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slashersins-abandoned · 3 years

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build-a-bear date

jason voorhees

this boy will dead ass put on his best clothes , his gloves , a hat , a face mask , sunglasses , and come to build a bear with you . he may not speak but fuck he is so excited to do this with you , and you look so fucking happy and excited . he will without a doubt do everything with such dedication and seriousness during the heart ceremony that the bear builder is a bit nervous . he gets his build a bear soft , barely stuffed so that it falls over when it’s sitting . he picks out an outfit similar to his , a bit sad there is no mask or little machete . he’s having so much fun and you can tell . and oh god , there’s little kids who can’t quite reach things and he is helping them , and somehow there are now two kids sitting on either side of him helping him make his birth certificate for his new stuffed animal and jason is just so happy and enjoying himself despite the fact that the children’s mothers look slightly terrified . he ends up naming his bear mr fluffington due to the help of the children who decided jason was their new best friend . the cashier takes a picture of you on the polaroid and jason is very happy with it . he may or may not make a small machete for mr fluffington so he can gaurd the cabin .

michael myers

somehow you got michael maskless and dressed in normal people clothes and inside of a mall . he’s intimidating , hair pulled back into a messy bun , face full of stubble , blue eyes cutting into everything and everyone . he doesn’t seem to care , picking his build a bear after staring at them . his bear is completely over stuffed and hard as a rock . he doesn’t move . doesn’t sing . barely holds the heart before dropping it onto the back instead of stuffing it in and watching it fall to the floor . the bear builder tries to pick it up , but michael steps on it , basically telling them to sew the bear up without it . after wards he takes the heart and pockets it . he doesn’t care what the bear wears . the bear has a black shirt and some jeans and that’s it , the clothes barely fit , and it is almost impossible to put them on . when he names it , he just sits at the computer and stares . he names it “no” . later that night , you find “no” stabbed , half of it’s stuffing on the floor leaving a trail to his body . michael is on the floor sewing the heart back inside of it .

brahms heelshire

you have to get one of those do it at home yourself build a bear maker kits shipped to you , but you try and give brahms the full experience . it actually scratches an itch of indulge on a childish activity that he didn’t know he had . and the fact that the bear that comes in the kit is rather small , makes him happy . he gives his bear to doll brahms . making it was fun , you taking on the role of peppy bear builder . he thought it was cute . his bear is medium full , and he wanted it dressed in a suit . his name is bearington the third . when you asked if he wanted to help you make your bear he lit up , using his adult voice and treating you like a child . he made you do a million and one things during your heart ceremony and you couldn’t help but laugh at how silly he was . all in all it was a super cute fun time and now bearington and doll brahms are never apart .

thomas hewit

you can’t really bring him to build a bear as i don’t think they existed in the time period he lives in , buuuuut you can make him one . you have him pick out a fabric he likes , not giving him any clue as to why . you ask him how soft he likes things . he tells you like his pillow . a little on the firm side . you make a little heart and you have him do a little ceremony with it to put his love in it . he humors you but looks at you with a raised brow as if you’re the silliest person he’s ever met . you ask him what his favorite outfit is and make him pick out more fabrics to get a clothes set out . when you present him with the bear he is shocked . he tries not to tear up . tries not to cry , but he’s so so so happy . he keeps it on his dresser and when he gets out of bed before you , he will put it in your arms so you won’t miss him .

jesse cromeans

jesse walks in like he owns the place . the prettiest most expensive bear is his . only the most fancy suit ( he will later order a suit from some fancy designer for his bear ) . he does the heart ceremony , smiling at you the entire time and bumping your hip with his . he promises that he’ll get a chrome heart to put inside of the bear later . and you best bet that jesse gets everything . sun glasses , boots , socks , underwear , roller skates , back pack . his bear is spoiled to shit . you’re is too , and you almost wanna laugh at the look on the other customer’s faces when the price rings up . jesse was being so showoffy that he forgot to get a birth certificate or name his bear .

bubba saywer

much like with tommy you can’t really bring bubba to build a bear . but unlike tommy , you already know all of bubba’s favorites . you know he loves textures , so the body , each limb , the head , and the tail are all different fabrics . different sensations so he can have those little stimming moments . you know he likes things extra soft , so that’s how you fill it up . during the heart ceremony you have bubba do so many cute little things and he is more than happy to bounce around and babble . then you have him close his eyes and sew the heart in . when he opens them his eyes light up . and when he feels over the bear he is in utter heaven . it becomes his stress reliever and cuddle buddy . and you’re so happy he finds so much comfort in it . bubba will be giving you so many kisses as a thank you .

billy loomis & stu matcher

it’s pure chaos . they’re messing with the kids , putting things out of their reach , debating on what animal or bear to get . but they are the most creative . billy gets a bear , stu gets a bunny . billy gets his stuffed medium full , stu barely makes his stuffed at all . stu over exaggerates every fucking heart thing , billy just smirks and makes everything filthy despite the gasps of mothers around you . billy dresses his bear up like a bad ass punk , stu give it a dress and tries to make a thong for it . billy names his bich fuker and stu names his fuking bich . you don’t know how you made it out of the store without being kicked out but somehow you do . later , at lunch , both of them disapear only to suddenly see the stuffed animals pop over the table as they give you a weird stuffed animal porno scene that you try not to die laughing over .

vincet sinclair

surprisingly , vincent will go into town with you for this venture . and even more surprising , he will go maskless . his long locks will cover the damaged half of his face , and he might look just a bit annoyed with how crowded it is in the store and how loud it is . he’s used to peace and quiet and metal music . he spends a long time deciding on a stuffed animal , even if he doesn’t think that he’ll put it up anywhere . he tries and does convince you to only get one to share . you’ll both build it together . he choses two and lets you get the choice in which one to get . he does the heart ceremony with you , giving a soft look to you , amused at how much fun you’re having , memorizing the way you look so he can sketch it later . you both decide to try and dress up in cozy clothes , a sweater and pants and socks . you name the bear vincent jr and vincent shakes his head , looking at you amused and presses a kiss to your temple .

bo sinclair

bo is annoyed as fuck to be there and is glaring at the kids , calling them brats and ankle bitters . he doesn’t act like he cares , and much like vincent just wants to get one . he isn’t made of fucking money . though he does get pissy when you don’t pick the bear with golden curl fur and you end up changing it with hitting his chest with a limp bear hand . he talks down to the bear builder because at first it’s too soft , then it’s too fucking hard , and then there’s too much stuffing taken out . you end up tipping the poor girl when his back is turned . he almost fucking faints when he sees how expensive everything is for clothes so you only get one white shirt . you then convince him to get a pair of socks because that’s what bo wears when he’s being lazy . he names it ankle bitter . a few days after you get the bear you can’t find it and you think it might have been thrown away , and then you see it in bo’s garage on a top shelf holding a wrench .

lester sinclair

lester has a lot of fun . once he makes it inside he gets pumped and asks if he can give his to jonesy . you both decide that your gonna get on each for her . lester gets her a bunny because of how much jonesy loves them . its absolutely adorable . the bear builder has and issue understanding lester’s slurred country talk , and it makes you want to laugh so hard because it’s obvious they’re from out of state . you end up just doing your best to translate and only laugh harder when lester starts laying it on thicker for a laugh . the bear ends up between limp and medium , a good fluff for a cuddle and chew toy . he dresses the bunny up as you , saying that it’s good for jonesy to have a little version of her daddy’s love . and you can’t help but think lester is fucking cute . he doesn’t name the bunny . later , after you decide to eat in the mall , lester says he’ll be back and goes to the bathroom . when he comes back he hands you a little bear that is dressed up like him and tells you that he wanted to make you something to hug on to when you missed him too much .

jacob goodnight

jacob is nervous , overwhelmed . you go during a school day in the morning so no one is really around . he doesn’t what to do or what to chose , but decides on one that has eyes that can be removed , you understand that he has a bit of an issue so you promise that you’ll put pretty patches over the eyes when you get home , he’s very relieved by this . now , your boy is usually pouty or neutral looking , but watch him light up and smile during the heart ceremony . he takes everything to heart and is so happy . his bear is medium fluff with most of the fluff in his tummy . he takes his time cleaning it , and picks out a very basic outfit . just a plain shirt and shorts . he names it jacob , after himself and wants you to hold it , thinking that you look so cute with two soft stuffed animals in your arms . later , he’ll try to make matching cross necklaces for both your bears . he also wants to come back and make a bear each for all his dogs .

martin ( 1977 )

this shy boy is extremely excited and nervous at the same time . he’ll be quiet , glancing towards you and back at his bear , one that is pure white . he does the heart ceremony , shy as hell about it , whispering the words and such . but the further into the store the more he comes out of his shell . he smiles and stands close , looking at clothes and wanting your bears to match . they both end up looking cute and fancy , his a girl he names angel , and he tells you it reminds him of you . he keeps it in his room , often looking at it when he thinks and misses you .

carrie white

this girl is excited , eyes bright and smile wide and sweet . she picks out something soft and pink and colorful . she doesn’t want her bear to be plain , no she wants her to be beautiful and stand out . you can’t help it . you put your own bear away so you can spend all the money spoiling this happy girl you have . she does everything with gusto , even doing it with some shy kids . she’s so lost in the moment that it’s wonderful , she really needed this . her bear is so soft , nearly limp , and dressed in a pretty yellow sundress with ribbons on her ears . she names it sunshine .

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slashersins · 4 years

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Ok so, one of the best dates (in my opinion) is going to build a bear and each getting a bear! Like picking em out together n doing the little heart ceremony (and also putting scents in I love the scentss) putting the hearts in each others bears bc love~ picking out their clothes together, naming em, then afterwards grabbing something to eat! (Taking a picture together n setting it as your lockscreen) its wonderful and you get a bear to remind you of your partner!! 10/10!! -Scooby

jason voorhees

michael myers

brahms heelshire

thomas hewit

jesse cromeans

bubba saywer

billy loomis & stu matcher

vincet sinclair

bo sinclair

lester sinclair

jacob goodnight

martin ( 1977 )

carrie white

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alpacaparkaseok · 3 years

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Lost & Found

Pairing: Park Jimin x soulmate (oc)

Warnings: Insecurity, anxiety, abandonment

Word Count: 1.6k

a/n: *long sigh* finally. This story has been haunting me for months now. I was so tempted to just go crazy and start uploading it because I love it so much. But If I’m uploading this, it means that we’ve made it to the promised day! Yay! You guys, I think this may be one of my favorites. Which, if we’re being honest, all of my works are my favorites. But this is everything.

That is all. Please read and enjoy. Let me know your thoughts, I’d be overjoyed to hear from you.

Chapter 1. Unbreakable Bond

It was easier than I thought it would be; breaking the bond. Perhaps I was just desperate enough. Practically begging on my knees as I stood outside the dingy apartment building, knowing that this was irreversible.

Wanting it to be irreversible.

The woman’s name is Christina, and she gives me a wary look as she explains the cutting process. Her own severed thread is a testament to her underground business. I trust her.

“I need you to be absolutely positive about this,” she warns. “There's no going back once I cut the thread. It will be nearly impossible to find your soulmate.”

That’s the least of my problems. I know that it’ll be all too easy to check in on the whereabouts of my soulmate; after all, he rarely goes anywhere without it being broadcasted to the entire world.

“Burn it.”

Warning me about the impending heat as she pulls out a blowtorch, I hear her sigh. Christina gathers up my thread and places it delicately atop a metal slab.

The little warehouse attached to her apartment offers little distraction; there are a few scattered tools laying about and nothing else but dull gray walls. In a time like this, a distraction would be nice.

“Do you ever regret it?” I ask, an uneasy turn of my stomach pushing the question out. Christina pulls her faceguard down, gesturing for me to look the opposite way. My shadow takes up the entire wall as she fires up the blowtorch.

“Me?” I can feel the heat of the fire, but I refuse to flinch. “Not really. But I do feel a bit bad for my soulmate.”

I frown at the gray wall. “Why?”

Christina shifts to get a more direct angle on the thin red thread that hangs from my finger and extends to disappear under the door. “You’re not the only one who is about to lose a soulmate today. At least it’s your decision.”

Staring at the unforgiving gray wall, I have plenty of time to mull over her response. However, the second I begin to worry or feel sorry for my soulmate, I remember the sweaty palms and crippling anxiety from earlier.

As Christina takes a step back after nearly thirty minutes, turning the blowtorch off, I turn to assess the damage. Frowning at the still intact thread, Christina snorts.

“Don’t move.”

She takes a lofty hammer in her hands, bringing it down hard on the thread. I gasp as sparks fly into the air, my thread tightening around my finger and pulling. Grabbing my hand, I struggled to remain upright on the stool.

“We’re almost there!” Christina huffs, bringing the hammer down again and again. Sparks continue to fly, one landing on my shoulder and burning a small hole in my shirt. My hiss of pain is cut short as the pressure on my finger suddenly loosens, nearly causing me to fly backward since I was straining against it.

My breath comes up short as Christina removes the hammer from atop the thread, and I see what happened.

The formerly vivid red hue fades to a dull color, almost a brown-red like dried blood. I watch as the frayed ends begin to retreat, one end slipping off the table and disappearing under the door.

I push off the stool, ripping the door open just in time to see the red thread glinting under the moonlight, drifting away on a breeze. Retreating to its other half.

Glancing down at my hand, I hold up my finger where the other frayed end stops just a few centimeters away from the base of my finger.

“Yeah, it’ll stay like that,” Christina says as she comes to stand beside me. “Unless you want me to burn your finger off…?”

I give her a dry chuckle. “No, thanks. It’s alright like this.” I tilt my head, marveling at the fact that I’m looking out into the world without my thread obscuring my view. “So...will his thread just disappear?”

Christina shakes her head. “Your threads, while cut, still mirror each other. So his will look like yours in a few minutes when it catches up to him.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

She invites me back inside, offering me a salve for my aching shoulder that was burned, frowning as she tells me that it will most likely scar.

“I’ll just consider it a souvenir,” I mumble. Christina laughs.

“That’s the spirit.” She passes me a mug of apple cider, sitting across from me at the same metal slab she calls a table where my thread was severed. “So, do you know who your soulmate is, then? Is that why?”

I take a long sip of the cider, my mind instantly replaying the scene from hours earlier. “I know who he is. Although, I wouldn’t say that I cut it because of who he is. He’s a great guy, actually. Top notch.”

Christina raises her brows at me. “Really? What makes you say that?”

I pause to look at my frayed thread, the string of fate loved by the world over. The thread that I always thought would bring me joy beyond belief, but made me realize that it would be better to let go.

For him.

“Do you know BTS?”

Christina sets her mug down with a loud bang. “Do I - of course I know who they are. Why?” Her expression turns to horror. “Why?”

I wince, taking another sip of my cider. Holding my hand up to display my severed thread, I wiggle my finger. “Park Jimin.”

✂

Jimin is in the middle of his dinner when he feels a sharp tug on his red thread. Chuckling at it, he holds his hand up for the thousands of fans watching his live to see.

“My soulmate is acting up, I think.” He watches as the comments flood in, most everyone mourning the fact that they are not his soulmate. A few people tease him about it being them on the other side of the thread, and while he knows that they’re simply joking with him, he can’t help the increase in his heart rate.

If only.

The thread tightens around his finger, making him hiss in pain. “Ouch,” he mutters, pulling back against the thread in order to sit still. “Sorry, everyone. What were we talking about? Oh, right. The concert today -”

Jimin whines as the thread pulls even harder, nearly causing him to spill his drink. Pulling back as hard as he can, he gives the camera an apologetic smile.

Then, his eyes widen as an idea strikes him. “Do you think I should follow it?” He asks excitedly. He hasn’t ever heard about people’s threads pulling them in the direction of their soulmate when they’re not even in the same room, but maybe she’s here, staying at the same hotel-

“I’ve gotta go!” Jimin shouts, blowing a kiss with his free hand before promising to visit everyone again soon. “Thanks guys!” Ending the live, Jimin shoots out of his chair, barely remembering to grab his room key before bursting out of his room and into the hallway.

Following the pull of the thread, he grins as he follows it to the elevator. Punching the button as hard as he can, he jumps from one foot to another as he waits for the doors to open.

“C’mon, c- bingo!” Sliding into the elevator with a gleeful shriek, he ponders for a moment before deciding to hit the ground floor.

Jimin’s cheeks are red with excitement by the time he reaches the lobby of the hotel, not even noticing when a couple of the bodyguards that escorted them to the concert venue today see him and immediately start following him.

“Mr. Park!” One of them calls. “Mr. Park! You can’t just leave without some form of security!”

Jimin hardly spares him a glance as he bolts for the exit where his thread continues to pull him. “Then follow me!”

The bodyguards chase after him into the night, exchanging concerned glances as Jimin follows after his thread like a convict on the run.

They nearly tackle him as they round a corner he just turned a few seconds prior, stumbling to a stop as they see Jimin standing still in the middle of the empty road.

“Mr. Park,” one of them pants. “Where are you going?”

Jimin stays completely still, the sudden lack of tension from his thread causing his heart to stop. Glancing down at where it’s wrapped around his finger, he feels the exact moment his heart stumbles to a stop.

Floating on a breeze, he sees the other end of his thread. Skimming along the ground like a plastic bag tossed about by the wind.

“What is it?” Jimin breathes out, the question leaving his lips without his consent. “What is it?”

There’s a chill that settles over him as the thread comes closer and closer, making Jimin retreat almost as though he could stop it from reaching him.

“No!” He yells, taking another step back as the end of the thread now arrives at his foot. “No! Not like this!”

The bodyguards watch on with disbelief as the thread works its way up to Jimin’s hand, slowing to a stop just below his finger. They’re continually glancing down at their own threads, making sure that they aren’t about to stumble upon the same ugly fate.

But it’s just Jimin with the cut thread. It’s just Jimin, who falls to his knees with a dull thump. Staring down at the thread, raising his shaking hand and grasping the frayed edge.

“Are they…?” One young bodyguard asks. His senior shakes his head.

“No. The thread turns gray when they die, remember?”

“Then what happened?” He asks again, eyes wide.

His senior sighs heavily, heart breaking at the sight he’s only ever heard stories about. “They must have found someone to cut it.”

The young bodyguard gasps. “Cut it? Is that even possible?”

Jimin’s sobs answer the question for him, the sound echoing off the buildings. One by one, lights turn on in the surrounding apartment buildings as people wonder what the commotion is all about.

Jumping into action, the bodyguards swarm Jimin, picking him up and supporting him between the two of them. Jimin’s body is weak and limp as he shouts and sobs.

“C-come back to me.”

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kaizokuou-ni-naru · 3 years

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The Voyage So Far: Alabasta (Part Two)

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

crocodile is one of my favorite villains in one piece for a number of reasons, and one of them is because he’s such a threat, the first real one faced in the grand line and one of the toughest in all of paradise. the villains from the arcs before this, like wapol or the agents from little garden, could barely even land a hit on luffy in actual combat. so crocodile is introduced here as an absolute force of nature, a complete contrast to recent villains and a very tangible threat.

it’s an impression he very much lives up to later in the arc by crushing luffy not once but twice, which only makes luffy’s ultimate hard-won triumph feel all the better. luffy closes a huge gap over the course of alabasta in order to be able to beat crocodile, and giving us a sense of just how strong he is from the very start gives luffy clawing his way up to that level a lot more weight.

the successive reveals of luffy’s family never fail to absolutely delight me, because in any other series they would almost certainly feel contrived, but knowing luffy, it is absolutely unsurprising he just never happened to mention his relatives. nobody asked! luffy’s unique brand of honesty is one of my favorite character quirks, because he’s very straightforward and in fact can’t lie for shit, but his priorities are so completely off the wall that he winds up omitting highly relevant information completely by accident.

ace’s scene in alabasta really does impress me. oda’s said in an sbs that he knew ace’s fate from his introduction, which i find absolutely unsurprising given the intricacy of his story planning. that means he needed ace’s introduction to make him both likable and memorable enough in the space of just a couple chapters that the audience would be engaged when he became the focus of the story a couple hundred chapters on despite barely appearing at all in the intervening time, and he really succeeded.

kohza is one of my favorite minor characters in the whole series, and i think he’s a big part of why alabasta’s civil war plotline works so well and feels so real. nobody on either side of the war actually wants to fight, but everyone has been driven to such desperation that they feel they have no other choice in order to save their country; and kohza exemplifies that. he's a good person who loves his country a lot, and who genuinely likes and cares about the royal family and vivi especially, and the only option he can see to save alabasta is terrible, but there’s nothing else he can do.

it’s just fun for me to think about the fact that if crocodile was literally anything other than a very skilled logia, vivi would have ended the whole entire arc right here.

i really like civil war storylines when they’re well-done, and i think alabasta is one of the best ones i’ve seen in media. most of it is down to what i mentioned earlier, about how nobody on either side actually wants to fight but feels like they have no choice but to. nobody here is actually in the wrong except for crocodile, and so until crocodile is defeated, nothing can be fixed- which is what luffy, of all people, is the one to realize.

sanji’s mr. prince gambit is probably my single favorite part of alabasta, and i think one of the reasons i like it so much is because he basically beats crocodile at his own game. crocodile is terrifying in battle, but before anything else he’s a manipulator. he’s always working from the shadows, always deceiving people doing what he wants, and sanji manages to turn the tables on him and do the exact same back to him, twice.

also sanji looks great in glasses

smoker and tashigi both get kind of unfortunately sidelined after this saga, but they’re both really great characters in alabasta. (tashigi especially; i’ll get to her later.) much like the rebel army, they’re good people trying to do the right thing in the tangled mess of tension and politics and resentment that is alabasta- and when that means working with pirates, they’ll buckle down and do it, despite how much it might contradict their worldviews.

i love when events align in one piece so that people who don’t particularly like the strawhats wind up working with them for some common goal (as seen most prominently in impel down), and smoker and tashigi in alabasta are the first and still one of the best examples of that.

the entirety of luffy versus crocodile round one is so well done. we’re a hundred and fifty chapters in, and although luffy has struggled in fights before now and then, we get the sense he hasn’t ever really been pushed to the brink, and he’s certainly never lost.

and then he does, completely and absolutely, without ever even landing a hit on his opponent, and it hits like a punch.

oda seems to be a fan of characters just barely missing each other- the similar panel of robin and olvia running past each other from robin’s flashback comes to mind.

i’ve always liked that of all the strawhats, it’s usopp who gets the first “luffy is going to be king of the pirates” moment. they’ve all said it by the current chapters in wano (with the sole exception of robin, i believe), but usopp said it first, and that feels significant to me. he’s always been the one who feels the least secure in his place on the crew, but even so, he has so much faith in luffy.

nami’s fight with miss doublefinger is pretty silly in places and i think it gets frequently (understandably, it must be said) overshadowed by zoro’s fight with mr. 1 directly afterwards, but i really like it nonetheless. it’s nami’s first real solo fight in the whole series, and once she finds her feet she kicks ass, and i really like that. it feels like a very satisfying development for her, to stand up and risk her life in direct combat for vivi’s sake.

we’re now almost a thousand chapters in and its my firm belief that zoro versus mr. 1 is still one of the best fights in the entire series. i definitely think it’s probably zoro’s best fight- only his match with kaku compares. the narrative build over the course of the fight, from zoro struggling just to match mr. 1 (and getting shredded to pieces in the process) to cutting him down in one final stroke, is incredibly cool and satisfying to watch. it feels like a very tangible step forward for zoro in terms of ability, like a massive obstacle has been surmounted and, as he himself says, he’s now stronger for it.

its also very cool that this is, i believe, the first appearance of what is probably observation haki, though it isn’t named or recognized as such. i’m always endlessly impressed by all the little moments of internal consistency that oda manages to sprinkle into his story.

there’s barely any dialogue on these entire two pages, from crocodile dropping vivi to luffy and pell swooping in- the story is briefly told entirely through visuals- and i love that. it gives the impression of a single tense, frozen moment as vivi falls, which is then broken in spectacular fashion when luffy catches her.

i really, really like the progression that runs through all three of luffy’s fights with crocodile. the gap between them goes from being impossible, with luffy unable to even land a hit and crocodile basically toying with him; to surmountable but still huge, with luffy able to land some hits but still outclassed; to finally putting them on basically even ground. and every inch of that growth on luffy’s part is hard-fought and hard-won and well-deserved.

crocodile’s confidence in his abilities isn’t misplaced- he genuinely is that powerful. but if there’s anything we know about luffy by now, it’s that he doesn’t ever give up. it’s very fun to watch crocodile’s dismissiveness turn into disbelief turn into rage and frustration when luffy just won’t die.

luffy is, additionally, pretty clearly a better brawler than crocodile (which makes sense, crocodile is clearly used to devastating long-range attacks with his powers while luffy grew up fighting giant wildlife with his bare hands), which means that by the time of their last fight, where they’re just whaling on each other in the catacombs and crocodile is starting to get sloppy and desperate and lose control, if anything it’s luffy who has the upper hand.

zoro and sanji’s dynamic is always a favorite of mine, and one of the things i like best about them is how perfectly in sync they always manage to be when it comes to things that actually matter, despite fighting like cats and dogs pretty much every other time. i’ll never understand people who think they genuinely aren’t friends.

tashigi is really good in alabasta, okay. she essentially has her own entire character growth arc. she goes from her stance in loguetown, where she isn’t even tolerant of (fully legal!) bounty hunters, to here, where she’s forced to confront that the world isn’t nearly as black and white as she’s always believed it to be, that sometimes pirates are good and allies of the government are bad, and ultimately makes the right choice to help the strawhats even though it clearly pains and frustrates her that she can’t do anything more herself.

i’ll be forever mad that her only really significant appearance after this in punk hazard didn’t really live up to what her character deserved.

i really like how the countdown sequence is done. the tension is ratcheting up and up and up as the clock ticks down in the final seconds, panels cutting all over the city to show all the different characters, everyone who’s caught up in this conflict and everyone who’ll die if the cannon fires-

and then the clock hits zero, and we get this panel that’s just... quiet, after all the madness, as we see how vivi stopped the detonation. i think oda is very good at setting up his pages so they have a flow to them, so no matter how quickly you actually read sometimes things feel like they’re going very fast and all happening at once and then it slows down and gives the reader a chance to breathe, if only to speed up again later. i think oda is really good at pacing in general, really, both on a micro level like this and on a larger scale.

luffy’s greatest strength isn’t really his strength. he’s strong, absolutely, but that’s not really why he wins the fights he shouldn’t win. he wins because he just doesn’t fucking stay down. his fight with katakuri is probably the best example of this, because katakuri has him beat in pretty much every category except sheer endurance, and there as here, it’s that endurance that winds up getting luffy the win in the end.

i do love that it’s the rain that ends the war. not the explosion and pell’s sacrifice, not vivi’s pleading, not even luffy kicking crocodile into the stratosphere, but the rain, the thing alabasta’s been missing for too long, the thing crocodile stole, the only thing all these people are fighting over.

it’s crocodile’s symbolic defeat- at the same moment his power is broken by luffy, the stranglehold of dehydration he’s been using to foment war and rebellion is all at once gone, and he’s left with nothing at all, and alabasta can finally find peace and start to heal again.

i always love the little moments that show, usually without words, just how much the strawhats love each other, and all of them unanimously waiting until vivi is out of sight to collapse so that she won’t worry, won’t see how ragged they ran themselves for their sake, is definitely one of them.

i adore vivi’s sendoff, because while its sad she has to go, the certainty that someday they’ll meet again and that even if not they’ll always be crew manages to make this scene endlessly hopeful instead (which, i think, is also a good summary of one piece’s tone as a whole, at least in its more serious moments). luffy never says goodbye, after all, and nobody ever really leaves the strawhat pirates.

i’m really looking forward to vivi’s re-entry to the story. i really, really want to see her reunion with the strawhats.

hey look, it’s the panel my profile picture is from!

the mystery surrounding robin and her past is built up in little ways long before enies lobby, from her harsh reaction when confronted with by tashigi to her aversion to being called by her given name to this flashback, of her talking to cobra about her dream. of them, the latter is my favorite, because i think it’s probably the most sincere she is until enies lobby- which makes sense, given she thinks she’s about to die.

like many things about robin in alabasta, this gets cast in a new light by her backstory. if she dies here, so too does the entire legacy of ohara- but she’s so beaten down and hopeless that she really doesn’t see any light ahead to strive for. there’s no hope left, for her, and the whole world against her.

and then there’s luffy, who creates hope everywhere he goes, who makes her live anyways.

this is a hell of a spread to hook us very effectively right into the sky island saga. it’s a perfect reminder of just how much we still don’t know about all the endless mysteries of the grand line, and just how many adventures are still yet to be had.

#the voyage so far #arc: alabasta #one piece #opmeta #not japanese #long post

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breynekai-tfc · 3 years

Text

Jailbreak

A scene from a longer project called “The Ice King”. It takes place after “Great One” in my oneshot collection, “Our Son, the Halfa”.

The story so far: Maddie has discovered that Danny has ice powers but that's the extent of her knowledge. In this scene, Maddie and Danny have been captured by Walker and are in the middle of breaking out of his prison...

Read on FF.net or continue reading below.

(･ᗜ･)ﾉ♡

The alarm was a low, continuous wail, like a ghoul moaning through a loudspeaker. At first, Maddie was certain it was about their escape. She grabbed the door's handle – forgetting that she could have run straight through the door – flung it open, and sprinted down the hallway, one hand wrapped around her son's wrist and dragging him along.

The halls were empty. The cells were empty. There was not a ghost in sight. After a few seconds of running, Maddie and Danny both slowed down and came to a stop.

"Where is everyone?" she murmured. "The other prisoners? The guards?"

"Uh, cafeteria? Out in the yard? Does it matter?" He sounded worried; obviously it did matter. "We need to find the Speeder and get out of here." This time it was Danny who snatched Maddie's wrist, and he led her down the hallways at a steady jog.

They turned several corners and stuck their heads, literally, through several promising doors along the way but found nothing and no one.

"He'll have put it with the other Real World contraband," said Danny as they moved, "if only we could find where that is. We just need to make it to the main hall…"

"I thought you've been here before?"

"Yeah, once!" said Danny, poking his head through another door, taking it out again, and shaking it. Negative. "I'm actually not in the habit of getting arrested, thank you. Besides, it would help if I knew where we even are right now. This place is a freaking maze!"

Upon realizing that Danny had no idea of their direction, Maddie started keeping a map in her head. It wouldn't do them any good to be running around in circles.

She was becoming increasingly anxious about the guards, or lack thereof. She tried to remember – had there been guards in their cell block before they broke through the bars? The angle had been bad; it had been impossible to see.

A few more minutes of fruitless searching brought them to the largest hallway yet, possibly the heart of the prison.

"Finally!" Danny exclaimed. "I know where we are – that way's the gate, that way's Walker's office-"

"Shh!" said Maddie.

Her son's eyes widened and he clamped his mouth shut. It didn't take him long to hear it, too. Somewhere nearby was the distinctive sound of a large, unruly crowd and ectoblasts. Lots of ectoblasts.

They looked at each other. Danny seemed to have the same question in his mind as was in hers. Should we check it out or steer clear?

"We need to find the Speeder," Maddie said firmly. "Whatever's happening, we don't have any weapons, and we're not prepared to deal with it."

Danny hesitated and finally nodded. "You're right." His hands twitched, and briefly Maddie watched her son clench and unclench his fists.

She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled reassuringly at him. "We'll be fine. We're going to make it out of here."

He nodded. "Yeah. I know." His gaze lingered on the hallway from which the sound was echoing. "I just hope whatever's happening isn't happening where I think it's happening… Because the room we need is on the other side of that."

"Where is that?"

He grimaced. "The cafeteria."

Danny continued warily toward one end of the hall, footsteps calculated and silent. Maddie followed at his side. Every step brought them closer to sounds of mayhem. Gradually, they began to hear Walker's booming voice, the exact words muffled under shouting, thuds, crashes and explosions.

Soon they were approaching two purple double-doors with a character that was distinctly 'institutional meal hall'. The sounds were almost deafening, and shadows mixed with flashes of green and blue light through the window panes on the doors.

"Great," Danny groaned.

"Isn't there another way around?"

"Not exactly. This part of the prison is on a cliff. The only thing outside the cafeteria walls is a plummet into the abyss."

"Why is the Real World Objects room on the other side of the cafeteria in the first place?" Maddie couldn't help but wonder aloud.

"Heard it used to be a gymnasium. Only place big enough to keep all that junk, I guess."

A second later, something slammed into and through the double doors. Maddie pulled Danny aside in time for the shape to fly past them and skid against the floor down the hall. The doors quickly swung shut again, cutting them off from the mayhem on the other side.

The ghost that had been thrown through the doors groaned and rose to its feet, giving Maddie a clear view of the monster. She was surprised to recognize it; then again, it's hard to forget an eight-foot-tall wolfman. The last time they had met, this particular ghost had been working with Phantom to attack Amity Park's mayor, Mr. Montez. Disoriented, the ghost shook its head, snorting, its black fur standing on end.

"Wulf?" gasped Danny. Instinctively, like a soccer mom in a minivan, Maddie put an arm across her son's chest.

"This is a powerful and extremely dangerous ghost, Danny."

What Danny did next completely shocked her. He grabbed her arm, simultaneously throwing it aside and ducking underneath it, to run straight for the ghost.

"No," said Danny over his shoulder, "he's a friend!"

"Danny!" Armed with nothing but her fists and her wits, Maddie Fenton ran after him.

The ghost noticed Danny, who was completely dwarfed by the giant beast, and grinned. "Danny!" it growled, before grabbing the boy and pulling Danny tightly against its chest. "Friend!"

This was unpleasantly similar to their meeting with Frostbite the day before. Did her son have a penchant for befriending ghosts that looked like Bigfoot's cousins?

"Oof!" Danny squirmed out of the wolfman's arms, and his prison shirt was almost pulled over his head in the process. Patting down his clothes, he grinned blatantly at the monster. "Good to see you, too, big guy. What are you doing here?"

"Walker," growled the ghost. Its snout curled in a snarl.

"How do you keep getting arrested? We talked about this!"

The wolfman looked positively repentant as it lowered its head. It mumbled "Sorry" and some other words in a foreign language.

A crash reverberated in the cafeteria behind them. "More importantly," said Danny, and he jerked a thumb behind him. "What's going on in there?"

The ghost proceeded to give an explanation in that second language, accented by a wide array of hand gestures. Danny listened, nodding, and his expression grew concerned. When the ghost had finished talking, Danny translated for his mom: "According to Wulf, there have been natural portals opening around the prison all week. Not very many prisoners have escaped, but Walker didn't want to take chances. He ordered his guards to stick to the remaining prisoners like glue. So, when a portal opened in the cafeteria today in the middle of lunch, all the guards and all the prisoners were there, and, well… this happened. Prisoners are trying to escape, and the guards are blasting them to bits." Frowning, he turned back to the ghost called 'Wulf'. "You haven't been opening these portals, have you?"

"No!" said the ghost, waving his hands. "No me!" Pointing to his neck, where there was a thick electronic band, he added, "Collar!"

"Wulf," said Danny, "my mom and I need to get to the other side of the cafeteria – to the Real World Objects room. Think you can help us out?"

The wolf monster grinned menacingly, flexing his arms. Glowing claws like blades sprouted from his fingertips. Bloodlust made his green eyes glow brighter. "Wulf help friend. Like to fight Walker goons, too."

"Awesome," said Danny, patting the ghost on one of his bulging, furry arms. Looking at his mom, he added, "Wulf is one of the good guys."

"We're going to have a long talk about this later, young man."

"Later!" said Wulf. "Now is fight!" On his own cue, the giant wolfman lumbered forward and burst back through the doors.

Maddie traded looks with Danny, and they both ran after him.

The cafeteria – if it could still be called such – was in total disarray. At the opposite end of the room, clustered around the edges of a portal in the floor that was at least ten feet in diameter, a battle was raging. Identical ghosts in riot gear with shields and batons were defending the hole against several dozen ghosts of all shapes, sizes, and species. A few were familiar to Maddie, such as Technus and Ember, but most were new faces. These prisoner ghosts were fighting a war on two fronts, because on their other side, the one nearest to Maddie and her son, there was another line of guards headed by the ghost warden himself. Most of the cafeteria furniture had been overturned, incinerated, or adapted into creative weaponry. Lumps of food, or possibly some ghosts' spilled guts, were splattered over the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Wulf's bulk shielded them from sight, although Maddie and Danny were both short enough to duck under his arms to get a good view. He pointed across the room, at a door, and turned to Danny. "There. Room."

The door was precisely on the other side of the portal.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Danny.

"No. No is joke."

"It's an expression," breathed the boy weakly. "How are we…?"

Maddie frowned, squinting thoughtfully at the scene. "We don't need to go through the door. If we make it to the opposite wall, we can phase through it, correct? We just need to skirt the edges."

"Great. We still have to get through a seven-layer ghost dip. Great." At his mom's incredulous expression, he said, "Food jokes. Cafeteria. Couldn't help it."

"Wulf," said Maddie. The ghost seemed a little shocked to be addressed by her. "You keep Walker busy while we make our way to the wall."

Wulf looked at Danny, expectant. "Uh, yeah," said Danny. "Do what she said."

"Kun plezuro," growled Wulf. Then he roared and tackled the warden like a giant, hairy linebacker, sending several smaller guards flying in the process.

"Let's go!" Maddie yelled. She scooped up a couple of broken table legs, tossed one to her son, and darted to the right-hand side of the mob.

A guard immediately intercepted her. Unfortunately, several of the guards had turned at the sound of Walker being attacked, and they were ready to head off the escaping humans. Maddie swung her improvised weapon right into one ghost's head, and the whole thing disintegrated in a cloud of mist.

The others weren't so easy. Before she had completed her swing, another was bearing down on her with its baton, and sidestepping the attack, her back slammed into another's shield. The ghost with the baton raised its club for another hit, so Maddie ducked and tumbled out to the side, landing in a crouch. The two ghosts were surprisingly slow; she had a free shot at the shield-wielder's head, and threw her table leg, sharp-end first.

Like its companion, it vanished into smoke.

But Maddie's weapon was gone.

Danny suddenly appeared at her back, sparring with another guard, exchanging blow for blow. Maddie, who had failed for years to teach her son any lessons in combat, was both impressed and bewildered. She didn't have time to think much more about it, not then.

"Be careful about their batons!" Danny shouted. "They don't just hit, they also shoot-"

Her son was blasted away by a bolt of hot green ectoplasm.

"Danny!" Maddie yelled. It was her mistake to let her attention drop. Her last opponent had aimed his baton, and the next second he fired.

Maddie slammed into the surface of an overturned table. She and the table both skidded back a few feet, and her head knocked against the surface, causing stars to dance in her vision. On her left side, her shirt smoked, smoldering with green fire; the skin underneath was scorched black, and a nasty smell filled her nose.

Danny appeared crouching next to her. "Mom!" he said. His clothes were also smoking, but otherwise, he seemed unharmed, to Maddie's relief.

Four guards were flying toward them, already taking aim. "Danny," she said, nodding her head toward them.

Danny spun and straightened. He stepped forward until he stood at the end of Maddie's feet and adopted a wide stance.

"Alright," he said. Goosebumps rose on Maddie's skin. Danny's voice was completely level, but there was an edge to it, a menace, that she had never expected to hear in her son. "Which one of you hurt my mom?" He looked at them, waiting for an answer. The other ghosts faltered, but not for long.

"No one's gonna fess up? Well then." Danny cracked his knuckles, and spread his hands to either side. "I'll have to beat up all of you."

The temperature plummeted, an icy wind blasting outward with Danny at its center. Danny's whole body began to glow white, and blue energy gathered in his hands while the floor under his feet frosted over. Maddie watched as the frost slithered toward the ghostly prison guards, who only realized what was under them when it was too late. Three of them started to advance, one tried to flee, and Danny ripped his hands upward. Shards of ice splintered out of the floor. Two of the ghosts were frozen solid on the spot, while the other two were ripped into smoky shreds.

The fighting in the room stopped, all eyes turned toward them. Then Technus's nasally voice cried, "It is the ghost boy! The battle is ours!" All of the prisoners cried out and began to fight more ferociously. Several of the guards were knocked backward into the portal, and a few prisoners poured along after them.

Danny turned toward Maddie, who immediately paled. His eyes glowed solid cold blue; she could not see his pupils, his irises, the whites of his eyes. Frost still danced at his fingertips.

For one horrible second, Maddie wanted to run away from him. Her fingers wanted a gun so she could shoot him.

Snowdrift's words returned to her: You obviously don't know what your son is capable of.

He frowned down at her, expression changing from severe to puzzled. Then a massive white shape loomed up behind him, and he was forced to turn and face Walker.

Wulf sprinted to Danny's side. He no longer seemed so huge.

"I should have known," growled the warden, his voice echoing even above the sounds of battle. "Who else would have the gall to start a prison riot in my cafeteria? No one but a lawless, disrespectful, impudent punk like you."

"Look, I get you're still sore about the last time. But I swear, Walker, I didn't do this."

Walker's eyes narrowed. "How did you get out of your cell?"

"Yeah, I'd ask for your money back," Danny retorted. "Ghost-proof, human-proof, but apparently not ice-proof."

The warden's expression was murderous, which was a neat trick for a skull face. The entire cafeteria seemed to darken around him.

Danny shifted slightly, and a wall of ice sprang up in front of Wulf, Maddie, and him just in time to deflect a massive ectoblast from the warden.

"Wulf," Danny said hurriedly. "Get my mom to the Specter Speeder. Now!"

The wolfman nodded before leaping toward Maddie, scooping her into its arms, and bolting away across the room, easily jumping over and on top of heads as he moved. The guards, the few who were left, were too preoccupied with the escapees to do anything. Danny disappeared from Maddie's sight until all she could see was a writhing crowd of ghosts and Walker's towering back.

She knew she should protest. She was afraid, though, that Wulf would actually turn around and go back.

They neared the wall, and Maddie wondered how Wulf planned on getting through it, if ghosts couldn't use intangibility in the Ghost Zone.

It wasn't a problem. With one set of his fearsome claws, he ripped a hole right through the cement bricks.

They landed among the rubble of their entrance and piles upon piles of human junk. There were items anywhere from rubber bath ducks to piano fortes, all covered in a hefty layer of softly glowing dust. Near the door, like they had been dumped there to save time, were the Specter Speeder, Maddie's weapons, and all of their clothes.

Gingerly, Wulf placed Maddie on her feet next to the Speeder. The ghost bent down and looked into her eyes; it took all of Maddie's nerve not to flinch. "Vi estas lia panjo?"

She shook her head. "I don't understand."

Wulf worked his jaw, then said, "You… Danny… mom?"

"Yes," Maddie breathed, still thinking about his eyes, the power that had radiated from him.

The ghostly wolfman engulfed Maddie in his arms, squeezing her tight against him. Her wound screamed, but she didn't dare protest. When Wulf released her, he held her by her shoulders and said, "Good son. Thank you."

Wulf looked back through the hole, glanced at her, and leaped away, stirring the ectoplasmic dust in his wake.

A victorious cheer erupted in the next room, followed soon by Walker's furious cry of "No!" Then all was quiet.

"I'm going to kill you, ghost boy," said Walker, his voice echoing through the room. There was a flash of green, and the floor buckled under an explosion.

Fear clenched Maddie's heart, but a fear different to the one she felt earlier. It was only relieved when the light from the other room changed to blue, and her son's voice called out, "I'd like to see you try!"

Maddie opened the door of the Speeder and threw all of their belongings into the backseat before climbing onto the driver's bench. A glance in the glove box confirmed that Walker had not found the Infi-Map; she slammed the box shut again and fired up the engines.

Despite having designed and built the vehicle with her husband, it was her first time to drive it. The Speeder rose unevenly into the air, and when she urged it forward, first went too slowly and at once shot ahead. It was only due to Maddie remembering, at the last second, that the wall wasn't really solid that saved her from crashing full-speed into it.

She emerged into the next room, and yanked back on the controls to bring the Speeder to a mid-air stop. The scene was havoc. In the middle of the room, a Walker that was twenty-feet tall, shimmering into green smoke at his edges, was stooped over, firing blasts and throwing punches at the ground. Under him, using blasts of frosty wind to propel himself over pathways of ice, her son was simultaneously dodging the attacks and shooting ice at the warden's legs. Maddie realized that Walker's feet were now frozen to the floor. Wulf was darting around the edges of the battle, slashing Walker at times and at others throwing sharp debris into the warden's face.

The natural portal sparkled green. There were no ghosts around it, only helmets, shields, and batons scattered about its edges.

Walker roared. Green fire exploded around his shoulders.

"It looks like someone lost their cool!" said Danny. He slid sideways to avoid another blast of ectofire and unleashed a volley of ice. "I can help with that!"

Banter? Why did that seem…?

Maddie shook her head. They needed to get out of there. Maddie threw the Speeder forward and pulled up at the edges of the battle, opening the passenger-side door and yelling, "Get in!"

Danny glanced at her over his shoulder and then threw a barrage of ice shards at the Warden's face – they weren't necessarily destructive, but the sharp ice made Walker jerk backward and throw up his hands to shield his eyes. It was enough of a distraction. Danny had time to sprint for the vehicle and throw himself through the open door.

He landed heavily on his side. "Go!"

"What about your friend?"

"He'll be fine!" said Danny. As if the wolfman could hear them, he turned and grinned, briefly and fiercely, before leaping at Walker's throat with his extended claws.

Maddie nodded, and the Specter Speeder rocketed across the room. Danny scrambled to sit up, but when he was able to see through the windshield, he yelled.

"Where are you-?!"

"Nearest exit," said Maddie, and they dove through the natural portal in the floor.

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

“The Ice King” is a wip I started writing back in 2016/2017. There are about 50,000 words so far, but I’m not sure if I’ll ever finish it. I’m still in love with the concept, however, and will probably post more scenes from it in the future.

#tfc writes #danny phantom #dp #maddie fenton #walker #ice powers #gradual secret reveal #maddie pov #protective danny #wulf

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starshipsofstarlord · 4 years

Text

Growing Pains | TFW

Request: Hey! Can I please request a platonic x reader with team free will 2.0? The reader gets turned back to a toddler by a witch and they try to ask Rowena for help but, the spell lasts for a week and it's just plain chaotic. The reader is extremely clumsy and hungry but knows a few words like "Hungry" and "Thirsty". The rest is up to you 😊. Thanks in advance!

A/N: It is a little different from the request, so I hope you don’t mind, also it’s not great. And I’m terribly sorry for the wait, I hope you can understand why xxx

Walking around the lab, you screwed your face up at the mess. It was like toddler’s had been let loose in the room, there was glass broken upon the floor, paper thrown out of the shredder, and worst of all, no one to condemn for the death of the scientist.

Sighing, you shut your eyes, leaning back into one of the counters. “So, the guy that was killed had like a dozen or so kids and we can’t find a single one of them, or the mother?”

You pinched the bridge of your nose as Cas circled the room once more, seeing if he could find anything that your human eyes had missed. But alas, there was no ultimatum, nothing that could direct the pair of you to answers.

“That sounds about right.” Dean’s gruff voice came from the doorway, stepping on shards of glass as he came closer to the two of you. “Although at this time, I am calling shots on the mom being the killer.”

“We don’t even know if this is up our alley Dean.” You sighed, opening your eyes and looking at the older hunter. “Did you get anything from the co-workers?”

“Not a peep.” His tone was almost too cheerful, especially considering the circumstances. The group of you were nowhere near completing this case, and all he could think about was the burger joint around the corner. You were close enough to it, that you would give in and accompany him. “Who’s hungry?”

“After the sight of the guts strung in the ceiling fan,” you looked up to emphasise your point, “I think I may have lost what appetite that I had left.”

“Bad luck. You snooze, you lose.” With that he left the room, presumably heading off to stuff his face. It was impossible not to roll your eyes at his childish behaviour, although in all fairness, you should have been used to it by now. However your dear angel friend remained with you.

“We should meet with Sam and Jack, and see if they have found anything in the house.” Castiel spoke, confused by the lack of evidence in this death. There was nothing that could have helped, even the majority of the man’s body was gone.

“Why would someone have that many children?” It was a rhetorical question, but just the thought of your body going through it’s natural process that many times made you shiver.

“To repopulate.” Cas put simply, although that was a straightforward fact. But that was not what you had meant, admittedly you had a soft spot for kids, even missed being one sometimes.

“I know, but doesn’t that seem sort of strange to you?” Your mind was spinning with all sorts of possibilities, of what could and couldn’t be going on. Unless, well... “It could be like some sort of supernatural litter, or they’re breeding test subjects. Is there even any record of them having that many children?”

Your conclusions made your friend frown, and he pointed his finger up, unintentionally pointing to the tendril of flesh that was hanging from the fan above.

“We should check the records.” And with that he grabbed your bag from just outside of the room, pulling your laptop from out of it. Just then, your phone began ringing. It was Sam, and so you answered.

“Hey, you find anything?” There was silence on the other end, until you heard the shrill sound of what you supposed to be a child.

“Was that Jack or -”

“Hey!” The nephilim retorted. You could already picture the child like frown on his face, but before either of you could bicker about your comparison, the Winchester on call spoke first.

“She left one of her kids, and we found hex bags.” He breathed, relieved that this did in fact involve what you all were guessing to be a witch, yet also frustrated about how messy this all was. “But the thing is, this son of hers was closed in the basement, and the only thing down there for him to eat down there was a man’s leg...”

“We should get that tested, it could be the father.” You said, trying to think about this case adjoined with all of its new revelations. “So, what is her goal here, she’s trying to turn her own children into cannibals?”

“That’s how the ‘myth’ of the wendigo started in human folklore.” Jack commented, before he frowned. Him and Sam both let out shouts, making you fear for the pair.

“Sam?”

“She doesn’t have any children, nor did he.” Cas spoke, the content on the screen disarranging this entire predicament further. “What just happened Sam?”

His breathing could still be heard from the other end of the line. It seemed like he was in shock of some sort.

“You’ve got that right, Cas.” He breathed, referring to the fact that she had no spawn. “And I suspect the others are like him. He’s just turned into a grown man, we’re going to attempt to get an answer to who he is. Be careful if you encounter Mrs Fletcher, both of you.”

So, now you had a presumed answer on how Mr Fletcher had died, you had to tell Dean. Quickly, you and Cas left the scene, looking for the elder Winchester, remembering to take any of your items with you.

“Thankyou.” You nodded, doing all of the talking to any police whilst Cas held your phone at an arm’s length. “Got any clues on where our witch works?” You asked him.

Sam replied soon, making the matter of reaching Dean that more prominant. “West Street, not far from where you are. At the burger joint, Paula’s.”

“Shit!”

When you and Castiel arrived, Dean Winchester was nowhere to be found. That fact had you deeply concerned, more so than you would usually be on a hunt. This presumed witch was targeting adults, and not only did he and the majority of you fit the agenda, but you didn’t want to know what would happen if you ended up disturbing her crosshairs.

There was no one inside, excluding yourself and the angel. It was eerie, almost too quiet to be owned by a witch. Scratch that, definitely too quiet.

“Behind the counter.” You nodded towards the door, taking the lead first, lightly pushing it. The bell atop of it jingled, making you blink hazily, before all turned to a deep gaze of pixels.

Castiel walked closer to you, tapping your forehead, but to no avail was your state resolved. Instead, you felt the need to collapse and keep your eyes contained behind their lids. And so you gave into that feeling, only hearing the voices of Sam and Jack before it was over.

When you awoke, you were in your bed in the bunker, but it felt much larger than it ever had before. There was so much room to move upon the mattress, the duvet even felt bigger.

As you looked down at your hands, you realised they had shrunk significantly. For all you were aware, this could all have been a very lucid dream, but you doubted that. As a hunter, the strange things were never false, they were real.

Attempting to leave your bed, you dropped your legs over the side, although they were now incapable of touching the floor. Instead of landing upright, you fell, causing a thud against the floor.

The sound had obviously rendered, and it removed all thoughts that were rattling around in your mind. Memories flashed before your eyes, sending a haze of dizziness to your shrunken body, until they all left, making you aloof in your own adult room.

Dean rushed out of his own reside as he heard the thud. He had followed the witch around the back and shanked her, but there had been a second plan up her long black sleeves. And he should have known, as he walked into your room, only to find a little girl with a strong resemblance to you.

This was her charade when alive, and the issue still stuck even now even when she was dead. Dean rubbed his face, feeling the muscles that were tensing beneath the skin. And now they were left with the outcome that they and you had tried to resolve.

Looking down at your youthful silhouette reminded Dean as to exactly why he hated witches so much. They were deceitful and cruel, and unfortunately so much more. “Sam!” He called out in a hurry, cradling your small, whining body in his arms.

You tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but your once fellow hunter would not allow you to do so. There was no logic turning in the cogs of your mind, instead, you were much rather shy to someone that you were viewing as a stranger.

In a flash, Sam was at the threshold of your door, looking in as it was ajar. He saw Dean with a kid, and there was only one explanation for it. They had been hustled whilst the witch turned in her grave...

Cas examined a book in the war room, whilst Jack followed his actions. Sam was on the phone with Rowena, asking, some would see it as begging, the witch to come and fix you up. And thus, Dean was left with you, whilst he nursed a beer in his opposite hand.

You tried to reach the glass bottle, but Dean jerked it away from your grasp. “No.” He warned you, having continuously done so before when you were too lazy to fetch your own from the fridge. But that didn’t stop you, instead it humoured you, making you laugh at the perceived game.

“Stop it.” He spoke again, making Jack laugh at your stubbornness which clearly hadn’t changed. For once, it was nice for him not to be the youngest in the room, even though technically he still wasn’t. But all got distracted when Sam huffed a sigh of relief over the phone.

“Okay, great. Me and Dean will meet you there.” And then he hung up.

Rather than being in Dean’s arms once again, you had been traded to Sam’s as the eldest drove Baby to the destination that Rowena had proposed. “Thirsty.” You mumbled, a gurgle following your very short sentence.

Sam looked at Dean, who only shrugged. He was unsure of what to do, they couldn’t stop at a gas station, otherwise they would miss their meeting with Rowena, and as they knew far too well, she was a tricky one to get a hold of.

“No you’re not.” Dean told you, trying to convince your mind otherwise to its actual thoughts. For the moment of which you were silent, he thought it may have worked, however the peace was not eternal, for you spoke again.

“Hungry.” You managed to speak next, making Dean huff from exhaustion. He thought of your need for a drink, and then it clicked, he tipped his head back at Sam.

“There’s a beer in the back.” It possibly could have rolled under his seat, these roads to the witch were bumpy. Sam gasped at the statement, placing his hand on your back as he bounced you and kept you distracted from your desires.

“Please tell me that you’re not serious.” At this point, Sam would not be surprised with his brother. Quite clearly, as much as the man adored kids, he was getting quite fed up with you in this state. It was day in, day out and yet the effects still hadn’t worn themselves out.

“She’s technically of legal drinking age.” He shrugged, remembering all of the times that you would steal his beer from the fridge, or even sometimes his hands.

“Technically,” the younger of the two pried, glaring at his brother, “currently she isn’t,”

“We’re here anyway.” Dean cut the conversation short, putting the car in park. For the first time in his life, the hunter and legacy was eager to see Rowena. Never did he think that day would ever come, but somehow your obliviousness had landed you all here, and he hated it.

Sam got out of the car, carrying you to a bench that Dean had decided to park his own rear on. There was a nice breeze whipping his hair before his face, and this younger you mirrored the reaction the elder one would have had.

You laughed, watching the swarm of locks cover his face, and move to the other side, with the swiftest and slightest motions as the direction switched itself up.

Footsteps, clearly heels, could be heard clicking their way over. It was isolated in this park, presumably the redhead’s doing as she came into view with an amused grin stretching her chin.

“Well, if I was not already quite acquainted with the pair of you, I would presume the two of you were fathers to dear little (Y/N).” Rowena bent forward, ignoring the glares she received from the men, ogling at your youthful expressions. “Are you sure that you don’t want to keep her like this? She is quite adorable when she hasn’t got the brains to work with my son when the two of you dimwits think it fits into your narrative. Or hold a gun to the back of my neck and blackmail me with my own security.”

“Definitely.” Was Dean’s instant response. He could not do another day with baby you, he’d start going grey, or his eyes would turn black all of a sudden from pent up rage.

“Yes, Rowena.” Sam answered, bowing his head, as your fingers decided to thread themselves through his hair.

“Shame.” She pouted briefly, before waving her hand, and then you were, dazed, but sat in Sam’s lap, full size. As soon as you came to, your eyes widened at the position you were in, and you were quick to launch yourself out of it. He however sat there stunned. “Told you we should have called her earlier.” Sam said, still feeling awkward from your exchange, and Dean only grunted in a reply.

Dean knew for sure though, you had been a pain in the ass. If it ever happened again, he would just leave you with Jack and Cas.

#supernatural imagine #supernatural one shot #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural prompts #supernatural requests #tfw x reader #tfw imagine #team free will #team free will x reader #dean winchester imagines #sam and dean #sam winchester imagine #cas x reader

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giowritess · 4 years

Text

Dull — Michael Corleone

masterlist. | michael corleone.

Pairing: Michael Corleone x fem!OC Tatiana van Doren

Plot: Tatiana and Michael have always been pushing each other’s buttons. One day, when confronting him about a deal that went south, their relationship takes a different path.

Warnings: cursing, sexual themes — choking, vaginal fingering, intercourse, unprotected sex, edging.

Word-count: 2,555

Kinktober: prompts — • 4. begging • 10. against the wall • 11. hatesex • 12. fingering • 13. edging • 32. choking

Author’s note: Wassup people!!! Sorry for taking so long to write something. I finally wrote something about one of my all-time favorite characters, who doesn’t have a big fandom but should. If you don’t know what The Godfather is about, all you need to know is that they’re gangsters and this man is perfect. This lovely piece I wrote alongside the most precious being on universe that’s @pacinorose! I love you so much and I can’t thank you enough for entering my life. I haven’t written smut in four years and this is my first attempt at it. This is also my 1st official post for kinktober. About the banner/gif: @littlefreya‘s inspired me to do one. The gif edition is mine, but I don’t know who the gif itself belongs to (let me know if you do). I really ope you all enjoy it! Also, not beta’d. xoxo

Tatiana van Doren was not a force to mess up with. The van Doren family and the Corleones had always been on each other’s bad side. Their mutual hatred transpassed the invisible strings of time and, all that despise, disdain and hostility towards each other carried on through generations and generations. It definitely hadn’t missed out on Tatiana van Doren and Michael Corleone, the oldest children to take over the two businesses.

Interaction between the two of them was always hard. The only exceptions were when both had to attend any kind of social gatherings, where they had to maintain politeness and grace. Usually, they were always at each other’s throats like cat and rat, always pushing each other’s buttons to nothing but pure and inexplicable rage. Michael always made Tatiana turn into an angry beast who wouldn’t keep quiet, and she did the same thing to him. He couldn't even recognize himself when he was around her. Michael always tried his best to suppress his emotions and stay indifferent, but with her, he just couldn’t do that. He brought out the worse in her, and she did the same to him.

So, that meant that business between them was nearly impossible. They'd joined forces against a common enemy and that involved mastering a hazardous business deal which included exchanging weapons imported from the docks. Of course, it hadn’t been easy to find something both agreed on.

“Miss van Do-”, Michael’s secretary started to speak, standing in a flash from his chair in a futile attempt to try and stop her.

Tatiana was on a warpath as she blasted through his office door and almost took it off its hinges. She didn’t give a damn about discretion and was ready to take out the revolver from her thigh holster and shoot any bastard that dared to stand in her way.

Michael’s eyes were wide from the action as he snapped his head up from his work. His eyes soon narrowed when he saw exactly who had interrupted him and caused such a scene. Her dark, doe-eyes no longer had that sparkle full of mischief and teasing. Instead, they held complete and utter anger as she pierced holes into him, her chest weaving up and down in an erratic rhythm.

“I tried to stop her, Mr Corleone. I’m sorr-,” his secretary started. Michael interrupted him putting his hand up, a gesture for him to be quiet before he silently dismissed him and he left both alone.

Michael took a deep breath and finally brought his eyes back to the brunette girl. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with her day-to-day teasing and uncontrollable annoying mouth, that just wouldn’t close without spurting snarky comments about how he conducted his work.

“Do you not listen, princess?” he asked with a calm voice, his brow arching in question. He clenched his jaw so tightly he thought his teeth might crunch under the tension of his frustration, .

Tatiana’s face completely fell in disbelief at his audacity, and her eyes soared into his so intensely the Corleone almost took a step back. Him calling her like that made her blood boil, and he knew that.

“I’m sorry? I don’t fucking listen?!” the words started to violently fall from her lips, like bullets hitting their targets. “I told you not to move the contraband under a fucking full moon! We agreed on that! And what do you go and do?!” she asked, prodding her index finger towards him as she spoke. Her eyes were wild with fury as she looked at him.

While she did her small angry speech, Michael couldn’t help but notice how well that floral-print summer dress hugged her body, leaving little to the imagination. To his imagination, that would happily fill in the gaps late at night, both when he couldn’t sleep and when he’d dream of her. Of course, his dark desires were well hidden as he kept a stern look and averted his eyes back to his desk. He moved his hand to align a piece of paper that fell as he stood up to confront the intruder in his office, shrugging her comment off with an emotionless glance.

This only pissed her off more.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?!” she continued, striding in front of him so she'd force him to make eye contact. She was fuming. “My men could’ve been caught because of you. Because you’re so fucking dull.”

Her fast breathing matched his clenched body, and she couldn’t help but feel a shiver run right through her while he looked down into her eyes. He seemed to be staring right through her. They'd never been so close before and, by how he was staring at her, she couldn’t help but feel like a prey, about to be devoured by its predator.

“You’re a dull fucking bastard,” she mumbled, not even a bit intimidated by him.

He inhaled so quickly and sharply before he brought his hand up to her throat, she had no time to register what had happened. Tatiana winced as she felt the impact of her back hitting the wall, her eyes immediately locking onto his. She wasn’t surprised by his action. Instead, it surprised her with the effect it was having on her. Her body was tingling everywhere, sending shivers through her spine and sending a fire straight down to her core. The feeling of Michael’s strong hand clenched around her throat, not hurting but still strong enough to keep her in place, was doing more to her than she wanted to admit. That she would like to admit. He could squeeze the life out of her if he wanted to — the predator could easily devour his prey. But by the look on his eyes, she knew those weren’t his plans.

She gathered her posture back up, that mischievous glint that he so much hated returning to her eyes. Even though she wanted to be devoured by him, she couldn’t help the words coming out of her mouth.

“What are you going to do, Michael? Kill me,” she asked, her voice slower than usual, “or fuck me?” she rolled out the last words with the pop of her tongue, sounding almost like a purr.

Unsurprisingly, he slammed his lips down to hers, pressing her further against the wall, his hand still strong on her throat. Then, he pulled away abruptly as his hand loosened its grip around her neck, uncertainty making its way to his mind. As Tatiana slowly opened her eyes, he thought that she was the most beautiful woman on Earth at that moment, without the ice wall she had built around herself. He knew that doing what she did, she had to protect herself, but she was even prettier when she didn’t need to hear that mask. And she definitely didn’t have to wear it around him. Michael could see straight through her without any effort.

Tatiana could see his jaw clenching as she brought her hand to his neck, slowly dancing her fingertips over his skin. As they reached his face, her eyes repeatedly travelled from his lips to his eyes, which were following every single one of her movements with attention. His chocolate eyes softened at the look of longing in hers, but then it was gone as fast as it came as she smirked up at him. Her fingers finally reached his lips, tracing a line in them before moving her hand to the back of his neck and entwining in his soft hair as she stood on her tiptoes and brought her lips to his, pulling him closer by the neck. It was slow and sensual, giving each other to explore that uncharted path that they had been longing to discover for a long time now. His hand left her throat and travelled down her back, while the other found the back of her neck. Their kiss got needier and hungrier by the second, the mutual desire finally coming to light after being repressed and ignored for so long. They kissed until both couldn’t breathe, pulling away and kissing again, letting their tongues dance together in a harmony they could only find in each other.

She could feel herself getting flushed, her skin hot, as if she could make fireworks explode every single time that sinful mouth of his made contact with her skin. He was kissing a path down her neck and her collarbone, quickly pulling down and exposing her breasts, begging for his attention. The shape of his erection pressed against her felt like hard marble, and it only made her even wetter than she already was, feeling her panties soaked.

A moan left her lips as his hot mouth sucked on her breast, and Michael felt his cock twitch in pain at that heavenly sound. He hadn’t even touched her where she needed him the most, but she was already a panting mess from his kisses alone. He knew he was going to leave marks on her body as he sucked, kissed and bit every piece of skin available to his reach.

Her heart skipped some beats as he started kneading on her thigh, her whole body tensing with expectation and anticipation as his hand went up slowly. She knew he was doing that on purpose — he wanted to torture her, and it was working. Michael finally found the hem of her underwear and stole the air out of her lungs when one of his fingers dipped down her cunt, meeting no restrain.

“So wet for me,” he whispered in her ear, watching carefully every reaction that crossed her beautiful face.

“Fuck,” she muttered.

Tatiana had to cling to his white shirt as his finger swiftly entered her, moans and sighs leaving her mouth as they pleased. Her eyes fluttered closed as he started moving up and down, his finger soon joined by another, while his other hand remained on the side of her head.

But his torture wasn’t going to end. When her heart started beating faster and her breathing got unstable, he slowed down, only to speed up again when her breathing went back to normal. Over and over and over again, lever letting her chase her high. He could see the eagerness and irritation on her face. The fact that she was entirely at his mercy and under his control only made him harder, if that was even possible.

“Michael…” she moaned. He could hear the exasperation in her voice.

“Yes, princess? he replied in a mocking tone, never stopping his movements.

He knew how impatient she was growing.

“I… I want you,” she admitted, making a smirk appear on the corner of his lips.

God, how ironic it was for the roles to be inverted.

“You’re gonna have to be more specific, darling,” he said, his hot breath against her neck.

“I want you,” she repeated, this time staring into his eyes. Her voice was nothing but a desperate plea. “Your cock, buried deep inside me. Please," she muttered, almost whining. "Please, fuck me. Please!”

Her raspy voice full of desire and need turned a switch inside of him. Having her beg for him was exactly what he wanted, and now he just couldn’t take it anymore. He wanted her too, badly, and he couldn’t wait to be inside her. Pulling his fingers out, he held her by her thighs as he picked her up and placed her on his desk, throwing its contents to the floor and not giving a fuck about it.

Tatiana watched impatiently as he unbuckled his belt and finally released his cock, painfully hard. She couldn’t help but lick her lips as she wondered how it would feel on her mouth, against her tongue.

And then he thrust into her, and she felt like her brain had short-circuited and stopped working. Was she even alive? Was she breathing?

"Like this?" he asked, but she couldn’t even reply. "You like it when I fuck you like a whore?" his voice was almost aggressive, his hands holding tight on her hips where he knew would be purple tomorrow.

A breathy "yes" left her lips, followed by a series of moans that only made him even closer, feeling the way her velvet walls enveloped him with perfection.

"I bet,” she started to say, but a loud moan interrupted her, “you've… you’ve dreamed..." it was hard for her to finish her sentence, getting harder and harder to form coherent thoughts, "of this."

Even with his cock thrusting in and out of her and hitting every right angle, making her roll her eyes with bliss and see stars, she still managed to be snarky.

“All the fucking time," he growled back, and one of his hands found its way to her throat, squeezing lightly, testing the waters. His other hand was busy, rubbing circles in her clit that made her feel as if she was going to explode.

He knew he was in good waters when his name left her ajar lips in a scream, Tatiana shutting her eyes closed, overwhelmed with the pleasure building up inside of her. Quite satisfied with himself, he applied a lot more pressure around her neck, and he felt her getting tighter around him.

"Fucking you on my desk until you couldn't speak was all I wanted when you wouldn't shut up," he said, punctuating his last words with some particularly hard thrusts.

"Michael," she moaned, almost begged, and his name on her voice could've made him come alone. It could easily turn into one of his favourite sounds, and he could get used to hearing it all day long.

Well, he had fulfilled his goal — she was nothing but a moaning mess under him right now. She couldn’t form a sentence even if she wanted to, her brain simply wasn’t working. The only word that came out of her lips in-between moans and sighs at that moment, the only word she knew, was “Michael”, chanting his name like a prayer as if he was a god meant for her to praise.

He admired her as she threw her head back in complete bliss, her eyes clenched tightly and her mouth agape as the pleasure overtook her. Her hands were gripping the edges of his mahogany desk so firmly that her knuckles were turning white. No one could say this was the mighty, feared Tatiana van Doren, cheeks red and flushed, out of breath and eyes out of focus, her breasts exposed, spread out on his desk while he impaled her with his cock, each time sending her over the edge and into oblivion. To him, she had never looked prettier.

Michael was completely enthralled by her, mesmerized by the way she moved, her face, her expressions, the way she grasped his cock and made him see stars. It was as if she’d cast a spell on him, making him feel like no one had ever done before. Now that he finally had had a taste of her and her ferocity, he couldn’t let her go anymore. He couldn’t even understand how he’d gone so long without her, but now he knew he definitely couldn’t keep on without her.

Who would have imagined all it’d take to tame a beast was another beast?

#giowritess #pacinorose #michael corleone #michael corleone smut #michael corleone fanfic #imagine #fanfiction #smut #writing #the godfather #michael corleone x oc #collaboration #kinktober #kinktober prompts #kinktober writing

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dancingthesambaa · 3 years

Text

The Smell of Plum Blossom Tea Ch 8

Summary: Just like a butterfly wing, a single act of kindness can change the course of the future, it certainly did for MK as a black-furred monkey put out a hand towards him

Rating: Teen and up

Chapter 8: One By One

It’s been over a few weeks since the whole Bull King invasion and things have been pretty peaceful. The city has slowly begun to rebuild itself and people have steadily begun to go back to their day to day lives.

If there's one thing he can appreciate about society is that they always will keep going even when everything around them has been destroyed.

Macaque's own workload has finally eased up, the hospital didn’t anticipate that many wounded in that short span and wasn’t able to gather the materials. So, he has gotten calls from both Yanyu and some of the higher ups in the field for his assistance.

“This has been a pain in the ass,” he grumbled as he sat down on the couch with his cup of tea. “I really shouldn’t have let them off so easily for the fuckton of work they put on me.” His was then twitched as he heard a familiar/strange set of feet dashing their way towards him.

“Dad!” He sees his son, who had his jacket tied around his waist and staff nowhere in sight, smiles widely as he leaps to him and gives him a big hug, “it’s been so long!”

“Hey kiddo,” he was taken momentarily off guard by the hug, but smiled down at him as he petted his hair. “How was work?”

“Oh I didn’t go, someone is taking care of that,” he happily stated as he still held on tight.

Macaque blinked for a moment before he gave a small chuckle, “oh, is that so, well I was about to read and relax, you want to join?”

“Can you read out loud?” He cheerfully asked as he got himself comfortable on the couch as he laid down.

“Of course.”

“Yay!”

So Macaque began to tell the story of a blind girl and how she stood strong in the face of adversity and ridicule. He was in the middle of the part where the girl denies the deity gift of giving her sight when he heard the door slam open wide.

“Stay away from my Dad!/Don't worry old man, we're here!” MK and Mei respectively shouted out as they both held staff and sword out to fight the battle ahead, only to falter as they took in the scene of Mac sitting quite comfortably on the couch, while another MK laid on his lap with a content smile. “Uhhhh.”

“Took you long enough,” he said with amusement, “I was almost about to send a clone out to you myself.”

“Huh?”

“What? You don’t think I can’t tell a clone apart from my son?” He smirked as he patted the clone ahead, the only response was cuddling closer to him.

“You know?!” MK yelled out as he walked forward, still a bit cautious after his encounters with the rest of his clones.

He only raised an eyebrow as he showed off his shadow clone.

“Oooh, yeah that makes sense.”

“How come he didn’t attack you!” Mei threw her hands up in frustration. “I mean, come on! I had to deal with Portay MK and you have Mr. Cuddle Bug?!”

“Attack, Pfft yeah that's what usually happens during the first duplicate trials,” he said as he laid his book down.

“I’m sorry what?” MK has put away the staff at this point as he tried to sit next to his Dad, only to forget that the space was currently occupied by another him. He stared down at the clone laying in his spot then the clone looked up at him and just turned around and faced away from him.

“No,” was all he said as the next moment the clone disappeared and there sat the real MK with a wide grin, “so what was that about the trials?”

The six eared monkey raised an eyebrow at his son's actions as Mei wheezed in the background, “well usually when someone is learning the clone technique most of the time the clones would try to attack the user to prove their authority or their sense of identity.”

“That is actually terrifying,” he deadpanned.

“I thought you already knew this?” He questioned his son, who suddenly blushed.

“Well I may have accidentally learned I can do this,” he scratched the back of his neck as he laid on his Dad's lap.

“And you decided to test it out despite not knowing the consequences,” he sighed as he examined his son hair which was now sporting some very uneven ends and patches, “you even messed up your hair cause of this, I thought I taught you to not mess with magic unless you have me or someone competent in the arts.”

“I know, I know, but I just wanted some sleep and quiet!” He moaned out as he let the furry hands caress the knots and tangles in his hair, “I didn’t think it would lead up to this.”

“That’s how they all start,” he snorted as he felt Mei sit on his other side and lay on his shoulder, “so why don’t you tell me how this all began and tell me a bit more about your training with Wukong. I haven’t heard back on how that’s been going.”

“Training with the Monkey King is amazing!” He lit up as he talked all about his sessions.

Macaque silently listened to his son ramble on about his training sessions with Wukong and boy did that still send him reeling.

He still can’t believe that this is happening, that in all of these strange currents of events, Wukong actually made his son his successor. He still doesn't know how to feel about that cause, on one hand, damn straight his child can lift the staff no one has ever been able to before, he is so proud that he accomplished the impossible that mere words still can’t explain it. But on the other hand, Wukong recklessly decided to choose his son to be his successor despite his many enemies, does that idiot not comprehend the target he just placed on his back.

‘I swear I have half the mind to go up there and knock him silly for his complete ignorance…though how everything goes after that is the only thing that’s stopping me,’ Mac internally thought. ‘Who knows how he would react if I show up unannounced…probably would be just the sequel of our last fight,’ he bitterly thought. He has long accepted that his former friend probably wanted nothing to do with him anymore if they ever saw each other again.

“And then he goes on about how one must never- are you even paying attention?!” MK's voice broke out of his thoughts.

“Yeah I am, you were just talking about how your swings are easily blockable.”

“They are not that bad,” he huffed.

“You swing too wide comet/You hit like it’s a baseball bat,” both demon and teenager said.

“Okay, I may have a small issue.”

“And that’s why you're training,” he said as he took his hands out of his hair when he began to yawn.

“Yeah I know,” he sleepily said as he closed his eyes.

‘At least he is enjoying himself,’ he then focused his attention on Mei, who was also dozing off and began to groom her hair as well.

“Is that the best you got flame brain,” Daiyu cackled out as she flew higher in the air and dodged the fireball, “I met imps who were stronger than that-shit!” She felt a sharp pain explode from her back.

“Don’t you dare think you can outmatch me, little bird!” Red Son cockily stated as he twisted one of her wings and the two began to a downward spiral. “I have fought monsters thrice the size of you and remained victorious!”

“Not today's string bean!” She squawked out as she flips on her back as the two were falling so that the fire demon could break her fall.

It was a tense stand off as neither side gave in even when they were free falling, it was only when they were ten feet away from the ground did he jump off her. He hoped that this would have worked and broken a few of her bones, but alas it didn’t as she caught herself just before and stopped herself.

“Tch,” he clicked his tongue in agitation as he went in for another strike for her wings, only to get batted off.

“Ha, ain’t fooling me again Flicker! Or maybe that candle on your head is finally reaching its end!” She went for his neck only to get buffed by his hand grabbing her beak.

“I’ll show you who's reaching their end once I burn you into a fiery crisp that not even your brethren would want to feast upon!” He tried to keep her in his hold as he lit up, but she managed to kick free of his grasp.

“Ha! I like to see you try! My shithead brothers and sisters would eat everything and I’m not even counting the chicks that just hatched!” She flew up high and prepared for a dive bomb.

“Let’s find out!” His entire body began to lit up in flames as his eyes bore into her.

“They seem to be having fun,” Bohai said as he lazily watched them.

“Two people who like the thrill of the battle going at it, of course, they like this shit,” Minsheng scoffed as they laid down, “at least they're not doing battles to the death anymore, that usually gets bloody way too fast.”

“And leaves me having to deal with their injured asses,” Macaque grumbled as he petted the infant monkey's head.

“Your friends,” the jellyfish pointed out.

“I was forced into this,” he stated.

“And we’re still here,” the rabbit demon grinned.

“Unfortunately.”

MK and Mei, on the other hand, still couldn’t believe their eyes as they continued to see the arrogant demon that was trying to kill them happily fighting. Well the fight part not really, but the happy thing was a bit out of left field. They had walked into the sounds of fighting and, while still being very cautious as they remembered Mac and Ahmed's last fight, quietly tried to investigate what was happening. So to see this scene was a little jarring once they realized that the two were simply sparring with each other.

“Huh, I have to say this is the quickest redemption arc I have ever seen,” Mei mused, “not even a month ago he was trying to kill us and now he is all buddy buddy with Dad and his friends.”

“To be fair, I think they mentioned him before,” MK said.

“Really?”

“Yeah,” the said monkey popped in, “I have. I actually have known him longer than the both of you. His family sometimes would stop by for some items from time to time.”

“Huh, well that’s honestly not that big of a shock,” Mei pouted as they watched Red Son finally pin the vulture demon down.

“I told you, you can’t beat me! For I am Red Son, prince to the esteemed Demon Bull King and the mighty Princess Iron Fan!” He maniacally laughed.

“You're a prince!” He was startled out of it when two voices reached over to him.

“Indeed I am! Who dares step forward and-,” he stops himself mid sentence when he sees noodle boy and biker girl familiar faces. His face drops, “oh it’s you two.”

“Like I knew DBK was your dad and all, but it never occurred to me that you would be a prince with, well you know,” Mei hummed out.

“With what?” He growled the last bit out.

“With you being a reckless, two-bit side character that likes to leap before they walk,” she bluntly said.

“I am no mere Side Character!” He bowled out as his hair flame intensified.

“Aren’t you though?”

“I’m not”

“But you can be, like how I can totally be one as well.”

“I am no mere side character,” he spat out, “I am the antagonist that stands against the hero path! I am the flame of destruction that threatens to consume all! I am the prince of the feared and mighty who takes pride in oneself and all that they do!”

“…okay but aren’t some villains side characters?” She couldn’t help it, she was having way too much fun at this point.

“I AM NOT A SIDE CHARACTER!”

“I feel like we have gotten meta somewhere,” MK muttered out and then walked forward before Mei could say anything that would trigger the raging flame demon anymore. “Hi! I know we didn’t really introduce ourselves after…that, but I’m MK and she's Mei.”

“…Red Son,” he eyed the smiling boy in front of him, “and I already knew who you are, your father talks much about the two of you.”

“Awwww, fluffy head does,” Mei cooed as she turned to face Macaque, who was resolutely not looking in their direction.

“Wait, if you knew who we were, why did you attack?” The Monkie Kid couldn’t help but ask.

Surprising the both of them, the prince blushed a bit out of embarrassment as he muttered out, “I didn’t know it was the two of you in the first place.”

“How?!” Mei sputtered out. “Like we were probably screaming each other's names so many times?!”

“No! You peasants were just screaming! Nothing short of a name has ever come up in the middle of it all!”

“Wait-so that’s why you called me Noodle boy?”

“Noodle boy?” She snorted.

“Your biker girl,” he hissed out.

“Biker girl…hmm not that bad actually,” she put her hand under her chin, “though did you seriously just come up with that because of what we were doing?”

“Yes,” the demon unashamedly said.

Both humans looked at one another before they both laughed wildly.

“Hahaha! Holy shit, you are such a dork,” the dragon girl clutched her stomach.

“By the Gods, that is kinda adorable,” the monkey's successor was pounding his fist on the ground.

“I am neither a dork nor adorable!” The Bull prince roared out as he marched over to them in fury. “Take that back!”

“NEVER!”

“And thus the start of a beautiful friendship,” Macaque couldn’t help but say as the demon began to chase the two around.

“Yeah, I worked my back off for it,” Daiyu grumbled as she finally got off the ground from where Red Son was pinning her down. “That whole time I just wanted to throttle him at them just so I could feel my wings again.”

“Don’t worry, your wings have some use finally,” Minsheng couldn’t help but say.

Daiyu promptly smacked her wings against their head.

“What do you mean disappeared?” Mei asked MK when he rushed inside their super secret base.

“All I know is that they were shopping and now I can’t contact nor find either one of them!” MK freaked out as he gripped his staff. “What if they're in trouble?”

“Take a deep breath MK,” Sandy rubbed the human back, “we don’t know that, their phones could simply be out of batteries or they got lost talking to each other.”

“Even though they’ll never admit it,” he said.

“Exactly, but the shop isn’t open!”

That drew out sharp gasps as now they began to panic.

“He has never not opened his store before!” Sandy shouted as he gripped his hair.

“I think he’s been kidnapped!” MK screamed in agreement.

“I immediately fear the worst!”

Mei rushed over to one of the screens and began to type in a few things and up on the screen appeared both people talking to a lady.

“They haven’t been carted away to treacherous territories,” the giant sighed in relief.

“Oh thank god they're still shopping,” MK sagged in relief as he saw this, “wait Mei what is this?”

“I had cameras placed on all of you and you said this was creepy,” she has already lost her brother once, that was not about to happen again.

“That still is.”

“Oh look now they're following that nice lady, see they're just fine,” Sandy inputted as they watched the two slowly follow the woman shrouded in black when suddenly there was a trap that opened underneath them, “AH! I was wrong! I was wrong! This is bad! This is very bad!”

“Nightmare hole!” The twenty year old screamed out as Mei's eyes widened in shock, “what happened?”

“It looks like?” She began to enhance and zoom into the blurred picture and when it became clear it showed an eight legged spider lady standing above them all.

“A spider demon! Come on! No! Ew! Yuck! I do not want to mess with spiders of any kind! I hate spiders! Hate, hate, hate spiders! With their beady eyes and their creepy wiggly legs and their gross butt!”

“MK, right now that spider demon has our friends so you know what that means,” Sandy pumped them up. “It’s Operation save Pigsy and Tang from the Nightmare Hole!”

“Yeah!” Both teens pumped their fists in the air along with the cat.

“Should we call Macaque for backup,” Sandy asked as he started up the engine.

“Nope!” MK quickly said before Mei could, “we can do this on our own!”

MK slowly began to back away as the Spider demon loomed over him menacingly. She had managed to capture Sandy and Mei as well and only he was the last one standing. “I regret everything I said.”

“Aww, don’t tell me you're scared of spiders!” She said as she stepped into the light then that faint tickling in the back of his head finally eased up at the full reveal.

“Wait? I know you!” His jaw dropped as he saw just exactly who was standing in front of him.

“What?” They all shouted even Spider Queen who was stunned out of sheer confusion.

“No wonder you look familiar! Daiyu talks about you all the time,” MK stated as he lost some of his fear at the relief of finally knowing why she seemed so familiar.

Though as his fear was momentarily suppressed the Spider Queen was not as she blanched at the name, “you know Daiyu!”

“Oh yeah, she has a bone to pick with you after you ripped her off, she said something about wanting to pluck the meat off of your corpse after she gets done beating you to a pulp or something like that.”

“I am now concerned by that statement,” Pigsy said.

“Oh don’t worry, she’s a vulture demon,” Mei happily responded.

“That does not make it better.”

“Does for me sweetheart,” Tang smiled, “it makes sense for a vulture to go for a corpse because they are cartoons. It’s actually quite fascinating-,”

“Tang I love you, but please don’t say that as we’re currently being tied up like a lamb ready for the slaughter,” Pigsy begged.

“…what?”

The pig and human eyes widened at what both said, but luckily they didn’t have to say anything as the Spider Queen roared in rage.

“I may be a slicker, but I ain’t no sham when it comes to my silk! Tell that chicken legged, deep fried coward that I will personally send her down under if she even instigates that I would do that!” She roared in rage as she stood tall in MK, who promptly got scared once more as he realized what he just said.

“MK run!” Pigsy yelled out.

“Don’t need to tell me twice!” MK slid between the Spider Queen legs and he began to book it.

“Get back here little monkey boy!”

“I feel like I should tell Daiyu where Spider Queen has been hiding,” MK mused as they floated along the ocean.

“As long as I’m there, I really want to see her explode in fury before the bloodbath happens,” Mei snorted as she laid across the top.

“You know, I sometimes worry about you,” Pigsy looked at the young lady at that statement.

“Fuzz butt says that too.”

“Shouldn’t you listen to your doctor?”

“Shouldn’t you listen to what you said back at the cave, don’t you think just because we were tied up doesn’t mean I don’t have ears,” she teased as Sandy nodded.

“Wait, what happened?” MK looked at both of them in confusion.

Sandy leaned over and whispered what happened and the boy's eyes widened and sparkled with glee. “Ohohoho!”

“It was the slip of a tongue,” Tang said as he pushed up his glasses in nervousness. “Nothing more.”

“Yeah, what he said, just a slip of the tongue,” Pigsy twisted his hands.

“Some slip, some would say that it almost sounded like,” the twenty year old girl leaned in with a mischievous glint in her eyes, “an old married couple would say to one another.”

“WE ARE NOT A COUPLE!” They both shouted and they shared glances at each other only to catch a view of their red faces and promptly turn to face away from them.

“If you say so,” she backed off with her hands up.

“And we say so,” the pig crossed his arms.

“Very much so,” Tang copied.

Both Sandy and MK were in the background holding back their laughs as they could barely keep it together.

MK woke up to the shake of an earthquake and his whole world feeling off balance.

At first, he wrote this off as the aftermath of the earthquake as he quickly got ready for work as he prayed Pigsy doesn’t fire him. But as he walked down the street with his drink in hand he still couldn't help, but felt his whole world was just off balance, like everything was just missing a beat or so, it was the weirdest feeling.

“Maybe I just banged my head too hard, should probably ask Dad to check in case,” he muttered in his straw as he was about to yell out when he saw Mei standing in the middle of the road. “Mei, I’m glad you’re here!”

“Yes I am right here,” she grinned widely, “and what’s this about calling your Dad?”

“I don’t know if I have a concussion or something else, but something seems really off and I can’t put my finger on what,” he groaned.

“It’s nothing, just relax. Today is all about you.”

“Aren’t you usually the one who usually tells me to call him if things are getting too sticky to handle?” MK questioned as that off balance feeling was coming in full force.

“I am?” He could almost see her face contort for a brief moment before going back to her previous creepy grin, “I mean I am! But he’s probably busy doing stuff sweetie.”

“Sweetie,” he looked at her in pure disgust.

“I mean dear friend,” he never thought someone could grin that wide.

“Even when he’s in the middle of making medicine he always answers,” at this point he has begun to back up from Mei. He did not like just how off this whole thing was and it wasn’t helping that the crowd was just watching them.

“Don’t worry,” she ominously said, “I’m sure…”

“Macaque,” he supplied as he quickly got into position to bolt out of there as soon as he had the chance. This was definitely not Mei!

“Right Macaque will be just-!” Not just Mei, but the entire crowd of people's heads snapped towards MK.

“Did you just say Macaque!” They all yelled out.

“Yeah?!?” He was now more than freaking out as he looked for possible exits, he was not about to stay here a moment longer if he could. But then his whole world began to fade away as he saw the people just shake their heads and arms as they seem to glitch out.

“Nope, nuh uh, F this! Plan is officially done! Do not collect after Go! Finish!” He blinked his eyes as he saw that he was now in a shack and standing in front of him was a blue and orange demon. The blue one was just holding a jar of some kind, while the orange one was speaking.

“Done! Capital D.O.N.E! Done!”

“I think he gets it Jin,” the blue demon said.

“Well excuse me for being freaked out about this! Why aren’t you freaking out about this?!”

“Oh I am, one moment,” he said as he carefully put down the jar, “there we go….We freaking messed up so bad!” The demon began to panic, “like this is going to the top thirty bad.”

“Fucckkk!” Jin said as he gripped his hair.

“What is going on?!” MK yelled out his frustration as he collected the staff and kept a tight grip on it. “Who are you?!”

The two demons paused their freak out as they both dramatically posed.

“I am Jin!” The orange demon jumped up.

“And I am Yin!” The blue demon bowed low.

“And together,” they both said in sync as Jin landed on top of Yin back, “we are the Gold/Silver and Silver/Gold demons!”

There was a silence as both parties looked at each other before both brothers then began to fight over the name.

“It’s Gold and Silver nitwit!”

“No, it's Silver and Gold half bake!”

“Seriously, what is going on and why am I here?” He reiterated his point as that got the two to stop fighting.

“We heard about the great Monkie kid and knew he would be a worthy adversary,” Yin stated as he crossed his arms.

“Yes, so after our cunning plan we called out to you and you foolishly,” they both pointed to him, “answered.”

“…I was delivering noodles of course I was gonna answer,” his eyes twitched at the sheer ridiculousness of this.

“But you still answered and fell right into our plan to use you for our nefarious purposes!” Gin dramatically laughed.

“Until we knew that you were the Six Eared Macaque kid,” Yin added.

“Yeah before that,” he stopped his laughter, “we know we’re certifiably insane, but we ain’t stupid.”

“Yeah, we know better than to try to mess with what’s Macaque, I heard the last demon who tried that was tormented by him for a hundred days,” the blue demon shivered.

“I heard he once pulled the inside out of another demon just because he was having a bad day.”

“Well I heard he took on and defeated an entire army so that he could pass by.”

“I heard that he can suck some demon body and soul into a cursed item and make them fight for him.”

“Oh that one’s true,” MK butted in as at this point he sat down as he realized that they were not even a threat, just very amusing.

Both of them shivered as they looked at him in horror, “wait really!?”

“Yep!”

“Check that rumor off as being real,” Jin groaned as Yin held out a rather large book.

“Already on it.”

“What’s that?” MK asked.

“Oh it’s just a book with basically any rumors we happen to come across,” Yin proudly showed off, “most of them are probably not true, but it is amusing to hear. Like this one, it’s rumored that the Demon Bull King lost his horn after he insulted a deity and it broke off from sheer embarrassment after she had slapped him silly for a couple of hours.”

“Snrk!” He let out a sputter at the sheer ridiculousness.

“The Celestial Heavens is actually a conspiracy used to hide the good alcohol, cause if that shit was freely given the whole world would be gone.”

“Pffffft!”

“That we are actually all standing on a hand right now, but we just can’t see it.”

“Hahahaha!” MK let it out as he clutched his stomach. “These sound so stupid!”

“I know right!” Jin grinned, “that’s why we record them, cause they sound just so dumb!”

“They really do,” the Monkie kid said as he got his laughter back in control and sat back up, “so you're not gonna try to capture me again?”

“Like we said before, Monkey King is one thing, but we ain’t messing with Macaque. If you think Monkey King has a grudge, you should see that trickster when he really has time to think and plan on revenge,” the orange demon said.

“Ain’t nobody gonna get in his way,” the blue demon finished.

“Good!” He should probably ask about all his Dad’s revenge stories sometimes, he knows they would be good ones then a thought occurred to him as he scrunched up his nose. “So, why did you have Mei call me sweetie?”

“Ask Jin,” he pointed to his brother.

“Well, I thought since you guys are childhood friends and all you have feelings for one another, you know, like in the books and all that,” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Crush?! On Mei?! Grosss!” He yelled out as he can almost feel himself puke at the thought, “Yuck! No! God no! She is basically my sister!”

“I told ya.”

“You didn’t tell me shit.”

“Don’t fucking cuss around kids,” Yin hissed out.

“Well you should shut your damn trap!” Jin snarled back.

“Least threatening villains ever,” MK muttered to himself, “Wait? Did you seriously try to invoke the childhood friends trope? Like in romance novels?”

“Yeah!” Jin proudly stated.

“You read romance books?”

“You don’t? They are the best kinds of books with all the drama that surrounds them, the clashing of emotions, the tightly packed metaphors that can be placed in one paragraph to describe someone’s eyes. It's simply awesome! Have you read them?”

“Not really,” he admitted.

“I can give you some recommendations! Then we can-”

“Nope,” Yin drew his brother back, “we are not about to have a repeat of last time. Remember how you burned down the bookstore?”

“They deserve it for saying Ballad of the Desert was overrated,” he growled out.

“True, but we were supposed to be on the down low after nicking off with some bastard goods, I did not like having to run around with the gang on our asses, so we are leaving,” he deadpanned.

“Fineee!” He groaned out as the two suddenly stood upright and raised their hands. “We will meet again one day, Monkie Kid!” Then they threw down what was in their hands and a plume of smoke appeared in their spots.

“Bleh,” he waved the air around him as he heard a laugh and turned around to see them in the street.

“Hahaha! We’re the greatest tricksters!” Gin said with his arms crossed once more.

“Ever! Also please don’t tell Macaque about us trying to capture you! Thank you, bye!” Yin finished as the two disappeared in a flash of smoke for the final time.

MK could only stare at the empty space in pure shock as he tried to process just what happened.

“…I’m just gonna go back to the shop,” he gave up as he begrudgingly walked back to his car.

#lego monkie kid #monkie kid #mk #macaque #six eared macaque #mei #monkey king #PlumTeaAU

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rosiegeee · 4 years

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Best MLP Couples

This is heavily biased and will only include canon couples from the tv show, not the comics or Equestria Girls, or parents of main characters, they will get there own list. Also almost none of these couples are bad despite what I rank them and truthfully half of these tied for first.

#10: Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis

I see nothing truly wrong with these two ponies, the reason they are so low is Fancy Pants doesn’t really acknowledge his special somepony/wife. Making me feel that this relationship might not be 100% the heathiest, however they have such a limited appearance that I could be wrong and they might be in a mutually loving relationship.

#9: Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich

I think they’re fine, and there child Li'l Cheese is adorable, however before the final I never got romantic vibes off of these two, just friendship, but they seem happily married now so they’re ok in my books.

#8: Clear Sky and Quibble Pants

They are so cute, and I loved this episode for taking on the hard topic of divorce (or maybe parental death in which Applejack’s parents were the first, but I personally think it was divorce.), your parent finding someone new, and that someone new trying to bond with the kid. We don’t see to much of these two as a couple this episode as its more about the future step daughter and her relationship with Quibble Pants, but the part we do see they so clearly care about each other and make each other happy and he thinks she’s the best mare in the world(and he’s met Daring Do.)

#7: Maud Pie and Mudbriar

Just like Pinkie, I didn’t like Mudbriar at first, I didn’t think Maud needed a boyfriend, but he grew on me and he clearly loves Maud and they make each other whole in a way I didn’t know was needed. (That and the innuendos in later episodes, that was unexpected and it made me laugh.)

#6: Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty

When I first heard in the non-canon novel that Scootaloo stays with her aunts, and that the aunts may not be sisters I was over joyed, but I never thought it would go any further, than they appeared in the comics, and than in an episode dedicated to finally showing viewers Scootaloo’s living situation we met the two parental couples in her live, her horrible parents and her amazing gay aunts. These two don’t get much screen time, but there love is seem when they joke with each other and at the end when they are supporting each other and are hoof-in-hoof, I love them and my Gay heart wants to put them on top but there are more who deserve that spot.

#5: Mr. Carrot Cake and Mrs. Chiffon Cake

We don’t see much of these two doing romantic things, but that’s because they are almost always seen lovingly raising there geneticly impossible kids together. They are always seen by the others side and they always seem to know what the other is thinking. The reason they aren’t on the parents list is because Pumpkin and Pound aren’t main character, in fact they have no lines.

#4: Lyra Heartstrings and Sweetie Drops (BonBon)

MY BISEXUAL HEART!!! When they were given a truly proper introduction in Slice of Life I found that best friend didn’t fit what they were saying, they acted as a married couple, and as the show continued that was what they would become. They went from often being seen together, to the slice of life, to always being seen each other, to there dream selves being physically connected, to unmistakably being on several dates, to there engagement, to the little wedding photo, and than in the final being an old lesbian couple. They are the second of two confirmed LGBT couples on the main show and I wish they could be higher.

#3: Cranky Doodle Donkey and Matilda

You couldn’t watch A Friend in Deed or Slice of Life without routing for these two loving Donkeys in the end. HE SPENT HALF HIS LIFE TRAVELING THE WORLD LOOKING FOR HER AND SHE WAS STILL SINGLE PRACTICALLY WAITING FOR HIM AND SLICE OF LIFE IS JUST SO GOOD!!!!!!

#2: Big McIntosh and Sugar Belle

I used to ship Big Mac with Cheerilee, so when Sugar Belle turned into a love interest for Mac I was upset, but as there relationship continued, and Mac started opening up in ways only Drag had done before, I realized how sweet these two are together and there love is apparent from the very beginning, there future son Big Sugar is almost as cute as Li’l Cheese. There is only one other couple that outshines these two and if you haven’t guessed yet you haven’t watched My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

#1: Princess Cadance and Shining Armor

There love has saved the world at least three times, once from the Changlings, a second time when Cadance collapsed it was Shining Armor’s love that gave her the strength to redo her shield spell, giving Twilight more time(He than later flung her at the crystal heart but that’s less love and more teamwork.) And than there love made Fluffy Heart and she also saved the Crystal Empire. There love for each other shone through even when they weren’t in scenes together and my favourite moment of them is when they supported each other as Cadance tried to keep the Crystal Empire safe from Sombra.

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treatian · 3 years

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The Chronicles of the Dark One: Magical Loopholes

Chapter 74: Rats and Crickets

When he left the shop, the first thing he did was round the corner and then disappeared. He took himself into the library, up into the clocktower, where he found the minute hand and checked to ensure his dagger was still firmly attached. It was. That was good. It meant that the pirate hadn't targeted this dagger, only the shawl. Though, now that he thought about it, that was scary in its own way. For a pirate to take a simple shawl when jewels and gold and other treasures so clearly priceless were within reach suggested that Hook wasn't looking to make a fast buck. He was seeking to hurt him but not to kill him. Hook wanted to deeply wound him right down to his soul. Suffering was going to be the name of the game. How he'd found out about his experiments and figured out that he needed the shawl…that was beyond his knowledge, but only for the time being.

As he stretched his senses out over the library, he felt no other presence there, not until he felt the familiar presence of Belle coming back. That was relieving. It meant that she was alone, Hook had not returned to the library, and he hoped it would stay that way. He trusted that if Belle had returned, she'd remembered to lock the door, though he knew that a locked door wouldn't be enough to keep Hook out if he wanted to come back. He already had the shawl; it would be all too easy for him to go after Belle again, to truly destroy every last drop of happiness in his life out of revenge the way he'd destroyed Milah in anger.

He didn't want to waste time, not with Belle on her own, not with Bae's shawl in the balance. At the moment, Hook was the only one with more information on him than Belle. Anything Milah knew about him was something he had to assume Hook knew. Hell, anything his father knew about him, he had to assume Hook knew. There was a reason he'd taken that shawl, and so there was a reason he had to take it back before it was too late. He needed to find Hook. Now. And he knew exactly where he was going to look first.

Ordinarily, for the task of tracking down an individual, he would have called Dove. But as of last night, that was entirely unnecessary when it came to William Smee. His own magic was invested into the potion he'd poured over that hat of his, and if there was one thing in this world he knew how to find right now, it was his own damn magic. It was like a beacon, calling out to him even from across town. Or down the street…

Idiot.

He wasn't even trying to hide, and yet the bag and the speed at which he was walking and his shifty little eyes darted around suggested that he knew that he'd be looking for him. He was wearing his hat, the one capable of crossing the town line. He probably thought he'd be safe there. Not a chance.

He used his magic to take him across the street just as Smee rounded the corner of the Rabbit's Hole. When he felt his magic draw closer, he threw his hand up and tossed a wave of it back at him, sealing around his throat so that it was difficult to breathe.

"Leaving town, Mr. Smee?" He turned and saw his magic force Smee against the brick wall as he struggled, the bag swinging by his side as he sneered at him. "I spared your life. And this is how you repay me? That object you stole from me – I want it back."

"I gave it to Hook!"

Hook. Funny how Hook was suddenly in Storybrooke.

"And where is he?"

"I don't know," he choked out, putting his hand uselessly to his throat. "W-we met on a rooftop. He didn't tell me anything."

Naturally. He knew nothing. He was just a man for hire. He'd hired him to get the bean and failed. Moe had hired him to hurt Belle. Hook had probably hired him to fetch that shawl while he'd distracted Belle. He could respect a man who earned a living doing tasks of questionable legality. He could not respect a man who didn't have loyalty to him in performing those tasks. Three strikes…

"And why would he? Hook knows exactly what you are, Mr. Smee – a sniveling rat."

He channeled his magic into his hands, gathered it there as he summoned up a wonderful image in his head of Smee becoming exactly what he was. With a turn of his hand, he released his magic, and in a puff of black smoke, Mr. Smee was no more. He melted away, clothes and all except for one item so touched by magic that it alone was the sole survivor of his spell.

Smee's red hat lay on the ground. Beneath it was a small, slight movement. With a sweep of his cane, he moved the hat aside to reveal a clean black rat, looking up at him with fear as his nose twitched. Perfect.

"Now, scurry off," he commanded of the rat. It circled around the hat once, as if convinced it might be able to drag it away with him, but on second thought, he abandoned it and hurried away from the scene.

Smee was useless. He thought to use his magic to track him down, but his memories of how he'd been unable to find Hook in the store before were fresh in his mind. Where he'd been all these years, why he was making an emergence now, where he'd gotten magic…there were many unknowns in all of this. So, he turned not to magic but rather the one thing that he knew. The sea. That was the one constant in Hook's life. He'd always been a Captain, always been a pirate. He couldn't be sure what their conversation had included before she'd called him earlier, but even Belle had known he'd been a pirate. When a person was scared or hiding, they looked for something familiar, something they knew. In this world, that was called "home-field advantage." For Hook, that meant returning to the sea or his ship. Whatever it may be.

He had experience with most ships in Storybrooke harbor. Hell, he owned most of them! And he made it his business to know his property intimately even if he never physically stepped foot on board. There were many familiar vessels in Storybrooke harbor. One by one, he walked the docks, glancing at each ship, letting Mr. Gold do what he'd always done.

The Elizabeth a crabbing vessel in the property of one Will Turner.

Voyager, a yacht owned by a young girl named Morgan who had hopes of sailing around the world before she reached eighteen; that was a rough dream to have in Cursed Storybrooke.

Louis' Bayou a large craft that hosted dinner on the weekends with a jazz band as it sailed the harbor-tourist attraction.

Milo Thatch, The Dream, Tantor, The Ark, Kwango Kate…it was useless! He made it to the empty last dock and was almost thankful there was nothing to see. Every ship he recognized, every one of them had a story that he knew, and Mr. Gold knew that none of them belonged to a pirate or even a one-handed sailor! Coming had been a waste of time.

He had to get back to the shop. He had that pirate's hand stowed away in a backroom somewhere. He hated to bring it out and use it on this, but if he'd once used a potion he intended to use on the Blue Fairy prematurely for Baelfire, then he was sure as hell going to use that hand to get his son back and ensure Belle's safety! In fact, whatever magic the pirate was using to hide himself, there was a chance that the hand would be immune to it because it was part of the pirate himself. And if it didn't work? Then he was back to using the old-fashioned methods, scrying or a locator potion, maybe something new to take him to the shawl. Maybe he could-

"Mr. Gold!"

He kept walking. Kept his eyes straight in front of him, unwilling to let one of his tenants, who he was sure just wanted to negotiate a new loan or perhaps get a lower interest rate, stop him. Gold's work could fucking wait until he had his son.

"Mr. Gold!"

But something about the voice shouting after him had him pausing on the dock. It had him stopping to furrow his brow in confusion because he knew that voice. It was familiar to him, but…it was impossible. Dr. Hopper was dead.

"Rumpelstiltskin!"

The shouting of his name finally forced him to turn and what he saw…he couldn't have prepared for. He'd seen many things in his life, many that didn't make sense, but this…this defied reason.

"Dr. Hopper…" he breathed as the red-headed doctor struggled to catch up with him. Obviously out of shape, he was pale save for red exertion in his cheeks.

"Mr. Gold," he finally huffed out, coming to stand before him, letting out a sigh of relief as he hunched himself over at the waist and supported his weight on his knees. This wasn't possible. Not by any means, and yet he felt no magic on the man suggesting it was a trick of Regina's or glamor of any kind.

"You're alive?!" he balked, trying to wrap his mind around it. It wasn't just that Belle had gone to the funeral; he'd seen the man die. He'd seen the memories Emma had brought forth from the dog, unaltered by him. Emma could have altered them herself, but…she'd been under the impression it was a frame job; she'd been supporting Regina and shocked by what she'd seen. To have conjured something she didn't want was…well, it was nearly as impossible as the dead coming back to life and yet…

"It was a trick," Archie huffed out. "A setup!"

"Regina-"

"Not Regina…another woman, older, dark hair, maybe his mother…" he explained, finally standing up as tall as he could while still gasping for air. He was in bad shape, which was odd because he knew the cricket wasn't. He walked Pongo twice a day; he was healthy. It could only mean he'd been contained for so long. "She's working for Hook! They were keeping me tied up on his ship to frame Regina! Belle found me. Set me free-"

"Belle?"

He didn't understand half of what Archie was saying, but all at once, he knew the danger of what his clues pointed to. Belle. Hook's ship. Mysterious woman. A dangerous situation indeed. His stomach clenched. Belle on Hook's ship…considering what became of Milah when she'd gotten onto Hook's ship…

"She sent me for help."

"Belle set you free?" he clarified, hoping against every logical thought he had that he'd misunderstood. "Belle was on Hook's ship?"

"Yes! That's what I'm trying to tell you!"

He'd barely gotten the last word out before he reached forward and grabbed the man by the collar. Damn wherever he'd been or what had happened to him, he had to get to Belle!

"Where is she?! Where is Belle?!"

"She stayed behind!" he cried. "I tried to get her to come with me, but she stayed! She sent me for help, to find you. I don't know why she stayed. I don't know!"

He did. He knew why she'd stayed behind.

The shawl.

That woman! She'd tried to get it back. How she'd done it, how she'd figured out where Hook was before he did was a mystery to him, but it didn't matter now. She'd longed to be a hero for him, for Baelfire, for herself, and now she was going to get herself killed over it because she hadn't a clue what she'd walked into.

"Where is she, Dr. Hopper?!" he stressed, trying to calm the man through any means necessary.

"On the ship. She wanted me to find you and take you to her, to bring you to the boat."

"Where is it?"

"It's…" Hopper turned so fast that he had no choice but to release him or trip. He observed as the man looked down the dock, then left then right, and by the time he looked down the empty dock again, he felt a knot in his stomach. Something was wrong.

"It was there a minute ago!"

"Where?" he demanded.

"I don't understand. It was just there?!

"Where?!" He questioned, hoisting his cane into the air as if it were a club. No more "there's"! If he was to help Belle, he had to know "where"!

"The end of that dock!" Hopper screamed and cried against the intimidation. He pointed in the direction of the empty dock. "I've been free for no more than a minute or two; he couldn't just disappear. It's like…like…"

"Magic," he finished for him, staring at the empty space.

#Rumbelle #Rumple #Rumpelstiltskin #Dark One #Mr. Gold #Belle #Dr Archie Hopper #Jiminy Cricket #Captain Hook #Killian Jones #William Smee #ouat #ouat fanfiction #fanfic

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badboys-imagines · 4 years

Text

My neighbor (Henry Cavill)

PART III

A/N : I’d love to know what you think about this story so don’t hesitate to leave a comment ! Thanks for reading ♥.

Pairing : Henry Cavill x Reader

Summary : You move into the house of your dreams. It all seems like a fairytale, until you meet your neighbor, Mr. Cavill...

PART I | PART II | PART III

Martha Lawson had always been curious, maybe too curious.

As you took the last luggage out of your car, you heard a high-pitched voice calling beside you. Ah, you would learn to hate that sound, but it’s another story.

“Hello dear,” Martha sang, ''I saw you moved in yesterday but you know how busy people can be, we didn’t get the chance to meet. I'm Martha by the way, I live across the street, the blue house.''

You looked up from closing the cars door and smiled, wiping the sweat from your forehead. Carrying all these stuffs would be the death of you, and you couldn’t count on Henry or your new desperate-housewife neighbor to help.

“Nice to meet you, Martha.'' you caught your breath, ‘'I'm Y/N.”

The woman smiled back at you, spreading tiny wrinkles around her eyes and cheeks. She was probably in her late fifties, but her surgeon had done a good job, it was undeniable.

“I saw you and Mr. Cavill didn’t really get along, how unfortunate.” Martha said, lowering her voice, ''Oh, I don't mean to overstep. It’s just... don't mind him. He's a bit grumpy these days, it will pass.”

It wasn't a myth then. Desperate housewives living were really the worse gossipers.

“Yeah, I noticed.” you chuckled, “Do you know why ?”

“Ah, probably work, or a woman. How would I know ?”

Martha wasn’t really listening or trying to answer the question. She bent forward, her eyes taking sight of the bandage around your wrist,

“Poor sweet thing, did he hurt you in any way ?’’ Her eyes widened in fear and she looked back at you, concerned.

Your mouth opened and you huffed,

“Oh-this, no ! I...” My hand went through his window, you thought, “It was an accident. I cut myself with broken glass and it was all my fault. Really.”

Martha nodded suspiciously,

“Well then, don't let this attractive devil bother you. If you need anything, you know where to find me.” She winked and pointed at her big house again.

You nodded, thanked her and she walked away. She climbed up the stairs and waved her hand at you before closing the door. At least, she was kind.

Martha had a point : Henry Cavill was attractive. But he was also a pain in the ass.

You had quickly recovered from your little rush of adrenalin and you were now tidying your room, getting rid of the empty boxes that were still on the floor while Henry was making calls to get his window fixed.

Thinking about him and how weird he was, you couldn't help but find your devilish neighbor even more mysterious. He’d really taken care of you earlier. There was even a moment when you thought he was actually cute.

A knock on the door woke you up from your slumber and you stood up. Enough thinking about Mr. Chaos. A little conversation with someone else would distract you from these thoughts.

You opened the door, a light, polite smile curving your lips, but it was Mr Cavill. Again. A fluttery feeling twisted your guts and your smile died faster than a candles flame. This time, he looked upset.

Henry stared at you for a moment longer, enough for you both to feel awkward.

"Hello, again." he chuckled without an ounce of joy, "Glad to see you're... doing better."

A frown came up your forehead and you blushed,

"Oh, yes, I am. Thanks. I mean... Sorry. »

Wait, no, you weren’t sorry for everything…

You were about to correct yourself, but Henry spoke first,

"Apologies accepted. Well, this is embarrassing..." he muttered, "Listen, you broke my window and…"

You cut him off straight, "I know, and I'll pay for it, alright ? I'm sorry, for that." you insisted on the last words, but saw him shake his head as he bit down onto his lower lip,

"The thing is, I can afford a bunch of new windows if it pleases me.” he hummed lowly as if he disapproved your attitude, ‘'The impact made a crack on the main bay window, and now the whole set of windows needs to be replaced."

"What ?" you choked feeling dizzy, "Oh god…"

You didn’t have enough money for this kind of repair. Your hands legs started shaking.

"Please, don’t swoon again.” Henry closed his eyes in frustration, “I’m won’t ask you to pay for the whole thing. But I do need a favor. It will be snowing tomorrow and the guys who were supposed to fix this mess can't come until next Monday."

Your jaw dropped. Next Monday ? He was going to freeze to death.

"Oh shit." you swore, “Ho-how could I help you ? Do you need anything to keep you warm ?" you heard yourself talking and spluttered, "I mean... Not in a way that... Well, you know."

Heart stuttering, you cleared your throat, hating yourself for being so clumsy at that very moment. You rubbed the back of your neck in embarrassment and silence fell between you. Henry’s eyes darkened to the point they almost looked grey in the daylight.

Was it lust in his gaze ?

After a moment, he shrugged, burying his hands into his pockets, "Just a room, would be nice."

“I didn't want it to sound... I didn’t mean anything... physical.” you sighed, avoiding his blue irises.

At first, you remained silent. There were plenty of hotels out there, good and cheap ones. He'd easily find a place to stay. But then your gaze settled on his and the sentence made its way to your brains.

"You want to stay here. At my house." you’d said it out loud, as if waiting for confirmation.

Even though he kept his voice calm and indifferent, Henry uncomfortably shifted on his feet, his usually cold, pale skin tinting with light shades of red,

"Precisely.” he took a step toward you, “I despise hotels, and since I don’t think you can pay for my broken windows, I thought it would be a fair deal." he plunged his gaze into yours and for a moment, you lost yourself into them, “If you meant to keep me warm without anything physical," he repeated your own words, "it shouldn’t be a problem to live like this for a week or two.”

A week or two ? That was a lot. You gulped audibly,

"Don't you have friends for this kind of emergencies ?" you asked, but the question hung in the air and seemed to bother him more than your rejection itself.

Of course, he didn't have any friends. He was Henry Cavill, the devil himself, for god's sake.

It took you a moment to realize what it would involve. Henry living with you, even for just a week, would be a terrible mess.

Oh, no, you couldn't do that.

Or could you ?

On the other side of the street, you noticed Martha Lawson was out. She’d stopped collecting her tomatoes to watch the scene intently. She was probably trying to hear your conversation from the distance.

Slowly, you took a few steps back.

"Listen, let’s try to find a solution. Just... Come inside, before Mrs. Lawson makes up a whole story about us."

Henry swiftly glanced behind him, as if perplexed and he walked in. You closed the door as he did, and you grew even more nervous. His scent invaded your lungs, intoxicating. It was surprising, how you hated and liked it at the same time. Your heart started pounding when you didn't want it to. Your body seemed to follow its own instincts and they weren’t good. As you turned around, you tried to shrug off these unwanted emotions. Absolutely certain you could control them, you finally locked eyes with Henry Cavill. As soon as his blue gaze pounced on yours, you lost it. You lost everything.

Crossing your arms, you tried to sound and appear indifferent, denying the physical attraction, the animal desire that slowly but surely invaded your mind,

"Alright. How... How would we proceed ? We don't get along, you don't like me, and in case you didn't notice, we are more likely to kill each other than to live together."

Eyes absentmindedly wandering around, Henry took a few steps across the living room. Observing, he seemed like he was about to throw another unpleasing comment at you, maybe about the house or its furnitures, but he didn't. Instead, he just turned around to face you,

"I never said I didn't like you." he corrected you, impossibly calmly.

You raised your eyebrows,

"You've been rude to me from the start. And you didn't even feel the need to apologize."

Once more, Henry shrugged. It was his turn to cross his arms against his torso, his attitude displaying the sassiest aspects of his personality in one posture.

"I don't have to. You disturbed me, I told you to stop, you violently punched my window and broke it…"

Oh, god damn you Cavill.

Blood rushing to your head, you were about to jump like a lion and dig your claws deep into the soft skin of his throat to rip his head off.

“Shut up,” you raised your voice, “I got it, we're... different. We have our own opinions on how to behave with other people." you uttered, trying to manage your anger as he played with your nerves, "But apologizing doesn't always mean you're wrong and the other person is right. It just means you value your relationship more than your ego."

Tilting his head, Henry narrowed his eyes and contemplated you,

"My bad," he rasped, "I didn't know we were in a relationship. I apologize, then.”

At his words, you couldn't help but blush instantly.

"That's not what I meant..." you stuttered, but he came closer, his face only a few inches away from yours.

"While you decide the words you wish to speak wisely, Miss Y/L/N, will you or will you not let me live here temporarily, until this damn window you broke gets fixed ?" he asked, the tone of his voice deep and commanding.

Gaze plunged into his, you tried to utter something like a no. Your lips moved as to form the word, but not a sound came out of your mouth. Your heart was racing as if a predator was threatening to bite you, and yet you were completely turned on by the feeling. It didn’t make any sense to you. And it didn't make any sense either that you just nodded at him, accepting his proposition.

"Fine, you can stay."

TAG LIST - OPEN

My Neighbor Tag list : @boiled-onionrings, @sheanaghgoldenheartblog,@allnewimaginecharliehunnam, @drewmcintyreinarefereeoutfit, @mc225g, @supernaturalvikingwhore

Tag list Henry / Geralt : @d14n4ol, @alwayshave-faith

Tag list * Geralt of Rivia : @emmalbg

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booksandwords · 3 years

Text

Vespertine by Leta Blake & Indra Vaughn

Read time: 3 Days Rating: 5/5

The quote: Your skin tastes of ocean and sin Your lips sink me like ships In a wave that holds on so strong It’s impossible to sail on — Nicholas 'Nicky' Blumfeld

Warnings: drug use, suicidal ideology (past), death, lots of biblical references, addiction

TL:DR. This is a brilliant book that I recommend to lovers of the genre it has some unique character moments and is just well written. Things to look out for if you decide to try reading this, drug use, suicidal ideology (past), death, lots of biblical references, addiction. Some are minor some are more common.

Here we go. I have never read anything quite like this in my life. I've read forbidden love, I've read addiction and I've read back in town. But I've never read them quite like this with religion, music and high stakes. It is worth saying this is a book that starts with a bang, in the first chapter there is major drug use (voluntary and coerced) to the point of overdose and holy speech running side by side. That is how the book continues with the colliding and melding of worlds sometimes with ease sometimes jarringly as is required. The burning question of Verspertine is what price love? What are you willing to pay for love?

I'm going to be honest and say this is a book with a fairly predictable endgame for those who have read the genre at least. The signposts start appearing and seeing where it is going is not difficult. But it's not about that it's about the characters and the journey. Nicholas Blumfeld is known to the world as Nico Blue, to his friends as Nicky. He is the guitarist and lyricist of the successful band Vespertine. After an overdose on tour, he has returned to his childhood home to get clean and find out who he is clean. His emotional tone throughout Vespertine is shown through song lyrics that appear sporadically. Between the ages of 9 and 17 Jazz and Nicky were inseparable, Nicky never knew why Jazz entered the seminary, never understood a lot of things it left him angry. That anger has fuelled his entire career. Jasper Hendricks, known to the Little Heights community as Father Henricks and Nicky as Jazz is a Priest with a sweet tooth. At seventeen he followed his calling and joined the seminary becoming the Priest in his childhood hometown. His pride and joy is Blue Oasis Center home for LGBTQ+ youth. When Nicky comes back Jazz is thrown, their confrontation is in a place it shouldn't be. Jazz starts questioning his path, his choices in life. His place on the path is shown by the appearance of the church. As characters I really like them I like their dedication to their truths, their paths. The characters are delightfully different for having come from the same place. The way they were written made me want to cry for both of them more than once. Their yearning, shown well with Nicky's flirting and Jazz's staring wasn't ended at the right place. They both knew they were playing with fire, they just couldn't stop. Their coming together each time it happens it tonally perfect, each time feels right and the right one is leading. From the sweet to the hard and desperate. Some of those scenes in other books would be absolute no-goes for me but here they just work.

The support cast is largely minimal but what there is used well. Miriam and Adrian, Nicky's parents, are his support but Adrian also has a bit to do with Jasper. Within Blue Oasis Center there is Lizzie. Lizzie is a trans girl who arrives in Little Heights the same day Nicky gets home, their stories are linked. Mrs Wells is employed and the Center but also taught Nicky and Jazz as children, like most of the others in the book she distrusts Nicky and just sees him as a no-good junkie. It's good to see someone like that in close, her reaction feels realistic. The church is represented well by Andrew and Father Thomas. Father Thomas is particularly interesting, he knows Jazz better than he knows himself. The only member of Vespertine we spend any time with is Ramona a badass rocker if I've ever read one, I cannot express my love for her. Her need to keep Nicky clean doesn't just come across as self-interest which feels important. All these characters just want Jazz and Nicky happy, though not necessarily together. Everyone knows that is impossible.

If I try to write a coherent review of this it will be obnoxiously long so we're going with dot points. Of things I really liked and appreciated because there was not much I didn't.

"Mom I need help." that is just a beautiful line and I almost cried despite its simplicity.

With or Without you in virtually any setting will wreck me. The way it was used in Vespertine was perfect. Acoustic and by people with way more emotional baggage then they can handle And my emotional reaction to that song will forever be blamed on Looking For Alibrandi.

Dizzy the cat and the chaotic humour she induces are fantastic. I did not expect to laugh so hard at the lines “She gives high fives?” “And delivers death to poor innocent bunnies. I’m considering whether or not she’s an agent of Satan.”. But yeah that's Dizzy. Oh and I love the side of Nicky she induces.

Nicky's tattoos are stunning representing his love even though he didn't know it. I was in awe of them in a way. No spoilers on those

There is as expected a lot of biblical and religious quotations and act for the priest but that in itself as an atheist is interesting.

Nicky and his religious journey. He was born Jewish, spent time in the Catholic church as a teen, considers himself atheist but might be something closer to agnostic.

I had to look up Rugelach for my own sanity. It originated in the Jewish communities of Poland and is a sweet pasty. I think I've eaten without knowing what it was called.

I probably should put it here. Nicky is exactly my type when it comes to fictional men. Slightly broken, tattooed and described as "a pretty little bad boy". Look I know my type and FYI Leta Blake writes broken well (I'm looking at you Joel).

I read on a kindle, a kindle that allows me to highlight and make notes as I read. It has been a long time since I made as many as I did for this. There are some brilliant lines about faith, love and life, just as they were in the other books I've read by Leta Blake.

I may be putting Leta Blake on my fave mm authors list I appreciate her focus on character and growth over smut. (sorry to Indira Vaughn who I will look up more books by soon)

#vespertine #leta blake #indra vaughn #book review #tw drug use #tw drug addiction #tw death #tw suicidal ideology #this review is far too long but making it shorter was never going to happen #i loved this far too much #ktreviews #read 2021

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paulagnewart · 4 years

Text

Song Sung Blue

🎶Funny thing, but you can sing it with a cry in your voice/And before you know, it get to feeling good/You simply got no choice/Song Sung Blue/Everybody Knows One/Song Sung Blue/Weeping like a Willow 🎶

Stormclouds swept low over the citizens of Knothole Village on this day 15 years ago, as the final story penned by prolific Sonic the Hedgehog writer Karl Bollers, was published.

From beginning his tenure colouring various one-shot issues and miniseries, to being among the four co-plotters of the infamous 'Endgame' saga, Bollers was swiftly elevated to head writer in 1996, starting issue 51.

Over the subsequent decade, he led the charge in the art of shaping Hedgehog history. From globe-spanning epics, resurrecting Sonic's numero-uno nemesis, to unveiling the lost origins of Mobius. He introduced forgotten elements from outlines past (Nate Morgan, the Super Emeralds), took other writers' characters and actually did interesting things with them (Geoffrey St. John, Elias Acorn, Fiona Fox, Robo-Robotnik) and created new heroes and villains so deeply engrained in the collective fandom conscience, that they remain as popular if not moreso today.

Even behind the scenes he brought changes, particularly with fan-turned-pro artist Jay Axer personally picked to join the book's roster. Mining talent from Sonic's fanbase had only been done once before, but now the floodgates were broken, and remains the industry standard today.

Under Karl's pen, the stories and characters were always evolving, perpetually moving forward as the battle escalated, simmered, and escalated once more. Some subtle and natural, others almost overnight. By the time One Year Later hit 80 issues later, the Acorn Kingdom had grown leaps and bounds, while the Freedom Fighters matured from children running guerilla warfare tactics against seemingly impossible odds, to specially trained young adults in the Knothole Special Forces Team. The future was bright, the sky was the limit, and even that was put to the test when our hero found himself literally Tossed in Space.

Until it all, sadly, came crashing down across 2004. By that point directions (and managements) underwent drastic changes. Egos reared their ugly heads, leading what should've been handled internally devolve into very public shouting matches, with fans caught in the crossfire. As the new year that was 2005 ultimately swept away the smoke, Bollers was gone, among what would be a growing list of casualties.

His sudden final contribution in issue 154 came not with an all-out bang, but a more personal tale. A surprisingly fitting inventory story, where Sonic goes full Kevin Costner to protect the now-superstar Mina, ensuring her song's sung blue from Robotnik's assassination attempts, be them on-stage snipers or bombs in the dressing room.

(As as aside, someone really should illustrate a parody of The Bodyguard, but with Sonic and Mina in Frank and Rachel's place. Hmm...)

Because it seems almost sacrilege not to mention this when talking about his tenure these days, no. I'm not even touching a certain panel from issue 134, except to say I find the whole thing bemusing. The book is gone. The characters aren't coming back. The scene was erased even before its cancellation. Yet fans still argue and commentate over it, even to this very day.

(As another aside, it would be interesting to see someone do a parody in the style of William Shatner's infamous "Get A Life!" skit from Saturday Night Live, but with Sonic fans demanding answers at a convention. Double-Hmm...)

For all maybe... six or so Sonic fans linked to this account who made it this far, I'm interested to hear your memories, if any, of Mr. Bollers. Are there any particular stories or characters you remember enjoying? Did some of his ideas help define your experience as a fan? Did they leave a sour taste? Or are any of his many, many unused storylines worth revisiting someday? As for the man himself, it feels only fitting to end with a quote from his Sonic HQ interview published way back in May 2003.

“Sonic carries a message of hope that many of todays comics have forgotten. It seems that in a lot of comics, the stories jst keep getting darker and darker from issue to issue, and the situations that the characters find themselves in just gets worse and worse. There’s never any light at the end of the tunnel to break up the gloom. Don’t get me wrong, Sonic isn’t all sunshine. Don’t let the blue spines and the red sneakers fool you. It has its fair share of tragedy, but we tend to balance that with humorous moments and a series of wins to equal the heroes losses.”

“I think younger readers, in particular, need to see both sides of the coin as they develop a view of the world around them without being talked down to. The world can be a pretty bad place, but amidst the badness there are happy moments that we can cherish with those we love. Even if they have two tails.”

#Karl Bollers #Sonic the Hedgehog #Archie Sonic #Sega #Comic Books #On This Day #Archie Comics #Sally Acorn #Mina Mongoose #Dr Robotnik #Retrospective #Neil Diamond

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khhunniewriting · 5 years

Text

The Others (14)

[ Mafia/Gang AU ]

“So it’s true...” Kylie smirked seeing you get out of Dok2′s car equally on edge as the day she was starring your pregnant form down. It had been many years but she knew it was you.

“What are you doing here?” Dok2 made sure to approach Kylie and keep her from getting closer to you. His plan to confront Kylie after he had gathered some sort of leverage against her was of no use now.

It was nearly impossible for her to get past the gate but she was still Dok2′s wife. Even if she openly disgraced him with the birth of her daughter there were still many perks to being the official wife. She had connections with the other wives of other groups, some of which were close friends of hers.

“I heard you had a guest.” Kylie’s heels allowed her to look over Dok2′s shoulder and meet eyes with you. “Hello Y/N.”

“Hello,” you greeted her showing composure and manner. You had no reason to be hostile towards her. Despite Joonkyung’s warnings, Kylie had shown you enough courtesy for you to do the same. The fact that you were once again in the wrong by associating with her husband also kept you from provoking her.

The gates opened a third time allowing Mr. Kwon to enter. Zene came out of the passenger's side to question why the driveway was so full. Usually, Mr. Kwon drove them up to the door allowing the young bosses to disembark before parking the vehicle in its proper spot.

Leo did not wait, he got out when he saw you standing off to the side while Joonkyung and an unknown woman talked.

“Mom what-”

“You must be Leo.” Kylie interrupted making her way around Dok2 to get a closer look of you two. Her fake smile dropped when she noted the stoic almost disinterested look on the teenager’s face. He was different from you who carried guilt. It would take more than words to put him in his place.

Ji-hoon was just as shocked to see his mother had made it past the gates when his father had taken her status away. She was only his wife in name, she held no power after Jia was born. She shouldn’t be allowed into Illionaire or any of his father’s personal properties.

“What are you doing here mother?”

“I came to see you of course.”

Ji-hoon didn’t buy it for a second and neither did Dok2.

“After you didn’t visit me last week I started to worry.”

Now that she mentioned it Ji-hoon realized he had skipped his last visit to his mother’s house. It was just before finding out Leo was his brother. He even ignored her calls.

“I was busy...”

Kylie smirked, “I see... she got to you too.” Her eyes shot daggers at you as she unleashed her true character. “Ji-hoon don’t be a fool! This woman and her bastard are here to take what’s rightfully yours.”

“Kylie!” Dok2 warned her but she was beyond verbal warnings. Kylie was determined to establish herself and Ji-hoon above you and Leo.

“She seduced your father knowing he was a married man!”

Your eyes widened at the accusation. Although it wasn’t true you felt incredibly ashamed having your son present. Perhaps you didn’t seduce Joonkyung but you did secretly harbor feelings for him and a desire to keep him for yourself.

“I never-” You were cut off as Kylie slapped you.

Leo made a move towards her but you held him back assuring him you were fine despite the reddening of your cheek.

Dok2, on the other hand, did not hold back. He pulled Kylie back, yanking her arm with no regard to the amount of strength he was using. “What do you think you are doing?!”

Kylie hissed but did not let up. “What I should have done long ago! I let her off last time thinking she would be smart enough to stay away but she hasn’t learned her place.” She tried to pull free from Dok2′s grip but he did not let go. “Even now you chose her over me. I am your wife!”

“Only on paper,” Joonkyung reminded her.

“Because you didn’t even give me a chance! You never thought of me as a woman, only a means to expand your territory.”

Ji-hoon was stunned, speechless at the sight of his mother’s outcry. None of this was new information yet he felt pained by how emotionally she confronted his father. Not once had he seen her like this.

“You used me to get Ambition!”

“I did,” Joonkyung callously admitted. “The same way you are using Ji-hoon to get Illionaire.” Had Ji-hoon never been aware of his origins this conversation would have caused him grief. However, he knew the truth. It was his policy to never hide things from his son. If he was to be the next leader he had to overcome pain and suffering.

“So you do remember our deal? If you dare to undermine me and give that bastard of yours any-”

“Who are you to say what I can and can’t do?”

“Your wife! And as your wife, I can get rid of them both with a single command.”

“Are you that willing to lose your daughter?”

“Joonkyung-” you gasped hearing his threat. Certainly, a part of you was touched knowing he would do anything to protect your son but it didn’t sit well that he was, in turn, threatening an innocent child.

“You-” Kylie held back at the threat of losing her daughter. She pulled herself free when his grip loosened calling the guards over. They had stood still at a distance unsure of what was going on and who it was that they should be looking out for.

Y/N was, by all means, the lady of the house in their eyes and by the boss’ command... but Kylie was his wife. She held rank over her.

Dok2 gave the command for them to escort Kylie off the property.

“Let go of me!” Kylie made a scene as she refused to be handled by the guards. Instead, she walked on her own getting into her vehicle and proceeding to drive off in a huff of rage.

Joonkyung called over the head of the property’s security unsatisfied with the events of today. “Why was she allowed entrance?”

“She’s the boss’ wife so-”

“She is never allowed back here again.”

“Yes Boss.”

“I will discuss this further at a later time.” Right now Joonkyung was worried about you and Ji-hoon who was being consoled by you.

Ji-hoon was at a loss, not sure how he should feel. Even if she did come here looking for trouble- she was his mom. He gave an apologetic look to you and Leo.

“Sorry about that-”

“There’s no need to apologize,” you assured. “You have done nothing but show me kindness and respect despite my position. You helped my Leo before you even knew who he was and I’ll always be thankful for that.”

You understood his conflictions.

You had many of your own.

In the time you had been living under the same roof you had talked with Ji-hoon a handful of times. Neither of you brought up his mother or changed the way you spoke to each other. Although you had been wanting to talk about this new arrangement with him it seemed better to leave it be.

Leo sighed releasing the pent up aggression from earlier. “Ji-hoon let’s go,” Leo knew the only way he would be able to let this go was if he did something about the way they were both feeling.

Shocked Ji-hoon gave you a quick nod before following his younger brother. “Where are we going?”

It made it all the easier for Joonkyung to give his attention to you. His hand going to your cheek where moments ago Kylie had stricken you.

“Are you okay?”

“As okay as I can be when I was just reminded of my place.” His treatment the last few days and his confession had moved you to the point where you were considering the same. “I love you too Joonkyung...”

Dok2 was speechless as he took in the sight of your trembling lips. There was something else you had to say and he had a feeling he wouldn’t like it.

“But I-” You went silent the moment his lips touched yours.

“Don’t say anything else.”

“But it’s important.” You wanted to get this suffocating feeling off your chest. “I need to tell you the truth.”

\\\

Leo took Ji-hoon out back to the basketball court. Zene and Ash followed behind them with the latter going to retrieve a basketball from the storage shed for them.

“What are we doing here?” Ji-hoon wasn’t in the mood for a game. He was far too depressed by the events of the evening.

Leo received the ball from Ash and passed it to Ji-hoon.

“Why do you suddenly want to play? Shouldn’t you be checking on your mom.”

“She’ll be fine.”

Ji-hoon sighed.

“I need to calm down,” Leo admitted. Even if he kept his composure there were a lot of things Leo wanted to say or do that he knew weren’t acceptable. “Your mother hit my mom. And if it weren’t for me none of this would have ever happened.”

“Leo I don’t think you are the-”

“I am.” Leo stole the ball from Ji-hoon’s hands and began dribbling it. “My mother told me she left when she found out she was pregnant with me.”

He ran off towards the basket and Ji-hoon followed watching as he took a shot from the free-throw line.

“That’s when it started.”

“What?”

“My mother’s suffering.” Leo knew all along that he was the root of your suffering. From the moment he was conceived there had been nothing but trouble for you. “She could have let me die but she fought to keep me alive. A few weeks before I was born she began coughing up blood. The doctors never knew what happened but there were toxins present in my mother’s blood that forced a miscarriage.”

Ji-hoon’s eyes widened.

“Thankfully I was well enough to be delivered that same day.”

Speechless the teenager contemplated what he could say when such heavy information was given to him. He would have never guessed Leo had such a harsh start in life.

Leo retrieved the ball as it bounced out of the court. He came back to Ji-hoon offering the ball for him to shoot but stopped when he saw tears begin to roll down his cheeks.

“Sh*t,” Ji-hoon cursed. “Guess both our lives are f*cked up.”

Leo shrugged, in general, if others knew his life story he guessed it would seem f*cked up, as Ji-hoon stated. But to him, life wasn’t so bad. He had you, a mother who loved and cared for him.

“Could be worse.”

Ji-hoon laughed wiping away the stray tears. “Why am I the only one like this?” That was one thing he admired about Leo, no matter the situation he was always cool. “Why is my little brother cooler than me?”

“Because sadly my older brother is a crybaby.”

Ji-hoon smiled, “Did you just call me your-”

“No.”

“Say it again.”

“No.”

“Pleaseeeeeee~”

\\\

“Moon Jia smile for Daddy.”

Jia only starred up at the man holding her bottle. His expectant stare having no effect on her.

“Boss-” one of his subordinates tried to cut in but was flat out ignored leaving him to carry the envelope that had just been delivered.

Seeing his boss being so engrossed in his paternal duties, Nochang took over. “I’ll take care of it,” he held his hand out asking the documents be given to him.

Giriboy walked into Swings' office only to see him cooing and rocking his infant daughter while Nochang sat on his desk. “I see the boss is busy again.”

Nochang nodded, “That woman suddenly came to leave her child here again.” No one at JM (Just Music) was particularly fond of Kylie. She was married to a rival boss yet came to their organization and gave orders as if she were their boss’ wife.

“Don’t let him hear you.”

“He’s too engrossed in the child.”

Giriboy could see that. “I still think we should get the DNA test.”

“The boss has five children, what’s one more?” Nochang didn’t care for his boss’s personal life. He was free to do as he wished. He only cared about the organization’s work. If he neglected his duties further then he would intervene. “Besides this one can’t be bought off like the other five women.”

Giriboy knew of the payouts the group had given to the previous five women who approached their boss. Each one had wished to become the lady of the group, to marry Swings to gain his wealth and power.

All of those women were average citizens. Kylie was the only one who came from their society. She was a dangerous woman who had managed to keep any other women from approaching him for the past fifteen years. She had successfully monopolized him now that she bore his daughter.

“What will we do if she gets out of hand?”

“I hope you two aren’t talking about me,” Kylie appeared as if out of nowhere but neither of Swings’ associates was startled.

They had made their thoughts heard before.

“Speak of the devil and she shall appear,” Nochang nonchalantly responded as he continued to go over Swings’ paperwork.

Giriboy snickered pulling up a seat across Nochang to help him out.

“That’s enough you two,” Swings respected the opinions of his two high ranking associates. He knew they only had his best interests in mind but he was in love. Despite their warnings, he continued his relationship with the married woman, Lee Kylie.

“Honey,” Kylie cooed wrapping her arms around him from behind. Her head laid against his back as she smirked at the two men who consistently bad-mouthed her. She had Swings wrapped around her finger and they all knew it. “I had a horrible day...”

“What happened?”

“Dok2 is living with the other woman and that bastard son of theirs.”

“So our boss isn’t the only one sowing his wild oats,” Giriboy joked. It was hard to imagine someone as cold and proper as Dok2 having a mistress.

“I heard about him having another son a while back.” Nochang had overheard some chatter from H1ghr when he happened to cross them at a club. He had dismissed it since they were drunkenly rambling.

Swings knew the rules well. Right now Kylie held the power to dispose of them but at the risk of his own daughter becoming Dok2′s target. He held Jia a little tighter, she was his precious angel. After five sons, a daughter was welcomed with open arms.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing yet,” Kylie sighed. “But I can’t just stand back and watch her take everything for herself. I tried to warn her but she didn’t listen.”

“Lady Kylie I’m afraid the powder will not dissolve quick enough to-”

“I don’t care!” Kylie pushed the uniform into her subordinate’s hands. It had taken some time to find you but now that she did she planned to make sure this was the last time she ever saw you.

“But the effectiveness is lowered if it does not steep long enough.”

“I will stall her as much as I can, you just make sure to do your part and put the powder in her drink.” Kylie was eager to see her husband’s mistress up close.

“Yes.”

“If you fail I will personally kill you.”

“Yes, lady Kylie.”

“She was farther along than I imagined...” Kylie muttered to herself causing the others to question her but she brushed it off. “It’s just my luck that she also had a son.”

\\\

The next day you awoke startled when you found yourself naked in Joonkyung’s bed while he was fully clothed. You quickly remembered everything that led you to this moment causing your face to flush.

Last night you confessed your love and jealousy. You told Joonkyung how you really felt the day you found out he was going to be a father. How you envied Kylie for being able to give him something you thought you wouldn’t. Only to later find out you too were pregnant.

He was upset that you decided for yourself that he would prefer his wife over you. He put to rest your jealousy by admitting that he had loved you since then although he didn’t realize it until you had left.

After so many years you were once again in his arms. It felt familiar being with him despite the years apart. However, you worried about what this meant for the future.

“Good morning,” Dok2 greeted you as your movements caused him to wake up.

“Good morning,” you sheepishly pulled the covers up to your eyes wondering how you would get out of bed with his unforgiving gaze fixated on you. There was still so much to discuss. “Are you still upset?”

Joonkyung sighed, “Not anymore.” How could he still be upset when he had managed to finally obtain that which had slipped through his fingers? “But if you ever doubt me again I’ll have to lock you up until you realize the truth.”

He had laid awake most of the night, watching you sleep wondering why he couldn’t see this before. If he had paid closer attention back then things would have played out differently.

“From now on you will be the only Lady of Illionaire.”

“What about Kylie?”

“I will get rid of her.”

“How?”

“Let me worry about that.”

-end-

A/N: Leave your reactions in the inbox ^^ I love them all! Next the confrontation of AOMG and Illionaire.

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calumthoodposts · 4 years

Text

Broken Home | Part 2

Warnings: Abused mind

Take care of yourself<3

The backs of her exposed thighs coming in contact with the freezing metal chair made the hairs on her arms stand on edge. Reyna attributed her chills to that instead of the fact that she was sat in an interrogation room with a woman that she had never met before staring at her empathetically. The concrete walls didn't contribute warmth or comfort, neither did the stereotypical one-way mirror that took up the expanse of the wall straight across from her.

The police officer was a woman named Lori. Her brown hair was in tight curls and she had the kindest eyes that Reyna had ever seen on a person. Even with those silvery-blue irises pleading with her, to tell the truth, and nothing but the truth, she couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to just come out and admit that the man that she had loved since she was seventeen had been emotionally and physically abusing her for nearly half of that time. It was obvious, but it felt impossible for her to say that Aaron simply acted how he always did.

She didn't seek some false sense of justice because that was how things played out for her. In her eyes, she had swung twice and missed both times. The first swing was her dropping out of university as Aaron wanted to be the one who provided. In her eyes, she could always go back to school, but she could never find another Aaron. It was an ultimatum that seemed simple.

He needed to feel like a man, and if her not having a career was what would make him happy, it was a sacrifice that she was more than willing to make. That same sacrifice made her father and mother's disgruntlement grow until they eventually stopped checking in altogether. She never blamed them for it. They worked relentlessly to provide her with a future that she traded in for a man they didn't believe was worthy of her love. Never would she blame them for having higher hopes for her than domesticity.

The second swing was trying to make him a better man, the man she loved before he became who he was now. It was easy for her to see that through all of her efforts, she still didn't do enough. When the bills were tight, which they always were, her nights were spent across the hall babysitting the neighbor’s kid for money. It wasn't difficult to slip out of his arms at night, his drunken snores never faltered as she shut their bedroom door and crossed the hall. Reyna would hide the bills that they didn't have money for and pay them in secret, him never remembering when things were due made it easy. It was easy for her to lie to herself and say she preferred it like that.

Keeping him distracted was how she tried to combat his stress, but that never worked as he would just get frustrated with her and reach for the Jack on the counter instead of the soft skin on her waist. Reyna tried her best to get him into counseling, but she was never convincing enough to make him actually go. In the beginning, she felt hope in his promise to seek help. She could see it in his eyes that he saw what he was becoming. The drugs reminded him of his father in a way that scared him at first until he eventually found comfort in that familiarity. The two misses made her accept the defeat and take accountability.

In the back of her mind as she recounted those thoughts she was aware of Lori staring at her with the empathetic eyes of a woman who just wanted the truth. The question Reyna had to answer was simple: Who started the fight and why?

That question was met with her silence, her eyes glossed over as she stared at her hands and thought about how she never wanted to end up here. No matter how violent and irrational Aaron got, she would never have gone to the authorities. It made her feel sick seeing him shoved into the back of a police cab with chains around his wrists.

"Honey, I know it's hard to talk about situations like this. We just want to make sure that we have the facts straight. Nothing bad is going to happen to you." Reyna let her brown eyes snap to Lori's. She was sure that they must have been swimming with satirical amusement. Bad things had already happened to her, she wasn't scared for herself. There was only apprehension for Aaron in her mind. "Can I see him?"

The officer let out a breath that was exasperated and melancholic but was perceived by the brown-eyed girl as thoughtful. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. Mr. Deming is still very intoxicated and we're having trouble getting him to cooperate."

"I can make him calm down," Reyna spoke quickly and looked into her eyes, pleadingly. "Please just let me see him. Let me talk to him first and I'll give you my statement."

The woman looked at her with a sad resolution, one that made the younger girl's stomach churn in an almost guilty way, before she said that she would speak to some people and see what she could do. Reyna knew her hands were tied. It was an investigation of aggravated assault that everyone knew– they'd have to be daft not to– who was guilty of initiating it.

She had ridden to the station in the back of the last cop car at the scene. They had only left to the station after an ambulance had come to take care of the boy who had helped her and was nearly beaten to a pulp as a consequence. The only battle scars Aaron adorned were the light scratches on his cheek from being pushed against the brick wall.

Lori came back with a small smile on her face, one that she knew was for her benefit. The older woman didn't bother to sit down and she only walked to the table and leaned against it lightly. "They said that you can see him when they finish questioning him a little." Reyna locked her gaze with her and breathed a breath of relief. "Thank you so much."

She needed to see him. It felt like a monster was digging its nails into her heart and squeezing it tighter with every minute that passed. She needed to talk to him because it didn't make her feel good knowing that he was angry and in pain without her. "In the meantime, the other boy arrived only a few minutes ago and finished his statement. He's a lot more cooperative than your frie-."

"He's my boyfriend." Reyna's lips spat out before she could think and she gave Lori an apologetic look immediately after, to which she just smiled halfheartedly, the sad look still in her eyes. "Would you like to speak with Mr. Hood while we wait? It'll be a little while."

Reyna thought about her question. At first, she nearly scoffed at the mention of the boy who was the reason for them being here in the first place. Her wanting to talk with him felt asinine to her, she was too emotionally high strung that she felt almost irritated at the thought of him. The logical part of her took a little too long to kick in, but when it did, she acquiesced. She wanted to ask him why.

The hallways that she was led through matched the cold concrete theme of the room she was just in. The bright lights above that reflected off the gray floor and into her eyes, marking her head throb slightly. It was like every jail in every movie ever, living up to every stereotype. Even a box of doughnuts laid next to the coffee and snacks in the breakroom they passed by.

The room that Hood, it dawned on her that she didn't know his first name yet, didn't surprise her when it was identical to hers. Even the frigid cold that hit her when she stepped inside of it was the same, making her hair stand on end. The boy was sat in the metal chair and had his head leaned back, his eyes were closed, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. When the door opened he looked at her with an unreadable expression and, upon seeing his face in the light, she let out a breath and her jaw fell open.

It was adorned with butterfly bandages over a particularly deep cut on his brow bone, not deep enough to need stitches, but too deep to just leave it be. The white bandages contrasted the dark purple and maroon red bruising that formed across his cheeks and his left eye. Seeing him made the feeling of sickness come back up again. She was absolutely speechless, drinking him in. "I'll come and check on you two in five minutes."

It was a kind sentiment, but both of the people left in the room knew there would be people listening on the other side of the two-way mirror. The door shut and the silence that followed was deafening. Neither of them spoke as they just stared at each other. Her eyes swam with shock and worry while he held a curiosity that she hadn't ever seen before.

"I'm sorry." Finally tearing her eyes away from his face and forcing them to look at the ground, she walked to the chair opposite of him and sat down. When her eyes met him again, he had his eyebrows furrowed. "What do you have to be sorry for?"

He had an accent that she hadn't noticed before and it intrigued her as to why a boy all the way from Australia was at the Clubs. She didn't ask though and replied quietly. "For everything. For getting you stuck in jail at 2 in the morning and for your–well…"

"My face that looks like tenderized steak?" He joked, but it failed to bring any humor out of her as she continued to gawk at his injuries with guilt. "Trust me. Out of everyone, you're the last one who needs to be apologizing."

A look of incredulity spread across her tired face. "Have you seen yourself? None of this would have happened if it wasn't for me and I'm so goddamn sorry."

"You didn't start any of what happened. I wish I could give you credit for this number babe, but that goes to your boyfriend." He had a playful smirk on his face as he tried to make light of the situation. His valiant effort was admirable, but it was wasted on her. "Don't call me babe."

"What else am I supposed to call you?" He questioned softly. The tone in his voice took her by surprise with its comforting inflection. He didn't want to fight with her, and that attempt to not escalate and aggravate her any further wasn't something she was used to. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."

Her apology formed a frown that etched itself between his eyebrows and he leaned forward in his chair with his fingers laced together on the table in front of him. "You don't have to apologize, I understand that you're going through something right now. I'm Calum." He spoke so easily that it could put her mind at ease if she let it. Of course, she wouldn't.

"Reyna." She held her hand out to him and the small smile was brought back to his face as he shook it, holding her gaze warmly. They lingered for a moment, her pulling away first and clearing her throat awkwardly and looking back at her chipped nail polish from the 99 cent store. "Reyna, why were you at the club? You didn't seem like you wanted to be there."

The way his voice spoke her name made a warmth run through her body. "We go there every weekend so he can unwind." She answered easily. "Why did you follow us into the alleyway?"

It was a question she had been asking herself since it happened and it had her head reeling. "I saw you earlier in the night and you looked... uncomfortable. I looked over when his hand– and you pushed him off and left the table. The look in his eyes when he watched you leave and how he ran after you would've made any person worried."

It embarrassed her that he saw their entire exchange. A stranger watching her boyfriend force his hand up her skirt made her cheeks turn pink in mortification, even though she knew that wasn't the largest take-away from his explanation. "Any person wouldn't have followed us outside, though. Why did you involve yourself in something that didn't concern you?"

Calum inhaled deeply through his busted lips and straightened his back before replying easily. "I have a sister and a mother. The thought of a man treating them the way your boyfriend was treating you makes me feel sick to my stomach. You looked so scared, and no one could have stopped me from following you out that door to at least see if you were alright. And you weren't."

His admittance and his reasoning left her in awe. She swallowed thickly and looked at her lap, fiddling with the ring on her index finger. Her heart was beating a thousand beats per minute in her throat as she processed what he had said. This complete stranger cared about her wellbeing because he cared about people and that brought a feeling into her heart that she couldn't explain. It also brought tears to her eyes. "Fucking hell."

She covered her face with her hands as more tears grew in her eyes. In one word, the feeling she felt was overwhelmed. Exhaustion and worry made her mind chatter with 'what ifs' and she just desperately wanted everything to stop. She wanted to breathe, and Calum's admittance that her relationship was obviously toxic just by a few glances from across a dance floor made her tears fall harder. Not knowing why she always looked the other way when he would throw words like daggers at her, Reyna wanted him to change. The love she had for Aaron left her so vulnerable that standing up for herself against him wasn't an option. She wanted to stand with him, and if that meant against herself, then so be it.

The hand that was suddenly placed comfortingly on her shoulder startled her and she pried her eyes open to see the curly-haired boy standing over her. "Come here," he whispered softly and tugged her hand so she was standing before he wrapped his arms around her. Her muscles hardened under the foreign feeling of someone who wasn't her boyfriend embracing her, although it would have been foreign if it had been Aaron too.

It took what seemed like minutes for her to melt slightly under Calum's hold. He was relentless and his embrace that stayed around her until she accepted it made her heart wrench even more. It wasn't demanding in any way, only an affection that let her know that she could be vulnerable in front of him. Affection was something that she hadn't had in over a year. She had forgotten what it felt like to just be held, comforted in the way she desperately needed.

Her arms wound around his muscular back and she sobbed loudly into his chest. The tears that stained his shirt celebrated in waves that wracked her body. She never allowed herself to cry over the things that happened to her and Calum was forced to bear witness to the flood that finally broke free onto his dress shirt.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed again and her arms wrapped around him tighter. "I know you don't want me to apologize, but I have to because he won't. He's gotten violent before, but never that bad. Never to someone we didn't know."

His hands rubbed up and down her back rhythmically in an attempt to soothe her. It worked as she felt the goosebumps deflate under his warm fingers. "It's okay, Reyna. You're safe and you're going to get the justice you deserve."

Like a bucket of cold water was poured over her, his words instantly made her tense and she pulled away from him. The cold that hung in the air wrapped itself around her again as she looked up at him with wide eyes. "You can't press charges."

"What do you mean?" He was looking at her quizzically as if he genuinely couldn't comprehend what she had said. She knew it was confusing because it confused her. There was a part of her that wanted to get Aaron out of her life, but a much stronger part of her felt like she couldn't live without him. "You can't do that. Please. I need him, Calum."

"Listen, I know it's hard to be in a situation like this, but he can't just walk away from thi-" He didn't understand and he never would. That was okay with her because he didn't have to. He didn't need to try and make sense of the absurdity of it all, nor did he need to be some knight in shining armor that would pull her out of her mess. "You don't understand. I don't have a job and I can't get one quick enough to pay the bills. He's literally all I have, Calum. No one else."

Saying it out loud sounded insane to her. It wasn't lost on her that Aaron put her into this position. He constructed walls around her in the form of a cage that only he had a key to. He had her exactly where he wanted her, and she soon learned to find comfort in it. Over-dependency always irked her when she was younger and she found it ridiculous that people could be comfortable in entirely relying on their significant other. Aaron held a flame in his hand and she was scared of fire. He easily backed her into that corner and, before she could even realize it, her independence was stripped away. The thought of having it back terrified her. "Reyna…"

"No, Calum. I appreciate what you did for me and you'll never have any idea how grateful I am for it. I just need you– I'm begging you– to let this go." Salty tears rolled down her face and he peered down at her with the softest eyes she had ever seen. He wasn't pitying her and she could see that as he breathed out a sigh and bit his lower lip.

With his lower lip tucked in between his teeth, he looked away from her and ran his hand through his tangled black curls. She watched his back wearily, gauging his reaction as the muscles tensed against the fabric of his shirt. He paced back and forth, torturing her as she anticipated his reply. "I can't."

"What?" She breathed. When he turned to her the answer to her question was clear by the remorse in his chiseled and bruised features. He neared her and placed his arms on her shoulders. "I can't do that. I know that where he has you feels permanent, but he doesn't just get to walk away from what he did. I'm not just talking about what he did to me, mostly to you."

"He hasn't done anything to me!" She lied in denial. The disbelief that danced across Calum's face let her know that he saw right through the lie and that he didn't believe a word of it. "It's just the way he is. He gets angry sometimes and I just have to wait until he calms down."

"Reyna, him being that way just because he has always been is bullshit and you know that. I don't know you very well– at all actually– but when I saw you tonight in the bar I saw a girl who knew she deserved better." Her teary brown eyes looked into his that were filled with frustration and a fit of anger that, for the first time in years, she wasn't afraid of because it didn't feel directed at her. "That's why you didn't let him touch you the way he wanted."

It was true and even she, blind as can be, could see that. Aaron didn't give her the life he promised her when she was nineteen and stupid enough to believe that blindly following the boy she was certain was her soulmate was the only option that ended with her being happy. Happiness had once been Aaron. Any future with him in it was the one she wanted, but never did she account for what would happen if the Aaron she loved didn't exist anymore. He was a shell of a broken man, too far gone for her to help. She knew that in the back of her mind, somewhere hidden in the attic behind dusty boxes filled with her forgotten aspirations, memories with him that were good. They were good at one point.

That point was long gone, though. Any trace of the life she had envisioned with him was gone, but she couldn't accept it. Somewhere beneath all the rubble was the man she loved and she wanted to find him and pull him out, only failing to account for the fact that she only loved an idea and not an actual man. "Why didn't you fight back?"

The boy with curly hair, a cracked lip, a face coated in bruises, and a white shirt, that surprisingly had no blood on it, looked at her with comforting dark brown eyes. It overwhelmed her, how much light she saw in them. His hands that planted on her shoulders softly were warming and soothing. "I'm not a violent person to begin with and I wasn't going to do that in front of you."

He bit his lip and winced slightly as it stung his cut. The white light that washed over him made him look pale and she could see the bags under his eyes. It must have been nearing 4 in the morning by then and it was showing on his tired face. She was certain it was even more apparent in hers. His words made her heart pound in her chest with a sense of adoration that she ignored.

The metal door opened and scratched the floor loudly as Lori stepped through with the soft smile that never seemed to leave her face. Reyna watched her take in her and Calum, the space that situated itself between them was only slight and Calum's large hands were still situated on her small shoulders. "Mr. Deming has given his statement and you can see him now." Reyna nodded vigorously and sniffled, pressing the backs of her hands into her eyes to wipe the tears that had yet to fall. Looking at Calum, she smiled at him softly. "I'm sorry again, Calum. I really am."

-----

His hands sat on splayed on the cool metal table with cuffs still around his wrists. The skin that poked out from beneath the metal was red and rubbed raw from his relentless drunken struggling, the alcohol undoubtedly numbing him from the pain. The sunken green eyes that stared at her were a stranger's, but the face was still Aaron's and that gave her comfort. "Have you given your statement yet?"

The iciness that laced his voice chilled her heart and the erratic twitching he exhibited made her anxious. "Not yet. I'm set to give mine after Calum's."

"Calum?" He scoffed and looked away from her to glare at the wall. His eyes leaving her nervous frame allowed her to take a deep breath from the break of his cold gaze. "Is that the little pussy's name?"

She winced at his insult and stayed silent. Reyna knew that any reply she gave would be sadly insufficient to him. "What, are you guys best friends now? Are you gonna make him miserable too?"

His head turned to look at her and she looked at her hands before he could meet her gaze. Aaron's words stung her, but she knew what she was walking into when the metal door opened. Of course, he was going to be angry and would need to get it out. "You know I wouldn't-"

"Do I? From your behavior last night, it seems that I don't know you that well at all, doesn't it."

"I'm on your side, Aaron," Reyna spoke softly. She watched his jaw clench and unclench along with his fist before he released a sigh and flattened his palms on the table. His gaze softened like clockwork. "I know, baby. I'm just tired, and after you tell them that he started it we can go home."

He seemed sincere and genuine like he was capable of apologizing without actually uttering 'I'm sorry'. It seemed as though he hadn't thought it out though, as all of the evidence pointed toward him. Reyna would've believed him and she desperately wanted to, but she knew him. She knew that his tone softening and the use of the pet name that made her cringe was because of the police officers standing outside of the room and watching from the transparent side of the glass. "Aaron…"

When her voice trailed off softly he sighed and stood up. It surprised her when he came to her side of the table and fell to his knees in front of her, taking her face gently in his hands and looking deeply into her eyes. "I'll love you until the day I die, remember?"

It had been months since he touched her so tenderly and it had her heart pounding in her chest. His confession had her speechless and she stared at him, mulling his words over in her mind. His fingers were rough against her cheeks and she wanted to pull back, but she stayed where she was and stared at him. His gaze was soft but held a warning in them that she didn't miss. As he pulled her head down and placed his lips to her forehead, she gripped his wrist and closed her eyes as tears stung them. "I remember. I love you too. So fucking much."

Reyna's voice was but a whimper and when she opened her eyes and looked at him once again, he only held a look of victory. The initial softness was gone as if he couldn't be bothered to keep up the act. He always said that he would love her until the day he died and she believed him. Every fiber of her being believed him because of how much she loved him. She was anything but dishonest. Reyna wasn't dumb either. Only sadly in love with the shell of the boy in front of her, she knew that the Aaron she loved was already dead. That much was clear by the look in his eyes and the smirk on his face, the one that was so foreign she wouldn't have been able to recognize it out of a line-up

#calum hood imagine #calum hood #5sos #ashton irwin #luke hemmings #5 seconds of summer #michael clifford #fanfiction #fanfic #5sosfam #5sos fandom

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