#men will really do anything but go to therapy huh

[empty-dream]

If I had a nickel for every time I met a twisted male character so selfish that he destroys the very thing he loves then becomes eviler and the entire thing made me sad for a month, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

[xomakara]

Physical Therapy

SUMMARY |  Haechan sprained his ankle and is staying at the hospital. Being very horny and needy, he asks his pretty nurse for special treatment… PAIRINGS | Haechan/Fem!Reader GENRE |  smut, unprotected sex, dirty talk, fingering, public sex, nurse/patient RATING |  Mature LENGTH |  2,366 words AUTHOR’S NOTE |  Fuck, why do I have so many one-shots saved in my computer? Anywho, I hope you enjoy :)

Part 2 here

“Haechan, you are an idiot.”

“…Shut up.”

“I can’t believe you sprained it.”

“…I said shut up.”

“You are such an attention whore. Now you have to stay in the hospital. How does it feel?”

“Guys! Will you shut up! Geez, it’s not my fault!” Haechan yelled at his friends. Leave it to Haechan to sprain his ankle before tonight’s party.

“Actually it is. You’re the one who wanted to impress that pretty girl.” Renjun said, raising both his brows at him. All because he wanted to show off his dance moves. Which really didn't make sense, since Haechan was a great dancer.

"I thought you were trying to impress that girl?" Chenle asked Renjun as he passed some soup to Haechan. “Weren’t you trying to serenade her in Chinese?”

"What are you talking about?" Renjun rolled his eyes, the others laughing. “I did no such thing.”

"How in the world could you sprain your ankle?!" Mark questioned, fussing over the younger man. "Dude."

"Should I keep you company?" Jisung asked.

“Good news is that my cousin is coming over to visit later! I'll bring you some of her homemade food later, since I know you all love her cooking. Have fun at the hospital.” Jaemin said happily, waving at Haechan before walking with the rest of his friends out of the hospital room.

Haechan gave them a surprise look. “Wait, you guys are going to leave me?!”

“….yes?” Jeno said, not sure if that question was a trick or not.

"We'll visit you tommorow, Haechan." Renjun nodded, reassuring him.

Haechan grumbled and glared at them. He crossed his arms. “Fine, leave me. Some friends you guys are. Can't believe you would leave.”

"Ahw, you'll be fine Haechan." Mark chuckled, patting him on the head. “Some of the nurses here are really pretty, you know?”

“We’ll tell them to take good care of you!” Jeno called out.

"Yeah, you'll be fine!" Jisung exclaimed.

"Recover fast! Haechannie fighting!" Jaemin pumped his fist in a victory pose.

Chenle waved and gave him a small smile. “Bye Haechan! Have fun at the hospital!”

"Guyssss!" Haechan whined, hoping that one of his friends would at least stay with him.

Haechan sighed once his friends left. Now who was going to give him the attention he needed? It wasn’t his fault that he wanted to show off his nice, smooth moves to that pretty girl. He wanted to get a chance to maybe…score something tonight.

Damn it.

There goes his chance of fucking a pretty girl.

He started to watch some TV. The hospital wasn’t that bad since he had a room to himself. The door opened again, and a very pretty woman entered his room. She was wearing a nurse outfit, showing off her generous cleavage. 

She gave him a cute smile.

“Hi there, I'm Na Y/N. I’ll be your nurse for tonight. If you need anything, just press the button.” You said, pointing at the button that was on the dresser. 

Haechan looked at you up and down before giving you a smirk. 

Oh yeah, he definitely loved the hospital now.

“Y/N, huh? Wait… Are you Na Jaemin’s cousin?” He asked, his eyes wide. “You’re the cousin that cooks all those delicious food for Jaemin, huh?”

“Oh, you know Jaemin?” You asked him.

“Yeah, we’re friends.” Haechan nodded. “I’m Haechan. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Oh! The one with the sweet yet unique voice whenever he sings? It’s nice to finally put a face to a name.” You smiled at him. “Was Jaemin here to see you earlier? I just started my shift but a few of the other nurses said they saw a group of very good looking men leave your room.”

“Yep, they left not too long ago.” Haechan replied. “I didn’t know you were a nurse.”

“I normally keep my job a secret.” You chuckled, tucking a strand of hair behind your ear. “They don’t believe I’m a nurse because of my looks.”

Which was often true. People always thought you’de be too dumb to be a nurse. That your face and body could pass more for a model.

You didn’t know how or why, but after fighting with the other nurses, you won. The prize was to take care of the handsome young man in Room 127.

“Really now? That must be tough.” Haechan raised his eyebrow. “Well, I’m sure I’ll be in good hands with you.”

“I’ll get you all taken care of.” You smiled as you turned around, your back facing him. “If you need anything Haechan-ssi, just let me know.”

Haechan watched your ass until it disappeared out the door. Yeah, he was going to have fun.

“What’s wrong Y/N?” Minhee, your fellow nurse, friend and roommate asked, grabbing an apple from her plate before taking a big bite of it. It was lunchtime, and you were sitting on the table, your face lying on top of it.

“It’s Haechan! He’s such an... ugh! He won’t stop calling me. He’s getting on my nerves.” You were tired and hungry. 

It has been four hours since Haechan came, and you were tired as hell because of him. He made ridiculous requests. 'Oh nurse, can you help me change the channel? Oh nurse, where is the bathroom? Blah blah blah.' 

You were sick of it.

Minhee gave you a sympathetic look. 

Poor you. 

But she didn’t want to take care of Haechan. Plus you did win that bet. You said were going to cockblock her if she ever brought a man home. 

Hell no. 

Minhee was going to get some dick tonight after her shift. “Why don’t you text Jaemin and ask him what will keep Haechan quiet. He should know since they’re friends.”

You groaned, bringing your phone out of your pocket. “I know but still, he needs to stop pressing that damn button.”

“Maybe he wants and loves your attention. He must really like you.” Minhee said, giving you a teasing smile. "You are pretty."

You stuck your tongue out. “Being pretty doesn’t pay the bills.”

“Why don’t you just fuck him or something?” Minhee suggested.

You groaned again, showing her the text you got from your cousin.

Jaemin: Why don’t you fuck him? He’s been dying to get laid lately.

Minhee laughed. “See? No wonder your cousin and I get along so well. Great minds think alike.”

“Ugh…” You let out, your phone vibrated signaling that Haechan was calling you.

“Oh Y/N,” Haechan sang before pressing the button for the 100th time. “I need your assistance again.”

You groaned and entered his room again, not before shutting the door. You didn’t want Seulyong, the head nurse, to hear you screaming at a patient, especially if it’s Haechan. “What now?”

He gave an amused look. “Now what kind of attitude is that? Aren’t nurses supposed to be friendly with their patients?”

“Not if they're being an ass about it.” You muttered under your breath. “Now what do you want Haechan?”

Haechan moved his shoulders. “My shoulders are stiff. Can you massage them for me?”

If you could, you would curse and walk away from him. But since Haechan knew your cousin, you didn’t want Jaemin to complain that you didn’t take care of his friend. You went over to his bed. “Scoot back.”

He did what he was told, smirking at you as you sat on the bed. After a few minutes, Haechan moaned in satisfaction. You were really good with your hands. He felt his muscles being relaxed as you continued to massage his shoulders.

“Better?” You wanted to get over this. As soon as he nodded, you immediately got off the bed.

Before you could leave the room, he grabbed your wrist. “Yes, better. Can you do me another favor?”

You didn’t even reply. You waited for his request while yelling profanities inside your head. 

Damn him.

“I thought I felt a lump on my stomach. I don’t know what that means, but can you check for me?” He sweetly asked. 

Curse him for being so damn hot. 

When the hell did Jaemin hang out with other good looking guys?

You could perfectly hear the other nurses dying and telling you to do it. You waited until Haechan laid down on the bed, lifting up his hospital gown, revealing his perfect, solid abs and boxers to you.

Slowly, you touched his abs as Haechan shivered from your touch. You had to admit, his abs felt so fucking good with your touch. But you didn’t feel a lump at all. “I don’t feel a lump.”

Haechan opened his eyes. He was enjoying this. “Go higher, it’s somewhere around there.”

You went higher, revealing his solid chest. “Nope, don’t feel it.”

“Huh, I must have been imagining things.” He said, giving you an innocent look. 

You glared at him. 

Ugh, sneaky bastard.

“I'll go now.” All you wanted to do was go home and sleep this off. This has been such a tiring experience for you. Before you could leave again, he grabbed your wrist again.

“Wait, stay.”

Fuck, no you weren't going to stay. 

Sure, he was hot but you were so tired.

“Why? My shift is over. I gave you all the attention you need. It’s time for me to go home.”

Haechan frowned a little. The fun hasn’t even started yet. “You can’t leave yet. I need more attention, especially from a sexy, little nurse.”

Before you could protest, Haechan pulled your body on his bed. You couldn’t even react because he captured your lips with his, dominating it. 

It took you a few seconds to realize that you were actually kissing a patient. And your cousin’s friend. 

Fuck it. 

You knew what to do with this situation, like Minhee and Jaemin told you to. You kissed him back, not giving a rat’s ass that you were about to fuck a patient.

Haechan smirked. 

“I see you want my attention.” He said before entering his tongue inside of your mouth.

You just moaned for the cocky bastard. It was better to enjoy the moment than argue with him. Haechan’s lips were incredibly soft, almost pillowy. He deepened the kiss, the hand at the back of your neck bringing you closer. He felt your hand curve around his neck. He moved closer, lured by your response and a small, almost helpless sound you made as you opened your lips. 

Haechan was rubbing all over your body, and playing with your short skirt.

“You are such a bad nurse.” He growled before his right hand went inside your skirt, lightly massaging your clit with his thumb that was being protected by your very thin underwear. “Going around fucking all your patients, huh?”

“N-no…”

You arched your back and wrapped your arms around his neck. Dear god. Haechan looked at your exposed neck. Perfect. Leaning you closer, he began attacking your small neck, biting and sucking as hard as he could, making you gasp and clutched his neck even more.

“Haechan,” you moaned in front of his ear, turning him on even more. You could feel his hard member that was covered by his gown and boxers. You began grinding his body with yours, making him moan and wince.

Right now, he wanted to pounce and fuck your brains out right then and there. Instead, he pushed your panties to the side, and added not one, but two fingers inside your now wet pussy, his thumb continuing to massage your clit. “Does that feel good?”

“Oh god, yes…”

He thrusted hard and fast, hitting your g-spot again and again, making you melt and feel good. He moved his fingers to the side, up and down, forcing you to shudder. Haechan bit your bottom lip as he continued to stroke you with his pleasurable fingers.

After a few more strokes, Haechan finally took his fingers out, licking them in front of you. “You are so ready right now, noona.”

"What?" You pouted, slapping his chest in embarrassment. "Who's your noona?!"

Since you were straddling him, Haechan had expertly taken off your skirt and panties. 

How the hell did that happen?

“You are. Noona, can you help a patient out? I’m a very horny person.”

You couldn’t reply because he already thrust up inside of you, slowly. You knew he was teasing you, waiting for your reply.

“Yes, I'll help you out, Haechan-ah!” Haechan slowly hit your g-spot.

“I’m sorry. I can’t hear you.” He said, thrusting a little bit faster. “Damn, your pussy is sucking my cock.” 

He went inside of you again, making you arch, you moaning in pleasure.

“Yes! I'll help you!” You yelled. 

You prayed the other nurses didn’t hear the filth that was going on.

“Fuck, you feel good.” Haechan replied by thrusting inside of you faster now. Each thrust was filling you up with pleasure. Instead of laying down, he sat up in bed, making him go deeper inside your wet pussy. He continued to pound inside of you, making you whimper every time he hit the right spot.

You both came not once, nor twice, but three times. On the fourth fuck, Haechan could feel your walls clenching again.

“Haechan!” You screamed, giving him the satisfaction that he needed as you came for the fourth time. Haechan came as well, arms tightening around you as you continued to spasm in pleasure.

“Another round?” He asked, catching his breath as he gave you a cocky grin.

You lightly pushed off of him and got up. You wanted to, but there was no way you were going to do this for the fifth time. He was a very needy and horny guy. “No, now go to bed or something.”

You put your panties back on. You were about to put on your white skirt until Haechan grabbed it. He leaned towards you. “Tomorrow I need to be satisfied. Will you be here tomorrow to help me, noona?”

You bit your lip, blushing from his comment. 

Why did he have to fuck so damn good?! “Of course, I’ll be here Haechan.”

Satisfied, Haechan gave you back your skirt. He couldn’t wait for tomorrow. After all, you were his nurse.

[sykosomatic]

Thank you for accepting my request!! It was delicious😭❤️ i love the way you write Hannibal. Not to be greedy or anything, could i request hannigram x ftm reader? He just took his first shot of t, and his two lovers want to celebrate *wink wink*

you’re so welcome!! this is perfect, i love it so much <3 i love all the ftm x [insert character here] i’ve gotten recently! it’s so inside my comfort zone it’s crazy <3 companion fic to this.

i hope you enjoy!!

hannigram x ftm reader taking his first t shot!

(reader wears a binder/is pre-top-surgery)

cw: threesome/group sex, praise kink, creampie finish, double penetration, oral sex (afab&amab receiving), anal sex (afab&amab receiving), p in v sex, fingering (afab&amab receiving).

thanks to your lover, hannibal’s, connections in the therapy world, you’d finally gotten your hands on something you’d been waiting on for what felt like forever: a prescription for testosterone. at this point in your social transitioning, you figured you were ready to take the next step. it was a little nerve-wracking, as most new things are, but so exciting all the same.

your other lover, will, had kindly offered to go pick up the prescriptions with you; you’d shown some apprehension at the thought, and he’d immediately offered his assistance.

once you’d gotten back to hannibal’s place, you got all settled in; your testosterone vials and needles sitting up on the counter. they looked a little daunting; you’d never used a needle on yourself before, so this was going to be a really different experience for you. the doctor had explained to you how to do it, and it seemed pretty straightforward. but still. nervous.

you didn’t necessarily want to do it with hannibal and will watching you; just because you were nervous you may look silly, and you didn’t want them to get worried if you did it wrong. but then again, you didn’t want to do it without them, because what if you did do it wrong?

you decided to do your first shot on your own; you wanted to make sure you could do it by yourself, and wouldn’t they be so proud of you when you did?

you took a breath, grabbing the stuff you would need and heading to the bathroom. sitting on the toilet, you prepped everything the way the doctor told you to, and prepared yourself for the feeling of the needle going in.

it was surprisingly easy, but the sting and pinch were going to need some getting used to. letting your breath out, you cleaned up and put everything away, opening the bathroom door to see the two men standing outside the door.

you smiled at them, shaking your head. “worried about me, huh?” you asked them. hannibal stepped closer to you and inspected you, asking you how you felt. “i feel fine,” you assured him with a small chuckle. “it went really well… it was a lot easier than i thought it would be.”

will smiled at you, nodding as you spoke. “we knew it wouldn’t be a big deal. well..” he corrected, looking at hannibal. “i did, at least.”

“we should celebrate, no?” hannibal asked, kissing the top of your head. “such bravery and expertise should be rewarded!” he exclaimed, leading you and will to the kitchen.

hannibal popped open a bottle of wine and started pouring three glasses, handing them out. before long, he and will were discussing how proud they were of you, making your face flush; the wine wasn’t helping, either.

“so handsome and so perfect,” hannibal said, in response to will leaning in to put a hand on your thigh. “both of you,” he added playfully, making will sport a wry smile. hannibal stood and walked over to stand behind you, massaging your shoulders gently. he leaned in to kiss will’s lips deeply. it was clear the two of them were planning a different kind of celebration. you were excited.

hannibal’s hands dipped to start rubbing your chest, his fingers brushing over your nipples once he’d found them. you leaned your head back against him, watching him and will kissing passionately. warmth spread into your stomach and you could feel yourself getting ridiculously aroused.

will pulled away from the kiss he shared with hannibal to start kissing you, his hands starting to tug at your clothes; he was asking permission, and you eagerly allowed him to undress you. hannibal watched the two of you, starting to undo his own pants and taking his shirt off. before long the three of you were undressed and the two of them started leading you into the bedroom.

will pulled you into his lap on the bed, his legs draped over the end as hannibal came up behind you. being sandwiched between the two of them turned you on an insane amount. will started to kiss your neck, licking stripes up your neck as hannibal leaned in to kiss your lips. both of the men’s hands explored your body, hannibal’s on your hips and grabbing your ass and will’s exploring your chest and pinching your nipples.

you moaned into hannibal’s mouth as you felt will’s fingers exploring your wet slit, playing with your clit while he teased your nipples. hannibal put his fingers in your mouth for you to slicken up as he followed will’s lead. he slid one finger into your asshole, making you moan and buck your hips against will’s fingers. will slid two fingers into your pussy, curling them up to hit your g-spot. the two of them played with you for a little while before you ended up squirting all over will’s hand.

the two of them praised you for how handsome you were, how well you took their fingers and came for them, peppering your skin with kisses before they moved positions. will laid on his back, starting to slide his cock into you, stretching your sweet pussy out. hannibal began to finger will’s ass as will fucked up into you and grabbed your ass. you leaned in to kiss him as he got finger-fucked, and then leaned back to kiss hannibal as he slid his cock into will’s stretched asshole.

the two men moaned in beautiful succession with you, all of you in complete bliss. their hands explored you and each other. after a few final rough strokes, hannibal bottomed out inside will and came deep in his asshole, making him in turn cum deep into your pussy.

but they weren’t done; hannibal slid his cock into your asshole next, making you shiver and whine, scratching on will’s chest. his curls lay over his face, covered in sweat. will hadn’t taken his cock out of you yet. he started rocking his hips again after you’d gotten adjusted to hannibal’s cock, the noise of the creampie inside you squelching as his balls slapped your taint.

the three of you finished again, and you were flipped over on your back so that hannibal could eat you out; his tongue was magical as he licked will’s cum out of your hole. his tongue slid in and out, and circled your clit. you shuddered and came a third time, grabbing his hair and wrapping your legs over his shoulders. hannibal proceeded to clean off will’s cock as well, will laying right next to where you were as he got sucked off. he gave you sleepy kisses, waiting for hannibal to come back up for air. the two of you shared slurping on hannibal’s cock until it was cleaned off, and fell asleep naked on the bed, fully satisfied.

[cairavende]

Worm Arc 11 thoughts (pre-interludes):

Taylor's dad sees his daughter for the first time since she ran away. Since the fucking Endbringer attack! And literally says the line "“I need to go handle this" about a fucking work thing. No Danny. You do not NEED TO HANDLE THIS. God damn. It is fucking hard to be a co-parent for Taylor when I'm the only one doing any parenting!

Speaking of parenting - Taylor, you really should get some therapy. That was a pretty detailed level of fucked up nightmare you had. I love you and just want you to take care of yourself.

Skitter just like "all right, for day 1 I'm going to gain complete fucking control over my territory and establish myself as an unkillable bug goddess". And then she worries if she is doing enough!

Seriously though, letting that guy stab her and counting on her costume to block the knife? Fucking baller move. Also stupidly risky. So pretty much on point for my wonderful but stress inducing bug daughter.

And then she just sits in her chair drinking tea while she destroys two groups of Merchants? Doesn't just beat them, but absolutely terrorizes them. Lights one of them on fire with their own matches! WITH BUGS! I love her so much.

She also gained two minions as a side bonus to controlling her territory. And ensured their loyalty and dedication to her.

For real. Sierra would take a bullet. She'd die for Taylor. But Charlotte? Charlotte would kill for Taylor.

The speech Taylor gave Charlotte when giving her the options "leave town" or "work for me" was so well done! Came across as incredibly fair so Charlotte couldn't complain, but also just tied her in a little bundle all nice and neat. Set her up to want to work for you. Very nicely done. Taylor clearly has been learning from Lisa.

We're just pretty much giving up on that whole secret identity thing huh? It just started cascading out of control quite quickly. I don't expect Taylor and Skitter to be different people for much longer.

Lisa and Taylor went to a party together! A shitty villain party that was dangerous and almost killed them. But villain prom is villain prom. GAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!

Just a number of good Chatterbug (Smugbug) moments here.

Lisa has a MURDER WALL! AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I love her so fucking much and I will just sit in there with her working on the murder wall for hours. (She isn't trying to solve a murder so I know it isn't technically a murder wall, but it's a murder wall cause that's the best name.)

Fucking Bryce. Sure went through a lot of trouble for that asshole.

Skidmark just doing a thunderdome up in here. Some people use their powers for cool things and others build a fence.

Also really not seeming to do great for loyalty. Like ya you get a cape or two out of it but it left everyone in your gang not trusting anyone else.

I love everyone in Faultline's crew. Newter was my favorite but Shamrock may have beaten him out. I always loved Domino and Shamrock gives the same vibe.

Newter got a few good Nightcrawler like moments here too which was fun (grabbing things with his tail, talking to people from weird perches).

God DAMN Labyrinth is powerful. Like I knew she was but getting to see it. Holy shit. That was so fucking cool. Literal goddess of reality right here.

I'm really excited to learn more about Cauldron and the superhero in a can stuff. Very Weapon X with the memory wiping and such. (I'm just really on an X-men comparison thought process right now I guess)

Taylor "I'm not a skilled combatant" Hebert over here as she dual wields knives and successfully fights off multiple people, most bigger than her, while specifically using non-lethal attacks on them. Taylor that isn't what "not skilled" means!

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CHILD, STOP GETTING HIT IN THE HEAD! I WORRY!

Seeing the trigger event thing was really cool. I don't think the fact that any cape near a trigger event appears to almost pass out has been mentioned before. Obviously in universe know one would know anything beyond them appearing to stumble, but still. And we got to see more of the higher dimension beings. We in Flatland now.

Oh god there is so much more I think I'm missing huge amounts. AHHH!!!

Oh, this is important. While describing Mush Taylor says "He bore a resemblance to a particular pink skinned, scrawny goblin of a creature from those fantasy movies." That open endedness of that context made me decide she must be talking about The Goblin King in Labyrinth. David Bowie. But to keep things simple, since it might seem like she is talking about Gollum, I decided that on Earth Bet David Bowie played Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies. This is canon as far as I am concerned.

That does also mean Mush looks at least a little bit like David Bowie.

[veryace-ficrecs]

X-Men Found Family Fic Recs

This list will include all ratings and tags, so read at your own discretion! :)

Scott's Life is Hard by yellow_caballero - Rated G

Scott cares a lot less about leading the X-Men then he does about getting the kids to school on time. Wrangling a mansion full of teenagers is the work of a lifetime, but Scott's not going anywhere. Sometimes love has to be enough. And somehow Scott's father of the year. In which bees are a novelty to ex-brainwashed apocalypse assasins, rotating groups of teenagers makes breakfast increasingly complicated, Magneto reads the daily newspaper, and Scott is the supreme god king dictator of 20 frightened mutant teenagers.

We Are Not Alone by WhiteravenGreywolf - Rated T

After escaping their cage, the group struggles to find their place in the world, all the while being pursued by the Essex Corporations who does not like to lose assets, even if those assets are a couple of rebellious teenagers.

When My Fist Clenches, Crack It Open by versaphile - Rated M

More than anything else, David wants to believe he's not sick because that means he isn't crazy. It means he can fall in love and live happily ever after. But if he surrenders to that hope and he's wrong, then there's no coming back. The Shadow King is victorious, but the battle for David Haller’s soul has only begun. David fails to escape Division 3's intervention and is forced into therapy. With his relationships ruined, his mind split, and his past a lie, death seems like the only choice left. But Farouk is pulling the strings to keep him alive. As David's friends and family work desperately to save him, David must reclaim his past and present to avoid losing his future to the monster who destroyed him.

I'll Close My Mouth (I Won't Say a Word) by Shaderose - Rated T

"Knowing that he doesn't belong. Because he doesnt, doesn't fit into the clean, sleek environment, with his too sharp frame and his dirtied, ripped up sneakers. His old tattered clothes, and his skin riddled with scars. Imperfections. Flaws. A man of loud, harsh words and bruised knuckles, quick fingers and slick feet, in a world of softness, gentle and quiet. Of course he doesn't belong. Why would he? This isn't his home. And yet, Mrs. Kaplan, with her too warm eyes and her too gentle smile, tells him, "Welcome home," anyways. Yeesh." -- A story about friends, family, insecurities, truth and, most importantly, the true meaning of love.

A Day in the Life by SeaSpectre160 - Rated G

Amidst all the discussion and controversy over the 'mutant threat', one reporter goes to the mutants themselves to get their perspective.

(Take It) All Away by Sweetbriar15 - Rated T

Certain they would turn him away, but knowing nowhere else to go, Lance approaches the X-men for help when his team is stricken ill.

Hold my hand and float back to the summer time by caughtinanocean - Rated T

Julio and Shatterstar learn how to come home, and what you do after. “‘Star, have you ever thought about...doing something else?” “Well, there was televised combat in an arena,” Shatterstar says, “and we just led a revolution.” Julio looks at the floor underneath his socked feet. He feels sort of stupid saying this aloud. “I mean, like. Normal stuff.” “Normal stuff,” Shatterstar echoes. “Huh.”

Ringer by Crewe - Rated G

"Guess what I just did," Bobby said, ignoring him to reach around and get a finger on the side of the bowl. With a little concentration, frost spread out from the point of contact across the bowl and the ice cream inside refroze. Warren begrudgingly lowered his shoulder to give him another bite in exchange for services rendered. "What," he said flatly, elbowing Bobby until he slid off of him and onto the stool beside. "I got Scott to play a game," he said archly. "He's outside being, like, really intense about horseshoes." -- Scott starts playing horseshoes, and he just doesn't think to stop. His friends don't notice, until they do.

Lost and Found by ManicRavingsofaLunatic - Rated T

Alex rescues a kid from one of Trask's facilities; a kid that trusts him implicitly and looks to Alex for protection. The last time Alex was trusted with a such a burden he failed. But that Scott and this Scott are definitely not the same person. And Alex won't fail again this time. Basically, this is the story of how Alex found Scott

Don't Be Afraid by flightinflame - Rated T

A lot of people fear Jean for her telepathy. But Charles never will.

Home Sweet Home by PUNK_MENACE - Rated G

Set after "Greetings from Genosha". X-Men are trained mutants, ready to fight whatever evil may try to hurt humankind or mutantkind. Which means that instead of sulking around the mansion they detected Mystique's presence on the island and managed to save Kurt. He wasn't left unscathed, though.

In These Ever Changing Times by saekhwa - Rated G

There are two things Armando knows, even one death and twenty years later: he's an X-Man, and he'll always have Alex's back.

For Just One Day Let's Only Think About Love by Duck_Life - Rated T

Sometimes, even a runaway bride isn't enough to deter a wedding after-party. Set immediately following X-Men Gold #30. Welcome to Rogue and Remy's reception.

Christmas Traditions by Ava_DAlain - Rated T

It’s the time of year that brings people together to celebrate, reflect, and create lasting memories…Maybe even some new traditions. A fluff-filled collection of one-shots, ficlets, and drabbles featuring Rogue, Gambit, and the rest of the X-Men, just for fun. Tags will be updated to reflect new chapters.

Raising Laura by LucasGreenX23 - Rated M

What if Project X-23 had been delayed several years? Beaten and abused to breed out all emotion, lead to believe that she was nothing more than a weapon to be used, a much younger X-23 has never known the concept of kindness. Then the man known as Wolverine arrived with his X-Men, and suddenly, the little mutant is faced with her greatest challenge yet… being part of a family.

The Brotherhood of (very nice) Mutants by AetherBunny - Rated G

“Pete? Can I ask you something?” “Sure, anything.” Scott looked at him for a moment and then seemed to change his mind. Scott and Pietro miss their siblings and Pete is a very good surrogate big brother. Scott gives Pete a good idea and Pete gets his sister back. This is going in the "I'm just going to keep adding Wanda" collection, but it has nothing to do with the other fics in it. It's just, you know, I added Wanda...

Desperado, Why Don't You Come To Your Senses by WretiaBlue - Rated T

Come down from your fences, open the gate It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you You better let somebody love you Let somebody love you before it's too late. Desperado, Eagles 1973 ~~~ Or: Gambit joins the X-Men. Maybe things won't turn out so bad after all.

Uncanny X-Men 1943 by stellarose - Rated M

X-Men AU. Emma Frost runs Division X, a classified squad within the secretive Special Operations Executive based in London. It isn't their job to win the war, only to save those they can. Emma's squad of Psylocke, Angel, Logan and Fantomex set out of rescue three mutants trapped in occupied and increasingly hostile France. But when the mission takes a turn for the worse, Emma and the team must decide if they cut their losses, or fight twice as hard to bring everyone home.

New Moon by digeridoo - Rated M

Logan is left to babysit a mansion full of mutant kids for the weekend while the rest of the X-Men are on conference to boost mutant acceptance.

Eulogy by Secret_Pizza_Party - Rated G

The mansion is too full of ghosts—the dead ones, and the living. The inhabitants move through rooms, move past one another as if they’ve become insubstantial, incapable of interacting. A haunting that no one can find a way to fit to words. ------ After the events of Episode 5, the X-Men gather together to say final farewells to those they've lost.

Familial ties by Multifandom_damnation - Rated T

Peter knows his father is Magneto no matter how much he tries to deny it, and even though Kurt doesn't know who his mother is, Professor X is more than happy to help him figure it out. I think it's about time we rejoined some families, don't you?

BROTHERS AND CATS by Honmyo_Seagull - Rated T

The one where Gabby gets to meet Gambit’s cats, where the Cajun fears Daken might be his evil twin and quotes Shakespeare, where Bullseye would just like people to let him do his job, where Laura might remain oblivious of certain events but still spends a pretty good day.

Sweet Home Alabama by Rachel_Martin64 - Rated T

On the way back to Alkali Lake, Scott saves a life along the highway and gets his own life saved in return. This story starts at the beginning of X3, when Scott leaves the mansion, and immediately goes AU. If you hated the way X3 treated Scott, this story's for you.

[verdemoun]

Micah slowly getting better in therapy and coming to gang functions every month with a fresh new hot take like "maybe women do deserve rights" and "maybe the gays can raise children". Therapist says he should get evaluated for autism and his ass would never even consider it but she kinda fine so maybe he'll actually do it

she has no idea what she would diagnose micah with considering getting anything out of him is like pulling teeth and anything resembling an inch towards progress takes months. honestly, a lot of it just seems like nuture - a very particular lack of nuture. when did he get the chance to be something else?

the first actual, tangible thing she could work with was micah admitting he likes himself more when the gang don't actively hate him, because like it or not the gang are really all he has. he is not making friends in modern era

this lead to the breakthrough that 'maybe if you stop saying stupid shit that you know will piss them off, they'll actively hate you less'

what followed was months of figuring out how much stupid shit micah actually believed, vs what was stuff he only said because he was parroting popular ideals of the time. by 'popular ideals', she means his dad. yes, micah is a problematic asshole in his own right but christ she would love to meet the man who could mentally warp a man that much. do you know how hard it is goal setting when someone's only ambition in life is survival? surviving is micah's only genuine belief. everything else is just crap he says for the sake of it

micah is also easy in that the second he gets praise, that's locked away in his mind forever. he says one not negative thing, has it acknowledged, and immediately behaviour permanently changed. one 'you're doing well' and he's ascending he's going to be doing his best, taking care of himself, going on his stupid mental health walks. one 'huh, thanks. that was actually decent of you to say' and opinion forever changed. the gays don't just deserve equal rights they should have bonus rights!! women shouldn't just work, men should stay at home and do the housekeeping!!

the whiplash of micah getting booted out of a catch up for saying problematic shit only to come back with a radically opposite opinion is terrifying to the gang. if he wasn't, well, still micah, he might almost be... likeable.

[lightofraye]

I decided to torture myself.

I don't know why.

Her voice is just awful. Dear Danneel, please get vocal lessons. Bring it down an octave or something because fucking yikes.

A follower sent me this and asked if I had seen it. I had not. It was, after all, a fan compilation of various interviews of Danneel, videos, whatever. And...

How the hell do people stan her?

She's vapid, uneducated. Ugh.

Anyway... points of interest.

Throughout the whole video: WHO CARES ABOUT THE DAMNED HAIR TWIRLING?!

0:54: During a photo shoot I guess at a premier. ZERO chemistry between Danneel and Jensen. Jensen is smiling politely and wanting to get away as fast as possible.

1:00: Yes Danneel. We can see that it's a hallway. GOD. How insipid. Even Jensen was like "OMG, what?"

1:54: Uh. Danneel, honey, why would anyone else play Dean Winchester besides Jensen Ackles? He did not like that one bit.

4:14: Uh huh. If Jensen had witnessed some of it, why was nothing done then? I'm super-dubious about this claim. I really am. And how could he have witnessed it when he was likely filming Supernatural during that? Hmm.

5:55: Yeahhh.... had the family, but the steady career? Hahaha. Nope.

6:35: Danneel, honey, neither do you. If you expect me to believe you do any of the cleaning, I'm gonna call you a liar. You do nothing. Also, Jensen looked annoyed at the idea of so many bathrooms.

6:43: You are also not nice. I came across some old rumors about you, honey. You were awful, vicious, and the reason you got fired from One Tree Hill was because of your *whispers* drug habits.

6:55: WHAT IS SHE WEARING?!

7:35: The ever-changing face, proving that she lies about her plastic surgery. (Supposedly she claims she doesn't that many and I died laughing.) Also: "beautiful men with big egos"--bullshit, honey. You're the one who has the massive ego with zero to back it up. Plus she sounds as insincere as fuck.

8:22: "It's good. I love him. He's great." Insincere.

8:33: I'm cringing on Jensen's behalf. "Where the magic happens". And bypassed Jensen's wishes and insisted it not be cut--and guess what? It wasn't cut. As if they've shared a bed in years.

8:44: Ohhhh my gods. The brewery interview. Pay attention to Jensen's face as the interviewer talks about working together, living together--Jensen's done. And actually says "yes" to being tired of being with her. Danneel looked pissed. Ah honey...

11:43: Uh huh. The ring, huh? Gold digger.

12:04: The so-called flight anxiety. Whatever, Danneel. If you're able to fly without supposed help or therapy...? (No, getting drunk is not legitimate help.) You fly a lot, more than most "average" people. You take your kids. You go to conventions. You supposedly saw your husband a lot when he was filming Supernatural. You flew for your tidbits of roles. Then you're fine.

14:34: "Jensen's first time being in here." For the kitchen? Oh please! As if he never went in for a snack, beer, or anything. SHUT UP, DANNEEL.

14:38: "Nothing can happen to me, not for me, but for my kids." Excuse me, I need to shake some sense into her. Babe, honey, you do jackshit for your kids. They'll be fine.

Also that's not how panic attacks work. You literally aren't able to talk yourself out of it. Please stop.

15:36: "We're having another baby." That look your husband gave you? A deserved death glare because you knew he wouldn't like it. Stop emotionally torturing him, god!

16:41: I love that Jensen called her out on her lie about her name. I don't think she liked that either.

17:24: Ah. The insult about him smelling bad. God, can't she ever say anything nice about him? See the way he took a deep breath, braced himself? That's not a normal reaction to a "joke".

17:43: How can he not know women put perfume on their wrists and elsewhere? Translation: he never sees Danneel do it. Because they don't share a bedroom after all.

18:11: HOW CAN HE NOT KNOW THAT CHAIR MOVES?! Did the man not live there at all?!

19:34: Oh god. The doll. Honestly, Jensen should dump it. Stop torturing him with it! It's not funny!

19:53: Couldn't let him have the closet joy, huh? Bitch.

20:18: No. You're not nice. Nope. Not at all.

God. My eardrums. I'm crying now.

Danneel, babe, vocal coach. Please!

[kasagia]

Hello, can I ask for a one-shot where Cami is jealous of y/n because all the men she meets are always talking about her, but for her it gets worse when in her therapies with Klaus, he doesn't stop talking about y/n because he is in love/obsessed with her, he even shows her the drawings he made of y/n, and she in a jealous rage tells him that she loves him and that y/n is not as special as she thinks, which surprises klaus because of cami's attitude, and then rejects her because her heart only belongs to y/n.

What makes her so special?

Pairing: Klaus Mikaelson xO'Connell reader Summary: You have a gift of attracting any man to you. Everyone who meets you loves you. But the cup of bitterness is overflowing when, in front of Cami's eyes, Klaus begins to fall in love with you. And you do not remain indifferent to the courtship of your sister's handsome friend for long. The question is, can the two of you confess your true feelings to each other before jealous Cami messes things up between you and Klaus? Warning(s): Cami is a jealous backstabber, Klaus can't trust people, swearing is the order of the day, de@th mentioned but nothing terrible Word count: 4,8k

Camille O'Connell was trying not to regret anything she had done in her life.

It came out with better or worse successes, but this time an inner feeling of grief festering within her kept her from forgetting the biggest mistake she had made and regretted with all her heart.

Camille O'Connell regretted introducing Klaus Mikaelson to Y/N O'Connell.

Yes. Her younger, prettier, smarter, and more talented little sister.

It wasn't that Cami didn't like her own sister. She loved her, even though Y/N had become cold and distant to her family since their brother's death, although she never left Cami to her fate—she was always there when the blonde needed her.

But there was something about Y/N that drew men to her. Any guy who wouldn't stand in her way within five minutes was starting to fall in love with her.

And Cami hated that.

So she had no idea why she had the stupid idea of taking Klaus to the theater in New Orleans. I mean, she knew that, as his therapist, she wanted to "break the fear of the place where he lost everything." Clear the bad memory Mikael left behind. (She actually wanted to go on some sort of date with him, but hush huh.)

Thinking about it like that, she was really stupid to assume that Y/N wouldn't be in the play. She loved The Greatest Showman and would do anything to play a role in her favorite musical. Of course, with her talent and charm, she didn't have to try so hard. Cami should have anticipated this.

Just like how Klaus will take an interest in you as soon as he reads your last name.

"Y/N O'Connell, any family of yours?"

"My younger sister. She is an actress."

"Well, all the more reason for me to stay here and watch this bloody play, right?"

When Y/N took the stage, Klaus showed only a little of his interest. Beautiful, pretty face. He had seen many of them in his long life. But the next time he saw her, in a long white dress, she was in the middle of the stage with a soft smile. Then she has his full attention. And when she started singing in her angelic voice one of the most captivating songs he had ever heard? The guy was gone and never wanted to free himself from her spell.

And Camille saw that. Another loving gaze throwning by a man in your direction.

She felt jealous. Again.

Fortunately, as soon as Y/N disappeared from the scene, Klaus focused his attention on her.

Cami hoped it was just a fleeting fascination on Klaus' part.

But it wasn't.

As soon as the play was over, Klaus insisted she take him to her sister's so they could get to know each other properly.

Cami should have refused and gone home. But she agreed and took the hybrid backstage to Y/N's dressing room.

And that's how they met.

"Y/N? Are you there?" the woman asked, entering the room first and checking if they could come in. Her sister came out of the bathroom, changed into her usual everyday clothes.

"Oh! Hi, Cam. I didn't think you'd come here." hearing that captivating voice again made Klaus push past Cami and join the conversation with the most charming smile he has.

"It's my fault. Camille and I were watching a play and I couldn't just walk away without meeting her talented sister. Klaus Mikaelson. Camille's friend."

"Y/N. Her sister. Nice to meet you." Y/N politely held out her hand in greeting.

"Believe me, love, the pleasure is all mine." he said, never breaking eye contact with her as he kissed the back of her hand.

The blooming blush on her sister's cheeks and Klaus' widening smug smirk only fueled Cami's fire of jealousy even more.

But Y/N wasn't that easy to get. She refused to be charmed by his tricks and kept a certain distance between herself and the hybrid until the end of the conversation. Much to Klaus' displeasure and Cami's delight.

What Cami didn't realize was that her troubles with Y/N were only just beginning.

Leaving the theater, she hoped your frigidity had put Klaus off. But Cami should have known better and foreseen that your lack of interest will only attract the original hybrid more.

~•♤♤♤•~

It started innocently. Y/N used to come to the pub where Cami worked from time to time and made extra money by singing on stage. Usually her show would last an hour or two, she'd order one tequila from her, they'd talk for a while, and then they'd both go back to their lives. It was a good routine between them and the only form of contact they had.

But there was a real snitch in the pub that day. Cami and her colleague on shift couldn't keep up with serving drinks. So Y/N went behind the bar at their boss's request and helped as much as she could.

And that's how Klaus found her.

Cami noticed him as soon as he entered the bar, just as he noticed her sister. He immediately turned to her, his trademark seductive smirk on his face. What Cami would give for him to look at her the way he looked at your unaware figure...

She tried to get as close to you two as possible to eavesdrop on your conversation.

"I come here every night, and I haven't seen you here before... are you stalking me, love?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm not attracted to alcoholics. Besides, I dare say I've worked here longer than you've even lived here."

"Believe me on my word: you are wrong. So? What are your other hidden talents, woman of many abilities?"

"Deterring intrusive men. Although lately I don't seem to be very good at it. Are you ordering something, or are you just here to vent your sorrows to the bartender?"

"Your best bourbon, love." he said, placing two hundred dollars on the table. Y/N took one bill, turning it over in her hands and eyeing it suspiciously. "Something wrong, love? You're not accusing me of counterfeiting money, are you?"

"So a rich alcoholic? Man, you must either have a good liver or you must be incredibly lucky in your stupidity."

"Now, now, your assumptions are hurting me. Just because I'm here often doesn't mean I drink alcohol every time. Like you."

"Well, if you say so." she poured him a drink, smiling as Klaus drank it down like orange juice. "But only the battle-hardened are able to swallow this damn thing without flinching. Your actions speak against you, Mr. Mikaelson."

"I plead guilty to a little lie. But trust me love, I'm not as easy to read as you think."

"And who said I want to read you?"

"Your sparkling curiosity in those delightfully beautiful eyes."

"A few compliments and smirks are not something particularly worthy of interest. Now excuse me, I'm working."

Cami was so proud of you. You didn't fall for his sweet words. However, her joy was short-lived, as the night progressed and the pub filled up even more, Klaus somehow ended up as your sidekick.

Klaus Mikaelson, the original hybrid, the slayer of vampires, witches, and werewolves, a guy who probably in his long, 1000-year life has not soiled his hands with any work not related to maintaining his reputation, flew around the bar and collected empty glasses, just to stay longer in your presence.

Cami was shocked. You, on the other hand, looked like you were slowly warming up to him.

Cami was getting used to sharing Klaus' attention with you.

When he came to talk to her in the pub, it was often during the hours when you had your performance. He would wave to you, causing you minor reactions (turning your eyes, gently shaking your head in disapproval that he disrupts your concentration, and on good days you put a small dormitory towards him, which he loved).

After the performance, you would join them at the bar and thus stole all the interest of the hybrid. Cami couldn't blame you. You tried awkwardly to float Klaus and talk to her, but the hybrid did not give it easily. That is why there was a quiet compromise between you. You would sit a moment after the performance at the table occupied by Klaus, drank his bourbon with him, and joined Cami for a while to say goodbye to her.

The blonde hated this terrible feeling of jealousy, which was created every time you laughed at Klaus' jokes in the farthest corner of the pub, underestimating the loving look he gave you.

How much she would give to have a gift like her sister! Everyone adored her, she could easily charm anyone with whom she changed a few words. And this time Y/N was taking from her Klaus slowly.

And as long as Klaus stayed her friend, Cami would be fine with this. Really. But one session at the Mikaelson House completely changed the dynamics of Klaus' relationship with O'Connell's sisters.

~•♤♤♤•~

"Rebekah told me you are making progress. You haven't tried to use a dagger on any of them for two months. Congratulations!" she praised him, walking around his studio and looking at his latest works (with relief that he had not yet painted Y/N.)

"It's easy to refrain when they don't want to reveal me at every opportunity." he muttered from his sketchbook.

Camille watched him with interest. Lately, he's been carrying it everywhere with him. Every time he came to the pub, he would sit in the corner in his usual place and persistently sketch something. In his free time, that is, whenever they had sessions together, he also held it on his lap, persistently drawing something in it.

He's been happier lately, too. He didn't look like the grumpy, paranoid one who had forced her to write his life story. It seemed to change over time. Maybe it was the time he spent with his little daughter that affected him so much?

Cami decided not to bring up the subject of Hope for now and ask something more delicate. For example, the contents of his sketchbook.

"What are you drawing there?"

"You should know better than to ask about an artist's work when he hasn't finished his yet, but I would like to hear your opinion about this one."

Cami's heart fluttered involuntarily. It was the first time since his meeting with Y/N that he really focused on her instead of her sister (and she was glad that her opinion mattered to him more than Y/N's). She smiled as she accepted the sketchbook from him, only for it to collapse as she saw the exact portrait of the one person she hoped not to hear about from him in today's session.

Y/N. Y/N in her fucking white dress and singing on stage. He drew the moment when Cami completely lost any chance of being with Klaus. And her sister looked even more perfect than usual.

"And what do you think about it? I wanted to give it to her with some small gift for our first official date. It took her a week to admit that our trips out of town and meetings crossed the line of friendship. You have no idea how long it took me to convince her. At one point, Rebekah was so annoyed by my pleas for help that she was willing to go to Y/N herself and invite her on my behalf. I almost broke her neck trying to talk her out of it. But still, she's my sister, and she helped me set everything up for tonight, it'll be perfect. Y/N will love..."

"Okay, that's enough!" Cami couldn't help but scream at him in anger. "I get it. You're so blinded by her damn charm that you can't see the world outside of her. All right. But I'm not going to listen to this crap about how great and wonderful she is and how she deserves the best because, believe me... she doesn't. I'm not even sure she deserves a scrap of your attention, let alone your adoration! You may think Y/N is an angel, but that's just a facade, Klaus. She's a mean, cruel manipulator, and she's definitely not worth anything you want to give her."

"How can you say that about her?"

"Because I know her! She's not the special muse you think she is or some saintly person. She's a mean, heartless bitch who changes her boyfriend every week. Do you think her feelings for you are real?! That she could love you like I do?!"

"I won't listen to these..." the man stopped, processing his therapist's words in pure surprise. "You love me?"

"Yes. Yes, I love you. And I can't watch you entangle yourself in her web like other men and women before you. She is incapable of any affection, Klaus, not for her own family and certainly not for a stranger. You deserve someone better than her."

"Like who? You?" he asked mockingly, pacing the room angrily.

"I know you're hurt, Klaus, but you have to face the truth. Y/N will never accept your past. She won't take it well that you're a thousand-year-old werewolf/vampire hybrid. She won't handle as many skeletons as you have in your closet. She will not face all your enemies. She won't love you like I do."

"Camille." hope rose in the woman as the original rubbed closer to her. However, he did so only to grab her by the neck and pin her against the wall, cutting off most of her air. She had seen his angry, crazy look many times. But it was never directed at her. She was terrified. "Get. Out. Of. Here. Before I do something terrible and ruin all my chances of being with Y/N. Get out of here before I tear out that miserable, jealous heart beating in your chest for trying to make me feel any doubt about the sincerity of my relationship with your sister. Get out of here while I can still control myself." he growled into her face, releasing her and walking away from her with his fists clenched in anger. Cami looked at him, scared, like a deer at a wolf, trying to assess what she could say or do before she left the room. She took one hesitant step toward the door when Klaus' cold, furious voice stopped her in place. "And Camille! If I hear such slander about Y/N one more time, I will make sure that your supposed love for me disappears with you from the face of the earth. Do we understand each other?"

"You don't know everything about her. Like why we're so cold for each other. Did she ever tell you what she did when our uncle Kieran was dying? Do you remember that day? When you helped me and him get through this, she did everything in her power to make him suffer in his last hours. You know, what was her last word to him? You made yourself that bed. Have a nice nap. She didn't care either about him or me. She left the funeral on my head and didn't even bother to come. If you don't believe me, ask her is that true. You'll know then, why I'm warning you about her."

"I don't need to test the one that holds my heart. Apparently, she must have had some reason to hate your uncle."

"Of course, but maybe you should test her. Despite the weeks you've spent clinging to your hips, you don't really know her." they looked at each other with hard, wounded eyes. Klaus couldn't believe that his friend was capable of such an act of jealousy, and Cami couldn't believe that after so many months spent together, he would just throw her out of his life.

"Goodbye, Camille. As you can guess, you're not welcome here anymore. I wish you happy."

"Me too, to you. You could find it with me." she replied bitterly, leaving the room after giving him one last disappointed, hurt look.

But Cami wasn't about to grieve or let Klaus go yet.

Because if Cami knew something, it was how to make Klaus doubt the pure, good intentions of others. Honestly, he didn't need much pushing. He was completely capable of doing it himself. Especially to distrust in his loved ones, and that was what her sister hated the most. It was only a matter of time before these two would get into a big argument and, for good, lose interest in each other.

Klaus will be hers. She will make sure of it.

Even if it means hurting her own sister.

~•♤♤♤•~

Y/N's POV

I've been waiting on the bridge for 15 minutes. I was starting to get a little nervous that Nik had changed his mind or had a car accident (he was driving like a madman, not caring for his life at all). However, I decided to hold back my paranoid black thoughts and wait five more minutes for him before it officially became clear that he had stood me up.

As I was about to leave, my phone buzzed. I glanced at the notification. A text from Cami. Strange. She has never texted me since THAT day. Before I could open the message, however, a familiar voice distracted me from the device.

"Hello love."

"Hi there! I thought you weren't coming, which would be weird since you wanted to go on a date with me so badly that you were able to... Okay, what happened? You look terrible. Are you okay, Nik?" I asked as I turned to him and noticed the obvious worry on his face.

"Not a very nice way to greet your date, love. By the way, you look beautiful too."

"Don't even joke; something is wrong. I see it. What happened? Do you want to go somewhere and talk about it? We can reschedule this date for another day if you're not feeling well."

"No. God knows when you will accept it again."

"You can joke around and pretend to be confident all you want, but I can see you're tense and nervous."

"Where does such a deduction come from, my personal Sherlock?"

"Very funny, Watson. First of all, you ran your hand through your hair too many times, so now they look messier than usual. You forgot to take your leather jacket, which is like a second skin for you, so you must be hurrying, which means that something happened if you forgot about our meeting or you were so lost in thought that you forgot to look at your watch and you were rushing here like crazy without even glancing at the mirror."

"What made you think I hadn't looked in the mirror?" I smiled, stepping closer to him, causing him even more consternation. I slowly brought my thumb to my lips and licked my fingertip to wipe a large blue stain from his cheek.

"Because most of your face and part of your hair are covered in all of the colors of paint." I burst out laughing, watching his eyes widen in disbelief and a faint shade of red creep into his cheeks. Aww... he gets ashamed. "But do not worry. I think you look cute."

"I'm not cute." he muttered, wrinkling his nose like an offended little child. I snorted, wrapping my arm around his and guiding him towards my apartment. I don't think either of us wanted a big date right now.

"Of course. You are a huge, dangerous puppy."

"Are we at the stage of making up nicknames for ourselves? You must be really obsessed with me by now."

"Are you trying to get out of the conversation about what happened by using that ineffective way to flirt?"

"I don't know, love. Am I? Besides, are you trying to kidnap me or…"

"We're going to my home. And no, I'm not gonna drag you to my bedroom, couch, shower, or wherever your dirty mind wanted."

"Aside from your explicit suggestion of my indecency, I should be offended that you think that my dirty mind needs such a thing as a bed or couch."

"Honestly, I'm not even a bit surprised." I sighed, smiling slightly as his soft chuckle reached my ears.

"Which just proves how well you know me and care about every little detail that concerns me. Just admit that you love me."

"You first, sweetheart."

My mischievous smirk didn't go unanswered. The hybrid gave me an equally defiant, teasing look, staring at me silently. I shook my head, laughing, as I opened the door to the stairwell and let him go through them first.

"Last chance to back out before I know where you live."

"Well, you stalk me anyway." he snorted, leaning against the wall near my apartment door and looking around my floor.

"Any nosy neighbors who will gossip about you bringing the boy home?"

"You've been watching too many romantic comedies. Answering your question, no. One apartment has been empty for a year, and one couple is away on honeymoon. You can scream for help and no one will hear you. The closest neighbors are deaf retirees."

"Then I seriously doubt if it is safe for me to enter this house."

"Don't be such a jerk and come in before I change my mind."

"After such an invitation? With pleasure, love." he sneered, with that goofy smirk of his, walking inside like he owned this place.

"Once you've looked around, you can use the bathroom. First door on the left. And don't you dare go through my stuff!"

"Who do you think I am, darling?" I raised an eyebrow questioningly. I took a breath to give him a full answer, but he beat me to it. "All right. Don't answer this question. I'll be right back."

I was grining like a fool to myself as I prepared some snacks and drinks for movie night. The prospect of cuddling up to a man while watching some stupid film seemed like a nice end to the day. With any luck, he might have admitted what had so disturbed him earlier.

That was until I remembered the unread text from Cami.

Klaus is the original (first ever) hybrid of vampire and werewolf; watch out for him and do not invite him home under any circumstances. We had a fight a while ago, and I don't want you to get hurt because of me. Call me as soon as you can, Cami.

I stared blankly at the message. Of course, the first guy I really liked had to be a fucking vampire—one of the creatures that caused my brother's death.

"Are you okay, love?" I turned to him. He somehow managed to wash off all the paint, leaving only the wet ends of his curly hair. He still looked cute with that caring look of his on me. Stop. I couldn't fall for a vampire. Never. Not after what they did to my family.

"You know, Cami texted me." his suddenly tense, flustered demeanor told me all I needed to know. "Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

"Y/N..." he tried to take a step towards me, but I moved away from him so that we were separated by the couch.

"No! Stay right there!" I shouted, raising my hand in protection to knock any stupid idea out of his head. His disappointed, sad face made me feel unfounded guilt. "Listen, I don't want to know what's going on between you and my sister..."

"There's nothing. She was my therapist, but after today…"

"I don't care! Just let me and her stay out of this supernatural world, please. I lost one sibling because of your stupid war with witches, in which my uncle was involved. I don't want to lose another member of my family, because some vampires don't like that they don't have enough power in this town, Klaus. So please just leave me alone before it would be too hard for both of us to forget about each other."

"That's it? You want to put an end to whatever is going on between us before it even begins?"

"What exactly are the odds that an immortal vampire and a mortal who hates supernatural creatures of any kind will make a good match?"

"Somehow it didn't matter until now. And it wouldn't have if you hadn't found out about it like this."

'"The fact that you say something like that only proves that I'm right. I'm not going to change my beliefs and risk my life and my sister's life just because you're annoyingly handsome. Whatever could be between us, it's doomed to failure."'

"Why? Why are you so afraid of being with me? And why would I ever hurt you or Camille?"

"Cami didn't tell you? Since you were so close to her, you probably know what happened to our brother and how my dear uncle, witches, and vampires contributed to it. Or maybe you forced her to be your therapist, you're not really friends at all, and you were just using her all this time? Am I right?"

"Partly." I snorted, shaking my head in disbelief. How could I have been so stupid? "No! Y/N, just give me ten minutes! That's all. Ten minutes and you can tell me to go to hell, and I will obey your every order."

"It won't change anything anyway."

"I think I've proven many times that I can change your mind. Just give me a chance."

"Why do you even want to keep me around? I'm just an ordinary human; I don't have any special powers or anything else you might find useful. Why would you go through so much trouble?"

"You're everything but ordinary. You caught my attention the first time I saw you, and when I heard how you sang, I knew I fell for you instantly like a foolish teenager. But when I talked to you for the first time, I knew you were the one for me. I gave you my heart on that day, and with every passing hour near you, it only confirmed my belief that it will always belong to you." he walked around the couch, standing in front of me and staring at me with those mesmerizing eyes of his, filled with sincere, deep devotion. How in the bloody hell was I supposed to resist him?

"Klaus..."

"Hush, huh. I still have 6 minutes, love. You're special to me and I love..."

"I'm not perfect, Klaus. I've done a lot of stupid, horrible things in my life that you have no idea about. You can't just stand here and say you love me when you don't know me at all."

"I don't care who you used to be or what you did in the past. What matters is what is here and now. And right now..." he grabbed my hand, bringing it close to his chest and the frantically beating heart that was probably beating as fast as mine. "I know that there is no other person that I want to be with more than you. There is no other person on this earth who can understand me and bring me such comfort as I find in your arms whenever I come to you. Despite our differences, we all belong to each other. And I know that you can feel it as I do. I throw the power. I don't want to rule New Orleans if that means I'm going to lose you. I just… I just want you to be okay."

I looked at him carefully, trying to detect any hint of falsehood in his words, but I couldn't find anything against him in his eyes or in his determined facial expression. If he was desperate enough to keep me by his side, even at the cost of abandoning his rule of New Orleans, then maybe he really cared about me?

"Is that another way of saying you love me?"

"Is that another way of saying I changed your mind?"

"I will never become a vampire. You know about it?"

"You didn't want anything to do with me 10 minutes ago. I think you can still change your mind."

"As confident as always." I murmured, pulling him into our first, long-awaited kiss. And I hoped, the first of many more.

He was right. There were no other arms, no other lips, and no other touch that I wanted to feel than his. And as much as I feared and how wrong it was to get involved with a vampire after my brother died in the crossfire of this city's power war, I felt there was no place in the world other than his arms where I could feel so right, like I always belonged there.

And I think we both knew I'd end up being a vampire anyway. He would do anything to convince me. And it probably wouldn't take him that long. After all, he was very special.

[storiesbyjes2g]

3.72 The ambassador

On our way to the Arboretum, I highlighted a few noteworthy features of the neighborhood, including a shameless plug for my yoga classes at the Celebration Center. Clear skies and warm sun made it the perfect day for this tour. Though, there was never a wrong time to visit San Sequoia. Every day was perfect.

"This is Gilbert Gardens," I said, vaguely gesturing around us. "It's my favorite place in San Sequoia because it has so much to do for all ages."

"I can't get over this weather. Is it always this nice?"

"Amazing, right? That's one of the best parts about San Sequoia."

The warm rays beamed down on us while a cool breeze whisked back and forth, ensuring we remained comfortable. Dub glanced around, shaking his head in disbelief at the gorgeous weather.

"Henford is usually covered in snow right about now," he said with a hint of snark.

I chuckled at a memory that popped into my head.

"I've seen snow exactly twice in my life. It doesn't snow much in Willow Creek. That's where I've spent the most time."

"I think snow is overrated," Dub huffed, waving dismissively again.

"You might be right. I mean, it's super cold...you can't see if it's too thick...and you have to clean it up!"

He slapped my arm.

"See? I knew we were in sync."

"Playing in it looks fun, though."

"That's overrated too! I don't like my hands being cold. There's no fun in that!"

He was hilarious and I know he wasn't trying to be, but the fake outrage amused me.

"I might have to agree with you there," I said.

We got halfway around the lake before I realized I hadn't shown him much. I made a terrible tour guide, but I think we both enjoyed the company more; I know I did.

"I teach at that spa over there sometimes," I said.

"What do you teach?"

"Yoga. I also lead guided meditations."

"So, yoga videos and classes? You must really love it."

"I do."

His eyes squinted a bit, like he was processing my words or something. I hadn't said anything too deep. Was he one of those yogi haters?

"A good friend of mine just told me she's into it too," he said. "She says it's for therapeutic reasons."

"Good for her. I think everyone should be into yoga."

"Why do you say that?"

"It's great therapy. I think everyone should learn healthier ways to deal with stress. Sims turn to so many self-destructive ways of dealing with their problems, only to make it worse. Having a healthy body leads to a healthy mind."

"I'm sure Maia would agree. She made me promise to try it with her."

"I hope you do."

I hadn't heard of many men who had platonic relationships with women. Even I had some sort of physical attraction and a bit of lust for my female friends. What was his relationship with this friend?

"So...Maia, huh?"

"Yeah, she's my friend I mentioned."

"I see... Well, I'm glad you'll try it. I think you'll find it helps a lot.

He didn't catch it that time, but I wouldn't let him miss it the next time, and there would be a next time. I was sure of it.

"Over there, you have the splash park. Mostly kids hang out there. We can swim in this lake."

"It's huge!"

"Tell me about it. My dad and I jogged around it once. I think I nearly killed him. There's all kinds of trails around here, but this is my favorite."

As we approached the trailhead, Dub looked around in awe, exactly like I did the first time I visited. The garden was what made it exceptionally beautiful. The way they expertly arranged the flowers and creatively teased the topiaries, it truly was a work of art.

"Woooow. I never would have seen all this back here."

"They call it the Arboretum. You ready to go?"

"Always."

We stretched, and I recommended we take it easy and pace ourselves, but Mr. Funny Man had other ideas. Good thing I was also athletic. I accepted the challenge, but of course, I had to flex on him a few times.

I asked about his family. The fact that he was the oldest of three boys amazed me. With no brotherly figure or close friends in my life, I found it difficult to imagine the dynamics of such a relationship. Would I enjoy little brothers? Would they annoy me? Maybe both because little sisters could be fun and annoying. Dub and his brothers grew up on a farm, and he hated it. Memories of the sights and smells of cleaning out chicken coops and milking cows disgusted him all over again. I would never laugh at anyone's pain, but he was so easily grossed out. I almost wanted to try it to see if it was really that bad.

Naturally, he returned the same questions, and I told him about our family dynamics and how my sister and I bounced between Willow Creek and Evergreen Harbor our entire childhood. I kept it casual and didn't say anything emotional, but he remained silent. Maybe he was contemplating my situation just like I was considering farm life with a bunch of brothers.

We took a few breaks, and he guzzled his water as if he were on fire. I shook my head, secretly laughing at him for dashing off like it was a race. Eventually we arrived back at our starting point, winded but feeling like a million simoleons.

"That was a good run," he said. "Maybe the longest I've done so far."

"Yeah, before I ran around the lake it was my longest too."

"And it was very scenic, like you said."

"You should see it in the summer! It's amazing."

I could tell by how golden the sky was, and the emptiness in my stomach, dinnertime was near. I had another idea I hoped he'd be keen on.

"I'm usually having dinner about now. If you have more time, you wanna go to the best restaurant in San Sequoia?"

"Yeah! Uhh, actually, let me check with Maia first."

See? I knew he'd bring her up again. This dude was in love and didn't even know it, and it was so fun to watch. Even the way he said her name had hearts all over it.

"Of course. I wouldn't want to get you in trouble or anything," I said in a cheeky way.

"Whatever, man!"

He may have sounded offended, but I did not forget that grin. One way or another, I'd get their story out of him. Ugh...I was unquestionably my mother's child.

Wade Banks by @mysimsloveaffair

[abubblingcandle]

Augusnippets Day 1 - Brainwashing - Ted Lasso

CW - Past Child Abuse, Emotional Manipulation

Jamie was loving this whole therapy thing. Time to just talk about himself ... amazing! Until Dr Fieldstone starts asking questions about his childhood.

Here on AO3 @augusnippets

When Jamie started therapy with Doctor Fieldstone, he hadn’t thought twice about it really. Keeley seemed to think it was a good idea and he just got to sit there and talk about himself. Doctor Fieldstone just nodded, smiled and wrote stuff down. It was relaxing really. He should have started doing this sooner.

But then the bubble burst. Because turns out therapy isn’t just paying people to let you talk at them. You are expected to talk about certain stuff that you don’t want to talk about because you need to do that to get better. Which Jamie still thinks is a massive pile of horse shit. Jamie fucking Tartt does not need to talk to someone to get better. He’s already the best.

Despite that Doctor Fieldstone was determined to talk about his dad.

She had found out about the rules somewhere in Jamie's ramblings. That made it sound worse than it was. Jamie wasn't trying to hide his dad's rules from her, he genuinely thought she wouldn't care. But she did care, cared about it quite a lot really and they spent the whole session talking about them which was odd because every parent had rules for their kid. And they were just good things to keep in mind while he was still playing. They made him good. So yeah ... Jamie didn't know why Sharon was determined to talk about them but she got him to make a list and now the list was taunting him as he read it out to her. 

1 - Take any opportunity to show your talent.

"It's simple son. This game is all about being noticed. If you sit back, let others take the glory then you'll get dropped. You'll be forgotten. You'll be worthless. You don't want to end up like that. Football's all you've got going for you. Don't give them the opportunity to forget you."

2 - Only spend time around people who can make you better or make you look better 

"Friends? With that prat ... Jamie. Jamie I expect better. Both from you and for you. Friendship is a waste. They'll work out who you really are, what you really are and then either try and use you or throw you away. We don't want that do we? Friendship is only worth it if it benefits you. Does this friend ... Jacob? Does being friends with Jacob being anything to your career? ... No. Then you won't see him again."

3 - Your money is money for the family

"You don't get to say no Jamie. I need this which means we need this. You wouldn't want your family to go without would you Jamie? Do you know how much money I spent keeping you alive brat? Huh? Speak up. Yeah, a lot more than your little toys. I kept you in football which is why you are getting paid. It's time you repaid the favour."

4 - Any available time must be spent improving

"What are you doing? Fucking video games. Who said you could play games Jamie? No, get up. If you've got time to play games you've got time to train. I don't care that it's raining, you'll have to play games in the rain won't you? So stop sulking and run."

5 - Tartt men are not soft. Emotions are a choice and a waste of time. 

"Get up. James I told you to get up. Stop that noise and get a grip. Being a soft fucking wuss. So what it hurts huh? You wanna see your fucking mummy? You're a Tartt. We ain't fucking soft, we don't fucking cry. You are in control of your own emotions. If you show people you are weak then they won't trust you yeah. They won't like you. I don't even fucking like you right now as your fucking weeping and I'm your dad. Get yourself together or you're walking home."

6 - Playing through the pain makes you stronger 

"You ain't earnt any drugs lad stop sulking. You can walk can't ya? Then you're fine. When I were a lad we didn't get tablets for nothing. It toughens you up. You play through the pain you hear me then if someone takes you down in a game you'll get back up to make them regret it. See? It's for your own good. Now up we get."

7 - Stop hunting for praise

"Nobody in life kid is going to throw you a fucking party for doing your job. If you're waiting for someone to give you a well done for trying medal then you'll be waiting an age. Scored a goal, so what. Should've scored two. The only time you deserve a pat on the back is when you have a real winners medal that you've earnt right. So stop asking if you've done good, the answer should always be do better."

8 - Losses are your responsibility and need to be apologised for

"You're the best player out there junior. You know that. Everyone knows that, if they don't they're fucking dense. So if your team loses huh, that's on you. You fucking lost and that makes you are fucking loser. No Tartt is a fucking loser on my watch. Apologise. Say you're sorry for being a fucking loser Jamie."

9 - You see a goal scoring opportunity, you take it

"You think those other lads out there are thinking about you when they get a chance to shoot. No one on that team gives a flying fuck about you Jamie. Only I care about your success here and you need to start caring too. If I see you pass when you could shoot again Jamie you'll regret it alright. You'll regret it." 

10 - Instructions from me are not optional

"No? Did you just tell me no? Did that fall knock another bleeding screw loose in that empty head of yours. You don't tell me no Jamie. You don't tell me what to do. You are not in charge here and you never will be. You get that junior? Has that knocked it's way into that thick skull. You don't get to say no."

[themultifandomgal]

Michael Gray- Time Travel Pt2

Thing haven't gone back to normal. Once again I get dressed and head to the Garrison. Michael is already at the bar with Isaiah

"YN hey"

"Hi. You both want a drink?"

"We'll have a beer each" Isaiah says

"Sure" I walk around the bar and start pouring them both a drink

"So where are you from?"

"Long way away" I say still so confused to how I'm here

"Ok?" Michael frowns "tell us about yourself"

"There's not much to say really. Well other than I think I've been reading about illnesses to much and now I think I'm the only who's ill" both Isaiah and Michael look at each other. I close my eyes and take a breath "sorry, I'm not good at meeting new people especially people I've heard about"

"I see. So you've heard of us then?" Michael smirks at me

"You could say that"

"So what we're you doing before you came to Small Heath?"

"Oh I was writing a paper about metal health and medicine"

"So people in the asylums" Isaiah frowns

"Yeah m, but where I come from that's frowned upon"

"Where's that then?"

"You wouldn't know" I hand Michael and Isaiah their drinks

"Are you still writing your paper?"

"I should be yeah, but I'm having a bit of writers block"

"Let us know if there's is anything we can do to help"

"Thanks" I watch the men walk into the back room leaving me alone. Will I ever get back to modern day or am I stuck here? I think to myself.

Days go by and I come to the conclusion that I'm stuck here in the 1920s. I walk into the Garrison feeling down

"YN, Tommy wants to see you in the back room" Harry tells me

"Oh ok" I frown and walk into the backroom. I knock the door and wait for Tommy to say

"Come in" I walk into the room nervously

"You asks to see me?"

"Michael tells me that your writing a paper on the brain"

"Errm yeah"

"The war fucked us all up. Fucked us up in the head. Can you help"

"Errm maybe, a little" I shrug "I'm focusing more on the asylums and how their forms of treatment aren't acceptable"

"How so?" Tommy nods to an empty chair. I sit down next to Michael

"Well PTSD is a real illness. As you call it, being fucked in the head, but you don't have to take hard drugs. Therapy work, not water therapy, or electric chair therapy, or what other forms of torture they do"

"So what do you suggest?" Arthur asks me crossing his arms over his chest

"Talking about what scares you, about what happened during the war. Finding ways to deal with it in a healthy way. Where I come from we have therapists, they help with helping the way you think. It's worth looking into"

"Huh. What else do you need to write about?" John now asks

"Well how drugs can effect the body and the mind. Cocaine, snow, they can actually make your PTSD worse. Men and woman are being put in these asylums for the silliest things. 80% of woman suffer with something called postpartum depression, they have to hide this because they are 'crazy' it's, it's..."

"Crazy" Tommy says for me

"Yes" I sigh "you keep asking me where I'm from and the truth is I'm from the year 2023. I'm at university studying to be a psychiatrist. I have a book about you guys, The Peaky Blinders and I was reading it before I fell asleep and now I'm in the year 1920 something" Tommy and his brothers frown at me confused "I know now I sound like I'm the one who needs to see a therapist, but the truth is I just want to go back home" the room is silent for some time

"Ok. I've got a deal then. You answer my questions and I'll answer yours"

"Errm ok"

"If your from the future, tell me, do we ever get caught for our illegal business?"

"Yes, yes you do" I sadly say to the man. I mean they're bad people, but over the last few days I've been able to see a side of them that's sweet.

I spend my evening chatting to the Blinders learning so much from them about what's going on in their heads. I answer their questions about their future.

I go to bed that night with a smile on my face.

When I wake up I'm on the couch with The Peaky Blinders book in my hand. I look around my room and everything is back to normal. I jump off the couch and find my phone on the coffee table. It's the day after I fell asleep. I quickly have a shower and get dressed before heading to the coffee shop where Emma is working

"Morning YN. Your hear early. Coffee?"

"Yes. Please" I stand at the counter top as Emma brings my coffee over to me. The bell rings and Emma looks up

"It's the guy again. 2 days in a row. Just go and speak with him" I roll my eyes and turn around but bump onto someone

"I am so so sorry" I gasp grabbing some napkins off the counter. Finally I look up at the stranger, he looks exactly like Michael Gray. Weird

"No it's my fault. Came up a little to close. I'm Michael Grey" I frown at the man

"Do you so happen the be related to the Peaky Blinder Michael Grey?" I ask

"Yeah" the man chuckles "he's actually my great grandfather"

"No way"

"You know about him"

"Yeah" I laugh "I've read up on the Peaky Blinders. It's almost as if I knew them personally"

"Would you like to grab a coffee? My treat"

"Sure" I smile and turn back around to ask for Emma to make us a drink. She gives me a wink before getting to work.

[romanarose]

Leather and Lace: Chapter 5

Santiago "Pope" Garcia X Fem!OC

Pervious chapter here : Next chapter

Fic master list

A/N: I'm so sorry this is just long as hell. I couldn't find a natural end and there was so much I wanted to include. Sorry it took so long. Hopefully a new chatper of Sunshine Starlight Sweetheart Brightside will be out this week.

The hat scene is based on a post by @copingchaos and @welcometostayingawake which I will link in at the scene, be sure to give the post a like and reblog!

Final A/N: I want to make a masterlist for this fic but I wanna have some nice art or something for it sooooo if anyone wanna draw something or make a mood board or something for this, I’ll include it in the masterlist and tag/link ur account and any pages you use for your art! Anything sent will be included, even little doodles so don’t be embarrassed!

Chapter Summary: We see Santi and Will's side of the argument when they went inside. Santi and Laci find a special time just for them and have a moment. Laci babysits Rosie will the guys have drinks.

******************

“Do you have ANY IDEA how close you came to dying, Pope? It’s a goddamn miracle you didn’t get your head blasted open! You and Ben could’ve died! Then what? Do we spit up the money again and give it to your non-existent family and pretend it’s okay? If Ben died, would you just give me a pat on the back and say ‘Oh, sorry!’ and move on?”

Pope couldn’t sleep. The day had riled him up too much. Him and Will, after Frankie chewed them out, had gone to the kitchen. Santi hated leaving her out on the porch. Hated more how jealous he felt of Benny. But he didn’t want to test Frankie’s patience.

“Is that what this is all about, Will?” Santi crossed him arms at his friend. “Jesus, go to therapy.”

“I don’t need therapy, I need to stop watching my friends get shot!”

“Will you shut up? Frankie is going to fucking kill us as it is.” There was a long, pregnant silence. “Listen, I’m sorry Ben got shot. You know I’m sorry. But Ben agreed with me, he said I should’ve stayed with her… Maybe you should-”

“Don’t tell me to take time out of the field, Pope.”

Santi raised his hands in defense. “Okay, okay. But I think we’re all going to maybe take some time off, Frakie wants to spend time with Rosie, Ben’s got physical therapy-”

“You’ve got the girl. Who you want to spend time with” He crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow.

Pope rolled his eyes. “Can you stop being shitty about Laci? I’m trying to help her”

“Oh please” He countered. “You have way past doing your job. You got a thing for her, even if you won’t admit it.”

“She needs help, Will”

“You saved her life, you were supposed to bring her back to the embassy, and be done. Have you ever stopped to consider you are overstepping? Have you ever considered that maybe there's a reason soldiers aren’t supposed to take back trafficking victims to play house?”

Santi shook his head. He had considered that, of course. “That’s not what's happening here.”

“Are you telling me you wouldn’t fuck her if you had the chance?” Will challenged.

Santi pinched the bridge of his nose. “We’re getting off topic here.” He diverted. “We’re here because you’re being a dick to her”

There was a pause and Santi watched a boatload of emotions dance across Will’s face as he searched for a smart ass answer. When nothing came, he simply agreed. “I know.”

“Then why are you being like this? I know you know damn well this isn’t her fault, and knowing you, you are going to start feeling really shitty about how you treated her.”

Will groaned dramatically. “I don’t know man! I know I can’t blame her for what happened but my subconscious does anyway.”

Santiago’s lips smirked up a bit at that. “Subconscious, huh? You sure you haven't been the therapy?”

Will flicked Santi’s head. “No, I took psych in high school.”

“Nerd.”

The men stood in silence, feeling better but also not feeling like everything had been spoken. 

Will broke the silence again. “I’m sorry for how I’ve been. I just… I can’t help it sometimes.”

Santi knew he was sincere, but he also knew he had a duty to her. “Well you’re going to have to help it, man.” Santi crossed his arms. “Because for the time being, she’s going to be here, and if you want to be around me, you’ll have to be around her. And if you’re going to be around us, you’re going to have to be nice, because I’m not putting up with it anymore.”

Will closed his eyes “I know.”

“That girl has been kidnapped, raped, beaten, and god knows what else this last year, I’m not letting her put up with you bullshit too.”

“I know, I’m sorry.” Will opened his eyes to look at Santi. He knew the protectiveness his friend felt over the girl was partially due to the loss of his sister, but he couldn’t help but feel there was another attachment here.

“Don’t say sorry to me, say sorry to her.” He nodded out the door.

Will gave a short laugh. “You gonna leave me alone with her long enough to apologize?”

“If you promise to behave.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah” Will headed for the door. 

Laci said things were good, that they’d made it. She didn’t go into details and he didn’t ask. That was their business. But right now, he couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t abnormal, he didn’t sleep a lot. Right now, all he could think of was Tom’s head with blood oozing out. Santi shook his head like an etch-a-scetch, and stood up to get some food. Unsurprisingly, Laci was up watching Friends. 

 He popped back into his room to pull shorts over his boxers and a white tee shirt, mumbling. “Even’n Lace.” As he rubbed his eyes, walking behind the couch in the living room. Lace turned around, hopping up on her legs, looking over the couch. He sees the movement, and looks over to find her eyes following him. He could swear she was looking at his butt. He smirked at her “Need something?” 

Her eyes flicked up to his, embarrassed at having been caught, she turned back to the tv and sat down.

“Ah, c’mon Munacita, I’m only teasing.” He waited until she glanced back at him. “You hungry”

She shrugged and smiled. ‘I could eat’

Santi heated up some pizza rolls, and brought a plate over to her. “Bon appetit, mademuasel.”

She grinned at him as she accepted the plate.

“G’night” Santiago began walking back to his room with his plate.

“Santiago?” She called after him, causing him to turn around.

“Yes?”

She nodded over to the seat next to her on the couch, and raised her eyebrows. ‘Join me?’

Santi knew damn well this was a slippery slope. He knew, really, that he shouldn't be indulging her in her little flirts. But she looked at him with her big hopefully eyes, how could he deny her like that? “Yeah, sure Lace” He sat down at the other end of the couch. “But we aren’t watching Friends.”

Laci grinned at him, bouncing over to sit next to him and handing him the remote. “Well you can’t sleep…” She spoke softly. “What do you watch?”

Santi was thankful for the dim lights, he was sure his embarrassment would show. “I um… it’s kinda silly”

She nudged him, urging him on. 

“I like to watch old sitcoms”

Laci laughed at this. She smiled, shaking her head ‘That’s not silly’ She pointed at Friends still on the TV.

“Friends isn’t old!” Santiago insisted, suddenly very aware of their age gap, making him feel even more ashamed of the thoughts that had been creeping into his head.

She gave him a pointed look. “It’s older than me.”

Fuck, that made him feel old. “I meant, really old sitcoms. Dick Van Dyke, I love Lucy.”

She nodded to the TV while nuzzling up next to him. “Relax.” She told him, and he tried.

A few hours later, he wondered how he got there. How had Santi ended up laying down, stretched out on the couch, with Laci asleep in his arms?

That’s how they found themselves more nights than not. Santiago would join Laci on the couch, and slowly their bodies would come together, and she’d fall asleep in his arms in various entanglements. There was something natural in it. There was a bit of desire on Santi’s part, how could he not, with a party blonde girl in his arms?

When she woke up the first morning, Laci smiled at him. She looked at Santi like they were lovers waking up on a lazy Sunday morning. Laci climbed off of him as he stood up. Santi’s thoughts were racing. Why did he do that? Why did he let her lay on him? Why did he wrap his arms around her? Why didn't he get up? But when he looked at her all sleepy and smiling at him, he couldn’t find it to feel as guilty as he should’ve.

She looked at him, touching her back.

“Does your back hurt?” He asked

She shook her head and pointed at him. ‘No, does yours?’

Oh. She had been asking about him. “No, actually I feel great. I haven't slept that well in…” years. He thought. Santi didn’t finish the sentence. He changed the subject as he stood up. “Well, the whole day is free. No doctors, no therapy, nothing. What do you wanna do?”

Laci thought for a moment and shrugged.

“C’mon, we can do anything you want. Whole day, up to you, what grand plans do you have?”

Laci considered his words. After a moment, she made scissors with her fingers and went to her hand.

“A hair cut?!” Santi chuckled. “We can do anything, and you want a hair cut?”

She blushed, but shrugged.

“Okay, Munecita. A haircut it is.”

Santi had her pick wherever she wanted for breakfast. Starbucks, IHOP, some fancy brunch place, it was up to her. He tried to express that money was no issue, but wasn’t sure how to go about that without sounding like he was bragging. The moment he got the money, he was set for life. He could have lived in luxery without working a day in his life. But he did work. He needed something to do. They all did, needed something to take their minds off the horrors. Benny still fought. Fought in matches and in bars. Frankie had his beautiful daughter, Santi’s god daughter. Frankie also had coke, something that no one dared bring up. Will always seemed like he had it together, focusing on field work and making sure Benny didn’t get himself killed. Seemed like he had it together, until he didn’t. Incidents like this last week were reminders that Will had a lot of guilt over Tom’s death that no one addressed. And Santi? Santi had work. Constant work. He always had something going on, something to distract him from everything he had seen and done… and hadn’t done.

He knew that the guys thought, or at least wondered if that's what Laci was. A project. But Santi didn’t think so. There was so much more he wanted to know about her, wanted to do with her, time he wanted to spend…

Santiago went to a barber for his hair, but Benny had a recommendation for a hair stylist. He promised that she wouldn’t make a big deal about Laci not talking.

“You must be Benjamin’s friends! I’m Brit. You can take a seat at the first chair, I’ll be with you in a sec, hon” The stylist called over to Laci, then looked at Santi. “You getting a hair cut too? You look like you could use it.” She teased while washing items in the sink. “Nay has some free time, could squeeze you in?”

“No thanks, I’m-” Santo started, but felt a nudge. Laci was looking up at him, grinning and nodding. She looked so excited, how could he deny her. He sighed with a smile. “Okay, yeah I suppose I could use a trim.”

“Excellant!”

Santi walked over to where Brit was cleaning. “Hey uh, did Ben talk to you about her at all?”

She gave him a sympathetic smile. “Yeah, he told me how y’all found her. Horrible. Don’t worry, her cut is on the house.”

Santiago shook his head. “No, no I’m paying for hers, don’t worry ‘bout that. Thing is, she doesn’t talk much. Sometimes at all, she has pictures for what she wants, but she can’t really reply unless it’s yes or no…”

“Don’t worry hon, I understand, I’ll keep it simple.”

He smiled. “Thank you.” Santi began walking away, but turned around. “Is there any like… hair treatments or something… nice? I asked her what she wanted to do today, all she asked for was a hair cut… Is there anything I can add to make it nicer for her?”

Brit gave him a knowing look. “Yeah, I’ll check out her hair, see what she needs.”

Laci and Santi spent the next few hours in the chairs, it was almost like a spa day. Much of Laci’s hair had been damaged from a year of no care and malnutrition, so she got much of it cut off, holding up a picture for reference on the phone Santi had bought her.. Brit had opted for a keratin treatment to strengthen her hair. Laci had asked (via her notes app)  about highlights, but Brit was concerned about the integrity of  her hair at the moment, and suggested they come back in a few months and recommended hair skin and nails pills.

Santi got a trim, and Laci gave him pleading eyes to get the keratin treatment. Nay suggested he get a deep conditioning for his curls, and Laci allowed it. Together, they relaxed as the soft music played. Nay and Brit were thankful for not having to make conversation, and Santi secretly enjoyed being pampered. 

“Jeez, whatever you and Benny do for work, if you wanna send more coworkers my way, feel free”

Santi had left a generous tip, and he knew Benny would’ve as well. They were very popular wherever they were regulars at. 

The next two weeks were something akin to domestic. During the day, they took turns cooking for each other. Well, “cooking” Santi could get by with a few Guatemalan recipes, but he tended to rely on burgers, microwave food, and pastas. He generally was in charge of lunch. Laci took on dinner. She was better at cooking than him. Some recipes, a white girl from St. Louis probably wouldn’t know, and Santi figured she had learned in her year of captivity. It occurred to him that they never really talked about what happened. He supposed that's what her therapists were for. Laci had given him access to all her medical and psych records, something Santi never took advantage of or even asked for. Laci had given permission for her psych to talk to Santi about what they talked about, she signed everything away to Santi. He was all she had. He could, if he wanted, find out everything they had done. But Santiago didn’t want to find out that way. If she wanted him to know, she could tell him. He didn’t want to invade her privacy. She deserved to be allowed secrets, even if she had given up her rights to any. 

More nights than not, she fell asleep in his arms. it had become routine. If they couldn’t sleep, they’d meet on the couch and watch old sitcoms. More nights than not, she laid on his chest. And tonight? Tonight he was regretting it. Not regretting it enough to stop, however. Not enough to move, to get up, to get away from her. Not when she was so close to him. Laci had sat up on his chest, her hands tracing over his face. He was tired, too tired, and the soft glow of TV bounced off her face. She was beautiful. Her haircut was chin length, a style that worked well for her straight blonde hair. Despite his best judgment, he reached up to touch her face. Laci’s fingers trailed his hairline, his cheekbones, his jaw, and softly over his bottom lip. He fought her urge to take her fingers in his mouth, but this was more innocent. Something pure, delicate and new. He didn’t want to ruin what was happening, even if he knew he should walk away. Her skin was still pale, but had gained color in its cheek’s, a bit of pink on her face that matched the shade of her lips. A shade that matched the color of pink she generally likes to wear. 

Laci leaned into his touch, and before he could stop himself, he lifted his face to hers. For a moment, their lips merely brushed together, an air of hesitancy like a teenage crush, like a first kiss stifled by nervousness and awkward touches. Finally, the hand on her face gently entwined in her thin hair, bringing her to his mouth ever-so carefully. It wasn’t a demand, it wasn’t an insistence, it was a guide. ‘Come here’ it said ‘let me love you, please’. The kiss was a plea. ‘Let me love you, let me love you, let me love you’ from who to whom, Santi didn’t know. Was Santiago asking to let him protect her and love her and help her, or was Laci asking him to open up, to know and be known by him.

There was no tongue, no fever, no wet, hot kisses and lascivious touching. Just his lips on hers, slow and kind, her gentle touch on her face begging him not to pull away. He only did so for moments long enough to check on her, only to see her smiling dreamily at him before one of them went back to the languid affection. There was a tightness in his chest, nervous to be seen so openly. It was a vulnerability he really shared. His job, the way he lived his life, had prevented him from normal relationships. This felt like a new start, a brand new thing not only with them, not only between him and the pretty girl in his arms, but within himself. There was something in him that had been laid to the ground with every military move, everyone had had to kill, everyone he watched be killed. Every kiss he planted on her lips brought new life; the hand in her head secured her to him, begged her to stay, stay, stay with me Laci, please. Something that had been burried deeper with every time he watched his friends get shot, every member of his family who died, all that was being brought to the surface with every faint, soft brush of her lips and the tender touch of her hand on his stubbled face. He didn’t want to stop. He wondered if he could stop time, what he would give to keep them like this, safe in each other’s arms for ever.

But he did stop, he had to. If he didn’t, he’d take things further. He would already regret this in the morning, he didn’t need to give into every carnel desire he had. Laci smiled, giving him one last kiss on the cheek before laying her head down on his chest. Tomorrow was for regret; tomorrow was for feeling shitty. Tonight was for nothing but thoughts of her lips, and the comforting touch of her hand.

The next day

“You two ready yet?” Will called out to Santiago and Laci in the doorway. Will was the DD for tonight. 

Ben was already half drunk. “LET’S GOOOOOO”

“Benny, shut the fuck up or I swear to god I’m leaving you here”

“Hey!” Santiago Garcia emerged from his room. “You’re not leaving a drunk Ben alone in my house.”

“He’s gonna get in a fucking fight tonight and I’m too sober to deal with this.”

Santi patted his friend on his back. This was Will’s apology for being a dick at the BBQ. 

Laci practically skipped out of her room. She wore white overalls over her pink undershirt, and was beaming. Frankie had asked her to babysit Rosie so the guys could have a few hours out. Santi had he feeling it was primarily for Laci’s benefit, but he was nervous. Him and Laci had been attached at the hip since the moment he found her, hardly being separated. She always had him in the room with her for doctors, and if she was in therapy, he stayed in the waiting room. For any meeting for social workers and things of that sort, he was always in the room, translating or relaying messages, depending on how verbal she was that day. This was the first time they would be separated by anything more than a few yards.

“Frankie is going to fucking kill you” Santi commented when he saw the hat Benny was wearing. It said ‘women want me, fish fear me’ from some tik tok audio.

Benny grinned. “I’m counting on it!”

“You change your goddamn ringtone yet?”

“Absolutely not!” Benny had set his ringtone to “Benny and the Jet’s” months ago, and it was driving the guys insane. Laci seemed to think it was funny. Every time it went off while they watched Always Sunny, Santi groaned, and Laci giggled.

Will started to drag Ben back to the Jeep. “Who still has a ringtone anymore?” He mutters as everyone loads up, heading to Frankies next.

Laci held Santi’s hand as she usually did when they left their house, but as soon as Laci spotted Rosie, his hand and him became irrelevant. She scooped the toddler off the floor, and began whispering praises to the giggling girl. She talked to Rosie more than Santi. 

“Two peas in a pod” Frankie commented and he put the food on the high chair. Then he spotted Benny’s hat. “Take that god damn shit off!” He tried to grabbed it off Ben’s head.

Ben yelped but doged Frankies grasp. He ran around the counters, tailed by Fish, mimicking the audio. “Women want me, Fish fears me”

Frankie chased the boy around the living room.“I don’t fear shit, Jackass, fuck off” Frankie grabbed the hat off Ben’s head.

“Hey!” The whole group of men turned to see Laci covering Rosie’s ears. She nodded to the baby. “Language” she scolded.

“Yeah, Fish, l a n g u a g e!” and took his hat back.

Frankie sighed, one battle at a time. He turned to Laci. “This is her dinner, she’ll fight you over it for a while but I promise she’ll eat it, just gotta keep at her. If she gets too messy you can give her a bath, but I think she’ll be okay. Bedtime is 7, but she gets really excited with new people, so if she doesn’t go to sleep, don’t sweat it. Help yourself to anything in the fridge or whatever, remote for the TV is on the coffee table. Don’t worry about dishes or anything. Any questions?”

Laci looked like she was mentally noting everything in her brain. She shook her head.

“Great. Any questions, you have my number, you can text Santi if that’s easier. I’ll set the security before I go, theres camera’s in the living room. Not that I don’t trust you, I don’t trust the outside. Years of military makes me paranoid.”

Laci nodded, smiling and still holding the little girl.

Santi spoke up. “I think I’m gonna sit tonight out guys.”

Everyone, including Laci, turned to him.

“What?” Ben asked.

“I’m kinda tired, I think I’ll just stay in with Lace and Rosie tonight”

“You stay in with Laci EVERY NIGHT, Pope.” The shots Benny had taken had loosened his mouth. “Jesus Christ she’ll be okay for a few hours.”

“No, that's not it-”

Ben scoffed loudly “Oh yes it is! Come one, give her a little freedom”

Santi glared at Ben’s comment. “Freedom? Ben, I’m not keeping her captive.”

Laci handed Rosie to Will, who took her with a smile and a kiss. Laci took Santi’s hand and dragged the irritated man to the hall. “Santi, it’s okay. I can handle a one year old”

He sighed, momentarily distracted by her pink lips, that only last night were on his. “I know you can, I just…”

“I know I havn’t…” Laci shuffled a bit. “I don’t really let you go anywhere, I don’t want to keep you back…” She looked up at him, her thoughtful blue eyes on him.

He softened for her. “Oh Lace, no, you aren’t keeping me back, not at all. I… I enjoy our time… together…” he trialed off, both of them thinking about last night, the kiss… neither had talked about it.

“Santi, I promise it’ll be okay. I’ll text you if anything goes wrong, or if I get anxious or something, okay?”

Santi considered this. It had been a long time since he had a chance to get loose with the guys, and Ben and Frankie promised to provide some entertainment… “Okay, yeah, just… keep me updated, okay?”

She lit up at that. “I promise”

They walked out of the hall, everyone turned to them, Laci smiled “Parties on.”

With a loud bunch of cheers from the guys, everyone got ready to go. Frankie gave Rosie a bunch of kisses and when everyone else had left, Santi kissed Laci on the cheek. “Have fun.” and tickled Rosie before he left. Benny absolutely saw that.

A few hours and a few shots in, Ben brought it up. “So, you two finally kissing” He said out of nowhere.

 Everyone turned to Santi, whose cheeks were flushed with a bit of pink. “What are you talking about, jackass.”

“Everyone’s calling me a jackass tonight!” He exclaimed. Benny wiggled his eyebrows. “I saw you kiss her when we left.”

“What?” Will exclaimed. Frankie was not surprised.

“Listen” Santi defended himself. “It was a kiss on the cheek”  there was a pause, as no one seemed to beleive him. “There might have been… some kissing last night.” A loud ooooooo from Ben. “No, no, not like that. And I should havn’t done that” Santi shook his head. “That’s not why I took her in.”

“Well…” Will started, but stopped, hesitating.

“Whatever it is, say it.” Santi groaned, finishing his drink and ordering another round for the guys sans Will.

“I just mean, it’s not the only reason. But I think it was somewhere in the back of your mind.”

Santi looked indignant. “I didn’t move her in to coerce her into sex, Will”

“I didn’t say that!” He raised his hands defensively. “I just mean, she’s a pretty girl, you’re a good looking guy who has been very nice to her,” he stifled a smirk “it’s natural that theres gonna be some… attraction.” Will tried to remain polite.

“Listen.” Santi scrubbed his face. “I’m well aware that she might find me…” He tried to find the right words without sounding braggadocious. “Appealing” he said he a smile, earning laughs from the guys. “But” he got more serious. “I don’t want her to feel like she is obligated to do anything.”

“Santi.” It was Fish’s turn. “I don’t think she feels like that. You treat her like a porcelain doll, she feels safe with you.”

Santi wasn’t relenting. “And I plan on keeping it that way. Lace is still in a high emotional state, I don’t know if she’s thinking clearly, and I’m not going to take advantage of that.”

Ben took another shot. “So what you’re saying is, when she gets more settled, you would go for it”

The alcohol flowed through Santi, taking back his usual inhibitions when he spoke. A smile quipped up at his lips. “All I’m saying is… I enjoy spending time with her, and I wouldn’t mind if she wanted toooooo, continue that” Oh yeah. Yeah he was drunk.

This evoked a round of cheers from the guys, and Frankie ordering more drinks.

A ding on Santi’s phone. When he looked at the screen he smiled.

Frankie looked over. “Everything alright with our girls?”

Our girls

“Yeah, they are great.” He show Frankie, then Benny and Will the picture. Rosie was fast asleep in her bed, Laci laying next to her smiling. Yeah, he was saving that picture.

Laci woke up on the couch, Will very softly whispering for her to wake up, careful not to scare her. “Hey”

Laci gave a sleepy little wave, but was concerned there was no Santi.

“Listen, I just got Frankie to bed, Santi is… drunk off his ass.” He chuckled. “Let’s get you guys home so I get throw Ben on his front porch and be done with him.”

Laci’s face falters, and Will assured her he was joking and would get Ben to bed safely. She stood up, glancing over to the room Rosie was in.

“I already checked on her, but you can say goodbye if you want.” 

Laci shook her head, she didn’t want to wake her.

When she got in the car, it was clear Santi and Ben were DRUNK drunk. Will had shoved them in the back, opening the passenger door for Laci. The whole ride home, Ben and Santi alternated music. Despite his earlier insistence that he didn’t like Luis Fonsi, he sure sang No me Doy Por Vecino loud as hell. Benny did too, even if he couldn’t pronounce the words. Laci looked over to the older Miller, who was glancing at his brother and his friend in the rearview mirror as they screeched out ‘Una senal del destino’ the top of their lungs, gripping to each other dramatically. Will was not as irritated as he pretended to be. He turned to see Laci catching him smiling. 

“They’re funny.” He defended.

Will practically had to carry Santi’s short body to the bed. Laci was grateful for him, there was no way she’d get him there. She took off his shoes as Will practically forced him to drink water.

“STOP WATER BOARDING ME!” Santi half yelled, half laughed.

“I’M NOT WATER BOARDING YOU, I’M TRYING TO HELP YOUR HANGOVER AFTER ALL THOSE SHOTS, DUMBASS”

Laci stood up, gesturing for the cup. She stood over Santiago, who was sitting on the edge of the bed. Will watched as she held the cup to his lips with one hand, and carefully coaxed his head back with the other. The way Santi looked up at her… he was done for. Laci had his wrapped around her finger, and likely had from the moment he saw her. His large brown eyes watched her face as she watched the cup, far more careful with him than Will had been. Santi drank every bit of the water, and Laci patted his head, leaning into whisper “good job, baby“ Suddenly, she looked up, turning around to see Will. She had forgotten he was there. Santi laid down on the bed, mumbling something in Spanish they couldn’t understand.

His face flushed a deep pink as her eyes widened in panic.

“Hey, hey,” Will Miller held up his hands, before pretending to zip his mouth shut. He mimiacked locking his mouth, handing over the key to her. Laci smiled and tentatively took the metaphorical key, tucking it in he roveral pocket.

“You guys gonna be okay here?”

Laci nodded.

“Okay, call me me if he asphyxiates on his vomit or something.” Pope had put all the guys numbers in her phone as soon as he bought it, incase of emergencies.

She looked panicked again. 

“Oh! Oh no, I was joking. Sorry, dry humor.”

This didn't comfort her. Now she was worried about him choking.

He sighed, but smiled. “Here” Will moved Santi to his side. “If he’s on his side, he’ll be fine” Will promised.

Feeling better, Laci nodded

“Okay, I’m gonna get going. Leaving a drunk Ben alone is a bad idea, he’s probably fighting a racoon as we speak.

Laci laughed and waved goodbye. 

When he was out the door, she locked it behind him and set up Santi’s extensive security system. She went back to check on him, sitting on the edge of the bed. When was sure he was asleep, she played with his beautiful, thick hair. “Thank you for everything. I don’t say it enough, but thank you. I owe you everything. Te amo.” A kiss on his forehead. “Te amo, Santiago” Laci climbed into the other side of the bed, not wanting to leave him alone. Will’s joke had worried her. She was going to watch out for him the way he watched out for her.

**************

I hope y'all liked the kiss bc I wanted to write it really fucking sweet. Their first kiss was impulsive, but I wanted this to be slow, deliberate.

I used a piccrew maker to make how I picture Laci when she was found, and then after she had been with Santi and got her hair cut this chapter, which you can find here for reference

Also I'm working on a spotify playlist for this fic, if you have any suggestions go ahead and comment! Its gonna have leather and lace by stevie nicks (duh) some luis fonsi (duh) Selena, etc. if you have any songs you feel fit this fic, comment them here!

Also, writing dialoge that switched between 4/5 people is hard, im sorry if it was confusing.

be sure to follow the leather and lace fic tag, and if you'd like to be added or removed from the tag list let me know!!! smut is coming i swear

relbogs help a lot and comments mean the world! love y'all and thank you so much for the support y'all have given to this story!

@littlenosoul @bensolosbluesaber @milkymoon2483 @gogh-with-the-flow @itspdameronthings @trinkets01 @p0edameronswife

[wqintraining]

NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 3, EPISODE 8

 We open in Dr. Sean Garrison’s office, where he’s having a seemingly normal session with Quentin. 

GARRISON: “Anything new in your life? Friends? Crushes? Anxieties?” 

QUENTIN: “Don’t think I’m welcome with my old “friends” anymore, but I don’t care. I’ve got my own gang now.” 

GANG: “A gang?” 

QUENTIN: “Just a name. Was actually thinking of calling us “The Omega Gang”. You know. For the infinite potential we’re going to show humanity we have.” 

Garrison laughs. 

GARRISON: “Cute.” 

QUENTIN: “Some of the girls in the gang brought in a kid. Still unsure about her. Crushes? No. But I figured out my best friend has one on me a while ago.”

GARRISON: “Brian? I thought you were out of that crowd.” 

QUENTIN, smiling: “He’s different. He never belonged with them. He’ll see that soon.” BEAT. “Anxieties? Heh. No. Ever since you helped me find myself, I’ve only felt alive.” 

GARRISON: “I am so happy to hear that, Quentin. Usually, therapy can take months or even years to see any progress, but you’ve gotten this far in mere weeks.” 

QUENTIN, overly proud of himself: “I’m one of a kind.” 

GARRISON: “I agree.” Garrison stands up, pruning tool in hand, and approaches his flowers. “Now, update me on our plan to destroy the Jean Grey School.” 

QUENTIN, cracking his knuckles: “I got everything we needed off Cerebro. I’ve gone over the plan with The Omega Gang a million times. And Laurie Collins moves in tomorrow.” 

GARRISON, grinning as he prunes a flower: “Brilliant.” 

QUENTIN, eagerly leaning forward: “It’s going to be awesome. I don’t know if the X-Men will get the message, but no parent will ever send their kid to this rancid school again. So…” He eagerly leans forward. “When do I get to meet Lady Akabba?” 

Garrison prunes another flower. 

GARRISON: “My lady is the inheritor of Lord Apocalypse’s will. To be granted an audience with her, you must first prove that you are fit.” 

QUENTIN: “You know I am!” 

GARRISON: “Of course I do. And when you and the Omega Gang are triumphant, she will understand that.” Quentin nods along. “Before you launch your attack, there’s one more thing we need you to do.”

QUENTIN: “Name it.” 

GARRISON: “Introduce yourself to your newest classmate.” 

Garrison prunes another flower as we hard cut to Laurie being toured through the Jean Grey School by Sofia. 

Laurie looks at everything and everyone with wide eyes. This is so cool! She hasn’t gotten to go to a real school in almost two years, and now thanks to Sofia, she can be in a school with people like her. 

Sofia is glad she’s happy, and she’s very excited to introduce her to all of her friends. 

LAURIE: “They sound really cool from what you’ve said.” 

SOFIA: “We have had our many ups and downs, but they are my family. I fight for them. Who do you fight for?” 

LAURIE: “I don’t really fight. But I guess I wanna make my mom proud?” 

SOFIA: “She is a lovely woman. What about your father?” 

LAURIE, sullen: “I never met him. He died a long time ago. Mom has never had anything nice to say. She never even told me his name.” 

Sofia doesn’t think that’s fair. Passed on or not, there is nothing like the bond between father and daughter, and she deserves a taste of that. 

LAURIE, confused: “I…thought you hated your dad.” 

Before Sofia can respond, Pixie flies up to the two other girls, no longer wearing her helmet, chewing bubblegum, and with a black streak in her pink hair. 

PIXIE: “Hey new kid!” She pops a giant bubble in her face, scaring Laurie. “Try not to look so cute and helpless, okay? That’s my thing!” 

SOFIA, as Megan flies off: “So glad you are doing better, Pixie!” BEAT. “And I was worried she might turn out like her sister.” 

LAURIE, confused and afraid: “Huh?”

SOFIA: “Don’t worry about it.” 

Sofia grins and hooks her arm around Laurie’s as the two enter the cafeteria. Sitting at his table with the Omega Gang, Quentin sets his eyes on Laurie while Glob and Redneck play “Draw the short straw” with their french fries, Redneck lighting up his molten hands in frustration and Glob laughing after the former’s consecutive losses, Tattoo and Radian are scribbling doodles of dead X-Men in their notebooks, Tattoo using her power to imprint titles underneath the pieces, and Ernst frustratedly asks Martha where Shela is; this is the third day in a row she’s skipped out on lunch with them. 

Quentin tells all of them to shut up. He’s got his eyes on the target. 

RADIAN: “You do not get to tell us to shut up.” 

GLOB, confused and looking around: “I don’t see any targets.” 

Quentin seethes, before putting on an obviously fake smile and floating over to Sofia and Laurie. 

QUENTIN, telekinetically shoving Sofia out of the way (with Sofia momentarily dropping her “mask” and looking like she’s about to murder him): “Why hello there!” He takes and kisses Laurie’s hand, her face instantly going red. 

LAURIE: “I’m…um…” 

“Not interested.” 

Quentin’s head aches, Sofia taking the opportunity to remove Laurie from the situation. 

QUENTIN, telepathically: “Cuckoos? What’s your problem?!” 

SOPHIE: “You are.” 

ESME, CELESTE, PHOEBE, AND MINDEE: “Loser.” 

Quentin is confused. He thought they were cool now. Sophie points out to him that was before he drugged Surge. “And not in a fun way”. 

CELESTE: “We like your style.” 

ESME: “And how you handle humans.” 

SOPHIE: “But you’re still just the same old Quentin.” 

Quentin sneers, with a veiny forehead, glaring over at the friend group’s table and, in particular, Brian, as he’s just having fun and messing around with Noriko, Cessily, Roxy, Sooraya, and the no longer distracted Cuckoos. From the brief look we get at their game, they’re playing a Mutant version of snap, with powers allowed, but Noriko being forced to play with her teeth to keep things fair. 

Their happiness and friendship only serves to piss him off more. 

On the lunchline, Julian approaches Sofia and Laurie, telling them good morning. 

LAURIE, shrinking behind Sofia: “Um, I’m not interested.” 

Sofia tells her not to worry and that this is Julian; her ex-boyfriend. 

JULIAN: “I know it shouldn’t, but it still stings hearing you call me that.” 

Julian introduces himself to Laurie, with Laurie questioning if he isn’t dating Surge. Julian cringes, and Sofia apologizes for giving Laurie out of date gossip, letting her know that they broke up. 

SOFIA: “I really am sorry things didn’t work out.” 

JULIAN: “Not your fault. It’s Quire’s. For the best anyway.” 

SOFIA, smiling and delicately resting a hand on his shoulder: “I am sure you will find exactly who you belong with eventually. Perhaps sooner rather than later.” 

Julian cycles through multiple expressions at her touch, including shock and pleasure, before asking if they can talk later after class and training. Just the two of them. Sofia tells him she’d love to. 

Julian, pleased with how that went, walks away with his head held high. Laurie is confused; it sounds like he wants to talk to her about getting together again, but she’s still dating Laura, right? 

SOFIA, still smiling: “We’re just going to talk. I promise. I would never hurt Laura like that.” Sofia and Laurie reach the front of the line. “Now, would you like the meatloaf or Doop’s Surprise?” 

LAURIE: “What’s the surprise?” 

Doop scratches himself, with flakes flying off of him. 

LAURIE, grossed out: “Meatloaf, please.” 

In the Mission Room, the six current adult X-Men are having a meeting. Cyclops starts things off by sarcastically thanking Sunspot for taking time out of his very busy schedule to join them; he knows that can’t be easy. 

ROBERTO, staring at his nails, unbothered: “I wouldn’t still be here if I wasn’t worth it.”

Scott points out that this is actually a good place to start; he’s not asking them to put in as much as the rest of them, but Sunspot and Magik should both become more involved in the school. Magik laughs at this, balking at the idea. 

MAGIK: “You want the soulless monster influencing the little children? You must be dumber than those sunglasses make you look. I mean I’m not complaining but–”

KITTY, holding Magik’s hand: “I think you’d make an excellent teacher.” 

MAGIK: “But I think I’d love to give it a try!”

Beto makes a whipcrack sound with his mouth, Magik sticks her tongue out at him, and Magneto ponders to himself if he’s traveled back in time five years. Sunspot points out that he does teach a class, with Emma quickly countering that, yes, he teaches “a” class, far fewer than herself, Kitty and the others. And with Kurt having run off with Pitor to join Logan and Storm, all of his classes are now up for grabs. 

SUNSPOT: “I’ll think about it. Could we please move on to the ongoing crisis at hand?” 

Cyclops obliges that request. As far as finding the Horsemen and figuring out what happened to Sofia, they think they may finally have a lead. Thanks to Magik. 

Magik, who’s already stopped paying attention, is brought back to attention by Kitty phasing a hand through her. Startled, she tells them all that the Horsemen definitely used Pixie to make their knockoff Gem of Cyttorak; a chunk of her soul is missing. 

KITTY: “That explains the personality change.” 

EMMA: “Did she fling mashed potatoes at you, as well?”

KITTY: “No, I think she just doesn’t like you.” 

Magik continues to say that she was able to track the source of the magic, to a point; they definitely have a teleporter, and that makes things fuzzy. 

MAGNETO: “So you have nothing?”

MAGIK: “I didn’t say that, Teach. I took a closer look at what was going on in the remnants of her soul, and at what had been done to it. It’s…indelicate. The soul is chipped, not cleanly broken apart. Comparing it to the energies coming off the sapphire, it should have been far more difficult for me to destroy.” 

SUNSPOT: “All this to say?” 

MAGIK, kicking her feet up on the table: “Lady Akabba isn’t some long-lived, perfect heir to Apocalypse, capable of all that he was. She’s a novice. I’d bet Cyclops’ head she’d never cast a spell on this level before.” 

BETO, suspicious, with gears turning: “I see.” 

Emma asks Magik if she’d be willing to help her provide counseling for Megan, potentially able to offer a valuable perspective on what she’s going through, while Magneto brings up that that can’t happen today, as she’s already agreed to try examining Wanda to see if magic can undo Pestillence’s infection. 

Magik groans in frustration, pulling at her hair over what all the headmasters want from her. They know she runs a hell dimension, right? 

KITTY, intentionally overly sweetly: “Please?” 

MAGIK, cringing: “You are taking advantage of my devotion to you.” 

KITTY, still smiling: “Yeah, I am.” 

She kisses a grumpy Yana’s cheek. 

Cyclops asks Emma to use Cerebro to check in on all of the planet’s teleporters. Amelia Vought, Lila Cheyney, all of them. See if any of them can lead them to the Horsemen. Emma agrees to get on that as soon as they’re done here. 

EMMA: “But we have another matter to discuss. Mr. Quire.” 

The X-Men continue to speak via voice over, as we cut to Quentin, sitting in his gaming chair in his room with his eyes closed. They note that the kid is spiarling out of control, he didn’t regret using Cerebro without permission or fighting Hellion, he’s talented enough that he could have hidden info from Cerebro from Emma when she scanned his mind, he’s still been seeing Dr. Garrison despite the X-Men cutting off their relationship with him, and while he did show regret over what happened to Surge, they doubt he isn’t still finding ways to take Kick himself. 

SCOTT, voice over: “We go easy on these kids because the world throws enough at them already, but we need to come down hard on him before he slips through the cracks.” 

Quentin sneers as we zoom inside his head. Inside Quentin’s mindscape, which takes on the form of an elegant museum full of portraits and sculptures of himself, The Omega Gang, now including Escapade is waiting. 

QUENTIN: “Listen up. We’re going over the plan one more time.” 

The Omega Gang groans. 

TATTOO: “We all know what we’ve gotta do to take this place down, Q. Don’t sweat it.” 

QUENTIN: “Never call me that again.” Quentin glares at a clearly anxious Shela. “Martha, Ernst, why does your friend look like she’s about to piss herself?” 

MARTHA, able to speak here: “She’s fine. Right, Escapade?”

QUENTIN: “I think she can speak for herself.” He gets right in Shela’s face and makes a big toothy grin. “Tell me what’s wrong.” 

SHELA, creeped out: “Uh, nothing. I just kinda sorta don’t understand why we’re doing this?” 

MARTHA: “We told you already!” 

ERSNT: “The X-Men don’t care about us.” 

RADIAN: “They care about Mutants, obviously. And about keeping us safe.” 

TATTOO: “But they don’t care enough to take real action. Not when they can play superhero for the flatscans.” 

REDNECK: “We would be ruling the Earth right now, never needing to worry about Purifiers or U-Men or politicians again if it wasn’t for them.” 

GLOB: “And however nice they seemed when they recruited you, don’t believe it. They only care about their “special” kids.” 

QUENTIN, still grinning and putting his hands on Shela’s shoulders: “That’s why we need to teach them a lesson. Some people may get hurt, but the X-Men will finally understand what it is they owe us, and what all of Mutantkind is owed. Do you understand?” 

Shela nervously looks over at Ersnt and Martha. They shake their heads at her. She looks back at Quentin. 

SHELA: “Yes. I understand. This is for the best.” 

QUENTIN: “Glad that’s settled.” 

Shela breathes a sigh of relief as Quentin turns and walks away from her. 

Quentin gets them back on topic and explains that he knows even the dumbest among them understand their assignments But he’s making a last minute change of plans. They need every bit of firepower they can get to pull this off. There’s someone he wants to be a part of this. The person who first helped him see he could be more than what he is. 

Quentin psychically drags a very confused Tag into his mindscape. 

BRIAN: “Huh?! What the Hell?!” 

QUENTIN: “Hey Bri. Hope you weren’t doing anything important. We need to talk.”

Taking a look around him, and at Quentin and the others, Brian is able to quickly assess that something bad is going down. 

Back in the Mission Room, everyone is getting up, having each been dealt their assignments. Kitty tells Magik not to take too long helping Emma and Magneto; they still need to make up for being too exhausted to do anything on Valentines. 

Kitty opens her mouth to say something to Scott and Emma, but she decides it’s a bad idea. Scott asks her what it is. 

KITTY: “I was gonna ask if you two wound up doing anything on Valentines, but then I realized there’s nothing I’d rather not know.” She immediately transitions to saying, “Emma, put the knowledge in my brain and my hand goes through your chest.” 

Emma’s amused, while Scott’s a little embarrassed. She tells Kitty that she’s sure she could get them separate seats for the opera she and Scott are attending that night, but Illyana shuts that down, saying they’ve already got tickets for monster trucks. Emma facepalms as she’s walked away by Scott, the younger women both clearly enthusiastic about their plans. 

Erik asks Roberto if he’ll be choosing what other classes he wants to teach immediately,  or if he has another flight to catch. 

ROBERTO: “I should actually be around for quite a while, now. I have someone else to handle flying for me.” 

Beto more somberly asks Magneto how he’s managing with everything that’s happened with his children. 

ERIK, glaring at him before speaking: “I’m afraid unless you’re prepared to pick up where we left and share with me what’s going on, that isn’t a question I’m comfortable answering.” Roberto cringes. “That’s what I thought.” 

Erik dramatically departs with a swing of his cape, leaving Beto on his own to kick his feet. 

BETO: “Shit.” 

 In Quentin’s mindscape, Brian has been filled in on what The Omega Gang is doing. 

BRIAN, shaking his head: “No. No, this isn’t you.” 

Quentin laughs. His gang laughs with him. 

QUENTIN: “Of course it is. You know that better than anyone.” He puts an arm around Brian and looks at the others. “Did you he know he was the one who helped me bury those humans whose brains I cooked?” 

The Omega Gang cheers and applauds Brian.

Brian shoves Quentin away. Yes, he did do that! Because he cares about him. But drugging Nori crossed a line. And what he wants to do crosses every line. 

REDNECK: “Of course you’d think that! You’re one of their special little X-Men in Training.” 

RADIAN: “Yeah. Some of us don’t get to have futures outside their welfare.” 

TATTOO: “We won’t even all get to stay together. Only so much space here. A new crop of kids will come in, and we’ll be out.” 

Brian grimaces, as he flashes back to his fight with Firefist. 

FIREFIST: “The X-Men somehow win and you’re still with them? A loser like you will be dropped just as quickly as I was.” 

Brian contemplates for a moment before his face fills with determination. 

BRIAN: “I get what you’re saying. It’s something I’m worried about too. But I won’t betray everyone.” 

QUENTIN, irritated: “What, then? You’ll rat us out? Watch and chortle with your friends as they “come down hard” on us to set an example so that no one ever dreams of calling out the perfect X-Men again?” 

BRIAN: “No, dude, I’m saying let’s just talk to them so we can tell them our problems. They’ll listen!” 

ERNST: “Exactly which of the supermodel billionaires or monarchs past or present will listen to US?” 

BRIAN: “If they’re really as bad as you all think, they’ll at least listen to me. Like you said, I’m part of that crowd. For now.” 

Quentin sneers. 

QUENTIN: “Maybe we should do things your way. Then you’ll see exactly what I’ve been telling you since we met. Not a single one of your friends or mentors cares about you for you. The second you step out of line, you’ll be cut. Don’t expect to come crying back to us after that though. You’ll be all alone. Again.” 

BRIAN, cracking: “You’re wrong.” 

QUENTIN: “Or maybe I’m right and we should just skip the heartbreak and get to the part where I save all our futures.” Quentin takes Brian’s hands as he smiles at him and makes him shiver. “Them abandoning you is inevitable. But I never will. We’re the same. You just need to accept that.” 

Brian sweats, panicking and breaking down as different members of the gang either egg him on to join or mock him, and Quentin psychically applies just a little extra pressure. 

Brian breaks, putting his hands on Quentin’s mouth and making out with him. Quentin goes along with it and keeps it going. Most of the gang is grossed out, but Glob thinks they’re cute. 

Night falls on the Jean Grey School. 

Julian hangs out above the school, floating in mid-air and looking up at the stars. He pounds his metal fists together and stares down at them. 

“Why aren’t you wearing a jacket?” 

Julian instantly smiles as Sofia flies up next to him, wrapped in a blue trenchcoat. 

JULIAN: “I learned more tricks while you were away than what I show off in training. I don’t even need to make my telekinesis visible to keep myself warm with it now.” 

SOFIA: “Very impressive.” She blows her coat off of herself and onto Julian. “But you still look like you could use one.” 

JULIAN, liking this, teasing and not complaining: “What are you now, my mom?” 

SOFIA: “No, I do not think I’m an uncaring baseline with terrible skin.” 

JULIAN: “Ha!” 

SOFIA: “I’m serious. I’ve sponsored some products that could help her.” 

JULIAN: “Only help my mom needs is a shrink.” 

The two giggle. 

JULIAN: “Aren’t you cold now though?” Sofia blows a gust of wind in his face, messing up his hair. “Ah. Right.” 

Julian tilts his head back. 

JULIAN: “What are we doing here?” 

SOFIA: “You wanted to talk. You tell me.” 

Julian bites his lip. He hates this. 

JULIAN: “Do you love Laura?” 

SOFIA: “What? Of course I do.” 

JULIAN: No. Not like you love all of us.”

Sofia doesn’t answer. 

Julian almost silently mumbles, “Sorry, Laura.” 

JULIAN: “And what about me?” 

Sofia widens her eyes faux innocently. 

SOFIA: “I told you I still loved you when I came back. But you were with Surge. If you weren’t going to wait, neither was I.” 

Julian cringes, shutting his eyes. 

While his eyes are shut, Sofia kisses him. He opens his eyes in shock. 

SOFIA, smirking flirtatiously: “What? Are you not your mentor’s protege?” 

Julian nervously laughs and stumbles over his words. He pulls himself together. 

JULIAN: “Were you just trying to make me jealous?” 

Sofia shrugs, as she effortlessly positions herself in Julian’s arms. 

SOFIA: “I obviously don’t want to hurt Laura. But I want you more than anything. So if you want me…” 

JULIAN, holding her tight: “Yes. A million times yes.” 

SOFIA, face unseen by Julian, smirking evily: “Then I will make sure Laura wants to end things herself. And everything can be how it should.” 

Julian wishes they hadn’t screwed things up so badly, again, but at least they have a plan. Sofia promises him this will all be over soon; in fact, she has an idea to make Laura happier than ever. 

JULIAN, holding Sofia in front of himself, the two looking into each other’s eyes: “I’m never letting anything come between us again, Beautiful. I don’t care if I lose my legs, or if you lose your powers for good, or about anything else; I’m not letting you go again.”

Sofia, pleased for clearly more reasons than just her evil plan, gives him a quick peck. 

SOFIA: “I love you too.” 

The two passionately make out, beginning to take off their clothes as they fly swiftly down into the bushes. 

In the common area, Sunspot and Warpath are playing chess. They go back and forth as James takes one of Roberto’s pieces after another. He gets annoyed. 

JAMES: “Why are you letting me win?” 

BETO: “Letting you win? That doesn’t like me. You know I love winning. It would be too painful not to for me.” 

JAMES: “Uh-huh.” 

As the two continue to play, Beto asks James how he’s been feeling; he heard about his tussle with Juggerlossus. 

WARPATH: “Yeah, it happened while you were off kissing some girl halfway around the world.” 

SUNSPOT: “I’ll have you know I showed her the very best of times on Valentines Day, not that she particularly cared.” 

Beto is serious though. What prompted him to jump into battle like that? James makes clear there was no special reason; he may be finding more to himself than just a warrior, but that’s still who he is. They needed backup, and he could provide it. 

Beto catches James by surprise as he takes his knight. 

SUNSPOT: “Any interest in returning to the X-Men full-time?” 

WARPATH, making his next move: “You going somewhere?” 

SUNSPOT: “Just a question.” 

WARPATH: “It’s never “just” a question with you.” 

SUNSPOT: “I’m just wondering where your head is these days. If you’re longing for anything more than being a teacher.” 

WARPATH, taking another piece: “These kids need me. I’m doing something that matters. That’s where my head is.” 

SUNSPOT: “And that’s completely fair.” Beto takes James’ queen, stunning him. “I just think you could be thinking bigger.” He smirks. “You are the biggest man I know, after all.” 

James glares at Beto as he tips over his king. 

“James.” 

Laura enters the room. 

LAURA: “Can we talk?” 

In Laura’s room, James examines various pictures arranged of her with Sofia (and the rest of her friends). He asks what’s up; she knows she doesn’t need to ask to talk to him. 

Laura tells him that, the last time she ran away, she didn’t tell him anything; she’s sorry about that. James tells her not to bother. He understands from what she’s told him. Kimura hurt her bad. But the important thing she didn’t let her get to her for long, and she remembered who she is. They’ll pay Kimura back in blood one of these days. 

Laura thanks him, but he’s wrong. Kimura was right about her. She is a weapon. And that’s why she’s doing what she’s doing now. 

LAURA: “Sofia has a plan to find the Horsemen. With just the two of us. And we’re leaving tonight.” 

James is very concerned. 

Also concerned, sitting alone in dark in his room, is Brian. In only his boxers, he stares into the glow of his phone, with the “X-Men in Training” group chat open, and Emma and Dani tagged. He shivers and pants, before furiously typing. 

He gets a message written out, explaining Quentin’s whole plan, not that the audience gets to see the specifics. He hovers his thumb over the send button. 

In Shela’s room, Escapade pretends to be asleep, revealing herself not to be as she checks to see if Martha and Ernst are passed out. 

Shela tosses on a robe, sneaks out of her room, and races toward the headmasters’ office. She bangs on the door, calling out for someone to open up. It’s important! 

Alas, Shela freezes part way through her next knock, as her eyes flash pink. 

QUENTIN, telepathically: “And this is why I don’t work with kids.” 

In his room, Brian deletes his message, and smashes his phone against the wall. 

In the boys bathroom, Julian sweats and pants heavily as he stares at himself in the mirror, exhausted and guilty. 

JULIAN: “You didn’t do anything wrong. Sofia shouldn’t have used Laura like that, but you’re just setting things right. You’re not hurting her, you’re keeping her from getting hurt.”

Julian coughs. He clenches his fist and screams as she punches his reflection , not only shattering the mirror, but accidentally putting TK energy behind the punch and destroying part of the wall. 

JULIAN, panting even harder: “Shit.” 

“You SHOULD be upset; you can’t afford to pay to fix that anymore.” 

Julian seethes as he exits the bathroom, where he finds a lone Cuckoo waiting for him in the hall. 

JULIAN: “I’m not in the mood to talk, um…” 

CUCKOO: “Oh my god, even you can’t tell us apart.” 

JULIAN: “Sorry. Sophie?” 

SOPHIE, rolling her eyes: “Idiot.” 

As the two walk, Julian tells her to cut him some slack. He’s having a rought night, and it’s been a long time since just the two of them hung out and…

SOPHIE: “Interesting way to describe having sex. Like you and Sofia were just having.” 

JULIAN, sighing: “Please tell me you weren’t spying.” 

SOPHIE: “Eww, no, gross. Your mind is screaming. You’re hurt worse than you look.” 

JULIAN: “That so? Then why didn’t the others hear?”

SOPHIE: “They did. I’m the only one who wanted to come check on you.” 

They each crack a half smile at each other. 

JULIAN: “Thanks. But I really don’t want to talk.” 

SOPHIE: “You’re lying.” 

JULIAN: “Maybe, but there’s nothing to say. I’m a jerk who can’t stop being selfish. All there is to it.” 

SOPHIE, getting in front of him: “I know I just called you an idiot, but are you really that dense? Or did you just just your brains screwed out?

Julian tries to get past her, but she shoves his back with telekinesis, Julian not resisting. 

SOPHIE: “How many times have you fought to protect everyone here? And the world? How many times have you wound up in the medical bay because you’re always the first to put yourself in the line of fire?” 

JULIAN: “I know I’m an awesome X-Man. Doesn’t mean I’m a good guy.” 

While Sophie acknowledges that to be true, she’s seen who he is at his core. He’s a dimwitted blowhard, like all boys, but he always put his friends before himself; from her limited understanding of the situation, being honest with Laura is the only thing he could do, and that would be far crueler than Sofia’s plan. The guilt he feels is because he knows this is all wrong. 

SOPHIE: “If anyone should feel guilty, it’s Sofia.” 

Julian shakes his head, telling Sophie that Sofia isn’t a saint; with what she’d been through and found out, of course she lashed out. 

JULIAN: “I can relate.” 

Julian bursts ahead with his telekinsis, with Sophie following behind. She isn’t trying to make this about Sofia. She’s not about to judge what she did; she can respect the cold-bloodedness. 

SOPHIE: “When we first arrived and were on a rampage, you stopped us. Made us rethink our approach. Helped us make actual friends. Ones we could have forever. And since then, we’ve gotten to fight with you.” Sophie hangs her head, smiling. “My sisters have varying thoughts…but I think becoming an X-Man sounds really cool. Being one doesn’t mean you’re responsible for what everyone else does.” 

Julian stops walks and sticks his hands in his pockets. 

JULIAN: “If you wanted to, you could have just zapped the guilt from my brain.” 

Sophie kisses his cheek. 

SOPHIE: “No need. You’re a superhero. Try not to think so hard about it.” 

Sophie starts walking away, with Julian not saying anything, until…

JULIAN: “Hey, Sophie!” She turns her head. “Looking forward to you joining the team. Means I’ll get to be your boss.” 

SOPHIE, smirking: “Dork.” 

As Sophie departs, Julian is a little more at ease. 

Laura and Warpath exit the former’s room, James wishing her good night. Once he’s gone, a gentle breezes passes by Laura, making her smile. Sofia flies up to her, in full costume. 

SOFIA: “Ready to go?” 

Laura bends down and, right next to the door, grabs a bag.  Sofia takes her hand. 

SOFIA: “Are you nervous?” 

LAURA: “You’re asking me?” 

The two smirk. 

Outside, Sofia calls out mentally to Exodus, saying they’re ready. 

Exodus telepathically laughs, mockingly. 

EXODUS, telepathically: “You are making the right decision, children. Lady Akabba will make you both stronger than you ever dreamed of.” 

Sofia and Laura both scowl as Lila Cheyney appears in a flash and, just as quickly, teleports them away. 

Night turns to morning, as the sun rises. 

Emma, Kitty, and Magik slump into the teacher’s lounge, where Dani, Karma, and Rahne are already having coffee. 

DANI: “Wow. You guys look like crap. What happened?” 

Emma, clenching her forehead as she telekinetically prepares a cup of coffee, asks Magik if she’d like to explain or if she. 

Magik shrugs. 

MAGIK: “I thought the monster trucks could be spiced up by some actual monsters.” 

KITTY: “It got a little out of hand.”

The other New Mutants start laughing. 

EMMA: “It isn’t amusing. Cyclops and I had to come clean up the mess. In spite of that, he wanted to get straight to work despite the lack of sleep, so I told him I’d be a dear and get someone else to make his coffee.” 

As she says this, we see Scott yawning as he sits down in his office, alone. 

DANI, sarcastic: “How sweet of you.” 

EMMA: “Yes, I’m a positive housewife.” Getting more serious, she turns to Rahne. “Wolfsbane, how did Escapade do on her first remedial history quiz yesterday?” 

RAHNE, nervous: “Oh. Well, don’t be mad, but I didn’t give it to her.” 

EMMA, this being the last thing she needs, deadpan: “Why?” 

RAHNE: “Lass said she was anxious! I can’t blame her. Poor thing hasn’t been gotten schooling in years.” 

EMMA: “Hmm. Well, hopefully she’s at least well rested for a makeup.” 

We cut to Shela’s room, where she’s stuff in a trance in bed, her eyes glowing purple. 

KITTY: “Well, I need sleep. I’m just here to grab that whole box of donuts and–” 

Kitty is cut off as the power goes out. 

KITTY: “Oh come on!” BEAT. “Wait, aren’t we supposed to have multiple back up generators?” 

EMMA: “Yes. We are.” 

In Scott’s office, he yawns. He tells himself not to fall asleep just because of a little blackout. The backups should be on any minute. 

Scott yawns again. 

SCOTT: “Well, maybe a quick nap after I get a little done.” 

Scott turns his computer on, the sounds of it booting up all we hear. 

The screen flashes on…brightening up the room more, and startling Scott, as he finds a grinning Quentin standing on the other side of his desk. 

QUENTIN: “Hello, Mr. Summers.” 

Scott tries to take action, but he finds himself immobile, as the rest of the Omega Gang becomes visible, sans Shela, enters sight. 

SCOTT, pissed and concerned: “Kids, what are are you doing?” 

“No, Mr. Summers.” 

Scott is shocked as Brian joins the rest of his gang. 

BRIAN: “What are you doing?” 

Quentin smirks triumphantly, putting an arm around his friend. 

Around the school, various students react to the blackout. Some gather around Match for light, Eye-Boy starts looking around his and Prodigy’s room for his blacklights, Mercury and Bling! see it as an excuse to get back into bed and snuggle, and Pixie cackles faux-manically, plotting to pants everyone and then act like it was an accident. 

Before she can do that, however, everyone in the school covers their ears as their heads are filled with eardrum shattering British punk rock. 

QUENTIN, telepathically to everyone: “Students and faculty, the Jean Grey School is now under lockdown. I am in everyone’s minds, and if any of you attempt to leave, I will execute my hostage, Headmaster Summers.” 

While many students gasp, and are afraid and confused, including Laurie, the X-Men and teachers in the teachers lounge, Magneto in Wanda’s room, and Sunspot, Hellion, and the Cuckoos in their respective bedrooms look ready to beat this kid. 

QUENTIN: “My team, The Omega Gang, and I, are currently located in the headmasters’ office. Should anyone attempt to enter the office, I will execute him. But fear not my classmates, I mean you no harm. Today, my compatriots and I simply mean to bring attention to a critical situation: the failure of the X-Men.” 

As the X-Men rush to meet up, Emma telling everyone, teachers included, to get to the Mission Room NOW, Quentin continues to say that he knows the student body doesn’t care for him, and that’s okay; he hates who he used to be too. Fortunately he isn’t that weakling anymore, but it is true that he and his gang are largely friendless…with one exception. 

As Hellion races through the halls, he’s stunned to hear Brian take over the announcement. 

BRIAN: “The X-Men have let down each and every one of us. They give us comfort, a roof over our heads, meals, and an education. That’s great. No one’s saying they don’t care about Mutants. But they don’t care about US.” 

As Brian continues his speech, Emma, Dani, and all of Brian’s friends are in complete disbelief. 

BRIAN: “They provide us the illusion of protection, but that’s all it is. Yeah, they’ve saved some of you, and they’ve fought some bad guys, but all they do is fight symptoms, not the cause.” 

OMEGA GANG: “FLATSCANS!” 

BRIAN: “They keep hunting us! They keep trying to kill us! And what do the X-Men do? Put them in human jail and wait for the next ones! And while we wait, do they give us all the same treatment?” 

OMEGA GANG: “No!” 

BRIAN: “Of course not! The X-Men are the privileged elites of Mutantkind. Billionaires, monarchs, handpicked from youth prodigies. And it’s the same story with those they prioritize. I don’t even need to say their names. You know I’m talking about my friends. This message is from me to them.” BEAT. “Surge, Dust, Wolverine, Wind Dancer, Bling!, Mercury, Cuckoos…Hellion…” 

Each of them are shown reacting as he says their names, save of course for Laura and Sofia. In particular, Cessily and Roxy just look worried about him, while Dust is as angered as everyone else. 

BRIAN: “I love you guys. You’re the best friends I’ve ever had. But I’m done pretending like I belong with you.” 

Quentin down more Kick, just pouring pills down his mouth from the bottle, as he pats Brian on the shoulder. 

QUENTIN: “But oh, it’s not like the X-Men have all the time in the world. If they’re not saving it, they’re spending as much time as they can with us, right?” 

OMEGA GANG: “Wrong!” 

QUENTIN: “They go to the opera and sky shows! They party half-way around the world and are never around! One of them I don’t think has spoken to a single one of us! You know she’s an actual demon from Hell, right?!” 

ILLYANA, to herself: “Tch. Limbo.” 

QUENTIN, screaming in Scott’s emotionless face: “Some of them leave! Some of them are pushed out! Some of them invite school exploding robots to teach science. Some of them transform into dark, flaming gods that threaten to end all life on Earth!” 

Quentin knows this is a lot, and that they must be wondering what the point of all this is. Simple! The time is now for the future of Mutantkind to make their voices heard! The time is now to demand that the X-Men embrace what it means to be homo-superior!

QUENTIN: “I ask all of you…do you not want more?” 

Quentin pants as he finishes, and silence spreads over the school, everyone wondering what they should do. Until…

CRASH! 

PIXIE, having just knocked over a vase: “Yeah! Riot!” 

Quentin grins as students follow Megan’s lead, and begin screaming and tearing things up. 

In Egypt, Lila Cheyney materializes with Sofia and Laura inside the underground base, shoving them forward. 

LILA: “My masters will be with you shortly.” 

LAURA: “Wait…I know you. Aren’t you a musician?” 

LILA: “No, hon, I’m a certified rock icon. Doesn’t mean I can’t also fight for a good cause.” 

Lila disappears. 

SOFIA, shaking her arm, whispering: “Definitely not listening to her music anymore.” 

Wide doors open, Sofia and Laura bracing themselves as Exodus, Malice, and Akihiro appear before them. 

EXODUS: “Ladies, welcome to the headquarters of Clan Akabba.” 

MALICE: “What is it you X-Men say? “Hope you survive the experience”?” 

AKIHIRO, glaring at Laura: “I wouldn’t give them good odds.” 

Laura glares back at him. 

SOFIA: “We aren’t X-Men. Not anymore. It is like I told Exodus; Apocalypse was right.” 

LAURA, to Akihiro: “And if Logan hurt you, I need to know exactly how.” 

Exodus snickers. He then launches a telekinetic wave, blasting them both back and into a stone wall. Akihiro and Malice join in the amusement. 

EXODUS: “First things first. Initiation.”

Exodus tells Akihiro that he will teach his sister how things work around here; he doesn’t need the boy getting carried away. But he can play with Wind Dancer. 

AKIHIRO, smirking sadistically at Sofia, licking his lips: “Sounds fun.” 

Sofia cringes in disgust. 

MALICE: “And what about me? Who do I get to play with?” 

EXODUS: “Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you go kill an X-Man?” 

LAURA: “I thought Lady Akabba gave the orders here.” 

EXODUS: “Lady Akabba has bigger things to concern herself with.” 

Exodus orders the other Horsemen to give him and Wolverine some privacy. Akihiro comes over to the girls to drag Sofia away, but before he does, Sofia kisses Laura. 

SOFIA: “We’re going to be okay. I love you.” 

Laura is shocked, but grins confidently from that. 

LAURA: “I love you too.” 

Akihiro grabs Sofia and pulls her away, as Malice exits on her own. 

AKIHIRO, squeezing Sofia’s arm tight: “You look so fragile. Should be fun breaking you. Especially when you thank me for it.” 

SOFIA: “We will see who breaks who.” 

AKIHIRO: “Ha!” Akihiro shoves Sofia through a door, making her trip and fall. “Move!” 

The door shuts behind the two, leading Akihiro and Sofia into the throneroom, where the large, intimidating Death towers over the young woman on the floor. 

Both begin to giggle. Very quickly, this turns into hysterical laughter, as Akihiro helps Sofia up. 

AKIHIRO, crying from laughter: “Oh, that was too much.” 

SOFIA, equally amused: “You really sold that you were going to torture me.” 

AKIHIRO: “And “I love you?!” Really twisting that knife.” 

Sofia, pleased with herself, shrugs, as Lila appears next to them. 

SOFIA: “Make sure Exodus doesn’t kill her. She’s more valuable than him.” Sofia takes Lila’s hand. “I’ll be back soon for my costume change.” 

In the Mission Room, Emma, Magneto, Kitty, Magik, Sunspot, Hellion, and Wind Dancer, as well as the teaching staff, Dust, Mercury, Bling!, and the Cuckoos are gathered, the telepaths keeping everyone’s perception so that they can actually see each other. Magneto questions where Wolverine is, with Sofia expressing that she isn’t sure. Emma sighs. They’ll just have to proceed without here. 

HELLION: “Shouldn’t we be tapping in Surge?”

KITTY: “Even if she weren’t suspended, she needs to rest. Emma’s keeping her asleep so she doesn’t hurt herself.” 

Julian begrudgingly accepts that. 

EMMA: “Whatever any of you feel about what these miscreants have to say, or conflicts regarding Tag’s involvement…” She looks right at a pissed Julian as she says that. “...put it aside. They have taken Cyclops, incited a riot, and forced punching down to become our unfortunate priority. We will worry about understanding at a later time. Any disagreements?” 

Erik, nor anyone else, speaks up, even as Julian clearly thinks about doing so. Cessily holds his hand to comfort him. 

ERIK: “Emma and I have already worked out our plan of attack. We will–” 

Magneto is cut off as Kitty starts responding to someone over her com. She’s concerned, but firm as she gets the information, and promises they’ll be right there. 

SUNSPOT, irritated: “What now?” 

KITTY: “It’s Dazzler. Exodus and Malice are after her.” 

Magneto’s eyes fill with rage and his nostrils flare, as Dani notes that this can’t be a coincidence; they planned this. Which means…

EMMA: “Which means Mr. Quire is doing their bidding, and we have all the more reason to not feel too bad about maiming one of our students.” 

Erik quickly adjusts the plan for this and dishes out orders. They’re baiting him away from the school, but it’s bait he has to take. He will go and fight the Horsemen, defeat them both, and force Pestillence to undo the harm she’s done to his family. 

MAGNETO: “Magik, I will require transportation and potential backup.” 

MAGIK: “Aww, I wanted to beat some kiddies.” She groans and gives a thumbs up. “But I’ve got you, Teach.” 

Magneto then turns his attention to Dust, Mercury, and Bling! Alison is currently on tour in densely populated Paris. He’d like Mercury and Bling! to accompany him and Magik and provide crowd control and rescue. The girls, while a little afraid of Magik, agree. As for Dust, she and Warpath are in charge of protecting Wanda. The Horseman want her, and they cannot rule out that obtaining her is the true purpose behind all of this. 

DUST: “No harm will come to her.” 

Magneto notices James glaring at him. 

MAGNETO: “A problem?” 

JAMES, smirking: “No. Not at all.” 

Erik doesn’t have time to question that and continues. Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Karma, and Danger are to restrain the students without harming them, before they hurt each other or cause significant damage to the property. 

MAGNETO: “Wind Dancer, your new friend and our newest student controls pheromones. Do you believe you could–?”

WIND DANCER: “Use my winds to spread calming ones throughout the school? Of course.” 

EMMA: “That just leaves Quentin and his friends. Kitty, Sunspot, Danielle, Hellion, Cuckoos, you’re with me.” 

MINDEE: “Actual approval to crush Quentin like a bug?” 

CELESTE: “I don’t know if that makes it more or less fun.” 

Julian hangs his head. Emma notices. 

EMMA: “Hellion, I care for Brian as well, but we do not have time for doubts. Kapeesh?” 

JULIAN, seething: “Kapeesh.” 

In the headmaster’s office, lit up by Quentin’s TK energy, Quentin taunts Scott.

QUENTIN: “Do you hear all that ruckus? That’s the sound of your students opening their eyes and turning on you.” 

Scott ignores him and doesn’t answer. 

QUENTIN: “Martha, you’re letting him speak, right?” 

Scott chuckles. 

QUENTIN: “You’re laughing. I’m tearing down your establishment and you’re laughing. Here I thought I’d be getting a whole speech about why I don’t really want to do this.” 

Scott shakes his head. 

SCOTT: “Why couldn’t you just try and make friends?” 

QUENTIN: “Hello! I have friends!” 

SCOTT: “That so?” He grins. “Brian, don’t you find it funny that Quentin checks every box for the kinds of people he claims to be fighting against?” 

QUENTIN, not giving Brian a chance to speak: “I am nothing like you!” 

SCOTT: “You’re a natural genius from a family of billionaires gifted with telepathy among the most powerful on Earth. You’re as privileged as any X-Man.” 

QUENTIN: “If that were true, everything would be different.” 

SCOTT: “Quentin, there’s only one difference between you and an X-Man, and it’s not about privilege. You’re just a dork.”  

Quentin takes Cyclops’ bait and, livid at his word choice, telepathically assaults him. Scott attempts the Red Triangle, having wanted this opportunity, but Quentin’s power combined with Martha’s is too much, and he writhes in agony. 

Quentin laughs at him. He almost had him there! But Cyclops made a critical error. He thought that he was “one of” the most powerful telepaths on Earth. But he knows his worth! And with a little help from Kick, he knows that he is the most powerful telepath on Earth! 

QUENTIN: “I never did pick one of those codenames everyone else has. How does, “Kid Omega” sound?” 

Quentin doesn’t actually give him a chance to answer, as he proceeds to psychically torture Scott. As Redneck, Radian, and Tattoo cheer him on, Brian looks away, guilty.

Around the school, the teachers get to work. Wolfsbane becomes a pack of wolves to scare kids back to their rooms, despite the best threat she’s able to toss out while bearing her fangs being that they won’t be getting any supper if they don’t behave. 

Karma, not wanting to possess any of the kids, delivers quick, knockout chops to a bunch of wily, but purely physically mutated students, while Danger handles more capable ones like Loa and Onyxx by stretching out her arms around a whole group and pulling them in close to physically restrain them. 

DANGER: “Believe me, children, I understand wanting to destroy the X-Men. I came close. But it isn’t worth it.” 

Wolf Cub, from behind, throws a baseball at her head. 

WOLF CUB: “No one cares what you think! You blew up our school!” 

All the kids in her arms scold her and tell her that she should just leave them alone. Danger grabs Wolf Cub, and keeps everyone else restrained, but is saddened as she does so. 

Meanwhile, Cannonball flies around the school, just able to flick students unconscious at the speed he’s moving at. Hearing a lot of noise, he moves toward another area of the school. By the time he gets there, however, the sound of a riot in this area has been replaced with gentle 60s folk music, courtesy of Icarus on his ukelele. The rampaging students are peacefully pacified on the floor, as Jay, and a dancing along Melody, float over them. 

JAY: “We’ve got things covered here, bro.” 

SAM, proud: “Nice work.” 

In Sofia’s room, Laurie has been told what they need her to do, but she isn’t sure it’s a good idea her control of her powers is terrible! What if she sends out the wrong kind of pheromones?! 

Sofia tells her to breathe and helps her through a familiar exercise. She promises her that she can do this. Laurie is still nervous. She hasn’t been here long. How does she know Quentin isn’t right?

SOFIA: “Please, Laurie. You only briefly met Quentin, but you must have been able to tell he isn’t a hero. He’s a hypocritical supremacist and misogynist, and it is up to us to stop him.” 

Laurie is swayed and begins producing pheromones. Sofia channels the winds…but Laurie’s pheromones aren’t what she blows away. Instead, she blows open a small bottle of pre-made pheromones hidden in her boot and spreads those. 

We quickly see the effects as Anole and Specter go from having fun together trashing the school to violently assaulting one another. Sofia has spread rage pheromones. 

In Paris, Exodus rains terror upon the city, blowing away entire buildings, leveling streets, and murdering hundreds of people. He regrets having to do this to his home nation, but it has tragically been filled with millions of impure vermin. 

EXODUS: “I would say a prayer, but the lord has already decided the fate of your species.” 

Nearby, Dazzler lies in rubble, having been brutalized. Malice stands over, without barely a scratch on her, smirking sadistically as she stomps down on Allison. 

MALICE: “Now…be honest…was fighting to protect the humans really worth it in the end?” 

DAZZLER, grunting: “No one…hurts my fans.” 

MALICE: “Perhaps not while you live. But that won’t be an issue anymore.” 

Malice magnetically raises a metal beam, ready to crush Allison with it, but as she goes for the kill, Magik and Magneto appear from a stepping disc, Illyana cutting the beam in half with her sword, before Erik uses his own magnetic powers to launch the beams into Malice’s got, sending her flying. 

ALLISON, grateful but not enthused: “Oh. Great. They sent you two.” 

Magik rolls her eyes as another stepping disc brings Mercury and Bling! to their location. Magneto orders Roxy to tend to Dazzler’s injuries, while Cessily begins protecting the civilians. 

MAGNETO: “Exodus!” 

Exodus grins as he takes notes of Magneto, flying down next to Malice.

EXODUS: “My former lord and master! How wonderful to see you again. Especially as we were previously denied the previous opportunity to reunite.” 

MAGNETO: “As I understand it, you fled with your tail tucked between your legs because you couldn’t even best Iceman. Yet you wish to challenge me? I thought you smarter than that when I made you my right hand.” 

EXODUS: “I was smart enough to find a new master upon realizing you were a false prophet who lacked the will for what was necessary.” 

MAGIK: “And yet Apocalypse still chose a little girl to be his heir over you.” 

Exodus sneers. 

Magneto turns his attention back to Malice and commands her to release Polaris, and undo the harm done to Scarlet Witch; if she complies, she may live. 

MALICE, ready to fight: “I will not surrender my body. Not for anything…Father.” 

Without further hesitation, Magneto begins the fight. 

In the headmasters’ office, the Omega Gang continues to stand around, while Scott has been knocked out. 

REDNECK: “You guys think we’ll have, like, titles and crap when this is all done?” 

RADIAN, mockingly: “Yeah, I’m sure the queen of all Mutants will just be handing them out like candy to a bunch of kids who threw a riot in a school. Get a grip, man.” 

REDNECK: “I was just saying, man! Be nice to get some thanks!” 

ERNST: “We aren’t doing this for thanks. It’s just what’s right.” 

TATTOO: “I’m hoping Lady Akabba could use some Court Musicians.” 

RADIAN: “Oh, I like the sound of that.” 

REDNECK: “Please, you guys suck at guitar.” 

RADIAN AND TATTOO: “We do not!” 

GLOB, quietly: “I think I want a fancy hat.” 

While Quentin continues to be annoyed by everyone, he notices Brian has positioned himself in a corner, eyes stuck on Cyclops. 

Quentin’s face softens, genuinely, as he moves to talk to him, but before he can, he receives a telepathic message. 

SOPHIE: “You’ve really done it now, haven’t you?” 

Quentin smirks, adjusting his glasses. 

QUENTIN: “Thanks for helping me make so many friends. I couldn’t have done this without them.” 

SOPHIE: “It didn’t have to go like this.” 

QUENTIN: “No, this was inevitable as soon as I asked you out, and you laughed at me. It woke me up to who I needed to be, and from there, it was impossible not to see what needed to be done.” 

SOPHIE: “What needed to be done was turn everyone here against each other? You and I agree that Mutandkind is superior. But I learned not to step on our own. Surrender now, and you can still learn that yourself.” 

Quentin wipes his nose with his fist as it starts to bleed. 

QUENTIN: “I’m guessing that means you’re helping Ms. Frost come after us. Fine. I’ll be more than happy to show you, and your sisters, exactly what I’ve learned.” 

Sophie sighs. 

SOPHIE: “So be it. But for what it’s worth…” 

The door to the office is busted down, with Emma, Kitty, Sunspot, Dani, and Hellion in the doorway. 

SOPHIE: “...I didn’t laugh.” 

Outside the comatose Wanda’s room, Warpath and Dust stand outside. Sooraya is disturbed by all the violent noise going on elsewhere, but James tells her that he knows it's hard, but she has to stick to her assigned task and trust that the others will get the job done on their end. Being able to maintain that trust is part of being an X-Man. 

Sooraya is able to compose herself and thanks Mr. Proudstar. She turns her attention to another thought. 

DUST: “I don’t fully understand what it is Scarlet Witch does, but isn’t she meant to keep our whole world safe from monsters? Are we in danger right now?” 

WARPATH: “There are things out there a lot worse than monsters. But we should be fine. Captain Britain and Prestige were able to convince Selene Gallio to help them fill in for Wanda until she’s healed. She can’t rule the world if it’s been gobbled up by an angry god.” 

SOORAYA, somber: “So that is a yes.” 

Warpath notices Sooraya isn’t doing so well and asks if there’s anything else on her mind, outside their immediate crisis. Soo doesn’t wish to bother him, but James assures her she won’t. Sooraya explains that this is her fault. The others are always all busy, with their romance and adventures, but she’s only ever here, doing her best to study and train so she can keep her friends and mother safe. 

SOORAYA: “I should have seen what was happening to Quentin and Brian.” 

James tells her to shut that thought down right now. He’s sure there’s going to be a lot of people playing the blame game when this is all done, but everyone makes their own choices. Quentin’s doing this because he wanted to and Brian joined him because he wanted to, just like he joined the Hellions back in the day because he wanted to…

JAMES: “And just like no one’s to blame for what happened to my brother besides the people who killed him.” 

Sooraya breathes, touching James’ arm, and smiling. 

JAMES: “What?” 

SOORAYA: “This sounds like a lesson Ms. Frost would teach.” 

JAMES, playing along: “Oh, you know that hurts, kid. That hurts worse than any attack.” 

“Is that so?” 

Dust and Warpath turn, knives drawn and sand ready, as they hear a modulated voice and turn toward it. 

LADY AKABBA, in her full armor: “Shall we test that?” 

In the Horsemen’s lair, Laura wakes up on the grounds, filthy and covered in cuts and bruises. 

AKIHIRO: “Looks like Famine had fun with you.” Laura looks up to see him standing over her, Muramasa in hand. “You must be angry. Care to get any of that out?” 

Laura grits her teeth, pops out her claws and attacks. Just as in their last encounter, Laura is outclassed, with Death blocking all her attacks. This time, however, instead of taunting her, with each failed strike, he tells her what she’s doing wrong. He kicks her down, but she gets right back up. She still isn’t able to hit him but can see her already listening and learning and doing better. Still, he ends up grabbing her and slamming her into the floor before she can land a clean it.

AKIHIRO: “Quick learner. That’s good. How do you feel?” 

Laura picks herself up. 

LAURA: “Where is Wind Dancer?” 

AKIHIRO: “Occupied. Lady Akabba had a use for her after all.” Laura sneers. “Don’t be jealous. You’ll get to meet her too, in time.” 

Akihiro tells her to keep coming for him until she can hit him. And while she does…

AKIHIRO: “You already made the smart choice, coming here. But I’m sure you still have doubts. Allow me to share my store, and rid you of them…little sister.” 

The two stare each other down before Laura goes on the attack again. 

In the Headmasters’ office, Quentin arrogantly greets the X-Men, as the Omega Gang assembles around him. Brian casts his head down as Julian glares at him. 

QUENTIN: “I knew you attempt to spoil everything. Too bad for Cyclops.” 

Quentin puts his fingers to his head, and attempts to fry Scott’s brain, but…

EMMA: “You were just speaking to Sophie, yes? While she was distracting you, the rest of my girls snuck inside your head. No telepathy for you.” 

Quentin is irritated but shakes it off. They still aren’t afraid. He is an Omega, and all of them have Kick running through their veins to make them their best selves. 

GLOB: “Yeah! I crushed a guy’s head a couple days ago!” He turns to Brian. “Wanna see me do that to your old friend, Tag?” 

Brian stays silent. 

KITTY: “Oh, now you’re quiet! What the Hell happened to you, Brian?” 

DANI: “Kitty, don’t.” 

The others are confused as Danielle steps forward. 

DANI: “Robert, did you really kill someone?” 

TATTOO: “We all did. Had to know we could trust each other.” 

DANI, clenching her fists and welling up: “I’m so sorry.” 

ROBERTO: “Dani, care to explain to the uninformed?” 

Dani struggles to compose herself. 

DANI: “They’re my squad. My other squad.” 

The fact that Sunspot, Hellion, and Kitty are all surprised by this knowledge only pisses the Omega Gang off. Quentin just stepping back and leaning against the desk, while his teammates berate her. 

TATTOO: “I thought you were so cool when I first got here, I thought we were becoming like a little family..”

RADIAN: “But then you decided we weren’t good enough! You wanted the powerful kids!” 

REDNECK: “Then suddenly we never saw you outside training.” 

GLOB: “You abandoned us, Ms. Moonstar.” 

Dani is so sorry for making them feel like this for so long, but they have to believe her that this was never her intention. She didn’t take another squad because she wanted more powerful kids, she wanted another squad because she was already close with Surge and Wind Dancer. She didn’t know the kids saw her like they did, and she didn’t realize how little time she was making for them. 

The kids don’t seem impressed by her apology. 

QUENTIN, seeing an opportunity to drive more conflict: “Emma knew about the first people Brian and I killed.” 

DANI, instantly flipping to rage toward Emma: “What?!” 

EMMA: “Do not fall for his game, Danielle. Not when we’re in this predicament because, unlike me, you couldn’t handle two squads.” 

DANI: “Why you…” 

Kitty pulls Dani back and gets between everyone. Look, this doesn’t need to go any further! The kids wanted to send a message? They’ve sent it. Now they can listen, and make changes accordingly. 

KITTY: “We’ve let you down. But I promise things can be better. We can do better.” 

SUNSPOT: “Unless, of course, this isn’t really about a message.” 

Quentin laughs. 

QUENTIN: “If that’s you’re way of telling me you sussed out who I’m working for, and attempting to assess if they are as well? I am, and they are.” 

Upsetting news to everyone. Except…

JULIAN, powering up with his aura: “That’s it then, isn’t it?! Everything is simplified? We’re X-Men. They���re villains.” 

He says that last part, not having taken his eyes off Brian since he entered. Finally, Brian looks up and stares back, glaring. 

BRIAN: “Yeah. We are.” 

Brian slaps his chest, tagging himself. 

Everyone starts forcibly shifting, with Julian roaring as flies right at Quentin, grabs him, and crashes them both out the window. 

Hardcut to Paris, where Magneto and Magik battle Exodus and Malice, while Mercury pulls civilians out of rubble, and uses her body to form shields to protect civilians from falling debris. 

As Magneto and Exodus exchange blows, Exodus decides to show Magneto exactly how far beyond him he’s become, flying up high. Magneto chases after him, as Bennett fires off a telekinetic blast large enough to destroy the entire city. Magneto, in turn, creates a shield to deflect the attack. 

While Exodus is panting and shocked, an unamused Magneto merely dusts off his shoulder. 

Magik bounces around the sky in a circle around Pestillence, via stepping discs, taking pot shots to kick, punch, and slice her. Malice meanwhile can’t hit her while she’s teleporting around like this. 

MAGIK: “You really should surrender now. You’re not going to hit me, and since you’re running around in Polaris’ body, I can’t even have fun cutting you up into itty bitty pieces.” 

Malice is pissed…but Magik just gave her an idea. She’s seen Polaris’ powers and the power gifted to her by Apocalypse, but she has her own weapon. 

YANA: “You think I’m gonna give you MY body? I just got this thing!” 

Malice smirks as her eyes open past her eyelids. Magik’s eyes open the same way. 

Inside of Magik’s mindscape, which looks like a normal little girl’s bedroom, save for the mutilated stuffed animals with fleshy guts, Illyana is confused by what’s going on. 

MALICE, appearing as a 14 yo goth girl with a British accent: “Sup?” 

Hellion crashes Quentin down into the school’s front lawn, forming a crater. He repeatedly punches a still-smug Quentin in the face, trying to break through his forcefield. 

HELLION: “I should have pounded your skull in the first time you talked to Brian, you dweeb! You messed him up, you hurt Noriko, and you’re hurting everyone here! You’re not hurting anyone else!”

Quentin blasts Hellion back, as he floats up into the air. 

QUENTIN: “You know why we could never be friends, Hellion? Because you, none of you, can acknowledge what you are. You think you’re the sad little victims of this world, despite being the gods among gods! I know my worth. I know who I can uncaringly step on.” He smirks. “And who my useful lessers are.” 

Hellion charges Quentin again, but Kid Omega meets him in mid-air, grabbing the back of his head and smashing him into the ground. 

Inside, Emma in diamond form is punched through a wall by Ernst. As Ernst points out, she has to stay in that form to avoid getting trapped by Martha. But like this, they’re on the same level. 

EMMA: “Do not insult me like that, child.” 

Emma moves in to attack, but slips as a rioting student uses her powers to form a puddle underneath Emma, while fighting another kid, allowing Ernst to hit her again. 

On a staircase, Dani fights Radian and Tattoo. Ms. Moonstar may never have given them proper attention, but the hand-to-hand training they’ve paid attention to. Dani pleads with them to not make her hurt them, to which Radian uses his light powers to blind her, while Tattoo phases her hand inside her to torture her by tattooing her insides. 

In the common area, Sunspot is left fist-fighting Glob. He calls KItty over the coms to ask where she is; he hates to admit it, but their lowest-performing student may be stronger than him - at least on Kick. Kitty responds that Tag got her good, and sent her phasing through the Earth pretty far down. She’s working on coming back up as fast as she can. 

This is no comfort to Beto as he takes a punch to the face. 

In the Mission Room, the Cuckoos sit around the table. Things aren’t going well. They need to do something. Celeste notices that Quentin’s telepathy is still partially active. Mindee sees it now too; he has someone knocked out. 

PHOEBE: “Eww. It’s that freak.” 

SOPHIE: “She may be a freak, but if Quentin’s afraid of her, I say we wake her up.” 

Sophie quickly changes her wording, telling the others to get on that. She has her own plan. 

SOPHIE: “I know how to operate Cerebro. That should provide a far larger power boost than mere pills.” 

As Sophie gets up, Esme grabs her wrist, telling her to stop. They’re the five-in-one. Splitting up is dumb. Especially when Sophie has never done anything like this before. They should just let everyone else do the stupid fighting. 

SOPHIE, pulling Esme off her and smiling: “Come on, Esme. Haven’t you ever wanted to be a superhero?” 

Back by Wanda’s room, Warpath gets in front of Dust, as Lady Akabba draws her sword. 

WARPATH: “Lady Akkaba, I’m guessing? Nice armor.” 

SOFIA: “Thank you. My father made it for me.” 

WARPATH, nervous but quickly assessing the situation: “Dust, get in the room.” 

DUST: “What?! You cannot fight her alone!” 

WARPATH: “If she gets Wanda, she can do anything. If she kills me, you need to get her out of here. Got it? Do not help me, no matter what.” 

Sooraya hates this,but after a quick glance at the monster in front of them, agrees. 

SOORAYA: “Good luck, Mr. Proudstar.” 

Dust shifts into dust to get under the door. 

Lady Akkaba tells Warpath she hoped to avoid this. However, Magik cast a nasty protection spell preventing her from directly entering that room. She’d hoped to take her out of play before today like she did Surge and Wolverine, but he got in the way out of that. 

James questions what she did with Laura. Akkaba tells him she’d be happy to tell him, once he bends the knee. Warpath is a fierce warrior, a former X-Man who was able to hold his own against her Juggernaut, and who’s even fought Externals before. He belongs in her army. 

James pretends to think that over. 

WARPATH: “Warren Worthington was everything I grew up hating. I never spent a ton of time with him, but enough to learn he was a good man.” He takes a stance. “Tell him I say hi when you see him.” 

SOFIA, sighing: “You X-Men are so difficult.” 

Warpath lunges forward and attacks Lady Akkaba. For all his strength, Lady Akkaba is far faster and lighter on her feet, blocking all of his knife swings. 

Swinging overhead, he forces Lady Akkaba to hold a block. 

LADY AKKABA, barely struggling: “Your knives are nice. Adamantium?” 

WARPATH: “Same as your sword I’m guessing.” 

LADY AKKABA: “Hardly. My blade was forged millenia ago by an invincible Mutant, and wielded by one even stronger.” 

James knees Akkaba in the stomach, hurting her and knocking her back. 

WARPATH: “I get it. You love Apocalypse.” 

LADY AKKABA, amused: “I wasn’t speaking of Apocalypse.” 

Sofia sets her hands aflame. Realizing that in the narrow hallway, there’s no room for cover, Warpath tries to launch one more attack, but he’s met with the flames of war to the face, as they fully consume him.

Akkaba presses on her attack, promising Warpath that if he survives this, he will come back stronger. Only to receive a surprise punch to the face from the burning man, sending her flying down the whole hallway and crashing through the wall. 

Able to fly, this doesn’t phase Akkaba. As Warpath continues to rush after her, she fills the hall with more flames. James refuses to slow down. X-Man or teacher, he promised his life to these kids, and he’s not letting them down! 

Warpath leaps again at Lady Akkaba, but is unable to reach her. Once he’s in mid-air, Sofia uses her winds to blow back all the way across the hallway, and back into the flames, as she lays on even more. 

This time, James can’t get back up. Sofia absorbs all the flames back into herself. 

SOFIA: “As expected, you fought well.” She raises her sword as she stands over the unconscious Warpath. “But there is only one fate for those who refuse to serve me.” 

Rather than execute him immediately, Sofia’s swordhand quivers. 

We zoom inside Sofia’s helmet to see her blue face, as she breathes with trepidation. She rapidly flashes back to all the time she spent with Warpath, back when he was teaching her to control her rage. 

In the present…

SOFIA, under her breath: “I cannot be weak.” 

Lady Akkaba brings her sword down to kill Warpath…

…only to be stopped as a sandstorm overwhelms her. 

DUST: “You will not harm anyone else!” 

SOFIA, protected by her armor: “Didn’t your teacher tell you to stay put? He had the right idea!” 

Rather than burn Sooraya, Akkaba merely blows her away, through the hole Warpath made, and far away from the school. 

Sofia breathes heavily as she looks down at James, left to decide what happens next. 

Back in the Horsemen’s lair, Akihiro has finished telling Laura his story, while Laura is in the process of healing up large slashes all across her body, and has been provided a water bottle. 

LAURA: “I don’t know what to say.” 

AKIHIRO: “You could say our father is a monster who won’t be worth another thought once we torture him to death.” 

LAURA, hanging her head: “Are you sure that it’s all true?” 

AKIHIRO: “Do you doubt me?” 

LAURA: “No.” Laura picks up her head and looks at her brother. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.” 

AKIHIRO: “Realize what?” 

LAURA: “That you were used like I was. By The Hand. And Romulus. You were just their weapon.” 

Akihiro sighs in annoyance. 

AKIHIRO: “Look, try not to be too annoying about the whole, “I’m a weapon” thing, okay? Last I checked weapons don’t have beautiful girlfriends. You’re a Mutant, a strong one, and if you play your cards right, a valued one to our lady. Help me take out Logan and I’ll even put in a good word for you.” 

LAURA, squinting: “You’re being nice.” 

AKIHIRO: “Would you rather I cut your head off?” 

LAURA, slightly smiling: “No.” 

AKIHIRO: “Smart. You keep drinking that water, I’m gonna go grab something a little stronger. We’ll pick up training after that.” 

LAURA: “Sounds good…Brother.” 

Akihiro smirks as he walks off. We see him texting Sofia that he’s still with Laura, and she wasn’t kidding: She’s a very good actress. But she still doesn’t suspect a thing. 

We zoom in on the smiling Laura, as she scowls. 

We flashback to her earlier conversation with Warpath. 

LAURA: “Sofia has a plan to find the Horsemen. With just the two of us. And we’re leaving tonight.” 

Laura continues. 

LAURA: “I’m going to play along and act like I don’t know what she’s up to.” 

WARPATH: “You sure it isn’t time we tell Cyclops what we know?” 

LAURA: “No hard proof. I know she’s Lady Akkaba. I know from how War fought, I know from her smell, I know Sofia. I know that isn’t really her, that Apocalypse brainwashed her, but she already showed she can get around telepathy.” 

With Apocalypse down, Exodus must be running the show and controlling her now and using her as a distraction. Either that, or Akihiro is controlling with his pheromones. Or Malice can actually possess multiple people. It doesn’t matter. She knows Sofia won’t really give her the opportunity to figure out where the base is, but if she can get close, she can start picking off the Horsemen until she gets the right one. 

James doesn’t like it, but he trusts Wolverine’s judgment. Can she promise him she’ll be careful? 

LAURA: “No.” 

JAMES: “Figured.” 

One more thing though. Akihiro. Logan talked to her about him after their run-in, right? 

LAURA: “Yes. He has been used. In ways he doesn’t even realize. I don’t know him. You’re more a brother than he is. But Logan wants him alive.” Laura picks her head up. “I will kill Exodus and Malice first. If he isn’t the one controlling Sofia, I will save him. I will save them both.” 

In the present, Laura sips her water. 

In Magik’s mindscape, she takes a guess: this goth girl she’s talking to is the real Malice? 

Malice giggles as she plops down on Illyana’s bed. It’s who Alice McAllister used to be. A normal girl from Yorkshire who couldn’t stand her bloody annoying parents or any other authority. 

MALICE: “I had hobbies. Journaling. Making Pinterest boards. Protesting. I had dreams. I was going to be an artist. But, you wake up one morning outside your body, unable to be seen or heard by anyone, or touch anything, and suddenly you can’t write, or draw, or scream for change. Just wander. Alone.” 

 Yana yawns. 

MAGIK, mockingly: “How sad for you.” 

MALICE: “What, no sympathy for another young girl who had her life stolen from her?” 

YANA: “Don’t. I promise your experiences do not compare to seven years in Limbo with Belasco.” 

Yana does ask how long she’s been like this though. 

MALICE: “Four years. Don’t tell Exodus, though. I don’t want him thinking I’m another of Apocalypse’s kiddies.” 

MAGIK: “I promise you I couldn’t care less.” 

Malice laughs as she pokes at the fleshy guts inside a stuffed rabbit. She doesn’t know what Limbo is like, but she promises Illyana that her life has been hell. Even once she got over the initial shock and realized how her powers worked. Finding depressed souls who’d be willing to hand over their bodies wasn’t hard. But it wasn’t that simple. See she burns through human bodies rather quickly. Usually within mere days. 

MALICE: “Can you imagine that? Four years of living in different bodies every day, each one wrong in so many ways?” 

That finally hits Yana, who looks at herself in a child’s mirror and sees her 7 year-old self. 

Malice continues to explain that she got beyond lucky finding Polaris, but she isn’t perfect. She’s strong and sturdy and she’s held up well, but this body is starting to go too; it has another few months at best. After Apocalypse killed all the humans, he was going to release his fellow Externals, and force one of them to give her an immortal body, but the X-Men ruined that. 

Magik focuses back on Malice, questioning if she doesn’t actually have the same goals as the others. 

MALICE: “Lord, no. Fascists like Apocalypse, Exodus, and Lady Akkaba are the kinds of people I used to throw red paint at. They’re just the only ones who were willing to help me.” 

Now, the new plan is to use Scarlet Witch to make her a body, among all the other plans for her, but that doesn’t need to happen. 

MALICE: “Not if you give me your body.” 

Malice appears behind Illyana and covers her eyes with her hands. 

YANA: “What are you–?” 

MALICE: “I see you, Darkchylde. Acting like you’re oh so happy to be Magik, and being a little goblin girl. But that’s all it is. An act. You are still a demon, a creature of darkness, a soulless husk. Fighting along dandy superheroes because you just love your girlfriend so much. But I know she can’t be enough for you. All the friends in the world can’t be. You’re still miserable. Anyone stuck in the wrong body would be. But with its mystical nature, it would be the perfect body for me.” 

Magik punches Malice, but that just makes her appear in front of her. Malice promises to take away all her pain. Having a soul will do that! Magik will still get to exist in the back of her head, finally at peace. 

MALICE: “You have no way to either restore your full, demonic form or to obtain your old soul. You are not good or evil. You are nothing. I can take away that pain. Having my soul will do that! And you’ll still get to exist in the back of my head, finally at peace.” 

Magik is shaken, especially as Malice reaches her hands inside her and smiles innocently, telling her to think of how happy they’ll be together. 

Magik smiles back at her and holds her arms. She then proceeds to turn her face into Darkchylde’s and burn Malice with Hellfire. 

Magik snaps back to reality, not about to worry about any of that stuff right now, and just focus on the bitch who got past her defenses. 

MAGIK, panting: “Now…where are–?” 

Illyana is cut off and screams as she’s blasted from behind by Pestilence, who then proceeds to rain metal rubble down on her, burying her underneath. 

MALICE: “I’ll be in touch to see if you change your mind!” 

Magneto, still engaged with Exodus, notices this, and cries out with concern for Magik. Erik launches another blast that only only penetrates Exodus’ forcefield, but tears off some of his flesh. As Magneto swoops down to rescue Magik, Pestilence flies up to Famine and tells him it’s time to go. 

As Magneto pulls all of the rubble off of Magik, we see Mercury, exhausted and overwhelmed from all of this, but having successfully evacuated the area. Roxy finally makes it over to her, with Cessily falling into her arms. 

Erik meanwhile holds the unconscious Magik in his arms, relieved that she survived, but further enraged as Pestillence, horrified by the thought of losing Illyana again. 

Back in the school, Sunspot continues fighting Glob, eventually taking a punch to the face that draws blood. 

ROBERTO: “How dare you?” 

Glob laughs and tells Roberto he pisses him off more than anyone. All the X-Men act like they’re better than everyone, but Roberto is the worst about it, because he thinks he’s smarter than everyone. 

GLOB: “There are more important things than being smart!” 

Redneck appears on the scene, ready to back Glob up, rushing Sunspot with his burning hands. 

GLOB: “Redneck, no!” 

Redneck grabs Sunspot, but, of course, all this does is supercharge him, enabling him to blast both of the boys unconcious. 

GLOB, passing out: “You…idiot.” 

On the staircase, Tattoo taunts Dani as she tortures her, proclaiming how, whatever role she has in Lady Akkaba’s world, she wants to be a mom one day, with a bunch of kids. 

TATTOO: “Thank you for teaching me exactly what not to do with him.” 

Dani cringes. 

DANI: “I’m sorry I failed you. And I’m sorry for this.” 

Dani finally pulls her power. Radian and Tatoo fall down the stairs as they imagine sentinels firebombing them from above, with the ruins of Genosha around them. They’re left trembling in fetal position as Dani bends down to hold their hands. 

Elsewhere, Ernst rushes toward Emma, but she has a low tolerance for misbehavior, and these girls have thoroughly expended it. The X-Men saved them both from the U-Men and gave them their home; they’re sorry they couldn’t also be their parents, but that’s just not how it works. 

EMMA: “Now…sit down.” 

Emma leaves her diamond form, and before Ernst can attack her, or Martha can freeze her body, Emma overwhelms them both with a psychic wave, knocking them out. 

Outside, Quentin and Hellion continue to try and murder each other, exchanging punches, blasts, and chucking trees at each other, with Quentin also excelling with bladed constructs to cut up Julian. Keeping Julian on the backfoot is not only Quentin’s body running on Kick, but unlike himself, Quentin clearly doesn’t care if his attacks kill everyone. 

Once Quentin notices that Julian is playing defense for the school, he launches a full-power attack directly at it. Hellion himself between the attack and the school, but while he is able to stop it, it exhausts the rest of his energy, and he collapses. 

Quentin picks up Julian, who’s bleeding significantly more than he is, by the neck and raises him into the air. 

QUENTIN: “You almost had the right idea. The whole “Hellions” thing. You were stronger, more fit, than the rest of us, and you treated us like we deserved. If I’d woken up to my true potential back then, we really could have been friends. But by the time I did, you’d let the X-Men corrupt you with their arrogant complacency. I wish the Omega Gang packed the kind of power your gang did, but then, I have much bigger plans than being a school bully; before long, I know I’ll be a Horseman.” 

JULIAN: “C…C…” 

QUENTIN: “Something to say? Going to call me a dork again? Want to tell me my parents were right to desert me?” 

JULIAN: “C…Could you tell me where I left my hands?” 

Quentin panics as he realizes Julian’s hands are missing. Just then, he’s struck from behind as demonic metal, supercharged with the last of Hellion’s energy, collides with the back of his head. 

Quentin falls over as the wind is knocked out of him and his forcefield momentarily goes down. Hellion reattaches his hands, and is about to pound away at Quentin before he puts himself back together, but…

“Get away!” 

He’s tackled away by Tag. Brian, mounted on top of Julian, has tears in his eyes, while Julian is still in disbelief its gotten this far. 

Elsewhere, the four non-Sophie Cuckoos work to wake up Escapade, while Sophie sets herself up in Cerebro. Quickly, Escapade is jolted awake.

ESCAPADE: “That jerk!” 

And Sophie, with some difficulty, is able to dismount the Cerebro helmet from the rest of the set-up, informing her sisters she’s on her way to save the day. 

Julian and Brian wrestle around on the ground. Julian finally gets to ask the big question. 

JULIAN: “Why?!” 

BRIAN: “I said why! You just never pay attention!” 

Julian kicks Brian off of him. He never thought Brian was as dumb as he thinks of himself, but if he really let Quentin convince himself, without telepathy, that he was ever going to abandon him, he really is an idiot. 

JULIAN: “You’re my best friend.” 

BRIAN, on the verge of a breakdown: “Yeah. You too, man.” 

Brian beats Julian. Quentin is able to get up, happy to see this. 

QUENTIN: “Don’t hold back, Tag! Once he’s dead, we’ll never have to think of this loser again! It’ll just be you and me!” 

“Hey Quentin!” 

Quentin is confused and turns around, as Escapade rockets out of the school on her jet boots, grabs Quentin’s face, and electrocutes him with her shock glove. 

ESCAPADE: “You were talking about what you’re owed?!” 

Quentin knocks her away. She switches places with him, hoping to immobilze him that way, but she quickly collapses and the switch is undone, as her body reacts horribly to suddenly being filled with Kick. 

Quentin pants. He’s tired, the back of his bleeding profusely, and now this little bitch just burned half his face off! But he’s still standing! 

QUENTIN, looking over at the other fight: “Brian! Kill him already!” 

Julian laughs. 

BRIAN: “What could you possibly be laughing about?” 

JULIAN, grinning: “I do get how he got to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t paying more attention. But you’re kidding yourself if you think he won’t dump you faster than we ever would have.” 

Brian stops punching. 

QUENTIN: “Tag! What are you doing, you idiot?! Do I need to do this myself?!” 

Tag glares at Quentin, wiping his tears on his arm. 

QUENTIN: “Oh now what? Did he say something? Don’t listen to the enemy, you idi–!’ 

Quentin falls to his knees, screaming in agony. 

Sophie, wearing the Cerebro helmet exits the school, taking note of the destroyed landscape, and the already beaten Hellion and Escapade. 

SOPHIE: “Never send lesser Mutants to do a Cuckoo’s job.” 

Sophie, approaching Quentin, tells him it’s over. His “friends” are beaten, her sisters are blocking his telepathy, and thanks to Cerebro, his mental defenses are nothing to her. 

Sophie stomps down on Quentin’s head. 

SOPHIE: “Die, loser.” 

Quentin screams as he bleeds from his eyes. 

QUENTIN: “The Sophie Cuckoo I loved would have loved to crush all of humanity underneath her stilletos!” 

SOPHIE: “I grew up. You should have tried it.” 

Quentin’s still not done. Using his telekinesis, he unloads every bit of Kick he has left from his pocket, and shoots it all down his mouth. 

BRIAN: “No! Sophie, watch out!” 

With the power boost from the extra Kick, Quentin makes Sophie scream as well, as he stands up, laughing manically. The other Cuckoos all scream as well. He overrode their block, but they can still back Sophie up. 

QUENTIN, enjoying Sophie’s pain as she struggles against him: “You said you didn’t laugh, right? Kiss my boots now, take back that last comment, and you can still be my queen. A HA HA HA!” 

Sophie digs her heels into the ground to help her stay standing. Despite Quentin’s overwhelming strength, she’s still confident she can beat him. 

Brian watches on as Sophie struggles to fight back against Quentin, but refuses to back down nonetheless. He looks to Julian to do something, but he’s passed out from his injuries. With Escapade also down, he’s the only one who can do anything. 

BRIAN: “I’m sorry, everyone. I just wanted friends.”

Sophie’s knees bend as she bleeds from her mouth, her eyes roll around in her head, and the other Cuckoos writhe in agony as well. Even still, Sophie isn’t letting up, just looking for an opening in Quentin’s mental assault. 

QUENTIN: “Esme, can you and the others all hear me over you’re screaming? I hope you can. Because once I’m done with her, I’m coming for–!” 

Quentin is cut off as Brian lands a devastating hook to the back of his head. Everything goes silent. Then, Quentin loses control and Sophie finds her opening and hits Quentin with everything she’s got, as Brian is blasted away, and the front lawn is further devestated. 

In the Mission Room, the Cuckoos all stop screaming, and start crying. 

Emma, Dani, Kitty, and Sunspot finally make it outside to find their school wrecked, and five of their students unconcious. They rush without hesitation to check on them all. Kitty gives the thumbs up that Escapade’s okay. Sunspot lets them know Hellion’s just out cold too. 

Dani and Emma aren’t so lucky as they check on Brian, Quentin, and Sophie. Dani cries, while Emma turns to diamond, holding Sophie tight. 

That night, in the Mission Room, Cyclops has his head buried in his hands. 

SCOTT: “How did we let this happen?” 

The only ones sitting with him are an equally depressed Kitty and Sunspot. Lockheed is in Kitty’s arms. 

KITTY: “We made mistakes. A lot of mistakes.” 

BETO: “Someone knew exactly how to take advantage of them.” 

SCOTT: “And now two of our kids are dead.” 

As the three try and press through going over their whole situation, we see Quentin lying in bed in the medical bay. And next to him, Warpath. Neither is dead, but both are comatose. Beto is not only enraged at what happened to Jimmy, clearly from the burn marks War’s doing, but while he doesn’t wish death on him, he resents that Quentin survived everything. 

KITTY: “I tried talking to Dani. Couldn’t get a word out of her.” 

We see Dani crying hysterically as she works a punching bag in her room. 

SCOTT: “Emma’s had a similar time with the Cuckoos. She’s still trying now.” 

We see Emma following behind four Cuckoos, only for her to turn a corner, and discover they were just illusions. 

Scott continues to bring up how the Omega Gang has been given to SHIELD, and thanks Kitty for making it clear on his behalf that they aren’t to hold these kids long term; they’ll take them back when they’re ready, and do better by them. They’ll certainly have the space if the current rate of parents pulling their kids out of the school doesn’t slow down.  

SUNSPOT: “Not to be the pragmatist at a time like this, but the Horsemen got what they wanted from all of this. They got Wanda.” 

We see Magneto splitting the ocean in his rage. 

SUNSPOT: “If they figure out a way to use her power, we’re done.” 

KITTY: “And we’ll stop them before that happens. Nothing we can do about it right now though. What we can do is do better by the kids. By all of them.” 

Dust, Mercury, Bling!, and Surge stand outside the medical bay, all in tears, with the camera at first focusing on the comatose Warpath. 

SCOTT: “Quentin was wrong about a lot. Less than his “friends” were. But he was right about one thing. One of the same things Professor Xavier got right.” 

The camera in the medical bay pans over to Magik, Hellion, and Escapade, unconscious and//or heavily injured, but not in critical condition. 

SCOTT: “The X-Men are elite. We have to be. Because most Mutants aren’t. They’re just ordinary people. Whatever privileges we enjoy, what comes first is that responsibility to keep each and every one of them safe.” 

“Even if we don’t always meet that responsibility.” 

The camera in the med bay pans over to reveal the two casualties of the riot: Sophie Cuckoo and Brian Cruz. 

The four girls hold each other’s hands. 

In Sofia’s room, Laurie is SO sorry. This is all her fault. She knew she’d make the wrong pheromones. Sofia, acting distraught but keeping herself together, promises Laurie this isn’t because of her. There was chaos, yes, and bad people took advantage of that, but neither of her friends’ deaths were because of her mistake. There are bad guys who deserve that blame. Okay? 

Laurie tearfully nods. 

SOFIA, slightly smirking: “Listen, I didn’t want to do this because, as an X-Man, it was my responsibility to bring you here, but I might know someone who can help you with your powers just as much as we can. Call him a tutor.”

LAURIE: “A tutor.” 

SOFIA: “One with the same powers as you. I met him in my travels after I left the school. His name is Sean. I think you’ll like him. If you’re willing to give this a try.” 

Laurie forcefully nods. This can’t happen again. She’ll try anything. 

Sofia pets her hair. 

Cut to Sofia leaving the room, where Laura rushes up to her, having heard what happened, enraged and distraught. Sofia hugs her. 

SOFIA: “We will make the Horsemen pay. Every one of them. I promise.” 

LAURA, claws out: “Don’t you worry. I’ll kill them all myself.” 

We cut between Laura’s face, depressed and filled with righteous anger, and Sofia, wearing mere impressions of these emotions. 

In Egypt, Sofia enters her lair, still in her normal clothes, where Exodus, Malice, and Akihiro are celebrating their triumph with drinks and a feast before they get to cracking Scarlet Witch. 

AKIHIRO: “Will our lady be joining us?” 

SOFIA, head held high: “Yes. But I have an important matter to attend to first.” 

Sofia confidently marches out, Exodus clearly curious about what Sofia is up to What could she be plotting? 

In the washroom, Sofia violently vomits into a toilet. More than once. 

SOFIA, looking like she’s just had the worst nightmare: “What have I done?”

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

CAST CHANGES:

Brian Cruz AKA Tag is no longer part of the main cast.

Quentin Quire is no longer part of the main cast.

Sophie Cuckoo is no longer part of the main cast.

[anonymityisfunwriter]

The Twin Flame - Chapter 8: "My Tears Ricochet"

"I didn't have it in myself to go with grace, and so the battleships will sink beneath the waves..."

Bucky throws the door of the police station open, the aggravation on his face clear as day.

After the day him and Sam have had, he's just barely relieved that he's walking out as a free man after being arrested for missing his court-mandated therapy. 

"Well, I feel better," Sam sarcastically grumbles.

"I feel like shit," Bucky grunts, a fresh batch of irritation laced in his voice after that therapy session from hell.

And then their night gets just a bit worse when John Walker rings the alarm of the police car he and Lemar lean on, the loud whooping noise grating on Bucky's last nerve. 

"Gentlemen," John greets. "Good to see you again."

Sam and Bucky pad over to the car in silent resignation. Neither of them truly wanted to hear John Walker out, but they could both reluctantly admit that they sort of owed him for getting Bucky out of jail.

"Look, if we divide ourselves, we don't stand a chance. You guys know that," John matter-of-factly states, a proud smile on his face that borders on blatantly condescending.  "We need to find this Sunshine-"

"Don't call her that," Bucky angrily retorts, unable to stop himself from revealing their last card to John. 

That they know exactly who you are.

The proud smile on John's face slowly melts away to something akin to startled realization, "You know who it is." His eyes flicker to Sam's protective stance to the way Bucky's jaw clenches at the mere mention of the nickname. "You both know who it is."

Sam's arms drop, hoping a diplomatic approach could get John off of your trail, "It's irrelevant at this point, John." 

John takes a step forward in Sam's direction. "They could be responsible for this. They could be helping the Flag Smashers!"

"She's not!" Sam curtly denies.

John lowers his gaze, challengingly crossing his arms. "And how do you suppose they got all that serum, Sam?"

Once again, Sam tries to maintain his composure, to talk John from pursuing his newest obsession. "We don't know...but it doesn't matter. We-"

John cuts him off with a snort, "I'd beg to differ. Whatever this is, it's dangerous is. She's dangerous."

"You know, other than accusations, is there anything you actually have?" Bucky challenges, crossing his arms over his chest. 

"The leader's name is Karli Morgenthau. We've been targeting civilians who've been helping Karli move from place to place," John starts.

"They geotagged a location," Lemar continues. "Then scrambled the signal, but our satellites keep finding their symbols popping up in various displaced communities across Central and Eastern Europe."

"We think she's taking the medicine she just stole to one of these camps," John finishes. 

"Well," Bucky smugly starts, not putting any effort to conceal the smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. "There are hundreds of those all over the planet since The Blip. So I guess you'll have to look real hard."

"Good thing I have 20/20 vision, huh?" John retorts.

"Where is she now, Walker? Do you know?" Bucky continues, egging John on with a smug, challenging simper on his face. 

"No," John admits, anger slowly seeping into his once composed voice. "We don't know, Bucky. It's only a matter of time before we find out."

"Things are really intense for you, aren't they, Walker?" Bucky taunts. 

"Alright, let's just take it easy. Walker's right," Sam interjects, stepping between the two men before any more words can be exchanged. "It's imperative that we find them and stop them. But you guys have rules of engagement and all kinds of authorizations you have to get. We're free agents. We're more flexible, so it wouldn't make sense for us to work with you."

"A word of advice, then," John adds as Sam and Bucky start walking away. They both turn slightly, watching the threatening expression appear on John's face so quickly that it's jarring to the two of them. "Stay the hell out of my way."

With nothing left to say, Sam and Bucky walk away. 

"Now, what?" Sam starts, slowly walking the pavement next to Bucky. 

Just as Bucky's about to answer, Sam's phone starts ringing. He pulls his phone out of his pocket to see Joaquin's name flashing across his screen.

Cautious excitement starts bubbling inside Sam at the hopes that maybe you've talked to Joaquin and have agreed to stop dodging Sam's calls. He eagerly answers the call, putting the phone to his ear. 

The second he lifts the phone to his ear, Joaquin's frantic voice is ranting at him, confessing everything all at once. 

"Whoa, whoa, slow down," Sam tries to speak, but Joaquin's words steamroll over his. He turns away from the questioning look Bucky's giving him, taking a few long strides away from him. "Joaquin, I can't understand you- Just hold- Just slow down and tell me what happened."

"I thought she got trapped, but she got out, and now she's getting checked out by doctors and I told her to tell you but she didn't want to worry you and now we're back in New York and I think you're going to be pretty upset. But I just had to tell you! I had to!" Joaquin rants all in one breath. 

"What are you talking about?" Sam wildly questions, trying to piece together any of Joaquin's words at the mile a minute rate they're being thrown at him. 

"She's hurt, Sam."

For a moment, Joaquin's words ring in Sam's ears. It's all he can hear.

She's hurt.

She's hurt.

She's hurt.

Even as Joaquin tells him that you miraculously escaped from God knows where with only a few minor cuts and scrapes. Even as Joaquin tells him that the doctors have cleared you. All he can hear is those words. You're here. In New York. And still a million miles away. 

And you're hurt. 

He can't remember the last time he felt his stomach sink this quickly and this intensely. 

"I'll be right there," Sam quietly breathes.

His hands have suddenly gone cold as the phone drops from his ear and gets shoved in his back pocket.

"What's going on?" Bucky questions, eyes widened at the strange look on Sam's face. 

Though internally he feels frantic, helpless, Sam's words are so calm, they almost feel cold and detached. Bucky can't even tell if Sam is pissed, worried, or scared. Maybe some overwhelming combination of all three. 

"I don't know," Sam absently remarks. "I have to go."

"I'll come with."

Sam immediately sticks out his hand, halting Bucky. Bucky's eyes widen at the abruptness of Sam's rejection. He couldn't deny they weren't on the best terms, that was clear after their session with Dr. Raynor, but something clearly wasn't right. 

It doesn't take Bucky more than a second to put it together. And in spite of the fact that he wants to know what happened to you that's got Sam all freaked, he knows you and him weren't exactly on good terms either. "It's- That's not a good idea. Something tells me this isn't going to be pretty."

Bucky's head jolts, but he nods, unsure of what else he's supposed to do in Sam's clearly conflicted state. "Alright, just-"

The rest of Bucky's words are a blur to Sam as his drive back to base starts eerily calm. The death grip on the steering wheel is the only indication that something isn't right.

At first, Sam can't think anything, his thoughts are rampant, worried sick. 

The next mile, he's panicked. What if the doctors were wrong? What if something was really wrong? Joaquin wouldn't be that panicked without a really good reason. 

By the time he's pulling onto the base, he's settled on angry. It's the easiest emotion to identify, even easier to let it course through him.

So he's angry. Angry that you lied. Angry that you went behind his back. Angry that you're hurt and you didn't even call him. No, he had to find out from a frantic Joaquin.

As he storms through the corridor after corridor on the base, the anger keeps building, stewing, and festering. 

He's about to ask the one of the nurses where you are when he hears Joaquin's familiar voice through one of the thin curtains that divide each hospital bed. 

“Look, maybe you should talk to Sam, I sort of -” Joaquin starts, his voice clearly strained with guilt and mountains of anxiety.

You cut him off, placing your comforting hand on his shoulder, “Trust me when I tell you, what Sam doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“Yeah,” Joaquin awkwardly winces. “About that-”

Joaquin is cut off with a dramatic flourish of the hospital curtain being pulled back to reveal a very, very angry Sam Wilson. "Are you kidding me?"

You barely spare Sam a second glance before you hang your head, loudly groaning, "You called Sam?"

"I'm sorry! It was getting rough and really chaotic and I thought you were dead for a solid 10 minutes- " Joaquin begins ranting, his hands begin dramatically waving around as he recounts his panic. 

"What?" Sam practically shouts, cutting Joaquin off. "You thought she was dead!?"

You finally look up, meeting Sam's intense glare, "It's not a big deal, Sam. I just got a little roughed up, that's all."

As you look up, that's when he gets his first sight of you in months. And it's clear you're understating the extent of your injuries. Everything from the gash on the side of your forehead, the bruise on your cheekbone.

"A little roughed up?" Sam scoffs, gently, but firmly, taking your chin in between his index finger and thumb. He examines the gash on the side of your head, mostly cleaned, but still so very noticeable to Sam. "Look at your face!" 

"Traitor," you grumble to Joaquin who looks ready to pass out.

He drops his hand from your face, he looks to Joaquin for a moment, then back to you. Still full of agonizing worry and frustration, he demands, "You were supposed to be doing recon. Only recon! What the hell happened?"

"Okay, so maybe I was doing a little more than recon," you concede, brushing Sam off as you stand up off the uncomfortable metal table. "So what? I need answers."

"Well, now you're going back to Louisiana," Sam angrily decides. 

The words surprise even himself. He had no intention of sending you back until the very moment he saw you and your extensive injuries.

Maybe if he wasn't so angry at you, at himself, so filled with worry, he'd think this through. But right now, he decides that protecting you is his priority.

Even if you didn't want him to anymore. 

You shake your head wildly, refusing to back down. "No, I'm not!"

"Oh yes, you are!"

You hastily reach out to grab your bag, forgetting another one of your injuries from a few days prior. You jaggedly hiss, tucking your arm back to your side. 

Sam's eyes widen even more, a fresh batch of worry washing over him. "What's wrong with your arm?

You cringe as the question leaves Sam's mouth. The absolute last thing you wanted was to give Sam another reason to solidify his causes for concern. "Nothing!"

"Take off your jacket," he demands.

"No!" you incredulously scoff. 

"Now."

"No."

"Do it or I swear I'm going to handcuff you to Redwing!" he threatens. 

"Fine," you huff.

You forcefully exhale, slowly peeling off your jacket with extra caution to avoid jostling any of your numerous injuries.

Unfortunately for you, the t-shirt underneath your jacket does nothing to hide the large white bandage wrapped around the top of your bicep.

"Are you kidding me?" Sam admonishes the second he sees the large bandage. "What happened?"

"It was a close call," you sheepishly mutter like a petulant child. 

"A close call with what?" he seethes. 

You wince, visibly cringing as you reply, "A bullet."

"You were shot?!"

"It's a flesh wound!" you insist.

"I - You - I don't even- You are grounded!" Sam angrily sputters.

"What?" you exclaim. "I'm not a child, Sam. You can't ground me!"

"Wanna bet?" Sam challenges. He points to Joaquin, who is still standing in the corner of the makeshift room as an awkward witness to this fight. "No more Torres."

"No more Torres?" Joaquin repeats from behind Sam.

"No Torres!"

"You said you would let me look," you accuse, feeling anger start to bubble up inside of you at Sam's overprotective, overbearing overreaction. 

"No, what we agreed on was recon, gathering information. We definitely didn't agree on busting down doors to get the answers you want!" Sam argues. 

"I'm not going back to Louisiana," you defiantly state. 

"Yes, you are."

“No, I’m not,” you grimace.

"Yes, you are!"

This time, when you feel the anger threatening to surface, you can't tamp it back down. Before you can grip onto it, it abruptly escapes your grasp. You grit, staring Sam down with a heaving chest, punctuating each word that spills out of you, "No, I'm not!"

You're shaken out of your stupor when Sam's eyes tears away from you and instead focus on the small fire erupted on the metal table.

The second you realize it, you force your breathing to slow, to tamp down all the emotions surging inside of you, shoving them into the box at the back of your head.

The bright blue fire dies as quickly as it began. 

This time, when Sam addresses you, his voice is calmer, laced with concern again. "It's getting worse. Isn't it?"  

You don't answer his question, still in shock at yourself. It's a terrible feeling, being so out of control.

Each time feels like an out of body experience, sometimes it feels like there's no way back to the real you.

Each time it seems less likely that you'll make it back to yourself, and you'll be stuck as this volatile being incapable of control. Your grasp on everything slipping before your very eyes.

You don't want to answer Sam's question, you don't want to fuel his concerns, so you find yourself conceding, "I'm gonna go grab my things."

Sam opens his mouth to say something, to say anything so you don't beat yourself up. He can't find the words, words to apologize, to comfort, to offer condolence, they all escape him. He says nothing as you shuffle out of the room. 

“I’m sorry,” Joaquin whispers to you as you pass by him.

With a warm smile, you put a comforting hand on his shoulder, “It’s alright, I’m not mad. Thank you, for everything.”

Sam throws his hands up from behind you, indignantly scoffing with a roll of his eyes, "Oh, sure, be mad at me but not at Torres."

"I can't hear you!" you call back over your shoulder.

"Yes, you can," Sam shouts back. Then he lowers his voice when he notices other people that more than likely heard this entire fight play out. He offers an awkward wave and smile to the people sitting behind the receptionist desk. He juts his thumb in your direction, sheepishly chuckling, "She heard me."

He takes a few steps back into your makeshift hospital room. Even though he knows everyone in a ten-foot radius just heard the entire argument between the two of you, his shoulders slump in defeat as he shuts the curtain for some pseudo-privacy. 

From the the therapy session from hell with Bucky to the explosive argument with you, the night really begins to weigh on him.

He rolls his neck, staring up at the tiled ceiling as he shakes his head. His rolls his neck back downward, the scorch mark on the table catching his eye again.   

Staring at the small scorch mark on the table, he wonders when everything got so out of hand, wonders at what point did you stop thinking that you could come to him about these things.

And at what point did he lose both of his friends?

The Twin Flame Chapter List AnonymityIsFun Masterlist

[yellowclem]

Okey dokes, here we go. I’ve a thought to add that I haven’t seen expressed yet. It’ll be rambley.

Bisexuality can be complex. I was in my early 20s when I came out before which I had identified as straight with no turmoil or hiding anything related to my sexuality. However what I did have is childhood trauma and a not so healthy view of relationships/ attachment style. So after going through a tonne of therapy to help me with that (nothing to do with my sexuality, I never once speculated about it during a session, though I have always been a fierce ally and will always be so) I got to a point where I felt deserving of love. Now, I am sexually attracted to men but suddenly when I was like huh I can let someone truly love me, I realised that I wanted that with a woman. The way I CURRENTLY view this is that I am sexually attracted to all genders, but also romantically attracted to women. I now have the most beautiful wife and am incredibly happy with a healthy and fun relationship. I’m not sure as a teen full of hormones, I’d have been able to think about the difference between who I wanted to love and be loved by and who I just wanted to have sex with. But a bisexual person might have to go through that thought process to understand it enough to come out and feel confident and happy about it.

My thoughts and feelings and how I identify the intricacies of my bisexuality are still changing and I cannot imagine having to dissect that publicly and justify every relationship or move. If I had been really forced and bullied to think about it when I was actively an ally and identifying as straight (because default, ugh), well that would have been incredibly painful and perhaps I’d have never been able to go on that journey that I needed to go on to discover that I can truly love and be loved. And in that situation, if I’d had to ANNOUNCE something, well I definitely wouldn’t have felt like I could develop my own understanding of my sexuality any further and potentially change my label.

Also, if my bisexuality presented in a different way and I was sexually attracted to all genders but romantically attracted to men and all of my relationships were hetero presenting, I would STILL be bisexual. Having a one night stand or short fling with a woman would not be “experimenting” the same as any of my previous relations with men have never been seen as ‘experimenting’ because they were straight presenting.

And even though I’ve dissected this a bit here, no one deserves to know this level of detail about my life. It feels too much, it feels like oversharing. It IS too much. And that is what ‘fans’ were asking of an 18 year old.

And you might be thinking, well we didn’t know Kit was bi and so we didn’t know his journey could potentially be this complicated. EXACTLY, we didn’t know. And rampant biphobia means you either didn’t consider it an option or you didn’t understand how complicated that could be.

TLDR; bisexuality is complex. Anyone who wanted an 18 year old to dig into that and then publicly justify themselves is an absolute ignorant twat.

[spaceagebachelormann]

CHRISTINE DAAÉ HEADCANONS

  ੈ✩‧₊˚ FANDOM: phantom of the opera

  ੈ✩‧₊˚ FORMAT: headcanon

  ੈ✩‧₊˚ WARNINGS: swearing, almost robbing a bank

masterlist || phantom of the opera masterlist || navigation

another female main character i can project on to

an artist!!!

not just with her voice, but also with her hands

she paints (although she’s not very good at it), draws, sews, and writes poems.

bullied raoul into watching moana with her and he loved it

listens to marina and the diamonds and nothing else

^^^ heavily relates to seventeen

raoul kept barrowing her red scarf because he lost his normal scarf and because it smells like her so christine made him a brand new matching red scarf

can’t paint her nails to save her life

^^ idk i don’t think she can paint in general

almost robbed a bank with meg because they were bored and literally had nothing left to do

sketches the phantom a lot, especially after what happened in down once more/track down this murderer

has an entire 800 page binder with her drawings and shitty paintings of him

raoul finds it and he’s like “what is this” and she’s like “he looked so interesting”

point is she was forced to go into therapy after that

meg gave her his mask that she found at the end of track down this murderer

she keeps it under her bed

FEMINIST

yells at men on the street when they say anything sexist/even the slightest bit questionable

can’t hear shit

raoul asks her to do something while standing beside her? he gets a “huh?” in return

oh also she’s a starburst junkie

eats them like they’re the last food she’ll ever get to eat

loves mystery books!!

has read every single nancy drew book 1000 times and can recite them off memory

her favourite is the whispering statue (book 14)

she also writes a lot of stories

and then forces raoul to read them

he very much enjoys them

oh also meg writes shitty fanfics and sends them to christine at 4am and she reads them biting her lip and grinning because they’re just that good

extroverted introvert

acts like an esfp when she’s really an infj

oh also she doesn’t like eggs

glares at raoul when he eats them in front of her

the poems she writes are either really deep and talk about experiences she’s gone through and then she also writes crack poems where they’re just random thoughts

in conclusion, she’s more chaotic then she lets people know