a semi decent life since you need to also cover groceries, gas, medical expenses, toiletries, phone, internet, utilities, rental and car insurances, car payments, student loan payments, etc etc etc. and again, this is los angeles. everything is more expensive so you're living BARE BONES on 4k. and these are numbers as a single person. im not even taking having children into account. so those $28,000 you take home might cover your life for 6-7 months. 3 of which you're in the room working. the reality is that once that room ends, you might not work in a room again for 6-9-12 months (i have friends whose last jobs were over 18 months ago) and you now only have about 3 months left of savings to hold you over. we have to make that money stretch while we do all the endless free development we do for studios and until we get our next paying job. so...3 months left of enough money to cover your expenses -> possible 9 months of not having a job. this is how writers end up on food stamps or applying to work at target.

this is why we're fighting for better rates and better residuals. residuals were a thing writers used to rely on to get them through the unemployment periods. residual checks have gone down from 20k to $0.03 cents. im not joking.

they've decimated our regular pay and then destroyed residuals. we have nothing left. so don't believe it when they tell you writers are being greedy. writers are simply fighting to be able to make a middle class living. we're not asking them to become poor for our sake. we're asking for raises that amount to 2% of their profit. TWO PERCENT. this is a fight for writing even being a career in five years instead of something you do on the side while you work retail to pay your bills. if you think shows are bad now imagine when your writer has to do it as a hobby because they need a real job to pay their bills and support a family. (which none of us can currently afford to have btw)

support writers. stop being bootlickers for billion dollar corporations. stop caring about fictional people more than you care about the real people that write them. if we don't win this fight it truly is game over. the industry as you know it is gone.

[six-of-ravens]

huh maybe this has something to do with the fact that the conservatives removed the price cap on insurance like 3 years ago...

[travel-expeditiously]

[bella-rose29]

paper rings

Anthony Lockwood x fem!reader

Word count: 10.2k words

Warnings: mild spoilers for the later books (this is set after TEG and they're all 18+), a LOT of mildly explicit innuendoes and sexual references, swearing

this is my Valentine's Day surprise that I've been talking about, so happy Valentine's Day to you all! <3

based on the Taylor Swift song of the same name

Anthony Lockwood masterlist

It was nearly 2 in the morning, and Y/n L/n was exhausted. 

She had been on a case for the last seven hours and everything hurt and ached - including places in her body she didn't even know she had - and she just wanted her bed and an incredibly large cup of tea. 

So why was she having to babysit three other agents who really should have been old enough to look after themselves?

Two of them seemed to be high on flare fumes, giggling about absolutely nothing and making weird sounds every few seconds. The third was smiling fondly at his friends and coworkers, but wasn't doing anything to stop them from getting closer and closer to the edge of their sanity. 

Y/n sighed for the millionth time in the last ten minutes, and the third agent (the one who wasn't as insane as the other two - she'd nicknamed him Beanpole) looked over from where he was leaning back against the DEPRAC van with his arms crossed. Somehow he looked effortlessly cool and relaxed, despite the plasma stains and dirt covering his entire body. 

“Are you alright?” he asked. 

“I'm fine, just want to go home and stop looking after three other agents.” 

“Ah, that’s fair. Wait, 'looking after’?”

“Yeah, Barnes told me to keep an eye on you three 'cause you were in trouble or something.” 

“Oh, we're not in trouble,” he grinned, and although she rolled her eyes she couldn't deny the way her heart skipped a beat at his smile. “Barnes just likes being dramatic. We didn't do anything.” Somehow she didn't believe him, but the sheer amount of charm that was pouring out of him was making her disregard any concerns she had about how truthful he was being. 

“So what is it that you aren't in trouble for then?” His grin only grew wider, and Y/n found herself smiling back. 

“Minor property damage. But in our defence our client didn't warn us about the malignant smoke that she'd seen creeping out of the basement or even the intense waves of nausea she felt when walking past her under stairs cupboard. So we really can't take any of the blame for completely decimating her bannisters and front hall. Plus, we're insured.”

“No you're not,” Barnes interrupted, joining the conversation and holding a manilla folder. “You didn't have your DEPRAC standardised iron chains, Lockwood. Not according to this report.” That made Beanpole (Lockwood? Although that didn't sound much like a name) stand up, uncrossing his arms as a frown decorated his pretty face. 

“What? But we did, I made sure after Mrs Hope's house.” Y/n didn't know what had happened at Mrs Hope's house, but from the way Barnes was frowning even more than usual and somehow looking even more unimpressed with Beanpole she figured she didn't want to know. “You can go in and check if you like, they're still in the hall.”

“Fine. L/n, you go in and check.” 

“What?” 

“Just check the chains are there, then come back. They managed to at least get rid of the ghosts.”

“Alright,” she grumbled, hoisting her belt up a little and trudging off in the direction of the building Barnes had pointed her to. She shouldn't even be here, since she was meant to have been at home around half an hour ago, but now she was making her way into some random woman's house to carry out a job that any random DEPRAC officer could have done (if what Barnes had said about the other agents removing the Visitors was true). She pushed open the door, glad for her gloves at the chill in the air, and scoffed when she immediately laid eyes on the thick iron chains that had been kicked to the side in the fight. Y/n picked them up, huffing under the added weight, and was about to turn and leave when her eyes caught on the state of the front hall. “What the actual fuck…” she whispered, then shook her head and closed the door behind her, choosing to ignore the mess inside. 

“Well?” Barnes demanded when she'd made her way back. She dropped the chains at his feet. 

“Yep. I don't know why I had to do that though, anyone could have looked.” She was being irritable, she knew, but she thought she was perfectly justified in feeling that way.

“Alright.” Barnes looked unhappy about the whole situation too, but that wasn't Y/n's fault. “Then just sign these papers and you three can go.” Beanpole was smiling smugly, and he nodded and took the papers that Barnes handed him. 

“Thank you, Inspector. Luce, George, here.” They were both still laughing at something only they knew about, clutching their sides as they took the sheets of paper that Beanpole handed them. 

“Can I go home too?” Y/n asked Barnes while the others signed the forms. 

“Yeah. Maybe catch a ride with these three, they're your way.”

“Fine.”

A few minutes later the four of them were piled into a taxi and heading off down the road in the direction of Marylebone. 

“So,” Beanpole started. The moon was shining bright on his face through the taxi window, making him look like a Visitor himself when combined with his already pale skin and the dark shadows under his eyes. He still looked effortlessly gorgeous though, and Y/n found herself wondering if he was single. “You're an agent then. Solo?”

“Oh, yeah. Never liked working for the big companies. They never really cared about the people, you know? Shit,” her eyes widened as she realised what she'd said. “Are you a company?”

“Yes, but don't worry. We have a grand total of four people at our agency. Sometimes five or six if we get extra help from others.”

“That's... very small. Is the fourth your supervisor?”

“No, our secretary actually. Holly doesn't much like being in the field anymore though, but that works out alright for us. She still gets paid a good amount.”

“So if you don't have a supervisor…”

“I'm the agency head,” he smiled, but now instead of appearing chipper and light, he looked tired and weighed down by the responsibility of running a company and looking after his coworkers. “Anthony Lockwood, Lockwood and Co.” 

“Y/n L/n, formerly of Fittes.” They shook hands awkwardly in the limited space they had in the back of the taxi. 

“And you left because they don't care about the people?”

“That's right. I always wanted to connect more, but I guess that's because of my Touch. Fittes were much more businesslike about it all, just going in and getting the job done and not caring about anything other than having another successful case under their belt. It just didn't sit right with me.”

“Well if you ever feel like working for a company again, you could always come and work with us,” Anthony Lockwood said. “I'm sure we could do with someone like you helping us out. Besides, we do care about the people; it's pretty much the only thing going for us other than our skill in the field.”

“First stop?” the driver called out, slowing the vehicle. 

“Oh, that's me,” Y/n stated, grabbing the door handle and getting out. “Thanks for letting me ride with you.” She moved to the boot of the taxi to take her kit bag and rapier, and was surprised when Anthony Lockwood followed her, helping her to balance all the bags inside and making sure that nothing fell out. “Thank you.”

“Not a problem. And I mean it, if you ever feel like joining us on a case then just come and find us.”

“That's... that's actually nice of you, thank you.” He nodded with a smile, then clambered back into the taxi (which looked difficult with how long and thin his limbs were). She stood on the pavement for a few moments, waiting for the taxi to start moving again and waving at the three agents left in the cab as they drove off down the road. 

As soon as she was inside her shared house, door firmly shut and locked and kettle boiling on the stove, she pulled up the chair at her desk and switched on her computer, typing in her password and logging in. Ten minutes later she had a mug of tea brewing on her desk while she furiously tapped at the keyboard for any information on Lockwood and Co, and was pleasantly surprised by what she found. There wasn't much, since she couldn't access a lot of the full reports of cases, but there was a decent number of newspaper articles that had been uploaded for her to read. One detailed the £60,000 fine that the company had been given for setting fire to a certain Mrs Hope's home a few years prior, and from the blurry black and white photo the blaze looked like it hadn't left much behind. 

Further research provided an address for their agency at 35 Portland Row, not far away from where she currently lived. One or two articles were about the parade incident from the Black Winter and Lockwood and Co's success in protecting the people present, but other than that there wasn't much more. 

She sat back in her chair, sipping the last of her tea. Bedtime for now, but when she finally woke up she'd head to the nearest corner store and pick up some food. The fridge had been nearly empty when she'd looked earlier, and she knew that Portland Row was on the way back. 

She wanted to say thank you again (and totally not spy on their house), and everybody loved a doughnut.

~~~

Y/n had knocked on the door roughly two minutes ago, and nobody had answered. 

She knew that they were all at home, because she could hear them arguing about who was going to answer the door, but nobody had done it yet. 

Knocking once more while balancing the box of doughnuts in her other hand she sighed, waited another thirty seconds, and just as she turned to leave she heard the locks click behind her. The door swung open to reveal Anthony Lockwood, once more dressed in a suit (a lot cleaner than the one he'd been wearing in the early hours of that morning), and a wide smile on his face. 

“It's you! Miss L/n, was it?”

“Uh, yeah. Just Y/n is fine though. Um, I just wanted to say thanks again for the lift last night, and for being nice and shit when you didn't have to be, and I bought some doughnuts if you guys wanted them.” She tried to surreptitiously peer around him to take a look at his front hall, but the interior was quite dark and cluttered and it was difficult to pretend to not be inspecting somebody's home when they were stood in front of you. 

“Oh, you really didn't have to, Y/n.” He took the box out of her hands anyway. “Did you want to come in?”

“No, thank you. I should get back. I've got a lot of paperwork to get through and I think one of my housemates is cleaning today and wanted everyone's help, so…” she trailed off, rocking slightly on her heels while Anthony Lockwood watched her. 

“Right, well, thanks for stopping by! And for the doughnuts, that was very generous of you.”

She shrugged. “I've had taxi rides with people I was actually working with and they were complete arseholes to me, so I really appreciated you not being like that when you didn't even know me.”

“Anytime.” He paused for a moment, then frowned at her. “How did you find us? I know I said that you could always drop by but I don't remember actually telling you where we live. There's not a problem with it, by the way, just curious.”

“Oh, I looked it up. Figured you meant to tell me and never got round to it. Besides, I needed to go shopping anyway and I live nearby, so it wasn't too difficult for me.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Well it was lovely seeing you again, Y/n. I look forward to our next meeting.” His smile was infectious, and she still had a grin on her face at the thought of him when she went to bed that night.

~~~

For the next few months, both Y/n and Lockwood and Co were busy with their own cases, but regularly passed each other in the street. Anthony Lockwood had taken to sending her a wink or flirty quite early on, and because Y/n believed it impossible that someone like him was single and therefore able to chase after someone like her, she ignored him. Every now and then she would indulge him, of course, flirting back to see how he would react (he was always pleasantly surprised and kept their little game going for as long as he could before he was needed), but for the most part she would walk right past him. 

It wasn't entirely her fault, since many of the times they bumped into each other she was on a time schedule, and didn't have the extra minute or so to flirt with the pretty boy. 

The last time had been different, though.

~~~

“Hello again, darling,” a voice said from her left, and Y/n smiled when she recognised it right away as Lockwood's. They knew each other better now, from the few times that they had been able to talk for longer and ask how the other was doing, and when he had found out that she was calling him Anthony Lockwood in her head he gave her a look of barely contained amusement and told her she could pick one. 

Anthony had felt too personal, since everyone else that spoke to him seemed to call him Lockwood, and she didn't think they knew each other that well for her to use his first name. 

“Come here often?” he asked, appearing in her field of view and leaning on the table she was sat at in the small night café. 

“Only when I know that you're going to be here,” Y/n responded, and delighted in the faint pink tinge that came onto his cheeks. 

“May I?” He gestured to the chair opposite her, and she nodded. 

“Not with your friends tonight?”

“No, they're probably at home already, lucky bastards. My case ran on a bit longer than I expected, and I couldn't wait for a cup of tea. Plus, when I saw you in here I couldn't not come and see you.”

They sat there for a while, making their way through two cups of tea each before deciding to leave, and Lockwood offered to take the taxi home with her.

When they were nearly back to Y/n's house, he spoke up. 

“I'll pay, if you like. I'll be paying for this stretch of the journey anyway so it doesn't make much of a difference to me.”

“Oh, Lockwood, I can pay you for my part at least, it's not a big deal to me.”

“Nonsense.” He seemed to hesitate for a moment, just as they drove around the corner onto her street. “Or… you could come back to Portland Row with me?” Their flirting had never gone as far as properly inviting the other back to their place (although there had always been the comments of 'why don't we finish this somewhere else?' or 'wanna come home with me and prove it?'), and it took Y/n a moment to realise that he was being serious. 

“I mean... if you're sure? I don't want to impose or anything.”

“No, you won't be imposing, darling. George and Lucy will be asleep, I'm sure. I think there's half a bottle of wine that needs finishing off if you wanted to share? No pressure though.”

“That sounds great, actually.”

“So are you two both going to Portland Row then?” the driver called, and Lockwood nodded. 

“Yes please.” He turned back to Y/n, worry starting to creep into his expression. “You did agree, right?”

“Yes, Lockwood, I did. I think I need something that's not tea to be honest.”

“You can stay the night, too. If you need to. I'll sleep on the sofa and you can have my bed.”

“I'm not kicking you out of your own bed, Lockwood. How big is it?”

“Darling, I'm scandalised that you would ask me that question. You know that size doesn't mat-” He was cut off by Y/n smacking him in the chest, and he chuckled when she glared at him. 

“The bed, Lockwood, how big is the bed? If I wanted to know the size of your dick I'd ask you to strip.” She ignored the weird look that the driver cast them in his rear view mirror and focused on Lockwood's answer instead. 

“Steady, darling. We're not back yet.” He yelped when she whacked him again, and caught her wrists and held them so that she couldn't attack him anymore. “It's a double.”

“Well then we can both fit, can't we?”

“Asking me to strip, getting me into bed with you? If I didn't know any better, darling, I'd say that you were trying to seduce me,” he smirked, leaning in close. 

“Oh, Lockwood. I think we both know I did that a long time ago, don't we.” They were dangerously close to kissing, their lips only a couple of centimetres away from each other while their noses brushed with every jolt in the road, and then the taxi was slowing and pulling up to the curb outside 35 Portland Row. 

“Alright you two, out. And use protection please, you're too young to be havin' kids.” Y/n flushed and opened the door, moving around to the boot to take out her kit bag and rapier, and when Lockwood followed a moment later after paying the driver his face was red too.

~~~

“Here,” Lockwood said, handing over a tea mug filled with wine. 

“Thanks. You're sure the others won't mind us drinking this?”

“They've had plenty of time to drink it, and I own the house and therefore the kitchen and the contents of the fridge are mine too, so I say it's fair game.” His smile was slightly blinding, but Y/n had learned to see past the glare and look at his eyes instead, finding the pure joy behind the façade he put up for the world to see. 

They didn't know each other that well, when everything was considered, but Y/n did call him her friend when describing their relationship, and she did feel that if asked, Lockwood would say the same. 

Around thirty minutes later Y/n was nearly doubled over with laughter at some stupid thing that Lockwood had said (the wine had gone straight to her head and she had no recollection of what exactly he had said), clutching her sides as they sat in the cluttered library with the bottle of wine between them. 

“You, Anthony Lockwood, are ridiculous!”

“I am! In fact, have I shown you my hat collection?”

“Is that some sort of weird euphemism? Or are you genuinely more deranged than I thought you were?”

“Not a euphemism, love,” he grinned, and Y/n in her wine-addled state thought about how he was starting to look like the deranged young man she'd just accused him of being. 

“So... you actually have a hat collection? Why?” Lockwood shrugged. 

“It's good for disguises when I need to do a little bit of extra research for a case. I can do accents too!”

“No offence, Lockwood, but I've heard some of your accents, and I'm very surprised that you haven't been hunted down and killed yet.”

“Believe me, people have tried!” Somehow he didn't look concerned about that, still smiling just as widely as before, and Y/n thought he looked rather nice like that.

~~~

When she woke up in the morning, Y/n realised she had never taken the painkillers Lockwood had left on the bedside table for her to use. 

“Shit,” she whispered, grabbing the packet and the glass of water and swallowing the pills the best she could in an attempt to stave off the headache that had formed. After finishing off the wine, Lockwood had managed to find some more alcohol hidden away in a cupboard in the library ("It's my personal stash, so don't worry about feeling guilty about drinking this") and they had stayed up until it was nearly sunrise talking about everything and nothing. She was regretting not drinking the water before sleeping, and when she flopped back onto the bed and under the covers she realised that there was someone else in the bed with her. 

Lockwood looked peaceful asleep.

While she didn't mind waking up next to him in the morning (the view was actually rather nice), not being able to remember what had happened the night before was a little disturbing, especially since she was in her underwear and, as far as she could tell, Lockwood wasn't wearing any clothes. 

The bedsheets had been partially kicked off in the night, most likely because the heating was apparently on full from the very warm temperature of the room, and the duvet had bunched up around Lockwood's waist. She didn't want to wake him by trying to find out if anything had happened last night, since he probably never slept with the sheer size of the shadows under his eyes, so instead she carefully got out of bed and picked up her clothes.

Finding all of her things was difficult, since they'd been flung all around the room in what she hoped was drunkenness and not desperation, but after nearly ten minutes she was dressed and reaching for the door handle. She didn't make it that far though, because before she could leave the sounds of somebody waking up started coming from the bed, and Lockwood was asking her where she was going. 

“Oh, I just... I just figured you wouldn't want me to stick around-”

“Why would you think that?” He was rubbing his eyes and sitting up, and she had to force her gaze away from where the sheets were dangerously close to revealing whether or not they had slept together. 

“I don't know.” There was silence for a minute or so while Lockwood tried to wake up enough to work out what was going on, and Y/n stood by the door feeling very awkward. “Did we... did anything happen? Last night?”

“Don't think so. I feel like I would remember that, darling,” he winked, and she felt her face heat up. 

“Oh, right. Yeah.”

“You don't seem convinced.”

“No, I am,” she said, very unconvincingly. There was another silence while she hesitated. “Are you naked?” she blurted out, immediately covering her face with her hands to block out Lockwood's shocked reaction. His laughter didn't help, only serving to make her feel more embarrassed than she already was, and she stayed safely behind her hands while she waited for it all to be over. 

“No, darling, I'm not naked. But if you wanted me to be then I'm sure we could figure something out.” She could hear the amusement in his voice and groaned in frustration, knowing that he wouldn't ever let her live this moment down. 

“I'm good, thanks.” She didn't really mean it, but it was nice to have a friend like Lockwood, and she figured that having sex with him probably wouldn't help to keep that friendship at all. 

“Alright. Well if you don't want to see me in my pants then keep your hands there, I'm getting out of bed.” For the most part she obeyed, but she would be lying if she said that she didn't peek through her fingers briefly while he was getting dressed.

~~~

Luckily the other members of Lockwood and Co were not at home when Y/n left that morning, having said no to Lockwood's offer of breakfast (she would pick up something from Arif's, even if it was out of her way a little), and within half an hour she was back in her own house with a very large cup of tea and a plate of food in her favourite armchair in the living room. 

When one of her housemates asked her where she had been all night, a suggestive tone to her question, Y/n simply shrugged, and replied “What's it to you?”

~~~

One week later she was running for her life. 

It wasn't that this sort of thing didn't happen often, since her job required a lot of running a lot of the time, but normally she wasn't this exhausted from it. She wasn't even working on a case, either. Y/n had just been walking home from her actual case for that night when she'd accidentally taken a wrong turn in her fatigued state and had come face to face with a bunch of Type Twos. 

At least she had her rapier and a few flares and salt bombs left, and her boots were solid enough that despite how much running she had already done that night, she couldn't feel the ground beneath her feet when normally her soles would be protesting in pain. 

“Fuck's sake,” she grumbled, heading for the nearest iron fence she could find. Unfortunately she still had to cross a road that was surprisingly busy at this time of night (or morning? she wasn't sure where the line between the two was drawn) and then vault over the fence into the park, which was probably also infested with Visitors. Going against every action movie she had ever seen she looked back (which was precisely what she shouted at the characters for), then immediately stumbled since she couldn't see where she was going. Her brief pause in her flight allowed the Visitors to catch up a little, and within a few seconds she was seeing her life flash before her eyes and throwing up her rapier in a last ditch attempt to not die. 

Then something else was flashing before her eyes, and the ghosts were being driven off. 

Y/n realised with a start that the flash had been Lockwood and his stupid grin, dressed in his stupid long coat that was stupidly attractive on him, waving his rapier around in stupidly perfect motions. 

“Did you miss me, darling?” She didn't even have time to respond, already ducking to not be hit by the bicycle a Poltergeist had sent flying their way, and Lockwood pushed her to the ground to dodge the railing that followed. They landed with a thump, and Y/n winced when her back hit the concrete of the pavement and then again a very brief moment later when Lockwood landed on her. 

“I did, Lockwood. I really did miss you.” She hoped that he could see how sincere she was, and he looked as though he was about to say something. Unfortunately he was cut off when a badly-aimed salt bomb exploded right above their heads, and a small “Sorry!” was called out from somewhere nearby. 

“Not to worry, George!” Lockwood yelled back as he got off the floor. He offered out a hand and Y/n let him pull her up, holding her breath when he pulled with more force than was needed and she fell into his chest. “Woah,” he said, voice quiet. “You alright?” His free hand had come up to steady her by the arm, and now he was gently stroking up and down. She wondered if he knew he was doing it. 

“Yeah. Can we maybe run away from the death bikes?”

“I think that would be a good idea. You going home?” Y/n shook her head. 

“One of my housemates has their partner over, and I'd really rather not be there. I was gonna put up with it but if you're offering your bed again I won't say no,” she teased. Lockwood's face went pink, but not from the cold or the running. 

“I'm always offering my bed, darling, you should know that by now.” His smile was as blinding as the flash he had appeared in, and then he was tugging her hand and leading her away from the ghosts (which wouldn't be able to follow after a while, since she'd already run quite far from their Sources), and instead heading for 35 Portland Row. 

When they made it inside (Lucy was already in bed, but Lockwood and George had been coming back from a case like Y/n), George bade the two of them goodnight, then tiredly climbed the stairs, leaving Lockwood and Y/n in the front hall. It was dimly lit, only the lamp on the hall cupboard providing any reprise from the darkness, and the yellow glow of it made Lockwood look ethereal. 

He had dust and dirt all over him, staining his usually perfect white shirt and tie, and his hair was a mess from the slight wind outside, but he still wore his confidence and his charm like a second skin, and he had never looked more like Anthony Lockwood in all the time Y/n had known him. 

“What were you even doing out there?” he asked. 

“I was coming back from a job, took a wrong turn somewhere, and came face to face with those fuckers. I'm just really glad that you were there in time because I probably would've ended up in hospital otherwise. Or a furnace.”

“I'm glad I was there too,” Lockwood said, stepping forward. He made to move his hand, as though he might reach out and touch hers, but then his fist was clenching at his side again, fingers flexing every few seconds. “I thought you would be alright, really. Then I saw you trip - why the hell did you look back? You always get annoyed when they do that in movies. I was scared, Y/n, that you might not get back up again.” She could tell that he meant it too, from the way he was looking at her. It was almost too much, his gaze, since it was heavy with so much emotion that they hadn't even properly addressed between them, and that was probably why he kissed her. 

She both had and hadn't been expecting it. 

It made sense when she thought about it, because beneath all the teasing and flirting there was attraction and a real desire, and she had always figured that being with someone was easier if you knew and trusted them. But she had never thought that either of them would act on it, since both of them seemed happy to let the friendship cover up the truth because at least that meant they weren't without the other. Bringing the truth to light could ruin that, and then they might not see each other at all. 

Now, though, she wondered why they hadn't kissed before. 

It had been brief, a few seconds at most, but it was enough to make her realise that they had been incredibly stupid in not doing it earlier. She had had such a long night - they both had - and when he pressed his lips to hers for the second time she knew that despite the fatigue and near death experiences involving bicycles, they would be alright. Her hands had moved without her fully knowing, and when they pulled away after the second kiss she realised that they were in his hair and clutching his coat that he hadn't taken off yet. His were nestled around her waist, holding her close to him while he searched her eyes for any sign to stop. 

The third kiss was the longest yet, and it took them a long time to move from the front hall to his bedroom.

~~~

Y/n had always been a fan of anything that shone, and had been called a magpie by nearly everyone that knew her. 

It didn't matter if it was expensive or not, if it was shiny, then she would have it. Growing up she hadn't been used to expense, and finding trinkets on the street was her speciality, but every now and then someone would buy her something a little less on the cheap side, and she would be overjoyed. 

Then of course there were the things she bought herself. 

The Fittes Ball that she was on her way to had invited agents of all kinds (a rarity for solo agents who usually went forgotten), and her outfit was one of the most expensive things that she had bought yet (other than her shared house). It was worth it, though, for the look on Lockwood's face when he first saw her. 

“You look incredible, Y/n/n!” Lucy gushed, immediately wrapping her new friend in a hug. George and Holly agreed, and while their fussing was nice it was Lockwood's opinion she really wanted. They hadn't spoken after the night they spent together two weeks ago, and now he had an unreadable expression on his face while he looked at her. It was ridiculous, really, how nervous she was to know what he was thinking, since she had never usually cared about what any man thought of her. 

“Thank you, I love your dress, Luce! And George, are you actually in a suit? No, no, no, you look very nice! Holly, you look incredible as always,” she said, returning the compliments her friends had given her. Her gaze kept darting back to Lockwood though, and after the others had moved away to talk to someone else, he cleared his throat. 

“Y/n.”

“Lockwood.” He took a step towards her. 

“You know I told you you could call me Anthony.” He had, not long after he'd taken her to his bed. 

“Oh, right. I didn't know if that was just... for then.” She was struggling to look at him now, so she missed the way his expression softened. 

“It's for whenever, darling.”

“Okay,” she said, and the small smile he gave her made her heart beat a little faster in her chest. 

“You look stunning, darling. Truly.”

“So do you, Anthony,” she replied, and this time she took a step forward to close the distance. A frown came onto her face, and when he asked her why she paused for a moment before answering. “What are we? Because we haven't spoken since... since that night, and now we're acting like we did before and I'm just quite confused.”

Instead of responding with words, he dug into his suit jacket pocket and pulled out a folded paper, handing it to her a second later. She tried not to focus too much on his hands (the memories of two weeks ago were coming back to the front of her mind now) and took it with confusion, starting to unfold it. 

“Oh, I'll be back in a minute, George is calling me over.” He flashed her one of his winning smiles and was off, moving in what she assumed was the direction of George. She finally unfolded the paper and was surprised to see that it was mostly blank, just one question and two little points below it. A pen had been folded into it, and she bit back a smile when she'd read the words. 

Would you go on a date with me? Please circle one answer

yes

no

He was ridiculous, she had decided, but then again she couldn't deny how ridiculously cute it was that he'd written out this mini questionnaire and put it in his pocket, despite not knowing whether she would actually be here or not to take it from him. Why he'd left immediately she didn't know, but maybe he was just too nervous to find out her reaction right away. She clicked the pen and circled 'yes' the best she could with no hard surface to lean on, and winced when the paper punctured. He knew where to find her, but she wrote her address anyway and the house phone number, and refolded the paper. Looking around she couldn't immediately see him, but then she caught a flash of a smile that could only have belonged to one Mr Anthony Lockwood, and she made for where he stood. He blushed slightly when he caught sight of her, then his cheeks burned brighter when she tucked the piece of paper and the pen in the pocket just inside his jacket (standing much closer to him than she needed to), and walked away without a word.

~~~

Two hours later they had snuck into the Fittes building's public library, giggling about something stupid one of the stuck-up snobs who was far too old to still be alive had said while they sipped the fancy champagne that was being served. 

“Do you think they get many kids in here? Like, actual kids who would need entertaining?” she asked, making Anthony look round from where he'd been perusing the shelves. 

“I doubt it. Why?”

“They've got origami. Look,” she pointed, putting her champagne flute down on a sideboard and picking up a sheet. “I used to be able to make loads of things, but I reckon if I tried making a rabbit or something now it'd look like someone folded a bit of paper a bunch of times and then sat on it.”

“I used to make those snowflakes where you fold it into quarters and cut bits out. Got quite good in the end; I could make chains of them eventually.”

“Of course you're good at making paper snowflakes,” she muttered, no hint of malice behind it. “You're good at everything, I swear.”

“Oh, that's not true.”

“Really? Name one thing that you can't do.” He paused, and she could practically see the cogs turning in his head. “See? You can't do it!”

“Well, I don't think that was very fair, actually, because you didn't give me long enough to actually think about it!” She moved to sit down, picking out various colours of paper squares before settling on one she liked. Anthony sat down next to her, his thigh close enough to hers that she could feel his body heat through his suit. He chose his own square of paper, immediately starting to fold it in different ways. 

“What are you gonna make?” she asked him, not looking up from where she was attempting to make an origami butterfly. 

“That's a secret.”

“Alright then,” she snorted, “be mysterious. Is that because you're bad at origami and you're trying to hide it by making me guess?”

“Sure, that's what's happening.”

They sat in comfortable silence while they worked, and when Y/n crossed her legs she made contact with Anthony's knee and drew in a breath. She refocused and looked at the paper in her hands, frowning when she realised that she had no idea how to make a butterfly out of it anymore, and sat back with a huff. 

“You alright?”

“Yeah, just bored, I suppose. What are you making?” He had folded his piece of paper into a thin strip, and now he was pulling the ends together, somehow making them link. 

“May I?” he asked, gesturing to her right hand. She didn't answer for a moment, too busy watching the way his fingers moved. “Y/n?”

“Oh, right.” She let him take her left hand in his, holding her breath for the millionth time around him both at the tenderness of it all and at the way his hands were so cold compared to her warm ones. He lifted the origami up and slid it onto her fourth finger, tightening it by pushing the ends together further. 

“You can take it off, if you want.”

She wasn't sure she was breathing. “Are you proposing?”

“What? No, if I was proposing you'd know about it, darling. I just… I don’t know.” He looked nervous, and although he hadn’t let go of her hand, she could see that he was fidgeting. 

“I love it, Anthony. Thank you.” He smiled then, small and as under as the way he was holding her hand, and she couldn’t help but ask what she’d been wondering for the last two hours. 

“Did you read my response?” Somehow he softened even more, and his grip tightened ever so slightly before he nodded. 

“Yes, I did.” Had he moved closer? She thought the distance between them was no longer as frustratingly large as it had been, but he was still too far away. 

“Well?”

“Are you free on Saturday? There’s a great place for lunch I’ve been dying to show you for a while now.” He was definitely closer, and she could make out the small scar on his lip in perfect detail. 

“Midday work for you?”

“Absolutely.” He was still holding her hand when he kissed her gently, like he thought she might leave at any moment, and when he pulled back after a couple of seconds she dragged him right back to her lips, shifting somehow even closer to him on the seat. The gift he had made that now sat on her finger felt as heavy as a gold one, filled with the promise of what could be and happy endings, and she found herself thinking that if the two of them did ever marry, she would be happy to do so with a paper ring. 

They were sat there kissing for a while, not stopping until someone shouted outside the door in drunken laughter, making Anthony and Y/n jump back in surprise. Then they were laughing too, like they were teenagers sneaking off (which, she supposed, they almost were, if you ignored the fact they were legally adults now), and he pressed one last quick kiss to her mouth before he stood up. “We should head out. I’m sure the others will be wondering where we are.” Y/n stood up too, still holding his hand, and moved to straighten his tie. She had pulled on it when they were kissing, and now it was all crooked around his neck. 

“I think they probably know that we’re together, though. I doubt that they’re too worried about us.” She finished fiddling with his tie and draped her arms around his neck, and flushed when he wrapped his own arms around her waist and pulled her tight against his body. They stayed that way for a while, just trading small kisses and swaying gently back and forth. 

“I’m glad,” Anthony said suddenly, breaking the silence. “That we… you know.”

“Nearly died and then slept together?”

“That’s one way of putting it. I just - I’m glad.”

“I’m glad too, Anthony.” Normally accidents like having sex with her friends was something she hated, but given it was Anthony Lockwood that it had happened with, she was happy to make an exception. 

~~~

That night, while Anthony finally managed to sleep next to her, Y/n stayed awake. The glow of the ghost lamp outside had woken her a few minutes ago while she had been surfacing, and now she couldn’t get back to sleep. Her dress hung on the back of his desk chair, and various parts of his suit were slung around the room in piles from where they had thrown them earlier in their haste to be as close as possible to each other. 

The ring now sat on Anthony’s bedside table, and although it wasn’t light enough in the room for her to make out its shape, she still knew exactly where it was. Before the two of them got too caught up in each other she had slipped it off, saying that she didn’t want it damaged (as it likely would have been), and when she placed it to the side her eyes had caught on the photo in the frame. 

“Is that us?” she had asked, grabbing the frame with both hands. 

“Oh… yes. Sorry, it was just a really nice photo and we don’t get to see each other that much, and-”

“Anthony,” she interrupted, warmth flooding her face at her next words. “I’ve got cut-outs from papers that wrote about you framed, so this is perfectly okay.”

She flushed again just thinking about it, and how softly he had smiled at her, and then how softly he had kissed her afterwards. She had been dreaming about him, about both of them, and what would have happened if they had stayed in the library at Fittes for a little longer (a lot of hushed moans and whispered words, and his hair completely dishevelled). 

He was the one that she wanted, she was sure of it. There had been others, but none of them had featured in her thoughts about the future like Anthony Lockwood did. 

~~~

Months later, when the seasons had gone from wonderfully warm and sunny (or as sunny as England could get) to cold and biting air, Anthony and Y/n were on a case together. 

She had officially become a member of the agency not too long after they started dating, and while Lucy and George had originally been worried about the logistics of living space, they quickly realised that their new hire would be sharing a bed with their boss. Y/n had settled in quickly, getting used to how her friends lived within a few weeks, and the company had settled into a nice rhythm. 

“A hotel? That’s a pretty big location, shouldn’t we have Lucy and George with us?” she asked as the taxi pulled up to their destination. 

“It seems to be contained to one area, from reports, and since they had a couple of actual children give statements I’m going to trust them. Just the outdoor space around the back, apparently someone - a worker, it says here - died while manning a barbecue near the large pool.”

“How do you die manning a barbecue?”

“He fell face-first into the coals, this says,” Anthony replied, waving the paper report around. They clambered out the taxi, thanking and paying the driver, and once the kit had been collected out the boot and the driver was heading back down the road, they were alone. 

“Well that’s an awful way to go. Type One? Or manifesting as something stronger?”

“Everything points to Type Two, but that’s nothing we can’t handle.”

~~~

He was right, as he so often was, but unfortunately the way in which they handled the Type Two ghost of the Barbecue Man meant they ended up jumping in a pool. 

The Source had apparently been one of the tiles on the ledge, where the Barbecue Man had tripped after falling face first into the coals and cracked his skull open on the edge of the pool. A delightful scene, Y/n was sure, but they hadn’t figured out what the Source was until much later. While she had been scouring the barbecue for any sign of a trigger for the Visitor, Anthony had been drawing it closer to the pool. He seemed to be having a wonderful time taunting the poor dead man, and she couldn’t help but curse him out a little under her breath. “There’s nothing here!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Anthony, I’m pretty sure!” She was just about to tell him off for questioning her when he stepped back on his right foot and made the Visitor shriek an ungodly noise. “Wait! Draw it away from where you currently are!” She wasn’t sure if he’d actually been paying attention to her words since he didn’t give any indication that he had heard her, but a moment later he started moving away, the ghost following him, and she was able to dive for the tile. The second her hands came into contact with it she felt the pain and torment that Barbecue Man had been in in the brief minutes before his death, and at the same time that she managed to dislodge the tile (it had been knocked lose, most likely from his head after he hit it) and wrap it in a silver net, Anthony jumped in the pool. When he surfaced, hair plastered to his forehead and coat and suit completely soaked, he shouted at her to jump in too, leaving the Source on dry land. She just stared at him, but then a rush of cold air hit her and she didn’t think twice. Anthony was waving his arms around, making the water move about enough to fend off the second ghost that had appeared. 

Unfortunately that meant that when Y/n attempted to come up for air, she got a face-full of water. 

“Anthony!”

“Whoops. Sorry, darling. Here,” he said, offering out his hand. She took it gladly, still spluttering slightly, and they hauled themselves to the opposite side of the swimming pool. The water was freezing, but it was better than being ghost-touched, and besides, Anthony hadn’t let go of her hand yet. 

~~~

Her hands were turning a little blue from the temperature of the pool. 

It reminded her of when they had been redecorating one of the rooms in Portland Row about two months ago. George had complained that the room was lacking something, and all inhabitants (and Kipps, although Anthony didn’t pay him much attention) agreed that they needed to update it. They had painted it blue, not too dissimilar to the colour of Y/n’s fingers in the present day, and while it had been a wonderful day it had also been the day of her and Anthony’s first fight. 

She couldn’t even remember what it had been about now, something stupid and fuelled by external factors such as job stress and fatigue, but Y/n had slept in Lucy’s bed that night. 

It had been a while before either girl went to sleep, instead spending the hours attempting to stop Y/n’s crying and watching the old tapes of movies and television shows from before the Problem that Lucy had stashed away on her bookcase. When the morning had come, Lucy had offered to go downstairs and sort out breakfast for them both, so that Y/n wouldn’t have to run into Lockwood, but Y/n had shaken her head, saying that the two of them needed to figure something out. 

The moment she had set foot in the kitchen, seeing the back of Anthony’s white dress shirt while he stood at the counter making teas (he had made one for her too, in her favourite mug), she had started tearing up again. He’d heard her sniffling and whipped his head around to see her hovering just inside the doorway, and immediately he had crumbled and rushed over to her, wrapping her in his arms and mumbling “I’m sorry” into her hair. 

Now, back from their case with Barbecue Man, they were sat in the library, Anthony pushing a cup of freshly made tea into her hands in an attempt to get them back to their normal colour. “Feeling any better?” he asked, sitting down in the chair next to hers and picking up his magazine. 

“Yeah, a bit. I can actually feel things again now, so that’s good.”

“Good. Well, I’ll keep you under surveillance for a while, just until I know you’re better.” She snorted, lifting the mug to her mouth. 

“Thanks, Doc. Much appreciated.” His responding smile was enough to warm her up entirely. 

~~~

A few hours later she woke up feeling disorientated, most likely because she never remembered falling asleep in the first place. Anthony was still in his chair on her left, but he had fallen asleep too, magazine splayed across his chest. Y/n stretched, yawned, and checked her watch, then started at the time. It was nearly half six in the morning, and they had come back from their case at around midnight. She wasn’t sure how long Anthony had stayed awake watching over her, but she knew that the moment he did finally regain consciousness she would be sending him straight up to bed for another few hours of sleep. 

She heard somebody moving around in the kitchen and went to investigate, finding George in an oversized t-shirt and no trousers putting the kettle on to boil. “Morning,” she said, shuffling further into the room and stuffing some bread into the toaster. 

“Ah, morning. Lockwood still asleep?”

“Yep. He’s in the library. Did you need him for something?”

“Oh, not really. I woke up at about four and was shockingly hungry, and when I came down he was sat reading his magazine. I was just wondering how long it would be before he was up again.” It made sense for her boyfriend to have stayed awake until he literally passed out from exhaustion, given how little Anthony normally slept anyway, and she frowned when she heard the stairs creak. A few moments later Anthony Lockwood himself appeared in the kitchen, bleary-eyed and smiling like there wasn’t a thing wrong with him only getting about two and a half hours of sleep. “I need the toilet,” George suddenly said. “If you could move out the doorway, Lockwood, that would be great. Thanks. The kettle should be boiled soon, if you two wouldn’t mind?”

“Not at all, George,” Anthony replied, already taking mugs out of the cupboard. “Who’s toast is this? I think it’s burning.”

“Oh, shit, that’s mine! Fuck that’s hot!”

“Not hotter than me though, right?”

“Shut up, Anthony. My fingers are burning.” He reached over and took her hand in his, not caring for the piece of blackened toast that sat on her plate on the counter, and pressed a gentle kiss to each fingertip. She had flashbacks to the last time her hands had been near his mouth in a far less family-friendly setting, and tried to stop her knees from giving out. 

“Better?”

“Um… I guess. Yeah.” If anything she was worse, since now her whole body was on fire at how sweet that one gesture was. He hadn’t even thought about it, since there was less than a second between her saying her hand hurt and him kissing the first fingertip, and that had her knees weakening all over again. She took a step towards him, threading her burning fingers with his and placing the other one on his chest to grab at his collar and pull him in for a kiss. He’d had a long night, she was sure of it, and the more-prominent-than-usual bags under his eyes were giving her a solid argument. The kiss was short and sweet, and when she pulled back he followed her for a moment before realising that it was over. He pouted, his eyes practically begging for her to kiss him again, and she let out a small laugh before obliging. That kiss was sweet too, but lasted a little longer, and the third one would have gone on for longer still had George not come back from the toilet and pretended to gag. 

~~~

“Anthony?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever think about just… leaving for a bit? Not completely, I don’t think I could stay away from London forever, but just running off on holiday for a while. Getting a break from the ghost hunting and constant threat of death.”

“That’s… really? You want to ask that now? Darling, my mind is not in the right place for an actual conversation right now.” His hand trailed over her bare side and his eyes were looking at everything but her face, proving that he really wasn’t in the right mental place for a conversation like this, but she tried again anyway. 

“Okay, but do you?” He sighed, reluctantly dragging his gaze up to meet hers. 

“I suppose I’ve never really thought about it before.” He paused, shifting his weight to get comfortable. His legs knocked against hers and his hand hadn’t stopped tracing the skin of her body, and he had never taken off the ring he always wore. It had been a pleasant chill against her earlier when she thought she was going to combust from his touch. “I think because of the company I wouldn’t take a break. And I’d have a lot of guilt about leaving when there are people who might be in danger and I could have helped them.”

“But if you could drive away, would you? None of the guilt, or people getting hurt. Just… going off on your own for a bit.”

“I don’t know about alone. I think I would want you with me, darling.” He punctuated his statement by lowering his voice and pulling her closer by her hips, flush against his body, and although she was tired she couldn’t help but feel warm again. 

“I’d be happy to drive away with you, Ant. Anywhere you go, I’m going too.”

“You mean it?” he breathed, eyes looking almost golden in the glow of his bedside lamp. He looked desperate for her answer, like he needed to know that she would truly always be with him because he couldn’t stand being left alone again. 

“Of course I mean it, Ant. I want it all with you; everything. The complications and fights and of course all the good things too. The horrible Mondays where we get clients who don’t realise that what we do is a full-time job and we don’t really get weekends, the times we do get days off, and we can just be… together.” She ran her fingertips over his arms, marvelling at the hidden muscles she felt. Given how skinny and beanpole-like he appeared, the first time she had realised how toned he was she had been pleasantly surprised. It made sense, she supposed, since he was incredibly proficient with a rapier and had been from a young age, and being that good meant he had to at least be somewhat physically fit and capable (he was very physically capable in other ways, too, something else she had learned early on). She didn’t think she would ever get over how much she loved his arms, or his hands, or how they looked when he rolled his dress shirt sleeves up and folded his arms against his chest, and from the look he was giving her right now he apparently knew that she felt that way. 

“You alright, darling?” Good lord, had his voice gone even lower? His eyes had gone from being a honey-golden to a dark syrupy brown, and if what she could feel against her lower half was any indication she could tell that his mind was back to being somewhere other than their conversation. She sounded out of breath when she spoke. 

“I’m alright. Do me a favour?”

“Anything.”

“Wrap me in your arms?”

“Absolutely.”

She definitely shouldn’t have this much of an obsession with his arms, but the moment his arms tightened around her torso and her thigh, bringing her on top of him fully while he sat up with her in his lap and kissed her deeply, she couldn’t find it in her to care. 

~~~

On their one-year anniversary, Y/n woke up early. 

She didn’t want to, but the moon was shining brightly through the bedroom window, and there was a gap in the curtains that let the light through. It was landing on the books that had been stacked up on the bedside table, titles just about visible and all of them ones that she had read before. The moonlight was also resting on Anthony’s face while he slept, and he looked like he had in the taxi on that night when they had first met, ethereal and effortlessly gorgeous (but not quite so tired and weighed down by responsibility), and she found herself falling in love with him all over again. 

It was probably all forms of creepy to just lie and watch him breathe while she tried to go back to sleep, but there was something oddly soothing about it: the rise and fall of his chest and the peaceful expression on his face. It was rare she got to see him so relaxed, the only other times were when he had a day off and was sat in the library with a cup of tea, Y/n sat nearby, or when they had spent time exploring each others’ bodies, hands roaming over skin and through hair while they made love. 

The paper ring that he had made her just over a year ago, not long before they started officially dating, was sat on the bedside table next to the stack of books. He’d made her new ones at random points throughout their time together, but the original one that he’d folded from that piece of paper in the Fittes public library had remained in pride of place in her jewellery dish in their now shared bedroom at 35 Portland Row. 

Looking at it now she was absolutely certain that he was the one that she wanted, taking him in marriage with a paper ring, putting their pictures in frames to decorate their home, and he was the one she wanted in all of her daydreams. 

Anthony Lockwood was her future, and her future was looking wonderfully bright. 

lockwood tag list: @anathemaloren, @anthonylockwoodandco111, @augustisintheair, @avdiobliss (hopefully you get this notification, ik it's been weird recently), @briar-rose23, @curseofhecate, @dangelnleif, @el-de-phi, @ell0ra-br3kk3r, @informedimagining (hopefully this works for you too my lovely), @karensirkobabes, @locknco, @mischivana, @mitskiswift99, @mrsklockwood, @mrsyixingunicorn10, @novelizt, @ran23sblog, @superpositvecloudshipper, @t2sh0, @taygrls, @tournesol77, @no-morning-glories, @whenselenefallsinlove, @wordsarelife, @zoom1374, @light-23, @ahead-fullofdreams

and then I'm tagging @neewtmas, @oblivious-idiot, @bobbys-not-that-small, @maraschinomerry, @uku-lelevillain, and @lewkwoodnco because I've been promising you this for a while and you just didn't know it :D

if there is anybody who wants to be added to my lockwood tag list, then please go here! I am aware that it has been a while, but from now on I will be checking this post every time I write a new fic to see who is there, so head on over to give a comment or a like and I'll pop you on for next time! <3

[cosmerelists]

If Cosmere Characters Had Real-World Jobs (But Not The Obvious Ones)

In this list, I wanted to try to give Cosmere characters jobs in our world while avoiding the jobs that would be the most obvious picks--like, for example, the real world equivalent of whatever their canon job is.

1. Kaladin: Professional Football Player

It's a dangerous job that Kaladin's dad would scoff at, but the other kids in town think it's really cool and also the recruiters are coming through town and, I mean, he's really good at football.

2. Lirin: Public Defender

If we avoid the obvious job (doctor), then Lirin still needs a job where he is doing good, but it's pretty thankless and the general public are suspicious and think he might actually be evil somehow. So I figure: public defender. He's highly educated, helping people who need it, and just getting nothing but grief as a result. Worst of all, his smart son wants to be a FOOTBALL player!

3. Marsh: Masseuse

I feel like people who are good at hemalurgy know about the body and its pressure points and things like that. And frankly, "acupuncturist" felt too on the nose.

4. Shallan: Park Ranger

Shallan HATES to be confined, so no way she's going into an office job. Plus, she likes nature and animals, but I'm trying to avoid the more obvious jobs (like botanist or ecologist). It's just too bad that Shallan is SO bad at staring a campfire, though.

5. Navani: Wedding Planner

Navani is VERY good at managing people and events, as seen when she had to manage everything while Gavilar was off plotting. She's also very organized and literally invented wristwatches. So I think she's be very good at this job.

6. Elend: Grad Student

This one may be too obvious, but I figure something like "politician" or "philosopher" are more obvious. But to me, Elend has major grad student energy.

7. Nale: Insurance Adjuster

Nale is a cop, of course, through and through. But if he wasn't a cop, then he'd need some other job where he uses the rules to screw people over. So I see him as, like, an evil insurance guy who's denying people medical coverage because the company wants him to.

8. Blackthorn-Era Dalinar: Debt Collector

If flashback Dalinar couldn't make a living mowing people down in battle and had to find a less obvious job, then I could see him being the guy to hunt down people and demand money they don't have. He doesn't really care about the money. He just likes the hunt.

9. Adolin: eSports Player

It's a job where you can head-to-head battle people and your dad is vaguely puzzled and thinks you should be doing something more important with your life.

10. Lightsong: Customer Service Agent

In canon, Lightsong's job is to face down a huge line of people and tell them "no" in response to them asking for something they want. So, I mean, I feel like that's equivalent to one of those shitty customer service jobs where you're not really allowed to help people (until, of course, Lightsong goes rogue and does start helping people, but that's another story...)

11. Stormfather: Bus Driver

He has his route, and he's not deviating from it. And if you miss the bus, he's not stopping. He's not going back. You can try to run, but you will not catch up to him.

12. Tress: Mechanic

As a Sprouter, Tress had to figure out how each of the spores worked and how to use them. I just feel like she'd be good at diagnosing issues in machinery and then fixing them.

13. Steris: Programmer

She's precise, she's smart, she likes rules. I think coding would suit her.

14. Yumi: Waitress

She could stack the plates SO high.

15. Marasi: Investigative Reporter

Which, honestly, is what I wish she had been rather than being a cop like in canon. I think it would suit her! She'd get to research, investigate, find the truth...

16. Kelsier: Motivational Speaker

He tells you about the power of smiling no matter what, so that you are never defeated. He tells you to carry something small, some memento or photo, to help you find your motivation. You tells you that no goal is out of reach--you just have to find the right people and the right steps to move forward. And he tells you that the most important thing is to survive.

[wandabear]

CHEERFUL OBLIVION - WANDA MAXIMOFF X FEMALE READER (chapter three)

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤ

Summary: Your duty is to watch her 'till Chton comes for her, even if you hate it, but do you really hate it? Especially when you start to get to know Wanda. The bond begins to torment you. But, oh Lord, you've never been so in love. ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

chapter one chapter two chapter three chapter four chapter five chapter six

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masterlist

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tw: angst, violence, blood, mentions of death, fluff, angst with a happy ending.

Jules/Stolas is portrayed by Adelaide Kane. Here.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ ㅤchapter three

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ After two hours of travel by quinjet, everyone arrived in Égerszög, a small town in Hungary. The mission was not easy, they had to enter and disrupt an organization linked to Batroc who remained on the run.

ㅤㅤ ㅤㅤㅤ

The bad news was that the place was a very old church, close to the well-known caves of that town. If Georges Batroc became aware of their presence, he could escape through the old basements and secret passageways to the cave with ease, although it was quite dangerous. That’s why as insurance against any attack, the mercenary took hostages who remained inside the cave.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

The groups were divided between two or three agents, surrounding that place, Natasha and Yelena interfered as spies. They would go for Batroc, while the agents would take care of their mercenaries.

Y/N’s mission was to rescue the hostages who remained at the entrance of the cave.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“I'm going in.” Y/N announced over the earpiece. 

Walking cautiously, the demon surrounded the church, taking down every mercenary she saw with agility until she finally could see the door to the cave. It was a rusty iron door, protected by two agents with machine guns and a deadly look. Above them, two snipers stood expectantly in the church bell tower, ready to kill anyone they saw near the door.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Kate, Y/N. Be careful, two snipers are in the church bell tower like two birds of prey.” Natasha's voice was heard in the earpiece.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Yes, I can see them.” Y/N muttered, hiding behind an old concrete wall. Next to her was Kate, who was clinging tightly to her bow, somewhat nervously. It wasn't her first mission, but this one wasn't easy and Clint wasn't at her side for the first time.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Hey.” The demon caught her attention to look into Kate’s blue eyes. “I'll have your back, okay? I will shoot those at the door, you make the birds fly.”

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Kate nodded quickly. The archer took out one of the explosive arrows and took a deep breath, nervous about such a dangerous but necessary move. If they didn't get out of there, they would be surrounded by enemies soon.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Don't be afraid, I won't let them shoot you.” Y/N whispered, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder. “I'll go out first, cover your back, shoot the sniper's nest. We will get those hostages out, we will go home and I'll buy you a burger.”

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Being more confident, Kate nodded and steeled herself as Y/N came running and sliding out of hiding to shoot the agents in front of the door. Hiding behind a destroyed concrete wall, she nodded to Kate before firing again, giving confidence for the archer to come out and fire at the snipers.

As soon as the arrow hit the wood, it took a few seconds to explode, getting rid of those agents and leaving a clear path for them to pass. They ran towards the door and after planting a mini bomb to open it, went inside to take the hostages who were chained.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Let’s go, let’s go!” Y/N yelled as she led those people towards the safe exit, especially when some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents came to help them. She was about to keep going but Kate stopped, taking her arm and looking at her with concern.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Y/N…” Kate stammered looking at the brunette's belly.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Looking down, Y/N belatedly realized that her uniform was soaked in that crimson liquid. Apparently one of the bullets pierced the demon’s stomach in the confrontation and she had not even noticed it, causing blood loss.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Oh no.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“I’m okay.” Y/N nodded, willing to continue. They couldn't stop, no one was supposed to find out what she was. This was only going to make it worse. “We must keep going.”

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“No, but you-” Kate tried to stop her but the demon turned to look her in the eyes.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Kate, I’m okay.” Y/N whispered, hoping Kate would believe her and not have to manipulate the girl into forgetting about it.  She promised not to. “Look at me, I'm fine. Trust me.”

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Y/N didn't want to have to manipulate Kate to make her forget, didn't want to do that with whoever she loved.  Despite Y/N's thousands of attempts to ignore the new 'Hawkeye', the girl became one of her greatest friends. One who always came to Y/N when she needed advice or help. Friends, something she couldn't even begin to think about, was what she had now.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

She did it so many times in her life, manipulating humans to forget, but now the idea of having to get into Kate's mind to alter it was extremely painful.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

‘Please, don’t make me do it,’ Y/N thought.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Sighing a little thoughtful and worried, the brunette decided to nod.   Limping slightly, the demon wasn't going to deny that she was a little bit in pain but it would soon heal. A bullet in the stomach was nothing to her.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“I can't believe you did that for me.” Kate mumbled as they walked towards the quinjet, the hostages now safely on the ship. Shots could be heard in the distance but S.H.I.E.L.D won the battle that time.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Me neither.” Y/N joked as she walked over to sit on the ship, noticing how Natasha approached with concern carrying a first aid kit.  She didn't expect one of the 'casualties' to be Y/N.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Thank you.” Kate whispered, taking Y/N’s bloody hand as they waited for the quinjet to finally take off.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Thoughtful, Wanda remained watching through the window, those enormous trees that surrounded the compound. The night arrived and when the lights went out, the stars made that place charming.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

She sighed; couldn't get that kiss out of her mind.  The way Y/N grabbed her waist, the way she looked or kissed her. That delicacy and passion at the same time drove Wanda crazy, never thought she could experience something like that.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

When Pietro was alive, he used to scare away every boy who came near her. They had always been so protective of each other. But now her ‘little brother’ was no longer there, and although she felt joy for experiencing love for the first time, she also felt enormous guilt for being happy without him.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Are you okay?” Clint asked as he walked closer. The Sokovian turned to look at him surprised, it was assumed that the man was spending a few days of necessary 'vacation' with his family.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Yes, I’m just-” She started to say but then stopped, she didn't want to bother with such silly problems. “What are you doing here? I thought you were home with Laura and the kids.”

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“Oh, Stark made me come to see something. I'm free now.” Clint sat next to Wanda. She didn't say anything, just nodded.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“You know  you can talk to me. You’re not alone.”   Clint always knew how to approach her without making the girl feel pressure or awkward. And Wanda found in him a father figure that she always needed.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Hesitantly, she turned to see the blonde. “I think I like someone.”

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

Nodding slowly, Clint momentarily cursed himself for asking about it. He felt like a dad talking to his daughter for the first time about love, but after sighing deeply, he smiled understanding what it was about.

ㅤㅤ ㅤ

“That brooding agent who's always frowning.” Of course the man saw them together many times, Wanda tended to avoid everyone except her.

ㅤㅤ

“Yes.” Wanda cleared her throat, playing with her rings. 

ㅤㅤ

“So what do you think?” Clint sighed as he looked up at the sky, the moon shining overhead.

ㅤㅤ

“I don't know, I'm worried…” Wanda murmured barely, afraid that if she said it it would become so real. “I'm terrified of holding on to someone and then losing them.”

ㅤㅤ

ㅤㅤ

The Sokovian sighed, still couldn't fully heal remembering the painful loss of Pietro. How she lost control in Sokovia, and thanks to her friend, Vision, she was safe at that time. If only she had been with Pietro to stop those bullets.

ㅤㅤ

As soon as the witch arrived at the Compound, she completely avoided socializing with everyone in the place. Locking herself in a bedroom until Y/N came. Changing her life completely.

Y/N wasn't trying to get her out of it, rather sharing the loneliness next to her, slowly mitigating the pain.

ㅤㅤ

“I feel happy when I see her, but I also feel guilty for not being able to mourn my brother as I should.” Finally the brunette released that deep pain in her chest, which had been hurting her so much those days when she walked away from Y/N. “I feel like I'm being selfish.”

ㅤㅤ

Clint sighed, thinking carefully about what he wanted to say so as not to cause more harm. He wanted the girl to allow herself to be happy, she and Pietro were so young when they found them.  And he'll  always be grateful, Pietro gave his life for him, Clint would always be in debt for it. That's why the archer promised to take care of Wanda until the end of his days. ㅤㅤ

“First… She looks like a good girl, and she's a good agent. That's good.” Barton tilted his head, enjoying the silence that surrounded them. “Being happy is not an easy thing for people like us, but we learn to survive the pain and accept the good that comes to us when it does. There is no time for 'grieving'. You just do it, and move forward so you don't die. He is your brother and always will be, but think that he wants the best for you, just as you would want the best for him if it were the other way around.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I will be honest, just be happy, Wanda. Pietro would want that for you, it’s the best way to honor him.” Clint finished by bringing his hand to the girl's shoulder and squeezed it gently. He stood up from her seat, looking at her one more time.

ㅤㅤ

“Thank you, Clint.” The brunette smiled gratefully. “I'd better try to occupy my mind on something else so I'm not so worried.”

ㅤㅤ

“Don't worry... Now I think I have to go or Laura is going to kill me. I can't miss movie night.” He joked as always. Wanda stood up to walk towards the kitchen, while Clint slowly walked away towards the parking lot.

ㅤㅤ

Y/N sighed, lying on that infirmary bed, cursing herself for not having been faster. Well, she couldn't use her powers if Kate was around.

She looked at the IV connected to her arm and just rolled her eyes, happy to be alone for a moment. Of course all this was unnecessary, she didn't need this type of treatment but couldn't say no. After a quick surgery, Helen Cho managed to remove the bullet from her stomach and the demon was now resting.

ㅤㅤ

“Hello, Y/N. How do you feel?” Helen asked as she walked through the door, holding her stark tablet. 

ㅤㅤ

“I’m good. Ready to go.”

ㅤㅤ

The doctor remained silent. From her body expression she seemed nervous, and Y/N noticed it quickly.  “What's wrong, Doc?” Y/N asked and narrowed her eyes as she watched the woman hesitate.

ㅤㅤ

“Y/N…” Helen cleared her throat. “I must tell you the truth, as my patient… W-While I was removing the bullet, I noticed how-” 

ㅤㅤ

She stopped, not knowing if she should talk to this woman because maybe Y/N didn't know or if she should talk to one of the avengers first. Or maybe Fury.

ㅤㅤ

“I noticed how part of your organs were regenerating themselves.” Finally the doctor was brave enough to say it. “Slowly, but much faster than a human. The bullet pierced part of the intestine, hit an artery. You couldn't possibly be alive.”

ㅤㅤ

Oh.

ㅤㅤ

“That’s it?” Y/N asked as she took off the covers and got out of bed without much trouble. The wound was still there, but it was nothing the demon couldn't endure. “Does anyone else know?”

ㅤㅤ

Helen shook her head, backing away. “N-no.”

ㅤㅤ

“Good.” Y/N smiled slightly then her eyes changed. Her pupils became vertical, fixed on the doctor's eyes.  “Helen, you'll look me right in the eye.”

ㅤㅤ

Even though she tried to refuse the control, Helen could do nothing but nod her head and lose herself in that look. 

ㅤㅤ

“You're going to forget everything you said and what you saw. The surgery went well, you haven't seen anything strange.” Y/N hissed at her, easily manipulating her.  “You'll discharge me right now because it wasn't that bad.”

ㅤㅤ

Lost in the demon’s gaze, Helen just nodded her head slowly in complete obedience.

ㅤㅤ

“You will forget after my eyes change.”

ㅤㅤ

When Y/N finished and her eyes returned to their human form, the demon sat on the bed and the doctor woke up from that daydream, blinking rapidly.

ㅤㅤ

“Sorry, I started to dissociate.” Helen giggled and Y/N just smiled politely. “So, the surgery went well. Nothing strange, you will recover  slowly but you were very lucky. ”

ㅤㅤ

At that moment the door opened, Wanda hurriedly and worriedly approached Y/N to hug her.

ㅤㅤ

“Are you OK?” Wanda exclaimed, taking Y/N's face carefully, terror could be seen in those green eyes.

ㅤㅤ

Y/N giggled, taking Wanda's hand. “I’m fine.”

ㅤㅤ

“How is she?” Ignoring those words, the Sokovian turned to see Helen who smiled tenderly at seeing them together like that.  Everyone knew they were 'together'.

ㅤㅤ

“I'm fine!”

ㅤㅤ

“I was telling Y/N that I could discharge her, if this woman behaves well. It wasn't that bad.” Dr. Cho walked over to see that everything was fine on her tablet and then nodded. Y/N’s blood pressure was normal, plus nothing was out of the ordinary.   “But you will need rest for a few days.” 

ㅤㅤ

“I'll make sure she does.” Wanda nodded, still holding Y/N's hand.

ㅤㅤ

She turned to look at the demon, truly grateful that nothing bad happened to her. As soon as she found out that Y/N was hurt, her life was in total chaos, unable to do anything but wait.

Y/N didn't say anything, she just listened to Wanda talk to the doctor about how careful she should be, and just stayed thoughtful. At first it felt weird, to feel like someone cared about you, but then she felt such great joy that her ears turned red due to blushing.

It was nice, hopeful until all that turned into suffocating guilt. How could Y/N do this to her? The girl was there, doing the best to take care of her and Y/N was just plotting to hurt her as much as possible.

ㅤㅤ

“Y/N?”

ㅤㅤ

Wanda's soft voice made Y/N wake up from that daydream, her gaze lost in that steaming bowl.  The sokovian insisted that she should be resting, so Jules gave up her room so that Y/N could sleep peacefully and she would spend the night playing games with Kate, -or possibly with Natasha-.

ㅤㅤ

“What's going on?” Wanda asked a little worried, sitting next to her in that bed. “Is it cold?”

ㅤㅤ

The sokovian made some soup for both of them, saying it would 'help her regain strength'. Of course the demon just giggled thinking about how cute that was, she didn't need it but wasn't going to refuse so much affection.

ㅤㅤ

“No! It's exquisite, it's perfect.” Y/N smiled, taking her hand and leaving a short kiss. “I’m just thinking.”

ㅤㅤ

“Still thinking about the mission?” Wanda settled next to her, watching as the girl slowly ate the soup.  She observed carefully  Y/N's injured face, a bruise on her left cheekbone, her eyebrow cut but the worst was that shot in her belly, now covered by a bandage.

ㅤㅤ

“Not so much.” Y/N licked her lips, enjoying the taste. She lived for so many years but never enjoyed food as much as she did now. “I was more worried about Kate, but she did great.”

ㅤㅤ

“Kate said you took that bullet for her.” The Sokovian smiled tenderly, despite her concern and fears, she felt very proud of what 'her girl' did to save a friend.

ㅤㅤ

“She's overreacting.” Y/N rolled her eyes and finished the soup, leaving the bowl on the side of the bed.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I was so worried. Terrified.” Wanda whispered, she had to be honest with her. Carefully, the Sokovian tucked a strand of hair behind Y/N's ear. “I don't want anything to happen to you.”

ㅤㅤ

I don't want anything to happen to you.

ㅤㅤ

Possibly one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to her. Y/N felt her heart jump, no one had ever cared so much about her like that. Her life has always been about manipulating people and avoiding emotional ties.

ㅤㅤ

“I’m okay, I swear… Come here.” The demon assured her with a sincere smile, pulling the brunette over so she could lie down next to her. They both settled into that bed, simply holding hands and looking into each other's eyes.

ㅤㅤ

They spent some time that way, sharing some cute looks and kisses. Y/N told her some stuff about the mission and Wanda about what she talked to Clint, opening up about her fears. Even from the suspicions Y/N had about Jules having 'something' with Natasha.

ㅤㅤ

“Would you like to watch something on TV?” Y/N babbled nervously, hoping the brunette wouldn't take it the wrong way or think she was too 'clingy'. After all, it was the first time she liked someone and didn't know how to do this.  “Let's watch a tv show, stay with me all day… after all, I have to rest, right?”

ㅤㅤ

Giggling, Wanda rested her head on Y/N's shoulder. “What do you think of sitcoms?”

ㅤㅤ

“I really like them.” Of course the demon was lying, but she wasn't going to deny the opportunity to share time with Wanda. The Sokovian kissed her softly and then took the remote control to look for something good on some streaming.

She decided to go for Abbott Elementary, a new sitcom that always brought a smile to her face.

ㅤㅤ

After some time sharing laughter and caresses, Wanda sighed when she realized her head was on Y/N's chest. Closeness became normal for both of them, without them realizing it.

Biting her lip, she felt enormous joy hearing Y/N's heart beat for her.

Suddenly Y/N started to laugh, but ended up placing a hand on her belly, feeling this sharp pain.  

ㅤㅤ

“Are you okay?” Wanda frowned worriedly.

ㅤㅤ

“Of course, yes, it was just… I laughed. I'm fine, really.” Y/N assured, hoping she would actually believe her.

ㅤㅤ

“I'm kind of scared. Not just before, now...” Looking at the wound, the truth came out of Wanda's lips without even thinking about it.

ㅤㅤ

The demon frowned and turned to look at her curiously. “Why?”

ㅤㅤ

“It sounds really stupid.” The brunette sighed and settled back hugging Y/N, avoiding touching the wound.  “I was afraid that something would happen to you, but I'm not going to be hypocritical, I’m scared because I don't want you to play with my heart.”

ㅤㅤ

Y/N took a moment to think about what to say. She didn't want to lie to Wanda, nor could she tell her the truth. So, what should she do? Half-truths were as painful as a dagger.

ㅤㅤ

“That's something I will never do.” The demon decided to speak the truth. Y/N didn't want to do it but knew she would do it without wanting to. She didn't want to break Wanda's heart, although she existed for that, Wanda achieved something impossible and that is that the demon felt something for someone other than herself.  “I really care about you. I really like you.”

ㅤㅤ

Smiling at those sincere words, Wanda felt like she could finally give herself to her, give destiny a chance, could finally trust that everything would be okay.

Just settled on her girl's chest and let herself be happy for once.

ㅤㅤ

Time passed and Y/N's health had miraculously improved. Of course those wounds healed much faster, so she had to pretend to still be recovering. Natasha allowed her to return to training, and that was a good thing to keep her mind occupied. A mind that didn't stop working, trying to think how to cope with the situation.

ㅤㅤ

Time was running out and Abaddon demanded to see results, and as if that were not enough, fate played a very big trick on Y/N, making her end up falling in love with Wanda.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I've noticed that you're feeling better.”  Jules said as she entered the room they shared, noticing that Y/N was putting some dirty clothes in her bag to take them to wash. She would never have thought that Leviathan, the great devastating demon, would be doing such mundane things like that.

Y/N nodded slowly, thankful that the place was almost empty. She turned around, watching as Jules sat on her bed.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“How you do it? Isn't it hard for you?” Y/N broke their silence, Jules narrowed her eyes not knowing what she meant. “Pretending.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Oh.” Jules murmured. She couldn't find a good enough answer for that, just looked down, feeling guilty. Y/N hadn't even thought about what Stolas was feeling right now. If she was confused, assumed her 'friend' was too. How could she have been so inconsiderate?

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

That thought of hers only made Y/N laugh; she was a demon. A big one, that was something she had to be. Why did something that she was meant to do by nature make her feel so bad?

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“It's getting so hard, Stolas. I don't know what I'm doing here, but I'm not doing what I should do.” Y/N whispered, moving closer to sit next to Jules, who remained looking at the floor. “You have to leave.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“What?”  She looked up, surprised. After a few seconds of silence, the dark-haired woman broke it and said determinedly, like never before. “No. I won't do it.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Frowning, confused but more offended by Stolas's disobedience, Y/N turned to look at her. “I'm not asking you. You must leave soon, Stolas.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“It’s 'Jules' here.” The brown-eyed girl finally looked into her eyes.  “What are you talking about?”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“If Abaddon finds out about this, she's going to kill you too.” Y/N whispered worried, for the first time, for who she considered a friend. “Won't even think, she will do it.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Jules shook her head. “I’m with you.” 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I can't bear your death too!” Finally Y/N exploded, pinching the bridge of her nose to try and calm herself down. Things were getting out of control.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I don't know how we got here, I told you we shouldn't get involved!” Y/N angrily shook her head and looked around.   “When we arrived, the place could have burned down and I wouldn't even care. I would have danced on the ashes! But now… now everything is different. Everything hurts.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I know.”  Jules murmured wistfully.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“No, you don’t know.” The demon interrupted quickly.  “I care about them-”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“YES, I DO!”  Jules screamed angrily and got out of bed. For the first time she exploded, showing her true nature, showing her true eyes.  Those eyes changed to ones quite similar to those of a bird of prey, a bright orange color, pupils as dark as night. But as soon as she realized her mistake, those eyes turned brown again.

Frowning, Y/N said nothing. She understood Stolas' pain, because she was feeling that endless number of contradictory feelings too.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Sighing, the dark-haired girl looked down, ashamed to shout at a superior. “I know it, Y/N,  I care too. Everything around me matters to me, and I hate it… but I also like it.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I gotta be honest with you.” Jules swallowed nervously, maybe this would change everything but she couldn't take it anymore. “Abaddon did send me to spy on you.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Maybe she expected Y/N to be surprised or scream at her or rather to end her life for betrayal, but the superior demon only smiled with a certain tenderness, perhaps a little proud.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I know.” Y/N shrugged. She wasn't stupid and she knew the redhead's intentions very well.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“No, you don't understand! She sent me to spy on you but I never said anything!” Jules approached, horrified by the guilt that was drowning her. “I haven't even been reporting back to her and I think that's making her angry, but if I do, she'll know I'm lying. For a long time she has thought that you will start a rebellion, using Wanda at your convenience.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Fear could be seen reflected in Jules' eyes and that made Y/N feel some worry.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“She will burn everything to ashes, Leviathan… and I like this place. I like the air I breathe, and I like it when I eat breakfast, and I like it when the birds sing or the crickets make that sound.” The lower rank demon sighed, embarrassed for disappointing Y/N but that was the truth. And she would die accepting it.  “I like it when I play video games with Kate, or when Natasha looks at me or  asks me if I'm okay. And I don't want to lose it, even if I have been part of their suffering, I like them. ”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N didn't know what to say. It was one thing to feel confused because of where they were, because of living with humans for so long but Jules seemed really affected by it. But it was a very different thing to bet your life on them.  The anguish in those eyes was real.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“And even if you hate it... I've learned these months about friendship, and I will stay by your side until the end. I am loyal to you, even if I die.” The teary eyes of who was Stolas, a powerful demon, made Y/N understand the complex situation they were in.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Nodding, Y/N placed her hand on Jules' shoulder but the brunette quickly rushed towards her to hug tightly.

Surprised, Y/N just patted her back gently, more confused than ever but trying to provide reassurance to her friend. “We'll find a solution.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Like flowers blooming thanks to spring, the love between Wanda and Y/N also blossomed in a strong and powerful way.

Wanda was no longer that melancholy girl who lived locked up in her room, learned to open herself up to others freely,  and Natasha was grateful for that because she found an amazing friend in her.

And she wasn't going to deny that it helped a lot in managing her powers. Y/N was a great help training alongside her, helping the Witch to focus and handle the magic better. Magic that previously came from pain and chaos was now much less violent and explosive.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

And just as Y/N was a positive development in Wanda's life to work on herself and her powers, Wanda was teaching the demon to let herself be loved little by little. She noticed that Y/N was not used to affection, but  she learned by her side, trying to be romantic and affectionate in her own way.

Seeing how the woman tried to understand, how she smiled genuinely or every time Y/N showed her with words or actions how much she loves her. Especially that chaotic night where Y/N finally discovered that she was madly in love with Wanda, and there was nothing that could change it. They were in love, and there was no one in the Compound who didn't notice it.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

But of course, Wanda was also worried that she didn't know much about her either. Y/N never talked about her past life or her family, and that caused a little insecurity in the Sokovian.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ But the good thing was that Abaddon seemed to be perfectly swallowing that Wanda was beginning to decline, perhaps in half a year she would be ready. At least that's what Y/N and Jules told her, feeding her small advances to keep the Knight happy.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Will you...?”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

The grass tickled against her skin, a feeling so strange and at the same time so nice.  The warm sun hit her face, such a pleasant and familiar feeling.

Sighing, Y/N opened her eyes meeting that green gaze that only showed immense tenderness.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Wanda smiled when she saw her; both were in front of the lake enjoying a delicious lunch. Y/N rested her head on her legs while Wanda looked at the lake, so calm and relaxing.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“What do you mean?” Y/N wrinkled her nose.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“You know what I mean.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ “You know everything about me.” Y/N played dumb.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“You’re adorable.” Wanda confessed, gently pressing her nose with a finger.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“I’m not.” Y/N growled, squinting her eyes so as not to look directly at the sun as she sat next to her again. “But thanks for surprising me with this brunch.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Smiling flirtatiously, Wanda ended the distance between them and kissed her lover's lips once more. A tender and short kiss, but full of such strong feelings. A girl who overcomes her fears of losing, to let herself be loved. And a demon that didn't know how to love, beginning to be afraid of losing her.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Just one kiss of those lips was all it took to seal Y/N’s future. 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

“Since I met you, you make me feel so much better.” Wanda whispered against her lips, caressing Y/N's face tenderly. “I don't know how you do it.”

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ

Moved by those words, Y/N just bit her lower lip trying to quell the enormous urge to smile. “I just like being by your side, the rest is just... because of you.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Stunned by just looking at that woman, those eyes so attractive and mysterious, those lips so soft, the sokovian kissed Y/N one more time. They stayed like that for an hour, chatting about the Avengers and about how quickly the demon healed from her injury. Wanda was watching over her, taking care, trying to make everything easier. And even though Y/N felt a little guilty for 'pretending' that she was still recovering, she also took advantage of being spoiled by her girlfriend.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I’ve to go now… Otherwise Natasha will kill me.” Wanda murmured between kisses, unable to move away from the brunette but still had to. 

ㅤㅤㅤ

Smiling numbly, Y/N confessed: “I find it very difficult to let you go.” 

ㅤㅤㅤ

“How about… you have a date with me tonight?” Wanda looked down to play with her rings, she looked a little shy but also flirtatious.  “Maybe we could be alone... all night. Watching a movie or something.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Raising a curious eyebrow, Y/N felt her heart skip a beat. Was that a date or something else? Maybe Natasha or Kate could help her with this. “That would be lovely.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“See you later, detka.” The green eyed girl said first and stole the demon’s heart once again.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I love it when you call me that.” Y/N said without regret, without fear, without doubt. For the first time she allowed herself to feel, and thanks to Wanda she began to discover what love was.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Now she understood all those songs, now she understood all those tears and poems. Now she perfectly understood Alfonsina Storni, Pablo Neruda and Alejandra Pizarnik.

She was always a bit patient with certain humans, but never thought she could love one. Nodding with a smile, Wanda stole a short kiss before walking away.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N watched this amazing woman, her girlfriend, walk away to enter the compound. But that happiness did not last long, especially when that sudden and horrible feeling came to her.

ㅤㅤㅤ

The presence of an evil being became so strong, that her eyes changed to see where such negative energy came from.

In the distance, she could see how a strange old man was watching her among the trees. With a hunched body, his hair was greasy and his smile was macabre, but the worst of all was its nauseating smell.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Bile rushed up her throat, terrified. Y/N quickly got up and walked towards that place, noticing that the man now was walking away playing among the trees. As if it were a game, hide and seek.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Stolas.” Y/N summoned the demon as she quickly walked.  Instantly Jules appeared at her side, walking next to her. 

ㅤㅤㅤ

“What is it?” The brunette asked worriedly, if Y/N summoned her just like that it was a big deal. Y/N didn't say anything, just told her to keep quiet. They both chased that man until he took them to a clearing, far enough away from the others. Even though the demon was slippery, Y/N was faster and caught it, slamming it into one of the trees.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“What are you doing here, Furcas?”  Y/N growled, showing fangs. Y/N tightened her grip on the demon's neck, making it stir. “Answer me! Is Abaddon here?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Even though she wanted to rip his head off, Y/N loosened her grip on his neck so he could answer. Furcas was a very different demon. Some demons were fallen angels who ended up in an awful place, but Furcas was born from the very perversion and depravation.

ㅤㅤㅤ

He was renowned for being a low-ranking demon, but above all, he was renowned for being vicious. That demon was the complete opposite of Y/N. Torture wasn't enough for him, he always had a fascination with repulsive perversions. Things that not even Y/N could come to think of.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“She's not here, I-I decided to come and see if everything was okay.” He said with a creepy and squeaky voice. Furcas smiled widely, trying to free himself but it was impossible. “Abaddon thinks she is suffering but I see her very happy there, smiling next to you.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Shut up.” Y/N narrowed her eyes.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Stretching out her arm, a sword appeared in her hand.  The grip was strong and dark, the blade had a terrifying edge and strange inscriptions on it. Enochian could be read, isomething that the closest thing in English could be 'willbreaker'. “Do you know what this is?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Of course Furcas knew what it was. Very few demons had one of those, a fallen angel sword.  When Y/N placed the blade on the demon's neck, it shifted restlessly.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“The boss is getting tired of waiting.” He hissed trying to get away from the deadly blade. “And I want to make her happy. A great promotion.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“He's going to fuck it all up.” Jules whispered behind her, shifting into those demonic eyes.  “Put that sword through him now.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“If I do that, there will be chaos. There will be no going back.” Y/N gulped, fixing her gaze on him.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“There won't be any turning back anyway.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

If she finished off Furcas, Abaddon would become suspicious of his absence but if she didn't, he would run to spill everything to her. Of course, the redhead wouldn't take kindly to Y/N's relationship with Wanda.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Abaddon's been eager to see how Maximoff's doing... but you're here playing with the little witch.”  Furcas moved his tongue in a really disgusting and disturbing way.  So much so that it made Y/N wrinkle her nose in disgust. “You were just doing nasty wicked things to her… I love those games. Can I play with her too? ”

ㅤㅤㅤ

He was the kind of demon you wanted to keep away. Y/N clenched her jaw and fought the urge to cut off his head all at once. The disgusting way he referred to Wanda simply made her blood boil.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Shut up, you disgusting creature!” Jules shouted, taking a step forward but Y/N's look made her stop.

ㅤㅤㅤ

But far from stopping, Furcas continued inciting and provoking them, bursting into manic laughter.  “Maybe I’ll just gonna hold her down and enjoy it for a few hours, might even live through it. I’ve got some... anatomical incompatibilities that tend to tear up little girls.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

That was all she needed to hear to react.

Y/N felt her hand tremble, her eyes widening due to the anger she felt in those moments. As she was invaded by that violent nature, she ended up exploding, taking a step back but  stabbing her sword into the demon's chest with enormous violence and strength.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“No one is going to touch her, I will make sure to destroy anyone who comes near her.” Y/N hissed, baring her fangs.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Furcas opened his mouth to complain but she plunged the sword even deeper, ending up destroying him.  Painful, very painful it must be, the demon's eyes turned red due to the pain and then his chest burned. Y/N watched as Furcas slowly faded into black ashes until he disappeared. It was an action that would have serious consequences and she knew it. 

ㅤㅤㅤ

“There's the answer you needed. Get ready because things are going to get very messy from now on.”  Y/N sighed deeply. Jules nodded, watching as the sword disappeared again from Y/N's hand.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“Go to Abaddon, tell her she's grieving the loss of… I don't know, make something up.” Y/N placed a hand on her forehead, trying to think. Everything happened so damn fast. “Tell her Wanda’s powers are improving a lot, tell her that you think it will be soon but don't say how long. Always remember to show her how weak I feel lately and how powerful she is becoming, make her feel good.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Jules nodded quickly, knowing that she would have to give her best performance hoping the Knight wouldn't find out. Y/N turned on her heels, facing Jules and praying to the universe that she could do it. “Don't let her find out.”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I'll do it right, trust me.” Sighing and taking courage, the brunette nodded before disappearing from that place in a blink.

ㅤㅤㅤ

Y/N inhaled deeply and closed her eyes as the breeze moved the leaves of the trees, the scent of sulfur completely disappeared and now she could only smell the linden tree and… there was something else.

Frowning, Y/N's senses caught a familiar scent.

Fuck no.

Y/N turned quickly looking towards the place where that scent came from, exposing her eyes without realizing it.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“W- what was that?”  Kate stammered coming out from behind one of the trees. She looked quite fearful, her hands were shaking. “W-What's wrong with your eyes?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

Shifting her eyes to her human form, Y/N took a step forward but Kate instantly backed her away. Kate saw it all. “What are you doing here, Kate?”

ㅤㅤㅤ

“I  s-saw you guys walking here a-and I thought you were jog-jogging... I- I wanted to catch up with you-” The archer stammered in fear, backing away so much that she ended up crashing into the nearest tree.

The look of terror in her friend's eyes was like a stab to Y/N's heart in those moments. How could they have been so stupid? They were so focused on Furcas that they hadn't noticed that Kate was after them.

ㅤㅤㅤ

“What happened to your eyes? What are you? Why did that thing turn into ashes?” The brunette repeated desperately trying to search for the truth. “I thought you were my friend.”

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Seeing Jules disappear was not something that surprised her so much, but seeing how that creature died at the hands of her 'friends' did.

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“Listen to me, Kate.” The demon tried to make the girl calm down, could hear her heart beating desperately. “There are things you don't know... that I will explain to you if you calm down and listen to me. I promise to tell you the whole truth.”

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Seeing her retreat only reaffirmed how scared Kate was and that she wasn't going to see reason. “Please, don't run.”

ㅤㅤㅤ That request only upset the girl even more, especially when Y/N approached again. Frightened, the archer decided to run to save her life.

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“Saying that never works.” Y/N sighed defeatedly.

ㅤㅤㅤ Kate Bishop ran desperately through the trees, following the 'runners' path that were around the compound. Her heart was beating wildly, fearing being caught, fearing for her life. She couldn't believe it, couldn't believe she saw her friends acting that way, that thing disappear among ashes. What were they? They didn't look good at all.

Those eyes.

ㅤㅤㅤ Y/N shouted after her trying to stop her but it was no use. Desperation played tricks on her, making the archer stumble and fall to the ground in such a way that her knee ended up injured.

Hissing in pain, Kate saw some blood but the pain went away when she saw Y/N suddenly appearing in front of her.

ㅤㅤㅤ Putting her fear aside, Kate stood up ready to fight for her life. She wasn't going to keep running, it seemed pointless anyway.

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“Don't be afraid, I just want to talk with you.” Y/N tried to reason with her but Kate threw the first punch, starting a fight she knew she was going to lose. Kate would never be like that, the demon knew that the archer would always listen to her but right now she was scared.

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Y/N dodged every one of her punches, the demon didn't want to attack her but had no choice but to take advantage. Catching her fist, Y/N forced the girl to turn around grabbing her from behind to stop it. Fear was not only seen in Kate's eyes but also in the demon.

ㅤㅤㅤ She didn't want to hurt  the one she now considered her friend. She didn't want to manipulate her. But there was no choice.

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“Kate, please, I don't want to do this.” Y/N whimpered trying to hold her down. Tears formed in Y/N's eyes for the first time, as Kate tried to break free.

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“Let me go!”

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Knowing there was no other option and that Kate didn't seem to understand due to fear, Y/N quickly turned her around to look at those blue eyes. The demon's eyes changed, that strange and terrifying orange that quickly gained the archer's attention. As if she were being deeply hypnotized.

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“Kate, look at me…” Y/N hissed, feeling Kate leave that violent attitude and her body finally let go. Completely stunned, the girl just nodded. “Forget what you saw and go with Yelena. You won't remember any of this.”

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The demon felt enormous sadness for having to do this.

For months she avoided doing something like that with them, with the people she was really starting to care, to love, and Kate was one of them. But she had no choice, they couldn't find out about all this in such an aggressive way. They would think Kate was crazy, maybe Wanda would end up exploding.

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“When my eyes change, you will wake up.” Y/N finished, her eyes going back to normal and so did her friend, who blinked rapidly somewhat confused.

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“Ugh, my head hurts.” Kate complained, feeling that awful migraine but frowned seeing her scraped knee. “Ouch, what happened to my knee?”

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Clearing her throat, the demon approached to help her. She took Kate’s arm so the girl could lean on it. “Me and Jules went for a walk and found you here. You fell and blacked out for a moment.” She lied.

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Kate frowned, a bit confused as she didn't remember it, but understandable if she passed out. Possibly migraine was to blame for that.

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“Thank you, Y/N. I'm glad you were here.” The archer looked into her eyes and smiled tenderly and sincerely grateful, clinging to her arm as they walked together down the path straight to the Compound. “It's the second time you saved me. You're a good friend.”

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Those words broke Y/N's heart, who could only smile sadly and melancholy. How could she have done that to her friend? Who blindly trusted her.

There was no other option.  “You are a great friend too, Kate.” She said with a thin voice.

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Her gaze rested on the handle of that door for about ten minutes, thinking about how to begin, what she was going to say.  How was she going to do it? Trying to gain courage to do what she had to do, for so long.

Things got out of control, she needed to face the situation.

Y/N cleared her throat and finally knocked on the door, expecting that woman to be gone or to just have to get out of there but when the door finally opened, she sighed.

That was her punishment for all the bad deeds.

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Wanda was in front of her, with a happy smile and an excited look. And all Y/N could say, feeling her heart break, was: “We need to talk.”

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