#people were not meant to do THAT on ICE we are not built for that and YET

[exopelagic]

THAT GUY WAS A US FIGURE SKATER

[tkachuktkaching]

A few of the highlights

After he threw the pitch in the Marlins game in Miami which he was still recovering from a shoulder injury (right after he got traded) he went into his back yard and and practiced and threw 5 pitches to prepare but he's much healthier than two years ago.

Some talk on Jayson Tatum and how he makes 6 times as much as him and he always knew he was destined for the big time in the NBA and he was always a stud.

They always talked as kids about making the nba and nhl respectively.

The video was technology class in 7th grade before high school.

His dad wanted to go with him to the baseball pitch and his mum was out of town.

He loved hanging out with jayson and catching up for a few hours.

He talked about Sherwood in 2020 he tried a few brands, he helped with the design process and was their first hockey player since their rebrand.

He talked going to Raising Cains, he was partying and going to eleven and without sleep and he had agreed to do things prior to the final. He talked about all the opportunities to do extra signings and things.

He decided to a interview with sports net and decide to give a shout out, he loves the people in Calgary and hates the people in Edmonton and he got family in Winapeg including his Grandpa.

He was excited to play in the charity golf tournament, he loves Charles Barkely and playing with TJ Oshie and the Kelcie brothers were cool.

And how he ended up singing We Are The Champions with Charles Barkley.

He was excited to meet the different people from the different sports.

He got engaged on the Thursday before game 1 in the playoffs and flew in his parents and fiancé's parents had a big celebration then went no booze for the whole playoffs and plans to do that again.

His special memories of the playoffs were the off ice stuff playing poker the comradeship with the guys.

He's sad the teammates that left but excited they got the offersheet and got paid and set for life and is excited to see them for dinner when they see them.

He was pissed after game 5 because he didn't want to go to Edmonton but he was so confident ahead of game 7 he wanted to do it for his family that got him there, he talked how his dad and Brady walked him to his car and wanted to do it especially for them.

He drives to the arena on his own he goes early getting there 4 hours early. Sam Bennet got a mention for liking to sleep and goes much later.

How incredible the emotions of his family and being the first tkachuk to win the cup,

Bringing his dad into the lockeroom was what it meant to him and his whole family.

Singing Brady praises for being so supportive and believes Brady will win it, he's too good not to, he's built for the play offs, and wants to be there when he does.

Literally everybody from Calgary reached out to him after the cup win even Darrell (Sutter).

Praising his old youth team London Knights and what they did for him and other players.

He heard from players he heard from or know and Robbie Thomas and people that won before Vllady got a special mentions he was a great veteran presence and okie too.

He talked the Paternark fight, and how it happened and Monty's involvement. He says there's no rules just beat the shit out of each other.

He'll never forget this year for the rest of his life.

He confirmed Brady did not touch the cup though there were a few close calls due to being drunk.

He says he's so much better health than this time last year, he's excited about this year.

He his fiancee and Brady are going to visit Taryn this Friday he says she won't listen to his interview so it won't ruin the surprise and talks how good she is a field hockey. Her preseason has started.

He loves to watch Barky in practice and is learning to do things and a special mention of Kucherov of Tampa one of his favorite players.

He wants to improve scoring from further out like Brady.

He's getting more recognised now but it's good and he's enjoying it.

He's being working on jumps, working on his skating, sprints and being strong weights but jumps.

He got in trouble for putting the cup in the ocean but the cup caretakers only told him afterwards but they understood but he got great memories.

The whole family sacrifices so much for hockey players and the Tkachuk name is on the cup forever it's forever.

[extremely-judgemental]

Rhysand isn’t that great of a High Lord as praised in the books. IC’s ‘dreamers’ or ‘peace keepers’ narrative is just laughable.

SJM loves Rhys so much that she can't go a page without telling others how great he is. This is going to be long, and I don’t have much good things to say about him.

Rhys’s father gets killed when he was still young, around the time of the first war. Which means he had been High Lord for over 500 years. And since then he’s had IC with him too.

He’s known as the most powerful High Lord to have ever existed. But there are simply no mention of what he had done so far to prove that other than inheriting genes from his parents. He’s supposed to be unstoppable, and that’s the only thing everyone goes on about. After Amarantha drains most of the powers of High Lords, he’s still left with lot more. During the war with Hybern, he destroys a whole fleet of the enemy’s army with a flick of his finger. Great, but what else has he done with that so called power?

When they were talking about Velaris, I honestly thought Rhys and IC built the city themselves because of their dreams. But Velaris was built by his ancestor who was the OG dreamer. Including the wards, which he powered with his own blood.

During Amarantha’s rule, Rhys hid Velaris and his friends. Considering his powers were diminished, he couldn’t have saved the entire court but would he have since he hates Hewn City already? His first instinct was to erase the minds of his people UtM, mind you they were all from CoN since Rhys didn’t trust Amarantha enough that even his friends were left behind. And if we consider the ward he cast UtM, it’s quite pointless or just precautionary. As no one knew of Velaris and considering the wards were already powerful, he did that to protect his friends, to keep them in Velaris so that they don’t go looking for him. He basically bound the city’s safety to his friends’ lives which I don’t know if it’s a smart move or not. If any one of them had disobeyed his command, seeing how reckless Cassian and Azriel can be, he risked his city’s safety. Ignoring that, he protected his friends and his city, which was his literal job, which is no different from whatever the other HLs did the best they could.

Hewn City was the sacrificial lamb. They were the ones getting dragged into politics, wars, and whatnot. They are the evil subjects to his evil rule. And given that’s the role the people are meant to play every time, I don’t see how they could have lived any differently. After rescuing Mor, they did nothing to prevent it from happening to anyone else. If she was a gem of a person in the worst place possible, she couldn’t have been the only one. Given, Rhy has ultimate power to some extent even though Keir has influence over Hewn City, it’s notable that no one did anything to provide safety to anyone suffering. Velaris is the only safe place in Night Court where people can be themselves, and live a free life. And yet, it’s a secret from the ones in NC too. So what about other women who might endure what Mor did? What about the people who don’t agree with HC’s morals and ideals and want to leave, but they don’t see an option and don’t want to leave their home, i.e., NC? In the 500 years, no one made an attempt to change the traditions in fear of Keir rebelling against them. Not even Mor is said to do anything about it. She hates the place and clumps everyone in the same category as it’s easier to ignore.

It’s constantly pointed out that Rhys doesn’t even visit it often. And Mor is the one running it. Apart from occasionally showing up as their ruler and making a scene, Rhys has no contribution to that part of his court at all. As if he handed the responsibility completely to Mor while he enjoyed in Velaris. Unless he’s plotting something and he has a need, he doesn’t really bother with that city. Yes, for a ruler, delegation is important. But he’s completely ignorant of the rest of the court unless he has to play hero. Velaris is the only place the entire IC truly seem to care about and that’s not a good thing.

Now, when Keir tries to free his people, they outright deny him. He wanted to get out of the mountain. They could have given him access outside of the mountains but not within Velaris. But what is truly questionable is making a decision without consulting Mor about Keir’s arrival to Velaris. It was not only a betrayal of her trust as a friend, but also disrespectful to his third-in-command who basically takes care of his court all those years.

Though it might be seen as an empowering move to give reins to Mor over HC, sometimes she can’t stand in the same room as her father or Eris without having a traumatic flashback. If for personal reasons and space that Rhys doesn’t interfere, he should have as a ruler. But he doesn’t. And someone who’s biased towards a major portion of their court and still processing trauma from it is not a great idea.

Similar issue with Illyria. Women suffering, children abused, no reformation. The recent insertion of training females felt like a plot development and excuse instead of true motives of the IC to improve their court.

The major problem with the IC’s dreamer narrative is that they want to live in a better place but they don’t actively do anything about it. Their solution is to isolate the trouble and turn a blind eye instead of facing it. Illyria in the mountains. HC and the rest of the court cut off. While Rhys and the IC stay happily in Velaris, enjoying all that the city has to offer. Given he’s been in power for 500 years, if he had started reforming early on, they should have made some progress if they had at least tried.

Then there’s the matter of his relationship with other courts. After UtM, there was so much space for Rhys to build a better alliance with them all, except Spring of course. It was actually the best opportunity, even if he didn’t want to give up the bad guy act. They had all seen him fight against Amarantha in the end. Instead, he goes ahead and tricks the one HL who truly gave him a chance for exactly that—friendship and allyship. Rhys is a daemati and he uses his powers on anyone when he doesn’t trust them. He could've done that, he would've already done on that on Tarquin. And yet, he still went ahead with his plans after listening to his talks with Feyre. And when Tarquin blames Feyre for the attack on his court, Rhys should have held her accountable and apologised. Instead, Rhys skirts around with his ‘She’s the High Lady’ comment.

Going after Hybern and the cauldron was a mistake, a little understandable though. But since Hybern didn’t set his eyes only on NC, they should have warned the other HLs even if they didn’t want them to fight. At least after they got the book and had a plan in place. If they had, the others would have prepared which is proven with what happened in Summer.

Spring was the biggest sign of how terrible a HL Rhys is. Feyre was a comparatively a child who went through so much and she was clearly acting out of vengeance. Though it made sense for her at that time, Rhys who is known as the cunning mastermind throughout the series should have known the implications. He didn’t have the connection with her all the time to know what she was doing or what she was plotting. But he should have warned her. Instead, he encouraged her. He had a duty to his court and by extension, to Prythian. And he let Feyre destroy an entire court to punish one man.

And there’s the ‘bad guy’ mask he uses. He didn’t need that at all. If he had been a regular HL who wasn’t a high fae, it would make sense why he needed to pretend to be ruthless. But he is the most powerful HL to exist. He has the two most powerful Illyrian warriors by his side. Mor is said to be powerful and we don’t know how or why. He has Amren too. Basically they are a superhero squad among the courts. Literally he doesn’t need it at all since no one would dare fight him. Even if he acted that way because his ancestors had done so, there are some things he did which no one just pretending to be evil might(ahem ahem what he did to Feyre).

What I’m trying to say is most of the things he did was what he was meant to do as a HL and they are not extraordinary to label him as the best HL like it’s mentioned in all the books. He did his job, sometimes terribly. Other than protecting what was already well protected and going to wars, his actions weren’t mentioned enough to call him the best, most just, most powerful HL ever. 500 years is a long time and he did nothing though he had a ‘dream’.

[vase-of-lilies]

Sunday, Funday

❀ Mommies!WandaNat x Little!reader (f)

❀ MD/LG dynamics, fluff, forehead kisses🥺, featuring Pietro! 

❀ Request: mommies!wandanat having a fun day with little!r

❀ A/N: Thank you for the request, @fragilepuppi! I have adored and absolutely loved all of your requests so far. So thank you so so much! Sorry it took so long to post, I had written it but just hadn't posted it yet! But I hope you like it! This is a part of the Into the Tiny Verse series:)

“Mommy!!!! Mama!!!!!! Its Sunday!!!!!!!” You happily whisper-shout as you jump onto Wandas and Natashas shared bed. 

Unbeknownst to you, they were already awake, smiling to each other as they hear your pitiful attempt to be quiet in their room as you try to sneak up on them. Natasha is a spy, if she can hear a pin drop in a room full of talking and dancing people, then she can hear your soft pattering feet against her carpet. 

Wanda on the other hand, she knew you were coming in for the soul fact that she is emotionally connected to you. Her telekinetic abilities sensed that you were awake, and in need of something but felt your presence come closer to her. She knew you were on your way. 

Once you climbed onto your mommies bed, they pretended they were asleep so you could have the pride of giving them the element of surprise. Natasha smiled and kissed your forehead as you smushed your way in between her and Wanda, and you smiled up at her. 

“S’sunday mama! We gotta go have fun!” What you meant by that was a tradition that Wanda and Nat started with you where every Sunday the three of you would go out to get ice cream and go to the secluded park that stark built just for you and Peter. Your favorite part of the park was the tire swing that was connected to the large weeping willow surrounding the park. You could swing on it all day if you had the chance!

Your mommies helped you get ready for the day, helping you into your favorite pink, ruffly dress, the one with the bunny eating a carrot on the front, sat your wiggly body down on the couch to help you get your shoes on, and finally your jacket that you were stubborn about putting on. “But m’gonna get hot, mommy!” You whined as Wanda gently pulled your arms through the holes of your jacket. 

“Sweetheart, its raining outside and its only 60 degrees. You are wearing your coat or we will have to have a fun day at home.” Wanda said in a stern but gentle voice. You sighed and nodded in understanding as she zipped your jacket up to the top. The two women smiled at your appearance and took a sweet little picture of you, grumpy face and all. 

“Alright, do you want Peter to come with us?” Natasha asked, and you immediately shook your head. 

“No! Only wan mama and mommy,” you looked up at them and they looked like they were waiting for something else. “Please?” You finished, remembering to use your manners. Wanda smiled and held out her hand. 

“Alright, just us three! Lets go get your ice cream, and then we can go to the park. Sound good my little one?” She says and eagerly take her hand, pulling her to the door. Natasha shakes her head with a chuckle and follows along, getting her wallet ready for all the sprinkles you want on your [your favorite ice cream flavor] cone you get. As you skip along the hallway, they look at you in adoration, taking each others hands as they walk behind you. 

Leaving the compound was easy as everyone knew about yours and Peters ‘situations’. And with how powerful the avengers were, no one questioned what was going on. Sure some people gave judgmental looks, but they didn’t care. All it took to get someone running away was a glare from Nat and a glow-of-the eyes from Wanda. They took care of you and protected you with everything they had. 

As you got to your favorite Ice Cream parlor, you smiled up at the ice cream man. He was your favorite person to see other than your mommy and mama, of course! His name you didn’t know, but all you knew was he gave you extra ice cream scoops when your mommies were not looking. Wanda knew him personally and gave him a hug every time she saw him. They kind of look alike… you thought to yourself. But you shook off the thought and continued to watch as he poured extra sprinkles onto your cone. 

By the time you had gotten to the park, your face was covered in icy goodness and your hands were a sticky mess. Luckily Wanda was prepared and brought some water and soap, quickly cleaning you up before you went to play. Immediately when you were let go, you ran straight to the tire swing. It was like the playground didn’t even exist! Wanda and Nat followed you, knowing exactly what you were going to ask for next. 

As if on cue, you ask “Mommy? Mama? Can you p’ease push me? Wanna go sup’ high!”

With a big smile, Nat takes the first push, Wanda sitting down on the swing first and you happily climbing onto her lap. She wraps her arms around your waist and holds you against her tightly, not wanting you to fall off. Natasha pushes you both, the swing starting to move front and backwards. Your belly filled with butterflies as you soared through the air on the swing, your smile never falling! Your mommies loved it when you smiled like this, not a care in the world. Nothing could stop you form being this happy in this moment. Except one thing…

“Ok little one, its time to go home,” Natasha said, an hour later as you were now swinging alone while Wanda sat down on the bench. Your brows furrowed and you shook your head, holding onto the ropes of the swing with an iron grip. Natasha sighed and slowed the swing down, thinking to herself how cute you are, yet how stubborn and unwilling to leave something you loved behind for a couple days. 

“Noooooo, wan’ stay here forever…” you say weakly, getting sleepy from playing so long. Your mommies knew that it was time for your nap, and you knew it too but was having too much fun. Wanda gathered your things, and stood up. Walking over to the swing she knelt down. 

“Come on baby, we gotta get you down for your nap. Look how sleepy she is, Nat I don’t think that Bubbles would be too happy napping alone at home.” She brought your stuffy into this and your eyes watered. 

“Don wan bubbles to be alone!” You said, jumping off the swing and into Wandas arms. She smiled and gently kissed your head, letting you fall asleep in her arms as she carried you back to the compound. As your head laid on Wandas shoulder, Natasha watched over you two from behind you, watching you like a hawk. Your hand hung against Wandas back and Nat took that opportunity to clasp a charm bracelet around your wrist, a small token of their love to you, and a little surprise for when you woke up. 

Opening your nursery door, you felt Wanda lay you down in your bed, and you whined. You wanted to stay with your mommies, and nap with them. “M-mommy mama….” They knew you were too little to form any sentences now, so they obliged to your silent command and took you to their bed instead, Bubbles’s fluffy paw clenched in your fist. As they laid down with you, Wanda smiled at your sleeping form, sighing as you finally hit your dreaming state. 

“We need a better way to have her listen when its time to go…” Wanda said to Nat, who fully agreed with her.

“Until then, lets just stick with bubbles being lonely without her. She has the biggest heart and would hate to keep him waiting. I bet she will wake up and want Bubbles to have a bottle too.” Natasha chuckles and wraps her arms around you and Wanda, relaxing into the bed with you and her wife in her arms. All safe and sound. 

[polkadotpenguin16]

The Five Stages of Grief: Depression

A/N: Thank you to everyone for your patience in waiting for me to finish this chapter! Getting myself to write has felt like pulling teeth as of late. But we’re here! And we’re almost done!! Let’s get angsty…

Pairing: Sonny Carisi x female reader

Tags: you read the title, right?

Word count: 2,410

Previous parts: Prologue | Denial | Anger | Bargaining

Also posted on AO3.

You and your friend were lounging on the couch, devouring a carton of chocolate chip mint ice cream, while watching what felt like an endless Lord of the Rings marathon. “I don’t remember this being so long,” you mused as you licked chocolate bits off your fingers.

“That’s cuz it’s the extended edition,” she replied with her mouth full of ice cream. “It’s the only way to watch it. You want to feel like you’re walking to Mordor in real-time.”

You smirked and shook your head at her logic. This was nice. Getting lost in Middle Earth was a welcomed distraction from inner turmoil.

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Your friend shifted herself on the couch to look at you. “When are we gonna get your stuff?”

You looked at her confused. “My stuff?”

“Yeah, from your apartment? You can stay as long as you like. Just wanna know if we need to rent a truck or something.”

“Um…” You hadn’t thought about what exactly your next steps were. If you and Sonny were over, that meant moving out of the apartment. It meant packing up the pieces of your old life, the one you’d built with Sonny, and moving on. And that was terrifying.

“Hey, hey, no pressure here!” She reassured you as she saw the panicked look on your face. “We don’t need to plan anything tonight. Let’s just watch the movie. I think Aragorn is gonna do something badass in a minute, anyway.”

It was late when you finished all the movies. Your friend went to bed, but you couldn’t sleep. The gravity of your situation was weighing heavily on your chest. It was truly over. You believed only a day ago that this was what you wanted. 

This was what was best for you and Sonny. 

You had thought you would both move on to better things—people better suited for each other. And Sonny probably would. But you realized that you didn’t want better.

You just wanted Sonny.

You missed him. A lot. Missed his laugh, his smile, the way his brows scrunched together when he was concentrating. You missed laying your head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. And all those times Sonny was working until 3 in the morning or disappearing to help Amanda, you had missed him. And you never let him know. “It’s fine” was what you always said. But it wasn’t fine. You missed him, needed him, wanted him, and you never told him.

“What have I done?” You were curled up in a ball on the floor. Your cheeks felt cold from the tears streaming down them. There was no coming back from this. You walked out that night. You ignored him. You said some unforgivable things. You ruined everything.

Spiraling into a black hole of despair, you felt hopeless. You resigned yourself to the darkness, hoping it would engulf you. Your heart ached in your chest. What hurt more than knowing it was over, was thinking of how much pain you caused Sonny. Beyond leaving that night, you turned down every attempt he made to reconcile. He was trying. All you’d wanted for so long was for him to try, to choose you. And when he did? You practically slapped him in the face with it. He deserved better than that.

But what could you do? The damage was done. Sonny wasn’t going to reach out to you again. Not after what you said. He was done trying.

Perhaps now was your turn to start.

You could reach out to him. But what would you say? What do you even tell someone after you broke their heart? You grabbed your phone and started composing a text. Your hands shook as you typed and retyped the message. You weren’t going to get all your thoughts into one text. The right thing to do would be to tell him in person. Maybe he’d give you the grace you so rudely denied him.

Hi. I’d really like to talk to you if you’re willing to listen. But I’d understand if you aren’t. Would you meet me at Prospect Park on Saturday?

After several minutes of working up your nerve, you hit send and put your phone down. You waited anxiously, silently praying he would reply. The suspense was killing you. You imagined this was how Sonny felt when you ignored him, and that made you hate yourself even more.

You don’t know how long you sat in the dark when you heard your phone ping. You couldn’t breathe as you picked it up and saw a new message.

3pm work for you?

You let out your breath and immediately replied.

Yes, I’ll be there. Thank you.

He’d accepted your olive branch. Maybe there was still a chance for the two of you. Even if there wasn’t, at least you would be able to apologize face to face. He deserved that. Whatever the outcome of Saturday, you had the chance to make things right.

It was nearing 10 o’clock, and Sonny and Amanda were the last ones at the station. Once he finished writing this report, he could finally leave. But he’d been stuck rewriting his last paragraph at least a dozen times. He was distracted thinking about you. By some miracle of God, you reached out and said you wanted to meet. About what you didn’t mention, but you were ready to talk to him. That was more than he’d ever expected.

But he didn’t want to get his hopes up. Maybe you just wanted to coordinate moving out, transferring the lease, and such. There was still a big chance you were over forever, and it emotionally destroyed him. Coming to grips with losing the love of his life had been incredibly depressing. You’d been the glue keeping him from coming apart at the seams. The thought of going through his life without you in it was incredibly painful, but nonetheless, a truth he was facing. However, he couldn’t help the optimist in him from thinking there was the tiniest sliver of hope that things could all work out. But the ball was in your court now. He’d apologized and tried his best to fix things. It was up to you now on how you both moved forward.

Sonny heard Rollins sigh from her desk in relief. “That’s it, I’m calling it a night. And so should you.” She got up and put on her jacket. “You know, I could use some help painting my apartment. It might cheer you up. I’ll even splurge and order wings with the pizza.”

“Sorry, not this weekend,” he replied, still staring at his laptop, trying to get his thoughts into his report so he could be done for the day, too.

She was surprised by his answer. He was never one to turn her down. “Really? You got something funner to do than manual labor and eating mediocre food with your friend?” She remarked sarcastically.

“No, um…I’m going to talk with my girlfriend on Saturday.”

She looked at him perplexed. “What’s there to talk about? I think she was loud and clear on what she thought of you.”

“She reached out to me, Rollins. I just want to hear her out.”

“Seriously? What could she possibly have to say for herself? Have some self-respect.”

Sonny shook his head and went back to typing. He wasn’t in the mood to bicker. He’d had enough arguing to last him a lifetime.

Undeterred, Rollins walked towards his desk and leaned down to look at him at eye level. “Listen, dating a detective…it’s not for everyone. It means missed birthdays and canceled dates. A lot is expected of us, and we sometimes miss out on things. She’s shown you she can’t cut it.”

“Well, maybe I can’t either.” Sonny sat back in his chair and slapped his thighs. He’d been having doubts about his career for a while. The pressure and horrors he faced were starting to get to him. He wasn’t sure if he had it in him to continue this path.

“What do you mean? Of course you can. You do it every day.” She was taken aback by his comment. She hadn’t noticed how disillusioned he’d become in the past several months.

“I don’t wanna be like those old timers who wind up bitter and alone. There’s gotta be more to life than…this.”

“Come on, you don’t mean that.” She came up to him and patted his shoulder. “This is our lives. It’s what we do. And you’re not gonna be alone, we’re partners.”

“You’re telling me you’ve never thought about calling it quits?” She huffed at his ridiculous question. “No, really. Day in and day out, dealing with the worst of the worst, you’ve never wanted a change?”

“You’re a cop, Carisi. It’s in your blood. What else would you be doing?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I could…” He took a second to ponder the possibilities. “I could be a consultant and sit on my ass all day getting fat and rich. Or become one of those hipster photographers who drives around the country taking pictures and living in a van. Hell, I could move to the DA’s office! Now that would be a change.” Sonny laughed at the thought. He’d played around with the idea of using his law degree, but never seriously given it any weight. Maybe this was his sign to start.

“Wait a sec…” She analyzed his face trying to decipher if he was genuinely considering this. “You can’t be serious.”

“Well, maybe. My law degree’s been gathering dust. Might be nice to get some use out of it. You know, a fresh start.”

Rollins’ demeanor changed. Her body tensed and her face became serious. “So, you would just throw away everything you’ve worked for? And for what? To make your girlfriend feel better about herself?” Her speech sped up as she tried to get all her thoughts out.

“Hey, leave her out of this.” He said defensively but calmly. “If I decide to go, it would be for me.”

“That’s not you, Carisi. The stuffy lawyers, the politics? You’d hate it there!”

“I haven’t even done anything! What are you getting so upset about?” Sonny couldn’t gauge what was getting her so upset. “I’m just talking about trying to make a better life for myself. Thought you’d want that for me.”

She looked at him like he had three heads. Her cheeks flushed red, and her jaw clenched tightly. “Be happy about you leaving? How stupid are you?”

Sonny stared at her in disbelief. He was completely perplexed on how this conversation turned from confiding in his friend to having his character bashed.

“And what about all of us here?” She gestured to the empty desks of the detectives who’d already gone home. “You would just—you’d pack up your stuff and ditch us? You said you were my partner, and you—you’re gonna walk out on me?” Rollins was becoming irate, stumbling over her words.

“You’re acting like I’m moving to the other side of the world!” He was at the end of his tether. His whole life, he’d been living for others. The never-ending pressure of having to be everything for everyone was too high. He couldn’t seem to do right by anybody. So why did he even try? “There’ll be other detectives. You’d be just fine.”

“No, I need you, Sonny! I need you here beside me!”

The room went deathly silent. It was finally clear to Sonny what she’d been trying to say. After all this time, this was how she really felt?

“When did that change, Amanda?” He asked, his voice no louder than a whisper. Hazy memories of a trip to West Virginia and long forgotten heartache were returning to him.

“Don’t tell me you never felt anything between us.” She stared down at her shoes, unable to look him in the eye just yet.

“Not since you made it clear there wasn’t.”

“I was…not in a good place back then,” she tried to explain. She finally looked up to meet his gaze, needing him to understand her reasoning in her eyes.  “I knew you were looking for something serious and committed, and I wasn’t ready for that.”

“So you thought you could string me along until you were?” Sonny shot up from his chair and crossed his arms. He could hardly believe the words coming out of her mouth. His whole world felt turned upside down. He thought she was his friend who cared about him. He wasn’t sure what he believed anymore.

“Oh, please, you weren’t strung along,” she scoffed at his suggestion. “You’re telling me you weren’t happy to help me out? Hang out with my kids? I never asked you to do any of that—”

“No, you just expected it,” he snapped back. The voices of you and Bella echoed in his ears. “I wanted to help you, Amanda, to try to make your life a little easier. I did those things because I thought—”

“Anyone could see you were way more invested in your relationship with me than with your own girlfriend,” she sharply pointed out, her words cutting deeply into his heart. “We’re practically a family already, Carisi.”

Sonny stood there defeated. How could he have not seen all this? “You were my best friend…” he said breathlessly. Any fight left in him had evaporated. “Guess I was mistaken.” He closed his laptop and started collecting his things.

“Sonny, if you would just hear me out—”

“No, I’ve heard enough of this.” He put on his coat and made his way out. “It’s late, I’m going home.”

“Would you stop?!” She exclaimed in frustration, trying to get his attention. “You’re gonna give up your career, your life, for some girl who doesn’t even appreciate you? I would never make you do that, Sonny—”

But he was already walking out the door. He felt empty inside. He had already lost his love, and now this betrayal from someone he had once called his best friend was more than he could handle. All that he’d done for Amanda was still somehow not enough. He needed to start thinking about himself. He wasn’t sure of what his future would look like, whether you would be in it or not. Bella was right. 

He’d have to hope for brighter days ahead.

[sucrealacreme]

Supe Busters - Soldier Boy x female reader

Chapter one

Summary : Vought has many secrets, project W is one of them. What happens when said project turns against them? 

You dealt with supes on the daily. I mean, it was truly your only job. Vought called you a villain, a criminal, Atomeris they called you. A supe who has been brainwashed all of her childhood by both her parents and an anti-supe cult. 

They made up fake stories about you. Built a whole new you. You weren’t the kind nurse anymore, no, you were this evil witch who should be burned at the stake according to them.

 Each time they called you evil, criminal, an animal, you wanted to cry. You just wanted to help people by bringing justice to those who felt superior to the law. Those who could hurt people without consequences.

Your very first supe was Icy BABY. An ice controlling woman who caused multiple deaths by making huge and shampooing spickes of ice everywhere. Vought said it was to stop a robber, or a murderer, you couldn’t remember what they came up with. 

But you knew why she truly did that. She just thought it was fun. Simple as that. The cunt thought it was funny to see inferior beings die so easily. So you did what you had to. 

During one night, you and your team of other fucked up supes tracked her down and beat her up down before you did what you do best.

Months ago, you got your hands on compound V. You studied it days and nights to be able to control it. The blue liquid was a weirdo really. It had so many different molecules it took you almost two months to finally crack it's nature. And with it's formula now printed in your brain, you could now separate it from blood. So to put it simply; you could unsupe supes.

And that's exactly what you did to the Elsa wannabe. It was truly a sight for sore eyes to see her try to attack us with her now weak force and speed. 

That night wasn’t just to serve justice. No. It was to prove a point, to warn Vought that from now on, their toys weren’t as invicible as they once were.

“Fucking cunt I can tell ya” said the black haired man to Hughie. “Yeah well Soldier Boy did scared the living shit out of him. Can't blame him for running away right?” Butcher looked at him like he grew a second head. The other man started to feel anxious under his hard stare and could feel himself starting to sweat.”The only thing I did was telling him what I would do to him if he wouldn't give us their damn locations” “Oi for fuck's sake. You threatened him to punch a hole where his dick was and to use it like a fleshlight”

“And I meant it” said the tall, green-eyed man before leaving the room to smoke a good ol’ joint.

“We lost our only suspect linked to this shit hole and we have yet to find any like places where those people could be hiding and the both of you are fighting for shit” Hughie was now not only anxieuse but angry at the situation. I mean, they’ve been looking for weeks for those people and the one guy who could have helped them get a connection left in the middle of the night. “He’s gonna act right from now on I can tell you that much.”

“Oh yeah? How do you fucking know Butcher?” said Hughie “It’s either that or he's going back to being the sleeping beauty

waiting for his bloody prince. I'll contain him from now on, like a god damn mommy birdy” Butcher said with his signature smirk

“Your words not mine” said Hughie, pointing at him while leaving the room.

“There was an explosion today at Times Square Ashley. It allegedly happened when two unidentified people attacked our New-York mayor out of nowhere. Many are injured and even worse, there have been fourteen deaths. Now, some say it was a terrorist attack, others some sort of uprising super abled villains. What do you have to say to those people?”

“Well Cameron, we are scared to announce it was in fact some sort of twisted version of supes who caused  those deaths and injuries. Now, if supes were included as part of the US military, those tragic events wouldn’t have been. You see, the American government made an atrocious decision three years ago. He decided that supes were just entertainment, and not valuable defense assets. So now we are facing situations like this. Where criminals think they can do whatever they want and not risking anything because well, no ones gonna stop them they’re super abled!”

“That’s tragic Ashley. Now, what can us patriots do to change this situation?”

“Thank you for asking Cameron. Well, you can join the “Supes are our best defence” protest this friday at 2 pm in front of the White House. For our watchers outside of Washington, Vought is ready to give away plane tickets at a low rate price for those who wanna join. We thank you for your support.”

“Thank you Ashley for this strong speech.”

“Alright who did this.” Said Florence, a woman part of your team who could control airwaves like light and sound and all of that.

“I don't think it was any of us Flo, why would we attack the mayor? It's against our own values” Orleta, fastes woman in the world, said with an anxious laugh.

“Oh you think it's all a fucking joke now uh don't ya Orleta? You know, you might be physically fast but mentally you're fucking sl-”

“Alright, alright let's all calm down,  I'm sure if someone here did this they had a reason. Now, whoever did this please come forward and explain to us the reasons behind such violent actions” said the group leader, Evangeline. Evangeline was kinda like homelander, minus the maniac part. She wasn't as strong nor as fast as him but she could still fly, laser people and all that. A magnificent woman. She was like a patient leader to all of you. Evangeline used to be a preschool teacher before this whole mess. None of you really know much about her except that. Magnificient, but mysterious.

“As anyone thought that maybe it’s Vought who’s trying to make us look bad once again? I mean they do it all the time and we did in fact get a rise in popularity with the whole Silver man mess…” you said, unsure of your theory. You weren’t sure of it but it would make more sense then one of you to kill innocents. Something you straight up fight agaisnt.

“Yeah I agree now that would be way more plausible then one of us doing it. I mean we kill supes, not civilians” that was Florence. She was your best friend. Together, the both of you could take down 5 supes at the same time. You were one of the deadly duos in the team.

“Yeah exactly, that’s their job not ours,” said Oletra now relieved that everyone calmed down.

“Alright then. It’s settled. It was once again Vought. Like usually.” Evangeline then left the room her heels clicking on her way out.

“We found something,” said Annie entering the living room of her appartment with Hughie.

“Oh thank God cause we lost the guy”

“What guy?”

“You know the with like metal powers and all?” Said Hughie with a nervous smile

“You lost the fucking silver man?” she said, in disbelief that under three hours The Boys could lose such a valuable asset.

“Yeah but you know now we have a new track, yayyyy” the man tried to loosen the tension

“Yeah ok anyway. We think the team, oh what's their name again”

“Illusion?”

“Yeah them, me and Kimiko found one of their guys entering some weird facility. When we entered there was only a locked door. We didn't try to force it open or anything we were only two. They're probably like thousands there.”

“Oh that’s good, that's really good Annie. Butcher's gonna want to Kiss you” said Hughie while laughing and kissing his girlfriend. They finally found something and this time it couldn’t escape.

A/N : So that was it for part 1, hope yall liked it 😊

A/N 2 : So this is the second version. If you saw something else, it's normal I changed à few things 😊

@demodemo909

@weaponxgames

[jaegeraether]

Sunsets and footballers (Part 76)

Alexia Putellas x Character (32)

Masterlist (other parts here)

((**Just a lil one - 2.1k**))

ALEXIA POV

Alexia had agreed to go to the Lumos event knowing in the back of her mind that she’d have Lucy and Blau there and when they’d left for the hospital, that changed her comfortability. She didn’t like not knowing people. Didn’t like events, or crowds, or having to speak English. Luckily she had Ona, but she was always looking at Alexia when she thought she didn’t know; worrying about her. Typical Ona Batlle, ever the empath. She knew it was all from the goodness of her heart, but Alexia didn’t want to think about any of that. It would just hurt if she did.

Luckily, Leah spent time chatting to her, which meant Jordan was close by, and both Katie and Caitlin ducked into the conversation with their overly eager Kyra, however she was too shy to talk it seemed. Her wide eyes staring at Alexia while she was talking to the group was actually amusing to her.

She respected Leah a lot as the Captain of England and the way she presented herself to the world and fought for rights she was passionate about. She’d met her a few times before at events, but had never had a conversation so long with her before. The others joined in and it was just like their lunch together when they’d arrived in London several days ago. Slowly, she felt more at ease with them all, but it was always hard for Alexia to open up and be comfortable with people. It would take time.

As they waited for Blau and Lucy to return, Alexia did one more piece of content; a photoshoot that Blau had already arranged. She wasn’t going to do anymore without her.

As she posed to the camera, she was aware of a multitude of players watching her, and tried to distract herself. She thought about her shock at the sound of the wall cracking behind Mark. At how she was about to jump in… but Blau was too quick to resolve the situation. A real problem solver, that one.

*Flash*

Alexia hadn’t been shocked by what Lucy did. In fact, if it were Alexia’s partner, she would have shoved even harder, though she wouldn’t have had the remorse Lucy did.

*Flash*

And it was evident immediately. She made a note to talk to her about it later. To tell her she did nothing wrong.

*Flash*

And then she wondered on Ona and how Alexia had offered for her to stay in the apartment tonight. It was almost grudgingly, as she wanted her space, though knew it was for the best to have someone else around.

*Flash*

And then she wondered on her knee. The rehab she still needed. The pain in it. The way Ridley had picked her up and carried her to the apartment, icing and massaging her kne-

*Flash*

Alexia, stop. She told herself. You are better than this.

She thought on the Spanish National team and Barca and when she could play next. It wouldn’t be until the new year, but she relished the idea of being back on the field. There was nothing like it. And although she wasn’t ready for a full training session yet, she was still expected to lead the way and provide a good example for the girls by showing her support. She took her captaincy seriously. Player’s mindsets were one of the most important things, and not enough people understood that.

*Flash*

Alexia was the type of captain to make sure she knew how all of her teammates felt, because it affected everything. The team, how they play, their motivation. The was one of the greatest things about having Lucy at Barca. Her mindset. Everybody was in awe of it. Alexia had passion and motivation too, built from her love of the game and her dad.

*Flash*

“We’re done here. Thank you, Alexia.” The Lumos employee smile and she returned the gesture. Alexia looked around and found Chiquito laying on the table where she’d sat previously, and joined him.

Her dad.

She wish she could tell him everything that she was going through right now. She knew exactly what he’d say.

“Let’s start with a plan. Write down all of the problems and cross out the ones that we can’t do anything about.”

Alexia did just that. Just like she did when she was young. She wrote out only her main issues and crossed out the ones she couldn’t control, which left her with two vague topics.

Knee

Ridley.

She sucked in a deep breath as she read the second one. To be honest, she couldn’t even believe she wrote her name.

“Good work. See? We’re half done already.”

Another thing she loved about her dad. He never said ‘your problems’, just ‘the problems.’ And he always said ‘we’. Like they were in it together, even though they were her issues.

“Now, I want you to write down solutions.”

I need help papa, she thought to herself.

Knee – rehabilitation with Kay, and confidence building.

“Excellent. So we need to get you back to Spain to start your rehabilitation with Kay. She is the best at this.”

Her dad always wanted the best for her. Nothing less for his girl.

Ridley - …

She left it blank for a while, wondering. In this situation, her dad would tell her to think about it from another perspective, as if she were a friend and not actually in that situation. She knew exactly what she’d tell them to do.

Ridley – Say goodbye. Get closure. Move on. Return to Spain and find yourself again. Work on your happiness before anyone else’s.

She looked down at what she’d written, and a small smile appeared. She knew it’s exactly what she needed. Internal happiness comes first, always.

Chiquito outstretched a paw then and touched the sheet she was writing on. By some strange coincidence, his paw rested on top of Ridley’s name. She took it as a sign.

“I know you miss her,” she said in Spanish as she stroked that outstretched paw of his with her index finger. “But I can’t leave you at the apartment alone, and she left you with me…”

Chiquito always looked at her as if he understood everything she said. She adored that.

“So… you’re coming with me to Barcelona. To live.”

A slow blink. She knew that he was already used to travelling quite a lot, and it didn’t bother him. He loved new environments because he was curious by nature. Just like… her.

Tears sprung to her eyes suddenly and she caught herself before they could fall.

Stop. She made her decision. Move on.

“Ale?” Came a voice in Catalan. She didn’t have to turn to see it was Ona. “Everything okay?”

She covered the notes in front of her and nodded as Ona took the seat. “I’m fine.”

“We haven’t spoken about-”

“There’s nothing to speak about.”

“It’s good to talk Ale. To say out loud what happened.”

Alexia sighed. Talking out loud never helped her but she knew Ona wouldn’t drop it unless she did it.

“Fine. We were finding each other, and she left. She’s gone. That’s all. Now I’m going back to Spain to find myself and be happy without her.”

“Ale…” Ona reached out and touched her arm. Alexia’s jaw twitched. She was never in the mood to be touched when she was in an emotional state. Unfortunately, she also knew that Ona was the entire opposite to her. For example, now as she moved in front and hugged her.

Alexia drew in a few breaths and gave up being patient about a minute into the hug.

“Stop making this worse, please.” She said, as softly as she could. It was an admission.

Ona took the hint and backed up. “Feel better though?”

No. “Yes.”

She flashed that gorgeously cute smile of hers. “Good.”

They hung around until Blau and Lucy returned from the hospital, which is when her tension eased again. They finished their lunch together, albeit in the late afternoon, and she couldn't help but watch Lucy and Blau. Watch the way they moved together. The way they spoke without speaking. The little touches and words said with just a look. It’d been something she’d always craved. Something she’d only ever found with Ridley. Even then, they were only just scratching the surface of that bond they shared.

And now, it was gone.

She couldn’t keep watching them. Not while it was so fresh. She and Ona said their goodbye’s and went back to the apartment. Instead of calling for the car, she ordered an Uber instead. She wasn’t going to use anything of Ridley’s that she didn’t need to. She wouldn’t hurt herself like that.

Ona was chatty back at the apartment. She tried to entertain Alexia with conversation, but she could barely form a smile or nod. She’d never felt like that before. Was that what it was like to have a broken heart?

She didn’t know. It’d been so long since her last. This was different, though.

Ona tried to keep persuading her to go back to Spain the next day, and Alexia eventually agreed. With the satisfaction of that, the Spaniard left her alone for the rest of the night.

She tried to sleep. She really did, but nothing would work for her. She stared at the ceiling for a few hours until a sigh from Chiquito next to her interrupted her thoughts. She looked over at him and saw that he, too was awake. She wondered if it were because she was, or because he too was missing her.

What a big part of their lives she was, and she didn’t even know it.

“Come on, Chiquito. Let’s go for a walk.”

They strolled through the large penthouse, looking through the rooms. The kitchen where they’d cooked, the pool area where they’d all played together, the lounge where she fell asleep on her shoulder.

They moved upstairs and found the gym where Ridley had been teaching her to protect herself, Ridley’s office, the library where her painting sat very close to being finished, and at the end of the hall, her music studio. She hadn’t listened since that first time.

Now she entered hesitantly and sat at that desktop. Taking a deep breath, she clicked the mouse and the first thing she noticed was a new song. Had she recorded it when she’d stayed?

Chiquito hopped onto her lap and cuddled to her as if he knew she needed him. She listened to the song… and she cried. Hearing her voice. Hearing the guitar. The emotions of her fucking voice. Ridley.

She instinctively touched her neck and found her necklace there. The sun with the smile on one side, and the stars on the other. The happiness was not showing, though. She’d changed it to the stars when she’d woken up alone.

She listened to it multiple times, and then a few of her other favourites that she’d made. And for what seemed like hours, she sat there and cried over the sounds of her fingers picking strings, and her voice weaving magic.

She left everything perfectly as it had been when she left. Chiquito ran ahead of her out the door as she clicked it shut. She followed him, assuming he was telling her that he was now ready for bed, and wondering if she could sleep. As she approached the top of the stairs, she found him sitting elegantly as he usually did, his tail wrapped around his body over his paws, and directly in front of the doors to Ridley’s room. He watched her as she approached, making his statement. She leant on the railing of the stairs as she thought about it. She weighed the positives and negatives and, in the end, decided that it would be her closure.

Alexia bent down to scoop up Chiquito before opening the doors to Ridley’s room. Neat. Tidy. Perfectly open. Comfortable.

She didn’t snoop. Didn’t look too closely at things, or wonder over what she had in there. God knows it would have hurt her more to find out something new about her. No, she simply took Chiquito to the bed that smelled of Ridley and laid down.

And there, cuddled together, they fell asleep almost instantly.

[tgmsunmontue]

More than movie magic... 5/24

Hangster AU. Explicit (eventually). Jake is a Hollywood actor and Bradley is a stunt coordinator. Jake's about to make a few self-discoveries. So is Bradley.

ONE TWO THREE FOUR

                He drives the slightly battered hire car, well, truck, down the road. When he’d asked if they had something more like a sedan they’d laughed at him, and he’d realized then that all the newer nicer cars were probably reserved by cast and crew, people far higher up the food chain than Bradley. That’s okay, he’s got this Bronco, something he’d never drive normally, although he does have to admit the room in the back is an advantage, all his gear fits easily and while the outside might need some TLC the inside radio works and the interior has obviously been restored. It’s grown on him as he’s neared Hazy Days Ranch, following the directions from his phone to the location that they’re apparently using for this film.

                Half of his team are already there, arriving even earlier, needing to work with Machado and Bassett, despite already doing some preliminary work with some basic lessons in California. He knows Jake is busy wrapping up the promotional tour and Bradley refuses to acknowledge out loud that he’s looking forward to seeing him again. Along with his own team he knows the advance crew have already arrived and set up everything, including trailers, storage, lighting, costuming.

                There’s security on the gate and he shows his ID, waits for his name to be checked off the list and then he’s being waved through and directed to where he should park up. It’s slightly chaotic, which doesn’t surprise him. They have a few weeks before they start filming, but there are no hard boundaries around a set this big, and it seems like everyone is just wandering around and enjoying the early summer weather. He knows they couldn’t start filming earlier, not with the higher risk of tornados apparently, but it all looks calm. Weather wise at least. He needs to figure out where he’s sleeping and eating for the next six to eight weeks, and god he hopes it doesn’t take longer than that.

                “Hi there!” A young man greets, smile wide and he can’t be more than eighteen, but he’s dressed in what Bradley can only think of as cowboy.

                “Uh, hi?”

                “You here for the film?”

                “Yeah, Bradley Bradshaw. I’m the stunt coordinator. You need to see some ID?”

                “N’aw! They woulda checked that at the gate already. They’re just serving up the evening meal in the mess hall. Come on, we better hurry if you want food. I’m Freddie.”

                The guy holds his hand out to shake and Bradley takes it with a little amusement, murmurs that it’s nice to meet him and wonders when the film required teenagers, because he’s read the script. Maybe the kid is doing a summer job or something. His stomach grumbles then, and he huffs in amusement at Freddie’s laugh, follows him toward a large building, clearly newly built, probably built solely for feeding cast and crew for the next couple of months. The food smells good, and there are a lot of people, more than he expected.

                “Aunty Kaye! Got another one!”

                “Well now, they just keep coming don’t they!”

                Bradley almost feels like he should apologize, except the woman making a beeline for him is smiling widely, not perturbed at all by his arrival and she’s clearly related to this Freddie, the family resemblance is there even if he hadn’t just called her Aunty Kaye.

                “I’m sorry I’m late –” Not that he had a set time he was meant to arrive by, but Mav and Ice raised him to be polite and damned if he’s not going to be as charming as possible when faced with someone who is apparently going to feed him.

                “Oh! Don’t ya worry about that, I’m used to feeding people whenever they turn up at my door. Now what’s your name dear?”

                “Bradley Bradshaw ma’am, nice to meet you,” Bradley offers, because he has a feeling that this woman might be part and parcel of the whole ranch, given the proprietary air she has toward the entire room and all the people in it, like they’re all her guests and she wants to ensure they’re all well fed and cared for.

                “Well! Bradley Bradshaw. It is nice to meet you. Hmm. Welcome to Hazy Days. You can call me Mama Kaye.”

                “Oh. Um,” Bradley starts, because he hasn’t called anyone mom, or mama other than his own mom, and he knows it’s an offer borne of kindness, but…

                “Or Aunty Kaye, if that’s easier for you honey.”

                “Aunty Kaye,” he accepts, smiles and nods gratefully, because this woman seems incredibly perceptive given that she’s just met him.

                “Freddie, you show Bradley here where to find everything and then I can show him where he’ll be bunking down when he’s finished eating.”

                Clearly Freddie takes direction from this woman and he spends the next few minutes giving Bradley a quick rundown of where to find the bathrooms, utensils, plates, how to line up for food. He finds Natasha, Rueben and Bob and quickly eats his meal. They all tell him they’ve had the welcome wagon in the form of Mama/Aunty Kaye and he nods and smiles, accepts it’s just pass and parcel for the orientation here.

                There’s a table filled with mainly men, some women, they’re all dressed similarly and he realizes that they might actually be the real deal. Clearly dusty and dirty from being outside working. Holy shit. They’ve mixed ranch hands with the film crew and god, it’s a fucking working ranch. His stomach twists a little with anxiety over the lack of controlled conditions, but he’ll just have to deal with it. He’s not responsible for the day-to-day activities of a working ranch or its workers. After scraping his plate Aunty Kaye suddenly appears beside him, gestures for him to follow her and he doesn’t really have any choice but to, raising his hand in goodbye to his friends.

                After being instructed to he grabs his bags (filled with some of his oldest clothes) and follows after her. The woman has smile lines all over her face, and Bradley wonders what his mom would look like now, all the photos he has of his mom are ones where she’s sporting a huge grin and she’d probably have happy wrinkle lines like this. It’s a nice thought.

                “Well, here are bunk rooms, we got them upgraded a little while ago. The family house is up there a little way, but down here we have a bigger kitchen and I can cook for everyone who’s here. It’s gonna be like a little party every day ain’t it?”

                “I guess so,” Bradley agrees, because he guesses for someone who doesn’t live like this the novelty must be quite nice. She leads him through a spacious bunkhouse, there’s a common area with cards and some boardgames, refrigerator and coffee machine, clearly to meet the needs of early morning coffee addicts. There’s a long corridor with about six doors on each side and fucking hell, how many people do they have staying in here.

                “I put you in here, upstairs so you don’t have the noise of the people coming back and forth all the time, or clompin’ about above you. There is a little balcony as well, facing toward the sunset. Real pretty.”

                “Thank you, it’s lovely,” Bradley offers, because honestly, it really is. He wasn’t expecting a queen-sized bed, or even his own space. He’d been expecting to share at a minimum. This is pretty damned luxurious, it’s going to make it a lot more comfortable given the physical nature of what some of the tasks he’s going to have to undertake for this job.

                “You’re a good boy. Nice and polite.”

                “I try to be ma’am,” Bradley says.

                “Well, you keep on tryin’ and I’ll just be glad for you to keep everyone safe on set…”

                “Uh…” he’s pretty sure that’s the realm of the safety personnel, whom he works with obviously, however he wonders what it is she thinks he does exactly.

                “I mean with regards to the stunt work honey. I hear wee Jake complained about not being allowed to do some of the riskier things. Glad there’s someone like you watchin’ out for him. That boy can be far too reckless for my likin’.”

                “Wee Jake?” Bradley asks, amused. “Is there a non-wee Jake around? Have you known him a while then?”

                For some reason that makes her laugh, and if his comment like that sets her off it explains the laugh lines.

                “Oh honey, you’re funny. I’ve known Jake his whole life. His grandpa was big-Jake.”

                “Oh. Okay. I didn’t realize that Jake grew up around here…”

                “Around here? Well –”

                “Bradley! Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.”

                “It’s no problem dear, I’ve gotta keep reminding myself you lot are all here to do a job and I gotta stop distracting y’all.”

                “You weren’t distracting me, you were showing me to my room. Thank you again.”

                “You’re welcome, I’ll let you catch up with your friends. Welcome again Bradley.”

                “Thanks.”

PART SIX

[calisources]

A   SONG   OF   ICE   AND   FIRE   &   HBO'S   GAME   OF   THRONES.   sentence   starters   taken   from   both   the   source   books   and   the   hbo's   adaptation   of   a   song   of   ice   and   fire   from   george   r.r.   martin.   change   titles,   names   and   pronouns   as   you   see   fit.

 "Tell them the North remembers. Tell them winter came for House Frey."

"Leave one wolf alive and the sheep are never safe."

"I'm not a lady. I never have been. That's not me."

"Nothing's more hateful than failing to protect the one you love."

"When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground."

"An unhappy wife is a wine merchant's best friend."

"What good is power if you cannot protect the ones you love?"

 "So we fight and die or we submit and die. I know my choice."

"I thought if I could make something so good, so pure, maybe I'm not a monster."

"Power is power."

"I'm not going to stop the wheel, I'm going to break the wheel."

"Do you understand? I'm no ordinary woman. My dreams come true."

"It's not easy to see something that’s never been before: A good world."

"I believe in second chances. I don't believe in third chances."

"As long as I'm better than everyone else I suppose it doesn't matter."

"When enough people make false promises words stop meaning anything. Then there are no more answers, only better and better lies."

"If you only trust the people you grew up with, you won't make many allies."

“Winter is coming. We know what’s coming with it."

"It is a big and beautiful world. Most of us live and die in the same corner where we were born in, never get to see any of it. I don't want to be most of us."

 "I wonder if you’re the worst person I've ever met? At a certain age it's hard to recall. But the truly vile do stand out through the years."

"Know your strengths, use them wisely, and one man can be worth ten thousand."

"Never forget what you are, the rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor and it can never be used to hurt you."

"I try to know as many people as I can. You never know which one you'll need."

"No one is very happy. Which means it’s a good compromise."

 "Men decide where power resides, whether or not they know it."

"Give us common folk one taste of power and we're like the lion who tasted man—nothing is ever so sweet again."

"But it's you and me that matters to me and you. Don't ever betray me."

 "I want to be the queen."

"Any man who must say, I am the king, is no true king."

"The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword."

"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."

"Chaos isn't a pit. Chaos is a ladder."

"A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is." 

"Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word." 

"If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. "

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."

"People often claim to hunger for truth, but seldom like the taste when it's served up."

"Every man must die, Jon Snow. But first he must live."

"We look up at the same stars and see such different things."

"I need you to become the man you were always meant to be. Not next year, not tomorrow, now." 

"It's a neat little trick you do. You move your lips, and your father's voice comes out. "

"Tell me something, Varys who do you truly serve?"

"They’re dragons, Khaleesi. They can never be tamed."

"Love is the death of duty." 

"Thousands of men don't need to die. Only one of us. Let's end this the old way."

"I Am not beholden to my ancestors vows."

"Robert's rebellion was built on a lie."

"We're children playing at a game, screaming that the rules aren't fair."

"With respect, Your Grace, I don't need your permission. I am a King."

“The world is one great web, and a man dare not touch a single strand lest all the others tremble.”

“Black and white and grey, all the shades of truth.”

“In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining.”

“There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man.”

“Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old.”

“I prefer my history dead. Dead history is writ in ink, the living sort in blood.”

"The war continues, Davos Seaworth, and some will soon learn that even an ember in the ashes can still ignite a great blaze.”

 "He has a song. He is the prince that was promised, and his is the song of ice and fire.”

"The only time a man can be brave is when he is afraid."

[lepoppeta]

VELVETTE HEADCANONS

WARNING - this dives headfirst into Definitely Not Canon territory, and is just speculation on my part built on both what we were given at varying points in the lore of hazbin hotel. if that doesnt interest you, or if you find yourself wanting to dub me incorrect for having an imagination, please direct yourself to the nearest back button.

most of these headcanons relate to this redesign of velvette i concocted, where i mashed her pilot design with her series design.

there is some speculation as to when exactly velvette died - ive seen some people suggest the 60s (possibly in relation to the stripes trousers she wears in the series, and also because that would make her, vox, and valentino exactly a decade apart) or the 90s (probably based on her affinity for texting/social media, and this would make her and the other two vees an equal two decades apart each). in this instance i am putting velvette as having died in the 90s.

as a small child velvette was head-over-heels in love with princesses. the big, sparkly dresses, the tiaras - everything about the aesthetic of being a fantasy princess was velvettes favourite thing in the whole world.

velvette was a child model and actress in the late 80s and early 90s - she came from a family of stars, and the career was pretty much expected of her. unfortunately for young velvette, that meant that nearly the entirety of her brief life was spent being in service to the publics "best interest". she was told how to dress, what was appropriate to eat (both in private and public) - she was reduced to a doll to be dressed up and stared at.

(iirc due to this being the 90s one of the big fashion trends at the time was heroin chic - low-rise jeans, exposed midriffs, and an unhealthy physique).

poor velvette ultimately ended up committing suicide (at around her late twenties) due to not being able to handle a multitude of things - her rocky home life, her privacy being invaded by the public, and a variety of unchecked health issues and eating disorders. she was never given an outlet for her emotions and became painfully cruel and vindictive to her fellow young stars.

she also had a complicated relationship between wanting to be treated like an adult but having to "dress like one" (exposing a lot of skin, because thats what was fashion forward at the time) VS being still seen as a child by a lot of the public but still ultimately kind of wanting to embody the juvenile princess aesthetic that she grew up with but never had a chance to embrace. when she arrives in hell she finally has the chance to breath and sees it as a do-over - her outfits become loud and garish but theyre ultimately modest, and she takes comfort in the layers of fabric while not looking frumpy.

velvette, like vox, struggles with eating properly (not that she really needs to, as a metaphysical being, but its the principle of the thing), but its out of years of negative conditioning rather than a general disinterest. she prefers indulging in a variety of sugary drinks like iced coffee and bubble teas.

(in the context of voxvel/staticdoll) to her own mild chagrin, velvette has a favourite nickname - at one point vox nonchalantly called her "princess" and something both delightful and painful connected deep inside velvettes leftover inner child brain. its the one guaranteed way vox can get her to short-circuit, and because hes such a gentleman, hes very particular about when and where he uses it.

[marshmallowprotection]

the thing I want to shake saeray for is...apologizing to Rika, repeatedly.

What do you mean you're sorry for changing...? She's the one who hurt YOU! You're sorry for not letting her abuse and manipulate you anymore? Please value yourself more my love!!!

I understand where people are coming from when they say they're disappointed Saeran forgave the people who abused him. That's a feeling I deeply understand because I, personally, am much more like Saeyoung, and I don't forgive and forget. I remember, and that's okay because those feelings aren't hurting me or the people around me. In a society that forces many of us to think we have to "forgive" against our will.

We don't.

We don't have to forgive and forget.

But, it's important to understand that forgiveness is a broad topic, too. You can forgive people to move on and find peace, you don't have to let them back into your life, though. For Saeran, forgiveness was about learning how to forgive himself, as opposed to forgiving his abusers to let them back into his life.

Saeran built his cruelty from the backs of the abuse that was wielded against him.

In Mint Eye, he took the words and actions of his Mother, Rika, and Saejoong Choi to create a persona that could survive underneath the Savior. He repeated those words that were lauded against him, every action that was held against him was used to silence others, and that was what was expected of him. He became something that made his heart suffer in silence under his agonized screams, and not once has he tried to justify his actions to the player.

He's owned his mistakes. He's fighting every day to prove that he will never do what he did ever again. He doesn't want to hurt people. The only thing Saeran wants is to leave peacefully, and to do that, he has to learn how to forgive himself. You might forgive him for what went down in Mint Eye, you might not, but I can confirm GE Saeran didn't forgive himself. He realized that the only way to forgive himself was to face the people who spoke the words to him first, and in doing so, he decided that forgiving them was the best way to forgive himself.

If Saeran could face his demons and forgive them, he could learn how to look in the mirror and forgive himself, too. That's healthy, my friend. That's how he's going to find peace, and it's okay if you don't like that and it's not something you would do, but what's not okay is to shame Saeran for choosing what he wanted. He would never do it to you. The After Ending is filled with characters making choices that are what they want, right or wrong, and the characters support what you do.

Jumin doesn't approve of you putting yourself in danger, but he does not stop you when you plead with him to go back to Saeran's side. He knows you need to do that and gives you protection to do it safely in every way he can because that's your choice, and he won't stop you when he knows you'll run off without his help if need be.

Saeyoung won't forgive Rika, Saejoong or Jihyun for what they've done, but he knows that Saeran is gentle. He won't stop his brother from choosing peace, though. He respects Saeran's choice and he supports it just as Saeran supports Saeyoung's decision to never ever forgive them.

And now, I understand what you're saying about Saeran saying what he said to Rika here. The post I linked is where I was talking with an Anon about why GE Saeran suddenly cut off Rika and said, "I want ice cream".

He says everything he can to keep her placated and stall her for time. I don't think he's apologized to her once in this circumstance, there might have been a moment when he said he was sorry for not being “Ray” but if he said that, it wasn’t because he meant it.

He’s not sorry for not being who Rika wanted Ray to be because Ray was never what Rika wanted him to be, anyway.

She suffocated and suppressed him into the ground while his true colors were revealed to MC. If anything, he said it that because he understands why she’s this person he shouldn’t fear, she’s someone he pities because he can see how she became the Savior and how sad that very existence is. 

When he says he's sorry, he doesn't mean it in the way you think he does. He says sorry because he can see how the world failed her and how she failed herself. He can see how her life would have been different if the circumstances had been different if things didn't play out the way they did, and if she had the opportunity to open her eyes before it was too late. He empathizes with that feeling, and he offers condolences because he knows what it feels like. 

Saeran: "I'm sorry that I couldn't be what you tried to make me be, because I was never that way. You only wanted me to be that way because you're afraid of losing everyone. But, you lost all the people you love when you decided to force them to stay, no matter what they truly wanted. Ray never wanted to stay with you because he wanted to, you made him believe he had to stay because he had no person left to turn to but you. Your existence is a sad one, isn't it? To want to be loved but to push everyone away because you don't know how to express your fears?"

Saeran: "I can see why you are the way you are. I understand that you want to control me so you never feel alone again. I can see that you want me to be the way you are, you want someone to exist the same way you do so that you just can justify everything you've done and everything you've become because if you dared to look into a mirror, you'd know everything you've done to me and everyone else you've known is wrong."

Saeran: "I'm sorry I changed. I'm not sorry that I changed for the better, but you can't handle seeing me as I have always been, always wanted to be, and truly was. I'm sorry I changed and you're not ready to see me this way because all you've ever wanted to see is someone I've never been. Until you recognize I'm not the way you made me out to be in your head, you will continue to spiral down a path of hatred and utter contempt that made me miserable when I walked down it. Maybe if you hear me say the words I'm sorry, you'll think twice and hesitate about hurting MC and Saeyoung."

Saeran doesn't allow himself to be completely honest with Rika or Jihyun UNTIL SAEYOUNG AND MC ARE GONE. THAT'S WHEN HE BREAKS DOWN AND SAYS HIS FULL TRUTH. Saeran forgives Rika, he forgives her so he can forgive himself, but don't mistake his words in this moment for something they're not.

That apology isn't for her sake.

He knew Rika was on the cusp of realizing just how wrong she's been, (too little, too late, I know) but if Rika continued down that path and it didn't end well, Saeyoung and MC would be doomed. Saeran choose to say those words to distract her. To keep her busy. To make her see something else and assume things were okay. He didn't lie about his apology, but there's more happening in this scene than him saying he is sorry.

Saeran Choi damn well values himself and knows his worth. He won't let Rika hurt him ever again.

He understands why she is the way she is, but that doesn't excuse her actions nor does it mean he says he's okay with it. He acknowledges he's angry with her, that he's upset with her, and that there’s a part of him that doesn't like her. But, he doesn't want to be that person who is angry and upset with the world. He has spent way too long being angry with everyone. He is choosing peace, he is choosing kindness, he is choosing forgiveness, and that is his right.

It makes him feel better and his choosing to forgive people doesn't mean he's an idiot. It doesn't mean he's wrong. He is forgiving the people who hurt him so he can learn how to forgive himself, and I can tell you right now, for the people who think in their hearts that his forgiving them means that he wants them back in his life, it doesn't. He wants nothing to do with them after this, and I doubt he will ever get into contact with them once they go away to face justice. 

Sometimes, the answer to the question is to forgive but never forget. Saeran forgives them, but he’ll never forget what they did. They will be held accountable, just as he prays that people will hold him to the same standard. He wants to be held accountable, too.

TLDR; Saeran says that because he wants to stop Rika from lashing out if he can help it. He understands that Rika is in an unstable spot and anything could set her off. He could see her staring in a mirror in that moment, a mirror the might make her do the right thing, but he couldn't risk it. He distracted her, he pushed her to focus on another situation, and her thinking that he was sorry for changing was one of the best things he could think of saying.

Saeran isn't sorry about changing.

But, he does forgive Rika for what she's done. He wants to find peace for what HE DID that was INSPIRED BY what SHE DID TO HIM, and... as I've said God knows how many times over the years, forgiving her was a way to forgive himself for hurting the player.

[randomnameless]

The idea that SS says the Church needs to be rehabilitated in Rhea's ending is entirely on the translation. The Japanese text says that "Meanwhile, Rhea, who survived, returned to her duties as archbishop after she recovered her strength, and she aligned herself with the unified kingdom, working to rebuild the church and help people suffering from war damage." And while I've mentioned Claude's endings with Flayn before regarding Wind, the endings mention that the new order/society of Fodlan is built by the heroes who saved Fodlan which would include the CoS.

Pat really hated Rhea it seems if he does that to her ending. Her rebuilding the CoS? That's not good, she needs to make them atone. But then again, he also tried to make it so that Edelgard had similar ideals to Claude when the game ultimately says otherwise.

Oh I know, I've read your posts about this lol

TBH, while Pat is to blame for the Pat'd script, the Church, as in Rhea's church, is always depicted as needing/being reformed : it wasn't in SS's ending proper, but in Rhea's own S Support where she blames herself for, well, everything that happened but also confesses she used her position as the Archbishop for her personal plan to see her mother again...

And yet, if we look at her actions - and the ones that can be tied to her "rez Sothis plan", bar maybe making Sitri a priest/nun, what did she meant by the "took advantage of my position of the Archbishop"/"used my position as the Archbishop" to see her mother again?

In this S-support, Rhea herself considers her CoS/her lead of the CoS might be to blame for Supreme Leader's war and gives "empty" criticisms to her actions : emtpy as in, well, the game doesn't bother telling/showing what were those "occasions" where Rhea explicitely used her position as the Archbishop to make her wish come true.

Maybe if we pull our hair a bit, we can say the "Billy sitting on the chair" ceremony? That was made to "bring back" Sothis and she asked Billy to do that as their boss and the Archbishop of the CoS?

In a nutshell, it's less "the church needs to be reformed" in SS, but more "Rhea acknowledges she did BaD things (which are?) and used the CoS through her position as the Archbishop to do so (receipt not found?)" so with Billy and in the epilogue, obviously she doesn't do those "BaD" things anymore and their work is miraculous.

As for Claude, while he does "fall in love" with Flayn who is working in the Church with her Father - and this ending obviously cannot be triggered if Claude ends with Billy - Claude's very own words in his Billy S-support, imo, cannot be ignored, while Billy will take Rhea's role as the one people will rely on, he wants Billy to create a Fodlan with "new values" that won't exclude people for being different... implying Fodlan had such values before the War, CoS included - when we know, even in FE16, that this is bullshit!

So while Claude can end up with Flayn despite her being a member of the Church, she's a member of the post-VW Church that is "reformed/different" from the old church, because in VW, the Church has "new values that don't exclude people for being different".

So back to the original post

Compare with Houses, who always removes Nabateans/Rhea of the picture (except in SS’s S support) and brings “reforms” to the CoS - because it needed some, even if we will never know what they are or why those reforms were needed.

SS's reforms are less "reforms" and more "Rhea reckons she did BaD things so will stop doing them now".

The icing on the cake takes the form of Seteth'n'Flayn's paired ending, let it be in the lolcalised or even in the OG (Googled though!) script :

While Flayn disappeared soon after the war, Seteth stayed at the monastery and worked to restore the authority of the Church of Seiros. Doing away with his old strictness, he adopted a tolerant stance toward all, and encouraged his followers to do the same. When he was satisfied that the message was received, he vanished from the monastery.

In the lolcalised version, Seteth adopts a tolerant stance toward all (which he didn't have before?? Source?) and asked his followers to do the same (which he never did before either???) and apparently, when he was satisfied because his message not to be, uh, asshats was received, he finally left the monastery.

Because obviously, under the old CoS, when he was leading investigations against the Western Church and called names by those same people because his creed and followers are "too tolerant", he, uh, wasn't "adopting a tolerant stance toward all and encouraging his followers to do the same".

In the JP version :

フレンは戦後まもなく姿を消したが、セテス はその後も大司教補佐として大修道院に留ま り、教団の権威回復に努めた。かつての厳格 さは鳴りを潜め、何事においても寛大な措置 を取るよう運営方針を転換。時代に即した教 義���改革を妥協なく推し進め、信徒に混乱の ないことを見届けてから大修道院を去った

Google'd it gives some :

Flayn disappeared shortly after the war, but Seteth remained at the abbey as an assistant archbishop and worked to restore the authority of the order. His former strictness has subsided, and he has changed his management policy to take more lenient measures in all matters. He uncompromisingly promoted doctrinal reform in line with the times, and after seeing that there was no confusion among the faithful, he left the abbey.

So, sure, there's no fuckery about "a tolerant stance" because the JP script is more coherent with, well, the general script, it's more like Seteth finally stopped being so strict and became a tidbit more lenient.

And yet...

What are those "doctrinal reforms in line with the times"???

How did he change the CoS' doctrine, sure, it was to be "in line with the times", but what was changed?

This ending basically tells us - something Seteth also says in Nopes' expedition lines or in his Tea time lines? - that he doesn't agree with the doctrine (whatever it is he doesn't agree with) and since Seteth is a playable character who can be supported, his PoV is obviously biased as in, for the player, Seteth is the kind guy so if he says the CoS' doctrine needs reformation, he won't reform it to put some "might makes right" rule, but obviously reform it for the better.

What is that "better doctrine"?

This ending can be obtained in all routes where Nabateans aren't hunted to make a world "for humanity", even in SS where Rhea'n'Billy work together to make Fodlan prosperous and miraculous so... in all routes, the Church is reformed.

Houses wise : the Church is always reformed/needs reformation/did BaD things we never saw -> which serves to make it more "shady" and pretend to have "earl grey", because if the Church always needs reformation, then Supreme Leader targeting it isn't completely unjustified and nonsensical, right?

But when Nopes drops FE16's framing a little bit and we see, maybe for 15 seconds, the CoS do stuff... well, even if Seteth mentions "not agreeing with all tenets", from what we see and hear about the CoS, his doubts don't have the same weight since, hey, we witness the "help other if they need it" tenets, "don't impose the CoS' values on people who aren't from Fodlan" tenet, "we will repay our debts" tenet, etc etc.

Is this the part of the doctrine Seteth disagrees with? This doctrine needs reformation?

Tl;Dr : Church BaD which is why Supreme Leader's war isn't completely nonsensical and why the self insert of this opus can rightfully become God and run the show better than anyone who was there before, but we will never show us what this "BaD" entail, we just are told about it.

In turn, this creates Earl Grey and the "morally grey masterpiece uwu" reputation this game has - Agarthans have no place in this Earl Grey masterpiece, that's why some people try to come up with reasons or justifications to explain why they aren't that worse than the faction the game uses a piñata despite showing us all the "not BaD" things they do.

[thedawningofthehour]

Making Fun of Rich People Round 2

This one's a little bit different. This house is in Arizona, listed for a clean 20 mil, eight bedrooms ten baths, 16,000 square feet. The outside is really nothing special, looks like every other southwestern wanna-be movie star mansion so let's

Kicking things off with a bang.

You know. I can't even say anything bad about this. Like, the other house, they were people who clearly had more money than taste and built their house as a shrine to their bank accounts. It was not meant to live in, but to prove their wealth. It was ridiculous and stupid and they deserved to be made fun of.

These people. These people know their house is ugly. They know that table was an obscene waste of money. They know that couch screams "my coke dealer was redecorating." They do not care. They love bringing people in and watching their expressions of horror. They rub their hands together gleefully as people try to think of a compliment that isn't too obviously pulled out of their ass.

I mean, come on. That green chandelier, they're absolutely trolling us.

And I'm going to be honest, this looks like a living room I'd actually feel comfortable hanging out in. I can see someone on that couch eating ice cream out of the carton at 3 AM. People sit on that rug and play board games on that table. These people furnished their house to live in, not to display.

I am still going to tease them about it, however.

I'm laughing with them, not at them.

Is it just the angle or does that bed seem super short?

I...don't even know what I'm looking at here. I think this is the closet?

No, okay, they have a whole mall outlet store in here. This is like that one scene in Princess Diaries 2 except Julie Andrews would politely show herself out.

Why the marble. Why do you need a sitting area in your closet.

I will admit, I'm disappointed that the owner of such an interesting house has this many black pumps. I get that they go with everything, but-that's the point. They're universal. You don't need over a dozen of them. I expected better shoes.

Nobody:

Rich People: "make the bathroom...ROUND."

fr, their insanity always seems to come out full-force in the bathroom. I legitimately think rich people might not poop or bathe, because it's always some crazy shit that would be incredibly uncomfortable or downright impossible to use.

Another thing I've noticed, rich people all seem to want bathroom doors that open to the outside. Why?!

Especially when this is the outside they're opening up to!

Seriously, what is the point of this?! You're buck naked and decide to go have a smoke next to some cactuses and your giant patio geode. That's all that's out here. Why. Why.

Actually, it looks like there's little paths, which...just makes this worse, honestly. Imagine you're taking a leisurely stroll through the cactus garden and you pass your parents' bathroom patio, getting a full view of your mom taking a bath through the floor-length windows.

"Yes, in our dining hall with the light fixture that looks like birthday sparklers and our collection of Totally Real cactuses."

I've seen designers rag on those unfinished wood tables before, and while I didn't really agree with them at the time I kind of do now. I think this would look cool as like, a side table or accent table, but on a dining table it's just kind of awkward.

This is the same room, they just kept panning out.

While I made fun of the other house for their grand piano, I have no doubt that someone in this family is a drug-fueled musician. This room looks mega-comfy to lay back and watch a movie in, and I love the sheep.

I'm just...in awe of the audacity.

They didn't even try to match. Didn't even pretend like they cared. And I'm not gonna lie, the red countertop is doing something for me.

"When we want the bugs to join us for dinner."

I can't stress this enough, they have multiple patio sets.

See, the last people didn't show off all their alcohol at their bar because they thought it looked more refined not to. These guys probably have art supplies tucked away in their bar just to keep you on your toes. (they don't need a bar, these are the kind of people who carry flasks around with them)

So like...objectively, this bathroom is hideous. It's way too much, the feather thing is ridiculous, that cabinet is ugly as sin.

But I kind of love it?

Just a reminder: this is in Arizona.

...I have nothing to say here.

WHAT IS UP WITH RICH PEOPLE AND THEIR UGLY BATHROOMS?!

Again with the doorway to the outside! And I see this a lot, but so many rich people bathrooms don't have storage spaces?! Like, look at those sinks. What.

More to my theory that rich people don't have any need for bathrooms.

This is the bedroom I wanted as a thirteen-year-old and just now realized I still do.

THE WALLPAPER IS EVEN BIRBS!

Like, I can't even make fun of this. I am just in awe. This entire house looks if sixth grade me had access to the Sims 3 Create-A-Style and the motherlode cheat, and I honestly love that for them. I hope these people find a new house to be extremely fucking cool in.

Leaving with these calming lemons in the backyard! Pay no attention to all the bathrooms that open up directly to the garden.

[water9826]

Cursed Guardians (A JJK Fic)

AO3 Link

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Start Here

It is vital that you retrieve this, Ryomen.

I know. 

We cannot let any of those humans get in our way.

Of course not. I’ll kill them if they try to stop me.

Kill them? Heh. The sorcerers won’t like that.

Do you think I care? I can handle their ire. This is far too important.

I agree, but try not to burn the place to the ground. 

It’s tempting. All of these people are just worms desperate to consume whatever shit is available. I’d be doing them a favor.

Hm. And here I thought you were growing fond of humans.

Never. The four sorcerers we acquainted are the only decent ones. The rest can rot.

There are civilians in this place, Ryomen. We would draw attention to ourselves if there are casualties. It'll be a pain to deal with. 

Like I said earlier, I don’t care. If they try to challenge me, then they die. Simple.

I see.

And what of it?

Nothing. It’s just that…Well-

Spit it out. 

It just seems that I have severely underestimated your dedication to capitalism.

“Shut up, Sukuna.” Ryomen hissed to himself. He was currently in the supermarket looking for a very special item. It had been sold out for months, but Ryomen refused to go home empty handed today. He would fight tooth and nail for what he desired. 

The Limited Edition SPECIALZ DELIGHT: A Ginger and Brown Sugar Ice Cream Swirl With Crunchy Caramel Bits from Cyclop Cat Creamery. 

The mere thought of the frozen treat made Ryomen’s mouth water. He shopped almost exclusively online, using a false address so the delivery person would not discover the location of the shrine. For the last several years, Ryomen had everything delivered to a small house a few hours away from their true home. The house had been abandoned long ago, but Ryomen had chosen it due to it being remote, but reachable for regular humans. Due to the multiple barriers and seals Infinite and Sukuna had placed, no one could enter the shrine without permission. If they tried, they would be killed instantly by the powerful wards placed throughout. By using the house, deliveries could be made without the messenger being spontaneously combusted or sliced into a million pieces. Additionally, the house used to belong to a farmer. At first glance, the fact may seem irrelevant, but it wasn’t for Ryomen. He was nothing if not prepared. The house was small, but it was built upon the vast land of a ranch. The farmhouse gave Ryomen the opportunity to use the place as a way to stock up on emergency supplies. 

Though, the supplies did not only include food or water. The farm the house was built upon was used to grow crops in case of a sudden apocalypse or if Ryomen had to hide his family away for the next decade. On top of that, Ryomen used the ranch to house cattle, chickens, sheep, and horses. This way, Ryomen would not have to purchase goods like dairy, eggs, or meat, things that expire quickly. That meant fewer trips to the store. And fewer trips to the store meant less humans Ryomen had to interact with. And less humans that interacted with him meant less chance of his family being found and killed . 

It was the perfect plan!

Ryomen had grown up on the streets in a village that saw him as nothing but a bad omen. The sensation of his stomach writhing in agony from starvation was more familiar than the warm feeling of a full belly. He was not taking any chances when it came to his son’s life. Yuuji would always have food on his plate and warm clothes on his back. 

The man was also no stranger to war. He knew what it was like to have no form of transportation, no form of escaping, during a time of bloodshed and chaos. He had many memories of falling asleep next to the bodies of the fallen as a young boy, pretending to be among the dead so the enemy soldiers would not target him next. When he made the deal with Sukuna, he had finally learned what it was like to be on the other side, to be the one causing the terror and death. From what he had observed as a boy and as a man, being able to retreat was what determined if you lived or died. So. Horses . Ryomen was familiar with horses, often sleeping with the hooved beasts in their stables during the winter because he had no other place to go. The horses Ryomen had now were descended from the original horses Ryomen had ridden into the many battles he waged. They were strong, loyal, and, most importantly, fast. His mind could rest easy knowing that his son would be able to escape if anything were to happen to Ryomen or Japan itself. 

And this paranoia did not worsen from the fact that his son was going to be starting public school soon. Nope. Ryomen was completely fine with that. 

Liar.

I know. 

He was not a trusting person, and he could not afford to be one no matter how many allies he obtained. After the fateful meeting with the sorcerers, Ryomen had taken it upon himself to venture out in search of the peach seeds that held his son’s soul while training the young sorcerers while also raising his precious son while also also having to look after six powerful beasts and one grumpy curse. Needless to say, Ryomen was exhausted, but he did not trust Sukuna to handle things for him. Not anymore. There had been a strain on their relationship after Sukuna had revealed his many secrets at the meeting. For the sake of Yuuji, the boy who loved his father and uncle so much that he could not bear to be without either of them, they had worked things out. They had fought for centuries, so what was one more fight? That was the mindset Ryomen held in order to keep his temper under control. Yuuji should not have to see his loved ones fight. For the following weeks after the meeting, Ryomen and Sukuna tried their best to act civilly or ignore each other as much as they could. 

As time passed on, they had begun a ritual of sitting by the pond, neither speaking to the other. They would not talk, scream, or even whisper. They simply basked in the peaceful silence. One night, however, Sukuna looked at the man and broke the quiet they had become accustomed to. Instead of the expected insult or sneer, Sukuna had apologized to Ryomen for what he had done. His normally brash voice was soft and remorseful. 

‘I know how special Yuuji is to you, Ryomen. I should not have kept the information of his soul’s whereabouts from you, nor the existence of Kenjaku. I’m…I’m sorry. I should not have assumed it was alright to omit so many things about your son. I thought it would be easier to wait and focus on caring for Yuuji, but I was wrong.’

It had shocked Ryomen to his core when he had heard the curse’s apology. There were several facts about the world. The sky was blue. Ice was cold. Fire was hot. Infinite was annoying. And, the most important fact of all, Sukuna did not apologize . Ryomen had never heard the curse admit he was in the wrong before that night. He had wanted to hate Sukuna, but Ryomen could not bring himself to. Even when he knew that Sukuna was still hiding things from him, Ryomen did not hate him. His trust in him had diminished, that would never return, but he had accepted the apology. Sukuna and Ryomen shared the same body and soul. They could not leave the other even if they tried. Even if neither wanted to admit it, Sukuna and Ryomen were brothers. 

The next few years had been much easier than the first with the additional aid of the sorcerers. Even though Ryomen was doing far too much, he was happy to see his son thriving. He would be turning five in a few days, and Ryomen could not ignore that fact any longer. As much as he wanted to stay in the shrine, Ryomen knew he had to go out and purchase the gifts that Yuuji deserved. The boy had even written the shortest wishlist imaginable after Sukuna and Ryomen practically begged him to ask for something. However, most of the requested presents were for other people, but Ryomen knew it would break Yuuji’s heart if he did not respect his son’s wishes. There were only three things that Yuuji wanted for himself, and Ryomen would rather be burned alive again than not get Yuuji exactly what he wished for. 

Knowing that the trip to the city would take a while, Ryomen had reluctantly asked the sorcerers to come to the shrine earlier than expected. For the past three years, the sorcerers had developed a training regime that involved them coming to the shrine once a week or once a month if they had too many missions. Not all four could come at the same time due to their differing schedules. Their visitation was timed carefully as to not rouse suspicions from the sorcerer’s elders. Nanami, the supposedly strict and avid rule follower, was the most skilled at sneaking out and deceiving the higher-ups. He came up with an interchanging schedule that his group could use to make the sorcerers’ weekly outings seem innocent. Due to the unexpected timing for today, only one sorcerer could attend. It was surprisingly Gojo, the sorcerer who was the busiest of all, who could take care of Yuuji. However, Ryomen had a feeling that Gojo would have skipped out on any mission just to see Yuuji anyway. The white-haired man adored Yuuji, becoming another uncle that Yuuji loved. The two got along like two peas in a pod. 

There was one drawback. Gojo was able to visit, but he had to bring one of his children to the shrine. His adopted son, Fushiguro Megumi, had gotten suspended after a nasty fight in school (a fight he had won) and needed to stay with Gojo. Ryomen was about to refuse until Sukuna urged him to agree. It was strange that Sukuna was so passionate about allowing the older child to visit, but Ryomen had relented and agreed. In the end, the choice was the correct one as Yuuji had squealed and smiled brighter than the sun when he learned that he would be getting to meet a new person. 

There was still much to do for his son’s birthday preparations, so Ryomen shook himself out of his thoughts and wheeled his cart towards the frozen dessert section. Ryomen had a bit of a sweet tooth, though not nearly as severe as Gojo’s, and was delighted to see no one in the aisle. It was early after all. Too early for most people to buy ice cream. 

The Cyclop Cat Creamery was, in Ryomen’s opinion, the best ice cream manufacturer in the country. Many pints of their ice cream had helped Ryomen get through his worst nights. Nights that involved him watching shitty telenovelas or dramatic family comedies on the couch, bundled in a blanket, and crying with a spoon in his mouth. All to distract him from the constant worry and stress he felt. Sometimes, Boogie would join him on the dramas he watched, as long as it featured pop-idol Takada-chan. The man and dog tearing up at each rejection at a sakura tree, each confession at a sakura tree, each break-up in the rain or sakura tree, each desperate sprint through an airport, each admittance of moving away, and even each family member who randomly gets sick. Takada-chan’s movies always had at least one of those events. Though, it was more likely for her films to have all six. 

…So, yes. Ryomen consumed quite a lot of ice cream. 

At least, Yuuji adored the flavors they had as well. Even Sukuna, who ate meat almost exclusively, was fond of the frozen treats. 

Hurry up!

Be quiet! I’m the one who’s paying!

Sukuna grumbled within his mind. Due to the nature of their shared soul, Sukuna could not stay in the shrine when Ryomen left it. He had to stay with Ryomen whenever he went outside their home. It was another reason why Ryomen hated going out in public. The curse would never shut up within his mind, always finding something to complain about. Ryomen received many odd looks when he would respond to the entity in his head, and it took all his self-control to not snap at the humans. He was a single father with too much on his hands. He did not have the energy to deal with the fools who stared at him as if he was insane. Ryomen probably had several screws loose, but he did not enjoy other people thinking that!

The coolness of the freezer aisle helped soothe Ryomen’s nerves. He first picked out Yuuji’s favorite flavors: BLACK FLASH , a dark chocolate ice cream with strawberry and raspberry swirls and LEFT, RIGHT, GOODNIGHT, an ice cream with three separate flavors that included milk chocolate, vanilla bean, and honeycomb. The titles were…odd. But the ice cream was good enough for Ryomen to not care for once.

Buy more.

I plan on buying several pints already. 

Good. Make sure you have enough to feed an army.

…

…

I expect you to tell me why.

…

Sukuna.

Fine. The brat and I will be having a competition to see who can consume the most frozen confectionaries. 

You mean an ice cream eating contest?

…Yes. It was on his birthday wish list…

Ryomen had to bite his lip to stifle a laugh. To anyone else, including Ryomen himself, Sukuna was the biggest asshole imaginable. Granted, Ryomen was as well, but his usual exhaustion hid his poor temperament. Sukuna was the type of person to push an elderly woman into oncoming traffic just because she asked for help crossing the road. An extreme example, yes, but it was great at showing Sukuna’s violent tendencies and astounding levels of pettiness. However, he was a completely different person with Yuuji. He would deny it constantly, but the curse was incredibly soft when it came to the boy. Ryomen shook his head with a small smile as he grabbed a few more pints. Once Sukuna deemed the amount of ice cream sufficient, Ryomen finally went for the flavor he had been waiting for for months.

At last! 

Just as his hand reached for the frozen dessert, another came and snatched the last pint of SPECIALZ DELIGHT before he could blink. It had happened so quickly that Ryomen’s mind needed a few seconds to process what had happened. 

OH, THAT FUCKING BITCH! LET ME OUT, RYOMEN! LET ME BEAT HER ASS! I SWEAR TO GOD, I’LL CUT OFF THAT HAND RIGHT NOW! THE FUCKING AUDACITY! STUPID BITCH! GOOD FOR NOTHING PIECE OF SHIT CU-

With practiced ease, Ryomen ignored the unholy screeching within his head. He tried his best to have a pleasant smile on his face as he turned to the thief person. It was a middle-aged woman with streaky blond hair that was cut into a bob. Her makeup was slightly cakey from the excessive powder she likely used. She had several fake gemstones on her rings and bracelets. 

The woman looked at Ryomen with a disgusted scowl. “What.”

Sukuna’s creative swears and insults grew louder, causing Ryomen to suppress a grimace. He pointed at the pint the woman was holding. “I was about to grab that, miss. I know it’s the last one, but I’ve been waiting for the restock for months. You see, my son is having a-”

“I grabbed it first. Go find another pint for your son.” She pointed a gaudy pink nail at Ryomen. “I suggest looking at the clearance aisle, you people can’t afford this stuff anyway.”

Stay calm. Stay calm. STAY CALM . Ryomen breathed in deeply, his smile resembling a snarl more than anything else. “It’s for my son’s birthday. Surely, you can let go of the ‘finders keepers’ mentality since you are clearly not a child.”

“I don’t care about your damn spoiled brat of a son! This is mine! Go to some other store!”

“No.” Ryomen gave up on trying to be polite the second the crone insulted his son. The woman looked like she had just sucked on a lemon with how pinched her face got. 

“How dare you! Do you know who my husband is! I can have you arrested for this-”

“Do it.” Ryomen said coldly. The woman immediately froze. “I dare you.”

For a few moments, it seemed like the horrid lady was going to give up. However, she got over her brief lapse and scowled harder at Ryomen. “You people have no respect whatsoever! I’m going to call-”

“My people?” Ryomen asked with his fists clenched, already feeling them heat up. 

“Yes, you people! You damn activists that dye their hair and act like they're superior to everyone else!” The woman looked more like a tomato with how flushed her face became from anger. She stomped her foot like a child throwing a tantrum. “Leave us good people alone! I’m not giving you anything! Your stupid son can-”

It was as if the very air around them had gone still. The buzzing of the fluorescent lights could not be heard anymore nor the constant buzz of the refrigeration units. Finally, the woman realized the mistake she had just made. Her eyes grew wide with genuine terror as the man in front of her bore his piercing crimson eyes into her. For a second, it seemed like the tattoos beneath his eyes opened. She blinked hard, and the eyes disappeared along with the blood red gaze. Despite being in the freezer aisle, the atmosphere around them grew unbearably hot. This was the first time that anyone had ever scared her this much. Her hands began to shake as the towering figure came closer. 

Ryomen snatched the woman by the neck before she could utter a cry of help. He let his palms grow hot enough to burn. “The only reason that you’re still alive is because I have errands to do, so I can’t waste my time tossing your eviscerated corpse to the rats . Though, the rats don’t deserve such rotten meat. Perhaps the maggots would take you. They eat all worthless, putrid garbage after all.”

There was now blood streaming down the horrified woman’s neck as sharp claws pierced into her. She had dropped the pint, the reason for the argument, the second he grabbed her. Her hands pawed uselessly at the iron grip the pink-haired man seemed to have. 

“Your behavior is disgusting. If anyone behaves like they are above everyone else, it is you. You’re a rotten woman who no one will miss. I would say you have time to change your ways, but that would be a lie, wench. Now, get out of my sight.” Ryomen unceremoniously dropped the woman who collapsed onto the floor. Her neck was bleeding profusely and part of Ryomen wanted to let the old crone bleed out. However, his common sense kicked in. Leaving a dead body in a public supermarket would come back to bite him. Instead of slitting her through or turning her to ash, Ryomen begrudgingly healed her using his reverse cursed technique. His was not as refined as Sukuna’s, but it would do. After healing her, leaving no scrap of evidence behind, Ryomen picked up the tossed pint. He heard the hysterical sobs from the traumatized woman, but he did not acknowledge her whatsoever. 

Well done, Ryomen. Though, your outburst better not have melted our frozen confections!

“Shut up, Sukuna.”

-

If someone were to ask Satoru about wanting children as a teen, he would have laughed in the questioner’s face and mock the person for such a stupid question. ‘Hell no.’ He’d say. ‘Why would anyone want to take care of snot-nosed brats for the rest of their life?’ He’d jeer.

Well, his younger self could fuck off.

“Megumiiiiii-chaaaaan~” 

“I’m punching you next.” Megumi grouched from the backseat of the car. The eleven-year-old had gotten into a fight with several boys at recess. Based on his minimal injuries, Megumi had won the fight. The boys that had tried to gang-up on his boy were much worse for wear, bearing black eyes and broken noses and scratches that likely came from a protective demon dog. However, Megumi was cradling his right arm and would wince whenever the car went over a bump. There were little to no bruises or scuff marks on Megumi, but Satoru knew better than to ignore the risk of something internal occurring. 

After receiving a call from Megumi’s school, he had to ask Ijichi to drive him since it would be jarring if he warped there. The younger man agreed without fuss, sweating profusely as he readied the car. Despite his jittery nature, Ijichi’s skill behind the wheel was unmatched. It was the only time that Ijichi would appear calm and confident. Once they arrived, Satoru had to pretend that he cared for the feelings of the delinquents Megumi had injured and act like he was disappointed in Megumi. It could not be further from the truth, but Satoru needed to be a mature adult in front of the school’s principal. They had given no punishment to the group of boys that had initiated the fight, but had suspended Megumi for two weeks. The parents of the brats that had attacked Megumi tried to lecture Satoru on his parenting skills. He simply smiled at the morons, thanking them for the advice and assuring them that this wouldn’t happen again. If the school had not been the most secure place Satoru could find, he would have ripped those parents and the principal a new one. 

When Megumi and Satoru entered the car, the elder immediately burst into giggles. In his mind, Megumi was being punished for something minor. When Satoru was his age, he had done far worse things to others. Though, the fact that Satoru had been homeschooled meant that all his tutors were paid to deal with his preteen-self’s horrid attitude. He could get away with anything, but Megumi was not being taught by a private tutor. He went to a public school, and the school had rules. Perhaps suspension was warranted for the brutal beating Megumi had given the boys…Maybe. He needed the full story. Satoru had been trying to ask Megumi about what happened for the past ten minutes, but the boy refused to answer. 

As the scenery of office buildings and shopping districts changed to something far more rural, Megumi perked up considerably. His dark expression faded into one of curiosity. There were hundreds of questions brewing in the boy’s navy eyes. 

“Got something on your mind, Megs?” Satoru glanced at the boy.

Megumi huffed stubbornly, a trait he and the twins share. He tried to make his black hair cover his eyes, but it only made the boy look like he was pouting. Eventually, Megumi spoke. “Aren’t you gonna ground me?”

“I don’t think that was the question you wanted to ask.” Satoru teased.

“Just answer, Gojo.” Megumi demanded, though it lacked the normal fire the boy was known for. Despite how hard Megumi tried to appear apathetic or stoic, Gojo could read him like a book. The boy was nervous, likely believing that he was in deep trouble with his adoptive parent. He had a tension in his body that suggested that Megumi was expected to be struck or yelled at. It pained Satoru to see the boy struggle with the trauma his good-for-nothing father gave him. While Megumi never spoke of the first years of his life with Toji, Satoru could tell that it was anything but pretty. It left him with serious issues involving attachment, abandonment, and being more closed off than a clam. It made Satoru want to kill Toji for the second time. And a third. And a fourth-

He shook his head to rid himself of the murderous thoughts. Megumi was still awaiting a response, looking more uneasy than before. With a soft sigh, Satoru turned away, knowing that the boy hated prolonged eye contact. “I’m not mad at you, Megs. I would have done much worse in your shoes, but you showed restraint. You’re a smart kid, so I know that I don’t need to tell you not to do it again. Not because the bastards don’t deserve it, they did if you ask me. You know what you did wrong, and I know you like this school enough that you don’t want to be expelled. The principal is a jerk, sure, but I’ve seen how well the staff and teachers treat you.” 

“...You’re really not mad?” Megumi whispered, eyes wide. For once, he acted like the child he was supposed to be, which had become rarer and rarer over the years.  

“I’m not, Gumi. Promise.” The white-haired man only used the nickname when Megumi was in deep distress. It showed Megumi that Gojo was being sincere. As the road grew bumpier, made from dirt and not asphalt, Megumi’s curiosity returned. 

The preteen’s brow furrowed in the way that it always did when Megumi was thinking hard about something. “Where are we going?” 

“Remember the friends that Suguru and I visit every month?” 

“Yeah? What about them?”

“We’re going to visit them. They’re pretty reclusive, so that’s why you haven’t met them yet. They’re good people though. It’s thanks to them that Suguru doesn’t burn water when trying to boil it, heh. Anyways, an emergency popped up, and they had to leave immediately. Here’s the thing,” Satoru paused for dramatic effect, raising his index finger. The spiky-haired boy was listening with rapt attention and did not enjoy Satoru’s sudden stop. After several seconds of Megumi’s impatient glare, Satoru continued with a grin. “They have a son, and there was no one else available to take care of him. He’s four, but he’s as sweet as Tsumiki. Well behaved too. I know he is going to love having a new friend. The kid has no friends his age, so be nice to him. He also has… guard dogs that are really protective so do not summon your shikigami unless strictly necessary, ‘kay?” 

Silence followed as Megumi processed the information, analyzing every detail Satoru had provided. As the boy got lost in his thoughts, the road got even bumpier. Ijichi had driven this path several times, so he was able to smooth the ride enough for Megumi’s arm to not jostle. Satoru leaned back in the seat, taking out his phone and opening his favorite group chat. 

THE STRONGEST BITCHES🤞😎

infinity3435: @everyone

infinity3435: omw to see yujiiiii with megs o(≧∇≦o)

infinity3435: jealous @curse_gobbler ? 

curse_gobbler: not particularly.

infinity3435: ur such a liar

curse_gobbler: stfu

infinity3435: make me (͠≖ ͜ʖ͠≖)

lesbianmalpractice: can y’all not be gay for once

infinity3435: nope  ｡◕‿◕｡

curse_gobbler: no.

curse_gobbler: are u homophobic shoko?

lesbianmalpractice: only when it comes to you two.

infinity3435: wow ಥ_ಥ

lesbianmalpractice: the more fucking emoticons you use the more homophobic i’m gonna get

infinity3435: (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

Nanami.Kento: I thought that we established that this group chat was for emergencies only.

infinity3435: it is

infinity3435: telling you guys that i get to hang out with yuuji today while you guys are stuck doing boring shit is an emergency

infinity3435: very important info

lesbianmalpractice: ur such a dick

infinity3435: u love me tho (◕‿◕✿)  

lesbianmalpractice: not at all

infinity3435: (◕╭╮◕✿)

curse_gobbler: lmao

infinity3435: SUGURU UR SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE 

curse_gobbler: says who?

infinity3435: says your loving partner of 84 yrs

curse_gobbler: satoru neither of us are even close to being that old. you need to stop watching titanic so much

Nanami.Kento: Well, Gojo-san does have the white hair most elderly are plagued with. It is possible that he has fooled us all with his age. Perhaps that is why he acts so childish, it’s to throw us off. 

infinity3435: NANAMI HOW COULD U? ┗( T﹏T )┛

lesbianmalpractice: HAH

lesbianmalpractice: NANAMI JUST CALLED U A FUCKING GEEZER 

infinity3435: u guys are so mean (இ﹏இ`｡)

lesbianmalpractice: ╭∩╮(╹◡╹)

infinity3435: SHOKO 

lesbianmalpractice: ─=≡Σᕕ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)ᕗ

curse_gobbler: (•_•) ( •_•)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)

infinity3435: ALRIGHT QUIT IT 

Nanami.Kento: ୧༼ ºل͜º ༽ºل͜º ༽୨༼ ºل͜º ༽╭∩╮

infinity3435: WTF NANAMI

lesbianmalpractice: YES NANAMI

Nanami.Kento: Apologies if I used it incorrectly. I am not accustomed to this type of text.

curse_gobbler: u used it perfectly. couldn’t done it better myself

lesbianmalpractice: ^

lesbianmalpractice: @infinity3435 that’s what u get for shoving the fact that you get to see yuuji in our faces

curse_gobbler: ^

curse_gobbler: i’ve had to exorcize almost thirty curses and now im omw to excorcize more 

lesbianmalpractice: and i’ve been at the morgue all day 

infinity3435: sucks 4 u

Nanami.Kento: At least, the three of us do not have to spend extra time with Infinite. Even if Yuuji-kun and Megumi-kun are present, Infinite never misses an opportunity to train you. And, frankly, beating the shit out of you. 

infinity3435: HEY

Nanami.Kento: Now, please stop spamming this messaging forum. I have work to do. 

Nanami.Kento: Please tell Yuuji-kun that I said hello. 

lesbianmalpractice: goddamn i forgot how brutal nanami could be

cursed_gobbler: mhm

cursed_gobbler: well, i’ll follow nanami’s lead and log off. my train is almost at its stop anyway

lesbianmalpractice: yeah i gotta perform another autopsy soon

lesbianmalpractice: send pics of the little guys satoru

infinity3435: i will 

infinity3435: someway or another i’m gonna have megs and yuuji have a photoshoot 

curse_gobbler: good luck with that

curse_gobbler: you better send them 

infinity3435: you got it shnookums ( ˘ ³˘)♥

curse_gobbler: delete that this instant

infinity3435: no~

“I’m totally gonna start calling him that from now on.” Satoru giggled to himself. He put his phone in his pocket after turning it off. Now, the man could see that they had reached the expansive land of the ranch Ryomen… acquired . Using the rearview mirror, Satoru got to observe Megumi's smile as the boy pressed his face against the window like an excited child. The spiky-haired boy was none the wiser to Satoru’s stare, so he had dropped the indifferent front he tried so hard to keep. It warmed Satoru’s heart whenever Megumi acted like the eleven-year-old boy he was. 

Nothing made Megumi come out of his shell as effectively as animals. He watched the herds of cattle and sheep graze calmly on grass like it was the most intriguing thing in the world. The boy would also look at the many chickens across the lot with rapt attention, he had even unbuckled his seatbelt at this point to be as close to the window as possible. Both Ijichi and Satoru looked at Megumi with a fondness that anyone who knew the grumpy child would feel. After a few more minutes of driving, the house at the center of the ranch was visible. Several horses could be seen relaxing or grazing on the untrimmed yard. When the car made its way to the unmarked driveway, the horses made no move to run. The small herd had horses of various breeds and sizes with the largest towering over the car Ijichi was driving. In fact, it was the largest horse Satoru had ever seen. It was a deep, black color with white hair pooling around its hooves. Based on how it dwarfed the other horses, it was well over three meters tall. Based on the familiar crimson markings around its snout and eyes, Ryomen had likely given the horse considerable amounts of cursed energy to make it so large. Despite its imposing size, it did not appear to care about the presence of the newcomers whatsoever while the rest of the herd was watching them curiously. Satoru could not help but be reminded of Sukuna from the giant horse’s laziness. 

Whenever Satoru and the others were summoned for training, Infinite would appear before them and warp them to the shrine. He had no idea when or even how the damn bird knew where he, Suguru, Shoko, and Nanami lived. Infinite just did and would give whichever sorcerer he visited a heart attack. Wanting to delay Megumi’s meeting with Infinite as much as possible had led Satoru to request to go to the ranch Ryomen had spoken about. The pink-haired man had been ready to refuse before Sukuna convinced him otherwise, agreeing with Satoru that Megumi should not know what teleporting with Infinite felt like if he didn’t need to. Satoru was fine with warping himself and Megumi to the shrine. The ranch and shrine were over an hour apart, but Satoru could care less. He would deal with the migraine that came after warping a considerable distance easily. Ryomen had allowed Sukuna and Infinite to disable the many wards around the temple’s radius. It would be a temporary hold for Satoru to teleport to the shrine without issue, but the older man warned that the wards would reactivate soon and too not dawdle. 

“This is our stop.” Satoru said, unbuckling his seatbelt before stretching his lanky limbs. In the backseat, Megumi was still gaping at the horses in front of them. He gave Ijichi several hundred dollar bills as thanks, causing the younger to sputter and sweat. As an assistant director, Satoru knew that Ijichi was being overworked as much as the most talented sorcerers. There was so little staff that Ijichi had to do the work of at least ten people every day. He was treated with far less respect than sorcerers and expected to do much more work. Because of his younger age, the elders worked Ijichi harder than anyone else, like he was a dog. Yes, Ijichi did not put his life on the line to fight curses, but the higher-ups were giving their best shot at working assistants like Ijichi to death. It pissed off Satoru immensely. If it was not for Suguru, who was ninety-nine percent of his impulse control, he would have happily murdered those in charge of the assistant directors. Ijichi tried to give the money back, but Satoru remained firm. Eventually, he glared at the man. “Take the cash or else .”

It was an empty, vague threat, but it did its job. Ijichi yelped and bowed his head in thanks and accepted the money, blushing furiously. “Thank you, Gojo-san.”

“Don’t mention it. I know the geezers barely pay you a liveable wage. You need it.” Satoru allowed his cheerful front to drop for a moment. The assistant’s eyes were as wide as saucers from the sorcerer’s kind words. Not wanting to dwell on any thoughts involving the elders, Satoru gave his infamous shit-eating grin. “You better buy me something with that~”

Ijichi nodded frantically. As Satoru helped Megumi with his things, the tired assistant gave a small, grateful smile towards the older sorcerer before pulling out of the driveway and leaving. 

“Your friends are cursed users aren’t they?” Megumi said the second Ijichi’s car was out of sight. 

His abrupt words caused Satoru to choke on his own spit. “How did you- I mean- NO. They aren’t. Uh. They’re sorcerers. Good guys. Super duper nice. They’re harmless…” Satoru began to ramble as Megumi gazed at him with an unimpressed look. Dammit. The kid is too smart for his own good. He had planned to tell Megumi the truth in the safety of the shrine, but his cover was already blown. Ijichi had not been told the reasons as to why he had to drive to a random farm, so Satoru could not say anything in the car. It wasn’t that he distrusted Ijichi, he knew the man was loyal to Yaga and his friends far more than the higher-ups. Even so, the less people that knew about Sukuna and the cursed souls meant less chances of being caught. Ryomen would only allow so much information to be spread. Even Yaga was left in the dark as to where his previous students went. Deciding to bite the bullet, Gojo turned towards his son. He held out his hand, which Megumi begrudgingly took, and led him into the house. Two horses walked up to the pair, likely the youngest of the herd. It was a young filly and colt. The filly had a ginger coat, and she was clearly the more dominant of the two. On the other hand, the colt with strawberry blond fur tried to shove his snout into Megumi’s unoccupied hand. As if knowing the hand was injured, the young horse was incredibly gentle, sniffing at the boy’s fingers. The more prideful female did not get as close, but she was interested in whatever Megumi had in his backpack. 

Megumi had a small grin on his face as he went to pet the colt’s snout, much to the horse’s delight. “I don’t think a sorcerer would ever live this far out in the country. They’re needed in the city far too much. If a curse user wanted to stay hidden, they’d live in a place like this.” The boy’s deduction was correct. For a moment, Satoru basked in the pride of how intelligent his boy was. It made it impossible to hide things from Megumi, but Satoru could not help but be proud. 

“You hit the nail on the head, Megs.” Satoru watched carefully for any signs in Megumi’s posture that would indicate if the boy was fearful of meeting cursed users. When he found nothing, he huffed in amusement and ruffled Megumi’s hair. “You’re such a smart cookie!”

“Quit it!” Megumi snatched the hand in Satoru’s hold to swat at the much taller male. The ginger filly whinnied loudly at the two, almost like she was laughing. “See? Even the horses can see how annoying you are!”

“Oh, the pain! To be betrayed by my own flesh and blood! After all the hours I spent bringing you into the world!” He placed a hand on his forehead in fake agony. 

“We aren’t related! And you are not my mom!” Megumi growled with a fierce glare. However, it only made the boy look more like a hissing kitten in Satoru’s eyes.

“So mean!” 

They spent a few more moments with the horses until Satoru finally lead Megumi towards the inside of the house. The door hinges creaked loudly from lack of care. There was a scent of dust all around, but the house was relatively clean. The living room they were standing in was mostly barren, save for a ratty couch and worn chairs. Storage containers could be seen in every corner, organized in a system only Ryomen knew. Gojo knew better than to mess with any of the containers. 

Megumi had gone quiet again, observing the house. 

Eventually, he spoke up. “Your friends don’t live here, do they?”

“They don’t, but no one can disclose the location of their home. I made a binding vow along with the others to not reveal where their place is.” Gojo gestured towards the old home. “This is a middle ground of sorts. It’s safe if others know its location, that’s why Ijichi knew where to go.”

“But if we’re here, then how are we going to get to your friend’s house?” Megumi asked with a frown. The gears in his head were turning as he attempted to figure out the answer. Gojo could practically see the steam coming out of his nose. 

Satoru placed a hand on Megumi’s shoulder, kneeling to be at eye level with the boy. “I know you don’t like it, but we’ll be warping there. The place has countless wards and seals installed so no one can enter. It’s temporarily disabled, so we can travel there without issue. Warping is the only way.” At the idea of teleporting, Megumi shuddered. It was so disorientating, many had asked Satoru how he never experienced the effects of his teleportation. However, Satoru did feel the nauseating sensations that came with warping, he had just gotten used to it after years of practice. Besides teleporting, Satoru knew there was something more important to discuss with Megumi. “It won’t be too bad, Megs, I promise. But there is another thing-”

“Is it about the guard dogs you made up?”

“Damn, you're on a roll, kid.” Satoru muttered, mildly impressed. He pretended to not notice how Megumi’s little chest puffed up. With his knees beginning to hurt, Satoru decided to sit down, Megumi following suit. He pulled out his phone and opened a private album of photos that no one was allowed to see. There was even a passcode to the photo album. Satoru held out his arm in invitation, and Megumi climbed into his lap. Any embarrassment he would have felt was ignored for the boy’s need to learn more. Satoru pulled up a photo that he knew Megumi would enjoy. “You’re right, they aren’t guard dogs. Though, they still perform the same purpose of protecting my friend’s son. They’re called cursed souls. I’m sure you’ve heard of them, considering how much you like to sneak into Suguru’s study.”

“It’s his fault he didn’t invest in good locks.” Megumi defended. The preteen shifted his attention to the photo and immediately had to bite his lip to not burst out laughing. It was a picture of Nanami, but it depicted the man in a way Megumi had never seen before. To start, Nanami was not wearing his signature glasses and suit. He had on a loose, blue tank top and black joggers that were covered in sweat and mud. The normally stoic sorcerer had his eyes wide, looking behind him. He looked like he was shouting at someone with how his head turned and mouth opened. His well kempt hair was an utter mess. He was clearly being chased by something. It reminded Megumi of the many silly chase scenes he had seen in the cartoons he watched periodically with Mimiko. 

The ones responsible for chasing the blonde were three of the strangest creatures Megumi had ever seen. 

It was true that he had snuck into Getou’s study multiple times, but there was not as much information as Megumi hoped. It was mostly boring paperwork that Megumi did not care about. The treasures he did find were more interesting than any nature documentary. Getou had several drawings and notes describing beings called cursed souls. He had wanted to take the papers and read them in his room, but he knew that Getou was as observant as Gojo. He knew there were more details, they just were not in the study. Any items like textbooks or documents were likely hidden within Getou’s inventory curse. Megumi hated the ugly worm. Whenever he got his phone or remote to his television taken away, Getou would put it into the worm for safekeeping. Megumi knew he could not ask Getou about cursed souls without tattling on himself. From what little he managed to read on cursed souls, Megumi knew that they behaved differently from cursed spirits, they were powerful, they were unpredictable, and Getou hated the one that looked like a bird. 

He recognized the three cursed souls chasing Nanami from Getou’s sketches. Getou normally enjoyed drawing the many curses he encountered or consumed, so Megumi was not surprised that he would make sketches of these strange entities. One of them was a purple cat that had long, black spikes shooting from its back. It was the closest to catching Nanami, but the cat had a playful expression on its fluffy face. It had no intention of actually attacking Nanami. Behind the cat, there was a behemoth of a dog following with its tongue lolling out of its mouth. Concealing the canine’s face was a skull that could not belong to any animal on earth. To start, The top of the skull was jagged and uneven, as if there used to be horns that had been broken off, and seemingly fused into the dog’s face. It was wide enough to cover the canine’s wide features. Additionally, there were two tusks that curled upwards from the upper jaw. When Megumi saw the bottom jaw, he lost all hope of trying to identify the skull. It was bisected with jagged teeth throughout. It allowed the real mouth of the canine to move freely. Besides the haunting skull and strang fur pattern, it looked like an ordinary dog. A massive one, but still a dog. From the slobber on Nanami’s face, it seemed that the canine had given the blonde many kisses. Megumi’s demon dogs did not produce slobber, so their licks were exponentially less messy. The boy could not help but snicker at the image of Nanami being tackled by an overexcited puppy the size of a bear. 

The third creature had no animalistic features whatsoever, a stark contrast to the first two. Megumi turned to Gojo, a question on his lips. Before he could speak, Gojo answered for him. 

“The last one looks like Nanami, huh?” 

“Yeah. Did it copy Nanami or something?”

“Sort of.” Gojo pointed a finger at the last cursed soul. It had several spotted wrappings reaching towards Nanami. The left side of it looked like it was on fire while the rest of its body resembled a mummy. Its lower half reminded Megumi of a serpent. All the wrappings were identical to the ones Nanami used on his blunt sword. The cursed soul even had an altered version of Nanami’s glasses. When he looked closer, Megumi realized that the creature was wearing a second pair of glasses on top of its head. Likely Nanami’s. Gojo’s voice broke the boy out of his musings. “I’ll tell you everything when we get there, okay? If we wait any longer, the wards are going to reactivate.”

Megumi nodded, hundreds of questions swimming in his mind. He felt Gojo pick him up and instinctually wrapped his arms around the elder’s neck. The boy prepared himself for the unpleasantness that came with warping. Gojo gave the boy a squeeze, a nonverbal warning that he was about to teleport. He closed his eyes.

He felt the world around them shift and change. It felt like going on an elevator that was going too fast yet too slow at the same time. The elevator moved up and down, right and left, everywhere and nowhere. 

Then they were somewhere. 

“We’re here! You can open your eyes, kid.” Gojo said reassuringly. When the dizziness and nausea faded, Megumi was placed onto the ground. 

This wasn’t a house. 

It was a temple. 

Megumi was about to demand where the hell Gojo had taken him, but was stopped by a pink blur tackling him to the ground. As the boy’s mind processed what had happened, he went to yell at the jerk who slammed into him. However, any anger Megumi had vanished as he locked eyes with his assailant, who was giving him the biggest smile Megumi had ever seen. 

The younger pink boy wrapped like a koala around Megumi pulled away for a moment. “Hi! I’m Yuuji! I’m so happy to meet you!!!”

Somehow, Megumi just knew his suspension would not be as bad as he thought. 

-

If he was being honest with himself, Sukuna did not expect Megumi and Yuuji to be nearly as close as they used to be in this world. 

He had never been more wrong. 

Having Yuuji and Megumi meet was one of the best decisions Sukuna had ever made. Even Ryomen had begrudgingly admitted how grateful he was for Yuuji’s new friend. With a friend that was actually a child and not an adult or ancient curses, Yuuji blossomed. The amount of nightmares that Yuuji had had diminished greatly due to Megumi’s calming presence. 

Sukuna had not anticipated the bond between the two to be as strong as it was. Instead of being the same age, Megumi was roughly six years older than Yuuji now. It made sense back then for the two teenagers to befriend each other. Two teens had similar issues to relate to and were capable of having a balanced dynamic. Through Yuuji, Sukuna had seen how much the boys cared for each other. It had been something that Sukuna could take advantage of, and he did . He expected Megumi and Yuuji to be acquaintances at best in this time. Megumi was someone who was aloof and preferred to be alone. He did not seem like the type to be fond of children. He wasn’t.

But he was fond of Yuuji. 

Instead of ignoring the younger boy, Megumi had more or less decided that Yuuji was his little brother from now on. He was patient with Yuuji, helping him with preparing for kindergarten. Without any sign of the grouchiness Megumi was known for, he would explain the subject of Yuuji’s lesson in a way the boy could understand. It had been quite difficult for Ryomen when he was teaching Yuuji about reading, writing, and colors. Yuuji became distracted easily, often retreating into his own mind or daydreaming. Ryomen had never had the opportunity to teach Yuuji in things like literacy during their life in the Heian Era. The man had to prioritize on not having Yuuji starve or freeze to death every day. He enjoyed teaching Yuuji in the beginning, but soon realized he was out of his league. Ryomen himself had never been allowed to study in his previous life, learning how to survive instead of how to read. It was Sukuna who had taught Ryomen the basics. However, Sukuna’s teaching style was much less gentle. His tactics involved threatening Ryomen about ‘chopping off your dumbass head if you don’t memorize these damn kanji’. Among other threats of bodily harm or cannibalism. Megumi was the complete opposite. He tutored Yuuji without a hint of difficulty, no threats of eating his student alive whatsoever! Sukuna was slightly envious.

As a result of Megumi’s lessons, Yuuji felt more confident than ever about entering kindergarten. 

“Sukuna, are you sure-”

“Yes, Ryomen.”

“But-”

“No.”

“What if I-”

“ NO .”

“You’re a dick”

“Uh-huh.”

For Ryomen’s sake, they had agreed on having Yuuji start kindergarten at age six. The extra year had helped Yuuji be at the level he needed to be for school. If it wasn’t for Megumi’s tutelage, Yuuji would be incredibly behind academically. The many hours Megumi spent with Yuuji made the younger one stick to the preteen like glue. Whenever Megumi visited, Yuuji would follow him around their home like a duckling. Megumi did not seem to mind Yuuji’s clinginess, happily including Yuuji in whatever he was doing. He would talk about what he did at school and his older sisters the most. When he would speak about going to restaurants or shopping trips with his family, the longing in Yuuji’s eyes could be seen as clear as day. The boy had never gotten to know the pleasures childhood had to offer. However, Yuuji did not become angry like Ryomen or Sukuna anticipated. The child had every right to be upset, scream, or through a fit. Even so, Yuuji did not. Yuuji simply became…sad. He would ask a few questions about the outside world to Ryomen or Sukuna and would go quiet after they answered. Yuuji would nod his head before sitting on the backyard porch, Supernova usually settling in his lap. 

Sukuna could not stand the ‘kicked-puppy’ look in Yuuji’s eyes any longer. After many arguments that involved flames and blood, Sukuna had forced Ryomen to agree to letting Yuuji visit Megumi’s house for a few hours. Gojo and Getou had enthusiastically agreed, promising that nothing would happen to the boy. The guardians were not pleased at all. Only Supernova could accompany Yuuji due to his ability to shrink. It was impossible to hide away something as large as Infinite. The guardians’ forms were not discreet whatsoever. At least, Supernova could hide away in Yuuji’s backpack or hoodie. 

They had needed the boy to leave the temple for a reason. Yuuji’s first day of school was tomorrow, so Sukuna thought that a celebration was in order. It had been Gojo that had suggested a surprise party. The limitless user had bought gaudy decorations and entire boxes of Cyclop Cat Creamery desserts for the party. After seeing the competition Yuuji had had with Sukuna, Gojo demanded another contest. Yuuji had been too exhausted after his eventful birthday to have the ice cream eating competition he wished for. His fifth birthday ended with Sukuna and Yuuji eating their bowls sleepily. At the thought of a proper contest, Yuuji had perked up. Gojo and Yuuji talked endlessly about the competition and what they would do. Their energy was overwhelming to say the least. 

“Shit. I melted one again.” Ryomen grumbled. 

“Then let me handle the rest. You need to calm the hell down.” Sukuna responded without looking up from the table he was setting up. 

Even though Yuuji would be gone for less than a day, it was still the first time that Yuuji would be leaving the shrine. The boy could not contain his excitement when he was told the news. It was an important milestone for Yuuji. He would be leaving the safety of the shrine. Despite knowing that nothing will happen to Yuuji with the two strongest sorcerers by his side, Ryomen had never felt more terrified in his life. Sukuna had wanted to yell at Ryomen to shut up, but the trembling in Ryomen’s body stopped him. 

Their shared soul told Sukuna everything Ryomen was not willing to say. 

It wasn’t that Ryomen was a controlling parent and freaking out about his child being out of his grasp. Not at all. Ryomen encouraged Yuuji to make his own decisions and be his own person. He did not want to hold his son back. However, leaving the shrine was different. Ryomen now knew that Kenjaku and the disaster curses were out there. Sure, Kenjaku’s plan would not occur in another few years, but nothing was stopping the curses from harming Yuuji. Kenjaku did not need a plan to hurt his son. The fact that Kenjaku could disguise themselves as anyone in the country without detection made things worse. 

Sukuna saw the haunted look in Ryomen’s eyes. He was grasping a pint of ice cream so tightly that the carton had popped. The pain of flames and grief within their soul gave insight into where Ryomen’s mind was. It was the day the Ryomen had been burned alive with his deceased son in his grasp. The son that a healer had tried to take away and toss into a mass grave. The day that Ryomen left his humanity in the ashes of the village that he had once grown up in. 

The curse himself had seen the event firsthand. Sukuna had seen the soul-crushing agony Ryomen had felt when he realized that his son was not coming back. That type of pain could not be forgotten. Sukuna could still remember the scent of burning flesh and the sound of guttural howls from a man shattered by the cruelty of the world. Ryomen had never been the same, no one would remain unchanged after such an event. However, Sukuna had seen Ryomen’s normal concern for Yuuji begin to revert to the terror the man had felt centuries ago. 

That man would burn the entire world if his son was harmed and not be satisfied even after everything was destroyed. 

That man could not return. 

“Ryomen, go back inside. Watch your shitty television shows with Boogie and cry out the shit in your head.” Sukuna did not phrase it as a suggestion, but as an order. 

The man jolted at the curse’s sharp words. “What about the-”

“I’ll handle it. Go.” Sukuna spoke tiredly. He pinched the bridge of his nose before rubbing his face with a groan. “Yuuji will be back in an hour. I doubt he wants his father on the verge of a meltdown at a celebration meant for him.”

No rebuttal came from Ryomen. He was hesitant to leave until Boogie gently tugged on Ryomen’s hand with his teeth. The dog whined pleadingly for the man to listen. Ryomen resisted for a few seconds before giving in. He glanced at Sukuna, the bags under his eyes more pronounced than they had been in years. “Thanks, Sukuna.”

“Don’t mention it. Ever .” 

“Wasn’t planning to.” The pink-haired man ruffled Boogie’s fluffy mane. Immediately, the dog’s large tail began wagging so quickly that it became a blur. Supernova and Boogie had always been the closest to Ryomen. The purple feline helped Ryomen immensely during Yuuji’s infancy and continued to give his father useful insight on Yuuji’s wellbeing. Whenever Ryomen was overwhelmed after a stressful day or was being haunted by the horrors of his past, Supernova would leave Yuuji’s side, as long as it was safe, to keep the man company. Normally, the breakdowns, anxiety attacks, and other episodes that Ryomen suffered from occurred in the dead of night. Sukuna had no idea how to help, but Supernova somehow did. He would place himself on Ryomen’s chest and begin to purr and knead his paws, allowing Ryomen to pet his silky fur as much as he wanted. Sukuna would always be nearby as silent support, but it was Supernova that did most of the work. Boogie was the one that made Ryomen let loose. The mastiff was the most energetic of the guardians and was one of the few things that can tire an energetic Yuuji out. Especially a Yuuji with a sugar rush . His jovial energy was contagious to Ryomen. When Boogie wasn’t making Ryomen chase him or wrestle, the dog was Ryomen’s movie partner in the shitty dramas he watched. Sukuna had caught the two sleeping on the couch after a binge countless times, a puffy eyed Ryomen using a snoring Boogie as a blanket and pillow. 

It seemed that the guardians helped more than just Yuuji. 

Sukuna knew he would never be the subject of their concern, and he had accepted that. The cursed souls would not attack Sukuna like they did when they had first met, Yuuji would burst into tears if he saw the way Sukuna and the guardians hurt each other. Over the years, the guardians were mostly indifferent towards Sukuna and kept their distance. Infinite would still find new ways to make Sukuna’s days worse, but the bird did not give Sukuna hallucinations anymore. He would take Infinite’s pettiness over his psychic torment any day. 

At least, they were useful today. Without Yuuji, the guardians were lost on what to do. They were restless. Even though they had the perfect opportunity to attack Sukuna, they decided to aid him with the party. It was only for Yuuji’s sake. Infinite made it his personal mission to remind Sukuna of their dislike. The draconic bird would peck Sukuna with his sharp beak and then pretend that he had done nothing. Currently, Infinite had his beak shoved into the pint of ice cream Ryomen had dropped. His lengthy body was tangled in part streamers, but the entity did not care enough to remove them. Overtime slapped Infinite, causing him to squawk in offense, before taking the pint. The mummy used his wrappings to clean up the mess Infinite had made of himself. With Overtime occupied with Infinite, the two remaining guardians had to take on his workload. Resonance had placed herself in charge of decorations and would raise a razor-sharp nail threateningly at anyone who tried to interfere. The roses she conjured were quite beautiful, so Sukuna didn’t mind. 

“Don’t even think about it.” Sukuna growled. 

Chimera had been assisting with the chairs and supplies needed for the competition. However, the inky entity had apparently finished due to the fact that the being was now trying to sick his wretched frogs on Sukuna. Chimera clicked harshly in response, green eyelights narrowing. When his eyelights went to shift into another shikigami, Sukuna growled again. While Infinite was obvious with his hatred, Chimera’s ire with Sukuna was much more subtle. He would summon his frog shikigami the second Sukuna’s back was turned and release the frog the second someone was watching. Chimera’s gama frogs were a pain to deal with. They were not as dangerous as Nue or his demon dogs, but they were annoying. If Chimera was lucky, he would have a frog shoot its tongue directly into Sukuna’s ear. He had been successful a handful of times, and Sukuna remembered each one very well. 

A distorted warble came from Chimera as he stared down Sukuna. Eventually, Chimera’s hatred was put aside, knowing that Yuuji would be upset if his uncle was hurt. Despite not having any facial features besides his eyelights, Chimera appeared to be scowling fiercely. He shrunk into his smaller form, a sea-urchin blob of malcontent, and went underneath a table. 

This was going to be the longest hour in Sukuna’s life. 

.

.

.

-

.

.

.

The crisp air provided by the spring breeze in combination with the warm sun made it the perfect time to eat something cold. Many people were likely partaking in eating their favorite frozen desserts on such a nice day. 

One such family was indulging in the need for an ice-cold treat. However, what should have been a relaxing time spent with others had turned into an all out war. 

“QUIT CHEATING, SUGURU!” A man with white hair and dark sunglasses barked. It was Gojo Satoru, the person known for his sweet tooth, and he was being beaten by his partner. 

Suguru Getou, a sorcerer with a technique that forced him to eat the most vile objects in existence, chuckled. He had just finished his third bowl while Satoru was still on his first. In a sickly sweet voice, Suguru crooned to his boyfriend. “I’m not cheating, darling. You’re just being a sore loser. Even Yuuji is miles ahead of you.”

The boy mentioned perked up from his name being called. His cheeks were full of ice cream, making the child resemble a hamster. Five bowls were stacked next to him and he was already halfway through his sixth. His honey eyes sparkled with glee as he nodded to Suguru, mouth still full. When the boy swallowed, the other adults at the table watched for signs of discomfort, but Yuuji did not even flinch. 

“WHAT?! YUUJI-KUN! ARE YOU JUST IMMUNE TO BRAIN FREEZE?!!” Gojo exclaimed with wide eyes. 

Instead of seeing who could eat the most ice cream at once, the competition centered around who will get the infamous ‘brain freeze’ that comes with consuming something cold. If the competition had been based on the former, then Gojo would win without question. However, the sorcerer had to take miniscule bites to prevent his head from aching. Gojo Satoru was notorious for many things. Being the strongest sorcerer in the modern era, being the first person in five hundred years to inherit the Six Eyes and Limitless, being the fastest person on the planet, being a skilled mathematician and physicist, among many other things. One of said things was the fact that Gojo Satoru had NO tolerance for frozen sweets. His mind was always running one hundred miles per hour, so his brain was vulnerable to experiencing a brain freeze. It was ridiculously easy to make Gojo have a brain freeze. Due to this, Gojo was trying to eat as slowly as possible to prevent it…But-

“AGH FUCK!”

“Language!”

It didn’t work. 

“Gojo! You’re out!” An older boy with black, spiky hair and a megaphone announced from his seat on a lounge chair. Beside him were the first contestants that had lost, Nanami and Shoko. Though, neither person wanted to participate in the contest, so they forfeited after one round. Now, the pair were relaxing on identical lounge chairs the boy was sitting on, a bowl of their preferred flavor in their hands. Each had sunglasses and a matching smirk. 

The man in his twenties pouted, but left the ‘podium’. “Fine, but I’m gonna be the announcer! You suck at it, Megs!”

“I do not!” Megumi shouted, holding the megaphone to his chest. 

“Yeah! Fushi is the best announcer!” Yuuji defended his friend without hesitation. He pointed his messy spoon at Gojo with a frown. “Don’t be a meanie!”

“See! Yuuji said I’m better, so go away!” Megumi made a shooing motion with his hands.

Gojo shook his head with a frown before disappearing. He reappeared behind Megumi’s chair with a microphone in hand, causing the preteen to seemingly jump out of his skin. Wrapping an arm around his son’s shoulder, Gojo smiled devilishly. “We’ll be a tag team then! I’ll do the cool stuff and you do the boring stuff.”

Knowing that Gojo would not take no as an answer, Megumi just rolled his eyes. “Ugh. Fine.”

“Aw, you’re so sweet, Megs!” Gojo cooed before kissing his son’s cheek with an obnoxious ‘MWAH!’ 

Megumi looked like he had been stabbed. When he touched his cheek, his pale skin adopted a twinge of green. “You got ice cream on me, you jerk!”

Instead of responding, Gojo just stuck out his tongue cheekily. As Gojo approached the podium that was really two tables stuck together with a cloth on top, he raised the microphone to his lips. When he spoke, he sounded identical to a sports announcer. “Welcome folks to the most intense competition you will ever see! We pitted several champions against each other to determine who has the Toughest Brain in Japan!” He turned to his son with a flourish. “My fellow commentator, Megumi, will inform us on the rules of the game!”

For a moment, Megumi stayed silent while glowering at Gojo. Eventually, he caved in with a sigh and began to speak in a monotone voice. “You have to eat ice cream until the timer runs out or we run out of pints. Whoever gets a brain freeze is out. The person who lasts the longest without getting one is the winner with the thickest head, I guess.” 

“Indeed! Let’s look at our leaderboard. Tied for dead last are Nanami and Shoko! Who quit after one round to laze around like old people!” Gojo pointed at the aforementioned forfeiters. Neither reacted to their friend’s overdramatics. However, Shoko flipped the taller one off without looking away from her bowl. After Gojo finished teasing the two, he approached the table. He leaned down to the man sitting next to Yuuji. “It seems that Ryomen is the closest to being out! How are you doing, champ?”

The only answer Gojo got from Ryomen was a groan. His head was pressed against the surface on the table. Beside his head was a bowl of melted ice cream. “Trying to drink it was a mistake.” Ryomen’s muffled voice slurred. His hands were wrapped around his stomach in pain. Groggily, he lifted his head to try eating more, but gave up. “Yeah, I’m done.”

Yuuji patted sticky hands around his father’s broad back. “Papa, you gotta keep going! You can do it!” 

“Honey, if Papa keeps going, Papa is going to hurl.” Ryomen said, face still planted on top of the table. However, his words did not placate his son. It had the opposite effect. With determination in his golden eyes, Yuuji shook Ryomen harder. The boy’s inhuman strength accidentally made the entire table shake. 

“You can do it, Papa! I believe in you! You’re super duper strong! Your fire powers can just go FWOO and then HYOI! BRAIN FREEZE HAS NOTHING ON THAT, PAPA!” Yuuji said encouragingly. And loudly. Very loudly. “DO FWOO HOI, DAD! FWOO, HYOI!”

From her seat, Shoko cackled. “Kid’s gotta a point! Fwoo, hyoi is the way to go!”  

Gojo and Getou sent her a withering glare. 

Shoko grinned.

Ryomen groaned. “Yuuji, honey, not so loud. Inside voice-”

“But we’re outside?” The pink-haired boy cocked his head, confused. 

“Then use your Don’t-Make-Papa’s-Ears-Bleed voice.” Ryomen pleaded. He willfully ignored the mocking laughter from the four armed curse next to him. 

Finally noticing how terrible his father looked, Yuuji quietened. “Okay, Papa.”

“Thank you, son.” 

“Does your tummy hurt?”

“Yes, Yuu.”

“Oh! Do you need the orange tea that you give me when my tummy hurts?”

“Not right now, hun.”

“What about hot cocoa? It makes me feel better because it’s so yummy!”

At the thought of consuming another sweet, Ryomen sprang out of his seat with a hand on his mouth. He breathed deeply for a few moments until his stomach settled. Looking like he had completed a marathon, Ryomen panted. “Papa is gonna join the loser’s spot. Beat your uncle for me, alright?” 

Fortunately, his request halted any further questions Yuuji had. Without Ryomen in between them, Yuuji and his uncle could see each other. They locked eyes.

The curse with four arms and similar pink hair bared his sharp teeth in a challenging grin. He had eaten the most out of the group with a tower of bowls wobbling precariously. “So you think you can beat me, brat?”

“Yeah! I’m going to beat you and make you give me piggyback rides every day!” Yuuji replied with the same glint in his eyes that his uncle had. Both were competitive to a fault. “I’m gonna win, Uncle Kuna!”

“That a challenge, brat?” Sukuna leaned towards the boy, his predatory smile growing wider. 

“Yeah!” 

“Good luck, brat. You’re really going to need it.” Sukuna ruffled Yuuji’s hair, his hand large enough to palm Yuuji’s head. 

“Hey! I’m gonna beat you even more ‘cause you did that!”

“You mean lose?”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yeah-huh!”

“Nuh-uh!”

As the uncle and nephew playfully bickered, Gojo slunk to the opposite end of the table. His grip around his microphone tightened as he bore his piercing gaze into a smug curse manipulator. “With Ryomen out of the competition, it seems that we are down to our final three. I wonder who our next loser is.” 

Getou smiled like a snake that had just caught its prey. He batted his eyes innocently at Gojo. “May I ask why you’re staring at me in particular, announcer?” 

“Because dry ice is next!” Megumi answered before the taller sorcerer could. His bored expression turned malicious. It was a look Getou and Gojo knew well. It was the look their children had before turning into goblins of mischief and mayhem. All the confidence Getou had been feeling vanished as Megumi grinned like the evil miscreant he truly was. “We’re entering the Sudden Death Round!” 

The moment the words left Megumi’s mouth, a screech sounded from the leaves of the largest tree in the backyard. Twigs and leaves fell as the creature inside climbed down. Snow white fur, colorful feathers, and a hooked beak twisted in amusement. It was Infinite, the being who loved tricks more than anyone. Infinite’s talons dug into the bark of the tree as he descended vertically. When he reached the soft ground, the draconic bird trotted to Megumi with a pleased trill. The group of cursed souls that Infinite belonged to did not react to his antics. Similar to Shoko and Nanami, the other cursed souls were sound asleep across the land. Two of them, a demonic canine and feline, had smaller bowls of their own that had been licked clean. The larger of the two, Boogie, was laying belly-up with a full stomach and snores. Supernova, the feline, had hopped onto Ryomen’s lap before promptly falling asleep in the perfect imitation of a loaf of bread. Due to not having mouths, Resonance and Chimera watched underneath the shade of a tree. It was up to Infinite to stir up things!

With his beak, Infinite reached into the cooler that Megumi had hidden and procused three bowls of ice cream. Each bowl appeared to be steaming like a boiling pot. However, the vapor was caused by the chunks of dry ice inside the innocuous container. There was only a small scoop in the bowls, small enough that it could be eaten in one bite. Which was exactly what Megumi had intended. Seeing the surprise on his parents’ faces, Megumi revealed his plan. “I knew that Gojo would want to take over the announcer role. That’s why I accepted the role and did it as lifelessly as possible. It would ensure a 100% success rate of Gojo taking my role.” 

“We really shouldn’t get on his bad side.” Getou softly uttered to Gojo, who nodded solemnly. However, Megumi had heard him.

“Too late.” Megumi deadpanned. 

From his seat at the table, Yuuji raised his hand instinctively, the motion ingrained into him after the many lessons he had had with the preteen. “Fushiguro?”

“Yes, Yuuji?” The older boy replied without a hint of the vengefulness he had shown his parents. 

Yuuji spoke in a small voice, curling in on himself. “Am I on your bad side?”

The sharp features of the ravenette softened. Megumi shook his head. “No, you’re not. You can be dumb sometimes, but you’re not stupid.”

While the adults were confused and slightly insulted by his response, Yuuji nodded sagely with complete understanding. “Got it. They’re idiots, but not morons.”

“Exactly.” Megumi nodded in approval. His voice immediately hardened as he looked at the others. “Now. Here’s how Sudden Death works. You have to eat the scoop in one bite and hold it there for at least five seconds. Try to eat it if you can, though I wouldn’t recommend it. You’ll probably break your teeth. Anyways. The one who can hold the scoop for the longest wins. Infinite?”

The cursed soul chirped in agreement. Within his durable beak and talons, the ice cold desserts did not injure him. He would place a bowl, fan it with his tail, screech, and repeat. When Infinite reached Yuuji, he cooed instead of shrieking, preening the boy’s mussed hair. The remaining contestants each had differing expressions. Suguru looked at his bowl with apprehension. Sukuna looked at his bowl with mild intrigue. Yuuji looked at his bowl like it was a hero to be admired. The contestants that had lost looked on in anticipation with Gojo cackling at the sweat beading down Suguru’s neck.  

Infinite retreated to Megumi’s side and chirped three times. The boy patted the cursed soul on the beak, which Infinite leaned into. Once everyone was settled, Megumi raised his megaphone for the last time. “You will begin eating in…Three…Two…”

Megumi stopped.

The remaining three were as taught as the string on a bow. Copying the technique that Gojo often did to annoy others, Megumi let them stew in the heavy silence. He would have made them wait longer, but Yuuji was actually vibrating with how hard he was trying to stay still. Placing the megaphone down, Megumi cupped his hands over his mouth to yell the loudest anyone had ever heard him. “ONE!” 

Instantly, Getou, Sukuna and Yuuji snatched their spoons. They all had a moment of hesitation as they stared at the plain vanilla ball. Deciding to risk it, Getou took the first bite with Sukuna following suit. Yuuji enthusiastically popped the ball in his mouth like a squirrel snatching a nut. 

“OWOWOW! NO! THAT HURTS! THAT REALLY HURTS!” Getou spat out the chilled scoop after half a second. His mouth felt numb all over. He thought his gums and upper palate were frostbitten. Somehow, it was so cold that it burned. He could hear triumphant cheers of Satoru and the quiet snickers of his other friends. 

Sukuna tried to appear nonchalant with the ice scalding his mouth. He had handled much worse. A little cold could not beat him. He made it to four seconds. The cold became too much, and he spat it out with a painful cough. The curse began using his reverse cursed technique to return blood flow to his numb and tingling mouth. Sukuna had been so distracted by the relief he felt to after being rid of the deadly dessert that he barely heard Ryomen’s worried shouts.

“WAY TO GO YUUJI! NOW, SPIT IT OUT!” Ryomen did not know if he should feel proud or terrified for his son not succumbing to the impossibly cold ice cream. So cold that Yuuji could develop irreversible frostbite. Okay, he was definitely terrified. “YUUJI! SPIT IT OUT! YOU WON!”

Taking Ryomen’s pleas as another challenge, Yuuji shook his head. The little boy went to bite down on the ice cream. He wanted to brag about eating the ball to his uncle, so he did not think twice about the consequences. As his jaw clenched, there was a loud CRACK . 

The air went deathly still.

Yuuji finally spat out the ball of ice cream. However, there was a tinge of red to the vanilla. He turned the ball around in his hands and saw his front tooth lodged into it. The boy yanked his tooth out of the scoop, waving it around excitedly to his father. “PAPA! I LOST A TOOTH! CAN WE PUT IT UNDER MY PILLOW?!”

Ryomen gave a shaky thumbs up.

Then he fainted. 

-

“Pencils?”

“Check!”

“Paper?”

“Check!”

“Crayons?”

“Check!”

“Folder?”

“Check!” 

“Snacks?”

“Check!”

“Water?”

“Check!”

“Lunch?”

“Check!” 

“Supernova?”

“Check!” Yuuji giggled, holding his beloved cat in the air. His Papa was so silly! He carefully placed a shrunken Supernova into his backpack. He gave his father a salute that he had seen in one of the movies Gojo had shown him. “Onii-cat is secured!”

“Then it seems that my little cub is ready for class.” His father sounded happy but sad at the same time. He carded his hand in Yuuji’s hair with a happy-sad face. Saddy? Ha-ad? 

Everyone else had given Yuuji hugs and well-wishes yesterday, but not Ryomen. At first, Yuuji thought his Papa was mad at him, but Uncle Kuna told him to not worry. Uncle Kuna said that his Dad was just sad, comparing his feelings to his guardians because they couldn’t come to class with Yuuji. 

He loves you, brat. So do your guardians. Don’t you think they’d be bummed if their favorite person was somewhere they couldn’t follow?

His Uncle Kuna was really smart. Fushiguro was smart too, but his uncle just knew things that Yuuji could never understand. 

All of the other kids had said their goodbyes except for Yuuji and Ryomen. Yuuji really wanted to go to his class, but his Papa still looked sad-happy! An idea popped into his head, and Yuuji wanted to pump his fist in the air. He stood up on his tiptoes and pressed his forehead against his Papa’s. It was a good thing that his Papa was kneeling. He was too tall!

“I’ll be okay, Papa. I pinky promise!” Yuuji stuck out his pinky. 

His Dad blinked several times before the sad-happy just became happy. He linked his larger pinky with Yuuji, a smile on his face. It made Yuuji feel all warm and bubbly inside! He liked it when his Papa smiled.

“Alright, Yuu. It’s a promise.”

“A pinky promise!”

“Yes.” Ryomen kissed the top of Yuuji’s head. “It’s a pinky promise.”

When his father left, Yuuji turned to finally enter his class. It was so colorful! His classmates were running around with toys or drawing on construction paper. He was so excited! Mister Getou had been teaching him how to draw, and Yuuji knew he needed to draw something for each member of his family. 

“Hello, little one. I take it you’re my last student?” A sweet voice spoke from behind Yuuji. He turned around and saw his kindergarten teacher. She had dark hair tied back with a pretty yellow headband-scarf thing. It had flowers all over and it matched with her yellow shirt and blue skirt. She had her hand out, waiting for Yuuji to take it. Remembering what Nanami had taught him, Yuuji took her hand and shook it as hard as he could. Doing it harder meant more respect, right?

His teacher laughed. “It’s nice to meet you too, Itadori Yuuji. I’m Miss Kenko and I’ll be your teacher from now on.”

“I can’t wait!” Yuuji squealed. He already wanted to run around, his legs were screaming for it! 

“Neither can I.” Miss Kenko said. She smiled at him, and it made Yuuji feel warm again. And cold. The nice lady pointed towards the cubbies. “You can place your backpack over there, little one. There won’t be any need for notes. Today is all about introductions!”

“Okay!” Yuuji couldn’t help but squeal. His first day was going to be cool! Not boring! He ran to place his backpack on a hook and took off his shoes, placing it in the nearest empty cubby. He put on his school shoes and grabbed his crayons. He heard Supernova meow worriedly, so he kept the zipper open. “Miss Kenko said we aren’t doing anything today! You can explore if you want! I love you, Nova! Bye!”

He saw an empty desk and headed towards it. There were four pages from a coloring book, just waiting to be filled! The first page was a volcano with spots, the second page was a forest with lots of roots, the third page was a beach with a big squid, and the fourth page was of a funky-looking cube. Yuuji began coloring in the first page when he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“If you need extra coloring pages, let me know.” Miss Kenko smiled at him again. 

“I will! I’ll show you when I’m done!”

“That sounds great, Yuuji! I’m looking forward to seeing your skills.” With that, Miss Kenko left as fast as she came. It made sense. There were a lot of other students she had to keep an eye on. 

He got so absorbed in his drawing that he completely forgot about the question weighing heavily on his mind. 

The surname his father had given him was Ryomen. Ryomen Yuuji.

So…

Who was Itadori? 

[strongsassysexysloane]

Are you happy now?

A/N:- She's back! I needed some Jack Sloane and I'm a ball of sads at the moment so... Emotions! You're welcome! 🫣

Sum: - Her past wasn't easy to share but she trusted you most with it. Only it hit you heavier than she'd expected.

Jack Sloane was many things, strong, confident, easily angered. Those things you saw on a daily basis. Lately it had been the latter. You knew why, which was why you had avoided being in a confined space with her for two weeks now. It was a smart and stupid decision. The one that got you into the position you were in right now.

“Was it worth it?” She hissed, her arms crossed, standing a few feet away giving Jimmy the room to check you over. Any closer and she may hit you.

Jimmy really didn’t want to be here so he worked extra fast causing you to wince more than normal. “Sorry.” He whispered as he touched your bruised ribs a little too hard. “Here.” He handed you an ice pack to put on the already purple bruise.

She was so mad, looking over you as Jimmy worked. “Are you happy now?”

You rolled your eyes which only angered the blonde more. “He’s dead, isn’t he?” That wasn’t the response Jimmy or Jack expected. This wasn’t you, or was it now? “He didn’t deserve anything less for what he did to her. I only wish I shot him sooner.” This definitely wasn’t you, you were normally more level headed than most of the team.

The case had hit everyone hard. Especially you and Jack. You were the only one who knew about her past, in the army and before. She had to hold you back when you figured it out. Now this case had come up and you were full steam ahead, no sleep, no rest and then tackling the perp without anyone to back you up. That ended with him being shot but not before he managed to kick and punch you a few too many times. This meant desk duty for the next month, not because of your injuries but because of your actions.

The team had noticed your behaviour change. Jack more so than anyone because she knew why. It had gotten to the point where she almost, almost regretted telling you even though it was something you deserved to know about her.

“We don’t go around putting people in the ground. We –“ She had a whole spiel but you weren’t hearing it. The heavy sigh that came out of you almost had her stepping in to shut you up.

Jimmy had finished his inspection, wrapped your ribs and covered up the gash to your cheek. “Done, I’m going to just-“ He looked between you and got a nod from Jack.

“Thanks Jimmy.” You mumbled before hopping off the table. There was a sharp pain to your side and you almost keeled over. Jack stepped forward to help but stopped herself. The back door clicked closed and you knew you were alone.

“He wasn’t him.”

“I know Jack. You never gave me a name or time frame so I can’t do the thing I want to do but I needed something to get it out on.” You sighed, hearing yourself. There hadn’t been an outlet for your built up anger, the punching bag in the gym hadn’t even been enough.

She sighed moving forward. “This anger needs to stop. This is the reason I don’t want to tell you his name or where he liv-“

“Wait! You know where the fucker lives?! For Christ’s sake Jack, he’s in DC?” You almost fell backwards but she caught you. Her hands on your waist, avoiding the bruised areas.

Her forehead rested against yours. This had been the closest you two had been in a while. “Please stop. For me.” Your side of the bed had been cold for far too long and she needed you back in it. Her walls crumbling with the sight of you up close.

The way her voice almost broke, cut you the most. You had avoided her because you knew this would hurt her again. Your emotions had gotten the better of you and you kept your distance to protect her. You would always protect her and that’s what was killing you. “Ja-ck.”

She kissed you then, the desperation from the time apart bled into the kiss. “I just want you. I know you are the protector, it’s who you are and I love you for it but it’s not all you are. I am ok. Don’t let that horrible thing break you too. I couldn’t live with myself if it broke you too.” Her lips messily caught yours in blubbery, emotional kiss.

It rooted you to the spot. Her words, her emotions and you cried. The anger bleeding out through your tears. “I’m sorry baby.”

She tried her best to smile through the tears. “I know.”

“I love you too, you know.” A smile cracking at the corner of your mouth. It was the first time you were both admitting those feelings. “So much.”

The kiss said it all even if you heard the door open you didn’t separate. Tears mixed with growing smiles, it was too much emotion between two people. “Can we go home now?”

You just nodded against her neck, holding her closer and inhaling her scent you had missed so much. God, you missed her so much and it killed you that it was your own fault this had gotten between you.

“Thank you, Jimmy. She won’t be needing anymore assistance for a while.” Jack held you around the waist, your arm curled around her shoulders. As much as you could walk, you didn’t want to let her go.

Jimmy smiled at you both. He knew there was more between you than just friends. “I hope not. Take care of her.”

“I will.” You both said in unison and smiled at one another.

He chuckled to himself and walked off to his desk.

You rested your head in her shoulder as you waited for the elevator. “To answer your question earlier... Yes, I am happy now.” Well, happier than you’d been in a long time.

Jack laughed and punched your side. “Smart ass.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As much as it's all the emotions... I can't help but have a happy ending. Life sucks enough that you need to know your fav character has a happy ending.

[mandomover]

The Rookie

Chapter Sixteen - No americanos no más

Gaviria holds a meeting with the Americans as the new president, and you take matters into your own hands to see what Natalie is hiding when you're side-lined, and you and Javi finally have somewhat of a conversation. 

Warnings: swearing, smoking, Angsty, poor Javi getting the cold shoulder. 

Words: 3700ish

Next ¦ Masterlist

You knew Gaviria would win the presidential campaign. He was the obvious choice, and the bombing a few days before the votes helped Gaviria's campaign, swearing he would do right by the people of Columbia by getting justice for the victims and putting a stop to Escobar. So he walked into the presidential position by a landslide, and now he is the 28th president of Columbia. 

He had called the ambassador, the DEA, and the CIA for a meeting immediately at his office and you were here now, flattening down invisible creases on your too tight pencil skirt as you waited impatiently in his assistant's office, sitting beside Noonan on straight backed chairs while Murphy and Javi hovered nearby. 

The assistant's phone rang, shrill in the quiet room, startling you. 

"He's ready for you now," she gestured to the door and Javi offered Noonan his hand to help her to her feet before offering you his hand too. You ignored it and marched past him briskly. Murphy was holding the door open for everyone, and raised a brow at you as you marched past him, ignoring his quizzical expression. 

You still hadn't discussed your night with Javi and you didn't intend to, less it made things awkward for you. Hell, you knew it was already awkward, but Javi had done this. You knew his reputation, knew he wanted to get you alone so he could tell you on his own terms that it was a mistake and this could never happen again, but you working so closely together meant he couldn't play his usual card without all your hard work going to shit. So you didn't even let him broach the subject, saving yourselves the embarrassment of that conversation and hopefully saving yourselves the fallout entirely. Ignoring him and brushing him off was tough, you missed his smiles and the way he made you feel at ease, but if you gave him the cold shoulder another few days until he really got the message, you'd be back to your normal routine in no time. 

You let Javier and Murphy take one sofa, the CIA agents taking another, and you settle yourself in beside Noonan, ignoring Javi's eyes on you, choosing to focus entirely on Gaviria and his vice president instead. 

"Welcome ladies and gentlemen," he gestures around you all with a thick accent. "Firstly, I wish to thank Agent Murphy for his warnings and support in keeping me off that plane. You saved my life." 

Murphy looks coyly up at Gaviria from under his brows, and Javi grins at him proudly, nudging him with an elbow. You smile too, knowing Murphy had been feeling guilty about not being able to save the other passengers, but he had still saved two lives. 

"But I'm going to cut directly to the chase. Escobar is my number one priority, and we will stop at nothing to bring him to justice." 

The Americans around the room take a collective sigh of relief and you can't help but grin at Gaviria's frank honesty about prioritizing Escobar. 

"However…" 

You still, heart starting to thump wildly your chest, and you feel Noonan still beside you too. 

'However' is such a loaded word, and you can already feel the impact it is having. The air is instantly thicker, the one word ready to undo everything built up, poised to break the trust built between the gringos and Columbian government, ready to ice over the hearts of the six people staring daggers at Gaviria and neutralize everything he's just spoken. 

Gaviria looks nervous, but is masking it well with a confident bravado. He'll truly make a great politician. 

"The columbia people will do this on our own, with our own resources." 

"We're here to help," Noonan says, but the lilt in her voice poses it as a question rather than a statement, as if she's unsure as to what they're doing here at all anymore if the Americans weren't here to help the Columbians. 

"You're welcome to stay and support my troops in their efforts, but I won't have the Americans taking matters into their own hands."

"But you need our resources," Javi objects, his broad shoulders tensing. 

Gaviria holds up a hand. "The search bloc will take back lead on the investigations and you will sit and wait on further instructions as to what you may be allowed to do in our country."

"But we have so much more resources than Columbia, and we're willing to share them. Surely we're better united?" 

"Agent Peña, please. We will catch Escobar. On our own terms." 

You gulp audibly. Gaviria has essentially put the final nail in your coffin. Without jurisdiction you're pretty much sitting ducks, waiting for the sicarios and Escobar to get you, and Gaviria's request to await further instructions means you can't leave Medellín to work at it from another vantage or angle either. You're stuck in the middle and he knows it, not quite catching anyone's gaze, knowing he's putting everyone in an impossible position. 

The meeting ends soon after, and you're not even bothering to pay much more attention to Gaviria after he had ended your position in Columbia. 

You filter out of the office, the CIA's heads bent low together, Noonan firing off demands and requests to her lurking assistant. Javi lights a cigarette and saunters off as soon as he is outside, leaving you and Murphy to trail back to the car. 

"I can't just sit back and let this son of a bitch have at it, Rookie, I just can't."

"Me neither," you murmur. "What can we do?" 

"Get caught up on paperwork I guess, try and see if Carrillo will let us be a part of anything under the radar?" 

Disappointment settles in your stomach. There's no way you'll be allowed to do anything. There's only a handful of American's on the case so you'll stick out like a sore thumb if you go anywhere you're not supposed to. 

"He's going to be beside himself with glee, free range over the raids again without us to keep him calm." 

"Let's go back and tell him, at least someone can be in a good mood today." 

He watches you and you squirm with his eyes on you. 

"I am in a good mood. Well, I was until that meeting."

"Bullshit. You're in the same mood as Javi," he nods at Javi's retreating back, tails of his suit jacket swishing behind him as he turns the corner. 

"We just got shit news that we're no longer allowed to do our jobs Murphy, of course I'm going to be annoyed." 

"You've been pissy for days Rookie."

"Not sleeping great," you mumble. 

Murphy slows down, bristling, "Funny, that's what Javi said too." 

You don't quite catch the remark as you walk ahead, Murphy watching you as your retreating back head round the corner with haste in the same way Javi had, heels clacking on the tile floor as you go. 

The office is quiet, most of the search bloc officers out in the field. Carrillo had taken the news of a full Columbian force like a personal endeavor, throwing everyone into a raid even if they had other jobs to do. Anything that could be done in house was given to you, like scraps to a dog. Raids were happening in multitudes at a time, trying to close labs and find Escobar or any of his sicarios. But they didn't amount to much. There were still too many people willing to help Escobar and he still evaded capture. The tip line is suspiciously quiet, dragging out your days even more, answering the phone being one of the two jobs you are officially allowed to do. Paperwork is of course allowed, but if you see another classified folder that you have to pass off, you will scream before you know it. Jealousy has crept in, angry at the police officers who had more jurisdiction than you now, even though it wasn't their fault, making you feel useless and angrier still. You've taken your jealousy out on them, snapping and grunting at them when they come back tired from raid after raid to give you the ops reports to file. 

Noonan is refusing to take your calls, ignoring your pleas to talk to the president and convince him to let you back into the field. 

Javi is a mess, not even trying to get your attention now, snapping at Murphy and the CNPO's just like you are, which you guess you had wanted in some capacity. But his silence unnerves you, his brows knit tightly together, deep in thought but sharing nothing, and Murphy just chain smokes quietly at his desk. 

You are going stir crazy; you didn't work your ass off for years to get here, only to sit on the sidelines and do skud work. While the Columbian police are out passing their time doing what they were actually trained to do, you have nothing but time here; time to think about your career and mistakes and choices you have made so far. 

You can't stop thinking about Jamie's wife and her vulnerable position and you know you have to do something. Something about it isn't sitting right with you, despite her denial of anything. She has information to share and you don't care that you aren't allowed to do anything, you need to figure out a plan. Surveillance crosses your mind plenty of times, simply watching shouldn't upset Gaviria, right? No one told you explicitly you couldn't do surveillance work. 

If she or Jaime was working with Escobar, she would lead you right to him, and if Jamie was an innocent pawn in his game, they'd come looking for her to tie up any loose ends. You'd be ready either way. 

"Murphy, wanna do some surveillance with me?" 

"We can't, we can't leave the compound."

"We're not gonna get in trouble, we're just taking a drive and looking out for someone. Won't even leave the car."

"Who?"

"Natalie," Javi pipes up. "You're going to watch Jamie's wife aren't you."

You blush, and raise your chin defiantly at him, taking him in for what you realize is for the first time today. He's watching you with soft brown eyes, features slack, an almost sad look on his face. 

"Yes. And you're not going to stop me. I know she has information and I know I'm not allowed to do anything, but I'm just going to do surveillance and see if she gives us anything," you squint at Javi, pointing at him as you hiss in defense of your own actions. "If I see anything at all, I'll come straight back here, tell Carrillo, and his search bloc team can handle it. OK?"

You don't break eye contact, willing Javi  silently to let you have this. Your chance to prove you're still worthy of this case, an equal, that the job is the most important thing here no matter what has occurred between you. You're taking control.

He watches you, mustache bristling as the hint of a smile curls at the corner of his mouth, disappearing as quickly as it arrives before being replaced by a tight lined grimace. 

"OK," he shrugs, nonchalantly. "Be careful." 

You sit in silence, eyes boring into the dusty brown door on the side of the house. 

Over the past three days you have seen Natalie leave with her daughter only once and you trailed her to the grocery store on foot before she returned, laden with shopping and wrestling her unsettled child, while you tossed chips and sodas back and forth with Murphy. 

You didn't see anyone else coming or going, until last night, just as you were about to take off, you saw a girl around the same age as Natalie, walk down the street with a large bag. She knocked on the door and Natalie answered quickly, looking up and down the street before pulling her friend in and closing the door on the world again. You stayed another few hours, and watched the lights go out, but this isn't 24 hour surveillance, and you have no way of knowing who the girl was, or if anyone else has come or gone in the small hours when you're not here. 

You see Natalie through the drapes now, rubbing at the windows with a smeared cloth, and another shadow holding a baby behind her and you sigh in relief, relaxing back into your seat as you recognise the friend and Natalie, seemingly alright as they engage in normal household activities. You pull a cigarette out from a box in the well and light it before offering the box to Murphy who declines with a shake of his head. 

Her behavior when she let her friend in looked a little suss to you, but you know they're both physically OK in there, shadows passing the windows occasionally. You don't know who the friend is or what they're planning, but you'll watch her as long as you need to to find out the answers and see if anything happens. 

The portable phone buzzes, making you jump, and Murphy grabs it, pulling the antenna out before answering. 

"Murphy."

He glances at you, your eyes still fixed on the house. 

"Nothing, no one entering or leaving, I don't know." 

He offers you the handset, covering the mouth piece to whisper, "Peña." 

You take one last, slow draw before you violently stub out your cigarette and toy with the idea of leaving the car so you can stretch your legs instead of engaging in an awkward phone call but a big part of you really wants to hear Javi's voice. You miss him. You know he knows you've been giving him the cold shoulder and you could be the adult you are and address the elephant in the room, but you know a petulant part of you will most likely close the phone up if he dares to bring it up. Granted, you've maybe been a little harsh in how you have handled everything, but you didn't know how else to deal with these emotions swarming your brain. You don't deal with emotions. You deal with bad guys like Escobar and his cronies. Fuck. You haven't the head space for this right now with everything else gnawing at you. You pull the phone to your ear and whisper, "hey." 

There's silence for a second, crackling from the line instead of voices, when you finally hear a breathy sigh and a "Hey Rookie" back. 

"What's up?" 

"Not much. Just wanted to check in on you." 

"Oh." You wait for him to say something else, and you shuffle in your seat awkwardly. Murphy is still beside you, watching the house, but the vein in his neck is pulsing a bit too fast, and you know he's trying to vehemently listen in to Javi's side of the conversation. You swap the phone to your other ear so he can't eavesdrop, not that either of you are saying anything. 

"How are you?"

"OK thanks, how are you?" you ask carefully. 

"Yeah, good, thanks cariño. Listen." 

Oh god, here it comes. Your heart flutters quickly and you poise your thumb over the button that will end your call when Javi starts to speak again. 

"Are we OK?" 

Your breath hitches and you swallow audibly, nerves as obvious as this conversation is about to become.

The sensible part of your brain tries to take over, so you decide to play dumb. 

"Yeah, course we are," you say, falsely breezy. Murphy turns slowly to look at you and you catch his eye, face reddening as he squints at your sudden change in tone. 

"Are you sure?" he doesn't let you answer. "Coz I miss you." 

Oh. This is unexpected. 

"I miss, er, I miss my drinking buddy," he continues. 

You snort, "oh yeah? Murphy not keeping up?" 

"No," Javi chuckles softly, "You know he doesn't appreciate the fine whiskey like we do." 

"Mm." 

You don't know what else to say, swallowing again, hesitantly waiting to see who will make the next move.

"Wanna get a drink tonight? I haven't seen you all week." 

He was right, you had been avoiding him in the office, choosing to leave for surveillance as soon as you arrived to compound, and you hadn't had a drink since that night, not even on your own, fear of how vulnerable you became flooding into your brain and making you feel more nervous and unsettled. 

"I don't know Javi," you whine, "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

He sniffs and you wonder where he might be for this conversation to be taking place, sure he isn't in the office if he is being this open with you. 

"Fuck, I- What if I promise we won't bring up what happened?" 

It gushes out, the words falling out of his mouth quickly, as if he wasn't sure he would say them at all. Your mouth drops open and your heart skips a beat, a smile toying at your lips, lingering there before you answer after a deep breath. 

"I would appreciate that." 

He sighs, and you can hear the instant relief in his voice. 

"OK good. I don't know what the hell's going on with us, but if I offended you in someway, or did something to upset you, I'm sorry. I thought it was want you wanted and I'm really sorry if i-" 

"It was what I wanted," you interrupt with a sigh, accepting that this is going to happen here and now and it's best to just get it over with instead of ignoring it again. 

"It was," he says, shortly. 

"Yeah, I mean, I started it. I asked for it." 

You can feel Murphy watching you, and you just know he has the biggest shit eating grin on his face as he pieces together your side of the conversation. 

"OK. Well, I can tell you haven't been right since then. So if I did something to make you feel uncomfortable, I am sorry, but, shit cariño, I enjoyed myself. I thought you did too. Thought we could talk about it like grownups instead of me being hazed like I'm the fucking Rookie." 

Your heart rate spikes, instantly hardening yourself to go on the defensive. 

"Jesus, Javi. What do you want me to say? Tell you you were great so you feel good about yourself for another while til the next woman who comes along?" 

The line is stagnant, and you squirm, Murphy's eyes boring a hole into the side of your face before Javi sighs dramatically, "That's not- Is that what you think?" 

You close your eyes as Javi continues, shame, and embarrassment flooding your senses, at having this conversation in front of Murphy mostly. You know he'll question you after even if you don't spell it out nicely over the phone for him. 

"Like I said, I had fun, and I thought you did too. I don't wanna do this over the phone, but we need to talk. You've been ignoring me for days so this is the only way I knew I could get you. I don't know what you want from this, or if you even want anything from this, but we just need to talk about it. If you wanna forget about it and pretend this thing doesn't exist, I understand," Javi says softly, a twinge of sadness in his voice. 

"Javi, I-" you squint, brows furrowing, not quite understanding his angle. He never makes long speeches like that unless he's at least half a bottle in, but it hits hard on your sober senses. You can feel that he means what he says. You can tell he wants to talk to you, to openly discuss what happened, and look to the future, whatever that may be. You swallow a hard lump in your throat, and you know instantly that that lump is guilt. Once again, you have underestimated Javi Peña and assumed he would leave you high and dry but you have been the cold one here, hurting him by treating him the way you thought you would be treated. Maybe it has made him realize your friendship is as important to him as it is to you

But what the fuck did he mean by 'this thing'? 

Is he implying that what happened between you was a thing? Or is he that disrespectful of women that much he just calls sex a thing? 

He said 'if you wanna forget about it,' making it sound like he's giving you an out, letting you call the shots on whether you put the issue to bed or not. 

How did he sound when he said that? Did he intonate differently when he said 'if you wanna forget about it'? Does he not wanna forget about it? He did just admit he enjoyed it too, is he insinuating it would be nice to repeat it? Is that what you want? Could you let that happen again? 

Yes, you felt fantastic, and you felt safe with Javi. But it's been so bloody awkward since then, you couldn't do this again. You've missed him too much to fuck it up again, burning down the whole olive tree just as you've been handed a branch.

Fuck. 

You force yourself to focus on your breaths, trying to calm and collect your racing thoughts.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Just as you open your mouth, to tell Javi you're ready and reasonably willing to have that conversation face to face, Murphy elbows you roughly, and you nearly drop the phone, twisting to glare at him. He has slid right down in his seat, legs squished up like a pretzel and he's staring at the wing mirror of the car, watching as two familiar faces walk up the road, hands at the waist bands of their pants where you know their guns are hiding, loaded and ready. 

"Fuck Javi, I have to go, Poison and Dionel have just arrived."

"Don't move cariño. I'm on my way." 

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