#people just ignore he has daddy and mommy issues too and that he’s less well adjusted than Loki despite having friends

[worstloki]

What is your favorite kind of thorki fanfic? Everyone knows that you read them

okay okay so imagine all the terrible popular fanon tropes that get attributed to Loki. Now hand them over to Thor and do them well—!

[freshlyrage]

Running Like Water

Chapter 17

pairing: Javier Peña x OFC (written as xReader)

fic warnings: NSFW Explicit Smut (18+ MDNI) language, strained family relationships, mentions of drug abuse, discussions of insecurities and body image issues, daddy and mommy issues

fic tags: Best friends younger sister, Life-long crush, Friends to lovers, Unrequited love, slow burn, Push and Pull, Small Town Dynamics, Secret Relationships, latina MC, Fluff and Angst, OFC!Jessica Alba face claim, sorry Lorraine I'm bringing you into this, Time jumps, 2 year age gap, pre-canon

word count: 9.7k

a/n: Hi sweethearts, its here... part 1 of New Orleans. Enjoy and happy Kinktober.

CW: Mentions of past poor relationship with eating

Masterlist

Javier is a smooth operator, you'll give him that. He slips out of your house without disturbing your mothers tranquil slumber. You were no good either, awoken by a chaste kiss, “Call me.” he whispers at 4 in the morning before disappearing out your window. You stir, still convinced you were dreaming. You wake with an attempt at nuzzling into his chest but instead you're met with the ghost of his warmth and the sound of your mother calling your name from the kitchen. 

Eyes squinted you rise from bed and immediately sit back down. Your eyes widen and flash at your bare lower half, the soreness was a bit much. You know Javier would power trip if he saw the way your legs gave out. You wince as you waddle over to grab some pants.

You walk down your stairs into your kitchen with a warm flush on your face. You last saw your mother when she practically said you weren’t welcome in your house any more and now she has a narrowed eyed glare at you when you stumble down the stairs. Two eggs cracked, both for her. Her plate ready with tomato’s right where Javier bent you over and fucked you just 15 hours prior. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself. 

“Good morning.” You croak with a yawn, passing her to open the fridge for some water. Her eyes follow you the whole time, trying to read your every move. Judging bit by bit. 

Your eyes drag down to the counter where the house phone goes unhooked and stretched laid flat. She must have just gotten off the phone. You ignore it, you felt like your mother was always on the phone. Always stressed about the boutique. 

“You’re sleeping with Javier.”

She says it matter-of-fact. Despite being prepared for the accusation you feel your stomach flipping. You had scripted this approach and prepared yourself before you dozed off after actually being fucked by Javier Peña (for the second time).

You flare your nostrils and widen your eyes in the best acting you’ve done in years and you deliver it so perfectly, “Xavier?” 

You almost want to giggle, and your mother gasps—a mixture of relief and concern. Her eyes dart to the phone and you follow her gaze. “You’re back together?” She lowers the stove heat and crosses her arms, this is her dream. Marry you off to the soldier, the well off soldier. But her reaction is less expressive, maybe I should ask who she was just calling. 

Later, you think, crush her twisted dreams now, “Oh you were talking about Javi!” You laugh as if her accusation was nothing short of ridiculous. “C’mon mami.. Why would you—oh the car?” You roll your neck, let go of all the knots and cracks.

Your mothers shoulders fall, probably upset that you aren't trying to work things out with your very awful ex. You wish she knew, how horrible he was, she’d still side with him. 

You never described your mother as cruel, not even when you went away to Miami, when you could’ve rewritten your story. Your mother hadn’t beat you, she never called you names and she rarely ever yelled. And she wasn’t always cold. She could be kind to you, friendly, but she could also be mean—too straight up, afraid of white lies. She never loved you much, you knew people you met in college who showed you more love than your mother had. You spent all your life alone in your own home but at a certain point you made family with others. 

Yet you ached for that affection from your biological family.

You hadn't given up completely and you reached an age where you could form a relationship with your brother. Finally, he wasn’t an extension of your mother, he could form his own opinions. You could distract yourself from the cast of sadness when she stares at you too long, when she’s reminded of how you came to be. When she looks at you and sees your father.

But through her frowns and sighs you at least had Frankie. Your brother was yours just as much as he was your mothers. He took care of you, you cared for him, he was mean, he was rude, but he loved you so much he never knew what to do with it. He struggled to protect you from certain things but he tried his best. God, he isnt good at showing it but he cares. He’s trying his best, you don’t think anyone loves you as much, and he doesn’t even love you all that much so it’s a bit sad and embarrassing when you think of it. 

Your mother and Frankie found common ground on most things, it was just a quirk they developed from sharing so much time together. You and your mother have never agreed on anything in your life.

There were few things the two differed. Frankie was a cowboys fan and your mother favored the Texans. She hated his long hair, Frankie promised to never cut it. Frankie would kill Javier if he found what the two of you do, your mother will kill you instead.

 Frankie saw it as a situation of respect, you were his baby sister for crying out loud. He thought your crush was a nuisance at worst, but he had seen how distant you got when he left. He wanted to kill Javier when he found out he kissed you before he went away, shit he wanted to kill you too.

And your mother, she thought your crush was child’s play. She saw Lorraine and Javier, she told you once that that, the romance between two teens, deciding to start their lives together, that was a display of true love. Your mom smiled over her food as she gushed over Javier and his girlfriend. You struggled to keep your food down when you entered the bathroom. 

You don’t know when she made that decision because she seemed to be very indifferent to Javier’s personal life before he left. You guessed it was when she started having dinner with Lorraine's mother twice a week. It was also paired with her not considering you good enough for the son of Don Chucho. Makes more sense now that you know she slept with him too.

In her head it was Javier and Lorraine forever, so even if you admitted right now that you were sleeping with him she would find some way to talk you out of it for the sake of Lorraine. 

You explain the bar lie and she believes you without batting an eye.

Between flickered glances at the phone and at you she presses some questions about his job and if he’ll speak to Lorraine before he leaves.

Mrs. Smith is convinced Lorraine and Javier will get married soon. You try not to audibly sigh as you go on about not being sure. She nods and serves her plate of eggs, you were meaning to ask why she came home early but the bubbling anxiety of mentioning Louisiana took over.

“Javier is driving me to Baton Rouge.” You drop nonchalantly. Pushing your sex and bed head out of your face as you sit on the stool. Her fork clatters and she coughs. 

She’s silent for a moment, her dark brown eyes half lidded, her nostrils flaring slightly. Just like you, you got that from her… that small tick when you’re frustrated. She only urges an e por que?

You keep it cool, you know she’ll be upset regardless. “I’ll be staying with my grandmother for the weekend. Javier has a work trip in New Orleans, I’ll catch a ride.” 

She lets out an overdrawn sigh, “señor dame fuerza,” she mutters her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. Always so dramatic, your eyes flash to the clock, shouldn’t she be in church? You’d bring it up but you know if you do she’d throw that fork at you. “¿Sabes qué? No puedo detenerte.”

Your brows raise in shock.You let a silence beat before you reply, “No, you can’t.”

She sighs, “You know I’m just trying to protect you.”

And you don’t know what has gotten into you but— “Too late for that.”

Your mothers aging eyes widen, her mouth parting slightly in shock. For a split second you feel a pang in your chest, the guilt for that second is unbearable. But who had been there when you cried so much you’d choke? Had she felt guilty when she passed your room when you cried for her affection when you were just six. Had she felt guilty then? 

Her gaze falls to the plate and you twist the knife further. “I’ll be apartment hunting there too, for this coming winter.” It comes to you on the spot, you never had the intention to do so but after her “move out” suggestion the idea came naturally. Maybe it was a mixture of hope, hoping the family in Baton Rouge would open their arms to you and never make you feel unwelcome. 

Her brows raise a bit and with her smallest stutter she whispers, “Bien.”

“Good.” You snap, crossing your arms.

Her eyes widened again, appalled at your audacity. “Well–I’m going to work. I called your brother about you and Javier so you might want to clear the air.”

Your mother dramatically exits like she had two days ago when she dropped the first bomb of the week. An unbearable panic explodes in your chest, you physically recoil the second she leaves. Hand over your chest, you try to bite back tears. 

No–not yet. No, not this time. 

Avoidant, often you call yourself that. You avoided the things that made you feel anything other than a sense of security.  You’d have 7 blow up arguments with your mother a year, in reality you should have an argument a day but you often avoided that too. You avoided all things Javier when he was gone, avoided breaking up with Xavier until the very last minute.

It was just in your nature, so after a few shed tears and a coughing up the milk you chugged from your wrecked nerves, you avoided the thought of being confronted by your older brother. You avoided the idea of having to lie to his face and then somehow convince him that despite your mothers claims you were indeed not fucking his best friend but you are also heading on a completely platonic mini vacation together in just a few days. 

The trait was probably your fathers. Your mother never avoided a confrontation, she’d follow you up the stairs before you physically create a barrier between you two. Frankie had been the same way, stern and a bit mean but always in search to solve the problem the second it started. The second he found out you had kissed Javier from some girl who stopped by the hair salon he drove straight to the house to talk to you about it. That was them and like most things ‘mom and son’ you just couldn't be on that same level.

With that when your mom left you alone after that bomb you had locked yourself into your room and planned your lessons for the week, completely (sort of) shutting out all thoughts of this morning. 

Until 2 pm when you had gotten hungry after only drinking milk that you spat up like an infant. Your brain splitting in two when you’re met with the back of your big brother's head. Somehow feeling some more of that bile lingering and coming back up. 

“Frankie…” You whispered turning the corner and into the kitchen where he sat at the island stool. His hair still long and curly, Genie had a love-hate thing with it, on one hand he had beautiful healthy curls and on the other he looked a bit shaggy with it. It was a bit 1975 of him, the denim and mustache. Him and Javier being best friends just made sense, their style never evolved. 

You see his face now, in his hands is a book and his eyes aren't as angry as you feared. That scared you the most, so you began, “Gordo–” His eyes flashed to yours again, maybe calling him by your childhood nickname was a bit much. “Mami is mistaken, you have to believe me– me and Javi never-we haven’t-god, we’re not even.”

But Frankie cuts, “Did you take a psychology course at Miami.” 

Um…

Your brows pull tightly, afraid of where this is going. Is he just going to ignore the whole– “Yes-yeah I did, childhood and adolescent development and psychology.”

“Did you ever read Julian Ridden, anything from him?” Frankie taps his book and places it on the counter ignorant of him, his hand splayed on the cover and then slowly retreated. Words upside down, cover a pale palm out open. 

You shake your head, “No– it was more like Piaget and Freud, what does this have to do with anything? I want to talk to you Frankie!”

Well so much for being avoidant. Now that he’s here you want none of whatever he’s trying to do now, no mind games, just let me lie to you dammit. 

“Ridden came up with the Being and Knowing theory about parents who grew up with out a father of their own. He says that men who never had a father figure in their life often overcompensate in the lives of their children, they know what's it like to not have a father so they become what they wished for.”

Your brows soften for a moment, the tightness in your chest shifting from the possibility of being caught to concern for your brother. You take a step closer, pulling the book towards you and flipping it. “Frankie…are you alright, I know–well I don't but I figure the idea of being a father feels scary.” 

“I’m sorry for not being there for you when you were little.” His head drops and you hurry to his side, slinging your arm over his shoulders. He shook his head in disagreement. It’s okay, you murmur into his shoulder. “It isn't okay, upu had no one, not even mami. I see it now. And I know it wasn't my responsibility to play the role of your father but I could’ve been a better example of what a man should be.”

Your heart splits in two and suddenly every worry you built until now washes away, a few tears fall at the sound of something so unfortunately true. You just hated that he realized how it’s been for you,  that now he’s hurt too, you only wished that this would only pain you. “It’s okay you did your best, I’m better now.” 

Frankie pinches the bridge of his nose and shrugs you off, startled you wipe your own tears afraid of what outburst is coming from this, “You looked for that in Javi–I know me, your dad and even fucking Xavier didn't treat you well, Javier was there for you and I feel like I prosecuted you for that–it's fucked up.”

There it is, taking the back of your palm you wipe your brow and land your hands on your hips. “What…”

“Listen, I was too hard on you about Javier. I know that now, I get it. He left and I blamed you internally, and sure some of it was your fault but I don’t know why I lacked sympathy for you all I thought about was myself.” 

You cross your arms, now he’s entering waters unknown. When Javi left your brother distanced, you had taken the educated guess that it was because he was starting his life with his girlfriend not much else. Blame me? What was my fault? For what? You bite the inside of your lip, staring down the profile of your brother's face. “What do you mean?”

His brows screw, still his gaze fixed on nothing ahead of him. “You made shit awkward, Javier never called and when he did all he wanted to talk about was you.”

Your face flushes, “I’m sorry what– Javier doing Javier shit has nothing to do with me. He’s a famously known flaker, he leaves.. Often and when he does he like chooses to not exist in our lives. That's not my fault!”

Frankie closes his eyes and exhales a frustrated one. “Obviously some shit happened before he left which I know now was him fucking kissing you, god you should’ve never let that happen Andrea.”

You mirror his angry exhale and your tears have since dried. “Oh give me a break, I was fucking sixteen and in love with him, god forbid we share a kiss. Jesus christ, it wasn't that serious, he left and stopped calling. He's here now!”

Frankie’s head snaps to you in disbelief, “Wasn't that serious? He left and you didn't fucking eat, you were never home and when you started to be healthy again you started dating that–that prick, that called you fat on your birthday dinner. You leave for Miami and you never call, you come home and you work out until you’re sick and now Javier’s home and all of a sudden you're easy going and healthy and fine. That is a big deal!” 

You stood frozen in front of him feeling like an open wound. Everything you hid, all the habits you tried to keep under wraps. How you skipped the meals your mother made, when you cried embarrassed when Genie found you on the side of the road after nearly fainting from a run. You had blocked it out, avoidant, Xavier had asked if you really wanted dessert on your eighteenth birthday, in front of your brother. He sat and watched. You were at a loss of words for once, you couldn't muster up anything to say. All things were true, he was right but you couldn’t face the connection. 

“I…” You swallow the lump in your throat, “Yes, Frankie, yes I struggled. But it is what it is, it’s in the past!” You just accepted that idea 4 days ago but you couldn't tell him that, no. 

He stands abruptly, the chair scraping tile, “I can sympathize with you now, we’re grown up but you complicated shit and I lost my best friend! You need to take responsibility.”

“I didn't do anything wrong!”

He scoffs, “Oh please! I wasn't the best brother to you but you knew Javier would do anything for you, you knew he was with Lorraine and you still had to have him! You never saw it this way, how could you? All you think about is yourself, but he was my friend first! He was my only fucking friend Andrea and-” His finger is pointed in your face. You're so angry you could slap him but that wouldn't end well, you and your brother were never above rough-housing. The optics arent the same now that the two of you are adults. “And imagine how I feel… after all this time, all this distance to get a call from mami saying regardless of it being my only boundary you're still seeing him? Please tell me I’m mistaken, nena. I’ll fucking kill him you have to understand me–he’s my family but you’re my little sister and I’m not letting him hurt you again, I cant watch it again. ” His finger falls. 

Your skin feels a size too tight at that, the nickname he gave you when he first held you in his own chubby toddler arms. The burn of little sister, his stare blown and frantic you couldn't even tell exactly what he was mad about but it seemed to all boil over. Those six years of resentment you never knew he held.  Standing in the kitchen where you had the man he’s begging you to be away from, below the bathroom where he asked you to go away with him and now with wild embers in the deep brown irises of your big brother, he pleads. 

He is pleading, please don’t lie to me any longer, please don’t, not Javier, anyone else.

And you feel it, the guilt, the sick twisting storm throughout your body. You feel everything at once, you feel the paternal look in Frankie's eyes, his newfound fatherhood giving him perspective on how it must have been for you. You feel the resentment in how you acted after Javi left, how you never considered how his best friend leaving burned him too. 

But so selfishly you’re brought back to the feeling of being in his arms. You hate that your brain is proving Frankie's point. Javier makes you feel stable, safe and maybe it’s unhealthy but it’s the greatest comfort you’ve ever felt.

You hadn’t known warmth until then. 

 Come november he’ll be gone and if you're careful no one gets hurt, he leaves and your secret is kept. Frankie is your family, he has hurt you 4 times over, he passed your room when you wept and rubbed in your face the relationship he had with your mother. You loved him to death but your feelings for Javier belong to you. You’re so tired of being told how to behave.

You lie.

“I am not sleeping with Javier.” Frankie’s tense shoulders drop, and you drag on the falsehood. “Mom got the wrong idea but I told her he had dropped his car off here so he could head to the bar and I’m so sorry for fucking shit up but its…me and him are different now. He’s my…” Your eyes drop, not having the heart to look at him as you fabricate all he knows. “He’s my best friend too, he knows about my grandma, he’s taking me to see her so we’ve been spending time together.” Half true, you hadn't even brought up your grandmother to Javier but you hoped to soon. You flick your gaze upward and your brother is stone face,  internalizing all that you laid out, all the deception, you feel the trust between you two chipping piece by piece. 

Your grandma, he whispers to himself and instantly frowns. He pulls you close to him tightly. You stay in the embrace for long, beginning to cry in shame. Feeling sick to lie to him this way, sob while he believes it’s because of your paternal trauma. 

He’ll never forgive me. 

Your brother leaves and it takes a few hours of complete isolation for you to feel anything at all. Sitting with your legs crossed in your bedroom, reliving all the good and bad in your story. Trying to pin-point all the wrong Frankie has done to justify lying to him the way you did. It’s radio silence in your room as you numbly pack, each corner tucked and rolled is a reminder of all the relationships you’re ruining. You think of your mother as you pack, you think of every time you packed a bag or lack thereof. 

There were few things your mother did for you. By fourteen you were made to make your own dinner, pay for your own hair cuts, and keep up with your dentist appointments. But the one thing you could always rely on with your mother was her packing skills. She’d watch you struggle and let out an exasperated sigh before shoving you out the way and taking matters in her own hands. 

Now at 9 pm you feel your mothers presence at the doorway while you struggle. It’s slight, the breeze surrounding her body, you feel the narrowed eyes peeled to the back of your head, the room pulsing with anticipation. 

Will you be my mother again?

The weak part of you pleads. 

But she closes the door for you without another word. And it's so silly but you begin to tear up, it's done once and for all.

You try your best to sleep that night but you find it impossible. You arrive at your class 10 minutes late with the students shaking their heads when they observe the cup of coffee in your hand. Class goes as good as it could be considering it was antsy eighth graders who had failed their algebra final. Two more weeks of summer school, one more month until you make a decision on your classroom. It makes you giggle a bit being called Ms. Diaz. 

Javier doesn't call you Monday night but you know it's for the better. You know once you hear his voice you’ll miss him and you shouldn't do any more secret rendezvous until your family quits the speculation. You’ll have him all weekend, you'll have him in a few days. 

On Tuesday you come home from work to a stranger taking care of your baby sister. Slowly your mother cuts off your purpose in her home. Hiring a nanny named Florencia, you still pick up Sol and give the nanny a break. Rolling your R’s in her face and watching as she attempts to mock you, she gets fed up. She smiles and pulls on your hair.

You’ll miss her the most you think, sometimes she makes you believe maybe you’ll be a good mother. 

Wednesday ebbs and flows, you see Javier at the market. He stops in his tracks at the end of the aisle, strangely reminiscent of when he saw you for the first time after his year away. You in your bikini top and him in his dark jacket in 7/11. This time Javier looks around for on lookers and you do the same before he stalks you down the aisle, pushing your cart away before grabbing at your cheeks for a quick kiss that has your chest heating. 

He steps away from you, creating distance in case a customer comes by. No one would know how had just kissed her.

You blush profusely and before you could tease him a worker passes you with a cart and begins stocking right next to the two of you. 

“My dad is waiting in the truck.” Javier blurts, you take this moment to appreciate his attire. You want to ask if he dresses up this nice every time he goes for errands, you on the other hand… how funny would that kiss look to onlookers? A fully suited Javier pressing his lips to you in an oversized flannel and denim shorts. 

You nod, “Okay…” 

Javier looks over at the nosy employee, the two of you knew who the worker was, he was in Genie’s graduating class. Javier rolls his tongue in his cheek annoyed with their interaction being startled and it would be far too obvious to take the conversation elsewhere. Tilting his head to the ceiling and that familiar Peña sass you're so used to. He narrows his eyes at the worker again and shakes his head. Your cheeks hurt from the active attempt to not laugh. 

“I’ll see you around Andrea, you look great.” He teases, his hand squeezing our shoulder. The worker stops his stocking at that and Javier doesn't give you the opportunity to pinch him because he's walking away. 

Thursday you attempt to finish packing, stomach flipping at the thought of being on the road with Javier at 5 am the next day. Ten hours on the road and 3 nights alone. You stuff your birth control in between your towel and going out dress. 

Right before bed, Javier calls your home phone. You aren't given the time to say hello. 

“Are you okay?” He urges beyond the line. Your brows pull tight, your eyes dart to your packed back on the floor and to your clock, 10 pm. 

“Yeah…are you okay?” You laugh and to your surprise he doesn't laugh back.

“Frankie came to my house today.”

Your heart skips a beat and you sit up in bed. Fuck. “O-okay what did he say?”

“I dont know… I just, I’m so sorry. I apologized to him for writing him off but you never told me about you eating or your grandmother I’m so-”

Your ears run hot, “Oh god he told you! I’m going to fucking kill him, jesus christ Frankie” 

“Andrea let me see you, I can't wait until the morning. I need you to know.”

“Javi… please. My struggle was my business and it wasn't you or whatever, I was going through a lot more than you leaving at that time. I-” Your voice dies for a moment but you continue before Javier could cut you off. “I would rather talk about this tomorrow, please Javi.”

He’s silent for a moment, a beat, in that silence your brain clicks, Oh my god I haven't even told him about my grandmother. 

“My grandmother”

“Your grandma” You both say in sync but you allow him to continue. “Your fathers mother contacted you, why didn't you tell me?” He says softly. 

It wasn't intentional, at least you don't think it was. You're not sure when was the appropriate time to bring it up without it seeming like you accepted this weekend trip for a free ride. “She wants to meet me, she lives in Baton Rouge. I just didn't want to feel like I was just using you for a ride.” You sigh, afraid to admit. The thoughts of maybe being accepted by your father or a grandmother or an aunt, anyone. Your breath shudders.  “I know… I know it's stupid but I’m so desperate for a family Javi.”  You whisper. 

He lapses into another silence. In those seconds you grew embarrassed with yourself, with your desperation. You felt a pang of ungratefulness, you saying this to someone who watched his mother walk out. You think of the people who have no one. You think of your own mother whose parents passed while she was a teen. Why did I say that? 

“We’ll go see her on our way back home.”

Your brows pull together “What?” You frown. 

“You should never feel like you're using me, I’ll take you Sunday to meet your grandmother.” You're silent again in a space between disbelief and expectation until he pushes you over the edge. “And… I am your family, you will always have me. But I think you know that.”

Your breath dies again, your chin quivering out of control. 

I love you. How desperately you want to tell him, Javi, I love you so much. 

Your mother is awake when you load your bags into Javier’s truck. You hear her rattling in the bathroom when you tie your shoes, you know she’ll watch from the window in her robe when you buckle in so when Javier grabs your bags you distance yourself, avoiding whatever affection he itches to show you.

You exhale when he settles in. He looks awfully handsome today, already dressed in conference attire. A lovely fitted mustard button down and black pants, his eyes flitting down to the glittering watch on his left wrist. And he tries to lean in again and you turn your head towards the window, and he gets the message. Still mutters curses regardless and pulls out of your street. 

It takes 30 seconds to be on an empty dirt road and hes dangerously leaning to bite on your exposed shoulder, “Missed you querida, taste so sweet.” He grits and your redden straight down to your chest before letting out a ticklish giggle. You wiggle your hand around his head and tug his head off of you by the root of his hair. He looks at you with wet parted desperate lips and good god, you want him to pull over but–

“Eyes on the road agente.” 

His eyes narrow and he shakes away his urge and continues down the road. You roll your neck, what an awful night of sleep you've had. You kick off your sandals and bring your knees to your chest. Leaning your cheek on your knee and you admire the man next to you. Sunrise splitting the pretty green trees, creating a lovely canary colored cast on the strong of his nose and eyes. His eyes, your stomach jumps, what lovely lashes on a man. You're envious. 

It's silent until you're out of town and heading in the direction of George West, his eyes side glancing at you and double takes. His right palm covers your knee and pats, “Don't sit like that, it's dangerous.” Your lip quirks and you comply, remembering when he had said the same thing on your way to Liandra’s quince six years ago. He smirks at how quickly you obey, his calloused hand inching slowly up your leg and under your dress. 

Your lip is between your teeth instantly and you part your legs. Hands at the end hem of your pearl colored dress.

Eyes still on the road he drags his fingers against your thin panties, your breath hitches as your buck your hips to give him more space, instead he slips his fingers in the space below, cupping you. The bumpy road jerks your core against his palm, you gasp and he chuckles.

“Javi…” You rub yourself on his palm, your free hand gripping his wrist. Your eyes fluttering closed, feeling the ball of his palm create the most necessary friction on your clit. Your panties ruined already, he must love the feel of the wetness seeping through. 

His eyes stay on the road the whole time, “Hurry up, two more minutes and we hit a town.” He keeps his cool while you unravel next to him, inching towards an orgasm at dawn. And you let go of his wrist and run your hand up over your dress, needing as much touch as possible. You grip at your breast and hump his palm faster. This, this is quite the sight because despite your shut eyes you can feel Javier’s distracted gaze. “Christ, yeah baby let me see you.” Shamelessly you pull the top of your dress down, exposing your pretty peaked nipple and thats it. 

Javier is moving his hand from under you and swerving the car off road. Thankfully these backroads won't see anyone but long haul truckers at this time because you're still so disoriented from the neared climax you don't think to fix yourself up but from the way Javier puts the car in park you know you wont need to fix anything. You're unbuckling and slipping your panties off instantaneously and he follows.

Unbuckling, unzipping and pulling out his erection. And to hell with thinking twice because the sight of him aching and twitching against his shirt has you scrambling on top of him. 

His hands steading you as your hand slips between you, grabbing ahold of him with his tip prodding your entrance. You sink down, you moan softly but Javi is letting out a throaty rasp. Still you aren't used to the stretch of him especially from this angle. Your dress pools around the two of you, blocking any view of your bodies connecting. 

No time to get used to this position, immediately he's driving his hips into you and you're bouncing, riding Javier. His hands gripping your ass, the windows fogging as the car fills with no sounds but grunts, whimpers and slaps. His mouth open and sucking at any inch of skin, finally his mouth suctioning your breast. Your hands tugs at his hair as you make a mess on his lap, the zipper of his pants will leave a mark you just know it. And you feel it, the pit, the dizziness, he feels you clench around him.

“C’mon Andrea, make a mess on me.” He grits, and you comply once again squeezing him tightly, leaking onto his lap. You're crying in pure pleasure and at your final call of his name he’s spilling into you, warm and just as messy. 

He holds you tighter as the two of you float, still blurry eyed and dazed. You catch your breath together. 

Like always you're so limp and fucked out that he takes it upon himself to disconnect the two of you and adjusts your dress. Planting sweet kisses in your hair, feeling empty and gaping you find it hard to move but he does it for you once again, guiding you back to your seat, buckling you in.

And like that you sleep for the next 3 hours of the drive

“Six more hours querida… We’re in Inez… according to the map.” 

You wake to his right hand tangled in your hair, supporting your neck. You take a few seconds to realize that you're curled up in the passenger's seat of Javier’s truck. Squeezing your eyes tightly adjusting to the full blown daylight, eyes darting to the time, 8:40 am. 

“Oh my god, do you want to switch?” You panic, you hadn't even offered splitting the labor. The ride was nine and a half hours at the very least and even harder navigating with a map. You had never driven for longer than two hours but it seems Javier is used to this sort of commute. 

His face screws in disapproval and his fingers scratch at your head. “Todo bien, you can take the last hour. We should arrive by 2, the social lunch is at 3 but we can skip that.” 

You nod, rubbing your eyes letting out an annoyed noise when his hand slides away from its place in your hair. Back to both hands on the wheel, your eyes flash down to the skirt of your dress and you feel clean? Your eyes dart to Javier’s lap and he's changed into a brown formal pant. “Did you–?”

His eyes follow yours and land back on the rolling roads, he nods. “Yeah, I cleaned you up when you were asleep and I changed… not sure how I would explain to Agent Messina what the wet spot on my pants was.”

Your brows shoot high and you laugh, “Fair point…” A fleeting feeling of uncertainty brushes you at the reference to another agent. You were alright in social settings but you're a school teacher for crying out loud, you have no idea what sort of people you’re about to encounter. In your head you see yourself walking into a dining hall full of suited men whispering and beating around the bush when asked questions of their career. You picture Javier in that setting, how you've rarely ever seen that ultra serious demeanor and disinterested aura. Rarely, but you have seen it, you remember just how cold he can be when you think of him shouldering Xavier out of his way nearly a month ago. You think of how stern he can be with you at times. Why does the thought of him working such a dangerous job scare and turn you on at the same time. 

“So…” You drag in between the silence, “What should I expect this weekend.”

“Well, today there's the DEA social lunch thing, they're holding it so the bell hops could take our things up.”

You wiggle your brows, “Fancy…”

“Yeah, well after that we can settle in but from 7 to 9 I have a mandatory conference with my new co-workers, Colombia co workers.” He clarifies and you nod. “Then we have the night to ourselves. The guys will probably want to get drinks but we do whatever you want.”

Your chest heats, you almost want to roll your eyes at him. “Whatever… Okay and Saturday?”

“I have my long conference, 10:30 am until 2:30 pm.” 

You let out a low whistle, “Four hours, jeez. Is it top secret?” 

He rolls his eyes, “Probably. Don't take it personally, you knowing I’m leaving because of Pablo Escobar is enough.”

“Yeah, yeah… and after that?”

“Right, it’ll be time just for us. French quarters maybe?”

You beam, “Yeah maybe. Are any of your office friends going away to Colombia?” The question leaves you before you can form a purpose for it. Sure you'd love to meet the friends he might've made in Houston but a small part of you worries some people there will be aware of the existence of Lorraine and they will be aware of you, not being her. Afraid of a possible awkward conversation, oh god who are you to Javi? How will he introduce you–

“I think two guys from my section should be coming along. Felipe, he’s likable and polite. Dominican guy, but there's also Julian… not a fan.” His hand goes for the cup holder, fishing out a cigarette and you narrow your eyes at him. “Will you light me?” He asks.

Still with a scalding glare you grab his light and wait for him to slip the stick between his lips. “I’m just being helpful but I don't approve.” You strike the flame with your thumb and light him up. He mumbles a thank you and continues. 

“Julian is in his mid thirties, kind of upset about my age and all that. He also got into it with Lorraine at a Christmas party a few years back.”

“Oh… what happened?”

Confirmed, you're going to die. His co-workers have met his long term girlfriend and now he's bringing you… his… oh god, are they going to think you’re in some ménage à trois? You hear stories from your college friends about white collared men and their wandering hands. 

Javier taps his cigarette on the window, his face wondering how to start this story. But he starts with all of it, “When I got moved to train and work with the DEA me and Lorraine were in a trying to make it work phase.” Drag, “You know she’s very outgoing but she can get real defensive when she has a drink in her system. Anyway we had argued the night before so tensions were high when I decided to bring her to our christmas party.”

Your brain flashes briefly an image of Lorraine holding your arms telling you you’re beautiful on New Year’s eve, guilt and shame bolt through you, you tune out a small portion of his story thinking of Lorraine and her kindness towards you. 

“…Julian decided to comment on Lorraine’s outfit choice. I mean you know how she was, very conservative being pastors daughter but when she wanted to dress up she… you remember what she wore to New Years?"

Your eyes widen, “How can I forget!” Custom made orange jumpsuit, you could’ve dropped dead from jealousy that night. 

“Well he made a comment about me letting her leave the house in her outfit.”

You scoff, “Well whatever he had coming he deserved it.” You murmur, you hated that. You know that it was typical for women to comply with what their partners want them to wear but not for your generation. That was the time of your parents, every girl now wants to dress like Madonna and it’s great. 

Javier laughs, “Yeah he did… Lorraine straight up called him… and I quote, 'a lonely short man with the complex of a man who’s 6 foot'. And slapped his drink from his hand, got all over his suit.”

You burst out into a fit of laughter, imagining the face on this stranger. The two of you laugh together at the image, but once the laughs died you fell into that familiar space of trepidation. You bask in the light silence while your brain ticks off the uncomfortable feeling of missing her as a friend. The strange sting that maybe she’ll never want to speak to you again.

“Hey…” Javi calls, ashing his cigarette in the cup holder. “¿Todo chido?”

You frown, “I don’t know… it’s stupid.” Your gaze averts out the window, passing a mall and some rest stop. His hand reaches out to your knee giving it a squeeze of encouragement. Whatever, “I kind of feel guilty? I know you two aren’t together but there’s a part of me that still wants her in my life. I liked being her friend that year.” You find it embarrassing to admit but most things are out in the open now with you and Javi, you have no time to keep these little feelings to yourselves, it’s what tore you apart for so long. 

Javier’s grip loosens and your frown deepens as he retrieves it entirely. You look to him this time and his eye twitches slightly, you know it does that when he’s keeping something hidden. No time for that. “What Javi.” You say sternly.

His head darts to you and back to the road, “Nothing…”

“Javi.” 

“Alright. With Lorraine… don’t feel guilty. She had your mind made up about you once she started college. I think her friends opened up to what was right in front of her.”

You lips twitch in confusion, “What do you mean?”

Javier sighs, his hands gripping the steering wheel tight now. “Well… I suppose they made her realize that you were a part of our relationship failing.”

“Me?” You had no part in that, he told you they had problems before the two of you kissed, before. The whole time it was all you, your crushing and whatever. You now know Javi had feelings for you then but you thought it was a back burner issue, from the stories you’ve heard it seemed like Lorraine and him were just too hot headed to be together. 

“Well me more-so but it’s easier to fester dislike for someone you don’t have to face every night, so ever since then she’s kinda built a dislike for you.”

Oh. 

Your heart is stuck somewhere again, this time between relieved and sad. Sad that after all these years of being jealous you still craved being her friend, yet it didn’t go both ways you suppose. And relieved that she already disliked you instead of possibly dropping the, hi I know we were close while you dated Javier but now I’m fucking him! 

“Never mind then…” You drag, “Well I’m sure giving her a reason to hate me.”

Javier shrugs, “Everyone hates us.” 

You giggle although the thought is absolutely terrifying to you, “Yeah… that’s true.” 

“We should talk about Frankie.” Javi pitches after your two hours of talking about everything and nothing. You groan and pull his hand to your mouth. Shaking your head you mumble into his palm. 

“Can’t talk sorry.” He scoffs at your attempt and removes his hand, whatever… you murmur. “Okay… okay. You first, mine is too much.” And it was, you’d have to detail the side of your mother he may not know, tell him about how it used to be between you and Frankie and you’d have to tell him about the accusation from your mother. 

Javi can tell it's eating you alive because he intertwined his fingers with yours the second the crease between your brows deepened. “He showed up to the house, I was scared shitless when he started the conversation with your name. The conversation… it didn't go the way I was expecting.” His voice is low for that last part, you comfort him this time, placing your free on top of the hold you two had. “I guess I hadn't realized how much of a bad friend I turned into once I left. I think I lost my way when I was in Houston, I pushed everyone to the side and I think the only person left without an apology was your brother.”

You recall the face your brother made the night Lorraine broke the Houston news. Despite being wrapped in your own panic your first instinct was to look at Frankie. Frankie stared off into the distance with the same face of worry he had when mama would yell at them, disassociating for a moment before Genie beams with excitement. He imitated a smile when squeezing Javier's shoulders in congratulations. When you really think about it, Javier had been your brother's only friend. 

“He loves you a lot, you're his family. But we are all selfish, he deserved an apology but you cant torture yourself over being oblivious.”

And you swear you see Javier’s eyes welling, you want to lean over the console and comfort him but you leave him to it. You leave him to process, letting go of his hand. He reaches for another cigarette and you light it. 

With the wrist of his smoking hand he rubs his eyes, “Okay… your turn.” He chuckles through a rasp of emotion.

You tell him all, about your father and how your mother only ever loved him and how your existence has always been a reminder of the heartache she felt that day. Javier holds onto your hand again when you tell him that Frankie was cruel to you until middle school, that he’d never comforted you, that Frankie softened up to you when Javi got in the picture. Javi couldn't believe that, it was true, no one had ever shown you kindness and Frankie attempted to follow suit. Instead it manifested in overprotection and control. 

It ended with your grandmother, with your mother cutting you off and your crushing ache for– “I’ve never truly felt loved by my family, it always felt conditional. I guess I’m reaching out to my fathers side in hopes they’ll welcome me there.” 

Javier stops at a red light and looks over to you. His mouth twitching in hesitation, “Regardless of what happens you will always have a family, no matter where we stand or if we hate each other in the next few months, you will never need to look for a family as long as I’m around.”

Valet, fancy.

You itch to comment when the bell hop takes your bags. You explore the lobby a bit while Javier is a few feet away from you getting directions to the lunch they were both craving so badly. You hoped you were properly dressed, it was a favorite dress of yours, it’s pearl color and your sandals had a wedge. 

The lobby was lavish, mosaic tiles, gilded pillars and beautiful bouquets of flowers at every turn. And it couldn’t get any better. You look up and are met with beautiful ceiling paintings and glistening chandeliers. Jesus.

“Andrea!” Javi calls from across the room and you make your way toward him. The man he spoke to was moving away to handle business elsewhere. “Everyone’s down this hall, apparently it’s more so a cocktail hour.” You groan, hungry as could be. He takes hold of your hand, in a public space, you stomach grumbles and you can’t tell if it’s from lack of food or the idea of being like this with him. He laughs, bringing a hand to squeeze your stomach. “It’s alright, I’ll call up room service later we’re just going to show face.”

Show face indeed, the room is packed. And you're a bit underdressed, dressed for lunch while everyone in the room were suited and in cocktail dresses. Your brows raising at the sight of men with guns in their holsters. Sure you're from Texas but open carry wasn't as common near you. Then again you're walking into a room of DEA agents. Javi squeezes your hand, “My co-workers are over there.”

Through the room Javier is given nods and smiles. You are too, men and women alike smiling and nodding at you too. Ahead of you was a tall woman in her 40s with shoulder length black hair, the only woman in the room with a suit. Messina, you assume, next to him is a tall dark skinned man with short buzzed hair in a gray suit. Upon arrival Javier’s face splits into a smile and he lets your hand go to hug his coworker. Felipe, you assume. 

You're left smiling and saying hello to Messina. “You look good, Vaquero.” He squeezes Javier’s waist as they part. “Missing your cowboy hat.” He jutts his chin towards Javier’s cowboy boots. Javier shook his head and rolled his eyes. 

“Whatever Yank.” Northerner, funny. For a moment you feel out of place, standing at Javier’s side without a name or acknowledgement until Felipe extends a hand out to you. 

“Pardon me, I’m from New York but I do have manners. What's your name sweetheart,”

Your brows raise at the sudden attention, you take his hand and he shakes it. Instinctually Javier steps closer to you. “Andrea, nice to meet you.”

“Beautiful name.” He smiles and looks back to Javier with raised brows. Javier squinted in distaste and snaked his around your waist to pull you into him. You smile down at your feet with a blush from both the compliment and also the way Javier’s hand felt so large splayed on your waist. “So…” He wiggles his brows and Javier scoffs at his co-workers nosiness. 

Javier looks at you briefly, “So…” He mocks, “This is my girlfriend Andrea.”

Oh. 

It's disarming the label coming from his lips, you feel a heat rise from your belly straight to your ears and cheeks. A small part of you is kicking yourself for reacting to such a label but its beautiful to the ears.

So you were his girlfriend, huh. 

“Well she’s beautiful, right Messina?”

Messina smiles, “Indeed, you can call me Claudia.” She reaches out and you take her hand, cold and soft, reminding you of the hands of your mother. 

“Can I call you Claudia?” Felipe beams.

“No.” She cuts and Javier stifles a laugh. You lean into Javier giggling at the interaction.

“Where’s your girlfriend Felipe, the receptionist?” Javi teases but Felipe seems to be equally as amused. 

Felipe smiles, “Fiancé, she's around somewhere.”

You look up at Javier who looks absolutely stunned at the announcement, “No mames…” He drags and Felipe shakes his head. He was definitely not kidding, “Congrats, wow.” Javi blinks, his eyes scanning the room. 

“This is perfect, you two could get to know each other during our meeting.” Felipe waves his finger around the air. Quickly his smile fades, “Good god… Julian coming your way. Have fun, lets go Messina, we've had enough of him today.” 

And like that the two of them sip their cocktails and leave you and Javi stranded. “Fucking assholes.” Javi chuckles before Julian comes into view and Lorraine was right. He was a short man, shorter than you. His suit hung loose on his body but he was awfully handsome and muscular. Although it looked a bit silly with his stature, you smile at him.

“Javier Peña, who’s this?” He says in a far grosser and irritating way, no way near the way Felipe asked. He stood with a glass in his hand. Javier’s face falls into that face he rarely shows you, his stone cold agent face. 

You speak before he can for you, “I’m Andrea, his girlfriend.” You offer your hand and he laughs condescendingly as he shakes it. Clammy. 

“Girlfriend?” He looks at Javier, “This one has a far better dress, a bit underdressed but at the very least not indecent.” He elbows Javier’s side, referring to Lorraine, thinking you aren't aware of whatever unfunny joke he’s attempting to make. Javier’s nostrils flare and before he says anything he’ll regret, you cut in. 

“Well you might need to head to the tailor for the pants. And the jacket lacks… a stain of booze.” You tease right back. His face drops entirely. Javier’s head snaps towards you and his mouth splits into a smile. 

He grabs your arm, “Alright, she’s had a few too many, we're going to our room.” He begins to drag you away and you giggle.

“I haven't had a drop!” You exclaim and he laughs, leaving Julian in the dust as he walks you through the room. 

“You're crazy.” He shakes his head concealing his chuckle as you two exit the room. The air conditioning hits you hard once you leave the bustling room. In an instant he’s hauled you over his shoulder in the hotel hall, “Alright let's go have sex.” 

You shriek from being off ground as he runs in the hall towards the elevator with you dangling over his shoulder. 

Back in Laredo Lorraine calls Genie apologizing about not being able to attend her bachelorette party. Genie and Lorraine had stayed in contact all 6 years, close enough that Genie had Lorraine’s name down as a possible bridesmaid. 

“It really is fine, i’ll be a dud anyway I can’t drink.” Genie jokes, she told Lorraine that she’s trying to get pregnant but not that she’s actually carrying. She excuses her new dry lifestyle on not wanting to gain weight before the wedding. In reality all she’s been doing is gaining weight. 

“Yeah, yeah. Alright, how’s the wedding planning going? Almost a week, are you ready?” She beams, sitting on the counter top of the apartment her and Javi shared. She had half her things packed to come home for the wedding. 

Genie chuckles, “Girl, that’s none of my business. That’s all Andrea and Ms. Diaz.” 

Lorraine bites the inside of her cheek at the sound of your name. She wonders if you and Javier have seen each other since he went home or if you still held that fiery personality and kept distance. 

“Andrea… How’s she doing?” Lorraine closes her eyes, a bit fearful of how it sounded. 

“Oh Andrea? She’s good, teaching school and all that. She’s on a little weekend trip with Javier though. She deserves a break.”

Lorraine feels her cheeks heat in jealousy. 

“Are they—? You know, together?”

She doesn’t care now, she feels it’s her right to know. Genie is silent for a moment and each second that passes Lorraine is angrier.

“No, they aren’t. You know they’ve always been close.”

“Well she’s always had a crush on him though, knowing Javier they’re probably fucking somewhere… that fucking man…”

“Alright, no need to speculate.” Genie interrupts. “It’s their business, but I’m highly doubtful.” 

Lorraine scoffs and looks down at her growing belly. Her brows furrowing and a sudden wave of hope. 

“Right…” She flattens her hand there, “I’ll talk to you soon.”

[bladesmitten]

10 characters | 10 fandoms | 10 a negotiable number of tags

tagged by @mathlann yay thank you!!

there may be a recurring theme with some of the characters but let's not unpack all of that. also after the 5th placement, they're all tied in my heart okay?

franziska von karma - ace attorney. THEEEE favourite character of all time ever since the first word she says: "revenge." i could write 10 paragraphs of everything i love about her but i'll save you all from that. but perhaps the best thing about her is that she breaks the cycle without even knowing it, and proves herself a better person than her father without compromising her identity. <3

childe - genshin impact. also loved this guy upon his very first appearance. a character who got into a traumatic situation when he was young and gained eldritch powers because of it? and nevertheless remained an optimistic person? but also wants to gain strength and power at all costs? say less!

wyll ravengard - baldur's gate 3. ummm need i say more? fine, fine. he's so charming and handsome and dork supreme and king of whimsy, but most importantly, he's kind, despite everything he's been through. it takes an enormous amount of strength to remain hopeful and kind, and a lot of people (unfortunately) overlook that. also his character trope--paladin-coded warlock--is so so interesting and--[gets dragged off the stage]

shiv roy - succession. she's so sucks!!!! i love you selfish and arrogant babygirl who not only has daddy issues, but has mommy issues too. i love you shiv who would do anything for power and is the most like her father and gets trapped in the cycle anyways!!!

azula - avatar the last airbender. azula did nothing wrong.

severa - fire emblem: awakening. i love you insecure babygirl who overcompensates for everything by being abrasive. who feels like she's living in the shadow of her perfect mother. who ends up just like her mother in a darker timeline, protecting the exalt in an (un)requited love (lucisev truther btw)

jinx - arcane. i like her in the game but i love her in this series. i was really astounded with her character, what happened to her as powder and her parallels with her sister vi, and how she became the jinx we all know and love

mako mori - pacific rim. i love her dynamics with stacker and with raleigh ;___; also her sparring scene was soooo gooooood. the entire movie is just great, favourite of all time

claire - fleabag. i love claire's entire character and her juxtaposition with her sister fleabag, who's a mess. eldest daughter energy. learns to be selfish and pursue what she truly loves instead of maintaining her reputation at the expense of her well-being. also i just really love ambitious over-achieving characters

eve polastri - killing eve. i'm ignoring season 4 but god, i love the way her character changes throughout the series. she's so enthralled with villanelle and she hides it under the guise of pursuing an assassin but really she's so fascinated by her and it leads to her ruin as she keeps pursuing her with no regard for anything or anyone else in her life.

tagging, if you like - @bladeofavernus @droodle-bug @landlordevil @katagawajr @courierseis @targaryeirene and whoever else wants to do this :3c

[mommy-daddy-issues-poll]

Jiang Cheng & Jiang Yanli (Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed) Propaganda

Jiang Cheng (his sister was submitted without propaganda)

“Okay, so, this is a matter of perception and what actually happens. Daddy issues: this one's slightly more controversial, but he PERCIEVES that he gets less love from his father than his adoptive brother (he counts the times he's been held as a child [not many] and is very upset when his father makes him send his dogs away to make emotional space for said adoptive brother) and that his father is very harsh with him because he doesn't love him. Why does Jiang Cheng thing his father doesn't like or love him? Introduce the MOMMY ISSUES!!! His mother accuses his father of liking the adopted son more all the time and forgetting who his true flesh and blood is, causing a huge rift in the entire family. (She's jealous of a dead woman that, honestly, I don't think Jiang Cheng's dad ever had a shot with.) She constantly pits the boys against each other, sowing discord in the family and leaving her son Traumatized~! He IS loved by both his parents, but their toxicity towards each other definitely left him, the adopted son, and their poor daughter with different flavors of mommy and daddy issues. (Except the adopted son always knows in his heart who is actual parents are and says at one point that he does get tired of people forgetting that they, yk, existed and were in love with each other.)”

"Convinced that his dad loved their families ward more than him and said ward has to repeatedly comfort him about it. Mother is a huge bitch that propagates this idea. She only shows affection to him on screen before dying. Most of her time onscreen is her yelling at her husband about how she believes he hates Jiang Cheng because she birthed him. Child of parents that should've divorced."

“The Jiang family is a MESS and Jiang Cheng is very much a product of that. His father prefers his adopted son over him while his mother is abusive, controlling and blames Jiang Cheng for not being talented enough. As you can imagine, this man does not grow up well-adjusted at all.”

“his father AND his mother are critical of him so only SOME of his issues are getting their approval”

“Mommy is mad at Daddy for not loving her. Daddy hates conflict and ignores Mommy as much as possible. And ignores his son as much as possible, because he's so much like Mommy--high-strung, irritable, cautious, pragmatic. Daddy prefers the sunny, brilliant, careless, adventurous foster-brother instead. (Everyone loves/overlooks the needs of Nice Peace-making Older Sister. The three kids manage to grow up loving each other despite all this.) Mommy hates the foster-brother (who is (falsely) rumored to actually be Daddy's son) and needs Jiang Cheng to be better than him in every way. She needs Jiang Cheng to be the BEST. But he's not. He's pretty damned impressive in his own right, but he doesn't have Protagonist Energy. He has Secondary Character Energy. The parenting ranges from Tough Love to just your basic abuse. Anyway, Mommy and Daddy and nearly everyone else at home are brutally murdered. Jiang Cheng inherits his father's position and his mom's sexy magic purple lightning whip and rebuilds the family home and raises his orphaned nephew with a whole lot more love and a whole lot less abuse than he got himself. He cries a lot."

“man is the poster child for parent issues. he's the heir to a powerful sect, but his parents had an unhappy marriage and he had a wretched relationship with them before their violent deaths. his father jfm dislikes jc as a person because he thinks jc doesn't embody the clan motto and is too similar to his mother, a woman he resents having to marry. jfm favors jc's adopted brother because that boy's mom is the one he actually wanted to marry, and jc's mother knows it and takes it out on all of them. jc knows he is considered inferior by both of his parents and that he could never do enough to 'earn' their affection or approval, despite family love being his single most deeply desired wish. during a grug-induced hallucination, he just sees them all getting along and loving each other. but the murder of his parents cuts off any hope for reconciliation or healing between them, and he grows into a bitter, insecure, aggressive, violent, and jealous individual as a result. he ends the story utterly alone besides his young nephew, blacklisted by matchmakers and having pushed away his brother in misguided blame for the death of their sister”

“Insane Mommy AND Daddy issues (ignored and neglected by Dad in favour of his bestie's son, frequently berated by his extremely fierce and sharp-tongued Mom, perpetually in the centre of CONFLICT between parents, who then die traumatically).”

“Jiang Cheng’s parents need a divorce SO bad, but they can’t get one, and they both take it out on him. JC takes after his mother in a lot of ways, which makes his relationship with his father deeply strained. His dad loves him, but he doesn’t seem like him much sometimes. He’s very frequently disappointed in him, and he’s physically unaffectionate and distant, showing clear favoritism toward Jiang Cheng’s adopted brother. Meanwhile, his mother projects her own resentment toward her husband and the adopted-ish brother onto JC. She belittles him, constantly comparing him to the brother and saying he’s a failure of an heir for not being able to match someone who should be his subordinate/inferior.”

“tbf I think daddy/mommy issues run in the family considering who his nephew is, but Jiang Cheng is a big mess of daddy/mommy-related trauma shambling around and masquerading as a man”

“This guy's parents (father Jiang Fengmian & mother Yu Ziyuan) really gave him the worst inferiority complex. His father always dismissed him & heavily favors Jiang Cheng 's brother and his mother, jealous bc the brother is adopted and not her kid, is suoer hard on him and constantly telling him how much he sucks. Really fucks up his relationship with said brother in later parts of the show.”

“His dad has never hugged him and likes his adopted brother better than him to the point where people think the adopted brother is his dad's secret bastard child. His mom always compares him negatively to the adopted brother and says he'll never be good enough and that his dad hates him because he reminds his dad of her. His biggest dream is for his family to be happy and his parents to love him.”

“My man’s dad literally picked up another kid and made him get rid of his puppies. His mom was constantly complaining he wasn’t as good as the other kid and saying this is why his dad didn’t love him. And then they died horribly leaving him in charge of his clan.”

"Listen, this man's mother grabbed his arm (therefore making sure he stays within earshot) shows him to his father and says ""I know you don't love him and that he's a major disappointment, but he's still your son!"" to which I thought 'was it really necessary to say that in front of him????' But his father didn't even argue! He just said ""Wife, not now"" and walks off 'cause he's got better things to do than be in the same room with his family."

“so one jc's dad likes jc's childhood friend better than jc (jc has only been held by his dad less than five times). this is because jc is too much like his mother, who jc's dad was kind of forced to marry. jc's mom is constantly screaming at everybody and whipping people with her tazer whip. jc later inherits that same tazer whip. the nicest thing his parents do for him is die so that he can escape a total genocide of his martial arts sect.”

"- his dad and his mom do not get along well; they have a very chilly relationship

- his dad was rumored to have been in love with another woman, but she eloped with his dad’s best friend/servant instead, so his dad was left to marry his mom

- when he’s a kid, that other woman and her husband die, leaving behind an orphaned kid

- his dad basically ‘adopts’ that kid into their family. Jiang Cheng, who at this point can count the number of times he’s been held by his dad on one hand, immediately sees his dad walk in carrying this random other kid, with no hesitation.

- the kid (Wei Wuxian) is scared of dogs so Jiang Cheng’s dad forces Jiang Cheng to give his three dogs away

- Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng grow up, and Wei Wuxian ends up being better in almost everything. Jiang Cheng’s mom harshly scolds and criticizes Jiang Cheng for not measuring up and being as good

- Jiang Cheng’s dad behaves more affectionately and permissibly toward Wei Wuxian, doting on him to the extent that Jiang Cheng’s mom criticizes him for favoring him over his own son

- she tells Jiang Cheng that he will never be good enough for his dad because he reminds him of her; meanwhile, Wei Wuxian, the son of the woman he used to love, will always be above Jiang Cheng

- Wei Wuxian gets injured and trapped in a cave while Jiang Cheng runs home for a week straight, never stopping to rest while he tries to bring help. When Wei Wuxian is rescued, Jiang Cheng’s father praises Wei Wuxian for best exemplifying their clan’s motto. Jiang Cheng watches while receiving no praise for his own actions

- also Jiang Cheng watches his parents get murdered in front of him, which is also very traumatizing "

[fureliselost]

this might be just me screaming into the void and it is nearly 2am and i have a migrain

i've seen a ton of people talk about the fact that alastor is far friendlier to women than he is to men and be like "oh, it's his mommy/daddy issues showing" or some other thing among these lines (and I think they might have some credit, i don't exactly disagree on some accounts), but hear me out

this is a pattern i've seen before irl more than once and it's usually (almost always) not cute?

like, the whole "he's only nice to women/confrontational towards men" is something i've seen a lot in manipulative men (i love alastor as a character, but you can't tell me manipulative doesn't fit his description)

they are "nice" to women and they'll seek sympathy from women because most of them see women as harmless, less of a threat, weaker.

they'll see women as people they can control somehow (usually by manipulation)

while they'll be confrontational to men because, socially, they have been taught that men are "equals", so they do pose some sort of threat

since they don't see men as people they can control, they will usually try to drive other men away

there are, of course, exceptions, like when they are nice to men they view as non-threatening and confrontational to women they see as threatening (and, yk, when it bad for them if they take that course of action)

and that whole description fits alastor very well

He's "nice" to Charlie because he sees her as someone he can manipulate and eventually gain power from

He mostly doesn't care about Husk and Angel, because he has control of Husk and Angel is not only owned by Valentino (and thus non-threatening) but he is be viewed as mostly harmless by most people

Then men, like Lucifer and Vox, he is confrontational towards. He challenges Lucifer and tries to drive him away from Charlie since the time they meet because not only does he face a very big threat to Alastor, but (since society has a tendency to see women as belonging to someone) he might also see Charlie as belonging to Lucifer or under his control, since he is her father.

He's dismissive towards Vaggie (because she does pose some sort of threat as someone who influences charlie's decisions who is not afraid to call him out on his bullshit) and he does his deals with Charlie away from her

there's probably other things i'm forgetting

Again, I love Alastor, and I don't dismiss that this behavior can, too, be caused by a backstory, but the shoe fits way too well for me to ignore tbh

[driftwithme]

Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes by Fall Out Boy is a bit of a Chaleigh song for me:

So boycott love

Detox just to retox

Chuck is the type to self-sabotage his love life in a multitude of ways. Sometimes, he convinces himself that he is not intersted in love at all or that even if he was, no one would be adequate unless the person was a j-pilot or something, because else they'd never understand Chuck. Sometimes, he tells himself he doesn't have enough time anyway, he's too busy dying for the world and the jaeger program. Sometimes, the worst of all, he thinks about Raleigh and has to convince himself of all the previous reasons plus Raleigh is a coward plus he hates the blond and he deserves so much better than a has-been. Otherwise, his love would climb his throat without permission and left him bare for Raleigh to disdain at.

So he goes on a cycle of purging his rage to work on his relationships or even ignore everyone in an attempt to he cordial, just for his repressed feelings to explode and send him back on a vicious spiral of more desperation and need-want-now-now.

As for Raleigh-- he acted similarly enough, isolating himself, pushing everyone away to relive his past mistakes over and over, in eternal punishment. Maybe Chuck did a number on himself, but Raleigh was not much better in that regard.

And I'd promise you anything

for another shot at life

Then comes Operation Pitfall and Chuck's left to regret-- regret everything, including the fact that he never allowed himself to be openly in love, even if it made him feel miserable. He's not ready to die, but when has the world care about it?

Raleigh is now thinking about the future for the first time in the past five years.

No one said they had good timing, but oh if they want to live. If there was a way, if by some miracle they could...

Imperfect boys

With their perfect ploys

And they are! Imperfect boys! Who plan and scheme beyond themselves!

Emotional constipated boys with a lifetime of war service and traumas and daddy and mommy issues. Amazing rangers who can pilot the best jaegers avaible but don't find the words to talk to each other properly. The beloveds golden boys of the public for their determination and their courage and their big hearts.

They are too smart to their own good and too clever for the kaijus to stand a chance and proud to realize they can't approach the thing blooming between them like it's just another battle, another war. They want to play the strategies in the wrong place by the wrong reasons lol.

Nobody wants to hear you sing

about tragedy

!! Nobody wants to hear their sad stories !! No one wants to hear how Raleigh lost his brother while they were still on the drift !! How Chuck sold his youth for a chance to stop the apocalypse !! People think is the consequence of their actions !! They do not care about the reality of the rangers and their backstories !! When everyone is fighting to survive, no one wants to hear another sob inducing tale !! They want to hear about the survivors and their bravery and their wins !!!!

Well, I'm being unfair. Maybe the public do want to hear about Chuck losing his mom and Raleigh's dad abandoning him and all the less heroic details that made them the rangers they are today. Thing is, I don't see Chuck and Raleigh being intersted in that martyr treatment, so this is more of what they tell to themselves, that no one wants to hear their tragedies. They just go on.

BONUS FOR THE PRE-CHORUS

I'm a loose bolt of a complete machine

You could take the "complete machine" here as the jaeger itself or the PPDC or the jaeger program. Either way, Raleigh and Chuck are both outliners. A bit too unpredictable or angry to trust in their decisions, they could make or break the whole thing.

They both feel like they're not enough and they both know they're some of the best and they feel out, lonely, abandoned.

What a match

I'm half doomed and you're semi-sweet

It doesn't matter who is who.

Raleigh's half doomed from his first solo-piloting and Chuck's half doomed 'cause he's part of the jaeger that will close the breach by detonating the stupid bomb.

Chuck's good intentions and good heart are hidden behind all his anger and mean words, fitting him in the semi-sweetness description. Meanwhile, Raleigh is sweet by nature but the suffering and the years has made him a bit bitter and nostalgic.

They're like the worst most chaotic match.

[rajanilefreak]

When I come to the realization the no one in my family, not even the competent one, should ever be parents. Not even the ones that are already past tensed. And I don't mean this as in all of us are abusive. we aren't, but all of us have toxic behaviors that no child should have to deal with.

I'm not even going to bother trying to defend my maternal gramps. Actually, lets leave the grandparents out of the whole thing alltogether.

My maternal aunt has such a big favorite child syndrome that my mom once joked that she gave birth to one child and shat out the other. No kidding!

Said favorite child went on to have a girl and, after fucking up his marriage and eventually starting dating a woman just as manipulative as mommy dearest, he left said child in her mother's end his mom's custody while he fucked off to France for a fuck ton of time before returning with his tail between the legs.

The other one has such big mommy issues and over all parent issues that he keeps getting into unhealthy relationships and by now has around four or five kids total (I'm not even sure how many) his last break up was so bad and my sis kept trying to help him get custody of the kids he had with her because their mother is a massive bitch and not at all a good mother, only for him to stop the process alltogether the moment she starts being less awfull and he gets another woman for himself out of the blue so...

Daddy dearest manipulated toddler and child me after the divorce to make my mom's life as difficult as he could get, stole my sisters allowance whenever she had to stay over (and still a teen, mind you), and tried to get me to sign legal stuff that would have put me in debt because he never paid like he promised he would with other people he did this to.

Mom wasn't much better. She kept instilling the sense that I had to be perfect at all times, even if she then denied it, by comparing me always to those who did better to the point that I nnever felt like I was enough, and overly criticizing me for every single mistake I did, but especially when it came to school stuff, has said for several times that if she didn't have me to raise she could have gone on vacations (keep in mind that she purposefully got pregnant with me because she was seeing her marriage declining and knew she would have a hard time getting a man to want a single mother and she wanted one more child so she might as well use the free sperm she had hanging around) and purposefully ignored or criticized me for the red flags of my declining mental health, claiming that I knew nothing of being depressed like she was the utmost authority over it because she had it before. Let's just say I have a LOT of issues because of her.

As for my sister, it's like she's trying to over compensate on the things mom did, but she takes it way too far. She loves him. She loves him desperately. I'm not saying that my nephew is spoiled rotten, but he has learned not to respect people saying no the first few times unless they also get angry over it too because he never had consequences over it unless my sis gets really mad and shouts at him over it, so...

As for me, I'm child free, not just because I've realized that I could never raise a kid 24/7, but also because I'm realized that any time I thought of parenthood I was seeing more as a challenge to proove I can be a better mom than my own mom and that's not healthy for everyone. Now a days, my intense feelings of wanting to mother others are focused on my blorbos and my blorbos alone.

[maxwell-grant]

Red of Overly Sarcastic Productions once said :"If you can imagine your Batman comforting a shared child, then congratulations, you're righting Batman. If not, you're just writing the Punisher in a funny hat". This got me wondering: could the Shadow comfort a scared child?

Could he? You forget who was there to lift young Bruce to his feet at his first brush with death (sadly far from his last).

But it's an interesting question to pose still, because children were straight up not in the pulps, not in any I've read, and I can't recall any episodes of the radio show that feature them much (there's gotta be at least a few, because they had everything in that show). The most interaction I think The Shadow's ever had with children (from comics that I can discuss here, because Marshall Rogers' "Harold Goes to Washington" is way, way too much for me to go into right now, and the less I talk about some other DC comics, the better) is in the Street & Smith comics.

There's Jerry from the Devil Kyoti arc, a kid who was traumatized by an encounter with the villain who Sayre's looking after and who ends up having some kind of hidden power that allows him to see The Shadow and defeat the villain. There was a blonde Jerry who showed up later in the Monstradamus arc, but he isn't a kid so much as he's diet Jimmy Olsen or a replacement for Harry, but he had weird eyesight-based powers and a familiarity with The Shadow, so I assume it's the same character.

There was also Donald Jordan - Shadow Jr, and okay, I may have to talk more about this weird little failed experiment some other time, but the basic gist of it is that The Shadow had a friend in Tibet named Harry Jordan (and someday I'm also gonna write about the weird prevalence and significance of the name "Harry" in The Shadow's mythos in and out of universe) who was murdered, leaving his son orphaned and with nowhere to go. And, I'll admit that I have a real weakness for The Shadow calling people "son", which he does a lot in this story.

And as you can expect, it then turns out that the kid's also learned how to cloud minds and has basically the same powers The Shadow has in these comics, and they solve the mystery of his dad's murder together, and yeah, you can absolutely tell that they are setting up this kid to be The Shadow's Robin. Although, interestingly, they don't have The Shadow actually recruit the kid, instead it's Jordan who asks The Shadow if he can go with him and join his mission, and Cranston even states he's going to have to "earn" his way

"Must I stay here, sir? It will always remind me of dad - I'd like to devote my life to your fight against evil and evil doers!

Now, "Shadow Jr's" career was incredibly short-lived, it only lasted for about two other issues, and I have no idea what happened in his final appearence called "Snake Eyes" in Shadow Comics #77, I cannot find that issue anywhere and I really want to. But the one other solo story of his I've read was...well, I think it kinda illustrates why the idea of The Shadow having a Robin was doomed from the start.

...Yeah. Even The Shadow at his most sanitized and family friendly is still The Shadow, and there's no room for children in his network, obviously he shouldn't and wouldn't have children be in those positions or make decisions expected from grown-ups who have already had encounters with death and danger, why would anyone do that-

The only instance I can think of The Shadow interacting with a child in the pulps was during The Prince of Evil, when he has to rescue a young boy from Stark's thugs.

Cranston, dazed, tried to stagger to his feet. Before he could do so, the thug had picked up the limp figure of the boy and was darting out into the street. There was a scream of horror from pedestrians.

A heavy truck was racing at top speed along the avenue. Straight into the path of the truck, the thug threw the senseless boy!

The driver of the truck jammed on the brakes. But it was too late to halt the heavy vehicle. The broad-tired wheels rolled toward the limp head of the lad on the pavement.

An instant before it could crush out his life, Lamont Cranston dived headlong into the path of destruction. His shoulder struck the boy, rolling him toward the curb. A quick wriggle, and Cranston swerved aside from the grinding death that loomed over him.

He picked up the boy. One glance and he knew there was no time to lose. The attempted killer had leaped into a waiting sedan and had already made his escape.

The boy was all Cranston could see or think about. Brass knuckles had fractured his skull. He had suffered a concussion of the brain. A glance at his bluish lips and the fixed glaze of his staring eyes told Cranston that unless the boy was operated on immediately, he would die.

A leap, Cranston was in his car. He laid the boy gently on the seat beside him, then headed the car toward the nearest hospital. Traffic lights were ignored.

The boy was taken to an emergency operating room and a skilled surgeon went to work. When it was over, Cranston asked only one question: "Will the child live?"

"Hard to say. We'll do our best."

"Spare no expense. Put him in a private room. Engage day and night nurses."

Cranston's face was pale. He knew that he himself was indirectly responsible for the boy's attack. A supercriminal had made a prompt answer to Cranston's message over Jackson's telephone. That telephone must have been tapped. The attempt to kill the boy was a vicious warning for Lamont Cranston to mind his own business about the Harmon family. It was a follow-up of the attack on Jackson's dog.

Cranston felt a surge of hot anger. He kept it under control while he answered routine police questions. He told all he knew - which was nothing.

He had only one angry thought. He intended to drive straight to the office of David Chester. He'd get the truth out of the sleek Chester, if he had to batter him with vengeful fists!

Cranston was actually halfway to Chester's office before common sense returned to him. He realized he had lost his sense of balance. He was behaving exactly as the crooks wanted. He was playing their game, not his!

He parked, and the hot rage drained slowly from him. He stopped thinking about the limp figure of a young lad on a white operating table.

This is definitely because Tinsley writes the character differently than Gibson, but I actually cannot think of another occasion where we got to read about The Shadow actively wanting to hit someone with his fists. It's very, very rare to read about The Shadow actually getting mad in the first place in such an undignified way. And I think with this passage, you'll start to notice a pattern.

The problem isn't that The Shadow cannot interact with kids or that he can't comfort them, he does it to his agents and adults he wants to help just fine, he knows how to address people in their language, or any language. The problem is, The Shadow is constantly surrounded by danger everywhere he goes, because he is The Shadow. He can be any number of things at any number of occasions, but usually, when The Shadow shows up, it's usually because people are going to die, and people are going to kill, and it's his job to address that and work the scales.

Children should not be anywhere near this, and if The Shadow's interacting with a child, it usually means that some grave danger or tragedy fell upon them, and he's here to either prevent greater tragedy or address the fall-out, and he'd be the first to agree that neither of these options should be happening at all. It doesn't mean he's not gonna do what's right and give life and limb to protect them, but, it shouldn't be up to the Boogeyman to look after them in the first place. Maybe it shouldn't be up to the Boogeyman to protect us.

But then again, as I mentioned when I talked about my own reasons for liking The Shadow so much, there are many kids who would like nothing more than to have the Boogeyman by their side to protect them. There's comfort in knowing that the scariest man in the room is unconditionally there to protect you, and that is the comfort that The Shadow gives best. Not as Cranston, not under a friendly face, but as what he is.

Due to a lack of scenes from the pulps or satisfying scenes from elsewhere, I will instead be pulling one from a fan story written by Kimberly-Murphy Smith, editor and writer of The Hot Cornerm where The Shadow rescues a child who was kidnapped for blackmail. I couldn't care less that it's fanfic, and if you do, come back in 20 or so years after The Shadow's been made public domain and it's gonna be just as official as anything licensed (on my “to write about” list: how fickle the separation between “official” and “fanfic” is, and the many times it plainly didn’t exist). There’s aspects of her writing I don’t care for, but I really like this scene and I do think The Shadow’s more gentle interactions with people are necessary to getting the character.

Annabelle.

She stopped crying for a minute. "Who's there?" she said, her voice choked.

A friend. Your mommy and daddy sent me to pick you up.

"Mommy? Mommy's here?"

Sh-h-h. Annabelle felt a gloved hand gently stroking her hair. She's waiting for you at home. So, we need to hurry up and leave.

"'kay." She looked around. "Where are you?"

It's kind of hard to see me. It's dark in here, plus you've been crying so much your eyes probably hurt.

"Yeah."

Don't be afraid. I'm here to help.

"'kay."

The implicit trust of children was simply amazing at times. Adults trembled in fear of The Shadow's wrath, but children somehow seemed to understand that he was there to help them, even if they couldn't see him.

Sit up, Annabelle. I'm going to pick you up. Be very quiet.

One hand took each of her arms and guided them around a neck she could not see. "Why are you wearin' a blanket?" she asked as the fabric of his cloak brushed against her shoulders.

Sometimes I get cold at night.

"Even in the summer?"

Even in the summer. He gently stroked her cheek and wiped away her tears. Now, you need to be very quiet so those bad men in the next room don't hear us. I'll bet you're tired.

She nodded.

He rocked her on his arms, projecting a very gentle hypnotic relaxation into her with his powers as he did. You probably didn't get your nap, either. Poor thing. Lean on my shoulder and go to sleep. And when you wake up, you'll be back with Mommy and Daddy.

She yawned, then snuggled against his shoulder and went to sleep.

The Shadow sighed with relief. Now to get past the men out front. He gently pulled the pistol out of its holster under his left arm and slipped it into the belted waist of his overcoat within easy reach, then secured his grip on Annabelle and draped his cloak over her.

She clutched the edge of his cloak in her hand like a security blanket and snuggled against his shoulder again.

(Art by Jill Thompson)

[liberty-barnes]

The Swear Jar

Part 1 of The Jar Series

Mob Boss!Tom Holland x Single Mom!Reader

Prompt: “I've never said a single fucking swear word in my whole damn life”

Warnings: swearing obviously, Tom’s a mob boss so there’s that, there’s like, one sexual innuendo but also ??? not really??? idk

Word Count: 4k (i really need to learn to write short things)

Estimated Reading Time: 16 minutes

A/N: It’s the pic guys, I can’t help it.

Edit: Wow, you guys actually liked this! So since many of you asked, a part will be coming out soon, maybe more, we’ll see. So if you wanna be added to my “The Swear Jar” Taglist, just ask me or add yourself directly through the link in my bio!

Main Masterlist || Series Masterlist

The bell above the door to the diner chimed and you perked up, smiling brightly at the young teenage couple.

“Gracie! Stella! It’s so good to see you again!”

The girls greeted you with the same amount of enthusiasm and proceeded to order their usual meal.

“Your hair’s really pretty Stella! You look like a mermaid now!”

“Thanks, Millie! I took your advice and went with blue instead of purple.”

The young girl smiled and captured the couple’s attention by showcasing her current work in progress.

Millicent Rose (Y/l/n) was your five-year-old daughter. She had brown hair, falling on her shoulders in nice large curls, and big (y/e/c) eyes, a perfect match to yours. She loved drawing (the diner walls were crawling with her masterpieces) and pretty hair, especially if it was soft. 

Her bubbly and fearless personality sometimes frightened you, but you mostly came to terms with the fact that your daughter was a social butterfly and took full advantage of the small diner to interact with as many people as she could.

You watched with a fond smile as Millie explained what she had been drawing to the girls, mentioning every little detail while they praised her good work. The young brunette had a gift to make anyone love her.

Soon enough, their large milkshake to share was finished and Lou, the owner and cook, was all done with the food so the girls sat down at a booth and Millie went back to drawing, little feet dangling off the chair and little brows furrowed in concentration. 

As you were refiling Mr and Mrs Lee’s drinks, the bell chimed once more and four men walked in dressed in stylish suits, much too fancy for this place. They sat down at a booth and started talking while you took a deep calming breath.

Oh, fuck me.

You took your notepad and walked over to them, a much too fake smile on your face.

“Good morning gentlemen, what can I get you?”

The table quieted down and you made eye contact with who you knew to be the leader.

“I’ll have a burger with fries and a strawberry milkshake.”

One of the twins said.

“I’ll have the same but with a chocolate milkshake instead.”

The other one added.

“Vegi burger and a coke, please.”

At least the blonde one had some manners. 

Your eyes lifted from the notepad to the leader once again.

“And for you?”

You did your best to ignore the slight tremble in your voice.

“Bacon cheeseburger, fries and a coke, darling.”

“Right away.”

You got out of there as soon as possible, sparing a glance at your daughter to make sure she was still sitting at the counter before entering the kitchen with a panicked expression on your face.

“Lou…”

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

“You’ve got an order… for the Hollands…”

“Well, shit.”

The Holland family was the oldest and most successful mob in London, extremely rich, dangerous, and seemingly untouchable.

Harry and Sam Holland, the twins, were rumoured to have been behind the Burtons’ death, another famous family known for drug trafficking and other crimes.

Harrison Osterfield, the second in command, was a close family friend, accused of drug trafficking, illegal weapons selling, and other such crimes, though the charges all dropped before the first hearing even took place.

And finally, Thomas Holland, the leader. Arrested for multiple murders, arson, extortion, and a long list of other felonies, but never convicted.

Everyone was scared of them, and the fact that they were eating here was not good for business. 

You ignored the tightness in your chest in favour of helping Lou prepare their food, hoping to do it as fast as possible so the group could leave.

Meanwhile, at the booth, Tom was rolling his eyes at his brothers and friend’s stupidity. 

“Okay, we get it, she’s hot, but you don’t have to talk about it all the fucking time.”

Millie turned her head in their direction and scowled. She stretched a bit to the other side of the counter to take the transparent jar and got down from her chair, making her way to their booth, stomping a bit, which made her Sketchers light up.

The diner watched with curious (and slightly frightened, for the Lees) eyes as the little girl climbed onto the booth next to Harrison, one leg after the other, and kneeled next to the blonde, setting her elbow on the table and stretching so the transparent jar was now sitting in front of Tom.

He looked at it: a lid-less mason jar with a pink bow and right in the front, in a child’s handwriting and pink glittery letters were the words 'Swear Jar’.

“You owe a pound.”

He lifted his head to look at the girl.

“I beg your pardon?”

“When someone says a bad word they have to put a pound in the jar. You said a bad word so you owe a pound.”

“I’ve never said a single fucking swear word in my whole damn life!”

“That’s two more so you have to put three pounds in.”

“Yeah, Tom, put the money in.”

Harrison had his arms around the girl and a smug smile on his face, evidently taking a liking to the young brunette.

“Shut the fuck up Haz, you curse more than I do!”

“Four.”

“Shit.”

That one was not on purpose.

“Five.”

“Okay, okay, jeez, hold on.”

He took out his wallet and took his only five-dollar bill amid all the hundreds.

“Just gonna put the money in this stupid jar.”

“Six.”

“Wha- stupid’s not a swear word!”

“I’m not allowed to say it so yes, it is.”

Tom rummaged around his wallet for a stray pound, reluctantly putting a hundred in after finding nothing.

“Does that mean I’m allowed to say ninety-nine swear words?”

“No paying in advance, everything that’s not the money you owe is a donation.”

“To what foundation?”

“The ‘get Millie new glitter pens’ foundation”

She answered with a smirk and everyone -bar Tom- was pretty much crying at seeing their boss be told what to do by a five-year-old.

“Man, you are so screwed!”

“That’s one pound for you, Mister!”

“Oh shit, right!”

“Two…”

Harry took out his wallet (still laughing his arse off, mind you) and didn’t even try to look for the two pounds, simply putting in a hundred.

Millie’s eyes were focused solely on Tom’s hair. She climbed on top of Harrison, her pink tulle skirt flying behind her and stood on the seat next to the brunette, her hands immediately flying to his hair.

“You have very pretty hair. It’s really soft.”

“Thank you, darling.”

She hummed and kept playing with the soft strands.

“My name’s Tom, and these are my twin brothers Harry and Sam, and my best friend, Haz.”

She looked around for a while, not answering, seemingly lost in thought until she looked back at him and her sparkling (y/e/c) eyes focused on his brown ones.

“Nice to meet you, Tommy. I’m Millie.”

“T-Tommy?”

Sam stuttered out between peels of laughter.

“I don’t like Tom, Tommy’s better. Why are you so shocked Twin Nice?”

Harry looked appalled.

“Why's he Twin Nice?”

“Because you said a bad word and he didn’t, so he’s Twin Nice and you’re Twin Naughty.”

Sam did a little victory dance, bragging about his new nickname to his twin.

The little girl sat down on Tom’s lap and started to play with the black ring on his finger.

“What am I, then?”

She looked up to Harrison from in between Tom’s fingers, still playing with the thick band.

“You’re Thor cause you have pretty eyes and you look really strong.”

To say that the blonde was pleased would be an understatement.

“You, little lady, are my new best friend. We need to come here more often.”

Millie smiled and went back to observing the ring.

“Does this mean you’re married?”

Tom chuckled and shook his head slightly.

“No, it means that I’m a part of the Holland family, like them.”

Everyone around the table showed theirs, a symbol of their high status in the mob.

“So you don’t have a girlfriend?”

“Nope.”

“Do you live with your mommy?”

“No, I live with these dumbasses in a big house.”

She pushed the swear jar towards him and gave him what could only be described as the 'Disappointed Mom’ look.

“Do you like it?”

“Kind of, sometimes they get on my nerves and I wish they’d rot in Hell, but yeah, it’s not too bad.”

She slapped his hand in reprimand and he internally cursed himself.

“Don’t you miss your mommy?”

“A little, but I see my parents every Sunday for family dinner.”

He answered after placing yet another bill in the jar.

“Parents?”

“Yeah, my mum and dad.”

She hummed.

“I wish I had a dad.”

The boys all stiffened. 

Well, that escalated quickly.

Tom cleared his throat, measuring his words before speaking, for once in his life.

“Do you know what happened to your dad?”

“Mommy says he left cause he wasn’t good like her. She says it’s okay, though, cause we only need each other but my friend Lilly has a mommy and a daddy and she told me that sometimes when her mommy’s sad or tired he’ll do all the grown-up stuff like cook and read her a story while her mommy rests and she’s happier that way. I want my mommy to be happy like that too.”

For Tom, it felt like his cold, dead heart was starting to beat again. This little angel sitting on his lap was asking for something most children already had, not for herself, but for her mother.

“You’re a really good person, Millie.”

“If you stopped saying so many bad words you’d be one too, Tommy.”

The boys laughed yet again and they continued talking for a little while, refraining from any work-related issues for the sake of their newest addition, choosing instead to discuss sports and fighting over who’d be on cleaning duty that Sunday. Three more bills made their way to the jar during that particular discussion, one from each boy (bar Sam because he was on cooking duty, as always), and for once they allowed themselves to relax and simply be, instead of always worrying.

You got out of the kitchen with the men’s orders ready and looked at the end of the counter, planning to check on Millie before walking over to the mobsters’ table. Your brows furrowed when you didn’t find her and you immediately looked towards the girls’ table or the Lees’, finding she wasn’t there either.

“Mommy, over here!”

You followed your child’s voice and your eyes widened once you saw her sitting on the leader’s lap. The smiling leader’s lap.

You quickly made your way to their booth, placing their orders in front of them without even taking your eyes off your daughter.

“Millicent Rose! What have I told you about bothering people when they’re in their booths?”

She looked guilty for half a second but immediately perked up again, ready to defend herself.

“Not to, but Mommy, he said a bad word so I had to take the swear jar to him.”

“And why, pray tell, are you sitting in the gentleman’s lap?”

“His name’s Tommy and he said he didn’t mind and this way I can talk to Thor, Twin Nice and Twin Naughty better.”

Tommy, Thor, Twin Nice, and Twin Naughty?

“Oh, fuck me.”

Millie’s jaw dropped open. She’d never heard you swear before.

“You owe a pound, Mommy.”

“Yeah, I know, I know.”

You pulled a pound from your pocket and put it in, eyes widening at the amount of money in the jar.

“How in the world?”

“I didn’t have singles so I just put hundreds in. Apparently, it’s a donation to the 'Get Millie new glitter pens’ foundation.”

You set the jar down and shook your head in disbelief.

“I am never letting Harley babysit you ever again.”

She pouted and slumped down, arms crossed adorably in front of her.

“Now come on, let the gentlemen eat their lunch in peace and come get yours.”

She cuddled up to Tom more than before, burying her head in his chest and fisting his shirt, and shaking her head in protest.

“Millie, come on, let’s go. I’m so sorry for the bother sir.”

“It’s no problem, she’s welcome to say for however long she wants.”

The brunette smiled at your daughter and then at you, before the man on his right interrupted.

“Besides, she’s very entertaining. It’s nice to see someone else call Tom out on his bullshit.”

You and Millie threw the blonde matching glares while Tom just pushed the jar towards him.

“You owe a pound, Haz”

“Excuse you Tommy, my name’s Thor.”

He then turned to you with a smug smile and attitude.

“Cause I have pretty eyes like him and look very strong. Don’t you agree with your daughter… (Y/n)?”

He read your name tag and smiled charmingly while you pursed your lips, looking him up and down. You then looked at your little girl.

“You sure?”

“Well, who else has pretty blue eyes?”

“Captain America.”

She light up right away and straightened herself.

“Right! And he looks like Captain America when he was tiny! Thanks, Mommy!”

She then turned to Harrison with a gigantic smile on her face.

“You’re Tiny America now.”

The whole table -bar Haz- laughed and you had to bite your lip not to laugh too, instead linking your hands and looking at the clock.

“Come on Millie, it’s time to eat.”

“Can I eat here with Tommy, please?”

“If you eat here with Tommy I won’t be able to make sure you eat your veggies.”

The man’s heart stuttered when you used his nickname, a strange sense of happiness overcoming him.

“Tommy can check.”

“Mm… I’m not sure if he can check you ate them. He’s not used to your sneakiness.”

“What if I pinky promise to eat my veggies and eat a banana for dessert instead of ice cream?”

It was a struggle to get her to eat fruits and veggies. You usually had to settle for one or the other, so when she spontaneously decided to eat both, you jumped at the opportunity, mob be damned.

“Deal! But no annoying the boys.”

She smiled and nodded, settling comfortably on Tom’s lap, waiting for her food. You took out her plate of chicken nuggets, fries, and green beans, chocolate milkshake to wash it down.

You tried not to let the butterflies in your stomach distract you from your job but the way Tom smiled at your daughter and praised her when she ate all her veggies in a row, wanting to get it over with, made your heart ache, the longing for someone still very much present.

“Have a nice meal.”

You made eye contact with the brunette and blushed at the smile he sent you before waving goodbye at the Lees. The teenage couple had left a bit earlier so the mobsters were now your last customers of the day.

You wiped the kitchen counters and said goodbye to Lou, assuring him that you’d close up by yourself. As soon as he left, you took a deep breath and sighed, unable to stop your smile when you heard your daughter’s laugh carrying through the wall separating you from the group.

“Mommy, we’re done!”

You straightened up and schooled your features before walking over to them, taking away their plates while asking if Millie behaved and if they wanted dessert. The answer to both questions was a yes and so you came back a little while later with chocolate pudding for the twins, caramel ice cream for Harrison, a banana split for Tom, and a miniature one for Millie.

“Since you behaved so nicely you get a little sweetness with your banana.”

Her eyes sparkled and she smiled brightly at you.

“You’re the best mommy ever! I love you!”

“Love you too, baby.”

You turned around, ready to leave, when a voice stopped you.

“Why don’t you sit down with us for a bit? I’m pretty sure that if you wipe that table down one more time you’ll remove the paint.”

You blushed but complied, sitting down next to Harrison and watching as your daughter ate her dessert quickly and quietly, wincing from time to time because of brain freezes. As soon as she was done, she reached for Tom’s right hand. He switched the hand that held the spoon, eating with his left so that Millie could play with the ring on his finger.

Unfortunately for him, he had a bit of trouble eating with his non-dominant hand while holding a child on his lap, leading to a bit of ice cream falling on his shirt.

“Ah, fu-”

You shot him a glare that made him change courses immediately.

“-dge. Fudge.”

Millie clapped and gave him a big, approving smile.

“See, Mommy? He’s making progress!”

“Indeed he is, darling.”

“Oh, this is fucking hilarious!”

The young girl gasped, mouth open comically wide and utter betrayal swimming in her eyes.

“I thought you were nice.”

Sam realized his mistake as soon as she spoke, covering his mouth with his hand as if to stop any more of the offending words from leaving it.

“You owe five pounds.”

“What? Why? I only said one swear word!”

She shook her head in disapproval, arms crossed in front of her chest, and pushed the jar towards him.

“You made me believe you were nice so your trickster-y will cost you four extra pounds.”

You shook your head, smile firmly plastered on your face as you watched Sam pull out a hundred dollar bill with a pout on his lips. It was quite endearing, really.

“So, (Y/n), tell us about you.”

You locked eyes with the brunette once again, piercing gaze seemingly looking through you.

“I’m afraid there’s not much to tell, Mr Holland. I’m not a very interesting person.”

Your voice was soft, your words calculated. You knew that these men could kill you in the blink of an eye.

“No uninteresting person could have raised such a perfect little angel.”

He smirked and Millie looked at you with a smug smile.

“See, he said I was an angel.”

Life be damned, it’s not worth living if your daughter has an ego the size of Russia. That would most definitely come back to bite you in the ass.

“Yeah, that’s cause he hasn’t had to deal with you in all your nightly glory.”

She put her tongue out and snuggled deeper into Tom’s chest.

“Well, for one, how did you find yourself working here?”

He got the conversation back on you and you felt slightly intimidated with the whole table’s eyes on little old you.

“Customers are nice, I earn enough money for us to get by, owner’s nice, the school’s at the end of the street, and Millie gets to stay with me when she’s not there.”

Even though he was focused on you, you noticed the way he held your daughter close to his chest, his bigger frame completely enveloping her smaller one. She still hadn’t let go of his hand and kept playing with the ring on his finger. Seeing how calm and caring he was being with your daughter calmed you down and the more questions you answered, the more comfortable you became.

“How can you work at a dinner and not like vanilla milkshakes?”

Sam looked horrified at that, and you just shrugged dismissively.

“I never really liked when vanilla was too present. Like, if you used it to just enhance everything else you know, make it taste better, then sure, but just vanilla isn’t really my style.”

Tom took a sharp breath in and tried to stop his mind from wandering at the possible double meaning of your words. Instead, he chose to focus on the little girl on his lap.

Until he noticed she was asleep, that is.

He smiled a little and shifted her so she was resting more comfortably on his lap. Unfortunately for him, that caught your attention.

“Oh my, is she asleep? I’m really sorry.”

“No worries, though we should probably get her to bed so she doesn’t wake up with a stiff neck.”

For the umpteenth time, you pushed down the butterflies upon hearing him say 'we’ and being so careful with your daughter.

You took the remaining dishes and went to the kitchen, putting them in the wash and turning on the machine, leaving it to run so tomorrow morning you’d be able to put everything away. You went back in to clean the booth and Tom practically shoved a hundred dollar bill in your hand, ignoring your protests.

He waited for you by the door while you finished closing up, and you extended your arms towards him when you finished.

“Thank you for everything today, but you must be getting tired, I can take her from here.”

He gently pushed your arms down.

“Let me take you home, please, I don’t like the idea of you having to carry her all on your own.”

You hesitantly nodded and he guided you to his car. It’s only then that you noticed the other three had left. You settled on the passenger side of his black Audi and he handed you Millie, closing the door softly as to not startle her. He then entered the driver’s side and started the car. You gave him directions to your apartment building and within five minutes, he parked the car right out front.

Ever the gentleman, he insisted on carrying the little girl. Knowing by now that there wasn’t much you could do to protest, you agreed and led him up the four flights of stairs to your door.

“Sorry 'bout the mess.”

“It’s no problem, darling, I quite like it.”

You turned your head for a brief second, as if asking him to elaborate while still leading him to your daughter’s room.

“The fact that it’s messy means that someone lives here, that this isn’t just some house, it’s a home. My house is always pristine but that’s because no one’s ever there to actually use it as something other than a glorified B&B.”

He laid Millie down on the bed and you pulled the covers over her. You both stood side to side for a little while, just watching her breathe.

“That sounds really lonely.”

“Yeah…”

Another minute passed by with no words coming from either of you.

“You raised an amazing daughter, (Y/n).”

“You’re a good man, Tom.”

Hearing those unfamiliar words coming out of your mouth almost brought tears to his eyes. He was always used to being called a ruthless mobster, cold-blooded killer, or many other names that all meant the same thing: monster. But you called him a good man, and the sincerity in your voice was almost overwhelming.

He cleared his throat and straightened up, making you turn towards him.

“I should probably go… You should get some rest as well.”

You nodded and walked him to the door. In a split-second decision, you leaned up and kissed his cheek, locking eyes with him afterwards.

“If you ever need an escape, or just wanna hang out somewhere different, our door’s always open.”

That made a smile take over his face and he kissed your forehead.

“Thank you, darling.”

And as you watched him round the corner, only your back visible to you, you couldn’t help but feel like this wouldn’t be the last time you ever saw Tom Holland.

i have mixed feelings concerning this story but at least i have ideas for a part two (if i ever decide to make one)

don’t forget to reblog, comment or like if you feel like it <3

[animeyanderelover]

This was requested by @kiyuiaa

Request: Can you do Joker from Black Butler with a darling who is only his good friend and is married to someone else with one child and is pregnant?

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, paranoia, death, sabotage, manipulation

Already taken

🤡Children are a very conflicting topic for Joker. He kidnaps them whilst fully knowing that they’ll die later on. But he always closed his eyes to this, not wanting to disappoint his father.

🤡It’s a bittersweet knowledge for him to know that you’re already married and currently expecting your second child, telling him about this excitedly in a letter. You and him don’t see each other that often since he’s often traveling around with the circus whilst you stay with your husband in one place, taking care of the house and child. A rather typical housewife life.

🤡And he? He’s only your good friend, a term that tastes rotten on his tongue. But no one except the troupe knows that. He isn’t so dumb to show that when he comes over to visit you. He’s used to acting and hiding his true nature, not to mention that he has a lot of patience.

🤡But sich visits are also a reminder for him why he didn’t do anything so far. Every time that small child of yours comes running over and hugging his leg, rambling excitedly that they’re gonna be a big sibling very soon and then running over to their daddy and wanting to be lifted up in his arms. And when you come into this picture as well, looking all happy with your swollen stomach, Joker feels almost terrible.

🤡As a charmer he would of course win the kid’s heart, not that hard since it’s rather easy for him. All he needs is doing a few magic tricks and that kiddo is already begging him for more. And you’re being charmed as well, even though Joker needs to be more careful here to not make it too obvious that he loves you.

🤡Joker is very well aware that what he’s about to do is very wrong, not only ruining your, but also the life of your two children. He most likely spent countless nights thinking about this and if it really is the right thing to do. But hasn’t he already done enough other bad things? Hasn’t he already killed others? It’s not like he wants to kill your children. Only the father has to be gone.

🤡He’ll start with some nice rumors, his troupe members helping to spread them. At first only very subtle rumors, but with time they’ll get more and more extreme until there will be arguments between you and your husband, you slowly starting to doubt him and your husband feeling frustrated because of the rumors and that you don’t trust him. The letters you often sent Joker will get more and more angry, the teardrops on them making Joker feel bad, but such letters also help him judging how far he has to go.

🤡Manipulating the child is another way to reach his goal. The poor kid is already confused enough that their parents suddenly keep ignoring each other, but no one wants to tell them why. And that’s where Joker will come in. The child wants answers and he has them. They’re pretty young and innocent, but sadly also easily to manipulate. He’ll tell the child all the bad things about their father and since the child loves their mummy very much they will of course be very angry at their father. Another hard hit for your husband when even the child starts getting angry at him and confronts him about all the rumors.

🤡During all this time Joker will stay somewhere near when he realizes he’s close to his goal. He acts as your shoulder to cry on and also manipulating you and your child further and further away from your husband. He’s smart about it and other people will start pitying you for the position you’re stuck in, not to mention that people love rumors where they can make the stories go wilder and wilder until it’s nearly absurd. But it’s useful nevertheless and the child will start feeling ashamed of their father the moment other children will ask them about this.

🤡And as much as the child wants a happy family, at one point they might just suggest the idea of leaving their father with their mommy. And at that point this thought will have crossed your mind more than once too, Joker only throwing more and more fuel in this issue that by now every neighbor of yours feels the same.

🤡And the moment you start mentioning to Joker that you by now regret marrying him and just want to get away from your husband is the moment Joker will fulfill you your wish, just to make your husband look even worse he might just let it look like that guy died on an overdose and might even make it look like he spent before that time with another woman. All to make you even more mad and to hopefully make this situation less painful for you.

🤡And you will be mad. Sure, you’ll be sad and devastated as well, but also hella angry because deep down you hoped that the rumors were just rumors. And during such a vulnerable time Joker will be there for you, comforting you and helping you with everything he can. The child will be very upset yet sad as well, Joker also taking care of them.

🤡During the birth of your second child Joker will be there for you, helping you through all the following hours of pain until you hold the bundle of life safely in your arms.

🤡He’ll offer you to take care of you for a while, suggesting that you can join him and the circus for a bit. Your child is most likely all up for it, loving the thought of seeing more of the circus life and other amazing things, not to mention that Joker has by this point succeeded in wrapping the child completely around his finger. And don’t you want to get away from your old life as well? Or do you want other people to keep giving you this look of pity?

🤡You might just agree, keeping in mind that Joker has always been there for you those past few months, not to mention that your kid insists on it. And that’s the moment Joker has won this game, welcoming you warmly in the circus together with all the members.

🤡Baron Kelvin will never find out about you or your children, Joker refusing to let that guy ever find out about you. The whole troupe will act as the new family for the child, everyone wanting to be the favorite uncle or aunt from the two children. And Joker takes of course the father role, especially the younger child who never got to see their real father will see Joker as their father figure and the older child won’t have that hard of a time either. And that is bound to get to you as well if your children keep calling him their father. And who knows, if Joker keeps this facade up and you never find out about what happened, you might start falling for him as well.

[rpmemesbyarat]

RP meme from Werewolf: The Apocalypse "Kinfolk: Unsung Heroes" Introduction & Ch.1

"I have normal human fears and frailties, despite my faith."

"I’m terrified I won’t be there when they need me, that I won’t be able to give fully of myself to save them when the time comes. And the price of my failure, for them, would be too high."

"It was like nothing else mattered, nothing else could fill my eyes like the sight of him."

"Now, of course, I realize I was in shock at the time clammy skin, disorientation, that sort of thing."

"That night misted over my senses; even now, it seems more like a vivid dream than anything else."

"I had to watch. I couldn’t turn away."

"That night, I saw I had to protect him. He needed me, and it’s just as simple as that."

"Let’s just say what I know has come in handy."

"The best folks give the most of whatever they can."

"Think about it — would you like to go through childbirth every nine months from age 14 to 50?"

"We’re human beings, dammit!"

"I’ll always do anything I can to help, even if I’m royally pissed; I don’t expect thanks or money, either. But it would be nice to get some respect."

"I'm not alone in saying that I hate being patronized."

"Give an inch, they’ll take a mile" is what some of them think about us."

"The rhetoric a lot of them use sounds like the same crap bigots give when trying to “justify” why women and minorities shouldn’t have equal rights."

"Just once, I’d like to feel like an equal, a partner in all this."

"Ever think about how hard things would be without us?"

"I see by your scowl that doesn’t satisfy you."

"Think of it as normal family responsibilities, magnified a thousand times."

"It’s practically medieval!"

"I mean, it looks like such fun to turn into a wolf."

"There are connections like you wouldn’t believe. Completely outside the law, these people can get dirt on the opposition, perform b&e without leaving a trace and provide muscle no other boss can beat. All they ask is some capital, some boltholes and a little legal cover. Sweetest deal in the world!"

"What do I think about it? Imagine what it’d be like for someone to call you and say you’d missed out on a million dollars because you got one wrong number on the lottery ticket."

"Some are too caught up in the things of humans —chasing after money to have what advertisers insist they can’t do without, living their soap-opera lives and not seeing what the world is really all about. I pity them."

"There is sweeter revenge than death."

"I laugh with joy thinking how your heart will burst should you ever have to face him in battle."

"It’s a great honor to be who I am, who we are. But it’s scary, too."

"Families can quarrel, snarl and cut one another to the quick, but in times of trouble, they’ll stick together."

"God, Allah, Gaia, the Great Spirit or whoever gave us this job, so we have to do the best we can with it."

"Blood also fetters our lives in hatred as well as love, I’m afraid to say."

"I’m not saying this is a fact, but if she was abused, it might explain some things."

"I’m sorry, I can’t quite imagine a moment of sensual passion with someone I don’t love, much less hardly know!"

"In other words, it’s the connections that’re vital, not the money or the mileage."

"Many have wealth, but not all; lineage, not money, is most important."

"That’s a heavy price to pay in a harsh world."

"Self-sacrifice is also important."

"Sacrifice comes in terms of emotional costs, too."

"It’d be pretty stupid for me to become a gun-toting mercenary, for example."

"To put a positive spin on all this, I guess I’d say it’s nice to be needed."

"I admit I don’t really understand what it is or when it’ll be, but many’s the Irish tale where a small oversight wreaked terrible disaster."

"So I got online and made a few phone calls and tried to get the “truth” in as many forms as I could."

"The word “family” has come to mean a lot more things than the 1950s concept of mommy, daddy and two perfect children."

"Raising children is no bed of roses, either."

"Kids love to test their parents and see just how far they can push and still get away with it."

"There’s no way this could be easy."

"Some days, I have to bite my tongue, and that does get old."

"I was just too stupid and blind to see it."

"I always felt like I was split, alone, part of something I couldn’t name."

"Listen, you have no idea what it’s like to watch someone you love slowly lose her mind."

"There are some, well, bimbos."

"You know, the ones that like to control CEOs and topple careers."

"Here, try a piece of this chicken gizzard. I get ’em real cheap down at the butcher shop. No one else seems to want these extra parts. I grill ’em with a little barbecue sauce and honey mustard. Delicious! Thanksgiving’s always the best time, though. Then there’s turkey necks for the takin’!"

"Our families are pretty big, and we figure even the most distant cousin or friend of a friend’s part of the group."

"I’m sure you know, working with people all the time, how far thanks and a friendly smile go when you’re dead on your feet. It’s like the sun’s come out on a cloudy day."

"I mean, some of that stuff is long outdated!"

"It’s more a matter of belief and pureness of spirit, if you ask me."

"The Network also has a lot of splinter groups that organize among youth, educators, environmentalists and so on."

"The Network also has a lot of splinter groups that organize among youth, educators, environmentalists and so on."

"We’re steadfast and steady, yet vibrant and alive, warriors, artists, writers, musicians beyond compare."

"I don’t know if we can save them, but we won’t give up."

"To be tested and accepted by the greatest warriors in the world — no greater honor can we ask for."

"Think of us as the tiny little parts that hold a machine together. Maybe it could function without us, but not without a lot of wear and tear on the system. You get my drift."

"If leader seems weak, I test him. He shows strength, I stop."

"They’re the ones who are causing all the problems by rebelling against the people in charge. They need to settle down and just be content with what they’ve got, if you want my opinion."

"Why should I worry? It’s a clear day. Traffic’s light, but walking’s fine. You get to see where you’re going. I’ll hit a little town ’fore dark and trade a song or story for some food and a piece of floor."

"Revolutions are intolerable and inexcusable."

"The aristocracy attained their positions for a reason, for only the most worthy were chosen to lead, after all. If the

lower classes overthrow the aristocrats, anarchy is the sure result. One need only look at history; Can the Russians truly say their lot improved after they murdered the Romanovs?"

"History has always been a beloved subject to me."

"I pity those souls, displaced by fortune, who are ignorant of their heritage. How can one know who he is without knowing where he comes from? A man — or woman — is the sum of all who came before."

"Money is not the issue; many great families lost their fortunes, yet retain their nobility."

"It’s a poor teacher who doesn’t learn from her student; in this way, the knowledge of both increases."

"Dreams, of course, are the pathways of our souls; here rest our secret desires, fears and hopes."

"You doubt me. You don’t speak against me, but I can see your heart is dubious."

"There’s no greater glory than to serve the destiny of the universe."

"The lacerations looked exactly like the work of sharp teeth, deep into his flesh."

"I won’t go s’far as to say there’s undying loyalty, but we do have a lot of respect for each other."

"Were I as capable as my ancestors, I’d kill you now and never spare a second thought."

"No atonement can replace those lost children."

"Thus far, we have been lucky, but it’s just a matter of time before someone we don’t want sneaks in. It’s not that I want to close ranks by any means; I just wish we paid a little closer attention to who came in from the cold."

"Yeah, yeah, I know you think we’re a dime a dozen. I’d like to believe we’re a little more special than most."

"We’ve built too much for a rotten apple to spoil it all."

"I don’t believe this guy; it seems almost too perfect to be true!"

[sugarandsoft]

A Picture of the Future

outerxorbit said: Hey bb! I was wondering if you do a fem!reader x kirishima where the reader has a time quirk where she can freeze it for 5 minutes at a time. And when her and kiri are doing an internship patrol together they run into there future child who has developed a time quirk and can send themselves through time. If not that’s fine!

Thank you for being my first request! Since this is literally the first oneshot I’ve ever written, sorry if it sounds a bit awkward. Hopefully my writing will improve in the future! For this oneshot, your hero name is Krona, a spin-off from the Titan Chronos, who controls time. After writing this, I have a newfound appreciation for writers. It was really fun and I hope you like it!

wordcount: 1.7k

You had just finished getting ready for your patrol down the streets of Esuha City. Now that you were third years at UA, Fatgum had decided that you and Kirishima were responsible enough to go on patrols with the recently graduated Amajiki.

“Hey, babe!” your boyfriend greeted in his hero costume. Amajiki trailed behind him, less enthusiastically with his hood covering most of his head. Kirishima ran up to you like an excited puppy and kissed your cheek. “I’m all fired up for patrol! Right, (Y/N)?” You smiled, but flicked his forehead.

“No PDA on the job, Red Riot,” you said with a giggle. Amajiki sighed in the background. 

“Very hypocritical, Krona....” Amajiki muttered. “Can’t I have one day of patrol where I get some peace and quiet?”

“Sorry, Suneater! My bad!” Kirishima replied sheepishly, but you all knew that the same thing was going to happen tomorrow, anyways. You and Kirishima had been dating since your second year, when he had finally decided to ask you out after being friends since elementary school. Of course, your feelings were mutual and you guys had been a couple ever since! 

Usually, nothing really happened on patrol and you guys would occasionally save a runaway puppy or help an elderly person down the road. Suneater, despite his issues with self-confidence, was a powerful up-and-coming hero who was making a name for himself. Within a few years, you thought he’d be in the top 25 heroes, at least. 

Today, the only interesting thing that had happened was when you saved a little girl from a group of muggers. 

“Put your weapons down and surrender quietly!” Amajiki shouted at the group surrounding the small child. 

They looked up and hesitated. Their fear quickly dissipated when their leader sneered. “Oh yeah?” He pulled out a gun-like weapon. “Back off or else this girl’s pretty face’ll be ruined.” The leader held the weapon against the trembling child’s head. 

Suneater cursed under his breath. Now he had to think of a way to subdue them without compromising the girl’s safety. Kirishima, on the other hand, was more reckless. You felt him tense up beside you. In a split second, he was lunging forward. “Hey!” he shouted.

“Red Riot, wait!” you sighed. Your boyfriend, as brave as he was, sometimes was a little too reckless. You closed your eyes and activated your quirk, Stopwatch. Instantly, Kirishima froze mid-stride. In fact, the entire city had stopped moving. Everyone around you had frozen, unblinking. Using the five minutes you had to control time, you grabbed the girl and tied up the rest of the gang. 

As soon as you deactivated your quirk, Kirishima stumbled and fell. “Wha-? Oh,” he realized what happened when he turned around and saw the villains tied up at your feet. 

“Thanks, Krona,” Amajiki said with a small smile. 

“No problem, Suneater,” you replied. “If I didn’t do anyting, Riot over here would’ve done something stupid.”

“Sorry, babe-” Amajiki sent him a pointed look. “- I mean, Krona. That was so manly, though! My girlfriend’s the coolest!” Leave it to Kirishima to leave you flustered instead of ready to scold him. 

“Alright, let’s get this girl to the station. What’s your name, sweetie?” You asked the little girl next to you. She had surprisingly remained silent while the three of you had been talking. As you examined her closely, you noticed she had familiar looking vermilion eyes. The girl simply gaped at you, before bursting into tears. 

“Oh, man...” Suneater mumbled. You weren’t good with dealing with small children and didn’t know what to do. Suddenly, Kirishima moved and picked her up. 

“It’s okay, kiddo! You’re safe now,” he said in a warm voice. “What’s your-”

The girl interrupted him with a wail. “I was so scared, Daddy!”

What?

Your boyfriend awkwardly chuckled. "Kiddo, I think you’re lost. Let’s go find your parents, okay?” 

Amajiki just sighed. “Let’s return to the agency and see what Fatgum can do.”

Once you reached the Fatgum Agency, the girl had calmed down. Amajiki explained what happened and Fatgum decided it’d be best to just ask the girl where she last saw her parents so they could return her to them. She seemed pretty content in Kirishima’s arms and whined when he set her down on the couch in their meeting room. “So what’s your name, kid?” Fatgum asked her once she stopped crying. She narrowed her eyes.

“Uncle, are you okay? I’m Eiko!” she replied. Uncle? What’s with all these familiar names? You thought in your head. I’ve never seen this girl in my life.

“That’s a pretty name!” Kirishima told her. 

“I know!” Eiko exclaimed cheerfully. “It’s really manly!” Everyone in the room froze. The only person who said stuff like that was....

Fatgum ignored the elephant in the room. “What’s your last name?” he asked Eiko. 

“Kirishima!” she exclaimed. At that point, everyone in the room’s jaw dropped. Oh my god. All eyes turned to the man in question.

“Wait, I swear I don’t have a kid! Besides, I’d never cheat on (Y/N)!” your boyfriend shouted to the rest of you. You raised your eyebrows. 

“I believe you, Eijirou, but this kid clearly knows you,” you said to him. Fatgum nodded. Surprisingly, Amajiki decided to cut in. 

“Not to make this weird, but don’t you think this girl looks a lot like (Y/N)? Besides the hair color and eyes, they look really similar,” he mentioned in a quiet voice. 

“Now that you think about it...” Fatgum added. “If you guys ever had a kid, this is exactly what she’d look like!” You turned a bright red. 

“But-!” you squeaked. Of course, you and Kirishima have been dating for a while, but you guys hadn’t even gone to that step yet. Your boyfriend was equally flustered. 

"Of course I look like Mommy! She’s so pretty!” Eiko shouted. 

“How is this possible?” you whispered. 

“Why don’t you tell us how you got here, Eiko?” Fatgum asked the young girl kindly. 

“I was with Uncle Katsu, and he was supposed to get me ice cream!” she exclaimed. “But then Uncle Katsu got mad at Uncle Deku, so he dropped my ice cream! I was really sad, and suddenly I ran into Daddy and Mommy!”

“This doesn’t make any sense at all....” Kirishima mumbled.

“I’ve got it!” Fatgum declared. “Eiko, what year is it?”

“2062!” she replied. “I’m starting kindergarten soon!”

Fatgum turned to the two of you. “I think I know what happened,” he said. “Eiko’s from the future! She seems to have some sort of time-travelling quirk. Since she’s so surprised to be here, I’d guess that this was the first time it manifested. It makes sense considering her age, too.” 

“Oh man,” Kirishima said, overwhelmed with the information. You were still extremely flustered. This means that Kirishima and I - in the future, we’re married? You covered your face in your hands to hide the obvious blush. 

“For now, I’ll have Eiko stay with me, if that’s alright with you,” Fatgum addressed you and Kirishima. 

“But if we’re her parents, shouldn’t she stay with us?” Kirishima protested.

“Eijirou, she doesn’t exist in our reality,” you put a hand on his arm. “We can’t take her to our dorms, either. It’s best for her to stay with Fat for the night so that she doesn’t interact with people we know. It could change the future drastically. Manipulating time is really complicated and even being here right now could erase her existence in our future!” 

Kirishima opened his mouth, but then sighed and nodded. 

“Alright, Fatgum, thank you very much!” he bowed. “Can we still see her tomorrow?”

“Assuming she’s still here, I don’t see why not,” Fatgum replied. “Though, considering (Y/N)’s quirk, Eiko will probably be gone before the end of tonight.”

“Alright then,” you said. “We should get going.” You looked at this girl, Eiko. She really did look like you. It was almost unnerving. 

“Mommy, Daddy, why are you guys leaving?” Eiko’s eyes welled up with tears again. Kirishima knelt down next to her. 

“Don’t worry, sweetie, you’re having a sleepover with Uncle Fat tonight, okay?You’ll see me and Mommy tomorrow morning,” he reassured her. 

“Okay,” Eiko mumbled. She suddenly threw her arms around Kirishima. “Bye-bye, Daddy! I love you!” 

Now Kirishima was blushing. “I - uh- I love you too, Eiko,” he said. He put his hand next to her ear and whispered something to the black-haired girl. She smiled and nodded enthusiastically. 

Then, Kirishima stood up and walked back to you. “Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow, Fatgum, Amajiki-senpai!” he grinned. “(Y/N) and I’ll be back after our classes!” 

You nodded. “Bye, Fatgum, bye Amajiki-senpai.” Kirishima put his arm around your waist and the two of you walked towards the exit. Before you walked out the door, you turned your head one last time to look at your daughter. You smiled and waved. “Bye, Eiko!” you called out to her. 

From the couch, you saw Eiko’s eyes light up. Her mouth opened in a huge smile, showing off her shark-like teeth. “Bye, Mommy! I love you!” she shouted.

Once you were back at the dorms, Kirishima suddenly held you tightly against him. “Eijirou, what’s wrong?” you asked him. He nuzzled his face into your neck.

“Nothing,” he whispered. “I just love you so much. And one day we’re going to be married, and have kids, and-” he choked up, his voice shaking with emotion.

“Aw, Eijirou, I love you too!” You held his face in your hands and kissed him softly. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.” For a few minutes, the two of you just stood there, by the entrance of the dorms, holding each other tightly. You probably would’ve been there for a while longer, if it weren’t for the sudden interruption from one of your hot-headed classmates.

“Oi, Shitty Hair! You’re in the way!” Bakugou stormed into the dorms with his typical scowl. Kirishima only laughed. 

“Sorry, bro! We’ll go to my room.” 

He held your hand and the two of you went to his dorm. After showering and getting ready to sleep, you and your boyfriend lay down in his bed, cuddling under the blankets. “By the way,” you mumbled sleepily, “What did you tell Eiko before we left?” 

“It’s a secret,” Kirishima replied, spooning your back against his chest. “You’ll find out later, babe.”

Eiko had already gone by the time you guys returned to Fatgum’s agency the next day. You weren’t too upset, though. You knew that in the future, you might see her again. And you knew that your love for Kirishima was strong enough to last a lifetime.

[ootori-sibs]

Kyoya's second shot

Episode three: Dawn of a new day

There was something off about Haruhi the next day, none of the hosts knew what was up with her- no one but Kyoya. He smiled the moment he saw her walk in, face curled into a look of disgust. He noted it down as she sat down, frowning.

11:30 - Haruhi has arrived, it's evident Nekozawa has done his job. It's my turn.

He approached her, trying to not to react to the smell. "Are you alright Haruhi? You look troubled." She looked up at him curiously, tilting her head slightly.

"I think Nekozawa-senpai did something to my bag." Oh. She got it instantly, that was unexpected. Kyoya hummed nonchalantly, not wanting to give anything away.

"What did he-"

"Oh heavens!" Here came the darling king, swooping in to save his precious 'princess'. "Are you alright Haruhi? You aren't cursed are you??" Both Haruhi and Kyoya sighed at that, Kyoya instantly feeling furious at her for sighing- why don't you appreciate your boyfriend's care? Huh? Bitch? Kyoya would love and appreciate that kind of care so much, he's only sighing because his plan is already failing.

"Nah I'm not cursed, I think he put something super stinky in my bag…" she hummed in thought, rummaging through the bag. She pulled out a black envelope, the source of the smell. It was closed with a wax seal and written on in crimson ink, a curse in latin.

Dominus soporem in tenebris, et funiculus iste coccineus et habitatores figure non amare Princeps Ouran. classis superioris, dimiserunt eam cadere a gratia Dei.

Kyoya knew Latin, and he found it amusing what Nekozawa had said, making sure to not show any signs of amusement as Tamaki panicked over the clear curse and Haruhi carefully opened the envelope. The curse read: 'Dark lord in slumber, let this scarlet figure never settle in love with the prince of Ouran. Let her fall from the graces of the upper class'. Kyoya absolutely loved the little nod to his own command, Umehito was always one for poetic justice.

Haruhi pulled a burnt stick of elderwood, the rest of the envelope was filled with dodder and deadly nightshade. It was soaked through with a horrendous perfume, Nekozawa's handiwork, with which he'd gotten Kirimis help, the younger a child the more evil, Kyoya's own brother had told him that. She looked at it with a frown, ignoring Tamaki's wide eyes and blabbering expression, instead heading straight to the bin to dispose of the curse. "What a weird guy, wonder how I annoyed him." But it wasn't him she'd pissed off, and she'd soon be made aware.

"How are you not worried!?" The king cried out, clearly genuinely scared his princess would be hurt. "You were cursed!!" Kyoya sighed, he was unbelievably bitter that Haruhi was already fucking things up for him, but also didn't want Tamaki to fret too much.

"And she got rid of it, therefore: no longer cursed." He hated to admit that his plan was already failing but it was ok, he was sure Nekozawa could up his game on the same day. In fact he quickly sent a text to the councils newly made group chat to ensure it.

Shadow king: Nekozawa. You're not doing well enough, Haruhi has located and dispelled your "curse" within seconds. Do better or we'll move forward without you.

Sorcerer: Of course, it shall be done.

Kyoya was glad Nekozawa was taking his job seriously, although it wasn't a real threat, Kyoya needed him for the plan to work. He returned to his seat, silently continuing with the finances.

Not an hour later, Haruhi was sweating like a pig, looking exhausted and so much more what Kyoya had expected from a curse. She told Tamaki she didn't know what was wrong, he clutched her close, cradling her softly. It made Kyoya feel sick… then Tamaki yelped, pulling his hand away from Haruhi's middle back.

"What the hell was that? You're boiling!" He points to a place at Haruhi's back, and the twins come swooping in, pulling her shirt up just so. Salts, a cloth laden with hot water and salts- a fake fever. Kyoya couldn't believe Haruhi hadn't noticed that before now, it was stupid.

"Huh… that's weird, do you think it was Nekozawa again?" Haruhi asked, holding the cloth, the twins shrugged, tilting their heads in unison.

"Not sure, probably." They spoke in unison, clearly feeling something off. "Why is he suddenly targeting you… did you do something to the puppet?"

"Not that I know of…" The four of them began theorising ways Haruhi could have pissed Nekozawa off, perfect, Kyoya had a willing scapegoat.

Shadow king: Do you have a scoop yet, Komatsuzawa?

Bitchboy: I have a few ideas, but I'd like to change my nickname first.

Child: but it's so fitting

Bitchboy: Silence child.

Shadow king: You may change your name once you prove yourself useful. What's your scoop?

Bitchboy: Well her father's "career" is certainly one sure to cause a stir.

Shadow king: Absolutely not, we will not be insulting Ranka in order to bring Haruhi down. He doesn't deserve that.

Bitchboy: What? Ugh, fine. There's also, we could imply she's been with the twins?

Shadow king: But the twins have done nothing wrong.

Kyoya sighed, sure his plan would hurt them all, but he didn't want to hurt his friends unnecessarily. They didn't deserve that… he could feel the guilt building up again. He was never the best with emotions…

"Mommy dear?"

Tamaki's voice rang in Kyoya's ears, startling him slightly, not looking over but just staring at the numbers on his screen, clutching his phone tightly, as if it would suppress the notification sound. "Yes Daddy?" The stupid nicknames Tamaki insisted on using, it just reminded Kyoya of how things should be. He should be the one by Tamaki's side, club mother, vice president, shadow king. They were the monarchs of Ouran, the most powerful students there, why weren't they together..?

"Are you alright?" Tamaki frowned, leaning closer, wrapping his arms around Kyoya and resting his head on his shoulder. Kyoya felt his cheeks heat up, but he was likely wearing enough makeup to hide it. "I was going to ask about the finances but you seem a little on edge mon ami, is everything okay?"

Kyoya felt guilty, Tamaki was so sweet, so good. Kyoya was doing such evil acts, and his beloved had no idea… he had no idea he was even the one Kyoya loved. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath in an attempt to battle the feelings into submission, lest the tears well up. "I'm fine, Tamaki, don't be ridiculous."

"Why are you on edge then?" Kyoya felt his phone buzz gently, putting him even more on edge, luckily it didn't seem like Tamaki noticed. Kyoya wasn't quite sure how to respond to the king's question, he couldn't think of a good excuse.

"Why is it important? There's nothing wrong with simply being startled, I can't always be on high alert, I'm no guard dog." His words bit back at the princeling with venom, he couldn't think of a good defence, so he faked spite and hoped it would work.

Surprisingly, Tamaki did indeed back off, looking confused, and slightly hurt. It was ok though, Kyoya told himself, this was all for Tamaki's sake in the end. He checked his phone.

Bitchboy: We could say she's a lesbian? She did kiss a girl after all.

Not to mention all the hosting she'd done with the ladies… oh, Kyoya could see the headline already. He was almost positive she was bisexual anyway, it wasn't that much of a strech… he paused, what was Akira saying though? Was he suggesting Haruhi didn't really love Tamaki like would be perfect, or was he trying to be homophobic?

Shadow king: Elaborate?

Bitchboy: Do I really need to?

Peasant: well it does sound kinda homophobic to claim that sort of thing could ruin her image…

Bitchboy: Ruining her image is the whole point, moron.

Shadow king: How do you entirely miss the point like that?

It's almost impressive.

But you're the moron Komatsuzawa.

You better find something a little less incriminating of your own mind.

Kyoya sighed heavily, why must he surround himself with such disgusting people. It wasn't hard to find good people, hell, he was surrounded by at least folks good enough at pretending to be good, the issue was that good people never wanted to do bad things. So this was what he must do.

13:30 - The folks I surround myself with make me sick. But it must be done. Tamaki has begun to show slight worry towards my more nervous mannerisms, I managed to get him to stand down. I have yet to perform my duty.

Bitchboy: Of course you'd support that kind of behaviour, Ootori.

Kyoya frowned down at his phone, this little dick… He glanced over at Tamaki, who had just asked him a question, although he had failed to process it. "I'm sorry Tamaki, what was that?"

"I said; are you coming to lunch with us? You haven't joined us at all this week."

"Ah," Kyoya began, it was true he hadn't joined them at all, but that was simply because he hadn't had lunch all week, "I'm afraid I won't be joining you today either, please enjoy yourself." He smiles, a polite, designed to placate, smile. Turning back to his phone, he replied to Akira's message.

Shadow king: And what exactly does that mean?

Bitchboy: Well you're the same aren't you?

Sorcerer: Aw, don't be mean just because you're correct. He's Souh-san's best friend.

Akira had sent another text after that, but Kyoya didn't want to think about it, he'd used a word he didn't even think people used unless they were openly violent, or gay themselves. So that was just wonderful, Kyoya was working with a homophobe, lovely. He decided to at least note this down before doing his own part of the deal.

13:32 - Akira Komatsuzawa is a homophobe.

He left his phone on silent and in his bag, before standing and walking over to Haruhi's bag, digging through carefully, not wanting to make it look too obvious things had been looked through. He took her phone out of the bag, looking it over carefully, oh, she had a cute set of phone charms… little plastic roses, and there was one in each of the host's colours. Even purple. Kyoya took great care with removing that charm, tucking it into his pocket gently. He may mean malice towards the commoner, but he wouldn't hurt anything with sentimental value, at least if it could be avoided.

He made his way to the window, looking out. There were too many people, he couldn't achieve it like this. So he instead went out into the hallway, walking in the opposite direction from the canteen, making his way down to the ground floor and then outside. He knew exactly where to go.

He was a lover of poetic justice, just like Umehito, and he could remember Haruhi's first week. The poor, poor commoner was bullied by one of Tamaki's regulars. That girl had thrown Haruhi's bag in the fountain to the east of the club room, the one with the cherub without wings. As Kyoya made his way to that very fountain, he thought about how ironic it would be if he put her phone in that very fountain. So that's what he would do.

When he got there, he saw the exact girl he'd been thinking about, sat there, with a little bento box her maids had made for her. She looked up at him and frowned. "What are you doing out here? Why aren't you with the rest of your club?"

"Hello Ayanokoji, do you know who this belongs to?" He holds up the phone, knowing full well she knew who's it was.

"That's Fujioka's phone… why do you have it?" She asked him, clearly on the defensive, not understanding why he was here. To answer her question, Kyoya simply lifted his hand and tossed the phone into the water idly. Looking her in the eyes as he does so, watching hers go wide "Wha-? Huh??" It seemed she'd assumed all the hosts were under Haruhi's thumb.

"Help me, Seika Ayanokoji, we have the same goals in mind." He offered her entrance to the council, without letting her know it existed. Kyoya even held his hand out to her, it was obvious from his body language that he was offering her an opportunity, but his words seemed like the deal would only benefit him. So he wasn't surprised to hear her response:

"What's in it for me?" She'd glanced down at his hand in suspicion, before looking back up at him, not trusting his words one bit.

"Oh let's see…" he pretended to think, already knowing exactly what to offer her. "I'll remove you from the club's black list." He knew for a fact that that'd get her going, she was the same as all the other girls after all. Her eyes widening at the prospect of being hosted by Tamaki once again proved him right, although he couldn't say he didn't blame her- they did have similar motives.

She took his hand, standing and giving him a smirk. "You've got a deal, what do you need me to do?"

Kyoya just smiled wickedly in response.

"I want you to do anything in your power to make that commoner suffer. Don't let anyone know I'm involved, but get anyone you want involved. Cause her trouble, make her look bad, make her out to be just what you think of her."

"A little mutt with no pedigree?" She asked, eyes sparkling maliciously, she already knew the answer.

"Precisely, we both know she's not. But the general student body don't need to know that, do they?" He shrugs, casually turning away from her, preparing to walk away.

"You can count on me." She assured, voice full of confidence and spite, exactly what Kyoya needed from his council. He'd originally hated her for being so uppity, then she'd done all that to Haruhi and he'd decided he hated her for being a bully… but bullies can be awfully useful, if you have them on your team.

He got back to the club room, silently tapping his foot on the floor as he took his phone out in order to add her to the group, pausing when he saw Akira's reply.

Bitchboy: Well there is that manager of your club, didn't she pursue the girl?

Kyoya smiled, of course, Renge. She was the perfect scapegoat, it was clear the duo had chemistry. Haruhi had gone to Renge's place after all, no one knows what could have possibly happened there…

Shadow king: Alright then, write your article.

But I will be reading it before it's published.

Kyoya sighed, adding the newest council member to the group chat.

>Seika Ayanokoji joined the group

>Shadow king changed Seika Ayanokoji to Woman#2

Woman#2: Wh

Why do I have to be woman two??

Woman: Bonjour.

Child: Holy shit there are girls here?

Bitchboy: How did we not notice this before?

Shadow king: Miss Ayanokoji will be helping us from now on, she will be present at the next meeting.

I want you all to get along.

He put his phone down just as the other hosts walked back in, combing their hair and adjusting their uniform in preparation to open the club to the guests. Kyoya smiled softly, this was going to be a fun term...

14:12 - Seika Ayanokoji has joined the council, she has been removed from the club blacklist.

A very fun term…

[gerberbabey]

teenagers | platonic!pogues

To celebrate reaching 100 followers I meant to post my first request but i lagged Shoutout to that anon!

Request: fem!reader is from obx BUT shes not the usual denim shorts with a cute tank top and minimal makeup yanno shes a little more alt tiktok girl style/euphoria style and shes SUPER sassy and badass. can the scenario be: at a party and stands up to rafe for kie and its her meeting the pogues? so jus the pogues x platonic!reader.

a/n: to the person that sent the request, i forgot to say in the ask: I love you and i appreciate you. hope you love this ❤️   also the hardest part about this was picking out the outfit 💀

masterlist

warnings: cussing, rafe’s a dickhead, underaged drinking, there is talk of sex no actual sex tho sorry, terrible writing (idk who editing is)

♫ Teenagers by My Chemical Romance ♫

As someone who’s lived her entire life on an island, people found it rather odd that you weren’t much of an “island” person. Despite being born and raised in Kildare County, in the Outer Banks, aka “Paradise on Earth”, there was so much about you that didn’t conform to the same lifestyle as those around you. You tended to step away from doing ocean related activities, stood out specifically in the way you presented yourself, and more recently spent more of your time on the mainland than the islands now that school was out for the summer.

“Do you wanna...go...to the....” Sarah trailed off as she stared up at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to your ceilings. Any idea she had involved dressing down into swim wear and going out to the beach or just ocean in general. And she knew you would turn it down despite being grounded and therefore stuck on the island.

When you’d called her and told her that you were bored and in turn needed her company and entertainment, she didn’t really expect you to tell her that your parents had prohibited you from taking the ferry out to the mainland for the next month.

“Y’know, what’d you even do? To get grounded?” Sarah questioned as she lay on your bed while music played from the vintage record player your parents had copped for you a few years back.

“Me and my friends got caught trespassing,” you mumbled, “It was really stupid.”

“You got caught trespassing?” Sarah scoffed.

“Yeah and the only reason we go caught in the first place was because Andy-you remember Andy?” Sarah nodded her head despite the fact that she didn’t now who you were talking about, “Got super high off an indica strain and fell asleep! Lin and Nico got away cus they left me and TK to take care of him! Andy’s fucking huge!”

“Wha-Ok, why were you even trespassing?”

“Cus...we wanted to skate,” you explained and you rolled your eyes Sarah raised her brows at you.

“(Y/N), you got arrested because you wanted to skate?!”

“No, ok I almost got arrested because Andy’s a big motherfucker!” you retorted and Sarah threw her hands up in exasperation.

It was ridiculous but it made sense. Not only were you and your mainland friends kind of reckless, it made sense that your parents grounded you to the island. Sure they were actually extremely lax and reasonable (If Sarah were to describe your parents she would call them Hippies. Hippies straight out of the 60s.)They were understanding of who you were as a person and loved you for it but always warned you that they drew the line at two things and those things were jail time and life threatening injuries.

Sometimes she wondered how the two of you were friends, but she wouldn’t have had it any other way. You were one of the few people who didn’t make her feel trapped in the relationship you had. You didn’t have overbearing expectations for her and didn’t base her image off of the one she presented to the public. You were friends with her because of who she was rather than who she seemed to be.

“Ok well, your parents aren’t forcing you to stay home so what do you wanna do?” Sarahh questioned and you sighed.

“I don’t know...I...I literally don’t even do anything on this island.”

Sarah glanced at you and watched as you looked at yourself in your mirror. You’d been going through your closet and had already tried on 6 different outfits since she’d gotten there.

“I heard there’s gonna be a kegger on the boneyard?” Sarah brought up and you paused, looking at her through the mirror. Sarah raised her brows, “We could go to the kegger, drink, smoke, and have fun...or we could stay here...bored...while you try on more outfits,” Sarah tried to make the second option less appealing but considering you were...well, you, you only smiled at her.

“Will you tell me how pretty I look?” you fluttered your eyelashes and Sarah scoffed out a laugh as she grabbed a shirt from the pile of clothes on your bed and bundled it up so she could throw it at you.

“(Y/N) I sat here for 2 hours and watched you do your make up. We’re going to the kegger,” she finalized, “You might as well enjoy yourself while your stuck on the island.”

“Bold of you to assume I’ll enjoy myself,” you scoffed, tossing the shirt aside.

"Seriously why don’t you give anyone on this island-aside from me-a chance?” Sarah gave you a hopeful smile.

“Because your brother and his friends wear polos, khaki shorts, and moccasins,” you gave her a mocking smile back and Sarah shrugged as the two of you laughed. You could never understand why Kook boys decided to dress the way they did. Sure the clothes they wore were brand clothing and ridiculously expensive, but that didn’t mean they necessarily looked good.

“Ok, y’know what, I’ll call Topper and we could head out right now. Is that what you wanna wear-”

“Ugh, Topper Thornton? Are you talking to him now?” you groaned and Sarah gave you a look.

“What? He’s cute!” Sarah defended and you rolled your eyes.

“I just don’t trust it. For whatever reason, every cute guy on this island has daddy issues,” you undid the belt around your waist and slipped the large button up shirt off your shoulders, leaving yourself standing in your underwear  and jewelry as you pointed to Sarah to emphasize your point.

“Well Topper obviously does not have daddy issues.”

“Yeah because he has mommy issues,” you snorted and Sarah couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her lips.

“That’s not funny (Y/N)!” she chastised though she was giggling behind her hand.

“Uh, yeah it is,” you shot back and you looked around you at the pile of clothes spread across the floor. You picked up some clothes and too your time to put them on (just to irritate Sarah a little) before you turned to the mirror and looked over your outfit and how it matched with your make up.

“Are you good?” Sarah asked as she slipped her sandals onto her feet. You tilted your head and reached up to muss up your hair a little before nodding.

“Yeah ok,” you answered before you went over to turn off your record player. You stepped over the clothes you’d thrown around the room as you followed after Sarah, making sure to turn your lights off as you went.

“That’s Topper’s car,” Sarah pointed out once you turned around from locking your front door (your parents had banned you from the mainland but that didn’t mean they weren’t allowed to go live their lives) and you tried not to cringe as you noticed that Rafe and Kelce were also in the car.

“Wow, the whole frats here,” you mumbled as Sarah opened the door and let you slide in first.

“Hey (Y/N),” Kelce greeted kindly and you smiled at him, scooting a bit closer so that Sarah could fit in.

“Hi,” you greeted. Kelce was alright. He didn’t really do much aside from follow around Rafe and Topper but outside of that he wasn’t the worst. You thought that maybe if he didn’t feel the need to follow those two around you would get along with him pretty easily.

“Hey,” Topper greeted you awkwardly from the rearview mirror, before he grinned at Sarah. You rolled your eyes even as Sarah nudged at your ribs.

“(Y/N),” Rafe drawled and you tilted your head to the side as you narrowed your eyes at him.

“Rafe,” you replied pointedly.

There was an awkward, tense silence in the car before Topper cleared his throat.

“Let’s go?” he questioned and all of you mumbled back some type of confirmation.

By the time you’d gotten to the Boneyard you were overheated in Topper’s car. You’d shrugged off your cardigan, ignoring Rafe’s glance back at you as you continued to mumble to Sarah about something. Topper pulled up to the side of the road, carefully parking his car amongst the billions of other cars that found themselves at the Boneyard.

“I’m literally sweating so much right now,” you whined as you stumbled out of the car, “Why is it so hot in your car Topper?”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have worn that sweater,” Topper pointed out and you gave him a look.

“Don’t knock my outfit just cus I know how to dress myself,” you scoffed before you headed off, tugging Sarah along with you. The three boys followed after you, talking between themselves. A few people greeted your lot as you made your way into the heart of the Boneyard, where the kegger was being held. There was a bonfire lit and noise all around. You and Sarah found yourselves mixing in with a group of Tourons, talking about something or another. Rafe, Kelce, and Topper were standing only a few feet away with some of their usual Kook friends.

“Should we get a drink?” you asked Sarah as you settled into the atmosphere and Sarah took a deep breath before she looked over to the keg. In the center of the beach party was usually John B and his usual crew of JJ, Pope, and Kie. The keg was currently being manned by Kie Carrera herself, her 3 friends out of sight. Sarah pursed her lips and shook her head.

“I don’t really wanna head over there,” she told you and you raised a brow.

“You’re gonna drag me to this kegger and....not go to the keg...because of a girl you kind of had beef with your freshman year?”

“(Y/N),” Sarah said firmly and you rolled your eyes.

“Ok I’ll go get us drinks,” you put your arms up and Sarah opened her mouth to protest but you only waved her off as you made your way through the beach. The sand was a little firmer around the Boneyard so you didn’t have to worry that much about your shoes or your ankles giving out on you.

You stepped into where you figured people were lining up to be handed drinks and smoothed out your outfit, ignoring the looks being shot your way. You were used to those at this point.

“Do you always walk off by yourself?”

You tried not to roll your eyes into the back of your head as Rafe stepped up beside you, following the motion of the haphazard line to get closer to the keg.

“Do you always have to bother me?” you replied and Rafe shook his head.

“Yeah I don’t know what your problem with me is (Y/N) but-”

“But?” You cut off Rafe, staring up at him as he clenched his jaw in irritation, “We don’t need to get along Rafe. I’d limit all unnecessary interaction with you if I could, but you just...keep following me around.”

Rafe stayed quiet as you turned away and stepped forward.

“Hey, can I get two?” you requested and the girl manning the keg, Kie, laughed as she filled up a red solo cup.

“Geez up for a wild night?” she looked up, half way to handing you your first cup, and stopped short as she noticed who she was talking to.

“More like an ok night,” you told her taking the cup from her and ignoring the look of shock on her face.

“Oh uh...yeah...I totally get you,” she laughed awkwardly and picked up another red solo cup to fill. You rolled your eyes while she wasn’t looking. You didn’t wanna be caught up in whatever beef these two girls had. You were friends with Sarah sure but it’s not like what Kie had allegedly done was that huge of a deal. Not like anyone had actually gotten arrested (Literally. The cops had arrived and had only asked for the noise level to go down). And you knew Kie. She and Sarah had been best friends at the Kook academy your freshman year and you had been acquaintances with both of them. And though their relationship broke abruptly, and Sarah had begun getting closer to you, you didn’t understand the need to ostracize Kie for something that you weren’t sure she even did.

“Uh so how’s that going so far?” Kie questioned glancing at you and you shrugged.

“I mean I’ve been here for a,” you checked your bare wrist, “solid 20 minutes at least and I’m not arrested or dead so it’s alright.”

“For you, 20 minutes seems pretty good,” Kie joked and she paused unsure if she could even joke with you like this. It was common knowledge that you tended to avoid the Outer Banks and it’s residents as much as you could once no longer tied down to school. Yet as you only chuckled and agreed, Kie smiled, tucking some lose hair behind her ear, “I like your outfit by the way. Not very beach practical, but still very cute.”

“Am I ever beach practical,” you responded and Kie laughed as she nodded in agreement.

“That’s true.”

As Kie reached out to hand you your second cup, a larger hand snatched it up. The lighthearted atmosphere immediately dropped to a tense one as the two of you looked up in unison.

“Oh shit thanks Kiara,” Rafe laughed and you and Kie both shot him a glare.

“Don’t call me Kiara,” Kie hissed and Rafe only shrugged, smirking smugly.

“I think I’ll call a rat whatever I want,” he spit and Kie looked down at the sand in dejection as you frowned at Rafe.

“What the fuck Rafe, are you serious?”

“Hey, I just call out it how it is,” Rafe shrugged.

“I’m not a rat, kook,” Kie’s jaw was clenched in anger.

“Just leave dude,” you told Rafe, “You’re literally being an asshole for nothing.”

“Are you seriously defending her (Y/N)?” Rafe turned to you and you squared up in front of him despite his obvious height advantage. You wouldn’t let someone like Rafe Cameron intimidate you, “I thought you were friends with my sister?”

“And this is any of your business how?” you questioned and Rafe shoulders straightened up in an obvious feeling of defensiveness. Kie’s eyes were wide in shock as she glanced between you and Rafe. Something she definitely didn’t expect was one of Sarah’s closest friends coming to defend her against Sarah’s brother. But you had always been different from the other Kooks and Kie should’ve never underestimated that aspect of you.

“Hey you got an issue or something Kook!?” a voice called out and Kie watched as JJ, with John B and Pope following after him, made their way through the crowd of people. Rafe looked at them over your head but you didn’t even glance away.

“This isn’t your issue Pogues. It’s not always about you,” Rafe huffed and you tilted your head.

“Oh and it’s about you, Rafe?” you questioned and the attention turned back to you. Your necklaces jingled as you adjusted your footing, “Of course it is right? Why else would you be hanging around a bunch of teenagers?”

“You need to watch what you say next,” Rafe breathed, a hostile smile on his face.

“You’re an adult Rafe...and you subject yourself to hanging around people three years younger than you because you have no other way of maintaining your bullshit superiority,” you spoke in a low tone, eager to get under Rafe’s nerves and Rafe’s nerves only, “Oh...sorry if those words were too big for you,” you smiled up at him as your audience chuckled at Rafe’s expense.

From the side the four Pogues watched the interaction go down with wide eyes. They had barely acknowledged the Kooks who had pushed their way to the front of the scene and Sarah, Topper, and Kelce watched the two of you with anticipation. Rafe’s jaw clenched before he licked his lips and smiled that predatory smile of his, he leaned in close to you and you didn’t make a single attempt at back down or away from him.

“Yeah I’m real sure you didn’t think that when I was fucking you on my family’s boat the other night,” he said and a glance to the side indicated that the closest people, that being Kie and her Pogue friends, had heard him. You huffed as you tried to keep your cool.

“Y’know what Rafe? Maybe I would’ve actually enjoyed you fucking me...if you weren’t so far up your dad’s ass-” You gasped in unison with the crowd’s sudden yelling as Rafe threw his cup-drink and all- onto your entire front.

“OOOH SHIT!”

“What the fuck Rafe!?”

“Rafe stop it!”

Topper was quick to pull back Rafe as JJ and John B rushed to step in front of you. You panted heavily as Pope and Kie pulled you back and away from where a fight was very likely going to happen.

You sputtered at the sudden beer that had gone up your nose and you brought a hand up to try and wipe it off of your face, your make up likely ruined beyond repair at this point.

“You are such a pussy Rafe!” JJ yelled and Rafe let out a roar of anger as he broke out of Topper’s grip and shoved at JJ. John B shoved him back and return and soon enough the first punch was thrown. The crowd jeered at them in excitement, cheering them on as Topper, John B, JJ, and Rafe pummeled one another.

“Hey hey hey, are you ok?” Kie questioned you in a haste and you huffed as you wiped at your face once more, slicking your wet hair back.

“Fine-I’m fine! It’s literally...beer and a plastic cup,” you told her to try and stop her from fretting. If she was anything like Sarah...You shook your head and tried to gently push away Pope’s hands as you turned to watch the fight go down. The Kooks seemed to have gotten the upper hand so far and though you cringed you weren’t too surprised. Rafe was a pretty big guy, bigger than John B at least, and Topper seemed to hop onto JJ when the other blonde was already down.

“I think you should be more worried about your friends,” you pointed out and Kie and Pope whipped their heads up to watch their friends fight a losing battle.

“Shit!” Pope hissed.

“Dammit,” Kie breathed, “Get the hell off of them!” she yelled fruitlessly.

“Should I call the cops or something?” you questioned and Pope and Kie stared at you with wide eyes.

“What?! No!” Pope yelled and you put your arms up in defense.

“Ok jeez relax,” you chastised and Pope shrugged, embarrassed. The three of you watched the fight for only a moment longer before you cursed and rushed into the midst of it.

“(Y/N)?!”

“Jesus what is she doing?!-”

“(Y/N) stop!”  

A flurry of voices called out to you as jumped onto Toppers back and tried to get him off of JJ. Topper struggled against you, clearly disoriented and agitated.

“Get-” Topper pulled your arms from around his shoulders and you yelped as he shoved you off. You landed harshly on the sand but quickly scrambled to get back up. If you learned anything from skating, it was get the fuck up as soon as you could and pretend shit didn’t hurt.

“What the fuck are you doing (Y/N)!?” Topper yelled at you and you shoved him back to the general direction of where you figured Kelce and Sarah were as JJ tried to get himself together and Rafe and John B grappled with one another.

“Stop Topper,” you told him firmly before you turned, keeping your hand on Topper’s chest, “Rafe! Quit it, for fuck’s sake!”

JJ had gotten up at this point and was quick to shove Rafe off of John B and into the sand. John B staggered to stand up straight and you winced at the bruises already forming on his face. The two pogues stumbled back and away from Rafe and the Kooks, leaving you in the middle of their standoff.

“Alright, party’s over! Get the hell off our side!” JJ yelled and there was a murmur within the crowd as they began to disperse. Pogues and Kooks sneered at one another as they walked off toward their cars and Tourons only shrugged off the events of the night, clearly not looped into the deeper conflict of the island.

“C’mon (Y/N),” Rafe spit blood out onto the sand as Topper, Kelce, and Sarah stood behind him.

“Fuck you Rafe” you retorted, crossing your arms. You looked past him to Sarah and the girl only furrowed her brows, unsure of what you wanted her to do.

“Why don’t you just leave her alone Cameron?” JJ moved to stand beside you and everyone, including you, looked at JJ in surprise. John B raised a brow at his best friend but moved forward to stand by your other side as Rafe ground his teeth. The tall male ran a hand through his slicked back hair, pushing into a messy look that you’d usually be all over, but you couldn’t stand him right now.

“Fine, if you wanna stay here with these dirty Pogues, than be my fucking guest,” Rafe huffed and you only shrugged, unbothered.

“Better than being around you right now.”

“(Y/N)...” Sarah called and you looked at her. Her eyebrows were furrowed in distress and you couldn’t help the pang of guilt that shot through you for a moment but you stood your ground, “C’mon...please?”

“Sarah I love you but I didn’t even wanna come here tonight, let alone hang around your psycho brother. I’m not leaving with you guys,” you concluded, before you reached down to take your shoes off, “I’m just gonna fuckin’ walk.”

You ignored the calls of your name as you walked away from the boneyard and out onto the street. You didn’t really care that your socks were probably super dirty now, or that it was starting to get cold and you were drenched in beer. Alright...well you did kind of care that you were drenched and smelled like beer. You pulled your phone out and sighed at the message from your parents telling you that they’d be staying in your grandparent’s home in the mainland.

All your friends were on the mainland. Aside from Sarah. And maybe Scarlet but you really didn’t wanna deal with her right now.

The sound of a car pulling up beside you made you roll your eyes.

“Leave me alone please,” you told them, not even sparing whoever it was a glance as you continued walking.

“Not happening princess.”

You turned to look at JJ and the Pogues in surprise.

“Kie?” you questioned pausing in your trek. Their van followed as John B pressed on the breaks.

“Hey (Y/N),” Kie was leaning out the window of the passengers seat, her eyebrows furrowed in worry, “Let us take you home?”

“I really don’t-”

“C’mon (Y/L/N), it’s freezing and your dripping beer. Just get in the Twinkie,” JJ pulled the van door open even further, motioning for you to get in. It was kind of them, really it was. But JJ’s tone had irritated you and your hardheadedness so you only crossed your arms, your shoes dangling from the tips of your fingers.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because we....are offering you warmth and transportation?” JJ sassed.

“JJ. Shut up,” Pope slapped JJ’s chest and the blonde shot him an offended look. Kie rolled her eyes at them and opened the passengers side, stepping out of the car and walking up to you. She hugged herself, a bit insecure as she stood a few feet from you.

“I just..really wanna thank you. For defending me against Rafe,” Kie started, “And uh...I feel like I’ve always kind of judged you just cus you became Sarah’s friend after what happened between me and her, but you’re really cool...and you didn’t have to defend me, but you did.”

You shrugged.

“Doesn’t take much to be a good person,” you answered and Kie nodded.

“Yeah...um but..I just feel bad...that you got caught in the middle of that when you didn’t have to. So please let us take you home? I’m not even trying to...return the favor or anything...it’s just the right thing to do for someone who's always been cool with me...”

You pursed your lips and bit your cheek as Kie looked at you pleadingly.

“You are so corny...” you murmured and Kie only chuckled as she led you over to the van. She slid the door closed behind you as you made your way over to a vacant spot.

“Hey there,” JJ greeted with a grin and Pope waved at you awkwardly.

“Not gonna happen Maybank,” you told him bluntly and his grin dropped.

“Ohoshit,” Pope coughed and Kie snorted as John B shook his head, shifting the gears and driving off toward the other side of the island.

“Wha-hey you never know,” JJ teased and you chuckled.

“Hmm, the rebellious surfer boy isn’t really my type JJ. Sorry.”

“Really? What’s your type then?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” you smirked, crossed your legs and leaning back against your seat.

“I would like to know actually, that’s why I asked,” JJ quipped and you laughed.

“Ok fine...My type is Heyward here,” you nodded toward the boy and he straightened up in surprise. Pope’s mouth dropped and he floundered for a moment, pointing to himself.

“Pope?! Really?” JJ yelped as Pope smacked him upside the head.

“Screw you JJ,” Pope hissed, though there wasn’t any true animosity in it.

“Yeah I mean Pope’s really cute. Aside from Pope I’d also say Kie but I didn’t want you getting too excited.”

Pope flushed at the compliment and JJ’s eyes widened as he looked over to Kie. The girl turned to look over her shoulder in shock. She turned back to face the front, her cheeks warm, and a smile on her face as John B chuckled from the driver’s seat.

“Sorry bubba but I’d pick Pope too,” John B said and JJ made an offended noise.

“Hey!”

Your group laughed and you couldn’t help but sink into the comfortable and fun atmosphere that came with being with these Pogues. Perhaps you should’ve tried to give them a chance before.

“Oh shit uh where do you live again?” John B asked.

no part 2 sorry :/

[tiredbitchposts]

Y’all wanna know what grinds my gears? The fact that people still say that Jason Todd deserved to die because he was an ‘’annoying Robin’’. Allow me to explain why:

All Robins are annoying little shits

Dick Grayson? Original little shit with a big ass temper, bad fashion, rebellious teen fase that was just annoying, could be condescending, lashes out at people when angry and had a horrible haircut (I’m not a fan of the prep-school kid hairdo on him,okay?)

Jason Todd? Punk ass bitch who also has a horrible temper, fucking petty, annoying nerd, has both daddy AND mommy issues coming out of his ears and had no friends except that penpal of his

Tim Drake? Smart ass, condescending little shit, sometimes acts like a sexist know-it-all and he practically spent his entire run monologuing  that he was not Jason Todd and that Jason’s death was his fault (not blaming the kid for that one, just the writers)

Stephanie Brown? Bad temper, daddy issues, smacked Batman in the face and actually caused a gang war on less then two weeks on her run as Robin (They killed her too but whateves)

Damian Wayne? Supreme brat, even more condescending than Tim and that’s a feat, Always tries to pull the whole ‘’Blood son’’ shit when it’s well known that heroes aren’t good with kids related to them by blood, he’s quite a feral child, acts like he’s better than everyone, speaks like he’s a targaryen doing their whole ‘’It’s my birthright” thing, really tried to kill Tim, fought the whole family and, as much as i want to ignore it bc it’s bad writing, he has an actual secret prison

See? All of them are annoying. If we started killing robins based on how annoying they are then there would be no Robin at all

[arlandvery]

When I Close My Eyes (You Don’t Disappear)

So what started as what would have been a little blurb based on a concept or two by @yandere-love-love-love and another fic also inspired by them by @heroes-r-us boomed into this thing with the help of my awesome buddy @veninos-posion (seriously my dude, thank you for putting up w/ my rambling and my issues, I don’t deserve you) it’s now turning into a fic, rather than a one shot.

So, disclaimer: I love Rei, I love Enji, I love bnha. This is probably just gonna be something I’m writing for fun, unlike my other bnha fic, a Vague Sensation of Shock. I do not approve of rape, of stalking, or anything of the like, this is just a fic.

TW: rape, dissociation, abuse

Dinners with your family had always been quiet, when you were a little girl. You can’t remember how it started, if anything even started it. But you remember the frosty silence and the tension, fighting the urge (and sometimes failing) to just devour everything on your plate as fast as you could and escape. Sometimes you got out before the fighting started. Sometimes you didn’t. When you moved out, you swore you’d never put yourself in a position where you felt so small and see-through.

But now, sitting in this dining room having a nice evening meal with your captors and their children?

You’d gladly go back to those meals.

Anything, you realized, fighting back your rising panic, would be better than this. Sitting here and smiling and nodding at the right time, dressed up and presented like a doll. A silent trophy for the monsters sitting around you.

You drank your tea and listened to Rei chat with Natsuo while Enji made conversation with Fuyumi.

It was comfortable, certainly more comfortable than you would have expected, having volunteered at the hospital.

There was underlying tension, yeah- it was in the way that Enji would have to take a deep breath and go quiet for a beat or two, or how Natsuo cut his eyes at his father. But they were all going out of their way to avoid antagonizing one another.

You knew for a fact that their family counselor would be fucking thrilled.

What a joke it was now, how much you’d worried about her going home, how much energy you’d wasted on it.

“Dear?” Rei’s gentle voice brought you out of your thoughts, and you looked at her, frowning. Shit. Everyone was looking at you, not good.

Enji’s warning, low and ominous rattled through your skull again.

“I’m sorry, I was somewhere else, what did I miss?” It shouldn’t have been so easy to lie, to laugh awkwardly and blush like you meant it.

“I was just wondering how things are at the hospital,” Fuyumi repeated for you patiently. Right, their daughter was a teacher. She was probably used to wandering attention spans. At the hospital you’d thought her a polite young woman with a pretty smile. Now, the fact that she had her mother’s face predisposed your hesitation with her. The same logic applied to Natsuo.

But the question was a problem. Did they want you to lie? What if they decided to visit the hospital and see you- wasn’t Natsuo studying something in medicine?

“I’m not volunteering at the hospital anymore,” You admitted, with a casual shrug.

“We thought it was best if she focused her attention here, instead of divvying it up between the hospital and your mother.” Enji took over smoothly. On cue, Rei looked away, ashamed, and the table frosted over briefly, the children collectively wincing.

You wondered if they practiced this during your naptime.

“Well it was sweet of you to keep Mom company,” Fuyumi assured, trying to get back to something less sensitive.

Damn it all.

“What can I say, your mother’s company is lovely.” You smiled sweetly, and Rei took your hand. It would be innocent, something two friends would do, but you knew the truth and you hated it.

Her hand was soft and gentle, and her thumb brushed over your knuckles. You managed a small smile at her and drank some more tea. It wasn’t often that it wasn’t drugged anymore, it was best to just take advantage of it while you could.

Natsuo hugged you on his way out. It was brief and friendly, casual, not cold or burning like either of his parents and you couldn’t help but relax into the embrace for the brief time it lasted.

“Thank you for taking care of her.” Natsuo breathed. You felt your gratitude catch in your throat.

Of course.

“It means a lot, that there’s someone to keep her company and keep him in line.” His grin was awkward but endearing.

You became acutely aware of several truths at that moment.

1.      Natsuo was around your age.

2.      He was a handsome young man.

3.      You felt angry eyes on you and knew that if you didn’t step away you were going to be in a lot of trouble very soon.

Gently you pulled away, the urge to tell him the truth dying on your tongue. There wasn’t time, and who knows what Enji would do. To him and to you both. Fuyumi hugged you too, but that didn’t elicit the same reaction from her father.

“Thank you for dinner, it was great being all together.” She directed the blanket statement at everyone, and you stepped back, away from the door.

It was so tempting, to just run.

To in the very least humiliate them and force them to expose what they were to their children. Their children who wanted to believe the best in their mother.

You caught Enji’s eyes and stopped looking at the door, didn’t want to think about it anymore.

When you first met Natsuo and Fuyumi you’d been someone strong. You hadn’t looked away from the people you were volunteering to help. You weren’t a nurse, but you’d seen some shit, had been part of some awful things. You’d thought you could handle anything.

But now, here you were, afraid of looking at a fucking door for fear of hands capable of branding you.

The door shut behind the siblings like the closing of a gate. You watched Rei wait, counting off the seconds in her head before she moved forward and began to lock it,

One by one by one by one.

Had Natsuo noticed and not said anything? Fuyumi?

After all, who has 7 locks on their door? On top of the security system. Not to mention the pro-hero perfectly capable of defending his home.

Was it so easy to look past what wasn’t right? To ignore it and only see what you wanted to see?

(Had there been signs of Rei’s obsession? Of Enji’s? Had you just brushed it off, could you have done something, gotten her help, saved yourself? Would you still be here, their perfect little doll?)

“You did so well, darling,” Rei gushed, wrapping you in her embrace, pressing close. You felt sick.

Rei smelled like vanilla and soap, a scent that was comforting and nice. Everything about her was so soft, from her skin to the brush of her hair on your cheek when she leaned down to press a kiss to your lips.

“I’m so proud, you handled their questions so well,” oh. The volunteer thing. You tried to smile at her. Enji’s heavy hand rested on your shoulder, squeezing. You glanced up at him, nervously- there was a small smile flickering beneath his flames. You relaxed, just a bit.

You’d succeeded, you’d made it through.

“Come on sweetheart, you must be exhausted. We’ll have some quiet time with Mommy and Daddy and then your bath, okay?”

Yeah. Quiet time sounded good.

“Yes ma’am.” Her lips on your cheek, soft and gentle.

Quiet time was strange that day. Rei didn’t read to you, instead she and Enji just wrapped themselves around you. While Enji still had the brunt of your weight on him, Rei joined you, twining her legs with yours and tucking your head to her chest. You just closed your eyes and tried to relax.

One thing could be said about sitting in Enji’s lap that was quite pleasant, okay, several things. He was always warm, and in the process of trying o contain you, he acted as a sort of blanket. Sometimes that warmth, combined with the steady beat of his heart, made it very difficult to stay awake. Likewise, while Rei’s body temperature was colder than her husband’s, her softness made up for it, and she always smelled so nice…

“She did well.” Enji mused, and you didn’t move.

“Not even a hint of trouble.” Rei agreed, hands stroking your hair.

The trouble with this situation, you decided, was that you had no idea if they thought you were sleeping already or were just talking about you like you didn’t understand. Both possibilities were viable. You didn’t move, kept still, trying to focus and not give yourself away.

It reminded you of when your parents would fight, when you would sit on the top of the stairs and listen, because if you didn’t know what was going on than no one would tell you. It became some sort of fucked up game; how much could you listen to without giving yourself away? How long could you sit without moving a muscle?

“So…?” Rei breathed. Her voice was shaky, and her heart thundered in your ear.

“Are you sure? It’s…it’s a big step.” There was an extra warmth on your lower back as Enji’s hand engulfed his wife’s.

What was a big step, though?

“I’m positive, Enji. We’ll make it work.”

That didn’t sound good. At all.

“Alright.”

They lapsed into silence, and Rei began to hum.

You wished you could sleep, but instead all you could do was try not to think.

Bath time was so awkward it took your mind off everything. It always did.

Shame and shyness were old friends and privacy was a middle school classmate you’d lost contact with in this house.

You keep your eyes closed and just cooperate. It’s so much easier.

Rei sat you down after she’d dried you off, to comb your hair and apply lotion to your body.

You hated this part so much…

In the bath, at least there was water and a bathtub to hide…something. But not now, when you were laid bare.

Rei was watching you, smiling a little, and she seemed to take a long time, longer than usual. The more you looked at her, though, the stranger she looked. She did this at the hospital sometimes, got lost in her head. You could relate. But her hands were still…

Your throat felt dry.

“Mommy?” You said quietly, watching the recognition come back in her eyes. The empty smile became a real one.

“You are so beautiful, baby, so perfect for us…” She leaned down and kissed you. It never made you feel any less uncomfortable. You just wanted your pajamas and to crawl into bed, even if it meant more time with them.

You missed alone time so fucking much.

But Rei didn’t dress you, even though you were finally finished. Instead she started touching you again, fingers trailing down your collarbone, your breasts, teasing your nipple…

“Mommy, please, I’m tired, I want to go to bed,” you begged softly. It wasn’t technically an outright no, and they loved it when you played along with their sick little fantasy, so it was the only sort of protest you could get away with when they started this.

But Rei laughed at you, and you knew you wouldn’t be getting out of this tonight, no when Enji finally began to undress, half hard already. “I know princess, but Mommy and Daddy are so proud! You deserve a reward, don’t you? For being so sweet for us,” your face was warm, you always got red when you were aroused, something that they both took ridiculous delight in.

The first time that they’d fucked you, they’d tempted you to be a big girl again, and stupid and desperate, you’d fallen for it.

Enji’s hands, he had such big hands, slipped between your thighs, opening them. His expression was focused, but not hateful, not like it could be. That wasn’t part of their game when they did this- bad girls didn’t get rewards like this.

Daddy’s fingers worked you open slowly, so so warm…you moaned and rocked your hips, closing your eyes.

You could pretend it was just a dream. You could turn a nightmare into a dream.

The contrasting temperatures did wonders for your sensitivity, the warmth in your cunt, the goosebumps where Mommy’s touch danced. She experimented with her quirk sometimes, frost dusting across your skin, only to be matched with Daddy’s heat, leaving you gasping, aching begging for more from them.

It’s an exercise in patience as Mommy and Daddy tease you; they always go slow because they don’t want to hurt you, Daddy’s a big man, after all, and if they don’t prepare you then it’ll hurt in the morning.

Daddy took his fingers away, and a whine wormed it’s way up your throat before you could stop it, only to be swallowed by one of Daddy’s searing kisses, hungry and dark.

(Enji’s kisses reminded you of the cheap red wine you drank when you were broke and lonely in your apartment. It was cheap, popular, and heady; you would open the bottle and the smell was strong enough to make you dizzy. Kissing Enji was like drinking the bottle while standing in a burning house- he smelled like smoke, like fire, like home)

“Daddy, Daddy please, please I want it,” you heard yourself begging, and Mommy sighed.

“I know pet, and you’ve been patient.” He agreed, opening your thighs wider and lining up. You felt him easing his way in and you whimpered instinctively.

Mommy’s hand curled around yours as she crept closer.

Daddy fucked you slow and deep; he touched all the right places, but he wouldn’t touch that place, the one that made you see stars. They liked to make you suffer as long as they could.

You were drifting now, your body felt good, you didn’t have to pay attention, not when Mommy had your hand between her legs and used it to make herself feel as good as Daddy made you. Your fingers worked her rhythmically, she’d taught you what she liked. You would have stayed away, content to just…be, until Daddy started talking.

They’d taught you the hard way that you had to listen when Mommy and Daddy talked.

“We didn’t think you’d behave so well, pet, we had an agreement, Rei and me,” he said casually, as if he wasn’t fucking you. Mommy made a breathy noise that you recognized as half a laugh and half a moan. “If you didn’t slip up, if you didn’t embarrass yourself we were going to give you something.”

“Something wonderful,” Mommy agreed, smiling. “It will be wonderful, precious,” it was getting harder to go away, to put distance between you.

“What…what are you giving me?” Your voice was so small, so weak, why did they do this to you?

Mommy’s free hand, which had been playing with your nipps, you realized now, trailed down to rest on your tummy, cupping it gently. Her smile was so nice… “We’re going to give you a baby.”

The fear brought you back.

You whined, beginning to squirm, but Rei kept talking, kept…

“Imagine, a new baby, so sweet and soft, all for us. A baby for our baby. I’d do it myself but…” A shadow crossed over her face, and Enji leaned forward to kiss it away.

Rei’d told you about her difficulties in getting pregnant before. It was something that Enji had failed to account for when he’d decided to marry her for her quirk. Besides her 4 children, there’d been several miscarriages, miscarriages that Rei’d never had a chance to grieve for before her hospital visit, you remembered. You wondered if Enji’d grieved. Or even cared.

“You’ll be so lovely, won’t you? You’ll be good and give us all a baby, won’t you, angel?” Tears pricked your eyes and you couldn’t get the words out as Enji’s thrusts picked up the pace, you had to struggle to stay focused, even.

“M-Mommy, please, I-I can’t,”

“But you can. Mommy and Daddy will help you. You’d just have to carry it, and you know Mommy will take such good care of you,” she cooed, her fingers dipped lower, and you arched when she applied pressure to your clit. Throughout all this, Rei was still riding your own hand, though, judging by the flush crawling up her neck, it wouldn’t last much longer.

You didn’t want a baby.

You didn’t want one more threat hanging above your head here.

Enji’s hips were slamming into you now, and Rei’s breathing was erratic.

“You’ll take what we give you, little girl.” He snarled lowly, and you flinched at the gathering heat in his palms. “You’ve been behaving so well, are you really going to disappoint us now? When you’ve come so far?” He sounded almost gentle in contrast to how he was touching you, and looked at you like he was trying to understand.

Your head was spinning so fast you didn’t know how it wasn’t flying off.

Rei came with a sigh, body locking briefly, gripping your arm.

You fought the urge to gag.

She was kissing you again, panting, touching you.

The tension in your belly was gathering, you couldn’t stop it, not without getting hurt.

“Won’t it be wonderful to be a family with us?” Rei mused, and fuck, what were they doing that those words made you cry? The tears stung your eyes and Mommy kissed them away, shushing you.

“What if I don’t get pregnant?” You whispered, because that was always a possibility, wasn’t it? Some women just had problems.

Enji’s sharp thrust dragged a soft wail from you as he changed angles, finally, finally giving you what your body begged for. “Then I’ll just keep filling you, over and over, until it takes.” You whimpered and closed your eyes, his hot breath in your face.

When you came, time stopped. But Rei and Enji’s touches kept you tethered to reality, like always. They couldn’t even give you an out that way. Enji finished with a snarl that vaguely reminded you of the demon masks used in theater.

Enji stayed inside for a long time, but when he slipped out he lifted your hips so Rei ould slip a pillow under them. To keep him inside.

You wished you had a razor, or a gun, or bleach.

You could only lie there and pray that it wouldn’t take, that nothing would come from their desires, that nothing else could be added to this fucked up equation that they called a family.