#it’s bullying tom tuesday!

[avoicefromthestars]

[madelineswrld09]

hiii! i just wanted to make a request for bill kaulitz cause he’s very hot 😁

So basically this will be like an enemy to lovers kinda thing. Bill hates y/n and he bullies her a lot but when he gets home he has some fantasies about her 😏.

Bill isn’t doing good in school so his teachers told y/n to tutor him, when they both got told who they were going to be with erm they were kinda arguing with the teacher and each other. When y/n enters bills house she doesn’t see him and goes to his room,

she hears groans and whimpers coming from the slightly opened room and then you know she obviously helps bill because she likes him. 😁

fuck you- bill kaulitz

(a/n- sorry this is so late i didn’t see it!!)

Tuesday, 2nd period math class.

as y/n enters class late, she takes her seat, which happens to be across from bill kaulitz. bill gives y/n a look of disapproval, and slouches in his seat. as the bell rings for the class to end, y/n packs up her things and starts to walk out the classroom. bill pushes past her. “what the fuck is your problem with me?” y/n yells at bill in a sassy tone. “what the fuck is your problem with me?” bill mimics her copying her girly voice. y/n scoffs and walks home since the school day is over.

bill’s pov-

it’s currently 11:00 pm right now and me and the band just finished practice. I change into sweatpants and get into bed. I cant stop thinking about y/n. yes, i do “hate her” but she’s so damn hot. her bitchy but sexy voice won’t leave my head. I only am mean to her because i think she’s hot. I don’t want to admit it but I do.

it’s now 2am and I wake up with a hard on. I rub my eyes trying to remember my dream. Then it hit me, I had a dream about hooking up with y/n. yk when you wake up from a really realistic dream that felt real?. that’s what it felt like. I needed her. and fast. I needed to figure out a way to have her.

I went back to sleep and tried to forget about the dream i just had.

back to y/n’s pov.

9:00 am. It’s 1st period and I have physics… with bill. i roll my eyes as i can see bill a next to me staring at me.

after class, the teacher calls both me and bill up to her desk. “bill, i was talking to your mom and we agreed that your grades are dropping, so I thought y/n could tutor you since she’s a very smart girl!” she teacher says. me and bill both look at each other in disgust. “no way!” we both say. “i’m not being tutored by a girl, especially not y/n” bill says. “well you obviously need someone smart to tutor you, and y/n is one of the smartest in the class. to either you fail my class, or you let her tutor you” she says. bill looks me up and down with his arms crossed. “fine.” he finally gives in. but i’m seriously done with her after this” he says. “so will you y/n?” the teacher asks. “i guess.” y/n says. “great! you can start after school today” the teacher says.

I walk out of class angry, bill follows behind me. he pushes me near the wall “what now?” i say. “come at like 5 today. k?” he says. “k”. i say dryly. he gives me his address and i go to my next class.

I get home and get ready to go to bills house. although i’m not very happy about having to tutor my bully, I’ll admit he’s really, like really cute. i’ve always had a little crush on him. he’s super attractive and i think the bitchyness makes him even more hot.

y/n puts on a pair of sweats and a tube top. and starts to head over to bills house.

I get to bills house and Knock on the door. no answer. I swear to god if he doesn’t answer the door. i walked all the way here.

I push on the handle to see if it’s unlocked, I walk in and call out his name. “bill??” I get to reply. I’ve been to his house one because me and his brother tom are chill, so I think i know where bills room is. as I walk down the hallway closer to bills room, I hear groaning, and heavy breathing. i’m guessing maybe he’s just working out..? I open his door to see him with his d in his hands, his head is thrown back “bill?” I say shocked and a bit turned on by the sight in front of me. “shit!!” bill yells pulling up his pants. I walk over to bill and sit on the edge of the bed a next to him. “what were you doing?” i ask. “ shit you didn’t see anything” he reply’s, obviously embarrassed that I saw him jerking off. his shirt is off and his makeup is a mess. I pull at his waist band. “well do you need help with that before i help you with schoolwork?” he sits up and bit and the only thing that leaves his mouth is a small “mhm” he bites his lip. I straddle my legs on him and pull his waistband down, kissing his star tattoo. I pull his pants all the way down to reveal his hard on. I put the tip in my mouth and start to push my head up and down. “fuck y/n” is all he can get out of his mouth. his hand pushes my head deeper onto him. “jesus christ..” he groans. as his eyes are closed I start to pull down my own pants and slowly put myself into him. he hasn’t even noticed yet. as i lower myself onto him he opens his eyes “damn y/n please” I lower myself all the way and start going up and down on him. I place small hickeys on his chest. the pace picks up. “i can’t hold on any longer y/n, im gonna come” he says.

he cums in me and i come to. i flop over a next to him. “not what you were expecting huh?” i say to him in that cute bitchy/girly voice he likes. “holy. shit y/n” is all that can leave his mouth.

he takes me in his arms and we both fall asleep.

[songbirdstew]

Well, Tom Petty, it turns out I DO have to live like a refugee.

We are back in evacuation mode. I guess a three and a half year break isn't bad.

Saturday, we woke up to half an inch of ice coating every possible surface.

Our power went out at 3 that afternoon.

Sunday, we woke up to an inch thick layer of ice coating every possible surface.

None of this is snow. It is all ice.

The outside temperature ranged from 23 to 27*F. By Tuesday, the inside temperature had dropped to 39, our power bank was drained, and our devices were near dead. Our immediate plan was to head to the Parks center, or if that didn't work, to City Hall (where our library is), both usually sound options for getting a cup of coffee and charging up. We would make contact with the outside world, check the weather forecast, make a plan, then head back home to grab essentials. But C's sister happened to text me right as I was gathering everything up, so we headed for her place instead.

The path from here to there was NOT GREAT BOB.

The roads were all coated in ice, still. Even in the middle of town, on the main thoroughfares, on the Priority 1 deicing routes. All along the route, there are power lines down, power poles down and broken, transformers exploded, trees down, trees snapped in half, trees sliced down the middle vertically. There are power lines dangling over the road, lying in the road, draped across people's driveways and over their front doors so they can't get out. Half the traffic lights were out.

So as soon as we got here, we decided to stay put for the night. The cats were loaded on food and water, and the house was safe and sound.

We quickly learned the entire East half of our town (where the Parks center is) and most of mid town and downtown (where the library is) were totally without power, plus the Parks center's parking lot was blocked by downed trees, so it was just as well we ended up skipping our initial idea and just came straight to Emma and Zev's.

Today, C&I went back to get things we'll need while we're here (we brought NOTHING with us yesterday). The temperature finally rose, so most of the ice had melted. Most of the traffic lights were back on.

But everything else is still the same, if not worse. Once the ice melted, everything that had been hanging by a frozen thread just crashed. Large parts of town are under orders to boil all of their water (remember, they don't have power). When we got home, we found a tree branch had completely shattered the rear window of C's car while we were gone. A huge hunk of ice fell out of the same tree and put a brand new dent in my fender while we were there. It was still only 37* at our house, even though it was up to 47 less than a mile away. The fuck?

The kitties were okay. Charlie seemed perfectly fine (like, What? You were gone?), and Glitch was well, but very, very sad. She HATES being alone (she doesn't even like being alone in a room when people are home). She HATES it when I'm not there. She could tell we were leaving again right away, and she was so unhappy. I set up her favorite blankets for her on the couch and on the bed. We gave them food and water for a few days, plus wet food with calming drops mixed in. We freshened their boxes, and we closed them in their separate spaces so that Charlie won't be bullying Glitch & stealing her food the whole time.

Curtis plans to go back out to the house on his own tomorrow, largely to further inspect his car and take more pictures for the insurance company. School is cancelled for the week. So far I have not had to go in to work, but tomorrow and Friday remain to be seen. My boss will let me know sometime in the morning whether she expects me to work or not, and then Curtis and I will decide if we think it's safe enough to get me there and back. We haven't been to that part of town, so we don't know how bad the tree damage etc might be. If it's anything like the rest of the city, I know I won't feel comfortable navigating that in the dark.

For now, we are good, and warm, and safe, with people we love. Emma and Zev are such good influences on Royal, that Royal actually ate something green today (enchilada sauce).

Please snuggle your kitties for me and kiss their stupid little heads, okay?

[halfblood-princes-crown]

Hi this is "severitus with alive Jilly au, unboxing horcrux gone wrong". I'm not going to write this because it will take time and those ideas are basically my good bye letter to this fandom. It's a little painful for me but I know I cannot stay in this fandom anymore. There are obviously more reasons but the main one is because this has been a central part of my childhood and I feel like I just cannot let it be a part of me for an unknown amount of time. I might return to it later in life but this is technically my goodbye to my childhood and me saying hello to adulthood officially (this is also why I'm staying an anon, I don't want to be associated with this fandom anymore, I want a clean break). This took a sad turn, but anyways, returning to the au.

You know the drill, I might also drop in

Bellatrix has a knife to my throat, I don't know what to do, I don't know what to say, I guess I don't have to say anything cuz Ron starts screaming

The rest of the week is kind of a blur everyone is panicking, we're sleeping in the Great hall, my parents come over and for some reason my dad asks what did I do to scare her off and is disappointed to find out I didn't do anything, she just kinda ran away after hearing Ron. My mom is kind of silent, she doesn't say anything, just asks if I got hurt "or something" (why did she say it like that does she not love me anymore?) and they just kind of leave after that, not making sure I was actually okay I wish Auntie or Peter were here instead of them

Snape did make sure I was okay, he gave me a cookie and a awkward head pat. Professor Lupin actually tries to talk to me, I appreciated that, he even offered to tutor me in any spell I wanted and I don't think any of us was expecting me to take up that offer. I had a dream where I couldn't cast a spell, it was called a Patronus and it apparently works against dementors, considering I still can't go outside without hearing children being tortured by a woman in a orphanage (I asked Tom about it and he apparently did grow up in an orphanage and we're his memories, I'm still not sure why am I hearing them but okay, sure, normal Tuesday shit for Harry Potter), I also know that Tom approves of this choice my soul was warmer that usual

Things go of as usual, aunt Petunia actually sends me an owl and that is a big step because usually hates owls.

I may not like being treated like I'm made out of glass by the rest of the school but I gained a new friend, Hermione, she is a little condescending and a little bit too nosey but she is super loyal and is willing to talk about things that Ron isn't ready for yet, like politics and bullies and the unfairness of being put a label on and being expected to act a certain way and how the wizarding world treats those they deam beneath them and how cute Blaise Zabini is and how hot Lavender is becoming. Though she is weirdly against dark magic and I am too, I think, but she takes it to a whole new level and now we are researching dark magic and how negatively it affect our society. I win three to one pro-dark magic.

School goes on and I have a bet with Ron and Hermione about the date of Snape and aunt Petunia's wedding because Spane handed me a letter from my aunt one morning and the Weasley twins said they saw a hickey of Snape's neck. I bet around summer after fifth year and summer before the forth year. Who cares I wasted twenty galleons, I'm rich, especially after my godfather dies.

I master the Patronus charm and leave everyone flabbergasted when I used it spontaneously on a dementor on my way to Herbology.

Somewhere in a tower towering over the school a batty old teacher named Trelawney said in a thousand voices that weren't her own but were: "That boy might as well save himself for Death if he is going to provoke him so, Death always loved a challenge." To bad the only person there to witness that didn't have any idea what that meant and thought that Trelawney was high and made a sexual joke so he laughed, like any 14 year old would, and went back to cleaning fake cristal balls.

The year ended so we went back home and I will spend the first month with my aunt and then head back to my parents. A scream is heard along the train and then another one and another one. Students are running along the hall so I get out of the compartment to see what's going on and a decapitated head (a boy in the year above me, a Hufflepuff), drenched in blood, lands at my feet (the only person who remebers what happens when you peak Death interest the only person who can begin to guess Harry's fate) with a a loud smacking sound and I look up from the blood filled floor and look into the eyes of a faded beauty, Bellatrix fucking Lestrange, in all her twisted glory.

The smiles at me, it's a gentle smile, it's the smile that a mother gives her child when their being endearing or funny, it's surprisingly... fond. "I finally found you again, my beautiful little doll." He grabs my collar with surprising force and forcefully drags me to a corpse filled compartment and the last thing I see before the window shatters behind me is her motherly smile.

'At least I can't lose the bet when I'm dead' is my last thought before pain erupted from my head and my back as hundreds of glass shards find their painfull home in my back.

Sorry for the wait, it took me 45 minutes to write this to make it quality to make up for my drunk ramblings last time, and don't worry, despite the cruelty I'm putting Harry through, he'll survive it somehow, he's a though little cookie.

Love you and your blog! Say hi to your wifey for me!

Oh! Well I’m proud of you for letting go! I’ll miss your asks!

Your idea is so good and I adore it!!! It was great that you put it out there before leaving! It’s very well thought out and I love the plot! You put some good thought into this.

You guys really inspire me to write.

“Thought that Trelawney was high and made a sexual joke, so he laughed” 😭😭 relatable

This ^ had me in tears ngl 🤣🤣🤣 Blaise is cute…and Lavender is hot…no lies here

@moonlightdancer26 my anon says hi ☺️

Miss you 🥹

[just-an-enby-lemon]

Kristen Kringle in my Rogues Headcannon Au:

- She is from Metropolis (ew) and since my version of Riddler lived in Metropolis from age six to sixteen the two happened to go to the same middle school.

- She is a bissexual trans woman and while Metropolis by itself is a progressive city there's still a lot of assholes there. Her parents were actually very supportive and at 11 she had already socially transitioned.

- Unfortunally when news spread that she was trans a lot of parents and students alike were opposed to her and tried to banish her from competing in sports and using the right bathroom.

- That was when the bathroom brigade was formed by Lisa Jerkins (my unimportant OC who's main fuction is give Ed extra trauma later) and Eddie Nasthon, they would scoult her to the bathroom, even if it meant just getting up in the middle of class and getting detention, to protect her from being attacked by biggots.

- They were inseparable during middle school.

- She was the first person Edward came out as transmasc for and also his first kiss.

- Unfortunally after two years of suffering attacks from classmates, parents and even some teafhers, her parents decided it was better to her to move schools.

- They keept contact at first, but after his dad broke Edward's phone during a beating, they stopped talking.

- They later meet again in the Iceberg, Kristen was hanging with her new work friends on the Iceberg. One of the girls went to the bar to flirt and grab some drinks and came back crying because some douche she had tried to flirt with had called her "easy, boring and stupid". It was Edward. He wasn't even being purposifully rude, he just has low emphaty and was understimulated and feeling ignored by Oswald witch makes for a very cranky Riddler.

- Kristen of course went to confront the guy and got even more angry when she found him talking with Penguin's underage secretary. Until she realized it was Eddie and he was helping the girl do her homework of all things (in my AUverse Miss Tuesday is Oswald secretary and she bullies/manipulates Ed into doing her homework a lot). So instead they catched up.

- They rekindling their friendship may had resulted in Edward mudering her abusive boyfriend during the most akward double date on history (Edward brough Selina - who was already his ex - because she had shown interest on Kristen and Ed has no common sense or understanding of social norms and is just lucky he was born with a huge charisma status anyway). But hey, he is a known criminal, he is one of the less murderous members of the Dark Knigth Rogue Gallery, but he is a known criminal.

- Selina had the time of her life. No one else did. But Selina enjoyed herself. She got to pet Kristens cat, made a pretty woman blush, stoled a gourgeus astray, helped in the murder of an abusive asshole, she and Ed showed their sick dance moves. It was great.

- To everyone else it was a really bad night. And it almost ended Ed's and Kristen's friendship forever (and Tom was literaly dead by the end of it). But Selina had fun. And that is what really matters.

- No but really. Edward did not murder Kristen, because he isn't a misoginistic creep here and was not trying to convince her to not be mad. He was actually trying to convice himself that he didn't mind she was mad because he was right and is great and fuck her.

- They did slowly recovered their friendship though. With some meedling for Selina, because she cared about the fact other people didn't had a great night.

- Kristen did had a one night stand with Selina at some point.

- She somehow ends dating Doctor Joan Leland who in my AU is - personality wise - closer to Gotham's Lee than this version of Leslie Thompkins.

- The fact Leland is Jonathan Crane's psychiatrist (and the only member of the Arkham staff Jon - bregrundgly - respects, witch is what made her survive being Jon's psychiatrist because Crane is famous for making them became suicidal and quit) is not really important, but I'm briggin it up anyway.

[filmpenance]

Last Rites (1988)

Donald P. Bellisario 1h 43m [Day 12, 2024 - Trashy Tuesday]

"You are all witnesses! The wop started it!" - O'Bannon

Last Rites is what happens when you want to make a cool mafia film, but plot, good casting and assured direction are incidental. But still, it will be so cool!

Packed with Italian American cliches, this movie has more cheese than a Kraft factory.

It essentially follows a film noir framework, with all of the gravitas of Chef Boyardee.

Tom Berrenger plays mafia connected priest Father Michael Pace (pah-chay), who smokes, drinks, and bullies the other priest in his parish.

Word spreads quickly through the Italian mob community that underboss, Geno has been taken out. But who killed him?

It was mafia daughter Zena, Geno's wife who shot him - catching him in the arms of his Mexican mistress Angela (Daphne Zuniga), doing it against a lot of curtains.

Angela narrowly escapes the gunfire, and with possibly the least convincing Mexican accent of all time, finds herself at church in a confessional spilling the beans to Fr. Pace.

Angela doesn't know it, but Zena is Fr. Pace's sister.

He vows to keep her safe, despite his ties to Zena (Anne Twomey - giving her best Anjelica Houston impersonation). He also vows to keep it in his pants.

Fr. Michael is not great at the whole "keeping your vows" thing.

I still viscerally remember how much Roger Ebert hated Last Rites, calling it, "easily the most offensive big budget picture of 1988". I waited decades to experience what he was talking about. And it is so wonderfully, unintentionally funny. *

The film draws from some great inspirations. A little Scarface, some Fatal Attraction. It had me wondering if Jonathan Demme or Brian De Palma could have done something with this material. I think the first thing they'd do is rewrite it.

It's terrible. I'll probably watch it again.

Pair with / watch instead: Prizzi's Honor, Married to the Mob

TRAILER:

* So sidenote...

I was really trepidatious about watching Last Rites. I kept pushing it off. I remember the terrible Siskel & Ebert review - Ebert went in hard and it stuck with me. I was worried it would be terrible and I wanted it to be awesome. In my mind, there could be nothing more appealing than this Berenger/ Zuniga pairing. Before watching, I get to imagine everything this movie could be and watching it locks in a specificity I sensed I would find distasteful, like nationalism or spaghetti straps. But I had to confront it. Just watch it and accept history as it is and not the poster. Sort of like Electric Dreams.

Siskel & Ebert: https://youtu.be/u9gCiLZtpZI?si=elYoIq3c4sHlMb5P

[pashterlengkap]

Elon Musk’s antisemitism is scaring away huge advertisers from X

It started last week with a widely shared tweet. Billionaire X owner Elon Musk agreed with a poster on his diminishing platform that Jewish communities have been pushing “hatred against whites” and are now reaping an invasion by “hordes of minorities” — both allude to the conspiratorial “Great Replacement Theory” that suspects a world-controlling Jewish cabal’s plan to replace white people with darker-skinned folks. Related: Mike Johnson says his pals would use trans laws to spy on naked girls He argued that trans people shouldn’t have rights because his friends were peeping Toms. “You have said the actual truth,” Musk wrote in response to the post. Get the Daily Brief The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you: Subscribe to our Newsletter The very next day, Media Matters, the respected media watchdog group, released a report revealing just how prevalent hate speech like Musk’s is on X. “As X owner Elon Musk continues his descent into white nationalist and antisemitic conspiracy theories,” the nonprofit wrote last Thursday, “his social media platform has been placing ads for major brands like Apple, Bravo (NBCUniversal), IBM, Oracle, and Xfinity (Comcast) next to content that touts Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party. The company’s placements come after CEO Linda Yaccarino claimed that brands are ‘protected from the risk of being next to’ toxic posts on the platform.” Before the day was out, IBM released a statement saying that it had “suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.” “IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination,” the tech giant added. Apple followed shortly after. By Friday, the advertiser revolt included Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, Lionsgate, Warner Bros. Discovery, and the Max streaming platform. With hundreds of millions of dollars in ad revenue out the door and a continually decreasing user base — which has already shrunk by 13% since Musk’s takeover in October 2022 —Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino’s vow earlier this year that the disintegrating platform would become profitable again by 2024 has become just another post that didn’t age well. On Sunday, Musk tried to deflect attention away from his antisemitic comment by writing, “This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.” This past week, there were hundreds of bogus media stories claiming that I am antisemitic. Nothing could be further from the truth. I wish only the best for humanity and a prosperous and exciting future for all.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2023 But by the following Monday, with his business strategy crumbling around him at his own hands, Musk laid blame for fleeing advertisers on the messenger, suing Media Matters for reporting the facts of X’s hateful, unmoderated content. “Media Matters knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts on X Corp.’s social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist fringe content and then portrayed these manufactured images as if they were what typical X users experience on the platform,” according to Musk’s complaint filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas. “Media Matters designed both these images and its resulting media strategy to drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.” “Far from the free speech advocate he claims to be, Musk is a bully who threatens meritless lawsuits in an attempt to silence reporting that he even confirmed is accurate,” Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said in the statement. Musk has “admitted the ads at issue ran alongside the pro-Nazi content we identified.” By Tuesday, Musk was attempting to buy sympathy for his antisemitism with a pledge to throw money at the Israel/Gaza conflict.… http://dlvr.it/SzJNwl

[theultimatefan]

Great Scott! Future’ Stars Lloyd, Thompson, Wilson To Join Michael J. Fox At FAN EXPO Portland

The future is... February 17-18, 2023, with today’s announcement that Back to the Future standouts Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompsonand Tom Wilson will attend FAN EXPO Portland. The trio joins Michael J. Fox, announced last week, at Oregon Convention Center, on the growing celebrity guest roster. Tickets to meet all four will be available beginning on Tuesday, December 20, at www.fanexpoportland.com.

He may be best known to FAN EXPO fans for his iconic portrayal of “Doc Brown,” but Lloyd's career includes blockbuster films including The Addams Family and Who Framed Roger Rabbit and classic series like "Taxi" and the animated “Cyberchase.” Some of Lloyd's other top credits include Dennis the Menace, Angels in the Outfield, To Be or Not to Be, Clue and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

In addition to playing "Lorraine Baines McFly" alongside Fox, Thompson starred in SpaceCamp, Howard The Duck, Dennis The Menace, Some Kind of Wonderful and numerous other hit films. She has guest starred in many TV series and had success with the NBC situation comedy "Caroline in the City" in the late 1990s before starring in several Broadway plays.

Wilson is a character actor, writer and comedian with more than 100 film and TV credits. Wilson burst into the BTTF movies as the now iconic bully “Biff,” his grandson “Griff,” and even his own great grandfather, gunslinger Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen, for which he won the Saturn Award for best supporting actor. He’s also known for iconic roles in “Freaks and Geeks,” "Wing Commander,” April Fool’s Day, “Zach Stone is Gonna Be Famous” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

They join a standout celebrity roster at FAN EXPO Portland, February 17-19, that also includes William Shatner (“Star Trek,” “Boston Legal”), Ron Perlman (“Sons of Anarchy,” Hellboy), Katee Sackhoff (“The Mandalorian,” “Battlestar Galactica”), Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spider-Man), Anthony Daniels (Star Wars franchise), Matthew Lewis (“Neville Longbottom” in Harry Potter franchise), “Star Trek” franchise stalwartsBrent Spiner (“The Next Generation”), Jonathan Frakes (“TNG,” “Picard”), “The Office” favorites Oscar Nuñez, Kate Flannery and Leslie David Baker, the “Trailer Park Boys” trio of Mike Smith, Robb Wells and John Paul Tremblay and more.

Tickets for FAN EXPO Portland are on sale at http://www.fanexpoportland.com now, including individual single day, 3-day and Ultimate Fan Packages for adults, youths and families. VIP packages are also available now, with dozens of special benefits including priority entry, limited edition collectibles, exclusive items and much more.

Portland is the second event on the 2023 FAN EXPO HQ calendar; the full schedule is available at fanexpohq.com/home/events/.

[shivroysboytoy]

i think about this scene every day

[movieassholes]

“I’ll buy you a beer. It’s on me.” “Now it’s on you.”

Harlan 'Flat-top' Meyers - Necessary Roughness (1991)

[rapeculturerealities]

Pennsylvania Republicans Introduce Extreme 'Don't Say Gay' Bill

It is patterned after the Florida bill, but mine goes further,” Republican Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, the legislation’s lead sponsor, said at a rally at the state capitol Tuesday, Harrisburg’s Patriot-News reports.

Her bill, House Bill 2813, would stipulate that public and charter schools “may not offer instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to a student in kindergarten through fifth grade.” The Florida law, which went into effect this year, bans instruction on these topics in grades K-3 and says any lessons in higher grades must be age-appropriate.

Borowicz said she ideally would like the prohibition to go through 12th grade. “It really needs to be protected up through 12th grade; we need to go all the way,” she told reporters at the rally. She endorsed a similar measure in the state Senate, SB 1278, “which would allow schools to be sued for material that is ‘not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate”’ at any grade level,” the Patriot-News notes.

SB 1278 has passed the Senate, but Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, has promised to veto it or any bill like it, including HB 2813, which he said “denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies,” according to news site Local Today. Wolf is not up for reelection this year due to term limits, but the Democratic nominee for governor, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, opposes this type of legislation as well. Lawmakers should stop “wasting time and tax dollars on these attempts to bully LGBTQ Pennsylvanians,” a spokesperson for Shapiro’s campaign told Local Today.

However, the Republican nominee for governor, Doug Mastriano, attended the rally to voice support for HB 2813, SB 1278, and restrictions on LGBTQ+ content in general, the Patriot-News reports. Mastriano is a close ally of Donald Trump.

[bubblefina]

King of Hearts chapter 3

Masterlist

Summary: Reader and Tom meet during their years at Hogwarts, but as the years pass a rivalry grows between the two of them, which leads from soft beginnings to tragic endings.

“ “Did I have to?” he began, finally taking his eyes off the book to reply, “I saved you from being eaten by a snake, what’s done is done. I don’t see a point in acknowledging your thanks. Quite frankly, I wish I had let the snake eat you because you are annoying me right now.” He narrowed his eyes at you before moving the book onto his lap and resumed reading again”

Pairings: Tom x f!reader

•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩•̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩

Chapter 3- Accidents

September second, the day classes would begin for Hogwarts students. The prefect’s lead the students down to the Great Hall on the first day, so they would be able to have breakfast on time.

The food was prepared by the house elves that worked in the kitchen, who are very friendly and will accommodate your dietary needs if you ask them nicely. 

Your stomach was a little too nervous to eat a whole meal that morning, so you finished as much as you could and went back to your dorm to pack things in your book bag.

It was a Tuesday, you only had two classes, Charms and Flying, meaning you only needed one textbook, “Standard book of spells, first edition”, along with paper, quill, and ink of course.

You exited the dorm and met with Naomi, who was loitering in the common room, looking at the globe that was spinning as another first year turned it rapidly.

You exited the dorm and met with Naomi, who was loitering in the common room, looking at the globe that was spinning as another first year turned it rapidly.

“Ready to head to class?” She asked, noticing your presence.

“I can’t think of any more reasons to procrastinate on not going, so let’s go before anything pops into mind.”

The Charms classroom was on the third floor of the castle, so it was a bit of a walk from the Ravenclaw tower. Good company makes it less boring when it’s with the right people.

“Are you nervous?” Naomi finally spoke after a few minutes of silence, the both of you were surprisingly alone in a nearby corridor, only a few students came by here and now.

“Nervous enough not to eat everything on my breakfast plate. The excitement of becoming a witch is the only thing keeping me sane, how about you?”

She looked as if she held her breath after you had asked how she felt about it, exhaling she answered, “I feel the same, but, if I’m being honest here, I don’t think I’ll be staying after I finish Hogwarts.”

“Heading back to your parents?”

She nodded, “I know having magical powers is a great gift but, I can’t help but think it’s not for me. I genuinely think I’m cursed, so I’d rather just either move back with my parents or move to America.”

You agreed with her on the cursed part. Having magic was one of the best things that could happen to someone, but like all great gifts that are blessed to certain people, the happiness you get from it is squashed by the people that don’t have it. 

Your mind immediately went back to the people in your hometown, although they didn’t know you had magic, they knew something about you was weird. Did they take their time to understand? No. The adults immediately took to isolation, and the kids immediately took to bullying you.

The conversation between you and Naomi managed to last the two of you until you got to the Charms classroom.

It was a nicely spaced classroom, there were four sections, each divided into two tables. 

One for each house? Who knows. In the far middle back of the classroom stood what was presumed to be the teacher's desk, filled with lots of books and papers, and behind the desk was a large window that showed parts of the castle.

Once you found a place to sit down, you set down your bag and continued to talk to Naomi, who was sitting right next to you. 

Eyes moving from place to place, they set on a figure that was reading across from you.

It was him, Tom Riddle. A convenient coincidence that he shared a class with you right after the snake incident.

Telling Naomi you’d be right back, you strolled over to him.

His book was on his desk, and he was flipping the pages ever so slowly, a little too slowly.

You set your hands on either side of the book, causing him to stop reading and look up at you.

With a beaming smile, you greeted him hello, and before you could continue he interrupted.

“You again?”

Your smile quickly faded and was replaced by a puzzled look. What did he mean by that, he sounded annoyed too.

“Yes, me again,” You said as you crossed your arms and undoubtedly rolled your eyes as well, “I just wanted to give you a proper thanks for last night. I didn’t think you heard me when I said it.”

“I heard you when you said your thanks last night, I just didn’t bother replying to you.” 

He resumed reading his book, leaving you a little surprised at his lack of communication. Your crossed arms dropped to your sides, but not for long, after a few seconds they found themselves right next to his book again.

“Why didn’t you want to acknowledge it? My thanks.” you asked. It sounded a little desperate, but you didn’t care. After going so long without friends, the last thing you wanted to do was make enemies in your new school.

“Did I have to?” he began, finally taking his eyes off the book to reply, “I saved you from being eaten by a snake, what’s done is done. I don’t see a point in acknowledging your thanks. Quite frankly, I wish I had let the snake eat you because you are annoying me right now.” He narrowed his eyes at you before moving the book onto his lap and resumed reading again.

You were flabbergasted. He had seemed so nice, maybe a little depressed looking, but nice nonetheless! Taking back any nice thought you had about him, you scoffed at his statement.

Innocent? There was nothing innocent about this git, he was pure evil. Okay maybe not pure evil, but he was still so rude. Looks can truly be deceiving.

You opened your mouth to retort his statement, but all that came out was air, he took notice of this and piped in his own commentary.

“Did my small statement leave you at a loss for words? Perhaps you can work on expanding your vocabulary whilst you study here.” He flipped another page in his book while you stood there even more dumbfounded. 

With clenched fists, you walked back to your seat next to Naomi, visibly irritated.

“Whoa, did your conversation with that boy go south that quickly?” She asked.

All she got back was you mumbling “little twat” and “lousy minger” so she dropped the subject before you resorted to more...nasty words.

The professor entered the classroom a mere moments later and set up for the first lesson of the school year.

“Welcome students. Today we will start easy since it is your first time learning charms. A simple levitation charm, used to make objects fly or levitate. Repeat the incantation after me, Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa.”

The whole class followed in his lead and repeated the incantation multiple times before they moved onto practicing the wand motions on how to cast the spell.

After a good time practicing, the students were let go and tried to cast the spell on their own

Some students had succeeded on their first try, including the little rascal from last night.

“Well done my boy, what is your name? I should have you go around helping the other kids.” The professor chimed.

“Tom riddle, sir.” His voice sounded so poised and sweet, you mimicked his voice in your head, making it sound all shriveled and nasty. It felt accurate to you.

Your mockery was interrupted when the professor turned to face you, “Miss l/n? I truly hope you’re not planning on holding your wand still for the whole class period. Please participate in trying the levitation charm, will you?” 

The professor talked loud enough so that the majority of the students could hear him.

You heard snickers in the Slytherin section, behind Tom were three girls.

“I thought Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart, she should have been one of the first to finish.” One of the girls teased as she used her wand to levitate the feather that was on her desk.

You exhaled and looked down, trying to ignore what one of the girls had just said about you and focus on the feather.

Yet it was impossible to concentrate. The girls, who were albeit a little quieter now, were still talking about you, loud enough for you to hear at least. 

Tom, who was slightly listening in on what they were saying, had a faint curl on his lips.

The damn snake charmer was finding their taunting comments amusing.

“Wingardium…”

As you started on the enchantment, your wand shook in your hand. The girls were still laughing, you bit your lip as flashbacks filled your mind. 

‘No, this can’t happen again. I just got away from the troubles back in school, they can’t follow me here that quickly’ 

Without a moment's delay, and your frustration at their annoying giggles, you chanted the last part of the incantation, “LEVIOSA!” 

Out of pure anger, you waved your wand down, not noticing where you were pointing it.

With no second to spare, your textbook that was sitting neatly next to the feather had flown across the room and slammed onto a boy's face.

The whole classroom was silent. So silent that you could hear your own heartbeat, and it was the only thing you could hear as the professor raced to the boy who was rubbing his nose.

It felt like all the blood in your body rushed to your face, making it hot to the touch. In any other circumstance you would have thought you had a fever, but no, it was pure embarrassment.

You heard the professor ask the boy if he needed to see the nurse, but the boy shook his head.

All eyes were on you now, the culprit of the crime.

You sunk down into your seat, not wanting to be seen. Plus, it felt far too dramatic to run out of the classroom.

“Miss l/n, hiding from your mistakes will not cause them to go away.” The professor walked to your desk and placed your textbook next to your feather and discarded wand.

Naomi leaned down to where you were sinking and whispered, “It’s fine y/n. I heard from one of the 4th years that one time a student flooded the potions classroom with a flooding jinx a few years back. Mistakes happen.”

You slowly moved yourself up and went back to practicing the charm, and after a few tries you managed to lift the feather, and only the feather.

Class ended momentarily after that. You were packing your bags slowly and told Naomi she could head to her next class without you, but she politely declined, saying that if you needed to be alone, she'd be waiting outside the classroom. You took her up on that offer.

While walking away from your seat, you bumped into a figure that stood in front of you. You looked to see his face, it was the same boy you had hit with your textbook. Your face feeling hot once again, you gulped and took a step back. The boy looked at you for a second, and to your dismay, he laughed.

“Pardon me for asking, but you wouldn’t happen to see me as an open target now, would you?” He asked. His tone was clearly set to tease you for what happened, seeming as if he wasn’t upset at you at all.

“No no! Of course not. I’m really sorry for what happened earlier, and just now. I guess it’s just bad luck on the first day.”

“Bad luck that managed to turn a levitation charm into a ‘shooting a book across the room’ charm?” he still had a playful look on his face, he wasn’t intentionally trying to make you feel bad, but rather make light of the situation

The both of you started to exit the classroom as you gave your answer, “Let’s call it beginners luck.”

“Let’s hope that you don’t have that type of luck in another kind of classroom. Wouldn’t want you to throw a glass full of draught of the living dead across the room in potions class. I’m Archer, by the way, Archer willows.” He reached out his hand and that's when you finally noticed his robes, yellow. A Hufflepuff, no wonder he was so kind.

“I solemnly swear that it will not happen again, I hope. I’m y/n, y/n l/n.” You took his hand and the both of you went your separate way. 

Naomi had seen the interaction between the two of you and took the chance to tease you about it.

“No fair, y/n. It’s only the first day of class, and you already have a boyfriend?” She sulked as the both of you made it out of the third floor and to the outside of the classroom.

“He is not my boyfriend, we just met. Chatted a little and that’s that.” 

Naomi gave you a sarcastic ‘sure’ as a response and went in a different direction than you.

She had herbology next, and you had your flying class that was near the forbidden forest.

●∘◦❀◦∘●∘◦❀◦∘●∘◦❀◦∘●∘◦❀●∘◦❀◦∘●∘◦❀◦∘●∘◦❀◦∘●∘◦❀

While walking to the class, you noticed someone familiar that was standing alone. As you got closer, you noticed the blond hair that was moving in different directions due to the wind. It was Archer, coincidence that she shared a second period with you too.

“We meet again.” you snuck up behind him, causing him to turn around in bewilderment, but his startled expression softened when he saw your face.

“Hey, y/n. If you had told me you had flying next, I would have walked you with me.” He scooted a little to make space for you where he was standing.

“I didn’t know we were on a ‘knowing each other's schedule’ basis yet.” you stood next to him and looked around for the professor, who was quickly treading across the grass to reach the class.

The professor, when she had finally made it to the class, instructed the students to get into two separate rows and face each other. In doing so, the brooms that were neatly stacked levitated to each student, one by one.

The professor gave a brief explanation on what flying class was and what it would teach them. Things like how to handle a broom, take care of a broom, and working on maneuvers and techniques.

“Now, to start off, you must learn to summon your broom. To do this, reach out your right hand, and with feeling, say the word ‘up’. If you are successful, the broom will jump up into your hand.” 

With that being said, the students were left to try and summon your broom. Some had failed, while others had succeeded. While trying to summon yours, you peaked and saw that Archer was holding his.

“You already summoned yours?” your eyes were filled with amazement.

“Yeah. My dad got me and my brothers into playing quidditch when we were young. I showed magic at a really young age, so he took advantage of that.”

You looked at him with admiration and turned back to your broom, extending your hand again, you said ‘up’ with as much feeling as you could. The broom shot up, but not into your hand. Rather, it flew right past you and landed behind you.

Groaning, you walked a few steps to get it and stood back in your original position.

You heard chuckling next to you.

“What's so funny?” you asked.

Archer cleared his throat to stop the laughter, “Are you going to have that so-called ‘beginners luck’ in every class. I hope you don’t have potions any time soon.”

“As a matter of fact, I don't. I have it tomorrow.” You gulped as you faced your broom again.

It was magic, no one said it was going to be easy.

[talesofarcadia78]

Sorceress of Arcadia || Becoming Part 1

Summary: Y/n Lake is Jim Lake's older sister. She discovers  that she is sorceress and her brother is the Trollhunter. She and the Trollhunters go on adventures together, they save trolls and humans. Along the way, a friend becomes more than just a friend and discovers their secrets.

Warnings: Bruises, mention of blood, pain 

Word count: 3,514

Tags: @lunariasilver​

N​ext >> Becoming Part 2 

Beep! Beep! Beep! 

UHH! 

My stupid alarm clock woke me out of my perfect slumber. You rolled over to your side and glanced at your alarm clock. 6:30 AM. You groaned, today was Tuesday, which meant SCHOOL! 

After another minute of groaning, you got up and walked over out of your bedroom and into the bathroom. You brushed your teeth and took a quick shower and got ready. You looked at yourself in the mirror. 

“Looking good, y/n!”, you thought to yourself and got out of the bathroom and rushed downstairs to the living room. You saw that Jim was already up and making what looked like breakfast but you might wrong though. 

“Good morning Jim! Your dear old sister is very hungry! Have you made anything for her?” you asked, walking through into the kitchen. 

“Morning y/n! You’re only 18, three years older, not that old. But yes, I have! Here”, he handed you a plate with an omelette and a glass of juice. 

“Thanks!”, as you walked out of the kitchen and sat at the dining table. 

You quickly finished you’re breakfast and ran upstairs to grab your bag. You noticed that Jim was in your mom’s room, leaving breakfast there for her. You smiled. Jim took so much care for our mom. She was working double shifts lately, and she wasn’t getting enough rest and ‘me time’. 

Jim closed mom’s room’s door, and headed downstairs with you. 

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As the garage door opened, you saw that the garbage bin was laying on the floor with rubbish spilling out. 

“Uh. Raccoons!”, Jim said, annoyed. 

He picked up the rubbish, when Toby (Jim’s best friend) rides over to us from him house across from us.

“C’mon Jimbo, y/n, we’re late for school”, he said, buckling his helmet on. 

“I know. I was busy with the lunches. One for mom, y/n, me and you”, he said walking with his bike to him and handing him a brown paper bag. 

Toby peeked into the contents of the bag. 

“I can’t, I’m on a diet”, handing the paper bag back to Jim. 

“You’ve been on a diet for 14 years Tobes!”, Jim argued, pushing the Toby’s hand away. 

They continued bickering, when I got my bike and ringed it’s bell, catching the boys attention. 

“Well I’m heading to school. See ya later!”, you said, riding off

You took in the morning view of the beautiful mountains and canals. You would never want to leave Arcadia. As you rode your Vespa through town, you saw many people driving to work and walking to school. Some people were at the cafe or at a shop. You noticed a guy turn a sign from ‘close’ to ‘open’ for GDT Arcane Books. He was tall and skinny, wearing a black shirt and jacket with black jeans and black shoes. He had raven black hair with blue dyed tips. 

Hmm, I’ve never seen him around town before. You knew practically everyone in town except for the students at Arcadia Oaks High, other then Jim and Toby. I rode until your school came into sight, Arcadia Oaks Academy. You didn’t go to the same school Jim because your mom, Barbara Lake, couldn’t afford both of us going to Arcadia Oaks High, so I went to the other school, since it was cheaper. 

You parked your bike and hung your helmet on one of the handles. You walked through the entrance and were quickly greeted with your best friend,  Rachael and Izzy. 

“Y/n! Guess what happened!”, both of them squealed. 

“What?! Tom Holland is coming to Arcadia?”, you asked, jokingly. 

“Nope! I wish! But I got you-know-who’s Instagram!”, Izzy said, jumping up and down. 

You looked over at Rachael, she nodded. 

“Wow! Good job Izzy. Now you just need to become friends in the real world, not just the Instagram world”, you said walking over to your locker. 

“Uhh....maybe”, Izzy said. 

You grabbed your books and shoved them in your backpack, it was an urban backpack, so there weren’t any zips, just weird looking strips that magnetically connected. So you were having a hard time, zips were way more efficient. 

You slammed your locker closed and headed to our first class of the day, HPE theory. You were walking to class while talking with Rachael and Izzy when, you saw Jim calling me. you stopped and picked up. 

“What’s up, I have my first class in 5 minutes, so hurry”, you said quickly. 

“Sorry y/n! I found something in the canals, that was calling my name, strange. But I’ll tell you after school. Bye!”, he said and hung up before you even had a chance at saying ‘bye’. 

You put your phone in your pocket and were about continue to class, when you tripped over your feet and descended to the ground. You were ready for the impact but you never felt it. 

Huh? You looked up, and saw the same guy from the bookstore. He had grabbed you by your arms. You quickly got up and faced the guy. 

“Thank you! I can be very clumsy sometimes. Oh sorry, I’m y/n”, I said, stretching out my hand to shake.

“No problem! I’m Douxie. Nice to meet you y/n. Oh and...”, he said, then ruffled through his pockets and took out two cards. 

He handed them to me, GDT Arcane Books and Mr. Benoit’s cafe business cards. 

“I work there. It’ll be great to see you around there”, he said, not meeting your gaze.

“Sure! You look new, you just came here?”, you asked. 

“Nah. I just don’t really show my face to the public other then at school”, he replied. 

“Oh okay. Well, I’ll see you around, bye”, you said turning around to go to class. 

“Bye”, he said heading the other way. 

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The whole day was exhausting for you. After your last class, you left and went to your brother’s high school. 

Jim rode over to me, as well as Toby. 

“Hey Jim! How was your day?”, you asked, as you rode your bike along side him. 

“It was good, I kinda got into a fight with Steve, cause he was bullying Eli, so yeah...”, he said, trying to sound like it was normal. 

“Yeah! Did you see how I chanted ‘let him out! let him out!”, Toby exclaimed, proud of himself. “Good thing your mom’s a doctor”, he said, while mom drove up to us. 

“Hey kids”, mom greeted us, rolling down the window. 

Toby tried to stop in-front the car while he said,

“Looking sharp Dr. L”, as he stopped and came into mom’s view. 

“Thanks Toby. You’re looking sharp yourself”, she complimented him. 

“Oh really! It shows?”, Toby says, showing his ‘muscles’. 

You chuckled. 

While Jim and mom were talking, you waved mom bye and rode to your house. You put your bike in the garage and walked upstairs to your room. You dropped you bag on the floor, and took your laptop out and started doing your homework. Then you heard the front door open, must be Jim. 

You ran downstairs, finding him sitting on the edge of the couch and looking at what looked like an amulet. 

“I have a feeling that this is what you wanted to show me”, you said, sitting next to him. 

“Yeah. Toby and I found it in the canals in the morning. It was calling my name. Strange right?”, he explained. 

You nodded. You then looked at the amulet, it looked ancient. Jim suddenly, started talking to it. When the amulet didn’t say anything, he got frustrated and told it, 

“Come one speak up or else you’re going up on eBay!”

He sounded stupid at this point, he was talking to an inanimate object for God’s sake! Then we heard something from the basement. We glanced at each other and headed to the basement. 

“Uh! Must be raccoons!”, you said, getting a broom for Jim and getting yourself a metal stick.

We headed down the stairs and then saw....nothing. We went further in when you heard something behind you. You tapped Jim’s shoulder and turned around. 

A blue creature that had 6 eyes and 4 arms came out of the shadow’s. 

“Master Jim!”, it said. 

Jim started screaming, when another creature was behind us. It was bigger, had green hair and grey skin, well stone. 

“Hi!”, it said. 

You wanted to scream, but you couldn’t. Then you looked at the creatures and backed away terrified. You couldn’t hear what they were saying since you were in your own thoughts.

How did they get in? What do they want? What are they? How do they know Jim? 

Then you snapped back into reality. The creatures were introducing themselves. The multi-eyed guy was Blinky and the brute was AAARRRGGHH and they were ‘trolls’. Then Jim passed out. You looked at the trolls. 

“Don’t go near my brother!”, you shouted at them and stuck your metal stick out at them.

“Do not worry sister of Master Jim, we will not harm him”, Blinky said, trying to calm you down. 

But that didn’t work you felt very scared, but you had to look confident, the complete opposite. Then suddenly, aqua coloured sparks started to flare out of your hands and onto the stick you were holding. Then a ball of aqua looking sparks shot out and towards the trolls. It hit them, making them stumble back. 

“Hmm. Master Jim’s sister is a sorceress. Who knew?!”, Blinky whispered to AAARRRGGHH. 

“I-I’m a what?”, you asked, lowering the stick. 

“A sorceress. In simpler words, you have magic”, Blinky explained, “We should make our exit. Lovely meeting you sister of Master Jim. We-”. 

“My name is y/n. So call me that”, you said, introducing yourself. 

“Oh okay. Lovely meeting you, y/n. Well, goodbye, we will be seeing you soon”, Blinky said and AAARRRGGHH waved. Then they were gone. 

You looked down at Jim. 

“What have you gotten yourself and me into Jim”, you said, as you picked him up and took him back to the living room. 

You set him on the couch, and went upstairs to sleep. 

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You had gotten up a bit more early and got dressed. It wasn’t the best outfit but how cares?

You grabbed your backpack and headed downstairs. You looked at the clock, it was 7. You then looked at the couch were Jim was sleeping, he was snoring very loudly. You quickly wrote down a note for Jim: 

Morning sleepyhead, I’m out, since you were asleep, no one was going make breakfast, so I’m grabbing something for Mr. Benoit’s. See ya after school. 🤪

You rode you way over to the cafe and placed your bike near a window. You walked inside and was about to order, when Douxie walked up. 

“Hey y/n. Were you going to order something?” Douxie asked. 

“Hey Douxie, actually I was just going to get black coffee,” you replied. 

He help up a coffee cup. You smiled and thanked him as the two of you settled at a table. You drank your coffee quietly, while Douxie ate his muffin. 

“Wanna go to school together?” he asked. 

“Sure” you replied. 

You grabbed your bike while Douxie grabbed his. You both rided along side each other and talked. When the school came into view, Douxie asked, 

“Wanna race?”

“Why not!”, you replied. 

You both start peddling faster. When thought you were just about to win, Douxie peddled a bit faster. You pressed the brakes, but you didn’t stop. It did not end well. You skidded on the concrete, scraping your hands, making them bleed, and you ankle landed the wrong way when you fell to the floor. Douxie was just about to rush over and help you when a bunch of girls came up to him and started oooing and ahhing over him. He tried to go over to you but he couldn’t. 

You looked at your hands, there were bleeding a lot. You tried to stand up but as soon as you did, you fell back onto the floor, screaming in pain. Your ankle was not okay. Douxie had heard your scream, making him loose his patience. 

“Excuse me girls! I need to get to a very important person, so please,” he shouted, sprinting to you. 

“Y/n! Your hands...”, he said, worriedly, looking at your hands. 

He took your hands in his and inspected the scrapes. As he touched your wrist, you winced, he had touched a bruise. He saw you wince in pain, so he quickly apologised. He looked at your ankle, it was turning to a purple shade. Since you couldn’t walk, he would carry you. He placed one of his hands under your knees and the other behind your back and lifted you up. 

“Douxie, this isn’t necessary. I can pull my own weight,” I protested. 

He had pulled you close to his chest, so you wouldn’t accidentally fall. 

You noticed that he was pretty tall, so you wrapped your arms over his shoulders and clinged onto him for dear life. 

“You can’t pull your weight, clearly and this was the only way. Plus I don’t think you have a lot of weight to pull,” he said. 

He was clearly referring to me being light. 

He carried me across the school, getting everyone’s attention. We were about half way to the nurses office when Izzy and Rachael came rushed over to us. 

“Y/n! What happened?” they both asked. 

“My brakes were not working, so I skidded on concrete and my ankle landed the wrong way so I can’t walk. I told Douxie that I could pull my own weight but he didn’t listen and so he now carrying me to the nurses office,” you explained. 

“Well look at the bright side! You’re getting carried by Douxie! Douxie!” Rachael said. 

Douxie and you blushed. 

“It’s nothing. I can do anything for y/n,” Douxie said calmly. 

Izzy and Rachael eyebrows shot up at his statement. Douxie realised what he had said and tried to explain, when you tightened your grip on Douxie. Your ankle started hurting a lot. You winced in pain. Douxie looked at you and apologised to your friends and continued to the nurses office. You whimpered in pain, as it got worse. 

“It’s okay y/n, I’ve got you. Nothing is going to happen,” Douxie whispered to you. 

Douxie tried pushing the door of the nurses office open with his foot but it didn’t work. A person in the office, noticed you and Douxie and quickly opened the door, letting you in. Douxie laid you down on the bed in one of the room’s. The nurse ushered him out and the nurse examined your ankle. 

After you were examined, the nurse told Douxie that she will be fine by the end of the day, and that he could pick her up after last period. 

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You had been sitting on the bed all day, having an ice pack around your ankle and bandages on your hand. The whole day was very quiet and boring. Then, you heard the bell ring, school had ended! You didn’t have to wait long, your black and blue haired friend came as soon as the bell rung. 

“Hey Douxie!” you said, as he came into the room. 

“Hey y/n! How are you feeling? Can you walk?”, he asked, shooting you questions. 

“She can’t walk fully yet, she can limp. You’ll have to support your friend home”, the nurse interrupted. 

Your eyes become wide when the nurse said that he had to drop me off to my house. Douxie nodded and walked over to you. 

“Let’s see how you can walk”, he said. 

He offered me his hand for support and you took it. As you put weight on your ankle, it started to hurt. 

“Ouch!”, you exclaimed, squeezing Douxie’s hands in pain. 

“Yeah...you can’t walk. I am sorry for doing this again,” he said, then lifted you up again. You got out of the nurses office and out of school, were your bike was. 

“Hmm. If you can’t ride your bike to school, then you’ll need a lift. Do you have a brother or someone that can pick you up?”, Douxie asked. 

“I have a younger brother. He goes to Arcadia Oaks High. I can call him-”, you said when you were cut off by Douxie. 

“I can call him. What’s his number?”, he asked. 

You told him and then he called your brother. 

“Hey, is this Jim? Okay, so I have got your sister, can you pick her up? She can’t ride her bike, I’ll come with you guys since her bag is with me. Bye,” he said over the phone. 

||||||||||||||||||||

“Hey Jim!” Douxie waved at Jim and Toby, making him come over to you. 

“Y/n! What happened? Are you alright?” Jim asked, worried.  

“I’m fine Jim, I’ll tell you about it at home,” you said, reassuring him for now. 

“Okay let’s go, before it get’s dark...” Toby said, looking at the sun setting. 

Douxie looked confused, but he pushed the thought away. He helped you over to Jim, where he his hand stretched out for me to take. I took it and looked confused. 

“Jimbo, where am I going to sit?” you asked, gesturing to his bike, where there was only one seat. 

“You are going to sit on the seat, while I ride,” he explained. 

You nodded. You sat on his seat and he started peddling through town, while Toby and Douxie were following behind.  

“Douxie, thank you for helping my sister, it means a lot,” Jim said, as we rode through the town and onto the bridge. 

“It’s nothing. I can do anything for her,” Douxie said, but then he realised what he had just said. 

You blushed. 

“Well I um mean that I can do anything um...” Douxie stammered. 

“Anyways! Toby why were you at the dentist?”, Jim asked, trying to start a normal conversation. 

“I’ll explain later. Anyways, let’s talk about you, Jim,” Toby said, changing topics. 

“What about me?” Jim asked, panicking a little. 

“You know, the LOYL,” Toby smirked. 

“Yeah Jim, who is this girl? Wait, is it Claire Nūnez?” you teased. 

“Uh...um..well...”Jim stammered. 

“Oh! Jim you have a crush? Have you spoken to her yet?” Douxie teased. 

“Well I did yesterday, during gym class,” Jim said. 

“Please don’t tell me you said anything to her in Spanish,” you said. 

When he didn’t give you an answer, you knew the answer, he did. 

“What’s so bad in talking in Spanish?”, Douxie asked, curious. 

“Jim starts talking in Spanish when he get’s nervous, which is usually when he talking to girls, more specifically, Claire,” you explained. 

Then your house came. 

“Well that is it for the day, see you guys tomorrow,” Toby said, riding to his home across from ours. 

You got off your brother’s bike and limped over to the front door and opened it. You collapsed on the couch, tired. Douxie came in and dropped your bag onto the floor next to you. 

“Well I’ll see you tomorrow, love,” he said, walking out of the door. 

Jim came in and dropped his things on the couch. 

“I’ll make sandwiches, you rest,” Jim ordered. 

You sighed, you limped over with him and then sat on top of the bench. You looked at you brother, he chopping and looking at the amulet. 

“Why don’t you try looking into it?” you ask. 

“Maybe I should,” he said, taking the amulet and walking outside. 

You followed him outside and sat on the stairs. He looked at the amulet and spoke the incantation. 

“For the glory of Merlin, daylight is mine to command,” he spoke, turning the amulet. Then the wind suddenly picked up, and you saw that the rocks started to levitate. Then, blue magic orbs appeared out of the amulet and into Jim heart, then he levitated and armour appeared. Then the pieces clicked together. At first it was very big, which you started laughing at, then it shrunk and fitted him perfectly. He looked like a knight, but without the sword. 

“This is so freaking cool!” Jim exclaimed. 

“Now you just need a sword to go with the armour,” I commented, when a few more orbs appeared out the amulet and drifted to his hand, which then created a sword. 

You were amazed. This was magic! 

“Wow!” you said. 

Then Jim started to do some ‘cool’ moves with his sword, but when it got stuck into a a rock behind him. You bursted out laughing as you saw him attempt to take it out. He eventually did, but then he got it stuck again. He tried again, and it got out a lot faster. He chuckled when he got it out. 

In having discovered all this, on the other side of town, Mr Strickler and Bular were planning to take it from him. But the amulet had found it’s champion, would it be that easy? l

[tomdutch]

on this tuesday afternoon i find myself rlly longing for mackie and tom interactions 😔 very endearing for me to see another person bully him (affectionately) so i don’t have to do it myself

[unmaskedagain]

Ladybug: A Young Avenger

Hey Everyone, I got prompt for a civil war ML crossover fic but I was really into Team Iron Man on Ao3 for longest of times and, after endgame, I kind of need some team fluff. So I tweaked the prompt. It’s still team Iron man; just… not the way you’d expect. (Also did anyone know else know that Penny’s last name was Rolling?)

It took Tony Stark all of five minutes to figure out Ladybug’s identity.

“Jarvis, buddy?” Tony called out.

“Yes, sir?”

“What’s up with teenagers and being bug-themed heroes wearing inappropriate costumes?”

           The A.I took a moment before answering, “…I, for one, blame Vine.”

           Tony sighed. First fifteen-year-old Peter Parker aka Spiderman. He took the kid on an as an intern the second he learned about Spiderman. Now fifteen-year-old Marinette Dupain-Cheng aka Ladybug.

           He groaned.

What could he do? He needed help.

           Captain America needed to be stopped. The Winter Solider needed to be taken down. Team Cap had gone too far.

           It was war.

           Getting Harley Keener, a mechanical mastermind to agree to be his intern was a bit like chewing nails but Tony always knew the kit would agree. Getting Peter Parker, a child genius with a bright future as a scientist, to agree to be his intern was a piece of cake. Honestly Tony could’ve asked for the kid’s soul in repayment and Peter would’ve asked if he wanted on a silver plate or if plastic was okay? Getting Riri Williams, an engineering prodigy to be his intern, was easy. Too easy; her mom practically threw her at him, all while making him swear into a recorder that he wouldn’t sue. No matter what. Introducing the kids to his labs made him feel like Willie Wonka hand-delivering the golden tickets.

           They were all future scientists and engineers like Tony. They grew up worshiping at the altar of Stark Industries like ever future MIT graduate did.

           Marinette Dupain-Cheng, on the other hand, was an entirely different beast who played an entirely different game. She was a fashion prodigy who had designed for stars like Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale. She had interned for Style Queen Audrey Bourgeois, had her clothes walk the runway during Paris fashion week, and had a summer job that somehow lasted over a year, working for Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-Chief for Runway Magazine when the scary woman took over Paris: Runaway. Said job ended when Miranda when back to New York. Marinette only prayed to the fashion gods. So when Tony Stark, god of the nerds, showed up at her door, she only blinked once.

           Said girl sat between her parents, with cool blue eyes glaring at him suspiciously. Luckily Tony was smart enough to bring Pepper with him.

           Pepper Potts smiled at the family in front of her; two bakers and the daughter, who made the most delicious macarons that she ever tasted. “So you see, after Tony came across Marinette’s wonderful re-design sketch of his suit on her website, he was very impressed with her talent.”

“But to take Marinette on as an intern?” Sabine asked. “Excuse me, but Marinette has always leaned towards the arts than science.”

           Tony gave the woman his best charming smile, “What is science if not another form of art. We both create, strive to better our talents, work to make names for ourselves; experiment and test out hypothesizes. Granted no one in my field ever created the disaster that was crocs.”

           Marinette narrowed her eyes, “Didn’t your father help on the Manhattan Project?”

           Silence.

           Pepper cleared on her throat. “Tom, Sabine, before anyone agrees to anything I’d like to go over safety procedures in place. Would you mind stepping outside with me, I could use a bit of fresh air.”

           Tony and Marinette just stared at each other as the three left the room. When the front door closed behind them, Marinette leaned forward, “What do you want?” Her patience had reached its end.

“Aren’t you being a little rude?” Tony smirked.

“Aren’t you a little old?” Marinette snapped back. “What do you want?”

“I want Ladybug’s help.”

           Marinette flinched back in shock. Her heart raced in her chest. “How do you know?”

“I’m Tony Stark,” He shrugged easily, picking up a mint chocolate Macron. “I know everything.”

           Marinette fought the fear racing through her, and steeled herself like Miranda and Audrey had taught her, “So Iron Man’s wanted Ladybug as an intern? So what does Iron Man get? What does Ladybug get? What does Tony get? And what does Marinette get?”

“You made clear distinctions,” Tony said approvingly, his business-side gearing up. “But I am Iron Man.” He said. “You come to New York for this spring break and for the summer. I get Ladybug’s help in handling a personal issue that has developed within the Avengers. Ladybug gets training from the Avengers. Marinette gets to add Stark Industries and a personal letter of recommendation from Tony Stark to her resume.”

“On the condition, that identities stay secret from the media,” Marinette crossed her arms. “I don’t suppose I can hide it from the rest Avengers for very long. And I get an additional letter of recommendation from Pepper Potts. Pepper takes my friend Chloe on as an intern; she’s the hero, Queen Bee. And only one who knows my identity, besides you. Also, I actually do get to help design your next suit. My expenses?”

           Tony smirk widened. The girl knew how to cover her bases. She even wanted to have an Ally with her should things take a turn. “All paid for by me. First-class all the way. You and Chloe will stay in the Stark Tower on the same floor as the other interns.”

“Other young superheroes, you mean?” Marinette guessed, causing Tony’s eyes to twinkle in joy. “Spiderman, Iron Heart, and WarIron. Based on their sizes, I had guessed they were young; teenagers probably. Why didn’t you ask Chat Noir too? Or why aren’t you? Because you’re not, you would’ve mentioned it by now?”

“You mean the Agreste kid?” Tony said, not noticing Marinette’s eyes widen in surprise. “He’s not serious enough for me. I play games but he goes too far. Surprised you haven’t dumped him yet. Get a better partner.”

           Marinette took a bit of a macron to get a moment to think. Adrien was Chat Noir. In retrospect, it made a lot of sense. Both were socially immature, and a bit naïve. Each had an idealistic view of things and didn’t let the real world break them of it. For example Adrien and his dealing with Lila’s lies. Chat Noir and Ladybug turning down his advances.

“Very well,” The bluenette finally agreed. “I agree to be your intern. Shall we discuss my salary now or later? Well, need to before I or my parents sign any contracts.”

           It was Tony’s turn to narrow his eyes. Not one; not a single one of his interns: Harley, Peter, or Riri ever asked about how much they’d get paid. They’d all assumed it was an unpaid internship and was surprised when their contracts included a salary. “You’re a shark.”

           Marinette hummed, “You should see me when there’s blood in the water.”

           That was something Tony was looking forward to seeing.

           The official paperwork was signed three days later; Marinette was officially a Stark intern. Due to go to Orientation for spring break in New York in a few weeks.

           Those weeks flew by. She let Fu know she’d have to go back and forth for a few weeks. She didn’t bother telling anyone else. Her friendships in the class had dwindled dramatically. While most weren’t her outright enemies, her classmates tended to avoid her. If they couldn’t do that, they were beyond cold to her. It was Lila’s doing. She got her hooks into the class, who all wanted to tie themselves to the golden goose, and when it was clear that Lila and Marinette didn’t like each other, they picked sides. They chose their meal ticket over their lifelong friend.

           Honestly, it made Marinette almost wish that Lila had lied about her instead; accused her of being a bully or something. Anything. Because at least then her ex-friends would have somewhat of a reason to be ex-friends. Even if it wasn’t a very good one. Instead, they were just bad friends all on their own.

           Still, Marinette didn’t mourn their loss as she sat in the back of the class with Chloe on a Sunny Tuesday morning, and they were living for New York that Friday. She had a steadily rising career in Fashion. She had worked under Miranda Priestly and Audrey. From them, she learned it was best to drop fair-weather friends and how to spot wannabes, fame-seekers, and gold-diggers from three miles away.

           She was happy with Chloe as her bestie. The girl had turned a new leaf and proven her loyalty to the point where Fu made her a permanent hero. And the Blond had been ecstatic when Pepper Potts had shown up at their door. She had hugged Marinette a full five minutes for getting her the internship. All while screaming with joy.

           Both girls were excited to go. Though Marinette did encounter one downside. The night before, Jagged Stone and Penny Rolling; or as Marinette deemed them #RollingStone, called her. Or rather Penny did the talking. Jagged was trying to wrestle his newest jacket away from Fang’s teeth. Penny offered Marinette a chance to spend her spring break traveling around on tour with Jagged, as his personal stylist. Marinette had no choice but to turn the job down. She loved her honorary Uncle Jagged but she already signed the contract.

           That morning Lila had spun another set of lies. The first was about helping Tony Stark fix his Iron man suit when she was traveling in America. The second was about the newest song Jagged Stone wrote about her. It was exhausting to listen to but the class hung on every word.

           Bustier had just finished her first lesson of the day when she invited Alya to stand up.

           The glasses-wearing girl grinned at the class, “So as everyone’s aware; there’s a class pool party is this Saturday; first day of spring break, baby!” The class cheered. “Everyone who’s invited should’ve gotten their invitation. Don’t want any drama,” She cast a cold look to the two girls at the back of the class. “Invite only. So no party crashers. Marinette, Chloe what are you doing this Saturday?” Alya smirked at her call out that the two girls weren’t invited; that they were the only ones who weren’t.

           As if on cue, the classroom’s door burst opened and in walked Tony Stark, followed by a very apologetic looking Pepper, “Marinette; it’s time to go! Grab Pepper’s minion and let’s go.”

           There were gasps from the class. Max sat up straight. Iron Man was in front of him, in his class, this was the best day of his life.

           Marinette just sighed, “Did you kick the door open, Tony?” Disapproval clear in her voice.

“…No?”

“I can’t go now!” Marinette explained. “I have class. We weren’t supposed to leave until Friday, remember.”

           Tony waved her off, “Details. Spring Break starts now. Queenie, Mari; chop-chop! New York is waiting!”

           Bustier decided to step in. She may not always be the best teacher but she refused to allow a strange man, even if that man was Tony Stark, to take away any of her students. “Mr. Stark, can I ask what you want Marinette and Chloe for?”

           Thankfully, it was Pepper that answered as she closed back the classroom door, “They have been employed as interns for Stark Industries. They’ll be attending orientation during their spring break at Stark Tower.”

Max actually fell out of his seat. Because this couldn’t be happening. Stark industries rarely ever took high schoolers’ as interns. Tony Stark only chose the best of the best. How could Marinette land the job?

“Marinette’s my intern,” Tony grinned. “Blondie’s Pepper’s. Who else is gonna teach her how to rule the world.”

           A slow smile spread across Chloe’s face, “With an iron fist.”

           Tony pointed at her, “You scare me. Pepper get your intern!”

           The other students were amazed. Marinette was Tony Stark’s intern. Chloe somehow got Pepper Pott's attention. What had they missed? Why didn’t Marinette tell them? How?

“That’s what we’ll be doing this Saturday, Alya,” Chloe drawled. “In New York, hanging with the Avengers.” Causing Alya to flush with anger. “We couldn’t come to your pool party even if we wanted to. Which we don’t.”

“He found my sketch of a potential Iron man suit design,” Marinette explained, continuing the story Tony had told her parents. “He loved it and offered me the job a few weeks ago.”

“Weeks?” Nino asked. “And you didn’t tell us? Dudette, not cool.”

           Alix nodded, her arms crossed, “Yeah I thought we were friends!”

           Marinette and Chloe just looked at them like they were stupid.

           Alya put her hands on her hips, “Mr. Stark, why didn’t you ask Lila Rossi to be your intern? She helped you with your suit before. She’d be much better than Marinette!”

           The girl in question face turned bright red, “This can’t be happening.” Lila muttered.

           Tony looked honestly confused, “Lila? Who’s Lila? No one ever helped me with my suit except the kids I already got as interns.” He looked at Pepper. “Do I know a Lila Rossi?”

           Pepper shook her head, and turned fierce eyes towards Lila, “Miss Rossi, please refrain from lying about Tony Stark and or Stark Industries. Or we will sue you on the grounds of defamation.”

           Lila squeaked. Sue? She couldn’t be sued. Her mother would kill her if she got a lawsuit from Tony Stark.

           It was the rest of the class’s turn to look confused.

           However, before anyone could ask any follow-up questions, the classroom door burst opened again. Jagged Stone strutted in, followed by a very apologetic look Penny and happy Fang with, what looked to be, the arm of a leather jacket.

“Marinette!” Jagged yelled. “What’s this about you not coming on tour? I need my favorite stylist, love.

Marinette just sighed, “Did you kick the door open, Jagged?” Disapproval clear in her voice.

“…No?”

           The bluenette just shook her head, “I have plans this Spring break. I’m sorry.”

“Plans?” Jagged whined. “What could be better spending your Spring Break with a Rock Star? You can even bring your Blonde. Penny could use an assistant!” He paused, finally noticing it wasn’t just kids. “The bloody hell is Tony Stark doing here?”

           The two famous men eyed each other. The women they came with just looked so done with the world.

           Tony crossed his arms, “I got custody of Marinette for Spring Break; you snooze, you lose.”

“What?!” Jagged hissed. “She’s my designer.”

“She’s my intern!”

           Jagged glared, “I knew her first. By rights, I get custody.”

“I have a contract that says otherwise!” Tony taunted the Rock Star. “Her future is Stark Industries.”

“Her future is Rock and Roll!” Jagged yelled back.

           Both men glared at each other.

“Pepper!”

“Penny!”

           Both women groaned. How was this their lives? Why what was this their lives? What bus full of nuns and orphans did they rob in a past life?

           Penny smiled, “Marinette means the world to us. I’m her honorary Aunt Penny,” She held out her hand for Pepper. “Jagged’s her honorary Uncle. We’ve known her for years. Contracts were already signed?”

           Pepper nodded, “Tony doesn’t play when it comes to his interns. He won’t budge. Trust me; we’ve done this three other times. Marinette’s his kid now, all but legally.” For now, Pepper didn’t bother to add. Every now and then she found discovered a new set of adoption papers with one of the interns’ names on it; one time she found three sets for all three. Plus if Tony kept hinting any harder, May was going to gut him.  “She’ll be in New York for Spring break and all of the summer.”

“Summer!” Jagged whined. “He gets custody for summer too! No!” he shook his head. “Not happening. Call our lawyers, Penny. We’re going to family court!”

           Tony blew him a raspberry. Tony Stark blew Jagged Stone a raspberry. The class could only blink, trying to process what was happening.

           Marinette just wanted the earth to open up and swallow her.

“Marinette already designed your clothes for the tour,” Penny tried to placate. “They’re amazing. We can call and skype if we need any additional tips. We have a concert in New York over spring break so we can go and see.” They didn’t. But Penny would be damned if she could have one booked within the hour. Anything to stop jagged from mention family court again. “Most of our summer is free too, we can visit Marinette whenever we want.”

           Jagged huffed but didn’t say anything.

“Well not whenever you want,” Tony teased.

“Family court!” Jagged hissed.

“Tony!” Pepper said warningly. She was not going to let this going to court. No matter how lovely Marinette was. “Be nice.”

           Tony pouted.

           Marinette raised her hand, “You guys know that legally my parents still have custody of me, right?” There was no answer. “Right?!” Nothing.

           The bluenette just sighed.

           Alya took that moment to break in, “Jagged, don’t you want to say hi to Lila? She’s right here,” Alya pointed to her bestie. “Oh, can we listen to the songs you wrote for her? Can you tell us how she saved your cat from getting hit by a plane?”

           The look Lila gave Alya could’ve killed a thousand men.

           Jagged looked affronted, “Lila? Who’s Lila?” He looked at his fiancé. “Penny, do I know a Lila?”

“No!” Penny glared fiercely at Lila. “Jagged Stone has never written a song about an underage girl before. He has never owned a cat. What parents and airline would careless enough to allow a child to rush onto a runway for a pet? Refrain from spreading any further slander. Or we’ll hit you with a lawsuit so fast you’ll get whiplash.”

“I’m allergic to cats by the way,” Jagged told the class. “All fur actually. That’s why I got Fang here.” He pointed the crocodile who had made its way to Marinette for cuddles. “I’ve had him for twenty years. He’s the only pet I’ve had all that time.”

           Marinette rolled her eyes and took the crocodile in her lap.

“Twenty years?” Kim’s eyebrows furrowed. “Whoa, that’s long that we’ve been alive.”

           Nino glared at Lila, “Yeah it is.” He finally realized the girl was lying. Most of the class had in fact.

“Enough of this,” Tony waved. “Marinette, Chloe, time to go. Leave the dinosaur.”

           Bustier took a deep breath, “No one is taking Marinette or Chloe anywhere. Until I get a note from their parents verifying that is. I’m going to have to ask you all to leave.”

           Penny and Pepper nodded understandingly. Jagged and Tony just looked shocked.

“But I’m Tony Stark!”

“I’m Jagged Stone, love!”

           Bustier just rolled her eyes and shooed them out of her class. It took some handling, and eventually, the women had to drag the guys out. The teacher shut the door with a sigh of relief. She brushed off the imaginary dirt on her clothes. “Marinette,” She called. “If you could tell any future visitors to wait until after school to pick you up, with a note from your parents that would be most helpful.”

“Sorry,” Marinette blushed, a deep dark red.

           Bustier walked back to her desk before pausing. “Is that Crocodile still in my class, Marinette?”

“…Yes.”

“I think he’s here for the rest of the day,” Chloe shrugged. “Unless you want to invite Jagged back?”

           Bustier paused. No. Never again. “No. No. Fang can stay for the day.”

           When the lunch bell rang, Marinette found that it was easier to avoid her classmates' questions, as they were too busy yelling at Lila. It wasn’t long after that Ladybug had to take down Lila’s seventh akuma form.

           Marinette and Chloe left that night to New York. Somehow he managed to convince their parents that missing three days of school to study in the most advanced building in the world was a good thing.

           When they got to Stark Tower, they were given a quick tour. Then Pepper took Chloe to show her where she would be working. And Tony took Marinette the workshop where three other kids were already working.

           The oldest one glanced at her and snorted, “God he kidnapped another one.” He was the tallest in the room with dark brown hair and a smirk on his face.

           The other two snickered.

           Tony looked affronted, “Oh please; your parental units practically threw you at me.

The younger looking boy smirked, “Aunt May threatened to shank you next time you took me out of school early.” He had light brown hair and big brown eyes

           The genius pointed, “You tell Aunt Hottie to leave me alone.”

“HI, I’m Marinette!” She waved happily. “He keeps mentioning he has custody. And I’ve become moderately concerned.”

“And you should be,” The other girl in the room laughed. She was a pretty brown-skinned girl with black wild curls. “Name’s Riri.”

“Harley,” Said the first boy who spoke.

“Peter,” The other boy introduced.

           Marinette nodded and eyes them, “WarIron,” The pointed at Harley. “Iron Heart,” Then at Riri. “Spiderman, right?” She pointed at Peter.

           The three looked at Tony with questions in their eyes. Tony raised in hands in surrender, “Hey, I told her nothing.”

           Harley eyed the new girl, “You’re from Paris, right?” She nodded. “Ladybug, I’m guessing.”  Marinette blushed. “Welcome to the Young Avengers, I guess. Why’d he bring you in?”

           Marinette shrugged, “He said to there was a personal problem happening with the Avengers. He wanted my help.”

           The teen froze. Peter just shook his head, “You didn’t, Tony!”

Tony looked sheepish.

“What?” Marinette asked.

           Riri rolled her eyes, “That personal problem? It’s called ManHunt.”

“I’m sorry?” Marinette asked. She was going to have to hunt a man?

“It’s a game,” Harley explained. “Team Iron Man versus team Cap. One team hunts the other in a sort of hide and seek type of thing and tries to capture as many members as they can. Last time we played it, Team Cap crushed Team Iron man. It’s why Tony brought us all in. Revenge.”

           Said Man didn’t look one bit ashamed, “Rules were since Thor and the Big guy are gone I can bring in whoever I want to replace them.”

           Marinette tossed up her hands, “You brought me here to play a game?” Unbelievable.

“No,” Tony said. “I brought you here to take out the Winter Soldier.”

“Say what now?”

“Welcome to orientation,” Was All Tony said to her question.

           The kids trained together for a week; Chloe, a girl named MJ who was Pepper’s other interns, and a boy named Ned who was a tech intern, were brought in as well. When it turned out that Kagami was in New York City for a fencing tournament. Tony was happy to bring in the scary girl as well. (And somehow get her mother to agree to let her stay for Spring Break) He made practice stealth and learn hand signals. Tony drilled them on the Team Cap’s strengths and weaknesses. They reviewed videos of previous missions until they had everyone’s fighting style memorized. Tony went over body anatomy aka where the best place to hit them was. They memorized plans and scenarios to take out each specific member of Team Cap.

           The teens spent a lot of time in the lab creating gadgets to use against the Avengers. Each one straight out of a spy movie.

           As far as Tony was concerned this was War. And there would be no prisoners.

Team Cap consisted of Captain America, The Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, The Falcon, Antman, along with several Shield employees which included Fury, Melinda May, and Coulson.

           Team Iron man consisted of Ironman, War Machine, Vision, Maria Hill, The Wasp, Quicksilver, Daisy Johnson, and a bunch of names Stark employees: I.E the interns. (Black Panther refused to participate. Though he and sister would watch from Wakanda.)

           Each team had a total of thirty players; no more, no less.

           The game would take place at the compound. Anything area within the compound legal territory was free to use. The living room would be home base and were all ‘out’ people had to stay. Until they were freed. Or until every member of the hiding team was captured and then it was Game Over. Everyone could communicate with their own team using special mics; normally only taken out for missions. However, those imprisoned in the home base couldn’t communicate with their team.

           On Saturday, just before sunset; the main superheroes of the avengers met up. Tony facing Steve. Rhodey glaring at Bucky. Vision versus Wanda. Hawkeye to QuickSilver. The wasp against Ant-Man and the Falcon.

           Steve smiled, “Tony.”

“You ready for war, Cap?” Tony asked.

“Training exercise,” Steve corrected his husband. “I trust your team is ready.”

           Tony smirked, “Oh you have no idea. Your little spies are already hiding in the shadows.”

“Like your team isn’t?”

           The alarm went off.

           Tony suited up, “You have 1000 seconds, Steve.” His helmet shut. “I’d get running.”

           Steve rolled his eyes. His team split up, running into the growing shadows.

           The game had started.

           Marinette waited, hiding in the shadows on the roof. Her ladybug costume was all back with little red polka dots; mostly easy to move around body armor. This wasn’t her actually Ladybug suit; Tikki, while willing to create a new suit design, decided it wasn’t a good idea to involve magic. So Marinette designed herself a new suit, and Tony help her trick it out.

Tony had pointed out the all-good hiding spots located in the Compound. She was the overly large landing pad. She forced herself to stay completely still. Even when she saw the Falcon take flight with WarIron right on his tail.

           The smallest of moments caught on the corner of her eye, the glint of metal. An arrow, she realized. She smiled. Hawkeye.

           She watched the man take stock of the room, looking in every possible place a person could hide. Unfortunately for him, Marinette had a bit of luck on her side.

“All clear on the roof, Cap,” Clint said into his mic. “I’ll keep a lookout from up here.” There was silence as he listened to Cap’s orders. “Okay. Will do. Stay invisible, got it. Over and out.”

           The second the conversation had ended, Marinette through a smoke bomb at his feet. Before Clint could even finish saying, “What the he-” Marinette was on the attack. Using the smoke to her advantage, she swung her yo-yo at Hawkeye’s feet. The String wrapped around his legs, tripping him. Five seconds later, Hawkeye was hogtied on the ground.

Marinette touched her mic, “Tweety Bird down. Bringing him to home base now!”

“Copy that, Ladybug,” Tony said. “Be careful.”

           Clint looked up at his assailant; expecting to see Tony or the Wasp, any avenger. Instead what he saw, was a teen girl with a scary blue-eyed glare on his face, “Who are you?”

           Marinette leaned down, “Your reckoning.” She hissed.

“What the fuck!” He said as he was thrown over the girl’s shoulder and carried to home base.

           When Marinette got to home base, she saw Harley putting a rather put out Falcon on the ground, Spiderman with five webbed up shield agents, Chloe had brought in two, Kagami and Riri brought in six. MJ and Ned both brought in one random shield agent. Marinette tossed Hawkeye on the couch.

           It had been twenty minutes, Clint knew by the clock on the wall. Twenty minutes since sunset and the game had started. And they had already lost just over half their team to a bunch of teenagers.

Clint couldn’t help but wonder what the hell had Tony unleashed on them.

“Foghorn Leghorn secure,” Harley said into his mic. “Tweety in his cage. The shadows are all accounted for.”

“I’m Tweety,” Clint told Sam.

           Sam paused. “…Am I Foghorn Leghorn?”

“Wasp and Vision on their way with The Blue Fairy,” Tony’s voice rang their ears. “They’ll play guard dog. QuickSilver is down; Miss Tuffit got him. Seven minions gone; Captain Hook and his jolly crew got them. Over and out.”

“Queen Bee, MJ, guard the Home base until they get here,” Harley ordered. “Guy in the chair, Mj, back on monitor duty. Fulfill mission Top hat ASAP.” They nodded and left the room.

           Top hat was important. The two were trying to hack into Team Cap’s communications, once they did; it was game over.

“The rest of you complete the assignment,” He told them.

           Then all split up again. Vision and Wasp arrived with Scarlet witch just as they were leaving. All three avengers gave the kids confused looks as they left.

           It would take Marinette another hour before she came across another member of Team Cap. And she didn’t so much as come across, as she did respond to Peter’s cry for help.

“Captain Sparkles!” Peter yelled in their earpiece. “Training yard. I’m trying to hold hi-No I won’t give you back your shield! Hurry! Over!”

“I’m around the corner,” Marinette hissed into the mic as she ran for the yard. When she arrived it was just in time to catch the shield that was flying at her face.

           She held the shield tightly in her hand, feeling like Wonder Woman, as she stared down Captain America.

           Steve looked at the young girl who had joined the fight, “My shield, miss?” He was aware that Spiderman had landed behind him.

           Marinette smiled sweet. Then she launched the shield at him with such brute force, he was lifted off his feet. “The Name’s Ladybug.”

Steve didn’t catch the shield in time and it bounced back to Spiderman.

           Captain America glared at the two teenagers.

           Then the fight was on.

           Spiderman hits Steve with his shield, distracting him. The shield falling to the ground. Ladybug barges Captain America backwards. Steve shoulders her to the floor. Marinette lands on the ground; pain flaring across her shoulder. Spiderman punches Steve who just lifts him and slams him against the ground. Spiderman raises a fist but Steve twists it. A web shoots out of his hand, the sound of a small explosion fills the training yard.

           Marinette takes the distraction to trip Captain America and jump up. As Steve falls to the ground, Marinette uses the electro-shooters that Riri made and shocks the dear life out of him. It wasn’t enough to bring him down but then Peter added in his own shocking web-shooters.

           Yet Steve still looked ready for another round of their fight. Marinette quickly picked up the shield and slammed it across his head. Steve Rogers fell forward in a slump.

           Spiderman webbed up with quick-drying cement.

           Both teens breathed heavily; struggling to catch their breath, tense from the fight. Marinette could even find it in herself to unclench the shield.

“Captain Sparkles is down, over,” Marinette said into the Mic.

“We’re bringing him in, over,” Spiderman added.

           There was a moment of silence.

“…What the fuck?” They heard War Machine say.

           When Marinette walked in with the shield in one hand and helping Spiderman carry Cap with the other, the avengers present quietly lost their shit. Kagami nodded, where she stood over Fury who looked more pissed than ever before in his entire life. Chloe stood over Coulson, who just looked put out. MJ and Ned looked overly pleased. Their mission had been a success but it only lasted long enough to get Fury and Coulson. After that, Team Cap was smart enough to ditch the communications, figuring something was up.

“Who’s left?” Spiderman asked in the Mic. “Over.”

“Stoneheart,” Kagami answered bitterly, referring to Melinda May, into the Mic so the team could hear them. “She took out Daisy and got away. Hill is after her now.”

“Jon Snow and Miss Tuffit,” Chloe said referring to the Winter Soldier and Black Widow. “Iron Man and WarIron are after Small fry. War Machine has eyes on Miss Tuffet.”

“I’m closing in on Miss Tuffit, over.” War Machine said.

           Marinette looked at her team, pressing on her mic, “Guy in Chair, Mj, I want you on Stoneheart’s tail. Spiderman go be back up for the War Machine. Iron Heart, meet me on the Location 12. Over.”

“What are you going to do, over?” Harley asked.

           Marinette clenched the shield in her hands, “I’m going to go tell Jon Snow that Winter Is Over. Queen and Dragon with me. Over.”

           The battle with the Winter Soldier was epic. The showdown happened in the gym. It turned out they weren’t hunting for the Winter Soldier, the Winter soldier was hunting for them. The second they walked into the gym, the doors closed behind them.

           Bucky jumped down from the rafters. He stared at the girls. He had seen them fight. None of them fought with any ounce mercy but plenty of skill. But they were clearly just kids. Just Dames in over their heads. He’d go easy on them. “Shall we, Ladies?”

           Ladybug, Queen Bee, Iron Heart, and Dragon shared a look before giggling.

           The Winter Soldier only just barely stood a chance.

           The girls laid Bucky gently on the floor on home base. He grunted and glared at them.

           A few minutes later, Tony and Rhodey walked in with the Black Widow. The last of Team Cap.

           Tony smirked, “Game over.”

           Rhodey shook his head, “Record time; two hours and four-two minutes. Beats the last one by about seven hours and sixteen minutes.”

           Then they debriefed. Video of the fights and footage was seemed was shown so everyone could see where they could improve. The image of tiny Ladybug clocking Captain America in their head with his own shield was rewinded and watched seven times.

           Tony fell over laughing, “I’m putting on Youtube!”

“I will divorce you!” Steve snapped but couldn’t fight the smile on his face.

           Once The random agents of shield and Stark industries left, Steve glared at Tony. His team had gotten demolished. In record time. “You brought in outside heroes, that’s not fair.”

“No,” Tony laughed. “I brought employees of Stark Industries as agreed upon. Everyone meet WarIron,” Harley lowered his helmet. “Iron Heart,” Riri lowered his, “You know Spiderman already,” Peter took of his mask and waved. “MJ, and Ned” Both teens nodded. “Ladybug,” Marinette took off her mask. “Queen Bee,” Chloe glared as she removed hers. “Dragon!” Kagami took off her black mask. “The interns. Otherwise known as the Young Avengers.”

“Oh, fuck you too Stark,” Clint complained. “Did you see what they did to poor Bucky. He’s the deadliest assassin in history, and I felt they went a little rough.”

           Bucky nodded with a wince, “Can I have my arm back.”

           Steve looked at the bluenette still holding his shield, with a charming smile.

Kagami glared. She held the metal arm like trophy. “Spoils of War.”

           Marinette giggled.

           Being a intern was going to be fun.    

[pl-panda]

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 13

MASTERLIST || First || Previous || Next

To Marry a Vigilante: Part 13

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Marinette wasn’t sure what to expect from school after her reveal. Their plan was to make it public that she was ‘dating’ Damian Wayne, but not her identity as the MDC. That plan failed when she panicked and tweeted about it. By now, pretty much everyone knew about it. Especially after Jagged Stone went forward and confirmed it. She loved the rockstar, but he was like a wild six-years-old when left without supervision. It was impossible to reverse it. 

The other problem that was making her very anxious was the new Hawkmoth. Her class was already called the Akuma Class not without reason. Now, they would be probably split into different groups, which could serve to make her suffer more. Not to mention how much Lila would be making her life a nightmare now. 

She dressed in the standard Gotham Academy uniform and waited for Chloé to finally arrive. The blonde’s arrival was foreshadowed by the sound of a loud rant. 

“...they can’t expect me to wear these rags!? The purple will totally clash with my lipstick! And the black and white? What is it, the Seventeenth century?” She was already dressed, but clearly unamused by what she was forced to wear.

“Hi, Chlo.” She greeted her best human friend.

“Mari-bear! How can you stand by this fashion disaster?!” 

“I don’t mind. We must wear it only at school.”

“Ugh! I need to pack spare clothes then!”

“Or you could… you know, stay in the uniform?” The bluenette smiled. “I mean from what Damian told me, it’s pretty common to see groups of students still dressed in their uniforms after school.”

“These rags?!” Chloé shouted, slightly agitated

“I’ll make you an MDC original uniform once I get my hands on specifications. Deal?” Mari giggled at her friend’s antics. She was supposed to be the one criticizing fashion here. 

“Fine. But it’s ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! After classes, you and I are going shopping for some better make-up for me and actual make-up for you.”

“Sure! We can also visit the Botanic Gardens again. Just the two of us?” The girl suggested. 

“Perfect. Won’t Lover-boy have a problem?”

“Nah. Damian won’t mind. We’re not bound by the hip, you know?”

“Could’ve fooled me.” Chloé smiled.

“You…!” Marinette giggled. “I heard you’ve been spending whole days in the gym with my cousin. What’s that about? I thought you would be more interested in pestering Tim about detective stuff.”

“I decided to start exercising. Cass is a great trainer for your information,” she huffed, but the smile on her face let Mari know it was just Chloé being Chloé. “Besides, have you seen your mother? She is nearing fifty and looks drop-dead gorgeous. My mother would kill for that body at her age.” 

“Suuuree.” The bluenette giggled. “Let’s go. Alfred will drop us at school.”

In the entrance hall, they were met by Damian, who wore his own uniform. Sabine, Tom, and Bruce were there to see them out. After the standard round of goodbyes that awaited children when they were supposed to start a new school (Sabine filling the mother role for Chloé), Bruce looked critically at Damian.

“You know that you can only bring the sword on Tuesdays and Thursdays when you actually have practice?” 

“Tt. I’ll need it today.”

“Damian…” He glared at the boy, only to be met by an equally fierce gaze. 

“Fine. But I’m keeping the dusters.” He bargained. “That’s not negotiable.” 

“You know the rules.”

“Tt. With a madman after my wife, I reserve my right to having means of self-defense.” 

“Fine. But only if Akuma shows up and the two of you can’t transform. I hope I don’t need to remind you that Gotham is not Paris? People are much more observant here.” He warned them. 

“Don’t worry Mr. Wayne.” Chloé dismissed him. “I’ll make sure those two are behaving.”

“I already feel better.” He deadpanned. 

“Hush! They are smart kids and can deal with their problems. Right, sweetie?” 

“I… I hope?” Marinette was not exactly convinced but tried to smile. 

“You’ll do great.” Her father reassured her.

“Okay. Let’s go.” She put on her sunglasses. The thin black frame surrounded the twin large tinted glasses that hid a large part of her face. Nobody would know it was Kaalki in disguise. She would need the glasses to not be bothered by the press. At least she hoped they would help.

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They arrived with half an hour safety cushion, which made them one of the first on-site. Damian led them to the Principal’s office first to get their schedules. Mr. Hammer was already waiting for them. He wore formal clothes with a green vest over a white shirt, yellow-brown trousers, and to finish it he had a dark-green cape with a white collar made of fur. 

“Ah. Mr. Wayne with his girlfriend,” He spoke the word with utter loathing, which was pretty strange. Marinette never met him before. “I seem to remember to have expelled you last semester”

“Tt. You also expelled me the previous one. Four times. And the semester before. Two times.” He didn’t bother to hide the grin. “Except the paperwork never left your office.” He pointed at the large stack of papers on one of the shelves, with a golden plaquette reading ‘Damian Wayne’.

“Hm… Indeed.” 

Damian stopped himself from interrupting him to educate him on how to talk with and about Marinette.

“Um… Professor Hammer?” speaking of the angel. “Thank you for accepting my class for the exchange program.”

“Yes. Your school was kind enough to send the records of all the students. Yours including.”

“Great. Is there anything…” 

“I didn’t finish.” He snapped at her. “You have a very interesting file, Miss Dupain-Cheng.” He dropped a rather thick folder on his desk. “Class president for three years, engaging in various charities, supporting drama club, brilliant gymnast and martial artist.... thief, bully, conflict child.” He added in an angry tone. “I don’t know about France, but here we often call such girls H.B.I.C., which is an acronym for…”

“Tt. I would appreciate it if you stopped trying to refer to my Angel as such. She is the victim of theft, bullying, and ostracization by her class. If you read the files, you know that each person in that class holds significant sway, and the headmaster of that school is easily swayed. I’ve spent a semester at Françoise Dupont and that establishment is in simple words… lacking.” Damian almost spat the last word. He wanted to tell the headmaster more, but Hammer was ignoring him. 

“In Gotham Academy, we pride ourselves as a prestigious institute that helps students develop their full potential. I don’t care how it worked in your previous school, but I expect you to behave. If you start conflicts with the students, I will be forced to expel you, as per the exchange program regulations that your parents signed. And this time, the papers will leave my office.” He glared at Damian, who in response grinned. “The school is surrounded by a high wall and a river, so you don’t have to worry about paparazzi. If such is caught on the premise, he will be dealt with harshly.”

“What about students taking photos?”

“I’m sure you can deal with them.” It was Hammer’s turn to grin.

“But… But…! That’s unfair! And enabling!” 

“Life is not fair. If it was, I would be living in a castle somewhere in the stormy peaks of Scotland. Instead, I’m here.” He handed both of them their schedules and ushered them out. Chloé was waiting outside.

“So? How did it go?”

“He doesn’t particularly seem to like me. It might’ve been because I’m dating a boy he expelled six times last year.” She glared at his husband. 

“Tt. He just dislikes me because in the first year I accidentally detonated the head of his statue. And then the next year I detonated the replacement.” He shrugged. 

“How do you even accidentally detonate the statue’s head?” Chloé asked. 

“Chemistry homework?” Damian suggested

“Archery practice?” Marinette supplied.

“Science class gone wrong?” He continued

“Secret weapon cache activating by itself?” She added. 

“All of the above.” Damian finished. 

“Okay. Honey, are you sure you want him? We can still return him to the store and find one that is less rabid?” The blonde joked. 

“Tt. Over my dead body.” He growled and grasped Marinette’s hand.

“Calm down, Damiboo,” she grinned at the name, “nobody will be separating you two. But for now, we need to go to the chapel for the welcome party.”

“Tt. Call me that again and I’ll…” He started, but then Marinette’s glare shut him up. 

The girls walked away and Damian almost rethought his stance when the blonde dared to whisper “Whipped” when she was passing him. Marinette didn’t notice, already too focused on describing the meeting with the headmaster.

-----

“...furthermore, the North Hall remains off-limit to all students. You will have your rooms assigned before the lunch break.” Hammerhead finally finished his long and boring speech. The girls were lucky enough to have a peaceful if uninteresting welcome ceremony. Sabine sat next to them, which served as a very strong deterrent from any idiots trying something stupid, like taunting her or bullying. Caline was sweating each time she looked at the other chaperone. Sabine didn’t bother with niceties and could (and would) totally destroy her at moment’s notice.

“Hi. I’m Erica Layton. I’m the school president and it’s my pleasure to welcome you to our great school!” A cheerful blonde walked onto the stage. 

She wore a standard GA uniform, but Marinette recognized it as tailor-made, with high-quality materials. Marinette immediately took to dislike her. She had an aura similar to Lila. Falsehood and malevolence. Her smile was precarious and she swept the students with her gaze. She zeroed on Marinette for a second too long and the bluenette could feel the headache coming. She tried to remember what Damian told her about the school president, but the position was supposed to be held by a girl named Boyle. 

“I hope you’ll fondly remember your time at our school. There are many clubs that you can join. If there is one that you wish to start, you’ll need a group of at least five students and signed permission from one of the teachers. You can find more information on our website. Each of you will be assigned a dorm according to the survey you filled…”

“Excuse me!” Kim, who just received a whisper from Lila, stood up. “From what we were told, we were supposed to stay with host families. What gives?”

“Oh! I’m sorry nobody informed you before. Sadly, we didn’t get enough volunteers, so the plans had to change.”

“But… but… Marinette is staying with the Waynes!” Alya protested before sending the girl in question a hateful gaze. Sabine glared back and the bespectacled girl shivered and quickly turned back to the stage. 

The woman stood up and addressed the class herself. “Marinette is staying with me and I’m staying with my niece and her guardian. I hope that will clear any and all confusion.” Her glare told them that the conversation was over. 

“Yes…” Erica awkwardly started again. “Let’s continue.”

Marinette made sure to note everything the school president spoke about. She was certain her class had more important gossip to focus on and later would have no idea about anything. She would just have Chloé send them the picture later. 

After the event was over, Marinette and Chloé stayed back to photo the notes. Sabine made sure that all other Parisians left them alone, urging them to run to classes. The two left maybe two minutes later, walking calmly to their new classes. The girls would have all the same classes and there was hope that none of the other students from Françoise Dupont would pick the same. 

When walking through the corridor, Chloé finally brought up Alya’s reaction to her mother. The two laughed at how scared she was of Sabine. 

Out of the blue, a hand pulled Marinette to the side and the doors closed behind them in complete silence. She managed to give a weak squeak before that, but her best friend didn’t notice. It would be a moment before Chloé realized her best friend disappeared. By then, the doors had been already locked and she would not differentiate them from other locked doors in the corridor. 

“So… You’re supposed to be the famed girlfriend of Damian Wayne?” Marinette heard once her head finally stopped spinning. She was sitting on a chair with ropes tying her down. Five girls stood there, surrounding her like vultures. 

“Huh? Yeah. Damian and I…” 

“I didn’t give you permission to speak.” The middle one, blonde stopped her. Marinette recognized her. It was Erica!

“Yeah! You think you can just swoop here and try to steal Erica’s man?” One of the companions asked indignantly. 

“Damian was not dating anyone when he came to Paris.” The french girl confidently defended her right. 

“Of course he wasn’t. He is the Ice Prince of Gotham Academy.” Erica dismissed her. “But I had the first claim to him.”

“I don’t exactly follow…” Marinette, for all her shrewd tactical mind and lessons from Damian, was still mostly clueless of how rich, bratty teenagers worked. Chloé was supposed to be a unique case, not a rule. 

“Sorry. We started on the wrong foot.” The lead blonde changed her strategy. “Erica Layton.” She extended her hand. Marinette shrugged, took a deep breath, and tightened her muscles. The rope they used to tie her snapped and she stood up to take her hand. Other girls stared at her with a weird expression. 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng.” Her handshake might’ve been a bit too strong, she did it on purpose. 

“Listen, Dupain-Cheng. There is a social hierarchy in this school. I just so happened to be on top. We can be friends and peacefully resolve our differences...”

“I’m sure we can be at least neutral to…”

“I didn’t finish.” Erica seethed. “Of course, friends don’t steal other friends’ men. So, if you’ll break up with Damian, I can get you to the top of the food chain. You will be safe from that Lila girl and untouchable by anyone. It would be a shame if something happened to your online store after all. Or if your social media suddenly ended under attack by bad reviews.”

Marinette stopped smiling halfway through that speech. By the end, she was openly scowling. She broke the handshake and glared at the blonde on the opposite side. Her mother taught her the glare. It was the ‘you’re in over your head’ glare. 

Only one of the girls had the decency to shiver. Others seemed too stupid and too convinced of their own superiority to take Marinette seriously. 

“Let’s make it clear.” The girl started with a very cold voice. “You want me to break up with Damian, just so you can try, and fail, to get him for yourself? And if I don’t comply, you threaten my online shop and my social media? All for protection from Rossi and her lapdogs?” She allowed herself a laugh. “That’s a good one.”

“You little bitch!” Erica shouted. “Do you have any idea who I am? I am at the top of the food chain here. I rule this school. I’m the Gotham Academy’s golden princess!”

“And I’m above the food chain.” She quoted Damian. It took all her willpower, acting skills, courage, and boiled-down anger to continue. “You might be the princess, but I’m the queen here. And you have nothing that you can take from me.”

“Everyone has some dirty secrets. When I’m done with you, you’ll be too afraid to even show up at school!” Erica shouted. Marinette’s cool gaze swept over the room. 

The bluenette didn’t dignify that with a response. Instead, she walked over to the locked doors and grabbed the doorknob. At first, it was locked and didn’t want to budge, but with a stronger twist the old mechanism gave over, and the doors opened. 

Outside, Chloé was already on the phone with someone. 

“...Nevermind. I found her.” She hung up and turned to her best friend. “Maribear! Where have you been?”

“I just met the Rossi of this school. She thought she could offer me friendship in exchange for Damian. Like that would ever work.” She gave a cold giggle. When they turned the corner Chloé found the nearest bathroom and dragged Marinette there. Once they were safe from any prying eyes, shel broke into sobs in the blonde’s arms.

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