#just gonna crawl into this convenient little hole and pass away

[koshercosplay]

I made this in a fever dream at like half past 2am last night based on some tumblr post I saw that I no longer remember. you're welcome.

[kalims]

Congrats on 3K❤️❤️❤️🎊🎊🎊

For my request, can you do the prompt “kabedonning” with Riddle Roseheart and Lilia Vanrouge please? Thank you

<- back to event page.

includes: riddle rosehearts, and lilia vanrouge.

8. kabedonning — corner them into a wall and see what happens.

thank you! <33 hi angel, how you doing? :DD

✧ riddle rosehearts.

8. kabedonning

riddle is what you'd call a person that would lead the way in a haunted house while holding your hand despite him being terrified as well—flinching but shielding you from a staff member that leaps out of a bush and assumes an unusual position nonetheless.

what I mean to say is that he tries his best to remain as someone who will stay strong despite any situation, nerve-wracking, suprising, scary. he's always ready and thinks these 'obstacles' are just challenges for him to test himself. that's just how he motivates himself.

but this..

this is just another one of the gods challenges... right? riddle repeatedly chants his head as if trying to believe that his thought is the word of god themself. it doesn't help that you're in some random hallway and there's most likely students on their way to class..

—just like he was supposed to be!

not until you called out his name from behind, which prompted to him to stop. the wall who was just conveniently there next to him was in your favor and he didn't know how to react when you basically backed him up to the wall somehow and trapped him?

"what is.." he blubbered mindlessly. jerking to the side which proved to be a fail when your arm was literally there to ram in his forehead(or neck, depends on your height.) he's trying his best to keep the poker face, but he can feel his lips twitching and can practically feel the outstanding red making an appearance.

ARE YOU GONNA KISS HIM? why are you getting closer like tha— oh you're now leaning away.. he doesn't know whether to feel relieved or disappointed.

you muster a wobbly smile a twinge of embarrassment. "I was just curious?" you stare, and he stares back. you weren't just gonna tell him you backed out just cause you thought he was gonna blow up and collar you.. what? it's scary seeing him red up close after all the times of him being terrifyingly angry.

yeah totally not suspicious.

WAIT HES LATE TO CLASS..

✧ lilia vanrouge.

8. kabedonning

honestly how could you ever even get him off guard? he has some super sharp tingly senses, which is in fact— just his convenient ears and nose. so he just straight up disappears when you were just looking at him and blink.

now there's a deep chuckle right beside your ears, so close that you can literally feel goosebumps crawl up your legs and arms. "my, what are you up to?" "WHAT THE FU—"

it's not that lilia isn't curious about your shenanigans, you're always stirring up something that proves to be great entertainment. however it's just too much of an opportunity for him to pass up the opportunity to jumpscare you and await the kind of reaction you'll give him..

there's very few chances that you'll find him holed up somewhere, just look up a chandelier and there's a 50/50 chance that you'll find lilia already looking straight at you. ask him to come down politely so he practically has no other chances to scare you when you're already looking at him, plus.. you're asking him nicely after all.

if you're lucky he lands near a wall, so if not you'd have to push him towards it yourself (to which he lets you with a raise of his brows because, why not?) let's face it. he'd either just plainly let you push him around like a ragdoll until you reach your goal or tease you a little by standing his ground and watch you confusedly push harder.

^ he still wouldn't budge.

just isn't phased when you kabedon him, if he's feeling particularly cheesy and cheeky. he will definitely just switch your positions so fast that you'd already be switched after a second, you will be processing that for more than 5 seconds and realize that you have been in fact,

have been switched single handedly by a small looking man, he looks far too mischievous to think that's there's anything good running through his mind.

so you wanted to make him want to kiss you right? well too bad, he's gone and you're the one wanting a kiss. haha, you gotta find him later... if you can. ;)

[anarchosimdicalist]

Stand up boys, let the bosses know Turn your buckets over, turn your lanterns low There's fire in our hearts and fire in our soul But there ain't gonna be no fire in the hole

a little man i made for @simmanatti's moonwood mill motel. bringing up important questions like "what if a 150-year-old vampire was just some guy? what if he was a communist? what if he was italian?"

FABRIZIO AGGIO - HE/HIM

There are two things people get wrong about the Great Moonwood Mine Collapse. The first is the death toll. There were forty-seven bodies found, yes - forty-seven men dug out of the ground, forty-seven graves in the churchyard where they were quickly returned to it. But there were forty-eight in the mine that day. One was never found. They knew he was missing, of course - perhaps too deep in the mines to find - but his family remained far away in Tartosa, he never married, and he had few friends. They looked for him for a while, they thought of him in passing now and again, and the world forgot about Fabrizio Aggio.

The second is a little more complicated, but it was common consensus in the (now rather deserted) union meetings held after the disaster. The history books describe it as an accident, and, on paper, it was. But they never seem to mention how preventable it was; how the union had been fighting for safer working conditions for months now; how, when it all fell on deaf ears, they threatened a strike. How really (they'd say in hushed, conspiratorial tones) that made those forty-eight deaths very convenient for Volkov and the bosses.

Which brings us to Fabrizio. Ever since he crawled out of that mine, badly injured, close to death, narrowly rescued by a mysterious stranger, he's been living a quiet existence. He has adjusted to immortality, found a home with thick curtains far away from the mines, built a life on simple pleasures. The rage never quite went away, though - and he's ignored it for long enough. Something has to change. He needs answers, closure - revenge, if he can find it, but he's pretty sure that ship sailed in 1892. He needs to go back to Moonwood Mill.

[sugarcherriess]

Being alone with you has let Juyeon release a bunch of pent up emotions. First and foremost, horny jealous rage. Prepared to get the fucking of your life time because Juyo is MAD. He’ll be in full human form because you don’t need ANY reminder of Juyomi when it’s Juyo time. He’ll tear your clothes off until they’re nothing but shreds of fabric littering the floor. He’ll kiss you so hard and press you against him so closely that you can barely breathe, but he won’t stop. He’ll take the collar off his neck and put it around yours and get super turned on by it. He’ll purposely overstimulate you while edging himself. At the end, you’ll probably pass out from the fucking you got and he’s pent up from not cumming till now. He’d pull out because he’s kinda sick of the idea of kids for a bit- (special thanks to Juyomi) and he’d instead cum the gallons of cum he was holding in all over your body and smear it all around. He’d cuddle up to you after he made his mess, happy with the thought that there’s no little orange hellspawn there to take away your attention. You’d wake up all covered in cum and stuck in Juyeon’s arms. He’d spend the next hour just making out with you and refusing to get up. Eventually, he gave in and picked you up to take you both to the bathroom. Your legs actually just don’t work anymore so you’re completely reliant on him. He’d clean every inch of you so lovingly, his eyes brighten a bit more every time he sees a mark he made. He’d dry you both up and place you on the bed to wait while he picked out clothes for you both. All he got was a pair of grey sweats and all you got was one of his t-shirts and the collar. You ask him about, you know, every other piece of clothing, and he’d say this is your punishment. He needs to train you and remind you that you’re only his again. That shirt is there so he can have full access to you whenever he wants with only HIS shirt in the way. No bothersome things like panties, bras, or pants in the way. He’d go into all his forms to make sure you pay attention to him. He’d literally stick his hand under the shirt you’re wearing and aggressively finger you whenever you even DARE to mention Juyomi during Juyo time. He’d go into cat mode just to crawl under your shirt and stick his little cat head out the neck hole so he’s as close to you as possible. Overall, Juyo was happy with his one-on-one time.

- 🍞

If this was real life you know id actually never close my legs after he pulls this stunt like if he wants me to walk around naked then he’s gonna get flashed on purpose every waking moment of his life🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨 sitting on the sofa? What a convenient way to face him and manspread. Working in the kitchen? Guess who dropped the fucking spatula. In the bedroom? Do i wear this blue pair of sock or the white pair which are both tucked into the lowest drawer right in front of Juyeon’s fact?

God i need his eyes on me at all times poor juyomi smh he’s gonna get depressed with alm the fucking noises

[katsukisbimbo]

bun bun

✯ pairing: usagiyama rumi x reader

✯ synopsis: everything changed for you when your favourite hero, usagiyama gets thrown inside your shop.

✯wordcount: 12.4k+

✯warning: fem! reader, she/her pronouns, wlw, swearing :))

✯ note: this is dedicated for lovely andrea <3 aka ms @kagsbuns !! I think I got carried away tho. this was only supposed to be 10k max, but at 9k I still didn’t get to the conflict so here we are LOL. I hope u guys enjoy!! this is my first time writing something so long!

You sighed as you used you picked up the heavy basket of apples. Your day usually consisted of tending to your growing vegetables in the early morning, before picking and washing the ripened vegetables and fruit. Using some fresh peppers from your garden to spice up your usual omelette for breakfast, then getting ready for work. 

You currently owned a cute little produce market in the middle of the city, which was only a twenty-minute walk from your home. Your small shop was mostly frequented by old folks and young moms buying fruits and veggies for their children.

 You loved your work and your life, tending to vegetables and fruits and selling them. Your work helped you produce a schedule, a schedule that kept you sane. 

You smiled as Ms. Takeshi walked in, smiling at you before browsing through her favourite strawberries that you had just picked and washed this morning. “Good morning lovely! Your fruits and vegetables look wonderful today! Did you also make some of my favourite banana bread?” She queried as she made her way to the display case where you kept your freshly made pastries. 

“Of course Ms. Takeshi! I already wrapped it up for you!” you handed the bag over to her. “You’re going to be a great wife one day lovely” She smiles as she leaves the door, leaving you with a sour taste in your mouth. Your smile dropped as you activated your quirk. You had a plant quirk, pretty convenient for your work. You were able to manipulate plants and grow them to your will.

Large vines soon began to rise from your potted plants as you started to organize some of your products, not liking how they looked. You rolled your eyes as you recalled what Ms. Takeshi had said to you. Every morning was the same thing with her. Some days she would even try to set you up with her grandson. Yes, you were only 19, turning 20, but you already had everything you wanted. Plus, you didn’t play for the other team. 

You were more of a “We fell in love in October” kinda gal. 

Your thoughts were swiftly interrupted at the sound of a body getting thrown inside your shop, soon landing right in front of you. It took you two seconds to register that a body just flew into your shop and ruined your blueberries, and another two seconds to figure out that this body belonged to the Rabbit Hero: Mirko herself. You gasped softly as you pried her body out of the rubble with your vines. 

You propped her up onto your counter before wrapping your vines around her once more, with the purpose to heal her bruised body. You concentrated your power as you continued to heal her, your vines sprouting flowers and glowing with a light yellow hue. 

You had to restrain yourself from cooing when you saw her nose twitch. It wasn’t known that you were fond of heroes. Everyone had assumed that you had no interest in it, when in fact, you’ve been a huge fan of Mirko’s for some time. You did have other heroes you liked, but Mirko had your attention and heart. 

You struggled to breathe as you felt your energy being sapped out of your body. You didn’t know how much longer you would be able to take, especially when you had only used your quirk for meagre housework, up until now that is. You suddenly jolted in surprise when Mirko’s arm shot up and grabbed you by the collar of your shirt, bringing your face barely ten centimetres away from hers. 

As her mouth opened to speak, another crash occurred nearby, making both of your heads snap up in the direction of the noise. You gaped as you saw the wrongdoer slowly walk towards your shop. “Mirko-san, please get up” you shakily whispered to her. 

She laughed at your cute shivering figure before jumping up on top of the counter. “Come at me bitch!” she provoked before they hastily jumped her. You quickly threw yourself out of the way and hid behind your apples. “Hey! Baby carrot!” she hollered as she pinned down the villain. “Get out of here!” Rumi growled. You immediately shook your head, small tears sliding doing your cheeks. 

“I-I can’t! I’m not gonna let either of you mess up my shop!” you weakly yelled as you somehow mustered up enough strength to summon your largest vines, speedily sending them towards the villain and entrapping them, leaving Mirko to gape at your work. She whistled as she observed the vines twining around the body of the unfortunate villain. ‘T-That’s kinda hot, not gonna lie’ she thought in her head before successfully knocking the villain out with one kick. 

“Hey, you okay there?” she questioned as she looked at your trembling figure. You felt unable to respond to her query, your throat suddenly closed up. You let out a squeak in response before feeling your knees buckle, your body quickly tumbling to the ground. Before you could even graze the wooden floor, Miruko already had her arms wrapped around you, carrying your unconscious body princess style, your face nuzzled onto the top of her breast. 

“My poor bunny” she cooed before wiping the sweat off your brow, taking you to the closest ambulance to get the both of you checked out. 

___

You groaned as the exhaustion started to seep into your body. Your head was killing you. You peeled your eyes open, expecting to see your room, only to see a blindingly white hospital room. A few machines monitoring your blood pressure and heart rate had been situated by your side, along with your IV drip which was currently connected to your left arm. 

“I see you’re up” voice booms, making their presence known. 

You turned to see Mirko, sitting on the couch, clad in civilian clothing. You blushed as her outfit consisted of a black leather jacket, accompanied by tight black jeans, a white v-neck shirt, and chunky leather shoes. To sum it all up, she looked delectable. You felt your cheeks warm at the sight of your hero crush. What was she doing here in the first place? Wasn't she supposed to be on patrol or something? What was she doing, wasting her time on a girl like yourself?

You cleared your throat before piping up. “W-why’re you here?” you questioned before quickly averting your gaze. 

“You saved my life, my little carrot” She started, standing up and making her way towards your bed. You felt yourself slightly flinch back, intimidated by both her figure and her aura. Mirko had an intense vibe that made you want to crawl into a hole and die. The way she carried herself was both overwhelming and admirable. She was just so captivating, it was like-

“Hey. Hey!” she snapped her fingers in your face. “What’s wrong carrot? Are you nervous? Last time I saw you, you were brimming with complete and utter confidence. Well, kinda, but you were still badass. Are you a badass or was that just a facade to impress lil ol’ me? Hm?” she teases, her face nearing yours. 

“I-I no! I mean y-yes! Um!” you felt yourself about to tear up from embarrassment. You were humiliating yourself in front of your favourite hero. You sputtered once more before deciding to just shut your mouth, staring at your lap where your hands were neatly folded. 

“What’s wrong carrot? Do I make you nervous?” she taunted. 

God, now you wanted to cry. 

 You felt your tears starting to arise, your throat closing up. Your lips were quivering. You tense your jaw to prevent any whimpers from slipping out, you didn’t want to embarrass yourself any further. Mirko's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. She made her poor carrot cry! 

She immediately took your hands off of your lap, bringing one of your hands to rest against her soft cheek. She then gave your palm a soft kiss. “Don’t cry! I didn’t mean to tease ya that much!”. You just nodded as you felt yourself become light-headed at her actions. The Pro-Hero Mirko just kissed your palm. She just kissed your palm. You didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. 

You were unaware of how to act in front of her as you didn’t want to make a fool of yourself any further than today. You would always remember the time you embarrassed yourself in front of your hero crush. 

“What happened by the way? Why am I here?” you piped up, taking the time to admire her bright and shining face. 

“Well, I accidentally got thrown into your shop and got knocked out. You used your little vines to help me out! I passed out a little, but the villain came, and I tried to fight him, but before I could do some real damage, you stepped in and told us that you weren’t about to let us ruin your shop and apprehended the villain by yourself! I didn’t know you had it in ya! I was so surprised but I managed to knock out the fella! You also ended up passing out dear! I had to catch ya and carry you to the ambulance myself!” She grinned, playing with your fingertips. 

“I’m so sorry“ you cried, gripping tightly onto her fingers. “I didn’t mean to make your job harder for you! I‘m only nineteen and I don’t have enough money to repair any of the damages! Are there even damages? For sure there are!” you were about to cry again. Everything was just so overwhelming that your first reaction was to cry. 

You’ve only met Mirko and you’ve managed to embarrass yourself three times. 

“Don’t worry about it, carrot. I already took care of the damages, because I was the one who got thrown into your shop. Don’t worry about being a crybaby either. It’s cute” she gave you her signature toothy grin. 

“I-Thank you! Thank you so much Mirko-san!” You cried, bowing as low as you could in your state. 

“Don’t worry about it” she brushed off. 

“Please! I have to repay you somehow! I can give you a free produce? I can make your bread? I can't offer much” your brows furrowing. You wanted to repay her. 

“Yeah? I’ll think of something, cutie. Anyways, I gotta run, I’ll see you around yeah?” She quipped before making her way out of her room, giving you one last smile before exiting. 

You had it bad for her. For sure. 

___

It’s been a week since you were discharged from the hospital, you didn’t have any fatal wounds but was only admitted for overusing your quirk, you didn’t use your quirk for anything as exhausting as apprehending a criminal. 

You sighed as you continued to tend to your vegetables, already missing a certain someone’s presence. Meeting with her, even for such a short time was an experience. 

You clicked your tongue as you checked the time, you only had half an hour to make your way to work and set up your produce. 

You wondered if you would be able to see her again. 

You continued to bustle around, seeing Ms. Takeshi rushing inside. “Oh my goodness! Are you all right lovely? I heard about the attack! Thank goodness you’re okay!” she continued to check your body for any bruises or wounds, sighing in relief when she found none. 

“I’m fine Ms. Takeshi! I wasn’t attacked, a Pro got thrown into my shop.. and she saved me” your mind drifted to the memory of Mirko lunging at the criminal, putting her body in front of yours to shield you from any attacks. 

“She saved me” quipped up a voice. 

Both you and Ms. Takeshi had whipped your head around, seeing Mirko, clad in her hero costume with her hand on her hip. She smirked at your bewildered reaction before moving further into the store. 

“M-Mirko-san! What’re you doing here?”

“I don’t know, to be honest, I was in the area and I just missed your face” she walked around, admiring the large carrots you had grown in your garden. 

“Y-you missed me? I-I missed you too, M-Mirko-san..” you blushed, averting her piercing gaze. “You’re such a precious carrot, call me Rumi” she offered, stretching her hand out to yours in a handshake, you hesitantly took it, noting how her hand dwarfs yours. 

“I couldn’t possibly!” releasing her hand. “Why not? We’re friends aren't we?” your eyes widened at her implication that you two had something more than just a fan and idol relationship.  

“I-I YES! Of course, we are!” you rushed, not wanting to upset her. If she was willing to call you her friend then who were you to disagree? Not everyone has the chance to be friends with their favourite idol. 

Ms. Takeshi smirked as she watched the exchange between the two, noting how each of them had quite a fond look in their eyes. She shook her head as she signalled you that she was about to leave, you gave her a hasty goodbye before going back to Mirko-- or Rumi, as she preferred. 

‘Those two are getting together’ Ms. Takeshi absently thought, smiling at the thought of you finally having the companion you deserved.

“This is a cute place ya got here, it's almost as cute as you” she flirted, smirking at your abashed expression. Normally you would have cringed at such a cheesy line, but to be honest, it hit a little different when it was Rumi who was saying it. “I’m not cute!” you huffed. You were a strong independent woman! You were not cute. 

As you continued to stew in your thoughts, Rumi proceeded with exploring your cute little shop, sampling some fruits as she passed by. “D’ya have any family here?” she queried, popping a plump, red strawberry in her mouth, almost gasping at the sweetness and freshness of the berry. “I don’t actually! I moved here just a year ago to start the shop I've been dreaming about ever since I was a kid!” you smiled, recalling the obstacles you had gone through to reach your goal. 

“That's good! It’s good to have goals you want to work towards, it keeps people motivated” 

“How about you Rumi-san? Do you have any family here?” you piped up, curious of her families’ whereabouts. Did she live here alone? There was only so much information that could be disclosed to the public about heroes and their personal lives. 

“They don’t live here. They’re back in my hometown. It’s nice living out here, I get to do what I want, save all the people I can, and kick as much as... Though, there are times where I miss my family... They’re a rambunctious and chaotic bunch I tell ya!” she chortled. 

You felt yourself melt at the very thought of Rumi with her family, playing and spending time with her small cousins/siblings. If someone were to describe the look on your face, they would have immediately said that you looked either lovesick or had heart eyes. You blushed at the thought of spending time with Rumi and just being gay <3 with each other. You honestly needed to get a love life, it isn’t normal to fantasize about your idol, especially when they’re right in front of you. 

Rumi noticed that you were mentally elsewhere, smiling at your dumbstruck expression. What were you thinking about that was more interesting than her? Was it perhaps Rumi herself? She shook her head, trying to disperse her somewhat indecent thoughts. It wasn’t proper to ogle or fantasize about your friend. 

“Hey, can I get your number?” she piped up, causing you to snap out of the internal conflict you were previously having about yourself. “W-what?” you stuttered, unbelieving of the fact that she, Usagiyama Rumi, had just asked for your number. Plain, old, little you! This was an absolute dream. 

You quickly nodded, having no words as you haven’t fully processed her question or the meaning of it. You struggled to extract your phone from the pocket of your overalls. Curse women's clothing and their tiny pockets! Rumi laughed at your struggles, loving at how you scrunch your cute little nose when you feel feelings of frustration. 

 “Aha! I got it!” you cheered, fist-pumping with your phone in your hand, before sheepishly handing your phone to her. Rumi raised a brow. “Is this me as your lock screen?” she smirked. 

At this point, you were begging the Gods, any God, to take your soul. You did not understand how you could have forgotten such a crucial thing! You were an idiot! A dumbass! 

“And, did you edit yourself in the picture so it looked like we took a picture together?” 

 You felt your brain short circuit. You froze up, unblinking and unbreathing. Rumi didn’t mean to tease you so much. You were just adorable! The fact that you had been too shy to ask her for a picture and kept the edited one as your lock screen amused her to no end. She just wanted to eat you up!

As she continued to gush about your cute habits and you in general, you were tearing yourself up inside. You thought you had changed your lock screen a few days ago! It was a picture of Rumi as well, but you weren’t included. She must think you’re desperate! Or a stalker. Or worse! A desperate stalker! 

“Lord, please take me” you whispered, hoping that someone would grant your wish this time. “What was that baby carrot? You want me to take you? I don’t mind, but I wanna get to know you better first”

Your jaw dropped at Rumi’s insinuation. “I’m kidding! You're adorable. C’mere” she beckoned, not wanting to keep her waiting you immediately made your way towards her side, her muscular arm scooping you up and pressing you against her warm body. 

“R-Rumi-san..! What are you doing?”

“Taking a picture ya dummy! Make this your lock screen okay? I want everyone to know” she winked. She pressed her face against yours before capturing a picture. You felt as if your face was on fire. She was smashed against you! “Hey, you okay with fanservice?” she asked, you nodded your head, curious of what she had under her sleeve. 

Rumi soon grabbed a hold of your chin before pressing her soft lips against the chub of your cheeks. She quickly snapped the picture, capturing your embarrassed face. She let go of you, opting to check the pictures to see if they had come outright. “You want one more baby carrot?” she mused, peering at your warmed face. 

You slowly nodded your head, she threw her head back and laughed, coming over once more and wrapping you in her arms. This time, she walked, well, more like waddled, as you were in her arms, to put your phone on the counter, setting the timer for three seconds. She hugged you tightly, resting her head on top of yours. 

Since she was already taking pictures, might as well request some poses right?

“Can we do peace signs? I… I like peace signs” you mumbled, twiddling with your thumbs. “Oh gosh, you're adorable!” she gushed. “Peace!” the both of you posed as the flash went off. 

You ran back to your phone, eager to see how the pictures had turned out while Rumi had stayed behind, watching your excited figure. Your eyes lit up as you examined the photos you both had taken. They were adorable! “Rumi-san looks very pretty” you mumbled, unaware that she was now peering over your shoulder and heard what you had said. 

“You gotta stop tempting me, baby carrot. As I said, I wanna get to know you better” she smiled. You blushed. This was the second time she had mentioned that. Does she like you as well? You felt a little bold so you decided to take your opportunity to fluster her as well. 

“If you wanna get to know me better, why not go to lunch with me?” you offered, slyly smiling at how her jaw was left ajar. “Y-You cheeky little brat! If you're free right now we can go but it’ll be my treat okay?” she insisted, raising her brow as if to say ‘are you going to say no to free food’. 

You nodded and agreed, who were you to say no to free food? Especially free food with your favourite hero/crush. She extended her hand towards you and you gladly took it, lacing your fingers with hers, loving how both of your hands fit perfectly within each other. 

“Let’s go baby carrot. I’ll make sure to feed you lots” 

___

“Nooo-- Rumi no more!”

“It’s okay carrot, I know you want more” she smirked

“I can’t! I-It’s too much” you moaned, rubbing your bloated stomach with both of your hands. Both of you had eaten too much chicken! Rumi decided to challenge you to an eating challenge, ordering a whole 10 piece box for each of you. That, plus the drinks and fries she had ordered on the side. 

“Awh you’re so cute, for sure you’ll be sleepy” she cooed, propping her chin upon her fist. “I’m thankful for you Rumi-san, but if I eat more, I’ll surely explode” you cried, wanting to just go home and nap. You closed your eyes and leaned back. You couldn’t even breathe properly anymore! She was going to stuff you full! [;)]

“Hye, carrot. I gotta ask since I want both of us to be on the same page. Was this a date? I mean, would you consider this a date?” she sheepishly asked, bringing warmth to your cheeks. You didn't perceive this as a date, since you two never really outright stated it was a date, but it did seem date-ish. 

Rumi watched as you struggled to come up with an answer. “Ah! I didn’t mean to pressure you carrot! I’m sorry! I-I just really like you, and if you didn’t consider this as a date, I would like to take you out--that's only if you agree! As I said, no pressure cutie”

What was she talking about? This was so much pressure! On the bright side, your crush likes you back. This was a miracle! She was famous on top of that1 not that you liked her for her popularity, but she could have anyone, and she chose you! You had to thank which God was looking out for you, or if it was just your luck. Either way, you’ve been manifesting this for some time. Not exactly this situation, but you had actively been looking for a partner, a female partner at that. You didn’t want anything serious, shoutout to Ms. Takeshi though, she was trying at least. 

“I like you Rumi-san and I considered this as a date! And.. and I want to go on more dates with you!” you nearly yelled, causing some heads to turn. This had caused Rumi to gasp, scrambling out of her chair to sit beside you and engulf you in her arms, nuzzling her soft cheek against yours. 

“You’re so cute! I swear! Let me take you home! I just wanna eat you!” she gushed, uncaring of the peering eyes in the restaurant who had been watching the whole exchange. “R-Rumi-san! How lewd!” you grimaced. sure was a handful. 

“I’m sorry, cutie! I just can’t help it! You make me wanna go feral” she growled the last bit, feeling a coil in your lower tummy tighten. What was she doing to you? Did someone hit you with a quirk? This was crazy! 

“Hey, don’t think too much about it. You and I are going to get to know each other better okay? Okay, carrot?” She grinned, peeking down at your flustered expression. This was going to be something else. 

___

Lately, you and Rumi have gotten closer. You both had started to frequently text and call each other, though you have been a little timid during phone calls. They were mostly carried by Rumi and her extroverted personality. You hope she knew that you were just shy and that you weren’t losing interest in her. 

Your relationship with Rumi had no label, at least for now. You both decided that it would be wise to learn about each other before making rash decisions. Especially you. You had a habit of running off in tandem and making yourself worry about scenarios that have zero percent of happening. Good thing Rumi was there to calm your nerves.

You were so immersed in your thoughts that you had failed to notice the stop sign in front of you, promptly running into it and talking on your butt. Luckily, nobody except a small child had seen you embarrass yourself. That’s what you thought at least, until—

“Baby carrot! Are you alright?! My poor little carrot didn’t see the stop sign! Are you okay? Do you need to be taken to the hospital? I can take you!” She rambled as she checked your body for any extensive injuries, sliding her hands down the curve of your ass in the process. You didn’t wanna go to the hospital as you would be an unnecessary burden to all the medical staff. It was still better to be safe than sorry. 

She was a different breed. 

“I can’t help it, I just.. I care about you” she murmured, facing off to the side to hide her warming cheeks from your view. She was adorable! Is this what she felt when she saw you blush? It was a nice feeling. Like eating really good food. Rumi blushing was good food. 

“Well, um, if you don't wanna go to the hospital, do you just want to come over for dinner or something?” she offered. “Aren’t you patrolling right now Rumi-san? I would hate to impose and possibly get you in trouble with your work” you sheepishly looked away from her gaze, unable to compete with the intensity her eyes hold, as if she wasn't a quivering little mess two seconds ago as well. 

“Nah. I can get someone to cover for me. Let me call them right now so that I can put your mind at ease yeah?” she detached herself from you and went to grab her phone strapped on the side of her somewhat revealing hero costume. You never really noticed it but Rumi’s costume was, how do you say this, very sexy. At least to you. 

You shook your head as dirty thoughts soon started to fill your head. This was wrong! Rumi-san is a strong beautiful woman who shouldn’t be objectified! She does not deserve that! Though she looked very beautiful in it, that was for sure. 

As you continued to have another internal battle with yourself, Rumi had already dialled Hawks’ number. 

“Yo Hawks! It's Mirko! I need a favour!”

“What is it?”

“Please cover for me. I’m on patrol and I just asked my crush out for dinner at my place but she’s iffy because she doesn’t want me to get in trouble for ditching my patrol--”

“You are ditching your patrol though” he replied. Rumi can already see Hawks using this against her. 

“PLEASE! She’s so beautiful and I like her so much” Rumi practically begged.

“Fine, but I’m doing this because you’ve never seemed so serious for anyone before and I’m happy for you. You don’t have to owe me” he sighed, but Rumi knew that he didn’t mind at all. 

“Thank you so much! Bye! Muah!” she yelled, before facing you. “Hey little carrot, you can come over! I told you my friend was gonna cover me” she smiled, her shiny teeth showing. “I-I..let’s go!” you blushed, wanting to be able to hide your cheeks from her. 

“H-Hey, slow down! Plus I haven’t got any ingredients! We gotta go shopping first!” 

“S-shopping? Together? That’s quite domestic” 

“Better get used to it”

___

“Are you allergic to anything my little carrot?” she questioned, wanting to know which ingredients she should take. “Ah! I’m allergic to shellfish” you mentioned. “I get hives and sometimes my throat closes up”. You stressed that your allergy wasn’t a big deal, but Rumi thought otherwise. “Hm, no seafood then” she pondered on what to get next. “How about pasta?” 

“Oh-I still eat shellfish, but just not often” you spoke, hoping she would overlook this small thing. “That’s not good carrot! You can die like that!” she yelled, catching the attention of most of the customers within the vicinity. “R-Rum-san! Not so loud!” you mumbled, tugging onto the fabric of her hero costume. “I’m okay Rumi-san! I promise!” 

Her concern for you was adorable. Nobody had ever really cared for you like this. You knew your limits and everything, and everyone knew as well, but it was a nice change. The way Rumi cared for you gave your tummy butterflies. Her smile, the way she spoke. You might be in love. For sure, it’s too soon to tell. You’ve also never felt love other than familial love or love for your friends, but you were sure this was love. 

You haven't known Rumi for a long time, but love isn’t about the time you spend, it’s the experiences you both share. If you could describe the way you felt in a word, it would be love. The way Rumi plagued your mind 24/7, the way you felt your heartbeat a little harder than it usually does. This felt like love. Of course, you weren’t about to tell her, but you already had a love for her from the beginning. It had just grown into something more than idolization for her the more you got to know her. Loving Rumi gave you absolute euphoria. Even if her feelings for you were platonic. 

“Hey, baby carrot? Let’s go?” she asked, already pulling you towards the exit of the store, waving at some fans who had called out her name. 

You were still lost in thought. You never understood why she was attracted to you, it wasn’t love, but even her attraction was questionable. To you, it seemed like a whole joke. The fact that your idol even offered to cook for you was baffling, not even that, the fact that she even spoke to you was a miracle itself. You felt tears well up in your eyes. There was just no way that Rumi would actually like you. 

Too lost in your head, you bumped into Rumi who had suddenly stopped, though she wasn’t facing you. She tightened her grip on your hand “I can smell your tears, why are you crying Y/n?” she whispered before whipping around to face you. Her face was riddled with sadness, her ears flopping down at the sides of her face. “D-Did I do something?” she stuttered. She loosened her grip on your hand, letting go completely. 

You felt your heartthrob in your chest. That was the exact opposite! You were crying because you were happy with her, too happy almost. You never wanted it to end. You sobbed a little harder before running to her, burying your face into her chest. Her arms wrapped around you, rubbing your back and pressing soft kisses on the crown of your head.

“I’m sorry! I’m a crybaby! I was crying because spending time with you made me happy! Very happy! I don’t want it to stop! I wanna stay with you forever Rumi-san!” you cried, hugging her tighter as if she was about to evaporate into thin air and never come back. “Baby... I...Can I kiss you?” she whispered, bringing her warm hand to rest upon your tear-stained cheek.  

Your eyes widened. Did she want to kiss you? Well, who were you to deny her? You nodded your head and shut your eyes, feeling the press of her lips against yours. She pressed multiple kisses against your lip before swiping her tongue against your bottom lip, causing you to let out a soft whimper at the contact. 

She grinned and did it once more, this time letting go of the groceries in her hand before pressing you into the bricked walls of the alleyway. Rumi had her hand on your hip and the other against your cheek, your arms wrapped around her and tangled in her soft, silky hair. You moaned as she pried her way into your mouth, exploring it with her tongue before you let out a whine that caught her attention. 

She pulled away to see the work she had done, she had left you flustered and fucked out, just from a kiss. She leaned over to press another soft kiss onto your lips before slowly pulling away again. “I like you, so please believe me when I say so. I want to have more good memories with you. Don’t cry okay? You have me, and I’ll never let go” she whispered before rubbing her nose against yours.  

You giggled as she pulled away, almost surprising her. It was stupid of you to think so negatively. You knew that Rumi would never do anything to hurt you, well, not on purpose at least. You nodded before picking up the groceries on the floor. You smiled. “Let’s go home, Rumi-san”

Her eyes sparkled at the fact that you had called her apartment “home”. She quickly nodded before helping you with the bags, opting to hold all with her one hand so that she could use the other to hold yours. 

___

“We’re finally here!” yelled, making her way to the kitchen to drop off the groceries, you took off your shoes before entering and following her. Her apartment was pretty luxurious. It was one of those gated places that needed I.D and permission to enter, in other words, it was high end. It was to be expected honestly, she was a very famous hero who had some very..determined fans.

Her apartment was mostly white, it didn’t have that many decorations, mostly since Rumi was quite a simple person who had no desire for such things. She did have matching furniture though. You walked through the living room, taking a moment to gaze at her white and grey furniture. It all matched! She had a knack for interior design. If she wasn’t a pro, she would have made some money off being an interior designer.

You finally made your way into the kitchen. Seeing Rumi already putting the groceries away, setting out the ingredients. You gaped at the various ingredients laid out on the counter, why hadn’t you noticed the number of ingredients she had picked up?! There were quite a few.

“Rumi-san? Why’d you get so many ingredients?” you queried, tilting your head to the side in confusion. “Cuz! We’re gonna make a lot of food!” she cheered, raising her fist that was currently holding a pork bun, slightly squishing it and slightly deforming it. 

“R-Rumi-san the pork bun!”

“Oh, haha! Sorry about that baby carrot” she apologized before splitting it in half and pressing it against your lips. Did she want to share? A-And feed you as well? You couldn’t refuse so you shyly took a bite, taking a small piece of the pork bun in your mouth and chewing. You moaned at the wonderful flavours dancing on your tastebuds, this tasted so good! It was still quite warm as well. 

As the both of you continued to stand in eat in the kitchen, neither of you noticed a familiar flying birdman hovering above the balcony, peering at the both of you with a happy smile on his face before flying away. 

“She’s lucky she has me as her friend” Hawks laughed as he continued his patrol. Hopping off of the balcony and flying away like a little weird fairy man. 

___

You both had finished cooking, there was a surprising amount of dishes you two had made. Your meal consisted of a wide but healthy assortment of dishes. It was no surprise that Rumi cared about what she was putting inside her body. 

“Come on baby carrot, let's go eat yeah?” 

You nodded and brought as many plates as you could to the counter, pulling up a chair while Rumi took a chair to sit beside you, promptly digging into her food. “This is so yummy! Where did you learn how to cook like this? I’m not a bad cook myself--” that much was obvious, “-but you cook well carrot!” she gushed, quickly swallowing the food in her mouth. 

“Ah-you're giving me too much credit Rumi-san!” you cried. Your cooking was mediocre at best and she was likely just gassing you to make you feel better. You were unsure of why she was hyping you up, though, you weren’t going to question it. Your mind suddenly drifted back to the kiss you both shared, heat rising onto your cheeks. 

You slapped your cheeks, trying to get any indecent thoughts to exit your head. This caused Rumi to laugh and take another bite of her food, used to your unusual behaviour already. You blushed, though this time, you were less embarrassed than usual. If she had already liked you after knowing you were weird, then why hold back?

“Hey baby carrot, why do you call me Rumi-san? It just seems a little too formal.. and I wanted us to be a little closer than that? I mean, I have a nickname for you” 

This wasn’t the first time that you had thought of giving her a nickname. You were nervous as to what she would say about it. Would she think it was stupid? Would she hate it? Would she make fun of you for it? Of course not, but your thoughts were going a mile a minute and you didn’t have any time to filter them out. 

“I’ll think of one for you, but please give me some time to do so!” 

“Of course baby carrot” she replied before quickly getting back to eating as she motioned for you to do the same. 

The both of you had just finished eating, already washing the remaining dirty dishes, including the pots and pad you had both used to cook. It was quite a domestic and intimate sight. Both of you, side by side. Both washing the dishes. and the other drying. 

As of right now. You were in complete and utter bliss. You’ve had a taste of euphoria and that was Rumi. It was amazing how one person could affect another so much. 

“Hey, it’s getting late. Do you wanna sleep here?” She piled up. Drying a plate before placing it on the dish rack. Meanwhile. Your mind was once again in distress. Why was she so casual about these types of things? Of course, you wanted to sleep beside her, and cuddle close to her, and gee her soft skin brush against yours, and—you get the idea. 

You were a bit hesitant as you didn’t want to overstay your welcome or burden her even further. No matter what she said, you knew that a hero wouldn’t be able to drop their patrol just on the dot. She broke the rules and you knew it. You didn’t want her to be making reckless decisions just because of you! 

“I-I... Am I already overstaying my welcome,” you asked, trying to make sure she wanted this and that she didn’t feel obligated to let you stay for whatever reason? You just wanted a good reason for you to be here. 

“It’s late. I would walk you home to ensure your safety, but right now, there’s a lot of villains lurking and to be honest, I’m not sure if I can take them all while protecting you at the same time” 

She wasn’t lying. If it was just her. For sure she’d be able to go all out and defeat as many villains as she could. She was in the top fen for heaven’s sake! She was just afraid that you’d get caught in the crossfire and end up injured, kidnapped, or worse, dead. 

“Oh.. okay” you mumbled, finishing up washing the dishes. Right now. You were unsure of what to do, she was still unfinished with drying the dishes and had suggested you slept over. Sure you trusted her, but, were you ready to sleep beside her? Were you ready to let her head you snore? Were you ready to let her see your horrible bedhead in the morning? Quite frankly, you were unsure if you were ready at all. 

“But if you want to, I can take you home, it’s your choice. I’ll gladly defend you and protect you carrot” she had quite the facial expression. You could tell that she was determined. Her sheer determination was held in her eyes, her lips pulled up in a smirk and her eyebrows furrowed. 

“I don’t want to be more of an inconvenience, so I’ll just choose the less inconvenient option. I’ll sleep here tonight but I’m taking the couch” you announced. She was going to take it or leave it! You were not going to go into her private space and make her share her rooms and bed. 

“Fine. But. Please feel free to move inside if you’re uncomfortable. I know that couch seems like a good couch to sleep one, but it’s only good for sitting really. More like decoration if you were going, to be honest. 

“Fine, but I promise that I won’t!” you stubbornly added. Wanting to make sure that she understood that you weren’t going to sleep beside her. You were fine sleeping on the couch and she had to understand that! She smiled before giving you a change of clothes, some pillows and blankets, including a spare toothbrush. 

“I’ll be in my room okay? Goodnight carrot” she bid you goodnight before entering her room, not fully shutting it. You fixed up the couch before making your way into the bathroom, passing by Rumi’s bedroom and seeing her shadow move around as her door was left ajar. You changed your clothes and cleaned up, getting ready to take your place on the couch. 

You charged your phone and closed your eyes, waiting to drift off into sleep. 

___

You screamed as you were being chased by a villain, it was in the early hours of the morning, you could tell as the sun was coming up and it just had that morning vibe. You were used to getting up this early and were familiar with it. What you failed to comprehend was why a villain was chasing you? 

It seemed as if it was only about five a.m or six a.m at the latest, but surely by now, there would have been cars driving around. You peeked behind you and saw that the villain had caught up, as he was about to grab you, you suddenly fell off a cliff, your stomach-dropping, your voice stuck in your throat before letting out a shriek and waking up in a cold sweat. What type of dream was that?

“Baby carrot! Are you alright?” said a worried Rumi who already had a glass of water at your side. You tried to take the cup from her but she noticed how shaky your hands were and decided that it would be best to help you drink herself. You slowly gulped down the water, not wanting to choke. You were heaving for air after drinking, maybe you didn’t slow down as much as you had needed to. 

“I-I had a bad dream! I was being chased by a villain and I was all alone! Then when he was about to catch me, I fell off of a cliff!” you explained, recalling the haunting images of the unknown man who had almost caught you. Rumi wrapped her arms around you and had placed you onto her lap, patting your head and rubbing your hands to comfort you. 

“How about you sleep in my room and I sleep here? Are you comfortable with that?” she whispered, not wanting to startle you while in such a vulnerable state. 

“No.. please stay beside me bun. I wanna sleep beside you if that’s all right” you blushed, averting her gaze as you were embarrassed to have mentioned the nickname you had been thinking about for her. It was something you had been thinking about and whilst being cliche, it still suited her quite well. 

“B-Bun? That's such a cute nickname! A little cliche, but still cute! I love it so much and I’m so happy that my cute little carrot thought of it for me!” she gushed, holding you even tighter against your body, almost squeezing the life out of you. 

“I’m glad you like it bun”

“I do carrot. Let’s go to bed now yeah?” she offered, placing your figure down on the couch before straightening herself out and standing up, stretching her arm your in your direction, asking you to take it. You gladly placed your hand in hers, pushing yourself up and sticking beside her as you both made your way to the bed. 

Rumi let go of your hand and made herself comfortable on the bed, making space for you as she moved the large and fluffy comforter and patted the spot, beckoning you to come to take your place beside her. You reluctantly sat on the bed before fully laying flat on your back, awkward and unmoving as you felt Rumi’s eyes on your still figure. 

“You can turn on your side and face me y’ know” she piped up. 

“I’m nervous” you admitted, not wanting to gaze into her eyes. 

Rumi laughed before placing her hand on your cheek, coercing you into facing her direction. You hesitantly obliged and turned your whole body to face her, still avoiding her piercing eyes. She laughed once more before inching her face closer to yours, both of your lips just an inch away from each other. 

“Don’t be a nervous baby carrot, it’s only me” she reassured, stroking the chub of your cheek while you relished in the feeling of the soft pads of her fingers stroking your face. You placed your hand on top of Rumi’s, pressing your face even harder against her palm. Rubbing your cheek against her warm hand. 

“Can I kiss you bun? I wanna kiss you so badly” you softly whined, feeling yourself in the hands of Rumi. Instead of replying she decided to just press her lips against yours, moaning at the feeling of your soft plush lips. 

“Baby carrot” she whimpered, pulling you impossible closer to her, your chests and thighs pressed against each other. You felt arousal consume your whole body, a tight coil forming in your stomach. You whimpered needlessly as Rumi sucked your tongue while wrapping your leg around her hip, placing her hand on the curve of your ass. 

You continued to whine and moan as Rumi caressed your body, her tongue pulling you in and leaving you in a trance. You pulled away, feeling yourself get lost in Rumi herself. 

“If we continued any longer, I would’ve passed out for sure” you sighed, pressing soft kisses on her lips and moving to scatter kisses on her cheeks. She closed her eyes, relishing in the pleasure of you peppering her face with soft kisses. “That’s okay baby carrot, we’ll take it to slow okay?” she took her turn at peppering your cheeks with kisses, making sure to kiss each untouched spot. 

“I like you” you confessed, this time using the courage that had magically shown up to your advantage. You swiped the hair out of her face, wanting to see her. “I like you more,” she replied, kissing the tip of your nose. 

 ___

“Ah~ This is the life! Getting your hair braided by a cute girl while she feeds you!: she chortled, leaning back into your lap as you continued to braid small pieces of her hair while taking small breaks to grab the chopsticks and feed her. You enjoyed watching Rumi relax and eat. It was somewhat satisfying. 

“Don’t you have work today bun?” you asked, feeling much more comfortable than you were from before. After you had spent the night at her place, your relationship with her had only gotten stronger. You felt closer than ever and felt as if nothing could break the pair of you up.

“Nah baby carrot, this is a once in a lifetime thing us heroes call a ‘day off’” she joked, looking behind to face you. “But I’ll be busy this week okay? I don’t want you to worry so I’m just letting you know that I’ll be on the down-low”

It was quite upsetting to see your crush? Girlfriend? Partner? You didn’t even know what to call her. The both of you still hadn’t put a label on your relationship, not that it was a problem, but you wanted to know if she was in it for the long ride or if this was something casual. If it was something casual you would prefer to break it off. You didn’t appreciate sharing your significant other with anyone. 

“Okay bun, I’ll wait for you” you had just settled on something simple, though Rumi saw through your facade and saw that you were somewhat upset by her incoming absence. She just turned around and hugged you, hoping it would give you some type of comfort for your oncoming lonely days without her. 

___

It had been a week since you had seen or heard from Rumi. While she was away, you had busied yourself with tending to your garden, your customers, and practicing baking pastries. You had quite a lot to do. At the moment, you were currently picking some ripe strawberries as you were planning to make some strawberry shortcake, seeing as you had never properly tried it before. 

As you picked the last strawberry, you had noticed it was a mutated one. It was huge! It seemed like it was about three to four normal strawberries combined into one! It fits in the palm of your hand! While you were distracted, you failed to feel your phone vibrate in the pocket of your overalls. 

You made your way inside of your small home and placed the freshly picked basket of fruits on the counter and washed your hands in the sink. After drying your hands, you took your phone out to see a text from Rumi. 

From: bun<3

I’ll be coming home today. I miss you

7:24

Her text made your heart flutter. Even if it was simple, it still filled you with love and affection. Anything Rumi did was amazing in your eyes. It was quite pathetic really, but that’s what love did to people sometimes.  

You decided that this would be a good time to drop by and give her some love and affection with some food included. You smiled as you imagined the happy face that would be present on Rumi’s face when she saw you. She was for sure going to be happy!

You felt yourself starting to feel giddy. This was going to be a good day!

___

You were wrong, dead wrong. Going to Rumi’s house had been a horrible decision. 

You had decided that after closing up the shop, you would make your way to Rumi’s and bring her food. You wanted to show her how much you had missed her, but you mostly wanted to spend time with her. She was always around and made sure to check up on you and your shoot during her patrols. If she wasn’t in the area, she’d send one of her sidekicks in her place.

When you had gotten to Rumi’s place, she still wasn’t home, giving you time to set up a nice dinner for her before she had gotten home. You had prepared some fried rice along with stir-fried vegetables, knowing that she enjoyed a healthy balanced meal, especially after a hard mission. You smiled once again, you were excited to see her again. You just wanted to take her in your arms and love her the way you wanted to. She wasn’t aware, but you were completely and utterly in love with her.

As time went by, it became easier and easier to admit your feelings for Rumi to yourself. Before, you would blush and stutter at the thought of it, but now, you were able to say it to yourself, but sadly not to Rumi. Not yet, at least. 

You heard the front door slam open before hearing a familiar pair of feet stomp inside before hearing the door slam shut. You heard Rumi stomp her way to the kitchen, her brows furrowed and her eyes filled with anger. She didn’t even spare you a glance before placing her keys on the counter and making her way into the bedroom and slamming it shut. 

You sat down on the counter, hoping that she just needed time to relax before spending quality time with you. You waited, and you waited. It had already been an hour and the food had gone cold. The vegetables were cold and hard, as well as the rice. You decided to place everything in a counter before cleaning up. You knew that she was just upset and needed time for herself.

You made your way to the front door, making sure to shut all the necessary lights as it was already nearing midnight. You didn’t wanna upset her any further by overstaying your welcome. Usually, you would have asked to spend the night, but it didn’t seem like Rumi was in the mood for head pats and cuddles. 

You smacked your head with your palm, already putting on your shoes but you had stupidly forgotten about your phone which you had tossed on the couch when you had first arrived. You took off your shoes once more before stepping back into the living room, knowing how disrespectful it was to walk into someone's home with shoes on, especially dirty shoes. 

You made your way to the couch before picking up your phone, seeing two different texts from Rumi before she had gotten home. 

From: bun <3

I’m really upset, usually, I’d love for you to visit but I just want to be alone. I hope you understand. 

10:23

From: bun<3

We can go out tomorrow if you’d like? I miss you carrot

10:26

You were an idiot. An actual idiot. At that time, you were already setting the table as you had closed the shop at eight, having only two hours to cook Rumi a proper meal before her arrival. You should have just left her alone. Now she thinks that you ignored her texts and invited yourself into her home anyways.

You sighed before plopping your phone down on the cushion beside you, placing your arm over your eyes, wanting to just go home and sleep. You should probably make your way home now. It was already getting late. You sat up, making a move to get up off of the couch when Rumi’s bedroom door slammed shut. A pair of feet dragging down the hallway as she made herself known in the living room, standing barely two feet away from you. 

Your jaw was left hanging. You were unsure of what to say? Would she be upset? Would she kick you out? Before you could come up with any more anxiety-inducing thoughts, Rumi had chosen to interrupt you before you had gone any further. 

“Why’re you still here? I thought I made it clear that I wanted to be alone. Do you not know how to use your head?” she sassed, moving around the coffee table to walk towards the kitchen. While she was in the kitchen, you remained glued to the couch. Appalled at the words that had just exited her mouth. 

“I-I” you stuttered, unable to formulate a proper response under her piercing gaze from where she stood in the kitchen. 

“What? Are you just going to stutter and babble like a dumbass? I asked you if you could use your head or not. I’m not sure how clear I could have made this, but I did not want to see you today. I had a shitty mission and all I wanted to do was come home and relax. Instead, I come home to you, doing God knows what in the kitchen! Have you no boundaries? Can your pea-sized brain even comprehend boundaries?” she mocked, harsh words spouting from her mouth as if her mouth was a fountain of curses. “Fucking idiot” she mumbled under her breath. 

You wanted to cry. This time, you had a good reason. You hadn’t expected Rumi to be this upset with you. You had good intentions but you didn’t mean to overstep. You had only wanted to let her know that you had missed her. 

You nodded, opting to stare at your hands that were neatly folded in your lap instead of defending yourself. You probably deserved this anyways. It would be over soon, you just had to suck it up and tough it out. You did put yourself in this situation in the first place. 

“Nothing to say? You’re dumber than I thought” she hissed. 

“You’re going too far Rumi-san. I never intended to step over any boundaries. I was already here before you texted me because I wanted to make sure that you could easily relax when you got home. I wanted to cook for you and take care of you—“ you cried, your tears finally sliding down your cheeks “—I didn’t mean to overstep. But you insulting my intelligence and my mannerisms is too far. You’re being disrespectful and I don’t like that. Don’t take your anger out on me” you scolded, staring at her with such an intense and almost hateful gaze.

You could never hate Rumi, but the words she had spoken to you were something that you were going to remember for the rest of your life, you knew that this would haunt you forever and probably give you nightmares. 

Her face faltered. Your words had finally been processed in her head. Sometimes Rumi acted before thinking. It was one of her lesser traits but you grew to love it anyway. 

It was quite surprising how you were able to defend yourself without bursting into tears, probably because this was the one person whom you had never expected to blow upon you--to take their anger out on you. 

“If you never liked me, then why did you lead me on? What was the whole point of this? You wasted my time, and yours as well” You spat, finally allowing your tears to cascade down your cheeks. “You are a horrible person Usagiyama Rumi.” you spat with venom before taking the rest of your things and walking past her, stopping at the door to say “Delete my number”

You understood that you had done something wrong, but the fact that she had degraded you and insulted you was just immature. You wiped the tears off of your face, upset at the fact that she thought that was okay. Had she always thought this way? Was she just playing you? Your mind was just running amok and you didn’t have anyone to calm you down. 

Luckily, you had safely made it home, encountering no villains or criminals during your journey home. When you had gotten home, you had thrown yourself in bed, not even bothering to change your clothes or clean up. You cried yourself to sleep that night, your anxiety and insecurities weighing down on your shoulders. 

___

It had been a few days after your encounter with Rumi. You had muted her texts and calls, not having the heart to block her and fully eliminate her from your life just yet. You sighed once more, picking the rest of the carrots and taking them back inside to wash. It was almost time to open up the store. 

It had been quite a rough week, you spent most of your week crying, thus resulting in red puffy eyes. It still hurt to touch or rub them. You probably looked stupid, and it was probably noticed that you had been crying. 

You chose to wear glasses today, hoping that it would hide your tired and puffy eyes, not wanting your customers to worry about your wellbeing, especially Ms. Takeshi. She was quite old and you did not need her to worry about you as if you were one of her children, of course, you thought of her as a mom but you didn’t wanna burden her with your problems. 

Hopefully, today will be a better day for you and your fruits and vegetables. 

___

“She’s not answering me Keigo! I’m getting nervous!” Rumi whined, feeling slightly queasy.     

“She probably blocked you” he laughed, finding some amusement in his friend's pain. It was quite sadistic but this was Keigo we’re talking about. It wasn’t rare to see him finding amusement in fucked up things. It was just how he worked. 

“But my texts are still going in! I keep trying to apologize but she keeps ignoring me” she whined, flopping on her back and tossing her phone away from her. They were both currently on patrol, sitting atop of a building somewhere in the city. Both of them were currently situated on top of the building a few buildings away from your shop, your little building of establishment visible. 

“If you did that to me, ridiculed and degraded me, you would never hear from me again. I’m not surprised by her actions Rumi. She was a great girl and sorry to say it, but you fucked up. Real bad.” he continued, wanting his companion to realize how badly she had fucked up. 

“You don’t have to tell me okay?” she grumbled, starting to feel irritation seep into her veins while her supposed friend continued to bring up her mistakes. 

“Yeah, but you still gotta apologize anyways” he blew a piece of flyaway hair out of his face before continuing. “Why’d you do that anyway? Were you just leading her on or something? Cuz that’s mean” Keigo teased, adding more salt to her open wound. 

“I-I was frustrated. One of the younger heroes got killed. A bunch of civilians too. I felt so fucking useless. I was useless. I didn’t save anyone. I may have kicked ass, but that’s not what being a hero is all about. Being a hero is about saving as many lives as you can. I saved nobodies. I just wanted to be alone and I told her that, but I guess she didn’t see. When I saw her at my place, I just left her for a while. I didn’t talk to her--” she sighed. 

“Then I came out and she was just sitting on the couch. I don’t know what overcame me. I just lost it. What I did wasn’t right and I have to earn her forgiveness, but I’m not even sure she’ll let me. I hurt her so fucking bad Keigo” she sighed, placing her arm on her face, shielding herself from Keigo’s pitying gaze. 

Keigo tsked before getting up, shaking his head in disapproval. “I got a plan for you bunny girl, don’t worry about it. Just make sure that you have something nice planned for tomorrow, and dress nice too. Just leave it to me. I’ll help ya. Believe it.”

“Naruto?”

“Shut up”

___

As you were exiting the shop, you encountered a familiar winged hero, stopping at the magnificent sight of his wings. “Hawks?” you squinted, almost thinking you were dreaming, fast asleep on top of the counter in your shop. 

“Hey birdy, how are ya?” he greeted, stepping a little closer to you. 

“I’m okay. I’m sorry, I’m closing the shop right now but if you want anything, I can open it back up? They won’t be as fresh as it’s already late, but I can fix them up with my quirk!” you explained, already digging for the key in your pocket. 

“Nah baby I’m okay, don’t worry about me. I was just wondering if I could take you out? Maybe for coffee?” he asked, scratching the back of his neck. You blushed. What did he want with you? Was he playing with you? Was this a ploy to get you back with Rumi when you hadn’t even established a proper relationship with her?

“O-Okay, I don’t mind” you stuttered, blushing at the fact that he wanted to take you out. This still must have been a play, but this was still the Pro-Hero Hawks! This was an opportunity you couldn’t miss due to your stubborn and prideful personality!

“Come here baby bird, we’re flying” he smiled, wrapping his arms around your waist before taking off, launching the both of you into the air. You screamed as you both flew up, not used to flying. 

“Um… Hawks-san... Why did you want to talk? I’ve never spoken to me before” you started, clutching his arm a little harder as he weaved the both of you through the city. “I’ll talk at the coffee shop okay? I promise.” he smiled.

You nodded, not wanting to pry any further as you didn’t want to overstep your boundaries once more. 

___

“Look, Rumi misses you kid.” he started, scratching the back of his head, mussing up his already wind-swept hair. “I KNEW IT!” you cried, slamming your frappuccino that he oh so kindly bought for you on the table, startling Hawks and the few customers in the joint. 

“I know she’s sorry. I’ve seen her. She’s messed up right now. I know what she did was shitty but you gotta give her another chance kid.” he nearly begged, grasping at your hands. You scowled. How dare he? What did he know? 

”Is that supposed to make me pity her? She knows what she did. And, with all due respect, you shouldn't even be trying to apologize for her in the first place, Hawks-san” you seethed, letting go of his hands and balling yours into fists. You were irritated. 

”Look, I know how badly she fucked up. If it was me, I wouldn't even waste my time with her. But that's me, and this is you. I know you’re in love with her baby bird. Please don't give up on her just because of one fight. All couples fight and all couples are toxic in their own ways. You just have to communicate.” he smiled. 

”F-Fine! But… Please don't mention my feelings for her! That's just embarrassing!” you yelled, hiding your heating face into the palms of your hand. Hawks smiled again before getting up, beckoning for you to follow him. 

Hawks was quite surprised at your willingness to accompany him to meet Rumi. he expected you to be either hesitant or just reject his proposal and leave Rumi in the dust. He smiled once more, you had strong feelings for her, that was a guarantee. 

But, it was now or never. 

Hawks had flown the both of you on top of this building a few ways away from your shop. Your shop was actually visible from here! As Hawks set you down, he motioned for you to turn around, you obeyed, only to see Rumi standing there, holding a bouquet of white orchids. You recognized them as the ‘I’m sorry flowers’. You scoffed. Did she think you were going to be bought by flowers? 

Maybe. 

You felt your cheeks heating up at the sight of Rumi. She still wore her normal clothes, but for some reason, she looks even more attractive than she did before. Of course, she was attractive but it felt as if her attractiveness doubled. Or was that just because you haven’t seen her for some time? People did say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. 

Rumi approached you before trying to nudge the flowers in your hands. You reluctantly took them, not wanting to rub any more salt onto her wounds. You knew that what she had done was wrong and disrespectful, but you understood that sometimes people snapped. Anger was a human emotion, though she just didn't deal with it very well.  

“I’m sorry carrot. I disrespected you and called you names. I made fun of your intelligence even though you’re one of the smartest, prettiest, and most creative people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. I know that I can’t make excuses, but I know what I can do is try my best to get you to forgive me and regain your trust” she softly spoke, staring lovingly into your eyes. 

You felt tears well up in your eyes. You knew she was sorry, but you still felt hurt by her words. She may have just said it out of anger and to hurt you, but it still hurt. There was the intention with her words. You knew and felt it. You knew that you would be able to forgive her but when things like this happened, it turned you off. 

Though, this case is special. You should’ve checked your phone and asked for permission to go inside her home in the first place. Your fault may not have been as serious or as severe as hers, but you weren’t going to let her shoulder all of the blame. 

You placed the flowers down on the floor, resulting in you worrying Rumi in the process. Were you going to leave? Did you not accept her apology? Did you hate her? Did you never want to see her again? Were you ever going to forgive her? Rumi could feel her heartbeat pounding in her ears, anxiety bubbling up inside her. She was suddenly overcome with an urge to hurl. Before she could even gag, you had already thrown yourself in her arms, wrapping your arms around your neck whilst your legs did the same to her waist. 

“I accept your apology! I’m sorry too! I didn’t mean to ignore my texts! Please take me back! I love you so much bun bun!” you sobbed, grasping her even tighter, unaware of what you had just spoken. You heard Rumi let out a laugh of disbelief. 

She pulled away to gaze at your crying face, feeling herself fall even harder for the crybaby right in front of her. She smiled before slamming her lips against yours, quickly dipping her tongue inside of your mouth. Your eyes widened at the surprise kiss before you slowly melted into it, using your tongue to caress hers, pulling her in even further into you. 

As you and Rumi made out, Hawks stood there. He literally just stood there. “H-Hey Rumi! I thought you said I would be eating dinner with you guys” he tried to gain their attention, even sending some of his feathers to them, trying to separate them from each other. 

But, Rumi just shooed him away, leaving Hawks to sadly walk away. As Hawks flew off of the building, his one thought was ‘when will I meet my someone?’. He sighed and continued his flight home. He would meet his soulmate one day. That was for sure. 

“Rumi, do you love me back?” you asked, wanting to hear it come from her mouth. She smiled, caressing the soft skin of your cheeks. “I do carrot. I really do” she smiled, leaning in for another kiss. “Why did you choose to bring me up here though? We could have just gone to your apartment” you tilted your head, resulting in Rumi’s heart skipping a beat. 

“Well, I’ve actually known you for a while. There was a time where I was patrolling here and I saw you walking home, it was already late so I wanted to keep an eye out for you and make sure you were safe. I saw you reviving all the dead plants you passed by, even growing some berries on the shrubbery. I just thought you were so interesting, but I didn't want to be a stalker so I let you go. Then a few days later, I get thrown inside your shop. What a coincidence huh?” she laughed. 

“You’re such a simp bun” you teased, pinching her soft chubby cheeks. 

“Oh! That reminds me, I got you something!” she revealed a small box before handing it to you. It was quite heavy. You opened it, only to find out that it was a bunny! Rumi had gotten you a bunny! How ironic. You scooped it out of the box before placing the bunny in your arms, feeling your bottom lip tremble at the adorable site of the bunny. 

“Do you like it?” she queried, anxious to find out. 

“I love it! I’m gonna name them Hawks!”

“E-Eh? Why!? Why not after me? Hey! Wait! Don’t use your vines to escape! Answer me!” 

___

“Rumi! Where do I smash this in?” you asked, wondering where the hammer was. “Baby carrot, that’s a screw, you can’t use a hammer, we need a drill,” she informed you, carefully taking the hammer out of your dangerous hands. 

“Why’d I have to get such a big closet anyways” you grumbled, sitting on the ground with a pout, hating how useless you were right now. “Because you ran out of snack space. It’s okay. My dad taught me how to build stuff, also this is from IKEA so it’s easy to follow” she bragged, smirking at your sulking figure. 

“Can you hand me the door? We can attach it now. Don’t worry, we’re almost done baby, I promise” she smiled, ruffling the top of your hair. You grumbled about not liking her messing your hair up before reluctantly getting up to fetch the door for your lovely girlfriend. Has this door always been so big and heavy?

You squatted and wrapped your arms around the door, grunting as you tried to pick it up. You succeeded but lost your balance, your legs locking into place as you fell backwards, the door landing on top of you and smashing into your forehead. “HELP!” you cried as you were pinned under the door.

Rumi came running in, thinking you had hammered a nail through your own foot, only to find you on the floor, under a cabinet door. She snickered as your limbs wiggled. 

“I guess you can say you look… a-door-able HAHAHA!”

“Haha. Please help, my lungs are being crushed”

“OH SHIT”

© katsukisbimbo 2020 — all rights reserved. please refrain from modifying, translating, reposting of any kind. plagiarism will NOT be tolerated. please be kind and enjoy!

[lilchibi-chan]

Hewwo! How r u doing??🧐 I would like to ask for a little something where the reader is easily distracted and goes off the path (chasing a butterfly, seeing a dog, etc...) and the boy doesn’t notice until later. 🥰🥺 The bois: Todoroki, Kirishima, and Shinso (BNHA/MHA) ✨✨

Aww I love this! This is so cute! I will try my best for you 🥺

Todoroki

It’s Friday evening and you are on your way home from UA because you wanted to go home for the weekend and Todoroki decides to go with you being the protective boyfriend he is.

It’s spring and the cherry blossoms have just bloomed. The path you’re walking is lined with cherry blossom trees. You stop to take in the soft pink petals, but Shouto doesn’t notice until he reaches the end of the path and sees that you’re not next to him.

He freaks out thinking someone might’ve taken you when he wasn’t watching or maybe you just went off to a convenience store or something. He decided to walk back up the path, asking any and everyone if they had seen you, showing them pictures of you, saying how tall you are, etc.

He finally makes it to where you were, hair sticking to his forehead since he basically ran the whole time.

You were standing under the trees, slowly spinning as the petals fell into your hands. You felt like you were in your own little world, like you were a fairy and you could stay in this moment forever.

You hadn’t noticed him standing there yet, but he was watching as you twirled beneath the flower petals, falling like snow around you. He took out his phone and started recording you and snapped a few pictures. You looked so beautiful to him in this moment and he wanted to capture if forever. The way the sun shone on your skin and your warm smile melted him and he realized just how much he loves you in that moment.

When you finally notice him standing there, you feel your cheeks heat up and you know instantly that you’re blushing.

He makes his way over to you and grabs your hand in his. He looks at them and smiles for a moment. He pulls you close to his chest and kisses you on your forehead.

“I love you...y/n”

You look up at him surprised because his words caught you off guard, but hearing them made you happy, so the as quick as the shock hit is as quick as it left and you just smiled from ear to ear.

You hug him and nuzzle your face into his chest.

“I love you too, Shouto”

You both walk up the path, this time he’s hold your hand and make your way to your house where dinner is already waiting.

Kirishima

It’s summer vacation and your family has decided to go to the beach house that has been in your family for decades. They tell you to invite Kirishima along and whoever else you wanted to come along since there was enough room. It was a private beach, so you basically had it to yourselves whenever your family did go there for whatever reason, whether it be a small gathering or just wanting to get away from the city for a little bit.

When you reach, everyone unpacks and you decide to head down to the beach with Mina, Yaoyorozu and Uraraka. Denki, Kirishima, Bakugou, Sero and Deku all meet you on the beach a little afterwards. You all swim for a while and play games, until your dad decides to barbecue. Once everything is taken off the grill, you all eat together. Your mom bought fireworks and sparklers for you all to end the night with and celebrate your first day on the beach.

After all the festivities are over, you all head inside to rest for the night, but you and your friends decided to have a mini sleep over in the living room and watch movies. You cuddled with Kirishima on the couch while the rest of your friends took the floor. You all end up falling asleep in the middle of the second movie that was put on. You wake up around 3:30 to the tv still being on. You get up to turn it off then realize you can’t fall back asleep. You decide to go out and take a walk along the beach to calm yourself to the sound of the waves. You notice that the waves are glowing due to the bioluminescent krill in the water and you become so entranced that you take a seat on the rocks to watch the beautiful sight before you.

Kiri wakes up an hour later and pops up when he realizes you’re not next to him anymore. He carefully gets up, so that he doesn’t hurt any of the sleeping people on the floor and makes his was upstairs to see if you decided to go up to your room. The thought made him sad, but he could understand if your bed was more comfortable than the couch. He opened the door quietly, as to not wake your parents and saw that your bed was untouched. He decided to make his way to the balcony on the second floor to think about where you could’ve gone. Something told him to use the telescope that was on the balcony and he searched for you along the beach. He finally saw that you were on the far end by the rocks, sitting on them. He made his way back down the stairs, again quietly, and made his way along the beach to get to you. He took a blanket with him, just in case you would be cold.

“Hey pebble,” he says with a soft smile, startling you a bit

“Hey,” you say with a soft smile back

“I’m sorry I scared you,” he says with laughter in his voice,“but you can just consider it a little bit of pay back since I woke up and you weren’t there.” He finished, taking a seat next to you.

“Sorry about that,” you say blushing

“Why are you sitting here anyways?” He asked curious

“Well, I can show you better than I can tell you,” you say picking up a flat rock, then skimming it across the water to reveal the plankton

“Woah, that’s so cool, pebble. I see why you stayed here so long,” he says smiling his big smile

“How long have I been out here,” you ask, kinda freaking out

“Little over an hour,” he says smiling

“We should probably head back before my parents wake up,” you say about to get up

“Wait,” he says stopping you,“five more minutes, then we can go back.”

You nod and he takes a seat next you and wrapping the blanket around both of your shoulders.

After the five extra minutes, you both head back to the beach house, cuddle on the couch and go back to sleep.

Shinso

Shinso and you are out for a picnic date that you had planned for a while. The weather is warm and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. You make it to forest/site you wanted to have the picnic and it’s even more perfect than you imagined. There’s the perfect canopy to sunlight ratio and you’re not too far from the river, causing there to be a comfortable coolness in the air. You set down the blanket and Shinso put some rocks on the corners, so that it wouldn’t lift up in the wind blew. You both start unpacking the basket and you realize you forgot the drinks in the car. You offer to run and go get it, but he protests.

“I’ll get it, kitten. You stay here, I’ll be right back,” he says leaving you there by yourself.

A couple of minutes pass and you start to hear rustling in the bushes. You were definitely a little frightened, but waited to see if anything would come out before you just to any conclusions or scared yourself by jumping to said conclusions.

Just then a bunny comes out and it’s limping. You slowly crawl over to it, as to not scare it.

“It’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you cutie. I just wanna help.”

You continue to slowly crawl toward it, extending your hand so that it can get used to your scent. Once it finally puts its guard down, your able to pick it up. You figured it’s borough couldn’t be too far from where you were since it came this way. You decide to walk off, eyeing the ground for any holes.

When Shinso finally returns to your picnic area, he sees that you’re not there. He decides to call for you, but receives nothing. He decides to take the path you took, not knowing that it’s the way you went, but something inside him told him to go that way.

After a few minutes of walking, he decides to try calling for you again. The first time he receives nothing, causing worry to start building. He walks up some more and tries again.

“Y/N!!”

“Over here!”

He walkruns over to the direction he heard your voice come from.

“Shh,” you say, so that he wouldn’t startle the rabbit in your arms. He makes his way over to you slower. You tell him what happened and he helps you find the bunny’s home.

You finally find the borough at the bottom of a tree. You decide it might be best to back away and let the bunny hop in on its own. You crouch down and Shinso follows. You set the bunny on the ground and it’s hesitant to head home.

“Go ahead, it’s okay,” you say encouraging it

The bunny takes a couple hops before fully going for it and going home. You decide to capture this moment by snapping a couple of pictures. While you’re busy doing that, Shinso just admires you and smiles.

“Ready,” you say smiling and catching him off guard

“Y-yeah, lets go,” he says blushing

You both make it back to your picnic and enjoy the food and snacks that were packed.

All of a sudden it starts to rain. You both hurriedly pack everything and try to find shelter somewhere.

You come across a shed and decide to knock in the door. An older woman opens the door.

“Hello ma’am, is it okay if we stay here. It’s just started raining out of nowhere and we don’t have an umbrella,” you say nicely and slightly apologetic

“Of course dears. Come in.”

You and Shinso do as she says and she lights a fire for you both to sit by. She also supplies you with a blanket and leaves to make tea for you both. Shinso wraps the blanket around both of you and he can see that you are shivering a little, so he moves closer to you, causing you to blush.

“Kitty,” he says, grabbing your attention

“Yes”

“I’m sorry the picnic got ruined,” he says apologetic

“It didn’t get ruined,” you say with laughter in your voice,“this was the best day ever.”

“R-really,” he asks expectantly

“Yes, we helped a bunny find its way home and we did still get to enjoy the picnic, it’s just got cut short and that’s okay, cause I got to spend the whole day with you.”

“This is why I love you, kitty. Your so good and optimistic. You see the great in every situation. I wish I could do that more. You’re so perfect and I-I don’t want to lose you.”

“You’re not gonna lose me and you’re perfect too. Maybe not perfect to you, but perfect to me and that’s the most important thing,” you say smiling

He pulls you in and kisses you softly and full of love.

The rain finally clears and you thank the woman for her hospitality. Shinso drives you to your house and before you exit he grabs your hand and kisses it. Then he pulls you in and kisses your lips. He watches you enter your house and then drives off.

I hope you enjoyed. Thank you again for submitting and keeping my asks active. You always give me something new and I really appreciate you letting my imagination run wild (more than it already does). 💖🥺

[stellar-imagines]

HEADCANONS REQUEST: ❝early period.❞

[ Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia ] [ Characters: Bakugou Katsuki, Todoroki Shouto, Kirishima Eijirou ]

「Headcanons of Bakugou, Kirishima and Todoroki when their fem!S/O's period arriving earlier (like during lunch time and they asked them to eat lunch but S/O has already bled through their skirt) and how would the boys assess the situation.」

BAKUGOU KATSUKI  

♤ You don't usually keep track of the exact date of when your period is supposed to hit. To begin with, its inconsistent, it could be a few days early or even a few days late. So it can come at the worst moments but you never expected it to come around lunch time. Bakugou had called you over, inviting you to eat lunch with him when it happened. He saw that you were bleeding through your skirt.

♤ Bakugou is super worried. Like you’re fucking bleeding all of a sudden? Did something happen to you? An old wound reopening? Wound from where? When and how did it happen? If so why didn’t you tell him that you got hurt in the first place? With so many questions inside his head, he mentally told himself to keep quiet and help you first! Seeing you look embarrassed and scared made him panic and he wasn’t sure if he should comfort you first or not . There were a few people who turned your way, whispering amongst themselves and wondering if you’re injured or something. Bakugou tells everyone to fuck off and pulls you to Recovery Girl’s office to get you treated for your ‘injury’.

♤ Boy was relieved that you were just on your period but you’re super embarrassed that your boyfriend saw you bleeding through your skirt. And it wasn’t only him, a few other people were there as well. You just wanted to dig a hole, crawl in it and die from humiliation. If anyone dares to look at you wrongly, Bakugou won’t hesitate threatening to poke their eyeballs out. Even without the threatening, they will cower away just from Bakugou’s glare. This boy won’t allow anyone to mess with you for something that you can’t control.

♤ Let's be honest here. Bakugou complains when you demand something from him but he does it anyway because he's an absolute softie for you. During periods you just want cuddles and for him to keep your stomach warm. Not only that, you have cravings that required him to go back and forth to the nearest convenience store to get it for you. He calls you annoying and being needy but seeing you whine and complain about your cramps made him give in.

TODOROKI SHOUTO

☆ Todoroki panics too but in a more calm way. He asks you what's wrong after calming you down. The guy brings you to a secluded area first to assess the situation and check your injuries. When you admit that you're actually on your period, he's a bit relieved that you weren't injured in anyway. But seeing in you a panicked and embarrassed state, he brings you over to Recovery Girl and away from people's stares.

☆ There were a lot of things he wanted to ask because he has no idea how to react to you having your period earlier than you're supposed to. He's trying to understand what's going on. The guy leads you out of Recovery Girl's office once you're feeling a bit better. He's still a bit hesitant and asking multiple time if you're still okay with attending classes and insists that you return to the dorms if you're feeling unwell. He looks pretty calm despite having witnessed you bleeding through your skirt. You asked him if he felt disgust and he shook his head at that, mentioning about how it was something you can't control.

☆ Walking human heater. You don't need to waste money on heating pads anymore when you have Todoroki as your boyfriend. It's not like you're using him or anything, he offers! The guy has little to no experience and no idea how a girl's period feels like. He does his best to satisfy your cravings and needs. If you ask him to buy pads for you, the guy doesn't have any complaints but he will be very confused because there's a lot of choices. Todoroki doesn't mind running errands for you, buying food and snacks that you're craving for.He calls you and asks so many questions that sounded extremely dumb.

☆ "Why are there lengths? Is it different for different girls?" He sounds very confused and at lost but at the same time you could sense that he was actually curious. He does his best with helping you feel better. Todoroki gets a bit restless while you're on your period because he has to experience at all and doesn't know how to deal with it. He asks you constantly if there's anything he could get and do for you.

KIRISHIMA EIJIROU

♡ Kirishima invited you to eat lunch with him and his group of friends like he normally does. It was on one of the days when you actually least expected it. Your period had been stable for months, only a day earlier or a day late. But it was really early on this month. He is very worried and is by your side in an instant when he sees that you're struggling. He felt his heart stop at the sight of blood seeping through your skirt.

♡ He's throwing questions at you while he's guiding you to Recovery Girl's office, mostly asking if you're feeling sick or not. You understand that he's concerned but you were embarrassed to admit that you're on your period. Kirishima is willing to help you through anything so he takes it quite well when you tell him that you're actually on your period. When there are people staring at you after witnessing you bleed, he's quick to clear up the misunderstanding and avoid people from making a big fuss about it.

♡ The sweetest boyfriend honestly, he treats you like a princess when you're on your period. But seriously, Kirishima treats you like a princess all the time. He's super worried when he sees you rolling around, holding your stomach in pain. The guy will be by you side within an instant to tend to your needs. He just feels super bad and he's willing to do anything it takes to help you feel better. He will grab you some painkillers, pads or whatever the hell you're craving for at the moment. He's an expert at pampering you and is definitely not shy when he has to go to the nearest drugstore to buy some pads for you.

♡ You want cuddles, he will give you the manliest cuddles that have ever existed. Honestly, cuddles are cuddles, you're not sure how cuddles can be manly to begin with. Kirishima is an affectionate person and you can't change our minds. He will want to be cuddled up with you when you're going through cramps. If you want to watch some cheesy movie that you've watched over a hundred times, he's not gonna complain if he can cuddle you throughout the entire movie. He doesn't like seeing you in pain and wants to be of help in any way he can! 

Total: 1148 words Published: 22.04.2020

Thank you for requesting! ｡٩(ˊᗜˋ)و*｡ Who else has cramps during their periods? I do and sometimes, I just curl up in bed until the pain passes. We did our best with this, hope you all liked it! ― author Lou

Thank you for requesting! Cramps where you crave for sweets like chocolate, ice cream or anything sweet, really. The satisfaction of eating whatever you’re craving is a nice feeling. To those suffering from period cramps, hang in there! ― author Natsuki

Requests are open! Matchups are closed!

Please do not mind the grammar mistakes and typos.

[xxisxxisxxis]

Preview: Gateway Drug | Part Ninety-Three

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I glance at Nikki from the corner of my eye, rubbing my lips together, seeing that he's too involved in the book he's reading to pay me any attention. 

Somebody just came in and told us Amber would be late and to "hang tight." 

He hasn't said a word to me since I got in here.

I catch him eyeing me, quickly looking at his book when I see him.

I sigh and stand up, bending over the little coffee table to put it back, hearing him sigh under his breath and slouch in his chair a little, and when I turn around he's "reading" but his book is conveniently over his crotch, his knees far apart. 

I smirk to myself and sit back down on the same couch he's on, both of us keeping to opposite ends. 

My dress goes up my thighs a little when I sit down and I hold back a laugh when he sneaks a millisecond long look before going back to his book. 

"You look good." I tell him, honestly. 

He looks like he's been working out some, and all I can seem to picture are his hands around my throat, gagging me as--

"Mhmm." He says, interrupting my thoughts,  not looking at me, turning a page. 

"Like really good." I say next. 

"Yep." He replies, brushing me off. 

"Really, really good." I add. 

"I get it, you're wetting your panties right now because I look so good." He states, unamused, eyes on the book and I cut my eyes at him. 

Now I just want to get under his skin. 

"Mmm, I'm not sure," I tell him, shifting on the couch, crawling to him, "wanna check and see for me?" I whisper in his ear. 

"Rather drag my balls on glass." He replies. 

I raise a brow before pressing my lips to the place behind his ear, going down his neck, his leg shaking when I run my tongue along as his skin and--

"I will beat you off of me with this fucking book," he's nearly falling over the arm rest of the couch to get away from me, holding the book up. 

"Nikki--"

"--Nah, no, no, no, shh! No, I know what you're doing, you're not getting out of this, I'm pissed and holding you accountable because that's what Amber told me to do. You are not using any of your holes to get out of this with me. You're in trouble." He tells me. 

"I'm not doing anything--"

"--You're dressed like that, you've got my favorite heels of your's on, your tits are out and...and…" he trails off for a second. "...and your fucking long-ass legs are on display and I know what you're doing because if you weren't up to something you wouldn't have come prepared to fuck with my head like a, a, sneaky sex demon or something, so don't start that, 'I'm not doing anything' bullshit because you are and you know you are, and I know you are, and I'm putting my fucking foot down and telling you to go to the bathroom and fuck yourself if you're that fucking horny because you're not getting any from me, Sixx. I refuse. I'm going on strike." He continues ranting and I blink at him as he sits back down, tossing the book down on the table. 

"Okay." I reply. 

"And thank you. I've been working out." He adds, a moment of quiet passing by. "And you look beautiful." He tells me. 

"Thanks." I reply… "And on a scale from one to ten how pissed are you?" I ask him. 

"I don't know. I'm still plotting my revenge." He replies. 

"Seriously, Nikki? It's not even that bad. I was just meeting Duff's family." 

"You skipped our appointment to go, and didn't mention anything about it to me until the next day. So, yeah, it kinda is a big deal." He states. 

"I said I was sorry." I tell him. 

"No, you didn't, you came in here all dolled up and was planning on just batting your lashes at me, thinking it'd be resolved. I might be a man, but I'm not a pussy-whipped little bitch like Vince."

"Coulda fooled me the last couple years." I mumble, crossing my arms, and he looks at me, unamused. "What? I'm just saying…and I wasn't gonna bat my lashes, I was gonna give you a blo--"

"--Sorry, I'm late." Amber tells us as she walks in and I don't finish my sentence, seeing Nikki looking flustered. 

Good. 

Now we can both be horny and sulk. 

[chickensarentcheap]

Never Gonna Be Alone- Chapter 16

Title: Bruised, Not Broken

Warnings:  mental illness, memory and talk of near death experience, profanity

Tagging: @c-a-v-a-l-r-y, @alievans007, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @tragiclyhip, @miss-smutty​

“He’s struggling,” Esme says the following morning, as she leans stomach first against the kitchen island, cell phone pressed to her ear and an oversized mug of steaming tea staring invitingly up at her. “Badly.”

It’s eight thirty in the morning and she’s exhausted; a night full of broken sleep and attempting to fend off the monsters that accompany the reality of mental illness. It hadn’t been that bad in a long time; inconsolable, body wracking sobs that quickly transition into feelings of frustration and embarrassment, followed by a period of self loathing and disgust, finished off by intense rage directed at the mental illness itself and the people and experiences that directly caused it. It’s a hell of a thing to go through. Holding your six foot three, two hundred pound husband while he desperately clings to you and weeps like a terrified and wounded child. Able to do little more than offer verbal reassurance and attempt to comfort by running your fingers through his hair or rubbing his back. THAT isn’t the difficult part; the soothing comes easily and naturally and he normally responds quickly. Even the shame he feels afterwards is relatively easy to cope with. She can fend that off by staying calm and explaining why he doesn’t need to feel that way; somewhat convincing him that there’s no need for embarrassment just because he had a moment of vulnerability and weakness. Reminding him that he IS human; he’s allowed to feel hurt and pain and be frustrated and confused. But it’s the anger that takes over; all consuming and powerful and making it impossible to get through to him. She’d long ago learned that it’s best to just sit back and not say anything; let him rant and rave and vigorously pace the floor. Redirecting doesn’t work; he becomes defensive and accusatory and every little suggestion is taken as a personal attack or judgement. Silence IS golden when he goes off the deep end. Relegating herself to just listening and acknowledging what's happening to him and conveying understanding through body language and actions as opposed to words.

It always ends the same way. With pure physical and emotional exhaustion taking over. All the rage and tears expended and leaving him feeling empty and worn out; crawling back into bed and turning his back towards her in a silent request to just leave him alone. And she gives him that; a hand resting on the top of his head or upon his shoulder, yet no words ever exchanged. Staring up at the ceiling with tears of her own streaming down her face; a mixture of her own frustration and anger and pure and profound heartache. Not only hating to see the person she loves more than anything in the world hurting so badly, but detesting the fact she can’t do anything to take it all away.

“He always struggles at Christmas,” Ovi reminds her, and over the line she can hear the babbling of the littlest and the various voices belonging to characters on Sesame Street. It’s surreal at times; acknowledging just who he is now and how far he’s come. Easily remembering him as that scared and traumatized teenager and then having to remind herself that he’s a grown man; a wife and children of his own and well on his way to becoming a pediatrician.

“It’s different this year. It’s not just sadness. It’s frustration and it’s rage and it’s so much self loathing. I know we were told that this would happen; he’d go through these kinds of ups and downs. But he’s been doing so well and he’s been coping and hasn’t had a downward spiral like this in so long.”

“What is it he’s actually getting worked up over? What’s setting him off?”

“He’s been thinking a lot about Austin. He mentioned how it was bothering him how much Millie and TJ look like him. I mean, he’s always sad at Christmas. It’s always difficult for him. But it’s not like THIS.”

“Maybe he’s wondering what Austin would be like now. Or what he would have been like when he was Millie and TJ’s ages. And if he’s already down and out because of the holiday, adding that into the mix COULD make it worse.”

“It’s been years since he was THIS bad. You know how well he’s been doing. Everything’s been under control. He’s been managing it. Extremely well.”

“And he’s still going to therapy?”

“Religiously. By himself AND with me. And you know what a miracle THAT is. Him even agreeing to getting help in the first place.”

“Is he taking his meds? If he’s been off them or been skipping them…”

“I’ve checked. I went and counted them myself. There’s no extra. He’s been taking them. And I fucking hate that I even have to do that. Check up on him like that. He’s a grown man. He’s forty-seven years old and I’m treating him like he’s a child. I hate that I have to do that. I hate this whole fucking thing. This whole illness.”

“Unfortunately, he’s shown that he can’t be trusted. When it comes to meds. It’s a horrible thing to say, but…”

“This is just so unfair,” she laments, and lifts the mug of tea to her lips. “ That he’s suffering like this. He’s paid his dues, Ovi. And then some. Why does he have to KEEP paying? Wasn’t Dhaka enough? Wasn’t what happened twelve and half years ago a big enough price to pay? He doesn’t deserve this. This kind of pain. I’d rather see him physically struggling than this. Because at least I know that pain will subside. But this? I fucking hate this. And I can’t see Christmas being the only thing causing this. He’s never this bad.”

“How’d he seem when he got back? From Cambodia?”

“Tired. A little sore. But he seemed fine. He was glad to be home and in great spirits. He’s been...I don’t know...he’s been Tyler. Nothing out of the ordinary. I mean, it seemed like there was some underlying sadness, but I just chalked it up to it being Christmas and him always have a hard time.”

“Could something have happened while he was away? Could something have triggered it?”

“He didn’t tell me much. Just that the guys he took out were pretty much the biggest pieces of garbage he’s ever encountered. And that’s saying a lot; considering how many years he’s been doing the job and how many assholes he’s taken out. I guess they didn’t stop at just drug running and weapons trafficking. Apparently they abused women. And children. In the worst ways possible.”

“That could do it. Probably hit close to home. Hearing about someone taking advantage of kids like that.”

“He did seem rather vengeful about it. Satisfied, even. That he got the chance to take out people like that. And I don’t blame him; those people are scum and they deserve to put down in the most painful way possible. And he did say that it made him think about his kids. He kind of started dwelling on it; what would happen and how he’d react if anyone touched his kids like that.”

“That’s probably what did it,” Ovi concludes. “It’s probably been just eating away at him. It’s probably all he’s been thinking about; his own kids getting victimized like that. And you know Tyler. Once something is in his head, it lives there rent free. For a long time.”

“I try to get him to focus on other things; cut him off at the pass before he even gets down that rabbit hole. Usually it works; I can distract him and get him thinking about other things. And I thought it DID work. Guess I’m not as good at all of this as I think.”

“I think you need to cut yourself some slack. If anything, you do TOO much. You take too much on. You’ve got seven kids you’re taking care of. You’re dealing with Tyler’s issues. Are you taking care of yourself? Has anyone asked you how YOU’RE doing? Because that’s just as important.”

“I’m doing okay,” she lies, and swallows a mouthful of tea. “I’m fine.”

She feels anything but; weary to her bones and longing to be home. Six years ago, Australia had become her happy place; a beautiful home backing out onto the beach and the ocean in such short walking distance. There’s a bliss that comes with being there. The feel of the sand beneath your feet and between your toes, the sound of the waves as they roll up onto the shore, the smell of salt that hangs heavily in the air. It represents everything that is beautiful and good in her life; incredible little human beings she’d had a hand in making and a man that loves her more than anything in the world and practically worships the ground she walks on. Everyone seems happier there; content with the sunshine and the warm temperatures and the close relationship with nature. The pace of life seems slower; more laid back and relaxing and not possessing the amount of stress and tension that being in the States in the middle of winter seems to bring. And while she loves it in New York -the convenience that comes with a big city and the amount of activities to keep yourself busy that are available- she’d willingly give it all up if meant it would alleviate some of the suffering that Tyler’s mental illness brings upon him.

“You realize I know you’re lying, right?" Ovi says. "That I lived with you for years and I know exactly how you get; taking on the world’s problems and not paying attention to your own. You can’t keep doing that. You can’t keep ignoring yourself because you’re so busy trying to solve everyone else’s issues. You can’t pour from an empty cup. You burn yourself out and you’ll be no good to anyone. Especially the kids.”

“I don’t have time to worry about myself. Or the energy. There are far more important things going on than what I’m going through.”

“So you’re NOT fine.”

“It’s stressful. It’s Christmas. I always get like this at Christmas. It’s all those ridiculous standards my mother put on us when we were young. Everything had to look and be perfect on the surface so no one really knew just how messy it all was underneath. I can’t get out of that; that line of thinking. And yes, I DO know that’s unhealthy, Doctor Mahajan.”

Ovi chuckles. “Let’s not go tossing that title around just yet. I’ve got a few more years to go. Especially when I’m going into a speciality.”

“Listen, if I want to call my kid a doctor, I will. I’m proud of you. I know how far you’ve come. Everything you’ve gone up against and battled through. I still remember fourteen year old you. Keeping you occupied in that factory; talking about movies and girls and school.”

“I still remember when you showed up. Wondering who the hell you were and thinking ‘how the hell is someone THAT small going to help us?’. Talk about not being able to judge a book by it’s cover. Tyler was right; it is the tiny ones you have to watch out for.”

Smiling, she takes a sip of tea and then perches herself on the edge of the counter. “Do you remember when we used to go into town and get ice cream? In Telluride? When you had your last period off in high school and you’d come home early and it would just be the two of us?”

“I LOVED that place. That was like a childhood dream come true! Walls of candy and thirty flavours of ice cream and these enormous banana splits and massive sundaes. Remember that time we shared that really huge hot fudge one? With the whipped cream and the peanuts on it? I think it was called the Beast or something like that.”

“The Behemoth,” she laughs. “I DO remember that. We sat outside and shared it. We even flipped a coin to see who got to eat the cherry that was on the top.”

“I am still mad at you for winning that. I really wanted that cherry. Those are some of my best memories, you know. The things we’d do together. When Tyler was away and Millie and the twins were at school. We used to have some fun. I used to love when we went bowling. And we’d eat french fries soaked in vinegar.”

“And those really horrible hamburgers. With the flat patties. And no taste. That seems so long ago. You were what? Eighteen? If that?”

“Just turned seventeen. And that IS a long time ago. I AM twenty seven now.”

“And you have your own wife and your own kids. And you’re a doctor.”

“Not yet,” he laughs. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

“Let’s not pretend it won’t happen. We both know it will. And I am; proud of you. So proud. You have come so far, Ovi. To do as well as you have after everything you went through. You would have had every right to have issues.”

“I had two people that loved me and believed in me. That made me realize I could do whatever I wanted. BE who I wanted. If I hadn’t had you guys? I wouldn’t be where I am now. I probably would have followed in his footsteps. I would have felt obligated to. Scared and pressured into it. And it would have just kept that whole vicious and toxic cycle going.”

“I know we weren’t perfect. I know Tyler and I went through some shit that you had to listen to and witness. But all we’ve ever wanted is the best for you. For you to realize how amazing you are. How much potential you have. And all we wanted to do was give you a good life. Even if at the time we didn’t have the money you once had and sometimes it seemed we didn’t have much to offer you. All we wanted was to give you a family.”

“You did. And it never mattered what you could and couldn’t give me. Materialistically speaking. All that mattered was that you loved me. And I felt that. I ALWAYS felt that.”

“It’s strange, huh? How something so crazy and scary brought us together? How complete strangers can become family? It’s surreal.”

“It wasn’t the most conventional of meetings, but it certainly turned out pretty amazing. You know what I remember the most? About back then? When we did meet? I remember being on that bridge with you. And how you refused to separate from me. You said you wouldn’t leave me. And you didn’t. Even I was slowing you down, you never abandoned me. And you didn't treat me like you were doing a job or I was some kind of package. There was no money, but you still stuck by me.”

“We were in it together. I wasn’t going to sacrifice you to save myself. That’s just not who I am. I wasn’t going to leave you. In the same way I wasn’t going to leave Tyler there. There was no way I was doing that; taking off and leaving him there to die. I couldn’t live with myself if I did. My conscience couldn’t handle it. And selfishly, I wanted him alive. I wanted to get to know him and be with him.”

“Hell of a way to profess your love for someone. Willingly sacrifice your life to try and save them. Stick your fingers in their neck to keep them alive. Nothing says ‘I love you’ quite like that.”

“It was quite the ordeal,” Esme agrees, and finishes off the remains of her tea. “You know, sometimes it feels like just yesterday. Other times it feels like forty years. But if I close my eyes and I try hard enough, I can actually remember what it felt like to be there. How scared I actually was. I can hear the gunshots and the explosions and my own heart pounding in my chest. I can even still smell things; blood and gasoline and gunpowder.”

“I believe that’s something referred to as PTSD.”

“Listen buddy, you’re trying to become a pediatrician, NOT a shrink. Don’t go psychoanalyzing me.”

“I’m just saying maybe it’s time you worked on what’s going on in YOUR head. Instead of worrying so much about what’s going on in Tyler’s. I know you love him. I know you’d do anything for him. You go hard core Mother Hen when he gets like this. And I know you can’t help it and I know he appreciates everything you do for him. But you know what else I know? I know he doesn’t expect you to forget about yourself while constantly taking care of him. He’s a grown man. And he’s more than capable of taking care of himself.”

“It’s easier said than done. I can’t just let him fend for himself. I can’t just let him spiral out of control and do nothing more than hope for the best. He’s my husband. The father of my kids. And it kills me to see him like this. To know he’s in so much pain. To hear him talk about himself like he does.”

“When he gets like this, he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Or saying. He just lashes out. He doesn’t mean it when he says he wishes he had died five years ago. Or twelve and a half years ago. That’s just his brain telling him this shit. Do you think he’s in crisis? Do you think he’d hurt himself? Try something stupid?”

“No. I don’t think he WANTS to die. I think he just wants this over. The pain he’s in. He just wants it to stop.”

“He’s going through a depressive stage. It’s to be expected. I mean, it sucks it’s happening right now. At Christmas. What’s he doing right now?”

“Sleeping.” She looks out towards the living room; Tyler fast asleep on the couch, on his stomach with the comforter from TJ’s bed tossed over him and an arm and a leg dangling over the side. The night hadn’t gotten any better after he’d fallen asleep. Tossing and turning and having nightmares; finally coming downstairs to take up residence on the sofa and give her the chance to get a peaceful, undisturbed rest. But she hadn’t been able to. Too worried about him and wanting nothing more than to go downstairs and join him on the couch, yet knowing his current mood, her actions wouldn’t be well received. “He’s on the couch right now. It was a rough night. Nightmares.”

“About?”

“He wouldn’t tell me. Which means they were about Dhaka. Most likely about the bridge. He’ll talk to me about Nathan, but not about the bridge. He avoids that like the plague. More for me than for him.”

“Have you called his therapist? Told him what’s going on? Maybe he has some suggestions; things that can alleviate some of the anxiety and the panic. Help him sleep better.”

“If it gets worse, I’ll call. This could have been a one off. It might have just been a delayed reaction to being away.”

“If it wasn’t and he DOES get any worse? Call. Don’t hesitate. Or take him to the emergency. Or call me and I’ll take him.”

“I’m hoping it doesn’t come to that. He’s resting now. Which is a good sign. Last time he went into a depressive state, he didn’t sleep for a week. I’ll give it a couple days. At least get past Christmas. Once it’s over, he might perk up.”

“Don’t hesitate to call me. If he gets worse or you sense he’s spiralling out of control. I’ll be there. As soon as I can.”

“You have your own life. Riya and the kids. I can’t…”

“That’s my dad. I want to help. LET me help. It’s the least I can do. I’ve to go for now though; promised Mykayla we’d go see Santa in Central Park. She has some last minute gift ideas to drop in his lap.”

“Give her and Tabbi a kiss from Grandma Me. Tell them I love them. Riya too. I love you, Ovi. I’m so proud of you.”

“I’ll give them tons and hugs and kisses from you,” he promises. “And I love you too, mom.”

****

She’s sitting in the sunroom when he wakes an hour later; listening to him shuffle through the living room and into the guest bathroom, the door clicking shut behind him. Minutes later he’s heading towards her; yawning noisily and his eyes heavy lidded. And she glances up from the laptop resting upon her thighs when he pads into the room; clad in a pair of tattered and faded plaid pyjama bottoms and no shirt. And she can’t help but think about how adorable he looks; a giant of man boasting his fair share of tattoos and scars, his hair mussed from sleep and a sporting pout of both sleepiness and annoyance.

“Hey sleeping beauty,” she cheerfully greets, and tilts her head back to smile at him. “How you feeling?”

“Alright I guess.” He presses the heels of his palms into his eyes and then rakes his fingers through his hair. “Can you stand up for a second?”

She cocks her head to the side, a quizzical look on her face.

He manages a small smile, then runs a gentle palm over her hair and adds, “Please?”

Obliging, she places the laptop on the seat cushion next to her and then joins him at the side of the couch; immediately gathered into his embrace and pulled tightly into his chest. And she climbs onto the top of his feet and perches on her tiptoes in order for her arms to reach their final destination; wrapped tightly around his neck. For several minutes neither of them speak; eyes closed and their warm bodies pressed together, a forearm holding her in place and a palm cradling the back of her head. He feels so good; his body hard and strong and never failing to make her feel safe. It’s never been a worry of hers; whether or not he’d be able to defend her if someone hell bent on revenge was determined to hurt his family. And she rests easy at night knowing what he’s capable of and that he’d do whatever it takes -even giving up his own life if need be- to protect her.

Tangling his fingers in her hair, he gently tugs on the short, soft tresses, forcing her to pull back and look at him. She hates what she sees in his eyes; that darkness that betrays just how lost and confused and scared he actually is. A man that always has always been so strong and so fearless; fighting other peoples battles while refusing to address his own. And it breaks her heart. Knowing that the things he’s capable of -the fierceness and the tenacity and the sheer brutality he’s reined down on people- are some of the many reasons he’s now feeling so weak and vulnerable. So good at the job, yet suffering so badly because of it.

“I’m sorry,” his voice quivers with emotion. “I am so fucking sorry.”

She reaches up to push limp bangs away from his forehead. Trying desperately to keep her own fears and worries from betraying her. He doesn’t need that right now; her coming undone and weeping in HIS arms. It’s time for her to be the strong one; holding him up and supporting him and never making him feel like a burden. “For what? What do you have to be sorry for?”

“The way I acted. Going off the deep end like I did. I hate that you have to see that. Hear the shit I say. You shouldn’t have to put up with that.”

“Tyler, you’re sick. It's a legitimate illness. And you know what? You’ve had an amazing five years. Barely any depressive or manic episodes. Things have been pretty stable and pretty smooth sailing. But we were told this could happen. That you could crash like you did. It’s just part of it. And you can’t help it. You don’t know what you’re doing or what you’re saying and…”

“I DO know what I’m doing. And what I’m saying. I’m not blacking out when it happens. I know exactly what’s going on when it’s happening.”

“It doesn’t mean you have control over it. Because you DON’T. It’s your brain. And when things go haywire, you can’t stop the things you do and the things you say. And you’re not to blame for that. You can’t control what is going on. And I know that’s what scares you the most; the loss of control.”

“I just hate that you have to be there. When it happens. That you have to see that shit and hear the things that come out of my mouth. I hate that it hurts you. That I hurt you.”

“You don’t hurt me. I hurt for you. That’s two entirely different things. You have nothing to be sorry for. And I know things were great and it seemed like it was completely under control. But baby, this is going to happen. Whether we want it to or not. We can’t stop it. It’s just the nature of the beast, unfortunately.”

“If I’d died five years ago...twelve and a half years ago…”

“Listen to me,” she pleads and takes his face in her hands. “DON’T go there. That is a very dark place and if you go there, you may never get back out. You are here for a reason. You’re here because you deserve to be. Because there’s people that love you. That NEED you. You helped me make seven beautiful little humans. None of them would exist if you weren’t here. Isn’t that enough? Knowing they’re alive because you are?”

“Of course it’s enough. But they shouldn’t have to live with this. YOU shouldn’t have to.”

“You are not the burden you think you are. It’s an illness. You can’t help what’s going on and you didn't do anything to cause it. It’s not your fault. Your brain didn’t do this to you because of something you did. It’s so many things. And you know what? It sucks. Huge. And I hate that this is happening to you. I hate that you are at war with your own mind every second of every goddamn day. But I won’t let you talk like that. I won’t let you say that you should have died. I won’t let you completely discount the life that you have now. Because I didn’t stick around on that fucking bridge and put my ass on the line so you could turn around and totally disregard that you were given a second chance for a reason.”

“I never asked you to stay. On that bridge. I never…”

“I stayed because you deserved to live. Because you’d paid your dues and you got your absolution. And you know what? Maybe part of it was selfish. Because I knew we could have something amazing if you stopped hating yourself long enough to let me love you. Can you honestly look me in the eye and say you really wanted to die that day? That you would go back and change that if you could? Even knowing you wouldn’t have what you have now. Someone that loves you more than they love themselves. Seven kids that think the sun rises and sets on you. Would you really go back and change everything? Would you really choose to die?”

“No,” he blinks back the tears that threaten to escape. “I wouldn’t. I would choose you. And my kids. Every day.”

“I’m sorry this is happening to you. I’m sorry you’re hurting as much as you are. And I would give anything to take that all away and make you healthy. But you are not broken and I won’t let you destroy what you have. I won’t let your brain destroy YOU.”

“You shouldn’t have to do this. Take care of me like this. Do you know what this is like? How fucking embarrassing it is? That you have to take care of ME?”

“There is nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m your wife. I’m the mother of your kids. I have you seen at your absolute worst. I’ve seen you inches from death. This? This is nothing compared to some of the things I’ve seen and heard. You should never be embarrassed around me. I’m not going to judge you. And it's okay to be weak. To have vulnerable moments. You’re a goddamn human being.”

“I hate it. Being like that. Being weak.”

“Because you were told that it makes you less of a man. You had that drilled into your head from the time you were a little boy. And you know what? Nothing could be further from the truth. It takes a strong man to break down and admit they need help. You are the strongest person I have ever known. You do battle every second of every day with your own mind. And you always keep going. THAT’S brave.”

“I don’t feel it. I feel weak and pathetic and…”

“You are not any of those things. Look at everything you’ve been through. From the time you were a little boy until now. A weaker man would have given up a long time ago. But you? You fight back and you never give up and get back on your feet time and time again. That is strength, Tyler. The fact you suffer like you do but you get up every day and you smile when all you want to do is cry and you love your family with everything you have and bust your ass to make them happy even though you feel like you’re drowning. THAT? That is so far from being weak and pathetic.”

Sighing heavily, he glances away; swallowing noisily around the lump of emotion that sits squarely in his throat.

Pressing her fingers into his cheek, she turns his face back towards her. “I love you. More than you could ever possibly know. And I fell in love with you knowing how messed up things were and what kind of torment and pain you were carrying. None of that matters to me. Because I know who you are outside of all of that. I know that you’re loving and you’re caring and you have a heart that’s even bigger than your body. I know how deep and powerfully you love DESPITE everything you’ve been through. I didn’t back away then, and I’m sure as hell not backing away now. So you can try as hard as you want to push me away, but you’re stuck with me, buddy.”

“That’s not so bad,” he chides through threatening tears. “I mean, I can think of way worse fates.”

“I will love you and take care of you until your last breath. And you know what? I’ll love you even after that.”

“I don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve YOU.”

“That’s your brain trying to convince you of that. And I know its voice is deafening and it seems impossible to ignore it, but you’ve got to try and shut it out. Concentrate on what I’m saying to you. Because what I’m telling you? It’s the truth. I’d never lie to you. So you need to pay attention to me, okay? And the things I say. I am way stronger and more tenacious than that voice inside of your head. Can you do that? Listen to me? Because I would never….ever...steer you wrong. You know that, right?”

“I do. I do know that. And I trust you. ‘Cause I sure as hell don’t trust my own brain anymore.”

“Then just rely on mine. Rely on ME. To give you the truth. Can you do that?”

“I can do that. Or try, at least.”

“That’s all I’m asking for. Now…” she lays her hands on his chest and presses a kiss to the underside of his chin. “...you hungry? What do you want for breakfast? I know I’m not actually the top chef YOU are, but I do make a mean veggie omelette. And you do like my french toast.”

“I thought maybe we could go out. To that little diner a few blocks over. The one that makes those Belgian waffles you like so much.”

“With the strawberries and the homemade whipped cream? I definitely could go for that. Are you sure though? That you’re up to it? It was a pretty rough night and…”

“I’m fine. Or I will be. It’s sunny out. The fresh air would do me some good I think. And we only have so much time without the kids left and I really do like our alone time. Outside of the bedroom.”

“So you don’t like the alone time in the bedroom?” she teases.

“I never said that. I LOVE that time.”

“A breakfast date with my favourite human sounds perfect.” Reaching up, she combs her fingers through his hair, pushing the longer strands off his forehead. “I’m proud of you, you know that? How hard you fight. A lesser man would have given up a long time ago.”

“I’ve got way too much to live for. Besides, I can’t go offing myself and then have to bear witness to you dating another guy. Or worse, marrying one.”

“Never going to happen. You’re it for me. There won’t be anyone after you. You’re stuck with me until the bitter end, Mister.”

A grin tugs at the corner of his mouth, and he takes her face in his hands and presses a kiss to her forehead. “Hell of a way to go if you ask me.”

*****

“I talked to Ovi earlier,” Esme says, as they sit in the back corner of the diner. Sipping steaming mugs of tea; joined hands resting on the table top; fingers laced together and his thumb repeatedly brushing against hers.

The booth is a safe distance away from the main hub of activity; crowds of people and excessive noise caused by the rattle of dishes and numerous conversations and boisterous laughter taking place at the same time. It’s important to avoid any and all triggers, or to at least find ways to lessen the effects of something that could bring on ‘an episode’. On the short walk she’d noticed the tell tale signs that depression isn’t the only concern; the hyper-vigilance associated with his PTSD quickly creeping in. Exhibiting anxiety if he felt pedestrians were crowding around him on sidewalks or when waiting to cross the street. Glaring at anyone he felt was staring at him or in somehow posing even the slightest bit of a threat towards her; jaw clenching as he tightly brought her into his side or put a hand on the back of her neck while drawing him in front of her. And the glances cast over his shoulder; eyes constantly scanning for anything and everything that could be considered suspicious or threatening, visibly tensing at every slam of a car door.

It’s both disheartening and worrisome; to see him regressing back to old behaviours after years of coping so well. Being off the street has helped; his shoulders not as tense, jaw no longer clenched, eyes not surveying the crowd with so much apprehension and simmering anger. But he still insists on being the one to sit facing the door; able to physically handle a threat if one came in their direction. And while she knows those chances are rare and his brain is far from thinking rationally, she doesn’t argue or try to change his mind; squeezing his arm and giving him a reassuring smile before switching seats.

Tyler doesn’t look up from the menu open in front of him. “About me?”

“Yes,” she admits, and refuses to allow him to pull his hand away from hers. “I told him what happened last night. About how you’re struggling.”

“Why? Why would you tell him? He’s got his own shit to deal with. He doesn’t need to hear about what’s going on with me.”

“I told him because he loves you. Because you’re his dad. And he worries about you. We both do.”

“He’s got his own life. His own wife, his own kids. Don’t bother him with that bullshit.”

“You and your issues are NOT bullshit. And you’re part of his life. You have been since he was fourteen years old. We took him in and we raised him and we gave him a family. And he loves you. He has every right to know what’s going on with you. And you know what? I have the right to have someone I can turn to. When I’m struggling.”

“I don’t mean to be such a burden on you. Make you struggle so much.”

“That is not what I meant and you know it. I need someone I trust to help me, help you. And honestly, I need someone I can talk to. About all of this. Because it kills me inside that you’re struggling and you’re in so much pain. And I don’t want to put that on you, Tyler. Can you just accept that you’re surrounded by people who love you? That we’re trying to help? Let us love you, okay?”

Sighing, he nods in agreement. “Okay.”

“We’re just worried about you. We just want to help you.”

“I’ll be fine in a couple days. Once Christmas is over. I’ll act like everything is okay around the kids. So it doesn’t ruin things for them. I just need the holiday over with. I’ll be okay once it is.”

“I’m sure you will.” She hopes she sounds more confident than she feels. “It’s always a hard time. The holidays. And you know, seeing the kids so happy Christmas morning will help too. You know how cute that is; how excited they are, their faces all lit up when they see all the presents. It’s kind of hard NOT to smile when you see all of that. So that gives you something to look forward to, right?”

“You know what I’m NOT looking forward to? How many times they wake us up between midnight and five am.”

“It felt like every half hour last year.”

“It wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t been up until two in the morning putting together that stupid dollhouse we got for Addie and Brooklyn. Having to decorate every damn room and put out all those little forks and knives and plates and shit.”

“You were a pro. I was quite impressed how those huge hands of yours dealt with teeny tiny cutlery. And I have to say, you have quite the eye when it comes to interior design. Maybe you should be in charge of picking out decor for the house from here on out.”

“That’s not the deal. You pick shit out and I live with it. Or you tell me what needs to be painted and what colour you want and I do it. Or I carry heavy shit. I’m happy with that; our arrangement. What else did he say? Ovi?”

“He said that Tabbi is up on her feet and starting to cruise the furniture. Finally sleeping through the night. Remember those days? The relief that comes with THAT?”

“We didn’t really get to experience that until Takota and Brookie started sleeping through the night. They’re last so we didn’t have any babies after them to worry about. The rest of them?”

“One started sleeping through the night, another baby was born. We were pretty busy those first seven years.”

“You know, you could have always said ‘no’ a few times. You didn’t always have to put out every time I asked you to.”

“Are you kidding? And miss out on the fun? You can’t say it wasn’t enjoyable.”

He grins. “You won’t hear any complaints from me.”

“And Mykayla starts preschool next week. Can you believe that? Our first grand baby is going to be in preschool! It seems like she was just born. Kind of hard to believe, don’t you think?”

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact I have two grandkids.”

“For what it’s worth, I think we’re pretty sexy grandparents. You’re a damn fine grandpa.”

“How many times have I told you not to call me that?”

“I don’t care. You ARE a grandpa. You ARE grandpa Tyler.”

“Makes me feel so fucking old. Way older than I actually am.”

“Well for what it’s worth, you’re the hottest grandpa around. I’d still do ya.”

“Yeah? Well I definitely wouldn’t say no to you. You’re kinda hot yourself. For a grandma.”

“What about when I’m the grandma who can barely see or hear and my hair is snow white and my body a total dumpster fire?”

“You’ll still be the most beautiful girl in the world to me.”

Smiling, she squeezes his hand and then smiles at the waitress who returns to refill his coffee and take their orders. For several minutes they sit in silence; his thumb sliding down to the base of her wrist and continuing its slow and methodical caress, eyes flicking back and forth as they constantly survey the surroundings and their fellow diners. She’s seen that look before; cautious and wary, as if expecting a threat to announce its presence any second. And it’s a side that she hasn’t seen in years; since extensive therapy began to help control the hyper-vigilance and paranoia.

“Hey…” she taps the toe of a boot against his shin in order to grab his attention. “...you okay?”

“Yeah,” he manages a smile; that half assed turning up of one corner of his mouth. “I’m good.”

“Really? Because you’re acting like an armed robber is going to come barging and start shooting up the place. Do you want to get our order to go? Eat at home? Where you’re more comfortable?”

“I’m comfortable here. I’m fine, Me. Honest.”

“You are NOT fine. You are far from fine. I haven’t seen you like this in a long time. I’m safe, Tyler. Nothing is going to happen. I’m with you. Which means nothing or no one can hurt me. I trust you. I know you can protect me if you have to. I am one hundred percent safe because I am with YOU.”

“What if I can’t? Protect you?”

“You can. You’ve always been able to. Nothing’s changed. I’m fine. I’m safe. I’m here with you and everything is right in the world. Just try and relax, okay?”

“I’m not who I was back then. When we met.”

“I don’t expect you to be. And you know what? You’re better than you were. You’re stronger and you’re healthier and I trust you one hundred percent. There’s nothing you can’t handle. Nothing you can’t beat. Everything is fine. I’M fine. You need to just try and relax, alright? Nothing is going to happen to me. Not when I’m with you.”

The tension slightly lifts; the stiffness in his shoulders easing and the frantic bouncing of his leg finally stopping. But she notices the way his hand shakes when he lifts when he lifts the coffee mug to his lips.

“Do you want to go? Do you feel like you’re going to have a panic attack?”

“No. I’m okay. I’ll be fine.”

“Here…” reaching into her purse, she briefly rummages through it and pulls out a small vial of pills she’s grabbed from the stash in the lock box in the pantry; snapping off the lid and dropping two in her palm. “...just a couple. It’ll take the edge of. Calm you down. Take them. Please.”

He obliges, plucking the tablets from her palm and placing them under his tongue and allowing them to resolve. The silence that follows is nerve wracking. Feeling her own heart pounding wildly in her chest as she watches him from across the booth; an elbow resting on the table , eyes closed and his palm pressed against his forehead. And she’s unsure how much time has actually passed when he takes a sharp intake of breath; eyes opening and his forearm coming to rest on the formica.

“Good?” she asks, and softly runs her fingers over his. “You alright?”

“Better.”

“You’ll be okay. In a few minutes, you’ll be right as rain. You’re doing good, baby. I’m proud of you.”

The corners of his mouth twitch as he attempts a smile. “I was thinking that maybe we should go home. Earlier than we were going to. Maybe a couple days into New Years instead of a couple weeks.”

“Is that what you want to do? Go home?”

“Yeah…” he struggles to hold back a flood of tears; uttering a string of profanities and squeezing his eyes shut.

“Don’t do that. Don’t be embarrassed. Just pretend that no one else exists but me. That no one else is here. Just listen to my voice. You’re fine. It’s just your brain, Tyler. Ignore what it is telling you and pay attention to what I’m saying. I’m okay. I’m safe. Because I’m with you. Nothing is going to happen. There’s no one following us, there’s no out to get you, there’s no one that’s going to hurt me. There’s no threat. Everything is okay. Alright?”

Nodding, he takes a deep intake of breath and then releases it slow. “I want to go home.”

“Home as in our place here or…?”

“Home, home. Australia. I want to go home. As soon as we can. I NEED to go home.”

“I’ll change our flight plans. When we get back to the townhouse. I’ll call and set everything up. We’ll leave on the second, okay?”

“But the kids might be pissed. They might…”

“I’ll think of something to tell them. They don’t need to know what’s going on. Don’t worry about that, alright? I’ll take care of everything. I mean, if you really wanted to, we could leave earlier. Ovi knows you’re struggling and…”

“I can’t miss his wedding. I’m the best man. That’s my kid.”

“And he’d understand. If you needed to get out, he would totally have your back. Believe me, he wouldn’t hold it against you if you couldn’t handle it here.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll suck it up and I’ll get through it. We’ll go to the wedding and we’ll have a good time and we’ll have our mommy and daddy only night. Then we can leave. On the second.”

“Okay,” Esme says, and reaches across the table to wipe away an errant tear that slips down his face. “You’re going to be okay.” she promises. “You always are. You’ve fought back against way worse.”

“You have a lot of faith in me.”

Smiling, she pushes her fingers through his. “Enough for both of us.”

[onewfantaesy]

I want to bite something. I am hungry and I want to bite something and my teeth are itchy and there's a hole in my pillowcase.

“Bummie,” Taemin whines, his voice pleading as he stomps into Kibum’s bedroom. “I’m hungry.”

“Taemin-”

“My teeth are hurting and drooling and there’s a big hole in my pillow now and I’m hungry!”

Kibum sighs as he sits up and holds onto the whining little vampire who’s crawling in his bed. The blood bank suppliers all around them were on a shortage of blood. They’ve been rationing their blood packs for two weeks now, but they ran out entirely three days ago. And Taemin, who hasn’t even been a vampire for a full five years yet, can’t handle the blood drought. He’s been cranky and whiny since they had to start rationing their blood packs, but now that he’s gone three whole days without an ounce of blood, he’s starting to lose it. And it has Kibum worries beyond belief.

He can’t imagine what Suho must be going through, having two little vampires to deal with instead of just one.

But right now, with Taemin burrowing himself in Kibum’s bed and clutching at Kibum’s shirt and whining and gnawing at Kibum’s wrist, there’s only so many options left.

“I dreamt of blood,” Taemin mumbles, his teeth nibbling at Kibum’s wrist without actually breaking the skin. “It was O-positive. My favorite.”

“How hungry are you?” Kibum asks, smoothing back Taemin’s hair. “On a scale of one to ten? Be very serious, Taemin.”

A low whine leaves Taemin’s throat, and he pulls Kibum’s arm from his mouth to make it cover his eyes instead.

“Maybe eight-and-a-half.”

Kibum sighs again.

“I’m going to take you hunting,” Kibum says carefully. It makes Taemin jerk and sit up very straight.

“That sounds scary.”

“It’s not so bad,” Kibum says softly, still playing with Taemin’s hair. “Honest. Come on, get up. Get dressed.”

“Help me,” Taemin whines, going limp across Kibum’s lap. “I can’t move.”

It’s a good thing Taemin is still relatively tiny. Kibum manages to pick him up and carry him across the hall to get him dressed in something other than pajamas.

“We’re going hunting,” Kibum snaps at Minho and Jinki as they go put their shoes on by the door. “Join us or not, I don’t care. But he needs to drink something.”

“We’ll go separately,” Jinki says. But he nods his head towards Kibum and says, “Call me if you need help with him.”

“Let’s go, Taeminnie,” Kibum says, holding onto Taemin’s hand. Taemin is droopy-eyed and whiny, but he drags his feet and follows after Kibum.

They pass by Lucas on the way out; he’s now tall and lanky and looks very much like a fifteen-year-old werewolf. The blood shortage has been a big deal in town, he’s known all about (considering three of his best friends are all little vampires who have been rationing for weeks now, and complaining loudly about it), so he looks concerned as he watches Taemin be dragged from the apartment.

“Hunting,” is all Kibum tells him. Lucas understands. It’s no different than werewolves hunting in the woods during the full moon.

“I’ll bring your homework back from school,” Lucas tells Taemin.

Taemin only grunts, too tired and hungry to give a shit about homework or school or talking to his friend.

They walk a little ways to the small human town nearby. It’s still barely nighttime, and Kibum keeps Taemin close to him as they camp in an alley behind a convenience store for a couple hours.

“I’m hungry,” Taemin keeps whining, tugging at Kibum’s hand.

“I know you are,” Kibum always says back. “Just a little longer now.”

It’s after midnight when a young man walks out with a bag filled with chips and bread and juice, and Kibum takes the chance. He drags Taemin forward with him, smiles at the young man, and tells him, “You were just coming with us.”

“I was just coming with you,” the man says, his eyes glossing over. “Where were we going?”

“Just to the park,” Kibum says, tugging Taemin along. “By the pond. To look at the ducks. It’s why you bought bread.”

“That’s why I bought bread,” the man says in a faraway voice. “To feed the ducks.”

“Bummie,” Taemin whines.

“Hush, Taemin,” Kibum says quickly, giving a tug to Taemin’s hand. “I’ve found you breakfast.”

Taemin starts drooling then, and he stumbles over his own feet as they walk the few blocks to the park. It takes a few minutes, but Kibum manages to get the man to fall asleep, and they hide out behind some bushes and trees so no stragglers see them.

“You’re going to bite only from the wrist,” Kibum says seriously. “Do you understand? Do not go near his neck.”

“Wrist only,” Taemin says, licking at his lips. “Can I drink now?”

Kibum holds the man’s arm, steadying it while Taemin grabs at the wrist and digs his fangs into a bulging vein. Taemin sucks at it for a long few minutes, blood dripping down his chin and staining the collar of his shirt. He’s sucking furiously after a few minutes, whistling breaths leaving his nose, and he tries to jerk his head away while letting out a loud whine.

“I can’t un-stick!” Taemin cries, panicking. “Bummie!”

“Calm down,” Kibum says slowly, moving to rub circles into Taemin’s back. “Stop drinking. Stop sucking. And then very slowly pull your fangs away.”

It takes a couple attempts, but Taemin manages to pull away. Then, he blinks slowly and leans against Kibum’s side.

“Are you full now?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Well you need to stay awake a little longer,” Kibum teases him. “I still need to find someone to drink from.”

“What’s gonna happen to him?” Taemin asks, looking at the man he just drank from.

“He’ll wake up in a couple hours confused, but his memory will suggest he got disoriented and lost and then passed out. He wanted to feed the ducks, after all.”

Taemin is still worried, but Kibum promises the man will be fine. Later on, Taemin stays hidden in the trees while Kibum lures a young woman to drink from.

They don’t get back home until almost four in the morning, and Taemin is drowsy and insisting on being carried home. He still has blood staining his shirt and some still dried and caked on his chin, but he’s fed and he’s no longer starving, so he’s happy.

[trensu]

Episode 48: The One where JGY and SS Host a Pity Party and Everyone Wishes They Hadn't

The show just dunks us right into yunmeng bro feelings again

jc's all should i get on my knees and thank you?

and wwx is like i never wanted your thanks

and now jc is just spilling his insecurities all over the place

Blah wwx was always better than him blah blah everyone liked wwx more blah blah DADDY ISSUES blah blah blah

and wwx just looks more and more hurt as all this bitterness is pouring out of his little brother 😞

i mean even jl was like hey uncle, maybe don't do that???

lwj is glaring at jc the whole time ofc

and jc gets so mad he tries to start a physical fight EVEN THO HE HAS A GAPING STAB WOUND IN THE CHEST

which is actually quite hilarious if you ignore how utterly heartbreaking the yunmeng bros relationship is

thankfully jl and lxc hold him back (not that he could've gone very far bc again GAPING STAB WOUND)

and ofc lwj has to throw in his two cents

lwj: clan leader jiang. Discretion

oh lwj, a man of few words

Oh no, ohno, oh nooooo, jc’s starting on their oath oh god

“YOU SAID THAT I WOULD BE THE CLAN LEADER AND YOU WOULD BE MY SUBORDINATE. YOU WOULD ASSIST ME FOR LIFE”

“SO WHAT IF THE TWIN JADES OF GUSU ARE THERE. WE WERE THE TWIN HEROES OF YUNMENG”

*GROSS SOBBING*

CAN I TOO GET A GAPING STAB WOUND IN THE CHEST BC I'M PRETTY SURE THAT WOULD HURT LESS

OH GOD WWX'S EYES ARE ALL RED

"YOU DIDN'T TELL ME ANYTHING. YOU TREAT ME LIKE A LITTLE FOOL."

OH THIS HURTS SO MUCH

that last bit, tho. i can't even hold that against him bc wwx DID lie to him. he DID neglect to trust him and his judgement. 

he took jc's choice away and made it for him, and that's not cool. 

and, like, i get it, I do bc i would probably want to do the same thing wwx did if i were in a similar situation with my own siblings

BUT STILL

jc: shouldn't i hate you? can't i hate you?

WHICH REALLY JUST TELLS ME THAT HE DOESN'T HATE WWX

HE WOULD NOT BE THIS TORN UP, THIS TEARFUL MESS, IF HE DIDN'T STILL LOVE HIS BROTHER AND WANT HIM BACK

this whole time jc is inching towards wwx, getting closer and closer until he's close enough to punch him if he wanted

Jc does make a sudden sharp movement towards wwx 

Which obvs has lwj jolting forward to protect wwx

But wwx IMMEDIATELY puts a hand on lwj's knee

jin ling darts forward to hold his uncle and is like, hanguang jun, my uncle's hurt!!

BC JC IS THE ONLY NOT EVIL AND/OR DEAD FAMILY HE HAS LEFT 

AND EVEN JL KNOWS THAT LWJ IS SO VERY WILLING TO HURT ANYONE WHO HURTS WWX

I AM HAVING TOO MANY EMOTIONS

jc's angry and hurting and is like i'm not afraid of lwj, come at me bro

lwj GLARES at him, brow furrowed and mouth pinched

jc: why? why wwx? why didn't you tell me?

oh god, he's not even yelling anymore, he's just fucking crying and i'm crying and there's just wet icky tears everywhere

wwx takes a shuddery breath and tells him it's bc he didn't want to see him like this

JC: you said i would be clan leader and you would be my subordinate. you would assist me for life. you'd never betray the jiang clan. you said it yourself

HE'S NOT YELLING. HE'S NOT EVEN ANGRY

his voice is weak, and shaky, and weepy and he's just so, so hurt

AND I'M A SOBBING MESS

and wwx swallows passed the lump in his throat but his voice still sounds a bit raw when he speaks

wwx: i'm sorry. i broke my promise.

FUCK 

FUCKING HELL

MY YUNMENG BROS

jc: we've reached this point. i don't need your apology now. i'm not that delicate

STFU JC, YOU BALD-FACED LIAR, "NOT THAT DELICATE" 

YOU'RE AS MUCH OF A SOBBING WRECK RN AS I AM

GET A THERAPIST JC

"NOT THAT DELICATE" I'M GONNA PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE IS WHAT I'M GONNA DO. GOD. NOT THAT DELICATE

JC: i'm sorry

*sobsobsobsob* MY YUNMENG BROS

wwx: don't apologize to me. that's what i owed the jiang clan.

here wwx closes the distance between them to place a hand on his brother's arm

HUG HIM GOD DAMN IT, LET MY YUNMENG BROS HAVE A PROPER HUG

wwx: as for this matter, please don't keep it in your heart.

and he goes on to say smth like i know you probably won't let go, but it's water under the bridge, that was all stuff that happened in my past life

AND THEN HE REACHES UP AND GENTLY WIPES AWAY JC'S TEARS WITH HIS THUMB

AND GIVES HIM A SWEET LITTLE SMILE

AND I'M DYING. MY HEART HURTS SO MUCH I'M DYING

I SHOULD'VE KEPT A BOX OF TISSUES NEAR ME, MY SLEEVES ARE ALL SNOTTY AND DISGUSTING NOW, DAMN IT ALL

AND THAT WAS ONLY THE FIRST 10 MIN OF THE EPISODE WTF

I’VE BEEN REDUCED TO A SNIFFLING WEEPING MESS IN 10MIN FLAT WTF 

yunmeng bro moment ends (thank god) and we cut to the next scene where nhs is oh so conveniently regaining consciousness

now all the diggers are screaming to remind us that oh yeah, there's like Plot Stuff here, it's not just about the yunmeng bros

ss gives jgy some meds bc he's hurt or smth, who gives a damn

our boys follow jgy back to the dig site for Plot Reasons

and SURPRISE!! we have nmj's no-longer-headless dead body!!

lwj and wwx look at each other like WTF??

oooooh boy, nhs gave jgy the dirtiest look

wwx is being Clever again and pointing out Plot Relevant Things 

ss gets all offended and holds wwx at sword point 

but there's lwj with bichen in its scabbard, one step in front of him and ready to block anything ss sends their way bc lwj is not gonna let wwx get hurt if he can help it

ss is all like wwx you set him up! And wwx’s face is like, i aint even bovvered

wwx: i'm saying this with all modesty, but if i were the one who set him up, i'm afraid he wouldn't have just gotten one arm hurt

HOT DAMN

LOVE MY SUNSHINE BOY

and here my sunshine boy is being all Clever again and laying out all the facts and explaining how there's a 3rd party involved in all this

LOLOLOL HE'S REALLY PLAYING THIS UP FOR JGY TOO

he's like, there might be a predator behind you, the guy who's been spying on you this whole time...HE MIGHT NOT EVEN BE HUMAN

oh wwx, so Dramatic™

but hey it's working bc jgy looks spooked as hell

LOLOLOL

HE SEES JGY START FREAKING OUT AND HE LOOKS OVER TO LWJ AND GRINS AT HIM LIKE, HEY LAN ZHAN, SEE WHAT I DID, LOL, I SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF THIS LOSER, DID YOU SEE? 

oh, now wwx and jc are bound by the wrists but not lwj, for some reason? 

Which, rude, why deny lwj the chance to be tied up? Let him try new experiences! What if he likes to be tied up? 

NOW HE’LL NEVER KNOW BC YOU DIDN’T LET HIM TRY IT

jgy and ss have a moment that i don't care about but i have to mention it

bc RIGHT AFTER we see our precious beautiful sunshine boy lean WAY into lwj's space to talk shit about them

like, seriously, just a couple inches more, and wwx would be resting his cheek on lwj's shoulder 

IT'S WONDERFUL AND I WISH HE'D GET EVEN CLOSER

shockingly, lwj is NOT as distracted as i would be having wwx that close 

bc he's studying ss and SUDDENLY SEES HE'S GOT THE HUNDRED-HOLES CURSE ON HIM 

which btw, EWW?? THAT'S THE GROSSEST THING EVER 

I REALLY WISH THEY'D STOP SHOWING IT SO MUCH BC IT MAKES MY SKIN CRAWL

he tells ss to turn around to get a better look and wwx sees it too!! he's like, IT WAS YOU!!!

and for the audience's benefit, nhs goes to lxc and is all what's going on???

lxc and jc gives some exposition about blah blah blah stuff we know about already

amidst all this we keep getting shots of wwx looking stunned and hurt (but still oh-so-beautiful)

wwx: jgy, i didn't do anything against you back then. we were not even that familiar. you wanted to kill jzx. why did you push that on me?

HE LOOKS SO HURT AND ANGRY AND CONFUSED BC WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE HIM? WHY DID JGY HAVE TO USE HIM??

and lwj is watching wwx while he shouts this and god how can he stand watching his soulmate be hurt over and over and over again?? HOW DOES HE COPE?

jgy does a mini Rant of Evil Explanation and ss does a rant about classism

which, if said by literally anybody else, i'd say hm, yes, you have a point 

but bc it's said by ss, a spineless coward who never takes responsibility for his own actions, i'm like STFU SS

omg lolololol

ss: would i have been swept out of lan clan like a pile of leaves [if I were highborn]??

AND ICE PRINCE LWJ ANSWERS ALMOST BEFORE SS COULD FINISH ASKING

lwj: Yes.

AND THEN HE LOOKS SS DEAD IN THE EYE

lwj: betrayers won't be tolerated by the lan clan

HELL FUCKING YEAH

YOU WEREN'T KICKED OUT BC YOU WERE LOW-BORN, SS

YOU WERE KICKED OUT BC YOU'RE A TRAITOROUS COWARD

and like, i need to point out that lwj is sitting cross legged on the ground right now (along with wwx, ofc) and ss is standing over him while ranting

and YET, the way lwj holds himself and the way he speaks, does in no way indicate that he's at a disadvantage here

dude's unflappable. JADE OF LAN, INDEED

ss is like i am so sick of your condescending attitude

then he's like just bc i made that one little mistake you could never forgive me!!

FUCKING EXCUSE ME??? 

LITTLE? LITTLE MISTAKE??? 

HOW MANY PEOPLE DIED BC OF YOU SS?

HOW MANY DIED BC YOU BETRAYED THEM??

ss continues to rant and starts to go off his rocker

and then wwx starts to laugh but it's not a happy laugh

it is, in fact, a laugh very similar to the laugh we heard in The One where the Moonlit Rooftop Betrays Us

ss is like, what's so funny???

wwx: nothing. i just didn't expect...

AND HE'S GETTING TEARY HERE EVEN AS HE LAUGHS

WWX: i didn't expect you to get so many people killed just for...just for this

HE LOOKS SO DISILLUSIONED

MY POOR PRECIOUS SUNSHINE BOY

THE WORLD KEEPS DISAPPOINTING HIM

omg i want to RING JGY'S NECK WITH ZIDIAN

HE'S GETTING ALL UP IN WWX'S FACE

TELLING HIM THAT NO MATTER HOW KIND OR CHIVALROUS HE IS, HE WILL ALWAYS BE BLAMED FOR ANY BAD THING THAT HAPPENS, THAT NO ONE WILL EVER BELIEVE OR TRUST HIM

FUCK YOU JGY I HATE YOU SO MUCH

MY POOR SUNSHINE BOY IS TREMBLING WITH RAGE

bc he knows it's true. ppl really ARE always going to suspect the yiling patriarch.

oooh, jc just defended his brother! sort of.

But it has the unfortunate side effect of drawing jgy’s attention

so now jgy is cutting into jc

god jgy talks a lot. stfu jgy.

wwx has been teary eyed on and off this entire episode so far but hasn't actually cried

but jgy is now belittling all of jc's work, all the effort he put in to rebuilding lotus pier, implying that he wouldn't have been able to do if not for wwx

and that's the breaking point, that's what makes wwx finally shed a tear.

lwj is watching wwx, as always, and sees wwx cry

he must feel utterly helpless

ooooh, MY CLEVER SUNSHINE BOY

EVEN AMIDST ALL THIS TERRIBLE EMOTIONAL PAIN, HE PICKED UP ON JGY'S TRIGGER WORD(S)

wwx: just a "son of a whore" made you talk so much

oooh jgy tries to leave but wwx stops him in his tracks by asking him how he killed nmj

and then he's like "aren't you afraid?"

CHILLS, MAN, I'M GETTING CHILLS AT HOW HE DELIVERS THIS

SO CALM, COOL AND COLLECTED YET TINGED WITH A THREAT

jgy: afraid of what? (lol he whirls around angrily like the Drama queen he is)

wwx leans forward and looks him dead in the eye

wwx: afraid of him coming back to you

AND THE SMIRK HE WEARS

THAT'S THE SMIRK OF THE YILING PATRIARCH 

He smirks and leans back against the pillar, all easy and relaxed while jgy looks freaked the fuck out

and then

THEN

WWX STARTS TO WHISTLE

RESENTFUL ENERGY COMES IN TO STROKE AT JGY'S ARM ALL MENACINGLY

I'M GETTING CHILLS ALL OVER 

THIS IS SUCH A BADASS MOVE ON WWX'S PART

and also, holy shit do i enjoy those close up shots of wwx's eyes and his beautiful beautiful lips

the sound team did a great job making those whistles sound super eerie, btw

i can't get over how cool and confident wwx looks here

he's not worried or bothered AT ALL, this is him doing what he does best

Wait, do i have a competency kink…?

LOL JGY JUST GOT BITCHSLAPPED BY RESENTFUL ENERGY, LOVE IT

wwx has stopped whistling now, which is unfortunate bc that means no more extreme close-ups on wwx's gorgeous features

jgy: yiling patriarch, you're worthy of your title, aren't you?

YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT HE IS!

Okay yeah, i guess i have a competency kink now, THANKS A LOT WWX

FUCKING SU SHE JUST TRIED STABBING WWX

LWJ TO THE RESCUE, HELL YEAH

OUR MAN HANGUANG JUN LEAPS TO HIS FEET AND NOT ONLY BLOCKS THE STRIKE

HE FREAKING SLICES SU SHE'S WEAK ASS SWORD IN TWO 

THEN FOLLOWS UP WITH A SLICE AT SU SHE'S WRIST

I LOVE YOU HANGUANG JUN

Lwj calmly goes over to wwx and slices off the ropes that were keeping his wrists tied and does the same to jc

wwx goes up to jgy (who's held at sword point by lxc) and calmly takes his weapons

wwx: jgy, hand it over. it's not of much use in your hands.

with a deceivingly dainty clink, Plot Device 3 rolls out of jgy's sleeve and into his hand

then he lets it fall to the ground bc he's a petty bitch that way

we get to see wwx being all Smart Detective and revealing just how long jgy has been planning all this 

jgy’s all like even between me and xy we could only create Plot Device 3 half as powerful as Plot Device 2

LOLOL THAT'S BC THE TWO OF YOU ARE WORTHLESS HACKS.

WWX HAS MORE SKILL AND TALENT IN HIS PINKY FINGER THAN THE BOTH OF YOU COMBINED

man there's a lot of Plot Exposition happening and lxc is having Feelings about it.

DON'T FUCKING LOWER YOUR SWORD LXC WHAT ARE YOU DOING

look lxc, i don't mean to sound cruel or heartless or whatever, but omg i do NOT CARE about your complicated Emotions right now

NOT WHEN IT'S GIVING JGY THE OPENING TO MANIPULATE AN ESCAPE

jgy is now being like "oh, i was wrong" and acting all pitiful and TOTALLY PLAYING LXC FOR A FOOL (AGAIN)

wwx: hey, jgy, can't we stop talking? let's just fight? can we just start killing each other?

LOLOLOLOLOL 

HE TOTALLY SAW THAT JGY WAS MANIPULATING THE SITUATION AGAIN AND IS LIKE, NOPE, NOT DOING THAT AGAIN

LESS WORDS MORE SWORDS PLZ

LIKE, MY BOY IS JUST DONE. HE IS DONE WITH THIS. LET'S GET TO THE FIGHT NOW THX.

jgy ignores this and keeps talking to lxc AND OMG WWX'S FAAAAACE IS CRACKING ME UP 

GOD WORDS ARE NOT GONNA DO IT JUSTICE

HE JUST LOOKS AT JGY FOR A SECOND LIKE, SRSLY BRO? BEFORE ROLLING HIS EYES AND SCRUNCHING UP HIS EYEBROWS LIKE "CAN YOU FUCKING BELIEVE THIS GUY, JFC"

IT'S SO FREAKING FUNNY OMG

meanwhile jgy continues to throw a pity party that no one likes and the episode ends

There really wasn’t much wangxian time in this episode, fucking jgy and ss decided to HOG ALL THE SCREEN TIME, THOSE PATHETIC WHINY ASSHOLES

but we got a lot of Yungmeng Bros which was painful but waaaay better than anything jgy or ss has to offer

Return to Masterpost

[popatochisssp]

Starting off with Sans (Undertale) and his PokePals!

Dwebble: Well, this fella was kind of an accident. “When it finds a stone of a suitable size, it secretes a liquid from its mouth to open up a hole to crawl into,” and one just so happened to claim poor ol’ Rocky as its home. ...welp, guess he’s gotta look after it now! At least this one’ll actually eat the sprinkles his bro keeps leaving out. And what a fantastic name for the little critter, he kinda loves it on that basis alone.

Klefki: This was on purpose. Sans is a guy who’s always leaving his keys everywhere, it’s really inconvenient, kind of a mess, there’s gotta be a better way! Oh, there is-- “It never lets go of a key that it likes, so people give it the keys to vaults and safes as a way to prevent crime.” His keys are pretty shiny and make a nice gift for his new pal. The only trouble now is getting it to give ‘em up... but luckily, the convenience of shortcuts takes away a lot of the need for a key, y’know? ;3

Psyduck: This one’s a bit of a pity case. Found the poor thing crying from a bad headache and tried to figure out how to help it. Apparently, they’re a real good match: “Using psychokinesis gives it a headache, so it normally passes the time spacing out and doing as little as possible.” That’s fantastic, Sans loves doing absolutely nothing and kinda takes it upon himself to be Psyduck’s life coach, training him in the art of clearing your mind and doing fuck-all for as long as you can get away with.

Shuckle: Round, slow, constantly emitting...juice? “It stores berries in its shell. The berries eventually ferment to become delicious juices.” Ah, alright, Sans can work with that, he considers this one to actually be a business partner of sorts-- after a delicious ‘dog, you’re gonna want something to wash it down with, right? How ‘bout some mysterious berry liquid from a Shuckle? Guaranteed refreshing! What’samatter, ya’ don’t trust him? How ‘bout some fried snow, then? XD

Slakoth: This was definitely his first. “Slakoth lolls around for over 20 hours every day. Because it moves so little, it does not need much food. This Pokémon’s sole daily meal consists of just three leaves.” Easy to take care of, doesn’t take up much space, and hoo boy, what a mood. Sans takes a lot of naps with his Slakoth and calls it ‘bonding,’ but...y’know, whatever works? When it’s awake, it definitely seems fond of him! He could’ve evolved it ages ago but that middle evolution...oof, he doesn’t have the energy for that. It’d take a really Bad Time for him to want to push his buddy into its other forms...

Spinda: He hones some of his skills with this one-- his dodging skills, at least! “No two Spinda have the same pattern of spots. Its tottering step fouls the aim of foes.” Gotta stay loose and ready to make your opponent MISS in case of emergencies, especially when you’ve got low HP, and Spinda’s almost as good at ducking and weaving as he is. It’s important to stay sharp, though, and his pal has fun with it, too...y’know, until it...makes itself actually sick and needs to sit down for a minute, at which point Sans has got its back! :3

[wilwywaylan]

In only seven days (or the life and times of a sullen convenience shop employee) - part 3

Fandom : les Misérables

Modern!AU, Montparnasse x Jehan Prouvaire, 3883 words

Part 1 - Part 2

For @kujaku-myoo, @jesvisfarovche and @aux-barricades ♥

Also on AO3 !

- 

On Saturday, it's raining when Montparnasse wakes up. And not raining a little. The sky has opened, and water is pouring down the street, beating on the glass panes. He crawls out of bed just enough to look through the windows. Everything is grey and black and dripping wet. Exactly the kind of weather he hates. Usually, he spends those kinds of days buried far under the covers, or sprawled on the couch, eating ice cream (the one tub that escaped his roommates' clutches) and watching reruns of Say Yes to the Dress (his secret pleasure) while polishing his nails.  

But as much as he just wants to forget the day, he can't. Not when his freedom is hanging in the balance. So he gets out of bed, growling all the way. There's no one else in the flat. Good, because he wouldn't have been able to endure another round of goose-related stupidities. Bad, because they all left, and they took all the umbrellas they had (two). And of course his  clothes don't have hoods, because hoods will never, ever fit with a dandy aesthetic like his.

Which means that he has to go to work without any cover or shelter. And of course, to add insult to injury, the wind starts blowing the minute he goes out. He crosses the streets as fast as he can, taking shelter behind trees and bus stops and everything that can help. But it doesn't. The wind keeps blowing the rain in his face, shaking his clothes and trying to push him back where he comes from. When he finally reaches the store, he's soaking wet. The other clerk looks at him, then at the puddle already forming at his feet. He expects her to scream at him, but she just gives out a very, very long sigh, and gestures to him to follow her to the back. Normally, Montparnasse wouldn't even dream of obeying any command given to him by anyone, especially someone he doesn't know. But the rain is dripping down his back, sticking his clothes to his body, and sucking all the warmth out of his body.

She leads him in the back room, and without a word, hands him a handful of fabric. He looks at her, then at the clothes she's holding, then at her again. When he doesn't move, she puts them on the table, and just says :

- Get changed, you dork. You're gonna catch your death.

Montparnasse eyes the clothes, then her again.

- Why do you have clothes on hand ?

- Because of problems like that. We keep them there because having an 8-hour shift in damp clothes is hell, especially here. So you put them on, and you'll bring them back tomorrow.

Before Montparnasse can run away, she exits the room, leaving him on his own in the back room. A glance around teaches him that, at least, there's no camera here. It's good. If he wanted to undress, of course, and put that.... thing on him. On the other hand, he's starting to be really, really cold. And as she said, the heating is barely on here. He's going to freeze to death.

One more glance, assuring him that no one is looking at him, not in the shop nor from a camera, and he quickly disrobes. His skin when the fabric peels off is cold and wet, and he dries himself as much as he can with a corner of his shirt that escaped the storm. He can't stay like that, so he grabs the clothes and put them on, trying not to think about what he's wearing. The pants stop above his ankles, and are already worn, with a hole around one knee. On the contrary, the sweater is large enough to put two of him inside. On the chest is written the name of a sports team he doesn't care about, and it's a horrid light blue that doesn't fit him at all. But it's warm and dry, so he doesn't rip it off.

The girl is still here when he comes back. She observes him, gives him a nod (of approbation or mockery, he doesn't know) and leaves without another word. Montparnasse takes a seat behind the counter, trying to ignore the water still dripping from his hair and the shivers that run down his back.

The door flies open and hits the stand behind it, hard enough to give a shriek of tortured metal and glass. Montparnasse jumps down his seat, cursing the wind who can't even leave him alone in the shop, but it's not the wind, rather two people who come in running and immediately disappear down an aisle, leaving Montparnasse to close behind them to stop the rain from entering. He's ready to yell at him, but his words get caught in his throat when he sees the handprint on the glass. It's red.

There's a bloody handprint on the door, still fresh, and two people running inside the shop. Montparnasse can think of a thousand horror movies that start exactly like this. And more pressing, of a shit-ton of troubles coming his way.

He follows the voices coming from the depths of the shop. One of them is steady, hard to hear, but the other.... he knows it from somewhere. It's shriller than he remembers, but... He turns the corner, and here he is, the small guy with the very long scarf and the very fast tongue. The other guy is currently sitting on the floor, holding his head. His hair is shaved, which gives Montparnasse a very, very nice view of the large cut above his eyebrow. It's at least five centimetres long, seems deep, and droplets of blood are seeping out of it, rolling on his face and falling to the floor, so many that there's already a small puddle at his feet.

Scarf Guy still babbling, probably trying to reassure his friend, but the words are so muddled the other probably doesn't understand. All while talking, he's ripping open packages, pulling bandages and gauze out in what can only be described as "a fine mess". Montparnasse wants really much to scream at him to stop messing with products and breaking everything. Not that he cares, but he'll probably be in trouble. But just one look at the friend who's face is now half-covered in blood is enough. The small guy starts applying some kind of disinfectant to the wound, delaying the blood which now drips clearer.

- He'll need stitches on this.

The small guy almost jumps to the ceiling when he hears Montparnasse's voice, but still keeps dabbing at the wound with small, professional gestures. It can be commanded that he didn't hurt the other guy, didn't even touch him a little harder. The other guy, who didn't even flinch, just looks up and.... smiles. What. The guy is half covered in blood, probably in pain, and he just smiles at him.

- I probably will, he says in a noticeably even tone, but Joly really wanted to stop the bleeding first. He's afraid I'm going to lose all the blood in my body during...

- Of course you do ! Scarf Guy - Joly - cuts him. Have you seen how much you're bleeding ? Remember that you'll pass out if you lose more than two liters of blood ! And if you pass out....

Montparnasse glances at the puddle on the ground. Granted, it's very impressive to think it just came out of someone's head. But he's still far away from losing two whole litres. Joly doesn't seem to think so, however.

- And more, he goes on as he keeps cleaning the cut, what about infections ? They happen way faster than you think, and seeing as it wasn't very clean....

- I know, I know....

The other guy tries to stop the rambling, but Joly seems on a roll.

- And what about tetanus ? Did you even get your booster shot ? I bet you didn't ! It was probably rusted, and dirty, and it got into the wound, and you'll get tetanus and die !

Joly looks ready to run and check the other's guy's vaccination sheet right this instant, but the other manages to grab his arm, and he goes back to the task at work. Other Guy looks at Montparnasse with an apologetic smile.

- Sorry for that. Joly can overreact sometimes...

- I do not !

- ... but I'll be alright as soon as he can stop this...

- And take you to the hospital for a booster shot !

- And take me to the hospital, but I swear I got a booster shot.... one day.

He looks up at Montparnasse, who still hasn't moved from his spot. To be fair, he doesn't really know what he's supposed to do in that kind of situations. Should he call an ambulance ? Get him the bill ? Kick them out ? Maybe not, they aren't really breaking rules. So he just stares at the wound and Joly's hands working on it.

- You see, Other Guy starts explaining, mistaking his stare for curiosity. We were running late, but I wanted to grab something to eat. So we go to Subway, and I keep checking my watch to be sure we're not too late. The guy making my sub must have mistaken this for a mark of impatience, and maybe he was afraid of me yelling at him... which I would never do, of course, I'm not an animal. Anyway, the guy is rushing to meet my impossible and non-existent deadline, and it's there that it becomes funny...

- Of course it's not funny ! Joly screeches.

- Come on. It's funny. Anyway, he tries too fast to cut the bread, the knife slips from his hand, hits the cutting board, and I don't know how, stabs me in the head.

There's a silence that follows that declaration. A long silence. A long, heavy silence. Montparnasse stares at the head, wondering if the guy takes him for an idiot. It looks like a knife cut, okay. But still, that sounds pretty unlikely. And stupid. But Joly didn't deny it, and why would they lie anyway ? To rob a few healing supplies ?

- You got stabbed.... by a Subway employee ?

- You can see it like that. But it was an accident, I swear ! So Joly brought me here because it's just on the other side of the road, and... well, there we are !

He gives him a bright smile that's a bit tarnished by the blood still on his lip. But Joly is working fast on taking care the wound, and at least it doesn't spill everywhere anymore.

Soon, everything is properly bandaged and taken care of. Joly helps his friend on his feet, trying to support him, which is hilarious because Other Guy is one foot taller and twice his weight. If he falls, Joly will be crushed like a building under Godzilla's foot. It becomes even more unbalanced when Joly picks up a cane and leans on it. Other Guy's arm around his shoulder, he starts walking towards the exit, Other Guy following, just a little wobbly on his feet. Leaving behind blood and opened boxes. As if reading in Montparnasse's mind, Joly turns to him and says :

- Can you gather the boxes for me ? I'll come back and pay as soon as I can get him treated.

Before he can answer, they are gone, quite fast for two people in this state. Montparnasse has no other option than take care of the mess. He puts the boxes behind the counters, hoping that no one will accuse him of stealing them or something. He'll need to find Joly and make him pay for them, or else he'll be in trouble. He may ask Feuilly, or maybe Prouvaire. All those students certainly know each other.

There's still the blood to clean, and he's certainly not going to use some paper towels. If he puts some on the clothes, it'll never totally go away. Also he doesn't want to touch a stranger's blood. He goes in the back room, looks around for something to wipe the floor. There's a mop broom and a bucket in the corner. He fills it with water as warm as he can and a bit of soap still left in a bottle, and brings the whole thing back in the shop.

To find, in front of the puddles and observing them, none other than Javert. He's back to him, and Montparnasse is very tempted to run. But cops must have a sixth sense that makes them detect people-who-aren't-thieves-at-all. Javert spins on himself like he was made of one slab of stone, and his eyes fall on Montparnasse, nailing him in place.

- There you are, he growls.

Montparnasse doesn't know what to answer that's not an insult, so he just steps forwards, broom in hand. But Javert raises a hand, and Montparnasse stops before he touches him.

- I need to clean, he says, raising the broom to show him.

- Not before you explain yourself.

- What do I have to explain ?

- Why there is blood on the floor.

- Because someone bled on the floor, Montparnasse deadpans.

It doesn't seem very funny to Javert. He frowns (more), and steps forwards.

- Don't make me ask twice.

His tone is threatening, and Montparnasse remembers that he's supposed to be on his best behaviour as long as he's here, or he'll end in jail for a long time. So he sighs, and gestures to the puddle.

- A student just came here. With a friend. Who had a cut on his head. Said he had an accident. Bled on the floor. Student treated him. They're gone. Good ?

- Who was the student ?

Montparnasse doesn't answer right away. He doesn't owe anything to Joly, but does this mean he wants to throw the dogs at him ? No. No one deserves that. Then again, they didn't really do anything wrong. Just got a stupid accident. But still, there's a part of him that resists the idea.

- Why ? he asks to win some time.

He steps forwards again, but Javert stops him again.

- Do not touch that blood until I'm sure there's no crime happening here.

- "Crime" ? Do you think I stabbed someone and hid his body in the back ? You wanna check, inspector ?

- Do not mock me.

His tone hardens in a way Montparnasse didn't think possible. Maybe he shouldn't play that game too much. And, now that he remembers, Javert can request to see the monitoring footage. Playing around will help no one. Still, a last shred of prudence keeps him from spilling everything.

- Don't know the name, he says finally. He wears a scarf and walks with a cane. His friend doesn't. That's all I know.

He expects Javert to either jump on the information, or call him a liar. But to his greatest surprise, his stances... relaxes. Well, at least a little. He doesn't look ready to jump at his throat anymore.

- And what happened with those students ?

Montparnasse gives him the rundown on his encounter with Joly and his friends. Javert takes out a small notepad and writes down a few things. He closes it with a noisy clap, stuffs it in his pocket. And, sadly for Montparnasse, doesn't go away.

- What can I do for you, inspector ? he asks, not even bothering hiding the venom in his voice.

- Funny you ask me. Where were you, last morning, around seven o'clock ?

- Around seven ? Sleeping, Mr Officer.

- Do you have any witness ?

- No, sir, as surprising as it may look for someone as beautiful as me, I was sadly alone.

- Do not mock me.

- Oh, I wouldn't dare.

Javert stares him down for a moment.

- So, you're telling me you weren't around the jewellery store on Lamarque Street, yesterday  at seven ?

- Why would I have been there ?

- I'm he one asking the questions here.

Montparnasse is very tempted to send him to Hell, but he can't. So he just shakes his head.

- No, sir. I wasn't. Then again, diamonds don't really go with my natural glow.

He shouldn't joke, he knows it, but he can't help it. Besides, he's feeling way too cold to care about anything else than how he's going to get his feet warm. Javert glares at him, and for a second, he thinks that his life is really over. But finally, he turns away without a word of goodbye and leaves. Montparnasse falls on the stool and sighs. This time, it was really, really close. Like, he could have been arrested, just because Javert can't stand him. That jewellery must have been robbed, and he's zeroed on the nearest thief he knows. Who's stuck in place because he can't leave for two days more. He's lucky Javert has taken his excuse at face value, because he doesn't have any alibi, unless a bag of salt can act as an alibi. At least he's not in jail. For now.

He finally moves from his seat, because there's still the matter of that puddle of blood to clean. He's not a cleaning person at all, that's not his chore in the group, so it takes him a moment to find the most efficient way to get rid of that puddle of blood. The handprint on the window gives him the hardest time, and he has to rub and wipe for a few good minutes until the glass is pristine clean. Having to work outside doesn't make his mood better, and when he finally comes inside, he's shivering and sneezing. It doesn't bode well for the rest of the night.

Actually, no, it doesn't. During the next hour, Montparnasse feels more and more shivers climbing up his back. His feet gives him the impression they are caught in ice, and he can barely feel his fingers. And there's that weird itch in his throat. Maybe it's just an allergy, he keeps telling himself. It's dusty here, the cold air is blowing on his face and he hates air-conditioning with a passion. It's probably only this and nothing more.

Around midnight, as he's thinking really hard about calling Claquesous to his help, or wrapping himself in a pile of newspapers, the owner comes in. Montparnasse can feel his hair stand on end as he walks closer. He can't stand the guy. Not because he put him to work, even if it plays a part, but because, plainly put, the guy is creepy. Montparnasse can't stand the way he looks at him, always leering, checking him out. That's exactly what he's doing right now, his eyes diving in the hoodie's collar gaping on his collarbones. Montparnasse is tempted to close it, but his hands seem to weight tons, and he's too tired to care or move.

- So, the guy asks after an uncomfortable silence, I've seen Javert come out of here. Did something happen ? Did you have any trouble ?

Montparnasse swallows his bile and contempt together.

- Nothing, he says flatly.

- Nothing ? Are you sure ? Because judging by his face, it didn't look like nothing.

- Some guys came in. One was bleeding. They... bought some bandages and left. He wanted to know what happened. That's all.

He's not going to say that Joly hasn't paid yet for the bandages. He's not a snitch. Also, there's still a chance that he's going to be accused of the fact, and it wouldn't be good for him.

- He was bleeding ? What happened ?

- Some kind of accident. Don't know much.

- They didn't bother you, now, did they ?

The man reaches and *pats him on the arm*. Montparnasse has to restrain himself not to punch him in the face, and takes his arm away.

- No, they didn't. I'm fine.

- Very well. But don't hesitate, come to me if you need anything, okay ? Don't let Javert bother you.

Montparnasse very much wants to tell him that it's his fault that Javert is on his case, and if he really wants to help him, he can drop dead or let him go. But he doesn't, just keeps the iciest glare he can muster on the guy. Said guy seems to understand that there's no opening to be found here, because with a last pat on Montparnasse's arm, stretching over the counter to better reach him, he's gone.

As soon as he's out the door, Montparnasse rolls his sleeve up and frantically rubs the skin where the man touched him. He could really do with some soap, but the only one he can find is some kind of goo he wouldn't use to polish his shoes. His skin is way too delicate to get that kind of treatment.

At last, six o'clock comes, and with it the next shift. Montparnasse gathers his still drenched clothes in a ball, not even caring about wrinkling them anymore. The last hour has been spent in some kind of daze, watching pretty lights dancing before his eyes, and feeling like he's constantly falling. Or maybe the world is sliding around him, he doesn't know. Clothes are not his first priority right now. He grabs a can of soup on the shelf, shows it to the other clerk who writes it down, and leaves.

He barely remembers the walk home. He's more or less sure that it doesn't rain, because the clothes stay dry, but that's all he can say. The flat is dark and silent when he comes home. Which is good because he wouldn't have been able to handle his arsehole flat-mates. He pours the soup in a bowl, puts it in the microwave. While it's heating, he goes to change. He'd keep the hoodie on ; it may be gaudy and not his colour, but it's comfy and warm. But he has to give it back, so he drops it in the laundry basket. The cold air makes him shiver immediately, and he runs to his room to find something warmer. Luckily, he still owns some lounge clothes, even if he doesn't admit it, and soon, he's wrapped in a huge, all black, sweater .

When he's started the washing machine, the soup is hot, and he brings him with him in the room. It feels good, to have something hot to hold, it helps fight the icy feeling creeping up his legs. It's horrible, and he buries himself under the blankets to keep himself warm. He's shivering, and his throat burns, and his head hurts too, but he keeps telling himself that it's just the cold, and the soup he swallowed too fast, and the brutal lightning of the shop. Maybe he's tired, too. A good night of sleep, that's what he needs. He lays down, wraps himself snuggly, and closes his eyes. He'll probably feel better tomorrow.

[huntertales]

Part Two: I Just Want To Be Good. (The Great Escapist S08E21)

Episode Summary: When Sam, Dean and the reader receive a distressing video message from Kevin Tran, they set about trying to uncover the third trial. The boys and the reader make a discovery that sends them to a casino in Colorado, to find a mysterious recluse who may be able to fill in the holes in Kevin’s research. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Word Count: 4,949.

Previous Part | Supernatural Rewrite Masterlist

The path to finding someone who could translate a demon tablet you didn’t even have was growing colder with each passing day. Kevin was the only one who knew where it was, and somehow he ended up dead. All the prophets who were in line after him were still going on with their daily lives. You were at a near dead end, but you had one more shot at figuring out what the final trial was before you threw in the towel for good. It was an ambitious move, and probably even a little bit stupid, to track down this Metatron guy. He was the messenger of God who came in contact with this Native American tribe centuries back. It was a long shot, but you didn’t have many left. You were hoping the Two Rivers hotel might have some answers to your questions. 

You followed behind the boys when all of you headed into the casino and hotel, your eyes wandering over the many machines with their flashing lights and noises, enticing anyone who dare take a chance at gambling away their money. For a place like this you were guessing to see old folks gambling away their retirement fund. Maybe even a few people enjoying themselves with a weekend away. But the place was like a ghost town, not even an employee was around to greet the three of you. Dean hit the bell placed conveniently on the counter, hoping it might draw some attention. Sam waited beside his brother, casually glancing around to see if there was any other guests besides the three of you. 

"Morning. Hi. Uh, we'd like a room?" Dean gave whom he presumed was the hotel manager a smile when he saw him emerge from the back office to see who was ringing the bell. The offer for business didn’t seem to make the manager move, he just kept staring at Dean, causing the older Winchester to be more specific. "Here, please." 

You found yourself drifting away when you became curious about seeing the rest of the hotel, wondering what else there might be to do here besides playing a few slot machines. When you noticed a door that lead into another room, you began walking forward to it. You winced slightly in annoyance when you noticed a buzzing sound that you couldn’t describe. It was hard to tell if it was coming from the other room, or your ears were starting to ring. You poked a finger into the canal in some kind of attempt to make it go away, but it only got worse with each step you took away from the boys. It got louder and louder to the point where it felt like white noise. 

For a second you felt like you were in your own world from what happened next. You blinked a few times when you noticed your vision was starting to go blurry, making the game room you spotted hard to see. And the damn ringing was getting louder. You were experiencing something you've never quite felt before. You quickly turned around in your spot and took a step towards the boys, and just like that, suddenly the noise disappeared and you could see just fine again. You furrowed your brow slightly from what just happened. 

“Did you guys hear that?” You asked them, wondering 

"Hear what?" Dean asked you. He listened for any odd sound other than the slot machines and birds chirping outside, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. He looked over at the manager and gave him a friendly smile, explaining your behavior. "She has the flu."

The manager barely showed any changes in his facial expressions, his brow furrowed together at your behavior, causing Dean to awkwardly chuckle and smile once again. When the man still wouldn't even crack the slightest of emotions, Dean rushed out a forged signature and booked it out of there. Dean wasted no time getting out of the lobby and onto one of the double beds.He couldn't stand another night of sleeping next to you with you being like this, your skin hot to the touch. You laid down after complaining that you were thirsty, Sam took on the task of grabbing you a drink while Dean mentioned something about checking around the place. You waved him off when he asked his brother if he was okay with watching you for a few minutes.

Sam watched you as downed a glass of water in mere seconds, acting like a woman dying of thirst before asking for another one. With the fever running through your body, you were bound to be dehydrated. He got up and went to the bathroom sink to get you another. You smiled and tried to somehow take a sip while lying on your side on the bed farthest from the door. The cold water felt amazing down your throat. All though you were hot to the touch, you felt awfully cold. And suddenly so tired. Maybe you were getting the flu. Because you were feeling weird lately. It was different when you were back at the bunker, but you were discovering that your body was feeling more unusual, almost like you were moving in a fog.

“Regular tourist mecca we got here.” You turned your head to the door when you heard it open to see that Dean was back from his sweep around the hotel. “We’re the only guests in this whole place. Last entry in the registry was in ‘06.”

“Mmm. Anyone else getting ‘Psycho’ vibes?” You cracked a joke that you thought wasn’t even the slightest bit funny, but it was enough to make you smile. You tried to put the empty glass on the nightstand, too tired to sit up and make it easier on yourself, only your attempt ended with you missing and accidentally dropping it to the floor a quiet thud, the carpet managed to save it from breaking. Your smile grew wider at your clumsiness and rested your head back into the pillow, you placed an arm over your face, trying to block out the sun peeking out from the blinds. “Hey, Dean, you remember when uh… when John and my mom took us to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, on that pack-mule ride?”

“The what?” Dean asked you, not sure where this conversation came from. 

“And you’re, uh…your mule kept farting, just—letting go, like, gale force?” You weren’t the one to laugh like a school kid at jokes like that. But the memory made you let out a series of laughs that made the boys look at you with an odd expression.

“Y/N, you were like four years old.” Dean said. “I barely remember that.”

You giggled to yourself and turned your head to look at Sam, “Your brother rode a farty donkey.”

“Okay. Uh, since Sam has some background on this kind of stuff, him and I are gonna check out the Two Rivers Tribal Museum and Trading Post.” Dean said, telling you the plan.

“Yeah, yeah! I’m gonna…I’m gonna—“ You were finding it hard for you to sit up on your own, for a second, it seemed like you forgot you were almost six months pregnant with a belly that was far past being a small bump like you remembered. You got yourself up and pointed a finger at the boys to tell tell them what you were going to do while they were gone. “I’m gonna follow the hotel manager. D-Dr. Scowley-scowl. He’s like a villain from Scooby-Doo.”

“No, hey, uh, how about no?” Sam put a stop to your plans, watching as you tried to gather some energy to stand on your feet. You continued to sit on the eye of the bed, trying to force your eyes to stay open to keep this conversation going. “You should get some rest.”

“Yeah,” You mumbled with no resistance at all. “I can do that too.”

And with that, you fell back to the bed, suddenly losing consciousness a little too quickly. When the boys made sure you were still breathing, they made their way out of the room to conduct some of their own research while you to some much needed rest. 

+ + +

You weren’t sure how long you had been sleeping for after your head hit the pillow and lost consciousness in record time. From the way your body was feeling and the thin layer of sweat covering every inch of you, you took a wild guess that it was a while. You groaned softly when you tried to get yourself up into a sitting position, moving slow as possible, not sure why your body aches so much. You looked around the room to see if the boys had returned, but you were still alone. The room was quiet for the most part considering there hadn’t been any other guests since ‘06. You thought that’s what Dean said. Maybe you didn’t hear him right. 

You had been pretty out of it when you got settled into the room, talking about some family trip you took with the Winchester’s decades ago when you were still in each other’s lives. You forgot about it until just recently. The memory was crystal clear in your head, like it happened just the other day. If you had to think about...things had never felt so much clearer. You slowly got up to your feet thinking you just needed to stretch your legs from sleeping in such a stiff position. Maybe even see what the hotel manager was up to. You did mention something to the boys about tailing him to see what he was up to. It was odd enough this place wasn’t crawling with at least a few drifters. Something weird was definitely going on here.

Somehow you were able to get yourself to the door and opened it just enough for you to stumble your way out into the hallway, not taking into consideration how your appearance must look at the moment. There was no doubt in your mind your hair was a mess, your skin felt clammy and sweaty. Not to mention you had a sickly color to your skin. You felt like how you looked right at this moment. But every instinct was telling you to get off your ass and do your job. 

You moved at a gruelingly slow pace, making sure to steady your hand against the wall to keep yourself from falling and the other to block out the extremely bright florescent light. You stumbled your way down the hall and to the corner, wondering the hell the manager was, not taking into consideration you really shouldn’t have been out in the open like this. You took a few steps down the hall until you heard it again...that ringing you noticed when you checked in. This time, it was louder than before. Everything felt off. 

The hallway you stood down of suddenly appeared like it was spinning around you, the ground beneath your feet felt like it disappeared. You couldn’t hear your heavy or even anything else, all you could concentrate on was that chiming noise ringing loudly in your ears. For a second you were caught up in the rush of feeling, not realizing the manager was closer than you thought. Quick as the dizzy spell came, it vanished right after you saw the elevator doors slowly opened, giving you a small window to find a hiding spot. 

You managed to press your backside against the nearest door’s alcove just as the manager stepped off the elevator, pushing something that sounded like a cart from the squeaky wheel that echoed down the hall. You slowly peeked your head out from the corner to see he was crouched down on the ground with his back towards you, giving you a chance to see what he was doing. You noticed he was stacking delivery boxes on top of at least a dozen others. You furrowed your brow slightly in confusion. Why the hell was he delivering packages? There wasn’t anyone else here besides you and the boys. Maybe the previous guests before you checked in and loved the place so much they never wanted to leave. 

When you saw the manager push the cart away and back to the elevator without seeing you, you began moving when you heard the ding of the doors closed shut. You slowly made your way over to the hoard of boxes, wanting to know what was in there. You grabbed one of them to read the mailing address, only to discover it was the same as the hotel’s. All these boxes had to be filled with something important. You ripped open the box to see what was inside. What you discovered was...not what you expected. 

Books. At least a half dozen of them stacked neatly inside. You picked up a hardcover that was a pretty pale blue with silver swirled details engraved into the cover. You read the title, “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickerson. A classic you remembered reading in English class years back for an essay. Then was more, books of all kinds, from different genres to different decades published. Classics. Mysteries. Self help books to quit smoking. You put them back where you found them, wondering why the hell the manger was dropping them off in another room. That’s when it hit you. 

What do writes love more than creating their own work? Reading other adventures. You pushed yourself back up to your feet and headed to your own room quickly as your body would let you. You didn’t know why you figured it out sooner. He was under your nose the entire time, hiding in plain sight. And yet hidden away from the world, probably spent centuries reading. An introvert’s dream to spend out their days. Their own company fictional beings. Endless worlds that weren’t their own. 

You shut the door behind you and pulled out your phone, you scrolled through your contacts until you found Dean’s number. You blinked a few times to get your eyes to focus when you noticed your vision was starting to grow blurry again. You managed to hit the send button and heard the first ring before you felt yourself starting to get light headed, to the point where you were starting to get nervous you might fall. 

You took a few steps to make it over to the bed closest to you in some kind of attempt to sit down before that could happen. You felt your knees give out on you could make it there, causing your body to stumble to the floor and your phone mere inches from your grip. You didn’t hear the sound of Dean’s voice when he picked up on the second ring.

+ + +

All you remembered before passing out on the hotel room floor was that you were in the middle of trying to make a phone call to Dean after the discovery you made. It was too important not to wait on. You managed to make it back to the room and dialed his number before you found yourself losing consciousness, probably from the fever that was some kind of effect from doing these trials. Everything felt blurry, like you were in a fever dream. During the time you were passed out for a short while from the time the boys discovered you and when you woke up you were bombarded with all sorts of memories you either forgot or compressed down. Things about who you used to be, and the horrible things you did. 

When you finally came back into consciousness you weren’t exactly sure where you were for a split second. Your senses started to pick up on the fact that you felt like you were floating in water, freezing cold from what it felt like. You suddenly realized your lungs were starting to burn, the familiar sensation that made you start to panic. You felt your brain starting to scream for air as you felt your arms suddenly shoot up, feeling for a surface you could grab a hold onto. You grabbed each side of the tub you were lying in and quickly pulled yourself out of the ice cold water, your body freezing cold to the bone and your lungs burning for the need of air. When you finally managed to get yourself up into a sitting position, you quickly realized you were in a bathtub full of ice cold water. 

You inhaled a wheezing breath before the next few came out in short and quick pants from the temperature your body wasn’t used to. You looked up to see the boys were standing above you, the ones who were responsible for putting you here in the first place. You felt your teeth starting to chatter and your body shaking from how freezing you were, you needed to get out of here before you got hypothermia. You slapped away Dean’s hand when he tried to help you out of the tub so you wouldn’t risk the chance of slipping and hurting yourself.

“Get off!” You shouted at him, your voice coming out shaky as you managed to push yourself up to your feet and stumble your way of the tub, only to make yourself feel worse at the even colder feeling room. You stood in the middle of the bathroom with your clothes soaked to your body and your entire body violently shaking. “What the hell?! God!” 

“Take it easy.” Dean told you. You tightly crossed your arms around your chest to try and warm yourself up before you could get anymore freezing. Sam grabbed a towel to wrap around your body to start warming you up best as he could. “We found you on the floor, passed out. Your temperature was a hundred and seven. I had to force it down or you were toast.” 

“He’s here, guys. Metatron is here.” You stuttered out the news you wanted to tell them over the phone before you passed out. Sam momentarily stopped grabbing another towel to try and help warm you up from the words he heard come out of your mouth. Both of the boys gave you a confused expression. “I know it. I can feel it.” 

“What are you talking about?” Sam asked. 

“All I know is that I’m connected to it somehow.” You tried to explain it as best as you could to them, figuring it explained the ringing in your ears and the dizzy spells that you had earlier. 

“What, like you got a link to him, like a prophet?” Dean went on with his questions, wondering what the hell you were talking about. 

“I don’t know! I just know he’s here.” You said. “Metatron is here.” 

“Okay. Where?” Dean decided to amuse this idea of yours, wondering if you were still delirious from the fever you had earlier today.

“I can show you. I can show you.” You muttered to them, sounding a little bit worrisome as you started to get a look in your eye. “The manager—he was delivering books to him.”  

“Books?” Dean repeated what you just said. 

“Books. Hardcovers, paperbacks, novels—books.” You practically spelled it out for them, trying to make them understand the point you had figured it out on your own. 

The boys took a few seconds before you realized why the books were such a factor into figuring out that it was Metatron the entire time, stories were something he would have enjoyed. You shrugged off the towel and wasted no time at all changing into a new set of clothes, wanting to hunt down and have a talk with the angel yourself. The boys kept insisting that you should have kept it easy and rest, but you shrugged off their concerns, saying that you were perfectly fine. Your stumbling around and odd behavior before wasn't exactly proving you were in good shape to keep on going like how you wanted. 

You managed to get dressed and make your way out the door with the boys following right after you in some kind of fear that you might fall again and hurt yourself this time. You took your time getting out into the hall again, steadying yourself on the wall while Sam kept his arm stretched out just enough to catch you if you were to take a tumble, Dean shut the door behind him and began following behind you as you slowly made your way down the hall to the room you were trying to show them that supposedly belonged to this angel. 

“I should be taking you to the E.R.” Dean said, sharing his concern for your wellbeing. 

“They can’t do anything for me. I have to get worse before I can get better.” You found yourself mumbling the last sentence to yourself, but Sam managed to catch your rambling. “You know, I’ve been remembering things—little things so clearly.”

“What?” Dean asked you. “Donkey rides?”

“You used to read to me, when you were still learning how to, from this really old Grimm's fairy tale book. My favorite one used to be 'Little Red Riding Hood.' You read it so much that I'm pretty sure you had it memorized. You would always make up these voices for all the characters. You always told me that you were the hunter. And I was Red.” You found yourself reminiscing on a memory from times when things were much simpler, when you still lived in Lawrence and the boys were in your lives. You and Dean shared a small moment of childhood innocence that was long lost from the years. Until you started to remember all of it. “I thought I was for a long, long time. Little Red Riding Hood, I mean.” 

You steadied one hand on the wall as you kept on walking with the boys following behind you, for a second you wondered why you were saying any of this. But another part of you felt like you needed to get the past off your chest. "I used to be obsessed with that stupid book. You know that? I forced my mom to read me a story from it for the first year when I moved to Y/H/S. It was the only thing that would help me fall asleep. Mostly it was the ones where the princess or some pretty damsel was cursed. They had something wrong with them. I thought I was one of them, too. How stupid was that?” 

You found yourself smiling at the things that were coming out of your mouth, finding your childhood innocence on things so stupid. “Yeah. It’s normal for little girls to believe in fairy tales. Happy endings and Prince Charming. But that wasn’t it. Things happened to me that nobody could explain. I thought it was easier to believe that someone cursed me. And that one day it was all going to disappear. I didn’t know what was really wrong…” You felt a lump form in your throat at the clear memories flooding back to you, things you tried so hard to forget. “I should’ve.”

You used to hear voices. See things nobody else could. And have blackouts of rage that you didn’t even remember doing. All of this was things turned into a blurry memory before you subconsciously buried deep down inside of you. Every trace of hints that you were a monster were hidden from daylight for long as possible. You settled into a safe and normal lifestyle your mother sold her soul for. Maybe she knew the entire time what kind of monster she made. She tried her hardest to keep it chained up and brainwashed you into keeping away from the very thing that brought you into this world. But one could only do so much beyond the grave. 

When you’re a kid, you’re taught the things that go bump in the night were just figments of your imagination. Characters in a story that was made up by someone to scare little kids. But kids have the mindset to believe these things. Because at that age anything is possible. For a short time before society and adulthood tricks us into thinking, you know about the evil in the world. And yet you’re still innocent enough to believe there is good as well. When you grew up you learned the truth. But the part of optimism where you get a happy ending dies. You had to take off your rose colored glasses and see the world for what it was. The monster you always were. 

“What are you talking about, Y/N?” Sam asked you, wanting to make sense of all the things that were coming out of your mouth. 

You stopped walking and stood there for a second with your hand pressed against the wall. You slowly turned around in your spot to face the boys to continue on with what you were saying. “I thought for the longest time I was Little Red Riding Hood, walking through life and being tricked by monsters who pretended to be my friend. Deep down. I thought I was good. But I wasn’t. I was never...clean.” The way your lips twitched at the word, it made it seem like you were saying a vile thing. “I was the wolf hiding in plain sight. I lied to you guys. I lied to myself. For the longest time I tricked people into thinking I was capable of making good decisions. But everything I touched turned to crap. I was tainted. Evil.”

You felt your lips twitching into what looked like a smile, but your eyes told a different story from how you were feeling at the moment. The boys had felt their fair share of emotions over the years, Sam had empathized with your pain about feeling unclean. At the end of all of it, you weren’t to blame for how you turned out. “Y/N, it’s not your fault.” 

“For the longest time I thought it was. I blamed myself for the horrible things that happened. Sam dying. You going to hell. Lucifer being set free. The apocalypse. Everything could have been avoided if I made different decisions. I mean, knowing that I was a half-demon didn't really bother me. I could control her. I did my entire life. You know what really hurts the most?” You asked them, but not giving them a second to take a guess. They would never get it.” “It’s the fact that Lucifer made me. The most evil thing out there created me. I felt so alone. Isolated.” 

“You’re not alone, Y/N.” Sam reassured you. He placed a hand on your shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze, hoping a touch would break you out of this head space. “You never were.”

“I’m the only of my kind. And there was no changing that. But I don’t feel like that anymore. Because these trials..." You felt yourself inhaling a deep breath, taking a pause between what you were about to say next. The look on your face from the things you knew for the future made you seem like you were suddenly at ease, despite all the things you admitted to just a few minutes earlier. A sense of hope followed after, it bloomed in your chest from the three words that followed after. "they're purifying us." 

Dean felt himself being taken aback from the last word that slipped out from your mouth. He found himself standing there for a moment, trying to wrap his head around what you meant by that. Even though in the back of his mind he knew the answer, he wanted to hear it out of your mouth. The different answer than he suspected. You had been acting strange since you started the trials, and you were only getting worse. He watched as you made it down the hall and to the last door on the right. You stood there for a moment, trying to find something that was no longer there. 

“They were here, the books, the boxes!” You pointed at the empty ground that no longer had the things you seen earlier today. Your voice was growing frustrated at what was happening. All of this was making you look like you were going crazy. “They—They’re gone.”  

What you didn’t discover was the fact that room three sixty-six was opened just the slightest to anyone who dared walk inside. Dean took it upon himself to push open it wider and took a look inside to the hotel room you claimed belonged to Metatron. He stepped inside first to see the place was empty, you followed after and Sam trailed behind, discovering a collection of books that must have taken decades. You felt your anger slowly subsiding when you discovered the stock pile of books all around you. Piles that were taller than you, neatly stacked on tables. You read every title you could as you passed by, wondering to yourself if they had all been read. 

The more you traveled into the place, the more you discovered thousands upon thousands of books from what it felt like. All neatly packed together on the floor and shelves. Someone was a bit of a bookworm. You and the boys traveled farther into the hotel, trying to find this angel you had traveled all the way here to see, not taking into consideration he might have been one step ahead of you. You felt your gaze going straight forward when you felt someone’s grip around your arm tug you back slightly, stopping you from walking into the barrel of a shotgun. 

[Next Part]

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[cecilspeaks]

141 - Save Dark Owl Records

The prison of your own mind is undergoing budget cuts.

Welcome to Night Vale.

Today I’d like to open the show with a statement from a local business owner, Michelle Nguyen.

Michelle: An insidious presence has invaded our town. That presence is located in the Night Vale mall and is called the Burger Barn Gladtown Records Express. I’ve seen you shopping there, Night Vale, and I want you to know you’re all murderers with the figurative blood of independent record stores dripping from your hands. “No, no” you’ll say, “that isn’t figurative blood, it’s literal barbecue sauce from the Black Angus barbeque bacon burger and it’s delicious!” You’ll keep blathering on how about “Burger Barn Gladtown Records Express keeps thick juicy beef burgers layered in between your albums, so you can flip past them and impulse eat as you shop. It’s so convenient!” [angrily] Well you know what? Convenience is another words for laziness. When you come to my store, to Dark Owl Records, you have to earn your music! Our extensive underground section is kept literally underground, and you have to dig random holes in the dirt to find it. We don’t provide you with a shovel, you can’t even bring your own. You must use your fingers. Broken knuckles and fingernails peeled back to the quick are the sign of a true music lover. Sometimes, you won’t find music you think you like, but then you realize that the rhythmic grunts and scrapes of bloodied hands into rocky earth is itself music.

Anyway, come to my fundraiser tonight at Dark Owl Records. It’s a party, and parties are the worst, but I don’t have the money to pay my bills anymore and it’s your fault, so just show up and do the right thing, or I’ll go out of business. Ok, thanks!

Cecil: Thank you, Michelle. Our radio station is doing a remote broadcast live today at the Save Dark Owl fundraiser. We’ll do some interviews and there’ll be live bands, and it should be a lot of fun. Hope you see you down here, Night Vale! Come show your support for local small business.

But first, a word from our sponsor. Today’s program is brought to you by the Burger Barn Gladtown Records Express. The popular franchise mashup had its grand opening only three weeks ago and is already a booming success. From their regional frosty treats, like the cactus thorn malt, to their wide selection of best of complication albums. There’s something for everyone at Food Barn Gladtown Records Express. And by popular demand, there’s now extra fry sauce on everything, including the Bluetooth headphones. You don’t even have to ask for it. You have to ask if you don’t want fry sauce, and you have to give a good reason why not, like uh, a signed doctor’s note. Burger Barn Gladtown Records Express. Your community entertainment culture conglomerate.

And now, a public service announcement.

Deb: Hey old friends! Corporeal humans, cor-corporeal humans, former babies, future corpses, this is Deb, a sentient patch of haze, speaking for the department of motor vehicles. We know you haven’t heard from us in a while. But [blows raspberry] we haven’t heard from you either. Relationships are a, [clicks tongue] two-way street, so to speak. But [hiccups], I know there’s been some tension and things have gotten a little weird between us. No need to get into that right now. Or ever again, as far as we’re concerned. But if you wanna come over some time and just talk, just say hi or anything, then the department of motor vehicles will be opening our doors for one hour every weekday between 2 and 3. That’s all we have to give emotionally right now. Self..care. We would like to see you again though just to [emotionally] hear your voice. We hope you’ve been doing well. [hiccups] We’re a little drunk, and it’s late. Man, we just got done watching Carol for the third time in a week. [angrily] And you haven’t really been posting on social media lately, so we just wanna know what’s going on with you. [drinking noises] Again, no pressure, no strings attached, and if it gets crowded you could always take a number as usual. But the DMV wants you to know whether your number 19 or 99, you’re always number 1 to us! [snorts] [cries] We, we miss you. We miss you.

Cecil: Listeners, we’re here live at Dark Owl Records, and the fundraiser is getting off to a great start! People are buying shards of records they dug out of the ground, there’s a cake with thick black frosting and undulating tendrils. Mm, looks delicious! There’s an effigy of the Burger Barn Gladtown Records Express with a lot of long pins sticking out of it. And at the center of all the excitement is Dark Owl owner herself, Michelle Nguyen, and her girlfriend Maureen. What a treat! Hey you two, wanna say hello to all of Night Vale? Ah that’s weird. Uh, Michelle sent me a text right now while simultaneously staring unblinkingly into my eyes from three feet away. Uh, her text says: “We heard the spot you did for Burger Barn Gladtown Rec Ex and we are not speaking to you at this time. Please leave my party, Cecil.” Oh I get it, oh no, this is a, a simple misunderstanding, Michelle. See, in radio journalism, we have a moral responsibility to play ads and make lots of money. I see where you’re confused. Does that help clear things up? Aaand Maureen is pouring ice coffee all over my laptop. I’ll go find a towel, while you go to the weather.

[A Pale Sun Rises Over New York" by Scrawnyman, https://scrawnyman.bandcamp.com]

Michelle: Hey, this is Michelle. Cecil had to go away, but there was a hastily assumed agreement I would take over the show while he’s gone, so here I am, Michelle. Broadcasting live from my own party, which is better than mingling with people and being all social and stuff, right? Uh, no offense to anyone who’s here, but this is the first party I’ve ever agreed to attend and it was only out of desperation. I mean, all parties are born out of some form of desperation. Ugh, parties are the worst! I wish everyone would go home. No, no, don’t go home, it’s so nice that you’re here… I guess. But you know what else is nice? Being alone. Or mostly alone. That’s really what independent record stores stand for, you know? Individuality, independence, isolation. Don’t follow the herd, go home, be alone. It’s the best. 

Oh shoot, I was afraid something like this would happen. I mean, everything’s fine, there’s just a little situation out back. I’m gonna hand the mic over to Maureen while I deal with this.

Maureen: Um, hello? Hey, uh, this is Maureen. Don’t be scared or anything. A-actually be scared, but not about what I’m going to tell you. So what happened is some people were digging in the underground music section and the ground kind of split apart and now there’s a giant, like arthropod thing. Uh, it’s tearing people’s limbs off and whatever. Seems really mad and people are screaming, there’s like a lot of blood, blood is so stupid. But Michelle has it under control now. She’s kicked out everyone but the spider crustacean thing, because it was the only one who wasn’t being fake about its love of music. So yeah um, come on down to the store. Uh remember: we’re here to save Dark Owl! And even though the biggest section is the not for sale rack, there’s still a lot of great things to choose from. I know that some of the best things I’ve ever found have been here. Michelle, for one. Uh, don’t tell her I said that.

Also earlier today, I was crawling around inside the ventilation system, and I thought it would be really narrow and claustrophobic like air closed shafts usually are, but actually it kept growing wider and taller until I could stand up and walk around. I could even run if I wanted to. The ducts and passageways unfolded in front of me and I felt totally lost, but in a good way. I ran and ran and somewhere along the way I lost my flashlight and it didn’t matter. I could see with a sense other than vision, maybe it was taste. Ductways tasted like an everything bagel, and that guided my way. Then I could taste voices outside the vents. A voice I knew well was talking to a customer about a color limited edition single of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” on one side and “Love Will Keep Us Together” on the other. The record’s cover art depicted the eruption of Mount St Helens, but like a year before it actually happened, which makes it super valuable. I followed the taste of their voices, which was like green apples but the artificial candy flavor version, and I ended up in the obsolete media bunker behind the register, where I lay down on a pile of warm Sheena Easton singles and CD-roms filled with corrupted Limewire files. And that’s where I am now. Aand I’m gonna take a nap. Bye! [snoring]

Michelle: Hey Night Vale, I’m back. It’s all under control now. Sorry, I have kind of a contentious relationship with my neighbor Matt. He’s a 15-foot coconut crab that lives underneath the lot behind our store. We usually get along OK, but he really does not like parties, and I should have told him in advance, but I was busy and totally forgot, so my bad. Anyway, I let Matt eat the patrons who were wearing airpods and he was happy, so the party is still going strong. Most of the people are dead or have been kicked out, but I wanna make it clear that the party is still happening. So come on down to Dark Owl Records and save our store! Honestly, things are so much better now that everyone’s gone, so this is really the perfect time to show up. We have some special listening stations where you can browse all your favorite genres, like silence, post-silence, proto-silence, under-silence… I know you guys might not have heard of under-silence yet, but that’s like when the headphones are projecting what’s inside of you back into your own ears and you can hear your internal organs processing blood and fluids, and you’re filled with the awe of how all these seemingly archaic gooey parts can possibly work together to keep you alive and functioning, and you eventually pass out and/or vomit.

[sighs] I really don’t know what I’ll do if I have to leave this place. I’ve spent so much time here, I don’t even remember where my house is. One night after work, I walked down the street I thought it was on, but nothing looked familiar. And I kept walking for hours. I finally saw my house, but when I walked in, the door opened into the kitchen instead of the living room, and there was this family I’d never seen before eating dinner. There were four large serving bowls of mashed root vegetables on the table. The family didn’t notice me at all, they ate their mush and talked about their days. The mom was worried about the new boss at work, and the son forgot to go to his dentist appointment, and the daughter had a chemistry test that went okay. I didn’t want to freak them out, so I et myself out the back door and kept walking until it as morning. And in the cacophonous creak of dawn, I ended up back at Dark Owl just in time to open for the new day. And it didn’t matter, you know, that I couldn’t find my house because –

Wait, what’s this? An empty-eyed courier child just handed me an envelope. There’s a, there’s a check inside, and it’ a coupon for something called the “100 percent fish hot dog”, and a hand written note. It says, “Hello, my name is Jules, and I’m the franchise owner at the new Burger Barn Gladtown Records Express. Here is the rest of the money for your fundraising goal. When you become a franchise owner like me, you’ll think to yourself, ‘oh cool I’m an entrepreneur now, I’m going to be my own boss. I’m finally going to have agency in my life, you know?’ At least that’s what I thought when I filled out he online personality test that told me I had what it takes. I’m a type 23: outgoing but grounded. I’m detail-oriented but I can also see the big picture. I’m competitive, but I follow the rules. Classic type 23.” The note goes on. “But there are so many rules, Michelle. You have to conform when you’re in a franchise. And if you don’t, you’ll go under. Not merely monetarily, but to this place they refer to only as the cavern. If you end up there, you don’t ever come out again. Anyway, one rule is that we need at least one business competitor to remain open at all times. Until our lobbyists overturn the Sherman anti-trust act, we need Dark Owl Records to stay in business. So please take this money. I don’t wanna go to the cavern. Please, Michelle. Sincerely, Jules.”

OK, not sure how to deal with this right now if I’m honest. This person opened up a rival record franchise, and now they wanna give me money from their corporation to stay in business? I dunno. I need to go soul searching. I need to listen to some ambient room tone tracks used under famous movie scenes. I really like the one from the diner in “When Harry Met Sally”. Whatever, I guess. [steps, door closes]

[steps] Cecil: Night Vale, I’m so sorry I left you. I went to get a towel to clean up the spilled ice coffee, and there was this giant spider lobster thing, he-he cornered me and I couldn’t escape. He just kept talking and talking and god, he was boring! The worst person to run into at a party. I didn’t know how to get out of the conversation without being rude, uh I finally said I’d go grab us both a slice of cake and sidled out of there. I hope everything went OK while I was gone. Let’s see. Oh, there’s no one really left. The radio gear has been abandoned except a sleeping Maureen under my chair. There’s an inordinate amount of blood on the floor, and hey looks like the little cardboard thermometer that shows the fundraising goal has been fully colored in! Wow! We did it Night Vale! I guess that means there’s enough money to keep Dark Owl in business, at least through this month’s bills. That’s the thing about bills, they keep happening.

Well, whatever the future holds, the party was clearly a success. As was this ultra fun remote broadcast. So music lovers, kick back, put on your fry sauce-dosed headphones, listen to your newly purchased album shards, and put some vitamin E cream on those knuckles! Stay tuned next for the cla-cla-clack of CD cases being browsed, like a fluttery little heartbeat in the darkness.

Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: A good way to tell if an artistic idea is worthwhile is to remember that the most successful video game of all time is “a plumber steps on turtles”, so who knows?

[southside-vixen]

Fire and Ice (Sweet Pea) 3

Chapter 3. Hold My Beer

AO3

Adrianna Rivera has just made a difficult move from Arizona to the southside of Riverdale. With the history of her life in Phoenix behind her will she be able to find a new family in the Southside Serpents? Or will a certain tall, dark, and rage inducing Serpent cause issues?

A couple weeks passed since the debacle at Pop’s. Things were quiet for the most part. Adria and Sweet Pea ignored each other like their lives depended on it. The worst being the history class that she only shared with him. But overall things were improving. She and Toni were growing closer, and she was also spending quite a bit of time with her new neighbor. When he wasn’t spending time with the enemy that is.

“Thanks for the ride home, Fangs.” Adria handed his spare helmet back to him

“Of course, Ads. We’re next door neighbors, why wouldn’t I give you a ride home?”

“Ugh. That’s going to stick isn’t it? I guess I don’t hate it.” She shivered as she watched Fangs put his bike under the car park next to his trailer “I don’t know how you guys live here. With all this…weather.”

Fangs laughed “If you owned anything aside from crop tops and ripped jeans maybe you’d survive. Not like I’m complaining, it’s a good look.” He winked at her. There was no way she would be able to buy an entire new wardrobe with her budget of 0 dollars. She’d have to ask Ness if she had anything she could use. The idea of using hand me downs was definitely a hard one to get used to.

“I’ll see you at school tomorrow” Adria smiled and walked into her new home to see Ness sitting on the couch, the screams coming from the TV indicating she was catching up on the old horror movies she loved so much.

“Hey, Ness. Can I ask you something?” Adria threw her purse down on one of the kitchen chairs and plopped down in the chair next to her aunt

“Yeah of course” Ness sat up and paused the TV, causing the room to go silent “What’s up, buttercup?”

“Well. The weather here sucks and I have nothing to deal with it. The warmest thing I own are some thin sweaters.”

“Oh, shit. Yeah your crop tops aren’t gonna keep you warm for much longer. I think I have some old clothes from a few years ago in the basement that I never got around to getting rid of. Let me bust ‘em out and we’ll wash what you want and finally donate what you don’t. You look to be about my size when I was a few years younger.”

Adria looked at Ness, her aunt looked more like her than her own mother did. At least from what she could see from pictures. Even some of the older Serpent members had mentioned that she looked like Ness from high school.

“I didn’t know we even had a basement. Or that trailers had basements in general.”

“Cool it with the classism, Penthouse Barbie” Ness laughed “First off, this is a double wide. Second, it’s a glorified crawl space filled with cobwebs. Not a place for late night parties. Don’t worry though, I’ll clean the spiders off the bags before I bring them up.”

“I really didn’t need to know about the spiders” Adria shuddered “And I don’t think anyone’s called me a Barbie before.”

“You’re a beautiful girl, Adrianna. I would know since you look nearly identical to me when I was your age.” Ness flashed a smile and got up from her seat “I’ll be right back”

Adria watched as Ness opened a door in the hallway and disappeared behind it. She settled into her phone looking at all the photos her old friends were posting on Instagram. Pictures of their recent trip to some new exclusive club in Las Angeles. Sitting in the VIP area with bottle service. She missed her old life more than anything. Brunch with her father on Sundays, Friday nights with the girls at a different club each weekend. In Riverdale her fake ID would get her nowhere, not like the Wrym carded anyone anyway.

A long sigh escaped her lips, it was easier to pretend her new life was fine when she avoided social media. None of her old ‘friends’ contacted her after her father’s trip to prison. The isolation from her old group was hard to cope with, but none of them had any loyalty to her. Hell, she wouldn’t even be surprised if they were close to her because of her family and her money. She wanted to believe that people here were different, even if they only reason they were around her initially was at her aunt’s request.

“Something wrong?” Ness threw two large black trash bags of clothes onto the floor and shut the basement door behind her

“Just in my own head, I guess.” Adria put her phone back into her pocket “When do you think my dad’ll be able to call from prison? It’s been about a couple weeks now.”

“He’s probably just settling in and spending most of his time with his lawyers, I’m sure you’ll hear from him soon.” She brought the bags to the living room and dumped their contents onto the ground. There was loads of blacks and greys with some dark blues and greens thrown in here and there. Adria plopped herself on the floor and began sorting through the sea of flannel and leather. Finding anything that stood out to her. It wasn’t her style at all, but then again Toni rocked it so maybe she could too.

“I don’t think your classmates will give you as much shit with all this. You’ll look the part of a Southside High student. Ness said “Just remember, it’s just for the colder seasons. If it’s really that bad we can check out the local thrift stores but we definitely don’t have the budget to match the clothes you brought.”

“I know, Ness. I understand.” Adria had resigned herself that this might be the case on the bus ride in. She felt a bit like Alice falling down the rabbit hole at times. Riverdale was an entirely new world and she was determined to show she was strong. Even if that meant sucking it up and wearing hand me downs and thrift store finds. Hell, she would even make them look good.

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

The next day Adria walked into school in her ‘new’ clothes she received from Ness. After careful consideration in the mirror that morning she decided on ripped jeans, a black tank top, dark green flannel, and to top it off- her aunt’s old, patch free, leather jacket.

For once, she blended. No Ghoulies looked at her like she was an injured deer waiting to be gutted. It was actually pretty refreshing. She sat down at her lab table for chemistry and plopped down her bags. Conveniently enough she had chemistry with Fangs. Not like it was great for either of their grades since they were both terrible at it.

“Ads?” She lifted her head to see Fangs standing wide eyed at the end of the table “Shit. You almost look like a completely different person.”

“I look like an idiot, don’t I? I knew I couldn’t pull off flannel and leather.”

“You look like a Serpent. Pretty impressive transformation for overnight. It’s a good look for you.” He set down his bag and sat next to her “You shouldn’t worry so much about appearances. They don’t matter as much as you think they do.”

Adria breathed a sigh of relief “Yeah, I’ll try. Just difficult when I feel like a kid playing dress up.”

“You’re overthinking it. It’s just clothes.”

He was probably right. Just clothes, she was still the same Adria. Even if she was wearing flannel, something she swore never to do. But it was for warmth. Not because she was trying to be something she wasn’t. Nope, same Adria. Just in a leather jacket. That was it.

By the time she arrived to lunch the table was already buzzing.

“Hey, guys. What’s going on?” Adria took a seat next to Toni. The conversation died immediately after she arrived, and more than one person’s jaw dropped to the ground.

“Ads?” Toni asked, a smile creeping on her face “Damn, girl you look great! Fangs said you had a makeover but this is something else.”

“I told you it was a good look!” Fangs walked over and slung his arm around her shoulder “what do you think Sweet Pea?”

Oh no. This is exactly what she didn’t want right now. He would open his mouth and all of her self-doubt that had been easing away over the course of the day would come flooding back.

For a long moment Sweet Pea didn’t say anything

“She certainly looks the part”

Adria was in awe. It wasn’t an outright insult. Sure, it was vaguely implied but it wasn’t outright malicious.

“Okay then” Toni nodded with a smile, “Anyway big news, Ads. Starting tomorrow you won’t be the new kid anymore.”

”What, really? Who is it? Do you know them?” Adria was more than excited to not be the newest one in the group. Maybe it would get Sweet Pea to lay off her once he had someone else to take his anger out on.

“Forsyth Pendleton Jones the Third. FP Jones’ son.”

“Who’s that?” Adria looked around at the rest of the table. Clearly everyone else knew what was going on.

“He’s the leader of the Serpents. Well. Kind of. He’s in jail right now.” Fangs responded

“Figures she doesn’t know the name of the leader of the gang she’s trying to imitate.” Sweet Pea swept some of his hair out of his face “She may look the part but she’s still not one of us.”

“Fine.” Adria slammed her hand down on the table “What do I need to do to prove to you that I have what it takes?”

“Tomorrow. The quarry. We’ll figure something out.” Pea stared back at her across the table. She was at the end of her rope dealing with his attitude. She would do whatever the idiot wanted to prove herself worthy to be part of his stupid little group. The stupid little group that was starting to mean a lot more to her than she initially planned.

The next day came quicker than she would have liked. Sure enough, Toni was absent most of the morning showing around the newest member of their group the school. She didn’t see her again until she was able to pull her into the bathroom after English.

“Toni, what did I agree to?” She looked around to make sure no one was around to hear her fear “I was up all night worried about what the hell that douchebag is going to have me do”

“Okay. Calm down and take a deep breath”

She did as Toni instructed

“You’re going to be fine. It won’t be as bad as you think, I promise. That’s all I can tell you as I’ve been sworn to secrecy.”

Toni’s reassurance didn’t make her feel any better. She greeted the newest member at lunch, Jughead Jones. He seemed nice enough, although she couldn’t focus on anything aside from what might be happening at the quarry. The sand in the clock ran out much quicker than she would have liked. Before she knew it she was on the back of Fang’s bike on the way to the quarry. The only promise that Toni and Sweet Pea would meet them there.

“How are you feeling?” Fangs asked once they had finally arrived. The quarry was too cold for swimming this time of year. Adria walked over to the fire pit that he was trying to start. Waiting for something to warm her up.

“Nervous. But you have to promise not to tell that pompous asshole you call your best friend.” She whispered harshly. More of the Serpents she didn’t really talk to were starting to show up and her nerves continued to grow. She had genuinely hoped it would just be the four of them.

“I won’t say a word. Promise.” He put a hand on her shoulder and ushered her to a fold up chair by the fire.

It seemed like ages before Toni and Sweet Pea showed up. When they finally did they brought enough booze to drown a small family.

“Hope you’re ready for what’s to come, Princess.” Sweet Pea walked over and put an entire bottle of whiskey into her hands “This one’s yours. Better get started.”

This was it? Her task was to drink a bottle of whiskey on her own? This was like an average Tuesday back in her old life. This was going to be much easier than she thought.

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

Toni, Sweet Pea, and Fangs were all in awe about how much the small framed city girl could put away. She drank her entire bottle of whiskey without even batting an eye, then had a couple swigs from Fang’s bottle. By the end of her bender she was sitting on Toni’s lap, giggling at just about anything that was anyone said. Sure everyone else had been drinking, but she was the drunkest girl at the party by far.

“So is this it?” Adria slurred “This is nothinggggg” she laughed, throwing her head back. She barely missed bashing Toni in the nose.

“I think she’s ready” Toni peeked around her friend at the guys

“Alright, Ads. Welcome to your trial” Fangs said, trying to be serious although he was also clearly drunk.

“We don’t keep secrets in the Serpents so your first task is to go around and tell us all what you really think of us” Sweet Pea stared her down from across the fire “Let’s start easy. With what you think of Toni Topaz.”

Adria looked turned to look at Toni and smiled

“Toni Topaz. I first thought you were a huuuuuuge bitch. But you’re so nice!” Adria’s grin grew “You’re a precious angel in what I thought would be a hell hole. I love you, Toni. You’re such a good friend” she grabbed her friend around the neck and gave her a huge hug, listening to a small chorus of ‘awww’ around them.

They went around while she gave her opinion of the other Serpents that were there, not like it was much considering she barely talked to most of them. They were all superficial drunk ramblings. Then it brought around to the end, with only Fangs and Sweet Pea left.

“Fangs…Don’t think I don’t notice you’re a huge pervert” She laughed “But you’re cute so I forgive you. Thanks for being around and helping me feel like I have a home here”

“Cute, huh?” Fangs laughed and gave her a wink

“Not gonna happen.”

“Well. We’ve saved the best for last Ads. Tell us exactly how you feel about Sweet Pea.”

This one was a doozy and everyone around the circle knew it. They had been watching for weeks as the two barely spoke and when they did everyone around them prepared to break up a fight.

“Sweet Pea, huh?” Adria’s smile faded as she locked eyes with him across the flames “Sweet Pea is the biggest dick I’ve ever met. I have no idea what is issue is with me as I’ve done literally nothing to him. This is all made significantly more infuriating by his face. His stupid attractive face.”

Adria stopped dead in her tracks. The whole idea of the gathering was that getting her outrageously drunk she would speak exactly what was on her mind. And sure enough she did, even the things she had shoved way in the back. The murmurs around the circle had gone completely silent as everyone stared at her.

“This has been so much fun. Toni, can you take me home now?” she looked at her friend pleadingly.

“Well, there is one more thing Ads.” Toni gave her a half-hearted smile as she pushed her off her lap

“Strip.” One of the other Serpents said, she was pretty sure his name was Andre.

“What?” Adria looked back at Toni “This is a joke right?”

“I’m afraid not. I’ll help hold you up” and she did. Toni held Adria’s arm as she removed all her clothing down to her bra and underwear.

“Fine. Now what?” She demanded, her buzz quickly wearing off with the cold and fear settling in

“Now you jump in the quarry. Show us how tough you are” Sweet Pea stood up from his seat “That’s what you wanted, right? A chance to prove yourself?”

Adria looked down, it was only about a 10 foot jump into the water. The incredibly cold water. She was already shivering, even with all the alcohol. She looked back at Toni who gave her a small nod, urging her to just get it over with. So she did.

Adria took a deep breath as she ran and jumped, doing her best to brace herself during the small fall for her fate. But it wasn’t enough. The cold water hit like daggers and took her breath away. At least she thought it did but the scream she heard echoing through the air sounded a lot like her own. When she regained her composure she noticed Fangs standing on the edge of the water, his hand outstretched.

She swam over and her friend lifted her out of the water, placing his jacket over her shoulders. Trying to rub her arms to warm her up

“You killed it Ads, you looked tough. Screaming and all.” Fangs smiled “Let’s get you by the fire”

Fangs walked her back to the small beacon of heat as everyone around her cheered and gave her pats on the back. She stood in front the fire with another bottle of whiskey trying to warm herself up before putting her clothes on

“Holy shit, I’m glad that’s over.” Adria lamented to Toni while she put her clothes back on “I’ve never been that cold in my life”

“You held up really well. Especially for someone who just arrived from the southwest a few weeks ago. There’s no way Sweet Pea can deny you’re tougher than you look now” She took the bottle from Adria and took a couple of swigs herself.

“Speaking of, where is the devil incarnate?” Adria asked, scouting the clearing which had erupted into a full blown party now that they were done with her ‘trial’. She didn’t see him anywhere and she had a drunken bone to pick.

“Last I knew he went to take a piss in the woods. Why, what’s up?”

“Funny coincidence. I also have to take a piss. In the woods. Right now. Be right back!” Toni stood, confused, as Adria all but ran to the tree line. What in the hell was she doing?

Adria reached the trees and glanced around. She found a couple people who snuck away from the fire to go make out in the privacy of the trees. She ignored them and continued her search for who she was actually looking for. And she found him. Sweet Pea had turned around from a tree outside of everyone’s view and was zipping up his pants when Adria spotted him.

“You!” she yelled “I need to talk to you”

Sweet Pea stood dumbfounded as she strolled right up to him, chest to chest as she stared into his eyes.

“Why do you hate me for no reason? And yes, it is no reason because you’ve never even bothered to have a conversation with me.”

Sweet Pea just stared down at her for a few seconds. He was at a loss for words and the booze wasn’t helping.

“I know exactly your type. Girls like you think they can get whatever they want because they have money. But not here, Princess. Not with me or the Serpents.” He didn’t take his eyes off her

“You’ve never met a girl like me.” Aria attempted to stand on her tip toes to look taller and more imposing but she failed miserably. She was far too drunk to be taken seriously. She teetered back and her reflexes were all but gone. She made no attempt to catch herself as she fell backward.

Sweet Pea instinctively grabbed Adria’s arm to keep her from falling and pulled her back up, securing her with a hand behind her waist. Adria looked up, both of them looking shocked at the other. She could hardly feel the pain in her shoulder from being yanked so hard.

For some reason neither of them moved to correct the issue. Later, both of them would blame being too drunk. Adria stared up at the boy she told herself she absolutely despised. Hands grasping his arms. His incredibly toned arms. And then there was yelling.

“Ads?” she heard Toni yell “Please don’t be dead in a ditch” Toni turned the corner to see two people up against a tree, the dark obscuring their faces. “Have either of you seen Adria? She’s been gone for far too long.”

Both of them moved too slowly to have avoided it. Sweet Pea quickly pushed Adria back and she whipped herself around to face Toni. Both of them looking incredibly guilty.

“Uh. Hey…Toni.” Adria stood in front of Sweet Pea, putting her hands behind her back “Is it time to go home?”